The Update

It's been a while, but things off the blog have been busy and hectic and boring and normal all at the same time! We had Grandpa Steve come visit us at the end of October, and due to some crazy thunderstorms, he was able to stay with us a few extra days! Even though I'm sure Grandpa missed being home and in his normal routine, we sure enjoyed having him here. Despite the crazy weather, we were able to go out to eat at all our favorite places, and took Roy to walk around the Bass Pro Shop near us. Roy loved the live fish, and I can't wait to take him back! Thanks Grandpa for coming to see us!

The weather was nice at least one day!

The bear and live fish at the store

Is it terrible my first thought when both families would be here was "now we can take pictures of each family!"

We also had Grandpa Ira and Po-po here for halloween, and all of us adults had fun taking Roy trick-or-treating, and then eating all his candy of course. Roy sure has all of the best grandparents a kid could ask for!

Roy was a jedi for halloween, which actually only involved a brown cloak and a "light saber" made of a bubble wand. Hey, points for frugality when he won't even remember it! He actually loves the cloak, and still reaches out his arm for me to put it on him every time he sees it in his closet.

The cutest little jedi who wouldn't stop moving for pictures :)

light saber!

We're in the height of "fall" in Texas I think. With the rain, we've also seen some drops in temperature (Shenli said "it's kinda cold" in his shorts while Roy and I are already bundled up in winter extreme clothing with our hot cocoa). But I do love the crispness in the air and the upcoming holiday season!

Here are some things about Roy lately, so that I can remember these forever. I just went through our calendar pictures for this year, and I've already forgotten so much from when he was little-r!

Roy:
-squints at the camera when the flash goes off
-says "ahhh" after drinking..and eating, and any time he just wants a laugh from us
-has a new word: "wow" and he makes his mouth as big as he can
-is getting picky about food "one bite of this, then one bite of that" and won't eat until he gets it. Also, if he decides he wants something else to eat (like if I bring out a new food), he'll spit out his entire mouthful of food so he can start in on the next thing.
-runs away at night after the bath so he doesn't have his diaper on. He knows it's a game and will wait until I chase him before he gets too far
-knows that the mail key goes in the mailbox door
-is learning so much about his toys, he seems so smart! He knows the rainbow order of his rings, so he takes off one if he puts on the wrong color. He will only drive his car around if there is music playing, so he stops when the music stops and presses the button again before continuing. He is almost getting the hang of "cleaning up" at the end of the day, and he almost knows which puzzle pieces go in which slots too! We sure love this boy more every day

Life as the Mom of a 1-Year Old

I thought I'd write a similar post to the previous one about life as a 1-year old. Here is what it's like to be me! Not even any pictures because it's early and I'm lazy.  I tried to think of more, but life as a mom of a 1-year old is pretty normal I guess. :)

• You buy all-the-snacks at the store (crackers, fruit snacks, cookies) for "baby" but secretly you just plan to eat them all because he needs fruits and vegetables of course!

• You've now given up on keeping the tupperware cupboard organized, but actually you're happy about it because it's a safe toy! Plus, it is so adorable to see the baby learning to put things inside tupperware.

• You love the new rug in the hallway, but what you're most excited for is seeing how the baby plays with it, walks on it, and treats it like a new alien in the house. The same goes for all new home decor - seeing the baby play stare at it is the best.

• You consider all onesies "too small" now (even though they're not), just so you can buy adorable new big kid t-shirts and pants.

• You still argue (not really) with your husband over who gets to keep the baby (but I want to take him to the store, he's the best!) - hopefully this argument will continue forever... :)

• You are constantly amazed at how smart, talented, hilarious, and adorable your baby is. You hope he never grows up at the very same time that you can't wait for him to keep growing and learning.

Life As A 1-Year Old

It hasn't even been a month since Roy turned one, but I already feel like he's lightyears ahead of last month. This isn't an official 13-month post (will I even keep doing them now that the months are in the awkwardly-too-high-to-really-tell-how-old-he-is range? We shall see...), but here are some things about what it's like to be one. Also, I really feel like Roy just grew up overnight. Not like "it's gone so fast!" but literally like he learned how to do so many toddler things in a day....or a week at least!

• Your dance moves become super awesome, including swaying, head banging, stomping, and some erratic crazy dances.
• You think everything is a phone, including your bare hands and your sippy cups.
• You no longer use a bottle. Sad day for you (you cry several days in a row hoping mom will give in and give back the bottles) but it is the happiest day ever for mom to not do bottle dishes any longer!
• You think you are really strong and can carry around giant boxes, Tupperware, puzzles, books, and your toy riding car.
• You get super frustrated when you aren't strong enough to lift the biggest things, like the "What to Expect" book. You throw the book on the ground in anger until mom gives you some light sci-fi to "read" instead.
• You also get frustrated at other little things like: not being able to reach the deepest toy (computer mouse) hidden in your toy box. Also: trying to read your book in your crib late at night in the dark and not being able to see anything.
• You are obsessed with putting things in containers. A book in the trash can? Yep! The door stopper in your crib? Yep! Everything is a container and everything needs to be "put away".
• One of mom's favorites is that you can concentrate on things for a long time now. Like doing a puzzle or putting two blocks together - you won't take time to laugh at mom's jokes or be distracted. You just keep sitting there, concentrating away!
• Most of all, you know you are hilarious and you know everyone loves you.

I call this picture "everyone needs a haircut". But also, Roy is obsessed with coming to sit in our laps. He just walks right up, turns around, and plops down as close as he can get.

He is also super good at doing the puzzle. He can get most of the pieces if I put them close to their spots!

Picture with mom because they are few and far between!

You concentrate on reading books, and you love to do the animal sounds. Currently every animal (including the neighbor's dogs) says "mooo", but you're getting there!

Grandma Visits Baby Roy

Hopefully she came to see the rest of us too. :) Roy loved having his Grandma in town. She read books to him, fed him so much food (we all ate REALLY well for a week!), played with him, and brought him so many presents.

We went swimming almost every day she was here, and baby Roy loves swimming. We also went shopping and got some cute new things for the house and for all of us! We sure miss Grandma, and can't wait for her to come back.

Mom, how did we not get a picture of all of us together??

 

Roy loves the new car Grandma got him for his birthday!

Roy at 1 Year

Roy is a year old!! It is crazy to think about, and yet feels exactly normal. He had a wonderful birthday...meaning he probably didn't even know it was any different. We served his favorite dinner (just kidding, he doesn't have a favorite so obviously it must be one of my favorites..) of fettuccine alfredo and breadsticks. And then he had some fishy cupcakes for dessert! I didn't plan to do anything too exciting, but we had plenty of fun.

I saw a poll on a baby website the other day and about 40% of people spent more than $500 on their baby's 1st birthday. WOW! I had fleeting desires to do something like that - even just balloons and streamers could have been cool, but then I remembered when Roy had a balloon for one day...and all he did was try to eat it. So we just kept it simple, but made some great memories.

Here are some things about Roy at one year:
-He keeps learning things and then unlearning them. One time he was obsessed with kisses - he would kiss me over and over and laugh. But he hasn't done it since! He also has said a few words (like "dad-dy") a few times, and then never again.

-He doesn't know any animal sounds or words, but knows a car goes 'vroom'. And he does it all the time! He has a few toy cars, and constantly goes 'vroOOooOOooOooOoOom' to his heart's content.

-He knows how to chase and be chased. His favorite game with Shenli is to be chased. He will run right to me (mom's base!) in hopes that dad will growl and stomp over to chase him and tickle him.

-Can climb up and down stairs. His little legs are so short that it's hard for him to go down especially, since it's a small leap of faith to reach the next stair. But he's a champ at going up! He likes to disappear while I'm in another room, and then I find him 3-4 stairs up just giggling, wanting me to chase him up.

-He can pull blocks apart and wants so badly to put them together, but he doesn't know how. But he loves pulling them apart!

-His favorite color is red (not really sure if they can have favorite colors at this age, but he always gravitates toward red things!). He also loves balls, reading books still, his puppy that he sleeps with, adult shoes, the pool, his stroller...and basically everything.

-He's still on the smallest end of the growth charts, but he eats and sleeps great as always! He is a joy to have every day. He learns so much, and I know this is just the tip of him really learning. We love him so much - happy birthday Roy!

Official 1-year pictures

Eating that birthday cupcake!

The birthday fishy cupcakes! Just how I dreamed them.

11-month pictures

Roy doesn't understand selfies (..and neither do I)

Crazy hair, brought to you by Roy getting food everywhere, every meal

Thoughts on Decision Fatigue, or: How I Plan to Become a Robot

As I've mentioned before, I absolutely love the idea of lists, goals, and self-assessment. So when I heard of the concept of decision fatigue, I became obsessed! Decision fatigue is basically the idea that you become more tired after making too many decisions, and then you make poor or irrational decisions because of it. Instances of this in my life are many, and include:

-Why I can't make myself do the dishes at night. Because I'm so tired (I'm definitely a morning person) and I can't force myself to make the right decision to do the dishes, so I make the easy (irrational) choice.
-Why I sometimes look at my meal plan for the week and decide I hate everything on it and that we should just eat out all week (or, alternatively, eat grilled cheese and pancakes the rest of the week). Making a new meal can be a hard decision to make/follow-through, whereas the decision to make pancakes (and the process of making them) is so ingrained in me that it's easy!

I love the idea of making most of my decisions super easy, and making myself happier in the process. I've been listening to the Gretchen Rubin podcasts lately and I'm sure I'll post on those eventually too. But first, here are my ideas to implement so I make fewer decisions. Also known as...how I plan to become a robot so I always make the right choice and don't hesitate! I love reading blog posts like this from other people, so I guess that's why I'm writing these down. And so I can look back on it later!

-Do my hair the same way every weekday. When I realized I should do this, it was a major lightbulb moment. I have never had a go-to hair style, and because of that, I don't really know how to do my hair well or what looks good on me. But I did start noticing that if my bangs aren't pinned back somehow, it drives me nuts all day. So I decided that every weekday I will wear my hair straight with bangs back somehow and that's it. That way, I can begin to perfect my regular hairstyle! I still branch out on the weekends when I have more time to get ready.

-Put snacks in tupperware in the fridge. Okay, I haven't implemented this yet, but I do plan to! I think I've always had this goal, but I've never had a side-by-side fridge until now, so I can finally see my food rather than bending down all the time. If I keep fruits and veggies in the fridge in tupperware, I hope that it will be a no-brainer decision to just eat them!

-Keep the house clean all day long. This obviously involves a bunch of mini-decisions but I think it will add up to far less decision making overall! I've started following Gretchen Rubin's "1-minute rule" where if a task takes less than a minute, you do it right away. For me, this means
*putting dishes in the sink right after we use them
*picking up Roy's toys and my own things whenever I leave a room
*.....maybe that's it! But in general, just picking up and wiping things down, and cleaning up little by little.
The reason this one is so important to me is that the messier my house gets, the more able I am to live with just a bit more mess, and the less motivation I have to clean up anything. So if there are dishes in the sink, then it doesn't matter if I leave a mess on the table, or don't sweep the floor, etc. Whereas if my house is clean except for dinner dishes, it's a no-brainer decision to do the last of the dinner dishes before bed to keep the house all clean!

I'm still working on all of these, and trying to implement even more automatic things to reduce my decision fatigue. But I can say already that these are working wonders!

Roy: 10 Months

A ten month old? I can't believe Roy will be a whole year old in just a couple of months. Roy has really started moving and "talking" more this month, and I love it! Here are some more notes:

-He got his two top teeth and now has four total. When he first got his top teeth, he would grind his teeth all the time. The sound drove us crazy! But now he's used to them and doesn't do it anymore.
-He chews his tongue. Apparently this is genetic, because I have always been a major tongue chewer. Who knew it began so young! He sticks his tongue out the front of his mouth and just chews away all the time.
-He loved it when we were packing up and moving our stuff out of the Orem apartment. He would just go from box to box and try to climb on them, move them around, everything. One time Shenli caught him on top of one box and trying to swing his leg over onto another box to ride it like a horse. So hilarious.
-Now that we're in Texas (and a neighborhood where I don't fear for my life when going for a walk...), we bought a stroller to take Roy around. He LOVES it. And not just being in it for walks. He loves sitting on the ground inside the house playing with the wheels of the stroller. He can move it around the family room and he'll play spinning those stroller wheels for such a long time.
-I am back to work full-time (I was at 30 hrs in Orem) now that Roy can be contained without access to the kitchen and family room all from my "office". So in the new house, Roy gets the whole upstairs to play around in without getting into too much trouble! But what that does mean is he gets to entertain himself even longer while I work. He has a toy basket that he plays around with most of the day - it's amazing to see him just go, get a toy out, and play with it all by himself.
-But my favorite part about him playing at work is when he plays with my office desk. Because the printer is now at his eye level and he's learned to turn it on and off! It's so hilarious - he found which button makes the noise by turning it on, and then he tries to make copies before turning it back off to do the process again. He seems so smart nowadays! I'm sure he's no smarter than any other baby, but it makes my heart so happy to see him do things like this.
-While this house may be better for him playing around at work, it also has more dangers for sure! Or rather, we have to be more vigilant. One of the first days we were here, I let Roy play in the pantry while I made dinner, thinking it was totally safe. Well, it didn't take long for him to reach up for the glass jars and make one fall on top of him! It was empty and he didn't get hurt at all, but I think it scared him pretty bad when it shattered. And it scared me too! So the pantry is off limits at least until I baby proof it! We've also had to baby proof the outlets and of course the stairs.
-He now eats much more food than ever before! At our last doctor's appt, they said Roy was slightly anemic, but nothing to worry about. And he's been dropping percentiles each visit (now in about the .6%....yep) but still nothing to worry about. But one day it hit me - I bet other kids eat a ton more food now than just milk, and that's how they get bigger! (Duh.....). Up until now, I'd still just been feeding Roy some of our dinner each day, so not very much. But then I got up the courage to buy real baby food, and set us a rigorous schedule. He eats three times a day, just when I eat, and he eats some cereal, baby food, water, and part of our meals too. The baby food has made all the difference, and I hope it helps him grow big! I feel terrible having basically starved him for this long, but I feel slightly more confident now as he starts weaning from formula soon and gets all his nutrients from real food!
-Ever since we got to this house, Roy has only done real crawling. No more army crawl! I am so glad too. And he's also started a new trick - standing up by himself. He pulls up on anything nearby (I tend to be a favorite pull-up toy..haha) and then lets go and stands for a second or so. Now he's worked up to maybe 10 seconds max at times! He doesn't seem to want to take any steps yet while standing, but he loves the actual standing part. Soon this boy will be walking by himself - I can't believe it.
-Just one last thing that has started happening the last few weeks. When I'm working, or anytime Roy plays upstairs, sometimes he'll just disappear and be gone a long time. I finally peeked in at him one day and he was....reading! Or looking at books rather. He has a big stack of them in his room (we need a bookcase...I'm thinking the wall book display things from ikea!) and he just pulls out various books and turns the pages. It's SO adorable. I've started giving him a book in bed for naps and he loves that too. Hopefully this boy turns into a book lover!!

That's it! Here are some pictures this month. We didn't take very many compared to previous months...I need to get back on that! Hopefully with summer we'll have more swimming pictures and things.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

This recipe isn't anything new for most people I'm sure. If you haven't had a white chocolate cranberry cookie, get on that! I never really liked them growing up because I preferred semi-sweet chocolate chips over anything else, plus dried cranberries were in the same category as raisins for me (aka: not acceptable in any way). But when I had to make cookies for Young Women's last month and had no chocolate chips, these were great to use up some ingredients!

The real reason this recipe is a triumph for me is because I have always stayed away from cookie recipes that call for "weird" ingredients - in this case, cornstarch. Just like recipes that add pudding, I always thought cornstarch was basically a cheating way to make a good cookie. I don't want to have to keep vanilla pudding stocked in the pantry, and I wanted my regular chocolate chip cookies to taste as good as other people's without any of those "cheating" ingredients!

But I gave in for these, and now I'm so glad I did! I will make this recipe again and again. A lot of comments said to add macadamia nuts as well - I don't usually have those, but I bet even pecans would work!

Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Roy: 7-9 Months

How many times can I use the excuse "life was so busy last month" before everyone stops believing me?? Apparently I skipped Roy's 7- and 8-month posts. Luckily, it's not like he's growing and changing daily.... (That was a joke- it really does seem he learns something new every day!) Here are some highlights lately:

-Roy can pull himself up, sit back down, and walk around the couches and tables. He LOVES to stand and walk around.
-He has started stroking my hair. (Don't worry - he also pulls it sometimes too, I'm not getting out of that one!) He will grab a piece of hair and run his fingers down it, then grab again.
-He has 2 teeth. He was a little more cranky than usual one weekend, and then he bit my finger and it actually hurt!
-He has learned some new tricks - he can play patty-cake with me (he just hold his hands up waiting for me to high-five them), and he can splash in the tub. My favorite trick is that he can clap! We had been trying to teach him for weeks, and then I was at a baby shower and a guest was showing him how to clap, and then he did it! Ever since then, he claps all the time - when someone is excited on TV, when he's with a group and having fun, all the time.
-He can dance too! While standing up, he'll bend his legs and move his little bum. If sitting, he'll rock back and forth. He does it to all kinds of music, and he is always on beat too!
-He finally got sick for the first (and second!) time. He got a cold one day, and was so miserable/grumpy. He also slept more than usual. Then the rest of our family got sick after him!
-For his second sickness, he had a fever of 103 on Mother's Day. We took him to the ER, and they thought he had a UTI. Turns out (it takes 48 hours to know for sure), he actually didn't. But, the antibiotics they gave him caused an allergic reaction! He had hives all over. Luckily, it wasn't more serious than that, and now he's back to his wonderful self.
-He still isn't talking, but I hope he's getting close. I know he recognizes the word 'milk', even if he won't say it. He babbles 'mama' and 'dada' a lot. I am trying to speak to him every chance I get so he can learn some words!!
-He only weighs 14lbs. YEP he is smaller at 9 months than some babies at 2 months! But he's solid and active and oh-so-happy. He loves to follow us around the house from one room to the next.
-He can crawl the right way now! He only does it about half the time, but he gets his legs up under him and awkwardly crawls!
-He loves all foods now. I think he doesn't like olives (random...), but other than that, he loves everything he gets in front of him: pizza, stir fry, cafe rio (the spicier, the better!), cookies, bananas, and even regular baby food. I am still not great at feeding him consistently (some days it just never happens..) but hopefully I can get a schedule together soon.

8-month pictures - I did take them, just didn't post!

Getting into all sorts of mischief

He LOVES standing

Right before this picture, he was entirely on top of the cube - arms and legs in the air. 

A rare picture of us together!

Family picture May - check!

Cousin time

At the ER - a sad, cuddly boy

9-month pictures. Clapping!

9-month pictures - he wouldn't sit still very long

I really hate other people's food baby pictures. BUT I see why people take them. They are cute...only to the parents I bet :)

We had some fun visitors this weekend! And Roy just woke up... (grump!)