By the way...

I redesigned my blog today, so if you're reading this in a reader, come over and take a peek! I never really liked the last design but never had time to change it. Now I've switched to a design that I can keep indefinitely and won't get outdated. I also wrote a fancy About page if you want to read that!

Gulliver Loves...

Gulliver is growing up so fast that it's hard to keep up with the things he's interested in on this blog! But here are some things to keep you up to date:

Gulliver Loves...

Ghostie. It is a little nightlight from IKEA that charges during the day and that Gulliver can take in the crib with him at night. He pronounces it GOH-tie. When you tell him it's time for bed, he usually runs and hides, but when you catch him, he asks for Ghostie. Sometimes he talks about Ghostie during the day.

Peanut butter. When you open up the pantry, he comes running over, asking for "burr! burr!" (butter). This may or may not be because Murray feeds him peanut butter on a spoon. And I may or may not have also succumbed to this habit.

Songs. Gulliver loves it when we sing him songs, and he's starting to sing more and more with us. I've been singing the song, "It's in every one of us" almost every night for the past year at least, and he can now do almost all the words with me. Of course, "One of us" is "Wuh wuh wuss." He also loves Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and if he's around toys or dolls that are close to his size, he's been known to sing the song to them and demonstrate on them.

When I put Gulliver to bed, I sing him a song. As soon as I'm done, he whispers "Song." And then I sing another. I absolutely cannot resist him asking for more songs.

Birds. He takes after his mother! And I'm going to be a really good mother and teach him what every bird is. So when he points and says "Bird!" I say, "Yes! That bird is a killdeer!"

Angry Birds. Gulliver finally has learned how to play Angry Birds. He's been intrigued by it for a while, but he could never quite figure out how to sent the birds the right way. Now he does, and he's better than his dad.

Goodnight, Moon. This is his favorite book. We read it to him every night. He is now to the point that he is starting to recite it along with us. (Half the words are good, and half the words are only intelligible because you know what he's trying to say.)

"Baby." When it's time to cuddle, I pick Gulliver up and I rock him back and forth and say, "Baaaaaaa-by. Baaaaaaaaa-by. Baaaaaaaaaa-by." He loves this, and even says "baby" along with me. Sometimes, he'll reach up for me and ask, "baaaaa-by, baaaaa-by," letting me know what he wants me to do.

Snow. He says, "Nowss" which is really funny.

Hiding. Gulliver loves to hide when you announce any of the following: diaper change, bed time, nap time, getting dressed, getting in the car (particularly when he wants to walk to the park instead).

Colors! Gulliver is great at his primary and secondary colors! Although sometimes he will get them a little mixed up.

Well, that's what I can think of right now! More to come, I'm sure. He's just growing up so fast!!

I Turned 30!

Remember that time I made 30 goals to accomplish before turning 30? And I made all the goals the day before my birthday? And then I left you hanging? So I have accomplished most of those goals, but definitely not all before turning 30.

Still to do:
-Put all adorable baby clothes for baby girl in one place.
-Make 2 real goals for the new year (they're in my head, but I need to write them down... Which will happen when I do my yearly goal accounting)

That's it! So I accomplished 28 goals. Because I still FEEL 28, folks! I'm young at heart.

Since turning 30, I have been pretty busy! In a good way! I actually took an entire week off of work, which was blissful. Murray, Gulliver and I went to Disneyland! And I have to say that we continually worry about how well Gulliver will travel, because each time he is a little older than the last. Well, once again, he was a PERFECT traveller! We couldn't believe it! Between playing with toys, napping, and playing with his own feet for four hours at a time (not even an exaggeration) he made it through the whole trip with very very minimal complaining. Also, it helps that we his parents take after MacGyver just a little. We put a few movies on my iPad for Gulliver and using my iPad's own cover and two boy scout belts, we rigged the iPad to the back of my head rest and let Gulliver watch a few movies. He watched movies all the way from Primm to California on the way there, and then only watched one movie on our way back to Utah. He could have watched more, but during that four-hour block of time when he was playing with his feet (sucking on his own socks to be honest), we were waiting for him to fall asleep for his nap.

When we booked the spur of the moment trip to Disneyland, we saw there would be rain. I took that to be a good thing because it would mean fewer crowds and it probably just meant a very light drizzle. Boy, was I wrong! (And did I mention the Disneyland tickets and hotel were both non-refundable?)

The first day started with that light drizzle I was expecting, which quickly turned into actual rain. We pulled out the ponchos we bought at walmart (and laughed at the suckers who had to buy $40 ponchos in the park) and then fairly miserably waited in lines in the rain. Murray was the first to cry Uncle, if you can believe that, considering his love of Disneyland.

We went back to the hotel, soaked through, and Gulliver was so done in that he asked, "Nap?" and ran over to his crib. Poor, poor boy!

Normally I would have live-blogged from Disneyland, but you couldn't actually take your phone out if you didn't want it to get soaked.

The second day in the park was much better, possibly due to lower expectations, possibly due to better preparation, and possibly due to heavier rain in the morning, which cut down on lines. We actually walked onto most rides. Back at the hotel mid-day the boys napped while I took every stitch of clothing we had to the laundry facility and threw it all in the dryer. Having dry, warm clothes was an experience that couldn't be described as less than euphoric. And in fact, by the time nap time was over, it had mostly stopped raining. So we went back to the park one final time and enjoyed the evening at Disneyland with short lines and that light drizzle I'd been hoping for all along.

I'll do a separate post maybe tonight where I share some photos and talk about highlights. Like Gulliver meeting Mickey Mouse, which was pure awesomeness.

Since being back, we enjoyed a very merry Christmas. I even got my Christmas cards in the mail. On Christmas eve. Bah! It wasn't my fault, though, as they were due to arrive Dec 17, and instead arrived Dec 23.

Oh, and the other major news you may have missed (this whole time I haven't been blogging, I've been active on Facebook... Consider me converted) is that I passed my gestational diabetes test today, WELL within the normal range!! This comes as good news and bad news. The good news is, no finger pricking, no diet restriction, no pee sticks, and no added medical expenses that we would have to pay! The bad news? A week after having Gulliver, I weighed less than I did when I got pregnant. I now can no longer expect such a pregnancy miracle.

Well that brings you a little bit up to speed. I'll recap Disneyland soon! Although I'm toying with the idea of just hopping on my computer and redesigning my blog quickly because I'm sooooooo tired of it and never liked this design much in the first place but haven't had time to fix it. We will see!


-- Post From My iPad, with apologies for the typos and for the self righteousness of admitting I have an iPad.

30 Before 30

Well everyone, today marks a very sad day in my life. I have finally caved and joined Facebook. I have extremely mixed feelings about this new stage in my life. I kind of liked being totally off the Facebook radar.

Anyway, one of my favorite bloggers, Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely turned 30 this year. She had a list of 30 goals she wanted to accomplish before she turned 30. I thought that was a really great idea. My thirtieth is on Wednesday. I have been really really busy, but it's never too late, right? Here is a list of 30 goals to reach before I turn 30:

1. Join Facebook--DONE!
2. Gain an ounce (for the baby!)
3. Put Gulliver's toys away.
4. Clean the kitchen.
5. Clear the junk on the dining room table.
6. Put all adorable baby clothes for our baby girl in one place.
7. Put away the Mr. Potato Head parts in the guest room.
8. Make the final changes to El Senor's wedding invitations.
9. Feed Gulliver some vegetables.
10. Get two nights of sleep (technically not possible since I was born just after midnight Eastern time, which is actually Dec 14 Mountain time...)
11. Throw away all junk in our Civic.
12. Get oil changed in the Civic.
13. Watch a Pixar short with Gulliver.
14. Actually figure out what I want to do for my birthday evening with Murray.
15. Vacuum main floor.
16. Pack and send gifts to clients.
17. Sleep in. Twice. (Morning of birthday counts.)
18. Eat a decent breakfast.
19. Give Gulliver a bath.
20. Send Gulliver's portrait to my parents.
21. Make 2 real goals for the new year.
22. Throw away spoiled food in fridge.
23. Make a proper dinner.
24. Share at least one photo or video to Facebook.
25. Call my grandpa.
26. Chat with my mom. (Tuesday is chat day!)
27. Shower and get properly ready.
28. Fold laundry.
29. Make the bed.
30. Have fun with Gulliver and Murray.

Okay, wow, 30 is a LOT. Wow. Maybe I won't be so successful in accomplishing all my wonderful goals. But if I do accomplish these goals, I know I will be a better human being. Also, note to self, I may spend the last day of my 20s frantically crossing a lot of really banal chores off of a list.


-- Post From My iPad, with apologies for the typos and for the self righteousness of admitting I have an iPad.

Where's Gulliver?

Can you find the toddler in this picture?



This is where Gulliver decided to hide instead of getting in the car with Murray today. Ohhhhh, Gulliver. He loves to play games!

Bad Worm, Bad Dad!

Last night, Murray and I took Gulliver over to the pool for some swimming. We haven't taken him swimming since this summer, and when we walked into the pool area, his face was just like [what I hope] Christmas morning [will be]. Of course as soon as we got there and he saw the other family playing, I realized our error in totally forgetting to bring any sort of toy over. Like a ball.

Previous to last night, Gulliver was fearless when it came to swimming. What he loves most is getting out of the pool and jumping back in, into your arms. And just to mix things up a little and make them more interesting, he was always really good at running around the edge of the pool, faster than you could swim, keeping you guessing about exactly where and when he was going to jump into the pool.

Well, last night, Gulliver for some reason was being a little more cautious. He would go to Murray and then very cautiously jump into the pool. Then when it was my turn, he'd come to me, grab my hands, sit down on the side of the pool, and very carefully slide in. What happened to my jumping baby (who this summer jumped right onto my head when I looked somewhere else for 1 second)?

Of course, this gave rise to no end of gloating on Murray's part. Almost each time we tested, Gulliver would jump into Murray's arms, but for me, almost every time, he'd sit down on the side of the pool and then slip cautiously in. Murray read into it in all sorts of ways. He's the protector. He's the physical one. He is the man. He also wanted to make sure I blogged about this (am I doing a good job, honey?).

At one point, it was time to bust out another trick from this summer. This summer, when Gulliver was outside the pool and I was inside, I liked to go over to the filter vents, stick my arm in, and stick my finger up and out of one of the holes in the cover at the side of the pool. This made a little worm that Gulliver LOVED. He would laugh and laugh and try to catch it, and try to stomp on it (once or twice successfully---ouch!). Great, wonderful fun!!

Last night, I stuck my finger through the vent, and the look on Gulliver's face immediately told me that he was maybe a little bit afraid of that worm. Because I'm the tender love-giver, the sweet and sensitive mother, the nurturer, then I didn't push this game on him and gave up on the worm idea.

A little later, Murray tried the worm game. Again, Gulliver's face showed he was a little afraid. Instead of running over and playing with the worm, Gulliver immediately tried to get back into the pool as quickly as possible. Murray told me to get Gulliver out of the water again and try to get him to play with the worm. So together, Gulliver and I got out of the water and went over to the worm. He was terrified. He stop, dropped, and almost rolled right into the water. Then, he clung to me tightly. Scary, scary worm!!

Well, what do you know, for the rest of the evening, he wouldn't let Murray hold him. He certainly wouldn't jump to Murray. In fact, Gulliver was no longer interested in getting out of the pool at all (the worms might pop up if he is out there!!).

And so he clung to me. ME. His mother. His nurturer. His best friend in the whole wide world.

Murray is married to a foreigner.

Most of the time, I think that Murray forgets that he married someone from another country. And considering I've lived here for over a decade and all of my adult life, it usually really doesn't even feel like I'm from another country. But then, the other day, this conversation happened:

Me: I'm feeling tough.

Murray: How so?

Me: Well, I got about five hours of sleep, and then I think I allowed myself to get too hungry before I finally ate something, so my stomach has been in a knot ever since. 

Murray: That's not feeling tough. You're not feeling well. Feeling tough means... feeling TOUGH. Rrrr! I'm tough!

Me: [Thinking...] Is this a Canadian thing? You really have never heard anyone say, "I'm feeling tough?" It means you're not feeling well.

Murray: What?? That doesn't make any sense! Tough means TOUGH! We do NOT say that in the States. How am I only finding out about this NOW?

Anyway, sure enough, it's a Canadian thing. The funny thing is, I'm sure that this is probably the first time in 3+ years of marriage that I have ever even said, "I'm feeling tough" to anyone. It's not something I say all of the time, but clearly it's in my brain and will surface occasionally! 

A Giveaway!

Oooooooooo! There is an awesome giveaway over at Petit Elefant!










That person giving away those portraits is so generous, talented, and handsome!!


-- Post From My iPad, with apologies for the typos and for the self righteousness of admitting I have an iPad.