On being a mom and an attorney...

While drafting a warranty deed today, I was typing "Lot 114, TRACT D," and I was thinking "Big D, little d, what begins with D? Donuts and a duck-dog, D...d...D."

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She did it! XM can crawl forward, toward her intended goal. (She's been going backward, away from intended goal for a few weeks).

Here is a video clip posted mostly for the benefit of my mom. Hi mom! *waves* How's Beirut?

You've Been Rickrolled, America!

For those of you who would like to be fluent in geek, study up on this internet meme primer.

(ht: kulturblog)

Six Months Old

Here are some recent pictures of bug. She is now six months old, weighs an intimidating 13 pounds 13 ounces, and measures 26 1/4 inches. Notice her two bottom teeth--she cut those almost a month ago. I gave her carrots for lunch today (for the second time) and she spit out every bite. While she doesn't like carrots (yet), she loves oatmeal. She still won't take a bottle, but she enjoys drinking water from a sippy cup.

Cobbler Recipe?

Hmmmm, Oregon berries. I picked a bucket full of blackberries from the brier in my backyard, so I want to make cobbler tonight. I don't make cobblers very often (I'm not a good cook), so I found an easy recipe online. I'll let you know if it turns out.

Do you have a favorite, tried and true, cobbler recipe? If so, do you mind sharing?

Thanks!

UPDATE:

Here is the recipe I used

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 cups fruit

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in an 8x8 pan.
Mix together the flour, milk, 1/2 cup sugar, and baking powder; pour over melted butter.
Put fruit over mixture and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup sugar over the top.
Bake until golden brown (usually 30-35 minutes).

The cobbler turned out ok. I liked this recipe because I already had all the ingredients on hand. Next time, I want to find a recipe with a crumblier crust (with oats and brown sugar...something like that).

Confessions of a Novice Mama

Reading H’s posts about her sleep troubles with G (here and here) gave me the courage to post my sleep issues with XM in hopes that you, my gentle readers, will offer me your advice.

• Confession number 1: I still swaddle my six month old.

That’s right. Every night I swaddle XM and she loves it. When I put her down on her swaddle blankets, she holds her arms by her sides and lets me wrap her up tight.

• Confession number 2: I rock my baby to sleep every night.

Or more accurately, I bounce her to sleep on the exercise ball. After she is nursed and swaddled, I bounce her for about ten minutes and put her down in her crib fast asleep. She sleeps for seven to ten hours.

• Confession number 3: I put my baby down for naps in her swing.

I can put her in the swing while she’s awake and she’ll fall asleep for 1-2 hours.

Until recently, I’ve had the mentality of “why fix it if it ain’t broke?” XM sleeps through the night and naps well. I pushed the nagging “you’re fostering unhealthy sleep habits” voice to the back of my head.

Well, now I’ve reached a problem. XM is too big for her swing. She can reach up with her long monkey arms and grab the mobile at the top. It’s only a matter of time until she pulls herself out of the harness. So, a few days ago I attempted to put XM down to nap in her crib. I went through our sleep-time ritual and then I put her in the crib (awake) instead of the swing. She didn’t cry, but rather played and talked to herself for about 45 minutes. Then she cried, and I picked her up because the time for napping had passed.

The next day I tried to use the bed-time routine for napping. I nursed her, swaddled her, and then bounced her to sleep before I put her in the crib. She slept for about 10 minutes then woke up and played for about 20 minutes. After that she cried and I went in to her. The time for napping had passed.

I have Spears’ “The Baby Book” and Weissbluth’s “Healthy Sleep Habits: Happy Child.” The two books give the EXACT OPPOSITE advice, almost word for word. Nurse to sleep, don’t nurse to sleep. Let her cry it out to help her self-sooth. Don’t let her cry it out or else she’ll learn I am unresponsive to her needs. Ugh. I see logic in both approaches, but I can’t decide what to do.

How did you get your babies to fall asleep on their own?

XM’s pediatrician said I should work on two things right away: get her out of the swing and put her in the crib awake. He told me to continue to swaddle her until she no longer wanted it. He said to let her cry it out for five minutes. If she doesn’t settle down, then go into her and get her to sleep anyway I can. Eventually, she will fall asleep rather than crying. What do you think? Is that good advice? Both Dr. Spears and Dr. Weissbluth would disagree.

Please share advice, war stories, encouragement and disapproval.

Well done, China!

The opening ceremonies were amazing. They were directed by Zhang Yimou and it appears he had unlimited resources to pull off a beautiful show.

Fu Qi Zhong Guo

(Good Luck China!) Or perhaps it’s hao yun Zhong Guo. I’m not sure.

Anyway, I hope the Beijing Olympics are a success. It has been very fun watching all the coverage of Beijing leading up to the Olympics. I can’t wait to watch the actual games.

As most of you know, Yang and I lived in Beijing from 1999-2000. We had such an amazing time. The city was fascinating, the politics were infuriating, the air was toxic, and the food was sublime! Ohhh, the food. Seriously.

We lived and taught at a school near Bai Yun Guan (a Taoist temple) on the east side of Beijing. When we went back in 2004, our school and street had already been razed in preparation for the games. Apparently, the entire city has received a major facelift. So Chinese. (Ask me about the fake leaves on the trees sometime.)

We purchased bicycles shortly after we arrived in 1999, and that was our primary means of transportation. It was always a shock for the average Beijing commuter to see an American blondie riding a bicycle along side him or her. One time when Yang was riding along Chang’an Daijie, he was approached by a Random Chinese Guy while they were waiting at a red light. RCG asked if Yang was American. Yes. RCG asked if Yang was from Oregon. Yes. RCG then stated that he visited a family in a small Oregon farming community a few years ago. As luck would have it, Yang grew up in that community next door to that family. Weird! The light then turned green and Yang and RCG went their separate ways.

Anyway, enough reminiscing. Go China!

My mom and me on the Great Wall at Mutianyu in 2004.

Yong He Gong Lamasery.

Forbidden City

My first attempt at editing video

Yang got me a video camera for Christmas, and I have recorded lots of wonderful video of XM. Unfortunately, the software that came with the video camera is very hard to work with. So, I have hours of unedited video stored somewhere on my hard drive in a random format not recognized by quick time or media player. This is my first attempt at saving the video in a usable format.

It is not edited too well, so I posted this long clip mostly for the benefit of my mother. She will think two and a half minutes of XM trying to crawl (in poor lighting with a shaky camera and annoying narration) is adorable. I need to remember to not talk so much next time I use the camera!

I recorded this last night. XM was very tired, but determined to try to crawl. She gets so frustrated when her legs and arms won't work the way she wants.

Family, Curmudgeons, and Flat Irons

My sister K and her daughter J came to meet Xiao Mei last weekend. We had such a great time catching up, and XM loved all the extra attention she received. K is very funny—she has a dry, witty sense of humor. She was fun to talk to, and she had some great insights about XM. J is 11 years old, going on 23. She is intelligent, kind, and independent. She kept XM very entertained.

July is the perfect time for visitors to Portland. The weather was great, even out at the coast. We went to the rose garden, and there were still plenty of blooming roses. I carried XM in a front carrier at the rose garden. She loved looking around at the big trees and flowers. She was happy as a clam, so she started talking. XM is not a quiet talker. She shrieks, squawks and makes all kinds of interesting noises. At first, I was a little embarrassed because so much noise was coming from such a little person. However, I figured we were outside, so XM was fine to make as much noise as she wanted. Happy baby noises are the best. Well, there was an older woman walking near us. She was clearly annoyed that XM was disturbing her contemplative walk through the roses. She commented about how loud my baby was, and I was tempted to respond with a comment about how old she looked. (I didn’t). Anyway, that was my first experience with someone expressing her annoyance with my child and/or parenting. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

K brought her flat iron with her. She has the deluxe version that heats up to approximately one million degrees. K ended up with wavy hair after her pregnancies, so she uses the iron to straighten her hair. Well, as genetics would have it, I have also developed a few kinks and curls in my hair after having XM. I tried K’s flat iron and it was awesome! I don’t know why I have not used one before now. After K and J left, I proceeded directly to my nearest Trade Secret and picked up a fancy-pants flat iron. It makes such a difference. Before I looked like the scarecrow, now my hair is nice and smooth. The down side: it nearly doubles the time it takes to get ready.

Random Survey

Zelophehad’s Daughters posted this random survey. I have never commented there, so I didn’t want to leave a comment with my answers. I thought it would be fun to answer here.

1. What’s your favorite movie soundtrack?

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with Lord of the Rings a close second.

2. What’s your favorite holiday?

Christmas

3. What’s your favorite planet?

Earth, though I do love the rings on Saturn.

4. What is the last book you read for fun?

The Host

5. What’s the craziest space doctrine you’ve ever learned in a Church context?

(I do realize this is a tricky one–if we can’t delimit our doctrine, we certainly can’t delimit our space doctrine either. One person’s cherished doctrinal wisdom is another’s cherished doctrinal hogwash. So just define “space doctrine” however you’d like, and try to be respectful of others.)

If you’re not Mormon, you are missing out on our lovely array of crazy space doctrine. If you are Mormon, did you ever hear the one about dinosaur bones? Yup, they came from a different planet.

6. What’s your dream job?

US Ambassador to China. Yang and I talked about joining the Foreign Service when we were newly married. We decided to go to law school instead.

7. What’s your favorite food group?

Dairy, because it encompasses ice cream and cheese.

8. What’s your favorite letter of the alphabet?

K, with Z as close second.

9. What’s your favorite musical instrument?

Guitar to play, piano to listen to.

10. Which of the Standard Works do you like best (counting OT and NT separately)?

NT

11. If you weren’t (or aren’t) Mormon, what religion would you be?

Wiccan, UCC, or maybe I would make up my own religion.

Garden Update

A few pictures to update the gardening. Total crop failure in the onions and bagio beans. Our volunteer strawberries are worth exactly what we paid for them- we maybe got 10 berries and now they're done for the year. We planted two rows of melons, each a different variety, and one of them only has one plant on the whole row. I have my doubts about whether either row will produce anything more than slugs.

On the plus side, the peas grew so tall they fell over, even with my climbing lines. There are more than the one or two corn stalks I thought we had. We will likely have enough squash for the whole block. The pumpkins, beans and zucchini appear as though they'll bear something.

I realize I'll never make a living making things grow, but its still somewhat disheartening to realize you can't grow onions when you grew up on an onion farm. I'm going to blame this year on the seed.

Speaking of onions reminds me of a time on the farm when I accidentally ran over some onions with some farm equipment. I was making a very sharp corner with a disc and a large roller, and no matter how I turned, it just wasn't going to make the corner, I should have gone another way. I was chewed out real good, and then told I wasn't old enough to drive the larger equipment. The uncle who replaced me at the wheel then proceeded to drive the equipment down the road along side the onion field towards the shop and instructed me to follow him in a pickup. About halfway down the road the uncle got distracted and on the straight-away ran over several hundred square feet of onions. I saw it happening, but I figured best to wait a bit before I started honking to bring it to his attention, because maybe he knew what he was doing.

That was 17 or 18 years ago, but I still laugh about that.

Here are some pictures of the garden and our favorite gardener.

Seriously, so funny!!!!!

Check out this new blog. If you are a typical Mormon girl blogger, be prepared to laugh at yourself. If you have time, start from the beginning.

My favorite bits:

• "Laman's terms"
• Excessive use of exclamation points!!!!! (I am guilty of this one.)
• Her super-busyness running errands and 'scrappin.
• The few commenters who do not realize the blog is satirical.
• Her explanatory parentheticals.
• Pal (Also guilty of this one. I vaycayed at Pal every summer of my life until age 20).
• Capitalizing WEATHER related terms. LOVE it. Seriously.
• The sidebar links to Stephenie Meyer's books. (Guilty - I did a blog post about the series).
• "Either by anonymous or Boyd K. Packer, I can't remember."
  

Twenty Year Tag

This is a long one.

I was tagged by Heidi.

20 years ago I:
1. Was nine years old
2. Lived in Sandy, Utah.
3. Enjoyed summer break after fourth grade.
4. Smashed my recorder to bits after my recorder recital and regretted it a few weeks later when I wanted to play it again.
5. Was my 15-year-old sister’s confidante and partner in crime.
6. Water-skied, jet-skied, and knee-boarded at Lake Powell.

10 years ago I:
1. Was 19 years old.
2. Was talking marriage with Yang—he proposed July 18.
3. Lived with my parents after my freshman year at BYU.
4. Managed a Metabolife cart at the mall.
5. Was packing for my study abroad to London.
6. Went to a Meeks family reunion in Kanab, Utah where everyone assumed Yang and I were already married.

5 years ago I:
1. Was 24 years old.
2. Lived in Portland, OR.
3. Just completed my first year of law school.
4. Clerked at a personal injury firm on Macadam Ave.
5. Lost my cat, Tigerlily.
6. Was about to move to a new apartment with a washer and dryer.

3 years ago I:
1. Was 26 years old.
2. Lived in Aloha, OR.
3. Had just graduated from law school.
4. Went to Barbri classes every day.
5. Studied for the bar.
6. Harassed Yang while he studied for the bar.

So far this year I:
1. Am living in Tigard, Oregon.
2. Had my first baby in February.
3. Significantly reduced my hours at work.
4. Am trying to figure out how to be a mom.
5. Set up a treadmill in the garage and thought about running on it.
6. Took our first family vacation with XM to Sun River.

Yesterday I:
1. Took XM swimming for the first time.
2. Billed an hour.
3. Paid the bills.
4. Ran on the treadmill!
5. Went on a wild goose chase with Yang to find a 10x12 rug I saw a Fred Meyer a year ago. (No luck)
6. Put XM to sleep in her crib (in her own room) for the first time.

Today I:
1. Bought Yang’s birthday present.
2. Worked on XM’s baby book.
3. Wrote an email to my parents.
4. Watched XM get up on her hands and knees.
5. Went grocery shopping.
6. Should have worked but drafted this tag instead.

Tomorrow I will:
1. Go to the office for a few hours.
2. Meet Yang at the Melting Pot for his birthday dinner (Thanks G and M!).

In the next year I will:
1. Celebrate XM’s first birthday.
2. Celebrate my tenth wedding anniversary.
3. Celebrate my first Christmas with a child.
4. Turn thirty.
5. Run a 5k or possibly a 10k.
6. Begin planning for baby number two.

I tag: Chelle, Shelley, Kim, M and/or G, Hailey, and Ashley.

Das ist Gut!

The other day I got a teething ring for Xiao Mei because she is constantly gnawing on her hands, blankets, clothes, etc. It was one of those plastic ones available in the grocery store. When I took it out of the packaging it smelled like chemicals. I washed it in hot soapy water but it still smelled chemical-y, so I tossed it. Then I remembered the vow I made before I was a mom: “I will never give my kid plastic toys.” Uh….ahem. I’m only four months into motherhood, and XM’s nursery is littered with plastic rattles, rings, teethers, and toys. She loves them. My problem with plastic toys: they are usually made in China (by kids for kids!) where US safety standards are often ignored (as demonstrated by the numerous toy recalls last year). Also, the softer plastic can break down in saliva so your baby ingests toxins. While I probably won’t throw away all her plastic toys, I have committed myself to be a bit more selective when it comes to the toys I allow XM to play with and chew on.

With my new non-toxic attitude, I schlepped XM down town to Finnegan’s. I heard that was the best place to buy toys in Portland. Finnegan’s has great toys and games for older kids, but I was sorely disappointed in their selection for babies. I looked long and hard to find any wooden toys for babies, and I could only locate two things: a grasping toy and a wooden ring. The grasping toy was made in China, but the label said it used saliva-safe paint, so I bought it. The wooden ring was made in the USA, so I got that as well. Even with my new purchases, I wasn't very happy.

When I got home, I remembered a blog post I read months ago. It is all about safe toys and dangerous toys, and it links to several online retailers that sell handcrafted and European made toys. It was so much fun to visit the sites because the toys are beautiful, fun, and not made in China or with plastic that will break down. Hooray for strict European safety standards!!!

I ordered XM an Albinella bell rattle with a non-toxic finish, a Girali ring grasping toy, and HABA discovery blocks for when she is a little older. They arrived in the mail today, and I am so happy to have them. Gnaw away, little one!

Five things I'll never say (Yang)

I'll bite. Here are the five things you'll never hear me say.

1. Wow, those onions are really tasty.

2. Yes Mr. Jiffy Lube, I'd love it if you'd change my engine belts and radiator cap.

3. I'm looking forward to next week's depositions.

4. I did that perfectly.

5. I need directions.

5 things you'll never hear me say

1. Oh, XM, quit sleeping so long.

2. The pounds just melt away without any effort.

3. Feel free to move your party into the street--I won't hear a thing. What? It's 3 am? I hadn't noticed.

4. I don't want any ice cream right now.

5. Yang needs a bit more ambition.

You?

Mover and a Shaker

Xiao Mei is growing up way too quickly! Every day she learns how to do something new or sees something interesting for the first time. Yesterday she discovered her toes. Oh, the joy. Today she has been working on getting her toes into her mouth, and it’s quite the challenge. I take her socks off when I change her diaper so she can work on grabbing those squirmy toes and pulling them into her mouth.

XM is definitely a mover. Yang and I realized this almost two months ago when we discovered how much she liked to lie on her back and kick her legs. She still loves to kick, but now she has added rolling, twisting, turning, and standing up with our assistance to her activities. I set up the bouncy chair a few days ago to see if she was ready to bounce. I think she is still too little because her feet don’t reach the ground.

Here is a picture of her in her blessing gown (only two months after her blessing).

An Ode to Gollum

Now that Xiao Mei has joined us, there have been some challenges with Gollum the cat. He hasn't caused any problems yet, but there has been some foreshadowing of problems that could arise- particularly once XM starts crawling. Gollum is not the friendliest of creatures.

Last night, Gollum left our household to join up with one of our friends who used to have a Sphinx cat. It was kinda sad on the one hand, but not so much on the other. (I'm sure people will say that about me when I die.)

To celebrate/mourn his leaving the house, I have written this little poem.

Gollum:

No hair, all mad;
Now you're gone we're only a little sad.

You have to be king of where you're at,
Top of the pyramid, of man and cat.

Now that Xiao Mei has arrived,
Your status here has certainly dived.

Hissing, growling, nipping at guests;
Going to a new home will likely be best.

Sticking around eventually you'll spray;
and there's a good chance you'd get shot that day.

You are one of those entertaining guys,
But we also like our new baby's eyes.

Best of luck old friend.

Garden Blogging

Yang planted a garden a few weeks ago. We have peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, cantaloupe, onions, corn, carrots, strawberries, summer squash and zucchini growing in our back yard. Yang picked out all the seeds to plant, but that doesn’t mean he will eat any of the veggies.

As you can see, Yang has a pretty impressive system. He has the irrigation rows, complete with “straw” (in this case, it is grass clippings) to slow the water flow.

I’ll post more pictures as the garden grows.

This is the prettiest flowering plant in our yard. Unfortunately, it is located at the corner of our house, not visible from the street or any windows. Maybe we’ll relocate it when we tackle landscaping the yard next summer.