I have been computerless for almost a week. On Monday while making a new "minimum maintance" list (in keeping with my attempts at improving my house management skills), my screen suddenly went totally black, well, I could kind of see the outline of the documents I had open...long story short, the LCD backlight on my three year old MacBook Pro went out. Apple estimates this to be a quick $600 plus fix (_cough_gasp_shriek_) I am more inclined to buy a regular monitor and loose the portability of a laptop than fork out that cash. Eric thinks he can fix it himself if we can find the part. In the meantime, my blogtime and general internet time is almost non-existent. Seriously, Eric is not on his for maybe an hour of the day (that he's home), and that's usually when we are spending time together. It has been both freeing and isolating at the same time.
Wednesday I got slammed with some kind of fierce head cold. I don't ever remember my sinuses hurting like that. Last night was particularly bad but I seemed to have turned a corner today (well, that and I haven't done anything today but read Northanger Abbey). Jane came down with it in full force on Thursday and so it has been fun. She seems to be showing signs of sinus infection, even though it's kind of early for that. She's had a real difficult time sleeping at night or taking any kind of a nap with all her coughing. It has been an excellent distraction to my own sickness. So far, Eric has only had it a little bit and we're crossing every possible appendage hoping it doesn't get any worse.
Anyway, just letting all y'all know that this blog might very well be silent for a while (as will my general presence in blogland) and certainly there will be no pics or videos till I get my baby back.
Speaking of babies, ours feels totally and completely nameless. I know it's still early, but we can't even come up with ONE name we even kind of like, let alone a list of possibilities...*sigh*
Reasoning Skills
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Jane has become quiet adapt at asking for a treat "teet" or a M&M "numanum," both of which mean anything sweet which she particularly likes the taste of like frozen blueberries and medicine. Last night while Eric was getting her ready for bed, helping her brush her teeth, she saw her medicine dropper by the sink and asked for "numanum?" Daddy said "no, that's medicine, you don't need medicine." She then runs into her room and finds the ear thermometer, brings it to Daddy and tries to put it in her ear before asking for help. Daddy does and as soon as it beeps and Jane looks at the numbers she says "numanum?"
Talking
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a few of her favorite things- Lammy, Lamkins, and her ducky pajamas...don't mind the dirty rug--note to self, never by a dark blue rug.
I'm really floored by this talking thing. Jane is at that stage now where she's picking up a new word a day. It started a few weeks ago or so but I thought it was a fluke, she's too young for that, right? The thing is, I have to really think hard at the end of day because it seems like so much new and cute stuff happens all day long. Especially now that Eric is back at the grindstone and gone all the time (well, he sees her for almost an hour before bed and for 5 minutes in the morning). Yesterday Jane came up with "heavy." We were at Lowe's and she had been freaking out until I let her swipe my card and help put in my pin. She helped me push the cart out and then I grabbed the bags and she reached for one, so I handed her the one with the laundry soap in it and she got this very pleased grin on her face and said "heavy, heavy!" I had a hard time talking her into trading me for a bag she could actually lift, but she was so proud of herself for lifting something so "heavy." The thing is, I didn't consciously teach her that! It just came seemingly out of the blue. This morning, she told me she wanted "Kix" for breakfast, not circles (cheerios). And it seems over the last few days she's started learning her colors. Most of the time, she gets blue and yellow correctly and purple and green the other half of the time. She was so proud she found a brown one the other day, too. Anyway, I bowled over this talking thing and this parenting thing and it's just all so darn cool.
Kneeling
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Eric has been putting Jane to bed lately and he recently taught her to kneel for her evening prayers. This morning at our family devotional, she showed me her kneeling skills. She was so proud of herself and kept saying "knee!" and pointing to her and daddy's knees. It was incredibly cute, sweet, and touching to see my daughter kneeling next to my husband in family prayer, something I never imagined getting such joy out of.
Elmo
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I started this post back before the computer died, and then I wanted to wait to upload the picture. That is her Elmo-watching-face.
So Jane somehow figured out Elmo, too. We don't have any Elmo toys and I've tried to get her to watch Sesame Street a half dozen times or so during that first trimester, but she wasn't much interested. And all of a sudden she is obsessed! Her favorite, most enthusiastic word! When she first shouted it, I didn't even know she knew who he was. She does have a cousin nine months older that loves Elmo, so maybe she's seen it at his house? Crazy!
After a week of tuning into Sesame Street a little more regularly, she also says Abby, Zoe, and Big Bird by name and grunts for Oscar the Grouch. Eric dislikes Elmo's World quite a bit, apparently there is such a thing as TOO silly for one Eric Ludlow (I know, I'm amazed as well). I tolerate it because it means she's not destroying anything for 15 minutes and because she really does enjoy it. Except Mr. Noodle. Sometimes he scares her.
So Jane somehow figured out Elmo, too. We don't have any Elmo toys and I've tried to get her to watch Sesame Street a half dozen times or so during that first trimester, but she wasn't much interested. And all of a sudden she is obsessed! Her favorite, most enthusiastic word! When she first shouted it, I didn't even know she knew who he was. She does have a cousin nine months older that loves Elmo, so maybe she's seen it at his house? Crazy!
After a week of tuning into Sesame Street a little more regularly, she also says Abby, Zoe, and Big Bird by name and grunts for Oscar the Grouch. Eric dislikes Elmo's World quite a bit, apparently there is such a thing as TOO silly for one Eric Ludlow (I know, I'm amazed as well). I tolerate it because it means she's not destroying anything for 15 minutes and because she really does enjoy it. Except Mr. Noodle. Sometimes he scares her.
So Much On My Mind...
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I have so much on my mind these days that my brain is burning and not in that intellectually exciting way either... But instead of throwing it all up here, I'm just going to post some general silliness here in mostly pictures. Mostly because I'm on my back again and typing sideways and one handed sucks.
Here goes:
My perpetually silly husband began teaching Jane at an early age that tights are also funny hats as this cell phone pic demonstrates.
I didn't find it terribly amusing until Jane asked to put this "hatu" on her head...
In other silliness, Jane has grown attached to this box. Joey was over last week and at one point she got inside and closed the "doors" for a while. She apparently needed space.
We went to the play area in the mall here last week-ish and Jane enjoyed the toys there to some degree, mostly the tunnels and secluded places instead of the slides and stairs.
But her favorite toy was the camera case. Perhaps she is hitting the purse phase early?
And finally, my girly girl has decided she's ready for the spa already. Here she is applying a blueberry yogurt treatment in her hair.
Here goes:
My perpetually silly husband began teaching Jane at an early age that tights are also funny hats as this cell phone pic demonstrates.
I didn't find it terribly amusing until Jane asked to put this "hatu" on her head...
In other silliness, Jane has grown attached to this box. Joey was over last week and at one point she got inside and closed the "doors" for a while. She apparently needed space.
We went to the play area in the mall here last week-ish and Jane enjoyed the toys there to some degree, mostly the tunnels and secluded places instead of the slides and stairs.
But her favorite toy was the camera case. Perhaps she is hitting the purse phase early?
And finally, my girly girl has decided she's ready for the spa already. Here she is applying a blueberry yogurt treatment in her hair.
It's a Girl!
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And I'm thrilled. To be honest, I was a little terrified of having a boy. And it's not just the fact that I had no idea how we would afford to clothe a little guy, although that would've stressed me out quite a bit (although I probably would have gotten really good at sewing, assuming my back would tolerate that much sitting). For some reason, having a girl seems easier at this point, or at least known. And now we just have to worry about a name (we've had our boy names picked out forever) which will be fun.
This ultrasound was really neat. Last time was technologically cooler, but my heart was also ignorant. The place we went to Austin had a 42 inch flat screen monitor hanging on the wall so we could see perfectly well everything the technician saw. And the gal there was fabulous, explaining every little thing she was measuring and looking at, really helped us "see" our baby.
This time, the gal did her thing and didn't make much of an effort to let us even see her monitor. And there was very little explaining, too. BUT, and even though Jane was melting down every 60 seconds, it was more special this time because my heart is wiser, or deeper, or something. Looking back at Jane's ultrasound and her early days as a newborn, it's very cool to see certain things that are very much a part of her personality: she was pretty chill, mostly cooperative, and I'm sure if we could have heard inside the womb she would have been babbling even then.
This lovely little girl of ours was very hyper in comparison (I felt her the first time at 12 weeks) and it took a few minutes to even get a picture of her legs and her feet because she was kicking so much. She also refused to roll off her back so we could get a decent picture of her spine, even with much prodding and much rolling from side to side on my part. After I went to the bathroom, she obliged us for about 2 minutes and then rolled back onto her back, kicking all the while. It's like already I'm starting to get a sense of this child and I'm more excited then ever. It's amazing how we really come fully loaded with personalities...
(oh, and she's measuring right on track for a May 22 due date and everything looks healthy and all, I was a bit worried)
Now it's time to play the name game for the next 18-22 weeks...any suggestions? What is a name that fits with Jane?
This ultrasound was really neat. Last time was technologically cooler, but my heart was also ignorant. The place we went to Austin had a 42 inch flat screen monitor hanging on the wall so we could see perfectly well everything the technician saw. And the gal there was fabulous, explaining every little thing she was measuring and looking at, really helped us "see" our baby.
This time, the gal did her thing and didn't make much of an effort to let us even see her monitor. And there was very little explaining, too. BUT, and even though Jane was melting down every 60 seconds, it was more special this time because my heart is wiser, or deeper, or something. Looking back at Jane's ultrasound and her early days as a newborn, it's very cool to see certain things that are very much a part of her personality: she was pretty chill, mostly cooperative, and I'm sure if we could have heard inside the womb she would have been babbling even then.
This lovely little girl of ours was very hyper in comparison (I felt her the first time at 12 weeks) and it took a few minutes to even get a picture of her legs and her feet because she was kicking so much. She also refused to roll off her back so we could get a decent picture of her spine, even with much prodding and much rolling from side to side on my part. After I went to the bathroom, she obliged us for about 2 minutes and then rolled back onto her back, kicking all the while. It's like already I'm starting to get a sense of this child and I'm more excited then ever. It's amazing how we really come fully loaded with personalities...
(oh, and she's measuring right on track for a May 22 due date and everything looks healthy and all, I was a bit worried)
Now it's time to play the name game for the next 18-22 weeks...any suggestions? What is a name that fits with Jane?
Happy Anniversary
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Eric and I celebrated our third anniversary yesterday, well, actually we are celebrating today since Sunday is always such a work day...Yesterday was my last day with my primary class and six girls who've I've really come to love. Fittingly, the lesson was on the building of the Salt Lake Temple and on keeping ourselves worthy, or building a strong foundation of virtue, to be able to enter the temple. It was extra special because I got to spend some time thinking about my own ceremony three years ago and I got to (try) and share with them the sacredness of that event: how the Spirit blessed Eric and I with immense peace all day long, how everyone was stressed out and worried and some even near frantic (my mom tore a huge chunk of lace off my dress and started resewing it the morning of because it looked crooked to her) and how we just had this immense peace all day long, let alone the sweet spirit in our marriage ceremony itself. The wind was blowing like it often does in the desert but I hardly felt it as we took pictures outside later.
In the last rhetoric class I took, we talked about public and private reasons (while studying Arendt? Habermas? I honestly don't remember) and motivations for policy making. Same sex marriage came up, Mormons did not (this was before California's prop 8 and all). I found myself struggling to articulate properly the reasons for a temple marriage to my girls, even though they are phenomenally faithful and mature at 12 years old and all have solid testimonies of our church's doctrines, I mean, I even challenged them to memorize the Proclamation on the Family, for crying out loud (which all of them did and I which their prize was their own, personalized "wordle" I gave them yesterday like the one below).
In this context, the real "private reasons" don't lend themselves to much systematic description and use in a logical argument, which of course drives me crazy. If I can't even adequately describe the importance of a temple marriage to myself, how can I bear testimony of that to others? Well, I did the best I could to my girls and I hope the Spirit filled in the gaps.And that, I guess, is the disadvantage of rhetoric, public policy and the world at large: only sanctioning and using one way of knowing....
Blah, blah, blah, this post is supposed to be about my anniversary and my dear, wonderful husband. He hasn't even had a full week off from finals yet, and he's been such a tremendous help and support around the house, an awesome Daddy, and the sweetest husband. He keeps telling me he's selfish, but I rarely see it. I'm so blessed to have married such a meek, enduring man. Christmas was over before we knew it (I'm not ready for it to be over!) and now we are catching our breath from a long semester and thrilled just to do normal family/couple things together.My sister is taking Jane for the bulk of the day and we are spending it making our bedroom a retreat, putting things up on the walls, finishing all kinds of little organizational and pretty projects, so we can properly retreat to our room in the coming seasons of craziness. We are more than happy to stay home!!
Christmas Eve Sledding
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We went to a local middle school (well, Eric and Jane went with cousins, etc, I stayed home and Christmased) and spent some enjoying the winter advantage of Minnesota--lots and lots of snow (it's been coming down all day, it's piled up to the mailbox here)!! Notice the cousins trying to get Jane and Eric off and away, only Lizzy persists til the job is done.
Merry Christmas Elder Monroe
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To my bro down in Mexico,
Merry Christmas!
We took this after church yesterday and Jane hadn't had a nap OR dinner. She also doesn't particularly like not holding the camera, hence the fussing.
Eric has his last final today, and he looks it in the video.
It's nothing much, but at least you can be reminded of what we look like. Love you, bud!!
and everyone else feel free to watch, there's a great shot of my baby bump.
Merry Christmas!
We took this after church yesterday and Jane hadn't had a nap OR dinner. She also doesn't particularly like not holding the camera, hence the fussing.
Eric has his last final today, and he looks it in the video.
It's nothing much, but at least you can be reminded of what we look like. Love you, bud!!
and everyone else feel free to watch, there's a great shot of my baby bump.
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