Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Why... Why Would You Go and Say That...

There's an article on MSN today entitled "Moderate California Quake a Drill for 'Big One'." Why... why would they say that?? Seriously. What the heck. Now I have a whole new reason to be fearful on a daily basis, which I can add to my existing BE AFRAID list. (A few of the items on the list include: terrorism, crime, kidnappings, fires, global warming, mercury in tuna, BPA, lead paint from China, flesh-eating bacteria, trans fatty acids, alien invasion, Skynet, Decepticons, the Goblin King, and of course the Dark Side of the Force, which you should never underestimate, etc. etc.) Stupid news. Stop adding so eagerly and so often to my BE AFRAID list, please.

Anyway, I think that the title of the article inspires enough fear in our Californian hearts to continue reading, don't you? Here's a portion of the text:

"To prepare for the "Big One," scientists and emergency planners in the fall will hold what is billed as the largest earthquake drill in the United States. It will be based on a hypothetical magnitude-7.8 temblor. Earlier this year, scientists calculated that California faces a 99.7 percent chance of a magnitude-6.7 quake or larger in the next 30 years."

Well that's just GREAT.

Monday, July 28, 2008

YAAAAAAY TIMMY!!!!

Tim's been doing a lot of freelance work this summer, and one of his projects was designing flight suits for DKNY, which is sponsoring the new Rocket Racing League (a new plane-racing sport set to premier at the Oshkosh AirVenture air show tomorrow).

So, his flight suit designs were recently featured in an MSNBC article! Click HERE to read it, and scroll down to see his flight suit for one of the teams! Hooray!!! (Apparently, the article was written like a week ago, but he just discovered it online today.)

Anyway, I can't believe that Tim designed something that's going to be bearing the DKNY label. Yaaaaay! I'm so proud of him and his other "design teammates" from Art Center. Way to go, you guys!!

Editor's Note: You can view Tim's flight suit design for another team by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page!

Tim's Note: To give credit where it's due, the other members of the team were Jacob Sparks, Tim Coleman, and Paul Hamblin. They sketched suits and came up with some great concept paintings that I hope go public soon. Good job, guys!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Optimus Prime Says Hi, By the Way

Now that Tim's summer workload is beginning to ease up a little, it looks like we're able to resurrect Family Fun Day on Thursdays. This week, we went to the Griffith Observatory, which overlooks LA from a cliffside in Griffith Park, and which recently underwent a massive renovation. It was a lot of fun! We felt very sciency by the time we left, and we congratulated ourselves for doing such a sciency thingie.

Here's the main building. If you look closely at the ground in the front courtyard, you'll see lines marking the orbits of the planets in our solar system. Ooooooh. Sciency.
Here's a very nice shot of the exterior of the planetarium.
Okay, okay, maybe our visit wasn't just for sciency enlightenment. We also wanted to meet the Autobots, who (we were under the impression) live at the Observatory, as shown in this video footage:
Optimus Prime says hi, by the way. We only got to chat with them briefly before they Transformed and Rolled Out (mumbling something about "...Witwicky..." and "...Decepticons at it again..." or something.)
Anyway, we bought tickets for the Water Is Life planetarium show, and then got in line. We thought that because it was summertime, the planetarium would be free of school field trips, but as it turns out, a million summer camps apparently like to come to the planetarium too. So, there was a massive line. (Tim's note: The line pictured below is actually in the exact spot where Optimus Prime stands in the above picture. Goosebumps!)
Waitin' in line.
Our completely apathetic child. (Look, Weston, science! Hooray science! No? Nothin'? Oh well.)
The planetarium show was a hoot, thanks to the crazy host/narrator lady. She should seriously do voices for the evil witches in Disney movies. She freaked us out so much that we were cracking up pretty much the whole time (so much for science...). Weston started screaming at one point when she bellowed a countdown to our "blast-off" into "outer space" (we were going to Mars to see if we could find water). So, Tim had to get up with the baby to calm him down. Man, that host lady was great. The show was really edu-taining too, and it's always fun to "fly" through "space," when they rotate the big space ball in the middle of the room so that you feel like you're actually flying.

Anyway, here's the ginormous telescope at the Observatory (sorry about the reflection):
The view of LA and its ubiquitous haze:
The Hollywood sign:
The Hollywood sign and a couple of people who got in the way:
There's a totally random (and very creepy) bust of James Dean at the Observatory. Apparently, the facility was featured in Rebel Without a Cause, for the first time in a positive, sciency light (or so the plaque said). Very random. His hollowed-out eyeballs and electrified hair gave me nightmares.
So, we had a good time. After the Observatory, I persuaded Tim to let us visit Sprinkles in Beverly Hills again, which we did (after I promised to drive, and promised to let him choose where we'd eat dinner). We got more delicious cupcakes (the vanilla/vanilla is still our favorite), and later went to Islands for dinner. Yay sciency/cupcakey/islandy fun!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

So Yeah

So yeah... I've been sick for like a week now. I missed church on Sunday, and I've also missed two baby showers and two pool days so far. Boo sick!! However, I've been pampered a little too, and there have been some happy things:

(1) I baked banana bread last week. LOVE IT. Tim and I had gotten one of those ginormo Costco banana bunches, and of course we could only eat half of it in time. Bring on the baking!! I made one loaf with walnuts and one loaf with chocolate chips. The walnut loaf is already gone, and the chocolate chip loaf awaits its delicious destiny in the freezer... but not for long.

(2) Y'know how I said that I missed church on Sunday? Well, Tim didn't... and neither did Weston! Hooray! He took the baby with him, which meant over three hours of dedicated Jean Time at Home. That's probably the longest amount of Jean Time at Home that I've gotten since having a baby. I took my time showering, I ate a leisurely lunch, I put pictures away and organized all our albums, I read my book. Lovely. Just lovely.

(3) Speaking of Weston, guess who's able to take naps in his crib now?!! Yup! For some reason, he didn't used to nap in his crib... only the swing would suffice, and he'd cry and wiggle if I tried to put him down in his crib. Well, this was a problem, because the swing was in the living room, which meant that Tim and I always had to tiptoe around him as we went about our day. A short while ago, we finally wised up and moved the swing into Weston's bedroom, which may have been the key (getting him accustomed to being in HIS room for naps, instead of the living room). For awhile, I still put him down for naps in the swing, with the white noise on. Then, a few days ago, I tried putting him in the crib, with the swing's white noise function turned on. Lo and behold, it worked! Hooray! Here's the proof:

(I crept into his room during his morning nap the other day, only to find that he was on to me, and he was already waking up):

(4) Probably the best pampering of the week? I convinced Tim to let us hire Stanley Steemer to come and clean our carpets. Ever since we moved into this apartment two years ago, I've kind of had carpet ickies, just because it's old and not particularly attractive. Lately I've been concerned that it's just too icky for a crawling baby (in a few months), so we had Mr. Steemer come and give it a good once-over. And it's so much better-looking now!! Stains are gone, and so are my ickies. Yay clean!

(5) The second-best pampering of the week? Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, which I'm borrowing from a friend. (If you haven't heard, it's incredible. The first three books of the four-part series are already out, and the fourth book is being released next month.) A lot of comparisons are being made between Twilight and Harry Potter... personally, I think Harry Potter is more complex, more clever, and more tightly written, but I find Twilight to be really thoughtful and engaging, and equally as difficult to put down (and when I'm not reading it, I wish I were). I read the first book (Twilight) in 3 days, and then I read New Moon in 2 days. Then, I started to worry that I was neglecting my baby, so Eclipse took a little longer (but not much). Now I can't wait for the final episode, Breaking Dawn, and I'm desperate to learn the fate of Bella. I think Tim's a little sick of hearing about vampire and werewolf drama, though. He told me yesterday that I only get to make two Twilight references per day now. (Like yesterday, I told him I wanted to go hiking with Weston, and he said I shouldn't go alone because of coyotes. He's rarely an overprotective person, so his warning was unusual, and I told him that he sounds like Edward, the god-like, drop-dead gorgeous, overprotective vampire boyfriend. That was one permitted reference. I used my second one later that evening.) :-) LOVE IT!!!

(6) And finally, another super-happy thing that happened this week to make up for my cough-due-to-cold... DATE NIGHT WITH MY HUBBY!!! Yaaaay! Thanks to a fab babysitting exchange that we have with another family, we were able to take off to the CityWalk for an evening of evildoers and tasty-doers. First we saw The Dark Knight on IMAX (phenomenal... must see again), and then we had a great Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo. We strolled around the shops and got ice cream for dessert. Yay couple time!! Is it sad that that was only our second real date night since we've had a baby? Ha! Oy... Well, that's what we get for living away from any and all family members, I suppose. :-P Oh, I should probably warn our family members in PA that when we visit in August, we're going to take full advantage of the brief access that we'll have to eager, default babysitters. Be ye warned.

This is what I would look like if I played for the Raiders... Buca di Beppo, our dining establishment of choice that night
The cute kids on their date

Friday, July 18, 2008

Notes on Night

Let me start by saying that this blog post is neither a tribute to nor diatribe against M. Night Shyamalan, who despite his regrettable recent creations (Lady in the Water and The Happening, I'm looking in your direction), is still my Philly boy, and so I love him.

But speaking of Philly boys (specifically, my most favorite one), I feel like I understand Will Smith's character motivation a little better now than I used to. Since Tim and I became parents back in February, our understanding and feelings toward nighttime have changed a great deal. Those changes have not held steady, but have been constantly morphing into still newer feelings and experiences as Weston gets older and older. But I thought I'd provide a brief summary of the exhausted/frustrating/encouraging/discouraging Operation Baby Sleep thus far.

The most difficult nights with our precious, beloved newborn Weston were the very first two, right after we came home from the hospital, and before we began implementing the Happiest Baby on the Block techniques. We were pretty much awake the entire night, shushing and holding and feeding and rocking the baby, having absolutely no idea what we were doing, trying to get the screeching little bundle of joy to fall asleep for a few hours in his crib. In the wee hours of the second night, I remember just giving in to my exhaustion, lying down on the loveseat in the nursery, and letting him fall asleep on top of me while I dozed off. (This was in spite of my firm desire to begin training him to sleep properly - at night, in his crib, for long stretches - as soon as possible. All the sleep experts warn against letting them fall asleep on your chest because it's not a permanent solution. Well, they can go suck a lemon. I WAS EXHAUSTED.)

Once we started with Happiest Baby on the Block, however, things improved, if only slightly. The swaddling prevented his newborn spaz-arm-flailing and helped him stay asleep for a few hours (alternating between two, three, four, and sometimes five in a stretch) once he had fallen asleep. However, getting him to fall asleep in the first place was still a chore, and required up to an hour sometimes of standing in his room, jiggling him and swaying him in our arms until his eyes closed and his head dropped and we could finally put him in the crib. It is because of this sometimes ridiculously long ritual of jiggling and swaying that Tim and I began to dread the night, much akin to Will Smith in I Am Legend. (Hence the photo up at the top.) Yes, that's right, I equate our dread and anxiety of Weston's middle-of-the-night cries with Dr. Neville's dread and fear of nighttime zombie attacks. ....Well, okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but I remember waking in the night to his scream-cries and instantly being filled with anxiety that he was hungry or needy or in pain or whatever else, while also dreading the seemingly interminable process of returning him to sleep. I used to bolt upright and run into his room, only to begin the lengthy Operation Baby Sleep once again, complete with frizzy bedhead and drooping eyelids.

Fortunately, after those tricky first few weeks, Weston's sleep habits began to improve dramatically. We still swaddled him, but at times he was able to fall asleep on his own, and sometimes he would sleep up to seven or eight hours in a stretch before needing to eat again. Hallelujah!!! We were delighted, not only that we were (hopefully) getting better at the whole thing, but also that we were finally able to get a solid three- or four- (or dare I say five-) hour block of sleep. (The greatly reduced sleep on our part was, and is still, due to the fact that we genuinely enjoy our evening quiet time once Weston is in bed. We do chores, we go on the computer, we tidy up, we watch movies or TV, we cuddle. We adore Weston, but this quiet time is priceless in terms of our sanity.) Anyway, our moods started to improve, our lives started to normalize, and the perpetual dark circles under our eyes began to lighten ever so slightly.

The longest that Weston has slept in a non-waking stretch (to date) was 10.5 hours, which was miraculous though short-lived. I believe that he's been fairly precocious with his sleep habits, thanks to Happiest Baby on the Block (and no thanks to poor, inexperienced Tim and Jean). Eventually, when he was about three and a half months old, we ceased the swaddling process, mainly because he was usually able to get his wiggly little arms out of it much more efficiently now. That was a trial in itself, more due to a recurrence of our Dr. Neville-like dread and anxiety, than to the actual difficulty of the adjustment for Weston. Finally, he was sleeping in his crib, at night, without any assistance from a swaddle or anything else (just his trusty blue knit blankie to cling to, if necessary). We sighed with relief.

Lately, however, Operation Baby Sleep has required some renewed attention. Weston has somehow regressed to sleeping in maximum stretches of only six or seven or eight hours at night, followed by a nighttime feeding, and another smaller stretch of sleep (and occasionally, yet another feeding and another sleep). We're trying to get him accustomed to being in his crib for 11 to 12 hours straight, so that when he does (hopefully, miraculously, joyfully) sleep that long, it will feel natural. Yet in the meantime, his rumbly tummy is still telling him in the middle of the night that he needs to eat, which is preventing him from sleeping all the way through. (Baby experts say that 4-month-olds no longer require the nutrition of nighttime feedings, and that it is a good idea to begin easing down on those feedings for baby's benefit as well as parents' benefit.)

So, Operation Baby Sleep goes like this these days: We put Weston down at 7:30 or 8:00 pm, following his regular nighttime routine (bathtime, lotion massage, nursing, prayer). He wakes around 3:00 or 4:00 am. Tim goes in and soothes him with a binky, and Weston falls back asleep for a short time. Later, Weston wakes again, Tim soothes again. When Weston eventually becomes absolutely infuriated with the binky, then I show up and finally feed him. As we keep up with this program each night, it appears that the length of time before Weston's first waking is getting slightly longer. Plus, the binky usually works like a charm, at least for a little while. Yet his tummy is still telling him that he's hungry, so I eventually have to feed him. The ultimate goal? The longer he has to go until he can eat, the longer it will take his tummy to feel hungry and initiate the wake-up. Eventually, he won't feel hungry at all at night, and will (cue angelic choir) sleep 11 or 12 hours, straight through the night.

That is the goal, anyway, and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later. Tim and Jean could use some real, long, deep sleep, which we have missed ever since this wiggly, smiley, adorable heavenly gift entered our lives. Hey, at least our previous practice of curling up into a shivering, wide-eyed ball in the bathtub has ended. (Now I know how Will Smith conducted his research for Dr. Neville in I Am Legend, by the way - maybe fighters of flesh-eating zombies don't really exist, but the exhausted parents of sleep-averse newborns sure do.) Fortunately, we don't fear or dread the night anymore. We are accustomed to feeling tired, and we get on with our lives accordingly. We are thankful that we go to sleep like normal people again, and even if we don't sleep LIKE normal people yet, at least we're getting there. :-)

Friday, July 11, 2008

Rated PG-13 for Partial Nudity

I know these images are going to pop up again on the internet if Weston ever becomes famous or runs for office...

But seriously, how cute is that little bottom.
Tim's Edit: Weston requested that we censor the bum picture. He's kind of self-conscious about his cottage cheese buns.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Belt It, Girl!!!

Editor's Note: This post is especially for all our friends from the Fightin' 148th at Wymount who happen to know Tiffany! :-)

So, you may have heard that Tiffany qualified as a semi-finalist in the Wannabe Wicked competition at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood. Yaaaaaay Tiffy!! Well, tonight was the second of five semi-finalist performance nights, and Tiffany sang her two-minute segment along with nine other semi-finalists. And guess what?!! SHE TOTALLY QUALIFIED FOR THE FINALS!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAY TIFFY!!!

Seriously, you should've seen her. She was sporting her new 'do along with a bright green and black ensemble (a la Elphaba) with the words "Green Babies Rule!" across her preggo-belly. (And believe it or not, one of the other singers was also pregnant! Hah! How 'bout that.) Anyway, I waited off to the side of the stage with Dave and Malia, while Tiffany and the other semi-finalists were called up and introduced. And guess who somehow drew the short straw and got to perform first?! Yes, our Tiffany. (She actually told me that she was worried about going first because she didn't know what to expect from the other contestants. As if she needed to worry... seriously. How humble is that one.) :-)

Anyway, SHE ROCKED IT. She sang her two-minute bit of Wizard and I, and as usual, her voice was incredibly strong and vibrant. She hit the notes perfectly and held them (nay, BELTED them) like the pro that she is. I can't really describe how good a singer she is (check out her blog... maybe she'll post the video that Dave took), but I always get goosebumps when she sings. I think she blew everyone away, and I think she was the perfect one to start the show because she drew so many other shoppers and spectators over to the stage!! (Does it sound like I have a crush on Tiffany? Haha, I don't. Well, maybe just a voice crush. Dang, if I had pipes like that!!)

And even though we totally expected it, we were thrilled when it was announced that she had qualified for the finals. Yaaaaaay!!! Now she gets to belt it out at the CityWalk again in the finals on August 20th!! Yaaaaaay!!!

Anyway, here are some pics from the evening:

The Wicked Mobile (Elphaba has a sweet ride)
The stage area
Dave and Malia
The shirt
Tiffany's grumpy face on account of the brief rainfall The crazy emcees with the ten contestants
The celebratory post-show family shot! Hooray!!!

Monday, July 7, 2008

My Favorite Boys

We took Weston to JCPenney for a portrait session when he was three months old. They're no Lalee Photography over there, but the photographer still did a few fun poses that included me and Tim as well. Now I get to stare at this picture of my two favorite boys every time I sit at my desk! I sure love 'em.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

USA! USA! USA!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
We Andersons celebrated first by going to our neighborhood parade and party:


Then we had our favorite Nutters over for a delicious steak BBQ:

West may still be a little young for Malia, but I think they'll become fast friends...

And in conclusion...

USA! USA! USA!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Mega-Baby


West had his four-month appointment this morning, and he continues to maintain his status as Mega-Baby:

Weight: 18 lbs 4 oz (95%)
Length: 27 inches (95%)
Head: 44 cm (90%)

Tim and I are wondering if he's starting to recognize the doctor's office now. (Is that possible at this age?) At his last appointment, he got his regular round of owie vaccinations, and then today, he seemed a little more apprehensive than usual. (However, it was naptime, so he might've just been really tired.) Anyway, again with the vaccinations, and again with the owies and crying. It'll be nice some day when he won't have to get shots every two months (for his sake, and for the sake of his frazzled, aching-heart mother). :-)

West is also regularly seeing a pediatric dermatologist for his lip birthmark (hemangioma). She just wants to check and make sure that it's not growing too rapidly and potentially causing problems for him. So far, so good with that. The dermatologist is really cute and friendly, and although West's birthmark has grown quite a bit since we first noticed it, it appears to be generally stable at this point, if still growing a tiny bit. It remains to be seen whether it will regress on its own, or if treatment will ultimately be needed. But fortunately, it doesn't seem to be bothering him right now. (Tim and I are the only ones who need to deal with it, by answering the #1 question, "What happened to his lip?" But it's okay... I would probably ask too, out of concern or curiosity.) :-P

In other news... attention Bluth fans! Jeffrey Tambor recently confirmed that an Arrested Development movie is in the works! (Thanks Peisch!) Yaaaaaaaaaaay! I'm gonna go eat a mayonegg to celebrate.