High temps, and just lows

I spent too much time trying to photograph Theo's eyelashes. Aren't they pretty?

Saturday was the real first day of Spring, in other words, the one day where it is beautiful and 90% of Portland is outside, because they know it may not come again for two months. You know, when the temperature hits 70 and all the girls are sunbathing in bikinis in the park. I freaked out and thought we were all getting sunburned, but spending a day in the sun felt lovely.

Later that night we went to a food cart festival that we went to last year. I was all big and pregnant and loving it. And I quote, "Already looking forward to 2011 (without a heartburn causing, stomach-shrinking baby in my belly)". And yes, there was less heartburn involved, but that baby in my belly was now outside my belly. And the whole time he was fussy and squirmy and upset and I wished he was back in there for just two hours. And this year the festival's theme apparently was "more!" More people, more carts, more money, more long long long lines, more crazy meats. Less organization. I did have a couple high points--The fact that I tried a whole sardine and liked it. Italian ice at Oregon Ice Works. And for some weird reason, buffalo sloppy joe. Low points--the crazy, crazy long line to get in. When we started feeding Theo macaroni salad and vitamin water to stay happy. Trying to breastfeed next to a garbage can without a cover with a baby who wasn't having it, thereby exposing my nip to thousands.

I was so tired when we got home (we didn't make it to all the carts) that I went to bed at 9:15 and woke up at 12 with a crazy high fever, no doubt caused by all the rich and crazy meats. A meat fever.

Born with a love of clean teeth

The first time I used a Sonicare, I couldn't stop laughing (it feels really weird). Theo, however, was somehow born to brush with sonic waves.

Cake dedicated to Kenzie!

 Cake, I love you.

 Took some pictures in the adjoining Ace Hotel after dinner--pictures are much better with babies. (old pics from Kenz's visit in November, that flash sure did freak Theo out.) And, now you know what Jon's mug shot will look like if he ever decides to become a serial killer.

It was my birthday yesterday! It was a great day. I got some great things, including the same nail polish I gave Kenz from David and Vanessa, and they also gave me a thread holder/organizer, which was something that I had no idea that I wanted and needed so badly until I saw it. Kenz thoughtfully took stock of my lack of sleep and general state and bought me a floating session from Float On. I am very intrigued and excited to try this. It's how Portlanders relax I guess? Sounds awesome to me.

I spent the whole birthday day making a cake. Jon got me some cake pans, and I wanted to make myself a layer cake. I also wanted to use my new cake stand my mom found for the greatest deal ever ($8!). I have made very few layer cakes in my life, so I decided it was only rational to make a four layered lemon cake, filled with lemon curd and marionberry curd, frosted with a Swiss buttercream. All from scratch. I know. It was my idea of an adventurous day. If Kenz was with me she would have been all over this idea. With the two of us together, we get exponentially ridiculous. It would have been something like, five layers, salted caramel frosting, each cake layer different flavors of chocolate, with a hidden  miniature replica of our likenesses hand carved from an almond inside. My whole day made me miss that she wasn't celebrating with me. Twin pains. Anyway, it all went pretty smoothly--but my friend watching Theo for a little bit for the assembly probably saved me from a stress filled disaster. (Thanks Amy!)

David and Vanessa offered to watch Theo (and she washed all my cake dishes while we were gone! Saint!) while Jon and I had a fancy pants dinner at Clyde Common. I dressed up, but forgot to bring Jon a change of clothes, so he was in scrubs. It was so nice to have a little dinner date, eating what Jon deemed our fanciest meal ever. Clyde Common's menu is kind of mysterious--they list the ingredients of the dish but don't really explain how it's cooked or how the ingredients are used. I mean, you can ask the waiter but that takes away all the fun and risk. Trout, copa, greens, mushrooms, fried egg--did I know it was going to be the whole fish, wrapped in copa, stuffed with greens, topped with a fried egg and mushrooms on the side? Nope. But I loved it, and I love the idea of just trusting that they would bring something delicious to you.

Ok, one more bit about the cake. When I assembled it, the frosting was light and fluffy. After it was done, I popped it in the fridge to prevent the layers from sliding off of each other. Side note, seven sticks of butter went into this thing total, 3 in the frosting. So when we cut into it, the buttercream was...buttery. Like a hard, sweet buttery shell. I'm guessing the refrigeration was a mistake. But it looked good. I'm still counting it as a success overall.

winning! mostly

And a store gave me a tiny bag of tiny gummy bears with my purchase. yes please.

Today Theo and I ventured downtown to do a little birthday shopping for my twin sister. After visiting a few stores and making a few purchases (hope you like, Kenz!), I went to my third stop to buy her some ketchup. Yes, ketchup. Before you judge me as a horrible gift giver, let me explain--it's delicious ketchup from Little Big Burger, made with sriracha (which she loves), and is something uniquely from Portland and food related that I can actually send her. I thought it would be a fun little random gift. Turns out they aren't selling any right now until the summer. So, no ketchup. Kenz is probably relieved.

But it was lunchtime and I didn't want a burger/pay for lunch, so I walked to the Noodles and Co. next door. Understand, noodles really isn't a place I eat unless (a) I happen to be in the near vicinity (b) it is lunchtime and I am hungry (c) I have a coupon. All things applied to me today, as I got my free meal email yesterday for my birthday. But, I didn't have it printed out, so I asked if they would let me show them my coupon on my phone. They said no, (strike two!) so I walked away to go home to some PB&J. Suddenly, the girl stopped me by the door and whispered, "We would like to buy you lunch anyway." No catch--I got a straight up free lunch! So I ordered a Thai curry soup, and it was surprisingly really good., especially on a hail-y rainy day like today. It made me think of Kenz--the girl loves a good Asian noodle soup. Don't worry, I won't buy you soup for your birthday. I might have to go back and claim my second free birthday lunch.

I haven't even told you about the best part of my day--I parallel parked successfully on the first try with a guy standing on the sidewalk staring at me. (He totally thought I couldn't do it.) And it was the first time I have parallel parked with our new Subaru alone without Jon. Fist pump!

sleepy sammy

So as I hinted in my last post, Theo's not the best sleeper. In fact, in some reverse sleep bragging (Don't you hate sleep bragging? I do. And for me, sleep bragging occurs whenever anyone else talks about their baby's sleep.), I may be so bold to say that you may not find one much worse. (Well, I know that's not true--I can't tell you how much more normal I felt after reading a sleep book!) But, my doctor may have gasped when I told her how many times a night he woke up. I have to say that last night was his best in a while, and every night it gets better. So he's learning. And we are learning things too, like his preferred bedtime (7:00! Awesome!). I used to think he just needed an evening nap. Not so. I am so lucky to be humbled constantly by the things I don't know about parenting.

One tip offered by the book we are following was to introduce a "lovey," something to take to bed to offer some comfort. They suggest something cheap and easily replaceable, like a metaphorical pet hamster. I made him a lamb out of two tube socks from this book, which has lots of other cute animals, but I thought a lamb/sheep was appropriate for this situation. I loved making him. This will probably doom Sammy (full name--Sleepy Sammy the Lammy) to being ignored, but I will keep my hopes up that Theo will love something I made for him. My mom made me and my sister the most simple fabric dolls--kind of two stuffed fabric triangles with heads, arms, legs and button eyes--but I still remember them fondly. (I also still remember my Barbie doll that had roller blades that made real sparks, but you know what I mean.)

Me and my expectations. I already know I am going to be a weepy mess in the future when Theo deems himself too cool to take me to the mother-son dance. Prepare yourself, Jon!

forays with purees

Thankfully, most of Theo's total food aversion issues have resolved. Unlike most babies, he moved straight from finger food to purees... and I made him a special one yesterday, spinach-pea-pear. And today, he liked it! Ate it all up. I could have not been more happy.

Now that he's eating food like a real boy, we are going to focus on sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time. Actually, 2 hours at a time on a regular basis would be a dream come true. I'm not asking much, little Theodore!                            

san juan san juan

Sigh. Spring break is over. I am a little bit sad Jon has to go back to school. Well, a lot a bit sad. But we had a great week. We had planned on making a trip to Canada but in the end we decided to explore San Juan Island in Washington. We found a half off deal at a really great boutique hotel, as we were a few weeks shy of prime Orca whale watching season. After a scenic ferry ride, we explored the island, went on some nature walks (we Halls dislike "hikes") and checked out places like Smallpox Bay, Deadman Bay, and Smuggler's Cove. We also spent a solid amount of time eating dinners in our suite (so fancy) and enjoying complimentary breakfasts, one of my favorite things in life. This one had homemade scones.

We spent the rest of the week getting haircuts (Jon looks smashing, I got some butchered bangs) and ended with some General Conference. Nothing like some church while eating waffles and wearing sweats. Luxury!

Tomorrow, my twin and I go head to head, as our NCAA bracket scores are tied for first. Victory lies in the final score total--my 139 to her 145. Who will win???? da da da...

Sometimes, you camp just to inform future decisions about camping

We went to the coast this weekend to go camping with some friends. The forecast was rainy, but I was optimistic that everything would still be fine. We had a back up plan of sleeping in the car, but set up the tent as it was sunny when we arrived. We took a little hike to a look out that is the first picture--it was beautiful. Theo was dressed like the little brother from the Christmas Story to stay warm, and even a slight drizzle couldn't dampen the deliciousness of my fire roasted hot dog. The people there, the s'more I ate while lying in the tent feeding Theo to sleep, the constant sound of the waves, having 3G coverage so I could find out that I have a HUGE chance of winning my family March Madness bracket--all great things. Theo even slept well and had a great first camping experience. Things just went downhill after we went to bed.  Some raccoons came to the site, which was no big deal but freaked me out a little. (You have to remember when I am camping, at night every bit of my rational thinking disappears.) Then the wind started blowing (and tons of rain), shaking our tent, but I thought it was a bear, so I kept waking Jon up urgently thinking we were under attack. He even got sucked in, sitting up suddenly, issuing a stern "KA-HISS!" I found out that "ka-hiss" is Jon's go-to defensive noise. Good to know in case we ever do confront a bear, in which I will know that our doom is certain. But if a stray cat is around? We're all good. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much, but the rain stopped long enough in the morning to pack the soggy tent away. Then we went home, skipping our church beach clean up activity as I was afraid of Theo losing a few toes due to cold. I took a delirious 2.5 hour nap and woke up with a fever, my slight cold likely worsened by stress and lack of sleep. I think my jaw is still sore from clenching my teeth all night long.

But don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound all complain-y because there is always a bit of adventure and good storytelling resulting from things not going as planned. I just want to warn my future self--if there is a threat of rain, just sleep in the car, Malorie. Sleep in the car.

.75 years

Theodore was nine months old on Monday. I really can't believe it. I know every mom thinks their baby will stay a little baby forever, and it's obvious I did too and it's also obvious he is no longer one. We went on a walk for about an hour and a half today, and in this park there is this huge hill that one year ago (almost exactly! And Jon has the exact same mustache right now. Mustache March.) Jon and a pregnant me sat in the sun. Today I stopped and stared at it, feeling all nostalgic, thinking about how much can change in a year. I hope I'm not this-close-to-weepy-while-blogging when he's actually a year old, but I probably will be. Gracious goodness I love this little man. He does all the normal things all babies do--Crawl, laugh, giggle, not sleep, sleep, eat messy foods, grow teeth that terrify and hurt me with his crazy bites--but how can each one of these things make me feel such joy? I still need to work on not squeezing him too much. I can't help myself.

(first swing yesterday!)

les bois, les bois! Voyez les bois!

As I was flying into Boise last week, I thought about why it is called "The City of Trees." (Referred also as "les Bois," which french trappers called it when they saw it or something. When I was in France and we made a friend on the train I told him about Boise. I realized just how lame it was when I realized I was just saying "the trees." But anyway.) Coming from an actual city of trees, the area outside of Boise is so dry and void of any vegetation--therefore any traveler coming from the East must have just freaked out and thought "Finally! It's a freaking tree! We are not on the moon!" Therefore, we are forever known as the City of Trees because we have a couple trees around the river. Kind of like when you are traveling in the heat of summer and are so hot and thirsty (and cranky in my case) and you buy a can of Diet Coke and it is the best tasting Diet Coke in the world, when really, it's just a Diet Coke.

What I am meaning to say is, I was in Boise last week. We had such a good time--we celebrated my grandpa's 80th birthday, Theo got to hang with his cousin Noah and I got to see my entire family, toured through my brother's new house that they are moving into today (hooray for you! So jealous of the garage and walk in closet.), got a pedicure with the sisters, bowled a score of 101, ate Cafe Rio, went make up shopping with Kenz, and fixed her Christmas blanket that I constructed horribly the first time around (didn't take any pictures, may have to steal some from her later.). Busy. Didn't even have time to make some super time consuming dessert. (Mom will have to blog about her baby whisperer days of magic...) Here's (too) many pictures, all I got was Theo eating and the babies together, of course.

 Decided that the best way to eat a slippery peach is to not bother with the hands.

 Lemon. The only shot where he looked right at the camera, thinking, "how. could. you."

 Just couldn't resist the crazy eyes or this picture that makes him look like a kewpie doll. I love his eyelashes.

 Noah and Theo mostly just wanted to bite each other...

 Noah has this perma-grin that is so cute. And he could definitely teach Theo a few things about eating...

Jon never thought I would finish...

Jon is a professional at finding inexpensive chairs. We picked this one up for half off ($25!) because of a flaw that you can't see in the wood under the cushion. The cushions themselves were in decent shape, but ugly. I had a bunch of upholstery weight yardage from a project that I changed my mind about, so I decided to make some new covers. I tore the old ones apart and used them as patterns, and recycled the zippers and cording to make the piping. I got to try out a new technique, which was making one continuous bias strip out of a square instead of cutting and connecting individual ones, which is tedious and also uses up fabric inefficiently. I figured there had to be a better way--and of course there was.  (link is a pdf file) I know that further discussion of this topic will be boring for most of you, just know that it was a bit magical and I will excitedly talk about bias strips to those who are interested. It all turned out pretty well, especially the zippers. Zippers and I are enemies and these went in perfectly on the first try, a rarity for me. I hosted book club last week, so luckily I had a deadline, as Theo got croup and progress was slow. I was also motivated by Theo constantly trying to eat the polyester batting wrapped around the foam cushions.

Speaking of Theo eating, we (I) have given up on baby food. (Thanks to Grace for the baby led weaning tip.) He ate a whole asparagus spear recently so things are looking up! I have to say watching him trying to eat something is a lot more fun than aimlessly waving a spoon in his face. I am a little sad not to use my baby food book with its amazing looking recipes, but I have to get over myself a little bit and give up my desire to make baby peas with mint.

And what of baby Theo? Here he is on a walk last week, fully unappreciative of nature as he sleeps away in his bear suit.

valentimes

I think there is a reason cliches are cliches. Sometimes people get caught up trying so hard to not follow a cliche that it becomes a cliche in itself. (and slightly annoying, no? But I'm sure I fall into that category sometimes.) But back to my original thought. Valentine's Day. We reveled in the cliches this year, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Flowers (lilies), box of chocolates (TJ's, so good I asked if they were hiding some extras yesterday), perfume (I am bringing my signature scent back! Perfume that doesn't smell like perfume.). I also gave Jon a pillow I made with a Sufjan phrase, because it can't be a holiday, birth, or wedding without some Sufjan involved in the Hall family. (My first attempt at freezer paper stencils--I must admit I wasn't so exacto with the knife as I had hoped. But I tried my best.) Add in some delicious pizza and a warm brownie topped with fancy ice cream and chocolate ganache--I was feeling so wonderful it didn't matter that Theo decided to wake up and not fall back asleep. The worst part of the night was when crazy Michelle got sent home from the Bachelor. But I'll get over it.

After sitting Theo in the chair, it quickly turned to this-

Then this-

And finally this, his attempt to crawl on the nightstand.

Needless to say, he's got some bruises on his face (not from this, don't worry, just other times when he falls on his face and I'm not paying attention). He also has his first mild cold, and I'm sure the neighbors think I am torturing a baby dolphin when in fact am just trying to suck excess mucus from his nose.

It's such a cliche. My baby is attempting to crawl off cliffs and is leaking crusty fluid from his nose, but I love him all the same.  Or even more.

be my heart valentine

Came across this on a walk last week and thought it was brave. She busted out the cursive and everything. I would have never done this, but I did give each pre-printed note on my class valentines an extreme amount of thought, matching the appropriate recipients to "I like your smile, Valentine."

For a second I thought it was fake. Shoshi? Do people name their children that? (apologies to the Shoshies) I might have known  Shoshi in my life, or it might have been a dog, I don't remember.

He crawls! He crawls!

A week ago, February 4th, I looked up from folding laundry and realized that Theo was no longer scooting, but crawling! By now he is all over the place. He used to play happily on his little quilt square while I was in the kitchen doing something, but his little face pops around the corner as  he tries to find me wherever I go. Which is pretty cute. About the same time last week he regularly started pulling himself up to standing position, and now is shuffling along the coffee table. And yesterday his second tooth finally (finally!) broke through. I lowered his crib one level, only to realize I should have lowered it all the way. What is happening? Our Theodore is becoming a little man. I'm a little behind on child proofing...tasks for this weekend.

I had to include this clip of Theo standing, because baby bums are so cute. Crawling baby bums are even better but shows too much baby junk for public view. I try to hold my blog to network television standards.

I need a theo manual

It should be no surprise that people blog a lot about their babies. Their perfect, sleep through the night babies that are somehow cuter than all other babies and are doing what no other baby can do (like blink and make noise). At least that is how I feel sometimes. I'll read a blog about some 5 month old who was offered food for the first time and "they absolutely loved it! They are in heaven! Look at my advanced baby eater!" (Just know I am exaggerating basically all points so far, I'm sure all the blogs I've read are perfectly normal.) Theo is over seven months old and refuses basically all solids.  He sat independently so well and acted like he wanted food, but after trying avocado, sweet potato, bananas, applesauce, and going remedial with brown rice cereal (which he ate briefly for a period of two days and then stopped), he he mistrusts any spoon headed his way. The other day he kind of ate a little so I got excited and tried a few other things, and was rewarded by giving Theo a case of junkitis and Jon a shirt full of straight up vomit. So sad. Believe me, I know that babies eat solids in their own time and I'm totally fine with him not being ready if that is what he needs, but it is tiring to try again and again. Can't he just tell me on that magical day when he is ready for all the delicious food I am prepared to hand make him? He has no idea what he is missing.

At the same time, watching his reactions when we feed him are pretty funny. He has this certain type of whine/coo that only comes when he is attempting to eat--his "I'm not sure about this" sound. He also tends to wink his left eye when tasting something strange. See if you can catch it below. (This was taken at a 6.5 months, trying Grandma's homemade applesauce.)





But, he is scooting and half crawling all over the place now, which is fun and gives me proof that he is learning new skills. At least I can tell my pediatrician that--I don't know how to tell her that he's not eating baby meat now, or anything really.