Tummy time selfies

So about two weeks ago I got a smart phone. Joined the 21st century and all that. I'm even blogging on it currently.
It's been nice to have, especially on our trip to Alabama for Thanksgiving. But even before that we've put it to good use. For example:

He stopped fussing when there was a baby to look at.

Thank you, technology, for the latest milestone. (He still isn't consistent at rolling over. But he protests tummy time less.)

How my math major prepared me to be a mom of two

You take a lot of abstract classes for a math major. I mean, a couple of them even have Abstract Algebra in the title, so they don't shy away from the fact.

But what those titles conveniently conceal is how applicable the formulas and theorems learned in those classes are to the life of a mother of two little ones.

For example, in these few short months since Matthew was born and Joseph turned three, I have been able to use proof by contradiction, Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization, reverse triangle inequality, three body problem, boundary problems, complex conjugates, Fibonacci spirals, and of course, my favorite -- the three-point Steiner problem on the regular tetrahedron.

But I'd have to say it's my knowledge of the cardinal numbers that has made my math major invaluable the past few months, as demonstrated here:

(If you listen closely, you can hear Joseph demonstrating Hooke's law on the couch.)

But what about all the other things I listed? How are those helpful?

Well that, dear friend, is left as an exercise for the reader.

Poems from the Yellow Notebook: Balloon Version

Last Thursday, our family went to a free carnival put on for grad students and their families. It had everything a carnival ought to have -- carnival food, face painting, bean tosses, stuffed animals -- without any of the things that make carnivals not so great -- dirty, dark, expensive, creepy, loud, crowded, etc.

Capta Nerica.

As we were leaving, the organizers of the activity asked if we'd like a balloon. We looked at everything we would have to manage to get on and off the bus in the drizzly, windy night -- a stroller, baby in the car seat, new teddy bear, balloon animal Spiderman, diaper bag -- and said, "Sure."

Well, we made it, and even our balloons made it too. This was great news, but it also meant that Joseph had to suffer the disappointment of watching his balloon lose its helium. It's like what Harvey Dent said in Batman* -- "You either lose your balloon in the sky or it lasts long enough to become really lame."

No offense, peg-leg Spiderman.

Anyway, a long time ago I explored the first fate of the carnival balloon in a poem recently discovered in my yellow notebook. (Luckily or unluckily for you, this is probably the second to last poem I will share because the rest are too painfully embarrassing, even now.)

Where do lost balloons end up

When they float from a child's hand?

Do they end up in the sky

Or back down on the land?

Scientifically, we know that

Balloons will pop up high

When the pressure kept inside it

Exceeds the pressure of the sky.

But, what then? Does it float back down

To where it first ascended?

Are fairgrounds littered with bits of balloon

Which reached the sky while untended?

Or do they fall into the seas

Which cover most the globe,
Or deserts, or jungles, or swamps --

Nowhere that anyone would probe.

Ah, to follow the route of a balloon

Into the stratosphere,

Then follow it down back to the ground

To see if it lands far or near.

Does anyone actually know the answer to my question? I know I ran into a fallen balloon once on a hike, but I feel like it should happen a lot more often given how many balloons there are.

Also, do balloons even make it to the stratosphere?

*paraphrased, of course. Very, very paraphrased.

Children's Books

There have been many times this past week when I have been weighed down with a heavy heart over news I've heard in various facets of life.

These are the times I open a book that I've read a dozen times just to find that exact phrase that matches how I feel. Most of the time it's not a hugely profound phrase, just a little something that speaks to me.

Here are a few of those little somethings:

(from Madeline)

(from Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill [set in 1902 in Minnesota, I think])

(from The Saturdays)

and of course . . .

This pain is part of being human.

Love is a Matching Wardrobe

Yesterday, soon after Kevin came back in the evening, Joseph looked around and said, "We match!" Somehow, he, Kevin, and I had all chosen to wear sort of turquoise shirts. Even Matthew was wearing blue.

Then while we were folding laundry, Kevin and I were hanging up our clothes when I noticed something. He was hanging up a maroon shirt and I was hanging up a purple one.

"Did we both wear these yesterday?" I asked.

"Our mental synchronization can have but one explanation," he responded.

All Souls Day

Halloween always puts me in a family history mood. Maybe not Halloween so much as All Souls Day, Day of the Dead, whatever you want to call it.

So to celebrate, I invited my ward to join a Relative Finder group. (Side note: email works way better for this than Facebook, especially an email Sunday night.) The relatives started flowing in, and each time I checked there were a half dozen more people I was related to. Mostly 9th and 10th and 11th cousins. (Which . . . I don't really count that as related. If our common ancestor was born before 1600, then we have about 0% of the same genetic material.) But there were 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, and even 4th cousins I discovered, which was really fun.

There were also a few funny observations I made as things progressed:

• The person I'm most closely related to in the ward is . . . Kevin. I figured that. It's pretty hard to be more related than third half cousins once removed. (Common ancestor was born in 1819, so it's really not that weird, guys.) (Incidentally, we are also 9th cousins 4 times removed on my mom's side, which barely counts.)
• But I had a few friends who discovered third cousins they didn't know about (both times a guy was third cousins with a girl). In an alternate universe, had they gotten married to this third cousin instead, I wonder when they would have figured it out. I can just imagine the family-history aunt (every Mormon has one) at their wedding reception collecting maiden names from the grandparents and making the awkward connections. Makes me glad Kevin and I figured it out within two minutes of meeting.
  
  

  

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• Besides us, the most closely related couple I know of are 5th cousins with each other.
• Random, but I have an Armenian friend who said once that in Armenian culture if any man and woman knew how they were related, they probably wouldn't date or get married. (I'd say that's pretty normal, not just an Armenian thing, fyi.) But I wonder if they had done Relative Finder, how distantly related they would have had to be before they shrugged their shoulders and said, "Eh. Doesn't count." (For me it's 3rd cousins, I guess.)
• One funny conversation I got a few times is people who would say that they were closely related to Kevin (he was 5th cousins with like everybody) but not with me, and they were wondering how that worked. I have 15 great-great-great-grandpas besides Henry Moon, so that leaves lots of room for other lines for people to be related. :D 
• Most everyone I was related to linked back to the same common ancestors, like a man named Thomas Ford. I was related to more people on my dad's side than on my mom's (probably because his lines are more from England than hers). If I had an ancestor who joined the church in Europe (such as Henry Moon or Traugott Bitter), I was never related to people through that line unless it was directly from that ancestor. Kevin and I talked about it and we think it's because the rest of that family is probably still in Europe.
• If you think about it, if you know you are 14th cousins with someone, a lot of people have done a lot of family history work. That is incredible. I have just gotten to enjoy the fruits of other people's labors. I feel a huge sense of appreciation for people who have done the family history work.

Of course, I had some concerns in creating the group, and some of them were realized. There were people who weren't related to anyone, usually because they or their families hadn't been in the church long so they didn't have enough family history to connect with everyone. Although I felt bad about inadvertently creating a way to make people feel excluded, it was also a good reminder that whether or not we have blood relations, we all have the same spiritual DNA as children of God. And He loves us all.

Matthew Top to Bottom

Matthew's been past the 3 month mark for about a week now, so it's probably about time to dedicate another post to him!

To be honest, the second month was harder than the first, and the third was harder still. But the hardness has been offset by how much fun Matthew is. It's so fun to see him grow and develop. So, from top to bottom, here comes an update on our wonderful boy!

Hair: He still has long hair on top, but he has rubbed a fair amount off the sides and the back. Luckily, his remaining hair is still long enough to hide the bald spots, like a baby combover of sorts.

Eyebrows: They can say a lot.

Eyes: Big, beautiful, and dark gray. Won't be long before they're pure brown.

or maybe they're already brown. Depends on lighting.

Nose: Good at sneezing. (I'm too lazy to edit this, so you can stop watching at the 20 second mark.)

Cheeks: Present and accounted for.

Mouth: Good at making noise. He isn't always this loud, but there are times when he has a lot to say.

He also laughs. 

And smiles. 

And spits up.

I was impressed, so I had to take a picture. (And then clean it up.)

Tongue: Good at licking zippers, among other things.

Chin: Usually covered in bubbles.

Neck: Strong.

Just like my camera skills for this picture. (I was excited to be helping him stand with just one hand, so I didn't care how it looked.) 

Hi pants.

Okay, the rest of the body should go faster now.

Hands: Fairly good at grabbing things. He doesn't like to stick everything in his mouth, but he definitely likes to stick any sort of fabric or his hands in.

Belly: Nice and big.

Legs: To quote my friend Rachel, "Best rolls I ever made."

Also, strong. (see blurry picture above.)

Feet: They like to kick, especially when he's nursing. 

Also, perfect.

Just like Matthew.

Halloween Expectations and Surprises

Now that we have a 3-year-old, Halloween is a more important holiday than it was when Kevin and I were both tired college students wearing our clothes backwards to the ward Halloween party. Now, costumes matter, and having enough candy matters, and carving pumpkins matters.

So we treated it like a real holiday!

Of course, things don't always go to plan, and sometimes it was funny to see the disconnect between things I considered doing and things that actually happened. For example . . .

• Costumes: We've known for forever that Joseph would be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween (although Superman was a close second), especially when my friend told me she found a Buzz costume at the thrift store. Once we had that, I considered doing a Toy Story theme. Matthew could be Rex/Slinky/one of Bo Peep's sheep/almost anything, really, I could be Bo Peep (although my most suitable dress is yellow, not pink, and I didn't have a bonnet), and Kevin could be Woody. But then reality came to town, and I realized that I didn't really want to buy a yellow shirt and cow vest and whatnot for Kevin or find a bonnet or crook for myself. And I didn't want to spend money on a costume for Matthew. So Kevin and I decided to just not dress up, and I had Matthew be a pumpkin with a homemade hat for the stem. And it was all still cute.

We bought a purple jacket to look like Buzz's hood thing.  Also, he's been wearing this costume regularly since General Conference but I never took pictures til Halloween.

I put the jack-o-lantern face on the back of his jacket and he wore it around backwards, which made sense until we were carrying him and all people saw was the moose that was supposed to be on the front.

• Phantom Doorbell Ditching: Who doesn't love getting doorbell ditched with a cute phantom bearing treats and a poem and an invitation to pass it along? I thought it would be fun to do it but instead of leaving treats leave a creepy toy like the Lamaze giraffe with the glow-in-the-dark belly we gifted some people last year after they gave us a gnome. But we never found the right toy, and we would have had to be careful to pick people with the right sense of humor. So, not this year.
  
• Pumpkins: We figured we ought to carve pumpkins this year, and we finally found some time Thursday night to do it. The carving went well -- I did Superman, Kevin did pi, Joseph painted his, and then Kevin carved Batman on his as well because Joseph really wanted it and the 4th pumpkin was already rotting.

We figured they'd look better lit up for Halloween night, so Kevin ran to the store to look for candles. They were out, so he opted for number birthday candles instead. To our dismay, they didn't have as much wick as they suggested, so when trick-or-treaters came all they saw were dark pumpkins.

Like this, only both the pumpkins and the world were dark.

We were also not terribly surprised when nearby rodents chewed on the pumpkins, but we were surprised when a rodent started looking for more pumpkins to chew on IN OUR HOUSE!!! Yechhhh. Good thing my yelp scared that chipmunk or mouse or whatever right back outside. That's the last time we ever leave the door open. (Actually, as I was writing this, Joseph walked in and left the door open. It's closed now.)

• Candy: It's always a surprise to see how much candy costs. This holiday must have been invented by Hershey or Nestle. We were pleasantly surprised that we bought too much and got to return a bag. And it's been a surprise how much I like it, and how good the Twix tasted.
  
• Decorations: I had no expectations with the decorations. I forgot about putting them up until October 30th. At least the pumpkin ones should still work as Thanksgiving decorations, right?
  
• Trick-or-treating: Since we've done it the past few years, I decided to go downtown in the day to go trick-or-treating. It took a lot longer than expected to get out of the house, but Joseph and Matthew and I finally made it out with the double stroller, baby carrier, keys, cell phone, camera, Kindle (for a map), candy bag, snack, water bottle, burp rag, diapers, wipes, and purse. And the goal to lose none of that.

• I headed to the bus stop with Matthew in the carrier and Joseph in the double stroller. Once we were to the bus stop, I began to fold up the double stroller (hence the baby carrier) and planned to get me, Matthew, the overloaded purse, Joseph, and the stroller on. I've done it before, but it doesn't mean it wasn't a completely crazy idea. Luckily, a friend showed up, and he helped me get the stroller on and off the bus. After the stroller was reassembled, we started heading downtown. I noticed as we were crossing a street that the drawstring for Joseph's candy bag was starting to get wrapped around a wheel, so once we were on the sidewalk I spent about 3 minutes unwinding it (it was horribly tangled, turns out), providing commentary such as, "I wish I could just cut this off." "Welp, I think I've just got to finish what I've started," and other stuff while students walked around us, pretending not to notice. After that, I checked the time. 11:50??? I then realized I was starving, so I changed directions and walked toward the Institute where I knew a free lunch was waiting. On the way, we got the occasional cursory glance from students not used to seeing Buzz costumes.
  
  Like the grasshoppers in Bug's Life, I came, ate, and left for downtown. We ran into several friends downtown doing the same thing -- going into the shops on Main Street and other nearby streets for candy. Joseph was a solemn Buzz, quietly saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" when prompted. We then headed back to the bus stop, where I was again lucky enough to find someone in the ward I trusted to hold my baby while I folded the stroller up.

And he even took a picture of us!

After that 3+ mile walk for candy, you might think that was enough adventure/candy for the day, but you'd be wrong! A few hours later we headed to the ward trunk or treat, but we were late enough that we had to park in the boonies so we wouldn't run over anyone. 

Joseph came home with another bag full of candy which I promptly got to work eating (we had come to an agreement that this was "family candy"), and prepared for the next big day of candy acquisition -- Halloween itself.

Before trick-or-treating started, all the families in Northwood gathered for a parade. It was the kind of parade where everyone marches, so you really appreciate the costumes right in front of you, and not really any others. But still fun.

Buzz is also a ninja.

After the parade, we hurried and lit the jack-o-lanterns, prepared the candy, and then I sent Kevin and Joseph off. Kevin decided to take my suggestion to go to the big houses nearby. I figured they would have good candy and they would like seeing a cute little kid.

Which was true for the houses that were lit up . . . but not many of those houses were actually lit up. I can't imagine that all of them were out of town, so maybe it's just a bunch of dentists living there, hiding downstairs in the dark watching Netflix and congratulating themselves on protecting the children from a few more grams of sugar. Seems plausible.

Meanwhile, I handed out candy. We had already returned a bag, so I was surprised by how much candy was left, and I felt a little bad for only giving out one piece. Kevin and Joseph returned not too cold and wet from trick-or-treating in the rain. Not with tons of candy, but after 3 trick-or-treating trips we didn't really need much. Or any, really.

Luckily, at the rate we're going, we'll be done with it soon enough.