creepy crawlies

I've got some funny videos to share and thought this was the best place to do them. I don't quite think I'm ready to post to YouTube and have my private life out there for all to see and forward and link or whatever. Although I do have some girlfriends who post videos of their babies to see how many hits they get.

Wesley is officially crawling, and we have had such a fun time cheering him on and watching those feeble first movements turn into more confident locomotion. Wow. I found it interesting that when we look over our files for the last month, we hardly took any photos of the little guy. All we took was video.

Here's my favorite so far (his face is not usually that scary or the drool that apparent, but can you blame the poor guy for concentrating so profoundly?):



HILARIOUS. I laugh every time I watch that video.

And one more, to show how enticing Gabby is:



Since babies tend to put everything in their mouths, the first time Wesley finally got to Gabby unsupervised (we were close by, but maybe not close enough), he lunged toward her with mouth open and tongue hanging out. Luckily, we were able to stop him from getting a mouthful of cat hair. Ick. He tends to grab tufts of her hair by the fistful as he "pets" her. Lucky for us, she is pretty mellow when it comes to him. I remember Whimsy once said that she felt that her cats recognized that Whimsy had a kitten of her own. Which is totally cute.

But yeah, Wesley is increasingly intrigued by Gabby, and she takes it all in stride. Usually, if she feels that he is a little to close for comfort, she just gets up and walks away. And Wesley follows. And she walks some more. It's really funny to watch. Just once he grabbed her tail with enough force to make her let out a little kitty yelp. But, interestingly, she has never growled at him or swiped at him, although there have been plenty of toddlers over the years that she has growled or swiped at. I imagine she's getting used to him and watching him grow in the same way we are getting used to him and watching him grow.

Sometimes, when I'm nursing Wesley on the futon in his room, Gabby will come and cuddle up next to us and purr. It is such a sweet family moment. And when Shane is home and all four of us are there, my it's just picturesque and brings a tear to my eye. Just kidding. But it is cute.

Wesley has also become aware of her food and water dishes and likes to investigate them. Yesterday he grabbed the water dish and before we could rush to his side, he had managed to spill it all over the floor. Luckily there was no food, or he would have tried to eat it. Sheesh.

So yeah. We have a curious little boy on our hands. Who is unstoppable.

P.S. It took me ALL DAY to load these videos. So I hope you appreciate them. I used Google Video and I was confused for most of the day.

well we're off

We're off to see my folks, which includes taking bebe on an airplane. If you recall, we are doing standby tickets which sounds fun and exciting but in fact is making me very nervous. We'll get to DC no problem, but coming home may be another story. And we've got to get home sometime!

So in a short post to say adieu, I leave you with a couple thoughts.

1. Per a news article today, President Obama today ended a ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform or promote abortions. What I found interesting though is this:
   
   

   Known as the "Mexico City policy," the ban has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. Democrat Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but Republican George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

   Since 1984, presidents have gone back and forth on this issue. Geez. Can the United States make up its mind? I think I read once that to other nations the U.S. is kind of annoying because we change directions every 4 years (or so). If a president somewhere else wants something done, and current president says no, they just wait 4 years until someone else is in office and try again. How ridiculous is that. I wish we could come up with a solution that works for everyone. But no, we have to be so so so divided on issues like this.
   


2. I picked up someone's McDonald's trash in our condo parking lot this morning: the bag, the receipt, two Big Mac boxes, a coffee cup, an OJ cup, and more. I left the pickle, since I figured it's organic matter and will biodegrade sometime. It made me realize: I really hate apartment/condo living. Maybe it's good for some things (pay homeowner dues and I don't have to mow the lawn or tend any flowers), but I just think house living is so much better. What do you guys think? Are you people in houses so much happier? Or is it so much more expensive to live there? Is the expense worth it? Does anyone like multi-family living?
   


3. And finally, a hilarious video:

Maryland, here we come!

veggie tales

Grocery shopping is such a game to me. I love it (most of the time). My rules: I take my time. I check the ads before I go to the store and make a list. I plan my meals for the week (generally around what is on sale). I never (hardly ever) buy anything unless it is on sale. When it's on sale, I stock up. I repeat, I have a list. And, I clip coupons. You may think, "woman, that is a lot of work." But for me, it pays off. Literally.

I feel like a successful shopper when my "savings," as deemed by the store computer and calculated at the bottom of my receipt, is more than I spent. It happens often. My Albertsons receipt from last week: spent $86.48, saved $86.44. Pretty close. I feel good about that.

I just think all of it is such a game. How can I find a way to be smart and save money?

I was upset this week because baby carrots weren't on sale, since I am trying to eat more healthy and really needed something not junky in the house. But, I remembered someone once told me that the bigger uncut carrots are a good alternative and actually taste sweeter. So, I bought myself a 2-lb bag for 97 cents (which wasn't even a sale price!), when I'd usually pay $1.00 for a bag of baby carrots. Half as much! I've already cut them up and they're in the fridge, waiting for me to make healthy eating choices. (We'll see!)

Yesterday at Fred Meyer I bought an 89-cent 16-oz bag of green peas, came home, steamed them, stuck them in the blender, and poured them into ice cube trays for baby food for Wesley. I filled two ice cube trays, with 16 cubes in each. 32 "servings" for those of you doing the math at home. At Wal-Mart (the cheapest of the cheap, right?), a two-pack of two-serving Gerber baby food peas is 97 cents. Four servings for 97 cents, versus 32 servings for 89 cents. C'mon folks, it's a no-brainer!

I also think it's empowering to know how much things cost and how cheap it gets. We go to Sam's Club and I can look at the cost-per-pound of laundry detergent and say confidently to my husband, "I got it for less last week; this isn't a good price." It feels good to know what things are worth. It just takes a little bit of effort to get familiar with how much things cost.

The point to all this madness: I love to save mulah! It's my money I worked hard to make; I'm not just going to "give" it away! I think with the uncertainty of the economy, etc., we could all try to be a little more frugal. It's easy! It's fun! It's like a game! I wish you many successes. If you have any tricks of your trade, feel free to share!

life lessons, installment 2

Continuing:

• The amount and intensity of baby spit-up is directly proportional to the distance between you and the nearest burp rag.
• Sweet potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash stains do not come out of lightly colored bibs.
• Green foods yield green poo.
• A mother's tolerance for baby drool increases with time. sigh
• Soft baby toys (even with rattles or squeakers) can be thrown in the washing machine and dryer, and they will live. It is not smart to wash soft baby toys in the kitchen sink and let them "air dry," as they will start to mold before they actually dry. Soft toys that make electronic noises should not be submerged. If they are, the electronic contraption will be alright for awhile, until the water seeps into its tiny electronic parts, it short circuits, then it goes off over and over and over again repeatedly. Upon which, you'll have to rip open the soft toy at an appropriate seam, dig for the electronic piece, dry it quickly with your hair dryer, and then kill it. Also: "crinkly" soft toys should not get wet or put in the dryer.
• When a baby is learning to crawl, he will not crawl for you or for some "mere" toy. He will crawl only for something he really wants. Appropriate motivations for crawling include: the cat, the remote control, the digital camera, and mom's water bottle.
• As a baby's level of tiredness exponentially increases, the likelihood he'll actually fall asleep without an intense fight exponentially decreases.
• If you buy, say, a dowel rod, and ask your husband nicely to cut it into pieces for you, he will promise to do so and then a week later instead use it to entertain the baby during dinner by "knighting" you, the chandelier, the napkin holder, the baby, the cat, etc.
• Even though I am so incredibly tired when I take the 5:30 am bus to work, I will not fall asleep on the commute. I sit there and close my eyes and think the most sleepiest thoughts, but it doesn't happen. And then at 6:30 am, I'm at my desk ready to work. I will however, absolutely, fall asleep on the ride home.
• Taking video on a digital camera sucks the life out of the battery very quickly.
• If you don't use your iPod for awhile, even if the battery was fully charged when you used it last, the battery will be dead and you'll need to recharge.
• The fatter the cat, the more she begs for food and the less food you actually try to feed her.
• The longer I goof off on Facebook or read blogs, the more household projects and chores await me when I'm done. It's like they reproduce like rabbits while I'm sitting here at the computer.

And with that, I'm off to get some stuff done. Feel free to add lessons of your own.

we must have hope

It is with a heavy heart that I post today. I think we all know the economy is in trouble, and it appears no one is immune to it; in one way or another, what is going on these days affects all of us.

Thursday, my company laid off not quite 15% of its workforce -- 25 people. One day, we had 175 employees, and the next day 150. I am surprised and scared and sad. Most of these people weren't lazy workers (I'll admit, some were!), but most of them were good, dependable workers. I honestly can't tell what the criteria were to select the 25 people that went, since it really was a varied group.

But one commonality among them all: they were my friends. I knew about their lives. One was a single mom. Another, a BYU buddy of mine. Another, a father of four with a wife who stays at home. Another, an older gentleman who'd been at the company for years and years and years.

When I told Shane, with my face white as snow, he said he wasn't surprised. I work for an engineering firm and the construction industry is really hurting.

The next day, Friday, Boeing announced layoffs: 4,500 people sometime next month will get 60-day notices. Boeing said it would primarily be administrative and clerical workers, those not directly related to airplane production. But the fact of the matter is, whether my husband loses his job or not, those 4,500 people are people. Someone will lose his job. Someone with a family and bills and worries.

It's all just so sad. With the collapse of WaMu, thousands of people around here lost their jobs. Relocation is almost impossible, since the housing market is so bad. I'd hate to be a breadwinner, or anyone!, looking for a job or trying to sell a house right now.

So. This is where I start to feel better. As I was putting Wesley to bed the other night, he fell asleep in my arms. I looked at his sweet little face, and I realized it's not about money or jobs or power or security. It's about each other. Being there for each other. Having those relationships and realizing we'll be OK, since we have each other. We might lose a lot of money or have to make drastic life changes or feel completely alone and scared for awhile, but we'll be OK. I know we will.

After Boeing announced their layoffs, I was close to a nervous breakdown but Shane comforted me. His confidence was reassuring. What a good guy.

Short related tangent: A couple of years ago, before we bought our condo, I had this friend. He was a moron. He was totally into real estate and was very very risky in his investments -- but, 5 years ago, that was the thing to do. Real estate had never depreciated, ever. He owned several properties and rented them all out and paid his bills that way (he hardly ever went to work at this actual job). He never invested in his 401(k) since he "made more money investing in real estate." He got interest-only mortgages, believing that paying the principal was unnecessary since appreciation would more than cover it when he sold. This guy was nuts. And he had me completely convinced he was right and I needed to make the same choices. It all sounded so glamorous and surefire and brilliant. A small loan for a huge house? Double-digit appreciation? Living way beyond my means, without paying for it really? And on and on.

I tried to persuade Shane to jump on the risky real estate bandwagon, and his response was firm: No Way. That made me mad. Then he called me on it: "you'd trust this friend of yours more than you'd trust your own husband?" OK fine Shane, you win. We'll do it your way.

And how do I feel now? DANG GLAD Shane isn't a moron. He is solid when it comes to this kind of stuff. I am grateful for him.

There's a lot of uncertainty out there. But this we can be certain of: we have each other. Relationships matter more. Take care of each other. It doesn't have to be scary. Be prudent with what you have and live within your means, be good to those who need you (and you need), and realize this is all part of the plan of life. We will learn from this. And we will come out stronger.

I guess this is where I bear my testimony. I know our God, our Heavenly Father, knows us personally and knows our worries and needs and deepest insecurities. I don't know how this will fix itself, but I do know that we can have happiness without material things, and we can feel peace if we ask for it. I've been praying for my friends. I've been praying for the leaders of this country. I've been praying for my own sanity. Sometimes, all we have is hope. But with Heavenly Father on our side, I know that is enough.

benefit of the doubt

My husband paid me a really sincere compliment the other day. I'm not sure if he meant it as a compliment, but I took it as one. Perhaps you can weigh in on the situation at hand:

I got a new neighbor this summer. She is ridiculously young and very cute, and her first weekend as a condominium owner she had the most boisterous and loud party you can imagine. Whoa nelly. My recourse (with a newborn who needs his sleep) was to email our Association Manager, who promptly sent her a letter reminding her that "quiet hours" began at 10 pm. Before she received the letter, mind you, she had another rather jovial party, but since the letter has gone out, I have had no complaints. Her door faces mine, and we meet in the hallway quite a bit. I've met her roommate's teeeeeny teeeeeeeny tiny dog, and she even saw me in my bath robe getting the paper one day. So yeah, we're familiar.

Evidently, her neighbors on two other sides continue to be less than pleased with her neighborly qualities. I know this, because oddly enough, all three of us (neighbors) are on the Board of Directors. They sent an email to the Association Manager asking if he could confirm that she is the actual owner of the unit. They suspected her parents owned the unit and she was merely living there, as a gift from Mom and Dad.

The Association Manager confirmed that she was the owner, although the local government assessor's site shows that her parents are indeed co-signers or whatever on her property.

I asked my fellow Board Members if there was a problem. That's when the bashing began.

They said she "entertains" into the wee hours of the morning. One of them confronted her and said she wasn't nice at all. They insist her parents come and clean her condo for her (which I've neer seen). They called her a "spoiled brat" and a "rich princess" and on and on and on. Holy cow, slow down! None of the Board Members have introduced themselves to this girl or had any kind of conversation with her that was cordial, yet they jumped to conclusions about her faster than a speeding bullet.

I was shocked. I was shocked that my Board Member colleagues, whom I considered friends, could be so mean to someone they didn't even know. Yes, I realize inconsiderate neighbors are a problem, and we're having some issues with tough neighbors (renters and the like) in the complex, but that's why we have an Association Manager to fine them for doing stupid things like dumping their vacuum cleaner contents over the balcony or not picking up their dog's poo.

I just really felt like my fellow Board members were being waaaaaaaay too judgmental of this girl. I tried to stand up for her over email, but got shot down left and right. These people were 100% convinced. I did what I could, and I had to let it go.

I told Shane about it, and he pointed out to me that how I felt about this girl, who I barely know myself (although she knows my bath robe is pink!), was just my nature. I give people the benefit of the doubt. I root for the underdog. If someone is getting beat up on, I try to help. I like to keep the peace. I thought about it, and I guess he's right. I do try to be positive about everyone. You never really know, do you?

Truly, it was nice to hear my husband recognize that quality in me. It made me feel good that he noticed that I try to be open about people and situations.

Anyway, I think the key is as follows: get to know the neighbors before something awful happens. If they know your name and your face, when it comes to kindly asking them to please tone it down, it will go easier. I guess. Or just have the Association Manager do it, which is what I prefer.

So there is our local saga. What would you guys think in this situation? How do you deal with mean and loud and judgmental neighbors?

another year

Today is my anniversary. Six whole years I've been Mrs. Gottula. It's had its ups and downs, many ups, many downs, but overall, we're in such a great place. The coolest thing, by far, that the Shaner and I have accomplished in our relationship is creating a little Wesley to bring joy to the world. He is amazing.

I've decided I don't like New Year's. It's not that I don't like making resolutions and celebrating with Martinelli's (the latter which we actually didn't do this year since I forgot to buy it at Fred Meyer), but I just don't like the idea of adding 1 to the year. Time just ticks away. There are some phases of my life where I wish I could freeze the frame and never have the time tick away. I loved being 7, playing in the blue plastic pool in the backyard in the summer. I loved being at college, living in Campus Plaza with my amazing roommates, flirting with boys, going for runs, engaging my mind. I loved my summers at home, working at the Olive Garden, watching David Letterman every night, and really getting to know (and love) my brothers. I loved being at Fenwick Island, Del., or Ocean City, Md., lying on a beach towel with a fabulous book, feeling the sun on my skin and hearing the waves crash. Boy, I miss all those days. Those specific times.

But the years, they tick away. Yes, some experiences now are amazing. Being a mom, listening to Wesley laugh, feeling love get deeper and deeper: they are amazing experiences. But it still scares me a little bit. My life is collecting, bit by bit, on top of itself. The years fly by faster and faster. I'm afraid I'm going to blink, and all of a sudden be 99, realizing that most of my life is behind me instead of ahead of me. I'm sure it will be amazing to revel in the good (and bad?) of what I've accomplished in life, but part of me just never wants to get there. Part of me wants to freeze now.

So, that's why I don't like New Year's. Some days are bad days, and yes by all means, get those days over with and start new days. But the great days? I don't want them to end.

When Shane and I were engaged, the hardest part of the day was saying Good Night. He returned to his humble abode and I went to mine. It was hard! We thought as soon as we got married, we wouldn't have to say Good Night anymore. But, in our first months of being newlyweds, we would still say Good Night before we fell asleep, and I thought to myself, "I wish this day wouldn't end. This is so perfect. I still hate saying Good Night."

I never want a good movie to end. I never want a vacation to end (who does!?). I never want a good chocolate bar to end! I never want a good year to end. But, as life would have it, all good things come to an end.

I guess the trick is to realize that each day we have an opportunity to make the day as good as the last. If I put all my energies into not being reflective, but being progressive, maybe saying Good Night won't be so tough. I'd have to really work on that. Maybe I just need more courage or faith that tomorrow will be as good as today, and if I knew what was coming, I wouldn't want to freeze today. I don't know.

I hope your 2009 is as good or better than your 2008. Even with all my apprehension, I am excited for what this year holds.