After taking over the kitchen table for a few weeks with my sewing machine and quilting paraphernalia, we decided it was time to set up a dedicated space for my work. Preferably a space that is not in close contact with food or where food should be eaten. In addition, this space should be in the living area so I don't have to keep asking, "What's happening? What did he say?" because we have a show on that we are watching. I tend to read, iron, pin, sew, and feed James during our time to watch shows together and it's sort of hard to follow the storyline when you don't stay in the room for more than a couple minutes at a time.
I'm happy to say that with this new arrangement I can pin, sew, and iron from the same place that I use to watch/listen to our shows. Both Daniel and James are now used to this arrangement. James will watch contentedly from his bouncy seat while I mumble to myself about difficult points and rippling seam lines and Daniel will turn the volume up when I'm sewing and down when I'm not. What a team!
I had a machine, a box of fabric, pins, and many, many ideas when I started but now I have space to implement them! Bwa ha ha ha hah. (and you thought that laugh was only for mad scientists)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Quilting Table
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Maestro
One of the beautiful things about our digital piano is that it has headphones so I need not disturb the neighbors with my playing; especially since I usually don't have time to play until late at night.
James enjoys the piano. He's figured out that it makes noise and seems to take this music-making business pretty seriously. I'm looking forward to teaching him the basics when he is a little older. Hopefully by then I will have gotten them down a little better myself.
Monday, July 28, 2008
On A Roll
We were very proud when James discovered how to roll onto his back. Our joy was short lived, however, when we realized that he did not yet know how to roll back. James tends to frown upon being in positions that he doesn't like, especially when he cannot get out of those positions. As we realized this, visions of our Little Mercury Switch going off in the middle of the night tugged at the edges of our smiles. Since then, James has only needed a roll-assist every now and then, and luckily not in the middle of the night.
This afternoon, I put him on his back while I watched him from the kitchen because I was busy making some cookies for FHE. The next thing I know, he had rolled over on his belly and stuck his head and shoulders up to watch me. Of course, I had to get a shot of how cute he looked, especially in his little muscle shirt. I went back to cooking, and when I next looked over, he was back on his back again. It took me a second to realize that he had accomplished. James is now an ambi-roller!
My joy was again short lived as my imagination began drumming up worse-case scenarios involving an ever-increasingly mobile baby. Pins on the floor, dust bunnies in the corners, books teetering on the edges of end-tables. Yikes! I think I should go research child-proofing the home now.... Until next time!
Kate's Visit
My good friend Kate came to visit this weekend. I braved the terrible weekend traffic (and saw some crazy drivers) to get to see her at the BBQ put together in her honor. She's awesome and I'd do it again in a minute.
Let me tell you about my friend Kate. She is a lot of fun to be around because of her very happy personality. When she first moved to New Jersey we had a great time going on walks together. We both had a lot going on at the time and it was great to have someone to talk to. Later, life got crazy for both of us and although we didn't walk as much, we continued to value the other's input. With her help, I was able to gain valuable insight and perspective on the guys I was seeing at the time. Indeed, because of her, I was encouraged to continue dating Daniel. Bless you, Kate!
It was great to have her meet James. I only wish I had remembered to get a picture of them together with my camera.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Bread of Life
Nohreen brought us dinner about a month ago. It had the best bread I have ever eaten. We dreamed of this divine bread. We invited her family over for Family Home Evening and when she asked what she could bring there was no hesitation on our part. We asked for her to please bring her bread and the recipe.
She did. We got all the ingredients and Daniel followed the recipe to the T. It turned out great. Thanks, Nohreen!
2 (.25 oz) package rapid rise yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 (12 fluid oz) can evaporated milk
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Let stand until yeast becomes frothy, about 6 minutes. While waiting for yeast to grow, proceed to step 2.
2. In a large bowl; combine milk, 1/4 cup water, melted butter, honey, and salt. Mix well. Add wheat flour one cup at a time, mixing well with a wooden spoon. Mix the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, and let it rest 15 minutes. Add white flour one cup at a time, mix and knead. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes or with mixer for 8 minutes. Keep adding flour while kneading until dough is not too sticky. I usually add about 1/2c to 1 c more. Place the dough in a greased bowl, and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until doubled.
3. Punch down and divide dough in half. Roll out each half and knead a little with flour. Form into 2 loaves, and place in 2 greased 9x5 inch bread pans,. Let rise in a warm area until doubled; second rise should take about 1 hour.
4. Place a small pan of water on the bottom shelf of oven. This is very important ! Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
5. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until tops are dark golden brown. Another way to test doneness is by tapping the top of bread. A hollow sound means it is done. Slice when cool. Keep in refrigerator if not eating right away (this also makes bread easier to slice). Freezes well.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Editor in Chief
Some of you may have noticed the new look of our blog. The sophisticated and elegant formatting; so well put together and easy to read. The colors are crisp and everything lines up. And, of course, the posts on this blog are absolutely phenomenal. The topics are engaging and fun.
I'd like to take credit for the amazing-ness of this blog but I can't. This has been a joint effort. Daniel has spent time working his formatting magic and I am constantly on the look out as the camera-woman/writer.
But we couldn't do it without our Editor in Chief, James. He is constantly critiquing our articles and the blog setup. After all, he is the star of the blog and he has to make sure he isn't misrepresented.
So, here's to you , Big Man on the blog.
For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good felloooooo, and nobody can deny.....
Friday, July 25, 2008
Upright Citizen
Recently, Daniel found out that James really likes standing up all by himself. Daniel places him standing at the edge of the couch and James surveys the living room until he topples forward. Will he go from sitting, to standing, to walking and skip the crawling altogether?
We'll just have to see.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Out of the Diet and into the Fryer
Good mothers make sure their children have enough food to eat. During James' incubation I did due diligence and made sure he had plenty of nutritious foods coming his way. Judging by his nine-and-a-half pound birthweight, I think I did fine.
Since then I have been working to lose the food storage that he put to the side (or should I say the hips) for his later benefit. To help it move along I've been eating healthily and exercizing.
This week is the sixth week of a diet I started and more notably, it is the last week. I have been restricting my intake to fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Even though I love fruits and vegetables, this has required incredible discipline. Especially since I am blessed to have a husband who likes to cook. But survive I did, just barely.
I am proud to say that by watching what I eat, and by exercizing, I am almost down to my pre-James' weight. Hooray!!!
Daniel: Good job, Honey!
King James: You have done well. Reward yourself one Whopper combo.
So, to reward myself, and to motivate me to continue, we treated ourselves to Burger King yesterday. We both had Whopper combos. Ahhhhhh......
This was a treat to be savored. Especially since I won't be having it for awhile as I ramp up my plans to lose the last stubborn pounds and tone the residual muscle.
Monday, July 21, 2008
James Pictures
In case you hadn't noticed, James gets a lot of blog time. He is, you might say, the center of our blogging efforts. I guess this is because we don't have many other interests right now or because I don't much like getting my picture taken ... and he is just so darn cute!
Whatever the case, here are some more pictures for all the fans out there. We wish you were closer and could see him in person.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
James' Morning Diagnostic
Ahhhhhh....another day begun.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Home Invasion Vehicle
I, for one, welcome our new overlord and his alien hover-craft assault vehicle.
We were blessed by inheriting a hand-me-down from a wonderful family in our Ward, which James is already learning how to operate. I am not exactly sure what it is called. So, I have decided to call it either James' Terror Turret, James' Sanity Saucer, or James Ex-Machina, depending on the mood he is in.
Nevertheless, his domestic invasion is not to enslave, but to spread his infectious smile and cuteness all over our apartment. It's a good thing too, since we can't seem to get enough of him.
I hope you see those cute rays emanating from his eye sockets. I sure do. 
I got you now!
You stopped!
Werd, yo.Friday, July 11, 2008
Wii, Garden, Hands
This blog is a stream of consciousness blog.... no rhyme or reason. Just enjoy.
James has discovered his hands. Or maybe we should say he has discovered his hands and his mouth. He's gearing up for teething by practicing gnawing and drooling ahead of schedule. We always knew he was an over-acheiver.
After much watering and forgetting to water the garden, the time of the harvest has arrived. Hunting behind leaves, and double checking each plant, Daniel brought in the fruits (or vegetables) of his labor.
Daniel's harvest: a lone green bean. Never was a bean more appreciated.
I admire many a person in this world. Nohreen is one of them. She is a wonderful mom and person. When she came over James knew he was in experienced hands and settled right down from being fussy. Nohreen's patience and love is palpable. Since then, when he is fussy I think to myself "Be like Nohreen" and it helps me be a little more patient when I'm tired and he's tired too.
Everyone enjoys a rousing round of boxing, young and old.
The Wertenbakers:
The Foote vs The Howell (Meg and I were the cheering section.)
A note of warning: if you are going to Wii box be careful not to overextend your arms. You can really make your inner elbows sore. I guess some of us can be a little too competitive.
Who, me?!? ;)
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Baby Brain
Babies seem to produce the same effect as partying too much … or old age. (or maybe they just accelerate the aging process.) Suddenly your memory becomes faulty. You forget where you set things and what you went into the kitchen to get. And, like me, you will wake in the living room and not remember how you got there because you collapsed there after the umpteenth trip to sooth and feed the baby. This memory loss is progressive so that when your baby is no longer a baby you will have forgotten most of this and will be willing to have another baby.
(On a side note, there have been studies showing that increased levels of estrogen increase one’s ability to remember. Hmmmmm……)
On Monday I awoke, did not know where I was, could not figure out if it was Sunday or Monday, and had a hard time reconciling the time that was shown on the clock. After asking Daniel what day it was, I was able to remember, in that half-asleep way, the weekend, the traveling, and the fact that James was wired after his nap in the car during the drive home (hence my heightened disorientation from lack of sleep). Then I was able to stumble off to work. Counting the third trimester I have not slept more than a four hours stretch for the last six months. This isn’t too different from when I was in college, the big difference being that I would take a long nap every once in awhile to stave off the kind of disorientation described above.
What have I learned from this?
Being a parent will slowly rob you of your mental capacity. I have hopes to recover but imagine that by the time I do it won’t make much difference. The baby will be a teenager and that is another ball of wax entirely.
Sigh……
Then I look at James and he smiles at me. Awwwwww….
Who needs brain cells anyway?
Monday, July 7, 2008
The Weekend of July the Fourth
Happy Independence Day!
This last weekend we went down to Virginia for the Fourth of July. While there I had the opportunity to try out the Wii Fit. It was fun to try to balance on the board and to watch Daniel trying to balance on the board. The Wii Fit gave me a "fitness test" (yes, in quotes) and then assigned me my Wii age.....da da duuuh... I'm 38. Apparently having James aged me considerably. At least Dan is still older than me; he's the Wii old age of 40. Hee hee.
Ben and Josie brought the Wii version of Rockband with them and we had a lot of fun playing the guitar, banging the drums, and warbling into the microphone. My favorite was the drums. I played until I had to stop because I was getting drummer's elbow. You can tell James enjoyed it because he fell asleep to Daniel and Ben playing in their own Wii band.
We discovered that Aunt Josie has a very calming effect on James. He fell asleep on her whenever she held him. She says it's because she exudes tryptophan from her pores.:)
We had a great dinner of broccoli rabe stir fry and a huge fruit salad for the Fourth. Afterwards we celebrated Grandpa Howell's birthday (June 26th) and mine too. Grandma went the extra mile and made a cake for each of us. Delicious! We watched the fireworks on TV, safe from all the mist and rain outside.
James had his first train ride on Saturday. We took the metro into Washington D.C. to see the exhibit put on by the Smithsonian. They had an exhibit of Bhutan, Texas, and NASA set up in the Mall. This is the Bhutanese temple built in the Mall:
The Bhutanese are very talented scupters and carvers. Their work is exquisitely done.
I was very impressed by their weaving too. Using the back brace to create the tension needed to weave is an ingenious idea. Their weaving showed a lot of attention to detail and high level of skill.
This is us in front of a Bhutanese tent dwelling. It was smokey and the canvas was handwoven. Rustic. I am very grateful for my running water and apartment comforts.
A Bhutanese artist did some landscapes of Bhutan that were absolutely breathtaking. Here is one of them:
At about this point in the tour I was extremely hot, starving, and cranky. James too. I fed him and Daniel got me a quarter of a watermelon from a nearby stand. Yum.... (Everyone else sampled deli sandwiches to stave off their hunger pangs.)
The NASA exhibit had some fun science type displays. My favorite part was the electric fan they had blowing into each tent. James and I people-watched, and were watched by people, as we stood in the air stream testing theories of aerodynamics a.k.a staying cool. We received comments such as:'What a cute baby!', 'Ahhhhh....', 'Isn't he adorable!' etc. I highly enjoyed this portion of the show.:)
We stayed for Sacrament meeting on Sunday at Grandpa and Grandma Howell's ward. It was nice to be there and get to introduce James to everyone.
