The Green Movement

You gotta love China as well. They're all for saving the environment, and to show that they're willing to help out, they're banding (no pun intended...) together to put a stop to wasteful habits. Take this article for example. Not only are they encouraging safe sex, but they're giving those defective-and sometimes used- condoms a whole new purpose.

Hair Bands.

Yeah, that was my reaction as well.

Breast is Best!

A little forewarning- this post might be wordy, and no, it is not about the debate between breast-feeding and formula.

Wow. You gotta love PETA. Not only are they out there saving the day for all those poor little animals becoming movie stars (can't work 'em too hard now, can we?), but they're also looking out for our health. They just suggested to Ben and Jerry's that using breast milk would be better for the obesity epidemic and in the better interests of the treatment of dairy cows. Once again, WOW. You can check out the article here. I'd suggest reading it. Not only is it hilarious, but the following comments will make more sense.

Aside from being completely laughable, this article and letter to Ben and Jerry's irritated me in a number of ways:

1. Come on. No letter that has Dr. Spock as a reference should be taken seriously. After all, think about how all of those kids turned out. And the name just says it all. Spock.
2. So if it's inhumane to milk cows, why in the world are they suggesting we should start milking humans? Granted, these moms are paid for their liquid gold, but, like my friend Kim said, I really don't like being compared to a cow.
3. Though the technical definition of "cannibalism" refers to eating flesh, I'd say milk is close enough, unless you're younger than a year old. See #4.
4. As I'm sure the majority of the population will agree with me, that's just disgusting. Besides, do all moms taste the same anyway?
5. I don't really think changing the milk in ice cream would change the course of human life as we know it. People aren't obese because of the milk in ice cream. People are obese because they can astonishingly consume huge amounts of ice cream, and that's after they've snarffed down 3 Big Macs and 2 large orders of fries. With a large soda. For breakfast.
6. When pediatricians say "breast is best" I'm not quite sure this is what they have in mind. They're usually referring to infants and babies, not full-grown human adults.

So what say you? Willing to try some all-natural ice cream? After all, it's probably nice and heart-healthy, seeing as it has no cow's milk-can't claim that it has no dairy, since the technical definition has to do with milk, and not just cow's milk. So does that mean that lactose-intolerant people can now fully partake in one of life's more simpler pleasures?

As for me, I'll have to pass. However, being a nursing mom, I'm mildly curious as to what those Swedish moms from the article are paid...

Half a Year

Erik is now a whopping six months! He had his check-up today, and he weighed 19 pounds, 6 ounces, and he measured 26 1/4 inches. So that puts him in the 90th percentile for weight and the 50th for height- once again, short and fat. He's rolling over a ton and actually gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, and this is completely opposite from Taylor. Taylor was so fat and hated being on his stomach, so he didn't roll over or crawl until 9 months. But he sat up by 4 1/2 months: Erik still can't sit up. Taylor didn't get a tooth until 8 months, and we just realized today that Erik is getting a tooth. But he's doing great! Happy as can be, and just full of smiles. Isn't he cute?

Pediatric Retreat

This past weekend we went up to Pacific Beach with all of the pediatric residents. Aside from the fact that Taylor threw up on the way there, we were all stuck in one small room when we were supposed to have two rooms, the "luau" consisted of blown-up hawaiian sceneries taped up to the walls, and the bonfire that was supposed to happen never actually happened, we had a great time! The beach was beautiful, and you could drive around on it! Kent was excited and tried to throw up some dirt while he was driving, but I got nervous about getting our new car stuck on the beach (one of the other residents ended up doing the same thing and got towed out by a truck that drove around looking for people that got stuck). Anyway, good times! We even did some bowling. So here's a slideshow.

A Little Pampering

While we were over at Carlie's for one of our weekly Sunday dinners, we realized that it had been a while since we heard anything from Braden and "Trailer." (That's what Braden calls him.) So we go upstairs to see what they've gotten into this time, and it turns out they had helped themselves to Bailey's makeup. They did all of this themselves, though I'm not sure I should be admitting that.

First Day of School

Taylor started preschool today! I wasn't sure who was more excited- me or Taylor (or maybe even Kent, now that I can go grocery shopping on a more regular basis).

Okay, he looks slightly horrified in this picture, but I swear he was really excited.

And after I dropped Taylor off, I got in the car and thought about how big the boy was getting... and immediately zipped off to indulge myself in my newfound freedom by trying to finish up some home decor shopping. So I load my cart with my fun finds, unload them to be scanned and purchased... and realize I left all of my dear plastic purchasing power at home. I was quite bitter. So I raced home to at least try to get some enjoyment out of my first day with Taylor at school (now that I think about it, it's a miracle I didn't get a ticket speeding on the freeway... especially considering I didn't have my license). We'll try again Thursday.

The Puyallup Fair

First, for those of you who don't know how in the world to say, "Puyallup", it's pew-all-up. I had no idea how to say it the first time I read it. Anyway, we decided to brave the 120,000-people-crowd and go to the fair! Stuff like this is definitely not the same with kids, but like Steven Colbert said, where else are we going to step on strangers' vomit? But I don't remember the fair ever being that expensive. It was $3-$4 per ride per person. And those were the lame kid rides. Taylor had a blast, though. We went to go see the animals. He loved the goats. For some odd reason he kept looking at the goats' behinds.

If I would have known the cotton candy was going to be this big, I wouldn't have bought it (every one else in front of me bought the lame plastic bag, so I didn't see how big it was until after it was already paid for).

I try not to be anal about guns, but did they really need to put fake machine guns on the airplanes?

Erik was so good. He just hung out the whole time.

Kent was so proud of himself. He wanted to do the game where you knock the milk cans over with the baseballs, and he did it on the second try. So we ended up leaving with a huge red dog. Taylor loved it. And as you can see, it barely fit in the car.

Patriot Day

In honor of Patriot Day yesterday, the local firehouse held a little open-house and a barbecue. They had a fire truck and and aid unit vehicle open for all of the kids to go through and check out. It was really cool, and Taylor loved it.

Sweet! ...and a little salty.

I LOVE cake, but I'm not a big fan of typical icing- usually the buttercream icing. I was making dessert for our usual Sunday dinners with that we have with Chris, Carlie, Chad, and Beth and all the kids, and I thought I'd try one of the recipes from The Cake Mix Doctor. My mother-in-law, Linda, got this book for me for Christmas (I think) a few Christmases ago, and I hadn't tried very many. Anyway, I decided to try the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. The cake was pretty much like any other chocolate cake. But man, oh man, the icing... I never lick the beaters when I make icing. The stuff is just way too sweet. I can almost feel my teeth recoiling in horror. And while my teeth still might have recoiled in horror while I was happily stuffing my face with spoonfuls of icing, I didn't notice. The icing was delicious. The peanut butter really balanced out the sweetness of the sugar. Anyway, here it is. Slap it on a yummy chocolate cake and it's really really good. Emphasis on "really."

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter (room temp)
2 cups powdered sugar (it says sifted, but honestly, I was too lazy, and who sifts anymore?)
3-4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

On low speed, beat peanut butter and butter for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and vanilla. Blend on low speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium until frosting lightens and is fluffy, about 1 minute more. If it seems too stiff, add up to 1 tablespoon more of milk.

I beat mine a little longer so it was a little more fluffy. Delicious!

Bend It Like Beckham

Okay, I'll admit, he really didn't do much like Beckham. This Saturday was Taylor's first soccer game. The first half he did pretty good- he actually got to the ball and dribbled it a bit, though he only got to it one time. The second half... yeah, not so well.

Here was pre-game and stretching with the coach:

First half:

And the second half, where it just seemed to get worse and worse. He decided to tackle a girl on his team, and from there started a dog-pile:

But he did okay. I wasn't expecting much, and I certainly didn't expect a prodigy (good thing, huh?). But he was having fun (most of the time)and I do have hopes that maybe he'll be potty-trained by the time soccer is over. In the past month, Taylor has not once told me he has to go pee. However, Thursday, while we were leaving, we walked by a port-a-potty. He sees a man walk out and immediately decides he has to go pee. Geez, of all the times to decide to tell me he has to go. So I get all fired-up thinking this is the beginning of a new life for him. I was tempted to tell him to just go in his diaper (after all, come on! Did he have to tell me when only a port-a-potty is available?) but I sucked it up and took him inside. After touching everything he could get his hands on in there (I wanted to vomit, and bathed him in hand sanitizer afterward), he actually did go pee. But he didn't tell me he had to go pee again... until Saturday after his game when we walked by the same port-a-potty. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow when we have to walk by the same one again. Maybe I should just rent one and put it in my backyard...

Approaching the Hill

Not quite over it, as of yet. On Monday, Kent turned 30. Yes, the big 3-0. For the past 2 years, whenever someone would ask him his age, he'd hesitate and say, "I'm in my twenties." So here's a picture of my 30-year-old hubby. Still lookin' good, huh?

Okay, so maybe that's not him, but we lost our memory card for our camera, and we weren't able to get a pic of him blowing out all of his candles on his birthday cake. This was the best I could do.

So even though it's a couple days late, I thought I'd make a list to commemorate this momentous occasion. One is a list of his most annoying habits, and the second is a list of things that make him all the more freakin' awesome!

Annoying Habits:

1. You know that plastic tab thing you're supposed to pull off of the milk carton the first time you open it to take the cap off? He doesn't pull it off all the way, so he leaves it dangling there for me to pull off later.
2. He forgot our last anniversary.
3. He takes his socks off inside-out, so that they go through the wash inside-out as well. So then I go to sort socks, put them right-side-out, and all the dirt that was on them falls all over my newly-vacuumed floor.
4. After he changes the boys' diapers, he won't close them up: he leaves them lying open like nobody's business.
5. He forgot our last anniversary.
6. He won't clean the "extras" when he cleans the kitchen i.e. the leftover dishes that either have to be hand-washed or won't fit into the dishwasher (though I think I probably have his family to blame for this one).
7. He still insists on wearing his holey T-shirts from high-school out in public.
8. He forgot our last anniversary (I'm obviously not going to let him forget this one).

Why He's So Freakin' Awesome!

1. The man has got some awesome dance moves. But before you sign him up for "Dancing With the Stars" keep in mind that they're awesome because they make me laugh until I'm about to wet my pants.
2. When the house gets a little too dirty, I get close to totally freaking out. And he's nice enough to stop what he's doing and ask me what he can do to help.
3. The man can't multi-task to save his life. BUT put a football game on while he's playing the Wii, do a split-screen with the TV, and he can still kick some trash.
4. He finally likes my enchiladas better than his mom's (thank goodness, considering I'm Mexican and his mom isn't- sorry Linda :).
5. He's brutally honest. When I made my first meatloaf, he said, "Do I have to try it?"
6. He makes up songs. And I'm not talking lullabies for Taylor. I'm talking full-length songs that don't always rhyme... complete with his falsetto voice.
7. He's an awesome daddy, with a ton more patience than I have.
8. Even though I totally torched him for forgetting our anniversary, he tried his hardest to make up for it and felt sufficiently contrite (still, I feel it's my right as a wife to hold it over him for the rest of his life... at least until I get a surprise trip to Hawaii for our anniversary or an eternity band from Tiffany's).

You're awesome, honey!