One on One

I love the evenings when I get to spend quality time with this cutie!

Bath Time

Happy Traveling!

I hope your captain is as top notch as ours!

27

Did I mention I turned 27 on the 8th?  I did no cleaning, but did some extra sitting and reading.  I got a flat on my jogging stroller mid-run, but Mike gooped it for me before my next run.  Our friends watched the boys for an hour and Mike picked up Chipotle which we ate at the park.  It doesn't sound like much, but I felt like a new women after an hour out of the house with just Mike. 

Mike got me three new pairs of earrings as I seem to have lost one of each of mine.  He also got me some new perfume.  My mom, as is tradition, got me my running shoes for this year, plus some running accessories!  I'm 27 years old and she is still making sure I wear good shoes; thanks for taking care of me, Mom!  My brother made me an awesome running shirt: bright pink and it says, "and on the seventh day God did an easy three".  With my birthday money from Mike's mom I got these cool undershirts for nursing!  Love them!  When you're this spoiled, who could complain about being a year older?  Thanks to everyone for making my day special with birthday wishes, etc!

2 Months

 

I took two month pictures last Saturday.  The one month picture above is for reference.

 

It's hard to get Benton to smile for the camera because he gets so transfixed by the camera, but we got a few grins.

Last Call

Several months ago I heard an NPR interview with Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition and immediately checked to see if my library had it. Shortly after Benton was born (no more natural birthing books, etc. to read) I picked it up from the library and began reading. This was not the best book to fill my hours of time nursing and/or rocking Benton. First, it is physically hard to hold one handed (468 hardback pages). So, I waited until I had 25 dollars of things to buy from Amazon and bought a book clip to hold it open for me. Second, as my sister, who listened to it said, it's very "dense". While the language was not overly esoteric, there were just so many names, of people, organizations, laws, and so on, that it required a lot of concentration which my tired, multi-tasking brain didn't always have. Third, it wasn't riveting enough to dissuade me from watching shows on Hulu instead. Well, not until someone else put it on hold at the library so I was not able to renew it. A deadline of 10 days lit a fire under me and I got reading!

Now to the reasons why I read this anyway. How crazy is it that Americans actually amended the constitution to prohibit alcohol?!? The Constitution! That's huge! Can you imagine getting two thirds of Congress and the states to agree to anything now? Let alone to amend the Constitution? I had to know more about this topic that I was completely ignorant of before. The facts in the interview that I found so interesting were the links between income taxes, women's suffrage, and prohibition. Women hated alcohol because of what it did to their families. Prohibitionists knew that in order to have enough votes to pass prohibition, women needed to have a say. Also, federal income from taxes on alcohol were so integral to the nation's finances that prohibition never could have happened without an income tax being put in place first. The income tax kept the government afloat when they no longer could tax the sale of alcohol, despite all the selling that was going on. Actually, alcohol was not legal in Mississippi until the 1960s, but the government still taxed the sale of it...

As I read about the repeal of prohibition in the book, it was interesting to see how the Great Depression encouraged it. Legalizing alcohol allowed for greater tax revenue (hundreds of billions in the first year, if I remember correctly), lower income taxes for the lower classes, and more jobs as the alcohol industry made its comeback.

It was interesting reading about the creative ways people got alcohol and how beer and wine companies weathered those "dry" years. But the chapters on the dry years were the slowest part of the book with so many detailed accounts of bootlegging endeavors.

As I read Last Call, I found myself comparing the political issues of that time period to ours. Prohibition came during the days of WWI and people were irrationally scared and hostile towards German-Americans (beer makers), just like we then were towards Japanese, and then those of middle-eastern descent. Americans at that time were prejudiced against Catholics. Their ignorance about that religion led them to believe many crazy rumors about what went on within the church, and politicians were defeated because of their faith. And yet, we can see the same fear born of ignorance today with how people think of Muslims (after 9/11) and Mormons (running for president). Maybe these historical examples of misunderstanding and prejudice should be taught more in schools so that we learn not to judge each other so harshly, especially just because we don't understand each other. It's a shame we're still repeating these same mistakes.

Overall, I really enjoyed the subject matter in this book and I'm glad I took the time to read it.

Next up, Killer Angels, a novel of the Civil War. It is "the story of the Battle of Gettysburg, told from the viewpoints of Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet and some of the other men who fought there." I love American history, and am excited to read a novel. In the past two years I don't think I've read anything but nonfiction, and very few have been written as novels, so this will hopefully feel like more of a fluffy read.

(I have listened to quite a few fiction books; I'm not completely serious/boring.)
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Check Ups

Yesterday was Ethan's three year and Benton's two month check up. Ethan was so excited thinking he would get candy like at my OBGYN's office, which isn't the case at the pediatrician's of course. They do, however, have a train track that goes around the ceiling with a train driving on it. When I told him that, it was all he could talk about the rest of the morning: he was going to drive it, bring toys to put in the freight cars, etc. When we got there he was beside himself with excitement, loudly narrating the train's every move and sound to the other children.

In the appointment, Ethan was very cooperative. The doctor commented several times on how well he speaks and didn't have to wait for me to answer the "is he active question" because his behavior spoke for itself. :) apparently the doctor didn't see in Benton's chart that he had chickenpox because he asked what the pink spots were and was genuinely surprised when I said chickenpox.

Ethan wanted to hold Benton while we waited and I love this picture!

Here are the boys' stats:

Ethan, 3 years
Height: 36.25in, 25th percentile
Weight: 31.25lbs, 50th percentile

Benton, 2 months
Height: 23.25in, 75th percentile
Weight: 11lbs 1.5oz, 50th percentile
Head Circumference: 40cm, 50th percentile

Represent

We may not have a license plate yet, but my stickers are on!

Mike agreed to a Ragnar sticker, but the discussion about using the van in a Ragnar has been tabled until 2013 since I can't run the race in 2012 (nursing baby).

Contest

I want to win this owl, and posting here gives me an entry to the sticky bellies contest giving it away. Super cute isn't it?  Santa may bring this to Benton even if I don't win!

Thanks for the giveaway Sticky Bellies!  (Remember the cute sticky bellies featured in Benton's 1 month pictures?.) 

Smiles

I thought to grab the real camera just in time for him to stop smiling, but here are a few glimpses.

Hazard

The hazard of battery operated trains is if driven on your head, they get entangled in your hair.

Thomas the Tank Engine...Again

 Halloween was really fun with Ethan this year!  For the ward party I styled his hair before putting on his costume.  Nice, huh?

 The Halloween party had trick or treating inside the church, lots of games, and Ethan's favorite, a train ride!  Here he is waiting by the train for it to be time to ride.  Recognize the costume?  He wore it last year too.  That 6 dollars on Craigslist has been put to good use.  Once he understood the costume concept, he did request to be a mouse a few times (his favorite Halloween book was about a mouse), but when given the choice between Thomas and a mouse, he chose Thomas.

 One of our neighbors came with us to the party.

 Here's my Thomas jack o'lantern.  I enlarged a coloring book page to use as a stencil.  This is two days old, so it's a little wilty.

 On Halloween night we met up with another neighbor and the boys were adorable!  I wish I had had my real camera.  These two ran from house to house.  Ethan was a pro loudly saying trick or treat and thank you.  His friend had been a little shy about it before they teamed up, but gained his confidence with Ethan.

 Cutest thing ever! 

 Mike and I both went with Ethan for a little while and then Benton and I went home to hand out candy while Mike and Ethan kept going.  We ended up not even giving away a whole bag of candy, so we have tons left over!

I was a slacker and didn't dress up the rest of the family.  I had Benton in his stretchy wrap and did get asked if he was a real baby though!

Still Cute

In case you were wondering, he's still cute! Even more so since the last 3 nights he's slept 5 hours twice and six hours once!
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10pm

Today we got new books at the library, Thanksgiving books. Apparently Ethan likes them. At 10pm I heard him flipping his light switches. I went in and he was sitting on his bed "reading this book". He insisted on leaving his book in his bed and laid down hugging it. When I made it back with my camera he was like this (he's not actually asleep).
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I can't get enough of this cute little face! He giggled at me today! Sweet, sweet boy!
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Loves!

Someone has learned to love being held and I think these wraps had something to do with that! I love stretch wraps!

The car seat, on the other hand, is still hated!
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Running Partner

I couldn't ask for a cuter running buddy! And he's very cooperative about it so far.
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