"Lookit my eyes..."

There may be a "quick tip" post coming after this one about being careful what you say in front of kids...

A couple days ago, I was getting Mikey ready for bed, as I am wont to do every night, and while getting his diaper changed, he started scratching his leg near his bum. The kid has very sensitive skin and was on the tail end (pun intended) of getting over some bad diaper rash. I told him again to stop scratching, and when he didn't stop, I moved his hand away from his bum to make him stop scratching. Not an uncommon occurrence.  But then, he piped up in his own defense. This was a couple days ago so this is my best recollection, but our conversation went something like this:

Mikey: No! Dadda, no touch my hand
Me: (offhandedly) Ok
Mikey: No touch my hand, Dadda, that's naughty
Me: (with a smile at the irony) Ok, buddy
Mikey: Dada, lookit, my eyes
Me (smiling still, but trying to give him the amount of seriousness he's asking for, I get in real close, so we're locked eye to eye) Yes, Mikey?
Mikey: Dadda, no hit my hand. No hit it. That's naughty, ok? Lookit my eyes.
Me: Ok, Mikey. I just don't want you to scratch and hurt your bum
Mikey: Ok Dadda

Then we went on with the nighttime routine. Kids listen to the stuff you say. When I'm being serious and want him to really listen, I tell him to look at my eyes. He not only understands the words and instruction to physically look at my eyes, he understands the context, and how to use the same context himself. This kid.

And don't worry everyone. I'm doing better at swatting his hand away from scratching, and trying to use my words more. He taught me my lesson.

Baby announcements and parodies

So here's our birth announcement thinger for Henry:

Pretty cute, huh? Well, he has an uncle who likes to give nicknames to nieces and nephews (and really anyone else), and since we've got a baby Henry whose mom's maiden name is Jones, Henry's nickname from Jared so far has been Indiana. 

Jared just sent us this new and improved version of Henry's birth announcement.

I think he looks pretty sharp in the hat.

Two babies!

Welcome to the world, baby Henry! Most of you probably already follow Hayley's blog (or the family blog). I'll do a more in depth post with more pics, but I just put this one together for fun. Can you tell which baby is Mikey and which is Henry? I can. I think most will be able to. But the comparison is fun! We're so excited to now be a family of 4!

Christmas

This Christmas was awesome, but a bit different than others we've had. First, I've been really busy with work. That threatened early on to invade on my vacation time a little, but then I had a final call on my last "half day" (in quotes because I worked 8 hours) that made me basically turn off my work cell, and just be with my family.

Once we got going, it was a good time. Pretty quickly, poor Mikey got croup worse than he ever has, and we had many sleepless nights with that. He then got strep throat and the flu at the same time immediately after the croup, so he was also exhausted on Christmas. We took 3 hours in the morning to open 4 presents, then Mikey took a nap. When he woke up, he was more interested in opening stuff and getting all the paper ripped up, but it was a very low key day. Jared and Liz visited to see Mikey's toys (their blogs are linked, but they don't blog anymore, and Jared's is private, so I can't even see it myself anymore), and he loved playing with cousins up to the point where he decided to just lay flat out on the floor, hands tucked under his tummy, and watch Bradley play with cars and trains. It was cute.

My mom and dad visited, too, and brought McKay and Sindi along. We had a nice visit and a tasty meal with them. Earlier, a 4-pack of Martinelli's fell out of the back of our car and only two bottles survived, so we only had the two to share. The steaks made up for that, I think.

During the two weeks I was off work, we stayed inside mostly, but Mikey and I played in the snow all bundled up (see my last post), and made snow angels and a snowman. Once Mikey got sick, going out wasn't really an option, but we went driving to see Christmas lights around the neighborhood and he LOVED it. We even found a house that had a whole thing going with music. Here's a little clip of that:



You can hear the music (they had the radio station to tune into shown on their lawn), and you start to hear the camera noise when Hayley started taking pictures. Mikey hears that, and starts saying, "Cheese!!" Man, is he cute.

We also had to make sure we kept Hayley resting and off of salt. I think it was a little rough for her, but we will probably make up for it in January when the baby is here.

During Christmas is when it really started to become a real thing that Henry was going to actually be here. We looked at old pictures of Mikey, talked about all the stuff he did as a tiny baby, and even about what next Christmas might be like with him here. How crazy will that be!

Anyway, hope you had a great Christmas, too!

Snow Day

It snowed on Sunday. Mike was really interested in looking at it, so I asked him if he wanted to go out and play in it, and of course he said yes. We went out, stomped around for a while, then I took him over to see how snow-covered the playground was. Then I took some videos. Enjoy.

First video. This one is long

Going down a snow covered slide

After the first slide, he went down this bigger one. I didn't get the first attempt on video, but this second one was funnier

This is another long one. I wanted to see if he'd go down the big slide covered in snow, but I think it was too much. I was nervous with him being that high with the slippery snow, too, so when he didn't go down, I put away the phone

Hope you enjoyed! This kid...

P.S. Yes, I'm aware I skipped the number 4 in numbering my videos. I lost count when uploading. There is no video 4. Oh well.

I feel like I should blog

I guess this happens about once every year. I don't have anything specific to blog about, but I haven't blogged in like seven months, so I should do something, right? Here's some stuff. You likely already know this, but hey, it's for posterity or whatever.

• I totally didn't do NaNoWriMo this year. I'm ok with that. I don't know if I'll ever do it. I got the emails and stuff from the Salt Lake group, but didn't even read them
• Hayley is pregnant. It's a boy, and he'll be named Henry. He'll show up in January
• I'm pretty sure everyone I follow on google reader still follows me. It's just easier to not unsubscribe, amirite? You should all blog more often, too. If you don't follow me anymore, well, "sucks to your assmar."
• I'm super into putting links in this post
• Work is very busy. Not travel busy, but work busy. And I'm not particularly fond of this project I'm on
• Speaking of work, everyone is leaving! My boss is leaving, my bosses boss already left, and another manager I liked on my bosses level left
• Again, speaking of work, I'm going to try to get my bosses job. Maybe I'll blog about that another time
• Mikey talks a ton. He mimics everything, so watch your mouth. And pay attention to the kind of TV you watch when he's in the room
• I'm excited for the holidays. I love Christmas
• I may or may not have teared up watching a video where a flash mob choir sing carols in a mall, especially at the part where they sang Oh, Holy Night, and got to the line, "Fall on your knees; oh hear the angel voices" and everyone singing knelt down in front of people dressed as the holy family

That's about it for now. I'll try to blog more. You guys do it more, too, ok?

20,000

I'm out of shape, don't want to be, but have been lacking the motivation for the past few weeks (in spite of being in a weight-loss/healthy-lifestyle competition where I am going to lose money). Then, a work friend of mine told me she, too, was lacking motivation, so we started motivating each other. She had also figured out a way to bring her laptop to her treadmill, and I might try that out. We both work from home, so getting those 10,000 daily steps you need each day gets difficult.

During this conversation with the work friend, I texted Hayley and said, "my goal is to get 20,000 steps tomorrow." That might have been a little ambitious. Then, I challenged my work friend to see which of us could get the most steps this weekend. (We both have a FitBit, so we track our steps and other stuff. The FitBit is pretty cool. Ask me questions about it.) Then she told me she usually gets like 12,000 with her run on Saturday, since she's training for a marathon. So my challenge to her might also have been a little ambitious. Luckily, there were no monetary or other types of wagers, just the challenge.

After texting Hayley and making the challenge, I had a tiny panic attack, wondering what I had just done to myself. I have trouble getting to my daily 10,000, how was I going to do this? Then, I got over that quick, and decided that I'd add walking into the already planned activities of the day. While Mikey napped in the morning, I would get on the treadmill and stay there until he woke up. I would walk and hike while we were up the canyon with Hayley's parents and nieces and nephew. I would walk to the movie theater for the move we were going to. And finally, when we got home, I walked to the mailbox (down a half a block or so). And I did it! I was on my way back to our house when I reached 20,000 steps. See?

I almost didn't do the walk to the mailbox because I had a couple new blisters, my feet were tired, and... ... ...I was chafing a little. But I did, and I'm glad. And in spite of those blisters, I'm still going to walk to and from church tomorrow. I'm gonna win my little bet with the marathon trainer if it kills me. Also, I really just needed some motivation, and getting to 20,000 steps, while not a big deal for some, was a huge deal for me. Here's hoping the motivation stays!

Not quite getting it

So, The other day, I got an email from a guy who works for a company I interviewed with before I got my current job. He asked if I'd like to meet him for breakfast, only he said he'd be in DC... I know we live in a world of autocorrect, so maybe he wrote SLC on his phone, and it autocorrected to DC, so I responded back. It wouldn't be bad to meet up with this guy. It's smart to keep in touch with business contacts for networking and all that. But I'm not sure this guy caught on to his error. Here's how the conversation went:

Garrett - I'll be in DC Friday morning and wondered if you were able to join me for breakfast? I'm staying near the capitol.

Hi Steve,

Good to hear from you! I hope everything is going well for you and [Company]. I'm still in Salt Lake, so I won't be able to meet you for breakfast; on top of that, I have meetings all morning and afternoon, so if you meant SLC and not DC, I might not be able to get away until evening. If you are in DC, enjoy your stay! 

With my response, you'd think I have either helped to clear up the confusion on the location, or at least given him an opportunity to clarify what he meant. I mean, he knows I'm in Salt Lake. They flew me out to their corporate headquarters, and bought my plane ticket. That flight didn't leave from Washington National Airport (DCA), I left from Salt Lake International Airport (SLC). Also, we know each other because we were both on an emailing list of English/Technical Writing majors from Utah State University. Sure, I could have moved back east, but there were some clues.

The crazy part is, he responded  back, and I'm flabbergasted. Because, as I said, it is important to keep good networking contacts, I will probably leave it with his response, but part of me wants to respond... Here's his reply:

Another time then. I'll probably be back to DC in june

 Yeah... remember how I still live in Salt Lake? If you're in DC in June, I won't likely be able to meet you for breakfast then, either.

No one is going to read this

I don't get too political very often. I hope this "Kony 2012" movement actually works. I really do.

So lots of people are talking about Joseph Kony today. Well, they've been talking about him for longer than that, but I just found out about him today. And I'll be honest, I finally watched the video because two of the celebrities I follow on instagram posted something about him. Don't know who Joseph Kony is? Here's my own personal recap of what I have found out:

• Joseph Kony is a rebel fighter in Uganda. He is supported by no one. He doesn't have much purpose besides just having power. He's gone into peace talks a bunch of times, but then goes back to violence. 
• Kony kidnaps kids from their villages at night. He tuns the girls into prostitute slaves, and the boys into children soldiers. He makes them mutilate other children's faces, makes them kill their parents, and then they become his soldiers.
• He's been doing all of this since the 80s.
• The USA doesn't do anything because there's no direct (or even indirect) threat to our country. It's just senseless violence and the killing, rape, and mistreatment of non-american men, women, and children. Mostly children. Like 30,000 children.
• Well, the USA did do a little. Some ambassadors from the army were sent to help look for him. 
• But because Kony doesn't threaten us directly, if there's not a reason to continue to look for and arrest Kony, and the money, resources, and technology needed to arrest him won't be used.
• That shit should stop.

I want to try to gather and share some of the thoughts that came to me after having watched this video. I agree with that last bullet there. When you watch the movie, it may seem a little dramatic, but think of all those kids that he has turned into monsters. It's nuts. It's not overly dramatic. It is really that intense.

I also think it's great that something is being done! In a situation where the normal people see tragedy and evil, and they found a way to actually make a difference. I can share this on facebook, and while I usually make cynical remarks about supporting a cause on facebook, the whole point is to just have it talked about. If it is still in the public eye, the politicians who can do something about it will keep doing something about it. It feels like a big "we the people" moment, and it made that cynic inside me shut up for a while, and be excited that something could be done.

Then, that cynic started sneaking its way out again. Why can't we do this about issues facing america? Why can we all rally around this idea and make it better? I guess it's because the outcome we want for "Kony 2012" is pretty cut and dry. No one can seem to agree on how to rally around our issues at home. Feeding the hungry and housing the homeless, let's say. Oh, let's just go CRAZY on talking about food stamps, shall we? Should there be drug tests? Shouldn't anyone, even if they are unfortunate enough to be a drug addict, be able to eat? Aren't the homeless just lazy people who won't take a job at McDonald's? Why should MY tax dollars go to help people who do drugs and are lazy? Why SHOULDN'T my tax dollars go to help them? Who else will help them? Doesn't improving those people improve society as a whole?

Then, I start to think why I'm not an activist about anything. Why I don't dive deep into the issues. Because deep down, I don't think I can really make a difference. If I vote democrat in Utah, does that even matter? If I vote republican, does that even matter? If I don't vote at all, does that EVEN FREAKING MATTER? All politicians are made from bags of dirt and lies. As prim and proper as they look in a suit and tie or pant suit and heels, they're going to disappoint, come short of promises, and the end result--no matter who it is or what party he or she is from--will be about the same. Some things fixed here, others worsened there. Some left alone, and others dealt with. The political party only changes which batch of things go in which pile. But this movement... can it really mean I could actually help something?

Maybe it's because Uganda and the Invisible Children are so far away. Maybe because kids are dying and we all know that's inherently wrong, so that's why we can rally around it. If it were happening at home, we might see things differently, or just differently enough to form two large opinions--parties, if you will--and debate the best way to go about it, and how to spend the money. But as cynical as I might get, or as much as I've been let down by politics and politicians in the past, I want this to work. 

Catch that sonofabitch. Hold him accountable for murders, assaults, rapes, prostitution, slavery, and crimes against humanity. Because if we all didn't talk about it, no one would care, and nothing would be done. And if something CAN be done, and we do something about it, maybe we can do more. Maybe we can do more at home, even if we can't always agree on exactly how to go about it.

Spaghetti!

Mikey is pretty good at stuff. He's even gotten pretty good at picking up little pieces of spaghetti that we give him for dinner, so I wanted to see how he'd do with a bowl of it. He really likes spaghetti. And this kid has never tasted anything but whole wheat, so hopefully we can just keep that trend going.

You may notice that he doesn't get quite so red as you might think a baby playing with spaghetti and sauce might. That's because I make our sauce with canned or bottled tomatoes. It's still messy, but doesn't stain so bad. You'll see him dig right in to eat, then start to realize this could be a toy. He makes piles to his left, swings it into his eye. It's all good fun



Also, I hate my voice.