Overcoming

American Heritage 100 is a required class at BYU. If you are a transfer student, no other history class will substitute. You HAVE to take their version of American history. I did horribly when I took it and got my lowest grade ever of a C-. This was also the semester I returned to school after my mission. My formerly BFF roommate suddenly hated me, my job in the Financial Aid Office was temporarily closed and I found myself making ends meet on the swing shift as a janitor in the Wilkinson Center. My dates were lackluster to say the least and nothing seemed to be going right. I had the hardest time trying to mesh the lessons learned from the mission with my living reality which left me depressed and quietly crying myself to sleep pretty much every night.

That poor grade has always been a black mark on my academic career not to mention my transcript. It's always nagged at me and made me feel like perhaps I didn't belong at a prestigious institution like BYU. A couple of years ago my company had a presentation on their tuition reimbursement plan and I got to hear from coworkers who were taking classes part-time from places like the Harvard extension center and even pastry school. The course didn't even have to be related to our job! It just had to be from an accredited university and part of a degree or certificate program. If my company would foot the bill, I thought, why not try retaking that blasted American Heritage course? I had nothing to lose... not even the tuition. So I signed up for it.

I don't know what the hell I was thinking (pardon my French). I signed up for this colossally difficult course (the independent study version is much, much harder than the one offered on campus) while I was working full-time, chasing a toddler and pregnant. To truly succeed in this course I had to read the chapter, re-read it, fully complete the study guide which was many pages long and then write 2-5 essays after a brief multiple choice quiz. I could do one, maybe two chapters a week and I was fried by the time I was done. One benefit of taking it at this time in my life was being IN Boston. Now I really appreciate why it's called "The Cradle of Liberty" from the Boston Tea Party to the Model Constitution to Shay's Rebellion. I learned SO much! Now come the accolades for my sweet so sweet husband.

To help me out, he would take responsibility for Liesel as soon as he was home from work. I shut myself in our bedroom to study and listened to him play with Liesel a couple of rooms away. Brent tirelessly quizzed me to prepare for my lesson submissions and let me summarize chapters to him so I could ingrain them in my own mind. On Thursdays, I stayed at work late to work on my study guides and lesson submissions. The submissions were particularly arduous and each one took a minimum of two hours to complete. When my parents and sister were here over Christmas, Brent cheerfully entertained them while I hunkered down to complete the last of my lesson submissions. He never complained... not once. When I whined about how hard it was, he expressed nothing but faith in me and kept urging me on. He was truly a gem.

The comprehensive final for the course was worth 40% of my grade. I had to review lessons that I'd studied months before when I wasn't plagued with morning sickness and the innate memory loss that comes with pregnancy. Again, Brent quizzed me tirelessly and patiently corrected me. He gave me a hug and a kiss when I went to take the final at the local Sylvan Learning Center and told me I'd done everything I could do. He was right... the results of my final came in today and I got 97% with a 96% for the entire course. I aced it. And I've been grinning like an idiot ever since. Not only will we be able to get reimbursed for the money spent on the course, but I've proven to myself I CAN do it and I AM smart. That may sound ridiculous, but I truly believe some of the biggest obstacles we face are the ones we put in front of ourselves. I've just overcome this one and right now I'm feeling like I can accomplish just about anything.

Trapped

For some reason the little one cooking inside me favors my right ribs. Interestingly, Liesel loved lodging herself in my left ribs. With this one, I can't lay on my right side for very long because my ribs go from a tad uncomfortable to slightly painful to sharply painful as this baby just nudges herself further and further in there. Laying on my left side gets old though. Every now and again I'm able to prop pillows around my belly in such a way that I can comfortably lay on my right side but it's very, very, VERY rare. It's a welcomed relief when it happens though.

Last night was one of those times and I was blissfully sleeping. Much to my dismay, Brent rolled over to face me and let out a huge breath. Oh my, it was like smelling the inside of a rotting, dead goat. Moving takes an act of Congress for me so there I was, with my sweet husband, foul breath and the prospect of returning to my left side for the night. I tried nudging him and he obliged... for two minutes, he turned his head to the wall. Then turned his head towards me again and breathed a HUGE sigh. Awash in empty stomach stench, I just wanted to cry. Now I know how Captain Jack Sparrow felt when he faced the Kraken in At World's End. I had no other option but to make a 3-point turn back to my left side and drift back to sleep.

My dreams were beyond bizarre. I dreamed I went to a pawn shop and asked for a cheeseburger. This is strange for a couple of reasons: 1- One of my New Year's Resolutions is to give up fast food for the year. I barely eat any as it is, I've never been that fond of it and I always regret it when I do. 2- I've never actually been to a pawn shop but there I was arguing with the guy behind the counter that they had a cheeseburger and he just wasn't giving it to me. 3- When he insisted he didn't have one I told him I was just sure someone had pawned a partially eaten cheeseburger and I wanted it. WHY would I want that? Thankfully, I woke up at this point.

My undergraduate degree was in Psych and I made a very little foray into dream analysis but for the life of me I don't get this one. Suggestions? When I told Brent about what happened he vowed he was going to start sleeping on the guest bed because he feels too guilty taking any bit of sleep away from me. Awwwwe! He's so sweet!!!

Growing Pains

We did it! Today Brent boiled the stockpile of binkies and put them in storage to be pulled out at the appropriate time when our next girl is of age. It was rough... Liesel's been desperately asking for one and she didn't nap quite as long as she normally would have. In the car it was a challenge to listen to her fussing without just plugging her up. But it has to be done.

To soften the blow, we decided to take her to Build-A-Bear and make good use of the $25 gift card she received for Christmas. If you aren't familiar with Build-A-Bear, let me enlighten you. First you choose the animal (Liesel didn't seem to really care so I snagged the last bunny they had). Then you stuff it. At first the loud noise threw her but then she enjoyed pressing the pedal and she really loved watching the stuffing roll around in the machine:

You pick out a heart and give it a kiss:They sew it up for you and then you "bathe" and "fluff" it:
You pick out an outfit and dress it. Liesel loved this part. In the end, we went for the pink Red Sox outfit and Brent let me splurge on Sketcher shoes after seeing Liesel light up at spying them:

Then you fill out the birth certificate. One of Liesel's best buddies at daycare is Gabriella. Whenever the two are in the same proximity, they just gravitate towards each other. They love to run and squeal and "read" to each other. Their teachers tell me it's almost like they're gossiping when they go off together and have conversations just the two of them. In fact, Gabriella is the answer to about every third question she's asked these days (no kidding, in the video Brent asks her three questions and the answer to the third one is "Gabriella"). The funny thing is we were getting a Red Sox bunny and Gabriella's mother works for the Red Sox. How fitting!

To be honest, it was getting close to Liesel's bedtime and she was nearing meltdown mode... especially without a binkie. As we finished up she wanted nothing to do with "Beantown Bunny" but once we got home she begged for it as we put her down. I did the whole Build-A-Bear experience with Liesel when we went to Disneyland so I let Brent take the lead with this round. As I paid the balance, he encouraged me to sign up for the Build-A-Bear card so after a bazillion visits we can get a 10% discount. I'm excited to know he thought it was worth the experience to come back because I love the concept. I hope Liesel does too. Enough to forget about her binkie anyway.

Disclaimer

I've been hesitant to give Liesel raw fruit because I am allergic to it. Not all fruit, but the "sweet" versions like honeydew melon and cantaloupe--BLECH! I can eat the "citrus" versions with no problem so I feast on grapefruit and pineapple. For the most part, I can eat everything in between although it's just a few bites before I feel like my tongue has grown hair and my throat gets itchy. However, Liesel's really past the Gerber stage and trying to be a good mom, I want her to eat good stuff. I decided to see how she would do with fruit finger foods like raspberries and blueberries. She wasn't hot on the raspberries but she LOVED the blueberries. That's kind of a big word for her so I just dubbed them "berries" but even that seemed to be a bit much for her toddler vocabulary. She shortened it to "beer." On Saturday we did our weekend errands which include a trip to the grocery store. Now that her love of blueberries is firmly entrenched in her psyche, she caught one glimpse of them among the strawberries and blackberries and said, "Beer? Beer peese? Beer! BEER!!!" We got a few glances. For the record, we don't give our girl beer.

Liesel is growing in so many wonderful ways though. In spite of the small fortune I've invested in Gymboree clothing, here is her favorite outfit (no kidding, when left to her own devices she picks this out herself):

We're not sure why she likes to have a shoe only on one foot but that's usually how she ends up. Now, she KNOWS when people are complimenting her on how cute she is so she's at least marginally aware of her looks. Whenever I finish doing her hair she takes a good look at herself in the mirror and smiles (pigtails get the biggest reaction). She's into shoes which I thought would naturally lead into an interest in general fashion. To put it simply, she has a little vain streak in her. How she came up with this outfit is beyond me aside from the mostly nude part... she's just like her daddy and she runs hot. Maybe this is a big look in Asia?

A couple of weeks ago I was walking up some stairs with her. Liesel usually has a pretty good stream of chatter going so it took me a while to tune in to the fact she was saying, "two, fee, foa, five..." with every step. I was floored; she can count to ten! Well, mostly... she gets stuck on six and then she just repeats it over and over. Of course, she's a toddler and can't quite say "six" so she ends up sounding like she has Tourrette's. Aside from counting, Liesel also knows her ABC's up to G. When I asked her teachers at daycare if they had taught her that, they responded, "Yeah" in a tone that said, "what do you think we DO with her all day?" Good to know our hard-earned money is going to something useful!

They also tell us she is well-primed to be a big sister. When it's nap time she apparently goes around to all the kids on their several mats, says "night, night" and pats them on the head. They say Liesel herself doesn't want to go down, she just wants to check on everyone else. She's also taken to "mothering' one of the other kids in her class... to the point she will check her diaper to see if she's poopy. Liesel's starting to pull her own pants up which is a good sign she may be ready to start potty training. We'll see. She's clinging to her binkie for dear life and just when I determine I'm going to boil them and stow them away she either gets sick or, more recently, starts cutting her two year molars. I feel so bad for her, I just can't take away what seems to be her only comfort and at times my only sanity to keep her from crying. She's so cute when she asks for it too. Binkie? Then she sucks on her lower lip sort of like, "something's missing here, see?" Does anyone have any ideas on how I can wean her off of the binkie? I was hoping she'd be "sober" by the time our next little one arrives so there won't be binkie envy. I'm starting to worry...

Brent checked in on her one night and found her sleeping like this:

My side of the family will recognize this position as one my dad takes when he is on his laptop. Too funny... maybe she has some Nielsen in her after all!

I recently discovered this video which just put me under. Brent tells me it was shortly after Christmas and she had mysteriously found yet another can of Pringles. When he saw her with her hat, sucker and leg warmers clinging to the can he just had to get some video. I LOVE the attitude she gives him as he questions her about what she's doing:

One final note on Liesel's latest quirks. She doesn't watch TV but we found this YouTube clip of Beaker singing "Ode to Joy" and she will watch it over and over. If we switch it to any other video, even the one of Beaker singing Habanera, she shakes her head... that's not the one she wants. I finally downloaded it to my iTunes and once while we were in the car waiting for Brent I tried it out on the iPod. She looked like a midget teenager with the earbuds watching my iPod. They really grow up SO fast!

Tellin' the Truth Can Be Dangerous Business

Insensitive comments are a given during any pregnancy. It's just the way it is. But there's a certain point where they start coming fast and furious. Generally I try to ignore them but for some reason (hormones no doubt), they've been hitting me hard lately. On Friday I cried on the way to work anticipating another round of comments about how HUGE I am and I sobbed on the way home as I told Brent about them. The odd thing is the majority of them come from women... with children. You'd think they would know better but I guess they've forgotten.

Friday night we played games with a sympathetic group of friends which helped but I was still a little down. We put a very cranky Liesel down for the night, waaaaaay past her bedtime, and Brent flipped through the channels on tv. I wanted something upbeat, something that would take my mind off my day and really start my weekend. We found it on Wealth TV of all places; they were showing Ishtar.

Ishtar is a family and cult favorite. It did horribly at the box office, hence the Far Side cartoon above which is the video store in hell. Even though we own it on VHS (I really need to get the dvd... if they ever made it into dvd), I hadn't seen it in a while. Some of my favorite lines:

Lyle: It takes a lot of nerve to have nothing at your age, don't you understand that? Most guys'd be ashamed, but you've got the guts to just say 'to hell with it'. You say that you'd rather have nothing than settle for less, understand?

Chuck: You mean you bought a camel?

Lyle: No, I didnt really buy it. They SOLD it to me!

Lyle: Oh no. I think that something went wrong and now I own a blind camel. A blind camel!

Chuck: As one agent to another, I've heard the emir is a prick.

Jim: REALLY? Well we'll have to look into that.

Lyle: A piece of sand blew in my eye? This must be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing... like a glacier melting.

Jim: ...especially now that Kadafi's signed a pact with Morocco.

Chuck: Is that near here?

Jim: Kadafi's a person. He rules Libya.

Chuck: Yeah yeah, but that's near here, right?

Jim: Yeah, Libya's near here.

Chuck: *singing* My life is nearly over, and time goes by so fast. I wanted to give you a present, to thank you for the past [From the song I'm Leaving Some Love In My Will].

CIA Agent: Jim, I don't know what you had in mind here, but this mission is no longer covert. We are now overtly firing on two Americans and God knows who else. And they are armed to the teeth!

Even typing these out makes me smile all over again. I really should look into getting it on dvd!

Sledding

It snowed in Boston yesterday so we had a nice little layer of fluff to try out the sled Liesel got for Christmas. We bundled her up and hit the slopes. She LOVED it!!! As buried as she was in her her winter outerwear, she still managed to yell gleefully as they hit a little speed:

The only problem was her short legs which made maneuvering in the snow and walking up hill a little tricky. Ever the resourceful guy, Brent found a remedy for that:

Even though I'm too big and awkward to participate, I had the time of my life watching these two! I'm so grateful to live somewhere with all 4 seasons.