Ten months

Dear Callum,

Today you are 10 months old. Today is also Thanksgiving Day. I don't think anyone needs three guesses to figure out what we are thankful for.


The big thing that happened this month is that you finally learned to crawl! You had been looking for weeks like you would do it at any time, and a couple times you crawled two or three paces, so finally one day I picked up a spare electrical cord (your very favorite thing) and put it on the other side of the rug and after a minute of looking at it and rocking back and forth, you crawled to get it. And you've been crawling ever since. It took about three days for you to get really good at it, and now you can crawl on any surface, even on hardwood, even if you're wearing slippery fleece pants. And you are FAST. A couple times we have only managed to chase you down AFTER you got your hand in the dog's water bowl. Luckily you haven't yet managed to stick your face in it.



You're also very into upward motion recently. Whenever we sit you anywhere, you pull yourself up to your knees, and often one knee and one foot. A few times you've pulled yourself to standing, but right after you did that in your crib for the first time, we lowered your mattress, thus inadvertently thwarting your progress on this front. You can thank us later, when you haven't tipped out of your crib and landed headfirst on the floor. You've also started this thing where you push up from your belly to your hands and your feet, like you're doing gymnastics. And by now you're totally stable when you sit--you never tip over anymore, ever.


This month you've displayed even more clearly that you understand words. When we ask, "Where's Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa/Opa/Oma/the doggie/Anny (your nanny)?" you will always look at the person in question. If I say, "Where's my nose?" you touch it. If I say "high five" you hold up your hand. You continue to clap and kiss on request. Your babbling is also more varied--you say nearly every consonant sound, and you intersperse them so it sounds like you're talking. It really feels like you're on the verge of saying actual words. You have started saying "mama" in the last week or so, but since you like making the M sound in general and you haven't given us an obvious context (such as saying it right when I walk in the room), we aren't yet convinced enough to call it an actual word.


You are also very social. After our long streak of grandparent visits ended, we went back to Skype video chats with them for the first time in months. And when you saw and heard them on the screen, you smiled and reached out to touch their faces on the screen. You also try to wave, though you pretty much only succeed in flapping one arm up and down at high speed. You get upset when we use a reprimanding tone of voice, and when we take away your toys or whatever it is that you want.


You've made huge progress with finger foods this month. We've discovered that as long as you like something, you will hold it and eat it very well without dropping it. Chicken, pickles, noodles, and tomatoes are some big favorites. Whenever you eat something that you especially like, you will say "Mmmmm" after every bite. You do it so consistently that I am tempted to consider it your first word--except that "mm" isn't a word, sadly. But it's the first sound that you have clearly and consistently used in an appropriate context with a specific meaning.



Your personality continues to get stronger, and you are very clear by now about what you do and don't like. You don't throw tantrums, exactly, but if you want something or are fussy and we try to distract you with a toy, you will wait until we make eye contact and then throw the offending item on the floor as hard as you can. At restaurants when we put food on the table in front of you, more often than not you will deliberately pick it up and drop it right on the floor. You still love music and singing and games like peekaboo, and you think it's hilarious whenever someone sneezes. You are also really into toys, and whenever you pick one up, you will inspect it very thoroughly, turning it over to see all its angles and shaking it extensively to see what it can do.


You had a few firsts this month. You got your first cold and your first stomach bug, thankfully both mild. Also, your nanny started this month, the first time that you've had anyone other than family providing child care for you. After a few days of struggling at nap time with her, you seem to have adjusted nicely. You learned her name fast, and you smile and laugh whenever she comes in the room.


You continue to sleep great--about 12 hours at night. Your naps have much improved this month, and though every day is different, you will usually take one long nap of about 2-3 hours. This seems to be enough to prevent you from being cranky in the evenings, which we are all thankful for, especially as the evenings are now our main bonding time with you. You are also still growing upward--I think you are about 32.5" by now, which would mean you grew another 3/4 of an inch this month--but you actually LOST two ounces in the last month. You now weigh 27 pounds 5 ounces, which is exactly what you weighed at eight months. I think we can definitively say that you've tapered off, and we're all grateful for that--though it was definitely a little weird to hear your doctor say that we will now keep an eye on your weight to make sure you don't drop too far off your curve.


Most of all, you continue to be a delightful, happy, laid-back baby. You are happy almost all the time, and you continue to go with the flow no matter what we throw at you in terms of new people or schedule changes. You have also shown us more and more that while you don't have a whole lot of stranger anxiety, you are specifically attached to us. While you like other people, nothing makes you happier than seeing your dad or me--and when you are upset, we are the ones who can get you to stop crying. Of course we've always known that you must be attached to us--but since you're so mellow all the time, it can be easy to forget that you don't treat all things equal. We appreciate that you are attached to us--because we are very attached to you as well. We are so thankful to have you in our lives.


Love,
Mama

Four wins and no answers

OK. I know a lot of you don't care about sports, or Tim Tebow, and if that's the case I suggest that you skip over this post. Because I have a lot to say about Tim Tebow.

Context: For those of you who don't follow the Denver Broncos (our local football team), they drafted Tim Tebow in the first round last year. This was because the coach at the time, Josh McDaniels, bonded with him at camp or whatever and decided he was worth the risk. Tebow was a huge star at the University of Florida, but a lot of people believed (and still believe) that his success wouldn't translate to the NFL. He is also known for being incredibly, zealously religious. In college he wrote the names and numbers of Bible verses on his face paint during games (which, thankfully, the NFL prohibits). He did a commercial for Focus on the Family that aired during the Super Bowl. He is very, very religious and very, very conservative. And very, very controversial as a football player.

Last year the Broncos went 4-12. Toward the end of the season their starting quarterback, Kyle Orton, was benched (supposedly due to a minor injury) and Tebow was allowed to start three games. He went 1-2. Then in training camp before this season, they competed for the starting spot and Orton won it. He started the first five games and went 1-4. Halfway through the fifth game, when they were losing hopelessly against the Chargers, he was benched in favor of Tebow. Tebow came in and led a comeback that fell short of a huge upset win by a two-point conversion. He then became the starter (though when asked about the starter, the current Broncos coach refers to "Tebow... or whoever"). He is 4-1 when starting this season, meaning that the Broncos are now 5-5.

I can't stand Tim Tebow as a person. Nothing against religious people in general, or conservative people in general, but I find him specifically to be incredibly sanctimonious. Bible verses on his face aren't necessary. Talking about God all the time, in every single interview, isn't necessary. Advertising for Focus on the Family, a group that I find disgusting, bigoted, and deceptive, certainly isn't necessary. And I'm not completely convinced that he's skilled as a quarterback either.

Because here's the weird thing. Even though he's won four out his five games, every single win was close, and weird. He has never conclusively had a great game, the kind where he'd be considered the MVP. He had 3.5 terrible quarters before leading a charge to come back from a 14-point deficit with three minutes left against Miami. He led another comeback win against the Raiders. Even against the Chiefs, who are terrible, the game was way too close for comfort. And against the Jets last night, the defense won the game. They scored one of the touchdowns on an interception, and they limited the Jets to 13 points. Tebow didn't do a whole lot.

But beyond that, since McDaniels is gone, there's nobody in the Broncos management who believes in Tebow as a quarterback. And as a result they engage in the most conservative play calling I've ever seen. They call almost exclusively running plays. In the game against the Chiefs Tebow threw the ball, I believe, eight times all game. They only let him throw downfield late in the game when it's do or die. As a result, he's developing a reputation as a fourth-quarter quarterback. If the defense can just keep the Broncos in the game for the first three quarters, they seem to be able to pull out a win right at the end.

But it's frustrating. They traded their best receiver, Brandon Lloyd, for a fifth- or sixth-round draft pick because they didn't want to pay his salary for the next three years, during which time they expect to be in rebuilding mode and not win anything. So why are they being so conservative with Tebow? I just don't understand, if there's nothing on the line this year and it's all about the team's future, why they wouldn't test him. Why they wouldn't work on letting him throw the ball and seeing if he's any good and/or has any chance at becoming good. Why is it that after he's started five games and won four of them, nobody knows if he's any good or if he has a shot in hell at becoming the team's long-term quarterback? How is that helpful in any way?

I just can't get inside the heads of the coaches and play callers. I don't understand what they're doing. I think Tebow could potentially be good, or it could be like an anonymous Lions player said to the media after Detroit blew out the Broncos 45-10 a few weeks ago:

“Come on – that’s embarrassing. I mean, it’s a joke. We knew all week that if we brought any kind of defensive pressure, he couldn’t do anything. In the second half it got boring out there. We were like, ‘Come on – that’s your quarterback? Seriously?’ ”

As far as I can tell, that's what most of the NFL thinks of him. So the Lions must be wondering what the hell happened to the Chargers, Dolphins, Raiders, Chiefs, and especially the Jets, who are actually a pretty good team. How did the Lions blow the Broncos out so spectacularly and everyone else falls apart against them? How is Tebow winning all these games and yet nobody knows if he can even throw the ball?

(As an aside, last night after the Broncos beat the Jets the camera showed a group of players, mostly Broncos but also some Jets, led by Tebow, in what appeared to be a prayer circle, where they were all "Tebowing," i.e., kneeling on one knee with their heads bowed in prayer. I get why some of his religious teammates might be joining him in this activity after a game, but why would any players from the Jets, who were just beaten by this guy who is being mocked the world over with this exact pose, and who is considered a total loser by most NFL teams, possibly be interested in joining his prayer circle? I don't care how religious they are--I would think they'd rather pray on their own, not on camera, after a loss. But I guess we should consider this a beautiful show of unity and togetherness. Or something.)

Apparently he's starting to gain respect within the Broncos organization (certainly his teammates believe in him; unclear what management thinks) now that he's won so many games, but we still have no answers about his future. Or the Broncos' future, which is what I actually care about.

Basically, I want the Broncos to get it together. Figure out if Tebow will be their quarterback for a long time or not. And if not, start figuring out who his replacement will be, and send him to a team where he does have an advocate and will get a chance to play, and will get play calls that actually allow him to thrive. Plus, it's really incredibly boring to watch a game where every single play involves a running back plowing into defensive traffic. And every game we watch involves us yelling at the TV as the opponent makes adjustments for the play calling, and the play calling continues as though nothing has changed. Great runs in the first quarter, and then every run gets stopped at the line of scrimmage as the defense adjusts--and yet the Broncos continue running as though the defense will suddenly forget what they're doing and start expecting them to pass. Like the coaches think the running game is still as fresh and surprising as it was at first.

It isn't. It's boring. It's predictable. And somehow it feels like four wins in five games (and three wins in a row) were a fluke. That is a waste of time and money. I don't like Tebow as a person, but he plays for my team and I want to know if he has a chance to be a good quarterback or not. I wish the Broncos would do something to finally start looking for an answer to that question.

More about holiday cards

This is a sponsored post. Tiny Prints is giving me 50 free holiday cards to write a post about holiday cards. If you want to do the same, fill out this form.

We've been doing holiday cards for the last few years, but we've never done a photo card before--unless you count Callum's birth announcement, which, since he was born in January, we sent out in place of a regular holiday card with the line "Celebrating the new year with our new addition." So, I guess I should say we've never done a photo card with ourselves on it. But as you might have guessed from my previous post, that's about to change.

I've been perusing the Tiny Prints holiday card selection for a few weeks now, and had a whole bunch saved to my projects using a stand-in photo while I waited to get the images from our professional photo session. Here's a tip: it's REALLY HARD to even try to pick a holiday card when you don't yet have the photo you'll be using. Yes, really. You're welcome. Nonetheless, I'm excited about holiday cards and I came up with quite the list of potential designs.

Dotted Cheer. I HEART this one so much. But it requires juuuuuust the right photo to make it work, in terms of color (black and white is pretty much necessary), positioning (to the right, obviously) and white space (need lots of it, on the left). But if you can make it work? LOVE.


Magic Behind Windows. I think this is such a cool design. Yes, it's technically supposed to be from newlyweds. But all the text is customizable, so you could easily come up with something else to say in order to make it work even if you aren't newlyweds. You also have to find just the right photo so that crucial parts of people's faces don't get cut off.


Charmed Tab. This one is simple and lovely. But I'm not totally sure how I feel about square cards.


Stylishly Striped. Sweet and classic. But again with the square thing, and also you'd need a really top-heavy photo to make it work.


All Things Sparkle. I think this is lovely. But is the sentiment too hokey? And also, you need the photo to be in a very gray color scheme in order for this not to look jarring.


And which one of these did we choose? (Or was it even one of these?) Well, honestly? Too many of my real-life friends and family read my blog. So I'm not revealing it here. I'm also not revealing which photo it featured. Sorry! But half the fun of receiving a holiday card is not knowing what to expect until you open the envelope, and I will not be ruining that. Because ruining other people's fun isn't holiday-ish at all.

Family portraits and holiday card help

A few weeks ago we headed out to the foothills to have family photos taken by the same amazing photographer who did our maternity photos back in December. It was chilly and gray, sadly, but we had a great time and the photos still turned out amazing. Seriously, Kristy is my favorite photographer ever. I have never liked so many photos of myself, ever. She is just that talented. And super nice and really affordable too. I cannot recommend her highly enough for anyone in Colorado looking to get pictures taken, no matter the occasion. I am thinking maybe we'll make pictures with her an annual thing? Which would be an awesome way to document our family and also get some holiday card-worthy pictures in the bargain.

So, a few days ago she posted some teaser pictures on her blog, and then yesterday the disc with all the high-res images arrived in the mail, so now! Now we have so many to choose from! And by "choose from" I mean "for our holiday card."

Here are some (OK, a lot) of my favorites (some holiday card contenders, some not at all right for that):













And then the full set is here (and when I say full, I mean full).

So, what do you think? Do any of the photos stand out to you as particularly excellent holiday card candidates?

Three years in

Three years ago today, this happened:


Three years doesn't sound like a ton, but it also doesn't sound like newlyweds anymore. And I don't feel like a newlywed anymore. We have really built a life together, complete with a growing family. I've always wanted to have a baby, even before I knew Torsten--but getting to have a baby with him, particularly him, has been such a special and amazing thing. Of course I would love any baby--but having Torsten's baby, having the incredible experience of creating a brand new person who shares your genes and the genes of the person you love--it's just so COOL. Not to mention how fantastic it is to see the man you married become an amazing father.

Lots of people worry about how having kids will affect their marriage. I didn't really worry about it, per se, but I did wonder. And so far... well, on the one hand everything has changed, but on the other hand, nothing has. Our lives are totally different, our focus has changed, and we can no longer go to the movies whenever we want. But having a kid together has made us even more connected and deepened our relationship. And at the same time, we are still just us. We love each other as much as we ever did, or possibly even more, if such a thing can even be quantified.

I've always been happy with Torsten, but lately I've also just been really, really content. I love the hum and rhythm of our everyday life. Every day just feels peaceful and right.

This is our family now, three years in. I am so happy with where we are now. I can't wait to see where we go.


(Year One, Year Two)