Cartoons These Days

I realize the title of this post makes me sound like an old fogey, but honestly, I don't know what is up with cartoons these days. Palmer isn't really into any cartoons yet. He does like Baby Einstein and will sit through about two minutes of Sesame Street, and like every child alive has an intense fascination with Elmo (in fact every cartoon or red object he sees is "Memlo") but that is about it. After watching some of these cartoons myself, I can't really blame him for not having any interest.

There's the cartoons that feature characters with incredibly annoying voices, so annoying they make me want to claw at my ears. Included in this category would be Spongebob Squarepants (strangely enough I know many adults who love this raspy voiced cleaning supply), Ed, Edd and Eddy, and then there's the dog on Martha Speaks who surely must be voiced by a 90 year old woman.

Then there's the whole anime epidemic that has been sweeping Saturday morning television such as: Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Dragonball Z. I've never gotten anime, the picture is stagnant, the dialogue poorly written and the storyline usually don't make any sense. I am bewildered by people's adoration of it.

I'm also at a loss when I watch Word Girl. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for educational children's shows and I see merit in teaching vocabulary (World Word, Super Why and Sesame Street are about the only cartoons I can stand to watch with Palmer), but the humor in the show is extremely dry. I personally enjoy dry humor, but it is definitely an acquired taste, one that does not appear in individuals before the age of twelve. And then there is The Grim Adventures of Bill and Mandy, which not only has extremely dry humor, but humor that is also quite dark. Doesn't dark/morbid humor come along a little later into life and not during the innocence of childhood?

I'm just about ready to end my rant, but I have to bring up a few more ridiculous programs: Fairly Odd Parents, Dragon Tales (Org is another contestant for most annoying voice), and of course the so-repetitive-it-makes-you-want-to-bang-your-head-against-the-wall Teletubbies.

Sorry if I've offended any avid cartoon watchers. I guess I am becoming an old fogey because I just don't comprehend the appeal in today's cartoons. I can't help but miss the charm and simplicity of Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, Smurfs and Rainbow Bright.

Five Boys

I can distinctly remember my father's hearty laugh when I informed him he was expecting his fifth grandson. He had all girls, and now his girls are having all boys. Yesterday I took Palmer and Brody over to my sister's house for lunch. The cousins really love each other and love to play together. This afternoon was no exception. They played hard; we finally got them to take a break to eat a little bit and then they played hard some more.

London and I were having a nice talk inside when she realized we could no longer hear the yelling/laughing/screaming that usually accompanies our rambunctious guys. Anyone who has children knows that when they are being quiet it is usually because they are being naughty. She went to investigate and found this...


What do you get when you combine the Riding boys, the Hess boys and a shed full of dry concrete? A HUGE MESS!

Just to let everyone know the boys were stripped naked and washed off immediately and poison control was called as a precaution. All is well.

Cop Out for Me, Lucky for You!

Today I am going to send my readers on over to my sister's blog, Rie Pie, who is also doing NaBloPoMo. I willingly admit that she is doing this challenge far better than I am. This particular post, The Many Emotions of Winter, is especially well written and beautiful! Her posts this month have been fantastic, so creative, so poetic, so enjoyable to read; she is amazing! I love my little sister and am so glad to have her, as well as her clever blog, in my life.

The Peacegiver

Our Relief Society book group met this past week to discuss our most recent book The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes by James L. Ferrell. This book was absolutely amazing! It literally changed my life, and from the discussion I had with my fellow sisters, I know I am not the only one who feels so. It helped me deal with pains I had not realized I was still holding onto through a more in depth knowledge of the atonement. The title of the book rings true, I now feel peace instead of hurt and anger. What's even more amazing is that the book was a gift given to me at the same time the trial I've mentioned began. I'm not sure if I would have been open to its message if I had read it then, but for sure it was an inspired gift.

Greg and I attended the temple last night and I was able to feel more peace there than I have in a very long time. I believe this was so because I have since been able to forgive, more fully accept the atonement in my life and let my heart heal. I'm sure I will be revisiting the doctrine it teaches many times in the future. I cannot recommend it enough, such insight, such truth, such power, and its even presented in an easy to read fictional format.

Post-Pregnancy Brain

After giving birth to Palmer I reflected on that fact that in many ways I still felt pregnant. Many of the same not so fun sensations have continued on after this pregnancy as well. This is especially true in regards to pregnancy brain; in fact, I believe it is worse than ever! I'd always heard women refer to the strange state of being where an otherwise intelligent individual, after conceiving, no longer can remember her own telephone. Now that I've gone through it myself, I not only attest that it truly exists, but will adamantly argue that it is worse than a person can imagine.

This past week I've literally lost my mind, and unfortunately I can no longer blame it on pregnancy brain as I have thus so far been doing the past nine months. I start sentences I do not know how to finish. I rev up a good story by saying something like, "You'll never believe what happened today," and seconds later not know to what I was referring. I sometimes spend a whole minute trying to think of a word, and usually end up settling for a word that doesn't really describe what I am trying to say. This NaBloPoMo challenge has proved to be increasingly difficult for me with my lack of available vocabulary. Last night I went out with my sister and a friend. I was driving like an idiot, getting in the wrong lanes and having trouble merging on time. I stopped to get gas and could not figure out how to get the gas cap off my own van. Once we arrived at our destination I struggled finding a parking spot; even after physically waiting on a vehicle to vacate its spot I continued on and drove right past it. At least I gave everyone a good laugh, right?

One Month Old

Brody is one month old today. How time flies! He is such a sweet little boy. We are so happy to have him in our family. Here is what is going on with Brody at one month of age.

He has learned to: lift his head (it's still pretty wobbly, but he is getting there), nurse and burp afterwards (the nursing came quickly and easily, the burping took a while) and smile

He likes: eating, being swaddled, being held, binkies and baths

He dislikes: being alone, the swing (I so wish my babies liked the swing! Oh well, I'll keep trying), being put in the carseat

Things about him/he does that makes us laugh: his "rockstar" hair - it's so blond it looks bleached and it sticks up all over the place, his chubby cheeks and baby fat rolls, a high pitched squeaky cry he does when he's tired, pursing his lips, loudly smacking his lips after he takes his vitamins, and long, very adult-like loud toots

Yeah, he's pretty darn cute!

NaBloPoMo

I found out a couple days ago that November is National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo (try saying that three times fast). Many bloggers are taking on the challenge to post once a day during the month to commemorate. I realized I have thus far been up to the task, so I am going to try and keep it up.

Recently I've realized that I have a problem with overdoing things. I've always secretly known this about myself, but with the addition of another child in the home and an incision from a surgery that continues to reopen after healing (going on day 12 now with an open incision, when the doctor said it should only take about 4 days to close again), I've realized I may need to take things down a notch. Posting daily sounds like a lot of fun to me and I'm hoping it'll stretch my blogging topics a bit so that I'm not always just writing about the boys. Don't get me wrong, I could go on and on about my children, they are the center of my world. But, I started this blog to not only chronicle the day to day events in our family life, but also to be able to exercise my writing skills, something I have been missing since I have been out of the classroom. So, for these reasons I am going to try to post each day. I emphasize the word try because I'm not going to set myself up for failure and don't want this to become a stress. Yes, I am growing... I am doing my best to not over commit. I even sent out store bought thank you cards (gasp!) in response to the gifts our friends and family gave to Brody this week.

So here's to NaBloPoMo. Perhaps now that you are in the know you might want to join me and provide me with some fascinating reading material. For sure, you will be hearing from me!