9 Month Pictures

A List for Tuesday

4 Movies I've Watched That Were Better Than I Expected

1. Ghost Town
2. Yes Man
3. Bedtime Stories
4. Run, Fat Boy, Run


And HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARL!

Puzzle Eaters

I like to do puzzles, I think they're really fun. When we lived in Lehi I tackled a huge puzzle of James Christensen's Fairy Tales (above). Coco was playing around my feet and the second a puzzle piece dropped it was in her mouth. I still have one chewed up piece from that experience.

Fast forward to yesterday. I'm currently doing a huge puzzle of James Christensen's All the World's a Stage (above). While Chris was feeding Dutch, my little chubbo leaned over and grabbed a puzzle piece and, you guessed it, started to chew on it. Sometimes I think that Bo is a bad influence on Dutch--he's more puppy than baby!

Happy Birthday Julie!

Today is Julie's 26th birthday and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!

Follow the Leader

I'm having a very hard time getting things done, for a few reasons. Dutch is mobile now and has started following whoever is moving. Most of the time this is Bo, but if I go to the door, he'll creep after me (and he's surprisingly fast). Chris said that he'll take the wheels off the walker so I can contain Dutch, but that hasn't happened yet. I feel bad keeping him in his swing for too long, but I can't get anything done while he's on the floor. Tonight we have a couple of guys coming over for dinner and Chris is in class all day so cleaning and cooking is all up to me, as well as keeping an eye on Mr. I-Want-To-Eat-The-Dog's-Food-Every-Chance-I-Get.

On top of that I've been really struggling lately. It was SO nice to have my mom and dad here because I was actually able to exercise and write and get things done without feeling like Dutch was being neglected. After they left I was pretty depressed though. I really miss having other adults to talk to. Lately Chris is in school for 10 hours a day and I don't have any friends here (and I'm not exaggerating, my closest friend is in New York. Hi Julie!). I keep trying to find a project or a schedule, or SOMETHING to render my days meaningful, whereas right now they pass in such similarity that I forget what day it is.

I'm not having a pity-party, I'm just frustrated and needed time to vent. I love being a mom and all that, but I miss the days when I would put Dutch on the floor and he would stay right there. I miss having friends to spend time with during the day and I really miss having the structure of a 9 to 5 job. No matter what I do I can't seem to get any organization in my life!

A List for Tuesday

5 Ways That Dutch and Uncle Joshy are Alike

5. Orange is their favorite color
4. They seem to be immune to the cold
3. Argyle and plaid shorts are wardrobe staples (but rarely together)
2. Neither of them like The View

And the number one thing that Dutch and Josh have in common:
1. They've both eaten dog food!

Dutch Laughing at Daddy

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In Case We Don't See You

Our internet lapses today and we weren't more on the ball about getting a new carrier, so we'll be without internet for about a week. Because I still have school stuff to do I'll be going to the local coffee/sandwich shop to get stuff done and I'll try to blog while I do that. Just wanted to let you know that if you don't see entries for a few days that's why.

Piggy Back Ride

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bo the First Dog

This is NOT Bo the Wonder Dog, this is just Bo the First Dog.

You might have heard by now, if your news is as asinine as mine, that the Obama's have a new dog. A something water-dog that they named Bo. I wanted to clear up any confusion that there might be:

Their dog is NOT Bo the Wonder Dog, nor is their dog as cool or as blind as our Bo.

The REAL Bo the Wonder Dog

Favorite Picture Friday

And by the way, Dutch does NOT have a lazy eye!

Book Review

Book: Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey

It's no secret that my favorite opera is Mozart's Die Zauberflote. It's a great gateway opera for those of you who would like to try an opera to see if you like it. Anyway, I picked up Sunlight and Shadow because it was part of the Once Upon a Time series without even knowing it was based on The Magic Flute. I was not disappointed.

One of the things I love about Donna Jo Napoli's books is how much story she can pack in just a few pages. This book was similar, it runs just under 200 pages and packs a massive story in that short span. Giving me another great lesson in succinct story-telling (although there were plenty of places where the story could have been expanded, making it richer).

The story is written in first-person point-of-view, from four or five different characters perspectives. This always annoys me. I have yet to read a book that can pull it off. It would take me several sentences each chapter to figure out who was narrating, so I had to do quite a bit of re-reading. Even more annoying was when she shifted narrators in mid-chapter and I had read two pages before realizing it. Ugh.

Another drawback of writing in a first-person POV is the inclination to tell the story rather than show it. The first two chapters were pretty boring because I was just being handed all this information and it annoyed me. Finally in the third chapter it began to feel like a story and I happily read the rest of the tale.

The only other thing that pulled me out of the story was the formulaic way that the female and male protaganists fell in love. I realize it's a fairy tale, but I still felt like it should have felt more sincere. Instead Mina (female protag) seemed to be using her "love" for Tern (male protag) to get back at her father. That doesn't seem like love to me.

Don't let all of my negative comments turn you away from this book, it was a good fast read that I enjoyed. There were so many unique images and a sort of mythology that played throughout that made it interesting. There were surprises set side-by-side the predictable, so it kept me guessing. I also appreciated the imagery used to describe night and day, a constant theme in the story. After reading this book I'm excited to read the other books in the Once Upon a Time series.

Happy reading!

A List for Tuesday

10 Weird Things I Dreamed About Last Night

1. Flamethrowers
2. Being pregnant
3. A mob
4. A bear
5. Sleeping on the floor
6. Heather
7. A hospital
8. Magic
9. Half-siblings
10. Protestations of love from random people

Ga-Ga & PopPop

Dutch's maternal grandparents Ga-Ga and PopPop are visiting right now. Dutch, though very tired, is enjoying them immensely. I keep thinking that his stranger anxiety is going to kick in sometime, but it hasn't yet. Anyway, just thought I would let you know that Mama and Dad Bailey got here safe and sound.

Book Review

Book: Hush by Donna Jo Napoli

It's no secret that I'm a big Donna Jo Napoli fan. Every book that I've read by her has been fabulous, which is an over-used word, but here it applies. All of her previous books I've read have been short for novels and I've been amazed that she could pack so much story in so few pages. Hush is a book that was twice or three times longer than those others, so I was expecting a LOT of story. The first hundred pages or so could have been left out and the story would have been better for it, which gave me a great lesson in not delaying the plot. (I had been considering beginning my story much earlier, but this book made me realize that it added nothing so I decided against it.)

I would really hesitate to recommend this book for the age-group it's intended, just because of the way she dealt with sex. The only sex represented was rape, and I was incredibly annoyed when the protaganist fell in love with her rapist later. I really thought Napoli could have at least given some caveat that not all sex is violent and bad. Between this and the slow start I wouldn't give it as a gift to somebody.

As far as I'm concerned Donna Jo Napoli is the Mistress of Story. She can pack more story in a few pages than most people have in an entire novel. It's amazing to read, because you don't feel as if you're being rushed through at all, but you realize that you've taken such a huge journey in such a small span. In this book the pacing was not as tight, which is so strange because this is one of her more recent novels. There are lagging points, side-stories that add nothing, and so many unanswered questions that at the end I felt a big sinking disappointment instead of that elation that a story ending usually brings. I don't mind if there are unanswered questions, but if the whole crux of the plot is never resolved than it's not a great story.

I am really glad that I read this book, however, because I learned a lot from it. Of course most of the things I learned were what NOT to do, but what can you do? I was able to see a lot of my own mistakes through this book and it made it more clear to me what I needed to repair and avoid in my own novel. But that's the whole idea of reading as a writer, to emulate the positive and watch out for the negative.

All in all, don't let this book turn you off from Donna Jo Napoli her other ones are MUCH better.

Last Easter in Pittsburgh

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Favorite Picture Friday

My boys: Chris, Bo, Dutch, and Jocco the Sock Monkey

Quiet Book

Dutch is getting to the point where he needs a quiet book on Sundays. I was thinking of making one, but since I'm not very crafty I will either need a very specific pattern or to buy one outright. Any ideas?

Just Really Quick

Dutchie looks like a drunk right now. His nose and cheeks are bright red and he has one hand on his bottle and the other on his big belly. It's so funny!

Easter break starts today for Chris! He will come home from class at 3 and not have to go back until Tuesday! You can't even believe how excited I am. Dutch always seems better behaved when he's out-numbered by adults (Bo doesn't count though he thinks he does).

I'm trying to get Dutch to work on his fine motor skills. He is eating sweet potato puffs right now and it's not going well. He'll get the puff in his finger, but can't quite get the idea of releasing it in his mouth. I'm confident he'll figure it out though, he's pretty smart.

Bad Mommy/Baby Update

Today was Dutch's 9 month well-baby visit. While Dr. Shaver had a lot of really wonderful things to say about my mothering and Dutch's development there were several things that I'm doing wrong, all wrong. I give Dutch a bottle of formula every time he lays down to go to sleep, I bought him a walker and that makes his legs develop wrong, and I've been limiting his diet too much because I'm overly-scared of him choking.

So I'm going to remedy all of those things as soon as possible, starting today with allowing him to feed himself some finger foods. He choked a little once, but coughing made it all better. Right now he's supposed to be down for his afternoon nap and he's in his bed talking to himself because he can't get to sleep without his bottle. I'm looking for stationary bouncy things to replace the walker, which I am going to take the wheels off of and keep it on the carpet so he can't walk in it.

As far as my big baby, here are his new stats: 24 lbs (despite his father's insistence that he would be at least 30 lbs), 30 inches long, and head circumference of 46 cm (he no longer has a ridiculously small head, hooray!). He still eats a bunch for a baby his size, but developmentally he is right on target.

To add insult to injury Dutch is not only saying "Dada" every chance he gets, he's now added "Bobo" to his word repertoire. That's right, I'm the forgotten one.

Book Review

Book: Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively by Rebecca McClanahan

This book was both really good and really bad. I was immediately turned off by the overly-flowery language that she insisted on using through the entire book (although it did instill in me that purple prose is not descriptive prose). I also felt that she used an incessant amount of repetition that made this book a hard one to get through. And I vehemently disagreed with her idea that shorter sentences and paragraphs slow things down--they absolutely do not! They speed things up like a punch, punch, punch. Anyway, despite these seemingly insurmountable complaints, I finished the book! And here is what I learned:

• Avoid adjectives that label or explain. They are not description.
• Use active, vivid prose.
• Description isn't optional if you want a story to sell, or be read!
• "Description isn't something that we simply insert, block style, into passages of narration or exposition... the term passage suggests a channel, a movement from one place to another; it implies that we're going somewhere."
• Words to avoid like just, was, that, etc.
• Figures of speech and what they actually are in a handy-dandy list; although I have a degree in English I always confuse the various types of figures of speech.
• 9 out of 10 exercises in a writing book are stupid and a waste of time, but that 10th one might just give you an amazing idea for a part of your book that you were stuck on.
• A refresher course on point-of-view and the ways that each one can limit your description or expand upon it. Very helpful if you're writing in a POV you haven't really used before.
• "The difference between activity and action is the difference between running on a treadmill and running in a race." Very good to note.
• Various ways to increase tension using description.
• The difference between tension and suspense.
• You can't write description for descriptions sake, it needs to add to the story. (Like a line from one of my favorite movies, "it must contribute, it cannot simply lie around.")
• You can't describe something or someone once and expect the reader to remember; it's better to give descriptions gradually over time so they can build on their image of the person, place or thing.
• Theme in a story comes organically, but can be greatly increased by use of appropriate description.
• Last, but not least, don't lose sight of the big picture by focusing on little details that don't matter.
  

Happy Nine-Month Birthday to Dutch!

That's right! Our little Prince is a whole 9 months old now. He will celebrate this momentous occasion by harassing the dog and eating copious amounts of baby food. His well-baby visit is Monday and I'll give you the latest information on his enormousness.

In other exciting news, yesterday when I was at Target buying diapers (don't be jealous of the glamorous life I live) Dutch said what could possibly be considered his first word! He was just making his little baby noises and saying "Wa-wa-wa" when all of a sudden he said "Da-da-da-da-da." Over and over again until I pulled out my phone to give Chris a listen, then he was mute like a monk who's taken a vow of silence.

Does it count as his first word if he doesn't know what it means?

Favorite Picture Friday

This is an outfit that Debbie Romrell gave to Dutch to wear on his 1st birthday.
Unfortunately, he's a Davis boy and this 12 month sized outfit barely fits his enormousness.

Doesn't he remind you a little of Babe Ruth?

Chew On This

Dutch is getting his first tooth!

Chris mentioned that he thought he could see some teeth coming in so I just rubbed my finger along his gums and I felt a little tooth on the bottom row. It's broken through a little bit already. I'll take a picture as soon as it's more visible.

I was beginning to wonder if all that drool was for nothing!

Happy April Fool's Day!

So Chris guessed that my April Fool's joke was a prank so it wasn't fun at all. I told him I was pregnant with twins (Heidi, you and I think a lot alike) and that they were due October 3rd. He didn't believe it. Not fun at all.