Potty Failure?

Some may view our attempt to potty train Ellis this week as a complete failure. Well, those people never saw this kid in his super-cool undies. Looking that good could NEVER be a failure!

The President Game of the Week

1. Take a president, any president.

2. Uh oh, Woodrow Wilson is too sad. He's not ready to be happy.

3. He needs Time Out in his crib.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 with many other presidents who are not ready to be happy. Time Out for them!

5. Some of the presidents are lucky. Barack Obama has decided to be happy!

It's good to know that the presidents can relate to real people and their real problems . . . like boys who throw impossible tantrums until their perplexed moms send them to their cribs until they are ready to be happy (3 times today - once for over 30 minutes --aah!).

One Month

Check out our one-monther!

One pound heavier than birth (9 lbs. 1 oz.)

Still as sweet as can be

Played with a rattle today

And got Ellis shrieking at his peek-a-boo skills

This is going to be fun!

Here is a typical Sammy look: pretty sure he likes me and wants to smile soon, but he's still a little skeptical.

And another typical Sammy look: Blue Steel! He's pretty good at being ridiculously good-looking. I think it's amazing how small he can make his mouth go.

Amazon Mom

I know a lot of you order your diapers, wipes, and other baby products online. Well, having a new baby has led me to discover a great new feature offered on www.amazon.com called Amazon Mom. When you sign up for Amazon Mom (free to join), you get a total of 30% off all baby product orders when you use the Subscribe and Save feature. When you subscribe for an item (like diapers), you agree to have it sent to you on a regular basis (you set the frequency), but you can cancel or change the subscription at any time. I haven’t checked all types of diapers, but for the particular ones I was shopping for, they were MUCH cheaper than what I found at BJ’s or even on diapers.com.

But here’s the real kicker: when you sign up for Amazon Mom, you also qualify for FREE Amazon Prime shipping benefits for up to a year! Amazon Prime (free 2-day shipping on most Amazon products) is pretty much the best thing that has happened to my life in the last 2 years. I order everything (gifts, office supplies, home improvement items, Christmas stuff, pretty much anything I would buy at Target) on Amazon and love nothing more than seeing it arrive on my porch two days later. If Amazon Prime hasn’t changed your life yet, you might as well try it – free for a year! Oh, and if you already have Amazon Prime, they will credit your account for what you haven’t used yet and start you off on a free year of Prime! Why not?

Just passing on the good news. And doing a little advertising for my best friend, Amazon.

Extreme Home Makeover

After my parents got their fill of quizzing Ellis on all of the U.S. presidents, playing every car game Henry can imagine (and that's probably more than you can imagine), and cuddling Samuel, they ran out of things to do. The truth is that, because I was feeling so well, and Sam was sleeping like a baby, we didn't need quite as much help as we had all anticipated. So, I made a list of all of the projects we've been meaning to do for the past 2 1/2 years. And thus began the Extreme Home Makeover.

Let's meet the crew:

Grandpa Dave, the miracle man.

Grandma Lori, the girl with a vision.

Ben, the one who has been putting off the projects for 2 1/2 years, and is now pretending to help, as long as the project is on Saturday.

"Measure Man" (civilian name: Henry) who diligently measured everything we asked him to (which, coincidentally, prevented him from other ways of "helping").

And Ellis, the comic relief.

The Extreme Home Makeover included:

- Reattaching doorknobs

- Tightening screws

- Gluing toys

- Fixing drawers and cabinets

- Installing new non-slip rug pads

- Re-upholstering a chair

- Attaching the fireplace screen

- Hanging pictures

- Cleaning just about everything

And the two big ones:

Building the new bunk beds

Painting the three dining room chairs. I've been dreaming of this project for over a year, and I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Doesn't it look awesome?!? I love the color and unexpected fun it brings to the room.

And the boys are loving the bunk beds. Thanks team!

Live-in Help

We were blessed to have my parents as live-in help for almost two weeks after Sammy was born. They came the day after they dropped my brother Tanner off at the Missionary Training Center for his two-year service in the Carlsbad, CA mission. I think it was good timing for them. Just after saying good-bye to their baby boy, they got to come and take care of three of mine! They spent lots of time reading to/playing with Henry and Ellis, and holding/rocking/cuddling/smelling/kissing/loving little Sam.

No one wanted to say good-bye! We love you, Grandpa & Grandma!

Deep Thoughts By Henry

"Some modern artists have a pencil in their ear."

"The more chocolate I eat, the better I feel and the happier I am."

"Why do they call these 'funnels' instead of 'pour down separators?'"

And a few conversations:

Mom: "Henry, do you think I should buy you a new sweater or jacket to wear in the house, since you're always so cold? You always keep your coat on in the house."

Henry: "No, I'm not cold. I'm just wearing this because I don't want to waste energy taking it off" (Henry is very concerned about wasting energy -- especially his own!).

Ellis: "I don't like the Tabernacle Girls."

Henry: "And I'm the same as Ellis."

Mom: "You don't like the girls?"

Henry: "Yeah, because girls are not as defensive as boys."

Mom: "Not as defensive?"

Henry: "Yeah, girls are not as . . . protective as boys . . . in the war games I play."

One More Day

I think it's fortuitous that I was introduced to this product on the very week that I'm trying to figure out how on earth I'm going to survive my new life with three kids. I started washing my hair every other day (as opposed to every day) pretty much the day I came home from the hospital with Henry. Maybe it's time to make it every third day?

"Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo: Keeps Your Hair Rockin' One More Day."

Could anything be more awesome? This could be my salvation!

St. Paddy's Day Success?

Some may not consider it to be a success, but Ellis ate 2 "new" foods on Saint Patrick's Day. He hasn't tried a new food (new desserts don't count) in 5 months, so that's why I'm calling it a success. Why might you NOT call it a success?

1. The pancakes (new food #1) were disguised as whoopie pies. I'm going to argue that frosting in between two mini pancakes can't be much worse than pancakes with syrup! It's all just sugar . . . right?

2. The spinach (new food #2) was hiding in the green drink (blended up with mango and pineapple juice). Henry was also tricked and called it "limenade."

Henry ate everything, from the green drink to the green pancakes to the green eggs and ham. Nobody's chanting "More asparagus!" or anything, but I think it's reason to celebrate. Quite the improvement from two years ago!

Henry's Take on the Economy

This is what happens when your dinner conversation usually starts with, "Dad, how was your day?" (that is, if "Dad" happens to be an eager economist).

The Economy from a 5-year-old from Ben and Jenn on Vimeo.

Watch out, parent company!

Why We Love Boys

Prediction: in the future version of our family, the volume level is going to go up several notches.

Why We Love Boys from Ben and Jenn on Vimeo.

What is not to love about boys and their fervor for everything . . . like canoes, cattle ranching, and China?

S-A-M-U-E-L at the Circus

Remember the plaques I made for Henry and Ellis before they were born? Well, this tradition gets hard to keep up with when you have more kids! I really wanted to have them done before Samuel was born, but his early arrival (and life in general) got in the way of my plans. For a while, we thought we were going to have to name him Samu instead of Samuel. We couldn't help but question our name choice and wonder if this kid would really be worthy of 6 letters! My parents saved the day and took care of EVERYTHING while I finished up painting.* Hooray! They are finished and hanging over little Sam's crib, and I think they'll suit him rather well. I guess he's worth it after all. :)

* Credit to Patric Hudson's Circus Alphabet book (1954) for the inspiration for the drawings. I can't draw anything without looking at a picture.

P.S. Can I make an amendment to Ben's original baby post? Yes, we like the idea that there are so many great Samuels in the world's history, which I think makes it a very solid name. But in my mind, he is named after only 2 Samuels: Samuel Smith (such an amazing, quietly-yet-fiercely strong man), and my personal version of the character Samuel Hamilton from Steinbeck's East of Eden. I know he's not even a real person, but in my heart he is one of the most real people I know, in many ways the epitome of what a real man should be. And somehow, from the beginning, I have felt strongly that this sweet little boy is going to grow up to be just a really GOOD man.

Ben's opinion on Hamilton may differ, and that's okay I guess.

Fall Flashback

One of my favorite things to do with my siblings is to go around Mom's house, counting and tallying how many pictures she has displayed of each of us on her walls. Then we can easily determine who is Mom's current favorite child (It's Brady, by the way). A recent once-over with our blog might lead one to believe that Samuel is my definite favorite right now. So, to avoid any complaints that Henry and Ellis might have, I'm going to try to even up the tally right now!

Actually, I just have some adorable pictures from JoDee's mini photo shoot last fall that have never been posted. These cute boys deserve some attention (and JoDee does too -- check her out here)!

The life of an academic paper

Just before Sam was born, I received the news that a paper I've been working on for a while had finally been published! For an academic, this is exciting news, because your whole life is measured by your publications. The old mantra of "publish or perish" is definitely the way things still work in the ivory tower.

But besides being excited to get the paper published and add a line to my CV, I was also thrilled about the news because it means I'm finally done with that paper. You see, the life of a research project is a long, arduous one. I happen to know the exact date that I started working on this particular paper: 26 November 2007. Yep, you read that right, 2007. And the end product? A whopping 11 pages, including charts, tables, an appendix, and the works cited page. How could it possibly take three authors 3 1/2 years to produce that? The answers lies in the fact that academics are actually really lazy people who take summers off and rarely work a 40-hour week.

Ha ha! Just kidding. You only get to have that lifestyle once you get tenure. :) The real answer is that writing a water-tight research paper is really hard. You see, after you come up with an idea, collect the data, do the analysis, and write a first draft of the paper (which is no small task) you get to start presenting your work at conferences. This paper, for example, was presented in Atlanta, New York, Prague, and Chicago. And at each of these conferences, all of the other attendees view it as their mission to shoot holes in your work. And they're usually pretty good at it, too. It's not that they don't like you (usually), but the idea is that all of the possible flaws need to be ferretted out to make sure what you're arguing is actually true. That means that after each conference you come home with a load of new work to do, and a new draft to produce that reflects these changes. In a worst-case scenario, someone will point out something major flaw that destroys the paper and you're left with nothing. Luckily that didn't happen with this paper.

Once you've gone through this process, it's time to actually submit the paper to a journal. Generally, you pick the best journal that you think you might possibly have a chance of getting in to. The editor of the journal will send your paper to a few "referees" (other academics) who will read your paper anonymously and critique it. They submit a report back to the editor listing all of the things that are wrong with it, as well as a recommendation of whether to accept or reject the paper. Usually, this process takes several months to complete, at which point you get the referee reports from the editor along with his accept/reject decision. If your paper is accepted, you have to address all of the referees' concerns, and submit a new draft for more edits. This then takes another few months. Of course, if it's rejected, you still address all of the referees' issues, and then you find another journal to send it in to, and start the process over again.

It's a frustrating process. By the end, no matter the paper, you really hate your project because you've been working on it for so long, and people have been nit-picking it to death. But, how sweet it is once it's cleared all of the hurdles and is finally off your desk! Hurray!

One last cool note is that this paper got some press in the Huffington Post, Reuters, and (a long time ago) in the Economist's View. It's always nice to know that at least a few normal people are hearing about your work. I'm famous...sort of. :)

2 Weeks Old

I can't help but post some of these priceless faces. Little Sammy is already growing and changing so much! I'm just crossing my fingers that as he continues to grow, his sweet demeanor doesn't change. He is sleeping for four hours at a time in the night. He takes great naps and falls asleep easily (no ridiculous bouncing routine necessary). He loves his binky. He is only awake for short periods throughout the day, but when he's awake, he's not screaming. He will lie happily on a blanket for 30+ minutes. We took him out for dinner last night, and he snoozed in the car seat the entire time without a peep. This type of behavior is so foreign to me. Is this for real? Have others had babies this good? Is it possible to actually be excited to hear the sound of a baby waking up? Could I be making this judgment too soon? Is he going to mutate into a little monster next week? Or did the Lord really bless me with an angel?

Just look at him!