we be jammin'

At the risk of making it look like we don't care for our child . . . we've discovered that Henry's lustrous locks have a penchant for turning into dreadlocks. A couple of weeks we clipped out two (2) (TWO!) dreadlocks . . only to find a couple more last night. We do wash and comb his hair. We promise.

But in the meantime . . . I guess we be jammin'

alt summit

Is it just me or does it seem like all the "cool" people are attending the Alt Summit? You know the blogging conference where they get together and learn all about how to continue being blog-abulous? I just picture them all walking around in their fancy outfits, fit and trim, and talking about how you can literally "have it all!"

Well rest assured, I am not at that conference. In fact this morning, Henry spit up all over me and my work clothes right when we were about to go out the door. I guess you would consider the whole incident the opposite of blog-abulous.

Good thing he is cute.

ten things

I fear that it has happened. . . what I thought wouldn't happen . . . has happened. I don't really have anything else to talk about on this blog besides Henry. Crapola. Let me think. Alright - I think I have a few things:

1) We watched the movie, "The Debt" - with the exclusion of a few swears I must say - it was pretty good. Good enough that although I fell asleep while we were watching it - the next morning I finished it while on the treadmill.

2) I am continuing on my quest to read 52 books. This morning I just finished book #3.  And none of them have been golden books - so there you go. I found a couple of blogs that usually give pretty good book recommendations and then I always have voracious readers Lindy and Abby to help me out - so far so good.

3) I don't know if I will ever knit again. I blame Henry.

4) I am eating healthy. While Henry was in utero I used that as an excuse to pretty much eat anything and everything in sight - oreos anyone? Well, unfortunately, all of that eating didn't go just to the baby. Junk. So I've been cooking - which I think Greg loves - even if the meals aren't always his favorite. I'm taking the high road and I have cut out sugar and flour. It's only been 11 days - but um who is counting?

5) Trying to figure out permanent childcare in P-town is hard. hard. hard. Does anyone know of anyone that runs a day-care? Anyone? Anyone? It's not ideal but it will do - and any day I suspect that Ed McMahon will be walking up my sidewalk to tell me that I've won the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes. Any day. Oh wait - isn't Ed dead?

6) Lately, I've been losing all my scrabble games. I really need to focus.

7) You know how pregnancy/birth is supposed to thin your hair and stuff? At least someone told me that - well I have the exact opposite problem - I swear I am looking more and more like a chubby lion.

8) I ran (I use the term loosely) a 5k yesterday. The good news? My time can only get better.

9) I love watching reality tv lately. Oh goodness. Or in Rachel's words - white trash reality tv. Sure. I'll own up to it.

10) I have nothing more to say - but I wanted to end with ten things - so there you go.

And for good measure - here's a picture of my cute boyfriend. Sometimes I think he might love me - but then I realize that he is just using me for my milk.

This is Henry saying, "Hello Ladies"

super powers

Lately, I find myself wishing that I had some super hero powers of some sort. I always thought that if I could ask for super powers it would be "to fly" but now my sights are set much lower - I would take just being able to fold laundry quickly or be able to be happy and cognizant on 3 hours of sleep.

(the pink sheets keep this Batman grounded)

a week recap . . .

Our world is still revolving around Henry - I'm sure that will change soon (yeah, right).
But a few other items to report:

1) I am going to read 52 books this year - book one finished - Ready Player One . . . and it was good.

2) I just finished organizing our spice cupboard. Organization - here I come. Or at least - this year I'm determined to not buy three things of vanilla extract (because I always think we are out) and two ginormous containers of garlic salt. Spices inventoried - so if anyone is looking for some random spice -feel free to give me a call - we probably have it and I can now finally find it. I'm hoping this organized cupboard will last longer than one week.

3) I'm drinking some diet dr. pepper right now - what are the odds that this is going to keep Henry up tonight? (Please say it will have no effect - please say no effect).

4) My nearest and dearest friends from forever ago came over to visit this week. Oh goodness - I don't know how I got so lucky to have them in my life. They are the kind of friends where you can talk about everything or nothing and always have a great time. They are the kind of friends where you can pick up right where you left off. They are the kind of friends that are just full of goodness.

4) Anna came over for a special Henry one on one visit. Oh goodness - it really doesn't get much cuter than this:

5) Oh - and Henry started to smile. Yay!

Happy New Year!

2011 was full of change. I couldn't of predicted a bigger game changer than the birth of Henry.  I love him - even when he makes me wake up in the middle of the night. I love his gross diapers. I love him when he is fussing. But I especially love him after a good sleep and when he smiles. My whole year of 2011 was pretty much all about him. And now 2012 - I have no doubt it will continue to be all about him.

That being said - I love a new year. I love what it represents. The fresh start. The renewal of life. The opportunity for reflection on the past and the hope for the future. With the new year and this little fake maternity leave of mine I have been thinking a lot about - well, everything. It is a blessing and a curse - thinking so much. And of all things to be thinking about - I've been thinking about "Survivor." In particular, the reality tv show's season finale. All the contestants briefly spoke but I was struck by Dawn, the BYU Professor and mother of six, who said something like, "Being on Survivor was a dream of mine - a dream I pretty much had no right to even have." I loved hearing this because it has forced me to think about my own dreams and even evaluate what dreams I may have quashed thinking that I had no right to have them. This year I want to re-evaluate those dreams and see if maybe I'm ready to believe in myself enough to have them.

I have long loved Marianne Williamson. I was first introduced to her by a yoga teacher when I lived in Kansas City. I remember her quoting a passage and just being overcome by it's beauty and simplicity. Ms. Williamson's most famous passage and one that is particularly fitting for this post is this:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

And with that . . . bring on 2012.

*and because this is a somewhat serious/personal post - here is a picture of Henry at 1 month - he really does look as if someone peed in his cheerios - this is proof of his fussing - even when he has absolutely NOTHING to fuss about

(this picture is especially for Naomi)

just in case you missed it!

We are taking our new familial responsibilities seriously. Very seriously. Because most of this year was spent preparing for these roles we thought we’d share with you some of our best baby advice. You can trust us as experts – after all, Henry slept all night the second night home from the hospital (granted it was due to the jaundice diagnosis and it hasn’t happened since . . . but still . . . we know stuff).

Babies eat and eat and eat. So do missionaries. For the first 7 months this year the missionaries lived with us . . . and shared our kitchen. Those 19 year-olds really knew how to pack it away. They also knew how to make our house stink with their “creations”. Let’s leave it at this – the smell of boiled chicken will always remind us of pregnancy induced nausea. But it did make for some awesome blog stories (carlklef.blogspot.com)

Stop obsessing about being tired. This year we did our best to wear ourselves out. We ran a half-marathon, the red-rock relay, the ultra-competitive “Fairview Fun Run” and Greg took the scouts on a cool fifty-miler hike. We even practiced our parenting skills by being “ma and pa” on the stake trek where we dispensed words of wisdom such as, “If someone comes and wakes us up in the middle of the night because you are naughty – you’ll be in big trouble.” Yes, we were excellent examples.

Warm things up. With the arrival of Henry – we’ve got our heat on full-blast. However, we were not as good of landlords when the Elders lived with us. When one Floridian Elder told us he was “cold” . . . we simply suggested to him that he should use more blankets. 

Embrace the chaos. Having never had a baby before we really didn’t know what to expect but imagine our surprise when we checked in to the hospital at 8:50 am and had a baby by 9:12 am. Apparently those were labor pains during the night and not just indigestion. 

Ignore unwanted or confusing advice. Feel free to ignore any of our “advice” but don’t ignore this – Merry Christmas! Seasons Greetings! Happy Holidays!

Kris Tina & Greg (he tweets! @gregdanklef)

Season's Greetings!

My love of receiving Christmas cards runs deep - real deep. While Henry doesn't get out much in the cold weather I have still managed to make sure that we get to the mailbox everyday to pick up our cards. Psychologically I wonder what that says about me. . .  but whatever - this has been a banner year for us:

While we have received a lot of great cards - this year I have to give the best Christmas/Holiday card of the year award to . . . drumroll please . . . the Toddcat:

Don't worry to all you others - better luck next year . . . 

Oh and Henry says, "Monkeys are awesome!"

random(?)

So if I can push Greg to the post office today - we'll actually have our Christmas cards sent off - a few days late but better late than never.

I've taken to dvr'ing jeopardy - did you know it is on TWICE a day? What a treat? I like to pretend that Henry is learning all sorts of valuable information from my trivia addiction.

Also - my dad sent me this picture just taunting me on Saturday . . .

Seriously? How could I not get in the car and go to her dance concert? I just had to. And it was absolutely worth it. Don't worry - Henry wasn't anywhere near the packed high school auditorium.

Are Christmas form letters out of style? I always second guess myself when it comes to these things. Whatever - it's in the mail.

a big day

Today I have a few goals of things to accomplish:
1) Shower
2) Maybe get on the treadmill - I've done it two days in a row so I might need a break
3) Take a nap
4) Get out our Christmas cards and Henry's birth announcements - so actually this is probably going to take all day and all night.

But because the world needs more pictures of our son - and we don't have much else to talk about (oh wait I have a student that didn't show up for my final and wants me to give him a "special" final so that he can make it up - don't worry I'm not doing it - I'm teaching him a valuable lesson that he will appreciate in 20 years). Anyway - back to cute pictures:

We thought we might go for a Christmas motif for his birth announcement - but really he wasn't loving the hat and let's face it - his luxurious hair is his best feature. We don't want to cover that up.

So then we were thinking - maybe a naked baby photo. Those are always good - but in this one - he looks a little wasted.

We then thought -well since his favorite activity is having his hair washed - maybe we'll go with that:

But no - he kind of looks too much like a bird in this one.

I look at these pictures and think - oh goodness he is so so so cute. Oh but wait - he woke up every two hours last night. So no - he's not that cute right now.