Month in Review

Wow! It has been almost a month since I've posted here. My sister and I have been busy starting our own blog and that has taken up my spare blogging time. I will do my best to recap the past month...


First of all, I feel like Soren has really become a little boy this month. I mean, he was always a "boy" but now he's doing boy stuff. It's all so weird to me and at times I am absolutely shocked by how old he's getting. Most of the time I find myself not giving him enough credit for things he's able to do on his own. I have loved every stage of his life so far and I hope to find something to love in every stage of his life (yes, even the teenage years) but sometimes I get a little sad that he's not so tiny anymore. I'm not dwelling on it though, and I'm really loving this new stage where he is so aware of the things we do together.


It is so fun to see him trying to interact with the world around him. He talks to us quite a bit and he loves to sing and dance and drum on just about anything that will make a sound. He loves music, but much to Karl's disappointment, he prefers Mama's music (what can I say, that's the least I should get for all the time I spend raising him. :) He is also really into sharing right now. He will hold something out for us to take, but then quickly tries to get it back. It's so fun seeing him figure out all of these life rules.


He's now up to three words (that we can understand), so now he has "Aaaah-da" (all done), "Nigh-nigh" (how he asks to be put to bed) and "That" (said perfectly with the "th" sound and all.) He uses it to ask the names of things around him, mostly buttons - his obsession.

Soren is still about 2 inches taller than all of the babies his age, which is not a huge surprise. I am always so conscious of how long his pants are and if they get to be at all around his ankles I get in a little panic. Karl reassures me that it doesn't matter because he's just a baby, but it's obvious I'm projecting some of my own insecurities onto my child. I will try to stop this soon. :)

We're noticing his little will coming out more and more these days and he makes his wishes very clear on most issues, mostly food choices and being told he can't have the remote, cell phone, camera, etc. He loves technology - he's his father's son, that's for sure.

OK, enough of the mom gushing -we have lives other than Soren too (it's hard to tell from this blog though!) My latest news is that I am working again. It's going to be quite an adjustment going from being home all week to only being home 3 days. I actually like the jobs that I have, so that makes the transition easier.

Karl is still busy with the last quarter of this school year - it's, by far, the hardest one yet. We've been super fortunate to have been able to ease into the architecture major for the past few years and now we're in "the trenches." Karl's doing a great job of juggling school, work and papahood, although it's not an easy task. We're all making it work, but it's definitely a "day at a time" kind of thing.

So there you go...a little update on our lives. And here's a precious little picture for your viewing pleasure....

The Life of an ArchiPapa

Fig+Sage

As some of you may know, my sister and I have done a lot of research and other work to start our own business in the organic skin care industry. Through testing many products, that we'd eventually love to sell ourselves, we have come up with an impressive list of great products. Since we're at a bit of a standstill with the business side of things, we decided to blog about these great products, because we are so passionate about them.

Check out Fig+Sage and find some fabulous products that are good for your body, soul and the environment!

Some of the companies that we are plugging will give us a percentage of the sale if you click on the links we provide in the blog, so if you want to buy anything do it through our site...please :).

Enjoy!

So Proud

Last week was nuts for our family. Karl was working madly on finishing a group project for his architecture studio class and pulled 3 all-nighters in a row. Needless to say, we were both exhausted from his demanding school schedule and Soren was probably wondering if he had a father anymore.

On Friday, Soren and I went to Cal Poly to see the model that Karl's group had been working so diligently on for the past few months. His model was in a dark room with several other projects from students in his class; some were obviously better than others. Soren was so happy to see his Papa again and reached out for him as soon as we got there. For the first time in his life he was bashful around the new people who wanted to meet him and he clung to Karl like I had never seen before.

As we were standing around, admiring the HUGE (taller than me) model of a skyscraper in Dubai that Karl and his group spent hours on, I asked who would be taking this one home. We have maxed out our capacity to house anymore architecture models in our apartment, so I was hoping the other two guys would offer. At that same moment, Karl's professor walked up and said that she thought it belonged in the university archives! After wondering the whole quarter what she was going to think about their project (she was skeptical about their concept), she now thought it was worthy to save!

That's not all...this morning Karl received an email from his professor, informing him that his project was requested by other professors in the engineering and landscape architecture departments as an example of an excellent model! It will also be reviewed by the National Council of Architectural Registration Board to evaluate Karl's professor (a process that is only done every 5 years!)

As you can probably tell, I am beaming with pride for my husband. This success is just another confirmation that he is doing what he loves AND that he is excellent at it. Yes, I might complain about not having a husband who is around as much as I would like, but I am confident that he is right where he should be right now. This is just a glimpse of the pride I will feel on graduation day!

Back by Popular Demand

Well, you asked for more pictures and I listened. (Actually, Karl just gave me back the card reader so I could upload these pictures.) So here you are, my friends, documentation of extreme cuteness...

Helping Mama with the laundry

Like I said before, kids don't need fancy toys :)

We're starting to get concerned that he spends too much time with Violet.
His new favorite thing to do is put something in his mouth
and crawl around with it everywhere he goes.
He thinks it's quite funny.

More to come...stay tuned.

I'm not one for surveys

I rarely ever fill out surveys, actually this is the second one of this kind that I have done. Seems like a fun thing to do and Soren is perfectly content to play for a while, so here goes...

1. What is your occupation? Full-time Mama
2. What color are your socks right now? No socks right now. But I do LOVE striped socks!!
3. What are you listening to right now? Ah-ah-ah-da-da-da (in a happy tone...it's very sweet.)
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Some of Soren's breakfast - apples, blueberries, oats, amaranth and quinoa cereal.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Oh yeah, quite well actually. It's impressive. I drive an automatic usually, but I pick it back up whenever I drive Karl's truck.
6. What color would you be, if you were a color? Purple...isn't this just asking what your favorite color is?
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Skylana
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes I do.
9. How old are you today? 27
10. Favorite drink? Raspberry Italian Cream Soda
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Volleyball. If Volleyball wasn't on, and there was nothing else to do, I would rather stare at a wall.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, it's one of my favorite things to do. I don't do it much anymore though.
13. Pets? 1 saucy Golden Retriver.
14. Favorite food? Sweet Basil Tofu from Thai-riffic - the best!
15. Last movie you watched? "Rendition"
16. Favorite day of the year? Christmas
17. What do you do to vent anger? Cry. I always wish I had a punching bag though when I really need to get it out of me.
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies and Breyer horses
19. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall in Boulder is heaven.
20. Cherry or blueberry? Both fresh, neither cooked.
21. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? (Speaking generally, not about this survey.) Yeah, I love getting emails from friends ;)
22. Who is most likely to respond? My sister
23. Who is least likely to respond? Flo. She always gets in touch some other way.
24. What are your current living arrangements? Apartment with 1 husband, 1 dog, 1 baby.
25. When was the last time you cried? On Sunday when Karl was going to go to school for the whole day. (He didn't go.)
26. Who is the friend you’ve had the longest that you are sending this to? I'm not really sending it to her, but Flo has been my best friend for almost 22 years!
27. Favorite smell? The top of Soren's head, Weleda baby products and the essential oil of geranium.
28. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? The only hamburger I would ever eat is from In-n-Out - animal style, well done, mustard instead .
29. Favorite car? Cross between a Honda CR-V and Volvo Cross Country.
30. Favorite cat breed? Korat
31. Number of keys on your key ring? 5
32. How many years at your current job? Almost 9 months!
33. Favorite day of the week? Any day that Karl isn't working or at school or doing homework.
34. How many states have you lived in? 4 - California, Colorado, Minnesota, and a village (I know, not a state) in Germany.
35. What is your favorite hobby? I have a lot of things that I would like to be my hobbies, such as crocheting, making cards, scrapbooking. I have started these things many times and never seem to finish anything! I like to read and cook and once in a while I really like baking cakes.
36. Last book you read: "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson.

Sticks and Stones

No...not the ones you hurt people with, I'm talking about the ones kids once used as toys. As a nanny, I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time observing which parenting styles worked and which did not. I learned some invaluable lessons during those years, here are the biggies:

1. Babies need LOTS of love - no matter what else is going on!
2. Babies need LOTS of sleep - no matter how much they protest.
3. Babies need good nutrition - no matter how hard or expensive it is to provide it.
4. Babies DO NOT need toys that flash and beep!!

The fourth point is the one I'm going to address in this particular blog, although I'm sure I'll address the others at some point (I'm pretty passionate about all of them!)

This morning Karl came home and wanted me to listen to an episode he heard on NPR entitled "Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills." The article/episode validated my current disdain for toys that flash lights and play music (noise.) The most appaulling (but not surprising) facts highlighted in this article was how different our kids are since we have introduced these kinds of imagination-killing toys into their lives. Instead of reciting the entire article, you can read it (or listen to it) if you would like here. Basically, we have a problem on our hands with children who do not know how to control themselves and do not know how to play if "Dora the Explorer" is not telling them what to do or a toy isn't lighting up their face as they play with it.

I have heard many parents tell me how they don't like the toys their kids play with or that they think their kids have too many. The weird thing to me is that they do nothing about it, like they are powerless to stop their kids from having these things. Sure, it is more difficult to ignore the commercialism or to kindly ask well-meaning gift-givers to forgo the "fun" toys and give clothes or books instead. Who wants to be the "bad guy?" The truth is, children know how to play instinctively, and it's us (the parents) who ultimately have the power to encourage or inhibit this in them. I know that no loving parent would intentionally curb their child's imagination, but many are unintentionally doing it all the time.

It is certainly not my intention to toot my own horn here - that is a huge peeve of mine in this already overly narcissistic blog world. I simply want to give some "food for thought" to any loving parent who wants the best for their kids - and that may just be a wooden spoon at playtime!