I Married a Whole Family of Nerds

Last night we had dinner with Ben’s extended family, and we were in charge of bringing dessert. We brought something called Six Layer Surprise. It's these cookie-ish bars with chocolate chips, coconut, walnuts, etc.

On our way home from dinner, Ben’s cousin Jason called to find out whether there was coconut in the dessert. Normally he gets a rash when he eats coconut, but he didn’t get one last night so he was wondering if he had outgrown his allergy.

Jason ended the phone call with, “Well, thanks for bringing the three factorial layer surprise.”

So clever…and yet, so nerdy.

Remember Highlights Magazine?

Try and guess what Liam's going to be for Halloween.

He Must Have Gotten His Father's Anti-Sand Gene

Last week my family got together for one last hoorah before one brother goes to Japan with the Navy for two years and another brother goes to Detroit on a Church mission for two years.

We spent the weekend at a beach house, and it was Liam’s first time at the beach. Guess how much he loved it?

The Benefits of Having Chubby Cheeks

Tonight we had taco soup for dinner and I gave Liam a few of the kidney beans. An hour later, as I was giving him a bottle before bed, he pushed the bottle out of his mouth and started cramming his fingers down his throat. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until he pulled the skins of two kidney beans out of his mouth. Not only did he save them in the side of his mouth for an hour, he even drank half a bottle without swallowing them.

My boy is so talented.

I Don't Even Think They Have a Hippo

Today I took Liam to the zoo for the second time in 10 days. The first time we donated $10 to the diabetes cure-finders and got free breakfast, lunch, a t-shirt, a tiny bit of exercise, a pass to the zoo, coupons, samples, and two pedometers. All for a $10 donation that I only made because my dad has diabetes and the guy next to me at the registration table was donating $4,000.

Today it cost $8 to get into the zoo and we didn’t get a single free thing. What a rip-off.

How to Dissuade Yourself from Becoming a Blogger

I got my favorite How to of the Day of all time today. Here’s the intro:

What a buzz all the bloggers are making these days! It seems like just about everybody is pouring their musings into a text box. Are you feeling tempted to start a blog of your own? Here are some ways to bypass the trend.

Check out the four easy steps you can take to dissuade yourself from becoming a blogger. Just make sure you don’t get sidetracked by the Related wikiHows: How to Start a Blog, How to Write a Famous Blog, or my personal favorite—How to Defeat a MySpace Addiction.

Bluegrass Fashion Sense

Do you ever wonder why hardcore bluegrass musicians look the way they do? Take a look at Sam Bush—one of the best mandolin players on the planet:


We went to see him play a couple weeks ago, and I swear his whole band was wearing the clothes my dad gave to Goodwill 10 years ago.

Do these guys spend so much time playing music that they don’t have time to go shopping? Or do they want to turn the rest of the world against bluegrass music so no one will think it’s cool, start practicing, and become better than them? I don’t get it.

Sam Bush played on The Tonight Show with Emmylou Harris on Friday—just one week after we saw him play in a baseball jersey and old jeans—and except for the diamond stud in his ear, he actually looked pretty normal.


So who’s he trying to fool?

And Then We Celebrated...

Baby Einstein style

One-Year-Olds Are Totally Rad

Liam turned 1 yesterday. You wouldn’t believe how much better having a 1-year-old is than having a 0-year-old.

I’ll admit it—it took me a few months to realize that being a mom was really great. It has always been well worth the reward, but I wouldn’t say it has always been fun. Now that I have a 1-year-old, motherhood is like a dream. I LOVE being a mom.

Liam sleeps 12+ hours every night, and another 3-4 hours during the day. Not that long ago he was still waking up during the night and taking wimpy little naps.

As of two weeks ago he drinks formula, and as of yesterday he drinks real milk, and that is possibly the most liberating feeling I’ve ever experienced. He is no longer dependant on me for his survival.

He entertains himself and he laughs when I tickle him and he is learning how to communicate his needs and wants. I LOVE having a 1-year-old.

Check out these mad communication skills he used last night when he opened his birthday present:

First he was all, "For me? Really?"



Then he was like, "Let me get a better look at this sweet ride."



Then he said, "Is it done yet, Daddy? Can I ride it yet?"



See? I wasn't kidding. One-year-olds are totally rad.

Things at Which I Do Not Excel, Part III

Leaving Comments

Some people leave clever, witty comments everywhere they go—on all of their friends’ blogs, on perfect strangers’ blogs, with spray paint on billboards, etc. Not me.

Comments totally intimidate me. What if I were to leave a comment on, say…Rebecca’s blog? First of all, 20,000 people could potentially read that comment and judge me for leaving a lame comment. And secondly, what if Rebecca’s Mom were to read that comment and then tell my mom about it? My mom already thinks blogging is for self-absorbed people. She might ground me or something.

But more than the intimidation factor, I struggle with a lack of talent. I sit around for days trying to think up something funny to say, but when something even 1% clever finally comes to mind, the post has been long forgotten.

I totally live for comments. It makes my day when somebody leaves one. So why am I so bad at leaving them?