Reflections on turning 30

What I don't have
-A car

What I do have
-A rockin' stroller

What I don't have
-Laundry in my home

What I do have
-The ability to wash up to nine loads simultaneously

What I don't have
-A perfect body

What I do have
-A husband who treats me like I have a perfect body; also, great abs and nice ankles

What I don't have
-A scintillating career

What I do have
-Lots of time with my children and good friends with whom to celebrate and commiserate the former

What I don't have
-A bigger house than 90% of my friends and family

What I do have
-Sufficient space to comfortably accommodate our growing family

What I don't have
-Unlimited cash

What I do have
-More than I need, enough of what I want

What I don't have
-Perfect children who are always obedient and well behaved

What I do have
-Two kids who are a wonderful mish-mash of John, me, and their own little selves

What I don't have
-A perfect marriage or a husband who always lets me do what I want

What I do have
-A partner who shares my beliefs and my long-term goals, who truly wants to make me happy, and who doesn't let me walk all over him in a misguided attempt to please me (which would never work anyway, if we're being honest)

-Also, a Costco membership, a doorman, a new kindle to replace the one John gave me for Christmas 2009 that I left on an airplane in March 2010, and seven birthday desserts (a four-dessert "tasting menu" family party arranged by John, including macaron from Financier and cheesecake lollipop from David Burke, plus three desserts at dinner)

Basically, on turning 30, I pretty much have it made. Not because my life is perfect. It isn't. But it's got enough of the good stuff and the bad stuff to teach me what matters. If I can't find happiness in all that, I don't deserve it. So, here's to the next 10 years, which will probably be mostly filled with the same stuff as the last three plus a few new adventures. I'll raise a cupcake to that.

Snow tubing

Going snow tubing is a great thing to do pretty much anytime. It is an especially great thing to do if you have $65 of zipcar credit burning a hole in your pocket on your birthday.

It is also a great thing to do if you're three years old, just generally.

Unfortunately, it is a less great thing to do if you're only nine months old, too young to snow tube and too young to go to the nursery.

Luckily, Hyrum takes these things in stride and mostly observed the "no crying on Mommy's birthday" rule despite getting left out of all the fun.

Baby weight

You've probably heard the saying. Nine months up, nine months down. Or in my case, nine months up, three weeks down, six months up, two months down. Losing the baby weight quickly only to spend several months slowly regaining part of it wasn't my favorite aspect of breastfeeding.

But that's all water under the bridge now. Hyrum turned nine months on Monday, and I'm finally back to my prepregnancy weight for the second time (third if you count the fact that I briefly hit it earlier this month before indulging in a significant portion of my sister-in-law's wedding cake). Happy milestone birthday to me!

One man's navy is another man's royal blue

Or a lesson in the difficulties of buying tights online.

Yesterday, I took Evelyn ice skating for the first time.

We waited in line for about an hour, then skated for about 10 minutes. We made it around the rink once. I'm going to count it as a success. Then, we went to lunch, at which point she kept pushing this thing in my face and saying, "Take a picture for your blog! Here! Take a picture for your blog!"

Also, apropos of nothing, strawberries with milk, sugar, and a dash of cream = delicious.

TINSTAAFL

This morning, over oatmeal:

Evelyn: You know, ice cream helps kids grow.

Me: Oh really? Who told you that?

Evelyn: Commercials. On the TV on the plane, they said that.

And thus we see that there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Or a free cross-country plane ride with small children.

Catching up

Going to Utah to play with your cousins is really fun.

You hardly ever have to nap!

Just play nicely and try not to let on that you're tired.

You can always sleep when you get home.

Highs and lows

We just got back from a memorable trip west. John's sister got married, and I got an earnestly chocolate shake at the BYU creamery. In a nutshell:

Highs

-Attending Sarah and Brian's wedding and associated fun. For the record, two-bite brownies + whipped cream + cherry pie filling = delicious.

-Meeting two of Hyrum's second cousins for the first time, one of whom is three months older than him, and the other of whom is one week younger.

-Being in the temple with most of John's family.

-Family dinner the night before the wedding with everyone.

-Cousin swimming time in the hot tub.

-Hanging out at Liz's with Pretes, Doigs, and Bryners.

-Four little girls sharing (mostly nicely) the dollhouse.

(Olivia (3), Hannah (4), Evelyn (3), and Allie (3))

-Austin and Preston playing with Hyrum nonstop.

-Reading a novel on the plane ride home while Hyrum sat squeezed between John and I playing with toys and Evelyn watched TV.

-Seeing a few dear friends who have since left the city, two of whom were also just out visiting. My plans to marry Evelyn off to Fox are still in play.

Lows

-Realizing that we took virtually no pictures (particularly pictures of Preston and Austin with Hyrum).

-Realizing that I had eaten 8 (large) pieces of wedding cake in a 36-hour period (+ aforementioned milkshake). I figure I had to make up for all the Prete weddings I missed.

-Realizing that my children were better behaved on the flight out than I was. Apparently, Hyrum can survive a 6-hour flight without snapping at the stewardess when she makes us sit down while he's trying to go to sleep. Apparently, I cannot.

-Changing Hyrum's first blow-out diaper in months with only five baby wipes available (like, throw away the clothes he was wearing blow-out) on the porch of my cousin's house while waiting for her to get home.

That's pretty much it. What with all the cousins and cake and well-behaved children on planes, I couldn't have asked for a better vacation.

Five days was not enough cousin time, so the kids and I are considering a repeat over the summer. I guess Evelyn heard the grown-ups tossing the idea around, because when we left her cousins in Price, she authoritatively told everyone, "We'll see you again at August. We just have to wait for the airplanes to get a liiiiiittle more cheaper."

Just call me Jesse James

I am not a woman who likes to interface with customer service representatives, really, ever. Certainly not back-to-back, three times in one day. Last Friday, though, the stars aligned, and that's exactly what I did. Since I did it under those fortunate stars, however, I had three fantastic experiences and now wholeheartedly recommend all three companies. Except for the small fact that they all made mistakes/products that required me to call customer service in the first place, I suppose. But if you're going to have a broken stroller, a broken chair, or a misplaced (their mistake) rebate receipt, get it from Phil & Teds, CSNstores.com, and Verizon Wireless, respectively.

I am now richer by a $100 wireless credit and eagerly anticipate the imminent arrival of a brand new stroller and children's armchair. Basically, I made out like a bandit, even before John took me ice skating and then on to afternoon brunch at Norma's Saturday. "Did you have fun on your playdate?" Evelyn asked when we got back. Yes, yes I did.

Earlier that morning, John took on the arduous task of teaching Evelyn how to call 9-1-1. As the parent who's not with her 24/7 (minus school and Primary), he seems much more concerned about certain scenarios. "Evelyn, what do you do if you get hurt and you're by yourself?"

She caught on quickly.

"Hello? Is this the 9-1-1 lady?"

On second thought, as the outlaw in the house, perhaps this is not behavior I should encourage.

Take a good look

This adorable gummy grin is about to expire. At almost 9 months old, Hyrum finally sprouted his first tooth today. Good job, little bud!

He proudly carries on the family tradition of getting one's first tooth on a day of romance: Evelyn - Aunt Careen's wedding day, Hyrum - Valentine's Day. Because who wants flowers or candy when you can have a teething baby instead, right? Every woman's dream!

(Let me tell you, getting him to display one last toothless smile for posterity was no easy feat. He much preferred the below.)

Overheard in the city

Today, the kids and I went to lunch together. We had pizza. It was fun. It was also highly entertaining, but that had very little to do with the kids or the pizza.

Apparently, our waiter is a really nice guy. This is according to the two dance students sitting behind me. Why? you ask. Perhaps because he wasn't noticeably offended when the girls (I just can't call them women) kept loudly assuming he was not an American citizen, despite the fact that he had already told them three times he was born in California? Actually, no. Apparently, he's a really nice guy because on Valentine's Day, he is marrying an acquaintance of theirs. Romantic, right? One would think, but in fact, they are getting married at city hall because she wants citizenship. So badly, apparently, that she had been considering paying $7,000 to some old guy she had found through an agency that arranges these sorts of things. He isn't going to charge her a cent! Isn't that great? But then again, she is "well endowed" if the girls' opinion can be trusted, so maybe he thinks he'll get something out of it after all.

Thankfully, my Canadian-born husband was already an American citizen when we met + married, so I don't have to worry about whether I was the unwitting victim of a similar path to a green card.

I'm not going to judge nameless waiter, though. Not because I'm all new-age tolerant and accepting. No, I'm going to give him a bye because he actually is a nice guy. He let me sit in a booth with only two people, block up the adjacent table with my enormous stroller, and pay with a credit card even though we didn't order enough to satisfy the minimum charge; bonus points: He did it all with a smile. For those reasons, I will also refrain from telling you (and immigration) where I was eating earlier today, the name of the blushing bride, or her nationality. Good luck nameless waiter + hopeful immigrant. May your marraige of convenience be all either of you could hope for.

Built to last

Tomorrow, I have a phone date with the very nice customer service representatives for my stroller's manufacturer. So far, we have had the front seat fabric, the back seat fabric, and the frame replaced under the warranty. We are about to have the front seat fabric replaced again. Manufacturing just isn't what it used to be. Even when you spend the money to get what should be a durable quality product; nowadays, things aren't always built to last.

Luckily, my children are a different story.

Case in point:

Bonus picture: I can't photograph Hyrum without Evelyn saying, "Take a picture of me! Take a picture of me!"

Fail

Despite many hours of practice, Jack and Hyrum are still complete nonperformers on the train track assembly front.

No one around here seems very upset about it.

My kind of craft time

Take:
-1 (one) energetic preschooler

Add:
-1 (one) decorate your own toothbrush

Combine.

Observe.

Done!

Playdate pariahs

If you would like to spend the night up with a sick child, get sick yourself, or face some other misfortune, drop us a note. In January, we made seven playdates with children from Evelyn's school. Six cancelled. All with good reasons, unfortunately.

The situation reminds me a little of a friend I had at BYU: Every guy she dated married his next girlfriend. Except, this time, it's backwards. Make plans with us, and something bad will happen to render you unable to fulfill them.

Between six cancelled playdates and six snowstorms, January 2011 was a bit of a downer at times. On the plus side, I spent our snow days well. I've trained Evelyn to feed Hyrum, and after almost 9 years in NYC, I finally joined zipcar yesterday. Things are looking up for February.