putting bryson to work!

well bryson finally got a job! i mean we have been telling that kid that he needs to get off his lazy butt and get to work ever since he could walk and that sloth of a child can not seem to find anything...but we got a call last week that Hot Topic wanted him for a photo shoot and booked him straight from his card which meant mommy didnt even have to endure an audition (yeah!) i just had to show them his work permit...seriously...and off he went to model about 15 shirts for their online catalog - click here to view the model himself!

he did a great job - i lost a little sleep the night before realizing that although i am quite a bit bigger than him - an almost 3 year old's will is VERY strong...i mean bryson is not what you would call an easygoing child and just recently started caring VERY much about what clothes he likes and does not like - rashelle and linsey have witnessed a little bit of this with his mickey pirate shirt - thank you Mrs. Espley - which he wanted to wear for at least a week. any way - taking on and off 12 shirts - some of them he liked VERY much and other he DID NOT want to wear AT ALL...despite my fears and despite his will - he actually got the job done super fast and i think the photographer was pleased for the most part with his energy and quickness. we have been working on his blue steel pose for next time...at least they got one of the thumbs up pics - that pose took some time, but the hard work paid off!

funeral announcement

The funeral service for Devon Markert will take place at:

Green Hills Memorial Park
27501 South Western Avenue
Rancho Palos Verdes, Ca 90275

http://www.greenhillsmemorial.com/

Monday, September 29 2008 @ 3:00pm

Please join us in celebrating Devon's life!

You can also post letters and memories and condolences at http://www.devonmarkert.blogspot.com/

in very loving memory...

yesterday the world became a little smaller because we lost someone who helped to make it a little better. Devon Markert passed away last night at Kaiser Hospital in Los Angeles. As many of you know she has been battling brain cancer since March of 2007. She went to the hospital after a fall and a series of headaches last week and an MRI showed the tumors on her cerebellum taking up all of the brain cavity space, as well as blood on the brain. They performed an emergency surgery to relieve the pressure by cutting back the tumor and draining the blood, but knew that it wouldn't help save her life for much longer, but long enough for family and friends to say their goodbyes. They also found several other tumors starting to grow around her brain stem, which was an entirely separate place than her previous tumors on her cerebellum. We got to say goodbye to Devon yesterday, she was in a comotose state, but we think maybe she heard us and maybe it helped her to let go and be at peace and out of the pain and suffering she has undergone in the last year and a half. She is desparately missed and the pain and anger from losing someone so young and full of life and love is beyond comprehension. I will post more information about the funeral when we know more. Please lift up prayers for her family and husband.

water for elephants

i just finished the book, Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. i hadn't read it on a recommendation - i had just heard about the book from a fellow book-clubber who mentioned it as a potential next book. the club poo-pooed it because from the description it sounded like there would be cruelty to animals and apparantly some could not stomach that...but i surely could, so i put it on my wishlist at paperbackswap.com and it became available shortly afterward. anyway i was intrigued about the circus life so i was intrigued to read it - i have a friend from high school who was in Ringling Brothers for a couple seasons and i have been watching all of TLC's freak show specials...anyway...i dont feel like the book succeeded in being the sensual novel it could have been. i couldn't help but shake the sense the author was in over her head - i also didnt think she pulled off the main character very well either. i kept looking at reviews online and saying "are you kidding me?" it was a New York Times Bestseller, but the skill of writing i felt was more of an airport book/grocery store shelf. is that mean? i was entertained...its not like i wasn't, but the ending was predictable and slightly cheating. i guess i was expecting a circus novel to be more circus-like - over-the-top and her prose was rather boring and cliche to be honest. i hate to be a hater, but i think given the subject matter it could have been way more exciting. i think you can guess that i don't recommend it, but now i need a good circus book to make up for this one...anyone?

Seattle Coffee Chili

an overcast morning got me thinking chili thoughts...i remembered the cookbook finally to bring to the store - there is always random things in each recipe that you wouldn't necessarily have in your cupboard...masa harina or dried pasilla chilis or the other random things that each recipe seems to call for...i chose the washington state seattle chili because i already had the meat and needed to use it, plus the coffee in the chili intrigued me. it turned out better than i expected, although i must say it doesn't seem like chili to me without any beans...sorry...i don't know if my mind will change much there...but it was pretty spicy also - the recipe calls for 12 dried pasilla chilis stemmed and seeded also chili powder, chicken, coffee, garlic and onion, chicken broth and a little shuga. i served it over rice because i wanted to take some kick out of it - i also made a strawberry spinach salad to add some sweet to all that spice. i also did the jalapeno cornbread recipe in the back of the book...it turned out awesome! it was my first time making cornbread from scratch - so easy - i think i can't do it out of the box anymore...although now i have enough cornbread to feed like 10 people...anyone hungry?

hey guess what i did today...

i purchased a new potty - a top loader if you will because the whole side loader was getting a little hard to clean...plus it just had too may parts. i wanted a simpler model. the thing came with stickers that i absent-mindedly placed to the side. bryson became fascinated with the aforementioned stickers and good thing bryan had the common sense to tell him you get 1 if you pee-pee and 2 if you poo-poo in the potty. he immediately dropped trou and dropped a deuce. if i only knew stickers would get him motivated...candy didn't do it...dad even promised the kid a bike for poop's sake. anyway there happened to be an audience - my mom and sister were there to cheer him on and he was super proud of himself all day. in fact at dinner that night while with my mom (his mor-mor) there were some random girls in front and he said to them, "guess what I did? i went poo-poo in my potty today!" apparently they cheered him on as well...perhaps this is a big step in potty training i thought...then bryan tells me after we left that afternoon he pooped again in his diaper...no poop again in the potty to speak of either...oh well - i am giving him till he is 5 to use the potty - i think it is a pre-requisite for kindergarten...then again...there is always homeschooling!

jesus and swords

today bryson asked if he could bring his (han solo) gun to school. i told him that his school was at a church and that Jesus didn't like guns. "oh" he said, "does Jesus like swords?" - "no" i said, "jesus doesn't like swords either - Jesus likes to give hugs and kisses". "oh" was his reply and then, "i am going to kick and shoot all the robots!! KICK THE ROBOTS!!"

i am so glad we had this discussion on jesus - i really think it sunk in with him...

this room is starting to bug...

we wanted to re-do bryson's room/guest room as both kid-friendly and guest friendly. after tearing down the wallpaper, which also matched the curtains, which also matched the bedspread...we painted the walls my favorite color - they are different shades, but that doesn't show up too well in pictures...

this room has been my procrastinating nightmare. i have so many projects still unfinsihed, but tend to complete them piecemeal on weekends like these where i had some free time. it took me 2 weeks to do the curtains and then another month for the pillows and things are slowly getting done, although i am not sure if i will ever get to painting the dresser now that the paints are who knows where. i planned on covering bryson's chair (formerly a thomas the engine chair from devon and ruthie that has seen better days) but my first attempt happened around 12:00 a.m. one late night and after spending an hour trying to piece and sew it together it was a disaster. i still think it turned out awfully sloppy, but after 3 attempts to fix it - i am living with it and bryson LOVES it so that is what matters right?

a funny thing happened today...

i had an appointment with Sue the midwife today and she had just gotten finished telling me about how she delivered her first twins on monday and she briefly mentioned that it was her 25 week appointment that they discovered she had twins because she measured off by several centimeters. so...then she measures me and i measure at 30cm - i should be only measuring 25...she did it again...and again...and then made me lie on the floor so she could do it again...each time i was off. she brought out her doppler and couldnt decipher if she was picking up on 2 heartbeats or not...so we scheduled an ultrasound - for 2 hours later! we weren't planning on getting an ultrasound or finding out the sex, but come on when a little dingleberry is hanging out right in front of you...it's obviously a BOY!! but just one...just one beautiful darling baby in there!

a word on sleep

so...i have been going through some of bryson's baby stuff to see what we can re-use and i came across about a zillion books on sleeping...what a joke...try to get your baby to sleep...i am seriously laughing at myself right now because bryson is almost 3 and still wakes through the night - not every night, but last night was twice and he has woken every night for the past couple weeks. now it is about him being scared of pterodactyls and pirates and not about being hungry, but still. don't ask me any advise about sleep...i am beginning to believe that some kids are good sleepers and other kids, like mine, take after their father's father and can survive on 4 hours of sleep a night and still have enough energy to bypass naps and run non-stop. at least throughout this nightly struggle i have become more adept at falling back asleep fast - at not being angry for being wakened (which took a long time to break that life-long habit!) - for trying as hard as i can to appreciate the beauty and quietness of 4:00 a.m.

in santa barbara this last week we were able to perfectly capture bryson's reluctance to sleep. This video of Bryson fighting sleep is how he has done since he was born - not wanting to miss even one second of the party. i hope you enjoy it as much as i do...

bryson's new friends

last time i was pregnant i knew only three others in my same condition - a cousin who lives in washington and an old high school friend who lived in san diego and a college friend who now has two adorable babies, one of which holds a special place in bryson's heart (see him and violet on the hill). i saw my friend only once but other than that i felt like an island...both metaphorically and literally toward the end. this time around - 3 years later - i feel like i am part of a community of women all breeding for some reason. it is so nice to be surrounded by other families starting and growing families. it truly takes a village and i truly appreciate all the support and advice and great gifts i have received from other moms. i am amazed at how innovative and wise some moms have become. i have also enjoyed watching so many women experience the joy of motherhood and that transition - which can be both scary and thrilling, and can turn so many women utterly soft and strong at the same time. i just wanted to share some of bryson's friends born of our westmont friends - the top pictures are of violet and cohen, whose parents are Vanessa Zarate-Lacky and Doug Lacky. The next picture down of the sweet baby girl is Signy Grace Hansen, daughter of Andy and Monica Hansen and the darling baby boy with the beautiful eyes is Declan Oliver Hurley, son of Solera and Jeff Hurley. They put something in the water at Westmont so that you have gorgeous babies i think...

museum schmeum

we came back yesterday from a wonderful vacay in santa barbara - thanks to my dad and julie for letting us crash their condo that they rented! we packed our time with the museum and the zoo and the beach and bike rides and walks and parks and time with friends. we miss santa barbara so much and had fun exploring the beautiful city with Bryson. i had heard about the museum of natural history, but hadn't gone, so i thought bryson might dig the dinosaur exhibit - well - he was not so much into the museum...while talking to my mom at the museum she asked what he saw, to which he replied, "we saw animals...they didn't move" - so that was his take on it anyway. he did love the bug exhibit, which he is very much into these days - obsessed is probably a more correct term. we can't walk to the park (which is usually a 5 minute walk) without spending 20 minutes finding all the ants and roly poly's and bugs. here is a pic of him by the bug exhibit and also his other favorite part of the museum - the nature trail - he went running on ahead of us and we stopped him at one point and read the sign...that is when we taught him the all important thumbs up sign...enjoy!