The view from my window

I really love this view for some reason. Ever since Paris I have a thing for rooftops. If I could paint, I'd paint this view, complete with window frame and TV antenna.

Yes, we do go outside sometimes. Here's proof.

Today the ward moms' group went for a walk in Memory Grove. The weather was perfect, and the company was lovely. Atty slept through half of it but seemed to enjoy it when he was awake.

He really likes being outside, and I like the exercise. I just don't normally take the camera with me. Now that the weather is nicer, I plan to go for walks at least a few times a week, if not every day. He loves to look at the trees and watch the world around him. Sometimes when he's fussy he'll calm down if I just take him out on the balcony. He's a boy after my own heart.

More Atty Photos

Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

He's discovered his feet.

This is the playmat I made him. He's not sure what to do with it yet.

If you look closely, you can see his one long hair sticking straight up from his head. This long hair gives us hope that he won't be bald forever.

I Heart Costco

Two weeks' worth of formula for $19.50!! The pediatrician finally gave us the go-ahead to stop feeding him the "super preemie-grow" formula (Similac Neo Sure) that cost $15.99 a can, each of which lasted about 2 1/2 days. So yeah, we love Costco formula.

We've also started feeding him cereal. Here's a video of his first taste of oatmeal. He wasn't impressed.

We've since discovered that he likes barley cereal mixed thin enough to drink from a bottle. He chugs that stuff down really fast and gets mad if you try to stop him halfway to burp. So we'll try the spoon method again later and see if he catches on.

Atty-rific

Sorry for the drought of Atty-ness. I hope this makes up for it. Here he is in my favorite outfit. The shirt is the first one I fell in love with at FOOEY. It's a robin on a branch with three blue eggs in her nest. If you judge by the amount of drool around his neck, Atty seemed to like it too. He's taken a liking to sucking on his fingers. He hasn't chosen a favorite yet, sometimes going for the thumb, sometimes for various combinations of the fingers, sometimes right hand, sometimes left. Mostly left. :)

And he's absolutely adorable when he sleeps. I love his little crossed legs and his soft rosy hands.

I know it's blurry, but I just love this picture. We put his pants on his head, to quite a stunning "Pharaoh" effect. He raises his blurry fist in defiance. He didn't like it as much as we did, so by the time I fixed the flash setting James had taken off the hat.
In these next two pics he's chillin' with James. We see this face a lot. It's like he's trying to figure out how the heck he got himself mixed up with us. And oh, that rosy peachy skin! He has my coloring, so I feel a little funny going off about how beautiful it is, but I just can't get enough of it. It looks better on him anyhow.


And finally, a video of him laughing. Daddy is so funny...

A bit of political commentary

I try to avoid talking about divisive issues here, especially politics. I know that as a Democrat I'm a minority in Utah, and even among my family and friends. And this election has been particularly charged with emotion. But this article described exactly my frustration with the political process. The author points his finger squarely at conservatives, but all candidates and parties share the same problem. Romney just happens to have made the most recent ridiculous statement. Here's a rundown:

In his speech at the Republican convention, Romney said:

''We need change, all right. Change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington. We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington - throw out the big-government liberals.'' - Mitt Romney, Sept. 3, 2008

And after a bit of ranting, the author states:

Washington is already what Romney wants to make it. Our current state of affairs, love it or loathe it, is indisputably a product of conservative governance. . . . That it doesn't matter much at all you can credit to conservative politicians who have, over the years, trained their followers to respond with Pavlovian faithfulness to certain terms. Say ''conservative'' and they wag their tails. Say ''liberal'' and they bare their fangs. More to the point, say either and all thinking ceases, so much so that a representative of the ideology that has controlled most of Washington most of the last 12 years can say with a straight face that his ideology needs to seize control of Washington to fix what is broken there. And people hear this Orwellian doublespeak . . . and cheer. . . . Turns out, all it requires is a limitless supply of gall and the inherent belief that people are dumber than a bag of hammers.

Like Taylor (not a Democrat), it drives me crazy that elections are more about buzzwords and personality than the issues that really matter. Words like "conservative" and "liberal" and "choice" and "change" are so weighted with politics that they've become abstract ideas that conjure up images so distorted from the reality of everyday life that they've almost lost their meaning entirely.

And this is how we choose our next president. San Dimas County High School Football rules!

A bit of hope

Do you ever wonder if there's anything GOOD going on in the world? If, even with all the bad news going on all around us, people still take care of each other? Read this. The situation is heartbreaking, but hopeful and joyful at the same time. And the fact that the story of a Mormon family living in Mesa would make the New York Times is in itself inspiring.

I've been following this story since it happened. I read the blog of this woman's sister, who I'd like to think would be a good friend if we happened to actually know each other. What's most inspiring, though, is the reach these women have and how many people they've inspired and touched. It makes me want to be a better person.

Concert goers

Tonight we went to see the immortal Al Green at the Red Butte Garden amphitheater. It got a little too loud for Atty, so we had to leave early, but what we saw was amazing.
Al comes out with two very tall men in white suits who do nothing but dance, and he's carrying a bunch of roses. He hands out the roses to women in the audience, and random white women who've had too much chablis kept jumping on stage to give him hugs and get roses. Once he ran out of roses security got much better at keeping the women off stage. His latest album is definitely a must-have. Or just download my favorite, "Lay It Down."

Oh but the best part was that we got the tickets for free from SLUG, and we didn't know until we got there that they were VIP tickets. So we show up with our blankets and Subway sandwiches, and we get to sit in the section with comfy chairs and a free buffet of curried Israeli couscous, stuffed tomatoes, and all the free wine you can drink (I'll have that bottle of water, thank you). It was pretty posh.

And last week we took Atty to see the magnificent Neko Case. I absolutely love her. When we saw her last year in Park City we scored a place right up front, so we stared up her nose all night. This time it was a free concert at the Gallivan Center, so we were much farther back and surrounded by people who were there for the free show and not so much for Neko. But it was still fantastic. No one belts it out like she does.

For that concert we gave Atty earplugs, and he slept through most of it. I wonder if he would have slept better tonight if we'd remembered the earplugs. Oh well, maybe next time.