1,000 Words

Follow us to rookses.com

2009-06-27T09:47:00.001-07:00

Natalie's news is moving to rookses.com. Bret has worked hard over the last few months to make our own site more user-friendly (namely more Andrea friendly) so I can upload photos as easily as on this site. I'll be posting some updates soon, and that's where we'll share photos and tidbits about New Baby when he/she decides to arrive (I've still got two weeks, in theory)...

In the meantime, my craft blog will remain the same: rookspaperscissors.blogspot.com. I'm overdue for a few updates on that site, too...

Hope to hear from you at rookses.com!

Our little artist, video and photos

2009-06-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Natalie has always taken an interest in pens and paper. I suppose it's no wonder considering her mommy's love for such implements... This week, I got one of my biggest parenting thrills to date when Natalie started drawing recognizable faces!

First, Daddy drew a person with a blank face and she drew in the eyes, nose, and mouth in places most people would acknowledge to be facelike. Yesterday, she drew the circles for the faces herself and proceeded to fill in the rest of the features. Some are more abstract than others, but as a parent, I couldn't be prouder!

How do they do it?

2009-06-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

The creative team at Pixar is nothing short of purely amazing, and I'm ever so thankful for their clever collective genius. I still have a semblance of my sanity thanks to Pixar movies' high rewatch value. I'm currently watching "Toy Story 2" for the, oh, 40th time in recent memory, and I still like this movie.

I've mostly gotten over my qualms about letting Natalie watch movies nearly to her heart's content, largely because we make it out of the house most mornings. Plus, I think I'll come to rely on Pixar and friends more than ever during New Baby's first few weeks/months on the outside, and I don't want to feel too guilty about it!

Back to Pixar and my gratitude... We've recently rented some non-Pixar flicks, and they're fine to enjoy for one, maybe two viewings. After subsequent playings, they become first inane then insufferable. I don't think I could stomach any more "Madagasgar" or much more "Robots." They're just not as clever, or their modicum of cleverness is overshadowed by lowbrow jokes, too-trendy music, and flat plots... Somehow, Pixar has managed to avoid those pitfalls and has consistently created films that can be enjoyed 50-plus times by a toddler and her mommy...

Getting bigger

2009-06-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

Five weeks till my due date, and I'm still getting bigger. This baby is quite active, at least compared to Natalie (yes, the comparisons begin before No. 2 is even born). Natalie was head down early on and content to stay that way. This one's all over the place, though roughly in the head-down position.

All kinds of fun

2009-06-06T18:10:00.001-07:00

Natalie showed up in the kitchen just in time to "help" make brownies one evening...

Not only have Natalie and Daddy been playing Boggle, they've been playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Natalie seemed to do best at going in circles.

Natalie got to "hold" baby Tilly Miller the other evening. She seems to be getting more fascinated with the new baby and excited about our own new little one, due in just a few weeks. I hope she stays this excited once the baby starts taking up Mommy and Daddy's time and attention!

Just like Mommy

2009-05-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

Natalie has become a charming little helper for me and Bret. She usually can handle small, specific tasks quite well, such as emptying the dishwasher (by handing me individual items), stirring things, throwing garbage away, etc.

She was a great help to Aunt Emily a couple of weeks ago when it came time to make salad...

And she helped me make banana bread the other day by mashing the bananas and holding the measuring spoons and cups as I poured ingredients into them.

At this rate, it won't be long before I'm her sous chef!

Today, I unpacked New Baby's bed -- a mini cosleeper. Before I'd finished setting it up, Natalie had collected her baby dolls and began changing their diapers in the new bed.

She also nursed one of her dolls in the storage compartment below the cosleeper, which I think Natalie thought was her new bed.

Don't worry, she will not be sleeping there on a regular basis!

New baby Tilly

2009-05-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to get to meet new baby Matilda Jane Miller just hours after she was born on Monday, May 18. Tilly is tiny and beautiful and beautifully healthy and whole -- I can't look at her or her loving family without getting tears in my eyes. She makes me excited to have our own new little baby in a matter of weeks ... and at the same time, Bret and I are extra blessed to watch carefully as the Millers learn the ropes of parenting a toddler and a newborn.

I cherished watching Natalie's reaction to a brand-new baby. She was enthralled by Tilly's smallness and enjoyed pointing out her tiny facial features and gently patting her head and feet.

Our babies and their babies

2009-05-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

The other day, Natalie and Hattie practiced some beautiful motherhood moves. I love watching them care for their baby dolls, and it's particularly cute when they wear them in their slings and carry them around the house.

In case you were wondering...

2009-05-14T09:24:00.001-07:00

I was just updating the new baby's wish list and thought I'd preempt any questions about a possible baby shower... Right now, I'm thinking I'll reserve any shower possibilities until after the new baby arrives, especially if we have a boy.

In the meantime, I'm keeping the family Amazon wish lists updated :)

One of the neatest gift ideas I've come across is a Dream Dinners gift card, which would be handy before the baby is born. One Dream Dinners session (for about $170) would allow me and Bret to assemble 12 dinners and keep them in our freezer for up to four months...

Otherwise, we're pretty set on big-ticket items needed before the baby's arrival. I was able to find a Peg Perego Primo Viaggio infant car seat for $40 (it's a $275+ car seat!),
and a new Arms Reach Mini Metro cosleeper for less than $100.

I came to the realization that we won't be able to get Natalie feeling completely secure in her own bed before her sibling arrives, so a cosleeper seems like the best option. New Baby can sleep next to mama in the cosleeper, while Natalie can continue sleeping in the middle of the family bed. Plus, I really want to make sure she will not feel excluded from the bed she's grown up in...

I nearly forgot to mention that I also bought a nice and spacious diaper bag for $10 -- it will function as training wheels, so to speak, while I'm figuring out how to pack the requisite stuff for two kids. Some of the other diaper bags I've had my eye on were as much as $80 (they're still on my wish list :) )...

Not red yet...

2009-05-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Natalie is anxiously awaiting the ripening of our tomatoes. She will walk out into the backyard, peer at the tiny green fruit, and say "not red yet." Bret's teaching her that the tomatoes shouldn't be picked until they turn red -- an important lesson because she has picked at least one little green tomato before its time...

Easter, etc.

2009-05-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

We Rookses have been enjoying some down time after a busy March and April. Here are a few snapshots of our growing family, starting with my growing belly (which is quite a bit bigger now, nearly a month after I took the photo).

We had a lovely Easter Sunday with our friendamily, the Millers. They came over for an early dinner after an Easter egg hunt in the back yard. Before the festivities, Natalie decorated some boiled eggs using washable markers and stickers. She had a great time, and the eggs were rather ... striking

Finally, some photos of the Fresno Zoo

2009-05-01T16:55:00.001-07:00

At the end of March, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Rooks in Fresno. We spent a lovely Saturday morning at the Fresno Zoo, a place Grandma has wanted to take Natalie ever since she was born!

Starting strong with the elephants -- it was a blissfully warm (not hot) day...

Natalie particularly loved the monkeys and their acrobatics and jibber jabbering.

I have to confess that I was a little surprised that Natalie actually touched some of the animals in the petting zoo.

Bret said that she had a good time with the animals until she saw one poop on the ground.

Our growing family...

Finally, an answer to the age-old question: Is Bret taller than a gorilla?

All tired out after three hours walking around the zoo... Other favorite animals for Natalie included the prairie dogs and the sea lions.

Me (and Baby No. 2), Bret and Natalie, Grandma, and Uncle Wyatt (aka Uncle Woot)

She Boggles our minds

2009-03-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

Natalie and Daddy have taken to playing their own version of Boggle, a word-search game (which Bret is incredibly good at -- I won't play that game with him anymore!). In their version, Natalie and Bret shake up the letter dice, and Natalie says a word that they're going to spell...

Bret tells her how to spell the word, and Natalie then finds the letters.

And Bret helps her put them in the right order. Typical words that Natalie likes to spell include: frog, food, and shoe.

Miscellaneous March cuteness

2009-03-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd been better about taking photos of Natalie throughout this month. I guess I got lazy with all the wonderful grandparents around taking photos of their own. Here are a few of the photos I did snap. There are also a couple of videos that will be coming soon...

In other Natalie news, she's been sleeping in her bed pretty regularly for naps and at night. Bret and I take turns reading to her until she's good and sleepy. She'll then either drift off on her own or want to nurse for a little bit. Once asleep at night, she's been staying in her bed for between two and eight hours (eight hours only occurred twice so far). She's still pretty upset when she wakes up in her own bed, so I bring her into bed with me and Bret...

Amid the wreckage

2009-03-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Natalie struck her bedroom a few days ago. No Fisher-Price toy was spared. Only a seasoned mommy/reporter could handle the sight of the wreckage -- there were people and animals everywhere...

Yet, amid the wreckage we found a bit of "normal" life. Natalie apparently set up this little tea party with great care.

Or maybe it's not a tea party at all but a FEMA on-site conference.

Meanwhile, in another part of the house, Fisher-Price flight 223 was boarding....

Natalie's fridge magnets are well-traveled little letters.

A blast from my past

2009-03-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

I think this pregnancy has prompted me to begin nesting a little earlier than customary (I've been told it's a third-trimester/last few weeks of pregnancy thing). Or it could be that I've always craved organization. Whatever the case, I've been in the throes of "micronesting." All the furniture has been moved in our house ("macronesting") so all that's left to do is go through closets, rearrange toys and clothes, get rid of unused craft stuff, and finally shred the two garbage bags of old receipts that have been up in the hobby room closet...

Here are the results of some recent micronesting in Natalie's room, including her newest toys, which are some of my oldest toys.

The desk, dresser, and nightstand in Natalie's room were also mine from childhood. They have served me well, and I'm sure Natalie (and sibling) will get lots of use out of them. (A retroactive thanks to my grandpa and dad for investing in beautiful solid-wood furniture and finishing it themselves...) (And no, that's not Natalie's laptop -- I still use the desk for bills and writing...)

Natalie loves her new dollhouse, which I remember loving when I was little. Notice the giant cupcake on the dining room table -- she brought that in from the other room to feed her little people!

I put new fabric on the beds because they were still covered with foam from the early 80s, which bore divots from my and my brother's little fingers. The stuff was discolored and probably toxic, so I took great pleasure in creating the new bedding.

I love that the green, blue, and orange in this dollhouse are back in style...

Natalie called this doll "grandma" without any prompting from me or Bret.

Miscellaneous cuteness, the beach, and a milestone

2009-03-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

First, the miscellaneous cuteness...

Natalie found a new way to "help" with the laundry. If it wasn't for the laundry in the dryer, I think the second photo could look like she was inside a space capsule or something!

Fun with Play Doh... Natalie's been waking up wanting to do arts and crafts this week.

And the beach...

(It looks like she's summoning Poseidon.)

Some more miscellaneous cuteness...

I had the pleasure to watch Evelyn and Jonathan a couple of mornings this week. They're moving Friday to Africa for a year and a half while their dad, Phil (who worked at the same firm Bret works for), engineers some projects there through EMI. Their mom, Emily, has been a lovely blessing in my life over the past several years. While I'm sad to lose the Greenes for this time, I am excited for all that God is doing in and through them...

And the milestone...

Natalie got her own bed today! Thank you, Jonathan (and Phil and Emily) for blessing us with this lovely bed! Natalie took part of her nap in it today. She woke up pretty upset and disoriented, but she has since like sitting in it and was excited to show Daddy her new "baby bed."

Hattie, we hope to see you soon!

2009-03-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

We miss Hattie Rose, but we're glad that she's having a good time with her grandparents in Sacramento. We hope she'll be home in the next couple of days, after her mommy comes home from the hospital (she's had a gnarly stomach flu and has been hospitalized for the past week).

Video: Natzilla vs. Sandcastles

2009-02-28T16:01:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Rooks visited and gave us a great reason to go to the beach and build sandcastles (like "Monkey George," as Natalie says). Here's a video showing that the only reason Natalie ventured off the blanket was to destroy Mommy's nearly finished sandcastle (note the mommy-daughter moment at around 00:37):

We had a wonderful time at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa, and I have lots of other great photos I'll upload soon...

Who does Natalie look like?

2009-02-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

I saw this on my sister's blog and couldn't resist. The results surprised me a bit (granted I accidentally cut off a little of Bret's chin, but I didn't feel like redoing the photo and re-uploading everything):

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Fun in the kitchen

2009-02-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

Grandma Julie and Grandpa George visited over Valentine's Day weekend, which meant lots of love and lots of fun. Grandma had the idea of making frosted sugar cookies, which was a perfect project for an overcast, chilly day.

I let Natalie help with every part of the process (well, every part that she was awake for), from making the dough (she got her own flour, water, and sugar to cook with), to frosting the cookies (she took her nap while Grandma rolled and cut the dough).

Needless to say, the results were yummy...

FAWMily time

2009-02-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

For the fourth February, Bret and Ryan are rekindling their creative collaboration, Halfpenny Orchestra, and participating in FAWM (February Album Writing Month, fawm.org).

Natalie and I, along with Hattie and Sarah (Ryan's family) are very proud of the daddies, and we all are supporting their efforts as much as possible.

So far this February, in their pursuit of 14 songs in 28 days, Halfpenny Orchestra (pronounced "Hay-penny") has written and recorded three songs. You can hear them here.

Three cheers for the daddies!!!

Endless adventures

2009-02-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

I don't doubt that Hattie and Natalie will soon actually read to each other...

Helping hands

2009-01-31T08:46:00.000-08:00

Natalie proved to be a good helper on Friday afternoon. The weather was lovely, and I was inspired to sand and paint the little drawer unit we'd purchased to go with her play kitchen.

Natalie paid attention to every detail and did everything just like Mommy -- she wanted her own gloves, sandpaper, and paint brush. She sat on my improvised stool with me, and got a good amount of paint on the wood (where it was supposed to go). Now we have a cheery little kitchen station for Natalie!

By the way, the little drawer unit came from Michaels ($20 regular price, and we had a 50-percent-off coupon to boot!).