21st century parenting

so last night i caught up on some of my parenting magazine subscriptions [parents magazine is my faaavorite, but i mysteriously also receive a few other freebie-type ones too] and i'm still trying to decide if that was a mistake. sure, i compared notes on baby milestones and checked out some cool unneeded product placements, but i also went to bed feeling a little overwhelmed.

modern life is super great. i love the internet [though my blog-stalking consumption has definitely gone down since having a kid], i think it's awesome i don't have to spend all day washing clothes by hand, and indoor plumbing is fantastic. my grandparents are currently writing their autobiographies [i edit a few chapters at a time for them] -- and to think that at one point in their lifetime there was no such thing as four wheel drive or air conditioning or computers is a jarring realization. in fact, b and i just joined the technological world and got droids a few weeks ago. [i barely know how to use it, don't ask.]

mr. jack, showing his love for 21st century gadgets [and his sweet spiked hair]

BUT. with all this modern-ness comes a lot of other stuff. all the things i'm "supposed" to do as a mom makes my head hurt.

recycle!

avoid bad plastics!

buy organic and sustainably sourced food!

don't use harmful chemical cleaning supplies!

but make sure you kill all those germs anyway or your baby will get infected and die!

make sure your water is clean!

but don't drink it from plastic bottles!

use cloth diapers that require tons of water to clean OR use disposable diapers and add to the landfills!

find a good school so your kid can get ahead / get the educational support he needs!

don't microwave tupperware! actually don't microwave at all!

immunize your kids! actually, wait, DON'T immunize them!

turn them into little geniuses by letting them play educational games on your ipad, but not for too long or they'll become couch potatoes!

don't buy from china!

don't buy recalled products!

put him in a car seat till he's 10!

avoid artificial dyes!

no sugar cereals!

ughh. you get the idea. there's just SO much to think about, raising a kid in 2011. not to mention the nonstop natural disasters that keep happening all over the world which constantly unnerve me. add to all this the personal morals that b and i have decided to uphold and teach in our family, most of which are toootally unheard of in typical liberal american society, and let's just say i have my work cut out for me. i'm just really grateful that i have at least ONE anchor in my life, which in my case comes through my religious beliefs, that help me keep my head on straight and know what i need to focus on. now if you'll excuse me, i need to go compost my trash and install solar panels on my roof. [kidding, kidding.] [and if you do those things, more power to you.]

the fam

did a little secret photo shoot [more on that later] a few weeks ago with my ridiculously talented friend suzana. looove how the photos turned out and i love my little family.

don't worry, jack just likes to gouge molly's eyes out. poor girl.

weekend in rexburg

just got home from a super fun weekend visiting my sister & bro in law in idaho! we had so much fun. rexburg is a cute [& freezing] little town and i love being with my sis.

on saturday we ventured down to idaho falls to check out the bodies exhibit [which i realize has been touring the country for years, but i always live in the wrong state when it comes to town!]. it was soooo cool. no photos allowed inside but jack liked the skeleton out front:

the human body is seriously amazing. i loved getting an up close and personal view to so many organs and muscles and everything else. when i think about what MY body has done in just the past year -- grew a baby, gave birth to that baby, nursed that baby for 8 months & counting, ran 11+ miles in one swoop -- it is even more remarkable. miraculous, really. [and in case you were wondering, giving birth was probably the easiest accomplishment on that list.]

we also caught up on parks & rec, did some crafts [which i'm sure you'll be able to see on rachel's blog very soon], took naps, read books, played with toys. it was blissful. and the first real weekend i've taken off from work in months!

thanks for the visit, rachie! we miss you already.

just hanging out

here's an update on march.

march is busy because april is going to be even busier. april 16 is my half marathon and april 22 is b's graduation. lotssss of things need to happen before those get here though, and in the meantime i'm getting a little tired of running [and job hunting, for that matter]. i'm excited for the race, but all these long weekly runs are becoming tedious.

in case you were wondering, i ran 10 miles on saturday. TEN! wow. i am really not one of those people who can nonchalantly tell you that i did something monumental but act like it's no big deal...i am seriously amazed that I actually ran 10 miles and i want the world to know it. pretty big deal. [but not that big because this weekend i have to run 11.] special thanks to fall out boy & sugarland for pumping me up and power bar for feeding me at the end. i also stashed a vitamin water halfway along my course, drank some and left the bottle for a later pickup. such fun tricks you learn as a runner!

the weather has been SO nice lately and i am so excited for spring. as much as i dislike actual seasons, i will say that enduring winter makes you appreciate spring and summer a lot more. jack and i have been taking advantage of the sunshine with long walks, trips to the park and playing on the grass. and, last week, daddy took him up to visit the utes football team, who are currently enduring spring practice up at rice-eccles stadium. jack had fun...exhibit a:

the monkey is becoming quite an efficient army-crawler. he goes really fast if he's motivated by something like a plate of brownies (don't worry, he didn't get to taste them) but typically only scoots around a few feet at a time. and then he likes to take a break by posing like a swimsuit model, and it is SO cute. see exhibit b:

and exhibit c, just cause i love this little face:

hope your march is fun too!

fun with computers

we have two laptops. b has a nice new one he bought especially for MBA school; i inherited the old laptop he used through college. this was a great arrangement except for the fact that my laptop sucks.

it's not really the laptop's fault...it's like seven years old and has been used for a loooot of stuff over the years. now it's prone to random freezing and slower-than-molasses running speeds, which i just can NOT handle when i have a ton of work to do and a very limited naptime in which to do it. [i literally run to my computer as soon as i stick jack in his crib and don't get up, except for oreo replenishing, until i hear him wake up.]

i guess b got sick of me constantly texting / calling him to tell him how much i hated my computer, because one day he came home with a brilliant solution: a rented desktop! woot. byu rents computers for suuuper cheap to students, and holy crap is this a nice model. it's brand new with a giant monitor and lightning-fast response times. i have google chrome [complete with google desktop notifications, my fave] and more storage space than i know what to do with. plus a mouse and new bookmarks and windows 7.

at first i was kind of skeptical of the idea, but now i am HOOKED. i might never give this one back. it makes work [and my online social life] so much easier. for now, i'm using the rental, and when b graduates and gets a real job, i'll just inherit the newer laptop. or we'll just get rid of all of them and get a desktop :)

work has actually been a little slower this week and i'm loving it. it's been tricky finding a wahm balance, but i think i'm getting there. between work and crafts and outings and marathon training and household maintenance and church stuff and husband time and giving my almost-8-month-old my undivided attention, i've felt a little stretched...but with a smaller work load AND a new computer, things are definitely evening out.

anyway, as if that wasn't cool enough news from my technology world, check this out. tonight i was leaving a comment on my mom's cute blog [the midlife guru -- aimed at middle-aged women, but my twenty-something self kinda loves the posts anyway] and [dana this is for you] GUESS WHAT the word verification word was?!?

WELLS. yes, that's right. blogger knows my name and wanted to say hello. thanks, blogger! and thank you, technology, for solving all my problems.

firsts

what a big day around the wells household! this morning i ran 8 miles, the furthest i've EVER gone. ever. i felt pretty proud of myself until i realized i still have six more weeks of training and i still have to go a lot further than 8 miles. oh well. for today, i am proud of myself. and i can't stop stuffing my face because i am SO hungry.

anyway, b and i went and saw the adjustment bureau after my run. loved the movie! man, following movies like the social network and this one, i really feel like i need to join a book club (movie club?) to discuss all the themes and social commentary featured in recent films. anyone care to join?

but going to the movie was monumental because it meant we got a babysitter for the little monkey. a REAL babysitter! one who was not related to him and / or did not come over and "babysit" [aka watch tv] while he was asleep in his room! what a novel idea.

i've come to the conclusion recently that jack needs to learn i will go away and come back, and i need to learn that he will be okay while i am gone. it's weird to think that in order for him to grow and develop, i actually have to be AWAY from him for short stretches of time. i was a little paranoid the whole time we were gone today, imagining the most horrible worst-case-scenarios, but he was with an amazing friend who i completely trust and guess what? everything was fine! of course it was. geez lyndsey, chill out.

and in other firsts news, jack can feed himself little finger foods and it is the cuuuutest thing ever. i think it's so fascinating to watch his little hands at work and see him figure out how to do things.

those target-brand puffs are challenging little buggers but mr. jack has conquered them:

hope you're having a wonderful weekend of first-somethings too :)

jack meets snow

last week we had a freak snowstorm. b was out of town and i was pretty desperate for out-of-the-house activities for me & jacko, and i thought i'd introduce the kiddo to snow. he'd never been up close and personal with it despite living in utah, so we went outside to check it out.

at first he wasn't too sure.



then, like every other thing he touches, he tried to eat it:



then he decided he was done being cold [hmm, sounds like his mom]:



and THEN he tried to eat the camera.



annnd that was it.

i'll tell you one thing this kid DOES love, though -- and that is going for walks. he doesn't care how cold it is as long as he's outside and moving. he just sits in his stroller, kicking his feet and smiling the whole time. there's a really nice neighborhood of big, fancy homes across the street from our complex, and i love taking him for walks up and down their cul-de-sacs. doesn't hurt that i can daydream about getting out of our tiny apartment one day too ;)



i can't wait for spring when we get to go outside more!