he's comforted because he feels like he's being held by himself

It's official -- The baby pictures of Brian were brought out on Friday, and, oh my, nephew Rhett does indeed look very, very much like him as a newborn! It will be interesting to see if the likeness permeates time. And the title of this post is what Brian joked yesterday while holding him.

04.06.09 Rhett Hayden

Here's the little sweetie not yet 24 hours old. Look at how polite he is already with his hands folded and everything. A. Dor. Able.


















And here he is again on his second day out in the big wide world.

I was so excited to meet this little guy. He ended up being born at 2:15 Monday morning. I couldn't wait until after work for our first meeting, so I went on my lunch break and got to hold him before he was even 12 hours old. So cute! Definitely the youngest child I have ever held. I was smitten immediately. Apparently he looks a lot like Brian did as a babe (even though he is our nephew...just to clarify).

weekend

Friday, we had Dave and Shelley over for supper. It was also the first planned breaking-in of our dining room set. Good times, good food. I was kind of shocked to realize this is the first time we've had them over for a meal; I guess we just always go out when we get together for supper. Afterward, we watched the KU/Michigan State game that had a disappointing ending for our crowd. I also got to feel the baby move, which was a first for me! It's still about two weeks before the official due date, but I think it's kind of an "any time now" kind of thing. So exciting!

Saturday, I woke up to a lot of snow. I had been skeptical that we would get much, but there was quite a bit. I woke up at 8 and we had power then, but by the time I got out of bed, the power was off. And I started to get cold quickly. I bundled up and read in the living room. I was not much looking forward to spending the day freezing and not being able to open the refrigerator. Around 11am, maybe, it was back, and it felt so good. The rest of the day was spent watching The Office, reading, and working on taxes, which was an amazing head start for the likes of us.

On Sunday I skipped church and read for Stats instead. After Brian got home from church, we warmed up lunch, and then I went to the Wellness Center. Snow was melting quickly! In the evening we went to Brian's parents' for an amazing buffet of Mexican food and viewing of the movie Wall•E.

Ok, not the weekend, but yesterday I was pretty much dreading having to go back to class again, but at least I got to start it on a high note -- I got very good news on my Stats midterm! I was also able to very quickly finish my book club book and go to book club in the evening, which is always wonderful. The book is now highly recommended by me: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Read it.

spring break: ern gone wild

This week is awesome. I love being on spring break. It means that after getting home from work at 5pm, I feel free to cook supper, go out with friends, read, watch dvds! Seriously, I am going nuts! Woo! I am not at all ready to return to the world that includes Stats and Yearbook.

This past weekend we went to Wichita for fun for the first time since January, I think. We met Reid and Grayce for the Passage to India buffet, went shopping for some stuff for Brian, spent some time with Reid, Grayce, and Madeleine at their house, did more shopping, went out for supper, and tried to do some more shopping. I did very well with my personal spending and only bought two books. We finally got the coupon from the government for converter boxes have been in desperate search of them ever since (NCAA basketball tournament time, folks! I like how it was this and not, say, tornado season that really got us going.). Every place -- and we've checked seven -- is either completely out and back ordered or they only have off-brand ones, and, I don't know, we just generally buy name-brand electronics. So the search continues.

Sunday after church, we were able to spend a leisurely time at my parents' house for lunch and the KU game, did some house cleaning, spent some time at Brian's parents' house for supper and visiting, and then watched Buffy with Ruth and Jesse. Just a nice, relaxing day.

In conclusion, I could not love spring break more. Unless I also did not have to work. And maybe if I went on some fun trip. But I am incredibly happy and thankful for what I do have, and really do not wish for much more at all.

two funny things from church supper

We were sitting with all retirement-aged people. First, this joke told by a 70-something medical doctor got uproarious laughter: An obstetrician decided he wanted to become a mechanic, so he took a class toward this end. When he got the results of a test requiring them to work on a car, he was surprised to see a score of 150%. Thinking this must be wrong, he called the instructor and asked him about it. The instructor said, "Well, I gave you 50% for taking apart the car well, 50% for putting it back together well, and 50% for doing the whole thing through the muffler!"

Second, people bring different desserts to go along with the main meal, so you might have chosen something different from your neighbor. One man at our table was eating peach cobbler. A woman began eating her sour cream / raisin bar, and said, "Mmm, this is sooo good!" Peach cobbler man said, a little bit under his breath, "Wanna trade?" The woman said, "Nope -- you're stuck with my peaches!" (i.e., she is the one who had brought the peach cobbler the man was trying to trade away) Oops.

shower in honor of my nephew

On Saturday I co-hosted a baby shower for my sister-in-law with Brian's aunt Mary. I loved, loved being able to work on some creative things and get into the kitchen (I've really been missing cooking since Stats took over my life). It was especially good after a week of hardcore studying for my Stats test, the in-class part of which I spent 2.5 hours on on Friday, and the take-home part of which I have so far spent 6 hours on. I am almost done. Anyway, the shower! I also loved shopping for baby items and seeing all the baby gifts. I've always loved baby stuff, and it's pretty sweet to have a reason to buy it now. First, games. What is a shower without some games? We did the "Price is Right" (guess how much this baby item costs), "Guess this baby food" (by smell), and "Unscramble these baby-related words" (I think that is self-explanatory). I got to work on the sheets for the last two games and had a lot of fun doing so. I used my mad PhotoShop and Quark skills to personalize them to match Shelley and Dave's Jungle Babies theme in their nursery. See here the word scramble and the guessing sheets stacked on top:





























Here is how I decorated the baby food jars:
















Of course, food is extremely important for showers (my favorite part, usually). One of my contributions was this cake I based off of the monkey from their nursery theme. It was great fun to work on, and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.












Here is a pretty crappy picture of the full food spread. I mean, I don't really think it's necessary to spend the time stitching it together and adjusting for perspective, and I'm pretty sure I don't even know how to do that, though I would like to learn someday. But not for a picture of a food spread. It was also Shelley's birthday on Saturday! I cannot take credit for her birthday cake; I ordered it from the same woman who made our wedding cakes, and I think how she chose to decorate it is so cute.














A couple of the precious great-aunts (how cute are they?!):



















And here I am with the guest of honor and Brian's aunt Mary:






















I was convinced my pants are a straight brown, but put with this sweater, they seem to have green in them, and I am not liking these two articles of clothing together. Never again (maybe)!

something that kept me up last night

I think this probably started off as a dream, but at some point I woke up (perhaps only partway) and was very concerned about all of this: Not only was I taking Stats at 4pm, but I was also taking chemistry from someone I don't know at 10am, calculus from Lisa at noon, and a history class from Mark Jantzen at three. What was I thinking? This particular Monday was coming off of an incredibly busy weekend in which I had apparently gotten nothing done for my classes except for Stats. Then, for whatever reason, Monday morning I had to be in some sort of meeting with Monty Graber. When it was over, I discovered it was 3:30! I had managed to miss almost all of my classes and not completed my calculus homework or my history paper during the day like I was planning to. I was kind of freaking out. Like I mentioned, somewhere along the way, I kind of woke up, and this was keeping me awake. I tried to reason with myself that I was only taking Stats, that I'd never missed a class, and that I'm not at all behind in work, but it was still preventing me from sleep. Oh my.