Three months of Cruz

I'm three months old. What have I been up to during my short time on earth? The usual...

Immunizations.

Watching TV with my brother. I wish I could have some chocolate milk.

Doing Yoga.

Riding bikes. I know, I should really be wearing a helmet.

Watching Basketball.

They keep dressing me up in this same outfit when people come over.

Here I am happy that the Lakers are winning.

Here I am cheering.


Getting rolled. This happens at least twice a day.

This is what I look like most of the time.

Sometimes like this.

But mostly like this. I don't like people to know what I'm thinking.

First Hair Cut

{May 10, 2010}

*In case anyone wanted to comment on how good I look here - that's actually his Aunt Sara. Haircut by Heidi.

Avery G. Westbrook is a Graduation Girl

Schools out.

Love these ladies.

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Avery looking very proud of herself.

A boy that likes Avery.

The boy Avery likes (blue shirt).

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The fam, minus Ben plus Exzavion.

The cake.

Avery's favorite book.

Bonus footage: The graduation song (I love the words! In public school even!)

6-4 3-6 6-7 7-6 ...

70-68?! American John Isner defeats (or exhausts) Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

Now that's a tennis match worth remembering. Too bad all the sports channels on TV were broadcasting early round world cup soccer. Nothing like watching reading a monumental/historical/record smashing sports event via live blog.

Since Wimbledon doesn't participate in the 5th set tiebreak rule the game exceeded 11 hrs over three days. Too bad Isner is probably too wiped to do well in his upcoming matches but go USA tennis (and soccer).

Congratulations L.A. Lakers

Some people are stoked you won. Others are just celebrating the end of basketball season.

Dear Washington -

I want to like living here, I really do. But when it's mid-June and every day on the 10-day forecast mentions clouds or showers, it's kinda hard. You are robbing me of multiple opportunities. Namely the chance for my garden to flourish and for me to get my kids out of the house for hours on end. I do not appreciate this.

I know the sun comes up before 5am because it gets light, but I can't see it or feel it's warmth for your clouds are getting in the way. I don't even care if that sun comes through the window and blinds me in the morning that early. Seriously, BRING IT ON. My mom says "well California has June gloom" and I think, oh, just rub it in. 'Cause we have November, December, January, February, March, April, May AND June gloom. I am wearing a jacket inside and it's JUNE! I'm already mad that I had to turn my heater on in May.

Maybe you're just giving me a chance to get back in shape cause you saw me at the pool Saturday and decided that I am not ready for swimsuit season. But I will be the judge of that. And by the way one sunny day every 3 weeks or so does not win you any points. It just confuses people.

I'm so upset that I can't even catch up on my blogging that I want to do. My kids are doing the most DARLING things and no one is going to know about it because of you. Sometimes my baby cries for what seems like no reason, but I know it's just because he is sad about the weather. I also blame you for the argument Ben and I had last night. He can't help it if all of those clouds are making him inconsiderate. It's probably even your fault that the Lakers couldn't close it out in four (which also ruins my life by extending basketball season). Anyway, just so you know - when you do decide to let us have those 17 hour of sunshine days - I won't be forgiving you. Not this time.

Oh, and P.S. - I heard Mt. Rainer is really pissed off at you too. If it's even still there.

Recap since last time I recapped recap.

Recap. Recap. The word sounds kinda funny when you say it a bunch of times. Is is short for something? Another word that I've been thinking about lately - ruthless. Where does that come from and can you be ruthful? Is it Biblical? I'm sure I could find these things out via google but I'd rather use my short time in front of the computer to recap.

{I couldn't help looking. Recap is short for recapitulation, or to put a cap on something. I also saw where it was surmised to mean recapture. All of which makes sense. Ruthless comes from the 12 century word reuthe which means pity, compassion. Never heard of it but maybe I'll start using it.}

Let the recapitulation begin! (now that sounds really dumb)

Ben - All work and no play makes Ben a dull boy. Not much new to report at this time. Although he did manage to turn 31 (and take us on a last minute road trip, and build a firepit and install a hammock). Here he is:

Miles - I think last time I mentioned Miles I was lauding him for being so independent. Well scratch that, reverse it, he has become quite clingy and doesn't want to be left anywhere in the house alone. I thought maybe it was a new baby thing but I think it's a nightmare thing. He said he saw a scary guy in the house and then described him to me. Now I won't go anywhere in the house alone. He has also started "playing" t-ball. "Playing" because they are mostly just learning the rules and playing wiffle ball indoors, it's not a competitive thing.

Avery - The highlight of Avery's last few months is probably her new haircut. She asked specifically for the "Grandma Leah".

She also took her first swimming lesson and is actually quite the backstroker.

Cruz - Eat, sleep, poop. And do it all again. He's great. He's also let us know that he is done with tummy time and he'll roll over any which way to get out of it.

Me - My dry-erase calendar read March until just last week so you can see how on top of things I am. I'm just happy to get Avery to the bus on time, Miles dressed everyday and get dinner on the table most nights. The rest of the time I spend staring at Cruz as he grows before my eyes. I also sweep three times a day and do lots of laundry. So I guess I do stuff, just nothing super interesting. I did manage to get my garden planted with seeds (my original seedlings died while we drove to Utah), now if we could only get some sun in this place things might grow. And eventually I will get pictures of our trip organized so I can post some of our more fun activities. Because we have had a lot of fun. I'm just irritable because I haven't seen legitimate sunshine for a great while. It's June for heavens sake. We should at least have had spring by now. The blooming rhodies and azaleas are spectacular though. If you like that sort of thing.

*If you don't get why I am complaining about our weather check out our recent forecast here. It's not looking much better for the week ahead. 55 and raining is to WA what 80 and sunny was to Hawai'i.

Baby Carrier

I forgot about something that deserves it's place in Cruz's life history. When he was about 4 days old and I wasn't used to having a baby around I left him unattended with his siblings (he was asleep on the couch, they were watching tv). When I came back downstairs they were putting him - or had put him rather - in a tote bag because they wanted to carry him upstairs to their room. I was appalled and told them as much but when I carried him (still in the bag) to show Ben what his children had done I actually thought it made quite a good newborn satchel. Cruz slept through the whole thing.

Dramatic reenactment below:

Firepit/Hammock

Ben built a firepit while on paternity leave. He also purchased and installed a hammock. It's looking more and more like Neverland Ranch everyday.

Now if the rain would only go away.

Recently in the news there was some debate over the wording on the diplomas* at my (or our for some of you reading) alma mater which caused me to actually read what mine said. While doing so I discovered that it has been a decade since I graduated from college. I guess I should have realized at our 10 yr high school reunion that this milestone wouldn't be too far behind but it snuck up on me nevertheless. So what better time for me to get out the scrapbooks and photo albums and relive those college days. Excuse the quality of the pictures - this was before the time of digital cameras. And widespread use of cell phones - having one actually would have saved me a lot of money in phone bills. Here's my awesome i.d card picture to start.

College 10-14 years ago wasn't just about i.d cards with your social security number on them (we must have lived in a different world back then ;)). It was about getting your first email address (and a few months later being able to write a web page in HTML).

It was about room/suitemates (Jenisteen, Kimi, Naseem and later Mary-Alice) from different backgrounds (but all from Texas), different religions (Zoroastrian, Baha'i, non-denominational, non religious) with different majors (communications, business, engineering, anthropology) and different interests (athletics, newspaper, sororities) who may have never found each other were it not from random roommate selection and mandatory campus living (with maid service!). I couldn't have ended up with better ones had I picked them myself.

With these girls I did lots of fun/dumb things - like going to a party dressed in bubble wrap, saran wrap and tinsel and jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

College was about studying abroad and meeting new friends there. I went to Australia because they spoke English there and studied Chinese. Which landed me an internship that sent me to China (once while in college and many many times after).

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It was also about finding out that you are not as good as soccer as the rest of the team.

And taking up lacrosse instead.

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Of course there was lots of swimming (also not as good as the rest of the team but good enough to be on it) and more good friends.

Which led to triathlons - and since I have a case of the it's-my-blog-and-I'll-post-what-I-want-to/I-only-have-one-hard-copy-of-this-picture-and-if-I-lose-it-I'll-be-really-upset/I-can't-believe-I-ever-had-abs-like-that-no-wonder-I-am-smiling/put-down-the-BBQ-potato-chips-please I am posting this picture to remind myself that everyone looks better with a tan (it is the opposite of fat remember?)

It was also about studying. Less for me than my engineering roomies though.

Is it sad that I still have (and wear) that sweatshirt and those slippers?

Ten years ago? Wow. Really? I guess this is where I thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to learn so much (and my mom for making me go out-of-state)(and Coach Ryan for a fateful early morning phone call - he didn't care much for time zones or he thought all swimmers are up by 6 am). It was an amazing four years of which I am still reaping the benefits.

*So about that diploma thing - Someone apparently wanted Trinity to remove the phrase "in the year of our Lord" so they started a petition (which they are entitled to do) and it got some press. Honestly I had never even read it before and doubt most people have even noticed that verbage on their diplomas (now that I am looking two of ours say that and two don't). Not to mention that the people who are bringing it up decided to go to a school named "Trinity" University. Not that it currently has religious affiliation, it doesn't, but still. So anyway, the university respectfully denied their request and I particularly like what the current president said:

"Democracy is not letting a small number of people have their way. Democracy is listening to the different voices and making an informed decision."