Ah the snows of Spring!

Good old Rexburg, ever the practical joker. Who else would tell us its Spring and celebrate with more snow. Its snowy days like today that I dream of a white beach with clear blue water. Hmmmmm....

Okay, daydreams aside, I just felt like posting. Ethan is taking a nap so, instead of working out, cleaning, writing a grocery list, or doing laundry (although I am one step closer, I've put it in baskets! Oh how we dream to, one day, live in a house with a washer and dryer.) I've decided to blog. Sadly, I have no clever lines, witty anecdotes or cute pictures so a quick update will have to suffice.

Ethan had tubes put in his ears last Wednesday. After having recurring ear infections, and perpetual fluid behind his ear drum we decided it was time. He went through the surgery really well. The hardest time he had was while we were in his hospital room afterward and he was trying to figure out what was going on. The nurse gave him some pain medicine and we were able to come home about an hour after the surgery. Besides the slight pain of surgery, and getting used to the tubes, Ethan is 100% better. He's back to his playful, charming and nap defiant self. He's going to have a blast when Derek's parents come to visit.

Derek is the dutiful student that he has always been. I, on the other hand, have major issues with his professors. I told him I wouldn't say another word about it, but I'll type some instead. Just a few. Just enough to say that professors here have less scruples than I had previously thought. Derek is operating the lighting board for a disaster of a play on campus. Though the play opens on Wednesday of this week, the director didn't give any direction about the lighting and lighting ques until last Thursday or Friday. After school, work and coming home around 5pm, Derek went to rehearsals around 7 Friday night, wasn't allowed to come home until 6am Saturday morning and had to go back around 9am. Guess who was livid! I could go on, and on...and on, but I'll probably get in enough trouble for writing this much, so, moving on.

I am doing well, besides my mental rants towards the Theatre Department. I'm slowly getting used to Derek not being here very often. I've realized, along side of a lot of wives, that I can do it, I just don't like it. Ethan and I are finding a routine that works for us. I'm still working out, and studying, but with the daily list of 'need to's there hasn't been much time for the 'want to's. On a good note, my arms and legs no longer resemble tree trunks so I would say I'm making progress in the weight loss department. I've cut back on my chocolate, eating a small portion every other day. And yes, the portion really is small, not just my idea of small. I can't give any specifics I'm afraid. I refuse to step on a scale or try on my old jeans, especially not my skinny jeans. Skinny jeans, what a stupid title. If you have one pair of skinny jeans doesn't it only mean that the rest are inevitably fat jeans? I've decided that after this experience all of my jeans are skinny jeans.

I've also learned from Momma that the problems with my skin may not be Psoriasis. It may be DH and associated with Celiac disease. This could be a good and a bad thing. Good: there's a way to treat it! I could take a prescription to clear up my skin, and I still have a chance of not having Celiac disease. Bad:I could have Celiac disease and would have to go gluten free. I may have to go gluten free anyway, so the DH would go in total remission. I know it wouldn't be the end of the world but I just start thinking of all the cookies and brownies I would miss. We've decided that, when we could, I would get a skin biopsy to test for DH and then we'd go from there. Right now, I wait.

So, all in all we're doing well and we're happy. A little stressed but its just one of the ups and downs of life. Derek always says that when life is really tough that just means something good is coming. Not to seem impatient, but I wish we didn't seem to be in a holding pattern. Oh look, its still snowing. I think I'll plaster pictures of tropical islands all over the apartment. Warm breezes, warm sun, warm sand, warm water! Ahhhh....Here comes that day dream again.

Strip of defiance

Have you ever known anyone to strip their clothes off in defiance? Well, let me tell you a little story. It's widely known that Ethan hates taking naps. He wouldn't sleep at night if he could make it through the day without keeling over from exhaustion. I have to admit, I was a little spoiled while he was sick because he actually took naps. Not one, but usually two! Not for 10 or 20 minutes, but for over an hour! It was amazing. I could work out, take a shower, clean a little, read, or just follow Polly's example and comfortably lounge in the rectangular spot of sunshine that would otherwise be wasted on warming the living room carpet. I enjoyed this alternate reality for far too long.

Since he's been feeling better, Ethan has slowly returned to his routine of throwing tantrums whenever I put him in his room for a nap. The last few days his screaming fits have escalated until, after over an hour of screaming, he screams some more, just more angrily. Waiting it out doesn't work, and he does not go to sleep. Today I tried for over five hours to get him to take a nap. I rocked him, played with him, tickled him, sang to him, played music, drugged him (he needed some Motrin and decongestant anyway), fed him, changed him and finally left him in there to scream (not necessarily in that order). Needless to say, he won. He did not take a nap today, and by the end of it we were both frustrated, exhausted and cranky.

The cream of the story is this. After an episode of me trying to wait him out, I decided I couldn't take anymore or I would end up bald. I went into his room and there he was, his angelic face tear stained and red with effort, emotion and fatigue. He saw me, smiled and started to laugh with the excited expectation of a captive about to be released. He was standing up facing the door, holding onto the crib bars as if he would never taste freedom again, and he was pant-less. Yes, pant-less. Lately, Ethan has gotten into a habit of taking his socks off and throwing them across the room whenever he's put into his crib and is awake enough to protest. I guess he felt the need to raise the bar. Surprised, I looked around and sure enough, his socks were across the room from the crib by the closet doors. Next to them were his pants. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to react to this so, I finally busted out laughing. I just have to say, I'm glad he still wears onesies. Otherwise, he would probably be naked, more often than not, without regard to location or etiquette. I hope and pray that this is a very short phase that doesn't reach little boy hood. In younger days I always laughed at the 'Calvin and Hobbes' comics. How foolish I was to never realize that I would end up being the mom.

Work Well Worth It

As many of you know, I spent the last two months working on the Macbeth documentary in hopes that it would be something that could get my foot into some career doors, my "white bronco" if you will. I worked pretty hard to make it look good and upon it's release to the school, I received many gracious compliments on my work. I felt that I had done a job worthwhile that fulfilled it's purpose and improved my skills. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Feeling that the film was worth entering into some competitions, I submitted the documentary to the local Westwood Film Festival in hopes that it might gain some greater notice. The video was shown at the Festival yesterday (March 6th) and was well recieved. That night, the award ceremony took place. There were 4 categories:
- Best Picture
- Best Director
- Best Performance
- Best Editor
Each category would be judged by a single person who had experience in that field. Click here to read more about the judges. I was hopeful, mainly hoping to recieve the award for Best Editor. But I wasn't really expecting anything.
I ended up winning the Best Editor award as well as the Best Picture award! I was caught by complete surprise. Having not expected any awards I didn't prepare any sort of speech. So when asked to give one (twice) I stumbled through some nervous gibberish and ended up sounding pretty idiotic. Lesson learned. But I am pretty excited and feeling really pleased with how things have turned out concerning this documentary. I look forward to bringing everyone bigger and better things in the future. I now have a prepared speech that I would like to give:
I just want to thank everyone who supported me in this process and helped me develop my talents and lift me to where I currently am. I want to thank all the filmmakers, those I know and those I don't, that have taught me how to be a better filmmaker myself and how I can really bring forth good things. I want to thank Richard Clifford and John Thompson for allowing me this opportunity and providing me with the necessary tools to accomplish the task. I want to thank my wife for her loving support and patience with me as I worked almost endlessly to put this video together. I especially want to thank my Father in Heaven with blessing me with these talents and opportunities and surrounding me with people who lift me above what I can accomplish alone.

To see the film, refer to a couple posts back for a link to the video, or visit www.abbottd.com

Its been almost 10 months since...

...Ethan became the gentle dictator. In a little over a week he'll be 10 months old. Crazy. I forget how much he's developed since 'the beginning.' As Ethan grows closer to a year old, Derek and I feel as if we're joining the ranks of our friends who have been down this road, waved back at us with a smirk and shared with each other the universal thought, "They'll learn." We're getting there, but I'm starting to realize that it makes us feel older, not smarter. Ethan still has his amazingly sweet personality, he's great at parties, and likes most everyone (especially pretty ladies I might add), but he's added something else to the mix. He's learning that he can do things on his own. He loves the freedom. He hates limitations. I foolishly thought, 'Hey! When he can do this and this on his own I'll have more time to do other things!' Ha! I realize that my time is now spent chasing him around, saying "No" as authoritatively as possible, and trying to keep him out of the danger zones. Has anyone seen Bill Cosby's stand-up routine called "Bill Cosby, Himself?" I am slowly becoming the woman he describes so accurately.














I've learned that Ethan is amazingly willful, stubborn and persistent. I wonder where he gets that from. He's also amazingly smart. If I tell him "no" (his most hated word), he then begins to try different tactics that, potentially, won't get him in trouble. For example, Ethan is not allowed to touch the computer tower, but its one of his favorite things to do. The front plating is designed to let air through so it cools the tower better. Ethan loves to suck on it and feel the air on his face. Go figure. Today, he got caught trying to do that very thing. He got in trouble and was moved away from it. We usually repeat this routine for about 10 minutes before he goes for something else he's not supposed to have. This time he decided to try a different method. Instead of touching it with his hand, which gets him in trouble, he grabbed a toy and touched the tower with that instead, and then tried to suck on it. I called his name in my warning voice. He gave me a smile and a look like, "What! I'm not touching it!"















As a general update, Ethan's growing wonderfully. He's crawling like crazy, pulling himself up to standing, and he's starting to stand on his own. And though he loves his baths, he now tries to climb out of the tub and explore the bathroom. He can open cabinets, drawers and the entertainment center; and he LOVES banging things about. Oh joy. He loves music but doesn't pay much attention to the TV unless a song is on. The only movie he'll actually watch is "George of the Jungle." I think he has a crush on Ursula because he always smiles when she comes on screen. The only attention he pays to other movies is when he's trying to destroy their cases. He knows how to feed himself, the basic idea anyway. He just has more fun playing with food instead. He loves drinking out of a cup! He grabs it with both hands, shoves the lip of the cup into his mouth, sucks, swallows, and then laughs hysterically. We've also started giving him little tastes of food from our plates. Now, every time we sit down to eat he waddles over with an open mouth, reaching hands and an expectant look. He enjoys exploring anything and everything, and he especially enjoys feeling new textures. He says 'dada' and gibbers on a bit. I've noticed that he only says 'mama' when he wants something or is upset and not feeling good. I can't tell if he knows me as 'mama', or if, to him, it just means trouble.














He had an ear infection early last month and we did the normal round of antibiotics. He seemed fine, he just wasn't sleeping well, but I got paranoid and took him in to the doctors for a check up anyway. We found out his infection didn't clear up completely and was again growing worse. He's now on his second, longer round of treatment with a different anti-biotic. I'm supposed to take him in at the end of it just to make sure all is well. The trouble with Ethan being sick is that he hardly acts any different. He's usually just as happy and wants to play just as much. Unfortunately, he's like me and never has a fever, so that doesn't help. I don't know if I'm blind, but besides being a little more tired, I never see sure signs of illness until after he's been to the doctor, starts medicine and begins to feel better. I only see it in hindsight, and that always worries me. Why do I not see it?! On a higher note, he's had a blessing and seems to be doing just fine.

He has started to eat so much more now. I usually have to feed him an entire bowl of cereal with fruit, and then a small bottle of formula. Once, he ate three 4oz baby jars of food in one sitting. Do all little boys eat this much? But thankfully, now that we're figuring out his eating needs, he's sleeping a lot better. He's even started taking naps for longer than half-an-hour! Yay! He's such a funny sleeper too. He ends up hugging his blanket under him and sleeping with his butt up in the air. I've had to start going in after he's asleep to put another blanket over him.



That's a general idea of how life is going. We're excited for the snow to melt so Ethan can run around outside on the grass. Of course, I can hardly wait to do that myself. We're slowly learning how to combat Ethan's charms, especially when he's in trouble, but I guess all parents have to do that. Through it all, Ethan is still patient with us. As a family, we continue to be happy, quiet and comfortable. We still don't know what the future will bring, or even where we'll be in a few months, but who truly does?

Now, excuse me for being the annoying parent with the virtual wallet of pictures, but we really have been trying to take more and now I want to show them off. I even had to narrow it down so I wouldn't post too many! Hopefully, this helps get mom out of trouble for not taking pictures during her visit.
Here's more photo fun:

The End.