Danceable LOTR

I'm spending way too much time online. But this is fun.

More Pix from 4th Ave

I had so much fun staying for the week at B&B's place.  Thank you for having me over!  Below is the whole family: Alice (on the arm of the sofa), Cordelia on the stairs, Betsy, Brett, Rayen Ellie, and Ethan. 

  Below is Ellie's first bath at home.  Wow, everything is new.

 Worried face (and fuzz-head).

Ethan is quite careful of his little sister.  Below, he rests with Ellie and his Snoopy toy from Uncle Jamison.

On the last day I was there, we made it out to the neighborhood park.

Ethan likes the swing and the slide.

 Oooh, cold hands.  We forgot to bring gloves.

 And I can't resist one last photo of baby Ellie doing a silly face.  She is her own little person.  Definitely blond, but she looks a lot like Betsy to me.

Again, thanks to B&B for asking me to come for the birth and a few days afterward.  It's hard to go back to my regular life now.  I'm glad you live only a 50-minute drive away.

Ethan and Ellie

I get to stay with Ethan and Ellie, and it's been fun to play with them and get to know them better.  Ethan likes me to sing songs to him before he goes to sleep, and although we watched "Cars" two times in two days, he also likes to play and talk.  A lot.  Below, with his daddy, doing their camera faces: 

 I had to include this picture of Ethan on the drums because he looks so much like Dave just before he turned two:

 Rooster-tail Ethan:

Camera face!

John brought dinner yesterday (which we just finished for today's lunch).  Here he sits with Ellie, while we all watch Ethan.

Ellie sleeps, which is very good.  But I know she's up plenty of times in the night.  She and Betsy are working on the timing and amount of feeding--a process involving ice packs, hot compresses, and pumping.

She woke up!

A very pretty little girl.  She reminds me of Betsy when she was tiny.

Advent of Rayen Elizabeth

Amy and I left Provo at 4:30 pm (16:30), and Amy stayed back with Ethan while Betsy, Brett, and I drove up to the hospital.  Right after we got there it was snowing outside.  We were in the same room where Ethan was born. No drama as there was with Ethan--no gas leaks and threatened evacuation.  Things were pretty slow for awhile.

Things were pretty slow for a long while.  

Brett went home for a nap.  By early morning, things were heating up again.  This (below) is not Betsy's natural resting smile:

At 6:16 we texted Brett to come back.  And hurry.

Taking a tiny break before the final lap:

Dr. Bennett, who made it there even after Brett:

Rayen Elizabeth, born 6:55 a.m. Feb 17, 2011.  Weight 9 lbs 1 oz, height 21 inches.  Blond, curly hair (but the curly probably won't last, as both parents and Ethan have straight hair).  At 9 lbs she is all filled out and cute as a button.  Her skin is perfectly translucent, and it was so interesting to see her change color when she was born and as she cried, from blue to purple to white to red.  Oxygenated blood! She seems to me, at home now as the grandma downstairs, to sleep quite a lot.  She had no difficulty learning to latch on--I suppose some of that had to do with being Betsy's second.

 Hello Ellie!  Welcome to the world. 

Daddy Brett caught her on the way out, and snipped the cord, and took her for her first check-over, and helped with her bath.

 The new room was nice--in the new hospital wing, with a beautiful view.  The best view was of the ladies:

Ethan came to visit.  Of everyone involved, he will probably have the hardest adjustment.

Thank you to Brett and Betsy for letting me be there.  I am honored.  I love you all.

Johnathan

Johnathan stayed with us during the week as R&N took a Valentine's trip to Tokyo.  I'm assuming that they will soon have a report with pix on their blog here.  What a sweetie JonTon is!  And very bossy (but in a sweet way).  Rob's days off for trips like this are now TWTh, which is right when John and I work the most hours, so all of us, including Amy and Grandma Gene, took turns watching him.

We spent a lot of time riding bikes (Johnathan) and sitting in a chair in the sun (me) on Wednesday.

 

Claudio also sat in the sun.  He is a sociable being:

Music

You've got to listen to Chris' new songs, especially tracks 3 and 4.  And you should also listen to his older songs, especially tracks 5, 7, and 8.  Oh, and 2 and 9.  And the others.  Niels is taking a hiatus from performing and their post-Tucker drummer went on a mission, so Chris is doing solo recording with his early-graduation present Mac Notebook.  He needs a better mic and some new software I guess.  His effects pedal that John ordered  for Christmas still hasn't arrived.

The other day we were having one of our talks about what's good musically and listening to each other's YouTube suggestions, and he said that the truly immortal rock bands are The Clash, U2, Cold Play, The Killers (the lead singer, Brandon Flowers, was originally from Nephi and is sort of a Mormon)--ah, now I'm forgetting which ones he said are immortal and which are his favorite newer bands (also, he would probably choose different songs).  The Black Keys.  Provo's own Neon Trees (whose drummer once dated our friend Spencer).  He also had me listen to Billy Idol and Freddie Mercury for style ("nobody nowadays has it like they did in the 80's").  I showed him David Bowie and Mick Jagger (he thinks both and the Beatles are overrated.  He said he likes McCartney better than Lennon, and he doesn't much like hippie music).

Then we listened to Nina Simone (this song has been co-opted and corrupted for a WeightWatchers ad, but the original is sensational).  Chris groaned in appreciation, and laughed, when that old bluesy trombone kicked in.  Another fun one of hers is Pirate Jenny from Brecht's Threepenny Opera (so interesting the transition from Germany in the 30's to the American South in 1962), which song of course Chris had heard before.  Sometimes I think he knows all the music ever.

He says, all I ever want to do is make songs, and  I've had only 100 hits on my songs that I posted two weeks ago.  Marketing? I say.  But I don't know either.  I guess we all need a day job.

Grandma's Funeral

I think there is a fixed up version of this photo someplace, but I almost like the original snapshot.  She was 98 and her lungs were bad, but she was talking and laughing with family right up until her death.  Her life spanned a century.  At the end, she told my mom that it was hard but it was worth it.  We carry her in our hearts and in our DNA.

I have a pretty quilt made by Grandma Sylvia for my wedding.  I also have two of her rugs.

Grandma and Grandpa E were there of course, now the oldest generation.  Dad said, "I'm the next oldest in the family."

Here are the sibs and their spouses (silly Aunt Linda, too long waiting for photos) except for Uncle Mike and Lorraine, who had already left to do chores:

A few of the photographers:

My own siblings found ourselves in the same room and decided to have a photo.  Aunt Lucy said, "But you're all so old!"

At the gravesite in the Glendale Cemetery (with Uncle Ike):

 Pallbearers Boyd and J.Lynn on the left:

Cindy made the blue and yellow silk wreath.  It was good to see everyone, despite the somewhat melancholy realization that we've all moved up a generation.  I'm grandmother, mother, and daughter, but no longer granddaughter to a living person.  I was so happy to have helped Grandma Sylvia finish her personal history.  We will all miss her.

The Pernicious Effects of Pop Culture on the Young

When Chris was little I wondered why he kept falling off the backyard swingset - until I looked out one day and saw him standing on the cross-bar, arms outstretched. "To infinity, and beyond!"