Sweet Baby Jane!

So, we've decided to name our little girl Jane. What do you think? Mary has been hooked on the name since we found out it was a girl and has felt strongly that that is to be her name. I like the name and think that it's cool to have a daughter that will be named after one of her wonderful grandmothers. My mom is pretty excited, though she tries to keep it just be modest in her excitement (she's really ecstatic). Mary's told me that I can choose the middle name but I haven't really had any ideas, though it needs to be a little bit longer name than both Jane and Hamm. We'll see what I can come up with. I have always liked the name and thought it was both cute and classic. I knew a Jane in High School and thought that she was a pretty groovy gal and ever since then I've been open to the idea of having a kid named Jane. Anyway, just thought I'd let everyone know what the name is since we've had plenty of questions about it. Whaddayuthink?

Tagged.....again.... by the same person.

I guess I'll oblige, even though this is called a "hubby tag" and it therefore, should have been Mary writing about me instead of the other way around. I'll try to follow the question format layed out by my sis. I'll tag Amanda, my cousin Deanne, my sis-in-law Jenny, and just for funsies my Dad.

-Spouse's name?: Mary

-How long have we been together?: Since Feb 2001

-How long did we date?: We dated for 4.5 months before we got engaged. We were engaged for 4.5 months. Then we got married in Nov. 2001 and we've been dating ever since, though not as much for the last couple of years... I wonder why?

-How old is she?: Just turned 28

-Who eats more?: I eat more, no question

-Who said I love you first?: Me, but this has a funny story. I really didn't date many (okay... zero) girls seriously before dating Mary so I wasn't very suave in many of the necessary areas of dating. I pretty much didn't have any experience. I really wanted to tell her that I loved her but I also was a little unsure what exactly that word meant and what that would feel like. So while I wanted to say it I also wanted to be careful with how I said it. I don't remember exactly how I said it but I think I used one or both of the following words in describing/qualifying my love for her: "shallow" or "surface". Fortunately she knew what I was trying to say, not what I actually said. Essentially I wanted to tell her that I loved her but I also knew that our love could be much deeper in the future. Luckily she didn't hold me to the actual semantics and realized my meaning.

-Who is taller?: I think that I am, but if she wears any kind of lift on her shoes then I start to feel really short. Regardless, it's close.

-Who sings better?: Definitely Mary. I joined a choir to get to know people and that is where I formally met her, though I had eyed her previously. She has a much better voice and has a lot more training.

-Who is smarter?: Mary is way smarter than me. There is no question about who has more smarts. She's more inquisitive, a deeper thinker, better at writing and reading. I will say that I have a much better memory about things that I learn. She would confirm all of this I believe.

-Who does the laundry?: Mary does it about 80-90% of the time.

-Who pays the bills?: Mary, I couldn't keep track of all of that stuff. Refer to the one about being smarter above.

-Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?: Where did this question come from? Is there some power thing or omen about sleeping on a certain side of the bed? I sleep on the right side of the bed... always have.

-Who mows the lawn?: I mow the lawn and enjoy it. I don't think that Mary would really like to do this much. She prefers to be indoors where the temperature is moderate. Especially here as it gets super hot in the summers.

-Who cooks dinner?: I would say this has been fairly equal since I finished grad school, or at least since we got pregnant. However, let me explain this a little. I usually come home from work say hey to everybody and get several requests from Sarah. I explain that I need to check-in with "Mommy" first. I usually say something like: "do you have anything planned for dinner?", or "is there anything that I can do to help out with dinner?". It needs to be understood that this is not a demand or an expectation. Mary knows that I'm totally fine on any given night whipping up something on my own and that my request is usually just an effort to get things moving on dinner so that the kids can get something to eat. This has been particularly so during the pregnancy when the last thing Mary wants to think about is food. She often has thought a little about it and has an idea about what she wants to make for dinner, but needs some not-so-subtle prompting to acknowledge that we need to actually start making it if we're going to have a non-rushed evening and if we're going to get the kids to eat before bedtime. She often tells me what her plan was and then I get it going or do most of it under her supervision or assistance. I would say generally we do it together on some level but sometimes it's just me or just her.

-Who drives?: I drive, but Mary drives frequently as well. If it's more than a couple of hours we usually split it up, but generally I drive.

Who is more stubborn?: Mary is definitely more stubborn. If we're in an argument I am almost always the one to "give-in" first and approach her for reconciliation. I hate this at times and wish that she would be more willing to approach me but it's the way it is and who we are.

Who kissed who first?: She kissed a couple of guys first. I kissed no one first, except Mary. It was also the same night that I kind of told her that I loved her. I asked permission before attempting the amazing feat. It was an awkward kiss but she taught me the ins and outs of kissing as we dated and courted. However, I think that she's given up on me in this department.

-Who asked who out first?: This is a good story. So we knew who each other was but hadn't talked much. I got her number from a mutual friend and called her up to ask her out. She explained that although she would like to go out with me she already had plans. So, because she didn't ask for a rain-check or a re-schedule, I kind of was a little apprehensive about asking her out again. So a little while later this friend calls up and says he wants to set up his sister-in-law with my cousin (Jimmy). He figures it might be kind of awkward for Jimmy to go out with this married couple and this girl that he hardly knows so he asks me if I want to find a date and come along. I know that this friends sister-in-law lives in Seattle and knows Mary so I say I'll come if said sister-in-law can get Mary to come along and be my date. Mary is totally oblivious to my orchestrating of this "one-way-blind date" and thinks that this is just a pleasant coincidence. So I guess one of Mary's friends asked her out on our first date if that makes any sense.

-Who proposed?: This ones a little confusing too. I think that I proposed, but it's a little unclear. This is a lame story (read: I'm a little embarassed about it and wish I could do this part over) so I don't think that I'll tell it here.

-Who is more sensitive?:

-Who has more siblings?: I do... by one.

-Who wears the pants?: Mary, without question. I have some reasons as to why I think that is but I won't share them here. Also, I think that I'm capable of wearing the pants and would like to more on particular issues, but Mary is way better at it, looks better in them, and they fit her better. I don't think that I'm an anti-pants wearer (like I suspect my youngest brother is), but I think that it just works out for us the way it is. Does that sound like the answer of someone who would like to wear the pants a bit more but doesn't?

What do you think of the resemblance?

Today when I got home from work (a typical opening line for my Blog), Mary wanted Sarah to show me her painting from pre-school. She excitedly ran into her room and came out and informed me that she had painted a picture of "President [Gordon B.] Hinckley", the current prophet of our church. She's quite an artist but this is the first time that she's ever tried to depict him and she didn't have any kind of a reference picture or anything... this was straight from her memory with no prompting from us. So cute that she's thinking of such a wonderful, exemplary man of God while she's at pre-school. Her pre-school leaders, who are not LDS, were quite impressed with her painting abilities. So were we, to say the least. Sarah is almost 4.5 years old and her little artistic skills are really budding and she has loved her homemade "art kit" from Christmas. Gotta love the nose, the glasses and the little bit of hair on top.

Just cuz..

I was looking through some of the pictures that we have of Nathan... who it just seems that I can't get enough of right now... and just had to put these on here. There's no reason for this particular post other than just to show cute pictures of our little guy. The one in the towel is fairly recent... he loves to be wrapped like a mummy and then run down the hall and fall down, laughing all the way. The one of him crawling is at his Oma and Opa's house. And the last one is of him doin' some work in the yard while playing with leaves. Just cute pictures that I had to share with everyone else.

It is a good thing!

Oh man, I love how kids minds work! Today when I got home from work Mary informed me of a conversation that she had with Sarah earlier in the day and I just had to post it. Sarah was kind of quizzing her mommy and asking her a variety of "trivia" questions. So here's a hilarious part of the dialogue:

Sarah: Mommy, what animal likes to dig up bones and chew them?

Mary: A dog

Sarah: Yep, that's right Mom, good job. It's good that doggies don't know we have bones in our bodies, huh Mom.

Mary: (takes a little "processing" time prior to response) Yeah, that is good, doggies don't know a lot about peoples' bodies.

Sarah: Yeah, mom that is good, especially Sneakers. [Sneakers is Mary's folks' dog]

Good stuff... why didn't I think of that?

While we're on the age topic...

I've been doing some calculations in my head and I've realized that the following threshold will soon pass: Sarah is closer to High School than I am! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Can that be serious! Yep. She'll be 4.5 yrs old soon and I'm about 10.5 years removed from High School. Since Sarah will start kindergarten in the Fall and High School is typically your tenth year (keep kindergarten in mind for those of you that are thinking or saying "wait, I thought Freshman were 9th graders".), I imagine this threshold will take place in the next couple of months. It's a little scary to think that my littel girl is closer than me to the glorious H.S. days. WAIT. HOLD THE PRESSES. I just remembered something about how here in Idaho they have elementary, middle school, junior high school and high school, with junior high occupying grades 8 and 9. Maybe we were inspired to move here! Anyway, when I think about it I should probably be worrying more about middle school for Sarah then anything else... but regardless I'm getting old and she's growing up.

How old am I?

Recently in a group at work there was a new resident and so we went around the group of 15 or so (including one staff member and myself) and introduced ourselves, including our age and where we're from. Typically the stoic behavioral staff don't involve themselves much in things like this, but I typically do. When it got to be my turn I just said I'm older than everyone else and left it at that. Then I decided that it would be fun, after introductions, to see how old the kids thought that I was. Keep in mind that they don't know hardly anything about me in terms of my personal life except for things that I like to do, though they do know that I'm just recently graduated from grad school. They don't know that I have two little kids at home and one on the way. Anyway, so I asked them all to write down privately on a piece of paper how old they thought that I was. The lowest guess was 24 and the highest guess was 48 (two kids guessed that!). The next closest guess to 24 was 31. When averaging the age-guesses out it was discovered that the resident's thought I was about 39 or so, ten years older than I actually am. The staff member guessed that I was 44! I was a little flabergasted and was confused about whether I should be proud, glad, sad, or mad. I'm still a little confused by that. Let's keep in mind that I have a lot of gray hair and a receding hair line. But I also stop on occasion and throw the football on the rec yard with these kids or play a quick game of bump on the basketball court with them. I mean come on, 48! Are you serious. That's almost as old as some of their grandparents! Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny and I had them pretty upset when, after they finished guessing and I read off their guesses I said "alright, thanks for guessing let's move on to todays topic for group" and acted like I wasn't gonna tell them. I told them I'd be turning 30 in 2008. They were surprised.

Taken For Granted

We live in a military town with a local Air Force Base sustaining about half of the town, some of whom are retired. I've never been very familiar with the life of those that serve our country in the military and it's been a good experience so far, even if we do feel a little like outsiders at times. Anyway, in church on Sunday a member of our congregation was talking about how wonderful it was that he got to baptize his son the previous day. He then went on to talk about how nice it was that he was the one that got to do it, not someone else. I know from previous conversations that he's spent some time deployed in Iraq which has probably resulted in missing numerous significant events in his life and the lives of those he cares deeply about. This is something that I take for granted. While I don't get paid tremendously at my job, their are tremendous non-monetary benefits to my employment. I'm home by 4:30 or 5 and have nearly every weekend off. While this hasn't always been the case with grad school and such, I haven't really missed any significant life events of my wife or kids. I think that this kind of struck home when I was thinking about what this guy talked about and then realizing that I was a little bummed out that I had an appointment at church that week at 7:30 pm... prime putting-the-kids-to-bed-time. I rarely miss putting the kids to bed, let alone any other important events in their lives. I usually have breakfast and dinner with Sarah (and Nathan lately too). I'm grateful for those who serve our country and sacrifice so many tangible and intangible things. I'm fortunate to be able to help people while still enjoying so much time with my growing and lovable family. Pretty fortunate indeed!