Scooching, Teething & Waving...

Well the big action is finally hitting. Ethan has figured out how to get (almost) mobile. He's not crawling yet. But he's right on the verge. I have a feeling that one day, out of the blue, he's going to lean over and just start crawling. The past few days we've been placing objects just out of Ethan's reach (or sometimes what we think should be well out of his reach). And in the past few days Ethan has learned how to get himself to those objects (unfortunately for us, sometimes). It's quite cute. Although Dave might be rethinking his excitement in Ethan learning to crawl. :)

Ethan has also spent the past few days (weeks?) teething. He's not eating and sleeping as well, and this is really taking its toll on me. And on his grandmas as well... Ethan has been pretty grumpy because he is both hungry & tired. That translates to wanting to be held all the time. Yikes. I'm not sure how long it's going to take for those teeth to finally show up, but it can't be too soon.

And the cutest thing... Ethan has started waving. It kind of looks more like a salute, but I love it. If we wave at him he'll hold up his hand to wave back. And if we smile at him from across the room he'll wave at us as well. I love it.

Sorry no pictures this time, but I'll get there.

Family

Okay, so I finally got my camera back from Portland. And my brother is in town. So what does this mean? A whole bunch of pictures of Ethan to make up for lost time. Below you'll see Ethan on his own, with Grandma and Grandpa, and with his Auntie and Uncles.

Uncle Louie and Ethan (tired baby)

Sizing each other up.

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma

Grandpa

Uncle Doss

Uncle Doss & Auntie McKenzie

Henry

Auntie McKenzie

Auntie McKenzie & Henry

Happy Baby (standing on his own)

Happy Baby, sitting at the big table.

Things I'm supposed to be doing...

It's so funny the way I can be so productive, when I am trying to avoid doing something I really should be doing. Take for example today... I am supposed to be working on my lesson for tomorrow's primary class and, more importantly, I am supposed to be writing my talk for church tomorrow. So far I've got zip on either of those. But man, my house sure is clean. And I love the new paint in the bathroom.

Tomorrow Dave and I are giving a talk on the Plan of Salvation. A nice wide subject. Dave already has his talk prepared and nicely printed out. I made him read it to me in hopes that there was something in there I could steal. :) Dave makes things look easy- like when it's his turn to teach our primary class. The kids actually pay attention and things go great. When it's my turn, it's crickets and/or barely controlled chaos. Same goes for this talk- his was done within 24 hours of getting a phone call about it- and it's really good. I love him, but man, I am a little bit jealous.

Wish us luck!

Companies I hate

Okay, so I keep putting writing this blog off... but really, I spend time thinking about how much I hate some companies every day. I know I should be using my thoughts/energy more wisely, but DANG! Some companies just really get under my skin.

I am finding that more and more there are fewer and fewer companies that I am okay with giving my money to. There are entire industries that I hate (banks, cell phone companies, internet providers are the big ones). It just seems like it is getting more obvious that companies are taking advantage of their customers- there doesn't seem to be this "I provide a service or product and the customer pays for it" anymore. Now it seems to be more of how little of a service or product can I provide and get as much money as possible out of the customer?

I am an econ major so I understand the mechanics of the market. However, it really seems to me like the power is getting too one sided- consumers really don't have a choice in things anymore. I am finding more and more that I am trying to use my money as my voice- I don't give my money to companies I hate (or I try to give them as little as possible if I have no other option). It seems more often that the first thing I think about when thinking about purchasing something is "can I live with giving that entity my money." I am comfortable paying more for something that I feel comfortable supporting (local stores or something that has meaning).

Anyway, the thing that brought on this gripe today? Qwest. We finally got the internet at home. We didn't have it at home for many reasons, but working from home necessitated getting it. Man I am already pissy about it. It costs so much money for something so basic and then! I found out that Qwest actually charges it's customers a service fee FOR PAYING THEIR BILL. I have seen other companies that do this as well (big banks and credit card companies). Whatever happened to customer service? What the hell is the reasoning in charging your customers extra for trying to be good customers?

Economics also talks about barriers and it seems to me adding a "pay your bill" fee is one more barrier between receiving money and not. But I guess companies just figure that customers will roll over and pay the fee. I think it's crap.

I can already feel my blood pressure flying through the roof when I think of all the different ways companies are using the system to screw the consumer. Between subsidies and bail outs and fee increases and general inflationary increases (heaven forbid the average worker actually gets a raise to stay in line with the cost of living increases). Yikes. I am going to work myself into a frenzy.

My advice? Put your money where your mouth is... pay cash, and support companies you can live with.

And We're Back

Man, so my schedule has just been so messed up over the past 2 weeks. I don't think I have had a moment to myself in that time. Let's see 2 weekends ago Dave went to Ohio to visit his friend Jason. That was pretty great for him, but left me on baby duty 24/7 for 4 days (Meghan, I don't know how you do it). It was actually my first time completely alone with Ethan for 4 days in row- and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't have to worry about keeping the house clean or cooking dinner while Dave was gone, so it was surprisingly easy. Well, easy isn't quite the right word, but that's the idea in general.
And then last weekend Ethan and I went to Portland to visit my family. That was awesome and I definitely learned something... I need to pay more attention to when I am flying. The flights to and from Portland happened to overlap both of Ethan's naps (his morning and afternoon nap) and his lunch. So I flew to Portland and back with a very angry little baby. That was NOT fun. But I learned to pay more attention about when I schedule flights, and maybe even that driving is easier. As far as Portland- it was a blast to hang out with (Ethan's) Grandpa & Grandma and his Auntie McKenzie and Uncle Doss. We played Killer Bunnies, which is one of my new favorite games... if anyone out there is interested in playing call me, I need game buddies. This is the part where I would be posting lots of pictures of Ethan with various family members, but my camera is actually still in Portland. It's one of many things that I left there (I'm great at packing apparently). On the other hand I did find my teddy bear from when I was a baby and brought that back with me (yes, it is on the bed now).
Anyway, so now we're working on getting back on schedule.