Dropped Eggs

As a big party before various family members scattered to the four winds (we're going to NYC and then Indiana, have you heard?), we got together with my siblings and Mom to have a contest of sorts. There were two aspects - who could build the tallest tower out of toothpicks and marshmallows, and who could design a carrier that would protect an egg whilst it was dropped from the top story of a 6-story parking garage? And fun was had by all.




Happily but tragically, all the eggs survived. Until we redid the dropping without a few layers. Then we got some good yolk.

In other news, a new Lydia post will be up just moments after this post.

New Lydia post

There's a new Lydia post, along with one scheduled to post tomorrow morning. Just FYI.

In other Walton family news, Adam has been accepted to a graduate program in Indiana - we're not sure if we're going to accept yet (he's still got another audition next week), but regardless of what happens, WE HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO! I'm excited. Congratulations, Adam!

I've learned a new skill

I am now capable of uploading video onto blogger. Hence, a new video of Lydia being happy is up on lyddlelydia.blogspot.com.

Gorgeous short

Graduation at Harvard

Love this talk by JK Rowling. Thanks, Ogdens.

JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure | Video on TED.com

Update?

Okay, it's been awhile. Funny how a newborn takes a lot of time. And school - that thing I do.

Quick update:

• Lydia appears to be thriving. Nice and fat. Just the way we like it.
• Adam got a job for this summer! Huzzah! We'll be living in New York while he gets PAID to SING at a music festival called Caramoor. If you're in the area, let us know and we'll try to get together/give you information so you can watch him sing.
• We're doing great.
  

Here are things we're hoping for:

• Adam getting a job
• Me doing well in my classes
• Adam getting into a good grad school (he's got auditions for several coming up in the next few weeks!)
• Lydia learning how to hold up her head - she hates tummy time.
• Me losing enough weight to be able to wear my wedding ring again. As fun as the teen mom look is...
  

Speaking of Lydia, there are new pictures up (including ones of her blessing) on her blog, lyddlelydia.blogspot.com. Let me know if you need an invite.

Smiles!

Lydia has started smiling this week! Right on schedule! See this new trick here!

Pictures of Lydia now available! (on the other blog)

Here goes nothing - there are a few pictures posted on lyddlelydia.blogspot.com. Email me at bonbonbassoon@gmail.com or comment below if you want an invite.

The Lyddle One

Adam and I have decided that we don't want pictures of Lydia out there on the internet for all to see (although we do have some on facebook, for all our 400 or so "friends" to see). However, we do want our blogosphere friends to be able to see her. So..., I've decided to make another blog. This one will be private, and will be solely about Lydia. All our pictures and updates about her will be on that blog, but I will post links on this blog to any updates on that blog. Make sense? Then, people won't have to worry about the hassle of following two blogs, or remembering to check the private blog. Any new posts will be posted on this blog. Make sense? Anyway, all that remains is to actually start posting on this other private blog of ours, and to send invites to anyone who wishes to be able to view said blog. So, either leave a comment on this post with your email address or email me at bonbonbassoon@gmail.com if you'd like an invite to the private blog, lyddlelydia.blogspot.com. Is this whole post too convoluted and confusing? Any complaints should also be put in the comments or emailed to me.

Not being pregnant is a beautiful thing. So is my baby.

It's over! And just beginning! Just a post to say that my baby made her appearance yesterday (9 days overdue) and is positively perfect in everyway. Lydia Denise is her name, she was born at 6:43 am, and weighed 7 lbs and 6 oz with a length of 19.5 inches. Did I mention that she's beautiful? Because she is.

Where have I seen this?

My little bro, on a mission in Philly, sent this photo home. I loved it, mostly because Li'l Bro looks so darn good and I miss him, but in part because I know I've seen this billboard somewhere on the blogosphere. However, I have absolute no idea where it was. Anyone have any ideas?

Unfortunate Pregnancy Symptom #823

Your fingers blow up like sausages until you can barely move them, let alone get your wedding ring off. You think everything is fine and dandy until the finger encircled by the ring starts to hurt. Wheps. Enter an early morning, lots of cold water, soap, and twisting, and the thing finally came off. Barely.

Guessing Game!

Currently, I am 3.5 weeks away from my due date. Basically, I'm ready for this baby to come any time. With the arrival pending, Adam and I are hosting a little contest for people to guess the birth day, time, weight, length and name of the baby. Anyone who wants to guess is welcome to, and we may even have prizes for winners! Maybe (no guarantees)! My favorite entry so far has been from Adam's niece Ashlyn (age 2). Her whole entry was pretty awesome, but the best part was her guess at the length: little.

Men are funny - or maybe just Adam

Adam does not know our home phone number. It has not stuck in his brain (partially due to a complete lack of effort). The home number is the only way of getting hold of me. As he carries a cell phone (or portable phone book), this isn't usually a problem. However, every once in a while his phone dies or he leaves it home. Then, when he needs to talk to me (to ask for a ride home, say), he's in a bit of a lurch. A couple times he has just walked home, but the latest instance cracked me up. 

The phone rang. I answered and was surprised to hear Adam on the other end, since I knew his cell phone was sitting right next to me and that he didn't know our digits. 

"How'd you get this number?"

"Oh, I just called University Info, and got the number for the housing office, called them, and asked for the number for our apartment. No biggie."

I laughed at the rigamarole he had to go through just to speak with his wife and suggested that he just memorize our number. No action has yet been taken.

Not over until the fat lady sings - but I'm not singing

Hey all!

Adam's opera is playing this week, so things have been a little hectic. Everyone should come see it!

Tales of Hoffman, by Jacques Offenbach, French with English supertitles
October 21-24th, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday @ 7:00
HFAC, BYU

If you want to see Adam in his big role(s), the nights to go are tonight and Friday, but he has a smaller part on Thursday and Saturday, so you can still see him if you go then.

If it's good enough for The Sartorialist...

A couple months ago The Sartorialist posted about some of his influences, as far as both fashion and photography go. He talked about this book. Besides having an awesome subtitle, it seems like something that would be accessible for a lay person (read: me). I certainly wouldn't mind having this around.

Piecing it together

The first step towards making a quilt has been made - I bought a bunch of fabric.I wanted to put together a mix of pinks, light browns (kind of carmel) and peach (These photos make everything seem kinda yellow, sorry), and I'm quite pleased with the results. What do you think?

I guess, if you want to be technical, the first step was finding a pattern, which I did about a week ago in a quilting book from the library.The thing that won it for this design was the doability of it. I can do straight lines and squares. SWEET! Obviously, I chose less garish colors, but I hope it will turn out well.

Now I just need to find a rotary cutter and mat - anyone have suggestions?

Rugged

Today's rugby pictures on The Sartorialist make me happy. And nostalgic for London. Not that I ever watched rugby there, but if it had been in season, gosh darn I would have. It's on the list of things to do when I go back with Adam.

Economics news

I'm not heavily involved with the world of economics these days (bad econ major), but I would like to point out the fact that for the first time since the creation of the Nobel Prize for Economics, the prize has gone to a woman, Elinor Ostrom.

I should be all for this, correct? The only problem is that she's not even an economist - she's a highly decorated political scientist. Steven Levitt, one of the authors of Freakonomics (and Superfreakonomics, coming out in a week or so), predicts that economists will be more upset over this than Republicans were over Obama winning the Peace Prize (which is a completely different discussion, so if you put anything in the comments that is remotely similar to the tirades on facebook a few days ago, I'll hate you forever. Just Kidding. Probably).

Making the lives of pregnant women everywhere easier

It is with great chagrin that I post this picture, but rest assured, I am only attempting to prove a point.This picture was taken last night, so we're looking at 33 weeks, 1 day (yes, I have gotten to the point where each day is significant, in that it gets me one day closer to not being pregnant anymore). This period during my life shall henceforth be known as "a time of great largeness that I'd rather not talk about." I can do this for 7 more weeks, right? I hear it's worth it...

That, believe it or not, was a tangent. The real point is to show off the dress that I'm wearing. I've been considering investing in a nice maternity dress for awhile, just because they look so comfortable and easy to wear, and also because up to this point Sundays have been kind of rough, with my wardrobe of skirts not made for pregnant women. Uncomfortable doesn't even begin to describe it. My wonderful mother took pity on me and bought this dress, considering it an investment that will be passed on to my sisters when they have kids, etc. So I now own a maternity dress. Let me tell you, it is heaven. This thing is so freaking comfortable. I put it on for something earlier this week (on a weekday) and then just didn't change out of it because it was so nice to wear. Moral of this story: Maternity dresses are a pregnant woman's best friend.

This was all fresh in my mind while browsing the internet a few days ago, when I came across these.
What a genius idea! Of course we'd need an LDS appropriate version (possibly in better colors), but I thought this looked cool.

*found via swiss miss

So cool

I want one of these in my house.

We didn't need that Pre-natal class

Adam already posted this on his blog, but since I was the one who found it, I feel justified in posting it here. In case you find the thought of attending a pre-natal class too much to bear, here's everything you need to know about babies.

http://makememinimal.com/2008/instrucciones-para-cuidar-un-bebe/

Ignore the Spanish - it still makes sense.

Which one is your favorite?

Thoughts on love

One of my favorite blogs to read is the Apron Stage. Today's post was particularly poignant.

http://theapronstage.com/2009/10/07/a-post-about-love/#more-2296

Are we immature?

Adam and I have been attending a prenatal class, which teaches/scares you about giving birth and taking care of a newborn. Maybe it's just us, but some of the things they say are just too funny (and immensely awkward), and we bust up laughing at the back of the room. Clearly, we are the immature members of the class, the ones whose child will be shunned for their entire life because they weren't brought up by real adults.

Favorite quote of mine: "Some couples may be alarmed by the appearance of their newborn and experience an urge to put it back because it's not done yet."

Classic, I tell ya.

Lots of time

So, I'm officially unemployed. There are pros and cons to this situation, the pros being that I no longer have to sit for long periods of time (you'd be surprised how uncomfortable this is when 7 months pregnant) and that I now have loads of time to get ready for the baby to come. On the con side, we don't have very much income and the word on the street is that babies are expensive. Who woulda thunk.

In all my newly acquired time, I've got big plans. I checked out a bunch of books on photography, and I'd like to create some skills in that department, and I'm going to make a quilt (and possibly some other items) for our incoming munchkin. This blog may be somewhat resurrected and become an arena for showing off my mad skillz. Yes, that's a z. I'm such a gangster.

Also, I'm hoping to read a lot. If anyone has suggestions for things to read (either baby/parenting related or completely for fun/interest), let me know.

No Duh

My brother ran into a friend of his on campus and the following interchange ensued.

Brother's friend: "Hey, I saw your sister! Did you know she's pregnant?"
Brother (Clark): "..."

Prize goes to the person who comes up with the best response Clark should have used.

Pretty good odds

Adam has been working on applications for summer programs. He's applying to several, all of which would pay him (at least a bit) to sing. I approve of this step - getting paid to sing. We're not sure how stiff the competition is, but we did run into a bit of info that seemed encouraging. This is a blurb from the website of one of the programs Adam is applying to.

How many applicants do we receive?
Below are the averages of our auditions data covering the last seven years:

• No. of applicants 545
• No. of applicants scheduled 455
• Age range 21-approximately 35
• Sopranos 226
• Mezzos 78
• Tenors 50
• Baritones 45
• Bass-Baritones 9
• Basses 6

Adam is a Bass-Baritone. Looking pretty good, eh? Of course, they only hire 26 or 27, but still, we're glad he's not a Soprano, because that's freaking ridiculous.

The growing whaleness

~21 weeks (thanks for the picture, Sage!)


~23 weeks


Today, ~27 weeks

More favorites from OBX

A few favorites from Outer Banks