Jolly Green Bean

With all of the chastisement that we've received over the last video clip of Paisley eating green beans, we thought that we should exercise our right to defend ourselves with a rebuttal. It's pretty much the only exercise that Tim participates in these days. In explanation, from birth until her 6 month mark, aside from a few experiences with formula early on in her life, Paisley's diet has consisted solely of breast milk. Once she hit the six month milestone, we determined that it was best for both baby and mom to introduce spoon foods. We eased her into the solids bath with rice cereal, which is really nothing more than tasteless flakes mixed with breast milk into a sort of Elmer's glue like substance. After a week of white paste, it was time to kick it up to green. Brandi undertook this adventure on her own while Tim was at work but was kind enough to prop her phone on the high chair as to preserve and share the moment. The video clip was Paisley's first exposure to flavor, unless you want to include the edge of the coffee table, which she can't seem to suck on enough. What we're trying to say is that the experience had to be overwhelming for her. Since then she has been exposed to squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, applesauce, carrots, peas and peaches. Green beans happen to be one of her favorite dishes to date. Peaches and prunes usually require a little persuasion but we've graduated from the gagging and dry/not-so-dry heaves. At least until we break into the pureed spaghetti and meatballs. That should have all three of us feeling ill.

Here's a video clip of just how much Paisley likes green beans now.

Paisley Goes Green

Since our last update in December, Paisley has started eating solids. These green beans are her first experience with a non milk-based product. If you stick around for the ending, you'll find out how much she really liked them.

We're it.

"Thanks" Steph for tagging us - it gave us the motivation we needed to start blogging again.

A. Each player answers the question about themselves.

B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog to get the directions.

10 yrs ago:

T- I was a disenchanted biology major at the University of Utah due to the fact that they were just trying to make geneticists so I changed my major to creative writing. This blog just happens to be my crowning achievement. I was in between a series of collapsed lungs which would peak with lung surgery, a dropped semester and waving goodbye to my career as a professional cyclist.

B- I was working full-time as a lab tech/EMT in the ER at LDS Hospital - 4:30pm to 3:00am Wednesday through Tuesday, 7 days on, 7 days off - which meant I had time left over for another full-time job. So I was also working for Snowbird Ski Resort doing hotel reservations, 7am to 3:30pm... Most of my sleep was had "on the job." I had an apartment in Salt Lake, right across from Trolley Square, and a seasons pass to Snowbird - though neither got much use that year.

P- Kickin' it in heaven with Jesus. Reading "What To Expect From Those Who Are Expecting."

5 Things on my to do list Today:

T- 1. Update blog 2. Make dinner 3. Invite myself to someone's house for dessert 4. Go to church 5. Spend time with my family

B- 1. Feed Paisley 2. Change Paisley's diaper 3. Feed Paisley 4. Ask Tim to change Paisley's diaper 5. Fold laundry

P- 1. Eat 2. Play 3. Poop 4. Put random stuff in mouth 5. Sleep

Things I would do if I suddenly was a Billionaire:

T- Buy a good life insurance plan, buy an Acura MDX for Brandi, keep my new Blackberry, change my vote to McCain to keep those tax breaks, give half of it away and invest the rest.

B- I'm too much of a realist to honestly answer this question, I know I'll never be a billionaire so by answering I'm just setting myself up for disappointment. Though I think one thing that would be high on my priority list would be giving Paisley some siblings.

P- Get my own pad.

3 of my bad habits:

T- Picking at miscellaneous ingrown hairs/blemishes, Forgetting to wipe off counters, Tendency to stretch the truth for the sake of a good story

B- Caffeine addiction (though I've limited myself to 2 a day), Punctuality (or the lack thereof), Overly detail oriented

P- Mumbling, Peeing/pooping my pants, Breastfeeding/being so needy

Places I have lived:

T- Salt Lake City, UT; Los Angeles, CA; Logan, UT; Boise, ID; The woods, OR; Las Vegas, NV

B- Salt Lake City, UT; Northern Virginia/Washington DC area; Las Vegas, NV

P- Heaven; Womb; Las Vegas, NV

Jobs I have had:

T- Paperboy for Deseret News; Gift shop attendant at Hogle Zoo; Usher at Movies 10; Bike messenger for law firm; Lab technician/animal tester at USU; Fish Biologist; Environmental Biologist for SNWA

B- Restaurant hostess; Telemarketer; Cashier at "The Riv"; Receptionist at computer software co.; Clerk in ER at Holy Cross/Legacy Hospital/Salt Lake Regional Medical Center; Phlebotomist at various hospitals; Lab Tech/EMT at LDS Hospital; Waitress; Snowbird reservations; Surgical Assistant for laser vision correction co.; Fly fishing guide; Bartender; Medical Assistant; Office Manager for private practice physician; Director's assistant; Mom

P- Baby

Things most people don't know about me:

T- I met my wife on the internet, I am a food/music/movie snob, I'm left handed

B- I'm a chronic hand washer/germaphobe, I've had 3 concussions from competitive snowboarding, I hate pears

P- Lots because my parents won't update the blog

We tag Brent, Kate, Rachelle, Veronica & Allison

Miracles of Modern Science

We just want to post a quick blog to thank everyone for keeping our little family in your thoughts and prayers. The little one is finally back home with us and seems to be getting back to life as normal. Things were a little touch-and-go for a few weeks. We're just feeling really blessed since we weren't really in the financial situation to try and replace her. We just want to send a special thank you to the geniuses at the Apple Store and their successful hard-drive transplant. It feels good to be back.

Happy Thanksheaving!

Happy/Merry: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Years! With our inability to keep this thing up to date, we might as well get all of the major holiday greetings out there to keep the masses appeased. Okay, we're not waving the white flag just yet and will strive to blog the good fight.

The Thanksgiving trip was the first for the Ricks family that included travel to a state that isn't spelled I-D-A-H-O. Not to mention the first Thanksgiving in recent memory where nearly as much dinner came up after it went down. Gross? Yes, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. The three of us decided to make the drive by night to take advantage of Paisley's penchant for sleeping through the night. We got the car loaded up and left Vegas around 9:30 p.m. The drive was uneventful for the most part until we hit fog about an hour out of San Diego. Tim's mom had rented a house on Mission Beach for the week, so outside of the given directions, we didn't have much to go on. We found the street easy enough and finally were able to match the given access code with the correct garage after a couple of tries. Such is the futility of 3:30 a.m. Being the first ones to arrive, it didn't take us too long to stake our claim on one of the bedrooms and crawl into bed.

We eventually got out of bed the next morning (letting Paisley cuddle up to mom in our bed bought us a couple more hours) and walked down the boardwalk for breakfast then back to the house to wait for all of the others to arrive. By late afternoon, everyone had gotten in from Seattle, Salt Lake, Denver, and Moscow...Idaho. Paisley enjoyed meeting some of her cousins, especially Kennedy and Lucy who are a few months older and a month younger than her.

There were big plans for the week but it didn't take long for a little stomach bug to make its way through the house. The good news was that the effects only lasted about 24 hours; the bad news was that every morning seemed to bring about 2 or 3 more victims. Call it stubbornness, vitamins, and no Disneyland aspirations, but the three of us were able to avoid any of the symptoms.

We spent one day at Sea World and another day at the world famous San Diego Zoo. The day at Sea World started fairly warm but gradually got colder as the day progressed. We watched the jumping dolphins, the goofy sea lion show, and capped it off with the Shamu "Believe" which is really quite the production. Not exactly in a good way. Sure every show there comes with a fair amount of cheese, but this "Believe" thing goes above and beyond. It felt like church camp with an emphasis on camp. Was there a movement bringing into question the legitimacy of orcas? What really impressed us was this amazing pet show put on by a bunch of animal rescue graduates (mostly dogs and cats). They've managed to train cats! THIS show needs to be called "Believe." The highlight of Paisley's day was probably the beluga whales since they were so big and white and would swim right through her line of vision.

A few days later we checked out the terrestrial side of the animal kingdom at the zoo. DISCLAIMER: Under normal circumstances we tend to not be big fans of the caged animal scene but San Diego's got a pretty good reputation, so like most vacations, we thought we'd relax our morals a touch. We saw koala bears, panda bears, Asiatic black bears, and sun bears. Elephants, hippos, and Tim's absolute favorite: primates galore! Once again, Paisley seemed to enjoy the large pasty thing swimming right past her face (the hippos this time).

We decided to work up our turkey appetite by taking a walk (long enough to qualify as a hike) from the house to Trader Joes only to discover that it was closed for the holiday. Thanksgiving proper went on without much of a hitch despite the fact that it was Grandma Ricks' turn for illness. I'm pretty sure that we didn't see much of her all day but the turkey was tasty, potatoes perfectly mashed, some yummy cranberry stuffing, not to mention our sponsored appetizers.

The last family activity of the trip was trying to put together a picture on the beach with all the cousins. With three infants, it made us really appreciate those trained cats at Sea World. Half the family flew out on Friday, with the rest following on Saturday morning. We were the last to leave and being the only ones that didn't have to worry about luggage restrictions, we bought a cooler and packed up all the leftovers to take with us. It was like Christmas, a month early! It was a great Thanksgiving and it was fun to see all of the family and let everyone meet Paisley, even though we had to keep the sickies at safe distance.

WWJD?

Hopefully Tim won't mind me posting this because I couldn't resist - it was just too funny... Last Sunday at church Tim was making his way through the halls after class when he heard a woman next to him laugh and say to her 3 year old "No honey, that isn't Jesus." And I just thought my daughter was extra spiritual always smiling at pictures of Jesus.















(picture of Tim circa 2004)

BOO!! err... MOO?

The ballots have been tallied and just like most elections, most of the eligibles chose not to vote. But of those that did, the clear-cut winner of Halloween Costume Decision 2007 was...the cow! Which was a really good thing since we had taken Tinker Bell back to Never Never Land. Or at least Probably Next Year Land.

Paisley's first Halloween was pretty much over before it started. Everyone got dressed up in their costumes: 2 veterinarians and 1 prized baby calf. Paisley seemed a little weirded out that her mom suddenly had jet-black hair, but then again, so was Tim. We loaded up and headed over to the church for a chili cook off and trunk or treating. The parking lot was full of fairies and princess, but we're pretty sure that we arrived with the cutest piece of beef at the Clark County Fair. Even if she did end up sleeping through most of the activity. It didn't take too long to give out all of our candy and so we headed back to the house.

Having another generation for Halloween should be pretty fun. Sure, Paisley wasn't too involved this year, but it'll only get more fun from here on out. Throwing on a pair of scrubs is the number one cop out when it comes to creativity, but we've already recommitted ourselves for next year. By then Paisley will likely be able to walk under her own power, appreciate the sweet goodness of candy, and have parents that will try much harder not to eat way too much chocolate BEFORE the big bowl of chili.

Happy Nevada-neer Day

Due to the fact that Tim had last Friday off of work to commemorate the annual Nevada Day (Pioneer Day's step brother), we decided to forgo all of the parades and fireworks and celebrate in Southern Utah. Mostly, we used it as training for the big Thanksgiving trip to San Diego to see if Paisley was up for the challenge.

We loaded up the car on Friday morning and headed north. We weren't quite ready to go rugged with the tents and sleeping bags, so we made a reservation with one of the hotels just outside Zion National Park in Springdale. Flanigan's Inn had caught our eye 2 years ago when we were looking for a way to spend our one-year (dating) anniversary but we ended up having to alter our plans at the last minute due to family health circumstances. It seemed fitting that it just so happened to be the same time of year.

After our arrival and getting settled into the room, we walked over to The Spotted Dog, our favorite area restaurant, for dinner. Luckily, the pumpkin seed chicken pesto fettuccine was still on the menu. Paisley must have felt that we were enjoying ourselves a little too much, and so one of us had the benefit of enjoying the rest of the meal one-handed. We tried to eat early enough and Paisley happens to be cute enough that the Germans sitting behind us didn't seem to mind. One of the extras touted on the Flanigan's website was a nature hike that leads up to this little chakra maze and overlook. We decided to explore it, not to get all mental and centered, but mostly just to stretch the legs and see how well Paisley would tolerate her baby carrier. Turns out that she's a huge fan of hiking as she squealed in delight the whole time - but it could have just been all the dharma in the air. (It's probably heretical for a hippie to be bagging on the whole yoga thing, but like anything, it can be taken WAY too far bazaar. There's also a good chance that we're just jealous that we can't do any of the moves.)

None of the dessert menu items sounded too appleing so we took the stroller out of the car and headed out in search of some sugar delight. We ended up at Blondie's Diner for their highly recommended homemade apple pie. Appleing! Get it yet? Paisley was beyond ready for bed and we ended up eating half of our pie inside and half outside. Voluntarily, of course. We got back to the hotel room, Paisley ready for bed, and tucked into the Pack 'N Play that we borrowed and put her down for a good night's rest. Or so we had hoped. The reality was that she just wouldn't settle down and would wake up after only sleeping for a few minutes. Even when we "sacrificed" our evening by turning the TV off and going to bed at nine. That maybe bought us a few more minutes, but in the end, Paisley spent the night cuddled up with her mom. (Paisley's idea of cuddling entails a lot of kicking, scratching, and squirming, which isn't the best recipe for a solid eight.)

Morning finally arrived and after a return to The Spotted Dog for pancakes and bacon, we loaded up and headed into the park. The place was beautiful as the leaves on all the cottonwoods had turned yellow and the few oaks had turned red. Coming from an area where the seasons mean one shade of brown to another, this was pretty rewarding. The weather was perfect except for the shifted winds had moved smoke from the fires in Southern California creating a thin haze.

As good as Paisley was, no one was ready to take on Angel's Landing, so we pretty much just rode the shuttle around the park, took a short hike to the Weeping Rock, and watched the video at the visitors center. If people's reactions are a fair measurement, one of the more popular sites in the park that day was a little 3-month-old girl riding around shotgun on her mom. For the most part, she did pretty well and only acted up when she got tired or hungry - which forced us to work on our skills as discrete nursers in public.

If we had to give the whole weekend a letter grade, we'd go with a B+. Traveling until we replace our iPods is always going to suck a degree or two, so this leaves us with room for improvement but the trip was definitely well mannered enough to look forward to Thanksgiving.

Tinking Udder Pressure

It's rare that we ask for the opinions of our readers. It's even more rare that we actually care. But today is one of those moments. The quest is trying to decide on a costume for Paisley to wear for the upcoming Halloween. We've been able to narrow our choice down to two options. Here they are, Tinkerbell the fairy or Tinkerbell the cow. We want to hear from everyone. Even those of you Euros who found us by searching for Chris Isaak pictures. Perverts! Ready? Go.

Paisley - 3 months