randy's piano recital rescheduled

randy's recital has now been rescheduled. it will be held on saturday, november 1st at 5:30pm in the madsen recital hall. come one, come all.

family night in the canyon

for family night, we decided to take a drive up provo canyon to enjoy the beautiful fall colors. provo canyon is truly stunning when the colors are changing and i have missed the window of opportunity to see it the past couple years. we drove up to sundance and walked around a little bit but didn't end up staying too long because we were starving, it was a little chilly (and negligent mother that i am, i hadn't even put pants on madeleine), and it was getting dark.

it's times like these i wish that i had a better camera.

sometimes i forget that we live right at the base of some really beautiful mountains.

this week

i went to a baby consignment sale this week and got madeleine a couple of new toys. one of them is this activity table and she loves it. it's pretty obnoxious though, so i try to have her get her fill of it before randy gets home. i have a low tolerance for noisy toys, but randy's is even lower. especially when they're musical.

all dressed up for church:

e-brake

almost my entire family will admit that they use emergency brakes improperly in cars. we actually had a conversation about it at family dinner last weekend. for the most part, this just means that we don't use them. and the main reason for that is that when we do use them, we usually forget to take them off and end up driving around for long distances with the emergency brake on. this renders the brake useless eventually, so why use it in the first place? and so the cycle goes on.

well, today, i went for a run with madeleine. i have never been a huge fan of running, but it has become more enjoyable for me lately. today, however, i could not seem to enjoy my run. i felt like my feet were dragging, every block of my route seemed longer than usual, and the baby jogger felt heavier than usual.

you can see where this is going...

while i was pumping up one of the tires on the jogger this morning, i put the stroller brakes on so that it wouldn't roll away. and then i forgot to take the brakes off. and when i got back to the house after my run and went to put the brakes on while i got the garage open, i realized that i had left the brakes on for my entire run. no wonder i had a rough go of it.

nine months old!

madeleine is nine months old today. to celebrate, she had her nine month appointment with the doctor. no shots this time, just a quick finger prick that she didn't even notice. she did attempt to eat the bandaid immediately after they put it on her finger though. she was almost successful, but i managed to fish it out. here are the stats from the appointment (compared to her last appointment) for the two of you that are interested:

weight:
9 months - 20.02 lbs, 74th percentile
6 months - 18.01 lbs, 87th percentile

height:
9 months - 28.75", 82nd percentile
6 months - 27.75", 98th percentile

head circumference:
9 months - 18", 91st percentile
6 months - 16.75", 53rd percentile

so, my baby is slimming down. compared to the rest of the population at least, not that she's actually losing weight. i attribute this to her constant movement. it turns out that her head is getting bigger compared to the rest of the population though. i attribute this to her constant intellectual enlargement.

an original composition

with randy's musical talents, it is no surprise that he is already working on madeleine's musical training. randy has shown me daily exercises to do with her on the piano to help her develop perfect pitch, and then i also let her have play time on the piano at least once a day where i hold her on my lap and let her pound away. she loves this.

lately, she has figured out that she can take her musical training into her own hands as well. she climbs up the leg of the piano, stands on her tip-toes and reaches up to the keys with one hand and then plays the keys until she loses her balance and has to stop.

i managed to sneak a brief video of her playing, which is difficult to do, due to her recent fascination with the camera.

a few pictures

here are a few pictures from last week. they're not the best. i have not been as good about getting out the camera lately, and when i do, madeleine rushes over to try and touch it. hence, the close-ups.

one of madeleine's new favorite activities: looking at her own reflection in the oven. of course, she has to pull the towels down to get a full view.

her hair is finally getting long enough to put little clips in again. it's difficult to get them in, and they don't stay in too long, but i can't resist. this one went into elder's quorum with randy and did not return.

j. crew outlet

j. crew is opening an outlet store in park city tomorrow. i cannot tell you how excited i am about this. now, if only i had money to spend...

family photos

last week, we participated in a family photo shoot with jonathan canlas, as part of a fundraiser for the nielson family. i actually don't know the nielson family, but i've been looking at jonathan's blog for a long time and love his work (especially his weddings). when he decided to do this fundraiser, i figured it was a perfect opportunity to help out and get some great family pictures at the same time. jonathan was really fun to work with and a week later, already has our pictures up. since i don't want to steal any of the images, i'm not going to even post a teaser here (so tempting though, posts are so much better with pictures), but if you want to take a look at some of his favorites, you can visit his blog post. if you want to see all of the images, you can go here and click on "peck family - nie nie benefit." the pictures were taken on 9/11, that should help you find it.

happy constitution day!

i just returned home from a debate put on by the college of humanities for constitution day. it was a debate on whether the current bush administration has exceeded the executive powers granted under the constitution. it was very well done and the speakers were all very prepared and respectful. i went because i'm a geek like that, but mostly because professor fred gedicks, one of my favorite professors from law school, was speaking and i couldn't resist.

i got there right before it started and the auditorium was packed. at first i was excited that so many people were interested, but then as i noticed several disinterested space takers, i realized that many of these people were probably there to get extra credit for a class. gross. i wanted to yank a kid's cell-phone from his hand, hurl it across the room and yell, "truly interested people were turned away for you to sit and text your friend the whole time?!?"

aside from that brief mental outburst, i enjoyed the debate a great deal, mostly because of professor gedicks. i get giddy every time i hear him speak. it was that was every time i had class from him. i don't even agree with a lot of what he says, but he is so brilliant and articulate that i can't help but be inspired when i hear him speak. if nothing else, i always left his class thinking, "man! i wish i were smarter and better at articulating my ideas." as i was walking out of the room, i heard a few people talking and one of them pointed at professor gedicks and said, "that guy was awesome." the others nodded their heads and i had to restrain myself from saying something ridiculous like, "i KNOW that guy!"

i'm such a nerd.

motherhood

i've been thinking a lot about motherhood lately (for obvious enough reasons). i think that a lot of people think that i am crazy for being a full-time stay-at-home mom. i just finished my legal degree a little over a year ago, i had a successful and very enjoyable clerkship that i could have extended or used as a springboard into a high-paying and fulfilling job, i could easily justify working to put randy through school at least, but i'm staying at home instead?

first of all, let me say that education is never wasted. i feel like my legal education has made me a better person in so many more ways than a means to a legal career end. the critical thinking skills, experiences that i had in and through law school, and the practical experience that i have gained in legal matters will serve me and my family no matter what i do. second of all, i am not saying that women who do work, or put their husbands through school, or whatever, are doing the wrong thing.

but yes, i am staying home to be a mother and to care for my family full-time. this was not a rash, or ignorant decision. i have done the working mom thing, so i know what it is like and i know what i am giving up. but in the end, i chose motherhood because i feel like that is where i am supposed to be and where i am making the biggest difference. david o. mckay said, "no success can compensate for failure in the home," and i firmly believe that. i have been in the court system and seen what results when parents neglect their duties to put the time in and raise productive children with good values (obviously, not all wayward children are a product of parental neglect). i know that "the family is central to the creator's plan for the eternal destiny of his children." (from "the family: a proclamation to the world") parents must take responsibility for raising their children in righteousness and cannot rely on society to pick up where they are unwilling to fulfill their parental duties.

i am grateful for my own mother, who decided to sacrifice to be home with us and never made motherhood seem like a burden. i know that i am the person that i am because of my mom. she was there at the crossroads of my life. i remember fondly coming home and sitting at the kitchen table with my mom and telling her about my day, as if she had nothing better to do. because of her loving and constant attention in my life, i had high self-esteem and was able to accomplish more in schooling and other efforts. i hope to provide this constancy for my own children and feel like i would not be able to do it as well if i were trying to balance a career along with it.

i wish that more women felt comfortable deciding to stay home. i think that we feel a lot of pressure from society to be career women and to be "equal" with men in that arena. i have felt that pressure externally and internally. it feels good to be successful in a job, to have visible contribution and to receive recognition for your intellect and talents. but i also know that women have specially capabilities in nurturing children. i don't think that's an archaic value that society somehow imposed on us and i am ignorant for believing.

i am grateful for randy, who is willing to work hard and support us while still going to school. i know this isn't an easy balance for him, but he does it so that i can be home with madeleine. i love being home with madeleine. yes, there are days when i crave adult interaction at the end of the day and bombard randy when he steps in the door. i now have to take an active role in my own continuing education. but it's all worth it.

like i said before, this is not to say that mothers who work are doing the wrong thing either. nor does it mean that i will not consider opportunities that may come around requiring me to balance motherhood with work outside the home. i know that there are important things that i can contribute outside of my home as well. there are times and seasons in our lives. it only means that i will be very prayerful and careful in making those decisions. for now, i chose to be home.

another week goes by

no big events to take pictures of this week, just some cute ones of madeleine hanging out.

this is where you can find madeleine most of the time - standing up on our computer desk chair.

i just love these little legs.

this is how madeleine looks when she is really tired in her high chair. she sinks down as low as she can and uses as little effort as possible to keep her bottle in her mouth.

tomato soup

i just made this recipe with tomatoes from my own garden and it was delicious. we had it with havarti grilled cheese sandwiches - a perfect combination. some of the comments on the recipe website said that they left the cream out, but i would suggest using the cream because it tempered the strong flavor a little. also, i didn't put it through a sieve and it was fine, but i could also see the benefits of straining it if you want a really smooth texture. our blender got it really smooth on its own so i didn't worry about it. bon appetit!

recipe found via here.

pictures from last week

madeleine has just hit the phase where she can pull herself up into a standing position on chairs and other furniture. unfortunately, she's not great at it and is falling a lot. i'm close enough to make sure there's no major injury but i'm just sure that she's going to end up with a huge bruise on her face right before our family pictures this week.

fresh produce

have i mentioned that i have a love affair with fresh produce? currently, i'm getting my fix at the provo farmer's market:

and from my very own garden:

doesn't it just look delicious?

the diving bell and the butterfly

this is just a plug for those who are local to utah. byu's international cinema is playing "the diving bell and the butterfly" next week (see schedule here). my cousin david, film connoisseur, raved about this film and randy and i will definitely be going to see it. the international cinema is free, and a great feature at byu. if any of you are interested in seeing it with us, let me know. we'd love to have company.

dogs

i hate dogs.* i was out on a run with madeleine this morning and this large dog (i don't trouble myself to learn breed names) ran right up to the jogger and started barking really loudly and really actually scared me that it might hurt madeleine. of course, madeleine started screaming. what REALLY ticked me off though, is that the owner was standing about 20 feet away and didn't say anything for about 30 seconds (a long time when you have a dog barking at your baby, or quite frankly, you). she finally said, "(insert stupid dog name here)! get over here!" but made absolutely no effort to come over and restrain her dog. it really chapped my hide.


*i realize that this may offend some of you. it would probably be more appropriate if i said something like, "i hate large dogs with bad owners," but it's my rant and i can say it the way i want to. besides, it is probably most accurate as stated.

death of a grape tomato plant

i routinely go to my backyard to work in the garden and am greeted by this sight:

my grape tomato plant, turned over on its side. my grape tomato plant is huge. not only is it tall, but it is a thick, tangled mass as well. it is unwieldy, and despite my best efforts at tying it down strategically, i have finally had to resort to propping it up with a stick:

this is not wholly effective either though, and the plant still frequently tips over, only less so now. i finally decided that i have had enough with this plant. maybe if it produced a lot of delicious fruit, it would be worth the hassle, but it doesn't. it took forever to fruit because it took so much of its energy to increase in size, and although has finally started producing fruit,the tomatoes are tiny and not too flavorful. it steals sunlight and space from the plants around it and i finally decided that i had had it with this grape tomato plant.

so, i dug it up.

and now it is gone. and my basil will actually see the sun again.

before



after

madeleine patiently looked on as i felled the tree.

crawling videos

here are two videos of madeleine crawling. in one of them, i caught her actually crawling up on her hands and knees for a few steps. this is new as of today. for the most part, she just army crawls, like she is in the other video.

baby biter biscuit

we've been busy this week with baby bootcamp - teaching madeleine to sleep again after a month of poor sleeping habits while traveling, teething, etc. because of this, i did not take too many pictures this week.

madeleine really took off with solid foods this week and loves cheerios. i also bought her some "baby biter biscuits," which she loves. the only problem is, they have the midas touch - everything that they touch turns to baby biter biscuit. here are some pictures of madeleine enjoying a morning snack: