Get Mugged in Atascadero!

So, I ran into Spencer's a few weeks (months?) ago to buy some gluten-free cake mix, and I saw the most AWESOME things! Atascadero mugs with pictures of OUR famous stuff on them, like the bronze tiger at the zoo and the wood nymphs!

I didn't buy them at the time because they were a little pricey for what they were, but I came back to the car and told Brian all about them, and he was really excited (but not excited enough to go get them).

So I recently went to Spencer's again (because Vons doesn't carry soba noodles!), and brought two of the mugs home with me. Can you believe they were STILL there!?!

A day or two later I had this BRILLIANT idea:


The first two people who come to stay with us at our new house get to take home a mug*.


It was Brian's genius idea to call it "get mugged in Atascadero" . . .

. . . sorry to those who have actually been mugged in Atascadero. I bet . . . if you threw one of these bad boys at an attacker . . . great weapon. |:

* Does not apply to locals. Limit one per party.

13 Month Blog

Well, today marks 13 months for the "E-Man," and I can already tell that the month markers after one year are just not as exciting as the ones before. I was the only one to remember, and that's only because I have this blog to write.

But it's been a VERY exciting month!

He's been growing and changing so much.

The BIG milestone this month is: HE'S WALKING!!

Well, he's not full-on, fluently walking around the house, but he has good bursts of walking before he falls on his bottom, starts crawling or doing his elephant walk thing. We've counted 12 steps in one stretch, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's done more when we weren't counting. I'm the biggest sceptic of the bunch, and even I concede, yup, he's walking now.

It was probably three days ago that we all started saying to each other, "yeah, he's walking. He's a walker now, no denying it."

I think the real indicator is that walking is becoming a preferred mode of transport. Not THE preferred mode, but it's now tied with crawling and elephant walking. {:

We now have a BIG "reader" on our hands. He loves having books read to him. He can occupy himself for tens of minutes at a time looking at his books. And the newest and cutest thing he's doing is bringing books to us so we can read to him. His favorite book right now is a book about trucks that has little sliding "doors" in it that you slide to reveal things. Although it's about trucks, he calls it "caw! caw!" Trucks are basically cars, guys.

Besides getting books for us, I've also discovered that he will "fetch" things for you. It's not just so I can stay sitting on the couch, he's LEARNING!

I'll say, "can you bring me a car?" And he'll go find and bring back a car or truck toy.

I can also say, "bring me a ball." And sometimes he'll bring me a ball, but most of the time he goes to the toy that has balls and air and the air blows the balls around and there's music!! And he just get's distracted with that, understandably.

When he looks at his books, all the people in the books are "dada" or "deedee" or "da dee," and all the animals are "caw caw," and all the things with wheels are "caw caw," but somehow there seems to be a difference between the animal "caw" and the car "caw." I just can't translate it to written words.

Even though all animals make the same sound, if you ask him to point out a "duck" on a page, he can. He's also started identifying colors in his truck book. But I don't know how clear the concept is to him.

He's great at mimicking things people say and do. He's started mimicking the "bye bye" sound when he waves bye bye. But it's just the sound, not the "buh" part.

He knows what "hot" is, even though he's never touched anything super hot (not yet!), but he'll put his hand out and say, "ha" in kind of a breathy voice.

When I tell him I have to put his socks on, he'll sit with his feet out to help with the process. He knows what shoes are, but he's more interested in putting our adult shoes on his feet than wearing his own shoes.

Doctor Patterson was right about more and more "tantrums." Not that his tantrums are very bad, but if you take him away from something he likes (or take something away from him), he'll start crying and making this high pitched squeal. It'd be funny if he weren't so pathetic.

He's also gotten a lot more affectionate, hugging and "kissing," which has gone from an open mouth on your face to a closed mouth on your face. Progress!

The other day, he had pooped, and someone said, "did you poop?" and he reached down and grabbed his diaper. Since then, I've been making a point to talk about his poop when he does it. Maybe we'll have an easier time potty training if he's super aware of is bodily functions.

Since we're back to physical things, last night he climbed up on the couch by himself! Totally surprised us. He's been climbing the stairs for a while. I'm embarrassed to admit, he once climbed all the way up the staircase looking for his daddy while I was distracted for a couple minutes. Fast guy!

He hasn't been teething as much lately, so the sleep has been GOOD around here. Last night was actually a bit of a drag, but it was the first day it's been over 90 all spring (it was 97, supposedly).

The most dramatic, and emotional, thing that's been happening for me lately is he's begun to wean himself. He hasn't stopped nursing by any means. But I can just tell he's not taking in as much milk as he used to (I can just tell!! *grumble*grumble* . . . for multiple reasons).

It's good, though, and I hope the process happens gradually and easily for both of us.

Here's to another wonderful month!

Kitchen Inspiration Board

A few of my friends have asked lately (on Facebook) for a kitchen update.

Truthfully, what's happening in the kitchen right now is very exciting for us, but not something I really want to blog about. Gas, plumbing, electrical, drywall . . . fun!!

So I put together a little "inspiration board" for the room, and I thought I would explain it.

If you're somebody who gave us something AWESOME for our wedding, and it's not featured on the page, I'm sorry! We haven't seen most of our stuff in almost a year (and some things we actually packed away after the wedding and have never used). We're both really excited to start unpacking and discover things we haven't thought about since December 2009!

1. Possible paint for the walls. The purple is for the kitchen, the peach for the dining area, and the teal for the living room. For some reason Brian and I talked about doing a purple kitchen, and it kinda stuck. I like that we don't really have any items that are purple, so it can't clash with anything.

2. After we talked about a purple kitchen, I went looking for fabric samples, and I found this lovely vintage-y piece. I'm thinkin' . . . curtains?

3. Since I saw this clock on Mod Cloth, I've wanted it for the kitchen. It's retro looking, I like the colors. Then I realized the colors of the clock will coordinate with the colors in the rest of the "great room." Very cool. I bought it this week, and it's being shipped to us now!

4. These are, like, the cheapest lights at the hardware store, but I think they'd give just the right feeling in the room.

5. Our IKEA faucet. Modern, getting away from the country-ness of the cabinets.

6. Beech wood countertops

7. Our green Kitchen Aid tea kettle

8. Our Hues N Brews tea pot

9. Our Stat IKEA cabinet doors. We chose these because, well . . . price. But beyond that, I wanted something that could feel retro. I checked out a bunch of books about ranch houses and mid century living, and most kitchens back then had completely flat cabinet doors, no embellishment. But, for me, when I look at flat doors, they always seem like they're not shut all the way. Or some are shut and some aren't. I think it's just the perspective, that there's nothing to use as reference for the perspective. So I noticed that some mid century kitchens had cabinets with ridges, like these, so we went with 'em. Now the goal is to make sure things don't start looking too country, because I know that's the objective of these doors, and I can't let it happen!! Or not much anyway. {:

10. We haven't bought knobs and pulls yet, but I'm thinking something like this. Silvery metal. Something small and circular for the knobs, and those bin pull things.

11. This is our owl wall hanging. I wish I had a better picture, but it's packed away.

12. Utensil holder. Not the exact one, but pretty darn close.

13. Our beautiful bowls from William Sonoma

14. I have a Natalie Dee shirt framed. It says, "let's eat sandwiches!" The frame is black.

15. I have a bunch of Fiestaware from my Grandma Fay. Not sure which pieces or what colors. It's all at my parent's house in my old room. {:

Fun! fun! I'll update the image if things change!

1 Year Check-Up

Everett went to see Doctor Patterson today.

Same ol' same ol', except we had to be there at 8:30! Which was hard for me, but we made it! . . . with a little help from the grans. {:

His stats:

Height: 31 inches = 77%
Weight: 20 pounds 15 ounces = 18%
Head Circumference = 47.2 cm = 68%

It's funny, the last two times, Doctor Patterson has given me this talk which goes something like this: "All babies are different. Some babies are tall and thin, which is what we expect with parents like you. There's no need to worry about his weight. You can tell by looking at him that he's healthy."

It's like he thinks because Everett's in the 18th percentile for weight, I'm going to run out and force-feed him hamburgers. If Doctor Patterson knew me better, he'd know not to be worried, that I don't make him eat when he's not hungry, that in fact, I'm happy he likes playing more than eating, and that I can see he's perfectly healthy (and I told him that bit about not making him eat when he's obviously not interested), but I know he just has to give that spiel to everyone who has a skinny baby.

After examining him closer, he called his overall health marvelous!

After letting him play with the little measuring tape, he said he examined it like an 18-month-old. He called him intellectual and cerebral. Yup! Sign this kid up for GATE already! Haha.

After looking at his teeth, he said he has the teeth of a 20-month-old. Chomp, chomp.

Doctor Patterson also let me know that from this point on, tantrums are totally normal and expected. Joy.

Poor baby had to get three shots, a TB test, and an iron level test. His iron level was a little low (even though we've been giving him beef!), but she said that may have been because she didn't take that much blood. We have to go in on Friday to get the TB test examined.

He's been a teeny bit cranky since we got home. I have him a little Tylenol before his nap, and he's sleeping well now.

What else is there to report?

He's walked a total of 6 steps in a row, but he still prefers crawling to walking. Fine by me.

He's pretty obsessed with cars right now. When he sees or hears anything that might be a car it's, "caw! caw!"

He's been doing this tongue thing where he sticks it out repeatedly, but that way where the tip brushes along the top of his mouth and teeth on the way out, and he makes a silly little sound.

We've been anticipating summer with great excitement since it's been so cold lately he usually needs to wear socks and shoes. And yesterday was the first day he's used his pool in months, and even yesterday it was barely warm enough.

We're going to try to let his hair grow out a little and get shaggy. We'll see how that works.

I'll think of more to blog about for the 13 month blog!

What's in a Name?

**I decided to keep my maiden name out of this post. To keep my whole name from being searchable? I hope it's a good idea. Where I had once typed my maiden name, I replaced it with (censored)**

I had already started composing this blog when, during her visit to Atascadero for Everett's first birthday, Brian's sister Katie asked about the name "Everett." I wish I remember exactly what she said, but she said something to the effect of, "where did 'Everett' come from?" I said it was a traditional/classic name; she didn't know that. I mentioned C. Everett Coop, and she didn't know him. Mind you, Katie is a VERY smart lady and quite worldly, so it dawned on me that it was quite important that I finish this blog and get it posted!




Everett's full name is Everett Rulin (censored) Cisneros.


The Everett part is pretty straight forward. It's not a family name or a name we'd heard much (besides C. Everett Coop--the former Surgeon General of the U.S.). It's just a name we found in our baby name book (The Baby Name Wizard). We liked it, and it fit all our criteria: traditional (it has existed for over 20 years); In fact, some may call it old-fashioned (which is great!); non-biblical; unusual enough that he won't run into a lot of Everetts; but common enough that people understand it's a real name and know how to spell it.


Here's the meaning I took from Behind the Name (behindthename.com): It's English, derived from the name EVERARD meaning "brave boar," derived from the Germanic elements eber "wild boar" and hard "brave, hardy." The Normans introduced it to England, where it joined the Old English cognate Eoforheard.


So English and German. Cool.


Everett was actually the name Brian fell in love with on our "short list." What did he like most about it? That he could imagine yelling it, "Everett! Get over here!!" Haha. We have a friend (who Brian grew up with) named Garrett, and Brian clearly remembers Garrett's mom yelling, "Garrett!!" and he thought it sounded pretty good yelled. I also appreciate the Garrett comparison because it's proof that the "ett" ending doesn't have to sound feminine. I never think of Garrett's name as feminine.


I also agreed with Brian's top pick of Everett because it went well with my chosen middle name, Rulin. I'll admit that my favorite first name didn't work with Rulin because it ended with an "m."


I also felt that If I was so adamant about the middle name, it was only fair of me to go with Brian's favorite first name. If we ever have a girl, I'll probably get a little more emotional about that name. Also, if we ever have another boy, we'll go with my favorite (which Brian likes too). {:




Rulin is a family name. Simon Rulin Bruesch was my grandmother Ena's older brother, but everyone (at least in our family) knew him by his middle name.


I once asked my Aunt Sue where she thought the name Rulin came from. She guessed her grandmother may have spelled the name Roland incorrectly. She was not convinced that it had any special significance.

I actually never met him, even though I was 12 when he passed. He lived in Oklahoma, and I guess neither he nor my parents liked to travel much. It's unfortunate, but I have to assume that we wouldn't have had a strong connection if I had met him at a young age anyway.


I never got the impression that my grandmother was especially close to her brother, but she definitely looked up to him and respected him immensely.


We was a doctor, professor, neuroscientist, and the kind of person who knew what he wanted to do from a young age and pursued it until he got what he wanted.


He spent his career teaching at The University of Tennessee, and there's a great write-up about him on their website.


He had polio as a child, and his parents moved the family out to California to get him treatment at Stanford (which is how my grandmother ended up going to college in California, which is where she met my grandfather!).


Rulin looked upon my grandmother's family with fondness and generosity, and we wanted to honor him appropriately with a name.


It's also just a COOL NAME: Rulin!




Everett's second middle name is (censored), my maiden name. Brian and I both took (censored) as our second middle name when we got married. I couldn't get rid of (censored), it's just such a part of my identity. Brian actually suggested I keep my name as it was, but as I was pregnant and thinking about the name of my future-children, I wanted to have the same last name as my children.


I wanted to eliminate my middle name (Elizabeth) all together and just be Christina (censored) Cisneros, but Brian wouldn't get rid of Phillip and just be Brian (censored) Cisneros. So even though he was in favor of neither of us changing, I kept Elizabeth out of principle, and we both ended up with four names.




And Cisneros is just Brian's last name: boring!  It means "swan-killer" or something like that. Just kidding (about the boring--it really means "swan-killer" or "swan-farmer" . . . maybe the equivalent of the English "Swanson"?). It's a Spanish name, but I've heard that it also pops up in Italian, which is cool.