2009

January 1, 2010

One of our New Year’s Resolutions: catch up on the “Mudge Messenger”. Here’s the backlog—might take you all year to read it!


May and June 2009

May and June were busy with visits from Simon’s parents and Jennifer Wadsack and the kids. Jackson started up soccer and he was much more focused this year, though his enthusiasm went up and down. He even scored the first goal of the season!

With school ending and two kids at home, Simon needed some time to himself, understandably. He took himself out to eat at Outback but just after he was seated decided he didn’t really want to eat there. He snuck away only to realize that he had left his glasses on the table which explained why everything was blurry when he was driving. He ate at Outback afterall—a bit sheepishly.

Jackson and Lauren are playing together more and more often. Jackson will even deign to play princes and princesses with Lauren on occasion. But he is much more likely to play if they are playing unusual prince and princess or invisible prince and princess (no dolls needed—just the clothes).

One week Jackson planned family night spontaneously. He came up with a story about Jesus that he had learned at church, led us through games and basically took care of the whole thing. It was very impressive. The next time Lauren tried to take over and told us a long drawn out story about something or other. Jackson listened patiently while shooting me looks behind her back and chuckling, “The lesson is supposed to be about Jesus!”. It’s nice that he’s learning not to correct her (at least not ALL the time).

We finally had the Ultrasound! It’s a boy! Lauren scrunched up her nose in disgust and with clenched fists and a foot stomp for emphasis declared, “I am NOT going to help take care of him!” Jackson’s response: “Oh, I can teach him how to play “Call of Duty” (a video game his mother thinks is not really appropriate for a seven year old, let alone a baby). Jackson did realize that the baby wouldn’t be able to play right away, “but he can still TRY, Mom”.

Love,
Jo, Simon, Jackson and Lauren Mudge


July 2009

It’s been a bad hair summer. Simon has been sporting what my boss calls his “Alexander Solzenheisten look”, consisting of long hair and a beard turned goatee turned chin-whiskers. Simon laughingly calls it his intellectual look. People had to stare at him a bit to figure out who he was when he showed up at church one week clean shaven, short-haired, and dressed in a suit.

When Simon shaved off his facial hair, he left the electric shaver out and Jackson thought he’d have a go. He gave himself a reverse mohawk and a small patch off the side before he started to panic and came to get me. He absolutely did not want to shave the rest of his hair to match “the fuzz” but sported hats for a while. His favorite was a nylon stocking he dubbed his “gnome” hat. Luckily, his hair is pretty much the same color as his scalp so the fuzz is hard to see but he is still very sensitive about it.

Lauren, who is nearly four, still has had no need for a haircut and is not happy about it. “I don’t like myself because my hair is short,” she tells us. We have been trying to prepare her so that she knows that her hair will not magically become long on her fourth birthday. She is happy to learn that her mother’s hair was quite similar, though I have more than made up for it since.

We enjoyed the 4th of July in Colorado with Connie, Alex, Valerie and Sarah. The kids were shy at first but quickly took over Valerie and Sarah, who were very patient with them. We enjoyed riding the train and wading in the creek at the park and doing our own little fireworks show. We were also able to meet up with Brian (my brother) and Joanna for a very nice breakfast.

I took the kids to California where their grandparents kindly wore themselves out looking after them while I went to a conference. We shipped Simon off to see his friend, Dave, who not only provided some needed R&R but paid for a badly needed haircut as well. I, too, came home much more rested—hadn’t realized how stressed out I had been.


August 2009

I had a wonderful birthday. The best gifts were homemade—drawings from both kids plus a ball, bat and net Lauren made by crumpling up paper. Jackson “groomed” me—combing my hair, filling a pot with water to soak my feet in, and rubbing aloe on my pregnant belly. Jackson appointed himself my personal helper and Lauren followed suit, bowing deeply anytime she did anything. Jackson wrote me out a “LISNS FOR GONING Me. thank YOU!” (ie. “liscense for joining me”—in other words, I was allowed to be his friend) and Lauren presented me with a sword which Jackson quickly decided was a perfect gift because I am a strong woman. Finally, they said a special prayer for me. It was a wonderful birthday.

My parents watched the kids and two of their cousins (Trevor and Hanna) for two weeks before we returned to rescue them. They went down to the cabin while we worked on getting the house into shape and reconnecting. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

In spite of everything going on this summer, the kids completed the summer reading program at the library and Jackson won the drawing for a new bike!


September 2009

Jackson says some pretty amazing things. “Babbo, did you marry Mama because she is pretty or because she is a mad scientist?”. Both, apparently. Turns out “fighting bad guys” is all Jackson ever really wanted to do. And he wishes he had 100 brothers, though he told his school class he had a mere 65 sisters and 3 brothers.

Lauren can come up with some doozies as well. Just as her mother used to exclaim, “You’re not the boss of me”, Lauren scrunched up her nose and told me, “You’re not the boss, Jesus is the boss!”. Hard to argue with that but luckily, Jesus agreed with me in this instance. Another time, she was not yelling at her father, she was simply “talking mean”.

Lauren had a unicorn filled birthday. She had friends her age and friends Jackson’s age that she plays with at the park after school. They made glittery unicorn horns instead of party hats, ate unicorn cake, did pinatas and searched for unicorn (and other) finger puppets hidden under a pot by tapping a wooden spoon while blindfolded. She had a wonderful time. Later we had a family party, going out for pizza and a movie (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”).

School is now in full swing. Everything is going well (except a small fight Jackson got into on the playground after school hours). We’ve even hosted the class gerbils, Sparky and Jingle, for a weekend!


October 2009

October flew by with a visit from Simon’s parents over Halloween. Jackson was a ghost which worked well at school but by the time we headed to the church party he decided he no longer wanted to be one. He nearly pulled off a last minute artist outfit but decided it didn’t quite work so he went as a sulking grump in a funk instead, refusing to “trunk or treat”. He soon perked up, though, and dove into the carnival games, getting more holes-in-one on the putting green than anyone else around. Nainie (Simon’s mother) won cakes on the cake walk not once but twice, though none of the rest of us could ever win, no wonder how many times we did it.

Lauren was a bat for Halloween at the library story time earlier in the week but eagerly switched to a ballerina when Nainie gave her a leotard along with a hand-knitted sweater and matching leg warmers and headband. Simon was a bookworm with book covers and a worm pinned to his outfit. His dad was Diego Maradona, complete with the “Hand of God”—a picture of a soccer ball taped to his hand. Lauren lent her grandmother a princess crown, refusing to let her go without a costume. I dressed up as a pumpkin. Or rather, Lauren and I dressed up the BABY (ie. my belly) as a jack-o-lantern, complete with a pacifier.

Earlier in the month, Simon went to Mike and Lisa’s wedding in Sedona, AZ (Mike is a friend from grad school). I decided to forgo the 6 hour drive each way, being 8 months pregnant. Except that he drove down one day and back the next, it was a great trip and a good chance to catch up with Mike as well as other friends, including Mike and Jen Bryant.


November 2009



Our baby boy arrived on Tuesday, November 24, 2009. He was a week late and had to be induced, arriving one hour after they broke my water. Simon was more nervous than I was anticipating the upcoming induction and I finally told him he should get an epidural to help him relax. Simon and my mom were both at the birth but the kids couldn’t even come visit their new brother because the hospital barred admittance of any nonpatient under 14 due to the unusual flu season. They released me after 24 hours and the kids were waiting in the car. They brushed me aside and went straight for the baby. Lauren, her face bright blue with face paint from the children’s museum, could barely get out of her car seat, she was so excited and bouncing up and down. Jackson looked at him in awe, “Oh, he is cute! He is super cute!”. It was love at first site for both Jackson and Lauren. By the time we arrived home, Lauren had dubbed him “Cookies”. As the kids say, “not BIG cookies, LITTLE cookies”. True to form, we are taking our time finding the right name for our little man. The kids are great with the baby, if a little overwhelming in their love. Lauren has decided that it doesn’t matter whether the baby is a boy or a girl. We are happy but exhausted. My mom managed to pull off a Thanksgiving dinner and since then we have been wonderfully inundated with meals from friends. Thanks, everyone!






December 2009

We’ve gone through a lot of names—Aidan (by which he was known when in the womb), Oliver, Carter, and Percival among others. Okay, Percival was only considered by Simon. He is still called “Carter the Farter” or “Cooper the Pooper” by the kids at appropriate times. We’d let the baby weigh in, telling him, for instance, to raise his left arm if he wanted to be named Carter and to raise his right arm if he wanted to be named Poopy Face. The kids would laugh hysterically when he raised his right arm while the baby would look at them with a puzzled look on his face. Jackson’s school class has been daily monitoring our progress in picking a name.

We’ve finally settled on Lachlan or at least Lauren, Jackson and I have. It means “from the land of the lakes”, hearkening back to his Norwegian ancestry. His middle name is Kale (pronounced KAH-lay). It’s the Hawaiian version of “Charles”, honoring his great grandfather, Charles, who spent something like 40 years of his life in Hawaii. He’s got the same calm, easy going personality as his great grandfather and really is an easy baby (as babies go, that is—we still feel quite harried!).

We’ve been keeping a low profile with all the sickness going around. We did make my work’s Christmas party at Rio Chama and showed off the baby there while tallying votes for the baby’s name.

The kids love holding the baby, bathing the baby, burping the baby, and laughing at the baby. The other day Simon tried to kiss the baby, who, rather than puckering up, spit up in Simon’s mouth. The kids still can’t recall it without rolling around on the floor in laughter. They love when Simon does a ventriloquist act, speaking for the baby.

It’s been fun watching the baby grow and change. He’ll smile at us and has rolled over a time or two when he accidentally jerks his muscles in just the right sequence.

It’s been wonderful to be home over the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas complete with two excited kids who wanted Santa to bring just about everything and one completely clueless kid who wanted, as the kids say, “milk, milk, oh and perhaps some more milk” for Christmas. Jackson and Lauren managed to sleep until 6:30 and called me in to see if they could get up and just LOOK at the presents even though the sun wasn’t up yet. That was the end of that and I counted myself lucky that they had slept that long while Simon looked around confused wondering why he was up before dawn. Lauren, after seeing the presents and opening her stocking, exclaimed that we really should have done something for Santa. I assured her that I had made sure Santa got some chocolate—didn’t get around to Christmas cookies this year. I love being Santa! (and not because of the chocolate).

Simon once again has had a stellar reading year, completing 75 books this year (second only to Lauren)! He’ll often tote around a book so that he can read if he gets stuck, for instance, in an elevator. He mentioned the elevator once and the kids thought it was hilarious and never let him forget it.

On New Year’s Eve we all wrote down our resolutions. Jackson decided to take out the trash each day. Lauren chose to clean up the entire house by herself every day. She’s starting to rethink her resolution.

Phew! I think we are done. Happy New Year!

Love,
Jo, Simon, Jackson, Lauren, and Lachlan