Oden Adventures

It seems that somehow another month has gone by; our little ladybug is five whole months old today!

Here she is, in this beautiful dress our friend Amy gave us...

It seems that most of our pictures these days are being taken on the playmat, which may seem boring & redundant to the viewers, but it means a lot for the residents of this home: that we are out playing in the living room, and no longer held captive in the bedroom by the heat.  Hallelujah!

Some sweet shots in the swing...

We've also been spending some time out in "Daddy's office" with the bouncy turtle/duck seat that Grandma G. sent us.  Vianne seems to really enjoy this change of scenery (and so does Mama!).

On Friday & Saturday, Vianne developed several new tricks.  She began intentionally "making raspberries", as they say, with her lips; figured out that her thumb could be sucked independently from her other fingers; found some new soprano octaves in her vocal range (not our favorite discovery); and flipped twice for Mama from front to back.

...but now as the teacher!

Today Patrick begins teaching as an Adjunct Professor of Theology at Azusa Pacific University!  He will be teaching three sections of Theology & The Christian Life for APU and one section of Orientation to Theological Studies for Fuller Seminary, beginning later this month.

I, on the other hand, gave notice at my Fuller job yesterday and will not be returning after maternity leave; I'm staying home to take care of Vianne and hopefully flesh out some creative endeavors.  We are taking a great leap of faith this fall with this decision, but are wholeheartedly relying on God to catch us with His benevolent provision.

Playing with her piano...

...and her belly!

The heat wave has often brought on this posture...though Daddy often has his shirt off, too...and both sporting the "I've had enough of this heat!" facial expression...

Playing with the tiger from our friend Autumn.  Soon after this shot, she discovered an important feature about the playmat...

On Sunday, she turned 20 weeks old!  It was a special day because we went to Altadena Baptist Church to celebrate with our friends Glenn & Shanti who just finalized the adoption of their daughter and son.  For the occasion, Vianne showed off her French denim jumper (another from the French collection Aunt Vera picked out!) and we took these sweet photos later at home.

Week 19, Vianne continued to advance in the toy-grabbing/hand-utilising realms.  It's been fun to finally pull out her toys (all of which were gifts from family & friends) and see her start to use and enjoy them. 

A little video showcasing her skills.  Doesn't seem like much unless you're thinking about how a couple of weeks ago, her hands flailed randomly or lay by her side :-).

Another week of 100+ temps, we tried our best to play in the living room in the morning before holing up in the bedroom or escaping the house entirely. (So, the recurring schpiel about very few pictures...)

One such escape occurred on Saturday, when we met up with V's grandparents in Irvine and enjoyed milkshakes at Ruby's and a breezy afternoon in the park. 

When Mama & Daddy attempted to refold the kid shelter, hilarity ensued...

 "What are my crazy parents doing??!"

During Vianne's eighteenth week of life, she turned four months old, with a special photo shoot featured in a different post.  She also had her four month checkup, at which she weighed in at 14 lbs, 3 oz, and 24 3/4" long!  We barely survived a disowning when we let the nurse give V her shots, but in the end she decided to keep us.

This week, the huge heat wave of 100+ degree temperatures hit our area.  The new place is unbearably hot at those temperatures, so we holed up in the bedroom with the a/c unit every day, until that proved useless and we escaped to the nearest McDonalds or Starbucks.  Thus, very few photos were taken this week both because the light in the bedroom was too low to take good shots and because this Mama would prefer to forget most of those days.

Fortunately, we had a special visit from four people we love to pieces - Aunt Jenny, 'Great Cousin' Molly, and Cousins Grant & Miriam - to revive our spirits.  They were on a spontaneous trip to Legoland and came to see us on the way back up to Portland.  We went to Legends Diner for lunch and Mrs. Nelson's for the air conditioning afternoon and enjoyed a lovely dinner with the Losies, and a bit of time together the next morning as well.

Week Seventeen, the first full week in the new house...

Vianne, lifting her head up so high!

Hangin' out in the turtle onesie made for her at my first baby shower

A fun diversion from the mounting heat, Vianne & I escaped to Anaheim to rendez-vous with Rebekah & family who were vacationing at Disneyland with the Hsieh extended family.  We enjoyed PF Chang's happy hour and everyone was still nice to Vianne even though she screamed through the whole thing.

 What's this?  A smile?  Must've enjoyed Ian's smooches.

Another fun diversion was meeting up with Andrea at Cheesecake Factory! 

This was a big developmental week - Vianne started using her hands to play with things!  Up to this point she would mostly aim to kick things with her feet on the playmat, and if her hands hit any toys, it was purely random and/or accidental.  But all of a sudden, she realized her hands were functional and started reaching for, spinning, and grabbing the animals. 

Love the crossed hands!

Watching the Olympics :-) (yes, we're horrible parents, she's looking at the TV)

Patrick, Vianne & I had a fun adventure yesterday!  Being a big Wheel of Fortune fan and a Wheel Watchers Club member, I had gotten an email several days ago saying that the Wheelmobile was coming to Mathis Brothers Furniture in Ontario, CA, to find contestants for the show. 

Since I moved to California 3 1/2 years ago, I had been applying online to be a constestant with no luck.  I had gotten other notices about the Wheelmobile during that time, but it was always a long drive or inconvenient times.  This was on a Saturday afternoon, only 20 min. away, so seemed like the perfect occasion to try it.

The day (well, week) before, however, had been wrought with misadventures:  I woke to ants in our bed (one crawling on my face :/), we had to empty the bedroom & bathroom (which we had finally begun to make progress on unpacking) to set off some bug bombs, I had to drive an hour to get a birth certificate for Vianne, which actually went really smoothly until I came out to find a $63 parking ticket on my car even though I had paid for an hour & had 13 min. left on the meter.  I went immediately to the ticket office to contest & started crying at the ticket window.  Not pretty.  

I was in a foul mood and woke Saturday still struggling with my attitude, going back and forth about the Wheelmobile event.  The chances of getting picked were so slim, it seemed like a big hassle for nothing, and I was certain my "bad luck" would continue.  But at the last minute, I decided to trade in foul for fun and go anyway.

We got into the first game round with a few hundred others.  Everyone has to fill out a small application form and put in a big box. (I used my mom's trick of folding the application in an asymmetrical way in hopes that it sticks out among the flat sheets.  My mom often wins drawings, you see.  I never do, though.)  Names were then drawn for a series of truncated rounds of the Wheel of Fortune game, which was to last about an hour.  

The whole thing was being taped, to be reviewed by the show's producers, for them to pick out appealing candidates, but with no guarantee that anyone would actually become a contestant.  It seemed pretty obvious that the most important part was a brief interview by the host with each contestant before each round where you were supposed to sell yourself as a candidate, with outstanding enthusiasm for the game and preferably interesting and unique details about yourself.

We watched the whole "show" and with five minutes left 'til the end of the hour, we were pretty sure neither of us were getting picked and we were going home empty-handed.  They went for one last draw of five names, and we were absolutely stunned to hear them call out "Amy Oden".  I floated up to the front & was in utter bliss as I waited for my turn, practicing my interview answers over in my head.

I think the interview went well - I tried to be as charming as possible ;-).  I played up my French speaking, which no one else had mentioned, and as I guessed, was asked to speak a little.  The actual game play was very quick; I didn't solve the puzzle, but I picked two good letters & did my best to be articulate and enthusiastic.

There are slim chances that a Wheelmobile contestant will make it on to the show, but even still, the whole experience was such a blast!!  After 30 years of watching the show, playing the board game with my siblings and most recently the computer game with Patrick, it was such a rush to be that close to the real thing.  That day, my spirit was really needing a lift, and this proved to be the perfect turn of events, so I'm thrilled to just have gotten to play!

I came home with a few prizes, too - a Wheel of Fortune duffel bag, hat, magnet, minipack, T-shirt, and keychain - and a huge smile!!

Yesterday was another milestone in the Oden household. After over two months of owning & enjoying the wonders of her playmat, Vianne - much to her delight, as you'll see - discovered that the red monkey hanging from the center, when pulled or hit, makes the music & lights come on.

Trying simply to get some videographical evidence of her newfound hand-toy skills, I just happened to be recording. It was 95 or so in the house at the time so a) V is half-naked, and b) we're battling fan noise in the background.

This first video is long, but the big discovery comes at about 00:49, then the second round at about 2:00, with the closest thing she's come to a laugh so far.  This is of course a bit of silliness, but we're still fascinated at the process of discovery ;-).

This was moving in to new house/cleaning former house week...so only a few snapshots!  But still cute :-).

Napping with Grandpa, who's equally tired from helping us clean

 Waking up for the first time at the new house

 Trying out the playmat at the new house