theKurths

Great Deal on Sunflower Seeds

2008-06-12T09:48:00.003-05:00

It is a matter of public record that I am addicted to sunflower seeds, particularly Planter's. Which explains why I was searching for a way to buy them in bulk and found this:

The unit price is printed RIGHT ON THE BAG, people. Sheesh. Just 'cause I (so desperately) need my seed fix doesn't mean I'm going to renounce capitalism and join a seed cult under Mr. Peanut's charismatic leadership. Although I am mesmerized by his monocle.

Episode 2: The Fox and the Holland?

2008-06-11T22:06:00.002-05:00

Hey, It's the Kurths!, Episode 2 is here:

Download 3:09 mp3 (3MB)

In this episode, we discuss: (1) The movie The Fox and the Hound, and (2) whether anyone will ever eat Daddy.

Hey, It's a Podcast!

2008-06-11T00:52:00.006-05:00

Kaeta and I have a new podcast called Hey, It's the Kurths!, and we just recorded the first episode tonight. Check it out!

Download 2:36 mp3 (2MB)

In this episode, we discuss: (1) The name of the podcast, (2) going swimming last weekend, (3) what Mommy is doing, and (4) the movie The Fox and the Hound.

To subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, click the "Advanced" menu, select "Subscribe to Podcast," and enter this URL:

http://thekurths.com/podcast/atom.xml

I will also post episodes here. A few notes on this first episode:

I need to figure out how to elicit better responses than "Yeah."
It's kind of cute that Jonah's babbling in the background the whole time, but maybe we won't have that every time.
Next time I will have a better plan for things to talk about. For a first try, this was okay, but it can definitely get better.
I'm using a Blue Snowball microphone, which is new; so far it's doing a good job.
When editing the recording, the first thing I did was run it through a free program called The Levelator, which does an amazing job of setting levels. Kaeta can be right next to the mic, then run across the room, talking the whole time, and Levelator makes it sound like she never moved. I may do a whole post just demonstrating how cool that is (I can hear people deleting this blog from their bookmarks even as I type that...).

Those are my thoughts so far. Do you have any suggestions? Is there anything you would like to ask Kaeta?

Whatever Whenever: Monday, June 9, 2009

2008-06-09T22:28:00.001-05:00

We have been embarrassingly remiss in posting lately, especially photos. I'd like to do some catching up, so here's a stream of unrelated things:

1. Wedding. We went to Mark Meiller's wedding (a sign of the Apocalypse? Just kidding, congrats, Mark :-), and Kaeta got down and boogied on the dance floor! Her version of dancing is basically spinning around until she falls over... same as mine.

2. Marty. Kaeta enjoys wrestling with Marty (how long has it been since we posted a Marty picture? Seriously, we're just bad people, ya'll. We still have a dog. He is fine.).

I'm not sure he's enjoying this:

3. Sing us a song, you're the ukulele man. I'm amazed by how musical Jonah seems. It's hard to tell much at 7 months (he turned 7 months old 2 days ago), but he really perks up whenever I play the guitar, sing, etc. Anyway, he's learning the ukulele:

4. Midnight Madness. On a non-kid-related note, I competed in Midnight Madness again this year (this is an "every-so-often" city-wide scavenger hunt puzzle-solving game thingy). Here's a photo of my team (not pictured: Karianne, at home, googling for us):

That's Colin and me in the back, Gottfried and Sara in front. The man in the background behind Colin was not affiliated with us.

Midnight Madness probably deserves its own post, but let's get real here, when am I ever going to do that? So I'll post a few photos from that night. Here are Colin and Sara exiting a canoe after snagging the first clue (it was written in chalk underneath the Lamar bridge):

We had to fill these Ozarka jugs with water using only Dixie cups and a sprinkler (couldn't move the jugs). Colin was a trouper and used his hat to scoop huge amounts of water at a time, so we finished the challenge pretty fast:

Around 11:30 PM, one of the clues required us to play a video game. Colin kicked significant booty at it:

In this one, you can barely see part of my special Wifi-detecting shirt. It's the only clothing I own that requires 3 AAA batteries. The center of the shirt lights up to tell you when you are in a Wifi hotspot. Having a light-up shirt, I found out later that night, could make you quite popular at the bars along 4th street. I got a lot of compliments from random people (I don't think they were appreciating the nerdiness of it, though; I think they were just like, "wow, it lights up!").

Here's a Lamborghini Diablo we drove behind downtown:

5. Kid Update: Still cute. So much more I could say about MM, but let's get back to some cute kid pics, right? Here's Joel pushing Kaeta on a little car at the Tallents' house. Amelia is in the background.

6. Dollhouse. Kaeta LOVES to play with this dollhouse, built by her Grandpa for Karianne back when she was a little girl.

Two things from this morning

2008-06-07T11:11:00.001-05:00

When I went in to get Kaeta up this morning, she pointed at a little (maybe 4 inch tall) blue stuffed bunny in Jonah's crib. She said, "Dat bunny doesn't fit in Jonah's crib!" (That was her way of saying she wanted to see it.)

And just now, out of nowhere, she told me, "I'm just runnin' to HEB." I told her to pick us up some juice.

Morning Announcement

2008-06-01T08:57:00.001-05:00

I just went into Kaeta's room to get her up, and she was already running around the room playing. When I came in, she said,

"Hello! Those are burp cloths for Jonah." She pointed at some burp cloths (aka cloth diapers).

"That's right!" I said. I pointed at her pajama shirt and said, "And here are kitty-cat pajamas, for Kaeta!"

"Yeah!"

Then I pointed at my shoes. "And here are some shoes for Daddy!"

She looked at the shoes. Then she said, "I don't have shoes. I just have feet." She touched her feet to show me.

"Well," I said, "I like your feet."

She looked up at me and smiled and said, "I like your shoes!"

Posted from email

2008-05-23T11:42:00.000-05:00

Blogger will let you post to your blog via email. Just login to Blogger, click Settings -> Email, and set up the address. Setup takes 30 seconds.

This post is my first post via email, so I'm trying some things:

<b>This should be bold.</b> So should this.
<i>This should be italicized.</i> So should this.
<h1>This should be big.</h1> So should this.
<span style="color:red">This should be red.</span> So should this.

Is this a link?
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41452

<a href="http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41452">Is this?</a>

There should be an image somewhere in this post.

Whatever Wednesday: May 7, 2008

2008-05-07T23:14:00.000-05:00

Jonah Montage

Here are some cute clips of Jonah (with special guest stars Madelyn Terral and, of course, Kaeta). These days Jonah enjoys rolling on his tummy, kicking, grunting (oh boy does he like grunting!), and getting attention from his sister. It's already obvious that he really looks up to her!

[Download Video, 6.4Mb]

Kaeta was not sleepy.

This is from dinner tonight. At the end you can hear me ask her, "Kaeta, are you sleepy?" She replies in an exasperated tone, "No!"

[Download Video, 3.8Mb]

Kaeta is afraid of this robot.

It's two inches tall, yet she ran into the other room to get away from it. When I said, "It's just a toy. You wind it up," she said, "I don't need to wind it up!"

If you're thinking our kids don't get enough sleep...

...then you're right. A few days ago they both boycotted nap time, but I got to have them both fall asleep sweetly in my arms on the couch.

And we'll leave you with this:

Six Months

2008-05-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

Jonah's new thing this month is rolling over. We'll lay him down on his back, and before we know it he's on his tummy. This is great fun for Jonah (and it makes diaper changes all the more fun for us), until he gets tired of being on his tummy after about three minutes. He can roll onto his back (he's done it a couple of times), but he's usually too frustrated to realize he can, so he ends up just pounding his fists into the carpet angrily. Same thing with scooting. He is so close; but he just hasn't coordinated his movements quite yet to cover any ground.

Jonah is also sitting up pretty well. He can sit unsupported for longer and longer periods. And the best thing now is to combine his three favorite activities: sitting up, rolling over, and bathtime. Which can be a potentially dangerous combination, I am fully aware (so my hands are never more than an inch from him at all times of course), but that's our boy -- living on the edge.

Jonah's biggest complaint these days is that we don't feed him fast enough. Keep those swoot potatoes comin, he says. Coach Taylor says he needs to bulk up if he's gonna make varsity this fall.

An email I just sent

2008-04-30T13:48:00.002-05:00

Here's an email I just sent to this guy, detailing a weird coincidence from today.

Here's something: Anytime someone makes a Twitter post that includes the word "Kurth," I get a notice. It's the lazy man's way of googling yourself, I guess.

Also, my wife's name is Karianne, but in high school she went by Kari.

So a few minutes ago, I got a pop-up that said: "(darinmcwatters): Instant messaging with Kari Kurth is like trying to have a conversation with a toaster."

Which is really funny, because, since we have 2 kids, talking with Karianne can be like talking with a toaster. Interruptions (and pieces of toast) pop up all the time.

But then I got to thinking, who's this "darinmcwatters" fella, and what's he doing instant messaging my wife? So I googled you and found your website. Since we live in Texas and you used to live in Texas, I thought maybe you knew her from high school or church or something. So I called her up and asked,

"Who's Darin McWatters?"

"I have noooo idea."

Pretty quickly we figured out that there is another "Kari Kurth" in the universe (what are the chances??). While we were talking, I saw a link on your site to the band "Everybodyduck." I bought that CD like 10 years ago, and I've never met anyone else who'd heard of them (no offense!). Then I discovered that you're the lead singer. What a weird circle of coincidences!

Given all that, I felt compelled to email you the story. Have a good day!

Derek Kurth

Kaeta's Quesadillas

2008-04-24T10:44:00.000-05:00

The other day Kaeta had quesadillas for dinner. While I was getting them ready, I told her, "Mr. Schroeder likes to say, I've got a bad case of the dillas!" She just stared at me.

But then a minute later, she said, "Mr. Doh-dah like to say, I gotta bad case of dee-yas!" And she's repeated it many times since.

So, Gottfried, your joke is popular with 2 year olds.

Whatever Wednesday: April 23, 2008

2008-04-23T13:13:00.000-05:00

Jonah calls them Swoot Potatoes.

The first night Jonah ate sweet potatoes, I misheard Karianne and thought she said "swoot potatoes." Now whenever we feed those to Jonah, we say (in our "Jonah voice"), "Ooh, swoot potatoes, my favorite!" And boy, can he wolf them down!

Granola Thievery.

On Sunday we went to Whole Foods, and we stopped at a display of some fresh-baked granola (no, we are not hippies. Granola is good, people.). We were looking at the different flavors, when I glanced in the cart and saw that Kaeta had grabbed a box of granola, opened it, and started munching away! So we bought that one.

Thank God for Reflexes.

Outside Whole Foods, we were about to walk to the car. To make it easier to carry everything, I hoisted Kaeta up on to my shoulders. Then I reached to pick up something else, and the next thing I new, my arm had snapped back and caught Kaeta by the ankle, saving her from falling on her head on the concrete.

This was really scary, and it was several seconds before I even understood what had happened. She sits on my shoulders all the time and has never fallen. Another dad with his daughter was walking by, and he said, "Whoa, that scared me!" Me, too, buddy!

Jonah needs his space!

The other night after bedtime, Jonah was screaming his head off, so I went in to comfort him. As I stepped into the room, I glanced over at Kaeta's bed, and something didn't look right. I walked over to it... and she wasn't there! I flipped on the lamp and looked around -- no Kaeta.

Then I looked at Jonah's crib. She had climbed up into his crib with him, she was snuggling with his little blue bunny, and she was sound asleep with him screaming right into her ear. So we figure, she wanted to snuggle, but he was upset. "I need my space, Kaeta! Quit crowding me!"

Where? Where. Where?

It's hard to convey how funny this was in person, but I'm going to try. Last night I was reading Kaeta her favorite story, Peter Pan. But randomly while I was reading, she would point somewhere on the page and say, "What's that?" So it went kind of like this:

K: What's that?

D: Tinker bell.

K: [moving her finger] What's that?

D: Peter Pan's knee.

K: What's that?

D: Peter Pan's hat.

K: Peter Pan's SHOES! (She wasn't even pointing at his shoes, she just gets excited whenever she thinks about shoes. Girls...)

Then her finger moved over to the words on the page.

K: What's that?

D: The word "ship."

K: What's that?

D: Pirate.

K: What's that?

D: And.

K: What's that?

D: Where.

She looked up at me, then kept her finger on the word "where."

K: What's that?

D: Where.

K: What's that?

D: Where.

Pause.

K: What's that there?

D: Where. It's the word "where."

K: That's a WORD!

I looked over at Karianne, and she was totally cracking up. She said it was like "who's on first?"

Five Months

2008-04-07T19:57:00.000-05:00

Only four months until varsity try-outs! Every time we mention it, Jonah vigorously flaps his arms in excitement. Jonah's big news is that he has started solid foods this month, and he loves it. Dinner time is his second favorite time of day; his first being right before bath time when he gets to be naked. It is adorable how he smiles and giggles at being a naked baby. I need to get this on video so that I can embarrass him in front of Brinnly someday.

Getting these pictures of him proved to be a little more challenging this time, between Jonah grabbing onto Tigger the whole time, and Marty charging into the frame and sticking his nose right in Jonah's face. Jonah didn't seem to mind though, he is really fascinated by Marty, and only grins when the dog slobbers all over his face.

No One Hides Hooters Like the Hooter Hider

2008-04-07T14:27:00.000-05:00

Allow me to make a plug for a great product I've discovered. To all the nursing moms out there, if you don't have a "Hooter Hider" -- get one! It is one of the best inventions ever. (Plus it has such a great name!) When Kaeta was a baby, I had no idea that anything like this existed. Whenever I had to nurse in public, I struggled with a blanket -- with it falling, with Kaeta pulling it down, not being able to see what I was doing.... it was so awkward and stressful. The OPPOSITE of what you want for a nursing experience. It would help if Derek was with me, so he could hold the blanket up while I got situated, but that only seemed to draw attention to the spectacle -- I think people were expecting us to do a magic trick. Needless to say, nursing in front of someone was a last resort.

But then when I was pregnant with Jonah, I found the Hooter Hider (queue cheesy miracle music here). Nursing in public is a totally different experience. It has a strap that goes around my neck, so there's no worry about it falling down or the baby pulling it off. It is plenty long, so I know I am fully covered. And best of all, it has flexible boning around the collar that makes it possible to see the baby. So nursing is easy and pleasant, no matter where I am. I know I am starting to sound like an infomercial here, but it really is that great. The Hooter Hider goes wherever Jonah and I go.

You can get the Hooter Hider for about 35 bucks, which may seem like a lot, but in my mind it is totally worth it. If you're crafty, you can be like my friend Jamie and make your own. She said it wasn't hard and cost her less than $10. Or, you can go to this website and enter this contest by April 11th to win a free one. Oh, and believe it or not, you won't find it at Babies R Us. My new favorite baby store, Baby-Wise, has them.

Decatur MP3

2008-04-04T15:13:00.000-05:00

Here's something handy: Lifehacker has posted some instructions for converting YouTube videos to mp3s. Often I only care about the audio content of a YouTube video.

A couple of years ago, I posted a video of my good friend Johnathan Fowler and me singing Decatur by Sufjan Stevens during a concert Johnathan gave at his house. Using the tip from Lifehacker, here is the mp3. (And here is the YouTube video.)

Whatever Wednesday: April 2, 2008

2008-04-02T13:06:00.000-05:00

1. Historically, April Fool's Day used to be celebrated on April 2nd.

Betcha didn't know that.

2. Jonah's on Solids

As of this past Saturday, Jonah is eating rice cereal. He loves it, can't eat it fast enough, and can't wait to see how much bigger his muscles are getting.

3. I actually completed a page in Kaeta's scrapbook.

You know, the scrapbook of her first year. Yes, I know she is two and a half this month. But it took me five years to finish our wedding scrapbook, so I will be thrilled if I could get this one finished by the time she leaves for college.

Anyway, the spread I did was based on the children's book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Kaeta's favorite book when she was 10 months old. We read it so many times I could recite the whole book by memory.

(Next time you're over, ask to see my scrapbooks sometime. It will make my day. :)

4. Peter Pan Sword

I (Derek) made Kaeta her very own Peter Pan sword out of an old fence board. I painted the handle/hilt black and the blade gray. She doesn't really swashbuckle with it, though. She likes to carry it around, set it carefully in a chair, maybe sing Away in a Manger to it (I'm not kidding). Anyway, here's a picture of her holding the sword while sitting on her Elmo couch and watching, you guessed it, Peter Pan.

5. LSD Cheesesteak

We ate lunch on Sunday with our friends Colin, Gottfried, and Sara at Texadelphia. On the wall by the cashier was this bit of Texadelphia fan art:

Yes, that's a man (?), utterly hairless, eating a cheesesteak (also utterly hairless), complete with a flying unicorn and rainbow. i just thought that was worth sharing.

Whatever Wednesday: March 27, 2008

2008-03-27T21:56:00.000-05:00

Today is Thursday, but whatever.

1. Happy Easter!

2. We went to Kansas.

We went to Kansas because Karianne's Grandpa Eddie was turning 90. It was great to see him and her Grandma, Clara. Eddie turned 90 on Saturday, and on Sunday Clara was talking about getting old; she said, "Well, Eddie's 90, pushing 91." That cracked us up -- just a day over 90, and already he's "pushing 91."

Kaeta had a blast playing with her cousins. Several times on the car ride home she said, "Goin' ta see my CUZZ-ins!" She thinks that by announcing that, it becomes true.

3. We have a magical device.

My parents got us the Garmin StreetPilot c340 GPS device, and this was our first big chance to use it (using GPS to get to and from work is not too exciting). It successfully guided us to a Starbucks in Witchita on the way there, and to an Arby's in, um, Witchita on the way back. That's a nice feature.

4. "Kaeta, do you want a blueberry muffin?"

"I want Pooh Bear in muffin!"

Whatever Wednesday: March 19, 2008

2008-03-18T22:05:00.000-05:00

Thanks again to the Wards for coming up with another one of our great ideas. They have "Five on Friday" on their blog, and the Ryans have "Seven on Sunday", so we decided to do "Whatever Wednesday." On Wednesdays, we'll post some things that have happened in the past week. Or we might forget. Whatever.

1. Kaeta is obsessed with Peter Pan.

For some reason, especially when she sits on the potty, she wants to talk about Captain Hook. She might mention that he has a big red hat, or that he has a hook for a hand. In this recording (made on Tuesday, 3/18), she wants to talk about Peter Pan. This quickly leads to an identity crisis, as you'll see.

2. Our friend Curt is funny.

Curt saw this picture on my Windows desktop (note Kaeta's grape juice stain):

His comment was, "Wow, Kaeta really is a little Lutheran -- she's already spilled wine all over her shirt."

3. We're totally addicted to Lost.

If you're wondering why our blog posting has slowed down recently, this is the reason. You can stream all the episodes from ABC's website. That kind of instant gratification only feeds our addiction... We just started Season 3, so NO SPOILERS, please :-)

4. There's a new photo gallery up.

Click here to view it.

5. We're going to Kansas this weekend.

Karianne's grandpa is turning 90! So we're making the big trip—our first long trip with Jonah. We're getting back into town next Wednesday. So there might not be a Whatever Wednesday next week, but, you know, whatever.

Video: Kaeta's Imagination

2008-03-18T15:47:00.001-05:00

These are from a couple of weeks ago. I took them first thing in the morning, when I went in to get Kaeta up -- she was already up and entertaining her many guests.

[Download Video, 4.5Mb]

[Download Video, 6.9Mb]

Brinnly Ward, Eat Your Heart Out!

2008-03-15T23:21:00.001-05:00

Jonah is bummed that his favorite show, Friday Night Lights, isn't coming back after the writers' strike. (***UPDATE*** It turns out the Friday Night Lights IS coming back! See the comments for more info. Jonah is elated.) He is always asking about his football buddies, and his ultimate goal is to be QB1 of the Dillon Panthers, just like Matt Saracen. He's bulking up to go out for varsity this year, and we think he might have a chance! So we got him this Saracen jersey for Christmas, and he loves showing it off. But he does it all, of course, for his future bride, Brinnly Ward.

Four Months

2008-03-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

Jonah's new activities include playing in his saucer, laughing, and blowing bubbles (which is really one of the cutest things we've ever seen -- that's what he's doing in the third picture). He still doesn't enjoy tummy time very much (as you can see), but this morning he had rolled onto his tummy in his crib!

Indoctrinated?

2008-03-12T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hah! I beat out Kaethe Ward! It's been over four years since we moved away! Just so you know, before you're allowed to live in Pittsburgh, they make you sign a contract that you will be a lifelong Steelers fan. In blood. And they enforce it.

You are 75% Pittsburgh.

Come on. I know you knew the right answers, but were ashamed and ascared to admit it. Do the quiz again, and this time be true to yourself.

How Pittsburgh Are You
See All Our Quizzes

(Don't y'all worry... I'll always be a true Texan.)

3 Months

2008-02-13T16:07:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know, we are almost a week late with this, but we forgot to post the 2-month picture and we missed the 1-month shot completely. (Although we did actually take the picture on time!) This is a new thing we're doing, trying to capture the same angle with the same stuffed animal to measure how Jonah grows month by month. We got the idea from our friends the Wards, who we steal most of our ideas from. Except they are super organized and have done this every month since Mali was born, and now they do it twice a month for Brinnly too. On time, no less. Don't expect any such promptness from us. In fact, don't be surprised if this may very well be the first and last post of this nature. I probably don't even need to say that though because most of you know us.

Oh, and those are 6-12 month clothes Jonah is wearing.

A certain someone (who shall remain nameless) kept swiping Tigger.

(I'll give you a hint, though. It's the same person who puts Pooh Bear in the bumbo, Minnie Mouse under Jonah's toy, Baby Doll in the baby swing, Teddy Bear in the bouncy seat, and Puppy Dog in the carseat.)

By the way, here's one of the two-month photos we took. It's hard to get a good picture of Jonah looking at the camera, since his eyes are so blue all we get is red-eye.

We Didn't Put Him Like This

2008-02-13T15:53:00.000-06:00

Jonah rotated himself 90 degrees from how we laid him under his toy. Sometimes we find him even 180 degrees from where we put him! This is one of his new favorite things.

That's my girl!

2008-02-11T13:42:00.001-06:00

A couple of quick Kaeta stories from this week:

The other day, Kaeta was playing with some Lego blocks. Karianne asked what she was doing, and she proudly announced, "I'm makin' a robot!" That's my little prodigy!

Today I called Karianne at home, but she was putting Jonah down for a nap and said she'd call me back. When I called back, I talked to Kaeta for a minute. At the end of the conversation, she said, "Putting Pooh Bear down for nap, bye bye!" I guess she'd heard Karianne say she was putting Jonah down and was imitating that!