Tony calls his beer “nectar of the gods” whenever Seven asks if it’s juice. Now Seven’s calling it “neck of the dog!”

About a week ago, Seven said his first and last name when I asked him what his name was. I was surprised because I hadn’t taught him his last name and wondered who had. A couple nights ago, on our way home from daycare, I asked him again:
Me: What’s your name?
Seven: Seven!
Me: No, your full name, first and last.
Seven: Seven…eleven!

The following conversation I’m going to quote in full because the whole thing was humorous to me. We were in the car driving home from daycare (different day than above exchange):
Seven: Look at that moon!
Me: (thinking he’s talking about the sun in front of us as we drive west) That’s not the moon, buddy, that’s the sun.
Seven: No, mommy, that’s my moon!
I look and see he really is pointing at the moon.
Me: Oh, what kind of moon is that?
Seven: Crescent moon. (pause) I go up there to my moon, Mommy!
Me: Oh yeah? You’re gonna go to the moon?
Seven: Yeah!
Me: If you go up to the moon that would make you an astronaut.
Seven: as-tro-naut.
Me: Do you want to be an astronaut when you grow up?
Seven: Yeah, astronaut…..rock star!

We were talking about all the sounds made by different animals and he got most of them right until he said “duckie goes crap crap!”

He was asking for some juice and said “pretty please with squinkles on top?”

And just now Tony said he was going to get a Philly cheese steak and Seven said “belly cheese neck!”

My favorite is the squinkles on top…

Seven (pointing to the carrots): Carrots?
Me: Yes, carrots.
Seven (pointing to the broccoli): Sparkly?

And this movie is from earlier today. His Aunt Sandy gave him a Buzz Lightyear space gun toy and for some reason Seven calls it a “gum” – I kinda prefer that since I didn’t want him playing with guns anyway! So he can call it a gum if he wants!

I managed to catch the first time Zane crawled on camera. It’s a crappy cellphone video (taken with my Android G1) but still, it was very exciting! This happened on June 14th when Zane was 5 1/2 months old.

Dinner last night, according to Seven, was “snackaroni and cheese!” It’s so cute I think that’s what I’ll call it from now on.

Me (pointing to a picture of Nemo on his swimmy diaper): Who’s this, Seven?
Seven: It’s EMO!!!

Then after he’d been playing in the sprinkler for half an hour, and he was cold and wet, he came over to me and said “I’m emo, Mommy!” …he did look kinda emo, too!

1. It’s beautiful

Phoenix is surrounded by interesting looking mountains and has some of the best sunrises and sunsets I’ve seen in my life. If I need to be surrounded by trees, Prescott is a short drive away, and of course Sedona and the Grand Canyon provide plenty of mind-blowing scenery. And although I like to complain about Phoenix not having a “real” downtown (unlike San Francisco) I have nothing bad to say about the amazing view from my office building:

2. No Seasonal Affective Disorder

With an average of 211 sunny days per year in the Phoenix area, I don’t ever have to deal with the depression that a long stretch of gray & gloomy days can bring on.

3. Really cool thunderstorms

Monsoon season usually starts in July and lasts until September. Sometimes it will rain 2 to 4 days in a row, which I love. The thunderstorms usually gather in the early evening and it will rain at night. One of these days I’m going to learn how to use the remote shutter I have for my camera so I can take cool lightning pictures like this one:

4. It’s cheaper than California!

Our three bedroom, two bathroom house in Peoria rents for the same price I was paying in San Francisco for a one bedroom apartment. Food is cheaper, gas is cheaper, I don’t even want to think about how expensive daycare for two kids would be in California!

5. I met Tony here.

Of course I saved the best for last! If I’d stayed in San Francisco, I never would have met my fiancé Tony. One of the smartest people I’ve ever met, he’s also kind, extremely dedicated to his job, generous to his family and friends, and a wonderful father to both Zane (his biological son) and Seven (who he plans to adopt someday). Obviously if I hadn’t met Tony I wouldn’t have my awesome little baby Zane!

Okay, so that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and it actually made me feel better about living here! I suppose someday when I’m in a terrible mood I’ll list out all the things I hate about Arizona, but for today, I’m just going to stay positive.