Les Miserables a review.

Ok, disclaimer- I am a hard-core fan of Les Mis.  I was raised on it.  at 8 years old I new the musical backwards and forwards and was singing castle on a cloud and dreaming of the day when I'd play eponine on broadway.  I have also been involved in, practicing, performing, music since I was a little kid so I'm going to allow myself to be very specific and nerdy with this post.  You have been warned :)

So we saw Les Mis the other day.  First I'd like to say that they did an AMAZING job in bringing this musical to the big screen while still staying true to the vision and feel of this musical-so much so that I would venture to say that if you're not a musical fan you prolly won't like this movie cause it's just that.  the straight musical put to film.  There are many long scenes where you're just looking at a close up of the actor singing-not a lot of cutting away or editing-they're done all in one shot which is pretty impressive musically speaking.  Another feature that I really liked is that the actors sang everything live.  Most movie musicals record in the studio and then lip-sync on set (phantom of the opera -ahem-and you can tell).

As far as the actors go i'd say none of them disappointed me which is really impressive cause this is a really hard musical with wide ranges and demanding roles.  If I had to choose my favorite performances it would be Anne Hathoway (fontine) followed closely by Hugh Jackman (Jean Val Jean) and Samantha Barks (Eponine).    Honorable mention must go to Amanda Seyfried who has a beautifully pure voice and handled the extremely high part of Cosette gracefully though when singing with other cast members her part was often lost/not quite strong enough.  Marius, despite getting a little muppety/kermity when high, did a good job for the most part (though I have to admit I wished the main general guy at the barricade had played marius-had a MUCH more powerful and clear voice).  I was most worried about Russell Crowe-he had the look of Javert sure, but could he pull off the extensive part-lots of speak/singing going on that can be a mouthful.  I give him a B- (which to be perfectly honest is a pleasant surprise-I was expecting the worst).  He had a really clear good voice, though lacking in real power.  He did alright but I still was left wanting a lil more emotion in his big crescendos in stars-when instead you just get very pure long notes with little vibrato/musicality, but still- decent.  The Thenardiers (innkeeper and his wife) were exactly what you would expect.  Helena Carter has THE perfect look for the part-they may have sacrificed most musicality for that look, but hey-it's ok if they're parts aren't "pretty" right?  Though I did notice Sacha Cohen (mr. Thenardier) had a decent voice.

As far as favorite number goes.....that's a toughy.  It's prolly a toss up between I dreamed a dream and the finale at the end, though On my Own was really good as well.  Both were very emotional and moving.  I know everyone raves about "One Day More" (and normally that would be my choice as well, but I didn't quite feel it as much as I wanted to in this version....I don't know if it was the way they edited it or just the singers themselves/ the audio guy? but once the different parts started singing at the same time towards the end of the medley I just felt that they started to drown each other out and got muffled- I couldn't hear marius and cosette ("I did not live until today"at all and then eponine does her lil: "one more day all on my own"-could barely hear that and I REALLY couldn't hear the Thenaradiers etc.  Now most people prolly didn't notice it, but when you know ALL the parts it's tough cause you know what's supposed to be going on and when it doesn't-you're left feeling like: hey.....and disappointed.  Plus I felt like there wasn't enough energy, volume, in the singers or the orchestra for that part but hey, that's just me.
The finale nailed it.  I dreamed a dream was of course heart breakingly-beautiful and I hope there are some awards won because of it.  I liked her interpretation of it which proves that it doesn't have to be the international cast for me to like it :) Bring him home was pretty good though I kept wanting him to go to a softer falsetto place- it is after all a prayer, but still good.  There were a few shortenings of songs-ya know, a verse cut here and there but most of the time it made sense why-kept the scenes from not dragging etc.  The few new-added songs to explain the years with jean valjean and cosette's new life together were ok-I didn't quite feel that they fit THAT well but if you don't know the musical you prolly wouldn't notice.

(but in all seriousness 9 times out of 10 the International Cast of Les Mis is the BEST recording of les mis: the BEST javert, jean valjean, marius, fontine (though anne comes close) just all of it-so good.  I would recommend that if you are in the market to buy this musical now, get the international cast full symphonic recording and then buy a few good songs from the movie version like I dreamed a dream that are unique- but really....few other songs hold a true candle to the broadway version.  Sure the voices in the film are good enough along with sets etc to tell the story, but if you're relying on pure audio to tell the story-gotta go with broadway version- so much emotion and acting in their voices it's amazing.)

Ok there's my lil plug for the international cast haha.

Again, over all it was truly good-the best movie musical that is out there in recent years.  I do have to mention in good conscience that the mature subject matter that usually keeps this musical away from high school renditions etc (ie: the prostitutes, sexual references, etc) is really hard to watch on the big screen.  I'll be honest.  If I wasn't a musical fan or knew anything about this musical and how amazing it is and had just walked into the theatre unknowingly, I wouldn't have made it to I dreamed a dream.  I would have walked out.  I realize everyone has their different sensitivities and maybe for you it's a minor blip that you can just ignore and that's cool (we all do it with our entertainment-for me, I can easily overlook violence or most moderate language-just am so used to it that I don't even notice it) but for me the scene leading up to I dreamed a dream was too much.  Now I'm not saying they shouldn't have put it in-it's the story.  you can't rewrite it.  Could they have done what the musical does where you see fontine and some guy go off out of site, there's a pause and then you see him leave, and the song continues, where the camera could have panned around the ladies on the street?  I guess, but I get it.  It's the story.
  It's just one thing to hear people reference an act that you don't see on a stage 100 feet away and another entirely to see it all splashed across the big screen.  Again, I LOVE this musical, and I LOVED I dreamed a dream, but all that put aside, I don't think I'll own this one.  I dunno...having kids changes the way you see movies.  Now I see them and think....if I owned this...would I want jake to stumble upon it and watch this?  How would I feel if he watched this?  The answer? sick to my stomach.

Again, this isn't me trying to make you feel guilty for applauding this movie etc, I'm applauding the music and performances, just not going to seek out a repeat performance that's all. :)

so overall I give Les Mis a solid B+ (for reference: an A+ would be the caliber of the international cast)

growing like a weed

Cody has all of fridays off for December so it's really fun to have multiple days a week where we can do WHATEVER we want :)  For example, last night we went to see the musical peter pan (my parents have season tickets to TUTS and didn't want to go-thanks again guys!) and out to eat at cheese cake factory.  It was really good.  The musical was pretty cool to look at and amazing gymnastic stuff from cathy rigby (plays pan) up on wires and stuff...the music itself left a lot to be desired (only one or two catchy songs).  On the way home we just talked about musicals that we wanted to see haha....so I guess it was good cause it wet our appetites.

 Then today we went downtown to have lunch at one of the many great food trucks: Good Dog hot dog truck.  It was WAY good :)  There were two other trucks nearby one for desserts and the other for juice.

jake chillin while we ate:

Afterwards we walked over to the Rothko chapel that was nearby.  I dunno...I've heard of it and thought the idea was cool and all- a calm and tranquil place tho not overtly religious etc.  but...we walk in and the canvases up on the walls were just subtle shades of grey/black etc.  Shrug, I thought there would be a little more color than that....and I thought it was bigger than just one room but nope.  Shrug, whatever.  By that point I had a headache and was feeling kinda crappy so we didn't stay too long.  At least we went right? haha.  I like rothko's stuff generally but it was a let down for me.

it also felt way different cause the space was filled with chairs and a piano for some function tonight so i'm sure that changed the feel of the place.

So we're on the 3rd day of formula supplementing and Jake's rash is gone.  He has a lil eczema on his cheeks but that could have just been form the recent cold snap we've had.  But yeah, all of the rashes are gone and his eyes look good and he seems really happy.  I know it's crazy but I swear in the past few days I feel like he's gained at LEAST 1/2 a pound-maybe even a pound!  We can tell when we pick him up-he's just more solid and you can see it in his cheeks.  I'm glad that he's doing so much better and is thriving-it was totally worth it :)  Now we just need to try to give him the first brand that we gave him to see if the rash comes back and if not then we're good-not allergic to milk...must have been a virus etc, and if the rash does come back then I guess he's just allergic to that one brand...shrug, which I think is kinda weird cause they all seem the same but I guess we'll see ;)

We got him to laugh pretty good tonight-nothing can make you feel as good as hearing your kid giggle.  I can't remember if I've blogged since but he's figured out rolling over tummy to back and back to tummy.  He's growing up so fast! 

here you can sort of see the dark circle under his right eye-kinda puffy

his faint rash on his tummy-all gone now! We're soooo glad! Even if we can't use the cheap kirkland brand from costco- ANYTHING is better than having to buy expensive hypoallergenic formula. :)

found a new way for him to play with his antler ears-fits perfectly around his tummy and is infront of his face-who needs a fancy baby gym???

a novel that is prolly tmi for most of you-proceed at your own risk :)

Nursing has been quite the roller coaster these past months.  It started out kinda rough-other than the typical experience of both mom and baby having no idea how to do this- jake couldn't latch on.  I guess I was too small etc and he was too weak.  So we used a nipple shield and were able to nurse really well using that for the first month.  By the month mark I was so tired of being yoked to this stupid thing, I decided to throw it away and throw jake in the deep end figuring he'd figure it out.  He did.  After the first day he got the hang of nursing without it and he did great-I was so proud of us.  By his two month appointment he had gained a lot of weight.  The dr said, he would call jake a chubby baby based on his weight gain percentage but he was growing taller too so the new weight was redistributing and he still looked skinny.  He had gone from 7 lbs at his 2 week appointment to 11.8 at his 2 month check up.  He went from the very bottom of his weight bracket to average.  Again I was so proud.

Over the next few months he started eating every 3 hours instead of every 2 which worked well for the first lil while, and believe me-I was happy to have a lil more time in between feedings.  We went to Jake's 4 month appointment after our Utah trip and I was shocked at his weight. 11 lbs 7 oz?! He actually was lighter than he was at his two month appointment??? Normally this is when you expect kids to have growth spurts- want nothing but to eat all day long for a few days.  Well, Jake never did that.  I remember thinking that was kinda odd.

The dr had me meet with a lactation consultant-she was really great and really nice/supportive.  She was surprised that I was only feeding jake on one side still (apparently most moms, even if they start out feeding just on the one side, eventually feed on both sides after the first month or two.) That coupled with the less frequent feedings ravaged my milk supply.  She had this cool scale so we weighed jake before the feeding and after the feeding.  He had only gained 2.5 oz of weight.  Instantly i switched to feeding him on both sides more frequently- first every 2.5 hrs and then every 2 when that didn't seem enough.  She recommended I use herbal supplements to help increase my supply-it tasted awful but I tried it.  I would pump before I went to bed (which used to be right after we got jake to bed, but I stayed up a few hours later just to get to pump one more time), and after the first meal of the day to make sure I got everything.  I'd give the pumped milk to jake in a bottle each night before bed since that was when my supply was at its lowest.  I noticed an initial pick up in my supply-not a ton but hey, it was something.

Jake seemed to get more and more frustrated at feedings-I don't know if he was mad cause he wanted more but it was really hard when he would only eat 5 min on each side-that's no way to send message to the brain to make more.  The pumping didn't seem to be helping that much.

We met back with the lactation consultant a few days before we were scheduled for a check-up with our dr to see what progress we were making.  I was hoping to see him nearing 12 lbs, but based on his eating habits I wasn't holding my breathe.  11.10.  He had just gained 3 oz....sigh.....  A few days later (2.5 weeks since our last visit) we went to the dr's.  I was at least prepared for it to not be as high as the dr would want.  we weight him and he weighed 11.11.  Had gained an oz in the past 3 days.  Needless to say I was discouraged.

The past few weeks code and I had been talking and thinking a lot about what we would do if he couldn't gain the weight he needed/get the nutrients/calories he needed etc.  The consultant had offered the idea of continuing breastfeeding and supplementing with rice cereal.  When I suggested that to the dr he said that he worried the rice cereal wouldn't be the kind of calories/nutrients that jake would need-not enough to replace a better supplement, say formula. etc.  I had had that same worry when I considered the rice cereal idea.

So we've decided to supplement with formula.  At first, as you can imagine, I felt guilty that I couldn't make enough for Jake-mad at myself that I had fed him only on one side the whole time-who knows how differently my supply would be if I had done it right from the beginning etc.  You start second-guessing EVERYTHING you did wondering if it was going to be this way no matter what or if you could have done it better.  Obviously these worries are pointless-it is what it is and now we need to do what is best for Jake.  If the only way for him to get the calories and nutrients is to have formula then that's what we're going to do.  I mean, I know formula is not a bad thing.  Heck, I was raised on formula and I turned out just fine-I don't have crazy allergies or health problems etc.  It's silly but I can't help but worry about being judged by people who are REALLY intense about breastfeeding.  I mean...I wanted to do it-I'm not against it, and I'll try again with all of our future kids-maybe I'll have a better supply the 2nd time etc.  It's just.....of all the different categories of people in the world...I feel like moms are the MOST critical/ judgmental towards each other.  I'm sure half of the time it's not intentional, just comes with the territory I guess.

Though formula is not ideal-there are a few perks.  Like, how now it's WAY easier to go on dates or to the temple and use a babysitter.  Before it was always stressful cause it would take a LOT of planning ahead and pumping to try to get enough for just one feeding-didn't equal to very long outings haha.  Cody gets to participate in feedings which is kinda fun.
It's also a lot less stressful knowing EXACTLY how many oz your kid is getting at every feeding, or if they're still hungry-no biggie, just make more-no waiting for your supply to catch up.

So I tell the dr what we've been thinking and that we want to do what's best for Jake and if that means supplementing with formula than we're on board etc.  He agreed and gave us some free formula to try.

Think that was the end of this stressful situation? HA! think again, my life is never that simple.


So we give him his first bottle (I still nurse him first and then top him off with formula and will do this til my supply runs completely out so he at least gets good antibodies etc).  He fought it at first but something clicked and he chugged it down-all 4 oz.  i'm not sure if he's ever been that full haha.  Then later as Cody was getting him ready for bed (this was about 3 hrs after his bottle) he called me in.  Jake had this light speckly rash on his stomach/chest and his right eye had this dark shadow under it.  My heart sank-crap, he must be allergic.  Instantly I think-cause I couldn't make enough milk so now my kid gets to have allergic reactions.  So now I don't know what to do....he hasn't acted differently, he's his usual happy self-no gas or anything...we had really thought we had dodged a bullet-easiest transition ever!

So the next day I called the dr's office and told a nurse his symptoms and asked what we should do. (he wasn't vomiting, having trouble breathing etc.)  We went in to see the dr the second day in a row.  Our dr wasn't available so we saw another one in the practice.  I didn't like him much-didn't really listen very well and wouldn't explain his line of thinking.  He looked at Jake all over and asked a bunch of questions-to most of which the answer was "no".  He then said that he wasn't convinced that it was an allergic reaction (Even tho I tried to tell him that I got itchy eczema from milk when I was a kid AND code has some sort of allergy to dairy in general-again not a good listener.)  So he said that it could be a viral rash.  Apparently babies can get rashes after getting over a virus.  He said to not give him the formula that we had bought him (we were hoping to get him hooked on the costco kirkland brand) but to try the gerber goodstart that the dr gave us and if the rash got worse then stop right away and try a soy formula.  If it got worse after the soy formula bring him back in for further testing. If the rash didn't get worse-keep using the gerber and see if the rash doesn't clear up on its own in the next 3-4 days then you can try the kirkland brand again and see if it comes back.  If it doesn't then it was viral-if it does then it must be kirkland brand.  I thought he was a moron.  I was curious what made him not convinced that this was allergic (seemed obvious to me-I mean that's quite the coincidence that he manages to get a rash from a virus that he just got over the SAME DAY we give him formula for the first time)-I asked: do kids who have allergic reactions generally have more severe of a reaction than this?  his response: not necessarily.....so why aren't you convinced?!

I went home wondering why they couldn't just do the test to see if he's allergic right away rather than making me expose him to further allergins.  So he's had 3-4 bottles since and nothing seems to be getting worse-some of it is even better like his eye.....shrug.  I'm still not convinced but we'll see....maybe the crazy dr is right....

this is fun.

Unbroken

I just finished this book, and it. was. AMAZING.  Highly recommend it!  I think there were about 10 different times throughout the book where I was just like....she has to be making this up, this can't be a true story-but it is.  It's about this WWII bomber that goes down in the pacific and his amazing journey surviving everything from shark attacks (tons of them), being shot at by a japanese bomber, and multiple POW camps.  Basically 3 solid years of suffering which sounds like it would be depressing but it was actually really inspiring-to see how unconquerable the human spirit can be AND all of the miracles that kept him alive along the way.  This story is proof that God can help us overcome anything and I mean ANYTHING.  Go out and get it and you're welcome :)

Our relief society lesson yesterday reminded me of this book.  The lesson was on the importance of forgiveness and not holding grudges/taking offense etc.  Someone shared an interesting thought from Elder Dallin H. Oaks about forgiveness-how we often think that forgiveness is for the other person, to help them feel better etc, but it's not- it's for us, to help free us from the stunting effects of hatred etc.  I thought of this soldier and many soldiers for that fact, after the war and how they still weren't free from the war until they managed to forgive and let go of all that hate they felt towards their captors etc.  It's true in our own lives.  You can't be free and progressing if you're holding a grudge-it retards spiritual growth.  

I saw it time and time again in the church in russia.  We'd meet with less-active members who all, it seemed, had been offended at one point or another and had stopped coming to church.  The sad part is, it doesn't teach a lesson to the people who offended you, in fact the only thing it does is hurt you further and not only you, but all of your predecessors.  On our mission we always talked about the principle of acting vs. being acted upon.  The choice is up to you.  You can do what you're going to do/feel what you're going to feel despite whatever or whoever is around you, or you can let yourself be affected by everything.  It was an important principle to learn when you were out knocking doors all day getting yelled at all day, but if you learned how to NOT be acted upon etc, then you were able to go home at the end of the day with a smile on your face cause you knew that you'd tried etc.

That's the beauty of the atonement.  It doesn't matter how broken or hurt we are, in the end we can be made brand new in Christ. Whole.  Unbroken.

The weather outside is frightful....seriously it's 81 degrees!

So I wish I could say it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but it prolly won't FEEL like christmas til after December at the rate we're going.... but we're doing our best to try and make it feel like christmas in our apartment:

Decorating our tree while watching the christmas devotional

our new ornament from our trip:

hanging out by the christmas tree:

Our fake lil mantle with our stockings:

I bought some cute christmas tins to hold all our swedish christmas goodies that I'll be making this year- peppercocker, spritzer, toffee, and chocolate covered oreos/pretzels (obviously not swedish but dang good )etc.

My santa plate that will double as a cool decoration til we use it :)

Our lil merry reindeer :)

Hoping your christmas season actually allows you to wear sweaters and scarves

Final thanksgiving 2012 post....finally....

Well the rest of the trip is really just a lot of driving and the occasional pulling over to change and feed jake.  Since we went a new southerly route that went right through roswell NM and pretty near carlsbad  national caverns, we decided to be spontaneous and extend our vacation a little and see it.  I love random things like that.  It was SOOO windy at the top of the hill where the visitor's center was.  It was crazy to think that underneath these boring brown hills was such a huge world of caves.  Apparently the indians knew about them long before they were "discovered" by explorers etc.  It was pretty cool.  I like going down into caves...it's kinda cool...I always feel like I'm somehow under the ocean when I'm down there-just the water has been drained out.  Jake was pretty good.  He was either happy and quite on his own (can you imagine the echoing down there if he started to scream??), happy with a binky, or taking a nap as we walked around.  Yeah, it meant we got back way late but it was worth it.

driving with daddy

a little bright for jake's tastes

don't get me wrong...red rock country can be cool and all...majestic....but it's just....not my brand of beauty...

outside the visitor center:

park ranger jacob

it's really hard to take cool pics in caves I learned...

this is when he saw a girl park ranger and instantly started smiling/flirting haha

It was a fun trip!