what a goof

Here's a snapshot I got of L while we were playing today. He's so goofy!

And a few more ... because I always have a ton! :)

i've been hit

High School Tag

Okay ... so reading other people's tags actually kind of made me excited to do this one. But I could talk forever - so I'll try to keep it sweet and short.

1. Did you date someone from your high school: Yes. And other high schools. To name a few, Sam, Mike, Jared.

2. What kind of car did you drive? : I drove a Chevy S10 pick-up for a little while, and if you took a left turn too sharp the engine would cut out. Erin and I had some exciting drives to school some days! :) But my all-time favorite was the family Ford Tempo - almost as old as me! Ahh ... the silver bullet. So many memories.

3. What is your most embarrassing moment in high school?: Um - definitely was embarrassed all the time. Random memory though - one time I lost my keys after a soccer practice, and the whole team linked arms and walked the field trying to find them for me. Talk about working together! :)

4. Were you a party animal?: Umm ... for mormon standards, yes. But everyone else's standards, definitely no. :)

5. Were you considered a flirt?: I'm not sure. I loved to have fun, and I definitely liked my fair share of guys. But I think I really tried to maintain friendships more than anything.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?: Orchestra for three years, choir my senior year. Choir was by far my favorite!

7. Were you a nerd? : I had an amazing ability to change personalities (much to the frustration of teachers, parents, even friends sometime), and if I wanted to be a nerd I was. That happened periodically ... but never consistently. Like, when our class was being videotaped for a national-teacher-education thing, I out of nowhere started spitting out these deep, philosophical interpretations of the books we had read in AP English. Got teased for that one for a long time! :)

8. Were you on any varsity teams? : I was a Varsity soccer 4 years, tennis 2 years, bowling 1 year. haha.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? : Nope.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? : Definitely not.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? : Mrs. Slosson, Mrs. Pablo. Two of the greatest mentors. Mrs. Miller.

12. Where did you sit during lunch?: Lunch room, DECA room, A-House commons, outside, Safeway, Papa John's, Burger King, pretty much everywhere.

13. School Mascot?: The Hawks.

14. Did you go to homecoming and with who?: Susan Schutz, Tamika Ladd, Heather Schmidt, and ... Jacob Delimont (that was at his high school though) haha!!

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? : For sure. I loved high school. There are some aspects that were rough - but for the most part I really had a good time.

16. What do you remember most about graduation?: I sang "A Piece of Sky" at graduation, and all I remember is being nervous. Afterwards we took pictures for hours and then we went to parties. I remember one of the 'popular' guys telling me that I had a sexy singing voice at one party - haha. I think he might have been drinking. But I took the compliment! :)

17. Where did you go senior skip day?: Sadly, I think I had a senior skip day a lot more often then every one else. I was voted "most likely to skip class" in our yearbook. haha!

18. Have you gained weight since then?: Well, I've definitely fluctuated - having a kid does that!

19. Who was your prom date?: I didn't go to the "real" prom. Our stake had a Priest/Laurel Formal dance, and I went to that with Jared Chandler. MUCH better than any school dance. I'm pretty sure that was the best dance I'd ever been to during high school.

20. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion?: I doubt my class would be organized to even have one. But sure, why not?

21. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?: Not depend on others for self-esteem! Enjoy every moment, and don't be such a drama queen!

You're it: Who ever wants to take a trip down memory lane.

15 ways to have a great day

1. Make the bed first thing in the morning (a clean room is a happy room ... the rest of the house was currently depressed)

2. Make homemade Oreo's ... Mmmm ... favorite

3. Listen to Broadway music and sing along at the top of your lungs (helps if you are in the basement while baby is sleeping upstairs so as not to wake him!)

4. Work towards finishing one project (cleaning up roots/stumps from front yard)

5. Start a new project (recycling in Ohio!)

6. Sit outside temple for a few minutes in between running errands (and wish I had remembered to bring the camera!)

7. Get together with other moms/friends and laugh together

8. Eat desserts for lunch (better yet, desserts made by other people! yummy!)

9. Laugh at funny things the kids do

10. Go through old photographs and laugh at memories

11. Make baby laugh multiple times a day

12. Cook husband's favorite dinner

13. Have an amazing husband who offers to clean up kitchen (one more room to add to the happy list mentioned above)

14. Let baby splash in bathtub till face and hair are dripping wet

15. Go on a good, long run

the black name tag

In our church, young adults are asked to serve full-time missions.  It is a time when you leave home, family, friends, jobs, school, careers, everything to go serve the Lord. You are assigned to a specific area in the world, and you share the gospel to all who are willing to listen. It is a time of hard work, individual growth, constant service, and devotion to Heavenly Father.

As I was working on my garden this past week, I was outside digging on Thursday night. The soil was incredibly hard and I had been digging for the past four days much to my sore body's disappointment. My neighbor friends helped me every day, but being ages three and five, they might have slowed the process more than anything else. By Thursday night I was feeling a little frustrated that I wasn't seeing more progress, and that I had been working so hard and still just half way done. 

Two missionaries came out of our neighbor's house, and came up to me. "We have 15 minutes before our next appointment. Can we help you dig?" I laughed, and said that I was really okay, and that they wouldn't want to get all sweaty and dirty before they go teach a gospel discussion. But they persisted. They insisted that they help, and they would not take no for an answer. They took our two shovels (one of which was my five-year old neighbor's size), and they started digging.  They did more in 15 minutes than I had all day! It was so helpful and even though it was a small thing that they did, it made the world of difference to me!

It started me thinking. These young men were 19 - maybe 20 years old. I have a younger brother who is 19.  I hope he is as eager to help others as those missionaries were.  I hope that he is excited to serve a mission, and to make a difference in another's life. I hope that he works hard as a missionary and is committed to the work.  I hope that we all can learn how to serve others with more enthusiasm, with less thought of ourselves.  Those missionaries did not take no for an answer, and I think we all can be a little better at serving others without being asked.  

The black nametag that missionaries wear symbolizes a lot. By wearing that nametag, they are representing our church as a whole, but more importantly, they are representing Jesus Christ. They stand as witnesses of Him, and teach His gospel.  That nametag stands for truth, love, service, testimony, and compassion.  I learned a lot from two young men who wore that nametag that night, and I hope that I can be a better person because of it. I know that we are all far from perfect - including young missionaries.  But as we try to do what the Savior would do, and help others around us, we can all try a little harder to be a little better. 

green thumb

It's hard to believe, but I made the leap into gardening this week. I know, you're all shocked. But from the day we found out we'd be moving here, I was so excited to start planting flowers and have a pretty front yard.

However, I have a lovely habit of simply thinking about a project for a long time, imagining how hard it will be, and postponing it for as long as possible. By the time I actually start I realize that it's not as bad as I thought (most of the time).

Well, two and a half months later, I finally had the gumption to just to buy stuff. I used the excuse of my birthday to go to Home Depot and I bought three Azalea bushes, and a couple packages of springtime bulbs to plant as well. I bought two small hand tools, a watering can, and gardening gloves. I thought I was set!

Turning the soil (or should I more accurately say rock and clay mixture) was a lot harder than I expected. My little hand shovel started giving me cramps within the first half hour! A couple shovels from friendly neighbors were borrowed, and that helped a ton! I tackled huge roots and stumps, and with the help of another neighbor's axe, Ryan finally got the last stump out. They were very stubborn!!

Here's some pictures of the process. What I thought would be a one-day project of digging has turned into a five day giant of a project! But it has been so refreshing to work muscles my body had forgotten about, to feel productive, and to see the fruits of my hard work! The bushes look really little in the big open space ... but piece by piece I know we will have a beautiful front yard! I can't wait until springtime now to see all the beautiful blossoms!!

Our house

One of countless root systems I dug out - in the background in the stump Ry took the axe to.

Slowly working my way to the sidewalk. This is Thursday morning before the missionaries came.

My digging buddy.

My digging buddy making an angry face when I found yet another stump!

Cute action shot of trying to get the pacifier back in his mouth on his own.

Collection of treasures after digging (one of many, many piles!)

See that huge boulder next to the shovel? Yeah - I lifted that myself. I'm pretty much the stuff. :)

This is the Friday morning picture after all the digging was done. I spread the peat moss all around, mixed that in. Then I planted the bushes, and the bulbs went in Saturday morning. I'll take pictures of the finished product soon.

bath time fun

I think that I've mentioned how little L never sits still - and how he's always in constant motion.  Well, bathtime has gotten incredibly exciting for him, and he loves to splash in the water.  He is either in this first position of chewing on his toes (he likes it best in the tub when there's no diaper or clothes to hinder his flexibility ... since his chubbyness makes it difficult to begin with!), or he is thrashing his arms and legs around and getting mom and dad all wet!! Do you see how calm the water is in the first picture? Don't be fooled - this kid is out of control!!

sweet potatoes, anyone?

Just some cute pictures from L's first experience with flavored food. He cracks us up - he's starting to have opinions about toys and being entertained (crying when his toy is out of reach or when I'm obviously not paying enough attention to him), but he still has no real opinion about food. He literally will eat everything and anything he can! I tried so hard to get those pictures of funny faces - but he hardly gave us any. He just ate almost the entire jar without complaint! Is it possible to be over feeding him? Oh well ... I love his rolls, so I guess I'll keep doing it. Hopefully it won't create any bad relationship with food later in his life. :)

First taste ...

A little excited ...

Dad won't feed me fast enough ... 

Yummy ... I love this stuff!

go cougs!!

Even though Ry and I have converted to Buckeye's - we will always be Cougars at heart. We got together with some friends today to watch the big BYU vs. UCLA game, and we definitely sported our colors!  I'm pretty sure it helped, because we killed them 59-0!! Go Cougars!!

BYU Fight Song

Rise, all loyal Cougars and hurl your challenge to the foe.

We will fight, day or night, rain or snow.

Loyal, strong, and true

Wear the white and blue.

While we sing, get set to spring.

Come on, Cougars, it’s up to you. Oh!

Rise and shout, the Cougars are out

Along the trail to fame and glory.

Rise and shout, our cheers will ring out

As you unfold your vict’ry story.

On you go to vanquish the foe

For Alma Mater’s sons and daughters.

As we join in song, in praise of you our faith is strong.

We’ll raise our colors high in the blue

And cheer our Cougars of BYU

flowers

Ryan definitely knows the way into my heart!  These were delivered to me on my birthday, and I got to cut and arrange them myself! Talk about perfect! Anyway ... I tried out the aperature controls with our new camera (also a birthday present from both sets of parents for both Ry and me! yay!!) ... as you can tell I definitely need more practice. But I had fun!! 

apology

Dear Mom,

As a kid, you always made sure our birthdays were special. I remember getting to ride shot-gun without argument, not having to do chores, choosing my favorite food to eat for dinner, having a massively cool decorated cake in any design I wanted, and getting to search for the "hidden" presents throughout the house to the lovely soundtrack of family members singing "Happy Birthday" in a variety of keys.

Yesterday, birthdays became different.

Instead of going along for the ride, I had to drive. Not having to do chores? Not even an option - the laundry and dishes just had to be done. I did get to choose what dinner I wanted, but I kind of do that every day now, so it's not that exciting anymore - plus I put too much sour cream in the potatoes. I don't know how to decorate cakes {YET}, so we made apple crisp instead which was absolutely amazing ... so that part was okay. And with only one member of the family knowing how to sing, let alone speak, the song "Happy Birthday" wasn't nearly as diversified as I'm used to.

What I'm trying to say Mom, is that I'm sorry for not realizing that you didn't get a day off in your life - even on your birthday! My appreciation for mothers just skyrocketed once again, and I wish I could go back and redo those birthdays of yours and make it a little easier on you. I wish I would have made you breakfast in bed, let you stay home from running errands, cooked for you, cleaned for you, babysat for you, and completed all of the endless projects for you. I'm sorry that as a kid I thought bringing home a hand-made card and lilac blossoms that I picked from our front yard was enough to make your day special.

Then again, maybe that is enough to make your day special - make you feel like the work is worth it. I am only beginning to understand that. But at the same time, all those other things would have been nice too! :)


I'm sorry that I never fully grasped it before, but thank you for being amazing and never quitting on us. I love you Mom.

Love,
Heather

{editorial note}: Just for clarification, my birthday was still amazing. Ryan had flowers delivered to our home, and he made certain that they were just loose in the box so that I could cut and arrange them how I wanted - ahhh ... the simple pleasures!! He also let me go to Home Depot and buy flowers to plant in front of our house ... which turned out to be a much bigger project then I expected (what's up with the presents we get requiring us to work? Oh well ... it was what I wanted! Manual labor included!). AND he also bought me tickets to go see the play "The Lion King" next Wednesday. I've heard amazingly good reviews about it and I cannot wait!

So even though I was still a mom and still had a dozen things on my 'to-do' list for the day, it was a great day! Thanks Ry for making it wonderful!

five months

Time is flying by! L is getting so big, and acting so big as well! He wins over every person we meet with his smile, and everyone always seems to be surprised that he's only five months. My love for him just continues to grow, and I cannot imagine our family without him!

Since we had L's 4 month check up pretty late (a week and a half ago!), I'll use those statistics for this month!

As of August 27, L weighed 18 lbs 12 oz, and was 27 1/2 inches long.

He was at the very top of the charts for weight, and he was above the chart for height. I don't know where this kid is getting these genes - but holy cow! I thought he slowed down! :) He definitely does not have a problem eating!!

Here are some of my recent favorites of L:

When he got his shots a week and a half ago, he screamed during the process. I nursed him right after, and when I was done nursing him, he looked up at me and smiled. Cute, huh?

He giggles all the time when we blow on his belly.

His tongue is incredibly fascinating to him - he will stick it in and out all day long! It's rare to get a smiley picture without it!

You know the warm-up singers do when they blow through their closed lips to get that weird vibrating sound? L's a pro at it. I'm pretty sure he's going to be the best singer ever.

Bath time is an absolute favorite! It's part of the bedtime routine - although it's way more playful than relaxing. He could be screaming up until the second his body hits the water, and from then on out he is happy. He loves to kick and splash Mom and Dad!

When he's laying down and I pull his arms to help him sit up, he won't bend at the waist at all because he just wants to stand up as much as possible! So he immediately gets up on his feet and smiles.

"Let me go, but don't let go of me!" -- Ry, speaking for little L. He is incredibly squirmy and does not sit still! But yet he still wants to be held all the time ... it perplexes me.

He loves to suck on his toes now ... it is so dang cute to watch his chubby body curl up like that!

He loves to have his feet touching things as well - when I change his diapers he wraps his legs and feet around my arms. I love it! It's like he's trying to hold on to me really close!

His dimply thighs ... I love to squeeze them!

We started him on rice cereal over a week ago, and he loves it! If he's in a good mood, then he honestly will just keep eating as long as your offering it to him. I think his life mantra is "If there's food available, give it to me! I'll take whatever you've got!"

The way he smells - at least right after his bath. I love the clean baby smell! Oh, and the soft skin - double bonus.

Sometimes, when he gets really tired, I lift him up and he very firmly places his arms around my neck to hold me close and pushes against me with his head. Oh my heart just melts! I swear, he's got me wrapped around his little finger!

We have a chair that helps him sit up, and he loves it! He loves to be supported and be able to still see everything going on.

He's learning how to fall asleep on his own. It's a beautiful thing.

He's starting to like it when we hold him upside down. I see a lot of rough housing in his future. :)

This might be the first month of L's life where he has not worn the corresponding number of his age in months to his diaper size. Yes, that is correct. His thighs are so big that he is wearing size four diapers. I am expecting him to be in size four for a while, because size five just sounds huge! But that's what I thought about size three as well ... and they didn't last us too long (or should I say his clothes didn't last that long? oh well)!!

We've needed to start clearing everything out of his reach no matter where he is. This opens up a whole new world to us - and to be honest, we're scared. We need to start baby proofing our house already?!

Teeth have got to be on the horizon, because he absolutely must have something in his mouth at all times. Mom's hair, Dad's shirt, toys, pacifier, hands, feet, stuffed animals, blankets, anything!

"Bald is beautiful" (takes after Grandpa Bruce)

Anywhere outside is still his favorite place to be.

We've taken him swimming a couple times at OSU's swimming pools, and he loves being in the water. It is so much fun playing with him!!

He's so happy now and makes everyone around him happy.

recent favs

I finally have been making time for scrapbooking lately, and I LOVE it! It feels good to do something that rejuvenates me and makes me feel creative. Sadly, it's totally one of those things where once I begin, I block everything else out and focus. Our house seemed like a disaster for those few days! But it felt sooo good. :)

Since I was thinking about creating new pages and layouts, I wanted to get some more smiley pictures of little L. I took these over a few days ... so they're a little random, but here's some of my favorites. He really is all smiles lately - especially since getting more sleep! Night time sleeping is almost a piece of cake - it's the day time sleeping that we're still really struggling with. Oh well ... he's just so darn cute I can't help but love him!

rice cereal

It's already been one week, and I'm a little late posting this update. We started feeding little L rice cereal! Yay! :) Ry had the video camera out, and our digital camera was ready also - we were just waiting for cute funny faces as he experienced the new thing. But he didn't make any faces at all! He literally just ate it with no emotion at all! It was so funny because it seemed so normal to him!

I think Ry and I enjoyed it far more than he did! But he ate a ton, and since then has been eating even more. He acts as if we've been starving him, although all evidence points to the contrary! Anyway - here's some pictures from the grand event. :)

Give me more! Give me more!

in charge

There was a dramatic difference in our home last night.

Let me give you some background information first. As you may know, we took an extremely long vacation earlier this summer. We loved it - L loved it. He seemed to be better adjusted during the vacation than his parents were! I started to think all those horror stories of traveling with a baby were not true, or at least that my baby wouldn't be like that. Oh little naive mother that I am.

The first night we were home, L woke up every three hours on the dot. I would feed him and help him fall back asleep. This happened for a full week. No problem, I knew it was apart of the adjusting back to normal life. (Mind you, before and during our vacation he would only wake up once - maybe twice - a night. That was easy - I could handle it)

After the full week, like clockwork, L started waking up every two hours on the dot. Same process, with sometimes trying to simply soothe him without nursing. This again happened for a full week. I was starting to question L's loyalty to me, and begin to worry that he delighted in only giving me an hour and a half worth of sleep at a time. He would smile every time he saw me! Doesn't this kid get it?

We're now home for two full weeks, and it's starting to take it's toll. But I have hope, thinking that he will return to his wonderful sleep habits soon. The next week was full of sporadic, unpredictable sleep. Sometimes he would wake up every hour, every other hour, sometimes every half hour. Once he actually went four hours - it was pure bliss! We had a doctor's appointment scheduled this week, and she said she normally gives infants three weeks to recover from a vacation. Considering how healthy (aka: huge, gigantic, chunky, plump, etc. - you get the idea!) L was, Dr. Gray said that he had every reason to sleep through the night, and suggested we might need to use some tough love to teach him that.

Oh - forgot to mention one small detail. Since the first day coming home, he had only taking 3-4 half hour naps during the day as well. 30 minutes exactly. Like an egg timer.

Cry it out. We'd heard it before, and read about it, and thought a lot about it. I had tried to do it other ways, and it really just was not working for this kid. I had been talking to friends about it for weeks by now, and finally felt justified by L's pediatrician that it needed to happen - for the sanity of everyone in our home! Ryan and I talked about it a lot and discussed how we wanted to do it. Finally after kind of trying it, and it not working, we set up some hard ground rules.

This was the dramatic difference in our home last night. Ever since the day L was born - actually, while I was still pregnant even! - he controlled us. We wanted it that way, and that's what newborns do. They tell you when they're hungry, dirty, or sleepy. And it's your job as a parent to trust that feedback and fix the problem. I was used to having my sleep be dictated by him, and honestly, I wanted it to be that way for a longer time. As much as I grumbled about getting up in the middle of the night, it was so fulfilling to be needed that badly. I love being needed like that.

But for the first time last night, Ry and I as parents (it's finally starting to sink in now) called the shots. The control baton was handed to us, and we ran with it. I did the normal bedtime routine with L, laid him down in his crib, and closed the door. We turned off the monitor, turned up the fan in our room, and went to sleep. He slept for more than three hours - because that's when we went to bed. I was a little restless throughout the night. At one point, I got up to pump (sorry if this is too personal - it had to be done!). L was screaming. I sat in the bathroom and listened to him as I pumped. Once I was done, he was still fussy, but definitely not screaming. I quietly gave him his pacifier trying not to touch him, and he immediately fell asleep. I went back to bed. The next time I fully woke up, it was seven in the morning. I'm positive that L woke up multiple times - but we left it up to him to fall back asleep.

In charge. I always knew that parents were in charge. Growing up that's the first thing you learn! So naturally, I assumed that one day I would be in charge as well. I don't think I ever wanted it to happen this early! I was scared to finally admit that I was telling L no, and calling the shots. I realize that after over three full weeks of horrible sleep at night and almost no sleep during the day, this was a good move to make. But it was a scary one. Not so much because I didn't want to hurt him emotionally or physically (I knew he was tough, and had enough food stored up to last him for a long time!); but because that meant I was finally in charge.

Funny, huh? As you grow up, you slowly start to realize that you are in charge of yourself. Especially going to college, you're definitely in charge of yourself. But to be in charge of someone else?! Someone who is so little, and who has and continues to be dependent on you for their daily needs?! I'm telling this little baby what to do?! It terrified me.

I better go - L just woke up from his nap. It was two full hours. Maybe this cry it out thing will work after all. :) Wish us luck.