Jacob

So after a few reminders, I realized I really haven't posted about my little angel baby much at all. What's that saying? The squeaky wheel gets the oil? Well, he is definitely not the squeaky wheel in our house. Although, I think he is starting to catch on...

Jacob truly is an angel baby.

I call him my "reward" baby :) From the get-go he has been mild-mannered and totally easy-going. Even now, I can leave him in his baby carrier for the duration of nursery (for his protection), and he is happy as a clam just watching all the activity going on.

He loves watching animated conversation. When it turns to him, he gets so excited he kicks his little legs and rewards you with all sorts of smiles and coos. He'll happily 'go' to anyone who wants to hold him - although, I think he is getting a bit more aware now when Mom isn't around. Still, though, he's amazing.

He has quite a healthy appetite. He loves sweet potatoes. He tolerates squash & other mixed veggies. Loves peaches, pears, applesauce. HATES bananas and peas. Lately his sleep (and mine) has been suffering for want of more food. I figure it's a on-going growth spurt. And with how easy he is to put to sleep, I have no complaints. He is a lot like Hyrum in that respect. He didn't like being swaddled for the first 4 or 5 months, but now he does. Wrap him up, stick a binky in his mouth and he is good to go!

He absolutely loves baths. He loves the water, and he loves to kick! Afterwards he loves getting all wrapped up and cuddling. So fun.

At 7 months he is just about ready to officially crawl. Right now he is pretty adept at scooting and rolling to his desired location. But as far as the real crawling goes, he can get on his knees and hands for only a little bit before he faceplants to the floor. It's actually pretty funny to watch. (Sorry I have no picture of it - WISH that I did!)

He is definitely not as stocky as Hyrum was, but he's sure growing like a weed. Long and lean.

(next to his second cousin, Kate South)

Mostly though, this kid is just a joy. He's happy, smiley, loves to engage, loves to be with people. He is WONDERFUL!

We love baby Jake!

I Dig it, Man!

Cool! Mark just called in to the Dennis Miller show. It's a talk-radio show he loves listening to because the host is so funny. He's very intelligent, mostly leans the same way Mark does politically, but has a vocabulary that comes straight from the '60s-'70s. It's fun. And Mark loves him.

So when he (Dennis Miller) started talking about his neighbor getting a new dog and how obnoxious it is that the dog barks all night and then asked for caller suggestions... Well, Mark HAD to call in.

And maybe it's not that big of a deal, but my experience is that it's actually kinda hard to 'get in' when calling up radio shows. Maybe it's just me.

Regardless, it was exciting and fun for Mark (and therefore me). Plus he got to relay his idea of slitting open a hot dog, stuffing in 2 or 3 Tylenol PMs, and tossing it over the fence. Dog is out in under 10 minutes flat. Dennis Miller's reaction: "Ladies and Gentlemen, there is one ingenious cat. I dig it, man!"

Made Mark's night. :)

Lame

Last week I gave a random driver a good show. I was in the Elementary school's front parking lot when Hyrum decided to bolt into the street. Of course a car had to be coming right as he did this. Naturally I reached out for him, but being on the curb and in shoes I don't normally wear, I slipped, twisted my ankle and literally fell down into the street. Think spread-eagle, but laying on my back. Oh yeah, and I pulled Hyrum down on top of me. Ouch.

To the driver's credit, he had apparently seen Hyrum heading towards the street and had moved to the other side [of the street]. Then he slowed to a stop after witnessing my dramatic spill. I waved, acknowledging to him that I was okay, and please-don't-come-over-here-to-my-further-embarrassment.

And yes, it hurt. Like crazy.

Fast forward one week:

This morning I was walking the girls up to their school for morning drop-off. We waited at the crosswalk for the crossing guard to stop traffic and signal for us to come across. Once she signaled, we walked about half-way so we were in full view of all the stopped cars, the crossing guard, the safety patrol kids and teachers at the school, and any other parent/student crossing or just having crossed. Yes, friends, I chose this perfect moment to once again twist my ankle and dramatically tumble to the ground. Or rather, road.

So, so awesome!

I think next time I go to that school I will take advantage of the Halloween season and wear a mask, just in case.

Big Night!

Soooo...

cutting hair seems to be a common... problem?... in our house. The other day Andrea was getting fed up with the hair in her eyes and finally couldn't take it any more. Naturally, she cut it out of the way. Of course! She's my kid, right? [roll eyes here]

It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't RIGHT in the front. And a part in the back.

And oh yeah, tomorrow is picture day. Yay!

In a panic, Andrea asked me to "fix" her hair so she'd look pretty tomorrow. Now, believe it or not, I have actually learned my lesson (mostly) about cutting hair and to not to. Feeling responsible, I took her to a salon to get it done.

...

It came out a bit shorter than I had anticipated.

Andrea tried to keep it together and even politely thanked the lady for the hair cut, but then outside the store told me she felt like a boy and that her stomach had 'the kind of pain that makes you feel sick and like you're going to throw-up.' Great.

KEENLY aware of how much a major haircut can devastate you, I told her we'd get her some cute headbands and clips,

AND

on impulse, that she could get her ears pierced.

Mind you, she has been BEGGING for this for a good 6 months now. I had always told her she could have it done when she turned 8. Not because I think it's that big of a deal, but I want her to be responsible for taking care of her ears on her own, and if you are old enough to decide whether or not to get baptized, I think you're plenty old enough to take care of your ears.

But it's not like she's not already mature enough now. Trust me, the kid is years beyond her age. And again, with the whole haircut thing.

So, we did it!

She picked out some cute rainbow daisy earrings and was super brave through it all. She asked the lady right before she pierced them, "I wonder if I'll scream?" :)

She didn't.

Oh. My. Goodness.

The kid is on cloud 9. When we got home we styled her hair and "practiced" her smile for tomorrow. All I had to do was say, "Show me how much you like your ears pierced."

[cue the beaming]

And really, isn't she a doll?

Dishes

Didn't I JUST do these?

Hyrum

As I was cleaning up the milk he just spilled, I guess I moved my hand a little too close to his toy because Hyrum suddenly grabbed it away and said, "MINE!"

I looked at him and said, "Is that a nice way to talk to mommy?"

"No."

"What do you think you should say?"

[pauses to think]

"More milk, please!"

Overheard

Andrea to Lacie: "If you want to help me -- if you REALLY want to help me, then just go play. I can just do this better by myself."

Uh oh. Wonder where she's heard that one?

Copy-cat - and a little color crazy

In case you missed Jen's latest posts, one of them highlighted her prep for General Conference. Wow! Impressive, to say the least. Or, as Mark put it:

"Over-achievers.com."

I, of course, am once again, green with envy. Well, more like just totally in admiration of her awesome efforts (and success!). Now to be fair, this was a project she's been working on for some time. It has evolved over the last 3 conference seasons. And looking at all the work that went into it, it's easy to see why. We're talking serious time investment finding pictures, sizing, spacing, plotting, planning, coloring, laminating, cutting, gluing, cutting, more cutting, etc.

So of course I was THRILLED TO PIECES when I asked if I could copy her and she emailed me all her hard work she'd put together.

!!!

Hooray! Awesomeness without the work!

Okay, it did take some work. But I was able to hammer it out in a couple days (I finished around 4am this morning - and no, I did NOT sleep through Conference, thank you very much!). Thank you, Jen! And thanks again for posting on Thursday, so I was able to do it in time to actually use it. Yay!

Anyway, here is my finished product. It is a little modified, but I think it suits our family just perfectly.

Ta da!

I love it! And the kids have had fun posting the speakers, topics, organists, etc.

Okay, so maybe Conference today was still chaotic -- I doubt very much that the kids actually HEARD anything...

Hey, it's a goal to work towards, right?

:)