Pioneer Day Celebration

I got together with old friends for a picnic in the park on Pioneer Day. Fun like always. We met our freshman year at BYU, when we were thrown together as roommates in the dorms. We've been pretty decent at keeping in touch since we've moved on to the other things and places.

Megan (and Tyler), Laura (Agnes and Eliot), Me and Noah, and Ella (with Jane).

On the way home...


This is Ella and Jane while we were stranded under an overpass due to an overheated car. Right as Ella's husband Matt pulled up to rescue us, a policeman came and knocked on our window and asked: "Is everything alright here?" Then, more questions. He seemed more on the suspicious than compassionate side, not what I expected after having to deal with the tragedy of a car overheating. No further questions, and then he walked back to his police car. Ella said: "I hate cops." And then Matt was at our window, and asked us if the policeman told us what happened (No, he hadn't). So Matt gave us the story we missed. The cop had received a call-in report of our vehicle parked under the overpass with its passengers involved in a domestic dispute. The officer answered the call and arrived at our car at the same time Matt did. The officer wouldn't let Matt come to talk to us until the officer first investigated the reported disturbance. That's when he came to our window to question us. Our story checked out, and so no charges were pressed or further investigation issued.

But we were still left with questions. Had Ella and I thrown angry gestures at each other? Did one of us look manly and mean, like an abusive husband? Or were we simply two angry sisters caught in a moment of sibling rivalry? Or could Matt have been the Angry Husband, and I was the friend who came to rescue Battered Ella? Or had the cars driving by heard me yelling, and wrongfully assumed I was yelling out of anger, when I was actually attempting to be understood by Ella with her hearing impairment? ....I guess we will never know.

The Scene of the Crime

Sleep would be nice

It's official. Tonight is the night Noah learns to sleep. Who knew that sleep is a skill that must be learned? I guess some parents get babies that are sleep lovers, and that's nice for them. We aren't one of those families. But unlike the mess of our house, I will take the blame for this. It isn't Noah's fault he can't sleep right because every week he sleeps in a different bed in a different room in a different house. We've been all over the place this summer, and sweet little Noah has just gone with the flow. But he brought home some habits from our travels. Habits that if you consider sleeping through the night a good thing, are bad.

1. We hold him and rock him until he is asleep in our arms and then sneak him into the crib.
   
2. Since most of the time we sleep in the same room as him, every time he wakes up, we do too, and we run to his rescue.
3. I feed him every time he wakes up.
4. As a result of the frequent night feedings, many nights the diaper just can't hold it all, and he wakes up in wet pajamas and crib sheets (or bed sheets, if he happens to be in our bed that night).

And so, now that we are done traveling (Kyle starts doing his teacher things this week, so our summer is over), it's time to learn new habits. Our method of choice comes from the baby whisperer lady. If you aren't familiar with her techniques, here it is in a nutshell: baby cries, you pick up him up. Baby calms a little, then baby goes back down in his crib. Then baby cries again. And repeat repeat repeat. Fun fun fun. It's amazing what people will do when they are sleep deprived.

Anyway, wish us luck. I put some pictures up of Noah sleeping in honor of the occasion. Thanks to everyone who has given us advice and encouragement. Think of us when you are sleeping and dreaming!

Noah was here

...which is why we keep him in here...

our water baby

Climbing stairs

Some grainy but cute pictures of Noah on the stairs.

Adventures in Baby Proofing

I wanted to write something on my blog because I've been entertained lately by other people's stories. I do have to multitask at the moment because Kyle wants me to watch him play Tiger Woods golf on the Wii. So between my dutiful wife golf cheers, I will write something of interest about the last week.
Kyle just asked me what I was writing about and I told him "our life." And he said "with pictures?" I said "Probably not," and he said "You can't do that to people." And so, I will include a random picture to make him and you all happy. Actually a random video. It's from a month ago, and it's kind of boring, but I do like the fact that he sucks on a cord.




I like it because it represents a cycle of my every day: Noah sucks on some kind of cord, I take it away from him and hide it, cord gets within his reach again when I'm not looking, repeat cycle, 150 times. I'm just relieved that he's only gotten shocked once (that was not one of my finest mother moments, or one of his happiest baby moments. Sad!) Crawling babies really do get into everything. This morning while Kyle was "watching" Noah, he crept into the bathroom and got into the trash can (disgusting) and pulled out a plastic spoon and chocolate pudding cup that wasn't quite empty and he went to town. When Kyle found him, he was enjoying a little snack and had smeared chocolate all over himself. I was sad because I slept through the whole thing. Even when you watch them like a hawk, they still manage to get into things they shouldn't! The other day I was standing in the kitchen with my mother-in-law, and Noah was on the floor. He started playing with a piece of packaging plastic aka choking hazard, which Shanna immediately took away from him and threw in a full garbage bag that was also on the kitchen floor. Noah took one look at us (the look translated into: "Oh come on. I'm a baby but I'm not stupid") and proceeded to pull the trash bag over and dumped the garbage out all over himself and the kitchen floor. And don't even get me started on his stair climbing adventures. Well, at least he keeps me on my toes! Is there really such thing as baby proofing a home??

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