Summer Catch-up (and Mayo)

Okay, here goes a super long, adventure-filled post about all that we did this summer. Well, most of what we did...I'm getting older and my memory sometimes fails me!
At the end of June, I went to Girl's Camp. It was at the Heber Valley Camp, and with cabins, running water + the opportunity to shower as wanted, good food, and gorgeous surroundings, it was some pretty plush camping. While I was gone for the week, Sam went and spent a fun-filled week with g-ma M, g-pa M, J, and Nanny. I have to be honest right up front--Sam had a blast and came home with some cute new outfits. Mom, on the other hand, may have got a little Sam-sick and shed some tears! Cell-phone coverage was pretty much non-existent except for in random places, my favorite place being a long, uphill hike to what I called 'Cell-phone bush'. So every night, even during an electrical storm (not smart, but, hey, I was missing my baby!), I would hike up the hill to 'Cell-phone bush' and call home and cry.
I had a good time though. We did skits, sang songs, did crafts, hiked, canoed out onto this lake, sat around the campfire, blazed a new trail, played games, went to firesides, and all the other fun things you do at girl's camp. We have some amazing young women in our ward. We had five girls up at camp with three leaders, but I love our small numbers. I think it helps us be closer-knit together. Anamarie, our young women president, is awesome. She is one of those rare go-getters who really carries our program on her shoulders and gets things done. She is amazing. And I discovered that we have many similar personality traits. We were the 'tough' love leaders! Heidi, the other leader at camp, is so much fun. I especially enjoyed getting to know her better. She was eight months pregnant at camp. People were so shocked to see her there. She was a real trooper, I have to say! One lady came up to her and said, "Is it true that you're due this week?" (The rumors were flying!) I told Heidi that she should have told the lady that she was actually two weeks overdue! I feel so much closer to the other leaders and the girls now. Before camp, I was really nervous and prayed a lot about going because I didn't feel like I was a fun enough person. I'm just not one of those bubbly, out-going people and worried that I was too boring. But I ended up having a great time and strengthening my friendships. I became the camp hair stylist and bandana expert!


Also during camp, we had a couple of good spiritual experiences. One of the girls at camp with us is a non-member. She also has a slight disability that makes it hard for her to walk really well on un-even surfaces. The very first night at camp, she fell going in to the cabin and twisted her ankle. Granted, I felt that it was a little more drama than injury, but it was neat for me to see how people just served her, no questions asked. One of the stake presidency and our stake high councilman actually carried her up this really steep, long hill to get to the pavillion for a stake devotional. I was just so impressed with these men and the thought came to me of how much the priesthood carries all of us in our lives. The next day, we told the girl that she had to walk for herself or go home (there's the tough love I was talking about =). Her ankle felt better right away! One of the nights the stake had a fireside with a program done by Jenny Phillips. She has a wonderful talent for writing songs that can really invite the spirit and touch your heart. I hope that our little non-member girl felt the spirit--she was one of the first ones down after the program to get autographs!
Another experience was with our bishop. A couple days into camp and we could tell that our bishop really wasn't feeling very well. He was having extremely bad headaches and just wasn't his usual active self. So finally, Anamarie and I talked to him and told him that if he needed to go home he could. He took us up on the offer (another fact that confirmed that it was serious). Before he left, the other two stake guys came and gave him a priesthood blessing. That night, we had a special prayer for him that he would be okay. It was a comforting spirit after that prayer. It turned out that the bishop had liquid on his brain and actually ended up in the hospital as soon as he got home. I'm so glad that he made it safely and know that was an answer to our prayers. Later, the bishop had to have a hole drilled in his skull to relieve some of the pressure but is pretty much back to his usual self now. He is such an amazing, good man. I'm glad that he is doing better now!

The weekend of July 4th we had our first Independence celebration with Sam. First, Sam and I got up early and went to the ward flag raising ceremony and breakfast. It was a really nice program and great food. Then we got Nic out of bed and went out to G-ville for the parade and activities at the park. I totally got pegged in the head with a piece of candy confirming Nic's belief that no one from where I'm from can catch! G-pa was working the Sons of the Utah Pioneer's booth at the park and tried to give Sam some fish, to which mommy said 'no'! After the park, we went to my parent's house and had hamburgers and homemade rootbeer that my brother made. It was all a lot of fun, that good old fashioned kind of fun. Then we went to a birthday party for Clay's dad and then to a barbecue at Clay's house. By the end of the day we were so tired that I don't think we made it to the fireworks!

Okay, the boss man is yelling at me. I gotta go! =) To be continued...

A Visit with Infertile Myrtle

Long time no post! I promise that there is a post on its way that will re-cap our many summer adventures and be plumb full of adorable pictures of Sam. But right now I have other things on my mind that need to find the words. I want another baby! There, I said it. Now people are thinking, "You already have your miracle...Sam is only nine months old...just be happy with what you have...don't worry about it..." And I am so happy. Sam is the stuff dreams are made of. His personality is really starting to shine, and there are so many moments each day that he just steals my heart away. He's starting to say, "Mama" more consistently, especially when he really wants me to pick him up. (His first word was "Dada". He would babble dadadadada all the time, but one morning, I pointed to a picture of Nic and asked, "who is this?" Sam replied, "Dada". He sees Nic and says "dada" all the time now). The other day, Nic said, "That little boy is so in love with you!" And I began to notice how he watches me and listens to me and loves to be with me. He's started doing this thing now that when you hold him he will rest his head against your shoulder and pat your back with his little hand. I'm so in love with that little boy!

So, yeah, life is good. I'm happily married. I'm a happy mom. But I'm starting to get those urges for another one. I've been trying to keep it under control, not let it get the best of me. But I will admit, that lately when I start my period each month, it's disappointing. It's starting to ping at my heart again. I guess I was subconsciously hoping that now that I've had one baby, voila, my womb would be made over into this amazing baby-making machine! I loved being pregnant, and my body was good at it. There were the back aches and sore hips, but pregnancy rocked. I loved the feeling of life growing inside of me. And for the first time in my life, I felt like my body and I were on the same side, like we were friends not enemies. So I assumed that my new BFF and I had a good deal going. Not so much.

In my defense, I think these urges are from a divine source. Last Sunday, in Young Women, we had the dreaded Procreation Lesson. I was just glad that I didn't have to teach it. Anamarie taught the lesson and did an amazing job with it. It's such a difficult topic! Anyway, something that Anamarie said really stood out to me. She talked about how urges for physical intimacy are part of Heavenly Father's plan and that they can be divine, depending on how we act on them. Heavenly Father commanded all His creation to multiply and to Adam and Eve it was given the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. Who am I to resist divine urges? I want to multiply!

I want Sam to have little brothers and sisters. I have always wanted a big family. I don't know if I could wait another five years for another one. But that's what I said many years ago before Sam, and I did it. I could do it again. It took my mom five years to have me and then another nine years to finally have my sister. Nine years?! I'm 32 1/2 years old right now. That would put me at 41 years old. Yikes. Sometimes I think that maybe the Lord wants me to really focus on adoption right now. I don't know. I don't think I could go down the IVF road again. I have the plaque hanging in my dining room: "Faith in God includes faith in his timing" (Neal A. Maxwell). I just need to hang it on my heart.

Just another anecdotal Monday...

Two quick stories for the day...
A few weeks ago, Hubs' sister was in town with all of her family. They live in Washington, and it's a real treat when we get to see them. There are five kids in the family ranging from fourteen to three years old. Anyway, I'll tell more about the visit another day, but today Heidi called Hubs to inform him that her one of her little girls let out a huge belch today. When Heidi chided her, "What do you say?" She responded, "That was a good one!"
"Where did you learn that?"
"From my uncle."
Oh, the things kids learn. Hopefully, Hubs will only corrupt other children and not our own! (Just kidding!) =)

Yesterday we went to my parents-in-law for Sunday dinner. They have a bunch of wild cats around the yard along with three horses and two dogs. Well, when it was time to leave, we loaded Sam into the car and said our good-byes. When I went to shut Sam's car door, what should peer out at me from the other side of Sam? A wild cat. He hopped over Sam and jumped out of the car in a quick hurry when he saw that I had spotted him. Sam just laughed and laughed. I don't know how long the cat had been in the car, but Sam hadn't made a peep about it. I guess he thought he was getting a cat!

Sam Up-dates

Sam is quite the explorer of his New World. And he's a fast learner. He is quite speedy in rolling. He hasn't learned to crawl yet, and I don't know that he will. I think he will probably by-pass the crawling because he is so proficient in rolling. Why crawl on your hands and knees when you can roll across a room at the speed of light?! He is getting better at balancing when he sits up and when standing. We're getting there. Part of me wants to keep him as my little baby forever, but the other part of me realizes that he is growing and changing every day.
Sam is quite the busy body, always wiggling and moving around. Hubs likes to say, "Our snuggle bug has become a wiggle worm!" Sam is learning to use his hands and feet in different ways. He likes to do Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with Nanny Manda, and it almost looked like he was waving at daddy (who was on the phone) today. He reaches up when he wants you to pick him up, and gives you hugs and kisses (very slobbery kisses, mind you!). Somehow he's figured out how to run his fingers over his lips to go, "blub, blub, blub, blub..." He likes to mimic facial expressions, especially sticking out his tongue, smiling, and blinking. This is our new game that I can do for hours, if he would let me! Sam is also quite vocal. He loves to talk and babble. I think we are getting very close to a first word. He says, "dadadada" quite a bit and sometimes teases me with a "mommma". One day when I asked him what my name is, he replied, "blah blah blah!" Fairly accurate! =)

A couple of days ago, Sam got into trouble for the first time. I was holding him, and he was mad about something, so he decided to bite me on my shoulder. He has two bottom teeth and one top tooth that are very sharp. I very sternly said, "Ouch! Sam that is bad! No! No!" He looked at me for a second, then his little chin started to quiver, and then he just started bawling. In the end, I think I felt worse for getting after him than he did for biting me!

Yesterday Hubs' aunt took us out to dinner at the Little America (a very nice restaurant) as a graduation gift for Hubs. Of course, Sam came along because he is the rock star. A little background information will help this story: First, it was a very, very nice restaurant. Second, this aunt is a very kind, generous, elderly, and well-to-do aunt. This is the same aunt who offered to let me borrow one of her real mink coats when Hubs and I got married. I couldn't do it. My luck, there would have been animal rights protesters that day and I would have returned it covered in red paint. Well, the minute the server placed my 'mixed greens' in front of me, Sam proceeded to throw up. Not just spit up, mind you. He was like this geyser. Luckily he was facing me and facing away from the aunt. So I very indiscreetly took a burp cloth out of the diaper bag and tried to casually mop off my child. Luckily earlier that day, I had put a ziploc bag (in case of emergencies!) in the diaper bag, so I put the ziploc bag on my lap and under the table and stuck the soggy burp cloth in the bag. The cloth was seriously drenched! Yuck! All was well. Hubs had seen the dilemma out of the corner of his eye and did his part of engaging the aunt in a lively conversation to distract her. Well, a few minutes later and a couple bites of salad later, Sam proceeded to throw up some more. I got out the wipies and cleaned him up again the best I could without drawing attention to us. Sam, bless his heart, wasn't upset by the puking. He just sat there in his car seat jabbering away. Then he started to fuss, and I knew it was time for him to eat. I debated whether or not to give him a bottle, but he was hungry after all. So he got a bottle/more ammunition. Just after he finished his bottle, he began throwing up again. Pretty much all through dinner and dessert the little guy was a fountain of puke. I just kept cleaning him up indiscreetly and shoving the used wipies into the ziploc bag on my lap and nodding along with the conversation. Finally, it was time to leave. The aunt was cooing over Sam, and I was just hoping she wouldn't get close enough to him to catch his delightful fragrance--parfum de upchuck. Hubs walked the aunt out to her car, and I took Sam into the very fancy bathroom and stripped him down. I put his soaked clothes into the ziploc bag, changed his diaper (which was also very stinky and messy), wiped him down from head to toe,and put him into a clean onesie. I also had to mop out his car seat and scrub it thoroughly. Needless to say, it was a nice dinner, but I was exhausted! And luckily I don't have a squeamish tummy because I was still able to finish my very expensive meal in between clean-ups. I am totally going to re-tell this story to Sam's prom date some day! =)

Image

I've been thinking about image a lot lately. I think it is because over the past few months I've been gaining weight and getting chubbier than I did when I was pregnant. Irony: When I was pregnant I lost weight. Now that I'm not pregnant, I'm consistently gaining. It is true that I don't exercise as much as I should, but I do try. I've been trying to walk to places instead of drive all of the time, and I have got to be burning calories carting Sam all over the place and cleaning the house. It is also true that I don't eat as healthy as I should, but, again, I am trying. I'm certainly doing better than when I used to teach and I would snack on whatever I could get my hands on all day long. Something that I have discovered is that those cravings you have when you're pregnant don't necessarily disappear the minute you have the baby. Sam has left me with this insatiable sweet tooth that I never had before. I used to be a salt-girl--I couldn't resist chips. Now it's sugar (and chips (but not together)). And what do all the fitness books and videos say is the number one must-go if you want to lose weight? Sugar. I used to guffaw at such things. Sugar? I don't have a problem with sugar! Now I find myself at near melt-down if there is no dessert after dinner. And the fitness experts that try to convince me that biting into a crunchy apple is just as satisfying as say a slice of cheesecake are lying...perhaps a white chocolate and caramel covered apple!
Anyway, I'm feeling fat. And I'm feeling self-conscious about all sorts of silly things like the fact that lately my slightly crooked teeth are looking more crooked. Hubs says that I should look into getting braces if it is bothering me. I explained to him that I've already had braces once, and I'm not doing THAT again! I'm thinking of looking into that invisalign. And then there are those darn stretch marks that are still bright red and make it look like a) a wild animal with long, sharp claws attacked me, b) I am turning into a giant albino watermelon, or c) I am wearing a nude colored blouse with red zebra stripes. I don't know, maybe I'm just going through a phase. I know that Hubs loves me no matter what I look like. And Sam definitely loves me no matter what. In fact, the goofier I look, the better! I've heard a lot about a talk at the last BYU Women's conference that has been echoing through my head lately. Granted this is all information three or four times removed, but the speaker talked about how a man will stand in front of a mirror with his gut sticking out and think, "Man, I look good!" And a woman will stand in front of a mirror and pick out every imperfection and totally berate herself. I realize that I need to be kinder to myself, cut myself some slack. I did have a baby, after all, and that is no easy task for the old bod. But I'm also me, so I've been putting together an information packet/binder on feeling better about my body and improving my body. You would probably think I'm crazy if you could see all of the binders I've put together (I'm just realizing that it's kind of my thing-I research things and make binders for my research)--pregnancy, parenting tips, hair styling, crafts, recipes, writing...my life is a binder! I re-read the last statement and it sounds like I'm really organized, but, sadly, that is not the case. I think I have a binder on how to be more organized! Anyway, back to the body thing. I want to be fit and healthy for Sam. I want to be able to do things with him. To be honest, I want to have another baby soon and would really like to be in good shape for another pregnancy. I want to look good for Hubs. And, most of all, I want to be fit for me! I deserve it!
So I'm starting a new plan for the summer to get in shape. I'll give more details as I go. Here's a website and article that I'm starting with: http://www.parenting.com/article/Mom/Health--Fitness/Love-Your-New-Mom-Body. It all begins with attitude. I need to have a better attitude towards myself and my body. I need to set realistic goals. It's a start at least!

Growing Up

My little guy is growing up. And we're quickly learning that every milestone comes with some good and some bad. (By the way, I've decided to just use the baby's name, Sam. It makes it so much easier! Anyway...) For example, earlier this week I was rubbing Sam's gums and I ran across his first tooth. It hasn't quite broken all the way through the surface, but I can feel the little jagged edge of it poking through his little baby gums. This is a very exciting. For a mom who is passionate about food, this will be a fun adventure of introducing new foods to him and helping him to experience new flavors. I tried to give Sam one of those baby biscuits a couple of weeks ago and discovered that he can still bite off pieces of things even without teeth. So all solid foods are eaten in one of those mesh things. Sam does seem to share my love for food though. He is a voracious eater and has generally liked anything I put before him. Now for the downside, new tooth equals crankiness. Now, I've heard horror stories, and I have to admit, Sam isn't really that bad. He gets a little fussy now and then but not the hours of screaming that people speak of. But I can tell that it bothers him, and he will have sudden bouts of crying. How traumatizing that must be for a baby--such betrayal. The happy place where food goes in, that tastes everything, is suddenly an owie place! Last night he was really having a hard time, so I ended up sleeping on the nursery floor with him. We cuddled up and that seemed to comfort him. Though, I woke up at one point and Sam had the entire pillow and all of the blankets! Takes after his dad! Well, one tooth down (close, anyways) and--how many teeth do babies get?--more? to go!

Another milestone is that Sam has discovered rolling. I was starting to wonder if he would ever be a roller. He doesn't like being on his belly that much and is usually content just to be on his back. He has demonstrated that he can roll over (Nanny Manda calls him a one-trick pony: He does it once to show that he can then that's it!), but has been more of a scootcher, pushing himself around on his back with his legs (thus the rug burn/bald spot on the back of his head). However, just the other day, I came in to get him out of bed in the morning and he was on his belly. I thought this was cute but didn't think much of it. Then later that day, he rolled across his nursery. Suddenly, he's a traveler. I realize that I probably can't take naps with him on my bed anymore (yesterday morning I woke up to Sam wrestling with the pillow that I put on the edge of the bed to keep him safe. It looked like Sam was winning). This also means that Sam tends to wake himself up at night when he rolls himself into a corner of the crib and gets stuck. Too soon, he'll be able to pull himself up to standing! Yikes!

Well, since I've decided to reveal the baby's name, I might as well explain a little about his name. First of all, it's a family name which makes it special. He also has two middle names--the names of both of his grandpa's. But I also liked the name because it means 'God heard' and Sam is definitely an answer to our prayers like Samuel was an answer to Hannah's prayers in the Bible. There is a painting by Elspeth Young that I want to own someday called For This Child I Prayed. There are so many women in the Bible like Hannah and Abraham's Sarah that I can relate to and who inspire me.

You can go to alyoung.com to learn more about the painting. It's interesting all the symbolism that he put into the painting. I especially like this part: "Hannah also wears white, symbolic of her faith and purity. The brightly colored wrap she wears warmly enfolds herself, and visually touches the child as well, symbolizing the influence of a righteous mother in the life of her child." I hope that I am a righteous mother!

Memorial Day weekend

Here's some pictures from our camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. We were in the middle of nowhere--believe me, we had to drive over an hour to get a cell signal. There was a whole lot of sage brush, rocks, dirt, horny toads, and some slithery things that I would rather not think about. That was about it. But we had so much fun!

Flying kites!

The pinwheel kite was giving us problems, but after some crafty engineering, we got it to work!


Can you see the garbage bag handle and the rock tail? Surprisingly, it worked!


It is always good to be with family! Here are some family pics of us just hanging out.






Digging (and in the baby's case, eating) for trilobites. Papa J should have been an archaeologist!