Merry Christmas 2009

If I find a better copy, I'll replace this one. This received a very small circulation of non-blog-followers.

See the tiny baby in the pictures? He’s our new baby boy, Andrew Mark, born October 27. Getting him here and taking care of him has been our biggest project of 2009, but a worthwhile one – much better than sending out early Christmas cards. He started out life as a big boy (9 lbs. 5 oz.), and he doesn’t show signs of slowing down. He’s chubby and snuggly, and we all love giving him kisses and watching him learn to smile.

Noah is now 19 months old and a funny boy. He loves all the common little boy games, including flinging food and jumping off stuff. His dare-devil ways led to a broken leg last month, but it barely slowed him down. He says a lot of words these days, like yelling, “Football game, go, go, go,” and, “Oh, man!” when Gary watches sports.

Being 3 has brought awesome things to Josh’s life, like getting to play soccer and be in our neighborhood co-op preschool. Soccer was a big hit, in fact, just the other day he prayed that it could be spring so he could play again. He loves learning new things, and right now is arguing with me about whether or not I need to press the Q. (I guess he wins.) Josh brings a lot of fun to our lives.

Gary and I are happy to report we still have our same jobs (Gary with the legislature and me with the boys), and are doing our best to keep up with everything. It does get to be a circus around here much of the time, but who doesn’t like a good circus? We are so grateful for our boys, each other, and all of the other extra stuff we are blessed to have. I liked this Christmas card because it reminds me of the peace that our Savior Jesus Christ brings to us. May we all enjoy this peace this coming year as we seek after Him.

Meet the Fam

Yes, these pictures were taken in May, but I never posted any, I really like them, and I needed a little breath of spring air after the freezing week we just had. Plus, I never put them onto my computer until last night when making the family calendar . . . so, meet my family! These were taken at my parents' house in Idaho.

Yes, there's an extra boy in the middle at the bottom. He's our cousin Kevin, and he's part of the bunch since he's hung out with our family and traveled here and there and everywhere with us his entire life. We love him.

Yep, seven girls, no boys. Go ahead, stare and count, we're used to it.

Sister #2 - Cindy, with husband Nate, and children Tate, Sophie, and Braden.

Recognize these jokers? That's right, I'm #1. At least in one thing.

Sister #3- Sarah, with husband Dave and baby Madeline.

Sister #4 - Katie, with husband Paul

Sisters 7, 5, and 6 - Kayla, Hannah, and Kristen

Dad and Mom

Melody's Hula Class

Once upon a time ten years ago there was a girl named Melody who went to BYU-Hawaii and took a hula class. Her teacher told the class that part of hula was using your eyes and facial expressions, and that to get full points the students would need to use them, too. Melody and her friend watched the other students in the class, and saw this one girl who apparently took the advice to heart. Not only did she really get into the hula, but she had all sorts of facial expressions as well. Melody and her friend would chuckle and say, "Wow, she must really want an A."

As so many good heroines do, Melody ended up in Provo, where she had a pretty decent winter semester despite not being in Hawaii. When the semester was over, she found out she was getting a new roommate for the spring. When the day came Melody emerged from her room to greet the new girl . . . and it was the crazy hula-class girl!! Melody and the girl had a fun time being roommates, even though they ended up having to do their hula at the ward luau. (Most likely the roommate's fault, but the menfolk told Melody she did a good job.)

The roommate grew up to have three little boys, one of which she was driving to preschool this morning while listening to a Hawaiian CD given to her by her sister-in-law. She heard the hula song she'd once danced to, and thought, "I wonder if I've still got what it takes?", then laughed and laughed the whole way home.

How to Get the University Donation People to Hang Up

Guy Who Called While I Was Cooking Dinner: Hi, I'm from BYU-Idaho, and I'd like to discuss your experiences with us and what you can do to help out some of the things we're doing up here.
Me: (While stirring two different skillets on the stove) Okay. (He sounded nice, so I thought I'd be gentle.)
Noah: Food, mommy, food, mommy, mommy, mommy, (While screaming loudly and pathetically) . . .
Guy: So first of all, did you graduate from Ricks?
Noah: Screams! Neediness!
Me: No, I actually never went to school up there at all, it was my husband that did.
Andrew: Waaaaaaaah! (Sounds much further away then he should, given that he was just barely sitting on the couch with Josh.)
Guy: Okay, well what we're doing -
Me: Just a second, sorry. (Covers the phone) Joshua! Where is Andrew? (Runs upstairs trying to find baby. Sees him on Josh's bed with a burp rag over his face, screaming away. Picks up baby.) Still Me: Josh, why did you put him here? (Keep in mind, Josh carries Andrew around kind of by the neck, and he had to have carried him all the way up the stairs for this.)
Josh: It's my bed, he likes my bed.
Me: (Remembers the phone) I'm sorry, go ahead.
Guy: It sounds like you've got a lot going on right now, I can call back later.
Me: Okay, have a great night!

So, that's how you do it folks. I'm not saying it's easy to replicate yourself, but it was so effective. (BTW - I'm all for donating money to education. It's just awkward to explain to a guy on the phone that my 3 year old doesn't want a receipt saying someone else is going to college in his Christmas stocking.)

And the First Broken Bone Goes To . . .

Noah. Two weeks ago he was learning to jump, and he was really excited about it. All day long he'd say, "I jumping mommy, I jumping!" That evening he was jumping on the couch, and unfortunately off the couch as well, because suddenly I heard him land on the ground and start crying, and when I looked up his right foot was awkwardly off to the side. Because he was beside himself every time we moved him, Gary took him to the urgent care that night. The x-ray didn't show a break, but they put a splint on him to stabilize the injury and told us to follow up with our doctor. Even though he was still upset about his "owies," when I pulled out the camera he was willing to cheese it up. Here are two pictures of him in his baby splint.

The doctor told us if he wasn't walking in a week, to come back, and in the mean time to take off the splint and see if he'd start moving on his own. She thought that would be the right thing to do because she could twist his ankle all around and it didn't really bother him. So, a week later he still wasn't walking - he still found lots of ways to get into everything, but not by walking. Gary took him in again, and the x-ray once again showed nothing. The doctor said he was "perplexing" and ordered an x-ray of his hip, and said that if he wasn't walking in another week, we'd have to go to a specialist at Primary Children's. Great . . .

We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, and during that time he awkwardly fell on the foot twice, and was a basket case each time. So sad, because he was really trying to be brave, but would whimper, "Foot, my foot, owies," every time he'd try to put weight on in. My heart nearly broke this morning when he hurt it again and was trying so hard to let me rock him to sleep, but couldn't. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes and sniffled, "Owie, mommy, owie," like he really wanted me to take away the pain.

So, my mom called my dad (who is a doctor), who happened to be at the hospital, and said the x-ray tech was there and if we ran up there quickly we could get another x-ray. We figured it was worth a try, so we went. Poor kid was so used to the x-ray equipment he was happy to be there. (The first time he screamed and fought.) Turns out, his leg (tibia) is broken, about an inch above his ankle. No wonder he's okay when you mess with his foot but not okay if you grab his ankles to change his diaper! My dad said that he can see why it didn't show up a few days ago. I guess fractures like that don't show up until they start to heal. So, he got this sweet blue cast (Dad was thinking "Go Cougars" when he picked it). Noah wanted the cast off when it first got finished, but he was happy when it was being put on, and it supposedly makes it feel a whole lot better. We got him all casted up just in time to go to church for his first day of nursery, which he loved regardless of his cast.

Of course no one ever wants their child to break a bone, but Gary and I were so relieved to find out what's wrong and that there is an easy solution, that we were happy about the cast. Poor, poor baby . . . two weeks with a broken leg before the cast. We did our best, though, and now there's only 3 weeks until he's good as new! On the way home in the car Noah kept saying, "I jumping couch, owie. Jumping couch, fall down, owie," over and over again . . . seems like the whole thing has made an impression, so probably we'll have a really calm household after this.

Yeah, ha, ha, but that's okay. Yes, we have two kids that don't walk now, and yes, one of them is very heavy, but hey, nothing too bad, we can't complain. Although as a post note it is funny to think that the day Noah broke his leg was my most on the ball day since Andrew was born. I had the house decently clean, dinner ready the second Gary got home, and family home evening all planned out. I was getting back in to the swing of things, but then FHE turned into urgent care for Noah and Gary, while Josh and I drank hot chocolate and watched Star Wars. Had to make up for the fact Noah got to go somewhere and he didn't. Then with Noah injured, things went back to nuts. That's okay, though, I may have been in danger of getting bored, and it isn't about me, it about Noah, and his big accomplishment as the first one to break a bone. He might think that makes him cool much later in life.

Check Out the "Soccer Guy"

I'm not allowed to write above Josh's picture for some reason, but I think it's fitting. The first thing you've gotta see is his proud little face and cute little body in his huge soccer uniform. Josh played soccer for the first time this fall, and if you know Josh I don't need to say what he thought about it. If you don't know him, I should tell you that ever since we signed him up in the spring he started talking about when he would get to play soccer in August. And I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the amount of times he asked me, "Is it time for soccer now?" on his first day of practice.

Of course he's little, but that's why I like him playing now. They just play 3 on 3, no goalie, nobody keeps score (okay, Gary does, but supposedly no one does), and the kids just have a blast getting some exercise and feeling like they're "soccer guys." It's definitely a comedy of errors - most of the game is spent trying to get the kids to realize which goal is theirs, but it's cute.

Josh actually liked practice as much or more as the games, since in his words, "Soccer practice is for playing with a lot of balls, and soccer games are for playing with one ball." He actually did pretty well for himself, you can tell when he's out there he's pretty determined to get the ball. He usually got a couple of goals each time, sometimes a few on the other team's goal as well. He also had games where he'd just jog around and do somersaults when he got a chance, and that was fine, too. I always asked him if he was having fun, and he always said yes, so I say success. Here's a picture of him right before a kickoff.

It turned out another boy on his team has the same hair as him, which was cute to see on the field. Josh happens to be the one in front in this picture. (Notice the teamwork? Yeah, there was none. We'll work on it.)

I love this picture because it's so typical of the games. Notice where all the kids are looking and what they are doing . . . then notice where the ball is.

Our next door neighbor was on the team, too, so I tried to get a picture on the last day. Couldn't get them all to look, but at least nobody has their finger in their nose in this one.

The last game was on Halloween, and it was the perfect way to get out of the house after Andrew was born. Josh finished up the season by scoring 3 rather impressive (from my perspective) goals. He also scored one on the other team's goal. He says he scored 4 goals, but as far as net goals he only got 2. So how much credit should we give him? Perplexing problem, but the moral of the story is we all had fun. (Heaven help me if there should ever be a different moral regarding my kids in sports . . .)

It Was a Little Scary, But the Kids Were Cute

. . . and they also got a lot of candy, so Halloween was a success. The day actually started out great, with Josh finishing off his soccer season in a blaze of glory (more later). Then the kids went with Gary to buy a few pumpkins. Josh wanted to go to the pumpkin patch, but sadly, children with new baby brothers do not get to go to the pumpkin patch before the pumpkins are gone. Happily, though, 3 year olds don't mind if there are only tiny pumpkins left to buy, and he and Noah were thrilled with their purchases. They got to scoop out the pumpkins on the back porch with their daddy, which was extra awesome, and then Gary showed off his carving skills. Josh told me later that his pumpkin was goofy and Noah's was scary.

Dinner time is when Halloween got scary. Noah wouldn't eat a thing on his tray, which is highly unusual for Noah (he is usually a very hungry man). I started getting the kids ready to go trick-or-treating, and put Noah in his under-costume-sweatsuit. I was about to put on his costume when suddenly he started throwing up. All over the place. Sad, and gross, but it was in the kitchen so we cleaned it up, and continued getting ready. Even though Noah wasn't feeling the best (notice the blanket in the picture), he wanted to go. Noah was a dinosaur, and Josh was a super hero (Super Josh to be exact, his choosing). Here you can see how excited Josh was.And here you can see the J on his belt. The J belt was something he made mandatory for his costume. He also had a giant J on the back of his cape. (Thanks, mom!!)

Even though they got out a lot later than expected, they had fun, and Noah was fine. So we took this picture when they came home, notice the finished jack-o-lantern.

Noah looked so flippin' cute in his costume I had to get another picture. So I sat down on the stairs (inside the house), set my camera sights on him, and started saying, "Say cheese, Noah, come on, say cheese!" But he would only make a sullen face. So I kept trying, and all of the sudden through my camera I saw him start throwing up again - on me. And the stairs, and his costume . . . again and again. Poor boy! He was really sad, I mean, he must have been so miserable.

So we had more to clean up, and Josh to put to bed, and all the while Andrew would scream his head off if he wasn't being held. He wouldn't sleep, or lie down, or anything. Gary and I stayed up until around 2 in the morning with one child periodically throwing up and another screaming if not nursing. Woo-hoo, happy Halloween . . . Josh seemed to enjoy his day though, I hope so anyway.

In the midst of it all I realized I should quickly snap a photo of Andrew in his Halloween onesie. It was very cute. He spent most of the day in a pumpkin onesie (wish I'd taken a picture), but that one was dirtied so he switched to a sassier costume.

It says, "This is my costume."

How We Became Out-Numbered and Other Answers

As my dear sister Sarah so graciously posted when she hacked into my blog, three weeks ago our sweet little Andrew Mark was born, making us a family of five. That's right, little people are now more than big people. This has happened to many, many before us, but Gary and I are still having a lot of, "Wow, look at all these guys," moments. I've also had a lot of moments where I feel like, "This child really belongs with us," and those are the times that make all the rest of whatever feel unimportant.

No, he doesn't sleep through the night or demand zero attention or any new-parent-fantasy like that, but he is such a sweet little guy. I know I already used that word, but my vocabulary is not meeting the feelings in my heart for my baby. He has this way about him, or look to his little face, or something, that when he cries I feel bad for him needing food or love or having tummy pains. It's so neat to see how each child's personality is unique, even though you'd think Andrew would be too young to have one.

Since I didn't have a free second to report anything earlier, I thought I'd go marathon-style and answer some questions I've been getting. I figure I'll be interested in the answers some day, at least.

How are you feeling?

Most common question, and I love you for caring. Here's the upside to answering questions when the baby is 3 weeks old. I can say I'm feeling pretty good and be honest about it. Still unbelievably exhausted, but that comes with the whole new baby package. When I was going through all of the bad aches, pains, and yuckiness I couldn't understand why anyone would repeatedly put themselves through such things, but I'm already thinking it wasn't so bad. (Note to self: yes it was.)

Emotionally I've been everywhere from, "Am I allowed to be this happy?" right after he was born to, "Please, please help me get through this phase," when he was five days old. Now we're trying to take as many chances as we can to enjoy his precious newness, and realize there should come a day when going from sleeping to awake doesn't hurt.

How about a belly pic?

Yep, this question is an old one. Wasn't planning on actually honoring this request, but I just found this one my sister took and I was pretty amazed at the lengths to which this baby stuck out. Which is funny because I lived with it. Explanation here is that right before Andrew was born I had a pretty significant birthday of my own, and since it was such a milestone, of course my family had to honor it by taking me to Chuck E. Cheese. I don't think I was doing well in this particular game . . . How about pictures of the baby?

Of course! Here's one of Andrew with his daddy at four days old. (I'm pretty sure that's a yawn.)

Even though he's sticking out his tongue, I thought this picture of Andrew with my sister Hannah was a good closer-up picture of his face.

I give myself a pass for having just had a baby in this photo, and post it because I love how chubby he looked when he was very first born. It was so cute. I'm pretty sure this is even before they cleaned him up.

Here's his first bath in the hospital. I thought this was a pretty good shot of the chubs. Right after they wheeled me into recovery he started sucking on his hand. In his first couple hours of life he sucked on his hand and blanket almost constantly. Or tried.

Proud big brother Joshua. At first he didn't know how to react to the whole thing, but once he was told the baby didn't have any teeth, he was fascinated and had to investigate.

Noah immediately wanted to kiss the baby. So he did, repeatedly. I love it.

How are your other boys dealing with the new baby?

They really love the baby. Josh is so proud of being able to hold him and anytime he can get Andrew to stop crying you'd think he just won a trophy by the look on his face. Noah just loves kissing and toes. However, they are struggling with family changes. Noah needs a lot of extra "huggies," and Josh for a while has seemed bent on challenging every rule we've ever had around here. Everyone needs more attention and consistency . . . we'll get there, it's already improving.

How'd you decide on the name?

Actually, I've liked the name Andrew ever since I was student teaching almost six years ago. There was the cutest little Andrew in my class, and I planned on naming my child that right then and there. Gary has always liked the name as well, and we discussed it as an option for Josh, but it never seemed right until now. Yes, Gary has a brother with a name that is really close, but he's a good guy for Andrew to look up to, and since the names aren't exact we can easily clarify who we're talking about. Which might be necessary since it turns out they share a birthday . . . We came upon the middle name, Mark, easily because it's my dad's name. Another great guy for Andrew to look up to.

How is it with three?

All three of our boys are awesome, so eventually having three will be great. Right now, honestly, it's pretty much insanity and chaos. I'm usually holding more than one child, or trying to, and pretty often at least one, and many times more than one, of them are crying. Pretty much just meeting everyone's basic needs is a full-time job. It's getting better, though.

How was your delivery?(Label provided so you can stop now if you don't want to know.)

Short answer: Healthy baby, healthy mommy, no complications, it was great.

The story: I had been thinking this baby was going to come for a couple of weeks. I'd been having contractions since 33 weeks, and some pretty real ones since 36. The baby was very low (it felt like it, and the doctor confirmed it was so), and felt very, very heavy (which we know now because he was). I didn't want to be a complainer, but I had lots of signs of impending childbirth that had never happened to me in the past without a baby coming within 24 hours. Everyone remarks about the size of the baby, saying it must have been a hard delivery, and while of course delivery was no picnic, it's not so bad compared to carrying that much weight around. But that's what I get for marrying a man who was ten pounds at birth, and since I do not regret that decision and I quite like my babies, it's all good in the end.

The day Andrew was born started out with a doctor's appointment. Gary watched Noah during it, then I left him in Salt Lake without a car, so he could ride the bus home. He had been driving to work every day up to that point, just in case, but I was determined to stop being a pathetic pregnant woman and stick it out happily. So, I went home, fed the boys lunch, and put dinner in a crock-pot, all the while barely being able to walk because of the incredible pressure I was feeling. As I was talking to my mom on the phone about said pressure, my water broke. It was funny to me, even though something big was happening I still had to do regular stuff like carry Noah to the sink to wash him off, and try to convince Josh of the importance of putting on pants quickly.

A friend of mine saved the day by volunteering to watch my kids and drive me to the hospital. I had thought I'd have to find two people without sick kids that day, which would have been rough, so thank you, Kami! Gary had a co-worker drive him to the hospital, so we met there. After confirming that my water had, in fact, broken, I was left alone for at least 1 and a half hours. I wasn't contracting that regularly and there was apparently a lot going on at the hospital that day . . . It was okay, though, Gary and I chatted, and right when I was starting to feel major pain and feelings of neglect someone came in. Thank you! I was dilated to a 6, so the nurse called for the epidural.

Usually the epidural is the end of the drama for me, but this time my chest started to feel tingly and I felt like my head was in a tunnel. I almost passed out, so they turned off the epidural and called for the anesthesiologist. At one point I was an 8, my epidural was off, and I was shaking uncontrollably, supposedly due to going complete so fast. There may have been tears then, but at least I had hugs from Gary, whose calmness saved me as it does so often. Although the shaking never really stopped, it was determined that my problems were not from the epidural (probably actually due to the fact I was very sick the day before and a little dehydrated), and the lovely numbing medicine was turned back on right in the nick of over-nine-pound-delivery-time. And then I had a baby - a real person, all chubby and crying. Gary and I were so excited, we laughed and kissed the baby, and enjoyed one of the very rare times in Andrew's life when it was just us and him. When he first came out he was so big and clean the nurses thought he was overdue. Doctors and nurses alike very much doubt his actual due date was six days later.

As I finish this off, it's funny to read it and note the emotional roller coaster. From the please-let-this-be-over moments of labor, to the elation of the brand new baby, to the yuckiness of postpartum to the precious moments with a snugly baby, it's kinda crazy. Really up and down. Am I a cheesebucket if I say I'm just grateful for the ride? Do these tears mean I'm too hormonal these days?

He's here!

Andrew Mark
27 October
9 lbs 5 oz
19.5 inches

Recovering From the Crash

. . . It was the computer, not our car or airplane (not that we have one) that crashed, thankfully. A month ago it was, and a new hard drive and internet service provider later, we are now back in business. Of course I'm way behind on "internet stuff," and I owe people a lot of things I've promised to send, but it's actually been nice to spend time tackling projects without the computer option. It's also been good as this pregnancy is drawing to a close to keep me from blogging about cervixes and such, which I would probably have done cause I feel like an elephant that might like a little sympathy, but due to the crash and all, I'll spare you and move on to essential stuff like checking my bank account and printing my Coldstone birthday coupon before it expires. Looks like I got back online in the nick of time . . .

Parades, Carnivals, and other Yee-Haw

You know the funny thing about pictures? There are some really significant, fun, and/or time-consuming things we do that I don't take pictures of because I either don't have my camera or don't have an opportunity to take pictures. Then other times we do something relatively minor, and snap a million photos. Life is usually disproportionately documented, at least in my case.

This is one of those instances, but I like the pictures, and it's how my family looked this summer, so I'm documenting away. On the 24th of July (Pioneer Day around these parts), I read that there was a "Children's Parade," and since we spent most of the day doing projects, I thought the kids might like to go, even though I didn't know what it meant. Turns out all of the floats had children on them, which Josh thought was awesome. After the parade, we discovered that there was a little carnival. Simple stuff, but the stuff Josh's dreams are made of. He got to go "fishing" for a prize,

get this balloon dog made especially for him,

use a baseball to knock over stuff, and somehow win this little plastic flute, which doesn't really play but both kids love anyway.

Oh yes, and the snow cones were well-loved by all.

Josh also got his hand painted. I thought it was funny that out of all the designs, he chose an alien. So, a little diversion to the parade turned out to be quite the activity.

The next week, we went to my hometown to participate in "Rodeo Days" festivities. Oh, yes, it's a good time. Keeping on the theme of disproportionately documenting my life, I don't have photos of the parade - a definite kid favorite, because in my hometown they throw A LOT of candy. Who cares that's it's all tractors and the local clogging class, as long as there's good company (check) and lots of candy (check, check). I also don't have photos of when Gary and I went to the rodeo, but that was awesome, too. My family was awesome enough to give us tickets and watch our kids, so it was a little night out for us. I felt all youthful as we hollered for the cowboys. And since we were in the front row, we got the pleasure of feeling like we got kicked by a bull, although it was actually the fence right in front of us he kicked. Then as we walked out the rodeo clown congratulated me on my coming baby, so it was pretty much the perfect date.

I do have pictures of that weekend, though . . . Josh had a great time playing with Uncle Dave outside. For a long time, too, Uncle Dave was really a star. It was so cute, I had to get a picture of them swinging together. So, I took my camera outside, and captured the moment . . . and the onset of Dave's bloody nose. See, I'm really good at choosing the right instant.

Noah briefly share a swing with cousin Sophie. It was too bright to look at me, but they thought it was funny (for a minute).

Josh, Sophie, and Tate, swinging away.

And, who is the best of all the game in getting all 5 kids to play happily for a long time? Aunt Kristen, of course.

So, if there was unpleasantness on Rodeo Weekend, I don't remember it, which appears to be the bonus of writing about it two months later. And also the bonus of random picture taking - see all of the smiling children in all of the photos? I can imagine that's the way things just are all the time. I mean, look at my carefully-collected evidence . . .

We've Got Swimming Skills

I just asked Josh to bring me a piece of apple to eat, and he had to look through all of the slices to see which one said "Mom" on it instead of "Josh." (No, they aren't really labeled, it's just one of those notions he got.)

Anyway, keeping on the vein of preserving my summer memories, both of my boys had swimming lessons at the end of July. Noah did the mom-and-me while Josh had his own class. I don't have pictures of Josh excitedly jumping around in the water while waiting his turn, or of any other skills for that matter, because I was busy playing, "If you're happy and you know it kick your feet" in Noah's class. So, I just settled on this before-class shot, where Josh was trying valiantly to get Noah to stay put while I snapped the photo. Then Noah's teacher saw my plight and offered to take a picture of all 3 of us. Thanks!

Josh was a crazy water baby last year, but every time we took him swimming this year, he freaked out if the water was more than a foot deep. No matter that he was wearing a life jacket or that his parents were holding him, he still couldn't handle it. I couldn't believe it was the same kid who jumped off the diving board last year. So, I didn't know how the whole swimming lessons thing would go, but he LOVED it. We went every day 9 days in a row, and he was excited every time. It was so cute to look over at his class. I could pick out which one was him right away due to his glow-in-the-dark hair, and his smile was usually bright enough to match. So, he's not Michael Phelps quite yet, but at least he doesn't scream his head off when he goes swimming, so I say success!

As for Noah, he really got to be an excellent swimmer. Isn't that what it means when you pass all the skills for mom-tot? (A side note - I was very amused by one mom in the class that was very concerned that her child perform the "skills" properly. I thought it was a given that the class isn't really indicative of, well, anything.) Actually, since Noah is too young to have sense enough to be afraid, he was the star of "bobs" (being dunked in the water). You know, even typing this a few months later, I still have tender feelings towards swimming lessons. I've never really had "Noah time," but this class gave me the opportunity to do something fun with him, just me and Noah. His little personality has developed so much in the last little while, I feel like it was such a great opportunity to enjoy him one-on-one, which probably won't happen much in the next little while. He was so cute, laughing and hugging me . . . and he was weightless in the water, which always helps.

So, we got time together, the kids got to play, Josh got to have "his own locker," and also they each got little certification cards and a sucker in the end. What a deal.

Random Summer Snippets

Wow, this all seems like a long time ago . . . for example, Noah sabotaged his own hair cut a couple of weeks ago and ended up with a buzz, therefore he now looks a year older than this picture . . . sigh. Anyway, soon after learning to walk, he realized it was time to earn his keep.I showed up one day to pick Josh up from the day care at the gym and he looked like this. None of the other kids had masks on, but Miss Sarah (whom Josh adores) said all the kids made them but Josh was the only one that wanted to leave his on for a long time. He said it was his Spiderman mask and he left it on the whole way home. One day Josh spied this helmet in Wal-Mart and asked if I would buy it. I had been wanting to get him a bike helmet anyway, to teach him safety while safety is still cool, so I said sure. He was clearly surprised, and then pointed to one of those Hummers for kids and said, "We should get this to go with it." Hey, while you're on a roll, might as well ask . . . (no, it didn't work for him the second time). He was so excited about his helmet and knee pads he put them on to eat breakfast the next morning.

It's our family Christmas gift (what Gary and I got each other) from last year that we finally purchased this summer. Josh and Noah like to sit next to each other and pound away. Sure it can get obnoxious, but it's pretty cute how they dance around. I remember feeling like a musician doing the same at their age.

Another crucial summer development - there are certain shows that put Noah in the same trance Josh often finds himself in. It actually never lasts long, but the length of a 5 minute shower is long enough, and I thought the looks on their faces was funny enough to capture.

On the developmentally appropriate side, Noah also spends time reading the weekend paper with his father . . . or he has become a little monkey that imitates everything.

For Josh and Noah's joint birthday-season in May, we got them a trampoline in early July. Josh was soooo excited for it to come, and Gary was awesome to put it together right away the night it came. Josh would have been jumping on the box if he hadn't . . . Gary did a great job, but unfortunately the directions didn't give a crucial step in the beginning, so after putting it together once he had to take it apart and do it again. What a labor of love, gotta like this guy. He suffered a lot mosquito bites but seemed genuinely excited to see Josh excited with the final product.

And wow do they love it! We put a little stool outside so Noah can climb in, too, and they have a lot of fun. I have loved having something for them to do in our back yard.

Yeah, they are wearing swimsuits in the trampoline picture. They spent most of the summer running back and forth between the pool and the trampoline. Can you tell if they like it?

Hooray summer!