Grammy's Jokes

This is some video we took of Sadie tonight. Ben is a really good joke teller as you can tell from the footage. The first joke is the one my mom told last decade and the second joke is from this decade. We have EASILY heard these jokes a thousand times or more. She literally told the first joke to anyone that would listen for at least 10 years and she cracks up laughing EVERY time she tells it. It looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Kimmy Flew the Coop

We knew it was coming but it doesn't make it any easier; little Kimmy flew the coop yesterday. When we go to the 'homestead' (aka my parents' house) it just won't be the same. Kimmy has a way of bringing excitement and humor to everyday life. She has a restless energy which means we're always going places or doing things to keep her entertained. Kimmy and I should have been twins. We think alike, act alike, sound alike, even look alike and we love being together. So, it's hard to have her so far away.

However, I am so excited for her to start college. Simple things are so fun in college like going grocery shopping for yourself the first time, staying out as late as you want, and being able to make your own decisions about what you do and when you are going to do it. And the classes and professors at BYU are so great! I always looked forward to class (except for chemistry). Oh, and then there are all the football and basketball games that are so fun! And you meet the nicest people that you just feel like you've known all your life and they make you feel like you have a family even when you are so far away from your family. And then your nicest friends introduce you to the nicest boys and then you find the one boy that makes you feel unbelievably, energetically happy yet safe and peaceful at the same time and then you decide to spend your lives together and you live happily ever after (hopefully, I'm still in this phase). Well, at least that's how it all went down for me. Now that I'm feeling melancholy after my walk down memory lane, let me just say: HAVE FUN KIMMY! IT'LL BE OVER BEFORE YOU KNOW IT SO ENJOY EVERY MOMENT!

Early Morning Seminary

Well, I called* to be the seminary** teacher in our ward*** yesterday. I have mixed feelings about the assignment. In some ways it's really nice because I have been trying (and failing) all summer to start a routine of getting up at 6:30 to study the scriptures and workout. So, this is forcing me to study and I have time to workout before Sadie wakes up at 7:30. Also, it's really fun to have students again and be lesson planning. However, class meets at 6 am which leaves little time for precious sleep. It's challenging because Sadie stills gets up several times each night so instead of getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep - it's more like 4 or 5! And I am a person that LOVES my sleep. Always have. But, like all things in life, I've discovered if you do what's right things have a way of working themselves out.

*A 'calling' is a service based assignment. Examples of callings include teaching youth, greeting people at the doorways, being a Bishop of a ward, leading the music, helping people with genealogy, ect.

**Seminary is an early morning class for the high school aged youth. It takes place every day that school is in session. They study each book of scripture (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants) during their 4 years of high school. This year we are studying the New Testament.

***A Ward is a congregation of members in a geographical area. We are the Hudson Ward.

Tagged, Chante's it....

Apparently, I've been tagged. I am supposed to list my 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, and 3 random, surprising facts about myself. Here goes...

JOYS

1. Friday night movie night - we are such homebodies, but if Ben and I could do anything we would sit at home in our PJs with a carton of ice cream and watch a movie. I LOVE it!
2. Sadie in the mornings - she's all cute and cuddly in her PJs and happy and playful and just so fun in the mornings.
3. Beach day - I love a nice hot, hot summer day at Ft. DeSoto with the family. I can just picture it...my Mom collecting Sand Dollars, my dad putting back into the water the sand dollars when my Mom's not watching, Joseph and Julie throwing the football ball to Ben, Kimmy and I laying on the beach, Christy off inspecting a crab, Michael with his goggle lines, Sarah taking pictures to preserve the memory, ect. Oh and I love the feeling and look of lightly toasted skin at the end of the day!

FEARS

Interestingly my fears were always that I wouldn't get married and wouldn't have children. I've conquered those obstacles, but the fears are still similar...

1. Ben dying - morbid I know but I truly don't care what age I die at as long as Ben and I go together. Believe it or not, this is a frequent thing I pray for..."Please help Ben and I that we will die together..." I'm really weird, I know!
2. Sadie dying - I wonder if I lack faith but the thought of not being with Sadie is enough to send me to the loony bin.
3. Embarrassment - I hate messing up and people looking at me and being embarrassed. It's awful!

GOALS - way too many to name, but here are 3 current ones that I've have a LOT of work to do still!

1. Learn a foreign language
2. Run a half marathon
3. Be really neat and tidy

OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS

1. Baby names - I'm always thinking about and asking Ben about baby names even when we aren't pregnant (actually, especially when we aren't pregnant...)
2. Houses - I love to look at houses. I go to realty websites all the time to just browse through the listings
3. The only type of 'collection' we have is all the elephants and whatnot that Ben brought back from India and Thailand.

RANDOM/SURPRISING FACTS - I decided to do these about Ben because I can't think of any about myself

1. He's incredibly smart - he only had one B in HS and it was in typing because he broke his arm playing football. He only got 5 B's his entire college career at BYU, while working 25 or 30 hours a week.
2. He's rather athletic - he was the captain of his HS soccer team, played HS football, and basketball. He's a little rusty, but still loves to play sports any chance he gets.
3. He NEVER gets mad - we've been married for 3 years next week and I still have never heard him raise his voice or say something mean about somebody. I call him my breath of fresh air in a room of second hand smoke.

Doctor's Smackdown

Sadie had her 6 month check up last week and the doctor gave us an entire list of things we need to work on with her. I felt like a failure as a parent! She even asked what day care she attended because she was shocked they had not corrected this behavior. After I told her that I was a stay home mom she just kept telling me about 'tough love'. It was embarrassing! So here is what we are working on with Sadie:

1. Sleeping through the night. It's not uncommon for Sadie to get up 2 or 3 times a night still. It had jumped to an hourly occurrence when we were out of town. The Dr. recommended letting her 'cry it out' aka Ferber method.
2. Taking more food at each feeding. But how do you force a child to eat when she has her mouth clamped shut and is crying? Sadie will only take 2.5 ounces since she was released from the hospital (which was 5 months ago!!!). She should be taking 5 or 6 ounces each feeding. Which leads us to the next problem....
3. Sadie wants to eat every hour and fifteen minutes. We have to do a bi-daily washing or we would run out of bottles. So we are suppose to deny her food even when she's hungry so that she will take more at each feeding...which leads me to the next problem....
4. Despite her appearance, Sadie is only in the 3rd percentile for weight. At her appointment (and I had just fed her) she weighed 13 lbs. 5 ounces. Surprisingly she is in the 45th percentile for height at 25 and 3/4 inches. They say that genetics has to do with part of it, but that they would like to see her put on more weight.
5. She also needs to be more social. I'm suppose to try to leave her with family members and gradually increase the amount of time she doesn't see me. This is not as big of a problem as it was a month ago.

It's interesting to me that every major problem she has still stems from that week we spent in the hospital. It was so long ago but we are still coping with the emotional and digestive repercussions.

After her appointment she had not been feeling good and was not interested in eating. Which sounds like a bad thing, but it really helped with #s 2 and 3 above. It's not helping with #4 but I think as 2 and 3 improve that 4 will follow suit.

As for #1 we have been laying her down in her crib when she's drowsy but still awake and letting her put herself to sleep. The doctor told us to go in and comfort her every 5, 10, and 15 minutes until she falls asleep. We modified it to our needs and check her the after one minute, then 3 minutes, and then 5 minutes. She's usually asleep in less than 5 minutes. It's fantastic! Rather than it taking 45 minutes to get her asleep - it's 5. We have not yet let her 'cry it out' at night but we hope as these other areas improve that she will gradually do better.

I must admit I feel a little bad for Sadie - she has to put up with our slow learning curve but we hope we haven't messed up too much. It really has changed my perspective....I have so much more sympathy for oldest siblings.

Utah/Wyoming Pictures

Utah/Wyoming Trip

We survived! Actually it wasn't as bad as I expected. Sadie did a really great job cooperating. She even had issues with constipation, teething, and a head cold but still managed to smile and have fun. It was great to be with family and get to know a lot of the extended family better. The best part of the trip was being able to see Jadyn (Troy and Becky's baby) just hours after she had been born. We were worried we'd miss her arrival, but it all worked out and she is adorable! Grandma Cliffie now has five grandkids and four of them have been born in the past year. It'll be fun to watch this group grow up and see what personalities come out in each of them.

The trip went by way too fast, but we squeezed A LOT into 6 days. And although we feel far away and don't always get to be a part of all the festivities we were really grateful we could enjoy Logan's baby blessing, Jadyn's arrival, Lane and Bekah's rodeo experience, the family reunions, Gooch's amazing tricks, a roommate luncheon, Joe and Julie's company, and so much more. This vacation will be hard to beat!