Part Chimp?

Guy thinks Eden is super fun to play with - she gets a happy and excited reaction from him every time she walks in the room, he really loves her and loves playing with her. I got this on tape the other night - after she was kind enough to humor me--doing it a few times due to technical difficulties (thanks!). It's too bad because if I'd gotten it the first time, Guy would have been crawling much faster. The way he's crawling in this video is how he crawled most the time when he was crawling all the time, it's pretty funny looking. Sorry for the loud backgound noise - there's a wheat grinder on.

Old and New

Okay, no photo can really be that old of Guy, since he's not even a year yet. But, I found some pre-haircut photos:

Can you belive I let it get this long? . . . funny thing, even when I finally did cut it, Rob still protested a little.

Last Sunday we put him in his first bubble bath.
He loved it. And this accidental pose makes me laugh.

One more thing . . . when crawling Guy LOVES sliding on things instead of moving his arms. He started doing it pretty early and still does it when he crawls now (even though he mostly walks/waddles now). Apparently even used milk jugs are a better option than moving his arms. Here's a quick glimpse:

Five minutes of your time?

My brother is in a marketing class right now. One of his assignments is a survey. Can you take a few minutes and fill this out, please? Here it is - and when he means casual shoes, it's shoes you wear day to day.

Thank you!

Haiti--How Can We Help?

As we all know from the news coverage, Haiti needs a lot of help/stuff still.

The Church is gathering funds to buy 6 cars for Haiti relief work right now--one of the biggest challenges relief workers are having is transportation to the places they need to assist. For that, the Church asked for monetary donations.

Another way to help . . . for a long time Humanitarian Services has been passing out Hygiene Kits everywhere they go when natural disaster/destruction occurs. They are simple, but they restore a bit of dignity when all your possessions are lost/destroyed. They are so popular, in fact, that when LDS Humanitarian Services encounters other organizations also involved in the relief help, many of those organizations end up asking for a supply of the hygiene kits for them to distribute, as well.

So, after this disaster, more hygiene kits are in order, and they are pretty cheap and easy to put together. The link above gives what should be included, and this link even gives a place in Provo that will help you put them together very economically and easily.

Sweetness

After a full day, with the busy parts mostly centered on the one class I teach at BYU, what a sweet small victory to spend the evening playing with Guy then putting him down without a sound.

The last few days he hasn't been sleeping so well - mostly nap time gone awry. At least when he's been up, he's been happy. I've felt a little bad leaving Guy twice a week for this class. I'm really grateful that every time I do he's either with Rob or my sister, Eden, but I've messed up his nap schedule for travel and campus time, which makes me feel guilty.

I don't feel like I have to have something other than being a wife and mom to be fulfilled, I'm teaching because we can definitely use the money right now, and because the experience is a resume builder if I want to get a PhD. I got the job without an interview or any formalities, so that was nice. Anywhere else, I won't have that luck (or the connections).

While I like teaching, and feel confident as a teacher, I'm very grateful I'm mostly able to be home with Guy, and while I wouldn't advocate anyone getting a job just to appreciate their kids, it is giving me the opportunity to appreciate where I am and what I have.

Dad's in Haiti

Wow! What a weekend. It was busy with friends, work, and lesson planning for school. But the craziest part of it all was when my dad called on Friday and asked me to find his passport. Finding that turned into collecting and packing a bag for him. He was in Arizona, visiting my brother and his family. Originally, he was supposed to leave Saturday, then it changed to Tuesday, finally it was decided that Sunday would be the day. We spent lots of time on the phone as I gathered things like flashlights, toilet paper, and leather work gloves. Sunday he flew from California (where he was at my sister's, visiting her family after AZ) to Utah, to Florida. After a bus ride from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami, yesterday morning he flew from Miami to the Dominican Republic. He croseed the Haitian border at 4 a.m. (mountain time) this morning on a jam packed and very cramped bus (what he described as the most uncomfortable thing he's ever done) and finally started disaster relief work in Port-au-Prince today.

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He went out there with a Disaster Relief Group from Humanitarian Services of our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He's got lost of disaster relief work under his belt - 9/11, Columbine, Katrina, Indonesia for the tsunamis, just to name a few. Here are some basics about the trip - with the doctors, nurses, and 2 social workers (one being my dad), and one guy from Deseret News (I'm especially grateful for that because it gives us a little more info than we'd otherwise get) they are out there assessing needs as they help in any way that they can.

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What stories he's going to have when he gets home! So far, in a phone call from my mom, he reports that things are going okay (it was a quick call from a sattelite phone with a bad connection). Missionaries have helped a bit with translations as he's already doing counseling, and he's staying in a city that wasn't affected by the earthquakes (safer). The saddest thing I've heard was that he's seen a lot of children begging for water.

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I'm grateful for the rapid response of the Church, and the things they are able to pull together. And I'm praying hard that all goes especially well on this one.

I love D.I.

Okay, so I have some friends that really don't love it so much. In fact, my friend Jen hates it, and has banned her husband from shopping there. Personally, I think she should reconsider. :)

Honestly, I don't shop there for me, but I do the bulk of my shopping for Guy there. Usually buying pants and shirts for $2 and $3. On Saturday I spent $13 on a jacket, a sweater, and four shirts. I really like all the clothes I bought and everything is in great condition, too. Usually I only find one or two things I like at a time (sometime nothing), but I go there just about every other week, so it adds up. On our student budget as we're penny pinching, D.I. really helps keep Guy well clothed.

I can't even claim my favorite find ever, though. My friend Maddie is a thrift store pro--a master shopper when it comes to finding a great deal--and she found me this handy little Baby Bjorn - which sell for about $70 usually (and about 1/2 that used) for a whole $2. Until December, I'd been borrowing my sister's (thanks Bethany!) but she's due with her 6th in April (yea!). I am so grateful to replace such a great baby accessory with such a great find. Thanks again Maddie!

Just loving every part

This little boy cracks me up all the time. I'm loving being his mom and watching him learn and grow. With the new camera, I'm having fun taking photos of him all the time - and noticing the little parts of him that make up the whole.

They are getting smaller, but the leg rolls are still there More rolls I love to squeeze, kiss, and tickle.
He's going through a tounge stage, and I love it!Check out those eyelashes - they are longer than mine. Why do boys always seem to get the better deal there?

Little Buddies

In October Rob and I went to a dinner party where we met another couple who has a little boy, too. As the night went on, we learned about LOTS of similarities. Mary and Josh were married the same day that we were. Our little boys (Robert Guy and Isaac Robert) were born 3 days apart. That night, at the Halloween party, they were both dressed as lions in borrowed costumes. Mary's dad took classes from my Grandma for his masters at BYU. And there are a lot of other things that I could go on about. Mary and I started getting together with the boys just to visit and let the boys play. It's a lot of fun because they are at all the same stages so they are learning to play together and being really cute.

Eleven Months

Wow! It's passing sooo quickly! . . . too quickly. I've mostly loved these last eleven months of being a mom. and I've had so many good intentions to record everything. Yeah, well that hasn't happened so well. But Guy's quick latest update:

He's walking just a little. He started taking multiple steps while we were out visiting Rob's family (I'm glad we had fun timing for them to see one of his firsts). He now walks sometimes, but still mostly crawls. Guy loves "talking," sometimes "singing," and lots and lots of dancing. One thing I love is that anytime he hears applause (even on music or tv) he starts clapping too.

He loves playing hide and seek with anything, but mostly plays it with one of his two favorite blankets (yarn blankets - one crocheted and one knitted) both of which he can poke his fingers and toes through, which he does a lot while he's sleeping.

This photo - one of my new favorites - was taken with the amazing Christmas gift I got. I'm thrilled about it, and will probably be posting a lot more photos. :)

Oh What a Feeling!

I have a lot of catching up to do - before Christmas (on the 21st), Rob, Guy, and I flew East to surprise Rob's parents for Christmas. It was a huge surprise to his folks, and we were there for 10 days, flying home New Years Day. Aside from that, I taught my Comms class for the first time yesterday. That went pretty well, I think. There are still 96 kids enrolled in the class (filled to max capacity), so we'll take that as a good sign, for now. More on all that later, maybe . . .

The story I want to share . . .

Before class started yesterday, I had to go get officially hired. While running around the ASB during that process, I ran into my ex-fiance from almost 9 years ago. Holy cow, I've always kind of wondered what it would be like if that ever happened. I especially wondered after I ran into his brother November of 2008, shortly after Rob and I moved to Utah. (X became an "ex" after I spent seven months hoping he would change/fix some issues that kept him from being temple worthy--then after two pushed back wedding dates I finally called it quits.)

Mystery solved. I hardly recognized him - he was old, heavy, and frumpy looking. I was only even sure it was him after I got a second glance as he headed down a spiral staircase that was in clear sight. I'm sure he recognized me faster, though, because as he stared at the floor he couldn't walk away fast enough.

I walked out of that building feeling SO good. I looked good - I was professionally dressed in a dress and knee-high boots, fresh makeup, and hair just right all ready for the class that I would be teaching in one short hour. Ironically, I just realized, the heeled boots I was wearing I bought the week after I called things off for good with X (X is less than an inch taller than I am, I'd missed heels while we were dating, and when I bought those boots I vowed I would marry someone taller-it worked :)).

So, I'm glad I looked good and felt confident, those were nice bonuses. Without that, though, I still would have felt good--it was a moment where I had the opportunity to consider and recognize the blessings in my life. I'm so grateful for Rob and Guy--the most important things in my life right now.