Guard at 2 months

Two months!  Wow!  My little man is growing up.  He isn't so much a newborn anymore.  He is a baby.  A super-amazingly cute baby.

Guard is such a happy guy - as long as he is fed every three hours during the day and every two hours during the evening (fine with me, he is now sleeping through the night), as long as he can suck on his fist (he has almost gotten the whole thing in his mouth), as long as he is being held (upright, don't ever try to hold him reclining!), as long as he is outside (he loves to take walks with Coal), as long as he is rested (which isn't very often, he is a lousy napper) and as long as he is well burped (he is so burpy!).

He has had a few struggles this past month (I'm writing this when he is about 2 months and 3 weeks).  He had the worst baby acne I've ever seen.  I know, quite superficial, but still, it was bad.  Enoch told me he didn't like looking at Guard because he looked so bad.  Our cute little two-year-old neighbor, Porter, still asks if Guard has his bumps.  Everything I read online and the pediatrician's office told me to just wait it out and only wash his face with water twice a day.  After two weeks, I decided to try baby soap (it couldn't get any worse than it already was).  Within two days, he was completely clear.  He now has the super soft, smooth baby skin we all love.

Guard has also been diagnosed with reflux.  Not a serious case, but we are going through a bunch of burp cloths.  So far we have not had to put him on any medication - just burp him very well and sit him up for 45 minutes after he eats.

Guard has starting smiling is earnest.  His smiles are wide gummy grins.  His eyes crinkle into little crescents.  His arms flail and his feet kick.  My heart falls a little deeper in love with every smile he gives me.  It may be wishful thinking, but I think he smiles bigger when I tell him, "I love you, Guard."  The last week he has started laughing.  I absolutely love it!  Cute, little grunty laughs.
What a joy he is.  We are all so in love with him.

Two Month Check-Up:
length: 23.25 inches (61%)
weight: 12 lbs 2 oz (63%)
head circumference: 39.4 cm (32%)

At the Beach

My kids haven't spent a lot of time at the beach.  We live in a land-locked state with no "beachy" lakes around.  However, they do love the water and will jump at a chance to play in it.
My sister mentioned a park a few cities over that had a beach.  What?!  Why have I never heard of this?  It isn't a park with play equipment, but a man made pond with some super grainy sand along one side.  Who cares what the sand is like - we were in for a visit.

 We packed up (geez it took forever, why does everything have to take so long with kids?), made our lunches and headed out.  Gavin was so wonderful to come along, set up the awning and hang out with us.  There were no trees, so the awning was extra nice - I wouldn't do it again without it.
The kids played and played and played.  They built sand castles, made rivers, splashed each other and had such a great time.  They picked at their lunches and then they were off to play some more.  The moms had a great time visiting.

 

 

 It was so fun - we will do this again!

Scattered Thoughts

1.  Enoch has invented a volcano car.  It can drive up steep volcanoes, withstand lava and go really fast!  I think it does some other things too, but he was telling me this from the back seat of the car and I couldn't hear him very well because the AC was on full blast (because it has been so stinkin hot!)  He is going to sell it for four hundred million, four million dollars and (dramatic pause) ninety-nine cents!  I'm thinking he has watched too many infomercials this summer.
2.  For the last year (and a year is a long time for a 3-4 year old), Kate is convinced she is going to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up.  She loves dolphins.  Everything is dolphins with Kate.  However, lately she has been playing spy with Enoch a lot and now she is wondering if she should be a spy.  She would be a good spy.  She can quietly sneak up on me like no other, she can lie quite convincingly (grrrr!), she is extremely bright and who wouldn't trust those beautiful, blue eyes and shy smile.  She is quite conflicted and feels like she needs to make her career choices right now.
A few days ago I read an article in the newspaper about a small branch of the Navy that trains dolphins to detect radar and sonar underwater - things like mines and enemy submarines.  Dolphin Spies!  When I read the article to Kate, her eyes and smile grew huge.  She was fascinated.  She now has a new career goal - dolphin spy trainer.
3.  We got a new fridge a few days ago.  Our old fridge had been making funny noises for months.  The noises got louder and longer.  Then is started freezing everything in the fridge, no matter the temperature setting.  You can go without most appliances for a few days if they go out, but a fridge is difficult to do without.  When we saw the ad that Sears had all their refrigerators 35% off, we decided to pay them a visit.  The salesman thought it was odd that my main requirement was I wanted the fridge that held the most gallons of milk.  Yep, that was my main requirement.  We got a freezer on bottom and french doors on top.  I love it.
4.  Tonight is hard.  We are moving Guard into his own room.  To sleep in his own room.  To wake up alone in his own room.  To not be with me IN HIS OWN ROOM.  Sigh.  Clearly, I'm struggling with this. It means that he is growing up.  Growing up too fast.  Sigh again.
Guard really is a noisy sleeper.  Greg likes to watch TV before bed (Guard's pack and play is right under the TV).  I think he will sleep better in his own room.  But I will miss him.  I will miss his little noises, his smell in our room, his being close.  Right now I'm listening to his sleeping baby grunts through the baby monitor and it is not the same.  Greg is leaving up the pack and play in case I change my mind (he knows me so well). 
My sweet little guy - I'm going to miss him tonight.  (But probably not enough to get up and feed him at 4:30am; I'll let Greg keep doing that.)

Fourth of July

I love Independence Day!  It is my favorite holiday and I plan for it for weeks (even months some years).  This year is completely took me by surprise.  Of course, I know it is on July 4, but when did July 4 come the day after May 11?  The days are blending together in my sleep deprived haze.
Despite my lack of planning, we still had a wonderful day.  We started bright and early with the balloons.  This is one tradition I love, but the last few years haven't been as fun because the balloons can't get back to the field.  It's hard to get up and go when there is a chance it will be a bust.  But, we keep doing it.  It is fun to watch the balloons launch, be with family and start your morning out with the sun.  (Lehi Fire Department didn't set off cannons this year because of the fire hazard.  I know a lot of people hate this tradition, but I really missed it.  It never bothers me because we are already up that early to go to the balloons and it's fun to remember Lehi's heritage.  Hopefully next year.)

 

In year's past we had done breakfast at the balloons.  We decided that this was just becoming too hard with so many kids running around.  We headed to Denny's in Lehi to eat after the balloons floated away and never came back.  It was great.  It was still early (we got there about 8:30am) and it wasn't too crowded.  After breakfast, our family, Kellys and Jarom came to house to pass the time until 11am.  We then went to see Madagascar 3.  Our family isn't really into the Madagascar movies, but we still enjoyed it (and all day long I had the afro circus song stuck in my head!).

We came home tired, so naps for everyone!  That was the plan - just Guard and I followed through.  I'm not sure what everyone else did, I was asleep.  I think they played the Wii.

We had a small BBQ for dinner with our family and Uncle Jarom.  Greg grilled hamburgers and we had corn on the cob, watermelon and chips to go along with it.  After dinner, we played with the Fords.  Since we were forgoing fireworks, we broke out the glow sticks.  The kids had a great time with them.  They ran around the back yard and just played.  It was a fun night.

 

 

 While I did miss the fireworks terribly, it was nice to go to bed earlier than usual for the Fourth.  It was a wonderful day.  Happy Birthday USA!

"The Whole World is on Fire"

My neighbor called me this afternoon and said, "It seems like the whole world is on fire."  I smiled slightly because that is a line from my favorite movie (ten points to anyone who knows the movie).  I also felt  my stomach do a flip-flop because it felt like she was right.  While talking to her, I was watching the mountain burn out my back window.

Our family and home were never in danger, but the Quail Fire in Alpine was close enough to make me nervous.  Greg and I decided what we would take with us if we needed to leave quickly.  I made sure our 72 hour kits were in their places.  Greg laughed, but he humored me and took pictures of every room in our house for insurance purposes.

It was so difficult to watch the news and hear of more evacuations, more fires, more homes lost from the fires in Utah.  I don't remember a summer like this before - so many fires so close to communities.  It was scary.

 Our family decided to forgo fireworks this Independence Day.  We were technically just outside of the firework ban area, but we just didn't feel right doing them this year - out of fear, but also to show support to those families who had been effected by the fires.

We prayed for rain to dampen the fires.  We knew that rain in July was unlikely.  Our prayers were answered on July 5, with a downpour. 
Thank you to the brave firefighters, the Red Cross and mostly to our Heavenly Father for watching over us.

Guard's Blessing

This day sneaked up on me.  Wow!  Is it that time already.  I was frantically sewing his blessing outfit the night before.  I only decided on lunch a few days before.  We were all a bit frazzled.
It turned out beautiful in the end. 
The morning of Guard's blessing, Greg and I were both overwhelmed with love and gratitude for our little guy.  I was weepy all morning and I could tell Greg was feeling the Spirit strongly as well. As Greg was tying Guard's tie, I was completely choked up.  We love him so much!

 

 Guard's blessing included:

• Thankful for his addition of our family
• He is blessed to have many family nearby
• He will watch the good examples of his brothers and sister
• He will live up to his name
• He will guard his testimony
• He will guard his family name
• He will be strong in the Gospel
• He will hold onto the scriptures, use them to lead him to eternal life

 Such great blessings for our little man!
After church, we met at our home for brunch.  Since it was only a few days until Independence Day, we went with a red, white and blue theme.  We served chicken salad croissants, fruit and a fruit pizza bar.  Everything turned out well.  We enjoyed visiting with family and celebrating our Guard.

 

 

 

 

We are so thankful for the family and friends who supported us on this day.

Since I didn't get any good pictures of Guard on his blessing day, we took a quick trip to Target and got a few good ones.

 

 

What a cutie!

Round-Up Parade

It is really Round-Up time already?  I can't believe it is the end of June.
We look forward to this week all year long.  We love Round-Up week.  Even though Lehi isn't so small anymore, this week it feels small again.
We gathered Friday night with Greg's family to watch the parade.  I love the Friday night parade because you get to see all the ward floats for the first time.  Everyone did such a great job.  Our ward did a float and I just didn't get my act together soon enough to have the kids walk with it.  I know!  Our kids missed out on the parade.  Oh well.  They like getting the candy more than walking in the parade.  Great job, Lehi 26th Ward!

 

 

We also saw someone else we know.  Grandpa Dee was riding with the Sons of the Utah Pioneers.

 Saturday's parade we spent with the Randalls.  Greg went early, saved us a spot and set up our awning.  It was so incredibly nice to side in the shade.  We ate yummy donuts from the Lehi Bakery for breakfast, visited and watched the parade.  It made me happy to be there with my family in the great town we call home.

Everyone had a wonderful time.