When I've missed blogging for a while, I feel like I need to catch up on everything since the last post.  But I'll save that for another time and just talk about Mother's Day!

I freakin' love Mother's Day.  It's like a bonus birthday.  I get to foist all the ins and outs (meals and potty needs) to the father.  I get breakfast made for me, a treat at church, lovely flowers, and presents.  What's not to like?

Last night we got a babysitter and went to see the Amazing Spider-Man 2 at the Alamo.  Great movie, great food, and fun to see Amanda and Brian.  It was also good to hear that the kids were "easy" according to the sitter.  Sam woke briefly screaming (teething I think) right before I went to bed, then slept until 6 AM.

Later Ben followed up with his diaper change and I got to spend another 30 minutes waking up before coming downstairs to bacon, eggs, and fruit.  Jack gave me a fan with hand prints that he made in Wee School.  I also got gardening gloves, cute shoes, and flowers (earlier in the week). 

At church Jack went up with the primary kids to sing for the first time.  He didn't know the song, but I was proud that he fearlessly went up in front of a crowd and didn't embarrass himself with fingers in inappropriate places.

At the end of church I got a slice of pie, the tradition at this ward.  Before changing into comfy jammies we took pictures.  I love my boys!







I might as well document the reality too.  It takes many photos to get some halfway decent shots.  Here's the best outtakes:

I'm finally feeling better.  I don't have to keep sundry medicines on my nightstand to take as soon as I reach consciousness.  I'm at that recovery stage I call "functional sickness" where you still cough and sneeze and have a sore throat, but the fog in your brain is gone and you could reasonably go back to work without much problem.  I think I finally made it here because Sam's sleep is better.  I made a lot of changes to sleep routines and made it a priority to focus on his sleep health above everything else.  I'm not generally superstitious, but even I will knock on wood after admitting to you that Sam has slept 11+ hours the last three nights in a row.  Absolutely no wakings in between.  Incredible.  Knock knock knock.

So of COURSE Jack wakes up with a cough, sneezing, and a green crusty mustache of boogers.  Sigh.

April has passed and now it's May and still sick.  Sorry no good posts.  This cold is unending.  I'm blowing blood out of my nose day and night.  I have red hot poker pain in my left ribs from coughing so much.  Sam still hasn't slept more than 2 hours in a row, so I'm extremely sleep deprived.  That's all.

I'm home in person, if not in spirit. 

Easter was lovely.  Jack had oodles of fun and ate way too much sugar. 

The house painting was estimated as a two day job, when in my heart I knew it would take three.  Then it was pushed from Thursday to Friday.  Saturday night Ben confirmed that they would be back Monday to finish up.  Not wanting to come home with a posse of kids to an unkempt, paint-not-yet-dried home, I decided to keep the kids in GJ for one more day.  Good thing, because Monday night I came down with a fever.  A wretched, bone-chilling fever like I haven't seen in years.  By Tuesday morning it was gone but I was still a little dizzy with cold sweats all day long.  So another day was spent in GJ.  Good thing I had my parents there to corral the kiddos and give me extra nap-time in the morning and evening. 

This morning I loaded up the car with kids and bags, and myself with Tylenol and Sudafed, and we successfully made it home.  I feel like I'm underwater with head pressure and fuzziness.  My throat burns when I swallow and I keep coughing up gunk.  But at least we made it home safely and I have most of our stuff unpacked. 

The new paint in the house looks good.  I'm not in the best mind to receive it, but I'm happy overall.  I wish I had my strength back to start putting art back on the walls.  It felt like moving into an empty house when we got home. 

But at least we are home.

The main reason I came to GJ: a little family hack-a-mole party.

I'm in GJ for a quick getaway! Ben stayed home to work and enjoy a quiet house, except for the painters. Yes, I used the contractors as an excuse to get the kids out for a few days. It's good for everyone.

Wow, did this month go really fast?  Sam is already seven months old.

He loves baths, loves jumping, loves Jack, loves tickling, loves swings, and LOVES food. 

I don't think I can express how much Sam loves food.  If he sees one of us eating he groans and growls and lunges for our food.  I can't feed him by spoon fast enough for his liking.  He can slurp a whole squeezie in under a minute.  He likes it when I give him solids to gnaw on (celery, arrowroot cookies, apple, french fry, bread crust, etc).  But I have to be right there because he will keep shoveling it in even if his mouth is full.  He can't really chew (still only two teeth), but he will mush it with his jaws as much as possible.


Not much has changed in his movement.  He shows no interest in the crawl position, but can flail around the ground to reach what he wants.  Tummy time is worthless now because he flips as soon as I put him down. 




He prefers sitting up and will hold a crunch position forever until you assist him.


This week he has starting babbling with proto-words.  I adore those garbled simple syllables.  I also adore this derpy picture.


His fine motor control is coming along though.  He's getting better at manipulating objects, orienting them the way he wants them.  He's between raking and pincher grasp, but he can pick up little puffs and get them in his mouth.

He regularly goes to bed around 7.  He will sleep until 4 or 5 in the morning without needing to eat.  If he is teething or having other problems I have to get up to give him the pacifier again, sometimes hourly (last week was bad).  But it seems like most of the time he can go all night with just the one waking.




Naps are tough.  Because he is the second child, I don't plan my day around his sleep schedule like we did with Jack.  Sadly he has to be carted off to errands and classes, so his naps are a mess.  Generally he goes down 1-2 hours after waking, cat naps during car trips mid day, and depending on how that went he will do either one or two afternoon naps. 

He's a trooper about it though.  I love you, Sammy!