Fishing at Strawberry

Just a few years ago TJ's dad (Poppy, around these parts) started catching kokanee salmon while fishing at Strawberry Reservoir.  He tells us "it's a disease" - he has become fairly focused on catching all the kokanee he can.  Last year he put a decent chunk of money into outfitting his boat so that he can catch even more kokanee (and now I feel like every time I eat one of those delectable fillets of fish I'm eating the most expensive fish of my life).  Poppy loves fishing and we really love Poppy, so we asked if he'd take us up to Strawberry to join him in the chase.  We went up on July 5.

Nanny and Poppy - saints that they are - took the boat up on the fourth of July and slept overnight at the lodge so they'd be ready for us as soon as we made it up July 5.  In spite of our intentions to leave at 5:00 we pulled out of the driveway at 6:00 and arrived to the lake right near 7:30.  As we drove slowly through the parking lot, trying to remember where to go, we heard Reed exclaim, "Nanny!"  He was, in fact, the only one of us that saw Nana standing in the parking lot as we passed her.  That boy has some great eyes!

We spent a gorgeous morning out on the water, trying to figure out the perfect trolling speed (1.5 mph), the best depth for the lines (they seemed to be biting between 20-30 feet, though the fish finder never saw them at those ranges), the right lures and scents and spots on the lake.  We had a great time and even pulled in a few kokanee (well, I never did  - I refused to pick up the rod when there is a valuable fish on the line as I nearly always lose them).  Reed got to pull in three cutthroat (we don't trust him with kokanee either ;) and seemed excited about that, but bawled when we had him go back for a picture and the fish flipped right next to him - that was unforgivable behavior from the fish.

Each time we drive up to Strawberry I am blow away by the beauty.  And it's so close to home.  God is an incredible artist.

So grateful for this family of mine and for Nana and Papa who spoil us all rotten.

Sunday Family Photo

An Ordinary Wednesday

Yesterday as TJ was rushing out the door to get to work I heard him exclaim, "Oh, Reed.  Did you decide to pour some Cheerios?"  From back in our room I hollered, "Take a picture before you clean it up!" 

That right there was probably an omen for the day ahead.  :)

Before diving into all the other notable things for the day, let me post this cute picture from our adventure to Temple Square yesterday morning.  I was relieved I didn't drop either child for this picture.  In spite of what the rest of this post might suggest, I really love my kids.  A lot.

A short while after cleaning up the Cheerios Reed kicked out of his stinky diaper, doing a decent job of getting the contents on himself, his clothes, the changing pad, and the carpet.  Bath #1.

We went down to Temple Square in the morning then came home for lunch and naps.  Reed woke up after only a 90 minute nap, when he typically naps 2-3 hours.  In spite of my best efforts, he would not go back down.  The next couple of hours looked like this:

• Reed goes out to dig in the "dirt box."  (Around here our garden grows a little boy but no food).
• After some time Reed comes to the door at the same time Holland wakes, hungry and crying.  Reed says he's done outside and because he's covered in dirt I help him decide where he wants to go next.  He wants to play in the garage, so I carry him there and open the door: he immediately starts crying that he does not want to play in the garage.  Holland is still crying.
• I explain that I need to feed Holland and he says he wants to "scoop and dump" in the front yard (in the dirt under the Japanese Maple), so I take him to the front door.  There are lots of construction workers out (finishing the roads) so I tell him to stay right there to dig and I'll feed Holland in the front room where I can watch him.
• Grab (a still screaming) Holland, change her diaper, go to the front room and start nursing.
• My phone rings a minute later with a call from my brother.  I need to go to my laptop to answer a question for him.  Holland and I are a talented nursing duo so I just stand up and walk with her to the kitchen, making sure Reed is still in the dirt.
• Holland and I are not as talented as I thought.  She loses her latch and starts crying.  I tell my brother I'll call him back.
• I walk back to the front room to resume feeding and peek on Reed who...is gone.  I scan the front yard: not there.  I hurry to the back of the house to check the backyard: not there.  Heart racing I get my shirt back on, lay Holland (still screaming) on the floor, and race outside yelling Reed's name.  (NOTE: there are construction trucks up and down our street all day, so losing him takes years off my life).  He saunters out of the neighbor's yard - they just put fresh dirt in their flower beds, which is great digging material.
• I carry Reed home to the tune of Holland still crying.  I know Reed will object to going inside, so I take him straight to the bath, where I think he'll be happy.
• As the water reaches him the bath is pretty immediately muddy.  I pull off his shorts and shirt and find that he's stinky.  Sweet Holland is still crying.
• I lift Reed - muddy feet and all - out of the bath and clean up his dirty diaper, trying not to cringe about the mud in the bathroom.
• I take the dirty diaper to the garage, pick up the still crying poor, poor Holland, and head to the bathroom to feed her while Reed plays in the bath.
• Since I've been gone Reed has been using his boat to dump water over the edge of the bath.

It was about at this point that I called TJ and asked him if he ever wonders what he misses at home.  :)

After TJ came home Reed successfully grabbed a container of almond milk in the pantry, twisted it open, and dumped it into the recycling bin.  While TJ cleaned that up Reed ran into the kitchen and picked up the spatula I had set down and dripped it across the floor.

Sometimes I wonder why I eat so much chocolate.  :)

Waffles, Swimming, a Rash, and Adjusting

12.5 hours after leaving home yesterday, we made it to Scottsdale.  There were several times during that drive that I tried to calculate whether it would be faster to keep going to Scottsdale or just to turn around and go home.  That probably tells you enough about the drive.  :)

We started today at Daily Jam, one of our favorite restaurants we found when we came down in February.  That place is fantastic: voted best waffles in the state by The Food Network, and - best of all - those waffles just happen to be gluten free.  HALLELUJAH.  As usual I had my Greek omelet, TJ had his breakfast tacos, and between the three of us we put down two plates of waffles with strawberries and cream.  We sat outside and Reed loved watching the birds, getting especially enthusiastic when one was on the "table!"  

After what seemed like nine years of getting ready (putting on sunscreen, getting all four of us changed, packing towels and diapers and hats, feeding Holland, etc.) we made it to the pool.  I put my foot in and let out a bit of a squeal: so darn cold!  We went in anyway (at least three of us - Holland flatly refused after having one toe touch the water.  Instead she slept).  Reed walked around the whole pool about a dozen times - his cute little floatie bobbing as he ran - and was having a ball kicking his feet in the deep end with either TJ or me.  

Once Reed saw both TJ and me swimming IN the pool he eventually came in.  Once he was used to the cool water he loved it.  He stood on the side and jumped in to us over and over again, counting to a different number each time so we never quite knew when to expect him: sometimes five, sometimes two, sometimes nothing but a quick jump.  He was cold enough to be shivering but did not want swim time to end.

After naps we went to Los Sombreros for dinner and holy smokes.  It did not disappoint.  How are we supposed to decide where to eat tomorrow?  There are so many fantastic places it is getting hard to choose.  And that is why we came to Scottsdale.  :)  I sure wish we had more GF options in Salt Lake.  It's fun to be here.

Reed has broken out with a strange rash on his face and behind his ears.  Big red spots.  At first I feared I had done a poor job with the sunscreen on his face (we got the stick kind and today was our first time using it), but he went on a walk with TJ tonight and came home with more spots than he left with, so now we're a bit uncertain.  You might think bug bites, but they're only on his head though he went out walking with shorts and a t-shirt on and didn't get any bites on his arms or legs.  ???  Nurse Eileen suggested some Benadryl which we're hoping has the side effect of helping him sleep all night (is that terrible??)  I sure hope it's all cleared up by morning.

  

Also, this is just real life with a newborn.  Well, at least this newborn.  Poor girl.

I have to remind myself that we're still adjusting to being a family of four (this is our first vacation all together!)  I've shifted my expectations to just understand that it will always take 40-60 minutes to get out the door.  It also feels like we've packed a suitcase in the diaper bag.  One day I'll look back and laugh that two kids was a struggle, but it is really taking some adjusting!

HOME

We are home. 

From where I sit I can hear Reed with TJ. They are reading Reed’s new book from Holland: she knows him well, as it’s a book about a digger. He is calling out the truck noises as TJ narrates the story, Holland sleeping on her crib in the next room. 

My body aches but my heart throbs: it is overflowing with love. I’m so glad to be home to my baby boy. I’m so grateful to have the best imaginable partner by my side, meeting my every need. Together we are thrilled to welcome this sweet little girl-a girl!-to our family. 

We are home.

Reed - 22 Months

We have a c-section scheduled for March 21, which is just nine days away.  Time with just Reed is slipping through my fingers so quickly, no matter how I try to hold on to and cherish it.  I want to capture the hours and days we have together right now, freeze in my memory his little personality and the funny things he does.  I have a terrible memory and know that anything I record will be valuable later, so here's a list of things I want to remember about this darling little boy.

• On February 22, the night before TJ and I had a trip scheduled to Phoenix, we put Reed down to bed in his crib (as usual).  He fussed (not super uncommon) and we were waiting it out when he walked into the room, grinning behind his binky.  My lands.  He learned to climb out of his crib, and even when we raised the side rail all the way up he would go up and over within just a few seconds.  After battling him for several nights and naps, we put a twin bed into his room, and use his sleeper tent (his travel bed that zips all the way closed) if he chooses to get out of bed.  We're about two weeks in on a twin and he's getting better, though sometimes he just wants to sleep in his tent, which is fine with us.  :)  He doesn't sleep nearly as long now that he can get up at will and I'm not sure I'll ever respond calmly when he walks into our room at 4 AM and screams "Mommy!"

• Reed still loves (understatement) his blankets and binkies.  He has three swaddle blankets that he sleeps with every day/night, carries around, and rubs the tags on to calm down: he's had all three since he was a newborn and now that they've been washed over and over they're much smaller, but still soothing to him.  One is white with grey polka dots, one is white with turquoise flowers, and one is white with navy constellations.  He also sleeps with his Saranoni blanket every night.  We are working on making his binkies just for bedtime - and he's getting better at that - but he loves them so much that I can't imagine trying to take them away!

• He loves to sing and we love to hear his little voice.  The two songs he sings are "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  Sometimes he likes us to sing with him and other times as soon as he hears our voices he'll say, "No.  No."  :)  When he sings Twinkle Twinkle he usually gets stuck on the line "Up above the world so high" and repeats it over and over.
• Papa (TJ's dad) often comments that Reed's name is perfectly fitting: Reed loves to read.  We read together virtually every day, recite books if there isn't one in our hands, and have recently started reading The Friend while he eats.  Several times each day Reed can be found on the floor in the front room or the family room or his bedroom, pulling books out and flipping through them on his own.  He really loves his non-fiction books that show pictures of lots of different things: 100 animals or 100 common words or vehicles or something.  He'll point to them and say the name (or make the noise) of the thing and when we "read" him those books he just wants us to tell him each item.  He also loves his Richard Scarry books (especially finding all the vehicles), his interactive "Heads" book (and the similar "Tails" one, though not as much), and several different books about trucks (which is pronounces "cuts").

• We have taken down his counter-top seat and just have him sit in his booster seat at the table.  Usually we sit right next to him and he almost always rests his feet on one of our legs throughout the meal.  :)
• Reed is still a terribly picky eater.  It gives us a whole lot of angst!  He loves Ramen noodles (noo noo), rice (ice), black beans (bees), Cheerios, Chex, watermelon (inexplicably "ba ba"), pineapple (also "ba ba"), bananas ("ma ma"), apples, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, popcorn, crackers, green smoothies, CHOCOLATE, cashews, peanuts, peanut butter (yet another "ba ba"), dried apricots, craisins, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, yogurt, and a few other random things.  He refuses to eat meat in any/all forms, and will even spit out a bite if you happen to hide a tiny morsel of meat in it.  

• When he walks he often swings his left arm back and forth.  It's incredibly endearing.
• He seems to be left-handed.  Sometimes he'll use his right but he ALWAYS leads with his left foot.
• I know I'm his mom, but Reed is pretty impressive with animal noises.  He knows dozens of animals.  Some of my favorites include elephant, crab (he pinches his fingers together), mouse (Tiny taught him to squeak), bee (which he just grunts "BEEE" every time), chicken, moose, turtle, hippo (his most recent favorite), turtle, any bird (he makes a bird call to all of them), and duck.  He even knows random ones (from his books) like polar bear and walrus, giraffe and alligator (he chomps his teeth together).
• Reed loves to figure things out.  He is pretty analytical.  He's our only child, so maybe that's normal, but he really loves finding how things work.  He can often be found unscrewing the knobs from our cupboards.  He loves flashlights and knows how each of them turns on/off - he also takes them apart and then puts the spring and batteries back in.  He can open doors, is figuring out how to pick hangers up (a tricky skill), and has mastered how to turn his white noise machine off and on.  He opens toothpaste, unscrews lotion, and has recently started opening and eating my chapstick.

• Related to the above, Reed loves helping with the "wash."  He stands on a laundry basket next to the washing machine and loads up the dirty clothes.  He gets to dump the soap in, throw in the cup, close the lid, and push the button before opening the lid to watch the water.  He so loves doing laundry that I find him taking clean clothes and - standing on his tippy toes - putting them into the washer.
• One of the books we read recently had a page where a bunch of animals laughed.  From that page (that said things like "ha ha ha" and "hee hee hee" and "ho ho ho") Reed has learned to fake laugh, which is pretty hysterical.  :)
• We have an audiobook called "A Weekend with Wendell" on my phone that Reed loves.  He's never watched the pictures while we listen to it (he doesn't know there are any), so he just loves it for the narration/music.  His favorite line is when the narrator says "Soon" and he'll request the book by saying to me "Soon" in a similar voice.  When he hears his favorite part he stops when he's doing, listens, and then just smiles.
• Reed loves to be tickled.  He also loves "This Little Piggy" and will give you his foot to do it over and over again.
• Over the past couple weeks we've been working on colors.  He's got orange down (we've thought for several months it's his favorite color, as it's almost always his first choice) and has a very funny way of saying it (I'd have no idea how to type it, but we've got a video or twelve).  Most of the other colors he calls "geen."  :)

• Reed is a good helper and is hitting a stage when I can ask him to do things and he gladly will.  For example, I was in my bathroom one day and said, "Reed, we're all out of soap in here.  Can you go get me some soap?"  I showed him the soap container and repeated it a couple times and he walked out.  A few minutes later I heard him grunting and opened the door to see him carrying four containers of hand soap from the other bathroom.  :)  Similarly, one day he wanted black beans so while I was working in the kitchen I showed him they were all gone in the pantry.  I asked him to go get some more from the basement on the shelf.  He slid down the stairs and after 2-3 minutes, when I was getting curious about what he was doing, I walked over to the stairs to see he had indeed gone to the basement, opened the door, found the black beans on the food storage shelf, crawled back up the stairs carrying a can (which he set at the top of the landing) and was back down the stairs shutting the door.  It was fabulous!  Since then bringing up black beans has become a game: his current record is working for maybe 20 minutes to bring up ten cans.

• This should maybe be the first thing on the list: Reed LOVES vehicles, especially trucks (pick-up trucks), construction vehicles (diggers, dump trucks, cement mixers, and cranes specifically), buses, airplanes, and helicopters.  He calls trucks "cuts" and diggers "digga" (using his arm to make a scooping motion), dump trucks are "beep beeps" and cranes he clicks his tongues for (to show how the hook clicks).  He calls airplanes "me" (?) and helicopters "cocka".  He stops what he's doing several times a day to listen to airplanes and helicopters outside, calling out which one it is.

• Since Reed has been in his own room (about seven feet away from ours), we have slept with our doors open so we could hear him in the night.  In preparation for this new baby, we bought a white noise machine for Reed, to help him sleep through the baby's cries.  The machine came with about 27 different noise options and I intended to use something like "appliance" or "ocean" or something.  But Reed heard "Rock-a-bye Baby" and goes ballistic if anything else is put on it.  The new soundtrack to our life is that darn song, which plays about 12 of every 24 hours around here.
• Reed is a good sport about going on walks with me.  We bundle him up in his snow pants, coat, mittens, fur-lined boots, and hat, and head out to the busy roads for our walk.  He gets terribly bored in neighborhoods, where there are few vehicles to see.  While we walk he calls out most everything he sees.  Yesterday's walk was particularly enjoyable for him: we saw two dogs, several airplanes, a cement mixer, dump truck, digger, fire truck (with firemen who waved back!), birds, and a helicopter.  He'll point out, name, and talk about all of those as we walk (crying when we walk away from the construction trucks).

• Reed recognizes the temple each time we pass it and calls out "temple."  When it's out of sight he says "me mo, me mo," which is how he requests more of something.  It's always a good reminder to me that we do need the temple more.
• "Me mo" was probably Reed's first meaningful phrase (we first heard it in November driving away from the temple after Paige's wedding).  It has come to mean "I want more" or that something is all gone (like if I finish drinking my smoothie he'll say "me mo").  This phrase is particularly humorous to me when it's something I just can't give him more of: more airplanes flying overhead right now, or more trucks passing on the road, for example.  
• Reed pronounces milk "mickow" with a guttural sound on the "kow".  It is hilarious.

• He loves his duplo blocks and plays with them almost every day.  He has a couple pieces that make a dump truck when put together correctly.  For a long time he would bring me the wheels and the bucket and ask for a dump truck: I always told him to look for the black piece to put them together.  So now he'll dump out his blocks and yell "Piece?  Piece?" until he finds that one piece.
• TJ thinks it's pretty funny that I've taught him to call things he wants or is looking for.  He'll walk around the house yelling, "Binkies?" or "Tags?" (his blankets).  But he'll also yell "boot?" or "Mickow?"  :)
• Reed's getting quite good at verbalizing what he wants/needs.  When we don't understand we'll ask him to show us and he'll grab our hand and take us to what he wants.  

• Reed likes to take baths but his favorite part is after we dry him off and tell him to run "bunder bear" into his room.  He jumps down naked and runs, squealing with laughter, up and down the hall.  :)
• He calls me Mommy and TJ Daddy, though we're not sure how he learned to add the "y" at the end.  Though he responds to Reed, if you ask him his name, he doesn't know it yet.

I could (obviously) go on and on, but this captures a few things I want to remember right now.  We love this little guy with all our hearts.  We're just counting on our hearts growing to make room for more love for this baby next week, because there's no way we could love Reed any less.  He has made life so meaningful for us - we're grateful every day to have him!

Perfectly Imperfect Present

On Tuesday night, after Reed had gone to bed, TJ was on his laptop working on our finances as I cleaned up the pile of books Reed had spread across the family room.  Reed was getting sick, TJ was still getting over a cold, and we were both tired, when he said, "ASU is a no go."  Just like that.  Just that quickly. 

TJ applied for a doctorate program at ASU on December 1st and with their estimated notification timeline of "four weeks" we have been anxiously waiting to hear whether we'd be accepted.  He's kept his email open for months, watching for the email that would tell us yes or no: are we moving?  Is he leaving his job?  Are we totally switching career paths?  As we've thought and debated and prayed about our future, we've truly believed that this doctorate program is the right place for us: it's only 2.5 years, it is relatively close to home and our families, and it's by far been the most captivating topic TJ has seen for what he'd like to both study and teach.  We've felt really good about the program and the path it would lead us down to help TJ become a professor.  So we were both surprised and disappointed to find out he wasn't accepted.

Yesterday felt a bit bleak to me.  In addition to the letdown about ASU, we're all feeling a bit sick, the weather is miserable, this pregnancy is just plain hard, and TJ had a busy day at work followed by a long night at school.  I was rocking sick Reed in the glider when there was a knock at the door, then a ring at the doorbell.  I virtually never answer the door when I'm home alone, so stayed in the chair, reading about trucks and cranes and trains when I noticed the car didn't leave the driveway.  I checked my phone and saw a message from Sunshine Floral, that they were at my house with a bouquet for me if I was home.

It's a perfect bouquet: purple tulips and yellow lilies, and other bright and happy flowers I don't know the names of.  I set them in the middle of the island and greedily opened the card, anxious to see what message sweet TJ had sent.  It was a simple note, just one line: "How could life get any better?" 

Tears came to my eyes then - as they do now - thinking about how perfect things are right now, imperfect though they may be.  We have a rich, meaningful marriage and we both know that our spouse cherishes us: what a rare blessing.  Every day we smile as we watch this darling little boy - our son - laugh and learn and play with us.  Inside my belly I feel a new little family member kicking and punching and digging in to my ribs, and we're less than fifty days from meeting him or her.  We have fantastic families and rich friendships and good health.  Our cupboards are full, we have cars in the garage, a warm home during these storms, good books to read, and money to spare. 

I know there are hard days ahead.  Pregnancy is still wearing on me and the long nights are getting a little rough.  My hands are bleeding from washing them after all this nose wiping and poor Reed is sneezing his brains out. 

But I'm really not sure life could get any better.  It is rich and full and it's ours, and things don't get much better than that.