Conglomeration

I have a number of fairly unrelated things that I wanted to share all at once.

First, my sister-in-law Sarah's sister-in-law (say that five times fast!) is having a giveaway on her blog for a bunch of random fabric scraps along with a yard of their favorite designer fabric.  If you're at all into sewing, you should check it out at their blog Made On Maple!  I know I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  I love pretty fabrics, but don't often get more than what I need for a specific project.  Getting a bunch of random pretty fabrics would be so much fun to play with!

Second, I have a new favorite song:  "Anchor" by Mindy Gledhill.  You MUST listen to it!  It's so lovely.  And easy to sing over and over and over again.  I actually bought the mp3 album just because I love the song so much, and I actually love the whole album!  It's difficult to not feel happy listening to it.  :)  So, really... listen to this song!!!


Third, Jesse realized just a couple days ago that it was officially one year from the day he lost his job out in Maryland.  I could probably write an entire post just on my thoughts about that (a whole year unemployed?!??!!!), but my thoughts on it are generally pretty muddled.  Suffice it to say that we've been very blessed with having unemployment compensation all this time, and that our expenses have been small enough that we've only had to dip into savings a handful of times.  Jesse had to re-apply for unemployment, as our state-funded payments have run out, but we still have up to 31 weeks left of federally-funded unemployment, as long as Congress doesn't opt to get rid of such extended benefits.  Of course, we both sincerely hope that Jesse gets a job long, long, long before those benefits would expire.  One year without a job is far more than enough.  If I'm being completely honest, I need Jesse to get a job just to get him out of the house!!  (Sorry, honey!!)  I love him to death, and I love having him around so much, especially when it comes to errands and juggling kids and doing chores.... but having him around so much for a whole year is a little exhausting.  I just don't function the same when he's around all the time.  My brain and body go into vacation mode (even after all this time!), and it's difficult for me to do things with the kids that I would do if he weren't around, like trips to the playground, or craft time, or even sitting down to read books.  I suppose it might be a glimpse into the life of retirees?  It's awesome having your husband at your disposal almost whenever you want him.  On the other hand, it's not.  He needs a job.  ;)  Plus, I have an unhealthy addiction to browsing realty websites and fantasizing about buying houses.  Maybe if he had a job I could put that fantasizing to practical use!!  Wouldn't that be fun?  Anyway, bottom line is that this job hunting thing has been extremely frustrating.  Since his one-and-only interview months ago, we've heard pretty much squat from every employer he's applied to.  We've got a couple decent leads right now, with personal connections, and he continues to find jobs to apply for.  But the black hole is often very discouraging.  Still, we remain confident that the Lord prompted us to return to Colorado for a good reason.  We'll just continue to hang on as long as we can.

Fourth on the docket:  Wildfires in Colorado.  We've had a very wet winter and spring here this year, but once mid-August hit, we got into a dry spell.  Combined with the hot temperatures, things dried out quickly.  And after all that precipitation, there was a lot of growth with things like grasses and brush.  Translated: Easy tinder is abundant.  We went to the city of Louisville's annual Labor Day Parade on Labor Day last week (and got waaaaay too much candy tossed our way! But it was fun!), and as we left, we looked up, where half of the sky was completely covered in a thick plume of brownish smoke.  We went to the highest hill in Louisville, got out of our car, and looked out at the mountains.  Not only us, but a whole crowd of people.  There was definitely a big wildfire out there.  We later found out that it was in the Fourmile Canyon area, just west of Boulder in the mountains.  It quickly got out of hand with the high winds we had that day, and eventually burned more than 160 homes to the ground.  It is just now, a little over a week later, finally seems pretty much contained, and residents are being let back into the area.  It is the most destructive fire in Colorado history, and happened practically on our doorsteps.  It's been sobering.  A couple of the staff at our elementary school are even affected.


View Boulder Fire Area in a larger map

We had plans to go on a hike that day at Chautauqua Park in Boulder.  The fire was north and slightly west of that point, and the wind was carrying most of the smoke away from the area, so we went ahead with our plans.  Well, it was a vastly more difficult hike than I anticipated, because of the constant rather steep uphill, on top of carrying an approximately 30-lb. Alex on my back. I had to keep reminding myself, "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger!"  I want to get into better shape.  How better to do it than tote around a heavy toddler??  Anyway, this was the first time I had hiked Chautauqua.  It was a beautiful area!  I can see why it's so very popular.  And the kids did great, especially Jacob, who could barely manage a short, flat, easy walk on Memorial Day without complaining that he was going to fall over and die if someone didn't carry him.  He not only kept himself from complaining, but he was running ahead of me, up the steep hill!!  I was very proud of him.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from our hike:

View of the famous Flatirons from Chautauqua Park.  A bit of smoke haze in the foreground.

Isn't this gorgeous??  Melinda, Jacob, and Jesse pose on the trail heading uphill towards the Flatirons.  Melinda and Jacob are carrying American flags they got from the Labor Day Parade.

One of the cool things about mountains in Colorado is all the neat boulders and cracked rocks and mountainsides.  We spotted this little stack of boulders on the way back down, and had to take a picture with them. 

The plume of smoke darkening the sky over Boulder on Labor Day (1st day of burning), just northwest of where we were hiking.

It was more than a little shocking when, on our way to Grandma and Grandpa Newson's house this past Sunday (just less than a week after the Fourmile Fire started), we saw another plume of wildfire smoke to the north.  Turns out it started out in the area about halfway between Estes Park and Loveland.  Someone burned a "slash pile" (branches and other yard waste), and it got out of control.  Honestly, what are people thinking, burning fires outside when the ground is bone dry and there's a wildfire not fully contained right in plain sight??  They're lucky that there were already federal firefighting resources nearby working on the other fire, so they could get a head start on containing that fire.  But they still have a ways to go.  We've been praying for rain and moisture.  And Jesse helped volunteer at a Boulder County emergency resources collection center, accepting and sorting through donations.  Wish we could do more... but hopefully the dry summer is well on it's way out.  For all we know, we could have snow in a few more weeks!

The Circus

I had known about the circus being in town for a little while, but I was having a hard time deciding whether we should go or not.  The best time would be to go on April 1st... My little sister Kaija would be here to enjoy it with us, but the biggest problem was that it wasn't scheduled to even start until the time that we normally put the kids to bed.  And April 1st was also Alex's birthday, so it would be an active day.  I wavered back and forth about it a lot, almost purchasing tickets two separate times before I talked myself out of it.  Jesse wasn't a lot of help in deciding - he recognized the same drawbacks as I did, and also hesitated to put the whole family in downtown Baltimore in the late evening.  But in the end, I decided it would be fun, even if the timing would be tricky.  So, off to the circus we went, after rushing out the door after Alex's birthday celebrations.

We arrived just as things were getting started, and an usher lead us to our seats.  We were on the highest open level, on the back row against the wall, but it still seemed like fairly decent seats to me.  We could see most everything easily ... the exception being high-rise stuff that was sometimes blocked by the basketball hoops.  Melinda, Jacob and Alex (and the grownups, too, I think!) were all instantly mesmerized by everything going on.  A whole song-and-dance routine, with clowns by the dozen, dressed up girls, prades of animals... what a sight!!

In this first picture, sort of front-and-center is a guy on GIANT stilts.  I was absolutely amazed by him.  He was hopping around, dancing, and later on even did a limbo sort of move, putting his body completely horizontal to the ground, backwards.  I can't imagine how he didn't ever fall over!!

Just more busy activity in the grand opening of the circus!  It was hard to watch everything happening - there was so much going on at the same time!

The kids' reactions:  Melinda is drop-jawed, and Alex is more wide-eyed than I usually see him when he's excited about something he sees.

Jacob was grinning and pointing to things quite a lot.  (Can you believe he told us after the circus was over that he didn't like it?  He was having a grand ol' time!  But it was all because we wouldn't buy him a "glowy sword" that he saw among all the souveniers available.  He had a bit of a fit about that... but who can blame him, after all the sights and sounds, and then being up at such a later hour after an already busy day!)

Nearing the close of the grand opening, a parade of elephants, among other things.

There were so many fun things to see.  I couldn't take pictures of even half of them.  One thing I wish I had taken a picture of was a man who did monkey bar rings way up at the ceiling, upside down, with his feet.  Near the end of his routine, he flung himself, still with his feet, towards the horizontal bar/swing at the end of the rings.  No net under him.  He caught himself, but it was amazing and tense!

There were some lovely more quiet routines - one segment including a few strong men who were balancing themselves acrobatically on each other, all while another girl across the floor was balancing on her head on top of tall poles stacked on top of more tall poles, all while yet another girl was doing an amazing floor-to-ceiling length, twist-herself-in-ribbon dance.  I wish they would have been one at a time - I felt like I was missing something from one of the other two every time I focused on just one!

There was also a segment with girls "dancing" on rings while another couple of people did a ribbon-dance.  This one was amazing.  The ribbon people would wrap themselves up in the ribbon just right so that they would let go, then roll speedily towards the ground from all the way at the top, only to stop suddenly at the bottom.  I can't imagine what must have gone through the head of the person who invented that sort of routine... how they figured out in the first place that wrapping yourself just so would make you roll dramatically but stop just in the nick of time, you know?

During intermission, we grabbed a couple clown-head mugs with snow cones inside.  Jesse had to run Jacob down to use the potty, but the rest of us stayed up.  (Melinda suddenly figured out she had to go halfway through the second half.  That was sad, we had to miss things!!)  Alex liked getting tastes of the snow cone, as his blue tongue will testify.

And look!  I really was at the circus, too!  Photographic proof!

Of course, there was a cage full of tigers, which was neat to see, especially since tigers are one of my absolute favorite animals, but I can't say that I was particular amazed by the routine.  It seemed like they were just being guided from one side of the cage to another.  Cartoons make it more fun, with tigers jumping through hoops and everything, but I suppose just the fact that a single man surrounded by many tigers - who could "turn" at any moment - is amazing in itself.

There was also a fun little elephant routine.  They did a lot more interesting things when I wasn't taking pictures.  Melinda was particularly upset that I didn't get a picture of the elephant that did a "hand"stand, using its trunk curled up on the ground as an extra balance point.

 

 

There were some not-so-interesting things, like a bunch of white ponies that were cute, but basically just ran in a tight circle for what felt like 10 minutes.  They switched directions like a flock of birds... but I've seen horses run before.  The most interesting thing about them was when they were lined up tallest to smallest, the smallest looking like a large dog.

There were also some guys who were hopping all around on giant tire-shaped bouncy balls.  They did some pretty impressive tricks.  One guy's ball popped partway through the routine!  He didn't get hurt, thank goodness, and it didn't seem to impact the routine, either.

But then there were also thinks like trapeze artists (yay!), motorcycles driving on a high-wire with a girl balanced underneath, and of course, the motorcycles in a steel cage.  THAT was cool.  Excuse the shaky video... I was zoomed in as far as my camera could go, and of course tiny movements like Alex bumping me make a big shake on the screen.  ;)


After the circus, we headed back to the car.  That's when Jacob had his melt-down about not getting a "glowy sword", and Melinda was upset that I wouldn't buy her something or other (I think it might have been a stuffed horse).  They were T-I-R-E-D.  Jacob insisted he didn't like it.  Even the next day and the next.  It wasn't until after Kaija went home that he admitted to liking the circus, and asking to go again.   And of course, parking was in a garage, so there was a super-fun line to get out.  But once we did get out, we were home free.  Got home at almost 10:30pm.  Yikes!!  But what a night.  It's not often you get to see a circus.  I know the last time I saw one, it was with my grandparents back in Tacoma, Washington.  I can't have been older than 8.  I'm glad we went, after all- it was a fun time.  Kaija sure seemed to enjoy it, too!  (We miss you, Kaija!)

I asked Melinda and Jacob what their favorite parts of the circus were.  Jacob said something like "the ladies going on the string down to the square"... which might have referred to the ribbon dancers.  Melinda said "the girls with the pink scarves", which againis probably the ribbon dancers.  Though not all of them were girls, as far as I could tell from our distance.  ;)

A few people have mentioned how I haven't blogged in a while.  Sorry about that... we're still here, life still goes on, I just haven't been in a blogging mood, and I haven't been managing my free time well this week.  I'll be busy the next few days, but after that I'll try to get all caught up and everything.  Hopefully.  ;)

Marvelous March Weekend

You just can't beat today's weather.  70 degrees!  In March!  Obviously, we weren't the only ones itching to get outside and soak it all up this weekend.  After the late winter snowstorm earlier this week (we only got about 5 inches, maybe, but it was more than we had all winter long!), this was a very welcome change.  Melinda really wanted to just go to the neighborhood playground, but Jesse didn't.  He gets bored at playgrounds.  And I'll be honest and admit that I do, too.  But Jesse was the decision maker this time around, and he decided we'd all go out to Meadowood park again.  Nice open space, paved walk, big fields, and a playground. 

Everyone and their dog was there.  Literally- most families did have a dog with them... or two.  Joggers were out in droves, dogs were every couple feet, and the amount of kids?  Well, let's just say there was a 10-minute line to get onto one of the 4 available swings.  We spent most of our time out on the fields, though, kicking around soccer balls, throwing our hula hoop up in the air, blowing bubbles, and even just enjoying the ability to let Alex roam free without worrying about his feet getting wet.  Although we did have to pick a relatively mud-free spot on the field, since melting snow doesn't tend to leave dry ground, after all! 

Jacob had a fun time running with a ball to each of the nearby sports nets (they were kind of small to be soccer nets, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they were lacrosse nets), Daddy tagging along.  Eventually he picked up a stick and started hitting invisible monsters.  He got so much energy out!  He always gets into trouble when he picks up anything stick-like at home, because invariably, he winds up whacking someone and starts a big cry-fest.  But out in an open field, he could swing that stick as wildly as he wanted to!

Alex spent most of his time picking up clumps of dirt from the recently aerated ground, trying to eat every single one.  Lovely.  But when he wasn't doing that, he was climbing up into the stroller seat.  Because, ever since he figured out how to get up that chair (from the video I shared earlier this week), he's been climbing up chairs non stop.   I turn my back for two seconds and he'll steal my computer chair, even!  And of course, the new found prowess at climbing chairs also comes with an increased confidence in his ability to climb down, so he's also fully capable of getting off my bed, the couch, and any chair he climbs into.  I kind of miss being able to plop him on my bed and running to the bathroom alone, knowing he'll be "trapped" there.  Now he just slides on down like it was never a challenge.  Amazing what a couple days can do.

Melinda seemed a little bored outside today, unfortunately.  While we were at the fields she kept begging to move on to the playground.  We put it off as long as we could, since it was so crowded, but finally acquiesced.  And then she spent most of her playground time (well, aside from waiting in the line for swings) trying to get random girls to play with her.  My heart broke a little, watching so many girls just dash on away, barely acknowledging that she was there, but she was persistant.  She came to me a little glum, saying that the girls weren't playing with her, and I explained that things were so busy that they probably didn't realize she was trying to get them to play with her.  She seemed okay with that explanation.  But I know a lot of kids can be overwhelmed by her in-your-face eagerness to be friends, too.  I never know how to react to things like that, since my nature is to be so much more withdrawn.  I don't know whether to encourage her or try to tone her down. 

Anyway, we had a lovely day outside.  It was a little humid and sticky, but we got out in short sleeves, no jackets - Jacob even wore shorts (laundry day... no clean pants!).  And we were all perfectly comfortable.  And when we got home, we opened up all of our windows and let things air out.  That has to be one of my favorite parts about spring - the fresh air in my home.  Can't do it in summertime without giving up the air-conditioned comfort.  But spring is perfect for fresh, new air.  And in fact, here it is almost 10pm and most of the windows are still open.  It's heaven, I tell you!

Another side effect of springtime:  We cut hair.  Warmer weather means Jacob's head gets sticky with sweat.  He's always been a sweaty kid, but I think his super thick hair just amplifies the problem.  Doesn't take more than a couple laps around the front room, and his hair is soaked.  And obviously, we did a lot more than hop around indoors today.  So, it got buzzed.  I took the opportunity to go ahead and trim Alex's hair, as well  It's been getting long on the sides and back, and not looking too great.  I always hesistate to cut my babies' hair for the first time, and this time was no different, but I had been mulling it over for a good 2 or 3 weeks now, so I was ready.  While Jesse buzzed Jacob's hair, I had Alex in the high chair and took a pair of scissors to his hair.  He was so good, too!  He kept trying to look at the scissors, of course, but he behaved very nicely and calmly as I snipped away at his hair.  And now he's neatly trimmed, and I think I did a fantastic job for my first time ever attempting to trim boy's hair by hand.  One side is a bit shorter around the ear, but I doubt anyone but me would notice it unless I pointed it out.  Jesse said it doesn't even really look like he got a haircut - and that's a good thing!  I didn't want him to look buzzed or anything, just neater.  He doesn't have as much hair as Melinda and Jacob did at this age, anyway.  And with it being blonde, it looks like even less.  I was just going for a nice trim, and I accomplished it.  Yay!  (And I only pinched his neck with the scissors once!!)

Oooh, and Melinda did her bath all by herself for the first time today!  Well, I filled up the water for her - she was stubbornly insisting that she wouldn't be able to get the right temperature.  But she did all her own washing and rinsing, and did a great job.  She's getting more responsible by the minute!  She even helped Jesse scrub the toilets this past Thursday night.  I had asked Jesse, while Melinda was in earshot, "Jesse, do you think Melinda's big enough to clean the toilets yet?"  While Jesse was hemming and hawing about it, Melinda was jumping up and down, almost dying of eagerness, whining about how she really wanted to scrub the toilets!!  Boy... if only I could bottle up that enthusiasm for when she's a teenager, huh??

The Escapades of Jacob

A couple events that happened within the last day and a half made me realize that I still have a lot of things to work on with Jacob!

Story #1
We went to IKEA last night. One, we wanted a new dresser for the kids (they've managed to step inside their drawers so many times that it's becoming impossible to open them, because the railings are bent and the ball bearings completely gone, and there are no replacement parts that I'm aware of). Two, since we had to stay home sick so much over the last week and a half, we really were taking any excuse available to get out of the house. And IKEA does have a nice play place called Smaland, that Melinda and Jacob have just been aching to play in, ever since Jacob became fully potty trained. (Did I mention that he is essentially past accidents now? HOORAY!)

So, off to IKEA we went. Jacob and Melinda ran into the play place without really listening to the young lady attending, as she gave them instructions about no running, and where the bathroom is. After a few minutes into our shopping, Jesse said, "We really should have made Jacob use the bathroom before letting him play." I agreed with him, despite the fact that we made him use the bathroom right before we left the house. He tends to have to go a lot more in the evenings. Still, I wasn't worried that he'd have an accident. Mostly not worried, at least.

We got back to pick them up around 40 minutes after we left them. As soon as we walked up, the young lady said, sort of mumbling in her not-especially-helpful mannerism, "Jacob took off his pants." I know I looked completely shocked. "WHAT?!" I exclaimed. "I have no idea why he'd do that! He's never just taken off his pants before!!" Melinda saw us waiting there, and we waved her over to get ready to go. Meanwhile the young lady went to the bathroom to get Jacobs pants. .... AND his underwear. When she said he took off his pants, I thought she meant he just stopped in the middle of playing, took off his pants, and continued on. But no. He had gone to the bathroom.

And when Jacob goes to the bathroom, he strips himself completely down, sits on the toilet to pee, and then gets back down. And when we're at home, he'll often streak through the house and take a good long time before he puts his underwear and pants back on. I usually either have to chase him down myself, or nag him a good 10-15 times before he finally stops listens to me. That's when we're at home. I haven't left him alone since he potty trained, and I completely forgot about this when we dropped him off at IKEA. Of course he wasn't about to be ready to put his pants right back on, all by himself, before going back to playing at such a nice shiny new play place. It's even more entertaining than home! Why do there what he's not willing to do at boring ol' home?!

So anyway, Jacob had gone potty, left his pants and underwear in the bathroom, and run back to playing. All right before we came back to pick the kids up. And where was he when we got there? Rolling all around in the ball pit, with his completely naked bum. And when he climbed out, there he was, streaking for anyone who cared to watch through the windows into IKEA's main lobby.

Apparently all those other kids in the play place were just absolutely screaming before we got there, too. I have no idea if they were screaming in amusement or terror or what. All I know is that Jacob put on quite a little show for everyone, and had absolutely no inkling about his little social faux pas. He simply used the bathroom like a good boy, and went right back to playing.

Jesse was absolutely mortified. I was slightly amused, but also embarrassed that I had forgotten about this aspect of potty training for public readiness. And, I suppose, Jesse was definitely right about making him use the potty. Would have avoided that whole mess!

But... yeah. We definitely still need to work on his getting-dressed-after-using-the-potty skills. Nice way to get that reminder, huh??


Story #2
While Melinda was at her little preschool with our church friends this morning, I took the boys to the mall to play, and then over to Trader Joe's to do a little shopping. Jacob loved pushing around his little kid-sized cart and helping with the shopping. We enjoyed some free samples. We picked out our favorite foods. And then we went and bought all our food. Just as we were finishing up putting the food into bags, our cashier started giving Jacob balloons. We got two - one for him, one for Melinda. As soon as he had both in his hands, I went and swiped my card to pay for the groceries, and helped finish up bagging the last few things. As I went back to sign, I looked up and Jacob was gone. GONE. Every direction I turned my head, he was nowhere to be found. I almost had a heart attack, I swear!! I finally spied him through the fully-windowed storefront, at the very end of the sidewalk that runs along the storefronts and parkinglot. Just sauntering away, holding his two balloons, completely oblivious to anything else.

A panicked "Oh crap!!" slipped out of my mouth, and I told the cashier I'd be right back. I ran to the automatic doors, stepped right outside them, and yelled Jacob's name. No response. I yelled again, louder. Still no response. Knowing I just ditched my baby in a grocery cart with complete strangers, I took off running after Jacob anyway. Finally got his attention, and brought him back to the store as quickly as I could. There was Alex waiting for me, happily poking tomatoes. Heart still racing, I signed for the credit card and started - with both boys- back out the doors.

I can only guess that once Jacob had the balloons in his hands, his brain thought "Hey! Shopping's done! Time to go!" and just started walking back out. I'm just relieved a million times over that he didn't wander out into the parking lot. He isn't good at looking for cars, yet, especially not when armed with fun toys like balloons in his hand. And it's a very busy parking lot, too! And nobody took him... that's a good thing. Though I don't know why he was able to walk by three different ladies just standing around without a single one of them trying to help him find his mommy, or at least stop him from walking any further.

When we got to our car, I finally had a good chance to tell him how scared I was when I couldn't find him, and ask him why on earth he left without me and walked all alone out into the parking lot? Where was he going? "I don't know." Why didn't he wait for mommy? "I don't know." Didn't he think that was scary, to be all by himself like that? "No."

Sigh. Obviously, I still need to have some really good safety talks with him, too. Who knew a 3-year-old boy would be so much more work than a 3-year-old girl??

One Crisis After Another

Yes, I realize it's been 9 days since my last post.  I'm certainly not doing a good job at keeping up with my posting, lately.  Reminds me of my journal just after I was married.  Except, back then, I often didn't even finish an entry - it would be left in the middle of the sentence, only for me to find it still incomplete 2 months later.

Anyway... I could blame my infrequent posts on a lot of things.  But suffice it to say that I'm sorry if you've been checking regularly, only to be disappointed!  I'm having a hard time, these days, finding a time where I'm ready and able to dedicate a good chunk of time to writing about my life.  ;)

The past week has been full of a lot of little (and some not-so-little) crises.  Shall I tell you about them?

Our good weather streak lasted a good long time.  Wednesday was the last day we were supposed to get really great weather, so we took ourselves out to the playground, which was now soft and muddy from the melted snow and ice.  The weather was so great, in fact, that Jacob didn't wear a jacket, and was just running around in his t-shirt.  I wore a sweater jacket, because I tend to get chilly no matter what, but I ended up feeling much too warm and a bit sweaty even in just that!

Since the ground was so muddy and gross, I didn't feel too keen on the idea of letting Alex just wander around.  So I put him up on the playground equipment.  I did my typical thing, where I let him go where he wanted to go, and just guarded the exit areas from the ground, so he couldn't fall off.  Well, that worked fine, until he crossed the equipment all the way to tall spiral slide.  Melinda was right with him, so I didn't get concerned, foolishly.  I just watched from the ground, ready to get him as he went down the slide.  I feel so stupid that I even thought it was a good idea.  You would think that I would be past these sorts of mistakes by my third child, wouldn't you?  At any rate, it wasn't a good idea.  Alex was having such a good time walking on the playground equipment, that he just kept right on walking when he got to the edge of the slide.  Probably because he's not terribly familiar with slides yet, and doesn't treat them like stairs, which he's generally wary of.  All I could do was watch with horror as he stumbled down towards the first curve of the slide, which was as tall as my upstretched hands.  As soon as his hips collided with the edge, the momentum carried him headfirst over the edge of the slide, hurdling towards the ground.  I yelled in horror and dashed to that side of the slide as fast as I could, instinctively hoping I could catch him.  But of course, I'm not that fast.  I watched him, almost in slow motion, tumble through the air towards the ground, my reaching arms being too far away to afford any help.  After he flipped headfirst off the side of the slide, his legs sort of cartwheeled over his head, and he ended up landing with a low thump on the soggy woodchips in quite possibly the best position one could hope for, after falling from such a height: He landed completely horizontal to the ground, partially on his side, so that it at least looked like his shoulder, hips, feet, and head all connected with the ground at the same time.  He started crying instantly, and I scooped him up just a split second later, clutching him close to me and then inspecting him.

There was not a single scratch anywhere on him, not even a mark from any of the woodchips.  No bruises.  Nothing.  It was the luckiest fall I've ever seen in my life.  But of course, Alex was pretty scared, after falling a good 7 feet down to the ground.  Holding him tight and rocking him wasn't helping him calm down.  I was so glad I had the ultimate baby-calming weapon:  Nursing.  As soon as he started sucking, he was quiet and calm, even if his eyes still looked spooked.  And I just sat, trying to calm myself down, too, feeling stupid and foolish for letting my 10-month old navigate the playground on his own.  Guilty as I feel about it, you can probably bet that he won't set foot on a playground without me holding his hand the entire way until he's almost 3!

After we were finished playing at the playground, we headed home.  I practically had to rip them away, even though their only playmate was a little boy who barely spoke a word of English.  They were having so much fun having anyone to play with at all!  It seems to rare that we run into other children while we're out.  But we were expecting a UPS package, and they tend to arrive right around 5pm, and I didn't want to miss it.  As we neared our building, though, I saw that there was a UPS truck parked in front.  And then I saw the UPS delivery man go back into his truck with a rather large package in hand.  I knew it was mine.  So the kids and I totally booked it down the sidewalk, trying to catch him before he left.  Melinda thought it was great! Jacob, not so much.  He collapsed crying on the sidewalk about 100 feet from me, screeching that he was too tired to run (why is that never the case indoors?!?).  And of course, since he was collapsed, that meant he wasn't walking towards me, either.  So the whole time I'm there talking to the UPS guy and signing for the package, he's wailing on the sidewalk refusing to move another step.  Finally Melinda convinced him I wasn't running anymore, and he joined us, face red and streaked with tears.  And we got our package!  (I've never had to practically chase down a delivery guy before!)

We had done our taxes and got our returns back that week, and Jesse and I decided to buy Guitar Hero: World Tour (the band kit) for something fun to do with our money.  Most of our tax returns is going into savings, some of it is paying for car parts and repairs that we needed, but this one little thing, we're having some fun with.  And this package that I hounded the UPS man for was it!  We were so excited to get it, we didn't want to wait another day.

We've been enjoying our Guitar Hero fun since then.  Jacob took immediately to loving the drum set, and Melinda wasn't far after.  Jesse and I have fun teaming up to do guitar/drums on all sorts of different songs.  Even Alex has joined in the fun, and if he's down on the ground playing anywhere near the drums, he'll reach up and hit them with his hands.  I've played around with singing with some songs with the microphone, but for most of them, I'm just not familiar enough with them to attempt the singing.  At any rate, it's been a lot of fun, and a purchase we've really enjoyed.

On Thursday, the weather changed sharply.  A lot of strong winds blew through and brought cold air.  We visited a friend, and two houses down from her, a tree had fallen over, leaning on the power lines.  We didn't lose power or have any ill effects ourselves, though!  But we did feel sad, saying goodbye to the beautiful spring-like weather.

Saturday was Valentine's Day, of course. The kids really loved getting their own little mini-tin of four chocolates, and a Valentine card from Mommy and Daddy.  Jacob is still hanging onto his, even taking it to bed with him, despite it getting bent and a bit crumpled.  He has asked us to read it to him several times.  It has a picture of a monkey on the front, and I wrote "our little monkey Jacob" on the inside.  He giggles at that a lot. ;)  Jesse and I just exchanged boxes of chocolate.... maybe next year I'll suggest we just go to the store together and pick out our own favorites, hehe!  We don't tend to make a big deal out of this particular holiday.  We decided to go out to the Golden Corral buffet for dinner on Saturday.  It was full of really delicious food, as always.  I stuffed myself with too many good main course types of foods, and didn't have enough room in me to enjoy dessert, which made me really sad.  :(  But it is one of my favorite places to have dinner, with all the choices to pick and choose from.  And I really love their steaks!

Jacob had started sounding funny on Friday: His voice was just off enough that it seemed like a good throat-clearing would fix things.  But he started getting a runny nose and a cough just a couple days later, and felt a bit warm by Sunday night.  By Monday he was sounding pretty bad, with a hacking, phlegmy cough.  And Alex followed quickly behind him, with his own profusely runny nose, phlegmy cough and fever.  In fact, he was very hot on Monday night.  I'm guessing he probably had a fever around 102 to 103, though I never brought out the thermometer.  Despite his near-constant waking, he was in a fairly good mood for being so hot, so I wasn't too concerned.  He was pretty wide-awake at about 6am, so I changed his diaper (nursing constantly throughout the night has a way of filling those things up quickly!) and took him into Jacob and Melinda's room, since they had both migrated to our room during the middle of the night.  We laid on the bottom bunk - so that if I fell asleep and Alex was awake, he'd be able to wander around on the floor without being in any danger.  And when I set him down on his back next to me, he just laid still and "talked" to me for 10 minutes or so, pointing at my face, "honking" my nose, and eventually playing peek-a-boo behind a stuffed animal.  He had a smile plastered on his face the whole time.  So he couldn't be feeling too badly, could he?  He eventually talked himself back to sleep, which was entertaining to watch - usually he really fights sleep.  But neither of us got much sleep at all that night.  Poor little guy just couldn't stay asleep after every cough woke him up.   And if he wasn't nursing, he was coughing.  And for whatever reason, I just couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep through nursing for most of the night.

Today, Jacob still has a cough, but is looking better otherwise.  Alex sounds about the same, but wasn't so hot last night (and the fever was essentially gone during the day, and again during daylight hours today).  Unfortunately, my throat started tickling yesterday, and today I woke up with a headache, and I'm starting to have a productive cough, too.  Jesse feels about the same.  I've heard Melinda cough a few times, but somehow she has this amazing ability to skip most of the illnesses that circulate in our house.  I won't be surprised if she never coughs more than a few times total, you know?  So we're all sort of house-bound this week, besides doing the grocery shopping that couldn't be put off another minute, back on Monday.  Jacob is driving me absolutely up the wall.  He's throwing, hitting, pushing, and screaming almost constantly.  And Melinda is doing her part in teasing him and egging him on.  And I'm just too tired to deal with it to the best of my ability, anyway.  I'm lucky that I got them all down for a nap today, though Jacob was really fighting hard against it.  It took him 20 minutes to stop thrashing around constantly and just twitch or kick occasionally, to finally just slipping off into sleep.  And I doubt he'll go to sleep easily tonight.  I think we got spoiled with so much outdoor time last week, that these few days of being house-bound s really getting to him.

Also by Sunday, I was freaking out pretty badly about another potential crisis.  If you're afraid of "too much information", stop reading now.

Really, you've been warned.   I'm going into major girl-territory here.

After Alex was born, my cycles came back at only 4 months postpartum, despite my exclusive breastfeeding.  (And, as a side note, I always felt rather bitter and robbed because of that!  I got 15 months out of Jacob, but only 4 out of Alex, and over a month of that time included typical postpartum bleeding!!)  I had been keeping careful track of my cycles this time around, and though for a while they were rather unpredictable, I eventually evened out to a regular 26-day cycle.  Now, this was fairly short for me.  Pre-Alex, my cycles had always been 30 or 31 days.  Even back when I was a teenager, and even between pregnancies.  So this whole 26-day thing was a bit new to me, but I got used to the regularity.  So, Thursday was when I was expecting my next cycle to start.

By Saturday, still nothing had happened, and I was getting really concerned.  But it still wasn't on my mind constantly.  By Sunday, when we were home and had little else to do, I really was freaking out.  But I still hadn't worked up enough courage to take a pregnancy test.  In my mind, it was better to not be sure about anything, than to know for sure that I was pregnant with another surprise baby, only 10 months after Alex was born.  I wasn't ready to deal with that sort of reality, so I settled for just worrying endlessly about the possibility.  By Monday morning, I had had enough of torturing myself with guessing games, so I took the only test I had in the house.  But not until after I had a good quiet one-on-one pleading session with the Lord, where I both begged to not have a pregnancy yet, or to at least be able to accept His will for me, somehow.  Because while I don't think I would terribly mind a 4th baby in the house, even if it wasn't what I wanted right then, the thought of another pregnancy, at least at this point in time, absolutely was sending me into a panic.  There was just no way of thinking about it that made it sound like even a remotely good thing.  I just couldn't imagine carrying, nursing, and caring for a 10-month-old, super-active child while growing a giant, uncomfortable belly....among many, many other negatives that I thought of over the course of the previous few days.

I shook the whole time I waited for the results of that test.  It was a nice clear, strong negative, though, and I felt a little lighter.  Unfortunately, that particular test was also a year past it's expiration date.  And so I couldn't trust it completely, even though most of my Google searches told me that expired tests generally gave either ambiguous or false positive results, instead of false negatives.  I had to go grocery shopping on Monday, anyway, so I picked up a new pack of tests at the store, and took another test later that night.  I didn't shake quite so much, that time. 

Again, it was negative.  A nice, clear, strong negative.  I was happy, and so relieved!!!  But what the heck was going on with my body??  I felt like I couldn't be 100% sure about the results, despite how much I trust that brand of pregnancy tests, until my cycle showed up.  And so I waited, a bit anxiously

Finally, late last night, things started up again.  I don't think I've ever been so happy about it in my life!  I'm also not sure exactly what held things up, though.  Was it stress-related?  Or perhaps all those short cycles were anovulatory, and this time, ovulation started again, lengthening my cycles back out to my previous normal length?  Or maybe even a combination of both?  I'm not sure what to expect next month.  Sheesh!!

Now, see, I *have* to update more regularly than this!  This post was ridiculously long!!!

A Belated Christmas Entry

I could be sneaky and back-date this post so it looks like I actually took the time to write it during the holidays. But I won't. I'll simply admit to the fact that I allowed myself to be lazy and relax as much as possible during the Christmas season, and I don't regret it. Except for now when I'm trying to break out of the laziness and get back into the normal swing of things. That part isn't so fun. But we all need a good rest every now and then, don't we? And what better time to take that rest than during a celebration of the birth of the Savior? I never did like birth to be a chaotic, noisy thing, anyway. Much better to enjoy the occasion quietly. :)

Anyway....

We didn't do our typical drive-around-looking-at-Christmas-lights thing this year. The one where we usually crank up the Christmas music in our car, while we sip on a 7-11 Slurpee because of a random whim we had several years ago which started a tradition, all while driving around randomly, sometimes getting ourselves lost, looking at all the nice and lovely ways people decorated their homes with lights. Nope, didn't do that this year.

Instead, we went down to the Washington, D.C. temple. Which is actually in Kensington, Maryland. But close enough, right? Just after Thanksgiving, they put up a ton of Christmas lights on the grounds, mostly right around the visitor's center. There's also a live Nativity (I really pity the couples who participated in this during the frigid nights we had recently!!), and musical performances, and lots of wonderfully decorated Christmas trees inside the visitor's center. In years past, there was also a large collection of Nativity scenes from all over the world, but this year, in it's place, was a gallery of Christ-centered photographs. They were photographed in the style of paintings... but they were with real people... I liked the general idea behind them, and the sentiment, but I definitely prefer an actual painting to a re-enacted type of photograph.

But there I go getting off track, again.

We made the ~1hr drive down to the temple. I always love going down there, and seeing it suddenly come into view as you come around a bend of the highway. It's really an amazing sight, and such a beautiful temple. If I'm not careful, it may yet become my favorite temple of all! Gasp!! How will I ever manage to say goodbye to Baltimore if I keep falling in love with pieces of life around here?!

It was a pretty cold night. We intended, as I blogged about a couple weeks ago, to go on a Monday night. However, that particular Monday night would have been absolutely freezing. It was in the low 20's outside, with a very strong wind, so it would have felt much closer to 10 degrees. We decided we weren't up for that, so we waited until Tuesday. Which was a wise decision - because, while Tuesday was still cold, in the low 30's, there wasn't much of a wind at all. And the kids still complained about the cold, but at least it wasn't so bad that we were able to wander around outside and actually enjoy the lights we went all that way to see. :)

The lights are just so awesome. I love the way they wrap them around every tree and bush, and even add extra little flower-shaped light configurations on the ground like it's springtime or something. There are so many colors, and then there's even the reflection pond to add a little more sparkle to the night. I love to see it, it's all so wonderful. But it was also very crowded when we went.

I was hoping to get into the musical performance, featuring Jenny Oaks Baker. But there was a line wrapping and weaving all throughout the visitor's center... and with three kids, there was no way I was going to stand in a line going nowhere for half an hour. Or more. So we wandered in and out, enjoyed the lights, watched a short Christ-centered film, saw the live Nativity.... I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how Melinda and Jacob liked the Nativity. I really would have thought they'd be bored. There wasn't much to watch, after all, just a man and a woman dressed like Joseph and Mary, with a narration of the scriptural account of Christ's birth. But they stood and watched it as if it were the most interesting thing they've ever seen. That made me happy. :)

By the time we wandered into the Visitor's Center for the third time, they were just announcing that, due to the unexpectedly large crowd (and boy, was it!!), they were pleased to offer a third show. So we stuck around for a while longer, just long enough to wander around outside a little more, get all the kids a potty break, and hop into the back of the now-moving line. It was getting late by this point, it was almost 9pm. And we still had the long drive back to think about, but half the reason I wanted to go was to enjoy a performance. I think college spoiled me with how easily I could go see something for free, when they were offered so regularly.

So, Jenny Oaks Baker is apparently one of America's most accomplished classical violinists. Neat! But it was truly a wonderful thing to listen to her perform. She got on stage and was just so pleasant and friendly with the way she introduced each of the people performing along with her, and each of the pieces she was going to play. And she played with such energy and spirit! I really feel like I want to run out and buy a CD now, quite honestly! My favorite was the performances of Ave Maria (oh my goodness, I don't think you can top the beauty and serenity they conveyed!), and .... shoot. My mind is drawing a complete, horrifying blank. There was a very up-beat piece they played last, in a Scottish style. I Saw Three Ships? I don't think that was it. But it could have been. I don't know... which is really driving me crazy, because I spent at least half an hour of the drive home humming it to myself. It's one I know fairly well in it's traditional version. Anyway, it was fantastic. I loved the style of it, a very energetic, celebratory arrangement. There was even audience participation - the woman on percussion would stand up and motion to clap during certain parts. Jacob and Alex both got a huge kick out of that. I love Jacob's little mischeivous grin!! Alex spent most of the perfromance craning his head past my shoulder to make lovey-eyes at a Sister Missionary acting as an usher. Oh, he's such a tease! ;)

We finally got back home (with Alex deciding that he was now very tired and very hungry during the last 10 minutes, and letting us know quite loudly!) at just after 10:30pm. Thank goodness the kids went to sleep easily, but the rest of the night went too quickly. I had to work through bleary eyes to finish up hand-stitching the seam of one of the snakes that Grandma Newson sent for the boys, and finished just at midnight. Thank goodness I did! There certainly wouldn't have been any time for it on Christmas Eve. Which is another post that I'll get around to very very soon. :)

AHHHH!! I remembered! It was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. SEE! I knew I knew what song it was! My brain is just extra fried today, for no real reason. ;)

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our night at the DC temple!
Though... again, a reminder that I am a poor photographer, and most of these were taken, of course, not only in the dark, but also often while I was walking, or even just trying to stand still with a baby strapped onto me. So... don't expect fantastic quality. Just enjoy the scenes. :)

This is just outside the visitor's center.

Looking toward the visitor's center again (you can see the statue of Christ through the window), with the reflection pool in front of us.

One of the gorgeous trees inside the visitor's center, to the side of the Christus.

Another tree to the side of the Christus.
Melinda getting grabby with the tree.
Melinda and Jacob in front of the Christus. Ahh, peace...

The whole family, courtesy of a passing stranger, with the temple behind us. Jacob's making a goofy face... licking his lips, I think, but it's still funny to look at.

Same spot, no family, no flash.

Looking at the temple from the end of the path. Deep purple, white, and black make a lovely combination, don't they?

The fountain and purple-lined trees at the opposite end of the path, in front of the temple.

P.S. - Please don't miss the fact that there are two other new Christmas-related posts below this one!! Especially the last one, it's got the most detail and snark! tee-hee. :)

The Pumpkin Patch

The weather is getting cooler. The leaves are changing colors. And next week we have a Primary party, including a pumpkin carving contest. Of course, that means, it must be pumpkin selecting time! You know, last year, we were just out of sync enough that we never did get around to getting and carving a pumpkin. It was a sad thing. And the year before, we left it just long enough that we ended up just grabbing a couple from the grocery store (gasp!! The horror!!!) So it was quite nice to look forward to heading back out to the pumpkin patch again. Finally. And let me repeat that finally part, because we had some fun trying to get cash this morning. By the time we got it, Melinda was on her 8th "why is this taking so looooong" whine. Okay, I wasn't actually counting. But 8 is a pretty good guess, I think.

Melinda and Jacob both had fun running around looking for the perfect pumpkin. I'm not sure what Melinda's criteria was - she was too quick and roaming pretty far. And according to Jesse, she didn't give any indication of what she was looking for, she was simply looking. Jacob, on the other hand, went straight to trying to pick up every pumpkin he liked. His favorite pumpkin was one he found that looked more suitable for windowsill decoration, or pumpkin pie making, than a jack-o-lantern. It was his favorite because "this one isn't too heavy, mom!" He was carrying it around in one hand, by the stem. I did persuade him to pick a bigger one that we could carve a face into, later. Alex seemed more interested in the grass than the pumpkins at first, but eventually warmed up to them enough to try chewing on a few stems and licking a few of their skins, just like a good teething baby should do.

It amazes me that Melinda is this big. The last time we were in this pumpkin patch, she was just barely 2 years old, and looked so much younger. This picture is perfect to me, that way. This is not the pumpkin Melinda picked, but it was one of the first few that caught her eye.

Jacob is busy inspecting each pumpkin's weight.

Still on the hunt! Many more pumpkins to check.

Alex gets into the spirit!

Jacob's got another one in his hand now. He's getting closer! He can almost lift it in one hand...

Group photos!

What beautiful children they are!

Day at the Zoo

This is late in coming, but what can I say? The day just wore me out!! We went to the zoo on October 1st - it was a free day, woot!! I tried to get Jesse to take the day/morning off and come with us. I should be ashamed... I was only thinking about how nice the extra hands and parental eyes would be. He couldn't do it, work was just too busy and his boss was out of town. And none of our friends were available to go with us, either. So, the kids and I went alone. I went with the idea that if things went horribly, we'd just go right back home, no guilt, since it was free, after all.

It was a beautiful day for going to the zoo, too. We all wore long sleeves, but in the sun it was warm enough that I was wishing for short sleeves. I took the single stroller and pushed Alex in it. Jacob and Melinda walked the entire day. And without complaining! I honestly thought it would be torture to them. Anytime we go for walks, they're both fighting over who gets to take a turn riding in the stroller, or complaining that they're too tired to walk. But the zoo was just interesting enough that they walked without complaint! I brought along a long piece of fabric that I used a couple times, too: When Jacob started getting too crazy and bolting off in every direction, I tied it to him like a belt, with me holding the other end, to hold him close. At the end of our trip, we decided to walk back instead of wait in a very long line for the train, and the fabric came in really handy then, too. Melinda and Jacob both wanted to be tied up to make a train: Me with Alex in the stroller as the engine, Melinda in the middle, and Jacob as the caboose. They walked the whole big hill back towards the main gate making train sounds and weaving back and forth. The sight made a lot of people laugh, and I couldn't decide if I felt embarrassed or what. But it did encourage them to keep walking without complaining.

We stayed at the zoo from 10:30 until 3:30. It was long but pleasant afternoon, and we allowed ourselves a few treats. We ate (expensive) pizza for lunch, got a candy bar from the vending machines, and at the end of the day, had some very tasty rainbow Italian Ice. We even bought a big plush snake from the souvenir shop! The good weather stayed with us all the way until the end, when it started sprinkling just as we were walking to the gate. And Alex rode happily in the stroller the whole time, sometimes awake and sometimes asleep, but never unhappy. If it weren't for the fact that I was pushing a stroller, it would have almost felt like a trip to the zoo with only two kids!

Here's the map of the Baltimore Zoo. Click it and check out all the detail!

Keeping in mind that I am not a photographer... Melinda and Jacob sitting on a lion statue near the entrance to the zoo:

Melinda, Jacob, and even Alex inside a large Oriole's nest:

All three in a Heron's nest. A side note... Before I took this picture and then looked at it on the computer, I had never realized how much Jacob and Melinda look alike. But here, they have the same angle of their head, the same look in their eyes, the same smile, and oh my goodness, they definitely look so similar! I can even see the similarities in Alex's face. Whodathunkit?

The otters were still resting that morning. This one is cleaning itself.

Melinda and Jacob dash across the big "wiggly bridge".

Jacob and Melinda go down the big tree slide. Over and over and over.

Melinda peeks out from inside a turtle shell.

Jacob doesn't quite get the idea of these put-your-face-in-a-picture things. But it's incredibly cute!

This goat was just hanging out on top of the logs. Jacob made a beeline for him, and brushed him for several minutes! The goat liked that a lot. ;) I sat down later, and another goat came over to me and started rubbing his head roughly on my legs. I think he wanted a good head-scratching. But I also think the log would have been a better choice than my legs.

What a pretty Rhino!

Melinda and Jacob climb up the fence to get a better look.

Yes, the ostrich did put its head in the hole in the ground!! Not to hide, though.

I can't remember the name of this animal anymore. Some sort of African antelope sort of creature.

The first time we came by the leopards, they were both napping happily on the top of their cave structure.

I've never seen an elephant looking so caked in red dirt, or stretching it's trunk out so straight.

There were a group of art students at several locations throughout the zoo. I watched this guy for a while, and he was amazing. He looked at the elephant, took the charcoal stick in his hand, and just whipped out a perfectly awesome elephant in a matter of seconds. I think I was absolutely gaping with envy for his skill!

I managed to get a shot of his whole sketch page a little later. The giraffe is exquisite!! I was too shy and too concerned about interrupting him to ask about his work.

Melinda and Jacob look at the giraffes.

This giraffe was totally showing off! He stretched his neck up as straight and high as it could go, and just stood there for the crowd.

We spotted a line of hay bales, and took a rest. At least, that's what Melinda told me we needed to do. What they actually did was anything but resting.

Look, it's Zaboomafoo!! Oh, boy were they excited to see this little guy! We even got to watch him leap around. So agile!

I didn't think this was a good picture, because neither of them would look at the camera ... and then I realized they were both looking off in the same direction as the gorilla statue. Hehe!

We went back by the leopards, heading back to the lions (which weren't there anyway, doh), and we found them awake and prowling around! We watched for a minute, and they even growled at each other. This one kept spraying the perimeter, marking it's territory, I suppose.

We didn't get to see any lions, but we got to be lions!

"Mommy, I'm a baby! I'm a baby!"

An Indian Python. BIG SNAKE. Melinda kept trying to get closer and closer, and this guy kept having to try and get her to back up. She was evading me. Honestly, I wonder whether he was more concerned about the safety of Melinda or the snake. Melinda can be pretty menacing sometimes. ;)

Enjoying rainbow Italian Ice on a Spongebob table and chairs.