Pics!

We finally filled the memory card on our camera, so Werty stored them on a CD for me and erased the card. Now we are ready to take new photos of BooBear.


Here is a pic of Christmas morning. He is staying up REALLY late and sleeping in these days. Today he is sick and stuffed up, so his whole schedule is reversed. He woke up from a day of on and off sleeping and eating at 11 pm...which is why I am writing this at 2am.

Look how much he loves his musical seahorse, Ddonn.

And he has discovered that he can still reach his feet to his mouth while wearing socks - and if he pulls on his sock, he can actually fit it into his mouth and chew on it, which he can't quite do with bare toes. So, we occasionally find that the ends of his socks are damp. He is starting to not like the swing as much - he can't reach his feet in the swing. :P

Christmas

We had a good Christmas, and we hope you did too. We each opened two gifts and then rushed down to Ged's for brunch. A smaller crowd this year, but nice and cozy. Then in the evening we returned home to open gifts. The next day, we found out last minute, it was back to Ged's since Werty's cousin came down from ID with gifts to give. Aunt D drew my name - and she gave me knee length boots! That fit!!!

Seven Years Already

Today marks our 7th Anniversary and the only itch I have is due to the dryness of a Utah winter. I think my Aunt mentioned last year that having a baby can be a remedy for the 7 year itch. If I asked myself seven years ago where I thought I would be by this time, there would probably be a few expectations left unfulfilled. We aren't out of student debt yet or own a house, but my career has finally taken off, and most importantly, we have become parents.

I am thankful that I married not just a good man, but a good partner. We prefer to do most things together, from church callings to playing FFXI. This has become increasingly important lately, since caring for an infant requires a lot of work and coordination, and we are dealing with a reversal of traditional roles. Werty is a wonderful father and husband.

When I first noticed Werty at church, it was his kindness and friendliness that got my attention. Everyone seemed to know him. On our first date, he had just picked me up when he noticed somebody pushing their car. He stopped his car and jumped out to help push. That's the kind of person he is.

When we first met, the Spirit told me if I wanted him, I could keep him. I'm glad I chose to keep him for forever. Having him as my partner gets better and better as we get farther along on our journey and experience new challenges.

More Pics by Demand

Ddonn said she needed more pics of BooBear. I was thinking maybe people were getting bored with the constant pics and chatter about the baby, but if not...then of course I will post more. :D

His latest trick and source of entertainment is holding his legs up and playing with his feet. Being Winter, he is usually wearing socks, so whenever we change his diaper or his clothes, he loves the chance to play with his bare toes. We appreciate that he holds his own legs up so we don't have to.

Today we gave him a few minutes of tummy time. We dressed him in the royal blue velvet outfit from Grammy, but he spit up enough today that it came off once we got home from church (Sorry Mom). I pumped a bottle this morning with the hope that I could feed it to him and stay and enjoy the Christmas program, especially since Werty was the soloist for O Holy Night. He got hungry during the opening hymn, and instead of falling asleep he was done with the bottle by sacrament. I did manage to get half of the sacrament before taking him out. I fed him some more, and then made it back for the second half of the program - I walked in just as Werty was stepping up to the mic to do his solo. Yay for my honey! He did a great job!

Another Attack

Just when I was forgetting what a gall stone attack felt like, I got a doozy of one. Last night when BooBear was still awake and the number were rolling from 1, 2, then 3 am, I was having some pain and I told Werty that I was worried that it might be a gall stone attack. This morning when I woke up, the pain was much worse. A hot shower helped some, but then it got worse, and then much worse. Instead of going away, it started spreading and intensifying. This was the same level that caused me to go to the hospital because I thought I was in labor before. Hurts to breathe and can't really talk. I was in enough pain that I threw up. Werty called his Dad and they gave me a blessing. I am so thankful to have people near by that we can call on. Finally this afternoon the pain subsided and I got a little nap.

My body is sore like I am getting over a flu, so I am taking it easy with eating today. I guess this was a reminder that I need to talk to my doctor about these attacks now that I know they are being caused by gall stones. Then we will see what she recommends. If pregnancy is what triggers the stones, and I am planning on having more children, then maybe getting it removed isn't such a bad idea. Klari, I am open to trying that diet of your dad's for reducing gall stones, if you want to ask him to send on the info to me. I am ready to not have this problem anymore.

I am thankful that it came on a day when I didn't have to go to work. Kind of a pain to spend your first day of Christmas break in bed, but oh well. Someone upstairs didn't want me to go out in the Saturday before Christmas shopping crowd. :P So, I guess I will wait until Monday to find something my parents. Sorry, that means it will be late.

In other news, BooBear's second tooth is poking through right next to the first one on the bottom. So, all he wants to do is eat and sleep. He likes biting the blue rings on the wiggle worm. I don't know if all the teeth marks on the rings were all made by my child, since the toy is borrowed from Sue. But I suspect it is possible. Poor boy will need braces - his baby teeth are coming in crooked, so I assume his premanent teeth might too.

Students say the darndest things...

Some quotes to tickle your funny bone. We are updating grades, so I will be adding to this list as things come up.

Yesterday, upon finishing the book Number the Stars, one of the students turned to the assistant teacher (who is a couple years younger than me) and asked, "Were you there at the end of WWII?"

Use "any" in a sentence. "I need any girlfriend."

Journal response to "If you were an inventor, what would you invent?" "First, I would invent men to be more intelligent and second, to be more handsome, because they are extinct."

IB student's journal response to a reading about Total War: "Total war is using all your country's resources. Why would they do that? How lame!"
Um, I don't know maybe because they want to win the war?

Government class project: "refugees - which basically means they were displayed by close relatives." "They must be of good moral character. This means they probably don't have a criminal record." Probably?

Thanksgiving cont'd + 3 Months Old

Here are photos of the BooBear from November 15 - 22. He can see, grab, and interact with his toys. I included the second photo because we think he looks like a member of Werty's family with that particular expression.

Yes, he still sleeps in his car seat with a blanket underneath him. He started sleeping in his car seat when he was 6 weeks old because of his acid reflux - being more upright allowed him to sleep. Our goal for this month is to get him on an earlier night sleep schedule (he sleeps for 6-7 hours at night now, but he doesn't fall asleep until 1-3:30 am) and transition him into his own crib. We might have to get some kind of pillow to raise his head so he can sleep in his crib. Last night we kept him awake until 9:30pm and he slept until 7am - it was so nice! Just have to keep that up.

Here are the rest of the Thanksgiving pics from Bear Lake:

My handsome Werty...
and my little man with his bear ears jacket...

enjoying the cold lake...
using the harness Aunt Christina gave us!

Yes, that is snow on the ground. We didn't stay outside very long before the BooBear let us know he was done with the cold.
Cousin Laryn loves babies, and the BooBear was no exception. BooBear seemed to like him too. His newest trick is to pull his legs up really high and hold them - especially when you are trying to dress him, of course. So we are starting to give him a few minutes of tummy time each day so he can practice moving those legs. Today, when Werty put him on his tummy on the bed, he looked like somone trying to swim through jello.

This is a toy I bought when I was pregnant - it's an alphabet caterpillar, with letters on each leg. Yeah, I think it's three times his size. I pulled it out to see what he thought. It was a little too big for him to get a good look at it, but at least he wasn't scared of it.

Finally, the last two pics are of BooBear waking up the morning he turned three months old! Three months old and fitting into 6 months size clothes. I swear he got taller in the space of a week. Some suggest they "unroll" at three months now that they start stretching out their full length, so maybe that's what it is.

Thanksgiving Family Photo

Here is the photo of EVERYONE at Thanksgiving. Thanks for sending them out.

Thanksgiving Tooth

Borrowing this photo from Rena's blog, here are just the immediate family, so only half of the people there at Bear Lake with us. We happily had our own room this time, which was a good thing since BooBear is staying up late these days. When we got home on Friday I discovered why he has been having trouble staying asleep when we are trying to put him down for the night. BooBear is cutting his first tooth on the bottom and I can feel the next one coming in on the top. Werty and I compared notes, and we both got teeth early, so it makes sense. He turned three months old yesterday, hooray! He is getting big so fast. We have some pics to share soon.

We are hunting the elusive Boo Smile!

The elusive Boo Smile tends to run away whenever there is a camera in sight, although it often shows up to surprise you in the morning.

I will look at you Mommy, but I'm not going to smile!

There it is! Finally caught on camera!




He seems to really like his cow puppet - the first toy we bought for him when I was pregnant. (It reminded me of the cow Ddonn gave me in a care package on my mission, so I had to buy it.) It's REALLY soft. When I put it down in front of him tonight, he immediately grinned. Here you can see him hugging the cow to his face to feel the softness.

Caricature for the teacher

This is what my students think I look like. They were drawing silly pictures of each other and I let one student draw me on the board. I don't know why I have red hair, but they did try to give me the right eye color.

Rollercoaster Week

Boo starting sleeping through the night, about 6-7 hours straight for only one week. Then he got his shots, and there goes the schedule. Now he sleeps from 2:30am - 5:00am. Yeah. After 1am Werty takes him so that I can get 4 hours of sleep. Boo wants to sleep off and on in the afternoon and evening, and I really try to wake him up! Today the thought struck me that maybe he is becoming classically conditioned that when Mommy comes home, it means time to eat and sleep. Since he wasn't feeling well, he wanted to be held more, and that means waking up as soon as you try to put him down to sleep. I am hoping this weekend I can pay close attention and try to get his sleeping back on gear. /em crosses fingers.

Meanwhile, school was up and down. Today was pretty good, mid-week was ugly. I'm not too thrilled about having hormones in my system again, and I'm already feeling fat... The unseasonably warm weather made my students stir crazy, especially the kid just out of juvy...I am worried about one of my friends who is starting the divorce process - I am worried about how ugly things might get as she gets closer to moving out. But, I still feel like counting my blessings because in the end life is good.

2 Months Old!

First of all, pictures from Boo's blessing last weekend. I wanted to get a picture of everyone who stood in the circle in front of the church, but I was in the mother's room feeding Boo when church ended, and by the time I got there, everyone had already scattered. Here he is in his beautiful blessing suit made by the talented Ddonn.


Great Grandma and Boo. She sang him a Tahitian lullaby.

Four generations (Werty's side).

There were a lot more people there that we didn't get pictures of, like people from my side of the family, but some of them couldn't stay very long. We filled over 4 rows of pews in the church, two rows of each side of the family. Werty sits up on the stand since he leads the music. He said that looking out over our family members he got choked up, thinking about how this must be what the celestial kingdom is like - being surrounded by so many people you love and who love you. It was wonderful to know that so many people love our little Boo and came to support him. His great uncle - and namesake - gave him a special present, similar to the one that was given to him by HIS great uncle of the same name - it was so sweet. Traditions like that are very special. Someday when he is older that present will remind him of his blessing day and that he is loved.

Here are some random pics of Boo being cute over the last couple of weeks.

Father and son.
First time he had a bath in the bathtub. He still doesn't like it.

We're getting closer to catching that smile of his on camera!

Halloween! The outfit is from our friend Dekan in NY. The socks are from Ddonn and say "Baby's 1st Halloween." He enjoyed his first Halloween, even though he was really sleepy from getting his 2 month vaccinations. He is now 23.5 inches long and 11 lbs 4 oz.

Grandpa stopped by to see Boo while we were carving the pumpin.


Boo as a dragon. I'm wearing my Cruella DeVil dress to take him treack-or-treating with his cousins. Check out the cute dragon feet on his costume - I just love them!


We dropped by to trick-or-treat at Grandma's. She needed a visit since Grandpa got to see him earlier that day.


For Halloween we had a Mr. Vamp1re (a Chinese classic comedy horror) party at our house. Werty' sister and her husband dressed up like Vamp1re zombies from the movie.

WWI Debate

Half the class was prepared, the other half wasn't - they finally admitted that they didn't read their packets. Hello! They were assigned Germany and A-H -- the Central Powers -- they already had their work cut out for them. Then another student failed to mention he would be gone, preparing for the pep rally. Ridiculous! So, we will take final statements and let Russia (the student in charge of the pep rally) report on Tuesday before we take a final vote. I look forward to this day, and it was kind of a let down. The IB kids let me down, how depressing...and that's not even taking into account their papers I am correcting, where one student did it correctly. I am going to have to push them more the next 3 terms if they are going to be ready for their exams in May. :P

I just got home from a long week. Time to get ready for family and everything happening on Sunday. (We will miss you Ddonn, ElCid, Fred, Jr, and George! I will take lots of pics for you.)

Surprise!

Saturday I received a pleasant surprise. Ddonn came to play! Really she came to play with the baby, but he's so cute, I can understand. Werty kept it a secret from me all Friday evening. We went to lunch, bought stuff for Jr. at distribution, and bought Boo a dragon halloween costume. Ddonn brought with her a video of OOTI, and I agree that the full skirts worked really well to enhance the choreography. I get to see Ddonn again this weekend, but this time she will have her whole family with her.

In other news, Werty's little sister has a confirmed case of the nasty flu. Good news, she has a week to get better. Bad news is that anyone else in the family exposed to her won't be able to join us next weekend. This is a scary year to have a newborn.

Randomness - I finally got to see the second part of the Dr. Who episode with the big cliff hanger that I missed at the beginning of the summer. I only had to wait 4 months for the re-runs to show again. Little things that make me happy.

This Friday my IB kids are going to engage in the famous WWI debate! Last year I had one packet of materials to give the kids, but ran out of time to do more. Tonight I finally finished packet #2. Yay! (And can I comment on how much Germany and A-H try to lay all the blame on Russia - which was the country I defended in HS when we did this debate.) I am hoping that the additional materials will help enliven the debate. I will let you know how it goes. Friday is also the end of term, so I have to get grades done at the same time that all this other family stuff is going on this weekend. Hmm, maybe not the best planning there. :P

I had two former students stop by today to see pictures of Boo. They said that my class was fun and they miss it. I wonder if any of my first semester students will feel that way, since I won't have as much time with them. Ah, well. I wouldn't trade Boo for anything.

More Pic Fun

Boo and Daddy catching some Zzzs.

Bath time - he's only happy when it's over.








That's My Boo - smiling in his sleep.