Today my little Sam is 8 months old! How did that happen? I swear it seems impossible. So, in honor of his growing up too fast, I decided to postpone the torture that I was forcing the both of us to endure--the torture of "crying it out." I attempted this yesterday, and let me just say that it did NOT go well. Why? Well, here's a little background: Sam is completely spoiled when it comes to sleeping and will only do so if in the car, in my arms snuggled up to his lunch (or dinner, or snack--AKA my boobs), or at night right next to me in bed. Yes, this little guy rules our king-size bed. I must say that I love sleeping next to him. I love snuggling with him all night long and waking up to his sweet, smiling face and big bright eyes every morning. While I love, love, love this so much, all good things must come to an end... eventually.
So, little Sam is 8 months old today, and the longest he has ever slept in his crib is 15 minutes. That was yesterday. After trying for over an hour and a half, I finally got him to nap in his crib for 15 minutes. I guess that is a start, but WOW!--did I mention it was torture? The crying, the pleading look in his eyes that seems to scream out, "Please just pick me up and hold me while I sleep, mommy!"--make it so difficult to just leave him in that unfamiliar cage. So, after my shocking realization that today he is 8 months old, I think I will just rock him for a while before he goes off to college. I can always let him cry it out another day, maybe when he turns 5.
Anyway, Sammy is not crawling yet, but he is so close. He has been so close for over a month, but he can't seem to get it down. Not forward anyway. He can scoot himself backwards and roll around and sit up and pull himself up to standing, but no crawling. That's okay. At present I think everything and everyone is a little better off with his immobility. Paul and I have a lot of baby-proofing yet to do, and Max is really going to be disgruntled when Sam starts to go after his toys. Besides, didn't I just spend two paragraphs ranting about how fast he is growing up? I don't want him to crawl yet.
In other news... Max has said "bye-bye" to diapers! He is potty-trained at 29 months, and now instead of changing his diapers I am constantly cleaning a bathroom that smells like a public urinal. It even smells like a public urinal after I clean it and I am starting to wonder which is worse. Anyway, while I hope he gets his aim down sooner rather than later, Paul and I are so proud of him!
Other than that, there is not much new to report. Paul and I are just dreading all of the daunting yard work that awaits. This acre we live on--that we were so excited for--is totally overrated. We much prefer the lesser maintenance from the 0.22 acre lot we had in Farmington. We could actually have a life on the weekends as opposed to pulling weeds, mowing, edging, mulching, blah-blah-blah.
ANYWAY...
So I still have lots of catching up to do from our Utah trip. To pick up where I left off...
BRANDING! This is a huge annual event for my family that requires a ton of work and preparation. Regardless, they seem to love everything about it. I know it sounds weird, but for some reason "Branding Weekend" is considered a holiday in my family--probably more so than Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of the celebration in it (not for the cows, of course, but for the continuation of a family livelihood that has been passed down thru generations). I just don't like to be there all day. Stinking. And wind-blown and cold and dirty and tired. Still, every year I look forward to it right along with them--I am the official photographer for Hawbush Ranches, LLC, after all!
Jake, my youngest brother, has the worst job in my opinion: It is he who administers the hot brand, so his face is right in the rank smoke and he becomes so stinky--the nasty burnt hide smell just adheres to him and no one wants to be near him during lunch-break! (Just kidding, Jake!)
All I have to do to keep Max entertained is give him a shovel...
and make sure there's dirt...
Or, just give him a soda... Notice that he has a soda in a majority of the pictures from this particular day. It was called "Bribery."
I have to interject a little side note here to admit something very embarrassing that I am trying to work on: Max and I were at his My Gym class today and they (the teachers) always go around the circle and have every kid say his name and answer a question. Today's question was "What is your favorite thing to drink?" and, as always, I am delighted to hear what Max's own un-prompted answer will be. However, this time I am a little worried that his reply might sound something like "SsodaaaaaaAAH!!" He actuallly surprised me though, and his very resolute answer was "Chocolate Milk!" (Which isn't the healthiest answer, but it's better than soda). Last week's question was "What is your favorite sea-animal?" and Max responded, "G'rafffffes!" It was so cute.
And this is my cousin Brady. Isn't he such a handsome cowboy? Max had such a great time with him, and he is a tremendous help to my dad during Branding Weekend.
This is my brother Judd giving Max a ride on a baby calf. Max didn't really know what to think--al he knew was that he wanted off!
It was hard to get my camara in there, but he is actually in the chute riding on a calf, with an "I don't like this" look on his face.
Sammy spent most of the day in his sling on my hip, but eventually he fell asleep...
Still drinking that soda...
Manifest by his routine refusal to have his diaper changed after he goes #2 (does he not smell that?--how can he NOT want that changed???), Max cannot discern offensive odors and he was super excited to join papa on a horseback ride.
They rode out to check on the calves and Max thought he was the coolest person ever. I think he could have stayed on that horse with Papa all day.
A couple of days later, Paul flew to UT to join us! It had been two weeks and we all missed him tremendously. We picked him up at the airport late morning, then drove to Park City to visit our friends Justin and Alexis, and their two girls, Lucy and Dylan. It was so nice to spend time with them--they are such great friends and we miss them. Alexis is a fabulous cook and they are wonderful hosts, so needless to say we had a great time!
There's no way we're getting them to all look in the same direction at the same time!
Max and Lucy. They were like best friends before we moved--they saw each other practically every week or two for the first year of their lives.
Sammy is a pretty good eater, and Max has fallen into the typical toddler food rut. So, Sammy is now stronger than Max and can totally take him down.
Max had such a blast with cousin Brooks. He called him "Cousin." It was pretty funny, Max would walk around saying, "No, Cousin!" or, "I wanna go play with Cousin today."
Well, this has become a really long post. I will stop here for now, but the fun has just begun! Stay tuned for more of our UT trip!
1 comment:
Fun, Fun, Fun! Your ahead of me with posting and I really don't have a good excuse, then after I read yours I am drab and boring...if only I had your writing talent! Miss you tons and love ya lots!
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