Vacation!

It was so nice to be able to spend a whole week with my family down in Warsaw Missouri. Sawyer got tons of quality time with his grandparents and aunts and uncles.
Here he is with his Great-Grandma Karen.

And soaking up the attention from Aunts Cassie and Dani.

Sawyer spent mornings with pop-pop so I could sleep. The wii kept us entertained in the cabin with Tricia demonstrating her new found Guitar Hero skills. The guitar is getting a rest in the background of this pic. I tried my hand at wii baseball even though I am not a fan of video games. I have to admit...it was kinda fun...don't tell Steve!

Steve and I got the chance to tube behind the boat and eat great BBQ. What could be better? Well, doing all of that without class work hanging over our heads would have been nice. Steve and I spent a good portion of our vacation working on class which was interesting since wi-fi wasn't easy to find. We did some work at the Warsaw Public Library where the people were so friendly. Anyway, as you can see from the picures, we did find time for fun.

Clay and Steve enjoying the tube.
Clay practicing his moves...
Mom and I had the best time...

Well, maybe Mom had the best time of all. Isn't she beautiful?
Dani loves to ski, she makes it look easy to pop out of the water.

We visited Ha Ha Tonka State Park where we missed seeing the post office that was run by our relatives during their day. (Grandma, maybe you can share a few details about them in a comment?) It is just not easy touring state parks with small children. I think I need a temperature controlled, sun protected, insect repelling, off-roading, motorized stroller. Do they make those somewhere? I hope we will see more of the park when we visit another time. We did get a chance to see the castle ruins.



Here we all are. Poor Sawyer is trapped in the bubble in front. This is as close as I could get to the fancy stroller I have in my dreams.

Our Big Boy!

Ummm...yeah, I gave myself a hickey...

Sawyer had his 2 month Dr's appointment today. Here are the stats... 24 1/4'' long and he is now 13 pounds and 1 oz. I win for guessing his weight exactly right! I couldn't believe that I forgot that he was to get shots today. After the nurse weighed and measured him she left the room and I was left to admire my boy and I thought to myself, "Ahhh, 2 months, how quickly they have passed..." Oh God! I forgot the Tylenol! I took off for the nurses station and let them know that I forgot. We scored a free bottle of tylenol out of the deal. Then he had his first batch of immunizations. Three shots. I shed at least 3 tears. He screamed his little head off tthen took on an expression of disbelief before he drifted to sleep. It wasn't until we were at Tricia and Cory's for dinner that he started to let us know how he felt again. We have been so spoiled with a wonderful little baby that we hardly recognize him when he is inconsolable. Thank goodness for Leila's donation of leftover baby Motrin to take the edge off until he could have Tylenol again.

Sawyer is 2 months old!

The last month has been amazing. Sawyer is just changing so fast. Just this morning as I was checking my email, Sawyer was playing on the floor and I could hear him squealing away. It has been so much fun to watch him start to smile and listen to him coo. He is really such a good, happy baby.





This is one of the first smiles I caught on camera. He was so full of grins that morning I was convinced that I could catch one. It was probably at about 5:00 AM, my new favorite time of the day! Daddy has no idea what he is missing.






Just look at that intensity! It is almost as if he is moving it with his mind...



I can't tell you how excited I was when I noticed him finally playing with his toys. I was in the shower and had him in the bouncy seat in the bathroom. Normally he would never last and inevitably would start to cry when I was about 1 minute into my shower. He was so quiet I almost started to worry. Then I stepped out to find him staring at the toy giraffe that was propped up on his hand! I procedeed to introduce him to about every toy in the house.




Some of the best moments happen when Sawyer is on the changing table. He loves to have his hair brushed and to have his diaper changed. This is when I first noticed him cooing. Now I just stand over him forever, hanging on his every "word."

Fathers Day

Here's to a Couple of my Favorite Dads!

I get to watch Steve become a Dad and over the last 8 weeks (almost) he has made great progress. When we were in the hospital with Sawyer, Steve amazed me with how involved he was. He took care of Sawyer in the middle of the night, spent time with him in the nursery when he was there, and he changed almost every diaper. After Sawyer's "procedure" Steve definitally changed every diaper until he was healed. I was too big of a wimp and the hormones were raging so Sawyer's hurt cry brought me to tears every time, even thinking about the hurt cry made me bawl.

At first, Steve really wasn't sure about what to do with a baby. He felt ridiculous talking to a person who didn't talk back, but he is getting the hang of it. Now he has a silly song he sings when he changes Sawyer's diaper. I think he would die if I posted the lyrics here. I can't wait to hear all of the songs that are to come. I married Steve for the dad he would become.

Steve has high expectations to meet as a dad. My Dad is my hero. The most special things about my Dad are his selflessness, and his values. He is a man of few words but when he talks, you listen. He always reminds me that there is nothing I can't handle. I can remember calling him about something I was freaking out about. The kind of freaking out where you can't talk because you are crying too much. He just said, "What is the worst that can happen? Just think of the worst thing that could happen and figure out how you would live with it." This little exercise has gotten me through more than you can imagine, it has given me the guts to put myself out there. Sawyer has no idea how lucky he is to have him as his "Pop-pop." But he will.

Flooding!

I found these pictures on the KCRG website. I knew the area around my classroom was flooding but I was dying to know more about how much water to expect. My classroom is located on Stevens Drive, all of the buildings shown here are across the street from my classroom.

I feel so stupid. Steve and I made the trip over when we learned that the classroom was in a mandatory evacuation area. I hopped over the sandbag wall surrounding the building so I could retrieve some of my books and materials that I have collected over the years. When I got inside I breathed a sigh of relief because district employees had already been there and elevated everything off of the floor. I fed the fish who were placed safely on top of a stand on top of a table. These are the same goldfish who miraculously survived last summer when all of us thought someone else was feeding them. I left the building and locked the door behind me. "Everything is up, we don't have to worry about it," I told Steve. Wrong! These photos say it all.

I am counting my blessings though. How many people are without homes or have lost businesses. The people in Cedar Rapids are struggling to conserve water and sleeping in shelters. All of this while I watch T.V. and surf the internet in my dry home with water, electricity and a stomach full of home-made fajitas.

Snake Babies

Steve is a daddy again and again and again... In these pictures you can see him showing off just like any proud papa. When my family was over, Steve was showing our neice Leila his snakes. When he went to show her an egg, he found that one was hatching! Leila and gramma Lori are so facinated. He couldn't wait to call JP so they could open the other "presents." It is just like Christmas when they get to see what kinds of snakes he will be raising and eventually selling. I can't wait to see when this investment pays off.

As much as I hate having a snake room in my house, it does make me happy to see Steve happy. I know that in the future Sawyer and Steve will both be ganging up on me to about this...