October 25

Hi Everyone!

This old body had a very nice week and a lovely birthday. It was just a little tiring.

The flight to Ohio went just fine. I was really happy to see Loren in Salt Lake--it was so nice to have someone to help with Jens. It was also nice to know that Jens wasn't totally bothering the person we were sitting next to because it was Loren, and Loren isn't allowed to be bugged by his very cute nephew. I enjoyed visiting Krohn Conservatory and going for walks in the Hermitage--it feels like I never left sometimes.
It was so nice to be in Ohio for the fall. There is no place like the Hermitage for enjoying the leaves! It was beautiful. The company was good, as was the food. I ate so much over the weekend! I am glad I got to be there to celebrate 80 years with Gramp. I too enjoyed the slide show, especially thanks to Mom's self-sacrifice.


The only real sorrow over the weekend was Jens and his refusal to sleep unless he could touch me. We have NEVER done the co-sleeping thing, but this weekend I had to set that aside. The first night in Ohio Jens screamed himself into hysterics when I put him in the portacrib. I finally let him lie in bed with me until he'd calmed down. Then I tried to put him back in the portacrib. He started screaming, so I put my pillow right next to it. He stood up in his crib and leaned way over so he could put his head on my pillow! I gave up and let him fall asleep in bed with me before transferring him to the crib. He caught on to that by Saturday, though, so Saturday and Sunday he just stayed in the big bed all night. I was real happy to get home to his crib! He has, thankfully, gone right back to his normal sleeping habits.

Of course, with all the sleep trouble, Jens barely napped while we were away. He is making up for it now that he is home! This morning I had an early doctor's appointment, so I got up and got ready, gave Jens his bottle, and plunked him in bed to play with Mike. I came home two hours later to a silent house. Back in our room, Jens was fast asleep where I'd put him!

I really enjoyed my birthday yesterday. 28 is a real comfortable number, I think. Jens slept in and took great naps, Mike worked from home, I got everything unpacked, lots of people called, Mike and I went out to dinner--we even had a babysitter! And Mike surprised me with a cake. He made it before I came home and hid it at the neighbor's house. He is so sneaky!

In sad news, the VW is in the shop; it seems like when it rains it pours! At least the Camry is running great now.

In happy news, Mike's work schedule seems to be slowing down dramatically. He is done working Saturdays and has been able to come home at a decent hour. Yay!

October 18

Hi Everyone!

Happy Birthday, Doug!

I am glad to announce we finally bought tickets to come to Florida for Christmas. Sadly, we don't get in until 9 pm on the 24th. Happily, we didn't spend over $1000 to fly at midnight and arrive the next day . . . The flight options were so terrible and everything was so expensive! I have never had such a hard time finding flights before. When I saw a flight that wasn't overnight or leaving at 6 am, we had to grab it. I will be sad to miss all of the Christmas Eve festivities, but at least we will be there for Christmas Day. We fly out on the 31st at 10 am or something. So, at least we are coming. It is a relief.

I am looking forward to being in Ohio for the weekend. I hope we make it in one piece! I am very grateful that Loren will be joining us in Salt Lake. I have a feeling that after flying with us, Loren will not feel the same way. Jens has started screaming in the last week. He doesn't even have to be mad, he just screeches. It is very loud and ear piercing. Betty mentioned to Mike that he did the same thing as a baby, and I am sure that I did plenty of screaming, so I guess this is payback. I think Jens is understanding so much of what we say that he is starting to feel very frustrated by his inability to communicate. He has been learning so much so fast, but still, he's only got ten or eleven "words," which can't be adequate. I mean, saying "hat" is all well and good, but it doesn't express much.

In other Jens news, I gave him a hair cut and used clippers for the first time. I sat him in the kitchen sink (with no water, obviously) and gave it my best shot. It looks like, well, the first haircut I've ever done with clippers. I only clipped the back and sides, then used scissors on the top. The sides especially are very short, and the top is a little long. It sort of reminds me of the dad's haircut in Back to the Future, but not all greasy. Oh well. It will grow, and hopefully by the time he cares about how it looks I will be really good at cutting hair. This is not a picture to showcase the haircut--it is just funny hair.

We were very sad to watch the Gator game and feel like they had a very bad call and some very bad luck. Hopefully this won't send them into a tailspin and ruin the rest of their season. Mike is boycotting all Gator paraphernalia for the week, and he is grouchy that there is no game on this weekend to keep him busy while I am gone. Last Saturday ended up being the LAST Saturday they had to go in to work, so he will be home while I am gone. If only we had known before. :(

Also this week we went to Apple Hill (again)
and had a play date with Harrison, Jens's little buddy. They are pretty funny together.

One more Jens story. Most of you know the struggle we've had with getting him to eat finger vegetables. Last night we were having peas and I put some on his tray. He said "ball!" and started stuffing them in his mouth. He was determined that they were balls and ate a ton of them! We tried to tell him they were peas, but he was pretty definite. He apparently thinks all things that are round are balls, just like anything with wheels (lawn mower, trucks, bikes, strollers, grocery carts) is a car.

He is fun.

See some of you soon!

October 11

Hi everyone.

I am realizing that California is very nice in the fall. I complain about the hot and the rain a lot, but boy, it is beautiful here right now. It gets down into the 50s at night and the 70s during the day. We are loving it!

I am starting with a picture of our drooly boy:sucking furiously on Mati's old pacifier. It became Jens's when he stole it from her and sucked on it and chewed on it so hard that he filled it up with his own spit. Kristin decided they didn't need it back after that. Every once in awhile he finds it and decided to try it out.

Our gross news of the week (nothing to do with puke, for once): there is a skunk that lives in our complex, and it particularly likes walking around OUR apartment building! 5 nights out of the last week we have had to run around slamming the windows shut. 2 of those nights we were way too late and our whole apartment reeked of skunk. It was really really disgusting. I went and talked to the people in the office about it and they said they would try to figure out something, but really, what can you do? How do you go about trapping a skunk? It seems like a bad idea all around.

Sad Jens news of the week: he does indeed have asthma, but on the up side, it is illness induced and he is very likely to grow out of it. On the down side, we have to do nebulizer treatments, which are 15 minutes of pure misery. We have to pin him down to do the breathing treatments and he just cries and cries. By the end his face is bright red and he is all sweaty. It is helping, though. We are going to see the doctor again and hopefully we won't have to do the nebulizer treatments until Jens gets sick again.

In funny Jens news--he is so cute. He has learned to ask "Where is it?" Obviously, he doesn't say the words clearly, but he puts his hands up and sort of shakes his head and chatters in a questioning voice. We have realized that he knows a lot more words than we thought because when we ask him where things are, he can go find them even if they are words he doesn't say.

Also funny--we went to the signing story time yesterday. Jens was quite the crack up. He was dancing during the song and ended up wrestling the big bear, Bebo the signing bear, in the middle of the floor. He also roared whenever the bear was mentioned (we have been practicing for Halloween). It was pretty fun.

Also this week, Natalie and I went to Apple Hill last Friday. I had the best apple pie of my life. It was delicious! Jens enjoyed playing in the hay bales and Halloween displays at a few of the farms.


We enjoyed cheering for the Gators on Saturday--it is fun to cheer for such a winning team! Sunday we went to the park and had two families over for dessert, which Jens loved. He loves seeing other kids! Mike "served" jury duty yesterday morning, meaning he went in and sat there, then came home. It was nice to have him around so much. Also, I made Patty's casserole last night. It was delicious.

That's all the news from us this week. Have a happy week everyone!

PS--Kristin, were you subbing last week or this week? How did it go?
PS--Jessie, we might have a computer you guys can have if you are still
looking to upgrade. Mike has been building a new one this week and might have enough stuff left over to build for you guys.
PS--Dad, I really enjoyed your e-mail. It sounds like your job is so neat.

October 4

It is hard to believe it is October already! We have suddenly gone from summery warm to gloomy cold here. It is kind of nice to have a break from the heat. I am especially glad to be able to cook in the house without turning it into a sauna!

We had a really nice weekend. I really enjoyed the parts of General Conference that I heard (you know, in between playing with trucks and telling Jens not to jump on the couch . . .) It seems like this one was especially good. Mike was actually home on Saturday--he didn't need to go in to work for once, which was so nice. We went up to Apple Hill with the Nielsens and enjoyed fritters and pie. Yum! The leaves are changing now, so it was really beautiful.


Sunday we watched both sessions, enjoyed a family walk, and had dinner with the Nielsens. Unfortunately, Jens was starting to have a cold by Sunday and he threw up that evening. Then he fell off our big chair and landed on his head. It was very traumatic for all of us. Monday he was really miserable--having trouble breathing, stuffy nose, and he threw up again all over me. It was very disgusting. Somehow when I pictured motherhood, I didn't picture so much throw up. We are going to the allergist/respiratory specialist to have Jens checked for asthma. Hopefully he won't have it and we can stop worrying about it.

Mike worked from home yesterday, which was really nice.
I tried to stay out of his way, but I don't think he got much done. They are back to working in "the dungeon"--everyone packed into one room. He was fairly happy to not go in. Intel had a bunch of layoffs yesterday. Our friends, the Nielsens, were affected, but luckily JP was one of the top two people in his group which meant he was given previous notice and his manager helped him find a new job. Unfortunately, his new job is going to be in Portland half-time, which means he will be commuting up there every week. We are crossing our fingers that they won't move away--we would really miss them!

I guess that is all the news from us this week. We aren't very exciting.
Enjoy the fall colors, everyone!