Finally home

I made it back home.  I think in one piece.  One very tired piece.  I had a great time being at my dad's house and spending time with Kathy.  I think she enjoyed it (of course she did, there was a baby there!).  Stephen had a great time because he got to go outside and play!  He hasn't been able to do that here, yet.  Once he was mobile this fall, there was snow on the ground, or it was pretty cold, so he just hadn't had the chance.  I had a great time watching him play in the dirt and leaves.  One day we went to Fit for Fun - a Parks and Rec facility specifically for children under the age of 5.  Why are there no places like this here?  I think I'll open one in my unfinished basement.  

Stephen LOVED the ball pit.  He couldn't move around too well in there, but he liked to be buried and just be surrounded by those plastic balls!

He also had a good time in this little house things.  Mostly because there was a door he could open and close.  He could go in and out and no one stopped him.  That is rare for him these days.

They had a bubble machine.  Yes, it was cool.  This picture was taken after it had been on for a little while.  Most of the other kids there were no longer interested.  The look on his face when he first saw all those bubbles was classic.  He was in awe.  He was never able to catch one, though, he just isn't fast enough yet.

I did enjoy my time in NC, as I always do.  I have already posted some about the wedding and the birthday party we had.  Most everything else was pretty normal stuff.  I did get to spend a little time with a couple of my new step-sisters.  It was fun to get to know them better.  

Coming home was another adventure.  I hope that I don't have to travel alone with kids again for a long time, maybe not until they are old enough to be able to entertain themselves with coloring or something!  Our day started at 4:30am ET when I got up to get ready to leave.  My flight was at 6am.  I was hoping Stephen would just drift back off to sleep in the car... nope.  Not a chance!  He was grinning and giggling when we got to the airport.  Security was not a problem for me, not in this small of an airport.  Someone even came over to help!  My first flight was full, so Stephen got to sit in my lap.  I am using the word sit very loosely.  He squirmed and fought me the whole time.  The seat belt light was only off for about 10 minutes, so that was a long hour for me.  

Then I had 3 hours in the airport to kill.  We had breakfast that was cut short by a grease fire in the food court.  I saw smoke pouring out of one of the food stalls and got Stephen out of there.  I later found out that it was grease pouring out (I guess greasy smoke, is that what happens?)  So I'm glad we didn't stick around.  But just about every airport employee was hanging around watching the mayhem and firefighters.  I checked it out as we did our laps in the terminal.  

When it was time to board the plane, the gate agents had left one last seat open on the plane next to me so I could take the carrier on and let Stephen sleep.  As I was boarding, though, the agent told me that someone had purchased a ticket at the last minute so that seat was no longer available.  Bummer.  Stephen drifted to sleep as I entered the jet way.  Of course he did.  I got him out of the stroller and had everything folded up and got to my seat, he continued to sleep.  Then I had to get up to let this last minute ticket purchaser to her seat.  Stephen woke up.  I tried to get him to go back to sleep with no luck.  As soon as we were to altitude and we could "move about the cabin", we started to pace the aisles.  This was a large plane, with two aisles, so we had "a lot" of room to move.  At about our 5th trip around the plane, the guy sitting in front of me gave his seat to the lady sitting in the middle of my row and he went to the back and sat in one of the jump seats.  He was a delta pilot that just happened to be on the flight.  I thought that was terribly nice of him.  So, I was able to sit for a little bit with Stephen, since he now had his own seat, but we still had to walk.  

At about hour 3, a Stewardess took Stephen to the back for a few minutes.  I don't think she was gone for more than 5 minutes or so with him, but I dozed off and began to dream!  I was tired.  As we were getting ready for descent she brought him back to me and he fell asleep as did I.  I know I was sitting there with my head back and my mouth wide open.  I always think it is funny when people fall asleep like that... that was me.  When we did land, he stayed asleep and as I was getting off the plane, a couple stewardesses mentioned to me that they saw how we were both out at the end of the flight.  It was a long 4 hour flight, but I made it and wasn't frustrated, just tired.  I am just now beginning to feel rested from that and that was Tuesday!  I was home by noon, though, that was nice.

Stephen slept all the way home, but when I tried to put him in his crib, I think he woke up just enough to realize he was home and he was excited to be there!  He ran around and played with all of the toys he hadn't seen for two weeks.  I just laid on the couch and hoped he would get tired.  He didn't.  Scott was so excited to have us home, but when he got home from work I was too tired to even say much.  I went to bed that night at 8:00.  Then woke up at 4.  Great.

I made this post a lot longer than I intended to.  I have no plans to go anywhere on a plane anytime soon, so this is probably my last "poor me alone with a toddler on a plane" post.  Let's all hope so.

Valentine's Day wedding

Today was the big day. My dad got married today. It was funny to reverse roles in the ceremony. Scott and her son were witnesses, and me and her oldest daughter were sitting in 'the mother's seats'. That was fun. I am so glad that we were able to be here for the wedding. After the ceremony, we all went to lunch. It was yummy, and I am still full from it all! They are headed off to St. Martin early tomorrow morning, I don't envy that early of a flight, but I know they will have a great time. Especially since they don't have to worry about anything at home! We actually didn't get a picture of the entire family. We took them, but we were holding our camera I don't know why we didn't pass it off to someone. Above is the picture of my dad and my step-mother. Don't worry, I don't think she'll be anything like the cartoon step-mothers you hear about. Not that it matters, I live in my own house 2,000 miles away. We are excited we are all in the same family now, though. Welcome Beth!

A Birthday party

Stephen turns one next week. Since we were all together this weekend, we decided to celebrate a little early. Here are a few pictures. Stephen eating his birthday cake is below...

This is a picture of the cake. A friend of mine offered to make a cake. She said that she was going to make something with sports balls. I was thinking, a 9 x 13 cake with pictures of soccar balls and things on it. But no! She went all out! She made a basketball! Isn't that cool? I think it is awesome! I felt bad cutting it.

We had a good time. Friends came over and Stephen took a nap right after cake. Fun, fun, fun!

Arrived

We have all made it to NC. I am digging this 65 degree weather! We took a redeye out early Thursday morning. Stephen was so tired, but he didn't go to sleep until about 2, since that is about the time that we could get up and walk around the cabin of the plane. He screamed before we got him to sleep. Really, he has never screamed like that before. And our flight was full, at least according to the gate agent, but I saw empty seats on the plane. Anyway, we got to Atlanta without any mishaps and had breakfast and waited for our next plane. This one was pretty empty, so I took Stephen's carseat on. He slept for the next hour as did Scott and I, so there it is, we all got at least an hour of sleep. We did fly into Wilmington, though, so we didn't have to drive 2 hours from Raleigh. Scott rested when we got to my dad's house, but I walked around like a zombie all day. So, there is the report of our first leg of Stephen's third trip on a plane. He is getting a little harder to deal with, and too big to sit on my lap!

We are going to have friends over today and have a little party for Stephen's first birthday. It should be a good afternoon! Hopefully, we'll be able to post pictures of the gathering.

And then, tomorrow is the big day! The wedding day is here! I am excited that we are here for it, and excited to see everyone.

Cousins!

My sister and her family came over for Sunday dinner yesterday.  We got a couple cute pictures of the cousins playing together.  They followed each other around and for the most part played well together.  They followed each other into the toy box and I thought it was a fun photo op.

Here we got both of them to look at the camera and smile

This was also terribly cute.  They were both looking up at Scott and laughing

What a fun Sunday!

OK, I am giving this a try....

dum du du daaaa, I present to you.... Video on the blog.

Thumbs Down

Ok, this is somewhat out of character for me, I know it.  I don't usually go on rants, you can count this as your lucky day since I actually have something to say.  I do not like crazy environmentalists...  Now, don't get me wrong.  Littering is wrong.  I believe we should always leave a place in better shape than we found it.  Recycling is fine.  Reusing is fine.  But it is those that go way beyond this that drive me nuts.  

I don't get out of my house much.  It is ok with me for now.  It is cold outside and Stephen can't really go play in the snow or anything.  But I do run errands and such.  Today we went to Park City and got haircuts and since we were out, I thought, let's go to Wal-mart for an adventure.  (I have already mentioned that I don't leave my house that often, so an adventure can be anything for us).  We were getting ready to leave so I went out to the car.  Stephen needed a diaper change and since I had been to 2 public bathrooms, none of which had a changing table or anything that could be used for one, he was changed in the car.  Now, it is a warm day today, comparatively, but for an 11 month old to have his bare wet bum out in the open air is chilly!  Ok - that all being said, I was in the car, I started it up and got some warmer air blowing on Stephen so he wouldn't stay cold and then I decided to check something on my phone before my 30 minute drive home.  When I was just about finished with what I was doing (less than 2 minutes after I started the car), I noticed some guy looking distressed trying to get my attention out of the passenger side window.  I thought, 'Oh!  He needs help', and since he was on the passenger side, I figured he wasn't trying to hurt me, 'I'll open the window to see what he needs.'  As I did so he started to say, "If you don't need it turn it off!  There was an article recently about the air quality..."  I was immediately angry.  For an instant I was shouting - "Do you know how often I even drive a car!  I haven't been here two minutes!  Do you want my baby to freeze?!?"  But, shouting doesn't become me, and I get all red.  The reason there are ...'s at the end of his statement is that is all I heard and I gave him an 'excuse me?' look (that I hope was ugly), and rolled up the window.  That may seem anti-climatic because all I did was roll up the window, but it made me feel good.  "Go ahead - tell me what you think on the other side of the glass so I can't hear you".

Really, though.  The best part of the story is something I haven't mentioned yet.  I normally drive a Mitsubishi Outlander.  I like my car, it is fun to drive.  Today was different, however.  Today I was driving a car that we are currently borrowing from my in-laws.  It is a Ford Excursion.  Yes, I was idling a diesel and being yelled at.  And it made me mad.  But it felt good to shut that guy up.  He is probably blogging to his friends about the inconsiderate lady, but I don't care.

So, maybe this wasn't really a rant, rather a story I told where I was mad as someone, but as I have mentioned, it is  a little out of character for me to rant.  So, go ahead, reduce, reuse, and recycle, but don't force more than that on me.  I do my part so leave me alone!

Finally did it

Well, I have done it.  I am officially on facebook.  It has been fun finding people, but I have discovered that I'll need to have limits to when I get on.  I have an app on my iPhone for facebook, and if I'm not careful, I would do that all day rather than play with Stephen!  if any of you are on and want to find me, I am listed as Jamie Littlefield Smith.  I figured that would be an easier way to find someone with such a common name...  Scott is there, too!  Enjoy your day!

Small Update

Yes, I know, we have been neglecting this blog.  There just hasn't been too much going on.  We don't have any pictures to post or anything!  I did want to mention that I think I can officially say that Stephen is now walking.  He has been taking steps for quite some time, but nothing consistent and definitely not on command... But last night he walked all over the place for his grandma and great-grandma.  They were thrilled.  His grandma is leaving for 2 months on Wednesday, I think she is comfortable to go now that she has seen him walk.  He also has a 5th tooth.  Wow, are we ever making progress now!

Yes, that is about all I have to talk about.  Nothing else new or exciting.  I am less than a month away from attending my dad's wedding.  That will be fun to go to.  I will write an update on that when it happens, and hopefully I'll have other things to write about before then, too.

Christmas Presents and New Years Issues

Santa was good to us this year.  The truth is Stephen made out like a bandit.  It's tough being the only grandchild for my parents to shower with gifts.  But Christmas this year was so much more eventful than than just Christmas morning presents, so I need to digress.  I am going to re-cover some of what Jamie already posted, and include some pictures.  So, lets review...  No, there is too much, let me sum up.  Ahh forget it, this is my blog...  I'll take the space I want.

Greeting us on a fine Christmas Eve morning was a lack of water from any faucet in the house. I honestly figured it was a Midway City problem, so we left for the family ski day at Deer Valley.  My friend runs one of the ritzy ski lodges, and managed to borrow 5 Deer Valley Bolo Tie passes for the day.  If you have never seen one, they basically look like any other western style Bolo Tie, but with a Deer Valley logo as the "knot."  They grant free skiing to the wearer, no matter who has it on, or what day they are on the mountain.  They are buco-exclusive, and more expensive to purchase than you can imagine.  Wear one at DV and you are like a minor greek god on the mountain.  The ski patrol apologize for even bothering you when they see it, if they stopped you to chastise you for some violation.  So it was kind of fun to cruise around with people looking at us wondering "who" we were.

By lunch time, Dad had had it with skiing and we packed it in.  Dad's idea of a full day is, ski until lunch time, eat a really good burger on the mountain, and go have a hot shower.  Also, the Midway City Water Department had called to kindly inform me that the water issue was on my side of the meter, and thusly my problem.  

So Dad and Jamie and I came back to our house to try to figure out where and how the pipes had frozen.  After some help from our contractor friend, we discovered a place where cold air was getting in past the foundation, into a space between the main floor and insulation I had put in the basement ceiling.  The trapped cold air had frozen the main water line into the house.  thankfully it was not a hard freeze and there was no damage.  A little heater tape and some time and the ice jam came free and we were back in business.  We'll add "fill in foundation gaps" to the list of projects I have.

With potential christmas tragedy averted, we returned to Park City to gather up the rest of the family and head to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner.  Fa rah rah rah rah, rah rah rah rahhh.  Actually the Asian Star is a nice place and it wasn't exactly like the Christmas Story, but we always get a good laugh out of it.

Our bellies filled with General Tso's christmas cheer, we all went back to my folks house for a family home evening.  Our Christmas tradition usually consists of Dad giving a thought to the family, and then every body sharing something.  Then Mom gets out a box that has note cards where each one of has in years past written down "Gifts to Jesus."  They are kind of like new years resolutions, but without the cliche.  Anyway, we all review in private, and then put down new ones for next year.  

In years past, we would then give our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, but that plan had to change a bit this year with Stephen needing to get home and sleep and wit a blizzard beginning. Driving home was a little hairy, but we made it.

Christmas morning dawned bright and with 12 inches of fresh powder on the ground.  We were hoping to get to my parents house by 8, but a sleeping Stephen, the dig out, and even hairier roads delayed us by about an hour.  There was a full size tour bus off the road in the median of the highway as we were going up.  I felt kind of bad for the driver.  He was just sitting in the bus looking down at how deep he was in the snow.  Bummer of a way to start you Christmas.  The important thing was, we made it back to my parents house without incident.  That was nice. And thus commenced the present opening.

We started with the traditional giving of gifts to each other.  It is always really fun to proudly give what we purchased to the receiving party.  It is more personal that way, at least now that we "kids" are older.  This is the part where Stephen makes out like a bandit.  All my siblings, parents, and grandma bestowing gifts on Stephen, not to mention what Santa brought him.

The funny part is he had more fun playing in the paper than anything else.

But soon he found some of the fun things Santa brought.

His new red wagon

His BigWheel/tricycle thing.  Man does he have fun on that.  His feet barely touch the floor, but he was off and running around my parents house.  And Grandma made him a hat.  That is my older sister behind Stephen, not Grandma.  Just thought I'd clarify.  By the way, she's single guys, but dating someone.  So if you are interested, you'd better act fast.

Anyway, Christmas was lots of fun, and Stephen is getting used to his new toys.  What better way to get acquainted with them, but to climb right in and get up close and personal with them.

We came around the corner one morning and found him in there.  Not sure how he got in, but he looked comfortable.  That is until he wanted to get out, and then even he couldn't quite figure out how he got in.  I had to save him.

The Christmas snows finally ceased and all told I think my back shoveled around 4 feet of snow.  I love when it snows like that, but when I have to shovel, it gets old quick.  I'll have to ask Santa for a snow blower next year.

New Years was not nearly as fun.  Stephen came down with a stomach bug the 30th.  He has been mostly out of commission ever since.  We got to have a good time with friends, only because Stephen went out cold early on new Years Eve, and the baby monitor allowed us to go across the street to the neighbors house and play Rock Band and Wii Bowling. (we aren't bad parents for doing that are we?)  

Stephen has become very familiar with Pedialyte these last few days.  But the bonus was that on New Years Day, my mom and dad, brother, 2 sisters and I, all caught the bug too.  Jamie has somehow remained immune, in spite of all the diapers she has changed, and being thrown up on 3 times (by Stephen, not me).

So I include this last picture so you can see the sad state that the men of this house hold are in.

Hope you all had a more pleasant New Year.

Wonderful Christmas

We had an amazing Christmas week.  We spent great time with family, did our traditional ski day on Christmas Eve and got our pictures taken with our 'special passes'.  A friend of ours got us bolos to ski with.  We felt like royalty.  It was nice.  Thanks Matt!  We also went to Asian Star for Christmas Eve dinner. Yummy!  Christmas day was amazing.  Stephen's first Christmas.  He loved crawling around under the tree and finding all the bows and ribbons to pull off of the presents.  We had an amazing blizzard type storm so it was a great day to stay inside and play games and just visit with family.  I had a few sad moments when I thought about how this was also my first Christmas without my mom, but I have so many other wonderful family members and very fond memories with her.  Once I get pictures off the camera I will post pictures of Stephen's first Christmas!

Almost made it a year

Scott and I finally got callings.  We haven't had callings since we moved from Nashville, and I thought that maybe we would make it a year.  We actually made it 11 months.  We are team teachers for the 14-15 year old Gospel Doctrine.  Scott taught this past Sunday and I'm teaching this week.  I'm nervous.  I like teaching Relief Society and Primary is fun, but this makes me nervous.  I guess that is what callings do for you..  help you with those fears.  We took cookies last week, they seemed to enjoy that (like anyone is surprised by that comment).  We will get most of a new class in January so I don't know how hard I'll try to really get to know the kids in this class.  Doesn't it take a lot longer than a couple hours to get to know a teenager?  Anyway, that is our news.

"Can we shovel more driveways?"

In the last 36 hours or so we have gotten snow, a lot of it.  It stopped snowing yesterday evening.  I could hear my neighbor outside on her 4 wheeler and I figured she was plowing the sidewalks.  She has done a good job with keeping those clear.  I decided to bundle Stephen up and take him in the snow to see what he would do.  When I got outside, our driveway had been cleared by the 4 wheeler, and two girls were out there with their kid-sized shovels clearing our sidewalk and steps.  I brought Stephen out so some were distracted by that, but the rest came to my driveway and continued to shovel.  How funny to see these young girls shoveling snow.  It was a bit of a mess and they were flinging snow on each on 'on accident', but I enjoyed helping them and chatting with them.  Of course I have a couple pictures of Stephen's first bout in the snow.  He didn't seem to know what to do when he got there, so a couple girls were trying to show him how to play.  They buried him a little so show him what to do with it.  It was entertaining.  When we were about done, my neighbor came over to chat and help finish up.  She was talking about going in and having hot chocolate and one of the girls looked up at her and said, "Can we stay out here and shovel more driveways?"  My neighbor said, "Of course you can!"  Pretty funny.

See the "what am I doing here" look on Stephen's face

He was getting cold and finally started to crawl in the snow.  Seconds after this was taken, he face planted, and then the fun was over.

Christmas

I have been feeling a little pressure since I have seen a few people put up pictures of how you have decorated your home for Christmas.  I decided to follow suit.  Most of our neighbors have outside lights on their houses, but we haven't done that yet.  We have decorated inside and here is what we have done:

This is in our entry way (on the other side of the gate from Stephen).  Here is our Christmas music boxes, most of the nativity scenes and other little decorations.  Along with the Christmas cards we have gotten so far.

Here is the garland going up the staircase.  It has all our moose ornaments on it.   There are lights, too, but you can't see that here.  It is right across from the previous picture.

This is Stephen's area.  The decorations he can play with.  

Here is our tree and decorated mantle. I do think it would look much better if there wasn't a Stephen table blockade there, but it looks better like that then it would surround by broken ornaments or laying on the floor.  Currently a chair has been added over on the other side to add to the blockade.

Our  moose-tivity is also up, but I didn't get a picture of it this year, I hope no one is disappointed.

Quirky Tag

So... Scott and I were tagged.  We have to name 6 quirky things about one or both of us.  Here goes...

1.  I HAVE to put lotion on my feet at night, or I can't go to sleep.

2.  I like to have the bed made during the day because I sleep better if I get into a bed that was made vs. one that wasn't.  (sometimes if the bed isn't made, it ends up being a double lotion night)

3.  I have tissues and chap stick in every room of the house.  I am addicted to chap stick.  Not just any kind either.  Most of it is Natural Ice - the cherry kind if I can find it.  I blame my dad.  He got his whole family addicted to it, and now he is getting his fiancee's children addicted to it, too.

4.  I love drinking glasses.  I don't know why.  I just like them.  I noticed when unpacking that I have way too much stemware.  Especially for someone who doesn't drink.  I have a lot of other 'everyday' glasses, too.  We drink out of different glasses each night of the week at dinner.

5.  Everything should be in a certain place.  If it isn't, or doesn't have a place yet, then it can be in a place temporarily until it finds a home, even if that place is left side of the counter.  I am pretty good about finding things right away, out of a bag, cupboard, etc.  It drives me nuts if I don't know where something is.  

6.  This one is Scott's.  He hates the game of tag.  In his honor, I will not continue by tagging someone else.

Reindeer!

We went to Thanksgiving Point for a few minutes this past weekend.  While we were there, we heard that there were reindeer.  We decided to go check it out and see what Stephen thought about it all.  I think he noticed them.  I'm pretty sure the reindeer didn't notice him.  They seemed to be ignoring everything around them except for the hay.  

And.... We're Back!

We are back from our Thanksgiving trip.  We were actually back a few days ago, but I am just getting to this now.  I have already talked about the flight out and Scott mentioned how ALONE he was feeling, so I guess we'll go from there.  As I think I mentioned, dad's house is not baby proofed at all.  So that kept us on our toes.  He did actually have some locks on the cupboards so we did use those in the kitchen.  Stephen didn't like those.  We ended up buying gates for the top and bottom of the stairs.  The sad thing was that they were also Kathy-proof.  She had to yell for someone to help her up and down the stairs.  I knew I needed to go help when I would hear "Jamie! I stuck!"

It was really good to be home.  I went through a few things with dad to decide what to do with mom's things.  We went through all of her really nice clothes.  I put some in Kathy's closet,  I took a few things, and I think Lisa will go through it when she goes home for Christmas.  Then, it will be time to box it all up and donate it.  It really is too bad that I couldn't take more.  Mom had some real nice clothes, mostly the ones she made.  Oh, and I found material.  Loads and loads of material.  There were about 3 piles of it in the closet, some under the bed in the guest room, and a bunch in the sewing room that is slowly becoming more of an office.  (The room is sewing, computer and laundry).  I actually played a little with mom's sewing machine.  I really like using it!  I know I'm not all that great at sewing to merit using as nice of a machine as that is, but I'm sure I could get pretty good practicing!

We did go to the beach while we were there.  It is our family tradition at Christmas to go to the beach and feed the seagulls.  We are attacked every year, but it is something that is pretty fun to do.  We decided to go out there a bit early since we won't be there for Christmas.  We thought it might be pretty fun for Stephen to see all the birds flying around.  We will try to post the video of that later, so all I'll say about it is that he missed it.  He missed it all...

I was able to spend some time with my friends.  That was fun.  We got together before Scott got there and had full intentions to get together after he arrived, but things were too busy for everyone.  Stephen had fun playing with the kids and playing outside.  He doesn't get too much of a chance to do that here.  We don't have a yard yet, and it is entirely too cold for him.  He ate some leaves, they must have been good because he kept shoving them in his mouth.

We spent some time with Beth and it was good to get to know my future step-mother a little better.  Everyone that I talked to at Church is just thrilled for dad and Beth.  He is pretty excited, too.  While I was there, he actually got a date and time set for the Temple.  They will marry on February 14 at 11:00.  I have volunteered to go stay with Kathy so they could go do something fun.  He called me yesterday and said that they are going to St. Martin.  He sounded really excited.  So, I now have my tickets to go out there for the wedding and stay for another week.  

Here are some pictures:

Our little gambler who is about to make another mess in the family room

This kitchen cabinet did not have a lock on it.  It was one of his favorites.  This was Thanksgiving day.  He was helping.

Here is Stephen in the car.  I decided to put him in this to see what he would do.  He could only go backwards and he only ran over himself a couple of times.  But he laughed and laughed!

We were actually able to go through this cabinet and really clean it out.  It had about 500 Southern Living magazines in it.  They became part of Stephen's play things.  He would rip them up, and then the next day there would be fresh ones waiting for him.  It all worked out.

Is there anybody out there?

So I have discovered that I don't do well alone. Actually it is kind of embarrasing to admit, but really, I sort of feel like I am going stir crazy all alone in this house.

Jamie is off in NC, and I am here by myself until Wednesday, when I will brave the holliday travel crowds in what will probably turn out to be a vain attempt to get to Wilmington before the turkey is demolished some time Thursday evening. I should get there Wednesday night, but those airline types can't be trusted at all! In the mean time, I get to hang out here, go to work during the day, and stare at the walls by night.

It isn't all that bad, but I have come to realize how much I look forward to comming home to a Smoken HOT wife, and the funniest little boy ever. Without them here, the house is so empty.

Argh!!!!!

Bumps and falls

Yesterday and today have been fun days filled with trying to child proof my dad's house. He keeps commenting on how different things look. We have had to move just about everything to 'higher ground'. Stephen has gotten really good at climbing stairs and getting past every barrier we have put around them. Today, he got to the top of the stairs before I could get to him and rolled down them. We have been trying to get him to understand going down things feet first, but I guess we are not doing that correctly. He was crawling along and just ran out of floor. Luckily, he rolled down the stairs side to side, not head over toe. My dad's house also has a landing about 6 steps down from the top, so he didn't go down an entire floor. It also seems that it was fun after the inital crying happened because he is still going back to the stairs. Maybe he is trying to conquer them, I don't know. He also keeps falling off of the hearth, but that isn't that far of a fall. He doesn't seems to like it, but keeps going back for more. So that has been the last few days. I'm running after Stephen who is crawling faster and faster each day and having a blast in a new place. New things to explore!

If anyone has any good tips on how to teach feet first and/or the concept of down - I'm open to suggestions! Thanks!

We made it!

Stephen made another plane flight yesterday and we actually made it to our destination! I was worried it might be hard. On our first flight from Salt Lake to Cinncinati, there was an empty seat next to me so they let me take the car carrier on and he actually slept for probably an hour of our 3 hour flight. The rest of the time he was pretty good. We walked the aisle a little, but he was mostly happy to be where he was. We were sitting next to someone who loves babies and she had a good time playing with him.

Once we were on the ground, I found that our next flight was going to leave an hour and 15 minutes later than scheduled. So, I strolled to the food court and had some lunch, then strolled (and rode the bus) to my next gate. When I got to the gate, we found that it was 20 minutes later still. Evidently, something needed to be fixed and the part was coming in on another plane, and we were informed that the part was in the air... phew. Good to know. There was some little very well used play area for children near the gates, so we played over there for a little bit. Stephen was mostly interested in crawling over to people who had books in their hands or tags on their luggage. He also made good friends with the shoe shine guy. He was pretty nice and didn't seem to mind that Stephen was all over the step where the customers sit and he even tried to take his food at one point. He was a good sport and talked to Stephen when he came to play. Well, about 15 minutes from our new scheduled departure, Stephen fell asleep (after a lot of work from me) and he slept for another 45 minutes or so when they finally announced that we could board the plane. His eyes popped right open, and he was up! I was hoping I could quietly get on the plane and coast on to North Carolina. Oh well. The plane was fixed, but was going to be overweight, so could someone volunteer to take another flight? OK, I don't get this. The plane is full, they knew this, I knew when I checked in the night before. What is this overweight thing? What is up with that? It turns out that there was too much fuel on the flight for the destination, therefore it was too heavy. I don't get it. How can it be too heavy? It shouldn't matter where it is going. Shouldn't a plane be able to go anywhere once it is full with passengers, luggage, AND fuel?!?! And, if it did go to the destination that needed more fuel, wouldn't it still be too heavy? I just don't understand. I spoke about this with my seat mate once we were on the plane. He thinks it is all because of the reinforced cockpit doors. He thinks that since most planes were retrofitted with these doors that is has messed up the planes ability to be full. It seems that it could be an option, but I just don't know.

Back to the story. Once I was on the plane, a small one, I noticed that the row behind me was empty, so I thought that once the door was closed that I would move back there to give the guy beside me (that really wanted the aisle, but I said no because I got an aisle seat on purpose and I wasn't giving it up) more room and so that Stephen could have his own seat. He does better that way these days. But, because of the planes obesity, they had to readjust the weight, so two people from the first 4 rows had to move to the row behind me to help the balance. Arg! I was in row 6! I was so close to being able to have my own and then it was taken away. (See why I am bugged by the weight thing?) Anyway, that took too much time to work out and just delayed take off even more. So, Stephen was mellow for the beginning of the flight because he had just awakened before we boared so the first 30 minutes was pretty easy. Then, he was done. He didn't want to be on the plane anymore, didn't want to be held, nothing! He wasn't even calmed by food (this is usually something that works). He would take one of his little snacks, throw his arm to the side, open his hand and let the snack fall to the floor. So, I let him crawl in the aisle. This was a little plane, but I didn't care, I let him go. I didn't let him go too far up and down, but he had a little more freedom. It seemed like mostly business travelers and they were all pretty nice. They would smile and say hello to him and he would grin back. He got one of the pamphlets that tell you what to do in the case of an emergency and played with that. He also ripped up a Sky Mall magazine and I figured it was no big loss. Once we had to sit again, at initial decent, I had to hold him again. Actually, I had to catch him first. He was headed toward the front of the plane as we tipped downward, and he kind of lost control of his crawl. He was still crawling, but going faster and faster! I think he liked it. Anways, he had to be in my lap for the last few minutes and the guys around me were trying to help. It was nice. I had people in 4 different rows pick things up off the floor for me. I felt like the service project. But it wasn't all that bad at all.

Most passengers on this flight had to gate check their carry ons. So the top of the gateway was kind of a crowded mess waiting for the bags to show up. I was waiting for the stroller, and I took the car seat to gate check too, so I wouldn't have to pay to check another 'piece of luggage'. One of the guys waiting for his bag brought me the stroller and car seat, wasn't he nice? He yelled over the crowed, "Do you just have a stroller?" I appreciated it, because I was just planning on waiting for everyone to get their bags and get out of my way. With all that, I was back in time for a late dinner with my dad, sister and future Stepmom. Good ole Southern BBQ! And then a two hour ride home.

Well, North Carolina - you have to deal with me through the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm exited to be here and am glad that my flights had a little drama, but nothing real terrible. It really wasn't all that bad. I just feel like I have somewhat of a story to tell! Now I get to go through mom's things with dad and decide what to do with most of it. Should be an emotional time. Dad already brought out the 2 boxes of cards that he and mom recieved this year. Today I went through the box of cards mom got when she was sick. I had a hard time reading those. I'm sure that the other box, mostly cards dad got after mom passed away, will be harder. And there are more of those! I may have to spread those out. I feel like things are fine and I'm totally ok, then I start thinking about it all, and I cry. Good thing it is more humid here, maybe I won't get too dehydrated! It is all good, though, and I'm so happy that dad is happy and finding a great place for him. It should be a wonderful two weeks!