The Shuttle of Death.

SO. This past week I've been in Utah, spending some time with my mother, decorating my kitchen (it'll be the cutest thing anyone has ever seen! And that is just how I roll), eating sugar, getting fat, letting Emma change all the stinky diapers she wants (which....it seems like that is all of them), trying to get over the jealousy of the simple fact that even though Mitch learned "mama" first, "dada" is all that is coming out of his mouth. Ah. Life.

We, Mitch and I, took the shuttle back to Rexburg. If you're going the speed limit, it's a little over a 3 1/2 hour drive; with Mike driving, it's a little under 3 1/2 hours; with Amy driving, it's almost 2 hours; with the old must-stop-at-every-possible-location-for-at-least-ten-minutes-and-show-up-ridiculously-late driver, it's almost 6.

Seriously, it was so painful, I wanted to cry. And scream. And make sure everyone knew I was still alive. But, no worries, Mitch had it all covered. And I got my first glare from strangers. This was a first, normally people think he's adorable- yes, amidst the crazy, ear-chilling, "instant headache" screams, there are always the "he's so cute, what isle did you find him on?" weird comments that still make no sense whatsoever to me. How do you answer that, by the way, with a simple "isle 7." or do you stand there and do the awkward "ah...thanks....I ... guess..."? Anyway, apparently on the never ending bus ride to blahburg, as soon as the 5 hour mark hits, people get angry.

Didn't help that, even though you are required to bring a car seat for the child, no seat belts are provided. More than that, the car seats don't even fit. They have to be sideways or upside down to fit, that was a nice touch.

And we had an almost explosive diaper which was grand. Glad they had a bathroom.... Not so glad they didn't have anything but a toilet, no diaper changing table, not a floor, not even soap. I guess it is just a bus, but still.... Good thing I am talented and have a lap. TMI?? There has to be a first for everything, right? I'm just glad I remembered the diaper bag this time.

Getting back to blahburg was nice though. We stepped off the shuttle and the weather here was lovely, and Mikey was lovely. Mitch jumped into his arms, and I was happy to be back to my little family. And I think Mike was happy to have us back, although, he was up all night with Mitch (thanks though!!!!) rocking him for, oh....30 mins or so (maybe longer, I was fast asleep) 3 different times. Welcome. to. our. life.

If anyone is wondering about the, er, more important things in life, like, you know, what the baby is doing lately, instead of my random, dramatic, and probably worse-than-they-truly-are rants, here's the latest:

Mitch is huge. I have no idea how much he weighs, I tried to put him on our scale the other day, but he was moving too much and just kept saying "error" go figure. It's better than when I step on the scale and it says "to be continued" haha. (hey look! I remembered a joke!!)

Mitch is tall. Probably close to 29-30 inches. Yes, that's really tall. So tall, that we bought him an entirely new wardrobe. (well, that, and he didn't own anything short sleeved) It's darling. All of it. I wanted to have a little fashion show for him, and take pictures, but I thought it would be better to do it when he was at least awake.

Mitch is teething. Still.... And we will all be glad when this stage is over.

Mitch is almost crawling. (Do I say that every post?) He is the expert of scooting backwards, which is funny to me, and extremely frustrating to him. Life is the pits. I guess, he's probably behind in the whole crawling ordeal, but, I know someday he'll be a professional walker, so I'm not really worried. Sometimes I think he has no desire to crawl whatsoever. I wouldn't be surprised if he woke up one day and started sprinting. Ah. That'll be the day. If someone can tell me exactly how to child proof my apartment when all he likes to do is chew on electrical cords, please, let me know.

Mitch is eating solids like a champ. Fruits, veggies, baby cereal. We've started the whole Cheerio, Gerber Graduates, cracker, toast, which.... I don't think is supposed to happen until they can crawl..... but he had all the other signs to start, and was grabbing things off my plate and eating them anyway, so.... uh... he loves chewing, and .... don't report me to child services.

Mitch is not sleeping through the night. And probably never will. We've lost all hope and sanity around here.

But, Mitch is DARLING! He smiles at everyone and gets so excited he'll grab your hair and face and try to launch into the air off your shoulder. It's cute when it's not happening to you...

Anyway, well, life is pretty good around here. The sun is out and we are happy. I guess I'll answer the questions about the "when, where, and .... how... are you moving?" with a simple. No idea. We're shooting for the San Antonio, Texas area or the Allentown, PA area, random, I know, but need all the prayers we can get. Thanks for all the love and support, we love you all!!!!

TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!

Sunshine and Applesauce

Hello my posy.

Well, today, the sun was shining, bright as can be. This stirred my adventurous side a tad. And so I did laundry. Heh.

While doing said laundry, I had an epiphany. Mitch, soon to be 8-months, could probably swing on the baby swings. This fact alone, sparked a odd desire to walk the 3 blocks or so to the park, solely for the baby swings.

So I figure, after I finish the laundry, I'll feed Mitch his hearty lunch of barley and peas (sounds delightful, doesn't it? Too bad his taste buds have apparently developed a lack of taste for peas, and applesauce was required to get him to even think about peas.) and then off we will go! I was rather excited, and as luck and Murphy's Law will have it, Mitch decided to take a never-before 2.5 hour nap. Great. The anxiety was killing me.

FINALLY, when he awoke, we put on his cute little (and immensely over-sized, well, actually it's technically made for a 2 year old, more on that later) coat, cute little mittens and matching hat (yep, I'm one of those moms) socks, blankets. I packed the infamous "mom purse." You know, the normal lipgloss, cellphone, wallet but with added features like Cheerios, binkies, diapers, water, band-aides, wet wipes (individually wrapped, of course. Yes, I'm also one of those moms) ... advil... Seriously. You would not believe my purse. It's ridiculous. And, I found a missing sock in it moments ago. My sock. Don't ask me how that happened. This probably needs to stop. Isn't that what diaper bags are for?

Walking down the stairs is totally another, albeit boring, issue. Mitch in one hand. The heavy stroller in another. The purse in another. The house key in another. Two blankets in the last. Wait.... I only wish I had that many hands.

Off we go! Embarking Rexburg like never before! Stepping past the laundry room like never before! (wow, I am pathetic) We saw a squirrel, a train, some trees, Dallan from Sunbeams "we missed you yesterday!" some cars, some dirt, you get the picture.

I had envisioned the park quest to go something like this: blissful walk to the park, lay a blanket down, eat some cheerios together, roll around, practice crawling, running to the swings, swinging, taking pictures, skipping home. Unfortunately, when we did make it to the park, I noticed something I didn't anticipate.

Snow. Dang it! Snow, snow, everywhere, and not a soul in sight. At this point a flood of epiphanies came to me. A. It's still technically winter. B. It's still technically cold. C. Mitchell's socks are falling off. So is his hat. D. Mitchell's nose is red. E. What am I doing to this poor child!? F. Wow, this place has a freezing wind chill G. Ah! We are so going to get sick.....

You get the picture.

No swings, no crawling on the grass, no sunshine bliss for us today.

Obviously, I wish summer would hurry on it's way.

Maybe that's why we're moving to Texas. Ha.

***And note: I know the above picture has absolutely no connection or relevance to the current post. Don't judge me, it was a cute picture. Also, it is a handkerchief he is wearing. We play dress up together. Don't judge me, it really is a cute picture. I also realize that the picture of me is entirely creepy beyond belief. But Mitch is smiling! For a picture! How often does that happen!?