The Sweetest Sound

Miles has been very vocal today. He's been experimenting with all sorts of sounds and combinations of sounds. For the past 20 minutes or so, he's been stuck on "mamamamamamamama". I love it!

6 Month Pictures (Taken at 7 months)

It's Official!

We are moving! We closed on our "new to us" home yesterday! We should get possession of the house sometime today. To celebrate, I just packed 8 boxes of books. We are looking forward to starting the renovations (tonight?) so we can move in! Pictures to come...

Run, Nolan, Run

Nolan's school had a walk-a-thon on Tuesday. They had 1 hour to see how far they could walk. Nolan didn't walk, he ran. In an hour, Nolan did 24 laps around the 1/4 mile route. He went 6 miles! Way to go! When I arrived at the school to pick him up, I asked him how many laps he did... he said 24. Then I asked him how he felt. He had a classic answer, "I am going to throw up!"

I shouldn't be surprised that Nolan ran 6 miles. Twice a week he's been going to school early to be in "Walking Club". Of course, he did ran instead of walking. This year, he ran 55 miles. Yesterday he came home from school with a pedometer, a certificate, and a shirt that said "55 miles" on it as his Walking Club awards.

Tooth picture

It's little and cute, but very sharp!

You Know You're Tired When...

I took a nap today. I was out cold. How do I know? Well, I brought a phone into bed with me so that if someone called I wouldn't have to go looking for a phone. Someone did call... I was jerked out of a deep sleep, grabbed the "phone" and tried my best to answer it. The only problem was that I was holding the remote control instead of the phone and couldn't figure out how to get it to stop ringing!

Suck it Up

I guess that phrase kind of summarizes my attitude when it comes to "discomfort". You skinned your knee? Dang! Sorry, but suck it up. You have a headache? Again... Dang! Sorry, but suck it up. Ever since Dan had his car-bike wreck, he's been complaining that his right hand really hurts... hurts too much to grip a pencil or use the brake lever on a bike. Well, my response has (mentally) been... Dang! Sorry, you were in a bike/car wreck and walked away with stitches and a sore hand...be grateful and suck it up! Yesterday Dan was tired of his aching hand so he went to the doctor (after I told him I didn't really think that was necessary). He came home with a splint and the diagnosis of a broken hand. Now he's supposed to follow up with a hand specialist (I still think that is overkill, but hey, it's not my hand). Ooops! Maybe I need to work on my sympathy/empathy.

Army Man Miles

He's fast now!

What's Nolan Been Up To?

Well, on Friday, it was the 4th grade Utah History program. Nolan dressed up like a pioneer and did a square dance in the program. The whole fourth grade sang songs about Utah history ranging from the dinosaur ear, to the Indians, to the explorers, to the pioneers, to the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, and finishing with the Utah State song. He did great!
Then on Saturday, it was the Kiser School of Art show. Nolan had 7 pieces of art in the show- marker, clay mask, scratchboard, a painting, pastel, printmaking, and something else! He does nice work!

Miles the Chunky Mouseketeer

Here's Miles at Zane's party! Remember... he's only in the 40% for his weight!

It Wasn't the Planetary Movement...

Another carpy night... 9:40 p.m., 10:15 p.m., 11 p.m., midnight, 1 a.m. 2:30-3:30 a.m., 4:45 a.m., 6:15 a.m... and now out cold! Grrrr!

If I'd Only Consulted My Horoscope...

then I would have been better prepared for Miles' disastrous night. When I finally accepted the fact that I was up for the day (after I blogged earlier), I went and got the newspaper. I think it's fun to laugh and scoff at the horoscopes, but today I am paying attention to mine. It reads "Somebody needs you attention and this person is not very good with words." Obviously this is referring to Miles and his hourly crying last night. He needed special help that only I could provide. Now that I understand that his behavior was only due to the planetary rotations and relations, and angles with respect to the Earth, I can forgive Miles and move forward.

Yesterday I Had my Semi-Annual...

leg shave! No, seriously, I hadn't shaved my legs since right before Miles was born. No, I wasn't a hairy gorilla or anything. Really, I only have about six hairs on each leg (okay, maybe 16). They are blonde and grow slowly. But for some reason yesterday I decided it was time for them to go. Having accomplished that monumental task, I'd better put my next leg shave down in my calendar... let's see... maybe sometime in November?

Where is My Baby and Who is this Punk in His Crib?

I am so tired I could fall on my face! Miles has been a fantastic sleeper since birth until last month. I don't know what his deal is, but he won't sleep anymore. Last night was the absolute worst... he was up at 10 p.m., 11 p.m. midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., and 5 a.m. I want to scream! The most annoying part about his awful sleeping is that he can sleep all day long today, but not me... I've up for the day and have to get the big boys off to school, then Nolan has his 4th grade program at 9:15 a.m., I have a haircut at 12:30 p.m, Jonathan is out of school at 2:20, then he has percussion at 3:10, Nolan is out at 3:10 as well. Jonathan gets picked up from percussion at 4:10 , then there is a wedding reception this evening. Yuck! It's going to be a long day!

Band Concert and Bike Wreck

Last night was Jonathan's spring band concert. He played in 3 bands... the Concert band, the Jazz band, and as a guest member of the Symphonic band. He had a major solo in one of the concert band pieces... "Prairiesong". Actually, he had 4 solos in that song. He did amazing! It is hard for me to believe that he has such a nice tone on the clarinet when the only instruction he's had on the instrument has been from school band (maybe we should find him a private teacher?). Anyway, I was impressed and so were his Belnap grandparents. The only bad thing was that Dan missed the performance.


Jonathan's concert started at 5:30 p.m. and Dan wasn't there. I wasn't worried because the concert started with the percussion group and Dan said that he might be a few minutes late. However, when Jonathan's part of the concert started and Dan still wasn't there, I began to wonder if everything was okay. I thought maybe he had the time wrong and that he thought the concert started at 6:30 p.m. So 6:30 p.m. came and went without Dan and then I knew something was wrong. Miles had long decided that he was through with the concert and he and I were in the foyer of the school waiting (and watching the front door) for the concert to end. The concert ended around 7:15 p.m. and Dan never showed up. I had decided that he had crashed on his bike and had broken his arm or collarbone. Well, we headed out to the parking lot and a Lindon police car was passing by the school. That started my imagination rolling. I was worried that I would get home and find a PG cop in my driveway waiting for me. Luckily, my driveway was empty when I got home. There was a piece of paper stuck on my door, but I had nothing to do with the "Where is Dan" mystery. I checked the caller ID on the phone... 2 messages, but none from Dan. I called Lynn to see if by chance he knew where Dan was. No answer. I called Aly and asked her if it was time for me to panic. I got her permission. Meanwhile, Dan had tried to call, but the Call Waiting wasn't working. Luckily he left a message letting me know that yes, he'd been in an accident, but that he was okay and was at the Instacare being stitched up and would be home soon. Relief, sort of... I didn't know which Instacare was treating him. I called EMT Amy to ask her how many Instacares were between MegaDiamond and PG... she knew... 2! I called the North Orem one and asked them if Dan was there. After giving them all the info I had, they told me that Dan had been there but had been released and was headed home (thanks Hippa Laws... it makes it really hard to get any info out of anyone). I didn't know how he was getting home so I left Miles with the Big Boys and took the truck and went out in search of Dan. I took the most direct route to the Instacare and didn't find him. On the way back home, I went the next most direct route and still didn't find them. I got home, went inside and there was Dan holding a crying Miles and on the phone with his parents (who were calling to see if I'd found Dan).

So here's his story. He was on 400 East in Orem by Timpanogos High headed to the band concert and traveling about 20 mph. Cars were parked all along the road because there was the High School Region track meet. Some guy whipped open his car door without looking around first and Dan slammed into his door. Dan found himself in the median of the street and was trying to get up, but his legs weren't working. He was able to crawl to the side of the road. He was bleeding and needed medical attention. The guy who opened his car door was very apolegictic (repeatedly) and was helping Dan. After a ER vs. Instacare "discussion" the guy took Dan to the Instacare. Another guy, who stopped to help, took his bike to his house. The Door Guy stayed with Dan at the Instacare and then drove him home (about 2.5 hours in all). Later on last night, he went and got Dan's beloved bike and brought it to him. He called Dan tonight to check on him and to get the info he needed from Dan to file an insurance claim.

Dan has a swollen right arm from where he took the impact with the door. He has stitches in his arm... multilayer ones (warning... picture below). He is bruised. He has a "deep cut" on his finger and 4 stitches in his leg too. Last night he was pretty dingy, but has pulled his head out of the fog. He feels beat up, but will be fine soon. As for his bike, he took it in to have in looked at... he has a broken shifter, possible fork damage (it needed to be extracated from the frame to be inspected), and the "biggest dent" in the frame that the bike shop had ever seen. The frame is toast and will crack if ridden on. We'll see how the Door Guy's insurance handles this claim. As for the Door Guy's car, well, it shuts, but Dan's impact bent the doors hinges.

A Rite of Passage

Nolan recently went through a rite of passage... he's been deemed "old enough" to mow the front lawn. Believe it or not, he's really excited to mow. On Saturday, he took "Lawnmowing 101" with Dan and learned important lawn mowing basics... wear closed toe shoes, move the garden hose out of the way of the mower, go around and not over rocks, etc. Then he got the power... he got to push the mower back and forth across the lawn. He thought it was fun. He also probably got a pretty good workout because our mower is a Walmart low-end special... not self-propelled and weighs probably as much as Nolan does! Let's hope that Nolan's new-found enthusiasm for mowing contiunes for many, many years.

Another Milestone for Miles

For days all the signs have been there... very low grade fever, irritability, runny nose, and drooling. Last night at bedtime Miles cried and cried. He was inconsolable. When he finally fell asleep (for a whopping 3 hours, "unhappy mommy sigh"), he tossed and turned like he could not get comfortable. He got up for the day at 5:30 this morning. We put Miles in the Bumbo and performed our morning ritual of "is there anything in your mouth today" exploration and this morning we discovered a tooth!

Thumb Sucker

Miles is a thumb sucker; well, a right thumb sucker and a left 2-finger sucker. Jonathan didn't suck anything and Nolan was a pacifier boy until he was about 22 months old. I've been trying to get a thumb sucking picture of Miles for weeks now (before he decides his thumb doesn't taste good), but either my camera wasn't nearby or Miles would pull his thumb out when he'd see the camera. Not today though...