He's Supposed to Be Napping

3 Months Old

Yesterday Miles turned 3 months old! It's amazing how fast little people change. Three months ago, Miles was a sweet blob. No intentional expressions, skinny, sleepy, floppy. Dan called him chicken body because of the lack of muscle tone. Now, 3 months later, Miles has gained about 6 pounds, grown 5 inches, and has chubby rolls on his legs and neck! He has awesome head control and opens his fists. He smiles in response, "talks" and laughs. He likes to sit in the Bumbo seat, bounce in the jump-up, play "run fast". He's an awesome sleeper still (Wow! the biggest surprise) and goes to sleep on his own. He's starting to like the bath, hates diaper changes, loves to look and smile at his brothers (and almost anyone else!). He had his first case of stranger anxiety this past week (sorry Margot). Wow! So many changes in such a short time!

Snow, Snow, Snow

That's all it is doing this winter. It's been snowing basically non-stop since 1 p.m. yesterday... 27 inches (by my measurement) have fallen in about 28 hours. The roads are in terrible shape. You cannot make it up my street unless you are in 4-wheel drive. So far, today alone, Dan shoveled once and I've shoveled 4 times. Yes, we had school today. The elementary school principal was outside after school today pushing stuck cars out. My next door neighbor is parked partly in the street and partly on the sidewalk. This picture doesn't do the snow quantity justice. Nolan is 4' 8" tall and, it's hard to see but, this snow pile in the front of our house is taller than he is. Spring cannot come soon enough! What happened to global warming? I'm thinking that we should relocate... to Saudi Arabia!

Swamp Thing!

Isn't he cute! This has to be the funniest outfit I ever bought Miles! No, it isn't a Halloween costume. For some reason it was part of Crazy 8's (Gymboree's sister-line) holiday line. It makes me laugh. But today is so cold and this outfit is so warm (it's fleece) that I just had to put Miles in it!

Out With the Old and In With the New!

When Dan and I were newlyweds we used to go to the local furniture store, RC Willey, on Saturdays because they had free hotdogs and soda for lunch. After eating our free meal we would wander the showroom and I would dream about what I would buy if we weren't starving college kids while Dan tried to figure out how to get me out of that store. I fell in love with this off-white sofa with big oversized pillows for its back. It was priced way out of our league, but I would visit my "dream couch" whenever there was free hotdog Saturday. One Saturday it was gone... sold-out, discontinued, whatever, but it was gone. I was really sad. Well, we did our round through the store and wandered to the upstairs portion where mismatched furniture, damaged goods, and floor models were sold at discounted prices. There it was... my dream couch... only the floor model remained and now it was priced within our budget. Within a few days it was in our apartment! I had rules for my couch- no eating on it, no bare skin touching the upholstry, no laying down on it either. I wanted my baby to stay new looking forever.

Fast forward 16 years, 3 kids, and one cat later... it was time to replace the couch. The upholstry on the corners of the cushions was worn out. The cat's claws weren't contributing to the overall appearance of the couch, and it just didn't look so "new" anymore. Time to start looking for a replacement. Between Christmas and New Years we started looking. Dan and I returned to a branch of our old haunt... the RC Willey Clearance Center in Provo (where we have taken the kids to get free hotdogs and soda on Saturdays). There wasn't anything there we were interested in. On New Years Day, we were up in Sandy for dinner and afterwards I coercise Dan into going to the RC Willey Clearance Center up there. They had lots of furniture... most of it was really ugly, but there, on the third row by the wall, was my new couch. It was sage green suede with big pillows for the back. I went over to it... sat down...nice firm cushions! Loved the pillows for the back. Looked at the price...
almost loved it too! The price tag was confusing... One place said that it was marked down to $559; another place on the tag said it was $499. We were sold on the $499 price (plus everything was an additional 25 % off the lowest marked price). I went to find a salesman to find out what the real price was. He looked in the computer and was confused. He called his boss and explained the situation to him. His boss told him to sell the couch to us for $209! Done deal! We have a new couch! Dan drove back to Sandy the next day to haul the new couch home in the truck! Yea!

But now, what to do with the old favorite "dream couch"? I didn't want it to go to the dump. I thought about DI or freecycling it, but then Aly came up with a great solution... see if Leslie and the Pie-man want it! Newlyweds (and newlyweds-to-be) are usually stoked to get free stuff. I called Leslie- she said yes! They'd take it. I told her about it's overly-loved spots and emailed her pictures of those areas... they still want it. So now my "dream couch", which served me wonderfully for 16 years, is living in Aly's basement, waiting for Leslie and the Pie-man to get married and move to Utah and become its rightful owners. I wonder if they'll let me come over and sleep on my old couch?

Jonathan Redefines Himself

Jonathan has officially achieved a new status in life. Yes, it's true that he's been a teenager for over 7 months now, but I think he could now be inducted into the "Teenage Boys Hall of Eating Fame". Jonathan has achieved a feat that only teenage boys could/should be proud of.. he ate an entire large Little Caesar's Pizza for dinner. Yep... 6 slices of cheese pizza washed down with 2 slices of pepperoni (pepperoni removed, of course!). Congratulations Jonathan... good thing you have a very fast metabolism!

Oh, and yes! Way to go Utah football! The Utes resoundingly beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl the other night! 13-0!

Happy New Year

Well, no football games for us to watch today... that's reserved for tomorrow when the Utes take on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl... Go Utes! We had a fun, but mellow night last night. Dan worked until mid-afternoon. We had dinner with Parley and Bona. It's a Belnap tradition that goes way back that they get bread from the "German store" and have deli meat sandwiches for New Years Eve dinner. After spending some time with them, we attended the "Battle Creek Neighborhood Party" at the church. They had activities that rotated every half hour. There was volleyball, indoor soccer, the "wink" game, square dancing, ballroom dancing, dancing-dancing, board games, a service activity, and of course, food. Miles lasted until around 9 p.m. when he fell asleep in my arms. I stayed at the party until 10:45 p.m. when I got tired of holding Miles so Dan took us home and went back to the party with the boys. They stayed until the end and brought in the New Years with balloons, horns, and general noise. Miles and I were at home peacefully sleeping!

Baby New Year made her annual visit. He brought Nolan the DVD Journey to the Center of the Earth. Jonathan got the last Calvin and Hobbes book he needed to have the complete set. Dan got pistachios (for the first time in many years they were less that $5 a pound). Miles got lucky... when Baby New Years stopped by at 6:30 this morning, she couldn't find Miles' planned gift... she improvised and grabbed a new rattle and declared it "good enough". A few hours ago, she found the intended gift- a play mat, so Miles got 2 things. Jonathan and Nolan also got a gift certificate for Fox Hollow golf course... 18-hole round of golf, cart rental, and a bucket of range balls. Baby New Year is a Madsen tradition that goes back to when my dad was a little boy. Baby New Year is analogous to Santa, but for our family is scaled way back. It's fun having our own family day of gift giving.

The rest of today's plans are to take it slow. Miles is taking nap #2. Nolan is playing with a friend. Jonathan is working on some "over winter break" homework. In theory we will head up to Sandy and go to Sweet Tomatoes and check out the RC Willey Clearance Center up there... hopefully they will have a couch that meets both mine and Dan's expectations... my expectation of looks and function, and Dan's expectation of price!