www.micahandlindsey.com

Because when the guy on the Bachelor proposed to the girl on the Bachelor….I looked over and he had tears in his eyes.  I love that he acts tough, but is really pretty soft.  (But not his body…..because he is a P90Xer.)

Navy had a great night of sleeping, and was zonked out until 5:30 — a new record, and the most consecutive sleep I have had in a long time.

I was looking forward to heading back to dreamland after feeding her, until Micah came down and handed Stinky off to me after being up with him for hours.  We tried to lay quietly and fall back asleep.  But after him wanting to talk about “milk”, his “boo boo”, “bugawuga”, and anything else that fluttered into his mind, I decided to give Micah some decent sleep and take Scout out.  I noticed the sky was just starting to get light over the mountain’s, so Scout and I headed out to our beach chairs to “do something fun” and watch the sunrise.  We listened to the birdies sing, and the monkeys (which were the crows making their noises).  But the highlight was watching the sky turn a thousand different colors as the sun was about to come up.  I made oatmeal for him in an attempt to keep him warm, and he also snacked on raisins.  We talked all about “dark” and “light”, and I am pretty sure he has grasped the whole concept of the earth rotating on a 24 hour cycle.  The following is a picture diary of the morning’s events — once I got Scout:

First light

Scout snacking

Me laughing at him

Scout wrapped up to stay warm

And finally — daytime!

On Sunday, about 3/4 of the way through Sacrament meeting I decided to bear my testimony.  I always grew up sitting on the first row of church, and we do now also …. which at times I feel like reconsidering due to Scout’s unconstrained and larger than usual “play” area.  But to be honest, sitting in the front is the only place I really listen intently and don’t get distracted by what is in front of me.  So the front it is….and always will be.

As I headed up to the pulpit, all was fine.  I started speaking, and Scout comes up after me.  (By the way — I am not into the whole little rowdy kid following the parent up thing.)  Well, there he was and he stands to the side — very wisely just out of my reach — and is grinning ear to ear as he looked out at the entire congregation.  People were giggling, and I asked Micah if he was going to get the “stinky little kid”.  Because I was trying to speak, I don’t really know what happened, but I then saw Scout down where he was supposed to be….so I thought the little mishap had ended.

As I continued to talk, I about jumped out of my skin as the organ roared out the loudest note for about 7 seconds straight.  I turned back, and there Scout was….grinning from ear to ear.  Of course I started to laugh because it really was funny (the part about it being my kid was the only not funny part).  The whole ward was laughing at this point, and I just looked down to see what my darling husband was going to do.  And what I saw was the proudest father on the planet, who did everything short of put his arms in the air and shout “good for you my boy” in the air, as he beamed with delight.  Thank goodness I saw my mom scrambling to get the little punk in my peripheral vision.  In the meantime, good old Rod Hopkins had grabbed him and at least stopped the loud note.  By this time, I was only slightly mortified (more at my husband than my kid), but had to keep going.  I commented that once again, our family had made our mark and moved on.

When I got down, I asked Micah why he wasn’t stopping Scout in the first place.  He basically told me that he was totally entertained, and he was waiting to see what he was going to do.  Then he went on to tell me that Scout definitely exceeded his expectations.  HUH, I don’t get it?  How about we keep that on the ball field from now on.

(As a side note — I had at least 25 people tell me that our little episode was the best they have ever seen (great….I hope we are now part of the “craziest church moments” conversation.  And I have to admit, I have never witnessed anything so white trash.  I am glad my family could oblige.)

Whenever Scout finds a feather, he/we call them “birdies”.  Once he gets one, he gets really excited and brings it over to me.  I hold it, have him close his eyes to make a wish, and when he opens them, he blows on it to make it float away.  (With a little huff and puff from me.)  We are making wishes on birdies up to ten times a day, and he thinks it is totally fun…..talk about the simple things!

When I see other babies — such as Katie’s little Ryder — I can’t believe that little babies smile SO much.  My Scout was such a somber baby, and was so ridiculously serious about life …. from the day he was born until 8 or 9 months …. that guy was all business.  He observed, he processed, and probably made mental notes.

This morning, I woke up with Navy.  After feeding her, I was talking to her, and she was ALL SMILES!  It was so fun to make little noises and faces, and receive smiles back….instead of blank stares or even glares.  I hope I have produced a smiley baby this time around.  (But I have to admit, I think Scout is the greatest kid known to man ….. so I hope that Little Miss’s smiles don’t take her too far off Scout’s route …. or even at all!  I am obviously one of those type who wants my cake, and to eat it too!)

Long ago, I decided to “do something fun” every day with Scout (and now Navy is in on the fun!).  Anything from a walk, to cooking together, to reading a ton of books together, etc.  I decided it was time to start things up again since our little girl is one month, and plenty capable of going places.  The previous week, we did a ton of fun things every day while we were on vacation.  But this week we were mostly at home, so it was time to get creative again.  Our week of fun things included:

Meeting up with dad after his long run, and throwing rocks from the top to the bottom of the riverbed.  I was having fun playing with and feeding Navy in the shade.

One morning, we heard talking out of the back of our house.  We had tree trimmers shimmying up the trees with hand cutters and chainsaws.  Scout thought they were acting like monkeys, and kept hollering out the sound a monkey makes.  He had a point, because at times they were literally swinging from tree to tree.  So I grabbed two beach chairs, blankets, some snacks, and we watched them for about an hour.  Every time a branch was cut off and falling to the ground, Scout would yell out, “Oh Boy!”

Finally, at the last minute, we decided to take a road trip.  I packed Scout and Navy in the car, and we headed for an overnight stay at Auntie Bree and Uncle Jeff’s place.  Scout had a great time reading books with Auntie Bree, de-shelling and eating nuts at the tastiest restaurant, and watching/playing ball with their two dogs.  (The same dogs he didn’t stop talking about on our way home until he fell asleep.)  The car ride was a cinch on the way up.  On the way back, downtown L.A. was at the perfect place for a break.  We ended up at the fabric district and hung out there for about an hour.  Then back in the car for the remainder of the drive.  (Reminder for next time — A  side-by-side double stroller is not the best idea in those closet sized fabric shops!)

And as the cherry on top — we are heading to dinner tonight on top of an ancient Indian burial ground!  Can’t wait Zimmermans!

Our little Navy surprised me a couple nights ago with going to bed at 10:30pm and not fussing until 4:30 in the morning.  I’ll take 6 hours of sleep any day.  The next night was the same.  I thought a pattern was set up, and I was thrilled.  I figured if she did it for three nights straight, the deal was sealed.  But last night — the third night — I was lucky enough to hang with her at midnight, 2:30 and again at 5:00.  I guess she missed me.

Here she dreams away in the cradle my dad made long ago, that all of my brothers and sisters slept in.  Notice the most important items in my room…..Navy’s little doggy that Scout appointed to her, and is constantly giving to her, a bottle of formula that is there “in case” (I have found that when she gets collicky late at night, if I give her an ounce of formula, she settles down), and finally the scrabble board that settles any argument Micah and I have.  We figure that whoever wins…must be right.

Ever since I can remember, my family has had a rule that can’t be broken.  If someone is bugging you — usually by way of teasing or tickling or wrestling or poking, etc… — and you want it to stop, you call out “bugawuga” and it HAS to stop.  This is mostly used by kids who don’t really have any advantage on adults….until they pull the “bugawuga” card.  And at that point, adults have no power.  They must immediately stop whatever they are doing for about three seconds to allow the kid to get a reprieve and/or run like the dickens.

Last night…the main offender of receiving the “bugawuga”– my brother David was in town.  (Keep in mind that I have David to thank for being so tough.  He was the one who would get any of us kids and hold us under the water in the pool just far enough so if we tilted our head back in hopes of getting a breath, we were 1/2 an inch from the surface.  If you think that is mean enough, I forgot to mention that he was doing this while in his scuba gear and cracking up.)  Anyway, last night he was having a serious pillow fight with Scout.  And he is kind of the “no holds barred” type of fighter.  He does lighten it up due to his enemy being under the age of two, but not as much as one would expect.  Scout was in heaven!  He was carrying pillows that were as heavy as he was, running with them and trashing David.  Part of the fun was the very animated reaction he was getting from David when he would get him.  But on the flip side…..David was in heaven because Scout wasn’t giving up.  David was tripping, pushing, and throwing pillows at Scout, and the little one was cracking up and just kept coming back for more.  And then….out of the blue…..during one of the biggest attacks by David, Scout yelled out “BUGAWUGA” and David immediately froze.  Then Scout picked up a pillow and threw it at David as hard as he possibly could.

David looked at me and we laughed so hard.  I was in complete amazement because I had never taught him “bugawuga”, but I remembered my mom trying to help him understand the word and concept about two months earlier.  I think Trilby was going to “get him” and my mom told him to say the word to make her stop.  Since then, I don’t have any memory of him saying it.  But there he was….two months later…..and in total need of an advantage in the pillow fight…..and his memory served him well…. in the form of a simple and silly word…..that under this roof holds all the power…..if only for a few seconds.

It is the ultimate cliche, but I can’t believe how time flies.  Navy is 1 month old today, and I can’t imagine how a month has gone by already.  So far 1/4 of her life was spent in the hospital, another 1/4 was spent on vacation in Vegas and Arrowhead, and the other 1/2 was basically in the arms of someone while she slept.  She is the sweetest little baby.  So far she has darker hair than Scout — really dark brown / almost black, and her eyes are currently blue with a touch of gray - like her mom.  She is very unpredictable on her nighttime sleeps - last night she got up once, but the night before it was about 5 times (but beauty of it is that I don’t care…..the more she gets up…..the more I get to hang out with her….and I love it!)  She only fusses when her tummy isn’t feeling great, which isn’t too often…..but my singing calms her instantly.  Scout and I actually have a new method.  When I sing, I leave out words to about the 40 different songs I have sung to him his whole life, and he fills in the blanks.  He loves it, and so does she.  And I was amazed when we first tried this, that he knows all of the words.  He certainly has not been plagued with my inability to remember lyrics to songs.  Navy is very alert.  In fact, last night she was following my finger from side to side.  She is a great eater, and eats WAY more than Scout did.  She has already gained a ton of weight, and is totally turned into a chunk.  Her 1 month appt. is coming up, so I will get actual stats then.  Finally, she is starting to really like her plug.  She hasn’t been given a great chance since there is a thief in the house, but she is getting pretty good at keeping it in.  All in all, she isn’t as easy as Scout was at this age.  But compared to any other babies I have been around, she is a cinch!

Here she is holding up one finger to show how old she is!  Aren’t those lips adorable.