25 Random Facts

I am constantly giving Emily a hard time about her recently-acquired Blog addiction.  Bear in mind that I think Emily is a VASTLY better person than I could ever be.  She is such a fabulous mommy, is so amazing in her quest to be a better one for our Josie, and would never say a negative thing about me.  It makes me feel all the more like a rapacious troglodyte for doubting her new-found creative streak.  I am so excited to see the results of this fresh per chant, and want to take this opportunity to apologize to her for being such a ninny.

The other night she was doing this "25 Random Facts about Me" thing that is all the rage on Facebook, and she asked me what mine would be while we were lying in bed talking later that evening.  Since I have no intention of joining the Facebook network, here are mine:

1. When I was 5 years old I got lost walking home from my first day of Kindergarten just after we moved to Sandy, Ut. from Simi Valley, CA.  I got so scared I wet my pants.

2. I have an unhealthy love for the film "Xanadu".

3. The worst times with my wife are far better than the best times by myself.

4. The greatest day of my life was when one of my two favorite women in the world said "Yes."  The next best one with when the other one screamed her grand entrance.

5. I have been writing in a Journal since I was 8 years old.

6. The first person I tracted into as an LDS Missionary put a cigarette out on his thumb as I told him how much God loved him.

7. I have an unnatural fear of loosing my job; this has made me a bit of a work-a-holic.

8. I think Reality TV is a tool of Satan and should be banished. 

9. Every time I fly on an airplane (which is often,) I have to listen to Side 2 of "A Physical Presence" by Level 42.  I am not sure why, it just makes the trip move easier.

10. There will never be a better movie made in the history of movies than "The Empire Strikes Back."  I watch it more often than I let on because, to me, it just keeps getting better.

11. When I was 27 I was adopted into the family of a Chinese Drum Factory owner.  When I travel in the Far East, I am Liu Yun Kai (the name given to me by my brother in Tianjin.)

12. Johnny Cash once gave me a personal tour through his now incinerated home in Tennessee just before he died.

13. I can fall asleep instantly anywhere, any time.

14. Emily and I can always resolve any disagreement or occasional argument in less than an hour.  I am continually amazed by her and am in awe of the fact that she lets me be her husband.

15. I eat about 5 large bags of sunflower seeds a week.

16. My best pal Jesse and I have been writing music together for 20 years.  

17. I am addicted to infomercials for Time/Life Music collections.  There is a repulsion and fascination that combines to make them so painful that I can't stop watching.

18. When I was 12 years old I made out my first (and to date, last,) will and testament.  If I were to die today, I would do so securely knowing that Troy Aubrey (whom I haven't seen in a quarter century,) would get all of my Thompson Twins cassettes.

19. My first real make-out with a girl occurred while watching "Terminator."

20. Very little can compare with the feeling of being at Disneyland with my favorite person in the world...except being at the Temple with her.  

21. I named my daughter after a cartoon rock star.

22. My favorite Beatle is Paul.

23. I have a brother I have never met before.  I look forward to meeting him in the Eternities one day.

24. I was once pepper sprayed trying to stop a guy from stealing two bass guitars from a store I  worked at.

25. Wearing garments for the last 15 years has worn bald spots on the upper fronts of both my thighs.

I hope that was not too self-indulgent.  It is amazing to me that Em knows me so well that she had to remind me of a couple of these things (that's why one of the random things listed is no longer that my favorite Spice is Sporty.)  So, anyway.......there you go, whether you wanted it or not.  Time for sleeppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp.

Josie Update- 3 Months!

Josie turned 3 months old on the 19th. She is getting so big! I tried to do my own measuring of her because I know she's grown alot. I think she is between 11 1/2 and 12 pounds and between 23 1/2 and 24 inches long. She is so tall still! She already fits her 3-6 month clothes very well. Her eyes are still blue, but I am waiting for them to change any time. I think they will be green like mine. Maybe they'll stay blue, who knows! We also discovered that she has a dimple on the right side just like mine. You can't see it very well though, cause her cheeks are so chubby.  She decided to put herself on a schedule at about 2 1/2 months but it was a little sketchy during our vacation. She goes to bed around 9 or 10, sleeps till about 3, and sleeps in to about 9 (usually waking up in between around 5 or so). It's so great! I feel even more tired though, now that I'm finally getting more sleep. She takes 2 long naps during the day, one around 11 and one around 4 or 5. She sleeps anywhere but I am trying to get her used to sleeping in her crib for naps. 

Here are her new talents and favorites:

*smiling all day long both at people and random things

*playing with daddy who she seems to favor now

*smiling at and discovering strangers

* going to sleep at night without a fuss

* cooing alot!! 

*her favorite "words" to say: "goo," "ah-goo," and "boo."

*little laughs

*playing on her play-mat

*swatting at the toys on her play-mat

Cute bows courtesy of my cousin Katie. Her website is here.

 

 Here are Josie's first little "laughs." This is her favorite thrill ride!!

California trip

What a perfect trip!! We just got back from our 2 week California trip. Kevin has a convention he goes to every January in Anaheim, so we decided to take Josie and have a little family trip. The weather was perfect! We stayed at the Marriot across from Disneyland and Jos and I relaxed while poor Kev worked his butt off. It all began with Josie's first plane ride. She did great! She was awake for the first flight from South Bend to Chicago............

 

...but slept in her own seat for the 5 hour fight from Chicago to Orange County.

Of course, the first thing we did was go to Disneyland!! My parents watched Jos so Kev and I could have a nice day together. The day was so perfect! Just look at that sky!

Kev's booth at the convention was awesome. They had a great show. I am so proud of him!

I had a day of relaxation with my best friend Andrea at the pool.

Jos LOVES her grandparents! She had so much fun with Grandpa and Grandma. She will miss them!

She also loved meeting her great-grandparents. She smiled the whole time! Unfortunately, she didn't get to meet her great-great-grandma who is recovering from a stroke. Bummer. 

The flight home was a breeze as well. This time she was awake for a good part of the flight, but she was such a trooper. She sat in her car seat between us and had a great time talking to daddy.

Randoms.

First of all, I am counting down the days till both our California trip and our Florida trip. I've learned that snow is much more fun when you don't have to live with it several months out of the year. It's especially aweful if you can't even ski on it!  We are leaving for California on the 8th and coming back the 20th. It'll be the first time Jos won't have to be so bundled up. Then we are planning a Florida trip sometime in the spring. 

Second of all, I need to rant a little. I feel like I have been really good about sharing my baby. For the most part, I let just about everyone hold her and  touch her. I actually really like seeing her discover new faces. But, if people keep putting their fingers in her mouth and kissing her hands, I'm going to have to be selfish. What makes someone think it's ok to put their fingers in another persons mouth, especially a baby!! A couple people that have held her have stuck their fingers in her mouth so she would suck on them. I don't know where your hands have been! It's winter and there are all sorts of illnesses going around. I am not a germaphobe and I don't always sanitize everything, but we have made it this far without her getting a cold or the flu. If you ever do this with other people kids, trust me, it drives them nuts. The other day, someone brought their child up to see Jos. They told their child to keep her distance since she has a cold. The little girl immediately went up to touch her face. The mother said "No, don't touch her face. You can hold her hand, though." Seriously?!? Babies put their hands in their mouth all the time! If you or your children are sick, her hands are the worst place to touch. I realize breastfeeding gives a certain amount of immunity and I am not trying to keep her totally germ-free (some germs are good and help her strengthen her immune system), but I really would like her to remain sick-free this season. So remember:

1. Never put your fingers in a baby's mouth, even if you tell the mother you washed them. It's just gross and rude.

2. Try not to kiss babies hands either. They like to suck on their hands.

3. If you or your children are sick, please stay away from babies!

That's it. That's all I ask.

Third, I have gotten impatient with my post-pregnancy body. I gained over 40 pounds and she was 2 weeks early. I am not complaining about that cause I know I needed to gain enough so she would be healthy. I have dropped about 32 of the 42 pounds, so I have about 10 to go. I really don't care about the weight, cause right now, I am at a perfect weight for my height. I was underweight before. I also want to keep some of it while I am breastfeeding so I can make sure she is getting enough nutrients. I just want to get into better shape. I have never had to work out to look like I was in shape. I really hate working out. I have started doing yoga and pilates to try to get my stretched out abs back in shape. It'll be good for my health anyway even if my body doesn't change. Wish me luck.  

New Year Craziness.

So we are back in Indiana now after a long journey through several states. We stayed in a Marriot on the Nebraska/ Iowa border on New Years and enjoyed the relaxing evening. It was super low-key, but we were so exhausted, we didn't care. I fell asleep way before midnight but apparently Kevin counted down with Josie.

Then the craziness started. As we were driving through Iowa, we got pulled over for speeding (going 73 in a 65 zone). The officer was super nice and was going to just give us a warning and let us go.  He took Kevin's license and went to write a warning. Then he came back and ask that I immediately get into the drivers seat. He said that Kevin's license was coming back not valid and that he had a warrant for his arrest. WHAT?!? Of course we both freaked and were completely puzzled. The officer took him back and showed him what the info said and told him that since we have a baby, he would not do anything and let us go. He said that we were lucky his camera didn't work. The info said that Kevin's license was suspended due to not paying a ticket back in May. Of course we knew there was a mistake and promised the officer up and down that we would take care of the mistake. As we continued our drive home, we both searched our memories trying to remember if we missed something. Well, it turns out, it was a mistake. We had taken care of that ticket (a fix-it ticket for not changing our tags) back in May. For some reason, they never noted it and suspended his license. I was really mad though, cause if we had gotten another officer, they could have arrested him for nothing! So glad we were watched over and didn't have a worse situation. I can't imagine Kev in jail! So all is well with that and Kev is no longer wanted (at least not by the law). 

But the craziness continues..............

As we pulled into our driveway, we were so relieved to be home. Kevin unlocked the house and went to turn on the lights. Nothing happened. There was no electricity and the thermostat said it was 35 degrees in the house. This was at like 2 in the morning. We called the emergency electrical number and had to wait an hour for them to send someone out to fix it. Fortunately, it was back on  soon but it took several hours to reheat the house enough for comfort. In the meantime we put on our snow suits, set up the space heater and snuggled up in bed to keep warm. Jos slept though the whole thing and kept pretty warm in her snow suit. But wait, there's more.....

The night before, as we were driving, I noticed Jos's left eye was a little red and had some crusties. It didn't seem to bother her so I decided if it got worse I would take her to the doctor in the morning.  Well, it got much worse. As we woke up from our cold sleep, still all bundled, I saw that her eye was swollen shut and there was quite a bit of seepage coming from it. We immediately decided to take her to the ER as visions of that part in "Ray" flashed through our heads. She was such a trooper and didn't even cry as they checked her out. It turns out she just had a clogged tear duct and some eye drops and warm water was all she needed. We are so glad she is ok. What long morning it was! Well, all is well now. We are warm, healthy, and not wanted by authorities. 

In the hospital gown getting checked out.

In some good news, we will be in California for 12 days starting next week. I can't wait for Josie to meet the rest of my friends and family! Also, we have decided to take a trip to Florida in the spring. We want to check on the house, see some friends, and go to Disney World. We also miss the warm weather!

Here's some more tummy time!

Our niece, Michelle, got married on the 30th. Here are a few pics. Jos all bundled up outside the Salt Lake Temple.

With her aunts dressed up for the wedding.

Just one more clip from Aunt Kristie's house......