Words to the Wise Upon Joining the Pedestrian World

da da

mom

eeeee. eeeee? eeeee!

For those of you not acquainted with what eeeee is, it is a pronoun/proverb/proadjective/article used to describe or refer to anything not a mommy, or a daddy.

Yep, that's pretty much it. That's all she has to say. She will say da da or mom pretty reliably around the respective parent. But MaryP has started walking - and not of her own will.

We took MaryP to Bremerton Waterfront Park on Friday. There they have 5 fountains shaped like the sails of submarines with shallow (~6 in) pools around each in which you are allowed to play. We set her standing in the water and she hated it. The water was a little cold, but it was a pretty warm day. Still no deal, she would not play or do anything. In any normal situation, she would have dropped down and crawled wherever she wanted to, but not when there is water that she didn't want to be in.

So, she decided to start walking.

I am impressed at how quickly she has improved. Today she has figured out how to stand up without using a piece of furniture. Who knows what's next.

Our video is a blend of 3 different videos of MaryP showing her pedestrian prowess. I hope you enjoy.

Tillykke med bryllupsdagen

No - that was not a typo. It's Danish for Happy Anniversary! (Inspired by one of MaryP's library books we are celebrating our anniversary in 17 different languages.)

Happy 2 Years to us!

Part of me can't believe it's already been two years (time sure does fly) and the other part of me can't believe that it has only been two years - we sure packed a lot into that time. Moving across the country - twice. Trips to NYC, Boston, Maine, Palmyra, PA, just to name a few. Crazy snow/ice storms. Fabulous hikes. Busyness with church involvement. Making great friends. A few tears. Laughing so hard that my sides hurt. Our beautiful daughter (almost one year old now!). And the list goes on. Wood is a fantastic husband -I cannot imagine anyone else I'd rather be with! He is always for an adventure and willing to try new things. I have tried a lot of new things as a result and (for the most part) I've been grateful for it! I love that he loves me the same at my best and worst. I love that we can have intellectual conversations, and also be ridiculously silly. Last night we were working on a project together and I thought about how one of the things I love is working as a team. I am so grateful that we were married for time and all eternity in the temple - I cannot imagine being without my best friend.
I love you!

Ginyumilul chuka hamida!!

Everything Else in May

Updates On What We Have Been Up To In May

episode 3 of 3

So I must admit this is pretty late for May. Sorry.

We injured ourselves/got sick a lot in May. I sprained my ankle playing none other than Ultimate Frisbee. Then I dropped a clamp on my foot a few days later that bruised my foot (hurts still . . . but just a little bit ~ 1 month later). Woodine's knee was bothering her. MaryP had an allergic reaction to Peanut Butter (I'm really sad about it. No peanut butter? How can you live? And I know you are not supposed to give babies PB until they are 1 yr, but honestly would everything have been different if we waited 50 more days to find out she was allergic to it?). Woodine burned her palm pretty badly one night when we were making cookies. She leaned on the table, not realizing the pan that just came out of the oven was there. Since she was leaning with her weight, she couldn't pull away especially quickly. Her hand blistered up. We thought about little Piper, and I just can't imagine how much she must have hurt when she burned her hands. Anyway, Woodine slept on the sofa so she could elevate the hand because it hurt so bad. We wrapped it with ice, and I slept on the floor beside the sofa. But she was blessed to heal very quickly, and we have rediscovered our Mayo Clinic Family Health Book that Woodine's grandparents gave us for Christmas (we've spent some quality time looking through it recently - and not just out of necessity, but because it is also interesting).

But enough about our medical woes. I also modified my favorite pair of pants with my intrepid wife's help. I wanted a drawstring on the cuffs of my pant legs so that I could tighten them to keep out bugs and water and such as I am hiking. But my pants have a zipper down there to enable loosening of the cuff. I didn't want to disable the zipper action, so I designed a draw string that could be detached on one side so if I wanted to unzip the cuff, I still could but I could also tighten it using the drawstring.

I found some small hooks (like those found on dresses) and some elastic at Joanne's Fabric. The fabric store regulars made comments about me (a man) looking for dress hooks and elastic bands - but I gave them no heed, intent on my purposes. I anchored the elastic on one side of the zipper, sewed the elastic into a new hem around the bottom of the leg, and attached a drawstring clip on the elastic and ended with an overhand knot pulled super tight which could be inserted into the dress hook sewn to the location where I anchored the elastic. It works great!
At the end of the month, Woodine's parents visited. It was a lot of fun to see them. Not only do I have the best wife in the world, but I have the best in-laws in the world too. We went hiking at the Sol Duc river again, and enjoyed the scenic car ride and good company. They took us out for Mexican food, and we enjoyed going to church together. I love this area a lot, but I wish we lived a little closer to Woodine's parents, and mine. Or maybe I just wish air travel was cheaper and faster. In any case, I love it when people visit us, or when I can get away to visit others. I am really excited for Reunion this July.