Phone Pics...

I'm not sure what happened... last week just came and went!  I had some posts I was meaning put up, but I still haven't uploaded my camera photos and it's late (I'm scheduling this post for tomorrow morning), and I'd like to go to bed, but I was talking on the phone late to Jay (who is in Boston now, and was gone all last week) and my battery was dying, so I plugged my phone into my computer and it uploaded photos from my phone.  

I thought I'd do a quick recap...

 a cute shot of The Frog who fell asleep with his legs hanging off the sofa while reading this book.  Must have been a real page-turner...

 I made these stickers for these flashlights that we gave to our YW for girls' camp.  The theme was "Stand".

 I don't remember where this was...  probably just out for one of our walks in the neighborhood, but I thought Hazel looked so cute and relaxed, lounging all skeewampus with her leg hanging over the edge like that.  Maybe you had to be there...

 This was me trying to capture our fun Family Home Evening lesson where we had a pizza dinner on the Provo Temple grounds and talked about temples.  (which our kids, and we, really loved!)  I have a feeling the kodak moment was gone by the time I pulled out my phone.  (the older kids loved running to the fountain and back while they ate)

 Went for another one of our neighborhood walks one day and this was going on.  Apparently, there are some places that don't have sprinklers and they get irrigation water or something.  I can't believe that this happens once a week only a couple of blocks from our house and I had no idea after living here for 5 years!!

 A bunch of neighborhood kids were already there playing in it.  This is Peach trying to hide the fact that she wet her pants...

I'm starting to notice a pattern... perhaps The Frog's feet enjoy the freeing sensation of falling while he sleeps?

 One day, Hazel just woke up from her nap really early and we were having leftovers for dinner that night, so I thought it would be fun to just spontaneously go on a quick "hike" (this is paved and very short) to Bridal Veil Falls, which is super close to our house and stroller (and bike) friendly.

 It ended up being such a fun little excursion!

 Peach likes to make sure her baby is strapped into her carseat properly.  She will not allow us to leave unless the arms and legs are coming out in the right places.

 This is the kids playing on the playground at The Frog's new preschool (at BYU) on "getting-to-know-you" day where he met his teacher, class pets, and familiarized himself with the classroom.  They have tons of these awesome tricycles there!

We were invited to go have dinner at one of Jay's colleague's homes after The Frog's birthday party, when we were completely DRENCHED in rain!  This is me trying to take a picture in the Costco parking lot (after getting gas) of the people sloshing through water almost to their KNEES!  Thank goodness this didn't happen during his party!

 This was a random silly pic I took on my phone to text Jay and make him wish he was home with cute us, instead of at a boring CS conference in St. Louis. ;)

 I actually tried combing The Frog's hair before church, just for fun (I usually just try to keep it so short I don't have to bother with it...) and I thought he'd make a super-cute Dennis the Mennace :)  His hair doesn't enjoy being parted, though, and it went back to scraggly and moppish soon thereafter.

 Peach wanted me to take a picture of her too, after taking one of The Frog

But everyone kept moving and I couldn't get a good one.

And that's it!  The spur-of-the-moment events that have happened since I last uploaded photos from my phone (July).

Sleeping Smiles

So when The Frog was first born, he pretty much slept the whole time we were in the hospital. It was quite awhile before I got to see what his eyes looked like- probably over 12 hours. (but I didn't keep track, sorry) Something particularly interesting to me is that babies spend a lot more of their sleeping time in REM sleep than we (adults) do.  Now, not much is known about what REM sleep actually does for our bodies/brains, but we do know that this is when people dream.

Which leads me to my first question:  What on Earth could a brand new baby possibly be dreaming about?  Since my dreams seem to stem from things I've lived or read about or seen (except usually with some really bazaar twist) the only thing I can think of is life in the womb- darkness and lots of loud heartbeats, breathing and the occasional gastrointestinal noise.  And I thought my dreams were weird...

And now, that he's been alive awhile, he doesn't sleep as much as he used to, but he still sleeps a whole lot.  As far as I know, he still can only really focus on objects about a foot away from his face, and even then it's not entirely a consistent thing.  (give him a break, he's still perfecting it)  So what are his dreams like now?  Lots of blurry movements?  Eating? (since that's basically what he does when he's awake) And we all know where he gets his food from...  And then how's his memory doing?  Does he still remember the womb to have dreams about that?  I wish he could talk.  (but that's a whole other post)

My last thought about The Frog's REM sleep is that it's so funny to watch him (besides the occasional, freaky, eyes-opening-and-rolling-around) because he sometimes exhibits a bunch of facial expressions that I don't usually get to see when he's awake.  For example, he has not yet learned to smile on command (you know, to show emotion), but I've seen him do it in his sleep a number of times and let me tell you- if you thought he was cute while looking dazed and confused, that is nothin' compared to when he flashes his gummy reds.  I simply can't wait!

As a result, when I can see that he's moving through some faces, I can't help but take PeeWee Herman's advice to "take a picture, it will last longer."  Therefore, I often find myself hovering over his face with a camera, hoping to catch the cuteness more permanently.  It's quite tricky, though, as I usually only get a quick flash of a smile and my camera is slow.  Most of the ones I tried to get are either shots on the way into a smile or on the way out, but I still think this on is cute enough to show off anyway.

Anyway, I dedicate this post to cute pictures of a sleeping Frog.

Sleepless in Stanford

The oddest thing is happening right now... Never in a million years would a generally sleep deprived person like me think that something such as this could occur. For probably the last 9 years of my life, I have put social, school, church, hobbies, fun, family... all before sleep, which means my few hours of rest were greatly needed/appreciated and never overdone. Ever since last school year, I've tried to make it more of a priority, and perhaps, now, I have officially caught up to my sleep debt?

Somehow I doubt that it works that way... Anyway, it's kind of weird to be up at 5:30am, eating a piece of toast, alone in my dark apartment. I laid in bed for what felt like an eternity, trying to fall back asleep, and somehow I started thinking about people I haven't seen in a long time, and realizing how many of their last names I had forgotten. It's sad really... people who I saw every day (or every other day in the block schedule) of high school, and even now, I think I'll have to resort to facebook if I expect to remember the last name. One particular person, I couldn't even remember their first name, though it ends up being ironic that it matches the first name of the other person whose last name I cannot remember. Anyway, I'm sure you've all had the miserable experience of begin unable to recall something you know you know and how distracting that is. Perhaps this is why I can't sleep.

Anyway, I've decided to make the most of it and my stomach was growling anyway, so I thought maybe if I resolved the forgotten names and the hunger pains, perhaps I could reassume my previously comfy position. I've never been a night eater either, which leads me to my next discovery:
fridge lights are super bright when it's the first glimpse of light to enter your eyeballs in several hours.

Anyway, I just remembered the misplaced last name (yesssssssssssss), and my delicious toast is no longer in hand, so I'm off to join my cuddley furnace-man.

PS in three days, I'll be a Master! But who's counting?