A month old already?!

I can't believe our little bug is a month old already! It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but it's also kind of been forever. Probably because it's been a month since I've slept more than 4 hours in a row.

We love our Myles so much. It's fun to hold him and realize, "Whoa. He is WAAYYY bigger than when we brought him home!"

He also spends a lot more time awake. He likes to lie on the ground or in his bouncer (but not the swing - he does not like the swing) and just kick his little legs and wave his arms around and make sounds. The smiles are brief but real. He's getting really good at focusing on faces and following movement with his eyes (as long as it's not too fast). He's getting a double chin and putting some meat on his bones! His legs aren't chunky yet, but give us another couple of months - we'll get there for sure!

Just look at him dancing, and that big round belly!

It's funny realizing the hundreds of ways that having a baby changes your life. There's the big things, like waking up during the night and having to plan around the baby's eating schedule, but there are so many little things. Packing a diaper bag with me everywhere instead of a purse. Trips to the grocery store now include a walk down the baby isle. We are now people who take the elevator, rather than stairs or an escalator (at least with the stroller). Congratulations are given out when body functions occur - "Wow that was a big burp!' "Oh what a big messy diaper you have - good job!" etc.

First going-to-church outfit

His 4-week doctors appointment was on Tuesday, and they were so impressed with him. He weighed in just short of 11 pounds (10lbs 15oz). He's gained three pounds over his birth weight in just four weeks, and is now in the 76th percentile for his age (last visit he was at 49%). He's now measuring 22 inches long. Can you imagine growing 2.25 inches in four weeks?!

Our goals for the next couple of weeks are: get him sleeping longer during the night. Introduce the bottle. More tummy-time (at least 15 min a day!). Putting himself to sleep rather than holding him until he's out. Going on daily walks - even if it's just a half mile.

First hike!

I need to get some official "one month old" pictures. Until then, enjoy these!

He SMILES! So fun

Summer Adventures

Other than the fact that June has been unusually hot (the hottest June since I've been in Atlanta), life seems pretty awesome.

We're settling into our new house nicely. I haven't got the nursery painted or set up yet, but most of our other stuff is out and organized. I went on a garage sale / estate sale shopping trip this last weekend and found some great stuff: two matching 6' bookcases, some old kids books, some nice slacks for Chase, and best of all, my reading corner chair! I've been wanting a nice plush chair to put in the corner of our bedroom for a reading corner and I found the perfect one at an estate sale. Since it was the last day of a three day sale, it was 50% off - only $100!

My awesome reading corner with a beautiful chair and big bookcase!

I also found this super terrifying doll. But I didn't buy it - $20, seriously!?

I've been trying pretty hard to stay fairly active despite the heat and the increasing difficulty of simple tasks like putting on shoes. A couple of weeks ago we went to the cabin with our friends, Brad and Sarah Yates. On Saturday morning we hiked a little 3 mile portion of the Appalachian trail - it was gorgeous!

Oh yeah, funny story. While we were moving, Chase "found" his old hiking boots (they had been hiding from him at the bottom of his closet - where his shoes theoretically belonged). He was so excited to wear them hiking. Less than 5 minutes into our hike, the sole flopped off of his boot, attached only at the heel. He shrugged it off and wanted to keep going until two minutes later...FLOP. The other sole disattached. So we had to go back to the car so he could change out to his normal tennis shoes. Good thing, too, because we discovered we'd been going the wrong way! We eventually made it to Preacher's rock, which had this awesome view.

Chase's family likes to go camping up at Lake Lanier three or four times every year. And finally, two years after joining the family, I was actually able to join them. They were all there from Wednesday to Saturday, but Chase and I only made it up for Friday night and Saturday clean up. I slept in my hammock, which was surprisingly comfortable. Plus, the view when I woke up in the morning was amazing!

I got to go up to North Carolina  on a "work trip". This means that Fockele has a couple of sites in the Raleigh/Durham area that we sub-contract out to another company and we like to check up on them quarterly. I happily volunteer to go, since I get to see Mindy and Jeran. Plus, my company pays for my drive time, so that's awesome. I had fun hanging out with the Stratfords, even if baby Allison had a bit of a cold. She liked sitting on the hammock with me. It makes me very excited for a couple of months from now!

And now a quick pregnancy update - everything is going great. I am 33 weeks +5 days (meaning my week mark is on Tuesay. So this coming Tuesday I will be 34 weeks pregnant). I have had a little bit of ankle swelling, but so far it's not a permanent thing - just once in a while. Sleeping is sometimes difficult, but I really like (and/or need) an afternoon nape. I really don't like being outside in the heat (I'm not sure that's actually a pregnancy symptom, but I have a good excuse for staying inside more!). My right ribs feel pretty bruised. So pretty much, this pregnancy is going really well and I have nothing to complain about!

Fall Creek Falls, TN

Last Friday after work I drove up to Tennessee for a YSA Retreat at Fall Creek Falls State Park, hosted by one of the stakes nearby. It was an interesting adventure getting there. I missed an exit in Tennessee, and the recalculated route took me on a little highway through the sticks of Tennessee, and it seemed to last forever. I finally got to the town that the address used, but I couldn't find the state park anywhere on the TomTom. So I had to stop and ask. "Turn left, and go straight up the mountain, and after a while it will be on your left." It's pitch dark - I can't see any mountains! So I turned left and drove...and drove...and drove up this windy little mountain road. I'm already late for registration and quite probably lost, so I'm laughing at the situation. Battling hysteria. Did I mention it was twenty-five degrees outside, no cell reception, and a storm blowing in?

Anyway, I finally found the park, and finally found the conference center and inn. I didn't find the dance all that exciting, so I went to my hotel room and watched NCIS and Say Yes to the Dress (with Alyna, though we didn't know it at the time). The other girl who was supposed to be in my room never showed up, so I had it all to myself. On Saturday, they had three classes in the morning - Tennessee Mormon History, the Atonement, and Perspective. All were pretty cool. Then they provided sack lunches, and we had free time until dinner and the stake president's talk to us. I had really hated driving in the dark the night before, and I wasn't having that much fun anyway, so I decided to leave early. But not before I saw some of the park.

It was snowing on Saturday when we woke up, big flakes swirling down onto the lake. It was quite beautiful. I found I was quite excited by the snow and the refreshing cold (mountains are okay to be cold, beaches are not). This was the view from my balcony in the morning:

I went to see the main waterfalls (Fall Creek Falls), and then the two small waterfalls (Cane Creek Falls, I believe). It was beautiful. Absolutely freezing - like 20 degrees - but I had two jackets including my Scotland sweater. And I ran some, to keep warm. I loved this area, and I definitely plan to go again sometime when it's warm and green.

So it was a good little retreat, even if it wasn't particularly social. I didn't really meet anyone, although I did say hi to Sam Briscoe. We think we're related, but it's rather distantly. His family did live in Idaho, though. He also knew Matt from his mission in Houston.

Stone Mountain Morning

This morning, Kara and I went to Stone Mtn - Atlanta's resident mountain. Which is actually just a "quartz monzonite dome monadnock" (Wikipedia). It's a big rock, which counts as a mountain here, since it's the closest thing to it for at least an hour.

The weather was supposed to be sunny and clear, but chilly (aka, 45-55 degrees). We planned to hike/run on the 4.something trail around the mountain, and then decide if it was warm enough to have a picnic lunch. 

As it turned out, it was absolutely perfect weather for a nice jog through the woods. We took it nice and slow, with plenty of time to appreciate the weather, views, and the fact that running across slanting rock is not actually a good idea. It took about an hour and a half to go around the mountain on the non-extended Cherokee trail. I took a lot of pictures.

I was told the straight hair and pigtails look makes me look sporty and Swedish. 

Perfect for trail running.

Slanting rock that has water running down it. Not the best for running.

Absolutely gorgeous running next to the lake.

Cool old-style building with a water wheel! and bridges.

After the run was over, we decided the weather was beautiful and we would have a picnic. Honestly it was just like an idyllic morning of exercise and outdoors. I'm hoping to spend a lot of my time in Atlanta doing stuff like this. 

Perfect Day

Since yesterday was wonderfully perfect, I must write about it, and explain why I call it perfect.  

First of all, I got to sleep in.  Until almost 10!  I haven't slept in that late in...a couple of weeks, at least.  Then our ward breakfast was cancelled, so Mindy and I made a big breakfast of hash browns, eggs, sausage, and toast.  It was delicious!  

Jerin came over, and we decided to go on a hike.  (Mindy and Kayla had both left for the weekend, at this point).  We drove up Provo canyon, stopped at Bridal Veil Falls, because I've 

never seen it, and then drove up past Sundance.  There was still too much snow to hike

 anywhere up there, but we had fun driving on the curvy mountain road, and got out and took some fun pictures.  Then we drove back down the canyon and went over to Rock Canyon.  We hiked up the trail a ways, but on our way back, we had a fun adventure hiking on the stream bed.  We did some scree jumping - jumping from boulder to boulder - and climbed over or under big fallen logs, etc.  After that awesome fun adventure, we had a picnic at the fields near Wyview [where we live] and threw a frisbee around.  The weather was so beautifully nice - around 60 degrees, and sunny, hardly any breeze - that we tried to be outside as long as we possibly could.  

 

Then I went to IFA to buy some gloves for tree climbing (success!) and did some homework (not 

as successful!)  Then Jerin came over and we ate some Banana Cream pie to celebrate Pi day!  It was delicious.  

And last, but not least, swing dancing!  I got there around 7, when the lessons start.  They taught us the Shim Sham, which is a sweet line dance created by Frankie Manning (who pretty much originated swing).  We practiced our team routine a bit too, since we'll be performing it on Tuesday (i'll try to get someone to video it).  Fun dancing, plus, Em Hardman showed up!  It was so much fun to hang out with her and Jessame Peterson.  

All in all, it was a wonderful, glorious, perfect day.  Being outside with such great weather, plus swing dancing to finish it off - what more could i ask for?!