How Ephraim stays cool

Being Outsmarted

Ahh... motherhood. I love it to pieces - I never imagined how fun it would be. I also never imagined that I would be getting outsmarted by my almost 3 month old. I expected to be manipulated eventually - you don't work with kids for 8 years and not see their expert skills at work. I just didn't expect it to start so early. Ephraim has figured out that if he screams bloody murder when he is in his car seat then his mom pulls over to comfort him. The other day we were going to the mall to shop for a baby shower we are going to today. He started to get really upset so I pulled into a park. I took him out of his car seat - crying stopped. Put him back in - crying started again. Took him out - crying stopped. I then was able to drive for a few more miles before it started again. So -trying to get the upper hand, I stopped to nurse him a little to get him to fall asleep. Thank goodness for magic boobs. Although, I am not sure I really got the upper hand, because he got out of his car seat. I guess I will have to rethink my strategy.

The First of Many

Last Wednesday, Ephraim and I traveled down to Oregon with my mom. Forrest actually took his day off instead of working on his day off and joined us Thursday night. It was a lot of fun. Thursday morning I went to visit Marisa, Drew and Sydney. Steve and Cindy Jacoby and Lee and Kelly Willcox arrived on Thursday afternoon to visit. I consider them family, so it was great to see them. We went out on the boat on Friday afternoon and had a lunch of bagels and shrimp - just like Lake Powell. It was bittersweet - my dad would have really enjoyed Friday and it was glaringly obvious that he was missing.
Later that evening, Nate and Ramie and Merrick, Hannah and Grace arrived. Grace was so cute. She showed us her new trick of showing how old she is and I definitely made sure that she knew how to say "Amy." We will work with her on saying Forrest. We all stayed up way to late, but it was a fun and relaxing evening full of lots of laughs and only one screen door being walked through.
On Saturday Nate and Ramie came back to play on the water. Nate just started wakeboarding, but has already figured out how to get up consistently and can go outside of the wake without any problems.
Here is Forrest wakeboarding. Notice the Sheriff boat in the background.
Ephraim did not like his life jacket, so while I was out playing in the water he was spending some quality time with his Nana on the dock. Now that the weather is nice we hope to spend more weekends down in Oregon hanging out with family and friends and taking full advantage of my mom's boat!

A Shed

Over Memorial Day weekend, Forrest's parents came up to help us build a shed in our backyard.
Forrest hard at work.
The end of day one
Our finished shed. We still have some minor things to do, but for the most part it is done.

Our House

Forrest has been working really hard on making our front yard look good. He has weeded everything and put bark down. Doesn't it look great?






The side yard







Last summer this rose bush only had yellow flowers. This year there is a random red bloom.







My purple office girls gave me this Japanese maple last fall in memory of my dad. We planted it on the side of our house and it looks great.

Michelle In Europe

My sister Michelle left last night to go to Europe by herself for 5 weeks. She is planning on keeping us all updated on her trip by updating her blog. You can read her blog by clicking on her name on the right.

Our Little Cowboy

This weekend we received a fun package from our friends Kat and Travis. Although they are a size too big, I had to put Ephraim in these adorable overalls and take a picture of him on his cowboy blanket. This is to prove to his uncle Erik that we have not forgotten our Wyoming roots. Yeehaw!

Father's Day

"The Greatest Men have a little boy inside them." Eleanor Roosevelt

Ryan In Europe

My brother Ryan is currently in Europe on his Juniors Abroad trip. Ironically - it is the same trip that Drew, Marisa and I took 8 years ago. Ryan's group is going "backwards" compared to our group. We started in Paris and then traveled to London, Norway and Denmark. Ryan's group started in Denmark and is then going to Norway and London. They even have Terri Boehr as one of their guides. (On our trip all of our money was stolen from Terri by gypsies on our 2nd day in Paris.) Ryan's other guide is Caitlin Corning, so hopefully their money is safe. The first picture is of Ryan's girlfriend Emily talking up the wall at the Oslo Viking Museum. I have a picture of Marisa doing this in my scrapbook. The bottom picture is of Ryan at the Sculpture Park in Oslo. If you want to read more about their adventures click on the title and it will take you to the trip's blog page.

Where's Ephraim?

Ephraim decided to try and play hide and go seek in his crib today. Can you find him?

My Sweet Baby and Husband

I forgot yesterday to take pictures of Ephraim on his blanket with Dopey to compare from a month ago, so here is the picture. He then had tummy time and was so cute!
I have to brag about my husband. When we first found out we were pregnant - I promised Forrest that he would not have to get up in the middle of the night. The reason I promised this was that Forrest leaves for work at 6AM and is usually up around 5AM - and I figured that since he is the one bringing in the dough - that he should get some sleep. The other night Ephraim was having a hard time sleeping. At 2:30 he was up for the third time since I had fed him and was crying. Forrest woke up to hear me pleading with Ephraim "Please go to sleep so I can get some sleep." Forrest volunteered to take him so that I could get some sleep. Forrest kept him until 4:30 when Ephraim was ready to eat again. My sweet husband got very little sleep that night, but is my hero for letting me rest!

Two Months Old

Ephraim is two months old today! Time has just flown by. Yesterday we went to the doctor's for his check up. He weighs 10 pounds, 5 ounces (21st percentile) up from the 5th percentile he was when he was born. He is 22 3/4 inches tall (46th percentile) and his head is 14 1/2 inches around (8th percentile). So overall he's still pretty little.

He has become more expressive lately which is lots of fun. And he is becoming happy again. From weeks 5.5-7.5 he was fussy. Fussy, fussy, fussy and all I did all day was rock and sing to him and then I would hand him off to Forrest when he got home so that I could actually feel like I accomplished something during the day (a load of laundry, taking a shower, etc.) In the last week or so he has turned back into my happy boy who smiles and coos all the time and goes down for naps easily.
I believe he has a bit of an imp in him. Check him out in his swing. I like that he is trying to escape even though he is buckled in and looks like he is saying "What Mom?"




We have learned that he loves to be outdoors. If he is starting to get upset - we can take him outside and he instantly calms down. This only works the first time though... if I bring him back inside and he becomes upset again - going outside no longer works.

He is a wiggle worm. He can lift his head up 90 degrees when he is on his tummy and does a crawling motion that doesn't take him anywhere.

He thinks he is funny. I will change his diaper, only to have him poop as soon as get all his clothes back on. Then he will get a big grin on his face and just look at me.


He loves to hang out with Forrest. Here they are lounging on a Saturday morning.











Sitting up in bed like a big boy.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Jack!

Today my grandpa turns 96! For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting my grandpa, you are missing out. Happy Birthday! I hope you get to enjoy a glass of Clausthauler's and have some apricot pie. I love you!