Polygamy

With the recent compound raid in Texas, this topic has been in all the headlines lately , and it has really got me irritated. No, I do not practice polygamy (obviously), nor do I agree with it, but I am starting to feel badly for those FLDS for being persecuted for it. Ok, well they are being persecuted for many other wrong-doings as well, but I am certain that if the only law they broke was having more than wife (and they were all, let's say 21 when they got married), they would still be persecuted. Even though LDS no longer practice polygamy, and haven't for a long time, the running joke with non-members is that Mormons=polygamy. I can't tell you how many times I have had to correct teachers (yes, teachers- college professors even!) amidst a group of chuckling students that Mormons do not practice polygamy. Here's where the real agitation kicks in. Why is it that Mormons are made fun of for having practiced polygamy (but no longer do- can't reiterate it enough), but Hugh Hefner is celebrated for it? He is married and has three live-in girlfriends, and he is basically a hero to millions of men (and women). There is something very wrong with that.

Weekend Events and a Birthday (sort of)

Saturday we headed over to Sandy Lake Amusement Park with the Fifes. It's about 5 minutes away from our house. It is a small park with amusement park rides for little kids. It is a cute little park, and would be a great place to host a birthday party.
I think Gwen had a blast on the rides.

Jeremy had fun being the photographer and getting Jason to give his "Blue Steel" and "Magnum" faces.

And Shelby and Logan had fun hanging out and eating snacks.


Shelby is another month older today. 10 MONTHS!!!!! For the record, Shelby:

1) Has two teeth
2) Waves hello and bye-bye
3) Blows kisses
4) Loves her vegetables
5) Loves B-A-N-A-N-A-S (sorry, had to Gwen Stefani it)
6) Hates peaches
7) Has a weird obsession with hair and fur (a post on that later)
8) Has taken her first steps, but has decided crawling is much faster
9) Has recently discovered Teletubbies
10) Misses all her extended family!

Crying It Out

Shelby has gotten into a bad routine. She will typically nurse at about 8 pm and fall asleep. I will put her in her crib, and about an hour and a half later, she is up again. We then play this game that goes something like this:

1) I nurse her.
2) She falls asleep.
3) I go to put her in her crib and she wakes upon being placed inside.

Steps 1-3 are repeated for about an hour until she is finally asleep for the night. Well, last night I had had it. I have attempted to let her cry it out a couple of times, but never made it past the 5 minute mark. I realized though that she has got to learn to go to sleep in her crib, not in my arms. I felt horrible. Why should she be punished for a habit I taught her? Anyway, I had Jeremy put her in her crib, shut her door, shut our door, and turn down the baby monitor so the screams weren't so loud. I then laid on the bed with the pillow over my head and cried. She actually only cried hard for about 5 minutes, then it quieted down to a whimper with intermittent screams for about 15 minutes. We then waited another 10 minutes before going in to check on her. I cracked open the door and immediately started crying again. There she was, slumped over in the corner of the crib, with her head leaning against the rails, fast asleep. I would have taken a picture but I didn't want to wake her up. It was a sad sight indeed, but we had made it through our first night of crying it out.

For some reason, when I thought today about her crying it out last night, I remembered a video I had seen a while back about this swimming technique used to teach small babies how to float on their backs in the event they fall into a pool or some other body of water. I can't make up my mind whether the video is cool or disturbing. I guess it is good that they teach babies how to do this, but the problem I have with the video is that they let the baby sit in the pool crying for over 5 minutes. I mean, after a minute or two, we've got the idea. Was it really necessary to put that baby through that for that long? I had a hard enough time letting Shelby cry it out in her crib. I don't know how any mother could have been sitting there letting their child cry it out in a pool. Check it out and let me know what you think:

Swimming!

Today we took Shelby swimming for the first time. We thought she would enjoy it since she seems to love "swimming" in the bathtub. We found a natatorium close by that has an awesome pool for kids. It has a HUGE slide, a big water playground with another smaller slide, a lazy river, hot tub, and then a large pool. Obviously we didn't get much use out of all the cool features since Shelby is so small, but once she is old enough I think she is going to be begging us to take her there. And we won't mind either. Shoot...I wanted to go down that slide! Anyway, Shelby did love floating and splashing around in the water. She was so cute in her polka dot swimsuit. (Unlike me...ugh...yes, I put on a bathing suit. Gross.)

Here are some shots of the pool before they turned all the water on. You can see all the kids waiting to dive in.






And here are a few shots of Shelby on her first day of training to become an Olympic swimmer.

NEW TRICKS!

The following videos are not very good for the following reasons:

1) They were taken on the digital camera, and were very "last minute/grab the camera, quick! ".
2) I am not wearing any makeup.
3) You hear me singing, and that is never any good.
4) Shelby's room is a mess- clothes piled on the bed, etc.

But, if you can get past all that, you will see some pretty amazing tricks. All of a sudden today Shelby started clapping on her own. I had been trying to teach her, and she's clapped once or twice on her own before, but out of nowhere today she started clapping whenever I say "Yay!" or start singing "If You're Happy and You Know It". What a cute trick!



The second trick is pretty awesome and a huge milestone. Can you guess what she did? She took her first steps on her own!!!! She has been cruising along all the furniture for a couple weeks, and then today, Jeremy was playing with her while I was on the phone and all of a sudden I heard, "Aidan come quick! She walked! She walked!". Yep, I missed her first steps. :( But it's ok, I grabbed the camera and she did it again for me. She only takes 2-3 steps at a time, but it's a start!



P.S. Turn the volume down for the walking. She was VERY tired and kind of whiny. She did not want to perform like a circus clown anymore.

Suzie Homemaker

I FINALLY bought a bread machine. I have wanted one for a LONG time, but for some reason just never bought one. I made my first loaf last night. I also made freezer jam. I had never heard of freezer jam before, but I read Lexi's blog, and got a craving for some homemade jam. When I went down the aisle looking for the mason jars, I saw the actual freezer jam pectin and the freezer jam plastic mason jars. It was so easy! Why had I never heard of this freezer jam before?!

I love homemade bread. It reminds me of growing up. It is just so much better then store bought bread.

Ft. Worth Zoo

 

Saturday we took Shelby to the Ft. Worth zoo (in lieu of the Dallas zoo, because we heard the Ft. Worth zoo was better). I don't know if it was because it was the weekend, the beautiful weather, or because it was the first day of the penguin exhibit, but it was PACKED. We had to wait in line for 30 minutes just to get tickets! I think Shelby liked the penguins the best.

Even though we enjoyed seeing the animals, going to the zoo definitely affirmed something for me. I dislike people very much. I just cannot believe how rude people can be sometimes. How can one have such a total lack of respect for other people around them? For example, it is not okay to smoke while standing in a line. That is rude. It is not okay to PUSH (literally) past people who have patiently been standing in line to see an exhibit and stand your kid up on the rails so that no one else can see anything. That is rude. It is not okay to stand at the window to the penguin exhibit for 10 minutes while there is a line of about 100 people waiting to see them. That is rude.

I try to be very aware of people around me, and not so self-absorbed that I do not notice that what I am doing disrupts others' lives. I just think that people should be conscious of others, that's all. I think the world would be a much better place if everybody just practiced some manners once in a while.

Now that I am off that soap box, I can continue with my story. After the zoo, Shelby was exhausted and passed out in the car. After a nap and short drive home, we headed over to Babe's. We have decided that if anyone ever comes to visit, we are taking them to Babe's. It was DELICIOUS! The menu is very simple. You choose your meat- pot pie, fried catfish, etc. There are like 6-7 choices, but I can't remember them all. Then they bring salad, biscuits, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, and green beans out (along with your choice of meat) and serve those family style. You get all the sides you can eat. It was sooooo good. Normally when rating food, Jeremy will say, "It was good, but not as good as Mamaws". This was the first time in 8 years of marriage he has said "I dare say this is up there with Mamaw's". That's how good it was. Mmmmmmmm...

All-in-all a good Saturday.

Happy Birthday, Roxy!

I have been meaning to post for a while now, but have been a combination of busy and lazy. March 29th was Roxy's 3rd birthday. So in dog years, that makes her 21.

Roxy was Jeremy's graduation present. He begged and begged until I finally caved in. I am not a pet person at all. But once we got the little furball, she was instantly a part of the family. She was a true champ through the hurricane and all our subsequent moves. We do all the dumb things pet people do- dress her up, let her hang out the car window, and even though we haven't yet bought a pet stroller, I did let her test out Shelby's stroller before she was born. We even make her a "cake" every year.

I have to admit that sometimes I get very aggravated with how hyper she can be around other people (she is such a social dog), and with all the dog hair. When we thought we were going to be moving into an apartment, we talked about giving her away because we didn't want her to be couped up in a tiny place. I am glad we didn't have to go that route. We would be very sad. She has been a good dog, and Shelby loves her. I know as Shelby gets older she will only love her more and more.