Option B

Well, here's the photos of us on our adventure:Yes, I did chose Option B. But look at how awesome my husband looks climbing!

Last, but not least isn't my baby funny?! This is the face she makes when she's doesn't want to eat anymore!

Which would you chose?

Background:
As anyone that has read my blog before knows, my husband likes to climb. Specifically he likes to boulder. Bouldering means that you climb shorter, tougher routes and also that you don't use ropes. Instead you use a crash pad (little mattress looking thing) to fall on and spotters to make sure you don't, say crack your head open and die. When we moved here last July he purchased a membership to the local rock gym and has gone climbing twice a week pretty much every week since. Well, now that the weather is nice enough to climb outside and since Northern Utah has some good bouldering areas he's taken Saturday mornings to go bouldering. He goes alone and since he doesn't really like to talk to people once he's there, he tries to find problems where nobody else is.

Your Choices:
Option A
You spend your Saturday morning worrying about the fact that he's hiking and climbing someplace alone-ALONE. This means that if he falls wrong he could crack his head open and nobody around would know until the next climber happens upon him an hour or two later. By that time he may have lost too much blood from the gash in his skull with his brains exposed and Charlotte and I are left alone. He does take his cell phone, but he doesn't keep it on him so if he got his arm caught someplace he couldn't call for help. (Of course I would know he's out there and the general area where he climbs so he wouldn't have to cut his own arm off. He'd just be stuck there for a long time. I don't really like this idea either.) Or perhaps he could fall through the rocks or into the stream while he's hiking to the boulders. It's not a very fun morning for Charlotte and me. Charlotte is a worrier.

Option B
You decide that since it's good weather you'll just go with him and you and the baby can enjoy the outdoors. You wont be much good as a spotter because of the baby, but you'd at least be on hand in case of an emergency. Of course what could happen when you get there and get the one month old baby strapped into the snugly on your front is that he plans to take you right up the side of the mountain. Then he might think that, even though you can't see where your feet are landing because of the baby, you can hike with him through a talus field to get to the next spot further up the mountain. (For anyone that doesn't know what a talus field is, it's a big pile of huge rocks that have fallen off the mountain higher up and are just sitting there. These rocks are huge and so are the gaps below them.) At one point in the talus field you might look below you and see that if you place your foot wrong you and your precious baby could fall a good 10-15 feet onto sharp rocks below. Of course your caring and trusting husband has so much faith in your abilities that he knows all you will need is a hand to hold while you are angling your body across and around two huge rocks. And in the end he would be right. You would be able to do it. And you'd then have a good story to tell and the knowledge that you can do it. Plus, when you get home you can notice the nice tan you've developed over the few hours in the sun. Wait, you're a red-head so all you see is more freckles (even though you stinking put on SPF 50 before you went out). Of course, what could happen is that the boulders are in a big field and all you have to do is go on a small, well defined hike and relax in the shade of some trees while your husband climbs. You never know it could happen that way. It's a gamble.

Three weeks ago I chose option A. There will be a photo soon to show you which one I chose today.

Odds and Ends

Since I have so many Charlotte things on my mind the non-Charlotte tidbitts seem to be piling up so I thought I'd unload them now:

• You are so tricky Daddy! I didn't know you knew how to make a google account. Now you should start a blog so we know what you're up to and we can comment on yours.
• Isn't my husband the best?! He goes to work every morning before I wake up (well, it wouldn't be before I wake up if he didn't have to go in "early" every day. If you go in early every day can you still say you're going in early?) and comes home exhausted. On top of this he still has energy to cuddle, and play with our baby. Plus, he changes her diaper without being asked and he gets up to burp her in the night too! He really is an amazing daddy.
• Another "my husband's the greatest" fact is that he still makes it a point to tell me he loves me and do silly things to make me laugh. (Like putting on one of my maternity shirts to go play football in. He didn't really do it, but it was a funny sight nonetheless.)
• When my mother-in-law came for the baby she went shopping while we were in the hospital. It has been such a fun treasure hunt to see all the little things she got for us and the baby. I made a box of brownies yesterday and read Charlotte the three books she got us.
• The green chair that my dad got us has quickly become the favorite of all that are in our house. It is so comfortable and nice. Charlotte even likes to take naps on it.
• I'm so excited for my cousin's wedding/Charlotte's blessing weekend becuause everyone will see how awesome and beautiful our little one has become. (OK this one isn't non-Charlotte, but it crept into my list anyway.)
• My niece and nephews have added some new words to our vocabulary. The first one is a cubby. My sister-in-law calls wedgies snuggies instead. When her daughter heard this she mixed it up and thought she said cubby so now they're always called cubbies. My nephews are reading The Chronicles of Narnia series, but the younger one calls them The Cronciles of Narnia.
• When we go walking in the morning I notice all the gardens in town and you can really tell the gardners. One that I like particularly well runs right along the side of the creek that runs through town. The gardner has planted such an interesting flower along the stream and I'm so curious about the name of it. My mom has always said that I like Dr. Seuss plants and I'm sure she would put this one in that category too.
• I realized a few weeks ago that I really have become used to our little town. My husband and I were driving to my grandma's house in Salt Lake. I caught myself waving to the man mowing his lawn and the two little kids riding their bikes. The man waved back, but the kids looked confused. I realized then that we weren't in our little town anymore and had a good laugh at myself.
• Right now we're deciding between moving to Philidelphia and St. Louis. It'll probably be St. Louis. My husband has already started looking at places to rent in the area.

Well, this post probably wasn't very exciting, but I wanted to wrap up the odds and ends.

Mom to the Rescue

Well, my mom proposed such a great reward system when I asked her about it that I immediately knew I'd use it. What will make everyone laugh is that it involves both food and money. What will make those of you that know me well enough laugh is the actual reward. I go grocery shopping once every two weeks. So if I accomplish my goals for the whole two weeks when I go grocery shopping I can buy one box of any kind of cold cereal that I want, even if it is the most expensive kind. I don't have to get the cheapest because we (and when I say we I mean I) eat through it so quickly. So what if it is Lucky Charms instead of Marshmallow Maties? It's my treat! (Probably I'll buy Cracklin' Oat Bran as my first treat though. Mmmm.)

As another point on this topic thanks to all those that gave ideas for the "mental exercises." I liked all of them and mean to try one at a time.

Vacation's Over

This morning I was talking to my mom and she, in her wisdom, may have hinted that I've been taking a break long enough and need to get off my duff and start living my life again. She didn't say it like that, but I got the picture pretty clearly enough. My initial reaction was that my baby is only four weeks old and I still have plenty of "vacation time" left before I have to get back to a normal life. Well, I was thinking about it for the rest of the morning and I decided that my mom is right. It's high time I start getting into a productive routine. I decided to make a list of goals for myself to get back into a healthier life. Before making the goals I made some qualifications: they had to be only about my well being (the house can wait until later), they had to be achievable in my mind (so no mini triathlons). Here are the goals I've decided on so far:

• Do at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily (notice I did not say exercise, since I for sure wouldn't stick to it if that word was used)
• Get up for the day when my husband does
• Make the bed when I get up (this may seem like it's about doing housework, but really making the bed is a literal way for me to say to myself, "OK I'm starting my day productively")
• Find a sewing project to work on just for fun
• Do at least 20 minutes of scripture study/gospel reading daily
• Read the Sunday school lessons before class each week

The list isn't complete though. I decided that I need to add some mental exercising into it, but I'm not sure how to do that. Should it be that I need to read some non-fiction book? Should it be that I learn something about a new topic? I'm not sure how to proceed in that direction because my learning has been so structured from the outside up until this point in my life. I would love it if it had something to do with music, but lately I've just been so frustrated with self-directed learning in that area. I feel that I need a teacher to really be successful. I don't think that everyone needs a teacher, but I think that I definitely do.

Also what I need is a way to check my progress and reward myself. This may seem silly, but without a reward I'm pretty sure I wont stick to these goals (even if they do seem easy right now). My only problem is that I'm not sure how to reward myself. I don't want it to be food related since part of my goals is to be healthier and my food reward would be something like cinnamon rolls. It can't cost very much either so I can't say that I'll buy something for myself. Perhaps I'm just not creative enough, but I'm having a really difficult time coming up with a reward. Any ideas? I'll just have to think about it longer I guess.

Pictures!

Isn't she adorable?! Such a beautiful dreamer! When she is dreaming she makes the most animated faces! I can't wait until she smiles when she's awake and not just dreaming.

Daddy burping her just before church on Sunday! Isn't her dress adorable?

Update

Boy I sure do miss having the internet! That half hour drive in to town with a baby is pretty tricky. Although I shouldn't complain, I'm sure I'll get the hang of the situation soon enough. I only wish I had it because I would come on every day and tell you all stories of how awesome my baby is (becuase she is pretty awesome). Mostly I also miss not getting the news of my loved ones as quickly. Here are some highlights of the first three weeks of Charlotte's life (in a very condensed version since she wants to eat again):

• The football hold works great! Thanks for the advice.
• I have also decided to stop worrying about breastfeeding. My baby is growing and seems healthy and happy. She's the one that decides the length and frequency of feedings so I assume she's getting all she wants/needs.
• She's already grown out of her newborn sized clothing!
• She's super at sleeping through the night (unless of course she's cold in which case she wakes up every hour until silly mommy or daddy realize why she keeps waking up)
• Her little tongue is so precious! She can point it so skinny!
• She had an explosive poop when we went to a restaurant a while back. The explosion went right on to my shrit! GROSS! Luckily I had packed an extra shirt. It didn't match, but it was clean.

Photos will be coming. I promise, but I'm at my husband's work using the computer right now so I can't really do it.

I have three weddings to attend so far this summer so I'm hoping to be able to find a dress that makes me look good for the photos and also will be good for nursing. Any ideas or is it just a lost cause?

Charlotte Claire

SHE'S HERE! Sorry it's taken me so long, but the half hour drive just to post on my blog is a bit of a challenge when you have a new little one. I know that every mommy thinks this, but I still have to say that my baby is perfect! She came out looking just like my dad. Her little nose and cheeks were perfect replicas of him. Thirteen days later she's starting to take on more of her daddy's features. Plus, and I'm really excited about this one, I think she has her daddy's skin pigmentation! I went to the park with her the other day and I was so paranoid about her getting a sunburn, but she didn't! (Granted she spent most of the time under a blanket because mommy was too nervous about that.) I think her hair might be curly, but it's really still too early to know that for sure. It's a light golden brown today, but again that seems to change daily. Her eyes have been changing daily too. Mostly they're blue, but some days they turn olive green. She's perfectly healthy and her pediatrician said she's just great. The only big hurdle we need to still overcome is in nursing. She doesn't like one side and gets really mad when she has to eat off that side. Very frustrating for mommy and baby, but we are trying persistence and patience. Everyone says that eventually she'll calm down about it. Now she wants to eat again, so I'd better go!