Willie Day '15

I'm pretty sure I had a dream about Willie Day last night, so it seems fitting for me to be blogging about it today. If you're reading this, you probably have at least a vague idea of what Willie Day is, or that it at least has something to do with peaches. If you need a little refresher, click here. There have been rumors of a Willie Day book, so maybe I can offer that as an explanation next year.

This was to be our first Willie Day back in Utah and it fell on a Saturday, so we knew a trip to the original Willie tree was in order. We spent much of the day with the Durham family, since Chad is one of the original founders of the holiday and their family respects the tradition.

 We started with a BBQ at the Durhams' house. Willie Day miracle - Jack took a nap in Rich's arms.

We also made a pilgrimage to the Willie tree. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be in good shape and there was not a peach to be found.

Introducing the kids to the Willie tradition

Faithful Willie Day believers

And this isn't really Willie Day, but I did get to visit the former roomie Alex. Jack took to her instantly. And Norah fell in love with her roommate's dog instantly.

No huge miracles this year (those came last year - finding out we were pregnant with Jack and Rich getting an interview with Fanzz), but we definitely felt the love. I hope you all ate your peaches!

Jack at 4 Months Old

Since I don't remember perfectly what was happening for Jack at 4 months, here's what I wrote for an Instagram post:

"Happy 4 months to this handsome boy! Jack drools like crazy, loves his hands and being cuddled, and does not love his binky or being stuck in his car seat. He rolls from front to back and has once gone from back to front (though the verdict is still out on whether or not Norah helped). He's still figuring out the sleeping thing, which I think is hard for him as he seems to go through a growth spurt every week. But sleep or no sleep, we love our chunky boy!"

I think I was trying to downplay just how bad "the sleeping thing" was going. It was bad. (And little did I know it would only get worse.) His naps were okay, but nighttime was the worst. He would cry and cry and only nursing would soothe him. Right about now he started refusing his binky, too. It's like he forgot how to suck on it. So, Rich and I would attempt to calm Jack down at midnight, 3 AM, 5 AM, and all other hours of the night because I didn't want to fall into the habit of nursing him every time he woke up (didn't last because I didn't know what else to do). He would often scream in our arms for up to an hour. I'm sure our neighbors hated us, but we weren't exactly enjoying life either.

I think the biggest part of the problem was that he couldn't cry it out. I am not the biggest fan of crying it out, but nothing else was working, especially when you consider that he cried whether we were holding him or not. But since the apartment was so small and Norah was waking up, too, and we actually were trying to be considerate of our neighbors, we just couldn't have the noise. This was one of the main reasons we needed to move, so Jack could have his own room where far fewer people would suffer from his crying.

Jack's 4 month stats

Weight: 16 lbs. 2 oz. (55%)

Length: 26.5 in. (90%)

Head circumference: 17 in. (70%)

I was pretty surprised by how far he had dropped in percentiles for weight - all the way down to 55%! I feel like Norah did a pretty similar drop at about this time, but she didn't start out quite so big so this seemed even more dramatic. And Jack still looked so chunky to me! The height was still pretty high, though. It won't last, little buddy.

 He kind of looks like a crazy person in the picture on the left.

Silver Lake

Rich had Labor Day off, and we wanted to do more than our usual Rich-has-a-day-off routine (go to a store/the mall and walk around). We looked up good hikes for 3-year-olds and found a lot of people recommended Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It even said you could bring a stroller on it, so that seemed like a good place for us.

I think about half of Utah had the same idea. It took us a while to find somewhere to park, and then there were masses of people all trying to do the same hike, which wasn't a hike because it had a boardwalk for half of it and a well-trimmed and very wide path for the rest of it. It was nice to get out, and it was very pretty up there. But I don't know if I would recommend it because it was too crowded (granted, we should have known that it would be really busy on Labor Day). I also learned that Norah is not a hiker. It wasn't even a mile long, and she was whining by about 5 minutes in. One of our goals this next summer is turn us all into better hikers.

But we did manage to take some pictures, and they at least look like we enjoyed ourselves.

The picture on the left here cracks me up. Norah has a mouth full of Goldfish crackers and is giving the thumbs up, which she never does.

Norah had completely lost interested by this point. We had to bribe her with going out to eat to get her to finish.

August Photo Drop, Part 2

And to close out August, how about some more pictures?

She is just so dang cute.

I sneaked this picture in during Sunday School one week. Can't get enough of those cuddles.

One Sunday, Norah requested seeing the "Jesus statue," so we headed to Temple Square.

 I didn't get my phone out quickly enough to capture it, but there was a sweet moment where Norah was the only one by the statue and was just looking up at Jesus. This is one of her favorite spots to visit.

 

And no kid can resist putting a hand in the reflection pond.

Yeah, super gross, I know. But this was so typical. If poop grosses you out, keep scrolling and don't read this next section. This boy would only poop about once every week or two (his record was 14 days), and then we would have a giant poop-slosion. The doctor said this is pretty normal for breastfed babies, but it was absolutely disgusting to deal with. Fortunately now that he's eating solids, we are past this.

We kept that kid in the bassinet way longer than we should have, but we didn't have much choice. We'd have it at the foot of our bed during the day and he'd nap in there, and then we'd put it in the family room at night so we wouldn't wake each other up. He was such a terrible sleeper then, though, that he slept in his swing half the time anyway.

 Some days, I was and still am only able to shower because Norah keeps Jack entertained for me. I'll set him up outside the bathroom, and Norah will bring the toys. He thinks his sister is the most entertaining person ever.

 It took Norah a while to actually want to hold Jack. She loved him from the start, but she's never been a big fan of babies in general. So when she started asked to hold him for the first time, I just about melted.

Trying out the crib. Sometimes he'd nap in there, but he cried so much in the night that it woke Norah up and we'd have two cranky kids the next day. Hence the bassinet for so long.

My dad's parents had their 60th wedding anniversary in September, and we had a big celebration for them at the Timbermine in Ogden. It started out as a pretty typical party but ended with a rousing reenactment of Rindercella (the princess who slopped her dripper), a Grandpa Max classic. Those in the play were asked to dress as ugly women, and boy did they deliver.

This is my brother Skyler, looking fabulous in my junior prom dress. You can't really tell from this picture, but his own son didn't recognize him and was struggling to be put down.

My dad, the gairy fodmother, and Skyler, an stugly epsister

 

 One weekend, Lambie got left at Grandma Kari's house and returned home with only one eye, thanks to Grandpa's dog Capone. It fell upon me to find a suitable replacement eye. Luckily I had a button that worked pretty well. It was either that or an eye patch to make Pirate Lambie.

Yet another zoo trip. We really loved taking advantage of the Zoo Nights for members only. It was cooler and less crowded and a lot of the animals were more active.

 These pictures of Norah with cousin Huey are just about the cutest things ever. They have so much fun together!

We had a sleepover at my parents' house another weekend, and I think the kids ended up going to bed around 11:30 and woke up about 6 the next morning. Norah was so cranky and so tired. She NEVER EVER EVER falls asleep anywhere but in a bed or occasionally her car seat. But she was so tired that the moment she walked in the door, she fell asleep on the floor.