Sleeping... (or the Lack Thereof...) HELP!!

Sam hasn't slept much at all since our trip to Utah over New Years. In fact, while we were in SLC, he was a horrible sleeper. That's to be expected though. He never sleeps well away from home.

However, he usually makes up for it when we get back.

Not so, not so.

Matt and I have decided it's separation anxiety. Sam will wake up screaming in the middle of the night and be awake for hours on end. No amount of letting him "cry it out" seems to work, although it has always worked in the past.

The only thing that seems to work is if Matt or I stay in his room until he falls back asleep. This wouldn't actually be so bad except that it takes about 2 hours.

After weeks of no sleep, I finally caved last night and let Sam sleep with me in our bed while Matt slept on the couch. (This is always a bad idea.)

The result? Sam slept. I didn't. I'm now going on 4 hours of sleep per night for about 10 consecutive nights. Shortly after Lisa B had her 6th baby, she jokingly asked me, "Does anyone die from this job? I am sooooo tired!"

I'm starting to take her seriously...

Any sleeping advice??? I don't have time to be tired with all this moving, buying a house, packing, arranging for selling cars, etc stuff going on!!! HELP.

To "the Mecca"

Yep... after almost 6 years in Boston, we've decided it's time to grow up and be big kids!


What does that mean exactly?


We bought a house!!
Yes... 5 br, 2.5 bath, fenced yard, 2 car garage dreaminess.

The catch?
It's in Salt Lake City... and we're moving! We have loved Boston and all our close friends here. We have loved working with the youth especially these past couple years and having our adventure back east.

But, it's time to go. We're THRILLED to move closer to Leese, Bryce, and Bel and to Matt's family. So, SLC here we come...

Matt's Political Rally Cap

Matt decided late at night last night that he ought to do SOMETHING to root Mitt on in NH today. So, he disappeared in the back. I thought he was getting ready for bed.

He came back with "Mitt Romney hair".





We decided his hair needs to be a bit longer all around and bushier on the sides. Besides that, not bad. It took many tries to take this pic because I was laughing so hard and I kept making Matt laugh!

So, our challenge to you if you're REALLY a Mitt fan... Join us in rooting him on today and go take a few minutes in the bathroom to style your 'do.

Say CHEESE

We just got back from SLC to see Rachel off (to the MTC for a mission in Korea), and Sam picked up on "saying cheese" for pictures.

Here are a few gems... The last one is my current fave...

"DEE-GEE" and My Little Monkey

Sam loves looking at pictures of Jesus ("Dee-Gee") and especially searching through the Ensign and the Friend for pictures. The other morning, I stumbled upon Sam lying on my bed like this...



I just love my little monkey.


Lastly, a very MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!
Our nativity - hand-carved out of bull horn from Chile.

Coming home with our tree

Matt's self-portrait in one of our ornaments

Sam approaching the fully decorated and lit tree after his nap. "Theeee Liiiiiiiiights"

This one's my favorite... Sam trying to tell us that these are BALLS, not ornaments... So far so good, but I'm just waiting for him to take one off and throw it.

SNOW, Snow and more snow

I took these pictures on Thursday of last week when we got about a foot of snow and Sam and I decided to go for a walk around the block. Since then, we had another foot-ish on Sunday (which resulted in canceled church... SO nice to have a break sometimes!) and it's currently snowing putting another couple of inches already on the ground. I might have to update this post after today...



Our front steps after Thursday... Much worse (and more slippery... just ask Jared) now!


Sam LOVES walking around in the snow as long as it's not too cold outside. Most of all, he LOVES wearing his boots. (Although he'd much rather wear his green frog rain boots). And he loves to "help" shovel...

No! Nay Nay!

(Nate after Sam piled every toy he could find and some other things on top of him one morning)


Whenever I pick up the telephone to answer a call OR to place a call, Sam asks if it's "Nay Nay". If I say it's anyone else, he responds, "NO! Nay Nay!"

Sam LOVES his Uncle Nate. It's a good thing we have free long distance, because we've been calling Uncle Nay Nay several times a day every day since we've been home. In fact, I often know Nate's work schedule each day just so I know whether or not calling him is an option or if I have to work on some distraction techniques for Sam. Here is some photo documentation as to why this is...

Nate let Sam "wrestle" with him and pretty much clobber him all the time. Sam would stand up and then fall on top of Natey, sit on top of his head, jump on top of him, and everything else! Nate was a good sport...

Sam's Enemy is the Sun

Sam HATES having the sun in his eyes. He is so good natured and rarely throws fits, but on the way to Costco this morning, you would have thought he was in mortal pain. Nope. The sun was just in his eyes. Wish I had a pic to post, but he ended up wearing MY sunglasses the rest of the way (which cover about 2/3 of his face).

He was as content as can be.

This pic from CA... his typical hair and eye ornamentation whenever outside - his sunglasses and one of Nate's or Jake's old baseball hats.

Blogging Apology

I've been ever so bad at blogging lately. I just can't seem to find the time! And OH THE PRESSURE after you haven't blogged for a while. It just has to be oh so good with some fabulous pics, right???? (Or lots of back posts to make up for your absense like Oliver or pretty much the best video ever by Adge and Steve or the funniest photo-only-no-text-required-post by Emily or some awesome sports photojournalist post like Les and Trev or have several good excuses like Shauna , or or or....)

Well, this won't be that post, but you can look forward to it soon. :) Some things we've been up to over here...

- traveling to CA and back, and still adjusting to east coast time. (Matt wishes his wife and son would wake up before 9am...)
- Christmas madness - planning neighbor treats, making Christmas cards, Christmas present shopping, wrapping those presents, etc.
- car trouble - my car didn't start after I returned home. Luckily it just needed a jump. (Thanks to B for Matt's ride to work that Monday!). Then, a piece of my undercarriage came loose and was scraping on the snow everywhere I drove. A cheap repair though and I'm back on the road once again. Phfew.
- Fatigue. Can I blame this on pregnancy? I fell asleep sitting in the rocker in Sam's room this morning while he piled all his shoes, socks, books, blankets, stuffed animals, and cars on top of me. Imagine my surprise when I woke up 20 minutes later under a mountain of STUFF. (How did I sleep through that???)

... and more. Now, what's a post without a pic? I'll throw in a few as a teaser, but the rest will come later!

This pic was taken right before I "got decked" by my lovely sibs. Notice that they are following the "decking rules" and giving me the sign first (see Jake).

Nate at Jake's bball game - where Jake scored something like 30 points.

Leese and Soph at our family photo session - AFTER the bow came out of her hair.

We spent a lot of time soaking up the warm weather at the park. Here's Sam trying to play baseball with his uncles, dad, and grandpa.

Soph on the swings.



Lastly, a shout out to my cuz Ev and his fabulous wife Whit. How is it possible that I made his highlight cousin list when I can't shoot hoops, am not NEARLY as funny or hip as those carliles, and am a Red Sox, Angels, AND Lakers fan. ??? Who knows, but QUITE the honor. :) Here's to you Ev. You and Whit just NEED to take a vaca back east, don't you think???

Announcing...

I realize I have much more to post and it's been forever, but thought this should DEFINITELY be the first thing since we just found out today! Sam's going to have a little brother!