I am the mother of a Crawler

Is it possible to feel like this simultaneously?



I do. Please, let me begin by saying that I am counting my blessings. I have a darling little boy who is hitting milestone after milestone, and I couldn't be more grateful and proud. However.... It's really hot. And Hazen is making me really tired.


We've been having a BLAST spending almost every day at the pool. Hazen is good for about an hour, which I think is a pretty long time! I'm putting him in a Mom and Tot swim class because he keeps on dunking his head in the water, and I need to know what's ok, ya know? Sometimes instead of getting him dressed after our swim, we just throw him in one of our shirts, as is evidenced above!

So, back to the exhaustion that is my child:

Yesterday, I found him eating trash. He really has this puppy dog thing down.


When he takes baths, he's realized that he knows how to crawl in the tub. Real safe, Hazen. He even likes to dunk his face in the water and stand on his knees to knock off my shaving gel and dad's shampoo. (*Side note: Why dad needs shampoo is still beyond me after over 2 years of marriage)



TODAY, he went down the scary hallway all by himself until he reached the end of it, where the playroom sits. He's only been in there once, which was yesterday, so the fact that he remembered what was down there has been amazing me all day. What a smart baby I have! He played down there for about 45 minutes. As long as I heard him banging on things, I felt ok with him being down there!

In other news, Hazen had his first non-hospital related blood loss today. We were at Heather's house, and she threw him across the room. Kidding- he was trying to pull himself up on something, he slipped, and then split his lip pretty good. It was really sad- he had a fat lip for a while. He recovered from it pretty quickly though. Later on, he also was pushing on his highchair (yes, Mama forgot to lock the wheels), it slipped out, and he bonked his head on the tile floor. He now has a goose egg, and I have lost hearing in my right ear due to out of control screaming for a good 15 minutes. I'll be a more prepared mom tomorrow. Seriously, his getting into everything happened over night! He's so much fun though!!

Strawberry Days, Pt. 3

7:30 am- The 5k; We got up at 7, picked up Heather, and headed over to the starting line for the 5k. This was the first race I've EVER done in my entire life, and I didn't know whether to be excited for it, dread it, be nervous for it, or be so glad I was there. Ask me at which part of the run, and I'll let you know! Jason was so funny when he heard that I was doing the run, too. He was all, "Uh, AWESOME.....so, do you want me to run it WITH you??" Jason runs many miles a day. I assured him he didn't need to wait for his darling, yet slow wife. The first mile was cake. It was also almost all down hill. I didn't RUN the whole thing, but I finished, even though I'm dealing with a little injury type thing right now. I even finished within 47 seconds of my "goal" time. I was really happy about that! (45 minutes and 47 seconds, I know, it's not fast, but it was my first! This way I have somewhere start, and I can always get better!) I've never been a runner, so it was exciting.

9:00 am- Get ready; I had a little less than an hour to get myself ready. Luckily, my mom helped big time so that I could do so. We rushed out the house to....







10:00 am- The Parade; This was Jason's first parade ever! He was so excited, and I was so proud of him! It's so wonderful for me to watch Jason living his dream before my eyes. I love that man, and I'm so happy that he chose such a wonderful profession. If you're not jealous already, you should be sad that your husband isn't a firefighter! He rode on the Fire Truck in the Parade, and it was so cute! He was holding one of the Captain's kids, who was really scared by the sirens, and was just crying. So sad! Jason thought that we had missed him (which we did), but I did some crazy driving skills, parked at a bar, and got to our place just in time! We even found a spot in the shade!! I was really impressed with the Parade- they had some pretty sweet floats. It totally put the Danville Parade to shame. After the parade, straight on to...







12:00 pm- Firefighter Lunch; I arrived with my darling, sweaty baby (it was 100 today!), and we hunkered down for a fabulous afternoon. We had a BBQ, which since I hadn't eaten since the race, REALLY hit the spot. We were able to enjoy our time with good friends, and the vibe was just so awesome. There were 5 retiring firefighters who had between them 158 years of service, and there was an honor guard retirement ceremony for them. As the honor guard saluted them, there was a page that went out signaling one final page for them. I don't know even know these people, but I found myself shedding a few tears. There were many teary eyes in the pavilion. I made Jason take a picture with his Captain, Captain Engaman, who actually lives right down the street from us, and also works for Orem Fire. Jason felt really awkward, like I was "that" mom, but Captain is such a nice guy, that it doesn't matter! I know Jason will want to remember his *first* Captain even one day! Have I mentioned lately that I love summer, and summer is so much fun when you're NOT pregnant?

We went home, tried to take a little nap, stripped down because it was so hot, and just laid there as the lawnmower woke Hazen up. So sad. We also went to the pool at 5 pm, and Hazen loved every minute of it. I'll post pictures of pool trips later! While I am so tired that I just want to collapse, today was such a fantastic day. It made me really grateful for a wonderful city, a fantastic husband who works hard for a great job, a fantastic family, and great friends. Life, while it might be "challenging" sometimes, is so good.

Strawberry Days, Pt. 2

On Friday night, we had a family outing to the fair. Yes, Jason and I have really lived up Strawberry Days, and all that it has to offer. We tossed my mom and the baby in the car, and we were off!


Mia Mia and Abbie went on a few rides. It was so funny watching them being so excited about every little thing. I'm so excited for Hazen to be old enough to know what's going on, but I'm not excited to have to drop $3-8/ride!!! I thought Carnivals were supposed to be cheaper.


Jason and Heather were the official stroller pushers. It's kind of hard to maneuver with all of the people, but they did a great job and looked great doing it!


While the girls went on more rides, we all marveled at the vast intellect the Carnies have to offer. Wow.



Max was there. He is so stinkin' cute, and is already such a little boy! Love him, love those eyes, love everything!




Then, we went on the Merry-Go-Round. It was Hazen's first ride. I'm sure he will remember it forever, right?





We closed out the evening with some cotton-candy and laughs. We love Strawberry Days!

Strawberry Days, Pt 1

This week is Strawberry Days in PG. It's so much fun! There's something about the vibe the city gets- it's so cozy and fun. I love it! We went down to the fair on Wednesday. Jason was on duty with the FD, so he got to be all cute and festive in his uniform. Good thing I got a picture of it....

We went to get some food with some of his fire friends, who, I'm so excited to say, are turning into my fire friends! I love it! The corn dogs were rockin'.

Meet Jason and Aubrey. They met in the ER, and from then on, it was true love. We really like them. She's super funny, but she never updates her blog, so perhaps THIS can be some sort of initiative for her. Last night, we decided to go out and play with them. I wasn't expecting to do this, so I didn't wash my hair. Sweet.

First, we went to Outback. The food was rad. They took 45 minutes to get our food to us, so (Aubrey's) Jason complained, so we got the whole meal comped! We then went home to drop the baby off with his (get this) FIRST EVER NON-FAMILY BABYSITTER!!! The mighty James Pickard came and watched Hazen for a few hours. He is the most delightful boy in our ward- my entire family is obsessed with him! Unfortunately, Hazen was totally uncharacteristic of himself, and cried a ton, and wouldn't go to bed until almost 10- this is OUT of control for a baby who is down by 8 like clockwork! Hopefully James will still want to babysit for us.

After we left Hazen with James, we went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo!! This was my first experience at a rodeo! It was a ton of fun- even though it kind of stressed me out. I can't imagine WANTING to be worked by cows and bulls. Also, even though I LOVE hearing about Jason's job, and the crazy stuff that happens, I don't really want to actually SEE the accident occur.

During one of the "cow breaks" or whatever you call it, they had two guys who did MotorCross come and perform. It really stressed me out, because I was afraid they would die. Jason R. would keep on turning around and laughing at my distress. We also had Strawberries and Cream, which was awesome, but the picture I took of it was less than awesome, so I'll let you use your imagination.

One of the truly amazing feats was my Jason's maneuvering the Dorango out of a very crowded parking lot. Sometimes he's such a jerk in parking lots, which makes me afraid we'll get shot, but grateful that he's not totally a wuss about getting out.

We loved hanging out with (other) Jason and Aubrey. (ummm, guys, can we devise a way to specify which Jason is which, because this is getting to be a pain). We're also going back to the fair tonight for Hazen's first experience on a Ferris Wheel. Pray that my family doesn't die in my pursuit of a "first-time" picture.

Breakfast time with Mama

Today Jason wasn't working, so he was entertained when he walked in to the kitchen and saw me sitting on the floor with Hazen sharing cereal with him. What Jason doesn't know, is that for most of the meals when he's not here, I sit on the floor and share them with the boy. Please forgive Jason's giant shirt I'm wearing. I had to put SOMETHING on or I would be slightly indecent!! :o)