Two Baby Must-Haves

My sisters have introduced me to a couple of baby accessories since having Davis and I don't know how I ever got along without them! If you have a young baby like I do or are looking for the perfect gift for someone who does, look no further.

The Boon Spoon. It's perfect for on-the-go feeding because you can dispense the baby food right from the spoon. It's fast, easy to clean, and spill-proof as far as I can tell. It's so easy to feed baby D with this bad boy that I rarely even need a bib. And when I'm feeding him something he loves, like bananas, I can get a continuous flow of that pureed goodness right in his mouth! 

Now I've seen these Fresh Food Feeders in the baby section of Target for years, but I had heard that they are more of a mess than they're worth (sticky mashed bananas and strawberries everywhere), so I never bothered to buy one. Until my sister told me that they work great for teething babies when you put ice cubes or frozen grapes inside them. Bingo! Davis will sometimes sit for 20-30 minutes (an eternity in baby-entertaining time) and chew on ice cubes in his high chair with this sweet gadget. And I don't have to worry about him choking on anything because it's all safe inside the little mesh bag. 

Gram Maddie and Grandpa Jelly Belly

Are you sick of me yet? (That's meant to be a rhetorical question, so don't answer it, Brian.) It's only day 9 and I'm already bored with myself, but I am determined to see this goal through. My brother told me Sunday that I've been getting too serious on my blog this past couple of weeks. His exact words were that I'm "too Zen-like." Huh? I didn't even know he still read this. No one's twisting your arm, Bro...

The grandkids with my mom and Aunt Shelly at the train station on their way to the circus.

Not long ago, my mom took my children and most of her other grandkids to ride the train (FrontRunner) and to see the circus. They loved it. The only major hiccup (other than Ike spilling his red snow cone all over a stranger's white pants) happened when Ian (age 7), Maggie (age 5), and Isaac (age 3) got off the train at the appropriate stop. My mom, Shelly, and the rest of the kids were a little bit too slow and the train doors closed right in front of them. Ian, Ike, and Maggie were on the other side of the door as the train pulled out of the station and onto the next stop! Everyone but my mom was able to stay relatively calm and luckily my sister-in-law, Erinne, was waiting for everyone in the parking lot of the train station and was able to meet up with the abandoned children while they waited for the other half of the party to get to the next stop and hop on the train going the opposite direction back to their station.

I am so thankful that she is making so many memories with them during this time that we get to live together. My kids are so lucky to have such fun grandparents. Gram Maddie is always teaching them new things and never seems to tire of having them be her constant shadows. The other day, out of the blue, Maddie burst out at the top of her lungs, "I LOVE MY GRANDMA!" while we were all eating dinner. And she really meant it.

My dad is known by my children as "Grandpa Jelly Belly." They love getting attention from him and learning new colorful phrases almost on a daily basis. Sure, he swears. Sure, he NEVER asks my permission before giving Ike and Maddie Oreos right BEFORE dinner or letting them take a gulp of his highly caffeinated sodas WHENEVER THEY WANT (he loves to see Maddie's eyes turn watery and pink from too much carbonation too fast). But he sure loves them and they know it. All you have to do is look in his backyard to remember that. Everything in that mecca is for his grandkids. Just the other day he pulled me into his office to show me what might possibly be his next big purchase: An almost life-size train and track that he can drive around the yard, pulling the grandkids behind him. Time will tell how serious he is about that one.

Baby D facing his fears head-on.

He'll be Home for Christmas!

Ryan found out on Friday that he was able to switch a couple of his rotations around in order to be home for Christmas. In fact, he will be able to come home just after Thanksgiving. That's less than 3 weeks away! We hope that it will be the end of us being separated for long periods of time. I am grinning from ear to ear just thinking about it.

Grandpa Hancock

Today I am thankful that families can be together forever. Ryan's grandpa passed away on Saturday after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. I was never able to get to know him well before he became sick but I have heard many stories about what a wonderful father he was. Patient, loving, easy-going, and fun. He taught my mother-in-law all sorts of neat things, like how to knit---how cool is that?

Mary-Ann has told me that he always used to say this to his children,

"When you were sleeping you looked so precious we could eat you, and when you woke up, we wished we had." 

I often think about that when I look at my sleeping children. Seriously, what parent can't relate to that? He had a great sense of humor.

Grandma and Grandpa were converts to the church and they were baptized when Mary-Ann was about 11 years old, I think. Grandpa put out his last cigarette on the front of the church building as they walked into their own baptismal service, and he never smoked again after that moment. I love that story! It shows just how much he let The Gospel change his life.

I am grateful for the patient man that he was. He passed that virtue onto Mary-Ann and it has in turn positively affected my life. I am grateful for the knowledge that he can be reunited with his loving wife and that he won't have to be sick anymore.

A Training Ground for My Life

This past week we had some plumbing issues at my parents' house and were actually without water for 24+ hours. No biggie, right? Wrong. We weren't able to wash clothes, cook, use our own bathroom (thanks fast food restaurant), shower, and we even had to resort to baby wipes and Purell to "wash" our hands. "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone"  kept running through my head...

I was reminded of my missionary days in the Dominican Republic. Cold showers from a bucket (dumping that first cold cup of water over my head was never easy, no mater how many times I did it), no running water for days at a time, and hauling tubs of water on our shoulders as part of service projects for native Dominicans.

Serving a mission was the perfect training ground for my life as an adult. It taught me things that I'm not sure I personally could have learned very well in any other setting. Sometimes I wish I could go back and get a refresher course again. I will always have fond memories of that beautiful island in the Caribbean. Aside from all those great life lessons, I was able to meet many wonderful people who have continued to influence my life. I wish I had recent pictures with all of those amazing people. Today I'll tell you about one of them.

Meet Andrea. We were never companions, but we lived in the same house for a few months and her example changed my entire mission. I wanted to be the kind of missionary that I saw in her. We have managed to stay very close even though thousands of miles have sometimes separated us and we had gone years without seeing each other before this past summer. Don't you just love friends like that?

She and her three beautiful girls (two are pictured) came to visit a couple of months ago. It was great to introduce our children to one another and see them play together. 

I am so grateful for lifelong friends like these, and for my mission for allowing me to meet so many wonderful people.