5 = 12?

Clark is 5 months old today! I went shopping for Tanner since his birthday is next month, and of course I had to stop in at Carter's to check to see if they had any good clothes for our little guy. I must admit that I am in a little bit of denial when it comes to how big my 'little' guy is. I have kept him in 6-9 month clothes way too long (just ask Tricia who flat out told me recently that his outfits were too small on him). To me, the size of clothes he wears is just another way of reminding me that he is growing up way too fast, and that he will soon be wanting to buy his own clothes. But, I decided today I should actually get him some summer clothes that fit...and what did I have to buy??? 12 month clothes. My son is as big as a one year old and he isn't even half way there yet! I guess the only consolation is that every time I take him out shopping, someone somewhere tells me how cute they think he is...even if they think they are saying it about a 12 month old.

My funny story for the day was from a lady who was working in one of the stores, and she said "Where does he get that chin from? Does his dad have a chin like that?" I totally thought she was referring to Clark's ever present Double Chin, and I said "No, his dad doesn't have one". She said "Oh, YOU have one!!" I was totally shocked and was thinking "Oh no you didn't!", and was just about to turn around and walk right out of the store, and she pointed to the middle of her chin "He gets it from you! The dimple!"

The Wonderful World of Teething

I liked what this website said about teething:

"Your beautiful five-month-old baby boy, who has been the most perfect little angel since birth, has suddenly turned into a cranky, fussy, drooling, chews-on- everything-in-site little monster! He is now keeping you up half the night, and needs to be held, bounced, and nursed all day long. Welcome to the wonderful world of TEETHING!"

Fortunately for us (actually just me), Clark isn't keeping me up at night...he is still sleeping very well. However, he has become a drooling faucet, and he is a bit more fussy. Still, it isn't (so far) as bad as I expected. His bottom left front tooth has come in, and I think his right one is on its way. Just in case you think you can't see anything in the picture above, see the picture below.

It's that time......again

Unfortuately for Tanner, it is finals time once again. The time when he goes through packages of highlighters and post-its and the time I have to practically force feed him because if left to himself, he would forget to eat and starve to death. It's an interesting time for me to observe as I have heard the following things come out of his mouth like:

"This is taking forever! It takes me so much longer reading it all now, rather than throughout the semester!"

"I dreamt trusts and estates last night"

"I am so glad my outline (his study guide that he creates for each class) is only 45 pages long...I think I might be able to memorize it in time"

And my personal favorite...

Me: "Honey, where are you going?"
Tanner: "To the bookstore"
Me: "Why?"
Tanner: "I need to buy my course textbook"

The only good thing about this time around is that he has a study buddy...

Sometimes I catch Tanner looking at his class notes the way Clark is looking at this highlighter

Top 5 Reasons We Love Spring!

5. The geese are out and about













4. Edy's Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream (sooo good)











3. Hydration!
















2. We can no longer see the road from our window...just green!














1. Clark in a baseball cap!

Sisters and Cousins

Whenever I tell people that I grew up the youngest of three sisters and that I now also have another little sister, most people say, "wow, no boys huh?". I always felt like it would have been fun having a brother growing up, and I am sure it would have been, but there has been something special that has come from just having sisters. Sure, we have our disagreements and we know the buttons to push when we really want to get at each other, but we also know exactly what to do and say just from the sound of a sister's voice. After hanging out at Tricia's house this week, I was talking to someone I had just met, and when she asked how many siblings I had, I said "3 sisters". She said "wow, that's great, are you close?"

You better believe it.

One of my favorite moments during our Tricia's this weekend was when Courtney, Carter, and Jonah wanted to play with Clark. When they realized that all he could do was lay on his back and flail about, they all decided to lay on their backs and flail about. What cute kids!!!!

The Champion and The Invalid

On Wednesday, the "Mormon Law Students" played in the championship for intramural flag football. The road leading up to the game was nothing short of amazing, with nailbiter finishes every night. The championship game was no different and did not disappoint. It was so close, the wives sitting in the bleachers thought the team had lost when it was over and even thought the celebration they saw was just the boys congratulating each other on a good run. Unfortunately, Cherylyn was not in attendance as she was visiting Tricia in New Jersey, and when the wives realized their mistake in thinking the boys had lost, one of them said "Tanner, if Cherylyn had been here, she would have made sure we knew that you guys had won". The win was especially sweet as the team beat two teams both of which had beat them in football and basketball last year. Tanner was clutch as always with his solid coverage, and especially with his ability to nail all the extra point kicks (final score 20-19).

Although Tanner's knee did not bother him during the football tournament, he had not been doing any training for the Charlottesville half marathon in the hopes that his leg would heal and he would be able to run on Saturday. Our friends Dave and Jen were also running in the race and we were excited to see all of their training pay off. I, meanwhile, was traveling back from New Jersey to get to Charlottesville and meet up with everyone the night before the big race. The traffic was so bad, that what should have been a 5 1/2 hour drive, took just over 8 hours. My only saving grace was that Clark was an angel and only cried for about 30 mins of the whole trip (I wanted to cry for 2 1/2 hours of the trip). The race started early the next morning, so I arrived later with Dave's brother and his family to greet them as they came in at the finish. We waited with anticipation as each runner came around the corner hoping to see Tanner and Jen and then later Dave, who was running the full marathon. Suddenly, we saw Jen come around the corner at just over 2 hours, and we cheered her on to the finish. I began to be very worried about Tanner, and as another 30 minutes went by, I became very concerned. All of the sudden, I looked toward the finish line, and there was Tanner coming from the opposite direction! There was a split second when I thought I had totally missed seeing him pass by, and then I saw his leg. Tanner was able to run 7.5 miles before his leg began to lock at the knee, and the pain was too much to continue. He was given a ride back by the EMTs. He was disappointed that he could not finish, especially since he had trained so hard, but his wife and son were so proud of him! In my moment of sympathy, I told him maybe I would try to train with him and we could do it together next year (what am I, stupid?!!). Meanwhile, we had seen Jen going through the finish, but we did not see her come back, and finally her sister in law went to check on her, and we found out that the EMTs had checked her blood pressure when she came through and it was 68/30 (scary!). They hooked her up to an IV and pumped 2 liters of fluid in her. She said she didn't even remember seeing us or hearing us when she passed, she was so delirious. After those two developments, we were all concerned about Dave, but sure enough, just before 4 hours, Dave came around the corner (can you imagine running for 4 hours?!!) He said it was the hardest marathon he has ever ran (he has done 2 others). We celebrated the day by going out to pizza in downtown Charlottesville, and as you can imagine, Dave and Jen did not eat. We had a great time with Dave and Jen and their family.

The Noise School for Boys

In one of my previous blogs I stated the following:

"Why is it that every man is a pro at animal and engine noises? It's like they go to the "Special School for Noises" that girls weren't allowed to go to."

And then a few nights later I caught Tanner making 'boy noises' to Clark, and hoe and below, Clark began to imitate him. It was the first time that Clark has clearly imitated something that we were doing...and then I realized...the name of the Special School every boy attends is called Daddy University.

The Finish Line

Today I ran in my first 5K ever! In fact, it was the first time I had participated in an official running event of any kind. Tanner has been training for a half marathon the last few months (as if he didn't have enough on his plate), and "subtly" encouraged me to hit the pavement and train with him. I knew that a "half" was too tall an order for me right now and that I would just be setting myself up for failure (or major injury). When we heard about the 5K run here in Williamsburg, it seemed a little more doable.

The training had been gruelling (you know, an occasional run here and there over the last two weeks). Tanner planned to run with me as part of his training, but he hurt his knee the weekend before while running a paltry 11 miles, and so he rested in the hope of being able to run in the half next weekend. I must admit before the race I was quite nervous, which seems silly because it wasn't a competition or anything, but I really wanted to run the entire race without stopping. When we arrived, I found out that the race included a number of hills (I swear the only ones in Williamsburg), which only increased my anxiety since I had only trained on flat ground! In the end, I completed the run without stopping, smoked a few of the other runners, and was so happy to see my smiling husband and son cheering me on at the finish line!

Look at that form!

Note: Tanner A. Nielson contributed to this post.

Story Time

As most of you know, I loved having stories read to me by my mother growing up. She may even tell you that she read to me in high school, but I can niether confirm nor deny that :-). It is one of things I have most looked forward to doing with my children. I don't know if there is any specific time to begin, but I guess anytime is good, even if they have no clue what we are actually doing. Clark can currently make it through two stories, until he decides he is done and wants to move on to other more exciting things like eating or sleeping. He does hit the pages while I read and he has started to grab the edges, which I would like to think means he is trying to turn the pages. I have decided his favorite books are: Are You My Mother, Clifford's Bathtime, and Moo, Baa, La, La, La. His dad does the animal noises during the reading of Moo, Baa, La, La, La since every time I attempt it, it sounds like that animal dying. Why is it that every man is a pro at animal and engine noises? It's like they go to the "Special School for Noises" that girls weren't allowed to go to. Go figure.

Injuries and Discoveries

Last night, I pulled a muscle in my lower back when I went to sit in our lazy boy. I think the stress of carrying our little guy around finally took its toll. It was a long night and this morning my back was still hurting. I looked at Clark and told him that mommy wouldn't be able to pick him up very much today. He must have understood some aspect of what I told him because he was an angel child today. He watched Baby Beethoven twice and spent lots of time in his swing. As a result, he learned a lot of new things, like if you look OVER the tray you can see feet dangling underneath, and maybe that round red thing really does taste like a lollipop!

are those mine?

yummy plastic.

The Towheads

On Friday night at 7pm, it was 72 degrees outside. We were so excited to be able to take Clark outside at night without any blankets or heavy clothing. We decided to take a walk and stop at the Micky D's up the street and get a bite to eat. As I sat across from the two of them while eating, I realized what a lucky girl I was to have such cute men in my life. I guess if you put me in the picture, we are quite the towhead spectacle!

P.S. Since I did not know what a towhead was until everyone started calling Clark one (and I mean EVERYONE), below is the official definition. When people first started saying things like "he is such a cute towhead", I assumed that it had something to do with his blonde hair, but I, being a towhead myself, felt kind of stupid not knowing for sure what it meant, and I certainly wasn't going to ask someone since I was sure I would be stepping into THE blondest of blonde moments. I only felt better when Tanner leaned over to me one day and said "What the heck is a towhead?" I even spelled it toehead orginially for this blog, until I thought I should find out exactly what it meant, and after Googling 4 different times: toehead, toe head, and tow head, I finally got to the all correct towhead. How is that for blonde?

towhead (noun): a head of light-colored or tousled hair.