16 Weeks and Earthquake Ready

So here you are.  16 weeks old now.  Really starting to show signs of being your own person.  Learning, adapting, complaining... all the normal things people do on a daily basis.  You just do it all with naps in between.  So why do I say earthquake ready?


In case you didn't know, there are two major risks of natural disaster living up here in the Pacific Northwest.  First (and most notably and most fantastically) - volcanoes!  Second (and more commonly and less fantastic) - earthquakes!  Let me clarify my usage of fantastic: I do not mean fantastic in the sense of the destruction and pain and anguish cause by any natural disaster.  I mean fantastic in the sense of "Ooh! Look at that! Pretty!" etc...

The last volcanic eruption here, or major volcanic eruption in the state as of 2010, was Mount Saint Helens in 1980.  Your Uncle Jacob was just a month old when it happened.  The ash from that powerful eruption spread across the globe.  It really was an awesome display of nature's power.

The last major earthquake in the Puget Sound area was in 2001.  It was called the Nisqually Quake.  It happened your mom's last year of high school.  I was not around for it and being on the other side of the state was not effected by it at all.  But it was pretty serious.  A 6.8 on the Richter scale.

Seattle actually gets lots of earthquakes.  Most of them really small and deep underground that we do not feel.  These quakes are in relation to the volcanoes and tectonic plate movement.  Much like California has to deal with the San Andreas Fault, we live on what is commonly called "The Ring of Fire," a hot bed of tectonic and volcanic activity.  So we always need to be ready.

Which is why I enjoy putting you down on soft surfaces and bouncing the surface saying "Earthquake!"  I enjoy it most of all because it is ALWAYS good for a smile from you.  I look forward to the days when I can do lots of other silly and ridiculous things to make you laugh.  That is what daddies are good for.  Cheering up their daughters and making them feel beautiful.  And I will always be there for that.

The Situation...

I feel it is important for you to understand the situation we are in.  It is nothing serious, it is nothing drastic or anything to fret about.  Even if it was something to be alarmed about that is for parents to do.  Kids should not be concerned with matters such as these.  But since you are old enough to read this you might as well know.

In 2009 the country learned that we were in a recession.  Nothing as bad as the Great Depression my grandparents went through, but still basically the most serious financial downturn since that time.  I have been fortunate to have good employment and good health benefits since I graduated college.  Really good benefits since starting to work at the City of Tukwila.  The City has been really good to our family.  But with the economy slowly pacing towards recovery lots of belts had to be tightened.  Budgets have been cut everywhere.  People are losing jobs and if they are lucky keeping health care by paying a lot more for it.

Now when I say the City has been good to our family I mean it because despite some early scares in thinking that I may get laid off or put to half time and lose health coverage, I have survived all rounds of budget cuts and health care hasn't changed.  And that is a phenomenal blessing if ever there were one.  So count us fortunate there.

The other thing to note is our housing situation.  When I got home from my mission I lived with your Aunt Nicole while finishing school.  We started out in an apartment in Kent, but with apartment prices going up Nicole thought it may be a good idea to buy a condo we can share.  That way the price wouldn't go up from year to year and we wouldn't have to move every year to get a good deal.  Homes generally go up in price so even if we eventually did need to move or wanted to get out we could sell it and make money.  So I co-signed the loan to help buy the place and thought nothing of it.  Until recently.

With the economy dragging and house prices falling your mom and I wanted to buy a house.  So we ran our credit and tried to get pre-approced for a home loan.  Then it came up that because I had co-signed Nicole's loan it was basically my loan and my mortgage as well.  Even though I hadn't paid a dime on it since 2008 and it is now 2010 I was still locked into it.

Meanwhile your Aunt Nicole was wanting to relocated to somewhere a little more affordable and a little bigger since she had your cousin Bryson.  But, as I mentioned, home prices went down and she has yet to be able to sell the condo.  It has presented as a sticky situation to say the least.

Fortunately no one is in dire straights or anything of the sort.  Everyone is getting by and doing OK.  We all would just like to improve our situation and it is impeded by the down housing market.  It is a two edged sword.  In a low housing market your mom and I can afford to buy a decent house at a good price.  But because it is so low we can't get out from the mortgage I had inadvertently signed (with no regrets).

So that is where we are at as 2010 is coming closer to an end.  Happy to have a house and job that provides for our needs, wishing there was a little more money (for everyone!) and wishing for a home.  Maybe Santa can bring us one in a few months...

15 Weeks and sick

At least one of us is sick.  At that one is me.  I could blame you because you had a runny nose this last week. It was pretty bad.  You would have snot running down your face, when you slept you would snore like your mom and worst of all you sounded congested.  But I won't blame you.  No, that would just be wrong.  I can't blame your mom because she isn't sick.  She usually gets it from me so in a week she will probably be ill and blaming me.  I don't really know who to blame.  But I am sick.  Sick enough to stay home from work and type out this blog.

So what do I have to report on from this week?  I think you really are starting to know who your mom and I are.  Well you probably already knew your mom pretty well, but today I really felt that you knew who I was and you wanted to spend time with ME.  It may not have been long, it may not have been that different from your time with your mom, but it meant a lot to me that you recognize the difference between me and your mom and wanting to spend time with me.

OK, that obviously isn't a photo from this morning but it is you and me together and I love that time!

Oh, yeah. 14 Weeks BTW

So the day after we got back from camping you turned 14 weeks old!  How great is that!  You are practically a little lady!  Look at you.  You can see it in your cute little face and short, short hair.

Since literally half the week was spent camping (and the other half was spent preparing for camping), there really isn't much to say about the previous week.  What we have noticed lately is your love affair with a certain toy.  A little cow we named Molly Moo Cow.  Or just Molly for short.

There really is a lot to her.  She has several different textures and sounds.  When you lift her head there is a reflective surface.  Vanity hasn't quite set in for you yet so you don't spend much time with her that way.  You primarily try to eat her nose off or one of the pedals around her neck.  But whatever you do, you love this cow.

I was convinced that there was another cow toy that you also loved, but your mom has shot me down on this one and I can't find any proof to support me.  So I am probably wrong.  But if there is indeed another cow that you love this would be the beginning of a trend and I can honestly say I don't know many girls who love cows.  But if you do, well that is just fine because fake cows are cute and sweet.  Real cows - smelly, not so pretty.  So we will support the fake cow habit, not real cows.  A love of real cows may lead to ranching and FFA in high school and that would be hard for me to get behind.  But I would try.

Anyways... keep smiling!

First Time Camping

To be very honest with you, your mother and I had serious apprehensions about taking you camping so young.  We had seen your Uncle Jacob and Aunt Alissa take your cousin Addison camping last year but she was almost a year old.  And of course there were challenges so we wondered a bit about how hard it would be with you.  Let me summarize the camping experience thus, you and your cousin Chloe were the easiest babies to deal with the entire weekend.  Chloe because she slept almost the whole time, and you because you slept well and were awake happily.  But let's break it down day by day.

Day 1

We started on Thursday morning.  We had planned to meet up with your Aunt Nicole and cousin Bryson to caravan to the camp site at 25 Mile Creek State Park on Lake Chelan.  We had planned to leave at 10AM and did a fairly good job of it.  We finished up packing and hit the road just after 10 thanks to your mom's great packing job and hard work the day before.  (Incidentally I hadn't seen you at all the day before as I didn't see you before I went to work and then went to Enumclaw to help Nicole's boss with his home computers and I wasn't any help to your mom getting everything ready.)

You fell asleep in the car and were in a general good mood the entire trip.  We stopped in Wenatchee to get lunch and pick up some things we had forgotten (we needed pillows and Nicole needed gifts for Addison and Evan's birthdays amongst other things she picked up).  The rest of the way to the camp site wasn't far so we figured you would be fine, but you had to prove us wrong.  You are very good at doing that.  About 15 minutes outside the camp site you started fussing and couldn't be consoled.  Good thing we weren't far away.

Once we got to the park your mom took you out of the car seat to calm you down while Nicole and I checked in.  We had reserved three campsites for the weekend.  After checking in with the park attendant we drove around to find the campsites.  Upon finding them and standing around in them for a few minutes we determined that we had camp site envy.  Our sites were small and had no grass.  Not good for 6 families and three walking toddlers.  The next three campsites down were grassy, still shady and bigger!  So we asked the attendant and he approved our move!  Success!!  Not surprising since the park was almost empty and there were hardly any reservations.

Then began the process of setting up the tent.  Shortly after un-boxing the tent and realizing the directions were useless your Gramma and Grandpa Compton showed up along with Jacob, Alissa, Addison and Chloe and Uncle Joe and Aunt Dani (no matter what she says it is Dani not Danielle).  We finished setting up the camp sites, sat around and visited until it was night time.

You, my curious little missy, spent a lot of time looking around discovering the surroundings.  You spent some time in your bumbo so your mom could help set up and got to be held by all kinds of different people you don't see every day.

Night time was a little different.  Starting the day before we went camping you fought going to sleep.  You fought it good.  You fought the good fight like sleep was Hitler trying to invade a Polish day care.  So putting you to sleep was a little harder than normal.  But considering that we were outdoors and it was pretty cold, you did very well.  We had you in warm jammies and swaddled and, according to your mom, you slept very well.  Good job!  Your dad didn't even sleep that well.  I didn't think it was cold enough to warrant wearing socks but it was!  So I woke up several times trying to stay warm.

Day 2

The second day was very laid back.  We waited around the camp site for uncle Steve and Aunt Michelle to come with cousins Owen and Evan.  The plan was maybe to go on a hike or rent a boat once they got there, but that never really materialized and the whole day was pretty much spent at camp.  Some people went down to the lake for a bit.  And most everyone randomly went on walks around the park.  That is what your mom and I did to get you to fall asleep during the day.  Took you for a little walk and you were out.

Since this was actually Addison's birthday and Evan's isn't too far away from that, we celebrated with Strawberry Rhubarb crisp and Peach Cobbler.  Way cooler than just plain old cake.  Both kids got presents and seemed to enjoy them.  Evan got to play with his at camp and both he and Owen seemed to enjoy it.  Alissa sent pictures of Addison playing with her presents after she got home and her face says it all!

Today we started to see some more campers show up and fill in some of the vacant camp sites around us.  Not the ones we left, however.  I think most people realized those sites were not the best.  We had some people move in across the way from us and the first camper to show up there was a lady all by herself.  Your mom and I noticed that she was having trouble setting up her tent and your mom said we should go help.  I was a little reluctant because it could have been awkward but your mom insisted and I am glad she did.  We went over and she was VERY grateful for the assistance.

Sleep was the same for you, but better for your mom and I as I wore socks and uncle Steve let us borrow an indoor propane heater.  That took the edge off the cold.

Day 3

The third day was a lot of the same again, only everyone was there in the morning.  In the afternoon because it was such a nice day the decision was made the rent a boat.  An expensive decision but everyone had lots of fun on it.  Especially uncle Jacob.  We rented a tube with it and people got pulled behind the boat.  I would have preferred skis but not everyone could do that and the water wasn't glass smooth so skiing wouldn't have been very easy.  The down side is while I was riding the tube I shifted my weight to try and "steer" or at least not fall off and aggravated a shoulder injury.  Nothing serious but when I tried to climb into the boat I couldn't use my left arm at all.

By the end of the third day all the camp sites were full.  The camp site just next to us had people move in pretty late.  They were cooking dinner at 9PM.  They were cleaning their dishes at 10:30 when it was supposed to be quiet time.  At about 1AM uncle Jacob actually had to yell out to some people (we think our neighbors) to be quiet because they were making a ruckus and we were all trying to sleep.

The third night was actually not as cold.  And everything other than the noise went smoothly.

Day 4
After breakfast we struck camp and headed to Chelan for a picnic then going our separate ways.  But while we struck camp we got to see the character of our noisy, late neighbors.  By the time breakfast was done and we were striking camp it was 9-9:30AM.  The neighbors started rousing and the first thing they did was smoke.  Worse than that was they were smoking with a toddler of their own.  Needless to say your mom and I were not thrilled.  The sooner we could leave the better in my mind.

Once we did leave we got to a beach in Chelan and had a lovely picnic.  You were pretty tired so once you fell asleep we decided to head home.  Unfortunately that did not last long.  We had to pull over outside of Cle Elum to feed you and change you.  From then on it was smooth sailing all the way home.  And I already mentioned the laugh we got out of you, that was priceless!

And that was camping.  Nothing really exciting but exciting all the same.  You will never remember your first time camping, but it is a big achievement.  If nothing else it was a good change of pace and we got lots of cute pictures!

Laughing all the way home...

So we JUST got back from camping, which I will talk about soon, I promise, your mom was in the kitchen getting a bath ready for you because camping makes everyone and everything stink, I was in the dining room/your-stuff room keeping you company.  I decided to try tickling you to keep you happy while we waited.  You did your usual laugh and squirm but then... you LAUGHED!  It was like 4 or 5 of your usual laughs strung together.  It was glorious.  I just had to post it while it was fresh.

So awesome!!

3 Months? No way!!

It is pretty unreal.  I can only imagine how surreal it will be when you turn three years old.

I can't believe that you are in our lives and how much I love you.  You probably don't know this because you are a girl, but guys don't exactly dream of being a daddy every day (or however often little girls dream of being a mommy).  Sure I wanted to be a dad.  It was something I really did want and not in the distant future.  But now that you are here it is so unreal how much I love you and can't get enough of you.  I love to hold you.  I love to kiss you.  I love to watch you (especially when you are happy).

Well here is a happy moment of you to commemorate your turning 3 months old.

13 Weeks... Roll Over

Being a parent isn't supposed to be a competition.  But it often turns out to be one.  Parent's living vicariously through their children suddenly try to force their ambition and dreams onto their kids and turn friendly sporting games into cut-throat competitions.  Such is life.  And unfortunately I am starting to think this way.  You see your cousin Bryson started walking just after he turned 8 months old. Good for him!  This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't just a little faster than your daddy started walking.  Your Aunt Nicole likes to point out that your daddy started walking at the end of 8 months and that her son was faster.  I try to point out that I crawled before I walked, which Bryson did not do.  And it isn't like your Aunt Nicole is trying to make me feel bad.  It just brings out my competitive nature and I want you now to start walking tomorrow.  And we are getting closer to that.  Why do I say that?  Because you rolled over.  Twice!

Your mom was pretty excited about the whole ordeal, even to the point of yelling at me from the couch while I was just getting out of the shower.  And it is very exciting.  This is one of those milestones that they publish in baby milestone books.  It is one that doctors ask about, moms brag about and special anti-roll-over products are made for.  Life for you becomes totally different after this event.  Now if you would only replicate it for the camera...

I got an e-mail from one of those know-it-all baby websites the other day and it said that babies at your age learn by putting things in their mouths.  Well that explains the last week but how do you explain your fingers in my mouth?  Ok, ok, to be fair I did (do) chomp on your fingers when you put them in front of my face.  But you just keep putting them back there every time I let them go!

You want to know what else I thought of today?  Your head!  Well more of the way you hold it.  You like to fixate on something every once and a while.  When you do that you will not be dissuaded from looking at it.  Not your mom or your dad or anyone or anything can get you to look somewhere else.  It is rather fun to turn your whole body and see your head swivel and keep facing the same direction so you can stare at your new favorite thing.  It is only when we turn your body so far that your head can't face the same way that the spell of the object is broken and you can look somewhere else.

The staring doesn't bother me.  I just hope that if you continue to study things that hard that first, they aren't boys and second, that you are actually thinking while you are staring and not zoning out.  It would be just as well if you could stare at it an meditate.  Meditation is far too under-rated these days.

12 Weeks... Sucking Face!

I think I have told you that you do some pretty un-lady-like things.  You slobber, you have recently started talking a lot while you eat (your mom can tell you more about that and did in her blog).  But I seriously do not think you are old enough to be sucking face!  Even if it is your own.

OK, so now that I made you laugh a little (hopefully) and got an interesting hook for this post (see writing 101), let me explain what I mean.  When your mom and I put you to sleep we use a pacifier.  Call us lazy if you want but you try putting a screaming baby to sleep without a pacifier when you know a pacifier works magic in getting you to sleep.  Anyways, when you are asleep your jaw relaxes and the pacifier falls out.  You have been doing that since week 1.  What has started happening lately is you sleep-suck the pacifier and end up sucking on your own lip.  It's as though you have an invisible pacifier!  And it is so darn cute.  One of these days (maybe this weekend) I will have to get that on video and post it.  That is why we bought the video camera in the first place.

Aside from that there isn't anything new.  You just keep growing.  It is weird that most days I just see you as you.  Nothing new.  Then one day *BAM* I see you as an inch taller and three pounds heavier.  It sneaks up on me.  I wouldn't mind the same thing happening to me with the height, not so much the weight.  Go backwards with the weight.

12 weeks is just about 3 months.  Do you realize how long that is for your mom and I?  It is crazy!  My co-worker Scott had his baby Nate a month after we had you and we constantly trade stories and share what we learned.  One of the best things he shared with me was some scientist suggesting that parents treat the first 3 months like a 4th trimester (should there possibly be a 4th TRImester; be definition there can only be 3).  Since baby trimesters aren't really months (they go by weeks) that means that your 4th trimester is over!  Now I have no idea how to act.  We will just have to treat you like a little person.  Which isn't hard considering how much you are talking lately.  I guess that is new, too.  Let's talk a bit about that.

Can't you just see the words spilling out of your mouth along with all that spittle?  Your mom and I LOVE your talking.  There are several kinds.  Which is amazing for a person who doesn't even know how to form words yet.  There is the obvious happy talking.  When you get done eating or wake up from a nap.  Or even when you are spending quality time with your mom and dad or grandparents.  Then there is the bored/not doing anything talking.  It sounds pretty much the same just without any enthusiasm.  The third kind is your pseudo sad talking.  This is when you are on the verge of being upset or sad.  It just sounds kind of whiny and, sad to say it, kind of pathetic in a very, very cute way.  

I can't wait for real words to start.  There is so much to look forward to.  So many precious moments to cherish forever.  And you will find them all right here!