Missouri and the Earthquake: July 2019

Wow was July busy.

 It started off with a bang, that’s for darn sure.  On the 4th of July Atticus and I were working on a patriotic craft when I started to feel our (granite) counter moving beneath me.  When Atticus said he didn’t feel anything I assumed something was wrong with me and ran upstairs to tell Dane.  In response, Dane said, “Well there’s something wrong with the pool.” I looked out the window and saw the pool water sloshing back and forth.  It was a little creepy but was also reassuring- I wasn’t crazy!  It was an earthquake.

The evening proceeded.  We had a great time with our friends and Atticus even set off some fireworks with Dane.  He wasn't scared at all!  Hinckley did surprisingly well with the fireworks at first but he didn't like it when they got bigger.  It was time to go home.

The next evening Mother Nature favored us with an encore performance (she didn’t want to be outdone by the fireworks!). This time it was bigger and unmistakable.  The water didn’t just slosh, quite a bit of it escaped from the pool.  Luckily, the boys were asleep and none the wiser.

A few days before our Independence Day festivities, Hinckley had some fireworks of his own go off in his tummy.  He got his first stomach bug on June 30 and threw up twice.  As much as I hated seeing him sick, it was also a sweet 24 hours because he finally started calling me "Momma."  (Up until then he was yelling, "Baaaa" or even calling me "Bobba.")

Speaking of words he is slow to say, he still doesn't say, "No."  It's the strangest thing.  I could have sworn "No" was one of Atticus's first words.  Hinckley, on the other hand, is so agreeable, saying, "Ah," for "Yeah" all the time.  He shakes his head, says, "All done," and/or throws a pretty impressive tantrum if he wants to stop something but not the traditional "No."

He has been eating a lot more dairy this month, which is exciting.  He loves pizza and yogurt.  We do have to be careful.  We still find that after a few days he starts to get some diarrhea and has to go without dairy again.  Still, it's a start.

Hinckley's biggest milestone this month dealt with swimming.  He passed his summer clothes test

And his winter clothes test!

We are so grateful.  A couple days before his winter clothes test Hinckley was in the backyard.  I assumed that our "self-latching" gate was latched.  It wasn't.  I ran back outside to find him jumping up and down in the hot tub with a huge grin on his face.  

As terrifying as it was (it will be some time before I'm able to forgive myself), I am so grateful that I had felt such a strong prompting to have Hinckley take swim lessons.  The Holy Ghost is real and His promptings helped to prevent a tragedy.


In case anyone is worried, that gate is now permanently locked.  

With all of the traveling we've done we were able to see how the boys would do sharing a room.  While in Missouri they were wonderful but once we returned home things went sour.  We have them back in their separate rooms for the time being.  Still, it was fun to listen to them once the lights were out when they were sharing a room.  There is a lot of howling, laughter and the following conversation on repeat, "Addiss?"
"Yes?!"

Something I'm especially thrilled about is Atticus's newfound love for soccer.  We watched the final game of the Women's World Cup (I know, the politics and publicity of the players was both ridiculous and disgraceful) and he suddenly wanted to practice with me.  He has been so persistent that we just signed him up for a team this fall... and I’ll be coaching.  Gulp.  We'll be playing at a field near you starting September.

It's finally time to report on the biggest event of the month: our road trip to Missouri.  Man, are we grateful for our van!

We took off on July 10 and, at Dane's insistence, drove all night, picking my brother Danny up in Utah on our way.  Our hope was that the boys would sleep while we drove.  Our hope was misplaced.  Both of them slept VERY little.  Our usually calm Hinckley was just awful.  Fortunately, we made it there in one piece (though Dane got pretty sick halfway there.)

After stopping by Trace's home for dinner and playing we headed to stay with our dear friends, the Whitakers.  Oh, it almost hurt to see how much Atticus and Bowman love each other.  We had so much fun!  After a visit that was waaaaay too short we headed on our way to the condos at the Lake of the Ozarks.  

This family reunion was awesome beyond words.  We missed my little brother terribly but still managed to have a great time.  

There was swimming

fishing

 

caves

paddleboarding, 

boating, home videos, games and so many good talks.  

I was so proud of Atticus- he got up on the kneeboard his first try, thanks to Uncle David's great instruction.  

We had a family photoshoot and are waiting to get our official digital copies.  In the meantime, here are some of our favorites.

Hinckley was treated like a little celebrity (the other grandkids would gather around him to make him laugh) and Atticus was on cloud nine as he played with all of his cousins.

We can't wait to see everyone again!

After another miserable drive through the night we stayed with Bob and Marti for two nights.  The boys got some much needed grandparent and great-grandparent time.  We even got to hear Bobba give a talk at church.  It was memorable- Hinckley yelled out to him so much that I had to take him out and Atticus was winking at him the whole time to say, "I love you."

Hinckley Speaks:

• "Momma"
• "Bobbas, Nanas, Dadas"
• "Adee" (Hinckley)
• "Fox say!" (while "What does the fox say?" plays)
• He'll repeat just about any monosyllable

Atticusisms:

• "What are firehands?" (I'm not sure...) "I think they're guns."  (Yes!  Firearms!  They are guns!) "No, they're firehands!"
• "I'm going to steal people's mail!" (While pretending to be a bad guy with a friend)
• "I'm good at this." (while playing soccer)
• "I'm the best baseball player in the world."
• "I'm never going to stop trying."
• "I'm going to play with my cousins."
• "She's the meanest girl ever."
• "I need my life preserver." (life jacket).
• "This is quite different."
• "Why do you want your friend to kick your butt?"
• (Said glumly after dressing up as Batman and asking for three eggs but only having room to eat one) "I guess Batman only eats one egg."

Swim Lessons and the Van: June 2019

June had a very bittersweet beginning.  We had dear friends move halfway across the country the first weekend (here are some chances we had to say goodbye).

And we got a new van the second weekend.  (For the whole story, see below*) 

The van came just in time for our anniversary so... Happy 7th Anniversary to us!
 
Hinckley is making huge strides.  He can "count" to ten (his version) and does countdowns from five.  He is dancing all the time (his rhythm is right on!)  Even when we go to the grocery store he moves to the beat while sitting in the shopping cart.  He has his own style (he insisted on wearing the batman-suspenders getup a few weeks ago) and we love it.

He is still such a wonderful peacemaker.  Several times this month when he heard Atticus go to his room crying/yelling he could be heard saying, "Uh oh" a few times, along with, "Stop!"  He will then go up to Atticus's door (sometimes he'll even make kiss sounds to the door), knock, tell him, "I'm sorry" in his way ("Ee-Saw-Daa").  Atticus lets him in, Hinckley gives him hugs and kisses and Atticus calms down.  It has worked every time so far.

The most exciting recent development for Hinckley has been swimming.  He started some pretty intense lessons on June 10 and after just three weeks he is floating and swimming amazingly well!  He screams and yells pretty much the whole time for the swim instructor but at home is as happy as a clam.  He is so funny- he seems to have no fear of the water and loves putting his face down.  He kind of folds at the waist and kicks/pulls with his arms like a fast inchworm.

Hinckley Speaks:
"A show, a show!" (runs in front of the TV like his brother.  Show also means "swim" or "swing.")
Love you ("Ub oo")
"I decited" (we thought this was "I'm excited" but he says it so often that we've become less sure.)
BATMAN! ("BA-BAA!"- sung along with a yelling Atticus)
"Beam!" (yelled while putting arm out while listening to "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam")

Addakiss, mah mah (kiss sounds- often in the morning when he wants to wake Atticus up)
Water (“Deeda”- I once said, “WWAHTER” to help him and he just said, “Deeeeedaaaa” in response.)

“Dance”

Atticus has had a great month.  He is taking swim lessons from his awesome teacher again and it's fun to see him gaining confidence and getting faster.  At the beginning of the month he had decided he just wanted to do the doggy paddle all the time (we're thinking he was trying to swim the way a wolf would.)  It took a little convincing but he's back to following Ms. Hillary's lead!

He really doesn't like drawing (he gets so upset when things aren't "perfect.") but we were thrilled this month when he tried drawing some new things.  He drew his first house, his first tiger, he learned to draw shark fins, waves and hearts.  The hearts were for his sweet cousin Natalie (his new penpal.)

He has decided that red is his new favorite color (no longer black, green and blue) because it's "mad," "evil" and "mean."  This, naturally, led him to cheer for the British (the "Redcoats") while we were reading a book about the Revolutionary War.  That boy.

We can't stay mad at him, though.  One friend from the ward actually texted me to tell me how grateful she was for Atticus. He had asked her where her grandson, Bubba was.  She told him that Bubba was sick.  Atticus replied, "That's too bad."  A few seconds later he added, "I hope he feels better soon!"

Another proud moment this month came when Atticus sang in church for Father's Day.  He had been practicing at home and it showed.  He sang every word with all his heart and you could easily hear him over the other children.  We've probably had 10 or more people tell us how fun it was to hear him sing.  Way to go, Atticus!  We hope he never stops singing.

Speaking of Father's Day, I just have to say how grateful I am for the fathers in my life, especially this guy.  We love you, Dane!


Atticusisms:

• "Have you seen our new van?!"
• "How dare you?!"
• "Woohoo!"
• "Why does [the Grinch] eat onions? (crunches a raw onion in his mouth) "... Hot, hot, HOT!"
• "I hate him so, so (repeat 10+ times) much!" (Or "I love you so, so so... much!")
• "Please bless Bowman to make (hundreds of) new friends." (every prayer)
• "Mommy!  That guy has tattoos drawn on him!"  (yelled the first time- we've learned to whisper about these kinds of things)
• "Why does the Grinch drink black coffee?"
• "What kind of superhero is Deadpool?"
• "[Hinckley's] a peacemaker.  He helps me calm down.  When he grows up he'll be a madmaker."

*The rest of the van story:
Dane was in Albuquerque working on a homicide case.  He was gone for our anniversary but we had some fun plans for the weekend.  Before this last minute trip for work, we had finally decided to get a van.  

Shortly after Dane left, we learned that my brother was looking for a car just like ours and it was decided that we would sell the car to him.  So, right after coming home from New Mexico, Dane turned around and drove our car up to Utah.

The next morning Dane got the car over to Danny but, while they were finalizing the transaction, I received a text that indicated to me that the van we had been preparing to purchase in Vegas had been sold (the salesman had sent me a text that said, "Sold." Little did I know he was correcting an earlier text in which he had accidentally written, "old.")  In a panic, I told Dane the van was sold and that he should check out a dealership only a few minutes away that I had seen online.

He found an incredible deal on a van that was newer and had more bells and whistles than we had intended.  His flight was delayed for 6+ hours, anyway, so we cancelled the flight and he drove the van home.  As it turned out, he actually arrived home sooner than his flight would have taken off in Utah.

It was a loooong week for poor Dane but well worth it.  The van is simply wonderful.  I'm still pinching myself and feeling downright spoiled.

Speaking of ordeals for Dane...

Max has been losing his puppy teeth this month (he still has one left, making it a funny-looking double tooth.)  That has been weird enough but then, one day, Dane was stepping on something somewhat painful all day.  When he got home he discovered that one of Max's teeth had gotten stuck in his sock!