Perhaps of interest to some of you. I enjoyed the audio most of all - but check out the picture at 2:53 of Sister Hinckley :)

I love just his little eyes peeking up over the top of Trevor’s head!

He was all freshly bathed. I had to wash his hair again because I left him alone for all of 10 seconds and he took that opportunity to spit up a large amount of lunch and then roll his head around in it… Never a dull moment!

Maybe helpful if you have no idea.

Maybe interesting if you like validation.

Certainly fun if you like quizzes, surveys, and filling in bubbles.

I think that a little piece of my heart feels lonely tonight. It’s interesting how this can feel so personal to so many millions of people. Because I’m pretty sure that it does. For me, it’s been this way for as long as I can remember.

My favorite memory of seeing President Hinckley was when he came to visit the members of the church in New England, and we got to sit in a sky box at Madison Square Garden because all the other seats were taken. What left an impression on me was not the cool sky box, but how many people had put forth so much effort to travel to see him because they knew that he was a prophet of God.

I’m grateful for how strongly I know that families are forever - and I am a little in awe at the rejoicing that must be happening in heaven tonight for the completion of a life so loved.

Since someday is a word, I just decided that somenight can be too.

Disregarding last night (post-shots…), he was making good progress on sleeping longer! On Friday and Saturday nights, when he would wake up I would just put his blanket back on him and give him his pacifier and he would go back to sleep. I realized that if I stop to pay attention before picking him up, he was usually just crying from gas pains or something and he was actually still sleeping. So for two nights he woke up after 3 hours, but waited 5 hours to eat. Then on Sunday night he slept for 4 hours and on Monday night he slept for 5 hours. I still only slept for 3, but it was good progress!!! Here’s to hoping!

Okay, so he is just 50th percentile in weight and height for 2 months old. I was never so concerned though about his specific stats as about the rate at which they have been increasing, because if it continues at this rate I am going to run out of arm muscle for this job!  At his last appointment he was only 5th percentile for weight and 25th for height. Anyway he is 11 lbs 6 oz, 23 1/4 inches long, which means he has gained 5 pounds and grown 4 inches in two months (I wonder what on earth must it feel like to grow FOUR inches in TWO months? I hope babies don’t have growing pains…). He has not been a happy camper for the last two days because of his shots; he’s done lots of screaming which is extremely rare for him and thus a little scary for me, but I think he’s getting a little better today. He’s had a fever but on the positive side, he’s been suddenly very good at discontinuing eating as soon as he is full. Usually he does not do this and then spits it all up. So, I hope that is a side effect that lasts!

And on the record, I did not cry at all. It felt extremely irrational to me at the time. I spent it wishing she didn’t make me hold his hands during the shots because I don’t want him to associate my face with that pain. But luckily, he’s a baby and he forgets!

Now… tips for removing three very tightly stuck bandaids from a baby? Anyone? When I can’t let him soak them off in water because I currently can only give him a sponge bath? (His circumcision was re-attaching so the doctor just ripped it right back open. I think this has been the source of most of his pain rather than the shots.)

Sounds like a children’s book! Max, when you read this someday, please forgive me for calling you that. But let’s face it. You are growing. Fast.

He is very smiley this morning. This makes me a little heart-broken as he has to get shots today and maybe he will wonder what he did to deserve such treatment. Nothing, Max. It’s just the mean doctors and I will cry for you.

This may be the last smile we will see for a while. Be worried.

When we forego opportunities to use our time wisely, we usually lament about how it’s time we can never get back. But today was the first time I’ve heard that situation flipped around and presented in such a positive light: When we do use our time wisely, it becomes time we can never lose. 

I love to think of it that way. I spend so much time and energy trying to get everything done so that once I sit down I will be able to stay there and relax instead of being distracted by when I have to get up again. But we all know that the list is never done! Trevor often suggests I come sit down by him and have fun, and I always say “I just have to [...] first, then I’ll be over…”. And that one thing always turns into 20 things. And then I wonder why every night when I finally go to sit down on the couch, both my husband and my son have fallen asleep without me, leaving me to put them both to bed and then fall asleep alone.

Every night turns out this way.

But not anymore! I hereby resolve to do a little better.

When I use my time to be a part of my little family, it becomes time that is not lost but is always mine because it creates good memories. It will be easier to do when I think not about what isn’t getting done, but about what I am doing. And then I can go to bed with a hopefully-awake husband (I’d still like Max to be sleeping!) and a little richer for the time that was found and kept.

(Or not, in my case, because I don’t ever get to sleep for long enough.)

Today I learned that short-term memory does not copy over to long-term memory in our brains until we are sleeping. We must experience a full REM cycle in that part of the brain before any temporarily stored information can be moved to permanent storage. Thus, no real learning happens without sleep. Maybe you already knew that, but I didn’t.

This is why it actually is important to start studying for that test early enough to get some good sleep too! (Or just take the test the same day, which I recommend if you are simply a sluffer and crammer like me). I always thought they just tell you that so that you can think clearly and not fall asleep during the test.

This is also why somebody should really start lobbying for sleep to be an allowably higher priority than homework. If students got enough sleep, at least they’d remember what they learned at school rather than staying up to do homework too and then forgetting it all. 50% seems better than an all-or-nothing approach. Because it usually ends up nothing.

Or, home school! This is a vaguely exciting possibility with my kids that I entertain quite often.

Also, those full cycles only happen to parts of our brain in sequence rather than the whole thing at once. This means that if we don’t sleep for long enough, the parts of the brain that didn’t get their cycle have to go 48 hours without one (assuming you get good sleep the next night).

So, everybody go to bed early tonight! My new knowledge gives you permission.