Things

Here is a list of some of the things that I want and reasons why I’m glad I don’t have them.

House. If I had a big house I’d have to clean it. Plus if the furnace breaks… I’d have to fix that myself, now wouldn’t I? No more “owners of the apartment complex” taking care of stuff like that. Plus the utility bills would be higher and I’d actually have to pay for water and trash and stuff.

A baby grand piano. That sucker would sure be hard to move around.

A 3rd bedroom. So I can’t have a house. But it would be nice sometimes to have another bedroom so that Dean could have a good place to sleep. But I’m glad I don’t have one because then I’d feel like I’d have to fill it with stuff and decorations and those things cost money.

A yard. I honestly don’t mind mowing the lawn but I’d have to water the grass and pull weeds and plant flowers and probably build a fence. No thanks.

A bosch mixer. Since I’m not even sure I spelled that right it probably means that I don’t actually want it that badly. And if I had one then it would take up too much counter space in my kitchen.

A money tree. Let’s be honest. Who doesn’t want more money? But you know what, we have enough for what we need. And if I had more money then I’d be stuck up and then I’d get stuck thinking that I needed the very best things. Then what if the money stopped coming? I’d sure be in trouble then. Plus then people would want to “borrow” money from me all the time. And my kids would be spoiled.

 

All of that being said, I do have a lot of blessings and I really am thankful for what I do have! :)

To prove that, here are some fun October pictures.

Brennen with a soap beard and Dean “drinking” some sprite.

The boys and I traveled to Lyman over General Conference weekend. Here’s Brennen copying Kasey and Dean playing with Grandpa.

Kyle and Kylee and their cute baby Hallie came to visit in Laramie last week. Here are a couple pictures of all the Clark grandkids (so far). It was hard to get one with all of them smiling! Dean looks huge and Brennen looks like a rag-a-muffin. Good thing Hallie is cute! (just kidding, my boys are still cute)

Here’s me and Dean playing in the leaves while Brennen played on the playground. I tried to get a picture of him but he wouldn’t hold still long enough. :)

Half a Year!

Dean turned 6 months on September 27th. I actually feel like he should be older than that because I don’t remember what life was like without him in it! He went to the doctor on Monday and everything is looking really great. Here are the 6th month stats:

Weight: 16 lbs. 15 oz (just under 50%)
Length: 26 5/8 inches (50%)
Head: 44.1 cm (55%)

So I guess he went down on the curve a little but he’s still a good sized little baby. :) Pretty much exactly average.

Here are a few more things about my sweet baby Dean.

• For the past couple months he’s been awake for most of the night but a couple weeks ago he started just waking up once! I’m so happy about that! He takes 2-3 naps a day but they are rarely longer than an hour. It’s kinda my fault that he gets short naps because my schedule is so weird. He always sleeps on his belly (and has for 3 months). We have a little make-shift bed for him that we get out and leave in the living room every night just in case he’s too fussy to stay in the same room as Brennen but not mad enough to warrant us having to take care of him. He actually sleeps really well on that thing.
  This is what I see whenever I get him out of his crib.
  
• He is still so happy. He’s in a fussy stage (teething I’d guess) but it’s still nothing like what my first baby was like. :) He can entertain himself pretty well. He loves being carried around but usually just seeing Matt or I can calm him down a little when he’s upset.
  Playing at the park.
  
• His FOURTH tooth just poked through today and I can see the 5th! That’s crazy to me! He got the first two at only 4 1/2 months. He’s a good boy, though, and doesn’t usually bite. :)
  
• He still wears size 2 diapers.
• He is still breastfed several times a day and HATES bottles. We just started giving him 2 solid meals a day and he loves eating those! He likes rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, peaches, carrots, squash, and pears. He really doesn’t like peas at all, though.
• He learned how to roll really early. He can roll both ways expertly and army crawls all over the place. He’s crawled forward a few times but usually falls down and just scoots because it’s faster for him. If he wants something, he WILL get to it.
  That diaper box was on its side and he scooted right into it. Bet you can’t guess who got him all settled and then closed the lid. (Hint: It wasn’t his mom…)
  
• He’s been able to sit on his own for about a month but is just recently getting to where he doesn’t have to have both hands down to support his weight.
  
• He can get from sitting to his hands and knees without having to go to his belly first but he can’t quite do it the other way around.
• He is SO quick to smile and laugh. He literally has a little smile on his face all the time and it’s very easy to get him to smile really big. He laughs on his own as he’s roaming the room and that cracks me up. Who knows what he’s laughing at. But he really loves Brennen. They have so much fun together.
  
• He plays with EVERYTHING. I’ve really had to start baby proofing. He doesn’t just grab stuff to shove in his mouth, he actually tries to see how it works and really examines things. Then he’ll usually put them in his mouth. :)

As for the rest of us, Matt is getting a lot of hours at Spring Wind and unfortunately they’re all in the evenings. So I have the task of cooking, eating, and cleaning up dinner as well as baths and bedtime routines by myself. It can get a little tricky ‘cause Dean is always mad around 7 but we make it work. Matt’s so busy, though. When he’s home he’s reading (all in Spanish of course) and he spends a lot of time on campus doing homework because it’s hard to focus here with two adorable kids and a smokin’ hot wife (ha ha just kidding… we’re just a little too loud and crazy sometimes…)

I’m loving teaching piano! I have 17 students and it’s really fun for me. Some of them got pretty far in their books without really knowing all the things they should so I’ve had to go back and re-teach some stuff but I think it’s really working and they all seem to enjoy it! It makes life busy because I have to make sure everything else in my day is taken care of before 3:00 and I have to time Dean’s feedings and naps really carefully.

I’m planning to do a post in the future about Brennen and hopefully I’ll be able to remember all the funny/smart things he says because I really do think he’s amazing!

Overall, we’re stressed but happy and SO very glad that our 6th month old Baby Dean is in our lives!

Such a handsome guy! This was right after church. Is it just me or is there a hint of red in that hair? :)