Bad habits we WON'T need to break

I'm sure that we've developed more than a few bad habits with the Little Man in the last year and a half.

Buddy, is definitely on the list. He loves buddy, and I'm glad that he has him (or them), but the nose -it's pretty gross. We'll have to break him of that sooner or later.

We live on a dead-end road with little traffic besides construction workers and a few neighbors, and the Little Man likes to run down the street when we're outside, and we usually let him. There's less chance to fall that way. Not a great habit.

And, at the moment, he's into hitting. We didn't TEACH or even allow that, but he's all boy, and gets pretty aggressive, which sometimes comes out as hitting. We're working on it.

One habit we won't have to break? Sleeping in mom and dad's bed. We've never done it before last night. And I don't think we're in a hurry to do it again anytime soon.

We went camping last night with Justin's mom and step dad and the Little Man woke up when Justin and I went into the tent. He normally doesn't wake up, and when he did, he was crying and a bit panicked. It was pretty cold and would only get colder, so we decided to see what would happen if he slept with us.

The Little Man stayed WARM, and that was the end of the positive outcomes. I didn't sleep for the first few hours, while the Little Man tossed and turned. He was sort of sleeping, but not very well. Justin finally got him closer to him and I think we all fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then the tossing and turning started -for me and the Little Man. It was cold, and uncomfortable. The Little Man woke up at 5 am, and wasn't going back to bed.

We spent the next 2 or 3 hours in the car, turning the heat on, and even driving around the campground until the sun came up and we could go outside.

We had a fun time, the Little Man LOVES being outside, and enjoyed his time with Mimi and Papa -and Sam. Although, everytime night rolls around and we're freezing, he's freezing and no one is sleeping I wonder why we like and go camping so much.

Any suggestions?

4th of July Weekend

We've had a very fun, very busy weekend. And, the best part was, most of it was just our little family.

We went downtown to the Farmers Market Saturday morning, didn't come home with any vegetables (unless you count Hummus) but the fruit pie was delicious! (As always). AND, the Little Man loved all of the dogs and music.

Right after that we walked over the Gateway and played in the fountain -for a moment. Just in case you were wondering if we brought swim suits and a towel, we did not.

Later that day we went swimming until Justin and I were worn out -although I think the Little Man could have stayed for hours longer.

Sunday we went camping in the afternoon (post to follow) with Jusitn's mom and step-dad.

Monday we decided to try something new out -a movie. On a scale of 1-10... I think we ended up with a 4. It was a kid movie -How to train your dragon- but we misjudged how busy it would be and ended sitting too close near the front.

The popcorn was a hit with the Little Man, but the attention span definitely did NOT span for 90 minutes. We had a LOT of snacks in addition to the popcorn, and ended up leaving a few minutes early.

We probably won't go to another movie in the near future.

Melanie is the mom

I rarely post on the blog, Melanie is just so good at it! Something today made me grateful for her and all she does with our cute boy. Thank you Melanie for being the mom, it helps to compensate for me being the dad. :)

Summer

We went on a quick trip to Wheeler Farm this month and saw a few little ducklings.

On an old tractor and up in a tree house with a neighbor.

Justin started a neighborhood garden and the Little Man LOVES the dirt (and mud).

Finally, we went up to Logan this week for a couple of hours. The Little Man needed to stretch his legs so he ran around the quad for a while.

Let's just hope that he finds a different roommate by the time he wants to go to Utah State.

News?

This won't be news to most of you, but I'm sure a few of you might be happy to know we're expecting a baby this winter.

In true Lafeen fashion, he or she will be due between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Once again we will be waiting until the baby is born to find out if it IS a he or a she. I guess I'm a sucker for surprises!

If you'd like to invited to the new baby's blog (or the Little Man's blog) make sure I have your email address and we'll be happy to add you. That is, if you're just dying to hear about all of the baby (and sick mama) news along the way.

Diplomacy

We co-hosted another dinner for the UCCD. We've had visitors from Quatar, Gaza, Palestine, Brazil and China on previous dinners. This time our guests were from Iraq.

I didn't really think much about the dinner before hand, it was a super busy week, and I had a huge ward dinner the Young Women were putting on the night before. It was the Little Man's first time with a 'real' babysitter (a neighborhood girl that we actually paid to come over), and I was preoccupied with thinking about that as well.

When we first all arrived I found myself feeling a little stand-offish. (Not sure how you spell that, or if I made it up). I think I've read too many books about Middle Eastern families and situations. Men are not often painted in a very kind light in the stories I have read.

The conversation was actually quite heavy most of the night, more so than with other people we've hosted. The couple that we invited made for interesting conversation because she was born in Japan and he is American. We talked a bit about WWII and the fact that two generations later Japan and America have strong relationships and respect for one another.
It dawned on me at that time that we were having dinner with a group of state-sponsored delegates from a country that we are at war with, in a round about way. I doubt there has ever been another time in history where that has happened. One of the men talked about how diverse Iraq is, and it's not surprise that there are so many creative people and ideas -something I had never thought of before. He also said that before and during the Saddam's regime was a 'dark' time in Iraq and it's starting to come away from the dark. In his words, Saddam was 'mentally retarded' to do the things he did, which the other men agreed with.

Two of the men were journalists and the third was an Imam, a Muslim spiritual leader, or priest. He was actually the youngest and most outgoing of the group. If I remember right, all of the father's had more than one wife, three or four, actually. The two that were married only had one wife, and when I asked, they said it depended on the family, the culture, and the education level, that seems to decide whether or not men would have more than one wife. The Imam said he wanted four wives, but then he joked about having a wife from the North, South, East, and West, so I'm not sure if he was joking or not.

The all lived in Baghdad, and said that things were okay and safe most of the time. We asked if the journalists felt like they had freedom to write what they wanted to. They said yes, for the most part. They worked closely with the government, or even with the government, but said they could still criticize the government's actions. They talked about the civil war or violence between the Shiite's and the Sunni's. But, one of the journalist said he and his wife were from different sects and that was okay.

The delegates had visited New York, Washington DC, here in Salt Lake, and were going on to Portland Oregon before going home. They all said that they had enjoyed the visit and it had surpassed their expectations. They all remarked on how nicely they had been treated, both by the diplomats and professional people they met with, and anyone else they came in contact. They were impressed with the LDS church and all that they do in their humanitarian efforts close to home and abroad. They also remarked on the many similarities between their faith and ours.



I know this is quite wordy, and so far, no pictures (we forgot our camera, so we'll get the photo from the other couple we hosted the dinner with). I think it's mostly for me. So, if you're still reading this, I'm actually a bit surprised! I think it's mostly for me, so I can remember the evening. Maybe my next post will have to be a bit more exciting!

I'm starting to see a pattern

We went on our first camping trip of the year.

It was a trip with Justin's dad's family, and I'm worried that we're setting a pattern with the Little Man.

Remember this trip to Maui?

Well, we were able to avoid a trip to the ER, but the Little Man took quite a tumble out of the trailer. Unto the pavement. On the SAME spot on his head.

For those of you who actually know us, which is probably most of you reading this, you'll know that the Little Man is very rarely seen without a bruise or new bump on this exact spot. I really don't know how he manages it most of the time. Sometimes I'm even impressed, that he manages to always hit his head in the exact same spot.

He's actually mad that I wouldn't give him the camera.

After some tears and a few band-aids and alcohol wipes we decided you'd live.

Going on a walk with Grandpa Lafeen.

April wanted to catch a pot-gut. And she did. He got away pretty quick though. This one was taken at home after a bath. I guess it's a good thing that the camera doesn't do it justice -if Grandma Hardcastle actually saw his poor little face she'd be pretty upset!
Our next family vacation is scheduled for the middle of July. Keep your fingers crossed we come back without a new bump!