mechanical mastery

after several knuckle-busting attempts and a shameful number of curses, I successfully replaced Jackson's bike tube yesterday. I had tried and failed many times the day prior, and I was committed to taking the dumb thing to the bike shop and paying a very reasonable $6 to have them wrestle with it. But then, with a renewed sense of urgency and intense dislike of the bike shop workers, I attacked it again. No less than 1/2 gallon of soapy water and 4 flat-head screwdrivers later, the bike is seaworthy.

That task, and a handful of other around-the-house type jobs made yesterday a great family day. Jackson and I dropped off my bags at the office and went to the gear store for the 50th time. I had to have one more pair of socks (26 was one too few) and some boot laces and chapstick and glove liners. We broke down and burned much of the scrap lumber lying around and rigged up a fix for the cable/wireless network. We made copies of some important documents and played a little coin hockey. I somehow fumbled through the production of a couple DVD's of me reading books and pontificating about Michigan State and Matthew chapter 22 for the kids to study while I'm gone.

It was a very satisfying time. As Carrie and I were processing the day, she remarked that all the things we did she could have taken care of, but it was nice that we got them done. It was a great cap-off to a pretty intentional and (we'll see if this bears true) successful run-up to the deployment. Many were and are praying for us; we've been blessed with a real sense of Spiritual peace. Peace about what we're doing and God's call on our family. Peace about the loss of physical togetherness and hope for Spiritual and relational growth through unconventional means. I'm grateful to have a rock for a wife who is completely trustworthy and competent and faithful and strong. In some ways she's more like Balboa than me, like a piece of iron. But she's also loving and tender. She will take great care of the kids and run the home with vigor and joy.

My sister-in-law, Anne recently reminded Carrie of the beginning of Romans chapter 5 where Paul says something like; suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not make us look stupid because the object of our hope is the God of the universe who happens to love us. I'm still crying -just a little- as I write, but when we consider our lives in the context of Biblical promises, there's no rational reason to despair. In fact, we'd be idiots to despair given God's unrelenting faithfulness. It's ok to hurt a bit, but not ok to get all wrapped around the axle. After all, in light of the deployment, our hope is not is 25 uninterrupted years of communion and fellowship with our nuclear family, our hope is that God will complete the work he began in the world and in us at the day of salvation. He can accomplish that in me and Carrie and each of the midgets with or without the next 52 doughnut days.

Speaking of the completed work...I had a happy vision yesterday as I was driving with Jackson. Not like a 'shroom-induced vision, but a won't-that-be-wonderful daydream. I had been telling J about how the Bible says it's appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment. That took a pretty good amount of explanation, but I think he gets it. We were listening to some Christian worship CD and I was singing loudly and poorly to the Newsboys, who washed out into uncoolness about 10 years ago, when I realized Jack was trying to sing the words, even though he didn't know all of them. He was just calmly and joyfully mouthing about 35%. I thought that when every knee bows before the throne of God and declares his praises, I'll look across the throne-room and see Jackson singing there again. One way or another, it will really be a very short time from now -in light of eternity.

In light of eternity, our present circumstances aren't even worth comparing to the glory that we'll have in Christ, for those who believe.

As you can tell, this is a big cathartic exercise for me. I've been slightly teary-eyed a few times, but mostly trying to keep it cool as I am sitting in a public place. I did have to give one guy the stink-eye because he looked over at my sniffling one too many times, but he's gone now.

Thanks for all of you who are thinking about us and surrounding us with prayer and acts of care.

One more day

Matt has one more day with the fam before taking off for Iraq. It is a little hard to know what to do the last day he is here. We've decided to have a low-key day at home, making sure everything is organized and settled. We do have a few short errands to run, and will probably go to the playground for a little while. We'll have a normal dinner at home, and after dinner Matt has some gifts to give the kids. The kids will love the gifts they are getting, and I think it will make the goodbyes a little easier. When we put the kids to bed, Matt will tell them goodbye. They know this is coming, and they will be sad, but I don't expect them to have trouble sleeping.

Matt actually doesn't have to report for his flight until 2pm Thurs, but the few hours we could be together in the morning would just be sad, so he is going to leave early in the morning before the kids get up. Other soldiers are leaving throughout the morning, and he will be there to see them off. Many families will go with their soldier out to the area where they gather before heading to the airport, but this is a very sad scene. I would have been willing to go if Matt wanted us there, but he said no way! We think saying goodbye the night before will be easier on everyone.

At dinner tonight, Jackson said, "So, will daddy be gone more than 100 days?" (100 is a HUGE number to him.) I said it would be more than 100 days, and later Jackson said, "Will he be gone more than 101 days?" And I said yes, but tried to explain that even though 100 seems like a huge number, it will really not be super long. (Jackson thinks 100 days is a lifetime!) Then I changed the subject so we wouldn't have to keep going all the way to 365.

Matt and I have really been in good spirits the past several weeks even as the deployment has crept closer and closer. I had heard that often 2 weeks out, things can get tense and there can be some arguing and the soldier mentally checks out and focuses on being gone just as the wife peaks in her sadness that he's leaving and blah, blah, blah. So we were bracing ourselves for that stage, but it never came. Today is the first day Matt has been out of sorts. He was irritable and agitated most of the day. He didn't really know why he was feeling this way, but said he must just be sad and who knows what else. One day of irritability I can handle!

We have both felt peaceful about the deployment coming and feel prepared even though it will be sad. I really give thanks to God for this feeling of peace. It is just like Philippians 4:6-7 says: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Whenever anyone tells me they have been praying for our family (and many have) I am reminded to thank God for the peace that passes understanding.

Speaking of being thankful...we decided to have an early traditional thanksgiving meal last night so Matt could be included.

Jackson thinks it's fascinating to see the raw bird.

headed into the fryer

A 1/2 hour later

Sampling the Turkey legs as we bring the rest of the food to the table

all set

I checked out an ancient but interesting and accurate children's book about the first Thanksgiving from the library and we read as we ate. The kids enjoyed the story, and it was a good reminder to be thankful for this country, our religious freedom and all the other provisions we have from God.

It would have been nice to have our meal at the dining room table, but the dining room table has looked like this for over a week...

Undies and socks all over the table, and bags galore on the floor. Funny that I'll be a little sorry to see them go!

Isaac's new look

Isaac's hair had been getting a little fluffy lately. I kind of liked the little curls above the ears, but Matt wasn't a fan. I don't get too sentimental about baby curls (or anything, really) so tonight, when Matt and Jackson were getting haircuts, we decided to let Isaac get in on the action. Here he is looking fluffy earlier this week.

And here is the "before" shot

Jackson was supposed to photograph the haircut, but the camera ran out of batteries. He just got this picture of Isaac staring down at the hairs falling to the floor.

And here's the "after" shot. He's looking like such a big boy! (I happen to remember that Jackson got his first haircut at 9 months, too.) Speaking of Isaac's appearance, his eyes are definitely no longer blue. They were quite blue the first several months of his life, but now they are bluish/gray around the edge, and brownish/green closer to the center. Is that what they call hazel? It will be interesting to see if they stay hazel or if they keep darkening and end up being brown. Hazel is kind of fun because they really do appear different colors depending on the color of his clothing. If he's wearing a green shirt, they appear greenish. If he's wearing brown, they look brownish. I like the variety.

Oh, and for the record, Isaac is still toothless and sedentary. Annika and Jackson both had several teeth at 9 months, but not Isaac. He is following in their "footsteps" in the movement category, however. J and A both sat and sat until 11 and 10 months respectively. Isaac does kind of lean forward on his hands from time to time now, and it seems like he might at least want to move pretty soon, so we'll see. Right now he's pretty happy to just twirl his toes and flap.

Camping and Climbing

As Matt mentioned, we went camping earlier this week at Hueco Tanks State Park just 35 miles east of El Paso. We really enjoyed this amazing place and plan to return often. My only complaint about the camping part of the trip is that no campfires are allowed. We heard 2 reasons for this. First, we heard that campfires might interfere with some carbon dating that researchers and archaeologists are doing at this historic site. But when we asked the campground host about the issue, he said they are just concerned about fire hazards I guess because of how dry it is there. Either way, camping is just not nearly as fun without a campfire at night. Temperatures during the day reached 77 degrees, but just after the sun set, they dropped considerably and got down to 46 degrees at night. Without a fire to snuggle up to after dinner, we crawled into our sleeping bags before 8:00!

Isaac chilling on our gear as we set up camp

Home

We had a little time to explore Monday evening after setting up camp and before eating dinner.

Tuesday morning we set off for a hike and after wandering a little, we found a great trail.

At the end of the trail, at the top of the boulder, we found a group of outstanding rock climbers. So we decided to rest, snack and watch these folks. I'm not sure how they came to be a group. Some were foreigners and some were Americans, but they were all amazing climbers. Hueco Tanks is world renown for it's free climbing opportunities. Being able to watch these experts really added to our experience there.

Above, you can see the guy hanging completely upside down. Then, just by grabbing tiny edges of rock with is fingernails, he made his way up the side. The others cheered him on and did some spotting. It was very entertaining.

Here I am watching the climbers. They didn't seem to mind having an audience.

While we were exploring this area, a bat fluttered by. Eew. I think bats are gross.

Every time I turned around I saw something that seemed like it would make a great picture. It would have been great to to have a fancy camera. Ours had trouble with the harsh lighting, but you can still get the idea.

Isaac was a pretty good sport as long as he had is pacifier. I scored this backpack at a Thrift store a few months ago for $10. Hopefully we'll have lots of opportunities to use it. The rest of us were just as tired as Isaac at this point in the morning, so we headed back to the campsite for some great napping.

Oh, and we saw this little guy on our way back.

Matt and Isaac napped nicely outside, and Jackson and Annika curled up in the tent. I dozed a little in a chair by our picnic area, but was awake much of the time just enjoying the stillness, silence, sunshine and mountains.

Annika woke up from her nap and peeked out her window. Then, to let the others rest a little longer, I took AJ to ride her tricycle around the campground for a while.

On our afternoon hike, we were excited to find some of the ancient pictographs. Jackson was especially excited about this. There had been many false alarms with all the graffiti he had seen.

Here are some more pictures from our afternoon hike.

This is one of the huecos - hollows - that holds water long after the rest of the desert is dry and attracts wildlife.

As the sun set on Tuesday night, Matt, Jackson and Annika headed back to the campsite. I, however, headed back home with Isaac because he had not slept well in the tent our first night there. Matt, J and A had a nice night of camping and a fun morning on Wednesday with a big egg, bacon and pancakes breakfast and one last hike. They found several more ancient rock paintings and some huge huecos that still had water. It was awesome, and we can't wait to go again.

if you don't love camping, you don't love yourself

Had a great time camping at Hueco Tanks State Park the last couple days. I've really come to love camping, especially in the last few years. This is owed to being raised in a family that embraced the outdoors, not in a poser-wannabe-REI/NorthFace-long-hair-hippie-tree-hugger way, but in a way that simply enjoys being outside and doing creative stuff that can't be had indoors. As a camping family we don't have all the cool-guy stuff that allows us to set out on our own into the wild frontier and be self-sustaining for weeks at a time (not that we'd want to), but give us a water source and 110v electricity and we'll have our own style of adventure. We take a huge cooler, a huge tent, a long extension cord and enough propane to fuel the southern third of Mexico. We camp where there are showers, bathrooms with flushing toilets, and a gas station where we can get ice and gummi worms.

Sounds like I feel a little superior to the aforementioned REI commies, which I do, but we can co-exist with them. We camped near some of this type; they were even from Canada. French Quebec to make matters worse. But we shared a cup of coffee and all-English conversation this morning and a semi-common bond that leads us to eschew our very nice homes and live for a few days with critters and cold and clear starry nghts.

Camping is relaxing because of the process. To enjoy it I have to be very deliberate and organized, not my strengths. But I make lists and pack the truck tight. I bring more than enough of everything and many appliances we'll probably not use. Time is structured, but only around meals. Breakfast takes a while to set up and get cooking, but the sunrise burning off the cold air is delightful foreground for menial work. Lunch is usually easy and prepared before the trip, but it's followed by a weather-permitting outdoor nap. Dinner is the best; felt hunger is guaranteed from the activity of the afternoon. It's fun to eat in the dark, all together, recounting the day's activities and telling stories about coyote-wolf-monsters.

The particular camping experience we just had was better than most because of the setting. The Hueco Tanks state park is about 30 miles from El Paso. It's a small park, but visitors are limited to 70 each day so it's not crowded. The traffic limit is to protect Indian paintings that apparently are a hundred or so years old. It's cool to see them, but they're barely visible and mean nothing to me. Most of them are painted over with graffiti, some of which is much more creative and amusing. Maybe too harsh, but seriously, old indecipherable pictures and writing are only really compelling for sociologists and historians. If you're honest with yourself, you wouldn't care who was in that spot 150 years ago either. My favorite theologian, John Piper, has said "newness is no virtue and oldness is no vice." But the opposite is true too, just because something is old doesn't mean I have to appreciate it. But that's the type of attitude the park rangers had about the cave art. Congratulations, you've got some old stuff there! If you want me to care, give me some context, some personal application.

Nothing new under the sun and a great lesson for all us weirdos who like reading, language, and words too much. The only eternal things are the Word and the Way.

What you would care about, and what we found breathtaking is the shocking, out-of-place landscape in this corner of Texas. The boulders and huge rock formations are totally inconsistent with the rest of the topography of this region. It looks as if some cosmic-sized being was shooting craps with gigantic stones larger than houses. The formations are haphazard and weather-worn. The soft rock clearly shows the repeated collection and evaporation of pools of water, cut-out troughs where water has run off with each rainfall, and the cracking and reforming brought on by sun and wind and age. The rough rocks were cast in a pattern that created numerous canyons, peaks, flatlands, and croppings of vegetation; a maze of landforms that would take a long time to explore. It's a unique place, but something that may fall short of true mountain lovers who favor places like Colorado or the Appalacians. We loved it because it was different from pure desert, which has limited appeal to this family.

A note about State Park workers. They are the best argument for capitalism that I can think of. Capitalism demands quality and service and ingenuity for an enterprise to survive. State Park systems simply require the consistent passage of house resolutions which the average citizen doesn't monitor and the squirreling away of taxpayer money. Their product is there and will continue to be there for our use as taxpayers and citizens, whether we use it or not. Their job performance isn't tied to any kind of measurable statistic or goal. As near as I can tell, the only metric is whether they are at work on time and for the assigned period of time. Which our fine workers weren't. I'm sure some of them love their jobs and serving people. Others love their dumb green uniforms and silly hats and sense of authority they have while on duty. These are the kind we encountered.

We desired a specific campsite. It was unique in that it had both grass and a small tree. Unfortunately, that site was designated as a site for RV's only. The worker-lady with the smoky the bear patch said that since we were tent camping, we could not use the site. "Why not?" I asked smoothly. "Because you have a tent and there's no tent pad." "No problem," I said, I have two tarps, we'll put them on the asphalt and set the tent up on that." "You can't do that." was her reply. " "Why not?" was my wry response. "because tents must go on tent pads, and there's no tent pad on site 16." "I got it," I said, "but we have a very large tent and we'll probably set it up on the asphalt anyway. Please let us have site 16." The lady was getting mad at me now, and I was pretty excited myself. "if you set up your tent on the asphalt we will come and tell you to move it." If you've seen me livid, picture me that way and this little Nell-looking lady with unshaven legs in a tiny park booth. It wasn't good. Of course there was no third party to appeal to, no higher authority, no reasonable human being there (including me at this point), only more vest-wearing camp-nazis. "Look," I said, "we drove through the campground and the only 2 sites being used are by the camp hosts. It's not like you need to keep site 16 in case an RV rolls in, there are plenty of other sites." "The best I can do for you is site 19," she said. And because my wife and kids walked in at that moment and I don't like them seeing me yell at idiots and because my anger had entrenched her in her position, we camped on site 19.

These views are mine (Matt) and not Carrie's. She will post very nice pictures and complimentary language about the park later.

Sledding!, A glorious day, Halloween, David's visit

We have been having some serious fun around here lately. Like I mentioned in my last post, it snowed here on Wednesday! We even had snow dusted mountains here in El Paso! We had a free day on Thursday, so we decided to take a trip to Cloudcroft, NM (2 hour drive) and play in the snow. It was awesome. They got a good 5 inches in Cloudcroft, and it was great for sledding.

We played on the same hill we had played on last January. It's in Zenith Park right in the middle of this little town. The hill is not very steep, but long...perfect for little legs. The kids can walk up the hill with no trouble, which makes it more fun for all of us.

A tire swing at the playground in Zenith Park

Annika was a little mad about wearing Jackson's old clothes, but I was just happy we actually had suitable winter wear for each kid. (And I was there to show AJ this was not exactly a fashion show.)

Jackson would run, jump and fly!

AJ getting a little tired at this point.

We love the little coffee shop in this town. They have delicious peppermint hot chocolate, and lots of books and toys that are perfect for the kids.

We definitely wore them out! I could have stayed a lot longer. Just looking out the window at a million snow-covered pine trees was awesome. I would have loved to have played more in the snow and then gone to one of the cute little restaurants there for dinner, but the kids were pooped and about to get unruly, so we drove back home at about 3:00. What a fun day!

Then, the very next day, our friends (the Baums) took care of our kids all day, and Matt and I were footloose and fancy free! First, we went to the Outlet Mall to shop and grab a quick lunch, and then we did some hiking. We hiked McKelligon Canyon, which is a little treacherous for young children, but something I had been wanting to do if I could ever have some time away from the kids.

We set the camera on a slightly tilted rock to get this picture of us together.

We hiked to the cave you can see above Matt to the right.

the cave

View of the canyon from near the cave

After hiking, we came back home so I could nurse Isaac and so we could shower before going out for dinner. I showered first so I could sneak out and get a pedicure. Ahh, heavenly! Then I picked up Matt and we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. After dinner, we got some coffee/hot chocolate, and relaxed for a while at Barnes and Nobel. Wow, it was SO nice to have a whole day to spend with just Matt. The Baums were so thoughtful to give us this time together.

And we had even more fun in store for Saturday! Saturday evening Matt's cousin, David, flew in from Colorado for a quick visit. When he arrived, the kids were all dressed up and ready for some trick-or-treating. So David set down his suitcase, and off they went!

Jackson dressed up as G.I. Joe and Annika was a ballerina.

They walked around our neighborhood with buddies Jai and Cade. (Cade refused to be in the picture.)

Here they are trick-or-treating at our house.

Isaac stayed home with me and passed out candy, but he dressed up for part of the evening. (Even though he looks like a cow, he is really a Dalmatian.)

Plenty of sweets.

Here are some more pictures of our low-key visit with David. We went to the playground on our street this morning, then church. This afternoon, we watched football and took a walk to another playground before dinner.

After dinner we did some water coloring.

David has to fly home early tomorrow morning, but we are very glad he was able to come for a short visit.

Thankfully, some warm weather has returned, and we are very excited to do some camping! We'll camp at Hueco Tanks tomorrow night and Tuesday night. I can't wait to do some more exploring there.

Fun times with a dash of sadness

Matt is less than a month away from deploying. In a way, it feels like he'll be gone soon, but we are also having a lot of fun together right now. Matt has this week and next week off from work. (Except for a few emergency counseling sessions and hospital visits that have come up.) The only thing we wanted to do for sure during this time off is camp. We plan to camp on Monday and Tuesday next week. But, so far, we have just been resting, hanging out, and doing normal, every-day stuff. It's fun to be able to run to the store and not take the kids with me. It's nice for Matt to sleep in a little and exercise later in the day. It's fun to "divide and conquer" like we did yesterday when Matt took Jackson to the gym to play racquetball and I took Annika and Isaac to Story Hour.

We do have some special plans for the next few days. It snowed in the mountains today, so tomorrow we are driving (2 hours) to Cloudcroft, NM for some sledding. It will be so FUN! Friday, our friends (the Baums) are coming to the house to watch Tooty, Fruity and Cutie ALL day while Matt and I enjoy some time together. And Saturday, Matt's cousin David is coming for a visit.

Of course, mixed in with these fun times are some conversations with the kids about Matt's year away. Tonight we watched an Elmo video about deployment with the kids. I think the video is well done, and a helpful way to get the kids thinking a little about what's about to happen.

I was surprised that Jackson didn't cry during the video. For several weeks now, Jackson has been teary about Matt leaving. When we talk about it, he's curious, asks questions, and then gets sad. EVERY time he gets sad, he runs up to his school desk and starts making something to give to Matt to take to Iraq. He draws a picture and then writes "umaruku" (America) or "I lov yow" or "camul spidr" that was after Matt told Jackson there were huge spiders in Iraq called camel spiders. After playing with clay one night, Jackson said, "Dad, you can take some clay with you and play it with your buddies in Iraq. I'll make flashcards to show you how to make a castle." During his sad times, Jackson also often gives Matt one of his little toys or stickers, always asking Matt which kind he would like the best. It is really heartbreaking to watch.

Also, as we get closer to deployment, Jackson gets really upset if Matt has to leave the house in the evening. Sometimes Matt will go to the gym at 8ish, right as Jacks is going to bed. Jackson always cries. Sometimes, he just tears up and sniffs a little, trying to be discreet. And sometimes he'll jump up on Matt and beg him not to leave. Tonight, Jackson fell apart when Matt had to visit someone at the hospital. Matt reassured him over and over, but Jackson kept crying. I was reading him books before bed, and he kept whining, "daddy...daddy". I explained again that Matt wasn't really leaving and that he'd be back very soon. He kept whining, so I finally had to tell him firmly to stop. He said, "I want daddy." And I said, "Too bad! He had to see someone at the hospital." Then he was fine.

My assessment right now, is that Annika and Isaac are going to be totally fine about this. Isaac is conveniently oblivious, and Annika will provide some comic relief. She says in the morning, "Bye Dad! Have a good day at work! I hope you don't get shot!" And one day, when Matt left for work after coming home for a quick lunch, Annika said, "Well, I guess daddy's going to Iraq now." She doesn't really grasp the significance of a year without dad, which makes it easier for all of us.

As for me, I have thankfully been able to focus on enjoying the time we still have together. I expect the few days leading up to Matt's departure will stink - I may get an upset stomach, though I'm praying I won't. And the day of his departure will be very sad. It will be sad to give him one last hug and watch him say good-bye to the littles. Then, I think I will be a little relived to get this whole thing started.

Those quotes from Annika remind me of a few other recent comments. So we'll end this on a happy note:

At dinner recently, I told Annika to stop messing around and eat. Annika pointed at me, winked and said, "You bet, mom."

Jackson fell and scraped his knee on our morning bike ride. Jackson tends to be very dramatic when things like this happen. When we got home, he was mad at Annika for not being sympathetic enough about his ailment. He said, "Annika, stop being so mean you little twerp." Annika calmly replied, "I am not a slurpie." Jackson yelled, "I said you were a twerp!" Annika said, "I am the most beautiful twerp in the world."

Jackson was thinking about the fun he had swimming with grandma, and he said, "Mom, can you believe it? I went under the water and didn't even get any caffeine in my eyes!" (chlorine :)

Isaac was babbling loudly in the car, and Jackson was trying to tell me something about his Bible study class. He said, "Isaac, please hush! You can tell us that later!"

Another visitor

Here are some pictures from Matt's mom's visit. We had a really fun week with her.

We went to a corn maze/pumpkin patch near Las Cruces on Saturday. Actually, we meant to go to the same place we visited last year. I thought I had found the website for last year's corn maze, and printed off the directions, but it was a different place. I actually liked this fall fest even better. (It's just a little bit farther away.)

These slides were really cool.

Carvin' the pumpkins we picked

Painting the pumpkins we picked

Later in the weekend, we drove to Leasburg Dam State Park in Southern New Mexico. We had been wondering if it might be a good place to camp sometime. After visiting, we decided it would not be the most exciting camping spot, but we had a nice morning there.

Strolling down to the river

The Rio Grande

Right down the road from Leasburg Dam State Park is Fort Selden State Monument - ruins from a 19th -century military outpost, so we stopped to check it out. There was a small museum and some trails for exploring the ruins.

On the way home from Leasburg, we stopped for a little shopping at the outlet mall on the other side of town. The last few days of Karyn's visit were low key. Karyn, Jackson and Annika went swimming twice at the big indoor pool near our house. J and A LOVED that. And Karyn also babysat one evening so Matt and I could have a nice dinner date.

I am SO thankful to have family members who are willing to spend the time and $$ required to come visit. Living way out here would really be a bummer otherwise!

July...I mean October 19

These pictures were taken yesterday. Sprinkler and watermelon! It sure felt a lot like summer! I actually like the lingering warm/hot weather. I like for it to be decidedly warm enough for shorts/short sleeves all day without messing with jackets for everyone. It has been 80 something all month. Just my style. Of course, I do miss the amazing fall colors, but the warmth I can handle.

Yesterday also marked Isaac's 9th month of life. Here he is giggling with Jackson yesterday, though it's hard to hear his chuckles with all of Jackson's laughter.



Isaac is a very laid back, snugly, sweet little fellow. He had a "well" visit to the doctor last week and everything looks good. At 18 pounds 10 oz, he weighs less now than Jackson did at 4 months (!) so his new nickname is Slim. He is long and lean. I do prefer lots of chub and rolls on babies, but, in my unbiased opinion, Isaac is still off the charts adorable.

Isaac has been a little slower to master sleeping through the night than our other babies, but has recently figured it out. I didn't really mind nursing him at night, but a 9 month old baby should not need to eat in the middle of the night, and uninterrupted sleep did start to sound pretty nice. My friend shared with me what she and her husband had done to help their baby sleep more soundly, and it worked REALLY well. I'll include the technique just in case it might help someone else out there. Sleep is good!

Sleeping through the night – What we did.
1) Good cop bad cop routine
a) Phase I - First five nights the good cop puts baby down and get’s up with him in the middle of night. The bad cop is never supposed to go in the room during this time or the process should be started over. The good cop should do whatever is usual to try to get the child back to sleep.
b) Phase II the good cop should leave the house 2 hours prior to putting the child down for the night. The first night will be the hardest. The bad cop is responsible for responding to all night wakings. If the good cop has to break routine and help during a night waking then the process should not be started again for another five days or so.
i) Night one when child awakes the bad cop should respond by going into the room and patting the child on the stomach and say something reassuring like “You’re OK, I love you, its sleep time now”. The bad cop should not be in the room for more than 30 seconds.
(1) Stage 1 crying is continuous and exhausting for the child. During stage 1 crying the bad cop should make a visit every 5 minutes for no more than 4 times after the initial visit. This stage should not last more than 25 minutes if it does abandon the plan as the child maybe sick or cutting teeth etc…
(2) Stage 2 crying is more intermittent with obvious pauses and less exhausting, so it can last longer. Visits should be made every 10 minutes during this phase two to three times. Phase I and Phase II combined should not be allowed to continue for more than 60 – 70 minutes.
(3) Stage 3 crying is just fussing and whining with the occasionally hard crying. Once he begins stage 3 it is important that you do not make any more visits.
ii) The program should be discontinued if all three stages last longer than 1.5 hours. However if at 90 minutes you think he is about to fall asleep you can hold out for another 30 minutes.
iii) Repeat this process for each night awakening for each night. (Owen woke up, like 7 times that first night! It was awful! But on the second night, he slept from 8pm to 6am).
c) Night one will be the hardest. nights 2 & 3 will be much easier and by night 5 he should be sleeping through the night. The good cop has to be gone for the 2 hour period before bedtime for both nights 1 and 2. For night 3 the good cop can be home, but must disappear out of sight for 45 minutes prior to bedtime. By night four it is fine for the good cop to be around before bedtime.

Hope this is helpful! Let me know how things work out!

Time for some catching up

Here we are in mid-October! It has been great having Matt home these past few weeks. His training at NTC went well, and the month was good practice for all of us. I discovered a few things that will help with day-to-day life during the deployment. I should probably type them out here so I can reference this when I'm feeling a little frazzled this year:

General/Obvious
- time with extended family
- staying busy
- having a rhythm to the day/routine for the week
- talking to/hanging out with other families in the same boat or who have been there and done that

Some of this month's discoveries
- structured dinner conversation - Sometimes dinnertime can be frustrating with 3 children under 6 years old. I may not be able to get Isaac to open up for his veggies, but I have found that Jackson and Annika respond well to structured dinner conversation. Some things we do are: Pow-wows ("pow" is a bummer from your day and "wow" is a highlight from your day), "What animal would you like to be?" and "Why?", "What animal would you not like to be?" and "Why?", God is... (the kids take turns filling in the blank and are starting to learn what it means that God is holy, compassionate, faithful, etc.), "If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?" ...and so on.
- Strategic use of TV - I know some early childhood specialists claim that television is the root of all evil, but I just don't think so. As long as the content is wholesome, a little TV is fine for kids. I plan to let the kids watch a 1/2 hour TV show each weekday morning so I can start the day off with a quiet time and a worry-free shower. Also, Friday nights will usually be movie night while Matt's gone. (The kids like to choose one from the library). And Sunday evening we will enjoy a nature show as a family. Jackson and I are both especially fond of nature shows.
- 4 kid-free hours a week - The Child Development Center on post offers 16 hours/month of free childcare for "waiting families" (families whose mom/dad is deployed). I plan to carve out a regular time each week (ie: Thursdays from 2-6) to take the kids to the CDC. I'll use that time to run errands, get a haircut/pedicure/etc, chill at Starbucks, get groceries and do whatever I feel like doing without children. 'Twill be a lifesaver. We also have a few trusty babysitters I'm sure I'll be calling on now and then.
- We're just gonna miss him - all these things will help, but no matter how you slice it, dad being gone for a long time is sad.

So, anyway, NTC was a good learning experience for us all. Matt returned from NTC on a Wednesday night, and got to take Thurs and Friday off. So we had a fun weekend. We went to Las Cruces, just to try something new. We were totally following our noses, and took the first Las Cruces exit to a really nice museum.

It was the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. I didn't take a pic of the main building, but it was very nice, new and clean. We were the only visitors at the time, so this kind man offered to give us a livestock tour on his nifty little tram thing. He told us all about the animals, crops, etc. Did you know that alfalfa is New Mexico's #1 cash crop?





Clearly, there were a lot of animals there, which is always a hit with the kids. There was also a cool historic bridge, a playground, a milking barn, a blacksmith who crafted a big nail for J and A and a big gift shop with a fun area for kids to play.


After visiting the Farm and Heritage Museum, we followed our noses to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. As we ate, we looked over some visitors' information we picked up at the museum, and decided to visit the Natural History Museum before heading back to El Paso. Oddly, this little museum was located inside a mall. I've never seen anything quite like that, but it was a very nice, smallish museum with a variety of critters (mostly reptiles, bugs, spiders, etc.) who I think live there all the time, and an ever-changing interactive science display area. The day we were there, the interactive display was about "air play". There were vacuums and blowers and all kinds of activities involving air movement, wind, etc.

A Gila Monster. We read about these all the time in the books about deserts we get from the library.

We had a great time in Las Cruces. To me, Las Cruces almost feels like a distant suburb of El Paso. EP does not really have a suburban area. It's basically downtown, west side, mountain, east side, Ft. Bliss. But LC is just a 1/2 hour drive, and it has some nice attractions, restaurants and shopping areas. We look forward to returning.

There was one other place we wanted to check out on Matt's long weekend: Hueco Tanks State Historical Site. Click on the name to find out what Wikipedia has to say about this funky place. Basically, Hueco is a Spanish word meaning hollows and refers to the many water-holding depressions in the boulders and rock faces throughout the region. (Making it an oasis in the desert surrounding it.) This place is cool. It is 35 miles northeast of El Paso. It is apparently world renown for rock climbing, but folks like us can have lots of fun just hiking around on the enormous boulders. It was raining the day we wanted to go, but the kids get excited about rain and want to be out in it, so we went anyway. We didn't have a lot of time before the park closed, but we just wanted to get a feel for the place because we plan to camp there later this month. The campsites looked great, so it should be lots of fun to go back.




After watching a 15 minute video mostly about how not to wreck ongoing archaeological studies about this area, we had just a little time to stomp around. It definitely whet our appetites for doing some more exploring soon.

Much more to report about a fun week with Matt's mom in town and how we're feeling about the deployment being one month away, so hopefully I'll be able to write again soon.