Pat-a-Cake

Talmage loves playing Pat-a-Cake. After playing it a couple of times last week, he learned how to "toss it in the oven!" Here is a video to show you his trick.

Sneak Peek

I still haven't caught Talmage's falling asleep routine on video, but here is a picture of the tail end of one his enormous grins his face breaks into as his eyes are drooping shut!

 

Mini-Golfing

Last Friday we went mini-golfing! I'm not quite ready to leave Talmage home with a babysitter yet, but we were long overdue for some time out of the house, so we packed up the stroller, and off we went!

Sam had a great strategy...he creamed me. But he was nice enough to teach me his tricks! :)

 

 

Doesn't he look like he is levitating in this picture?

 

 

There were pretty palm trees and gurgling streams throughout the course.

Talmage was an angel the entire time!

It was so nice for us to get out of the house and have some fun!

After we finished our game of mini-golf, we went to return our putters and there was a skee-ball game next to the desk. Sam challenged me to a game, so we asked the woman at the desk how much it was to play. She said it was one token, and you could buy four tokens for a dollar. So Sam asked for four tokens and handed her his card. She just looked at him like he was crazy and said, "A dollar?!" When he responded in the affirmative, she shook her head, gave his card back to him and said, "Here," and gave us the tokens for free. I guess she figured it wasn't worth the use of the cash register for that much! It was such a fun night.

One Year

 

One year ago yesterday, Sam and I got engaged! I can't believe it has been a year. So much has happened since then that in some ways it is hard to believe it has been a year and in some ways it feels like we have always been together. 

It all started when he came over to my apartment to work on some homework with the warning that he would have to go into his lab to work in a few hours. However, shortly after he got there, he got a phone call and informed me he had to leave right then, but that he should be done around 8:00. I was feeling kind of sorry for myself when 8:00 came and went, and he informed me that it would be later...around 10:00. Then 10:00 came and went, and I once again got a message that things were taking longer than expected and he would be over around 11:30. Finally at about 10 minutes before midnight, Sam showed up. I tried to hide my disappointment that we had not been able to spend the evening together as we had planned. He suggested we go for a walk, so we set off. 

We got to a path in the foothills of Provo where we had walked around on one of our first dates. He asked if we should go up there "just for old time's sake." I agreed, and we started up the path. We reached a certain point, and Sam stopped me. "Kaitlyn...I know this is kind of weird..." he started. He explained that he hadn't used the restroom since before he had gone into the lab about 12 hours before. Before he had a chance to explain further, I told him I would sit and wait for him while he went and took care of business. Really, he had placed flowers and a card in a tree with a flashlight shining on it, and when we had passed that place, the light had gone out! He had to hurry back down the trail, put the flowers and card in a different location, and shine the spare flashlight he had brought on them. (In his defense, he really hadn't used the restroom since before going to the lab, so he wasn't lying...)

We went a little further up the path before he suggested we turn around and head back down. We got to the rock outcropping where the things were placed, and Sam stopped to comment on the view. I agreed that it was beautiful, and then Sam pointed out the strange light on the rocks. I had just figured it was the moon shining on them in a weird way, so I brushed it off as nothing. But he suggested we go and see what it was. We went over, and I saw the card. Sam is very good at doing sweet things all the time, so I thought he had simply placed a card up there for me to find. I turned around to thank him and was startled to find him with a ring in his outstretched hand, asking me to marry him! I obliged, of course, and then he pointed out the flowers that were with the card. I was overjoyed, and we sat down on those rocks and set our wedding date right then, for December 27th..just 7 weeks away! While I thought he was in the lab the entire afternoon/evening, he actually picked up the ring, went up to Kaysville to get my dad's permission, and set things up in the mountains. 

It was such a beautiful time, and a wonderful memory. I am so grateful for Sam and that I get to be with him for eternity!

A Few of my Favorite Things

Hi, guys! Talmage here. Mom put this outfit on me yesterday, and it says "Our Favorite Toys" on the front of it. I decided to tell you what some of my favorite things are!

 

I just love Primary songs. Mommy sings them to me every night at bedtime, and sometimes Daddy sings them to me too. Daddy found out that my favorite song is "I Am Like a Star." It just makes me feel so calm and happy inside when I hear it. Don't you like it, too?

 

My favorite time of day is about 9:00 am. Not only is this feeding time, but I just feel really calm and happy at this time! I am really alert and awake, but not upset, and my tummy usually isn't feeling sick yet. But my second favorite time of day is about 9:00-11:00 pm! Before Mommy had me, I would squirm and kick every night at that time. I just love being awake then! But Mom and Dad are trying to teach me to go to bed during that time, so they do all sorts of crazy things to keep me awake after about 5:00 pm.

 

I have lots of different binkies! But this is the one they gave me at the hospital. I know it looks silly and just about takes over my face, but it's just my very favorite! We've been through a lot together. It was there for me when I was being poked and hurt a lot, and things like that just make a man and his binky bond, ya know?

 

I really love swinging. Sometimes it puts me to sleep, though! It just feels so good to rock back and forth! But it's a good thing I have a portable swing, too, because I really like to be close to Mom and Dad.

What are some of your favorite things?

Sleepy!

Talmage is getting to be a pretty good sleeper...as long as we keep him awake in the evenings! He has been really alert since his birth, and now he only sleeps for about 3-5 hours during the day. We try to keep him awake from 5pm to 10pm, because otherwise he is wide awake when it is time for bed. I think sleeping pictures are just precious. Here are some of our favorites!

Okay, so he's not exactly sleeping here, but his giant toothless hippo yawn is still cute!

 

This is his absolute favorite position. If he is having trouble sleeping, I can put him in this position and he will almost always be asleep within a few minutes. Interestingly, this is also his cousin Peter's favorite position! (He is just 16 days older than Talmage.)

 

Sometimes he picks more interesting positions...

 

Talmage really likes his daily tummy time. But if it's close to nap time, he usually ends up like this:

 

The "Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play" campaign, which drastically reduces SIDS, prevents me from putting him to sleep on his tummy, but he would probably sleep more at night if I did!

Another point of interest:  Talmage has a hysterical routine he often does when he is trying not to fall asleep. I have yet to catch it on camera, but I hope to one of these days! His eyes roll into the back of his head, then to the side, then down, then to the other side. They will flutter open and shut, and then he will give an enormous grin and repeat the routine. It never ceases to make me laugh. This morning he was doing it, and he started chuckling! I'll keep on trying to catch it on camera so you all can enjoy it as much as we do. :)

Can You See It?

Yep, he's got his mom's pointy chin, all right!

 

Somehow it's a lot cuter on him...