Before I forget - Hawaii 2011

It really was worth every penny.  I'd take all my kids again in a heartbeat.  I loved, loved having all my sisters and parents there.  Can we go again next year?  Maybe Kauai?  Tahiti?  Jess, you in?

Apparently no one told the older ones we were posing in this shot.

Jace paid way too much money for the legit whale bone carving necklace I'm wearing.  He wasn't even mad at me when I dropped it on the tile floor and it broke - the same day he bought it.  

Apparently it looks like I only packed one swimsuit for my trip or apparently the majority of our pictures were taken on the same day.  Just be glad it fit- - that is my motto.

BFF's

Sunset Beach:

I have said it before....but Jace is a ball to have on vacation

Polynesian Cultural Center:

Pearl Harbor:

The big ship in the back ground picked up Osama Bin Laden and then dumped him into the sea.  It pulled into port the day we were there.  And that's pretty much as close as they would let us get to it.

Memorable trip highlights included:

*Swimming with the sharks (Jace had to yell at me to put my head under the water a couple times....I think I would have just doggy paddled around on top of the water in the cage.  It was claustrophobic and intense.)

*Getting caught in a flash flood in our rental mini van (FYI:  just because the locals don't think floods are a big deal does not mean you should drive your family thru one in the pitch dark.  Jace and I almost peed our pants....and our prayers were answered...miraculously we were not washed out to sea)

*Just Dance 2 (we all know who the real winner was, Beet)

*Para sailing (the water was purple and turquoise)

*Ted's bakery (butter rolls-enough said)

*Pearl Harbor (probably the best thing I did.....we missed the USS Arizona tour so we did the USS Missouri battleship tour....so glad we did.  I hope my kids remember it always.  I want to go back.)

*Seeing the navy ship that dumped Bin Laden into the sea 

*Meeting a sailor that was on that ship

*That sailor giving Noah his Navy hat and letting him sleep on his shoulder the whole plane ride home

*The jelly fish that almost took my Noah's life (he screamed like a girl - so I started screaming like a girl - it did not help but Ezra peeing on his brother's leg might of helped)

*Coconut syrup on my pancakes

*Jace's surfing lessons (and his surfing instructors - they were memorable.  wowsza)

*And the unfortunate purse snatching incident (dang locals)

Milestone - 8 Months

My 8th month old keiki.  She was a doll.  She loved Hawaii.  She loved the sand in all her crevasses.  She loved her mildew smelling crib.  She loved (and slept on) the airplane rides.  She even loved cutting her 1st tooth during our stay on the big island.

She completely steals the show at family home evenings these days.  She watches the other kids pick and perform a primary song and she refuses to be left out.  She sings (yells) at the top of her lungs, smiles, laughs, and claps (!).  Who taught her that?  She is a professional clapper.  She is hilarious.  She loves the spot light.

And I'll be, if we didn't watch her wave to our fellow passengers on the para sailing boat.  The entire ride.  Who taught her that?  She is a professional waver.

And so Mikeal confirmed this month what we have suspected all along......she is a genius baby.

Oh and yes, I almost forgot.  How could I forget?  Mikeal is full on crawling this month.  No more scooting, limping, or diving - the chic is on the move.  My life and hers just became very dangerous.

And FYI:  I really wanted a souvenir shirt to match Mikael.  They did not have my size.

Safety First

We are currently:

• trying on goggles
• practicing the back stroke in the tub
• measuring and weighing suitcases
• counting our pennies
• losing sleep
• praying last year's swimsuit will fit

Our trip to Hawaii is just around the corner.  Back in December, I told Jace this Hawaii trip with all 4 of the children would be a good idea.  No!  A great idea!  That was back in the day when Mikael used to chill on my lap.  For hours.  Not the case today.  How will I manage a 6 hour flight?  Me and her are sharing a seat.  Luckily, 4 of my sisters and all of their hoodlums children will be on the same flight.  What's that you say?  It's not a lucky thing?  I feel a lot of sympathy for the old man that was purchasing his ticket the same night we all were.  He will be stuck right in the middle of us - all 23 of us.   I ask that my relatives acknowledge they know me and my redneck/chicken smuggling crew (and that they take turns holding the only squirming infant on the plane).

So, Aloha for now.  I'll be back to retrieve my large Old Navy box sitting at the post office.  Can you believe a government office was closed today and will be closed on Monday as well?  What do they expect Noah and Ezra to wear to the beach?  Sheesh.  I will also be back to make sure these flowers did not die and start swim lessons.  And we will return to buy that one house. :)

p.s.  Macy asks all to pray for the safe return of her and all her limbs.  Taking her to see the movie about the surfer getting her arm ripped off by a shark in Hawaii right before our trip may not have been my brightest move.  We will be lucky if her ankles get wet this trip.

Milestone - 7 Months

7 months

I have decided Mikael is a busy girl.  My sisters are rolling their eyes at me right now.  They think all the Baum babies are calm babies - like drunk, sleepy sailors.  They think I don't know what a busy baby is and maybe they are right.  But for a Jace/Lindsay Baum baby - Mikael is busy.  And it just happened this month.

Warming up.  Stretching out.

She turns circles on my lap.  She scoots, then crawls, then dive bombs to anywhere she wants to go.  She does her morning push-ups in her crib everyday.  She still frequents the all you can eat buffet at night.  She's ticked if she's not the one manning my cell phone.  She types 60 wpm.  And she is completely offended if she is not bumbo sitting in the middle of the table at dinner - she needs to watch every bite and hear every word.

Mikael - bumbo sitting

And I'm happy to report that my teething suspicions are true!  5 months later!  She is finally cutting her two bottom teeth.  She still loves her mother the best and is a champ at spitting her baby food out.  My children are the world's worst solid food eaters - or is it a lazy mother?  Who prefers nursing over a 30 minute pea spooning-spitting session?

Check my photography skills.  One eye out out of focus.  One in focus.  Tricky.

Looks like my baby is growing up.  It is a good thing she gets cuter every day she gets older or I'd protest.

Tuesday Afternoons

Grandma Gaye on the right.

Most Tuesday afternoons, my 2 youngest children and I can be found at an assisted living facility in Show Low.  My Grandma Gaye's new residence.  She is always so happy to see me us.  One time I tried going in without my babies  and she asked why I even bothered coming at all.  She loves the babies.  As does most of the other residents there.  We wave and smile and throw candy to the old people in the halls as we pass by.  They ew and ah over that Mikael.  Grandma Gaye wants to hear all the family gossip and if you share she will in turn share her popsicles and cookies with us.

My crew with Grams on her 83rd (?) birthday last month.

It is about the only time during the week that my kids and I exit our little world and get to serve someone else.  Getting old is not for sissies.  I can only imagine how lonely most of her days have been since my Grandpa died 15 years ago.  I'm sure in her mind's eye, it wasn't very long ago, her body and life looked just like the 1st photo.

Grandpa Don furthest to the right.

It appears to me from these photos that I inheirted my curly hair from my Grandpa and not his long legs.  Dang.  The funniest thing about this photo is is that he looked so much like this up until the day he died.  He did not age or change much.  He believed that there was only 1 way to do most things - his way.  The right way.  He didn't believe in cutting corners.  He was a rule follower.  I'm pretty sure a cuss word never left his lips or his hands ever littered.

On his Navy ship.  Mount Vesuvious in the back ground.

He would wave his American flag on every holiday, including my birthday.  The man had a serious soft spot for his country. He ate his fiber and vegetables regularly.  He lived to make my Grandma happy and did it in such a way that you had no idea he was doing it.  Ding, ding, ding!!.....a lesson I should try learning - make Jace happy *quietly*.  I should also quit cussing while I'm at it, wave the flag more often, and teach my kids that littering is a nasty habit and people will think less of them and their upbringing if they see them polluting the earth.  We can't have that.  Grandpa Don wouldn't approve.

You never know how your life story will play out.  Will I be sitting lonely for years without my Jace?  Waiting to see him and hear his funny stories again?  Or will Jace know life without me for a time?  Either way all we can hope for is that somebody loves us enough to brings us ice cream and babies every week.

Easter wasn't even ruined

The Easter Bunny ordered late this year.  Half his presents weren't delivered until Monday afternoon.  The boy across the street told my children there was no Easter bunny - only big men in bunny costumes.    The wind boldly blew thru and around and up our Easter egg hunt at the lake.  Can you believe the wind blew in Show Low?  On Easter?  Safeway sold Grandma Mikey a platter of frozen fried chicken.  I heard Grandma Mikey ask the deli worker on the other end of the cell phone, "What's up with that?"  Trust me - that worker must have known that my mom does not use language like that often - her money was promptly returned (i hope - I should follow up).

These brothers fight like brothers sometime do.   Ezra decided he wasn't going to Stake conference with us on Sunday.  He liked Noah's tie better.  He wasn't going anywhere with the brown tie on - only the blue tie would do.  He asked Noah for a trade.  Noah only paused for a minute before passing it over.  If you ask nicely, you can get Noah to do just about anything for you.  Jace and I chuckled this morning when Ezra yelled out from the bathtub to Noah, "Good job on unlocking the pink level, Noah."  He was still so proud of Noah's feat on the Wii that had happened days earlier.  It is his favorite thing to do - watch Noah play the Wii.  Sometimes I forget how much they still really do like each other.

Macy was home sick all last week (Noah too).  "Don't you know I've had diarrhea since Easters?"  She decided she loves staying home from school but she hates make-up work.  I decided I love my children but I hate the thought of home school.  4 children home all day = one dirty house, one grouchy mother and one baby that can't figure out where she is suppose to take a nap.  But after a couple of handfuls of chocolate Easter candy, we were all back feeling like our regular selves.

I love when holidays aren't ruined by big men in bunny suits, diarrhea, or me.

Lactating Parents Club

Yes.  This is another post about breast-feeding.  I'm sorry but when it's your only special talent, you end up talking about it (and displaying it in public) too much.  I produce whole milk.  I produce fat and happy babies - all without so much as a thought.  What can I say?  It just comes naturally.  And it's special.

This month, the lactating club around my house had a new member join up.  Jace thought driving to Casa Grande to pick up 16 day old calves would be a good idea.  I tried telling him that he would not be a good substitute for the mama cows udders.  I tried telling him how much work it would be - he would be way in over his head!  He knows nothing about proper head cradling positions, proper latching techniques, colic, ensuring adequate hydration, and analyzing the newborn poop.

But all my warnings fell on deaf, naive ears.  He could not think of anything else.  Talk of anything else.  He hauled those poor orphan calves up the mountain and started his 2X a day feedings.  Soon those cows took over his mornings, his evenings, his thoughts and prayers, and my kitchen.  There was milk substitute to be mixed, mathematical formulas converting pints to gallons and then back to quarts to be figured, bottles and nipples to be washed and sanitized.

It wasn't until they starting dropping like flies that he admitted to his fellow club member that maybe 16 calves at once was just a few too many.  After all those feedings and stall cleanings.  After all that Pepto bismol and all the antibiotic shots, those cows were leaving this life faster than Jace could count.  Jace was saddened and confused.   After 2 weeks, we he went from 16 calves to 4 calves.  That's right.  4.  And I think it's worth mentioning that all 4 of the surviving, prancing calves are little girl calves.  I want to say that I think Jace learned his lesson but he I can hear him now talking in the other room about ordering just Holstein calves next time maybe they are a heartier breed.

I am going to tell him again tonight that the lesson to be learned here is this:  Unless you are born with the equipment attached - Leave the nursing of newborns to the mothers.  Go on home and eat dinner with your other 4 (real) children.

Love you Jace.  Maybe we could think of another club we could join together?  Book club?  Our kids our the cutest club? Chess?  Let me know.  I'll let you be club president.

You best keep up.

The Show Low House.  After.

We have exciting news to share about the Show Low house.  Click here.

The Heber House.  Before.  Me.  Before I gave birth to Mikael.

Other house projects are coming.....the Heber house has been waiting very patiently.  I vote we transform her next.

So, just so you aren't lost......Exciting news about the Show Low house posted here.  The Heber house is still very ugly.  We are dusting off our tools and ripping magazine pages out for inspiration.  And we still live here, in the Snowflake house.  Everyone with me?  Good.

You blink and you'll miss something.  If you haven't been clicking here, then you are missing stuff.  Good stuff.

You best keep up.

Sunday.....(and Milestone 6 Months)

Sunday afternoon, Ezra on a scooter, spring weather, and the return of the sprinklers.

Today was Sunday.  Fast Sunday.  Fast Sunday may or may not be the reason my children are usually potty trained before they are weened from my breast.  Gestating/nursing mothers are excused from fasting (at least at my house).  I am a lousy faster, especially when church is at 1:00.  I felt like a dog this morning, eating my hot Grapenuts in front of Jace and Macy.  This was Macy's 1st attempt at fasting 2 meals and she did it! Without complaining!  I was so proud of her and I told her that a couple times.  She didn't see what the big deal was.  I didn't tell her that I could probably count on my hands how many times I have fasted an entire day.  And that is why I love that girl so much and why she is a way cooler person than me.

He really can't get enough.

During fast and testimony meeting today a man who served as bishop of the ward years ago stood to bear his testimony.  While speaking from the pulpit, he mentioned Brother Baum.  He said he loves watching Jace hug and kiss on his youngest daughter at church and that Jace sets a good example of what kind of father he wished he would have been to his children.

She rocks the leg warmers, btw.

He really does french kiss Mikael all thru Sunday school....it's like a tick....if any one of his children are near him, his lips are on them. I hope my kids know how lucky they are to have a father like Jace.  It was one of the many reasons I fell in love with him, he is not afraid to show or exclaim his love thru words or public displays of affection.

And she knows it.

And so we should now discuss the lucky youngest daughter.  Mikael has reached milestone 6 months.  And I hate it.  I hate that she getting older and bigger.  I loved her newborn days and am sad to see them racing away.  I am constantly trying to play the "I just had a baby" card and that is now a lie.  She is half a year!

6 months.

Today at church, (yes, we are still talking about church) a new gal in the ward was admiring the Mikael in my arms.

"Oh!  How old is she?"

"6 months."

She was clucking and shaking her head in disbelief when she said, "And you already look awesome."

To which I replied, "I know."

She smiled, turned and started walking away.  After a couple steps following behind her, it hit me.


Whaatt the???  Did I really just say that?  Why?  For the love.


I sped up, grabbed her shoulder, turned her around and tried to explain,  "I did not mean to say that.  I thought...mmmmm........ we were still talking about the baby....mumble....... mumble........ ah....... she....I do not.....sorry."

She smiled and said something like, "There is nothing wrong with having confidence."

Ya Right.  Nice.

All I meant to say today is what I have been feeling all week.  I have been clucking and shaking my head in disbelief that my newborn baby is 6 months old.  I wish she would just stop growing.  I wish she would learn how to sleep thru the night but just stop growing bigger.  I love that little lady.

And while we are talking about wishes, I wish I could spend the rest of my life on the "breastfeeding diet."  I wish I looked a little more awesome holding a 6 month old baby in my arms.  I wish I didn't say embarrassing things in public.   And I wish I could get Jace to spread the french kissing love around my way in Sunday school  (I'm sure somebody would have something to say about that in the next fast & testimony meeting).