The biggest news this month is that I passed my stupid math class. Now it’s a matter of passing just one more class and I’ll be done. I just hope that you learn from my horrible experience in procrastination and finish what you start when you start it.

The demands of parenthood on your mother & I are increasing more and more every day. This may sound funny, but I think that for the first time since we’ve become parents, we are really beginning to feel like parents. We’re tired all the time and feel the pains of making big decisions in what we hope will be your best interest. We constantly talk about our future and our desires and wishes and hopes for you.

Currently we’re in the process of refinancing our house which means we’ll have some money to put back into the house. We’ve been agonizing about our plan of attack and just what to do. Some days we think it’d be best if we sure up the foundation and others we want to landscape the yard and even get AC installed. As of this writing we’re leaning toward the landscaping so you kids will have a little oasis of your own. Suffice it to say that there’s a flurry of activity and that your mom has been hard at work emailing, phoning and dealing with all kinds of construction alpha male-types.

While you two nap, mom is anxiously engaged on the laptop surfing away trying to hunt down this and that. Occasionally I’ll get an email filling me in on just what I’ve missed. This one is dated May 5th:

Hey,
so the kids are in their beds and not crying, if there sleeping i'm not sure. I'm just glad they're not crying. Ruby is just a pill sometimes. She won't nap but I know she needs some zzz's because she is sooo difficult.
OK so I had a concrete guy just come. He was interesting. I'm not sure we were communicating. I was telling him what I needed and then he asks if my husband will be here tonight. I said yes. "I will come when he is here so I can talk to him."
What? This is 2008 is it not?
It just so happens I have another bidder coming at 7pm (i hope that's ok) So he's coming tomorrow at 5:30pm when you get home from work.
Whatever.
I have another guy coming in 30 minutes.
This should be interesting. we need to talk about our loan tonight too.
love ya
becca

And this one from May 6th:
Hey pat,
so today was a good ruby day, some bumps but improved from yesterday. She watched just one show in the AM. She had a fuss when I turned it off but recovered more quickly. We went to the store for laundry detergent (much needed). She had a fuss but recovered quickly. We came home put Henry down for a nap and I vacuumed the porch & couch. When I vacuumed the crack I swear it looks bigger from last year. Foundation Repair people were looking at our neighbors house today. She was scared of the vacuum but was happy to play outside. Then we went down the street on her trike. Henry woke up and then he was soooo sad. I thought he'd be happy after napping but he cried while I fed him and then after. So I packed the kids in the wagon and went to the park. Ruby had a blast. The water was on but she didn't get in of course just watched with admiration at all the other daring kids. We came home. She had big melt down over a little thing but is now finally asleep. Henry was tricky but is now finally asleep. I did a little more research on the Trane unit from ESCO and I feel good about it so I called them to schedule installation. I hope that's what we agreed. If not we'll talk later. This concrete guy was to be here this am at 8:30 but I called and he can't come until now. So I guess just whenever. Remember the other guy will be here at 5:30pm.
OK, so I saw this web site and I just dreamt about it: www.freegreen.com. It's the house we'd build if we had a lot to build on. With some modifications I think it would work.
OK. I hope your day is better today.
love you lots and lots
becca

Hopefully, it’s painfully obvious how much your mother loves you.

RUBY -

You’ve been obsessed with flying a kite for the past few weeks. So obsessed in fact, that you constantly talk about it to whomever is in ear shot of your voice. Your mother bought one and it’s been sitting in the back of the car patiently on standby for that perfect occasion when the wind is just right. After a few frustrating attempts at Sugarhouse Park and down our street, we finally got this baby airborne when we drove out to the beach on the Great Salt Lake.

I got the kite nice and high and then turned over the reigns to you. I drilled into your head how important it was to not let go of the string to which you promptly let go of the string. I chased the kite down a couple hundred yards and one frontage road away. A brief inspection showed that no damage was sustained and then proceeded to get the kite up in the air again. I was trying to get a shot of you holding the kite when you let go of the string again. Sadly, I didn’t get my shot but did get a little exercise.

HENRY -
Alright then, buddy. If it weren’t for your smile and your “MaMa’s” and “Dada’s” you’d have some angry parents to deal with. You STILL have zero desire to sleep for more than four hours at a time. By now you should be sleeping through the night and enjoy the good feelings of multiple hours of uninterrupted sleep. We’re baffled, quite frankly and have tried just about everything. The only thing we can figure is that you must be close to cutting teeth and that that pain is awfully uncomfortable for you.

You are now sitting up like a little champ, which makes it possible for us to drop you next to a bin of toys where you can occupy yourself. After about fifteen minutes the toys are usually dispersed out of your reach to which we then gather them back up next to you and we’re free to get stuff done for a little while longer.

This makes me think about your busy little hands. Man, you just grab and grab and grab everything around you. Your favorite is when mom gives you an old copy of a magazine. You rip and tear and destroy within minutes. It’s really impressive, quite frankly. Our recycling bin has never been so full of orphaned pieces of paper.

In other development news, last week you had some issues with something you ate and had a long night of barfing. We left your door open so we could hear if you barfed again and were both amazed to find out after periodical check-ups that you sleep on your side. It was as if we’d discovered a cure for cancer or something judging by the way we acted. It’s funny that we’re always too concerned about waking you up so we never really know how you sleep.

Anyway, the sleeping on your side obviously points to the fact that you can turn over at will, something I’ve been a little worried about. With each passing day you are more and more wiggly and harder to hold. I’m sure it’s a matter of time before you get mobile and we start finding you in the air intake or other vents around the house (just kidding...we’re quite attentive parents).

Looks like this month will take me to San Francisco for your cousin Thaddeus’ blessing. I wish we could all go, but we’ll probably be hurting after we pay off our first post-AC installation bill.

Love,
Dad

I woke up to this exciting news this morning. Now all I have to do to officially graduate is pass Math 1030 with a D- or better.

Oh yeah. Here's to coasting!

With no homework on my plate, the options are limitless (well, limitless in terms of getting two kids to bed and giving the Wife a little break).

Any suggestions? I really don't know what to do with myself.

Oh, this feels so good.

Once again I’m a little late in writing this update. I had good intentions of getting it done last week, but somewhere between all the family gatherin’, homework and overall caring for you it got a little hectic. Kinda funny how time just flies by.

Easter this year came really early. We took our customary trip to St. George to visit your mom’s family which was extra special as the Faldmo’s were visiting from South Dakota. The house was filled with kids playing and Grandpa Ross banging away on the piano. We ate lots of food, went on egg hunts and took the occasional family portrait.

The highlight (at least for me) was the Saturday afternoon/evening we spent in Hurricane at Uncle Dave & Aunt Kathy’s house. Every year Uncle “Dutch Oven Dave” cooks it up for all the Hursts serving ribs, chicken, potatoes and of course the pièce de résistance: peach cobbler. The food is only half the fun though as there are games played and lots of songs sung. The Hursts are a fun bunch and I’m grateful to be a part of it. Even more than that, I’m grateful that you two are a part of it.

Also worth noting this month was a recording session I had with Peter Breinholt. I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned how much I love being in the studio. As of this writing I have hundreds of songs to my credit and I’m hoping that I’m not done. For me there’s just something about that process that I just love. I hope the phone keeps ringing.

My math class continues for another couple of weeks and then I’ll get a little break before summer session begins. Not to jinx myself, but I’ve been doing really well as of late and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to advance into the next class which will be my last. If I can get into that class then I pretty much have it made as I only have to get a D- to pass. Now, I don’t want you to think that a D- is acceptable, but in this case it is. It’ll be summer after all and I don’t plan on burning my time doing homework for a subject that I have no interest in pursuing.

Your mom has been itching to dial in the perfect home. Every night when I come to bed (after doing homework) I’ll usually find her on the laptop surfing away in pursuit of finding ways and means to bless our lives. She’s been looking into preschools and swimming lessons and bunk beds and all kinds of ways to get you kids as well-rounded and adjusted to life as a kid can be. Even though we’re both exhausted at the end of the day we stay up late talking about our future and our hopes for what may happen. We love you both so much and want only the best for you.

RUBY -

Something’s happened to you over the last few weeks that has mellowed you out. Maybe you’ve accepted that Henry is here to stay or that you can play by yourself, even for ten minutes. I don’t know what it is, but you’ve become the most beautiful little girl in the world all over again. You’re sweet and cuddly and ever so engaging.

When I call home during the day I’ll ask your mom to hand over the phone and there we get to talk for a minute or two. Sometimes you even call me and fill me in on whatever is circling around in your brain. I love these calls and it makes me so happy to hear your little voice.

You are so sweet to Henry and give him lots of love and kisses. It’ll be fun over the next while to watch how you two interact as Henry is growing more interactive with each passing day. I was talking to your Grandpa Ross once and he told me one of the great joys of his life now is that his children still call each other and are actively engaged in each other’s life. I hope so much that you and Henry and other brothers and sisters that you might have will be this way.

One of my favorite memories of you this month was when we were in St. George and you happened upon a baseball mitt. You happily adopted this mitt for a couple of days calling it your “mitten”. We’d play catch and hit the ball off of the tee until something else struck your fancy. It’s fun to watch your little passions evolve as you go about discovering all kinds of adventure.

I know I’ve said this a thousand times, but I still can’t believe how smart you are. You recognize letters and love to point them out when we are driving on the freeway or at a restaurant or some other public setting. You’re also well adept at sharing your feelings, “I’m sad now Daddy,” or “I’m soooo happy!”. You love songs and sing them over and over again until I just can’t take it anymore. When I come home from work you’ll run to me and give me a big hug, which of course is just about the greatest thing in the whole wide world. Ruby, I’m grateful to be in your presence and I love you so much. You bless my life more than you’ll ever know.

HENRY -

Once again the big issue this month has been sleep. While you’re sleeping longer and longer, you’re still not sleeping through the night like we’d like you to. You’ll have your good nights and then you’ll have a couple of bad ones. Hopefully sooner than later you’ll get it figured out and we’ll all be happy.

We’ve been debating for sometime now just what to do with your hair. There are times when we want to buzz it and then we get caught up with something else and forget about it. Then a couple of days later we’ll think about it all over again and then do nothing about it. I guess we’ve never had to have that discussion about Ruby. Personally I think it’d be fun to let your hair grow long to authenticate your hippy Halloween costume but the your status as a “little man” would suffer.

While we were in St. George you had a little five minute spree of turning over about a dozen times. I thought that from that point on you’d be floppin’ like a fish out of water, but you’ve only turned over a couple of times since then. Here’s hoping you get floppin’ with more frequency soon.

And speaking of milestones...you’ve been sitting up very well as of late. You’re still a little floppy and we don’t leave you alone, but you’re getting stronger and stronger every day. I’m sure that in a few weeks you’ll be sitting up like a champ and we can then leave you to your own devices (and by “own devices” I mean: a pile of toys).

It’s probably also worth noting that for the last month or so you and Ruby have been wearing the same diaper size (#4). The funny thing is that you will be moving up to a #5 here in a bit if you keep up the growth, which is entirely possible given how much you’ve grown so far. Strangers ask all the time how old you are and are usually shocked when I say, “just over six months.” Then the conversation usually leads to some giant baby story they offer up.

All right then kids...I gotta go to bed. It’s late and I have yet another long day ahead of me tomorrow.

Love,
Dad