Workin'

Fogg and I have been working on our yard. It's a long story, but it goes something like this. Our neighbors put an addition on their house, which included a basement. All the dirt that they took out of their yard got put into ours. So Fogg got a machine to move it around to flatten out our yard and thought to move some rocks that were getting rotted. Well, he moved a few and got stuck. In addition, we were going to dig out a part of our yard by the house to put a patio but after we started digging realized that we can't remove the dirt cause it will ruin our foundation. Soooo, we had to hire someone to fix the rocks, finish flattening the yard. We have spent the past few weekends working on the smaller things like putting in the "flooring" of the walkout in the back, leveling, moving dirt around, installing a shed in the corner, putting the sprinkler system back in, etc. We are getting closer to the end and we've been lucky with warm weather. We still have to put the sprinklers in, finish putting up the shed, finish the patio area, and lay sod. We are currently accepting donations for this project...

Reed has been mostly great about hanging out while we've been working. We filled up his swimming pool with some of the sand we had to get for the patio area. He enjoyed using his John Deere tractor.


He also does pretty good about staying out of our way...

But mostly, he's been loving getting dirty. I let him eat as much dirt as he wants! Nice work Reed!

Joy

I've been going through some tough times lately. I won't go into details about it to bore everyone, but I've just been overwhelmed, stressed and a little sad. As I was discussing this with Fogg last night, I told him that the little boy in the next room was my complete joy and happiness. That without his laughter and learning, this whole time would be so different for me. It doesn't matter what kind of day I have, there is nothing better that having that little boy come running full speed at me to give me a hug. Nothing better than rolling around on the floor with him, doing airplane and hearing his uncontrolled laughter. Nothing better than his snuggle at night before bed.

Though I've been lame at taking pictures since we returned from California, I don't have any cute new ones to share but I'll give you some funny stories and other things he's learned.

Reed has learned what a dog says - arf! When he sees any dog - both in person or on TV or in a book - he says "dog" (but it's not quite that clear). Then I say "what does a dog say?" and he says "ARF!". Sometimes he just generally barks at dogs when he sees them. He seems to really like dogs, he will always point them out and want to go check them out. Funny story - Dianne (also known as Nana, watches him on Thursdays) has a dog named Wesley. Wesley is a dog that barks quite a bit when we show up. The other day, I was dressing Reed, telling him that he was going to Nana's house and that he could play with Wesley and he immediately started barking a lot.

He has also learned "uh-oh". It's sort of funny to see his little mouth making the "oh" and his eyes look very inquisitive. He will say it mostly in the correct context but also when he does something on purpose that he knows he's not supposed to do - like throw his cup off the high chair tray. One day he was running and tripped (this happens often) and as he is falling he is saying "uh-oh" but then as he hit the ground it really hurt/scared him and he actually started crying so it went something like "uh-oh...aaaaa". The other day, I was carrying him down to the kitchen to get him his morning milk and lost my own balance. As it was early in the morning, I didn't have the energy to catch myself so I just gracefully sat down on the floor. I turned to Reed to make sure he wasn't upset about it and he said - "uh-oh".

Other words that Reed can "say" are Dada (but no Mama), ba (which means bottle), up, ball, and questionably baby, bird, balloon, and hi. He general just points and says "ehhh?"

Reed waves goodbye. He likes to put bags over his shoulder, like mama does with her bag. He likes piggy back rides. He loves to brush his teeth. He likes water and splashing it or filling up cups. He loves bath time. He hugs stuffed animals. He can give you a kiss. He will bring you his shoes to put on when he wants to go outside. He likes to push his lawnmower or cart around. He likes to throw things. He will go to his cabinet in the kitchen, get a bottle, bring it over when he wants a drink. He won't eat anything green, even if it's yummy fruit.

He is a boy through and through, starting to show quite a fondness for trucks, cars, and bikes. With the work being done in our backyard, there have been different digging machines that he has really enjoyed watching. He also wants to be on any kind of bike, dirt or bicycle. Fogg will take him for rides on his dirt bike and that kid is in heaven. He will run directly towards and climb on anything that resembles a bike. Don't tell him or you'll ruin his Christmas, but we are going to get him a strider bike (a small bike with no peddles, they just learn to push and balance). He also has a few cars and tractor toys that he will pull out and drive around.

There is nothing better than sitting down with that boy to read a book or play with his toys. He is starting to communicate either with words, actions or pointing and grunting. He's a great napper and sleeper at night. He's flexible when the schedule needs to change. He can stay out late and still be a pleasant boy. Though he's a little clingy to me in the mornings when I drop him off at daycare (not gonna lie, it's kinda comforting that he hugs me tight), he is so good when I leave him and does so great all day.

Love that joy in my life.

San Clemente

*written by Reed Fogg

Hey Everyone! My mom took me to California! We went to a place called San Clemente and it's on the beach. My mom's Aunt Peggy and Uncle Howard invited us to stay at the Beachcomber Motel, my mom has been there before but this was my first time. We rode the bus at the airport and I held on to the pole like you are supposed to.

I had fun on the airplane and my mom said I did really good. She bought me some new books and a truck to play with and I liked them a lot. When we got there, we went to the store where my mom got me some snacks and milk and got herself a special "mama drink" which she said that I wasn't allowed to have. Then we went to the motel where I got to spend time with Uncle Howard. I like him a lot. He would tell me stories.
Then my mom took me down to the beach. We went there every day. I liked the birds that were there and would follow them around sometimes.
Sometimes I just liked to stare at the beautiful ocean.
I really liked running into the waves too! The water was cold but I didn't care until it splashed in my face. I would grab either my mom's hand or Lala's hand and pull them into the water with me. We would run to the water but then the water would come at us really fast and we would run away from it. I laughed a lot and really had fun.

The beach was covered with this stuff that my mom called sand. It was funny stuff and liked to play with it. I used a shovel and put the sand in a bucket.
Sometimes I would find rocks and I liked to dig with that too.
Guess what else I liked to do with the sand? I liked the throw it!

I also tried to eat some, but it doesn't taste very good.

My mom took lots of pictures of me. I wasn't ready for this first picture but luckily she took another and I could smile for it.

I had fun playing at the beach but it sure did make me tired! I took lots of naps and slept so long at night, even though Uncle Howard was snoring. Sometimes when it wasn't sunny, we would play at the motel room. I liked to climb up and down the stairs out front of our room. I also liked to take Lala for walks around the yard. She taught me how to say "hi donkey" to a statue of a donkey. My mom tried to get it on video but I tricked her and would never say it when she was filming. I found this cool box and made it a car to sit in.
I got to play a lot with my second cousins Sydney, Mary and Kyle. I also got to spend time with my mom's cousins. My mom didn't take pictures of me playing with them though. One day, we went away from the beach and saw some more second cousins Katie, Lindsay and Emily.

Here is the view from our room.
Most of the time I was getting my shower when the sun went away but I got to see it a couple of times.
I really liked it at the beach and I hope my mom takes me back again. She seemed really happy and relaxed (at least that is what she said) when we were there. She also told me that I was a really good boy when we were there.

Well, I gotta go now, but I'll catch up with you later!

City of Rocks

Last weekend we went to a very strange and interesting place in Idaho called City of Rocks. It's a state park where there are rocks that create a unique landscape representing (ready for this?) a CITY! It's right outside this little tiny Idaho town called Almo, which is a unique place in itself. They have a general store, a "steakhouse" called the Outpost, a pizza shop/auto parts/liquor store, and a hot springs pool. And that's about it. We rolled up there Friday night with our friends James and Michelle. Had some dinner at the Outpost then went to set up camp. We had a nice time chatting with the other members of Search and Rescue that were up there. Oh yeah, it was a search and rescue event.

Saturday morning, we trekked out to do a few climbs. We did fairly easy climbs but that makes it more fun and less frustrating. Reed insisted on hiking the way there himself (mostly) and enjoyed playing on the rock wall.

This is a self portrait that Reed took of himself while playing with the camera.

After lunch, we headed back to the campsite so Reed could take a nap and the rest of us just chatted, snacked and read books. Then we headed out to the hot spring pool. Reed was absolutely loving it! He really enjoys the water and swimming, but this time it was bathwater warm pool that everyone was in. He was laughing and smiling and jumping off the edge to us. We also taught him the word "hot" for the super hot pool.

We had a big Search and Rescue banquet (a yummy spaghetti dinner) then went back to the campsite where Reed crashed from the long day of hiking and swimming. After some s'more making and jokes we retired for the night. Sunday morning we did a couple of climbs, Fogg and James did a really hard climb, and then had lunch and headed back home.

Fogg on the really hard climb doing great!

Thanks to the Gompert's for watching London while we were gone and also for lending us the pop-up trailer which we covet! We had a great time laughing with friends, climbing a little and generally getting dirty - well, Reed enjoyed getting dirty. Can't wait to camp more next summer with Reed where I think it will be easier.

Cheers till next time!