Night at the Museum

So, tonight for Family Home Evening, we went to the Museum of Art here on BYUs campus. There was some very fine art there that we saw, and it was very pleasant. Here is a picture of one of the finest pieces of art we saw there at the museum.

First Real Bath & Special PJs!!

A couple nights ago Jacob experienced his first real bath. He was downright tired of sponge baths (and I was too, to be honest - they were a little tricky to give him since he likes to be squirmy every now and again). So here is a picture and a little video to document the event. I didn't know I had so many chins, either (see video!).

Afterwards, I decided to finally dress Jacob in his special pajama gown. This gown is special for a few reasons: 1) It was made by Grandma McKoy 2) It was made by Grandma McKoy 27 years ago (she thought for sure she was having a boy but she had my sister instead!) 3) It is soft and blue and flannely 4) It has a pocket to keep all of his belongings Thanks to Grandma for sharing all these years later!

Amazing Experiment

I got to thinking about how to solve one of man's oldest quandaries: Does the refrigerator light really turn off when you close the door? I was amazed by the results, which I of course did not know until I watched the video. Amazing.

This week

So, there are several things I would like to cover in this entry: First, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. This cost me at least 10 minutes yesterday as I was looking for a black outfit to wear to demonstrate I was in mourning, but, I could not find one. Al Gore. Sigh. I will bet that it helped in his getting the prize that he invented the Internet. Oh well. Second, this morning Stacey, Jacob and I participated in the Deloitte Dash, a 5K sponsored by the accounting firm. It was fun. We finished in just under an hour and Jacob came in dead last out of everybody there. Way to go Jacob. It was raining a bit, and we had to take Jacob out of his stroller every once in a while to rock him back to sleep after hitting bumps on the road, etc. It was fun. Notice Jacob's sweet running shoes he has on.

Third, my brother David sent us the video he created about our trip to AZ this summer which has been previously discussed on our blog. However, it is a great video, and is recommended to all.

Fourth, last night we watched "Night at the Museum." I thought it was a very silly, and thus a very good movie. Stacey had other opinions. She was deeply moved by the movie, and actually cried at the end. I would not have classified it as a drama, but Stacey thought so. Fifth, and lastly, I have not done ANYTHING physical since a couple weeks before Jacob was born. Yesterday I went out jogging for a bit, and it felt marvelous. Then, this morning I went biking with one of the premiere triathaloner/accounting researchers in Utah. We biked about 20 miles up Provo canyon in about 90 minutes. We would have been much faster had I not held my biking companion back. Oh well. That is all.

Accounting

So, I teach Accounting 2010 at UVSC. It is a fun time. This semester I am teaching a night class, and there are many older folks in my class. It is impressive the amount of sacrifice some student make to get an education. A large majority of my students work full time, and man of them also carry 12-16 credits at school. Amazing. One student has no one to take care of her young daughter, and she asked if her daughter could start going to class. So, now we have an 8 or so year old coming to class. She is very well behaved, and does very well. Anyways, Tuesday we talked about accounting for inventory, FIFO, LIFO, COGS, and all of that, and this little girl drew the following picture for me.

So, this is a pretty good summery of what I have determined to dedicate my life to, a summary of accountancy: "Keep Tally, Keep Track," and that about sums it up. I thought it was cute.

Why I Want/Need A New Mattress Cover

So, back in August of 2005 when it came time for Jeff and I to purchase our first bed, we opted for a really nice one from D.I. (NOT a used one! Please. We aren't that cheap.) But we are cheap enough to have gone this long with the $15 mattress pad/cover we bought at D.I. as well. I had been thinking that for Christmas we should ask for a nice new one, with elastic all around, instead of just on the corners, that might actually still cover the bed after it's been washed. And especially I want one that stays ON the bed. And if it is good for the people who sleep on said bed, that is even better! Enter Protect Your Sleep by Clean Rest. These are my reasons for wishing to win the October giveaway at Lil Venture. Because, if I don't need to, why should I wait until Christmas? :)

Shame on BYU

I have been thoroughly irritated and annoyed at the BYU community very few times at my tenure here at BYU. Even further, very few times have I been ashamed of the BYU community.

Today, the effectual leader of the Legislative branch of the most powerful nation on earth came to our campus to talk. Further, the member of the LDS church with the highest political position came . It was the same person - Harry Reid. This was announced on the BYU website, there were fliers, and President Samuelson announced it last week at the well attended dance devotional. However, more people showed up to the Dance Devotional than to hear Senate Majority Leader Reid.

We should be ashamed. In this world where values are challenged, where morality is debated, and where evil is seen as good, and good as evil, people of morals have an obligation to know what is going on, to be informed, and to be interested. If there is one reason why this county is headed to hell in a hand basket it is because of apathy, indifference, and inaction, and today, BYU students demonstrated they excel in all three areas. Shame.

Diaper Rash and Parenthood

So last night at about 1:30 or so, I was putting Jacob to bed. I had just finished topping him off with a bottle and I was very tired. He seemed to be slowly going to sleep, when all the sudden, I heard a familiar noise come from Jacob's tail end. I thought to myself, "I am sure it is just gas. There is no way he could have a dirty diaper." I rationalized that I did not need to check it, that it was not dirty, and that it would be alright. I was too tired, and I knew he would be back to being wide awake if I stripped him down to check.

Well, about 4:00 this morning, I was woken up by Jacob little whimpering, and I went and checked on him. I checked his diaper, and it was very messy, so I started to change it. I noticed that a good portion of his tail end was very red, and when I wiped it, he cried much louder than usual. I knew that he had been wearing that dirty diaper for too long, and had a diaper rash.

Now, diaper rash is something common among babies. However, it really hit me hard that it had been ME that caused his diaper rash. Because of my weakness, my wanting to sleep, and my laziness, my son was experiencing real physical pain. It really made me think. As parents, what we do has a real affect upon our children. If we do not do what we are supposed to do, we really can damage them. And, while with a little Butt Paste diaper rash is cured, moral, intellectual, educational, and social damage that lazy and bad parenting can cause a child is irreparable. Children suffer severely every day because of their parents. I decided I would not be one of those parents, and Jacob would not be one of those children.

Sunday Slumber

So, we celebrated our post conference Sunday with a small little sleeping session, a slumber, if you will.

We also took some family photos at the J&S Photographers.

Grandma McKoy Comes and Goes

So, a few weeks have passed since Jacob's coming, and with Jacob's coming, came his eastern-abiding Grandma. I called her at 4:00 in the morning, which was 6:00 there in Northern Virgina. She said she would come right away. And, she did. Her dedication to her daughter and future grandson was amazing. She had not been expecting to travel for another week or so, but, she dropped everything and came.

So, she spent the week with us. She cooked dinners, cleaned, comforted, chatted, bought food, bought other stuff, sewed, cooked meals for after she left, and otherwise performed admirably in her grandmotherly and motherly duties. We just wanted to post this and acknowledge her service, and thank her for her efforts. It was a good time.

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We will see you soon.

Anonymous Posters

So, a week or so ago, we noticed a few comments from anonymous posters on our blog. It was kind of an odd feeling. Here we have our blog, that contains a lot of what we do in life. One of the specialist things in life that has happened to us, the birth of Jacob, is up for the whole world to see. And, there are strangers looking at it. It is a little odd.

There exists a setting for a blog where only invited viewers can look at it. Stacey suggested perhaps we may want to consider that. However, after discussing, we decided that is not what we want to do. We want anyone to see what is happening with us. We don't want to exclude anyone. So, all your strangers out there, feel welcome. Look around. Comment. Even say things that make us look silly/stupid. But, we welcome you.

Also, one interesting thing about telling people about the birth of Jacob. About 6 hours after he was born, I sent out an e-mail to everyone very close-parents, brothers, sisters. Most people who got the e-mail already knew about Jacob, because we had called them. However, almost every single person who I e-mailed that day responded.

A couple days ago, I sent out another message to everyone who I thought might be interested, friends from high school, freshman college buddies, and the like. However, I had only a very few people respond to this one. I found it very revealing. I think that my perception of who cares is very different from who really does care. Oh well. I dont care if you care.

What would you pick?

Contest Beat is home to yet another contest this month. There will be two winners - one drawn at random and the other based on creative response. The prize is $50 through PayPal or Amazon! Sweet! The task is just to point out what would be a great giveaway, in my opinion. It has to be something under $100 and my idea needs to be accompanied by a good reason. So I thought about this for just a little bit and decided that there are a few things I'd be happy with. One thing we discussed at some point is the purchase of a USB camera card reader, the kind with multiple card slots. Jeff's laptop has an SD drive but who knows who long the ol' hp machine will last? With the new baby, we have lots to take pictures of and lots of people who want to see those pics! I would get a lot of use out of that, and pictures could be uploaded without my husband's computer being around.

MOMSPIT = another giveaway!

We like antibacterial/antimicrobial things. Jeff especially does. He wanted to take a container of stuff from the hospital and I wouldn't let him. So in honor of his germ-free ways, and the fact that the purell we have makes my hands sting sometimes, I am entering a giveaway for a product called momspit. It is foamy and fun. Check out the contest!

Two weeks old today!

"...and so you see, we are a happy family!" For family home evening on Monday Jeff had big plans. So he pulled out the tripod and we got to work. This is our favorite family pic of the photo shoot. Jacob looks happenin'/handsome/dashing/insert other positive adjective here in his light blue suit, as you can see. On tuesday I went to the lactation clinic in Orem since there is still concern that my milk didn't come in in great abundance. I'm on medication for it but hadn't noticed all that much of a difference in Jacob's feedings (read: swallowing habits) and so went in for help. Now I am the proud renter of an electric pump and hopefully I can trick my body into creating more of what the baby needs. Tomorrow is his 2 week check up. They call it a well-baby visit, so I am hoping that he is well enough and not too small. At the clinic on Tuesday he weighed 7 lb 2 oz and tomorrow he's supposed to be above birthweight (7 lb 12 oz) so we'll have to see! Our camera batteries are malfunctioning, so I'll have to post a pic later, but Jacob's umbilical cord stump fell off in the middle of the night (Dad found it in the diaper!). His cute baby tummy has been graced with a sort of-outie. Kind of half and half, I would say. My friend Britt and I decided that when Jacob is married his wife will love his belly button. Boys in the locker room might tease him a little, but he can hold out the hope that his wife will find it cute.

Free stuff rocks!

Perhaps it is because I am a new mom, and maybe even moreso because I am cheap, but I like free stuff. I was reading on my friend Brit's blog today about how she won a contest with a website that does regular giveaways, Pinks and Blues. So the new ghost picture on the sidebar is what qualifies me to enter the Halloween giveaway (the prize involves Tootsie Pops, and that alone is enough to make me a happy camper!!). Only 65 people had entered so far, but there are still 2 weeks left so we'll see what happens. Thanks, Brit, for sharing fun websites with your readers! To rectify my heinous act of putting up a post-with-no-pic the other night, I will add the following picture to humor you all. This is just a fun one from when Jeff and I were dating. We've managed to go X-country skiing once each of the last 3 years, so we hope to go again this winter. Baby's awake now - more on him later!!