"THE SCREAM"

Dear Alert Readers! So, here I sit, for the fourth day in a row, bawling my eyes out listening to the Broadway cast perform “Les Mis”. Oh my . . . .

Did you wear GREEN yesterday???? Not too many people had green on at Church. I’m not sure St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal anymore.

We are “on leave” from the Temple for a couple of weeks due to the Easter Pageant. The last Temple session begins at 1:30 PM. So we evening workers get two weeks off. Denny and I are going to try to use the time to good advantage. It’s sometimes hard for us to get some things done because TWO days of the week are already “lost”, and we are so tired on Thursday that we don’t WANT to do anything! We have doctor’s appointments (oh joy!) on Thursday, and, on Friday, an appointment with a Temple friend at his bed store to buy a new mattress. Ours is AT LEAST 20 years old!  YIKES!  Saturday is going to be our FAVORITE DAY- Rory Day!

WARNING! WARNING! IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT

RORY-RORY-RORY, STOP HERE!!!!!!

Rory came last Friday to stay with us, and she was just a brilliant ray of sunshine from the moment her Daddy brought her in.  She said “Hi!” to us with her usual huge smile and hand-clapping, and then crawled off to her toys. She entertained herself for an hour and a half with her toys and crawling around the floor –with frequent “stand-ups” by whatever piece of furniture was nearby. She is getting more and more ready to walk. She can stand all by herself for quite a long time, but she hasn’t yet mastered putting one foot in front of the other. The whole time she was playing by herself, she was giggling, talking and laughing! We might not even have been in the room!  Sooooo stinkin’ cute! 

We finally put her in her high chair and fed her a container of green beans and a container of carrots- which she ate without spilling a drop! The minute she sees the spoon, she opens her mouth really big. She’s the easiest baby to feed that I have ever seen! After lunch, she got her bath- which she loves. We bathe her with the sprayer in the kitchen sink, and she loves to stick her hand under the water from the faucet when we’re not spraying. Sometimes, of course, she will splash water onto her face and eyes, but all she does is blink and look a little confused. After her bath, we lay her down on some towels on our kitchen island and, after putting a diaper on her (self-preservation, you understand!), we rub baby lotion all over her. OH! She smells soooo good! After she gets dressed (which she does NOT always enjoy!), she gets her bottle. No, she still WILL NOT hold her bottle! Grandpa “Baby Whisperer” Chris got her to hold it for a few minutes the other day, but the rest of us are total washouts! She almost always falls asleep while taking her bottle, but for only about 20-30 minutes. I love that part, because I get to hold her, something she doesn’t allow much anymore. She’s too busy exploring!

When she woke up, she was rarin’ to go!  Back to her toys!  She’s also trying to get through all of our “babyproofing” things we have around the living room to keep her “contained”. She got through one right next to me, and I couldn’t catch her! Papa had to go get her! She’s fast!

I decided to have some Fritos and dip while she was crawling around. Well, of course, she was instantly interested, and crawled right over. She stood up, patting my knee and opened her mouth! So I gave her a tiny taste of the dip. She pulled a face like I had POISONED her, but kept coming back for more! Every time she got a taste, she grimaced, but kept coming back with an open mouth. Funny girl! 

And then, to top off our day, we put her in her bouncer –which she absolutely LOVES! She was bouncing and laughing until her Papa had the absolute NERVE to go out the front door to get the mail! Her bouncer hangs right by the front door- maybe 6 feet away. She can SEE him clearly- but he was moving AWAY from her! Now, I did not SEE this myself (I was behind her), but Ali and Andrew arrived right then and saw her face. You know that famous painting “The Scream”? THAT’S how she looked! The poor little girl! She was being “abandoned” by her Papa! And that girl has a pair of lungs! WOW!

We so much love having Rory come to visit. It is getting harder for us now that she is so mobile. But she is also a lot more fun. We don’t know we are going to handle it when there are more great-grandchildren. We’re going to have to figure out a way to bond with them like we have with Rory- but we can’t imagine ourselves handling 2 or 3 children all at the same time. Duct tape, maybe?

I may actually write a blog NOT exclusively about Rory one day- but that’s a chancy proposition at best!  We LOVE that little girl!!!!!  Nine months old tomorrow!  

Farewell for now, Alert Readers! Talk to ya all later . . . .   Sue  ;)