utah lake

Before today, I had only visited Utah Lake once, and my first visit was during the winter at nighttime. I have always wanted to walk the Provo River trail to Utah Lake, and have tried many times, only to turn back due to time constraints. A few weeks ago I tried to walk to Utah Lake with Sam, but we had to turn back after a few hours. Today, though, I was determined to try again. Since J is on a tour (i.e. vacation) with his band, I felt like I deserved to at least have an outing with Sam.

On my first attempt of walking to Utah Lake with Sam, he slept the whole trip in his stroller. I guess that I expected him to be the same today. Let's just say that Sam was NOT the same on this trip. I won't elaborate beyond saying that I will never, ever, go on this walk again with a newborn baby.

Needless to say, we made it, with much drama on the way to the lake and back. This, however, is what Sam thought of our ten minutes at the Utah Lake:

Jerry Lewis Nostalgia: Colegate Comedy Hour with Rosemary Clooney

Many people who grew up with me know that Jerry Lewis films are one of my guilty/not-so-guilty pleasures. I'm not really a fan of slapstick comedy, but sometimes the timing of Jerry's movements are impeccable. I also agree that some of Jerry's antics are a bit prolonged in some scenes, but I love him just the same.

In high school, I would watch episodes of the Colgate Comedy Hour (Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin's television show from the 1950s) ad nauseam with my friends, particularly Katie and Heather. This video clip is of our favorite episode where Rosemary Clooney was a guest (though I didn't include any clips with Clooney). I especially love this episode because there is so much improv between Martin and Lewis. Heather and I must have been influenced by all of this improv and banter - we took improv to the utmost level during our district drama competition, where we improvised our whole scene because both of us had been too lazy to memorize the script. The hilarious thing is that we actually won the district competition and were sent to the state competition after that - which we promptly lost because we still hadn't memorized our lines.

Things I love about this episode: When Jerry gets after the audience for laughing at a "non-funny" joke (27:30); when he calls his coat a "puzzle" because he is fumbling with it on the set; the look on his face while saying "Isn't that a stunning model?" I also love that naive Jerry helps the burglar load wedding presents into his sack and the burglar makes a clean get-away.

In order to make amends, Jerry decides to clean up the mess in the room. I like when he lifts up his hands in fake surprise while saying the word "cleaner" (35:04). My high school friends and I would sometimes do this movement to feign astonishment, and I still find myself wanting to do it at times - though I generally refrain myself since no one would get the joke. I also love the expression in Jerry's face while the butler is giving his line.

I also love the musical number is at the end of the episode. I especially love how Dean starts to laugh when Jerry asks him if he wants an "introduction" (44:46). And I can't help but crack up every time Jerry falls down when the music booms especially loud (46:00). The timing is so great.

This being said, I also have to say that I love Dean Martin too. Jerry wouldn't be as funny without Dean acting as his "straight man." Sometimes I think Dean goes unappreciated when people talk about the "Martin and Lewis" team. He really is a great comedian too, not to mention a fabulous singer.

latest purchase

There's nothing too interesting in this video clip - but I wanted to capture how Sam loves his new swing. He sits in it for hours, just chillin'. So far, this is the best thing we have ever bought for Sam. It is saving us (and our arms!) hours of cradling and rocking time. As you can see, we switched the Winnie the Pooh mobile that came with the swing for a Seussian one. Sam prefers to look at one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.

On another note, I promise to post something else on this blog besides images of my offspring soon. I don't want to be a SAHM who only blogs about her children - although I enjoy looking at blogs which are that way, this blog wasn't created for that purpose. I would feel as if motherhood was supplanting my other interests if I stopped posting my thoughts regarding things like art or books. In fact, I'm almost paranoid about preventing motherhood from subsuming my "original" personality. Anyhow, I have started another post of art historical musings and I hope to finish that soon. That being said, I also do want to continue including posts about Sam. Of course I do - he's just too darn cute to be omitted!

* I hope you don't get "swing sick" by watching this video! Also, just so you know, the loud droning noise in the background is one of the "nature sound" options that comes with the swing. Sam loves it, just like he loves listening to white noise. I wish he loved listening to me practice singing - I wonder if he felt like wailing every time I sang Puccini when he was in the womb. Perhaps I'll have to hold off practicing for a while.

first time in the tub

Our doctor recommended that we give Sam sponge baths for the first few weeks of his life (mostly so his circumcision could heal). He's finally old enough now to get a bath in his little tub, which we did for the first time today.

He's not quite sure what to think of it.

I guess he decided in favor of the bath, since he cried when I wrapped him up.

Pharaoh Samuel in his nemes headcloth-esque towel (okay, so I've substituted an alligator for the traditional serpent)

All clean!

P.S. Sam is doing a lot better too. He's still spitting up (hence the reason for the bath), but the spit up isn't brown and he's not doing it as frequently. It's really amazing what inspiration I've received as a mother to care for Sam. For example, I was praying in desperation the other night (I was SO, SO, SO tired and didn't think I could pull another all-nighter), and I remembered (really, I was inspired to remember) that my mom had given me a chair that Lydia used to use. Sam has been spitting up a lot when we lay him down in his bed, so we placed him in this chair which is set at a fairly high angle. He slept really well - and without any vomiting! We're going to try and keep him in this chair often. I think he does a lot better when his body is upright or set at a high angle - it seems to be more difficult for his food to work against gravity and come up.

sick

Sometimes I think I might have been thrust into this motherhood business a little too quickly. Yesterday I pulled my first all-nighter-
with-a-sick-
baby. Sam started having brown spit up around midnight, and he quickly soiled a whole load of laundry with his spit up escapades. I tried lying him down to sleep twice, but he would wake himself up with gagging a few minutes later and then proceed to spit up over all of his blankets, mattress, etc.

So I just stayed up with him, holding him while he slept and trying to keep his body vertical if he started to gag. I watched one movie and part of "Super Size Me" online (thanks to E for posting that link on Ixoj's blog). And I cleaned up a lot of spit up.

Poor little guy.

We took him to the doctor today and she gave us some medicine for him. He also might have some intestinal infection; when the doctor left the room for a minute, Sam messed his pants and his diaper was full of green mucous. Since then, his diapers have returned to normal (does anyone else think that baby poop looks like tikki masala?), so I hope everything has cleared itself up. He hasn't had any more brown spit up too, which was good. I was really worried - partially because I read in one place online that a baby should go to the ER if they have brown spit up. Luckily for Sam, it doesn't look like his problem was due to intestinal blockage.

So, another "I have never" event can be crossed off of my list. I have had my first sick child. I didn't know it would be so hard to see my little guy so uncomfortable and unhappy.

advise on advice

When I became noticeably pregnant, my day-to-day interaction with people completely changed. I really didn't change anything in my behavior, but I suddenly became the target of a barrage of advice on baby care, pregnancy, labor, epidurals, maternity clothes, healthy food consumption, etc. At first I took all of this unsolicited advice in good humor and stride, but as the months of my pregnancy began to wear on, my tolerance for listening to advice began to wear thin. Fortunately, by the last month of my pregnancy I became immune to listening to all of the advice and counsel - a lucky thing, or I never would have survived my last baby shower (guests began to talk louder and louder over each other, trying to make sure that their pieces of counsel could be heard over the din of other advice being given. I had to keep from laughing sometimes - have you ever heard anyone practically shout about the "best" way to diaper or bathe a baby?).

One of the worst sources for unsolicited advice was the women's gym where I work out. I sometimes dreaded going there; I would inevitably have at least one or two women I didn't know start talking to me (even if I was in the middle of a conversation with my friend Ixoj) and giving me more advice...

I thought that all of the advice would stop when Sam was born, but it apparently hasn't. Today during sacrament meeting a woman (ahem, a stranger again - we were attending a ward other than our own) tapped me on the shoulder and suggested that Jeremy and I try rocking Sam on our laps instead of in our arms. I was kind of surprised since Sam wasn't crying or being disruptive to the meeting. I replied, "Oh we tried that. He doesn't like it." I have to admit, this comment wasn't completely true. Sometimes Sam doesn't mind when he is rocked on our laps. I just am so tired of receiving advice from a stranger than I didn't want to appear too...receptive.

Sometimes I do like getting advice. While pregnant, I really liked getting advice from my friend Shauna who had a baby a few months before me. For one thing, I would ask Shauna for advice, which automatically made me more open to what she said. Furthermore, Shauna would give advice in a really personal way, prefacing her statements with, "What really worked for me was XYZ," or "I found out that such-and-such doesn't work too well," etc. I appreciated hearing advice this way, instead of definitive statements like, "Don't do this!" and "Do that!"

Is it wrong/rude to give unsolicited advice? When are people more susceptible to accepting advice - does it depend on the situation or one's relationship with the advice-giver? Have I just gotten tired of hearing advice because it's been served to me in such large portions? Do people accept small amounts of advice better? Being so tired of hearing advice has made me wonder about my own tact and advice-giving tactics (ironically, the name "Monica" means "advisor").

What do you think?

addendum: I recognize that people mean well when they give advice. I should keep this more in mind. Sometimes I just have difficulty accepting and receiving advice that I wasn't looking for - perhaps I'm too close-minded?

blessing day

Look at his cute, cute shoes and sweater vest!