The DMV

I always hated the DMV. The long lines, the suffocating feeling of the closed-in room crammed with hundreds of people clutching their tiny ticket, waiting for their little number to show up in red on the screen.

I hate it even more now that I have a child. 

In retrostpect, I would suggest they need the following: mother parking, like they have at Babies R Us; clean floors; a waiting room or small play area for children (since I can't put my child down on your disgusting floor); clearer instructions on their website (which I checked several times); kind people.

I arrived at the DMV at 10:45. I drove around and around and around the parking lot and nearby side-streets trying to locate a parking space that wasn't more than half a mile away. I am not a fan of lugging my 15 lb baby and car-seat across long distances. With no luck, I parked illegally, just in front of this sign:

I hauled my baby and my bulging diaper bag into the DMV only to discover a 15 minute wait line just to get my precious ticket. Once I finally had my ticket, I sat down in the front row so that I had room to manage Addie's rambunctiousness. When I sat down, they were at J597. My number was J623. And they were taking a J ticket every 15 minutes. I should have left right then. 

In the next two and half hours of waiting, the following events occurred: 

• Addie kicked her puffs container across the room. Yes, the lid was open. Yes, over 50 little star-shaped puffs scattered into every grimy corner of the disgusting room. Yes, I knelt on my hands and knees on said floor to pick up each little puff. Yes, the entire DMV audience watched my crawl of shame as I scooped up puffs in my bare hands that were covered with all sorts of hair, dirt, dust bunnies, and disease. And yes, not one single person bent to offer help to the poor mother who, with child in arms, attempted to clean up her embarrassing mess. And yes, some people even managed to step on and smash the little puffs into dust, even as I was en-route to pick them up. 

• Addie proceeded to get tired and hungry all at once. However, I had not planned for a two and a half hour marathon, so I was without food. My fussy baby clambered all over me for over a half hour. In the process, she lost her soothie (binky) twice. Soothies do not fall and stay in one place. They roll like it's their job. And lucky for me, it managed to make 3 complete circles over 10 feet in diameter, picking up the before mentioned hair, dirt, dust bunnies, and disease -- the soothie traveled across 4 rows of seats! And it happened twice. And I gave the DMV audience two more great shows as I tried to chase the soothie around and around. 

• Addie finally fell asleep, but only took a 20 minute nap. 

• My number was finally called at 1:15. I hastily packed up the mess we'd made trying to keep Addie entertained and hustled to kiosk #12. I set Addie on the counter and tried to pull out every document I would need to register the car. The kiosk woman said, "My, you have your hands full." I had several responses come to mind, but I simply said, "Yes, I do."

• This woman then took my forms and said, "Oohhh, I can't do this for you. Jonathan's name is on your registration from last year, and we just can't do it if your name is not on there as well."

As I walked away from that evil place completely exhausted/frustrated and sans registration tags, the only thing that could have topped the day was a ticket for my illegal parking. 

Thankfully, I got away with something. 

7 Months

Dear Adalyne,

Oh, how your mama loves you! These seven months have been the best of my life and I truly can't believe that you are 7 months old! Where has the time gone?? Your little independent spirit makes every day an adventure and I love watching you learn and grow so quickly. While it is a little sad, I love seeing your face light up with joy every time you accomplish something you have been determined to do, and it melts my heart when you look up at me with a huge grin to say, "Look at me, Mom! I'm doing it!"

You are growing so quickly, although you are still in the 5th percentile for weight (14 lbs 14 oz). In fact, you just graduated from your 0-3 month pajamas to 3-6 month sizes! The onsies and pants are still too big, but the pjs are a pretty close fit :) My seven month old is finally in 3-6 month clothes, sorta!

This last week you have become such a cuddle-bug, which is beyond rare for you and I am cherishing it! It feels as though you are reassuring me that you love me just as much as I love you. Please don't stop!

Had to tie up the dress so she could crawl. 

Among the many wonderful things you do at this age, the top achievement has been CRAWLING! Yep, you are an official crawler, as in, you can move to every dangerous/off-limits/poisonous/potentially hazardous place in our tiny town home in under 20 seconds. You spent about two weeks rocking on your hands and knees, not quite understanding the next step and then you only tentatively moved 3-4 feet at a time. That inhibition is long gone and even though I know it brings its own challenges (I can't even count the number of times you have fallen on your head in the past three weeks resulting in lovely goose eggs), I am loving that you can crawl...you are SO much happier and your repetitive whine has been significantly reduced (music to my ears).

Along with the tremendous accomplishment of crawling, you can do the following:

- Pull yourself to standing. On everything. The door. The couch. The ottoman. The chairs. The oven. The crib. And then you get stuck because you haven't learned how to get down, or you fall (which is how you got those goose eggs, thank you). My poor adventurous, bruised little girl.
- Run. Running is the new crawling. Apparently now that you can crawl, you're too cool. Walking, and when possible - running, is way better. Only mom and dad's backs start to hurt. The video below shows your awesome prancing skills. And for some reason, Jon and I can't stop laughing despite having watched it over 10 times.

- Understand "Mama" and "Daddy". Whenever we say, "Where's mama?" or "Where's daddy?", no matter what you are doing, you stop to play the game and look. And your mouth opens in this wide "O" as you look around for whomever is hiding. I love it. I love that you understand who I am.
- Talk. You've recently really started to babble all sorts of combinations. You've been able to say so many sounds but lately you combine the following in all sorts of ways: ma ma, da da, ba ba, ja ja, bra bra, and throw in a squeal every few sounds. It is sooooo cute. We just love you're enthusiasm for conversation. I have a feeling you'll be a lot like me when I was little: you won't ever stop talking :)

- Try to clap. When you get happy or excited, you throw your hands in the air and wave them all around and then you try to clap. You don't quite get it yet, but you will soon!
- Spit. You especially love to buzz your tongue when I am feeding you, sending food all over you, the table, and of course, me.
- Blow raspberries. You have somehow discovered that you can blow raspberries on my arms and knees and it is one of the things that makes Jon and I laugh the hardest.

"Can't I go with you to Denver, Dad?"

- Feel for the materials in your touch-and-feel books. For a long time, I was afraid you just hated to read and would only want to suck on your books (not that we are completely past that stage). But you have more recently begun to really pay attention to what we are reading. Your favorite books are the touch-and-feel books (especially Nana's recent gift, Moo)and now you think that every book has a fuzzy little chick somewhere or a silky horse head. You get quite confused when we read "normal" books and scratch your hands over each page, determined to find something.
- Play peek-a-boo. You have really begun to LOVE peek-a-boo. It just sets you off in a set of giggles that sets Jon and I laughing too.
- Laugh. It's like you found the laugh switch in you. Sometimes, I can just give you a look that you think is funny and you will just giggle and giggle. Sometimes, you can even laugh until you have tears in your eyes. Oh, I just love this the most!
- Play with your tongue and teeth. You have quite the serpent tongue these days and I can see you rubbing it over your two little teeth all day long. It's like you're testing them out, seeing what they are capable of.
- Eat crackers. Or at least gum them to death and smear the resulting smudge in impossible places.
- Give mischievous looks, like you know exactly what you're doing. Especially when you toot. Haha...this is one of the funniest things ever: when you toot, you will look back at your daddy (you have never done this to me) as if to pin the blame on him and say, "Dad, I can't believe you did that!" Haha...and you do this ALL the time in Elder's Quorum where all the men turn to look to see who's tooting and see you looking at your dad...they all think he is full of gas. Love your sense of humor already.

Post-Bath time snuggle, with Sharkie and Daddy

- Dominate our bed. Every night before we put you to bed, we put you on our bed. It is one of your most favorite times. You seem to get so hyper on our bed; you squeal more, roll more, crawl faster, talk louder, and are overall more rambunctious on the bed. We think it is a good way to get out your endless wiggles before nighttime.

Tearin' up a storm on the parents' bed

My darling Addie, we love you!

-

Episode Two: Home Away From Home

Three weeks after Adalyne was born, we packed up our life and moved to Chandler, Arizona for Jon's new job. Wednesday we loaded up our U-haul and two cars and headed down. It was our 11th move since we've met, our 7th since we've been married. Jon's parents came down with us to help (thank you!) and my wonderful mom traveled with Addie and I since I had to stop every 3 hours to nurse her. I was terrified for the 12 hour drive with a 3-week old baby, but she was PERFECT--slept the whole time except to eat. It took us ages with so many long stops, but we finally got there and moved all of our stuff into our town home in 100 degrees!  Thanks to all the family that came to help us move in...the Brocks, the Offens, Elyse and April, and of course our parents who drove and unpacked all in one day! You guys rock!

We are SO happy to be in Arizona. The longer we live here, the more we love it. Now don't get me wrong, we miss our family and friends in Utah so much and wish the drive was much closer, but we are really so happy to be here. We love the wide, clean streets; we love the warmth (I am so sick of snow and cold I could just kill it...it seriously causes deep anger to rise up inside me...lol); we love how bright and sunny it is (the light just amps up my entire day!) ; we love how accessible EVERYTHING is--from food to any shopping store you could desire; we love our ward and leaders; we love being close to new family members; we LOVE our townhome and how much space it has and the quiet, friendly complex that we live in; we love that we can walk to 3 parks in 10 mins; we love our little backyard (but I gotta admit...desert landscaping is pretty lame); we love that there is a Cafe Rio just 15 minutes away :) ; we love it all.

It is amazing how you can make decisions based on faith and later look back on those decision and see just how perfect those decisions were. It is such a testimony-builder that Heavenly Father listens and loves us and knows what is best for us and knows where we should be. Good luck to all those stuck in Utah's bipolar, frigid winter...we will enjoy our 76 degrees a little longer :)

Catch - Up Blogging:
Episode One: The Blessing