Celebrating Emmaline

Emmaline was baptized today. The weekend has been consumed by this event. All day yesterday we cleaned the house, a task made somewhat easier by the eminent move. Don't know what to do with something? Eh, just throw it away, we'll be gone soon anyway. This is probably the least cluttered the house has been in years :). Meanwhile, Emmaline mastered drinking out of a sippy cup yesterday! It felt like a huge deal, I was getting a little worried that so far she'd shown no interest in holding her bottle. But she figured out the cup yesterday and was SO pleased with herself! It's so funny, she'll pick up the cup, take a few sips, and then just giggle. Chris and I were really excited to watch this development!
To celebrate such a clean house, we had some friends over for a "Yeti Tasting" last night (or just because we wanted to drink good beer!). One of our favorite Colorado breweries makes several variations of this imperial stout, so we did a little side-by-side comparison and Yeti drawing. It was a lot of fun, and no surprise that my favorite is the Espresso version.

This morning we arose very early (for a Sunday). We wanted Emmaline to get up early so she'd be tired enough to nap at 9:00. The church service was at 11:00 and we were minimizing the chance of her sounding demon-possessed during the baptism. She slept very soundly until about 10:15 and then we got her dressed and raced out the door. She looked super cute. She wore a gown that my great-grandmother made for my mom. It is a simple blue long blouse with a nicely embroidered collar and cuffs. Since it was blue we put on a pink headband with a bow (she still has very little hair and can be easily mistaken for a boy).

The 11:00 service is contemporary, so they start with music from the praise band. She loved it! Recently Emmaline is really getting into music, she can't help but dance when she hears it. So she was bouncing around in Chris' arms and squealing in delight during the first song. Hilarious! Our friend Cindy, who's a pastor at our church, performed the baptism. It felt extra meaningful to have a friend baptise Emmaline. And the nap paid off - no tears! Chris and I feel so blessed to have such a supportive church family.Notice the bow was thrown off during the baptism, she's not such a fun of things on her head.

Emmaline talking to her friend Charley, who is just a couple of months younger.

Afterward we had a lunch at our house. In honor of Emmaline's southern roots, we had pulled pork, mac'n'cheese, coleslaw and a bunch of other delicious food. It was great to visit with friends, but felt a little bittersweet since we'll be leaving these wonderful people in about a month! :( The kids were crazy (especially after eating chocolate cake). We realized that our party with 7 kids under 4 is WAY louder than any party the college kids next door have ever thrown. So it was alright with us when things wound down, Emmaline took a nap, and we got to relax for a little bit. It kind of feels like the first time all weekend!

Another frightening look into my life ...

7:42 am - In my attempt to make eggs for Chris and I, I accidentally poured the eggs down the drain. Oops - at least I had already cooked some yolk for Emmaline (apparently babies are possibly sensitive to egg whites. Emmaline loves the yolk, which is great except Chris made up a creepy song about babies eating babies).

8:58 am - At work after a delightful bike ride in (my 3rd day to commute this week!), and a fun morning watching Emmaline dance. As soon as she hears anything with a beat she starts grooving, it's awesome :)

9:10 am - Gosh darn it. I have very involved coauthors, which is both a blessing and a curse. They are the reason my paper will be decent but also the reason I'm on revision #3 after sending out the first draft 1 year ago!! Feeling kind of moronic at the moment ...

9:53 am - I just had a coherent conversation with someone about heterotrophic respiration on the fly! Feeling a little more doctor-like.

11:25 am - Still working on soil respiration :( But happy for a quick snack/coffee break (my second cup of the day!!!)

3:54 pm - Holy crap, did I really just spend all day investigating modeled soil respiration ...

4:31 pm - To add to the futility of my day, I just reapplied for a job I supposedly already have. I'm disappointed with how little I've accomplished today but now it's 74 degrees outside so this is no time to dwell on work stuff.

4:35 - Just realized that though I rode my bike in with fleece tights, I neglected to bring shorts. I'm wearing a dress ... hmm .... do I sweat to death or be a little risque?

6:45 pm - Home from a lovely ride with Rachel. So glad it's daylight savings time now so we can ride late! (PS I went with the tights on the ride home.) Can't believe it's March and we just rode in shorts and short-sleeves.

10:45 pm - Feeling exhausted after finishing season 6 of 24. Poor Jack, someone needs to give that man a hug.

Moab with a baby!

Sunrise breakfast with the La Sal Mountains in the distance.

Life is good. From mountain biking in Moab, to playing softball on a sunny day in the Fort, to just hanging out on the floor in Emmaline's room - life is just plain good. This last week has been especially enjoyable, mostly for the reasons I just mentioned. But it's also just been nice to not be at work and to have taken a brief respite from moving/packing stuff.

Last week was spring break at CSU, so we did what any sensible couple would do when presented with a week off less than two months before moving overseas - we left town. Last Saturday we packed up the car with baby accoutrements, strapped our mountain bikes to the roof and got ready to make our journey 7 hours west to Moab, UT for what would be Emmaline's first camping experience. We made it all of 10 minutes to the Chick-fil-a before having second thoughts. "What are we thinking driving 7 hours for her first camping outing? What if she's miserable in the car, let alone three nights in a tent?" But after feeding Emmaline her lunch and munching on some waffle fries, we decided to carry on with the trip and head out. So at 11:45am Saturday morning we finally set off from the Fort. Emmaline was great in the car and we made it to Moab around 7:00, found a site and set up camp in the dark, then headed into town for some grease at the Moab Diner. When we got back to camp we had been joined by our good friends Jeramy, Christine and their 2 little boys - Carson and Bryce. Just five years earlier we'd made our first mountain bike trip to Moab with them over spring break and now we were back with kids in tow! My how time flies...

Moab 2007Moab 2012

The camping trip was mostly a success. Emmaline slept great at night - probably cause we had her so bundled up that she couldn't move to disturb herself. She did struggle with naps cause the tent was just a big playground for her and there was no real way to confine her movements. We ended up having to strap her in her car seat to get her to be still enough to actually go to sleep.

Our sleeping arrangements - Emmaline was all wrapped up!

The only real issue on the trip was the sand. We were camping right next to the Slickrock Trail, which is famous cause of it's unique path across the sandstone. Well, as you might imagine, when sandstone erodes, it turns back into sand. And we might as well have been camping on the beach. It wasn't a huge deal until the wind kicked up the last couple of days and we ended up with sand blowing into our tent and coating everything. It was a mess that took us nearly two full days to clean up from after getting back home.

We went on one hike to Corona Arch. The arch is pretty impressive and it's only 3 miles round trip, so a great family hike (if you don't mind a couple of ladders). We enjoyed lunch under the arch and watched a couple of people jump off it!! (Like this). Hiking with kiddos can be a slow process though and I'm afraid we only averaged about a .75 mph pace. :)

Emmaline enjoying her lunch under the arch.

The mountain biking was amazing, as it always seems to be in Moab. Chris and Jeramy rode the Slickrock Trail the first day we were there, then watched the kids while Christine and I rode Fins n' Things. The next day Chris and I rode together while they watched E and we then watched their boys while they rode. Chris and I decided to hang out and get in one last ride on Tuesday before heading home, so that morning I headed out to do the Two Tortoise Loop I found in a guide book we had. I rode up Gemini Bridges Road, which believe me had a lot of up in the first two miles! The road emerged into a large valley, which I followed for another three miles before the Singletrack gods smiled upon me - a system of slickrock singletrack trails had been constructed since the book was written, so I spent the next two hours blissfully riding on smooth, fun trails with awe-inspiring views of the Moab valley.

I'm happy about singletrack!

When I got back to camp Chris and Emmaline were hunkered down in the sweltering tent trying to escape the incessant winds and blowing sand. We broke camp and I dropped Chris off at the Poison Spider Trailhead to do his ride around 4:00. The book we had mentioned a trail that rode a cliff edge back from the end of the Poison Spider Trail, but since he was riding alone he assured me that he wouldn't take it though it did intrigue him. Well, I got a call around 6:30 saying that he was on the edge of a cliff on said trail because in his words "I'd rather risk falling off a cliff than ride back down Poison Spider." It turned out that it was really sandy and not much fun to ride up, and the cliff hanging Portal Trail was a welcome alternative. He survived, so I don't mind.

Chris defying death on the Portal Trail. The road is at least 500 ft below him.

We finally got on the road back home around 7:30 and after a stop for dinner in Grand Junction, powered through the night to arrive home at 3:00am. As we figured would be the case, Emmaline slept the whole time which actually made driving at night something of a pleasure. It didn't feel like we were keeping her strapped in against her will when she wanted to be out crawling and climbing.

So yeah, life is good...

Crawling!

At 8 months old, Emmaline can move all over the place now. She's also getting very good at pulling herself up on short objects. She loves to play with the game table that Chris' mom got for her - she'll stand at it and ring a bell or move gears. We had to rotate it to put the frogs out of her reach because every time she hit them, they would ribbit Old McDonald and we start to feel a little loony after about 5 minutes of that.

She's also imitating sounds, which is my favorite thing to do with her. She makes clicking noises and blows out of her mouth like an elephant (people nearby might need rain gear for all the spit she sprays). We're trying to teach her to say "cat" because she lights up when the cats are around. Sometimes she says "Ca" when she sees them, but she also says that when she sees a box, chair, or food - so the connection isn't quite there yet but she's getting close!

This morning she crawled around the kitchen chasing a ball. We have fun in the mornings - she's in a good mood after breakfast and I am too if I've had coffee ;). She has been sleeping through the night for about a month and it's magical! Only problem is lately she wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00, which is a little early for us but well worth the uninterrupted sleep at night.

Also yesterday Chris and I went cross country skiing (for the first time!) with Mollie and Levi. It was gorgeous - we went along Michigan Ditch to American Lakes. The last part involved lots of uphill, and therefore lots of sliding/falling on the way back down. But it was a magnificent day, and we're super grateful that our daycare provider didn't mind us doing that while she watched Emmaline. Enjoy a couple of photos from our outing!

We had great views of the Nokhu Crags on the way to the lakes.

The final uphill push! We had to take our skis off, it was getting comical (especially when one of Levi's skis went zooming down the trail after took it off).

The GORGEOUS basin of the American Lakes.

PS I was going to upload a video I took but it is WAY too big so I'll post a smaller one some time soon!