Adventures With La Squeak

One of the perks of having a husband in med school is that I get to find ways to entertain myself. That always involves my little sidekick, Squeak.

For Free Museum Day, Squeak and I visited the Desert Botanical Gardens. Of course, the rainforest flora is my favorite, but the desert does have its own kind of beauty.

I don't think I dressed us both in green on purpose, but here we are in our green outfits in front of the tree with the green trunk. It should've been Earth Day!

I had to keep her on the leash so she wouldn't run into any cactus plants. I was surprised that she didn't really go after the spines though--she just loved playing with the rocks!

St. Earth Walking
This cool sculpture was in the herb garden

An interesting form of desert art, but I thought they were pretty cool.

Just to give you an idea of how large they are, here's Squeak inside one.



We also went on the ward campout together. Arriving after dark complicated things a wee bit, but I was miraculously able to find a good spot where I could use the headlights to light my way as I set up the tent. Squeak was so thrilled to be out of the carseat after the long drive that she didn't even wander (that's very atypical). We had a lot of fun together on that outing. One thing I learned is that next time I go camping when I'm six months pregnant, I'll be bringing something softer than a sleeping bag to sleep on! Oh, life's little lessons...

My smiling beauty

Look at that hair!

It rained during the night and the next morning (this was up north where it actually rains). I had been sorely disappointed by the lack of rain in Phoenix during the month of August, because everyone around here claimed it rains for like two weeks straight (they call it monsoon). August passed, no rain. And not a drop of rain in September either. I was SO THRILLED that I finally got to witness some rain (for those who don't know, I love rain, especially when it's good and hard). Apparently, Squeak takes after me in that respect as well. We have this awesome backpack with a rainshield to keep her dry, but all she wanted to do was stick her head out and feel the rain. That's my girl!


Sunset hike

This was one of those rare occasions (during the semester) when we all went out together. We love this hike, and we love having this backpack for Squeak!!

NACHOOOOOOOOOO!

D worked on the Nacho mustache for two weeks. He also worked on the mockery for the photo--mocking my maternity photo on the wall behind him. Ha ha ha.

D doesn't have Nacho's potbelly (either Squeak or I would've made a better Nacho in that respect), so I had to make some really big wrestling pantalones which he stuffed. Almost as good as a seven-month fetus. (I should add that when I tried the pantalones on, they fit quite nicely over my growing gut.)

"I have a dream," said D to me over the phone a few weeks ago when I was in Utah watching my sister's kids while she took a trip to France and Spain (lucky girl!). "Oh?" "I was thinking I'd like to be Nacho Libre for Halloween." I thought it was such a great idea that I volunteered to be Seester Encarnacion. It seemed so much more exciting than my original idea to be a family of ghosts for Halloween (Squeak has been really good at putting things over her head and saying, "Boo!"--like "peek-a-boo"). The only catch was that I had to assemble the costumes for cheap or free. After searching through my fabric stash, borrowing a wig from my mom, and receiving a spandex donation from my mother-in-law, I was able to outfit the whole family for Halloween for about $10 (it would've been $5 but I couldn't find that red dye I had laying around so I had to buy some). I sewed furiously for about three days--this is because I'm not very good or fast at sewing--and voila--we are the sequel to, "...we could break our vows, we could break our vows, we could break our vows together... but only if you want to."

D: So, let's get down to de neety greety. Who ees dees Encarnacion?
T: Well, my favoreet color ees light tan. I like poopies, volibol, and I reely like serving de Lord.
D: No way! All of dos tings you said, dey are my favorite tings to do every day!

I didn't get a chance to make Nacho's mask--that'll be a project for another year.

This was originally a ghost costume, with a long-sleeved onesie underneath and a pillowcase to pull over her head. Squeak wore it for the church trunk-or-treat, but she wasn't really into it, and it was too hot. So I removed the onesie and pillowcase and added sandals and basil leaves for her hair and she became THE TOGA QUEEN, aka Hermana Jungleprincess Sept. 1996. Sorry, I wasn't blogging back then, but I know someone who could recount the event.

Hello, my name is Jungleprincess and I'm addicted...

I have this addiction to triathlons. Well, not just any triathlon, but the Burley Spudman Triathlon. It started in the year 2002 when I did my first Spudman. My roommate Kristina and her brothers had done this one for several years, and I kept hearing how fun it was. So my bro and I signed up and we did it together (well, not really "together"--he's much faster than I am). The next year we did it again. And then it happened again. And again... Each year, more members of our family joined us. I even got D roped into it when we were engaged. This year, I did it with five of my seven siblings. I am not the athletic champion that some of my family members are (there were two Spudman trophies in the family this year, including one for the brother who returned from a mission less than a month before the race, WOW!!), but I'm proud to say that I've done the most Spudmans (that's SIX, and I haven't missed a year yet!). And just to prove how addicted/dedicated I am, I did a Spudman one week after running a marathon, I did another one two months after giving birth, and I did this last one with an 18-week-old fetus in my uterus. Yes, that's an announcement. Squeak is getting a little sibling--we've been calling it "Pipsqueak" or "Pip" for short. So, yeah, it was my slowest Spudman ever, but I sure felt like I deserved that finisher's medal!!

What you see there is not a twosome finishing, but a foursome. My sister competed with her 16-week-old fetus, and I competed with my 18-week-old fetus. If you look at it that way, our 4-hour finishing time ain't too shabby--like 2 hours per person, and that's a personal record for me! It was so fun to do the whole race with my sis! We finished together second-to-last--only one lady finished after us, hee hee!

Six Siblings Smiling in front of the Snake at the Spudman

Look, it's me and my favorite fans!

I'm hiding behind the bike so you won't see the bulge in my belly


Setting up our bikes the night before

Squeak had a birthday!

It happened long ago in May, but I've been on vacation (from blogging and everything else) so I haven't yet posted the photos. We celebrated her big day by doing her favorite things. Oh, and I had high hopes that she'd break 20 pounds by her birthday, but alas, it didn't happen till she was 13 months old. We are pleased to announce that at her 15-month appointment last week, she weighed 1/2 ounce shy of 22 pounds, putting her at 25th percentile, phew. Her height is 50th percentile, and her head circumference is 75th percentile (she can thank her dad for passing on the large noggin gene since her mom is a pinhead).

We started the day with a birthday run...

followed by a birthday toss on the bean bag...

and a birthday swim with Mom...
(check out the double wave!)

and Dad...

and then a birthday shower...

and a birthday nap...

and of course a birthday dance...

and then concluded it all with a birthday packing party.

We moved the week of Squeak's birthday, and I wasn't organized enough to do the cake, so we waited till we were in Utah with family. I'm a big fan of "the one-year-old gets to destroy her cake before anyone else touches it" spectacle, but I'm also kind of weird about Squeak getting too much sugar. Well, I came up with a brilliant solution--banana cake (hey, it's just sweet bread) covered with whipped cream, almost no sugar added, and topped with Squeak's favorite thing besides cheese--bananas. She dove in and consumed lots of bananas and cream, and then she let everyone know she was done by sitting on the cake. It was precious. No, she is precious!

New Photos

D and Squeak in her little "bonnet" (really a scrap from one of her new diapers)

Squeak loves the shower

T and Squeak in front of the old apartment

We never bought Squeak a walker, but she's great at improvising--she loves pushing around this fine birthing stool that D made for me last year when she was just a fetus.

Fun with stamps!!

We've Moved!

After a month-long hiatus from blogging, I'm back. Things got kind of exciting near the end of May when we finally found a GREAT place to move to. We're renting a 3-bedroom house with a backyard and garage (if you can't read between the lines, that means we now have an office and storage space!!!), and wouldn't you know it, my favorite flower is growing right by the front door. Squeak is enjoying the extra space to explore, and also having her own room and not a corner of our "storage room" with boxes on one side, food storage on the other, and bikes on the ceiling. D's enjoying doing all the work unpacking (he really has done all the work), and I'm enjoying having air conditioning. We found out a week before moving out of our apartment that the air conditioner had been broken the whole time we lived there (since the end of last August). I thought I was just being a whiner about the heat, but when D's classes ended and he was home during the day, he said it really was hot and that we should have maintenance check it out. Broken compressor, and when they brought in a portable A/C unit to get us through that last week, the temp registered at 90 degrees in our bedroom. No wonder I was using all the ice faster than our ice maker could make it! We had the thermostat at 80 and I just assumed that 80 was supposed to feel that hot. We have it at 80 in our new place, and I almost feel cold sometimes! Of course, going outside is a different story--today's high was 110 and the heat is so stifling I can hardly breathe (and to think I used to go into the sauna by choice!), so I've even resorted to running on the treadmill--D has a gym membership nearby that only costs us about $40,000 per year, so we might as well take advantage of it!

Everyone Needs a Vacation

Hamming it up for her Great-grandparents

Puppies!

Peek-a-boo with Aaron and Elise

Tulips!

Look, friends!

Making eyes at Grandpa and Leetsy-Boy

Stewart Falls hike

Four-generation photo

Fun with Grandpa

Little James was all over that tractor

Kora had a birthday!
Check out the beast of burden at the airport!!

Squeak was pretty excited about the younger (but bigger) baby

HypnoBirthing Mommas!

Auntie Maggie with La Squeak

Yes, we all need a vacation from something. In my case, I needed a respite from loneliness. So at the end of April, I went to see family in Utah, where it was unseasonably warm. It got cold again after I left (good thing, since I had only packed a fleece). It was lovely--I spent time with D's family and my family and even some friends. The reminder that I do, indeed, have friends was splendid. Squeak really enjoyed bonding with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I really enjoyed the adult companionship and teaching my first HypnoBirthing class.

Great News!

There she is, expending energy like she always does

Squeak eating her favorite thing--cheese!
(I mean, her favorite thing besides breastmilk)

Squeak hoping for a bird lunch

Failure to Thrive. "That's a funny way to put it, isn't it?" was what D said when we looked at what the doc had written about Squeak after her check-up at 10 months. She weighed 15 pounds. Now, that may not sound so bad unless you know that she weighed 8'12" at birth and 16 pounds at 4 months. Needless to say, I was a bit stressed because I had been working pretty hard to get her to gain weight since two months before when she was tall but on the thin side. So two months of effort and the result was failure to thrive. I decided to really dedicate myself to Squeak's new diet, so D looked up all the high-calorie foods appropriate for babies, and the low-calorie foods so I'd know what to avoid, and we put her on a strict weight-gaining diet. Lots of avocados, cheese, yams, bananas, and full fat cottage cheese and yogurt. No more peas, carrots, green beans, or squash (unless they were served as a small side dish). I started feeding her six times a day, three meals of solids and three of breast milk (breast milk is one of the best on the high-calorie list). And we prayed that she'd start sleeping more hours so she'd spend less time awake expending all that energy. Our prayers were answered. The doc ordered some tests (urinalysis, cystic fibrosis) which came out negative. We think she's just so busy-body that she burns everything she eats. I mean, I'm almost failing to thrive trying to keep up with her! Anyway, so I've been weighing her about once a week to see if I'm working hard enough. Well, she broke 18 pounds!! She actually weighed 18.4 pounds yesterday. My goal is to get her to 20 pounds by her first birthday on the 22nd. We'll see! I'm just thrilled to report her weight because it's what I spend most of my time on.

Makes me feel a little bit better about not bringing home the bacon anymore

Here's a cute little article about what a mom is worth. D's comment was, "I really couldn't pay you enough for what you do." Awwww... My favorite job description is "laundry machine operator." But they forgot about wet nurse! I think that's worth at least $25K more per year, since I spent around 8 hours per day doing it in the early months.