Respect To A Wonderful Man

President Hinckley was truly an amazing man. We love him and miss him already. His example, teachings, and love have changed our lives deeply and eternally. Our gratitude will always remain for not only a prophet, but a friend and brother.







I think I speak for both Bita and myself when I say, I hope I can be as much of a blessing in the little spheres of my life as he was in his. President Hinckley, we love you and thank you for your service.

He's found his voice!

In the last week or so William has really found out that he has vocal chords, and that he can make a myriad of different sounds with them. It's so much fun because he will sit there and have conversations back and forth with you. One of my very favorite times is when I put him to bed. I used to give him a bath every night and then let him be free from his diaper for a while and give him a rubdown. Now I don't give him a bath every night because he has very bad eczema, but I still take all of his clothes off and give him a rubdown with lotion and hydrocortizone in the really bad places. It is during this nighttime ritual that he just talks and talks and talks and talks. It is as if he just wants to tell me all about everything that happened in his world during the day.

Here is a picture of him just before his bedtime rubdown ritual. Notice the hands in the mouth (he's starting to be very slobbery) and the feet pushed up together . He is in this position a lot. We think his feet are the cutest ever!

Of course, finding his vocal chords has its drawbacks as well, as he has also discovered how to scream if he isn't getting something (food, one on one attention, diaper changed, attention, he's tired, attention etc.) quite fast enough. Sometimes he lets out these yells we have dubbed "primal screams" and they seem to be mostly just to get our attention. Sometimes I think that he just likes to hear himself yell, since he will do it even if we are doing everything he could possibly want us to do. Most of the time his yells don't get to me, but sometimes after a while they make me a little frazzled. But of course, when I'm pushed about to the edge, he smiles at me and makes some cute cooing noise and the universe rights itself.

Another thing I've noticed is that not only does he like to hear his own voice, but he really enjoys music. He usually loves it when I sing to him or when I'm playing music on the stereo. I play lots of classical music for him and the other day I started playing a Prokofieff Cello Sonata for him during one of his yelling sessions and as soon as the cello came in he stopped yelling and his eyes got big. Whenever music comes on that interests him he tries to crane his head around to see where the sound is coming from. I've decided that I think it would be great if he wanted to play the cello-but of course, I'll let him choose what instrument he wants to play. :) Chris says there is no way he is going to play the flute but sometimes I wonder because he really really likes it when I whistle.

Speaking of Prokofieff cello sonatas, I guess I must have something wrong in my upper story because I have agreed to accompany a girl playing the cello this semester. At first I just agreed to accompany a piece for the Concerto competition last week because her accompanist dropped out a week before the competition. But after that insanity--I got the piece, not short I may add, a week before the competition--for some reason I agreed to accompany her for the rest of the semester, under the impression that she was just going to play the rest of the movements from the piece we had already done together. She called me a couple of days later and said that she and Bro. Tueller had decided to do the Prokofieff instead and was that okay with me? Let me tell you--a Sonata has a WAY harder and integral piano part than the concerto did. Insanity again--I said yes! I'll probably be kicking myself in a month or so, but right now I am actually excited to get the chance to play the piano again. Now I just have to figure out how to practice in a practice room with a 3 month old who craves attention. Any suggestions?

Sacked Out!!

Chris sneaked in and took this picture on Sunday afternoon while Will and I were taking a little siesta. We were both up way past our bedtime on Saturday night because we were spending time at some friends house in Idaho Falls. Then we got up for church in the morning and by the time we got home I was exhausted, so I lay down, put the pacifier in his mouth and we both zonked out for a couple of hours.