Lake Powell II

Finally, the exciting conclusion you have all been waiting for...

On the houseboat trip our days went something like this:
-wake up way too early for vacation due to sun, chipper elders and a small baby
-go out in the powerboat for sightseeing or waterskiing
-pull up anchor and cruise to the next locale
-set anchor and head out in the powerboat again, often in the form of a sight-seeing "booze-cruise." This doubled as a "snooze-cruise" for Megan; the powerboat put her right to sleep.
-play games and cards in the evening

I was able to get right up waterskiing, but not so on the wakeboard. And by the end of the trip my left (back) thigh was a worthless lump of flesh it was so sore. Mac made a valiant effort and was close on many occasions, but wasn't quite able to get out of the water.

One morning after a windy night we rescued an inner tube from a small canyon. it belonged to the boat across the way from us, but we took an hour's use as our finder's fee. This could have been great fun, but we became fixated on throwing people off - this was not fun! Just ask Cousing Ed; he ended up with a cracked rib!

Megan did pretty well on the houseboat. As expected her schedule was totally thrown off and she woke up more than I like at night, but she loved having eight people shower attention on her at all times. Plus she got in a few good rides in the back pack and had some nice naps on the powerboat. Megan, however, did not like the cold water (I swam in it every day so it wasn't that cold). She squirmed and cried when I put her feet in the water and she screamed like crazy when a few drops got splashed on her head. Lucky for her we had a bathtub so she could enjoy a warm soak every now and then.

We did have a couple of scares on the trip:
At one point my milk supply went way down and I wasn't able to feed Megan. Mac and Roger went on a 100 mile formula run in the powerboat. Taking in the cost of gas for the boat ($120), this is probably the most expensive formula purchase ever. Worse, Megan refused to drink the stuff! But with a lot of hydration and small feedings things got back to normal.

And one night I awoke to find Megan's legs dangling off the side of her bed. This wasn't your average bed either; this bed was almost four feet off the ground and the ground was hard floor. When I put Megan to bed I had set a small suitcase between her and the edge of the bed to keep her from rolling off, but she scooted down nearly two feet to get beyond the suitcase, then turned 90 degrees and then scooted almost another two feet from the middle of the bed to the edge. She spent the rest of the nights with a complete luggage barrier along the entire length of the bed. My "terrible-mom" guilt is gradually subsiding.

Glen Canyon was a beautiful backdrop for our week of fun. We'll have to take Megan back when she is old enough to remember and appreciate the spectacular scenery for herself.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'...

Today Megan rolled over all by herself! Mac has been placing Megan on her tummy routinely just to inspire this feat and she finally came through for him.

In other good news, we think Megan's blocked tear duck has cleared up. We haven't seen any major eye goop for several days.

***Addendum by Mac***
Here's a video of Megan performing the aforementioned feat. (3.9 MB and 17seconds)

Sea Worthy

"Ahoy Matey!"

Lake Powell I

Our family vacation began in the Portland airport. The guy in the security line ahead of me was about my age and just didn't seem to have a clue. He held up the line as he tried to get his belongings into the bins, then the TSA agant made him go back and take off his shoes, and only when prompted did this guy remove the keys and change from his pockets. After stepping through the screening device, he tried to push his way back to get his stuff. "It has to come through the machine and you get it on the other side," I explained. The guy looked a little sheepish. "Oh, thanks. This is my first flight experience." I refrained from telling him that it was Megan's third.

We had a very uneventful flight to Las Vegas, but the Vegas airport is just about the worst place in the world to have to change a baby. The designers apparently expected you to leave your tots at home when visiting Sin City, as the bathrooms had no good changing station. Megan was very glad not to be left at home though, as she was absolutely enthralled by the lights and activity in the City that Never Sleeps. In fact, Megan didn't want to sleep either as we strolled through several different casinos. She was still fuss-free and raring to go at ten pm - too bad her mom is such a party pooper!

From Las Vegas we drove to Page, AZ where we boarded a houseboat on Lake Powell, the lovely M26, the vessel that would be our home for the next week.

We spent the week putting around the lake, finding a different beach to anchor at each night.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 80th Birthday, Papa!
Love,
Pam, Mac, and Megan


We leave for Las Vegas on Friday and then head to Page, AZ on Saturday. We will neither be getting married nor married again (Page is part of the "Arizona strip" the bastion of ploygamy in the US) as we head to these two places, but rather we will be enjoying a week on a houseboat in Lake Powell with my family (at least until the close quarters send Mac over the edge). Can I still get up on one ski? Can Mac waterski at all? Will our Aquarius baby still like swimming when the water is cold? I'll let you know when we get back! And fortunately, I've changed my webpage (ok, Mac did it) so it won't go blank anymore!

Great Grandparents

Megan met most of her great-grandparents during our spring break trip to Southern California, but she only just recently met her great-grandpa Ray and great-grandma Marjorie when we took a day trip up to Port Townsend to see them.

Get well soon

Aunt Kate is having knee surgery today. We hope she has a speedy recovery!

Tidbits

Today is our sixth wedding anniversary. It's been a great half dozen years!
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Kendall and Roger are now college graduates! Congratulations to both!
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It's Aunt Jan's birthday! have a good one, Jan!
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My transformation to a singly-focused doting mother is now complete: yesterday we went to a wedding; I only took pictures of Megan.

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Megan and I feel much better. Mac was achy all day yesterday with a bad headache. He was a bit nauseated for a good part of the day but has so far managed to escape vomiting.
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Mr. "Magoo" called yesterday; he just wanted to offer us a bed, two dressers, two folding tables with chairs and a rototiller. It's hard to say no to free stuff!

Bubbles

Megan loves the bath, she loves to kick and splash, and she loves bubbles. Mostly she loves to eat the bubbles, but she also gets a big smile when she makes her own "bubbles." Ok, we admit, this usually gets a chuckle from us as well.

Health update: we are all feeling better today. Megan laughed again for the first time in four days. I feel drained but I am not throwing up, which is a major improvement over yesterday!

The joy of parenting

Last night I felt a little queasy at Megan's 1:30am feeding. By 5:30, I suffered the first of many episodes in my marathon puke session. Basically, any movement, however slight, and every sip of water sent me flying to the bathroom. Since there was no way I was going to work, Megan got another day off daycare. This was a mistake, as I really had no energy for her. And at one point, I had to take a break from changing her diaper to make a bathroom stop - and it wasn't even a poopy one! Megan was still in recovery from her own sickness, so she slept A LOT and didn't need very much stimulation, which was REALLY good for me.

I am not one who often gets sick. This was the first day of work I have missed due to illness in six years (which really means ever for those of you who know my work history). Mac and I often comment that our friends seem to get sick way more than we do, but since having Megan I have been sick twice. Lack of sleep and being out of shape is taking their toll!

Sick

Megan just got sent home from daycare because she is sick (vomiting). Apparently our parent-paranoia about daycare germs wasn't unfounded. And to add insult to injury, Mac is being docked a half day of pay.

We had an idea things weren't going so well yesterday when Megan had a "bad day" at daycare. She slept most of the evening yesterday, but the telltale sign was last night - she slept through the night without even a peep for the first time. This morning she lay listlessly in bed with me. We even gave her some baby Advil, hoping that would help, but no dice.

So now we have to look on the bright side: illness in babies is an immune boosting event. Kids who get sick (especially fever) at least twice in their first year of life have a lower incidence of allergies and leukemia. Now isn't that worth a half day's pay?

Thumbs Up

In the last week, Megan has become quite adept at thumbsucking. To be sure, there are still plenty of times when she sticks half her fist in her mouth, and she is still quite fond of those first two fingers, but Megan can now routinely get that opposable digit alone into her mouth. Megan has never really liked the pacifier (and I never encouraged it), but her thumb seems to be quite soothing for her. In fact, last Friday she put herself to sleep just by popping her thumb in her mouth - DURING THE DAY!!

So far the hitch-hiker thumb hand position hasn't been for Megan. She instead prefers the lobster-claw-around-the-nose technique (with or without the forefinger mustache, as seen here).

Neither Mac nor I were thumb suckers. My sister, however, practically had to have her hand tied down to get her to stop. Ironically, I ended up with the horrendous over-bite; my sister's teeth were fine.

PS - please ignore the dirty shirt. We really do put clean clothes on her everyday (usually multiple times!) - honest, we do!

Ready for bed

Even bedtime warrants a large dose of pink.

"Look Mom, I match your website!"

Making a point

Last Friday, we enjoyed a rare event: a child-free Smith-Gingerich outting. Though we love hanging out with our kids together (especially watching Emma interact with Megan), it was nice to have an "adults-only" affair. So, while my mom was around to babysit, we decided to celebrate our mutual good referral: Jeremy recommended we use his mortgage broker, Bruce, for our own financing; Bruce gave Jeremy a $100 gift-certificate for the referral. When Bruce bought a truck at Canby Ford after we met with him, Jeremy was kind enough to get us a referral kick-back. With our funds in hand, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the new McCormack and Schmick's in Tualitan. We should have toasted Bruce, but we were to busy stuffing our faces to think of it!

In addition to a nice dinner, Jennifer and I got a chance to show off our new pointy shoes.

For those Portlanders who have yet to visit Bridgeport Village, I highly recommend it. I had no idea that dumpy old weed patch was going to be turned into something so nice; I really liked the outdoor mall design. And besides, do you really need an excuse to visit Crate and Barrel?

Back to Daycare

Last night my mom left after her 2+ weeks here doing "Nana duty" while Mac and I were at work. We were worried that 16 days with another person in our tiny house might drive us crazy, but our sanity was still quite in tact when my mom left. My mom's help was invaluable; she not only took care of Megan, but she did all of our laundry! (thanks mom!). I think my mom was pretty pleased with the arrangement as well, because she got to spend lots of quality time with "the most important member of the family." (those are her exact words)

So with Nana gone Megan had to head back to the germ infested world of day care, a place where all of the other tykes have been hogging toys but readily sharing a nasty virus. But after our initial bout of parent-paranoia, we knew Megan would be fine for the next four days (plus there wasn't much choice!). So Mac and Megan headed to Canby early this morning and I was left at home without a cute baby to entertain me while I got ready.

Lost at Lost Lake

This past Sunday we decided to take a day trip to Lost Lake. The hiking guide directions had us doing lots of extra mileage on backcountry forest service roads from Zigzag instead of taking the straight-shot paved way from Hood River (our return route). For a good while we thought we were only going to get Lost, instead of getting to Lost Lake, but we finally arrived and had a nice hike around the lake. The guidebook promised "expansive views of Mt. Hood," but the cloudy weather didn't cooperate. My mom asked us where Mt. Hood was; Mac and I pointed in opposite directions. When we spotted the massive peak driving home, we both claimed to be right. (Sidenote: on Saturday we took my mom and Mac's aunt to see our new house. Mac took a new road on our way home. "Where are you going??" I queried. "This will take us north back to downtown." "No it won't," I replied, "We are going South." We ended up at the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge, directly south of our new place.)

Finding the better way home not only saved us time, but gave us the opportunity to visit Multnomah Falls, someplace my mom hadn't been in nearly 30 years. Megan can now check it off her list of "places to go" as well.

Big headed

"whoa, my head is heavy!"

Megan weighed in this morning at 14 pounds, 10 oz and was 25 inches long. Her head was 16.5 inches around. All of these stats were right around the 75th percentile (up from the 50th percentile for weight at four months - our little girl isn't so little anymore!).

Our jolly jumper

Megan loves the jolly jumper and has gotten quite good at bouncing. In fact, she is so good at it, I can't ever get a good picture.