Un-Birthday

In 31 years, I never realized some unfortunate souls don't have a half birthday. (That was until my baby was born on December 31st.) I didn't want River to miss out on the joys of eating cake halfway to his next birthday, so he officially celebrates his "Un-Birthday" on either June 30th, or July 1st, or both... if he can get someone to by him two cakes. He is my son, so most likely both. To celebrate, here are some of the nicknames of the last six months...


"Bean" Sometimes it's hard for me to realize that River and The Bean are the same person. Once he was on the outside, he was no longer The Bean, but I have so many memories of my little kicker, I had to include this nickname.
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"Coo Bird" The world was a magical place to River from the very beginning. He was making this face and cooing at everything.
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"Plank" I had him in his pink and blue hat from the hospital all the time. I had other hats, but this one was my favorite. I thought it made him look like a little sailor or pirate and Plank sounded really tough.

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"Cheeseburger Man" This is one of those random names that just comes out and for some reason it sticks. We were on a road trip and Bear asked if I wanted a cheeseburger and the next thing out of my mouth was, "Hey, Cheeseburger Man." Which has since turned into a song... I am the Cheeseburger Man. I kiss my mom whenever I can. I am my dad's biggest fan. Cuz, I am the Cheeseburger Man... Yeah. I am the Cheeseburger Man... Yeah.

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"Milklet" When he was tiny, he would growl at me if I wasn't fast enough getting him in nursing position. At the hospital, the nurses said he was the breastfeeding champ. He has always had a healthy appetite and though he doesn't make quite as many squeaks when he eats as he used to, the growls reappear every time he goes through a growth spurt.
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"Bruiser" This nickname only comes around when he has his shirt off. The bad Italian accents come out as well. That is one of the side affects of having actors for parents. We have been able to restrain ourselves from buying him a gold chain, but we don't know for how much longer.
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"Perfect Face" I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who calls him this... I can't help it... I think it's perfect. I stare at his eyes, lips, nose, cheeks, skin and just think... Wow! He has the most perfect face. I tell everyone I made it from scratch. When I'm at activities involving craft making and mine is the ugliest, as usual, I think... Well... There is one thing I'm good at making!
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River at 6 months is the loveliest creature you've ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is smiling 95% of the day and the other 5% he's giggling. He has taken blowing raspberries to the next level and we now call it motor boating. He produces a LOT of saliva while performing this activity, but the joy he gets from doing it, is worth the mess. He reaches and grabs for everything, especially Noodle. The world is brand new every minute and thankfully he is still cooing.

Ooops... I Did It Again

You remember back in 2004 when I said I would never cut my hair short again? Oh wait, that was pre-blog. Well it was pretty epic, ripe with emotion and very heart-felt. Oooops...

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It wasn't intentional. I traveled up to Logan to have Mary Hess a.k.a. Best Hair Lady ever, just give me a trim and touch up my color... it had been 6 Months! Despite the spit-up always in my hair and the constant pulling from wet baby hands, diaper bags and baby carriers... I was not going to get the Mom Chop. Even though my hair only looks good long when I curl it and I never have time to curl it anymore... I repeat, I was not going to get the Mom Chop. After all, I did make a vow.

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But then Mary said my hair was long enough to donate to Locks of Love and in that split second, my vow no longer seemed important. Whatever repercussions my ego would face, should more than be made up by good Karma, a cooler Summer do and did I mention... no spit-up. I'm sure in a couple weeks, when I have River's 6 month photos taken, I will have a melt down. I had been picturing long wavy "Earth Momma" hair and will now have short "I Heart Polo Shirts" hair. To be honest, no matter what length my hair is, I usually end up with the frazzled "Running Twenty Minutes Late" hair in photos anyway.

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So too make a boring hair story a little less long... I'm Lillith Arlene Fields Bear and I ROCK the Mom Chop! After all... I am a Mom.

The Verge

This was River for months. So close to rolling over... come on baby... you can do it! Then all of a sudden, on June 4th, 2010, he did it. Now the boy thinks he's a rolling machine and staying where I put him... um... no thanks. In other River news, his sitting is getting steadier and today he signed nursing. I swear, I'm not making that up. I always do the sign for nursing while I feed him and this morning when I went to get him out of bed, he held out his hand, looked at it and then did the sign for nursing three times, real slow and then looked up at me. It was soooo cool. I'm anxious to see if he does it again. Fake coughing has been replaced by shaking his head rapidly back and forth. We're trying to get it on video, but the uber aware boy's camera alert is always on. Man I LOVE this boy!

Half Birthday

Today I am 31 and a 1/2 and believe you me... I earned that 1/2! Six months ago, I was eating cake and contemplating my impending life changes. Most girls, within weeks of delivering, are aching to get the deed done, but I was hesitant. I was excited to see my baby's face, but I already felt like I knew him. He was my buddy and I liked our covert relationship of kicks and hiccups. My life revolved around him, but I was still me, one hundred "sleep till noon" percent. Everyone says your life changes, but I think I sensed something deeper was coming and I was right.
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To make room for MOM, I had to say goodbye to big pieces of LIL. Pieces I liked and parts I thought were pretty important. Bedtime at Sunrise Lil, Read a Book in a Day Lil, No Need to Carry a Bag Lil, Sure I'll Come Visit Lil, and No Need to Count a Single Calorie Lil have been replaced by Tired by Ten Lil, I'll Get to That Book Someday Lil, Could This Diaper Bag Be Any Heavier Lil, Sorry My Baby Needs a Nap Lil and last but not least, Is This Scale Correct Lil.
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Every time I try and reclaim an old piece of myself it backfires. Like the time I decided to go to Sacrament Meeting without a diaper bag. I hate carrying stuff and I had just changed River. It's only an hour and what are the chances he would have an explosion right then??? Maybe that's part of the post-partum depression. Some of us are just more attached to who we are and we take change hard. I don't know. But what I do know is that Up at Seven A.M. Lil is greeted by beauty and delights that Sleep Till Noon Lil never imagined possible.




And while you can see, Motherhood has definitely left it's mark on me... red eyes, bags, lines, etc... I find myself smiling most of the time.


One day I think I'll grow in to this Mom role so well, I'll be able to fit some of those old pieces back, but until then, I'll get my hair done once every six months, paint my toe nails a shade of blue, suck in my tummy, squint my eyes just right while I look in to a mirror and think... Oh, there I am.

Splish Splash

The elusive third video... a.k.a. The cutest thing you'll ever see.

Bleepin Miserable

I'm hot. My patience is thin. My waistline is not... and so begins my three least favorite months of the year. (Weather wise, not birthday wise Mom, David, Luke, Becca, Cody, Aunt Marian and Mary Jane etc...)
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The top three reasons I have to be so grumpy today are:
*I checked the weather on my computer and next to the temperature was a little gray rain cloud and a bolt of lightening. Liars. Grrrr!
*My baby just started sleeping through the night when it started to blaze outside and now he wakes up two to three times in a hot, sweaty mess. Arrgh!
*My movie premiere for The Wylds is starting any minute in Montana and I am burning my biscuits off in Salt Lake. Bleck!

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Now for three reason to be happy.

Sorry about the bad attitude. Buy me a McMansion with central air and I promise not to complain until it gets too cold. I hope the videos made you smile. Have a good day. If you need me, I'll be doing the rain dance until it either rains, or I die of heat stroke.