Perhaps nothing has reminded me more of Europe than the Ashton Gardens and the Tulip Festival. With my membership, Beckham and I went to the festival 7 times and never grew tired of the lovely views. We visited by ourselves, with family members, and with friends both new and old, and were sad to see the flowers fade away.
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April was busy as could be with lots more travel. When I found out the Arizona trip I booked overlapped with all of our Arizona families being out of town, I took Jordie up on her offer to take me and Beckham with her to Michigan for my niece Elle’s 2nd birthday party. Danielle not only lives half a county away, but she is also a very busy ER nurse, so I was very grateful to be able to spend time with her and her family.
While we were there, we caught a glimpse of Detroit visiting the Detroit Historical Museum and while driving back to Danielle’s place in the suburbs. Being from the west where there seems to be a housing shortage, I was absolutely shocked by Detroit’s blight. So many buildings sat abandoned, mere ghosts of their former beauty.
Beckham was a happy camper the whole 4 hour flight back, but he was wildly energetic and also did not do so great on his formula. His diaper blew out while we were taking off, and I was just glad I had packed an extra set of clothes (mind you, just one) in the backpack. He had three more stinky diapers over the next three hours, and thank goodness we had enough fresh diapers and didn’t require any more changes of clothing.
A week later, Danielle and the kids flew up to Utah for BYU Women’s Conference. I watched Elle while Danielle and the other ladies in the family went to the conference. I took her and Beckham to see farm animals, including baby goats. Danielle said beforehand that Elle loves cats, but when my cat Atticus followed her like a shadow all over the house, she was terrified. It took 3 days and her mom’s encouragement to be able to hold him. I also gained a newfound appreciation for mothers of more than one child when, while I was trying to give medicine to a screaming Beckham, Ellie grabbed the toilet bowl scrubber and starting scrubbing the inside of my shoes.
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| Beckham enjoying bubbles with Dallin’s baby cousin |
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| We had a BBQ birthday celebration for the many family members with springtime birthdays. |
At 7 months, Beckham started:
- lots of funny new growling/screeching sounds (even at strangers)
- lots more babbling
- rocking back and forth on his knees
- sitting with less support
- pretend coughing
- eating more solids (he LOVES to share food with mom and can often be "tricked" into not throwing food on the floor when mom takes a bite first)
To be honest, he is a terrible sleeper. After he got through the newborn sleep phase, he only had about a month of reasonable nighttime sleep before he hit the four month sleep regression. As this coincided with us traveling and sharing a wall with multiple family members, I had to respond to his hourly wakings by quickly nursing him back to sleep. And so a monster of a habit was created, and now at the end of seven months we are still trying to kick the "reverse cycling" where Beckham wants to get most of his calories while tanking up at night. Life is too exciting for him to stay focused on nursing during the day. For many months Beckham typically woke up every two hours, although it was sometimes every hour or, on lucky nights, every three hours. Let's just say I can be a zombie. I have been reading various sleep training books and we have definitely made progress, but the continual traveling has made it rough. We tackled bedtime a while back, and though the first night he screamed for 45 minutes and the second night for 30 minutes, by night 3 he fell asleep within 5-10 minutes for the babysitter. As long as we're at home following our usual routine, bedtime is a breeze. We only figured out how to have easy nap times (still too short of naps, but at least he falls asleep without needing me to cuddle, nurse and bounce him for 45 minutes) within the last week (at 8 months) after Dallin's Aunt Kenzie wrote out a sample feeding and sleeping schedule for Beckham. Now I just need to figure out the nighttime wakings.
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When Dallin and his friends found out that the Norwegian rock back Tyr was coming to Arizona, it didn’t take much convincing for the guys to book tickets not only for the music but for a short tour of Dallin’s old stomping grounds. I wasn’t so interested in the concert, but of course I had to tag along for the trip. My dad took the guys out on the boat, and though Beckham was at first quite unhappy with the giant life vest, was very excited to have his feet dipped in the water. Of course we had to take him swimming in the pool the next day—he just wanted to kick, kick, kick with no care for the colder water temperatures!
While in Arizona, we took the guys to Barros Pizza not once but twice. One of the nights, my parents babysat while we explored the nightlife of Tempe and Scottsdale, including dance clubs and live music. There are many things I love about living in Utah, but the social scene in Arizona is definitely superior!
Beckham experienced puppy roughhousing a few times and wasn’t sure how he felt about it. When my mom played a game with Beckham where she said “One, two, three!” and pretended to drop him, this Bernese mountain dog Oakley went NUTS barking at my mom and freaking out because she thought the baby was in danger.
About Me
Katie Urness
SLP, Wife, and Mama
Welcome to Kate of the Desert! I've shared my life stories here since 2008. Here you may find the dramatic musings of an 11-year-old, the romanticized tales of a high schooler, the adventures of a young adult living in Hawaii and Europe, the journeys of marriage and motherhood, and all the ups and downs in between. Read More
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