Speaking of second place. . .

We got to watch a couple of kids during the Draper Temple dedication. There was one boy who is a month older than Jackson . . . I guess our family has a knack for losing . . . Oh, well, at least he'll know how to handle it in the future.

Basketball, Running and sliding

Dave and I are both involved in intramural basketball as well as some church ball. Dave is very talented and usually wins (with him being the star). Their church ball team is out of the tournament, but his BYU team is still going strong. Good luck, babe!
Jamie is tall and that is about all she has going for her on the basketball court, but ended up winning a game in the lowest division tournament! (their tallest girl was probably 5'8" so I got several rebounds and more points than I've made all season!)
Jackson has at least learned to dribble, although we expected more at this point :) AND he knows how to get in your face . . . that is half the game of basketball right?

Jamie is training for a 1/2 marathon on April 4th. I ran in the Rex Lee run at BYU to get the feel of racing and competing. I was hoping to at least run an 8 minute mile (that is my goal for the marathon). That would mean that I finished in about 49 minutes. The race went well. I felt really good and confident. Anytime I started to doubt my ability to finish strong, I talked myself into the fact that I have pretty good endurance since I have been running 10 miles on the weekend. Also, there was a girl running in front of me that definitely gave me motivation to try to catch her. I ended up finishing in 43 minutes! (6:57 per mile!) I was shocked that I could run that fast for that long! I got 2nd place in my age division (not including the top 3 women finishers). I am really looking forward to running the marathon and seeing if I can get a fast time there too. My goal is 1 hour 45 mins.

Here is a picture with several of the friends I have made in the Spouse association, which is where I spend my time when I am not running or working.

Dave had a great interview the other day for an internship this summer. I think if the economy was better he would get it for sure, but the company isn't sure if they are able to hire anyone for this summer- bummer! We are still looking and hoping to go some place and get some great marketing experience this summer.
Dave also got a new calling as secretary in the Young Mens. I think he will be a great role model to the young men (as well as have a lot of fun acting like a youth again!)

I am not sure Jackson has learned anything specifically "new" but his crawling skills get faster, his motor skills get finer and his standing up skills improve daily. This past weekend he did learn to crawl up stairs, but not down :(

I am teaching Dance in PE which is never a winner with 6th grade, but I think we are having fun anyway. I know I always have fun with it! I like to teach an EFY line dance, the Electric Slide, Achy-breaky heart and some other hot moves :)

Blog Fraud

I am all about committing crimes this week I guess!
When I posted my latest entry, I didn't cite my sources. I actually didn't write that (we don't even have a cat, I am surprised you didn't know that!). The reason I didn't cite is that it goes deep into the confusing connections of cyber-space and blogging and I didn't want to show my obsession, but here goes:
The poem was originally written and posted on a blog cafe for new moms. A "friend" I met (whom I have never met, nor plan to meet) from a chat room for pregnant women due last July, swiped it from the cafe and posted it on Facebook (where we are currently chatting- as opposed to the board we used to use). Then I added it to my blog.
Confusing enough? Suffice it to say, Jackson is not nearly this bad at night, and I think I have it better than most moms, but I appreciated the humor and posted it. Please don't turn me in!

Calling all babies- Love, Jackson

OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for months now. The first few months were great-- I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep through the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for a while.

Here's the thing…these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep - they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:

Night 1: Cry every three hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2: Cry every two hours until you get fed.

Night 3: Every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about three nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night) just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what's up with that? The cat said "meow" (I should know, my Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day). Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right - doesn’t' matter! Keep crying!!

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommy's internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.