we are now mobile

one year for my birthday, my mom let me paint the mailbox. i used to collect all things giraffe, so i of course painted it using the giraffe theme. the only photo i could find was the record snow we had in '96...although the record snow northern va got two winters ago was probably double, if not triple, 1996 snow drifts.

another year for my birthday, i was waitressing at baby's in pa, and my dad, who lived in va, called in and ordered me a surprise birthday cake and balloons to be delivered during my shift. THAT was a very cool surprise.

ice cream cake was my favorite, even then. i must have been wishing for a barbie on this particular birthday...

'cause check out that face!...

i hit a home run on another birthday, with a pitch by my stepdad.

but yesterday was pretty darn neat as far as birthdays go. my baby got up on all fours and decided to take off crawling! david and i were playing carcassonne, and pace just had to get a piece of the action. we video taped his first little uncoordinated crawl, but we still can't figure out how to download videos onto our blog...sorry!

just catching up on a little light reading....

ms ride 2011 and the petting zoo

the ms ride in logan has officially become a tradition for us--this is the third year we've participated. we made the 2-hour drive friday night after david got off work. pace did ok until the last 30 miles. he'd had enough by brigham city, so going through the canyon to logan was a little hard on him. at home, he's normally in bed between 7-730. last time we went camping he was ready for bed between 8-830. this time, he was so wired with being in a new place that he didn't nod off until 1030! and then still up at his normal 530/6am! after everyone took off for the ride, he and i went back to the tent for a little nap.

team ups:

david did the 75 miles this year instead of his normal 100. it's been such a cold and wet spring that he hasn't been on the bike that much, so 75 miles was plenty!

while david and team ups were riding, pace and i checked out the willow park "petting zoo". i looked up free things to do before going to logan, and this was one of them. it ended up being right next to the campgrounds, so pace and i just walked on over. it was advertised as free on their website, but had a box to collect the charge at the entrance. i didn't pay, truth be told...no one was around, and i had gone there on the premise of a fun free activity. it was also advertised as a petting zoo, but it was really a "traditional" zoo. they had an albino porcupine, a tortoise, and a bobcat. the rest were birds, from sparrows to macaws, swans, and even a bald eagle. it was cute, but pace paid more attention to the other kids there. the one thing that grabbed his attention was the tortoise. it mosied on over to have a look at pace, and pace actually looked right back!

little drummer boy

one purpose i had in going private was to include more personal details about our family. friends told me about websites that download your blog and then you can publish it in book form. what a great way to preserve family history! we are going to publish our blog once a year, to catch the coombs family in review. my dad emailed me this morning with a post from his own blog, and seeing how it was a bit of history, i thought i'd include it here. originally written by jay markanich:

We moved to the Manassas, Virginia area in 1988. We currently reside in Bristow, a couple of miles to the southwest. This is an area rich in history.

My family has been in the Washington DC area a long time. One line arrived in 1737, others thereafter over the centuries.

One such line was the family of Thomas Wright of Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. Born in 1805, Thomas marriedCatherine Mason Baldwin, born in 1807. They were married in 1828 and had 7 children, all born in Ireland. A family record states, "in the process of time [they] came to the United States of America and made their permanent home in the City and State of New York."

Thomas and Catherine are pictured to the right, along with their youngest daughter, Sarah Baldwin, born 4 Dec 1846, who is sitting to Thomas's right.

They are my great, great grandparents, on the Harding side of my family.

I have felt a special connection to this family since moving here.

That connection involves this hill.

This is the hill at the intersection of VA Route 29 and Sudley Road, just across from the Stone House.

In my travels, I drive by this hill 4 or 5 times a week.

Since moving here I have always had a special feeling, if not a connection, to it. I never understood why.

When my mother died decades ago, one thing I wanted was the family history records. And I have involved myself in these records ever since. I was not as interested in the "stuff" as I was in the family heirlooms and records.

A very interesting story I ran across in these records involved Catherine Mason Baldwin Wright.

It seems that the Wright's oldest son, George Alexander (13 Sept 1830) was attracted to, and induced by, the very active New York City recruiting office of the United States Army at the start of the Civil War.

He enlisted. And he did so, says the record, without Catherine's consent. "She had not consented to his leaving home, and when she learned that George had joined the U.S. Army and had gone to the front to fight for the Union, she naturally grieved for her children."

The baby of the family, William, born 1848, "was her youngest child and greatly endeared to [Catherine]." One day he disappeared.

Irresistibly attracted by the romantic ideas of his brother George's joining the army, she was afraid William had also run off and joined the army.

The family's oldest daughter, Isabella Baldwin Wright (17 Jan 1832), preserves a significant event in family history. She wrote that Catherine had a dream.

"She saw in her dream an open field, in the midst of which she recognized her absent boy, when suddenly as she looked a great ball of fire appeared moving toward her son rapidly, taking his head clean off from his body, and she awoke greatly terrified and affrighted." [sic]

CAN YOU IMAGINE SUCH A DREAM? CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW THIS MOTHER FELT? THE DREAM GOES ON.

"At her urgent request an inquiry was set on foot as to the fate of William Wright, and the answer came back that William was killed at the battle of Manassas by decapitation by a cannon ball on the day she saw him in her dream."

I wonder - could her dream have been at the same moment as William's death?

Was William killed on the hill I feel the connection to? Certainly I had those feelings prior to coming across this record.

I bet you already know what I think.

The record does not state the date of this dream. So I don't know at which battle of Manassas this happened. If it was the first, William would have been 13. The second, and William would have been 14.

WAS HE A LITTLE DRUMMER BOY?

From bottom to top that hill is about 1 mile long. At the top is where Colonel Thomas J. Jackson made his famous stand that earned him the nickname "Stonewall." This twenty-feel-tall statue marks the spot.

William Wright "was buried on the battlefield after the battle of Bull Run, or Manassas." Those graves were temporary, and very shallow. Rains forced the removal of those bodies to more permanent locations, which marked and unmarked cemeteries now dot the area in and around the battlefield today.

I probably drive by my great, great uncle William often, and don't even realize it.

pace does yoga, and other cute photos

pace is on his way to crawling. most of the time these days i find him rolling from one end of the room to the other, and trying to crawl. He'll do 5-10 push-ups in a row, body planks, lunges, rocking on hands and knees. when he does planks, he gets frustrated he can't go from all fours to standing. meanwhile, he's got some pretty good-looking yoga positions!

downward-facing dog

plank pose

baby cobra

(quasi) child's pose

a few more cute ones for the admiring:

how to open a coconut: 101

all that is good, and sweet, and true has come to me because of you (-brenda walton peckham)

june 19

7 years...

3 apartments

1 house

1 new car

8 jobs (at least...there may have been more)

2 inedible meals (that you've told me about)

countless loads of laundry

10 very hard nights apart

1 1/2 degrees

1 perfect baby

...

1 more melted heart

1 more softened edge

1 more weak-kneed gaze

1 more day to fall in love even more than the last

a few of david's favorite memories

david has had asthma since he was an infant. effective medicines hadn't been developed yet, so steroids were really the only type of maintenance/treatment. as a result, he was sick a lot, in the hospital er a lot, and his parents were constantly worried about him.

one day, however, in fifth or sixth grade, david came home saying he wanted to play ice hockey. this was an involved sport, as most are, and very physically demanding, as most are. david's parents have always wanted him to be happy, so they support whatever that endeavor may be. david's dad took him to ice hockey practice 3 days a week from 6-8pm, as well as to games every saturday. this went on for 5 or 6 years. as david puts it, "my dad took precious time out of his schedule on my behalf--on behalf of a sick kid who could hardly breathe--because he wanted me to have a normal childhood."

bob is the ultimate montanan. born and raised, blue montana blood coursing through his veins. they spent a lot of time outdoors. they went camping practically every weekend, fishing, hiking, etc. wherever bob went, david went. david remembers one camping trip where he and bob went on an all-day fishing excursion. they did not bring any t.p. david had to go. there apparently weren't any leaves around, or at least not usable leaves. bob told david to use a pine cone...david did! he said it was very exfoliating.

bob and david also really got into rc car racing when he was little. david remembers his dad being able to fix anything with the engine/frame, and helping him run it even better. david loved going to the events with his dad.

bob was quite the adventurer back in the day. he's told us a few stories, but when i ask to hear more of his escapades, he says we'll just have to wait for the book. he's slid down a montanan glacier (rear-first), hiked down cliffs for the best fishing hole, baha raced (i think that's what mud-racing is called...), and gone on countless horseback riding excursions. we'll just have to wait for the book to hear the rest...

a few of my favorite memories

'the christmas santa almost missed' was the first book i read through by myself. i was so excited to show my dad--i think this was the first time i read it through for him. my dad is an avid reader. i'd like to think i got the bookwormishness from him. he still has his old hardy boys collection (i think) my brothers read, and he got a few nancy drew's for me. i loved reading those at his house. to this day i have a fondness for the name georgie for a girl because of nancy's sidekick. i remember he would read greek myths to me before bed. i am still trying to find a copy like the book he read to me from--they weren't sugar-coated for kids, but were the real myths. ha ha--that's a great oxymoron...the real myths...

my dad didn't give us horsey-rides or piggy-back rides--no, no, no--we were treated to camel-back rides. and this wasn't just any camel. this was a spitting-snorting-sometimes 2-legged, sometimes 4-legged-jumping-rolling-bull of a camel. the goal was to hang on for dear life whilst laughing so hard you were bound to fall off within a matter of seconds. sometimes we got individual camel-back rides, but the best were when we all piled on at the same time.

my dad was always a magician. this balancing act is nothing compared to what he pulled out of my ear. not the run-of-the-mill coins--but tights! one morning before church i couldn't find my little white tights i wanted to wear. and wouldn't you know it--my dad pulled them right out of my ear. i was shocked and amazed. to this day i remember the exact feeling of having tights come out of my ear. he also magically turned every light green at every intersection. we'd all be in the car, going from house to house or running errands, and he'd look at us with a sparkle in his eyes and his pointer finger raised at the stoplight. then he'd snap and--presto--green!

my dad used to dress up every halloween as a vampire. well, according to these photos, he may have actually been dracula himself. the make-up, the teeth, the green hair, the cape, necklace, etc. dad--why did you ever stop?!

• i used to stay up really late reading and or wake up really early to read. i'm talking 3 or 4am. i was probably 3-6 years old, as my parents got divorced when i was 6. my dad would see my light on under the door and invite me to tag along with him to seminary. he taught seminary for more years than i can count on two hands. he would pack oj and animal crackers, or some hot chocolate, and i'd ride along and charm all the seminary students with my cute little blonde head.
• my dad made waffles for us every sunday when we were at his house.
• his house was the place to do all the fun stuff we weren't allowed to do at mom's house (examples: water-gun fights, nintendo, he always had pets--dog, gerbils, birds, boxes of mac&cheese and spaghetti-o's)
• he started the 7-11 tradition--we'd always stop at 7-11 on the way home from his house and he'd let us pick out any treat we wanted. it was so hard to pick just one candy bar from the rows and rows of chocolatey goodness lying before a child's eyes! we'd also guess what time we'd arrive at home. no prizes necessary--just the fun of being the one closest to the correct time was enough.
• he stuffed our stockings every christmas with a huge box of candy bars from costco. that's what we would eat for breakfast. mine were twix, every year.
• he had the best recliner we used to play on--the best game was what my brothers and i entitled "butt-go-up." this recliner had the best rocking ability, and if someone sat on the top, near the headrest, and another person ran full-speed and then jumped on the seat of the chair, they would launch the other person across the room! i think we ingeniously entitled that game due to my younger brother flying through the air, rear first.

orem summerfest baby contest

we (we as in i) registered pace for the orem summerfest baby contest today! he was judged on his personality (he jumped very well for the judges), and then we got his photo taken. the photographer had a duster she tickled his feet with, and he just loved it!

so there were probably 180-200 children participating in this little contest, and although pace did not win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in his age category, his did win a specialty category: most beautiful eyes. and we all know in pace's case that means biggest...i mean widest...i mean alertest...i mean...

pace's little prize: a bucket full of baby toys. david was actually pretty proud of pace winning a specialty category--he felt like this was a much higher complement than a place holding because it was the one baby out of all 200 that was the most memorable.

bed head

pace is getting much more mobile. he's sitting up on his own, starting to frog hop, and rock back and forth on his knees. i caught him doing a full-body plank the other day! he will actually push himself backwards instead of crawling forwards--very funny.

being more mobile also means i find him in all sorts of different locations in his crib other than where i initially put him. i love finding him all over the place! this also means finding some pretty good bed head atop his little noggin!

he did not start out with this many blankets in his crib! i guess i can't leave them draped on the side anymore...

modeling the new 'do:

non-vacations 1 & 2

david had 3 vacation weeks this year. he ended up having nearly all of may off, the way the calendar worked out after the other drivers got their vacation weeks. we normally get vacation weeks in the months other drivers don't want, like march or february, so we were looking forward to some good weather while vacationing. we planned to go to montana to see david's parents, camping in moab, and my mom come for a visit. we were excited for the month of may!

ok, so vacation #1: montana. we planned to drive up on friday and come back on monday. the more i thought about it, i wanted to break up the driving and do half of the 13 hour drive on thursday, and finish the drive on friday. that's a long drive for two adults, and there was no way pace would be able to do a 13 hour drive in one day. david wasn't interested in staying overnight in a hotel, so he wanted to just see how it would go.

i woke up friday morning around 3am to feed pace, and ended up staying up to finish packing and get stuff ready for david to load into the car. pace is an early riser--he's up for the day usually by 6am. we thought if we got on the road by 4, we'd have at least 2 hours of driving with a sleeping baby. as things go, we didn't get on the road until 5am, and pace had woken up as we were getting out the door. we drove for about 30-45 minutes and pace started getting fussy. we drove for another 30-45 minutes and stopped so we could feed pace. he sort of snacked, we walked around to calm him down, and back in the car.

he immediately started screaming as soon as we buckled him in the car seat. from slc until pocatello, we drove with a screaming baby. i sat in the back with him, singing songs, playing with toys, trying to feed him...but by the end, i was frustrated and in tears myself, not able to just pull my little boy out of the carseat and hold him until he calmed down. pace is super sensitive. if someone around him is giving off unsettling vibes, he'll pick up on it and give a meltdown himself. i'm sure i was part of the trigger that set him off--i was just so frustrated and upset, and the more he cried, the more i cried. the other trigger, looking back, is that pace was confined during the time he's used to being up and active. he's a morning person, and the first thing he does when he gets up is jump around and play for at least an hour. we thought it'd be easier to be on the road early, but it was actually harder for him to be strapped in a carseat, sitting still.

we stopped in a rest area outside pocatello and david called his parents. they were so flexible and forgiving--they told us to just turn right around and go home, that it was ok that pace wasn't able to travel yet. as soon as we told pace we were turning around and going home, he promptly stopped crying, settled into his carseat, and fell asleep. he slept until we were outside of slc, woke up, and started fussing again. it was a long 45 minutes to orem.

so...vacation #1 down the drain. we spent david's first week at home. he got a few good bike rides in, and got to spend some good quality time with pace.

vacation #2: we were going to go camping in moab with some friends. were being the operative word. the whole second week david was home ended up being about 40 degrees and raining/snowing all week long. we called down to the ranger stations in canyonlands national park, where the guys were planning on riding white rim, and they said it had been raining down there all week, too, and the river was flooding so bad they had closed the entire west half of the trail. we decided to postpone the camping trip 2 weeks out, thinking we'd see better weather the first week of june.

instead of sunny moab, we stayed inside all day every day and looked forlornly out our window at this:

and this:

and more of this:

here's what timp looked like once the clouds lifted. it's been so cold this year--our spring was more like november/december. there is so much snow on the mountains, and there has been so much rain, everyone's worried about flooding once it does warm up.

anniversary

may 22: celebrating 12 years of lds goodness

babushka came for a visit

my mom came out for about a week. she wants to be called babushka (the czechoslovakian name for grandma), and we'll see how pace shortens it. she loved every minute of feeding pace, changing diapers, playing with him on the floor, being there first thing in the morning when he wakes up, and doing other general babushka fun. pace was reaching for her by the end of the week, which was fun to see.

pace began sitting up on his own a week or so before my mom came out, so we inaugurated his little booster seat instead of using the bumbo on the floor. he's loving growing up and getting to do new things. one of his favorite toys--the spoon! i always give it to him to play with after he's done eating, and he loves it. he lights up when he hears the word.

when we were all little, the grandma thing to do was smocking. i don't know about my brothers, but i still have all the smocked dresses my grandma made for me. here are a few examples:

my mom wanted to pick up smocking and make an outfit or two for pace. while she was at my grandma's learning how to smock, they actually found a couple panels my grandma had made, but had never placed in an outfit. so my mom took the panels and made the most adorable little rompers for pace-boy. this panel has little sailboats on it, and another outfit (that pace probably won't fit in for another 2-3 years) has little bicycles on it. so cute!

my mom also noticed pace will pick up any toy and play with the tags. he's very detail-oriented, picking up a single blade of grass and fingering it or passing it back and forth between his fingers, careful to not pull it apart. he has a couple toys that have antennae on it, and he'll just play with the little antennae instead of the whole bug. when my mom saw he like playing with tags, she went and cut off all the tags from her clothes, and we found some more soft ribbons, and she sewed up a little tag toy.

we also invested in a hiking backpack for pace, knowing we had a few hiking vacations coming up. the little teddy bear came with the backpack. pace loves all things stuffed and fluffy, so he immediately fell in love with this bear that was smaller than him!

pace's favorite spot is on da-da's shoulders! he loves being up high, and will laugh and giggle when david jumps up and down with pace on his shoulders. when david gets home from work, if pace is still awake, he'll go outside with pace on his shoulders and check out the flowers and the garden. pace will see himself in the windows and smile and laugh.