May 2007

Has this seemed like a really long month to anyone else? I thought it would seem short considering Jason and I only had to teach primary one time. Our first week off was spent with our cousins, Kenny and Katie, in D.C. We were planning on going to the temple but decided not to at the last minute because we didn’t realize how far it was from their apartment. We had a great time with the Newbrys and Adri had lots of fun playing with the kids. She kept wanting to hold the baby, despite the fact that the baby is as big as she is and weighs more too. When it was time to leave, we drove straight to Gramma Nancy’s house. Waiting for Adri was a big pile of clothes and swimming suits that Gramma “didn’t intend” to buy, but they were “on sale” or something. Adri now has a closet stuffed with summer clothes since her summer clothes from last year still fit (p.s. Osh Kosh B’Gosh clothes run BIG). The other two Sundays we missed while we were on vacation with the Winns in Florida. We all had a great time. Adri couldn’t get enough of her cousins and even warmed up to her aunts. Jason and I almost got divorced after he shaved himself a handlebar mustache. I had fun cooking a few meals with my sister-in-law, Alixa. I did not have fun when my eyes became extremely dry and I had to find a local eye doctor to cure me. Lucky for me he gave me a new set of contacts and some eye drops and I was fine for the rest of the vacation. Adri fearlessly pet an alligator, although she insisted it was a kitty, but was very afraid of the plastic elephants we saw on our mini golf course. All in all it was a very fun trip and we were sad to send part of our family back to Utah again. We were also sad to come home and find that our apartment didn’t have any running water. Lucky for us we had family nearby to let us use their toilets. Nancy sent us home with a few gallons of water to last us until the next day. Oh, the joys of apartment living . . .
Jason got another ticket this month, this time for having the windows of our car too darkly tinted. He went to court again and won’t have to pay as long as he gets the tint taken off. Life would be so much easier if my husband would just obey the law! Work has been going well for him and he has had several overtime days this month. He loves to feel the new baby kick and loves to do just about everything with that other baby.
I have been spending the evenings with my new Indian lady friends. I’m learning interesting things all the time. One friend is a Muslim and one is a Hindu. Muslims aren’t allowed to touch dogs and don’t celebrate birthdays. Who knew? Well, I’m sure the Muslims did, but I didn’t. I have also stopped saying “holy cow” because I’m not sure if that is offensive to them. Is that crazy? Once my friend asked me if I had a “love marriage.” I asked if she meant that as opposed to an arranged marriage, and she said yes. “Why yes I did have a love marriage.” To which she replied, “They have a lot of those around here.” True dat. The Hindu lady is also fluent in French and I’m really excited to practice with her. I’m hoping she won’t mind since she likes to complain about the other Indian ladies only speaking Hindu all the time. I felt so vindicated when she complained that she couldn’t understand a word they were saying! And here I thought I was the only one. I have also kept myself busy making batch after batch of salsa for Jason. He just can’t get enough of this homemade stuff. When I don’t want to be at home, Nancy lets me invite friends over to her house to go swimming. I really like the ladies in our ward and since I don’t get to see them much I’m trying to bribe them into hanging out with me with the prospect of a private swimming pool.
Adri has decided she is big enough to climb out of any sort of enclosure we put her in. She can get out of the pack ‘n play and her crib. Thinking we would put a stop to that, Jason lowered the mattress on the crib. Result: Adri climbed out again and ended up with a bloody lip. That’s what you call good parenting. We tried putting her on a mattress on the floor for a while but she would just cry and bang on the door (she can’t reach the knob yet) and end up falling asleep on the floor. We started putting a quilt on the floor next to the door, but decided that was not the best solution. We finally lowered the railing on her crib and just sit next to her until she drifts off. Other than that she is trying out all sorts of new words and now likes to trace (with her toe)and repeat the letters from her alphabet book. My favorite is “dubba doo.” She helped Jason give me a Mother’s day present of gardening tools. I was delighted with the gift and even more delighted when Jason had Adri say “happy Mother’s day” to me. It was so cute that I had her leave that message on answering machines for both grammas. They ate it up with a spoon :o)Baby Cleatus (the fetus) is just as active as ever. I certainly feel bigger every day but sometimes don’t gain as much weight as I should. I try to eat more cookies to catch up to where I should be. We still can’t decide on a name for sure, but we’ve got a few months left (until Aug. 7th), so hopefully we’ll come up with something by then.

Love, Annie, Jason and Adrienne