Sleep. Who needs it??

Well, I have to say that this week has been a week of trial and error. Porter has not been sleeping well and we are to our limit of sleepless nights. We have tried everything. Baby Wise(book on sleeping patterns) doesn't work, yes Porter can scream at the top of his lungs for 30+ minutes without falling asleep nor does keeping him up for a long time before we put him to bed, even if his eyes droop as we try everything to keep him awake. Just today we had him take his first bites of rice cereal. I am not sure he knew what to do. He didn't make a sour face, but I don't think he got anything down. He would just keep sticking out his tongue and drool the rest of it out. I just kept scooping it back up and feeding it to him, but I don't think it helped. I guess we'll just have to keep trying our best and being patient. Hopefully, he will grow out of it and sleep through the whole night. Wish me luck :0)
Other things that have happened this week were going to Stake Conference. I hate to admit that this year was the first time that I had gone to the adult session. I decided that I had been missing out. It was great to be there with just adults, so quiet, good topics, and of course the spirit was very edifying and inspiring. As the saying goes you don't realize how blessed you are until you don't have it and miss it very much. That goes for a stake building just around the corner. I have always grown up with the stake building less than 5 minutes away in every place that I have lived. Not here though, the stake building is in Bloomington about a 30 minute drive from my house. I guess I have to say that I am even blessed in that because some of the people in the stake have to drive about 2 hours to get there. It was worth it though. The stake presidency was wonderful to get to know. One is convert from california and also a spanish speaker. He came up to me and talked to me in spanish. It was so special to me. Hearing someone's sincere thoughts in spanish always make the feelings of love from my mission come back.

Family Photo

The neices and nephews. I am posting this a little late and I can't believe how much Porter has already changed!

My parents- Frank and Barbara Clark

Just wanted everyone to have a picture of my beloved family on my blog. I just copied it from Tania's blog. I'll send more when I go to Idaho and get the rest.

Anxiously Awaiting

Apart from spending time with Porter. I also find myself looking out the window anxiously awaiting our new duplex to be completed. Right now we are living in a little apartment that is less than desirable. In our new duplex the siding is almost done going up and they are going to put stone on the front part. The inside has all the drywall up. They are making headway and they say that it will be done the beginning of October. I thought I'd send a picture of it. The apartment I live in now is just across from the new one we can't wait to move in to.

Porter's Milestones

Porter turned 4 months old about a week ago and since he has hit that mark we have been able to see him change so much and hit some big milestones. Katelynn (Terry's neice) was the key to getting Porter to do his first giggle. I think he was in just the right mood and Katelynn was playing with him who I know he enjoys. Before we knew it he was laughing. We all just joined in. It was so cute.

I am sad to say that I think every mother experiences this at least once in their life, but today as I was in the other room doing something and Porter was in on my bed I heard a loud thud and a horrific scream. Yes, you guessed it Porter has also learned to roll over!!! I should have known to not leave him alone there, because he has gotten quite good at rolling from front to back and back to front too. He's playing with his feet and smiling all the time. We so look forward to those times because they do out weigh the sleepless nights and the cries.

His next favorite thing is to drool all over everything, especially himself. I can't keep his clothes dry. He just foams from the mouth.

Spring Mill

We decided to plan a fun trip to visit the Amish and go hiking at Spring Mill. We first went and got some cheap eggs and looked at the fun things the Amish do. I still am dreaming about getting a fun rocking chair from them someday. Then we went to Spring mill, looked in all the cabins that have all the different proffesions of a village. The weaver, blacksmith, doctor, drug store. The new fun thing this year was to see a potter. She was making clay pots on the wheel. This year was the first year that they had done it. Hein's kids went with us Michael, Sam, and Adam. They had fun watching the potter. We spent the most time there. I carried Porter around in his carrier on my stomach. Michael helped out for a bit. He wanted to try it out. I watched him as he walked, sat and had to pick up things off the floor funny. I told him that is how it feels to be pregnant. I just laughed as I watched him. Porter just loves to be in that carrier. We then went on a little hike through the trees along a little stream that goes to a cave about a mile back in the park. It was a nice day and when we got to the cave it was like a natural air conditioner back there. The water was freezing cold. The kids and Terry had fun hiking in both of the openings of the cave and sliding down the waterfall. It is so mossy and there are a few big smooth rocks that you can just slide down. They just had so much fun sliding down it like a water slide.

Terry, Sam, Michael and Adam all climbed up this hillside to one of the cave openings. I stayed down at the bottom. The joys of being a mother!!!

This picture is of my computer illiteracy! I have taken like 2 weeks and about 7 phone calls to Liz just to get some pictures on my blog. I finally got this one downloaded and it is going the wrong direction. You would think well then just delete it. But there is my next problem I don't know how. Anyway, I hope you just enjoy the pictures.

Having fun on the nature made water slide. I thought this was pretty good action shot with my amateur skills of photography.

Labor Day

We had fun over the three day weekend. We went to visit Terry's friend Larry and his wife Alene up in Indianapolis. We went to the city center circle and to the mall. Terry's old roommate Seth and Donna and there little girl were also there. We didn't do a lot. Mainly we just hung out and talked. Being from Idaho I wanted to go and see all the sites, but to them Indianapolis is no big deal so they would rather just stay at home, watch a movie and chat. On Sunday as our new tradition. We enjoyed having dinner with Alida (Terry's sister). We had family home evening with everyone on Sunday since no one had school the next day. On Monday though we were most excited to go swimming at the city pool. We wanted Porter to be able to come swimming with us. He hasn't been the greatest sport about it. He loves to take baths, but he hasn't liked to go swimming. I think it is the difference in water temperature. The pool was pretty cold, but to our surprise. He did great. He just kicked around and smiled. We loved having him there. He makes everything so much more fun.

Terry and Porter enjoying the water.

Terry's sister Alida and his brother Hein and family all came swimming with us too. As you can tell this picture is typical of life here in Indiana. Porter is always the center of attention. I am surprised that Porter is even in Terry's arms. Someone else is usually holding him.