Play Time- Jungle Friends

This is a little taste of what I hear all day long- though he is usually much louder!!! He sure loves those animals Grandma!!

Nap Time vs. Bedtime (What babies know)

You think babies don't know much, and don't care much so long as they're taken care of. They only cry when they need something, they poop and peep when they need to, and they go to sleep if they're tired. Simple life right? WRONG-O!
Among other things he knows, Peewee knows the difference between naps and a good night's sleep. I let him play in the pack 'n play with his toys during the day. He's very content to talk to his jungle friends and squeal with joy at the colors of his toys hanging above him. When he's tired, he simply snuggles his little face down in his blanket and falls asleep. NO BINKY NEEDED! It's amazing. But when bedtime rolls around a fit of crying ensues that can only be soothed by a binky and at least 10 minutes of cuddling and bouncing from Mom or Dad. What a smart little guy!

Might I also add in his defense that once he does get to sleep he sleeps for a long time! Peewee sleeps from 8:30-2:00 and 2:30-7:00 and then he just plays for a little bit while we keep on sleeping. Oh how joyous is a home with a good sleeper!

Impracticalities- Doing Things I Shouldn't

Did you know that it's impractical for a mother to pick up her child every time he cries? She should let him cry it out. Otherwise he will come to know that if he cries, he will get picked up. He will know that he has his mother wrapped around his little finger.

Did you know that's it's impractical for a mother to rock her baby to sleep? She should put him in bed while he's still awake. That way he will learn to put himself to sleep- a skill he will definitely need in the future so that's he's not always looking for his mother to comfort him.

Did you know that it's impractical to give your baby a binky before he is 2 months old, and after he is one year old? Giving a child a binky can make them dependent on it. It should only be given to a baby at bed time, when they can use it to soothe themselves- going along with that whole idea of being able to put themselves to sleep.

Did you know it's impractical for a mother breastfeed her baby all the time? If she's set on using breastmilk, she should pump it and use a bottle at least once a day. That way she won't be tied down and she'll be able to leave baby with a sitter while she goes out.

Did you know it's impractical for a mother to let her baby sleep in her bed? How are she and her husband ever going to get any alone time? How will they have a sex life? And baby will never learn to sleep by himself!

Well I guess you can call me MRS. IMPRACTICAL! Because if my baby cries, I'm going to comfort him! Of course he has me wrapped around his finger!
And I could let my son scream for 15 minutes while he tries to put himself to sleep, or I could spend 15 minutes and rock him to sleep. So what if he looks to me for comfort! That's what I'm here for!
And guess what- my baby LOVES his binky! It makes him feel safe in a way that I can't- so I'm going to let him have it!
And I won't give my baby a bottle once a day! He's only 2 months old! At this point, if I go somewhere- he comes along!
And yeah- we bring our baby into bed with us sometimes! And he loves it! And we love it! And we STILL love each other!!!

Photo Op-portunities

Photo opportunities seem to come more and more these days with little Peewee smiling all the bad from this world. A smile and a few cute noises from this boy make all my toubles melt away like an ice cream cone at a baseball game.
When we came home from a car ride the other day I found the little guy like this... He LOVES his binky. His newest thing is that he hates to lie down. He wants to sit up and greet the world. I have to tell myself that while leaning back his head on my chest may be comfortable and convenient for him, I cannot be a chair all day long. Thank heaven for bouncy seats that let him sit up quietly for 2 hours straight while I baked in the kitchen!!
Time for a new outfit!!
After this one he got mad and fed up with the photographer and bright flashbulbs in his face. Well- really he was just tired.

Video World!

This is what I get to listen to every day. I feel so lucky to be a mom and to have this wonderful perfect little boy in my home!

Polo's Polo

Isn't this cute?!

At the Temple

I heard that Uncle Eddy and Aunt Jolan were gonna be in town last Saturday and that Rayden would be staying with my parents for the day. They decided to take Rayden to the Clark Planetarium and I got to go down there and meet them! Rayden and my Dad were getting along great- and checking out everything there was to see!
Then Uncle Eddy and Aunt Jolan came over from a temple sealing and we started to eat lunch at the Gateway Mall outside. We got yet another surprise when Regan and April shared their "date weekend with us" and joined us for lunch.

"LUNCH"- by the way- was a modge podge of egg salad slapped on a few pieces of bread, a bag of cheese curd, a few veggies and dip, an orange, and a bag of cinnamon bears spread out among seven of us. Rayden was content with simply a yogurt. :)
To top off the afternoon I got to show the fam how to use our wonderful transporation system! We all hopped on the downtown Trax and rode two blocks to the temple. We took a few pictures and then rode the Trax back down to the mall to our cars. It was such a fun couple of hours that we got to spend as a family! It was so great to get to see everyone. I miss and love my family.

P.W. of the Jungle, and P.W. Balboa

This is where PW plays during the day- here or the couch. He was recently joined by several jungle animals of which he already has a favorite. The monkey is his favorite to look at and he even talks to it. It's very cute to listen to.

As you can see- it's also very cute to watch!!


He also loves the shower- a place where he is insanely calm and clings onto me real tight and falls asleep- another thing that is cute to watch. He gets a little sad once we leave the warm water so I wrap him up in his boxing robe- yeah it has a frog on it!- and he's ready to enter the ring... well maybe just the world... or maybe just the living room :)

Latest and Greatest

Our little P.W., Powa, Peewee, had quite the start to his new life. Only a week after being born both Jake and I got the swine flu. With symptoms from head to toe, night and day, we were quarantined in our basement for an entire week. Jake wasn't allowed to go to work and we really didn't have the energy to do anything. While it was nice to be able to be together as a family for so long, it was really an awful experience.
This is our beautiful son (I can say beautiful cuz I'm the Momma) sucking on his much beloved binky. He's wondering why in the world his daddy is wearing this blue thing on his face. Well, if he only knew that we wore those masks the whole week without kissing him and washed our hands every time we touched him so that he wouldn't get the awful swine flu!! Luckily, and with many blessings from our Heavenly Father, P.W. came out unscathed and we have since recovered.

Another thing he loves aside from his binky- his fingers!!! He happened to find his thumb on this particular day and I couldn't pass up a picture!

Rohrer Union

Here are some of the awesome pics from our recent family reunion. It was our son's first family reunion and another awesome year for the rest of us! Thanks to Lene and Beau for organizing it and letting us use their house. Thanks to everyone who came and participated and helped out. It was so great to have everyone together. It was especially cool to have my whole family around for the arrival of our son. We love you guys. To everyone else viewing this- enjoy!!

The First Week- A Week of Firsts

So we've had quite the experience as new parents. The first week was full of fun and lots of surprises. On the first night home my mom came to stay with us and stocked our fridge with wonderful dinners and snacks. She only got to stay one day- but we were sure glad she was here to help us out! Thanks Mom!


So after Grandma left we were left to discover parenthood on our own. We found that our little Peewee doesn't much care if he's wrapped up in his blanket as long as he knows we're close by. His favorite spot is undoubtedly on our chests where he lies his head and then curls his legs up and sleeps for hours. We also found that he does quite well when we set him on the couch in the crack between the cushions. Here we decided to join him for a family photo.



On day we were craving some sunshine and I took the little guy outside on the lawn. Of course- he was wonderfully content and loved it!

Honestly- our little boy doesn't complain about much. He hardly ever cries- but he does make some of the cutest noises ever! He's perfectly happy just to be alive and be with us. I could really take a lesson from the sweetie. However- he doesn't love to be put in his carseat.

He doesn't spit up. He doesn't cry much. He doesn't blow out his diapers- true I know that's involuntary. But he does like to pee when I'm in the middle of changing his diaper! This is me giving up on burping him (it's really hard to get him to burp and when he does it's the sweetest quietest burp I've ever heard) and instead playing Squishy Face!


One other thing that we've learned about our little prize is that he loves to suck. He doesn't have to have his bink- though it is nice to have around sometimes. Instead he sucks on his fingers- one, or many, or all of them. He loves to put his hands to his face- so we really have to keep up on cutting his nails!

All in all we are very lucky to have such a good little baby. He's so cute and we love him so much.

Welcoming Polo Warren Afuvai

He finally came! We would like to share with you our pride and joy- Polo Warren Afuvai. Aka- Peewee or P.W. He was born on Sunday July 12 at 11:52 pm. He weighed 7lb 15oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is so handsome and all is well.

So the story goes that there were no signs of labor until sacrament meeting started on Sunday when I started having contractions suddenly and only five minutes apart. I waited out the meeting, went home and waited out another two hours. By four o'clock we had made it to the hospital, and I was dilated to 6 cm. Needless to say they gave me an epidural, a STRONG epidural, right away and we waited until almost midnight to greet the cutest baby in the whole world. We're very excited and very exhausted! We love him though!

Jet Skiing for Labor!!

"Jet skiis" and "39 weeks pregnant" are two things I bet you never thought you'd hear in the same sentence- unless that sentence ended in a "Yeah Right!" Well Jake's family is having a little reunion this week and we headed up to Pineview Dam yesterday to join them. We decided to skip out on the camping in a tent thing due to the very frequent bathroom trips in the middle of the night caused by a hefty (7 1/2 lbs) baby sitting on my bladder.

We got up there are soaked up plenty of sun- though we piled on enough sun screen to keep us white as we were when we arrived. We figured sunburns in the delivery room were something we should try to avoid, just so I wouldn't scream, "Don't touch me!" anymore than necessary. We played on the beach, and spent plenty of time in the water! We were joined by some friends for a total of 16 kids and 14 adults! I had made up my mind beforehand that I wouldn't be going out on the jet ski this year due to my Panza (belly). However, Jake's brother Darce said to me, "Grab a life jacket, I'm taking you out there!" And so I did. And so at 39 weeks pregnant I jumped on the back of a jet ski and cruised the dam! I can't say he went much over 35 mph- but it sure was nice to be able to skim the water. It was, after all, a beautiful day and the views were awesome!

And then we headed back to camp for some delicious taco soup, hot dogs, and dutch oven peach cobbler! Sad to say we did come home late last night and slept in our own bed. But you can be sure our little guy will see plenty of camping trips once he gets out here to see us.

Speaking of baby news--- No, the water skimming ride didn't induce labor and the doctor tells me I'll probably have to wait until next week for the big day. But all is well and he's looking healthy!

BABY SHOWER!!

Thanks to all the wonderful women who came and hosted my very first baby shower. The treats were so yummy and the gifts were more than I deserved. This little guy sure is getting a lot of love already!

Grandma Rohrer and Aunt Ethnee

Grandma Afuvai

The women who put this all together and threw it for me- Aunt Lene and Aunt Mara

The three adopted Aunties- Amy, Kara, and Rach

The diaper cake Aunt Cathy sent up- and the monkey that watched over all the treats!

Thanks everyone! And thanks to all of those who could not make it here but who sent gifts or expressed their love, concern, and excitement! We love you all!

What Does That Mean?

I've really been asking my doctor this question A LOT lately. He'll give me a measurement... 1 1/2 and 50% and I'm looking at him thinking- "does he think I have ESP?" Or he'll say, "Doesn't look like I'll need to intervene this week" and I'm staring at him wondering why he would say something like that! Obviously- this is my first baby and his Millionth or something! He's such a great Doc though that he laughs at me and then calmly explains what he is trying to say. Thanks Dr. Bierer! Basically- the general idea is that our little boy just loves where he's at. We hit 37 weeks today but there's no sign of his descent. Kind of grateful really as we're both pretty nervous and scared. And no- my hospital bag is not packed yet! I still lack the Butterfinger candy bars and a few other things- close to my crispety crunchety peanut buttery bar in importance :).

Baby Update

So I tried to get my ultrasound pics on here but it didn't work very well. Just in case you were wondering- the baby is doing great! He has the chubbiest cheeks in the whole world and he weighed 5 pounds last week. No sign of early delivery so right now we're still looking at another 5 weeks. Although we are getting a little anxious and I'm determined to have our hospital bags packed by this weekend! Oh and I finally bought something for the little guy- a pack of socks and a red and white striped onesie in case he's born before July 4th! Any helpful hints on products or tricks are greatly appreciated!

Memorial Day Weekend- The Stinky Man Trip

So I'm fresh out of pictures. I accidentally transferred all my pictures to my sister-in-law's computer and haven't yet retrieved them. But I thought I should write a little about our trip- seeing as how it may be the last trip as a childless couple!!

Who said 8 months pregnant is no time to go camping? Not me! So we headed up to West Yellowstone, Montana and found ourselves fishing peacefully on the Madison River. The first night the temperature was a reported 26* and everyone but us slept in the heated trailer. But we were toasty and warm in our brand new sleeping bag! It was great to wake up and feel the dew on the outside of the bag and then look inside and see that we didn't even need to wear socks to bed!

And then river was beautiful and fresh and freezing cold! We bought our licenses and fished the day away! Jake stuck to the usual fly fishing which I wish I could have done. But I was warned by two of the stinky men on the trip that the river was pretty violent- both of them had already fallen in earlier that week! And they said they were definitely NOT ready to deliver a baby in the river- seeing as how the nearest hospital must have been 100 miles away! So I sat on the river bank with my father-in-law and fished from a chair. Although I did buy a pair of cheap knee-high boots and stepped into the water a few times! And though Jake and I weren't out there long enough to catch anything- the rest of the "stinky man" gang filled the freezer with rainbow trout!

The next day was filled with lounging at the camp as seven nieces and nephews played jump rope, threw the football, and discovered nature all around our campsite. Then before we headed out we made our way over to Wade Lake where the water was much warmer and some of the kids even stripped down to their skivys and jumped in! Of course- they got a dollar for it! (The pictures would be so useful here!) We even had a naked two-year-old test the waters!

And then Jake and I headed home with our tiny car packed to the brim with probably 1000 extra pounds- no exaggeration! Plenty of Big Hunk bars jerky made for a wild weekend! And we made the whole trip on just two tanks of gas! What a trip!

Your Due Date is WHEN?

So another coworker asked me the other day, "When are you due?" I proceeded to tell her my due date- July 14th. And she promptly responded... "July! How much bigger are you gonna get?!"
Wow, I really was feeling pretty good about myself up til then. And of course, she must be right because I put on my pants this morning and well... they're MUCH tighter than they were two weeks ago. And let's not mention what the doctor's scale said. Let's not even go there!
But our little boy, yet to be named, is doing well and weighed in at 3 lb 2 oz yesterday. We're so excited. He's coming right along as we just completed 30 weeks! He's definitely growing bigger and longer and I can feel him moving around all the time. Let's just hope he settles down when he comes out to see us!

And yeah- this is how I feel!

A Few Good Women

So I was sitting in the doctor's office yesterday, reading the WebMD magazine. In there was an article about Salma Hayek, a gorgeous Latina actress. You may know her as producer of Ugly Betty, Alec Baldwin's girlfriend on the show 30 Rock, or more recently the Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. But here are some of the things that I read that impressed me even more about this beautiful woman of our time. Last fall she made a trip to Sierra Leone working with UNICEF to help provide vaccinations for tetanus to mothers and children. The magazine reads...


[Take the now much-publicized story of her putting a tiny newborn boy to her breast. Only a week old, he had been born into poverty-stricken conditions in a remote area of Sierra Leone. “He was so skinny,” Hayek recalls. “His mother had lost her milk, probably because of malnutrition.” So Hayek, with the mother’s approval, instinctively did what almost any nursing mother would feel compelled to do. She fed him. “You should have seen his face!” she says. “He just lit up. He became alive. I mean, how could I not feed him? I was in the field, my daughter wasn’t with me, I was either going to throw away the milk or feed this baby.”]

Concerning a film Hayek cancelled...
They said, ‘You can really move yourself as an actress with this role and go to a really dark place.’ I said, I don’t want to go there! Maybe I’ll change my mind later, but right now, I want easy movies that I can take my child along to. I want uplifting movies for the world.”

On Working Out
Pilates "appeals to me because I’m lying down!”


About Healthy Habits
"I like to indulge, I love food."

“I never got into drugs … I never went through that phase, never found them appealing."

On Life and Beauty
"I’m joyful. I try to find joy in life, and I don’t take myself too seriously." That includes no plastic surgery, she insists. “None of that. No peelings, either, I’ve not started that craze. Or tanning booths. What you see is what you get. I’ve been lucky … maybe when the face starts falling apart, I’ll change my mind, but for now I think I’m fine. I think people who do things to their face age faster, I really do. And I’m lazy, so this suits me -- I don’t like a lot of maintenance, and now I really don’t have time for it!”

Against the World's Opinion
"The best thing you can ever do for your child in your lifetime is to breastfeed.”

It's so nice to have such great role models in our society when the world is so crazy! And she's such a hottie too! GO SALMA!