Secret World of Babies...and what they find funny

I guess I was super naive right before I had a baby. I thought having a baby would be like being pregnant; it changes your life and every aspect of it, but you can still get around and do almost everything you are used to doing.

Babies are NOT like that. My friend Liz babysat Sam on BYU campus a week-ish ago and said, "Wow, having a baby around is so different. You have to think about which doors you are going to use and...how do you use the bathroom when you have a baby?!"

Babies don't just affect what you do all the time...they change how you do it or determine whether you'll be able to do it at all. I personally think that they do it on purpose.

Consider: The Hook
In many babies, the hook will look different, but in all babies it is the same. The hook is an action or look that will draw you in. It is a moment that happens every so often that will make you forget everything negative and renew your complete and utter devotion to whatever they want whenever they want it.

Oh they are adorable alright, but I look at Sam and think: He totally knows how to control us.

Sam's Hook: The laugh

It took quite a few months to perfect and hone in on his skills of manipulation, but every minute was worth it, because his laugh brings us so much joy that I'm pretty sure our devotion is secured throughout all eternity.

I give you....the laugh of Sam:

We still aren't sure what exactly was so hilarious to Sam, but the facts are these:
-He was REALLY tired
-His Dad is always funny to him
-The Lion has never done that before
-It was a noise he had never heard before
(-Before I had started recording, Sam had already been laughing for five minutes)

All I really know is that this will be my 'bad day' video from now on because I can't help but laughing every time I see it. Well done Sam, mission accomplished.

Family Videos

I always thought that they were called 'Family Videos' because they were videos of your family. Seemed the logical origin to me. But I have been wrong. Family Videos are videos so random that no one but your family would really want to watch them. For some reason we find satisfaction in watching things on a video that we witnessed in real life. "Let's watch David babble on the counter to a pen for 15 minutes...AGAIN!" It's just addicting. No story lines, no plots, and no script. 

Just weird people. Weird people with cameras.

I give you: Sam the pirate (why Sara fears leaving Sam alone with his Dad sometimes)

This next feature film is evidence of how boring family videos can be. But for a true family member (especially 10 years from now) the joy is going to come from the details. "Oh wow, did I really have bangs like that?" "(*sentimental sigh) There was my old cell phone." "Remember when we didn't have AC? Those were the days." So even though Sam doesn't really do much, look at all the facts one can gather about our lives now in this video:

I give you: Surrounded by toys without really knowing it

The final truth about family videos however, is that no matter how fast you are at the draw, you always miss what you intended to capture. Little did you know that two minutes before this video, Sam was squealing, laughing, and singing to himself. I guess I should just enjoy it now instead of trying to catch it for later.

Blessings

 It's hard to know how to exactly put Sunday into words. It was Sam's baby blessing. I don't know how to talk about the hours it took to get him ready before heading out the door...or the huge family turn out...the opportunity to spend one last Sabbath with Sister Kristina Stout...or the third generation outfit Sam wore...the beautiful blanket knitted by Sam's great-grandmother...or the circle of worthy men supporting my son in their strong hands. 

I don't know how to tell the story of my father's heroic deeds in quieting Sam during his blessing by sticking Sam's baby fist into his screaming mouth. 

I don't know how to confess that I was relieved when Sam started to fuss during Relief Society so we could spend some quiet time nursing to ponder all the things that were said. Even though I can't really put all of the details of the day into words, I would sum up Sunday into this:

I am so blessed.

Weak for my Weakling

So I've become one of those parents. You know the type. As soon as you see them they try to attack you with pictures and stories of their children. As much as you love them, you don't really care about the number of poops little Tommy has had that day (while the husband recites the detailed data of each one and the probability of when the next will strike), or which percentile his head fits into. But...here I am posting a video of my adorable child when he is not really doing anything. The sad part is...I've watched it three times because he is just so stinking cute! In this video you get a plethora of typical 'Sam-isms'. In fact, if this movie had a description on the back cover on the case it would probably read something like this:

Enjoy the adventure of Sam Stout's every day life. On this dvd you will get to know him through his coughing, sneezing, and grunts of wisdom.

I was always afraid that I would treat my children's lives like I do my own--always looking forward to the next step. I can say that that is thankfully not the case. I am enjoying each new change, each smile, each toot (told you I was one of those parents) and it seems to be going all too fast. I guess when you are a week away from going back to work and missing your child for 8 hours of the day, you enjoy each squeak even more than you would otherwise. I've posted this video so you can enjoy it with me.