The Ruby Stretch.

Hi Jeni and Nancy,

I'm now able to tell you about the latest thing in baby care, and that is swaddling.  Wait.  Maybe it is really a retro thing, because wasn't Moses swaddled?  Which might be why Ben is so good at it (that's an "in" joke, the rest of you will just have to ignore it.)

Swaddling isn't something I did with my baby, but after seeing it done I wish I had known about it.  Basically, it's wrapping your baby up tight like a burrito during the early weeks of life, simulating the womb and keeping your baby feeling safe and warm.  You can read about the benefits here. 

Ruby is a swaddled baby.  She is very happy to be swaddled, and when she gets unswaddled (that is a funny word), she does something Ben and Amanda are calling the "Ruby Stretch."  And now, for the very first time in your very own home, here is Ruby doing the "Ruby Stretch" with commentary by Amanda and Brian.

After this visit, I am done driving for the winter.  I've driven to Missoula twice, and to Minneapolis in November, and I think my Winter Driving Luck is probably used up.  So, no more visits from me unless you want to Skype or Google Video Chat.  Come summer, I'll start traveling again.  Of course, y'all are welcome to visit Billings!

The Big Scarf Photo shoot

Once upon a time, I went hiking with three friends.  We decided to take pictures of ourselves using our cameras' time elapse photo option.  What happened was this: I got everyone set up, hit the button and ran to get into the picture.  Nothing happened.  Then Kim wanted to try.  We both got set up, hit our buttons and ran to get into the picture.  Nothing again.  We finally realized DUH, we were hitting the POWER button each time instead of the shutter.  Nancy said she'd help.  What happened?  We hit the buttons, ran into the picture and nothing again.  We couldn't stop doing it!

Eventually we all pushed the right button at the right time.

Iceberg Lake, Glacier National Park, 2006

 We were laughing because we couldn't believe how hard it was for us to take a simple picture.

 Well I guess nothing has changed in my brain.  On Christmas, I had a similar problem. It wasn't so much that I turned the camera off (although I did do that once - gosh I can't believe it!)  It was that I had the camera on record instead of photograph.  So this is what a family looks like while they're waiting for a picture to be taken: