collect the moments

Happy New Year! (again already???)

2012-01-02T21:56:00.001-05:00

For a few years now, "2012" has been a mantra:

"My food processor has holes that I have to hold my hand over when I chop food in it.... 2012!!!"
"I really miss that guy who I married.... 2012!!!!"
"I would love to get a babysitter so I can join the PTO... 2012!!!!"

And now that 2012 is here (hooray!) my new mantra can be "June, June, June." We can do it :)

2011 has been a good year, I feel like I am starting this new year feeling great. Some of the highlights have been:

Fun trips to Northern Michigan, Myrtle Beach, and NYC with the kiddos
A nice hot summer full of swimming lessons (only in Michigan would I consider 80 degrees "hot")
I can take the kids to the mall and not want to pull my hair out by the time we leave!
Grace having a good year in 1st grade
Vivian graduated from speech therapy in record time
Vivian got glasses
Sam potty trained himself. Awesomest thing ever.
I amazed myself by sticking to an eating/exercise program (Live the Life) pretty faithfully for 6 months and started swimsuit season feeling good.
Rob started his chief year of residency!
We get to have Rob sitting with us during church again, so the kids don't have to stand on the benches and whisper-yell "Hi Daddy" anymore. :)
Got new carpet, yay!
Kids all started gymnastics and they love it.

And just to keep it real, some "lowlights" of 2011:

I fell off the Live the Life wagon (and then some!) once summer started.
Sam has stopped sleeping. No naps, up late, crawls into my side of the bed in the middle of the night.
Can't keep the house clean to save my life.
Didn't make any freezer jam this year since I thought we'd have enough to last until we moved. Now we have to eat store-bought jam. Serious bummer.
Grace's bus is scheduled to come at 8:23, but often comes at 8:17, so she often misses the bus. We really need those 6 minutes in the morning.

Goals for 2012 mainly revolve around Living the Life again, decluttering, organizing, cleaning, fixing, staging, and figuring out what will be happening after June.

June, June, June, June.

What our future holds

2011-12-07T22:43:00.001-05:00

The lucky city whose citizens Rob will be saving from incontinence, impotence, and infertility is.....

Boise, ID!

I never thought I would say these words, but I am completely thrilled to be moving to Boise. I went with Rob for his interview and fell in love with the town instantly. I felt like I had come home (strange, because I've never been there). Boise is like if Salt Lake and Ann Arbor--two of our favorite places--had a child. I love it. Love. it.

Tiny Prints

2011-11-28T23:43:00.001-05:00

It's time for Christmas cards again! This year I am thrilled that Tiny Prints is offering free prints for bloggers. I have often drooled over their designs! Some of my favorites from their Christmas collection are (I haven't picked mine yet...):

Love the bold stripes

How fun are these little ornaments?

Tri-fold. Love.

I would love to do a square card. But let's be honest, I don't want to pay extra for postage.

I think my favorite thing about Tiny Prints is that if you find a card you like, for many designs you can select from a couple of color and card shapes. It's awesome. I don't know how I'll pick just one. And I'm not just saying that for the free cards :) Here's the link to shop for your own: http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm

While we're talking about Vivian...

2011-11-17T23:00:00.002-05:00

1. The teeth. We got these trick-or-treating. The other 2 kids were bored of them in about 20 seconds. Viv's obsession lasted for days.

2. The outfit. Most of these items of clothing are parts of matching sets. No 2 matching pieces made it into the outift. You can tell she's TRYING to match.

Also, I just put a boatload of pictures up on Flickr from our trip to Northern Michigan in October.

Little Miss Sunshine

2011-10-25T23:13:00.002-04:00

Oh Vivian. How do I begin to describe her? She is such a character. This is a collage of her while we were taking her 4-yr pictures, I think a lot of the shots capture her pretty accurately with her funny little attitude. She really is a ray of sunshine, she is constantly cracking me up. She is also very sweet and kind, always taking care of others. Today we were riding in the car, and she randomly said, "I'm thinking of Daddy. I'm telling him I love him in my mind." Then a few minutes later, she said, "I'm Sweaty Tomato. Start calling me Sweaty Tomato."
A few nights ago, Sam woke up crying with a fever at 3 a.m., and the crying woke Viv up, too. She was so caring with him. He said he was thirsty, so she went and got him some water, even put ice cubes in it. He was upset and didn't want ice cubes, so she cheerfully volunteered to go take them out. I was still trying to calm him down, and I asked her to get the thermometer, and she went right away and got it. Very sweet. She is pretty fascinated with blood, and likes to watch surgery videos with Rob, so we think she might be destined for a career in health care.
One of her new favorite lines is, "You're my best friend." She and Sam say this to each other all the time, especially when they want something the other person has. The other day she cracked me up by adding (ever so honestly), "You're my best friend.... today."
Viv is the one who will say what's on her mind, including asking "Why does that boy (a man, really) have strange hair?" or ask very loudly of the 80-yr old lady at the gym in a tank top, "Why do you have such crazy arms?" Twice. Did I mention loudly?
We've had a number of repairmen at the house lately, and she follows them around asking questions about everything they are doing.
Miss Viv is just herself, and I doubt that will ever change. And I love her.

Little Miss Toothless

2011-10-13T23:41:00.001-04:00

Goodness, does she look grown up or what? The bottom tooth has been gone for a long time. The first top tooth came out in some taffy and was swallowed before Grace realized it was gone! The other one came out the next day with some help from Dad and dental floss.

Grace is becoming quite the writer and likes to surprise us with little notes that she leaves in our shoes or under our pillows. This one is my favorite. "I love you because you make pizza."

No DNA test needed

2011-08-21T23:11:00.003-04:00

We showed Sam the picture on the left and asked him who it was. He said "Me!" We told him it was actually his dad, and he got very confused :) Eventually he figured it out, but you can certainly see how he would make that mistake!

Spring

2011-05-28T23:16:00.009-04:00

So after my post on everyone being sick, everyone got sicker :) The girls both came down with fevers. Sam got an ear infection, ruptured an eardrum, and then had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. Viv had the stomach flu for 5 days, and Rob had it for 2 (then he took step 3 of his boards--and passed!). Everyone is fine now, knock on wood!!!

Anyway, I know I shouldn't complain since we have not had any flooding or tornadoes, but I have never been SO ready for Spring.

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to:

Playing basketball (had to post this outfit)

Listening to bedtime stores with Aunt Kristy

Spending plenty of time on the swingset

Going on walks

Loving all the green, finally!

Being forced to pose in front of tulips

Picking dandelions

And more dandelions, then being forced to pose in front of the "popcorn tree"

It's time for bed, maybe I'll post again someday :) Meanwhile, happy Spring!

He Only Looks Innocent

2011-05-28T22:45:00.006-04:00

One of our kids' favorite books is "No, David!" by David Shannon. They

all know it word for word and chime in enthusiastically. I think they can relate to it, plus they love the page where he runs naked down the street. A few months ago, we got to this page:

and Sam said, "His mom is in the bathroom!"

Because that is exactly what happens at our house. Here he is on the counter getting into his stash of Easter candy. That little stinker!

Sick days

2011-03-11T22:16:00.003-05:00

This is sick Sam, sleeping on his shark pillow and snuggling with his favorite bunny that was actually mine when I was little, and he also has to have his puppy in bed, and his puppy flashlight. And 2 blankets. Right now he has a big red patch on his cheek from where he wipes his nose across his face. Gross.

I am sick of winter. And sick of sick kids. And I'm pretty sure my kids are sick of being sick. Everyone was healthy in January, but other than that someone has been sick pretty much since November. Please please please can Spring get here already? Even though I hate to be hot, I might have to add Phoenix to the list of places I'd be willing to live--goodbye snow shovels and mittens and runny noses.

Grace is growing up

2011-02-20T23:11:00.004-05:00

Grace is growing up so much and is having some great experiences. This year she has made the most amazing progress in her ability to get up in front of people. She has always been terrified of performing in any way--preschool programs, saying a scripture in church, dance recitals. She would get very clingy and cry or just refuse to get up. This year her kindergarten teacher has been instilling confidence in her and the change has been amazing to witness. For the Primary program in sacrament meeting last Fall, Grace got up in front of the whole congregation and said her line without any hesitation. This last week they had an assembly in school, and again Grace popped right up and said her line loud and clear. I was SO proud.

I have also been thrilled to see Grace having her own spiritual experiences. I know these are the experiences that will give her a solid foundation for the rest of her life, and I hope that she will always remember them. In Primary a few weeks ago, they were listening to a song and I happened to be sitting by Grace and she turned to me and said, "I feel warm inside" and I was able to tell her that was the Holy Ghost. The little girl next to her started goofing off and Grace said, "Sssshhhh, I'm feeling the Holy Ghost." So sweet.

Then last week after the assembly, we got in the car to go home and I had kind of parked in a snow drift. We were stuck, and I wasn't really sure what we were going to do. I got out of the car and tried pushing but that was completely pointless. I got back in and tried backing out one more time, and this time we got right out. Grace said, "I blessed the car Mom! I said a prayer and we got out!" Her innocent faith is just so sweet. And I was really grateful that we got out :) And the next week I was going to take some pictures but it was so overcast I had almost decided it was pointless, but decided to go try anyway. Grace said another prayer that the sun would come out, and sure enough, by the time we got to our friends' house, all the clouds had dissipated and the sun was shining bright. Grace was thrilled, and so was I.

I am so grateful for Grace's example and that she has a strong desire to do the right thing.

The traditional New Year blog post

2011-01-26T23:17:00.003-05:00

2011 promises to be a big year for our family. The light at the end of the residency tunnel is starting to get bright, and that means we have some big decisions to make. We will be looking for the perfect spot to settle down. That's an exciting prospect, but also kind of scary. With residency and medical school, it was definitely temporary, so it seemed like an adventure to try living somewhere new. This time it will hopefully be long-term, so the pressure is on.

So, our big resolutions this year are:

Find the best possible job in the best possible location
Get the house 100% ready to sell

Other things to look forward to this year:

Sam and Viv both in preschool this Fall
Grace finishing kindergarten, oh my!
Viv going to speech therapy
Sam getting potty trained
Getting some house projects finally crossed off the list (new carpet, pleeeeease!)
I might have to find someone to barter with to make those darn valances

Hurray for a new year!

Gotta Love Shutterfly

2010-12-10T23:26:00.005-05:00

I have always been a fan of Shutterfly. I've loved their photo books, especially. When Grace was about 3, I made her a super cute "Who Loves Grace?" book with pictures of her with a different relative on each page. She still loves it, and I just found out she takes it to school every day to look at when she's lonely on the school bus! How sweet is that? That inspired me to make similar books for Sam and Viv this Christmas.

This year Shutterfly is offering a great deal on Christmas cards for bloggers (50 free cards if you blog about it!). They have so many gorgeous cards to choose from (more here)! And it is super easy to try out how the card will look with your picture. I may have spent way too long one evening trying different cards with different pictures. Ooops, and I just sprent another good 30 minutes.

Here's a card I really like, but it just didn't work with our pictures.

I think this one is also beautiful. Maybe next year :)

The card I actually pick will be a surprise, though! Wouldn't want to send it out and have everyone think, "eh, already saw that."

Shutterfly also has fun calendars, and someday I am going to go ahead and spring for some fabulous photos on canvas.

If you'd like 50 free cards yourself, go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010. But hurry, your blog post has to be submitted by Dec. 15, and I've already procrastinated about as long as possible :)

More of what I Heart

2010-10-27T23:22:00.003-04:00

We are having a fun and eventful Fall! One quick (enormous!) picture, I will try to do better at

keeping up. How sweet are these two? And how fantastic is this tree in the yard?

We just saw the musical "In the Heights" in New York, and I am completely hooked on the music. If you are planning a trip out there, you should see this.

Catch up on our Summer

2010-10-25T15:02:00.002-04:00

Before summer is too far gone, a quick quick catch up. We kept busy swimming, going to parks, picking berries, and playing with friends. Our point and shoot broke so, most of the pictures I took were in the backyard.

More firsts!

2010-09-15T22:49:00.004-04:00

Vivian is pretty darn happy about her first day of preschool!

All ready to go with her brand new school bag. She had a fun day, and she got to paint a balloon.

Grace at 12 months, with one tooth.

Grace at age 5, without one tooth.

It fell out tonight while she was brushing her teeth, and then was accidentally washed down the drain when she spit it out with her toothpaste. We're not sure how the tooth fairy is going to work that one out :)

We're so proud of both our girls!

Kindergarten update

2010-09-08T23:11:00.002-04:00

Grace has 2 whole days of kindergarten under her belt, and so far she seems to be doing great! The first day the bus was running super late, so she didn't get home until almost 5:00, which was SUCH a long day for her, but she came bounding off the bus so excited about her day! They talked about fish, read about fish, went and saw the fish in the principle's office. I was nervous about the transition to all-day kindergarten, I had heard that kids come home really tired for the first couple of weeks. Maybe we're still in the honeymoon phase, but Grace has come home completely energized. She gets home and is excited to play with Viv and Sam, I think they miss each other all day. Sam talks about the bus stop all day long and Viv keeps asking when Grace is getting back. I miss her, too! But I am looking forward to her having a great school year.

The beginning of the rest of our lives

2010-09-07T11:26:00.005-04:00

Grace is at kindergarten today. What a weird feeling. She was so excited, she was cheering and pumping her fists this morning. She raced to the bus stop on her scooter and pushed past the other kid at the stop to get on the bus first. The bus was so full and so noisy, and I couldn't see her through the window. It all happened so fast, and then she was off to kindergarten! I was so tempted to get in the car and follow the bus, make sure she got to her classroom, make sure everything was okay. It is scary sending her off into the world without me, even though I know she will do great. I think we have taught her what she needs to know, and she is a good kid who wants to do the right thing. Grace got the teacher we wanted, and I am sure it will be a really great year!

Got me thinking

2010-07-21T23:29:00.004-04:00

I just finished the book Water for Elephants. It wasn't my favorite book in the world (and there are parts that need to be skipped), but it was fascinating and I have found myself thinking about it now that I've finished. It is told from the perspective of an old man, 90 or 93, he can't remember which. It's partly a vivid look at the challenges of aging, in addition to a tale of love and the circus. At the end, he is thinking back about the years when his family was young and his career as a veterinarian was getting started:

"Those were the salad days, the halcyon years! The sleepless nights, the wailing babies; the days the interior of the house looked like it had been hit by a hurricane; the times i had five kids, a chimpanzee, and a wife in bed with fever. Even when the fourth glass of milk got spilled in a single night, or the shrill screeching threatened to split my skull, or when I was bailing out some son or other...from a minor predicament at the police station, they were good years, grand years.

But it all zipped by. One minute my wife and I were in it up to our eyeballs, and next thing we knew the kids were borrowing the car and fleeing the coop for college. And now, here I am. In my nineties and alone."

I am guilty of sometimes wishing this stage of my life away. Wishing I could sit in the shade and read instead of responding to cries of "My want a underdog!" Wishing we could ever find 2 matching shoes. Wishing I spent less time on other people's bodily functions. Wishing the floor wasn't covered with an entire meal's worth of food every time we get up from the table.

When my head is pounding and I am overwhelmed by the insane mess that covers our house most of the time, I am trying to remind myself that these are the salad days, the halcyon years, and that when they are over I just might wish I could do it all again.

Family pictures

2010-06-24T23:39:00.005-04:00

We got back from our wonderful big vacation a couple of weeks ago, and I need to get pictures posted! Coming back from this vacation has been rough, I think I just barely finished unpacking :) And now the laptop has a virus that needs to be cleared up before I can do anything else. I'm hoping I won't lose any pictures. BUT for now, I'll share a link to family photos that we had taken while we were in Utah. They were taken by an old friend from our Iowa days who happens to be a very talented photographer! She is also super sweet, and was so patient with us. Thanks Veronica!

The pic above is totally my favorite, Sam's mad face cracks me up. And this is just SO much what life is like on a day to day basis :) Veronica has a few more posted on her blog at

http://veronicareeve.blogspot.com/2010/06/hawkeye-pride.html. Check out the rest of her stuff, she is amazing!

What we've been up to

2010-05-22T06:52:00.011-04:00

being lions in a cage

went to a carnival

the beach at Lake Michigan

Tulip festival in Holland

playing with Blueberry, the betta fish (fish-sitting for a year)

unintentional haircut (courtesy of Vivian)

intentional haircut

More pics on Flickr :)

I Heart:

2010-04-06T22:37:00.003-04:00

Spring
70 degree weather
our backyard
Rob
the kiddos

How cute are these 2?

2010-03-23T11:14:00.006-04:00

Someone asked the other day how Viv and Sam do together. Answer: they do fabulously. They are little buddies. Vivian takes such good care of Sam, if he's crying, she brings him his blanket. The other day it was cold out, and she was very concerned that he needed his hat on. She shares treats with him, sings him songs, and pushes him on the swing. They sit on the back step together blowing bubbles. Sometimes they do fight over my lap, or over a favorite toy. But for the most part, they get along great. I love watching them together.

Vivian is amazingly and wonderfully potty training herself. By this I mean I let her run naked around the house, and she goes to her potty seat when she needs to go. She does a great job, and has only had like 2 accidents on the floor. For some reason she does especially well in public, and will tell me that she needs to go, and actually goes.

Sam is getting a pretty big vocabulary, and is finally saying mama. He will grab my finger and say "go" and pull me where he wants. He says apple, bubble, choochoo for train, ga for dog, does a sweet little "woof", and stands on the table singing "da da da da da da" in the sweetest little voice, while dancing around. He learned that from his sisters.

2009, 2010

2010-01-30T22:05:00.005-05:00

It seems like just 3 months ago I was posting my new year's resolutions for 2009. And it seems like I start every blog post with "I can't believe how fast time flies." I should just change the name of my blog to "I Know it's a Cliche, but MAN, Time Flies."

So, 2009 was a good year! Everyone healthy, happy, Rob on research. Kind of a boring year, really, but in a good way. I didn't do so hot on my resolutions, no valances or pillows made yet. But now I am doubly committed to sewing them, and I got a sewing machine that works, so that should help :)

Highlights of 2009:

Grace loves her new preschool, and so do I

I have consistently made all our bread

Viv has become quite the chatterbox!

Rob called to the bishopric (or is that a lowlight?)

Trip to Utah for Jane Anne's wedding and Lake Powell

I discover the joy of the thrift store

Ripping out the 30-yr old overgrown bushes in front of the house

Finally got lights in the living room

Things to look forward to in 2010:

Grace starting kindergarten, oh my!

Vivian starting preschool, oh my!

Sam going to nursery at church, yay!

Viv getting potty trained

2 mornings a week with just Sam at home, how strange!

New valances :)

Hawaii!

Moving Viv into Grace's room

Totally unrealistic resolutions for 2010:

Become a morning person

Organize every square inch of the house

Get Vivian to eat vegetables

Get myself to eat vegetables

Get rid of pooch before Hawaii

Have positive attitude about Rob's research year ending

Be a better blogger

Happy (late) Barfday to Grace

2010-01-30T21:24:00.006-05:00

I can't believe that Grace is FIVE! We are deep into Kindergarten roundups already, which is crazy. She is very excited to start elementary school. The celebration for her birthday lasted all weekend, starting with her birthday treats at preschool on Friday. She really wanted the theme for everything to be Purple. So she wore all purple on Friday and Saturday, and her cupcakes for preschool were purple with white dots and white with purple dots. She got a purple birthday crown and got to choose whether to eat with the lights on or off, and she chose off.

Saturday, Grace had her party, and she was so excited to celebrate with friends! The highlight was the pink and purple purse pinata. Grace is a purse fanatic, so we were so excited when we found this one! We let the kids decorate their own cupcakes, which was also fun. For weeks, Grace has been excited to go to Red Robin for her birthday and have them sing to her and bring ice cream. So we went, and while we were waiting to be seated, Viv yakked all over the lobby. So gross. Grace was pretty devastated that we had to leave.

Sunday Grace was very excited to have the Primary sing to her, which is a big step for her, as she is usually very nervous in front of people. She was so brave, and I was so proud!

Monday everyone was feeling good, so we went to Red Robin to try again. Grace was acting a little weird before we left, but said she really wanted to go. She was very brave for the singing again! But she didn't eat any macaroni and cheese, OR even any of the ice cream after they brought it. At that point, I knew we needed to get out of there fast before Red Robin banned us forever. Sure enough, shortly after we got home, she got sick. And then Rob, and then me. Let's just say that was about the longest night of our lives. Poor Grace.

So, anyway, we love Grace a ton, she is such a good kid. She has gotten so independent! She is fun, smart, silly, a great helper, she is really trying hard to make good choices. She is a very sweet and protective big sister. One of my favorite things right now is to listen as Grace helps Vivian say prayers. It's adorable. We are so blessed to have her in our family!

The Holidays

2010-01-07T23:01:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! We had a really wonderful holiday season. We didn't travel anywhere and Rob was able to stay home for most of 2 weeks, so we shopped and played and relaxed and just had a fabulous time together. I wish all of life could be like that :) This year was so fun because the girls are the perfect ages, so excited and innocent. They loved everything they got and weren't disappointed.

The season started as always with Rob's work party, where our kids dance the night away. Sam was totally hamming it up, as you can see he's smiling so big his face can't even contain it.

Here is Christmas Eve. We had a big dinner party with our traditional prime rib, and this year we invited a few other families. It was a lot of work, but lots of fun. I forgot to take pictures until things calmed down and we let the kids open their one present.

Christmas day was nice and relaxing. We opened stockings, ate monkey bread (which I managed to totally mess up somehow--my inability to cook could probably qualify as a talent), opened presents, played, napped, made a gingerbread house (actually, Grace and Vivian ate all the candy before it made it on the house) and made pizza for dinner. Each child got one big toy that was something they really wanted, plus a few other gifts. It was perfect. Here is Grace with the toy she was asking for for weeks:

For more complete pictures, here's a link to our holiday album. We wish you all a very happy 2010!

The Holidays 2009

A bite out of the Big Apple

2009-12-06T23:02:00.007-05:00

We had a very fun Thanksgiving this year, roadtripping to the East Coast. We spent Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania with dear friends from medical school, and it was wonderful to all be together! Had a great day with delicious food and scintillating coversation.

And since we were so far East, we decided we might as well keep on going to NYC. Rob's brother James and wife Angela and their two girls drove up from Boston and we had a fun couple of days. We stayed right in midtown, just a couple of blocks from Central Park. SO FUN.

High and lowlights:

kids had a blast at Central Park
Grace was scared of the street performer dressed as the Statue of Liberty (don't blame her)
Rob getting sick (Thanksgiving hasn't historically been kind to Rob)
Vosges chocolate, the weirdest combinations but so tasty
amazing burgers from the burger joint in the hotel lobby
date night with Rob wandering around the city
watching the BYU-Utah game at ESPN zone in Times Square
Grace getting a cup of ice dropped on her at ESPN zone, poor girl, but they seated us right away :)
lots of fun window displays and Christmas lights
FAO Schwartz on the day after Thanksgiving. Very crowded but so fun! Wish I could afford to do our Christmas shopping there :)

I'm not a fan of slideshows, because I don't usually have the patience to sit and watch the whole thing. But I want to go to bed, so here we go. We had a really great trip, wish we'd had more time. The kids put up with all the driving well, they seemed to have a good time, Sam especially was just so excited to see all the new sights. I am hoping that we make it back soon!

Vaccinated

2009-11-10T11:40:00.003-05:00

Our public health department had a huge H1N1 vaccination clinic at the indoor stadium of a local university, and we decided it was worth it to get the kids vaccinated. It was a zoo. We had to go get wristbands at 9am, then come back at noon to get into the line for the actual shot. When we got back, the line was outside around the building in freeeeeeeezing cold wind. I had stocked up on snacks since we were missing lunch, but I was not prepared for a THREE HOUR wait. Grace knew she was getting a shot at the end of the ordeal, so had to go through the long hungry wait anticipating pain, the poor girl. Here is Sam after his shot, a happy camper. Now I just hope we don't all get the swine foo (as Grace calls it) from the thousands of people we were milling around with for 3 hours.

Halloween

2009-11-01T23:19:00.006-05:00

We had a really fun Halloween this year! Grace was very brave, even went into some pretty spooky yards. Viv figured out pretty quickly that she could get candy from people by saying "trick or treat", even though I don't think most people understood her. And even Sam got very excited about the whole thing, he got to the point where he was waving his arms around until we took him up to the door to get some candy.

Grace's hat is a little big :) and she also had a cape, but she didn't like wearing it. And, funny story, she fell in love with a treat bag at our new favorite thrift store, and I just noticed that it had some letters on it... I only noticed the "ick" and figured it was the tail end of "trick...." but when we got home I realized it actually said PATRICK. Oh well, a little electrical tape took care of that! She doesn't have her own picture because she was too excited to get going.

Vivian did a great job saying "thank you" to everyone in her sweet soft little voice. At one door, she stood there staring at the man until he said "you're welcome." What a polite kiddo :)

We had a fun time and let the kids eat all they wanted in the car on the way home. I was a little worried this would result in someone throwing up in the middle of the night, but so far everyone is okay!

Cats

2009-10-15T23:50:00.002-04:00

We bottled peaches this year, and to get the peaches, we drove out to a farm in the middle of farm country. They had like 4 litters of kittens running around. Grace loved it, so I let her run around outside while I went into the house to pay for the peaches, leaving the van door open so Viv and Sam could enjoy the fresh country air. When I got out of the house, I heard Sam crying, but his door was not the open one, so I couldn't see why. Grace's explanation was, "A cat got in the car." When I got to him, he had THREE cats crawling around on his tiny little lap. Which might explain his reaction here, (although he was genuinely excited about the cats):

Vivian, on the other hand, is terrified of anything with fur. Or feathers. Poor girl.

Talking About Adoption

2009-10-13T21:51:00.004-04:00

I think most people who read this know that we adopted Grace and Vivian. We were very blessed with both of our adoptions to have very positive experiences. Now I work at LDS Family Services as a social worker, helping adoptive couples go through the process. It's a great job, I get to meet amazing people, and I hope that I can share my perspective with them. Adoption is such a blessing for us, for many birthmothers, and many other families.

LDS FS recently launched a brand new adoption website which is SO much better than the old one! It's still at http://www.itsaboutlove.org/. Check it out if you're bored.

There is a page there about positive adoption language that I wanted to copy here. (I can't figure out how to get Blogger to format it normally, so I guess you'll have to scroll down-- sorry!) I am not easily offended when talking about adoption. I know people are generally doing their best to be sensitive, but sometimes might not know the right way to phrase things. I hope people feel comfortable asking about adoption if they have questions, because we are always happy to talk about it, non-"PC" language or not. I'm hoping this list of the currently "correct" terminology will help people feel more comfortable!

The one that I feel most strongly about is the term "give up for adoption." This is pretty common, you hear it all the time. But it does send a subtle message to a child who was adopted that her birthmother didn't want her. We feel very strongly that placing a child for adoption is an act of immense courage and love! We're so grateful for Vivian and Grace's birthparents and their families and their trust in us. I think if we could eliminate the stigma surrounding placing a child for adoption, the world would be a better place. And now I'll get off my soapbox. Oh, and if you know anyone who is considering placing a child for adoption, I know a few wonderful families. (Though not us at the moment:) )

Negative Terms	Preferred Terms
Gave up her child for adoption	Placed her child for adoption
Real parent; natural parent	Birth parent, biological parent
Adoptive parent	Parent
His adopted child	His child
Illegitimate	Born to unmarried parents
Adoptee	Child who was adopted
To keep	To parent
Adoptable child; available child	Waiting child
Foreign adoption	International adoption
Track down parents	Search
Unwanted child	Child placed for adoption
Is adopted	Was adopted

A touch of PTSD

2009-10-11T22:57:00.005-04:00

Vivian had a rather traumatic experience over Labor Day. We went out to eat, and a nice employee made her a balloon out of a latex glove, you know the kind. Vivian enjoyed carrying the balloon around, and it was a beautiful day so we took our lunch out to the outdoor dining area. You can see where this is going. We made it through most of lunch with the balloon, thanks to a couple of courageous saves by me and my mad hops. But finally, the balloon escaped and floated up to the sky, looking back down at us with that silly face. Vivian was pretty broken up at the time and cried for quite a while. Which is pretty normal, I think. But she is STILL talking about it.

It is actually so cute in a heartbreaking kind of way. She says, "Boon...... sky....... boon...... sky" with her lower lip sticking clear out.

We Seem to Have Entered a Time Warp

2009-09-22T23:05:00.005-04:00

It just simply cannot have been a whole year since Sam was born. Can I please stop the clock?

Sam has been the easiest, sweetest, funnest baby possible. I hesitate to even say how great he is because everything I say on my blog seems to become untrue as soon as I've said it. {For example, Vivian has started watching TV. Yay!} Sam has a smile for everyone, and he is free with the laughs. He's very ticklish, which is fun for his sisters. Sam is just so easy-going. I love the way he is all casual when I hold him--he just kind of drapes his arm around my shoulder and chills with me. Not clingy, not struggling to get down, just hanging out. I'm afraid that will not last long once he starts to walk. I love the way he kicks his legs when we pick him up, like he's so excited to get to you he's trying to swim there. He's excited about life.

Sam's first official word is "ball." He loves to play with balls of any size. He also enjoys pushing a little car around. I think he also tries to say "boo" when we play peekaboo. He crawls super fast and he's trying to jump like his sisters. Jumping on beds is a big fave around here, and Sam does not want to be left out. I think he might jump before he walks. For now, he has little calluses on his toes and knees from crawling. Sam will go anywhere--cement, dirt, water--doesn't bother him.

I can't imagine our family without Sam, and I'm so so glad he's here.

Two already

2009-08-26T23:36:00.007-04:00

This is from the day we first met Vivian at the hospital in Kentucky.

And here is the day we brought her "home". Check out that frowny mouth.

And at about 10 months. Love those huge cheeks!

I have to confess I was a little worried about Vivian, and sometimes wondered what I had gotten into. She was kind of a grumpy baby. Hardly smiled, took a very long time to laugh, and then did it rarely. Then when we found out she was going to be a middle child, we were afraid she would get lost in the shuffle between the new baby and the demonic 3-yr old.

In the last few months, Vivian has really come into her own. She has a great sense of humor. She is extremely sweet and compassionate. She is really quite obedient. She is an adrenaline junky. She comes with a dash of vinegar. She's a complex little girl. I predict she will be either an engineer or an opera singer--man has she got lungs. She has NOT gotten lost in the shuffle. She is an excellent mimic, which makes her a fast learner. She likes to blow her nose, and sometimes misses the Kleenex. She loves to clean things. She contorts into strange shapes to make herself impossible to pick up when she doesn't want to do what you want. She says "yogurt" like an old German man with phlegm. "Gogurhk." The first thing she says when when I go get her in the morning is, "Shhhh... Sammy." She will not watch any TV, has absolutely NO interest in it. Except for "manna manna" from the Muppet Show, which she thinks is hilarious. She is a tease. She still frequently has a very serious look on her face, even when she is having fun. But her sweet laugh is right there waiting. She is an absolute delight, and I am so glad she is part of our family!

The Utah Pilgrimage

2009-08-24T00:01:00.003-04:00

We just got back from the annual trip to Utah. It was a very fun trip. We were gone 3 weeks, and saw all of both of our families. I was going to do a long post with lots of thrilling details, but it is easier to post pictures on Flickr. So check that out for oodles of pictures. But for now, here is why I love Utah:

And this:

There are so many kinds of beauty. Very different from anything in the Midwest. Every time we go back to Utah, I appreciate it more.

Vivian speaks

2009-07-15T12:01:00.001-04:00

Vivian is such a fun girl. Everyone should get to hang out with her for a while. She has become quite the talker, and I think her vocabulary says a lot about the way she sees life. Today she said what I think might be her longest sentence yet: Yay Daddy home! Viv LOVES Rob. Other faves:

clean up
dirty (dowdy)
sticky (tickee)
poopy
mine
candy (dandy)
milk (mowk)
cheese (when she wants cheese, which is pretty much 24/7, and when she sees a camera)
hold me
outside (die--pretty funny when she's sitting there yelling DIE DIE DIE)
please
thank you
sorry (hawee)
OW
happy (SO cute)

And her classics:
Deedee is still Sam, even though she can say Sam. Viv also LOVES Sam.
Dahdah is still her blanket, and if we forget to bring it in the car, we will regret it
and, of course, NO!

Hubba Hubba

2009-07-02T21:20:00.004-04:00

Bye, bye clunka.

Hello, hunka.

Okay, so the Subaru wasn't completely a clunker. It's been a good car. But a Honda Odyssey with 14 miles on it??? How could we pass that up?

Welcome Back, Rob!

2009-06-27T00:37:00.004-04:00

I'm actually a couple of days early with this post, but I'm so excited, I just couldn't wait. Rob officially begins his research year NEXT WEDNESDAY!!! Research=normal life. To illustrate: we went to an end-of-year dinner a few weeks ago and sat at a table with the residents who are just finishing their research year. One couple was tan/burned. I asked if they had been on vacation and they all started LAUGHING at me. They said, "No, this is called HAVING A LIFE-- you'll get used to it. We've been doing yardwork." What??? There are people who see daylight when they're not on vacation????

Another anecdote: A few weeks ago, on a Wednesday, Rob was saying that it had been a pretty good week so far. I agreed. He started adding up his hours, and figured he had worked about 40 hours so far. We were like, Wow, that's great. Then we said to ourselves, 40 hours by Wednesday is great? What strange standards.

I just have to say that Rob is amazing. He has dealt with so much in these first few years of residency. It is especially amazing how he maintains his standards being surrounded so constantly by, well, other stuff. He has worked SOOOO hard, met the goals he has set for himself and overcome large obstacles. There have been some rough times, I will not lie. Times I was sure he was going to switch careers and all of this was going to have been for nothing. There have been nights I have found him out in the garage, asleep in the car. There have been sentences I have not finished because he fell asleep in the middle of them.....

I am so proud of my dear Rob, and so excited to have him around for dinner again soon :) oh, wait, does that mean we can't have frozen ravioli once a week?

I Heart Peonies

2009-06-11T00:23:00.002-04:00

And on a side note, Rob and I have started "body for life" because we're going to Lake Powell later this summer. No "before" pictures will be posted. You're welcome.

Sam

2009-05-18T00:16:00.002-04:00

Sam has teeth! And he gets SO excited about these drums.

Shoeless Viv

2009-05-13T23:37:00.005-04:00

*Last night I couldn't get this pic off my phone.... but I feel like it really adds something to the story :) And yes, I really did want to remind her where she was working. But then again, I was shopping there....

The day after I posted that last post we went to Dollar Tree. Viv lost a shoe in the car, and it was POURING rain so I didn't feel like leaving her and Sam in the cart in the parking lot for 5 minutes while I looked for it. We just ran into the store. As we were checking out, the lady says to Viv, "Where's your other shoe? Are you a hillbilly?"

Oh brother.

To be fair, sometimes I really don't know that she's lost a shoe, and then I appreciate it.

This is what most days look like

2009-04-26T23:28:00.000-04:00

Grace: "hey Mom, remember coloring Sam?"

Me: "ummm, not really...."

And then Grace proceeds to empty a few drops of Sam's formula from the bottle into a spoon and "color" Sam's face and head with it.

Also notice how Vivian has all her snaps undone. I cannot keep anything snapped, zipped or velcroed onto that girl these days. I might start shopping at the ghetto Walmart here again, because when we went there the other day, not ONE SINGLE person said to me "Did you know she only has one shoe on?" And I didn't have to say, "Yes, I know, I left it off because I'm so sick of putting her shoes on."

And this is the conversation I have 30 times a day:

Viv: Mom!
Me: What?
Viv: Mom!
Me: What?
Viv: Mom!
Me: What?
Viv: Mom!
Me: What?
Viv: Mom!
Me: What?
Viv: Mom!
Me: What?

I love my kids. That sounds like sarcasm, but it's not :)

Easter, etc.

2009-04-17T00:23:00.000-04:00

We had a nice Easter. I put up a bunch of pictures with explanations on Flickr, so I won't repeat all that here. Just wanted to let y'all know. Also, we started what I think is a great tradition: filet mignon for Easter dinner. Ham shmam.

Conference

2009-04-08T23:28:00.004-04:00

I always love Conference weekend. This conference seemed like it was a good one, but it was a little hard to tell. We sat down to eat some homemade sweet rolls as the morning session started, thinking that would keep things a little calm so that we could hear. Wrong. Here is a a condensed transcript of what it sounded like at our house.

Grace: We are listening to the prophet! FOLLOW THE PROPHET, FOLLOW THE PROPHET..... (I won't write out the whole song for you...) Adam was a prophet, first one that we know! Hey, Adam was a prophet. And we know about him! Did you know about the dog prophet? It is big, all the way up to the ceiling!

Me: SSssssshhhhh....

Vivian: (holding her finger to her lips) ssssssssshhhhhh (big smile) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Vivian banging her sippy cup on the table BANG BANG BANG

I take away the cup

Vivian banging her fork on the table BANG BANG BANG

I take away the fork

Grace: Who is this?

Rob: It's Elder Anderson, he's an apostle

Grace: Did you know there is a DOGpostle? ....

Vivian: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Me: Sssssshhhh

Vivian: ssssssshhh.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Anyway, this all went on for a good 30-40 minutes.

I'm grateful for reprints of Conference :)

Why I Haven't Been Blogging Lately

2009-04-01T23:46:00.007-04:00

Recently, I've decided it's time to turn frugality into more of a hobby. I've tried couponing before and it never seemed like I saved enough money to be worth the cost of the newspaper or the time it took to cut the coupons. But I'm trying it again. So I've been spending all my computer time checking out "deal" blogs and searching obsessively for coupons online. Filling out forms, signing up for email lists, getting all kinds of spyware put on my computer as it turns out--ALL in the name of getting a coveted "Q". Or even a not-so-coveted one.

So, since all the crazy frugal mom blogs seem to do this, here is a picture of the deals I've gotten in the last couple of weeks. I got all this stuff for $1.18. Plus one more pack of applesauce cups that we ate already :) I'm proud of this little stash, it makes me feel productive or something.

Some of it is stuff I wouldn't normally use (like Irish Spring... if our family suddenly starts smelling like leprechauns, you'll know why....) but there's this whole CVS thing where you earn "bucks" but then you have to spend them on something else that earns bucks (if you want to keep the good times rolling...), and Irish Spring was better than a bottle of Vitamin D pills.

This week I'm already feeling a little less excited about the whole thing, and the only freebies on the horizon are a pack of toilet paper, an Easter egg dying kit and a box of South Beach Diet granola bars. I'm not sure I care enough about those to take a trip to 3 stores. But I'm going to try to keep going for at least a couple of months and see if I can get into the groove.

Also, any avid Michigan couponers out there notice that we get different coupons than other places? It seems like the deals I'm finding listed on other websites are using coupons that I didn't get. Which is frustrating.

And I also ventured into the land of consignment clothing stores. I'm not sure I like it. I didn't get much money, and then I felt obligated to spend it at the store. I did find a few things I liked there, but it took a long time and was just a pain in general. We did get a free Melissa and Doug puzzle for going in, though. Maybe I'm just proud, but I found the whole thing kind of humiliating.

In going through the kids' old clothes, I reorganized them all and here is the girls' 0-3 mo. tub vs. Sam's 0-3 mo. tub.

It pays to be the first child :)

If you got through this whole boring post, and have a frugal tip to share, please do! Who knows, maybe one of these days you'll find me dumpster diving.

Let them eat bread!

2009-03-15T23:22:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting a Kitchenaid for ages. I finally got one :) Merry Christmas to me! I got a truly amazing deal on it--half of the cheapest price anywhere else. Now I can start making all my own bread at last. I've also made a lot more cookies since I got it. And brownies from scratch. This was a GOOD investment!

But my loaf-shaping could use a little practice.

Irish twins

2009-03-05T00:27:00.000-05:00

Rob likes to joke that Sam and Viv are "Irish twins". I suspect that in the future, we may have a hard time convincing people they aren't actual twins. If he stays on the tall side, I just have a feeling they are going to look like they're the same age, and with their amazing coloring... We'll see....

Our little lollipop

2009-02-26T14:15:00.004-05:00

Sam is the weirdest proportioned baby ever. He just went to the doctor yesterday and here is how he measures up:

weight: 50th percentile (up from 25th!)

height: 75th percentile

head: literally off the charts. By quite a bit, it looked like to my untrained eye.

His head has been growing at an astronomical rate, making a practically vertical line on the growth chart. He's had 2 ultrasounds, though, and they both show that everything in there is completely normal. Here's hoping that his body catches up someday!

Just for kicks, I photoshopped Sam with a more proportional head:

Isn't it strange how it makes his whole body look smaller? I double checked a bazillion times, and that body is the same size.

People are always like "What a big boy you have!" But it's just his gargantuan cranium. A virtual planetoid! Has its own weather system. (say that last part with a Scottish accent :) )

We choose to think that he's just going to be a genius. Like his father.

Leaps and Bounds

2009-02-23T23:50:00.000-05:00

This is not an illusion. But I kind of wish it were. Sammy is sitting up! Well, for a few seconds at a time. And I just can't get over how handsome he is :) How can he possibly be so old already?
Viv is reaching some milestones of her own--opening the fridge, opening the cupboard where the garbage is and throwing stuff in, barking like a dog. She can say "uh-oh" instead of "uh-uh". She has her own names for all of us: I am Mama (of course!), Rob is also Mama. Grace is Nee-nee, and Sam is Dee-dee.
Watching the kids grow up is so bittersweet!

Miracle

2009-02-23T00:15:00.004-05:00

I believe in miracles. I have experienced a lot of them, both big and small. Today I realized what might seem like a small one. Vivian went to nursery for the first time. That's not the miracle, though it is a huge relief.
Before Sam was born, I would say Rob made it to church probably 1 or 2 weeks out of 4. So one of my biggest questions was how I would get through church by myself, since I would have 2 babies through Sunday School and Relief Society. Today I realized that I have only been to church by myself with the kids once in the last 5 months. I consider that a miracle.

Vacation week

2009-02-08T23:22:00.008-05:00

Rob had a week of vacation this last week. It was so wonderful to have him home!

Here's a quick overview of what we did. We took a little roadtrip to Pittsburgh to hang out with our good friends from medical school, who we miss terribly. It was so fun to hang out with them! Huge thanks to the Ringgers for housing and feeding us! We were so busy talking and eating delicious Super Bowl food, we couldn't be interupted to take pictures. But I really wish I had one of the boys playing rock band. Instead, here's an old picture from our most incredibly fun trip to Hawaii, right after med school.

Then we went with the Reynolds to an indoor water park, and spent the night, which was great fun for the kids.

When we got home, we got right to work on the bathroom. I cannot tell you how happy the "new" bathroom makes me! As Rob said, and I have to agree, the old bathroom was so ugly, I had just stopped looking at it. In addition to how ugly it was just on its own, I decided to start the project a year or so ago and started ripping down wallpaper, but then never got back to it, so there was a swath of missing wallpaper down the main wall. Classy. I don't know if you can tell from these pics just how bad the wallpaper was.

Here's the new look. The pictures aren't very good, but oh well. I am so glad I decided to spring for the new shower curtain, even though we didn't technically need it. I feel like the green is minimized, since we are just not going to tackle it.

FAQ

2009-01-25T23:02:00.003-05:00

Grace has started asking the question that seems to be on everybody's mind: Are we having more kids? Although, Grace asks if there's another baby in my tummy and tells me that we need more boys, while other people tend to phrase it, "So are you done?" And believe me, Rob and I have asked ourselves and each other this question.

Here is the answer: We don't know. So far, all of the kids have come in their own way and their own time, and never at the time we had in mind. And that has worked out pretty well.

Deep down, I think we are not done. Maybe it's just hard to kick the habit of wanting to be pregnant. But I've already magically forgotten the hard parts, and have started to get jealous of all those cute little bellies and sweet floppy newborns at church.

We will wait and see what God has in store for us!

All about Grace

2009-01-19T21:20:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe Grace is 4! She is quite the grown-up little girl. We waited a long time for her to join our family, and it was SO worth it. Grace has always been very cheerful and enthusiastic. The older she gets, the more we see that she has a strong personality and strong emotions. She is very independent and also very caring. She loves to take care of people and is a great hostess. Grace has great leadership potential, and likes to be in charge. She has taken to calling her room her "house" and she thinks this means that she doesn't have to let Vivian in. Ha ha. I have discovered that Grace does really well with being sent to her room "until she is ready to... [be nice, follow directions, etc.]" rather than just being sent to time out until her time is up. She usually stays for about 30 seconds, but when she comes back, she really does do better. She loves to help out with things. She loves to play with friends. She is very generous by nature. She is an amazing little person, and I am so lucky she's mine!

Lower standards

2009-01-07T22:25:00.004-05:00

This was our Christmas card picture this year. I still have a few cards left, so if you didn't get one, I apologize, and I'll send you one if you want. But now that you know what it looks like, I'm sure you're glad you didn't get one! Ha! I had all our addresses stored on a computer that died, and so I pretty much sent cards to relatives and people who sent us a card with a return adress on it :) That doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about other dear friends!

Anyway, we didn't have much of a chance for a family picture after Sam was born and it didn't seem right to leave him out, so this is what we got. Me in a swimsuit with frizzy just-went-snorkeling hair and no makeup. Does anything make hair look worse than snorkeling??? Why oh why didn't I throw on a t-shirt? And then there's Grace sticking her tongue out. Lately she just refuses to look at the camera, or makes a weird face. I like this one because it's a pretty genuine expression, even though it's not very polite. The other 3 look cute, so 3 out of 5 isn't bad. Right? I will try to do better next year.

Happy New Year to all!

Looking forward, looking back

2009-01-04T23:12:00.004-05:00

Just 18 months ago, Rob, Grace and I were in Hawaii. We had just put in our papers to adopt again and Rob was about to finish his first year of residency. We figured we'd get a baby about the time he finished his second year. Life was busy, and simple (though I didn't realize that at the time!)

That July, Rob started his 2nd year, which turned out to be horrendously awful. Bye-bye post-call days! We rarely saw him. And in August we found out that we had been chosen to adopt a baby girl. Two weeks later, Grace and I moved to Kentucky for a month. We came home, Viv got colicky, it was the holidays, had a whirlwind trip to Utah. A few weeks later, when Viv was 4 months old, I realized that I was pregnant. And Grace turned 3 and got a whole new personality.

So 2008 began with me adjusting to what felt like a whole new life. Almost-single parenting 2 kids while prego. Also I was the Enrichment counselor, which was WAY out of my comfort zone. The months flew by and then of course, Sam was born and all of Fall I was basically out of commission. Then it was the busy holiday season again, and here we are at the beginning of 2009.

All of this is to justify why I feel like I have been off-kilter for the last long while. And why I am looking forward to an uneventful year, knock on wood. This year I am going to make some resolutions. Here's a start:

Spend quality time with each child every day
Take more videos
Write in my journal
Do more service
Sew the valances and pillows I bought fabric for 2 years ago
Don't procrastinate
Go to bed before midnight
Read the Doctrine and Covenants

Things to look forward to:

Vivian going to nursery!
Vivian learning to talk
Sam reaching all kinds of milestones
Grace going to a closer preschool
Dance lessons
Rob starting a year of research
Rob has most of his vacation time left for this year
Having valances in the kitchen :)
Remodeling the bathroom at last!

Bring on 2009!

Kiddos

2008-12-30T23:57:00.003-05:00

Sam is fun because he is SO ticklish, which neither of the girls were. He is also trying to roll over already, which will probably be easier for him, because he is a skinny guy. He looks big, but it's just because he has a huge noggin. He was laughing a ton the other night, and I have a video but I can't get it to upload. Darn, that was kind of the point of this post. Oh well.

Vivian has started climbing, and she is an absolute danger to herself! She keeps me on my toes. She has also started to fold her arms when we say prayers. It is adorable. And she finally seems to have caught on to sign language! She signs more all the time, and now the problem is that I'm not sure what she wants more of.

Grace is hilarious as her language skills keep improving. One of her new phrases is, "What a shucks." She mostly says it when you give her a compliment. She also makes up her own little songs and sings them to herself. The other day she was singing "I spilled my milk, and now my mom is cleaning it up for me." Well, she got to join me in cleaning it up after that! And then one day we were riding in the car, and from the back we hear a song about Shamu and dolphins helping baby Jesus, who wants us to be nice. I wish I could remember the exact words, it was so funny.

Life is good

2008-12-17T23:25:00.004-05:00

I am really enjoying being a mom of 3. Much more than I thought I would. That sounds horrible to say, but honestly, I was scared to death. Luckily my kids are amazing, which makes my job so much easier! Sam is pretty darn nearly perfect, which is also kind of scary to me, because it makes me wonder if something is going to go wrong. Does that make sense? He is saying "hi" already, I swear. The pediatrician even heard it. He talks up a storm.

I love the place my life is at right now. I wouldn't have asked for kids this close in age, and there are certainly times when it makes things logistically complicated. But I love watching them together, and I feel like they will be good friends. They seem to really love each other already. Vivian is so sweet with Sam, it is adorable. She gently bumps her little head against his and kind of rubs it around. She follows Grace around and tries to copy things she does. And Grace, well, she is learning to be much more gentle with her little sibs. She is just so enthusiastic, and she REALLY wants to be able to carry them around.

Maybe it's just getting the pregnancy hormones out of my system, or maybe it's that being in the hospital gave me a subconscious new outlook on life. But I feel like I appreciate the kids a lot more now, and I want to enjoy them while they're young. I thought I did before, but it just feels different lately somehow. I am so grateful for my good life!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

2008-11-23T23:35:00.003-05:00

I have been back home for a week now, and it has not been as bad as I feared :) The kids have not yet eaten me alive. Although I did go to church without a shower today, ewww! It's those kind of things that fall through the cracks... It has been so nice to be home, to feel better, and to start getting back to normal. Utah was great, and my in-laws were just wonderful! I was so glad that we were there while I finished recovering. But it had been 2 months since I had been "in charge" of my own life, and it is nice to be able to do things for myself again. And of course it is fantastic to be with Rob! The girls are getting back into their routines again, which is good. Their lives have been a little topsy-turvy, and Grace especially was just not herself while we were gone. I am relieved that she has gotten back to normal. I am afraid blogging is also going to slip through the cracks, but I will try to post every now and then.

Tooting my own horn

2008-11-06T22:53:00.003-05:00

Ha ha ha, I've had a photo published! It is so totally random, I have to laugh. It's an old pic, and they totally cropped out Grace. But it's definitely her chubby little hands :) I took this picture a day or so after I got my new camera, when I was just taking pics of anything and everything. The website found it on Flickr, and since I didn't copyright it, all I get out of it is my name underneath. And the chance to toot my own horn on my blog!
http://www.parenting.com/activity-parties-gallery/Activities-Parties/
Play-List-Quick-and-Easy-Activities/5

All about Sam

2008-10-28T01:11:00.003-04:00

Little Sam is 6 weeks old already, and I think it's time I introduced him properly! Sam is the most amazing baby. Possibly our easiest baby yet, which is saying something, because Grace and Viv were both pretty easy. Don't hate us :) I think this is definitely an example of God's mercy! How would we have done all this with a colicky baby???

Sam is a super eater and falls asleep without too much work most of the time. He is growing like gangbusters. I don't know how much he weighs, but he is about to grow out of his 3 month clothes. Sam was bottle fed most of the time I was in the hospital, but once I tried nursing him again, he picked it back up immediately, and now he is an expert at going back and forth. He is a champ. Sam is also snuggly, which is irresistible. AND he doesn't spit up when he's being burped. I love that. But then, he occasionally--without warning--spits up what seems to be the entire contents of his stomach, which is kind of a mess.

My favorite thing about Sam is his eyes. They are so alert and seem so intelligent somehow. Like he is wise beyond his weeks. He will stare into your eyes and move his mouth like he is trying so hard to communicate. He is really a joy, and we are so glad he's part of our family!

Coming to you live from Provo

2008-10-24T00:52:00.003-04:00

The biggest problem as a result of all this craziness is that I am under a lifting restriction for 6 weeks. Which means that I can't lift anything heavier than Sam until mid-November. This is a serious problem because Viv wants to be carried around all the time, and sometimes she needs to get in and out of her crib. Or get her diaper changed. Or she has to be rescued from nearly falling down the stairs. Or she bites her tongue and bleeds all over. I can drive now that I'm mostly off my narcotics, but I can't get her in or out of the car. Basically, I need someone around all the time in case poor Viv needs something. Plus I am still moving pretty slowly and have basically just been taking care of Sam but haven't managed to make meals or clean the house or do much taking care of the girls.

Two days before Rob's mom was scheduled to leave, we sat down to figure out how much help we would need and who we could ask. I was freaking out a little at the prospect of being alone all day with all 3 kids. Finally the answer hit us--I could go to Utah and stay with Rob's family until mid-November. (My mom works so staying with my fam wouldn't help me during the day....) And, Rob's family generously agreed to take me and the kids in. So after 2 days of frantic packing, my brave MIL and I got on a plane with the 3 kids, 4 diaper bags, 2 car seats, 2 extra carryons, 1 big stroller, and lots of help from the guy pushing me in the wheelchair. We actually wheeled a luggage cart ONTO the airplane. I've never seen anyone do that before :) It was a long, tiring day, but we made it safe and sound! It will be hard to be away from Rob and from home for so long, but it felt like the right decision, and a huge relief. So if you're in UT and feel like lunch at Cafe Rio, I'm available any time! But you might have to help me get the kids out of the car :)

My Everything

2008-10-14T12:18:00.004-04:00

A quick update before I get to what I want to say. I came home from the hospital on Friday, yay! It has been wonderful to be home, and also challenging. It is a lot harder to get to the computer than I thought it would be! I am getting stronger and less sore every day. I have a new appreciation for the little things the kids do that are so adorable. I didn't realize how much I missed them. My mom is here, and she is soooo much help. I quite literally could not do this without her! So many people have been so helpful, thoughtful, and wonderful--family, friends, Rob's co-workers, people at Grace's preschool, and of course the ward. We are so, so blessed.

I have finally taken some more pictures and hopefully I will get them up on the Flickr site soon.

Which brings me to the most wonderful person of all, Rob. I have been through a lot physically the last few weeks, but Rob has had the harder job. As I try to list all the things he has done, it just doesn't do him credit. He has taken care of everything so that I would not have to worry at all. Every night that he possibly could, he brought Sammy and stayed with me at the hospital, then took care of all of the midnight feedings. That, in addition to being there as long as he could every day and doing anything for me that I couldn't do for myself. Then he would go home and take care of the girls. He kept the medical people on their toes and asked all the questions I didn't even know enough to ask. He gave me a number of blessings which brought me so much comfort and peace. He has been my emotional rock and has bolstered my faith. He has been Superdad. He brought food from the cafeteria when the hospital food was just too gross :) He nagged me to do all the annoying things they tell you to do so you won't get pneumonia or a DVT while you're in the hospital. He has told me all the way through that I am beautiful, even when I was completely distended and greasy-haired and had tubes coming out my nose. And he's never complained.

I know the problem with lists is that I've surely forgetten something huge. But I want to tell Rob how much I appreciate all the sacrifices he has made and continues to make. This may be corny, but some lines from this poem have been in my head when I've thought about Rob. The poem is Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden, and even though it is a poem of mourning, to me it's about the depth of love. (I took some liberties with the tense and with the last line...)

He is my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought I knew how much I loved him: I was wrong.

Thank you, Rob, for being my everything.

Update

2008-10-09T15:19:00.003-04:00

A quick update. As long as nothing drastic happens overnight, I should be able to go home tomorrow. I hesitate to say this for fear of jinxing myself, but that is the plan!

Second, this is how I look, particularly in the abdomen. At least this is how I feel like I look :)

Nectar from Heaven

2008-10-05T21:35:00.002-04:00

Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts! I can feel them, and I am feeling much stronger and ready to recover!

Since I got readmitted about 10 days ago, I have basically been forbidden from putting anything in my mouth. No food, no liquid, not even ice chips. It was pretty torturous, especially because I'm also kind of dehydrated. My mouth has been parched!

This morning, I was allowed to go onto "sips" of liquid.

I was sitting looking out the big, sunny window, holding Sam and having a nice conversation with Rob, and I took a drink of apple juice. It was so sweet, and it kind of slowly made its way through my dry mouth, waking up my tastebuds. Suddenly I was crying--I just tasted a little nectar from heaven.

Land of not what I expected: delux tour

2008-10-03T09:17:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone,

This is actually Rob posting for Julie--so the writing won't be quite as good as you normally expect. Since she posted last Julie's been stuck in the hospital, just waiting for her ileus to resolve. Then yesterday she developed a fever, and her White Blood Cell Count and heart rate both went sky high. The surgery team decided she needs exploratory surgery to make sure there wasn't any sort of injury from the C-section that they were missing on the CT scans.

In the OR they found a large hole in her cecum (the first portion of her large intestine). The contents of her GI tract had been draining through that hole into her abdomen for the last 8 days so it was full of all sorts of nasty stuff, which explains why she had such a bad ileus. They cut out a small section of her bowel reconnected the rest of it, and washed everything out really well. She's in the SICU now on very high powered antibiotics, so that they can make sure the bacteria from her belly doesn't get into her blood stream.

She's doing well and they hope that she'll be ready to leave the SICU tomorrow. She actually looks better now than she did before surgery. Her sense of humor is back, which is good. Her assessment of the situation after she came out of surgery last night--"so that was my problem, I was full of poop......"

We're grateful for the dedication of the nurses and the doctors currently taking care of her. We are also incredibly grateful for the love, concern and support we get from all of you.

Dispatches from the land of "Not What I Expected"

2008-09-28T21:22:00.002-04:00

Last week, I thought that today I would be sending the kids to church with Rob so that me and Sammy could stay home and rest. I was looking forward to a nice day home with the family.

But that was not meant to be.

I have spent the day in my lovely hospital room with a tube in my nose draining the contents of my stomach and intestines. I'm hooked up to my best friend, the IV, which loads me up with sugar water, pain meds and anti-nausea meds.

For some reason, abdominal surgery just doesn't agree with my body. The day after surgery, my belly filled with air so that I still look 9 months pregnant (though Rob tries to assure me it's more like 5). I was still functioning fine, so they sent me home, and that night I started getting sick. I was sick all the next day, and finally called the doc. They told me to come back to the hospital, so here I am. They say I am a medical mystery. There doesn't seem to be a reason for all the air, and nothing seems to make it better or worse, it just stays the same. I also have an illius, which means my bowels are still trying to wake up, which is why they are now draining through my nose. Lovely image, I know. It is a bit unpleasant, to say the least.

So, again, dear friends, I ask if you would say a little prayer if you think about it--that I could get better and go home! Thanks for all your support, I have loved getting your comments. Hopefully I will be back to posting pictures and fun updates soon!

Pictures!

2008-09-23T23:30:00.002-04:00

Sam! Isn't he handsome? It's doing that crazy rotating thing. Sorry. I've learned the only way to fix it is start over, and I'm too tired :)

So far the consensus is that Sam looks like his Daddy.

The most totally unflattering picture of both of us, but what can you do?

More to come later. Right now, I'm off to bed.

Bert's here!

2008-09-22T21:26:00.010-04:00

And he does have a name! Well, we're 99% set on the name :) We've dubbed him Samuel Robert. Sammy for now.

Sorry, we forgot the camera cord, but I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow cuz that's all that matters, right! He is a cutie--red hair, big round cheeks, beautiful skin. He measures in at a whopping 9 lbs, 1 oz and 21 inches. He looks kind of like a 3-wk old :) He was born at 3:40 am Monday morning by emergency section.

And now, time for Too Much Information again! If you don't want the gory details, stop now and go to the "Horror Stories" post, and take about half of my worst expectations and add a little drama, and that's basically it. Which sounds bad, but surprisingly, wasn't actually that bad at the time.

I'll try to keep this brief, kudos to you if you make it through the whole story!

So, I woke up at 4 am Sunday having some contractions that didn't just feel like Braxton-Hicks. I thought, "Today's the day!" Throughout the day Sunday, I had contractions sporadically, some really intense, others, not really. They weren't happening all that often, mostly 10-20 minutes apart. Finally we decided to take the girls to stay with our wonderful friends for the night, hoping we'd end up at the hospital. Around 10:30, contractions got a little more regular and more intense. At 11:30, we went to the hospital even though I wasn't sure it was really time. By midnight, the triage nurse informed me I was dilated to a 7. This surprised everyone, because I wasn't in that much pain. They took me back to the delivery room, and the nurse convinced me that if I had made it to this point so easily, I did not need an epidural. She said I had reached the peak of the pain, and the pain of pushing is different and isn't really numbed by the epidural, and that I'd push a lot more efficiently without it. So I decided to see if I could do it. Go me.

The doc came and broke my water, which had mecomium, so that was some cause for concern. The nurse was like, "you kind of seem like you're having back labor." And she was right, my back did hurt. She was an awesome nurse, and she did the counter-pressure thing for me and really helped me through the contractions. I went on like that for a couple of hours, at one point the baby's heart rate dipped, but changing my position brought it back up. Then suddenly my uterus went berzerk. I started having off the chart contractions one on top of the other. Um, ouch. Baby's heart dipped again. Changed position, got a shot to relax the uterus, and it went back up. I asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist took FOREVER to get to my room, and the contractions didn't relent the whole time. Ouch. Thought I was going to die. Finally got the epidural and started to feel I could relax, when baby's heart dipped yet again, and my own heartrate went sky-high. Next thing I knew, I was being whisked off to the operating room, on my hands and knees on the bed since that was the position that kept his heart rate up. When we got in there, his heart had dipped again, and words like "Stat" and "crash" were being thrown around which scared me a bit. By the time they let Rob in, they had already sliced down to my uterus--I thought he was going to miss the whole thing. But, out came the baby, and he went straight to the NICU team for evaluation to see if he had breathed in any meconium. Just as they were about to intubate him, he started to cry, thank goodness. Whew. End of drama.

The pediatrician kept a close eye on him for the morning, and he was fine. I got sewed up and drugged up, and I'm fine, too! Once the baby came out, the OB saw the size of his head and his general hugeness, and said she didn't think he would have made it out any other way than a c-section. So, even though things were a little scary, I actually felt very calm throughout, and I'm glad that I didn't have to push and push for hours before we figured out that he was just not going to make it out. AND, he had been completely face-up, so it was full-on back labor, and that would have made pushing harder.

I am so very grateful to have a healthy, beautiful baby boy! We are so blessed!

Pretty please

2008-09-19T10:26:00.002-04:00

Okay, I'm begging for mercy here. Bert needs to come today or tomorrow, or Rob will be into his vacation days, and he'll probably just lose his paternity days. And days off are awfully hard to get around here, so we would like to maximize them. So if it crosses your mind, could you please say a little prayer that Bert will be born? Many thanks in advance :) For my part, I plan to go to the park and walk around and around until labor starts or I collapse. Then if that doesn't work, I'll go buy a knitting needle and break my own water!

The state of Bert

2008-09-15T23:28:00.003-04:00

In case anyone is wondering, Bert is still cozied up in the womb. I actually got a good night's sleep last night and feel better today than I have in a while, so I don't think he's on his way out anytime soon. I have come to grips with him sticking around in there, I'm not as desperate as I was to get him out. We'll see what happens.

World's Worst Gardener

2008-09-09T23:21:00.005-04:00

This summer I didn't try to go all out on a garden. I just wanted a few tomatoes, and for the first time ever I planted zucchini. I was traumatized by all the zucchini I had to eat as a child, and have never wanted any of my own, but this summer it just sounded good. Must be the weird hormones. Plus, I thought it would give me an ego boost to have a plant overflowing with vegetables. But apparently, I cannot grow even zucchini. I get tons of big, beautiful flowers that shrivel up and fall off before they turn into anything.

Finally, I found this buried in the leaves:

Rob says I should have titled this post "When Urologists grow zucchini". Ha ha.

So far, I made a loaf of zucchini bread, which used about 1/8th of this monster. And we ate the whole thing in one day. And Grace calls it "bikini bread." So I guess I'll try to make a couple more loaves, and then I think my hankering for zucchini will be about done. So I guess it's alright that I'm the world's worst gardener :)

An unsolicited plug

2008-09-05T13:59:00.002-04:00

I just had the carpets cleaned, and the guys who did it were great. Polite, helpful, quick--they rounded DOWN when they charged me, and spot-cleaned the whole back of the couch which was recently "decorated" with red crayon by someone in our house (no names, here) for free. They listened to Grace tell them all about her baby brudder and her new curtains. So if you're thinking of getting your carpet done, I will give you their name!

Memo to Bert

2008-09-03T23:15:00.002-04:00

Dear Bert,
I know I've been sending you "stay in there" vibes for the last 9 months. But I've had a change of heart. Please come out now. You are enormous, and therefore, so am I. You "dropped", which was nice, but now you have filled up all that extra space and your feet are clear above my ribcage. If you stay in there much longer, you will be kicking me in the chin.

I don't know if this is completely your fault, but my kankles have progressed to full-on walrus feet, and I can't even wear my flip-flops anymore. Well, I do wear them because I can't go barefoot to the store, but when I take them off, there are big flip-flop shaped dents in my feet. What with the walrus feet and the attractive waddling, I hope I don't get put in the zoo. Also my hands are so swollen I can't straighten my fingers and they are all numb.

I know my hormones won't be back to normal for a while, but I think hormones plus discomfort plus fear have turned me into an unpredictable volcano. Your sister Grace will especially like having her mother back. That poor girl bears the brunt of Mount Mama's explosions. Plus she is really excited to meet you. If you come out soon, I will promise not to let her name you (how's that for motivation?). Otherwise, you might be named George, Scooby Doo, Gigham, or some other string of sounds that I can't reproduce. Lucky for you she has given up on the name Ian.

So, please Bert, make your grand entrance (or is that an exit?) and make it soon!

Love,
Mount Mama

Happy First Birthday to Vivian!

2008-08-26T23:54:00.003-04:00

It is SO hard to believe it has been a year since Viv was born! Everything happened so fast with her--we found out her birthmother chose us just a few months after we put our papers in, then her due date was in just 3 weeks, and she was born a week early! We got home from church that Sunday and had a bunch of messages that she had been born that morning, so we quickly packed up our bags and left for Kentucky early Monday morning. It was all very exciting and whirlwindy.

The rest of the year has kind of been whirlwindy, too :) But Viv has been the sweetest baby ever, and it has been a joy getting to know her over this year. We have really been able to watch her personality emerge, and she gets more fun every day. Viv just adores Grace, and it is so great to watch them starting to play together. We feel so blessed to be Vivian's parents!

Stranger Danger

2008-08-22T23:55:00.003-04:00

When Grace was a baby, we got stopped by a lot of people who want to look at babies and tell you how cute they are. I was SO proud to show her off, and loved the attention. Especially when she was really tiny and then people would tell me how great I looked :) (I just said thanks...) But as she got older, that tapered off. With Vivian's amazing hair, she seems to be getting us stopped more often as she gets older. Seriously, if I go grocery shopping in the morning when all the grandmas are out, it can add an extra half hour to the trip. Some people want to tell you about all their red-headed relatives. Some people want to know where the red hair came from (I always just say "her dad". Strangers don't need to know my reproductive history.) Lots of people tell me that their hair used to be that color. One lady told me that I had her baby. I said, "Oh, did you have one that looked like this?" She responded that no, she had prayed for 3 red-headed boys and got 3 blond girls. Well, so I got half her baby.

And now that I have red-headed Vivian and "look like I'm about to explode," I'm getting all kinds of comments. A lot of times, people see Viv first, then notice my belly and just kind of go "Oh! And another one on the way!" The other day, 2 people within 30 minutes asked me if "I'm done having kids after this." I just say "we'll see," while thinking "none of your darn business." One day, Rob was with me and a lady gave him the crude wink and told him "way to go, Dad."

Forgive me if I seem rude, cynical, and anti-social. I am grateful I really haven't had my stomach grabbed by any strangers... probably because Viv is usually on top of it :) I'm going to blame my attitude on the hormones!

Happy Anniversary (belated...)

2008-08-18T22:53:00.003-04:00

You might not have noticed that I am special-daytarded. Can I blame it on pregnancy? My brain isn't working quite right because all the blood is flowing to the baby?

Anyway, I am so lucky to be married to Rob, and 9 years have flown by! I thought I'd copy the fun number game I've seen other people do...

1 pregnancy

2 trips to Europe

3 kids (almost)

4 years in a trailer in Iowa

5 trips to Hawaii

we'll spend 6 years in Michigan

I'm glad it's not 7 :)

8 months from our first date to our wedding

9 fantastic years together

I love you dear!!!!

Horror stories wanted

2008-08-12T23:14:00.003-04:00

This summer a bunch of friends have been having babies and sending out pictures. I have been alarmed to notice that immediately after giving birth, they are holding full-grown human babies. I am getting freaked out by the prospect of pushing my own full-grown baby out of what I can't help but notice is a fairly small opening in my body. I have never been in excruciating pain, even for a few minutes, and I'm not sure I'm ready for hours/days of it. In fact, I hear that Braxton-Hicks contractions aren't painful, but I kind of stop and go "ouch", so apparently I am a BIG WIMP, and that kind of worries me.

I took a childbirth class, and it actually made me more confused about how I want to give birth. Basically, what I got out of it was this:

moan/grunt primally
just tell yourself you can do it
your body knows what it's doing
giving birth laying on your back in a bed with lots of wires and tubes going in and out of you is the worst possible position
vaccines and circumcision are evil

And we watched a couple of disturbing videos.

I have never felt the need to have an unmedicated birth, but actually some of what they were saying made sense. Something about letting my body do its thing, about being able to get up and move, and lie in a tub or do what feels best was appealing. I don't really like the idea of being stuck in a bed with a huge needle in my spine. But I have a feeling that you really have to be 100%, fully and totally committed to unmedicated birth to not end up having an epidural. And I am not 100% committed. So, here is the big question: If I am pretty sure that I will end up having an epidural anyway, is there any point to trying to hold out for a while without?

I have also heard that you shouldn't listen to other people's horror stories, but I want to be prepared for the worst. So far, I am expecting to be a week overdue, to be in labor for 3 days, then push for 6 hours, only to find out that this baby inherited Rob's gargantuan cranium and it can't even be vacuumed out, so they will have to slice me open and pull him all the way back out the other way. And I hear back labor is bad, so I'm expecting that, too. Oh, and horrible tears in all directions, and black eyes from pushing so hard.

So please send your wisdom, advice, and horror stories to help me as I wander into this great unknown!

Viv's sealing

2008-08-04T23:41:00.003-04:00

This post is a week late, but Rob and I were sealed to Vivian last Saturday in the Detroit temple! It was an exciting and busy weekend as all of our families came to town. We were so glad everyone (almost) could make it! We know it was a sacrifice for people to make the quick trip. On Sunday we blessed Viv, and Rob's brother Jared blessed their new baby, Tanner. So it was wonderful that Rob's whole family could be there for both of those blessings.

It was wonderful to be in the temple, and it was so amazing to be there with Grace and Vivian! I've said it before, but I really feel lucky that we have been able to actually physically go with the girls to be sealed, and not just have them "born in the covenant." Being in the temple with them is a great experience. I will kind of miss that with this upcoming baby. Grace did really well with being reverent while she was in the temple. Vivian did not like having to hold still during the ceremony! But it was still great to be there together and to know that our family is forever. I had been kind of stressed out right until we got to the temple, but once we got inside, my perspective came back and a wonderful calm came over me :) That's one reason why I love the temple.

Vivian's blessing was beautiful. I love that Rob is so in tune with the Spirit, I always feel like what he says is really what Heavenly Father wants said. She was blessed with a bright and shining testimony, which I loved. I feel like if she has that, everything else in her life will fall into place. And then she was blessed to be a good influence on her "brothers and sister" which completely threw me for a loop and I don't remember anything else after that :)

Third trimester

2008-07-22T17:22:00.004-04:00

When other people are pregnant, I always feel like they are prego forever. I'm one of those annoying people who are like, "When are you due again?" When what I really mean is, "Haven't you had that kid yet, you've been pregnant forever?" But my own pregnancy has gone SO fast. I still haven't wrapped my head around it yet, and I am starting to feel like I'm not prepared for a baby. I mean, psychologically I don't think I will be until it happens. But physically, I haven't done much of anything. We have a crib (thanks to Naomi!) but I haven't done much else. Finally took a childbirth class, but haven't done the hospital tour. All that jazz.

I am starting to feel very third-trimester-ish, though. You know, big as a house, swollen everywhere. This child is apparently getting ready for the Olympic gymnastics try-outs in my abdomen and when I bend over, he lets me know he is squished by kicking me in the ribs. This is really the biggest challenge, because with Viv around, I have to bend over a lot. Also, carrying her and Bert around gets really tiring. In general, everything is tiring. I feel exhausted most of the time. Just getting the girls dressed leaves me feeling ready for a nap. The other day I had to go downstairs for something and I nearly started to cry. I know that sounds insane. And actually the most tiring part of the week is going to church. At home, Viv can crawl wherever and it's fine. At church, I have to keep her squirmy self entertained, which means lots of down and up, and pulling her out of other people's diaper bags, and picking up a million cheerios and dropped toys, etc. off the floor. And I really can't bend over from a sitting position without spreading my legs all the way out to make room for my stomach. In a skirt, this does not work. So I have to get all the way up, try to gracefully squat between benches, then haul myself off the floor, sometimes while also holding a 20-lb. baby. It's just a spectacle, I'm sure.

Alright, this is getting really boring! Bottom line is: the next 2 months will be a challenge. But I'm up for it.

Also, I have a goal to get a picture of my large self on a day when I've combed my hair and put on makeup :) But for now, I toss my pride to the wind and post this lovely picture, taken with the timer and the camera propped between a couple of paint cans!

Turns out we're cool

2008-07-21T12:00:00.003-04:00

I just want to point out that we picked the name Vivian BEFORE Brad and Angelina. We didn't use the fancy French spelling, but hey, we are still cool :) Trendsetters, even. And I'm sure that Vivian is way cuter than their kid.

Ramblings

2008-07-10T20:10:00.004-04:00

Today I saw a scooter parked on the side of the road, and it transported me back in time. I could feel the sun on my arms and wind in my hair. It was amazing how vividly physical it was, especially considering that it's been 10 years since I rode a scooter! And it wasn't even my scooter, a kind friend loaned it to me until I could buy a car. I hadn't thought about that friend for a long time....

I am not one to live in the past at all. Maybe because I am living the life I always wanted. Some days I wonder why I wanted it :) Things haven' turned out the way I expected and it is not perfect or without challenges. But I have 2 great kids and a wonderful husband. I get to stay at home with them and watch them grow every day. I have everything I need, and lots of things that I want. We have hope for a good future.

I have lots of good memories. Most of them are simple, like the feel of the sun on my arms. My life has not been in any way remarkable, but I think I've muddled through okay. I have definitely come a long way, and I still have a long way to go to becoming the kind of person I would like to be. I'm content with my life.

Another reason I'm a fuddy-duddy

2008-07-08T16:05:00.002-04:00

I've been looking for a dresser on Craigslist. Today, in response to my inquiry, I got this email:

Picking It up Saturday Would B Fine But I Would Need It Paid 4 2day 2 hold it.

I'm so annoyed by this ridiculous response that I don't think I'll buy the darn dresser. How much longer does it take to type "today" than "2day"????

Happy Belated Birthday to Rob

2008-07-07T11:47:00.010-04:00

What better time than the day after Rob's birthday to talk about how great he is? Rob is absolutely the greatest thing that has ever happened to me in my life, and I am still not sure how I got so lucky that he wanted to spend forever with me. He is the most conscientious, kind, and hard-working person I know. Also the smartest.

Just for example, Rob was training a new intern last week, and he had his "power weekend", which means he was on call Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plus he had been on call every other night for the last 2 weeks. He was pretty exhausted. He could have made his intern take as much of the call as he wanted, as a "learning experience", but he only gave him Sunday. Some of the other residents asked why he hadn't given him the whole weekend (and I kind of wondered the same thing....) but Rob just felt that it would be too cruel. I admire that he does what he feels is the right thing, even if it isn't the easiest path. This last year has been pretty grueling for him, but he has stuck to his values in an environment where they are not the norm. Although (those of you who know Rob will find this funny) he did drop the F-bomb once :) Accidentally, of course!

Also, Rob spent his vacation week stuck in what will soon be Grace's room, pulling off wallpaper and then reconstructing the walls so that we could paint. This was certainly not his first choice of ways to spend that time, but it needed to be done and that was the only time that was available. So he made the sacrifice and did it.

I am grateful for Rob, and the way he tries his best to put his family first and to leave work behind and just be with us when he can. He's the greatest husband any woman could wish for! Happy Birthday, dear!

Icky week

2008-07-02T00:23:00.002-04:00

If you have a weak stomach, or are just sick of me providing too much information, please stop reading now. I know I have got to stop posting about bodily functions and other gross things. But someday, when the kids are all grown up, won't I want to remember times like this? Won't I look back and miss these days? Maybe not.....
We have been hit with our second round of stomach flu this year--my least favorite thing in the whole wide world. Thank goodness only one vomit per child, but that is more than enough. Now, if this is too disgusting, please tell me and I will delete it..... but I find it kind of funny, and very telling about Grace. I actually thought that she had made it through without any yakking, but when I went to get a pot out of the cupboard today, there was a strange kind of liquid on the bottom. I was looking and looking at it, trying to figure out where on earth it had come from and said out loud, "What is this???" Grace was at the table, and helpfully answered, "I spit up, I was looking for a bowl." Alrighty, then. Guess it didn't bother her too much.
Another highlight was the evening that Vivian had her "monkey" moment in the crib. All I will say is this: I walked in the room, and there was Viv, clinging to the side of the crib wailing, and for some reason one cheek was brown (along with the sheets, crib rails, bumpers, etc.). Heaven help me.
And, to top it all off, today my toenail fell off, which totally grosses me out. Pulling off your own toenail is as bad as having to pull a loose tooth. ICK!

Random Factoids

2008-06-23T16:39:00.004-04:00

Today, a bunch of random things the kids do that I am sure I will forget soon:

Grace loves to dance in front of the TV, where she can see herself like in the mirror

Right now she is really into Laurie Berkner, and that is how we motivate her to get into her carseat quickly

Viv also likes to dance, she tucks her chin into her chest and bops

Viv loves to crawl over to the powerstrip and unplug the modem

Viv seems to like to sleep with her face buried in the mattress

This morning, out of the blue, Grace started theatrically grabbing her arm saying, "My elbow is freaking, my elbow is freaking! My arm aches, my arm aches!" Then she collapsed into a chair, saying, "I'm going to died!" She is still alive and her arm seems fine!

Grace LOVES berries. Eating them, picking them, reading books about them. Right now her 2 favorites are Jamberry and Berry Magic. And she just found a movie where Max and Ruby go pick berries--heaven.

Grace doesn't like me to sing along with her music.

Viv claps by slapping her tummy.

Grace recently had a potty training relapse, and the way she got back on track was by having Rob bring home and orange for her each day she kept her panties dry. Who knew the motivation she needed was an orange????

Grace's "dot blanklie" is apparently a girl. She has started referring to it as "her."

Viv likes to pull things over her face, then she has a spaz until she pulls it off and you say "Peekaboo." This is one of the few things that makes her laugh.

Viv crawls by pushing off on one leg, while the other stays still, kind of like she's on a scooter.

Grace can't wait for Christmas. She asks almost every day when Santa is coming. She also likes to play trick or treat.

Viv has quick hands. We have to keep the baby food far away from her! She figured out the whole pincer grasp in about 2 days, and she has already figured out how to undo the latch on Homer's crate (that might have just been luck).

Little foodie

2008-06-16T22:29:00.005-04:00

Today's quote from Grace. It's actually more like another monologue. All given while pulling leaves off various plants in the little garden and placing them in a little pot.

"Now, we're going to use some scallions. If you don't have any scallions, you can use glitter. Next we'll put in some parsley. If you don't have any parsley, you can use tomato sauce or whatever else you have at your house."

I remember when I was little I read all the "Little House on the Prairie" books. At night, I would lay in bed pretending to write up my day like Laura Ingalls Wilder. I guess now everyone does that--we just call it blogging :) But I think Grace pictures herself as the host of a TV show. As long as she sticks with the Food network, I'm okay with that!

I didn't get a picture of the cooking show, but here is a totally unrelated picture that Grace took a couple of days ago. I like it.

Body parts are dropping like flies

2008-06-14T23:04:00.002-04:00

First to go was my waist, of course. But it has been reincarnated as a huge, pulsating mass around my middle, which I am pretty much obsessed with. I don't even notice how my face looks any more because any time I'm in front of the mirror, I'm staring at my belly. This is good, because the next to bite the bullet was my chin. Actually, it's now more like 3 chins, directly connecting my jaw to my ribs. So I'd rather pretend they aren't there. And, now that it's hot out, my ankles have bought the farm. I really miss them. And finally, my belly button is circling the drain. I guess I won't miss it too much, but I had gotten used to having it around. Sayonara, old buddy. Sayonara.

It must be done

2008-06-10T23:50:00.004-04:00

But for months I have not been able to bring myself to do it. Two things, actually. We need to get rid of the cable (and therefore all TV) and we need to find a new home for Homer.

I don't think I watch that much TV, and especially now that it's summer there isn't much I'm interested in. But it's just knowing that I could sit down and watch if I wanted to. Veg for a while. I know, I know, I should read a book instead. Or just go to bed early. Or play Boggle with Rob. Millions of things to do instead of watching TV. But sadly it is hard to let go of. It is just so easy to sit down and flip a switch.

And then there's the really hard one: Homer. We have had Homer for almost 7 years. Homer brought me some emotional stability through the years when I wanted a baby so badly that I was really pretty crazy. It was Rob's idea to get a dog, and according to him it was pure revelation. I totally believe that. I just can't explain how having him around helped me.

But things change, and now I find myself annoyed with him pretty much any time he isn't asleep. He just adds a little too much chaos to life, and with little Bert on the way, it's more chaos than I'm prepared to handle. The hardest part is going to be breaking the news to Grace, and helping her say goodbye. I tear up just thinking about it, or maybe it's because I'm thinking about me saying goodbye. The other day she said to him, "You're my best friend forever." Granted, pretty much everyone is her best friend right now. I'm sure she'll recover quickly, but I just dread that moment of watching him walk away with another family. Some days I think we could make it work, that we should make it work. But we think it would be better to have him gone before the baby gets here. This is for the best, right?

So, if you know anyone who might want to provide a good home for a beagle who is really a good dog, send them our way.

This time of year

2008-05-26T21:50:00.002-04:00

This time of year is kind of sad when you live in a ward full of students. We are losing a few good friends this year, and I am going to miss them!!! But of course, we are happy for them to be moving onward and upward. And it is a nice reminder that someday we will be moving on, too :) There have been weeks, especially in the dead of this dreary MI winter, when it has felt like time is standing still and that residency will go on forever. But Spring brings evidence that people finish and go on with life, and we are starting to feel like we can say "We made it through 2nd year!" Hooray!

Rob gets to say "I told you so"

2008-05-19T14:37:00.004-04:00

For the last few months, every time I look in the mirror and Rob is home, I whine to him about how awful my skin is. It is zitty, wrinkly, and bumpy. Just all around bad. I complain for the millionth time that he should have gone into Dermatology. And Rob tells me the problem is that I use too many products.

This is my usual "beauty" routine, which I don't think is that over the top:

Morning: blackhead-clearing scrub, moisturizer with SPF
Night: Make-up remover, anti-acne soap, anti-acne astringent, super duper wrinkle free night-time moisturizer, and some Clearasil on the worst spots

He goes on to (self-righteously?) epxlain that he only washes his face once a day with Dove soap, and that's what I should do too. And I roll my eyes.

So finally, mostly just to prove to him how very right I am, I agreed to try it for a week. I was sure I would look like this, and it would serve him right to have to look at me:

So, for one week my "beauty" routine has been this:

Morning: moisturizer with SPF (and sometimes I splash my face with water first)
Night: Dove soap and makeup remover

The week is over, and guess what? I think my face actually looks better. Not perfect, but better. Certainly not like Miss Stain-on-her-shirt there. I'm amazed! And I'm publicly admitting, yes Rob, you were right.

This is great--it's saving me time and money. But I'm not throwing out all my "products" yet, just in case :)

A real person

2008-05-13T00:23:00.002-04:00

Grace drew her first picture of a person. It is classic!

The eyes didn't scan in very well, but they are there. And that lump under the head? A bottom. Now that Grace is doing pretty well at using the toilet, maybe we should stop talking about these things quite so much.

It's a.....

2008-05-03T00:31:00.003-04:00

After this last preisthood session at conference, Rob came home and declared that we need to have 3 boys so that he can go to Preisthood with them. It looks like we are going to be a third of the way there :) We are thrilled! Little Bert gave us a pretty clear view, so it seems pretty certain. Wow! We also saw him yawn, wave, and stretch. He appears to have all his limbs, etc., but we will get the official report next week. It is still kind of hard to believe there is another person inside my belly. This made it seem much more real. Frankly, I am scared of little boys, having never spent more than a couple of hours with any of them. It's hard to imagine myself as a mom of a boy right now--I know nothing about sports, tractors, or any other boy stuff! But we were kind of hoping for a boy (thinking ahead to the teenage years...) so we are excited!

Now that we know the gender and have some pictures, we decided to tell Grace that there is a baby in my tummy. I was nervous that she would be all confused, but she was very excited! She made her adorable excited/surprised face, with her eyes and mouth wide open. Then when we told her she could talk to the baby in there, she loved it. She started peering into my belly button and said she could see him in there. Now she can't wait for him to pop out! She keeps asking when he's coming. She talks to my stomach all the time now, and it even gets some kisses. It is the sweetest thing ever.

Breakthrough!

2008-04-30T14:17:00.002-04:00

I think we might finally be getting somewhere on the potty training! Grace and I have both apparently reached our "zen" place, and Grace is kind of taking over and figuring it out. We dropped all the stickers, all the treats, all the timers, and just went for basics. Grace, in panties, free to roam. Oh, and the promise of pizza for dinner once she got her poop in the potty :) Well tonight we are having pizza!!! She just went and did it, on her own, no sitting on the potty for 45 minutes reading books or watching potty training videos. I was blown away! I am so proud of her!!! And relieved that we didn't have to put off going to kindergarten because she was still in diapers :) You start to worry about these things....

One silly kid

2008-04-26T00:08:00.001-04:00

Wow, two posts in one night. Tonight, I'm playing with pictures, which I actually haven't done for a long, long time. Just downloaded Picasa and tried their collage tool. Kind of fun. Viv makes the silliest faces. I can't believe how grown up she seems all of a sudden. And I have to say.... thank goodness for Spring! This winter felt like it would never end.

Blossoms

2008-04-25T23:00:00.003-04:00

I took a couple of shots today of myself and Viv. Partly because I don't think I have any of the two of us since she was in the hospital. But also in honor of: 1. Viv's 8 month birthday 2. Me being 1/2 way through pregnancy (note the bump/pooch) 3. The 3 days a year this tree in our front yard is not an eyesore.

One of my many fears

2008-04-09T22:33:00.001-04:00

Clarification

2008-04-07T21:29:00.003-04:00

Rob says the question I actually needed to ask was "Would you wear that shirt out of the house?" then he amended it to "Would you make this a wardrobe staple?"

Also, FYI, I am mortified at how many people have been reading the beaver post to their husbands! I was only picturing women as my audience. But I'm glad people find it funny and not just offensive :)

Informal survey

2008-04-04T13:48:00.004-04:00

For $2.24 would you keep this shirt? Be honest now, this is very important :)

The Urologist's Wife

2008-04-01T14:57:00.002-04:00

The girls and I were at a Match Day party a couple of weeks ago, and one of the other residents asked where Rob was. I (kind of sarcastically) said I would give him 3 guesses. He aptly replied, "Oh, he's looking at people's private parts." So there it is, laid bare! I usually don't think about the fact that that is what my husband does all day, and he himself has acknowledged that it is pretty surreal. But it's true.

So I know people are wondering why anyone would choose Urology. Well, once you get over the whole "looking at private parts" thing, it's really a great field. Considering the other bodily functions that doctors have to deal with, urine is really not that bad. I mean, it's really just yellow water. Warm yellow water :) Patients are generally healthy, with a specific problem that the doc can fix and send them on their very merry and grateful way. And Rob really has the right personality for making people feel comfortable when dealing with potentially embarassing problems. After residency, the lifestyle will be good. And he likes that his time will be pretty well divided between seeing people in his office and going to the operating room. So now you know!

And this brings me to a point. Somehow, we got talking about "private parts" (it happens pretty often around here), and Rob informed me of what I think is a wacky trend. This is probably just revealing myself for the true fuddy-duddy that I am--you, my informed and hip readers, may have already embraced this trend. Apparently, all the young ladies these days are shaving "down there". Not just the bikini shave, but BALD. Beaver free. I think this is sick and wrong, not to mention bizarre. The only reasons I can think of to do this are bad ones. So have I been living under a rock, or is this normal? Just wondering.

False Alarm!

2008-03-31T16:00:00.001-04:00

Whew! Viv's x-rays came back normal, so no gigantic cast for her! We thought she might have a dislocated hip, which sometimes happens just from a baby's position in the womb or being born breech. I'm so glad this is something we don't have to deal with right now!