The Morrill Times

Christian update -- 15 months!

2011-09-19T17:31:00.023-06:00

playing

Christian's first birthday! As expected, LOVED cake.

Family reunion hike -- too much for him.

Liked to sit there and spin the lamp shade -- also unplug vital cords.

Kate's tormenting him here. Look at those LONG lashes!

Cute! (He always has kind of crazy hair because I'm the one cutting it, and I have no idea how to cut hair! Especially on a kid that is constantly moving. I think my second try was better than the first, though. Hopefully I will keep improving.)

Hahahahaha!

One of Christian's favorite pastimes -- destroying Mommy's desk.

Eating a tire...?

Emptying the cupboards and sitting in a 9x13 pan.

Wow -- what a crazy, crazy summer. Things are finally settling down, and maybe I'll get to posting about this summer at some point, but I wanted to get a Christian update going-- because this little guy deserves one.

So much to say about this little man -- he is such a sweetheart.

First off, this guy will eat anything you put in front of him...or behind him....or under him...he loves food! And non-food items alike (rocks, dirt, pine cones, dried up chewed gum, etc.). In sacrament meeting we often sit by the same family because we are usually late and sit way in the back so that others can still enjoy sacrament meeting. We end up sharing snacks and books. Last week, she had brought Wasabi peas. Christian has never had them (I only had them for the first time a few years ago), and so she gave him one to see if he would like it -- as they are HOT/spicy. He put it to his lips and instantly looked confused as he pulled it away from his mouth -- like, "What? I don't like this? That can't be right." He tried again to put in his mouth, and quickly spit it out, again looking bewildered. He tried a third time with no success. I finally took it from him and was going to put the slobbery mess away. But he got angry and wanted to keep trying it. Finally, he got it in and ate it up! He gave me a big grin -- and was clearly pleased that he had mastered Wasabi peas. I mean, come on, this kid eats thorns for breakfast -- he won't let actual food go to waste! :)

As you can see from the picture above, he LOVES to get into things -- everything. Like food, he is not particular. He likes to open and disassemble, empty, or otherwise destroy any semblance of organization.

The Fourth of July was interesting -- deserves its own post -- but we were shocked to find that Christian loves fireworks! I've never heard of a 1 year old who enjoys being right below bombs, but whatever. It made the 4th much more enjoyable than I was expecting! He actually started laughing when they went off -- a little disturbing for my Mommy senses...

He can climb like nobody's business! Climbs on everything he can. Andrew has told me how he, as a young child, could scale door frames -- to the top! I see that in the future.

Christian started walking like crazy around 14 months, I think. After he saw Lindsay's daughter (near his age and size) walking -- he just watched her intently while she was over . Then that night he started walking tons! It's like he thought, "Well, if she can do it, I can do it, too!" He was VERY pleased with himself.

Christian has a 99th percentile head! Runs in the family...he is not as tall as Kate was at his age, but still in the 70th percentile or something. At the doctor's visit, he was running circles around the room. The doctor was like, "Wow, he's a busy guy!" That he is.

He's generally a good-natured guy, though sometimes likes to scream at the top of his lungs -- out of frustration. If he is always moving, then he is usually happy. Try to keep him confined in a grocery cart or stroller -- look out! He much prefers to be out pushing those things than resting in them.

He is crazy if he is let out of carts at stores -- and will RUN everywhere as fast as he can go, with Kate screaming at me the whole time, "He's getting LOST!!" When he sees me coming, he giggles and turns the other way and runs. Small comparison -- when I took Kate to stores as a kid his age, she would sit happily in the cart and dance to the music playing and wave at all the strangers. Now I have a little Houdini getting out of his strap and trying to jump to his death. Oh the stress.

I've let Christian develop a bad sleeping habit -- he sleeps with me! It's bad now, and I haven't yet found the will to break it cause I'm usually dead tired by the time I get to go to sleep. But it is time. As much as I dislike having him sleep in my bed, there are things I do enjoy about it, too. He is so cuddly and curls up on me -- I love it. He's usually too busy during the day to spend too much time cuddling, so I do love that time with him. But I know I need to put him in his crib! Argh. One thing that really drives me crazy is that he likes to lay across my neck! I have woken up in the night struggling to breathe because he's laying on my neck. That's scary. There have been times when he goes to sleep like that, and I have to tell myself not to fall asleep until I move him -- for fear of not waking up...This probably sounds crazy to most people who would never let things like this happen -- but I get so desperate for him to fall asleep sometimes that I will put up with almost anything. He just goes and goes and goes until he finally passes out!

The only thing he really says at this point is "Uh oh" and "Oh wow!" Both are very cute. He is starting to make animal sounds, but can mostly just do "Mooo." Lately, he really likes monkeys (I think he can relate).

He is very opposite of Kate in so many ways, but he sure does adore her. She is generally very sweet and helpful with him. They are best little buddies sometimes, and seeing them play and laugh together warms my heart every time and sometimes chokes me up.

He cracks all of us up with his antics and the cute noises he makes (especially when reading), and he really enjoys driving Kate crazy sometimes -- doing things she tells him not to just to get under her skin. For example, she got a pillow out for him and one for her and told him NOT to lay on hers. Well, as soon as she sat up from her pillow -- he jumped on her pillow, laid flat, and rubbed himself all over it, giggling wildly. It was great.

Tonight at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries he learned how to dip his fries in fry sauce. He was good at just dipping a little and then eating, so I was surprised when I glanced over at him and he had the fry sauce cup tipped back and was chugging it! That gave us all a good laugh. He's definitely a character!!

PS Did I mention how I can't wait til he can go to nursery??

Like it and You're Entered to Win! :)

2011-07-09T11:17:00.009-06:00

Hey, if you haven't "liked" Andrew's Photography page on Facebook yet -- go now! Here's the link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Morrill-Photography/154174881322253. If you already have -- thank you!! We're going for 1000 likes and then Andrew will have a random drawing from the people liking it for a 11 x 14 color picture of his of your choice! It'll be printed on aluminum (it practically glows -- it's awesome) and ready to hang on your wall.

Thanks for your support, everyone!! Tell your friends! :)

Blog posts about kids and 4th of July coming soon!

Moab Arts Festival

2011-05-31T21:54:00.005-06:00

Andrew's awesome booth at the show

We had a nice time in a peaceful meadow yesterday, after all the art show hubbub. Kate took a long nap on a blanket -- in the sunshine with the birds chirping. Christian crawled all over her, I stepped on her more than once (on accident of course!) and she still didn't wake up. I think it was the best nap of her life.

We had an exhausting time in Moab this past weekend. I am too tired for much commentary, but wanted to post a few pics since I haven't in a LONG time. This is basically why -- Andrew's art show stuff. It has been consuming our lives for the past while. Christian is cute, by the way! I will post some other pictures of him soon -- once I can catch my breath. I need to post his year update soon! (at the end of this month). Crazy!

Andrew has 5 or 6 shows this summer, so it's going to be busy! I will post more, though, now. I just got some software put back on my computer so I can upload my pics again. It's been too long!

Update

2011-04-14T22:30:00.002-06:00

Not sure how this works in Google Reader, but I just changed the last post to include Chapter 2 as well. Not sure if there will be confusion or not. Oh no -- it was a last second decision! Ahh!

Memoir installment #2

2011-04-14T20:46:00.011-06:00

I haven't put in pictures to my memoir -- not sure that I will. Maybe in the back or something. So here is a picture that goes along with the story. And I'm sure my brother Paul will mention that my brothers did most of the digging -- and I mostly did the playing. :)

Okay, so here is the second installment of my memoir (a link to the pdf so you don't have to click on the pages individually -- that was annoying). This installment includes the first installment (retitled Preface), a new prologue, and the first and second chapter. I have like a title page thing for the chapters with very crude drawings (I don't mean gross) that I'm not sure works, but this is obviously all a rough draft. I liked the idea of having drawings that looked like I drew them as a kid or something.

I would have waited to put the second chapter on, but Chapter 1 really flows into Chapter 2, so I decided to add it. Chapter 2 is a little depressing, and I was unsure if I wanted to have it in there at all, but there it is. I hope it works.

Christian at 8 Months

2011-02-24T11:14:00.018-07:00

His sweet face! Can't believe it's been 8 months (today)! He's getting SO big!!

(Really. He is SO big -- it's killing me to carry this kid!)

Here he is practicing his new skill...standing/cruising.

This next section is meant to be like a flip book. I was too lazy to make a slide show or anything else. So -- here is Christian getting into the laundry -- literally.

"Look at me, Ma -- I'm standing -- AGAIN!"

"Mmm, smells great! I love fresh laundry!"

"I think you know what I'm thinking, Ma. I can't help myself!"

"Wahooooo -- wait a minute. This isn't so comfy. Hey -- you with the camera. Get me out of here."

"Ahh heck. one more smile for the camera."

"Now seriously. Get me out of here."

Wow, Christian has been developing by leaps and bounds lately! Last week, as I was rinsing dishes and loading them into the dishwasher, Christian was crawling around the kitchen (on the search for anything life-threatening no doubt), when he took interest in the open dishwasher. He started grabbing at the door, and the next thing I knew he had pulled himself into a kneeling position. Surprised, I congratulated him. He had never done that before. I continued rinsing dishes, only to look over next and find him standing by the washer clutching a knife (from the washer) and wearing a very large grin.

This kid doesn't stop. He is not interested in sitting. He still doesn't even sit very well, actually (meaning, he still flops over sometimes). He just has no interest in remaining stationary. I'll sit him down (which is really hard to do in the first place because he always sticks his legs straight out and won't allow himself to be seated), and then about half second later he's gotten himself down to the ground to go exploring again (and, of course, stuffing dangerous objects into his mouth as fast as he can). Getting him to hold still long enough to change his diaper is a true feat! (And just forget about trying to change his diaper at church.)

It is clear that walking is his goal. Now that he can stand, he will race over to the couch, pull himself up with ease, and start "cruising". He is very happy and proud of himself when he is standing tall. He looks SO little to me still, though. It seems very unnatural for my little infant (in my mind) to be standing and trying to walk around. I guess he takes after Andrew -- from what I hear Andrew was walking (and very shortly thereafter -- running) at 9 months. I would not be surprised to see Christian walking by next month. I thought Kate was an early walker at 11 months. Man. (Hmm...just checked earlier blog posts and realized that Kate was cruising at 8 months, too. I guess he's not that far ahead of her!)

Christian is generally very happy. He gives big sweet smiles, and will often (when he's getting sleepy) lay his cheek against mine, and we'll just sit there "cuddling." Despite his love for exploring, he still loves to be held, and he will almost jump out of my arms in excitement when I pick him up (if he's been crying for that). He loves to yell (happily) and bang his arms on the ground while kicking his legs up and down. It's really funny.

He sleeps all night long now, which is so wonderful I can hardly stand it.

He has two bottom teeth with no sign of others.

He lets me feed him for a few minutes before wrestling the spoon away from me so he can play with it. It's really not a fair fight -- the kid is strong!

He loves his big sister, and he will even tolerate her cleaning between his toes (a compulsion of hers -- she has to clean out her toes after taking her socks off before she can do anything else. Now she has to clean Christian's toes, too. Not sure how long I will let this go on...) I will come into the living room sometimes, and Kate will be smacking his chest and stomach way harder than I think she should be. I start to scold her, but she'll respond, "He likes it!" And sure enough he'll start laughing hysterically. Who can argue with that. She is always watching out for him and making sure he doesn't put (too many) little things into his mouth.

Christian makes a great travel/errand companion. He just loves to get out of the house and rarely complains. We were in the light section at Lowe's the other day, and I think he thought he had died and gone to heaven.

I would be posting more pictures, but since my computer crashed a few weeks ago I don't have Photoshop set up on my computer (and am having problems getting it to install). But he's a beautiful, beefy boy -- and oh do we love him!!

A Child's Prayer

2011-02-12T21:43:00.004-07:00

Kate's prayer tonight was the sweetest thing I've ever heard. It's taken a while for her to grasp what prayers are. She has always rushed through them, making it as short as possible, saying, "When I'm a teenager I'll say long prayers." For whatever reason, that has changed in the last couple weeks. Here's her prayer from tonight--

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the world.

Thank you for the earth.

Thank you for my body.

Thank you for my spirit.

Thank you for my heart.

Thank you for my family.

Thank you for my mom and dad.

Thank you for my little brother.

Thank you for my happy family days.

Thank you for Valentine's Day.

Thank you for my new big bed.

Thank you I can go to heaven.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

A couple nights ago we read the intro to the New Testament stories book, and it was all about the Plan of Salvation. She has been very upset at the thought of dying -- for quite a while now. As we read, she cried and cried, and said that Heavenly Father needed to make Earth prettier (so there would be no need, in her mind, to go to the Celestial Kingdom). We talked at length about death and the resurrection, etc., and I thought she was feeling better, so I continued reading. Then she'd start crying again, and would hug me, saying, "I want you to go to the Celestial Kingdom with me. I want to go together." SO SWEET.

I've always felt it important to talk to her about death while she is young so that she will be as prepared as she can be for when someone she knows dies. You never know when it might happen, and I want her to understand it as best she can before it does. I've wondered if maybe she was too young to talk to about it, but I just feel that she should know -- it's just a fact of life that you can't get around. I couldn't have dreamed up a sweeter little kid!

installment 1 -- a prologue to my memoir (read my post below first)

2011-01-19T09:27:00.013-07:00

Okay, now before you start reading...let me say a few things. This is the prologue I've written for my memoir I'm working on (that I mentioned in my New Year's post). It is, I think, overly dramatic (and maybe taking myself too seriously). But sometimes that's how I roll, so I don't know what to do about that. I was feeling overly dramatic when I wrote it. Keep in mind this has not gone through much revising (and I don't really know if it will end up working as part of the whole -- since the whole has not been written yet). The second part of the prologue, I hope, does not sound controversial to any of you. I was not trying to be.

I'm also not sure if I will write the past in present tense or not -- I haven't so far.

I've only written about one chapter of the memoir -- and it's completely out of chronological order, so I'm not sure when or how I'll get to the beginning of the story. I just wrote what I felt like writing at the time. So, with Larson's suggestion, I am posting this on here, but I don't know if/when I'll be posting more. And if I do, it likely won't be in order of how it would actually appear in the book.

So...with that -- here's what I have so far. You'll have to click on the images of the pages -- you should be able to click on it again to enlarge it to a comfortable reading size. (Okay, this is kind of scary putting this out there...)

For comparison...

2011-01-15T22:31:00.004-07:00

Kate at six months...

I was browsing through old photos of Kate the other day, and I was shocked when I came across this one. She looks like she should be on a starving kids infomercial! I guess she's never had much on her bones. Geez!

Christian at six months...

Christian on the other hand...I realize the two do not look very much alike in these pics, but I have seen some baby pics of Kate where she looks a lot like Christian. I'll find some -- mostly for grandparents that are interested. :) They do look quite different really, but there are times when you can definitely tell they are siblings.

I found an old video of Kate "crawling" -- it is just like watching Christian. It's the exact same crawling style.

6 months and counting...

2011-01-07T23:03:00.011-07:00

Well, apparently I've been a little lazy on the picture taking front for little Christian this month. So here are a couple I took this morning. I was in the kitchen when I heard Kate yelling, "Mom! Christian's eating your desk!" I didn't get him gnawing away on the leg of the desk, but I got his cute "bitter beer" face at least (which he has on most of the time) -- in the second one.

Took Christian to the doctor today for his 6 month check up finally...he's 19.5 lbs (75th percentile) and 27.75 inches long (also 75th percentile), and of course 95th percentile for head. And he has eczema -- poor kid.

He's not sitting up yet, but he's close. He can sit for a second on his own before tipping over. He doesn't quite crawl yet, but he gets around. It's kind of hard to explain, so I took a video of it (also taken today...). It reminds me of an injured person clawing their way to the phone ... or something.

Christian seems to have been teething for the last two months (still nothing to show, though) -- drooling like crazy and trying to eat everything. It's really quite humorous watching him straining for everything at all times. If...only...I...could...reach...that...and...put...it...in....mouth... I'll be playing Go Fish with Kate, and he will try so hard to grab my hand and jab the cards in his mouth. The amount of saliva this kid produces generally dissolves the cards within seconds.

I have to watch him like a hawk. The other day he started choking, and I ran in to find him with a magic wand half way down his throat. Man. Kate is a big help to me and is good at monitoring him and keeping wires and cords out of his mouth. Kate was not like this at all. She didn't get in to anything really. We never had to baby proof anything. Such is definitely not the case with Christian.

Christian loves to explore new places and look at things around him. It's sometimes a trick just to get him to look at you because he is so interested in everything going on around him.

Just this morning, I put him in his car seat (without buckling him yet) and ran outside to try to help push Andrew's car out of the snow. When I came back in, Christian was on the floor! He was happily playing with something. I was shocked. I asked Kate why Christian was out of his car seat and what happened. Kate just said, "He wanted to get out. He rolled out." Kate would never attempt to move him, so I know he did it on his own somehow -- and without hurting himself. Gees.

Christian loves baby food and is not picky like Kate was when it came to veggies. He gags on green beans, but will eat everything else. He even seems to like veggies more than the fruit ones.

Christian is not sleeping through the night now. He was there for a while, but for some reason (I think the teething) will wake often in the night lately. It is rough on me, but I'm sure it will get better soon...

My favorite time with Christian is when we're alone at night before bed time. Oftentimes (not all the time) he will sit there contentedly in my arms and just sit and stare at me while he coos and smiles sweetly up at me. He'll reach up sometimes and even touch my face gently. It's just about the sweetest thing I could think up for him to do. After he does that for a while, then he just drifts off into a peaceful sleep. Oh man -- melts my heart!

He is too cute -- we are all crazy about him!!

To 2011!!

2010-12-30T17:21:00.020-07:00

With the new year quickly approaching, I have found myself reflecting quite a bit. There are several things that I want to have happen in this next year, and I am going to list them here. In no particular order --

1. LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF.

I pretty much binged from Halloween until now -- and I feel gross and disgusted with myself. I gained back about five pounds that I had worked so hard to shed earlier this fall. I think the only reason I didn't gain a lot more than that is because we have three flights of stairs that I am constantly going up and down (usually with a heavy baby in my arms) -- so as much as I curse the stairs, I think they've helped me out.

My goal is to lose 8 lbs a month (totally doable!), starting January 1st. That will give me a 32 lb weight loss by the time our 8th anniversary rolls around at the end of April. The weight loss is truly essential to my happiness -- it is a major depressing factor, so this year -- watch out. I am making it a top priority. It's COMING OFF.

2. Grow my business.

Growing the business was not on the top of my list of things to do this past year since I spent most of the year pregnant and having an infant to care for. But I still managed to have a couple of clients, and I found that having a project to work on (usually after the kids are asleep) is also essential to my happiness. I love to create, I love to write, and I love to help people feel connected to their posterity (and their posterity to them). It is extremely rewarding and satisfying work, and I hope to do a lot more of it this coming year.

I also wanted to link to Lindsay Call's recent blog post that I enjoyed -- even though I didn't comment. :)

3. Write my own memoir (or is it memoirs?)

For Christmas, I requested books/guides to writing memoirs to help me in my business (I didn't really realize the difference between memoirs and autobiographies...but now I do). What I didn't expect was to feel inspired to write my own! I'm on page 2 of mine, and let me tell you -- it is TOUGH. I want it to be good, but I know if I try too hard then I'll get discouraged and just end up not writing it at all. I think doing it will really help me understand my clients more and what they're looking for, but already I feel like it will help in my personal life -- figuring out who I am exactly and how I got here. I think writing is truly powerful -- for me (when I'm in the "zone") it often feels like the words flow through me and write themselves. It is revealing -- I always discover things about myself that I didn't quite understand before. It can be scary -- and exhilarating. I haven't written for myself for a long time. I don't count the blog really -- as I usually just spit out something as fast as I can before kids start screaming. (But it has helped me to be able to write some, at least.)

Here's a quote from the book I am currently reading, Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir that I've found to be true and echoes what I just said: "The writing process itself is part of the journey. The insights you have while writing aren't things you knew at the time the events happened. It's only through writing about events after they happen --as we craft our memoirs--that we come to understand what they mean. All our lives have plots. We find them through writing."

And a quote from Robert Frost to go along -- "No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."

By the way, don't worry -- my memoir is not going to be a confessional! Yikes. I didn't quite know what I was getting into with this book when I requested it, but it was highly recommended online. Despite some edgy stuff, it has really been helpful for me.

4. Be more spiritual.

Doing the obvious things -- reading scriptures every day, going to the temple more often, trying to serve outside of my family more, etc.

5. Be a better mother.

I'm sure most mothers feel that they are lacking in some way -- I am no different. I see many areas I am lacking, and I feel like the other numbers on this list will actually help me in this area. I need to have time for myself to grow and learn and be healthy, so that I will feel fulfilled, happy, and confident. When I feel those things, I know I will feel increased happiness with my children, be more patient and loving, and be a much better role model and teacher for them.

My visiting teacher came over this month, and we were talking about having interests outside of family. She is a grandmother now and said that she really regretted not developing her talents and interests more when she was younger -- outside of her children. Her husband died several years ago, and she said it has really been a struggle for her. She feels her only "identity" is being a grandmother. It made me realize that the way I've been feeling lately is definitely not limited to age or circumstance. I don't know if it's something everyone goes through or not, but in some way it's nice to know I'm not the only one.

So -- here's to 2011!! I have a feeling it's going to be a good year!

I would love to hear any resolutions you guys have if you feel like sharing and haven't done so already on your own blogs. :)

Sibling play

2010-12-20T10:20:00.002-07:00

Here's some video of Christian, too. I'll be doing a 6 month update here in a little while. But rest assured -- he's ADORABLE.

Here's a video taken before we lost the camera -- some time in November. It gets cuter/funnier towards the end -- around the 20 sec mark. I don't know how to edit videos yet -- sorry. Hang in there.

"I LOVE to dance!"

2010-12-20T09:52:00.005-07:00

This is Kate dancing to "tip top" music -- or "hip hop" music. :) She watches a show called Angelina Ballerina and her favorite is where they dance to hip hop music. Anyway, this girl LOVES to dance. I am in Primary now, and so I get to keep my eye on her. When she was supposed to be exiting sharing time reverently to go to her next class, she walked calmly for a minute, then as she was exiting, she did a dramatic twirl. It was hilarious -- I couldn't help but laugh out loud! Everyone else was folding their arms, but Kate was in a world of her own.

That reminds me -- the Sunday after she turned four, she walked in to Sharing Time and sat down in the back of the room -- with a different, much older class. I asked her what she was doing. She said, "This is where the big kids sit."

Anyway, I hope everyone has seen the movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun a million times like I have -- that's where I got the title of this post from. :)

You can get a better sense of what her twirl was like in Primary from this one below--

"What's your favorite color?"

2010-12-20T09:41:00.003-07:00

As I mentioned before, I got a video camera for my bday in November. Well, I only had it a month before it DISAPPEARED. I was SO mad/sad. Cute things kept happening, and I would think tragically to myself, "Oh if only I had a VIDEO camera."

Well last night Andrew's family was visiting. His step-mom couldn't find her keys. They looked everywhere. Finally, Andrew had a flash of inspiration -- walked straight over to the couch and lifted up a couch cushion -- revealing both the keys AND our video camera!! It honestly felt like Christmas. Andrew thinks he should "lose" more of our stuff, then wrap it up and give it to me for Christmas. Ha ha. :)

Now we know just where to look if we do lose something.

Anyway, I went a little crazy with the videos once it was found. So I am going to post some. This one makes me laugh -- Kate's answer to "What's your favorite color?"

Happy birthday to KATE!!

2010-12-06T22:23:00.016-07:00

Kate this morning: "I was three for a LONG time!"

Well, Kate is officially a big girl (a FOUR year old!) -- and you better not try to tell her any different!! She is cute, she is cuddly, she makes messes and often times will help clean them up, and she's totally, completely potty-trained! (Well, still working on wiping.) She is officially way better than a puppy.

She is still extremely tall and extremely skinny. She is 35 lbs (finally!) and 42 inches tall. Her height is in the 95th percentile. Her BMI has gone up from 1 percent (in Sept) to 4 percent (in Nov). The doctor said that was way low, and they want kids to be at least in the 10th percentile, but she looked at Kate and said, "Well, she doesn't look sickly..." Great.

She has gone from being annoyed and sad about Christian to totally adoring him and getting mad at me when I put him down for a nap. She loves to roll over him, sing to him, squish him, kiss him, cuddle him, tickle him, feed him!, and clean up his spit up (without being asked!). She is a GREAT big sister, and Christian adores his big sis. She can get him to laugh and smile like no one else. He lights up when he sees her. I love to watch them together. I feel so grateful they will always have each other. Sometimes watching them together gets me all teary-eyed. I have to admit that after having two kids now it makes me feel like I want a lot more! I know that's probably (?) not in the cards, but I know their lives would be blessed with more siblings.

I love how she opens her mouth while she's feeding him. She is to the age now where she is actually helpful -- I love it!

Kate is the Queen of questions right now. EVERYTHING starts with a why around here. "Kate, can you take your toys upstairs?" "Why?" or "Why should I?" would be the standard response. The "Why should I?" response usually makes me a little grumpy, but I don't think she's intending to sound rude. Pretty much anything you say to her will elicit a "Why?" The other day she asked me who someone was. I said something like it was a little girl (cause I didn't know the kid). She then asked, "Why?" I was confused. "Why what?" Kate: "Why is she a little girl?" Anyway, it's exhausting, but I'm glad her mind is working!!

She is very curious about the body and all its many parts, like "What's inside your eyeball?" "What's inside your finger?" "What's inside your knee?" etc etc.

She loves talking about the "World" we live on and has many, many questions about that. And about other worlds (other planets) and what they're like. She watched Contact with us recently and that made her even more inquisitive.

Even though it can be quite draining at times to keep up with her questions, I keep getting the feeling that I am really going to miss this age. She is so fun.

Kate loves to dance, loves to play dress up, loves to eat hot dogs (usually two in a sitting), loves to "read," loves to count, loves to play computer games, and loves to go to preschool.

Kate is FUNNY. She really has a great sense of humor -- I love it. The other day I waited too long to use the restroom, and suddenly I had to RUN to the bathroom that's next to the kitchen. I got going too fast, and I totally smashed into the bathroom door. I was trying to open it as I slid into the bathroom. But it didn't work out. Kate was watching and was soon laughing uncontrollably. It's been a couple weeks since that happened, but she will still say, "I have to go potty" then run frantically into the bathroom door (on purpose), fall down, and laugh herself sick. It makes me laugh every time.

Speaking of bathrooms, she had a bit of a potty mouth at preschool at the beginning of the year and would get the other kids all saying poo and pee. We had a talk about it, and she now knows we can only say those words if we are talking about actually going poo or pee. Lately, every time she tells me she has to go poo, she will say, "We're talking about poop, right??"

Last night I took her to get her haircut, and as it was being cut, Kate was making the most hilarious faces in the mirror, seemingly oblivious to anyone watching her. It cracked the hairdresser up. It was almost as if she had never seen a mirror before, the way she was so into it.

This week Kate was singing her version of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Here are some of the lyrics: "Rudolph the other reindeer -- you're supposed to call him names!" and "Won't you drive my slave tonight?" :)

Kate is a great conversationalist. At dinner she'll ask how my food is and if I like it. She almost always tells me thank you for the food I get her.

One of my favorite things about Kate is that she NEVER whines or begs for things at stores. She does whine quite a lot at home, I have to say, but never has she EVER thrown a tantrum at a store. We'll go look at toys sometimes when we're at Walmart, and if she sees something she really loves, she'll show it to me, looking up at me with her big brown eyes and say, "Some other little kid is going to have this, huh, Mama?" I just say yes, someone else will get that, and that's the end of the conversation. I have to tell ya -- it makes me want to buy her whatever she wants!

She is generally a joy to be around and is really becoming a friend. She is so tender-hearted and also easy to please -- which makes pleasing her even more fun. She is always so grateful for the things we do give her.

Lately, Kate will ask, "Mommy. Guess what?" Then she'll come over and hug my leg and say, "I love you."

Well, guess what? I love her, too!!

Preschool pics!

2010-11-17T13:52:00.010-07:00

Kate looks like the tallest in the class, except for maybe the kid on the end (but I think his hair gives him an unfair advantage)...and I don't know why Kate's running over her neighbor, but at least her tongue isn't sticking out. :)

I haven't had much time to post lately, but I am taking a brief break from the book I've been working on to post Kate's preschool pics she got today. So cute! And for fun, I scanned a picture of me at four years old for comparison. I wish I knew where Andrew's pics were, too. I think she looks a lot like Andrew in her picture above. I'll look for them.

Don't you love my 70s collar and elbow that looks like it's broken? Hehehe.

Nothing like a happy, semi-clothed baby

2010-11-08T20:25:00.004-07:00

Finally got video of Christian laughing -- so cute! Sadly the cuteness was cut short by a princess screaming for help about a bracelet being stuck.

New and improved dance moves

2010-11-08T06:42:00.006-07:00

Grandpa and Grandma Farnsworth came over last night to watch a movie, and afterward Kate got down to the beat of the credit music.

PS Woah -- just watched the video and there is tons of "noise" -- what the heck? This video was taken in 1080P, so maybe when it got compressed to post, it didn't quite work or something? Hmm, well -- you can still enjoy her cuteness.

A chorus of scary voices

2010-11-06T14:39:00.003-06:00

Woohoo! For my birthday Andrew got me a little bitty video camera. Yay! We had a video camera on our old crappy digital camera, but it bit the dust a while ago. So Christian hasn't had any videos taken of himself! The horror!

We haven't gotten a memory card for it yet, so we had to just use the memory on the camera itself, which at the lowest setting was only about 20 seconds. I took video after video, erasing each one for hopes of a better one. It was so sad -- I got a video of Christian laughing a little bit, but thought I could get more laughs on the next one for sure! Sadly it didn't work out.

So this is the last video taken before Christian lost it and took a nap. So this is the one that I downloaded. Nothing exciting. Just the three of us using our scary voices to try to get Christian to laugh. He wasn't in the mood. I thought I got him looking really scared at the end, but it cut off just before that I guess. Dang. There will be many more videos to come in the future -- whether you like that or not, I don't know. It's just the way it is. :) Hopefully we'll get some good, leg-flipping Riverdance type stuff going on in the future.

By the way, 31 is OLD. Not a fan.

Can't handle the cuteness!!!

2010-11-03T16:20:00.007-06:00

I'm sad this one is so fuzzy -- so stinkin' cute -- ugh.

Kate has a scary Halloween finger on that she's "scaring" Christian with. He loved it. He loves it when we talk to him in a scary voice. I was doing it last night, and Andrew shuddered and said, "That is really freaky." But Christian likes it -- so come on.

Holy cow -- these kids are cute!! I'm just sayin'. Today is one of those days when I love being a mom!!

Today was picture day at Kate's preschool. Of course, yesterday I went into the kitchen for a minute, came back, and Kate had a huge gash on her cheek. "What is that??" She said it was from Christian's toe nail. Geesh. That raises a lot of questions, but I let it go. Then this morning I went to an aerobics class at the church, and Kate got jumped by another kid (it was an accident) and her chin got all smashed up! Great...just in time for pictures. You have to pay $8 for blemish removal -- forget that. I'll just scan it when I get the pic and clean it up myself if I want to.

I had fun showing Kate my preschool pictures from way back when. She looked at all my formal pictures that were taken each year, and said, "I have to wear that shirt" (pointing to my shirt in the picture) "for my three year old picture. And that one for my four year old picture." And so on. Ha ha. That's what we call vintage, dear. If I get a chance, I will scan some of those pics -- I had a crazy collar going on for my three year old pic.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-29T16:44:00.008-06:00

She's a "good" witch.

He's doing his Garth mouth in this one, in case you were wondering. "Excuse me, I'd like to get by now."

This video makes me laugh. Just seeing Andrew in a wig makes me laugh. This was sent out to Andrew's whole company -- hehehehe. So I figure it's okay to post, too. :) In case you didn't know, Garth is one of Andrew's all-time favorite characters.

I've decided I will buy a Wayne's World hat and be Wayne next year. They can be our go-to Halloween costumes -- for the rest of our lives probably. I feel kind of lame being the only one not dressed up -- Kate keeps asking me what I'm going to be. She had a super fun Halloween carnival today at preschool. Ahhh, to be a kid again. I still eat the treats like one... :)

Garth quote for fun:

Benjamin Kane: So, Garth, what do you think of the new set?

Garth Algar: It's kinda like a new pair of underwear. At first it's constrictive, but after a while it becomes a part of you.

FOUR Months! (and a ton of pics)

2010-10-25T13:31:00.025-06:00

Let's not kid ourselves -- I see a lot of this lately (above pic) and not enough of that (below pic).

It turns out I haven't been the best about taking pictures of Christian on a consistent basis. I'll realize I haven't taken pics in a while, then have a little photo shoot. But hey, he's still gonna have a million pics of himself.

He had his four month check up today, and I was right. He's pretty huge. Almost 16 pounds and 26 inches long. He's in the 75 percentile for weight (thought he was bigger), 90th for height, and
get this-- ABOVE the 100th percentile for HEAD. Ha ha ha. We grow those noggins big over here. With a head that size I think it will be a Herculean feat if he's able to sit up and balance before he's fifteen. Reminds me of that Seinfeld when Elaine dates that guy who tells her she has a big head. Then she's walking through the park and a bird flies into her head. An old man on a park bench says, "That bird flew right into your head. It's like he couldn't avoid it." Hehehe.

I just fed him his first "solid" -- oatmeal. He seemed to enjoy it. It was more like I fed him his hands with oatmeal all over them.

Last month I said he was a mellow baby. This month I take that back. He's been extremely fussy and irritable. I thought maybe he had teeth coming in, but I don't see anything yet. The doctor said his top gums did feel firm, so they are probably forming up there and bugging him.

He can turn over both ways, but the times he turns from his tummy to his back seem to be an accident. He also went through a phase where he was ONLY happy in transition -- meaning in the process of turning over. Not satisfied with either side. Very frustrating for both of us.

He is still not sleeping in his crib...working on that.

He giggles for two things these days. First, when you bounce him -- sometimes you can get a good giggle that way. What he loves most, though, is when you take his shirt off. It's not that he likes being naked necessarily, but he loves the act of pulling his arms out of sleeves. Don't ask me why -- but it's a surefire way to get a laugh (if he's in an okay mood to begin with, of course).

Loves his big sister, which is good because she LOVES him, too. He always has a big smile for her when he first sees her in the morning. She speaks for Christian all the time. I'm so used to it now, it's kind of like I actually believe he's answering me. No matter where she is in the house, if I ask Christian a question, I'll hear a little high-pitched response (Kate's "Christian" voice), "No, I don't want to" or whatever the response is. Her replies often make me laugh really hard, but perhaps I'll save that for her next update. :)

He makes weird noises. It's like a weird groaning/grunting that Kate calls a growl. It's loud and can go on for quite a while. Got some more stares at church yesterday.

Sorry--this write up feels more disjointed than usual. I'm typing one-handed with a fussy four month old on lap. :) Albeit a very cute, fussy four month old.

Starting anew

2010-10-08T08:39:00.012-06:00

We have had lots of changes around here -- mostly a new place to live, and this morning Andrew headed off to his first day at a new job! We are finally getting a little bit settled in our new home, and I hope it doesn't take long for Andrew to feel comfortable in a new work environment, too. I don't generally use the blog to brag about Andrew (and when I do it's usually about his photography), but I have to say something -- because I think it is amazing -- especially given the "economic climate" we are in and the vast amount of resumes companies receive.

He asked me to keep my eye out for jobs that he could apply to. So I sent his resume out to five local companies, and he got interviews with every company except one. Then, out of the four interviews he had, he was offered jobs at THREE of the places -- all in one day (he was able to get better offers as a result). (The one job that didn't offer him a position wasn't really in his field of expertise, but I wasn't sure and sent his resume/cover letter out anyway.) He has got mad skills, and I am so proud of him. We feel very fortunate.

There's a lot of stress involved in starting a new job, and this is his first real "corporate" gig -- not a start-up. It was great for him to be able to choose the job that would be best for him, but very stressful as it all happened the week we signed the lease for our new home (which, by the way, is just SIX minutes from his new job -- how perfect is that??). It feels good for me (and I'm sure way more for him) that the interviews are finally over, he picked one, and we decided to take the condo so our lives feel stable instead of all up in the air as they did a couple weeks ago.

Anyway, here's to Andrew! He's a jolly good fellow. :)

Christian at 3 months

2010-10-06T11:23:00.014-06:00

The most frequent comment that Christian receives when out and about isn't the obvious -- that he's the cutest baby alive -- but this -- "That is a BIG baby!" He doesn't have his check-up until next month so I don't have the exact stats to back it up, but yes, he is big. And adorable!

I don't know if he really looks like me or Andrew -- I can't really tell. But sometimes he reminds me exactly of what Kate looked like at his age. So since everyone thinks she looks just like Andrew, maybe he does, too?

The hair on the sides of his head has rubbed off, so it looks like he has a perfect little crew cut.

I still can't really tell what color his eyes are going to be, though they look like they'll probably be hazel or brown. He is officially sleeping through the night -- hallelujah! -- and sometimes will take a LONG nap during the day. When he wakes up from these long naps, I swear he has gained two pounds. He usually goes to bed between 9-10pm and wakes up around 5 or 6 am, then will go back to sleep for a couple hours.

He has major reflux problems, and so is still not sleeping in his crib. He sleeps in a little chair. If he is laid down flat, he will almost always throw up and wake himself up. But if he's upright, then he sleeps just fine. It's just that he's getting too big for his little chair, and he is really close to turning over. He sleeps on his side in the chair. It's cute.

Christian has also learned how to suck his thumb --yay! (until he gets older...) -- and is pretty good at self-soothing.

He is a LOUD eater. It is somewhat embarrassing when in quiet settings (church), and he and I often get quizzical/accusing stares. Nothing I can do about it, people! He enjoys his food, what can I say? One lady next to me turned to me multiple times, amazed at how loud he was. She said, "It's like he's starving!" One look at the kid will let you know -- he is not starving. :)

He's also very "talkative." He loves to coo and guhh.

He's generally a very mellow baby -- a lot like Kate was. He isn't overly smiley, but he will light up with smiles if the mood strikes him. He loves playing patty-cake with Kate (and me), and loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He also enjoys being bounced in the air and will really smile/laugh and make the cutest scrunched up smiley face ever. I have to get video or something of that.

I've decided that I like babies. The three months+ kind. He rarely cries unless he's hungry or tired, but mostly he's just a happy little guy. As Kate is getting older and discovering how to push Mommy's buttons, I have a greater appreciation for the baby stage. :)

Brief update

2010-09-24T10:22:00.002-06:00

Ok, so no pounds gained or lost this week, but that seems like a miracle considering we've eaten out a ton this week. We started moving, and it's such a pain to cook in the middle of a huge mess. I guess I burned it off moving because I haven't done an actual workout this week.

So...I think I'm going to cancel the photo session. #1 reason is it's this Monday, and there's no chance I could get hair cut and clothes by then in the middle of moving (we didn't know we were moving when I scheduled it). #2 reason is, of course, I want to lose more weight. So I think I will reschedule for the week of my birthday -- which is about 6 weeks away. That should give us time to get settled and time to lose some more FAT! :)

Disappointment...

2010-09-17T11:45:00.003-06:00

Argh! I only lost two pounds this week. Two pounds used to be great weight loss for me in a week, but I got spoiled with a 4 lb and 3 lb week. Oh well! I'll take whatever I can. I had just hoped for more with the weight loss shakes. I think it's because I've been super stressed this week with a bunch of stuff I can't go into right now. But I will let you know when our lives settle a little bit and we have things figured out. Because right now -- we DON'T.

Hmm...anyone think I can lose SEVEN pounds next week? My last week before pictures...

Taking off to Bear Lake for the weekend with Andrew's grandparents. Looking forward to a little relaxing, swimming (in a pool), and sun!

Smiles for Sunday

2010-09-12T16:05:00.010-06:00

I am posting so many of these (almost the same) pictures mainly for my mom because she has a hard time picturing what he looks like. All of these pictures are very much what he looks like right now (and he has slightly different expressions in each). He is SO smiley and easy-going. Andrew and I both think he is an awful lot like Kate was -- in looks and temperament. He almost always wakes up happy from a nap -- full of smiles and coos. He loves getting his diaper changed and LOVES it when we sing to him and rub his cheeks or chest/belly. He's a happy little man! I thought the last picture was just funny because both he and Kate have a similar funny face. :) Oh, and Christian has a sad little nose here because he scratched his peeling burn -- and it got all nasty and bloody. Poor thing.

He's wearing a cute little onesie my brother, Paul, bought him. Hehehehe.

First day of preschool!

2010-09-10T19:33:00.000-06:00

How cute is this kid?? She loves preschool, by the way.

Second Weigh-in

2010-09-10T07:50:00.009-06:00

Well, as expected, camping was not what I needed for weight loss. Four days of eating too much! Luckily, it ended up evening out with the exercise I got hiking, and I didn't gain or lose while camping.

That left me with three days this week to get busy! I worked out twice (P90X -- I'm loving it), and started the shakes I ordered. Wow! LOVE the shakes, first of all. The first day I was constantly thinking about food, and didn't feel satisfied at all and really questioned my ability to live off shakes for two meals. But I kept doing it, and now I crave those shakes (I combine fresh fruit, ice, and chocolate soy milk to the powder -- yum). I don't think I was feeling hunger as much as I was just battling my addiction to eating. Strange...there's a difference?? :) I have felt mildly hungry at times, and just snack on fruit or carrots. But yesterday I didn't feel hungry at all and even delayed drinking the second shake because I didn't need it yet. Then I just eat what I would normally eat for dinner (well...no more frozen pizzas)-- just not so much, and no chocolate or Twizzlers after dinner! :)

Anyway, the shakes are part of a multi-level marketing scheme, and for that reason I almost didn't try them. I hate MLM. I will tell you what it is, though, and you can try it if you want. It's the Visalus shakes. But I'm not trying to get anyone to sign up under me or anything like that. I went through ebay to get mine.

Okay, okay. So how much did I lose in three days you are wondering. THREE pounds!! I am SO excited about this. I can't wait to see what next week brings. It feels like the weight is just melting off. It has never felt like that! Well, besides when I first start nursing. And no, I am no longer nursing. I stopped around the two month mark -- so a few weeks ago. The weight I gained during pregnancy all came off in that two months. Then I was still left with my previous overweight self.

I have just felt really good the past couple days. I feel healthy -- which I haven't felt for a long time. I have energy -- even though I haven't been getting tons of sleep or anything yet. I have been getting more than I was, though. I finally feel like weight-loss is doable for me, and I'm actually going to do it. I feel like maintaining a healthy weight is key for me and my immediate and long-term happiness. If I can't control what I'm eating, then I have a hard time controlling anything else in my life.

I hope I don't hit any walls or anything, but so far so good! :)

Camping -- A Hundred Miles from Nowhere

2010-09-09T08:32:00.020-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend our family and my brother Mark's family went camping at Great Basin National Park in Nevada. For those who have not been there, it is really in the middle of nowhere!! It's just a wasteland with NOTHING until you get to the mountains. It's a high peak, 11,000+ feet surrounded by desert (hence the name the Great Basin). It was really pretty, though, once you get up into the mountains. I realize now I should have gotten a picture of the wasteland, but I could never move when we were actually in the car.

I didn't really know what to expect with a two-month old, but I was pleasantly surprised! He slept almost the whole way there (just 3 hours to get there), and when he was awake, he was smiling and happy. Great! We had him sleep in his car seat, and the first night he slept NINE hours STRAIGHT!! He has never slept more than 5 or 6 at home. My sister-in-law, Melyssa, said that her mom went camping a lot with babies, and that was her experience. The fresh air seems to agree with them. Of course, that doesn't mean I slept well. I was constantly waking wondering why he wasn't awake. But I was still happy for the accomplishment. The second night he woke up after four hours and slept til morning. The third night the temperature really dropped and so he kind of cried off and on all night without fully waking. Poor guy!
Kate had the time of her life playing with her three cousins. And they were all so cute with her and worked hard on including her in everything they did. The youngest is two years older than Kate. The first full day there we went on a couple of short hikes. We borrowed a Snuggly from Melyssa's sister, and Andrew carried Christian like that. We tried our best to keep him covered, but the poor guy got a little burn on his nose (which, yes, made me feel like a horrible parent...) :( In this picture the girls are standing by their accomplishment -- building a bridge!
Here we are at the Bristlecone Pine Grove with trees that are or were thousands of years old. Kate liked the one that acted as a slide. :) These are Andrew's favorite trees. Kate was pooped by the time we had to hike back, but I wasn't too interested in carrying her. I would carry her for a little ways when she asked me to, then I would put her down. To distract her from the hiking, I told her story after story which captivated her, and she walked almost all the way back! An older man stopped us on the way down and said that he was happy to see little ones getting such an early start on the trail. Me too!

Enjoying a lazy game of cards on Sunday.

Sunday afternoon nap.

Since we were so far from anywhere, we got permission from our bishops to bless and pass the Sacrament. Because it was fast and testimony Sunday, we had one of those, too. It was a neat experience to be out in nature bearing our testimonies. Reminded me of girls camp.

Cute girls loving Christian. He's a lucky boy to have so many adorers.

The girls by their "Welcome" mat of their tree house, where they spent many hours playing.
I was worried about Kate going potty in an outhouse, since she is deathly afraid of flies. And screamed bloody murder when she saw a fly in the gas station bathroom on the way there...But she did great! She never cried about it at all. I think she was too fascinated about seeing all the poo/pee in the ground to worry about a few (LOTS) of flies. No accidents! Yay! And nobody fell in -- double YAY!!

I really don't know what Kate was thinking in this one. Celeste was just bending over looking at Christian, and Kate ran over when she saw I was taking another picture and hugs her bum! Uh...anyway, it makes me laugh whenever I look at it. :)

I really enjoyed camping with Mark's family. Kate had so much fun she cried when we took the tent down. It made camping with a baby so much less stressful to have so many people willing to hold him. It was so neat to see SO many stars in the sky at night and even some bats flying overhead! I'm glad we went!

Kate and Christian photo shoot pics!!

2010-09-03T12:09:00.002-06:00

A friend from my ward offered to take newborn and sibling pics of my kids as her baby shower gift to me. I love good pictures of my kids -- so this is one of the best things anyone could offer me! She has a preview of the shoot up on her blog right now -- you can go check the other pics out by clicking here. She got great shots -- the one above is one of my favorites! Christian had just barely started smiling (this was two weeks ago) and to have them looking at each other and smiling -- you can't get cuter than that. Kate cuddles him all the time lately, and squishes her cheek against his. He smiles every time! He sure loves his big sister, I can tell.

I'm so grateful Alicia shared her talent with us, and now we have these priceless photos! Thank you!

First Weigh-In

2010-09-02T11:19:00.003-06:00

Normally I will be posting my results on a Friday, since that is when I started. But tomorrow we will be leaving for Great Basin National Park in Nevada, and I know I'll forget.

So...are you ready for it?? I don't know how, but I managed to lose FOUR pounds!! I don't think I've ever lost that much in a week. I just exercised three times and ate less, and that's what I got! Amazing! I am very happy since that keeps me on track to achieve my 16 pound weight loss by the end of the month.

However, I always tend to gain weight while camping. You'd think it'd be the opposite, but not for me. I feel like each meal will be my last when I'm in the outdoors, and I eat way too much. So I need to be careful about that and make sure I get some good hiking in.

I also ordered some weight loss shakes that should be coming next week. I've never tried anything like that before, so who knows if I'll like it or if it even works -- or if I can handle not eating anything for breakfast and lunch besides a shake. We shall see. I ordered enough for two weeks.

So there ya go --for anyone out there really wanting to know about my weekly weight loss! :)

Is this what a chubby baby looks like??

2010-08-30T16:36:00.009-06:00

One with tummy and one without. In the first one, he's saying, "What? Are you saying I shouldn't have had that last bottle?"

I love his cheeks in the second one!

I think I did it. I think I have a chubby baby!! (It really took some work to get under all his chin rolls! I know he has a neck in there somewhere cause I love to kiss it!) At his two month check up he weighed in at 12 lbs 13 oz, which is 75th percentile. Kate couldn't reach the 75th percentile in weight to save her life! He was also 75th percentile for height. And, of course, his noggin got a whopping 90th percentile nod. That's my boy!

Fun with the Fam

2010-08-29T19:11:00.006-06:00

Cute Christian -- excuse the man hands...(I cropped them as much as I could)

Angie with the Little Buddy

AHHH!!!

The past few days have been so fun! My brother, Paul, came to visit us on his way to San Francisco (where he is moving). He got to meet Christian, but I just realized I didn't take any pictures of them together! Oh no! He stayed with us two nights, and then visited my other siblings in Salt Lake. Then yesterday we all got together for lunch at my brother Mark's house. So fun!

The GOAL

2010-08-27T19:06:00.013-06:00

Okay. It's time to get serious. One month from today, September 27th, I have an appointment with a photographer (who was advertising a good deal on craigslist) for family pictures. We have NEVER had a professional family picture taken (in seven years...), and if we follow this pattern ... it will be a LONG time before we take another one. The reason I made the appointment -- besides wanting a family picture -- is that I wanted motivation to exercise and lose weight. Because there is nothing worse than seeing a picture of yourself and having the ugly truth staring back at you. I knew if I said to myself, "Self, work out and get in shape so you can take family pictures this fall" that it wouldn't get done. That's why there is an appointment -- a deadline -- looming.

So...this is my goal. One month from today I will weigh 16 pounds less than I do now. A 16 pound loss will put me just BARELY in the normal weight range (instead of overweight). The work will not be over, but I will be closer to my ultimate goal weight. 16 pounds is a pretty lofty goal for me, but I've been watching the show "Losing it with Jillian" (which I really like) online and the people on that show lose a lot of weight in just six weeks -- doing it on their own from home. I will keep you updated, of course.

Tonight I did my first P90X exercise (chest and back) and my arms are barely able to hold themselves up enough to even type this. Andrew and I are taking turns watching the kids every other night, so the other can work out. It's gonna be rough, but I really want this. So here we go!!

Ah-CHOO!!

2010-08-22T19:30:00.001-06:00

Hehehehe. Okay, that's it for tonight.

Because Andrew is gone camping, and I can post pics and type with one hand.

2010-08-22T18:58:00.004-06:00

"Oh Christian, it's okay." Pat, pat.

"Oh, you're right, Mother. It was silly of me to worry."

All smiles now!

2010-08-21T12:32:00.004-06:00

Well, Christian must have gotten the message from yesterday's blog post. Ever since I posted it, he has been all smiles. It was just the motivation he needed, I guess. :) Of course, capturing said smiles has proven to be difficult. He likes to move around a lot while smiling, so many of the smiling pics are blurry. Or the smiles are so quick, I can't catch them. Or they're so cute, I just want to enjoy them and not worry about photographing them. These are the two best ones I could come up with.

I swear this kid has doubled his cuteness this past week. He's way more alert, makes cute little sounds, and the smiles are helping too. Now if he would just sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time, I would be in heaven!

I can hear it already. (Partly because I DO hear it already.)

2010-08-20T17:30:00.006-06:00

"I'm not squishing him!"

"What? I'm NOT pulling her hair!"

Someone's being stingy with the smiles

2010-08-20T09:29:00.003-06:00

Christian had his first official smile around the 6-week mark (he's 8 weeks yesterday), and he's had about THREE since then. No, there's probably been more than that...but this baby's proving to be a tough crowd for Mommy! He'll often look excited, but then stop just short of a smile. Where's the love?? Kate was showing us the gums and her dimples in all their glory at 3 weeks and on demand ever since! But I'm not comparing...

And as an unrelated side note -- the shirt in this picture lasted approximately .5 seconds. Oh, and Mommy's, too.

Ha -- and just before I went to post this Christian spit up on me, and THEN gave me a big smile. Funny guy. :)

Transforming

2010-08-04T13:29:00.009-06:00

The last year or so has been full of emotional ups and downs for me. But no time was quite as traumatic (and dramatic) as after Christian was born. I felt crazy, to be honest, and extremely overwhelmed. I have always been an emotional person -- flinging myself on the kitchen floor, wailing and carrying on as my mom calmly stepped over and around me to cook dinner (I was a teenager, not a toddler...). But for the past several years I have felt more emotional and less in control over my life and the way I reacted to things. I'd let circumstances become my ruler. I think I underwent a personality shift without even realizing it.

I was flooded with deep thoughts about my life and where I wanted it to go and who I wanted to be as I shopped at Old Navy (for Kate) last week. I had revelation after revelation come to me as I drove home, and I have felt completely different since! I decided that it's time to change my personality -- you can do that, right? I know it's kind of late in the game to pull another personality from the bench, but I'm going to do it. I don't want to feel depressed or offended or angry or scared anymore. It's no way to live, and I'm sure it's no fun to live with.

I want to be patient, kind, loving, willing, and forgiving. I want to get excited about life and live it up! I want to exercise for no one else but ME. I want to be healthy, but never give up chocolate (come on, I can't be a different person). I want a clean house. I want to be spiritual.

I'm not saying any one of these things will just happen overnight. I know they won't. But for the first time, I have a vision in my head of who I am -- who I really am -- and I know I'm going to get there.

The other day I felt motivated enough to exercise. I was still feeling a little sick, so I probably should have waited, but oh well. (I'm going to give it a few more days before I do it again.) I haven't exercised in MONTHS because of the pregnancy. So I popped in a Biggest Loser workout and went to it. Kate joined in, too. There came a part that I always fast forward because I don't like it. It came to that point, and I said out loud, sweat dripping off me, "Ugh. No way. This is too hard." I started to reach for the remote, but then stopped myself as I heard Kate parrot me, "Yeah. It's too hard."

My heart sank. I glanced back at the TV and saw everyone moving to the ground. I turned to her and said, "No. It's not too hard. We can do it." She looked up at me, smiled, and nodded. "Yeah!" And together we walked down on our hands to the floor and got into the push-up position.

Kid Kate

2010-08-02T16:01:00.008-06:00

We have called Kate "Baby Kate" since she was born, and for a long, long time after. Eventually we realized she wasn't a baby anymore and we trimmed it to just Kate. Sometimes I'll call her "Baby Kate" jokingly, and then call her "Toddler Kate" or "Kid Kate." It's like I never realized how old and how big she really was until we had Christian. Kate suddenly seemed like she weighed a hundred pounds instead of the 32 that she's been FOREVER. I realized how much she understands and how much she can say. She can pretty much say whatever she wants to now -- more or less.

The other day, she was sitting quietly, then started counting, "100, 101, 102..." etc. We had never taught her to count over 100; she just figured out what came next on her own. Maybe that's a normal kid thing to do, but to us it signaled "GENIUS." ;) Today, I was reading something, and she was sitting by me just staring into space. I asked her what she was thinking about. She smiled, a little embarrassed, and said that she was thinking about counting. She then started counting from 100 again.

She is officially potty-trained, and I'm not afraid to say it this time. She goes poo and pee in the potty every day. The other day she told me she had to go pee, but I told her to try going on her own because I was laying down. She came back a minute later with wet pants. She didn't make it in time. I was like, "Ohhh, you wet your pants?" She said, "Yes, but I got the towels down to dry it up!" There was a little wet spot on the bathroom floor that she had put a towel on to soak it up. I was amazed and sorry that I hadn't gotten up to help her get her pants off.

I think she has totally adjusted to Christian. It was touch and go there for a while. She would act out/whine, hit us (and hit the back of his head once), and generally be irritable. That has mostly faded away, and she is our normal, pleasant child again. There was one time in the car I asked her to check his head -- it always flops onto his chest. She had helped push it back in its spot before. So I asked her, and I looked at her in the mirror as I drove. She looked out the window in the opposite direction of Christian. She didn't say anything. I asked her repeatedly until she finally said (not checking), "He's fine."

She never asks to hold Christian, but she likes being around him (and getting in his face) and talking to him. She has me pretend to be Christian, and we carry out conversations that way.

She is the best helper I've ever met. She will get anything and everything that I ask her to. She even climbed up in the fridge to get me a bottled water because I said I was thirsty.

She likes to ask how my food tastes and if I like it. In the morning she'll ask me if I got enough rest. If I'm sick she'll ask my sick status all the time. She often will say (unprompted), "Thanks for dinner, Mommy." SO thoughtful.

She figured out how to dress her little mini princesses finally (I always had to do it before), and it has kept her occupied for hours. Now she likes to pretend she IS the mini princess getting dressed, and talks out (while acting out) the process.

She just started swimming lessons today (pics will be coming) and LOVED it. She starts pre-school next month, and then I may as well hand her the car keys. Hope I can handle it!!

Thoughts on newborns...and some pics

2010-07-26T19:40:00.010-06:00

In case anyone is worried -- I didn't put him to sleep on his tummy...I was trying to give him tummy time, but he just laid there like this looking absolutely adorable instead of getting exercise. And then he did drift off to sleep. He looked so sweet, it was a shame to turn him over and make him start crying.

I've been trying to get better at taking pictures lately. It's been frustrating to take pictures of Christian that come out looking nothing like him -- to me, anyway (but I'm probably a pretty good judge since I stare at his face all day long). I realize the first three look very similar, but they are slightly different and I couldn't decide which I liked best. Those pictures are the closest to what he looks like. So, there they are. And, of course, I love taking pics of Kate. She is very happy to sit for me. :) And it's something I can do while I'm holding Christian on my lap.

It's funny to me that I'm posting way more now than I did while I was pregnant. It was dang uncomfortable to sit upright. Ahh, yes...as trying as the newborn stage is for me, thank goodness I am not pregnant anymore!

I know some people LOVE newborns. I love my newborn, of course, but I am really not a baby person. I don't like that their heads flop around; I don't like constantly worrying about them dying -- either in their sleep or through some accident/fault of my own; I really don't like changing diapers every five seconds (sometimes multiple times before I pick them up off the changing table); I don't like being spit up on or pooped/peed on; I'm not a fan of breastfeeding (there I said it); I don't like deciding between eating, showering, or sleeping; I don't like how slippery they are when wet; I don't like sitting in church just to say I went, but hearing absolutely nothing; I don't like the freaky noises they make when they're sleeping that make me jump out of bed at night; I don't like not being able to communicate (not knowing why they are crying or how to help); and, of course, I don't care for getting only snippets of sleep in a night -- which could be the reason I'm feeling the need to complain. 'Sigh.'

I DO love how they smell -- which is really remarkable. The same fluids that come out of them and land on the both of us somehow make me smell rank, but they continue smelling sweet. I do love how soft their heads are; I love that they stay wherever you put them; I love how warm and cozy they are to cuddle; I love watching their expressions change in their sleep; I love those squishy cheeks; I love trying to figure out what they're actually going to look like; I love to stare at them and wonder who in the world is in that tiny body and imagine what they are going to be like as they grow and develop.

I do love those kids of mine.

The 24th!

2010-07-25T14:35:00.009-06:00

We bought fireworks for the 4th of July, but I had just had Christian the week before, and things were still really crazy -- so we decided to use our fireworks for Pioneer Day instead. Kate is now to a really fun age for things like this. She had a lot of fun. And Christian slept soundly in his car seat a safe distance away.

The best part was in the car on the way home. Kate is really (understatement) into pretend. She loves to reenact everything -- movies, books, things that happened earlier in the day, etc. So on the way home she wanted Andrew to pretend to be Daddy (ok) and Mommy to be Kate, and Kate would be the fireworks. Daddy had to light the firework, Kate had to be excited and yell "RUN!" and the fireworks had to POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP -- with limbs flailing. It was hilarious.

Unrelated to the 24th, but everything to do with pretend -- The other day she pretended to be Heavenly Father while I was supposed to be a lost kid who needed help. Heavenly Father appeared right away and held my hand, taking me right to my mommy! :)

Celebrating one month of life!

2010-07-25T11:01:00.003-06:00

Livin' up every moment of his boyhood...I keep telling him to get some sleep, but he argues he's been waiting the whole preexistence for this! (Life -- not just video games.)

Sweet summery days

2010-07-18T05:58:00.002-06:00

Seriously. I know the feeling.

2010-07-16T18:40:00.000-06:00

A name and a blessing

2010-07-11T19:20:00.012-06:00

The only picture we could get with Kate -- the whole new Morrill fam.

With my parents

With Andrew's dad

Andrew's grandparents

And part of the Ericksen family -- Paul, I wish you could have been there!

We ended up blessing Christian on July 4th. He wasn't even two weeks old, but since my parents were in town and wouldn't be by the next fast Sunday, we decided to go ahead. We didn't bless Kate until she was like 3 or 4 months old. She barely fit in the blessing dress. Christian was SWIMMING in his little outfit. I can't believe we didn't get a single picture of him in his outfit without the blanket. He was asleep for the whole event -- pretty much the entire day. There was tons of commotion at our house after the blessing, but Christian didn't make a peep.

Andrew gave him a great blessing. We named him Christian after Andrew's middle name. It's also a family name on my side. Andrew and I have always wanted to name our first son Christian. We discussed some other names, but never very seriously -- it's always been Christian. We batted around several middle names, but weren't set on anything. There is a song by Marc Ford called Elijah that is about his baby son. Anyway, I really liked the song and liked the name, and I think that's what got me thinking about it originally. Much later when we were considering getting pregnant again, I had a strong impression that our next child would be a boy and that we should name him Christian Elijah (I think it was almost a year later before we actually got pregnant). It was such a powerful feeling that I wrote it down in my journal -- you know it must be strong if I dusted off the journal for the bi-annual entry. :) Elijah means "Jehovah is my God," and I love what is written about Elijah in the Bible dictionary. Hope he likes his name as much as we do.

Week one = Dazed and confused

2010-07-02T11:12:00.021-06:00

First "big" outing to the park...

...which he slept through (thus making it a successful outing)

Playing catch with Grandma Marge

With cousin Kimber

Lounging

With Aunt Angie

Getting loved a little too much by the cousins :)

Mastering the trampoline (one of her dad's favorite pastimes)

Well, little buddy Christian turned one week old yesterday. As you can imagine, it's been (for the most part) sleepless. After I feed him, and if he's still being fussy, then I wake up my mom in the middle of the night to burp and love him -- which has completely saved me. My parents have showered attention and affection on Kate, saving her from what would have otherwise been a super traumatic week. NOT looking forward to my parents leaving next week!!

The last couple of nights Andrew has stayed up til 2 - 3 in the morning watching Christian so that I could sleep all the way from 10:30 p - 2 or 3. Luckily we got a breast pump a couple days ago that allows Andrew and others to feed him -- hallelujah! I feel like my sanity returned the minute I started pumping. I don't think Andrew can keep up that kind of schedule, since he still has to work...but I am SO grateful for what he's already done.

We even had a couple outings this week. One was to the park just down the street, which Christian slept through. The second was to Murray to see my brother, Mark, and his family -- who just moved here from Alabama!! The rest of the family was helping them move, but I went up just to sit and hang out for a little bit. Christian was unusually quiet, and I think people had a hard time believing he cries (which he definitely does). I am so excited to have my brother and his family out here -- it will be so fun to see them a lot more.

Anyway, I need to get showered one of these days, so I am off. Above are some pics from the past week. You may notice no pictures of me -- that's because I still look five months pregnant (or more?). Can't wait til I can start exercising again!

Welcome Christian Elijah!! (with pics galore -- and labor details below)

2010-06-26T21:00:00.028-06:00

You know it takes guts to post this one! :)The tied up cord

Kate's lookin' a bit nervous here...

One of the few times his eyes have actually been open

So being induced was the greatest thing ever! The nurse asked me about my pain number (they make you constantly tell them what you rate your pain as -- 10 being the worst possible pain you can think of). I told her my pain was 0 (since I wasn't in labor), and she asked what I wanted it to be before I had an epidural. I immediately replied, "0." Everyone started laughing, but I was totally serious. They said no one had ever said that before. What?? This doesn't make any sense to me at all. Why would I want to be in pain if there is no reason to be? I already knew I wanted an epidural, so why wait until the pain became unbearable? Just for fun??

Anyway, I got the epidural right away. The epidural worked perfectly -- I could still move my legs and feel the contractions. I even felt the baby squish out, which was pretty cool. The worst that happened was I felt a little woozy and nauseated during labor. It wasn't bad. For me the most painful part was when the nurse put the IV in my hand. She messed up, and my blood went SPURTING everywhere. In seconds my hand was covered and so were the sheets. I glanced down at it, and that's when I really started feeling faint for the first time. Yech.

Andrew was great the whole time, getting me ice chips and jello on command. And now he's the proud daddy of #2! We bought The Office (season 4) for this birth. For Kate's birth we bought Seinfeld (Season 9). We only got to finish one complete Office episode, though! Dang! :) We watched it tons after delivery, though. I forgot to mention that we were a few minutes late leaving the house for the hospital, and when Andrew went to go start the car it wouldn't start! We thought that might be a bad omen of the inducement not working or something, but we jumped it and just went on our way -- and we were only 15 minutes late.

Pitocin started at 8am and by 10:30am I was dilated to a 9. The nurse was shocked that it went so fast. She had me start pushing a little before 11am. I pushed a couple times, and then she told me to STOP PUSHING. She called the doctor right away. He showed up five minutes later, had me push a couple more times and POP -- hello Christian Elijah! Out by 11:07 am and just in time for lunch!

His heart rate dipped near the end of labor, and they put an oxygen mask on me to help him. Well, when he came out his umbilical cord was tied in a knot! Strangely, the exact same thing had happened to Andrew when he was born.

It made me feel grateful that we had him induced (even though initially I had mixed feelings about it) -- you never know what might have happened if we had waited. Also very glad that he slid out as fast as he did; the doctor said that if it had taken much longer, it would have gotten "scary."

He weighed in at 8 lbs 13 oz! 21.5 inches long -- a BIG boy. I tore a bit -- 15 stitches worth. I am feeling it! The labor part was great, but the recovery (with both Kate and Christian) has been the worst part (not counting pregnancy itself).

Christian loves to sleep -- which is great -- but we're still working on the eating part. As you can see from the pics, he's got brown hair -- the same shade (and length) that Kate's was as a baby. His eyes seem lighter than Kate's were, though, and will maybe be blue? Not sure. He's got long eyelashes and long fingernails that we're having a hard time tearing off. That's why he's got socks on his hands in the pics.

Kate seemed a little nervous meeting him for the first time, but thinks he's cute and likes to watch him and pet his soft head. Me, too! She is always talking about him growing up, and I know she's excited to have someone to play with -- just wish it didn't take so long!

Anyway, sitting like I am right now is not the most comfortable thing in the world, so I am off. :) Let me just say we love our little kiddies and are so grateful that Christian arrived safe and sound!! Can't wait to see who he turns out to be.

One last post before the baby comes...

2010-06-23T20:03:00.008-06:00

Well, early tomorrow morning I am going in to the hospital to be induced. We are very excited to have Baby Christian join our family.

But before he does, and before I disappear into baby life for months on end, I thought I would post a few pictures of Kate at Itty Bitty Ball. Itty Bitty Ball is a four week (once a week) program for three and four year olds. Each week they are taught basic skills of a sport -- basketball, soccer, football, and baseball. The first two weeks I was nine months pregnant and on my own. I didn't realize that the program really requires the parent to be right there in the action. It was exhausting for me, and afterward I always felt like I'd just run a marathon -- sore for days. Luckily this past week my parents came to town and were able to help. And I was able to get some pictures of her playing football. Here I am super huge -- just imagine me "running" around the gym, kicking and picking up balls -- I guess I can understand why people were staring.

Papa Nick doing the stretches with Kate. That was one of the most awkward things for me, to get down on the ground gracefully and then try to get back up. Ugh.

Punting -- she's a natural. :)

This picture is poor quality, but look how cute she is -- the ball tucked under her arm and running her fastest. Man, is she skinny or WHAT?

Well, maybe I will have someone do a guest post for me and post some pictures of Christian in the next couple days. Wish me luck!!

Nesting, nesting, nesting!

2010-06-17T23:00:00.004-06:00

The past couple weeks I've been paying close attention to everything my body's been doing and reading about the various signs of impending labor. One of the signals of labor on every list I read is nesting. Every time I'd read the list, I'd skip over that one, thinking, Definitely haven't had that one yet.

Well...today I vacuumed out and washed the car (preparing to install the car seat for baby), and just spent a couple hours furiously cleaning the kitchen. Of course there was a nap thrown in there somewhere, but I haven't had any inclination towards cleaning for a while.

My back feels broken in two, but the house is cleaner, dang it. And maybe labor and delivery isn't too far off???

Argh--forget everything I just said.

2010-06-09T17:58:00.001-06:00

I will stop saying Kate's potty trained until she's ten and I'm CERTAIN.

To be or not to be...

2010-06-09T14:00:00.004-06:00

Just a quick update on Kate's potty training. Kate IS potty trained! I think I've declared this more than once before, but this time it really seems true. When I stopped buying princesses as a reward for going poo in the potty, Kate stopped pooing in the potty. She basically told us there was no reason if she didn't get a toy. This bugged both of us, of course. So Andrew suggested taking one of her prized toys every time she went poo in her pants. We told her ahead of time and let her know she could only get the toys down off the fridge after going poo in the potty. Well, it worked! To her it was the same as getting a new toy -- and it was a lot cheaper for us.

She had built up quite a pile on the fridge -- about four toys. But she's gone poo in the potty for the last week and has gotten them all down! She only had one accident. Today will be the real challenge -- no more toys on the fridge, just stickers on a chart as a reward (which she loves also).

Anyway, she has been in panties the last few days, and I think she is really proud of herself for being such a big girl. She doesn't go by herself or anything like that (one thing at a time), but she has made huge progress this week!!

Manna from Heaven

2010-06-02T19:32:00.003-06:00

A miracle happened tonight -- I didn't have to make dinner! Last night I started feeling sick -- sneezy, achy, sore throat. Added to the pregnancy equation = me feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. My wonderful friend, Larson (hope she doesn't mind me saying), must have been inspired because last week she offered to bring me dinner tonight (just because I'm in the last month of pregnancy--so nice). Then, it just so happened that I got sick, too.

Food has never tasted so good -- not in my entire pregnancy. Not even food I've ordered at restaurants. Kate called the food "chocolate soup" because she didn't quite understand me when I said "taco soup." But her description of it was more accurate. Delicious! It felt like I hadn't eaten in weeks! The way I gobbled it down would have been embarrassing if anyone besides Kate had witnessed it. Generally I feel like I'm force-feeding myself breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

So a BIG thank you to Larson, who has a three month old at home to take care of herself.

Here's to good friends and to everyone out there looking for ways to serve and make burdens lighter. It's inspiring!

Remembering

2010-05-31T20:13:00.009-06:00

I love this picture of my grandparents!

Kate enjoyed putting the flowers by their headstone.

I've never actually visited graves of relatives on Memorial Day -- mostly because we didn't have any graves of relatives to visit in Nebraska (they're mostly in Idaho and Utah). I don't have any excuses since I've been living in Utah, though...which has been a long time now. I only recently realized how close my grandparents' gravesite is -- just up the road in American Fork. So Kate and I first went and visited graves with Andrew's grandparents for his side of the family, had a picnic in the park, then headed over to American Fork to visit my grandparents' grave.

Last week we ate watermelon for the first time this year, and I got it with black seeds --eww. Kate didn't like that, and I had to spend all my time picking them out for her. I told her about my Grandpa Ericksen who ate watermelon -- black seeds and all! That has made an impression on her and now she talks about it every time we eat watermelon. Tonight we had some, and she said, "White seeds are yummy for you and me; black seeds are yummy for your grandpa!"

My grandpa died when I was only seven, and my grandma died when I was five (but had been sick for years before that), but I've always felt a bond with him. I slept in his bed when we visited him after my grandma died and kicked him all night, to find him sleeping in a chair by morning.

There have been times when I've felt like he was watching over me (since his death), helping me somehow -- I can't say for sure if that's true or not, but I have felt that. I only wish I had known both of them better.

There was definitely a special spirit there when I took a few minutes to ponder their lives before we left. I think there is something more to remembering and honoring our ancestors than we fully realize/appreciate.

Kate and I had a nice time at the cemetery and will definitely be making a tradition of it.

'P' in the Potty

2010-05-28T16:27:00.003-06:00

The other day, I asked Kate if she needed to go pee in the potty, to which she quickly responded (with a sly smile), "No, I go 'Q' in the potty." Heh, heh. She's been coming up with different letters every time now when I ask. Funny girl.

One month from today!!

2010-05-28T15:46:00.003-06:00

Christian's due date is June 28th -- one month from today. It is hard to believe, but at the same time it's even harder to believe I still have four more weeks to go (if I'm lucky)!! I am HUGE. Walking, breathing, sleeping...pretty much everything right now is a chore. I know Kate is wondering what happened to her mom -- you know, the one who actually wanted to stand up every once in a while. Poor girl. I worry about her when so much will be going on next month, but then again, it might be a welcome change of pace for her. And, of course, she'll love having visitors.

It is hard to imagine our family any different than it is now, but I know Christian will fit right in. Kate loves to give my "B-I-G tummy" hugs and say hello to her little brother. She also loves to jump around and often lands hard on my big tummy (it's kind of in the way a lot). He's a tough little guy, that much is already clear. I remember my stomach moving around a lot when Kate was in there, but Christian's got moves that HURT. He's bouncing around like crazy most of the time. I'm kind of worried sleeping isn't his thing...

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and have made only minimal progress -- 25% effaced, and dilated to a 1.

I like the sound of the dishwasher. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something when I'm just sitting here. :) If only everything in life were automatic and made comforting swishing noises...

Grandpa and Grandma's Visit

2010-05-28T15:34:00.008-06:00

My parents were in town for several days last week, and we were lucky enough to have them stay with us for one of those days. They'll be staying with us for a couple weeks when Christian is born, so they didn't want to overdo it now. Kate LOVES having grandparents visit, and she took to them right away. We see them every few months or so, so she remembers them now.

My dad is an artist (http://nericksenart.blogspot.com/), so I thought it'd be fun for them to paint together. I got Kate a little wooden butterfly for them to work on, and she had the time of her life. We love having Grandma Marge and Papa Nick come visit and can't wait for them to move out here next year!! When they come next month for Christian, it will be my dad's first time to go with my mom for a new grandbaby (Christian will be #9 for them) -- since he is now retired and free!! Wahoo!!

Temporary Euphoria

2010-05-16T23:12:00.003-06:00

It was late when we got back from Utah Lake last night, and Kate wasn't in bed until 11:30 pm. She came out of her room around midnight, which she NEVER does. She never gets out of her bed -- ever. It's like she thinks it's physically impossible once she's in it. I love it, of course. Anyway, she came out (which was shocking enough), and then said she had to go poo poo. Whenever she says she needs to go poo, that means she's already gone poo. I grumbled something and took her to the bathroom, getting things ready to change the poopy pull-up. But, to my surprise, the diaper was clean. I stuck her on the potty telling her to try to go, then I left the room.

I was in the kitchen when I heard the "plop," followed by another "plop." I ran to the bathroom and looked in the potty. Sure enough, Kate had done it!! She seemed a little shocked herself. We all hurried to the kitchen to get Ariel down from the fridge. It was quite the celebration. She slept with the doll last night. I couldn't sleep, even though I had been so tired, because I was so excited about the possibilities of my new life.

I hate to end this post on a sour note, since I was REALLY happy last night when it happened. But today, she went poo again -- not in the potty. Might need some kind of reward for a while...or something. I was so sure I would be diaper free for at least a month!

A Romp in the Bog

2010-05-16T20:14:00.004-06:00

Last night we decided to go to Utah Lake to see if Andrew could get some pictures. He didn't end up taking any, but it was a beautiful night nonetheless. We spent part of the night off the beaten path (through a barbed wire fence). Our shoes ended up soggy and smelly-- trying to jump over bogs...and not quite making it.

**Funny thing Kate said as I was typing this post, "I eat you up, and then you are in my tummy. Then I spit you out, and you're like a puzzle!"

If bums could talk...

2010-04-27T18:45:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I took Kate to the park, and while we were there she peed in her pants. I had an extra pull-up in the car luckily, and took her pants off to change her (no one but horses were around). It was really windy, and when the air hit her bare bum, she yelled, "My bum-bum is BLOWING AWAY!!"

I just thought that was funny. That's all.

Christian's alive and well -- and kicking...

2010-04-13T17:12:00.004-06:00

Today I had my ultrasound to check out Christian's brain. During the last ultrasound they found cysts on his brain, which can be an indication of some really bad things, but it can also resolve itself by 28 weeks (I'm 29 weeks). I guess 99% of the time it resolves itself, and lucky for us and Christian that is exactly what happened! Phew!

Last time during the ultrasound the tech couldn't get a good profile shot, so she tried REALLY hard this time. She found out about the cysts in about five seconds, then spent a long time really trying to get that profile shot. Sadly, Christian was once again not cooperating. She got one -- kind of. Then she tried looking 3D, which I've never had done before. The bottom picture is pretty cool, I think. He's got his leg straight up in the air, and his hand is holding onto his foot. But his face is still hiding. Oh well -- Kate didn't look a thing like her profile shot anyway.

Somehow they can tell that Christian is 3 lb. 4 oz. I have no idea how they can really tell that, but whatever. The whole ultrasound is kind of a mystery to me anyway. I'm measuring big, as I did with Kate. Every time I get an ultrasound, my due date looks different. First June 28th, then July 5th, now June 23rd. The doctor said they don't change it unless it's two weeks different, so we're still using the June 28th date.

The ultrasound tech couldn't believe how high Christian was. She kept saying, "I'm all the way up in your ribs!" Yeah, tell me about it. My ribs feel broken half the time. I wake up every couple of hours feeling like my ribs are on fire.

I found out that I don't have gestational diabetes (yay!), but I do have low iron and low blood pressure. That makes sense because I've been so freaking tired and light-headed all the time. The doctor was concerned that I've been having a lot of contractions and told me not to exercise. I've only exercised one time during this pregnancy, so it's not a tall order. I'm not really sure why he was concerned about it, though. I had them all the time with Kate, and I've been having them for weeks with Christian. I think it's pretty normal? But whatever. I'll happily comply with no exercising (cleaning always gives me contractions...but Andrew says that doesn't count--dang).

Anyway, this is my second post in a week! I better not get too carried away.

A Kate update

2010-04-11T22:06:00.008-06:00

Kate is edging ever closer to the 3 1/2 year mark (next month). She's still very tall and very skinny. All of her pants require an adjustment around the waist--there's just nothing there to hold them up.

She looks like a genuine kid lately, not a baby anymore! She is turning into a really beautiful little girl.

She loves playing games on the computer, namely pbskids.org. I have felt guilty letting her spend so much time on the computer as I rest, but a lot of good has come from it...she knows more dinosaur names than I do, and she has actually taught herself how to spell! She can spell quite a few words now: horn, guitar, drum, tuba, stop, truck, Kate, and balloons are words she can spell without even thinking about it. One day she just spelled "horn" for me. I was blown away! A minute later she spelled guitar, and I almost fell over (I would have if I hadn't already been laying down). She is a real smartie. She is always asking about letters and what this or that spells when we're out and about.

Kate still loves everything princess. The other day Andrew suggested buying her some GI Joes just to balance her out a little. I'm pretty sure they would just end up as princes, though.

She loves Sunbeams and had no problem at all transitioning from nursery. The teachers tell us she's great. There's a little girl in her class named "Rella," but Kate told me after the very first week that her name was "Aurora" -- like Sleeping Beauty. She talks about this girl's name every week, as if it's the greatest thing ever to be named after a princess. I only recently found out that's not her name at all, but I'm not going to be the bearer of bad news.

She is quite feisty these days and wants what she wants when she wants it. Some days everything will be a struggle. Other days, she'll sweetly do anything I ask. I'm not sure what the difference is, only that she's just trying to figure things out. Her most common reply to me when asking her to do something is, "I can't. It's too hard." This is very frustrating to hear, especially because usually all I'm asking is for her to bend down and pick up something she dropped. She'll say things like, "It's too hard for me. You do it. It's not too hard for you!"

Her favorite story right now is Goldilocks. She loves to tell it over and over. It is really cute how she tells it.

She is still very affectionate--when she wants to be. Yesterday, Andrew went in her room where she was playing and asked if she wanted to give him a hug. She replied, "No, thank you." At least she's polite about it?? Of course, she's still very shy with strangers and other kids. She becomes a mute around other kids -- even though she LOVES being around them (especially her five year old cousin, Cambria. She names all of her stuffed animals after her). Kids will ask her questions and try to talk to her, and she'll just sit uncomfortably and stare at them. She's in a playgroup now, so hopefully things will get better.

I have been trying to get her potty trained for what feels like forever now. She's been in pull-ups for a long time. She generally tells me when she has to go pee (probably 90% of the time), but not always. Sometimes she just really detests sitting on the potty and doesn't want to. She can hold her pee like you wouldn't believe. I've never seen anything like it. After a whole night's sleep (10-12 hours), she'll wake up and refuse to go pee until she has breakfast and changes her clothes. THEN, she will go. Every time, it's like a flood coming out --I don't know how she can hold it! Then she won't go again for HOURS, no matter how many times I ask her.

She WILL NOT go poo in the potty. I finally decided to buy her a reward to motivate her. I got her an Ariel Barbie doll and put it on top of the fridge. I explained, a million different times, in a million different ways that all she has to do is go poo in the potty (not in her PANTS!), and she can open up Ariel. The first day, she sat on the potty and tried and tried to go poo. Nothing. She lost interest in trying so hard after that. This was a few weeks ago now, and she has never successfully gone poo in the potty. I have no idea what to do about it! Ariel was my last, best hope. Kate still looks longingly at Ariel every once in a while, saying, "She doesn't want to come down." I try to tell her that Ariel REALLY wants to come down -- all she has to do is go POO in the POTTY. She then replies, "It's too hard for me." Ahh!!

I have her signed up to start pre-school in September, but the kids are supposed to be completely potty-trained by then. I REALLY hope that can happen, because I know she would love it. She has never had an accident in Sunbeams, which is just as long as pre-school would be, so if all else fails, I'll probably just stick her in panties and send her to school and hope she doesn't have to go -- since she can hold it like nobody's business anyway. They would never know!

Just recently she started something where every time she hurts herself (falling down or whatever), she will do a fake sneeze. She'll be bawling her head off, and then out of nowhere go, "Ah-Choo!" I am completely puzzled as to why she does this. Somehow it makes her feel better??

It's really difficult to put Kate's cuteness into words. Just the way she talks is the most precious thing ever. She has such a soft heart and still gets very concerned whenever she sees someone crying. She's excited to share a room with Christian when he comes, and I know she will be the best big sister ever. I'm sure she will have a hard adjustment to sharing us, since she's had us to herself for so long, but ultimately, I know she will be great. The other day we were at Old Navy, and I was browsing the little baby boy clothes. Kate would pick up the clothes and hold them to my stomach, leaning close to my belly and asking, "Does it match, Christian?" I'm not sure what it's supposed to match exactly, but it was cute.

I've been thinking of things that I need to write down that she says, but I know I am forgetting most of them. We love our little Kate, though, that is for sure. We can't imagine our lives without her!

A New Post!!

2010-04-05T18:41:00.004-06:00

The Ericksen Family, March 2010

I realize it has been almost two months since I've posted. If you imagine me draped on the couch 24/7 in a vegetative state stuffing myself with candy and watching reality tv you wouldn't be too far off. Just kidding. Actually, this past month has been quite busy and productive. Amazing! :)

My whole family came to town for a little family reunion, and we were able to get a new family photo from my brother, Mark. I love Kate's face in this picture. It was so much fun hanging out with my family.

I'm now 28 weeks along and am feeling okay. I have a rib that hurts almost all of the time which has been driving me crazy, but pretty sure there's nothing to be done about it. Oh well. I am walking slower than normal now and definitely look like a pregnant lady.

Christian seems to be doing well -- he's very active, anyway. At my last doctor's appointment, it took the doctor a worrisome amount of time before he found his heart beat because he was moving around so much. Every time I see a boy at the mall, playground, wherever, they are always running and jumping like crazy while Kate is usually standing still observing. This makes me worried about having a boy every time.

I actually get to have another ultrasound next week because of some concerns the doctor has about something he saw in the last ultrasound. He says 99% of the time it turns out fine, but he wants to check on the baby again just to be safe. I haven't been too worried about it, though, because I've read a lot about it on the internet, and I think it's really not something to be freaked out about. But we shall see. It will be fun to get another ultrasound, though, as long as everything is okay.

Kate is super duper cute lately and says so many funny things every day. I need to start writing them down, so I can post a good update on her soon.

We just got back from a weekend in Logan because Andrew's dad got remarried. I'll post some pics of that soon!

Announcing Baby Christian!!

2010-02-10T16:18:00.004-07:00

The tech couldn't get a good profile shot cause his arm was in the way, but this is the best she could get.

Freaky alien eye baby

And the tech was really excited about the boy's bum, and it's Kate's favorite picture, too, so I thought I'd post it. :)

It's a BOY!! I was a little surprised, actually. When we were looking at the TV screen, I thought I saw girl parts and yelled out, "It's a GIRL!" Then the technician replied, "No...no, it is not a girl. I can guarantee you it's a boy." I was like, "WHAT?"

We've always planned on naming our first boy Christian (Andrew's middle name), but now Andrew is having second thoughts about that. That's what we're calling him for now. And even Kate didn't seem to mind that it was a boy. I think we're all glad the guessing games are finally over. She likes the idea of having a "Baby Brother" and calls him Baby Christian already. It's cute. So no worries about him being called "Girl"--at least for now.

We are very excited and have a lot of boy clothes shopping to do! :)

Pink or blue?

2010-02-09T17:00:00.007-07:00

As I've been waiting to find out the gender of our baby (since I found I was pregnant), I have frequently asked for Kate's opinion on the matter. Early on, she would guess both boy and girl, equally. Now, here's what the conversation goes like--

Me: "Kate, do you think the baby in my tummy is a boy or a girl?"

Kate: "Girl!"

Me: "Really? What should we name the baby if it's a girl?"

Kate is contemplative, but I suggest a name before she gets too fixated on something like "Princess" or "Cinderella." She accepts my suggestion with excitement, and I move on.

Me: "What if it's a boy? What should we name the baby if it's a boy?"

Kate, without hesitation: "GIRL!"

Me: "We should name the boy 'girl'?"

Kate nods enthusiastically.

Other times I'll say, "What if it's a boy in my tummy?" And she'll respond emphatically, "No! The baby in your tummy is a girl. The baby in my tummy is a boy." My guess is she understands she doesn't really have a baby in her tummy, and that's why it can afford to be a boy.

She often will get a sad face, and I'll ask her what the matter is. She'll say, "I don't feel so good. I have a baby in my tummy. The doctor's got to get it OUT."

Poor girl, I know she's tired of hearing that I'm feeling sick or tired because of the baby. She is so excited to see the baby in my tummy tomorrow at the ultrasound. I hope she won't be too disappointed if it's a boy! And I hope she won't call him "girl" his whole life.

Andrew really would like a boy, and I would, too. But since Kate has become obsessed with it being a girl, for her sake I hope it is. Of course, we would be happy with either, we would just like to be guaranteed at least one of each. I will let you know TOMORROW.

And the winner is...

2010-02-06T23:28:00.006-07:00

...Andrew! Last night was the award ceremony and opening night of the Bean Museum Photography exhibit. Andrew entered again this year and won 2nd place in the landscape category for this beautiful photo of Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. He also got an honorable mention for a photo he took in California. Last year he entered and won 1st place for "Ashen Flame."

Andrew recently had a lot of his pictures scanned and has been working late nights to get them all edited. The ones he entered still need some tweaks before he is going to put them on his website. But he let me put this up for now (the others will have to wait)--excuse the glare of the camera that pretty much ruins the picture...I'm not the photog.

If you live in the area, you can check out the show until March 8th.

Some pics of the place

2010-02-06T23:08:00.007-07:00

My mom has been asking to see pictures of our new apartment since we moved in. I finally found the camera--so here are some. I only took pics of the clean rooms. So below is the kitchen, the office area (which is not all clean, but pretty close), Kate's bathroom, Kate in the living room, and the gorgeous view. And above is just a cute bonus picture of Kate and Daddy.

Done and done!

2010-01-27T18:58:00.003-07:00

Wahoo! My mom's book is completely done and printed! I just got my copy in the mail. I really had a lot of fun working with my mom on this. I've read this book many, many times now in the process of editing it, and I love reading it every time. She is such a great storyteller. And Candis did another awesome job on the cover! It is so fun to see a project like this from its very beginning stages all the way to the end. It is so fulfilling, I love it! I love you, Mom!!

Cut off!

2010-01-27T11:07:00.004-07:00

Yesterday was one of the longest days of my life. Andrew had the car at work and our INTERNET went down. 'Gasp!' You have to understand that when the internet goes down so does our phone because we have internet phone. And now, at this new place, apparently the television feels the need to jump on the bandwagon. And the router is not in our apartment.

It was a long day of hearing Kate (who is very sick and sad) say, "I want to do something else." Yeah, me too!

Well, part way through the day I realized that our toilets (BOTH toilets) were clogged and would not unclog, try as I might. They would just slowly drain. Then I looked in the tub and it had a slight discoloration to it--like light tan. Agh! Sewage!!

Anyway, I endured all day and all night long--cause Andrew was gone until LATE with his boss at work (who is also our landlord). I literally had NOTHING else to do but clean, but I just didn't have it in me. So I watched a movie with Kate and tried to relax.

When Andrew got home he told me that the Christmas lights on the house had tripped a breaker that was the reason for all our troubles. It messed with the internet and with the water pump. A plumber is on his way now to replace the pump. Until then, we are not supposed to use the toilets or any running water. No dishes, no wash, no shower! As a pregnant lady, I go potty about a million times a day, so this was not welcome news.

Anyway, it's almost over--the plumber has just arrived! And I already feel better with the internet working.

For anyone still checking my blog...

2010-01-15T17:49:00.005-07:00

I don't know if there's anyone there or not, but my cousin has reminded me (once again) that I should post something. This has been one of the craziest months of my life, but things are finally calming down, so I will take a second to write.

Of course, there was Christmas and all that goes along with that. That was fun, by the way. I'll try to find pics later. One step at a time. :)

But mostly this past month has been spent packing, moving, cleaning, stressing, laying (I am pregnant, after all--did I ever mention that on here? Well, I think everyone knows already anyway), interviewing a new client during the week of our move, finishing the editing on my mom's book, ordering my mom's book, organizing, throwing away, and lots more laying and eating. Maintaining Kate's survival is mixed in there someplace, too.

So please excuse the lack of blogging. OH! And Andrew fixed my computer, so you are likely to see more of me on here.

We LOVE our new place and are just trying to get settled. Andrew is working a crazy lot of hours, so it's basically up to me...and well, I'm tired.

I finally have a doctor's appointment now that things are settled down, insurance is finalized, and I chose a new doctor. SO--we'll see, finally, just how far along I am !! I am thinking I should be about 16 weeks on Monday. Crazy. Things are so different the second time around. I don't want to say I'm not as concerned...but I don't obsess at all like I did with the first one. I was constantly reading pregnancy books and analyzing every twitch and gas bubble. :) Either I'm more relaxed about this one or I just haven't had a whole lot of time to think about it. It sure makes it go a lot faster!

Anyway, I am actually making dinner tonight--yay! My sister came over and completely organized my kitchen and helped me throw away bags and bags of stuff I haven't used in years. It was great! If I could just do that with the rest of the house now. Sometimes it just takes someone saying, "Are you REALLY going to use this?" or "How many whisks and wooden spoons do you really need?" to realize you could part with a whole lot of stuff.

Once I find my camera I'll post some new pics of our new place. Until then!

What blog?

2009-12-04T13:22:00.006-07:00

Ohhh, that's right. I have a blog. Sorry, I kind of let it slip my mind...

Actually, my computer parts just came in this week, and I am HOPING Andrew will feel up to putting it all together for me this weekend. Then I will be FREE once again. I have just been bumming time from Andrew's while he is at work.

SO... we are officially moving at the end of this month! We're moving to Lindon--to rent out the basement of Andrew's boss's house. It's kind of weird--we know. But it's a very nice apartment (we'll have our own two car garage!!--oh what we could do with storage space!) and a DISHWASHER and WASHER AND DRYER. I'm sorry--I am very excited about those things. I have been hand washing dishes for a year and a half now (or mostly not washing dishes for a year and a half), and have been dragging myself, Kate, and bags and bags of laundry to the laundromat for a year and a half--and I have to say--I am SO sick of it!! I never would have made it as a pioneer, I completely realize that.

This is a dishwasher, for those folks (like me) who have not seen one in a very, very long time.

Anyway, we'll be moving shortly after Christmas. Once again, I hate packing and moving and all of that, but both Andrew and I enjoy going somewhere new and experiencing something different. Not sure how long we will be living there or what's in store for us, but we are excited for a new adventure!

PS In case you can't tell what the new banner is...it's Kate holding up a star and looking at it. Andrew took this picture through her play tent door, and then had fun with it in Photoshop.

Ugh blech argh

2009-11-02T14:08:00.004-07:00

Well, it's been a rough couple of weeks. My computer is BROKEN, which means I am fighting for the will to live right now. :) I have to bum time from Andrew's computer (which is very difficult) or go to the library (gasp) or the Wymount office (ugh).

Anyway, no--Kate is not potty-trained. She kind of is, kind of isn't. But I am spending less on diapers, so that's something.

We had fun on Halloween--will post pics at some point in the future.

I am turning 30 this week--shoot me now.

But the weather is beautiful, my parents and brother are coming to town this week, and Andrew just finished editing the Provo temple picture that I want to frame and put on our wall. To view, click here.

So...things are looking up.

Potty Training: Complete?

2009-10-16T22:12:00.012-06:00

This picture has nothing to do with potty training, of course, but I realized I never posted it, and it's cute. Kate is with her Aunt Crystal's dog, Sabrina. This was from a couple months ago.

Andrew thinks I'm a little premature in declaring Kate potty trained (and you will probably agree with him after reading this), but I'm saying it anyway (we've only been doing it since Monday...). She's only had one peeing accident in the last three days. The poo is a different story. She did finally go poo in the potty yesterday, but it came with much drama...or trauma, I guess I should say. Once she was done, she yelled for me (I was trying to give her some privacy), and she screamed her head off--a kind of terrified sort of scream. She just wanted off that potty and away from the poo. My celebrating was completely ignored and she didn't even acknowledge M&M's until she was a safe distance away. She's had similar reactions seeing the poo in her panties, and tonight in the tub. It's like she never realized what was in her diaper all these years.

You all may remember my last try at potty training her, which did not go well. I couldn't even think about potty training again for a year (I just realized it was almost exactly a year ago that I tried), even though she probably could have done it a few months ago. Her friends and cousins are all potty trained, and that got her more interested.

But still, most of the time it is a pain to get her on the potty. It only happens when I tell her she will get chocolate (and lately not even then). (Next week's challenge will be to wean her off the chocolate.) She holds it and doesn't go for hours until she comes skidding into the bathroom crying that she needs to go. Her pull-ups have been bone dry the last two nights, so she is in her panties for the first time tonight. We'll see how that goes...

I know you are all so curious about her potty training, but it has really been a great time for me--I feel so free! It's really more effort to help her go potty than it was to change her diaper every few hours, but it will save us some money every month which will be fabulous. And she won't be the only Sunbeam come January who's still wearing diapers.

Kate says the funniest things lately. When I was praising her for being "potty trained," her reply was, "Yes! I'm a potty train!" Ha ha. :) And when we tell her what a big girl she is, she sometimes agrees proudly, but other times insists, "No, I'm a little girl." All this potty training business makes me feel like she is all grown up--next milestone: high school graduation! It's nice to know that she's not in too big of a hurry to grow up either.

Andrew's new pic

2009-10-03T22:39:00.003-06:00

Just thought I'd let everyone know Andrew has a new picture on his website. We're still working on the title and description. Oh, and Andrew added a feature that lets you comment on his website (just click on the tab below the pic that says "Leave a Comment") if you have something to say. :) You can also increase the size of the photo under the tab "Page Display Options."

Click here to see the new photo.

PoLITE

2009-09-30T20:25:00.001-06:00

Ha ha, I just had to write this down. Just now I was teaching Kate to shake hands and say her name, then say, "It's nice to meet you." After she did it successfully, I said, "Oh, you're so polite, huh?"

To which she responded, "NO!! I'm a PINK light."

Time for a Kate update

2009-09-29T09:54:00.006-06:00

Sneaking some of Daddy's birthday cake in her "princess dress." It's supposed to go over another dress...

My mom reminded me that even though I am writing a lot for examiner.com, I can't neglect giving a Kate update once in a while on the blog. So here goes.

Kate is adorable. Nothing's changed there.

She has recently become obsessed with princesses and princess dresses. She didn't have any princess dresses, though, so she's been dressing up in her Sunday dresses every day...all day long. In and out, in and out. I finally got her a princess dress from Kid-to-Kid a couple weeks ago. The day after she got it she threw up ALL over it. Nice. Hand wash only.

I asked her to tell me when she needed to throw up again so that I could try to aim her to a big bowl. Well, she did tell me when, but after only hitting the bowl one time, she then began running crazily all over the house refusing to throw up again in the bowl, but all the while throwing up on the couch, carpet, walls, speakers, you get the idea. Poor thing. She's better now (after passing the flu to me and then me to Andrew).

When I was really sick one day and trying not to throw up, I told Kate I was feeling sick to my stomach. She looked worried, and ran to the bathroom. I heard her yell, "You need to blow your nose FIRST!" She was getting me a piece of toilet paper. She connects sickness with me telling her to blow her nose. :) She then brought me her princess cup with water in it and told me to drink water. She got tired of playing doctor after that and told me to "GET UP!!"

Yesterday, she asked to wear panties and go pee pee in the potty. Excited, I took her up on it. She went a couple times, and had a couple accidents. What she mostly wanted was to wear her cute little panties (no other clothes), and then change her panties like she changes dresses. I was talking to Andrew in the office, when out of the corner of my eye I see a very naked girl running down the hall. I still don't know where the blue panties went...

I hear "I'm a princess, Mommy! I'm a princess!!" about 2000 times a day. And when I am wearing a dress for church, I hear "You're a princess, Mommy!! You're a princess!!" I'm a little worried her vocabulary growth has been stunted...with all the princess stuff.

She can play kid games really well on the computer. She's mastered the mouse already. We recently got her a Sesame Street game and there's a part where they sing about people in the neighborhood. People like a barber, baker, doctor, and for some reason an astronaut...haven't figured that one out yet. She loves "cutting" our hair. She'll drape a blanket around me, shove my head in different directions, then she gives me a sucker at the end. It's cute.

She LOVES dogs, especially Grandma Ellen's dogs, and still talks about them every few days.

She loves her cousins (my sis's kids), and we try to spend time with them at least once a week.

She LOVES to sing Primary songs and knows almost all the words (it gets a little iffy in some spots) to "I love to see the temple" and "I am a child of God." The temple song is by far her favorite, though, and we sing it over and over and over. I got an audio recording of it. I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to post it. She gets so excited every time we pass the Provo Temple. When I told her Daddy and Mommy were married there, she replied, "Kate's married there, too."

She's generally an obedient, happy, affectionate little girl that we love very much.

Writing for examiner.com

2009-09-16T10:34:00.003-06:00

I recently started writing for examiner.com on local and national politics. Since I get paid based on how many people are reading my articles, thought I would put in a shameless plug! Here is a link to my first article (I only have two right now). Hope you'll visit! :)

Patrick Swayze 1952-2009

2009-09-14T20:07:00.003-06:00

I looked high and low for my sketch book from when I was like 8 or 9. I had some nice drawings of Patrick. I thought it would be fitting to post them. Oh well. If I find them sometime soon, I will put them up. For now, I had to go with an internet picture. Rest in peace, Patrick.

Protesting at the Utah State Capitol Building

2009-09-13T19:59:00.002-06:00

Had fun this weekend joining millions of people across the country protesting BIG (and corrupt) government. It was great!

(My dumb lens had a smudge on it, and so the "We" on the "We the People" is all messed. Oh well!)

A blessing for pillows

2009-08-27T14:05:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure if it is sacrilegious to post this or not...but I thought it was super cute. Andrew gave me and Kate a blessing last night. And when Andrew gave me a blessing, Kate thought it was just a prayer, so she repeated every word that he said as he was giving it. Then when it was her turn, she sat perfectly still with her eyes shut tight. Afterwards, she kept asking him for more. When she didn't get any more, she decided she wanted to give a blessing. She took our three pillows off the couch, one by one, put them in the chair and gave them a blessing. She did this over and over and over. Andrew joked that our pillows should stay in mint condition for years to come. :)

View from the Saddle

2009-08-09T19:15:00.002-06:00

I forgot to post this with my last entry. Oops.

I (almost) made it to the TOP!!

2009-08-09T17:49:00.032-06:00

Yikes! What a trip! On Friday, we left Kate with Andrew's mom and sister at his grandparents' cabin and headed to Mt. Timpanogos! Andrew's wanted me to go with him to do this for years now, but my claim at being too out of shape has never changed, so I decided to just go for it. Oh, and have I ever mentioned that I'm afraid of heights? That comes into play later.

The hike up was GORGEOUS!! A total mountain paradise complete with an abundant array of wildflowers, wildlife (luckily we didn't see bears, but we did see cute little wild hamsters!), and waterfalls. Wow. The first two hours up, I was like, "This isn't so bad. This is fun!" Andrew kept warning me not to get too excited, because it's always much longer to the destination than you realize. Very true. It was 6.5 miles up to where we planned to sleep.

In case you can't tell what you're looking at, that is a moose.

On our hike up we were approached by a salesman (who got us to stop by asking us to take his picture) trying to get us into a pyramid scheme of some new miracle juice. Of all places to be solicited!

We were headed to Emerald Lake to camp for the night, then planned to hike to the top of Timp the next morning, then gather our stuff, and head back down again. Well, it ended up being dark (we left late in the afternoon) before we reached the lake. On the way to the lake you have to walk along a very steep, rocky, ledge. We did that completely exhausted and by flashlight. I was freaked out. Plus there was a Boy Scout behind me who kept saying to his group, "Woah! Be careful! It's STRAIGHT down, and I don't trust half the rocks I'm standing on!" That didn't help me. Finally, we got to the lake and set up our tent in the best place we could (considering we couldn't see anything), and it happened to be on a very sloped spot, which made for an interesting night's sleep. Plus, it was FREEZING! Very freak temperature for August. We were then both rudely awakened at 2 AM to a group of people screaming at the top of their lungs. It seems they hiked up to the summit by moonlight (it was almost a full moon) and then yelled for a good while up there (and while sliding down on the glacier). Then, I woke again later to rapid gunfire! That really freaked me out because we'd been told by a ranger that there'd been bear and cougar sightings and that the cougar was being tracked. I didn't sleep well.

The next morning we hiked to the "saddle" of Mt. Timp. See pics below.

This is a terrible picture of me (my pants are all poofy from the wind--I swear I'm not THAT fat), but the only one we took of the view of the city before the clouds appeared out of nowhere and overtook the mountain.

This is what I saw (above), a trail to the summit on the edge of a steep cliff covered in clouds. Hmm. I was scared to death! No way am I going out there, I told Andrew. After much discussion and compelling arguments, I decided I'd better try to make it to the summit (only about 30 minutes from this point). Holy cow--I cried more than once from total fear! I was freaked out of my mind, let me tell you. Andrew's main argument was that it's impossible to fall off a trail--so all you have to do is focus on the trail and don't look down (to the side of the trail). Just pretend like you're walking down the street. You wouldn't just fall down while walking down the street, right? Well, his argument makes more sense to people who don't frequently trip (not me). But I went along with him.

We came to the switchbacks portion, and some guy coming down told me that that was the worst part of it, and then it was easy from there. So I made myself scramble up these rocks, trying my best NOT to look down. I somehow made it up and went a little ways more. We were in perfect sight of the summit--probably only about 100 yards to go, but I couldn't take any more. The next bit of trail petrified me (even though it probably wasn't any worse than what I had already done), and I said, "No thank you." Everything was covered in clouds anyway--it's not like I could enjoy the view...(but I would have avoided looking down at all costs anyway). So we headed back. Kind of sad, but I am still proud of myself for going that far.

We went back to our tent and napped for a while, and ended up getting another late start going back down the mountain. Woops. Not a good idea. Both of us were really dying after a couple of hours. Our knees and feet had had it and really weren't functioning all that well.

(The ridge below the mountain is where we hiked to Emerald Lake at night. I forgot to get any pics of the lake.)

(The wildflowers were really like nothing I've ever seen--every color you can think of. These pics don't nearly do it justice.)

So, probably with about an hour to go, it was getting dark, but we hadn't gotten out the flashlight yet since we could still mostly see. I was stepping down from a rock, lost my balance, fell to the ground, and put out my hands to break my fall...only there was NOTHING to break my fall. I went right over the side of a cliff and tumbled down until thick plants broke my fall! I was totally shocked and psycho scared. I didn't know how far I'd fallen or if I was okay. I yelled out to Andrew, and he climbed down to me instantly. An older man with a walking stick came to help, and together they pulled me up. My pants were torn, my knees cut and elbows bruised, but other than that (and a mouthful of dirt somehow), I was fine! I can't tell you how blessed I felt!

Whenever I am hiking, I am always surveying the cliffs on the side of the trail and thinking, "Okay, if I fell here I would probably die" or "If I fell here, I'd probably roll for a ways, but not die." Well, this cliff didn't really look like a cliff at all--there were tons of plants coming up. I thought when I put my hands out (when I fell) that there would be ground. But it was just straight down.

I limped all the way down the rest of the way (in the dark again), and it took much longer than we had thought--going at our slow pace. We got back at 10:30 PM, just shy of the 11 PM deadline Andrew had given his mom to call search and rescue if we weren't back yet. Search and rescue was at the trail head when we made it down, but it wasn't for us. There were several other problems with hikers on the way.

I had a fever and chills when I got back to the cabin (I was dehydrated--I never make myself drink enough water), and it is difficult to walk with all the soreness, and I had nightmares all night about falling off the summit trail (I'd bolt up awake with my heart pounding like crazy)--but other than that, it was great! I'm glad I went, though. We plan on going again--frequently (but maybe not to the summit...).

My little tumble did disprove Andrew's theory, though--that it's impossible to fall off a trail! :) Maybe for some, but not for me!

Month's summary in pictures

2009-08-06T13:48:00.012-06:00

It was a good month! This weekend Andrew and I are hiking Mt. Timp! Wish us luck!

Happy Fourth! (a couple days late)

2009-07-06T15:13:00.011-06:00

On Thursday night, Andrew came home with some fireworks. He decided that if Kate was going to have any chance of enjoying real fireworks on the Fourth, then we would have to start small. It took a long time before we could get Kate to come anywhere near the sparklers. When we asked her if she wanted to hold one, she would say, "No way!" She was more content to run in circles (see video). But finally, she broke down and loved it. I'm not sure it was too smart on our part to give a two year old a sparkler--it was a little scary! She would run at us with it when she wanted us to take it back. But we all survived.

For the fireworks this year we decided not to go to Park City (we were too tired after a long hike the day before) and instead watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks from the stadium parking lot. Daddy's hands blocked Kate's ears, and her hands covered her eyes (but we did catch her stealing peeks). There was a huge American flag hanging up, and it must have really made an impression on her because she's been asking for the past two days where the American flag went. We watched them take it down, and so I tell her every time, "They took it down." Her response: "Oh. They took America flag down. Right." She always says "Right" like that, after she gets something. You'll hear her say it in the video. Enjoy!

Kate Update

2009-06-28T23:44:00.007-06:00

The other day she surprised me by pulling over a chair to the couch, laying down with a blanket, proclaiming herself tired, and falling asleep.

I realized it has been a long time since I've given a good Kate update! So here goes.

Kate has officially broken out of her painfully shy spell. She loves to say hi and good-bye now to anyone and everyone. After she says it, she'll tell me, "Say bye, Mommy!" Meaning, she's proud of herself for saying bye to people. She loves to play with other girls and boys and talks about how much fun she had with them long after they're gone. Nursery is her favorite place, and we were happy to hear from the nursery leader that Kate is the most well-behaved kid in the class! And she is the only one who volunteers answers during lessons. I'm so proud!

Kate also LOVES the sacrament. Her hands are always reaching into the bread tray before I can get one out for her. Today, when she saw the water tray coming, she said, "Ooh water!" then leaned over the back of our pew and took a cup of water out of someone else's tray!! She proceeded to slurp it down noisily, saying, "Yummy water!"

She is so kind and thoughtful, it makes me tear up sometimes. She frequently will hook her arms around mine, look up at me adoringly, and say, "I love you, too, Mommy" even though I haven't said anything. She proudly goes potty before bath time and always gets a fruit snack as a reward. I only give her two or three for going potty, and she will often give Daddy one and give me the other. Fruit snacks are one of her favorite things in this world, so I know it is a real sacrifice.

She continues to love going outside, going on hikes, and camping. She's not one to roll around in the mud, though. She likes to stay clean and will refrain from going down the slide if she deems it "too messy."

She loves all things princess! She knows all of the Disney princesses, even though she hasn't even seen all of their movies.

When I ask her to do something, or tell her it's time to go home, her favorite response is to say quietly, "No no, Mommy." Then she puts her little index finger to her lips crookedly, and says, "Shh." It is so cute, I usually don't have the heart to drag her away from what she's doing.

In the mornings, her typical greeting to me is, "I don't feel so good." When I ask what's wrong, she says with a sigh, "I tired." I can relate. She has stopped taking regular naps, but at night she will tell me she is sleepy and needs to get some rest.

She LOVES to clean up and generally does so without me mentioning it. She has become very independent and likes to get her silverware out and put her own butter and jelly on bread, push the grocery cart at the store, etc.

She now sleeps in her very own toddler bed. When we put it together and rearranged her room, she was SO excited! She kept running around, throwing her arms in the air, and exclaiming, "It's PERFECT!"

It seems she is somehow managing to get cuter and cuter with time, and she is a joy to be around. If ever I stub my toe or otherwise yell out in pain, she is always there to see what's wrong and how she can help. She even offered to carry me the other day. It didn't work out so well...

More and more I look forward to seeing the person she becomes.

911 "EMERGENCY" ?!?!?!

2009-06-26T21:20:00.011-06:00

I think the quickest way to ruin someone's reputation at Wymount is to send a fleet of police cars to their house and accuse them of domestic abuse.

That is what happened to us this morning. It was a nice morning, we showered, had breakfast, Kate watched Clifford. I was going to take Andrew to work and go to SLC with Kate to develop his latest photographs. It was raining, and I made a couple trips to the car with Kate and everything that goes along with her to keep her happy. I noticed a police car parked right behind our car, blocking us, but assumed he was looking for someone and would move his car in a minute. As I was scurrying about, the policeman got out of his car and approached me. At first I panicked because our Nova is sitting in a Visitor spot without current registration. I was wondering if someone had complained about it sitting there. He told me that he was there because someone had called about a noise they heard.

Naively, I asked, "A noise? From where?"

"Your apartment."

Quickly, I went through everything I had done that morning in my head. Did I have music on too loud? No, wait, I didn't have music on at all. Was Clifford too loud? No. Kate hadn't cried or screamed at all this morning. Andrew was busy getting ready for work...

"What kind of noise?"

He motioned us out of the rain and told me that it was a domestic disturbance call. A what what??

Immediately, two more squad cars came swarming into our complex. Two officers asked to speak with me privately in the apartment, while another questioned Andrew outside. I told them that I didn't know why anyone would call and was frankly very disturbed that they would. They were very nice, and it seemed obvious that they believed everything I told them.

He seemed bugged that someone had called and said he was going to go upstairs and talk to our neighbors. They never asked to see Kate, who was patiently sitting in the car.

Needless to say, I was extremely bothered by this all day. When Andrew and I got home tonight we decided to go upstairs and talk to our neighbors and find out why they would call the police. We spoke with the lady who actually made the call (an older woman not in our ward), and she said that she heard a man yelling, "I'll show you!" or something like that and hitting someone, and a child screaming. She said she's heard this abuse going on for months, and she always thought it was us. She was kind and just trying to do the right thing by calling the police. When we told her all that we had done that morning, shower, ate, no abuse...she asked what time Andrew showered, and it turned out that he was showering when she heard the man yelling and hitting--so we were off the hook--with her.

SO STRANGE!! RIGHT?? I've never heard anyone being abused and our windows are open all the time like everybody else's.

This has definitely taught me to NEVER jump to conclusions, listen to gossip, or spread rumors or anything like that. Even if you think you know something for sure (like the woman who called), you might be wrong--and then what?

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T20:19:00.004-06:00

Sorry for the nudity--I normally would never post bum pictures, but I thought this was too cute. It was taken way back in March, and I've been wanting to post it ever since. I finally broke down tonight. :) Andrew is a wonderful dad. I love you!

Toast will never be the same again.

2009-06-19T20:30:00.004-06:00

If you love making yummy food that is EASY, you have to try this homemade jam my sister told me about. Strawberries are so cheap right now--so go pick up a case and make some jam!! All you need is two cups strawberries and four cups sugar to one box of Sure Jell. It makes about five cups jam. The recipe is in the Sure Jell box--for easy freezer jam, I think it's called.

It is even better than you are imagining. Mmm...I think I will go have some more.

2 Cute 2 Resist

2009-06-12T17:22:00.004-06:00

I couldn't resist the title either--flashback to junior high. Anyway, I just asked Kate if she wanted to go to the store with me to pick up some ice cream (for a dinner party with friends tonight--not wholly for personal consumption), which normally she would be more than thrilled to do, but this time replied, "I don't want it. I tired." Not even two minutes later, she looked like this. That's what happens when you stop taking regular naps--you end up sleeping at dinner time and not wanting to go to bed at night. 'Sigh.' But she's too dang cute to harass until she wakes up (and really that's impossible anyway).

PS Notice her painted toes! I can't believe I painted her toes. She loved it, though.

Kate's new do

2009-06-12T16:11:00.007-06:00

Before

After

Last night when I was getting my hair cut, Andrew and Kate looked on. Kate kept saying, "Mommy, I need a haircut!" I think I've told her that a time or two recently...her hair has been quite the shagginess. She did let me put in pig tails a couple of times (which was super cute), but then didn't want me to touch it anymore.

So I took her in today and brought a bag of suckers. The last time (and the first time) she had her hair cut somewhere was in Omaha in February. She didn't scream out, but crumpled up and cried silently. It was so sad! Finally, someone got her a sucker because the weird guy that was cutting her hair kept telling me, "I can't cut her hair if she's crying!"

The sucker worked magic on her, and she was totally still for the entire thing. So I figured I'd give it another shot. This time was so funny. She got in the chair, and I immediately gave her the sucker. She completely froze when the clippers came out. She didn't budge--sucker in hand. It never reached her mouth. She obediently raised and lowered her head when told--it was so cute! By the end, the sucker was covered in hair, so I got her another...and another. She was so happy! No tears were shed at all during the haircut. She's growing up.

You can't really see what the hair looks like from these pics, but it's pretty cute. Still sticks out by her ears--oh well.

I guess my bangs are official.

2009-06-11T21:26:00.004-06:00

I got my last haircut in February...and before that it had been a long time. When I got my hair cut in February the lady cut off four inches and it was still REALLY long. I was the one who told her to cut four inches, but I don't think I'm great at gauging hair length. Anyway, I went in today and showed the girl about where to cut--thinking about three inches or so. When she started cutting, I asked if she was cutting off about three. She stopped, looked at my hair on the ground, and said, "No." She held up a lock to show me. "More like five." Oh. Okay. She had told me she was going to trim up my bangs. My "bangs" had previously been very long bangs, to my chin. They're now to my nose.

When I saw my bangs hanging there--in my eyes--I panicked. But I don't know how to style hair! I wanted to say. Didn't I give her the spiel I usually give hairdressers about keeping it simple (and I mean simple)? No, I guess I hadn't mentioned my hair phobia, or ineptitude. Crud.

I was like, "Uh, so how do I keep these out of my eyes?"
Her reply: "Blow dry and hair spray." Oh. Crud.
Me: "I guess I'll need to buy some hair spray."

No, I don't own hair spray. I do now. We'll see if I can figure it out. I do have a hair dryer, we'll see if I can find it. I've been using the space heater to dry my hair since Kate was a baby because the hair dryer freaked her out, and I actually prefer the heater now.

Anyway, I actually really like it. I think this length of hair is the best for me. I had been growing my hair out so that when I finally lost my desired weight I could get a cute new hair cut, and the length was to give me options. But, the weight stayed, and the hair grew, and then grew a lot more.

It's fun to have a hair cut I like. I will try hard to make it a working relationship.

PS The shadow in the picture makes my hair appear much larger than it is.

Surely mine eyes deceive me

2009-06-08T16:11:00.007-06:00

I honestly got misty-eyed just now looking upon our brand-new, glorious, white GE stove. When Wymount announced they would be installing new stoves, I assumed they meant a different kind of crappy, old, clunker of a stove. I really wish now that I had taken a picture of the stove we've been using here. The handle on the door was broken and would fall off in my hands EVERY time I opened the stove (because I always somehow forgot to open it from the side, knowing that it was broken...). And smoke liked to billow out of it and set off the fire alarm as I cooked. It was horrible!
(you must play "Dream Weaver" in your head as you behold its magnificence)

But this...this beautiful new, delicious-looking stove...I may just be emotional now or something, or maybe it's because it reminds me of the stove we left behind in our house, but I really think I'm in love.

And I have that feeling.

Better days lie ahead.

Sometimes it's good to eat A LOT of cookies.

2009-06-03T22:59:00.005-06:00

That's what I've decided. It's good for a few reasons--

1) these particular cookies that I ate (lots of) were on a great sale,
2) cookies are scrumptious, and
3) if you eat a lot of cookies, you will end up feeling sick, fat, depressed, and ready to start working out again.

And...that's where I am. I changed my little weight loss ticker numbers to reflect my new goal. I am shooting for 14 pounds by the end of July. It's not my original goal...but I don't care. Once I hit that goal, I will set a new one until I hit the freaking weight I want to be at. I realized I had totally envisioned myself way skinnier by this summer than I currently am, and of course, pool "fun" has arrived.

Time to get to it. Again.

Climbing mountains in Moab

2009-05-29T12:20:00.019-06:00

After Andrew found out he got a job and would start after the Memorial Day weekend, we decided we'd better take a camping trip down to Moab while we had time. We were there for five days...which was a little long for me to be camping without running water...but it was a great trip. I was worried about it being horribly hot, but it rained on us probably 75% of the time we were there (which was a problem for cooking). It was a little scary to go to sleep with thunder and lightning in a tent that is not well-equipped for rain. We did get wet, but not too bad.

Kate loved it! Except for the ride there and back--you can see from the picture below that she was slightly cramped. Andrew decided we should bring our futon mattress to sleep on and somehow got it into our trunk--barely. But it was definitely worth it--sleeping was SO comfy! (These pics are all taken with our old cruddy camera because we loaned out our other one. So the pics aren't so great, but oh well.)

The first day there was the hottest (before the rain hit), so we went to the Colorado River to play. It was FREEZING!! Kate doesn't mind freezing cold water to splash around in, so she had the time of her life. Andrew decided to jump in and shock his system. Then he somehow convinced me to jump in--still not sure how he managed to do that. Once we did, though, it was fun to jump back in a few more times. It was refreshing until a windstorm hit and the clouds came out. Then we froze.

We went on a couple of hikes with Andrew that were really freaky, in my opinion. I'm really scared of heights, though. Didn't seem to bother anyone else. Kate's a great hiker/climber, and Andrew's great at carrying her (and all his camera equipment) for all the tough parts. I, on the other hand, always have to grasp on for dear life.

Andrew looks ready to be a nice lightning pole.

Andrew preparing to get a shot of a pretty cactus flower. He got more than a few cactus thorns stuck in his behind. Some he didn't even feel until the next day. Ouch.

Mmm...cantelope! Kate couldn't get enough--even tried eating the green part.

Kate is doing her morning stretches here as we pack up the car.

The second big hike we went on was right before we left. There was a huge lightning/thunder storm right before we went up. Andrew wanted to watch the sunset from a great spot he found on his last photography trip. It was really gorgeous!! When Kate got to the top, she told me proudly, "I climbed a mountain!!"

This is a picture of a software engineer.

2009-05-26T09:59:00.003-06:00

Hooray!! Andrew's job search has ended--luckily, with a job! We were worried about him finding a job with the economy and all, but Utah's economy is still doing fine--Andrew got interviews with two companies and got offers from both of them. One of them was much more appealing than the other, so the choice wasn't difficult. It seems like the perfect fit for Andrew! It's a start-up company that builds websites. The company was started by three guys that were sick of the corporations they worked for and how they were treated, and so they decided to start their own company that was good to its employees. They have a very small team, and so Andrew will be an important part of their company.

Andrew will be able to work full-time this summer and part-time during school. This is his first time working in his field, and we are very excited! Congratulations, Andrew!! :)

I'll give you a hint...

2009-05-13T22:18:00.005-06:00

We have good news! Can you guess from the photo? Andrew actually posted about it on his blog (he's going to try to update more frequently now--oh, and me, too...). Also, if you haven't been to his photography website recently, he's added some cool new features. You can now comment on pictures (beneath each image), and you can see much larger versions, too.

Oh, and I realized that I never mentioned on here that Andrew won first place in the landscape category at the 2009 Bean Museum Photography Exhibition and Contest (it was in February) for "Ashen Flame" and also got an honorable mention for "Sandstone Sanctuary" . Woohoo!

I spoke too soon...

2009-04-23T09:56:00.001-06:00

Well, apparently we weren't supposed to have YouTube. It is blocked...again. 'Sigh.' At least I got to see the otters holding hands.

YouTube is BACK!!

2009-04-21T00:51:00.005-06:00

Since we have moved to Wymount we have been without YouTube. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but I swear--I have gotten so many emails and seen so many blogs and Facebook messages with YouTube video links saying things like, "This is the funniest thing ever!" "You won't believe what he says!" "This is in some way earth shattering and will change your life forever!" etc, etc, and it gets really frustrating when you can't just click on some stupid link to see what all the fuss is about. It has been almost a year of seeing people hysterical over a video I will never see. And it just isn't the same to ask someone to tell you what happened in the video.

Anyway, tonight Andrew was on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir site for some reason, and they had a video or something on YouTube that he happened to click on (because he didn't realize it was on YouTube), and it OPENED!! We're like, "What?! How long have we had YouTube?"

I have way too many links to go back to now, I could never possibly catch up. But I'm just glad the fight is over.