Life in the Slow Lane

Anna at 3 Months

2012-01-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Oh my heck, isn't she the cutest thing?! Like a little doll. She really is a sweet little baby. In so many ways, she is just like Sam was (which isn't all good, but he has turned into the coolest kid, so the difficulty has been worth it). She is ALERT - meaning she is not a cuddler. She prefers to be held facing out, on my hip, so she can see everything going on around her. Unfortunately, she thinks she will miss something by looking away, so she doesn't stop even when she is too tired. I have to be very attentive to her cues, otherwise she gets overstimulated and is difficult to put down for naps. She has amazing control over her body and holds her head up so well, can roll over from front to back, and if she is angry enough, can scoot around in little circles.

This face is an easy one to get. She loves to smile. What a pretty little girl. She is still a tiny little thing - at this point, she might be 9 pounds. She is also a great sleeper once she is down. We have the occasional rough night (Pepsi was necessary today), but in general, we put her down at 8ish, dreamfeed (I stole this word from Maren) her at 11pm, and she is out until 6:30 or 7, right when I get up in the mornings. She takes a good, solid morning nap for about 2-3 hours, and then catnaps throughout the afternoon.

Just in the last few days, she has started to mellow out, not needing to be held constantly. Funnily enough, her favorite spot is propped up in Ellen's beanbag, so I guess I will need to make another one sooner than I thought. We are looking forward to the milestones that lay ahead, but for now, we are just so happy to have another sweet baby girl Robinson in the home.

An update on nursing: In general, I suck at it. However, we have decided that we are not going to stress about it any longer and we are at half-and-half. I nurse as often as I can (schedules permitting) and I use formula the other times. She is happier, I am happier, and no more tears are being shed over my inability to rock the nursing thing.

Anna's Blessing Day

2012-01-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Graham administered a blessing and gave Anna her name on the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (For those who would like to know the difference between a blessing and a christening, click here.) She did wonderfully during the blessing - not making a peep. Hopefully this is an indication of her demeanor as she gets older. (Ellen cried the whole time when she was a baby and look what I got!) We asked three of our friends to perform the blessing. It was short, sweet, and sincere. I am grateful that my wonderful husband qualifies to perform this ordinance for our children.

Anna was blessed:

to have the Spirit of God with her always
to find reassurance, strength, and bring peace to her family
to learn from the experiences of her brothers and sister. (Note the pluralization! ACK!)
to be a good example of patience and empathy to those around her
to have a strong testimony and to return to her Father in Heaven as she lives according to faith

Did I mention....

2012-01-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

that my h key is broken? Also, my apostrophe key and my up arrow. I can only copy/paste the letter h. Ellen bumped into my elbow right as I was picking up my cup of water and it spilled all over the keyboard. Grahams idea turned out to be a total failure. You know how you can bury your cell phone in rice if it gets wet? Yeah...not the brightest idea. There are now little granules of rice in the nooks of my keyboard. Whenever the cooling fan of my laptop turns on, it knocks around the rice. I am patiently waiting for my laptop to blow up.

Fortunately, father-in-law is shipping me his old laptop to use for the remainder of the semester. Thank goodness! In the meantime, I am struggling to blog because I hate having to ctrl+p every single h.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:39:00.000-07:00

2 Months!

2011-12-27T00:37:00.000-07:00

Really!? Already? I don't have her stats yet - she has her appointment the first week of the New Year, but I'll tell you a little about how she is changing:

She is fussy, just like Sam was. In fact, in many ways, she is like Sam. Little, fussy, but big & blue eyes that melt your heart. She has great head control and is very strong. She prefers to be held vertically - just like Sam did. She needs to be able to see all the commotion going on around her. Anna has the same nose that Sam and Ellen have - it's my favorite feature...it is just so perfect. She has a ridiculously wide mouth. It doesn't look that wide when it is closed, but the second she starts crying, it gets huge. Cracks us up.

Nursing is still a struggle, but is getting a lot better now that we've had a break from school. Hopefully getting in this good rhythm will prove to be successful as the new semester starts.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

Christmas day was simple. We woke up at our normal time (after Santa went to bed at 4am...ugh), opened presents and ate caramel rolls. The caramel rolls will be sorely missed when we move to Delaware. We opted to not go to church (Graham went...he is awesome like that) because ofhow late I stayed up.

This year, I swear we tried to keep it simple, but with so many people who love these kids, they still got spoiled.

We lounged around the apartment until late afternoon, when we headed to the MacCallums house for dinner and games. We are grateful to have close friends to spend the holidays with when we are so far from our families.

Proof that I do not stage all my pictures - look how homeless Ellen looks!

Spiderman tootbrush - Booyah!

And the princess party begins...

She will be grateful someday.

Getting ready for Christmas!

2011-12-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

In order to rev up for Christmas, we have packed in as many activities as we could (and I did a few sneaky things too), all the way up until Christmas Eve...

Not sure how this helped, but I am sure it did...

Gingerbread house-making as a family

Sam made this one at school

Christmas stockings

Cookies for Santa

he knows if you are sleeping, he knows if youre awake...

Our tree

Santa came!!!!

And he is obviously not sticking to his diet.

Our New Experiment

2011-12-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

...is in cloth diapering. I don't know if it's because I'm turning more hippie or if I'm just loving how cute they are, but we're giving it a try. Over the summer, I found some really great deals on g-diapers, so I thought we'd give it a shot.

Look! Super cute!

More of Anna

2011-12-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

Just because I love her...

Seven Years

2011-12-18T22:51:00.002-07:00

Seven years ago, I married a wonderful man. We've created wonderful memories along the way, survived a few heartaches here and there, and have created a family that leaves us feeling so blessed everyday.

(He watched the Chiefs game, rooted hard with me, and they ended up beating the Packers. The Packers had a pretty good chance of going undefeated this year....bwahahahaha!)

We'll celebrate a bit more romantically tomorrow, but today is a Sunday, so we stayed home.

I look forward to all of the years time will give us and am excited for eternity after that.

Look what we've made so far! I'd say we're pretty good at this!

Realization of Doom!

2011-12-15T14:41:00.002-07:00

Last night I decided that we would start getting Anna to sleep in her crib. She's 7 weeks now and when Anna sleeps in the same room that I'm in, Graham doesn't. I miss laying down next to my husband, even if his feet do smell sometimes (and in spite of the fact that I am a victim). Anyway...I put Anna down at 7. Then, after bath and our nighttime routine, I put Ellen down around 7:45. Anna started to fuss around 9:30, so I popped in the room to nurse. My plan is to keep her in that dark room all night so that she can learn that her situation won't change (maybe I'm giving my new little ball of mush too much credit).

I pick Anna up from the crib, get settled into the glider, and then I start hearing this scuffling noise. What is that?! More scuffling noises. Then, in a quiet, but very alert little voice I hear "Hi Mommy. You doing?"

SHE. IS. AWAKE.

She didn't even fall asleep. What in the world has she been doing for nearly 2 hours?! And she sounds as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as ever (where the heck did that phrase come from? bushy tailed? She's not a squirrel!). The point is, she was not tired. We had a full day, but she did have her nap. And then it hit me.

She doesn't need a nap anymore.

No need to overreact, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she still needs to sleep from 7 to 7 and have her 2-3 hour nap. So today I hop over to BabyCenter.com and find a sleep chart. 12-13 hours. CRAP. There's no way I'm pushing back her bedtime. At 7, Mommy and Daddy need the kids to be ready for bed. And there's NOOOOOO way I'm letting her wake up earlier. Which leaves me with one alternative. Get rid of the nap.

So here it is, 2:40 pm and she is awake, playing with her brother. And unlike her brother, who plays quietly by himself for a couple of hours so that I can get things done, she has popped open the door, twirled out of the room (because she's a princess today), and asked "You doing?" at least 20 times in the last hour. Doom.

What will keep me from going crazy? Maybe something like this...

He stole the Liahona!

2011-12-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

We have a small nativity set that we set out each Christmas. It is not the Little People set, but its ripoff.

The other day, Sam ran to me, shocked by the realization he had just made:

Mom! Mom! Why did one of the wise men steal the Liahona and give it to Jesus?!

I totally see it.

First Smile

2011-12-12T23:53:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of my favorite moments in a newbornʼs life. :)

Temple Square...finally!

2011-12-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

At the last minute on Saturday, we decided to head up to Salt Lake to go to Temple Square and see the lights. Graham and I haven't done this in years and the kids have never been. It makes me somewhat sad that we didn't take advantage of being so close more often. This is our last winter here!

The lights were gorgeous as usual. I love being there - everyone slowing down just a bit to enjoy the beautiful decorations. No one is shoving past each other or running around to get things done. They're just there to enjoy the moment and be with the ones they love.

We're very much looking forward to having time to even think about the holidays and are excited about the time we'll get to spend as a family over the next few weeks!

Graham is not very picture happy, so I only convinced him to take this one.
AND the camera sucks, but fear not! I'm getting a new one!

Yoda Soda!

2011-11-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

The grandparents gave Sam a Star Wars cookbook when they were here. It's actually pretty cool and has some fun recipes in it. Some of my favorites are "Hoth Chocolate", "Wookie Cookies", and "Boba Fett-uccine".

Sam's favorite one to say is "Yoda Soda," but he says it "Yooooooooda Sooooooda!" After procuring all the items I needed, we set about making this recipe. It turns out that when you have a few tiny cuts on your hands and you fill them with freshly-squeezed lime juice, you really have the urge to yell a few inappropriate words. Fortunately, I was able to bite my tongue and my kids' vocabularies remain untainted.

Verdict: Pretty yummy. However, I could have achieved the same results by buying a 2-liter of 7up and skipped all the hand-burning. Next time, we're doing 7up and sherbet and they can have a lime wedge for garnish.

The look on their faces makes it totally worth it though (either that or Graham made a potty joke).

Anna - One Month Old

2011-11-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is what she looks like most of the time. For all the fussiness and all of the struggles we have with nursing, I have always been fortunate to have good sleepers.

We're so happy to have her in our lives. She is constantly adored by her big brother and sister. I wonder when she'll realize how lucky she is to have siblings that love her so much. My guess is it will be a while.

Adjusting to three kids hasn't been that crazy. Maybe I'm just too busy to notice if it is harder, but she's little and she's portable, so she fits right into our schedules.

With Santa...

2011-11-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

I love that the Riverwoods just has a Santa hanging out and you can sit on his lap without being forced to pay for overpriced photographs. In fact, there isn't even a professional photographer there!

Too bad Santa kind of looks a little creepy.

What do they want for Christmas? Legos for the boy and princess crap for the girl. My kids are aligning nicely with the gender stereotypes. :)

What does Mommy want?
- Feet made of steel so that she doesn't have to feel the Legos she is constantly stepping on.
- Oxyclean and superglue to put all the princess stuff back together after she destroys it within hours of opening.
- A new camera.
- That's it! Now gimme!

Grandma & Granddad

2011-11-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Grandma S and Granddad R made their arrival on Saturday morning...when Anna and I were still in Kansas for the funeral! Fortunately, Sam and Ellen can be very entertaining and kept them busy.

We did lots of eating, playing, swimming, and reading. It was a lovely, laid-back visit and we look forward very much to moving back to Delaware so the kids have more time to visit with their grandparents!

A hat the grandparents got at Sundance. It's cute, but she kind of looks like the pigeon lady on Home Alone 2.

Waiting for our Teppanyaki.

Reading with Grandma.

First family picture!

Dinner at Tucanos

Meeting Grandpa Dale & the Funeral.

2011-11-19T00:22:00.000-07:00

After my wonderful breakfast with my mother, I hit the road in my Dodge Caliber rental car (I actually really liked it! It's a super cute car) and traveled on I-70 east to Goodland. I stopped at my aunt & uncle's house to feed Anna, change her diaper, and just stretch my legs. Aunt Gaylene came home about an hour after I had gotten there (they left the door unlocked for me...you can do that in a farm town), and we were able to chat and catch up a bit. I hit the road around 4 pm, headed for LaCrosse. I'm kind of a speed demon, especially on I-70, so I arrived in Hays in about 2 hours. Knowing that everyone had already eaten dinner, I stopped at Long John Silver's. Hooray for hush puppies! I loved those things! I was staying at my grandfather's house and my Uncle Dennis and Dad were already there. After the introductions, my dad just doted on Anna for a while. He's such a sweet grandpa! The next day consisted of the viewing and was filled with a lot of family gatherings. I hadn't seen some of them in years - Uncle Duane not since Grandma's funeral in 1995!

It was weird to see my grandfather in his coffin. He looked great - more like the man I grew up with, not so much the very thin and frail old man he was in the last few months. But, it was just a body. It wasn't my grandfather. He's still here. I think of him with my grandma again and it makes me so happy. I didn't have a lot of emotion going on...just some strangeness. I remember my cousin Tiffany mentioning that it didn't feel like he was gone. I think part of that is because we had all grown up enough that he wasn't part of our everyday life. When my grandma passed, I was devastated, but I saw her 4-5 times a week. I hadn't even seen Grandpa since April. It's strange...that's all I can really say.

The services were nice and the interment was ridiculously cold and windy. It was over quickly and we all hopped in our cars and headed to the Rush County senior center for a little luncheon. I was able to spend a few hours there before I had to head back in my car to drive to the Denver airport. Here are the pics from that day:

The 4 kids: Uncle Duane, Aunt Deanne, my Dad, and Uncle Dennis

A proud Grandpa!

Me and my bro, Jeremy. He's a great uncle.

Tiny little party dress!

Lorrie, Dad, Me, J, and Anna

Meeting my Mom

2011-11-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

The only upside to a funeral is that you get to see a lot of your family, particularly ones you never see. The most cost effective way for me to get to central Kansas was to fly into Denver from Salt Lake and then rent a car to drive to LaCrosse. Wednesday night, I arrived at around 9:30. I got to my grandmother's house by 10:30 and was welcomed by my grandmother, my aunt, and her family. Although I was only there that night, it was so nice to get to see them. I had never met my cousin, Jace, until then. He is ridiculously adorable and loved Anna.

Aunt Joanne (she hates the title of "aunt") BWAHAHA!

Grandma Sylvia

Jace and Anna

After waking up extremely early Thursday morning after going to bed at 2 am, I met my mom at Cracker Barrel for a quick breakfast before I hit the road. My mother and I may have some communication issues, but it was really good to see her. Her life seems to be coming together and I really hope that she's on a path to happiness. She loved getting to see Anna and I was so glad to be there with her.

Lighting sucks, but I love this picture. :)

Grandma Sylma with Anna!

Dear Grandpa

2011-11-16T00:41:00.001-07:00

Lee Elmore Shank; March 7, 1919 to November 15, 2011

Dear Grandpa,

I feel like the luckiest granddaughter in the world. You were a source of unconditional, never-ending love. You greeted me with a smile and hug and kiss every time you saw me. You were patient with me. This strikes me now as such a blessing when I look back and think of all the things you let me get away with. I remember sitting on your lap, pulling the comb out of your front shirt pocket and combing all your hair forward. You'd humor me and keep your hair that way for at least 5 minutes before combing it back. You let me steer the El Camino home from Kindergarten. You were there every day to pick me up, never late, never rushed. You held my hand as I ran up your legs and flipped over backwards. I think you let me do it a little too long because I eventually made you hurt your back. Sorry about that! You taught me how to make a fishing pole out of tinker toys and then let us sit on the picnic table to "fish" for leaves. You let us make a mess of your front yard so we could make mudpies in the summer. You taught me how to plant a garden. You taught me how to cut fresh roses. You let us climb the cherry tree even though we smashed a lot of good cherries doing so. You taught me what acorns were for while we were sitting under the oak tree in the backyard.

I remember the summer that you repaved your driveway. I remember how proud you were that it was so perfect. You and Grandma, me and Jeremy, sitting on the driveway in our lawn chairs (big ones for you guys, little ones for me), eating apricots. I think we ate too many.

I remember when we spent the night and then we all woke up to a lot of yelling. You had gone outside to clean up after Toby and tripped into the raspberry bush. The bush was gone the next morning. Grandma was not happy with you that day!

I remember the first time that I realized you were doing cross-stitch. It was also the first time that I learned that "men can sew too!"

I remember the day you and Grandma got your new chairs. Blue for you, pink for Grandma. We'd always try to steal your chairs from you, and you'd kick us out, but we could always sit on your lap. I love those chairs.

You let me sit on your lap at Grandma's funeral. Even though that was probably one of the hardest things you ever had to experience, you were still there to comfort me. Thank you for being there when I needed you.

Then we moved and the memories stopped being created for a while. I was a dumb teenager and hardly kept in contact with anyone. You still loved me. You still sent me my birthday card in March with a crisp $20 bill tucked inside. When I was 18 and needed a car, you co-signed on my loan. I was stupid and really made you nervous by barely making the payments on time, but you never scolded me or even sounded disappointed. More than anything, you were just worried about whether or not I was doing okay.

When I got married, you opened your heart to Graham and made him feel like he was your own grandson. You told me over and over again how happy you were that I had found "such a nice young boy."

When you finally got to meet my little Sam, you let him play with all of your toy tractors. They were fragile, and he was not delicate with them, but you didn't say a word. You just let him play. He loves you for that. It's his memory of you.

When we drove through with Ellen, you held her in your arms in that same blue chair. You cooed and cuddled her. She won't remember you, but I'll her about you.

Dad said he showed you a picture of our new little Anna and that you smiled. She won't remember you either, but I'll tell her about you too.

I love you Grandpa. I'll miss you. I will see you again someday.

Love,

little Mitzi.

Ughhhh

2011-11-14T20:56:00.001-07:00

I'm tired. Nothing is so bad that I can't handle it, but I am just tired. I know that there are plenty of other mothers out there who have it harder than me. But right now, I'm just exhausted! Bear with me as I try to keep my blog updated...I'm taking pictures. I just don't have an excess of time to sit down and do the write-ups for them.

I love my husband, I love my kids, and I love my life. I just have a lot of life right now!

Sam's Kindergarten Picture

2011-11-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

First school picture EVER!

The hair is a little crazy and for some reason, he thinks he's the leaning tower of Pisa, but look at that smile! He's such a happy and fun kid. Love him!

2 Weeks!

2011-11-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we've kept Anna alive for two weeks. That's a good sign! She weighs 6 pounds and 14 ounces, so she's regained back to her birth weight and then some. Happy day. She's a fussy eater and has some issues with filling her diaper. It seems to be incredibly painful every time she needs to go, but the pediatrician said to just give it time. Poor kid. Lots of sleeping and crying, too. Pretty typical. Such a sweet face though!

I love how tiny she is!

First Day Back

2011-11-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again. I'm back in classes. It's not fun, but it must be done. To keep myself motivated, I added a little counter to the blog. I'm SO close to graduating that I can't give up now!

Anna will be accompanying me to all my classes. It's just easier to keep her on a feeding schedule this way. She was great today. She slept through all my classes with the exception of when she was hungry, and I just fed her a bottle then. I'm exhausted. I mean, thoroughly wiped out. But this will all be worth it.

On the way to the first class of the day. She looks how I feel!

All tuckered out. Taking a break before the last class of the day.

Autumn

2011-11-04T14:02:00.000-06:00

Trick-or-Treat

2011-10-31T13:28:00.000-06:00

Seeing as it was pretty cold, and Anna was born only 5 days ago, we didn't go crazy this year. We skipped the Law School's annual shindig, and we didn't go to the Student Center's Halloween festival. We did, however, take the kids to the mall and have them do their trick-or-treating there. We ate dinner at the food court and had a really fun time. I'm so grateful that our kids are just happy to spend time as a family, regardless of what we do. That's what makes all these holidays so much fun.

We stuck to traditional costumes, store-bought. Mommy just didn't have the energy to be any more creative this year.

Cutest witch EVER!

Sam had an identity crisis with the black hair. He was really nervous it wouldn't wash out.

He got over it.

Can't forget the little one! A hot pink skeleton!

Pumpkins!

2011-10-29T10:54:00.000-06:00

My Dad loves to send us random stuff, so this year, he sent us Mr. Potato-like pieces to use on our pumpkins. LOVE IT! There's no mess and the kids get to make all sorts of faces they wouldn't be able to create with tools. We did carve one pumpkin this year. I think until the kids are able to do it on their own or without too much assistance (i.e. they scoop out the guts and we do all of the hard stuff), we'll just do one family pumpkin a year and they can either do the little pieces or paint their pumpkins.

I'm pretty proud of Graham's artistic talent...he came up with this on his own.

Sibling Love

2011-10-28T16:31:00.000-06:00

First Look

To foster love, have the new baby "give" the older ones presents.

First cuddles

Big Brother all over again

New Big Sister

Ready to bring her home!

Anna's Birth Story

2011-10-27T10:15:00.000-06:00

Long and detailed...don't say I didn't warn you!

Throughout the last trimester of my pregnancy with Anna, Isuffered a decent amount of back pain. She was laying in a funny way and was right on a nerve that caused somuch discomfort between 2 ribs in my back. Each day of class was difficult, and after hours of sitting in class,even lying down was uncomfortable. Onething I could count on though was falling asleep each night (often thanks toTylenol PM) and waking up not inpain.

As I got closer and closer to my due date, I grew a littledisappointed. I really didn’t want tohave Anna on Halloween and it seemed like I would go overdue. This past Monday I woke up, but my back wasscreaming. Even 10 hours of sleep thatnight didn’t relieve any of the strain my back was experiencing. Waking up in that condition already, I knew Icouldn’t face a day of class. I e-mailedmy professors, letting them know that I wouldn’t be coming into class this weekbecause I would be induced. I hadalready discussed induction with my midwives at my 38 week appointment, butwasn’t willing to commit to anything. Ijust wasn’t sure that was what I wanted, especially with an intention of doinga natural and unmedicated childbirth. However, I knew that the week was pretty open and that they easily beable to fit me in. I already had anappointment on Tuesday (the 25^th) morning, so I decided to keep thatappointment and have my membranes stripped. Maybe all I needed was a little jump-start to get things going. Well, it didn’t do a thing – but holy cow didit hurt!

I proceeded through my day, resigning myself to the factthat I’d be induced the next morning. Idid all I could to prepare our home for Anna’s arrival. I cleaned every surface in the house, hand-scrubbedthe kitchen floor, washed and dried all of the dirty dishes, etc. Around 9 pm, we headed downstairs to visitwith our friends and stayed for about an hour. While there, I felt a few uncomfortable tugs in my lower abdomen, butthat was it. We headed back upstairs andgathered all of the stuff we’d need for the hospital, placing it by thedoor. We got a bag ready for the kids sothat the babysitters could have what they needed in the morning. I decided to take a shower then, instead ofwaiting for the morning. I dried my hair(but didn’t style it) and settled into bed, trying to calm myself enough tofall asleep. The anticipation made mevery antsy and alert, so this was a challenge. Right AT midnight (I actually looked at the clock and it said 12:00) Ifelt a very tight tugging wayyyyy down low. Lower than any Braxton-hicks contractions I’d had. Okay…then another. Then another. I started timing them. Interesting…they were 3-4 minutes apart and lasted about 30 secondseach. However, they didn’t hurt. Not a bit. The “motto” I always hear is “It doesn’t count unless you can’tbreathe/talk through them.” Just incase, I hopped out of bed (Graham was already asleep) and went to the bathroomto “make myself look cute.” I spentabout a half-hour in there, doing my hair, make-up, changing into some cuterpjs. Yes, I know I’m vain and no, Idon’t care. It was around 1 am now and Iwent back to bed because nothing had changed. In fact, as soon as I lay down, I didn’t have any contractions for 20minutes. Well, that was the calm beforethe storm. At around 1:30, they startedback up again. After two of them, theystarted to hurt. I tried to crawl out of bed to go get thepiece of paper that would tell me which midwife was on call and got stuck on myhands and knees. I couldn’t move – acontraction had started. I made itthrough, grabbed the list, and then sat there, trying to decide if thiswarranted a call. I would be induced inonly 5 hours. What if this was a falsealarm and we drove all the way up to the hospital (we chose a hospital that wasa good 25 minutes away), only to be sent back home and then have to return amere hours later? After I had anothercontraction, I called. They were about5-7 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds. The midwife stated that she’d rather them be a solid 5 minutes apartbefore I came in. Before she let me gothough, she asked how long my other labors were. I told her “3.5 hours and 1.5 hours”. “Hmm, maybe you should come in to at leastcheck your cervix.” I asked if she wassure, and then told her to “hang on”. Iwas having another contraction. Sheheard all my breathing and straining and said “Yeah, why don’t you just come onin? Bring all your stuff…it’s time.”

WA-HOO!

I woke Graham up and asked if he’d like to accompany me tothe hospital just a few hours earlier than planned. (If he had said no….hmm, I don’t know what Iwould have done.) We called our friendBeth to arrange the babysitting and headed out on our way. In just going down our stairwell, I had 2contractions back-to-back. I had anotherone going up her stairwell. Holy crap these hurt! We got in the van and headed up to thehospital. At this point, they had growncloser together, coming every 4 minutes and lasting a minute long. It. was. so. painful. If I had been able to move around, maybe itwouldn’t have been that bad, but being stuck in my seat with the seatbelt goingright across the area that hurt so bad was dreadful. At last, we arrived at the hospital. I had to stop in the parking lot to haveanother contraction and then again in the lobby of the hospital. We got upstairs and into L&D Room 1 at 2:47am. At this point, I was shaking. I was SO cold. I have the worst circulation and when I getcold, I cannot function. I couldn’tfocus on anything else other than the fact that I was cold. It was at this pointthat I realized that doing this natural, all the way through, was not somethingthat I could do this time. When thenurse checked me, I was at 7 centimeters, and that was enough for me. I’m still immensely proud that I made it to 7centimeters and was able to bear that pain. We got the anesthesiologist to come in and he said something to theeffect of “You know, by the time I get all of the stuff set up, you might be ata 10. Are you still sure you want painmanagement?” Here was my response: “I’m allergic to Penicillin and Ceclor. I’ve had no adverse reactions to 2epidurals. I last ate at 8 pm last nightand have only had water since. I willsign all your forms, blah blah blah. Just start it now.” He startedlaughing and asked if I’d prefer a spinal instead because it takes effectquicker. I didn’t know the differenceand after explaining it to me, I opted for the spinal (basically, an injectionof one dose of meds with no equipment in my back…only lasts a couple of hours,but I knew that’s all I’d need). He alsogave me a few mgs of epinephrine to help me warm up because I was still shakingfrom being so cold. However, he forgotto mention to the midwife that he had just done that, so when my blood pressureshot up out of nowhere, she freaked out until he said “Oh yeah, I just gave hersome epi…” Then, D, the bestanesthesiologist in the world kicked back in the recliner and went through theinformed consent questions so he could fill out his paperwork. So, we did it a little backwards, but atleast I was pain-free!

Anna’s heartbeat would drop a little with eachcontraction. Jen, my midwife, paged theon-call OB, just in case, so that hewas aware of what was going on. We keptour eye on it and it never dropped low enough to cause any extra concern, so I’mextremely grateful for that. About 10 minutes after the spinal had taken effect,Jen asked if I wanted my water broken. Yes, please! I was ready to meetthis little one! By 3:45 (about 20minutes later), I was at a 10 and ready to push. I was SO EXCITED! Can I just brag about myself a littlehere?! I am a freaking awesomepusher! It took 2 contractions to getAnna out. After the first set of pushing(2 pushes for the first contraction), Jen had me change it up for the next set. Instead of long, drawn out pushes, she had medo little stuttered pushes – I *think* the cord was wrapped around her neck,but it wasn’t very tight, so it just needed to be slipped over her head. (She had mentioned it might have been thereason for the decels, but then I don’t remember if she actually confirmed thatafter I was done pushing). At 3:58 am,my beautiful little Anna Elizabeth made her entrance into our family!

Her Apgar scores were 8 and 9. She was perfect; 6 pounds, 10 ounces and 18½ inches long. I held her on my chest while they wiped herdown, gave her the Vit. K shot and antibiotics for her eyes, and covered herwith blankets. Next came the moment Ibecame incredibly grateful that I didn’tdo it natural. We had issues deliveringthe placenta. It wouldn’t detach. So, Jen had to manually retrieve it. Sound gross? Yeah. It also sounds like itwould freaking HURT if I hadn’t had the spinal. Just thinking about it makes my uterus hurt! I finally delivered the placenta, but it cameout very mangled and shredded. Apparently, they have to kind of piece it back together to make sure Ihad delivered all of it. A piece seemedto be missing, so they had to get an ultrasound machine and check that I didn’thave anything left. The ultrasound was negative,so we just decided to keep an eye on my bleeding and hope that it just appearedto be missing because it was so mangled. No tearing at all which was fantastic.

Recovery has rocked. Seriously. I feel like I am madefor having babies. The numbness wore offabout 30 minutes after delivery. I wasup and walking around just a few hours later. I’m so grateful that overall, each of my births have been incrediblyeasy and very positive experiences.

So the end result? Aperfect baby girl for just under 4 hours of work. Not too shabby!

Anna Elizabeth

2011-10-26T17:51:00.000-06:00

Introducing our sweet Anna Elizabeth!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

3:55 am

6 pounds, 10 ounces

18 inches

Birth story to come...

Girls' Room

2011-10-24T10:56:00.000-06:00

I don't know why, but every time I say "it's in the girls' room" I get so excited that we're having another little one! I thought I'd just post how we rearranged one of the rooms so that Ellen and Anna can share.

Minicrib and a glider...lots of purple polka dots!

Changing table. Look at that cute little costume!

Ellen's "corner". We have a room divider so that Ellen doesn't get distracted by all the other stuff. A shelf full of books and she's happy enough. And she won't keep her bed straight. She goes in and messes it up as soon as I set up the blankets and animals.

38+ weeks!

2011-10-16T11:15:00.000-06:00

Well, here I am, in all my glory!

We're getting close now. Our little Anna is positioned in a way that she's pressing down right on a nerve, constantly, which translates to a spot on my back that is in constant pain. If it wasn't for that, I'd be in great shape. I'm only 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced at this point, so any "home remedies" to get this labor moving aren't really feasible at this point. She is really low and engaged, so that's a positive.

We're going back and forth on whether or not we want to be induced. It would be 1 day before I turn 40 weeks if we decide to do so. This sounds so silly, but I really don't want to ruin Halloween for Sam and Ellen. If Anna is born that day, they wouldn't get to go Trick-or-Treating. Silly, I know. Plus, I don't want her to be born on any holiday... At the same time, my goal is to do this labor and delivery without pain medication and I know that being on Pitocin would make it that much harder. We'll probably hold off on our decision until my appointment on Tuesday. If I've progressed a little, they might just be able to strip my membranes at that appointment. Then, I also might be able to just have them break my water instead of starting me on a pitocin drip. Once my water breaks, my babies are ready to go.

I'm trying very hard to be patient. Some days, I'm fine with not having her yet. Other days, I can't stop imagining meeting her and seeing her tiny face! We're all very excited and very much anticipating her arrival into our little family.

Just another meetup

2011-10-15T11:02:00.000-06:00

I've told you before about my "invisible friends" from my online group when Sam was a baby. Well, yesterday I had yet another opportunity to meet another mama and her family!

They were in town to do some shopping and we went up to Salt Lake to have dinner with them. We met at Spaghetti Factory and then hit up Whole Foods right after (thrilling, isn't it?!). For some reason, Sam is a total spaz at all our meetups. It's a little obnoxious because he's usually so much better than he appears. Well, good thing he's cute!

Anticipating Anna

2011-10-10T11:16:00.000-06:00

Sam and Ellen are SO excited to meet their new little sister. They are constantly coming up with ideas of how they're going to "help" me when she comes, what they'd like to share with her, etc. Sam is already such a great big brother to Ellen, and Ellen is beyond excited to not be the baby anymore. Here are some of the things we've done to get ready for Anna:

We've assembled all the baby gear, including the swing, bouncer, changing table and crib, glider, etc. I forgot how having a baby cuts your square footage in half!

We've installed the carseat in the mini-van.

We have paper plates, ready to be used, for when I don't want to do dishes because I'm too tired.

We've properly trained our best friends to keep their cell-phones on so that they can watch the kids if we have to leave in a hurry. (It took a few missed calls to get their butts in gear...)

To get the kids ready, we decided we'd go to Build-A-Bear and make Anna a "Welcome Home" gift. Together, the kids picked out a very sweet, soft bunny.

Putting his "love" into the bunny!

Ellen too!

Sam did the "washing"...

Ellen did the "rinsing"...

Baby Bunny.....now all we need is Baby Anna!

Employment!!!

2011-10-07T11:29:00.000-06:00

Yes, this word is now our family vocabulary!!!

A few weeks ago, Graham interviewed with a Delaware Superior Court judge for a clerkship opening. It went very well, and the judge expressed a lot of interest in hiring Graham for next year. However, we don't have the greatest luck, so we didn't hold our collective breath.

This week, Graham received a phone call that he had been hired for the position! He starts on September 1, 2012. Obviously, we'll enter "The Real World" in Delaware. We're very much looking forward to the future with our little family.

The only downside? Clerkships are not permanent employment. They are one-year appointments. However, we hope that it will open many other doors for Graham and we'll find a great, permanent position following his clerkship.

Congratulations Graham! We're all so proud of you!

This is the month...

2011-10-01T15:46:00.000-06:00

That we're going to have this little baby! And little she will be. In almost all aspects, this pregnancy is exactly like Sam's was. Each time I'm measured, the midwives freak out a bit about how far behind I'm measuring, but then they look at my chart and chill out. I'm small, I have a long torso, my uterus tilts wayyyy back. All contributing factors. At each ultrasound though, she looks to be in perfect shape. This is going to be a long month - unless she decides to make an early appearance which I am all for! Keep a lookout for the super awesome post in which Anna makes her debut!

How to make a pregnant lady cranky

2011-09-28T15:50:00.000-06:00

Eat her Olive Garden leftovers.
Ask her if she's ever going to do the dishes.
Put off assembling the baby gear until she gets too impatient and does it herself.
Wake her up 10 minutes before her alarm comes on.
"Forget" that she has plans with her homebiscuits.

But I love him anyway.

Dear BYU Freshmen...

2011-09-22T16:20:00.003-06:00

I realize it takes time to learn some of these lessons, but let me give you a head start because it's almost October and you still don't get it:

1. Pushing the limit to make your skirt as short as possible without breaking the honor code does not make you sexy. It kind of makes you a ho. You knew what the rules were before you got here. Don't like them? Transfer to UVU.

2. Just because the Honor Code lets you have a mustache doesn't mean you should grow one. Half of you can't and the other half of you end up looking like creepy molester dudes that I would never let near my children.

3. BYUSA is not cool. Just get that now.

4. Mormons can't dance. Ballroom dancing, okay. But hip-hop? Please stop "bumping and grinding". You're not even doing it right. It's supposed to look like sex, and you're not allowed to have that and probably have never seen it done, so stop. Just stop now.

5. Don't tell me you have a little sister that is my son's age. I already feel old. Now I just hate you.

6. You should not be calling your mom to find out what kind of shampoo you used at home. Figure it out. You're in college.

7. "Douchebag" is not a curse word. Don't look at me like I'm going straight to hell. I'm not. I like the word and I still have a testimony.

8. You may have been special at your high school by being able to carry a tune and running the scales with your "amazing" voice. So can every other kid here. Stop singing all over campus, you're giving me a headache. You're just not that special anymore.

9. Yes, the 44 oz. of Pepsi I lug around campus with me is caffeinated. Go ahead and tell your Bishop. I guarantee you he has a 20 oz. in his church bag right now.

10. If your mom dressed you as a polygafrump all through high school, this is your chance to wear normal clothes (and I'm sooooo sorry). Please stop wearing long denim skirts with ankle high socks and white keds. You won't get a date until you have some normal jeans in your closet.

Girlfriend...say what?!

2011-09-20T00:10:00.000-06:00

I picked up Sam from school today, and I kid you not, these are the words that flew out of his mouth:

"Mom, I have a girlfriend now."

Trying not to pass out as I drive my children home, I gently questioned

"Well Sam, what does that mean?"

He rolled his eyes at me like I was the dumbest person he'd ever met and said

"Mom...she's a friend I made today and she's a girl. Why are you making a funny face?"

Crisis averted...for now.

Facing Reality...

2011-09-17T00:14:00.000-06:00

The hardest part about being a BYU Cougar fan is that it typically means you're Mormon. It's not hard to be Mormon, it's just hard to be a good Mormon while watching the Cougs play football.

1. I'm not supposed to swear while watching games.

2. If you watched BYU get their butts WHOOPED by Utah, you'd realize how difficult that is, even for the most saintly of saints.

3. At the end of the day, you have to face the reality that your team was trounced, and you have to do it sober.

Socks.

2011-09-06T22:03:00.000-06:00

Fall is coming. I wore socks today. I haven't worn socks since April. Of course, by 11 am, I'm peeling them off because it's too hot. But Fall is coming!

Pumpkins, leaves, soup, costumes, oh, and Baby Anna.

They're all on their way!

My Invisible Friends...

2011-09-05T00:31:00.000-06:00

I have a close-knit group of "invisible" friends. We all met either right before or after having our babies in July 2006. We all joined a message board to share concerns, ideas, advice, etc. about having our little babies. Because I had no experience with newborns and didn't really have a reliable resource on pregnancy via family, I turned to these women as my source of support and knowledge. Over the last 5+ years, some of us have become closer than others and have formed a very tight little group of friends. Since I currently live in Utah, I am pretty far away from most, but occasionally, I get to meet up with some of these friends and meet with them in person. I've met a lot of the ladies on the East coast (mostly crazy Jersey girls!) but haven't really met up with anyone here. Fortunately, one of my mamas married into an uber-Mormon family and they came down to Utah for a family reunion. It was so exciting to get to meet her face-to-face and spend a little time with her and her beautiful little family.

One of the strangest things about meeting up is that you already know each other. Instead of "getting to know each other", we just picked up conversations we had recently had or asked about day-to-day events like you would a close friend. Since her time in Utah was limited and mostly for the reunion, we just met at Cafe Rio, followed it up with some ice cream and a little bit of playtime at the mall.

I'm amazed at how close we've become over the last few years. I would really call them my best friends and know that I can count on them for support whenever I need it. I'm really glad I had a chance to meet up with Jill and her family before we head East again...perhaps permanently.

Sam and Simon chowin' it up at Cafe Rio.

Just missing the baby, E.

Are they not 2 of the most adorable boys you've ever seen?!

The mamas...

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-03T00:13:00.000-06:00

Okay, so technically we didn't make an entire weekend out of it, but we did have a whoppin' good time on Friday/Saturday. After our very positive camping experience in South Dakota, we decided to go do it again, but a little closer to home. We also teamed up with the MacCallum clan to double the fun.

Being the procrastinator that I am, I never made reservations for a campsite ahead of time. Our plan was to camp somewhere on the Alpine Loop and just enjoy being out there. I just thought we'd show up on Friday afternoon and there would be some in the "first come, first serve" area. After hitting the road a little later than expected, we arrived at the American Fork canyon entrance. The sign on the ranger booth said "Campground Full". Aw shoot! Fortunately, there was still plenty of dispersement camping and we were up for anything. The idea is that you park in a designated area and just go hike out a bit and find a spot to camp. The only rules are pack in, pack out, and make sure you build a fire ring.

We figured out where we wanted to camp, but we still had a problem. The MacCallums didn't know the change of plans and there is NO cell phone reception anywhere near where we were camping. We drove past our planned site and waited until we got reception. Finally, after about 15 minutes of driving, I had ONE bar on my phone and made a quick call, told them where to meet us, and we headed back.

Graham is AWESOME. He did a fantastic job setting up the tents (we have 2 tents now, so we set up one for the MCs, even though they have one too), prepping the fire area, etc. I just had to sit back and relax. Once the clan arrived, we roasted hot dogs, marshmallows and threw the kids in the tents. We made dinner for ourselves and this is the most impressive part: we didn't have a grill plate at all, so we had to figure out another way to cook the hamburgers. We really didn't want to have to use the stove because it seemed so ... well, lame. Graham went out and found a nice flat rock and set it on top of the fire. After enough time had passed, he threw a burger on the rock and it sizzled like crazy. After a little flipping, placement of some Tillamook cheddar, and the addition of ketchup, I had one of THE tastiest burgers I've ever had. Looks like watching all that "Man vs. Wild" really paid off!

Don't forget the Jiffy Pop! And look at that totally awesome headlamp...we need to get some of those.

The newest MacCallum all snug in his blanket.

The rest of the kidlets...they were on Cloud 9 the entire time!

For the rest of the night, we just enjoyed being outside and near the fire. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any inclement weather this time and we woke up cold, hungry, but excited for our breakfast. We lounged around the fire for the morning, slowly packed up our campsite and headed home. For now, one-night excursions will do, but I really look forward to spending a good amount of time away from the niceties of home to enjoy being with my family in such beautiful settings. Loving it!

First Day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-31T10:51:00.000-06:00

First things first...Sam is in a really weird smiling phase, so please don't think he's a total nerd. He's just a little nerdy.

This picture was before. Before we had tried the route to school out. Before I realized that both of us have incredibly short legs. Before I realized that the back-up backpack was wayyyyy too big for my little guy. We are never walking to school again. What was I thinking?!

This is Sam at his classroom. Oh my goodness, what a goofy kid. But I love him. Isn't he precious?! I can't believe he's in freaking KINDERGARTEN!!!

At the end of his day, he ran into my arms to give me a huge hug and kiss. Love it! He also said he was "so exhausted". I hope he keeps on loving it.

Kindergarten Prep

2011-08-24T14:30:00.000-06:00

I have to say, the process of just starting kindergarten is pretty drawn out. First, we had Back-to-School night on the 18th so that Sam could meet his teacher and find his room...all that good stuff. I LOVE Sam's teacher. Her name is Mrs. Whitaker and she is like a hip, cool grandma. Honestly, I wish she were my mom. Apparently, she was a BYU Cheerleader back in the day, which makes us kindred spirits. You could tell she was excited to have my little Sam in her class. I felt very comfortable with her and think that Sam will do great in her class.

The second step without actually going to school was having a one-on-one parent/student/teacher conference. Basically, she just wanted to get a good sense of where he was academically. I had to laugh though. Before we went to the meeting, she had us fill out a form. It had fill-in-the-blank information like sibling info, favorite colors, foods, etc. One of the questions was "I like to ____________ with my dad". Sam had me write in "play games". Okay, that's a nice, normal answer. However, when we met with Mrs. W, she wanted Sam to elaborate (she makes a student of the week poster and wants to be able to put these things on in picture form). This is how Sam described the game he plays with his dad:

"Well, sometimes we're in the car and we're about to get home.
Both of us need to, so we have to remember to yell it first! You know
Mrs. Whitaker, we only have one toilet..."

Both Mrs. W and I had a puzzled look on our faces until it clicked. Sam was talking about yelling "Shotgun" to get to use the toilet first. Seriously?! That's the game he came up with?! Hilarious! Unfortunately, that's a little hard to illustrate, so we came up with an alternative. (We have just introduced Sam to the original Mario Brothers on Nintendo).

Another fun moment in our little conference was when Mrs. W asked Sam to draw a picture of himself. She reminded him that she wanted a face with all the features and a body with hands, feet, legs and arms. No problem! Sam draws all the time. Then, he walks over with a picture that looks something like this ------->

Again, a very puzzled look from Mrs. W. But I instantly recognized what he was doing, so I prompted Sam..."Why don't you tell her about the picture?"

"This is me wearing my Boba Fett helmet. I just got it for
my birthday."

"Um, where are your arms?"

He then rolls his eyes at me, like "Duh!" and tells her
"They're behind my back so they don't get shot off!"

Dear Sam....welcome to Kindergarten. Dear Mrs. Whitaker...meet my Sam.

Flag Football!

2011-08-23T23:49:00.000-06:00

Thank goodness it's FLAG! I recently read an article on ESPN (and I cannot find it for the life of me) that supported the idea of flag football when kids are little. Sam is not little. He is tiny. The idea of him wearing pads and a helmet, only to face a kid twice his size is scary! However, it's never to early to learn the fundamentals of the game and hope that he has some type of growth spurt in the future that might give him the opportunity to excel at our family's favorite sport.

The program we entered Sam into is called "Smart Start". I love this concept. The idea is that the coaches actually instruct the parents on the drills, techniques, etc, and the parents coach the kids. This is a fantastic idea! What coach can figure out how to instruct 20 different 5-year-old personalities? Instead, the parent, the one who knows their child, gets to coach.

I loved watching Graham teach Sam how to throw and catch the ball. Graham also knows what they're "looking for", so when they practice at home, they're really practicing. Here are a few pictures from the first practice. This is probably one of the happiest little moments in our lives.

Showing him how to throw with 3 fingers...tips on the laces.

Learning how to plant his foot.

Sam lost his shoe...you can tell!

Oh, and Graham broke his flip flops.

Reunited...and it feels so good!

2011-08-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

The MacCallums may not have planned for this, but we are now best friends forever. Sam missed Maggie, Maggie missed Sam. Ellen thinks Emmett is her playtoy. So of course, the first day we could, we went out together! Since we didn't have a "proper" birthday celebration for Graham, we used his Tucano's birthday card as an excuse to take the MacCallums out to dinner. We headed to the toy store afterwards, got trapped for a few moments by the rain, and then played in the puddles! It's really a great comfort to have good little friends for your children.

Buffalo!

2011-08-14T00:44:00.000-06:00

So cute it deserves its own post...

Yellowstone

2011-08-13T00:41:00.000-06:00

Note to self and to you: Do not arrive in Billings, Montana the same day the State Fair begins. You will pay $300 for a one-night stay in a moldy room at Econolodge. Ugh.

After a horrid night in Billings, we drove to/through Yellowstone. It's beautiful. It really is. It's also vast. Here's what surprised me. I thought it would be more beautiful. We actually preferred the drive through the mountains in Montana to get to Yellowstone better. Also, we thought Grand Teton National Park was prettier than Yellowstone. It seems silly, but I just didn't see what all the fuss was about. Maybe it's because we have little toddlers still and couldn't take the time to appreciate the park. We'll try again when they're/we're older. However, the drive was beautiful and it's definitely a prettier way to get home than through Wyoming on I-80. Maybe part of the lack of enthusisasm was that this was our last day of the drive. We were ready to get home and we often got stuck behind idiot drivers who would swerve, stop, honk, etc. Granted, they wanted to see nature, but there are assigned pullouts for those who want to view it. You don't pull over into the oncoming traffic lane to pass a car and then stop because now you've seen something too! We almost died one too many times.

Here were the fun parts though:

This is Montana. Breathtaking.

In Yellowstone! Pretty much the only wildlife we saw the whole drive through. Graham could have reached his hand the window and touched this big guy. Craziness!

That night, we arrived in Provo at 11 pm. We were just so excited to be home! I am grateful for my two little ones. They really are so well-behaved and happy in the car. I love spending time with my family, even in a little mini-van, and will miss the days when they are "too cool" to be with their mom.

Mt. Rushmore, Camping, & Happy Birthday!

2011-08-11T00:21:00.000-06:00

Graham turned 31 today. We roasted hot dogs over the fire and tomorrow, he will go on his first-ever horseback ride.

You may gasp, but we did not actually enter the park/monument for Rushmore. It's really not that big, and you don't see much more than what you see here. Think about it: 2 kids who have been in the car for days, who can't read or appreciate any of the "fun facts" we'd learn, and we'd have to pay to park! We prefer our "drive-by" method instead.

This is our first family camp-out. Yes, it seems a little like cheating since we're at a really nice KOA, but this is also the same KOA I camped at with my family when I was 8 years old. It brought back a lot of memories. We set up camp and had a great time, minus Sam running head first into a pole. Seriously, this kid is going to give me a heart attack. He had the nastiest bump on his head. We roasted weenies (the only time Sam is allowed to say the word...he giggles too much), made smores, played at the sprayground, etc.

This tent is at least 20 years old but had only been used a handful of times.

We're in "awkward smiling" phases right now.

Keeping small children away from a fire pit is one of the most difficult challenges I've had as a parent.

Ready for bed!

Umm. It stormed all. night. long. Poor Ellen was right in a little puddle, but other than that, we stayed pretty dry. I brought Ellen into my sleeping bag and she fared pretty well. We were pretty proud of ourselves to have survived such a crazy downpour! If we can handle that, we can definitely handle good-weather camping!

The next morning, a ridiculous fit might have been had at the pancake tent by a certain 5-year-old who will remain unnamed. Apparently, I cut his pancakes the wrong way. Fortunately for Graham, he missed the fit by riding a horse named KC through the Black Hills. I think I've convinced him that we need land and horses someday. He had a great time. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Badlands

2011-08-10T23:56:00.000-06:00

We drove through it, and this is what it looks like:

It's actually pretty neat, but once you've driven through a mile of it, you're good. But you still have miles and miles to go. Mostly behind slow old people. Yup.

Three New States

2011-08-10T22:02:00.000-06:00

Well, 3 for Graham and kids, and 2 for me (I went to SD when I was a little kid). After leaving Chicago last night, we stopped in the Wisconsin Dells for a night's stay. I had no idea where we were and then we found out that we had stayed in the water park capital of the world. That wasn't the plan, and we didn't take advantage of the area's attractions, but it was crazy to see every single hotel/motel with a crazy amount of water slides, wave pools, etc. What a random little spot. Wisconsin is/was beautiful. Rolling hills, beautiful trees, and lots of water combined to make our drive into a very pleasurable one. We then drove through Minnesota. It was just as beautiful. We stopped in a little one-horse town for lunch and I struggled the entire time to keep a straight face. The accent residents of Minnesota have is so distinct and it cracks me up every time. I loved it. Finally, we crossed into South Dakota. Much to my dad's disappointment, we did not stop at the Corn Palace (look it up...it's totally random, LOL!). We've decided we would at least like to take the scenic bypass through the Badlands and didn't want to waste the opportunity by driving past it at night. So, we're staying in a hotel about 2 hours east of the entrance and we'll head out in the morning. We hope to be in Rapid City by lunch time and then we'll set up camp at the base of Mt. Rushmore! I am so excited to go camping. It's been years.

The kids are sleeping on the hotel room floor in their sleeping bags as a "trial run" before we stuff them in the tent.

We'll get there...

2011-08-10T21:23:00.001-06:00

I'm playing some major catch-up with the blog right now, so the majority of the next few posts will appear "before" these ones. A big part of the delay is someone (it was either me or Ellen) lost the camera charger, so I've only been able to take pictures with my phone, or steal them from my FIL's camera. But, after packing up the house and heading out on our trip, it was never to be found. So, we finally caved and bought a replacement charger. Voila! Pictures once again.

Chicago with Aunt Julia

2011-08-09T21:47:00.001-06:00

We left for our trip home on Sunday night. We spent all of Sunday with Graham's parents, getting in as many cuddles and hugs for the kids as physically possible. We left around 8 pm and got as far as State College, PA before Graham got too tired to drive. After spending the night, we went into town just for a little drive to see what the Penn State campus looked like. No surprises, it was a college town, but it was amazingly clean which made me happy. Passing by the football stadium made me yearn for the kickoff of the upcoming season, and it was kind of cool to be at such a storied stadium. We then hit the road for Chicago.

Graham is an amazing husband. As we were driving through Indiana, I remarked at how close I-90 would take us to Michigan without ever going into the state, and how sad I was that we would be so close and not be able to say we've been there. So, for dinner, we got off at exit 131 and headed 1 mile north off the freeway into Michigan!!! We only ate at Applebee's and bought a new camera charger at their Walmart, but now you can add one more state to my list!

We stopped for the night near O' Hare airport, very much looking forward to our day with Aunt Julia. We started off Tuesday morning by driving to her apartment. Holy crud, is parking C-R-A-Z-Y in the city! After lots of driving in circles, we finally found a spot close enough to her place. By this time, we were ready for lunch. We headed to the CUTEST little neighborhood park, surrounded by little cafes and shops. It was like a sophisticated scene of Sesame Street. City life seems very romantic (until I think about all the other aspects that I could never enjoy) and it was a lot of fun to be so cosmopolitan for a day.

The highlight of our trip was the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's FREE! Parking is pricey, but for a big family, it really pays off. For the 5 of us, we paid $17 in parking and enjoyed a free zoo. Pictures of that part are at the end.

We ended the day by going out for dinner at an Argentine restaurant a few neighborhoods over. I had some traditional dishes that I haven't had since I lived in Buenos Aires, and it was kind of crazy as little memories of my time there flashed through my head. Some day, I'm taking Graham there.

We loved Chicago. It's not for us, we're a little more rural than that, but it was fun to be there for the day. I'm amazed at how big the city is, and how clean. Seriously, it's beautiful. The kids absolutely loved seeing their Aunt and we had a great time.

Last Weekend with the Gs.

2011-08-05T00:47:00.000-06:00

The kids had a blast with their grandparents the last weekend we were in Delaware. I'm pretty sure they wore out Graham's parents, but we didn't hear any complaints.This is a link to where their adventure began: Morris Arboretum and here are some pictures of their last weekend together.

Don't really know where he came up with these gangsta symbols...

These two kids are just SO HAPPY when they're around their grandparents. The pictures just make it more obvious. They will be sorely missed when we're back in Utah.

Smarty Pants

2011-08-01T20:26:00.001-06:00

I would use a different phrase, but I probably shouldn't include a curse word when nicknaming my little Ellen.

Tonight as I was getting her dinner ready, Ellen whined until I got her some milk. All of the sippy cup lids were dirty, so I gave her a "big girl cup". Then, halfway through dinner, she didn't want her milk anymore. So, after she had finished eating, she was still stuck in her highchair because she needed to finish her milk.

She looks at me and says "All done!"

I said, "No, you need to finish your milk".

She says "No."

I said "You can't get out of the high chair until the milk is all gone."

SO SHE FREAKING LOOKS ME IN THE EYE and DUMPS HER MILK IN HER HIGH CHAIR TRAY.

"All gone!" with a devil smile. This child is going to kill me.

Beach belly and Water Ice

2011-07-22T10:43:00.000-06:00

Mmm. Water ice. This isn't Rita's water ice, although Rita's is very yummy. It's just a little too liquidy and sweet for my taste. This is King's water ice. It's so ridiculously delicious. It's almost like a crushed popsicle that you eat with a spoon. Not sorbet, not sherbet, and not ice cream. Just pure, cold, fruity deliciousness. Ellen's face -she's just cold. This is possibly one of my favorite things about Lewes. YUM!

This is a beach belly at 26 weeks. Not too shabby...and I LOVE my new swimsuit!

He swam.

2011-07-20T19:48:00.001-06:00

Sam swam today. The real way. In the big pool - no flotation devices.

We've been doing lessons each year, but we do them in the winter time and they never seem to stick. He's never been afraid of the water, so that's good, but it just seemed like he wasn't getting it. When we got to Delaware this summer, my first inclination was to not let him have a swim vest or arm floaties and let him learn "the hard way". However, there were other little boys at the pool the first day we went and they were having so much fun because they could do more with their arm rings on. So, that afternoon, I changed my mind and bought him the floaties. He's used them a couple of times - when there's another adult around so I can be totally focused on keeping Ellen alive. Otherwise, we stick to the kiddie pool.

We bought some pool toys; the little torpedoes that sink to the bottom. I'd toss them out into the kiddie pool and Sam would "swim" underwater (in 18 inches of water) to go get them. His form was great - it looked like he was swimming, but his arms were touching the bottom, so I didn't think it counted.

Today, I took the kids to the yacht club. Again, we stayed in the kiddie pool. There were just so many bigger kids in the regular pool and we had the small one all to ourselves. I could read my book, I didn't have to get wet, and I didn't have to pay as much attention while there. However, Ellen destroys my fortitude with her cute little vocabulary. She toddles over to me and says "Mommy, big, big, big, big pool please?" Disgustingly cute, so I can't say no! We gathered up all the toys into a pile by my chair and headed out to the regular pool.

Before I could remind Ellen of the rules about staying on the stairs and not running, Sam had leaped into the pool and swam to the other side. WHAT?! Since when could he do this?! He can only sustain it for as long as he can hold his breath...he hasn't mastered swimming and taking a breath at the same time, but still. Amazing. He's my little fish. And he just kept doing it over and over again.

I was so proud of him! I got a little weepy (some of that can be blamed on hormones, I say), but I kept it bottled up and just kept telling Sam how brave and amazing and smart he is. He swam!

Beach Week 2011

2011-07-19T07:38:00.000-06:00

We decided to take advantage of our time off this summer and head back down to the beach for a week. Graham couldn't come with because he had to work and he was terribly missed.

We got there Monday night...very late at night, so we all just went to bed. On Tuesday, I started unpacking and realized I had forgotten a very important article of clothing for the beach. My swim suit! Ugh.

Swimsuit shopping is not fun. It's much harder dragging 2 kids along. It's even harder finding a swimsuit that covers my ballooning belly - at the end of the season. After giving up and stopping at Walmart for diapers, I decided to try at one last place called Peebles. It's like a super ghetto Kohl's that I've only ever seen out here.

VOILA! And in all actuality, this is probably my most favorite swimsuit EVER! Yay me! I also found Ellen the cutest Hello Kitty dress (she's been begging for one each morning when we dress her) and an adorable John Deere onesie for a friend of mine that is having a baby around the same time as me.

After promising all day that we would head to the beach or pool once I found a swimsuit, the skies opened up and it rained for hours. Poor kidlets. So, while Ellen was napping, I let Sam play in the rain in his underwear.

A thought insipired by his playing in the rain: How often do we forget we are supposed to let our kids have fun? I didn't want to let him play outside because then he'd be wet, I'd have to clean him up, etc. Hello?! That's my job! Earlier, in the spring, there was a huge mud pit outside of our apartment. Sam had dipped a foot in and I wasn't too happy about it. Then I told him to come upstairs and change into his snowboots and his cruddy, too-small clothes. I then sent him out again, and told him to go for it! He was the ONLY one allowed to play. I know I got some evil-eyes from the other mamas outside, but I didn't care. My job is to make sure he stays innocent and happy for as long as I can. I don't want "little adults" for children. That time will come. I want carefree, joyful kids.

I need to be sure that I balance between teaching them their manners and how to exhibit good behavior, and how to have fun and create lasting memories that forge eternal bonds with my sweet children.

2011-07-13T21:49:00.000-06:00

She's all about class.

24 Weeks

2011-07-08T13:45:00.000-06:00

Baby is viable. Yay!

Smores

2011-07-07T08:42:00.000-06:00

Can you believe Graham has never actually had a S'more?! Shocking, I know! He said it's because he didn't like sweets as a child. Whatever, freak.

He thought we were going to put the graham cracker on the spatula, then put the marshmallow on top, then the chocolate, and then cook the whole thing over the fire. I was laughing so hard. Who doesn't know how to make a S'more?!

I schooled him in the proper technique of S'moring and the kids had a blast! They're so ridiculously delicious!

Happy Birthday Sam! You're FIVE!

2011-07-06T07:38:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it was only 5 years ago that I held this sweet little boy in my arms and my whole world changed. Graham and I are so incredibly lucky to have possibly one of the coolest people on earth as our son. He is so sweet, loving, caring, and kind. He's the greatest big brother you've ever seen - so adoring of his sister and so excited for his new sister to arrive. He is interested in everything; from how the brain works, to why we have trees, to why Anakin turns to the Dark Side. As of right now, he wants to be a firefighter, a police officer, an EMT, a doctor, a soldier, a farmer, a construction worker, a clown, an astronaut (this is the fave right now), a scuba instructor, a professional athlete, a rock star, and a dad. I truly believe he could be any of these things. He has so much hope and happiness in his life. We love him SO much!

Tiny little 5 lb, 7 oz baby.

Chubby cheeked one-year-old tow head

Blue-eyed two-year-old

Mischievous three-year-old

Dapper four-year-old

He's a KID! 5 years old!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T08:50:00.000-06:00

I tried to explain the purpose of Independence Day to Sam. Now he's trying to figure out why we're now friends with the British. "Didn't we just destroy the country?" Hmm...maybe next year.

We didn't do fireworks because we did so much that day, by the time bedtime came along, they were exhausted! It's nice to just have a "free" day with Daddy home to play!

Hey Jude.

2011-07-03T07:30:00.001-06:00

Sunday morning, we were spending the last of our weekend with the grandparents. Sam was outside with his grandpa, helping him dig holes for the fence posts. Grandpa came in and announced to everyone in the house that Sam had found a box turtle! It was in the orchids, having a mid-morning snack. We watched him eat his snack and then most of us headed back inside. However, Jude, as Sam had named him started to make a break for it towards the road. Foreseeing disaster, we put him in a box with some lettuce and planned to put him in the marsh after breakfast. Sam was sad to see him go, but I was immensely proud of him for picking him up and finding a good spot to let him go at. What a fun memory for a little kid!

Posing with his new little buddy

A VERY active turtle...he was somewhat aggressive

Setting him free

Good luck Jude!

Weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

2011-07-02T11:54:00.001-06:00

Sam's Grandma and Grandpa wanted to spend a weekend at the beach. They have a busy month ahead of them, so we wanted to make sure they got one good trip in before we head back to Utah.

See the porpoises?!

How do you fall asleep on the boat? Especially when Grandpa's driving...

It's for the Baby, I swear.

2011-06-30T08:17:00.002-06:00

I do need the calories...

Scorpion Sucker

2011-06-29T20:17:00.000-06:00

My return flight home from Salt Lake included a 3-hour layover at the Phoenix airport. Right before I boarded, I stopped in one of those little shops that has sodas, snacks, magazines, etc. After selecting some new reading material and a water bottle, I walked up to cashier and saw thecoolest treat for a little boy. Lollipops. But not just any ordinary lollipops. Lollipops with actual scorpions inside them. The stingers are removed and they're cast in the sugar. I asked the cashier about them and she said her grandson loved to give them out as little gifts. I bought one and called Graham to tell him how cool they were. "You only got one?!" he asked. So, although they had started boarding, I ran back and picked up a few more. Graham, Grandpa R, and Aunt Julia all got one too.

Graham said the scorpion tasted like the lollipop, nothing too weird. It was crunchy though!

Cape Henlopen

2011-06-28T20:08:00.001-06:00

In Lewes, we're fortunate to be able to enjoy calm water and no crowds because we're not on the "real" ocean. We're the first town in on the bay. While Aunt Julia was here, she said she wanted to go to Cape Henlopen and go to the beach. Since we outnumbered the kids 2-1, I felt brave enough to take them.

If regular disciplining methods don't work...

Rolling around in the sand

My personal beach recliner

Genius child #1: Mmm, sand.

Genius child #2: Let me try!

Cleaning all the sand out before getting in the van. Look at that cute beach bum!

Swagger Wagon!

2011-06-27T15:31:00.000-06:00

We own one!

It was inevitable. We had a tiny little Corolla. We loved our car. And although you can squeeze in a 3rd carseat (ask Kate), it's not easy and very, very tight. Originally, we had decided that we couldn't buy a van. We really wanted to hang on to our Corolla - Graham will be commuting to and from work in just under a year. So, in our mindset, the van would have been a second car. Additionally, we typically buy new and we buy Toyota. I know that other companies make good, reliable cars, but Graham's family only buys Toyotas. The reason is that they're such high-quality vehicles and they retain their value. The downside is that if you want to buy used, you still pay a decent amount.

So, one day, I had an epiphany. We could buy USED and we don't HAVE to buy Toyota. Additionally, we don't have to keep the Corolla. We could trade it in for something of the same value and figure out commuting later. So, we found two used Dodge Caravans for sale in Kent County. The first choice was a 2006 Dodge Caravan with only 60K miles on it. It was FULLY loaded and so nice to drive around. However, it was just a little over our budget and they undervalued our trade by more than we thought they would. I had to walk away, but that was made easier by how rude one of the sales managers was after I tried to have them value our trade just a little higher. I drove about 30 minutes down the road and looked at another Dodge. This one is a year older and has closer to 100K miles on it, but was valued for $3000 less. After a test drive and some other negotiating, we pretty much walked away with a fair trade (after a little financial help from our family).

It's a great van! There are no bells and whistles, but it does have cruise control which is essential for our trips to and from Delaware. We love it! The extra space is amazing and will allow us so much more flexibility than we had with our Corolla.

It's a pearly blue...so although it may not be a Toyota, at least we kept with the blue theme in the family.

Lots more room now!

At least Sam is safety conscious!

A Requirement

2011-06-25T18:07:00.004-06:00

Because what is summer without soft-serve ice cream?!

First Haircut!

2011-06-21T10:56:00.000-06:00

Ellen has been a little scraggly lately. It's so strange how baby hair grows in. There are really short pieces in places, and one ridiculously long piece on one side. Random! Since I had to get Sam's hair cut today, I figured I might as well let them even out Ellen's hair and trim her bangs so they'd be a little more even.

I'm always amazed at how well-behaved Ellen is during times that you would expect her to be skittish. She didn't cry when she got her ears pierced and she was so happy and obedient while getting her hair cut. I think my daughter is absolutely adorable, and thought that before she got her haircut. I must say though, I love this perfect little bob!

Before!

Being such a good girl!

Almost all done

The End Result!

Swearing

2011-06-20T21:09:00.000-06:00

Ha! Did you think this post was about the f-bomb? It's not. I crack myself up.

At the beginning of the month, Graham was able to be sworn-in under "Rule 56" in Delaware. It's also known as the 3rd-year practice rule. Have you seen "Legally Blonde"? Remember how Elle was able to be the lady's lawyer as long as she had a member of the bar association willing to back her up? Yeah, it's that.

So far, he's only been able to do a few things, but it's still so exciting to me! He's entered in conditions of plea agreements before the judge. I think it's really cool. He's assisting on a few cases right now, and soon they want to transition an entire calendar to him for the rest of his internship. It's a lot of hard work, but he's really enjoying the load. I'm really proud of how hard he works. He takes on any task assigned and does his best every time.

So...this is kind of my Father's Day post (he doesn't really dig the Mother's/Father's day stuff.....so yeah).

The Judge that swore him in...no idea who he is.

Thank you for all you do to make sure we have a JOB next year!!!

Weekend in Utah

2011-06-18T08:38:00.001-06:00

Normally, I love to fly. It's a thrill for me. But when you're halfway through a pregnancy, it's not as fun. I left on Thursday evening, finally arriving in Utah at around midnight. I was exhausted. Luckily, Sam's bed was made from when we left and I just slipped under the covers and went to sleep.

I woke up at 8 am so I could get to my dentist's appointment. I had my braces tightened and I am happy to say that my "problem" tooth is no longer a problem and is in the regular braces system. Prior to this appointment, we've used springs, spacers, tied rubber bands to each other, and all sorts of weird techniques trying to get my tooth to move forward. I will have straight teeth soon! I cannot wait.

I love our little apartment. It's so clean right now! It's ours. I forget how special of a time we're having at BYU. Yes, it's cramped and cluttered, but it's OUR apartment. I'm glad I had this little weekend to be reminded of how blessed we are.

Beth was my chauffeur for this trip. She rocks! She's 38 weeks pregnant and picked me up from the airport, carted me around Provo, and hung out with me. I'm sure she would rather have been laying down and getting ready for Henry to make his arrival. Thanks Beth!

I also had my hair done again - I'm SUPER blonde now. We had Jamba Juice (non-existent in Delaware), California Pizza Kitchen, and way too many carbs at Denny's. (We always have too many carbs when we go there).

But the highlight of the day was my doctor's appointment. Little pea is perfect. All measurements are spot on and I'm in great shape. I'm having trouble gaining weight again (I really struggled when I was pg with Sam), but it's not affecting the baby. My midwife assures me that although I'm not gaining weight as quickly as most, I should be okay as long as I'm eating and taking my prenatals.

Oh...the part you really care about: Baby #3 is a GIRL!

Sam got over it pretty quickly, after a passing moment of disappointment. He's such a good kid. Ellen still has no clue. She'll figure it out. We already have our name picked out, but I'll make you wait a little longer to find out.

My flight returning to Philadelphia left at 7 am, so we had to be on the road at 5 am. I was exhausted. They let me take my Nyquil on the plane so I took a swig of that and passed out on the flight to Phoenix. I read magazines, ate fruit and cheese, and slept a little more on the flight from Phx to Philly. It was a whirlwind trip and I'm exhausted, but it was a blast!

20 Weeks

2011-06-13T20:26:00.001-06:00

Well here we go again! I'm halfway through and feeling really good. I really hesitated to announce this pregnancy because of the miscarriage we had in December, but I'm excited that things seem like they are going well right now. We had a few scares early on, actually at the same time that we miscarried last time, with bleeding, cramping, etc. Honestly, I just decided early on that this pregnancy would not be successful so that it wouldn't be as disappointing if something did go wrong.

I had my first appointment right before I hit 13 weeks, expecting to not hear a heartbeat, and being okay with that. Previous to the appointment, Sam saw me get out of the shower and remarked "Your belly is getting a little fat, Mommy!" I asked him why he thought that was and he remarked there might be a baby in there. I said "Maybe." I told him we should go to the doctor and see if there was one in there. He went to my appointment with me, helped my midwife find the heartbeat, and I shed a few tears of gratitude that we found it.

At 14 weeks, I had a little more spotting so I decided to see my midwife. To confirm that the baby and I didn't have any problems, an ultrasound was performed. At that ultrasound, we confirmed that the baby was in perfect condition, at the right size for its age, and that I was okay as well - placenta, uterus, etc. were all doing fine.

I had an appointment here in Delaware at 17 weeks at The Birth Center and once again, we found the heartbeat. Although it's nice to know people around you are pregnant at the same time as you, it can also be a source of unnecessary worry. By this point, I still hadn't felt any movement. But of course, plenty of other mommies this far along had. So, of course, I'm freaking out that I haven't felt any movement, and by this time, all my 1st trimester symptoms are gone.

Since then, I've felt plenty of little kicks, wiggles, and bumps coming from this little pea. I can't hold my bladder and I can't stop eating - all good signs that everything is going well.

I have my anatomy ultrasound this Friday to make sure everything had formed correctly, and if baby little pea isn't too shy, we'll find out if it's a brother or sister for Sam & Ellen!

For now, further proof that this pregnancy is real: belly!

I know...it's a HORRIBLE picture...
The camera was smudgy, it's nighttime and those curtains are not a great background.
But if I didn't take it now, I would never get it done.
Stay tuned for week 24 pics.

Phillies 2011

2011-06-11T18:30:00.000-06:00

We've been so lucky each summer to be able to get a pair of tickets to a Phillies home game. This year, they are supposed to be phantastic, but we're still waiting for a hot streak (even without it, we're still #1 in the National League. We have one of the most amazing pitching lineups this year - truly. Again, the seats were amazing and we got to watch the Phillies almost blow a 7-0 lead in the 8th inning. Fortunately, the pitching staff stepped it up and saved the day in the end (no thanks to Contreras or Romero...). It was a cool night, I had a HUGE mustard & ketchup covered cheeseburger and a Turkey Hill lemonade - they make the best.

There's something beautiful about going to a live sporting event. I know it sounds so corny but it's true. Almost everyone there is united in supporting a team, cheering the same events, booing the same dumb umpires, laughing at the Phanatic's crazy antics. For a few small hours, your race, age, gender, sexual preference, religion, class, job, etc. doesn't matter. You're a Phillies' fan - that's all that matters.

I was born to be a Phillies' fan and just didn't know it. If you play sports in Philadelphia, you should know what you're heading into. We're angry fans. We boo you when you stink and we love you when you're good. But we boo you a lot. Philly fans even boo Santa Claus!

The best mascot ever - he's just raunchy enough and random enough to be hilarious.

He was bumping and grinding the umpire until he started shaking his groove thing with him.

We were only 12 rows away from this spot. Amazing seats!

Baby's first Phillies game!

It's just a beautiful thing!

Here are a few photos from the night...

Wilmington Blue Rocks

2011-06-10T11:51:00.000-06:00

The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a minor league team for, wait for it... The Kansas City Royals. Yes, I am a fan of one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball. It's hometown pride!

My mother-in-law invites her staff to a Blue Rocks game every year and includes us in that invitation. This year, we braved horrible 95 degree heat with 85% humidity. Honestly, it was dreadful. We sat there, sweat dripping off my kids faces, watching a pretty uneventful game. Around the 3rd inning, we bought some corn dogs for the kids. Immediately after they finished eating (great timing), the skies opened and it started lightning. No worries - until there was a huge bolt just a few hundred feet away. We packed up the kids and headed to the car. The second we stepped out from under the protective eaves of the stadium, it started POURING. Sam hated it - he claimed the rain was "biting" him. Graham and I just laughed and Ellen didn't know what to make of it.

For some reason, getting soaked in the rain like that just made the day end on a fun note. Summer showers are beautiful here and we were lucky to have that opportunity to get cooled off.

A little Latino blood

2011-06-02T11:26:00.002-06:00

I'm 1/2 Puerto Rican. Isn't it obvious by my tan skin and dark curly hair? Oh wait...I look like the whitest of white people. Because my mom is deaf, I only learned Spanish as a small child (and was pretty fluent) when my grandmother lived near us. When she moved away, I lost a lot of my language skills. Additionally, my mom never really taught me much about the Puerto Rican culture and heritage, which is kind of disappointing. However, I've got a few things going for me. I make an awesome Chicken and Onions dish, can make kick-a sofrito, and can fry up some sweet plantains like nobody's business. I am also extremely adept at shaking my hips and keeping my bottom nice and round, the way a P.R's should be. I don't have much to pass on to my kids.

One thing that is pretty culturally "normal" for Puerto Ricans is that little babies get their ears pierced ASAP. Well, this had been a source of contention for Graham and me. He doesn't like the idea of infants with pierced ears. I love them! Fortunately, we had a boy first, so that issue was placed on the back burner. When Ellen was born, I didn't even make a big deal because I knew that doing it against his wishes just wasn't a good idea, so I never brought it up.

Last week, as I was putting my earrings on, Ellen starts screaming "Me! Me! Please, please!" She was pointing to my earrings and begging for them. She did it for a few more days. I told Graham about it it because I thought it was cute how "girly" she was. Graham then blew me away and said "Well, if she has actually shown interest, go ahead". I was floored!

So....

She didn't cry. Not one single tear. I take some of the credit...I had the genius (seriously, genius) idea of rubbing Anbesol on the front and back of her lobes right before they cleaned and pierced them. She just went, "Oh!" and had a shocked look on her face. Then we showed her the results in a mirror and she just nodded with a big smile saying "Mine, mine!" She's such a big girl!

Pets

2011-06-01T11:20:00.004-06:00

I want a dog. I have always wanted my kids to have a dog and always will. It's going to take a lot of convincing on Graham's part. For now, we've been limited to nothing because Wymount doesn't allow pets...not that the rule stops people (ahem, you know who you are). Since we're here for the summer, we've purchased a new little set of pets. Better and cuter than goldfish, they're easier to take care of and more active. They're dwarf frogs! We have yet to name them, but we're working on it (and trying to avoid names like Foo Foo which is a favorite of Sam's right now).

You can clearly see the darker one starting to swim up. The lighter one is just below him, lounging on the rocks.

What are we doing when we move back to Utah? Good question...good question.

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-30T11:15:00.001-06:00

We spent our Memorial Day weekend eating, swimming, watching Tangled, and cuddling with Grandma and Grandpa. We drove up to our "new house" in Wilmington on Sunday and spent Monday settling in.

Dear servicemen; Thank you for all you do to ensure our safety and keep us free!

Ellen the Opera Singer

2011-05-27T13:52:00.002-06:00

She's very intense...

Pool Day

2011-05-26T21:52:00.000-06:00

I took both Sam and Ellen to the pool today. We had to wait until 5 pm because it was so hot all day. I was a little apprehensive. My crazy, almost 5-year-old, and my sassy 2-year-old near a pool of water sounds like a dangerous situation. Last time I took Sam to the pool, there were some little boys there with water wings. They were having a much better time than Sam was, so we decided to get him a pair and he rocked them today! It was so nice being able to let him be in water that was just a little over his head and not completely freaking out about it. I still kept my eye on him the whole time, but the freedom to just swim and play was so much fun for him. Additionally, it made the task of keeping Ellen safe and entertained much easier. We started out in a little floatie, but she's just a little too grown up for it. She doesn't want to just lounge around - she wants to PLAY. When I pulled her out of it, we played around, having her jump into the pool, float on her back, "swim" with mommy's hands under her belly. It was a lot of fun. We spent a little bit of the time there in the kiddie pool, which Ellen thinks is the "kitty" pool. Sam's a good sport about still playing in there and they had it all to themselves. Plus, I can be pretty submerged in the water without getting my hair wet and getting to sit down the whole time. Before we left, I put the water wings on Ellen to see how she did with them. Although she did okay, I think I'm going to get her a little swim vest instead. She's just to wiggly for me to be able to hold on to her the whole time and her still have fun. The only problem of it just being Mom at the pool is that when it was time to go, Ellen was NOT cooperative. I eventually had to swaddle her in the beach towel and have Sam pin it shut while I got all of our stuff together. She's a handful!

Since a camera is not an option when it's 2 against 1, I have a picture from earlier in the day!

Love that little face.

On the Back Deck

2011-05-25T21:32:00.000-06:00

So everything I did for the kids yesterday was great...in theory. I set up the kiddie pool, I built them a fort, and I even let them eat on the deck for lunch and dinner. Turns out it's splinter city out there and I ended up pulling at least 30 splinters total from the kids' legs the next morning. At least they didn't hurt going in...

The entrance to the fort

Hiding out

Kids only!

What Graham got to do all day: wash and wax the boat. Yay.

A Day at the Beach

2011-05-24T14:01:00.000-06:00

The weather this week has been unusually warm. Yesterday we were able to go to the pool, and today it was nice enough to go to the beach. Because school is still in session and it was a weekday, the beach hardly had a soul on it. The first thing we did was collect the horseshoe crabs along the beach. We created a nice little family out of them. Most of the time was spent on the sand. Sam has no fear, but was more excited by the three $1 sand toys we bought to make "perfect" sandcastles. Ellen had moments of excitement and bravery, then moments of total fear of the water. If she ever got knocked down, she needed a few minutes recovery to build up her courage again. For a little while we had rough waves, so I walked with her while all of us looked for special rocks and shells right where the waves were breaking. Eventually, a little boy Sam's age came to the beach. He introduced himself as follows: "Hi, I'm Sam. I'm from Utah. I speak English. Who are you?" His grandmother is a member of the yacht club, so we'll see them around this weekend as well. Charlie was very excited to find a friend, so he and Sam spent the rest of the time together making wet sand, more castles, and digging as deep as they could. Eventually, Charlie's mom and sister made it to the shore and Ellen made his mom into her flotation device. Ellen had finally overcome her fear and was ready to dive in. I even braved the water and went in waist-deep (my hair is not cute wet right now...) with Ellen in tow. She loved the feeling of floating and be pulled into shore by the waves. It was a beautiful day and I'm glad I get to spend these kinds of moments with my kids.

A Family of 10

Is that not the cutest swimsuit you've ever seen?

"Mom, I really need to live at the beach"

Through Sam's Eyes

2011-05-23T08:39:00.000-06:00

He's had the camera figured out for a while...I just needed to develop the faith that he wouldn't completely destroy a piece of equipment that will cost me hundreds of dollars to replace. Here's what he thought would be interesting to take photos of:

Videos...

2011-05-21T13:47:00.000-06:00

Two of bike riding and one of the alternate activities when Ellen would get mad at her bike, kick it over, and leave it in the middle of the street to get run over by cars.

Sam

Ellen

After an "angry" episode

A Toddler in Make-Up

2011-05-19T08:51:00.000-06:00

I guess she watches me a little more closely than I thought. :)

Threatened

2011-05-16T20:49:00.000-06:00

I received a lovely little Facebook message today that told me to update my blog...or else I would face receiving maggots via the United States Postal Service. Afraid of the fainting episode this event would cause my mother-in-law, since that's our address right now, I've decided that I should probably do what "she" said.

So...over the next few days, you'll see a handful of backtracking posts. Dating all the way back to right before Easter. Sorry about that.

Strawberry Picking

2011-05-14T06:59:00.000-06:00

As we were driving home from dinner one evening, we passed a you-pick strawberry field. It's never been there before - actually, I don't know if anything was there before. We thought we'd go the next day and give it a try. OH. MY. GOODNESS. The berries were amazing! When I was a little girl, my grandfather had a tiny strawberry patch by the garage. It was good for maybe a handful of berries, once a summer, if we were lucky. At this patch? The berries were huge, perfectly ripe, and so juicy! We had a lot of fun picking (every one Ellen picked ended up in her mouth) and choosing our berries. We ended our day with over 4 pounds of strawberries for just $8. We're going back next week. :)

Berries in the basket

Berries in the mouth!

His haul

Me? Eating the strawberries? Never!

New Bikes!

2011-05-13T21:54:00.000-06:00

Transporting Sam's bike from Utah wasn't really an option with our tiny Corolla. Plus, it's a piece of junk anyway (which I'm really peeved about because now he's going to need a "better" bike when we get back). We headed to a nearby Walmart to see what bikes they had available. Not only did they have a "super cool very special fast Spiderman" bike, they had the most adorable, if not a little wobbly, tricycle for Ellen. She's really coordinated on it so we got it for her.

Life at the Beach is Hard!

2011-05-12T20:29:00.000-06:00

It was a cold night. Poor me.

Flower Show 2011

2011-05-08T21:46:00.000-06:00

This is our 3rd year in a row of attending the annual Flower Show at Rockford Park. I'm so glad we made it out in time to go again. It's a wonderful little carnival that I think is supposed to be about flowers and plants, but all we cared about was the fun and the food! We started by letting Sam ride the pony, for the 3rd year in a row. I think he gets the same pony each year. He's a pro at this point. We found a ride (we only do one because it is a RIP-OFF! $4.50 for 3 tickets...and this ride was 3 tickets) to go on and played a game that guaranteed a toy. Ellen walked away with a cowboy hat (pink, to match Sam's blue from last year) and Sam walked away with a lightsaber. Hallelujah for that because he's been begging for one for a few months now and all the cheap ones are, well, cheap.

We got a slice from the Grotto's truck which the kids split, and we picnicked it on the hill overlooking the rest of the park. On the way back to the house, I picked up a pulled pork sandwich, the same kind from last year. It has a mustard-based sauce that is heavnenly!!! I think it tasted especially good because 1) I'm pregnant and 2) I was starving! Here's hoping we can move out here in time next year to make it 4 years in a row!

A veteran

Yes, I'm blonde and bobbed. This is for Sarah...

Flying high!

Her first snocone...actually, MINE, but I was nice and shared.

Day 4 of the Drive

2011-05-07T21:19:00.000-06:00

Day 4 felt like the longest at time - but let's be honest. Nothing is as long as Wyoming. Somewhere in Western Pennsylvania, we stopped at a gas station and scavenged together a convenience-store breakfast. We got to Carlisle, Pennsylvania and had lunch at a Friendly's. Too much grease. Even I'm saying that. Uck. And the clientele at this particular Friendly's: interesting, and that's putting it as nicely as possible.

We drove through Lancaster (where I finally saw a buggy!) and arrived in Wilmington at around 4pm that afternoon. Graham immediately took a shower and shaved off the 2-week beard. He was heartbroken, but it just wasn't full enough to not be made fun of at the family party coming up on Sunday.

We ended the day with El Diablo (a burrito place that really does rival Cafe Rio) and a very early bedtime.

Looking forward: spoiled rotten children. Yay!

Day 3 of the Drive

2011-05-06T14:33:00.000-06:00

We spent Thursday morning at my dad's house. Have I mentioned I'm allergic to cats? And that I have asthma? And that cat hair is the worst trigger for my asthma? I love my Dad and Lorrie, but those danged cats! By the time we got to lunch, we decided that we should just go have a little outing and then hit the road, taking the chance that we would hit St. Louis right at rush hour (one UGLY mess). My dad is awesome and said that he's going to have some electric work done so that we can plug his travel trailer in when we visit and can then be in a cat-free zone. I love him.

Our outing was to the T-Rex cafe at the Legends. I'm sure most of you have heard of the Mayan or the Rainforest Cafe. Same concept, different focus. The restaurant was full of huge animatronic dinosaurs and other creatures. It also featured a 50,000 gallon shark tank which we were seated next to. My favorite table was the one where you sat nestled up next to a huge triceratops. The food was actually really good and you got a lot of it, which is fantastic because it wasn't cheap. Grandpa Dale ended the outing by getting both kids birthday presents (one late, one early) at the Build-A-Dino workshop.

Oh, and Ellen was terrified the entire time. She wouldn't even eat sitting up. She ducked below the table because there was a huge T-rex that would stare and occasionally growl at her. It was hilarious when it wasn't so pathetic.

SO psyched! In front of the fishtank. He's standing on the booth part of our table.

The evil T-Rex that caused so much anxiety.

How she spent a lot of her time.

How she spent the rest of it. We actually had to put her plate on the seat of the booth.

Getting 'et up by the Triceratops

Even in Grandpa's arms = terrified

Putting the heart into Louie

Saying good-bye to Grandpa Dale.

We left in the early afternoon and hit St. Louis at 4:30. By some miracle, our car didn't have to stop once. We just zipped on through. We stopped somewhere in Indiana for a very late dinner at TGIFridays where Sam had a bromance with our waiter. He was a firefighter AND he had his emergency walkie-talkie clipped to his belt. I think he spent a decent part of the end of his shift answering Sam's relentless questions. He got a GREAT tip. Then we headed out on I-70 to see how far we could get. A midnight stop at a very ghetto Ohio Wal-Mart proved to be interesting. Our final stopping point was a rest stop somewhere in that lovely state. Yes - my cheap husband made us sleep in the car. He thinks we're doing it on the way back too, but I am NOT doing that 30 weeks pregnant!

Day 2 of The Drive

2011-05-05T19:36:00.000-06:00

We had originally planned to have a relaxed morning, but plans always change in our family! We did manage to sleep in a little, but then rushed off. We wanted to be sure to visit my grandfather, but because of the time change (going from mountain to central) and his radiation appointment, we needed to haul ourselves out there quickly!

I don't know if I've ever talked about La Crosse before. It's a teeny-tiny town in the heart of Kansas. It has a population under 1500 and probably less half that actually live in town. It has one grocery store which closes at 5 pm. The happening place to be is the 4-Corners restaurant, and if you didn't know any better, you'd think it was closed all the time. It's little, it's slow, but it's where my family is from and I love it.

We visited my Grandpa in the nursing home. I love that now, at 92 years old, he has decided to sport a mustache. I've never seen him with facial hair, or even seen a picture of him with facial hair. He told me he wants to look like the guy from "Hee Haw". I love my Grandpa. I try to take advantage of the opportunities I have to see him because although he's determined to outlive us all, I'm sure the sad day will come when we have to say good bye. We chatted for a good 45 minutes before helping him into my Aunt Thelma's car so that he could go up to the hospital in Hays for his treatment. We too headed to Hays for lunch.

I kid you not, Hays has the NICEST McDonalds you have ever seen. The playplace was spectacular and well suited to both big and little kids. The inside was like a hunting lodge and the entire place was spotless. I didn't eat there because next door was a flipping LONG JOHN SILVER'S! This is possibly my favorite fast food place in the world. The hush puppies. That is all you need to know. (I brought it into the McD's, but I DID buy the kids Happy Meals).

We then headed to Manhattan where we visited with my brother Jeremy and his wife Adriane. The had a cute little apartment (which was bigger than our old 2 bedroom apt) right in a fun spot of the town. I overcame my adverse reactions to all things Wildcat Purple and was able to make it through my visit without chanting "Rock Chalk Jayhawk". Jeremy and Adriane took us to the restaurant area of Aggieville (if you don't know, you probably don't care), and we ate at the funniest place. It's 2 restaurants in 1 location. You choose which side to sit on. If you sit on the Tex Mex side, you can only get Tex Mex food. But if you sit on the Cajun side, you can order from both menus. I never got the explanation for why this is, but it doesn't really matter. All I do remember is that we sat on the Cajun side, but Graham was the only one who got Cajun food.

We said our goodbyes and arrived at my Dad's house just in time to put the kids to bed. Tomorrow, I'll go into more detail about why I hate cats.

Day 1.5 of the Drive

2011-05-04T22:21:00.000-06:00

Originally we had planned on leaving Utah on Tuesday morning. I had my dentist appointment on Monday and then we spent the rest of the day packing, playing, and getting ready. We packed the car as soon as the kids fell asleep (their room looks spectacular) - and finally got the car packed at 1 am, Tuesday morning. Graham and I both had a second wind at this point, and we decided to just pack the kids up and leave right then. This way, we'd ensure that we would miss Salt Lake rush hour and avoid waking up later than we had hoped (5 am had been the goal). Graham drove us about as far as the Wyoming border before he got too tired. I was already out at this point, but I remember hearing "whoosh" every few minutes or so and being very rattled by the sound. Turns out, Graham had just picked some pull-off ramp that trucks used to park at. That "whoosh" sound were semi-trucks rushing past us at very high speeds. Comforting.

Wyoming sucks. That's pretty much all there is to it. Around 8 am, we stopped at a Little America rest area and had cold cereal and milk in their little gas station/dining room. At lunch time or so, we were drawing near another Little America. Perfect! We'll just pop in for something easy and be on our way. Turns out, this particular Little America was a "resort". I knew we should turn around when I saw men in 3-piece suits and bow ties leaving the dining room. We wandered around town a little and found a Village Inn. Good enough. The children were awful in the restaurant (Graham had stayed in the car to take a little cat nap). I was never so glad to get back into the car than at that moment.

More driving through Colorado (didn't even stop to visit my mom - she is incommunicado at the moment), and we finally arrived in Goodland, KS just in time for dinner.

My Uncle Dennis and Aunt Gaylene have a large farm in Goodland and we stayed with them. They are seriously some amazing people. My dad's side of the family is just so laid-back and low-key. We had lasagna, put the kids to bed, and Gaylene and I stayed up until midnight chatting about the family and life.

1 day down, 3 more to go...

April Wrap-Up

2011-04-30T20:12:00.000-06:00

The last few days of April were spent sitting around, doing absolutely nothing. The only hard work I did was organize a few of the rooms so that they were in better shape for when we return to Delaware. I went out for a milkshake with Katie, hung out with Beth, chatted with Annie, and tried to prevent my kids from destroying my house until we left. Here are a few random photos that I though were cute/cool from the month that had no other place in my blog.

These are meatballs. Meatballs STUFFED with mozzarella cheese, deep fried, covered with more mozz and parm and then finished in the oven. Who would not want to eat these?! Next time, more mozzarella.

Ellen in curlers! I don't have the after pictures because she pulled most of these out before I could finish, but look how cute!!! (If you want to purchase these awesome curlers, go to the Purple Pinwheel shop on Etsy. They're awesome!)

Maybe she'll get over her pink obsession and turn out to be a tomboy!!! Right now, she thinks she has a cold.

Birthday Party at the Zoo

2011-04-28T19:58:00.001-06:00

To make it a little easier on myself this year, we just decided to invite a handful of friends (those who have little ones Ellen's age) to the Zoo to celebrate Ellen's birthday. Since we'd be leaving in a few days, we didn't want to make a big fuss in our tiny apartment. We all met up at the zoo at mid-morning, walked through all the exhibits (the elephants, including baby, were out this time!), and then ended our morning with lunch and cake. I brought my camera, but didn't take any pictures. I know that seems silly, but sometimes I feel like I force my kids to pose a little too often and don't let them just enjoy the moment. Since I wanted this to just be fun and fancy free, I never once pulled my camera out. Fortunately, Alexis has a rockin' camera on her phone and snapped a few shots of Ellen with her cake. It was a fun, relaxed and very easy morning. Perfect for our little baby.

Yes, the cake is ghetto. This is what happens when you go to Macey's at 10 pm the night before and this is the last chocolate cake left. However, I put her My Little Pony toys on it (yes, they are from McDonalds) and that made it all better. Plus, the "2" is pink - her favorite color, FTW!

She had no clue....Daddy "helped" her blow out her candle. She figured out the cake quickly though. Almost everyone's piece of cake had a little finger gouge from where she tested the frosting with every swipe.

Happy Birthday Ellen!!!!

2011-04-27T19:41:00.001-06:00

Has it really been two years already? My sweet little baby is so grown up. With all the excitement of getting bigger, smarter, and more fun, there's a little sadness mixed in. I'm sure it'll be even harder with my last baby, whenever that is. However, I couldn't asked for a sweeter, more beautiful, or more sassy little girl than my Ellen.

Right now, she's a little behind verbally, but as we listen a little closer, we realize how hard she's trying to get those words out! Some of her favorites right now are "baby", "birbs" (birds), "me!" (which means "take me with you"), and "joosh" (juice). She loves her baby doll and her stuffed dino Penelope. She adores her grandparents and will steal any opportunity to snuggle up with them. She's a little piggy, a thief, and a sneak. If I don't find a way for her to use her "talents", I'm sure she'll end up in juvie by the age of 5. She's much harder to discipline that her brother was - she just flashes that coy smile of hers and it becomes so much more difficult than you could ever believe.

We love her and love how perfect she is for our little family. Happy birthday sweet Ellen!

Look how little!!!

A little birthday bug!

So grown up! (Yes, I reused this picture...sue me)