Heather's Happenings

Little Climber

2011-11-08T17:19:00.001-08:00

Jake is going through that stage where he thinks he needs to climb into, on top of, and over everything possible. It actually cracks me up. We put a huge basket on the stair landing to block him from climbing up the stairs. He somehow puts his little toes on the edge of the stair and then throws himself into the basket, climbs through all the shoes that are in it, and then climbs out the other end by the stairs, high-tailing it up the stairs as quick as possible so I can't catch him. He also likes to sit in his toy boxes and play with his toys. This is a picture of him sitting in my friend's cooler after a camping trip we went on. Funny. :)

I've been replaced...

2011-11-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

I came up to bed the other day and this is what I found.

Wedding

2011-11-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

Two good friends of ours got married yesterday evening (Matt & Stacey). Emily had the privilege of being one of the flower girls in the wedding. She was sick, so I was really worried that she wouldn't be able to make it, but she did great. The bride (Stacey) was so stunning and elegant. I had never been to a Catholic wedding before, so that was interesting. Matt is Jewish, so it was fun to see some of the Jewish traditions, as well.

Here are the flower girls with the bride before the ceremony.

So excited!

Emily and Jill waiting to line up for the procession.

Here they come!

The reception afterwards was so beautiful. It was definitely the most formal/fanciest wedding reception I have ever been to.

Here is Emily dancing with the groom (right before she collapsed & we took her home. She was SO tired!)

It was a really fun night (or really 2 nights with the rehearsal and dinner) with some great friends. I am so excited for Matt and Stacey and happy that they let us be a part of their awesome day. :)

Birthdays!

2011-08-31T07:34:00.000-07:00

Pete and Jake share the same Birthday, August 22nd. Pete had most of the day off, which is a real treat for us. We went to lunch at a Sushi/Chinese buffet (Pete likes Sushi and the rest of us like Chinese).

While Pete was at work, the kids and I decorated the house. When he got home, we had dinner and then opened presents and had cake. I made Peter a dulce de leche cheesecake and Jake a baseball cake (pictures are on another camera and I haven't taken them off yet.) Jake enjoyed eating sweets for the first time. One of Pete's presents was tickets to a Red's game for the family. I'll post pictures of that soon.

These are my boys. Love them both so much! Anyone who knows Pete and me knows that we're a good fit; not in the sense that we're the same and go good together, but more like a jig saw puzzle where two different pieces seem to fit together. This baby is the sweetest thing. It's always hard to watch your baby get bigger, but with Jake, I am always just so grateful that he's with us and that he's healthy. Each day that he grows and I and see him exploring his surroundings more, I am reminded of that.

Here is a picture of Jake when he was a month old, buckled in the car seat to come home from the NICU. The picture next to it is how he looks now, 11 months later, sitting in his car seat. :)

(Don't mind his crazy hair and his crazy expression. It was nap time and he seemed really confused about us taking his picture!)

Back to school

2011-08-31T07:22:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but I'll get it done. It may not be in chronological order, because I am starting with Emily going back to school. :)

So Emily started her first day of morning kindergarten this week.

Here is Emily in line at her school, heading in to her classroom. She was cool as a cucumber, but not necessarily feeling overly friendly or outgoing.

Here she is on the porch, right before school. She had her toe nails painted and everything. :)

Dance recital pictures

2011-05-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Emily's dance recital was so cute! I just love girls in tutus.

Here is her class backstage before the recital started. They were so excited!

And of course I had to throw one in of Jake. He's just too cute!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2011-05-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Good:

Everything here is green and beautiful; rolling hills, lush vegetation, green grass

Planting strawberries for the first time

Jake’s cute smile and laugh. I love it! I am so in love with this kid. He is just so sweet and cuddly and patient. I just love him to pieces.

Abby saying cute little things and getting so excited over everything she sees. When we go for walks she likes to come home and tell Peter what we see, “I taw a bunny robbit!” She says it with these big eyes and deep little voice. So cute!

Emily enjoying books and loving to tell jokes. Also, she likes to tell me great little facts, like last night, “Mom, do we live near a beach?” Me: “Nope.” Emily: “It’s a good thing because then baby sea turtles might see our lights on and follow our lights to our house instead of following the moon to the ocean.” Yep, that would be one of the hazards of living near a beach.

Going for walks

Breyer’s chocolate brownie ice cream

A Mary Higgins Clark murder mystery novel

Barbequed hamburgers

Friends that call or send an email to make sure I'm still alive

Pete’s call schedule for next year

Enjoying my kids

Kids going to bed

Emily’s dance recital and her looking so cute in her costume

The Bad:

Wanting to do more things with the house than I have money to

The dandelions that, if left undisturbed, grow to be at least 4 feet tall. No kidding. And I’ve got a few that are already off to a good start this season.

I worked in my yard Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and when I looked at it Sunday, I couldn’t even tell that I’d done anything to it. It would take me days to get it under control with the amount of humidity and rain we have here.

Spit up, laundry, crying in the night, my girls out growing their shoes too fast

Poop. On Jake’s clothes. On my clothes. Barely missed the couch and got all over the blanket instead.

Saturday call

Missing family

Knowing that the deer and squirrels will eat the strawberries that I just planted

The Ugly:

Seeing Peter after working 15 hours, then spending 7 grueling hours in the OR before losing the patient, trying to sleep 2 hours in the call room, then getting up and working 13 more hours. He looked terrible, poor guy.

Cramming 2 car seats and a booster seat in the back of my Saturn SL1

My wardrobe

My bathroom bathtub tile that I want to replace (see #1 under “The Bad”)

Me with 3 kids at church

My lack of patience at the end of a long day

I had cookie dough for lunch yesterday

Running through the parking lot to my car with my three kids during a terrible storm, tornado sirens blaring, dark as night, crashing thunder, lightening, crazy rain and wind.

Awesome. J

New pictures

2011-03-04T18:47:00.000-08:00

(Abby just celebrated her 2nd birthday.)

We took the kids to get their pictures taken last Saturday. Not a very fun way to spend a Saturday morning, but I think they turned out good.

Things here are going just fine. We had a couple of sunny days this week, which was nice, so I was able to walk Em to school. Today it has rained all day. Last week it rained and we had a leak in the foundation the was sending water into our basement. Argh! It was only is a small part of it, but still a huge pain. I had to tear back the carpet and dry it, then pull the paneling off the wall so the waterproofers could come and find the leak. They came on Tuesday and then came back today to patch it. I told the guy that I should get a punch card for as many times as they've been to my house since we moved in. Also, my car has been in the shop. I walked down to the shop and picked it up last night and when I started it up, it was still making the same noise. What did I just pay $400 for?! Car repairs=no fun.

Pete is off nights now, so that's nice. It's good to have him back among the living. He takes his board exams tomorrow and then has to head to the hospital for an over night on-call shift. I'm trying to think of something to entertain the kids on a rainy day. Today we played Red Light/ Green Light, Simon Says, Mother May I, London Bridges,etc. I'm about burned out of those games so hopefully I can come up with something else. Maybe the library?

2011-01-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

I left Abby alone with Jake while I went in to the other room for a minute. When I came back in, Abby was gone, but she had carefully tucked her baby doll in next to Jake. :) He is such a smiley little guy. I am really enjoying him. He's getting so nice and chubby, too. Hard to believe that 5 months ago he was 3 lbs when today he's almost 16 pounds!!

Chubby little man, haircut, and bubbles

2010-11-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures I just took. Look at Jake's chubby little tummy! He is so cute! Such a sweet baby. I just love him. He loves to be held and cuddled and I love to cuddle him!

I took Abby to get her hair cut on Friday. She doesn't like getting her haircut, but she held more still this time than lasts, so maybe that's a good sign. I just had to keep popping the fruit snacks in her mouth and playing peek-a-boo in the mirror with her.

We have been enjoying such a beautiful fall here in Cincinnati. The weather was 65 today! We went for a walk and then BBQed for dinner. I think some cold weather and rain is coming in next week, so we thought we had better enjoy today. This picture is from a few days ago when we took the bubble blower out on the deck. The girls thought it was great!

So Big!

2010-11-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

Look how big this cute little guy is getting! He is 11 weeks now and is wearing 3 month clothes! I can't believe it! He's over 11 lbs. and is doing great! If I get a chance (ha!) I'll post some Halloween pictures.

Home!

2010-09-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well baby Jake came home a week ago today. Truth be told, it has been a rough week! I'll spare you the details mostly because I don't want to relive the crappiness. It is great to have him home, though, and he is doing great. He is eating well and growing.

(I had to post a picture of him in these little shorts because I thought they were hilarious. The picture doesn't do it justice because you can't tell how little he is.)

My sister Katie flew out and helped me with the girls so I could run back and forth to the hospital before Jake came home. Before she saw him, I was trying to show her how big he was. I used Abby's doll as a comparison, but then we couldn't decide if that was accurate or not, so I thought I'd take a picture. He's pretty close to her size!

Jake's crying, so I had better run, but I'll post more pictures later. :)

Jacob Peter Anderson

2010-08-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we had our baby last Sunday, August 22. He came at 31 weeks. I guess the placenta was starting to detach, so after a week of small complications, I went into labor. In true Heather fashion, I went from not being dilated at all, to a 10 in less than 12 hours. Luckily I was at the hospital, as they had made me stay to be monitored. I had sent Pete home because I didn't think there was going to be anything going on. But the contractions got much stronger and the next thing they knew, I was at a 5. So I called Pete at 2 in the morning and told him to drop the kids at a friend's house and get to the hospital as quick as he could. They thought it was safer for the baby on the outside, so they let him come.

The baby was born at 5:56am. He weighed 3 pounds 9 ounces and was 17 inches long. He is in the NICU and will be for about 4 more weeks I think. He is gaining weight, breathing well, and is doing great. He just needs to get bigger and strong. We are grateful that he is ok and that he is a part of our family. Needless to say, it has been a physically and emotionally exhausting week. Luckily Pete had the week off. My mom just got here, so I am really grateful for the help, and for the love and support we're received from friends and family.

Random thoughts of a pregnant woman...

2010-08-15T12:43:00.001-07:00

Wow! I have been meaning to post forever, but it seems like I can't use the computer without a million interruptions and lots of "help". This post is full of my random thoughts, which could be scary. ;)

1. A heat index of 111 + pregnancy = too hot!!

2. It would be great to have one of those cute-little-beach-ball tummies that people get when they're pregnant, but I think this baby is stretched out from head to toe, with his arms above his head, wrapping all the way around my stomach. And my hips and booty are just getting extra big. But nonetheless, I am really excited and grateful to be having a baby.

3. Why do companies (water proofing, bathroom refinishing, life insurance) insist of having both spouses at home in order to come look at your house, etc.? I told the bathtub people that my husband is never home, and they said, "Well, we could push your appointment back to 6:30." Ohhh, 6:30. Apparently she didn't get my drift the first time. When I said never home, I really did mean never home.

4. Which speaking of never home, it's been an extra rough July and August around here. Pete worked 95 hours this week. And when he's home, he's studying up on the next days cases or sleeping. I must say, though, that I have had a pretty productive week, so that always feels good. Plus he has a week off coming up week after next, so then we will get to see him again.

5. I bought an old little dresser for the baby at a garage sale yesterday for $4! Wahoo! I was able to drive it home in my trunk with the lid open so I didn't even have to bother anyone to pick it up for me.

6. I am running out of things to cook for dinner. If you have any good recipes, will you email them to me?

7. My favorite part of being pregnant (because there are just so many to choose from) is feeling the baby kick. It's just so neat!

8. Walmart is the worst. I've probably said it a hundred times before. So why do I keep going there?!

9. Emily's hernia repair surgery cost $11,000. Really? That seems a little steep. We were only there for like 3 hours. We are responsible for 10% of the bill, which will be a nice healthy dent in the dwindling savings account. But I guess I should be glad that we have insurance at all.

10. I am so grateful for our air conditioning, my car that keeps on going, my eye sight, my vivacious girls, my husband, and $5 pizzas at Little Caesars.

It sounds like Pete's up and the girls are calling me, so I had better run.

Baby!!

2010-06-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well, we went to the doctor today and found out that we're having a baby BOY! We are really excited! Everything looked normal and healthy. I am 21 weeks along and am due October 21st. Wahoo!!

It Must Be True...

2010-05-21T18:28:00.001-07:00

Ya know, Sundays are rough. Last Sunday I got up to the sound of my alarm, woke my sleeping baby and 4-year-old up, and tried to move them along through breakfast, getting dresses on, and combing hair without too much complication. Then we got in the car and drove for 30 minutes. Between my house and the church there are at least a dozen churches, ranging from different Catholic parishes to a variety of Baptist organizations, Methodist, and a few that I don't know which category they fall into, but all of which would be a closer drive on a Sunday morning. Once at church, I'm by myself with the 2 girls which means that if Abby is naughty I have to take her out and leave Emily in the chapel, hoping she behaves herself. We're lucky if we make it through Sacrament meeting, after which Abby definitely won't sit in Sunday school, but we try again for Relief Society, and sometimes even make it through the practice hymn. It's an exhausting morning. But something bigger compels me to go. No one would notice if I weren't there, and if they did, they wouldn't fault me, nor would Peter. I'm just glad to have the chance to take the sacrament and sing a hymn or two and maybe actually hear a talk. If for no other reason, the church must be true if I'm happy/willing/determined to go back and do it again the next week.

(Here is a picture that I tried to catch before church while the girls were dressed up. You can tell that Abby was already planning to not sit through the meetings.)

Happy Birthday, Abby!

2010-02-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Abby! Today is her 1st Birthday!! Yesterday she smeared vaseline all over my tan couch, so I actually consider her lucky to be having a first birthday! ;) We love Abby. She is so sweet and loving. She loves to play peek-a-boo, make messes, eat things off the floor, play with Emily, being in the bath, and get and give hugs and kisses. Tonight we're having homemade pizza, fruit salad, peas and green beans (favorites of hers). Em and I just made chocolate cake and we're going to put up some decorations. Emily has been so excited, definitely more so than Abby. ;) In some ways it's hard to believe that she's a year old, but it others it feels like we've had her forever (you know how it is). This last year has actually gone by pretty slow with everything we've had going, so I feel like I've enjoyed my time with her.

Vinyl Blog!

2010-01-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I finally have my vinyl blog up. Here is the link! :) http://simplystatedvinyllettering.blogspot.com/

Thoroughly Grossed Out

2010-01-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

Oh, man. So yesterday I found what looked like mouse droppings under my sink. As in, a mouse (probably mice) are living in my house. Uninvited. Pete confirmed it. Mice. Are. In. My. House!!!! It gives me the shivers even typing it. I am thoroughly grossed out. I can do the largest, hairiest of spiders, smash them with the bravest of them all, but I just can't do mice. The only thing worse would be a rat, but I won't even go there. My friend that lives about 20 minutes away gets lizards in her house. I would rather have lizards than rodents any day. They gross me out that bad. So Pete got some mouse traps last night, and as soon as the girls go to bed we are going to get started on project "No Mice". Wish us luck...

Christmas in Cincinnati

2009-12-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was a fun day. Emily was SO excited this year. She was wound-up from the day we put up the tree until yesterday night (when she started to crash a little). On Christmas Eve Emily and I made and decorated sugar cookies and also popcorn balls (My aunt sent us a really cute kit.) Pete relaxed and napped and tried to take it easy after a 96 hour work week the week before. After he and Abby woke up, we went to see a little nativity in Mt. Healthy that had real animals. There were goats, sheep, and donkeys. It was really fun.

This is a picture of them waiting on the stairs to go down and see what Santa brought.

Abby was so funny. She wasn't very interested in unwrapping presents, but she loved picking them up, chewing on the bows, and getting into trouble! Santa brought Em a doll house and Abby a ball station (with the air that blows the balls around), plus grandmas and grandpas spoiled them, as did aunts and uncles. They also spoiled Pete and me. :)

Pete in the U of U scrub cap for the O.R. I bought him for Christmas.

Vinyl Cutter!

2009-12-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Yea! I am so excited! I finally got my vinyl cutter. I bought it with the intention of starting a small business out of my home. Vinyl hasn't quite hit Cincinnati by storm like it has in parts of the West, so we'll see. ;) I'll post some prices in a little bit, in case someone you know is interested. Here are some pictures of some little neighbor gifts I did. I put chocolate dipped pretzels inside most of them. I found pretzels that were Christmas shapes, so I was extra excited.

A Brown Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

I love the Browns!! I was so excited when they said they would join us for Thanksgiving. And they came bearing St. Louis treats like toasted rav, peppermint Joe Joes, and Chris's delicious homemade raspberry jam. I had so much fun with them here. It was great to be reunited with good friends. We were all sad after they left. It made me miss St. Louis and our friends and Stonecrest... But alas I guess we must move on with life. Anyway, we had a great weekend eating, shopping, watching movies, and they were so nice to help me with the kids. I sure hope they'll come again, stinky cheese and all... :)

Halloween

2009-11-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Emily was a scary witch and Abby was a giraffe. We had a Halloween party at my mom's house a couple of days before and it was really fun! We had lots of spooky food including eye ball cookies, mini mummy pizzas, spooky severed fingers made of peanut butter (Pete's specialty), mummy sausages, a graveyard cake, homemade apple cider from my brother, and more. We did some games for the kids, which was so cute. Man, I just love my family! Then on Halloween Pete had to fly back to Cincy, and the girls and I went trick-or-treating with my brother in Farmington. It was so much fun. The kids were so cute and really enjoyed themselves.

Too Long

2009-11-19T13:37:00.000-08:00

Alright. Sorry I have been AWOL for so long.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been sick. I think I've had it all, and so has everybody else: sore throat, sneezing, stuffy nose, runny nose, headache, fever, chills, cough, sinus pain, ear infection, Bronchitis, eye infection, throwing up, and diarrhea. Yuck. I think we're done with being sick for now. I am so ready to get back into life. Hopefully there is a bright side to all of this and we will avoid all of the sickness during the holidays, right? Abby is getting another tooth in and has a fever and is grumpy. I am ready for her to be my smiley little thing again and stop waking me up 4 times a night! Blarg!

The enchiladas are burning so I had better run, but I promise to post pictures soon.

Yea buffet!

2009-09-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

My kitchen here is kind of small, so I needed some extra space to store dishes, etc. I got this new buffet and I love it! It is a little smaller than what I had in mind, but it was half-off and they shipped it to my front door for free. Can't beat that! I love furniture. But even more, I love getting good deals on furniture. :)

(These chairs aren't usually there. We were having a get-to-gether for Pete's b-day, so I put them there for extra seating.)

2009-09-01T18:51:00.001-07:00

Our house

2009-08-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

A couple of people have asked to see pictures of the house, so I thought I'd post some.

Here is the family room. When we moved in, it was some really funky colors, like lemon yellow and bright, dark pink. Pete and I painted the family room, dining room, and hallways.

I had to show a close-up of the end table because it was my latest bargain. I got it for 5 bucks on craigslist, replaced the glass and added some screws for a grand total of 12 bucks!

Here is the dining room.

These are the main floor rooms.

Upstairs: Here is Emily and Abby's room.

This is a nook in their room where we keep their toys. Messy right now. :)

Our room.

The basement. Pete and I redid this. Here are the "befores":

After:

Well, that's the run through, except for the backyard. I'll have to take some pics and post them. It's pretty wild back there; lots of grass, bushes, trees. But it is really green, so I'll take it!

Mandy's blog

2009-08-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

So my cute cousin Mandy was asking on her blog what people wanted to accomplish in the future; what are their hopes, goals, etc. I have been thinking a lot about this since I read her post. It just keeps popping up in my brain. I decided that most of the things I want are a state of mind... not so much things that I want to do, but rather a certain way I want to think or certain realizations that I want to come to. I want to remember that money doesn't equal happiness, and that we were probably as happy as we'll ever be when we were living in the Meacham Park ghetto in St. Louis. Or even now in Cincinnati, driving our old cars, watching what we spend, clipping coupons, and living in our cute, old house, just trying to stay afloat. I want to always remember that I don't need to keep up with the Joneses, and doing so is stupid. I want to grow old gracefully and embrace the wrinkles instead of being swayed by the Botox generation. I want to remember that we are all beautiful, regardless of our jeans size or bra size. I want to enjoy my kids, but not beat myself up when I don't. I want to be forgiving of others mistakes and give the benefit of the doubt. I want to be able to laugh and not take myself too seriously (luckily I have a good husband who will continue to help me with this. ;) The list could go on, but I think this is good enough to start with.

2009-08-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Pete was on call today so it was just me and the girls at church. I was trying to get Emily to be reverent and think of Jesus during the Sacrament. She said really loudly, “I already know everything about Jesus and I don’t want to think about him right now!”

Dogs and my mom's visit

2009-08-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well I doubt we will be getting a dog any time in the near future (not that I wanted one). Pete is on the Plastic Surgery service right now, and you wouldn't believe the number of dog bites he's had to sew up in the last week and a half! It's not wild, neighborhood-roaming pit bulls either. Lots of family dogs. He just got paged in to sew up another pretty serious one on a kids' face. Hearing all of the things that can go bad for a child (like crashing on a bike, "falling" out a window, getting bit by a dog) makes me want to keep my girls locked up!

My mom was in town for 2 weeks, which was so fun! She is so easy-going and fun to be with. I appreciated all of her help with the kids and just having her there to talk to. Here are some pictures of some things we did together and of Emily and Abby.

Groceries

2009-07-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

Alright. I am trying to figure out how much is a reasonable amount to spend on groceries. How much do you all spend a month??

Pics!

2009-06-27T06:37:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics of the kids...

Sorry for so many at once! It has been awhile.

It has been really fun having Pete home these last few weeks. We have been able to see some of the sites of Cincinnati and spend some great family time together.

Church and random thoughts

2009-06-22T07:04:00.001-07:00

We had a pretty good sacrament meeting last week. It was a testimony meeting, so it's always interesting to see what you're going to get in a new ward. Before the meeting, there was a couple sitting 2 rows in front of us. He is an intern pastor who is going/moving to Utah to preach, so he came to our ward to see what the Mormons were all about. During the meeting, a new convert who is a tall, old black man with gray hair, stood up and bore his testimony about how great the gospel is and how glad he is that he found it. Then a Latina lady stood up and talked about how her eye sight had been spared from a genetic disease (long story ;), then our high councilor stood up (another older black man with white hair, who's name is Brother White ;) and talk about how it had been over 30 years since the announcement that "a person of color" as he put it, could hold the priesthood. He talked about how awesome that is and how wonderful the church is. It was one of those moments where you feel so overwhelmed by the spirit and have such a strong witness that the gospel is true. It was a great meeting. We have an interesting, diverse ward. I had to teach a RS lesson yesterday, which I was nervous about. It was on redeeming the dead, which is pretty unique to our religion. There were a few investigators there, so I wasn't sure what kind of response/questions I wold get. But luckily it all went fine. One of the investigators came up to me after (she's a southern baptist) and said that she thought it was beautiful that you could get baptized for someone who died and didn't have the chance to. I'm glad she caught the essence of the lesson.

Yesterday a family who had recently moved out of the ward came back to visit. He was an ENT resident at UC and just finished and got a job in Colorado. I saw her in the hall and asked her if I was going to survive the next 5 years. She said, "You're the one who's husband is doing ENT!" And then she just hugged me. I asked her for any advise and she said, "It is going to be really, really hard. But don't get a divorce because it would be hard on the kids and not make things better." I jokingly asked for the name of her therapist and she said in all seriousness, "Well I'd give it to you, but I'm sad to say that he moved away." Hmm... Med school was hard on all of us. Really hard. Am I up for this? I just wonder if I'm strong enough to do it alone. I guess this is the time to prove myself to myself...

Sorry for the rambling. I can't get my pictures off the camera for some reason, but I promise to post some as soon as I can. I guess I had better run to Lowes. I am supposed to be hanging blinds today and finishing painting the girls' ceiling. I don't think I'll want to paint again for a long, long time.

I'm back

2009-06-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I've posted anything that I started to feel like the next thing I post should be spectacular. But I don't have anything spectacular to say, so then I got intimidated and have been putting if off. So I thought I'd just do it and put up a post. :)

We are here in Cincinnati now. Things are going well. We have most of the boxes unpacked and are just trying to get organized. It has been great having Pete home during this time of transition. The kids are doing well. Emily has made a couple of friends in the ward and is enjoying her new house. Abby is so cute and chubby. I just want to squeeze her!!! The move was crazy/stressful/icky, but things are looking better now as we start to get a little more settled. Moving and not knowing anyone, not knowing the city, missing family and friends, is always the worst. I've decided it takes a good year before you feel acclimated and make good friends. Some people in our ward have reached out already, though, which has been really great. I'm worried about Pete starting up work. Everyone keeps telling us to gear up because I'll never see him again (at least for a year or 2). It's making me nervous...

I have some pictures to post, but our computer blew up, so I can't get to them. Right now we are borrowing the computer of someone in our ward, which is very nice of them to loan it to us.

Emily and Abby are awake now, so I had better run. But I will do a better job of keeping things updated now that we're semi-settled. :)

The long awaited day...

2009-05-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today is the day!! The LONG,LONG awaited day. It is finally here. After 9 years of school... Peter graduates from medical school today!! Hip, hip, HOORAY!!! I am so excited to have made it through alive! I'll post some pictures after the big event. :)

Cincy

2009-04-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I took at trip up to Cincinnati to look for a house. I left the two girls home with Pete. He did a great job with them, which I knew he would. It's nice to know that I can turn things over to him and everything will be ok. My trip was pretty productive. We saw about 20 houses, 2 of them twice. It was a whirlwind trip and I am still exhausted from it. We have an offer pending on one of the houses, so we're just waiting to see what the seller has to say about some of the things we want fixed. What a pain. It seems like all of the houses in our price range are old and falling apart. ;/ I saw some real pieces of junk this weekend. One house smelled like smoke so bad I couldn't breath and had a huge bar just filled with liquor; another house was in such a scary neighborhood that once we got there, we didn't even go in. I told the realtor I wasn't sending my child to school in that neighborhood, so we turned around and left. Another house was super dark and scary and had the family room sliding glass door smashed out. The backyards of 3 different houses opened up to storage units, a mall, and a gravel parking lot. My favorite, though, is the house that claimed to have 1 and a half baths. Here is the picture of what they considered a half bath...

Ahhhhh!!!!

2009-04-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, I need to complain a little bit.

I've been faxing, calling, emailing back and forth to get offers in on two different houses; we were outbid on the first house after much effort; owners finally accept the offer on the second house after a couple of counter offers back and forth; we go and get financing and sign all the papers; we send an inspector over; $500 later it looks like there is a ton wrong with the house and the sale won't go through if the owners won't fix it; I've been trying to get Pete's student loans deferred and get the massive amounts of paper work in for that, which in and of itself is depressing because we owe so much money; packing and going through a bunch of stuff; Abby had shots today and is miserable and crying; I spent 3 hours at UPeds (The ghetto Dr.'s office with a capital "G".) she doesn't nap well anyway so nothing ever gets done; Emily is bored and constantly wants me to play with her, plus she doesn't like that I'm packing our stuff so she gets upset; Pete has to go to Chicago this weekend and take a test that cost us hundreds of dollars, plus the cost of gas and a hotel and food; I will be alone with the kids, which isn't good considering I'm about at my breaking point already; we are supposed to be moving in 4 1/2 weeks and it would appear that we don't have a house to move into; I have gained 5 pounds in the last week and a half--how did that happen?? I'm sure there's more if I stopped to think about it, but I don't think I want to. Glad I could get all that off my chest. ;)

Cincinnati

2009-03-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

Well, it's official. The Match was last Thursday, and we're headed to Cincinnati for the next 5 years. The program there is awesome, so Pete will get really good training. I am still trying to get used to the idea. Pete and I are looking at buying a house. I don't know how anyone affords it! We'll have to see if we can come up with something. Abby is crying, so I had better run...

I love you, Dad

2009-03-18T17:06:00.001-07:00

My dad passed away one year ago today. I wanted to express how much I miss him. We all miss him. I'm always thinking of different things and wanting to call and tell him about them. He was always interested in what was going on in my life. He was the one I went to for advise on so many things. Tomorrow is Match day for Pete, and I wish he were here to tell me how proud he is of us, and how wherever we end up is the best place ever. I wish he could hold Abby and tell me that I'm a good mom like he always did (even though it sometimes feels the opposite.) He was always so encouraging and positive. He would tell me, "Don't sweat the small stuff; and it's all small stuff" when I would get too overwhelmed. I love and miss my dad so much, but am so grateful for the memories, testimony, and example he left me with.

Going to make it...

2009-03-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

Today was a pretty good day. I had one of those days where I felt like, "Hey, I can do this. I'm going to make it and everything will be okay." Having a baby is crazy, at least for me; probably for most people. The lack of sleep, hormones, frumpiness, trying to get the weight off, low energy, baby crying, trying to heal (my incision is taking forever to heal!), feeling like everyone else is normal but you, the misery of breast feeding, etc. But man I love this little baby! She is just such a part of our family now. I'm so glad we have her! So I think I'm going to make it. I am out of the "funk" for the most part and I think I can do this craziness called life/motherhood.

Oh, baby!!

2009-02-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

I love this baby! She is so sweet and cuddly. My mom left yesterday, which was awful. Pete's parents came in last night, though, which has been really fun. Emily is loving all the attention from her grandparents. I wish that I could have this much help all of the time. I am jealous of you guys that live close to your family. You don't know how good you have it!

She's Here!

2009-02-13T07:10:00.000-08:00

The baby is here! Abby Lynn was born February 4 at 4:39 am. She was 7lbs. 2 oz. and 21 inches long. She has lots of dark brown hair and is so beautiful! The C-section was scheduled for the 9th, but I guess she had other plans. I went into labor early that morning. After laboring for a few hours they did the C-section. She is healthy and things are going great!

What Am I Forgetting?

2009-01-31T11:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the baby is coming in about 9 days. I'm trying to think of everything I need to do to get ready. I have her pj's, blankets, etc. all washed up, diapers and wipes, and the cradle is ready. I need to clean when the time gets closer and get some groceries. What else do I need to do? Also, any advise about a C-section?

Book of Mormon Stories

2009-01-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Pete and Emily and I were all sitting on the bed talking. She told us she wanted to sing us a song and began to sing “Book of Mormon Stories”. Pete and I got a big kick out of this line. “…Long ago their fathers came from far across the street…” :)

Too Much!!

2009-01-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

Too much stuff...or more like not enough space. Emmy's bedroom is small and we don't have a lot of space, so it feels even more packed. I started out trying to make things colorful in her room, but now we've had to pack so much stuff in there with the baby coming, that it kind of looks like Rainbow Brite exploded in there! I am, however, excited about the crate covers I made. They go over those big black crates that have the holes in them. A girl in our ward made a pattern for them. I made some that match my family room, too.

Thanks a lot!

2009-01-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

Well, today it finally happened...I was at the library and one of the librarians looked me up and down and said, "Girl, when are you due?" I told her and she said, "Are you having twins?!" I started to nervously laugh to cover up my embarrassment and said, "No." She said, "Well it's just that your stomach is so round. That's going to be a big baby." Gee, thanks. That's exactly what I needed to hear when I was already feeling frumpy, round, emotional, extra-large, and crappy. Why do people say stuff like that??

Christmas!!

2008-12-27T19:05:00.000-08:00

Well, we had a great Christmas here in St. Louis. On Christmas Eve the three of us made sugar cookies and had our friends, the Browns, over for dinner. It was a nice day.

On Christmas morning we awoke to find that Santa had come and brought Emmy a kitchen! She was really excited and had so much fun opening her presents.

Welcome to my blog!

2008-12-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

So although Pete already has a blog, I thought I would start one of my own. We really aren't one of those families who does everything separate, like separate vacations and bank accounts, but I guess we do have separate blogs. :)