Taylor Tales

Storytime

2012-02-02T10:43:00.000-05:00

Ever since Mierae was very little, storytime has been an important part of our routine. She had her favorite books that she loved to read over and over like "Big Red Barn" and "Goodnight Moon" when she was a baby. Then when she was a toddler we moved on to "But No Elephants" where Mierae learned several of her first words like "sorry," "happy," "sad," "all gone," and, of course, "NO." Then we moved on to David Shannon books and Mierae got serious about "Duck on a Bike."

In preschool she was fascinated with letters, and she loved to point out letters on buildings and write letters on paper. Once she took to reading in Kindergarten, she has been full-speed ahead. At her last assessment she was at the top level of second grade reading. She just started helping others read at school, and she has been enjoying reading the Junie B. Jones and Magic Treehouse series.

The other night Eric was away and I was busy with Henrik. I put the girls in my bed and asked them to look at books together until I could get back and read to them. When I returned, I heard Mierae reading and peeked inside the door to see this:

Such a sweet sister moment! Jolie, who loves listening to stories, and Mierae, who loves reading, cuddled together under the covers. It makes my heart swell to see this photo and remember that special moment. I'm so thankful for my daughters, and I'm so glad there is an ever-present love of books in our home.

Pow

2012-01-15T22:31:00.000-05:00

The other night as I was pondering in bed after saying my prayers, I was thinking about my parenting and why things have been hard with a particular child. I had just read this parenting article a friend had pinned, and was going over all the things I had been doing wrong. I felt guilty that just a few nights earlier I had been talking to some friends about my frustrations, and I felt like I had betrayed the confidence of my child by talking about her behind her back. That led me to think about other what other things I had been doing wrong. And it was then that it hit me.

Pow.

All this time I had been thinking her behavior was the problem. But it wasn't. It definitely wasn't.

The problem was me.

The problem was the way that I reacted every time she did something that bugged me, the way I got after her when she probably didn't even know what she did that was wrong and why it was wrong.

The problem was me.

I hadn't been giving her the benefit of the doubt, walking a mile in her shoes, or even walking across the living room in her shoes. I was judging her before I fully understood where she was coming from.

And I finally understood.

Kids don't need to be punished. They need to be guided. Kids don't need to be yelled at. They need to be told that they're loved. Kids don't need to be told everything they're doing wrong. They need to be praised for all of their efforts to do what's right.

I thought when my first child arrived, and the hospital gave me no instruction manual, that I would just somehow know what to do. It's called mother's intuition, right? Well, I've learned that I have to earn that intuition, by learning all I can about how to be a parent, and finding out who my children are.

And now that I understand that the change is with me, anything is possible.

Goals for 2012

2012-01-14T14:55:00.001-05:00

I really don't like goal-setting. Or at least I never used to. I hated it when I was a teenager. I had friends who loved to set goals and mark their progress. But I just never had any desire to do it. I think it was because of one word: laziness! But now being a mother and actually having the desire to improve my parenting, improve myself, and make sure I'm trying to make the most of the time I have, I am embracing goal-setting.

I only have two goals that I thought of for the whole year. I'm sure more will come as I begin new months and try to finish half-done projects. But so far, these are my measurable, achievable goals for the year:

1. Read the Book of Mormon every day

2. Spend 1-on-1 time with each child every day

I haven't been perfect so far, but I'm trying. At the most important thing is that it's on my mind each day, and in my self-evaluation time at night. I'm hoping that just these two things will make a big difference in myself, in my kids, and in my home this year.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-08T18:35:00.002-05:00

I think I am going to start a petition to make the holiday season last for a few more weeks, because I seriously cannot get it all done in one month! Here are some highlights of our Christmas this year, mostly the ones we got photos of!

While the others were putting up the tree...

The Nutcracker! The girls did SO well at the theater, and LOVED the performance so much. It was so fun to take them. They know the story well already, and they were literally at the edge of their seats almost the entire ballet.

The only snow before Christmas, and it didn't stick around for long.

Playing Rudolph after watching the movie.

"Gingerbread" houses

Christmas morning

At the zoo early to see animals before Zoo Lights began.

Our New Year's Eve celebration dinner--a tradition of pasta, from my Dad. Eric's homemade noodles were delicious! The girls loved their special glasses. We're just glad they didn't break them!

Just before Christmas we stopped at the downtown library to see the trains display, and it was fabulous! We read lots of Christmas books all through the month, and my favorite find of the month was "A Wish For Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story" by Berkeley Breathed. LOVED it.

The kids got the "Snowmen" books by Mark and Caralyn Buehner on Christmas Eve this year.

We got to do Christmas Eve festivities at my sister's house, and the kids loved playing, and eating, and playing some more. But they did not particularly like being forced to reenact the Nativity! We tried nonetheless, and without a single photo to prove it, we actually got through the whole story. We ate our traditional hors d'oeuvres and then had a ham dinner later, complemented by lots of chocolate throughout the afternoon and evening! All of our kids got their new pjs to wear home.

I did get out some of the classic Christmas movies to watch while I did things like wrap presents or fold laundry. Eric ended up watching with me, and I found him chuckling as much as, if not more than I did during the old favorites like "It's A Wonderful Life" and "White Christmas." That was my favorite thing.

It's been a big year for us, and next year will be even more life-changing for us. Lots of possibilities, lots of uncertainties, but lots to look forward to. Happy 2012!

Year of Family Snapshots 2011

2012-01-03T23:25:00.000-05:00

We didn't do a super great job of taking family snapshots for each month this year. With three kids now, it gets a little crowded. And when the older kids are old enough to say they don't want to be in a photo, you start to get in trouble! So, here's the best I could do for 2011:

January: after Henrik's blessing at our church

February: my birthday dinner at "Bravo"

March: St. Patrick's Day

April: with the kids on a beautiful spring day outside our townhome

May: bedtime with the kids while Eric was in Germany

June: at home just before going out for ice cream

July: at the Upper Arlington 4th of July parade

August: in Utah at Thanksgiving Point

September: meeting Eric after he ran the Leap for the Ligers 5k run on Labor Day

October: at "The Maize" for some fall fun

November: at Sunny 95 park

December: seeing "The Nutcracker" at the Ohio Theater

The Big One

2011-12-12T01:04:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it's been a year, a whole year, since this little guy joined our family?

It was pretty exciting having his 1st birthday. We had a busy weekend with our Christmas party at Church, so we decided to celebrate on Sunday night when things had slowed down a bit. My sister and her family came over to help celebrate, which was a lot of fun. What's a party without cousins!?

And here's our little drummer boy:

I actually made him his very own smash cake, something I didn't do for the girls, even though their cakes had parts they could call their own. He had no hesitation; he knew just what to do with it!

I loved watching his reactions to his birthday gifts.

He's looking so grown-up, and it's been fun to watch. He has been taking steps here and there, mostly coming to Daddy. And it's been just as exciting as if he was our first. We sure love this little guy!

Milestones

2011-11-26T13:40:00.000-05:00

Exactly a week ago Eric gave his oral defense for his PhD work. I was able to attend his presentation, and I was so impressed, and so proud. After his committee questioned him for about an hour, it took only a few minutes of his waiting in the hall to be called back in and congratulated for passing the exam! There is a little revision to do on his dissertation, and he is DONE! He pushed graduation to March just so our families have enough time to arrange travel to attend. Last weekend was surreal. Eric and I were both feeling so elated and walking on clouds. It is so special to finally get to that moment that has been building for years and years. I couldn't help but keep looking over at Eric at random moments all weekend and just smile at him. It was our date night on Saturday, so we celebrated eating Italian street food and frozen custard, with a little Harry Potter 7 on the side.

I am so happy. It is an amazing feeling to be where we're at right now. Graduate school has been wonderful, but finally finishing what we came here to do is such an incredible accomplishment. Eric has had a wonderful adviser during his years here. He was very complimentary of Eric and has been very supportive of our family. I can't wait until March when we get to watch Eric walk in his robe to be hooded, and finally put that finishing touch on all his hard work.

For now, we are trying to focus on the holidays and making our time count with the kids. After the high of Eric finishing his oral exam, we have come back down to reality to face our unemployment challenges, trying to find insurance, and wonder what the next several months will hold. But we have the faith that things will work out.

We've been having a great Thanksgiving weekend, and have of course been reflecting on our many blessings, not just from this last year, but from the past seven in Ohio. Once I realized that we weren't waiting until Eric's graduation for our life to begin, life has been much sweeter. So now our life doesn't begin, but we commence into yet another phase of loving life as we live it.

Two Boys

2011-11-04T10:25:00.003-04:00

I am in love with two boys.

One of them is pretty short, but he has amazing blue eyes and a smile that melts your heart. He really likes me too. He just turned 11 months old.

The other one is a lot taller than the first, but still short enough that our daughter laments that the kids at school comment on her vertical challenge. He also has beautiful blue eyes, and his smile has always made me weak in the knees. He tells me he loves me every day. And he just turned 32.

I am so lucky to have them both.

Ten Months

2011-10-06T00:39:00.001-04:00

...and he looks all grown up! My baby is turning into a little boy. (sniff)

This last month Henrik has started getting into everything. He started pulling to stand right after his doctor's appointment last month and will now stand up and cry in his pack-n-play when he's supposed to be going to sleep. He's learning how to climb stairs, and he pushes doors open and closed. Twice this month he's grabbed food from the table and spilled it ALL over the kitchen.

He's also gotten hurt a lot more, but not all due to his increased mobility. There were three days in a row when he got hurt: gouged the top of his mouth with a pointy-capped pen, fell out of the van (being stopped by my legs and not hitting the ground, thank goodness) for which he got a small goose egg on his forehead, then he scraped the side of his face on a corner of a picture frame and then got hot oil splattered on his head. This poor boy! It was almost like the days before family pictures. (Two days before our photo shoot, little-big sister grabbed him and fell backward, plunging the side of his head into a door frame. Then then next day big-big sister tried to get him out of the van herself while I was chatting with a neighbor, and she dropped him and his face got scraped on the inner sliding door.) Thank goodness these little ones are so resilient!

Henrik got two more teeth on top, and they haven't helped him sleep any better! We're slowly trying to figure out his body clock and the reasons he cries at night. He's been drinking more bottles, which he loves, and I'm fine to have stopped pumping. :) It'll be a whirlwind before his 1st birthday at this busy time of year. We're just trying to enjoy it all.

Just Because

2011-09-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

My sisters sent me photos of our Utah trip, and I just wanted to post a few of my faves.

And, like always, Jolie can't be left out of the new school year excitement. Here she is on her first day of her last year of preschool.

Nine Months

2011-09-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

Our little guy has had some love this month. He had a great flight to Utah and back, got to know some cousins, grew in his top two teeth, and started crawling. He's still a stinker about sleeping (usually only goes three or four hours at a time at night), but he entertains himself really well when the girls are in school or already in bed and he has all the toys and space to himself!

End of Summer

2011-08-24T23:26:00.001-04:00

Since my last post was very whiny, I'll try to keep it all news and facts this time. Since the beginning of August, this little boy turned eight months.

He was tested and officially diagnosed with urine reflux. He'll be on a daily antibiotic until he gets sick and has to have surgery, or he stays healthy and grows out of it. Guess which one I'm hoping for?

My blessed sister hosted us while the bed bugs were treated. It's so nice having family close again, and the girls are loving the cousin time.

Our family also took a trip to Utah. And, I have to add, we had wonderful flights to and from!

The day after we arrived, Mierae and Henrik were throwing up. As soon as they got better, my sister got sick. Then my other sister's nieces got sick, followed by my mom, my brother-in-law, Eric, my Dad, and my niece. So finally half-way into our "vacation," we were able to get away and stay at a cabin in the mountains for a weekend. I'm so glad we planned that outing so we actually did something fun and relaxing. My camera was dying, as all of mine seem to, so most pics are on everyone else's cameras.

We did squeeze in a couple other things, among them a celebration of our eight years of marriage. We finally saw "Harry Potter," thanks to my wonderful sisters who watched the kids (and endured Henri's crying for half the time we were gone).

We got home from our trip just in time for this girl to start 1st grade (on time, even though we woke up late and she missed the bus).

She was, of course, so nervous and not looking forward to going back to school at all. After all, "All we do in school is work, work, work!" And her best friend wasn't going to be in her class. But she came home all smiles saying how much FUN 1st grade is. We knew it would happen, but it was sure nice to hear it come out of her own mouth.

Now that school is back in session, I have to admit that I can sympathize with Mierae's desire to be home and play all day. I miss her. And I am glad we had a fairly low-key and lazy summer (except for most of July, you know). We're looking forward to more good times ahead.

Is July Over Yet?!

2011-08-01T00:09:00.001-04:00

It's been a rough past several weeks. Our family and some friends know what we've been going through, but I just cannot wait until we can put the recent past behind us. Have you ever been one of those people who say, "Wow, those people have such hard trials; I'm so glad we don't have to go through anything like that?" Or, "We've never really had to go through tough times?" Well, if you are one of those people, don't say it out loud. We did. And seriously, in a matter of weeks, we got hit hard.

One morning a few weeks ago Eric and I found a dead bug in our bed. Gross, right? The problem was that it wasn't just any bug--it was a bed bug. And it wasn't the only one in our room. Or the house. After discovering one, we ended up finding another, and then more. It has been a nightmare. When you find them, you have no idea how you didn't see them before. And then you get paranoid every time you see something that looks remotely like a bug. We had no idea where they would have come from. But then later that morning that we found them, the neighbor girl, who moved in just a few months ago, came over to play. When we told her why we couldn't play upstairs, she said at her last apartment they had bugs in their house too and had to sleep downstairs. Yeah. Maybe it was them, maybe not. But we got them. And it's awful. We threw away Henrik's pack-n-play, all of our box springs, and some articles of bedding. We put belongings into garbage bags to be heat treated by sitting in the van all day, getting over 120 degrees. We put our mattresses in plastic moving bags and put them in the van to be heat treated. We sprayed pesticide on all the walls, baseboards, door frames, dressers, etc. All five of us have been sleeping downstairs, and living like you're in a hotel every night has not been fun. We have to wait a few more days until the pest control people come to treat the apartment. Waiting for them for three weeks has been the longest ordeal ever.

Then, on top of that, as difficult as it was to see Henrik go through his surgery and then UTI, the last thing we expected was a repeat. One morning Henri didn't seem to be acting like himself. We thought maybe he was getting a cold. But in the late afternoon he was feverish, and I began to panic. He vomited not long afterward, and all the signs of the previous UTI were there. I called the doctor immediately, but our pediatrician wasn't in that day. I opted to see her the next morning, but then changed my mind and called back. The only open spot that night was now gone, so I would have to go to Urgent Care or wait until the next morning. We watched Henri carefully and he was doing okay, so we waited for the set appointment. They took another urine sample, and there it was again: a UTI. The pediatrician wanted to touch base with his urologist, so she sent us on our way with a promise that she'd call as soon as she had any more info. I took the kids to the Easton fountains while Eric attended a meeting there at the Hilton. Henri couldn't rest or be consoled the whole time we were there. I dragged the girls away, hoping Eric would get done sooner than later, and we drove around looking for a pharmacy to get Henrik some more medicine. Not long after, Eric texted me and we picked him up, then got a call from the pediatrician's office: go straight to admitting at Children's Hospital. We had nothing with us except what was in the diaper bag, but Eric dropped me off with the kids while he had to take a friend to the airport and then came right back. The girls were able to stay in the sibling clubhouse while I got Henrik checked in. His temperature when we arrived was 103.8. They gave him some Motrin first thing, then started his IV and later began the IV antibiotics. It was so hard being there watching him suffer again. They had to give him Tylenol along with the Motrin to try to control his fever. He kept vomiting, but at least wanted to nurse. It was so hard to try to get him to sleep, and then we couldn't move around very well because of the IV. Of course every time I finally got him to sleep, the nurses had to come in and do vitals. But he was gradually getting better.

Eric was superdad, taking care of the girls, going grocery shopping, trying to work and be at the hospital for Henrik and me, bringing me food and trying to keep the family together as much as possible. We had a friend from Church offer to watch the girls one morning so Eric could get his poster and presentation finished for his conference in Boston a few days later. My sister called and offered to do anything for us. We had family members call to check in on us. We are so grateful for the prayers and support shown by everyone! We stayed two nights at the hospital, and Henrik was doing well enough to leave with another oral antibiotic, this time doing a course twice as long as the first time. He'll be on another daily one after that, as well as being tested for urine reflux. This poor kid. We really hope he will be ALL better soon.

Too bad his sisters can't stay healthy while he is sick. As soon as we were discharged and returned home from the hospital Saturday afternoon, we looked at Mierae and just knew she had pink eye. Eric turned around and went to the urgent care. And thankfully, the third pharmacy Eric tried was still open to get Mierae's meds, which were unfortunately almost $100. Yeah.

So, Eric had been trying to get things ready for his conference in Boston when we got hit with Henrik's hospitalization. We had bought a plane ticket for me, and Henri, to go along with Eric. My sister graciously offered to watch the girls for the three days we would be gone. She sent us off with every hope that we could forget about our troubles and just relax and enjoy our trip. We were definitely looking forward to it. But we should've known bad luck would chase us down. We boarded our first flight through New York a half-hour late and sat on the runway for almost 2 1/2 hours as we waited and waited to be cleared to fly despite thunderstorms throughout the east. Enough time had gone by that we had to be brought back to the gate and de-plane, where we waited for another two hours. We were re-routed through DC, another delayed flight. Once we got to DC, our connection to Boston was also delayed. Once we finally boarded our flight to Boston, we sat on the runway again, only to be told that the runway had been closed at 11:00 pm, minutes before. Our plane was too heavy to go on the other runways, so we sat for another 45 minutes while they figured out where the plane could take off from. We finally got into Boston at 1:30 am, and a very patient Henrik had just had it and really began to cry. The train was closed, so we took a taxi to the hotel and arrived just after 2:00 am. At least our hotel was beautiful (Marriott at Copley), and there was a pack-n-play for Henrik to have a bed again for a few days. Our Tuesday was actually lovely--relaxing, enjoyable, productive (for Eric at his conference, and for Henrik with naps), and fun. We ate out three times, got dessert because we could, walked with the tourists, saw Trinity Church, and watched TV after Henrik had gone to bed. Wednesday morning was also fun with a walk down Newbury Street to the Public Gardens to see the swan boats and George Washington's statue. We ate lunch at the public library garden and toured some of the beautiful murals on the inside.

But we were dreading our flight back home. We got two calls on Eric's phone that our connecting flight to Columbus was going to be three hours late. Grrr. We got to the airport as early as we could, hoping that we could maybe catch an earlier flight out and an earlier connection. But by then, our connecting flight had been covered by a different plane and was supposed to come in on time. So, we prepared to board our first flight. And guess what? It was delayed. Of course. When the plane finally came in, we sat on the ground for who knows what reason for a long time. So when we finally got into DC, we had to sprint off the plane (yeah, right--we were in the very back), catch a shuttle to the other side of the airport, and run to our gate. And we got there, just in time to watch our plane back away from the terminal. The only on-time flight of our trip. Yeah. But we eventually made it home, even if it was a lot later than we'd hoped. Henrik did so well. I can't believe we put him through all of that.

And guess what the lesson topic for the third hour of Church was today? Stress. Yeah.

I will never again complain that I don't get any trials.

Here's looking forward to a new month: a pest-free home, a healthy baby boy, a wonderful family vacation to Utah, and a great start to a new school year.

Family Pictures 2011

2011-07-30T22:17:00.000-04:00

These pictures were taken the day after Henrik's bandages were taken off, the morning of the day Henrik's fever set in. I can't believe we actually got them taken during that small time window when Henri was mostly himself. They were taken by a friend from Church. Enjoy the eye candy!

A Hard Road to Seven Months

2011-07-28T14:54:00.000-04:00

It wasn't until day four that it hit me.

I knew Henrik was sick, but I didn't really know how sick. When the doctor mentioned possible damage to kidneys and liver, my heart skipped a beat. How could I have let this go on? Why didn't I have him seen earlier? I'm sure I asked myself that dozens of times, and I always had an answer: he was already on antibiotics; everything looked good; he was healing well; there was a three-day virus going around with his same symptoms.... But it didn't help me feel any better.

A week and a half earlier, Henrik underwent a three-hour corrective surgery. He didn't fuss in the morning like I thought he would when he hadn't eaten for four hours. He did great with the anesthesia and woke up happy. He was calm and pacified for several hours after.

But he also woke up later in a lot of pain and needed lots of extra attention, cuddling, and pain meds for several days after. He was seen again a week later and had his bandages taken off. He seemed to be healing well and getting back to normal again.

The next evening, a Saturday, he woke up from his nap with a fever. Eric and I were going out on a date and took Henri with us. He just wanted to sleep, and he seemed to be getting hotter. When we got home, we gave him some medicine and put him back to bed. He wouldn't nurse. When he woke up, he seemed to be just as hot as he was before the medicine. He started whimpering and moaning. That's all he did all day for almost a week. He hardly slept without being held, and we had to double dose him with Ibuprofen and Tylenol just to sleep at all during the night.

We called the doctor Monday and were told that there was a virus going around with high fever and vomiting that was lasting about three days. I hoped he would be better by the next day.

The next day he was not better. I called the doctor again and brought him in that afternoon. After having a catheter in for a week post-surgery, the doctor ordered a urine sample thinking there might be something there. He was positive for a UTI.

He received an antibiotic injection that day, and the next day. Once the culture was grown and they received the list of susceptibilities they were able to prescribe a medication.

The pharmacy called a little while later saying that they didn't have that medicine in stock. They called 11 other pharmacies in the city and no one had it, so it had to be specially ordered. Finally on day six of his fevers, we were able to start his oral treatment.

A concerned friend commented to me that when you see your child this sick you wonder if they'll ever get back to normal again. I felt this way exactly. Henrik, such a smiley, happy baby didn't crack a smile for almost a week. Even a few days after his surgery a friend asked if Henrik was always this happy. Yes, yes he is. Usually. It was so gratifying when he actually grinned for the first time again, and was back to normal after a few more days.

Henri, we're so glad you came back to us!

Name That Baby

2011-06-25T16:51:00.000-04:00

We've been wondering how closely the kids resemble each other as babies since Henrik arrived. Today I dug out the iPhoto back-ups and took a peek. What do you think?

Day for Dad

2011-06-24T11:02:00.000-04:00

Father's Day this year was nothing super impressive. It was just another Sunday with meetings, Church, choir practice, taking care of kids... But Eric did get the incomparable joy of seeing his two little girls sing to him from the stand during Sacrament Meeting. It was even more impressive because Mierae actually went up without cajoling, and even blew a kiss at the end of "Daddy's Homecoming" like she had been telling us she just couldn't do.

We gave Eric his gifts in the morning. He wanted to wait until after dinner, but the girls were insistent. I think I actually did better on preparing for Father's Day than his birthday! I made a small photo book of pictures of him with each of us alone and wrote down the reasons he is such a great Dad.

We got him a few other fun things like an air popcorn popper and cologne. That night for dessert we made a special sunflower cake for the celebration.

I can't imagine a better father than Eric. He is so good to spend time with the kids and play with them. He takes them on fun outings and tries to make the little things count. When I asked the girls what they wanted to say in the book we made for Eric, their responses both included, "He plays with us; he laughs," and Mierae said, "He comes for me when I cry." I think that is a great way to measure how you're doing as a parent.

We love you, Eric!

A Year of Difference

2011-06-14T00:20:00.000-04:00

On Jolie's last day of preschool her teachers gave her a special binder filled with pictures from her activities over the school year. The first page had a side-by-side spread with a first day picture and an end of year picture. All of us were amazed at the difference in Jolie. She really grew up this year. I miss that innocent, sweet, still toddler-like girl; but this growing up, four-year-old big girl still says things that crack me up. The difference in her between these two photos isn't as striking as the ones in her binder, but I love looking at the difference in just one year.

Kindergarten for Mierae has been a big year. It's quite the leap to go from a carefree child to a serious student. I'm glad Mierae still loves nothing better than to play, but she has made so much academic progress this year. I am so proud of her. She finished off Kindergarten reading at a 2nd grade level and got a medal at her awards assembly for being on the effort honor roll. I hope I can help her achieve the great things she can dream.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2011-06-13T23:19:00.000-04:00

I love looking back at photos. I love what I see in them that I didn't see before. And I love the story they tell about life right then, because it will change the very next day.

In this photo Mierae is wearing a leotard. She loves to dress up and changes her outfit at least three times a day. She has always loved wearing headbands, but she tends to more often lately because her bangs are growing out and get in her face more. She loves to draw and write and is learning to spell better. I love how she spelled "tertle" and drew long, curly hair so we'd know she drew a girl turtle. :)

Jolie is wearing her "Dora outfit." She's worn it for probably two years, but it still fits somehow. Her hair is down, and probably not even combed, because she hates getting it done. I have to beg or bribe her if I really want to do it. Jolie is also holding Henrik. Even though I ask her multiple times a day not to pick him up, she always does. She will bug him and bug him until I either get after her or he cries.

Henrik is smiling. He is such a happy guy. His arms are a blur because he's always moving. He is wearing a cousin's hand-me-downs, which I love. He loves to be around when the house is active and buzzing. And he really does adore his sisters (even though he loves his mama more!). We are so blessed to have him in our family.

I love that the kids are looking at me...and smiling!

It's moments like this on a crazy afternoon that make me sigh...and smile.

Swimming Lessons

2011-06-06T00:44:00.000-04:00

(Photo taken May 27, text written by Eric April 16, but he took all three kids again on June 3!)

What's it like to take three kids swimming all alone?

One of the greatest perks to being a student at OSU is the chance I have to take my kids to campus now and again for some swim time. They love it! You would have thought that doing exercise for 1 to 2 hours wouldn't seem too appealing to my children, but they love every second in the 80 degree chlorine-saturated waters. We are usually water-logged and blue in the lips by the time we leave but we still keep coming back for more.

Well, today I tried an experiment taking all three of our kids swimming and for the most part it went fine. I just had to hold Henrik above the water the whole time so he wouldn't get cold. I felt bad that I couldn't splash and tread water with Mierae or Jolie, but they had a good time nonetheless. The hardest part was getting them to actually move to the changing rooms. At this point Henrik starting screaming, Jolie was off in la-la land and Mierae was using that time to practice selective hearing. Maybe it was the water in her ears, but I think I repeated my request to get shoes on about ten times.

Why do I make myself work so hard for my kids to have fun? Well, because I have joy in my posterity and I get joy in being with them, not necessarily in what we are doing.

Six Months

2011-06-04T22:41:00.000-04:00

When I was a baby, my three older siblings doted on me. They wanted to be with me so much that they would drag me by my feet to wherever they wanted me to go. My mom wasn't so crazy about it because I ended up with scabs on the back of my head.

Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree: Henrik was dragged by his feet on the carpet this month by an adoring older sister who shall remain nameless. He had horrible scabs on the back of his head, which I failed to get a picture of. But here are some pics of what else he was up to this month:

He cut his first two teeth, both on the bottom.

He finally started taking a pacifier and goes to bed incredibly well with it.

He got dressed up for the first time by his sisters.

He started eating solids.

He got his first real experience in a swimming pool (his first time Eric just let him get his feet wet).

And he had his first trip to the park.

We sure think he's cute!

I am a Mom

2011-05-21T17:47:00.002-04:00

This week I was a mom.

Well of course I know I'm always a mom. But this week I was really a mom; the do-everything-around-the-house-and-take-care-of-the-kids-all-by-yourself mom. Eric was in Germany for a week, and it was eye-opening all the things he takes care of when he's around. We both worked, we both really missed each other, and we learned a lot this week.

While Eric watched Harry Potter on his transatlantic flight, I heard the same episode of "Wonder Pets" over and over.
While Eric was dining on bratwurst, soft pretzels, fried Camembert and Italian ice, I was eating Mac & Cheese, hot dogs and chicken noodle soup.
While Eric was sleeping in a room with strangers, my girls climbed into bed with me in the middle of the night, so all the kids slept in my room.
While Eric was awakened in the night by drunk 20-somethings, I was awakened by my baby's cry, my daughter's cough, and soft voices calling, "Mom?"
While Eric was touring a centuries-old castle, I was touring the outdoor activities at Jolie's preschool.
While Eric walked along the Neckar River, I was up to my elbows in toilet water cleaning out 7 pairs of dirty underwear.
While Eric was meeting new people, I was visiting with old friends.
While Eric ate dinner with an acquaintance's family, I ate dinner with my sister's family.
While Eric was writing grant proposal outlines, I was writing him emails about the good and bad things about my days.

But while Eric was praying about whether or not moving to Germany would be the best thing for our family, I was praying right along with him.

This week I learned that I can do hard things. I learned that I only get ready when it's the last minute and I can't procrastinate any longer. I learned that I don't spend as much time really being there with my kids as I should. I learned that I miss out on a lot when I'm away teaching. I learned that I really can get along with only 5 hours of sleep (but not for much longer!). I learned that Mierae has a very tender heart, and she is deeply affected when I get angry. I learned that I can let Jolie cry and cry and not have to give in. And, Henrik learned how to shake his head. :)

Here are three excerpts from emails I wrote Eric this week:

"When I went to put Henrik to bed tonight, the girls had to come up too. Mierae came in first, and she asked me if I loved Henrik more than her. :( I was playing with him, away from the girls, and I guess I hadn't spent much time with her and had just been after her to clean up her mess, eat her dinner, leave Jolie alone, etc., etc. Of course I told her no, and she asked if I loved them the same. I told her yes, then gave her a big hug and told her that I used to play with her when she was a baby the same way I was playing with Henrik. Then Jolie came in and Mierae decided to pretend she was a rabbit and kept hopping from the bed to the chair. So, of course, Jolie followed, and they played and played around me until Henrik really needed to go to bed. :) It was a very sweet moment of my day--to be surrounded by all the kids, get hugs, kisses and smiles from all of them, and tell them how much I love them."

"Last night Mierae woke up before I had gone to bed. She called to me from the top of the stairs and when I went to greet her, she asked if she could sleep with me. She said, 'I remembered the other day when you were so nice to me, and I just wanted to be with you.' There's a moment I'll never forget."

"We had a fun time at Tamara's tonight. The girls were both very tired, and Mierae was even acting a little shy and reserved at their house tonight. I wanted to get away around 8:00, but we didn't end up driving away until almost 9:30...(you know how it goes). Mierae wanted to listen to Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" on the way home; she and Sanja had been pretending to be rock stars, singing into an aluminum foil microphone, :) and Sanja had sung that song. We listened to it as we were leaving, and it was just so calm and peaceful with the girls relaxed and drowsy and Henrik content after eating and getting tucked into his car seat. The drive past downtown was so pretty in the dark: all the shining lights and glittery buildings. As I continued listening to the CD, Michael Buble's "Home" came on. It was as if you were singing to me. I had to blink away tears. I looked in the rearview mirror to see if the girls were sleeping, and my heart just swelled as I watched them--both sleeping so sweetly, with their baby brother sitting so calm and quiet. I missed you. But, '[you're] comin' back home.'"

Five Months

2011-05-11T22:37:00.000-04:00

And he's still getting lots of attention.

Happy Easter 2011

2011-05-03T22:18:00.000-04:00

Four Months, a Birthday, and a Funeral

2011-05-03T21:40:00.000-04:00

Henrik turned four months old on April 2nd.

On April 3rd my paternal grandmother passed away.

I left town on April 7th; the funeral was on the 8th.

Jolie's 4th birthday was on April 10th, and Eric's mom was in town that weekend.

Then Jolie's birthday party was rescheduled for April 16th.

The first two weeks of April were kind of a blur: lots of phone calls, lots of emails, tears, packing, more phone calls, shopping, late nights, and early mornings, flights, road-trips, etc. I was very blessed to be able to go to my grandma's funeral in Utah. Thanks to my generous aunt, my sister (who just moved close to us) and I were able to leave our kids in our husbands' care and fly together with our babies. We sat by incredibly kind and helpful people on each flight, there and back. My little niece made sure Henri felt safe by holding his hand as they rode in the double stroller. It was cute to see people's smiles as we made our way through the airports.

It was an incredible experience to be there with my Dad's family. After the family prayer before the funeral began, it was very difficult to say our last good-byes. It was a special and sacred experience. The words spoken and the beautiful music performed during the funeral really made us all rejoice in Grandma's life and in her posterity. My Dad's family is so talented, and I came away feeling such gratitude for this wonderful family. I felt like I learned more about them in those two hours than I had ever known. I have a wonderful heritage.

I was so happy to get a photo of Henrik with two of his name-sakes from the family line.

We had one day to just be together with my sisters and mom. Neither of my brothers were able to make it to the funeral, but all the sisters were there. Three of us had kids within the last year and a half or so, and one is expecting again.

We stayed up way too late, laughing way too hard, each night of our stay! It is always the best feeling to be with my sisters again! I love raiding my youngest sister's closet--she's always to sweet to let me borrow anything--and we watch chick flicks like old "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" episodes, and we eat chocolate in any form. We just love being together.

When we arrived back home Sunday evening, Eric and the kids had parked and come into the airport to surprise me! I'm sure it was the highlight of their day to go on the moving walkways in the middle of the parking lot.

Eric, of course, did a fabulous job taking care of the girls while I was away. They had a great visit with Eric's mom in Cincinnati. It was sweet that the got to at least see one Grandma that weekend, even though they were disappointed not to be able to come to Utah with me. They visited the conservatory and the art museum, and they found a Whole Foods to stop at for lunch. Eric told me Mierae ordered salmon with brussels sprouts, and Jolie ordered salmon with green beans. We must be doing something right!

Then they saw some of our best friends on the way back home.

Mierae and Jolie had decorated Jolie's birthday cake before they picked me up from the airport. So we were able to have a small celebration at home on Jolie's actual birthday.

The favorite present of the night was a harmonica my mom had sent home with me to give Jolie. Not that Jolie didn't like her Barbie and Barbie movie (matching her party theme the weekend after). But it's gratifying to know that a love for music-making just might have been naturally instilled in mine and Eric's offspring!

"You Have One Saved Message"

2011-03-16T09:28:00.000-04:00

There is currently one saved message on our answering machine.

If you play it you'll hear some kind of noise in the background as it begins. It's a crowd of people in a stadium.

Then you'll hear a warm voice on a cold night say, "Hello, Dear."

He almost always calls me that.

It's the end of half-time at a Columbus Crew game. Eric is out with what you could call "the boys."

He has never had a night out with "the boys" our entire marriage.

I can hear the excitement in his voice as he says what a great time he's having, and he thanks me again for letting him go to the soccer game.

I love to make him happy, especially when it's letting him do something he's been talking about and wanting to do for a while.

I still love listening to his message, even though the game was weeks ago.

I don't think I'll erase it anytime soon.

The Good, The Bad, and The Justification

2011-03-15T19:26:00.001-04:00

I would never have called myself a "working mother."

Not that motherhood isn't work in almost every sense of the word. I mean the go-to-a-job-outside-the-home-full-time kind of work.

But teaching flute lessons twice a week has made me feel a lot like a working mother. And our family's weekly schedule never seems to leave a night open to just be a family.

Monday nights I teach from right after school until bedtime. I have a half-hour commute, so that adds an extra hour that I'm away. And Family Home Evening has to be moved.

Wednesday nights I teach the same hours, leaving home 10 minutes before Mierae gets home from school, and returning home at bedtime, only keeping myself from the kids longer once I arrive home because of dinner to eat and milk to pump. I hate that I see Mierae for mere minutes on these days. It makes me feel like I've been missing the whole year she's been 5.

This week on Tuesday Eric doesn't have a leadership meeting for Church or a council meeting for Jolie's preschool, so he told me he volunteered to load the truck at the Church's storehouse for food to be delivered to needy families. Now if anyone knows anything about Eric, they'll know that this kind, big-hearted man is the first to volunteer to do anything, whether it's to say the closing prayer in Sunday School, bring snacks to choir practice, or clean the toilets at the Church on a Saturday night. He even volunteered to baby-sit at a Relief Society activity when I wasn't even going to be there. I admire this about him so much. But I also get jealous sometimes of the time others get with him that I don't.

Thursday night this week is my scheduled night to go to the temple. It's too hard to try to find a baby-sitter for the kids every month so we could go to the temple together, so we take turns two nights a month going separately.

Friday and Saturday we try to either go on a date ourselves, or watch someone else's kids so they can go on a date. Even though continued courtship is essential to a strong marriage, it still means that we aren't together as a family those nights.

Saturday mornings Eric tries to work to make up for the time he's home while I'm teaching. And Sundays he has meetings while I get myself and the kids ready for Church alone.

All of the things we do are important and good. We just aren't together as a family as much as I had hoped. It's hard to have to juggle nights to make sure we have Family Home Evening, and it's our least favorite thing to have to put the kids to bed alone. But there is always the good to focus on.

Mondays and Wednesdays Mierae comes home from school to her Dad, not a baby-sitter, not to some other place. Not many kids get that kind of time with their Dads. And I get to be home the other three days of the week.

Eric's service at the storehouse will bless many lives, including ours. He has the faith that if we are doing the Lord's work, He will give us blessings. That principle holds true for our temple attendance too. Sacrifice and obedience are rewarded with blessings.

Eric and I love and need the time to go on dates often. We are grateful to have good friends close by who will swap baby-sitting with us. There aren't any date-night plans for our weekend yet, so we may switch my temple night and have a big family celebration for St. Patrick's Day, complete with corned beef and cabbage, and golden chocolate coins at the end of a cupcake rainbow.

Saturday afternoons are usually open for Eric to take the girls swimming or to work together as a family to clean the house. I love the opportunities I have to teach my kids as I work alongside them.

Mierae told us this week one of her favorite nights was when we had Friday night movie night. Eric and I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" on his laptop in the kitchen, and the girls watched a princess sing-along movie in the living room. It didn't necessarily matter that we were watching different shows. It was special because we were all home together.

We're trying to make the time we have together as special and as fun as we can. It's always comforting to know we still have an eternity to be together.

Three Months

2011-03-15T16:50:00.000-04:00

Our little guy continues to grow! He was 15 lbs 3 oz on the day he turned three months. This month he has been giggling a lot, mostly when he gets splashed in the tub, but he gets a kick out of Jolie's dancing too. He adores his sisters and lights up and coos whenever they play with him.

He's still not big on tummy time, though we keep trying. He's loving some new toys that play music and light up. And he talks to the babies in a board book we just got out for him to look at.

He's always sucking on his fists and slobbers his shirts to soaking by the end of the day. He's still up a lot at night, but I still love to kiss his cheeks, even if I'm half-asleep when I greet him.

Hopefully we'll start getting some better pics this next month as spring arrives and we introduce this guy to the outside world!

Favorite Mom Moments

2011-03-14T00:26:00.000-04:00

When I got home from teaching tonight, everyone was upstairs in the girls' room. Eric greeted me on the stairs with a kiss, and then I poked my head into the girls' doorway. Henrik was lying down next to Mierae on her bed as she read him a book. Jolie was standing next to Mierae's bed listening as well. I just stared and stared, and I put my arm around Eric as I got a little emotional. I felt such pride to hear Mierae's great reading and such love to see my three kids interacting so happily together. It reminded me of another experience.

I often have Henrik in my arms or on my lap as I do things on the computer. Jolie often begs for attention when I do this, and likes to climb up on my lap as well. Despite my protests that there is no room, she finds a spot and nestles herself in. If Mierae is home, she will also see the fun and want to join the party. And even though there is no more lap to be had, Mierae somehow finds a spot with her siblings and we snuggle together on the computer chair. When at first I feel annoyance, it is quickly replaced by love and gratitude for the beautiful children God has given me. I feel very blessed.

How Did He Know?

2011-03-05T23:37:00.000-05:00

Henrik must have known it was my birthday.

Eric and I got to go on a date on Saturday night to celebrate. But instead of going out to dinner, we went shopping. Not really the best date activity (since we were hardly together the nearly two hours we spent at the store), but it was a great activity to do sans kids. Well, without the girls anyway. Henrik tagged along. And since he's still a newborn, you'd think he would have slept most of the time we were in the store. But, no; he woke up right after we got there. But he must have known we were shopping for my birthday, because even though he was awake in the store, he was happy. It made finding, trying on, and deciding on my new black boots all the more pleasurable.

Later that night Henrik didn't forget that we were still partying. We drove to Dairy Queen to get some blizzards after we picked up the girls. They both fell asleep in the car, and Henrik did too. When we got home, we took the girls up to bed, and Henrik hung out in his car seat in the living room as Eric and I got out a card game and watched the Mormon "Pride and Prejudice." Henrik stayed asleep the whole time. And it made beating Eric at Phase 10 that much more fun (combined with the fact that Eric almost always beats me at any game).

On my actual birthday on Monday, we took the kids out to Bravo for lunch. The girls got to watch the pizzas going in and coming out of the wood fire oven; they actually sat down without getting up from the table 100 times; and they made great conversation. Henrik definitely remembered we were still doing birthday activities because he stayed asleep in his car seat the whole time we were in the restaurant. It made watching the girls as they played with their pizza dough that much more enjoyable, not to mention eating my own delicious parmesan chicken sandwich and Italian fries while they were still hot.

I had to work the afternoon of my birthday. But it was still fun. Henrik must have known I was gone because he wouldn't stay asleep for Eric and was fussy while I taught. That evening while I was on the phone with my family, Henrik finally fell asleep in the swing. Eric had fallen asleep while lying next to Mierae in her bed. So not wanting to go to bed when it was still my birthday, I watched "Twilight" by myself. Henrik stayed asleep the whole time. And even though I felt a little guilty that I was staying up so late, it made it that much more relaxing to end my day.

Henrik woke up at approximately 12:30 a.m. and was fussy on and off during the night, the next day, and the next night.

He must have known it wasn't my birthday anymore.

Mierae Goes to the Ballet

2011-02-15T14:33:00.000-05:00

Just before Henrik was born Eric and I decided we really wanted Mierae to be able to go to "The Nutcracker" when it was here over Christmas. We found out the date that tickets went on sale for students, and we put it in our mental calendar. Well the date came up and we remembered about the tickets as we were driving in the car, right about the time that the tickets had probably just sold out.

Bummer.

Then came January, and we found out BalletMet was doing "Cinderella." We put the date on a real calendar this time, and Eric was sure to be in line and get the tickets right as they went on sale.

The night of the ballet, Mierae was SO excited! We got her all dressed up in the warmest dress we could find (but she refused to replace the thin tights she had put on for some warmer thick ones), and off she went on her daddy-daughter date.

Here is Eric's story of their night:

"Mierae and I were able to see Columbus' BalletMet's production of Cinderella. It was a great daddy-daughter date and I loved seeing the magic on Mierae's face as she took in the performance. This was really the first time that she has been to any kind of live concert or performance that wasn't outside where it didn't matter if she talked or cried or laughed so I was a bit nervous how she would do. But once we were there she took it all in stride and was careful to whisper and not fidget. Of course, at 8 pm she was a but sluggish anyway.

Before the first Act began I asked her if she would like ballet lessons. She said no. I asked her if she would like sport lessons. She said no. After a few other options, she told me she wants to do drawing. I asked her if she would like art lessons. She said no.

After much coaxing she finally told me she doesn't want lessons because she doesn't want to work hard.

I had to laugh at how things might seem to a 5 year-old. Don't many of us have those tendencies? I know I did and sometimes do. However, on the car ride home Mierae told me she wants to take dance lessons in the spring or summer and in the meantime she would practice at home.

The next morning she woke up and the first thing she did was put on her ballet costume and "practice" her dance.

Maybe we just need some time to think and redetermine ourselves to our goals. Thanks for the example, Mierae. Keep dancing!"

(I just have to add that Mierae called me when they were driving home. When I asked her about the ballet she told me how funny the step-sisters' dancing was. Then she said that she DID want to take dance lessons this summer. Eric got home and put a sleeping Mierae in her bed, then told me that as they were walking from the parking garage to the Capitol Theater with the cold wind blowing on them that a repentant Mierae said, "Daddy, I'm sorry I didn't wear the thick tights like you asked me to." Oh, we love this girl!)

Two Months

2011-02-12T23:26:00.000-05:00

We sure love this cute guy.

I didn't discover his dimples until my mom pointed them out to me during her visit.

He sure is growing fast! He's in the 90th percentile for his weight--13 lbs 7 oz at his doctor's visit! He's been rolling from his tummy to his back for a while now; tummy time lasts about 10 seconds around here.

This boy is a joy!

More Visitors (aka We Should Have A Baby More Often)

2011-02-09T23:50:00.000-05:00

Eric's mom had been gone less than two months when we had the good fortune of receiving more visitors: my parents! Since they couldn't come out for Henrik's birth, they came out for his baby blessing at Church. The girls were so excited to have more grandparents come and enjoy all the love and attention that comes with guests!

The night Grandma and Grandpa came we had another little Christmas. Every year I am amazed at how much my parents do for all the children and grandchildren each Christmas. Our main gift this year was a memory book my mom and her sisters put together of their family growing up. It is so special. The kids got toys, books, crafts and games, and they weren't shy about going right to playing once the gifts were opened.

Our second night we went to the Museum of Art. It's been a while since we've been there, and it was fun to take the kids. I was impressed at all of the kid-friendly activities they have in the galleries. It made it a lot more fun when the girls got to draw their own pictures, do puzzles, play checkers with rubber duckies, and listen to music on iPods. I loved the mural based on postcards. Fabulous. And my mom even got to see a Rembrandt while we were there.

Friday morning Grandpa got up to say good-bye to the girls before they left for school. Jolie wanted to stay with Grandpa so badly that when we got to her school, she wouldn't get out of the van! Her teacher said she was sad for about 20 minutes after I dropped her off. She was so happy when all three of us (four with Henrik!) were there to greet her when school was out. That night Eric and I decided to take Mom and Dad out for an adults-only dinner. The kids got to play with their friends while we were away, and we got to bask in the deliciousness of "Bravo." My Dad served his mission in Italy, so he can really appreciate good Italian food.

Saturday we went to COSI. We spent most of the time at Little Kidspace so the kids could run free. But we actually ventured out to some other exhibits: Life, Gadgets, and the Gecko exhibit that's on right now.

We headed straight to Graeter's afterward so the kids could have a little more play time and Grandma and Grandpa could try the ice cream. Even in winter, ice cream is the best.

Sunday was the blessing day. I was able to borrow a blessing outfit from my sister that she had used for her two boys. The beautiful hairpin lace crochet blanket was made by my mom. She gave it to us before Mierae's baby blessing, and it was so special to get it out for the third time. We had a great dinner and two Skype sessions with family back home.

During their stay I loved watching the new "Emma" with my mom; seeing the girls play card games with their Grandparents; hearing Henrik settle right down in his Grandma's arms; listening to my Dad read to the girls; and having the evenings at home to talk, make treats, and listen to music. One night my Dad played some recordings of me and my siblings from when we were little. It was so fun to sit together and laugh until our cheeks hurt. It was so nice to have my parents entertain the kids while I made dinner, and I was able to leave Henrik at home while I picked up Jolie from preschool on Thursday. My mom insisted that she help in some way while they were here, so she vacuumed my whole house, and she and Dad did the dishes as often as they could. Dad even made his famous Mountain Man breakfast for us on Saturday morning.

It seems like such a long time since my parents were here last, and we really enjoyed having their company. We love and miss you!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-22T15:40:00.000-05:00

There wasn't anything especially unique about our Christmas this year. Mierae was taking all the fun out of it by announcing almost daily in the weeks prior that Santa Claus wasn't real. But on Christmas morning when she saw the gift tags on her presents, she knew Santa must have brought the gifts if his name was on the "From" part. :) It was fun to watch the kids open presents, and then play and play with their new toys. That's what made it special. It made me think a lot about Christmases when I was little.

Christmas Eve the kids opened gifts from each other (Barbie movies) and the traditional new pajamas.

Obviously Henrik wasn't too happy about taking pictures, but we loved putting him in his "My First Christmas" pajamas. We were also able to squeeze him into this "Team Santa" shirt we received as a gift. I love his little cheer. :)

And all three got a new Christmas book. Of course the girls were very helpful in opening Henrik's book for Him.

Christmas morning:

Mierae's big gifts were an electronic learning cash register, a Barbie convertible, and a Littlest Pet Shop house with pets. Jolie's big gifts were a Leapfrog laptop, a Melissa and Doug magnetic dress-up doll, and her own doll cradle and high chair so she can take care of her babies while mom takes care of baby brother. But the winner for the funnest present of Christmas?

Yep. I wasn't too surprised. :)

Our special Nativity with our own baby boy playing Jesus wasn't the spiritual highlight of our celebration like I'd been hoping. Mierae wanted to do it over and over playing a different animal each time.

And Henrik just did this:

At least the girls really know the Christmas story well!

We took an evening that week to go to the Easton mall and look at their Christmas lights and decorations. The girls loved the Nativity and the train.

Henrik was snug all bundled up.

After Christmas when we saw pictures of our family members together for their celebrations, or did Skype with them, we were very homesick and a little lonely. So we were very happy to spend a whole day with some great friends.

There were two things from Christmas break that were my favorite. One was watching "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" with the girls. It was the movie we saw last Christmas (on the day we ended up not going out to Utah) to cheer us up. We watched it then with the same friends we spent time with this Christmas. It was even funnier this time we watched it; we were all laughing out loud over and over. The second thing was receiving thank you notes from Mierae. She was so happy about her gifts that one day she just decided to write all of us notes. It was the best.

We're hoping next Christmas will bring just as much joy, but be spent with a lot more family.

Anger Contributes to Hair Loss

2011-01-20T22:34:00.003-05:00

Hello.

My name is Robyn.

I'm a mother, who gets angry.

I have a daughter who gets angry too.

We're working on our anger management. The other night when Mierae was upset about something, I told her to write down or draw a picture of what was making her so mad. It calmed her down enough that she could talk about it after that.

The next night when she was angry again, she went upstairs for a few minutes and then came back down and handed me a small piece of paper.

I was so impressed that she had used what she learned the night before to try to contain her anger.

But of course it isn't always like that.

There was one night that Mierae was a grump starting the moment she walked in the door after school. She was hungry, and tired from not going to bed the night before. At one point she got so upset that she took a pair of scissors that happened to be left out from the night before, and she cut her hair. She was so angry that she cut her hair!

I still can't believe she did it!

Jolie tattled on her by bringing down the cut locks to show us.

And that made Mierae even more angry.

When we talked about it, Mierae tried to justify her behavior by saying she wanted to cut her hair short anyway (of course). Here's what it looked like in front:

We decided to go ahead and take her to a salon to try to repair the damage. She wanted her hair cut all the way up to her ears, but I made her promise to follow the advice of the stylist if it was suggested she leave it longer. Here's what she came home with:

It made me sad to see it so short at first. But by the next day, I thought it looked cute.

We're still working on our anger management. Hopefully we can continue in the right direction. Mierae doesn't have much more hair to lose!

Year of Family Snapshots 2010

2011-01-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

January: on Roosevelt Island in Washington DC

February: at home on Valentine's Day

March: first day of Spring getting free ices at Rita's

April: at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky over spring break

[just after] May: in Boston

June: in Hershey, Pennsylvania

July: on Independence Day at the parade

August: at Canyon Glen in Utah

September: (It would have been us apple picking at Granville Orchard, but the camera died before we got a group shot.)

October: Boo at the Zoo

[just after] November: at the Franklin Park Conservatory

December: Christmas Eve at home

Good News

2011-01-14T23:48:00.010-05:00

Here are a few of the things that made me happy this week:

Mierae was so excited about her new Primary class that after I picked her up she said she wanted to go right back and have Primary again! Then she said she wished every day was Sunday. (A HUGE breakthrough--for the last year she has complained from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning that she hates Sundays and refuses to go to Church.)

Both of our neighbors have moved out (it happened around the holidays). It is so nice not having to worry about bothering anyone with our noise! And it's also nice not hearing them either. :) I'm sure we won't have the good fortune of being neighbor-less until we move in the summer. But we're enjoying it while we can.

I began my new calling as Relief Society pianist last Sunday. As I was playing prelude music and feeling a little rusty, I also felt peace. The thought came that what I'm doing is important, and it's such a part of who I am. I'm glad to have this calling right now. And Eric is enjoying taking Henrik for the third hour of Church.

I had my postpartum check-up this week. When I got on the scale, I couldn't believe it: I'm back down to the weight I was AFTER I lost weight in my first trimester! Wahoo! That made me very happy. And I love my doctor. I'm going to miss her.

The other day when Eric was warming up some food for the girls while they watched a show, I heard Jolie call down the stairs to Eric, "Dad, did you add hot-ness?" That girl has made me smile and laugh a lot when we've been home together. I love the way she always says, "Okay, bye-bye. I love you!" whenever she pretends to talk on the phone, because that is what we've taught her to say to her grandparents. I love how she calls me "m' dear" or "sweetheart" when we're playing "sisters." I love how she can pretend anything is her "baby," including a rolled up blanket or a rice bag. And I love how she gives me kisses and says she loves me.

Is there any wonder my doctor told me I had the lowest score she'd ever seen for a postpartum depression quiz?

There is a lot to smile about.

One Month

2011-01-11T00:58:00.000-05:00

My little baby is not so little anymore. At Henrik's one month doctor's visit he weighed in at 11 lbs 2 oz!! What a little tank. Our pediatrician commented on how I must make good milk. :)

The girls sure love their brother. It's been hard to try to get them to treat him like a newborn. Jolie picked him up once and dropped him on the floor. She loves to squeeze his face, hug him around the neck, and give him kisses.

Mierae also loves to pick him up. (I sorely chastised her about it one night when she took him off the couch, raced across the living room, and headed up the stairs. But the next night when he was screaming and my hands were covered in chicken, she picked him up again, and it was helpful.)

Throughout this last month I've had spit up in my hair, urine sprayed in my face, milk leaking onto my clothes, the same pajamas on for three days at a time, laundry coming out of my ears, and a baby in my arms.

And I've loved every minute.

Christmas Card and Letter 2010

2011-01-09T12:08:00.007-05:00

Dear Family and Friends,

We're sorry this is arriving in your inbox instead of your mailbox, but we wanted to send you our Christmas wishes all the same.

The bulk of 2010 was waiting for and then enjoying the arrival of our third child, Henrik William: a boy!! :) We are very happy to have him in our home. We have all fallen in love with him, and it is such a joy to have a baby boy in our home at Christmastime.

ERIC is busy writing papers, analyzing data, sending post-doctoral position applications, fulfilling his calling at our Church as ward clerk, and currently doing just about everything but taking care of the new baby. We hope his gift under the Christmas tree this year is sleep!

ROBYN has had a more difficult recovery from Henrik's birth than anticipated, but is doing much better now. This year she enjoyed free mornings when Mierae and Jolie were both in school (even though she was sick or sleeping through most of them). She volunteered at Mierae and Jolie's preschool, finished off a great time of being in a sewing/quilting club, volunteered on a committee for the girls' school, served as a Primary chorister and nursery worker at Church, and learned how to get everyone ready for Church with Eric being in meetings Sunday mornings. Her Christmas present came on December 2nd!

MIERAE turned 5 this year and has started Kindergarten. After initially being terrified of going on the bus to school, she quickly warmed up and was jumping up and down with excitement after her first day. She is reading very well, and loves all the projects, recess time, gym time, and assemblies at school. For Christmas, Mierae wants everything she sees in any advertisement.

JOLIE turned 3 this year and was able to get into preschool right after her birthday in April. She loved going to school with Mierae for two months, and then continuing on there in the fall. She had two trips to the ER for croup this year--a first for our family. Jolie is learning to write her name, colors in the lines very well, and loves her Dad (even though Dad has a hard time returning it after she whines to him ALL day). The only thing Jolie has on her Christmas list is candy.

HENRIK has pretty much been an angel baby so far. I won't hold my breath for him to sleep through the night anytime soon, but he's eating well and is managing to take all the love his sisters give him in stride. For Christmas he's getting diapers, wipes, diapers, hand-me-downs, diapers and some fun clothes from one of Eric's labmates.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope your holiday is filled with loved ones, joy and memories as you celebrate the birth of a baby boy.

Love,
Eric, Robyn, Mierae, Jolie, and Henrik

Grandma's Visit

2010-12-28T22:41:00.003-05:00

We were lucky enough to have Eric's mom come visit us for Thanksgiving and then stay with us until after Henrik's birth. It was so nice to have her here to take care of the girls when we were in the hospital! We tried to squeeze in as much fun as we could before (and after) Henrik arrived.

Grandma's first night here the girls had a birthday party to go to for a neighbor friend. I loved watching Eric's mom interact with the kids and settle right in with all our friends there. She was such a good sport about coming and going according to our schedule, just wanting to help out where we needed her. (She even helped Eric and me out in Nursery at Church on Sunday.)

The night before Thanksgiving we went to see "Tangled" in 3D and LOVED it! (It was so fun that Zachary Levi was one of the voices; we were finishing the third season of "Chuck" all weekend!) Grandma bought a big bucket of popcorn to share, which made the movie all the more fun. Then we tried out a new restaurant called "Piada," Italian street food. There Grandma treated us to Italian sodas. Everything was so yummy!

On Thanksgiving we tried some new things that will probably become traditions: we cut up the turkey Tyler-Florence-style before roasting it.

And we made Lion House rolls. (We even watched the YouTube video on how to flip them in the air to roll them up!)

Grandma brought Thanksgiving Bingo for the kids to play while we were waiting for dinner.

We also kept a past tradition and made chocolate pecan pie. (I love sitting down in the evenings after Thanksgiving to eat leftover pie, or pull the cold turkey out of the fridge to make a sandwich for lunch. It's almost the best part of Thanksgiving.)

Later on we made cookie turkeys as our second dessert.

After doing minimal Black Friday shopping, we spent the day after Thanksgiving getting the Christmas tree up and preparing for the next holiday!

Eric had the girls help him make homemade noodles for dinner.

The next night we went to Wildlights at the zoo. The girls had been waiting and waiting to ride on the carousel and the train.

It was freezing, but definitely worth the trip. We tried to stay warm inside the aquarium and the indoor Asia exhibits before sitting outside for the animal show and watching the light show over the lake.

We ended the evening visiting the goats and warming up again in Habitat Hollow before I waddled my way to the van and we had a fun dinner at Wendy's before going home.

Monday after Thanksgiving was my last day of teaching before having the baby. While I was gone, everyone else got to go to Graeter's Ice Cream where the kids played and Grandma got to try their chocolate coconut almond chip ice cream. I was sad I missed it, but had a good last day at work.

My mother-in-law and I got to attend a Relief Society activity together Tuesday night while Eric helped out in the nursery. We had a wonderful talk by the former temple matron about the doctrines of temple worship, then we did a small quilling project and enjoyed some fall treats. I was glad to have Eric's mom there with me, and it was a nice evening with the sisters in the ward.

The night before Henrik's arrival, we got to visit the Franklin Park Conservatory.

We were mesmerized by the rotating fairy tale mountain just inside the entrance.

We loved seeing the professional Currier and Ives gingerbread houses, as well as all the amateur ones.

And, of course, we swooned over the towers of poinsettias.

While I was in the hospital, I heard about the fun Jolie had with Grandma after preschool. They did fun things only Grandmas do like go to the corner pharmacy for drinks and snacks, or snuggle under a blanket together at home to watch a movie. Both girls really enjoyed having Grandma drop them off and pick them up at school or the bus stop. What a treat for our kids! Jolie learned how to snap while Grandma was here, too. She loved coming up to everyone and saying, "Hear!" and then snapping at their ear.

Everyone also got to go to the ward Christmas party together. I missed hearing Mierae sing with the Primary, but I was glad she got to perform for Grandma in my absence.

In Grandma's last few days after Henrik came home, the girls made gingerbread houses, and everyone but Henrik and me took a trip to Trader Joe's to get some snacks, holiday goodies and a bag for Grandma to take back home to Utah.

The night before she left, we all played games together and then Grandma presented the girls with these adorable Christmas pillowcases she had sewn a few days earlier as Christmas gifts.

The morning Grandma left, Jolie was up in the middle of the night, never to go back to sleep, and Henrik had been fussy and wouldn't go back to sleep. So at 6:00 am, two of the three grandkids got to take Grandma to the airport. It was sad to see her go, but she had lots of things waiting for her back home.

Thank you for coming, Grandma! We love and miss you!

Two Blessings

2010-12-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

The other night as I was lying in bed (and surprisingly not falling asleep immediately), I reflected on the first week of Henrik's life. I was in awe of many things, but reflected on two of my biggest blessings.

First: a healthy physical body.

As I sit and stare at Henrik, I am in awe that he was formed inside my body. Isn't it such a miracle that a father and mother can create a perfect little human?! It blows me away every time I think about it. I am so grateful for a God who allows us to be co-creators with Him. What an awesome responsibility, and a great joy.

Second: Eric.

As I was lying there in bed, Eric had laid his head on his pillow for about 10 seconds before I heard him begin to snore softly. Eric has been such an amazing help for me. He always has been, but especially now that I'm taking care of baby Henri full-time, Eric does almost everything else. And then he apologizes that he doesn't help with Henrik more. He has been helping others who ask him for assistance, doing his job at Church, working from home, getting the kids up and ready for school every day, and has been up with Jolie at night. And he still gets excited to do projects with the kids and has such a great attitude about everything. I seriously love this guy.

Meet Henrik

2010-12-06T23:39:00.002-05:00

We are now a family of five. And we're all loving it!

Henrik came on Thursday afternoon (December 2nd)--hooray for planned inductions! The labor and delivery went well. This little boy was definitely my biggest baby: 8 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. He came pink and plump with blond hair. So far recovery seems to be the easiest of the three (as long as I take it easy), and he's eating like a champ.

Here is when the girls met their brother. Can you tell how much they adore him?

They came by the next night to see us again.

And when we finally made it home, the girls couldn't have been happier about it.

It's always a roller coaster ride to go from this:

to this:

but we are so in love with Henri. We have waited so long for him to come and are just enamored by him. We can't wait to watch this little boy grow up.

In the summertime when our neighbor found out we were expecting, she talked about when her son was born and she and his dad would just lie down and stare at him for hours. Even though I was a mom twice over, for some reason I couldn't imagine doing that. But this time around, I know exactly what she means. I love to just sit and cuddle with Henrik, feel his soft skin, and enjoy the warmth of being so close. I love to watch him sleep, then see him try to open his eyes and respond to my voice. It is so special having a baby boy just before Christmas.

Our family is definitely experiencing the joy of the season.

Beginning the 30's

2010-11-13T23:32:00.000-05:00

Eric's 31st birthday came so quickly after Halloween this year (not that it doesn't EVERY year...) that I felt like I didn't really have time to get ready for it. Thank goodness we like to drag out celebrations around here. Though, I think Eric would have felt more special if we had just made one day really fun for him. But we tried to fit a bunch of things in.

The night before the big day we had his birthday dinner at Red Robin. The girls were excited to go to a restaurant again, and it was fun to meet up with Daddy after work. Dinner was great, the kids were both very happy with what they got to order, and Eric got a free birthday sundae!

After attempting to go shopping and getting frustrated with the kids for multiple reasons, we finally headed home with a stop to Culver's for Eric to get his free frozen custard.

On Eric's actual birthday, Jolie and I met up with him at the park for lunch. Even though it was a little chilly, we loved sitting in the sunshine.

Later I was working, so I didn't even make him dinner. But I had made him some toffee blondies as his birthday cake--one of his favorite treats ever. (He and I ended up eating the whole pan! Don't worry, it took us a couple of days. I don't think we even offered any to the kids!) While I was working, Eric was out doing his second good service deed of the day and decided to take the girls with him to get his free Coldstone ice cream.

He let them choose what they wanted, instead of what he wanted. Since I wasn't with them, he told me we'd go out for ice cream, just the two of us, later. We're still waiting for that to happen, but it's always nice to have something to look forward to!

We never had any candles on Eric's "cake," so we sang to him the next evening and finally gave him his birthday gifts. He got an immersion blender, along with a few other things. We've already used it twice!

We love you, Eric. Can't wait until we have another little Eric in our family!

Halloween

2010-11-05T14:27:00.004-04:00

Our Halloween celebration was a little like our birthday celebrations: it went on for days! I was actually getting a little Halloweened-out, but Eric was happy to take the kids to their last activity on Saturday. He even let me sleep in super late--he and the kids were gone by the time I woke up! Here's the run-down of the week:

Saturday October 23rd: Boo at the Zoo

Tuesday the 26th: activities, treats, and trick-or-treating at Kroger (Mierae reluctantly went as Barbie after some intense persuasion. She bought the costume she REALLY wanted at Kroger that night: Tinkerbell. And Jolie got the Ariel costume she'd been dying for, even though she was just as happy to be Cinderella that night.)

Wednesday the 27th: Jolie's costume parade at preschool; crafts and activities with trick-or-treating at Giant Eagle

Thursday the 28th: neighborhood trick-or-treating (The kids completely filled their buckets to overflowing! They've both been very generous to share whatever Mom and Dad like to eat.)

Friday the 29th: Mierae's class party at school; ward Halloween carnival (I'm still on the Activities Committee, so we were there a long time! The kids had a ton of fun, though. We ate pumpkin pie, drank apple cider and hot chocolate; the kids went fishing, ate donuts on a string, got their faces painted, did a little photo shoot, and we got a prize in the pumpkin carving contest!)

Saturday the 30th: library storytime with crafts and a costume parade

Who knows how long the Halloween candy will last? But the kids have been really good about not begging for it. They're happy with two or three pieces a day (although Jolie was eating more this week because we had to reward her for putting in her eye drops after she got pink eye Saturday night).

We're really looking forward to Thanksgiving now. Eric's mom will be with us, and I'm excited to be eating real food for this holiday!

Weekend Getaway

2010-10-22T10:00:00.001-04:00

After a lot of planning, some agonizing over finances, some stress with finding sitters for the kids, and a lot of excitement, Eric and I made arrangements to join his siblings with their spouses for a weekend getaway. It was a surprise for Eric's mom for her 70th birthday!

We were the first ones to arrive at the Denver airport on Friday, and it was so fun seeing everyone else who flew in as they arrived. Eric's mom was definitely surprised, and she even got a little teary at the sight of her "babies" waiting for her. We went to dinner together that night and then traveled to a huge cabin in Dillon, Colorado where we would stay for the weekend.

Saturday was nice and relaxing. We woke up to a very quiet house, chatted in our pajamas over breakfast, and ate lots of caramel popcorn and candy. In the afternoon when the rest of our party arrived we went to a little restaurant in Frisco all together. Then some of us went back to the cabin to watch football, while the rest of us piled into Eric's sister's suburban to check out Breckenridge and go shopping. We ate gourmet cookies, looked at fabric and quilts, checked out some clothing shops, and enjoyed the beauty of fall in the mountains.

Saturday evening was the highlight of the weekend. We watched a slideshow of pictures Eric's sisters had put together, along with letters the kids had written to their mom when they were little, and we laughed and laughed at childhood memories and stories. There were also tears shed as children recounted special moments with mom. It was wonderful--one of those few-and-far-between experiences. We were so glad we were there.

Sunday some of us had to take off in the morning.

Eric and I went to Church and then came back to chat with everyone else before the rest of us headed out.

Just as we were the first ones to arrive, we ended up being the last ones to leave. Our flight was three hours after most of the others, so we took our time driving back into Denver. We stopped at some scenic views on our way, saw a nature reserve museum and Buffalo Bill's gravesite.

I think my favorite part of the trip, besides Saturday night, was getting to do this:

Even though I was uncomfortable on the airplane, and had a really hard time sleeping that weekend, I was happy to have the chance to just sit next to Eric and hold his hand, or lay my head on his shoulder. Instead of trying to keep my kids from kicking the seat in front of them, quiet them down during a tantrum, or be in and out of the lavatory with them the whole flight, it was great to just sit and read while enjoying my chocolate chip cookie. (Isn't that the best snack? We were pretty impressed with Frontier Airlines.)

We didn't get home until almost 2:00 am Sunday night/Monday morning, but we were happy to get up so we could go see our kids! It's nice to have time away so you realize how much you love them and how huge a part of your life they are. When we walked in the door at our friends' house, Jolie was waiting and ran up to us and hugged us. Then Mierae saw us from downstairs and smiled a huge smile, ran to us and hugged us. They had such a great weekend with all of the four families who watched them. Even though they were happy to see us, they didn't want to leave! We tried to smooth things over by taking them out for donuts before we had to get them to a dermatologist appointment that morning. That cheered them up. :)

Eric and I are still trying to recover from the weekend. Yesterday I fell asleep and was late picking up Jolie from preschool! And last night I fell asleep on the couch after our long bout with Mierae about going to bed, and sweet Eric put some foam on the floor to make a bed so he could sleep next to me.

We're happy to be back in the routine with the kids, and even though we're back to bedtime fights and grumpy mornings getting off to school, we're so happy with the life and family we have. Eric's mom said on our last day together, "this is what having joy in your posterity is."

Family is everything.

Fall Fun

2010-10-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

The last weekend in September we made the trek to our favorite apple-picking spot: Granville Orchard. It's so fun to be outside in the cool fall air and let the girls run loose between rows of trees. We didn't get our very favorite varieties this year, but we got lots of others.

After apple picking, we drove to Utica to the Velvet Ice Cream Factory. The kids played on the playground and we ate a picnic lunch before digging into ice cream. It was pretty chilly outside, so Jolie tried to stay bundled up.

After the ice cream factory, we stopped at another orchard to get a free pumpkin, and bought a few others for the kids to each have their own to decorate. (I didn't get all the pics I wanted--the camera was acting up that day.)

Last week Jolie's preschool had a fall activity for families that we got to go to. We had dinner, went on a hayride (Mierae was grumpy because the driver honked the horn and it scared her), watched apples get pressed into juice, hammered holes into pumpkins, and played in the sand.

We are loving Fall!

It Only Took Us Six Years

2010-10-11T13:34:00.006-04:00

We finally went to an OSU football game--the Indiana game on Saturday. We cheered. We clapped. We watched the marching band perform. We baked in the sun. And after half-time when the Buckeyes were up 31-0, my over-seven-months pregnant body told me it was okay to leave.

We had a good time, and are really glad we finally made it, even though it wasn't a highly anticipated or especially exciting game. (But this weekend the Buckeyes received #1 ranking in the nation!) A big thanks goes to the friends who made us go, and to the other friends who watched our kids!

Go Bucks!

Jolie's First Day

2010-10-03T10:17:00.000-04:00

Not to be left out, Jolie also started school. She's loving preschool again. It's nice to have my mornings free again, although the time goes by SO fast! I eat breakfast and start on a project, only to find that half-way through it's time to leave to pick up Jolie already. Whenever I ask Jolie what she did at school, she always says "I ate dinner!" She gets pretty excited about food. Yesterday she told me all about how she tried the broccoli, white broccoli, and cooked carrots--she tried them and she liked them! She can't ever remember doing anything else at school, although she did mention playing in the sandbox the other day. :) I'm happy that she's enjoying her time, and that she's getting really interested in learning all of her letters now and how to sound them out and write them down.

Her favorite thing to do when she gets home is play on the computer. Sometimes she'll play what I think she should play, but most of the time she wants to play on Barbie.com like Mierae.

It's been fun to have our time together. She likes me to play Barbies with her, even though I get really sleepy after about five minutes and usually end up on the couch or on her bed in her room as she keeps playing. Sometimes we watch movies or make treats. And Mierae has been so much nicer to Jolie lately when she gets home from school. Maybe it's because they realize how much they miss each other. But I love to see how they HAVE to give each other a hug and kiss good-bye in the mornings and how excited they are to be home together again.

Not Exempt

2010-10-02T13:44:00.000-04:00

I have heard so many horror stories from moms about kids with scissors. My own sister took a pair of shears to my mom's curtains when we were little, and those slits remained as long as the curtains did. I've heard of older siblings cutting their siblings' hair or gouging their mom's eye accidentally with scissors. I thought we were so lucky that we hadn't had any serious mishaps with scissors at our house.

I should have knocked on wood.

Just before school started, Mierae and Jolie were doing an art project with scissors. Eric stepped away for less than a minute, and when he came back, locks of beautiful golden hair were lying on the living room carpet: Mierae had finally done it--cut off her little sister's hair. It isn't quite as bad when they cut their own hair (Mierae pretended to be Mulan a few years ago and tried to cut her hair like Mulan does with a sword). But when a child cuts her sibling's hair, it's somehow a different story.

We'd been talking about trimming the girls' hair for a while, but neither of them wanted to. And I wasn't going to force it on them. Mierae apparently decided spur of the moment that Jolie should be ready. It was the night before we took family pictures.

Then Mierae decided she wanted in on the attention and cut her own hair. Right in the front. (But thankfully, not as short and awful as it could have been.)

So both girls got their hair cut (after we took family pictures--I kept their hair back in bows or headbands as best I could for the photo shoot).

Jolie's hair sorely needed to be trimmed anyway--we had never cut it! (Although it hurts my heart to see how beautiful her long locks were.) I didn't want to cut Mierae's hair ALL off, so she has some "layers" in the front that will hopefully hurry up and grow long enough to tuck behind her ear. I was hoping Mierae's wouldn't have to be cut for a while. But, now they have matching haircuts, and I have to admit that they do look pretty cute.

Now the hard part is waiting patiently for it to grow again.

It's going to take a while: Jolie took the scissors to her hair again last weekend.

Summer Sum Up

2010-09-14T16:18:00.000-04:00

Our local summer fun at a glance:

Upper Arlington Spring Fest

Alum Creek Beach

Picnic dinners at the park

Bunny Fountains

Swimming at Daddy's school

Roasting marshmallows on the back patio

Swimming with friends at our old apartment complex

Soaking up the sun with the neighbors

More bunny fountains

Free Chick-Fil-A day

Birthday parties (photo taken by my friend)

Upper Arlington Summer Fest

The zoo!! (with lots of time at the new polar bear exhibit)

Ice cream sundaes with friends

Last time at the beach

At Long Last

2010-09-10T22:02:00.008-04:00

Once upon a time there was this mom. She was just an ordinary mom, who had two beautiful little girls. The older daughter was going into Kindergarten; the younger daughter going back to Preschool. Now, this mom enjoyed summertime with her two girls. It's always fun to go to the Bunny Fountains and end up getting soaked when you don't wear your swimsuit; or go to the pool at your old apartment complex and swim in the shade on a hot evening; or stay inside with a fan blowing the cold air from the A/C right at you while you watch your kids play with Polly Pockets. But this mom was actually ready to see it all go. She was looking forward to the structure of a school day and a schedule for the week. And, honestly, time away from the drama of her 5-year-old.

The week before school started the older daughter began to lament over the bus ride on the first day of school. Who would she sit by? Where would she go when she got to school? How would she know what to do? There were many tears and outbursts of frustration that her mom and dad wouldn't just drive her on her first day. No amount of reassurance that her close friend was riding the bus with her would soothe her anxiety.

The morning arrived, and the little girl was still as nervous as ever. The parents promised her that if she really was too scared, they would walk her to school; it would be too crazy to drive her. They all left the house early for the bus stop.

In plain view on the way there was the little girl's close friend, waiting with her Dad, at the bus stop.

Some subdued adoration over backpacks and lunch totes was exchanged. Then the moment came. The bus pulled up. And the little girl timidly walked with her friend to the open door, climbed the big steps, and walked down the aisle of the yellow school bus. Finally, she realized that her friend really was going to sit by her. There really was nothing to be afraid of. And it was even kind of exciting!

As the parents and younger daughter looked through the bus window at the new Kindergartener, she smiled a huge smile at them and waved reassuringly. Then the bus drove away.

That afternoon when the mom and younger sister picked up the older daughter at the bus stop, the new Kindergartener couldn't contain her excitement over the first day of school and literally jumped up and down as she recounted:

"It was SO fun! It was SO fun! It was SO fun! We had three recesses! And we drew pictures! And we got to play outside THREE times! And I ate breakfast and lunch! And it was SO FUN!"

The younger sister was happy to have the Kindergartener home with her again.

The mom was happy for the Kindergartener. She knew her daughter would love school and was happy the drama over the bus was over and that they could all just focus on the fun activities at school now.

The mom and younger daughter had some great days at home those first days of school. The mom grew to really appreciate how different the two girls' personalities were, and basked in the calm, quiet, easy-going nature of her younger daughter. They read books, watched PBS Kids, colored, played with toys, and played computer games.

And when the Kindergartener came home each day, it was magical to see the excitement displayed on her face, just as vivid as the day before. She was always happy to tell how her day went, what they did in class, who she talked to, and what events were coming up. The mom loved it, and looked forward to the daily news on the way home from the bus, seeing these exchanges as the highlight of each school day and rejoicing that she is able to be there for her children at their crossroads.

Well, that would have been a happy enough ending, but the drama never ceases with this new Kindergartener. On the second day of school, Mierae got a blister on her hand from playing on the monkey bars. And because she is more afraid that something MIGHT hurt than she is afraid of actual pain, trying to get her to cut off the dead skin so the blister could heal was as easy as asking her to cut off her hand. Add to that her I-don't-know-how-many months of sleep deprivation because she refuses to go to bed at night, and we had screams and shrieks and outbursts and weeping and wailing that night. It was the first time she went to bed at a decent hour, though. She was such a different person the next day.

Her daily accounts haven't always been positive either. One day she told of how she was squished at the lunch table, couldn't open the plastic wrap on her cookie, didn't have enough time to eat before she was scooted out to recess, and another classmate made her mad by saying she wasn't coloring her picture the right way. Well, I felt SO bad about wrapping her cookie in plastic wrap, not knowing she wouldn't be able to open it. She said she was too shy to raise her hand to ask for help, and ended up biting through the package to try to eat it! She'd already had a hard time eating much at all during lunch. Eric and I vowed to only use Ziplock bags or Tupperware containers after that. And lunch has seemed to be better since then.

But then another morning when she was in the tub, she was saying how she hated school because she was there all day until dinnertime and didn't have time to play Polly Pockets anymore.

Sigh.

At least she seems to be happy overall. I'm proud of all she's learning, and that she is following the rules, being a good listener, and a hard worker.

P.S. Here is Mierae the day she hurt her hand (with her crazy playing-in-the-heat-during-afternoon-recess hair), then on pajama party day, and school picture day.

Anniversary

2010-09-07T10:40:00.005-04:00

Eric and I finally got around to celebrating our anniversary. We had plans for one Saturday evening, but the day ended up going a lot differently than we had planned.

Eric was working on replacing the brakes in our Nissan Sentra at a friend's house. He thought it would take a few hours, like the last time he'd done it, and that he'd even make it to the park to catch the end of a birthday party I'd taken the girls to. When I got a call from him during lunch saying they had to drive to an auto parts store to borrow a tool, it should have been my first sign that the day wasn't going to go well. The tool they borrowed broke, so he had to go back and get a replacement. He ended up being gone from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm, and the brakes still weren't replaced when he came home. We were supposed to go out to dinner and to a movie, leaving at 5:00. Obviously that didn't happen. I was, of course, in tears before he even came home. We tried to salvage the evening by getting blizzards at Dairy Queen, but when your kids are climbing over the booths, screaming and throwing their spoons on the floor, the loss of a quiet evening out stings even more!

We were so happy our friends who were going to watch the kids were so accommodating--they offered to watch them the next weekend instead, so we could still do what we had planned to do the first time around. We went to dinner at "Bravo" and had a great meal, plus a free dessert for our anniversary (warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream on top), and then went to see "Eclipse." It's too bad we didn't love the movie. We were actually glad we hadn't spent the extra money to see it right when it first came out. But we had an entire evening to ourselves. And to top it off, the kids both fell asleep on the way home. We couldn't have asked for a better night.

P.S. The brakes did eventually get fixed. We took the car to a different mechanic, one that a friend had recommended. It ended up costing over $100 less than our first estimate, which was great, but a little more frustrating that Eric had wasted a day already trying to save that money in the first place. And the guy who fixed the car said the brakes still had 30% wear left.... At least we got to go out to lunch the day it was worked on. Mierae was at school, but Jolie came along and enjoyed lunch at Panera with us. Another anniversary deal--one meal was free! :)

Utah 2010

2010-08-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

We don't necessarily have a traditional trek back "home" every year. But in hopes of attending a wedding and two reunions one weekend, plus another reunion the next week, we decided to make the drive west again this year. We unfortunately didn't get in on the wedding (it ended up being rescheduled earlier), but we did get in on everything else. Here are some highlights from our trip.

Finally telling my family that we were expecting, and being able to tell them the baby's gender at the same time! (They couldn't believe we waited so long to tell them!)

Packing two garbage bags full of maternity clothes, and two of baby boy clothes to borrow.

Jolie crawling into bed with my parents one night (and my parents being so sweet about it).

Unpacking from one reunion while trying to pack for another one.

Meeting my newest two nieces and nephew for the first time.

All of my sisters finally being all together for an hour on our last night, complete with warm chocolate chip cookies my sister baked that night, and ice cream.

The girls playing with their cousins as if no time had passed.

Staying with my family in a Girls' Camp cabin all together (oh, how I wish my kids would have gone to bed so we could have stayed up with the adults playing a game or watching a movie, though).

Being so exhausted, multiple times, that I just cried.

Staying in a 6-bedroom cabin with Eric's family at Bear Lake.

Eric falling into the Provo River as he was trying to help the girls NOT to.

The girls playing for our whole 3-day trip home with the Polly Pockets, My Little Ponies, and Strawberry Shortcake toys they inherited from their cousin.

Watching my mom on a zipline.

Getting in on $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point. (Children's Garden)

And on our last night as Eric was putting the kids to bed, Mierae said, "Dad, when you're done with high school, can we move to Utah?" :)

We survived the three family reunions, and even had a great time at them. :)

The Hendriksen Reunion at Hobble Creek: (the girls loved playing with my aunt's dog and getting muddy in the river)

The Hill Reunion at the Heber Valley Camp: (where I ate more than I have my whole pregnancy, and got the chance to catch up with lots of cousins)

The Hull Reunion at Bear Lake (where we found out Eric's cousin's wife, whom we got to know in Washington last summer, is expecting a baby at the same time as us!)

And we also got in on some other Utah fun.

Bean Museum and Provo Bakery (even though we ended up Shirley's Bakery)

Backyard marshmallow roast

Picnic at Canyon Glen

Visiting some old Ohio friends, the Mumfords (Dinner was SO yummy, and we had such a fun time catching up! We seem to only be able to visit one friend each time we're in Utah. We were happy it was you guys!)

And stopping at Young's Jersey Dairy once we made it back across the country to Ohio (Eric isn't smiling because of two ginormous cankers in his mouth.)

As is usually the case, the trip was long and too short at the same time. It was hard to leave, but we were anxious to be done traveling. We are really hoping we won't have to drive to Utah again in the near future, though! Even though driving with kids is easier than flying, that three-day trip home wasn't the funnest. But we are always so glad for the times when we get to be together with our families. We love watching our kids play with their cousins and fall in love again with their grandparents. We miss you all already, and hope to see some of you this coming year!

Seven Years Good Luck

2010-08-19T17:05:00.000-04:00

I didn't think getting married in August was a bad time at all. In fact, it was the perfect time when we were in college. But now that all our family vacations seem to happen at the end of July through the beginning of August, and we have kids getting ready for school in the middle of August, our anniversary has almost passed us by for the second year in a row. We still haven't really celebrated (it was on Monday). An anniversary celebration to me means that Eric and I go out on a date, just the two of us, and at least go to dinner, or do something even funner. (We're hoping to make it to "Wicked" in the next two weeks; we'll keep our fingers crossed!) But at least we did get out and do something on Monday. After my half-day of teaching, we got ready to hit the road for another visit to Coco Key. They were having a special admission event where if you bring in a school supply, you get in for free. We showed up with our 1 cent notebooks from Staples, along with about 600 other people, and had three hours of fun. Jolie wasn't scared of the slides this time, and went all by herself on the small ones, and the bigger ones! We relaxed a little on the lazy river and enjoyed being together. On the way home Eric wanted to swing by the Velvet Ice Cream Factory in Utica, since it was probably the last chance we'd get to go there before we leave Ohio. When we got to the exit from Newark, it was closed for construction, so we spent the next half-hour on winding country roads trying to make our way toward ice cream. Jolie fell asleep on the way, and when we finally got there at dark, it was closed. Of course. Mierae was just falling asleep as we pulled in, but she woke up when we stopped. We let her get out to see the ducks and walk around for a minute before we just headed home. At least Mierae did fall asleep soon after we got going again, and Eric and I did have some quiet alone time in the van to end the evening.

Here are some highlights from our 7th year:

An adventurous trip home from Washington/Utah summer 2009 (at a reservoir in Kansas)

Going to Chicago in October

Buying our new computer

Thanksgiving in Detroit

Spending Christmas in Ohio with just our little family

Taking a trip to DC in January to see my brother's family

Eric's and my 30th birthdays

Going to a fabulous Columbus Symphony concert

Trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky for Spring Break

Trip to Boston in June

Summer Sunday evening walks

Mierae's 5th Birthday (at Sonic)

Fourth of July (Can you tell the kids took this pic? I love it, even though it's blurry.)

Free Chick-fil-A day

Summer visit to Utah (at the Bean Museum)

I love you, Eric! What a fun, busy year we've just had, and what a busy, exciting year this next one is going to be. I'm so glad I have you to share my life with.

Back to....

2010-08-17T22:13:00.003-04:00

The carefree days of summer are almost gone. We got home from our trip to Utah a little over a week ago, and since then we've been all about the "back to's:" back to work, back to the grind, back to life. With "back to school" all over the ads, on our minds, and on this month's calendar, here are some of the things we've been getting back to since arriving home.

Eric: Back to work

Eric always has good intentions of taking a few hours a day to work while we're on "vacation." Of course, we're too busy watching the kids, out having fun, or visiting family for him to really feel like he wants to pull himself away and work. But with a June graduation date that is looming nearer and nearer, Eric has a lot to do. So, we have reluctantly allowed him to stop spending every minute of every day with us. It's been hard. Believe me.

Mierae: Back to her 4-year-old behavior

I thought she was getting better. I really did. But once we got home and she wasn't being entertained by cousins and doing fun things almost every day, her behavior has troubled us again. And it has been hard facing bedtime again. It seriously is a nightmare some nights around here. Now, instead of holding out for her 5th birthday, we've had to start looking forward to when she's in all-day Kindergarten and will exhaust herself enough to collapse in bed at night without fighting us. In the meantime, we're trying to bask in all the conversations she'll have with us, without being silly, talking like a baby, or doing something to make us upset and then running away laughing about it.

Jolie: Back to wanting to wear underwear but not wanting to go on the toilet

We were NOT about to have Jolie ride in a car for three days straight, there and back, in her not-so-potty-trained state. So we bought Pull-Ups for her for the trip, and then continued using them for our entire vacation. We didn't want to risk accidents on my parents' brand-new carpet, or at someone else's home when it might never be detected. So, Jolie got even worse than she was before we left. We're trying again, but she just doesn't care. My only consolation is knowing I'm not the only mom who just hates potty training.

Robyn: Back to eating sweets

Yes, for the first half of my pregnancy, even the thought of sweets made me feel ill. No more late-night foam cups of ice cream, no desire for dessert, and not even a craving for chocolate. Sad, I know. But now that I'm feeling better, I have slowly been regaining that desire for something sweet. While we were in Utah, we had to indulge and get a pound of See's chocolates. I probably ate at least two or three of them each day on our drive home (they would have just melted anyway, right?!). And I started eating ice cream again. My new favorite flavor is chocolate chip. It's refreshing that my love of chocolate hasn't completely disappeared. :) I don't think I'll have to worry about soon gaining back those 5 pounds I lost in my first trimester!

Of course there are all those other things we're back to: I'm back to teaching flute lessons, we're back to our usual bedtime routine, and we're back to trying to organize and keep our house clean. Of all the things we've been getting back to, I've actually enjoyed doing the dishes and cleaning my house. (Eric, pick your jaw up off the floor.) Crazy, yes; but I guess once you've taken a break for so long, it's actually pleasurable to run your own home again.

We need to go on vacation more often.

Patience

2010-07-21T23:35:00.000-04:00

In October of 2007, I traveled to Utah alone with the kids while Eric went on another field trip. My cousin was getting married during the time I would be in Utah, but the wedding was in Texas. My wonderful parents made sure I had the opportunity to go to the wedding: they got me a plane ticket with theirs, and my oldest sister watched Mierae for me while we were gone. It was an amazing weekend in San Antonio. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland performed the sealing (my uncle was a mission president at the time and Elder Holland was there for a mission presidents' seminar) and I got to see so many extended family members there.

Beginning with a conversation I had with my cousin at the airport on the way there, I somehow started thinking more and more about having another baby. Jolie was only six months old then. We knew we wanted to have more kids, but didn't know for sure when it would happen. The more I thought about it, the more strongly I felt that it was time: there was a spirit waiting to come to our family. I was sure a baby would be on the way soon.

When six months went by, I thought maybe it was just that I was still nursing Jolie, and it would happen soon after she was weaned. We really tried to just enjoy the stages our kids were at and focus on the children we already had.

When a year had gone by, Eric and I didn't know what to think. Every month was a roller coaster of emotions, and we were getting really sad and discouraged. We wondered what we were doing wrong: was there something Heavenly Father wanted us to learn or do before He entrusted us with another one of His spirits? We had been praying every day, fasting every month. We felt answers to our prayers in calm assurance and peace, but a feeling that it wasn't necessarily going to happen right away....just at the right time.

After 18 months we both had check-ups with our doctors to make sure things were okay. Everything was normal. We felt really blessed that our two daughters had come pretty close together, and we thought if we weren't able to have any more children, we were just so happy we had the two that we did.

By this time we didn't stop hoping, but we really tried to leave it all up to Heavenly Father. We wanted to be patient and let things happen in His time.

Two years went by, and I finally got rid of a lot of old baby clothes and focused on being a mom of a preschooler and toddler.

On Easter morning in April, after 2 1/2 years, we finally got the answer we'd been waiting and hoping for: my pregnancy test was positive! What a wonderful morning to receive such a longed-for blessing!

Thinking over the timing we hadn't planned on, this pregnancy has actually come at a wonderful time. Jolie started preschool right when I began to get sick. While the girls were at school, I could sleep, or just rest, or plain feel sick without having to take care of my kids during those hours! But I also volunteered for field trips, so I was still able to get out and try to forget about being sick some days. Both girls are old enough to understand what's going on, and they are both so excited! We told them pretty early, knowing others would find out before we were ready to tell, but they were a little easier on me and somewhat understanding when I wasn't up to doing some things with them. It is fun to see their enthusiasm. They love to pat my tummy, loved going to all my doctor's appointments so far, and they're even thinking about toys they can get for the new baby. I know they will be great helpers when this little one comes at the beginning of December.

I am now 20 weeks along, feeling much better, and assured when our little one kicks and nudges me.

We had our ultrasound last week. The girls have both been saying they want another sister, and my doctor thought this one must be another girl. I had pretty much decided and planned on it being a girl. When we had the ultrasound, my doctor surprised me by saying she was going to guess it was a boy. And, BOY, was I surprised to learn that she was right! Of course Eric told me after the appointment that he thought it was a boy! :) Mierae has consigned herself to the fact that she's getting a brother and not a sister, but Jolie will not be moved. She'll probably be calling him her sister well after he's born!

This lesson in patience was probably a lot easier than others' tests, but, as always, it's a lot harder when you're in the middle of it. We feel very, very blessed, and can't wait to meet the newest Taylor. Christmas this year will be extra special.

(Top picture is his head; bottom one is his feet.)

Now I just have one question: what do I do with a boy?!

Independence Day 2010

2010-07-05T22:21:00.005-04:00

We were so excited to be in Columbus for the 4th of July this year. We missed the festivities when we were in Washington last summer (even though we thoroughly enjoyed being with extended family then). There's just something about traditions at home.

The kids fought us going to bed (Hmmm, have you heard me say this before?) on Friday night, not settling down until after 11:00. So, we weren't up bright and early for the Upper Arlington parade. But, we did make it to most of it, sitting in our usual spot at the end of the parade. The girls LOVED it, so I'm glad we went, even if they weren't excited about it before we got there

After the parade we went swimming at the RPAC on campus. The water felt warmer than it usually does, and we had a great time playing together. After an indoor picnic, the girls watched a movie downstairs while Eric and I started "Avatar" upstairs. Needless to say, we didn't finish our movie before the kids jumped onto our bed and wanted to watch it with us. (We ended up finishing it super late that night after the fireworks, just because we weren't going to wait to see the end!)

It was already time to get ready to stake out our spot for the fireworks, so we got another picnic ready and headed out again. Of course Jolie finally decided to take a nap on the way to the park at 6:30. At least we were staying up late anyway!

We met our good friends at the park, and were so glad they decided to come up to Upper Arlington for the 4th, even though they'd just moved down to Grove City. They were awesome to bring all the entertainment for the night: snaps, sparklers, exploding confetti, glow necklaces.... Our kids loved it!

The kids were able to run and play on the grass and wrestle with the boys. :) We loved sitting and talking and enjoying the shade (there was not a cloud in the sky the whole day).

The fireworks show was awesome! I loved hearing Mierae ooh and ahh over the colors and formations of the fireworks while she was nestled in between two friends on the picnic blanket. It was such a great way to end the day's celebration.

On Sunday at Church the whole reason for the holiday was put into perspective as so many people shared their feelings about our country during Fast and Testimony meeting. I'm so proud to be an American.

Friends

2010-07-05T14:46:00.005-04:00

Last week some of our best friends moved. We're lucky that they're still in Ohio, even if they're about 2 hours away now. We tried to get in as much time with them as we could this summer before they left. Here are a few things we did:

Playdates, as often as possible

Splash pad in Powell

Mierae's birthday party, with lots of play time afterward (Mierae is wearing the adorable skirt Shellee made for her birthday gift!)

We also had a Memorial Day BBQ with them and one last playdate to say good-bye. It's been so fun to have our kids grow up together. Mierae and Deva have been best friends since before they were two. (Click here to read a post about them from about three years ago.) Whenever they get together it's as if no time has passed. Good luck in grad school, Chris! Can't wait to see you guys soon.

Mierae Turns Five

2010-07-04T18:37:00.013-04:00

We were playing outside the other night (in this GORGEOUS, dry, Ohio weather!), and as I looked at Mierae, thinking about how she's going to Kindergarten this year, I wondered where there last five years went. My oldest child couldn't possibly be old enough to go to school! But I am so excited for what is ahead of her, and I LOVE to watch her grow and learn. I can't say the magic worked overnight when she turned five (with the hard time I've had with her the last two months), but things have definitely gotten better, and I'm learning to love and appreciate Mierae more and more.

For a few days leading up to her actual birthday, we tried to help Mierae go to bed better by letting her open one birthday gift the next morning if she went to bed well that night. It worked pretty well for a couple of nights, and it was fun to see how excited she was to open her gifts and then have all day to play with them.

On her actual birthday, I was teaching lessons most of the day, but Eric made the day fun. He baked her special blueberry muffins for breakfast.

Then he took the kids to the play place at the grocery store and the park, and they ran errands for her birthday party. In the afternoon, Mierae opened the rest of her gifts. This year she got Barbies, Barbie movies, books, and new school clothes and pjs.

(Jolie got her pjs for her birthday in April, so they were finally able to match. I love that I can get Valentine's pjs on clearance and they still work any time of year for little girls!)

Then we headed out for a birthday dinner at Sonic. Mierae LOVES that place. It was fun to see how excited she was to go.

Tuesday morning was her party with her friends. Mierae had requested a 5-layer tiered chocolate cake with pink frosting and pink and purple sprinkles. I had every intention of fulfilling her wish, but when the kids wouldn't go to bed, AGAIN, the night before the party, Mierae finally consented to cupcakes, as long as they were chocolate, with pink icing, and sprinkles. :) Mierae decorated them herself.

We have a lot of neighbor friends where we live, and the guest list ended up being pretty long, even with all the friends from Church who couldn't make it. I think we had 14 kids packed into our little townhome.

We played a quick water relay game outside, just waiting for it to rain on us, and then came in to play the Disney Scene It game while eating snacks. After that we made friendship bracelets with beads and stretchy string. We were glad the boys were as into it as the girls! Then it was time for cake, ice cream, and gifts. (Here's Mierae's I'm-embarrassed-to-be-the-center-of-attention smile. :) But don't let it fool you--she loved being in the spotlight!)

Of course the time just slipped away from us, and parents came to pick up their kids before we knew it. But, it was a fun time, and Mierae felt really special. She loves her friends!

The next day we went to Target for Mierae to use a gift card she'd received from some friends. We can spend hours on the toy aisles at Target, just pushing buttons, admiring, trying out, and of course, asking for, toys. It was fun to give Mierae the exercise of having a budget as she browsed the selection and tried to choose what she'd like best. She ended up with just the thing I thought she'd want: a Barbie Merliah mermaid doll. She graciously allowed Jolie to play with the Barbie Merliah surfer doll she had received as a gift the day before, and it was nice to see them finally getting along while playing with new toys!

Eric met up with us at the store, and we went out to eat at Johnny Rocket's and then headed to Coldstone for Mierae's birthday ice cream. The girls enjoyed lying in the sun on the granite slabs outside of Coldstone.

The next afternoon I took the kids to the mall for Mierae to get her free cookie cake slice and play at the spaceship playland. Then a few days later we made sure to go to Culver's to get Mierae's birthday frozen custard, right after swimming with our friends at our old apartment's pool. The day after that went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. (We have never gone out to eat so often, ever!) This restaurant trip worked out perfectly for all of us: Mierae had a free kid's meal for her birthday, and I got a $25 gift card from my dentist for bringing in Jolie as a new patient in the spring. Awesome! It was fun to try someplace new, and it was wonderful to be able to let the kids run around at the mall playland just around the corner from the restaurant.

Mierae, we love you! We hope you felt special on your birthday this year with so many friends, grandparents, and family members remembering and showing love for you.

Letter to Mierae

2010-07-04T17:55:00.000-04:00

Letter written March 2010
Photo taken July 3, 2010

Dear Mierae,

I have been watching you in awe lately; I cannot believe that my firstborn baby is so big. I think going to preschool has made you grow up a lot. You are learning new words and have great conversations with us. You are really learning to recognize all your letters. You even spelled out a word on paper yesterday: P-L-E-S: "please." I was so proud of you! You love to read stories, and have started listening to books on CD. Your favorite stories are still princess, Barbie and Dora & Diego, but you love to hear new stories too.

You are such a good help with Jolie. You always encourage her to obey and try to help her when she needs something. When we went to the mall to play a few weeks ago, Jolie didn't want to go and ran in the opposite direction from us when we were walking to the van. I was tired of trying to get her to come, so I said I was leaving. You just started crying and said, "Don't leave her, Mommy!" And you called to Jolie and tried to get her to obey and come with us. Thank you for obeying and always trying to do the right thing.

You love to do things all by yourself. You choose your clothes (a skirt or dress everyday, along with pants or tights we make you wear), and you still love to dress-up. You and Jolie pretend play so well with each other. I LOVE to hear you calling each other by your pretend names and watch you pretend to go to school or the grocery store together.

You are very curious and want to know what people are doing and how things work. Sometimes your curiosity comes when you should be going to bed. When Mommy and Daddy went to the symphony last week, Paul and Anita were here to watch you. When you should have been in bed, Paul heard you whisper to Jolie at your bedroom door, "Jolie, open the door and see if someone's watching." :) Paul told us about that when we got home, and it made us laugh.

One of your favorite things to do is paint. You told me last week that you want to be a painter when you "get big." I don't let you do it very often, because I really don't like it when paint gets on your clothes or in the house. But, I'll try to be more encouraging if it's what you love. You also love ballet and gymnastics. I hope you can take lots more classes of both this year.

You have been singing along to the Barbie movie soundtracks and your favorite songs lately. I love to hear you sing! It's so fun that you've learned the words to your Primary songs too, and you sing them for us at Family Home Evening. Your favorite songs right now are "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," the song you call "Ahh" from the "Twilight" soundtrack, and the "Barbie: Diamond Castle" soundtrack songs.

You LOVE to watch "Barbie" movies. I'm glad that they are good movies and teach good things, and I even enjoy watching them with you.

I love you so much, Mierae. I love your laugh, your smiles, hugs and kisses. I always want what is best for you, and hope you know everyday how much I love you.

Love,
Mom

A Grand Day Out

2010-06-19T12:37:00.005-04:00

It's Mierae's 5th birthday on Monday, so I was reflecting on what we've done for her last birthdays. When she turned 3, we planned an overnight trip to CocoKey Waterpark in Newark. It was so much fun, we knew we had to go back. But a year went by, and then several more months before we finally got the chance to go back. Last month we spent a Saturday at the indoor waterpark again, and it was probably even more fun than the first time.

Mierae LOVED going down ALL of the slides she could, and her energy never waned. We left after a few hours to go have a picnic lunch, and we were right back inside enjoying the water again. Jolie on the other hand didn't want to go down a single slide. We couldn't convince her to try even once, the whole day. But she enjoyed throwing balls, sitting in the hot tub, floating on the lazy river, and splashing in the kiddie pool. Eric and I made sure we each got the chance to sneak away and go down the big tube slides.

We had a pizza dinner there at the park, and made sure to stop for dessert on the way home.

It was a really fun day. We knew the kids would be out as soon as we hit the road.

What we didn't expect was that Mierae would wake up when we got home and stay awake for another two hours! Sigh. Things have been going better there, thankfully. Only two more days until she's five.... The change will be like magic, right?! :)

If You Plant It, It Will Grow

2010-06-15T20:44:00.004-04:00

At a Primary activity a while back, both girls were able to plant a green bean seed. We haven't done much of anything with seeds or plants because we haven't had anywhere to put them. But the girls were diligent about watering their seeds, and within a few days, lo and behold, green shoots began to push through the dirt.

We found a better spot to put the plants in the house, hoping they would get more sun, and would occasionally take them outside. I knew we needed to re-pot them from their little paper cups, but we didn't get around to getting potting soil forever, and then got a bad bag. In the meantime, one of the plants was just shooting up. Mierae got so excited about it, but when I asked my friend for help with our gardening adventure, she said the plant was reaching for the sun. Oops. Oh, and she told me that once the plant was getting blossoms, we needed to get it outside so it could be pollenated by the bees. Oh, right. Of course it does! (You'd think I'd know more about gardening since we usually had a garden when I was growing up! But, I guess I really didn't help much! Sorry, Mom. All those summer mornings I slept in instead of getting up to weed....)

Well, Eric finally got around to re-potting the plants and putting them outside, and then they were pounded in a rainstorm. The tall plant's stem got bent, and we thought it had died. Eric tried to prop it up with sticks, and then plastic forks, but we thought it was gone. Just a few days later though, we were surprised to find that each plant had two green beans growing on it. We were so excited! It was hard to wait until the perfect time to pick them; Mierae couldn't resist! So after she picked one green bean, I had to take a picture of our beloved green bean plants and the fruits of our labor.

Lucky for us, our kids LOVE green beans. (Personally, I hated them when I was a kid!)

After enjoying the spoils that afternoon, the girls then proceeded to throw leftover potting soil at the back door and got it all over the patio. Not my favorite day. Another reason why being a mom is hard: I HATE messes!

On the Road Again

2010-06-07T22:21:00.014-04:00

Our little family can't seem to stay put for too long without getting the travel bug. But our recent trip to Boston just fell into our laps, so we had to take advantage of a complimentary stay at Marriott's Custom House in downtown Boston as it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! A huge thanks to Eric's sister Christine for letting us use her timeshare!

We had a busy Memorial Day--we were in charge of a breakfast for our ward that morning, then Eric helped our dear neighbors move, then we made a run to the mall for a few errands, and ended the day with a barbecue with more great friends. It was a fun day, just really busy. We had to pack and get ready to leave the next morning all on Monday night.

After an exhausting 15-hour trip, we made it to our destination Tuesday night. Of course the girls had slept at odd times in the van, so they were wide awake when we drove in at 11:00 p.m. and weren't interested in going to bed. It made for a hard first day of the trip, but we tried to make the most of it.

Our hotel was basically across the street from the Aquarium, so we headed there first thing Wednesday morning. We saw fur seals, harbor seals, penguins, jellyfish, sea turtles, and sharks; and the girls were able to pet jellyfish, sea stars, and hermit crabs.

We ate lunch outside on the pier, and even saw a show about deep sea fish in the IMAX theater.

The kids had a great time, when they weren't whining about going back to the hotel to eat a brownie, or refusing to watch the harbor seal show because they were hungry. But we tried to enjoy the day and see everything we could.

The girls got a little bit of down time in the afternoon playing in the playroom of the hotel on the 20th floor. This place was amazing!

Oh, and here's the outside of the hotel where we stayed.

And this is what greeted us each time we came back to our room. (It was so nice having the bedroom with the king-sized bed in a separate room.)

For dinner our first night we headed out to Faneuil Hall to eat at Quincy Market, also right next to the hotel. We couldn't believe how many shops and restaurants were there. After seeing huge frosted brownies, giant cookies and chocolate dipped everything, the girls only wanted sweet things for dinner. But we got some clam chowder that was a hit with everyone, and got some vegetables with a Chinese meal. (Can you tell how grumpy Mierae was? A day after having little sleep did not go over well.)

We enjoyed watching a unicycler on the square juggling and doing other tricks. After dinner we even ate some gelato out on the street before returning to our hotel.

The kids were way overtired by this point, and unbelievably it took two hours for them to go to bed! I was nervous about our next day after such a horrible night again. But our time was already half over.

Thursday we went straight to the Children's Museum and decided to let the kids do their thing. It was an incredible museum!

There was so much to do there, we probably could've spent two whole days there without repeating an activity. The kids, of course, loved it. We took a break from playing for a little while to eat a snack out on the Harborwalk, but went right back to playing after that.

On the way back to the hotel later that afternoon, we stopped at some fountains right on Atlantic Ave. There were already lots of kids playing in them, so Eric ran across the street to the hotel to get swimsuits for the kids so they could play too.

It was lots of fun, until Mierae got blasted right in the eye and ended up screaming for about five minutes. We headed back to the hotel after that and had a very calm evening in. We ate dinner in the hotel, and because of a sudden downpour, we didn't go out on a walk like we had planned and actually got Mierae to bed by 7:45. Jolie had fallen asleep in the stroller earlier, so she wasn't ready to settle down. But she was calm, so we got in some Alton Brown on the Food Network together before bed.

By this time, we were out of time. And there were so many things I wanted to see still! We didn't get the chance to walk on Newbury St and go to the Public Gardens and ride in the swan boats. We hadn't walked the Freedom Trail, or gone anywhere fancy for great seafood. So Friday morning, after we checked out of the hotel, we walked up to the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house, because I just couldn't leave Boston without doing those things. The girls weren't super excited about it, but they were good enough sports, and I got to take my picture with Paul Revere.

Here's the Old North Church:

And Paul Revere's house:

We wanted to break up the drive home and thought about going to Niagara Falls or Hershey, PA on the way. When we asked the kids if they wanted to see a giant waterfall or go to a chocolate factory, of course the answer was chocolate. :) The kids were so excited when we finally got to Hershey and LOVED the tour ride.

We chose some treats, and then we were on the road again. We were hoping to find a place to stay in Hershey for the night, but it was too expensive. So, Eric and I took turns driving home in some horrible rain and thunder storms. Eric did most of the late night/early morning driving. We didn't get home until after 3:00 a.m. Poor Eric was so tired! It was a hard day Saturday getting adjusted back to normal life, and I don't think we've recovered yet (!), but we were so glad we made the trip.

Letter

2010-05-19T09:49:00.002-04:00

Dear Abby, or Dr. Sears, or Editor, or Dr. Phil, or whoever will listen:

For the last week and a half my darling little 4-year old has been an absolute terror. If I tell her no, she starts to kick, hit, bite, yell, or throw things at me. The other day she stole the glasses from off my face. She does this at bedtime as well, most specifically RIGHT when we are trying to pray as a family. She kicks, fights, runs away, bugs her little sister: anything but what we're asking her to do. We've had the same routine for a year and a half, and she thrives on routines, but something is VERY wrong.

Last night we tried to leave the room until she calmed down, but she ended up banging on the door with her scooter. Once the scooter was removed, she tried library books on her bedroom door. After those were put away, she bit her sister on the arm. Hard. We finally abandoned the leave-her-in-her-room idea, and separated the kids. After another hour of trying to read to her, lie down with her so she'd stay in bed, ask her nicely to please close her eyes and hold her body still, she was still kicking around and doing everything she could to keep herself awake. We resorted to going for a drive. The 3-year-old fell asleep finally, but the 4-year-old?! OH, NO. And after 10:00 she was still asking for drinks, for anything, not settling down. My husband and I are tired. And we're tired of not seeing each other. And we're tired of getting hit, and kicked, and pinched. This has gone on EVERY night for the past week and a half. And it seems like all my kids do all day is hit and fight over toys and who runs the fastest. I'm getting tired of this. Is this just a phase, or is there SOMETHING I can do!?

HELP!!!

Sincerely,
Going crazy in Columbus

Jolie Goes to School

2010-04-30T14:33:00.003-04:00

Remember way back last Fall when Mierae first started preschool? She had a little shadow that went everywhere with her. She followed Mierae to her cubby, sat down at the same table, and wanted to eat the same breakfast. Everyday. That little shadow even started eating lunch with Mierae, and got lots of practice for the day when she would be a real preschooler.

Well, now that little shadow has turned 3, and she has suddenly become a big girl. Jolie is in preschool! She's across the hall from Mierae. And she loves it. And her teachers love her. And I love how I have four mornings a week without my kids, knowing that they are very happy where they are.

Now the big question is "What am I doing with all that free time?" Uh, I'll get back to you on that one....

Jolie is Three

2010-04-14T22:33:00.005-04:00

Eric and I are still wondering how our baby got to be three years old. This last year went by really fast, and our baby is growing up! We didn't plan a special party for Jolie this year, and the celebrations aren't yet over, but I wanted to post about what we did on her actual big day.

In the morning we let Jolie open two of her presents, both Barbies, for her to choose which one she wanted on her cake. She shared the second doll very nicely with Mierae, and they had a ball playing with new dolls in the morning while I frosted and Eric helped a friend move.

A card had arrived from Grandma that Jolie was excited to open after Dad came home.

Then we went to the playland at the ice cream store because Jolie requested it for her birthday. We ran into two birthday parties going on, but still managed to find room to slide, play basketball, and play scare hide-and-seek. Jolie chose her favorite purple ice cream (black raspberry chip).

We called a few close friends to invite them over for cake and ice cream in the afternoon.

And then played outside with all our friends, like we've been doing almost every day since the weather starting warming up. The neighbor kids thought it was Jolie's party, and I wasn't about to argue. We ended up bringing more cake outside and sharing it all around.

Jolie started getting feverish outside and ended up falling asleep at 6:30. She woke up to the rest of her birthday gifts.

And then she and Mierae proceded to fight over them all day (home sick from Church). If only all little girls didn't like Polly Pockets and Barbies.... But, it's my lesson in patience and their lesson in sharing!

We are so blessed to have Jolie in our family. She is very loving and always says she's sorry when she does something to hurt someone else. She loves to dance and will drop everything and start swinging her hips whenever she hears music begin to play. She loves to play with Mierae and wants to do everything Mierae does. She has a horrible sweet tooth and is unstoppable when any candy is placed in front of her: she will eat it until it's ALL gone. And then ask for more. We sure love her. Happy Birthday, Jolie Polie.

Easter Weekend

2010-04-14T22:32:00.000-04:00

It has been fun to remember what we've done to celebrate holidays from past years with the kids. It's even more fun to continue great traditions. For Easter this year we were able to continue some old traditions and do a few new activities.

Since Easter Sunday this year coincided with General Conference, we gave the girls their Easter skirts and shoes the Sunday before Easter.

The zoo has a fun Easter activity every year. We got to go on the member preview night Friday and ride their mini-amusement park rides for free. We did this last year too, but it was MUCH less crowded then. Mierae was big enough to ride on the flying swings this year. When we got to the front of the line to see if Jolie was tall enough, she missed the mark by 1 inch, so she couldn't go. She was SO disappointed and just cried as I took her away. I didn't get a pic of Mierae because I was consoling Jolie by waiting in another line for a ride she could go on. But here are the other activities we did:

We made sure to go to Duckling Day at Whetstone Library. We were late, but still got in on some fun. Instead of including a free book in their goodie bags this year, they had a coupon for a free book at their upcoming Friends of the Library Book Sale. We are excited to go and choose our free books next month.

When we got home, inbetween sessions of Conference, we made Rice Krispies nests with M&M eggs. Mierae wanted to be sure to give some to our neighbors, her new best friends, from Sudan.

And here are the girls Easter morning finding their Easter "buckets." (The store was all out of baskets by the time we got there. Eric picked some up on clearance from a different store a few days later for next year!)

We had a great morning going to the Church to watch General Conference. I'm always amazed at how much I am touched when I watch Conference. It is such a spiritual feast; I always feel like my spirit has been starving and just can't get enough. Now I just need to review the talks as often as possible to keep that feeling.

We had a fun dinner with friends that night to end our day. It was a fun weekend.

Spring

2010-04-13T21:18:00.007-04:00

The first day of Spring, we, along with a lot of our friends, spent the evening enjoying free Italian ices at Rita's.

We've had picnics away,

and picnics at home;

visits to the playground;

games on our lawn with the neighbors,

and Eric grew out a goatee as long as he could stand it. :)

We also enjoyed a short trip together to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky during Mierae's Spring Break.

On our trip we ate out,

had pillow fights,

did a lot of hiking (Eric and Robyn), and a lot of piggy-backing (Mierae and Jolie),

rode on a bus,

explored caves,

looked up at the stars, and slept all together in a 2-man tent...

...and never wanted to go home (Mierae and Jolie--Eric and I were very anxious to go home and have our kids go to bed at a decent hour!)

It was fun making the memories.

Eric's a geek

2010-03-23T11:29:00.002-04:00

The other day I was pondering the purpose of buying granola bars. Yes, they are tasty and I love them, but are they really worth the money? So I then questioned what real nutritional benefit they give over chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and whether they have more or less sugar and fat and so forth. I didn't have any oatmeal cookies on hand, so I took a Nature Valley cashew sweet and salty granola bar and placed it on one end of a 12 inch ruler and on the other end I put two chocolate chip cookies. Then I put the ruler on my kids' dough roller (I just forgot the word for those!) and they were the same weight. I did all this because I don't have a scale. In the end Robyn and I figured that two cookies have about 8 grams of sugar compared to my granola bar, which has 12 grams. So, if you add some oatmeal to those, why not just skip the more expensive granola bar and bake up some great cookies (freeze them and then you can take two for your snack anytime). So, next time you think that eating a cookie is bad for you, just remember that it might actually be just as bad to eat a granola bar. We aren't concerning ourselves with fat, of course. That's another matter entirely. Cookies, anyone?

Favorite Concerts

2010-03-09T20:52:00.004-05:00

Last week during our awesome outing to the Columbus Symphony, Robyn and I tried to compose a list of must-hears. These are pieces that you must absolutely hear live in a concert hall. Here is Eric's list. What would be on yours?

(Not in any particular order)

1. Gustav Holst's "The Planets"

2. Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9 Choral"

3. Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol"

4. Camille Saint-Saens' "Organ Symphony"

5. Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" or Ralph Vaughan-Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis"

6. Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite"

7. Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite"

8. Hector Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique"

9. Mahler's "Symphony No. 1, Titan"

10. Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" suite