Wednesday, 2 March, 2005

About a month ago, I was upstairs getting ready for the day and heard someone downstairs emptying the dishwasher.  I checked to see that Chris was already working in his office and Misha was jumping on my bed or some equally amusing activity.  Amy did a great job emptying the dishes and placed those she couldn’t reach on the counter, or those that she didn’t know where to put.  I was proud of her not only for doing it, but also for taking the initiative to do it on her own.

 Last week for Family Home Evening, we started a new tradition for our family.  It was something that Chris’ family did while he was growing up called “The Best.”  One person in the family was picked to be “The Best” and everyone else got to say why they thought that person was the best.  We started with Misha (although that certainly miffed Amy to not be chosen first) and we talked about her beautiful smile and happy personality.  Amy grudgingly came up with something–she can certainly have an attitude at times.  The person who is “The Best” also gets to pick out a treat from the candy jar.  This week for FHE, Amy got to be “The Best” and was obviously much happier about life.  Hopefully, though, both girls will learn that it is important to give praise and say nice things about family members and others as well.

Following our first “The Best” session, we talked with the girls about having a new baby in our house.  I brought one of their dolls along with a diaper, blanket, burp cloth, undershirt and pajamas to “practice” on.  Both Misha and Amy were able to dress the doll, starting with putting the diaper on complete to wrapping her up in a blanket.  Since Misha really hasn’t been around babies, and it has been awhile for Amy, we talked about holding a baby and making sure the head and neck were supported, to burping, to how the baby eats, etc.  I knew Misha really didn’t have a concept that a baby gets its food from the mommy, so we talked about nursing.  She ended up calling me a walking bottle.  It was fun to see their excitement and how well they paid attention.  In a few weeks, we’ll set up the cradle together.

I would like to be able to have the baby’s room ready when she is born, but as it is still Chris’ office, that’ll have to wait.  He will be moving to the basement, but was hoping to wait until it was warmer weather.  We will be painting the room this weekend though, which is always quite a project.

We also wanted to go away for one more short vacation with the girls before all of our lives changed so much.  The Trendwest resort that Chris’ parents are part of, now have accommodations in Estes Park (about 40 minutes away), which is ideal.  We booked a room for this coming Sunday and Monday night and plan to come back home in time to drop Amy off at school and let Chris get to work for the day.

Misha was jumping on the couch the other night (which she isn’t really supposed to do) and Chris asked, “Where did you get all your jumps?”  Without hesitation, she quickly responded, “From the jump factory.”  Anytime they ask a question on how do you make this, or how do you make that and I don’t know the answer, I tell them that there is a special factory where it is made.

We had planned a special family date for last weekend with dinner at Olive Garden and attending a BYU Young Ambassador’s performance in Denver.  The girls were excited to go and we left a little early to stop at a few stores along the way.  Misha complained a couple of times that she wasn’t feeling well and that her head hurt.  We tried to get her to rest thinking that she was simply overtired from not taking a nap.  As we arrived at Olive Garden, Misha still complained that she wasn’t feeling good.  I was just in the process of sitting down and reaching to pick her up to hold her when she threw up all over.  She got it mostly on the floor, but managed also to get my sweater and shoes, Amy’s jacket, socks and shoes, her own jacket and entire outfit.  She would have to get all of our jackets on a rather brisk evening.  And then she threw up again.  I felt sorry for the people sitting right in front of her because it wasn’t a pretty sight.  Chris was in the bathroom and taking his sweet time, so I finally grabbed both girls, our jackets and headed to the bathroom.  The staff said they would take care of the mess for us.  By the time Chris came out of the bathroom, the mess was cleaned up, and he thought that we were already seated.

Meanwhile, Misha was looking pathetic and was completely dirty.  I sent Amy out to find Chris in the lobby.  We headed to the car thinking that we just get new clothes and continue on with our evening since Misha kept saying she felt better.  WE should have known better.  There was an Old Navy right close to Olive Garden, so we headed over there, and found a new outfit for Misha, a jacket and socks for Amy in the 75% off section and got out of there for $20.  Misha says she got her new socks from Old Ladies.  We headed back to Olive Garden where I changed Misha and walked out of the bathroom looking fairly presentable. 

We probably should have just gone home, but we were past downtown Denver and both girls were looking forward to the evening.  Plus we had already spent $40 on the BYU Young Ambassador tickets.  Misha ate plain breadsticks and some noodles and acted fine.  The concert started at 7:30 and we arrived at 7 to get seats.  Misha was up and about but complained about not feeling well every so often.  We figured too that it was her bedtime and she was really tired by this time.  About 30 minutes into the first half of the performance, Misha fell asleep on Chris’ lap.  Amy was enjoying herself immensely.  The Young Ambassadors are a singing and dancing troupe and Amy was enthralled.  To make Misha more comfortable, I laid her on the floor on Chris’ leather jacket and the two new jackets we had purchased for Amy and her at Old Navy.  She probably slept for an hour, but suddenly halfway through the second hour, she turned to her side and started throwing up again.  We had brought a small plastic bag just for such an emergency, but she didn’t want anything to do with it and kept pushing it away.  Oh the stink.  Chris hurriedly moved his leather jacket out of the way, but the new jackets were covered.  We tried to clean up the mess as best we could, but I felt bad for the people who had to sit through the rest of the performance smelling her barf.

I carried Misha to the bathroom to clean her off as best as possible.  Her new outfit was covered, but at least the rest of us weren’t thrown up on.  We informed the staff at the theatre what had happened so they could go in later and do a more thorough cleaning and carried poor Misha to the van.  Fortunately it wasn’t too far away.  She was freezing since her jacket was soiled, and I tried to cuddle her as much as possible without getting puke on me.  I had jammies in the car for both girls.  We changed them and were then quickly on our way.  Misha slept most of the way home but was coughing a lot.  Every time she coughed I was ready to jump into the back and push another plastic bag in her face to catch the puke.  I was simply praying that we would make it home without her puking in the van.

We made it.  I put together a bed in the guest room on the floor for Misha so I could sleep in there and keep an eye on her for the night.  Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well and woke to every cough or sound of her rolling over.  I guess I shouldn’t really complain too much about that since I don’t have very restful sleeps right now anyhow.

After making bad decisions not to go home after she threw up at Olive Garden and then taking her to the concert, we decided to be smart and keep her home from church.  I was teaching in Relief Society so I needed to be there but truthfully felt rather awful.  Misha didn’t throw up again which was a relief, but our previous evening quickly turned into one of those we’ll always remember without fondness.

I am certainly ready not to be pregnant anymore.  What with the lack of sleep, aches and pains, and general uncomfortableness, I have lost my enthusiasm for pregnancy.  I know that is normal and has happened with each pregnancy, but I am looking forward to being done.  Except for crib and cradle, I think I am ready to bring a baby home.  We spent over $100 on diapers and wipes last weekend (they were on sale and we figured we would need them at some point).  The baby clothes, blankets, bibs and socks are washed and ready to go.  The curtains are 80% finished--I am waiting on some lace to come in at Walmart to finish the other half of the valance.  I have a few things ready for a hospital bag, just in case.  I felt impressed that I needed to be ready to go, but that is also my nature to be prepared.

Sunday, 30 January, 2005

Misha gave her first talk in church today.  She did great.  It was unfortunate however, that the leadership in the primary decided to change the room around so that using the microphone was not an option.  The children couldn’t hear the opening prayer or Misha’s talk and were quite rowdy.  It is asking a lot of little children to speak loudly for everyone to hear when they are having a first-time experience giving a talk.

Amy was rather disruptive in her Primary class today and was “in trouble” on the way home.  I don’t know that the crying was so much a result of being as repentant as it was in knowing that she was going to be sent to her room upon arriving home.  Chris and I talked and the next time she misbehaves in class, she will have to go to her teacher’s home and apologize for being disruptive.  Since we talk so much about choosing the right and making good choices, Misha asked “Did Amy choose the left?” In Sacrament Meeting, an adult party was being announced.  Part of the announcement included the request that all attendees bring finger food or some type of dessert to share.  Amy looked over at me, held up her hand, wiggled her fingers and asked, “What are finger foods?”  They come up with some pretty funny questions sometimes.

I now have less than three months to go before our new baby is born.  Being pregnant has never really been my favorite thing.  I think on a short, tiny body like mine things get a little more squished than they might on a taller lady.  Plus I have noticed that with each pregnancy and subsequent aging, my body has a little harder time.  I am trying to enjoy this experience knowing that it will be my last, but I won’t be too sad when it is over.  I have another appointment on Tuesday and hopefully we’ll be able to pin down a delivery date.  It will likely be the 18th or 19th of April.

This little one is quiet most of the day, even when I lay down in the afternoon.  I usually feel her off and on throughout the day, but nothing like in the evening when I have put the girls to bed and finally lay to down to relax and unwind from the day.  She seems to take that as her cue to stretch, kick, dance, roll over, whatever.  For a couple of weeks she was extremely active, but now that she is getting bigger, her living quarters are becoming more confining and she isn’t quite so active.  One night I was trying to go to sleep and she was so active I just couldn’t fall asleep.  Finally I put Chris’ hand on my stomach and said, “Here, you calm her down.”  I think she must have been doing aerobics.

I am working on finishing up the dining room curtains.  We’ve had some curtains up for about a year now and the room just hasn’t had a finished look about it.  So I am making a valance and putting up sheers.  The sheers also are intended to block some of the sunlight that streams in through the window.  I enjoy the sunlight, but I do need to protect the hardwood floors and keep the heat level down in the summer.

Once the valances are done and the sheers hung, I am going to work on curtains for the baby’s room.  Chris might have to work with the pink curtains until he moves his office downstairs.  I found a beautiful quilt, bumper pad, and crib skirt online for the baby’s room, and have been looking for the right material to match for curtains.  I sure hope that we don’t have any surprises at the hospital because this will definitely be a girl-inspired room.

I also want to get the guest room curtains completed, that and add a few little tucks to Amy and Misha’s curtains while I have a little more freedom with my time.  I realize that once I have our baby, my time will not be all my own.  We’ve gotten used to having “older” girls who can be somewhat self-sufficient and it will certainly be an adjustment to be the sole source of food again for a little one.

As usual, we are having a challenge deciding on a name for the baby.  There isn’t one name that Chris and I both wholeheartedly agree upon.  Other people can decide on a name months in advance, but for Misha, we didn’t decided until the day after she was born.  She was a choice between Alicia Michelle and Rachel McKenna.  Chris, I think, would like to use Rachel again, but for me it just doesn’t feel right.  Maybe that will change once I see our baby.  Plus, since Amy hasn’t gotten so much into watching cooking shows, specifically Rachael Ray’s “30-minute Meals” we often tease her by calling her Rachael Ray.  I thought Kristen for awhile, but there are often times when we shorten Misha and Amy to Mish and Ame, and I wasn’t sure if have another “Kris” in the house would be confusing.  If there weren’t gender issues with Jordan, I think I would have settled on that awhile ago, but I don’t want to her to grow up always having to answer, “Is that a boy or a girl?”  Oh the confusion of picking a name.  I even got books from the library on 50,000 plus baby names, but so many of them are unique to say the least.

Sunday, 9 January, 2005

We are now on the 10:00 am church schedule, and it is so nice.  There’s a bit more rushing in the morning to get showers, eat breakfast, and get everyone dressed and out the door on time, but it is so nice to have a long afternoon to spend together–and Misha takes a nap.

Misha is now a Sunbeam in Primary and seems to really enjoy it.  Amy’s teacher from last year was moved to be a Sunbeam teacher along with her husband, and I think having them as Misha’s teachers makes a difference since she was already familiar with them.  Amy gave the scripture last week in Primary, and we tried to get her to memorize it.  She did really well and only needed prompting a few times.  Misha, too, has a talk to give at the end of the month, and we need to start working with her on it so that she can memorize it as much as possible.

Christmas was truly an enjoyable break, especially having Chris home for most of the week.  Christmas morning was exciting for the girls and seems to get better with the excitement level every year.  Because they had been getting up so early in the few days prior to Christmas, Chris and I told them that they weren’t allowed to get out of bed until 7:00 or until Chris’ watch alarm went off.  Surprisingly, when I went into their room, Amy was laying in bed with her eyes wide open and Misha was still sleeping–that’s an unusual occurrence.  Amy whispered to me “Did Santa come?”  I said, “Yes”.

 In the time it took for me to go to downstairs and turn on the Christmas lights and some Christmas music and get back upstairs, both girls were awake and raring to go.  Chris got the video camera out so that we could tape them coming down the stairs.  We have them keep their eyes closed until they get to the landing and then let them open them to get a full view of the living room.  Misha peeked a little before getting to the landing and thought she saw a swimming pool.  Actually it was a blow-up jumping toy that immediately grabbed both of their attentions.  Amy also spied her new “bigger” bike, a doll house from Grandma Ball, and a new computer.  It was a fun morning for all of us.

We didn’t go anywhere or have anyone over, and it was nice just to be together as a family.  I didn’t make a turkey, though I wish I had, but it was still a nice day.

My first doctor appointment under the Kaiser Permanente Insurance plan was January 3, 2005.  We have to go to the offices in Lafayette which is about a half an hour away, but I was impressed with the brand new facility and the helpfulness of the staff.  I hope that this will be a good experience.  The hospital–Exempla Good Samaritan Hospital-where I will deliver, is next to the Kaiser offices.  So while I was finishing up my appointment, Chris and the girls were taking a tour of the hospital.  The nursing staff on the maternity floor were kind enough to let the girls take a small tour of the floor so that they would get an idea of where their new sister would be born.

Friday, 24 December, 2004

Merry Christmas!  The girls are getting so excited about tomorrow.  They have gotten out of bed well before 6:30 for the last three days even when I tell them that it is not Christmas morning yet.  This morning they have stayed in their bedroom though until the magical hour of 7:00 am when they can turn on the t.v.

Christopher has today off through next Friday and then a three day weekend following that.  I am looking forward to the time we can spend together.  Plus, I have plans to utilize his skills in cleaning and finishing projects around the house.  I am sure he is thrilled.

I remember back to when I found out that I was pregnant with Misha and how I felt I wasn’t ready for a second child so soon.  Granted, it was a struggle in the beginning, but I am grateful for a wise Father in Heaven who knew that my girls would be friends and play together.  That is not to say that they don’t fight, argue, and hurt each other, but for the most part, they play together.  When all their friends are in school or preschool of some kind, it is such a blessing that they have each other.

One of the fun things that I have noticed this Christmas season is that both girls are learning the words to more of the Christmas carols.  One of their favorites is Feliz Navidad, but it usually comes out as “Fleas Ladidah”.  It is so much fun to watch them grow and learn.

We enjoyed decorating a gingerbread house together with a lot of finger-licking.

I am excited for tomorrow.  I love Christmas morning.  Chris worries about the “overload”, but I think that is what Christmas morning is all about.  As a parent, it is thrilling to watch our children have joy and feel their excitement.  It is magic to them because a man in a red suit they call Santa, somehow squeezed down our “chimney” into a gas fireplace and brought them presents while Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer waited on our roof.

We try to teach them the true meaning of Christmas, but there’s no denying that even without us telling them, they pick up all the ideas of Christmas and a Santa Claus.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Amy celebrated her fifth birthday with a Princess Party. Her friends got to have some make up applied and pictures taken in front of the pop-up Princess castle. She loved her special day.

Sunday, December 5, 2004

It’s a girl!  Chris and I went for the ultrasound last Monday.  Since I am considered to be of “advanced maternal age”, I had to have a special ultrasound done at the Boulder Foothills Hospital.  Before even getting to the ultrasound though, we met with the genetic counselor who asked questions about both Chris’ and my personal and family health history.  The counselor also looked at the quad-screen blood test I had done a couple of weeks ago, and fortunately it was determined that we were at a low risk for having a baby with Down’s Syndrome or any other chromosomal abnormalities.  I guess I wasn’t really too worried about it, but they wanted to make sure that I knew I had the option for an amniocentesis after the ultrasound that would definitively determine whether or not our baby had any birth defects.

The ultrasound was different from our first two with Amy and Misha in that it was much more clinical.  We weren’t able to get a video tape of it and the technician who performed the ultrasound wasn’t too informative or talkative.  She said to save our questions for the doctor who would come in after the initial ultrasound.  The technician did all the normal measurements and checking of the heart, spine, etc., but also did measurements for “markers” that would indicate a greater likelihood for Down’s Syndrome.  They measure the skin on the back of the neck, the length of the nasal bone, the ear, the pinkie, other things as well that would indicate a greater propensity toward the syndrome.  Fortunately our little girl appears to be just fine.

Chris was hoping for a boy, as any father would.  I would have been mightily surprised if it had been a boy.  I have felt as though, even before deciding to get pregnant, that there was a little girl waiting in heaven to join our family.  I think she will be our last though.  I have been praying a lot lately to know whether or not we should think about having more-just to be prepared in my mind.  After the ultrasound and the genetic counseling, I felt the confirmation that this was to be our last.  There is sadness in that but also some freedom.

The girls were staying with Glovers while Chris and I went to the ultrasound and when I went to pick them up, I told Amy that we were having a girl.  She was very excited and said, “That’s just what I wanted!” 

Misha has been on a kick lately.   When I start to get after her for something, she begins to say, “Easy, Easy, Take it easy.”  It is kind of funny the first couple of times you hear it, but after awhile I begin to say back, “You take it easy.”

One of Amy’s favorite tv shows right now comes on at 4:00 pm everyday, which she seems to always know when to ask to watch, on the Cooking channel called “30-Minute Meals with Rachael Rae.”  It comes on in two half-hour segments and she intently watches them both.  So, this morning she was in the shower while I was getting ready for church and started talking about “eyeballing” something.  I thought maybe she had picked up the word from Chris as he was building stuff, but as Amy continued to talk about pulling the guts out of the turkey, it all came together.  Then I heard her say “I have to take a commercial break, but I’ll keep working on this, and when I come back, we’ll have a beautiful dinner.”  So hilarious.  There are certainly plenty worse shows to be watching and if she learns something in the process, all the better for me when she begins to cook.  Unless, of course, she starts to say, “That’s not how Rachael does it...”

Monday, 22 November, 2004

I am looking forward to Chris having the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving.  He worked today and hopefully he won’t get paged or have to do anything until he goes back to work next Monday.

A couple of weeks ago, Larry and Linda Ball came to visit.  They flew in on a Thursday afternoon and stayed until Sunday evening.  The girls certainly enjoyed their visit.  Course they benefited quite a bit since we spent nearly three hours at the Denver Children’s Museum on Friday morning and Chris and Linda took them swimming on Saturday morning.  I attended a baby shower for Kristina Miller while they were swimming and Grandpa Ball went along to watch.

The girls absolutely loved the museum.  They started playing on a retired fire engine and donned cute firemen jackets and hats.  Misha was so hungry that we had to stop and get stuff to eat in the cafeteria before she had the energy to continue playing.  They played with cute little kitchens, they painted, played on drums and with puppets, Amy got to use a saw, Misha played with blocks and they both pretended to be worms and eagles in a climbing and tunnel area.  It was great fun for them.

We had hoped to take the girls to see the new movie, “The Incredibles” with Grandma and Grandpa, but as we were standing in line to get tickets, the show was sold out.  They were so upset and had a hard time understanding why they couldn’t see the movie.  Since Amy needed new shoes, we headed over to Target and found both the girls some tennis shoes that lit up when they walked.  They were delighted and thrilled to show off their new acquisitions to grandma and grandpa.

Sunday was Stake Conference for us with our session being in the afternoon.  We were excited because the newly called apostle, Elder Bednar, attended our meetings.  The girls were as good as could be expected sitting through a two-hour meeting on hard chairs.

After church, we went home to have dinner and family home evening before Larry and Linda had to be at the airport.  The girls bore their testimonies, sang songs and had fun sharing the time with their grandparents.  Before they left, Amy got to open her birthday present from them.  It was a pop-up, cloth Disney princess castle that both girls immediately loved.

Sunday, 7 November, 2004

Last week, I was driving home with the girls from story time at the library.  I had said something that Misha had agreed with by saying, “yepperoonie”.  Amy asked, “Did you call me a roonie?” and Misha quickly responded by saying, “No, I called you yep the roonie.”

The girls really got into Halloween this year.  Misha was a cat and loved having whiskers and a nose drawn on her with my eye brow pencil.  Amy was a princess and was thrilled to wear blush and lipstick.  She would walk around the house saying, “I’m gorgeous.”  And anytime we went out she would ask, “Is my lipstick still on?”  Can you imagine what she will be like as a teenager?

Becky had an ultrasound on the 26th of October for her pregnancy.  She had been adamant that she and Kyle weren’t going to find out the gender since they already had one of each, it didn’t really matter.  She caved and they are having another boy.  Exciting for them.

Last Sunday evening, which was also Halloween, the girls were both in bed though Amy was still awake.  We only had three separate bunches of kids come to our door, and with the last one, I noticed that the rain had finally turned to snow.  I tiptoed into the girls’ room, not wanting to wake Amy if she was already asleep.  I noticed that her eyes were open and then pulled back the curtains so she could see the first snowfall of the season.  She whispered in a very awed voice, “It’s my birthday weather.”  Hmmmm, wonder what is on her mind lately.

We aren’t sure what we are going to do for her birthday.  She would like to go to a “Build-a Bear” store with some friends, but her friend Audrey did that for her birthday, and that’s where Amy got the idea.  I’d like to find something fun and new.  Chris thought that maybe she could take one friend to “Disney on Ice” and then have ice cream and cake later.

Chris brought a laptop home from work that we have let the girls play on lately.  They were getting too obnoxious on mine, always on, leaving their programs running, and changing the screen saver to French Barbie poodles.  The only challenge now is getting them to take turns.  We have a larger computer that will be a Christmas present for them which they obviously will enjoy.  (Me too.)

The “morning sickness”/nausea with this pregnancy continues on.  Not all day and not every day either.  Usually I feel my worst though around dinner time after a long day.  I feel extremely tired as well, though oddly enough, I rest for a couple of hours in the afternoon and usually sleep 1 to 1 ½ hours.  By 9:30 or 10 pm though, I am more than ready for bed and fall asleep without many problems.  What is really frustrating is when I am watching a show at 9:00 pm and fall asleep about 9:45 and suddenly wake up after 10 and realize that I have missed the ending of my show again.

Misha is taking time to change over to the new time change.  We moved our clocks back last Saturday night and Sunday morning, Misha was awake at 5:30.  I got up and started a movie for her and then never really went back to sleep myself.  She had had enough by 6:15 and was up and wandering around downstairs, so I got up and got her some breakfast.  This past week, she has been getting up between 6 and 6:30 most mornings.  It is rather frustrating for me, because that is when I am trying to pray and read scriptures, and she really doesn’t understand my desire for quiet and solitude.

My ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, November 29th.  I do hope to find out if this little one is a boy or girl if they will cooperate.  Because of my age, my pregnancy is considered high risk, and I will have to go to specialized doctors in Boulder for the ultrasound.  I hope and pray that everything will be okay. 

We are sad that IBM has made such backward steps with regards to health care benefits.  We will have to switch to an HMO called Kaiser Permanente, which is not my favorite.  They have OB’s only in Boulder and you don’t get one doctor, you get to see one of many and rarely the same one twice.  The hospital I will deliver at is also in Boulder, although they recently completed a brand new state-of-the-art hospital.  It is just further away.  They do have pediatricians and family doctors in Longmont, but I was actually looking forward to switching to the new medical center less than three miles from our house.  Not much we can do though, since staying on any other health plan with a c-section would end up costing us thousands.

Tuesday, October 5, 2004

I went for my first doctor’s appointment last week.  Everything looks good and right on schedule.  My OB is Dr. Nelson at the Longmont Clinic in Longmont.  Both he and his nurse were nice, and I felt comfortable with them.  Dr. Nelson did an internal ultrasound of the baby and he or she is developing right on schedule.  Because of my age, I am considered more high risk, so at 18 weeks they will have me go to Boulder for more in depth ultrasounds to make sure that everything is ok health wise.  The baby’s due date is April 26, but with a c-section we are looking at the 18th or 19th.

Amy, Misha and I got sick shortly after arriving home.  I think mine was a sinus infection because it has been hanging on for over a week now.  Chris was able to avoid getting sick and slept about five nights in the guest room to stay away from my germs.  He is so busy right now that he can’t really afford to be sick.

Chris has a conference that he leaves for on Sunday that he is presenting at.  It is in New York and will keep him away until the following Wednesday.  He has had to spend countless hours working on his Tools for work, since that is what he is presenting on.  He rewrote them in another language to make them better.  He also finished a 15-page paper yesterday that was due today for the conference.  On top of that, he started another University of Phoenix class last night.

Monday, 27 September, 2004

We left for Utah Wednesday the 15th to spend some time with family and to have some time away.  Mostly the time away was for Chris’ benefit.  He is getting pretty burned out with so many things going on right now.  He begins teaching another University of Phoenix class October 4 and the following week flies to New York to present at an IBM conference.  He has been putting in many late hours trying to update his TOOLS program-actually rewriting it in another programming language.  He has a lot to accomplish in the next two weeks and is feeling mightily overwhelmed.

Back to our vacation though.  Chris decided he wanted to take a longer more scenic route through Steamboat Springs in Colorado toward Vernal, Utah.  Sadly it took an extra 4 hours, and an eight-hour trip ended up taking twelve hours.  The girls were pretty good and watched movies a good part of the way.  We stopped for our regular potty stops and food breaks.  We finally arrived at Brad’s house around 9:30 pm and quickly got the girls into bed and off to sleep.

Thursday we planned to spend in Provo visiting friends and Chris’ sisters and Mitch.  My mom and dad had planned that we would spend the day with them.  Oh well, they should have mentioned it to us.  We drove to BYU campus to have lunch with Julie, the summer IBM intern.  The girls were excited to see her since she was their favorite babysitter.  This was also a trip for announcing my pregnancy.  I thought by now, after keeping the secret for so many weeks, Amy would be just popping with the news.  We had to drag it our of her and finally gave up on that.  After walking Julie over to her class, we headed back toward the law school where Mitch, Jenni, and Lori work hoping to catch them there.  We happened to be trying to move across campus during a class break and decided to sit it out and wait for the masses to get to where they were going.

All three of them were working as we walked into the computer lab area.  We saw Mitch first and stopped to talk for a bit.  Then Chris wanted to go surprise his sisters.  It was his first time seeing Lori since before her mission.  They were surprised, but not necessarily overly excited to see us.  They stood around talking for a couple minutes and then went back to work.  Chris talked to some of his old employers and I went back out to talk with Mitch in between his helping people.

The girls were pretty tired by this time, so I called Susan to see if we could come visit.  She said sure, but that she was having a birthday party for Kaden and then had piano lessons from three to six.  Not much time really.  So we hung out there for awhile and then headed back to campus to pick up Chris and Mitch.  The girls and I hung out at Mitch’s apartment for the next couple of hours watching “The Little Mermaid” (lucky him) and Chris went to see some friends at Novell.

After returning, we headed off to Spanish Fork to have dinner with those same friends and their families.  The girls were exhausted and finally fell asleep five minutes before we got to the restaurant.  Amy wasn’t very happy to be woken up.  We had dinner at Mexican fast food place but it was quite delicious.  So that the kids wouldn’t be so bored, we moved next to a park to let them play while the adults talked.

The girls fell asleep on the way back to Brad’s and we happily plopped them in bed without a fuss.  Rather nice.

Our original plan was to spend part of Friday with my mom and dad at Temple Square, but they had already planned to spend the day with Susan and her family.  Chris had told the girls on Thursday that we were going to take Fasttracks to downtown and they were quite excited by the prospects of riding the train.  It was actually quite fun and a nice way to avoid a lot of traffic.  We headed first to Temple Square and up to the Christus.  The girls were somewhat impressed, but both really just wanted to be outside running around.  We made them suffer through more of the Visitor Center and then watched the newest video presentation of “The First Vision”.  It was a nice updated version. 

Growling stomachs seemed to take over, so we headed over to the food court at the mall across the street to eat.  As we were on our way out, we happened to walk by Jeff and Jo Isom eating there as well.  What a surprise!  Jeff is an old mission buddy of Chris’.  They were married a year before us and up til now have not been able to have children.  They had a stroller next to their table with an adorable little baby girl.  They had adopted her a week previous and were thrilled to be parents finally.  Their daughter is a cute little black baby with curly black hair-her name is Ella Kiara.  AND...they are six weeks pregnant.  Amazing how that all works out.  Their lives will certainly be busy within the next year, but they are thrilled and we were so happy for them.

The girls had eye appointments with Brad, so we needed to get back on the train.  As we were trying to do so, the conductor closed the doors and I was left behind.  I was pretty frustrated because I had pushed the “open door” button at least a dozen times to no avail.  I hoped that Chris would get off at the next stop and it was a good thing that he did, because they train I got on would have taken me up to the University of Utah.  By now we had missed our 2:30 appointments and had called Brad to tell him that we would be late.

Amy had her appointment first.  She did really well though hardly enjoyed the dialation of her eyes.  Chris had driven around with Misha to let her sleep a little longer as she had fallen asleep on the way.  While we waited for Misha, Amy got to try on glasses and was thrilled.  Sadly she wasn’t getting any.

Misha arrived but wasn’t quite as cooperative in her exam, especially since we had to wake her up.  I was rather disheartened to learn that she has vision problems somewhat similar to Chris’, though not near as bad.  She is farsighted and Brad recommended that we get her glasses for when she has close up work to do on the computer, with reading, coloring, or even watching tv.  The glasses look pretty cute on her, and she is getting better about wearing them and forgetting that they are there.

Amy was pretty mad that she didn’t get glasses too.  Since her eyes were dialated, she wasn’t seeing wonderfully, and stomped around saying she needed them too.  One set of glasses is enough for me to worry about and to keep track of.  I felt badly that Misha had to wear them at all, but Chris came from a different perspective.  He’s had to wear them since he was younger than Misha and they make a huge difference in his life and his ability to see.

We spent the evening at Brad’s house.  With both girls having their eyes dialated, we figured it would be a lot easier on them.  I left the practice early with the girls and Chris stayed and helped to work on computers.  He and Brad came later with pizzas and cookies and ice cream.

Saturday we planned to spend most of the day with Chris’ Mom and sisters.  They are not early risers, so we weren’t in any rush to get down to Provo.  I think we got there sometime between 10:30 and 11, and Lori still wasn’t out of bed.  Oh well.  So we just hung around and talked for awhile waiting for her highness to rise and shine and grace us with her presence.  She’s not a morning person or lunch-time person for that matter when she wakes up.

We gave Chris’ Mom an anniversary gift that also doubled as an announcement for our baby.  She almost skipped over the “announcement” part but Chris told her she would want to read it all.  She was excited.  We didn’t leave until after lunch, so Linda made sandwiches for us and then took the girls down to the park where we would then meet them.  Chris helped Jenni move back into the apartment from an apartment around back, so that took some extra time.

Finally we were on our way to play miniature golf at Trafalga.  The girls had a great time and Grandma even bought them tokens to play some of the games after ward.  Linda wanted to buy Jenni a computer desk, so that was our next stop–Staples--and from there we had an early dinner at Sizzler.

Chris was going to the football game with his mom (as well as my dad, Dallin, and Shane) so we dropped them back at Jenni and Lori’s apartment and said goodbye for the evening.  From there I drove with the girls to Thanksgiving Point to spend some time at Donna’s.  Mom was there as well, but it gave the girls a chance to play with their cousins.  By about 9 pm I was getting more and more tired and still had to drive to Brad’s house.  I had the girls get into their jammies and loaded them into the van.  Thankfully they were both asleep by the time I arrived, but I had to carry both of them in myself.  I took Amy first, locked the van doors and then came back for Misha.  After getting them settled I watched tv for awhile and fell asleep on the couch.  Brad came home from a date around 11:30 and got me going to bed.  (The date wasn’t all that much fun sadly).

Chris didn’t get home til after midnight if I remember correctly.  We had decided that we would go to Dallin’s church so Chris  wouldn’t have to get up quite so early for Brad’s 9 am church.  Now that Dallin is the bishop of his ward, it was interesting to be in his ward and watch him on the stand.  His emotions are so close to the surface that I imagine it is difficult for him to make it through a meeting without wiping tears away.

We drove to back their house after church to change and get a snack, but our girls were tired and I could tell that Donna was getting frazzled, so we decided to drive around with the girls and let them sleep awhile before going to dinner at Susan’s at 5:00.  Our plan worked even though Amy was adamant that she wasn’t going to sleep.  She was the first to fall asleep, as usual.  We headed down to Provo so that Chris could say goodbye to his mom before her flight.  The girls slept most of that time in the car, but they just put Chris to work moving stuff and hooking up computers anyway.  After a teary farewell from his mom, we headed over to Susan’s for dinner.

My whole family was there plus Maureen and Gayle.  It was a bit of a scrunch to fit us all in, but Susan had the kids start eating first to free up some table space.  We had invited Julie Stringer to come for dinner so that she could meet my “three single brothers”.  Chris and I were amazed that she would come-certainly wouldn’t be the most comfortable experience-but she fit in very well.  Both Shane and Mitch were completely impressed–and Mom too!

We finally left around bed time.  I can’t remember if the girls fell asleep or not, since they had had late naps.  We were planning on leaving in the morning and were watching the weather reports since there was snow in the forecast.  Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad.  There was a skiff of snow in Park City, but the rest of the way was smooth sailing.  When I watched the weather reports the next morning, they showed pictures of at least 6 inches of snow in Park City.  I am glad that we missed it.

We stopped at Sam’s in Loveland to get milk and yogurt and then decided to stop for dinner at IHOP.  I wasn’t in the mood to start making dinner as soon as we got home and Amy was requesting pancakes and eggs.  It was a short and sweet trip, but nice to see everybody.

Tuesday, 14 September, 2004

I was talking with Amy the other day about why we are having another baby, explaining that we felt that Heavenly Father wanted us to have more children in our family.  She began to understand and said, “You know, I think I still have room left in my heart to love another baby.”  What a sweetheart.  I am sure that both she and Misha will be great helpers and great big sisters.

We are leaving tomorrow to spend the rest of the week in Utah.  Chris’ Mom will be visiting Jenni and Lori, and my parents will be coming down as well.  It will be the first time that my entire family has been together in years.  We are going to stay at Brad’s and the girls are excited to see their cousins.

A couple of weeks ago, the girls were misbehaving and really not being obedient.  We had told them that we would take them swimming, but Chris became so exasperated with them, that he finally said that he wasn’t going to take them.  The next morning, Chris was still sleeping, and I was up with Amy and Misha.  Misha did something that I told her not to do, and Amy piped in, “You are going to make Daddy mad if you do that.  In fact, he’s probably still mad from last night!”

Amy loves to have friends over to play.  Most days, she begs to have a friend come and play with her.  Audrey is in kindergarten now so she isn’t available as often, and Amy goes through her list of friends to see who can come over.  As I was driving home with the girls last week, Amy lamented, “But, who can play with me?”  Misha quietly said, “You can play with me.”  They do have their moments together when they are fighting and unkind, but I really love that they have each other to play with.

We bought and planted five trees and two evergreens this last weekend.  Actually, the missionaries came over to help Chris on Saturday morning for their weekly service.  Nice for Chris since I don’t have the energy to be working out in the yard now.

Misha has picked up “deal” from tv.  She asks a questions or makes a request then asks “Deal?”

Tuesday, September 7, 2004

We are enjoying some wonderful weather this week.  Amy started preschool today and is already loving it.  She brings home her “binder” everyday filled with what they worked on, and she has been carrying it around all afternoon, pretending she is a teacher, and showing off what she did.  I think that she will do really well.

While Amy was at school, Misha and I had “school” together.  We started by working on her letters.  She isn’t much for structure though–instead of starting with the letter “A” as I had planned, she wanted to do “H”.  We then talked about things that are big and small, about emotions, and went through the alphabet.  She wasn’t able to recognize many letters a month or so ago, and now knows probably 2/3rds of them.  After the alphabet, we had a snack together and then came back to sing songs.  She knew all of them and must be learning them in Primary.  She knows “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, “Old McDonald Had a Farm”, and “I Am a Child of God.”  She lost interest about then so we headed off to the library.  Next week a new story time session will start.  Amy won’t be able to attend anymore; she and Misha both have classes at the Recreation Center on Mondays.  Amy continues with dance and Misha is going to try gymnastics.  I hope that it will be something that she likes.

I have been feeling pretty crummy for about a week and a half now--morning sickness that usually lasts all day long.  Some days it is worse than others, but I usually feel a bit better around dinner time.  My morning workouts have taken a beating because I really have to fight to work through the nausea.  I have even started keeping “fig newtons” in my bedroom to snack on in the early morning or middle of the night because I get so nauseous and hungry through the night now.  Not so much fun.  We have eaten out more in the past week than usual, but I don’t have much energy or desire to be cooking.  I am hoping that this won’t last too long.  It seemed to go on for seven or so weeks with Amy and about four with Misha, so I am hoping that the decline will continue.  Certainly doesn’t make me want to do this again.