29 June, 2005

We have begun a new tradition in our family–dates with mom or dad.  Misha and Amy take turns every month choosing an activity for a date and choosing which parent they want to go out with.  Amy got to go in June, and she chose to go with me.  I had given her a few suggestions, but the one she liked the best was getting a manicure.  I had a gift certificate from my baby shower to Hi-Fi Nails in Longmont which expired at the end of this month so it was good timing for us.  We went on a Saturday afternoon while Chris stayed with Misha and Kristen.  Our first stop was at Wendy’s for lunch-Amy got to have a Happy Meal and was thrilled with the toy binoculars/camera. 

We arrived at the nail salon and Amy was pretty excited.  I got a pedicure and sat in a chair across the room from her while she got her nails done and painted in a bright pink-what a surprise.  Every time we would catch each others' eyes she would give me a huge grin.  I just knew she was loving every minute of it.  Plus, they put flowers on a couple of her nails.  She was finished and waiting for me when one of the technicians who wasn’t busy asked if she wanted her toe nails painted as well.  She looked over at me with a very hopeful look, and I nodded my head yes.  What a thrill.  I don’t think they even charged us extra for her toes and they must not charge a lot for children because my pedicure was most of the expense.

After our nails, Amy requested that we go for ice cream.  We headed down to McDonalds.  I called Chris from there to see how Kristen was doing.  She was awake and would soon be needing to eat.  I’m pretty sure Chris wasn’t happy about having to stay in and babysit Kristen for the afternoon.  He was in the middle of projects outside, and she pretty much needs constant attention since she rarely sleeps much during the day.

Amy loves her nails.  I cautioned her that she couldn’t pick at them like she does when I paint them.  She was more than eager to show both fingers and toes to all of her friends the next day at church.

The night before our date, we went to a soccer game in Boulder.  We thought we were going to see the Boulder team, Rapids Reserve, play BYU, but we were misinformed.  We ended up watching playoffs of younger teams.  Chris enjoyed himself nevertheless, and we went as a treat for him on Father’s Day.

Speaking of Father’s Day, on Saturday (the day of my date with Amy), I tried to bring Chris breakfast in bed, but he was up before I could get up there.  He had things to do in the yard and wanted to get an early start when it was cooler.  His projects ended up taking most of the day, but that night we took him out to dinner at La Mariposa in Longmont for Mexican food. 

The girls are enjoying story time at the library this summer.  The theme is all about dragon, knights, and castles.  This past week they had a juggler/magician that was quite fascinating.  The girls were impressed that she could juggle two bowling balls and make a dove appear.  The lady kept all of the kids engrossed, which is usually difficult for such a large crowd.

Amy and Misha are both enrolled in their second session of swimming lessons for the summer.  Amy is doing rather well and will likely move on to the next level next session.  She needs a little work on her form but is quite a fish otherwise.  Misha still doesn’t enjoy putting her face in the water, but she is improving as well.  I think she’ll need a little more time before catching up to Amy.  Course she is a year and a half younger too.  I think sometimes we forget that since they do so much together.

Chris just finished installing a decorative retaining wall in the front yard.   It looks fantastic.  I hope to be able to plant flowers and bushes in it to add a lot of color and dimension to the front of our house.  We are also hoping to create two areas for bushes and trees in the bottom front corners of the yard.  There is lots that I would like to do with the yard, but it will take some time and money.

The University of Phoenix had their graduation dinner and ceremonies last weekend-the 24th and 25th.  Wasdens watched Amy and Misha while Chris and I and Kristen attended the dinner on Friday night.  Kristen was quite good.  The glass ornaments on the ceiling kept her attention most of the time.  We were able to meet up with Jamie and Jeremy Riddle and sit with them.  They completed their Master degrees from the University of Phoenix last fall.

Grandpa Kline and girlfriend rolled in for a visit last Tuesday the 21st.  They came in his RV and had been traveling for a couple of days.  When they got here, Chris (the girlfriend) had been sick and Grandpa Kline was sick.  He lay on our couch the entire time with the stomach flu, fever, and chills.  Not so much fun for Amy and Misha who were looking forward to his visit.  Grandpa brought his bird on vacation, so the girls were excited to go see him as well as to explore the RV.  Because Larry was sick, we offered to have him sleep in the house but made it clear that he and Chris would be in separate rooms.  They were fine with that.  They left about 1:30 Wednesday afternoon.

28 June, 2005

I have been putting this off for too long, but that is not to say that life isn’t keeping me busy.  I think we are beginning to settle in to a bit of a routine.  At least in how we do things (or try to), not so much when.  Kristen is getting better about sleeping through the night.  I think the longest stretch for her has been from 9 pm to 6 am.

We have had lots of family over the last two months.  Dallin and Donna stopped in for a little while on their way home from a trip to Illinois to visit church history sites.  They had hoped to stay with us on their way out to Illinois, but the night before they left Donna became sick.  They didn’t want to spread germs to our family, especially Kristen, so they decided to stop in on the way home a week later.  Sadly, Donna was still feeling under the weather then.  They stopped and visited for an hour or so and then decided to head on home.  I know they were disappointed in not having more time to visit, but I did appreciate that they were willing to sacrifice that in order to keep us healthy.  That was May 13.  On the 14th, my parents arrived. 

We all went to church together on Sunday.  It was my first Sunday back.  Kind of hairy trying to get three girls ready for church by nine, including feeding Kristen.  I realized when we got to church that I hadn’t fixed Kristen’s hair at all and fortunately she had slept in a cute outfit because there just wasn’t enough time to change it.  I was also teaching Relief Society, though I really should have given myself a break.  It was a lot to handle.  I didn’t feel confident or as prepared as usual.  Amazing how a baby who doesn’t do much can take up so much of my time.

My parents had been in Utah watching Dallin and Donna’s children and were more than happy to escape from parenting duties.  They were quite exhausted by the time they arrived here, which made a lot of us since I was still getting up in the night regularly with Kristen.  Mom did craft projects with the girls making beaded bracelets and necklaces.  The girls loved the one on one time. We went to play miniature golf with Grandma and Grandpa.  My mom would have preferred not playing at all, but I think she enjoyed herself nevertheless.  I pretty much told her she had to play.  After golfing we went out to dinner at Olive Garden.  That is always a fun place for us to go.  My parents stayed until the following Wednesday morning when they got up early to make the trip home.

I have been exercising or attempting to for about a month now.  When I walk on the treadmill, I get a gnawing pain on my right side every morning which keeps me from progressing.  I don’t know if it is from being out of shape, from nursing, from being exhausted–or probably a combination of all three–but I don’t have a lot of oomph for exercising.  I look at my body and wish that it were different, but I’m not following through on the exercising part.

Linda came for a long visit beginning on a Wednesday over the Memorial Day weekend.  Sadly she came with laryngitis and woke up Thursday morning with inflamed and pink eyes.  She was pretty upset, as was I.  I didn’t offer to have her hold Kristen until Saturday when I thought she was on the mend and the rest of us weren’t picking up what she had.  Chris made an appointment for her at the doctor’s office a couple miles from our home.  The doctor said that her laryngitis was clearing up and the eye problems should go away.  She flew home the following Tuesday.  The highlight was visiting the Alpine slide in Golden, Colorado at Heritage Square.  I stayed with Kristen while the girls, Chris, and Linda took three turns on the slide.  They all loved it.

So more about Kristen’s growth and progress.  At two weeks she had her first doctor visit.  I can’t say that any doctor visit during the first year and a half is all that pleasant for a baby.  At this visit, she had her heal pricked and then while she was screaming they had to squeeze enough blood out for the PKU test.  She was definitely NOT happy.  Amy and Misha were with me, but were playing on the toys in another area of the doctors’ office.  They could hear Kristen wailing, as could most others and came to see what was happening.  By this time I was cradling Kristen trying to calm her.  Amy started talking to Kristen and Misha asked if she could sing to her.  Mish just made up the words and the tune impromptu.  What sweet girls.  But the thing that really impressed me is that they were able to calm Kristen down and it was obvious that she recognized them.

Kristen smiled at me for the first time on May 16.  Grandma Rice was actually the first recipient of a smile a couple of days earlier, and though Chris tried to encourage one out of her, he didn’t get a smile from Kristen until a couple of weeks later.  He was pretty happy when she finally did smile at him.  Kristen is a bit ahead of schedule with her rolling over.  At approximately three weeks, I noticed that she was trying to roll over.  I was amazed that she was even trying and definitely tried to discourage her from doing it so early; she wasn’t successful at it until about 5 weeks of age with Grandma Ball.

Kristen loves to look around and gazes specifically at the ceiling fans in our rooms.  It seemed as though when she reached six weeks her eyes suddenly focused and she became more alert.  Her neck muscles are strengthening and her skill in holding her head up and keeping it still is improving.

I had my six week check about a month ago.  Dr. Isbill, the OB, gave me the go ahead to start exercising.  My incision looked as though it was healing well and she was impressed that I had already lost 20 pounds.  Impressive, I suppose, but I sure do wish it were more and faster.  If my body mirrors other pregnancies, I won’t be losing a lot of weight until I stop nursing and that is not fun.

Amy and Misha came down with colds after Grandma Ball left–the first week in June.  I quarantined them from being around Kristen.  Amy is a lot better about remembering, fortunately the rest of us, especially Kristen were able to avoid being sick.  By this time in Misha’s young life as a baby she had already been sick twice and caught a cold again at three months.

Kristen had her two month visit with Dr. Moffatt and weighed in at 12 pounds 3 ounces.  She has grown 2 1/4 inches and is now 23 inches long.  She is in the 75th percentile for height and weight.  The poor thing got four shots in her legs–pretty traumatic for all of us as Amy and Misha were with me.

The girls are always coming up with funny things to say and I try to remember a write them down so that they can have a laugh at them later in life.  A couple weeks ago, we were rounding the corner coming home past the mobile home park below us.  A new trailer was being moved in and was still in two pieces.  All of a sudden Amy says, “That house is having a heart attack.”  I laughed and asked her why she thought that and she said, “It’s falling apart!”

Misha’s latest phrase when I ask her to do something and she doesn’t want to is, “I don’t feel good like to do it.”  Not sure where she picked that particular phrasing up.  I bought some strawberry flavored applesauce the other day and gave it to the girls for lunch.  Misha had a taste and said, “Mmmm, Mom, this tastes better than the yucky stuff.”  Meaning, of course, regular applesauce.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Kristen is one month old today.  That month sure did zoom by fast.  Wow!  I am glad to be somewhat past the brand new baby stage where she was up regularly through the day and night.  She is now beginning to sleep for longer periods of time, which also means she goes without nursing for longer intervals.  I think last night she slept for five hours straight.  It is nice to have fewer interruptions in my sleep schedule.  I was pretty exhausted for the first three weeks.

Kristen’s belly button fell off last Saturday.  She didn’t get her first real bath until Monday morning with all the busyness of the weekend.  Can’t say that she was all that thrilled with it, but she did enjoy being in the shower with Chris a lot more.

Wednesday, 20 April, 2005

The big day has come and gone and I am getting a definite jump start on writing about the birth of the newest member of our family.  Usually it takes me about a month to get the experience typed.  Chris has an extra laptop from IBM that he has been using at home and brought it to the hospital today for me to use.

The c-section was scheduled yesterday, April 19, at 8:00 am at the Exempla Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, Colorado.  Chris and I needed to be checked-in at the hospital by 6:30 am.  Jamie and Jeremy Riddle had offered to watch the girls for us which was ideal because they live about 15 minutes from the hospital.  Sadly, we had to wake the girls up about 5:30 Tuesday morning in order to get them dressed and beautified.  From past experience, I knew that I wouldn’t be sleeping all that well and was awake from about 2 am until 4 am Tuesday morning.  I finally dozed off and got a total of maybe 3 3/4 hours of sleep that night.

Everything was packed and ready to go for both me and the girls and we were out the door around ten to six.  We dropped the girls off, leaving them eating donuts and drinking orange juice.  They were excited because they were going to watch Barbie “Swan Princess”, a new movie we had purchased a couple of months ago telling them that they couldn’t watch it until they went to Jamie’s house when the baby was born.

Chris and I arrived at the hospital around 6:30 and checked in at the front desk.  While we were sitting there, we heard a lullaby playing over the intercom and the lady assisting us said that a baby had just been born and that Chris would also get to initiate the lullaby song when our baby was born.  Once registered, the registrar took us upstairs to our room in labor and delivery where I would be prepped for surgery.  We were in room one which had a beautiful view of the mountains and the wonderful greenery of Spring.

I changed into a “lovely” hospital gown and our first nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitors.  Since it was shift change, we only had this nurse for a short time and were then introduced to Judy who would be with us for the rest of the morning.  The first unpleasant task of the day was to insert my IV.  Knowing how much I dislike IVs, Chris stood next to me and rubbed my arm as the HUGE needle was inserted.  It took the nurse a bit of time to get everything situated as it should be.  I made a point of not watching, but boy did it hurt.  It is a good thing that I didn’t watch because when she was finished I looked down at my arm and it was covered in blood as well as the pad underneath my arm.  No wonder it hurt so much!

 The anesthesiologist, Dr. Kevin Kirkpatrick came in next to talk to us.  Instead of the epidural that I had had in the past to numb my body, he was going to do a spinal.  He asked questions about allergies and wanted to know if I had any questions for him.  I think Chris asked a few about the procedure.  After he left, I began to feel nauseated and somewhat anxious.  Judy was taking her sweet time filling out forms on the computer.  Dr. Isbill, my OB, came in to make sure we were ready for the day and mentioned that they couldn’t find my prenatal paperwork, and I would have to have some bloodwork done.  After the IV, getting stuck with a regular needle was no big deal whatsoever.  Chris was given a surgical suit to wear-blue this time-complete with a hat and booties, though they did have to find bigger sizes to fit his feet.

At 8:15, it was time to move to the surgical suite.  Since I was not numb yet, I was able to walk back to surgery, put on a bouffant hat and climb on to the surgery table.  My back was swabbed to disinfect it and then a local anaesthetic was given.  The overall effect was so much more comfortable than an epidural because beyond the initial pricks of the needle for anaesthetic, I didn’t feel the needle for the spinal at all.  The recovery later in the day, however, wasn’t so much fun.

I could feel the numbness slowly creep into my legs and body.  Such a weird and uncomfortable feeling.  I had the odd sensation the entire time that my legs were placed at weird angles even though I couldn’t feel them.  After getting situated on the surgical table and ready for surgery, Chris was allowed to come into the room and took up his position next to my head.  I was draped in a warm blanket over my chest and shoulders and a divider was placed in front of my face to block my view of the surgery.  Dr. Isbill and Dr. Kerr-Layton began surgery.  All of sudden Chris looks at me and says, “You’re cut open.”  I was amazed that it had happened so fast.  With Misha I had felt so much more of the cutting sensation and the tugging and pulling. 

Our sweet little girl was born at 9:01 am.  She came out crying and had apgars of 9 and 9.  Some of the first words I heard were “Look at all that hair.”  Since neither Amy nor Misha had tons of hair, I was curious to see what they were talking about.  I had mentioned earlier in this journal that we had decided on a name, but in the days preceding the birth, I felt more and more predisposed toward another name.  Even though I knew it wasn’t Chris’ number one choice, I felt as though this was to be her name.  I had mentioned to Chris that I wasn’t certain I still wanted to call this baby Julie, and he graciously accepted that I had changed from what we had previously decided upon.  Since I was now choosing the first name, he wanted to pick the middle name.  So, her name is Kristen Nicole Kline.  We didn’t make a final decision on her middle name until 12 hours after the birth.  Kristen weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces - no wonder I was so huge - and was 20 3/4 inches in length.

I remember trying to listen to the nurses’ conversation as they cleaned Kristen up and felt very emotional.  Another perfect little angel had joined our family. When the nurse brought Kristen to my side, I kissed her little face and asked to see her hair.  I never thought I would have a baby with a full head of hair.  It was black and curly, and I was thrilled.  Chris came back to my side to watch as the doctors performed the tubal ligation (meaning no more children).  He said that my uterus was sitting on my stomach.  True enough.  He took pictures of it and when I saw the pictures later, my stomach turned.  Not a pleasant sight.

I started having muscle spasms in my neck so the anesthetist gave me some morphine in my IV.  I listened to the doctors talking as they stitched up my incision and stapled the skin, but I don’t really remember what they were talking about.

I was transferred to recovery just a short distance down the hall and stayed there for the next hour and a half.  The wonderful thing though is that Kristen was brought in to be with me, and I nursed her there for the first time.  That was a nice experience since in Utah with my first two girls, I didn’t get to see them until hours later.  Kristen didn’t even have her bath until I was taken to my room on the Mom and Baby unit.  Room 23.

I was starving at this point but only allowed to have ice chips and water.  The nurse wouldn’t budge on the no food rule, and I suppose it was a good thing since once I was in my room, I spent the afternoon throwing up.  I think it was a bad reaction to the spinal.  Since all I had had was water, I was mostly dry heaving which definitely did not feel good on a freshly stapled stomach.

The girls arrived with Jamie and Jeremy around 1 pm.  They were pretty excited to meet their new sister, though they had had a very fun morning with Jamie and Jeremy.  I’m a little blurry here on how long they stayed, etc. since I was mostly throwing up and not really enjoying myself.  Jamie and Jeremy didn’t stay too long though, and I think the girls left before too long as well.

Even though I was starving, my nurse wouldn’t let me have anything besides water, and since I continually threw up with the water, she was even more adamant.  Shift change for the nurses occurred at 7 pm and I was happy to see a friendly, helpful face in my new nurse.  She removed my IV and helped me out of bed around 8 pm just so I could get up and get a little movement.  I walked with much pain and extreme slowness to the bathroom where I proceeded to throw up in the toilet, BUT that was my last time throwing up.  Hallelujah!  And my nurse ordered a turkey sandwich that I gratefully ate around 11 pm.

I can’t say that I was able to get a lot of sleep that night, though it was probably my best night while in the hospital with Kristen sleeping for a six hour stretch.  I do remember calling for the nurse to help me, though my mind felt extremely foggy; my catheter bag was full to overflowing and she decided to remove the catheter altogether.  I didn’t mind.  It is nice to not worry about getting up to go to the bathroom, but I get to the point where I feel constrained with all the tubes and such being attached to me.

Amy and Misha missed me.  Anytime I talked to them on the phone, they would tell me how much they missed me.  Amy talked Chris into having “straight” hair, which on her means combing the front of her hair so that it looks rather pitiful.  She knows with me that I wouldn’t let her out with her hair looking so crazy.

The food service at the hospital was rather unique but nice.  I had a menu from which to order and got to choose what I wanted to eat rather than just having a surprise meal delivered to me.  The fruit was really good most days with fresh pineapple, watermelon, blue berries and cantaloupe.  Meals were one part of my hospital stay that I really enjoyed.

I had been saying for awhile that I was looking forward to my hospital stay just for the time away to be pampered, but frankly, I didn’t sleep well and this hospital’s philosophy on rooming-in with the baby was rather stressful.  I had some nurses who would watch Kristen while I showered, but I always felt the pressure to hurry as they would take her to the nurses station and watch her there.  There was a nursery, but it was not used at all.

Chris came with the girls to the hospital on Wednesday in the morning.  They were headed out for a day of fun at the Denver Museum of Natural History and Science. They stayed for a little bit to play with Kristen and see me.  If I remember correctly, Kristen slept for most of the afternoon while I rested, talked to family, walked around the Mom and Baby unit for exercise, and started working on this journal.  Resting wasn’t easy since it seemed as though every time I lay down a nurse would come in to check my vitals or give me pain medication.

My visiting teacher and friend, Maria Burnham, came to visit on Wednesday afternoon.  She is pregnant and due July 8th.  It was nice to spend time talking with her as she stayed for about an hour.  I was grateful for a little change of pace.

Chris had planned to come back to the hospital after visiting the museum and eating at IHOP with the girls, but called to say that he thought Misha was getting sick.  I was sad that they weren’t able to come back to visit, but I didn’t want to risk having me or Kristen get sick either.  Sadly, Chris and the girls stayed away for the next two days.  Fortunately I had a phone in my room and the computer to connect me to family. 

The next couple of days were filled with much of the same-nurses taking my blood pressure and temperature as well as checking on Kristen, daily visits from the pediatrician on staff, visits from doctors to check my incision, pain medication, walking as much as possible and trying to get some sleep in.  I was pretty tired with getting up with Kristen so often at night.  My milk didn’t come in until Thursday, and I think what little colostrum she was getting wasn’t satisfying her.  I gave her some formula finally one night as she pitched quite a fit, and that seemed to calm her.

The next time she started crying hysterically the next day, I gave her more formula and she drank it hungrily.  I always thought that “nipple confusion” was just a term that lactation specialists made up to make you feel guilty about not breast feeding, but with Kristen, I soon learned that it is real.  On Thursday when I tried to feed her, she didn’t want anything to do with my milk, but instead seemed to want a bottle.  After another crying fit, I finally calmed her down enough to get her latched on.  I had my nurse call the lactation specialist and she was able to help me.  So, she hasn’t had a bottle since, though she is becoming attached to a pacifier.  I don’t mind that so much.  Both the other girls did too, I think they just need more opportunities to suck.

Not having visits from Chris and the girls was rather lonely so I was quite ready to go home by Friday.  Misha was beginning to feel better, but when Chris arrived, he said that he was beginning to get sick as well.  I was heartsick.  I didn’t want to bring a newborn home to a house full of germs, nor did I want to get sick.  But what could I do?  Technically I could have stayed until Saturday morning, but that still wouldn’t have solved the problem as Chris just proceeded to get sicker as the weekend passed.

So, Chris loaded everything up into the van while I tried to hurriedly nurse Kristen.  I was pretty certain she wouldn’t make it all the way home without her regular feeding.  Chris also went to get all of my prescriptions filled at the pharmacy.  And finally we were all ready to leave.  There is always an insecure feeling leaving the sanctuary of the hospital with a brand new baby, but after being wheeled down to the van and getting Kristen into the car, we were finally off.  Kristen started to cry immediately, and so I climbed from the front seat to the middle seat to sit beside her and give her a pacifier.  Since Misha was sick and Chris was getting sick, I felt very overwhelmed, wishing I could somehow wipe out all of the germs floating around the van–knowing of course, that they would be all around us at home as well.  How to protect a tiny baby?

I took refuge in the guest room and Chris’ office/Kristen’s room and asked everyone else to stay out.  At this point, Amy was not sick, but on Saturday I noticed her sniffling.  All day long I kept asking her if she was sick.  She repeatedly said, “No” until dinner time when I noticed that she had a runny nose–a tell-tale sign of an impending cold.  I was pretty upset by this point.  Everyone was sick and while I had hoped that Chris and the girls might take care of me and things around the house, I was up getting meals on the table, cleaning up, and emptying the dishwasher.  Granted my hormones were likely in overdrive as well, but by Sunday morning I pretty much broke down.  While I was talking to my parents, I couldn’t keep from crying and sharing my disappointments.  They offered to come and help, but I figured by the time they got here the following weekend, everyone would be healthy and on the mend.  I simply asked them to join me in praying for a miracle.

I found out the next day that my parents had fasted for me and asked the rest of my family to pray that Kristen and I would not get sick.  I was so grateful for the strength and peace I felt during that time.  And, miracle of miracles, Kristen and I were able to stay healthy.  I had called the mother and baby unit at the hospital Sunday to ask if I could take echinacea.  They probably thought I was a basket case since I was crying, but they did say that echinacea would be alright to take.

We had different families bring meals for a number of days.  Bryce and Becca Whitesides brought lasagna on Saturday night, James and Lisa Martindale (my visiting teaching partner) brought chicken cordon bleu, rolls, grapes, and potato salad on Sunday, my visiting teacher Maria Burnham brought soup and cookies on Monday, and a new sister I just started visiting teaching, Lisa Bennett, brought a chicken pot pie on Tuesday.  Mike and Kathy Krause gave us a gift certificate to Domino’s pizza and my other visiting teacher brought a frozen lasagna, corn and refrigerator cookies before she left for Australia.  It is so nice to have thoughtful friends and neighbors.

A Kaiser Permanente home-health nurse came to check on both Kristen and I on Monday morning.  We were both doing ok and Kristen was starting to gain back some of the weight she had lost in the hospital.  She said that she could come back another time if we needed her to and that was comforting.  I was just grateful to still be healthy at this point.

On Tuesday the 26th Chris started back to working half days.  He would help clean in the morning and get the girls going for the day and then work for the afternoon while Misha slept and Amy played.  It gave me a chance to give my attention to Kristen and to rest since I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep at night.  Kristen was usually waking up two and three times a night to eat and I was pretty exhausted.

Thursday was IBM’s Annual “Take your children to work day”.  Amy was able to go last year and had been looking forward to going back all year long.  Misha was getting to go this year as well.  So, all three of them were up and out of the house early Thursday morning to get to the classes and activities on time.  It was nice to have a quiet house for a few hours.

Misha has decided that she no longer needs naps.  We tried to disguise them as “quiet time” for awhile and she would usually fall asleep after reading books for a bit, but she seems to have caught on.  Some days she will still lie down to rest if she wakes up early, but most days she and Amy keep right on playing.  For awhile, I think Amy wasn’t too happy about Misha missing her naps because Amy enjoyed the quiet time it gave her, and I know that I definitely miss the nap times.  When Chris is home, I can usually get a nap in, otherwise not at all.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

We are down to the final countdown.  Delivery is scheduled for 8 am, Tuesday, April 19th.  I would have preferred sooner, but that happens to be the day my doctor is scheduled to work at the hospital.  I had my final pre-op appointment yesterday.  Nothing too exciting, just going over procedures and signing consent forms to allow the surgery.

Misha and Amy were more excited about being able to go to Chuck E. Cheese and were disappointed to have to wait until after my appointment was over.  Chris took the afternoon off and came with us so he kept the girls while I was in my appointment.  When I climbed back in the car, Misha said to me, “You wasted our time.”

The reason we were going to Chuck E. Cheese voluntarily was because a couple of months ago, we told Misha that if she could stay dry at night for 5 nights in a row, we would take her.  She did and now stays dry every night.  The key for her is that we get her up to go to the bathroom before we go to bed.  She is still mostly asleep when we take her and climbs right back into bed when she is done.  But it is wonderful that she has finally mastered staying dry.  We are so proud of her.

This Sunday is the first Sunday that we will have meetings in our new church.  I actually attended Enrichment there on Wednesday and what a treat to only have to drive three minutes to get there.  We attended the open house last Saturday while the girls participated in a mock Primary opening exercises.  The building is beautiful and is surely appreciated by all who have had to drive into Longmont.

Last Sunday was supposed to be our last week in the Longmont building, however, a blizzard blew in Saturday night and all meetings were cancelled.  Kind of a nice treat to be able to stay home and relax for the day.  Fortunately the weather cleared up in the evening long enough for us to have the dedication of our new building.

The girls have started swimming lessons again for the summer.  They have class on Saturday morning so that after this Tuesday, Chris will be able to take them.  They are both in the same class which is supposed to be more advanced at Amy’s level, but the instructors seem to be working on the skills of the previous class.  If it were just Amy in the class, I suppose I would be more disappointed, but since it was the only time for Misha and her to take a class that was convenient I’ll not worry too much about it.  I am hoping that more advanced skills will push Misha to learn more and try harder.

One of the nice perks of working at IBM is that Chris has two weeks paternity leave.  He is going to take the first week off full-time and then work half days for the following two weeks.  He would be so far behind if he took two full weeks off.  Hopefully this will work well.  I question his ability to actually only work a half day because there will be just one more problem to take care of, one more person to help, one more thing to do... but I plan to enforce it.

Thursday, 24 March, 2005

It is almost 4 am, and I can’t sleep.  I woke up with a cold yesterday morning and have been feeling miserable since.  I am usually up a number of times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but not being able to breathe is keeping me awake this morning.  I just hope that it doesn’t go through everyone in the family.  We were doing so well not being sick for a couple of weeks.  Since I am awake, I figure I ought to catch up on writing before it becomes too overwhelming, and I just don’t do it at all.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided that we would take the girls away for a couple of nights to stay in Estes Park.  Trendwest, Chris’ parents timeshare, now has a hotel there that they are renovating, but we were able to stay in one of the cabins that they have completed.  It was a bit smaller than what we have come to expect from Trendwest, but the girls thought it was great fun.  The cabin had one bedroom that Chris and I shared and the girls were so impressed that we got a tv in our bedroom, as well as having one in the living room where they were to sleep on a hide-a-bed.

We arrived Sunday afternoon after heading home from church, changing, eating and packing.  Check-in wasn’t until after 4 pm so we weren’t really in any rush to get there.  We brought left-over pizza from home for supper so that we wouldn’t have to go out on a Sunday evening.  We pretty much stuck around the cabin for the evening, the girls watched a Star Wars movie we brought, and Chris and I watched the tv in our room.

The next morning dawned fairly early for Misha, as usual, and she in turn woke Amy up quite early.  Probably hard not to wake her up, but she speeded up the process by loudly whispering, “Amy wake up.”  For breakfast, Chris took the girls to get groceries - donuts and OJ- at Safeway.  Any opportunity to have donuts and they’re all for it.

We drove around Estes Park and then up into Rocky Mountain National Park for the morning.  The girls weren’t all that impressed, but Misha was the first one to spot an elk, rather a huge herd of elk somewhat camouflaged by the trees.  In order to keep them interested during the ride, we promised the first one to spot any wildlife a treat.  By about 11 am, the girls were fairly bored and asking for lunch.  I was happy to stop myself since the driving seemed to enhance the morning sickness I still get.

We stopped to pick out Misha’s “prize” for spotting the elk-a chocolate covered pretzel (Amy got one too)-and then headed over to a combination KFC and Taco Bell.  I don’t know what it is about eating, but Misha surely isn’t speedy about it.  That day was no exception.  We finally got her to finish her standard eat-out food, french fries and chicken, and then decided to head back to the cabin for naps.  Misha and I rested on the hide-a-bed while Amy entertained Chris and colored in the bedroom.  Just as we were waking up, she fell asleep.  Never a good thing because it keeps her up when it is bedtime in the evening.  We decided to pick out some videos from the check-in desk–a Strawberry Shortcake movie for the girls and a new movie “Napolean Dynamite” that everyone said was so funny.  You might think it funny someday but both Chris and I thought it was fairly inane and stupid.

Before watching the movies though, we played UNO with the girls and then headed out in search of a place to eat.  We ended up at a little pizza joint that we came upon last summer and had wanted to try.

We had originally intended to drive back home early Tuesday morning so that we could drop Amy off at school at 9:15 and so Chris could work, but since Amy’s preschool was cancelled for the rest of the school year, we left around 9 am.  It was snowing lightly as we left Estes Park but didn’t continue for long as we came down out of the mountains.  As we drove through Lyons the wind picked up mightily and continued that way at our house for the rest of the day.

I think the girls enjoyed themselves on our weekend getaway.  We figured we wouldn’t have an opportunity for awhile after the baby came to do something like that.  We also know that with the baby’s arrival, life will change and the focus will not always be on Amy and Misha.  We wanted them to feel as though they were still an important part of our family.

As far as preschool goes, we were sitting in church when Jeff Garrigues, Miss Robyn’s husband, announced that she had gone in to the hospital because she thought she had strep or pneumonia and came away with an advanced stage of breast cancer in her right breast.  She had surgery on the 15th where they removed lymph nodes and both breasts and she will begin chemotherapy soon.  Amy was truly learning and loving her school, so it is hard to see it come to an end.  We are waiting now to see what will happen in the fall since Misha was signed up to attend then, but hope that everything is ok with Robyn.

Chris and I attended the temple with Shawn Wycoff on Tuesday the 15th as well.  He was baptized a year ago, his wife divorced him, and he just got married to a lady, Shelly, from Logan, Utah on Friday the 18th in the Logan Temple.  Quite a year of changes for him.  It was nice to attend the temple; I went knowing that it would be my last time for awhile.  Chris drove out to Utah for the wedding, leaving late on Thursday and driving until 2:15 am.  He went with a friend from the ward, Ralph.  The wedding was Friday morning, a luncheon was scheduled for around noon, and then Ralph and Chris headed to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to spend the rest of the day.  They both spent the night at Brad’s and left Saturday morning to come home.

My monthly Bunko activity was the Friday night that Chris was gone, so I had Tacy Burnham watch the girls.  They actually ended up going with her family while they had pictures taken and then out to dinner at Chick-fil-A.  Tacy’s mom, Maria, said that people sure did look at them funny with six kids in tow and her pregnant with her fifth.  The girls had a good time though and even got to stop at Burnham’s for ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Misha said the prayer in Primary on Sunday.  We had talked earlier about what she should and shouldn’t say and she ended up doing a great job on her own, however, people know that her mommy needs to sleep more.

With each passing day, I am feeling bigger and bigger.  I suppose I look as though I have reached nine months of pregnancy because people, usually ladies from the ward, ask how soon I am due and look amazed when I tell them I still have another month to go.  I have found that women ask the most insensitive questions about pregnancy and really should have the experience and memories to know better.  So I am not looking forward to being in church the next couple of weeks and having to answer such questions anymore.  With this cold, I might just be off the hook this week and the week following that is General Conference.

On Tuesday, Amy came into the office with Misha and said to me, “Since you and daddy got to name Misha and me, can we name this baby?”  What a cute question.  I didn’t tell her yes or no but instead asked her what she would name the baby.  She thought for a minute and said, “Lisa or Shelly” and Misha piped in saying that Cinderella was a nice name.  I think Chris and I have finally decided on a name that is agreeable to both of us.  Of course, there is always the chance that it can change, but I think her name will be Julie Makenna.  We haven’t told the girls for sure yet, since we don’t want it broadcast.  When we mentioned to them a list of possibilities with Julie in the list, Misha said, “We already have a Julie”, meaning our friend Julie who was an IBM intern last summer and babysat them.

My next doctor’s appointment is next Tuesday, the 29th.  I’ll be 36 weeks then.  I plan to find out what the earliest possible date they will deliver me is and go for that.  I am ready to be done.  My friend Tasha (Amy’s friend Audrey’s mom) is due April 1st and is being induced this Friday March 25th.  I am wishing that it were me. The day following my appointment, Chris and I are scheduled for a tour of the labor and delivery at the hospital and will have Tacy come babysit for us again.

Amy is getting excited about her baby sister and a little impatient as well.  Kind of like waiting for Christmas to get here.  She often asks what it will be like to have a baby at our house and if she will cry all the time.  It should be fun.