Amy loved her second day of school. When I asked her how it went she said, “Perfect.” Good to know that it is living up to all of her long-held expectations. Misha isn’t quite as happy about school. She asks repeatedly how long before we pick Amy up or tells me that she thinks Amy is ready to come home. Most of the time she just says, “I miss Amy.” The nice thing about it though is that there is rarely any whining, fighting, or arguing in the morning.
Kristen has a stuffy nose. Poor thing! But she is still smiling and happy. She woke up around 2:30 am and then again at 3 am because she couldn’t breathe. I picked her to rock her and hold her upright to let her nose drain, but she instantly thought it was time to eat and would have nothing to do with just plain old rocking. Once she was finished eating she was raring to go, mind you, that’s at 3:30 in the morning. I held her close until she began to close her eyes and finally she fell back to sleep and slept past 8 am. I put her to sleep on her “Boppy” pillow which kept her head and upper body elevated and she was able to sleep so much better. Nice because that gave me time to get Amy ready for and to drop her off at school. Misha was very compliant when I told her that she needed to be dressed and have breakfast if she was to come with me. Yesterday she didn’t get to come because she wasn’t ready, and Chris said she was rather upset with me.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Amy officially started school today. She was so excited. I think it was as exciting as Christmas morning for her. I was exercising in the basement when I looked over at the stairs and saw her peaking her head around the corner. I suggested that she go back to sleep because it was only 6 am, but she was too wound up already for sleeping. She has been looking forward to this day for years and it has finally arrived.
Her clothes were already laid out for her last night and she was raring to put on her uniform. I had her eat breakfast first so that she wouldn’t get her clothes dirty and Amy agreed that that was a good idea. She understands that she will be going to school Monday through Friday and will have the weekends off. I thought this morning as I was cleaning up breakfast that she would need to get used to that because it isn’t going to change much for many many years to come.
We arrived at the school which is a brand new charter school–Carbon Valley Academy-that was only conceived as an idea last summer at this time. Amazing to see how much has been accomplished in such a short amount of time. Cars were lining the side of the road (the school is located in what was an empty warehouse in the business district of Frederick) and we had to walk about a block to get to the school. All of the students, teachers and parents were lined up according to class and at 8:15 were able to file into the school through the makeshift gymnasium/lunch room.
The kindergarten students and parents filed into the room and distributed school supplies into boxes. Amy found her desk and name tag and met her four table mates. I took a couple of pictures and was happy to see how excited she was. She gave me a hug and a kiss (and I thought that’ll only last a couple of years before it will embarrass her) and I along with the rest of the parents headed back to the gym for a meeting with the principal. He could have said everything in a couple of minutes, but seems to like to talk. Nice man though. I was back home by 9 am to find Misha and Kristen watching “Finding Nemo”. Kristen was ready for a nap and Misha got to make her bed. She was quite upset that I didn’t take her with me this morning, but one, she wasn’t ready, and two, she seems to be getting a cold. I hope it doesn’t pass through the family.
Her clothes were already laid out for her last night and she was raring to put on her uniform. I had her eat breakfast first so that she wouldn’t get her clothes dirty and Amy agreed that that was a good idea. She understands that she will be going to school Monday through Friday and will have the weekends off. I thought this morning as I was cleaning up breakfast that she would need to get used to that because it isn’t going to change much for many many years to come.
We arrived at the school which is a brand new charter school–Carbon Valley Academy-that was only conceived as an idea last summer at this time. Amazing to see how much has been accomplished in such a short amount of time. Cars were lining the side of the road (the school is located in what was an empty warehouse in the business district of Frederick) and we had to walk about a block to get to the school. All of the students, teachers and parents were lined up according to class and at 8:15 were able to file into the school through the makeshift gymnasium/lunch room.
The kindergarten students and parents filed into the room and distributed school supplies into boxes. Amy found her desk and name tag and met her four table mates. I took a couple of pictures and was happy to see how excited she was. She gave me a hug and a kiss (and I thought that’ll only last a couple of years before it will embarrass her) and I along with the rest of the parents headed back to the gym for a meeting with the principal. He could have said everything in a couple of minutes, but seems to like to talk. Nice man though. I was back home by 9 am to find Misha and Kristen watching “Finding Nemo”. Kristen was ready for a nap and Misha got to make her bed. She was quite upset that I didn’t take her with me this morning, but one, she wasn’t ready, and two, she seems to be getting a cold. I hope it doesn’t pass through the family.
Thursday, 18 August, 2005
I have gone far too long without writing and catching up is not going to be fun. We left on Thursday August 4 for a 10-day vacation to Utah. It started raining as we left Colorado and continued to increase in intensity throughout the day, sometimes with whiteout type conditions as we drove through the mountains.
We drove to Glenwood Springs where we met up with some friends of Chris’ from the Philippines who now live in Colorado. We picked up Shawn in Glenwood Springs and then drove about 30 to 40 minutes to Aspen to meet his sister, Sheila, and see some of the tourist sites around there. The rain started again as we headed into the mountains to Maroon Bells-the name of the mountains. The lake there is supposedly very beautiful, but it poured as we arrived . I stayed in the van with Kristen while the others got out to check out the lake, and by the time they came back they were soaked. Kind of a waste for the $10 we had to pay as an admission fee into the mountains.
We decided to drive back toward Glenwood Springs for dinner and stopped in a town between the springs and Aspen (can’t remember the name though). We chose a small pizza shop when the Mexican food place was packed and parking was nowhere to be had. It was certainly not superb, but passable.
After leaving Shawn and Sheila, we continued on to Grand Junction where Chris had booked a hotel for the evening. Nothing fancy but they did have a continental breakfast in the morning which was nice. Kristen was a dear and slept throughout the night and continued to do so for the rest of the trip. We are sure blessed to have such a sweet baby. Amy and Misha too were great about going to bed and fell asleep quickly after long and busy days.
We left for Provo the next morning and arrived around 2:30 or 3 pm. We stopped at a park where the girls could play, and I could nurse Kristen. We figured since we were in Provo that we would stop at Susan’s and let the kids play with their cousins. That’s what they had been looking forward to for the past couple of weeks as they anticipated their trip to Utah. We had hoped to meet up with Mom and Dad later that night but after being cut off on the cell phone a number of times as we drove through the mountains, they decided to run down to Salt Lake to pick up something for Dallin.
Instead, Chris called his Novell friends and arranged to get together with them for dinner in Spanish Fork. We met at The Pizza Factory. I was tired and Kristen was beginning to be more and more frazzled so it wasn’t so much fun for me, but there were kids for the girls to play with and we headed over to Brett and Deni’s after dinner to see their new house.
Brad had also closed on his new home earlier in the day, so we didn’t stay long so that we could arrive at Brad’s house before 10 pm. He graciously allowed us to stay the night even though he was going back to Maureen’s for the night. He had been staying at her place for a couple of days between moving out of his condo and closing on his new home. The view was incredible from his living room and was one of the big draws for him. He now has a two bedroom home with a basement framed and ready to be finished. He lives on the Utah County side of the Point of the Mountain across the freeway from Thanksgiving Point. He lives in a new development called Traverse Mountain.
We arrived at his house late just as Mom and Dad and Dallin and Donna were leaving to go back to Dallin and Donna’s house. The girls were sleeping so we made up beds for them and they were back to sleep for the night.
Brad dropped by briefly on Saturday morning to bring food that he had been storing in Maureen’s refrigerator. He was having the carpets cleaned and asked if we would stick around until the cleaners came to let them in. We drove over to Dallin’s and dropped Amy and Misha off for a little bit to play with Angie and Wade. Isaac had been throwing up, but they figured it was from the four hot dogs he had wolfed the previous night.
We waited at Brad’s for 45 minutes for the carpet cleaner guy to show up. He was supposed to be there by 11:00 am but was quite late. We finally left there, went to pick up the girls and headed towards The Practice for Brad to check Misha and Kristen’s eyes. Chris was worried that her eyes weren’t tracking like they should. Turns out she is doing great, no worries yet, and Misha’s eyes have improved in the last year. Wahooo. I hope that they will continue to do so.
We picked up a few groceries on the way home and then went to help Brad unload. Once we arrived, Kristen chose this moment to have a break down. I think she was simply so out of sync with her routine and schedule and so overtired from not getting a good nap. She cried for quite some time, slept a short while and then was up again. The good news is that she slept until after 8 am Saturday and Sunday morning. In fact, we had to wake her up on Sunday in order to get her ready for church on time.
Sadly, when Brad checked to see if his utilities were still working, the hot water that he felt was the last little bit in the tank. He didn’t realize that the gas had been shut off and was not able to have someone out to turn it on until Monday morning. So we didn’t bathe or shower on Saturday or Sunday and finally I boiled water on the stove for a bath for me and the girls Monday morning.
We attended Brad’s church with him at 9 am along with Mom and Dad. The ward was huge and reminded us of our ward in Colorado. Even the church was new and finished in the same colors. Brad’s ward however is growing so much faster than ours. We thought our growth was crazy. They are getting ready to be split soon. There were four looooooong baby blessings in Sacrament meeting. Our girls don’t usually get to have paper and pen until after the sacrament is finished so it was especially long and boring for them as the testimony portion of the meeting did not even begin until 9:55.
We went back to Brad’s after church and just vegged until 5:30 pm. Dallin and Donna had a dinner at their house for the entire family and the girls were excited to play more with their cousins. Amy and Angie get along a lot better now, but Dallin’s boys were pretty rough and punching Misha; wasn’t too happy with that. Her tender little whiney heart caused her to cry a couple of times. Kristen was loved by all.
Monday morning at 10 am we were scheduled to be at the Sears in South Provo for family pictures with the Ball family. After the fun adventure of heating water and bathing, we arrived right on time. It was nice to see more cousins, many that we had never met before. The pictures went on for quite some time, especially since each family did photos as well. When they were finally ready and they showed us ours, I was not impressed whatsoever. They agreed to redo ours, but the photographer was definitely not pleased. Finally that was done, we had picked all the shots we wanted, and we headed to the food court.
Chris, Amy, and Misha were going to Seven Peaks with some of his family, and Kristen and me were hanging with Brad, Mom, and Dad to pick out a couch and carpet for his house. (What he finally settled on he has since changed his mind about and will continue looking). He did find a lawnmower though.
After a long afternoon, and too many stints of feeding Kristen in the bathroom on a hard chair, I headed back to Brad’s with Mom and Dad while he went back to Maureen’s to pick up his bike. The traffic was quite congested, and I knew we would be cutting it close to get to Kristen’s baby blessing on time. Chris and girls pulled in about 20 minutes after I did. I was finishing up feeding Kristen, and we had to then hurriedly change and pack up all of our stuff.
The blessing was scheduled for 6 pm, but so many people were late with the bad traffic. Chris’ mission president and one of his companions and family (Jeff and Jo Isom) were able to attend along with everyone from both sides of our family. It was especially poignant for Chris, and I could tell that he struggled to keep his emotions in check during the blessing. After Kristen’s blessing, Kyle blessed Dylan as well. Nice because Kyle’s parents and sister were able to attend as they live in Springville.
Karra King, my niece, took notes during the blessing and these were some of the things Kristen was blessed with:
“Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ and with the power of the holy Melchizedek Preisthood, we come before thee with this infant in our arms to give her a name and a blessing. The name that she will be known as is Kristen Nicole Kline. Kristen you are born into a special time and are a special and chosen spirit of Heavenly Father. I bless you to have extraordinary strength...You will have the opportunity to marry in the temple.
You have parents who love you. I bless you to have a free mind to learn everything that our Father in Heaven would have you learn. I bless you to have a spirit of peace and to be a peacemaker in your home. You have a strong intellect....Be safe....Seek to know things from the will of Heavenly Father. I bless you to have the spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
After the blessings were finished, there were many pictures taken but we finally were able to get everyone out of the church and headed toward Chuck-o-Rama in Draper where we had reserved a room and had dinner. It was a great evening that we all enjoyed (that is, except for Dallin and Donna as Isaac was throwing up again).
After saying our goodbyes, we headed north toward Ogden and Wolf Creek. It was about 15 minutes to get through Ogden to the mouth of the canyon and then about another 20 minutes to travel to and find Wolf Creek. All of the girls had been sleeping in the car, but Amy was wide awake once we arrived at the resort. Linda had booked two condos next to each other. Ours had two bedrooms that slept our family and Becky and Kyle slept in a loft upstairs that also had beds for their kids and a separate bathroom.
Fortunately the unit had a toilet plunger because our bathroom’s toilet was plugged and Chris had to spend time plunging it once we arrived. He was very vocal to Becky at how disgusting it was. Since they were the only ones staying in the condo, it was likely someone in their family that plugged it, but she didn’t think it could have been her family. Go figure.
Tuesday morning arrived bright but not too early. Linda and Candace planned to go to Costco to purchase food for the week and since Chris was strongly encouraging me to get a swimming suit, Kristen and I went along. We bought sooooooo much food, more than we could have eaten in two weeks probably.
We went swimming in the afternoon. Misha said that she wasn’t feeling too great and threw up as we were walking to the pool. She didn’t want to be left behind while everyone else was swimming though. There was a small wading pool there that was quite warm and Kristen loved it. I sat with her while the girls swam and played. They had a great time. Once we were back at the condo though, Misha started to throw up more. Fortunately, the first time, Chris got her mostly to the tile floor before she puked. She threw up in the garbage can next, poor thing. She fell asleep early. Chris started feeling nauseous and there began my very fun evening. He had the chills so I kept warming up towels and covering him up. Once it cooled off, I had another towel ready to go on him. He finally threw up, but never really felt better until the next day.
Amy spent the evening over at Grandma’s condo eating and watching tv. I went over for awhile to eat after Chris threw up and was feeling better, but didn’t stay very long. I tried to have Amy come back with me because I knew that she would be falling asleep soon. She was laying on the floor watching Star Wars. She wanted to stay, so I let her. Becky said that she would bring her home. Not long after I left, Amy was asleep on the floor while cousins played around her.
I heard Misha moan during the night and quickly got up to see what was wrong. Good thing because she was starting to barf by the time I got into her room and could hold the garbage can under her chin. She is frustrating when I do that though because she keeps trying to push the garbage can away. She must have felt better after that because she fell asleep for the rest of the night and seemed to be better in the morning.
Wednesday morning was full of relaxing. Linda had thought she wanted to go go go all week long, but she starting enjoying doing nothing and so the rest of us were happy that we weren’t compelled to go or do anything. Chris wasn’t feeling quite up to par and took the opportunity to sleep while I took the girls swimming. Kristen actually slept in the stroller while I watched the girls swim and play with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. Chris came over about 45 minutes later and swam for a bit.
Since it was our responsibility to fix dinner on Wednesday evening, we didn’t stay too long at the pool. We BBQ’d hamburgers and hotdogs. I thought that the kids would mostly eat the hotdogs, but lots of the parents did too. It was an easy fix without an overabundance of clean up.
On Thursday Becky and Kevin and their families and us decided to go to Temple Square. Linda and Larry drove to Provo to help Lori and Jenni move and clean their apartment. Yes, they are needy. The rest of us arrived in Salt Lake around noon and found a park close to the capitol building to have lunch at. The kids ate some, played, ate some more, played more... you get the idea. I think we got a little food in them.
After lunch we headed to Temple Square and the church office buildings. Chris wanted to have us go to the top to see the view, which we did, and after we came back down, I looked back to see Drew, Becky’s little boy, throwing up on the floor. What I missed seeing however was how he had already thrown up all over his dad. The rest of us went outside while they cleaned up. Becky and Kyle decided that they had already had enough and headed back to Wolf Creek to rest and do some laundry.
The rest of us stayed a while longer, took some pictures, went to the visitor’s center, saw the Christus, etc. We headed over to the mall to get something cool to drink. Kevin and Candace then decided that they were tired (Candace is 4 ½ months pregnant) and were going back to Wolf Creek. Chris had told the girls that they could ride the light rail, so I stayed with Kristen at Mervyn’s while they went for a ride. There wasn’t much at Mervyn’s to catch my eye, so we headed over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and sat in the lobby listening to beautiful piano music. Kristen slept while I enjoyed the music and watched people. Before leaving Salt Lake, we made one more stop at the Distribution Center to get new garments. Traffic was awful on the way back. We weren’t thinking and left Salt Lake right at rush hour. Fortunately the girls slept.
Becky cooked a spaghetti casserole for dinner which was quite good. Misha didn’t care for the look of it even and literally made herself sick over one bite. As we sat at the table, she finally threw up after gagging on the one and only bite in her mouth. Good thing she is a slow eater as most of the family had already left the table. Chris put her to bed after that, and she was one starving hombre come morning time.
Since we were gone most of the day, Amy finally got her daddy to take her swimming after dinner. It’s vacation after all. Chris didn’t even get in, but she had fun nevertheless.
Friday morning we all headed up to Snow Basin ski area. Most of us were going to take the tram up to the top of the mountain. Kevin, Chris and Kyle had a little more adventure in mind. They rented mountain bikes and spent the day riding down the mountain. Chris and Kevin stayed together and Kyle and his friend rode together. Chris was exhilarated by the experience. He absolutely loved it. It is something that he has always wanted to do so I am glad that he was able to get the chance.
The rest of us came down the mountain about an hour later and headed back to Wolf Creek. Lucky me got to make dinner for everyone else. Lazy bunch of people. The girls played for the afternoon and when Chris got home around 4 pm we all went swimming.
By the time Saturday morning rolled around. I had had enough “vacation”. Sharing a condo began to get old and wear on my nerves at that point. Kristen hadn’t had a really good nap all week long due to noisy kids and having a room right by the front door. We started getting things packed up in the morning and headed back down to Brad’s place around 11 am. Larry and Linda, along with Candace, Jeremy, and Jonathan were also leaving on Saturday but they had so much stuff to pack, they were lucky I think to finally get out of there before 3 pm.
Candace and her boys were riding back with Larry and Linda to spend the week with her family and then attend Lori’s wedding on the following Saturday. Speaking of Lori, I think I saw her Monday morning at the pictures in Provo and then Tuesday night for a short time. She never even bothered to introduce us to Sam. Anyway, Candace would stay with her family, Kevin was flying home to work and then flying back again to Vancouver the following weekend for the wedding.
We spent a little time with Dallin and Donna and family, but by that time, we were so familied out that we just got some pizza and went to Brad’s for the evening. We were planning to leave Sunday morning to drive home. Our trip home was uneventful and all the girls were pretty good in the car. I was just glad to finally be back in my own bed. I think Kristen was too. She looked around the house and settled in quickly.
We were home for a couple of days and then Chris was off again to Vancouver for the wedding on Thursday the 18th. We probably all would have gone to the wedding if Linda hadn’t been so adamant that she wanted us at the family reunion instead. Seems to me that an event such as a wedding should pull rank, but whatever... Sadly for Chris, he was the only one without his family there. Thus he became the “royal run all the errands” guy. Lucky him huh.
Amy and I along with other two girls got to go visit her teacher, Mrs. Stephen at the school on Thursday the 18th as well. We got to see where her classroom would be and take a tour of the rest of the school. Impressive I say. Amy was so excited for school to start.
We drove to Glenwood Springs where we met up with some friends of Chris’ from the Philippines who now live in Colorado. We picked up Shawn in Glenwood Springs and then drove about 30 to 40 minutes to Aspen to meet his sister, Sheila, and see some of the tourist sites around there. The rain started again as we headed into the mountains to Maroon Bells-the name of the mountains. The lake there is supposedly very beautiful, but it poured as we arrived . I stayed in the van with Kristen while the others got out to check out the lake, and by the time they came back they were soaked. Kind of a waste for the $10 we had to pay as an admission fee into the mountains.
We decided to drive back toward Glenwood Springs for dinner and stopped in a town between the springs and Aspen (can’t remember the name though). We chose a small pizza shop when the Mexican food place was packed and parking was nowhere to be had. It was certainly not superb, but passable.
After leaving Shawn and Sheila, we continued on to Grand Junction where Chris had booked a hotel for the evening. Nothing fancy but they did have a continental breakfast in the morning which was nice. Kristen was a dear and slept throughout the night and continued to do so for the rest of the trip. We are sure blessed to have such a sweet baby. Amy and Misha too were great about going to bed and fell asleep quickly after long and busy days.
We left for Provo the next morning and arrived around 2:30 or 3 pm. We stopped at a park where the girls could play, and I could nurse Kristen. We figured since we were in Provo that we would stop at Susan’s and let the kids play with their cousins. That’s what they had been looking forward to for the past couple of weeks as they anticipated their trip to Utah. We had hoped to meet up with Mom and Dad later that night but after being cut off on the cell phone a number of times as we drove through the mountains, they decided to run down to Salt Lake to pick up something for Dallin.
Instead, Chris called his Novell friends and arranged to get together with them for dinner in Spanish Fork. We met at The Pizza Factory. I was tired and Kristen was beginning to be more and more frazzled so it wasn’t so much fun for me, but there were kids for the girls to play with and we headed over to Brett and Deni’s after dinner to see their new house.
Brad had also closed on his new home earlier in the day, so we didn’t stay long so that we could arrive at Brad’s house before 10 pm. He graciously allowed us to stay the night even though he was going back to Maureen’s for the night. He had been staying at her place for a couple of days between moving out of his condo and closing on his new home. The view was incredible from his living room and was one of the big draws for him. He now has a two bedroom home with a basement framed and ready to be finished. He lives on the Utah County side of the Point of the Mountain across the freeway from Thanksgiving Point. He lives in a new development called Traverse Mountain.
We arrived at his house late just as Mom and Dad and Dallin and Donna were leaving to go back to Dallin and Donna’s house. The girls were sleeping so we made up beds for them and they were back to sleep for the night.
Brad dropped by briefly on Saturday morning to bring food that he had been storing in Maureen’s refrigerator. He was having the carpets cleaned and asked if we would stick around until the cleaners came to let them in. We drove over to Dallin’s and dropped Amy and Misha off for a little bit to play with Angie and Wade. Isaac had been throwing up, but they figured it was from the four hot dogs he had wolfed the previous night.
We waited at Brad’s for 45 minutes for the carpet cleaner guy to show up. He was supposed to be there by 11:00 am but was quite late. We finally left there, went to pick up the girls and headed towards The Practice for Brad to check Misha and Kristen’s eyes. Chris was worried that her eyes weren’t tracking like they should. Turns out she is doing great, no worries yet, and Misha’s eyes have improved in the last year. Wahooo. I hope that they will continue to do so.
We picked up a few groceries on the way home and then went to help Brad unload. Once we arrived, Kristen chose this moment to have a break down. I think she was simply so out of sync with her routine and schedule and so overtired from not getting a good nap. She cried for quite some time, slept a short while and then was up again. The good news is that she slept until after 8 am Saturday and Sunday morning. In fact, we had to wake her up on Sunday in order to get her ready for church on time.
Sadly, when Brad checked to see if his utilities were still working, the hot water that he felt was the last little bit in the tank. He didn’t realize that the gas had been shut off and was not able to have someone out to turn it on until Monday morning. So we didn’t bathe or shower on Saturday or Sunday and finally I boiled water on the stove for a bath for me and the girls Monday morning.
We attended Brad’s church with him at 9 am along with Mom and Dad. The ward was huge and reminded us of our ward in Colorado. Even the church was new and finished in the same colors. Brad’s ward however is growing so much faster than ours. We thought our growth was crazy. They are getting ready to be split soon. There were four looooooong baby blessings in Sacrament meeting. Our girls don’t usually get to have paper and pen until after the sacrament is finished so it was especially long and boring for them as the testimony portion of the meeting did not even begin until 9:55.
We went back to Brad’s after church and just vegged until 5:30 pm. Dallin and Donna had a dinner at their house for the entire family and the girls were excited to play more with their cousins. Amy and Angie get along a lot better now, but Dallin’s boys were pretty rough and punching Misha; wasn’t too happy with that. Her tender little whiney heart caused her to cry a couple of times. Kristen was loved by all.
Monday morning at 10 am we were scheduled to be at the Sears in South Provo for family pictures with the Ball family. After the fun adventure of heating water and bathing, we arrived right on time. It was nice to see more cousins, many that we had never met before. The pictures went on for quite some time, especially since each family did photos as well. When they were finally ready and they showed us ours, I was not impressed whatsoever. They agreed to redo ours, but the photographer was definitely not pleased. Finally that was done, we had picked all the shots we wanted, and we headed to the food court.
Chris, Amy, and Misha were going to Seven Peaks with some of his family, and Kristen and me were hanging with Brad, Mom, and Dad to pick out a couch and carpet for his house. (What he finally settled on he has since changed his mind about and will continue looking). He did find a lawnmower though.
After a long afternoon, and too many stints of feeding Kristen in the bathroom on a hard chair, I headed back to Brad’s with Mom and Dad while he went back to Maureen’s to pick up his bike. The traffic was quite congested, and I knew we would be cutting it close to get to Kristen’s baby blessing on time. Chris and girls pulled in about 20 minutes after I did. I was finishing up feeding Kristen, and we had to then hurriedly change and pack up all of our stuff.
The blessing was scheduled for 6 pm, but so many people were late with the bad traffic. Chris’ mission president and one of his companions and family (Jeff and Jo Isom) were able to attend along with everyone from both sides of our family. It was especially poignant for Chris, and I could tell that he struggled to keep his emotions in check during the blessing. After Kristen’s blessing, Kyle blessed Dylan as well. Nice because Kyle’s parents and sister were able to attend as they live in Springville.
Karra King, my niece, took notes during the blessing and these were some of the things Kristen was blessed with:
“Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ and with the power of the holy Melchizedek Preisthood, we come before thee with this infant in our arms to give her a name and a blessing. The name that she will be known as is Kristen Nicole Kline. Kristen you are born into a special time and are a special and chosen spirit of Heavenly Father. I bless you to have extraordinary strength...You will have the opportunity to marry in the temple.
You have parents who love you. I bless you to have a free mind to learn everything that our Father in Heaven would have you learn. I bless you to have a spirit of peace and to be a peacemaker in your home. You have a strong intellect....Be safe....Seek to know things from the will of Heavenly Father. I bless you to have the spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
After the blessings were finished, there were many pictures taken but we finally were able to get everyone out of the church and headed toward Chuck-o-Rama in Draper where we had reserved a room and had dinner. It was a great evening that we all enjoyed (that is, except for Dallin and Donna as Isaac was throwing up again).
After saying our goodbyes, we headed north toward Ogden and Wolf Creek. It was about 15 minutes to get through Ogden to the mouth of the canyon and then about another 20 minutes to travel to and find Wolf Creek. All of the girls had been sleeping in the car, but Amy was wide awake once we arrived at the resort. Linda had booked two condos next to each other. Ours had two bedrooms that slept our family and Becky and Kyle slept in a loft upstairs that also had beds for their kids and a separate bathroom.
Fortunately the unit had a toilet plunger because our bathroom’s toilet was plugged and Chris had to spend time plunging it once we arrived. He was very vocal to Becky at how disgusting it was. Since they were the only ones staying in the condo, it was likely someone in their family that plugged it, but she didn’t think it could have been her family. Go figure.
Tuesday morning arrived bright but not too early. Linda and Candace planned to go to Costco to purchase food for the week and since Chris was strongly encouraging me to get a swimming suit, Kristen and I went along. We bought sooooooo much food, more than we could have eaten in two weeks probably.
We went swimming in the afternoon. Misha said that she wasn’t feeling too great and threw up as we were walking to the pool. She didn’t want to be left behind while everyone else was swimming though. There was a small wading pool there that was quite warm and Kristen loved it. I sat with her while the girls swam and played. They had a great time. Once we were back at the condo though, Misha started to throw up more. Fortunately, the first time, Chris got her mostly to the tile floor before she puked. She threw up in the garbage can next, poor thing. She fell asleep early. Chris started feeling nauseous and there began my very fun evening. He had the chills so I kept warming up towels and covering him up. Once it cooled off, I had another towel ready to go on him. He finally threw up, but never really felt better until the next day.
Amy spent the evening over at Grandma’s condo eating and watching tv. I went over for awhile to eat after Chris threw up and was feeling better, but didn’t stay very long. I tried to have Amy come back with me because I knew that she would be falling asleep soon. She was laying on the floor watching Star Wars. She wanted to stay, so I let her. Becky said that she would bring her home. Not long after I left, Amy was asleep on the floor while cousins played around her.
I heard Misha moan during the night and quickly got up to see what was wrong. Good thing because she was starting to barf by the time I got into her room and could hold the garbage can under her chin. She is frustrating when I do that though because she keeps trying to push the garbage can away. She must have felt better after that because she fell asleep for the rest of the night and seemed to be better in the morning.
Wednesday morning was full of relaxing. Linda had thought she wanted to go go go all week long, but she starting enjoying doing nothing and so the rest of us were happy that we weren’t compelled to go or do anything. Chris wasn’t feeling quite up to par and took the opportunity to sleep while I took the girls swimming. Kristen actually slept in the stroller while I watched the girls swim and play with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. Chris came over about 45 minutes later and swam for a bit.
Since it was our responsibility to fix dinner on Wednesday evening, we didn’t stay too long at the pool. We BBQ’d hamburgers and hotdogs. I thought that the kids would mostly eat the hotdogs, but lots of the parents did too. It was an easy fix without an overabundance of clean up.
On Thursday Becky and Kevin and their families and us decided to go to Temple Square. Linda and Larry drove to Provo to help Lori and Jenni move and clean their apartment. Yes, they are needy. The rest of us arrived in Salt Lake around noon and found a park close to the capitol building to have lunch at. The kids ate some, played, ate some more, played more... you get the idea. I think we got a little food in them.
After lunch we headed to Temple Square and the church office buildings. Chris wanted to have us go to the top to see the view, which we did, and after we came back down, I looked back to see Drew, Becky’s little boy, throwing up on the floor. What I missed seeing however was how he had already thrown up all over his dad. The rest of us went outside while they cleaned up. Becky and Kyle decided that they had already had enough and headed back to Wolf Creek to rest and do some laundry.
The rest of us stayed a while longer, took some pictures, went to the visitor’s center, saw the Christus, etc. We headed over to the mall to get something cool to drink. Kevin and Candace then decided that they were tired (Candace is 4 ½ months pregnant) and were going back to Wolf Creek. Chris had told the girls that they could ride the light rail, so I stayed with Kristen at Mervyn’s while they went for a ride. There wasn’t much at Mervyn’s to catch my eye, so we headed over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and sat in the lobby listening to beautiful piano music. Kristen slept while I enjoyed the music and watched people. Before leaving Salt Lake, we made one more stop at the Distribution Center to get new garments. Traffic was awful on the way back. We weren’t thinking and left Salt Lake right at rush hour. Fortunately the girls slept.
Becky cooked a spaghetti casserole for dinner which was quite good. Misha didn’t care for the look of it even and literally made herself sick over one bite. As we sat at the table, she finally threw up after gagging on the one and only bite in her mouth. Good thing she is a slow eater as most of the family had already left the table. Chris put her to bed after that, and she was one starving hombre come morning time.
Since we were gone most of the day, Amy finally got her daddy to take her swimming after dinner. It’s vacation after all. Chris didn’t even get in, but she had fun nevertheless.
Friday morning we all headed up to Snow Basin ski area. Most of us were going to take the tram up to the top of the mountain. Kevin, Chris and Kyle had a little more adventure in mind. They rented mountain bikes and spent the day riding down the mountain. Chris and Kevin stayed together and Kyle and his friend rode together. Chris was exhilarated by the experience. He absolutely loved it. It is something that he has always wanted to do so I am glad that he was able to get the chance.
The rest of us came down the mountain about an hour later and headed back to Wolf Creek. Lucky me got to make dinner for everyone else. Lazy bunch of people. The girls played for the afternoon and when Chris got home around 4 pm we all went swimming.
By the time Saturday morning rolled around. I had had enough “vacation”. Sharing a condo began to get old and wear on my nerves at that point. Kristen hadn’t had a really good nap all week long due to noisy kids and having a room right by the front door. We started getting things packed up in the morning and headed back down to Brad’s place around 11 am. Larry and Linda, along with Candace, Jeremy, and Jonathan were also leaving on Saturday but they had so much stuff to pack, they were lucky I think to finally get out of there before 3 pm.
Candace and her boys were riding back with Larry and Linda to spend the week with her family and then attend Lori’s wedding on the following Saturday. Speaking of Lori, I think I saw her Monday morning at the pictures in Provo and then Tuesday night for a short time. She never even bothered to introduce us to Sam. Anyway, Candace would stay with her family, Kevin was flying home to work and then flying back again to Vancouver the following weekend for the wedding.
We spent a little time with Dallin and Donna and family, but by that time, we were so familied out that we just got some pizza and went to Brad’s for the evening. We were planning to leave Sunday morning to drive home. Our trip home was uneventful and all the girls were pretty good in the car. I was just glad to finally be back in my own bed. I think Kristen was too. She looked around the house and settled in quickly.
We were home for a couple of days and then Chris was off again to Vancouver for the wedding on Thursday the 18th. We probably all would have gone to the wedding if Linda hadn’t been so adamant that she wanted us at the family reunion instead. Seems to me that an event such as a wedding should pull rank, but whatever... Sadly for Chris, he was the only one without his family there. Thus he became the “royal run all the errands” guy. Lucky him huh.
Amy and I along with other two girls got to go visit her teacher, Mrs. Stephen at the school on Thursday the 18th as well. We got to see where her classroom would be and take a tour of the rest of the school. Impressive I say. Amy was so excited for school to start.
10 July, 2005
Happy Birthday to my Misha! She turned 4 yesterday and was thrilled to begin her day with a crepe breakfast in bed.
4 July, 2005
We celebrated the 4th of July in Colorado. We had always heard goo things about the Cherry Creek Festival in downtown Denver and decided to check it out.
Amy loved it because she got an opportunity to "be on tv" with a green screen and do the weather. She thought that perhaps it would be on tv later in the evening. She even got to meet Mike the weather guy.
Amy loved it because she got an opportunity to "be on tv" with a green screen and do the weather. She thought that perhaps it would be on tv later in the evening. She even got to meet Mike the weather guy.
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.
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.
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.
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