Boundaries

I am a strong believer in having boundaries in your relationships with other people. Some things just shouldn't be shared. I don't want to know the in's and out's of your pregnancy pains. Your various stretch marks should remain a mystery to me. And bodily functions should be left between you and the porcelain thrown. Let's be honest here, the human body does some pretty gross things and the less they're discussed the better in my mind.

That is why what happened to me the other day has made one of my relationships a little awkward. In my defense I need to disclose that I had been suffering from a stomach virus and the various control mechanisms usually relied on were not in full force.

The incident in question followed a wonderful Easter dinner of ham, sour cream potatoes, and fresh rolls. A stomach stretching smorgasbord. After the dinner we were all sitting in the living room enjoying some intellectual conversation when Loralee and I got into a more lively discussion. I don't know why, but the fact that someone else was present seemed to escape my mind. And while in the midst of making a very astute argument I let one rip. No SBD action there, it was leg lifting, loud and proud.

I had about 1/2 a second to process what had just happened and slowly the horrible realization that we were not alone crept into my mind. There was about 2 seconds of shocked silence and then Loralee went into a laughing fit. Those of you who are close to her know that when she really starts to laugh she barks like a seal. Well we might as well have been in Sea World for all the seal noises going on. Our friend tried to play it off like it wasn't a big deal but from the tears in her eyes I could tell she was either emotionally traumatized or had just been hit with the fumes and was starved for oxygen.

So I would like to officially and publicly apologize to our friend. I'm sorry for tearing down that sacred farting boundary and more importantly I'm sorry for the damage inflicted on your olfactory nerves. That virus really did a job on the plumbing.

Easter

We started a new tradition this year-Spring Day! We decided that we'd like to focus on the Savior on Easter Sunday, but that we didn't want our kids to miss out on the fun of the Easter bunny and other activities. So every year, on the Saturday before Easter, we'll be having Spring Day-complete with brunch, visit from the Easter bunny, egg dyeing, crafts, etc. During preparations for this, we discovered Bree's new trick...



She can get up, but can't get down. But she usually likes what she sees when she gets up, so she'll stay for a while before complaining :)

We tried to get pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses-these little redheads look so pretty in yellow! Of course, Bree won't cooperate. So here's how it panned out...












nope-not sitting still for some stupid pink bunny...




I'm outta here!

Little Dancer

Here's one for the grannies and grampies. This is a regular occurance at our house. **NOTE: I tried posting a video clip of Emma dancing, but after multiple tries, it just won't work. Emma thinks that you get married by dancing (and going to the temple and getting a diamond). So she is constantly asking us to marry her, which means go dance with her. And it's only this song that she'll dance to (and she'll dance to the one on the Barbie Nutcracker movie)-it's a recording on the piano and I don't know the name of it...wish I did b/c I actually like it and would like to learn how to play it. Other Emma funnies lately...she was saying her prayers and in the middle of them stopped, then said, "Heavenly Father, can I please fly?" pause. "Okay, thanks!" Then last night she prayed for a pink pony. I told her that I didn't think that would happen. So she proceeded to tell me that she would then have to drive to the airport and get on an airplane so she can fly to Care-a-lot so that the CareBears could get her a pink pony. Surely they would help her cause! She's a kitty lately. Meows almost all day. I wasn't exactly happy when she licked me this morning. When she's not a kitty, she's watching over all her stuffed animals and dolls and putting them to bed and feeding them, etc. When I check on her before heading to bed, she's asleep at the end of the bed, no blankets or nothin'. But there are all her animals and dolls, tucked in nicely, heads on the pillow and using all her blankets. At least she's generous. :)

I've also been trying to get a video clip of Bree and her new, more understandable jabbering-she gets ALL the intonations right on Pat-a-cake. But now she thinks the camera is an enemy...I don't know why. The second I turn it on to get a picture or anything she glares and it and stops whatever cute thing I'm trying to capture. Too bad, because her harmonica playing yesterday was QUITE extraordinary and entertaining. She knows what I pay the most attention to and makes it her quest to harm those things...banging on the computer keyboard, calling China on the cell phone, wanting to play the piano ALL BY HERSELF-not on my lap. And she still has no hair and an orange nose. The 2 1/2 months of HE** we experienced produced A tooth-that's right, just one. Two more have since come, but there wasn't any fussiness involved. The hair-we really can't do much about that. I asked the doctor at her appt today about the orange nose. He said he really didn't have an answer for me. He said if her liver was really big he'd know what to tell me, but liver was fine, so he said just to wait it out-he was laughing at me the whole time b/c I was so worried about it. She is following in Emma's footsteps. She gained less than a pound since her 1 year checkup, and grew 1/4 of an inch. Bree is a funny baby, though. She laughs any time we tickle her now-it's like pulling teeth trying to get our girls to laugh. Don't know why. But she gets especially giggly right before I put her to bed. I'm glad to have my happy baby back!

Calling all Adventurers!!

So, who remembers my advertisement for the heaven that is called Ocean City? Well, we'd like to go back this summer. I have found a house for rent for the week of July 21-28. It has 4 good-sized bedrooms, one with a king, one with a queen, 2 with doubles, plus a queen sized sofa bed in the family room. The 2 bigger rooms look like they could fit a pack and play and a makeshift bed for a kid. It's only $950 for the week, so if we split it, it would be REALLY affordable. HERE is the link to pictures for your viewing pleasure.

So, if anyone can commit this far in advance to joining us, send me an email (if you have it) or post a comment! I'm mostly expecting friends nearby to maybe be interested, but if any of you on the west coast are feeling especially adventurous, we'd LOVE to have you come visit!

And as a "teaser", here's a picture from my earlier post...


*disclaimer-it's always possible that during this time, this property could be snatched up. But if we have people who are willing to commit, I'm sure we can find another place!

Twelve inches-HAHA...and other news

All the news reports are saying Columbus got 20 inches and Cleveland got 12. I'm here to prove them wrong. These pictures were taken this morning, AFTER Dave had already shoveled at least that much snow on Saturday morning.

To keep ourselves from going stir crazy, we built a fort! Not the greatest one-just your basic blanket-over-the-couch one. Dave tried to tell Emma it was a robber fort. She said, "No Daddy, it's a CASTLE!" To which he replied, "If I had boys it would be a robber fort." She later let us know that she painted the inside of her castle pink. Dave is doomed :)

We've watched a lot of movies, read books, snuggled on the couch, and scoured the internet. We don't have TV service, which at a time like this, has been a little difficult. Yesterday it was too windy and blizzard-y to play in the snow. But right now while Dave is out shoveling Emma is there with him, "helping." I couldn't get the camera fast enough to grab a picture of this, but Dave had shoveled 2 paths down each side of the driveway, and Emma was on one side and apparently didn't want to walk all the way to the garage to get to the other path. But the snow was too deep for her to walk through. So she crawled. It was hilarious. It looked like she was swimming in the snow. She LOVES the snow, like her dad. I hate it. But she loves the water, like me :) So I'm just itching for summer about now. She's lucky that wherever we live with 4 seasons, she'll love each season. It's a good thing Dave is around to take her out in the snow, otherwise she'd be an angry child b/c I won't take her out in the snow.

In other news, the Elders Quorum had their own pinewood derby...no restrictions. Dave won the "Slowest Car" award, not bad considering he made the car a couple hours before it started :) At least he got some recognition! This picture was taken after he lost his race. He and Matt Beecroft taped their cars, plus a cell phone, to try to make it heavier. Didn't work.

Oh, I also forgot to post about the Twilight party! Tia summed it up well in her post, so check out her link under my ohio friends list. She throws the best parties and puts a lot of effort into them...which brings joy to her and her guests! She does a great job of making each guest feel important. She's inspired me to do throw a similar party. Maybe I'll do a "garden party" or something similar when it gets warmer :)

And on Friday Dave and I saw WICKED!!!! WAHOO!!! It was SO SO SO SO AWESOME! We had an incredible cast. I like the soundtrack and we've watched a few YouTube videos with the Broadway cast, but I have to say, our Elpheba was WAY better! Her voice was amazing. And when Nessarose came on stage I thought she looked familiar. So at intermission I looked at the bio, and she's Deedee from Mickey Mouse Club! Am I the only one who religiously watched the new MMC? So that was awesome. Turns out the guy who played Fiyero is her husband in real life. And together they played Chris and Kim (main characters) in Miss Saigon on Broadway-totally fitting-their voices fit those roles perfectly. So, all in all, GREAT cast and it was a fun night to enjoy together. There were some families that had their kids that were 10/12 or so, and Dave and I were watching them and seeing how excited they were to be at a real show, and how fascinated they were at everything. We're totally looking forward to the day when we can take our kids to things like this. Fun times all around!!

Book Tagged

1. Pick up the nearest book (with at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag 3 people

Now, if I follow this correctly, this is what you get:
Book: Contempoary (yep, they misspelled it on the book) Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Sentences:
Presurgical assessment of the patient includes evaluation of the level of anxiety, determination of health staus and any necessary modifications of routine procedures, evaluation of the clinical presentation of the tooth to be removed, and radiographic evaluation of the tooth root and bone. All four of these major factors must be weighed when estimating the difficulty of the extraction. If any factor or combination of factors presents a level of difficulty that seems too great, the dentist should refer the patient to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.

BORING!!!! That's what happens when the computer is on the study desk and the book nearest you is one being "studied." Nothing fun comes from a book being "studied"...for the most part.

Now, for the book I'm actually reading:

Eragon
His muscles cramped with the slightest movement, and one of his fingers was hot and swollen. When they were ready to leave, he mounted Cadoc and said acidly, "If this keeps up, you're going to batter me to pieces."
"I wouldn't push you so hard if I didn't think you were strong enough."

That's MUCH better :)

Now I tag...Lisa R., Kyla B., and Jeanette T.
Have fun!

Oh what do you do when school is cancelled?

Due to snow (ya, MORE snow) school was cancelled. So after Bree went down for her nap Emma and I decided to get girly. She let me curl her hair and we pulled out a few outfits and went to town! She got a little bored after a while, but it was fun! There was some great sunlight that day so I just pulled up the blinds and used all natural light. They turned out pretty good for a point and shoot camera!
And yes, I DO have another child. She just won't sit still for the camera. And she's had a pretty boogery nose, which doesn't bode well for cute pictures. I STILL have yet to have a professional picture taken of her. Poor baby-years down the road she's gonna feel left out. I'll schedule something at Target tomorrow...if I remember :)

Nothing much...

We haven't blogged in a while, but it's hard to come up with something catchy to write when ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is going on. Snow, cold, snow, cold. I found a new trick. When I'm driving and it's sunny outside (I know, RARE thing) I look up at the sky while I'm driving. Yes, I make sure I'm going in a straight line and that no cars are around before doing this. But if I stare at the sky, it's easier to envision that it's summer and warm and I'm living in a somewhat safe place. Oh, how the peace fills my soul!!!! :) It IS encouraging, though, to see the Easter/Spring clothes at all the stores. I just have to block out the fact that we didn't make it to church on Easter last year because of the million feet of snow we got. And I have to block out the childhood memories of beautiful, SHORT SLEEVED Easter dresses and warm weather for Easter egg hunts and I'll be good. Oh ya, and another thing to look forward to...two nights at the indoor waterpark during spring break! It was a blast last year, and now that Bree is walking it'll be even more fun. She is a maniac in the tub, so I can only imagine how awesome it'll be to watch her in a pool.

Dave decided to leave me. For the weekend, not permanently...but then again, he's not home yet, so I really don't know that he'll come back. Bree HAS been a little bit of a monster lately, so I would completely understand. Just kidding. He's in Chicago at a dental thing and I'm here stuck in the snow. But thanks to MANY wonderful friends, I'm doing okay. One fabulous friend came over to my house last night after the girls were in bed so I could go to Tia's Twilight party, which I will blog about later. Then my other 2 fabulous friends watched Bree and picked up Emma from school while I was a 1/2 hour away getting my car fixed, which took about 4 hours. And another fabulous friend was originally going to watch the girls, but it ended up working out better the other way, but I need to at least acknowledge her willingness to serve. And one of the previously mentioned fabulous friends is having us over for dinner tonight. WE ARE SO LUCKY! I will never be able to talk about how hard it is being away from family because we really have some great friends who have become our family. THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!! And I'm in a good mood b/c the car repairs were supposed to cost about $500, and he ended up doing a BUNCH of other stuff "on the house," and then only charged less than $400. It's a wonderful day when you find an honest car repairman. I also had some invigorating adult conversation with all my new friends at the car shop, inlcuding the owner.

Stay tuned for another post on the party. I'll probably get around to it when I have a husband back home. You'll know he didn't return if you don't see it soon :)

Spitty Face

In an attempt to get the girls to stop whining and crying (you know, THAT time of day) I told them to spit. It ended with giggles and whisperings in each other's ears! And yes, Bree's nose is STILL orange. I think I'm going to make a call to the dr since she hasn't had anything orange to eat in about 2 months. All I want for Valentine's Day is a little hair growth on a bald baby's head and a normal looking nose...oh ya, and some TEETH...is it too much to ask??!!

The Humbling of Dave

Since everyone bowed down to my threat before, although I don't feel quite right about it with Debbie's cheating, I've decided to share some more highlights of my life that I hope you enjoy.

I've noticed that when things are going well for me the world seems to take issue with my general contentment. I don't know if it just wants to punish me specifically or if it feels that everyone needs a punch in the gut every now and then. But I've had a few experiences lately that have made me look to the heavens and wonder what the crap's going on.

As you may have observed in our various family photos, personal fitness hasn't been too high on my priority list these past few years. I like to blame this on various factors such as school, family commitments, the general deliciousness of lard filled goodies. In any case my figure has taken on a more rotund shape of late.

I've made it a goal this year to get into reasonably good shape prior to turning 30 and I've lost some weight as a result. A few days ago I was feeling particularly sexy because I was wearing one of my special shirts that make me look more muscular (every guy has some just like every girl has their skinny looking clothes). Anyway, while helping Emma with something she looks up at me, pats me on my somewhat round belly, and asks, "When's the baby going to come out of your tummy daddy?" Needless to say I went upstairs and took off my sexy shirt.

Today was another example of the world trying to keep my spirits down. I'm working at the free dental clinic all week and I have to walk a 1/2 mile or so from school to get there. The weather today was a balmy 10 degrees and closer to 0 once you included the wind chill. I was walking along on my way to McDonalds (there's no need to point out that McDonalds won't help with my pregnancy problem)

I was feeling good about my service to humanity when I see one of the fine Cleveland city buses driving towards me. I also looked at the road just ahead of me and noticed a very large puddle filled with slush and ice right in the path of the bus. I looked at the bus driver to see if he saw the same thing, which it was obvious he did by the sudden look of glee that spread across his face. I tried to get out of the way but since I was walking under a tunnel at the time there wasn't much space to escape to. Well, you can picture for yourself what happened next.

On the bright side, being sprayed with near frozen water while walking in below freezing temperature is a good way to clear the mind. And my clear mind told me that I could feel good because life had done it's best to get me down today and I was still in a good mood.

Feeling like I had shown a strong amount of moral fortitude I trudged on to McD's to eat some well earned french fries. Upon walking into the relatively empty restaurant the teller took notice of my soaked scrubs pants, pointed at me, and began to laugh. Loudly. At which point she called over her manager so he could join in on the laughing and pointing. I explained what had happened and to my surprise neither of them seemed to think a bus driver intentionally soaking a pedestrian in hypothermic weather conditions was very unusual. The manager even gave me a look like, "what did you expect to happen?"

After eating my food with only 2 interruptions from homeless people asking me for money I headed back to the free clinic. And to top off my trials a very large black man bit me while I was trying to pull out his tooth. So now I will go to bed tonight a little fatter, somewhat frost bitten, and with a sore and possibly virally infected hand. But I will be humble and tomorrow I'll try to remember to keep my head down because the world might just come up and sucker punch me again if I'm not careful.