Mimi Boling = Michelle Collett

Never-ending Chives

2012-01-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

I remember last spring, the first plant to come up was chives. It was great to already have a fresh vegetable to use in the kitchen so early in the year! Well, spring went. Summer passed. Fall flew. And I was surprised to see I still had chives growing in October. And in November. In December, I used them in a dish I took to a Christmas party. Now it's January, and I am still able to go outside and pick some fresh chives to throw in a salad.

This has been the strangest winter. So mild. I almost feel like I live in the South instead of the Midwest.

I have felt all winter like I am "waiting for the other shoe to drop." (Is that the right expression?) Like any minute now, a blizzard will hit and Jill might actually use her snow pants for the first time all season.

We did have one ice storm, but then it was 50 degrees the next day, and it all melted. Today it got up to 60, and it is supposed to again tomorrow. The only bad part about a warm winter is that I look at my yard and feel like I need to go weed it.

Jill and our next-door neighbor, Mikey, enjoying the mild weather

My spring flowers are a little confused this winter. They started coming up in December. I can't wait to see their blooms! My friends, family, and I spent a lot of time and effort planting all of them!

If someone gave me a few hundred dollars for no specific purpose: I would buy mulch. Lots of it.

What a weird winter. :) I hope you've had a nice winter!

Two year old Logic

2012-01-28T16:41:00.001-05:00

Jeff was recently contacted at work by a local business that had a fire. Apparently, some disgruntled employees (ex-employees now, I'm sure) went in, dismantled one of the video cameras (didn't know about the second one!), tried to disable the sprinklers, piled up papers in the office, and then set them on fire. The business was calling Jeff to get a quote on smoke removal (like the smell of the smoke). Anyway, Jeff came home and told us the story during dinner. I think I said something about how naughty it is to start fires.

Jill was quiet for a bit and then asked, "Were they naked?"

Jeff and I were quiet for a bit, and then I asked, "Did you just say 'were they naked'?"

She nodded yes. Jeff and I continued to stare at her.

Then she sort of sighed and explained, "naughty people are naked." (In a voice that implied this should have been very obvious to us.)

I love having an almost three year old in my house. Although perhaps I have been too strict on the naked rule. A toddler needs to have some fun, right?

On a more sober note . . .

My sister-in-law recently announced that she is expecting. I decided to try and share this information with Jill.

I said, "Jill, Aunt Rachel is going to have another baby."

Jill thought about it, looked at me, and asked, "baby Tabitha?"

I said, "No, Aunt Rachel already has a beautiful baby Tabitha. Remember?"

Jill then said, "Baby Tabitha is dead." She paused and then continued, "we still love her though."

It amazes me what Jill picks up on.

We do still love her.

And I am very excited for my brother, his wife, and my niece!

Getting Cozy

2012-01-25T15:10:00.003-05:00

Recently, Jill has gotten really snuggly and is a fan of "getting cozy." To get cozy, one must be on the couch, under a blanket, and usually cuddled up with someone. :) And if Jill had her way, it would also mean to always be watching a TV show. She has recently discovered that her grandma's house has Winnie-the-Pooh movies, and she loves them. We are reading Winnie-the-Pooh to her at night. (I thought it didn't have enough pictures to keep her attention, but apparently it does!) I think she thinks it is fun to see the characters on the TV that we are reading about in her book. She also has started sleeping with her Pooh bear that GranB bought her a while back. And to add to her recent craze, she has announced she will be Winnie-the-Pooh for Halloween. She has not decided who Danny will be, but most often he is Christopher Robin or Tigger. (Whatever will we do when Danny decides he wants to pick what/who he should be for Halloween? My poor sweet dictator will be so sad.)

Jill and Danny Getting Cozy :)

Sometimes I want to call Danny "Bucky" after the cat in Get Fuzzy, because of his awesome front tooth. :)

"That's impressive."

2012-01-16T23:26:00.000-05:00

The other day Jeff did something. I can't remember what. But Jill witnessed his action and said, "that's impressive." Ha. We both thought it was pretty impressive that she said impressive. Have you seen anything impressive recently?

The other day Jill was flipping through a story at the library. On every page, she said, "oh my gosh!" . . . I think I need to start saying "oh my goodness." It is just too weird to hear my two year old saying "oh my gosh." Have you realized recently that you say anything too frequently?

The other day Jill was looking at a library book that had animals in it. She came upon an animal that she had never seen before. After some study, she announced that the animal on that page was a "beaver duck." The animal was a platypus, but isn't "beaver duck" a really good description of that animal? Have you made up any good words recently?

The other day I learned that I have been vacuuming without a vacuum belt. Do you know how dumb that made me feel? I've been doing basically nothing. It is amazing how much dust, etc., comes up out of the carpets when your vacuum has a belt in it! It is pretty gross to keep emptying the vacuum and realizing we've been living and breathing in all this dust and other particles. I wonder how long it hasn't had a belt. Has anything made you feel dumb recently?

And here is a visual representation of happiness!

Recently, Jill has started congratulating Daniel for his accomplishments. "That's so great, Danny!" "Yay for Danny!" "Good job, Danny!" It is pretty sweet. She's his personal cheerleader.

My children are growing up to be best friends, and that makes me really happy.

Don't wake me up for cake!

2012-01-10T21:02:00.000-05:00

Well, we celebrated his birthday, but it was rough. Both Jill and Daniel took late naps, and I think both of them thought they were already down for the night, because they were miserable during dinner. So much crying. So much drama. Danny cheered up a bit once dessert started, or maybe he was just really not sure about the candle.

Seriously! Right when I think he has started to grow into his eyes, he goes and opens them even wider! Sometimes I feel like the phrase "baby blue" was invented for his eyes. :)

Jill stayed upset until she helped open Danny's presents. Her sadness was not to be persuaded by simple delights like chocolate. (Honestly, I wish I had never woken her up.) (I hate late naps.)

That's about the extent of how messy he got. Now the floor below him got really messy. He loves to throw food over his shoulders. Silly boy. Jill did calm down a bit when trying to feed Danny her ice cream.

Jill has been telling people that her birthday is tomorrow. Poor girl. Not until April!

"He's not nothing anymore!"

2012-01-09T10:19:00.002-05:00

Danny turned one on Saturday, and it was a beautiful day! Jeffrey actually got to play ultimate frisbee (in shorts! (in January!)), and Jill, Danny, and I got to play on the playground next to where Jeff was playing. The weather was so nice! We are going to do his cake and ice cream tonight, so I do not yet have any of the fun baby-completely-smeared-with-cake pictures, but hopefully I will soon!

On his birthday, we told Jill that Danny was one now, and she wanted to know what he was before. I think I said "zero" and Jeff said "nothing." Either way, Jill very excitedly went to her brother and exclaimed, "Danny! You're not nothing anymore!" And he really is something. ;)

Last night we were at my mother-in-law's house, and Jill and Danny were playing with the train table Santa gave them (and all the future grandchildren). Jeff was lucky enough to catch this moment on his camera.

January 7, 2011

(He was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice,

which is why he looks so purpley in this picture. His red is normal though.)

January 7, 2012

He's a pretty handsome boy these days!

Happy Birthday, Danny. I am so blessed to be your mother. You are very precious to me.

Tiny Home Intruders

2012-01-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

You'd think it would be the itching that would drive you crazy, but it isn't. The itching can be overcome with will power. If you don't scratch, then eventually it won't itch—problem solved.

It's the sneakiness. The jumping. The unexpected appearances.

Some of you may have already guessed where I'm going with this. If you have guessed, then you can probably share my annoyance at these uninvited house guests I'm currently sheltering.

Last month, I took a shower and put on clean clothing. I looked in the mirror, and there was already one sitting on my shoulder. I didn't even get to be free of them for longer than a minute.

I picked up Danny to put him down for a nap. There was one on his head that I removed and killed. We go upstairs and get comfy in the rocking chair. I close my eyes for a few minutes and then I feel him falling asleep. I look down, and there is a new one on his forehead this time. I remove it and kill it quickly before it crawls somewhere really undesirable.

Before the bombings, I was killing so many that my fingertips were actually sore from the pressure of trying to crush their little bodies completely.

I took clothes out of the dryer and put them on the couch to fold. I get to a pair of Jill's pajamas. I see one on them already. I crush it. Nothing is really clean right now for long.

Jeff and I were sitting at the kitchen table addressing and stamping our yearly family letter, which I mail out to those whom live far away. Jeff feels one on his leg. He looks, and it jumps off and begins to crawl across the kitchen floor toward me.

Yes, toward me.

To date, Jill, Jeff, and Danny have no bites on their bodies. At one point, I counted 63 on my entire body. Then as the problem escalated, I counted 54 on one leg and just stopped counting.

I apparently am very delicious.

And I am going a little crazy.

This morning, I was eating pancakes. Jeff makes pancakes for us every Saturday morning, and we have the local church missionaries over. I felt one crawl out of my hair and land on my face. I tried to get it, but it jumped. Jeff saw it land on my arm, and he casually reached over and killed it. The elders watch the scene and ask, "so you have fleas?"

Yes. And I am so tired of having them.

And it's all my fault.

Months ago, I was petting my cat Chloe. I noticed black specks of something on her nose/face that flecked off when I was petting her. Then one day I went to read a book on the bed that she likes to sleep on and something jumped up at me. Then I started to get bites whenever I would nap in that bed. And then I caught one and knew that there were fleas in my house. There weren't many, and it didn't seem like a big problem. I had never treated our cats, because they had only been indoor cats, but then we started letting them out, and I didn't think about it.

A while after noticing them (and they were still contained only to Chloe—not even on Cosmo), I went to the vet and mentioned it. The vet gave me the treatment. It took me a while to get around to doing it, because I had to do it when the kids were not around and when Jeff was around to help me, and we put it on Chloe and Cosmo.

A few days later, I kept finding lots of dead flea bodies in all of Chloe's favorite resting places.

I thought that I was done, but I felt slightly concerned about part of the warning on the treatment label. It said something about how it might be necessary to retreat after six weeks due to eggs hatching. That thought was always in the back of my brain, nagging me, worrying me.

Then we gave the cats away, because they have been on edge since Danny was born and really stressed out since he started crawling and that made them do less-than-delightful things to our house, and I was not willing to go through that again with every new baby.

And then the eggs must have hatched. And the massive invasion began. They were no longer isolated to Chloe or to her favorite sleeping spots, and my body became an all-you-can-eat, 24-hour-a-day-and-night buffet for their perpetual enjoyment.

We bombed.

Many died. I went from finding seven in half an hour to finding seven a day.

We bombed again.

They still remain.

It has been over two months now, and I am really reaching my breaking point. Tonight we are going to put powder in all the carpets and spend the night at our in-laws' house. I hope that does it. Because not only is it a hassle to have fleas but also it is a hassle to keep putting pesticides in my house that can contaminate food and make us sick. I am tired of washing everything. I am tired of needing to vacuum all the time. I am tired of worrying about spreading them wherever I go. And I am tired of worrying about spreading them to anyone who comes over. (I know for a fact that we've shared a few with two different houses, but neither of them saw more than two at their house and no bites.)

And yet, even as I am considering wrapping flea collars around my ankles, wrists, and neck, I keep thinking of another flea story and telling myself to stop feeling sorry for myself, because my life truly is so good.

Have any of you read the book The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom?

Well, Corrie's family helped hide Jews in their home during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Her family was caught, and Corrie and her sister Betsie (along with other family members) were arrested. Corrie and Betsie ended up in a concentration camp. The Hiding Place is a book that Corrie wrote about their experiences. While unbelievably sad and horrible, it is also amazingly inspiring. At one point, Betsie, in a prayer, thanks God for the fleas. Corrie can't believe that her sister would be grateful for the horrible pests. Later, Corrie learns that the reason why the Nazi soldiers never entered their sleeping area was how horrible the fleas were, so they really did have a reason to be grateful for the fleas.

Whenever I feel like I am going to go crazy because of my fleas, I remember their fleas and then feel ridiculous for complaining so much like I have this whole blog post.

I am really blessed. I live in a free country with a man who loves me and two great kids. I have an education, and I have food on my table. I have a roof over my head, and I am physically safe.

And eventually I will kill every single flea in my home.

Collett Family 2011 Review

2011-12-31T22:30:00.014-05:00

Some of you may have already received this in the mail, but here it is for everyone else and simply for preservation's sake!

This year included one family wedding, two family vacations, three different vehicles, four cavities, and five years completed of marriage (our fifth anniversary was in April). Teething has been more difficult than we remembered, and potty training has been more exasperating than we expected. Jeff is the ward mission leader at church and still works at Citywide Maintenance. Mimi is still the visiting teaching coordinator and spends most of her day trying to entertain her children—sometimes succeeding. Unforgettable from 2011 was this spring’s frequent flooding of the basement along with the sewer pipe leaking into our crawlspace.

All things considered though, we have been very blessed. Trips this year took us to Nebraska, Michigan, South Carolina, Indiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. We’ve also had many people visit us, which we love and hope continues in 2012.

Daniel Wells Collett surprised us all by arriving exactly one month early; he was born on January 7. He has progressed a lot this year and is currently in the early stages of walking and babbles quite a bit. He loves food that he can pick up with his hands, and he is always very interested to see what his big sister is up to. We feel really blessed that he and Jill get along so well together. He seems to understand a lot of what we say to him. Other than contracting the chicken pox and the croup and forgetting how to sleep, he is a very easy baby who is happy almost all the time. He brings a lot of joy into our home. Jeff and Mimi both agree that his first official word is “kitty.”

Jill Halley Collett turned two in April. Thanks to her grandma, she has been able to meet Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang, as well as see Mickey on Ice. It is pretty cute to see how excited she gets at these shows. She was a pirate for Halloween and made sure her brother was one, too! She can spell her name now, almost count to twenty, and recite the alphabet. She has been a busy girl this year with swimming and gymnastics lessons, story time at the library, and a joy school with her friends. So far she seems to have inherited her mother’s love for singing and reading and her father’s ability to remember names. She never forgets a friend, and she has a lot of them!

Christmases Past

2011-12-25T23:43:00.038-05:00

For fun, I thought I would revisit some past Christmas family photos.

2005

When the Bolings were still just the Bolings.

2006

The Bolings expanded to add a Collett and a Rose.

2007

The Collett Family went on our fabulous Caribbean Christmas Cruise!

2008

The Bolings added in a Cosman and some Lamberts.

2009

Jill's First Christmas!

2010

We didn't know it then, but we were only two weeks away from becoming a family of four!

2011

Christmas with Daniel and Jill.

And while I was scrounging around, I found some more to share.

I don't know the year, but I'm guessing this was is Michigan, so sometime between 1989 and 1993. Perhaps now I know where Jill got her last year Santa picture from. What am I so unhappy about? And who is sitting on Santa's lap with me??

I'm guessing 1997.

Those were some great pajamas!

And I'm guessing 1999.

Haha. So much for trying to look good on my blog! I thought this was pretty funny.
Christmas morning doesn't get much better looking than this!

Oh, those were so not the days . . .

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T15:24:00.001-05:00

This is a talk by my sister that she let me read before she gave it at church in her ward today.

Last night was Christmas Eve, that holy night, that most holy of all nights. The stars were brightly shining. It was the night of our dear Savior’s birth. Long had lain the world in sin and error pining, till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, and the weary world rejoiced! For yonder broke a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees, and hear the angel voices! It was a night divine, when Christ was borne. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, let all within us praise his holy name! Christ is the Lord, let ever, ever praise we. (1)

Our Christmas story started with the trumpeting of angels. “Glory to the newborn king!” They proclaimed. “Peace on earth, and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies with angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem!” (2)

Their audience was a group of lowly shepherds, guarding their flock of sheep in a field. While they watched their flock by night, far far away on Judea’s plains, those shepherds of old heard the joyous strains, “Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth good will toward men!” Those shepherds followed the star and it led them to the newborn babe. (3)

The little family so earnestly sought by the shepherds were in the town of Bethlehem because of a requirement to pay a tax in the city of their lineage. O dear little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light! The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. For Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above, while mortals sleep the angels keep their watch of wondering love. O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth! And praises sing to God the king and peace to men on earth! (4)

Those seeking Him found the precious baby in that city lying in a manger, with no crib for his bed. The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head. The stars in the heavens look down where he lay, the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes. But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes. (5)

When the shepherds entered the manger, they found Joseph watching steadfastly over his wife Mary, and her newborn son. The shepherds and Joseph watched Mary lovingly care for her newborn son, singing him sweet lullabies to soothe him back to sleep. Silent night, holy night, all is calm. All is bright. Round yon virgin mother and child, holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace! Sleep in heavenly peace. (6)

And as she lulled her baby back to sleep, the earth itself rejoiced. Joy to the world! The Lord is come, let earth receive her king! Let every heart prepare him room, while saints and angels sing. Rejoice rejoice, when Jesus reigns, and Saints their songs employ! While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy! (7)

There was another group of righteous men who also saw the star, and understanding its meaning set out to seek the Christ child. With wondering awe the wise men saw the star in heaven springing, and with delight in peaceful night they heard the angels singing, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna to his name!” By light of star they travelled far to seek the lowly manger, a humble bed wherein was laid the humble little Stranger. And still is found the world around the old and hallowed story, and still is sung in every tongue the angels’ song of glory! (8)

And that is our miraculous, beautiful story, of once upon a time in Royal David’s city when there stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed. Mary was that mother mild, and Jesus Christ her little child. It is our job to come all ye faithful! Let us be joyful and triumphant! O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem! Come and behold him, born the king of angels! Let us sing with choirs of angels and let us sing in exultation! Sing all ye citizens of heaven above, “Glory to God, glory to God in the highest”—O come let us adore Him! (9)

President Uchtdorf said, “[Let us] celebrate the birth of the Son of God, the Creator, our Messiah. [Let us] rejoice that the King of kings came to earth, was born in a manger, and lived a perfect life. When Jesus was born, the joy in heaven was so great it could not be contained, and angelic hosts parted the veil, proclaiming unto shepherds “good tidings of great joy, . . . praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Wise Men “rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when . . . they saw the young child with Mary his mother, [they] fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts.” It is only fitting that we—like the Wise Men, shepherds, and angels—take time to rejoice and celebrate that glorious first Christmas Day.” (10)

President Uchtdorf also said about our modern Christmas celebrations, “We have in our minds a picture of how everything should be—the perfect tree, the perfect lights, the perfect gifts, and the perfect family events . . . nothing short of perfection will do. Sooner or later, something unpleasant occurs . . . the turkey burns, the sweater is the wrong size, the toys are missing batteries, the children quarrel, the pressure rises—and the picture-perfect Christmas we had imagined, the magic we had intended to create, shatters around us.

But then, if we are only willing to open our hearts and minds to the spirit of Christmas, we will recognize wonderful things happening around us that will direct or redirect our attention to the sublime. It is usually something small—we read a verse of scripture; we hear a sacred carol and really listen, perhaps for the first time, to its words; or we witness a sincere expression of love. In one way or another, the Spirit touches our hearts, and we see that Christmas, in its essence, is much more sturdy and enduring than the many minor things of life we too often use to adorn it.” (11)

Today as we celebrate the birth of Christ I would like to encourage you to look past the minor things of life that we typically use to adorn the holiday, and focus more on the sturdy and enduring aspects of it: the message of Christ’s love for all of us. Do as Uchtdorf suggested and find a quiet moment to read the account in Luke, and ponder what it really might have been like for that little family on that night, and what it meant and still means to people all the world over. Play the sacred carols, and let their sweet melodies and joyful lyrics embed themselves in your heart. Don’t wait to witness a sincere expression of love—create a sincere expression of love! Smile, laugh, hug, play. Praise Heavenly Father and thank the Lord for the gifts they have given us this day, and every day. Renew commitments made to yourself, your family, and your Savior.

I know some of you are perhaps finding it difficult to feel the joy and happiness of this season. Life can be overwhelming sometimes, and pretty songs and lights don’t make problems vanish, as nice as that would be. The December issue of the Ensign has an article by David L. Frischknecht. In that article he tells of a time when he was Bishop and feeling weighed down by the burdens the members of his ward were carrying. He knelt to pray for them, and as he reviewed their individual troubles he felt the weight of their suffering literally pressing down on him. As he prayed he felt a clear and powerful answer that God was very aware of each individual and their needs. He felt comforted by the Holy Spirit, as if it said to him, “Bishop, let the Lord take these burdens. Rise up. Do the best you can. Things will work out for these people. You’ll be fine, too. Go be their bishop. The Lord will be their Savior.” I have spent a lot of time this month thinking about that. Christ’s sacrifice is for each of us, that precious baby who grew up to be our Savior knows us and our pains and troubles, and He loves us, and we need to remember to let Him be our Savior. (12)

And so, on this glorious Christmas day, and any other day, if you, like so many right now, are feeling lost, or concerned with difficulties in your life, I would just like to remind you, in the words of Brother Frischknecht, that “before and after He was a baby in Bethlehem and a carpenter in Nazareth, He was and is the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth. He was and is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Holy and Only Begotten Son of the Living God. . . . May we remember and believe that He has all wisdom and all power in heaven and in earth . . . And may we have faith that He yet condescends to help and lift the least and the last, even you, even me.” (12)

There may be many things that you do not have this Christmas season. There may be things that have been taken from you due to the current economic situation, or a health situation, but there is something that can never be taken from you. This beautiful Christmas story is unlike any other story ever told: it has no ending, the characters are all real, and that precious baby lying so peaceful and sweet is our living Savior and Redeemer. When we know that, when that truth becomes real in our lives, no one can take it away from us, and it can compensate for all other losses if we allow it to.

I know he lives. I know he loves me and I know he loves each of you. I know that men are that they might have joy, and that Christ is the light which cannot be hid in darkness. (13) As today goes on and the sun sets, take a quiet moment to look at the lights on the tree, the lights on the houses, and let go your troubles, and let your heart be full of joy for Jesus Christ, he who is the light and the life of the world (14). Let him be a light in your darkest night.

I hope you are all having a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the Sharks

2011-12-24T15:26:00.001-05:00

As an early Christmas present, Laurie took Danny and Jill (and me!) to the Newport Aquarium. I had never been there before, and there were lots of cool exhibits. Jill was very impressed by Scuba Santa, and Laurie was impressed that the digital copy of the photos was only $5 extra! (Yay!) Jill really liked the sharks and the penguins. Danny just liked pretty everything. He was even nonchalant about a bird pooping on his head. (Yeah, there was a bird exhibit at the aquarium.) Jill enjoyed feeding the bird the sweet nectar drink; although a bird did steal the cup from her and then dropped it. Bummer.

Jill and Danny aren't really smiling in the picture below, but that seems pretty appropriate since the photographer caught a shark swimming past. They do look slightly apprehensive, don't you think? As if they knew . . . :)

Have any of you been to an aquarium recently? The octopus and jellyfish really were insane looking up close. And there were a few ocean creatures that looked like they could have walked right out of a nightmare.

"I don't even speak Spanish!"

2011-12-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

Today I had a first that was somewhat difficult for me. My ward is the designated Spanish-speaking ward for my stake, so anyone in the stake boundaries with Spanish as their first language usually comes to our ward. We offer different services in Spanish, including having a Spanish Relief Society lesson once a month. That, of course, leaves three other Relief Society lessons in English for the Spanish-speaking sisters to sit through, sisters who often are not fluent in English.

We used to have Spanish-speaking sister missionaries who would translate those lessons, but we haven't had those for about a year. One solution we came up with was to have our elders translate, but there is something weird about having elders in Relief Society.

So, I was asked if I would be willing to give translation a try.

People always ask me how I learned Spanish, and I always have a long response. I sort of learned it through Portuguese. When I was eight years old, my family moved to Brazil, where I learned Portuguese. We moved back when I was twelve. Then when I was fifteen, I began studying Spanish at school and studied it for the next three and a half years. When I was eighteen, I went to college and began studying Portuguese again. I graduated rather quickly, so I ended up one or two classes shy of completing the Portuguese minor.

In these Portuguese classes, I made some of my best friends from college. I took the accelerated course my first semester at BYU, and the course was designed for those who spoke Spanish (or another Romance language, but specifically Spanish) to learn Portuguese. My closest friends were from Mexico and Colombia. We saw each other every day in class, and almost every weekend we would go out dancing or to some sort of party/get together. They obviously often spoke Spanish to each other, and I sometimes felt lost and always responded in English or Portuguese, never in Spanish.

I remember numerous occasions in Portuguese class, speaking in Portuguese only to discover that I had thrown a Spanish word in. I would look at my friends and laughingly say, "but I don't even speak Spanish!" And I really didn't.

Then I married a man who was fluent in Spanish. Then we moved to Cincinnati where we lived in the Spanish designated ward boundaries. And then I made some very close friends who didn't speak any (or very little) English and no Portuguese. And so slowly, my Portuguese morphed into Spanish. My vocabulary is pretty okay, but my conjugation is horrible. I'm never in the correct tense or person, but they seem to understand what I'm trying to say.

Recently I have made a new friend who is Brazilian, and it was been so much fun to hear her speak in Portuguese. And it has been really sad to try to respond to her in Portuguese, because now it all comes out Spanish. If I want it to be Portuguese, I have to stop in between each word and think about it rather than just let it flow effortlessly. Sad.

But it was really fun translating today in Relief Society, even though I was somewhat stressed about it and nervous. I did not know all of the words, but I usually figured out a different way to describe what was being said.

Thinking about speaking Spanish though has made me really miss my first Spanish-speaking friends. It has made me remember all of the fun times we had in college and wonder what they are up to now. I wish I could have been able to speak to them in Spanish back then like I can now (messed up verbs and all). :)

Genealogy Fan Chart

2011-12-15T21:09:00.002-05:00

I had to shrink it to get it to fit on my blog, but isn't this cool? It is a fan chart of my direct ancestors! Click the link (Genealogy Fan Chart) if you want to get one, too! If you click on my chart below, you should be able to see it a bit bigger but not even close to as large as the original is. It is definitely high quality enough for if you wanted to print it.

Yummmmm Manicotti!

2011-12-10T14:31:00.000-05:00

I made manicotti for dinner last night. (Yes, Ames, on the phone I said stuffed shells. I was very surprised when I pulled the box of pasta out of the pantry. Luckily, the recipes are very similar, or at least it worked.)

Jeff happened to sit next to Danny, and he was busy serving everyone. I glanced over and said "Wow. Did you give that big piece to Danny?" Jeff didn't know what I was talking about, and he looked down and saw that Danny had swiped an entire manicotti noodle from his plate!

Danny looked very happy with himself and was munching away on a pepperoni, which I didn't think he'd be able to handle, but he did fine!

Jeff took his dinner back and cut Danny some appropriate-sized baby pieces. We were all laughing so hard. If you look in the picture, you can see the little sauce trail left from the theft. I guess he was impatient to be fed. :)

And I wish I had an audio recording of it, but Jill sounds really cute when she says "manicotti."

Jill is doing two funny things right now. My Grandpa Homer has been with us this past week. When Jeff and I pray, we usually address our "Heavenly Father." My grandpa always says our "Father in Heaven." Every single time (without fail!) that my grandpa has prayed, Jill opens her eyes and says "He said heaven!" She usually repeats that two or three times during Grandpa's prayer. I don't know why she thinks it is so funny. Maybe because it is different from how we say it, or maybe because she thinks he is saying Kevin or Devin (two of her uncles). I don't know, but it's pretty cute how excited she gets.

As you may know, Jill loves Justin Bieber. Apparently his appeal does extend to two year olds. Her daddy recently showed her his mistletoe song, and in the song, Justin sings about "makin' a list." Jill, for whatever reason, thinks he is saying "naked" instead of "makin." Now the song is not dirty and has absolutely nothing to do with nakedness, but every time she hears it (even when sung on the Sing-Off), she says, "he said naked!" and giggles ensue. I guess naked is just a very funny idea for her.

Two year olds are pretty cute.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-07T21:13:00.001-05:00

This picture is brought to you courtesy of my wonderful mother-in-law who forked over to buy the digital copy! And I love that it documents Danny's black eye for all progeny to see!

And if you want to remember how the Santa pictures went in 2010 and 2009, click here!

Oh the tears! :)

I was not meant to die today.

2011-12-05T22:32:00.001-05:00

As some of you may know, I am exhausted. And I have a history of falling asleep driving. Remember that trip to Pennsylvania earlier this year? My sister and I drove from Cincinnati to Hershey, and at one point (right before we switched drivers) my sister commented from the back of the van, "you know, it's very disconcerting to see the same expression on the face of my sister who is driving that I see on the face of my nephew who is nodding off in his car seat."

Well, I have fallen asleep driving before. Three times now. And I guess that is why, with the third time, I finally struck out.

I was driving between Indianapolis and Richmond on I-70 with my cruise control set exactly at the speed limit. I felt tired, but I was only twenty minutes away from my destination, so I thought I could make it and I didn't want to be late to church. I tried calling people, but everyone was either doing something that I didn't want to interrupt or didn't answer the phone. The last thing I remember was driving in the right lane, trying to decide who I could call who could talk to me and keep me alert the last twenty minutes.

I felt tired before I even left Indy, but I felt like it would be dumb to say that. "Oh, I'm too tired to drive, so I guess I'll just sit here and wait until I make two people drive a few hours to get me and have one drive my car back while the other is alone in his car." I don't know. It just sounded too weak and really inconvenient for others. I had no real proof, like a broken leg or something. Surely it was all mental.

So I drove.

And the rumble strip woke me up.

I was then in the left lane, headed right toward the guard rail. I was not very alert, so I immediately jerked my steering wheel the other direction. Going 70 miles an hour, this is never a good idea. I drove in a complete tiny circle, hitting the guard rail on the way around. Then I drove in another quick circle. Then I became a little more alert and realized that hitting the brake would be a good idea. I still can't believe I didn't flip my van jerking the steering wheel like that.

So I slammed my foot on the brake. At that point, my car was perpendicular with the road, straddling the dotted line in between the two lanes.

I was still pretty disoriented, and I could not decide whether my car was turned on or off, so I turned the key off. Then I realized I was in the middle of a highway, blocking both lanes, and I turned my car back on, drove over to the shoulder and called my parents, 911, and the relatives I was going to go visit in Richmond. (Jeff was at church, so I didn't think he would notice his phone. I did eventually reach him.)

Danny was asleep for almost the whole event. He woke up at the end with a bit of a squeal, but seems to be completely unscathed. Thank you infant car seat!

I have some bruises, and my neck/head is sore.

My van sustained some damage. The first estimate came back at $2,080.

As I sat there waiting for the police, it was pretty scary feeling my car rock as every truck and vehicle whizzed past me. I was amazed at how busy the highway was, because during my accident, I neither hit another vehicle nor was hit.

How is that possible?

Then I got to church with my relatives and was wondering how I was going to get home. I was about an hour and a half away. My van was still drivable, so I didn't want to leave it in Richmond, but I REALLY did not want to drive. The adrenaline and shock was not enough to make me not tired. I was still exhausted.

As I sat in Sunday School, I recognized a couple (Russell and Amanda) who I had met a few weeks earlier at my cousin's (Shannon) temple sealing. Amanda was a cousin of my cousin Shannon, and we had never met prior to that, but at the sealing, we discovered that we both lived in Cincinnati, about 20 minutes apart. I decided I didn't feel comfortable asking Amanda, but my cousin Ben was actually also related to this couple, because his wife (Heather) was Amanda's cousin. (The Bakers and Homers are connected in many ways!) And Ben did feel comfortable, and Russell said they didn't mind at all! So, Russell drove my van, and Amanda drove their vehicle, and they dropped us off at the stake building, where Jeff and my father-in-law met us.

I asked Russell and Amanda how often they go up to visit family in Richmond, and they said this was actually the first time (other than holidays). They have always wanted to go and make an effort to be closer to Amanda's extended family, but it had never worked out prior to this.

Hm. It had never worked out until the Sunday when I would need someone in Richmond who was driving to Cincinnati any way.

And I did two hairpin circles and came to a dead stop in the middle of a highway and didn't hit any other cars and did not flip my car.

And I hit a guard rail going 70 miles an hour and did not injure myself or my child, and my car is still drivable.

All I kept thinking over and over again on Sunday was "I was not meant to die today."

Incidentally, I did say a traveling prayer before I left Indianapolis that morning, and my prayer was definitely answered. And up until Saturday, the plan was for me to take Jill with me, but last minute we decided to leave her with Jeff. I am so glad she was not with me, because the experience would have terrified her.

I feel so stupid for driving drowsy and falling asleep. I cannot believe I risked my family dealing with another funeral.

And I am not sure when I will feel comfortable driving long distances again.

I feel so, so lucky and blessed.

It's already been a long day.

2011-11-28T14:57:00.001-05:00

Don't you hate it when you feel like your day has already been impossibly long, and then you look at the clock, and it is only noon? I've had one of those days. And I feel like sharing it with you.

The long day began last night.

For whatever reason, Jill took about two hours to settle down, stay in her bed, and sleep. She shares a bedroom with Danny, so a large portion of the two hours involved me sitting in the rocking chair in the dark (thinking about everything I wanted to be doing) while she fidgeted in her bed. If I stayed in there, then she wouldn't scream and she would stay in her bed, and Danny would not be woken up.
Danny did wake up though (not due to Jill)—around 12:30 and 3:30 and 5:30. He woke up for good at 7:00. So, between Jill giving me a late bedtime, and Danny giving me numerous wake up times, I was a little tired.
Daniel was standing next to the coffee table and then face planted on the table. He has a huge bruise on his cheekbone, trailing up to his eye, with a cut in the middle. He was very upset. One of these days he'll learn to either not fall over or to put his hands out when he's falling.
Jill peed her pants and left a little puddle on the carpet in the family room.
Cosmo peed on the carpet in my bedroom.
About an hour later, Cosmo pooped on the carpet in my bedroom. (Why?!)
I watched my friend's baby for two and a half hours. For two of those hours, she was either crying or screaming. For about an hour and a half of them, I was holding her, so my back and arms are pretty sore. A baby's cry can be contagious, so Jill and Danny did their share of crying, too.

On the flip side . . .

One day, I'll have to do a lot more than just sit next to Jill's bed to make her feel safe and happy. It is pretty sweet that she allows me to comfort her, and while I had other things to do, sitting in a rocking chair while she lies in her bed isn't exactly difficult.
Even though I am tired, I can never forget how lucky I am to have a baby to hold in the middle of the night, or any time of the day.
Daniel could have smacked his eye on the corner of the table, so his cheek is much better. And him standing up means he is that much closer to walking.
Jill hadn't peed her pants in four or five days, and she told me immediately upon peeing her pants that she had peed, so she was aware and did not hide it.
I found the pee before Jill. I hate finding a pee spot and realizing Jill and Daniel had been playing on that part of the carpet.
I found the poop before Daniel. You know how babies love to put everything in their mouths . . . :)
Since I watched my friend's baby that enabled my friend's husband to go visit her at the hospital. And one of my other friends came over in the last half hour to give me some reprieve from all the crying and help me make lunch. Mothers of multiples: I salute you.

So, my long day should be pretty short from here on out. Jill is taking a nap. Danny will probably take a nap in the next hour or so. Then I will put dinner ingredients in the pressure cooker and probably take a nap myself until Mr. Amazing comes home.

Thanks for listening to my whine and helping me find the silver linings to my clouds. :)

I hope you're having a good day!

And here is some cuteness. (If you are on my blog, click on the image to view it larger.)

P.S. One of the things I love about my house is how close to the church we are located. I was especially grateful of this yesterday evening when I arrived at the church early for a baptism with all of my kids in tow only to look down and see my feet still shod in house slippers. Ha.

Mimi's Mythology: Tooth Harpy

2011-11-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

American folklore contains a delightful character called the tooth fairy. I usually think of the tooth fairy as female, silvery, very small, friendly, and kind. She happily pays you for the baby teeth you have lost. (What a nice thing to do!) She sneaks into your house without bothering anyone and gently whisks the tooth out from under one's pillow and leaves behind whatever amount of money she has agreed upon with the parents. ;)

My house has not been visited by the tooth fairy.

To describe the status of teeth in our home, I have created a new folklore character—the tooth harpy.

She is the cousin of the tooth fairy, but not nearly so kind, gentle, nor pretty.

The tooth harpy has been visiting my home with great frequency. I couldn't tell you the last night I slept uninterrupted. I could, however, tell you that last night Daniel woke up eight times. Delightful.

Today, it was finally apparent that the tooth harpy is the reason behind these night wakings. Four beautiful, pearly white specks have appeared in his top gum line. He already has two teeth on the bottom, and I think his gums look swollen on either side of those as well, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he gets two more on the bottom sometime soon.

Although all of his other teeth have taken forever even after you know they are coming, so I may still be in store of many more nightly visits from the tooth harpy.

Amazingly enough, he is very happy and cheerful during the day. He is only upset when it is time to sleep or eat. Then I guess he is unable to ignore the pain.

I love my baby. I do not like the tooth harpy.

Also of note: he may only have two stubs on the bottom and four tiny tips on the top, but he is somehow already managing to grind/clink them together. I do not like that sound. The tooth harpy must be stressing him out as well. Poor baby.

Time goes on . . .

2011-11-18T14:39:00.000-05:00

And time goes on. Life continues. What a blessing in so many ways. I still miss Tabitha. I still think of her every day, and I'm still sad when I do. But even though she is dead, I'm not. My kids aren't. My husband isn't. And so I move forward, because that's all I'm actually capable of. Being sad won't bring her back, nor will it heal the hole in my brother's family. And so I've moved forward with time. Here is what time has brought to my family in the past week and a half.

Jill, Daniel, and I missed Jeffrey's birthday while we were in Michigan with my family. My mother-in-law made a tasty dinner and two cakes to celebrate: upside pineapple and upside peach. He's one year away from thirty now.

Jill and Danny were very happy to see their daddy again. Jeff was pretty happy to have us back.

Jill got to go to her gymnastics class twice this week to make up the one she missed during our absence. Her grandma takes her to the same place that she took Jill's daddy when he was a little boy. Jill loves it so far. My hope is that she either is better at it than I was or that she just enjoys being able to do what she can, because man that's a tough sport. I was never able to get over my fear of getting hurt to ever be any good. But I sure was funny!

Oh man. I might make you pee your pants laughing if I ever get those videos off of cassette tapes and onto this blog.

Jill's preschool class went on a field trip to the fire station. They got to walk through the truck, see the ambulance, and walk around the living quarters. Right when they were going to try on the gear, the alarm sounded and off went the firemen to go save someone. At least I hope it was off to a fire to save someone. I couldn't help but think of an ambulance that visited one of my family members recently while I was there. Too late to save. But, we're talking about living here, so I must focus!

I think the kids thought it was pretty exciting to see the truck and ambulance leave, and they were able to sing the fire fighter song they had learned to the very gracious secretary.

Maybe the fire truck and ambulance were going to rescue a kid who locked him- or herself in a room. That is a happy possibility. ;)

The field trip was interesting, and possibly my favorite part was seeing the fireplace in their living room. It was beautiful and had a very large photo of a fire inside of where a fire has probably never been lit. :)

The day after we lost Tabitha was Halloween. Jill still wanted to go trick or treating, and my mother-in-law had done a beautiful job making matching pirate costumes for Jill and Daniel. So, we spent some time at Laurie's Halloween party and then Jill did a little bit of trick or treating. When she went up to a house she would say "trick or treating" instead of "trick or treat."

Conversations with Jill

2011-11-11T11:01:00.001-05:00

Because we all need to smile, here are some recent Jill conversations. She really does speak in complete sentences most of the time.

Set scene: I am sitting in the bathroom. (No where is sacred to these children!)

Door opens.

Jill enters.

Jill: "Mommy, will you pick up Danny?"

Me: "Oh, did he fall over?"

Jill: "Yeah, I pushed him over."

Me: "Oh, that was not very nice."

Jill: "Yeah, I pushed him over." This is said while she kicks foot out.

Me: "Did you push him with your foot?"

Jill: "Yeah with my foot."

Me: "Jill, that hurts Danny. Please don't push him."

Jill: "Okay. I will push myself."

Me: "Oh, well, be nice to yourself, but let me know how that works out for you."

Jill exits the bathroom.

An "ow" is heard from the other room.

Danny with both of his grandmas

Cousins: Annibelle, Emily, Jill, and Callie

Danny with his grandpa Boling (Pappy)

Set scene: I am sitting at the kitchen table. My mother is warming up a meal one of the kind people from our church brought.

Jill enters the room.

Jill: "I need some dinner."

Me: "Are you hungry? Bunny is getting some soup ready."

Jill: "I don't like soup."

Me: "Jill, you like taco soup."

Jill: "No, I don't."

Me: "Yes, you do."

Jill: "I don't like soup."

Me: "Jill, remember how we had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches the other day? You ate lots of that soup."

Jill: "Yeah, but I didn't like it."

Conversation ended, because Bunny and Mommy were laughing too hard.

The Summer of Tabitha Grace

2011-11-11T10:47:00.002-05:00

Late one April evening,
with spring hovering in the night sky,
you entered into this world,
evening out our family,
filling a hole we never knew we had
until you came and fit there perfectly.

Summer passed, and you were a delight.
Oh, we endured some expected baby trials,
but you were a butterfly, a lightning bug, a shooting star.
You smiled and cooed, rolled over and laughed,
adored your big sister, watching her every move,
always so content just viewing the action.
You were so easy to love.

Fall sneaked up on us.
You met all your cousins.
You, then the youngest, completed the group.
We had big dreams of hiding in leaf piles,
of crawling, of cute costumes.

But one October morning,
winter cut our autumn short.
You were too perfect for this earth—
our borrowed angel since your birth.

And now winter chills our hearts
and sadness chokes our souls
and coldness creeps in.

But cutting through the pain,
we remember our butterfly, our firefly, our shooting star, our angel.
Remembering your bright eyes warms our hearts.
Remembering your quick smiles lightens our souls.
Remembering your happiness brings warmth again.

We do not know why six months is all you had here,
but we do know we will have so much more with you there.

And while we wait here in this world and endure this winter,
we'll never forget
the summer of Tabitha Grace.

October 31, 2011: Michelle H. Collett

Tabitha

2011-11-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

Here is the link to Tabitha's obituary: link.

Here is a link to a song/poem my sister-in-law's brother wrote: link. "Taffa" is how Emily pronounces her baby sister's name. Jill calls her cousin "Taffla."

My sister-in-law (Tabitha's mom) posted some pictures and wrote about Tabitha's beautiful last few days here: link.

My sister shared a few nice pictures, too: link.

Sorry that everything has been kind of sad recently, but that's how I've been feeling. I mean, happy things still happen. Jill still makes me laugh, and Danny still smiles sweetly at me. But it is impossible to forget that we won't get to see my brother's baby smile at us for a very long time. Jill is really comforting though. Whenever I cry, she comes over, sits on my lap, pats my shoulder, and says "Mommy, it's okay."

And it is okay in that there is a God in the heavens—a Heavenly Father who loves Tabitha just as much as anyone down here does. But even knowing where her soul is doesn't change that I'd rather have her body snuggled in my brother's arms. I guess that's just my mortal perspective. However, I am very grateful for my testimony in Jesus Christ and my knowledge of the afterlife, because that is what makes this tragedy bearable even though it is still hard.

I know the day will come when it seems like the Plan of Happiness again, rather than the Plan of Endurance. And I know that Tabitha is very happy where she is.

On Death

2011-11-11T10:23:00.002-05:00

This poem is not long enough to hold the pain I feel.
No words are eloquent enough to express my grief and sorrow.
But words are all I have.

I'm still shocked.
I'm still sad.
I'm still here.

Why is the sun still rising?
How can each second keep passing?
Why aren't you here?

tick. tick. tick.
I don't want it to, but every breath drags me further away from you.

You were supposed to live.
You were supposed to grow.
You weren't supposed to leave.

drop. drop. drop.
My tears won't bring you back.
But I can't seem to stop them from coming.
Just like I couldn't stop you from leaving.

thump. thump. thump.
My heart keeps beating—warm and loud and strong in my chest.
Yours is cold and quiet.

I guess you really are gone.

November 6, 2011: Michelle H. Collett

The beautiful baby section at Tabitha's cemetery.

Tabitha's gravesite is the one with the flowers lying on their side,

right next to the main statue.

A perfect angel

2011-10-30T22:33:00.001-04:00

My family is a little emptier today, and I am feeling shocked and sad.
When I think about what my loved ones are missing, I feel really bad.

I am grateful for the times I got to hold you.
I feel so blessed for the short amount of time I had to know you.

You were too perfect for this earth.
You've been an angel ever since your birth.

I am honored to have been a part of your life, Tabitha Grace.
I know the day will come when I will once again see your beautiful face.

Forever Sisters: Emily and Tabitha

My brother Dan and his little girl

Their sweet family

Danny and his cousin: Partners in crime

I'm glad Danny gave you a shoulder to lean on.

We'll never forget you, Tabitha Grace.

My brother Dan, his wife Rachel, and my niece Emily said good-bye today to their beautiful six month old Tabitha who passed away in her sleep this morning.

April 10, 2011–October 30, 2011

Inexpensive Halloween Decorations

2011-10-17T14:46:00.000-04:00

I have not done anything yet to decorate my house for Halloween, but luckily one of my cats has taken care of that for me!

This week, Chloe has blessed our home with two dead mice and . . . *drum roll* a disembodied squirrel head. Delightful. What is more Halloween than rotting, creepy carcasses?

I am really surprised by the squirrel though. Maybe it was sick and old or something. Or maybe Chloe is just an amazing huntress. We discovered that one last night, and in the dark we were thinking large mouse or maybe a mole, but upon closer investigation, it was definitely just a squirrel head.

Wow.

Why spend money on jack-o-lanterns, fake cobwebs, and ghost cut-outs when my cat will bring stuff home for free??

Because I like you, no photos have been included in this post.

Lollipops

2011-10-15T20:32:00.000-04:00

We are finally back from our fantastic wanderings, and a longer post will soon appear, but for now I am exhausted, yet I really wanted to share these pictures! So here's a short post.

Remember how last post I wrote that Jill has just always looked really cute while enjoying a lollipop?

Tee hee.

Here is Jill enjoying her lollipop on the beach our last night there.

Here is Jill right after she dropped her lollipop on the beach.

Not her cutest moment. But pretty funny!

(Even the wind played a role in making this picture extra awesome.)

Teeth have arrived!

2011-10-06T06:12:00.001-04:00

Daniel's two bottom teeth poked out through his gums yesterday. Fabulous. :)

Jill's wildest dream finally came true, and they let her join their family! But after about two seconds, we wanted her back. :) And the strange blur next to Michael is a jogger that I decided to only spend about one second trying to remove. I did not feel like opening Photoshop and trying to do a nicer job. It's only 6 in the morning after all.

She looks good with them though, doesn't she? tee hee

And Jill just has always looked really cute while eating lollipops.

In other family news, we are leaving in just over an hour to drive to Myrtle Beach! The sad part is that I think Cincinnati might be warmer than Myrtle Beach this weekend. It is supposed to be in the 80s here! What an October. :) Oh well. We'll still enjoy Jeff not being at work, playing in the sand, looking at the ocean, and swimming in the pool. Jill has been asking us to go to the beach for a long time, and the time is finally here. (Although she still does occasionally tell me that she is going to Pennsylvania. Haha. That trip will never be forgotten!)

And after Myrtle Beach, Jeff will come back to the grindstone, but the kids and I will join my mama for more fancy vacation in Virginia and then a wedding in West Virginia at Harpers Ferry! Yay!

I want to be a pirate when I grow up.

2011-10-03T16:41:00.001-04:00

Pirates are not really the best role models when you consider how they were often thieves, murderers, and worse. I suppose some may have had noble purposes, but surely the lot of them were unethical. (And I guess I should realize that pirates do actually still exist today even though I always think of them in the past.)

Jill is blessed to know some really great five year old girls who don't seem to mind the age gap and play with her very well: Alexa, Lilly, and Alyssa. Alexa is one of the famous Whitney children, the family to which Jill seems to wish she belonged.

Here is one of Lilly and Jill.

(Obviously this picture was taken about two years ago.)

Alexa and Jill

I don't have any of Alyssa and Jill, but rest assured that they play well together when the occation arises. :)

The other day, Alyssa was sitting in the back of the car with Jill. She said, "I want to be a doctor when I grow up. What do you want to be, Jill?" Jill replied, "I want to be a pirate."

Jill is obviously very fixated on Halloween. I do not know if she yet realizes that she will "grow up" some day and be big like mommy. She does know, however, that she really wants to be a pirate and that Danny is going to be a pirate also. A few months ago, Jill said she wanted to be a bear. Then she picked the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Halloween board book from the library. In that book, Mickey Mouse himself is a pirate. So what does Jill want to be? A pirate, of course. Thank you, Mickey.

I have nothing against Halloween pirate costumes. I was one many years myself. I just think it is somewhat interesting how much influence Mickey Mouse has on Jill.

And I can't wait until my amazing mother-in-law is finished with the matching pirate costumes.

Daniel is really crawling now. He never crawls for really long periods of time, but he gets where he wants to go and he pulls himself up to stand whenever possible. He also loves Cheerios and any food that he can get in his mouth. He loves mirrors, too.

Jill continues to attend "Hammer face" every first Saturday of the month. ("Hammer face" is what Jill calls "Kid Workshops at Home Depot." There is always face painting at our store (maybe at all locations—I don't know), and the very first time she went with her daddy, she asked to have a hammer painted on her face. She asks throughout the month if she can go to hammer face, and I sadly have to tell her it is only once a month. It is completely free, which is great! And sometimes there are special events going on, too. Like this month, there was a hay maze. Jeff had to work, so Jill went with her grandpa, and they made this great helicopter! (Which Jill already broke by throwing down the stairs. It looks good, but sadly it did not fly. Ha.)

Isn't it cute that they give the kids little aprons just like the employees? You get a pin for every craft you make. Jill has a lot of bling! :) I think I am going to see if Jill's joy school wants to go on a fieldtrip there. It is a lot of fun.

My church had General Conference this past weekend. It happens twice a year, and we get to hear from the prophet, apostles, and other general auxiliary leaders. It is fantastic! Every time, I leave feeling refreshed and . . . eager. I always feel so encouraged to improve and so loved. If you're curious what the prophet and others said, all of the sessions are online, just click the "General Conference" link at the beginning of this paragraph.

This weekend, Jeff and I finally get to show Jill what the beach and ocean are! We are going to Myrtle Beach for five days. I am excited! :)

Oh, I found another cute Lilly and Jill one.

I remembered a few.

2011-09-30T06:30:00.001-04:00

I was thinking about what funny things Jill has said (in reference to this post). She said one this evening. We've been reading a book that has a girl and a little brother in it, and it is focused on opposites. On one page, the big sister is eating her food nicely and the baby brother has splattered his all over, and it says "He is naughty, and I am good." Well, Jill has started calling Daniel naughty a lot, so now when I read the book, I'll say "He is good, and I am naughty" or "sometimes he is naughty, and sometimes he is good" etc. Tonight Jeff was reading it to her and was explaining that to her and how she is good when she listens to me, and she said, "I listen to Mommy sometimes." I think she sounds like such a mini person when she says things like that. Maybe it was only funny in the moment, I don't know, but she's not even 2 1/2 yet!

Also, Jeff was vacuuming this evening, so Jill of course ran to get her vacuum out. When Jeff was finished, he went to put his away and asked Jill to put hers away, and she replied, "I think I'm going to do this a little bit longer." Haha.

And I love it when she holds up one finger and says she needs "just one minute." So cute.

These days, Daniel is the happiest when he is standing up.

(Well, okay, that might be tied with being held.)

Jill had a friend over, and they wanted to lie like our cat Cosmo.

It's so funny how he dangles all four legs over the sides.

Jill had another friend over, and I thought they looked pretty cute after the bath in their matching towels.

(Daniel was kind enough to lend his. He's not quite tall enough yet anyway!)

New Boling Baby

2011-09-28T09:41:00.001-04:00

The new Boling grandchild will be a . . .

*drum roll please*

click here to find out on my sister's blog!

Oh, and in case you don't know and didn't notice in the preceding pictures:
the current tally of grandbabies in our family is 8 girls and 1 boy.

I need to use my inside voice.

2011-09-26T13:22:00.001-04:00

I don't have too much time, because I have a lot to get done during nap time today, but I have been posting so little lately that I felt like I just had to while I could.

As Jill's language improves, life grows increasingly more interesting. I love hearing what she decides to say. I wish I could think of some good examples.

Oh, here's one. It isn't funny, but it is wonderful! When we are out and about, she will tell me that she needs to use the bathroom! Music to my ears.

Let's see . . . Also, she recently has started calling Danny "Dandy" sometimes.

. . .

Dang it. I can't think of anything else that she has said that has made me laugh recently, but she does it all the time. Oh, here's one. I was singing to Daniel in the kitchen, and perhaps getting a little carried away with my Broadway show tunes. She came in and said, "Mommy, that is too loud. We are inside." Ha. Just goes to show that even if she doesn't obey me, she is still listening!

Chloe found a good place to nap!

Jill surprised me today by actually counting. She already was able to recite the numbers (and recite them in Spanish out of order), but today she had four forks on the floor in front of her, and she said "one, two, three, four—four forks." She has never counted before without me asking her to. (Like we're reading a book, and I say "How many ladybugs are there? Can you count them?" That kind of thing.)

My mother-in-law made a dress for Jill and skirt for me that matched.

Pretty cute!

Daniel is stuck in a very frustrating stage of not-quite-crawling-and-he-knows-it. He can still get around through wiggling and rolling, but he isn't actually crawling yet, and this makes him quite upset. He now knows that he could just get to that toy, but he can't. He is also pulling himself up on anything within reach. It is pretty fun to turn around and see him standing up and smiling huge, all excited. Still no teeth. Just sweet gummy smiles from my boy!

Jeff and I are both doing well. We have all of our teeth, are perfectly capable of crawling should the need or desire arise, can count up to and over 100, and have great language skills. :)

Outnumbered

2011-09-18T22:40:00.001-04:00

I am working on teaching Jill correct information, such as her first, middle, and last names; her mommy's first and last names; her daddy's first and last names; etc. Today I decided to start throwing in the street she lived on. So, I asked her where she lived, and she said, "Pennsylvania."

Ha.

Sometimes a week feels like a lifetime, I guess!

All eight Boling grandchildren, along with their mothers (+ a special aunt) and grandmother, spent five days in Hershey, Pennsylvania earlier this month. Of the grandchildren, two were born in 2008, two in 2009, two in 2010, and two in 2011. (My sister is due in 2012, so I can't help but wonder who is going to jump in to round out that year for us!) So, it was a lot of crazy and a lot of fun.

It was also very, very loud!

My sister flew from Nebraska to me, and then we drove together to Pennsylvania. On the way there, we ended up with our car turned off on the freeway waiting for a fatal car accident to be cleaned up. The kids were oblivious to the tragedy that had occurred, and Daniel was just thrilled to be out of his car seat. It was raining, but we took them on walks around the car anyway. Three hours is a really long time for babies and toddlers to be in a stopped car. I am grateful that it was not 100 degrees.

I lost count as to how many men we saw go pee in the woods to the right of the freeway. There was one who went to the left and did his business on the median. Who does that?! I could't decide whether to share this in my blog, but it was creative, so I think I will. I had already been holding it for an hour or two before we were stopped, and I just couldn't hold it any longer. (Four hours is a long time!!) So, let's just say that I made discreet, successful use of one of Danny's diapers. I guess it's like riding bike—you never forget how to do it no matter how many years it has been since the last time you did! :)

Danny was surrounded by a lot of pink that week, but he handled it pretty well!

Here he is with his cute cousin, Tabitha.

It rained every single day that we were in Pennsylvania. (It finally let up some on the day we decided to brave it and leave.) We were there just in time for epic flooding. It was interesting to stay at a resort that was officially closed. All of the sights of Hershey were closed due to people not being able to get to work and the evacuations of nearby towns. All of the adults had to be very resourceful to keep the children occupied. One diversion we created to keep the kiddos from going nuts in our rooms was a little parade in the parking garage.

We also made good use of the indoor swimming pool and walking under the covered sidewalks at the closed outlet mall across the street. The kids really did play very well together. It was just unbelievably loud. Kids are so loud! Imagine a daycare you never got to go home from. Hahaha.

One event we won't forget anytime soon was my mother's trip to the grocery store. She took the oldest granddaughter (3 1/2 years old) with her. They left around . . . maybe 10 in the morning and finally made it home around 9:30 that evening. Every way she tried to make it back to the resort was closed for flooding or sink holes. She kept just having to stop and try waiting it out again. It was crazy.

Here is Jill with the cousin she is closest to in age: Emily.

My sister and I decided to leave as planned on Friday, because it seemed like there was a pause in the flooding. One bridge over the Susquehanna River was still open, and we decided to give it a shot. We had to go about twenty miles out of the way to get to it, because sinkholes had caused road closures on the main routes. We were driving down the highway when my sister said, "was that an arm chair??" My first thought was maybe it had fallen out of a truck, but we soon saw that was probably not the case. My sister looked out the window and gasped—we could only see roofs. The arm chair had probably floated there out of someone's house. How sad. I have never really been that close to natural disaster devastation.

In other news, and this actually happened before the reunion, I got to see one of my best friends (from my youth days) that I hadn't seen in a long time. She and her family have been living the island life in Dominica for two years but are back now for her hubs to finish up medical school in Michigan. Yay for friendships that change but never end! :)

Other than that, life has just been pretty exhausting. Daniel no longer sleeps through the night and usually wakes up two to three times, sometimes four. Between that and how worn out I am from potty training Jill during the day, I feel like I have no rest right now. However, the bright sides are that one day Daniel will go back to sleeping during the night like he used to and that Jill is completely pee trained. So, while poop messes are indeed messier they happen much less frequently than pee. So yay for those things!

And seeing the flooding in Pennsylvania definitely put the flooding this past spring in my basement into perspective.

Oh, and of course, my favorite season is here, and I am loving it. Well, technically it hasn't officially begun yet, but it is feeling like autumn, and it's wonderful!

If you noticed the tutus and hair clips the girls are wearing during many of the reunions shots and you want one for your little girl (or yourself!) head over to my sister-in-law's etsy shop: Tangerine Tutus.

Where did August go?

2011-09-02T23:52:00.001-04:00

Wow. A whole month passed without a single post on my blog. It was a pretty full month though. I have over 100 photos to prove it! So, I think I'll share some of those photos with you!

Daniel attended his first baseball game. (Jill and I were there, too. It was Jill's third baseball game.) It was a Florence Freedom game instead of a Reds game, so we got to sit really close to the field! (This picture displays well the dark blue ring in Daniel's eyes. Isn't that cool? I know all eyes are darker on the outside, but I think his ring is really prominent.)

Jill has enjoyed a lot of play dates with a lot of her friends this month. Here are a few tastes.

Okay, Daniel got to have some play dates, too. A lot of Jill's friends have little siblings now. :)

We spent a lot of time with the family that Jill wishes she were born into. (Kidding.) (Maybe . . . ?)

We drove up to Michigan, and I got to be there with my brother to celebrate his 30th birthday! Happy birthday, Danny!

My nieces Emily and Tabitha

Jill, sporting Bunny's ravishing pink straw hat.

We met my dad at his office one day and then ate lunch at a really beautiful park.

Daniel had chicken pox all over. He still does. He hasn't been contagious for about two weeks now though. Apparently it just takes a really long time for all the pox (poxes?) to fade. Jill got a very, very mild case. We're assuming the vaccine she had around 12 months is what helped hers be so mild. Daniel bore the chicken pox very well. As far as I know, he didn't share it with anyone other than his sister. We have no idea where he picked it up.

Jill had a week with both of her grandmas around, and one of the activities was King's Island. Jill tells me very often now that she needs to go back again.

To top off the month, my grandmother was able to come for a visit as well. She lives in Texas, so we don't get to see her too often!

And to make things really exciting (because that's how we like it!) Jeffrey was hit by a driver who fled the scene and both of our cats got lost outside this month. We managed to find both of them, Chloe was huddled under a tarp and Cosmo was inside of a storm drain. Sigh. They were both pretty terrified. Scaredy cats! (Cosmo was missing for over a day and a half. I was getting really worried about him.)

(Jeffrey was not injured. The car was though. $3,200 worth of injuries. Yay for insurance!)

Buzz Buzz the Bee

2011-07-31T22:22:00.002-04:00

As it has been said by many (I'm sure), children change you.

My children have definitely changed me. The temper that I have dealt with my whole life is being chipped away, because the stakes are finally high enough for me to gather the control to handle it. The patience I have always lacked is finally increasing, because a two year old and a baby just aren't logical or rational enough to always run on my schedule and do what I want. I now also am more aware of things on the ground, because Jill will inevitably pick up everything she sees to show it to me. And I realize that there is rarely a situation so bad that smiles from my smart Jill and my chunky Danny can't improve it. (I am sure that Danny is smart, too, but at almost seven months, his chubs are a pretty dominant characteristic.)

However, children have also changed me perhaps for the worse. Poop is now a common conversation topic, and it definitely never was before. My body used to be mine and carefully covered at all times. The past three years, I've shared my body (because nursing Jill and being pregnant with Danny overlapped, I haven't had a break), and I never know when a baby might get hungry or a child might climb on my lap and bring my skirt with her! I also don't shower as often as I did before I had children, because sometimes I just don't feel like having an audience in the bathroom. (I don't know how single parents of young children survive.)

One unexpected change is overcoming a life long fear.

Have you picked up a children's book recently? I can almost guarantee that somewhere within the pages of the book (even if this animal is not a character in the book), you will see some sort of happy buzzing bumbling insect in the shape of a bee. Jill thinks bees are great. Why shouldn't she? They look so friendly in her books.

We have some salvia along the front of our house, and it attracts three different kinds of bees. One type is a very large one, so I assume it's a bumble bee. Jill calls it "Buzz Buzz" after Mickey's bee friend on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. (Thank you, Disney!) She's always looking forward to going outside to see if Buzz Buzz is there. When we water the plants, we always let Buzz Buzz know that we will "be right back" when we go to refill our watering cans.

If you know me very well, you will know that I have never been stung by a bee and that I used to live in a country that had killer bees, and those two life incidents have combined to create a paralyzing, hysterical fear of bees.

My dad almost helped me conquer it once, at least partially. We were walking in the flower gardens, here in Cincinnati actually, and there were some huge bees. I started freaking out, and he reassured me that the big ones were not the ones I had to worry about. The big ones never sting anyone. So, for the next few years I never really worried about bees, because I usually only saw, or noticed, the big ones.

Also, one great thing about marriage is that Jeffrey kills bees for me. He just takes off his ever-present baseball cap and smacks them for me. However, a few years ago, my mom informed me that we are experiencing a huge drop in bee population, so I started feeling guilty for the bees my knight in shining armor was killing for me.

And then one day I was walking with my dad again, and there were some small bees. I started to freak out, and my dad reassured me that it wasn't the small ones I had to worry about. That kind never stung anyone.

Ha.

He was caught. But I understand what he was trying to do for me. :)

However, Jill is on her way to curing me, because while I not exuberant about the desire these books and shows have instilled in her to pet the "nice" bees, I am glad that she is not afraid of them, and so I have to hide my fear, because I do not want her to fear bees as well. So, hide it I do. And how long can I hide it before I conquer it? We'll see.

If you read my last post, you saw my review of The Reading Promise. Alice, when she was a little girl, was afraid of thunder and lightening storms. To cure this, her father used to get her from hiding under her covers and take her out to their large front porch. They would watch the summer storm and whenever there was a particularly loud/bright one, they would raise their arms in the air and yell, "THAT'S A GOOD ONE!"

I would like to be that kind of parent.

(Sadly, the dad did not have such luck with another fear that Alice developed later in life and shares with us in the book. A very funny fear. Read the book!) :) (Here's an NPR article about the book!)

Back to me: I never ever thought that becoming a parent might be what finally helps me get over my fear of being stung by a bee.

Do you have any irrational fears? Like that a tiny insect that has no desire to sting you if you leave it alone is out there wanting to kill you?

Jill apparently had trouble falling asleep the other day,

because when I went in to get Danny, this is how I found her!

Just a picture of Danny, happy in a swing.

Jill with some of her favorite people at the park.

When it is too hot for the park,

it is time to take a trip to see Ronald McDonald!

This was the fourth picture taken, so you can't blame some of the children for not having smiles on their faces, but honestly they all had a lot of fun. Jill was very impressive in managing to climb up in the play area. She would hike one leg up on the next level, grab the netting with her hands, and then use her upper body strength to lift her other leg up next to the leg she already had propped there.

BLOG UPDATE: Jeffrey just reminded me that only last fall (less than a year ago!), he actually persuaded me to pet a very chill bee. I had completely forgotten about it. So, here is a link to that blog post if you want to see a picture of Jeff's picture petting a bee and me discussing the event. Link

If I can forget that, I have to wonder what else I am forgetting . . .

The Reading Promise

2011-07-28T22:05:00.002-04:00

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was so interesting and enjoyable!! Here is part of why the book is so cool (from the acknowledgements): "To my ridiculously talented editor, Karen Kosztolnyik: thank you for believing that a twenty-two-year-old recent college grad could and should write a memoir without a ghostwriter!" I just think it is really cool that author is so young. A lot of twenty-one year olds don't have anything worth writing a memoir about, but Alice Ozma definitely did!

She and her father had "The Streak," in which he read to her every single day (at least fifteen minutes and before midnight) from when she was a little girl until the day that she moved into her freshman college dorm. Wow!

The book contains her life, the way reading affected her life, the love of reading she inherited from her father, and more. It is just really interesting. I don't know what else to say. READ THIS BOOK!

I am inspired and intimidated. I want to read to my children, but I will have more that her father did, and mine are spaced much closer together. Perhaps I can read to more than one at a time. I hope it can become a "thing" for us. I love reading so much, and I really want my kids to as well.

Everyone should read this book. Thank you, Catherine, for recommending it to me!

"The greatest gift you can bestow upon your children is your time and undivided attention. As the years advance, you may reflect upon your life and see that in some areas, you have regrets about what you took to be a priority. No one will ever say, no matter how good a parent he or she was, 'I think I spent too much time with my children when they were young.'

Children are not easily fooled. They can tell where a parent's priorities are. When my wife left me I did not seek out companionship for more than six years. I wanted the girls to be absolutely sure that I would be there for them. If one parent moves out and the other is out on the town each night, where does that leave them? I guess they would have to think 'Mom's got her new man, Dad has his new girl, but who has us?'" (Quote by Jim Brozina, the author's father. From the foreword.)

"Before I had any children I used to say, 'When they come along I will not speak to them until they are sixteen, and then I will tell them to get a job.' Holding them in my arms made me rethink that idea. I have discovered very little in life that I am adept at doing. I cannot fix your car, repair your roof, or even drive a nail straight. However, I have given everything I have to being a father, and I happily stand back to see the results." (Quote by Jim Brozina, the author's father. From the foreword.)

"My father will not lie, so he tries to say the best possible thing that is also the truth. He doesn't realize that this is often worse than just saying what he thinks as nicely as possible. I was used to it and accepted his comments with a shrug, as I did now, but he wasn't always so lucky. Once, a friend of his made him cookies for his birthday and he accidentally started an argument by saying, when she asked him what he thought of them, 'I can honestly say that everyone of those cookies has chocolate chips in it.'"

"I wouldn't appreciate it then, but it takes creativity to lie shivering and shaking in your bed, wondering if your cats will know how to defend you, not against ghosts or the boogeyman, but against the immobile body of one of the most famous and beloved ex-presidents of the United States. Thanks to The Streak and my father, imagination was not something I lacked."

"When we had dates on the same night, we would compare notes as we got ready. This generally consisted of him telling me what great shape he was in and how every outfit looked good on him, though some looked better than others. Then I would ask him what he thought of my outfit, and he would make a pained look and comment on the color or the fabric. If there was time, he would usually make me hand over the entire ensemble so he could iron it, because he was very passionate about well-ironed clothes.

'It only takes a few minutes, and you go from looking like a horribly wrinkled monkey warrior to a real class act.'

I have never figured out who these monkey warriors are or what harrowing experience left them with bodily wrinkles, but having a father who loves to iron has always been advantageous."

View all my reviews

Drool, flowers, and other things

2011-07-17T17:54:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been a while! I took something of a computer hiatus this past month. I immediately regretted it when I discovered how many e-mails were waiting for me to wade through upon my return. On the plus side though, I did read 15 books in this past month, including the entire Harry Potter series, so these were not all short books. Good times. A bit of escapism, if you will. But other great things have happened this past month as well.

For example, I managed to catch a perfect droplet of drool as it departed from Danny's mouth. Who knows if I'll ever get that lucky again?

I am so tired of drool. Ha. Not much you can do about it at this stage though!! And he's such a happy baby. Hard to begrudge him some moistness.

So, I guess one big thing is that Danny made it past his half birthday! He completed six months on July 7. Yay rah! I'm sure I say this all the time, but time sure flies!

I turned 26 on June 26. I've heard it said that this is my "golden" year. Too bad for Danny. He was born on a 7th, so he won't remember his "golden" year. Jill has a 25th birthday, so she'll remember hers! I am completely prepared for awesomeness. :)

One of my favorite flowers I enjoy in my yard bloomed just in time for my birthday: morning glories. Aren't they pretty? Last year I had white ones and pink ones, but this year they have only come up pink. I guess the white ones didn't make it through the winter.

Some of our fantastic friends from our Provo days paid us a visit over the Fourth of July weekend. They're currently in training, preparing for two years in China! Pretty exciting. Jill loved having them here. She is still asking me where they are and why they aren't going to the pool with us.

She really loved having Finn (the dog). He is so big! It was nice to have a dog to take advantage of our lovely large back yard.

And I am happy to say that this dog did not get lost, like the last dog that stayed in our backyard. (That was a horrible experience!)

This isn't the best picture of Finn, as you can't really see him. But he's a poodle golden retriever mix (a golden doodle) and quite large.

We went to some of the parks in the heart of the city while they were here, and for the first time, Danny was not in the spotlight. People kept coming over to see the dog! :) When asked "Oh, how precious! How old is he?" I had to stop myself before I said how old Danny was, because they wanted to know how old Finn was! He was definitely the center of attention. And worthy of it!

This one I just had to share, because sometimes Jill wakes up with truly awesome hair. I don't know if this photo does it justice, but it is sticking almost completely straight up.

And this one is just to show off Danny's eyes. He has really big eyes. Or perhaps he has normal eyes that he always has wide open, not wanting to miss a thing.

So, I guess you haven't really missed much while I haven't been blogging. I have two happy, healthy, beautiful children. My husband has a job. We have paused a bit in fixing our house's problems. It has been really hot. I've read some great books. Jill is a walking song book. Danny is getting good at sitting up. That's all, folks!

When does it end?

2011-06-21T21:34:00.000-04:00

Here's another post of me complaining. Today it rained. A lot. The yard across the street looked like a lake. The grass between the storm water ditch and the street was completely covered in water. The little stream next to my neighbor's house was so swollen that water was up over the bridge. A lot of water. We have already had a lot of water this year, but today the skies gave us more than we have ever had before.

As you probably know, we have been having some issues with our basement. It is not technically a basement, but it is the lowest level in our tri-level, and that is what we call it. Last Friday, a team came to the house and fixed the water problems in our crawlspace. They graded the dirt, created a drainage system, installed a sump pump and a back up sump pump, ran pipes out of the crawlspace through the foundation wall, and put a nifty . . . thing in our yard where the water is pumped out from the crawlspace. They then encapsulated the crawl space. It was wonderful!

We bought the vinyl flooring we had our eye on, and with the help of friends and family, we cut it to fit our floor. It looked amazing! We started filling the basement back up with its former belongings.

Some of our friends are professional painters, and they came over today to paint the room. (Finally I was going to have a room in my house with a different color of paint than all the other rooms!) Then the storm came. And the thunder. And the lightening. And the winds. And lots of water. A lot. (If you've already forgotten how much, see first paragraph above.) My friends who were going to paint came to me with the bad news that there was water in my basement.

They thought it was a lot. It was nothing compared to before, but it was a fair amount.

So, we're back to square one, and our beautiful flooring is pulled back up.

Now we're a little unsure of the problem. The water seems to have come in the same way it did before, but the sump pump was definitely working. I could hear it working; I could see the bucket filling up with water; I could see the water being expelled from the nifty thing in the yard. However, there was still water in my basement.

There was a lot less water in my basement than before—despite the fact that the heavens were releasing a lot more water than last time.

So perhaps the crawlspace was only part of the problem.

And there is another problem lurking down there. Possible?

We think it is under the stairs.

I'll keep you posted on that.

So, we've been feeling a bit stressed, but crying won't solve anything!

While Jeff was downstairs sucking up water, and I was upstairs nursing Daniel, Jill went off on her own. Left to her own devices, she had taken off her pants, put on undies over her diaper, grabbed a book, climbed on top of the tall dresser in the guest room(!), and was reading her book. She was very pleased with herself. Pretty cute. She gave us a much needed chuckle.

So despite me wondering why I ever bought a house, I do know that life is still really, really good. So, if something bad has happened to you recently and you've wondered why. Wonder no longer. It's so I could look at your house misfortune and feel better about mine. Hopefully my problems can make you feel better about yours, too!

Side note: if you've had a root canal, do you remember how long the sensitivity remained? It is getting old having to wait for the water to warm up in the tap to swish after brushing my teeth and not being able to eat or drink foods from out of the refrigerator.

(Sorry that I didn't take a picture of Jill on top of the dresser!)

Happy Daddy's Day

2011-06-20T10:22:00.003-04:00

If you are reading this in facebook or your e-mail, you may need to go to my actual blog to view the video: mimihalley.blogspot.com.

What I Never Tire Of

2011-06-14T23:07:00.001-04:00

I will never ever get my fill of this!

Cuddling

Loving

Hugging

Swimming

Napping

Smiling

Playing

I miss you already.

And here is June already!

2011-06-06T15:48:00.000-04:00

Well, I said I would have my hair cut short after the wedding, and I did! How hot it got was definitely a strong impetus as well. I am happy to say that Daniel's fingers have only been caught in my hair once since the cut.

I forgot to take a "before" picture, so you'll have to settle with a picture of me pigging on pizza. At least my hair looks good. They had to cut it in a ponytail, so I can donate it. That left the back of it pretty short, but I do have length on the sides in the front. I asked to look like Natalie Teeger from the show Monk. My hair is obviously not as blonde as hers, but they did a pretty good job mimicking one of her shorter looks (I think).

I mostly like it, but every now and then I feel like I look like a boy. And I definitely have not figured out how much shampoo to use now. Ha. (I do like it a lot better than my only other really short haircut from the summer of 2004. Ugh. I don't even like remembering that one.)

On a secondary note, I also got contacts again. I haven't had new contacts since 2006. So, you probably won't see me in glasses for a while (unless you come over early in the morning or late at night).

Jeff's youngest brother graduated from high school.

We are so proud of him!

Jill really loves her Uncle Kyle.

(And if you are small enough to fit in Jill's playhouse, please come and visit us. Because Jill is desperate to get someone in there with her, but none of us fit and Daniel can't walk yet.)

Bunny and Pappy came for a wonderful week long visit!

Jill is keeping me busy (and entertained) as usual.

Jill was looking at a picture of her and me in the hospital from her birth. She thought the picture was of Danny, and I said, "Actually, that's you Jill." When Jeff came home from work, Jill repeatedly told him "Actually, that's me, Daddy." Pretty cute! (Of course that reminds me of Danny's nickname "Shallwe.") :)

And you can never have enough sleep!

Jill woke Jeff up the other morning by walking into our room and saying "hey you" as she poked him.

Oh, and if Jill didn't already show me signs every day of how grown up she is getting, her definitely is one! She now has about ten songs memorized. Probably more. She surprises me all the time by just singing a song out of the blue. I'll try to get it on video one of these days.

Sharp Dressed Man

2011-06-06T15:09:00.001-04:00

My Dan is a "sharp dressed man."

Ties like these are appropriate for any occasion . . .

. . . like relaxing at an outdoor concert and potluck.

. . . like looking startled in his daddy's old walker at Grandma's house.

. . . like looking so fly at the country club.

Thank you for the fabulous formal onesies, big sister!

End May with a Bang!

2011-06-06T14:57:00.001-04:00

Summer has finally come to my part of the world, and it has come with a heat wave. I really did not get as much wonderful spring as I usually like to have. It was just rain, rain, rain and cold and now all of a sudden it's in the nineties. Hot. Humid. Muggy. Buggy. Summer is here! (We did have a few really lovely days in the middle of last week, so I can't complain too much. And one of these days I will gather the courage to go to the pool with Jill and Daniel. I think I'll need a third arm . . .)

Here is what else happened to finish up May!

I gained a sister.

Or did Jeff lose a brother? ;)

Jill got to wear a gorgeous tutu from Tangerine Tutus.

I found my twin!

Cyanne is finally officially Auntie Cy, and we all couldn't be happier! They were sealed May 28 in the Columbus Ohio Temple. Yes, the temple where I didn't get married five years ago. So many memories at that temple!!

Jill and Daniel sported some patriotic gear courtesy of Bunny.

Jill's Grandma had a birthday party at her special picnic!

(It was actually a church picnic for our ward, but my father-in-law was the ward clerk at the time and made the reservations. For whatever reason, the sign outside the pavilion said "Collett Church Picnic" instead of "Eastgate Ward" or "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." ;)

I found another twin! Am I lucky or what?

Mother's Day cough

2011-05-16T07:58:00.002-04:00

It's never too late, right? Ha.

For Mother's Day, Jill (with help from Jeff) made me a flower pot holder.

For Mother's Day, Daniel slept ten uninterrupted hours Friday and Saturday night! (This glorious event has not since been repeated, but boy was it wonderful!)

For Mother's Day, Jeff made sausage gravy with heart shaped biscuits (both from scratch) for breakfast as well as twice-baked potatoes for lunch.

And at church, I was given a piece of chocolate. Yum.

Jill (left) and Daniel (right) both are a few days older than four months.

Top left: "Yeah, we're that cool."

Top right: "Let me hold your hand, Danny."

Bottom left: "Whoa."

Bottom right: "Danny is so funny, Mama!"

"Daniel, there are many techniques available to use when learning how to rattle your rattle.

First, let's discuss proper form . . ."

The outfit Daniel is wearing during rattle lessons has a story. My mother bought it back in 2007 when the first grandchild was in the oven. (Ha Ames!) We still did not know whether my sister was having a boy or a girl. Then Hallie came. Then more grandchildren arrived. Annibelle. Emily. Jill. Hanna. Callie. Then finally Daniel! So, the baby boy clothing finally had a home. (And now we have Tabitha, too!)

Good news with our house—progress is . . . progressing. ;) The crawl space clean out crew was here over the weekend. It was amazing (and disgusting) how much sewage and nasty stuff they removed from our crawl space. My house currently smells overwhelmingly of lime, and the fans and dehumidifiers have been running nonstop. Yay for one step done! (And yay for having added sewage backup insurance when we bought the house a year ago.)

I am so impressed by my loving family and friends who are brave enough to continue on with their plans to visit. My parents will be here for Memorial Day, my sister and her family in June, some of our best friends from Utah over the Fourth of July, and my grandmother just before Labor Day. I am happy to say my house no longer smells like sewage and all bathrooms are now functional (if not up to code), but the basement is a mess. I wonder who will be the first to visit after all of the repairs are complete!

Oh, and last night Jill was crying in her bed and not sleeping. When I asked her what she needed, she said a pretty dress. So, we took off her pajamas and let her sleep in one of her pretty dresses. Ha. What a girl! I wonder if they make night gowns in her size. It sounds like she might like those.

What a year it has been!

2011-05-02T22:02:00.001-04:00

Okay, okay, I suppose I should wait to write blog posts with that title until a little later in the year, but it really has already been a full year!

Let's see, the year began with Daniel arriving one month early. (Although he is determined to show the world that he was ready to come—at his last appointment his weight moved from the fifth percentile up to the seventy-fifth. Yay for mommy's milk!)

We had a mouse problem. Or two. Or three. I think we totaled out at four before solving that issue.

We had frequent flooding in the basement. At this point, the basement is completely emptied out. We had to throw away the only one year old carpet and padding. After extracting over 150 gallons, we bought a temporary pump to suck water out of the crawl space, which requires a hose running out the back door. I am going to be very excited for when I don't always have a door open.

We also seem to be dealing with sewer issues. The house smells horrible, and you probably don't want to know what alternatives I have been resorting to in lieu of my toilet, but let's just say that I have gained an appreciation for modern indoor plumbing.

There is a leak in my car. In the back. Whenever it rains, the water trickles in along the door and makes the carpet soaking wet.

Again with the sewer/plumbing issues: the bath tubs fill up with nasty water. Since the toilets are basically no longer used, we're not getting poopy water any longer, but I am still seeing things that went down the disposal. I have now stopped using that as well.

Since the basement is out of commission, almost everything from down there is spread out through the rest of the house. I finally have it so my house almost looks uncluttered, but I hate all of the extra stuff. If we aren't able to get this fixed soon, I might start making donation trips that I will regret once I have the room back.

I had to have a root canal last week. I can't help but feel too young to already have had a root canal.

However, I must admit that life is still awesome. I have friends and family that let me crash at their houses to do laundry, bathe my children, and breathe pleasant air.

I have a healthy son and an intelligent daughter.

My parents have been able to visit, and my mother has been able to visit many times!

Even though some of the flowers I've planted were sacrificed for the good of digging up ground to explore water issues, I have enjoyed many beautiful blooms and sweet scents.

It is warm enough to leave my windows open most of the time to get fresh air.

It is only my basement. I still have a roof over my head and four walls protecting me.

My car still runs and gets me where I need to go.

A root canal saved my tooth! Yay for not living back in the day before modern dentistry. And Jeff's company added dental insurance at the beginning of last month. A miracle! (They also added vision insurance and a retirement IRA. Did I already exult about that?)

My husband and I celebrated (and haha celebrated is used loosely, because this has been our least celebrated anniversary) our fifth anniversary. I remember when we were first married, looking at couples that had been married for three or fours years and thinking about how LONG they had been married. Ha. Oh, does time fly. I am so happy to be Mrs. Collett!

And not only is life not all that bad, but I also have a lot to look forward to. I have two new nieces that I will meet before the year is out. My parents are coming back for a WEEK long visit at the end of this month. Jeff's brother Ryan and Cyanne are getting married at the end of this month. My sister and her family will visit for a while. One of my very best friends from Provo, her husband, and their dog are planning on visiting us this summer. My mom, sister, sisters-in-law, myself, and our eight children are going to have a fun five days in Hershey, Pennsylvania, at the beginning of this fall.

Here are some photos to prove that things are good!

My mom and dad spent Easter with us!

Jill turned two and had her first haircut!

Here's our beautiful family after five wonderful years!

Jill's wildest dreams came true!!

(For more pictures, go to her facebook profile.)

Life is very, very good.

God's Love

2011-04-17T15:01:00.001-04:00

I have been a Christian, specifically a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my whole life, but it seems like I will never stop learning more about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That's good I suppose, but it still always surprises me. You'd think I'd be used to it by now!

Recently I have been thinking about love.

You've probably been told at some point in your life (or heard someone else be told this) that your life changes when you become a parent.

And it does.

But not always in ways that you expect.

One way that my life has changed is that I am beginning to understand the way that God loves me.

It is effortless to throw around adjectives describing His love, such as endless, never-changing, infinite, all encompassing, etc.

And quite another to believe those words.

I have recently been accepting the fact that I cannot earn God's love, and likewise I cannot lose it. He loves me because He made me, because I am His.

And I am recognizing that aspect of His love because of how I love Jill and Daniel. I love them, because I made them, because they are mine. There is honestly nothing they could do that could make me not love them. (Parents of teenagers or difficult children may disagree with me, but the actions of those children wouldn't hurt you as much if you didn't love them! If you didn't love them, then you wouldn't care!)

Jill may disobey me, or Daniel may bite me, and they may make my life difficult, but nothing they have ever done or ever could do will change the fact that I love them.

Interesting, isn't it?

My love for them is seemingly innate, a part of me that can never be removed.

God loves me like that, too. He is always willing to welcome me back, and His Son Jesus Christ has ensured that there is a way for me to return to our Heavenly Father.

This Easter season is a great time to eat lots of candy and see cute bunnies every where and also a wonderful time to ponder the gift of love our God has given us. He gave us a Savior whom He loved very much, because He loves us very much, too. Christ suffered for our sins in Gethsemane and Golgotha, and then He rose again, permanently conquering death and sin in just one week and eternally paving a way for me to return to the presence of God, who is Love.

I do not mean to suggest that only parents can feel or understand God's love. I intend simply to share how I have gained a deeper understanding of this beautiful principle.

Upon continued thought, I realize that my eventual goal must be to love everyone like I love Jill and Daniel—to love everyone how God loves them. What a magnificent world we could live in if we could all love one another that way.

And when I say love, I mean an endless, life changing, all encompassing kind of love.

And in a slight alteration of topic, here are some pictures of people I love.

Jill and Daddy at Jill's first swimming lesson

Daniel "watching" his sister at the first swimming lesson

Thank you for taking pictures, Grandma!

Mimi did it!

2011-04-15T18:26:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer: This post will be along the same lines as my sister's BRAGGfest post she did last month. I can't link to it, or I'll turn myself into a semi liar. So that is why there is no link. Just know that, yes, I am copying her post topic, but at times perhaps originality is not necessary. :)

When Jill successfully does something she deems to be great, such as climbing on something new, she is very likely to exclaim "Jill did it!" I find it very endearing how she recognizes her accomplishments.

Many children do the same thing as Jill (except they say their own names!).

Why don't adults?

We do some pretty cool things, too. Perhaps we don't try to walk along the edge of the couch, but adults can be awesome, too.

I had a moment today where I felt like exclaiming "Mimi did it!" And it made me look back and think of other occasions when I have felt that way.

Today I planted a rose bush and a tree. It felt awesome. I've never planted either of those things before, and I honestly thought I wouldn't be strong enough to dig the hole. Granted, I did fall completely on my bum once during a shoveling mishap, but I dug two great holes, and now I have a tree and a rose bush planted. Mimi did it!
In ten days, Jeff and I will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. I know that some people were surprised by how quickly we decided to get married, but it has been a wonderful five years full of fun and a lot of growth. I'm definitely a different and better person. Jeff and Mimi did it!
I feel like giving birth was impressive enough to make this list. Mimi did it! Twice!
I made varsity my freshman year and started every single soccer game of my high school career. I played in the midfield position, and I was scoreless my freshman, sophomore, and junior year. I remember how absolutely amazing it felt to score my first goal my senior year. I think I ended up scoring three that season, but I'd have to check my journal to be sure. Regardless of what my final total was that first goal felt so good. Mimi did it!
As some of you may know or have noticed, I have a . . . not regular relationship with food. It hasn't always been a healthy relationship, and I was really picky. One facet of this relationship was an avoidance of meat. (And I was not the kind of vegetarian that was smart and got protein and other nutrients from other sources; I just didn't like meat.) However, after I got married, it became apparent that I would need to learn how to cook meat for my husband and eventually my children. A few months after our wedding, I made my first meatloaf. I did not necessarily enjoy the experience of thrusting my hands into a bowl of ground beef and mixing in the other ingredients, but it felt really good to know that I could do it regardless of how I felt about it—that my will could be stronger than my natural inclinations. Mimi did it!
I made a pretty cool book for my grandmother in which I typed her yearly letters that began back in the fifties. I also typed family histories her father had compiled and scanned old photos. It took me three years to get together, but aside from some mistakes and typos, it is fantastic. And it was really, really fun to present it to her and the family. Mimi did it! (I'm now on stage 2 of a book compiling the life history of my other wonderful grandmother. I hope it doesn't take me three years again! But I do have two children now . . .)
I graduated from college with a major, a minor, and almost a second minor (two classes shy) in only three years. I worked really hard for that. Mimi did it!
When Jeff is not home, I can now kill or remove bugs that I find. In fact, I removed one today. Mimi did it!
Granted, I don't remember this achievement, but watching Jill figure it out made me realize how cool it is that I can walk. It's harder than you think. Mimi did it!

So, yeah. I am really excited about planting that tree and the rose bush. I hope to enjoy nice shade and beautiful flowers later this summer. (Although I may have to position myself really low to the ground to actually be under the shade. Don't envision me planting a behemoth of the plant variety.)

What have you accomplished lately or forever ago? Or what goals are you currently working on? If you have neither to share, then hey you! Stop being lazy and make some goals! ;D

The following video may only be visible if you are viewing this post on my actual blog. Click here to go there!

April Showers

2011-04-14T11:08:00.000-04:00

April showers had better bring May flowers! There must be some reward for enduring all of the water we have been graced with. Sigh. Our basement flooded again. But here's the positive spin—it flooded in a different way! So that means we did fix the old problem. The water had to find a new way to enter in. This time, the water came from underneath the house. The ground was so saturated with water that water began coming up through the ground into our crawl space under the water barrier. From there, it seeped out into our utility room and basement closet.

We caught it relatively quickly, so even though we extracted and pumped over 150 gallons from our crawl space much less carpet was wet this time. Which is fantastic. We did decide that the carpet padding that got wet a second time should probably be retired, so we're going to have to get some new carpet padding before the carpet is re-stretched. I now know what a difference carpet padding makes.

I must add how grateful we are to have amazing friends who lend us things like a professional grade water extractor, flashlights (Jill makes sure all of the batteries are dead in ours!), a portable water pump, etc. We were also grateful for the donation of their muscles in breaking up part of the sidewalk behind our house and digging a very large hole in the ground and then patching weak spots in the foundation. We even found the old septic line.

I am grateful for sewers.

The two places that flooded (the basement closet and utility room) have the only two doors in the house with child proof knobs on them, meaning that they are filled with goodies I want to keep Jill away from. She has enjoyed having many of these items strewn about the house as we emptied the room and closet to get in and fight the water. I am used to her wandering around and playing by herself a lot when I am doing chores or feeding Daniel. The other day, she came up to me saying "lotion" and holding a bottle of scratch cover up for the body of a car. Ha. Not lotion. Sigh. At least she didn't eat it!

Speaking of eating (or drinking in this case), Daniel cries a lot when I drink milk. I miss milk. I wonder if he will be able to drink milk when he is older.

Jill, Daniel, and the Beautiful Quilt from my Sister

Outfit Credits: Jill's Jumper is from Amy Whitney, Jill's white shirt was made by my mother,

and Daniel's snazzy outfit is a gift from my mother-in-law

Jill went to the dentist for the first time. She was amazing! I really didn't think she would handle it so well, but she did. I do have to give accolades where they are due—the dental hygienist was amazing! She was perfect at putting Jill at ease and explaining everything to Jill.

Jill still has four more teeth to come (her two year molars). We also learned why she has a gap between in her front teeth. I don't remember the term for it though.

Aren't those fun sun glasses? I couldn't believe how long she kept them on. The hygienist gave them to her so Jill wouldn't mind the light.

Alas, the sun glasses stay at the dentist's office, but they'll be waiting there for her next time! And maybe I can find a pair that she will actually wear. I love having dental insurance. It was just added the first of this month, and I love it!

And the most exciting news is that Jill and Daniel have a new cousin to love and play with!

Tabitha Grace has stolen Daniel's crown as youngest Boling grandchild. She arrived late Sunday night (almost Monday!) at just over 9 1/2 pounds and right at 19 1/2 inches long. (Today is Tabitha's due date, so the doctors did a good job at guessing!)

The title of youngest grandchild has never lasted long in my family though, so we'll see how long Tabitha gets to keep it. Amy? Haha. Just kidding. Perhaps Tabitha will have a nice long reign. ;)

Tabitha and her mommy are both already home from the hospital and doing great!

I can't wait to meet my newest niece! After how many boys we had in my generation of grandchildren, I don't think I could ever get tired of girls!

Congratulations, Dan and Rachel.

Randoms

2011-04-08T16:08:00.000-04:00

I feel so great! I should complain about things more often, because apparently my blog likes to make a liar out of me! I posted on my blog about sleep frustrations last Saturday night, and this week has been amazing! Daniel has slept for SIX STRAIGHT HOURS every single night this week, and Jill has gone to sleep really easily for her naps and at night time.

Amazing.

I have also been able to do some gardening, and that feels really good. Well, mostly good. I accidentally . . . cough. Sigh. I cut a bush in half. :( Bush killer. It is not really dead though. I've just taken it back a few years in becoming a grand bush. I thought I was pruning off the dead stuff, and I thought I would save time by cutting it in half rather than cutting off the individual branches that I thought were dead. But after cutting, I noticed that the middle was actually green.

I have been discovering that there is apparently a lot of green hiding in the middle of dead brown branches.

Is anyone else thinking "wick"? That word keeps bouncing through my brain as I've been gardening. I want to watch and read The Secret Garden again. Such a lovely book. And movie. It's even a great musical!

Get jealous a lot of you! Saturday and Monday should both in the 80s! :)

Spring is so inspiring.

If you have a blog, do you ever look at your stats? I do sometimes. Interestingly (well to me at least), my blog stats say that this week there have been 47 views from people (or haha one person many times) in South Korea. I looked at the all time views from South Korea, and it was only 58. So, yeah, I wonder what on my blog the South Koreans are looking at. How do you even find blogs from other countries? I would love to. But even when I blog hop, I have never made it outside of the United States. Any advice?

Let's see. What else has been floating through my brain? I guess the topic I have been thinking the most about is how intimidating it is to be a mother. I keep stressing out about how my children are going to grow up someday. The thought of sending them to school and trusting other people to be kind to them is terrifying. And then to imagine them as teenagers and dealing with that. Completely terrifying. And then to realize that who knows what the world will be like by the time they actually are teenagers. I know I shouldn't stress out about it when they're 2 and 0, but it keeps coming back into my brain.

But when my biggest decisions of the day are about what to make for dinner and if vacuuming is necessary, my brain cells have a lot of extra space and time to worry about things that won't happen for another decade.

I wish everyone could just be nice.

Determining family size is really tricky. I was reading various blogs today, and one author stated that she believed that large families are really in a decline. That received many interesting comments. Like that 2 is the new 4, 3 is the new 6, and 4 is the new 8. Some attributed smaller families to selfish adults. Others said that our lives are more complicated now. Some said that it is due to financial burdens like laws about booster seats and expectations that all children should go to college.

People always ask (and I'm sure I've asked others), "how many children are you planning on having?" Well, my original response was always "4 to 8." That gave me a lot of leeway. Recently my answer as been "1 at a time." (Although haha some people are surprised with multiple births!)

It is . . . intimidating (?) scary (?) to think of having more children than can fit in a vehicle.

One commentor (commentator?) on the post brought up a point that I hadn't thought about: population control. There are an awful lot of people on this planet. I had honestly never considered that when thinking about my family size before.

So, yeah, I really don't know how many Jeff and I will have. I can promise this though, haha, it won't be any time soon. One baby at a time please. Especially when I feel like (some days) that Jill still is a baby.

The original post was from the C Jane blog.

Mostly though, when I think about family size, I just feel incredibly grateful and blessed to already have two healthy children. I always assumed growing up that I would become a mother and have healthy children, but pretty much every day I am confronted with the reality that I am blessed and cannot take for granted the children I have.

Haha, something else about growing up. I also used to have a goal to have 4 kids before I was 30. Hm . . .

Oh, to make you even more jealous about the sleep. Three times this week, Jill and Daniel have both taken three hour naps. AT THE SAME TIME. I was able to read, sleep, fold laundry, and now blog. If we ever move Daniel out of our bedroom, I might even sew. (My sewing stuff is in the bedroom.) Because spring really is inspiring. I feel like I can do anything!

This post is really suffering from not having been thought out beforehand. I'm jumping all over the place. And I'm too lazy to go back and edit it. Pathetic me. But my next thought is about gardening again. Jill loves gardening with me. She doesn't wander away or run near the street. She stays right next to me and asks me if it is her turn yet to hold the tools. She sadly does step on my tiny green plants who are valiantly pushing up through the dirt. But hey, she's not even two yet. I give her a break. She hasn't picked any of my flowers yet. She was about to the other day when I told her that she was supposed to just smell it instead. That has satisfied her so far. We'll see if it lasts.

Daniel's smile is brought to you by sleep, infant gas drops, baby acid reflux medicine, and mommy no longer drinking milk. I really miss milk. :( But I love that smile!!

Jill is really, really ready to swim! Her Boling grandparents have given her the birthday present of swimming lessons at our YMCA. She started next week! She is ready to start now though. Ha. So we went and practiced in the bath tub. And by "we," I mean she. Ha.

Today is glorious. The high today was originally 69, but it's currently 77 outside. The window next to me is open. Birds are singing. The sun is shining. My little plants are working their way up. Soon my babies will be awake and happy. And in an hour or so, Jeff will be home! Life is very, very good.

Sleep & Scriptures

2011-04-02T22:08:00.000-04:00

I so completely want sleep. The other night Daniel actually slept for five straight hours. He's never slept that long before, and it was wonderful. Somehow though, I'm still exhausted when I wake up. I guess those hours didn't make up for all of the sleep I have missed out on. Sadly, he only slept that long because his daddy was holding him. Daniel has a lot of trouble staying asleep on his back. On his stomach, he'll sleep for about three hours.

I would currently really love to sleep. Daniel is finally asleep, but Jill is not. Daylight Savings Time has not been nice to us. She used to go to bed between 7:00 and 8:00. I know that DST only changed the clock by one hour, but for some reason, the last few weeks she has been going to bed between 9:00 and 10:00. And it is killing me. I miss my evenings of being able to talk to Jeff, tidy up the house, finish the dishes, or read. Or blog.

Tonight, Jill and I went in to brush her teeth around 7:30. I then read her six books. We said her prayers. Then I sang three songs and left. She has not left her room since then. But she has been singing to herself, playing with her stuffed animals, shouting "mama," or crying ever since. What a determined girl. (It is kind of cute to hear her singing/talking to herself though.)

IT IS TWO HOURS LATER. I, especially right now, could not be able to stay awake for that long. She's lying in her bed. The light is off. There is a noise maker creating beautiful ocean sounds. And somehow she is still awake. I do not know how to get her back on to her schedule. I must admit that I have enjoyed the three to four hour naps she has been taking with her late bed time. But I would trade back to the two hour naps to get my evenings back. The last two days, she took earlier, shorter naps, so I thought maybe she would go back to bed early tonight. No such luck though.

It's like as soon as I figure something out, there is something new to figure out.

That aside, I was able to listen to some of General Conference in between Jill wanting my attention or Daniel crying to be fed. (I feel as though he has a personal goal to eat as much as possible to overcome having been premature!) I am excited for catching more tomorrow.

(General Conference is a biannual six session conference held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During the sessions, members of the Church all over the world can hear sermons/talks given by the prophet, apostles, and other general authorities and general auxiliary leaders. Here is a video explaining why Conference is so important to Latter-day Saints (Mormons).)

Earlier this month, I finished reading through the Book of Mormon, and right before I finished I found a new favorite scripture that I am really excited about. Excited enough that I am considering picking up cross stitching so I can display it in my home.

There are lots of scriptures that I aspire to or am inspired by.

2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith."

Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 "And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

Isaiah 12:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."

Moroni 9:25 "My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing of his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever."

That last one is my newest favorite. There are a lot of grievous events in the world, natural disasters and atrocities caused by man. It really is enough to weigh a person down unto death. But I really need to stay focused on the hope offered by Christ and remember another of my favorite scriptures.

Revelation 21:4 "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Beautiful.

And on a wonderful note, I have not heard any noise from Jill's room for about ten minutes, so I think she has finally drifted off to sleep.

Victory.

Sneaky, Funny Jill

2011-03-23T09:11:00.000-04:00

Two days ago, Jeff came home from work and asked Jill if she would like a toddler bed. We had been planning on getting her one after Christmas, but then Daniel came the first week of January and changed our world. :) So, we looked online and then went off to the store and purchased a beautiful toddler bed and mattress. It was slightly more difficult to make than we had expected, but it is all assembled and looks great.

Jill was very proud of the bed that her daddy made. She has told me many times that her daddy made it. She likes playing on it, sitting on it, putting her dollies on it, etc. However, she does not seem to like sleeping in it.

The first night she left the room a few times, ready to party. Once she could no longer open her door to leave, there were a lot of tears, and eventually Jeff went in and put her back in her crib.

Last night, she did not cry very long, so I foolishly thought she had gotten used to her new bed.

Ha.

When I went in to get her this morning, she was back in her crib. She had hiked herself up and climbed in.

Her crib can turn into a toddler bed, but we had wanted to use it as a crib for Daniel. Perhaps we will end up returning her new, beautiful toddler bed and just buying a new crib instead and turn Jill's crib into a toddler bed. Sigh.

I have not fed Jill breakfast yet this morning, because I'm a bad mommy and wanted to blog really quickly. So, she's drinking her milk and eating a few goldfish crackers. She finished her milk, and I asked her if she wanted more milk. She wouldn't say. She just kept talking about her birdhouse that, yes, her daddy made. (She is pretty impressed by him.) (So am I.) :D

So, slightly exasperated, I told her to just say "yes or no." Just say "yes or no" if you want milk. She looked at me and said "yes o no." Hahaha. She doesn't seem to grasp the "or" concept, but she did do what I wanted. I told her to say that id=f she wanted milk, so I decided she must want it. (And turns out she did.)

It is often funny how literal children are.

In the picture of Jill above, she is wearing a skirt and shirt that her bunny (GranB) made her. My mom also made the purse. The purse matches one that my mom made me a few years ago, and she had leftover fabric. Cute, huh? :)

And here is a picture of Daniel on his blessing day. He is wearing the same outfit that his daddy wore when Jeff was blessed. (In my church, babies receive a name and a blessing.)

Big Sister Mode

2011-03-20T14:53:00.000-04:00

Jill loves playing with Daniel. She still has a few things to learn though. Like that she's not strong enough to pick him up on her own. And that no one likes having one's face poked with fingers. And that Daniel's face is not cold.

She loves to make sure that he has a blanket. Or two. Or every blanket she can find. I have to keep an eye on him, because despite a few discussions, she thinks his face needs to be covered.

When he cries, she is very sweet. She says "Danny sad." And then she usually gives him a kiss.

"Danny" is usually the first word she says upon waking up from a nap or in the morning. She then looks for him in his various sleeping spots (bassinet, swing, bouncer, etc.).

Jill is constantly trying to share her food with him. And hug him. She has, thankfully, only tried to pick him up a few times. Those moments are always exciting.

All in all, she seems to really love being a big sister.

I love it when she calls him "Little Buddy."

Onto a different subject. Lying is bad. Ha. Jill became pretty sick while we were visiting my sister in Nebraska. So, I told her that acetaminophen for children was candy. I'm such a bad mommy! It worked great though. She loved that cherry or grape flavored medicine.

Little Buddy has some sort of internal issue. About five times a day after eating he seems to have pain. And he makes all sorts of weird noises: choking, hiccoughing, gagging, grunting noises. The doctor suggested it may be acid reflux bothering him. So, we're currently trying a medicine for that.

Medicine in a little bottle that I feed Daniel with a little medicine syringe . . . just like Jill's "candy." She's convinced I'm giving her little brother candy and lots of it.

Sigh.

Lying doesn't pay off. It's amazing how well she can remember sometimes.

And how poorly she can remember other times.

Jeff and I made some salsa and guacamole this weekend. Jeff went to the grocery store and the Latino market and came back with three avocados, as well as other ingredients. At least, we thought he did. We could have sworn he did. He knew he bought two. Did the cashier forget to give him one? No, we both remember seeing three. Was one in the car? Checked there twice. He accused me of losing it. I accused him of losing it. And we both asked Jill many, many times what she did with it.

The avocado was finally located. Inside the little kitty cube where Cosmo likes to sleep. Jill seemingly had no memory of putting it there.

This isn't the first time she has "hidden" items. She can never remember where she has put them. But when it is something like her binkie or her bottle, she can always find where she left it. Ha. I guess she just takes the time to remember important things. Like that medicine is actually candy . . .

And to close things out, two pictures from our trip.

I am putting the rest of the pictures on facebook. However, if you want other pictures of Jill and Daniel from the past two weeks, go to their aunts' blogs: Rachel, Amy, and another one from Amy. Jill has has lots of fun with some of her cousins recently.

Daniel was not a fan of the swimming pool.

Jill was. And she's a big fan of Bunny and Puppy.

(They used to be GranB and Pappy, but haha she's changed that!)

Rain, Rain

2011-02-25T08:12:00.001-05:00

Rain, rain, go away.

Come back in light gentle showers some other day. [No more torrents!!]

I'm currently in the land of lots of rain, sleet, and a bit of snow. The weatherman calls it a wintery mix, which sounds beautiful and poetic.

It is not either. It has been raining a lot for the past few days.

And now, my basement carpet feels like a sponge.

It's only 8:00 am. I've already emptied my dehumidifier once and my carpet cleaner twice, and the carpet is still soaking wet.

This is a little overwhelming for a mother with 2 under 2 and a husband at work.

On the positive side, we already own the huge dehumidifier and carpet cleaner, so that is surely a blessing. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do anything about it right now at all.

It does feel somewhat defeating to keep sucking water out knowing that it is just seeping back in. I wish the precipitation would just take a break.

So if you're having a bad morning and you want it to improve, imagine me in my pajamas with the pants rolled up, my bare feet soaking wet, pushing the carpet cleaner over and over again in the same wet spot. :) Hopefully that will make your morning a little bit better. (Unless of course your morning is worse than this. In which case, I am very sorry.)

And, for the real positive spin, at least I have a home to be flooded. Many, many people in the world do not have that. For only my bare feet are wet, and they are entirely soaked. I am blessed even as I grumble about my lot.

Rain, rain, go away.

Oh yes, and the mere fact that I am combating my basement water issues with a carpet cleaner and dehumidifier as opposed to buckets means that I really can't complain that much. (Sorry, Ames!)

Winter Babies

2011-02-22T14:35:00.001-05:00

I have not been blogging very much recently. That is mostly due to lack of sleep, lack of intelligent thought, and excess of poor health. Our sweet little dude got sick. So, around three weeks of life, he became congested. The normal congestion of all winter babies. It was impossible to breathe without making noise, but there wasn't much we could for him.

Then about a week and a half ago, he became more sick. A cough was added to the congestion. Sometimes he wouldn't be able to breathe (he never turned blue).

Then the cough got huskier, and he lost his ability to volumize—and I'm not talking about his hair. :) His cry became this weak little almost squeak that you could barely hear in the same room. That made me afraid to ever leave him or even sleep without him, because crying is all a baby has really. That's how I know if he is hungry, poopy, too hot, too cold, etc. How he expresses that all is not right in his world.

Well, things are improving now. He physically looks a lot better and never is so congested that he can't breathe. He still has a cough, and he is not back to full volume. The sad newest addition is massive spit up/throw up.

He used to never spit up. I think in the month of January, he did maybe twice. Three times? Now he does at least one whopper every evening. On lucky evenings, it happens twice. And forcefully. It comes out of his nose. That is why I think it may be throw up rather than spit up. But I'm not really sure how you could ever tell the difference.

He hasn't been dreadfully sick, hasn't needed to be hospitalized, so we feel very blessed. But life has been a bit in an upheaval for me this month. I am excited for March. :)

And about the picture on the left, I have no idea why Jill wanted to include the cat bed.

February was not all horrible though. One highlight is that Jill's hockey obsession continues. As Jeff and I geared up to give her a Valentine's Day present, I tried to explain to Jill what holidays are. I told her that day was a holiday and asked her what happens on holidays.

She looked at me, grinned, and said, "hockey!"

She was, in fact, so adamant that hockey is what holidays are all about that we were even able to get it on film. So that cute memory is preserved. Yay!

We surprised Jeff at work on Valentine's Day, bringing him a chocoflan to share. Delicious!

Jill is speaking in sentences a lot now, which is awesome. The other day, Jeff went in to get her after her nap. He said, "Jill, where is your bottle?" She pointed up to the shelf attached to her crib. He said, "Jill, it's not there." She looked at him with great alarm and said, "Find it, Daddy. Find it!" (The mystery was solved upon discovering that I had already brought the bottle down to the kitchen.)

I bought a Mickey and Minnie Mouse shirt, because Jill loves them and is really excited when Daniel wears a pair of pajamas with Mickey on it. I thought I would receive the same reaction. Not so. She has cried the two times I have decided to wear it. I think that when she saw it in the store, she must have thought the shirt was for her. That's the only reason for her dismay that I can think of.

Jill used to love to have me sing to her. Now it is not as delightful as it once was. She asks repeatedly for "Fluffy's Song." I have no idea what that song is. It could be a mispronunciation of "Zoe" from Sesame Street, because "Fluffy" is how she pronounces "Zoe," but I don't know what "Zoe's Song" is either, so that doesn't help.

Does anyone know if Zoe has a song? She sometimes also asks for "Bert's Song." Does he have a song, too? Help, please! Thank goodness I know Elmo's, Ernie's, and Cookie's songs.

Update: She seems to also call the Snuffleufagus "Fluffy" as well. Does he have a song? (Oh my gosh!! I just googled the spelling to find out how to really write his name, and I guessed correctly on my first try. Yay me! And if you were curious, his first name appears to be Aloysius.)

And to cap off the February highlights, my future sister-in-law Cyanne lives with us now. (Her name is like "Diana" pronounced with a "K" sound instead of a "D" sound.) She and Ryan are getting married at the end of the May, and it has been a lot of fun to get to know her better and to have her around. Jill just loves her, and Cyanne is even willing to change diapers! If she is home, she even lets me run to the store—or wherever—and leave Jill, or both of them, with her.

I have always felt blessed to have Laurie, my mother-in-law, so close by to always help, and now I'm doubly blessed to have Cyanne super close!

Oh, and one last sign that Jill is growing up. She will now leave piggy tails, pony tails, and clips in her hair for longer than ten seconds. I think the record is five hours or so. Yay!

Girls/Women and Boys/Men

2011-02-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

Last week, my pajama shirt for a few days was an old long sleeve track shirt from high school, sophomore year. The front of it is pretty standard: It says "Muncie Central Girl's Track and Field 2002."

Then on the back of the shirt, it has a slogan or an inspirational theme for the year. My sports teams have had some pretty classic ones.

Soccer: "We Bust Ours to Kick Yours" and "'Nuff Said"

Gymnastics: "Dear Lord, Bless Our Little Team; Keep Us Safe on Bars and Beam; Keep Us Safe in All We Do—Floor Ex. and Vaulting, Too."

Dance: I don't think any of my dance shirts had slogans. What a pity.

Track: "Rebuilding Tradition" and the slogan of the shirt I wore last week, "Real Men Date Track Girls—If They Can Catch Them."

My sister and I are modeling our shirts in the picture to the left. I don't know why I'm bent over a bit. I went through a period of life where I did that in a lot of pictures, facing front and back. Horrible idea. I think we realized it was weird and there is another picture where I just turned my shirt backwards and stood normally, but I don't seem to have a copy of that version. Sigh.

Anyway, as you can tell from the picture, we were pretty fond of that slogan. I either lobbied heavily for it or I presented it. I can't remember which. Whichever was the case, I thought the slogan was awesome.

I haven't really thought much about that slogan for the past eight years or so, but last week when I was brushing my teeth and wearing the shirt, it received some new mental attention. "Real men date track girls if they can catch them." I pondered the difference between saying boys versus men and women versus girls.

Real boys date track girls, if they can catch them.

Real men date track women, if they can catch them.

Real boys date track women, if they can catch them.

Real men date track girls, if they can catch them.

Hm.

Which do you think sounds best or the least awkward? The idea of "real boys" made me laugh a bit. You never hear teenage girls standing around talking about how they want a "real boy." (At least I don't think you do.) It made me think of Pinocchio a bit. It seemed to me that in our society being a real boy is not something any young male aspires to.

But then the one about men dating women seemed funny, too. The front of our shirt declares that we were a girls' track team, so saying that we were women on the back would be somewhat of a disagreement. And we obviously weren't women yet. At least I wasn't. :)

The idea of boys dating women just didn't work at all for me. It seemed a little . . . gross. :) (Although haha since I had a habit of dating younger boys in high school, perhaps it should have seemed natural. Ha.)

So, really, the one that was on the shirt seemed like the only viable option for our society, or at least my personal mindset. Why does it seem most appropriate to have men dating girls? Is that the one that seemed the best option to you as well?

It seems sad that while I grew up with songs like "I Enjoy Being a Girl," boys seemed to constantly be bombarded with the idea that being a man is better than being a boy. Even if you're only fifteen.

I hope Daniel gets to enjoy being a boy while he's still a boy.

And I hope Jill isn't chased by men while she is still a girl.

Anyway. Haha. I just thought that was interesting. You?

-------------

So, I haven't posted in a while. Life has been good. My mom came back for another week. That was wonderful!! My dad was gone on a business trip, so she found it impossible to resist the allure of a brand new grandbaby.

January 10, Daniel was 5 pounds 13 ounces. February 10, Daniel has grown to 9 pounds 3 ounces. He still looks really small though, because he has a small head. He is also starting to remind me more and more of Jill. Jill continues to seem to love being a big sister. She spontaneously gives him hugs and kisses, with no prompting from adults. That melts my heart a bit.

This past month, we also attended a hockey game. Jeff's work has a party every year, and the past two years it has been at a hockey game. They rent a box and get lots of food, and it's way fun. Jill ever since this game has not stopped talking about it. She wants to go to another hockey game. I think that is really funny. Neither Jeff nor I had ever gone to a game before he got this job, and our daughter seems hooked! My mom was here at that time, so she experienced her first hockey game as well.

Best Buddies

When Daniel cries, Jill asks "what wrong Danny?" That melts my heart a bit, too.

Definition of Tired

2011-01-25T14:59:00.000-05:00

Currently, to me the definition of tired is not paying a bill because I am out of stamps and then noticing after a period longer than a week that the envelope I have to pay the bill in is not only self addressed but also requires no postage if mailed in the United States.

They're eager to get their money I guess.

And I'm slow on the uptake. It even said in the letter (that I read) that the envelope was stamped.

Sigh.

(I also recently tried to put the cereal in the refrigerator and the milk in the cupboard, but that could happen to anyone.) :)

So . . .

What is your favorite or most current definition of tired?

Family of Four

2011-01-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

We still fit comfortably in both of our vehicles.

There is still one parent per child if they are both upset at the same time.

We still fit at our kitchen table without having to use the leaf.

When Jeff is not home, both children can fit on my lap with no trouble.

I have one arm to hug each of them at the same time.

There have been aspects about being a mother of two that have been surprisingly easy and other that have been more difficult than I had expected.

What surprised me the most the first week is how guilty I felt all the time. There were a few parts of my life that I was very used to: 1. giving Jill all of my attention, 2. having a tidy house, and 3. being able to do both of those things completely on my own. After coming home from the hospital, that just didn't happen. Every moment I spent with Daniel, I felt like I was stealing from Jill. And any time I spent with Jill, I felt like needed to be given to Daniel. And then there was laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, meals to be cooked, and rooms to be tidied! Tears were shed, emotions ran high, and I wasn't sure I could handle this new life.

Then my mom finally couldn't hold her tongue any longer and said, "you know, Mimi, I didn't come here to be on vacation." Hm. She made a very good point!

Once I remembered that she was my mommy just like I was Jill's mama, things got a lot easier. Sometimes it's hard to let someone help you though. And of course then whenever she had Daniel or Jill, I was jealous of that time. Ha.

I finally just had to let go and realize that my babies would survive without all of my attention all the time. I mean, I'm the youngest, and I had to share my mom with three siblings, and I obviously (ha) turned out pretty great, so surely Jill and Daniel could handle sharing me, too.

And they do handle it very well. Daniel almost never cries when Jill hugs, kisses, pats, or squishes him. And Jill doesn't mind sitting next to me instead of on my lap while Daniel is nursing. Or how she says it, "Daniel eating. Eating." She does occasionally get bottle jealousy. Haha. She'll pretend that she wants to feed Daniel, and she will for a while, and then she'll take his bottle and put it in her mouth.

Binkies have been an issue as well. Jill used to only get her binkie when she was sleeping and during long car rides (and occasionally as a last resort at church when she was fussy). However, Daniel has his binkie in his bassinet all the time, so she sees it a lot. Since she always wants her binkie, she thinks he must as well. So she always climbs up and tries to put—shove—it in his mouth. He does not always want his.

Or she'll see it and decide that she should have it, so she'll take it from his bassinet—or from his mouth—and plop it in her mouth.

This has made me resort to letting her have her binkie whenever she wants. In an interesting turn of events, she has rejected the Nuk binkie that used to be the only one she would accept and now has returned to a Soothie binkie. Hers is pink, and Daniel's is blue-green.

Occasionally, even with her pink Soothie, she'll try to take Daniel's, because one of her various stuffed animals needs a binkie, and apparently the toy's need is greater than her brother's. :)

I'm interested to see if sibling rivalry will develop more later. Right now there is none.

Jill has another new development this week. She calls me "Mimi" half of the time now instead of always "Mama." She did that for a little bit early on, but she hasn't in months. I wonder if it is from hearing my mom call me "Mimi."

My mom, as I mentioned, helped me survive the first week. I have been by myself this second week, and things have gone well.

I had food on the table for dinner every night except for last night, and we only stayed in pajamas all day once. I feel pretty victorious.

An interesting piece of information I have learned by staying home all day for two weeks is that my daughter has a very regular sleep cycle. She wakes up almost exactly at 7:00 am every day. She is ready for her nap by 11:30 and is asleep by noon. She always sleeps between two and three hours. She is ready for bed again by around 7:00 pm and is always asleep by 8:00. She will usually lie in her crib for a while saying "Mama," but she doesn't cry. Sometimes she sings to herself. Then she drifts off. It is nice to know what to expect and unexpected to discover that I was forcing her to sleep at unnatural hours through all my activities and running around. I don't plan on being a slave to her sleep cycle, but I do plan on letting it work for me.

Daniel does not have a regular sleep cycle. He is slowly spending more time awake every day. Right now if he is awake, he is either pooping, trying to poop, eating, or wanting to eat, so it has been wonderful to have a pump, because I can only nurse nonstop for so long. It's still painful! He still has night/day confusion, but it is improving. His longest awake time is in the evenings right now. Last night he was awake from around 7:00 to 10:30, which allowed me to have quite a few hours of consecutive sleep!

Since he is so sleepy during the day, I have always been able to get him to nap during Jill's nap, so then I get a nap in and some stuff done, so life is good.

Life is very, very good.

People have asked me if Daniel looks like Jill did. You can decide.

Jill had red hair and the very defined V hairline. Daniel has brown hair and a rounder hairline. I think they have the same nose and mouth though. We'll see how his appearance progresses.

Something You've Forgotten

2011-01-19T17:10:00.004-05:00

I was speaking to a friend the other day about how surprised I have been by aspects of having a newborn in the house that I had somehow already forgotten, even though it wasn't that long ago with Jill. She has eight children, and she said that there is always something that she has forgotten about, too.

I have been surprised by . . .

How many diapers he goes through! I had completely forgotten that newborns go through eight to twelve diapers a day. I am very used to Jill only going through three or four a day.
How much breast feeding hurts at the beginning. Jill nursed until she was 15 1/2 months, and that was what I remembered. How easy it was. I had forgotten that it really hurts for the first few weeks. (I'm hoping the pain ends soon!)
How much milk you create at the beginning. Or maybe I'm not actually making more; newborns just eat less than a bigger baby does. There is always too much, which isn't all that comfortable either. I honestly have been wondering how I ever kept going with Jill, because with her I didn't have the remembrance that it does get easier later.
How it feels to keep going on this little continuous sleep. I know that zombies are not real, but I think that new mothers might be the closest equivalent zombies have in reality. :) Of course, we look much more attractive than zombies. We just feel like them . . .

So, have you forgotten anything recently? Something that you've already lived through and thought you remembered? Like how cold winters get? Or how long it takes to scrape off your car in the morning? I'd love to hear it, because I'm really wondering how I could have forgotten those things.

I guess if you don't forget, then you might not want to do it all over again? ;) Just kidding. I love being a mom, even a new mother.

I just feel slightly robbed of the last month, but again I shouldn't complain, because other than being sick at the beginning, the last month is really the worst month—in the physical comfort department at least. But I really didn't have the mental preparedness time I expected to have. The final month is when you get everything together and really prepare for baby to come and the fact that a delivery is going to happen whether you want to or not. (At least for me.) It seems though, with Daniel coming at 35 1/2 weeks and Jill coming at 38 weeks, that perhaps I should start preparing in the eighth month, because I may not get a full ninth month. Although, with that attitude, our next baby will probably come two weeks late!!

Jill loves Daniel, so I really am blessed. She is constantly talking about him and wanting to see him or touch him.

The only possible display of jealousy that she has shown is wanting his bouncer, swing, and bassinet. She's always trying to get in them—regardless of whether it is already occupied by her brother! So, I have to be on guard for possible squashing.

She is always kissing him and hugging him. She loves saying "Daniel" and "Danny." "Brother" doesn't really come out as clearly.

It's really sweet when she comes over, pats his head, and tells him it's "okay" during his diaper changes, which—in true newborn fashion—he hates.

She's very curious about how he eats, but she has never mimicked that with her dolls. Yet. She does love buckling her dolls into his car seat and putting his diapers on them. She has pretended to pump with my breast pump though. Haha. The first time she saw me doing that, she kept exclaiming "owie, owie, owie!" Little does she know how painless that is compared to what Daniel does!

Life is good though. The first week had some mood swings for me, but having my mother here really helped me make it through. Jeff's family has been very supportive as well, and this second week has been smooth sailing—so far!

just hanging out like buddies

Oh, and this isn't something that I have forgotten necessarily, but it is something I don't remember. (Same thing? Perhaps.) About when does the neck start being able to support the weight of the head? I am looking forward to that!

Mostly just some pictures

2011-01-12T19:44:00.001-05:00

I wish I had taken a picture the day before 8 months, because my baby belly really was large, but now I have no proof. I was waiting until the actual 8 month day, but as you all know, that day did not happen as I had planned. So, here is a picture of a few days after 8 months.

Here is one of the last pictures of Jill as an only child
(and one of the last pictures of me before the pain really started getting serious). :D

Daniel with the gunk on his eyes, but Jeff looks cute.

Jill is pondering how she feels about all of this.

Jill and Daniel: Together, at home, at last.

Stay tuned to learn more about how we adjust to life as a family of four!

Surprise! He's Here.

2011-01-09T16:15:00.000-05:00

Good morning, sunshine!

Well, Daniel Wells Collett apparently decided that January 7 was more appealing than his due date of February 7, because I woke up at 4:45 am on Friday with my water broken and we welcomed Daniel into this world at 11:25 pm. We will be going home from the hospital today, and we are both doing great.

Our new son is named after various family members. Daniel Collett was his great-great-great-great-great grandfather. He was born in England and died in Utah. He was an American pioneer who walked across the plains and helped tame the wild west, working hard to turn the desert into a livable home.

Wells Ivins Collett is his great-great grandfather, and Wells Frost Collett is his great grandfather. And my husband's middle name is Wells, so now you know where our new baby's name is from.

Of course, it must be noted that I do have a brother named Daniel who is very wonderful and I love very much, but both of my brothers are wonderful and have great names. I just happened to marry a man who wanted a son named Daniel.

Dr. Jill

We have been blessed with not only the wonderful blessing of health to mother and baby but also the assistance and kindness of many attentive nurses. I am so grateful to the service they have rendered and how their caring made our stay as comfortable as possible, under the circumstances. One nurse was very sweet to Jill and let her play dress up.

I have also received great care from two physicians from my OB/GYN office. I had already met and liked both of them, so I was happy to have them on my side. I do wonder though how long I will be remembered by them as the patient who requested a fourth fern test.

After the first three, the doctor did not feel like he could say with 100% assurance that my water was broken. At 4 1/2 weeks early, you don't want to induce labor unless it really has already begun on its own. He told me to go home, and my discharge papers were printed. However, I requested and was granted a fourth fern test and finally was able to prove that Daniel was on his way.

It was incredibly relieving and gratifying to show that I had not lost complete control over my bladder. (If the amniotic fluid were not leaking, then really the only other possibility for the underclothing moisture was wetting my pants!) Hopefully if I ever do lose control of my bladder muscles, it will be much later in life. I am too young for that sort of blatant organ disobedience!

First Family Photo

So, long story made short, our family has increased to four, and we are all happy and well. Daniel has already been held by all four of his grandparents and half of his parents' siblings. We feel very blessed and humbled by this gift from God. And Jill seems thrilled to be a big sister.

That reminds me. One of the most touching memories I will take with me from yesterday is Jill constantly sidling up to my hospital bed and saying, "Mama okay?" One of the lessons I will take with me is to always eat before going to the hospital, because they probably won't let you eat. And the experience I will never forget was the miracle of watching Daniel emerge (with the assistance of a well placed mirror).

There and Back Again—A Holiday Tale of Online Shopping

2010-12-28T13:57:00.003-05:00

Oh, the joys of online purchasing for gift giving. I ordered an item of clothing. It came in the mail in the wrong size. I checked the order form, and it was their mistake—not mine. I called, and they were very accommodating. They put the correct size in the mail that day, and I mailed them back the wrong size. They refunded my money for my return shipping and didn't charge me for the second shipping. The item of clothing was here a week before Christmas. Happy story!

Today I came home to a package on my doorstep. They mailed me the correct size again. A second time. I called, and the person in charge of making decisions wasn't there, so they are going to call me back. I wonder if they'll just say enough is enough, and I'll end up with two, or if they want me to mail it back and then refund the shipping again. Haha. Oh joy. Another trip to the post office.

I'm just glad I didn't procrastinate, so that the gift was here before Christmas despite the fumbles along the way!

Anyone else have any tales of holiday shopping or shipping they'd like to share?

Christmas 2010—Wisconsin

2010-12-27T16:32:00.002-05:00

Hallie & Jill show their enthusiasm
for their cold weather-gear.

For Christmas this year, my family was blessed to travel to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, to celebrate the holiday with some of my extended family. The vacation had been planned for over a year, and we had originally hoped that all of my siblings and their families would make it.

Well, as you may have read in my parents' family letter below, 2010 was a year of many surprises, so it did not work out for my two brothers and their families to join us. That was disappointing, but to use up some of the space we already had reserved at the resort (and because we love them!) we were able to invite my grandma Boling and grandpa Homer to join us.

I had never been to Wisconsin Dells before, but it was beautiful, and it snowed every single day we were there. I do not know if I have ever before tried to walk in snow that deep. (I don't know specifically how deep it was, but it was up to my knees.)

An unexpected perk to Jill not being potty trained is that she never said "I have to go potty" after being bundled into all of her cold weather layers.

Jeff, Jill, and I were able to be there for the full week, and it was chock full of activities. We enjoyed finger painting, crafts, bubble baths in the jacuzzi, a horse drawn wagon ride, and the kiddie pool.

Jeff also got to try skiing for the first time. My dad had been trying to think of a way to get Jeff on skis, but neither Jeff nor I thought he could possibly be successful. In the end though, my dad proved to be very tricky. He scheduled a ski lesson for Jeff and allowed Jeff to believe that it had already been paid for. Never one to waste money, Jeff tried it out and enjoyed it. It is not going to turn into anything to rival his passion for golf or basketball, but he had fun and even carried Jill in his arms for half of the bunny slope, so you could say Jill has had a taste of skiing now as well.

Devin, Amy, and Dad also skiied. Dad takes the cake for never falling once. Amy may or may not have done a bit of crying, and Devin gave Hallie her first taste of skiing by putting Hallie's little feet on his skis and also going down half of the bunny slope.

Last week, I was thirty-three weeks pregnant, and it seemed smart for me to not ski. I would have loved to though. I haven't done so in three or four years.

We decided not to tube, since none of the toddlers/babies met the height requirement, but Hallie and Jill did have some fun playing in the snow. Watch a video of Hallie sledding or Jill going down a snow slide by clicking either of those links.

Here is one activity a pregnant woman can still do!
Although I was very grateful to have the help of my mother when it was time to get all of us out and dry.

Since her marriage, my sister and her husband have had annual gingerbread house parties. I have never been able to participate in one, and I guess I technically still haven't. (They were out of ginger, molasses, and brown sugar, so Devin improvised and made cocoa bread houses. He's so fancy.) Almost all of us participated and made some pretty tasty looking homes.

Jill did manage to stick some candies onto the house, but admittedly she got the most enjoyment out of eating the architectural details. I may have sneaked a few as well. ;)

One of the fun surprises Christmas morning was homemade tutus for all of the girls made by their amazing Aunt Rachel. If you can't view the video where you're reading this post, then click this link.

One highlight of the trip was attending the Christmas Eve service at a local United Methodist Church. We were able to sing many of my favorite hymns and hear lots of the Christmas scriptures. I really enjoyed singing "Silent Night" while the lights were dimmed, and we all held lit candles. (The candles were not as much fun prior to being lit, when Jill and Hanna really wanted to hold/eat them.)

We made it home safely yesterday evening and were able to enjoy dinner with Jeff's family. His brother Jason and Jason's wife Amy are in town for the rest of the week. (They live in Utah.) His brother Ryan's girlfriend Cyanne (from California) is also here for the next two weeks, so we really have everyone here. We feel pretty blessed to be able to see so much family this winter.

The cousins in the cute outfits Gigi gave them for Christmas.

Sadly, the first day back has not been quite as wonderful as the first evening back. I have managed to knock over an entire glass of chocolate milk and dump a seven-pound container of laundry detergent powder on my carpet. Jill has pooped through two outfits already, and we are both sick. (Thank goodness Jeff isn't, too!)

A not-so-nice welcome home was the discovery that our disposal is somehow draining into our dishwasher.

I also have brilliantly gone through four cycles in the washer, even though I only had three loads of laundry to do. (Yes, I forgot to put the clothes in. Yay for wasting water.) :(

I wonder what other "disasters" await me today when I get up from this computer.

That said, I am entirely unpacked from last week, so that's not too bad for a forgetful, clumsy pregnant woman, right? I also tackled 83 e-mails and 9 voice messages after a week of no internet or cell phone coverage. (I am sure I would have had coverage in the city. Our villa was just up in the mountains.)

Here are some more pictures of last week's fun.

Grandpa Homer (Jill's Poppy), Hanna, Hallie, Grandma Boling (Jill's Gigi), and Jill

Hanna LOVED her uncle Jeff.
I'm not sure what Hallie is doing to Hanna, but it is funny.

I wonder how long it will be before Jill stops saying "Hallie?" and "Hanna?" and looking around for her cousins. I wonder when Jill will get to spend time with her other cousins, so she can know them well, too.

This vacation was made possible by my wonderful parents. Thank you!!

My mom and dad, or Jill's Pappy and GranB

Oh yes, and worth mentioning was that I got to be the activities and meal planner this vacation. I was really excited to take on such a big challenge, and I feel like I was, for the most part, successful. I am still in shock at how large the grocery bill was, but it was definitely way less expensive than eating out every meal would have been. And it was a lot of fun to cook together in the small kitchen. :)

Christmas Letter

2010-12-23T06:35:00.023-05:00

Unfortunately, I do not have the money or memory to mail our Christmas letter to everyone who should receive it, so here it is for all to see. For anyone who knows my family as well, I've included my parents' letter, too.

If you're viewing this post on my blog, you should be able to click on the image to view a larger size. If you are not on my blog, haha, go there now! :) This is the link.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season filled with good will, charity, peace, and time with loved ones.

Poll Closed and Pregnancy Comparisons

2010-12-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

The poll is officially closed, and the results are in. I will post them here, because I am going to delete the poll from my sidebar.

Which is more disgusting: to eat almonds that your toddler has chewed or to wipe the partially eaten almonds in the armpit of your daughter's sweater?

8 votes: They're both gross.
8 votes: Definitely to eat it!
5 votes: Definitely to wipe it!
2 votes: Neither is gross.

Which reaction was whose?

11 votes: Mimi ate, and Jeff wiped.
7 votes: Jeff ate, and Mimi wiped.

Well, well. I wish I could see who voted what, because I have a feeling that mothers, fathers, and nonparents might view this situation differently.

I ate the chewed almonds, and Jeff wiped it on her clothes. I must mention something here for the 16 people who think my reaction was gross: The almonds were not partially digested or thrown up; they were simply spit out. We had nowhere to put them (no wipes, no tissues, no paper, etc.), and we could not leave where we were, so I ate them. I eat a lot of things she doesn't eat. Hehe In my mind, that's just what moms do. Wouldn't want to waste food. :)

Jeff obviously disagrees with the eating and thinks that's gross. He wiped it on her clothes and thought it was a very good option. And since I do the laundry, I did not think that was a good option, nor did I relish the thought of possibly having others get the almonds on them when they picked Jill up later that day.

Really though, we both think it is a funny demonstration in our differences. Thank you for adding to our enjoyment by voting and sharing your opinions.

And now for the pregnancy comparison. In a previous post, I included a picture of how the pregnancy of Daniel Wells is progressing. A friend on facebook asked if I had one comparing this pregnancy with Jill's. So, I made one comparing just the seventh month of both.

I hadn't compared them visually before, but I had compared them mentally, and that has made me a little . . . sad? anxious? apprehensive?

I was weighed in at the doctor's office this week, and my weight was 161 pounds. I was reading my journal later this week and read that my weight when Jill was born was 162 pounds. ONLY ONE POUND DIFFERENT. This concerns me. I still have nine weeks left to this pregnancy! I tried to think of various reasons.

1. I could just be fatter this time round.
However, if you'll remember my difficult summer of the first trimester and the flu, you will remember that I lost about twenty pounds, so I definitely started this pregnancy skinnier than I began Jill's pregnancy. Also, I did not work out at all during Jill's pregnancy. The extent of my exercise was walking to and from work a few times a week, which was . . . I don't know how far, but it never raised my heart rate or anything. This pregnancy though I have been working out daily (with the exception of being sick this week and Thanksgiving weekend) since the middle of October. Lots of working out. One mile on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 40 to 50 minutes of Zumba on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So, I'm exercising way more, so I shouldn't be fatter. I have no idea whether I am eating less healthily, but I don't really eat very poorly in general, so I would be surprised if I were.

2. Daniel Wells could already be a bigger baby than Jill Halley was.
That somewhat terrifies me. Jill's delivery was not ideal. Forceps were used, and I tore quite a bit. She was only 6 pounds 11 ounces. I don't really want to think about delivering a baby larger than her. I don't think I have room! I have heard that since it is the second time, my body might be better at making room for a baby, so I pray that will be the case with me. I have had many friends survive Cesarean sections; Maybe I'll end up with one of those if Daniel Wells keeps growing. My mom had three, so I can't really complain if I end up having a C-section. Some of my friends even prefer them (the scheduled kind—not the emergency kind).

Part of me wonders if Daniel Wells just grew faster earlier, and I won't gain much weight in these last two months, but from what I've read the baby usually grows the most during these months. Some even gain a pound a week near the very end.

So, I'm not really a fan of either reason why this pregnancy weighs in two months ahead of my previous pregnancy. I am, however, incredibly grateful to be pregnant. I can't help but think about my miscarriage earlier this year and how I would already be holding a baby in my arms if that baby had stayed inside of me.

I am also very grateful to live in this country and time where mortality rates for mothers and babies are so incredibly low. After dealing with severe pre-eclampsia with Jill's delivery, I am very, very grateful for the access we had to doctors and nurses who knew what to do, as well as equipment and medicine that kept Jill and I doing well.

What a blessing to be pregnant. What a blessing to have insurance. What a blessing to have medical care.

(One a side note: Does anyone else think that mortality should stand for the number of lives rather than the number of deaths? I always feel like I am using that word incorrectly, but I just looked it up, and I am not.)

Yeah, more pictures

2010-12-07T21:43:00.000-05:00

So . . . I know. I have posted a lot recently, but there are lots of cute pictures to share!!

To show you that Jill does like Christmas and her Christmas dress, here is proof of a smiling, happy Jill. Apparently it is just Santa that she is a bit afraid of. We'll have to practice for next year. Although that will be a little difficult, because we don't know many men with long snowy white beards.

She loves the Christmas tree. She has broken two Christmas ornaments so far. One was a beautiful angel made of salt crystals formed from the Great Salt Lake. I was a little sad to see that one break, but she didn't do it on purpose. She was trying to get it off the tree, but it was too high for her to really remove, so she was just tugging on it. (I had meant for it to be too high for her to reach period. Sigh.) So, she's a strong tugger, and it snapped at the waist.

The second ornament was at her grandma Collett's house. She dropped an ornament on the kitchen floor, and it shattered.

We had quite a display of Christmas ornament breaking this evening. Fifteen month old Santiago crushed one IN HIS HANDS. Impressive, yes? I am glad he did not cut himself.

The cats have been really good about the tree. However, Cosmo did almost strangle himself in the lights once, but they have never tried to climb it still and they mostly leave it alone.

Here is a picture with all of us. I love the faces Jill makes these days!! Jeff is holding her, but I think in the picture it almost looks like she is sitting on my belly and propping herself up with her arm on my shoulder. That would have been painful, so I am glad that is not what is really happening.

We are getting a lot of votes on our poll—thank you! I will reveal in a few days which reaction was whose.

Let's see . . . I only have six Christmas presents left. One of Jeff's brothers is proving difficult. I am almost done making Emily's, and I need to make Rachel's, Mindee's, Poppa's, and Gigi's presents still. It feels really good to be so close to done! Now I just need to make sure to make them. :)

I am getting excited for our Wisconsin trip. I wish more of my family could have made it, but I hope to see the rest this summer perhaps if Pete and Mindee can make it to Michigan. We'll see.

My mom said I could plan the menu for Wisconsin, and I don't have official permission for being activities director, but I'm assuming no one will fight me for that position, so I am having a lot of fun thinking of things for us to do. Well, fun for my family. :) They may not be fun for yours!!

Wow, I don't know how my blog looks on your screen, but on mine the three funs I typed above are all stacked on top of each other. My text design teacher would have docked me for that!

What else . . . Oh yes. Laurie made a Christmas booklet for all of her boys back in 2003 that has a scripture, Christmas song, and Christmas story for every day in December. I've been reading that every evening before I go to bed and am really enjoying it. This truly is a wonderful time of year when people do such nice things for each other.

Okay, I'll end this post with a picture, well three pictures, of Daniel Wells making my belly look bigger!

The Difference of a Year

2010-12-07T07:03:00.001-05:00

Oh, the joys of Christmas.

She loved reading about Santa and seeing our Santa ornaments. The love seemed to end when he reached down to pick her up. I'm even pretty positive that it is the same Santa both years, because we had the mall Santa at our church party last year.

I love Santa's face in this one. "Oh. Sigh. Another crying baby. Why?" :) Poor Santa. He was really nice.

Sorry for torturing you Jill, but I think you will find this funny in the future. I hope. Because it isn't cute! All it has going for it is funny. Isn't her dress lovely though? Thanks, Laurie!

And please know that Laurie bought the CD copy of the picture, so I am not breaking any rules by posting a picture a photographer took. :) I respect photographers' rights to their work.

Snowy Weekend

2010-12-06T08:41:00.001-05:00

We had a nice, snowy weekend. We stayed home a lot more than we had planned :( but that was probably wise, because when we did venture out, the other drivers were not being very smart. Example: We're driving home from Jeff's parents' house, sitting at a stoplight waiting for a green arrow. Jeff is looking at something, so he doesn't notice our light turn green. I'm about to tell him it is green when a car drives (slides?) right in front of us through its completely red light. If Jeff hadn't been looking at something else, we would have been completely sideswiped by that car, and it was not going terribly slow. Wow. And about five minutes before that stoplight incident, we saw another car in a ditch next to the road we were on. We had another occasion of where we were driving down a street and a smaller connecting road had someone approach the stop sign way too quickly, and they almost weren't able to stop in time before sliding into our bigger road that did not have a stop sign. Sigh. Scary. I'm glad Jeff was driving.

Snow can be fun, too, though!

Jill enjoyed eating the snow as well. Fresh fallen snow—yum!

We also had the privilege of attending the wedding of our friends Amelia and Fernando on Friday evening. It has been quite a fall for weddings! This was my fifth!

Jeff and I have a poll going right now. If you are viewing this post on my blog, then you can see it in the top right column. If you are not viewing this on my blog (for example, if are you viewing it in your e-mail, Google Reader, or facebook), then please click this link if you would like to go to my blog and vote. Jeff and I would really like you to vote. :) We both think our reactions are pretty funny.

An Inspiring Story & A Worthy Cause

2010-12-03T11:36:00.000-05:00

If you don't mind crying, or having your heart touched, and would like to hear/see an inspiring story of a community coming together to give a little boy one last Christmas, then click on this link to watch the home videos, hear the beautiful song Matthew West wrote about the experience, and learn how you can donate money to St. Jude's hospital in honor of their cause.

Click this link.

And make sure to hug your loved ones whenever you can. This life is such a fragile gift. We never know when it will end.

http://www.matthewwest.com

Jill & Amish Quotations

2010-12-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

Jill has been saying something for the past few weeks that I think is really cute but slightly ambiguous.

Jeff always asks, "Jill, do you love me?" And she always replies, "no." (Very disappointing after all of his sacrifices. Haha.)

So, I have started saying this to her every time I buckle her into her car seat:

"Mama loves Jill. Jill loves Mama. Daddy loves Jill, and Jill loves Daddy."

My plan is that if I tell her enough times that she loves us, she'll start thinking she loves us. Ha.

However, for the past two or three weeks, I haven't been able to get through my whole discourse. Because now when I say "Mama loves Jill." She quickly says, "And Daddy."

So . . . is she saying Mama loves Jill and Daddy? (That is what she is technically, grammatically saying if she is finishing my sentence.) Or is she saying that she knows Daddy loves her, too? I don't know. I have asked her which she meant, but she's mum on the subject. One year olds . . .

Or is she just tired of my routine, so she is trying to hurry me through it? Ha.

Her newest word is "milk." It's not 100% clear, but the "k" is very well enunciated at the finish.

Oh! And this morning we had a new development that I loved! Instead of hearing crying in the baby monitor when she awoke, I heard "Mommy, Mommy." Awww melt my heart!!

And now something interesting. (Well, to me the Jill stuff was interesting, but you know what I mean. Interesting and not family related.)

One of my friends just read Amish Proverbs by Suzanne Fisher and shared what some of her favorite proverbs from the book were. Here are some of those.

Anger makes your mouth work faster than your mind.
Oh my word. That describes pretty much 75% of all the things I wish I hadn't ever said. Sigh. Although, my mouth often seems to work faster than my mind, regardless of whether I'm angry or not.

A man is happier to be sometimes cheated than to never trust.
I don't really have a whole lot of life experience with that, but I completely agree with it personally. I hope I never have reason to lose my trust in mankind as a whole.

Nothing is quite so annoying as to have someone go right on talking when you are interrupting.
This one I just had to laugh at. I have a horrible habit of interrupting people, and I have had way too many of the awkward you-thought-someone-was-done-so-you-started-talking moments. Sigh. So, I know that interrupting is terribly rude, but I still get ahead of myself and do it sometimes, so this one made me laugh.

And then here is a saying my dad shared with us over Thanksgiving weekend (I'm assuming it is not Amish), "No husband was ever shot while doing the dishes." ;)

Have you heard any good proverbs/quotes recently that you'd like to share? They don't have to be Amish. Anything goes!

Almost December

2010-11-30T21:38:00.001-05:00

For Thanksgiving, Jeff and I were pleased to have my parents and grandfather visit for the four day weekend. I am really grateful that my in-laws and parents get along so well. It makes for a lot of fun times for Jill, having both of her grandparents together.

As you can see, Jill was very helpful during the weekend. Many great tasks were accomplished: the gutters were cleaned, Christmas lights were put up, baby clothes were organized, crafts were begun, tasty food was cooked, etc.

One accomplishment that visitors to my home will appreciate is that the second bathroom door latches now! So no longer can Jill or the cats open it merely by pushing. (Although Jill has opened doors twice all by herself. She seems to have just gotten lucky though, because she has not repeated the performances since. However, she had to turn the knob and pull—not push—so we were all pretty impressed when it happened.)

Sorry Dad for cutting your head off in this picture, and thank you very much for everything you did! My mom did many wonderful things too, like make my sink sparkle, but I did not take any pictures of those.

Thank you, Mom and Dad!

And please don't think we make our guests work for their stay! My parents just really enjoy helping. :) And Jill enjoys helping their helping. ;)

Jill really loves the Christmas tree. She removes the ornaments constantly, and she carries the Christmas presents all over the house. She has not tried to open any of them yet; we'll see how long that lasts. The cats have not opened any yet either, nor have they attempted to climb the tree. It probably isn't as interesting to them to climb since it is a fake tree. They only attack the tree if one of us has recently touched it and made it move around.

The first Christmas tree picture affords a good view of my growing belly. I hit the 30 week mark yesterday, so I'm 2/3 complete! I still am exercising (much to my surprise) and feeling great (not to my surprise). The only real difficulty I'm experiencing is sleeping. Oh well. Soon I'll be so exhausted that it won't be hard to fall asleep. ;)

It really does feel like December now. It rained almost the entire day today, but as I just went out to put some trash and recycling in their respective bins/containers, it had turned to snow. I don't think anything will stick, because it is just barely falling, but a few got stuck in my hair nonetheless and made me feel very excited for Christmas.

Speaking of my hair, it was starting to look scraggly (in my opinion), but I am not tired of long hair yet, so I was debating what to do. Last week, I had a whole half foot of hair cut off, but basically no one noticed, so I am contented that my hair is still long (because I think friends would have commented if it looked short) and it is no longer scraggly. Yay for healthy looking hair.

That pretty much brings you up to date on all of our ever-so-exciting activities. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to think of many things for which you are grateful!

Some Jill

2010-11-23T16:06:00.001-05:00

Our little ray of sunshine!

Our little . . . underwear model?!

While I was downstairs folding laundry, Jill was exploring in her sock/underwear drawer. She is not potty trained yet, but we purchased two packs of undies to be prepared for when that day comes. When she came around the corner, I first wondered where she had found some bandannas. Then I realized she did not have bandannas around her neck but panties! I ran for the camera, and she was nice enough to pose for me.

Jill has recently started saying her name, which I am very pleased about. I don't know how long it will be until she has the last name down, but I feel somehow comforted by the fact that she can tell someone her name. And yes, she is stinkin' cute in pigtails.

If you are viewing this post in your e-mail inbox, the video may show up at the very bottom and if not, then simply click this link to view it in youtube. If you are viewing this post as a facebook note, then you can watch the video by clicking this link.

Jill Says "Jill"

Marriage . . . Obsolete?

2010-11-21T21:49:00.001-05:00

Have any of you read the USA Today coverage of a recent Pew Survey or any of the articles commenting on that original article?

The study of 2,600+ Americans found that four out of ten of us believe that marriage is obsolete. The article also used recent US Census data to include more interesting information. The most likely people in America to get married are white college graduates, and the median age for those who do marry (all of them, not just the white college graduates) is the highest it has ever been: about 28 years old for men and 26 years old for women. And for the first time in more than a century, there are more unmarried people between the ages of 25 and 34 than married people.

Interesting, yes?

I am now going to talk about what that made me think of and my own personal life experiences, because those are really the only things of which I have in-depth knowledge. So, please do not think I am making blanket statements for anyone other than myself. I am not attempting to comment on the marriage or divorce of anyone else or compare my marriage to any other. Selfishly, this is just all about me. :) Hey! It's my blog. ;)

I am 25, pregnant with my second child, and was married at the age of 20. I am white and a college graduate. (Although I did get married while I was still working on my degree.) I feel very blessed to be in my situation.

I did not live with my spouse before marriage and actually knew him for less than a year before getting married. However, neither he nor I entered into our marriage lightly, for we actually believe that we are not married "until a divorce" or "until death do us part." We believe we will be married forever. FOREVER. That's an unfathomably long time, so we'd better work hard to get along. And we do. (Although it is usually not that hard. Thank goodness!) ;) We both agree that there is no priority in our daily lives more important than each other. Hobbies, interests, activities, habits—all would be sacrificed for the survival of our marriage. (We made sure we shared the same values before we got married, so no worries with sacrifice there.)

In April, we will have been married for five years, and we have both changed with time, but we have made a commitment to stick together, and we have changed together. In small ways, I become slightly more like him and he becomes slightly more like me, and I am truly excited for the future when we're great-grandparents and we'll, at times, simply sit in rocking chairs, hold hands, and smile.

Nothing could ever entice me to give up the security of unconditional love and the fulfillment of raising children. If you had "good," emotionally healthy parents, imagine how your mom and dad felt about you, and then imagine that you picked someone who feels that exact same way about you, but he's not your parent—he's your spouse! It's wonderful.

Is he perfect? No. Am I perfect? No. But we both try, and that's what matters. I honestly think that love is not the most important aspect of a marriage. It is certainly a necessity on the list, but the most important aspects of a lasting marriage are commitment and unselfishness.

Okay, so that was my tangent about myself. Now on to the part where I talk about what the article made me think.

And, in some ways, I believe that is why marriage is "falling out of favor" with Americans. I believe there is a huge trend for selfishness and convenience in our society. We are taught that "you just have to do what is best for yourself" or "if it's not working, try something new." When was the last time you had a belonging repaired instead of putting it in the trash and buying a new version? Did you use your television until it broke, or did you use it until you decided it was worth it to buy one that was bigger, flatter, sharper?

The beauty of marriage can be that you don't have to do what is best for yourself, because that is what your spouse is doing. And your spouse doesn't have to do what is best for him or herself, because that is what you should be doing.

Americans view so many parts of their lives with the mentalities of replacement-rather-than-repair and selfishness, that I am not surprised that it has slipped into our view of marriage as well. (Again, I am not speaking for 100% of the population.)

So, in a way, I think the lower marriage numbers (and the currently minority (but increasing) view of marriage as obsolete) indicate an acknowledgment of the undesirability of divorce, a recognition that marriage is a serious commitment, and an acceptance of forms of lasting relationships other than marriage (such as cohabitation or single parenting by choice). And mostly, it seems to originate from an admittance of a disinclination toward promising to stay devoted to one person for as long as one lives. We value freedom and flexibility increasingly more than the risk of trusting ourselves and someone else.

So, please, share with me your married, single, or divorced story and your personal theories for why more and more Americans are delaying and/or avoiding marriage.

Here are two more articles that you might find interesting: Can we be married, but independent? and Dating for a decade? And if you don't want to scroll up, here is the original article link again: Nearly 40% say marriage is becoming obsolete.

CEDAW

2010-11-17T13:25:00.002-05:00

If you have not heard of it before, CEDAW stands for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. "The Convention defines discrimination against women as ' . . . any distinction, exclusion, or restriction made on the basis of sex, which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil, or any other field.'" —United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women

That sounds pretty good. It sounds like something that everyone should be behind. Right? It was created in 1979, and the United States is one of the few countries that still has not ratified it. The last time it came in front of the Senate was 2002, and many people believe it will come up in front of the Senate when the lame-duck session opens this Thursday (tomorrow). Only two-thirds of the Senate need to be pro-CEDAW for it to be ratified into US law.

So, why do I care? Well, while the language of the convention initially sounds great, there may be some very controversial issues lurking behind its nice words.

Here are some clips from some of the articles I have read in trying to figure out the freedoms at stake.

"We can already see the damage that ratifying CEDAW could cause the US simply by looking at the way the UN is treating those countries that have already ratified CEDAW. Among other things, these countries have been pressured by the UN to legalize prostitution, eliminate Mother's Day observances, put more children in day care, and liberalize their abortion laws." —Family Watch International

"A UN panel last week lambasted US human rights policy. . . . The 35 US delegates bore the fury of a periodic review in which UN member states scrutinize a country's human rights record. The process resulted in no fewer than 228 recommendations for US policy, with many urging the country to ratify a host of controversial treaties and declarations. . . . The US delegation pledged that it remained 'strongly committed' to ratifying the CEDAW women's treaty and a disabilities treaty. . . . Heated debate in the United States has swirled around the question of ratifying many of the UN human rights treaties. The CEDAW women's treaty has proven a favorite of liberals who support abortion rights but hasn't reached the Senate floor. Treaty critics warn its ratification would incorporate a radical feminist agenda, a view borne out by dozens of non-binding recommendations from the committee that oversees the treaty. A recent analysis found that the CEDAW committee has pressured at least 80 countries to legalize or liberalize abortion laws, despite the fact that the treaty is silent on abortion." —Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute

"The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday on the CEDAW treaty that has been used to pressure nations to legalize abortions. While the treaty is meant to promote women's rights, United Nation's agencies have used it to promote abortion. The treaty has been ratified by 186 nations worldwide . . . ." —LifeNews.com

". . . a close look at the content of the treaty shows that the Senate has been wise to resist ratification for 31 years. Though CEDAW contains many worthy declarations, its key provisions are 1970s egalitarian feminism preserved in diplomatic amber. Releasing those aged provisions into 21st-century America would be strange at best and would risk seriously compromising the privacy, well-being, and basic freedoms of Americans. . . . Under CEDAW, even private behavior—such as how couples divide household and child-care chores—is subject to government oversight and modification. The UN monitoring committee routinely censures countries like Denmark, Norway, and Iceland for failing to prevent women from taking primary care of children, a practice it deems 'discriminatory.'" —National Review Online

Do I agree that women should not be discriminated against for being women? Yes. However, I believe that I may disagree with those in favor of CEDAW as to what discrimination could be defined as. I do not believe that being a mother and housewife is discriminatory in any way. I LOVE having those roles. Motherhood is an honor.

And I do not think that ratifying CEDAW in the US would help the plight of women throughout the world. But I do believe that much needs to be done to help women in the United States and the world. I just do not believe the CEDAW is the correct way for it to be done. I am not completely ignorant (but I cannot in any way claim knowledge of everything) of the atrocities that women deal with simply for being women, but I honestly believe that CEDAW will not help prevent those atrocities. And the issue at stake here is US policy, not world policy.

So, that's my opinion, and this is my blog. You are welcome to put your own opinions on your blogs and facebook notes. If you do disagree, I am interested in your opinion, so please place a link in a comment. (And of course, I am interested in the comments of those who agree as well.)

I think this is an issue that is worthy of notice. Please do your own research and thinking and then contact your Senators with your opinion. If you wish to send your Senators an e-mail urging them to vote against ratifying CEDAW, then you can click this link. Technically, even if you are pro-CEDAW, you could use the link to contact your Senators. You would just have to change the automatic text that it creates for you.

Wild Animals

2010-11-16T22:39:00.002-05:00

Oh man. So, we have two domesticated animals—our sweet kitties, Cosmo and Chloe. We have on the occasion had an encounter or two with some wild animals. (Sounds exciting, right?) (haha) There was the turtle that we found twice in our yard or near our house. Jeff ran over it with the lawn mower, thought it was dead, tossed it across the yard, and then it started crawling away. Apparently our mower blade was set pretty high, because it didn't do anything to him. Jeff tried to make peace by offering the turtle Romaine lettuce, but the turtle was not very forgiving. He rejected the lettuce and waddled off. Jeff saw him again later, and the turtle was still holding the grudge, because he gave Jeff "a look."

Then there was the lizard. Oh joy. If you don't remember that post, feel free to click the link and reminisce. Ha. (Wow. I really thought I spelled that word incorrectly, but it didn't get highlighted by spell check, so I guess I just made my HS English teacher proud!)

And tonight, we had the pleasure of adding a new buddy to our list of wild animals.

Jeff and I are in our bedroom. I'm responding to e-mails; Jeff is checking ESPN stuff. I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. I was surprised, because it sounded like someone was squeezing a squeaky toy, so I glance over to the bed to see if Jeff really is in here with me. He was. So I assumed I imagined it. And then I realized we didn't even own any squeaky toys.

Then the cats come running in: Cosmo, growling, and Chloe had something in her mouth. Oh, I thought, she found one of the mice toys. Then I thought about it and remembered that our mice toys didn't have little feet. They just were bodies with tails. Oh my gosh! It was a real mouse. I somewhat exclaimed to Jeff that Chloe had a live mouse! I meant "live" as in "not a toy." I assumed it was dead.

The cats raced back into the kitchen, where we quickly realized that mouse was actually alive, because Chloe kept dropping it out of her mouth and batting it with her paws while it tried to run away.

We hurriedly looked for gloves and came up with my winter ones. Jeff put them on and pried the mouse out of Cosmo's jaws (the mouse had switched tormentors by this time). We checked the mouse all over but could ascertain no damage. He was so cute!! I couldn't believe how cute this little mouse was.

In the end, we let him out into the yard. He'll probably die out there, too, but I hope whatever animal gets him does not play with him (or her) as much as our cats were. If we had a small animal cage, we honestly would have been tempted to keep him. Although, I couldn't help but think of The Secret Garden and the bubonic plague, or whichever disease that was . . .

So yeah. We had a mouse living in our house. Somewhere. I wonder if he just came in today or if he has been hiding really well.

Either way, it is somewhat gratifying to know that our cats are good mousers and predators in general. I am very glad to not have the dead lizard lurking and the mouse hiding somewhere in my home.

What will we discover next?

Please, friends, don't let this discourage you from visiting. We have a very clean home, and I am sure these are relatively common occurrences for older houses. Please still visit us! :) We love visitors! (Just not the wild animal variety . . . )

Meet the Kellys!

2010-11-12T15:59:00.001-05:00

I have an awesome friend named Holly. She has an awesome husband named Sam. Together, they are the Kellys. Jeff and I met them while we were at BYU, and they were in many ways our "twin" couple. Holly and I majored in almost the same thing at BYU and graduated really close to each other. We then both worked for the same company. Sam and Jeff actually did major in the exact same field and did an internship together. Professional and educational similarities aside, we also tend to think the same things are funny and share the same values.

They are honest, intelligent, and stable. They are caring and funny. Sam loves to do little surprises to show you how much he cares about you, and Holly loves to be silly and sarcastic (definitely possible) and is fiercely loyal to those she loves.

Their hobbies include reading, writing, hiking, camping, and going to Disneyland. Note: Not all of those are shared hobbies, but assuredly Sam or Holly likes it.

Sadly, Holly and Sam have not been able to have children of their own. They have been married for about five years now and would really love to increase their family size.

They have waited through trying to conceive. They have waited through going to fertility doctors and learning why it is not happening. They have waited through the adoption approval process. They are now approved and are waiting to be matched. This last waiting period can be sped up if a mother chooses them!

So, if you are a pregnant woman who is looking for a loving home for your future child (or if you know a pregnant woman in this situation), please give the Kellys a chance and consider them.

Click this link to view their adoption profile.

Click this link to read Holly's blog.

Family Updates and Spousal Needs

2010-11-09T22:52:00.002-05:00

Let's see . . . life is moving forward as it should. Jill passed the 18 month mark, and it really has been amazing to watch her turn from a baby to a toddler. I really love how many more words she can say now, and it melts my heart to hear her say Mommy and Daddy.

I can no longer decide whether she is just a blonde or still a strawberry blonde. Her hair almost seems to fluctuate daily.

She recently has had trouble sleeping. She and I were up last night from 11:30 (she went to bed around 8:00) to 3:00. Sigh. I finally caved and just gave her a bottle. She was asleep within half an hour.

I would really like to potty train her before Daniel Wells makes his appearance. Do you have any tips on how you potty trained your children? How you were potty trained? How your neighbor/sister/coworker potty trained his/her kids? I would love to hear any stories you have to share. The more information the better!

Yup, there I am with my belly. I am now in the last trimester of this pregnancy, and I really find it hard to believe. I am still exercising, but it is starting to feel different than it did a month ago, even a week ago. I can really feel the difference in my joints. I don't remember what the hormone is, but I remember reading in my baby book during my first pregnancy that the ligaments start loosening up and I think that the hormone is affecting my whole body, because my ankles and knees are starting to feel really weird. I am interested to see how long I can keep it up. Right now I'm alternating between jogging/running and Zumba. Perhaps I'll switch to swimming if need be, Oh well, however long I keep it up, I figure it can only help matters. All I am hoping for is no pre-eclampsia, no forceps, and no tearing. I really don't think that is too much to hope for.

In other pregnancy news, I can also tell I'm near the end, because bending over is that much harder and the heartburn/acid reflux has begun. Oh yay!

My handsome hubby had his birthday last week. Jill took this picture of him on his birthday. Aren't you impressed? I thought she did a great job! Despite the 70 degree weather we enjoyed today, I think the temperature peaked around 43 degrees on his actual birthday. He and his brother Kyle did not let that daunt them though—they still went out to play 18 holes of birthday golf. They were very cold when they finished.

Next week marks his first anniversary with his current company; we feel so blessed that he has this job!

Family news aside, I receive many e-mails from various groups with differing opinions. This was made obvious after election day when I received e-mails the next few days heralding the triumphs and disappointments of the day. It was funny to realize that I was on separate mailing lists for Republicans and Democrats. Well, it's good to hear both sides. I also receive e-mail newsletters about my pregnancy, toddler development, and families. In the different family newsletters, there are often articles about marriage, and the most recent one interested me. It was about avoiding or ending affairs and included this paragraph:

"In His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage, Dr. Willard Harley says marriages most susceptible to infidelity are those where a spouse fails to meet their partners' primary needs. Wives' needs are affection, conversation, honesty and openness, financial, and family commitment. Husbands' primary needs are sexual fulfillment, recreational companionship, an attractive spouse, domestic support, and admiration."

What do you think about what is listed above as the primary needs of wives and husbands? It was interesting for me to read them laid out in such a manner and to consider what I believed my and Jeff's primary needs to be. I think it is really important to acknowledge what your needs and your spouse's needs are, so you can recognize whether you are meeting them and whether yours are being met. Anyway, if you and your spouse ever have the conversation lag anytime soon, you could bring that paragraph up and see how you agree and disagree for yourselves personally. If you have anything to share about it, please do. I am interested in your comments on it.

I'd say I definitely need everything that Dr. Harley said wives need. I am trying to think of something else I might need, but those are so general that they really seem to encompass everything I think of.

And if you're curious what my most recent pregnancy newsletter contained, among other facts it shared that Daniel Wells weighs approximately as much as a head of cauliflower. Last week, he was approximately as long as an English hothouse cucumber. :)

Natural Wonders

2010-11-01T22:34:00.002-04:00

Natural Wonder 1: Fall and Cute Little Girls
It is a beautiful time of year right now. Ohio has been enjoying a long and unusually warm autumn, and I have really enjoyed it! I missed autumn when I lived in Utah. It just felt too short, and I didn't feel like I got as many colors. Granted, the mountain sides were GORGEOUS, but there weren't just trees everywhere you turned. Fall is not quite as much fun as a homeowner, haha, because raking leaves is a lot of work, but it will get done!

We all went to a pumpkin patch, and I think that Jill is the cutest one in the bunch.

Natural Wonder 2: Bee Taming
At said pumpkin patch, there were mums for sale. Massively on sale. I got a really large mum pot for only $5. The kind that at the beginning of the season are more like $25. I'm pretty excited. I need to decide where to plant them. Mums are perennial right? I'll get to enjoy these for more than a month? Either way, $5 is a steal

Anyway.

On the mums that I chose was a bee. If you have ever been around me and bees simultaneously, you will know that we don't mix. I am very afraid of bees. They are just so unpredictable. My husband has long told me that I should not be afraid of bees, and that bees only get feisty when you mess with them. He even had the audacity to claim that he has pet them before. Yeah right. I knew the truth—that bees are nasty, vicious, butt stinging insects that are just dying (literally) to sting you. I am not sure where my misconceptions were born, but I think that living four years in a place where killer bees existed that really are aggressive might have something to do with it.

So, my mum had a bee on it. My husband offered to make it go away, but I was hoping it might leave on its own, because part of me was afraid it might sting him. We watched it a while, and my husband said he thought it looked like a nice bee if I would just take the time to get to know it. I scoffed at the idea. My husband then PET THE BEE! After a few minutes of pep talk, I crouched down close to "get to know" the bee as well and then PET IT ALSO! (The picture is of Jeff's finger, not mine.)

I am not sure whether my fear is cured, but I definitely took a HUGE step forward that day. It was kind of awe inspiring to be allowed to be so close to something so wild. The bee was very soft. We wonder if the pollen (?) stuck on his leg bothers him. Poor guy.

Natural Wonder 3: Kitten Behavior
Having these two kittens has been very educational. I thought I knew a lot about cats, and I know a fair amount, but cats and kittens are considerably different I have learned. My beloved cat, Mandy, was a kitten a long time ago. Last night when I was sleeping (I went to bed really early the last two nights), Chloe was cuddling with Jeff beside me. All of a sudden, Chloe popped up into the position you see in the photo below. She stayed in this position for a considerable amount of time, long enough for Jeff to get his phone out and take a picture.

After Chloe had been in her "meerkat" position for some time, Jeff heard a loud pop or bang from the other room and wondered what was going on. A bit later, Cosmo sauntered into the room proudly bearing his "kill" in his teeth to show off to Daddy and little sister. He had popped Jill's Halloween balloon. Perhaps Chloe heard him playing with it and was suspicious of the noise? We don't know. She popped up before the sound of the pop though. She got off the bed to inspect the balloon with Cosmo, and apparently they were pretty cute sniffing it as if trying to identify the foreign creature.

Have you witnessed any natural wonders recently or something you consider amazing?

Some Early Halloween

2010-10-28T21:59:00.001-04:00

This one makes the cut, because Jill is wearing a Halloween outfit. Don't you love the combination of her orange, my maroon, and the train's red? haha Laurie treated us to a train ride on a train from . . . 1910? 1930? I'm not sure which decade, but let's just say the train has been around the block for a while or so. :) Jill really enjoyed it.

Rawr. I'm a scary tiger.

Jeff and I were "high school sweethearts."

How I Know . . .

2010-10-26T14:16:00.006-04:00

I have been thinking about ways to know things. Some points of life are learned through reading or watching the lives of others. Some can only be learned through experience. Here are some I've learned recently.

How I Know . . .

I'm pregnant: When doing zumba at the local Y, my focus is not on getting the right moves, looking good, or trying to figure out what the songs are saying in Spanish. I am entirely focused on not losing my balance and falling over, as well as not peeing my pants. The bouncing and jumping is hard on a pregnant woman.
I am not fostering an abusive relationship between my pets: They will cuddle with each other. The vet said that is a sign what I view as dangerous behavior is really just kittens playing (or possibly the male kitten annoying the female kitten), but not actually a problem or dangerous.
Our car didn't fit where it was: My beautiful, beautiful van has a smashed tail light and some dentage due to an unfortunate experience on Saturday. We were idling along the curb, waiting for a break to pull into traffic, when a city bus smooshed us a bit while turning a corner. Sigh.
I married a winner: He has accepted my OCD tendencies and is willing to put his clothes away where I deem appropriate. He has adopted my system of organization. Now that's love!
I should probably stop buying fruit snacks: They seem to be the only food that Jill ever wants to eat. And she wants to eat them all the time. (Okay, she will deem other food worthy occasionally, but I am tired of her whining for fruit snacks.)
I overuse some words: I can't believe this super short post has the word deem twice.

Jill at her uncle Kyle's birthday dinner

Cosmo and Chloe

Can you believe they are only six days apart in age? Cosmo dwarfs her. He weighs twice as much as she does, and she can almost walk under him without crouching.

What have you learned recently?

Keepin' Busy

2010-10-17T22:06:00.000-04:00

I haven't been posting much, so I decided to show some pictures of what has been keeping me busy.

My brother-in-law came home from a mission. Don't worry. He's learning quickly how to hold Jill. It's the first time they've met! (And her skirt really isn't that short; it's just hiked up in this picture. Promise!)

Jill and Uncle Ry Ry

We adopted a second kitten. We decided that Cosmo needed a playmate. Welcome: Chloe. Sadly, he seems to view her as more of a play toy instead of a playmate, and she has no fight in her. She'll growl, hiss, or run, but she does not play back. This is very disappointing for Cosmo, but he keeps trying. Much to our dismay. I can't decide whether Cosmo is being too rough (and I'm fostering an abusive relationship) or Cosmo is being a normal kitten (and Chloe is just annoyed by him). It was a rough transition initially with lots of hissing and cleaning up of messes, but now they get along great and nap somewhat side by side (provided of course that Cosmo is in cuddle mode rather than frisky mode).

Cosmo and Chloe

This little one. She's always keeping me on the go.

We've also had lots of fun adventures recently. Jill went to the zoo for the first time. She rode a train, and she went on a river boat. She went to reading time at the library (because she really is close enough to the 18 month cut off), and she has gone to nursery (accompanied by a parent) three or four times now. Her favorite activity is watching her cousin dance through youtube videos and playing "Ring Around the Rosie." She sings all the time now, but I can't always tell what song she is singing. It's not always very close. :) The lyrics or the melody. She currently wants me to sing the "skimer-a-dink-a-dink-a-dink I love you" song. (What is that song really called?) She loves it. We also went on a road trip down to Tennessee for a wedding and got to see lots of lovely and lovable family. We're enjoying the fall weather, and my husband recently installed four new shelves for me THAT I LOVE. If you thought it was not possible to love shelves—you were wrong. (At least if you were talking about me.)

People are referring to Jill as a blonde more frequently now than as a redhead, so some change is happening there. Who knows what hair color she'll end up with.

Life is good. Oh, so very good.

And here is a picture of what is keeping me happy these days.

Jill watching her first BYU football game with her daddy.

My sister recently posted about the song My Favorite Things. She listed hers and asked about all of ours, which made me think of mine, which is turn made me wonder about all of yours. If you're not familiar with the song (is that possible?), it lists things like "brown paper packages tied up with strings," "warm, woolen mittens," "crisp apple strudel," "girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes," etc. As I'm listing these, I just realized that her favorite things are all actually things in the song, and when listing the flip side ("when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad . . . "), those are all actions. Well, the favorite things that I came up with are all actions, too, so perhaps I cheated a bit with my list.

watching Jill splashing in puddles
cuddling with a purring cat
smelling something good cooking in my oven that I made
watching my husband clean
watching Jill dance
seeing Jill's delight when I sing to her
brightening someone's day
revisiting with old friends
finishing a satisfying book
singing my heart out
spending time with my extended family
feeling my baby move inside me

Feel free to cheat with your list, and definitely feel free to share! I am curious what makes your lips curve into a smile. :) (Perhaps that was sappy, but it's true!)

When something makes you laugh out loud . . .

2010-10-08T09:55:00.000-04:00

. . . you should share it. Others might need a laugh, too.

I enjoy going to comics.com every and reading the most recent Get Fuzzy. Enjoy.

Generation of nincompoops?

2010-09-29T12:37:00.002-04:00

Yes, I know how to correctly spell nincompoop. That brilliance aside, let's discuss this article. (Okay, it helped that I just read it in the name of the article, but I would like to think that I would have known how to spell it, even if I had not just read it. We'll never know.)

Click me to read the article.

It raises some interesting points. I assume I am part of the group raising the rising generation, because I did know how to tie my shoes before I went to school (I think I did at least . . . Mom?), I know what to do with an ice tray, and I am very adept at addressing an envelope.

However it was sad to think about how much "common" knowledge gets lost every generation. Or is it sad? Surely the rising generation has new skills that the old generation does not have. Computers are the first thing that comes to my mind. And is it really vital to know how to ride a horse anymore? Fun? Yes. Vital? No.

One part of her article that really surprised me was where she seemingly nonchalantly included cursive as an unnecessary skill for the future generation. I love cursive. I became a little feisty when I read that. However, as I thought about it longer, I had to wonder.

I keep a real journal that I write in almost every day. I have volumes of them. I began seriously at age 12, but I have a few that my parents helped me write or teachers forced me to write when I was even younger. The majority of these journals are written entirely in cursive. Cursive is just faster than print.

When I was in school, cursive was mandatory course of study. When my mother was in school, she took a class in short hand. Consequently, at least one of her old notebooks is written in shorthand. She mentioned a year or so ago (upon finding that notebook) that she wished she remembered how to read shorthand better, so she could read what she wrote.

Now obviously, shorthand is much further away from every day print than cursive is, but it has not always been so. I had the privilege of working in the special collections section of my university's main library. While there, I spent over a year reading journals from around the 1850s to the 1930s. These were mostly written in cursive, but a different cursive than we have today. Certain symbols were written differently, certain letters were written differently, and some letter combinations had a sign all of their own. So sometimes, it was difficult to decipher. Those changes happened over decades though. Will my own journals be difficult to decipher in just two decades?

And even today, I worry when I write a cursive Q that some people will think I wrote a 2.

I was reading a book the other day that is based just over a hundred years ago, and those who could not write simply put an X for their signatures. I have friends today whose signatures are either almost exactly like their print or have some symbols involved. I assumed they either didn't like cursive or thought the symbols were artistic or fun. After reading that article, I simply wonder if they do not know cursive.

Is cursive dying? I already knew the English language was dying (thanks to this article my friend shared with me), but I saw that coming. However, I did not notice the dying last gasps of breath of cursive, and I am mourning it a bit.

So, do you know how to write in cursive? Do you enjoy writing in cursive? Or are you shouting Hallelujah and Good Riddance at the possibility that cursive may be a lost art with this rising generation?

Something in the article also made me think of my father. It mentioned that there are college aged students who have never taken a bus alone. Now, part of me wonders if they just grew up in the country where buses were not necessary or always had a car. However, I do believe that my generation—and I'm sure the next—are much less frequently alone in public transportation than previous generations.

When my father was in the eighth and tenth grades, he went to a boarding school in the East. His parents also lived in the East, in a nearby state. During his two years at boarding school, my father would come home to visit his parents. To do this, part of his trip involved arriving in New York City at one train depot and then leaving New York City on a different train depot. He navigated the trip there, the ride from one depot to the other, and then the trip to his parents' house all on his own. I don't know how many eighth graders are allowed to do that these days. Is our world that much less safe or are parents just that much less willing to allow their children to strike out on their own or are children that less capable of handling situations on their own (without smart phones or even regular cell phones)?

When telling me this story, he related having recently watched a Shirley Temple movie where it showed her hitchhiking in the middle of the night. He mused that when the movie came out, moviegoers probably chuckled at her cuteness and tenacity whereas if that scene had occurred in movie today it might be to illustrate neglectful—or even abusive—parenting.

Interesting how the world changes.

And it always does. We can't stop it, and should we? I like bathrooms and running water as much as the next person. I enjoyed being able to wear shorts and T-shirts, and I loved playing sports. So, while some change makes me sad, because I miss something that is on its way out, I do enjoy many of the new changes (like this blog!).

Did anything from the article make you happy or sad to see it go?

Mimi Boling = Michelle Collett

Never-ending Chives

Two year old Logic

Getting Cozy

"That's impressive."

Don't wake me up for cake!

"He's not nothing anymore!"

Tiny Home Intruders

Collett Family 2011 Review

Christmases Past

Merry Christmas

Christmas with the Sharks

"I don't even speak Spanish!"

Genealogy Fan Chart

Yummmmm Manicotti!

Merry Christmas

I was not meant to die today.

It's already been a long day.

Mimi's Mythology: Tooth Harpy

Time goes on . . .

Conversations with Jill

The Summer of Tabitha Grace

Tabitha

On Death

A perfect angel

Inexpensive Halloween Decorations

Lollipops

Teeth have arrived!

I want to be a pirate when I grow up.

I remembered a few.

New Boling Baby

I need to use my inside voice.

Outnumbered

Where did August go?

Buzz Buzz the Bee

The Reading Promise

Drool, flowers, and other things

When does it end?

Happy Daddy's Day

What I Never Tire Of

And here is June already!

Sharp Dressed Man

End May with a Bang!

Mother's Day *cough*

What a year it has been!

God's Love

Mimi did it!

April Showers

Randoms

Sleep & Scriptures

Sneaky, Funny Jill

Big Sister Mode

Rain, Rain

Winter Babies

Girls/Women and Boys/Men

Definition of Tired

Family of Four

Something You've Forgotten

Mostly just some pictures

Surprise! He's Here.

There and Back Again—A Holiday Tale of Online Shopping

Christmas 2010—Wisconsin

Christmas Letter

Poll Closed and Pregnancy Comparisons

Yeah, more pictures

The Difference of a Year

Snowy Weekend

An Inspiring Story & A Worthy Cause

Jill & Amish Quotations

Almost December

Some Jill

Marriage . . . Obsolete?

CEDAW

Wild Animals

Meet the Kellys!

Family Updates and Spousal Needs

Natural Wonders

Some Early Halloween

How I Know . . .

Keepin' Busy

Mother's Day cough