Foster Features

Starting again!

2011-03-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

Here I am! Sorry about the absence, I lost interest and was focused on other parts of life. It happens. So onto the updates on our lives:

A few days after Charlie died we went camping with my mom, sister and grandparents for a whole week. It was a wonderful escape from my sadness. I hadn't been camping in years and I had been wanting to go so badly. We went to Woods Canyon up on the rim between Payson and Heber. Chloe had a ball! She was constantly covered in dirt and was always picking up rocks, pinecones, sticks, handfuls of pine needles, you get the idea. She played from sun up to sun down with a nap in the middle of the day. I chatted with my grandma (Nannie) and played cards till I nearly couldn't stand it anymore but I loved it! I had a giant 10 person tent for just me and Chloe and Preston too once he joined us for the last few days. My mom and Selena spent a lot of time fishing with my Grandad in his little boat on Woods Canyon Lake. Claire and Selena's puppy Scout ran and ran and ran all over the woods. We had them tied up but after the 45th time of untangling them during the first day there we just set them loose. Every once in a while we would call them back just to make sure they didn't get very far. They only didn't come back right away once and it turned out they were sleeping in a tent. Winston (my brother Josh's mini dachshund) was there too and he explored a lot but mostly slept the whole time. All together they were pretty cute and really fun to watch. It was all so relaxing and I cannot wait to go again. I was unplugged from all internets and phones (my blackberry died in the humidity up there anyways). We are going again in July but for 2 weeks this time. I've already got my packing list together and am remembering all the things I wished I had had while I was there last time. I am ready!

My latest "thing" that I've been enjoying the heck out of is cakes! I have been having so much fun with it, exploring my natural talent and expanding it. Turns out I have a knack for it. The funny part is that the part I struggle with is actually assembling the layers of cake. Everything else I've been picking up pretty easy without any previous practice or experience. My mom used to make cakes when I was little and I guess I watched her more than either of us ever thought. She's been helping me and teaching me with the stuff I'm more shaky at but is still always impressed with my final results.

We started with my cousin Adam's wedding cake. My aunt actually asked my mom to do it but I came over to help because I was fascinated and wanted so badly just to touch and play with that fondant stuff. Turned out she hadn't ever worked with it and I had watched enough Food Network to know for the most part what to do. Together we figured it out and it came out decent but still amateur. The wedding colors were black and white and they didn't really care what it looked like so we decided on polka dots and the top layer looked like a small gift. I was HOOKED! I almost immediately found a reason to make another. I made one for one of my best friends who needed some special love on her birthday. It was sea foam green with pink feathers (I made by hand) on top to compliment a running joke between us from our dance class when we were little about an awful costume, and a dance recital gone wrong. Her mom loved it and asked me to make a birthday cake for her mom's birthday, I seem to have lost the picture of the finished cake all together but I have one of the top and one of the bottom. They were orange, white and a burgundy color with flowers and swirls. Selena loved that one so she had me make her and her friends make a cake for their homecoming dance. Their theme was something to do with Vegas so I made little fondant dice and hand piped a pair of aces with pink hearts. Next I made one for another bff Ciera for her birthday with a Dia De Los Muertos theme. Next was Chloe's 2nd birthday and I did a two tier white cake with green vines and pink flowers hand piped all over it. And my last one was my cousin Kyrie's wedding cake. Three pearly white tiers with a crisscross pattern pressed into it for a quilted looks and little hand made candy jewels in each intersection. Pics of each one, I hope you can tell which one is which:

In sadder news. We had a miscarriage at the end of September. I didn't know I was pregnant until it happened so other than hormones it wasn't too emotional for me. It was still hard because we've been trying since last February. I figured out I was only 4 or 5 weeks along. We are hopeful about continuing to try for our next little sweetheart, but, if not for the miscarriage I would be worried about infertility by now. I've had a lot of time to think about my next pregnancy and delivery and I for sure will be getting a new doctor and trying out some more holistic approaches for a v-bac. I feel robbed after not getting the chance to push out my own kid and Dr. Tutt doesn't do v-bacs and he doesn't believe I can deliver normally. I need some faith from my own doctor darn it!

We do have a new addition to our family, though, she's a little more canine than I had planned... Her name is Lucy. She's a lot like Charlie, part Italian Greyhound, part Chihuahua. Very very cute and has her own perky personality. We love her already. My friend Ciera gave her to us because she didn't have the time or dog friendly space she needed. This was a great option for all of us. She can visit her "baby" anytime she wants, Claire gets a new buddy, and I love the new puppy cuddles. We call Ciera the "bio-ish-mom" and I'm the "Foster-mom" hahahahaha! There's a picture of her on the right side of the page with our family pictures.

Well I'll finish up my novel here. Sorry again for the lengthy dry spell. I won't promise to try harder to keep up with it, but I will try harder to at least post about the bigger stuff. Love you all!

Goodbye Charlie Dog

2010-07-29T19:58:00.001-07:00

Charlie passed away on July 10th. My sweet little dood.

About 2 weeks before, we came home and found vomit all over the house. 4 or 5 spots. I figured he'd eaten something he shouldn't have and didn't think too much about it, though I started paying closer attention to his eating and drinking habits.

Over the next two weeks he was still eating and drinking and seemed a little more like himself but not that great.We went to Heber for the 4th of July and had a good time. He didn't hardly eat while we were there but I just attributed it to stress from travel, lots of people, and unfamiliar dogs. When we got back, he still wasn't eating very much and started throwing up again, about once a day. He was eating less and less for fear of just throwing it up again and staying in one place for long periods of time and by Thursday we were really worried.

We took him to the vet on Friday and they did an x-ray. They showed it to us and pointed out the very large mass that was not supposed to be there. They showed us that it was pressing on his organs and making him sick. He also had very bad pneumonia; one lung was completely filled with fluid.

They took some blood and called me the next day with the results. His liver enzyme count was 6 times the normal level. The large mass that was taking up more than half of his abdominal cavity was his liver. The vet said it was either a really bad infection or cancer. She told me to talk to my family about either hospitalizing him (which would have cost upwards of $1500) or putting him to sleep. We talked and cried and talked some more.We decided that putting him down was the best option all around.

After thinking about his behavior I noticed a pattern that had developed since January. He had been slowly losing energy. Sleeping more, and running around less. Hiding under the bed more and engaging us in play less. More easily irritated and he had less of that pure doggy joy he of which he always had too much. We didn't notice because we had gotten Claire in December and she had enough energy for both or them. We just figured she was wearing him out all the time. Poor guy. We told the vet this before Charlie was put to sleep and he was almost positive it was in fact liver cancer from the description of his declining energy.

He would have been 3 years old on the first of August. We are so sad to have lost him so soon. He was my first "baby". I got him about 4 months before I got pregnant because I wanted a baby so much. I needed to have something to take care of. I found him at the pound with the cats because he was so small. He weighed 4 pounds and he was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I named him after Charlie on LOST, a stuffed monkey I had as a child, Charlie Brown, Charlie the Unicorn and well... he just looked like a Charlie.

I had so much fun with him. I dressed him up in sweaters when it got cold and a costume for Halloween. He would get sudden bursts of energy and run around the house as fast as he could, we called it his "nascars". I taught him to chase his tail for treats. He was the worst in his class in puppy training but still "graduated". He barked at everything that moved or made noise. And he hated water only a little less than cats do. He played tug of war like a big dog and never let go unless he was flying through the air and was an absolute riot when there was an air mattress involved. I took too many pictures of him and he quickly learned to hide when the camera came out because he didn't like the flashes.

My house is empty without him. Claire misses her playmate and I miss my little buddy. I'm so sad to have lost him so soon. He was a great little, too-hyper dog. Waking up without him standing on me to get me to let him outside is hard. Claire has been a wonderful comfort. I'm grateful we got her when we did. She cuddles like Charlie never would after I rolled onto him once or twice. Poor little guy.

I love you Charlie. I hope you've found Cassie (my first wonderful dog) in doggie heaven and that she's running nascars with you. See you later.

Are they supposed to know this much, this soon?

2010-05-16T14:00:00.001-07:00

If any of you saw my facebook update earlier this week, that's just one example. If you didn't let me enlighten you.

My little newborn baby girl will be 18 months old on the 18th this month. I guess she's not really a newborn anymore. *sigh, lip quiver, tear, sigh* At the same time these last few weeks have been some of the most entertaining EVER! Her personality has been showing since she was pushing my lower right rib up and down with her little toes, but now it's really emerging!

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but is it still flattery when all that's imitated is talking on the phone and watching TV?

Wednesday morning, Chloe decided to watch a little TV. So she walked up to the TV, turned it on and found the bluray remote. Then she climbed up on the couch and turned on the bluray player. Our bluray is a Samsung and has streaming Netflix on it, it's awesome. Once the bluray was on and at it's home screen she selected the Netflix button and when that had loaded she pushed play on the first show available on our queue. When the opening credits started she started fake laughing at it. After a few minutes she somehow found the pause button and climbed off the couch to go play in her room.Two minutes passed and she came back to the couch and started it up again. It was something about Africa so they were showing some zebras and she started howling because they look like striped doggies!

Three minutes later she changed her mind about the whole thing, as girls often do, and turned it all off and went off to play. I'm grateful she hasn't learned that we should sit in front of the TV for hours at a time. Thank goodness for short attention spans... wait... no. There's a time and a place.

Preston has a work phone and a personal phone, but no matter the phone he always answers it the same. I guess he's self conscious about being on the phone in front of me when it's business and when it's friends it's probably because he thinks I'll disapprove of the conversation material. When the phone rings he grabs the phone, hits answer, and as he says hello he's walking out the door of the room. After the conversation is over and he's finishing up the call he will be walking back into the room as he says goodbye, hangs up and stuffs the phone into his pocket almost in one motion. Yesterday we were in Chloe's room playing with her and Preston let her play with his phone. She put the phone up to her ear and said "Ah-ra? Ob-di-bara ya. Ha ha ha!", fake laugh and all as she strolled confidently out of the room. About a minute later she came back, "Oh-ru, ba-da-ya. Yah!", took the phone away from her ear as if to hang up, and I swear she would have tried to stuff that phone in a pocket if she had been wearing more than a diaper. I looked at Preston and said "That was you! Not me for once!"

It's so fun to see the things repeated that she watches us do. We can ask her to fold her arms and she will fold her arms and bow her head with her eyes closed. Sometimes she'll even go all out for us and hunch down as if she's sitting in a chair and bent over, squish her face into her little folded arms and make little whispering noises as if she were saying the prayer. If we ask her where her nose is she will point to it and then get carried away and stuff it up there and then we consider ourselves lucky if it comes back clean. She can use a fork to stab small soft bites of food like ravioli and feed it to herself, though she usually ends up poking herself in the face and I freak out and trade it for a spoon even though she has very little luck with them.

She tried to unlock the bathroom door with my car key once. She almost succeeded except she couldn't turn it all the way and it wasn't locked in the first place. When she can get into the bathroom, she opens my drawer and pulls out my hairbrush and brushes her own hair. She loves to play fetch with the doggies and empty baskets of clothes one article at a time at high speed. And she LOVES to give kisses! Her kisses are usually wide open mouth ones that sometimes encompass half of the rest of your face in drool. Whenever she gives one she always says "ahhhhhhh," while doing it, because it's not a real kiss if you don't. This is one of those things that you really don't want influenced by what they see. You see, short kisses are great and all but, long kisses? Those are better. They must be! Why wouldn't you want your daughter's wide open drooling mouth with a little bit of fishy cracker goop on her lips attached to your lips for at least 8 seconds? *eye roll* I guess the way daddy loves mommy shows and she wants share!

Chloe is the highlight of my life! I can't get enough of her and at the same time, I still love my breaks from her... like nap time, and date night. She's getting super tall too. I blame Preston. She can reach stuff off my counter tops now. Things that were once far out of reach are brought to me on a daily basis. Like the package that had gum in it from my purse, or a cup of water I filled 30 seconds earlier and set down to let the dogs out and by the time I turn around it's been dumped on herself, or the floor, or both. Sometimes it's a plate of food. Or my computer on which I am blogging, she can somehow highlight half of what I just typed and with a few presses of other buttons replace it with "nmm,/..;;;/..,mmmczcn,//.////". Yeah that's always fun! Most of the time it's just hard not to laugh.

Comfy Heels and Grown Up Coco Puffs

2010-05-12T22:53:00.004-07:00

I'm sorry if I end up sounding like a commercial. I think I should get commissions for the stuff that I obsess over. A few years ago it was those tide pens... cause they are awesome!

My current obsession is Crocs....

If you're thinking of those ugly nasty clog ones then stop! They actually make cute ones that you can wear in public and not look frumpy. Seriously. These were my present to myself for being me!

Aren't they cute? Well I think they are wonderful. They are cute, make me look taller, comfy (the brown ones are like having a foot massage attached to your feet), they go with everything I wear (at least I like to think they do), and they make me feel cute and a little sexyish (which I think is always important to feel that way whether you actually do or not). Chloe thinks they are cool too but she likes to wear them on her hands because they make her fall over if she puts them on her feet. She likes to put them on my feet and take them back off over and over again. I just had to tell you about them!

Grown up Coco Puffs... *impish grin* They are good for me AND they are chocolate. Have you tried the Chocolate Cheerios??? They seriously taste like Coco Puffs! I got a giant box (too big for the cupboard) at Costco on Saturday and they are almost all gone already and it's only Wednesday... I've been eating them for just about every meal because they are wonderful shaped like an "O". I figure it's better than eating a bar of Chocolate for every other meal. (I did that for about a week after my last chocolate party, my butt didn't appreciate that very much.)

I just had to tell you about my recent favorite obsessions/things because a lot of the time other people turn out to like them almost as much as I do. They do make fun of me for being my own commercial but at least I don't irritate you or them about it in the middle of your favorite show, right???

Turtle Man Returns!

2010-05-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, he came back! The dummy!

So, on Friday of the same week of the first encounter, Preston came home to have lunch. When he came in the house he informed me that the red Cadillac was loitering in front of the second gate. (In case you've never been here: The property we live on is a long rectangular shape. There are two gates on either side of the property both facing South. The house is very close to the main gate on the East side of the property. The second gate is on the far end away from the house on the West side. Nearer to the East main gate in front of my house is a little walk though gate leading to "the front door" that we only use to let the dogs in the front yard. All clear? Well, moving on.) The news that he was nearby at all made me nervous but I decided that I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that Grant was on his way over to meet him. It was decided on Monday during his first encounter that if he ever steps foot on the property again, for whatever reason, that he would be escorted by Grant. I later found out that he still has some stuff here that he wants back.

After Preston finished his lunch and left half an hour later he called me and told me that Turtle ~~Man~~ Turd was STILL sitting there and also that he glared at him as he drove by. Of course the wussy would wait till all the men were gone to make his move! After that long of just sitting there I'm thinking he can't be up to any good so I called Grandad, who called Grant, and then he called me back and told me that Grant had told Turtle Man repeatedly that he couldn't come that day because he was on his way out of town for the weekend. Grandad himself was in Prescott at the time too. Lucky me, I'm all alone with Chloe. Fortunately she was taking a nap during all of this. While I was talking to Grandad he asked me to check if the guy was still out there. When I walked out front through my "front door" and looked there was a black SUV sitting next to him. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a sheriff. Grandad felt better and we got off the phone. I immediately wished I hadn't hung up yet when Turtle Man got out of his car and stared running towards me!

I started edging towards the door and trying to shoo the dogs back into the house (they were ignoring me because they had noticed the crazy person running towards us as well and were in the midst of barking passionately at him in what I think they see as a valiant attempt at being guard dogs). I was prepared to leave them there and go in by myself if I needed to. During all of this I was wondering to myself "Why, why, why is the sheriff not stopping him???" I almost got all to the door when the sheriff's SUV started to pull away. Again I'm thinking "So that's it??? That's all you're gonna do for me???" and he flipped a U and managed to pull up to my little gate before "it" did and asked if I knew the "gentleman running behind" him.

I replied as quickly as I could before "it" got to my gate. "Yes, he was escorted off this property by the police the other night." Sudden understanding dawned on the old mans face.

I then tried to tell him about the original run-in. I kept stumbling over my words and getting flustered because I wanted to be as close to the truth as possible so that "the idiot" standing there would have no reason to correct me or call me a liar. I needn't have tried so hard because he had made up his own bullpoo story anyways to make him look like the martyr he so wished he was. I managed to get out the basics and told the sheriff that everyone had come to the agreement that he could come with Grant to get his stuff. ONLY Grant. His crap was in fact inside of Grant's pod with Grant's other belongings.

During my rendition I was repeatedly interrupted whenever my own truthful story veered off course with his bullpoo one. Though he never actually spoke to me and I was grateful for that. The sheriff would interrupt him back and say something like "Be quiet, the young lady is speaking, you already had your turn." "I told you to be quiet." "Shut UP!" They got progressively more and more violent. Also, I noticed Turtle Man was wearing a shiny silver and orange hat that said "I ♥ Jerusalem". The heart was dark pink and the silver brim was blinding in the sun. He looked stupid.

Having had my say (which was obvious that the sheriff believed me miles more over "it") "it" tried to repair the holes in his once shiny and slightly incomplete story which at this point I had heard nothing of. These are his words in my best "stupid person voice" that you can't hear but it's how I tell it in real life: "Well that Grant person makes me uncomfortable because he assaulted me and hit me in the head with a nightstick. I called the cops that night. He harassed me and wouldn't let me get my stuff and was trying to make me leave and so he hit me on the head with a nightstick and I called the police. And I called him today and he wont come." Riii-iiiiiiight...

The sheriff then told him that he had two options: 1- He could wait and come with Grant ("but I don't like Grant cause he hit me on the head with a nightstick" "I told you to shut up") or 2- he could get a court order to be allowed on the property for 30 min to an hour with a police escort ("how do I get that?" "shut up and I'm gonna tell you").

For obvious reasons, I didn't favor option 2. Several things were repeated to "it" and the story was getting it's gaps filled in for the sheriff. At this point, the sheriff got a call on the radio and was trying to sort it out. In the absence of his attention "it" made his first attempt to talk directly to me. I didn't like that very much. "I just need to grab a couple things, it'll take me 10 minutes and I will leave and you'll never see me again." On principle, at this point, I had to decline, as tempting as it was for me to never have to worry about seeing him again. "NO!!!" I shouted, while stomping my foot like an angry 6 year old not getting her way, "You can come with Grant! I don't like you! You make me uncomfortable!" I realized as I said it that it wasn't really the wisest thing to say to a crazy person. "I don't want you on the property without Grant! How many times do you have to be told NO?!?" I almost cried but managed to cling to my keeping it together facade.

I needed to talk to Grant and KNOW exactly what Grant had said to him and why. We had been having what was becoming a circular conversation for about 15-20 minutes by now, it was getting old and I wanted to confirm with the sheriff the absolute truth. So I called Grandad for Grant's phone number. When he asked why and what was going on my brain shut off and I started crying because it was the logical thing to do. Anyways, me being unable to talk the sheriff offered to explain so I gave him my phone and he started to tell Grandad what was going on. When he got to the part about Grant needing to come with him, "it" interrupted him again, "I'm not comfortable with that Grant person because he hit me on the head with a nightstick." I love this sheriff for his final response to being interrupted yet again. In a loud, intimidating, reminds-you-of-that-bada**-old-man-in-the-movies voice, he stuck a finger in Turtle Man's face and shouted "If you don't SHUT UP I'm gonna SLAP you in the FACE!!!"

I have to say, that made my day, month, and possibly year.

I was given back my phone and told Grandad that I would call back in a bit for Grant's number cause I still wanted to talk to him and we hung up. The sheriff told "it" for the last time that there was nothing that could be done today and that he was to get in his car, drive away and not to come back without Grant or a court order. He did and I sighed with relief. Once "it" walked away for his car the sheriff got in his car, didn't say anything to me but instead gave me an out of place cheesy grin with a double thumbs up. Needless to say, I wasn't crying anymore.

I did talk to Grant and he told me that he had been trying to meet up with Turtle Man all week long and that Turtle Man was the one that had been mysteriously unavailable until the day Grant was going out of town. I had to ask him about the nightstick and he laughed but never actually denied it and said "The guy is delusional" repeatedly. I decided that if he had hit him that Turtle Man deserved it, and if he really hadn't... well, he deserved it anyways.

Sorry this is being posted so long after the actual incident but the whole thing made me angry and I didn't feel like spending the energy on being angry. I feel better now, so the story is less angry sounding and more funny.

About a week later I saw him drive away from the property with his stuff followed out by Grant. I guess he wasn't THAT uncomfortable with Grant after all.

THE END

Turtle Man...

2010-04-13T09:23:00.002-07:00

Have you ever met a crazy person??? No, not like a PMSing chick kinda crazy. I'm talkin like real crazy; like crazy crazy! I have! Last night! On my property! Ok let me esplain...

So like a month ago, the dumb dog started barking at like 1AM and I heard the gate at my driveway open and a car drive in and stop. So I got up and looked out my window and saw a guy going over to the gate to close it behind himself. Fishy right??? So I passed the time until I fell asleep again being irritated and plotting the downfall of the other people with whom I have to share my property.

The next morning around 10AM the guy left, and I called my Grandpa (who is my landlord) and told him how irked I was at the other tenants on the property who don't actaully live here. I said I thought they need to have hours when they shouldn't be allowed to come down here cause they wake me up and have little respect for us. I told him that there is no reason on earth for any of them to be here at 1AM. That got his attention and he said he wished I had called him and told him about it. I was like "Well, I'm not really accustomed to calling people at 1AM but if that's what you want..."

A couple nights later he came at midnight, so I called Grandad. He went out to the guy and talked to him and felt bad for him and decided he could stay. I didn't like it and told him so but he was trying to be kind and help the poor guy out. He told me he was odd but seemed harmless enough but if anything happened to let him know or call the cops if needed. Once again, he left the next morning at around 10. The same pattern continued since then. He would come quietly in the late evening and always close the gate behind himself and leave the next mid-morning. I didn't like it but there was nothing I could do but say I was uncomfortable and dream of the day we finally met face to face and hope that afterwards I could have a reason to make him go and stay away.

Tonight I got my wish! Yay!-ish... Today I had a nice girls day with my good friend Ciera. We ate sushi and watched the Princess and the Frog. After the movie we chatted and then she left. Or she tried to anyways... She called me from my driveway saying there was a guy asking for us to unlock the gate (there's a shiny new deadbolt on it as of two days ago) and demanding to be let in. I went out and he tried to give me the impression that he just needed to pick up some stuff and he was gonna leave. I let him know that I knew what he was doing here and that I wasn't thrilled with the situation. After the truth was out he kinda lost some steam but restarted his story.

Then he let me know he was crazier than his first impression made him seem. Turns out crazy people can pass as normal for a few minutes at a time. He began to tell me that he was a good christian man and that he didn't have a home and was going through "trials and tribulations" and that once he sold his [nasty crappy red] cadillac that the Lord would provide him with an RV and he would have a home. He started making Ciera nervous so she came over and asked for his name. His response: "My name is, uh, ........................Chris, some people call me Hovah [yeah, like Jehovah? Riiiiight!] or Turtle Man." Turtle Man? Wha? This is when we realized he was maybe not all there.

I'm thinking "whatever, I need to get out of this situation" and opened the gate and told him he could go get his stuff and reiterated that I preferred him to sleep elsewhere. He got defensive at this point as if I had told him flat out to get lost and the "conversation" escalated as he continued to tell us how he was a good Christian and that everyone was against him except for the angels and God and that someday he would be blessed for being so faithful. He said "The words of Jesus roll through me and out of my mouth." At this point, I'm a little more than freaked and I figure I have more than enough grounds to get Grandad to make him leave. So I told him "Go get your crap," and took Ciera back inside and called Grandad.

Grandad called the tenants on the property that had initially told him he could stay here and they came to talk to him and to try to get him to leave. Wanna hear the irony??? Turtle Man called the cops on all of us! That was just the proof to add to the pile of crazy I had just gotten. He's trespassing on our property and called the cops because we were "harassing" him!

When I saw the flashing lights out my kitchen window, my first thought was that there had been some kind of violence and someone got hurt and I was like "Oh, crap!" But once me and Ciera got outside it was difficult to refrain from the giggles. It was almost too obvious to the police who was the crazy and who belonged here. We told our side of the story and got the rest of the blanks for us filled. One of the cops walked up to us laughing really hard and told us the guy had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume in his car and asked if we had ever seen him wearing it. I guess that's how he got the name "Turtle Man".

All in all, it was a really fantastic day for me. I got new shoes (post on those lovelies coming soon), sushi and a fun movie with Ciera, and the bum off my property! I'm pretty happy, and feeling safer than I have in a month!

Want Vs Need

2010-03-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

Preston and I were having this discussion earlier. I had a moment of wittiness and I liked it enough to share:

Preston: I need a second monitor for my new computer.
Amy: You NEED one? How 'bout you WANT one?
Preston: No I need it, because then I can have iTunes open on one screen and do other stuff on the other one. I'll get twice as much done.
Amy: No, you'll be twice as absent from the real world. You don't need it, you want it.
Preston: No, I need it.
Amy: You need your left leg. You want a second computer monitor.

Gardening, Preston's News, and (of course) Chloe!

2010-02-18T13:43:00.005-07:00

This picture really has nothing to with the rest of my post but I thought it was too cute to be missed!

Me and my blackened thumb have once again tried our hand at gardening... So far success! I planted tomatoes, bell peppers, and spaghetti squash. The tomatoes and squash have come up and I'm still waiting for the bell peppers to sprout. I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna need to go buy seeds or if the seeds I pulled out of the pepper I ate are even gonna grow. I used seeds from a tomato I ate and the same with the squash. It's been fun! I used some old butter tubs I saved as tupperware and drilled some holes in the bottom of them and used their lids as excess water catchers. If the bell peppers don't sprout soon I think I will try planting some strawberries next. They are lined up on my kitchen window seal for now until they are strong enough to survive outside (maybe) and while I attempt to teach Claire that my planter outside is not an appropriate place to dig. We're gonna try chicken wire first. Any other anti-digging-doggie tips? Please? This is my outdoor planter that Meredith and I tilled and pulled weeds out of one day last week:

(there are holes all over in it again courtesy of my anti-plant pup Claire):

Here's my tomatoes as of this morning:

And these little beauties are my little spaghetti squashes!:

Chloe loves being outside, though I haven't ever let her out to play on the ground. I bring out her highchair and some toys so she doesn't eat the dirt. I don't quite trust her with that yet but I can tell she can't wait to run around outdoors! We'll try a park now that she can walk!

And now......... The big news you've been waiting for!!!

Preston got a promotion!!! (Cheering and applause loudly with much exuberance!) He was promoted to Head Technician/Manager! He also got a raise with the promotion and hints at another raise if he does well in his new position! We are so excited and proud! I know he will do well and continue to grow in his work. He loves his job and all of the new (and sometimes VERY interesting) people he gets to meet everyday! We are so grateful for our blessings and we can't wait to see where life takes us!

Chloe picked up walking like a fish learning to swim. She had the balance thing down perfect before we made her go for it. After a solid week she's walking like a pro! She doesn't even fall down! When she does, she's careful about it and makes sure she put her butt to the floor before she goes face first! She's been picking up speed too and now when she's after something (like dog food) and we're hot on her tail she does this funny little laugh and tries to go faster. Here's a video of her perfected walking and that little laugh she does (try to ignore the mess, my face and gross hair, the laundry in the background and of course the mess):

Chloe can WALK!!!

2010-02-09T09:10:00.001-07:00

Last night before we all went to bed (it was kinda late) we were practicing with her by passing her back and forth between us because we knew she could do it if she actually tried. All of a sudden she took off while I was filming her! I couldn't believe it when she abruptly turned around and went the other way!!! That was the moment it became official. Between me and Preston was practice but striking out on her own was for real! The noise at the end is me crying and wouldn't you? I just watched my baby girl grow! My baby just became a toddler!!!

Catching up... Part 2

2010-01-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

On the 2nd... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! I turned 24! One more year and I'll be a quarter of a century! Eww... The night before we had a little party with Preston's parents. It was mostly cake... mmmm, carrot cake.... But between Christmas and my birthday they gave me about half the money I needed to get a new camera. (More about the camera later) The day of we just kinda hung out and relaxed. It was oddly nice. Sometime in the mid afternoon we went over to my Aunt Therese's house for a game day she was having. We played Quelf. If you haven't played this game before you have to! And when you do don't be a bum and whimp out on following the instructions given. Just do it! I have never had so much fun playing a board game before! By the end of it my hair was a wreck and my muscles were sore from laughing so hard. Needless to say it's now my FAVORITE game! I need my own now!

   A few days later Preston's friend Matt came to town for a wedding. We had talked to him and worked out that we were going to buy his old SLR camera from him. My current plan is to go into photography. I've been practicing a lot with my little Kodak but it can only do so much. This thing is AWESOME! I've been working with Photoshop a lot too (mostly teaching myself how to use it). I can't wait to get started! Let me know if you want me to practice on you and you'll probably come out of it with some free pictures. I hoping that by the end of the year I'll feel confident enough with my work to start a business. The camera is a digital SLR Rebel XT. I LOVE it!
   This year we finally got a later time for church. It was at 8AM when we moved in when I was pregnant, and they kept the 8AM over through the next year. In December they announced that we were moving to 1PM church. I would have preferred like 10 or 11 but hey sleeping in is good too! Yay! On our second Sunday the whole stake had a great big meeting in the evening. Dun-da-dun! They tell us that they are rearranging all of the ward boundaries and adding a new ward to the stake! So we went and ... THEY CHOPPED OUR WARD IN HALF!!! They added a little of another ward to ours and gave us a new name. We were the Lindsay Ward in the Hermosa Vista Stake before and now we are the Lehi Crossing Ward. I like it. It feels right, ya know? It was sad to know I won't be seeing so many of the people I had finally gotten to know every Sunday, but now I get to meet a bunch of new ones! The 3rd Sunday of the year we attended our new ward for the first time and finally got to really see who we knew and didn't know. Guess what time it started? Nope, 8:30! We moved a whole half an hour later.... woo.... woo.... Here's the strange and magical part: Preston only needed an extra half an hour to sleep and then get ready for church so we were actually on time! Amazing! (Let the rolling of the eyes commence.)
   And my final topic in my whole catch up series... Drumroll please.... I'm on a new diet! *cricket, cricket*......... Yeah, yeah I know. Hear me out, k? I started this thing on the 12th. Today is 27th. That's 15 days. I have lost 18 pounds!!! Oh. Yeah. Don't freak out, it's safe, I checked. It's called the hCG Diet. The original protocol was developed in the 50's by a Dr. Simeons. He wrote a pamphlet/small book called Pounds and Inches (click for the original protocol) that explains in detail what it is and how it works. The terminology and science are outdated but the method is sound and works very well. It has sort of evolved since then too making it a lot easier for an average person to use it. HCG is the hormone that at home pregnancy tests read. I've been taking drops of the hormone and have adjusted my diet to fake out my body to think I am pregnant. In a pregnant woman hCG makes her stored fat available as nutrients for the baby. This is why a baby can survive the first three months of pregnancy when many women can barely keep anything in their stomachs. I have been eating a very strict and semi-complicated diet of 500 calories a day. I feel great! The hormone acts as a appetite suppressant so I haven't felt as hungry as I thought I might. I've been living off my own stored fat instead. One of the big differences between this and other diets is on a regular diet your structural fat generally goes first and people tend to look drawn and haggard. With hCG your structural fat is untouched. One of the really cool parts of it is that it's self restricting. You cannot lose more than what your DNA predetermined you should weigh. Everyone keeps asking about it so I've added a link for the original protocol. If you want more let me know and I can send you an e-mail with everything.

This is the picture hanging on my fridge giving me inspiration to not eat what I can't have. I'm like 13-14 in this picture. I'm aiming to have that waistline again!
Wow I didn't mean for that to turn into some kind of sales pitch, it's just that when you tell someone hey I'm taking a hormone, eating only 500 calories, and losing weight ridiculously fast they tend to worry about your mental health. Soon there will be a before and after picture on here to show you my progress. Not right away because while I'm doing good, I still have a lot to go! But 18 pounds!?!? It's just falling off of me! Everyone can already see a difference and I am loving it! My plan is to do two 6 week rounds of the diet with the required 6 week maintenance phase in between and then... we will try for our second baby! This time I won't be a fat blob who through the first 6 months people wonder "Is she pregnant or fat?" Nope, I'm gonna be one of those cute ones with a baby bump! Oh yeah!
Oh my goodness!!! Preston just called me (seriously just NOW) with the most fantastic news!!! It makes the 2 pounds I lost this morning sound like having chocolate ice cram compared to taking a vacation in Hawaii. I'm not allowed to announce it yet as it needs a lid on it for now in case certain people read my blog. But it's sooooo exciting!!! Don't worry I will tell you as soon as I'm allowed! How's that for a little suspense?

Catching up... Part 1

2010-01-26T20:56:00.004-07:00

   I know it's nearly February but I haven't gotten the chance to tell you all about Christmas! It was a unique Christmas compared to all the others Preston and I have had since we got married.
   The weekend before Christmas itself, Preston, Chloe, the puppies and I all went to Heber to visit. It was one of the off years when not everyone can make it there to visit so we thought it would be fun to go by ourselves. It was nice to just take the dogs too instead of leaving them here with Preston's parents. For once I knew they wouldn't bug anyone (cept my dad and their evil cat Satan Savannah) and I knew they wouldn't get eaten by Moose (my brother Louis's monster sized dog aka: a mastiff). I got some long tie downs for the dogs to play outside without me having to worry about them. Course I did anyways cause it was so stinkin' cold up there. We really enjoyed ourselves relaxing and enjoying dad's cooking..... Mmmm.... Homemade Pizza!
   On our way back home from Heber we stopped in Payson for the Pitterle Family Christmas Party. There was lots of yummy mexican food (as is our usual tradition) and we played that white elephant gift exchange game everyone always plays (another tradition).

(My uncle Brian and his son Mason-->)
We ended up with 2 games: Disney Scene It, and Banana Gram??? I guess it's like Scrabble, whatever. This time I knew to avoid the rum cake. (One year I had it thinking it was just my Grandma Mum's wonderful (edible) fruit cake, but was told afterwards that it was also soaked in rum, oops! Guess who had a low tolerance and got tipsy?)
Christmas started Christmas Eve for us (kinda on accident?). We decided to hang out with Preston's family that night because we were going to start our day at my mom's house two streets over. My mom called us and told us to come open presents because Selena and Josh couldn't wait any longer (spoiled brats goofballs). So we headed on over and opened presents till about 3AM. Chloe was STILL AWAKE! She loved all the toys Grandma Gaye got for her!

The next morning afternoon we had our own little Christmas under our own tree. We dilly dallied around for a bit then got dressed, and went over to Preston's family. Once again, Chloe was showered in presents! A few hours later we went back to my mom's house for the Cheney Family Christmas Party. That was a lot of fun too. We played 20 questions with my cousins and ate yummy mashed potatoes and gravy! There was other food too but the highlight for me is always the spuds, so everything else is forgotten!

The next day, we went to my sister Lori's house to have yet another Christmas party (The Pitterle/Hinchey Christmas Party)! There were more potatoes and gravy and Patty burned the green beans. No one was sad to see them go but she scraped off the burnt part and saved them. We exchanged presents and I got a cute new purse! It was so nice to see all my siblings again (I see them about once a year).
Ok, this is getting long so I'm gonna stop here and start on another post. Hope you don't mind but we've had a lot going on!

Meet Claire!

2009-12-13T17:47:00.003-07:00

To start off, this had nothing to do with the title yet, so dont get confused. I know it's been a while since Chloe's birthday but I never posted on here about it. The party was a success and Chloe loved her cake and presents! Thank you to everyone that came and everyone that wasn't able to come we missed you! She had a princess cake that I baked and my mom decorated. She did an excellent job on it considering it's been years since she's decorated a cake! Chloe got some clothes that are SUPER cute and warm for winter, a doll that can take a bath with her and a singing purse with all the accessories! We had lots of yummy food and some of Chloe's friends even came! Miles, October, and Breena!

Last week Chloe and I went Christmas shopping with my mom and Selena. While we were at the mall we got Chloe's ears pierced! I meant to do it when she was only a couple months old but never got to it and figured she would mess with them too much now. I had kinda decided that we would just wait until she was older and she wanted it done. While we were at the mall we went into a Claire's (still nothing to do with the title) and got into a conversation with another lady there about when is a good time to pierce a baby's ears. After a little while my mom offered to pay for it, and well.... why turn that down??? To my surprise she's done VERY well with them and has hardly even noticed them. She's so cute!!! She was beyond cute before but the earrings just add to the cuteness! They are little pink daisies, here's a picture:

Last night was Preston's work Christmas party. We had a lot of fun! They had valet parking, casino tables, an open bar, hors devours and a dance floor. I wore a little black dress I bought for it and did my hair like a 1930's pin-up. Woo!!! I was hot stuff! Well my hair turned out really good anyways, but I'm fat so it ruined the hot stuff effect. Oh well, I felt cute so, it was enough. There was a $20 buy in for the casino and that got one person $500 in chips. There was no return on the chips and the three people with the highest amount in chips won a cash prize of around $100. We played Black Jack all night and had a blast losing! Well I lost all mine and Preston did pretty decent considering he had never played before. Neither of us won but, it didn't matter. The open bar (free drinks all night) didn't have many non-alcoholic options, so we ended up drinking a half and half mix of Red Bull and cranberry juice. It was surprisingly tasty. As we left we discovered that the music they had blaring until 11:30 had prompted the neighbors to call the police. One of the business owners was out front but too drunk to really have a serious conversation. We couldn't stop laughing once we got in our car! I've never been to a party that got crashed by the police before. It turned out that they forgot to notify the neighbors that there was going to be a party with loud music. They throw the BEST parties!

And now..... Claire!

Yesterday afternoon (before the party, yes, it was a very busy but fun day) we went to Pet Smart to show Chloe the dogs up for adoption and accidentally fell in love! I have been considering getting a little playmate for Charlie for a couple months but figured we would start looking sometime in the middle next year. She was curled up in the middle of her cage just like Charlie was when we found him. She's about the same size as Charlie and has the same puppy eyes he does. Her name was Leah but we changed it because I had decided that our second dog would be a little girl named Claire a while ago. If you've seen Lost, you know why. Charlie and Claire are my favorite couple on that show! He's already fallen in love with her. I don't think he's caught on that she's here to stay yet but they are going to be very close friends! She's about 8 months old and Charlie finally has someone with his energy level that can wear him out! They even look a lot alike except she has a few brown markings, and they both weigh 10 1/2 pounds. Our family of 4 has grown to 5!

My In-Laws New Neighbor!

2009-11-07T16:48:00.003-07:00

Hi-ho!

We've had a busy week around here! We helped my mom move from Prescott to Mesa. Fun, fun fun! First, on Friday the 30th after Preston got off work we headed up to Prescott with the least amount of stuff we could stand to travel with! So basically it consisted of a play pen, a high chair, bunches of toys, baby food, baby clothes, diapers and single changes of clothes for ourselves and like... our toothbrushes.

Halloween morning, my mom and Preston went to the U-haul place to get the truck. They rented the biggest one they have available. We spent ALL day loading it and Grandad (my mom's dad) worked the jigsaw puzzle of stacking crap on top of all the other crap. He had to actually take off the sliding glass door, both pieces, to get my mom's ginormous couches out! By the end of the day we had filled the truck completely full and my mom's Ford Escape loaded to the brim (including the fish)! The trunk of my Malibu was full of pantry food and the Volvo Josh borrowed from my dad had a few things and Winston their dog in it. It still wasn't everything! (Monday night they went back for the rest and came back on Tuesday morning.)

That night we left Prescott at like 7:30, and I drove all by myself in the dark from Prescott to Mesa for the first time ever and didn't get lost!!!! Yay me! That was the point I was working up to. The rest is all blah blah blah about unpacking and unloading and nothing really interesting happened other than that... so... Yay my mom lives in Mesa now!!! In the same neighborhood that Preston grew up in! Christmas is going to be so convenient! It takes 15 minutes instead of an hour and 45 minutes to drive to see her.

Oh and my little baby, my little newborn baby that I just brought home from the hospital a few weeks ago, my sweet baby I JUST gave birth to... is turning ONE in 11 days!!! ELEVEN DAYS!!! WHAT the...??? Who hit fast forward??? She is up down and all around these days! She hasn't started walking but I know she could if she wanted to. We put her in the walker and she stands up in it and goes without leaning on it more than it takes to push it forward to move with her. We hold her hands to let her walk while holding onto us and while she is holding on with the death grip she almost never pulls or starts to fall. She's just unsure of herself. It's ok though, my stuff can live that much longer!

We are having her birthday party at my mom's new house. I plan to dress her all up ballerina/princess style! I made a pink and white tutu with the pink as the bottom layer and the while on top with little flowerettes and ribbons. I made a matching bow to clip onto her headband and I'm gonna put her in a white long sleeved onesie. Now I just need little sparkly necklaces and bracelets and maybe some little pink shoes! I'm so excited! My mom is making the cake too, and she makes beautiful cakes!

I know it's not much of an update but I'm scraping my brain for something so that everyone can see my new header I made. I made each turkey with our hands and then scanned them into the computer individually. I'm stoked it turned out so cute! In case you're wondering what the words are on the smallest one it's "Chloe Turkey". I know it's kinda small.

Anyways... I'm done! Bye!

Hello! I'm still here!

2009-10-17T21:00:00.002-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm back!

Sorry I fell off the planet there for a while. Let me esplain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up...

To be totally honest, I got depressed. I lost interest in just about everything, cept Chloe. She's been my only link to sanity lately. It's hard to even pretend to write happy just to update a blog. It happens to everyone. I started seeing a therapist and made (and still am making) some changes. I've also discovered a lot about myself too. I've learned that if I don't like something all I have to do is open my mouth and say something. I started exercising and I actually like it! I quit buying junk food and instead have a small out of sight, out of mind, stash of chocolate for those cravings that refuse to leave me in peace and cause me to tear apart my kitchen looking for anything that even resembles chocolate.

It all started with stress. I was babysitting October for Brittany for a while and it just got to be too much. I love that baby girl but she's a high maintenance kid at least compared to Chloe who is ridiculously low maintenance. Not only that but taking care of two babies under one is hard. I have no idea how people with twins and more do it! Kudos to you if you have!!!

The next blow was my Uncle Frank's funeral. We weren't ever close but I was always close with my Aunt Therese and my cousin Nancy. It was hard for our whole family. He was the Fire Marshal Chief of the Salt River Fire Department. He died from leukemia at 41, and he was diagnosed at the age of 21. I think he had been in remission twice. The funeral was very grand and beautiful, with 27 fire trucks, probably 50 ambulances and hundreds of police vehicles. There was a wall of blue about 50 feet long at the graveside and a final call over the police radio that brought everyone to tears. Someone found a blog entry about it for the family and here is the fire department's memorial online. Just in case you wanted to know more.

A month later we had another funeral. This one was for Cory Jenkins. Preston was in the same ward and was good friends with him and his younger brother growing up. I had only met him once or twice before but it was still very emotional. He died in Afghanistan an had a 10 week old daughter Reagan. They had a 21 gun salute and played taps at the graveside and folded two flags for his mother and wife Brooke. Here is an AZ central article about him.

Now to bring this thing around to what we've all been waiting for! CHLOE!!! And me! Basically what's been going on around here. We're gonna do this list style (or at least I'm gonna try) because there's so much to get through.

Aug 14: I got a blackberry! It has GPS and it's wonderful because I haven't gotten lost since then!

Aug 17th: Preston called me from work and, very much like a kid in high school, asked me out on a date! That night he came home with two roses (one red, one white) and we took Chloe to the in-laws and went to dinner at the Olive Garden. I needed that so bad!

Aug 20: Chloe had a doctors appointment. She was 29 inches (90th percentile) and 20lbs 7oz (75th percentile). Tall and skinny!

Aug 21st: I was watching her crawl around and she sat herself up all by herself! I couldn't believe it!

Aug 27th: I had a smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe (I highly recommend the Pomegranate Plunge with kiwi replacing the bananas!) I was giving Chloe little tastes by getting a little in the straw with my finger over the end of it but that wasn't fast enough for her so I just put the straw in her mouth and she just sucked it right up! I had no idea she was going to be able to to that!

Sept 13th: Chloe broke her first tooth finally!!! Bottom right. It's a sharp little sucker too! I found it at church (well after church) mid conversation with someone. Yelled out "It broke through!" in the middle of a sentence. As of right now there is a growing bump right next to it on the left. Maybe by her birthday she'll have two!

Sept 20th: Chloe's first spaghetti dinner. Also the first dinner she fed herself! See pictures:

Sept 22nd: Had a boring adventure! Left the house to go get drinking water and to fill the car with gas. I made it .6 miles from my house and put-putted to a stop. If you know where I live, that's not even all the way to Val Vista! Lora Linn and Meredith came to my rescue w ith a gallon of gas!

Sept 26th: Patty called me to tell me she wasn't going to be able to make it to the valley to see the play she had tickets for and asked if I wanted them. Heck yeah! Meredith and I went to see Legally Blonde at Gammage! Lots of fun! Great play but the intro song WILL get stuck in your head and it feels like the only way to remove it would be to remove your head!

Oct 1st: In celebration of my favorite month and the fact that I could open the door to let the dog out and not deep fry, I went for a walk! (I'm also sick of being fat!) It was wondrous! I walked .3 miles from my house but I count it as .6 total!

Oct 7th: Got ambitious and 1.2 miles up the road from my house, 2.4 total! I took Charlie with me that time (he thinks I was trying to kill him or something). I'm very proud of myself!

Oct 6th: Preston stood Chloe up facing away from him and she actually balanced herself using her toes and moving her weight. It kinda freaked her out when she realized she was on her own like that and hasn't done it since, but I did snap a picture with my trusty little Blackberry that night.

Oct 12th: Another call from Patty to tell me my brother Adam was in the ICU with what they think was swine flu. The test results take three weeks to get back so we still don't know. He's fine now, by the way!

Oct 14th: My mom and Selena found a house they both love. (Back story: My mom needs to move to the valley for work and school. She's been looking for about a month now.) They put in a rental application and got accepted! The house is right around the corner from Preston's parents. Like literally three turns in the neighborhood! Christmas is going to be so much more convenient!!!

Oct 16th: Ordered Chloe's Halloween costume on Amazon. Crossing my fingers it doesn't get held up in the mail system. I'll post pictures of her in it when it gets here! (Hint: it's Disney)

That's it for my list of everything that's happened since my last post!

My little monkey is growing like a weed! She pulls herself up on the couch, in her playpen, in her crib (which she jumped out of the other morning) and on my leg. She will walk along the sides of the couch or playpen and now when she is in her playpen she's started throwing her toys out of it. She can have all the toys out after 10 minutes in the playpen except for the big heavy ones she can't pick up with one hand!

We went to Breena's (Bridget's baby girl) 1st Birthday party last weekend and Chloe saw her walking all over the place and ever since then she'll let go of what she's holding onto, realize what she's done and either grab it again or land on her bum.

She's also started imitating my motions in just the last couple days. She always does this thing that I love where she throws her hands up with her palms up and makes a "eh?" or a "huh?" noise like she's asking a question. I always do it when I'm asking her where the doggie is and she repeats the noise and looks for him but never does the hand motion. Last night she did and it was soooo hilarious! I did it like 5 more times after that and have been doing all day today too. I clap and cheer every time she does it and she claps too. I seriously have the cutest kid in the world. Yes, I am biased!

Well... I've taken up enough of your time, if anyone even made it to the end. Hopefully, you'll hear from me again in the next couple days.

Amy Lynn

Officially Moving Forward!!!

2009-08-06T21:37:00.001-07:00

Chloe just really started moving around today! I'm in trouble!

If You Could Talk with the Animals

2009-08-04T16:00:00.007-07:00

Hello all,

I know it's been simply forEVER since I've updated this thing. I've been out of it and not myself lately. I'm starting to get back to my old self again. Thank goodness! We all get like that, I'm sure.

Chloe is doing great! Getting bigger and bigger every day. She sits up without falling over at all unless it's on purpose. She's not crawling yet but somehow is all over the place putting everything she can pick up in her mouth: her toys, the dogs toys, my shoes, my phone, October's foot, October's pacifier that's still attached to her sleeve. You know, the usual. She rolls and rolls for the major travel but otherwise scoots backwards and then spins on her belly to reach what she was after. She can go forward but it's pretty slow. She reaches with one hand and rocks on her side and when that's not enough she reaches with the other hand and rocks to the other side all the while pushing on the ground with her little toes. She'll get up on her hands and knees like she's gonna just start crawling but then she just bounces and then throws herself on the floor. Sometimes she goes forward and sometimes she goes backwards. She's so much fun to watch.

She's taken a header off my bed three times now. I swear I watch her like a hawk! She's just too quick sometimes. She hasn't gotten hurt falling, yet. I don't let her take naps on my bed anymore unless I'm snuggling with her. I can put every pillow in the house around her on that bed and check on her every 2 minutes and she will still wiggle out of them and jump off the bed. I dragged the playpen into my room for nap time for her during the day. Little stinker!!!

She's discovered how to spit copious amounts of drool and thinks it's hilarious. Preston and I went to BJ's for dinner and we took her with us because she can now use the highchairs in the restaurants. When our food got to the table, little Miss Quick-Hands-with-Long-Arms had her little paws in our food before the waiter had even let go of the dish himself. Poor guy! We had him bring out some oyster crackers for her to eat so she'd stay out of our food. That worked! She loved those things! Anyways, as she's eating and throwing food on the ground and getting the stuff everywhere Preston thinks it would be funny to blow a raspberry at her to get her going. Fortunately, I stopped him before she caught on and made the real mess.

We think she's left handed. When she eats stuff like cheerios, with her right hand she'll grab the food into her little fist and with her left make a perfect pincer grasp. She can still eat with both hands but the finer motions are usually with her left. It'll be fun to see how that turns out. If she is left handed I'll have a hard time teaching her how to write.

We finally broke down and got a video camera. Now she will not only have more baby pictures than any other kid that ever lived but she will also have her childhood on video. Who needs a memory anymore? But really it's great cause now I can SHOW you things like how she gets stuck under the entertainment center. I don't' actually have that one on video but I do have tons of pictures. She just back up under it till she couldn't got any further and started to cry. I do however have this great video of her talking to Charlie. Not in people or baby talk mind you, but in HIS language. Pay close attention to the noises she makes.

What's the doggie say? *cough* *cough*

Going, going... gone.

2009-06-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

I took these a little while ago and have been meaning to post them here cause they were so cute! We have a new first! Chloe's first time falling asleep while eating:

A week in the life of the Fosters

2009-05-30T10:12:00.001-07:00

On the 19th this month Chloe had her 6 month doctors appointment. She weighed in at 18lbs 13oz and she's 27 1/4 inches long. On the growth chart she's a big kid. Still in the 90-95%! She did much better with her shots this time! I didn't even have time to tear up. I was playing with her before they stuck her and she almost didn't notice the first one. The second one, however, is the one that hurts as it goes in. She started screaming right as I received a text. It reminded me that she'll do anything to get my shiny purple phone in her mouth. So I popped it open and instantly she forgot she was in pain! Yay Chloe! Normally I keep a hold of it to prevent the seizure it has whenever it gets wet but this time I figured the spaz attack later was worth the happy baby now. I let her play with it all the way to Grandma and Grandpa Fosters house! I think it also helped that I gave her the baby Tylenol about 10 minutes before the shots instead of waiting for Crabby Chloe to make her usual post shots appearance. I love drugs!!! (Oh you know what I mean!!!)

On the 23rd, we went to a reception (it's wedding season again!) for one of Preston's friends from MCC (he also went to high school with one of her brothers and MCC with another one of her brothers). It was a very well done backyard reception. Lime green, black and white with a live band and dance floor, lots of yummy food and a lime green drink that exactly matched the decor. Anyway we were eating some really yummy cake at a small standing table (it's tall without chairs so you can just stand around it) off to the side of the dance floor. There were a bunch of kids running around and dancing on the dance floor and we were having fun feeding Chloe frosting and watching them play. At one point I was looking down at my cake trying to get a little bit of the frosting on fork for Chloe when I heard a woman scream "AMMON!!!" I turned my head to see a little boy standing next to me with his pants around his ankles and his underwear coming down fast! Obviously uncontrollable laughing ensued! His mom, I assume as she was the one that screamed "AMMON!", came running over yanked his pants back up and scooped him up and ran into the house. I guess he had to pee. Who needs a toilet when you're a boy and have a whole backyard at your dispense??? Preston was laughing and said "Oh, I can't wait!" I hope he meant that because he'll be the red faced parent yanking up the pants in a public place (I hope)!

Chloe was so tired while we were there. She had refused to take a full nap all day and couldn't hardly keep her eyes open after a while. She held them open as long as she could because there was so much to see with all those kids running around. I got a great picture of Preston and her together, though she looks so tired.
Like 5 minutes after I took that picture though she zonked out. Poor kid. It's clear how tired she was because she never falls asleep sitting up like that. She'll never sleep over my shoulder, only laying down in my arms like a newborn. There's always something to see when she sitting up!

We stopped at the Foster's house on the way home to let them see Chloe for a bit since we were already nearby. Chloe had a bottle there and fell asleep on the way home. I didn't even change her clothes and she barely woke up when I put her in the crib. (Sorry, I had to explain why she is wearing the same clothes in two pictures with dates on them that are one right after the other.) I took this the next morning when I went in to get her up for church on Sunday. This is the morning stretch and smile! She's such a morning person!On Memorial day, we had my sister Selena over and Preston had promised her we would go and play laser tag the next time she came down from Prescott. Brittany K and my brother Louis joined us. We had a ton of fun! I have to admit it was the most exercise I've gotten in one go for a while mostly cause we did 3 rounds!

Afterwords everyone came over for ice cream and some Mario Kart and Boom Blox (super fun Wii game developed by Spielberg). Meredith came over too to bring Chloe home because she had been babysitting while we played laser tag. Brittany left for a while to spend some time with her family and October but ended up coming back for more fun with the Fosters! She brought Tober with her and we got some cute pictures of them in matching onesies. In this one Chloe is on the left and Tober is on the right.
They looked so cute looking up at us. Well, Chloe was looking up, Tober turned out to be stuck like that cause she couldn't lift her head back up. Poor baby!
And this one turned out to be the only on with both of them looking at the camera. Notice the matching onesies!
Yesterday Chloe played... (well, I buried her in toys and she gave me this look that kinda says "Mom... really? Why?"
While I walked on the treadmill (that Preston told my mom he wanted after I had said no because there is nowhere to put it in our cluttered little house) and played Mario Kart. The idea popped into my head as I was falling asleep the night before. I hate walking on treadmills. No! I loathe it! Watching movies doesn't even cut it for me. I can't focus on the movie at all, just how much I hate the treadmill I'm on. And to be honest, it's kinda hot outside now and I'm a wuss that likes to keep my house at arctic temps. Well I was thinking the night before how playing video games kinda require a little more focus than a movie or TV show, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It worked!!! For the most part...

See, I'm one of those people that has to lean when I turn a corner while playing a racing game. I learned yesterday that leaning while walking has the tendency to throw your balance off... Yeah. It would have been funny to watch me in the first place walking and playing and even funnier to watch me fall off the treadmill too. This picture is of the display on the treadmill when I finished. I thought 29 minutes was pretty good considering Chloe kept crying and making me stop and I haven't done that much in a long time. Yesterday was the experiment and it was a success! Look out! Here comes the new and improved diet plan!!! Video games!!! Boo-ya!!! To celebrate my wonderful discovery on how I, too, can enjoy the treadmill, I made cookies! Yeah, well... Two steps forward, one step back, right? Bite me! I did mean to have leftovers for Preston but, uh, that didn't last long. At least I only made six in the first place right?!? Notice my Burger King Spock cup! Sweet right? Yeah, I'm awesome like that!

Happy 6 Month Birthday Chloe!

2009-05-18T22:05:00.004-07:00

Today was Chloe's 6 month birthday! I can't believe it's already been 6 months!!! Where did the time go? My baby isn't going to be a baby very much longer huh? I better stop blinking. But the thing is I really do soak in every moment with her, so I don't understand why it's the middle of May and she's 6 months old.

I also recently noticed that she's growing a little more hair lately and her little bald spot on the back of her head is starting to fill in! Yay!

I took pictures of her today to commemorate her halfway mark and noticed that she's starting to look more and more familiar. I dug through some old pictures and figured out why. So here goes... Like Father Like Daughter:

And here we have... Like Mother Like Daughter:

I love that she has her father's grin and her mama's crinkle eyes when she smiles. And I got those from my dad. Too bad she didn't get my dimple! Maybe my next kid. I love this baby girl!

She's getting more and more coordinated and I swear she reads my e-mails... And what I mean by that is I get these e-mails from BabyCenter.com and they will tell me about another milestone or development that I should look for in the next week or two if I haven't already seen it. For example I got one that said my baby should be able to hold a bottle on her own. The next bottle I gave her, she grabbed and held it in her mouth till it was gone. Oh and as an update on the whole rolling over thing. She finally rolled from her tummy to her back but it was more of an accident that I tricked her into. She definitely has her own agenda or schedule or whatever you want to call it. Little stinker!

She's so much fun to play with now too. She will clinch her eyes shut when you blow on her tummy, and laugh when you make a funny noise, or if I just grin at her really big she'll grin really big back at me. We just have too much fun together! I love her so much I just can't stand it sometimes!!! Ha ha! I hugged her so tight today that she barfed on me. I love watching her grow and learn but I wish I could slow down time because it's going too fast!

I better go now. It's way past bedtime and Chloe wakes up with the sun now and the sun comes up before God turns on the air in the summer. I need to get some blackout curtains for her room! Goodnight!

Roll Over Beethoven!

2009-05-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

This morning I was laying in bed with Chloe. (When Daddy leaves in the morning he brings Chloe into our bed so we can snuggle.) She had woken up and was kicking me in the stomach (I guess she misses the good ole' days) so I moved her a little away from me towards the middle of the bed. I took my phone off my nightstand and was checking to see if I had any messages. Chloe reached for the phone and I was floored when she ended up on her stomach! I couldn't believe it! I thought it had to be the incline from me laying on the bed with her. I was still excited because before she would always catch herself from going all the way over. So we both moved to the middle of the bed and I moved away from her so I couldn't interfere. I grabbed the camera and I put the phone in her little hand. This is what happened!

Just to be sure I flipped her back over and we tried again. This is proof it wasn't just a one time fluke!

Yay Chloe! My big girl!

PS. This is the VERY first time she has EVER rolled over. She won't even try to roll from front to back. I tried to use the phone to get her to but she caught herself and wouldn't go nearly as far the next time.

Sneeze

2009-05-04T13:13:00.002-07:00

Bless you.
Need I say more?

The Morning Rain

2009-05-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

I have a quick funny story to tell:

This morning I fed Chloe breakfast. I got her in the Bumbo, put the tray on and prepared some rice cereal and mashed bananas. Yum!

I am always surprised when I feed her how much she can pack away before she lets me know she's full. I always make too much so I can save some for later for faster prep. So, we're shoveling food and little miss decides she wants to try out being independent (this isn't the story but it's kinda funny too) and try feeding herself. She's only 5 1/2 months! I cleaned off the spoon, her face, and tray and removed the bowl of food. I gave her the spoon, and she, in a very coordinated way for a 5 month old, took the spoon and scraped it across the tray and put it in her mouth. I was floored! My baby is trying to grow up too fast. The only thing she's behind on right now is that she still hasn't rolled over yet. I know she could if she tried but she won't try. She has the muscle and the ability just not the know how, or curiosity, or whatever it is to try. The funny thing is she can sit up on her own for about 10-20 seconds unsupported now. She'll be walking before she learns to roll over.

Back to my funny story... So we're shoveling food into her little mouth and on one particular bite she didn't swallow but opened her mouth for another bite and I put another one in. Little ham. Then she does that pre-sneeze breathing thing and I'm like "Oh No!". And she sneezes.

Rice cereal sprays everywhere! I caught about half of it of course being right in front of her. The other half of it landed on the tray. I quickly started to clean it up before she started to play in it. And she sneezed... again. Lovely. More spray. Most of this one landed on me because the bits were smaller. Nice. Just for good measure she sneezed one more time but I was ready with a napkin in front of her mouth. Ha! I win! Too late, but yeah.

That's my funny story. It made me laugh, hope you did too!

Happy Birthday to Preston!!!

2009-04-25T17:54:00.004-07:00

Preston's birthday was on the 18th of April. He turned 27! He doesn't like how close that is to 30. Poor guy! But we had a good day nevertheless!

The night before the big day Preston and I finished something we started on August 25, 2006! That's 2 years and 8 months! Wanna know what it was? Are you sure? You might roll your eyes... Ok, I warned you.

We finished watching all of the Star Trek series. Seriously. We started with the Original Series with Kirk, then The Next Generation with Picard, after that we skipped ahead to Enterprise with Archer (it takes place before all of them), we started Deep Space Nine with Sisko while we were still working on Enterprise, and finally we finished with Voyager and Captain Janeway. I am officially a nerd. Thanks Preston. The sad part? I really got into it and enjoyed it! I get all the jokes now too! It's totally awesome when someone makes an obscure reference to Klingons and I get what they are saying!!!

So for Preston's birthday we went down to the AZ Science Center to the Star Trek Exhibit they have there. It was so sweet! Knowing what everything was and noticing the indiscrepancies in the replicas and examining the details of the real stuff. We weren't allowed to take pictures in it but they had photographers there and I got the one I really really wanted. This:

Freaking awesome right??? (In my best Crush-from-Finding-Nemo voice (head nodding included)) Chloe in the captain's chair.

Preston liked his presents. I gave him The Fountain (his favorite movie) and a iTunes gift card. His parents gave him a bunch of stuff too. As well as a nice dinner at B.J.'s, mmmmm...

The Grandparents and their baby's.

Of course no post is complete without a melt-your-heart-super-cute picture of Chloe! I love this kid! She's not rolling over yet but she loves to talk. And sing! She sings to the music I play in the car now! I love it. We sing at the top of our lungs in the car together now! I almost cried the first time she did it and actually was hitting some of the notes. My baby didn't get her singing genes from her father!!! YAY!

Doin' the Hokey Pokey...

2009-04-08T14:45:00.001-07:00

Ok, that title sounded kinda bad... or was that just me? Anyways... I was getting a bottle for Chloe this morning while she was sitting in her bumbo on the table waiting for me. I started walking towards her while I was shaking it and it made me think of the hokey pokey, so I started singing it. She laughed when I spun around, clapped my hands and threw my leg up in the air. So I did it again, and again... and like 5 more times after that. She was laughing so hard and it made me laugh and all was wonderful!

Meredith came over a few hours later so we made a video... enjoy!

WARNING: Chloe's laughter is EXTREMELY contagious!

Getting what I want...

2009-04-08T12:05:00.002-07:00

After very little agonizing on my part about chopping off my hair, I picked a haircut and called a friend. Every time before now when I thought I might want to cut my hair I would make the decision very slowly. First I had to be absolutely sure I wanted to cut it at all. Then I would agonize over several pictures and ask everyone and their dog which one they thought I should get before finally picking one. Then I would take my time getting around to asking someone to cut it for me.

This time I blogged and the next day ~~called~~ texted a friend and she came over a day or two later. Of the few pictures I had selected this was the favorite of the friends that commented and me.
My beautiful hair!!! Soon to be someone else's beautiful hair! I hope they like it. I sure did.

Well anyways I made a discovery... apparently it's hard for a friend to cut off that much hair on someone who has as much thick beautiful hair as me! I asked for that haircut and she said no at first so we compromised. It was cute but not what I wanted. I wanted it really short this time. Not quite a pixie cut but not a bob either. I called another friend... She's amazing! It took awhile to get together to do it but we did yesterday and I love it!!! The night before I went to her house I also colored my hair. I have a favorite color that I LOVE. It's by Garnier and it's called Cherry Chocolate! I was sold on the name alone when I found it the first time. The great color was a perk that came with it!

It turned out great I think. And this is the final product... The first picture is the first haircut, cute but not short enough, and the second is me now...Yay! It's way cuter in person too! I love it!
Thanks to both Nici and Lynette for all the hard work they put into my hair! Love you guys!

Bad Day?

2009-04-03T20:58:00.006-07:00

Today I went to Costco. It took me 4 hours to get out of the house and go, but I went. Yay me! On the way back home with milk, grapes and some frozen food in my trunk, I decided to make a quick stop at JoAnn's Fabric to get some fleece to make a really girly little blanket for Chloe (I'm the only one who hasn't so far). I knew they were having a 50% off sale on exactly what I wanted too. So I stopped to check and get some if I found the perfect thing.

I turned off the car, pulled my wallet out of the diaper bag and put the bag behind the passengers seat (I was just going in really quick), opened my door, got out, opened Chloe's door, hit the lock button on mine and closed it. Then I put the keys and my wallet down on the seat to get Chloe's car seat out of the car. I pulled her out and managed to not wake her up, grabbed my wallet and shut the door.

I had a nice time shopping around looking at all the different patterns and I was torn between a few for a bit but gave up and went with what I liked the best (she won't care, right?). I mean why wouldn't Amy Lynn's daughter have a blanket that looked like this???
So I paid for my fabric (11 bucks for 2 yards and a foot! Woot Woot!) and headed out to my car. As I approached the car I reached into my pocket and my heart stopped... Where were my keys?!? I checked the other pocket as I looked in the back door window. CRAP! There they were. Just waiting for me to grab them when I grabbed my wallet to go inside.

Fortunately my in-laws live close by and they came to pick me up AND I had the car seat on the outside of the car. The UNfortunate part was I locked the diaper bag in the car... No diapers, bottle, formula... Nothing! Well, they had diapers from when they had her while we were sick recently, and formula, but no bottles. So we made a quick stop at a Walgreen's to get one. Everything turned out ok. Thank goodness!

Oh but the fun didn't end there!!!

Preston stopped at their house on his way home and gave me his keys so and yada yada yada (who cares how I got back?). So I'm in the car again... I get home and as I'm about to put the key in the door I notice a disturbing outline sitting on the door frame much to close for comfort to my hand. I quickly yanked my hand back and fumbled with my little flashlight on my key chain and confirm my fears. A very large icky spider that looked like it could eat 3 or 4 horse flies in one sitting was there right above the doorknob!!! I flicked it off with the envelope I had just pulled out of the mailbox and open the door.

MORE drama awaits me inside!!!!

There was ('was' being the key word) a bag of garbage sitting just inside the door because it hadn't made it outside yet (we get lazy... what can I say?) that I hadn't noticed on my haphazard way out the door (why, oh why, didn't I notice it???). Charlie apparently decided that there was too many wonderful things that smelled too good to stay on the inside of the plastic so he gave it back it's freedom... ALL... OVER... THE... HOUSE...................... (insert swear word here)!!!!!!!! Among his new found treasures were several diapers, junk mail soaked in something brown, and several unidentifiable little bits of ew mixed with some yuck and a bit of nasty sprinkled over the top. I'm sure he ate everything that once was leftovers but there was a smell that hazed over the top that I'm sure is what doggie heaven smells like. (I hope no one was eating while you read this, if so consider it a new type of diet and you're welcome!) Anyways... when I come home to a destroyed house the dog seems to mysteriously vanish. He knows he's in trouble before I even see it. This is my version of "Where's Waldo?" Only it's "Where's Charlie?" can you find him? I took this a while ago, when the sight of him was funnier to me than the mess was irritating. But it's all the same.

I usually feel bad to see him like this. I swear I don't ever hurt him but he has such a guilt conscience. I just wish it would kick in before he got into stuff! I didn't feel bad tonight. I told him (in my most evil deep voice... several times) he was a bad dog and put him outside. Then I sat down with Chloe and let her distract me from crying. She did the trick, she's just to cute to want to cry!

When Preston came home I told him I had a bad day and he cleaned up the WHOLE mess for me! I didn't even ask him to! (Weird, he must want something ;) ) I love you sweetheart!

I really don't understand why I am in such a good mood right now... after all that. That's weird too.

Mom. You're making weird faces again.

2009-03-26T12:15:00.002-07:00

On the 24th I sat down with Chloe and a borrowed Bumbo (thanks Brit!) cause I haven't gotten around to getting one of my own. I can't seem to decide on a color. Do I go for girly and cute or should I be savvy and get one in lime green so I can still use it when I have boys? I'll probably be
savvy and make myself happy in the future.

Anyways... I fed Chloe her first cereal on Tuesday afternoon. And her second that night. And TOTALLY FORGOT TO GET THE CAMERA OUT!!! I blame baby brain! I broke it out the next day though.

So that night as I was giving Chloe a bite, an image popped into my head... This image:And I started laughing hysterically! We all know and love this scene from The Incredibles, because it's so classic. I never realized how funny it was till then though, because when it popped in my head I was making the same EXACT face! Hence the commencement of spasmodic cachinnation*.

(*New vocabulary word: it means, to laugh.)

Here are my pictures of feeding time today. Here we have the classic "milk" mustache:

And here: the convenient side effect of using a hand towel instead of a bib:
She kept wiping her own face for me. Though the troublesome part was getting the fist back out of the mouth. But seriously, who doesn't love a kid that cleans up after herself?

I couldn't leave out the full body shot of her in the Bumbo with that towel around her. Because it went down so far on her, I had a ten second clean up when we were done. She wiped her face and I took off the towel and TA-DA! Clean baby!
Oh look look! Curly toes!!!

Decisions, Decisions...

2009-03-25T17:16:00.001-07:00

So... I've decided to chop my hair... again... and donate it to Locks of Love!

Why why why would I want to mutilate all the hard work and time my head put into growing it to my lower back over the last two years, you ask??? Well... Someone, or anyone for that matter forgot to tell me that when you have a baby your hair goes though different stages (ok, ok Bridget did tell me but I thought that I might be different cause my hair is so wonderful and generally perfect). Long scientific explanation cut short: Your hair gets thicker while pregnant and back to normal(ish) about 4-6 months after childbirth. Yippie. *monotone voice*

So, because of this *sniff* (I can't avoid the word anymore) hair loss I am shedding more than a Shetland Sheepdog! I run my fingers through my hair and come out with what seems to me like a handful on my hand. Chloe's fingers and toes seem to always have hair entwined in them. I ALWAYS feel like I have spiderwebs sticking to my shirt sides and tickling my arms. My shower drain is getting irritated with me. And, don't ask me how, but somehow, I really don't know how, hair finds it's way into my underwears... I know, gross! But it's the worst part of the whole thing! Oh and looking at my bed sheets? Yeah, well I make it look like we have an almost hairless dog. It's a tid bit ridiculous.

I read somewhere online that cutting your hair short makes the hair loss seem like it's not as bad or even normal. So that's what I'm going to do!

Next problem to solve: finding the right cut. I know I look cute with short hair, so I'm not worried about it being short. Just about finding the right one. I think I'll go a little shorter than I have before. Less of a bob and more of a pixieish look, like Alice on Twilight. Or not? I have a few ideas but I just don't know. What do you think?Or is it pretty much all the same haircut just done up differently?

Giant Baby

2009-03-25T13:30:00.001-07:00

Just thought I'd let you all know about Chloe's latest appointment with the doctor. She got two more shots and hated them. I, of course, teared up again when they did give her the shot. I hate the cry she gives when she's in pain. No surprises, but I think this kid is going to be a bit of a drama queen... She screamed when they gave her the initial shot and I got her calmed down after about 2 or 3 minutes. Then she looked a little confused for a minute and started screaming like they had just given her the shot again. We did this over again and it took me about 10 minutes to get her back to normal. Poor kid.

Anyways... Length: 26 3/4 inches= Upper 95% on the growth chart. Weight: 16 pounds 7 Ounces= 95% on the growth chart. Obvious conclusion: I have a large baby= No wonder I had to have a c-section!

She is seriously going to be taller than me by 10 maybe 11. That's when I stopped growing I hope she does too ESPECIALLY if she's taller than me by then. I keep telling Preston that our kids will be the ones hiding food from me on the top shelves in the kitchen. (If you've seen my cupboards you know that I can only reach the bottom two shelves. I can touch the front stuff on the third with the tips of my fingers. And the 4th? I can't believe there is a fourth considering my great grandma who had the place built, was shorter than me!) I guess I'll have to opt for locking the cupboards on the ground level.

Oh AND Dr. Allen cleared us to give Chloe baby cereal! Fun pictures coming soon!!! Yay!

Giggles and Chubba Lubbas!!!

2009-03-18T15:14:00.008-07:00

Hi there!

I'm feeling a bit guilty... I haven't been my usual blogging self lately... Obviously. Every time I get on here to check for updates I feel really bad that no one knows that Chloe laughs now! I took this video a while ago. Late February or early March; I can't remember. I know my aim is off in it and you can only see the top of her head for most of it. It takes a bit of dedication to get her to laugh and I couldn't spare my attention to keep her in the frame. But she does laugh! Right at the end there's a really good one! So turn up the volume! Oh and try to ignore my I'll-do-anything-to-make-the-baby-laugh-cause-I'm-a-mommy noises.

I also got some great shots of my little nekked chubba lubba. She's so cute! I love making her laugh. I've gotten her going a few time and have ended up laughing so hard that I have tears streaming down my face and I can't breathe. BEST MOMENTS EVER!!!

I love the little rolls on her wrists that make her hands look mismatched to her arms. Oh and her legs are like turkey legs now. I could jus eat em'!

Curly toes!!! I love this picture! With daddy in the background holding her. Her little feet are getting all fat now! She's such a chunk. I weighed her on my wii fit a couple weeks ago and she was 16 pounds. We have a doctors appointment tomorrow so we'll probably find out then that she's actually like 18 pounds! I really wouldn't be surprised.

Chloe loves the other baby in the mirror! Preston does this all the time and I laugh so hard. It cracks me up! Oh and please forgive my cackling like a crazy witch in the background at the end, mmkay?

Our friend Janna gave us this outfit the other day and I couldn't wait to get it on her and take pictures! So cute! Of course, it's more butterflies!

This picture turned out great too. Unexpectedly artistic. That's how I describe it. Aren't those shorts to die for??? Oh and once again... Curly toes!!!

"Are we done yet mom? I'm seein' spots!" I love my cute little baby girl! She's so fun to take pictures of!

Hope you enjoyed the videos and pictures and I feel better now too!

Amy Lynn

Butterflies!

2009-03-01T20:22:00.004-07:00

My sister in law Amy Jo sent this to me with my step mom Patty on Friday evening and I put it on Chloe on Saturday. Instant favorite!!! Although she's almost outgrown it already. *sniff, sniff, tear*

The Power of Paying Your Tithing...

2009-02-18T18:44:00.003-07:00

Recently Preston and I realized that we hadn't paid tithing for a while. It was one of those times where at first you justify (or at least try to) with"I'll make up for it next week cause I already spent everything I had" or "I forgot the checkbook" or "But we need the money to pay some bills". After a while of not doing it you get out of the habit and don't even think about it till someone mentions it in a talk or you see someone handing the bishop an envelope. Even then you kinda brush it off and try to ignore the guilty feeling that's attempting to tie a sailors knot with your intestines. We realized it had been a while when we went for tithing settlement in December. Suddenly it made sense why we were struggling so much!

We started paying every week again and things got better. On Fast Sunday I paid fast offering and prayed and fasted for financial help of some kind. THE VERY NEXT DAY Preston got a dollar raise! A week later we got our HUGE tax refund!

So yeah... I think I've learned a lesson here!

Oh hey, I'm trying something new. New is scary. So be nice to me. We'll see how it goes cause I'm still unsure about it. It's a new blog of mine. Mostly for myself cause I find it very therapeutic to write, so if you don't like it, DON'T TELL ME. If you do well that I would like to know about, or not if you don't want to tell me, lol. It's http://lovelife-behappy.blogspot.com/ .

I'll post more pictures of Chloe next post k? I don't have my camera or sd card with me right now, and I'm feeling too worn out from playing so much wii fit to get up and get it, sorry!

Look What Wii Got!!!

2009-02-16T19:13:00.006-07:00

So...Excellent news!!! We got our tax return back and unlike last year we didn't owe. In fact, because of our favorite little baby girl we got a lot back! So much that we thought we would have some fun AS WELL as taking care of some debt and bills. We did need a new computer or at least we will soon so we got this little Acer Netbook at Costco for $300. I love it! It's more technically mine since the last one was labeled Preston's. It's got an 8.9 inch screen and is perfect for me! I am blogging from it right now.
We also had so much fun last weekend in Prescott with my mom's Wii that we went ahead and got one and a Wii Fit. It's great! I keep wearing myself out on it (which is good cause I never exercise otherwise). Again, we LOVE it! Preston's pretty thrilled, he's been trying to get me to let him get a game console of any kind for a while now. This is the first one I've really wanted to play more than once in a great while.

On top of all that, we're trading in our old Kodak for a new one. The one we have was a replacement that I used my warranty on when my last one broke. When that happens you don't get another warranty on the replacement. Fortunately it hasn't broken yet, so before it does we are going to use Kodak's new exchange program and get reimbursed a little money for our old one and get a nicer brand new one WITH a warranty. This one... it's got HD and 14 megapixels and lots of cool new picture taking technology! It should be here by Wednesday or Thursday. Yay!!!

Oh and of course as always Chloe is getting cuter by the minute! Her shirt here says Caution: Frequent Leaks. Grandma Foster and Meredith found them right after me and Preston got married 3 years ago. They found them last week buried in a closet. There were two matching onesies that said the same thing so I gave one to my good friend Brittany for her baby (due in early March or now, whatever comes first).

Chloe wore this dress to church on Sunday. Not the hat because it didn't fit very well, but she looked so adorable. And EVERYONE said so. How did I get such a pretty baby? I can't wait to see what the rest of my kids will look like. Was this a fluke or will they all be gorgeous?

The red ribbon replaced the hat for church. I love dressing her up!!! I can't wait till she has hair to put into braids and piggy-tails!

The full ensemble. Her Grandma Foster made some little crochet shoes that are just like the socks. I was trying them both on to see which one fit better. Neither would stay on her long skinny feet! She ended up barefoot by the time I got to Relief Society. Stinker! She really does have her dad's feet! Oh, Oh! Her eyes are turning green!!! Just like mine!!!

I had my final OB appointment today, just a check up on my new birth control to make sure everything is normal and good. Before we left I made sure I got a picture of Dr./Brother Tutt holding Chloe (I never know what to call him). I need to be sure to send him a copy to put on his board in his office. He is such a great doctor. I highly recommend him to anyone having a baby!

Winter Wii-derland!

2009-02-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

My mom invited us up to Prescott for the weekend and for once we weren't busy. I guess that means the holiday busy season is over. The gifts have been given, the celebrations celebrated, the baby's been born, and decorations are down... Oh,wait... nope, tree's still standing... Hey, I have a baby now! Stop laughing at me! At least it's a cute tree!

Anyways... We went to Prescott and had so much fun! The original plan was to go to Out of Africa in Camp Verde but it was looking kinda FREEZING and rainyish outside so we opted out and had a nice warm day in.

Winston the fat wiener...

Instead of freezing our tushies off we played with my mom's brand new Wii and Fit. I WANT ONE NOW!!! And mom (Grandma Gaye) played with Chloe. Fun all around...

Early in the morning on the 8th we woke up to SNOW. So pretty! I haven't seen snow fall in a long time. I love how you feel like you are part of the snow globe instead of the one shaking it. I kept taking breaks from the Wii after it wore me out to go stand in the snow. It fell on and off all day. Every time it would stop I would get a little depressed, but then it would start again within an hour or two and I would go back outside to stand in it.

I didn't take Chloe out in it mostly because it was pretty cold and I didn't think I could pry her from Grandma Gaye's arms. She still had fun though. I kept putting her in her car seat near the TV while we played Wii and she loved watching the little characters and the bright moving colors.

Of course Charlie came along. Here he is , with Josh, playing his favorite game: tug-o-war/fetch/keep away. He doesn't really get the concept but it's alot more fun when he's on unfamiliar tile that's unavoidable. When he starts running at top speed, he doesn't move for a bit before actually taking off. It's like the cartoon of the roadrunner... Meep-meep!

Preston's jammies (that he never changed out of that entire day) were ever so appropriate for the day. Snowflake/Christmas bottoms with his Nintendo shirt (it says "Power Up")

That night mom grilled steak and Nannie and Grandad came over for dinner (my grandparents). We (them, my mom and me) played cards while Preston, Josh and Selena played more Wii. (That thing never got a break!) Great-Grandma-Nannie got to have a bunch of Chloe time which she was more than thrilled about.

Oh and Preston and Selena showed Grandad how to bowl with a Wii. He liked that. Josh won the game having had more practice and a freshly buzzed head (see background of this picture). Yeah... he randomly just up and decided to hack it off. (He's preppin' for the Marines.)

When we finally left, the snow was beginning to stick. Selena said goodbye by writing on our car.

The next morning... I was in pain... I pushed myself to get the high score on advanced hula-hoops with the Wii Fit. That was after doing the regular version of the hula-hoops 2 or 3 times to unlock it, then trying twice to get the high score. Oh and I did the yoga, the jogging, the boxing, the balance games, the ski jump, and more stuff I can't think of right now. I loved that thing... apart from when it measured how fat I was... but it's good because it keeps track of your progress (or not) if you're trying to lose weight. So... I want one now.

Chloe being cute!

2009-02-01T21:53:00.004-07:00

I love how after the Superbowl ended the news decided to fill time they had to analyze how the Cardinals lost. The Office was on 10 minutes late because they couldn't figure out how to sum it up in a few simple words: They lost. Now back to our regular programing...

Anyways afterwards was more fun. To me anyways. This is of Chloe hanging out with Grandma Foster. She loves Grandma! Oh and she's so cute, I love this thing she does with her hands, like she about to say a prayer. I love my baby girl!

Preston took this one after church today. It's an awful one of me but it's funny that we are laying in the same position. We were sleepy. It was a late night last night.

Oh and on the night of Monday the 26th of January, Chloe laughed for the first time. It took a while and a lot of hard work and I am realizing that when she "laughs" most of the time it's more of a "huh". It's still cute. But this one was undeniably a laugh. I love this baby!

When Fathers Eat Their Young....

2009-01-19T21:25:00.005-07:00

Chloe had her two month check up and got her first shots today. She weighed in at 12lbs 7ozs and she is 23 1/2 inches long now. So since she was born she has gained 4lbs 6ozs and 2 inches!!! Wow, my baby definitely isn't a newborn anymore. *tear*

Speaking of tears... I wish I could say my child took her shots like a champ. That she didn't even flinch or whimper. No. Turns out she's got my threshold for pain. None. She screamed bloody murder! I haven't heard her scream like that since she was born. Only there was a difference. That was because she had just gotten the shock of her life coming into the bright cold world, this was (apparently) mortal pain. The nice part is I can brag that I have the most easy going child ever. Like I said, I haven't heard her scream that loud (or that long) since she was born. I actually started crying because I couldn't make the pain stop. (Wow, I just had an interesting insight: I think I understand a little better how Heavenly Father feels about us.)

Anyways, I was bragging... She is almost never fussy and when she is it's because she's hungry, has a dirty diaper, uncomfortable or just wants to be held. We can put her in the swing, lay her on the bed or in the car seat and she will happily sit there till she needs something. She just chills. I love it!!! Oh AND she sleeps through the night almost every night! Have I mentioned I love this kid? I should probably quit having kids here while I'm ahead, huh? I could never do that though!

Anyways... You are probably wondering "What's with the title???," right? Well I was taking pictures of her band aids for her scrapbook and posterity, and a little later Preston was holding her and I was thinking how I don't have very many pictures of them together. If you know Preston then you know you have to take about 10 before you can get him to settle down and stop making faces between the click and the flash. This turned out to be our favorite:

This is what I was after:

I love the look on her face here:

What are you lookin' at?

This pictures just gave me the giggles.
Her shirt says "Milk Enthusiast"

Bestest Buds

2009-01-16T10:17:00.003-07:00

I have a funny story and a few cute pictures. Funny story first:

Charlie loves to play fetch! When he wants to play he will go find his toy and bring it to us. If we ignore him he will try to prompt us to play with him by growling, barking, whining, standing on our feet, getting in our laps and consequently our face, or (my favorite) putting the soggy toy directly into our hand (if he can get to it of course).

Preston had been playing with Charlie and started having a conversation with a visitor we had at the time, so he stopped. Charlie wasn't ready to be done and came to me with the toy. I noticed but as I was talking with our visitor I didn't stoop to pick up the toy either. He had already tried the visitor so that was out. At this point I must add that we had just recently returned home and Chloe was in her car seat being all cute as always and the car seat had been placed on the floor.

Charlie out of desperation for a playmate recognized that Chloe was not talking to anyone and at a level he could reach. So he walked over to her and plopped the toy into her car seat at her feet and gave her the "Come on throw it!" look, tail wagging and everything. He was so proud of himself for finding someone available to play with him.

Poor little dog. Preston and I took the hint and gave him some love and threw the toy around for a while after that. It took us a while to stop laughing though.

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This was taken a few hours after the story above took place. Charlie seems to like her more everyday. Though he seems to get jealous that Chloe goes with me every time I leave and he has to stay at home. We do try to take him with us when we can so he doesn't start his own type of sibling rivalry.

Aww, look! They're both smiling!

My little bed hogs... actually I consider Charlie the foot warmer and Chloe the alarm clock, ha ha!

The pacifier is the snooze button, it'll buy me about 8 more minutes of sleep.

My cozy little foot warmer, the only downside is this one hops out of the bed when I move too much and has a tendency to make his way in between Preston and me where it's warmer.

New Year with a new baby

2009-01-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

I took this picture of Preston and Chloe and it made me laugh. It also made everyone I showed it to laugh too! I'm going to title it: Dad's Idea of Babysitting. I should learn how to paint and recreate it. It's almost a modern Norman Rockwell, right? Can't you see it hanging on my wall? I love it!

Chloe has been smiling alot lately. Grins but no giggles. We're still waiting on that one. She'll make little noises that I think are laughs but she's never smiling when she does it. Though she has found her voice and she loves to coo and talk to us. I think she has the prettiest little voice and I love the sound of it. I think she is so pretty! Every time I see her I just want to squeeze her and whenever I talk to her I call her Pretty Girl. That and Chubba-lubba. Or Chubby Cheeks.

I love how her eyes are all squinty in this one. She's so cute!!! I took it today and it's already the wall paper on my computer. Her shirt is open because I had just finished changing her diaper and she started smiling at me AND I had the camera right there on my nightstand.

I took this when we got home from her baby blessing on Sunday. Grandma Gaye (my mom) made the dress and the headband. Grandma Foster (Preston's mom) made the little crochet booties that you couldn't see under the dress because it was about three feet long from the waist. I about peed my pants in delight when she smiled for the camera! Especially while she was wearing her pretty dress. And then she kept smiling for it! This one is my favorite!

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Our little family. I should have grabbed Charlie and put him in it too. Darn it! Oh well, I'll be sure to get one of those later.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-01-02T13:57:00.005-07:00

I'm 23 today! The sad part is that I had to do the math to figure that out. Or maybe that's a good thing? I don't know really.

So far today I've gotten a full night of sleep and the happiest grin I've ever seen on Chloe's face when she saw me coming to get her to change her diaper. A great big toothless one! Like this one:She's been in a good mood today.

Sorry it's been so long since my last blog. I've been busy with my little Chloe Lynn. It's really hard to type and hold a baby at the same time. I promise I'm still here!

Temple Lights

2008-12-08T12:23:00.004-07:00

I've been meaning to sit down and blog for a while can you tell? 3 in one day! Anyways...

We went to the temple lights on Friday night. It was a nice quiet evening for us. (And we wanted to test out our new stroller) We got a couple great pictures of all of us too.

Our Ward Chistmas Party

2008-12-08T11:45:00.001-07:00

We went to our ward Christmas party on Saturday night and had so much fun. It was by far the best one I've ever been to. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE our ward??? Well I do. I've never felt so welcome or so loved by so many people that I barely know. Anyways...

The evening started with a wonderful spaghetti and meatball dinner with bread sticks (from Little Caesar's, lol!) salad and a ginger ale punch (yummy!). It was so good! There were cookies at the very end too! After dinner there was a really fun program that started with a couple very talented singers and then the primary kids sang a few songs while they were all dressed up as wise men, angels, and various animals. They were so cute!!! Then the other Foster family brought in two bagpipes, and drums. That was really cool. Two of their daughters did a couple traditional dances as well. Every time they would start a new song Chloe's eyes would get really big for a few seconds and when they stopped playing her eyes would bug out again from the deafening silence that followed. Preston and I couldn't stop laughing! She's so funny! Following that our ward choir director got up and led the whole crowd in the most awesome/embarrassing rendition of the 12 days of Christmas I've ever heard. I know it's hard to understand in this video, but there are lines like "Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet" and "Ten lords a-leaping (while jumping up and down and signing as low as you can)" You get the idea...

The night finished with SANTA! The first thing he did was announce to all the kids that if they wanted an extra special Christmas present this year all they had to do was get a bail of hay for his reindeer and have their dad put it on the roof so they could have a snack too! A few dad's sitting in the back of the room started shouting "Get him! Get Santa!" and all the kids were shouting "NO! Don't!" I was just glad that Chloe isn't old enough to understand and ask Preston to put a bail of hay on the roof this year! We'll stick with carrots when she is old enough, ha ha!

We got a picture of Chloe with Santa though. It will be the last one for a while where she's not crying, ha ha!

The Magic Swing

2008-12-08T11:07:00.003-07:00

A few days ago Chloe was all fussy and I couldn't make her happy. She had a clean diaper, a full tummy and warm toes and fingers. Nothing I did would make her happy. So I thought "What's the worst that could happen? She might scream some more?" I stuck her in the swing and started it. A few minutes later...

I love this thing!!! She sat in it for about an hour and a half and only started screaming again when she was hungry. I actually got some stuff done for once! Apparently she just likes to look around once in a while. She's such a good baby!

Chloe with the hiccups!

2008-12-05T14:22:00.002-07:00

Things we've learned about Chloe...

2008-12-02T22:17:00.004-07:00

Oh my, this kid is her father's daughter! And her mom's too!

Reasons she's Preston's Kid:
1. She has her dad's feet!

2. She farts about as much if not more than he does! And they usually smell just as bad!

3. She is sooooo long! She's in the upper 95% of the growth chart.
4. She eats like him. Lots and lots. I can breastfeed her for two hours almost straight except for burping and she'll still happily take a 2oz bottle of formula!

Reasons she's mine:
1. She already sleeps though the night, and she'll take a long early morning nap after a diaper change bathroom break and breakfast! (We like our sleep)
2. She has THE MOST expressive face! All smiles when she has gas, an awesome death look, and what we lovingly call the Popeye with the squinty eye. There's plenty more but those are my favorites!

Other fun stuff we've discovered:
1. She will wait for a clean diaper before she poops, and then it's about 5 seconds before we have to change her again.
2. She can pee about 5 times in an hour! It's amazing... unless I have to change all of them.
3. We can't imagine what life was like before she came along. How did we live without her???

My sweet baby girl!

2008-11-25T12:18:00.002-07:00

I thought I would post some pictures of my little Chloe Lynn! She's too cute not to share them!

Recovering... and loving my baby!!!

2008-11-24T11:58:00.003-07:00

I'm alive!!! Just so everyone knows... The nurses and doctors at the hospital all said I came through the whole thing really well. I even had a nurse ask me if I really did have a c-section because I was moving around so well by the 20th. I must say I really was not prepared for a c-section. The nice part was that we managed to have her before our anniversary.

We got to the hospital at 11:30 and by noon they had the I.V. in my hand and the pitocin drip going. The I.V. was my second least favorite part of the entire labor and delivery. Preston and I started watching movies while the nurses monitored my contractions and Chloe's heart rate. She kept squirming around so they couldn't keep track of it very well. My contractions never seemed to get really bad either. Meredith, my mom, Patty, and Preston's parents and brother Colin all joined us and we had a pretty good time just talking and speculating what the baby was. (The nurses all said it was going to be a boy because they had already had 6 girls before noon that day. We started to doubt it was really a girl in there!) As time passed everyone but my mom and Patty and obviously Preston left. The contractions started to get a little worse but they were still manageable.

After I had been in labor for 9 hours the doctor came in to check my progress for the third time since we started and I was STILL only 25% effaced and 1 centimeter dilated (the same as I had been since 38 weeks along). I had all of 20 seconds to register that that meant I was going to be there for a LONG time and it was going to be REALLY bad before I heard the word c-section. Instant terror... I was in shock till the doctor left the room to make phone calls and alert the O.R. I started crying as I slowly remembered what that meant. Apparently my pelvic opening isn't big enough to have a baby the regular way, and I will have to always deliver by c-section. Yippee!

There was an emergency down the hall and I got bumped back an hour from the original time they were going to take me in at 10. It was a good thing though because it gave me time to get my head around the idea a little. I was still super freaked out though.

They got me all ready and stopped the pitocin drip though the contractions kept going. They hurt a lot more once I knew they weren't doing anything anymore. It was all mental.

They had me walk myself to the O.R. The second they opened the door and I felt the FREEZING COLD and the saw the REALLY bright lights I started to shiver and bawl. I sat on the table and they took forever getting the spinal block in. THIS was my most unfavorite part of the entire thing. I have a huge bruise on my back from it. Once I felt the meds hit my spinal fluid my whole body went all tingly and limp. It was the strangest sensation. I'm also really short so I was numb from my neck down instead of from the middle of my chest to my knees. The only part I liked was that I felt a lot warmer.

It seemed like forever as they prepped me and put up the screens before they let Preston in the room to sit by my head. Everything seemed so much better as soon as he was there. I made him talk to me so I couldn't hear the conversation of the doctor and nurses. I didn't want to because I was already freaked out enough.

They warned me beforehand that my chest would feel very heavy from being numb and that when they delivered the baby they would press very hard on the top of my belly to help get the baby out and that it would feel like an elephant on my chest for a few seconds. The extra weight of breathing was one thing but I didn't realize the elephant would feel like a truck ran over me. But as soon as the pressure lifted I heard the most beautiful sound in the world! My baby was screaming and I started bawling all over again.

They brought her around the screen so I could see her and I couldn't believe how perfectly beautiful she was. I kept saying "She's so beautiful! She's so beautiful!" They took her away to clean her up and get her measurements and then Preston brought her back around so I could see her again. I'll never forget those moments. My worst day ever turned into the best!

They took Preston and Chloe out of the room while they sewed and cleaned me up. It seemed like forever being alone like that. I couldn't move my arms so I still hadn't held or even touched her but I was so happy.

After that I spent about 2 hours in recovery shivering cold (a normal reaction to the spinal block) holding Preston's and staring at my little angel. I got to hold her as soon as I could feel my hands again, she is the most amazing little person I've ever met. I think she looks just like Preston. She was 8lbs 1oz, 21 1/2 inches long and born at 11:32 PM on the 18th of November.

Chloe and I spent a few days in the hospital with me learning how to sit up and walk with pain in my abdomen and tons of drugs flowing through my system. Good stuff... I don't however like how fuzzy the drugs make me. My brain become very nonfunctional and then I get emotional. It's all getting better. We were released from the hospital on Friday night. Preston and I are now enjoying 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 AM feedings and diaper changes. I love her so much that I don't care at all though. I think of it as an extra excuse to hold and love and kiss her. I am so happy to finally have my baby! She's my favorite part of every day now.

Charlie does really good with her too. He comes up to her whenever we sit down and sniffs her everywhere but I wont let him lick her (though her still hasn't tried to). He mopes a little too when I don't give him enough attention but he seems to be taking it all pretty well as long as Preston take the time to play with him.

Preston is such a good daddy too! He loves to hold her and kiss her and hates it when she cries. Fortunately she's such a calm and content baby that that never happens unless she's hungry or has a dirty diaper. It's so fun for me to watch them together. I LOVE my family!!!

Chloe Squirming

2008-11-20T20:51:00.001-07:00

This was Preston posting this!

Chloe Lynn Foster is here!!

2008-11-19T20:53:00.002-07:00

This is Chloe Lynn Foster we will post more pictures / videos / stories as soon as Amy is up and blogging again. - Preston

Our Third Anniversary!!!

2008-11-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 3 years! It feels like forever and yesterday at the same time. I can't imagine my life without my beloved Preston in it. I love you sweetheart! Happy Anniversary!

Us then...

Us now...

We seem to have misplaced our necks somewhere in the last three years, ha ha!

One more for the road...

2008-11-17T18:35:00.005-07:00

Ok so I have one more post before we have this kid.

We had a funny moment while we were making our second to last meal as a childless couple:

My mom bought us two car seats. We have the better one in the car ready to go and at the moment don't really know what to do with the other. So it's currently sitting in our dining room and unoccupied... or so we thought...

As I was putting together dinner I heard Preston yell "Hey, get out of there!" and I looked up to see our "innocent" little puppy had found a new bed... Little punk!

But... but... but... I'm the baby!

One day more!

2008-11-17T14:03:00.001-07:00

Today is my last full day of being pregnant. I officially become a mom tomorrow! Every time I say that I hear that little voice in the back of my head go "Riiiiiiii-ght... Sure ya are. Whatever, you're gonna be pregnant forever. Stop messing with yourself. Besides, you can't handle the pain. Just learn to live with it!" Then the happy-excited-Disneyland version of myself comes out and in a fit of excitement jumps up and down on the sarcastic-mean version of myself and shuts her up for a while. At least... that's the episode I imagine when the real me goes back and forth between the two feelings. Seriously, I'm too crazy to raise a child. This poor kid is going to be mental by five just between me and Preston raising it. Should be fun!

I decorated for Christmas yesterday! I figured I won't get another chance and it would be so lame if I never got to. It's just not Christmas without the tree up and all my little trinkets everywhere. The stockings actually have a chimney to hang on this year! We bought another stocking on EBay to go with our Disney ones for the baby. I have a Stitch one, Preston has Mickey Mouse and the baby will have Winnie the Pooh when it gets here.

Charlie is enjoying his last day an the 'only child'. Cept he doesn't know it's his last day. Poor little dog. He's in for it! I'll have to take him into the baby's room and let him sniff everything again just to remind him something big is about to happen. He's just chillin' in the sun coming through the windows right now. Speaking of the dog... he needs a bath... Now I just feel bad for him. He thinks baths are the worst form of torture. Apparently the only place water is allowed to touch him is in his mouth when he's thirsty.

Preston and I think it would be so ironic if I went into labor around 6 tomorrow morning. I can just see us going up to the desk in the OB. "Yes, we're here for a labor induction appointment at 7:30 with Dr. Tutt, but I seem to have started without him." Ha! I wish! But it would be pretty funny nonetheless. Anywho... for reals this time, I'll see you on the other side!

Happy Guestimated Birthday To My Unborn Child!!!

2008-11-12T10:39:00.003-07:00

I figured since today is my due date I should commemorate it. I mean I've been waiting for today since March 19th when I found out I was pregnant.

I don't have alot to update on since my last post from last night, but have since found out what a REAL contraction feels like. OUCH! I think I like the Braxton Hicks better, ha ha! Though it's nice to know what I'm looking for now and I know they all serve a purpose. I've also discovered that I find Christmas music incredibly soothing during them. I sit in my new gilder (thanks Richard and Sharon!!! I love that thing!) and sing along to them till one hits. (It drives Preston nuts that they already have Christmas music playing on the radio, and it makes him even more nuts that I feel the urgent need to listen to it whenever I can! Ha ha! Oh the woes of the father-to-be, muah-ha-ha-ha!)

It's so hard to believe that within the next six days I will have my baby in my arms, finally. I've been so anxious for so long for this and now I'm a little freaked out to be honest. Being pregnant is easy but being a mom? I haven't changed a diaper since my youngest sister Anya was a baby. And she turns 8 in January!!! My baby is 8! Well, the closest thing I've ever had to being my baby, so far. That scares me! Time has gone so fast, what if I blink and MY baby is turning 8? I'll be old! Preston will be older, ha ha! Okay I'm done reminiscing about the future that hasn't happened yet. I'll whine when it happens k?

Anywho... I'm gonna go and attempt to trigger labor! See you on the other side!... Or not... We'll see. Whatever comes first right?

There's an end in sight!!!

2008-11-11T20:49:00.002-07:00

I went to the doctor today... again. For the last time! Well, at least while I'm pregnant. The doctor said I'm still dilated to a one but I am almost completely effaced. Which is good, cause the contractions I've been having are bad and if they had been for nothing I would have been very irritated!

So after he checked me and told me I had made a little progress, we talked induction. Yippie!!! He said he'd be surprised if I don't have it within the week but if I don't we are going to the hospital on the 18th at 7:30AM. It's coming out whether it wants to or not. I know it's comfy in there and all but I'm done!

The end is near!!! I'm so excited!!! I get to hold my baby within the week!!! Yay for modern medicine!

2 days to go! Or less? Maybe?

2008-11-10T11:47:00.003-07:00

In case anyone was wondering, I'm still pregnant. I had contractions from 3:30AM till 11:30PM when I went to bed on Saturday. 20 hours!!! Nothing...

They weren't bad ones. At least not bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital but I thought for sure by that night or the next morning they would have progressed to the kind that would have. On Sunday I expected something similar but only had a few at all. Though I've discovered the strongest ones come when I'm riding in the car (while Preston's driving of course). Now I'm all sore so when I have them they hurt anyways.

I just want to get this show on the road! I know it's going to hurt alot more than this but, the way I see it, the sooner it starts the sooner I'll be holding my baby. Which I still have no idea what it is.

I've been thinking it's a girl for the last little while but last night I had a dream that I had it and it was a boy. I thought it was funny that the most disappointing part of that dream was that I couldn't put it in the cute little girl clothes I have. I kept asking the nurse "Now what am I supposed to do with all those dresses?" Preston was excited but said "He's gonna have to wear pink!"

Stuck... for the moment...

2008-11-05T08:19:00.002-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday. Nothing has changed. I'm a bit depressed about that. I'm still 50% effaced and 1 centimeter dilated.

I'm thinking I need to remember how I feel about this so in the future when others are going through the same thing I can offer helpful words without being irritating or repetitive. I think I was hoping that I would be different than everyone and have a super easy time of it all. (Which in reality I have had about the easiest pregnancy ever! So I really shouldn't complain, especially since I haven't even gotten to my due date yet.) All I've done is frustrate myself... I know I wont be pregnant forever, but right now I feel kinda doomed and really fat and SUPER uncomfortable.

Poor Preston has been such a good sport about me. He deserves some kind of medal/humongous trophy! With an inscription that says something like best ever supporting role and most awesome best friend a pregnant woman could ever hope for!

Isn't it annoying when super blessed people complain? Sorry! I'm just moping, I'll stop now and I promise to be happier in my next post!

Yay!!! They can all shut up!

2008-11-04T08:03:00.002-07:00

It's Election Day! The decision will officially be made and everyone will be stuck with our choice and we'll all have to deal with it. All the backbiting and name calling can quit! Woo-hoo!

If you can't tell, I happen to hate politics. No one can have a decent conversation about them. I'm sick of other people's opinions being shoved down my throat. Or if i don't agree with someone I get yelled at. At this time I am not allowed to have an opinion unless I want to make half the people I know very angry at me. Since this whole pile of crap started I just smile and nod and zip my lips when someone expresses an opinion on politics. Yes I care what happens to our country. God designated it to be a free place to have our own opinions and choices. I believe we throw those away like garbage alot of the time but we also have the agency to do so and I am grateful for that.

I never liked either of our choices for president and I believe I chose the lesser of two evils rather than throw my vote away on Mickey Mouse (which I think would be the best choice these days, at least he's not calling anyone a stinky butt face or whatever "politically correct term" McCain and Obama have come up with to make themselves sound like over-intelligent 2 year olds). When I'm trying to choose a leader I don't want to know who is the bad guy and who is the worse bad guy. I don't want to hear "Oh but this guy MIGHT be the Anti-Christ!" (and honestly if he is the Anti-Christ we can't prevent it so lets just get it over with and have the second coming that much sooner, WE NEED IT!) Or "He's the angry guy who'll keep his finger on the the button during the war!" I want to hear who has the better qualifications and experience. I want to hear about the really cool things they've done. I want to know who is the BETTER person.

I realize alot of my friends are very political and my intention isn't to make anyone upset or mad at me, this post is purely to celebrate the end of the phone calls, commercials, and irritating people that act like they know what would be best for us. Everyone is so heated over this and either way the smaller half of the country is going to have a problem with the new president. Anger is rampant amongst friends right now when we should be working on a head start with the Christmas spirit.

The only point I've had a solid opinion on is Prop 102. Our bodies were made the way they are for a reason. I'm not saying I don't like the people I know that lean the other way. In all honesty they are some of the more decent and kind people I know. I'm just saying we were made to procreate and I find the idea of homosexuality really gross. I also have a problem with alot of the consequences of legalizing gay marriage. I insist on having a say in what my children are taught and when. That's all I have to say. There's alot behind those opinions but I'm not trying to pick a fight and even if you contradict me now or try to change my opinions keep in mind you are too late! I voted WEEKS ago. I just wish there was a way to tell the commercials and phone calls to stop after I was done. Today they can finally shut the heck up!!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am about this!

The only thing that could make me any happier today is if I go into labor, like now. Or now. Or maybe in a few hours. Whatever! I just want it out now!

When everything works against the pregnant woman...

2008-11-02T12:50:00.003-07:00

I have a funny story... If you've seen Baby Mama this story will have a familiar ring to it.

So last night my parents were in town and Preston and I spent the day with them. We were getting ready to go see a movie with them and my sisters and we all stopped at Costco for lunch. Yummy polish dogs and pizza! Before we left for the movie all of us girls stopped in at the bathroom. Obviously that didn't take care of what I drank with lunch (two medium sized cups of Sprite) but you know how it is...

We went to our movie and afterwards (me being super pregnant and all) I had to pee again... Of course the line for the bathroom was spilling out the door so I decided that it wasn't an emergency so I held it. (My big mistake...)

We went to my brother and sister-in-law's house after stopping for a quick photo shoot of them and their cute kiddies (Patty is a photographer) for Christmas cards I think. (My mistake was seeming dumber and dumber by the moment) Fortunately for me there wasn't a lot of light left to make the whole thing last very long.

When we got to their house I was the first one in with my sister in law Amy right behind me trying to turn on lights and tell me where the bathroom was while carrying a heavy car seat with her 5 month old Ellie in it. First room I ended up in was the laundry room (wrong turn, oops!) I came back out and then I fell down the random step in the hallway because it was dark and I forgot it was there. I managed to stay on my feet but I freaked Amy out cause I screamed in surprise and she couldn't see me in the dark. I reached into the next room and flipped on the light and (Thank Goodness!) there was a toilet! I closed the door, locked it and turned around to find one of these...

Would the madness ever end?!? All I wanted to do was pee for heavens sake!!! I opened the door again and called out for Amy. "How do you open your toilet?" I asked the still dark hallway. (I never thought I'd have to ask that one.) She came running in "Oh you poor thing!" By this time my stupid pregnancy hormones were starting to kick in and I was on the verge of tears. I probably would have started crying if the whole thing hadn't reminded me of the scene in Baby Mama. I told Amy I didn't think she would appreciate me peeing in her sink and on top of that I didn't think I could get up there in the first place. She laughed and I finally got my much needed relief... Ah, something had gone right!!!

What else could go wrong? Oh please let me tell! When I was finished I looked over to discover THERE WAS NO TOILET PAPER!!! Tears started to well in my eyes at this point. (Who cries over toilet paper???) Somehow I managed to keep myself in check and open the cupboard under the sink. Nothing... WHY ME?!? I started calling the names of the voices I recognized that were going back and forth by the door but my sisters were screaming and yelling so no one could hear me. I looked under the sink again and said a grateful thank you under my breath. There were flushable wipes!

When I came out the door Preston was standing right there and I scared him with the angry look on my face as I asked him how long he had been standing there. He got lucky, he'd only been standing there for like two seconds. I might have strangled him if he had heard me calling for help and didn't respond.

After I recovered, I realized how funny everything that had happened to me really was and had a great rest of the night eating wings and playing with my baby niece. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spread the laughter. Hope you enjoyed it!!!

Yippie! Woo-hoo! Yay!

2008-10-30T11:32:00.002-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday. The doctor checked me and said I was dilated to a one!!! I'm pretty ecstatic! (To everyone that wants to leave a comment at this point that says something to the extent of "Yeah but it could be another 3 weeks before you actually have it..." Please don't. I will only want to punch you. Don't burst the bubble of excitement!) I've been having contractions (mostly painless ones aka braxton hicks) on and off but they are actually the reason for my progress. I forgot to ask the doctor what percentage I've effaced but he did say he could feel the head. I'm assuming that means it's sitting pretty low. Though I have a hard time believing that when it stretches and I suddenly can no longer breathe. I think the baby is uncomfortable now... I keep telling it that if it wants to stretch it has to come out first to do so and until then it'll have to be happy with the fetal position. It's not listening very well. Must be the Preston in it, ha ha!

Giggles while waiting...

2008-10-26T17:22:00.003-07:00

So while we are waiting for the baby to make it's grand entrance Preston and I are getting everything around the house ready to go. I am proud to say we have the room all ready! I wanted to get it painted but that's probably not going to happen for a while and I'm not too concerned at the moment. I have other things on my mind like "Was that a contraction???" I know I'll know the real thing when it hits but there is such a thing as a painless contraction in early labor.

The crib is all set to go and fully functional, the baby clothes, blankets and sheets are washed, folded and put away, and the diapers are organized by size. My mom got us our super cute crib and also made the crib quilt and the valence for the window. She also got us a swing, a play pen, 2 car seats, a cute little red recliner (that the baby won't even be able to use for a year or two), a walker, a simple fold up stroller (that we can't use till it's sitting up on it's own), and a bunch girl clothes. Yes, we can safely say Grandma Gaye is excited for her first grand baby (which she's positive is a girl)! She's even planning on making the clothes for the baby blessing already! She made my temple dress when we got sealed when I was 3. It was so beautiful! I can't wait to see what she makes for my baby!
Our first "baby" has been getting a lot of extra attention. I know we should be tapering off some of that attention to prevent "sibling rivalry" as the puppy books put it. But he's just so gosh darn cute! I think he knows something big is about to happen. Mostly cause the room that always stayed shut suddenly has a lot of traffic and new stuff to sniff. We've been introducing him to baby smells like diapers, baby powder, baby laundry detergent, baby shampoo and baby lotion.

Our rule with him is he's only allowed in the baby's room when we are in there. It's mostly to keep the stuffed animals and other toys that don't belong to him intact. Every time we open the door he comes running to sniff it out some more. His curiosity is definitely peaked. He's really wondering what the heck is going on by now.

On Saturday I was having mild but regular contrations. Painless ones that felt like a lot of pressure on my lower abdomen. We decided that we should try to help it along. We figured walking around was our best bet. The mall felt a little over zealous because neither of us had a lot of energy to begin with so we went over to Bed Bath and Beyond to browse. I was glad Preston had vetoed the mall by the time we left cause my feet were killing me! The contractions got very regular (10-20 minutes apart) but they stopped when we got home. They were going again at church today just as regular but once again stopped when we got home. Stupid false labor! Preston thinks it'll happen wtihin October and I'm hoping he's right.

While we were walking around Bed Bath and Beyond we saw some stuff that sent us (or at least me) into fits of giggles. First of which was this contraption thing...

Seriously??? At least use a girl for the model! He looks a little iffy, if you catch my drift.

These things put tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard... I was standing in front of them and Preston pointed them out to me. He said "Wouldn't it suck if you forgot to lift the lid? Owch!" Yeah, I was doubled over laughing...

By the way...

2008-10-24T11:06:00.002-07:00

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. He checked to see if I am starting to dilate and efface yet. It was the day before I was full term so I wasn't expecting anything to be happening at all but he said my cervix is softening. We're getting started!!! I'm dilating or effacing yet but it's encouraging to know something is happening. I want to have the baby as soon as I can so I have more time with it before I start school and I can sit through Thanksgiving dinner comfortably. I guess no matter what I'll be holding it within the next 4 1/2 weeks right? Uhrg! That sounds like forever!!!

My Second Baby Shower

2008-10-23T10:59:00.005-07:00

On Saturday the 18th my mom went all out and did an amazing job on my second baby shower. There were a lot more people at this one. It was a lot more family this time and we had so much fun! We played several games including Pictionary, Scatergories and Guess-How-Fat-The-Pregnant-Lady-Is… Thanks mom… I know I’m fat but did we really have to see how long the piece of yarn wrapped around the largest part of my waist was???

We had the best baby shower cake ever!!!

Inspiration drawn from CakeWrecks.com (see the Naked Mohawk-Baby Carrot Jockeys)

On top of all that Parker/Chloe made out like a bandit with all the great stuff we got!

This is almost everything... cept for repeats...

I love the little slippers in this bath set!

Lora Linn and Meredith got us some more super cute Disney onesies!

These make me giggle!

In this picture I'm holding one of those amazing shopping cart covers! I'm so glad I got one! Those things are awesome!

Lora Linn has been working on this blanket for a couple years now. She started it only wanting to see the pattern and when I got pregnant I asked her what she planned to do with it and she told me I could have it! She must like me or something, lol!

I know I’m really late getting this all up and posted but the nesting instinct kicked in once we finished all the baby shower stuff. I’ve been washing baby clothes and organizing bath stuff, taking stuff out of the packaging so it’s ready to use, organizing diapers and clothes by size and packing my hospital bag so we’re ready to go from the first “Uh, that hurt…” So now it’s just the waiting game… I hate waiting. Poo!

My First Baby Shower!

2008-10-13T16:51:00.003-07:00

To start off, Brittany Keliipuleole, YOU ARE AMAZING! She did a wonderful job putting everything together in spite of being pregnant herself and being completely stressed out about too many things at once! I love that girl!

I had so much fun. Several people came and brought lots of goodies for me and baby. Mostly baby. Even though October is so busy for everyone I know, I felt so loved by my friends and family that rearranged their day to come see me.

I didn't get a lot of pictures during the party. I was busy talking to everyone and Preston wasn't in a picture taking mood. A couple other people got some pictures and said they would e-mail them to me. I just haven't gotten them yet but that's ok! This isn't everyone who came but it's all the pictures I have.

Left to right: Krystle, Chad, Meredith, Lora Linn, Matthew, Brittany

Heather, Matthew, Brittany

Meredith, Lora Linn, Preston, Anya

Charlie, Lora Linn, Meredith

This is a bunch of the stuff I got. We got alot of diapers as well but this is most of it.

These are a few of my favorites. The green and yellow blankets are actually burp rags but they are super velvety soft! I love them!

Hey look a rainbow!!!

2008-10-06T13:22:00.004-07:00

We walked outside on Saturday evening and I saw this just as it started to sprinkle. It was a full double arch and very bright. It was so pretty!!!

These are some cute pictures I've been meaning to post for a while. Aren't my boys so cute??? I can't wait to add our baby to our family pictures!!!

Preston is so cute!!!!

Mom and Dad to be! Our kid is gonna be the cutest!!!

Time to weed the yard...

2008-10-04T11:37:00.004-07:00

My funny little Charlie dog loves to go outside. He loves to dig. Though he doesn't really dig holes, they look more like trenches. It's kinda funny. There are also alot of weeds in my front yard. All kinds. You know the kind with the little sticky seeds that use animals to spread them? We got those too. Charlie like to sniff them, walk through them and roll in them. Today he went out for a bit longer than it takes to actaully go potty. He does that. This is what came back in...

Oh Charlie, Charlie, Charlie... if this is an example of what to expect from my babies what is a kid with opposable thumbs and 10 times your curiosity going to do???

October... My FAVORITE Month!!!

2008-09-30T10:38:00.003-07:00

Why you ask??? I will tell you! (In no particular order... cept for the last one. It's the best part for me this year!)

1) The tangible feeling in the air that fall is here. Everything smells and almost sounds different. It's when the temperature finally drops in Arizona. Ahhh sweet relief... Time to go outside and remember why we love to live in a place where you can fry an egg on the asphalt in the summer!

2) The food!!! First the pumpkin ice cream comes out (it's only available from September to December). Then the Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist comes out (available from September to January). Pomegranates! Who doesn't love that tangy winter fruit??? Then there's all the candy that people hand out all month and if you have younger siblings that still trick-or-treat you get to raid their bags when their not looking for everything covered in chocolate! October also means that November and December are soon to follow with all their yummy goodness too!

3) I love walking into the grocery store and having my eyes blinded by all the bright orange, green and purple. Halloween decorations are my second favorite ever! Christmas is always the best!!! Have you ever noticed the strange coincidence that occurs every year where complete strangers become so much friendlier when the first decorations go up that signify the beginning of the holidays? Oh they turn nasty by the week before Christmas when they realize they procrastinated their shopping too long AGAIN, but until then everyone grins at everyone else.

4) The prospect of seeing my family again in the coming months! Family parties on all 5 to 10 sides of the hedge (depending on the dates and times of said parties, and if we feel like driving all over Arizona for them).

5) Costumes and dressing up. Even if I don't want to dress up I love to go and see the extravagance of some peoples get ups. It's also a good excuse to find the most gaudy colors of makeup, the longest fake eyelashes and the weirdest wigs; then to see how much of the stuff you can attach to your head; and finally wear it out in public without feeling the need to be embarrassed or to go hide. Though I have to say it drives me nuts when people push the line as close as they can to being naked...

6) My baby is going to be here soon!!! I have my fingers crossed for October 22nd because that is when I am officially full term. But my due date is just 12 short (more than likely ridiculously long for me) days after October ends. Though with my luck I'll be induced the day before Thanksgiving... Oh and I have my first childbirthing class on the 1st! Woo-hoo! Preston gets to learn how to give me a back massage!

Toes in my ribcage and a butt in my side...

2008-09-27T09:13:00.002-07:00

My little Parker/Chloe has found a new favorite pastime... Making me as uncomfortable as possible! He/She will shift him/herself into an odd oblique position where I end up with a prominently large lump (which can only be a butt) sticking out my right side, while my left side collapses ever so slightly. The result is funny to look at but uncomfortable to live. At least it's not painful I guess. The other new favorite toy he/she has found is my bottom right rib. I'm just waiting for it to dislocate or something one day. I'm noticing how very agile his/her little feet and toes are. Toes go in between and push it down, then toes go underneath and push it up. Back down, back up... All I can do is try to tickle the feet away. I love that he/she seems to be developing a cute little personality. I can't wait to meet him/her!!!

At my last doctors appointment on Wednesday the 24th we were told everything is wonderful! Still head down (I think it's stuck) and a strong heartbeat averaging 150. I've put on a bit more weight but I'm still within the healthy limit. I was also told that we wont be trying to find out what it is just because it's getting so cramped in there that it would be very hard to get a good look any more. I'll have to settle for a surprise... Poo... But there you go, I said in this blog when I first found out we were pregnant not to expect any big announcements of "It's a Boy!", or "It's a Girl!" But that was of course before we changed our minds (mostly Preston) in favor of getting more stuff at baby showers. Cheap? I know...

The nice thing is because I move into my next week of pregnancy on Wednesdays, it's making time feel a little faster. At least as long as I am occupied enough on the weekends. Though I have to say, it's official that when I lay down on my back I can't breathe! That's always fun right?

Oh and a few weeks ago I bought my first pair of maternity pants! I know you're thinking "How did she swing waiting till the middle of the seventh month to get around to that?" I'm just amazing like that! Actually, I wasn't exactly a skinny person when I got pregnant in the first place and then I lost about 5 pounds right away. On top of that my waist shape changed and my pants seemed looser for a long time. So far I've been very lucky in that the last month or so is when I started to REALLY look pregnant and now there's a belly there that doesn't quite fit into my pants anymore so... That's why I'm amazing and all that! The only problem with the pants is that they forgot that short people get pregnant too! So they were like 5 inches too long. I get them hemmed and now they are perfect. Preston told me that he wants to borrow them for Thanksgiving since I will have had the baby by then and be finished with them. I love that guy but sometimes there is a overwhelming need to roll my eyes at him and sigh deeply before reminding him and myself that I love him too much for his own good!

On a non baby note, I have a funny story to tell but it requires a bit of a prelude so bear with me k?

I spent the weekend of the 13th and 14th in San Simon, AZ with some of my extended family. I know that extended family for me could be a lot of random people, given that I don't have a family tree but a family hedge, so I will elaborate...

My Grandma's (Nanny) brother-in-law Ed died in the beginning of this month and I went with my mom and sister Selena to the funeral. Ed was married to Aunt Opal (Nanny’s sister) and they lived in San Simon. Two of Nanny’s other sisters were there too: Aunt Em and Aunt Lynetta. As well as Aunt Lynetta's husband Ronnie and her daughter Rhonda.

Some of the "Sisters" Aunt Em, Aunt Opal, Nanny, and Aunt Lynetta

Though it was a sad occasion that we all got together it was the most fun I've had in a while. Nanny’s sisters are a barrel of laughs!!! We sat in the kitchen most of the time and listened to stories about Uncle Ed and 'the sisters'. Every time Nanny and her sisters would go to visit Aunt Opal, Uncle Ed would play practical jokes on them, and they would play jokes on him to get him back. I swear I spent more time laughing than anything else that weekend!

Nanny told us how once Ed was sitting in the kitchen talking to her while right in front of him she was sitting with a needle and thread sewing up the toes on his socks. Another story was how one of the sisters filled his boots with salt. The best story by far was told at the funeral itself. The last big prank he played on them. Ed left a big cardboard box with some fresh cut roses on top of it in the laundry room with a note that said "For my wonderful sisters". When the sisters came in and found it they opened the box and it was apparently empty. A few minutes later the unfortunate sister that was still in the room found herself cornered by a very large snake (not a poisonous one) the rest heard her shriek and the rest of them came running in to see what happened.

All together they managed to herd it outside, recover and plan retaliation. That afternoon Ed called the house and asked "Did you get my present?"
The sister on the phone replied, "Why yes! Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers! We love them!"
Confused he called again an hour later, "Any surprises?"
"No, what do you mean?"
"Nothing."

Before he came home the sisters put a hole in a corner of the box to make it look like the snake had chewed its way out. That night they found him in the hallway, on his hands and knees, with a flashlight, looking under furniture. One of them snuck up behind him and while making a funny sound effect, pinched him on the butt! He jumped and whacked his head on the table he was under and ended up with a nice bump. The sisters felt this was their best retaliation and believe it was the reason the major pranks stopped from then on.

But that's not the story I meant to tell... lol!

After hearing the stories once again Aunt Em and Rhonda decided it was necessary to pull a few pranks in honor of his memory... So they brought out the "Indian guy". The "Indian guy" is a life sized dummy of a Native American dressed up as a cowboy. He's been around as long as I can remember and then some. This poor guy has been the brunt of lots of abuse and the base for many practical jokes.

My sister Selena has black hair and it happened to be the came color as the "Indian guy's". The sleeping arrangements were that she was sleeping in the queen sized bed with Nanny. So the night of the funeral Selena came into the kitchen and told Nanny that she was going to bed early, kissed her goodnight and left the room. Before she did that we had stuffed the poor guy into the bed on Selena's side and covered him with the blankets leaving only a little of his hair showing.

Selena waited patiently in the basement for 3 hours before Nanny finally went to bed. Nanny and I said goodnight in the hallway and she went in to bed. Selena came out of the basement and we waited just outside the door with Aunt Lynetta waiting for the scream that was sure to come any second. The lights went off and still nothing. Out in the hallway I mouthed to Lynetta "Did she get into the bed???" I could almost hear the silent fits of laughter from the others that were sleeping in the room with them, as everyone was in on the joke by this time.

Lynetta then went into the room and asked Nanny to give 'Selena' a goodnight kiss for her because she 'forgot' to. Nanny told her to just wait till morning because she didn't want to wake her up.

Finally as a last resort we sent Selena in. She walked right up to Nanny and said hello! It didn't take long for Nanny to register something was off, especially when we all started laughing hysterically. We realized she would have slept with the guy all night and might not have even noticed when she woke up the next morning.

Ok now that this post is like 10 miles long I'm going to stop now k? If you made it this far you either must really like me or I am as entertaining as I hope I am! Ha ha!

Adventures of the very early morning...

2008-09-22T14:33:00.001-07:00

Preston and I made our first trip to the hospital this morning. I woke up at 4:30ish this morning feeling like I had lost control of my bladder. I ran to the bathroom and after I was done it kept coming and I couldn't stop it. So... what would you think was happening??? I woke up Preston and told him I was pretty sure my water had just broken. He got up and I panicked for a minute or two before I called Lora Linn, his mom. I described what had happened to her and she said she thought I should to go to the hospital. I then called my mom and then I called my step mom, mostly just to let them know what was going on and they both said a trip to the hospital was a good idea. Not that I wasn't going to go anyways but I had three mothers all telling me the same thing.

So I found my list of stuff I was planning to take to the hospital in 7 weeks and gathered what I could together. Preston and I got dressed and headed to the hospital. (Ironic side note: The last place we had been last night was the very same hospital. Preston's dad had a mini-stroke yesterday and we were there with Lora Linn and Meredith spending some time with him. He's doing great by the way. The doctors are doing some tests and being cautious.)

When we got there just after 5 AM, Lora Linn and Meredith were waiting for us at the OB entrance. We got signed in and I was given a hospital gown and put in a bed. I was the only one in there so I got a lot of fast attention. They put a fetal monitor on my belly, asked a lot of questions and did a test to see if I was really leaking amniotic fluid. We waited a few minutes and they came back with the results of my test. It wasn't amniotic fluid (Thank Goodness!!!). The nurse said it was just a lot of liquid discharge and that everything was fine. They gave me instructions on what to look for so I would know the difference in the future and I was discharged a few minutes later.

I had been so terrified that the baby would come too early and be stuck in an incubator for a month or more so I had been crying off and on throughout the whole ordeal. Having never gotten my daily nap yesterday I was exhausted by the time we left the hospital at 6 AM. I was the lucky one who got to come home and sleep and poor Preston had to head out to work an hour and a half later.

He was such a good sport the whole time, just staying clam and that helped me not freak out more than I was already. Though he said it was just because he was half asleep still.

When I called my dad to tell him everything was OK, he had already started driving down from Heber and was 20 minutes from Payson. That made me feel special and it was kinda funny too. (Though he told me that if I had waited an hour and a half longer to call him I would have had a can of his peach salsa.)

In the end all that's changed is that I am preregistered at the hospital now and we know exactly what we need to be prepared for the real thing. Everything I had procrastinated became crystal clear and a subject of panic. We're just gonna call this a practice run because that's what it felt like.

I'm all rested now and the baby is still where it belongs with its toes in my ribcage and kicking just as much as ever. I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday so we will have more assurances that everything is as it should be. I don’t know if they will do another ultrasound or not so we shall see if we know WHAT it is by then as well. I mean it's a 50/50 chance either way but it's kinda hard to prepare for something like that ya know?

9 weeks to go! And I'm going nuts!

2008-09-10T15:42:00.002-07:00

I need to rant for a minute!

I have 3 or 4 friends that just had their babies and I'm going nuts! I want mine. I can feel feet and legs now when I feel my belly. It's so surreal to me that there is a tiny little person inside of me and I don't know what it is and I can't hold it and I can't see it. In essence it's making me crazy and very tired.

Preston's getting to be a better sport about the whole thing as he watches me get bigger and reads more of his daddy books. That helps a ton! It seems like as I lose patience and sanity he gains what I've lost.

It's getting more difficult to bend over, breathe, sleep and look in the mirror. Will it ever end? It's a little reminiscent of elementary school days when you had three weeks left till summer and just when you thought the clock couldn't move any slower it starts to go backwards (or at least it looks like it does)! I know it will end soon and I will get to hold my baby and everything will have been worth it but right now 9 weeks sounds like 9 months!

*deep breath*
*sigh*

Thanks for listening...

P.S. I actually really really really love being pregnant! I'm just having a make-it-go-faster moment that I will regret in about 3 years and wish I could rewind back to and live it again. You know?

A quick update...

2008-09-04T07:44:00.002-07:00

We still don't know what it is. We didn't do an ultrasound this time but the baby is healthy and was head down when the doctor checked. It's little heart sounded really strong so everything is good! I am under the impression lately that it's a girl. A few days ago I ate some chocolate and about 10 minutes later the baby went nuts kicking and squirming around. That's about how I react to chocolate so... ha ha! But we'll just have to wait and see...

30 Weeks... 10 to go!

2008-09-03T12:45:00.008-07:00

I have a doctors appointment today and no hope that we will find out what the baby is. Cause if I say I think we will find out or hopefully we will find out or anything of that sort then I just jinks myself. (Knocking on wood, just in case!) If we do then expect another blog today or tomorrow... k?

Preston's new job is going stupendous!!! In case anyone was wondering. His only complaint right now is that he can't keep his scrub pants from falling down. He has a very straight waist with cute little love handles and scrubs don't accommodate belts so... He makes me laugh! Otherwise he loves driving all over the valley (and when we say all over we mean ALL OVER!). He sends me pictures of houses he thinks are cool and comes home with stories about some of the really nice people he meets. My only complaint about the whole thing is the way his hands smell after wearing the rubber gloves they provide. It smells like rotten-way-too-sweet-pancake-syrup, and of course I'm the only one that notices the smell cause of my bloodhound-pregnancy-sniffer.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend. Preston got to enjoy his first holiday other then Thanksgiving or Christmas off in 3 YEARS!!! It was wonderful! From Saturday morning to Monday evening we did absolutely nothing but enjoys each others company. We talked, watched some Star Trek, played with Charlie, watched videos on you tube, cuddled, felt the baby kick, watched a movie, cuddled some more, and the best part? We built a fort! It was awesome! Can you believe Preston had never built a fort before???

If I can't call it nothing then I would call it improving our relationship. Come to find out we still love each other more than last time we checked!!! I am a very lucky woman to have been blessed with such a caring, loving, sensitive, amazing husband. I mean, you know you've got a great catch when you're 6 1/2 months pregnant and you say "I feel so fat," and his response is "you're not fat, you're pregnant". Even though he just got done watching you eat 3 helpings of whatever you had for dinner and you are now waddling because of it.

On fits and giggles note... I came across a blog called cake wrecks and nearly peed my pants because of it. For example...

Oh and I took some pretty pictures in the last couple days, and now I have to share!

Big Changes Coming Soon!!!

2008-08-20T06:09:00.002-07:00

Today I officially enter the third trimester! We are in the home stretch! We still don't know what the heck it is but it is almost done cookin' and it wont stay a secret for much longer. Though I am starting to feel like it might be a girl now. But that doesn't really mean anything because for the first 5 months I was positive it was a boy. Preston still hopes it's a boy and I think a girl would be fun cause they have all those super cute clothes for girls and I know it will have a ton of hair to put lots of bows and stuff in like I did! But either way it's still growing and defiantly still kicking... hard and higher everyday.

I am so baby hungry now it almost hurts. With our move we ended up in a new ward at church and for once there are a bunch of people our age and in our stage of life. AKA babies! Tons of them! Everywhere you turn there is a kid between 2 and newborn! Only I don't know the mommies well enough yet to ask if I can hold their babies. So I sit and whine quietly (kinda like Charlie is doing now as I sit here eating sausage and eggs for breakfast, mmmm ha ha!).

In other very important and very exciting news... Preston got a new job!!! He is working his final week at Americrapy... I mean Americopy! His triumph came when he applied for several jobs on craigslist and only 2 interviews came. One from Ampericopy's cousin, Paper Plus (yuck, same old same old) and the other from a company called Maldonado Medical. His favorite part so far? Not having to tell people who ask that he works for Americopy, yeah the one on Main street, yeah the one everyone goes to when procrastinating our Sunday school lessons on Saturday night 10 minutes before it closes.

At Maldonado Medical Preston will get a company car, cell phone, and GPS unit and drive all over the valley, delivering, picking up, and servicing 2 different machines for people who have recently had certain types of surgery. He's a little nervous but very excited about the whole thing. Nervous because he's never done this kind of thing before and excited because it's different than doing the same old thing everyday. Along with all that he will get health benefits (just for himself for now) for way cheap. And the company isn't run by a self gratifying psychopath which is WAY more than Americopy ever offered. We are so excited! Yay and congratulations to Preston! Good job sweetheart, I love you!!!

Once again in new and exciting news, only this time on my part. Depending on how money, loans and grants work out, I will be going back to school in January. Since my senior year in high school I have been drawn to the idea of working as a pharmaceutical technician. I was the crazy that enjoyed math and had way too much fun in chemistry and this would have a lot of both to offer. It's also in the health care field but doesn't require me to stick needles in myself or others. Good news for me! Needles! *shiver* I am constantly looking for jobs at hospitals but I'm not really qualified for much more than janitor (no thank you!) so this would be awesome for me!

It's a nine month course with Apollo College so I would finish quickly and they can place me almost anywhere I want when I'm done. I went over there yesterday to talk with someone about all that it would entail and came away excited and not nearly as nervous as I expected I would be. Just nervous because it's new. Usually there's one or two parts of whatever I'm about to start that scare me to death but there wasn't even that this time.

It's like something bigger than my own nerve (which is usually a wimp) is guiding me toward this. I know without a doubt that all of this coming about is a work of God. I knew he would provide a way for us to care for this baby sooner or later and for that knowledge I am eternally grateful! Without that comforting thought this whole time I would have been under so much unhealthy stress. It's not over yet but the path is becoming clear. All I can say is that we should never doubt what Heavenly Father can provide because He can and will if we have faith and sometimes even when we don't!

12 Reasons why I love my Charlie dog!

2008-08-13T12:37:00.007-07:00

12. He’s my baby when I don’t have a baby to baby.

11. His claws have a different pattern on each foot and I think it’s so cute and hilarious!

10. The incredible jingle-jangle itch, there’s always an itch to scratch and he jingles the whole time he does it!

9. He knows where he stands on getting his feet wet and will not budge…

8. He’s my small destructive force. I swear if he thought a building was a chew toy he could demolish it in a day or two.

7. He’s good at making friends and his favorite friend is Alex…

6. He loves to play and playtime is all the time!

5. Always to the rescue of some lost kibble. He’s my super dog!

4. He’s such a good sport when I act like a 5 year old and dress him up and put him in things, like my Christmas stocking.

3. Nothing gets by him… as long as he has a window to see out of. And if he doesn’t have that he just barks at everything!

2. He knows a comfy spot to curl up when he sees one and can easily hog a California king sized bed.

And the number 1 reason…
1. Somehow always knows what it will take to make me laugh!

Yep, it's still a baby...

2008-08-06T06:27:00.002-07:00

Preston and I went in for yet another appointment yesterday. This one was my least favorite so far. Mostly cause they tortured me first. I wasn't allowed to eat for a good part of the day then I had to drink a nasty syrup glucose solution. So I felt sick when I got to the doctors office and then they stuck me with a needle! Jerks!

Oh and I didn't even get my prize at the end... Our beloved little one had it's stinking foot shoved up in the 'area of interest'. He said it still looked like a girl but the pivotal spot that would have confirmed or denied that was covered.

I felt better afterwards because I got something to eat and then we went to a Diamondbacks game. Diamondbacks won 3 to1 and after the game it started raining... Rain makes everything better...

Pretty Pictures...

2008-08-01T13:07:00.004-07:00

I took these as that last big storm was rolling in. I keep coming across them on my computer and they are so pretty I just have to share. And yes it was really that brown cause of all the dust that was in the air and the sunlight from the sunset behind me.

This one is of that sunset...

It was a little disappointing when it completely missed us, until we found out how much damage it caused in town.

Good Times

2008-07-28T12:35:00.007-07:00

On Friday, I spent all day cleaning the house and packing to go visit my parents in Heber. When Preston got off work, he changed his clothes there and we got on the Beeline Highway. This was my first time driving on this specific highway and of course there were some really pretty but angry looking clouds way of in the distance. I told Preston we would switch in Payson because I didn’t want to drive in the rain on the rim. Neither of us thought it would rain before we got to Payson though and didn’t really think it would hit us on the way to Heber.

So of course when we were almost to Payson (like 5 miles to go) I start getting these large rain drops hitting the windshield. At first it was cool, they were like tiny bombs exploding and the thunder made for fun sound effects for them (yes we could hear it in the car!). Then they sped up. Then it started hailing… So with like 2 or 3 miles to go I can barely see 15 feet in front of me because of the sheets and buckets pouring down on us. There was lighting hitting right next to the road and the thunder got louder and louder.

Finally we made it into Payson and parked at the Sonic right there. We sat there for half an hour and ordered snacks while we waited for the rain to calm down. Charlie kept looking out the window and shaking off like he was wet from watching the rain hit the car. Of course the way the rain was falling on the car made it look like we were sitting in a car wash.

Please don't put me back in the car!

Once we made it up to Heber, needless to say, we were happy to be out of the car. The girls were happy to see us and Charlie was happy to be on his feet again.

Was that a squirrel? Can I have it?

Anya

At 5 am the next morning I woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing… And this wasn’t your typical sounds like we’re in a movie crowing. This one sounds like it’s crower has been run over by a car. I couldn’t go back to sleep. It was somewhat irritating and I hadn’t gotten the best sleep in the first place because our mattress decided it doesn’t want to keep the air inside of it anymore. So here we have a stiff, sleepy irritated pregnant woman… I told dad I wouldn’t wake up to that the next morning, so either he needed to kill the rooster or I would.

Guess what we had for dinner?!? The freshest chicken I’ve ever eaten!

Before... noisy...

After... quiet, mmmm...

Watching dad kill this thing was interesting. He didn’t want it to watch him kill it so he strung it up by its feet in an effort to render it unconscious. That didn’t work the way he thought it would, so 20 minutes later... I’ll spare anyone reading this the gory details but in the end it was a bit disturbing to watch or even hear. I didn’t watch in an effort to keep my latest snack in my stomach. But poor Kayla poked her head out the back door at the wrong moment. She went into tears when we offered her the tail feathers but cheered up about the whole thing when she smelled it cooking later. Oh it was good!

The long final walk... Muah ha ha!

Hanging out...

The next morning Dad and I started putting our chilies together for the 21st Annual Pitterle Family Chili Cook-off. Last year I entered with my very tasty chocolate chili and placed third (don’t say yuck until you’ve tried it!). It’s a favorite in the Foster home. I also made the mistake of telling Uncle Brian, who liked it the most, what was in it. This year he sent an e-mail to the family that said he was bringing his chocolate chili. I hadn’t been planning on bringing one at all because I was so satisfied with placing third with mine, but when I saw that e-mail I had to do something and I couldn’t bring the same thing again. So I adapted my favorite Jambalaya recipe into a chili and won FIRST PLACE!!!!

The prize for winning first place is always an apron. My dad won the one for the 11th annual chili cook-off so now we both have one! It was really exciting for me! Coming from a family of cooks (good cooks) I knew I had talent but I never thought I could win. The apron now has a place of honor in my home and Preston is so proud of me!

Crockpots of chili...

Tasting the Chili

Still tasting...

Narrowing down the favorites...

And the winner is.... me!

Dad's cheesecake flan, mmmmmmm!

Recovering from all that chili, ha ha!

To finish things off, when we got home that night Preston and I sat down to watch some Star Trek DS9 (I know, I know) and the baby started kicking really hard. Harder then ever! I grabbed Preston’s hand and put it on my belly... nothing. It was kicking but Preston couldn't feel it. He gave up. After a few more minutes it started kicking harder! I told him not to touch this time but to watch. He paused our show and we stared at my belly. Like an alien inside of me my tummy started wobbling around and bouncing. Finally, Preston got to experience the baby! He said it was cool but creepy. After seeing it he was able to put his hand on me and feel it as well. We figured out that he had been pushing too hard to feel the small little bumps, but it was so cool!

Peanut butter!

2008-07-18T05:52:00.004-07:00

I love it when people put peanut butter on the roof of a dogs mouth. You discover how long their tongue really is and it's just plain funny to watch! We did it to Charlie yesterday, ha ha!

And this picture had such great timing!

I love my puppy!

The rain rain rain came down down down and flooded into the office!

2008-07-14T10:37:00.006-07:00

For anyone who has ever really lived in Arizona rain is like crack for an addict who's been without a hit for a week! But in a good way! And we don't get to wait just a week for the next big storm, sometimes there's a year in between them! But inevitably we all turn into little kids and watch in awe like it's 4th of July when lightning strikes, play in it when it's daytime and raining at the same time, and none of us can get enough of that wet creosote smell!!! We walk around inhaling as deep as we can like a bunch of idiots! We don't even inhale that deep for the doctor when he asks for a deep breath, ha ha!

Only in Arizona is the weather not considered a lame topic of conversation. On the contrary! If you know about a storm heading in our general direction that the rest of us haven't heard about, you are considered knowledgeable and popular (till the storm misses us by several hundred miles, of course, then you are considered a liar or an idiot). In other words we live for those two words that say the meteorologist might actually be right this time "Monsoon Season"!

It's like Christmas! But instead of pine trees with presents under them we watch out the window as roof tiles fly past palm trees that are doubled over in the gale force winds! We also like make fun of our fellow Arizonans who while they are driving seem to forget that rain happens occasionally and yes the sky is falling! And to those same people, yes you should use more caution but please move faster than 5 miles per hour on the freeway and if that's too hard pull over! The rest of the people on the freeway? When water is on the road you do NOT have the same traction as you did for the last 18 months, so when you hydroplane and spin out try not to hit me OK?

My family is a prime example of those crazy Arizonans who love the rain maybe a little too much. Namely the Pitterle side. When we get together for a family party and there is any kind of evidence for the possibility of rain the whole party shifts onto the nearest porch with the best view of the sky. We will chant the names of family members who live in rainier parts of the country to tempt the clouds towards us and none of us are above a good old fashioned rain dance if we think it will help! We melt when we hear thunder and get giddy when it takes less than 5 seconds for the sound to follow the lightning. Needless to say, this Arizonan love of rain is in my blood to stay!

When Preston and I moved into our house we knew it was totally awesome entirely for the fact that there are NO neighbors to drive us crazy. I never realized that it was the best place to watch dust storms roll in from the north! The last time I had a view this good I was living with my dad before I got married. It was before the Riverview project got approved and we had an awesome view from our porch just off 8th street a few hundred yards east of Dobson towards Red Mountain and directly north. From there me and my dad would watch monster sized dust storms come in from the Northwest and wait till the last possible second before clamping our eyes and mouths shut before we started getting pelted with tiny little rocks flying at about 100 miles per hour. Occasionally I would wait a second too long and end up chewing grit and crying dust. After the dirt wall would pass we would watch the wall of water come and once that hit, we were in heaven! From that front porch swing we would just sit watch the rain fall till either the storm passed or bedtime came.

In my new place I happen to have the same sights out my back door. I can see Red Mountain,

sunrises over Four Peaks, and even Camelback mountain off in the distance.

Us being the only house in our "neighborhood" we discovered that you get the full force of the wind and rain no matter what direction it's coming from. We also end up with what we can only describe as a small version of the Great Lakes in our backyard.

Our latest slightly upsetting but also somewhat amusing discovery (that will also explain my choice of title) was that when it rains hard enough and the water level starts to rise we get a half circle of dirty water on the carpet surrounding the office door or aka the back door. Accompanying that water is a lovely, musty, stale water, smell to go with it as the office doesn't get great air circulation. Not that I'm complaining or anything!!! I wouldn't trade this house for anything! I just thought it was funny and that I would share the humor.

On a baby note and also speaking of humor, I found a comic that describes my essence as a pregnant lady to a T! It also made me laugh for a long time. Probably because it is so me! So of course I have to share it!

Oh yeah and we also found out that Charlie is a punk about getting his feet wet when we let him out to go potty. We had him litter box trained in our apartment and he did so great switching from that to going outside that we never considered the rain. He wont even step on damp dirt. He just stands on the sidewalk and gives me this look that says "I'll hold it, thanks".
This was our latest battle of wills...

And just so we all understand how weird this picture is, I have never seen or have been able to get him to lay down on anything harder than padded carpet. This look of defiance says "I would rather lay down on hard cement with little sharp rocks all over it and hold it than put one paw on that wet dirt." He didn't move till I did to let him back in the house! Pain in the butt!

We are having a (drumroll please)................. baby... Let me esplain. No, there is too much, let me sum up.

2008-07-11T06:32:00.008-07:00

On the 8th we made yet another trip to see Dr. Tutt. Last time we were there he told us that we would do another ultrasound so see if it was a Parker or a Chloe. I was so excited that I was doing everything about an hour early, like picking up Preston from work, ha ha! I knew I was early so I brought the latest Stephanie Meyers book that I was halfway through (The Host, and I highly recommend it to anyone!) and ended up chatting with Preston's co-workers as it wasn't very busy in there anyways. The funny thing about me getting there 45 minutes early to pick him up is: 1) He gets off at 3:00 and 2) my appointment was at 4:10. Hey I was excited, what do you expect???

After what seemed like forever Preston finally clocked out and we left. We drove to the county library to drop off and pick up some stuff then headed for the doctors office and got there at like 3:30. All prepared to sit and read we got called in like 3 minutes later. We were actually out of the office before my appointment was actually scheduled, ha ha! But I'm getting ahead of myself!

We went in with a nurse, I got on the scale (I've only gained like 5 pounds, neener neener neener!) went in the room, took off my shoes, sat on the table with the butcher paper, and got cold goop squirted onto my belly (again, I guess I can't complain, there were no needles to speak of). We listened for the heartbeat but once again couldn't find it (turns out the placenta is on the front) wiped off the goop and prepared to wait for the doctor. Two minutes later Dr. Tutt comes in and squirts more goop on my belly, but this time... it was warm! Yay for heating pads!

And there was the baby. The baby had the hiccups. It was so cute! I always think the baby looks so squished whenever we see an ultrasound but it never fails to be one of the most peaceful looking places to be.

The doctor measured the baby's ribs and leg bones and head and confirmed that it weighed 1lb and that my due date is still November 12th. We found a cute little profile with a nose.

And a cute one with it's arm and hand over it's face like it forgot something, ha ha!

Then we tried to see WHAT it was, other than just a baby... Unfortunately the fetal position places feet in front of strategic areas... Little punk. The doctor said he thought it looked like a girl but it wasn't for sure cause of that foot.

So before anyone goes out to buy us some pink frilly stuff for Chloe, keep in mind you could still be buying that stuff for Parker. And while he wouldn't care or even really notice until he was at least a year old or more, he would mind when we show his baby pictures to the first girl he decides to bring home to meet the crazies. I mean the parents!

4th of July in Heber, AZ

2008-07-06T12:05:00.005-07:00

This weekend Preston and I drove up to Heber to spend the weekend with my family. There was a small chunk of my family hedge here. It's not a family tree because there is extended extended family and when we try to draw it out, instead of it going up and down into roots and branches it just keeps extending sideways. Hence the hedge. Altogether we had Grandma Jean and Grandpa Butch (Patty's dad and step mom) Benny, Samantha and Jamie (long story but they are part of my extended extended family) Miracle, Mikayla, and Anya my youngest sisters and my dad and Patty. It was a last minute decision. We weren't planning to come at all but Grandma called at like 10 AM and begged us to come on the the 4th, she even offered to pay for gas (which was our reason for not coming in the first place, gas is ridiculous these days!!!) So we came! I packed up the puppy and left after Preston got off work.

Dad made all sorts of yummy food. Pork chops and mashed potatoes the first night, the best french toast the next morning, brisket barbecue and beans, then salsa and chopped up watermelon for during fireworks that night. This morning is fast Sunday so I helped myself and the baby to some leftover tasty pancakes for breakfast but we did weasel him into making some ice cream for us before we left. The girls were jealous cause they are old enough to fast now. As always we had some fun times.

When we got there the girls and Preston thought it would be fun to introduce the cat (who is deathly afraid of dogs) to Charlie (who has never seen a cat before). When the cat saw the dog she hissed and her striped tail poofed up to the point where she looked like a raccoon. The girls were squealing and laughing so hard! Miracle felt bad for the cat so she closed herself in the bathroom where the litter box and food for the cat was and loved on her. About an hour later I went in to use the facilities, lol, and could only open the door part way because Miracle had fallen asleep on the floor with the cat. Laughing my head off, I ran to another bathroom cause by then I was about to pee my pants. I ran back to get a picture but Miracle had moved by then and instead I found this...

On the morning of the 5th we went to the annual Heber/Overguaard 4th of July parade. I never got around to taking any pictures of that but for the record Preston and I got our arms sunburned sitting out in the sun. The best part was when the fire truck drove by with a guy on top squirting the water high into the air and when it came down, it came down in droves! I had an umbrella for the sun but still managed to get wet, ha ha! It was also the best part cause it was like the second to last thing before the end of the parade. Which meant we got to get out of the heat and I wanted a nap!

Charlie made friends with Buddy (Grandma and Grandpa dog)

After that everyone but Preston and I left (Grandma and Grandpa back to California, Benny, Samantha and Jamie back to the valley). Around seven that night we piled into the van supplied with dad's homemade salsa, watermelon, water bottles, blankets, chairs, and dad's ginormous wagon (which can seat three like a bench when you put down a side flap). Dad had scouted out a nice hillside with a perfect view in the direction of the fireworks earlier so we made our way there.
Once there we set up to wait and then waited... for 2 hours... and 2 hours with those girls when they are cold or uncomfortable or just don't get their way can feel like 5.

Grumpy Kayla

Waiting for fireworks, Anya was a little grumpy too, lol!

Preston looks like the girls here ha ha! Sleepy or grumpy? What do you think?

When they finally started it had gotten so dark that my eyes were not prepared for the bright flashes. It was kinda comical and painful. The first flash made me tear up and for about first 5 minutes I had one hand in front of my face to dim the light hand the other was wiping the tears off with my shirt, lol! Though, it was worth it. The fireworks there are the best! It's so dark and the town turns off the street lamps so all you can see is the sky filled with the biggest explosions ever! I got a few pictures of them too!

This morning was nice and lazy though. I was tempted to go back to bed after I got up but our mattress was deflated just enough to make it really uncomfortable. Oh well... I hope everyone had a safe weekend!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy New Year's!...???

2008-06-27T06:26:00.003-07:00

So, I have a funny story, at least I think it's funny. As we all know, Preston and I are moving tomorrow. Last night my Grandad came down from Prescott and borrowed a truck and a little trailer from my uncle Andy, so we moved our couch over to the house. When we moved it... this is what we found...

It's confetti from our New Years party, ha ha! My sister in law Meredith brought these 'flickers' to my place on New Years. The nice thing about them was that there wasn't any gunpowder or whatever they put in those poppers to make them explode. You just take one of these 'flickers' by the end and swish it through the air and out comes the the most fantastic display of little bits of tissue paper flying though the air. There were five or six in the package she brought. I told her to do one in the house thinking "That little thing? It might be kinda cool and there's no explosion, so what the heck?" Then as it's coming down in droves I'm thinking "What the HECK!? Where did all that come from???" After that we just used the rest in the living room as well cause by then I'm going "Well, what the heck. I'll have to clean all this up as it is, we might as well have fun making it." I actually found some in my closet yesterday too. I have no idea how it got there. When I pulled the couch out it was stuck on the wall too. And earlier this week when I pulled my pictures off the wall I found some stuck to the wall there too. This stuff is like impossible and I'll probably keep finding more at the new house and be completely confused on how it made the trip. Anyways that's my funny story...

Oh and Charlie thought it was the coolest thing when we pulled the cushions off the couch and it was something he could reach without trying. He also found a mostly chewed rawhide bone in it too! Extra prizes all around!!!

We are moving! Finally!!!

2008-06-24T13:49:00.005-07:00

We are so excited to get out of our little apartment with all the noisy and annoying neighbors and into our new big house! It's 3 miles from where we are now and we couldn't be more thrilled! Our official moving day is Saturday the 28th. Anyone who wants to come help can. We are getting pizza for everyone who helps. It's just perfect for starting our little family.

It has two bedrooms, one bathroom (our apartment has two so that's kinda not so cool), a huge office, a nice sized kitchen, dining room and a big living room. Not to mention a carport, a separate laundry room with a ton of storage space, and a cellar!

Oh and it sits on a acre of land! And every nook and crannie of extra space (closet or otherwise) has shelves for storage space!

AND There are no neighbors!!! Not in front, in back, on top, or for at least a mile either way up the street. We have the north portion of the 202 at Val Vista behind us, but it's far enough away that you really can't hear anything unless one of those loud motorcycles drives by.

But what's nice about that is that we pretty much have our own on ramp to the 202. Or at least the closest access to it, ha ha! The house itself actually belongs to my Grandad who we are renting it from. It was willed to him by my Great-Grandma Wolk who died in 2001. She basically wrote up the blue prints for it and my Grandpa Lou built it himself. So I am not only excited to live there but honored because of it's history in my family.

She used to babysit me all the time when I was little so I've spent a lot of time there. This is the house where I first learned to cook. Well, she was the first person to trust me with a spatula, a hot skillet and scrambled eggs, lol! She also taught me to quilt and tried to teach me to crochet but as a 7 year old with a limited attention span, it didn't stick. I miss her but I feel closer to her knowing that I get to take care of her house. I can't wait to raise my baby there!

It's ALIVE!!!

2008-06-10T21:01:00.003-07:00

This morning as I was waking up I had a strange feeling... in my belly! It was dancing around and I could barely feel it, but it wasn't imagined because the movements were too unexpected and random. It was like little eyelashes softly moving up and down and all around. All day I argued with myself about whether it was real or not, it was driving me nuts! I've been so anxious to feel my little one move that for the last two weeks or so whenever I laid down I would hold as still as I could to try and see if I could feel anything. All I would feel was my pulse thumping all over my body. Until then, I never knew my own heartbeat could irritate me! It was like it was interrupting whatever I might have felt.
Speaking of heartbeats, we had another doctors appointment today. This time they were able to find the baby's heartbeat. It was slower than I thought it would be but, they said it was normal so I was happy. (I think I was secretly hoping they wouldn't find it and do another ultrasound so I could see my baby again.) I told Dr. Tutt about my maybe or maybe not movements in my tummy, and he confirmed that it was in fact the baby from the way I described it to him. (So, I won my argument with myself, HA!) He also measured my belly and said I was right on schedule. Oh by the way, I have a belly now! Not that I didn't before but it's starting to look pregnant. I could still pass for just chubby but, I'd rather look pregnant. There's a growing hard spot in the middle of the belly, which is fun to freak Preston out with when I put his hand there and make him feel it, he he he!
Oh and I almost forgot... Preston has changed his mind about wanting to know what the baby is, thank goodness! What changed his mind??? Funny you should ask, this should give you a brief glimpse of how cheap a "semi-newlywed-husband-with-a-baby-on-the-way" can be. We were talking to a couple of friends that have several kids (aka: experience). They told us how with their first kid, (or maybe the second?, whatever it was!) they decided they would find out but make it a surprise for everyone else and keep it to themselves. Turned out, they got almost nothing for mystery baby but with their next one they told everyone and got tons of presents for it! Preston told me later that week that he had changed his mind because... quote "I want the free stuff so I don't have to buy it!" I love him, sometimes I wonder why, but I still just can't get enough of him!
Oh and while we are on the subject of crazy people... if anyone has seen my brain, I would like it returned. It'll be the one with the twitch. If it's not returned by the time the baby is 5 I'm going to assume the baby ate it for lunch a month ago! Probably sucked it out like jello through the umbilical cord... just my luck...

The Wave...

2008-05-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

So on the 13th Preston and I went to go see Dr. Tutt again. It was a short visit. Very short... In and out of the doctors office in 10 minutes! Who's done that before? First they attempted to listen to the baby's heart beat but with all my extra padding that Preston loves so much we were pretty sure we only got one beat and a whole lot of mine. So we did another ultrasound instead just to make sure everything was ok. I was fine with that. I just wish I had more time to sit and stare at the screen and watch my little one twitch and move. There was a lot more to see this time around too. The baby is so much bigger you couldn't see all of it at the same time but instead of a little tiny foot we saw a much bigger (but still tiny) webbed hand go back and forth!

I just can't believe that something that small and so precious can be inside of me moving around and getting bigger everyday, preparing to wreak havoc on my poor already chubby body. I can't wait to meet him or her.

I saw a foot!

2008-04-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning my mom and I went to see the doctor for the first time. That was so exciting! My doctor is in my ward at church so it was a bit awkward. So after initial "introductions" I think everything will be peachy keen from now on... It was really cool though. Dr. Tutt did an ultra sound to measure the baby to figure out when we are due! It was so neat.

He said we are due on November 12th. Fortunately that's only 3 days after what I had thought. I was scared he was going to say we were due two or three weeks later than I thought. AND THERE IS ONLY ONE BABY!!! So ha!!! If you look really close at the picture you can see the heart. It's the very very small triangle looking light spot just under the chin. At the doctor's office you could see it beating so it was more obvious, but it's an image that will be with me for the rest of my life. The baby was making these little twitchy movements cause it's learning muscle coordination. And at one point the baby stuck out it's little foot! It has feet!!! It looked like a little tiny tooth pick or needle with a bent end. I started crying. It's so hard to believe that there is a little tiny person inside of me with a beating heart and little feet and hands! Then the nausea hits and I can't help but think how long summer feels and that I won't be delivering till this fall... Seeing the baby made it all so real for me though. For a while there I was starting to wonder if I really was pregnant and the whole thing was just me with a defective pee stick and some kind of nasty evil stomach flu that never escalated or got better. But there it was cute, tiny, and peanut shaped! I am so excited!

Is it just me???

2008-04-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, last time I said I hadn't really been that sick, that I just get waves and it goes away. I forgot to knock on wood after saying that... How wrong I was! Starting probably the next day nausea was my constant buddy... I mean enemy. I still have long periods of relief and I know it could be worse (knock on wood) aka barfing my guts up, but it's still not any fun. Preston likes to make fun of how I breathe when I don't feel good, he usually regrets it like 30 seconds later but it's not funny! I blow air like I'm in labor already and I guess it's funny now while I feel good and think back. He says he's trying to distract me from it. I love that guy, he's a nut! He does his best to take care of me even though he has no clue as to how that's to be done. My favorite thing he does for me right now is when we are driving through our speed bump heck... I mean our apartment complex and he knows I don't feel good he will drive on the wrong side and put the wheel on my side in between the bumps. It's really sweet! Yeah, he still gives me reasons to love him more and more everyday.

Here's my other thing... what the crap with all the people who have just found out that I'm pregnant and come up to me and give me a hug and some of the first words out of their mouth are "Aww... wouldn't it be so cute if you were having twins?" !!! What is that? Translation... "Wouldn't it just be wonderful if you didn't sleep for the first TWO years instead of just one, had to buy twice as many diapers, played mommy tag team with your boobs while you breast feed both kids, had one of your two mothers and/or your mother in law live with you (I love them but remember Preston and I moved out of their homes but not for them to move into ours) and used up your small supply of names you worked so hard to come up with and agree on over the last 4 years?" My answer is so obviously NO! If it did happen that way and I had to push two instead of one, don't get me wrong, I would love both of those children as much or more than any child deserves. It's just a lot of stress to deal with. Ya know??? I also want to know, did someone hold a private meeting amongst my friends (who by the way, DON'T know each other) and say let's see if that 'secret' thing really works, let's use it against Amy as soon as she gets pregnant. We'll make her have TWINS! I love you, my dear friends, but STOP!!!

Honestly, are there any other women who have experienced this, and have gotten away without having two? I really hope so cause I'm in trouble if not!

Alot can happen in 5 months! Who'da thunk it!

2008-04-09T06:55:00.001-07:00

So to start off, Charlie has destroyed several more toys to the point of being unrecognizable. We should start buying bulk! You can tell when he gets a new stuffed amimal cause it seems to snow in the office about a week later. As you can see... ->

(I think that was an elephant, today the cloth that surrounded the stuffing is in several pieces ALL OVER THE HOUSE!)

He's a tiny little nut with a BIG personality and probably way too much energy for us! Though, at the end of the day, if we haven't done something to run that energy off our living room becomes a nascar track! "He's making a left turn!" Ha ha! He uses both couches as extensions to his track when he's going to fast to make that 180 degree turn. It's pretty funny to watch, particularly when he ends up on the tile going way to fast... Just like nascar- skid, compensate, crash anyways lol! (By the way, I hate nascar but I love my puppy!)

In other news, on March 19th at 3AM I discovered that we are expecting yet another addition to our little family! Yep that's right I'm about to get fatter! As if I really need that part of it but, we are absolutely thrilled! We are due (at least as far as I know cause the doctor will confirm on Monday) on November 9th 2008. So that puts me at 9 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I'm already in the third month!

Preston and I decided we don't want to know what it is till it's born so don't expect any big announcements of "It's a BOY" or "It's a GIRL". I've also been told several times that I am a genius (also by myself) because I plan to have the baby shower AFTER the baby is born. This way there is NO way it can turn out to be a boy after we told everyone to get pink stuff and there will be NO fat jokes or games or stories and so on and so forth... Not only that but I always thought baby showers were boring because you couldn't even see the baby, just a fat mom. So we will play pass the baby instead of "win a prize for guessing the right amount of toilet paper squares that will fit around fatso" so HA!!! I win like 5 times! And so do all the people at the party, but I win better!

A friend I work with suggested I have a sprinkle then a shower and just get the basics in neutrals for when the baby comes. I'm still considering cause there's way too much opportunity for the fat stuff in that but, I will need bottles blankets and stuff so... my dilemma... see?

Oh well... I've been wanting a baby since I was like 11 so I'm happy as a clam! So far I've been really lucky because there hasn't been a lot of morning sickness, just waves of intense nausea that never make it to the relief point of barfing. Otherwise I'm tired, hungry, constipated and gassy, not to mention I have to pee ALL the time now! Yeah, that was probably too much info huh? It's the truth and it's all VERY common! Ask any woman that's been pregnant, they'll tell you! Maybe...

First time for everything...

2007-11-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm finally gonna do this...

To start off my name is Amy Foster. I married my wonderful husband Preston in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple on November 19th 2005. Obviously, we are about to celebrate our second anaversary in a couple weeks.
It's been alot of fun and a great expirience for us both! In ways it feels like we've been married forever, and in others I could swear it was just yesterday! Either way, I can't imagine life without him! Anyone who knows us knows we were made for each other!

That's enough mush... now on to business!

Family... long story... Preston and I like to tell everyone that we don't have a family tree, it's more of a family hedge. We've tried to draw it out on paper to explain to friends but all we end up doing is wasting a perfectly good piece of paper, lol! In the end I still have seven beautiful sisters, four dorky brothers, three wonderful parents, five fun grandparents, who-knows-how-many aunts and uncles, too many cousins to count, one loving husband and a cute little puppy! (Geez! I sound like that 'Twelve Days of Christmas' song! I might as well put that puppy in a pear tree!)

Fortunatly, Preston's side is alot more straight forward. Thank goodness! Mom, Dad, one sister, and two brothers. There's a countable amount of aunts, uncles and cousins (of whom I've only met about five or six), and one silly Grandpa! (I'm told he's a 14-year-old stuck in an old mans body.) I also still need to meet Grandpa.

To sum up... I love my crazy family and I wouldn't trade them for anything!!!

By the way the puppy mentioned earlier is our newest addition to our little family. Our "baby". Charlie Brown Foster came home on October 9th and is just lovin' life! He's three months old as of the 1st of November, has demolished his stuffed pink platupus and his purple bunny and has already made a habit of sneaking into the master bathroom where his litter box in NOT at and leaves me little smelly presents. If he weren't so stinking cute I'd... I don't know... He's just too stinking cute! My little poo-head.

Well I think I will wrap up for now and go to bed. Sleep! I need sleep! TTFN! Ta ta for now!