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Vintage hats

2012-01-19T00:36:00.000-08:00

My mom sent a bunch of clothes I used to wear as a baby and this hat was perfect for Karina. :)

This one was knitted for me by one of my grandmother's best friends.

SNOW!

2012-01-17T23:51:00.000-08:00

One of the very most exciting things for me about living in Portland is that it snows! One of the most disappointing is that it does so only about once a year. But it makes me so happy. I feel a little giddy about it, to be honest. One day, once, growing up in Simi Valley, we woke up and there was frost all over the ground and it looked kind of white and several mothers let their kids stay home from school to make frostballs and frostmen. That was in elementary school. I still remember it and we saved some in a baggie in the freezer because it was so special. SO. The point is frozen water excites me.

Well today it came down for hours. It was so thrilling. All kids love snow, right? No. Not Annalise. She was terrified.

But she got over it. :)

...and danced off down the road with her dad.

Baby Girl

2012-01-11T23:46:00.001-08:00

Sweet Annalise

2012-01-11T21:19:00.000-08:00

The worst time of the year

2012-01-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

Dave goes out of town for over a week every January for the CES show in Las Vegas. It is my least favorite time of the year. Two weekends in a row we miss out on him. My sleep-deprivation reaches new heights with no help at night or in the mornings. How I wish I lived near my parents every January. This morning Annalise told me, "Daddy's lost. I gotta find him." As I type she is staring out her window calling, "Daaaaddy! Where are you? Daddy, come in my house!"

To entertain myself while he is gone I do things like moan pathetically and also take pictures like these.

Big Sister

2012-01-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

Annalise has far exceeded any expectations I could have had of her as a big sister. She loves Karina, who she only calls BabyKarina (one word) more than I've ever seen anyone so little love somebody else. She constantly (CONSTANTLY) wants to help with her, hold her, hug her, kiss her, sing songs to her, and talk to her. BabyKarina loves her right back because if she is crying and Annalise lays next to her, squishing her body against the baby's, she'll stop crying. She stares at Annalise and coos to her and smiles at her and it is all basically is the sweetest thing you've ever seen. There has never been any jealousy, aggression towards the baby, or anything negative at all. (Unless you count misguided loving attempts to smash the binkie into her mouth while the baby screeches and wails.)

Karina, three days old

Six days old:

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

...from the Fuhri-minis.

Christmas-y cheer!

2011-12-31T21:03:00.000-08:00

Karina's Blessing

2011-12-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

Dave's sister Jenn and her family flew into town for Karina's blessing during the first weekend in December. We all got to make our annual Chrismas candy together.

Karina was an angel during her blessing and was happy as a clam. What I remember most from the blessing was Dave saying she would be a peacemaker in our house. Heaven knows we could use that! At the point when Dave said her name, her Uncle John heard her cooing so he opened his eyes and said she was smiling from ear to ear!

Karina and Uncle John

Karina and the worthy men who blessed her.

Karina and Cousin Becca

With Adam and Audrey

Karina is certainly quite a blessing to her parents. :)

Photos from the Fall

2011-12-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

In no particular order:

A big sister is born

2011-11-12T22:21:00.000-08:00

What I remember about Karina being born was that she looked SO chubby. The doctor exclaimed, "Wow! She's big! I'd say at least nine pounds!" He was surprised to later find out she was only 8lbs. 10oz.. Her little face looked so chubby! It quickly slimmed down after a few days but I was astounded by her chubby little chin and cheeks and back. Everyone else was (and still is) stunned by how dark her hair was and how much there is of it, but for some reason it looks perfectly normal to me, exactly as it should. Now when I look at Annalise's baby pictures it's her that appears to be strangely blonde and pale.

When Karina came out, they set her on me, but facing away so I couldn't see her face. While they cleaned out her nose and mouth was probably only seconds but seemed like an eternity. Finally a nurse said something about it and they turned her around and gave her to me while they continued to wipe her head and hair clean. She was so unfamiliar! I was thinking about that, about how she looked, how she was different from Annalise, how we had TWO distict children now, when Dave and the other people in the room were getting concerned because she was just flopping over and not crying (possibly not breathing?). Dave told me that hours later. To me, everything seemed normal, but the nurse did mention that she only got a 7 on her APGAR because she was so purple-colored and floppy. Her color was very noticable though. She looked like another race! Her hair was wet so it looked black and curly, and her skin was so dark.

Our doctor had been out of town for a couple of weeks and his first day back was the day Karina was born. I was so glad he could be there and he seemed to enjoy himself. After a quicker delivery than I could have dreamed of, the doctor stood up and said, "Well... that was fun! Thanks!" I held Karina for a few hours before I handed her away to be cleaned all the way up and weighed and measured.

Annalise came and met her new sister that night.

On September 20th, both Karina and an adoring big sister were born.

Sweet Karina

2011-10-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

This baby is so sweet. She doesn't cry much and when she does it's because she wants to be held, fed, or put to bed. Such a reasonable lass! She is a delight. She is so different from her sister. We go places. We do things. She doesn't cry. I'm not losing my mind. It's a whole new world. Nothing against Annalise but THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. If only I could guarantee they'd all be like Karina, I'd have ten more.

*Thanks to the Hillyards who, in addition to taking the forthcoming birthday photos, also brought sushi.*

Additionally, we tried to recreate this picture that we took the day Annalise was born:

It didn't work out so well.

Karina's Birth Story

2011-10-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

On September 19th, four days past my due date, I took Annalise out shopping at several different stores in the evening. We were gone from around 5pm to 8pm and she was rather monster-like, having tantrums, refusing to listen and having to be dragged during a fit to the check-out counter at Joann's by her arm because I couldn't physically lift her with everything else in my hands. It was a proud moment.

Very stressed out, we got home and I'd had no dinner around 8:30 when I first felt a cramp-like sensation. This was nothing like how contractions felt with Annalise, so I blew it off as they kept coming every five to ten minutes apart. To be honest, I thought perhaps I would just have to go to the bathroom soon. Around nine or nine-thirty, I called my friend Julie to discuss. She said she thought I was in labor. I said I thought she was loony. She told me that when her membranes had been stripped (how mine had been with Annalise) she'd had the same type of contractions I'd had then- just painful but not cramp-like at all, but that when she'd gone into labor naturally it felt how I was describing. As we talked they got more intense. I refused to believe it could be anything. This was too different than last time.

By 10:00pm I was no longer in denial. They undeniably hurt. And they were every five minutes. And they had been going for an hour and a half. We called Dave's parents to alert them that we might need their assistance in the middle of the night to come stay with Annalise but that probably, like last time, we would wait until the morning to go to the hospital. I mean, they'd just started. And Annalise took almost 48 hours to come.

I started doing laundry I would need for the hospital and took a shower and tried to pack last minute things in my hospital bag but I WAS DYING. WHAT WAS GOING ON? When I was upright, the contractions were every one minute and sometimes closer. They went from nothing to excruciating at some point when I wasn't paying attention and now they were ATTACKING ME LIKE LINEBACKERS. I couldn't really do what I needed to get done. I couldn't really handle it. How was I going to wait until morning?

Around 1:00am I mentioned to Dave that I'd forgotten at what point you were supposed to go to the hospital. And I didn't know who to call to find out. Dave managed to find some phone number of our hospital online and decided to give them a call. For some reason, this struck us both as really hilarious and we were cracking up even as I moaned my way through some contractions while he told a nurse that we'd forgotten everything and when did she think we should come in? Her answer was NOW.

My concern was I hadn't been in labor long enough and surely this was way too soon and they would probably laugh at me when I got there because I wouldn't be dilated at all. I was very hesitant to go in. I didn't want to be laughed at.

Then my water broke. So I felt okay about it.

We got there about 1:30am. I was a four. I felt relieved that at least they wouldn't laugh.

I felt I would die from the pain. The post-water-breaking contractions were very very very bad. The nurse kept trying to tell me to breathe and I was pointedly ignoring her because I know how to breathe just fine, thankyouverymuch. But she wouldn't leave me alone. After her twentieth suggestion to just calm down and breathe through my nose, I hissed as fiercely as I knew how, "THAT DOES NOT WORK FOR ME!" Finally my point got across. There were no more suggestions on how to breathe.

The nurse gave me some pain relief to tide me over until I could get the epidural (the anesthesiologist was taking a very long time for some reason) and I was very interested to know about it.

"So... are you sure I got enough of that?" I asked between contractions as she was putting it into my I.V. "I mean, how much did I get? Do you think I need more? I think I could use a lot. I'm in a lot of pain. How much pain will this eliminate?" She interrupted to inform me that she had given me the maximum dosage she was legally allowed.

"Wise choice," I praised her.

After getting settled in and doing everything they had to do, I got an epidural and they checked my progress- it was about 3:30am and I was 6-7 cm dilated. This was going quickly. Great. Onward and upward. (Or outward!) I couldn't fall asleep because now surely Karina would be born any second. Dave konked out. I sat awake in my bed grinning excitedly.

Nothing happened.

Six hours later around 9:30 am they checked me again. Still 6-7 cm. Crushing news. With both births, the epidurals have really stopped me cold. A few hours later they checked again. Still 6-7 cm. They put me on the lowest dose of Pitosin. Several hours later I was fully dilated and effaced but the baby was still high up (a +2 station) so they suggested I go back to sleep and let her descend. My doctor thinks the reason I had so many problems with Annalise's birth (I pushed for 2 1/2 hours and got nowhere and she had to be vacuumed out) was because they just had me start pushing too soon, when I was dilated but she hadn't descended. So this seemed like a good plan. I slept a few comfortable hours. They checked again and she still wasn't moving down though and now they realized she was face-up (O.P.) which would make everything harder. The nurse suggested switching positions in bed a lot to see if it would make her rotate. As I got on my hands and knees I remembered some things from my natural-birthing classes the first time around, that doing this could make the baby descend too. So I stayed on my hands and knees for an hour, swaying my hips, and when they checked me again the nurse was shocked.

"She is RIGHT THERE!" she said, indicating we were ready. She had me do a practice push. "Okay, I'm calling the doctor!" she said.

The good doctor came in and told me to push. On the first push I couldn't really remember what to do. By the second push, I remembered. Dave's face looked shocked and it's not easy to shock that guy. "I see her whole head!" he said. I didn't actually believe him, because with Annalise they told me stuff the whole time, like what a great job I was doing and how we were really making progress, and none of it was true.

I pushed again and could actually feel progress being made. I never experienced that sensation with Annalise's birth. "The head is out!" Dave exclaimed. I was shocked. "One more tiny push," the doctor said. "That's enough!" he said. And that was it. She was out. "IS SHE OUT?" I bellowed because I couldn't see and this was craziness. People were saying things and making noise and there was commotion and Dave said, "She's OUT!" They put her right on me and I was in absolute and complete utter shock. The whole thing took less than three minutes. As you can see, I am shocked.

I prayed mightily and my prayers were answered. Karina Elizabeth Fuhriman was born September 20, 2011 at 3:04pm weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces and measuring 21 inches. From the start she has been mellow, calm, happy, sleeps amazingly, and rarely cries. She is our tiny angel.

Karina, three hours old:

DD + 4

2011-09-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Today Dave told me he was going to buy Annalise a special treat at the store and spelled 'C-H-O-C'-milk so she wouldn't understand and start demanding it immediately. To our shock, she exploded with joy and screamed, "Chocolate milk!"

A few minutes later she sang Happy Birthday to her right foot, and then to her "other foot".

DD + 2

2011-09-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't really blame my baby for being a procrastinator. I mean, she comes by it honestly. Just last night (a day PAST the due date, I may remind you) I finally purchased the nursing bras I'll need once she's born, and only picked her going-home outfit and started packing my hospital bag this morning (TWO days past the due date, I may remind you.) Like mother, like daughter.

As Dave and I spent the morning finishing the organization of clothes and stuff for two little girls into one tiny bedroom (again, normal folks- Dave included, if it was his choice- would have had this done weeks ago) I went into the bathroom and found, much to my dismay, the toilet bowl filled with a handful of goldfish crackers and a large 'Nemo' sticker Annalise had gotten at one of my recent doctor's appointments. Finding it pretty funny- Annalise has never put anything in the toilet before- I called Dave over to see.

"We have a predicament," I said laughing, and showed him.

"What's the problem?" he asked, not coming all the way into the bathroom.

"The toilet! I said. "Look! She dumped all her fishy crackers and her fish sticker in there! We have to get it out. The toilet will be all clogged. But she's so smart! I guess she was thinking that fish go in the water!"

There was a long pause.

"Um," said Dave. "I did it."

I stared at him. No words came.

"I had to throw them out," he explained. "It's just crackers and paper. I didn't think it would be a problem."

Due Date + 1

2011-09-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again. Another little Fuhriman insisting on being late to her own party. Yesterday's due date came and went but at least this time around I had absolutely no expectation that it would be any different. Who knows how long I have left? My overcooked little turkey is squatting in my ultra-plush bed-and-breakfast, paying no rent, and getting plumper (and therefore more difficult to evict) by the day.

Official Baby Eviction Notice
I, the Landlord (Mommy), am issuing a notice for EVICTION. Tenant (Baby) will have to comply and promptly vacate the premises.

The Tenant is being evicted due to breach of contract and destruction of property. Contract clearly states that length of lease was limited to 40 weeks. Additionally, expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back and sides of the house were also made without approval from the Landlord.

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. Due to the damage by the Tenant, the foundation has been compromised, and the structural integrity of the house is questionable. The Landlord (Mommy) has also received numerous complaints about frequent nightly disturbances.

If Tenant (Baby) does not comply with this notice, the Landlord (Mommy) and the Overseer (Daddy) will explode and possibly lose their minds. But especially the Landlord. Thankyouverymuch.

Update From Dave

2011-09-15T23:57:00.001-07:00

Due Date has passed without incident, except a few other incidents:

Somehow our indoor cat got locked out of the house all day and survived, most likely macking on the lady kittens in the neighborhood. Like father, like son.
Annalise continued her No Nap Strike, requiring two different "Peanubuttahbreahhhhs" (that's a peanut butter sandwich to those not fluent in Annaliseish) and several Elmo videos on my iPhone to put her to sleep tonight (a task I have now heroically assumed). Still, she screamed at the door until her mother awoke from her slumber in the other room and "resuced" her. Her screams impressively pierced through a full-volume sound machine, two doors, a high-velocity fan and her mother's sleep-deprived delirium to initiate the Hasselhoffian rescue from her dreaded paternal bedroom captor. She is now sleeping soundly in our recently-built-by-loving-husband-and-father Ikea bed.
Jessica completed her review of Bachelor Pad, lengthening her streak of Bachelor-themed-show-watching to infinity. This one somehow involved Bachelor and Bachelorette retreads competing for cash and contracting a number of unspeakable diseases in the process, I'm sure. For instance, someone named Kasey (with a K) apparently came down with a nasty case of Vienna. Fortunately the show is now over and Mondays are DVR-free.
I've been typing for 12 minutes -- still no baby.
Being the Husband of the Century that I am, I made a special trip to the store this evening for "Cookies and Cream ice cream and Magic Shell topping" for an unspecified severely pregnant woman currently on the premises. Since I am a crazily spontaneous person, I opted to shop at Target's new grocery section instead of the traditional Fred Meyer we usually get our groceries at. Their freezer aisle lights are motion-activated, which made it feel like they opened the store up just for me to shop. I kind of liked it.
Annalise has Athlete's Foot. Truth be told, it's rather unsightly but is rapidly improving. I used to get it pretty bad during the summers when I was a kid, so she must have inherited my susceptability to it (along with, according to Jessica, my butt and thighs. Probably TMI, but hey -- just wait until I describe the delivery).

That's all for now -- more to come from Fuhrimanville when things start moving and "Ice Cream" (as Annalise calls the new baby) is on her way.

DD - 4

2011-09-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

Other than finding myself googling ways to break your own water this morning, I am doing pretty well. Soooo patient. Not considering voluntary c-sections and artificial inductions at aaaaaall. Just kidding. But seriously.

Actually, patience is not a current virtue of mine. Between the heat, and Annalise being herself, she can't even ask me for a drink of water (or ten drinks, in three separate cups, of various types of liquid, because she wouldn't be her if everything wasn't difficult) without me having to stop myself from screeching like a maniac, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

**************

This afternoon Annalise climbed on our bed with us for a nap and Yeti the cat followed her up. His tail kept brushing against her no matter how much she pushed it away, so on his behalf she said earnestly, "I'm sorry, Annalisie," and followed it up with a grave, "It's okay, Yeti," as she solemnly forgave him.

Due Date -5

2011-09-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Annalise had her two-year check-up. It started badly and never got much better. The doctor's office left a message to remind me (I thought) that my appointment was at 9am. When we got there, they said the appointment wasn't until 9:50. Whoa. But we waited. As the time kept passing and several mini-tantrums later, the receptionist informed us that the doctor was running late. That was at 10:06. She finally saw us at 11:15. Well, any goodwill Annalise might have started out with had evaporated hours ago, so I knew it would be bad. First the nurse weighed her on the regular scale. 24 pounds and in the 14th percentile for weight. Then they wanted to recheck the weight on the baby scale because it seemed too low to them so we tried to get her to sit on it which was a five-minute long exercise in screaming terrified frenzied futility. Annalise thought they were trying to give her a shot and was having none of it so we gave up as she screamingly launched herself off the scale 48 times in a fashion not dissimilar to how she avoids ever sitting in a shopping cart. Then they wanted to lay her down to measure her. Another round of the same terrified panicking screaming explosions bursted out of her but we found that she is 34.25 inches and in the 59th percentile for height. The doctor came in and was equally impressed with her smarts and stunned by the condition of her horrible athlete's foot (we went in a week and a half ago to find out what her rashy foor problem was, but it looks exponentially worse now- peeling, cracked, bloody, dried out- even though its healing). Then the nurse came back to actually do what Annalise was dreading. I rejected the flu shot on her behalf so she only had one shot (Hep A) and the nurse let her sit on my lap for it. I wish I could request this nurse every single time. She was the nicest, most genuinely caring and efficient nurse, as well as talented shot-giver, we've met. Her work was so quick and there was no lead-up torture as Annalise was in my lap so the pain came but wasn't intensified by the fear that usually happens when they make her lay on the table leading up to it. The nurse gave her TWO toys and let her have TWO stickers for being so "good". (Um, that was a stretch. But a very nice one.)

We left a little after 11:30. It was a long morning at the doctor's. I felt so bad for Annalise I promised her candy, chicken nuggets, and anything else she asked for. Even when she very irritatingly wanted to play forever in the car before getting into her carseat I waited a good fifteen minutes before the time-out threats began. Poor little thing. I hate shots surely as much as she does. :( Happily she won't have another appointment for a whole year.

5 days til due date. Feeling ready. Hoping I don't have the baby tomorrow though because then she will be born on 9/11. But I look forward to getting the show on the road.

39 Weeks

2011-09-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have a great deal of desire to get a lot of things done before the baby comes. The "new" (as in, new-to-us; it cost us $15 on Craigslist) dresser/changing table combo with its fresh coats of 'Heirloom White' paint needs to be moved into the girls' room. The old changing table (being rejected due to lack of helpful drawers) needs to be cutely staged for some photos so I can put it on Craigslist to sell. All the baby clothes need to be organized and put away. The bathrooms could use a fresh scrubbing (I am getting maniacal about fresh bathrooms lately). The office needs some major organization, and since we took my vanity table out of our bedroom to make room for the crib that attaches to our bed, I have to buy an over-the-toilet storage/organizer to make room for all my makeup and perfume and lotion and toiletries that we no longer really have room for. Also, I would like to go to Trader Joe's to avoid the starvation of my family. And don't get me started on the help the garage needs.

But instead, my morning has consisted of writing this blog post. And thinking of Dave's mom, who underwent shoulder replacement surgery for the last few hours. (It went better than expected!) And sitting sorely and uncomfortably next to Annalise on the couch as she watched Sesame Street, not realizing that I was, apparently irritatingly, singing along with the theme song until Annalise angrily informed me, "No! Mine!" and insisted on singing the rest of it by herself.

MUST GET STARTED. Once I get started, I become anal, focused, single-minded, and productive. So hard to work up the energy to just get started though! Instead, I am waiting for Dave to come home for lunch, hoping he might have a better idea than I for how to turn the few cans of food, bottles of condiments, and loaf of bread we currently have in our cupboard into a decent lunch for three.

Labor Day 2011

2011-09-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

We decided to have a last hurrah before baby #2 makes her appearance, and headed out to the beach house for Labor Day weekend. (Maybe we were secretly trying to tempt fate? Like if we drove an hour and a half away then I would spontaneously go into labor just because it would be so inconvenient? But alas. Fate would not be tempted.)

The weather was perfect. While it was in the nineties in Portland it was sunny and in the seventies at the beach. I walked all around town a few times (it's a teeny town but still) pushing Annalise in our new double stroller that is a dream. We played frisbee on the beach ("running", bending, reaching- much more exercise than usual for me) and played in the sand and water and relaxed. We were joined by our friends Anna and Audrey on Monday. Dave drove back by himself Monday night to get back to work, but we stayed until Tuesday with the girls and got some sweet pictures of them together on the beach.

And Labor Day found me with only ten days to go.

We had a great time until Tuesday afternoon, when after another walk I sat down and found I couldn't stand back up because of (TMI- sorry!) such excruciating pain in the left side of my crotch. I collapsed, couldn't walk, and couldn't bear any weight on my left leg. It was kind of terrifying and after determining (through tears and terror) that it was not going away and that Audrey did not want to have to deliver a baby in case that was somehow strangely happening, we left and headed home immediately. I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't even lift my leg or foot, but had to scootch with the toes along the ground to propel it forward which still hurt so badly it made me dizzy. The pain was truly earth-shattering. I stayed in bed from six p.m. until this morning (except when using crutches to allow myself my frequent bathroom trips) and when I woke up today the unreal pain was significantly diminished, in that though it still hurt a lot, I could walk. I saw the doctor this morning and he recognized the problem immediately. He said it was the same pain from the ligaments loosening that I've been experiencing all along, but that sometimes exercise can stretch the leg away from the pelvis bone and it doesn't come back together right, creating my exact symptoms and pain, but that they are usually very temporary. Luckily mine were. So I am very sore but much better.

Eight days left!

Yeti

2011-09-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Annalise, who is very bossy with the cat, is also becoming interested in his well-being. MANY times a day she comes to me and asks if he needs food ("Yeti? Food? Annalise do it?") And usually I have to tell her no because she already fed him three times today and he is large and fat. When it is time to feed him though, she carefully picks up his ceramic dish (she has never dropped it), takes it into the garage where the bag of diet cat food is, and places it carefully on the ground. She opens the bag, retrieves the scoop, slowly and meticulously pours the tiny kibbles into his bowl without spilling one, and zooms back to the laundry room to present it to him. He is always very happy about this. She is always very happy about this. She squats downs and grins maniacally one inch from his face while he crunches, exceptionally pleased with herself.

Sometimes he gets full though. And if she happens to walk by and there is food in his dish and he is not there eating it, she finds herself on a single-focused mission.

"Yeti! Food!" she shouts, grabbing the dish from the ground and scouring the house to find him. "YETI!" she bellows. "FOOOOOOOOOD!"

Once she finds him she shoves the bowl under his nose and demands at the top of her voice that he eat. The shouting can go on for ten minutes. I try to explain that he is not hungry. This is never good enough for her. She is very harrassing when she wants to be.

The most surprising part of it to me is that in the end she usually wins. Yeti gives up and starts eating from whatever hiding spot he found where she crammed his dish in after him. And she smiles and nods at me knowingly.

"Yeti," she explains. "Food."

38 Weeks

2011-09-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

As my doctor likes to say each time he sees me, "Well, time is marching on."

Two more weeks seems simultaneously ridiculously soon and wretchedly far away. I keep clarifying for Dave, "I'm not actually saying I'm ready to have a baby, I'm just saying I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore."

Oh, I am frightened. I'm frightened of labor and birth. I'm frightened of the pain. My mini panic attacks over it- like I had before Annalise's birth- are back. I'm frightened of the advent of sleep deprivation, this time with a toddler to contend with while I deal with it. I'm frightened of the overwhelming anxiety that gets triggered by miniature people who won't stop crying.

If I could believe for just a moment that there was actually a baby, a real live person, another member of our family, that was coming out of this, it might make it easier. But I can't. It was the same with Annalise. I have no grasp of that til the baby is in my arms, no bond, no enormous love for the unborn person. I know that's strange, and not how other pregnant people feel, and my mother tells me she almost fainted with love for me every day since I was a two-celled zygote, but there you have it.

I read back over the blog from this time in my pregnancy with Annalise, and I am doing much better this time. The weather this summer has been remarkably cool and reasonable. It was 63* today at lunch while Annalise played outside at the playground. I froze. Two summers ago, I was blogging about how at 5pm it was 106 in the shade. Also, my ankles and feet are not the atrocities they were with her. Very mild swelling at the most this time, with no Shrek Feet to be seen. Very lovely, as you might imagine. I think my face might be a little swollen (or else just very fat) but since my wonderful and generous father is procuring us a brand new double BOB as a baby gift, I plan to run that right off. (One can always plan, right?)

Come soon, little Karina. Before your sister convinces us to change your name to her first choice- 'Ice Cream'.

Counting

2011-08-31T17:50:00.000-07:00

Counting my blessings for the sheer purpose of not LOSING IT ENTIRELY.

Trial: Annalise dumping seltzer water into the top of the cable box, rendering it dead as a doornail and hissing softly. Blessing: More quiet time. Dave says it feels peaceful.

Trial: Uncomfortably, enormously, unattractively, RIDICULOUSLY still pregnant. Blessing: Able to nap when Annalise naps. Currently not being woken 75 times a night. Haven't had to go through that torturous thing called labor yet. No one nursing off me day and night.

Trial: Dishwasher missing two front wheels on top rack, so you have to hold it up when you load and unload dishes. Also so loud you can't hear yourself think when it's on. Also it's from 1962 or whenever dishwashers were first invented. Blessing: It washes about 3/4 of the dishes in each load pretty well, and and sometimes the top rack doesn't go collapsing and crashing into the bottom one, breaking our stuff.

Trial: My phone needs a new battery so ridiculously that a full charge lasts less than an hour. Blessing: I always have a good excuse to get right off.

Side note: Late pregnancy's greatest irony: The desire to scrub areas heretofore never considered, while too large to recover if such scrubbing positions were ever assumed.

2011-08-31T17:17:00.001-07:00

As Dave headed out the door for work recently, he called out to Annalise, "Love you!"

"W?" she repeated, confused. She thought a moment and then shouted back, "X, Y, Z!"

2011-08-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Last week Annalise decided she wanted to say a prayer before naptime, like we normally only do before we go to sleep at night. In it she said she was grateful for the fan, the window, Mommy, herself, and Mommy's head.

Last night in her prayers she expressed gratitude for Mommy's arm and her friend Anna's mouth.

2011-08-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

In church yesterday, Annalise was squiggly, wiggly, full of energy, not listening to her parents, and bent on running away. She kept escaping from under my legs to roll in the aisle for all to see. She had to be taken out about five times for misbehavior and was generally quite bored and rambunctious .

Finally she laid on ground and loudly announced, "All done Jesus!"

Funny Girl

2011-08-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

Annalise is getting to the stage where she is saying things that crack me up. The other day we were getting into the car and it was exceptionally toasty.

"Hot!" Annalise exclaimed.

"It is hot," I agreed, buckling her into her carseat. She thought for a moment and brightened up with a solution.

"Mommy blow it?" she suggested.

The Currant Bush

2011-08-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am having a hard time. I feel constantly completely exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed and alone. I can't wait to feel like my body is normal again. I can't wait for Annalise to not run away in the street, grab everything off the shelf at the grocery store, make a giant messy disaster of every room in the house, or actually listen to one thing I tell her. I can't wait to someday sleep 8 hours straight with no one bothering me. I feel used up and like I have nowhere to turn. The last few days have been particularly rough. This morning when I started crying before I even got out of bed, Annalise knew to run and get the toilet paper so I could wipe my eyes.

Then I read this talk by Elder Hugh B. Brown and it spoke to me of The Bigger Picture. And I felt a little better.

"...I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and went after it, and I cut it down, and pruned it, and clipped it back until there was nothing left but a little clump of stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it, and smiled, and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush talk. And I thought I heard it say this: “How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me, because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.” That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and some day, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down, for caring enough about me to hurt me. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”

36 Weeks

2011-08-19T00:16:00.000-07:00

Today marks 36 weeks pregnant- four left to go. I had a doctor's appointment but because he was out of town (hiking I was told) I met with one of his partners. Not exceptionally fun to have such an invasive- and painful!- exam done by a stranger, but at least Dave was there. Apparently my cervix is nice and squishy, if anyone wanted to know, and I am dialated just a teeny bit. After it was over, I was met with the displeasing news that in addition to being currently out town, my doctor will again be away from September 8th-September 19th. I am due September 15th. I think there should be a law that if they are going to be gone during the entire reasonable stretch that a person will likely deliver, your doctor should tell you about it beforehand. Just for kicks.

Annalise's communication continues to increase, it seems like daily now. This afternoon, I gave her my McDonald's cup to finish off and she ran away, thrilled to have it to herself. A few minutes later, she ran back in and said, "Trash!"

"Mmm. Trash," I acknowledged, not really paying attention, as she babbles billions of things all day long and I was trying to edit some photos.

"Trash, Mommy!" she said insistently.

"Okay, trash," I said absently.

"TRASH! MOMMY! TRASH! TRASH! TRASH!"

She apparently really wanted me to understand something, and finally it occurred to me that maybe she had done something horrible and I should look. Frightened, I asked her if she needed me to come look at the trash. She paused to think.

"Trash," she said again. "Cup... bye-bye. Trash."

She wanted me to know she had thrown away the empty cup! Oh, the cuteness! Oh, the brilliance!

And tonight, as Dave started ushering her down the hall to her room for prayers and bedtime, she turned to me and gestured, saying a new and quite long sentence, "Come on, Mommy- night-night time!"

Newborn photos

2011-08-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

In June, our friends' sweet baby Rushton was born, and I took some newborn photos (when he was four days old!) and designed him a birth announcement.

While he was comforted between takes, Annalise wanted in on the photography action.

Annalise turns two

2011-08-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

It happened. We have a two-year-old. We smothered her in bed with kisses and birthday wishes when she woke up this morning (she was grumpy and in response cried and demanded fruit snacks and energy bars) and then spent the morning at Pump It Up, a kids' indoor playground of all-inflatable slides and bounce houses and obstacle courses with her BFF Anna. Then we met Daddy for lunch at Red Robin, where she wore her pink-feathered light-flashing diamond-encrusted birthday crown (much to the delight of the other patrons) and the servers sang Happy Birthday to her, brought her balloons, and presented her with an ice cream sundae. It was a two-year-old dream come true. She took a very long nap and then had a fun hours-long play date in the park, made it home around 8:30pm and received her requested dinner of scrambled eggs.

Annalise is a happy girl. She is a special, spunky, giggly person who constantly sings her ABC's, can count perfectly to ten, and is pretty good on the way to 20. She's been able to do this for a few months now. She (and her BFF) both mainly refer to her as 'Annalisie' and lately every time I ask her if she remembers what Baby Sister's name is, she says, "Ice cream." She is very bossy with the cat, likes to hold hands, and demands, "Annalisie do it!" (though she can't) about buckling herself into her carseat. She adores nail polish and make-up (she gets chapstick, and a blush brush swept over her cheeks). She is learning well to stop herself from whining/crying when threatened with being sent to her room, and counting to three is also a nearly foolproof way to get her to obey. She really loves older kids, and LOVES animals but becomes terrified if they put their faces up to her. She loves the park, slides, and when Daddy comes home from work. She is obsessed with airplanes and talks about them constantly. She calls them 'oh-planes'. She can spot them when they are a pinprick in the sky and when she hears one, she searches madly to find it, going wild with excitement, screaming, "Mommy! Look! Oh-plane! Big one!" She said her longest sentence the other day, to one of the guests leaving her birthday party: "Thank you very much for coming!" My heart swelled so big it almost leapt out of my chest and died on the sidewalk.

She loves Nemo and Elmo and her 'Dragon Show' (technically titled How To Train Your Dragon) and her water table in the backyard enthralls her each and every day. She wants to be wherever we are, and likes to be cuddled off to sleep for naps and nighttime (quite tedious for Mommy unfortunately.) She sleeps in her own big-girl bed, although she only makes it through the night without waking up about half the time, so we wake up to a guest in our bed lots of mornings. She is very gentle with babies and I have high hopes that she will be a nice big sister. She has a distinct sense of humor and is easy to make laugh. She told her first joke the other day. She has lately been very interested in labeling people as either boys or girls ("Mommy- girl! Grandpa... boy!"- her understanding of the concept is spot-on) and as we were laying down for a nap she looked at me sideways with an impish grin.

"Airplane," she said, smiling devilishly around her mouth full of binkie.

"Airplane," I agreed, wondering where she was going with this.

"Airplane... boy!" she shouted wide-eyed and began screaming with laughter at her own humor. I laughed so hard and she was so pleased with the response that she repeated the two-word joke for at least twenty minutes, howling hysterically every time she uttered it.

What a kid. What an amazing love she has inspired in me. What wouldn't I do for her? Her happiness and fulfillment are my highest daily priorities. What a kid.

One more day...

2011-08-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my sweet baby's birthday. Except two years old makes her not a baby anymore! I am so pleased with who she is. I am so tickled by her quirks, her soft belly, her cotton-y hair, her round cheeks, her funny voice. I am so delighted when she says, 'I love you, Mommy!' or when she leads her own prayers (she mainly repeatedly expresses thanks for 'MommyDaddy' and fireworks). I am so charmed when she gives out kisses and hugs, says 'Excuse me, Yeti' as she walks by the cat, is brave on high slides and bouncy houses, or dances to the music she hears. I am so fulfilled when she cuddles me, strokes my hair out of my face, or says, 'Thank you, Mommy!' when I hand her something.

Today she is one. Tomorrow she won't be. Ever again! She has a sense of humor, a silly side, a love of other children, and a giggle and laugh that make me wonder if any other child has ever been so enchanting. I can not imagine that the history of the world has ever seen someone more scrumptious, precious, and dear.

My darling Annalise, happiest of almost-birthdays to you, my love!

Surprise

2011-08-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

Last night Dave asked me when I wanted my Push Present. "Right now!" I shouted without having to think, very excited at the mere thought. Last time I got an iPhone.

"Well, it's not a traditional present," he warned.

"Hmm," I said, instantly wary. "Not traditional? Like... it can't be wrapped?"

"Not so much," he said.

"Is it the kind of present you don't have to pay for?" I asked, excitement quickly dwindling.

"No, because it's priceless!" he defended, and sent me into gales of laughter.

"Okay," I agreed.

He went into the office for a few moments and then sent Annalise out with a folded piece of paper for me that had something printed on it.

I opened the paper. It read, 'Karina Elizabeth Fuhriman'. Dave said he'd had a change of heart. I cried. I asked him when he'd decided. He said he'd been feigning continued disgust with it for a while now.

Our baby has a name.

*****************************

A bit later, I asked Annalise excitedly, "Do you want a baby sister named Karina?!"

"No!" she exclaimed.

"Oh," I said, surprised. Usually she responds to that playful tone of voice by saying 'yes' to anything. "Well, what do you want?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "A dragon!" she said.

Fun at the Fair

2011-08-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Annalise enjoyed her second year of the Washington County Fair. There was so much more she could do this year, and she wasn't confined to a stroller due to her ability to walk this time around. She enjoyed the tractors,

and was beside herself with joy to get to see the goats, sheep, cows and pigs.

Daddy tends to make everything more exciting.

There were some baby cows nursing from their mothers and when we walked by, their handlers asked if Annalise wanted to pet them. Did she ever! I tried to explain what was happening.

"The baby cows are nursing," I told her. "They're doing 'nuh'!" 'Nuh' is what Annalise called nursing when she was doing it. She still often asks to (she was weaned three and a half months ago) and I explain that when Baby Sister comes, she will do 'nuh'. Annalise didn't really say much and I thought she didn't understand about the calves and we moved on. Starting a few days later though, she came up to me and said seriously, "Nuh." I thought she was asking to do it herself which was weird because usually she only requests it when I am changing my shirt.

"'Nuh' will be for Baby Sister," I reminded her.

She paused, and tried to explain. "Cow!" she said. "Nuh!" And she has mentioned it every day, sometimes multiple times since.

The corn pit was a hit again this year.

Big cow and his little cow.

Annalise got to enjoy her first corn dog. She was a fan.

I didn't even contract very much like I usually do when I walk a lot. It was an all-around good day at the fair!

Big girl!

2011-07-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

This morning, I took off Annalise's pajamas and changed her diaper and left her in the family room to find some clothes to dress her in. I got distracted ~~on Facebook~~ with something very important though, and the next thing I knew she came running into the office shouting, "Poo-poos! Yucky!" She was entirely naked. I panicked, as yesterday she ran in yelling the same thing and it was because she had stuck her hand down her pants and come up entirely brown-fisted. Today there were no poo-poos, but only my shock that she had taken off her own diaper for the first time.

"Where is your diaper?" I kept asking her, because it was brand new and I wanted to hurry and get it back on her before we had an issue. "I duh-oh," (code for 'I don't know') she answered every time. I looked everywhere, couldn't find it, and as I was trying to think if there was any other possible place she could have put it, I asked her absently,

"Well, do you want to sit on your potty?"

She has a little princess potty I bought her months ago that we play with sometimes- as in, she sits down, stands up, sits down, and then runs away. And has only very recently consented to doing so diaper-lessly without crying at the injustice of it all.

"Okay," she said and ran in her room. (The potty is not even in the bathroom, if that shows how much faith we have in it being used for its actual purpose.)

She sat on the potty. I gave words of encouragement. After about 15 seconds, tinkly music began emanating from the pink princess potty. I thought it had to be broken. That was only supposed to happen if liquid touched it. Annalise was delighted and squealed and clapped her hands.

"Did you go PEE-PEE in the POTTY?" I bellowed in amazement.

"PEE-PEE!" she shouted, leaping up and we both leaned over to inspect. Sure enough, there were three small drops. We screamed. We laughed. We clapped. We cheered. She received inordinate praise and also a candy. She fruitlessly demanded more music from the potty.

Then she ran away and opened the kitchen trash can. "Diaper!" she exclaimed and fished it out to show me.

What a Day

2011-07-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

I went in for a regular pre-natal check-up on Thursday and proceeded to spill protein in my urine, which is an indicator of pre-eclampsia or eclampsia. My blood pressure was "perfect" though, so they had me come back yesterday to recheck it in case it was a fluke. It was not. So they did a blood test to ensure I am not a toxemia victim, and luckily I am not. (Other than an iron deficiency I am just fine.) My main concern and all I could think about was, I CAN NOT BE ON BED REST WHILE PARENTING A TODDLER! Luckily I was spared.

Two weeks ago we flew to California for a wedding and as my dad said, you can't MAKE UP a story like we had. I was sans-husband which added to the stress of the whole thing, but Annalise did well on the flight to Long Beach. Upon arrival though, I had to carry her carseat, my purse, my large carry-on diaper bag, and the giant suitcase, not to mention my whale-sized uterus which I'm just lucky they didn't make me count as a carry-on. This left no arms available to carry Annalise's highly desirous-to-be-carried self. She screamed and cried and stumbled along behind me in the airport howling, "Hold you, Bubby?" which is how she asks to be held. (Stemming from me always asking her, "Do you want me to hold you, Bubby?"). I gritted my teeth and slowly made my way through the airport out to the street we had to cross to get to the car rental place. I saw no carts to rent on my way and the idea of searching for one seemed ridiculous. So a police officer helped us across the street to avoid Annalise being squished by a car, and once on the other side, a kindly woman asked me if she could carry Annalise for me. Knowing Annalise would rather have her arms chomped off by a rabid dog, I nearly shouted, "YES!" So she carried the now out-of-her-mind hysterically crying little lady (Annalise is not a fan of strangers that want to touch her in any way) and I hauled all the crap and we made it inside the car rental agency. As our reservation was with Budget, I walked up to the Budget desk and they said they needed my license to begin. I searched my carry-on. I searched my purse. I searched them again. I searched them two more times each, emptying them completely, yet still somehow imagining that I just needed to search them again. After about fifteen minutes the truth became clear. My license was gone. I'd had it in Portland to get through security, but I had it no longer. I called the airline but it wasn't found on the plane, which was incidentally about to leave for San Francicso so I couldn't go back to check for myself. I called the airport who checked with the lost and found and it wasn't there. They gave me the number of the airport police where it could have been, but was not, turned in. Finally there was no one left to call. That's when the tears came. Gasping and choking incomprehensibly I asked the people behind the desk if I had any options at all for getting the car when I didn't have my actual license with me. The answer was no. I went outside to the shuttle service and asked what it would cost to be driven to San Diego, where the wedding was in a few hours. For one person it was $250, which was before taxes, tip, and Annalise. I called Dave, crying my brains out, who called the Portland airport, and they reported they'd found my license. I cried my brains out some more. At some point Annalise looked up at me in terror, exclaimed, "Mommy sad!" and burst into tears herself. The logical part of my brain that hadn't been weeping and hormonally unusable for over an hour now started thinking, Why am I crying? Spend the money or don't. Go to the wedding or don't. This was a logical decision. There really was nothing to cry about. Yet the shuddering hysterical sobs would not quit (to say nothing of the constant stress-induced Braxton Hicks that were nearly taking me out). After some more phone calls, some decisions to just call my parents and have them take me home, and the mopping of my eyes for the hundreth time, a lady behind the counter looked at me kindly.

"$300 is too much to spend for the shuttle to drive you," she sympathized. "Yes," I agreed, sniffling and hiccupping and still trying to formulate my POA. "I get off in ten minutes," she said. "And I don't have any plans this afternoon. I will drive you."

I can't really describe my reaction. I'm sure you can imagine. The trip would be at least an hour and a half each way. She would be renting a car under her own name and if I would just pay for that ($36) and gas she would do it. I fell all over myself thanking her and my lucky stars that perhaps I wouldn't miss the wedding. Then she told me in a whisper that she didn't have the $36 in her account right now, but it was payday and so she had to go deposit her check and then she could come back and rent the car. On the way she would pick up her kids and we could all go together and she would tell them, ROAD TRIP!

This presented another fun hiccup though. Because of the scandal that happened at Michaels Crafts where loads of people got their card numbers stolen if they shopped there in the last 6 months, my bank shut down any and every card of their customers' that was used there just to be safe and so I didn't have my debit card because a new one was coming in the mail. So I couldn't go to an ATM to get money out to pay the nice lady (Nikki). I called the credit card company and they said to get a cash advance, all I would need to do was go into a bank with my card and i.d. and it would be no problem. Of course, if I had my i.d. to begin with, none of this would be a problem! SO. I called my lovely friends the Hillyards, down in San Diego already for the wedding, and requested that they lend me $100 in cash and meet us with it at their hotel so I could give it to Nikki. It felt like I was at everybody in the world's mercy.

While I waited for Nikki to return from depositing her paycheck, Dave called to inform me of some more fun ridiculousness. The airport would not allow him to pick up my license for me(for purposes of Fed-exing it to me so I would be allowed to fly home in four days) without proof that he was my husband, which had to be in the form of joint-checking paperwork, since my last name is still technically Raychek. So he had to drive all the way home from where he was chaperoning an event for his boys at church and then drive the 45 minutes to the airport where they had told him exactly where it was and what desk to go to with his paperwork because it would be waiting for him. When he showed up they said, "Whoops, we just mailed it out twenty minutes ago!" And to top it off, they mailed it to the address on it, which was my old CA address. (As a side-note, my father drove me to my old apartment building and I left a note explaining everything with a self-addressed stamped envelope so they could mail it back to me when it arrived but they never did and instead probably made a lot of money selling it.)

Also while I was sitting there, an extremely attractive couple walked in. You couldn't help but notice them- they were dressed to the nines and the guy was frankly gorgeous. As I sat there in my weakened, vulnerable, and constantly-contracting state, the man began hissing at his girlfriend (wife?) out of the blue. "You better wipe that f*%$-ing look off your face!" I glanced at her in shock. She was staring straight ahead with no expression. "I SAID YOU BETTER F%$#-ING WIPE THAT F&#%-ING LOOK OFF YOUR FACE!" He roared in a hissing whisper no less than ten more times approximately two centimeters from the face that, indeed, was doing its best to have absolutely no look on it at all. I glared flatly and openly at him to let him know people were listening but he didn't notice. Without meeting his eyes, she responded that she was not making any faces. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO DO TO YOU WHEN WE GET HOME IF YOU DON'T WIPE THAT bleepity bleepity bleep bleep LOOK OFF YOUR bleepity bleeping bleep face?" It went on and on. I've never heard anyone talk that way, in real life or even in a movie because no actor could realistically convey this kind of evil. It was actually terrifying to hear and he wasn't even talking to me. Genuinely frightened he might attack me if I kept glaring, I did so anyway, because he was so crazy and abusive and I have no doubt exactly what he did when they got home to the lady with no expression on her face.

Then on the way down to San Diego I bought everyone some McDonald's and as we were all chatting, I asked how long Nikki had worked at her job.

"Do you like working at Budget?" I asked her, since she really seemed to. She looked very confused.

"I don't work for Budget!" she exclaimed. "I work for Alamo! Your reservation was with Budget?" We all screamed and laughed and nearly wet our pants for ten minutes when we realized that a misplaced sign had led me to her desk and here she was helping a customer that wouldn't have even been hers! (She really was the most selfless, angelic person I may have ever met.)

Then I got to the hotel and as we got ready I discovered my beloved camera had gotten broken- the battery cover had snapped off. An extra cherry on top of the day.

In the end, I missed the ceremony but made the reception and the whole entire day was filled with beyond-charitable people who helped me and I was blessed beyond measure. It reminded me clearly to always be on the lookout to "pay it forward."

Because I had to smush and hold the battery in with my hand while I snapped the pictures, I only took a couple at the very end of our trip, of Annalise and Grandma L.

Our new favorite toy

2011-07-22T08:27:00.001-07:00

I would like to interrupt this five-month fast from blogging to talk about ovens. The front two burners of ours (a hideous brute from around 1960, back before ovens had windows) were unworking. One was Dave's fault (the metal ring around it popped off and no amount of cajoling from me could convince him to figure out how to reattach it) and the other was my fault (I misread a recipe instructing me to simmer homemade hot chocolate for two hours in a crock pot- you might imagine what happened when I took a wee nap during the simmering and Dave came home to disaster with me quite peaceful in the bed). So the thing was ugly. And it didn't work. And we didn't know how to fix it. And we hated it.

But of course our particular set-up in our kitchen required a slide-in stove, which I had never heard of, but apparently is code for VERY EXPENSIVE stove. Since not many people use them in their kitchens, not a lot are made, and thus the market is quite unsaturated and they can get a ton of money for them. The cheapest one in the cheap appliance store was $1500. Which was out of the question. The cheapest one in the scratched and dinged section of the discount appliance store was $750. Which we briefly considered. Then a ray of brilliance hit me. CRAIGSLIST! Our "new" and lovely perfect and gorgeous oven was $135. I am so happy I could burst.

Also the new baby is due in 7 weeks, 6 days, but who's counting?

2011-02-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

It's very hard to believe I'm pregnant. You might think the constant torturous mind-blowing nausea might make it all a little bit more real, but no.

Maybe because it happened so easily. With Annalise, I wanted to get pregnant from the instant we got married. Dave wanted to wait a year. I thought about it constantly, yearned for it, dreamed of it, would do anything for it. It seemed like every fiber, every cell of my being was screaming for it. The desire to have a baby was overwhelming in its intensity. After a few months, Dave agreed and we got pregnant not the first month we tried (I was convinced something was terribly wrong with one of us and discussed at length with Dave my overly-researched fears and the corresponding medical options available) but the second month.

This time, quite out of the blue, I felt ready to have another baby. This was after a very serious pinky-swear to the contrary Dave and I made in the delivery room after Annalise arrived, as well as almost a year and a half of telling each other there was no way we could ever do any of it again. This was after perhaps a millisecond of finally feeling able to at least tread water in life without feeling like I was drowning every day and every night.

I gave a good sell to Dave. The conversation lasted an hour and a hour. Dave was adament and not buying. He could not do it and he would not do it. I came away feeling satisfied that at least he knew how I felt and it was not my responsibility to talk him into anything or convince him of anything.

Quite to my surprise, by the next night he had changed his mind. I became pregnant three days later.

Having Annalise around meant that I never got to obsess about it beforehand (much too busy with her instead), nor have I been able to think much about it afterwards (much too busy with her instead!). I haven't read the books this time that detail the growth of the fetus day by day, nor have I daily scoured the internet for images of grape-sized embryos that match the age of my own. I'm a little too busy to be self-indulgent.

I pray these uncomfortable months fly quickly by (and to tell the truth that the sleepless newborn months fly quickly too) and that someday soon, all four of us can snuggle together on the bed, no one crying, no one waking, sleeping peacefully, for hours and hours and hours at a time. Aah, what a lovely dream. :)

2011-02-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, at the home of the lovely Hillyards, Julie (six days past her own due date and still six days from delivery) suggested I take a pregnancy test.

"Oh no," I scoffed. "I'm sure I'm not pregnant. And even if I was, it probably would never show up!" I wouldn't know if I was "late" for six more days. Just for fun, she insisted, and delivered a spare test from her bathroom upstairs.

I knew I couldn't be pregnant because surely I would feel if I was pregnant, and also I didn't want to disappoint everyone in the room after a three-minute wait with only one measly pink line. But at everyone's insistence, I peed on the stick. With Annalise, the two lines turned boldly pink immediately, leaving no room for doubt. This time, only one line popped up.

I came out. "See?" I said, showing the stick around. "I'm not pregnant. I knew it."

"We have to wait three minutes!" everyone said. So we waited. As we chatted, I glanced down. The lighting was dim but what was that? I shot up and ran to good light. In the time it took to run the ten steps another line had distinctly appeared.

I was pregnant. It was very shocking. (Not because we hadn't planned it but because isn't it always shocking?)

Today was the first ultrasound. I am almost nine weeks along, there is one baby inside (pronounced very wiggly by the doctor) and its cute little heart was beating away.

It's all very hard to wrap my brain around, even though we've been through this before. I can't imagine any other baby being mine besides Annalise. Who even wants another baby besides Annalise? She is perfect. How is another baby even supposed to compare? I guess we'll see. :)

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK

2011-01-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

I am sick sick sick sick sick. I have been sick for weeks. It feels like years. I am sick in the morning, sick in the night, woken from sleep by feeling sick. Medicine doesn't help. I want to die. I do not understand why so many people try to avoid self-pity, or what value they find in so doing. I feel extremely sorry for myself and, in truth, would like everybody else to, too.

My current state of mind sees suffering everywhere. Just look at this sad "face."

Smarty Pants

2011-01-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

Dave has been out of town for over a week now and Annalise is expanding her repertoire of talents to reward him with when he gets home. She received the 'Your Baby Can Read' set from Grandpa Raychek for Christmas and after watching the first video twice (TWICE!) she found the accompanying book in the box (that I hadn't even gotten out for her yet) and turned to the page where it said the words 'Arms Up' with a picture of a little girl with her arms in the air AND PUT HER OWN ARMS UP! As I began to mightily freak out at her astounding genius, she turned to the next page where it said 'Wave' and had a picture of a little girl with an open hand held up and she STARTED WAVING! As I began shrieking to her that Mommy was going to die from having such a wonderful smart gorgeous genius in the family, she turned to the next page where it said 'Clap' and had a picture of a baby with his hands together and she began WILDLY CLAPPING HER OWN HANDS! As you might imagine, I had to work hard not to hyperventilate or pass out and anyway, I am excited to see all she can learn from this program. You might call me One. Satisfied. Customer. I didn't even think she was paying attention when I had the video on for her but apparently she was.

When she hears the Eensy Weensy Spider Song she has started doing the hand moves for when he goes up the spout (also learned from her new program). We have one other video she will tolerate watching for small amounts of time. The second I put it on I run away and try to get things done around the house, so I had no idea what she was watching until one day she ran to me after it finished and covered her eyes with her hands and happily shouted, 'Pee-Boo!' (peek-a-boo). I had to go back and watch it so see if that was where she learned it and it was! There is a song called Peek-a-Boo Choo Choo in it and she loves it. This week she put it all together and now says "Pee-Boo Choo Choo!"

Also in the last week, she learned to say 'quiche' (one of her favorites) and 'chicken' (she likes that too) and 'bite' to ask for one of whatever I'm having. She was eating some salmon very slowly and playing around with it so I very excitedly told her, "Good girl!" when a bite actually reached her mouth (she will eat nothing if it is not fed TO herself BY herself, off of a fork. Even Cheerios, which (who knew?) can indeed be eaten off a fork.) She loved that I said it to her and began stuffing her mouth with salmon bites so I would say it over and over. Then she took over. "Good girl!' she repeated, forking more salmon in til her cheeks puffed out. After each bite she cheered herself again and again, "Good girl! Good girl!"

Halloween

2010-12-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

I am FORCING myself to do some much-needed catch-up on this here blog before I post any Christmas pictures. We'll start with Halloween. Annalise was a pumpkin. She trick-or-teated to one door (her grandparents') and that was it. She liked it though because she got to knock, which she loves to do. Also, they gave her straight candy, which was a first for her. She was quite a fan.

She was also a ladybug.

All I did here was sit her against the wall. The other kids are like, "What's the problem?"

The kitty-cat and the pig are like, "Seriously, what's her deal?"

Annie and her play-group buddies:

Since the 31st was on a Sunday, Annalise had to be festive for church so she wore orange and green.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

(After we ran out of the free Shutterfly cards we got this year, I created my own! It's the first Christmas card I've designed- it was fun!!)

She's been busy...

2010-12-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

Annalise has no interest in actually opening the presents underneath the Christmas tree. What she does have an interest in is reorganizing them. We have found them in drawers, in cabinets, on the couch, atop her slide, and in her room. No amount of shoving them deep beneath the tree can stop her.

This reorganization business is serious stuff.

Sweet Baby

2010-12-18T01:30:00.000-08:00

Our cutie-patootie says the word "poo-poo" cuter than any kid you've ever heard. Every time she says it I screech and swoon with delight. I don't think most people's moms have worked with them on perfecting their potty-talk, but there you go.

She can say nose, eye, mouth, teeth, belly, and toes and point to the corresponding body parts. Tonight she learned what 'pat-pat' meant and was delighted to repeat it over and over as she patted her parents' heads, backs, arms and faces. She is very proud of new accomplishments and always looks back and forth between us with a giant grin to be sure we are both appreciating any newfound brilliance.

The top half of our Christmas tree is lovely and sparkly and the bottom half is completely barren. I originally decorated it with kid-friendly ornaments which are long since lost to Annalise's toy bins, under couches, and behind the refrigerator.

She loves to dance and will start bopping wildly at the slightest strain of any music. Today I wound up a wind-up toy for her and she must have thought the buzzing it made sounded like music because she instantly started convulsing about, happily shouting, "Dance, dance!" before she paused, a bit puzzled, and realized it wasn't music after all.

While she used to be terrified of baths, she now complains terribly when I am too slow getting her clothes off while the bathtub fills.

She loves to have her teeth brushed. There is not much in life that Annalise sumbits easily to, but for some reason, brushing is like her favorite thing EVER. She very willingly lays on her back and lets me brush and when I am done, takes the brush and proceeds to brush them herself until I have to forcibly remove it from her.

The other day she accompanied me around the block while I did some Alphabet Photography.

It was freezing cold but she was a good sport.

Busy

2010-12-13T23:28:00.000-08:00

Annalisie is a one-gal destruct-o machine. If it's inside, she will take it out. If it's clean, she'll mess it up. If it's in her way she will fling it, and if she can reach it she will grab it. If there is any order involved, her internal monitors go off and she MUST DESTROY. She is so energetic that she never stops. She is constantly running away, squirming, laughing, jumping, dancing, chattering, hugging, and snatching. An extremely common observation we get is, "WOW, she's busy!" Busy is apparently the popular word for a little lady who never stops and goes so hard that she's flinging around even as she nurses to sleep.

This morning she dumped the eggs out of the refrigerator and banged them together like symbols. This afternoon she was moments away from shattering a glass Christmas ornament in her mouth as she gnawed stripes out of its colored-glass sides. This evening she officially laid to rest the belly button button on her father's iPhone, and yesterday she emptied a humungous cup of diet root-beer into the carpet. This is just what comes to mind. I'm sure she was involved in five hundred other patience-trying things in the last 24 hours that I've already forgotten about.

Annalise meets the Big Hairy Guy

2010-12-11T00:57:00.001-08:00

Annalise's future dental office (the amazing Adventure Dental) has a yearly Christmas party complete with Pictures with Santa. Since the Dentist-Extraordinaire in question is Faux-Uncle Todd, we were invited to partake in the photographic goodness!

It started badly. On the way there I said to Annalise, "We are going to go meet Santa!" "Anna?!" she repeated, thinking I'd said the name of her little best friend. "No, Santa!" I replied desperately. It didn't matter. For the whole 45-minute ride, she excitedly repeated, "Anna! Anna!"

It got worse. We got there and instead of being greeted by her BFF, a large hairy fat man reached for her.

"Give her to Mrs. Clause," one of the assistants advised. "Babies are always less scared of the women." I knew it would make no difference but I acquiesced. I handed her away and before I could blink she was screaming at the top of her lungs and struggling in terror.

Interestingly, not one person in the shot is looking at the camera. Annalise is screaming in desperation to her mother, while the Clauses gaze on at me joyfully.

Get 50 Free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly!

2010-11-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

I have yet to send out Christmas cards in my married life. Our first year together I was in the depths and throes of morning-sickness torture. Last year we had a young baby and I was in the depths and throes of sleep-deprivation torture. This year I am unpregnant and unsick enough to actually get my act together! Therefore, I was SO excited to learn about the blog promotion going on right now at Shutterfly, where there are gorgeous cards like this one:

and this one,

and this one:

The hardest part will definitely be picking just one! The hard part will NOT be paying for my cards because Shutterfly is sending me 50 for free! You can get 50 for free too, just by posting about their promotion on your blog. Go here to take advantage of this great offer!

Annalise Finds Her No-no

2010-11-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

Lately it seems this blog is just a record of new words that Annalise says. Which is probably very boring and since this is my journal, who knows if I'll even care to remember what day she learned what word at this point? But oh well. As it happens it's so exciting!

Once, weeks ago, I pointed to my nose and asked Annalise if she could say 'nose'. She said, "No!" and pointed to her own nose. She never did it again. Then tonight, for fun, I threw the word in there as one of the things I asked her to repeat. "Can you say nose?" I asked her, pointing to mine. "No-no!" she replied, pointed to her own. She repeated her new trick many times, even performing it for daddy when we went in the next room to show him. :)

Sweet Baby

2010-11-20T23:58:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa Fuhriman came over this week and while they were there, I asked Annalise if she could say 'Grandma,' knowing she couldn't. But she surprised me! "Mah-mah!" she repeated.

When I was little (a few days before I turned one) my mother told me that the lights on the Christmas tree went "twinkle, twinkle." Then she said, "Now, what do the Christmas lights do?" And I responded, "Tuh-kah, tuh-kah."

Today we put up our Christmas tree and I thought it would be fun to try to teach Annalise to say 'twinkle' too.

"The Christmas-tree lights go 'twinkle, twinkle, twinkle," I told her, and she listened seriously and stared, mesmerized, at them. "Can you say 'twinkle, twinkle?'"

"Tah-tah, tah-tah," she said so sweetly. :)

15-Month Portraits

2010-11-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

First thing this morning, Annalise and I headed off to Kiddie Kandids to try and get her pictures taken. It's much more expensive than J.C. Penney's but I've liked the results a lot more too. Kiddie Kandids is located inside Babies-R-Us and with no gate to keep Annalise in the photo studio, she was immediately trying to run all over the store to persue her intended career of Ultimate Destroyer. I got her up on the photo platform and right away she was having none of it. Usually we get at least 30 seconds of goodwill which equates to approximately two semi-decent photos after which point the entire operation is shut down due to Scream-Factor. But today she started right off with tears, clinging to me and no desire to look at the camera with anything other than a very displeased grimace. We wanted her to sit on a little bench which she flatly refused. Once we offered her an ugly fake flower though, she accepted it with a semi-pleasant expression on her face. Hence, this photo:

I wasn't thinking at all about doing holiday shots, but they had so many cute props that I thought it might be fun to have her sit in a sleigh. Alas, Annalise disagreed. Vehemently. There were tears. There was moaning. And clutching of mommy's neck with desperation. Finally, I looked around the studio in desperation myself. I spotted a snowman, almost as tall as the Clingy One and had an idea.

"Annalise!" I said very excitedly, snatching up the snowman, plopping him next to her, and appealing to her exceptionally peer-affectionate tendencies. "Look at the snowman! Isn't he cute? Don't you want to HUG him?! And KISS him?!" Well, did she ever. Annalise screeched with delight, toddled forward, and mauled the snowman with love. Hence, these pictures:

And at that point she was in such a good mood that she continued smiling when we took him away,

and even sat right down in the sleigh without being prompted!

Ten points for the snowman.

15 Months

2010-11-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

A baby who is 15 months is old. It sounds really old. Our Sweet Pea is turning into a big big girl. Today she went to the doctor for her check-up. At 31.5 inches tall (no growth from last time) she is in the 53rd percentile for height and weighing in at 20 lbs. 9oz. she is in the 17th percentile for weight. Her noggin is considerably smaller than it's been, in only the 81st percentile! She screamed and cried when the doctor looked in her ears and mouth nearly as loudly as she did when she got her shots. Dave usually holds her when she gets shots but he couldn't come to her appointment today because of a meeting at work, so I had to do it. It was extremely terrible for both of us.

Boo-Boo did her first sign-language sign on Sunday! She wanted more of some food she'd mooched off a friend at church but I signed 'all gone' and said it aloud to her. "All gone!" she repeated out loud, signing it back to me. So cute! She says 'socks' now, and 'balloon' (she has to be reminded that they're not bubbles) and 'cat-cat' for kitty-cat. She says about 30 words now. Lately I am understanding what I've heard parents say about loving their children more and more as time goes on. I feel distinct bursts of increased love when I didn't even know there was a capacity to love her more. It's an interesting phenomenon.

Tomorrow morning we have an appointment for 15-month portraits. I am praying that contrary to past experience, Annalise does not cry, scream, kick, flail, flop, moan, or collapse when she is supposed to be saying cheese. Wish me luck.

Little Baby Leash-Leash

2010-11-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Last night Annalise said her own name for the first time! Amidst all her chatter about doggies (her favorite thing to talk about) and bubbles (her favorite thing to ask for) our sweet girl learned her name! She has long understood what her name was- she points to herself when you say it- but she couldn't actually say it. Then last night, like I do every day, I asked her if she could say 'Annalise'. She pointed to her chest and with her tongue tangling around in her mouth, proudly exclaimed, "Leash-Leash!"

2010-11-11T18:45:00.000-08:00

At the beach house this last weekend, Annalise developed a new skill- she will now say her words back when I prompt her! We spent lots of time going, "Can you say doggy?" "Dobby!" "Can you say cracker?" "Cah-koo!" Newly added to the list are diaper, bye, and Anna ("Nana"). She asks for food by saying "num num" and woofs like a doggy. She doesn't say her own name yet but when you ask her to say 'Annalise' she mutely points to her chest. She tries to say 'kitty' by whispering the 'k'-sound, but we're not quite there yet. :)

Annalise's Makeover

2010-11-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

Today has been one of those days. Dave is out of town. Annalise has a festering mouthful of wannabe tooth lumps. And she didn't take a nap. What almost-fifteen-month-old goes all day and takes no nap? I laid down with her in the early afternoon and attempted to nurse her to sleep. She happily nursed very spastically- her whole body so full of energy that she kicked and flung her arms about while she sucked. Then she rolled away and ran away. Which left me alone on our bed and I closed my eyes and sweet sweet sleep overcame! For who knows how many minutes! The next thing I knew Annalise was sitting next to me on the bed again, fussing and beating my blanket-covered head with her fist. I opened my eyes to this.

Annalise had managed to finagle a tube of water-proof mascara off of my vanity table and figured out how to unscrew it. Her little hands were black like she had dipped them in ink. Her brand new shirt and pants were ruined. Her mouth looked like she had brushed her teeth with tar. She smiled and offered me the bent mascara wand.

Thank heavens she had just gotten over her fears of the bathtub over the weekend when she took some baths with her friend Anna at the beach. She was immediately placed in the tub where we learned some things about water-proof mascara. For one: it's water-proof. No gimmicks there. Additionally: it is extremely soap-resistant as well. After about an hour we had gotten off about as much as we were going to. Judging by her fingernails, you'd still think she was an auto-mechanic. And no amount of brushing her tiny teeth could take away all the black.

Amazingly, Annalise managed to confine the mascara-disaster to her own person, other than one tiny smudge on the sheet next to where I'd lain. There was none on the carpet, none on the walls. And she so effectivly hid/lost the actual tube that I don't know where in the house the artistry took place.

Not exactly what I envisioned for her first makeover.

Talky Little Talkington

2010-11-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

My sweet baby whippersnapper has learned to say 'bubble', 'bar' (for granola and energy bars), 'cheese', 'Papa', 'baby', and 'pretty baby'. And there's nothing like a little traumatization to help her eke out her first sentence. Last week Dave was out of town, I was very sick, Annalise was cutting teeth (she has another new one on the bottom) and I had to be at a Pack Meeting for Scouts at 7:00pm, which is her bedtime. Dave's parents kindly offered to babysit, but when I left Annalise with them, she began crying and screaming. I came home to her an hour later to find she had basically never stopped. (I felt as bad for Grandma and Grandpa as I did for Annalise!) The poor little monkey clung to me when I got there, her gaspy after-crying heaves taking a long time to subside. When her grandparents left, she hugged me over and over, with each hug repeating fervently, "I love you. I love you. I love you." I couldn't believe she was saying it. It broke my heart.

For the record, Annalise greatly enjoyed playing with her grandparents once I rejoined them. She also enjoyed the chicken they brought, but only after I was the one to offer it to her. :)

Hello Molar!

2010-10-24T00:22:00.000-07:00

Annalise points to balls and says "ball!" and likes holding telephones or anything else (including nothing else and just using her empty hand) up to her ear and saying clearly, "Hello!"

Additionally, as a surprise to her parents, Annalise popped out a random molar. Otherwise, the child only has two teeth on the top and two on the bottom. I'm quite certain this is not how the order of things is supposed to go. At least we know why she has been pure torture to hang out with for the past two weeks.

Wonderfully Wordy Wee One

2010-10-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

Annalise likes to talk. When she isn't babbling incomprehensibly, she is mimicking the sounds and head-motions I make when I sneeze or cough, or bringing me her shoes and saying "shoose!" so I'll put them on her, or bringing me my shoes and saying "shoose!" so I'll put them on myself. All day long she says "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" every time she looks up at me, and likes to kiss me, her friends, pictures of herself, and her baby dolls with loud kissing impersonation noises: "mm-uhh!" She loves to look at herself in the mirror, or put on hair bows or sunglasses or have makeup applied and say "pwiii-ee" (pretty). She points to and identifies piggies ("pee-ggy!"), kitties ("Ki-ee!") and dogs in her books. I think I've mixed her up a little because I haven't been consistent and have switched back and forth between saying "doggy" and "puppy" when we see a canine. So she combines the two and calls them all "do-ppy!". She may or may not have said "I love you" and "bar" (for her granola bar) once each, as well as a myriad of other possible words that she repeated after me but then wouldn't repeat again so I couldn't be sure. The other day it sounded like she said "cheese" after I asked her if she wanted some cheese.

"Did you say cheese?" I got very excited. "Say cheese!" I encouraged her again. "Cheese! Ch! Ch! Chee-eese! Cheesy Cheese! Chees-ers! Cheesy-weasy! Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!" She stared at me, refusing to utter a sound. "Fine," I said dejectedly and gave up. "Here's your cheese. It's in its wrapper."

"Wrapper," she repeated, with perfect clarity.

14 Months

2010-10-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

My sweet little lady is 14 months old today. The main words she says are 'hi' and 'pretty'. When she says pretty she pantomimes putting blush on her cheeks with a brush. The other day she walked into a friend's bedroom, zoomed over to a Raggedy Ann doll, and exclaimed, "Pretty!" while staring into its face with rapture. She loves to drink from a straw or any drink anybody else is having. If you try to offer her a sippy cup when she is wanting your drink she becomes highly offended. She doesn't like to sit still while she eats. Instead she marches around, happily clutching her string cheese or granola bar while she munches. She falls down a lot. Also bumps her head a lot. She currently has two bruises on her forehead- one is a goose egg from this morning when she became acquainted a little too intimately with the corner of our night stand.

She has regressed back to being carried in the Ergo any time we are in public. Annalise refuses to sit in the front or back of a cart and insists instead on Walking and Destroying unless she is strapped to my body. I tried the baby-leash once (much to Dave's chagrin) and that didn't work either. As we were crossing the parking lot, 3 seconds into its use, her legs became tangled and she tripped and fell and rolled all the way onto her back on the asphalt in front of approximately 47 cards waiting for us. Once inside the store's doors she tripped once more, and then when I stood her up and tried to gently steer her, she screamed in frustration that she couldn't go where she wanted, flung herself down, and smashed her face into a stack of metal shopping baskets. And that was the end of that.

Since she is walking now, shoes are a new element to her ensembles and are particularly fun to get to match to her outfits.

She is currently refusing all baths. As in, screaming and convulsing in a terror-filled fashion from the moment I turn on the tub. It's because she doesn't like getting the water dumped over her head for a shampoo, but before she only used to cry at that part. Now she can't even be held down or forced inside the bathtub whatsoever. Not quite sure what to do about this.

I sure do love my tiny little 14-month angel.

Sunriver 2010

2010-10-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

September brought our annual trip to Sunriver with the Hillyards, Beka, and labradors Mochi and Sumo. This is our fourth year running, except last year we had to cancel at the last second because poor Julie got Swine Flu the day before. This year, we received a similarly ominous phone call, at the similarly ominous night before, from a similarly ominous sicky. Through lots of tears we heard that the doctor suspected that Julie had Whooping Cough (Pertussis) which is too dangerous for babies like Annalise to take the risk of being around. This was Tuesday night. We were supposed to leave Wednesday night. The only bright spot of hope was that it might only be Bronchitis, but the test results for the Pertussis might take a week to come back in, in which case our vacation would already be over. Miraculously though, the test results came back negative Thursday morning, so away we went, only missing one night of our stay.

The place we stayed in was awesome. Each of the rooms had a theme they were decorated in. There was the hunting room, the fishing room, and our room- the golf room. Amidst many golf posters and memorabilia and very conscientious about the theme, this is what adorned the wall of our bathroom. They must have run out of posters.

There was bike riding,

(which Annalise consented to for approximately 30 seconds)

baths with buddies,

and Beka and her laptop drew all three kids like moths to a flame.

The furry blonde boys were perfectly-behaved, as usual.

Annalise was obsessed with them. Her fear of dogs has given way to crazed stalker-like tendencies that crop up any time a canine is in a one-mile radius.

It was nice to get some pics of the three of us.

There was hiking,

and hot tubbing, and board games, and dance parties, and relaxing. And of course being coy with the big boys.

And this is where Annalise made the transition from crawling to walking as her primary means of transportation! It was very sweet to see.

As always, a terrific time was had by all and it went by much too quickly. We'll see you in 2011, Sunriver!

Shabby Chic Frame

2010-10-03T00:20:00.000-07:00

In perusing my local Dollar Store the other day, I came across a truly hideous pink wooden princess mirror. The painted design on the frame was some stripey orange and yellow hair with a crown on top so when you looked in the mirror YOU could be the princess with the worst 'do in the kingdom! Well, no matter! The mirror had a great body with scalloped edges that appealed to me and since I really love the trend I've been seeing of children in photographs holding up chalkboards with messages on them (such a cute way to always remember what was going on the picture!) I decided a refashion was in order.

This is what I started out with:

After two coats of chalkboard spray paint for the mirror, some decoupaged pink toile scrapbook paper for the frame, and a handmade flower to boot, we had a much prettier specimen!

The best part is that it's been put right to use!

*More details on how it was made are over at Craftily Ever After*

Free Printable Halloween Poster

2010-10-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

My little craft blog is only five days old and I'm DELIGHTED to report that my projects have already been featured three times!!! Over at Finding Fabulous you can find my Mod Podge Frame and click over to Moo Moos and Tutus for my Lace Halloween Wreath and Tater Tots and Jello for my UNO card First Birthday Party! UNBELIEVABLE!!! I feel so overjoyed for this encouragement- please hop on over and leave the lovely ladies of these blogs some comment-love!

I really like those Keep Calm and Carry On posters that are everywhere and since I'm decorating for Halloween, I decided I needed a Halloween version. Of course I didn't want to pay for one though, so I just hopped into Photoshop and whipped up my own!

Click on the image to get it at full resolution and then right click and save and you can have it for free too! If you do, please become a follower of Craftily Ever After by clicking the 'Follow' button in the upper right column of the blog! :)

For the record, Dave really wants me to make one that says 'Keep calm and SCARY on". So you might see one like that coming soon too. :)

Affectionate is Annalise's Middle Name

2010-09-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Annalise's Love Epidemic continues. Today we hosted playgroup at our house and six tiny cuties played (one slept) together delightfully. When little Olivia arrived, Annalise grinned enormously and toddled over to wrap her arms around her and press her large open kissing mouth to Olivia's head . After Anna arrived, the two met face to face at the top of Annalise's Climb and Slide when Anna went up the right way while Annalise scaled backwards up the slide. They started smiling and laughing and screeching with delight and before we knew it they each widely opened their mouths, leaned in, and proceded to give each other a good long kiss with drippy tongues wiggling wildly. Audrey and I almost peed ourselves. I don't think I ever imagined I would be there to witness my daughter's first French kiss. :)

Third Word!

2010-09-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

As Annalise was playing with her best friend at the park yesterday, out of the blue she became overcome with emotion for her and toddled right over to give her a giant hug and kiss. The two mommies died from the cuteness of it, but little Anna was confused, like Why are these arms wrapping around my neck, and also why is that wide-open drippy mouth pressing itself all over me? Annalise proceded to hug and kiss little Anna at least ten times, with much vigor and devotion. She has never hugged and kissed anyone but Dave and I (and Anna's mommy) before. It was nearly too cute to be real.

*******************************

Today our exuberant little lady was happily jumping on the bed while I held her hands. Her joy manifested itself with an enormously wide open-mouth smile, lots of laughing, and lots of screeching. I was grinning back at her and without thinking about it, babbling something like, "Jumpy jumpy jumpy! You're jumping! You can JUMP!"

To which she replied, "Jump!"

"Really? You're saying jump?" I asked in astonishment. (I am always astonished. She'll be in college and I'll be like, "Really? You can say Harvard?")

"Jump!" she said, like 40 more times, so happy and proud. And when we called her dad on his business trip to tell him, she repeated it more. This talking business is very exciting. :)

Lace Halloween Wreath

2010-09-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

I've been excited to see so many cute fall/Halloween wreaths this season, so it was just a matter of time before I created an original one of my own.

When I visited my grandmother back east this spring she was trying to get my mom to take her old black lace jacket.

She didn't want to throw it away but she no longer wanted it because sun-damage had caused discoloration in some areas.

My mom didn't want it either so she convinced me to take it for the fabric. It's been sitting in my stash ever since. This week though, I paired it with a 10" green wreath-form and two spools of satin ribbon, all from the dollar store.

Three dollars later, I had a festive Halloween wreath!

I wrapped the wreath-form in orange ribbon, covered it with lace, and made the flower out of strips of the black ribbon.

Halloween's starting a little early at our house this year!

For more details on how this was made, visit
http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com

New Blog!

2010-09-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

I am starting a new blog called Craftily Ever After to showcase my creative adventures! Please visit me there and become a follower!

http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com/

My Blog Has Been Featured and Annalise's Second Word!

2010-09-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've been featured on a blog! The very popular blogger Leigh Anne (of Your Home-Based Mom blog) also has a party blog called Your Home-Based Parties and she featured my Sweet Pea Party there. Check it out and leave a comment! So exciting! :)

Today Dave, Annalise and I are all sick enough that we didn't go to church. We have lazed about all day long and late this afternoon I was on the computer and Annalise toddled in and I picked her up and said, "Mama will hold you." She repeated, "Mama. Mama." Very clearly! And not just the string of ma sounds (ma-ma-ma-ma...) that she has done forever.

Just as with her first word I couldn't believe it could be true so I asked her,

"Did you just say 'Mama?'"

Her face broke into a HUGE proud grin and she repeated, "Mama!"

"Mama?" I asked.

"Mama!" she exclaimed.

I raced her out to Dave and she even demonstrated her new vocabulary on cue. As you might imagine, Dave is now working very hard at what he wants her third word to be. :)

First word!!!

2010-09-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

At exactly one year, one month, one week, and one day old, Annalise said her first word this morning! She says uh-oh and yay (more like "Aaay") but I don't really count those as real words. But as of five minutes ago, she is officially a member of the English-speaking empire!

Every morning while I put my make-up on, Annalise stands next to me where I sit at my vanity table, staring up at me, grabbing anything off the table she can reach, usually crying to be held, yanking on my clothes and make-up-applying arm, and generally making a giant nuisance of herself. To stave off her fussy distractingness, I always brush my blush brush over her cheeks after I use it and say, "Preeeeetty!" She always stands very still with a big smile on her face when I say that- I say the same thing when I comb her hair to make her stand still.

Today I was busy using the brush on myself and she started talking and it took me a minute to realize she was saying the same thing over and over, with purpose. It sounded like "pretty" but I couldn't be sure.

"Did you just say 'pretty'?" I asked her in amazement. She smiled hugely and brushed her cheeks with her hands to indicate she wanted me to put more blush on her. "Preeee-y!" she said. "Preeeee-y!"

"Pretty?" I asked.

"Preeeee-y!" she said.

"Pretty?" I squealed.

"Preeee-y!" she answered. We went back and forth like this in giddy-loon style for quite a while until I rushed out to call Dave to alert him of his child's geniusness.

Suffice it to say I nearly fell over and died from the preciousness.

13 Months

2010-09-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

Now that Annalise is thirteen months, she has lots of tricks up her sleeve. By voice command, she blows kisses (if she is in the mood) kisses on the lips (if she is in the mood) walks to Daddy (if she is in the mood) and performs none of the aforementioned antics if she is not in the mood. To let you know she is not in the mood, or if she is declining anything you are offering her, she glues her chin to her chest and with a very grumpy face, screws her eyebrows together, frowns enormously, and shakes her head no. The grumpy head-shaking often continues long after you have moved on and given up what you were asking her in the first places but apparently she wants to make very sure you're clear on the answer. She says "uh-oh" when she falls, claps the "right" way now, toddles instead of crawls, loves to turn off and on the light switches, beats you with her favorite books when she wants you to read them to her, says "Da!Da!Da!" for more food, says "mmm" when she likes what she's eating, and hugs you over and over if you are feeding her something she really likes. She loves holding her own string cheese and granola bars, refuses to sit in shopping carts entirely (squirming and screaming for the duration of store visits to get on the ground and DESTROY ALL), empties every cabinet or drawer or hamper she can find (at our house or others'), loves to watch videos of herself, makes silly faces for the camera so she can see them on the viewfinder afterwards, and continues to amaze me with how much she understands. The other day she was about to stand up in the fireplace and I exclaimed, "No, you'll hurt your head!" She looked at me with wide eyes and touched her head with concern. She points to mommy's nose and mouth on command and is very big on pointing in general.

Additionally, her little friend Anna learned that when Annalise loudly whispers "Ha! Ha!" it means she is asking for a drink and has implemented it into her own "vocabulary". To hear the two of them asking for drinks in their own special language is enough to do me in from the cuteness.

This thirteen-month-old couldn't be sweeter.

Beach House Mini-Vacay and a Doctor's Visit

2010-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Last week Dave's BFF Austin surprised his wife with a little sans-children (for them) beach house mini-vacay with us. It was great to see them and the fact that Dave took off two days from work to do it made it even nicer. While we were there, we had to buy smoked tuna and salmon from Karla's Smoke House, the very best smoked fish EVER. Her hours are funny and random but it is worth waiting an hour for so while we waited we found an old train I could practice my photography by.

Our little family

The day after we got home from the beach we had Annalise's one-year check-up. She is 30 1/2 inches long (83rd percentile for height) and 19 pounds 10 ounces (20th percentile for weight). Her head was the winner though- she's got a 94th percentile noggin! At least no one can ever call her a pin-head. The percentiles were adjusted for the fact that she was almost 13 months. She got some shots and we had her blood drawn to check for allergies to wheat, milk, eggs, soy, and peanuts. They sent us the results in the mail and I waited on pins and needles and was floored to find that she is allergic to NOTHING. I really don't know what to make of that. Perhaps only that she is a rotten sleeper for no particular reason at all.

Lucky for her she is very cute.

Mod Podge Frame

2010-09-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

WELCOME friends!! Please click here to view this project, where it is posted with more details, at my craft blog Craftily Ever After!

My favorite pattern ever is damask so when I saw some gorgeous damask wrapping paper in black and white I snapped it up thinking I would use it to spruce up the fronts of the drawers on our ugly old dresser when I paint it. I still plan to do that but as it will take longer than ten minutes (which is the most Annalise ever entertains herself) it has not happened yet. Annalise's little friend turned one the other day though and I knew just the gift for her. I pulled out the wrapping paper, some black paint, mod podge, and an unfinished wood frame, as well as some much-loved old pants that I had saved for their fabric. I wore these to all the church dances back in the day. :)

The best thing was that I didn't have to buy anything- I had all of it laying around the house! This is what I came up with.

For the flower, I cut circles out of the pant leg and held the edges over a candle flame until they melted and curled upwards. Then I attached them with a pearl brad and hot-glued them to the frame.

Perfect for a sweet one-year-old girl!

* For more details go to my craft blog: http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com/2010/09/damask-mod-podge-frame.html *

Labor Day

2010-09-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend we visited the state fair (all the pictures somehow disappeared! Boo!) and hiked to some beautiful waterfalls in Washington. We also hunted fruitlessly (literally and figuratively) for Huckleberries but alas, missed their elusively ripening selves by one week.

Annalise got her first experience in a hiking backpack. She was very against the idea.

Once she was trucking around on Daddy's back she changed her mind though.

Several species of berry were tasted along the way, just to make sure we weren't walking right by the fleeting fruit we sought.

For the record: we were not. And the second one made Dave's tongue numb.

Darling Julie and her six-months-pregnant self had to be reigned in a bit. First she scaled off the side of a mountain to retrieve a water bottle her son threw.

Then she tried to carry her enormous three-and-a-half year-old in a backpack.

We nipped that in the bud and Dave carried him and I got Annalise.

The whole time Julie was loudly protesting that she could have done it, she really could have done it. We know, Julie. We know you could have done it.

The waterfalls were so beautiful.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Grandparents Day!

2010-09-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today is Grandparents Day and Annalise is lucky enough to have four grandparents to love and squeeze her, as well as a special Great-Grammy Estelle. Sometimes she is shy and screams if you touch her, but deep down she really loves you all and so do we! Happy Grandparents Day!

A Crumb of Craftiness

2010-09-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

I've been able to carve out some teeny moments of time to be creative lately. Which is my favorite passtime EVER. Our friend Todd (a dentist) just had a birthday, so I made him a card with some humor he'd enjoy.

For his gift I created a bit of art for his walls, with a quote that is our mutual favorite.

Now I just have to make one of these for myself!

Annalise's first Back-to-School Portraits

2010-09-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some Back-to-School portraits of my little Anna-boo. Now, she is not actually going to school. And she has never been before. So she is therefore altogether not going back. BUT. She is wearing apples and it's September. So there you go.

I wanted to make her stand up so that her outfit could show (a $3 garage-sale find of Gap brand apple tights and an apple dress with apple pockets and apple buttons! SQUEE!) so I dragged over her rocking horse for her to lean on, that Grandpa Raychek got her for her birthday. She spent the first few weeks of knowing Horsey being entirely afraid of him but we have seen much improvement in their relationship of late.

Ride 'em Back-to-School Cowgirl!

Thursday and Friday

2010-09-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Dave called me from work and surprised me with the news that he'd used his Marriott Rewards points and booked me (for free!) a night in a nearby hotel, so I could go by myself and SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! He promised to stay home and comfort Annalise through the night as she would inevitably be very angry that when she woke up 7,000 times, Mommy would not be there to nurse her back to sleep. Let the night-weaning begin! I was nervous to leave her. But... not too nervous to pass up a night of luxury.

My friend ingeniously pointed out that the hotel might have a hot tub and so after we put our babies to sleep at our respective homes around 9:00, we spent the night luxuriating in hot bubbly wonderfulness and then made a quick trip to Burgerville for milkshakes and sweet potato fries because what is a fun girls-night-out without ridiculously fattening calories to add to your joy?

Annalise had a hard night but she slept in the bed with Dave and wasn't left alone to cry, so we tried to keep the traumatization to a minimum. Hopefully she can start sleeping better if she knows Mommy's All-Night Dairy Diner is permanently closed. Last night I was back in bed with them and it was a pretty hard night again and I almost gave in and just nursed her 50 times and because she kept asking to nurse and crying when I wouldn't, it was breaking my heart. On the other hand, the sleep deprivation is breaking my brain.

*****

Last night we had a date night! We have a good situation with the parents of Annalise's friend Anna. They watch Annalise for us one weekend night while we go out, and we watch Anna the next night so they can have a date. It saves a lot on babysitting costs and the babies love each other and I feel completely completely comfortable with Annalise in their care. Win-win for everyone! Two weeks ago we saw Inception on our date, and last night we headed out to Northeast Portland to try some of the highly rated food carts in the area. Dave loves the new TV show Food Truck Race, so that was the inspiration.

The plan was after dinner to go a few blocks away for dessert at Ruby Jewel, but once we got to dinner and were waiting for our food, a group of young girls ran up to the group of diners, maybe 100 of us, and started shouting that they had kittens and did anyone want a kitten? People zoomed over to screech and cuddle the babies, who looked too small to be separated from their mom and were filthy and covered with fleas. The girls said someone had just handed them this box, and they were trying to pawn them off on anyone they could. My blood pressure went through the roof. These kids were too young to even know what to do with these kittens who needed to get to a vet and possibly be fed with a syringe every two hours. I went over and let the main girl with the box know that they were too young to just be taken home by someone and given cat food. I told her they needed to get to a vet. She looked at me blankly. "Oh," she said. "Want one?" Knowing Dave might possibly kill me, I told her I would take them all to a vet for her if she couldn't. "Great!" she said, shoving the box at me and disappearing into the crowd with her little sisters before I could say another word. The thing is, Dave is highly allergic to cats. And his highly allergic self was shooting me daggers from a few feet away.

We ate quickly and called the closest animal hospital since the Humane Society was closed for the night. They let us know that the law in Oregon is that if baby kittens under a pound and a half are dropped off without their mother, they must be euthanized. This started one of my many bouts of crying for the night as I tried to imagine how horrible it would be to have to nurse all three kittens through the night in my sleep-deprived state.

"We are NOT taking these kittens home," Dave asserted.

"Well, I'm not going to let them die!" I blubbered tearfully as they mewed and cried in their box. Our one hope that did not involve a sleepless night for myself was that if we took them to a hospital, there was a chance that one of the nurses there would agree to personally foster them. We zoomed to the nearest vet and THANKFULLY that's exactly what happened. The little babies weren't even one pound, much less a pound and a half, but the kindly nurses agreed to take them in to their own homes and raise them until they were big enough to be adopted. (Cue more crying from the hormonal mommy whose own baby was far away.)

So Date Night was kind of ruined but we saved some babies. As we drove away, so grateful that the right thing was being done by the kittens (and that WE were not having to be any more involved in said "right thing") Dave said, only half-joking, "Um, that was... nice. But don't EVER do that again!"

*Whisper-voice, so Dave can't read this* Um... have you met me? It would happen again in a heartbeat.

Fun in August

2010-09-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

On August 10th, Annalise's little friend Anna turned one. Her birthday party was the Saturday before, but we took the babies to the zoo to celebrate the actual day, which fell on a Tuesday. It was Annalise's first time at the zoo, and a bear was the first animal we saw, who apon our arrival promptly walked right up to the fence in front of us, turned his rear to the crowd, and emitted a shockingly enormous amount of diarrhea. Patrons screamed with laughter, and scrambled as quickly as they could for their cameras. I considered it, but refrained.

Though we saw lots of fun animals, Annalise's favorite part was crawling around on the grass.

Her other favorite part was being held by Audrey...

and also giving Audrey hugs.

Two days later, on the 12th, Annalise's triplet cousins turned two. Since they were in town we could celebrate with them!

Annalise's birthday party was two days later, on the 14th, and two days after that was her actual birthday, which we commemorated by making our first trip to the Children's Museum. I thought she would like it. What I didn't know is she would fall ballistically hog-wild in LOVE with it.

When you walk in you can stand behind a huge "frame" and have your picture taken.

While Annalise couldn't care less about that, they had MIRRORS there. And if you are Annalise, you nearly lose your mind with the joy that comes from seeing yourself in a mirror.

And in fact, you find random mirrors everywhere you can, just to catch a glimpse.

There were fish tanks to peer through,

lighted tables to "ooh" over,

"water falls" to pat,

blocks to play with,

stairs to climb,

pits of debris to play in,

dollies to cuddle,

(even while taking a break for a cuddle yourself...)

but MOST especially...

there was the water table. This was the highlight of the trip for Annalise, and where we spent the most time.

As we dragged her sodden self away, I spotted the smocks, a bit too late.

At home that evening, she played kitchen with Grandma Raychek, one of her favorite activities.

Grandma "fed" Annie,

and Annie "fed" Grandma.

Then Mommy blew her some birthday bubbles,

and it was time for the crazy-haired lady to call it a night.

The next morning, Grandma flew home to California. Annalise was not pleased to see her go.

Annalise spent the rest of the month enjoying her "new" Little Tikes Climb and Slide (best $15 I ever spent on Craigslist!)

as well as her new water table (Mommy knew it would surely be a hit based on the amount of joy derived from splashing in the toilet).

A wonderful August, all around!

Handbags to Hairbands

2010-08-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

I picked up three cute damask-patterned vinyl tote bags at the dollar store, knowing I could refashion them into something fun.

I decided to start with this one.

While I snipped and glued, a certain little person tried to charm me back into playing with her.

A few minutes and some pearls and elastic later, we had this cute new accessory!

And lots of leftover vinyl for the next project!

Sweet Pea Birthday Party

2010-08-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

What a momentous day for me. Two days before she turned one, my baby had her first birthday party. I could cry just typing those words and I'm not even sure why. So many people told me that a first birthday celebration is just for me, since the baby won't remember. This is true, yet I knew I wanted to celebrate big, make a fuss, hand-make every decoration, stay up late cooking and crafting and gluing, and invite all of Annalise's little friends and their families over. I've been thinking about this party, this event to celebrate the life and miracle of my angel baby girl, for months, but I couldn't articulate to myself why I wanted such a big fuss. Then I read a post from this blog and was struck by a short quote from a mother who lost her daughter to a choking accident two weeks shy of her second birthday. In a letter to her son on his first birthday, she wrote, "Dearest Little Peter Boy, I didn't know that your sister, Lucy, would have only one birthday. Just one. We had a small party for her. And it was sweet and wonderful. But after she passed away, I realized what a big deal birthdays are. Another year alive. Another year with our loved ones. And I vowed that I would make your first birthday a huge celebration. And we did! It was all I could have hoped for and more." I agree. They're a big deal and they are indeed a miracle. One which I do not take for granted and Annalise's party was my way of expressing that and reveling in it. I thank God for my precious baby.

The theme of the party was Sweet Pea, her nickname. She was a Sweet Pea for Halloween, got a Sweet Pea Christmas ornament for her first Christmas, and has a special song her Daddy sings her called Sweet Pea. The invitation:

The day started off well, with Annalise sleeping in and getting a good night's rest (including a four-hour sleep stretch!). My mom flew into town to celebrate with us and she and I put the final touches on the food and decorations all morning until it was time for the guests.

The cake table:

Luckily my mom made tons of food, because if it was up to me, our guests would have been dining on theme-y pink-colored snacks and decorations.

The name of the game was THRIFTY! I wanted to do a fun party from scratch and not spend much money. There were loads of streamers and paper pom poms,

plates and utensils from the dollar store,

and cups from the dollar store that got jazzed up with sweet little sweet peas.

The cups were for drinking from the spouted glass beverage jar full of pink raspberry sherbet punch, and custom-labeled water bottles were available too.

I printed the labels off on my printer and then attached them by laying clear packing tape on top so that they looked like shiny vinyl and the colors wouldn't run from condensation. There was even a special birthday version of Nutrition Facts on the backs of the labels.

This vintage kitty napkin holder from the thrift store started out broken and dark brown. A little glue and some white spray paint fixed that right up!

These candle sticks and bowls came from the dollar store,

and once again a little glue and spray paint (on the bottoms of the bowls, so they could still be eaten out of) worked their magic, transforming them into beautiful milk-glass look-alike serving bowls:

which held some yummy treats.

The room was sprinkled with thrifted milk-glass bud vases, sporting handmade pinwheel flowers,

I found this wooden sign at the dollar store and knew I could doctor it up:

I plucked off the ugly felt horse and added my own touch:

Much cuter!

I wanted a bouquet of pink blossoms for the mantel. An outgrown tutu stuffed upside-down in a crystal vase did just the trick.

The cake table sported a hand-made Happy Birthday banner, and I printed out some pictures with birthday messages to switch out with the regular pictures in the frames above the table.

Some more treats:

I didn't get pictures of all the treats, but you get the idea. And what would a Sweet Pea party be without sweet peas to munch on?

We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch, and my mom spent hours making potato salad, baked beans, spinach and artichoke dip, deviled eggs, and sumi salad from scratch for 30 people. Of course, for dessert there were cupcakes for the guests and a smash cake for the birthday girl, which I decorated with a little felt and pom pom sweet pea that adorned the top of the gift I won in a contest from Lisa of this lovely blog.

I made the cake stand out of a plate from the dollar store and a $2 wooden candle stick from Big Lots that started out black before being shot with some shiny white spray paint.

The cute salt-and-pepper sweet peas in front of the cake stand were also part of the gift from Lisa.

The cupcakes were frosted with homemade buttercream frosting, sprinkled with little pea-look-alike sprinkles, and had Happy Birthday cupcake toppers poking out the top.

Before we ate dessert though, we had fun practicing the traditional Korean celebration of Tol. We put Annalise in front of her Tol Table, where she could predict her future by the first two items she touched. As is tradition, there was a book which means she'd be a great scholar, an orange which means she'd have many descendants, noodles that would mean she'd have a long life, a spoon that means she would be a good cook, a cookie which means she'd never go hungry, money which means she'd be rich, and finally an item of her father's choosing (usually what the father would most like to see for their child). Apparently Dave's greatest desire is for Annalise to become a golfer, so onto her Tol table he put a golf ball.

The first thing she touched

A book! She's going to be a smarty-pants! And the next thing she picked up...

was the spoon! A smart chef! I can definitely handle that. Maybe she can make up for my lack of cooking prowess. And even though only the first two things the baby touches are supposed to count for their fortunes, Annalise picked this up next:

and this was her father's reaction:

He insists it counted too.

Next was time for birthday cake! Annalise enjoyed it very much. For a few minutes she ate and ate.

Then came the Great Birthday Disaster. Our friend was holding up a blanket behind her and over her head so that the lighting would be good for me to take pictures. As Annalise noshed, out of nowhere his son ran headfirst into the back of the blanket behind her. I caught a picture of it just as it was happening.

He smashed into Annalise and her cake, both of which went flying. Annalise had no idea what hit her. Luckily we caught the whole thing on video:

She was pretty sad when it happened but I'm pretty sure it'll make her laugh someday!

Thanks to all of Annalise's friends and their families who came and helped us celebrate our little Sweet Pea's first year!

Happy First Birthday Annalise!

2010-08-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, and before my memories began, I've loved babies. I cradled my dollies, I kissed them, I rocked them, I pushed them in their baby buggies and tucked them into their cradles at night. Nothing was more delightful to me. Nothing was more charming, more thrilling. How I longed for my own baby. How I yearned for a girl.

One year ago today, due to a number of blessedly miraculous circumstances, my greatest dreams came true.

I found the man of my dreams and he loved me back. We got married and sealed in the temple, ensuring that if we lived righteously, any children born to us would be ours forever. Our bodies worked how we hoped. I became pregnant with a healthy child. I gave birth to her and she became the most important rapturous thrilling exciting frustrating delightful amazing sleep-depriving interesting scintillating creature I've ever had the privilege of beholding. Miraculous, all of it indeed.

We have often said that Annalise is better than any TV show. We could sit and just watch her for hours, and we often do. Every laugh, every noise, every "word", every expression, titillates us beyond measure. She delights us. She enraptures us. We are so charmed and deeply proud that there are no words to describe her. She is better than anything else, so there is nothing to compare her to.

The love I feel for her is all-encompassing, all-demanding. It overshadows any other emotion, need, want, or desire I might have for myself. Her care and well-being are so strongly at the forefront of my priority-list that remembering myself at all often feels foreign when it happens.

We have traveled through a year together. We've seen every season, experienced an entire rotation of the planet. We've known each other as intimately at two beings can. She is of me, from me, because of me. I remember stroking her hand when she was born, wondering if I too might feel her sensations with her, marveling when I could not.

I am learning that much as I wish I was, I am not a perfect mother. But she is a perfect daughter. She is loyal, darling, inquisitive, demanding, intense, loud, charismatic, flirty, insistent, determined, rough, gentle, happy, smart, sociable, loving, and mine.

Nobody has ever been more lucky.

Happy birthday, darling girl. I pray that you are kept happy and safe, comforted and protected, all the days of your life. May they be many, that the joy your parents have through knowing you might be had by many. May you always be blessed, as you have blessed our lives beyond our wildest dreams. I love you more than words can say, more than hearts should rightly feel, and more truly unconditionally than any other I have known. Happy birthday, my love.

Paaaar-tay!

2010-08-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Annalise attended her little friend Anna's first birthday party. Anna was born six days before Annalise and the two pals are quite enraptured with one another. (Yesterday at church Anna saw us walk into the chapel and while waving wildly, excitedly shouted, "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" until she had to be taken out. Annalise was also extremely excited, and even though Anna was no longer there, made her way over down the aisle to sit on Anna's mother's lap for most of Sacrament.)

The party was beautiful. The theme was butterflies and the color scheme was orange and hot pink. The decorations were amazing. I got a few quick shots of some of the cute butterfly-themed food.

Color-coordinated candies:

Homemade molded chocolate butterflies:

Hand-dipped chocolate Oreos:

Butterfly cake:

Anna's tiny butterfly smash cake:

Very calmly and mellowly, Anna tucked into her treat.

While Anna was enjoying said treat and getting some pictures taken with her mommy, Annalise crawled over and decided she also must be included and insisted Audrey hold her. As usual.

The three little party-goers (who all not only refused to smile, but also to look at the camera):

Mommies and babies

Next we went to an ENORMOUS (like 1000-people) barbecue garden party at a gorgeous farm out in Hillsboro and got to catch up with lots of friends from our old ward, as well as see Dave's sister and her triplets who are in town for two weeks.

At the end of the day we had one tired kid who was ALL PARTIED OUT!

Ready, Set, Lactate!

2010-08-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

This week is World Breastfeeding Week, and as a big advocate of breastfeeding, I was excited to participate today in "The Big Latch On."

This morning, at 10:30 a.m., women gathered at more than 25 locations across Portland to breastfeed their children and, we hoped, break the world record for simultaneous breastfeeding. I had not known such a record existed!

The Big Latch On was organized in Portland to challenge The Big Latch On in New Zealand’s numbers- New Zealand recorded 1299 women simultaneously breastfeeding last year. But the event today was also about helping moms connect with one another and to celebrate Portlanders’ open attitudes toward public breastfeeding. Yay for Portland!

One of the venues was just a couple of miles from our house at the Andaluz Birth Center and when we rushed in this morning, almost late, the ten-second countdown to 10:30 began as we were getting seated. I latched Annalise on, and we were added to the count!

The largest number of simultaneously breastfeeding children at a single site was 3,738 in Manila, Philippines, in 2006. And the following year, organizers in the Philippines recorded more than 22,500 children breastfeeding simultaneously at 590 sites throughout the country. I'm excited to hear the results of Portland's Big Latch On.

Ready, set, lactate!

Two nights in a row!

2010-08-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Annalise and I went completely dairy-free and gluten-free 2 1/2 weeks ago. The purpose in doing so was to determine if Annalise's extreme night-waking habits were due to food allergies, as suggested to me by many friends and mothers alike. It takes dairy two weeks to get completely out of your system. Along the way, the length of time between wakings lengthened considerably (three hours at a stretch as opposed to often only one hour, and at most two hours.) At exactly two weeks and one day, once the dairy was completely flushed out, Annalise slept through the night. This was the night before last. Now, I did not let myself get hopeful that it meant anything for the future. Once at one month and once at seven months she also slept through the night, and those times I did let myself get hopeful, only to be disappointed. But then last night SHE DID IT AGAIN. She slept through the night two nights in a row. This has never happened in her entire life.

The tragic irony is that I was so sick from the virus she gave me that I couldn't sleep for hours because of the nausea. And then once I did, I was still woken up every time Dave rolled over because our mattress sucks and is so loud. BUT STILL.

I am trying not to be hopeful. But I can't lie. I AM HOPEFUL!!!!!!!!!

Sicky-Pants

2010-08-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Our poor little girl is a sicky. She's only had a couple of stuffy noses in her life, and this is the first virus she's caught. With all my breastfeeding hard-work I'm a little mad she caught something at all!

In the middle of the night last night she woke me up throwing up a few times, but did not wake herself up! AND SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT (after an initial waking two hours after she was put down.) I would like to believe it's because of the new strict gluten-free/dairy-free diet we are both on, but maybe it was just because she was so sick? I don't know.

Needless to say, when she stirred in the morning, I had an abundance of milk for her, given that normally she nurses five times a night or something ridiculous. As soon as she finished drinking from one side, she threw it all up. WOW there's a lot of milk in one side. She soaked herself and had to have a bath and continued to throw up even sips of water I gave her throughout the rest of the morning. I called the advice nurse twice and was advised as to how to detect dehydration, but luckily the afternoon went better for her and she started holding down her liquids (not before creating some interesting tie-dye-like designs out of orange Pedialyte puke on the light beige carpet) and moved on to the diarrhea portion of the virus. She is currently sleeping and I am feeling like I caught whatever she had. NO FUN.

(from a happier day)