"friends"

So, I am slightly addicted to Facebook. Not in the have to play Farmville or Mafia Wars or get in pillow fight/water balloon fight/snowball fight kind of way, but just have to get on daily to see what everyone is doing, then get off. I am feeling fine with that, so far, I guess. I don't feel I am on it all the time. But, that's beside the reason for my blog post.

I have some "friends" that probably are more of acquaintances or family members on my husband's side that I don't really know. I've taken off a couple of "friends" that were bugging me because they aren't really my friends and I didn't really want to read all their updates.

The other night at the Community Christmas tree lighting deal, I was sitting in the back corner of the room letting my 6-month old enjoy a chocolate chip cookie (which I need to get the picture from the babysitter) and this young fellow walks up. He's got a name tag and a camera. He's from the State Representative's Office. He introduced himself and I gave him my name. He then says, this is a strange question, but are you LDS? I said, yup. He said that he was a missionary in small town south of here and had served with a missionary that was serving in our small town when my husband was the ward mission leader. Anyway, so he knew of us. We didn't have a long conversation partly because I wasn't really feeling like being overly social and partly because people were gawking at Fischer and his cookie mess. Although, I do remember telling him I had wondered if state rep was LDS or something because he was a "friend" of someone I knew on Facebook.

So, later when we got home. I am pretty sure that same night, but could have been the next night 'cuz I just don't think I can separate out what date what minor detail happened, I get a "friend" request from this particular State Representative for which this young gentleman works. The state rep is LDS as well. He's facebook friends with someone else I know and I've see him comment before and wondered out she got to be "friends" with a state rep.

So, I am NOT into politics, although I usually feel like I should educate myself on some stuff. I have to usually know what big initiative are out there that could affect my working life, but I am able to research that kind of stuff on work time and it's work related. I don't get involved in politics on a personal level, really, at all. It always ends in my getting irritated at the world when I do. Life is too complicated where politics are involved.

So, my question of my very late, stuffy sinus, tired eyes night is . . . should I be "friends" on Facebook with a state Representative that I don't know because some return missionary remembered my name and looked me up when he got back to his computer? With my luck, he's probably found enough information around to be reading my blog and will then be able to comment that, "No you don't have to be facebook friends with the guy, he's just looking for his supporters out there in small towns of the state."

The term "friend" is used pretty loosely with the ol' Facebook, in my opinion. But I can see it could get dicey if you categorize your friends, you wouldn't have many friends left if you started down that road.

Would you be Facebook friends with a state rep? Would you be Facebook friends with someone else you don't really know, more of an acquaintance?

It's officially . . .

. . . WINTER!!! Does the calendar say that it's winter? Don't think so. It looks like winter. It feels like winter. The news says that there's an "arctic blast" that is going to be here this week. Therefore, it is winter in my book. Not my favorite time of year. I don't hate it. I think I might think differently if I were an exerciser, like my sister-in-law who is not the fair weather walker that I am.

So, what to do today since I am up earlier than I wanted to be. Well, I think I am going to have ham, scrambled eggs and some sort of hashbrown type potatoes for breakfast. Fischer can have some bananas or peaches.

I was thinking that I need to get cards in the mail. So, I am trying to figure out what to do. I haven't sent Christmas cards out for the last several years. I just wait too long and then run myself out of time. So, I'll make an attempt here this weekend to get something ready to mail by Monday.

I am currently fighting with Fischer for computer time. Yep, he's trying to attack the keyboard; he thinks he's funny. I gave him the remote, but that is not entertaining him right now. If the computer wasn't here, then he'd take the remote, but computer trumps remote for a 6 month old.

I have a lot of house cleaning today, which is the story of my life. I feel like I am constantly thinking or stating that I have to clean something. I should stop talking and start doing! Maybe that's my problem. So, I have high hopes for today, but Neil is out hunting and it's a little hard to focus on cleaning with aforementioned 6 month old.

It's the Company Christmas Party/Dinner thing tonight. Hopefully, it's good. I am not in charge this year, so it will be great either way. I am great with being in charge of church activities, that's easy in my book. Every other year I am in charge of the Company Christmas party, which is not my favorite thing. It's manageable, just not my favorite.

So, I guess I have stuff to do today and should get on with it.

Kind of like Christmas

I seem to be living by the same philosophy that some live by in regard to Christmas decorations. Some people leave their Christmas decorations up through the New Year's holiday. Some "neighbors" of my in-laws leave theirs up for months after Christmas; maybe they don't even take them down anymore, I am not sure. Well, I like to apply the same philosophy, apparently, to Halloween decorations. Did you know that you are supposed to leave your Halloween decorations up through Veterans' Day and beyond? It's the new fad. It's cool. I know, we are awesome. So, this picture was taken the day after Halloween. I should have taken the picture sooner, by the time Halloween rolled around, these were starting to go bad. The two large - scratch that - HUGE - pumpkins were grown by my father-in-law. I am/was pretty impressed. There was obviously no carving options with these big ol' pumpkins, so we were happy to find these Mr.-Potato-Head-like deals for pumpkins. We thought they were fantastic. The two big pumpkins did have to go in the dumpster the day after Halloween. So, tomorrow, really . . . the Halloween decorations HAVE to come down. It's getting a little embarrasing.

So, I suppose there's some catching up to do blog-wise, but I don't know if that's possible since there's been so much time lapse since I last posted.

Gunnar is doing well in school. Hooray. Paden is Paden. Crazy little smarty pants with a dramtic attitude. Fischer is growing big and cute. He's a good baby. Gunnar's a great big brother. Paden is Paden.

So, I found some pictures to share - maybe will share more on Shutterfly tomorrow or Sunday.

For my blog stalker

So, I recently found out that I have a blog stalker. I am sure there is more than one, really. It happens. However, one long lost friend of mine admitted that she's been stalking my blog. So, my friend, this one is for you. I haven't thought about our trip to Hawaii for a LONG time. After I came home from the weekend trip back to the motherland, I flipped through some old pictures and found some spectacular pictures of us that I won't be sharing - one with a towel on your head, one in our boxers, one with a toothbrush in your mouth and me looking like I just got hit on the side of the head with a brick, one in our swimsuits (definitely won't be sharing that one, although we both looked fantastic in 1994), us underwater snorkling. Good times! I forgot how much fun we had on that trip. I am so glad we were able to go together. It was rather an odd grouping we had on that trip - Karen, Jena, Stacy, Jamie C, Kristin, me, you and some how two non-grads on our gradution trip, Mindy and Jessie. Remember we ran into Beth, Amy, Bryn and those gals too. That was crazy. I remember you and I did a lot of stuff together - we clicked - we liked to do the same things, which was not lay there sweating to death on the beach! Miss you, girl! Memories . . .

Cutest Pjs

I forgot how cute of clothes that Target has!!! I haven't been in there looking at kids clothes for a long time. Well, I stopped there last weekend and got each of the boys a new shirt, Paden got some boots and I got Fischer the cutest Pjs ever. There's some more bandaids on the arms too. They are super cute. The smallest size they had was 12 month, but I bought them anyway thinking they'd be too big now, but soon they wouldn't. So Gunnar wanted me to try them on him yesterday and yeah . . . they aren't really too big. They looked small for 12 month pjs, but not small enough for a 4 month old. The pants may be a little long, but there's some elastic at the ankles to help them stay in place.


Here's some other random photos from yesterday.

Yes, that is slobber, the dark spots on the pjs!

Trying to get a picture of the three boys was kind of funny too.

I love how Fischer is "yelling" at Gunnar's attempt to eat the stuffed banana.

And finally a decent photo of the brothers!

Fischer or Gunnar?

Should be an easy guess, but I can't get over the resemblence. My cute boys.

4 months old!

Already, it's been four months. Little Mr. Fischer is growing like a weed. We went for his check-up yesterday. He weighs 16 pounds 3 ounces. He's 25 inches long and his head measures 42 centimeters. In comparison to the other brothers, he's a pound lighter than Gunnar was at that age and a pound heavier than Paden was. The other two were also 25 inches. Paden's growth spurt seems to have slowed down significantly in his life. He's definitely taking after me with the short genes. Anyway, Fischer is rolling over from his tummy to his back. He started that over a week ago. He won't stay on his back if you put him down. He's still not sleeping through the night. I recall Gunnar was about 5 months before he did. Fischer is generally a happy baby. Although, he HATES riding in his car seat. He screams most of the time in the car. He might be so chubby because the only way to make him not scream in the car is to feed him. He holds his head up really well. We're going to start him on cereal. He tasted some last night and seemed to like it. (Just need to track down a high chair.) He has a cute little smile and the chubbiest legs. He looks a lot like Gunnar when Gunnar was a baby. We left our camera at my in-laws house a couple of weeks ago, so I only have Neil's phone. It's not a horrible picture. There's a shadow (light from the back).

I am a little biased, but I think he's adorable! :) We just got the chair/jumper thing for him. He likes to sit up. He does ok in the bouncy chair, but that lays down quite a bit. He likes to be more upright. In his car seat, he tries to pull himself up more too. Silly boy. Speaking of the devil, he's supposed to be sleeping, but I guess he decided he didn't want to do that right now.

Just couldn't . . .

. . . continue to have a "poor me" whiny sounding post on this. I was venting - maybe I should take up journaling in a different venue.

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life. I need to stop and remember to count my blessings. I love so many things about life. I am thankful for my family. I love my children dearly, no matter how frustrated I get. I love my husband. I love that he is goofy and plays with the boys. I love that he sings out loud with the boys. I love that he makes up funny games. I love that usually when I am not in a good mood he tries his best to not let it get him down. I love that he wants me to have a good time and demands I invite someone over to scrapbook! I love that when I am grumpy he tries hard to make me not grumpy. I love that when I am grumpy he helps with the boys more. I love that he can take care of the boys. I love that he chooses his battles, even though that it means neither of our competitive natures gets to fight and win. I love that he loves me no matter what.

I need to go tell him this before he reads it!

I am thankful for: family, friends, ability to live in a free country, ability to live in a nice neighborhood, ability to have sufficient for our needs and some of our wants, ability to worship freely, forgiveness, prayer, and an seemingly endless paper supply with which to scrap my little heart away.

I know, I know . . .

How the heck can my real friends and my cyber friends live without knowing what's going on At Our House? I bet you're living no differently than if you were in the know. Wow, am I being bratty tonight or what? Really, you all must be thinking I could change my post off the R rated carrot already! :) I know, I know, I agree with you!

I am feeling a little hyped up and stressed out and overwhelmed. Work is crazy right now with a scheduling software implementation of which I missed 9 weeks of while I was on maternity leave, so that's just crazy right now. There's a wellness initiative and a big push on it for the next month for employees to finish a lifestyle management program to receive a discount on their insurance premiums - we have a long way to go to hit the target percentage of participation and only 30 days to get there. Yeah, that's the extra stuff and not the daily stuff. I have had a hard time getting caught back up after being gone for 9 weeks. It's really making my mind spin.

We had a busy August. We took a great trip down the Oregon coast. I should blog about that. I said I was going to blog about Fischer's blessing day, but never got around to that so it makes me wonder if I will get around to blogging about the trip. It was fun and we plan to do it again next year! I LOVE the ocean. There are a few inanimate objects that I love like I love my kids - the ocean is one of them. The other is the Gorge Ampitheather in George, Washington. It's the best and I am very sad that we won't be going to the Dave Matthews concert this year. Well, we plant to go to Grand Coulee Dam that weekend, so I guess we're not going to the concert. The video to Grace is Gone is filmed at the Gorge. It's one of my favorite DMB songs and it makes it more favorite because the video is filmed there. Anyway . . .

Both boys started soccer. Paden may not turn out to be a dedicated athlete. It's ok. He's dang cute anyway. Gunnar has a disaterous attitude and I may need to seek professional counseling to learn how to deal with it. I know that I certainly don't help him at times when I lose my patience. It makes me sad that he has a poor attitude about stuff, then if we get upset or disappointed at him, it gets worse and he thinks we're angry. He has a hard time discerning anger and disappointment, which I can see why. Yeah, I need help. School stars tomorrow and wow I need to change how I deal with him or we aren't going to make it through the second grade. He's so smart and he is good at a lot of things, but he is so hard on himself and if he can't do something right the first time he just gives up with a terrible attitude. It's so hard for me not to get irritated and give up on him. Pray for patience and love - I guess that's what I can do.

I like my job, but sometimes wish I had the ability to do more with my friends who are not working at full-time, paying jobs outside the home. I know some of you work part time and you do make me feel a little better. I sometimes feel that I miss out on some stuff though. I so need to clean my craft/computer room so I can do some scrapping - that's got to help me feel better. :)

Phew . . . I am heading to sleep probably only to wake in an hour to a hungry baby. His schedule is all messed up this weekend. Nighttime is still a chore and I don't make it better on myself, but I just can't seem to change my routine. I am going to end up with a baby who won't sleep by himself because he's always laying with me. But, the other boys did the same I am sure and I got them in the own beds . . . eventually. They do keep me warm though! Love them dearly.

Just one more thought . . . speaking of the baby . . . Fischer looks like Gunnar a lot and it gives me all those "first baby" feelings. I love him so much. He's just a cutie. I like to watch him get worked up to cry, he's so cute. I love his chubby cheeks and his fat thighs. He was laughing at Gunnar today; it was so precious. Gunnar and Gunnar's mini me. It was fun to watch them. With all the frustration I have with Gunnar, he's a great big brother - the best.

Garden Harvest

This is the first year we've had a real garden. We've tried a couple of other times, but didn't really get it done. Last year we started a bunch of plants inside, but never planted them outside - not sure what happened there. This year we planted everything outside and just let 'em grow. It worked, which always amazes me. Side track: I love living in agriculturals areas where you can see acres and acres of food growing. I miss the area we used to live where we could go from one town to the next and go from cherries, apples, apricots and peaches to more apples, grapes, asparagus, corn, wheat, potatoes, green peas, sugar snap peas, lima beans, carrots, and so much more. I also dearly miss the intersection of Road 9 & Road K, where a super nice hispanic family grows a huge U-pick garden that you can just wander around with a 5-gallon bucket and get peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, melons, etc. for a great price. Where we live, there's still quite a bit of agriculture too, so I still feel great about it. We have potatoes, onions, mint, watermelons, cantalope, strawberries and more that's grown in the general vicinty. It's fabulous.

Anyway, back to our garden . . . it's not the prettiest garden because it's surrounded by weeds, which is actually good - hides it from the neighbors! :) No, our neighbors wouldn't bother our garden anyway. But, we have at least 15 watermelons growing- so exciting. There's one honeydew melon that is pretty close to being ready to harvest. There's a couple of cantalopes. We have harvested tons of cucumbers - those things grow like crazy. We have had many carrots. Our tomatoes are ripening well. We have some yellow pear tomatoes, which are not much bigger than cherry tomatoes and we have a couple of cherry tomato plants too. We grew peas, which we thought were pretty much done a while back, but there were lots of new ones on one plant the other day. Our corn is doing great - we have some popcorn plants growing too. We have some strawberries and grapes growing. The strawberries are really getting going now and the grapes are new this year and will be a few years before there's really good grapes, but there's some on there now that are tasty, just not that many. I don't necessarily like gardening for a hobby - but I love having a garden and I think I can get used to the idea of having to take care of it so that it stays healthy.

Last Sunday morning, this is what I harvested:

I made up my own pasta dish - tri-color bowtie pasta, chicken, peas and carrots from the garden. It was seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, italian seasoning and thyme (lots of it). It was tasty! No picture because I ate ALL of it!

So, we go out to the garden every couple of days to pick stuff. There's always tons of cucumbers, so I need to get some pickles made - hopefully today. I harvested this very intersting carrot the other day. I am not sure what to say about it!

From Full to Empty . . .

I would like for my mind to be empty right now, so I am going to get some stuff out of it right now. Random thoughts start now:
EDIT at 10:29pm - warning, this post is pretty long. My apologies if you tire easily while reading as I do. Had a LOT in my brain! :)

• My neck aches. It needs a massage - more than I can do anyway. Usually, I can work the kinks out of my neck since they happen often, but I've got a real stubborn one right now that's been hangning out for a couple of days.
• Since we met our deductible on our insurance, we found a new chiropractor. Our old chirpractor stopped billing insurance, he's a pretty small one-man practice - literally - no receptionist even. We liked him, but I don't really want to mess with sending in claims and waiting for reimbursement. So, since we can go to the chiropractor for free now, I wanted to find one that would bill the insurance. I hope the new place is likeable. Neil goes tomorrow and I go the 27th.
• Speaking of tomorrow, I go back to work. Yeah, I don't have work clothes that fit. I bought a pair of Levi jeans at Costco on Friday. I love when they have Levi's there - they were $18 - great price. I think they are still going to be tight! Ugh. I am glad I can wear jeans - capris and sandals would be better, but that I can't wear at work. I am not happy with many shirts right now either. It's really annoying when clothes don't fit like they used to. Everyone says, "You just had a baby." Yep, I know. However, I really need to get on a slim down plan so that I can get back into my work clothes and feel good about me in them.
• I am completely worried about going back to work and what is going to happen at home while I am gone. Paden has been extremely clingy - which started while I was pregnant. When Fischer was born, Paden was great. He has been helpful. He didn't seem to be having too much of an issue with having the baby. Since Paden's surgery, I think he's been more clingy. He's said some really strange things in the last couple of weeks. He gets really sad really quickly if he thinks about himself not with me. If I leave him upstairs and go downstairs, he sometimes cries while he goes around looking for me, especially if I don't tell him I am leaving him. He's just going to have an extremely hard time - tomorrow is not going to be a fun day and I will probably cry through most of it - I can't feel it now. Paden has the most impecable timing when it comes to him needing/wanting something. As soon as Fischer needs something, that's when Paden wants to hang out with me too.
• Gunnar is used to being the big brother, but I don't want him to feel left out either since Paden and Fischer both require more attention.
• I have never been into any of the TV reality shows - American Idol, the dance one, all those. I have recently found I can't miss The Next Food Network Star. There's a stay-at-home-mom on right now and she's one of the four finalists. I like her. The last four are good and it's getting intense. It's on Sunday nights, so that's why it's on my mind right now, it's on my TV right now.
• Last night Fischer slept pretty good - 10pm or maybe a little earlier when he fell asleep and slept until 3am or so. He spit up all over me when I fed him at that hour, so maybe he wasn't as starving as he thought or I thought he was. At 5am he cried, I picked him up, he burped and I took him down to the rocking chair to see if he was going to be hungry or not. It was not - he and I slept in that chair until a little after 7am. I should have laid him back down in his bed, I guess. That's probably why my neck is killing me! I don't recall my other boys sleeping through the night unti they were about 5 months old or so. When does that happen, really? Could it be sooner? I really need it to be sooner.
• We are going to Utah this weekend. My great niece, Ali, is getting baptized on Saturday. We have Fischer's two month appt on Thursday afternoon in Tri-cities (couldn't get into pediatrician in Hermiston until September), then we are going to take off and get somewhere in Idaho. Going to Utah is always too quick of a trip. We are coming home on Sunday.
• We were looking at the calendar and planning out the rest of the summer. Last weekend we went RVing - not camping - we took my in-laws' motor home (need to dedicate a post to that trip with a couple of pictures). We have this trip to Utah coming up. We want to go to a baseball game in the tri-cities (they have great fireworks shows!) - probably do that August 1st. Gunnar's birthday is the 9th of August. We are planing to take 4-5 days to go to the ocean - Tillamook, Newport and probably Seaside and Astoria. There's a great aquarium in Newport and there's a wax museum. We want to tour the Tillamook factory and we have been informed that the beach at Seaside is great and there's some great sites in Astoria. SIDE TRACK: I haven't been to the Oregon Coast since I was a kid. My mom and I once took a vacation down the Oregon Coast. If memory serves me correctly, we drove our fabulous Ford Pinto station wagon and we camped along the way. Sometimes we slept in the back of the station wagon, I think we used our tent sometimes too. I remember it to be a fun trip of beautiful site. We went as far south as the Sea Lion Caves. Good times - just me and my mom. END SIDE TRACK: So, back to summer planning . . . we have Gunnar's annual swimming frenzy for his birthday. We believe he's chosen Moses Lake Aquatic center this year - we haven't done that one yet for his birthday. We haven't chosen the date yet (will definitely let you know, Megan). My mom got a new car, so she'll be able to make the long drive for it. My in-laws are heading on their adventure in the motor home to Navoo, so we're trying to decide which date will be best to have the grandparents at the party. My father-in-law said something TOTALLY surprising. I was worried they wouldn't be back in time or they would feel rushed to get back. He said he'd get on an airplane if he had to. Pam, Ann, Susan, Neil - does that sound like your father? Didn't think so! We totally love him for even saying that - we won't make him actually get on a plane though. There's a campout for our ward - could be a family one - could be just elders, we aren't sure, but it's in August too. Then school starts the 31st of August. So, school shopping has to happen in there some where too. Wow, this bullet point needs to end already.
• Gunnar is going to be 7 in 21 days. Yikes! Time flies. He's going into the second grade. I HAVE to come up with a new stratedgy for helping him with school. I don't think he liked his teacher toward the end of the school year. I had ZERO patience in the last quarter of school/last trimester of pregnancy. Gunnar's stubbornness got the best of me and we all kind of gave up on school work. He's a smart enough kid, just getting him to think clearly and buckle down is almost more than I can handle.
• Paden is going to preschool again, hope that goes ok for him. He was already bored with it last year. Maturity-wise, there are days that I believe he could enter kindergarten at 4 and a half years old. There are still days that he has meltdowns about random stuff, so in that respect I think he wouldn't be a kindergarten candidate. Intellectually, he's ready for kindergarten. Too bad he's not old enough yet. We'll be challenged to keep him interested in learning this year as well.
• Paden is doing really well in primary though and thank you to Sheila for a great lesson in sharing time today. We heard all about it - that doesn't always happen. Both boys were talking about the singing a song upside down or something - we're probably missing a few details. But, the lesson was on Family Home Evening, which is something we haven't been consistently structured about. Paden was able to repeat what should happen at FHE - song, prayer, lesson, treat last. Paden said an awesome prayer voluntarily at dinner without help from anyone. He (and Gunnar, too) is great at reminding us about family prayer at night. He's a sweet little spirit who loves to sing and got to sing one of his favorite songs today - My Eternal Family.
• I need to go to sleep. I don't think my head is quite empty, but it hurts and it's trying to not freak out about tomorrow.

So much to say . . .

25 points for you if you know what song is that from, who sings it.

So, we've been pretty busy, yet some days are LAZY - kind of like today. I go back to work on Monday - ugh. Not to excited about that. I have enjoyed not thinking about work. My only hope is that maybe our schedule will regulate itself by my working - life is so random right now. I kind of wish the baby was born at the end of June, so I could have spent the whole summer at home with the boys - planning didn't quite go as planned in that area. Oh well, it is what it is.

We went to see my grandparents a while back. They live up in the mountains of eastern Washington and it was a good visit. I had a hard time getting my older boys to cooperate for a picture. Sorry, grandma we snapped your picture before you got dressed for the day! Grandpa was so precious - he wanted to hold Fischer and get his picture with him, even though we had a hard time getting a smile in the picture. Love it! Fisher is 4 weeks old in these pictures.

We celebrated Independence Day in our little town. For a small town, there is quite a lot going on during the summer here; it's quite impressive to me. There's movies in the park on Friday nights, Music in the park on Monday nights, movies at the Library on Fridays, Story time on Fridays (with our favorite storyteller, of course, even though we don't make it story time very often), a day camp for the kids in the mornings, swimming lessons, and there's a lot going on for the 4th of July. There's a breakfast in the morning put on by the Boy Scouts, which is yummy. There's a walk/run (don't know much about that!) in the morning. There's a parade, in which the boys got to ride. There's a talent show and live music in the afternoon/evening before the fireworks at night. It was SOOOO hot that day - like 100 at least. Paden was NOT enjoying the parade - too hot for him. He's such a fair weather cat - his ideal temperature range is 70 to 75 degrees. He doesn't like too cold or too hot. The boys didn't go to Funtastic Kids on the day that they made tie dye shirts for the parade (we think they did them when Paden had his surgery). So, Gunnar had an idea to take three of his old shirts and cut them and sew them together to made a red, white and blue shirt. So, I made those shirts for the boys before we went out for the day. For a quick job with an inexperienced seamstress I think they turned out just fine. Paden's colors were out of order so I didn't have to cut another shirt, he wanted it that way, luckily.

Speaking of Paden . . . he had his adenoids removed on June 30th. All went well. The doctor said that his airway should be about 10 times bigger with those out of the way. Poor Padey Boy, I feel bad that we didn't have it done a year ago. I've had a hunch for about a year and 1/2 or more that he needed them out. He doesn't sound so nasally when he talks and he shouldn't be as susceptible to sinus infections like he has been. He's pretty quiet when he sleeps, which was kind of scary the first couple of days because we couldn't hear him breathe at night. He did fantastic through the whole ordeal. He definitely did not like the way that he felt from the Anesthesia. He was saying some funny things. He did not want to go back for his post-op check up because he was scared he'd have to feel that way again. He told me that morning that I was not going to get him into that van - no way! He did not like the way he "couldn't control his mind" - his words. He's doing great now though.

On July 5th, we blessed Fischer at church. Many of our family members were able to come and it was fabulous that they could make it. I have some pictures of the family on another camera that will get emailed to me, but Susan posted one on her blog. I did take some snap shots of some folks at our house after we ate. I will post some pictures of Fischer in his little outfit too - he'll get another post dedicated to him and his cuteness.

Baby Chase, who isn't a baby anymore; he'll be two next month!

Sunny and Cassidy

Bradley

Katie and Uncle Milo

Paden and Aunt Ann

Katie and Ali

We just got back on Monday from a weekend adventure. I think I will have to make a new post. I should go get dressed! Yep, it's 11:40am and I haven't gotten dressed yet. I know as soon as I go to do that, Fischer will wake up starving! That's how we roll. I hear him now waking up, actually. Until next time . . .

Surf's Up Dude!

Last Saturday, there was a bass fishing tournament around here and the final weigh in was at the Walmart in town. They advertised kids games/activities in the afternoon before the weigh in. So, we went. There was not that much for the kids to do - only three things really. One was a boat on hydraulics with a big screen where you could "drive" the boat. One was a big trout pond to catch and release a fish. Paden got one, but Gunnar couldn't keep one on. The poles aren't good and the hooks are made so the fish can be caught all day long without dying, so it's not really all that exciting for kids who have fished before and really want to catch a fish. There was also a surf board activity - kind of like a mechanical bull. The National Guard sponsored most of the activities and took these pictures and we went online to pick them up for free. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves.

Rock & Roll Brothers

Another fantastic video we captured this week. Enjoy!

Bike Ride

He did it. Gunnar decided to finally take his training wheels off his bike he got nearly 3 years ago for his birthday. He doesn't ride his bike very often because he got a razor scooter 2 christmases ago which he rides everywhere. So, he did it. Learned in about 10 minutes and now he's biking up and down the street non-stop. We live on a dead end road, so he goes to the end and back about 10 times a day. Yesterday we went to the marina and he rode, neil rode towing a couple of kids and my friend and I pushed the babies in their strollers. It was a long walk/ride, but it was good. Part of this video shows Gunnar without his helmet; I promise he didn't ride for long without it. They stopped and took a quick break and forgot his helmet; they had to go back to get it. :)

What's up with . . .

What's up with the grunting? Do all babies grunt a lot or is it just boys? Fischer is pretty noisy sometimes! Sometimes the grunting is followed by sounds from the other end. Sometimes it's accompanied with a good stretch. Sometimes it's just a "because I can make noise" noise.

What's up with the the amount of time it takes, or doesn't take depending on perspective, to take a clean house and make it a messy house? I have been completely lazy today, so the kitchen mess is on me. My mom came to visit on Sunday afternoon. It's a long drive for her and she had had to work and this was the first chance she had to come see her #3 grandson. So, we had a cleaning frenzy before she got here because there were a couple areas of the house that hadn't been picked up for quite some time (computer room/craft room/guest room). So, then we had a great steak, asparagus, mashed potato dinner and I have yet to wash the dishes. The living room, however, is all the work of Thing 1 & Thing 2. We don't really use the living room for much, we try to keep it clean for guests and the out-of-sight family room can be messy most of the time. Today, while I was trying to rest/nap with the baby, Thing 1 & Thing 2 decided to make FunLand in the living room. They were being creative and I didn't really want to know exactly what they were doing . . . really. It's not as bad as some of their adventures have been in the past. They made several little "stations" or activities in the living room. They made a music room, a pirate ship, a toy center, a soft house and a grand entrance complete with arrows to lead the way. I think they've even made up their own theme song. Apparently, Thing 2 is just a worker at FunLand, but someday he will be an owner.

There's a bucket with tree limbs for drum sticks, there's the guitar and I am not sure what else to make music.

What's up with a one-month old baby boy "starving"? Yeah, he's constantly hungry the last few days (or the better part of the last 4 weeks). He's starting to have longer stretches of contentment when he first goes to bed, so that's great. He's also starting to have some longer stretches of being awake during the day. Sometimes 3:30am is also a good time to be awake. He also has some stretches of seemingly starving every hour! Sometimes he's tired, sometimes he's got a bubble in the tummy and when all else fails, he gets to eat. He's up to about 10 pounds these days - just weighed him today.

What's up with the number of pairs of underwear a boy or (two) can wear in one day? Seriously, Thing 2 has gone through at least 4 pair and most likely Thing 1 has done the same, he just doesn't come ask me everytime he needs a new pair. They have been in and out of the house playing different things - they go from FunLand to playing with water balloons, where they soak each other with water, then they take a break and watch a little TV, then back to FunLand . . .

What's up with the wind? Yeah, go away already. It has died down a bit this evening, maybe we'll make it to music in the park after all.

What's up with NO MOTIVATION? I need to get out of the house, but really am having a hard time getting motivated.

So that's what's up at our house today. Happy Monday.

It's been three weeks

Well, well, well . . . here it's been three weeks since Fischer was born and I had every intention of updating this blog and its few readers on how the baby is doing. I can't believe it's been three weeks already. It's gone by fast I believe and that is freaking me out. That means I have to return to work in 5 weeks and that is freaking me out even more!

So, baby Fischer is doing great. He's gaining weigh and growing like a weed! He's grown already 1 inch in length as of a few days ago and he's several ounces over his birth weight. He had lost nearly a pound in the first 3 days after he was born, but he's doing great now.

Here's a couple of pictures. Sure is hard to photograph an infant. If I lived in Utah, I would definitely do two things - have my friend Leslie's sister, Erin, photograph my family AND I would take photography class from her! But, alas, I am not in Utah and so I am on my own with my fancy camera that I don't know how to use in other than "auto" mode.

This picture was taken last week when I was going to do a "It's been two weeks" post.

Three weeks old today- so sweet while sleeping.

Striking a pose

In other news, we did get our garden planted and it's doing well so far. We "lost" a few things, but for our first real garden, I think it's good. We had our first harvest today. Two radishes. Neil went out checked it and saw that a radish plant started to go to seed, so he decided to pull it out and check it. There were two right next to each other, so they both came out. One was a regular red radish and the other was this:

It's a watermelon radish, I think is what it's called. They grow between 2 and 4 inches and they have a pinkish-red flesh inside. The white part is really strong to eat, but the red part is good. Maybe you aren't supposed to eat the white part, kind of like you aren't supposed to eat the watermelon rind. We aren't real experts on what we planted. We planted some fun stuff - popcorn, rainbow colored carrots, purple potatoes, watermelon radishes, tumbling tom yellow tomotoes (cherry tomotoes), mr stripey tomatoes and some corn that I can't recall what it's called, but the kernals are white and yellow. The boys picked out most everything. We did plant some pickling cucumbers, but only two plants emerged, so we'll see how many pickles we'll really get. We planted some peas, canalope and watermelon as well. Everything seems to be doing well so far.

Alrighty then, I am sleepy and I know as soon as I lay down, the baby will be waking up for his bednight snack. What was I thinking?

Ode to Max the Dog

Max was an AKC registered Boxer whom we got from the pound in July 2007. He was about 5 yrs old then.

To us, Max was:

~ patient

~ loving

~ loyal

~ protective

~playful

~ goofy

~ excited to see anyone

~ was not fond of little dogs

~ a lover of running wild

~ a chaser of bicyclists (only to try to befriend them)

~ a digger of garbage cans

~ a great garbage disposal

~ a smelly gaseous animal (mostly after digging in the garbage)

~ a sufferer of separation anxiety

~ a people-dog

~ a good friend and family member

Yes, I have used the past tense to describe Max. We had a sad day today. Max hasn't been feeling well the last few days. It is more noticeable looking back. A couple of months ago, he survived eating about a quart of dark chocolate chips. He had a small seizure from that, but recovered. He's been normal, until Sunday.

Sunday, he had a small seizure again, he fell down with all four legs spread out like he was on a cartoon and slipped on a puddle of water. He wasn't down very long - probably not even 30 seconds - then he was back to normal. Monday, we were down at the marina for a walk and he was running around and suddenly fell over in another seizure. He stiffened up and was down for a minute or two and then was back up to normal. This morning at 4:30am, he had a very bad seizure. He was in my room and I had just put the baby back in bed after his morning snack. The dog was right next to my bed on my side and he was shaking badly, foaming at the mouth, possibly peed himself (not sure, it was dark and I didn't smell the carpet afterwards). It lasted for several minutes and he had a hard time walking afterwards, he was pretty disoriented and was hyperventilating. So, each day it got progressively worse.

I took him into the Vet today and he said at first that it could be one of three things - epilepsy, heart condition or a brain tumor. I think he tried to make it sound not so bad while I was there for some reason, like I was maybe going to start crying on him or something, but Paden was with me, so maybe that's why too. He listened to his heart and said that he definitely had a heart murmur and heart arrythmia. He said that his heart condition could cause the seizures, but it's hard to tell. So, he went over the cost of some stuff. I told him that we love the dog, but don't really have the money to spend on medical bills for him. So, I said that we needed to take him home and talk to Neil and Gunnar about it. The Vet sounded pretty concerned that he would have another seizure tonight or tomorrow and that probably one of the next seizures could be fatal. He didn't really say much about having a brain tumor, he wanted to do some bloodwork and get him on some medications. So, we came home and Neil got home from school about the same time. He called the Vet to talk about it. The Vet bascially told Neil that Max most likely had a brain tumor. Epilepsy was ruled out because the seizures were getting progressively worse and epilepsy wouldn't be like that; the seizures would be the same every time. The Vet said that his heart condition could be causing the episodes, but more likely it's a tumor. So, we talked to the boys and let them know that even though Max looks pretty healthy, he was actually pretty sick and he wasn't going to live much longer. We decided to take him back to the Vet to have him put to sleep instead of risking him dying here at the house or at the park where the boys could possibly see him.

So, we said good bye to Max which was much harder than I thought it would be. It was really hard to see the boys so sad. Although, I have OFTEN been annoyed by the dog constantly at my feet or getting into the garbage, or puking up junk he had eaten, it was still hard to say good bye to him. He was a great dog for the boys, he was very protective of them. He was very loyal to our family. He will be missed.

Rest in peace, Max.

Introducing Fischer Steven Livingston

May 23rd at 2:43am Fischer made his debut appearance. He weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces and is 20 inches long. He's slightly bigger than the other boys were - crazy! He was 2 days shy of being three weeks early. I knew that I couldn't make it longer, I knew that from the beginning and that's why I was totally prepared this time. Prepared, except for remembering the pain you experience after giving birth - ugh! I feel pretty good actually. I do remember being much worse with Gunnar because of the length and difficulty of the labor so compared to that I feel pretty well.

So, I think it's pretty amazing that for months I have told pretty much everyone I know that May 23rd was going to be the day. I told everyone that is the day I've requested and I don't know if anyone is listening to that request, but that would be a good day. We had some other appts scheduled for Gunnar's eye doctor and Paden's dentist for 5/22 so that's why I had told everyone that the 23rd would be a better day. Well . . . when I went in for my 37 week check-up on the 20th, my blood pressure was a little high (maybe a lot high?) and so he wanted me to come back in two days for a recheck. So, I cancelled the dentist appt and the eye doc had already called to reschedule due to a conflict with his schedule, so we went in on Friday. Before I left on Wednesday though the doctor said, "Don't be surprised if I send you to labor and delivery when you come back on Friday." So, we got all prepared and made arrangments for the boys in case that happened. That's what happened. My bp was still high and so we headed off to the hospital. I was already having contractions, some what randomly until the drive up to the doctor when they seemed to get more regular. It was strange because they weren't painful, so I was having trouble at first deciding that's what it was. So, we were in an exam room and waiting for some test results which came back fine, but I dilated a couple more centimeters in that couple of hours, so we got checked into a birthing suite. I think the baby could have been born on Friday, but I got to a certain point and didn't dilate any further and so we were waiting for the doctor to come break my water. We waited for SEVEN hours for him. He had some other urgent patients and a surgery. So, from 3pm until 10pm, we waited. It was a boring wait and I was not in any pain, strangest thing ever. So, I hadn't convinced myself that I needed the epidural yet because it was not painful. The doc came, broke my water and the first contraction thereafter was painful then I snapped out of it and called for the epidural - STAT! Yeah, I am not sure what I was thinking. So, I had to suffer through some painful contractions while they are getting the epidural going, which takes a while. Finally . . . after all that, the baby came at 2:43am. So, Neil lost his bet with his cousin Eric because they had their baby on the 22nd in the afternoon. It was a close race though! She was due June 1st.

Anyway, all is well. The baby is doing fine - doing what he's supposed to do - eat, sleep and poo! Sleeping a lot today, so it might be a long night. That is why I am off to bed now, he just ate and should sleep for a little while - my turn also.

Welcome, welcome baby Fischer!

He's got the same red birthmarks in the same place above his eye that Gunnar had when he was born ; the kind that fade away and come back when he's mad!

Not sure why he's so red in this picture, the lighting, camera flash or something, I am just not that great with the fancy camera we have and the lighting where I was is terrible.

I know it looks like he's right on the edge of something because he is, but I have a hold of him. It's in our living room where there's more natural light for a better shot.
My boys! Gunnar and Paden love their little brother! They are very happy, as am I, that he is finally here!

You should also be able to find him on Kadlec Medical Center's web nursery. He was awake, so I called the nurse to take him to get his pictures done and she changed him and he zonked out! She said she tried to get him to stay awake or wake back up, but he wasn't having that. It's ok; he's still a cutie!