Halloween

Our Halloween night...in a positively random order.

Natalie's Echocardiogram

Natalie's echocardiogram appointment was this morning. I was worried about how she would react because a paper I received in the mail said, "Any patient unable to cooperate for the study will be referred back to the attending physician." I was pretty sure that just might be my Natalie. But she did suprisingly well...thanks to her bottle, a Baby Einstein movie, her entertaining dad, focused mother, her bear, and a few other things. She certainly didn't like it, but we got the job done.
Getting weighed...the wariness begins.

The echo

She loved that ball of lights to the right of us. Some smart person that knows kids must have thought of that.

Going home

What we found out: The techs performing the echo aren't allowed to say anything, but Nate was watching closely and spotted what he commented looked like an ASD. The tech replied, "You said it, not me." So, we don't know the actual results because my pediatrician will be contacting me with those, but it looks like she may have an ASD (atrial septal defect). I read a little bit about it here and here. I am anxious to hear from the doctor and be able to talk to him.

My Valuables

So here's the tag. Name 6 things you value and 6 things you don't. Friends and family need not be included...especially if they are in the not-valued list.

Just a Few of the Things I Value:

1. This is so super valuable to me: my time after the kids go to sleep. I almost always spent at least a small portion of it drinking hot chocolate and reading a good book. Or dashing to Target. Or cleaning a wee bit so the next day can start off somewhat not chaotic. Or blogging. I NEED this time.

2. Obviously these are not in order of importance, but I also value in a way that words cannot describe my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The peace, the knowledge, the hope, the eternal nature of families, the friends, and most of all my faith in Jesus Christ. Oh how valuable this is to me!

3. I value the fact that I am able to stay at home with my children. This is not possible for everyone, so I feel very lucky. It is of utmost importance to me and I can't imagine missing out on the moments we have together.

4. I value snacks. Seriously. They bring me happiness. They can be life changing.

5. I value a good book. It's like I'm a kid again and being whisked away to another land. I get so giddy sometimes thinking of the next time I can pick up my book.

6. I really value warm water. Our water heater was messed up for awhile and I almost cried every shower, even though it was the summertime. I take REALLY hot showers. It feels so nice.

A Few Things I Don't Really Value:

1. I don't value the great outdoors as I should. Mostly I mean camping. It actually kind of scares me and that is the big problem. Besides the lack of luxuries and the dirt. I get scared at night out there in the wilderness.

2. I don't value hair dye. Can you tell I am already struggling with this portion of the tag? I have never dyed my hair and won't until I must. I just don't want to start the cycle. I'd rather buy a new shirt with that money.

3. I don't value meat. I like chicken, but I just don't get excited about a steak or anything like that. I do like cheap hamburgers.

4. I don't value folded clothing. (Does that even make sense?) It just gets messed up. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time folding laundry that Natalie is going to rip off the shelf. Or let's be honest, clothes that I am going to rip out of my drawers and shove back in.

5. I don't value movies all that much. I often fall asleep or want to be doing something else. Don't blow this out of proportion...I mean I just went to a movie the other night and am always telling Nate we should watch one, but I just don't get into it all like most people do.

6. I don't value video games. Can I be so bold as to say "waste of time?" I know, I know, perhaps blogging is. But I saw a video game that listed that it had sexual content, violence, mature themes, etc...how I wish I could rip those things off the shelves and maybe save a few people from throwing away their lives and money.

Wow, I was ranting a little bit there. Fun tag. You should all do it!

All Aboard

This morning I witnessed one of those moments that just make me smile and be thankful for the hours I get to spend with these two. Jansen and Thomas were pulling Natalie around in the laundry basket. I had tied Thomas up to the basket earlier in the morning, but they figured the rest out on their own. It was so cute. Later that afternoon I took the two of them for a ride together. That's back breaking work! And Natalie always screams when I say it's time to stop...as in, I am way too tired to do it anymore.

Jansen's Fall and More Funnies

Minutes before we were going to walk out the door for church this morning Jansen fell and hit his forehead. We had a crazy hour or so trying to decide what would be the best treatment for him and I was also hoping that my little Primary class was doing okay at the sacrament meeting Primary program since their teacher (me) was AWOL. After leaving an Urgent Care where they didn't accept our insurance, Nate took matters into his own 3rd-year-medical-student-hands. He picked up some supplies from CVS and had Jansen put back together pretty well in no time. Jansen has been perfectly happy all day...well, certainly not perfect (and definitely not perfect in the potty training dept) but at least not bothered by his injury.

And for the grandparents, some funny things he has said lately:

"Look! The moon has its light on cuz it's dark!"

After asking Jansen several times to go use the potty he said, "Mom, I need to check my email first."

One afternoon I was wrestling Natalie a little bit so that I could do her hair and Jansen said, "It's just pretty by itself."

One morning I came in Jansen's room as he was waking up and he said to me, "Do you like this nice day?"

I pulled one of his preschool projects out of his backpack and as he saw it he said, "Ohhhhhh, a beautiful G!"

Nate was trying to help Jansen build a train track but apparently was not doing it correctly. Jansen said, "Dad! It's not coupled properly."

Party On

For the 3rd year in a row we have been a part of a rockin' Halloween party. Our friends the Comins do all the work and planning and we provide the house. This year Nate was a bird watcher and I was a bird. Here are some pictures from our fun night:

Nate's shirt is a bunch of bird poops with the name of the bird written below it.
This duo's costume even included those mesh panties you get after you have the baby that hold the ice pack and pads...

I put my costume in a bag today and will probably never get it out again because it was such a mess. I was molting all over the place.

Party on...

Can you believe these two? Don't they look awesome? Barack and Michelle Obama...

Nate just finished his surgery rotation and test and now he has some time off!!! I can't even tell you how much I love this. Here is he is with Natalie on our way to the ward trunk or treat.

My little monkey in the background:

Cutest mouse ever

Mama with her animals

On a more serious note...we had a terrible experience with Natalie the night of the party. She fell and got hurt on the couch (we think) and was crying really hard and as I held her and tried to console her she stopped breathing and was turning blue. We thought she might be choking and we were pounding her back, holding her upside down, and shaking her even though I was pretty much positive she didn't have anything in her mouth. This whole time she was kind of frozen and her eyes were kind of crossed and like I said, turning blue. I was so close to calling 911 but it all happened pretty fast and she eventually started breathing again. We have no idea why she did this. The only thing we can think of is that she got hurt really bad and held her breath or something. She did something sort of similar to this when she got her one year immunizations, only not nearly as scary. Has anyone ever heard of something like this??? Kids who respond to pain this way or cry so hard they stop breathing? I guess it's still possibly that she was choking on something but I don't think so. I need to ask her pediatrician about it. Thankfully she has been totally fine today.

Tags

Fun Tag 1: Heavens. For this tag you go to the 4th picture in the 4th folder of your pictures. Would you believe that this is the one?

You can be pretty sure that it was my husband that snapped this one.

And now for the next fun tag:

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others. (I know I am forgetting the main part of this tag, the I Love Your Blog part, but I am lazy.)
The questions are as follows:
1. Where is your cell phone? bag

2. Where is your significant other? studying

3. Your hair color? brown

4. Your mother? lovable
5. Your father? jokester
6. Your favorite thing? reading

7. Your dream last night? missionaries

8. Your dream/goal? children

9. The room you're in? office

10. Your hobby? stuff

11. Your fear? heartaches

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? done

13. Where were you last night? Natalie

14. What you're not? rested
15. One of your wish-list items? shelves

16. Where you grew up? Utah

17. The last thing you did? lunch

18. What are you wearing? jacket

19. Your TV? pathetic

20. Your pet? petstore

21. Your computer? friend

22. Your mood? content

23. Missing someone? yes

24. Your car? Pilot

25. Something you're not wearing? bracelets

26. Favorite store? Target

27. Your summer? gone

28. Love someone? yes

29. Your favorite color? purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? yesterday

Tag! You're it!

Emma

My sister introduced me to this song. I just love it.

Lucy Mack Smith, Mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith:

I have never seen a woman in my life, who would endure every species of fatigue and hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience, which [Emma Smith] has ever done . . . she has been tossed upon the ocean of uncertainty—she has breasted the storms of persecution, and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have borne down almost any other woman.

Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations (1853), 169.

A Little Bit About Natalie

I wanted to blog a little bit about Natalie and what she's like at this age.

She seems to be talking quite a bit more than Jansen did at 14 months. She can say horsie, bottle/baba, bird, mommy, daddy, bubbles, baby, uh oh, stuck, book, hi, more, apple, doggie, and animals.

I've mentioned this in a previous blog, but she loves to watch the Baby Einstein movies that have animals. She will walk into the living room, sit down, and point at the TV and say animals. And then she usually squeals and bounces her legs in excitement. I have a really hard time saying no.

For some reason she has a fascination and love for Jansen's underwear. She wanted to bring it on a walk to the park the other day. She loves to hand it to him.

She often helps me set the table by getting out ALL the kids' plates and cups and setting them on the kitchen table.

She is pretty fearless and can climb up most playground equipment and then go down the slide. She usually goes on her tummy and I catch her at the bottom.

She is getting a couple molars.

She throws a fit before getting in the car most of the time. She does not like her carseat very much.

She loves her bottle. In some ways I wish she didn't, but it's nice to have something that comforts her so much. When it falls in the car or something she says, "Uh oh, baba.

She doesn't like juice. I have tried giving it to her a couple of times and she is not interested at all.

She loves to bring me a book and say, "Boo_" and then turn and scoot backwards till she is sitting on my lap or between my legs so I can read it to her...her attention span is about 20 seconds though.

She has discovered and pays homage to the drinking fountain at church. It is her destination almost all the time.

She loves to have bubbles in the tub and loves to see the bubbles when I am washing the dishes.

She loves to have a little bit of naked time after her bath. She usually heads for Jansen's room if he is still in the tub.

She wakes up between 6 and 7 and takes one nap around one o clock. I didn't want to do a long transition from two naps to one so recently I just dropped the morning nap. That makes for some long mornings, but it's kind of nice to only have to plan around one nap. Then she's in bed around 7:15.

She tends to be a little dramatic. I will often think she has hurt herself badly from the sound of her screaming, only to find out she just can't reach something or is stuck somewhere.

This is a picture of Natalie all geared up to watch her animal movie.

She loves to take (often dirty) clothing and wrap it around her neck and parade around.

I did not put any of this on her face. We went out for ice cream and let her have her own little dish and spoon...you're looking at the results.

Her pigtails are getting longer and I love her big brown eyes.

...And Now She's Gone

Sheesh that went way too fast.

But we had so much fun: watching Natalie get ice cream ALL over herself, making PB bars, eating Slurpees and watching SuperNanny, shopping at the mall, watching the kids have a ball at COSI, seeing Nate every once in awhile, taking a cold/fun hayride, surviving church with the wee ones, playing at the park, listening to/trading music, talking, laughing, reading, going to the library, and the like...

And the Dad of the Year Award Goes to...

Nate Nye! Woo hoo! Jansen carefully traced all the way around him with chalk.

Jansen's cute little outline is to the left of him in this picture.

She's Here!

I'm so excited to spend the next few days with my sister who flew in last night!

Jansen and Natalie are already having a blast with her.

Zip It, Zip It Good

Pulled this out of the shower drain:

Not the paper towels and stuff...those weren't jammed down the drain. Just all that all black gunk. That long white contraption you can see in the picture is called a Zip-It and it so wonderful. If you have never used one, you slide it all the way down your clogged drain and then pull it up and it drags all the disgustingness up with it. I think it says on the package to only us it once but that is rubbish. You just have to carefully clean it off (it's kinda sharp.) Once when we lived in an apartment our drain was clogged so badly I had to have the maintenance guy come take the drain apart. He was in the bathroom working on it and I was in the other room and I heard him call, "Jessica!" I went into the bathroom and he said, "You know you aren't allowed to have pets here," as he held up this mass of hair and putrid crud the size of a rat. I think it was the culmination of many years of renters' hair. So gross. So so gross.

On This Date My Great Mate Nate Turns 28

Happy Birthday Nate!

Some of the reasons I really love him:

He is devoted to his family.

His greatest desire is to serve our Savior and he works hard to emulate Him.

He is dedicated to our country and wants to do his part to serve.

This picture tells two things. Nate loves to be outside...he especially loves hiking and camping. He also helps others without ever thinking of the effects it may have on him. On this hike, he carried his own pack and his grandpa's pack for most of the trail.

Many people may not know this, but he is an extremely talented artist. Someday he plans on doing a painting of Timp.
His hobbies are worthwhile and have helped our family gain a greater appreciation for the beautiful things around us.
See? I told you he was great.

Wonderful Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend with Nate's dad in town. I'll let the pictures tell the story for the most part on this one.

For some reason Jansen kept saying, "Grandpa, your hair looks nice." He probably said it at least 8 times.
We had a hard time prying Natalie away from her latest obsession, Baby Einstein (with animals.)