The Wedding

The newlyweds are now married and off on their honeymoon! And the day went pretty well. I got to spend some time talking to family, meeting new people, and chasing after a deliriously tired 1-year old. Fun times.

But Lacy was practically perfect in her roll as flower girl! She took it so seriously. And she didn't even get scared! She's got to be the cutest little flower girl in the history of flower girls. Not that I'm biased in any way.

That's her in the dressing room, all ready to go. She's a natural in the job, you know. She loves having her picture taken and loves dressing up. She also follows directions well, and while she doesn't like crowds or being in the spotlight, if it is important enough, she can overcome her fears.

With the cute little ring bearers and the bride. Don't they all look so cute? The one on the left is Logan and the one on the right is, I believe, Wyatt. I accidentally left my program at the church so I can't double check based on that. Bummer. Anyway, Logan was supposed to help Lacy down the isle with the flowers, and Wyatt was to walk right along with them or in front of them, I'm not sure what the final verdict was (It didn't happen that way). They were both sweet little boys, and Lacy sure liked both of them!

I've never curled Lacy's hair before, so it was fun for her to get her hair done (and sprayed with sparkle hair spray!). She likes to choose the hairstyle she's going to have done each day, but I'm sure she would choose this hairdo every day if I would fix it for her!


Lacy's eczema has gotten much better, thanks to a daily double dose of triamcinalone and atopiclair for her eyelids. She looks so much better than she did a week ago. We call the atopiclair her make-up and it makes it easier for her to put it on. But the biggest bummer of the day was that she is still a little sick, though no longer feverish. So while she got her hair done, I plugged in the nebulizer to help her breathe more easily. I'm pretty sure she has asthma, because it really does seem to help her breathing. Hopefully she'll only get asthma when she is sick already. Because I think they may make restless! She sure had trouble falling asleep tonight, but that may be from having such an exciting day today.

Rose was there with us, too. For most of the time, she was perfectly happy playing with a puppy in the women's dressing area.


But after a while, she couldn't handle it anymore and she ended up burning herself on a curling iron. It must have been barely warm enough to make her cry, because there are no red marks anywhere that I can attribute to a curling iron. Fortunately, Brenda, big Dave's wife, was there, and took Rose to the nursery. (If you're reading this, Brenda, thanks again SO MUCH! I loved being able to be there with Lacy on such a special day)

Right before the wedding procession began, Rose broke a glass ornament hanging off the stage. Yup, that's my kid causing all the ruckus. But at least she's cute! Probably I'm the only one who thought that today, based on her behavior! It probably wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but I'm extra sensitive to what my children are doing. I never want to be "that mom" with the rowdy kids. But often, I am.

The procession began, a little bit late, with the groom and his best man (Jeremy) entering in through the side door. They waited on the stage with the branch president from the single's branch, who was performing the ceremony.


The processional music began, on the piano. Cannon in D. Very wedding-y. Nice piece, albeit a little cliched. First came our nephew, Jared, and Elisabeth, Julie's sister.

Next was Christopher and one of Julie's friends. I sure wish I had a program so I could put her name in! Oh well, not my wedding so I guess it's not as important for me to have all the names!

At this point Rose could not take it anymore. So Pete Nielson, Chris's father-in-law, took Rose, and her cousin Allison, and fed them treats. Thanks for all your help today, Pete!
Next was the world's best-looking groomsman and announcer extraordinaire. Yes, my hot hubby Dave walked down the isle with another of Julie's friends. I am embarassed just don't have anyone's names! Anyway, he was looking sharp, I must say, and you couldn't even tell that his boots crippled his feet the day before, nor could you tell he just got off working 2 12 hour shifts! It's a little fuzzy, but I'm hoping to get some better ones from some of the others who were taking photographs. The lighting was really poor, either that or my camera is ready to be replaced!

Somehow I totally missed the maid of honor coming down the isle. Just as well, since I don't have her name, either. She is one of Julie's sisters. I think I missed it because of Rose causing a commotion behind me!

(WARNING: the following paragraph was written by a gushing mother. Please roll your eyes and continue reading) Finally, it was my baby's turn! The three little ones were supposed to walk slowly together to the stage. Well, the boys practically ran, but Lacy, being ever so careful and good with following directions, walked very slowly, by herself, to the stage. She threw most of the petals right at the beginning of the procession, so she was out before she got up to where any of the people were sitting! I was so proud that she didn't get scared, not even a little bit, and did her job like the perfect little angel that she is. Doesn't she just look angelic??? What a little sweetie!

Because the boys bolted ahead of her, her daddy had to help her up on stage. Her legs are still too little!


Oh yeah, the bride came down the isle next. Like anyone cared about that after seeing my gorgeous little princess! OK, Dave is telling me that people actually came to see her walk down the isle, not to see Lacy. Whatever.

In all seriousness, Julie was stunning! Her dress was absolutely gorgeous! Tim's a lucky man. Lacy's a lucky girl to have an aunt who knows all about the girly things in life, because her mother certainly doesn't! They walked down to a country song, I think it is "I Promise You," I'll have to ask Dave because I don't know for sure (not a fan of country music). I was actually surprised because I'm pretty sure Tim's not a fan, either! It sounded lovely. I'm not sure who did the vocals, but he sounded great. I had trouble getting a good picture of Julie because everyone was standing, per the tradition.

Yup, that's the best I could do.

After the father of the bride gave Julie to Tim, the ceremony officially began. Somewhere in there I had to run up to the stage to get a huge booger off Lacy's face. Yuck! Anyway, the ceremony was nice, short and sweet. OK, maybe not short and sweet enough for some members of the wedding party.

The branch president encouraged them to prepare to be sealed a year from now. Lacy did a good job standing there, though she did try to talk to me a little bit through the ceremony. But for the most part, she was quite still, and I'm sure the 15 or so minutes the ceremony lasted felt like an eternity to her!

In LDS tradition, the ring ceremony is not a part of the official wedding ceremony. So after the the bride and groom kissed, they exchanged rings. I wish I had a picture of this, but they could not get the rings off for the life of them! So Dave, being the problem solver that he is, went over to his dad and asked him for a pocket knife, which they used to free the rings and complete the ring exchange! You know you're a redneck...


Then it was over, and the party began! Fortunately, this party included opening the nursery (which is the chapel overflow) to the gym, where the ceremony took place. Thank goodness, because I don't know what I would have done had this not been available! Rose was just not a happy camper, since her nap is usually at 11, and that's when the wedding started. She did enjoy hanging with her cousin Allison and Aunt Kelly.


The cutting of the cake was very tasteful and nice. Personally I'm not a fan of the shoving of the cake into each other's mouths. I know some like to do that at their receptions, but personally, I like a nice clean bite of cake in the mouth, with any mess being accidental. They had cheesecake for their wedding cake! Yum-o! We actually took a whole cheesecake home with us. Great for the tastebuds, not so great for the sugar addiction.


I mentioned earlier that Dave was the announcer/emcee at the wedding. He certainly is the loudest of the boys, so he was the obvious choice for Tim. Lacy loved being part of the action, too!
The first dance was the father-daughter dance.

After the first verse, all fathers in attendance with daughters there were invited to join them in dancing. But Rose had to dance solo first. Dancing and music is her thing.

Of course Dave had to dance with his pretty princess Lacy! (I almost forgot, Lacy kept calling Julie "princess" at the wedding! She certainly looked like one!)

But Rose seemed to be a little jealous of all the partnered dancing going on, when she had no partner of her own to dance with!
So Dave, of course, had to dance with Rose as well.
Next was the first dance as husband and wife. What a beautiful couple! I'm so excited they're going to be in our ward!

As the announcer, Dave got to tell some stories at the front. He talked about how Tim dated girls and sometimes brought them over to meet us when he lived at our house, and we liked a lot of them. He was actually engaged over the summer, and we liked his fiancee a lot. But that didn't work out, and he remained at our house for a couple more months. After he moved out, he started dating Julie, and we met her a few times. We knew there was something different, and immediately loved her. We were thrilled to find out they were engaged, and were anxiously awaiting this date! Dave also talked about his mother. She was a rock in their family, a wonderful person, and very close to all the boys. Dave said some very nice things about her, since she could not be with us at this very special event today. (OK, yesterday, since it's way past my bedtime and after midnight)

One special thing that happened at the wedding was that it snowed outside! Apparently there are pictures in the snow, but I don't have any. I'm waiting to get copies! I'll post them when I get them!

There were a couple of musical numbers, with a serious one "The Rose" (which I've actually sang at a wedding before), and a fun rendition of "Summer Lovin" from Greese. But it was called "Winter Lovin" or "October Lovin" or something, with words cleverly changed to fit Tim and Julie's situation.

The last event was the bouquet toss. I didn't get a good shot of that one unfortunately. It happened too quickly. There was going to be a garter toss, but Tim didn't feel comfortable with it, so it was nixed. Then they left in a sea of bubbles and went straight to their honeymoon. Best wishes, you guys! We love you!

Finally, Rose decided she couldn't take it anymore. So we got our family photo taken and got the heck out of there. Rose was asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car. She slept for about 3 hours today, which is huge for her, especially lately with her 30 minute naps. She looks pretty far gone, doesn't she?

Two last photos and my blog is complete! I had to squeeze in some of my two wedding party members! And I have to applaud them for spelling Lacy's name right. It seems my leaving out the "e" makes it nearly impossible for most people to be able to spell her name correctly!

We made it through the rehearsal!

Tonight was the rehearsal for Tim and Julie's wedding tomorrow. I arrived about 10 to 7, but we didn't really start the rehearsal for a good 20-30 minutes after we arrived. The kids were so good, especially considering they both have coughs and fevers. And I think Lacy has a bit of asthma, with the way her cough sounds. She'll be getting a breathing treatment in the morning. Anyway, Lacy was such a trooper, and did exactly what she was supposed to do! She's so excited to walk down the isle with a boy tomorrow! And she stood so still at the stage. What a good girl! I'm going to have to take a million pictures tomorrow to show off! She's going to get her hair done in the morning, so we're going to have to leave right around 8. Maybe earlier. We'll just scoop the kids up out of bed and off we'll go.

Dave arrived late to the rehearsal because he is working 12 hour days, ending at 7:30. But he learned the order of the procession, the special way to walk, and how to hold his arm. That's pretty much all he needs to know!

I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about tomorrow! Wish us luck, and pray that the girls will behave (and not get scared!). For now, some pictures of the rehearsal. They are kind of grainy unfortunately.

Lacy and Logan (I think! I'll have to double check on his name!)

The whole gang on the stage. Look how still Lacy is! (of course she's still, it's a photo! OK, so that was a silly thing to write) She stood perfectly still the entire time. What a good girl!


Rose and Allison- ready for bed!

The Lord always comes through!

We have been so nervous lately about money. Dave was at a great job, with Dave being among the best workers in the company, being the most efficient and hardest working. Well, he was a little too efficient because the big group of plumbers couldn't keep up with Dave and his 2-man crew (his boss and one other guy!) so they did a temporary lay-off for 1 week, which turned into 2 weeks, which turned into 3 weeks. Well, Dave finally had to file for unemployment yesterday, which practically took all day. We've been doing our very best to be faithful members of the Church with having daily family scripture study and the like, and we've been praying for a miracle to help us through. We've had a lot of things happen for very recently that are quite positive and will help our financial situation.

Dave was called yesterday from the Union Hall. A company wants him for 9 days to do some prep work for a huge job coming up. Dave was the only person available for the job. Well, 9 days of prep work are 9 days straight (with Saturday off for the wedding), and they're 12 hour days. He'll be starting tomorrow. That's 24 hours this week, and with overtime the equivalent to 108 hours next week. And that's if he doesn't work a week from Sunday, which would be an additional 24 hours. So in just a week and a half, he'll be making up for the 3 weeks he's had off, almost.

Plus he'll be getting at least one $500 unemployment check. Maybe one more, but probably just the one.

In addition, we should be getting about $100 for prescription drug reimbursements from the union health plan. And we don't have to pay car insurance for 3 or 4 months because we overpaid for almost an entire year. A savings of about $100 a month.

We are also working on a new business with Daren Falter, who has written the book on home based businesses (literally), who just happens to be best friends with my sister and her family. This has potential to make us a lot of money if we put in the work now. So Dave's out at the Sportsman's Show networking and getting business cards. Plus he wanted to go to the show LOL. With this business, we will be able to pay off our mortgage in 14 years if we don't increase our monthly spending, and if we do increase our mortgage payment in just 7 years. And we had 28 years on a 30-year mortgage left, with a $100,000 balloon payment due at the end. And this is without refinancing. Anyway, it's a really awesome business opportunity and will certainly bless our family and many others as well.

Meanwhile, the girls are sick and the wedding is on Saturday. Ugh. I really hope their coughs go away before then! They were finally better, and now BAM! Sick again. They are croupy, slightly pukey, and barely fevery. But mostly croupy. Plus Rose's teeth are horrible and I tried having her fall asleep on her own last night when she woke at 2. No dice. She fussed, cried, and whined for an hour until I gave in and nursed her back to sleep. I'll try it again in a week or two when Dave isn't working crazy hours anymore and she's over her cough. She has to have some major dental work done soon and I'm not looking forward to it. In the meantime, I need to focus on having it not get any worse.

And just some random pictures that have nothing to do with this post.

Quick stats update!

Lacy: 40 inches and 31 pounds (32nd weight, 82nd height with a BMI of 13.7 which is under the 5th percentile so still underweight)

Rose: 28 inches and 26.5 pounds (67th weight, 86th height)

The Flower Girl and the Singer

Lacy is going to be a flower girl for Tim and Julie's wedding on the 26th! We have her dress, and it is so cute! She always wants to put it on. Here it is:




I'm just hoping that she doesn't freeze and freak out at the wedding. At the very least, she will be awfully cute in that dress and everyone will say, "Oh, poor little girl! She's so scared!"

Rose yesterday at my sister's house picked up a piece of music and started singing. Like she was reading the music and singing. She was very, very cute! And she also likes to lead the music, just like mommy. Very cute stuff! I think she'll be a musician!

The whole chicken

My sister and I were talking today about food. One thing she mentioned is how almost everyone at her book group doesn't cook with whole chickens. And those who do, some said that they would just cut off the breasts and THROW THE REST AWAY. And they actually thought that cooking with the carcass was gross! Or that when chicken looks like a chicken, that it's gross (I think it's gross when it's pressed into dinosaur shapes, but what do I know?). Well, maybe I'm weird, but I like buying whole chickens for a lot of reasons. But first, I will show you where I learned the proper way to disassemble a chicken. The important part starts around 4:30.



Reasons to use whole chickens rather than pieces or boneless skinless varieties:

*the carcass... I freeze it after I disassemble the whole chicken and use it later to make broth. Then I can take the meat off the carcass and either freeze it or use it in soup right away, if that's what I'm using the broth for.
*The wings... I don't always just use the wings when I'm cooking chicken. This way I can save them and use them for hot wings! YEA!
*I can cut the pieces how I like them!
*No waste!
*chicken stays fresher longer when it's on the whole bird
*I can use every part of the chicken!
*It only takes a couple minutes to do, so why not do it yourself?
*I can get whole chickens for a whole lot cheaper than I can get pieces or even cut whole chickens. Sometimes 50 cents a pound or less!

So... why not use the whole bird? That's one thing I want to do this year... only cook chicken from whole birds. And, so far so good! Tonight's dinner: chicken paprika!

SLEEP!

Yesterday was Lacy's first day in Sunbeams. And Rose's second full day in nursery. There was another little girl who had her first day in nursery and she was fully upset to be placed in there. Rose couldn't care less. She walked right in, ignored me, and played for two hours. She sort of noticed me when nursery was over and I picked her up. But still kind of wanted to play. I'm so glad at least one of my kids likes their class at church! Because Lacy's day wasn't so smooth. She was a bit testy all morning, and when she went to Sunbeams in the Primary room, she wouldn't let me leave. She would scream and she was hugging on to me and attaching herself to me. I couldn't take it anymore so I took her outside, found Dave, and he sat with her the second half of opening exercises. She went happily to class though, when it was just her and the other Sunbeams and her teacher. There are 6 Sunbeams this year, including 2 named Shay. Four girls and two boys. Should be a fun class!

Here's the girls Sunday morning, all ready for church

And Lacy, terrified, in the Primary room on her first day of Sunbeams. I think the older kids intimidate her. Hopefully next week will be easier.

I guess Lacy's my shy kid. I have a feeling Rose won't have any trouble transitioning to Sunbeams! But then again I have two more years until she reaches that age, so who knows how she'll react!

Well this morning I discovered why Lacy was such a brat yesterday, and so difficult in Sunbeams. She was sleep deprived! She went to sleep before 8 yesterday and woke up after 11. I was just finishing up my FlyLady challenge to wipe my countertops while I was on the phone, and she FINALLY woke up! She went to bed beautifully tonight, so I guess she had a bit of a sleep debt. I might try to get her to bed each night at 7 this week to see if it helps, so that she doesn't sleep in all morning the next day! Tonight we had Family Home Evening so we had to finish that before bedtime.

Today is the first day of my parents' mission! They entered the MTC this morning in Provo, Utah. Apparently the MTC didn't have record that the first presidency changed their mission to Munich! Uh oh! Well, they have wireless internet access and are blogging (unlike the poor unfortunate young adult missionaries, who can't have that type of technology!) so if anyone wants to keep up with what's going on with their mission, check on them at the Abersold Family Blog! We're so excited to have missionaries in our family! We know we'll all be so blessed while they are away. I know they'll be great and we'll miss them terribly (especially Lacy), but they will do such great work for the Lord.

Dave's been working hard this week and is getting a lot done! He is off work but has a side business going that is working out very well for him. He has a ton of contacts already and is making it possible for us to pay off our mortgage in less than half the time. I'm so proud of him! Go Dave!

Lacy's really been suffering from eczema lately. She has scratched her "knee pits" to shreds, to the point that we keep them bandaged all day long so they have a chance to heal. We're going to focus on a few things to help take away whatever it is that's bothering her. She has a patch on her face, behind one of her ears, and on the back of her neck, in addition to the knees. You can see the face patch in the "terrified" picture. I think Rose has some eczema as well, so we will likely go on a total elimination diet as a family in the near future. I will be getting a book soon that will help guide us through that process. I need to mentally prepare myself though, because it is going to be HARD WORK.

Rose is officially potty trained! She wears panties all day long and only wears diapers while she sleeps and when we're out and about. She tells me she has to go potty by banging on the bathroom door until I notice! LOL! We started the elimination communication process at 7 weeks, and while she wasn't trained significantly earlier than Lacy, only 5 months, I think it's an achievement in this society to have a child potty trained before the age of 2. Before I started, I thought it was just a fringe hippie movement, too weird even for me, the woman without the crib who just weaned her 3 year old, but when Rose insisted on being potty trained (she cried HARD before she peed, would wait till the diaper was off to go, and got a pretty bad rash that made me look into it more closely) I realized it was a great choice for our family. And I even did it while working full time! And Just 8 months after I quit, she is an EC graduate!

That's the update for now! You get a medal if you finished reading this entry! Keep in mind this isn't just a blog, it's the only way I'll keep a journal, so you can just deal with it :) Hope everyone's having a great year so far!

Goals 2008

And here they are: my goals for 2008!

*Read the Book of Mormon
*Keep going on FlyLady routines, establish new routines, and complete the daily chores and challenges.
*For the girls, Establish morning routines in addition to our night time routines, and stay consistant!
*Preschool goals-- work on Slow & Steady with both girls each week, and help Lacy learn all her letters and numbers to prepare to read
*Kids-- one hour of TV or less each day
*Build a 3 months food storage supply
*Determine once and for all what Dave is going to be when he grows up! We're getting closer, I think!
*Continue decluttering and organizing our home
*Read 2 books a month in addition to the Book of Mormon
*(re)Learn and perfect one piano song per month, and practice all songs that I've learned thus far
*Be 100% on visiting teaching!
*Establish and stick to a get-out-of-debt and savings plan

This year, a dozen goals. I think they're pretty realistic. So hopefully a year from now we'll have most, if not all, of these goals accomplished!

Review of my goals: 2007!

Last year I created a list of goals for myself for 2007. Here's the breakdown of what I did, what I didn't do, and maybe there's a good reason for that! And my next post will be my goals for 2008.

• Read the New Testament

Not only did I read the New Testament, I read it twice! I finished it the second time with about 5 minutes to spare in 2007 :) But that final day I only read 5 pages, so it wasn't marathon reading. I finished it the first time in May or June, and started reading it again the second time soon afterward.

• Write an article for Mothering about elimination communication

Uh, no I didn't do this one. I got a little discouraged about it. But I hope to write one sometime after Rose has "graduated" from EC. Which will be soon! She's in panties all day at home now and I'm considering going out of the house without diapers soon!

• Organize my house and throw out junk

Not totally organized, but better than where I was a year ago. I started FlyLady and I've been getting better ever since!

• Get started on my food storage and have at least 100 pounds of wheat by the end of the year, and have a place to store it!

Yes, mostly. I posted on getting 90 pounds of wheat in September. I also got about 70 pounds of wheat in May. I do have a place to store some of it, but one bucket is still in my foyer. Bad Carolyn!

• Read more books to my kids-- at least 3 books a day on workdays

Well, considering I'm not working anymore, this goal is no longer applicable. I do read lots to my kids, but I don't know if I'm reading 3 books every day, but certainly many days I'm reading more than that.

• Get my hair cut and donate it to Locks of Love

I cut my hair and it's sitting in an envelope. I need to mail it in sometime soon! At least it's cut now!

• Don't get pregnant!

Yep, met this goal! New goal for 2008: get pregnant! Ha ha, I'm joking, I'm joking (maybe)!

• Start a savings account to save for Dave's education

Um, next question please?

• Pay at least 50% of our debts off this year

Ooooh, this one wasn't any better. But we do have an actual financial plan now!

• Buy a new (to us) car-- in January!

I think it actually happened in February.

• (for Dave) collect at least 10 capes to use for Taxidermy school, including two from animals that are harder to get

I'm not sure if Dave is going to go to Taxidermy school at this point. We'll see.

• Focus on healthier eating by serving two veggies at dinner every day

Well, I certainly have at least one veggie every day at dinner. Sometimes two. I have been eating more healthfully and have started baking my own whole grain bread and muffins, and I've been trying to eat more raw veggies as well.

• Gain some self control and don't eat that fifth cookie

Nope, still don't have self control. But on the plus side, I haven't started wearing plus sizes, so that's good, isn't it? I weigh approximately the same that I did before I got pregnant with Lacy, so it's all good. I've weighed the same since I was in 9th grade.

So there it is, my year in a nutshell! I think I did all right this year. Some goals were completed, others completed with gusto, some partially completed, others written down and forgotten. I resolve in 2008 to not forget my resolutions! OK, maybe that's unrealistic, but I do resolve to write my goals down and post them before the end of the week.

Christmas with Carolyn's family

At about 9, we packed up the kids, the pop-up tent, and all our gifts and headed on over to my folk's house. When we got there, pancakes were just starting to come off the griddle so we ate a yummy breakfast of pancakes and various breakfast meats, including leftover ham from Dave's dad's house the night before. It was deeeee-licious!

Soon afterward, we started opening the presents under mom and dad's tree. The girls both got Dora jammies from my parents. Lacy got a princess purse and more princess panties (but in size 4, so she'll fit in them when she 6 LOL). I'm drawing a blank here on the rest, so I'll come back and edit with what else they got! Dale was very generous and gave us a gift card to Target for the kids, plus he had our family and gave us the entire Beatrix Potter book collection and a gift card to Cabellas. We had Kurt, so we decided to give a theme gift centered around camping/hiking since they enjoy doing that as a family. They got a mini first-aid kit, a lantern, a camp spice pack, and a collapsible shovel. We also got Marilyn a craft project that looked fun.

After the gift exchange, we shooed the kids out of there and exchanged funny gifts. Hayden participated this year for the first time. It was so much fun having everyone together during funny gifts! I'm not sure if we'll be able to do them next year, since my parents are leaving for their mission this week! Anyway, Hayden got a really funny comparison of Arizona versus Washington (the similarities and differences, such as in Arizona you get brown from sun, in Washington you get brown from rust, etc). Kurt was up next and got something about his BRAT that was funny but I can't remember. I can't remember what Mark's was, but it was hilarious. My turn next. I got a paper talking about how in the past, certain funny gifts have been insensitive, so this year I was really going to get something that made me cry-- an onion! It was so funny I about died laughing. Leslie was up next. You know the phrase, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?" Well, my dad gave her a gift on that concept-- "See no children (blindfold), hear no children (earplugs), smell no children (noseplug)." The funny thing was, Turner came into the room right around the same time and to put it delicately, the noseplugs got some immediate use! Dale was next. He got a hot pepper kit (he had an unfortunate event with a hot pepper that he hilariously related to all of us afterward). Then Dixon. I gave to Dixon. I gave him an erector set boat kit, and a note saying something along the lines of, "we know you're sad your business didn't work out and now you don't have a boat, so here's a boat that is inexpensive and easy to maintain/repair!" After that, Mom's turn. She got some goggles with pictures of scenes in it to look at when she needs a "vacation." Dad was last. And again, I should have typed this out sooner because I forgot. I will have to ask everyone so my memory can be refreshed!

Christmas dinner was really yummy. We had prime rib. Delicious!

We left at about 6 because the kids were tired and Dave was sick. He's still a little sick but he's recovering finally. It was a blessing in disguise that he had two four-day weekends in a row. They're not paid, but at least he didn't have to miss extra work to recover. He wouldn't have missed work, but he would have been miserable and it would have taken twice as long to get better.

Maybe I'll go back and post pictures of Christmas day later. I'm just trying to get this written out so I can move on and review last year's new year's resolutions and write out my resolutions for this year!

Kid stats

I just weighed and measured the girls and here's where they stand:

Lacy: 30 pounds, 39.5 inches tall (26th percentile for weight, 78th percentile for height, BMI right around the 5th percentile about 13.5, which indicates she may be slightly underweight )

Rose: 26 pounds, 33.5 inches tall (66th percentile for weight, 84th percentile for height)

The Story of Stuff

One thing that I'm going to be blogging on here soon is my goals for 2008. One thing I'd like to do is live a more sustainable lifestyle. I found this fact sheet (PDF) from The Story of Stuff website that I'd like to share with you guys. The information is quite alarming. I'm going to be watching the movie Annie Leonard made "The Story of Stuff" hopefully this evening. I'm sure I will be shocked and appalled, and I will go into action. Hopefully some of you guys will also be appalled at what is happening in the world and will join me in living more sustainably.

• In the past three decades, one-third of the planet’s natural
resources base have been consumed.
• In the United States, we have less than 4% of our original
forests left.
• Forty percent of waterways in the US have become undrinkable.
• The U.S.has 5% of the world’s population but consumes 30% of
the world’s resources and creates 30% of the world’s waste.
• If everybody consumed at U.S. rates, we would need 3 to 5
planets.
• There are over 100,000 synthetic chemicals in commerce today.
• Only a handful of synthetic chemicals have even been tested for
human health impacts and NONE have been tested for synergistic
health impacts.
• In the U.S., industry admits to releasing over 4 billion pounds of
toxic chemicals a year.
• The average U.S. person now consumes twice as much as they
did 50 years ago.
• We each see more advertisements in one year than a people 50
years ago saw in a lifetime.
• In the U.S. our national happiness peaked sometime in the
1950s.
• In the U.S., we spend 3–4 times as many hours shopping as our
counterparts in Europe do.
• Average U.S. house size has doubled since the 1970s.
• Each person in the United States makes 4 1/2 pounds of garbage
a day. That is twice what we each made thirty years ago.
• For every one garbage can of waste you put out on the curb, 70
garbage cans of waste were made upstream to make the junk
in that one garbage can you put out on the curb

Christmas Morning at our house, part 2: Opening family gifts

We enjoyed exchanging family gifts. We did it really quickly because we wanted to get over to my folk's house before breakfast was over! Fortunately we didn't have a ton of gifts to open. I've featured a photograph of each of our family members: Dad helping Rose opening one of her pairs of jammies:Lacy opening what probably ended up being a pair of jammies:

Dave admiring his new WSU jacket: (GO COUGARS!!!)
Flexible chopping mats! Just what I've always wanted! Thanks, honey!

Family gifts: Rose received-- two pairs of pink jammies, one new outfit, and a pack of underwear. Lacy received-- two pairs of purple jammies, one new outfit, and a pack of Princess underwear (they're days of the week panties-- how awesome is that?). I got-- a new microwave (installed well before Christmas), flexible chopping mats, a new grater that is really nice, and I Am America: And So Can You! by Stephen Colbert. Dave got-- WSU jacket, nice new casual/dress shirt with a t-shirt that goes with it, IPod docking station, tie bar, massager, and handkerchiefs. Each of the girls unwrapped 4 gifts each, Dave unwrapped 6, and I unwrapped 3. I tried keeping it low key this year, and I think I did a pretty good job.

Christmas Morning at our house, part 1: The Set-up and Santa

This was the girls' big Christmas present. And boy, it was a whole lot bigger than what I expected when I picked it out from the Toys R Us ad! It barely fit in the living room. When the girls are playing with it in their room, it doesn't fit, and actually bends on one side from a chair in the way. But they make do, and put their tiny toy kitchen on the chair (there's a window so they can reach into it!) and call it their kitchen! OK, maybe their 7 year old friend Hannah, who came over today, taught them that, but it sure was cleaver. Anyway, this is our living room, all ready for the girls. Santa doesn't wrap presents in our house. It was fun to just have them run into the living room and immediately start playing with all their new toys! They didn't get a ton, and I got a lot of great deals, so I think we did pretty good this Christmas. The inside of the tent. Lacy got a magnentic paper doll set (Cinderella of course), binoculars, a jewelry box, and a few other things in her stocking. Rose got the animal sets, toy cars, and some books. They both got an Ariel night light.
Lacy was sound asleep, and I needed her to wake up so we could get started with our day. She would not move. But once I said, "I think Santa came!" she popped right up, and started running down the hall! I had to stop her so I could take a picture!
Our Christmas tree with all the presents under it. I only added them the night of Christmas Eve because Rose would try to open them all! But they were in the closet and Lacy saw them for about a week before they were under the tree. I would frequently find her hiding in the closet, just admiring the presents. She's such a silly girl! Anyway, even though she knew they were there for a while, she still thinks all the presents she got were from Santa!
The girls playing with their new toys. They loved what they got!

Look, Mom! Santa brought a banana! Of course Santa can't be you guys, because Dad's allergic to bananas!


More to come later! I will be adding pictures from our family opening presents, opening presents with the Abersolds, opening funny gifts, and Christmas dinner!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

This is what we saw out of my parent's window this evening:

And we got home to this:




I can't believe we actually had a white Christmas this year! Not the magical Christmas morning snow, but golly, snow on the ground at all is a miracle! We were so excited to have snow. I could hardly get the girls to come inside. Rose especially wanted to play in the snow. Hopefully it will stick around so they can play outside tomorrow morning. And hopefully Dave's commute isn't terrible. He may take the truck. It is 4 wheel drive plus we have chains for it. We could barely get the car up the driveway when we got home! In fact, we had to sweep the snow out of the way, and Dave had to get a running start just to get up the tiny little hill we have!

We had a great Christmas. I'll post in a little bit about our Christmas day. Just had to share the white Christmas photos first!

Merry Christmas Eve! Or, the Giant Playtent (oh no!)

We bought a play tent for the girls for their big gift from Santa this year. I thought it was going to be smallish to medium sized. It is huge. We opened it and it took up the entire space in the living room between the couches and chairs. Shoot. I have no idea where it will fit when they play with it. It will be an outside toy this summer, for sure. And maybe on nice days this winter and spring, too! They're going to like it, but Mom would like it a heckuva lot more if it was smaller!

Last night I was having trouble sleeping because I heard a lot of noise outside. I was a little scared so I decided to do the smart thing and walk into the living room, barefoot in my jammies. I looked out to the back porch and saw this:

Yikes! There were actually two of them at one point. I woke Dave up and we watched these guys for about 10 minutes. Dave opened the door a crack and the first one tried coming in! I was ready to run out and get a gun, 'cause it scared the bejeezers out of me! Then Dave had to go feed them (it is the holidays, after all) and I complained that we might have more frequent visitors due to his feeding them!

I guess Lacy is still not well completely. She had a fever last night and was super crabby tonight at Dave's dad's house. But at least she looked cute!

At one point she was crying and whining so much (I think someone told her no and it shattered her!) that the only person that could console her was Jeremy's girlfriend Melissa. Who gave her a french braid.

Rose was really cute with her cousin Allison. They played together as best as two one-year-olds can. Rose liked to give her hugs and was really sweet, most of the time.

We opened some presents over there and the girls each got a book and an outfit, Rose got a puzzle and a Kelly doll, and Lacy got a lap desk and some body wash. We left there around 7 with the girls in jammies, did spiritual time in the car, and it's a good thing we did. They were just tuckered out after Christmas Eve!

Unfortunately only one of these girls stayed asleep (Lacy). The other is finally back to sleep and I'm considering putting her in bed in a minute so I can start setting up for tomorrow. I think Dave is wrapping some of my presents so I'll wait a few more minutes first.

I'm looking forward to Christmas morning! The girls should love their gifts. We will hurry up and get out of here, bring the ginormous princess castle tent thing with us, have breakfast at the Abersold's, and exchange gifts! I still have to finish up a couple details with Dixon's funny gift, but we're ready to go, otherwise. We got Kurt an awesome gift that I won't divulge on the off chance that he actually reads my blog.

Cute Cousins

My sister babysat my girls today so I could do a little holiday shopping, sans kiddos. After I got back, they were playing in an upstairs bedroom. Lacy said, "I'm Mary." I thought she said "married," so I responded as such, to which she said, "No. MARY." And then Regan, her 4 year old cousin, said, "And I'm the ANGEL!" And apparently Turner (2) was Joseph. A penguin was baby Jesus. Awwww, how cute, cousins playing Nativity!

And while I was away, Leslie (my sister) was holding Rose, her back to Leslie's chest, and Cooper (almost 3 months) was also being held by Leslie, in front of Rose. Rose couldn't get enough of him. She kept hugging him. She would reach around and squeeze for about 10 seconds, let off for a few seconds, and become overwhelmed with love for Cooper and hug him again. This lasted until Cooper decided he was overstimulated and needed some space! My Roo is a little sweetie and adores her baby cousin.

And I got the gift of counterspace for Christmas! Dave installed an over-the-range microwave for me yesterday. I was able to clear off two counter sections completely bare and I only have the one by the fridge occupied with unstoreable stuff, such as big canisters of grans and my Kitchenaid.

Funny story while the microwave was being installed... Dave the other day told me to try some jerkey his buddy Bill made. He told me he brined it in some applesauce and some other weird things. He said, "He put a lot of heart into it." Well, I took that to mean it didn't taste so good, but it was a nice effort. I took a bite and Dave told me that I just ate beef heart. I was so mad at him! I hate being duped! While I set the heart jerkey down so I could recover from the deception, he said, "You're not going to be one of THOSE are you? One who likes it until they find out what it is and then won't eat it anymore?" I grumbled but I ate it and even liked it (but don't tell Dave).

Yesterday I couldn't use the stove or oven, since Dave and Beef Heart Bill were installing the microwave. So I got out the ol' Microwave cooking cookbook and made, from scratch, a meatloaf, in the microwave. It called for an apricot glaze. He said, "you're not putting THAT in the meatloaf are you?" I replied, "No, of course not! This goes on top!" "Gross! I am NOT eating that!" I told him this is what's for dinner, and I'm not making anything else, and he'd better eat it AND like it! Bill told Dave, "She does have a point there." I called him a big old hypocrite and said he had better eat the loaf or he'd be one of those guys who has a total double standard and I won't put up with that!

He ate half the loaf. Bow down to the master microwave chef.

O Christmas Tree

Tonight we went to the local Christmas tree farm and picked out a fine Christmas tree! We had lots of fun wandering around the farm, looking at all the trees, and finally deciding on a very lovely tree. Not too big, smells lovely, fairly full and even. And the top is nice and straight. We haven't set it up yet, but I think we'll do that tomorrow night. I'd like to put some lights out tomorrow, too, but Dave is taking advantage of his last day of elk season. He thought he had given that up when he went to help out in Chehalis, but they extended archery elk season until tomorrow. I guess that's what you call good karma!

Anyway, here is our tree, and our cute little decorations. OK, so you can barely see it. It was dusk. I'll have better pictures of it after it's all decorated.

Items of importance, from a 3-year-old's perspective

I'm really mad tonight. I'm having issues with a couple doctor's offices that aren't my fault. And instead of ranting and raving about them and making myself more angry, when I can't even do anything about them until tomorrow when they're open again, I'm going to post something very light and fun, to put me (and you!) in a good mood!

Today I found two purses of Lacy's that she packed with Important Items for some quick trips. I went through them and was going to put the purses and everything in them away, but I thought you'd get a kick out of what she finds important enough to pack up for a trip.

Purse #1-- white satin with pearl handle:
*sparkley purple sunglasses
*cloth baby wipe
*frilly ponytail holder
*pair of plastic Disney princess clip-on earrings
*tiny rubber snake (appears to be a cobra)

Purse #2-- furry purple with "Princess" embroidered on it:
*a toothbrush for both Lacy AND Rose
*wooden block ("L" and "Y" on the sides)
*broken blue beaded bracelet
*giant plastic toy fishing treble hook
*plastic heart-shaped clip-on earrings
*incredibly gaudy plastic "fancy" necklace

Do I have a girly-girl, or what?

It's the Christmas Season!

We're finally starting to feel somewhat better after more than TWO WEEKS of illness in our home. Somehow Dave got out of being sick. That is a first for him! But I'm extremely grateful because he never had to go to work feeling very ill. The girls both had a day of the pukes, and two weeks of coughs and runny noses, with Lacy's case being worse off than Rose's. Of course this is Lacy's first cold and flu season without the extra boost of Mama Milk to keep her going! I almost feel guilty about weaning her for that reason. Almost.

Many of you may have heard of the floods and devastation that has occurred in Lewis County, Washington. Tonight there was apparently a news story about all the Mormons who helped out in the area. All the volunteers from our church wore yellow shirts and were doing everything they could to help out in this extreme time of need. Dave decided to blow off the very last day of elk season in order to go down to Chehalis to help out in some of the hardest hit areas. I only wish I could go as well, but having a nursing toddler means an all-day excursion is not an option for me. It's been 7 months since I quit my job, and I doubt she will fall asleep for anyone else at this point at nap time!

Tonight while driving home, Dave had a strong prompting to go visit a family that lives nearby. He tried to ignore the prompting but it was so strong that he could not. When he arrived at this family's home, the wife answered the door, "what brings you here?" Dave told her, "I'm not sure. I just felt like I really needed to be here." This wonderful sister broke down into sobs and started telling Dave that her grandson was just rushed back to the hospital after being released recently from a four-day stay, for RSV and pneumonia. I was very touched to hear of a situation where the spirit prompted someone to help someone else who needed a shoulder to cry on.

OK, I'm getting close to the end now! If you're still with me, you will be rewarded for coming to the end of this post! We had our ward Christmas party tonight, and I got to dress up my little angels in their Christmas dresses. I must say that my cuties were the best dressed of all the children there. We left the party just after 8 (which is after their bedtime!) and headed home, and both girls were in bed by 9. A late night, but they had a good time, and were sure cute tonight! And I have photographic evidence! Keep in mind that this is after the party (this airheaded blogger remembered to bring our camera but forgot a memory card! D'oh!) and both girls were up past their bedtime. I still think they turned out pretty cute!

Let it snow!

We got really excited Saturday night. It started snowing! This was good for two reasons: 1. Snow is fun, and it's fun to watch little kids play in the snow. 2. Dave didn't have to work the next day, so he didn't have to worry about driving to Seattle in bad weather! (OK, so those of us in Washington know about the downpour and flooding that happened on Monday, so I guess he did have to drive to Seattle in bad weather after all, just not in the snow. And I just discovered that my favorite BBQ joint was destroyed due to the weather! Boo hoo!) We ended up getting at least 4 inches of snow Sunday night. It was really fun watching it dump down on us. I think we got closer to 5 or 6 inches, but the rain had already started by the time we got up Sunday morning.

So Sunday we missed church because we were still sick. But we're not so sick that we can't still have a good time! Mostly we're just contagious, and we don't want to infect the whole ward with this miserable cold that has lasted since Thanksgiving. We bundled up the girls and played in the snow just long enough to build a snowman. That was plenty long for me! Oh yeah, and I took a few pictures!

Thankful

I wanted to blog this yesterday, but I was so tired last night when I got home I went to bed!!!

Yesterday, Dave took out our nephews Hayden and Porter to go salmon fishing. They weren't having much luck at one area, so they went to another (very muddy) area. As they were going down, Dave realized he had his polarized prescription sunglasses in the truck, so he quickly ran back up to trade them out. After a while, they got home, and Dave realized he couldn't find his glasses anywhere. He cleaned out the entire truck and still could not find them. We said a prayer, and Dave asked Heavenly Father to have Lacy help us find his glasses.

We drove out to the area that Dave went fishing and he looked on the ground for about 10 minutes and no luck. We got out of there, disappointed we didn't find his glasses, and Lacy said, "There are your glasses, Dad!" and she pointed over in Dave's general direction. "Honey, these aren't the glasses I was looking for." "No, Dad, up there!" Oh, the visor! Dave checked, and sure enough there were the glasses! We couldn't believe it! Heavenly Father allowed our 3 year old to find Dave's glasses. We gave a prayer of thanks and went off to dinner.

At my mom's house, Rose said "play" to Kurt's girlfriend Jackie. Then later, one of the girls was crying (Marilyn? Regan? Not Lacy is all I know) and Rose walked out of the living room and said, "She's crying." !!!!!!!!! Her first sentence! That I know of anyway.

My sister Leslie was negotiating on the phone yesterday for a house. In the middle of all this, my friend Emily gives me a call, saying that they're heading in to the hospital soon to have a baby. She was almost 41 weeks, so she was relieved to finally be in labor. I needed to take her daughter Wynnie for the night. After about 15 minutes, we packed up the kids and met them at the hospital. She was very clearly in labor, probably transition. We got Wynnie and left, put three kids to bed, and got a phone call around 9:20, letting us know she had the baby! She was checked when she got there and was 7 cm already, so she decided to go without an epidural. At 8:54, Esme made her way into the world weighing 8 lb on the nose and was 21 inches long. I haven't talked to Emily yet, but mother and baby apparently are just fine. I'll probably take the kids to the hospital sometime today, see if I can drop of Wynnie if someone else is there. I'm very excited for Emily, and for Leslie who made a deal on her new house! YEA!!!

Sick Kids

Both girls are sick. It started late Saturday night (I blogged about it earlier this week) and it's still going on. I'm just glad I didn't take the girls to storytime today! Lacy projectile vomited in the kitchen last night at dinner, and tonight Rose projectile vomited on me, the floor, and herself, requiring an immediate and unpleasant cleanup, including a bathtub sentence of 10 minutes while I cleaned up the living room. Unfortunately Dave was not home as he is working swing shift this week, so I was all by my lonesome cleaning up her mess.

I am just glad I had ice cream on hand. Tonight, I definitely deserved it. I found a half eaten banana (from today, I swear!) and made myself a banana split.

With all this vomit talk, I need to post something pleasant. So here are the girls' fall pictures. I already posted them on the Abersold family blog, so my dear readers who also read that blog will have seen these already.

This next one look familiar? Yes, I replaced last year's cute fall photo with this new and improved cute fall photo. I need to photoshop those peple out of the background and then I think this one will go on the wall.

Sweet! I, like, totally know what happens in the Bible.

Go figure

For the past couple of weeks, I have been subbing in Relief Society as the pianist. Today was supposed to be my last day. Well, I did an okay job the last two weeks so I decided this week I was going to get my rear in gear and practice, practice, practice! So Sunday, I picked out three hymns that went along with the upcoming week's lesson, and played those hymns every single day this week. I also prepared myself for the hymns I would lead in Sacrament Meeting.

Last night, we woke up to a puking Lacy at 12:45 am. Which wouldn't have been a big deal had Dave not been scheduled to work Sunday, so he couldn't stay home with the girls. Lacy woke up twice more puking, and Rose ended up getting sick the next day. Dave got it, too. The thing that made me feel the worst about it was that I visited my girlfriend Emily yesterday. She is due with her fourth baby on Saturday. I really, really, really hope she doesn't get sick, and that her kids don't get sick, right before her baby is going to come! I can't imagine trying to labor while sick. Yuck.

But I do have good news! My sister Leslie and her family are going to move up from Arizona! I'm so excited to have them in town again! Lacy is very excited to get to play with Regan and Turner all the time. This will be so fun! Anyway, Dix got the job offer Friday, returned this morning, they'll be packing all week long, loading the U-Haul and truck on Saturday, leaving first thing Sunday morning. They will drive from Phoenix to St. George the first day, St. George to probably Orem the second day, and the third day they will either drive straight through or they will make a stop off in Idaho somewhere. They will arrive Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, either really early in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on if they can drive a 14 hour stretch with a 2 month old, engorgement, 5 crazy kids, and only two drivers (and two vehicles that need to be driven!). They are renting the largest U-Haul truck, the largest U-Haul trailer, which will be towed behind the U-Haul truck. Then they will have their Suburban, and they will get a tow dolly to tow their truck (which will also be loaded with stuff). I seriously don't know how they will be able to swing driving from Orem to Olympia in one day. That is hardcore driving, when you're talking about that many kids including a toddler and a very young nursing infant. My Rose couldn't even handle 10 hours when she was 14 months! Good luck to them! Please keep them in your prayers this week and next week, they have a lot going on.

Well, she's weaned.

After 39 months of nursing, Lacy is officially weaned. I got a lot of help from my great husband through this process, which started around her third birthday. That was when we started our bedtime routines, which included nursing for 5 minutes right before bed. Once Dave got put on the swing shift and wasn't there for bedtime anymore, I changed it to 5 minutes before she brushed her teeth, on the couch. Then, a couple of weeks later, Dave was back on the day shift and was home at bedtime. He started reading her the bedtime stories and tucking her in, and we haven't nursed in about a week now. I thought I would miss nursing more than this, but I guess since I had so much time with her, it is easier to let go. I loved our nursing relationship and am glad that we went for more than three years. It is much, much longer than average, at least in the US. But nursing her as long as I did, I feel comfortable knowing that I provided her with as much protection as I possibly could. I wanted to post a few pictures memorializing our nursing relationship, but for some reason my scanner isn't working (my first picture of us nursing is on film, not digital), so I'm going to have to wait on some of them.

I do know that by providing this for my daughters, they will grow up thinking of nursing as the normal way to feed a baby, and hopefully they will nurse their own children. Hopefully, by the time they are mothers, the world will be more accepting of breastfeeding mothers and doctors will understand more about it. It seems like lately there are studies that have come out that for some reason are trying to prove that breastfeeding isn't all it's cracked up to be. In the last couple of months, I've seen studies and/or articles that have come out disputing the diabetes/obesity link, increased IQ, asthma/allergies, and more (I'll try to link the rest of the articles when I find them). But IMO there are problems with all the studies that I have seen, or the news reports are taking one tiny portion of the study out of context. For example the asthma thing-- they didn't compare exclusively BF for 6 months infants with infants who were exclusively fed formula, supplemented with formula, or fed early solids (Dave has asthma, and so did his mom, and though he was exclusively breastfed, he was fed solids at 2 months old which has been shown to increase risk of allergies/asthma). But there have been positive studies, as well-- including a study that shows breastfeeding does not cause saggy breasts!

OK, I'm off to find some pictures of Miss Lacy-bug nursing, and I'll post them when I find them. There is a Blogger maintenance tonight at 11 so I'm posting now and I'll add the pictures when Blogger is back up again.

But as a teaser... here is a picture of a brand new Lacy right after our first nursing session (the other pictures of us actually nursing taken from this camera are completely blurry). TTFN!

Nightweaning bites.

Rose has some cavities. And I'm sure it is "baby bottle rot" type cavities. She doesn't take a bottle, but she does nurse to sleep. And studies have shown that breastmilk does not cause cavities, for some reason my little munchkins get the cavities right in the typical spot for bottle rot. I suppose it could be from all the wet kisses we give those girls! So here is the plan: baby #3 will not get kissed.

OK, maybe that won't fly. But here's what I'm doing for my Rosey-Roo: Tonight, Rose got about 10 minutes nursey time and then she was rocked to sleep, after I wiped her teeth with a cloth. Usually she just nurses to sleep. Unfortunately, she woke up about a half hour later and was inconsolable, except by breast. So after about 10 minutes of torturous cries, all the while rocking my sweet screaming Roo in my arms, I gave in and nursed her to sleep. This time, it took a half hour to get her to settle down and fall asleep.

Last night, I remember Rose waking up 6 times. My kids are terrible sleepers, if you can't tell! Anyway, I was able to successfully get her back to sleep without nursing three times, but she woke up about a half hour after that each time.

I guess I need to take some babysteps here. I think I will focus on getting her to fall asleep without nursing, and every other wakeful period I will attempt to get her back to sleep without nursing. In a couple of weeks I want to focus on not nursing her back to sleep until it is after midnight, and then (to preserve what little bit of sleep I may be able to get!) I will allow her to nurse back to sleep.

I keep telling myself that this phase will be over soon. But it's so hard! I would like to have another baby in the near future, but I have to have my Roo sleeping better at night before I start trying for another one. So I guess we'll have an 18 year spacing between Rose and the next child. *sigh*

I'm calling the dentist on Monday. I am horrified at the state of her teeth. Lacy's were bad, but Rose's are much worse, and at a younger age. I have no idea why. I brush her teeth every day, despite kicking and screaming throughout, and I give her fluoride, xylitol, and I've even started brushing her teeth1-2 times more per day. Darn my kids' oral fixation that cannot be satisfied with anything but the real deal!