Libraryden.com

My uncle recently started a new website: Libraryden.com. The site basically provides a way for you to catalog your books, dvds, cds, sheet music, etc. online. You can also track items loaned out (great for music teachers!), join or create book clubs, join your friends libraries and much more. I think your first 200 books/items are free. Check it out! It's a pretty awesome site from an even more awesome uncle!

Family Picture time!

Kevin's mom took these family pictures for us... enjoy!

If you think it's hard to get your kids to smile...

My 3-year-old is not fond of photo sessions.

Suckers! Grandma came prepared!

Sugar does wonders!

Date Night

Kevin and I went on a date (yay!) tonight. Kevin's mom watched the girls and told us that we could stay out as late as we wanted. That doesn't happen often for us... so we were so excited! We decided to go see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. All you HP fans know that after reading the books, the movies just don't cut it. The best part of the entire movie was Kevin trying to scare me. Whenever there was a remotely intense part - Kevin would gasp, jump in his seat, etc. just trying to get me to be scared. It had the opposite effect and we ended up laughing through a good portion of the film! We had so much fun. I love date nights with Kevin!

Normal

We just got all of Laurie's blood test results back. And the results are.... normal! Sheesh. I hate it when I worry over nothing. Now I have to decide if I really want to take her to the GI doctor. My pediatrician thinks it would be a good idea. I'm actually more inclined to think that the reason she's not gaining a whole bunch is because she was a micropreemie and she is Laurie. She doesn't go by the book. Hmmm.... I think we'll just wait and see...

A Big Bang

If you live in Utah and watch the news, you probably heard about a house that exploded today. I was in my room when all of a sudden I heard a loud "boom" and the light fixtures started to shake. At first I thought that my mom (who is visiting for a week) had fallen down the stairs. I ran down the stairs only to find my mom and Haili watching a movie. Mom hadn't heard or felt anything unusual. My next thought was that we had experienced a small earthquake. As I went back upstairs I heard several ambulances and fire engines drive down the road towards our church. I looked out the window and saw a huge cloud of smoke rising in the sky. It turns out that a house had a propane leak and exploded. No one was killed, but 2 people were injured. I'm not sure if they are in my ward, but their house is about a block from my church building. What a tragedy. I can't imagine losing everything in a matter of seconds. To view the entire story, click here http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8404288.

A big thank you for all of your great ideas and thoughts with regards to Laurie and her weight gain issue. I really do appreciate it. This morning Laurie had physical therapy and her therapist couldn't believe how well she is progressing! This was the very first session that Laurie actually wanted to play! There are so many more activities and games that we can do now to help with her development.

After physical therapy I took her to the hospital to have her blood drawn and a sweat test completed. We were there for over two hours! Let's just say Laurie has had better days. The sweat test is for cystic fibrosis. It lasted about 40 minutes. That wasn't too bad. The blood draw however... They stuck one hand and it didn't work. Two different phlebotomists tried to locate a good vein but had no luck. They finally called a NICU nurse. She found a GREAT vein... in Laurie's scalp. Yeah, poor Laurie screamed for probably 20 minutes straight as they were drawing blood. It took quite a long time, but they got everything they needed.

I just read a post by Paul Cardall that really hit home for me. If you have a moment, please visit his blog: http://mytricuspidatresia.blogspot.com/2009/10/bike-and-answers-to-prayer.html. Paul recently received a heart transplant. A few months prior to his transplant, his younger brother was tragically killed. The following is an excerpt from his blog describing his feelings with losing his brother:

"Why Brian? Why not me? I’m the sick one. He’s thriving. He’s amazing. He has plenty of time to do many many great things.” I carried this with me until the day the call came a heart had become available. In the quiet moment of night, prior to my life-threatening surgery, came the tender impression from our Father in Heaven, which said to me, “I need him.” Comfort filled the room and my body experienced a powerful sense of peace and solace. My old heart burned and felt empowered. Then I felt another impression say to me, “I need you here.”

Ever since little Laurie was born, we have seen so many precious babies lose their battle here on earth. We became such good friends with their parents. We prayed for these sweet babies with as much faith as we did with our own Laurie. But Heavenly Father had different plans for these sweet ones. I have struggled with a type of "survivor's guilt" for some time now. It's been so hard to visit or call my friends who have lost a child. I have just felt so guilty that we have Laurie when they had to say goodbye to their perfect angel. I have often asked, "Why was Laurie's life spared? Why do so many of my friends have to go through the pain of losing their baby? It's just not fair." I hadn't received an answer until today when I read Paul's post. It brought peace to my heart. Though my heart will always ache for my friends' loss...it helped me realize that God's ways are not our ways. We don't understand everything, but He does.

Help, please!

Laurie has always struggled to gain weight... She will normally only drink 4 oz. of formula at a time. It is extremely rare for her to drink more than that. Extremely rare. We had an appointment with our pediatrician today just to follow-up with her weight gain. Here's the scoop: Laurie has gained two pounds in five months. Yes - that's right. Two pounds. Five months. Well, actually I'm rounding up. It's more like 1 lb. 13 oz. Hmmm... She's not staying on her weight gain curve - which has our ped. concerned. She gets 30 cal formula and then some (I usually make them generous scoops) and she loves to eat solids. And yet, she's in a slump. Currently she weighs 15 lbs. 1/2 oz. And I had just fed her a bottle right before she was weighed! (Is that cheating?) We're taking her to get her blood drawn to check for a myriad of potential problems... We are also going to take her to a GI specialist to figure out if she has something going on in her gut. Boy... just when you think everything is going great... I hope that this is just another case of a doctor being overly concerned... I guess we'll see soon.

Has anyone ever dealt with a similar problem with their children? Any ideas on how to help Laurie gain weight? Has anyone had to go see a GI doctor because of weight gain issues? Any input would be great!

Salmon

Yesterday my future sister-in-law came over and cooked us some Alaskan salmon! She is from Alaska and when she came back to school she brought some salmon that she caught herself. Yum! She's going to send me the recipe and I'll be sure to post it on my blog. It was the best salmon I have ever had... Thanks Steph!

5 brothers and one sister

For those of you who don't know... I grew up with 5 little brothers and one older sister. My mother had 7 kids (and one miscarriage) in nine years! Bless her heart. We grew up in a small, and therefore crowded, house. While we all lived under the same roof we didn't fully appreciate having a large family. We didn't always get along. I found it annoying that I could never have a moment to myself. What would it be like to actually have a quiet house?

We all played a musical instrument. My mother was a violinist and my father did percussion. I followed in my mother's footsteps and played the cello. All my other siblings took to band instruments: flute, oboe, trombone, clarinet, french horn, baritone, and tuba! One of my favorite family musical memories is when we all performed together one of my brother's eagle court of honors. My siblings and I performed Pachabel's Canon in D. We just improvised - but it was so much fun!

My parents taught us the value of getting an education. Growing up my father would require all of us to take summer school from him every morning. He was an educator and would teach us math in our den. He'd give us homework and everything! I didn't like it much then, but looking back I know that it helped me out. And I LOVE math now! I took took calculus with Kevin when we were first married and I loved it. Thanks Dad!

My sister is now an assistant attorney general for the state of Utah. She double majored in history and english and received her law degree. I graduated in music education and taught school for a couple of years. Brother #1 is on track to graduate with degrees in mechanical engineering and biology (I think). He also probably has a few minors as well. Brother #2 is an electrical engineer. Brother #3 is majoring in business education and is a wrestling coach at a local high school. He and his wife are also getting sealed in the Logan Temple in less than a month! Brother #4 just got engaged! He is majoring in art history and is a member of the National Guard. After graduation, he'll get his masters degree to become a museum curator. Brother #5 will return home from his mission in Bangkok, Thailand next month! He's majoring in electrical engineering.

I think my parents did a great job in raising us kids. Thanks Mom and Dad! I heard a quote in church yesterday that really struck a chord:

"May our lives always be an answer to our parents' prayers."

Dang it!

I really wanted to do 30 days in a row... but alas, I missed yesterday! Kevin is on another trip and I've had company here with me since he left. A friend of mine came and stayed with me for a few days with her 4 kids. It was so much fun to have the company! My mom is currently here and is going to stay for an entire week. Tonight we are having a Mary Poppins party (Haili's idea). We're having a great time so far!

Physical Therapy

Laurie had physical therapy today. Wow - she is just progressing so quickly... it's hard to keep up! Today our therapist supported Laurie while she was in the crawling position. Laurie didn't scream or throw a fit for the very first time ever! She even was able to maintain the crawling position for a couple of seconds on her own. Wow. I didn't even see that coming! Now we have lots of pre-crawling exercises to work on along with the normal sitting up stuff. Life is great!

Sitting Up!

Laurie sat up all by herself for over two minutes today! Time to celebrate! She's been making great progress lately. She sees a physical therapist about twice a month and it really seems to be making a difference. Laurie is starting to put weight on her legs more often and is even starting to immitate walking. We're excited to see her meeting these small, yet important, milestones!

Some house pics

Here are a few pictures of our house. More to come soon!

The Living Room...

Master bedroom... red - my favorite color

The Kitchen

Thought for the day

"Never suppress a generous thought."
- Camilla Kimball

If you are sick...

I normally do not use this blog to complain... however, today I am writing one such post. Kevin decided to stay home from church because he had a pretty bad cold and wasn't feeling that great during the night. Laurie stayed home with him so she could take her morning nap and we figure that if one of us stays home, it's probably a good idea to keep Laurie home - the less she's around a lot of people, the better.

Haili and I sat behind a lady who was obviously sick. She could not stop coughing. I decided to count how many times she coughed during the service. After ONE-HUNDRED coughs (yes, you read that right!) I decided it wasn't worth it any more and decided to switch seats. I am still extremely nervous being around people who may have a contagious illness!

I know that it's difficult for parents to stay home when they are sick, especially when they have children. HOWEVER, please think about the risks involved when you do go to work, school, or church when you are sick. You are giving your illness to others! Please remember that there are people (adults and children alike) who have weakened immune systems. They can't recover as easily as the normal person. If you have to go out, consider wearing a mask... that will at least offer some protection.

In short, if you are sick... please stay home if at all possible!

There's my spill for the day. I don't mean to offend anyone - just wanted to offer some words of wisdom from a heart mommy.

Babysitting Blues

OK... so for the very first time, we hired a babysitter to watch the girls while Kevin and I went on a date! I suffered some serious anxiety the entire time. We were gone for 3 hours (to a university Indian cultural night that included dinner and dancing!) but it felt like forever. I was just so nervous. The girls did well and I survived! Kevin and I are already planning our next date...I just hope it gets easier to leave our cute girls. We won't be able to go out often because of RSV season - so we're trying to get in as many dates as we can!

Cute kiddos

Our trip to the zoo

I met a friend at the local zoo the other day and our girls had so much fun! Since Laurie is getting better at sitting up, I put her in the stroller facing forward for the first time. She LOVED being able to see all the animals. Whenever she would see any animal, she would scream and laugh! Too bad I forgot my camera... Haili's favorite were the monkeys. I have to admit, they were pretty dang cute.

Kevin informed me that he is going on another trip in the near future. Hopefully this will be his last one for a while. Bleh. However, on a good note - Kevin is changing his schedule around so that starting in a couple of weeks, he'll get Fridays off! Sweet. I'm excited for that!

Green Tomato Pie

My friend gave me this amazing pie recipe. It's delicious! Give it a try and you won't regret it, I promise!

Love Apple Pie

5 c hard green tomatoes, sliced
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
2 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp butter, melted

Choose hard green tomatoes that are very dark - no hint of yellow. Slice thinly as with apples for apple pie. Mix the slices well with the other ingredients. Place mixture in an unbaked pie crust. Cover with a top crust and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until lightly brown and bubbly.

We made this pie yesterday and it was a HUGE success. One of my favorites! Instead of a top crust, I tried this topping:

3/4 c butter
1 c flour
1 c sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Just spread it over the pie and bake!

Every day for a month!

Brace yourself! I am going to post daily for the next 30 days! I have really been slacking in the blogging department lately. Wish me luck.

Kevin recently returned from a 3-week business trip, his second one since he started his job at the end of May. I really can't complain, because Kevin LOVES his job and we feel blessed to have a stable income. We're just not fans of these long trips! They wanted him to stay for an entire month... thank heavens he was able to come home early! I think I would have gone crazy. Of course, I have a cousin whose husband is in the navy... when he goes "out of town" it's for months, not weeks. I honestly don't know how she does it!

Laurie is almost 16 months old! She is almost sitting up by herself. She is starting to put some weight on her legs, which is a good sign. I doubt that she'll be walking by her second birthday... but I have hope that she'll be crawling by then! I have a feeling that once she becomes mobile, there'll be no stopping her!

Haili is as cute as ever. We are going to be getting her a cello in the next month or so. She loves to sit on my lap as I play and she loves to dance to all the Suzuki Book 1 pieces. I also have a mini bow that she loves to do bow exercises with. Since we'll be in semi-seclusion this winter, we thought it would be a good idea to get Haili a cello. We'll have plenty of time to practice while we strive to keep Laurie healthy by staying home most of the time!

Here's to a hopefully uneventful RSV season!