Sleepy Buggy

Couldn't resist this pose with Schnuffle Hase (Bunny) while napping

My blue marshmellow

Rock the Vote

Having recieved my ballot for the Washington Presidential primary today I realized that I needed to pass on a message to everyone that will hear it. Without declaring myself Republican or Democrat I need to set the record straight about one particular candidate.

More than once I have been told the rumor about Barack Obama being Muslim, or a Muslim extremist, hiding the fact he is Muslim, or some version of these things. Some got it from an e-mail, the others, I can only guess. While I understand the concern of these accusations I had the suspicion they were false. So, I looked it up on http://www.snopes.com/ and hope you will follow this link to the page confirming that the allegations in the e-mail, at least, were false. The page does a very good job of addressing each statement and giving correct information about Obama. I found it very informative.

These things said, I don't care who you support, whether you like or dislake Barack Obama or any of the candidates, I hope you will join me in an effort to STOP the slander - even if the candidates themselves cannot do so ;)

Remember to Vote!

Bittersweet Goodbye

On Sunday, January 27th 2008, Gordon Bitner Hinckley, Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, passed away. He was 97 years old. President Hinckley has been the president of the LDS church since 1995 and for many of my friends, he was "their" prophet. The prophet of our youth. I saw him speak in Spokane in 1999 when he came to dedicate the Spokane temple and held a youth fireside that filled up the Spokane arena. I'm not sure what I expected a prophet was at that time but I remember telling my friend Heidi, "well he's a man." I'll never forget the letter I recieved in return, bearing her testimony and thankfullness that though he was "just a man" the Lord had called him to lead the Church in humility and truth.
In the last eight years I have come to appreciate the humor, strength and love of people exibited by this man, not to mention his dedication to the work of God.
A biography for President Hinckley can be found here.


For more information on succession in the LDS Church go here.

Winter Wonderland

Everyone around here is getting snow. More snow than they usually get. More snow than we've had at once in like ten or fifteen years.

This was what the snow came upto on Bill yesterday evening.

Last night we ventured out in it, to our friends to play a StarWars RPG and have dinner (The things we do in the name of Star Wars).

On our way back we met with two extremes. J$%^#@* (I don't pardon my French that was exactly how I felt) who followed us off the freeway and was right behind our car - I mean RIGHTTHERE. I was ready to make Bill stop in the middle of the road so I could go tell him about the way he was driving and the 2 month old in our back seat. Bill pulled aside and let him pass. After that we almost didn't mind the truck in front of us who was going 15 miles an hour. Hey, at least they wern't reckless right? But it is only 5 miles from Four Lakes to Cheney and it is hard not to feel frustrated when you could easily and safely be going 25-30 miles an hour, instead you are going about 15 with frequent speed ups and slow downs (aka needless hitting of breaks on winter road) and there are no passing zones. We are thinking, "Sheesh this person must be scared out of their mind" And Do You Know What I Saw As We Passed Them Upon Entering Cheney . . . .!!???? A Stinking CELL PHONE. That's right - no hands free device or anything. College towns.

But this place really is a Winter Wonderland right now.

Schnuffel - part 2

Du bist mein allerliebster schatz
(You are my most favorite treasure)

An deiner seite ist mein platz
(My place is at your side)

Weil ich dich so gerne kuschel
(Because I love to cuddle you)

bist du mein susse Schnuffel
(You are my sweet Schnuffel)

Kuschel, kuschel, kuschel, kuschel
(Cuddle, cuddle, cuddle, cuddle)

Du bist mein kleiner susser Schnuffel
(You are my little sweet Schnuffel)

Du bist mein kleiner susser stern
(You are my little sweet star)

Hab dich zum kuscheln gern
(I like to cuddle you)

So, there you go! We don't have a translation for the word Schnuffel. It's just a nickname for the bunny's carrot in the video.

Schnuffel

Until I can figure out how to put this on my blog, follow the following link. We found this video the other day and decided it was our new song for Miriam.

Jamba - Schnuffel

Warning: if you are finding you can't understand the video it's because it's in GERMAN. Bill played it for me and I was so lost until I looked at his screen and saw the words 'wierd german song' then they started to click. We'll translate for you in the near future.

Motherhood is like . . .

Yesterday I decided motherhood is like juggling. This may seem obvious to you . . . you are managing chaos every day, duh! But hear me out . . .
Motherhood is like juggling several eggs and a knife. You don't really want to drop the eggs, but if you do all that happens is they crack and make a mess. On the other hand you REALLY don't want to drop the knife because you could lose an eye, a finger, a toe or get a really nasty cut.
The knife represents your children and your spouse (No they are not going to cut off your toe). You really don't want to screw up with them, they are the most important pieces! The eggs represent thing like dishes or laundry or dusting. If they don't get done all you essentially have is a mess. . . Unless you let it go so long that you have no clothes . . . or a house full of mold and mice. . . okay this analogy is really getting out of hand.
As I was at my grandmas trying to do laundry, feed a baby, change laundry, have lunch, change a baby, fold laundry while pausing to entertain baby, put baby to sleep, check email, entertain baby, load car up with laundry and baby, drive home . . . I came up with this analogy. It was my way of trying to put things in perspective. Because the baby is the one I don't want to fail with. So, it may take me several days to actually vacuum my living room floor.

Keep Moving Forward

I originally named my last blog entry 'keep moving forward' but had to make a change after yesterday evening happened to us.

Getting ready to go out to our friends for the evening, I decided to make a pie (we have lots of dehydrated apples). The recipe I got out of my "using your food storage" cookbook did not make enough to fill the pie shell. I had to rehydrate apples two more times to fill it up . . . so it took us a little while to actually leave. Once we entered Airway Heights our car is really making an awful sound and we realize that we have a flat tire. It was COLD last night and poor Bill was out there trying to get the tire off. Brrrrrrr. We bought a used tire to replace the old one today and are hoping to have a little more money when we need to replace them all this spring or summer.

Having just watched Meet the Robinsons you can't help but remember to 'Keep Moving Forward' through all of our misadventures and celebrate what you learn from your "failures"

I must say, the following is definitely not a failure.

Exponential Growth

Just thought you all should have a reminder of how fast babies grow. I've been looking at newborn pictures recently and then looking at my 2 month old and can hardly believe how much my baby has already changed. Amber was right, they only get cuter. And she should know, she has twins. I've decided you have to be a special kind of crazy to get sent twins (no offense intended).

Your bakery goods are weak old man*

I must have had 10 different ideas for posts in the last week, but as I am sitting here typing I can remember none of them.

Today is Bill's birthday! We took him to see a movie (Golden Compass since FanBoys blew it and didn't bother to release this week. The party was supposed to be a STARWARS theme and they ruined it) and lunch at Chili's which has good hot wings.

He turned 30! I've always teased him about being an "old" man (you know, a whole 4 1/2 years older than me). Now we've entered a whole new dimension of teasing. I mean, the man is no longer in his twenties...

Not that it feels like we've got such a gap. But it does seem a little strange he is 30. Don't you remember being just a little teen and heck even 25 seemed so nice and adult? Well it turns out it's NOT. But 35 . . . now that has got to be the end all . . . .;)

*If you don't know where my title line comes from you just don't hang out with enough Star Wars geeks and therefore watch ENDLESS numbers of parodys. Go forth and find them.

Misadventurepalooza

So this last week has been a lot of little misaventures rolled up into what is known as my life.

Sometime last Thursday I lost my keys. For a day or so I just thought I wasn't looking in the right place, you know that I set them down somewhere different. But by now, I've checked the only two places I had been that day, checked the diaper bag and my clothes AND no keys.

Friday - really good. Saturday, Bills parents here and totally showered us for Christmas it was great. We got a photo printer, a camera lens, a deep fryer (which I probably need about as much as a Big Mac every day for the rest of my life. Nevertheless I am excited to have fried Zucchini and Mozzerella). Sunday, also good. Miriam only cried through half her blessing. All in all weekend was adventure-little

Monday - our friends are going to National Treasure 2 and we decide to make a go of it. We are good until about the time we walk in the theatre. Dad gets to watch an hour while Mom attempts to nurse and put baby to sleep. No way man. We give up around 9 pm and head home.

Tuesday - immunizations. Snow all day.

Wednesday. Knob of my crock pot busts off while I am cooking beans for Chili that night. Crock Pot is not particularly old or well used. Have to wait for Bill to come home to turn the knob to low. Fed baby before work. Barely made it in time to set up, between shoveling inches of snow off the car and sliding my way to the bank to get change.

Thursday - was supposed to work 2 times for WW. Worked the Thursday afternoon meeting and got slammed by new people. It was a really good meeting but I was gone from 11-2:30ish and Miriam didn't take a bottle very well. AND I didn't want to only be home for an hour and 1/2 between meetings. Luckily I found someone to cover for me and was able to stay home. I've decided NOT to ever book myself two meetings in one day again. And hopefully we can get Miri to take a bottle. Oh and P.S. had my first fall of the winter season returning from that meeting. Right on my derriere in the parking lot. Came home soaking wet.

Friday morning we are late for a meeting and they make us reschedule. Lady tells me that if we don't get in by the 14th it's been 30 days and we have to reapply. Excuse me? How is it my fault if you lost my application and didn't schedule us for weeks?
Friday night something in my kitchen (and therefore my whole apartment) smells bad. After the dishes are done we still can't figure it out. While cooking dinner I realize it's the beans that I rehydrated and didn't use in the chili. Or put in the fridge or freezer. Whoops. I chuck them in a bag and set them outside the door to take to the dumpster tomorrow.

Saturday. I still haven't found my keys. While it's perfectly normal for a breastfeeding baby, Miriam hasn't had a bowel movement today. Watch out Mom and Dad.

Blessing

We had immunizations today, and maybe I'm crazy, sitting here working on a blog when my little angel is asleep, but I really wanted to post some pictures! Miriam looks great, fabulously healthy. No news to report there. I was looking at newborn pictures and can't believe how much she has already grown. She is 11pounds 12ounces and 22 inches long, head circumference of 36cm. She got poked and had a somewhat delayed reaction but then wasted no time in telling us that shots are no fun. The good news: although there are five vaccinations she only had two shots. One of the shots was a combination of three vaccinations. For those of you that are counting you know what the BAD news is. They were out of the Hib vaccination, which means we'll have to go back for another shot in a week or so.

Mirims baby blessing was Sunday, we had a lot of Bill's family here and some of mine. What a wonderful time I had. The blessing was beautiful. Although, I was totally exhausted by the time everyone left at four pm.

In other news I go back to work for WW tomorrow night . . . should only be 2-3 hours, I'm just feeling . . . mixed emotions. What timing eh? Let's hope there are no complications with the vaccines. I know daddy will do a great job at home with Miriam.

Finally the pictures :)

My handsome family!

Miriam and Mommy

What a pretty baby!

Miri and her Auntie Lena meeting for the first time

Catching up with Christmas

I just wanted to share a few cute pictures with you from our Christmas, which wasn't complete until we saw some of Bill's family this weekend. They were so generous to us! These first few pictures are our little family spending Christmas together!

The best present under the tree!

Which present? The big one of course!

Cutie Pie

Daddy, Miriam and Pooh!

Granparents Cox

Tagged

I was actually tagged on myspace and it was a while ago, but I thought it would be fun. I'm not going to tag anyone in particular but if you want to (Kirsten. Brenda. cough cough.) feel free to play. You just write 6 things about yourself. I think they are supposed to be little known but whatever floats your boat. Here's mine.

1. I have actually walked into a closed sliding glass door . Too bad we don't have that on video. Can I chalk it up to my underdeveloped high school brain?

2. Although my goal is to be a registered dietitian - my runners up - if I had a little more guts and money - are medical school (endocrinology) and physical therapy.

3. I've been a member of Weight Watchers for almost 4 years. This is because I have inherited an insane sweet tooth. I could have eaten a chocolate pudding cup with a white chocolate Reeses peanut butter cup for a spoon. Followed by peanut M&M's. I'm not kidding. It's getting better now - but I still like sugar.

4. I always wanted to be a writer as a child. I lost this as a teen and somehow got into science. I was recently featured on my favorite blog on Parents.com (if you didn't know that go check it out. Community --> Parental Discretion Advised --> "Practice" Pushing can be found on Dec 21 07). My parents lauded my writing ability (bless them - it made me feel SO good!).

5. My daughters middle name is Anne - after mine - however hers has an "e" because I read Anne of Green Gables when young and wanted an "e" on mine.

6. My plan at 18 was to get a biotech degree from EWU, then take my blue Chevy S-10 and whatever I could fit in it to Arizona and get a Masters degree from ASU. I hadn't thought past that. Just look at me now!

Pizza Pizza

I've sometimes thought I don't have any childhood "traditions" or reaccuring memories but yesterday I got to thinking about it more and discovered I do!
Going to Dishman hills while my dad did/taught Tai Chi, swimming at Strohs, peanut butter and apples or Schwanns ice cream cups after school, playing cards (I used to know like 20 games), Super Nintendo, Highlights magazine, Saturday morning pancakes with my step-sister, and Little Caesars pizza.
After seeing the doctor yesterday we stopped by the newly opened Little Caesars pizza (they're back!) and took home pizza and breadsticks which really gave me a blast from the past. Except the pizza pieces were not square. The breadsticks though, were every bit as yummy as my memory serves.