Le Chimiste et Le Chef

Weirdo Beardo

2011-12-22T22:27:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! I love getting everyone's beautiful, sweet, inspiring Christmas cards, with all your picture perfect families. I really do. They're hanging on my front door so I can see them all season long. And I love my picture perfect family, covered in snowy white hair, heads floating in a red miasma of Season's Greetings. I have a large version of this on my fridge, and when Eve saw it she cracked up and thought it was hilarious. It is. She's got a good sense of humor. May your holidays be bright and merry! We love all of you. Thank you for your love in return!

The Big One

2011-11-23T20:11:00.001-07:00

DadadaDum! Theron is now one year old! He had his birthday last Thursday, and boy, was it an extreme birthday party weekend. And filled with an oddly high amount of buffets, which we mostly never attend. But apparently to celebrate a one year old's birthday one needs to eat--a lot. I guess that's because when you're only one, it's snowy outside, and you don't yet walk, all you can do is eat. It's a universal pleasure, I'm sure.

So, Thursday. Rise and shine! My little boy is up with a smile. We go for a walk, run some errands, play with toys, clean the house--all the things a one year old boys loves to do. Then we went to Golden Corral for dinner--not my choice. We came home and sang him "Happy Birthday." I sang that to him all day, and he loved it and would laugh and smile and clap because somehow he knew he was special when I sang to him.

Friday Theron had his one year doctor appointment. He is doing great! He got four shots and a prick in the toe for blood work, but after some sad tears, he was okay. Especially after he got his first lollipop. My parents came up and took us all out to dinner. Guess where? Chuck-A-Rama! And we opened presents afterwards and Theron got his favorite one of all: a wooden truck carrying four small cars. Theron loved it!

And Saturday we had his birthday party. I invited all our family, and then decided to invite a few other families as well. Most everyone came, and for a while I was really stressed and cursing myself for making the situation much more complicated than it needed to be. BUT. It was fun! It turned out wonderful and I think that Theron had a good time. When everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him he was all smiles. Then he ate the monkey cake and LOVED it! It was a banana cake with chocolate frosting. He had two huge fistfuls and noshed it down like it was candy. I was so glad that it made him so happy.

Theron has been sleeping very poorly lately. Not napping well and not sleeping more than a few hours at a time at night. And a lot of time he will wake up and want to stay up for hours. He doesn't take a binky and he doesn't suck his thumb so he is no good at self soothing. He is going through his separation anxiety stage and therefore doesn't want anyone but me at night. Even the sight of Richie will make him scream his head off. I don't feel any teeth coming in, he doesn't have an earache, and the "crying it out" thing doesn't work--I've tried it even though I hate it. I guess I just have to accept the fact that this is just a stage and there is nothing I can do about it.

Theron is also mobile now. Yea! I've been waiting now. He's been doing an army scoot for a while, but now he has been full on crawling now for a couple of weeks and is starting to get fast! I'm still not used to it. The other day I went downstairs to change out the laundry and I heard a big crash. I raced upstairs and just as I thought, one of our floor lamps was broken on the floor. Theron had pulled it down. He also ate two of Eve's markers while I was in the shower that day. He loves to dance, clap, hear singing, pull on the cat and be tickled. He loves to play with toys, especially cars, books, kitchen gadgets and stuffed animals. His hair is getting long, is curly in the back and growing in blond, though he is still a redhead for now. And he is still the most darling, happy, smiley little boy who has absconded with my heart. I cannot believe how much I love my little man. He makes me so happy, even in the sleepless delirium I call my life. What an incredible little soul resides in arms when I scoop him up and snuggle him.

Oh, I love this little guy, but look at how tired both our eyes are. No sleep is the worst!

Happy Birthday Theron! I hope that this coming new year will be a marvelous one. You are my bright light and warm fuzzy. You are my darling and my constant joy. I love you.

Eating his birthday cake as fast as possible. He didn't stop till both hands were empty!

Theron: One Year

22 lb. 10 oz.

30"

100% Sweetness

What a Witch! (and Goldfish too!)

2011-11-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

We have been bewitched the past few weeks. An orange pointy hat with black polka dots followed me everywhere. The scratchy sound of grass broom bristles echoed through my hallways. The swish of a cape haunted my days, and the insane cackle of a deranged witch floated through my dreams at night. Finally, I managed to capture that devil's mistress in a photograph. This is the terrifying image:

And this guy is just plain cute! Okay, so this is a GOLDFISH costume. But it does look an awful lot like a mermaid. Eve wore this a couple of years ago. Richie absolutely forbade me from putting it on Theron. So I decided he was going to be a bat, a ghost, a "boo"....and then finally, when I was really stressed about it and couldn't find what I needed without spending more than a few bucks (I'm trying to be extra thrify) I decided that he was going to be the goldfish. The next day we went trick or treating at the zoo, and he was called a girl and a mermaid several times over. Richie screamed "See! I told you that costume was too girly!" But I didn't care, Theron didn't care, and he looked cute.

October is probably the best month to live in Logan. The weather is fabulous, the whole valley, city, canyon lights up in spectacular fashion with Autumn colors. And there are tons of fun Halloween and Fall events to attended and activities to do. I learned that one needs to have their Halloween costume ready by the beginning of the month so that one can wear it all month to these fun events. So, good job, mediocre city that I tolerate!

On that note of costumes, here how Eve decided to be a witch. I started asking her what she wanted to be for Halloween (then explained what Halloween was). The very first thing she said was "Green."

"Green like a frog, or green like the color green?" I asked.

"Green like the color green."

From which point she then began listing a bazillion different things, every few seconds. Over the course of a week I heard, oh probably, 200 different things she wanted to be, including car keys, a trampoline, a triangle, rattlesnake, mud, pencil, and Curious George. That one almost stuck, with Richie to be the Man in the Yellow Hat, but, at the dollar store she saw the witch hats and really wanted one. "Nope," I said, "not unless you want to be a witch for Halloween." After wich, every time I asked her what she wanted to be, she said "A witch!"

I asked her, "What is a witch?"

"A witch is just a witch."

"Well, what do witches do?"

"They're just witches, Renee" (she rarely calls me mama anymore. Despite what my dad thinks, this not me trying to be a liberated parent or whatever. She just found out that my name is Renee and that's what she calls me.)

So Eve was a witch for Halloween. We went trick or treating all over our neighborhood. The moon was out and spooky, and Eve was thrilled that she got to be outside while it was dark and the stars and moon were out. She loves the night sky and is obsessed with it. And she loved getting candy!!!! Which she refused to eat until we got home and could properly examine it, sort it, then gorge herself on it.

The next day when I started to take down Halloween decorations, she became terribly upset. She tried with all her persuasive powers to convince me that Halloween was not over. Life can be too real sometimes, can it not?

So, Happy Halloween! Next year I hope to have some funny stories about Theron , but for now, he's just cute and happy!

Oregon at Last

2011-10-08T21:51:00.001-06:00

So I know that it has been a while since we actually went to Oregon, but I have not blogged about it yet, and since I don't want it to get washed away in the upcoming holiday tides, here it is now. Yay! Because I love Oregon, and the Oregon Coast, and I am sad to see summer go. Usually I am done with the hot weather by now, but this summer was so pleasant, and so short, and I wish it would last just a little bit longer. It hasn't snowed in Logan yet, but set the snow line a couple hundred feet and it will soon.

The "Niagra of the West" Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho. Definitely a cool place to check out!

But enough about cold, boring Logan. Let's profile Pacific City, Oregon and our adventures there and back. Traveling with two little ones is hard and long. They are both great travelers, but let's face it: it's a long time in the car. We split the drive into two days both ways, but I think we made the drive out too long. We took long breaks thinking that it would be better, but really just made for a really long day. But Theron was still nursing, and so we had to have stops anyway. We stayed at my friend Gaylene's beautiful house in Pasco, Washington. It was great! She has twin boys the exact same age as Theron. They are cute, tenacious little guys. They were both smaller than Theron and already moving around. Theron is such a gentle giant compared to most babies his age. But it was lovely to see my friend that I hadn't seen in years, and to meet her kids.

Multnomah Falls in the Columbia Gorge. One of my favorite places ever.

We got Portland the next day and had a little family reunion with my dad's family. We spent the night with my cousin Kate, which was so nice of her. She and her partner Jason hosted us last summer too, and I'm surprised they were up for it again, seeing as how Eve terrorized their cat, Monster. Monday we took a little detour to Corvallis before heading to the coast and visited my old work and ate at our favorite restaurant there. Then, finally, we made it to the beach. The Beach!

Classic Eve. Just enjoying the sun and the sand.

Now, I'm not complaining, because we had a wonderful time. Our house fantastic and the weather great. BUT. I was not anticipating the amount of Work I had to do on my "vacation." There was lots to do and see, but my kids ended up being so tired and thrown out of their schedule that by Wednesday, they both lost it. I mean, complete and utter melt downs by both of them. And of course it would be when Richie was golfing. My mom and cousin were there, but you know, it's just different when one parent it missing. It literally was the worst day I've had with both of them. So many many tears. My poor cousin just sort of looked at me and was like, "I don't think I'm ready for kids yet...(nervous laugh.)" I can't blame her.

At the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport

Our beach house was not directly on the beach, so to get to it you had to walk about 15 minutes on a little path, then walk another ten minutes through sand to get to the water. With a baby, a giant bag of blankets and towels, a diaper bag, various toys and snacks, and a toddler who thought it too hard to walk in sand (in her defense, it was really hard to shuffle through it, especially uphill), it made going to the beach quite the outing. Not to mention that the previous 6 weeks had been filled with Eve's constant listing of every ocean creature she could think of and expecting to see them all at the beach. Where are the whales, Eve? They're in the deep water. Where are the walruses? Where are the fat,scary octopuses? Sigh. Good thing we went to the aquarium!

Cookie break at the beach

Fish faces

But there were good things. Shopping at the outlet malls. Yummy crab dinners and Pie Soup. Golfing, fishing, the beach, tide pools, game nights, waterfalls, desserts, family, book stores, and THE OCEAN. It was grand. I love going to the beach. And I'm so glad that despite our distance from it, Eve loves it too.

The famous 'Pie Soup." If anyone has talked to Richie about the Oregon Coast, he will talk about pie soup. He loves it. We drove two hours for it. We all dug in and devoured it.

On our last day I woke up Eve early to go to the tide pools and collect sand dollars in the low tide. It was a lot of fun, and Eve loved the tide pools. We found a lot of cool little creatures. And then we got a hot chocolate to share. It was such a quiet, nice time to have with just Eve. I will keep that for me for a long time. Thank you Oregon. I love you and miss you.

When A Month Feels Like A Year Feels Like A Headache

2011-09-25T22:36:00.000-06:00

Does life ever make you feel like this?

The title of this post is more negative than how I really feel, but I am so tired. So very, very tired. Between several deaths, intense teething, neighborhood parties, overnight guests, a sick husband and all the other surprises a two year old brings into one's life, the last two weeks have packed quite the punch for me.

All self-pity aside, most of my adventures have been Fantastic! I know I promised a special spotlight on our Oregon trip from August, but I think I'll just post some pics from my trip to San Francisco instead. To my delight, my sweet, thoughtful husband bought me tickets to visit my sister in SF. So Eve spent some time with my parents in Cedar, and Theron and I went to SF! He was Amazing! He slept both ways on the plane--nary a cry! He really was a star on this entire trip. For some reason I though SF was full of families and kids, but I was totally wrong! There were hardly any children around. Everyone loved Theron. I had people ask to hold him, play with him, kiss him! Waiters sat at our tables and played with him while we ate, gay men couldn't avoid talking to him, even people who obviously never had anything to do with children were sucked into his vortex of cuteness. It was so much fun, and Theron ate up all the attention. Oh man, you should have seen him at church. He sat there and "sang" and talked the whole time and all the baby-starved women ate him up! I must give a big thank you to Nikki's former roommates Sierra and Kate. They were so nice and accommodating, and really wonderful to Theron and I. Thank you for letting us stay. We had a great time!

All dolled up and ready for church :)

First time on a carousel and he LOVED it! He could stop smiling and kicking his legs in pure joy.

Seeing my sister was wonderful. I'm really glad that I went out there because it allowed me to see things from her perspective and appreciate the sort of things that she deals with in her life. So I'm glad that I understand where she's coming from a little bit better. And I know that she feels that same way. Even though Theron was a complete peach, she still attained a much greater respect for how busy I am as a mom. Just imagine what it would've been like if Eve had been there. But Nikki is such a wonderful person, and I'm so glad that she is my sister. I love you Nikki!

View of the Golden Gate Bridge. Love that Bay Fog!

Nik and I at the Palace of Fine Arts. It's Nik's favorite place in SF, and it is LOVELY

Coit Tower by night

Here's my little sis. Isn't she darling?

We checked out the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park and I think it was my favorite part of the trip. The meticulous attention to detail was mind boggling.

Nine months old and already driving the ladies wild!

Despite my hilarious and somewhat disturbing opening photo, my trip to SF left me happy, centered and ready to go back to Logan a better person. I think this photo reflects that feeling. It was my favorite one from the tea garden. What do you think?

My Little Man

2011-08-21T15:09:00.000-06:00

Theron turned nine months old on Wednesday. I can't believe that he will be a year old before Thanksgiving! He is the sweetest little boy. And I'm not just saying that because I am his mother. Ask anyone--anyone--who has met him. He really truly is the happiest, sweetest, snuggliest little boy to ever grace this earth. I love him more than words can say. He fills me with constant joy. I took him into primary with me today and he "sang" along with all the other and bounced and boogied to all the music. He has four teeth, two more on the way, and I will now list his stats:

Height: 28.25" 50th%

Weight: 20 lb 9.5 oz 60th %

Awesomeness: Never ending 1000th%

Theron has not the slightest interest in crawling, and boy does that make me happy! He still hates to be on his tummy, and screams when he does tummy time, though he is getting better. I do hope that he is crawling by his birthday, however, because I don't want him too far behind. But he is as happy as a clam just sitting up and playing with his sister. She can make him laugh harder than anyone else. They are the very best of friends. And, lucky us, I get to take him to San Fransisco with me to visit Auntie Nikki this week. I hardly ever get alone time with Theron so that will be a nice treat. Not to mention that people who fly with young children get preferential treatment by the airlines. Last to seat and first to leave--yes thank you!

So here's to you, my bright sun, my constant waking joy, my little man Theron.

Aaahhhh, Summer....

2011-07-06T22:20:00.000-06:00

It is finally here. Summer. It hasn't been too hot yet, but I know that will change. However, it is nice to not be pregnant during the summer. My non-air conditioned house doesn't seem so unpleasant this year as opposed to last year.

We celebrated Father's Day with vigor this year. Richard might not agree, but then again, I was vomiting on Mother's Day so he was off the hook a little bit. But the dessert I made him was fantastic! A little history to it--

When Richie's sister Holly was in high school she was asked to a dance with a flower pot full of chocolate pudding and oreo crumbs, the query being inside the pudding somewhere. Richie ate all of that chocolate pudding. About a month ago I made chocolate pudding and Richie recalled wistfully the pot of pudding he ate so long ago and said "I want a flower pot full of pudding and oreos for Father's Day." Request granted. Two large packages of Jello Chocolate pudding, two full sleeves of crushed Oreos, and four bags of "garden" gummies strewn over the top. Oh yeah, and a beautiful handcrafted flower featuring our two babes. Pretty sweet if you ask me. I include a picture of it here.

We also had a very busy, fun Independence Day holiday. Richard had three days off work, which was really nice, and those days constituted of a lot of swimming, yard work, house cleaning, traveling, eating, being with friends and family and lighting fireworks. Eve wasn't terrified of the fireworks this year, in fact, she wasn't even very interested in them at all. Granted, we lit them off while it was still light out. Maybe when she's older she'll enjoy them more. But Theron liked them. He wasn't scared of them at all, although he regarded them suspiciously at first. He definitely takes after my side of the family: tubby, long toes, and a draw to explosives.

Well, our garden is growing, our kids are cute, and tomorrow the day is all swimming parties, otter pops, and hammock swinging. Jealous? Yeah, so is everyone else.

Richie and my dad built a sandbox

Look at this little guy sitting up! One of my pet names for Theron is boo or boobie and today Eve kept talking about boob boy and I couldn't figure out who she was talking about at first. But then I got it :)

The classic "lipstick" picture. I was angry with her because it also got all over her dress, my sheets and our new comforter cover *sigh*

My darling little daughter went to a fair and out of all the choices for face painting she got a black bat. A black bat with green sparkles :)

This morning Theron had blueberries with his bananas and he wasn't sure how he felt about that

The prettiest flower in my garden

Spring Has Sprung?

2011-06-17T21:24:00.001-06:00

Sigh. We are still experiencing early spring-like weather here. I can't wait for it to be consistently warm for the first time this year! But, seeing as how we've had no MAJOR flooding or deadly tornadoes, I guess I won't complain. But it snowed on Memorial Day and ruined my BBQ! Okay, now I'm done.

Things here have been pretty busy. We built a sandbox for Eve in the backyard, which was surprisingly more expensive than it sounds, but it's really fun, so well worth it. Theron has got in his first two teeth and is now working on the next two. He is 7 months old today! And what a tub! At his 6 month appointment he had slowed down on his weight gain and was just average. But right after that he hit a growth spurt and is probably close to 20 lb now. He is a jolly fat babe that is content to be doing whatever, as long as Eve or I or anyone for that matter, is paying attention to him. He does not like to be left alone, but he is very mellow as long as there is company around. So mellow that he is not even close to rolling over completely or sitting on his own for much longer than a few seconds. Why move when you're happy not to? The love that I have for my sweet little man is boundless, and we snuggle everyday.

Eve is a spitfire, has more energy than an atom bomb, and definitely embraces her role as a two year old. But for all her aggravating moments, she is still a profoundly sweet and happy child. She never hits or yells at other kids, always shares, loves her brother and makes him belly laugh. Her new response to everything is "That sounds fun!" and the first words out of her mouth to me in the morning are "Park! I wanna go to the Park!" Today she could tell that I was starting to get really frustrated with Theron and herself, so for the rest of the afternoon she hugged me every so often and whisper "I love you!" in my ear. What a wonderful child. Other funny things she has said: Calls Richie "Richard Daddy"; after hearing me talk to Richie on the phone she asked "You talking to Richie?"; one day as I was using the toilet she banged on the bathroom door and yelled "Hi Momma! You peeing in there?" And weirdly, the other morning while eating breakfast, she told me she "want to see a crying people out the window." I don't know where that came from but she is very interested in people's feelings right now, and she tells me that a lot of things are crying, or perhaps are cold, which is why she stuck her play phone under her bed sheets the other day before her nap.

Let's see...what else is new? Richard won employee of the quarter, I turned 29, the swimming pool opened, my mom came to stay for a week, and we planted our garden (finally!) We have thus far lettuces, spinach, swiss chard, rhubarb, tomatoes, chilies, peppers, tomatilloes, basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, cilantro, acorn squash, butternut, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon, pumpkins and sunflowers. We'll see what we actually get. They are getting too much water and not enough sun, and in a month or two it will be too much sun and not enough water. There has been other things but I need to finish my father's day cards.

Here are random pics:

At Baby Animal Days...which was rainy and cold! BOO!

Just another morning spent at the park

Easter at my parents' house in Cedar City. It was soooo much fun! But Theron got sick, which is why we have no pictures of him, not because the Easter Bunny forgot him :)

At the Hogle Zoo with grandparents

One of the best parts of my day...them waking up happy and laughing together

And last, but certainly not least, the best baby in the world, my own darling Theron, the light of my life. Who can resist those cheeks and dimpled chin? Who? Nobody!

My Week in Photos

2011-03-16T15:35:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting to post for a while now, but our desktop is quickly dying, so we decided to finally enter the 21st century and buy a laptop! We like it, but now I am using picasa photo editing software, and I don't like it as much. I'm still trying to figure it out. I was up past midnight organizing our newest photos. At 1:30 Eve started crying, and usually we just ignore it because she falls right back asleep. But Richard checked on her and she had vomited everywhere. Poor thing. She threw up again this morning, but she's not running a fever, so I'm not sure what's up. Hopefully she's past the puking, because Richard and I have a chance to go snowboarding on Saturday! But I digress. Here a lot of photos that I took within a week. It's a typical week for me. Enjoy!

Exhibit A: The Offending Criminal

Eve found some expensive dark chocolate on my dresser from my Christmas stocking. She closed herself in my room, and when I found her, she was crying because I think she bit her tongue. But not before she was able to indulge in some south American cocoa. Below: Eve and the tempting chocolate.

Exhibit B: Awesome Parenting

Eve has been experimenting with taking her clothes on and off. On this day, she was able to remove her pants, unbutton her onesies snaps, lift it over her head, but not get it off her shoulders. Then she watched The Simpsons slack jawed, pushing her overly full diaper halfway down her bum. Aren't I a good mom?

Exhibit C: Jumping

This is Eve's new skill. She does it all the time. All the time. Jumping!

Exhibit D: It's Not All Bad, Just Always Crazy

Richard made homemade wheat bread. Yum!

Going Arty on Y'all: Busting Out the Black and White

So despite the poop, vomit, spit-up, sore back, full diapers, temper tantrums, whining, late nights, and early mornings, I think these next exhibits will prove it's all worth it.

Exhibit A: My Theron

Exhibit B: My Children

Exhibit C: My Eve

Exhibit D: Other Things That Make Me Happy

And to end, this still life, which I think perfectly sums up my life right now.

My Little Star Shining Brightly

2011-02-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

2'8" 23 lb

16th percentile weight

10th percentile height

Eve is Two. It kills me, it just kills me. And I mean that in mostly a sentimental way, though my patience levels have dipped to a new low with her lately--she's terrorizing the house, the cat, her new Finding Nemo DVD. I blame part of it on the weather socking us inside all day long, all winter long, and a lot of it I feel I'm to blame because I should be more patient and considerate of her feelings and not stoop to her level and throw a fit when I don't get my way and keep the whining out of my voice. But I am also human, with another little human constantly stuck to the breast (also my choice, in a way) and sleeping in my bed (also because of my laziness). And now I'm thinking that the previous sentences aren't really making sense, but I'm not even going to reread them. I think you get the point.

Kissing Theron with Granny P

No--Eve is glorious. I adore her. I love her. She is the most wonderful part of my life. I love that she has such vast curiosity, a keen desire to help me with everything, and an enthusiasm for life that knows no bounds. It's piontless to put new child safety locks on the doors because she's too smart for them now, and besides, she knows where everything is and what she wants. She is talking all the time, and singing. Her singing is adorable. I tried to video tape it the other day, but it didn't work.

Running away when we want her to come

Blowing the candles out on her chocolate peanut butter pie

Eating birthday pie

But let's talk about Eve. She is finally reaching into the growth charts again, and is finally getting closer to being in her age appropriate size clothing. All her teeth are in and look fabulous. She loves little animal toys, bouncy balls, the cat and trying to put clothes on and off everyone or thing. She loves to stomp in puddles. She pats Theron's belly and tells him to open his eyes. she loves to give kisses and has given me several wet open mouth kisses right on my mouth. It makes me laugh each time. She has very mysterious and in depth phone calls on my cell phone in a language I cannot understand. She paints, draws, runs, splashes and thinks it's funny to walk around the house with something over her eyes and then bump into things and fall down. Favorite show: Finding Nemo. Favorite Song: "I Love to See the Temple." Favorite Animal: all of them. Favorite Color: purple. Favorite Food: noodles. Favorite Person: Daddy. Favorite Sport: Basketball. Favorite Candy: Candy canes with M&Ms coming in a close second. She has every family member's name memorized and will constantly list them over and over again. And of course, there is the intense, high pitched shrieking. All. Day. Long. Oh--and she finds is hilarious to do the opposite of what I say. Ha ha Eve.

She watches this movie constantly.

You'd think she'd show a little more enthusiasm to get it as a gift.

A Funny Eve Story:

Richie was being silly with her one morning at breakfast. He started singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" in a very deep bass voice. Eve kept saying "Calm down, Daddy, sshh! Calm down!" the whole way through the song.

Birthday bathing: the joy of eating bubbles:

So Happy Birthday, my darling, delightful girl. I love you. Please don't grow up too fast. Because I can't keep up with you!

A Christmas Extravaganza

2011-01-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

I thought I had downloaded pictures from Eve's birthday, but I haven't yet, so I will regal you with tales from Christmas instead. Actually, there isn't too much to be said except that I accidentally erased two of my favorite pictures! Grrrrrr! We spent the 23rd in Salt Lake with Richie's family, then my parents and sister came and stayed with us the 24th-26th. On the 26th Theron was blessed. Then we had a brief respite and then the next weekend for New Year's Richie's sisters Karen, Holly, and her family came and stayed with us. She has four kids and they are Eve's only cousins, and she ADORES them. We cooked up a seafood feast with lobster bisque (courtesy of Uncle Marty), scallops, and three different kinds of shrimp. It was a lot of fun.However, I am glad that the holidays have passed and hopefully February won't take to long to pass and then onto March and Spring! Glorious Spring. I know that in Logan, Utah, March is still the dead of winter, but to me it will always mean Spring and my birthday. So, without further ado, here are pictures.

I love how beautiful and "Christmasy" my house is at Christmas!

Theron meets his Great Grandpa Petty

Opening gifts Christmas morning

This next series of pictures is a failed attempt at a belated Christmas photo shoot with my new camera and cute children. It was fated from the start when I wanted to take these pictures two weeks before Christmas, not two weeks afterwards. Then Theron was the angriest I have ever seen him, basically screaming his head off all day long. He didn't even make it to the first session. As you can see, my backdrop is no beuno, Eve won't hold the candy cane correctly or smile at the right time, and because I'm still used to my little point and shoot, most of the flash is obscured by my finger.

Starting out okay...

but soon becoming this:

No longer wearing matching Christmas clothing, I just try to get some shots in of them together. This is the same outfit Theron wore when he was blessed.

The brief moment he wasn't furious:

By the end Eve was going crazy and Theron was apparently catatonic. Oh well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Too Much To Catch Up On In One Blog Post

2011-01-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

So I know that I completely bypassed Christmas, but with both Richard's and Eve's birthdays in January, I really don't have much of a chance for a breather after Christmas. My dad's birthday is at the beginning of February, so really, the festive "feel" and holiday stress don't really leave me until after Valentine's day. It's just one big party at the Petersons all winter long! That being said, I will backtrack later and post pics of Christmas next time. But there have been some monumental events in our family that are more recent that I want to address first.

First: Happy Birthday to my darling daughter, Eve! I love you Evie! She is the greatest, cutest, smartest, kindest, funniest two year old alive! She is such a treasure in my life. Corny--oh yeah--but true--oh yeah. But, since her two year well check appointment is tomorrow and a little friend get together tomorrow night, I will delay posting on her birthday for a few days.

Second: Happy Birthday to my darling husband, Richard. Ladies, you are looking at one fine specimen of a man: devoted husband, loving father, and an OCDish cleaner of dishes and laundry. He turned 32 last week and I seriously could not live without him. I am a very luck woman. Some of his more recent accomplishments are being a key player during the winning game of Church Ball on Tuesday and getting a lot of compliments at work. He continues to grow a sweet beard and endlessly quotes the Simpsons. One of his goals for this year is to run another marathon. He hates it when I remind him that he is in his 30s while I am still well within my 20s. Happy Birthday to my Man.

A Party Pleaser!

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake...mmmmmmmm....

Third: Theron turned two months old on the 17th! He is growing so fast and getting so big! I love it and hate it at the same time. Luckily this means that he sleeps a little longer at night now; not waking until 3ish to eat. So, if I'm good and go to bed early, I actually get some sleep! He is doing well. We love having him in our family, and Eve is constantly kissing him and telling him to open his eyes (she doesn't like it when he naps, mostly because I tell her to stop her constant yelling and shrieking). He is getting very strong, loves to be up and looking around (not being on his tummy or back!) and loves to be around people. He has the cutest dimple in one cheek when he smiles, which is often, though he is angry often too.

Two Months:

23"

12 lb 4 oz

70th percentile weight

50th percentile height

One Month Down...

2010-12-17T12:20:00.002-07:00

Theron is One Month Old today! It has gone by so fast. When my doctor told me that I had to wait six weeks before lifting, bending and twisting, I thought that sounded like such a long time. Now I wish she had said six months :) Below is a picture of Theron's birth announcement, which I'm sending out today. Sometimes I make things a lot harder than they need to be. They did not turn out nearly as cute as I wanted, after spending more time than it was worth "making" them. I blame it on my crappy printer and the fact that I have no graphic design software. Why didn't I just have it done cheaply online? Pride. And the fact that I wasn't originally planning on sending these so soon, but decided last minute to add them with the Christmas cards and needed them asap. However, I won't complain anymore because my Christmas/anniversary/gift for every occasion for the next two years came earlier this week: a new, REAL camera! I'm so excited and have already taken some awesome pictures.

Some pictures of Eve. The first one is her "growling" face when she's pretending to be some sort of animal. It's a thing we do. I also thought her hair was really cute that day, so there's a pic of that. She has a band-aid on her nose because she keeps scratching a little owie that is now two months old and worse than ever.

Blame It On The Post-partem Hormones

2010-12-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

Toy Story 3 should NOT have made me cry as hard I did. I really lost it at the end.

Another Crazy Delivery

2010-11-29T17:27:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of labor and delivery stories out there that are crazier than Eve's, but I got to hand it to the little gal, she was pretty traumatic. At least, for me. And Theron's story is not nearly as ensnared in drama as Eve's, but I'm beginning to wonder if it is at all possible for me to even have a "normal" delivery. Granted, this kid has been nothing but trouble from the start, ignoring my IUD and settling into my womb unannounced and uninvited. But I'll let that one slide.

This is me the night we went to the hospital--the end of 37 weeks. Eve is kissing the baby

For about four or five weeks before he was born I started having contractions, but nothing big or regular. My check up at 36 weeks was totally normal. But about a week before he was born I started to get more contractions, and they started to get a lot stronger. On Tuesday, Nov. 16 I woke up and felt really crappy. I just didn't feel...right. I was pretty sure that I would start real labor that day. I ran some errands wondering if my water was going to break in the middle of Kohl's baby department. I almost called my mom and Richie to tell them to get ready for a baby, but I didn't want to make it too real yet, and I had a doc appointment that afternoon, so I decided to see what she would say.

Richie came to the appointment and Dr. Blackett checked my cervix. "Uh, Renee, how often did you say you felt contractions?" I told her that they were still random but coming more often. She said "You're already dilated to a five. What do you think about having your baby tonight?" Richie was shocked but I wasn't that surprised. I had a baby shower that night so I said "What about tomorrow?" She didn't work. "What about Thursday?" She gave me a look like "it'd really be better to do it sooner." Then she said that there was a good chance my water would break before then anyway. She asked about my hesitation and I told about the shower. "Oh!" she said, "that's ok. I'm a doctor who works crazy hours, just come to the hospital at 8 pm after your shower and we'll start you up."

So after making our calls, we went home, packed our bags, I went to my baby shower where I dazzled and amazed all the women by the fact that I was half way there and having the baby later that night. I think Marla, the woman who threw me the shower, was worried I was going to have the baby in her living room. Richie and I went to the hospital afterwards where they broke my water. After that things started happening pretty fast. When I reached a seven I asked for the epidural. I was not prepared for a natural birth, plus, I had all back labor, which was AWFUL, much much worse than normal contractions, and Theron was also posterior, facing backwards, which made labor much more difficult. But the epidural kicked right in a was great, except it slowed things down. I was dilated to a 9.5 all night long. They finally gave me a little potossin to get things going again.

Right as I reached a 10 and was fully dilated and pushing hard, my epidural wore off. And even though I hit the button 3 more times over the next hour, it completely went away, and fast! I was in so much agony! The back labor was absolutely horrific and Theron refused to turn. That was the second time Dr. Blackett has had her hand up inside of me. I feel bad for her. By this time I was starting to lose it. I begged for a c-section. Dr. Blackett tried to calmly talk me out of it but I knew that it really was what I wanted. So they finally starting prepping for surgery. And I had to stop pushing which was even worse than pushing. It felt so wrong.

I can't remember if this is the first time I saw Theron or not, still too many drugs in my system. However, the funny thing is that when Richie took this picture, I thought I was smiling big and bright. It looks more like the end of 10 hours of labor and surgery.

Now I'm in the OR and they finally have the spinal block for me. They give it to me, wait five minutes...nothing, 10 minutes...nothing. The anesthesiologist I could tell was perplexed. The stupid block never worked! I had to go under general anaesthesia again! It was much better because at least I knew that my baby was okay and nothing was life-threatening this time around, but I must say that I was really disappointed to not be awake AGAIN for the birth of my child. I can handle having the c-section, but really, general anaesthesia? Sigh.

Theron in his "coming home" outfit

The c-section ended up being the right move, however. Afterwards Dr. Blackett told me that when they opened me up, Theron had not descended nearly as much as he should have after an hour of hard pushing, and that where the previous section had been, my uterus was so thin that she could see through it. What would have happened had I not chosen the section was that I would have either eventually ruptured or pushed for two more hours until they decided to do the c-section anyway. So, any more pregnancies will be c-sections, no matter what. I'm okay with that. Maybe if I just schedule one, I can actually be awake for it.

Post Script--Aww, look at my cute little Utes. Theron is crying because he is hungry--hungry for a BYU loss! Which is just what happened. And BYU should have won that game--Mmmwhahahahahahaha! The sweet taste of victory.

Post Post Script--I've always felt that a natural delivery was the ultimate badge of womanhood--at least it was for me. And I think that I will always have some regret not being able to even come close to ever doing it. But I do feel as though those couple of hours in full-on labor without drugs gives me a good idea of what it is like. When I told my friend Marla that she laughed and said "Is that womanhood? Because I felt more like an animal." And that made me feel better. She is much more wise and experienced in this area. Another of my friends, Sarah, lives in NY and she says there's a saying out there called "Too Posh to Push" and women just schedule c-sections as soon as they know they're preggers. So is makes me wonder what being completely knocked out means--definitely not stylish, definitely not animalistic. Lazy? Smart? Any good suggestions would be welcome!

Theron Thomas Barkume Peterson

2010-11-23T17:07:00.001-07:00

He is here! Yay! I am so happy to have Theron in our home, and so happy to be pregnant no longer! It was a crazy birth--not nearly as traumatic as Eve's entrance to the world, but definitely not what I was hoping or expecting. I think I am destined to not have a normal labor and delivery story--ever. But that is not important--the important thing is that he (and myself, I suppose) are home, happy and healthy (though still healing) together. A family of four. I love it. I love it more than I ever thought I could (tears!). I do not think that I will write out the entire story tonight, but here are some pictures of my sweet little man.

Theron Thomas Barkume Peterson

7 lb 13 oz 20"

Born 5:45 am November 17, 2010

"Suckedlight"

2010-10-27T18:32:00.000-06:00

I usually give overrated and uber popular books a good "cooling down" period before I decide to read them--you know, 'cause I'm curious at the the hullabaloo. And for the most part, I end up entertained even though I don't think they warrant as much popularity as they receive. Let's see, I liked The Da Vinci Code, Hunger Games and Harry Potter. They were fun. And of course, I can't really criticize them until I've read them, right? So I decided to try out Twilight.

Ahem--! Clearing my throat--That book really really sucked. I cannot fathom how S.M. got it past her editor. I cannot fathom how she got an English degree. (BYU has so many, many problems. More on that another time.) The authoress could have given us the exact same story with half the words--I think I could easily strike out hundreds of useless adjectives. Someone likened it to emotional porn, but I don't think I can give it that much credit--although I did feel a lot of shame after reading it. I did like most of the characters, and the vampires are interesting. I'll probably read New Moon someday. But I also cannot fathom why in the world Edward likes Bella. She's boring, grouchy, and a total wet blanket. And I cannot fathom why anyone over the age of 16 would freak out over this book.

This is just a cursory glimpse as to my thoughts on this. I've probably offended a large part of the dumber female population and a tiny part of the intelligent female population, and I know that this little diatribe not well written at all (excuse--cold medication and pregnancy). But I guess what it comes down to most of all is this: an unconvincing authoress wrote a mediocre book and has made millions. I have not. She's rich, I have my dignity. Who is the real winner in this situation? Obviously Stephenie Meyers.

The Great Oni Patch

2010-10-27T18:14:00.000-06:00

Eve's word for pumpkin is "Oni." We don't know where she got that one. When we say pumpkin she understands that word, but she insists on calling them onies. Pretty cute, huh? We went to an Oni Patch earlier this month and picked some onies out for the front porch. Eve was also invited to a Pirate Birthday Party by 4 year old twin boys, so instead of being a bird for Halloween, she is going to be a Pirate. I think the costume turned out well for someone who refused hat, eye patch and earring.

I will be at 35 weeks tomorrow--two weeks longer than I was pregnant with Eve. I was really stressing out all pregnancy about having the same trauma occur, even to the point where I would get mild panic attacks. But after talking to my doc and Richie's blessing, I calmed down a bit. Then the night of week 33 came and went peacefully, and now that that huge mental block is gone, I've been pretty relaxed about the whole thing--the most relaxed I've been all pregnancy. So despite being physically uncomfortable and battling a cold, I feel pretty good. I just hope the little stinker doesn't come late! He really needs to come before Thanksgiving.

Photo Interruptus

2010-10-04T23:12:00.000-06:00

Our camera broke. It's been going out for a while now, but I think the beach, coupled with Eve's obsession with it, did it in. So we haven't taken any pictures for the past few months, which is SAD! Because we've done some fun stuff--like go the county fair, in which Eve had her very first pony ride AND merry-go-round ride. We also went down to C Town to visit grandparents, enjoyed perfect weather all September long and did other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head. We went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday, but I will talk about that later. Here are some portraits of Eve at both 12 and 18 months; and finally a good ultrasound photo of Maximus, who, incidentally, is causing me much nausea and breathlessness.

Fetus Maximus

2010-08-02T14:27:00.000-06:00

Everyone say hello to our little boy! Yep, we found out last week that we are having a boy. I keep meaning to scan the ultrasound photos in, but I haven't done it yet. But we are very excited to have a boy. I was about 80% sure it was a boy, though Richard was thoroughly convinced it was a girl and so he sometimes had me believing it too. We've dubbed him Fetus Maximus for the time being, but his real name will not be revealed until the big day...we think we've settled on something for a name, but are still open to suggestions should anyone have any good ones.

Eve is now officially in nursery. I can't believe she is already 18 months old! Time does go by quickly! She is starting to really look more like a little girl than an infant. She has a well used vocabularly of about 6-7 words, but she has said about 30-40 in proper context, and more than once, so I know she knows them, they just aren't in her regular rotation yet. She has all of her teeth in except for her last set of molars, and she loves to run and climb and swing.

The first couple sets of pictures are from last week or so, but the last three are some oldies I recently found and downloaded. I'll share more of those later.

These are from the Oregon Coast Aquarium, in the giant fish tunnel

A great second-hand find at the D.I. It's still a little big for Eve but she just loves it!

Playing with the hose with Dad

These last three pics are from March, so about five months ago. I can totally tell a difference in Eve, though no one else probably sees it. And I know that the lighting is bad. Sorry! That's just life with a toddler and a crappy camera.

Oregon Coast

2010-07-26T15:10:00.000-06:00

Sand doesn't taste good

Anyone that knows me knows how much I adore the Oregon Coast. I absolutely love it. So somehow I convinced the whole Peterson clan to spend a week at the coast this summer. We rented a beach house and had tons of fun. I won't bore you with all the details, but I do have lots of pictures, and will sum up the trip quickly.

Saturday 3:00 AM: wake up

Saturday 4:00 AM: leave our house

The first time Eve saw the beach and ocean

Make good time all across Utah, Idaho and half of Oregon until our tire COMPLETELY blows out. We unpack the back of the car only to find that there's no jack! So we call OHP, they send a tow truck, 2 1/2 hours later we are back on the road.

We spent the night in Portland with my cousin Kate and her fiance Jason. Eve was soooooo wound up from being in the car all day long that she nearly drove their poor cat crazy. We went on to the coast Sunday morning.

Sunday, 2:30 PM: arrive at beach

Sunday, 3:00 PM: check into beach house, which had NOT been cleaned! We couldn't even open the door because there were 10 bags of garbage in front of it! Apparently the owner of the house cleans it himself to save money, and he never came down from Portland. The unfortunate property manager was soooo embarrassed and upset. She came and cleaned it and was very kind and comped us a free night, but it was still a big hassle.

At Tillamook with her cousins. She loved all their attention that week, and I think she has a crush on her cousin Connor. He is pretty cute!

The rest of the trip was really fun. Despite van trouble for my sister-in-law Holly, the rest of the week went off with out a hitch. The beach was windy and cold, but Eve still loved it. She would practically swim in the sand. Richie dug a big hole and subsequently she wanted to dig holes and sit in them all the time. We flew kites, explored tide pools, went the aquarium (Eve loved the seals), toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory, played on the beach, played board games, and Richie's parents very generously treated everyone to an exploratory harbour and ocean cruise in Newport. I loved it! We went off shore and found a grey whale and saw it humping and spouting. They threw off crab pots and then pulled in crabs and starfish for the kids to see and we also saw tons of birds, harbour seals, California sea lions, and all sorts of fun stuff. Eve didn't like the wind, but she did like the cruise itself. The captain even let her steer the boat. My sister-in-law Karen and I didn't get sea sick and were loving the waves, but it seemed like everyone else did get sick. Someone even threw up right next to us. But I think I would make a pretty good sailor, just so you all know.

Yay for sea lions!

There is a sad footnote to this story: Richard was not on the cruise with us. For years he has been wanting to go deep sea fishing off the Oregon Coast and finally decided to do it on this trip. We both went tuna fishing with my dad a long time ago, 75 miles off the coast of San Diego, and never had any seasickness problems. But the cards were stacked against him from the start. He was supposed to be at the dock at 6:30. Halfway there he realized that he'd left the car seat in the car, so had to turn back, and didn't get to the dock until 6:58. Less than five minutes into the trip he felt queasy, and for the next four hours, vomited regularly every 15 minutes off the side of the boast. And how many fish did he catch? One. The woman next to him? 15 or 20. The limit was seven per person, but the boat fished until the the limit for everyone was caught, so he still got his seven fish. But how sad is that? Poor baby. I felt so bad. But the fish was good!

Neskowin Beach is the best beach in the world! Look at how gorgeous!

We left the next Saturday and spent the day in Portland again. The Barkumes had a little reunion. We stayed with Kate and Jason again, and then drove home on Sunday. Eve did great in the car. She got antsy, but she was happy most the of the time. All in all, it was a wonderful trip.

Summer is Here

2010-06-28T20:05:00.001-06:00

Summer is finally here in Logan, with no turning back. Last weekend we had Richie's sister, Holly, and her family come up for a day of delight. She has four kids and they all like Eve, and she loves them; although she wasn't quite sure what to make of her first bath with another baby. But Aiden, her cousin, had no problems relaxing and enjoying the rub-a-dub-dub.

On a completely different note, we have shares in irrigation water for our garden, and today was the first day that it came through really well. So well in fact, that Eve fell right into it. It was a pretty funny sight to see.

Our Spring in Photographs

2010-06-21T23:50:00.000-06:00

I want to catch everyone up on the past few months, so here are a lot of pictures. But I promise not to wax loquacious.

Easter

hunting Easter eggs can be exhausting

Bear Lake

We spent the first weekend in June camping at Bear Lake. It was fun, Eve loved it, but man, camping with a toddler is exhausting. That is the second time I have used the word exhausting. I'll probably use it several more times. The first few pics are when we went to some nearby caves called Minnetonka Caves. It was interesting, and surprisingly, Eve seemed to really enjoy it.

Eve is stilling chewing everything, especially bottles and flip lids.

Eve loved playing in the water and sand. Loved it.

One thing she does get from me: she's a water baby all the way.

What camping with a toddler will do to you. He literally passed out.

Did I mention we were exhausted?

Utah Summer Games

Trying to swim competitively: not a good idea.

But being in small age groups, we all won mredals, thank you!

Salt Lake City

We went down to SLC last weekend so that Richie could play in a golf tourny with his dad and brothers. I met up with Nikki and took Eve to the Tracy Aviary. Afterwards, we had a BBQ at Richie's sister Holly's house.

Second trimester, anyone?

Eve loves her cousins, and I think the feeling's mutual. She really was having fun on the swing with Connor, though her face doesn't reflect it in the pic.

Father's Day

Seriously, these are two peas in pod

Today at Home

A Well Deserved Break

2010-06-03T14:27:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm back from my hiatus with some exciting news...Lucy's vet appointment was great--she's a healthy cat! Oh that, and I've been working on this little surprise too:

It should be done by December 2nd. Hopefully earlier--though not too early! I've had enough of that already. I will be back with more details on how I got pregnant with an IUD (!) in a later post. I will also post some pictures, but I think I fried both my cameras the other day, so that needs further investigation.

The Perfect Birthday Week

2010-04-02T21:15:00.000-06:00

It all began on Sunday, March 21sr. I drove Richie down to the airport. He was in San Fran for a business trip Sunday-Wednesday. I continued on to Cedar City to visit my parents. While in Cedar I got to swim with my dad, shop in St. George, go to the Relief Society activity with my mom, and take Eve to the park--a lot. It was nice to just relax and not be at home. On Thursday we headed back up to Salt Lake and stayed overnight with my in-laws. I got to have a free sushi dinner at Happy Sumo with my friend Starr that night. Friday was my BIRTHDAY! The big old 28. It sounds so young, but feels so old. :)

While in Cedar Richie had sent me an early birthday card that told me to buy a new dress and shoes for a swank dinner on Friday night. Richie came into SLC from Logan, I found two great dresses at TJ Maxx and then the big surprise...we had dinner reservations for La Caille! I was so surprised and excited! This was exciting, not just because it was La Caille, but because back when Richie and I started dating, we decided to set up a La Caille fund, and save money eat there at the end of the summer. Eventually that money went towards my engagement ring however, and never ended up going. So this was a fulfillment of a small dream of ours. And it was wonderful! I had duck, and it was absolutely amaazing--the best meat I have ever tasted. Richie liked his food too and we both enjoyed it immensely. I think Richie was quite proud of himself, as he should be because it was fantastic and a total surprise. He was looking good in a J Crew sweater and I had on a Calvin Klein dress. I only mention that because most of our clothes are from the D.I. Thank goodness for cheap sales at TJ Maxx! And that wasn't all; Richie also gave me a gift card for some new plants and a massage! So, he definitely went above and beyond the call of duty on this birthday. Thank you Richie! And thank you Dad, Dan and Shari for babysitting Eve for me!

I also went snowboarding with my friend Andee the next day. We went to Beaver, which is up Logan Canyon. It was the last day of the season and goregous! I hadn't boarded in three years, and was pretty terrible, but it was very fun. I loved it, despite the fact that it hurt to sit for a whole week afterwards!

Poor Eve, she has never been away from me that much since she came home from the hospital. Three consecutive nights being babysat, then I was gone all day Saturday. My sister topped off my wonderful week by having some former mission companions bring me daffodils and a birthday present. They also sang a birthday song in dutch to me. Eve started to cry when she saw them because she thought they were there to babysit her! She was very clingy to me for a couple days afterward, but I think she is over it. So thank you thank you to all who were involved in my fabulous week. It was literally perfect.

Because You'd Probably Like Some Pictures to Go Along With My Random Topics

2010-03-18T21:21:00.000-06:00

This first picture features Eve crying and completely covered in Vaseline. She had just transferred from two naps a day to just one afternoon nap. I didn't know what to do about showering anymore, because I usually took a shower during her morning nap. So I thought the best thing would be to keep her in her room. I could hear her on the monitor and it is pretty safe. Well, she wasn't in any mortal danger, but she HATED being locked up, and cried and cried and found the vaseline and smeared it all over herself and other things. Now, after other experimental set-ups, I just let her have free reign of the whole main floor while I shower, and more often than not she just stands at the edge of the tub, watching me and wishing she could play in the water too. Is that weird? At least I know where she is and she isn't crying, or rubbing petroleum jelly everywhere.

The only good picture of Eve on Valentine's Day

St. Patrick's Day was very fun and somewhat special. She reached the one year mark developmentally. During this year she will hopefully catch up and it will lose its significance for me, but it was strange to think that a year ago, on her due date, I was taking pictures of her for her birth announcement and she was already two months old. And now, now she is learning to walk, pointing, getting four or five molars in and is generally busy busy busy!

We bought Eve her first real pair of shoes yesterday so she can cruise around the yard and garden, and we also went to the park. I was shocked, shocked and disappointed that NO ONE besides Eve and I was wearing green! Hell-o, it's St. Patrick's Day! I was tempted to severely pinch everyone at the park. St. Patrick's Day isn't a huge deal, but it's fun! Growing up, the Leprechauns would always leave us a little treasure bowl of treats on our doorstep, and would always magically change the milk and butter at my house green! I only feel bad that other people don't get to see that much of them on St. Patrick's Day. I guess they're either too drunk or too boringly rational. Next year I think Leprechauns will find me and my house and turn our food green.

On a side note, I think April is going to be the beginning of the end for Eve and I and our breastfeeding relationship. Sometimes I change my mind, but I don't want to let anything impede chances of getting pregnant this summer (hopefully). And Richie puts her to bed half the time anyway, so, why not? She's pretty chill and will handle it well. Yesterday she fell asleep on the kitchen floor. That was a first. I was trying to get Irish scones in the oven and a corned beef in the pot, but she just couldn't wait. Which brings me to a question--Eve won't take a morning nap anymore, but she's so tired by 11 or 12 that she will often fall asleep in my arms. I don't want to put her down for a full nap though, because that's lunch time. Lately I've been feeding her lunch earlier and then putting her down for a nap earlier, but, if I make it too much in the middle of the day, well, I just don't like it. She's got to choose: morning or afternoon. Any advice? Anyway, back to the nursing issue.. I feel good about 14 months. And it's time to let go. Just a little bit.

A Hard Fall

2010-03-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

So, just a little update: February was pretty lazy compared with the previous five months. I have enjoyed doing not much more than scrapbooking, watching movies and exercising. I am swimming once a week, joined an exercise group that meets twice a week, and run at least once a week. It sounds like a lot, but it really doesn't seem like much. It isn't enough, actually, to lose much weight. But I keep at it because it does feel good.

Eve is doing well. She is not walking yet, but can stand up and balance on her own and walks with hands held or around furniture. She is getting at least three or four molars in right now, which was causing her to wake up screaming several times a night for about three weeks in a row, but that seems to have stopped for the most part. She is becoming a pickier eater. Yesterday both lunch and dinner were PBJs. But I'm not too worried about it. I slip veggies in when I can, and while I do want her to establish healthy eating habits, A) I know that this is a notoriously picky time of life-toddlers! and B) She really needs all the calories and weight she can get, so healthy carbs are a fine diet for her.

Speaking of her weight, yesterday we went to the Dr.'s office. She is 16 lb 12 oz. She gained over half a pound last month. Only three more and she can turn her car seat around! Why were we at the doctor's office yesterday? Eve took a very hard fall. I had put her on our bed to play while I dressed for the day. She usually stops at the edge, but decided to attack the lampshade with lightening speed. Before she had even started I was going to the other side of the bed to get her off, but she was too fast. She hit the nightstand, flipped completely over, and then literally faceplanted on the hardwood floor. She cried and I picked her up. I wasn't going to overreact and call the doctor--I kept telling myself that kids fall and bump everyday and are resilient. But as soon as I picked her up she sucked her thumb and went to sleep, which I thought was weird and I thought she might have passed out. Then I noticed that she was not just pale, but totally ashen, with her lips and around her mouth and eyes very grey. That scared me so I called the doctor and spoke to the nurse. I thought she'd tell me not to worry but she said "Oh yes, come in right away!" So I hurry-scurried to the doctor's office. We waited 2 hours to see the doctor. And by then I could tell she was alright. I wanted to say "I think my baby's fine, can I have my money back?" She had a big red spot on her forehead yesterday. But, today, she seems just fine and there isn't even a goose egg on her head. Maybe she used her hands to cush the fall more than I thought, or maybe her guardian angel was there to catch her. Or maybe there's some serious damage that just hasn't manifested itself yet. We'll see. But for now I'm just glad she's alright.

I.L.L.L.L.I.B.D.I.W.I.T.B.M.L.?

2010-02-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

I Love La Leche League International But Do I Want It To Be My Life? That is the question. I received a phone call last week from one of our local leaders encouraging me to think about becoming one myself. I was quite flattered, and a part of me really thinks it would be fantastic. I LOVE breastfeeding and think it is so very important to mother, baby, and the rest of the family. I think I would be a good leader. I love helping other women with breastfeeding, and recommend LLL to all my nursing mama friends. But of course, becoming a leader is a lot of work, and it is all volunteer work. Nothing wrong with that, but if I'm putting so much time and energy into something like this, I feel as though I should be doing something to help bring in an income.

There are other factors too. I know Eve was an exception to the rule, but while I love nursing her (still going strong there!) there was a lot of difficulty with it too, as any nursing mom knows. And I'm not sure that I totally agree with all of LLL's stands. I take what I like from the meetings and leave the rest. So I don't know if I'd even qualify. But this past year I've also toyed with the idea of becoming an actual lactation consultant and being an LLL leader would certainly help on the path towards that goal. I don't know. Part of me feels like this is the kick in the pants to actually start doing something. Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into it. I don't think Richie wants me to do it. Mostly because I think he is uncomfortable with the amount of liberal boobness it would bring into the house. But it's not really like that. Both of the other LLL leaders are LDS moms. So, there it is...what my mind wanders to these days...

One Year

2010-02-01T22:16:00.002-07:00

Eve turned One last Wednesday and Saturday we had her Birthday Party! Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Peterson, Aunt Karen and Marina and Maisie for making it a very fun and happy birthday for Eve. She got lots of presents--shoes, books, clothes, puzzles, stuffed animals, dolls, money, and lots of other great stuff. She had fun eating her birthday cake and like it when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Today was her one year well check appointment with the doctor. I recently realized that I never vented about our not so fabulous pediatrician. Without going into too much detail I'll say that while he was a good doctor, he was also negative, defensive and encouraged formula feeding rather than breastfeeding. Eve's nine month appointment left me enraged and crying. So, we now have a family doc that seems pretty cool and relaxed and positive. He said Eve looks beautiful and healthy and didn't make me feel like a terrible mother for her being so small. Needless to say, we like him so far. Eve had to get SIX shots today! She cried so hard! But not for long. She is such a good babe. I love her to death. Here are her stats:

12 Months

16 lb. 3 oz.

27.5 inches

On the adjusted scale she is 5th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. On the normal scale she is 1 percentile and 10th respectively. She is doing really well!

Double Birthday Cake

2010-01-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

Exciting news...Richie turned 31 last week! Oh wait. That's not so exciting. The really exciting birthday was yesterday. It was Eve's FIRST Birthday! She is now One Year Old. Yesterday we went out to dinner (she loves Indian food) and then went swimming. Logan has a very poor selection of indoor activities for winter months, espeicially ones that are conducive to a non-walking one year old's needs. So I thought swimming would be fun. The closest and most affordable pool is at USU and they do have a decent facility, only that, sadly, the water was too cold for little Eve. We got in and I could tell right away that she was cold and not having much fun. Nothing we did made her smile, and she could've cared less about any pool toys. When we took her out her feet were blue, her teeth were chattering, and she was shivering. So we returned to the locker room and took a long hot shower. She was fine after that. We also stopped by to say hi to the NICU nurses, but only one that we knew from last year was on duty. But I think she enjoyed the day. Saturday we are having a little party for her with cake and presents and such, so good times still ahead. She also has her one year well baby check on Feb. 1st, so I will post all her stats then.

Blowing out birthday candles with Dad. She looks really excited about his birthday, right?

I wish there was a kiddie pool open during the winter in Logan. There is one at the community pool, only that it is an outdoor pool, so obviously closed right now. I mean, why in the world would Logan want an indoor community pool? It's not like it averages below freezing six months out the year here. Stupid stupid Logan.

Eve on her birthday. She looked cute! Clapping is her favorite new trick.

This is a relatively clean lunch for Eve.

3 Separate Thoughts

2010-01-12T16:27:00.001-07:00

#1 Three Cheers for Conan O'Brien

I don't have television and don't usually know what's going on in the world around me, but I am aware of the screwy NBC prime time line-up and the subsequent hullabaloo it's created. They want to move The Tonight Show after the Jay Leno Show (which I can't believe is still on--it's not funny people!) and Conan thinks it will destroy the show, so he won't do it. I read his full statement, and I just have to say that I appreciate humble, funny celebrities that can get a point across without name calling or swearing or being basically spoiled and classless. I've always been a fan of Conan O'Brien and I think he is handling this disappointment with grace and wit. He'll always have a fan in me.

#2 In Defense of Diapers

Several people have mentioned how crazy I am to use cloth diapers. In all honesty, I love them. I don't think I'd use them with a newborn, because they are pooping all the time, but once the child is a little older and their BMs are more similar to adults', well, what's the big deal? Eve either pees, and I stick it into the pail, or she poops, which I put into the toilet, flush and then wash. She hasn't been using her diapers a long time, but she's definitely made some good messes and so far the diapers come out perfectly clean, smell perfectly fine, and we start over again. I don't use them when we go out or on trips. And I was concerned about the extra amount of water and soap and energy it takes the washing machine to wash them on a double cycle, but actually, it's a small load, I'm only supposed to use a quarter of detergent that I normally would, and one cycle is hot, the other cold. So really it equals out to one large warm load with less soap. The only problem is that I only have six. I need a dozen more!

#3 A Funny Primary Story

I teach the 7-8 year olds in Primary, the children's Sunday school at my church. We switched classes at the beginning of the year. Last year I had twin boys in my class that were difficult to work with. They came from a pretty unstable home and weren't real active and had a lot of attention problems. But by the end of the year they were living with a different parent in a much more active, stable home. I grew to love them despite our initial rocky start. They are very sweet, good boys.

After church on Sunday I was putting chairs away and they came up to me to say hi. I talked with them a few minutes and then Zach said "Jayden's growing a beard!" I said, "What?" And Jayden said "Yeah, I'm growing a mustache!" I refrained from laughing but smiled and said "Really? That's great! I love mustaches! They're cool!" He nodded in agreement and then said "Do you want to feel it?" I rubbed my finger under his nose--smooth and soft. "Wow," I said, " I can already feel it coming in. You'll have a mustache in no time." He was smiling as he walked away, and so was I.

Loser

2010-01-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last September I entered an essay contest themed "When Did You First Realize You Are An Adult?" And guess what...I didn't win! That's okay. I was expecting that, although I will admit that as January 3rd past without a congratulatory email from the editors of Real Simple, I was a teeny bit heartbroken. I mean, I think anyone who submits anything creative and heartfelt to be judged by strangers is a little dissapointed when it doesn't win, even when one is expecting to lose. And the pain is compounded when you know your essay is good. But, it had been a long time since I'd written anything, and at least I tried, and it was fun and a good creative exercise for me, especially over this past summer when Eve was still so little and we didn't much. Ut's an annual contest, so maybe this year will be the winner. Below is my essay. I know it looks long. but it is a short read, honestly. It's up to you!

Eve, the Beginning

By Renée Barkume Peterson

The first time it happened was in Target, as I stood gazing in slack-jawed wonder at the shiny blue housing of a vacuum: my first “adult moment.”

Adulthood, by definition, is a biological or cultural standard shared within an individual’s community signifying maturation—a girl starts menstruating, a boy silently endures corporeal mutilation, a teenager becomes old enough to vote. Ultimately however, the definition of adulthood is as complicated and individual as the person to which it is applied.

It wasn’t until flipping through the pages of Real Simple that various adult moments distilled into clear focus and I realized—I am an adult! The fact that I had to stop and contemplate the possibility sent simultaneous waves of juvenile horror and smug self-satisfaction through my brain. As a child, adulthood was synonymous with freedom, and how I wanted to revel in that freedom! However, I had also simplified an adult into a humorless, worried, wrinkled individual—a vague future I would escape.

I married when I was twenty-one; quite young by contemporary standards. By no means did I take my marriage as a sign of adulthood. I considered my husband an adult—loyal, cautious, clean and three-years-older-than-me Richard. But I was still the wild child of my teenage years, full of idealistic dreams, happy to live on our meager budget and maintain our single life social calendar. Yes, the sudden obsession with getting a decent vacuum cleaner as a wedding gift and the unnatural desire to have a matching set of plates was “adultish,” but I was not worried. My body still looked as young as it felt, and I had every possibility open to me.

After graduating I took a job as a receptionist at a law firm because we needed to make money quickly before heading to Oregon for my husband’s graduate school program. I have long dreamed of graduate school. I wanted to earn my doctorate degree and teach college, travel, write, enjoy a comfortable level of notoriety. But we also wanted a family, and we wanted me, the mother, at home with our children. So I postponed my academic goals in order to support my husband as he accomplished his, working various nondescript jobs. We moved several times before we finally settled down last year and my husband went to work, having graduated with his Master’s degree. I began preparing to apply for graduate school when we discovered that I was pregnant with our first child.

It was raining hard when I looked at that pee-soaked plastic stick and saw the double pink lines. We had been trying for a year to get pregnant, and I was somewhat stunned. I was also excited, terrified, but mostly, I was conflicted: despite my desire for a child, every precious minute of my independence was going to be gone within months. What about my life? A discovery that was precious also enveloped me in distress. Ironically, the moment the pregnancy test transferred from my hand to my husband’s, a bolt of lightening lit up the early morning sky and a roiling boom of thunder immediately shook the ground. An ominous sign, for sure.

Thus began the Summer of Giving Up, despite the immense Gaining I was physically experiencing. We bought our first house—now am I an adult?—but it just felt like a giant game of dollhouse. It wasn’t real. Even the baby inside of me didn’t make me feel especially grown-up, just…old.

Our little girl was due March 17^th2009. At nine pm on January 26^th I began hemorrhaging from between my legs. When I was admitted to the ER my legs and feet were so swollen they looked like grotesque sausages in socks. My blood pressure had spiked dangerously high. Contractions started coming every three minutes and my cervix was dilated three centimeters. I started painful back labor. Nurses struggled to find my baby’s heartbeat on the fetal heart monitor. Suddenly, I felt something warm and heavy pushing out of my body. I yelled to the nurses. My OBGYN went down and pulled out a blood clot the size of a pear. She reached inside of me, each time coming out with fistfuls of blood clots.

Once I was stabilized my doctor put me under observation. Up until this point, I thought that somehow, something could be done to stop my labor, fix things up, and we would wait out the rest of my pregnancy—seven weeks—just as I had planned. But as my doctor left the room, she informed me that if my contractions didn’t stop, she would deliver the baby by cesarean. It took me several minutes to process this statement. Panic and fear set in. By 11:30 pm my contractions were stronger than ever and I had lost two liters of blood. My baby was coming, regardless that neither of us was ready. I was whisked into the operating room.

I usually find medical procedures and the intricacies of the body fascinating, but that night I didn’t want to see or hear or know anything. Nurses scurried, doctors shouted orders. I laid on the operating table, focusing only on the reflection of my body on the unlit lamp above me. I was spread out naked, arms outstretched like I was being crucified. I watched the distorted image of a nurse slopping iodine over my belly and thighs. A mask covered my face, and without even knowing if my baby was still alive, I lost conscienousness.

When I awoke an hour later, I was remarkably clear-minded. The nurse by my side asked me my baby’s name.

“Eve. Eve Belén Barkume Peterson.” My husband would not tell anyone her name until I was awake and able to name her first. Richard came in and showed me pictures of Eve on our pediatrician’s iphone. She was breathtakingly beautiful, a truly perfect little human being. She was born seven minutes after midnight, weighing 3 pounds, 14 ounces and measuring 17 ½ inches.

I didn’t meet Eve until that afternoon. After pumping breast milk, vomiting, and listening anxiously to my husband’s heart-swelling descriptions of Eve, Richard finally wheeled me down to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. When that incredibly tiny person—my daughter—settled into my arms, my swollen body shook and I cried. With a tentative finger I stroked her cheek…

There is something about becoming a parent that can instantly vault a person into adulthood. I do not think it is an instant qualification, nor is it a requirement. But for me it was. It took a fragile, four pound human being to escalate me into adulthood. It is not by mere virtue of the fact that Eve was born and that I am her mother, however. I now realize that an adult is someone who not only accepts responsibility, but welcomes it, and as such, chooses to live for someone else.

My husband looked at the announcement for this essay contest and asked me if I was going to write about Eve.

“Of course,” I said. Then I thought about why.

In Eve, I see every possibility for a glorious, happy life. In Eve, I see the indescribable joy of being a family. In Eve, I experience a love so unfathomable I cannot begin to describe its genesis and cannot contemplate an end. She expands the love I feel for other people, for other children yet to be born. Six months ago, I was in a hospital fighting for my life and the life of my child. I suffered blood clots, painful medications and other health issues to give my child life. And yet most days, I forget all that. Even the seven inch scar below my belly is still surprising.

These are the days ahead of me: trips to the zoo, afternoons spent searching for bugs. Countertops splashed with finger-paints, jam stained clothing, cloud gazing, oatmeal-covered kisses, temper tantrums, bedtime stories. For me, enjoying the simple and innocent pursuits of a child is the core of a fulfilling adult life. As a mother I will be able to re-experience childhood and actually appreciate the freedom that comes with youth, that same freedom that seemed so out of reach as a child. And I will enjoy it hand in hand with Eve.

I still have dreams, ambitions, a certain kind of life I want to live. Only now, along with the travel, the education, and the notoriety, I have someone who takes me places I’ve never dreamed of, who teaches me things I’ve never understood, and with whom I will experience not notoriety, but something far more substantial: motherhood, the opportunity to raise, teach and love the better part of myself. I think of the absolute wonder of my own childhood and recall it warmly, thankfully, sentimentally. But if every adult is required to give a secret password to gain entrance into the “Adults Only” clubhouse, there are many I can choose: “Stretch marks.” “Elastic waistbands.” “Hoover Wind Tunnel Technology.”

Or better yet: “Mama

A Threefer for Amelia

2010-01-07T21:41:00.001-07:00

Here is what is on my mind. My blog. It's too happy. Too cute. Which, since I primarily created it to share Eve with her grandparents and friends, is easy to do because let's face it: Eve is just too cute, too happy, for words. That's why I like pictures. Which is another problem. I don't really like to post unless I have some photos to illustrate my point, usually that Eve is too cute. When I'm moody and cynical and depressed and have argued with Richie for the umpteenth time in the DAY I don't have any pictures to go along. Which is too bad, because then my blog would be The Most Hilarious Thing In The World. And if anyone has ever read Winnie The Pooh, then you'll be able to tell that I am currently reading it to Eve, and thus my Peculiar Writing Style tonight.

I digress...so, I really like blogging. I like the fact that every blog I've gone to eventually blogs about blogging because then I feel somewhat like a Real Writer, writing about their own particular writing method. Writing on writing. Blogging on blogging. It's all so metaphysical. Kind of.

But here is The Problem: I also think most blogs are not real. I mean, they exist, but it's all happiness and "look at me and my perfect life and kids," and such nonsense. There'll be the occasional hint of something rotten, but it's never fully discussed. So Here It Is. And I've followed suit. Because as my friend Chelsea's husband Matt says, "When you try to keep up with the Jones's, you never really knew what went on, but now you check their blog and see exactly what's happening" and then you either feel like crap and are jealous because you can't do what they're doing or you do keep up with them and end up making yourself and everyone around you unhappy.

But if I make this blog Real, then my poor sweet in-laws will probably think that I hate their son and also it's one thing to vent in a private journal and another bring everyone down with you. I don't think it's healthy to dwell on negative things, though I am a big fan of venting. So I'm not really sure where to leave this conflict. Plus, I have no pictures of this inner struggle. Which is fortunate because I'm sure I look pathetic and overweight in the picture if it existed.

Just to keep in the spirit of things, here are some crappy things that have happened to me lately:

My cycle has started up again and returned with a VENGANCE!

For the past three days I've earnestly and happily tried to do my workout video and something always hinders me, things that are beyond my power.

Yesterday I went into the basement to help Richard clean up and we got into a fight and I threw the kitchen timer on the ground and broke it. Then said some swears.

My house it continually falling apart and because Richie's health insurance plan changed, we have even less money each month. . How are we supposed to get a new water heater?

It's cold outside. Like, really really cold.

Okay so that's a pretty dumb list. I couldn't think of anything too cynical. But here are some pictures to cheer you up :)

Eve and her yoga moves...she loves doing the downward dog all the time. It cracks me up!

Eve found my camelbak and started drinking from it! Like mother like daughter.

She's ready for summer hiking!

One Last Story: the other day after dinner we were all hanging out playing and I told Richie that Eve liked to knock over stacks of blocks. He built a tower and Eve, being on the other side of the room smiled a most devilish smile, then crawled at Full Ramming Speed to the tower of blocks and BAM knocked it down with her head. We laughed for a long time and I wish that I had captured it on video. She wouldn't do it again, but it was FUNNY.

Twofer!

2010-01-05T20:59:00.003-07:00

Look at this, two posts in one week! As I mentioned earlier our dear friends the Newsomes recently returned to Utah after living in Texas for a while. They have a baby boy that is just about month older than Eve. He is super duper cute and huge! His mom and dad would tell us how big he is, but I just couldn't tell until I saw him in person. I think these pictures help illustrate. Granted, Eve is very small for her age, which just makes the difference that much greater and funnier. He is in the 95th percentile for weight and height I think. He is 13 months and 26 pounds. His brother is 3 1/2 years old and 29 pounds. It's so much fun to see how two siblings can be so different. But they're both darling boys and we're so glad that they're back!

By the way, I finally have some good video of Eve crawling, but now the new blogger won't let me post it. Plus I think that adding photos is even more frustrating than ever! Does anyone else agree?

Matthias with his dad, Jonas

Naughty New Year's Eve

2010-01-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

If you wanted to see some explicit nudity and read racy anecdotes from my night of hedonistic debauchery, then you came to the right place!

Just Kidding! My New Year's Eve was quite pleasant but conservative, with my parents and sister sharing a crab leg and spicy shrimp dinner, opening presents from a fore mentioned family, putting a very tired and cranky 11 month old to bed, a boisterous game of Pit in which I cheat my sister (only a tiny bit) and then settled in by the fire to watch Star Trek the movie and drink Martinelli's at midnight. And I got a midnight kiss to boot! Sound ideal? It was. Jealous? You should be. So come next year and let's see how we can improve upon the night. Ha ha, I know, it will be hard. But let's try any way. I have a good feeling about 2010. It is the future, now!

So I really do have some Naughty New Year's Eve pictures. Feast your eyes on this:

Eve unfolding all the folded laundry. She stood up there on her own!

Eve pulling out all her books from the bottom shelf. She loves to look at her books.

That is about the extent of Eve's naughtiness. Perhaps someday Eve will have a blog of her own, with her own naught New Year anecdotes; I'm assuming she'll go to college after all. But hopefully those are far far down the road. For now, I'll take book pulling and snowshoeing as a grand way to ring in the New Year.

Snowshoeing with my sister up Logan Canyon.

This is Not a Pudding Blog

2009-12-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

My husband recently started a blog called "International Pudding." He thinks that is hilarious. I really wish it was about pudding! It is the ugliest and funniest blog that I've seen. Richie really is quite funny. My blog focuses more on my sweet daughter than anything else. I think this is the first time I've mentioned pudding. So here are a few pics of Eve. I don't have our Christmas photos on the computer yet, but I will post those soon.

Some exciting things that have happened this month:

Eve turned 11 months old, is crawling, standing and talking a lot!

The Chemist and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary

Christmas came and I like everything that I got!

Richard liked everything that he got!

Our good friends Jonas and Phyleen and their family moved back to Utah

I co-hosted an Ugly Sweater Party

With all the social engagements, I only had to cook dinner a handful of times!

Many people loved the various recipes I made and brought to said social engagements, and that always makes me feel good

Eve started wearing cloth diapers

We had full hearts and a warm house together as a family, and celebrated the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ

Thanksgiving Past, Christmas Around the Corner

2009-12-08T22:46:00.007-07:00

Despite my good intentions of blogging weekly, obviously I do not get to it more than once or twice a month. We had Thanksgiving at our house this year, and it was so much fun! I loved doing it, thought it was stressful. But then afterward you have a nice long weekend with your family, no other holiday obligations, and tons of delicious leftovers. Except of course, not enough pie.

I believe Eve is getting in some molars. They haven't popped through yet, but she is a serious spit spigot (say that five times fast). And the last week she has had a cough and runny nose, and sometimes I can't tell where the snot stop and the spit starts, or vice versa. Gross! The weather outside has been frightful. I've decided I don't like winter all that much. I suppose it has it's charms, but really, does it need to be colder than 50 degrees outside? The rest of our doings and goings are posted as photos. Mostly Eve just being cute, as always. I love my good baby.

Butts and bubbles in the bath. Eve's mouth is open not to smile, but to emit guttural dinosaur growls--all week long

They're hard to see in this picture, but Eve is wearing antlers on her head and she loved them. She thought they were hilarious. I also am now receiving help with the dishes--I fill the dishwasher and Eve bites it.

The video below is not at all exciting. Eve was sucking on her toes and it was funny, but as soon as I started filming she quit. Grandparents will like it though. I apologize for the poor and hideous lighting in her room.

The Picture Perfect Family...NOT

2009-11-22T23:10:00.004-07:00

This is what I am married to.
Every single day of my life.
Sometimes I love it.
Sometimes...

Richie's cousin took some Peterson family pictures for us. They turned out alright. I like my touches to them. We also had some professional pictures taken of our immediate family, and they were gorgeous, but whew! how expensive! We never would have done it except that I won a free sitting at the county fair and thought that we could afford it. Oh well. We just called it our anniversary present. And night out. For the next three years. But my oh my, doesn't Eve look darling?

I should have cut my hair before the pictures!

Goldfish Galore

2009-11-02T19:21:00.004-07:00

Here are some better pictures of the costume. The one of her in the bowl isn't the greatest of Eve, but it really shows off the sparkly tail. I really wanted to take her to the river in the costume and photograph her on the bank, but I would need an assistant just in case she decided to roll into the water and swim away, and I wouldn't have time to come off the bridge and rescue her! And with the Daylight Savings change, it's too dark by the time Richie comes home from work.

The video I posted is actually quite boring. Recently Eve has been performing a little hip thrust workout when she gets excited or wants to move. It cracks me up and looks cool in her fish costume, but she wouldn't do it for the camera. But I thought I'd post it anyway for the grandparents. The weird noises are of me pretending to eat her hand. She usually loves it and cracks up, but she was not feeling well today and didn't emote much for the video.

Halloween Doing

2009-11-01T22:55:00.006-07:00

A very happy All Hallows Eve. Eve was a smashing success in her goldfish costume. I'm so glad that my mom raised me in the homemade halloween costume tradition. It's rather a treat these days to see homemade costumes on the little ones. I took Eve trick-or-treating in downtown Logan and I have to say, she stole the show. Everyone commented on how cute she was. And she was.
She also turned nine months on the 27th. She didn't weigh as much as I was hoping she would at her doctor appointment, but she is a happy and health little thing, and that ain't bad. She is on the verge of crawling, eating lots of finger foods and trying to figure out the true purpose of a sippy cup. Below are some photos of Eve at the pumpkin patch hill and a little video of her first experience with snow.

1 New Hair Cut, 4 New Teeth, 5 Burn Blisters, 8 Days in Illinois

2009-10-24T22:55:00.002-06:00

In Which, I Receive a New Haircut

Pretty cute, don't you think? I don't know why I even try to wear long hair. And why are men so attracted to it?

In which, Eve Cuts New Teeth

This whole past week Eve has been her grumpiest yet! She is cutting four new teeth at the same time. Now she is up to eight teeth! Almost half way there and not even nine months old. But along with the teeth has come diahrreah, uncontrollable crying, seperation anxiety, and worst ever diaper rash. It's so sad and raw that her whole crotch looks like a burn victim. :(

In Which, I Burn Myself Quite Badly and Quite Stupidly

Last night I was making a little thank you gift (a mini scrapbook) for our cousins in Illinois. My hot glue gun was not pumping out the glue very fast, so like the idiot that I am, I push the glue stick from behind and a huge glob of 400 degree glue rushes out and burns my hand and fingers. My thumb and ring finger got the worst of it. I had to keep my hand in a bowl of cold water until 3 AM. Then I took it out because I couldn't stand it being in the water anymore. It hurt so bad that my hand just shook on it's own for hours. By morning most of the intense pain was gone, but my fingers have been very sore all day, and I didn't sleep One Wink. And today Eve constantly grabbed my thumb while she was nursing because she wanted to see the bandage but she kept squeezing the blister and boy! did that hurt!

In Which , We Spend a Week in McNabb, Illinois

"Where is that" you say? Somewhere in the middle, surrounded by corn and soybeans. I give McNabb a hard time, but really, it was a great vacay. We flew into Chicago on Sunday, and then drove two hours to McNabb, where Dan, my father-in-law, grew up. All his side of the fam is still there. We stayed with Richie's cousin Eric and his wife Michelle and their three kids, Mackenzie (8), Emma (6), and Jacob(2). So that I don't bore you with a tedious description of each day, I will now list most of the major events of our trip:

A. Attended the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, ate lunch there and walked down the Magnificent Mile in which I slobbered over the decadent shopping impossibilities and wandered jealously through H&M and bought cheap hair accessories and socks.

B. Went to the old Quaker cemetery in McNabb where Richie's grandparents and other family members are buried. It's really pretty and quiet, just like an old rural cemetery should be. There is a semi-famous abolitionist buried there and some semi-famous ancient oak trees. Yay family history! Then we went to a bird sanctuary and wetland reclaimed from corn fields. Also ate at Smitty's in Leonore. Which is smaller than McNabb. Which is almost impossible. Richie's Uncle Larry bought me a Smitty's t-shirt.

C. Checked out a really pretty and fun orchard and farm called Tanner's. TONS of delectable goodies for sale and a bakery and cider brewery and get this, even a goat boardwalk that runs two stories about ground and ends in a tree house just for the goats! I would have taken a picture of it because it was hilarious, but Richie had the camera to take a picture of his huge fishing catch:D. Played Scrabble and cooked the Edens dinner. I creamed Richie at Scrabble. Heh heh.

E. Drove to Springfield and did all the Lincoln stuff, which was really neat. His tomb is a very sacred spot, and at the presidential museum they had his actual stovepipe hat on display. It even had finger marks worn onto the brim from him tipping his hat for years. I liked that.

F. Took a pretty walk through the timber and then the Edens took us out to a place called Rip's. It is famous for its fried chicken, which is the only thing on the menu. As appetizers they give out pickle slices and the fried crispies that flaked of the coating on the chicken and settled on the bottom of the deep fryer. The chicken in served with french fries and a piece of buttered white bread. That's it. It's so famous (and yes, the chicken was delicious) that people come from Chicago two hours away and stand in lines around the block to eat there. Uncle Larry was pretty upset that Richie didn't buy a t-shirt from Rip's. And you'd think that Americans would have obesity problems! After dinner we went bowling, where I bowled very very badly, but it was fun.

G. Sunday we came home, but that morning we attended the Lutheran church that Richie's family goes to. It was interesting. Eve was being fussy so Richie took her out, and afterwards everyone was soooooo excited that a baby was there and they were upset that we took her out! They should join the LDS church. We have babies at church coming out the wazoo. On the airplane Eve cried for a long time, and she exploded her diaper. It is NOT easy to change a baby on a plane.

That's it. I loved it. Eve took a nap every morning, and Richie got to golf and we just relaxed, enjoyed being with family, and had a good time. It was a great vacation. Thank you Peterson/Edens! Thank you Thank you!

I Can't Think of One Right Now

2009-10-07T15:09:00.004-06:00

I don't have anything specific to say. Just wanted to say hello. Sunday we leave for Illinois! I am excited because this will be our first real, and only, vacation this year. We are going to visit Richie's family that we haven't seen in five years! Of course, mostly to show off Eve. Just kidding...sort of. Don't worry, I will post pics when we return home.

I'm not sure what game Sebastian and Eve are playing, "Doctor" maybe?
But I thought the picture is funny

This is how I found Eve after her nap one day. Those are her feet sticking out of the crib in the pic below.
She slept that way through her whole nap.

So Much To Say, So Little Nap Time

2009-09-28T14:40:00.006-06:00

yours truly at Bear Lake

Eve is awake right now in her crib. She missed her morning nap, and now it seems, she will skip the afternoon one as well. She was taking naps really well there for a while. Oh well. At least she's not crying, right?

fruits of our labor

Yesterday Eve turned 8 months old. Yes, Time does pass quickly, but my baby does not grow so fast! She is currently wearing 3-6 month size clothing, and is probably around 14.5 pounds. She is just a tiny thing! But I don't think she's too far behind. I'm hoping that by a year she'll be around 17 or 18 pounds (average is 20). I'd be happy with that.

This past month has been much busier than I anticipated! Well, that's not entirely true; I knew it would be busy, but I was much more overwhelmed than I had planned on being. My good friend Starr was married over Labor Day weekend, and I went down early to help prepare. Marina and Necia, my other good friends from high school came and it was the first time we'd all been together for a long time! Marina came up and spent a night in Logan with us too. Then I hosted book club and a baby shower at my house the next week. We also made a trips to Bear Lake and the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, and this past weekend I spent preparing my primary lesson, preparing a Sharing Time lesson, and building a compost bin out of wooden pallets. I also made peach jam, raisins, four different pie fillings, and dehydrated a ton of fruit, tomatoes and herbs. I do not want to see another fruit or veggie for a while. Unless someone else cooks it for me. We also purchased a quarter of a Steer from a local rancher here, and ate some steak last night. It was soooo yummy! It was so much more fresh and tender, and looked and smelled amazing. Although I will never love Logan itself, I LOVE MY LIFE! And I'm ready for a vacation! Two weeks until we're in Illinois!

ibis and other neat birds from the refuge

cute!!!

Pie Wins!

2009-08-19T14:12:00.003-06:00

Yeah, pie pretty much is one of the best reasons to stay alive. Family is definitely my personal numero uno, but pie and other baked delights are in my Top Ten. If you can't tell, I am of the "live to eat" variety, and quite frankly, I'm glad. Richie was trying to explain to me the other day how he forgets to eat. He might as well have spoken martian, it was so out-of-this-world incomprehensible to me.

Not much else to speak of at the moment. I gave you all my good stories in the previous entry. So here are some cute pictures of Eve. I hope they make your day a little happier.

Happenings

2009-08-09T23:52:00.005-06:00

I haven't updated my captivated audience for a while because we have been very busy, and have many stories to tell! I can't relate all of them right now, especially because it is late and I won't do them justice, but here are a few to correspond with pictures. Enjoy!

Story Un: Smokey Skies

Earlier this week there was a thunderstorm, and the lightening started a forest fire near Bountiful, about 80 miles south of us. Eve and I spent the early afternoon at the Cache County Fair manning the La Leche League's Breastfeeding Cafe (yay National Breastfeeding Week!). It was a pleasant, mild day. When I got home I noticed an eerie, apocalyptic glow in my living room and went outside to see the east sky against the mountains beautiful, sunny and clear, and the west sky brown, smoky and tempestuous. The sun was red, and looked really freaky reflected in our flooded garden:

Story Deux: C.O.P.S.

This is the condensed tale of our next door neighbor, Bruce; a nice man with a sad history. He is a Vietnam Vet suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and in the past few years has become very reclusive and paranoid. While we are not afraid that he will hurt us, he has told us somewhat scary stories of people breaking into his house, police fights and other assorted things.

Several months ago I received a phone call from a neighbor across the street asking if I knew that there was a cop in my front yard with a semi-automatic rifle. As soon as she said that I knew it had to do something with Bruce. I looked out the kitchen window, where there was indeed a cop with a large gun, and there were also several in our backyard similarly equipped. Down our street was a row of five (5) cops cars, an ambulance and a fire truck, with cops and lawyers running around the whole block.

Turns out, Bruce had the flu and had tried to starve it out of himself. When that didn't work, he contacted the police for help, but he has a strained history with the Logan Police, every time they respond to his calls they have to be "prepared" for anything, hence all the cops everywhere with drawn weapons. His door was locked and they kept yelling to Bruce through the windows that he needed to open the door, but he was too weak to move. Finally he managed to unlock the door and they took him to the hospital.

Well, a week ago this morning Richie and I awoke to the sound of smashing glass at 3:30 AM. It went on for quite a while and sounded like someone smashing hundreds of glass botttles. We tried to see what was going on, but it was too dark. We then heard someone moving around, but then that stopped. We were trying to decide what to do. It was bothering me that I hadn't called the cops, when about 15 minutes later they did come, quietly, but again swarmed our house and yard with rifles and flashlights, tyring to figure out what was happening. They entered Bruce's house, and after a while we saw someone wheeled out to an ambulance. Then we saw the cops talking to our neighbor on the other side of Bruce, and Richie went out to talk to them. Our neighbors had called the cops when they heard the smashing glass, and when they arrived, they found Bruce in their driveway covered in blood, holding a board. He bled all over their stoller and other stuff and was totally incoherent. The cops asked Richie what he heard, and if he had heard other people besides Bruce at his house. They also said that they thought he was in California (rumor was that his son was going to put him in a psych assisted living facility), which was odd because we had heard that he was in jail, and that the police had impounded his car. Now we don't know where he is or what is going on.

The moral of the story is that his house is for sell, and someone can get it for really, really cheap. And I know what it feels like to film an episode for C.O.P.S. "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?..."

Story Trois: Dam It!

So you can't tell from the picture, but this little gem of a resevoir has some great cliff jumping on the east side of the lake. July 25th all the Petersons, my parents, and Richie's uncle Larry and his two kids descended upon us here in Logan and had a family get together. All the men played golf in the morning, then we met up for lunch, swimming, cliff jumping, then came back to our place for a weenie roast and potluck. It was a great time together except for one incident at the lake that sort of put the kibosh (spelling?) on our nautical fun.

Just as we were arriving, another group was setting up a zip line that ran from a tree up on a cliff to the opposite beach, the intent being that you let go and fall into the water half way between the two shores. The line was above all the cliff jumping spots, probably between 150-200 feet, and ran about 10-15 feet over land before it came to the water. Richie, his two cousins, his sister and niece, and myself all swam over to do some jumping. We had taken a jump from about 10 feet and wanted to go higher. Richie and his cousin Josh were on the edge of the cliff and I was back a little ways, when I heard everyone start to scream. Richie and Josh were both wearing shocked faces. A boy had started down the zipline, only to have something malfuntion and he fell before he reached the water. He had landed on a pile of loose rocks and shale from 200 feet up and them flopped into the water. For a good half minute no one could see him. People were yelling "Someone just died!" "Call 911!" "I'm gonna be sick, I can't believe I just saw someone die!" Everyone was shocked and were all just standing at the edge of the cliffs, looking down. I tried to get to the water, but was blocked. I know CPR and remember bits and piece of emergency First Aide from my lifeguarding days, plus I'm a strong swimmer, so I wanted to help. But quickly enough about six guys jumped into the water and went to the kid.

He never lost consciouness, but he didn't make noise at all. He had compound fractures in both legs, and must have ended up losing a lot of blood, but he was so much in shock that he never screamed or cried or anything. In fact, he joked around with the EMTs when they finally arrived 45 minutes later. Meantime, the boy had to wait in the water because no one had a big enough board to serve as a body board.

I didn't see the fall itself, but I heard it and saw the resulting drama. Richie and Josh both saw it, and Richie said it was really disturbing to watch, in part because it didn't look real to watch a body fall from that height and hit ground. He felt like he was watching a movie. Needless to say, though everything turned out alright (as much as can be in that situation), it dampened the mood quite a bit. After about 45 minutes people resumed jumping, but it didn't have the same lighthearted thrill to it. I felt especially bad for Josh. He is 16 and really excited to do something so crazy as cliff jumping, since he is from Illinois where there are no cliffs. He wanted to earn major bragging rights, which I can't blame him, though he will still have a pretty good story to tell all his buddies when school starts again.

Nicole wasn't there, and it wasn't until several weeks later that I told her the story. "Wow," she said, "that's pretty crazy. Do you want to know the rest of the story?" She then told me about a missionary couple at the MTC that she has been tutoring in Greek in preparation for their mission to Greece. She doesn't know Greek but was using a new tutoring system. The MTC found a Greek tutor for them the last week they were there, so Nicole didn't get to see them leave. A week or so later, she ran into a coworker that asked if she had heard what happened to the Bells. She said "No." The other tutor then said that they had to postpone leaving for Greece because their son was seriously injured in a zipline accident at a lake near Logan two Saturdays ago! Nikki started freaking out because she knew we were there that day! Isn't that crazy? Everything is connected, someway or another. I guess Scotty Bell is still in the hospital in critical but stable condition.

Story Quatre: In Which I Am The Most Amazing Cook Ever and Bake a Pie With Buttery, Perfectly Flaky Crust and A Filling of Freshly Picked Local Raspberries, and We Eat It All, and It Is Incredible, Amazing, Lifechanging; Richie Begs For Another Pie, and I Make a Second Pie That Is Equally Awesome and I Fear That My Superpower Will Now Be Used For Evil Instead Of Good But I Must Not Let That Happen.

As one can surmise from the title of this last story, it is not really so much a story as a declaration of fantastic homemade pastry and the love and obsession that it spontaneously ignites from a pudgy blonde woman. Is it sad when pie rocks your world?

A Study of Absolutes

2009-07-18T17:52:00.004-06:00

Eve is the most complete study of Absolute Cuteness that has ever existed. It is definitive and far reaching, a scientific matter of great import. And to top her cuteness, she is oh so happy and mellow most of the time. So much so that I had no idea she was even teething unitl I felt a sharp little chip in her gums while she was chomping away on my finger Friday! My baby is cutting her first tooth! I was stunned. I wasn't expecting this for another couple of months. Friday was also her four month adjusted birthday, and next week she'll be six months old. I can't believe what a big girl she is already starting to be! These aren't feeling that are supposed to occur for several more months, right?

It never ceases to amaze me however, the love that I feel for Eve, and the love she seems to feel for me. Her face lights up everytime I look at her, and I can't help wondering how I came to be so lucky to have such an adorable daughter.

Eve at the park with Daddy. It was her first time in the swing!

A Vision in Patriotism

2009-07-08T14:29:00.005-06:00

Last weekend we went down to Cedar City to celebrate Independence Day with my parents and sister. To tell the truth, I was not too keen on going because the last time I went down there, I was without Richard and Eve was sick, so it was not a fun trip. So I am happy to report that it was an excellent trip! Just what we needed to get away from Logan and life a little bit. Richie golfed and fished for three whole days, I had someone else to help with Eve and hung out with my mom and sister, and Richie and I even went on a real date! Very fun and relaxing. I even wish we could have stayed another night or two. I didn't get to play Settlers of Catan like I wanted to, but did play some terrible, awful, fun volleyball, lit illegal fireworks and generally appreciated all my freedoms and rights as a citizen of the United States of America.

At Cedar Breaks National Monument, about half an hour up the canyon from my parents' house. Several people asked if they could take pictures of Eve, because she's so irresistably cute in her hat and sunglasses (no sunburns for her!) Of course I said yes!

On a patriotic sidenote, upon pondering the 4th of July and it's significance, I am very truly grateful to be an American, to be born at the time I was, and to have the life I lead. My dad is a Vietnam veteran, and I am very proud of him and his service to our country. I often snicker and roll my eyes at uber patriotic people, such as those who listen to country music that tout the absolute supremecy of the US, Texans and whatnot, but I am glad to be American, and realize that America does play a very significant and positive role in the world, in politics and policies, and that for all its faults and imperfections, there probably has never such successful, peaceful or opportune country, well, ever. And despite whether or not I agree with the government's actions the past eight years, I will always support those soldiers and volunteers that sacrafice so much for me and my family, so that we can continue on our path of happiness, and will never take my rights for granted.

Well, I'll stop my preaching and getting to posting pictures! Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

How I wish that was Eve's beanie! Unfortunately, it is one that my sister picked up in Peru for her own future children. Sigh...

Blog Happy

2009-06-28T22:35:00.006-06:00

unflattering pictures of me, I know, but I was attempting to get some of Eve in my lap with her little "driving"toy (the cloth donut in front of her race is really a steering wheel)

I don't know why I am blogging so much so suddenly, but I guess I just want to share my world with the world. It is starting to get hot here in Logan (yuck) but I'm just glad that it's not winter! (it lasts so long in Logan). I really don't like Logan, but I really really really love my house and yard and neighborhood. With all my heart. When we first bought our house I thought, "what are we going to do with all this land?" (We have a quarter acre). Now I'm trying figure out how to squeeze in all the things I like into the backyard that we have. I thought that I wanted to make improvements on the interior of our house, but now I just want to landscape everything!

raspberries, strawberries, corn, potatoes, herbs, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, butternut, watermelon, crookneck, zuchinni, cucumbers, pumpkins, lavender, roses, peonies, poppies

on the rocking horse from grandpa and grandma barkume

The Objects of My Adoration

2009-06-26T22:59:00.006-06:00

the chemist's first father's day

I always feel a little jipped when I read a blog entery sans pictures, so here are some to accompany my happy moment:

I finally feel like Eve's room is very near completion--at least until she starts crawling. I made the crib skirt and glider cushion covers myself, and also made the origami crane mobiles above her bed. I love them--they're beautiful, they slowly twirl on their own, and Eve loves to look at them. They're even hung on chopsticks!

We have lots of rose bushes at my house, which is nice because apparently it is hard to get roses to grow in Logan. They seem quite old fashioned and charming to me. I see these out my kitchen window.

Come on, who doesn't LOVE baby fat rolls and naked bums? They're soooo cute!

I Am Happy

2009-06-26T12:07:00.005-06:00

So a few posts ago I was complainging about paying for things, because generally, things are always tight around here. Of course, I'm sure most people feel the same way. And would I love to have enough money that buying the $169 magazie holder from Pottery Barn would be nothing at all? Well, yeah, sure. (Just to make things clear, I would never ever spend money on a magazie rack of any quality, no matter how rich I was. I was just using that as an example).

But the other day Richard, Eve and I were returning to our house from an evening walk. And I just realized how happy I was. I have a very sweet, well-tempered baby that makes me laugh and giggle and cry a little and cuddles into me; I have a husband that is not only willing but enjoys cleaning the house, doing the dishes and shares yard work with me, all unasked and uncomplaining; and he is willing to go to work everyday so that I can be home with Eve! We have a great house in a great neighborhood, and there really isn't anything that I am lacking, except maybe tact and humility. And patience. But otherwise, my life is perfect. If only I could remember it constantly so that I don't complain. But I think it is important to remember the times you are happy, especially when they come upon you for no reason at all, but are just sweet little gifts that life gives you.

We're Back, Baby!

2009-06-15T14:34:00.005-06:00

Wow! It's only been a little more than a month since I last blogged, but it seems like a long time ago! I've missed you, cyber space! And many apologies to the three faithful followers of my blog. We moved our computer to the upstairs loft, and the internet connection there was awful. We finally switched providers, so here we are, back up and running.

eve was shooting me especially cute glances before her bath (although she won't smile when I have the camera up to my face)

A lot has been going on lately. Being a nursing mother is a weird mixture of being insanely busy and doing nothing (or at least, not accomplishing many tasks). On May 3rd Eve received her baby blessing in church. Basically, it is a formal presentation of her to the church, and then Richard gave here a name and a blessing, which was very beautiful. Of course I was crying throughout the whole meeting. It started with the opening song and didn't stop till the meeting was over. We had all our immediate family with us, and some friends, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was lovely.

blessing day feast; eve with daddy

We also planted our garden. It was looking fantistic for a while, then two weeks ago the bug population in Logan exploded and all our tender little plantlings have played salad to a whole army of bugs. I'm trying to avoid using anything poisonous on our plants and soil, but it doesn't seem to be working and I don't want to lose my garden. Any organic gardening suggestions would be most welcome.

My first Mother's Day was absolutely wonderful, all thanks to Richard and Eve. I wish everyday could be Mother's Day! Richie made me breakfast in bed and dinner--scallops, veggies, sparkling cider, and homemade strawberry shortcake! It was divine and oh so delish! I love having a wonderful husband and sweet daughter.

he even used the nice china!

Eve is doing well. She got her first cold on a trip to Cedar City to see the grandparents, but she is doing just fine now. Baby colds are the worst! She didn't gain any weight while she was sick, so she's a little behind what her current trend has been, but she's happy and healthy and learning new things everyday. She sucks her fingers and loves to hold onto things and explore her clothes and surroundings. She loves to watch and absorb people and events around her. She is very good natured and usually quite happy and smiley. At her 4 month doctor's appointment two weeks ago she was 10 lb 9 oz and 21 3/4". So she is a tiny thing, but cuter than anything else I have seen on this earth, and I've seen a lot of cuteness. Sorry all those out there that disagree, but it's true. I'm never wrong, just ask the Chemist.

eve tries eat most of the things she picks up; below, she's apparently trying to do the can-can, and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it

Paying for Stuff

2009-04-29T20:46:00.003-06:00

...sucks. I'm reading "Little Women" to Eve right now and I can totally sympathize with the March girls and their lack of luxury. Then Marmee comes in and smacks you upside the head with guilt trips that would make a grown man cry. I should be more grateful.

eve in her bear jacket that aunt annette gave her...I love the little ears!

We just got local phone numbers. I guess we really are living here!

eve and her daddy like to play "flying baby!"

My Beef

2009-04-15T21:20:00.004-06:00

So, I am going to discuss something that has been on my mind for a while: my beef with so called "doctors." Well, I guess they're real doctors.

I have become well accquainted with my OBGYN and to a slightly lesser degree, our pediatrician, not to mention countless nurses, social workers, lactation consultants, medical billing specialists etc. I also have many friends in med school, or whose spouses are in med school, or PAs or what have you. And I can definitely understand the pressures of doctors, the expense of becoming a doctor, and the always exasperating futility of dealing with stupid, stupid people. In fact, I'm sure doctors see more than their fair share of stupid people. That being said-

The relationship that is created between doctors and their patients is one of the most important artificial relationships that a person becomes involved with. And it leads to feelings similar to that a real relationship, at least, for me it does. I experienced some of the highest of the high moments with my OBG, definitely my most terrifying moments, and some of my lowest of the lows. And all this leads to a heart-rending "on again off again" rollercoaster for me.

At one point, you are the center of their universe, and nothing could ever be more important than YOU. And then the next week, when you go in for your umpteenth blood draw appointment, they barely have time to smile at you. Not less than three times did my doctor (her nurse actually--god forbid a doctor acutally talk to a patient!) forget to call me with test results which led to me not taking proper medicine. I had many many questions for her, and I couldn't get ahold of her at all. I asked the nurse to have her call me, or at least address some issues. I didn't ask for her home phone number or anything like that, I'm not stupid. I just wanted to ask the professional I'm paying thousands and thousands of dollars to answer my questions. One phone call. I have never even spoken to her in her office. And the same goes for my pediatrician. He didn't even come into the NICU the day Eve was discharged! And none of the nurses at his office know what is going on with Eve, so they never correctly answer my questions, even when I tell them the whole story.

I guess what I'm tring to say is this: when dealing with non-stupid people, or in my case, very intelligent people, don't treat them like they're dumb, or unimportant. Don't forget to talk to them and answer their questions. Just because I chose not to go to med school does not mean that I am less of a person. In fact, I'm confident with a month's training, I could correctly perform most minor surgeries. But I digress. I am always sad when I realize that I will never be as important to my doctor as he/she is to me. It's the classic unrequited love story. I give and give and give, and they say nice/terrifying things to get you into the proverbial bed, and then "forget" to call you the next day.

If doctors are like this because they are overworked, then I think it's their duty and obligation to established patients to reduce the workload, thus allowing them to better diagnose and heal. If doctors act like douches because they are selfish and think they're better than their patients, then they need to spend some time performing douches on themselves to clean out all the crap.

I love my doctors. But they hurt me emotionally. They have the unfair advantage of being the only option when it comes to serious medical matters, people become dependant, the cycle continues...

okay, I'm done complaining now.

Here are some cute pics of Eve:

Eve and I on our first stoller walk!

I never thought I would put my baby in a bonnet. But I did, and it's cute!

Eve in her Easter dress. She kept making goofy faces. This is the most normal of them.

Richie took this picture. He calls it "Crazy Eyes."

Eve in a beautiful sleeper dress that her aunt Heidi and cousin Katrina gave her. I want her to be blessed in it if she'll still fit it in three weeks!

Sisters are Special

2009-03-31T14:07:00.005-06:00

Today is my sister Nicole's birthday! She is the big 25--a quarter of a century. She is quite the darling girl, and I am excited for her blogspot debut. My birthday was on the 26th of March, so we are exactly 2 years and 5 days apart. Nicole has led the life that I dreamed about living: she has visited and lived in many exotic climes including Peru, Costa Rica, China and Hawaii to name a few. She recently returned to the US after serving an 18 month LDS mission in the Netherlands, so she knows how to speak Spanish and Dutch as well as English. She graduated with a BA in Business from Westminster University. Yep, she's pretty much an all around spectacular person. As her older and only sibling, I feel her next step is find the perfect man (if anyone can do it, it's her). The question now is: what man dares to align himself with such a strong woman? One who knows how to roast her turkey and eat it too?

No joke! this is really how she eats every meal!

Eve at the birthday party last Saturday (3/28)

Eve had her two month/two week doctor's appointment today. She grew two inches and gained 7.5 ounces! Her stats are now 7.7 lb, 20.75 inches. We are so excited! She is doing well. Also, the best news of all is that she no longer has to be on the pulse oximeter! YAY! We hated that thing, although I nursed her without it and I was very nervous without that yellow, digital reassuring beep that she was breathing and maintaining her sats okay. Here are a couple of little video clips of her first bath in the NICU. They are part of a much longer video, and I tried to put together a shortened version, but didn't have enough room on the drive(?) It was only a 3 minute clip, it has to work somehow, but I will deal with it later. For now, here are just two little blips of it.

7=0 (?)

2009-03-17T15:07:00.006-06:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Eve's due date is today! With her adjusted age, she is now at the ZERO mark. So all developmental stages start here at this sort of ground zero place. But as you can see from some pictures this morning, she has already started developing a highly acute and funny sense of humor. Sometimes she is a sneaky leprechaun, other times a screaming banshee, but always my sweet bonny lass.

Eve's biggest modeling infulences include Calvin from "Calvin & Hobbes" and Ben Stiller in "Zoolander"

Lovenox is Not Pretty

2009-03-16T12:00:00.006-06:00

In order to get my blood thinner, I had to take a shot in the stomach twice a day for over a month. Thankfully, that is over now, I just have to take a pill. But during the last week I was on the shots, Richie accidently knicked one of my veins and I got the most gnarly, disguting, painful bruise. It actually looks pretty good in these pictures--I should've taken some while it was still at its worst stage. But these give an idea. I'm actually proud of it--a war wound of sorts. Please ignore my jello-like post-partum stomach. That's scarier than the bruise.

I wrote a couple of haiku about my bruise:

scarlet petaled bloom
tattoed across the belly
multi-colored pain

a shot to the gut
silently enters and bursts--
rainbow punch smears hard

I've been trying to get a good picture of Eve so I can make and mail birth announcements. Every time, every time, I try to do a photo shoot with her, this is what happens:

Eve loves her baths about 90% of the time. Otherwise, she's screaming. She's going to be a water baby like her mama. She actually looks like a real baby with chunk rolls! Or at least, the beginning of fat rolls. On Friday she weighed 6 lb 5 oz. Tomorrow is her due date--she'll be seven weeks old tomorrow too. She's grown out of her preemie clothes, but is still too big for newborn stuff. But I am sad to see my tiny daughter move on--she's so cute and small!

Funniest Show on Earth? (Mars Might Have Something Better...Nah...)

2009-03-11T14:56:00.005-06:00

I have plenty of photos to post of Eve, and some really cute video too. (But it needs to be edited. I don't think you, my dear reader, wants to see 20 minutes of her cooing and giving gas grins; though she is sooooo darling when she does!)

But I need a break from talking about my life. So today I'm throwing down a quote from the TV show "The Office." Proof that it is THE most hilarious thing on television. I'm so in love.

A list created between Jim and Dwight while trying to plan the ideal birthday party for Kelly in the office:

beer
fighting to the death
cupcakes
blood pudding
blood
touch football
mating
charades
horse hunting

O Glorious Day, She's Home At Last!

2009-03-01T15:22:00.004-07:00

Readers, my heart has never been swollen with more joy, nor have I ever been so exhausted in all my life! After nearly five weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, our daughter Eve has come home! What an unimaginable journey this has been, and will continue to be, I'm sure.

in her carseat for her ride home!

Eve was originally scheduled to come home last weekend, but as Murphy's Law would have it, our pediatrician went out of town that weekend, and Eve decided to start choking on her bottle feedings, causing her heart rate to drop and her oxygen saturation levels to drop. She had been put back on oxygen to see if that would help her desats (dropping oxygen levels), which it did to some degree, but not as much as we hoped it would. After she started her choking spells, I knew she wouldn't be coming home last weekend, which made me very sad and frustrated. However, a neonatologist from Odgen came up to Logan on Thursday, and took a look at her. He has been a neonatologist for over 30 years, and he said that he thought nothing was wrong with Eve, but that she is just a preemie, and she's doing what preemies do: taking a little extra time to work things out. We've decided that her desats were caused by reflux, even though she doesn't spit up much. He thought she might be a week younger or so than originally thought, which would explain why she wasn't growing out of her bradycardia (heart rate suddenly dropping). But he suggested taking back off the oxygen and seeing how she did her feeds.

she loves her new play n' pack bassinett

with dad after her bath--note the darling, tiny ducky outfit--Eve looks pretty good too

For the most part, she feeds excellently. She will still desat sometimes, but we have oxygen here at home so that if she needs it, she can have it. She is also on an oxcimeter (spelling?) which means there's a little probe on her foot connected to a machine that will beep if she falls below a certain oxygen level. But no more stickers, tubes, needles, IVs, or anything else on her face and body! I had never seen her face without something stuck on it or in it until yesterday. And hopefully her reflux will not be a problem as she gets older. I'm am hoping she gets off the machine soon, because it beeps ALL THE TIME.

i love her preemie outfits--polka dots and giraffes are tres chic

Let's cross our fingers that we'll never step foot in the NICU again. Eve is home! I am finally a real mommy! She is home, she is home, she is home!

kangaroo care with mom--also the first day she nursed!

My Life on Rat Poison or Part II of "The Story"

2009-02-18T11:04:00.005-07:00

These are the first pictures/the first time I saw my baby:

Our pediatrician took them with his iphone the night Eve was born. I woke up from the anesthesia at about 1 AM. I remember having a fairly coherent conversation with the nurse attending me, but I can't remember what was said. I think I asked if my little girl was okay, and the nurse asked me her name. Apparently, Richie wouldn't tell anyone her name because he wanted me to be the first one to say it. Richie came in and showed me her pictures. I started to cry because she was so beautiful. She had all ten fingers and toes; she was perfect in every way imaginable. After carrying her for 33 weeks, I knew we were going to be good friends, but I had no idea that she was going to be so beautiful, and touch my heart so deeply. The rest of that night was blurry, all I know is that the nurses kept checking in with me every hour or so, so I didn't sleep much. Later that morning they had me pump for the first time, which made me vomit afterwards. I can't even remember that last time that happened! But that was the effects of the anesthesia. You will be happy to know that I now pump constantly and have been able to keep my cookies untossed.

At two in the afternoon I was able to go down to the NICU to see Eve for the first time. Richie wheeled me into her room and I gasped to see how small she was! Pictures, even with other references there to compare size, do not fully give the sense of just how tiny this little girl is. Her fingernails were the size of sesame seeds. A nurse wrapped her in a blanket and set her in my arms. She was connected to various pieces of equipment and there were about 4 or 5 tubes or cords attached to her, which makes it awkward sometimes to hold her, but she was not on oxygen anymore (her lungs are awesome). But holding her for the first time was incredible. I couldn't believe that this little person was my baby. The love one feels for their child the first time is impossible to explain. It's something that you feel so instictively and so deeply that you almost don't realize that you feel it until you try to quantify it or at least acknowledge it. All I can say is that there were many tears shed at that point. In fact, I'm crying as I write this, so tears are still being shed, and will most likely continue to be shed until I die. If you can't tell, I'm still a little emotionally vulnerable.

(I would post a picture of me holding her for the first time, but my face was still so swollen that I look positively putrid and will spare myself the embarrassement. I still don't have a good mother and baby shot, I need Richie to become a good photographer! )

Eve was doing quite well despite her rocky start until Wednesday morning. Dr. McKenna (our pediatrician) came into my room quite solemn. Eve's stomach was disstended and she was in the radiology department at that moment having x-rays done to figure out why her stomach was expanding. It turned out that her bowels were plugged up with mucous and meconium, and so she couldn't pass anything out of her body, causing her belly to swell painfully. She had to have a barrium enema, and then she was on suppositories the next few days (one every three hours!). It was so sad! We got to see her after she came back from the enema, and her stomach looked fit to burst. The skin was hard, tight and red. She was not happy. But she eventually started to pass stools (a little bit here and there) and returned to normal.

I, on the other hand, was a complete basket case that day. I could not stop sobbing. They sent a social worker student to me (I think they were afraid I'd really start to freak out) but really, I just needed time. I sobbed the whole day Friday when I was discharged from the hospital and I went home without my baby. That was a very hard day. I also noticed that my calf was sore, but it felt just like a slightly sore muscle. When I woke up on Saturday however, it was very very tender and painful. I called the hospital, but the on-call doc asked if I had any other symptoms of a blood clot, which I did not. The whole weekend it was very sore however, and on Monday, a NICU nurse said that I should definitely see my doctor about it. So on Tuesday (exactly one week after having Eve) I went to get my blood pressure checked and I told the nurse I had to see a doctor about my leg. I didn't get to see my doctor, but the one I did see told me I needed to get an ultrasound done on my leg.

I went to the hosptial that night for my ultrasound. I didn't think they would find anything, but they ended up discovering two different clots in my left calf. So then I had to be admittted into the emergency room. The whole process took about four hours. I am now on Coumadin, a blood thinning pill, and Lovenox, a shot Richie has to give me twice a day in the stomach. Interesting fact: the ER doctor told me that coumadin is literally rat poison. Did you know that rat poison basically causes rats to hemorrage and bleed to death? That is terrible! Thank you, ER doctor, for keeping me so informed. As if I wasn't freaked out enough already.

So, there is happiness to the end of this story. At least, so far there is. Eve is doing awesome! She's just over three weeks old, and has gained almost a whole pound. She is now over 18 inches long and weighs 4 lb 13 oz. She is eating and pooping just fine, and I am even able to nurse her twice a day, which is amazing. We are hoping to bring her home soon! (Though she might be coming home with oxygen and a heart monitor, but we'll just figure that all out when the time comes.) She is a very special girl, and we are so blessed and happy and excited and a little terrified to have her in our lives. And we'd also like to thank everyone, all of you, who have prayed for us and thought of us and served us as we have started this epic journey. Thank you thank you! We love you all.

A Study in Surrealism, or "The Story"

2009-02-09T17:33:00.007-07:00

Look at this little girl:

One can already recognize the flicker of a mischevious nature on her face. That must be one of the reasons why she came SEVEN WEEKS EARLY! cheeky monkey...

Monday, January 26th started out as a normal day. I had my lazy morning, did some grocery shopping, watched The Notebook made dinner. Actually, it was a lazier day than normal because I had been feeling unwell all weekend; just blah, very low energy, not much appetite, and my hands and feet had started swelling to uncomfortable proportions. My right hand had actually started to go numb. I called the doctor's office that day to see if they wanted me to come in, but they said that all they would do would be to take my blood pressure, and I decided that since I had a doc appointment later that week, there was no need to go over there. The last few appointments I had high blood pressure, but none of the other symptoms that go along with toxemia or eclampsia, so I wasn't too worried about it.

That night we went to our Lamaze class and (ironically) toured the hospital and watched c-section video tapes. We came home a little after 8:30. At nine I went upstairs to change into my pajamas. I was pulling my shirt off when I felt a gush a warm liquid between my legs. I got scared, but thought that it was amniotic fluid. I pulled my pants down and saw blood EVERYWHERE. I was in shock! I screamed Richie's name a couple times. All I could do was just stand there, staring at the blood. Richie came upstairs. Now, Richie hates blood and guts and needles and that sort of thing, so I thought he was going to freak out more than me, but he saw the blood, grabbed my hand and very calmly said, "let's go, right now." So we dashed to the car and drove to the hospital.

That 10 minute ride to the hospital was the longest car ride of my life. I was not in any pain, but very very scared and I could still feel the bleeding. We went to the emergency room, where I think they thought we were idiots because it was hard to see all the blood through my dark jeans. I think they thought that my water had just broken and we were freaking out for nothing. They wheeled me over to the labor and delivery section of the hospital. When I stood out the wheelchair, there was a huge puddle of blood and the girl just went "oh," like she finally realized just what we meant by "she's 33 weeks pregnant and bleeding between her legs!"

As I changed into my hospital gown I looked down at my legs and realized that they were grotesquely swollen. My blood pressure was extremely high, and they were having a hard time getting the fetal heart rate monitor to pick up Eve's heartbeat, and that was very distressing. Richie was getting pretty frustrated. They called my doctor and set up an ultrasound, but they said the machine was old and that they really didn't know what they were looking at or looking for. Finally my doctor came in and found the heartbeat, and got an ultrasound tech to come in and help her decipher what they were seeing. As this was going on, I started to have regular back pains, which turned out to be contractions. I couldn't feel my uterus contracting at all, but the back pain was bad. I also felt something firm and warm slip out between my legs and I started yelling "there's something coming out between my legs!" My doctor reached down and pulled out a blood clot about the size of a pear. Richie said "oh!" and looked a little green. After that, Dr. Blackett had to keep reaching up into my vaginia and pull out fistfuls of blood clots. That really hurt. She also checked my cervix and I was dialated to a two.

All this time, I never thought that I was going to have my baby that night. I thought for sure that they would figure out how to stop the bleeding, and the labor, and even if I was in the hospital for the next two months, I never thought I would have the baby that night. The ultrasound showed that my placenta had "abrupted," and part of it had pulled away from the uterine wall. Dr. Blackett checked my cervix again and I was dialated to a 3. She told me that they were going to monitor me to see if the bleeding and labor would stop. "If not," she said, "we're going to have to have to deliver her by cesarean section." For some reason, I thought the monitoring would be over the course of days. But she said "no, we'll monitor you for about half an hour, so the surgery will be tonight."

That was the point that I started crying. Up until then I was very scared and frustrated, but pretty calm and collected. After everyone left the room however, and it was just me and Richie, I just started crying. I was not ready for this baby to come! We had nothing for her, not even a car to take her home in. I had a bunch of material at home that I was going to sew into crib bedding. I had a birth plan, I was so prepared for a natural vaginal birth in March. I was so excited to have a Spring baby close to my birthday. I did not want to have this baby in January, seven weeks early, by c-section. And mostly, I was so worried that she would die, or that there would be some horrible complications. And also, I was a little worried that I would die. I mean, surgery is surgery--it's always a big deal. I had never been in the hospital for anything my entire life! I was a healthy woman.

Richie held my hand and talked to me. He also gave me a blessing of health and safety. Richie was a stalwart husband and very caring and worried. I am so so grateful for him. I don't know how I would have survived this experience without his constant love and support.

About 11:30 Dr. Blackett came back into my room with the anesthiesiologist (sp?). There was no change in me, and because my placenta was not functioning, they would not stop the labor. They had to deliver my baby. Dr. Blackett wanted to give me a spinal block, but the anesthiesiologist decided that because of my blood loss (I lost over 2 liters of blood that night) it was too risky and I had to go under general anesthesia. I had never had surgery before, and it was the most surreal experience to be wheeled into the operating room with it's bright lights and scrub-clad nurses everywhere. I remember being lifted onto this very skinny table, with my arms stretched out to the sides like Jesus on the Cross. The only thing I could see was my reflection in the light glass above me, and I saw nurses painting iodine or something brown all over my naked belly. The face mask thing was put over my mouth, and I heard everyone talking about how they were going to cut me open. I said "I'm not under yet!" And that is the last thing I remembered until I woke up.

Eve bottle feeding with Dad. She's a good sucker! Her face is so tiny!

Part II of "The Story" to be continued...

Eve Belen Barkume Peterson

2009-01-30T16:04:00.005-07:00

Announcing seven weeks early, the Debut of the Decade:

Eve Belen Barkume Peterson

3 pounds 14.8 ounces

17.5 inches

January 27, 2009 12:07 AM by emergency cesarean section

I Heart LOST

2009-01-14T13:46:00.003-07:00

ONLY ONE MORE WEEK

Crazy Cat Lady

2009-01-11T13:17:00.004-07:00

I never thought I had the potential to be a crazy cat lady until we adopted Lucy. I seriously love this cat more than most things in life. She is the GREATEST! When Richie moved to Logan last year leaving me in Oregon solo, I was so grateful to have her little self there at home to welcome me back from work, watch Lost DVDs with me until the wee hours of the morning, and generally remind me that I was loved. Pets are fantastic. I will always feel pity for those out there who just don't value the love of a good animal.

No, we do not dress our cat. Lucy has allergies (to what remains the big mystery. We think they're food allergies.) which cause her to continuously lick herself raw. It is very sad, and occasionally the outbreaks will be bad enough that she has to wear a cone or an "Elizabeathian collar." This is her in her collar when we first adopted her. I eventually had to sew tulle around the edges, making this look like even more of a fancy dress, because she figured out a way to lick her belly. During this phase we called her "Space Cat." Yes, there was a song.

Lucy always has been and will always remain a giant bed hog. She looks grumpy. Shouldn't have awoken her from her 18 hour cat nap.

Likes: yogurt, ice-cream, string cheese, Planet Earth dvds, the fish tank, exploring outside, the laser, neck rubs, chin scratches, drinking from my glass (or any liquid container that is not her water dish), the heater vent under the bed, cuddling, attention

Dislikes: her cone, cold/wet weather, cat nip, children, the vaccum, loud cars, being left alone, baths, pills, most cat toys

Okay Winter, You Can Be Over Now

2009-01-05T09:31:00.004-07:00

I like the snow for about two months. Maybe even three. But after February, really, it's time for Spring. I LOVE Spring! It is my favorite season. So why in the world am I lving in frozen ice-world Logan? Yesterday, at 10 am, Richie came into the bathroom as I was getting ready for church and informed me that it was currently -4 below zero outside. Lovely.

We went hiking (why we didn't put our snowshoes on is a mystery. I was okay with my snowboots, but Richard only had tennis shoes) on Saturday up Logan Canyon. During my whole pregnancy I can honestly say that I have never felt "fat," just pregnant. But after looking at this picture, I can't believe how big I'm getting! I look totally fat! But at least I don't feel fat. I still feel fabulous and pregnant, not fat. Only 11 more weeks to go!

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-01T15:49:00.010-07:00

First, apologies to my total lack of communication for the month of December. Yes, I know that many of you were placed into fits of worry, lighting icon candles in prayer for my health, but don't worry. It was only my severe lack of energy from the holiday struggle that kept me from journaling my thoughts electronically for all to consider.

I finally took picutres of my house, at least, the main floor. I will post the basement and loft when the nursery is finally done (hopefully soon!).

But before I shower you, my delightful readers, with envy-inducing evidence of my AWESOME house, I need to say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my wonderful husband.

We celebrated 5 years of pure bliss on December 27th. I can't believe it--five whole years married, to each other, monogamous, happy (for most of it)! We didn't do too much in way of celebrating. Earlier last year I wanted to make travel plans for Belize, but then pregnancy and home ownership came into play (I'm not complaining). We went down to Cedar City for Christmas, so we drove up to Salt Lake on our way home Saturday and ate at The Roof in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and walked around Temple Square afterwards to see the Christmas lights. It was quite pleasant except for the fact that I over ate by about 5,000 calories (the dessert buffet is INCREDIBLE) and wanted to vomit for most the walk. But it was beautiful, fun, and very reminiscent of when we got married. I did let the Chemist know however, that if we weren't out of the country in another five years, with diamond studs in my ears, we won't be celebrating an 11th anniversary. Just kidding...maybe...

Oh, don't we look so happy and cold? Okay, on to the house...Featuring the Living Room, Bathroom, Kitchen, TV Room, Guest Room/Study

Happy New Year! 2008, you were great; 2009, looking fine!

What a Fantastic Month!

2008-11-24T12:14:00.003-07:00

November has been awesome to me. I must share. Obama won the Presidential election, the University of Utah Utes thoroughly destroyed the evil, self-righteous BYU Cougars (I hate them so much...) in the Holy War, our OB appointment went well, my sister Nicole returns home on Thursday from her 18 month LDS mission to the Netherlands, and...we moved into our new house!

That's right, we are now home owners. I have been experiencing many mixed emotions about it the past two weeks (that's how long we've been in the house and the main reason I haven't written much). While I am very excited to finally be in my own home, I have much anxiety over money (the not having enough of it part), fixing the house up, leaky dishwashers, boxsprings and other pieces of furniture not fitting in stairwells, and the like. I have felt really guilty too, because while it is by no means a palace, it is quite large, actually bigger than what we really need, and all that space is intimidating. I feel like we might be living beyond our means, and that really we should have bought a much cheaper, smaller house. But I shouldn't complain, right? I should be grateful for the many blessings I have in this house, and believe me, I am. I am soooooo grateful.

So is it weird that I have these anxious, guilty feelings attached to my joy? I think part of it is the time of year. I hate cold dark winters. Just hate 'em.

The house was built in 1948, has three bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a huge basement and quarter acre lot with a great, big backyard. It was built by a brickmason. I promise I will get more pictures, but I want everything to look perfect in them, so for now, here is a pic of the front of the house:

The Bebe Bump

2008-11-11T22:06:00.003-07:00

So I see it is pretty typical in Hollywood to glory in the "baby bump." Since I would like to be rich and infamous some day, I will follow suit. I am expecting People Magazine and TMZ paprazzi to be at my door any minute!
I am at the end of my 4th month (not sure what week exactly. 17? 18?).

I wish Richard knew how to take a really good subject photo. And I wish I knew how to pose for a really good subject photo. That is why I am usually the one behind the camera. For whatever reason, Richie really wasn't into taking my picture with Maude. He takes really good landscape photos, but I guess I am not as interesting a subject. Will someone please come take artsy, legendary pregnancy photos of me? Please?!

Tricks and Treats

2008-11-06T09:12:00.008-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures representing the many fabulous and fun things The Chemist, Maude The Fetus, and I have done the past couple of months during this gorgeous Autumn (warning, they mostly involve all, or parts of, pumpkins). We didn't do anything fun for Halloween this year. It was quite sad really, but when you're only friends have tiny babies/children, and you don't drink, there aren't many reasons to get the house decorated, dress-up, and rock it all night long with the ghosts and the ghouls. Maybe that's a defeatist attitude, but next year, next year will be awesome. We'll have a baby, a place to party, and I'll make sure Richard has a kick-ass costume. As for candy, well, I consume enough of that on a daily basis as to ensure I don't need more on Halloween.

We went kayaking at Tony Grove Lake, which is up Logan Canyon. It was really fun, but the lake is quite small, and after about half an hour, we had already explored the whole thing from the water. We also ended up hiking the little trail that circles the lake. It was a perfect day: sunny, warm, slight breeze. But that also meant there were loads of other people up there too.

We went to a u-pick pumpkin patch in Paradise for our jack-o-lantern pumpkin. I love pumpkin patches. Isn't Richie cute? It was cold and snowy that day!

We went on a hike in the Left Fork of Blacksmith Fork Canyon. It was quite pretty, but the road was unpaved and very bumpy, and we forgot that it was deer season. Every other person in that canyon was hunting (and there were quite a few of them) and the slight few who weren't were at least wearing bright orange. Maybe it wasn't so smart of us to go on a secluded hike while pregnant in the middle of hunting season, but we went anyway, made lots of noise, and fortunately didn't get shot at (that we know of). The colors on the hike were actually very blah and brown, so the picture of the foilage is enhanced to trick you. I don't know why I took Richie's picture in the shade, but in black & white it actually looks spooky, like he's on a haunted hunting trail.

Richard carving our pumpkin.

Me vomiting the pumpkin guts. Hee hee...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday to My Favorite Ghoul!

2008-10-30T16:10:00.003-06:00

Today is my mom's birthday! What a great time of year for a cool birthday party. She loves Halloween. She is the most wonderful mother. I love her! All my friends in high school (and those that knew her in college as well) love her too. They all call her Mom or Mom Barkume. I wish I had more pictures on my computer, but here is a little montage to celebrate the many (but not too many) wonderful years of her life, the best being the ones with me.

On the hike to Angel's Landing, Zion NP.

Out to dinner with my Dad.

Both this picture and the first one on top were taken at the beach near Bandon, Oregon.

Cast of Characters: Little Fetus Maude

2008-10-29T22:05:00.004-06:00

I'm proud to present our unborn baby GIRL!

The internet poll has prophesied correctly: Maude is the clear winner, and thus we will call our unborn girl child Maude until she really enters this world in style. I can't wait for all that pain and tearing and screaming. She's making me work for her, that's for sure!

I wish our ultrasound picutures were a little clearer, but she is quite the squirmy baby, and apparently my placenta is right in front of her, so the images weren't as focused as some I've seen. But she looks healthy and is right on target for size, which is a great indicator that everything is developing correctly. We got to see pictures of her brain, bladder, spine, and watch the blood pump through the four chambers of her heart. It was amazing! I can't imagine being pregnant and not getting to see that! Even when my mom was pregnant with me, which wasn't too long ago, this sort of technology didn't exist. That is crazy to me. I love living in the 21st Century--what a blessing!

Clearly, the "girl"part of her. Nothing poking out between those legs! Her bum is on the left, the mouse is pointing to the labia, and her feet are to the right.

I think these pictures of her feet are just...sigh...too wonderful and amazing. She's really in there!

The best picture we got of her spine. I only wish her profile wasn't blurred.