Happy Fathers Day!!

When I was still single, I knew that I wanted to marry somebody like my Dad. I wanted that someone to be supportive of me. I wanted him to be willing to help me out (my dad always did the dishes in our house.) I hoped he'd be athletic and supportive of our kids getting into sports. And I hoped he could sing a little too. I also hoped he'd love kids. My dad loves to jest and tease kids (not in a mean way of course) and whirl and twirl and toss them around. And he comes up with the funniest nicknames for them too. I also hoped that my husband would be a great spiritual strength in the home, and lead and bless our family by honoring his Priesthood.

I try not to brag about Samuel too often on my blog. He gets so embarrassed when I put anything on the blog about him. And I mean anything. But he'll just have to grin and bear it this time while I wish him a Happy Father's Day in front of anyone who reads this.

After 3 years of marriage, 2 kids, and lots of drama brought on by me, I can only say I am one lucky girl to have him as a husband. He loves us so much, and he is so good at showing it. Before we had Kalia, he had very little experience with kids. I had no idea what kind of father he would be (I just hoped for the best!) I remember when we were going to the birth classes before she was born, and the teacher taught us to swaddle a little doll. His swaddle ROCKED. Mine was terrible. It was my first clue that he was going to be an amazing dad.

Then we had Kalia. She ended up being a c-section after a long and rough labor. (They mercifully knocked me out right after they showed me Kalia. I barely remember seeing her). Since she had some respiratory complications, they took her to the NICU, and he was the one who held her first and watched over her while I was completely out of it. He told me that his "Papa Bear" instinct immediately kicked in during those hours, and all he wanted to do was protect that baby girl. Then, when we left the hospital, we had no family with us-- it was just the three of us for those first few days at home. And since I was recovering from the labor and c-section, I couldn't do much. But he was amazing! Every time Kalia woke up to eat, he would get up and bring her to me. Then he would change her diaper so that I didn't have to get out of bed. He kept that up for weeks. And that was the beginning of fatherhood for him. This is one of my favorite pictures of his first day as a father:Mmmmm...that make me want to have another baby.

Anyway, fast forward to Annaliese, when we spent those months trying to help her stop crying. We'd rock and jiggle and bounce until we couldn't take it anymore, and we'd hand her off to the other. There is NO way I could have gotten through that without him. He had a special way of holding her on his arm that often did the trick, and even though I tried, I couldn't duplicate the results:Then, when I was sad about giving up breastfeeding so that we could give her hypoallergenic formula, he convinced me to do it, and he did that by telling me that he would get up and make the bottles at night and feed her. He still does that today, getting up every morning in the wee hours to get her the bottle.

He is a wonderful priesthood leader, and has given me and the girls so many blessings, and some have been very sweet and special experiences. He does his home teaching (he's so much better than I am at VT-ing) and he makes sure we have a family night every week.

For those of you who have heard him sing, he's AMAZING! And he is very athletic (see video below) and very adventurous. (He passed that on to daughter #1). And as the final icing on the cake...he is willing to share my workload. After working so many long and hard hours to provide for us, he still comes home and will change any diaper at any time. He will feed and bathe both girls and get them to bed while I slip out for some alone time at Target. The two times that Kalia was up every hour throwing up, guess who slept in her room on the floor? He did. And of course, the big whammy...he does the dishes Every. Single. Night. I don't know why I get to be married to such a wonderful man, but I hope he knows how much I love and appreciate him and all he does for our family. I also hope he knows how much his daughters love him. I am truly so grateful for our forever family.

I also want to thank my dad for setting the example of what a father (and husband) could be. He has blessed my life in a million ways, and I would not be who I am today without him.

Finally, since this post IS all about Samuel, I have to show off his wakeboarding skills. And when I say skills, I mean he pulls a back flip at the very end...and lands it. Sorry the quality is terrible. I had to send back my brand new camera because the video quality completely fuzzed out. I love you Samuel!! Happy Fathers Day. Thanks for being so dang wonderful!

Tonight It's About Me

Thanks Suzanne, I borrowed this from your blog. By the way, Jeanette Fry Garrett is the pregnant one, she's having twins in two weeks! Doesn't she look amazing? She had the coolest belly that stuck straight out.

I went to my 10-year high school reunion last weekend. It was really fun to see everyone, and not nearly as awkward as I imagined it. I was surprised by how much everyone looked PRETTY MUCH THE SAME! Except for a lot of the guys who had filled out, and I mean in the belly and in the faces, but just a tad of course. I put up a bunch of pictures on facebook, but here's one of me and my closest friends--my teammates from high school in Volleyball and Basketball. Maybe it's just sports, I don't know, but these girls became the best friends I've ever had, and when we get together, it's like we've never been apart. Katie, Suzanne, Genis and I (and the husbands) squeezed in an afternoon on the lake, and it was SO much fun. I know we were all sore from wakeboarding-- and Katie and Suzanne both got up for the first time- very impressive! (Samuel did the best trick that I got on video, but this post isn't about him, so I'll save that for later.)
:)

In other news, I keep losing things. I lost my wedding ring (2nd time it's happened) and it took about 3 weeks, but I finally found it in the bottom of the washing machine (WHEW!). And it was very sparkly. I was just so grateful for that prayer being answered.

I also lost my contact again (100th time it's happened.) I wear gas permeable contacts, (They are hard, not soft, and I only replace them once every few years.) Last time, Samuel took apart the drain to get it back. This time I dropped it on the ground and could just never find it. Samuel is so tired of all the contact issues, so he INSISTED it was time for me to get Lasik. YAY! I didn't think he was serious, but he is. So I went and got the exam and quote, and the only problem is that since I've worn hard contacts for 14 years, my corneas have changed shape, and so I have to wait at LEAST 6 weeks to get Lasik, and I have to wear my GLASSES for all that time. Very annoying, and they aren't cute either. They are just back-up glasses, they aren't stylish/trendy or anything. The Lasik place/people were so nice though, when I told them about my HS reunion, they ordered me a special pair of soft contacts to wear so that I could go to my reunion without feeling too ugly. They must really want my business. And they're going to get it.

Has anyone had Lasik? I'd like to hear about your experience. I am afraid I might only end up with 20/40 vision. I've had 20/15 with these contacts, and it sure is nice. The statistics online said that 67% of people have 20/20 vision or better...but I will be bummed if I'm not one of those 67 percent.

Finally, the one thing I'm NOT losing is WEIGHT. I was within 1 lb. of my pre-pregnancy weight, but somehow since Hawaii I gained 6 lbs back. Now I'm discouraged, and instead of working harder, I'm eating MORE ice cream and sitting on the couch more...GREAT! I have no desire to work out at all. I really need some motivation. Any ideas? Magazine pictures of rock hard abs on my fridge?

Annaliese at 7 months

Lately everyone is saying, "She's gotten so big!" And it's weird, because it's like all of a sudden she went from being a little baby to a ....big baby. Or something like that. She is 18.6 lbs and 26 inches (90th percentile). It's going to be weird when my girls are taller than me someday.

Last week I was realizing that her footie pajamas were all a little too small, and I better go dig out the bigger size. That's when it DAWNED on me that Annaliese is 7 months old, and still wearing 3-6 month pajamas. I have to blame this on Kalia. (Hear me out on this one). Kalia started crawling at 4 months, before she could even sit up on her own. And she started taking steps at the age that Annaliese is now (remember the video I posted of her last year, at 7 1/2 months? That movie blows my mind now that I see what a normal 7 month old baby is doing.) Anyway, since I don't know any better, my unconscious mind still thinks that Annaliese is 4 months old.

That was fun for a first-time Mom, but from here on out I know better and I want her to stay SITTING and not CRAWLING or WALKING for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!! Especially because of her food allergies, I am going to have to keep my floor spotless which is a daunting job as you all know.

About those food allergies-- She is still very allergic to cows milk (thanks to Kalia, who dripped milk all over A's face, we know that she hasn't outgrown that one) and she still has her corn allergy. When ever I see her start spitting up a ton, (or sometimes it's a rash on the back of her neck) I know that I wasn't careful enough. She's on solids now, but several jars of fruit baby food have citric acid added to them. Citric acid is sometimes made from corn starch. And I forgot about that until the spit up started up again. So I have to stay on my toes with her. At least the vegetables don't have anything added but water. She really loves carrots and sweet potatoes. I am very cautious with any baby cereal, but so far rice cereal has been fine.

Here's a few other little things about Annaliese at this age:
1. I cut the mullet!
2. Her eyes are taking their sweet time on changing colors. They are still grey/blue with some brown streaks in them.
3. She has survived some pretty hard falls, one of which she landed face down on the ceramic tile and got a bloody nose (DANG THE BUMBO!)
4. She just started reaching out for people when she wants to go to them.
5. She's drooling again like crazy. And she started waking up at nights. Those bottom teeth better get in soon, PLEASE PLEASE!
6. She found out that standing is pretty cool, and when I go to put her on the floor in a sitting position, she locks her knees and tries to stand. Finally I just put her on her stomach which she HATES, and rolls over to her back and is just stuck there.
7. She's increasingly tolerant of Kalia who likes to hold her, squish her, roll her around, and drag her by the feet. But she does NOT like sharing the Exersaucer. (Sidenote: My mom has a picture of my older sister trying to get in a baby Walker with me, and I'm screaming my head off. I tried to find it at home but I couldn't. It's just funny to see K & A reinacting my old baby pictures.)
8. She gets REALLY UPSET when she doesn't get what she wants. She could be a real challenge when she's older. I usually see it when she's really hungry, and I'm trying to get her bottle ready, and she's reaching for it. and when I won't give it to her, she starts crying so hard it sounds like she's laughing.

9. She has a cute little voice and loves to say ba ba ba and da da da.



10. And for those of you who are wondering, she is still sleeping in a pack and play in our walk-in closet. I can't bring myself to move her in with Kalia yet. Annaliese wakes up at 5:30 for a bottle and then goes back to sleep. I can't bear the thought of Kalia waking up and STAYING awake at that hour.

11. Last but not least, she has a sort-of foot fetish going on. She will rub and scratch her feet on everything. She loves having them massaged. And sometimes when I give her a bottle, she holds onto it with her hands AND Her feet....kind of like a little monkey. I really need to get a picture of it.

"Rest time"

I think it is safe to say that rest time is "working"...and she does in fact, still need to nap. I'm not sure why she likes to take her clothes off, or tip over her playhouse every day, but I'm really not complaining. I couldn't get a good angle on this shot, so don't get dizzy trying to look at it.


When it got awful quiet during Rest Time yesterday, I peeked in and was surprised....because I couldn't find her! She wasn't in the crib, or even in the room for that matter. Oh wait, there she is. Sound asleep. I love her.

Ticket...dismissed

Well, for the most part. It really felt like a blessing, but just as I was leaving I found out about a judge who handles "friends and family" tickets (friends and family of cops...and anyone else who knows about it. It was in the newspaper a year ago.) This judge does it once a week for an hour, and you skip all other protocol, go straight to him, and just...try to work it out. It just so happens that the day and time that I showed up was the time he was there, so I tried to calm my beating heart (I've never been in a courtroom, much less in front of a judge, trying to get out of $1620.00) so I was NERVOUS! Then we had to "all rise" for the judge and he walked in, pretty cute and young actually, and smiley and friendly as you can imagine. He was joking with everybody and being all happy. I started to calm. He would call people up one by one and ask about their tickets. I heard him reducing the tickets down to $190 or $140, some got traffic school too. I was a little disappointed, I knew that if I took the time and effort to go all the way to trial I could probably get the whole thing thrown out entirely. But I decided to just see what happened. Right before I went up to talk to him, I looked down to check out the insurance card that I'd brought showing current insurance. My heart sunk to my toes when I saw that it was for Samuel's old Ford truck, and not the Pilot that I'd been pulled over in. I didn't know what to do. Beg for 10 minutes so I could run out and HOPE the right one was in the vehicle? So my heart started pounding again. So he calls me up, he smiles, asks about my ticket, I first hand him the insurance card, and he only looked at the dates on it, (which are the same dates as the Honda insurance) and that was it! He immediately dismissed that one. (HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF!) Then he asked for my drivers license. I gave it to him, and I'm still blond in it. Plus, I have to wear my glasses for a month (more on that later) and so he was kind of giving me a hard time telling me that the picture didn't look a thing like me (and it doesn't). (Heart pounding again.) But then he just smiled and dismissed that charge, and then he asked about the speeding. I told him it was my first speeding ticket ever. (I'm pretty sure that's true...I've had 3 accidents but no speeding tickets...weird, huh) and so he joked again, saying he'd just give me a $500 fine (the others in the courtroom are all laughing at his jokes; I was laughing too, probably too loudly because I was nervous). Then he wrote $140...and then he crossed it out and said, "I'll just make it a parking ticket, no traffic school, no points, just the $90 fee." And, I was done. I'd expected to spend half a day in the customer service line, and the whole thing was done in 55 MINUTES! I wanted to skip and cartwheel out of there. That was the nicest coolest (ahem...hottest) judge I've ever seen. I hope everyone in Las Vegas knows about this little Friends and Family deal. That being said, I still have the downloaded book on how to take your ticket to court and KICK BUTT (even if you're guilty) so I'm urging you guys not to just pay a speeding ticket. Everything I've read said that you are almost guaranteed some sort of reduction in points on your record, in fees, or whatever else, if you just show up to try to contest it.

It's over

Well, it's over. She's done with naps. I have to accept it. How sad. Thank you to the other moms who told me that their kid(s) gave up naps around two years old, somehow that makes me feel better. All Kalia's cousins (Maddux, Malakai, and Kyla) are older and still napping and I'll admit I'm a little jealous. Oh well. I don't know any child that has as much energy and excitement about life as Kalia. (Last Sunday a girl in our ward said to me, "Kalia makes Noah look calm (they are the same age)...and that's hard to do." I just smiled. I know. At least she's not like, ADHD hyper, just pleasantly joyful. It bursts out of her.

Anyway, after three days of easy, successful naps, today was a mess. She climbed out of her crib at least 15 times and just played in her room. One time she knocked, so I went to the door and she told me she was poopy. (That was one of the 3 times she had a messy diaper. I swear she holds it in until nap time.) Another time I heard a big crash, and she was crying. Another time I just walked in and she was up on the changing table getting into the hand sanitizer. (I didn't even know she could climb up there.) I will definitely still enforce some sort of quiet time, for my own sanity. And on the bright side, since she only gets binkies while in bed, she's slowly weaning herself off them. Today as I got her up to feed her lunch, I asked her if she wanted some pizza and her eyes lit up, and she said, "Yes!" and then I said very seriously and solemnly, "but after lunch you have to take a NAP!" and she starts nodding with a real serious face and said, "Nap." I think she just told me her first lie. And she was really good at it. But it did crack me up. So...as for bedtime, she used to go to bed at 6:30 or 7. Does this mean I put her to bed at 5:30 or 6? That seems soooo early, and it's still light outside. But she's pretty tired by then....so what else do I do? Anyway, that's where we're at with that.

Fight!

I am on my way out the door to fight a speeding ticket. I was cited for going 40 in a 25. I also got cited for not having a Nevada drivers license (supposed to get one 30 days after moving here) and also for having an expired insurance card in the vehicle. Grand total? $1620.00 (Yes you read that right.) They are desperate for money here or something, tripling fines and stuff!! I get the insurance fee thrown out as soon as I show them proof of current insurance, but it's a $300 fee just for going 15 over (and the place he claimed he clocked me was after coming out of a stop sign...I would have had to floor it!) I'm not the type to just roll over and take it, not to mention I haven't had a speeding ticket in years, SOOOOOO... I found an amazing book online about fighting tickets. It must have been written by a lawyer, it has all the tricks in it!! But you have to get to an actual trial. Most courts try to settle (give you a deal) before a trial to get you to go away. I kind of want to go to trial, cause I have info that would almost guarantee that the ticket would be thrown out entirely. Anyway, I'm probably just going to get a date for trial today, but we'll see what happens. Wish me luck. If anybody needs to fight a ticket, let me know, I'll send you some good info.