My Baby is ONE!!

Today my little boy turned one year old. Technically as I'm writing this, he STILL wasn't here yet. Yeah, he took his sweet time to show up. Apparently my body doesn't seem to understand that the kids need to come out at sometime. I was a week overdue before they would induce me. I walked my butt off for two weeks hoping to get something going on my own, but no luck. I did get several nasty blisters though. However, with only one dose of prostaglandin, my body gets it done! So, to some of you, this may sound gross or too much, but I actually got to see Owen come out. How you may ask? Well, they asked me if I wanted a mirror to see it. My first reaction was no, but then I thought, "I've had an epidural, I'm not feeling any pain, why not?" I figured if it was too much, I'd close my eyes or look elsewhere. Well, I only pushed 7 times and Owen was out. For those not impressed with 7 pushes please remember he weighed NINE pounds when he was born. Seeing him come out was a seriously spiritual experience for me. Amazing.

My first thought after they laid him on my chest (which they immediately did after he was born--covered in blood and such) was "Whoa! This kid looks big to me." He was so perfect though. I couldn't believe I had another baby. I was really worried about having a little boy because I didn't grow up with any brothers and so I thought it would be trickier somehow. So far, he's been such an amazing little boy. He is the sweetest thing. There are so many things I love about Owen...

• His smile--Dimples on each side (just like his sister and neither me nor my husband have dimples).


• His hair--It's very light brownish/blonde and in the back it has little curls.


• His belly--When he is walking around with just his diaper on and that belly is sticking out it is so cute (I'm still hoping this comes back in style for women my age).


• His little bum--There is something so funny and endearing about a naked little bum that is running away from you as you try to catch it to throw it in the tub.


• His chatter--He isn't saying a lot of words (ma-ma, da-da, na-na (for Ryanna)) but he is constantly saying something...I just don't know what it is...probably exactly what he's thinking everytime we all talk.


• His kisses--They are open-mouthed and they are rare, but so sweetly given.


• His honking--One time I made the honk noise when he grabbed my nose and it made him laugh, so we play that game several times a day now.


• His unconditional love--shouldn't we all be more like children in their quick nature to forgive and to want to love everyone around them? Owen loves me so dearly and makes me feel so important when he reaches for me and finds comfort in my arms.


• His backward eye-roll--when he's really wanting to nurse and he finally latches on, it's the eyes rolling back in ecstacy that just makes me giggle, must be a lot like I feel about food.


• His chest--He has a pretty deep chest, check out the picture of him when he was first born...it's funny because his middle name is my grandparents' last name who raised me and my husband swears that our little boy is built just like my grandpa with his deep chest.

Our little family has been so greatly blessed to have this sweet addition. I feel so thrilled for Ryanna to have a sibling that will be close to her age that she can call and talk to. I always wished I'd had siblings close to my age when I got to college. I wanted her to have Owen in her life as much as I wanted him in my own life. I wanted my husband and I to have the experience of having a boy and a girl to raise. It'll be interesting to continue to see the differences. Right from the beginning it's noticeable and I can hardly wait to see how much more evident it will become.

Hallo-Thanks-mas

Yesterday when we were coming home from church, I saw a couple of guys with ladders and tools walking around a neighbor's yard. I thought, "Oh, just finishing up some yard work." After a closer look, I discovered they had been busy, little elves and installed Christmas lights on the house. Christmas lights? Already? THEN...

Today I went on a walk with the kiddos. I've been trying to do that every night to make the time go by more quickly and get a tiny bit of exercise and mostly to enjoy the temperate climate of this time of year. Anyway, walked by the above mentioned house and the Christmas lights were on! Seriously.

Okay, I absolutely love Christmas. It's definitely one of my top two holidays, but it's not even the middle of November yet. I realize the department stores and every other such stores are already bombarding us with Christmas merchandise, but what the heck happened to Thanksgiving?

My poor daughter is so confused she keeps asking me when we're going to celebrate Christmas and I have to constantly remind her that we have to celebrate Thanksgiving first. Then she asks me when we're going to celebrate her birthday (which isn't till April) and I have to remind her it's not for a long time. Yesterday, she told my grandma that she could go trick-or-treating with her. The poor girl has some sort of holiday schizophrenia going on.

Take a Look, It's in a Book...

• This morning I went to one of my favorite activities--book club! I actually belong to two different book clubs, one made up of women in my new ward and the one I went to today which is composed of women from my old ward. It used to be one of our interest groups for the ward, but was removed as an interest group...not a subject I like to discuss.
  
  The last two times we've gathered we've done a brunch theme where each of us brings a brunch type item and we talk about life, kids, etc. and eventually discuss the book as well. It's a lot of fun to hear people's perspectives on the book that month--what they loved, what they didn't like, how they felt about the characters, the symbolism they found in the book.
  
  Seriously, how can you not love to read? I know there are people out there who don't read. Why? I admit that I don't read a lot of self help or hard science type books, but I do love to read pretty much everything else. Admittedly, there is a lot of trashy literature out there, but there is so much interesting and thought-provoking material as well. I never understand how people can't get into books. I think I average reading a book about every week and a half.
  
  I always get really excited when I finish a good book, I want to share it with other people. I love to talk about it and see myself or my life experiences in the book. I love to learn about the author and see how their life is reflected in the book as well.
  
  I have a lot of areas in my life that I need to improve and that includes reading certain books. Some of the books I haven't read, but want to get around to are:
• Anna Karenina and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo (We're reading it for this month's book club!)
• 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriela Garcia Marquez
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
• Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (Did you know he wrote this? Did you know he grew up with Harper Lee who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird--already read it.)
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

So, what other suggestions do you have out there? I have read a lot of books, but am always looking for more suggestions. Feel free to leave yours.

Say it isn't so!

Many of you seem to be aware of the strike by most of the writers who write anything worth watching anymore. Well, I wasn't too concerned until I heard that the Office is only going to have one more episode and then be done because Steve Carrell refuses to cross the writers striking line to return to work.

Now, I totally understand him wanting to support these writers and honestly, The Office isn't much without a great dialog since it's so character/dialog driven. I don't know what those writers are asking, but GIVE IT TO THEM!!!

Here are some of Creed's Thoughts and Dwight's Web Log from the website to tide you over until tonight's episode:

Time Encapsulated
Hello internetizens. I have returned from my web logging hiatus. You may be asking yourself, “what happened to Dwight all summer?” Shut up. It’s none of your business. Just focus on the present. In this case, the present has two meanings. In its first usage, it is temporal. The present is the here and now. It is also being used to mean “a gift.” This web log is a present from me to you, the reader, because you do not pay for it and I am giving it to you. Enjoy your present (both meanings).
This weekend, while my cousin Mose was aerating the soil in the East Field, he came upon a metal box labeled “For Dwight. DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2005.” Luckily, Mose is not nosey and brought it to me unopened right away.
As it turns out, the box was a time capsule that I had left for myself in 1985. It was quite interesting to see what 1985 Dwight had left for 2005 Dwight, even though 2005 Dwight forgot it was there and had to be reminded by 2007 Mose two years later.
These are the contents of 1985 Dwight’s Time Capsule:
1. A dehydrated beet sculpture of myself holding a very small metal box meant to represent a miniature version of the time capsule. I was very much into beet miniatures when I was teenager. I did not, however, know my “BeetDwight” would shrivel into dehydration. That occurred because of science, not intention.
2. A friendship bracelet. They were all the rage amongst agricultural teenagers in 1985. I was susceptible to fads back then. This has since been corrected.
3. Half of a Twix Bar. It must have fallen in.
4. A letter to myself. It said: “Hello Dwight. If you’re reading this, then you are not dead. Good. If you are not Dwight and you are reading this, be aware that this letter is cursed and the ghost of me will haunt you forever. Dokken Rules. Dwight.”
5. A letter to my wife. This is a sensitive subject as I am unmarried and have obviously disappointed my former self.
6. The carcass of a vole. At first I thought it had either fallen in or been trapped while attempting to retrieve the Twix bar. After careful thought, however, I remembered that this was the skeleton of my neighbor’s pet. I despised him and kidnapped one of his voles. Unfortunately, the vole perished before I could return her, so I threw her into the time capsule so there would be no evidence. This serves as my confession. If any authorities are reading this, I willingly accept any punishment bestowed upon me, although I believe the statute of limitations on vole manslaughter has run out.
This “blast from the past” has cast an interesting shadow over my week. It has provided cause for great self-reflection. In truth, however, I am proud of who I have become and regret nothing. Now I must make a time capsule for 2025 Dwight. I hope he is alive when he opens it. And married. And running a large paper company. And a beet magnate or mogul, whichever is most powerful in 2025. Additionally, I hope he has created a way to keep miniature beet sculptures hydrated over long periods of time, thus making himself very rich yet unburdened by the pressures of being overly wealthy.
That is all,
Dwight K. Schrute

If anyone knows how to get chocolate out of hair, let me know. I fell asleep on top of forty Fun Size Milky Ways last night and now I’ve got nougat everywhere. I already tried peanut butter, but that just made my hair into a different kind of candy. I’ll make you a deal: you get it out of my hair, you get to keep it.
Parents always freak out about crazy people giving their kids apples with razorblades hidden inside for Halloween. Those parents are idiots. If you’re getting a free razorblade inside your apple, you shouldn’t be complaining. And if you really want to impress me on Halloween, give me some licorice. That stuff hits the spot.

Stake "Torture" Conference

Our Stake Conference was today. Also known as the dreaded day without Primary or nursery for those of you who speak in LDS terms. It was a double whammy for me because Derek was out of town until this afternoon, so I was going to have to brave it alone.
Imagine it if you will. Let's put it into one of those movie preview voices. You imagine the music in the background while I narrate:
Hold onto your scriptures because here it is, the most anticipated spectacle of the year! One woman...(dramatic music inserted here and flash my face without the stress zit that popped up on my chin the other day) two children under the age of five (more dramatic music and pictures of my kids running)...face the daunting task of: Stake Conference!
They said it couldn't be done... (show pictures of people mocking) this woman barely out of her youth (I'm adding that phrase to make me feel younger here, just go with it okay.) handling these two children during a conference where adults speak for TWO FULL HOURS without stopping!!! (flashes of speakers at the pulpit).
She'd have only one opening hymn, a couple of releases and sustainings and a rest hymn to help her survive (more dramatic music). Was she up to the challenge? Who would come of conquerer--the young mother or her two, fatherless children? Coming to a theater near you!
Well, I'm happy to say that we survived the entire conference and I actually did feel the Spirit while I was there. Our stake president reminds me a lot of my last stake president in his down to earth, let's be real approach which I really like. I was really blessed to have some friends of mine, who don't have any children, come in and sit right behind me and the wife pretty much served as my nanny during the whole thing.
I really do have to wonder about the whole stake conference idea...I think it's a great idea for all of us to come together as a stake, but it's really, really difficult to have your children endure that much sitting for that long. I realize Ryanna is old enough to do okay with a fair amount of coloring books and Benadryl injected straight to her veins. Owen is not able to do it (I can't seem to get the dosage right yet...) and I am not alone in this either as I saw zillions of other parents roaming the halls with their brood trying to keep them quiet. (Before someone turns me into child protective services, I am totally joking about drugging my kids up okay?)
Even harder is the Saturday night session which my husband and I have never attended since we've lived in Arizona. In our last ward, all of our friends had small children like we do, so it wasn't fair to ask them to miss stake conference so we could go. For those with family nearby, it's was no big deal. Frankly, after serving in Young Women's in the prior ward, I don't know that I would've trusted many of the youth to watch our kids.
Seriously, can you imagine the day before microphones? Can't you just see the families? Here's a probable pioneer family discussion in preparation for attending stake conference:

Mother: June!!! Do you have the gunney sack full of treats for young Henry and Eliza?

June: Indeed I do mother. I have packed some of our tastiest smoked jerky and a whole jar of raspberry preserves with a loaf of that wonderful bread that Sis. Pierce brought us a fortnight ago. (I knew I could get the word fortnight in an entry if I wrote enough of these blog things!)

Mother: Bless you June. I think you may also want to grab some sticks and rocks that they can throw at each other to keep them entertained as well.

June: I already thought of that mother. (you'll notice in corny books written in this day and age, the children always say "mother" instead of "mom.")

Mother: I do appreciate your help with all of this. I can only hope that we don't sit next to that noisy Petersen family. They are what I'd call a lively group.

June: Yes, and have you heard? The town's all a flutter with news that her husband has left her to study abroad for a time and she'll have to care for the young things all by herself.

Mother: Well, we can only hope to set a good example for young Sis. Petersen. She does try her hardest after all.

I am still thinking of creating a petition to begin an even earlier nursery than currently exists. You know how they have CTR A and CTR B or they used to anyway. It would be Nursery A. My guidelines would be:
1. Child must be mobile ('cause before that you just have to deal with them--sorry!)
2. No biting allowed (one bite and you're gone, no fair to make other parents hate your kid)
3. Run by responsible married couples without kids (this will serve two purposes: give the parents of the child a break and make the married couple running the nursery realize how much they want a baby or how they are not yet ready to be parents--bonus either way)
All joking aside, I love church even if it is difficult with kids. I know that the only way they will be able to learn to sit quietly is if I keep giving them opportunities to do it. It's just fun to poke a little fun at my own struggle to deal with it. I am grateful though that I have my husband by my side to help out. There are special blessings for all you women that have husbands sitting on the stand.

This is the Halloween that does not end...

So, when I was growing up, each year I celebrated Halloween one time, one day of the year. It seems to me that in everyone's attempts to make Halloween wonderful for our children, Halloween gets done multiple times a year anymore. For instance...
Halloween #1: Our ward's Trunk or Treat where we were able to have chile (I made a really yummy white chile that I took) and hot dogs and drink root beer. The kids walked around and got buckets full of candy at this event as well as winning little prizes at the various booths.
**Sidenote**I do have to ask though, whenever my grandma makes rootbeer, she always puts dry ice in, to keep it cold and probably for entertainment value as well. This rootbeer was that "left on the counter too long to be good and cool" temperature. Doesn't homemade rootbeer need dry ice or is that one of those myths that I've created from my upbringing? I'm looking to find out if I'm abnormal or do the rest of you do dry ice too?
Halloween #2: Ryanna's pre-school did a small little Halloween where we moms each did a little activity with prizes for the kids. I did the cupcake walk. Ryanna helped me decorate the cupcakes. They were strawberry with cream cheese frosting.
Halloween #3: Our community where we live held trick or treating the night before Halloween because I guess in past years our subdivision got slammed pretty hard and some of the residents were upset that their own children didn't get any candy because houses would run out before kids who live here could get any. I really liked this because it allowed me to meet my neighbors. It's hard in this day and age to meet your neighbors because people work so much and when they come home, they don't go out. I met a lot of people and really enjoyed myself and the kids came home with loads of candy.
**Sidenote**NO Owen's costume is not him being eaten by an alligator as I got asked TWICE. Seriously, that's a little out there for me to even think of. He was a dragon. It's not my fault he wouldn't wear the head piece. Doesn't he know I'm trying to get good photos here? Those Anne Gedes & Tom Arma photos where the kids are in cute animal costumes--don't believe it for one second! Those kids were doped up on Dimetapp or something to get them to grin and sit still and not try to yank the head piece off and give an Indian war cry in your face. At least my son would never go for it.
Halloween #4: Ryanna helped me to pass out candy to the kids that came to our house on Halloween night. We didn't get nearly the crowd I thought we would because so many people turned off their lights and didn't participate on the real night because they had done the community trick or treat. I thought it was a good chance for Ryanna to give since she had received so much. I think she might've enjoyed the power of distributing the candy more than she did getting it even.
Wow! That's enough Halloween festivities to last a lifetime...or I guess till next year anyway!
**Last Sidenote I promise**Due to the amount of times Ryanna was able to dress up, she was a Princess for some activities and a cow for others. Her choice.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

I just wanted to let you know that I married the most wonderful man (hopefully you all feel the same about your own husbands).

I really feel so blessed to have a hard-working, intelligent, athletic, spiritual, HOT man in my life. The more I hear about some of the guys that are out there, the more I realize how lucky I was to find Derek. If you feel like you're married to a man with great qualities who treats you well, offer a prayer of thanks because you have a huge blessing that some women would die to have.

Serioulsy, how easy is it to bash your husband's faults rather than to acknowledge his differences and celebrate how your differences and his are what make your marriage wonderful? I know that if Derek were just like me, we'd drive each other crazy...and be really, really FAT. You can't have two people obsessed with junk food like me and be healthy.

He's such an example to me...I love him!!!

Derek, I wish that you were able to be home today to celebrate with us, but know we're thinking of you.