C'est la vie... C'est MA vie! ...hopefully.

Oh to dream, right? This super-great blogger is giving away a trip to Paris... HELLO?! Awesome! Here's the link to the giveaway... except you probably shouldn't enter... unless you want to take me with you, that is!

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

All I can say is Ooh La La. Check it out!

Mother's Day!

This year I had a lovely Mother's Day. Jeff got off of work (late) in the early morning, and still made me breakfast in bed (pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, juice - the works!) Accompanying my breakfast tray were a beautiful peach-colored rose and a Kobo! (That's an eReader, in case you didn't know.) He had previously warned me it was a gift I would think was too expensive so he would take it out of my Bday presents, too. :) I then let him catch a few zzz's before we had to go to church. Church was fun, I got a chocolate heart from the ward, some cinnamon bears from the primary and a super-cute card Amie made in nursery, as well as her handprint on a page followed by this poem about fingerprints on the walls, etc (only for so long, you know?)

I just loved it! Jeff made efforts to handle the kids until Elder's Quorum so I could enjoy listening at Church, and even when I had Alisa, she was a good girl for me. (Very out of the ordinary for Church time.) After Church, we got to be lazy at home and Jeff made dinner for us, one of our favorite staples, Honey Mustard chicken.

We were able to go out to eat the day before with my mom and family at Los Hermanos in Provo, one of her favorites. It was a very fun time, I thought, and good food. Us kids all pitched in to buy her a fire bowl which has already gotten much use!

We stopped at Jeff's mom's on the way there to give her a Joseph Smith-etched crystal, and she gave me a cute shirt and a sweet letter. (She usually does flowers, but said she's not doing that this year cause we all always kill them! Sad but true!)


I'm so thankful for mothers and to be able to be counted among them!

Jeffrey's big 2-7.

My Jeffy face just survived his 27th birthday. We started off the Bday celebrations early at my parents' place 2 weeks ago with BBQ and gifts when everyone could be there. He scored a few great things. We kept the party alive with a fun group FHE bowling night on Monday the 9th. We had fun and got really creative with juggling all of the kiddies by the end... Later Jeff, so luckily, got off early (midnight instead of 5 am) the night before his Bday, so he wasn't a tired bear all day. Friday I made his favorite dinner (or one of them - kielbasa in red sauce over rice) since I wouldn't be cooking on his birthday. Saturday, I got up with the girls and made reese's pancakes and bacon for breakfast, then we headed to our niece Hannah banana's birthday party (well, Amelie and I did while dad and Lisie played Wii at grandma's) which was super-cute, by the way.

After the party, we left the girls with grandma and went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, where we had some delicious offerings and ate outside in the lovely sun. This is where the plans get all muddled. I had planned on taking Jeff to see a movie after lunch cause he love that and we hardly ever get to go. However, all the times were cutting it fairly close for us since my sis-in-law needed help with Hannah's party, so Jeff that morning said "let's golf instead." So, I didn't worry about getting out of the party quickly, THEN by the time lunch was over, the rainy rain clouds were rolling in... kiboshing golf, but the movie times were already over, SO we ended up bowling again. I was sad cause I didn't want Jeff to be disappointed, but he really loves bowling, so we went. Totally different experience without the littles! We even finished so quickly that we got to go home and relax for a minute, where I gave Jeff his presents, mostly very boring and practical, but he did enjoy the black law enforcement garments I got him and the chocolate-covered strawberries I made.

That evening, we got together with Jeff's family for dinner (homemade pizza,) dessert (raspberry cheesecake) and gifts (Best Buy gift cards! He bought an eReader he's had his eye on... like mine!) It was a great, relaxing day. I love you, Jeff!

Weesa Bear

I know, sickening, right? I don't care-it's one of her many nicknames and we're proud!


For quite some time I've been thinking I should do an update on Alisa's progress, if only just for my own records, and with her 15 month appointment yesterday, I finally have a little motivation to do it (with a little Amelie here and there.)

Our little Alisa is really not so little at all. Her percentiles are: height-82, weight-75, and head-89... yeah, poor big-headed Norths. She's also in size 18 month clothes and only one shoe size behind Amelie. She has her 8 front teeth, and already 2 molars. Everything about this girl grows like a weed! ...except her hair. Amelie's hair is astronomically long, while Alisa still can't even rock a pony. She's still totally adorable, this is only a shame because she WILL NOT EVER wear a headband. Soon, little hairbows. Soon.

Lisie does a lot of little cute actions. She waves "hi" and "bye", and she is the queen of snuggling her little (big) head down into you, tucking in her arms. She makes a sweet scrunchy face all the time, and is now getting into wrestling and chasing type playing with Amie. It's super cute to watch, but sometimes one doesn't quite know when to stop. Our pediatrician (Dr. Baar) asked if she was walking ok... yeah, more like climbing Mount Everest if we'd let her! The little button can't sit still (especially not in church or a restaurant!) She climbs, climbs, climbs anything that might be climbed, and has the marks to prove it! (Thank goodness the scar on her right cheek is starting to lighten at least.) She also has some sweet toddler-shake-it moves. Another budding dancer! She also claps at "yay" and can show you where her head is.

She is not really using words yet, mostly grunts and yells. She imitates us a lot, saying crazy words and phrases that never come out of her mouth again, though she does have a few consistent repeats. These are "daddy" (both for Jeff and for me) and "uh oh" anytime anything hits the floor, even if she purposely dropped it there. :) Despite the small vocabulary, this girl communicates. She's always bringing us her shoes or coat when she wants to go outside, a cup when she wants a drink, or her blanket when she wants to snuggle. If she doesn't know how to tell us, she'll just go out and get it on her own! We have to be very careful with her-I've looked around to find her atop our dining room table, or stuck in the screen door in her many pursuits. The other day, I'd thought she was in the kitchen but didn't see her, so I turned to leave and heard her laughing behind me. I turned back around... didn't see her... searched... and found her in the dryer! The door wasn't shut all the way, so she opened it, crawled in, and thought it was the best time ever! She was giggling her head off. :/


Generally, Alisa is a happy baby, but when she's not happy, you will know it - long and loud! I'm so grateful to have her, she teaches me a lot and her giggles and happiness are very contagious. She's a bright spot in my world, and I am just trying to enjoy every second I have with her!

Calling all singers!

Hello all! A few posts back, I mentioned a choir I auditioned for called Sotto Voce. We are again having open auditions, this coming Wednesday, May 11th from 6-9. They will be held at Realms of Inquiry, 900 E and about 1150 S. We're especially looking for good ladies, but all are very welcome to tryout! This is such a talented and innovative group, I'm loving every second and hope to see you all there!

Check us out at:
http://sottovocechoir.weebly.com/

Easter!!

This year, we had a busy and fabulous Easter weekend. By a stroke of luck, Jeff was off Easter Sunday, so he even got to be part of most of our festivities!

We started Saturday morning, going up the canyon with the Radcliffes, and everyone made an appearance (except Jaimie and Grandma.) Mom brought cinnamon rolls, we brought juice, and then we cooked ham, eggs and breakfast burritos over the fire-and it was all very good! We had a bit of a struggle getting the fire going, I think cause nothing was quite dried out with the weather we've been having. (A little lighter fluid did the trick! OK, a lot.)
We also did an Easter egg hunt for the kiddies up there, which I thought was super fun for them and went really well! They each got 16 eggs, which translates to loads of candy. Amelie just went around, in love with her cousins and aunts. Poor Lisie was sooo tired, but after daddy took her for a sleepy ride, she woke up in a splendid mood. My girls L-O-V-E being outdoors! It was a mite chilly, but I had a blast and I can't wait to get up there more this summer! (Though my car still smells like campfire...)

A few shots, courtesy of Melissa:

Alisa's ever-popular scrunchy face. My fave!

Sat. night, the girls and I went to BBQ with Jeff's immediate family (while he was at work.) We had some good burgers, colored eggs, hunted for their special egg, had strawberry shortcake, and lots of other fun activities. My girls took turns being terrible, but in all fairness, they've been sick and exhausted. They both seemed to have fun, despite. Us big kids also got our special eggs, yum!





Sunday morning, we gave the girls their Easter baskets (modestly stocked, and yet somehow they still ended up with 3 buckets of candy, ugh...) The little girls donned their beautiful new Easter dresses for church, and I even curled Amie's hair. (whoa!) They were beautiful! Church was a little rough with the girls not feeling well, but Jeff and I hadn't actually been to an entire block of Church for 4 weeks, so we just stayed. We took turns in the nursery, and they were fine. From there, we headed out to Grandma Barbie's for celebration with Jeff's extended family. We've actually missed this every year because Jeff has always worked Easter Sunday, so it was great to be a part! We had a huge meal, and quite the Easter egg hunt! They do it up with candy, toys and money. The girls got SOO much candy, some bubbles, necklaces and over $9. Amelie was again in heaven chasing around her girl cousins... well, when they paid attention to her, at least! She'd been talking about coming to the Easter party for 2 days, and she had a great time. She started out sad, but as soon as Hannah walked in the door, she lit up and I rarely saw her again! There was a funny incident where all the kids were downstairs and they found a mouse - it's still a mystery to me as to whether it was dead or alive - and all the kids came screaming up the stairs. Amie did NOT like this, and she kept talking about Grandpa Vern being "journey" (germy) because he carried the mouse out.








Here are a few last shots from Amie's cousin's ward Easter party. She made some cute crafts and got, of course, more candy!

Hello, how adorable are they?!

One weekend in January... And one in April...

Back in January, we went up to one of our condos in Wolf Creek with a bunch of our friends-Amos and Jessica, Bryan, Tami and Taylor, and Melissa, Kevin and Nathan. We got going a little late on Friday night, but went out to eat at a cute little place, where we got seated by the fireplace, which I loved until it roasted us. Dinner was good, then we went back to our place to just hang out and stay up much later than this mommy would at home!
The next day was our only full day there and we tried to pack it all in! After breakfast, we child-laiden folk tried to go sledding on a not-so-steep hill while A&J went cross country skiing. We had a good time, but we'll definitely look for a more prime spot if ever we go back. We ate lunch out at a fun Mexican restaurant where Jeff had a burrito as big as his head! Then we headed out to our sleigh ride... which was really just a hay ride on a flat bed with sleigh runners. It was actually very beautiful scenery, just not the sleigh we were expecting. On the way back (sort of) we stopped in to see a Catholic Monastery where they make creamed honey. It was cool but a little bit sad because they were incredibly dwindled in numbers and said they'd have to keep decreasing their honeys among other things if they didn't get more people and soon.
That night, we BBQ'd dinner in, and then played a game while (most of) the kids slept. I can't remember the name of the game, but it was very fun! The last day, we basically just packed up and headed out. It went by really quickly, but I had a blast! I love getting away with friends, where you know you don't have to worry one bit about the normal stuff. Gotta be honest, it was tough juggling our 4 little kids' nap times and still getting to go out, but I can't wait to go again!

Here are a few pictures I totally scavenged from friends:

AND THEN-we did the same thing this past weekend with my family, just took a weekend to be in Wolf Creek. It was more leisurely, but I thouroughly enjoyed it. We all split up meal and associated chore duties, and ate out Sat. night for Mark's birthday. We forgot and missed out on the salsa class they did, but we went to yoga, played many games, watched movies, went in the hot tub (awesome!) and ate innumerable treaty foods. Yeah, we ate well. (I also gained 2 pounds! Over the last 2 weeks, anyway.) We were very sad not to have the Martins there, and Reed couldn't stay either, but I personally had a blast! (Until my girls got sick all over everything right before checkout... bah.) And I have no pictures of that weekend! My camera woes are almost as bad as my phone woes. (Another phone broke at the condo, actually.)

Sotto Voce

Just wanted to drop a line about a new choir I auditioned for. It is called Sotto Voce and it is just starting up, headed by a guy from one of my past singles' wards who is a talented composer. It's a small ensemble with a broad range of styles, where members will rotate conducting and also with a focus on service. I was excited to hear about it, but as my audition drew near I grew apprehensive. I hadn't really had time to properly prepare and I had been sick. I almost lamed-out, but I went and my audition went pretty well. I heard back that I was accepted, and we have since begun rehearsals at a private school in the Sugarhouse area. (This is the rehearsal I mentioned in my last post.) It's just beginning and I think the ball may roll slowly, but I have really enjoyed being able to sing with capable musicians again! I love the group and feel very comfortable with the members this far. They've been very supportive and even sent me flowers while I was recovering last week. I'm so glad I took the plunge and I'll keep you all posted about future performances!

PS-we are scheduled to do 1-2 numbers at the SLCC concert April 14 and 15 if you're interested.

My Little Baby

We had our first OB appointment Monday the 21st, almost 2 weeks ago now. I couldn't wait for this appointment cause I wanted to have a picture of a little munchkin. I was apprehensive because I had to change doctors for insurance purposes (and I was totally in love with my last OB,) but it turns out this new doc I'm seeing is just perfect, too. Plus she knows my old OB and loves her too. Anyway, the appointment went as planned until we got to the ultrasound. They had asked me if I was sure of the date of my last period (100%, was my answer.) I was told that the baby was not measuring up to the 8 weeks I thought I was, so I'd need a more in-depth ultrasound to take more exact measurements. We scheduled that for two days later without much thought. There were two possibilities at that point. First, that something was wrong. Second, that we just weren't as far along as we thought. I was pretty sure that was the case, since we didn't get a positive test right away.

On the way in to our ultrasound appointment, I asked Jeff if he was worried. We hadn't really considered the other options til we were pulling in. Still, we weren't really worried. We went in for the appointment, and the Ult. tech started on the belly but couldn't get good pictures, so I changed and she came back. She was taking lots of pictures and measurements, but was pretty much silent throughout. She did tell us that there was not a heartbeat. This was 100% normal for the size of the baby, but the SIZE of the baby was not necessarily normal. Finally, she called the doctor in to confirm, and she's the one who talked to us. She said that the baby's sack was a little irregular, and it appeared that I had been bleeding a little. (I had not had so much as one tiny drop of blood up to this point.) She told us we would have to come back again so that they would have another measurement with specific timeframes to monitor the baby's growth. She did say it really was possible that nothing was wrong, but there were some irregularities. We made another appointment and left subdued.

My doctor actually called me that night to discuss the ultrasound. She told me all the same things and gave me warning signs to watch for that should bring me to the hospital. At first, I was very rebellious against and angry at the thoughts and ideas they presented. Then, I did some research and that helped a little. Most importantly, Jeff brought me to our bedside and offered a lovely prayer. Twelve days seemed an impossible amount of time to wait with such a heavy lack of knowledge, but after that prayer, I felt surprisingly peaceful. I knew things would work out just right.

Life resumed as normal, and still nothing happened that week. On Saturday afternoon, I began to notice very small amounts of blood. I notified a few family members (as I had plans that night) and was blessed enough to have my in-laws pick up my kids and have a quiet night in with Jeff (who came home from work.) This was a sad night for me, but still, nothing really happened. Sunday, we were back on track, and Monday, too, but generally I was taking it easy. By Tuesday, bleeding had barely increased, and I had the beginnings of very mild cramps, but really nothing else to alarm and everything progressed so slowly. So, I took some extra strength Tylenol and went to rehearsal that night. We sang for the first hour before we took a break. By the time we almost to that break, I was starting to have some intense cramps. I excused myself to the restroom and realized right away that I needed to get to the hospital. I called Jeff, he said he would meet me there (I was pretty close to the U) as soon as his mom came to watch the girls. I tried to keep it all together when I told the group I had to leave, but kind of lost it before I was out of the room. One of the members came to check on me, hugged me, offered a ride, but I wanted to go by myself. I made it to the ER in a fair amount of pain and tears streaming. They probably helped me very, very quickly, but I felt like I sat there forever, hunched over in my chair, people staring and crying my way through a box of tissues. I felt like everyone knew what was going on - I could see pity everywhere I looked.

I got settled in my room and Jeff arrived a bit later. The nurse came to give me an IV (so I could get some much-needed pain relief) and had a hard time. I think I might have squeezed Jeff's hand off if it went any worse. It took 2 nurses and 4 sticks to get a good line, meanwhile I'm writhing in the bed. I have huge (we're talking 2 inch) black bruises where they tried to get an IV in and couldn't. Finally, I got some bloodwork done and morphine, then the Resident came. She did some more tests, exams, ultrasound, etc. She said some signs pointed to being in the middle of a miscarriage, but she could not get an ultrasound so I needed to go to radiology. After this, I got more morphine because those procedures were probably actually the most painful moments of my life.

I waited a bit, then was taken to Ultrasound (still cramping and bleeding throughout,) where the kind girl who wheeled me there stayed in the room - isn't that weird? Luckily, it was not the most important thing to me at that moment. We got some very thorough pictures, again painful, and they showed for certain that the baby was gone. It did appear, however that maybe the amniotic sack remained. So, I was wheeled back to my room, where we waited for over 2 hours for the docs to give the "official" word. They came and said I could do a D&C or take some meds at home. I opted for the second. They got me all set and Jeff and I left at around 2:30-3 a.m.

The following morning, Jeff took the girls out and about and picked up my prescriptions. Since I opted out of the D&C, I had to take some medication that would basically recreate the miscarriage to make sure that everything got out. I took those Wednesday afternoon (yesterday) and settled in. I watched half a movie in bed, then slept, watched more movie, then slept. I have become literally astonished at how much a person can sleep. I was basically bed-ridden all day, and still slept all night. I was REALLY dreading this treatment because of how painful it was the first time. Maybe just because it was artificial, or perhaps it was the Lortab, but it was not as bad as the first time. I am still struggling with extreme fatigue, cramps, bleeding, etc, but I am getting better. Thank goodness my sister came and took the girls for a walk today so Jeff could get some homework done, and my mom came tonight to get dinner, watch the girls and put them to bed, so I could rest while Jeff's back at work.

Thank you so much to all of our family who has helped so far-they are so supportive and making big sacrifices! My family that has come have been driving up from Utah county, and when Jeff's mom came, she brought a load of grandkids she was watching with her, because Jeff's sister was also in the hospital. We couldn't ask for more.

My personal thanks to Jeff who has been the model of charity. Even after days of taking the load, and I could see that he and the kids were driving each other absolutely nuts, he only wanted me to sleep and rest.

As for me, this experience has almost been surreal. I was never expecting a miscarriage because all of the women in my family are so fertile. It just never crossed my mind. I have been very grateful to have been prepared and supported throughout, to get that little forewarning. I think if Tuesday night's events had come on without warning, it would have crushed me. I am also very grateful that I have not felt necessarily like I lost a baby. My loss feels somewhere between that and not being able to get pregnant. I look back with gratitude and recall little things that are helpful, like not knowing gender, not having names picked out, not having made any purchases or special plans. Losing what felt like my baby would also have crushed me.
I am still sad, but I do feel a peace. Therefore, my greatest thanks, now and ever, is to my Savior. For His support, the knowledge I have, and the Comforter which I feel around me.

More MTMMS

(Moments that makes me smile)

Today Amelie was cruising around on her little princess ride-on with her ride-on unicorn stick attached firmly to the back. She said three things that made me die from adorableness overload.

1. "I got you, Neigh. This way, Neigh."
2. "I'm so sorry, so sorry." -very heartfelt, and stroking its face when it fell off the back
3. "I had no choice!" Haha! (this falls into the "I've never said that to her/have no idea where she got that from" category.)

Also, the girls both wanted to get into Amie's crib and jump around while I sat in the rocker next to them. Alisa would stick her face up to the slats and wait for me to eskimo kiss and say "nosey nosey," after which she laughed like there was nothing funnier in the whole wide world.