life and times of mike and lizzie saltsman

"mom, take picture of ME!"

2011-11-01T07:34:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T09:03:00.001-06:00

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2011-10-29T14:24:00.004-06:00

We took Asher to the Strider Cross saturday. Yep, he won. Well, they all won. It was super cute though. They did 3 different groups of kids, group A, group B, and the Strider group (strider is a brand of peddle-less toddler bikes). He made it all the way around the course on his own. He got to the barricades and just got off his bike and lifted it over. No coaching or assistance needed. Mike is super proud of him, it's pretty cute. Looks like we found a new Saturday activity!!

The Little Monster

2011-10-29T13:27:00.002-06:00

Chewing on the fang of Asher's monster costume. Just happy as can be.

Our First Fat Lip

2011-09-07T22:29:00.001-06:00

This morning, as Asher was jumping on the bed and Mike was pretending he was still sleeping we had an accident. Well, Asher had an accident. He landed mouth first into Mikes knee. He started screaming and Mike started hyperventilating. Well, not really hyperventilating, but definitely freaking out. He ran Asher into the bathroom and started wiping up the blood. Then started looking in his mouth and talking about a huge gash. (can you tell I thought Mike was overreacting a bit.) I for some reason was more concerned with the swelling so I offered a popsicle. This is where Mike and I's parenting ideas differ. He, I think, was ready to call life flight. I, on the other hand, was offering treats. Perhaps we should work together to meet more in the middle. :)

Novice parenting aside, Asher stopped crying less then 2 minutes after it happened. (really once he saw land before time on TV he forgot he even was gushing blood). And he was fine. I mentioned it to his teachers and he was very proud of his fat lip. When I picked him up I couldn't see it and thought it had gone away, then I realized he was just sucking on it.

He is quite proud of the fat lip. Pretty exciting rite of passage for the lad. I'm not looking forward to the broken bones I'm foreseeing in his future.

Asher vs Milo

2011-08-07T17:45:00.002-06:00

For some reason today i thought it would be a good idea to try and recreate an older photo of Mike and Asher, so we could compare and see how much alike the two boys really look(ed) at this age.

So below are two photos. One is from two years ago with Asher and one is from today with Milo. It's probably not going to be very hard, I think it's kinda obvious when they're side by side like this....but what do you think? (Milo is obviously chunkier)

Cuteness

2011-07-31T22:25:00.001-06:00

5 Months Old already...

2011-07-23T14:15:00.003-06:00

Can you believe it! It's already been 5 months since I pushed this lil' guy out...

Can you believe how adorable he is? He really is the happiest baby ever. Everyone at daycare is always commenting on how happy he is, and just content. And I secretly love that they all fight over who gets to hold him. It's awesome. I still get to go up and nurse him twice a day at work. We've got our system down pat and he is now eating very consistently at almost concrete set times during the day. It's amazing how enjoyable a nice plan can be. I can mark out the feeding times on my calendar so I don't get double booked, and I can spend 20 minutes enjoying my little munchkin. (and the Outlook reminders that pop up are dually helpful, I have almost spaced it quite a few times)
He's sort of rolling over. Not really consistently, but he does well maneuvering himself around a blanket full of toys. He is just starting to sit up, and doing quite well. He's good for about 10-15 minutes, then he usually either falls to the side or falls back. Don't worry, we keep the boppy pillow wrapped around him for that specific reason. Safety First.

He doesn't have any teeth yet, that I have found. He really loves me singing to him, not sure many people can say they enjoy that, but it really seems to soothe him. It's nice, because it's not something I ever forget to leave at home. But people do give me odd looks when I'm singing twinkle twinkle while walking around Costco.
He is so in love with his brother. He could sit and watch Asher play all day and be super entertained. Milo laughs at Asher's silliness all the time, and lights up when he see's his face. He used to show a certain amount of fear in his eye when he would hear Asher's voice, but that has turned into joy. I am so excited for him to grow up a bit more so he and Asher can really play together. It will be so fun to watch.

He is now sleeping through the night, which is so amazing for both my sanity and my exhaustion. There was a point there where I really thought I wasn't going to make it. Between my more than normally stressful job, and the complete lack of sleep I was really questioning my health. But now we are on the up and up. Yippee!

Milo has turned out to be quite a keeper. He is such a wonderful addition to our little family.

Happy Independence Day!!

2011-07-04T10:32:00.002-06:00

The little guy is 4 months.....

2011-06-26T21:22:00.002-06:00

I cannot believe this little dude is already 4 months old!!! I swear it seems like just last week I was stressed about his bili-lights, now he's a smiling happy giggly little man.

We went to the doctor this week for his 4 month checkup. (now that I make the next appointment when I leave I'm much more on time than I used to be). He is growing like a little champion. His stats are:

Weight: 16.5 lbs 80%

Height: 25.75 in 79%

Head: 17.5 in 95%

So, he's nice and big. And his poor neck must get so sore because his brain is SO huge! Haha.

A little about the boy.....

He is SO happy. Seriously, he will give a huge smile and laugh to anyone who smiles at him.

He is just starting to reach for toys, and it seems to take him a minute to figure out how to move his arm forward...it's really funny to watch.

He drools all the time. I would say he's teething, but there's nothing in there yet. He could just be a drooler.

He is not sleeping through the night. Not even close. When I went back to work he started 'reverse cycling' and eating more during the night and less during the day. In my investigation of the topic, they said it's common when you go back to work because the baby doesn't want to eat a bottle. Well, it wasn't that because I nurse him at work. So I tried to make his feedings during the day more like the night (dark room, quiet, away from chaos and kids) and that has helped. He is still waking 2 times a night to eat. So every night I think of new ways to get him not to eat at night...but I'm always so exhausted I usually just end up feeding him so we can all go back to bed. Someday I'll man up and we'll get this all resolved.

He eats every 4 hours. Day and Night. Like a clock. Every 4 hours. It's great during the day because I have pretty set times when I go up and feed him, but it'd be nice if he didn't want to continue that trend through the night. don't worry, i still love him to pieces.

He loves watching kids play. Whether it's Asher or other kids at the daycare, he is enamoured. It's cute.

We caved and bought a huge activity center/bouncer for him. And it was a great purchase because he loves it. Yesterday I put him in there, then realized later he had been in there for over an hour. I asked Mike if I should take him out, he said why? he seems so happy. And he really did. He could stay in there for hours just jumping and playing with the random attached toys. it's crazy. Though I get nervous we're stifling the rolling over progress because he's always in the bouncer. Perhaps we'll find a better happy medium.

He hasn't gotten sick yet, knock on wood.

I'm not sure what else to say about him. I love him so so much it hurts. And watching how much Asher loves him makes it hurt even more. They are so adorable I could cry every time I see them.

So here's to families!

(the little chunker. gazing into space....really probably wondering why i took him out of the fun bouncer and have him propped up on the couch. )

The Zoo

2011-06-20T17:54:00.001-06:00

We bought a zoo pass this year, so when I left work a little early I thought 'what should we do on this beautiful day?'. So we came to the zoo. Asher is totally afraid of the pretend dinosaurs roaring everywhere, so we've decided on ice cream and turkey watching instead. The joy of having a zoo pass is we don't feel the need to get our $8 worth. Which is pretty great on days like today...

Sent magically from outerspace.

Fathers Day Gift

2011-06-19T15:53:00.003-06:00

For fathers day this year I was either going to get mike a $200 wireless router, or a homemade craft. I opted for the craft (hope he's not too bummed) and bought all the stuff last week. For some reason I didn't think to actually make the craft with the kids, and Saturday night I found myself wondering when we were going to do this.

So Sunday morning Asher got up quite early which was perfect for crafting while dad slept.

Well we got the base part of the project done (and Asher decided to wipe paint in his hair on the first panel). Then we set it out to dry. Mike eventually woke up and asked what the art project was all about so I had to tell him it was his gift. VERY uneventful. He is very kind and said 'Oh sweety, I told you I don't need a gift'.

He just headed off to school again so me and the boys put the final touches on the project.

Now we just need Mike to come home and complete the family. :)

Happy Fathers Day!!!

2011-06-19T14:08:00.002-06:00

Mike is going to kill me for posting this photo....but it was too cute to not post.

Craft Days

2011-06-15T16:11:00.002-06:00

During my glorious days on maternity leave I was fortunate to spend a few days making crafts with the Parry clan.
One of my favorite outcomes has been the yarn wreath. Though tedious in its creation (I think Jenn was wrapping hers for hours and still wasn't done when she left) I do think it turned out quite lovely. I realize I have some very non-beautiful felt flowers on there, but I haven't had time lately to try and make cuter ones to replace them.

So next up on the craft list.....the fourth of July flag wreath. Who's in? I'll have to play hookey one day....

Asher Bieber

2011-06-15T09:39:00.003-06:00

We've been letting Ashers hair grow long for quite a while now. We go in for the occasional trim, but he hates it so much it's hard to motivate to do that again. Well, over the past few weeks we've had multiple people refer to him has 'she' and 'her' and it was starting to wear on me. So the other night my sister Amy was over and I was just pulling Asher out of the bath. As I was getting him dressed I noticed his lovely golden locks were wet and laying half-way down his back (i might be slightly exaggerating). I saw that and lost it....in a very calm and patient way. I said 'Asher, let's go sit on the porch. Mommies going to trim your hair'. That's when I should've stopped myself. Mommy and trim hair should never be in the same sentence. But I was too blinded by own pride and I went for it. Amy was sitting on the porch swing watching this go down...and her face got more and more distorted the more I said 'hmmm, that's not gonna look right'. But I kept cutting and cutting. Finally I stopped and backed away. The final product was well.....awful. Horrible really. The left side was still long over his ears, but the right side was all trimmed up. The back was just all over the place. Seriously, how could I think I knew what I was doing...so foolish.
So Amy took control of the situation and called her friend Heather who is a hair stylist. She told her it was an emergency and we needed to get in next day.
(Side note: I told mike the next morning that I was taking Asher for a hair cut, mike's response was 'Why?' and I told him how I butchered his hair and it looked awful and Mike said 'hmm, I think it looks fine'. I guess guys are programmed not to look as closely....)
So on to the next day. We take Asher in, Heather was amazing and kept feeding him starburst so he wouldn't cry. It also helped that Amy was getting her hair done in the chair right next to his. Heather was kind and said it wasn't the worst thing she's seen, and she was greatful I didn't ruin the front...that's the hardest to fix.
So after a little bit in the chair, we were presented with the new and improved Asher. Who we now lovingly refer to as Asher Bieber as his hair reflects the young pop star so much.

Say hello to our stlyish young tot. What a looker he is. Watch out ladies!

He smiles

2011-06-13T20:24:00.003-06:00

Oh yes, he smiles. All. The. Time.

And laughs, and coos, and chats. All. Day. Long.

All Grown Up

2011-06-04T08:02:00.002-06:00

Mister Milo is so grown up he now spends his time chillin in the bumbo chair.
He sure does get cuter every day. I need to get a picture of him smiling though. It makes him that much more adorable.

Loves His Bike

2011-05-30T18:44:00.002-06:00

Apparently he lives the bike so much he wants to be on it while watching movies....

3 Months

2011-05-23T14:15:00.002-06:00

So Mister Milo is already at the 3 month mark. Where has the time gone!

Well, I am happy to report he is doing much better. His first few months were full of crying and fussyness, but he has grown into a very happy baby. He 'talks' all the time. And often, he will take a break while I'm feeding him and just stare and me and coo. It's adorable. The OCD efficient person in me gets a little frustrated wishing he would just latch back on and finish eating so we can move onto the next thing, but then I realize he is absolutley adorable and we usually end up having a little 5 or 10 minute conversation before he decides to finish.

He is starting to roll himself over a bit. We often find him on his stomach in the morning...stuck. So he definitley can't roll both ways, but getting closer every day. And his head and neck are super strong. He continues to be super duper chunky and I'm excited to see how much he weighs next month.

He is not quite the sleeper Asher was. He still isn't on a very consistent schedule...but he's getting closer. He usually still wakes 1 or 2 times a night, although last night it was about 8....someday he'll just magically sleep all the way through and I will wake rested....but I'm not holding my breath.

And all the ladies love him. Well, all the ladies at his daycare. They take him for little stroller rides through the building, and I get comments every day from everyone about how adorable he is. The fact that he sits 2 floors up from me is amazing. I get to go see him 3 times a day to feed him and play with him for a bit. It makes it easier for both of us I think...probably me more.

And, I just moved his carseat into the middle position of the back seat so he and Asher are right next to each other. I must say the ride up this morning was so different then other days. Usually Milo sleeps, then wakes for a second crying until I can blindly (and dangerously) dig around for his pacifier and put it back in. This morning though, he was giggling and laughing the whole way up. I think he loves his older brother and just being able to see his face was making him happy.

What a cutie!

Being Vegan - Week 1

2011-05-23T12:24:00.002-06:00

So here's the update.

The first few days were a little rough. I don't know if it was the dietary changes, or the first week back to work full time, or a combination of both, but Mike was really nervous I was going to be like that forever....
Then, Thursday morning I woke up and felt like a million bucks. I was super energetic, singing all morning, being obnoxious and funny (well, what i think is funny) and Mike was floored. A happy floored though. Like 'Whoa...what happened to you? You were going to kill me yesterday' And ever since then it's been about the same. Even though I don't get much sleep (Milo woke up about 8 times last night) I still seem to have a lot of energy.
And my cravings for sweets have gone way down. Well, my cravings for snacks in general. I don't really ever feel like just eating to eat (which i did previously feel and accomplish with greatness). Now in all fairness, there's not really a lot of options for snacking. Most everything I eat is prepared, so I really think more about what I really want to eat, and I make it. I cut more vegetables and prepare a lot more food than I used to. But it's also very delicious.

I have found a whole new appreciation for whole foods who labels everything Vegan or Vegetarian so I don't have to read every label...but I've gotten really good at reading labels. I did make a pesto pasta the first day, and didn't realize that pesto is made mostly with parmesan cheese. oopsy. So ever since then I've been a little more careful.

So here's to another amazing week!

The 30-Day Vegan Challenge

2011-05-17T11:58:00.005-06:00

I know what you're thinking, "Seriously Lizzie? Are you nuts? How could you not want to eat cheese?". Well, I second that. Yes, I'm probably crazy. And yes, I will miss cheese. But it's not forever people, just a short time.

How this all started...was maternity leave. I tend to do a lot of bad things while on maternity leave. Spend too much money. Redecorate the house. Watch daytime television. That last one, the television, includes the Dr. Oz show. And the show is pretty much geared towards women trying to be healthier (mostly trying to lose weight). But one day they had a show about plant based diets and it struck a cord. Lots of problems with cholesterol and heart disease, and they all seem to disappear or are greatly reduced by eliminating all animal products from the diet. So this got me thinking...would it make a difference to me?

So I decided to give it a try. 30 days. See how I feel. And I'm not doing a 30-day vegan diet of substitutions with a bunch of foods made to act like meat. No no no.... I don't want to fill my fridge with Smart Dogs or Boca Burgers...I want to open my cooking mind and make new and interesting things I haven't made before. And I'm hoping in this process I come accross some delicious meals that become staples in our home...so the whole family can eat a bit healthier. (We rely a lot on meat and potatoes).

So here's to the next 30-days...

Family Update

2011-05-10T21:42:00.004-06:00

I had to post an update on our Family Website...so I thought I'd put in here as well. Enjoy!

So…what have we been up to…let me think.

Well, for those that don’t know, Mike has been going to school sort of part time for the past few years and he has finally FINISHED! He walked this past Friday with Amy!! Yippee!! Although he does have to take a few random classes this summer, but the heavy hard stuff is done. He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Computer Science. He is pretty excited, as am I.
He is currently working as the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) for a small startup company in Salt Lake. They focus on Data Visualization and have many oil land owners as clients. He is actually in Ottawa Canada this week training on some random satellite software they use. He absolutely loves his job, and the people he works with. (Which is amazing, he doesn’t really hide his feelings well so it’s nice when he comes home happy and excited about what he has spent all day working on). He still loves skateboarding and has recently taken up gun collecting. (Don’t worry, they’re all locked in a safe) But apparently at work they take long lunches and head down to the shooting range.
I am just finishing out my last week on Maternity Leave… sadness. I am working at a Ski Resort in Park City as the IT Applications Manager. It is actually a really fun job and I work with a really great team. Besides the stress of trying to load up everyone and everything in the morning, I often really like going to work every day. I am lucky to be able to take Milo to the daycare on-site, so he is only 2 quick flights of stairs away from me. I get to visit him a few times a day to feed and play, so it makes the transition back a lot easier. I started training for a half-marathon…but had to postpone that because the anxiety was giving me nightmares. I guess trying to figure out when to run for an hour with a new baby and a toddler and a husband with full-time work and school is a bit difficult. So…maybe next year. And in the meantime I have tried to take up the hobby of crafting, but creativity isn’t really my strong suit. One day I’ll find a hobby, I promise.
Asher just turned 2. He is a little champ with no fear. He goes skateboarding with his dad all the time and loves it. He still kneels on the skateboard but he pushes himself all around the skate park, up and down ramps, etc. He is very very active. He is up and down and around and everywhere and on everything. I am finding I really have to keep my eye on him all the time. The other day he climbed out the dog door in the back and I found him next door jumping on the trampoline. But I’m finding it’s hard to get mad when he is so proud of his accomplishments. (Look mom! Jumping!) He recently had a bad stint of asthma and we were in the hospital for a few days, but even then he kept a smile on his face for all the doctors and the hundreds of times they listened to him breathe. He was so good, when they would pull out the stethoscope he would lean forward automatically so they could put it on his back. And his little daycare/school in Park City is great. He sings his ABC’s and can count to 15 (though he misses 13 often). They teach him colors and animals and shapes. It’s great. He is generally a very happy and cute boy. We are very lucky to have him around.
Milo is now about 3 months. He is growing a very cute and fun personality. He started out his life a little rough, I think he had a bit of acid reflux. He seems to be outgrowing whatever it was and is getting more calm and fun. He smiles so big and makes tons of fun noises. I think he’s going to be a pretty funny little guy. And he’s hugely obese, if babies could be obese. 15 pounds a few weeks ago. Someone at work was accusing me of feeding him something else…I’m not sure what because the kid couldn’t chew a steak to save his life. But she really had a hard time believing he was 15 lbs without any outside supplementing. Whatevs. She obviously doesn’t understand the Bradley genes. :)
Other than that our life is pretty much the same. We still live in our tiny 2 bedroom house in Sugarhouse. We are excited about the weather getting warmer so we can enjoy our porch swing and chatting with the neighbors as they randomly walk by. We absolutely love our neighborhood and have a hard time debating between adding on to our house or moving into a new one. Who knows what we’ll end up doing….
Oh, and we still have our dog, Griffin. He is old, but no one knows quite how old because he’s adopted and has amazing teeth. When we adopted him they said ‘Well, we don’t know how old he is but from his teeth we would guess he’s about 2’. Then about 4 years later we took him into the vet and he said ‘Wow! He has great teeth!! If I didn’t know better I would say he’s only 2’. Ooopsy, I guess he’s been 2 forever. But he’s great with the kids and Asher loves chasing him around the house. I guess we’ll keep him around.
So that’s our life update. Hope we brightened your day a bit :)

Boys Doing Boy Things

2011-04-28T11:01:00.000-06:00

Two Years and Two Months

2011-04-26T21:55:00.002-06:00

Together the boys are now Two Years and Two Months. And that means.....doctor appointments! I really love our doctor so I don't mind going at all. She is awesome and I really love her. But I digress.

So we went to the doctor, talked about the boys. Talked about how Milo cries a LOT and is inconsolable often. Not sure if it's gas or acid reflux, he eats crazy (pulling off every 2 seconds then latching back on...again and again pretty much for the entire time he's eating. Hence the gas.) But the reason I love her is she doesn't pretend to know everyting. So she said try this for a week, and then maybe this or this, and if all else fails here's a prescription for acid reflux if you want to try that as well. I know this tactic wouldn't work for some people, but I love it. She's lists out all the options and sort of lets me chart my own course. And again I'm digressing.
So Milo...yes, he's fussy. I felt a lot better when she said that it would wear off by 3 or 4 months. As he got older and more coordinated with his nursing he would get less gas, less reflux, etc. Phew. I don't know if I could handle it forever. But, he is HUGE! In the 94% for his weight. Which is why she was so casual with trying so many things. She said 'He is obviously getting fed, I would worry if he wasn't gaining weight, but obviously that isn't an issue'.
He got all his shots and cried for about 27 seconds. Then he seemed totally fine as long as I didn't touch his legs. What a trooper.

So Milos stats are:
Weight: 14 lbs 94%
Height: 22.5 in 33%
Head: 16.3 in 85%

So yeah, he's short and fat. But a very cute little chunky monkey. I am learning about cleaning fat rolls and filling them with baby powder....oh the joys.

So on to Asher. She was very impressed with his speech/language. She said that by 2 years they like to see them with 50% of their words understandable to others. She said he was way beyond that, she could understand almost everything he said. And he could name numbers, letters and colors (although not really knowing when any of those words mean yet) He was very good about letting her look in his ears and nose and mouth. And listening to his chest and back. She even did the 'Ohh...he's seen way to many doctors if he's this okay with me listening to him' (when she asked to listen he leaned forward so she could reach his back before she even asked)

His stats are:
Height: 35.5 in 84%
Weight: 29.25 lbs 65%

Besides climbing up onto the windowsill and attempting to jump off (which really freaked out the doc) he was pretty good. And he doesn't have to go back (for a well visit) until he's 3. I can't believe that. I feel like we go to the doctor so much....no she's just leaving me on my own for a whole year!?!?!?? What do they think? that i know how to raise a kid? crazies.

Cuuuuuute

2011-04-26T21:52:00.002-06:00

So, when I look at pictures on my phone I will often say 'Cute' when looking at them. And Asher has really picked up on this. Now anytime either Mike or I takes a photo Asher always wants to look at it and always says 'Cuuute' with a little scrunched face. It's super cute. anyways, that is what I think of when I see this picture. Asher's little voice saying 'Cuuuute'.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-26T21:44:00.003-06:00

We had a pretty mellow easter this year. On Saturday we dyed easter eggs. It went better then expected as far as Asher goes. Although, as I was setting up I put the color tabs in the bowls then went to find the vinegar. When I came back to the table I noticed Ashers mouth was really orange-y and he had a sour look on his face. I looked in the orange bowl and it seems he tried to eat the color tablet. Poor kid. At least he learned quickly.
But, Mike came home and we died eggs for about 20 minutes. It was fun, but now, as usual, we are left with a dozen hard boiled eggs to consume this week. And I think I'm the only one in the family who likes hard boiled eggs. Bummer.

Sunday morning we had a little easter egg hunt around the house. Well, mostly just around the living room. Actually, mostly just on the couches and chairs. Then we enjoyed easter baskets. Asher was really excited about his Diego underwear. I think he was much more excited about seeing Diego on something, then the fact it was underwear. I was really optimistic about that whole deal, but he hasn't actually wanted to wear them yet. Just look at them and get excited about 'Diego!'.

But he sure did enjoy the candy. The first egg he found he opened and started eating it...so Mike and I had to try to keep him on course of finding all the other eggs. And he ate so much candy that day that it was probably the worst night we've ever had of sleep with him. Well, the worst night that didn't end in a hospital. Seriously. It was bad.

But what a fun easter. All these holidays get more and more fun as the family gets bigger and the kiddos get older. I'm sure if I hid eggs around the house before we had kids Mike would've just thought I was crazy and would've only looked for them when he was craving candy. So thank goodness for kids to keep things fun :)

Asher Is TWO!!!

2011-04-26T21:28:00.003-06:00

For Asher's 1st birthday we did a big hooplah in the park, invited everyone we knew, cooked up hot dogs and hamburgers, ate cupcakes, etc etc. It was really fun...but a little stressful. Just buying all the food, plates, cups, decorations, etc. Then setting it all up in a public place....well, it was a little exhausting and somewhat hard to enjoy. So this year I went a different direction. I went in the direction of the Little Gym. For one flat rate they do it all. Lead activities. Let the kids play in an exclusive gym (meaning it's just our party, no other randoms), setup everything, serve pizza, cut the cake, serve the cake, give everyone a going away gift and clean it all up. So when all of this happens and one of Ashers favorite places I booked it immediatley.

We invited friends, classmates and cousins and it was a wild fun time. I think there were 17 kids total (i'm pretty sure everyone invited came. I wasn't exactly expecting that) but Asher had a great time. I think most of the kids had a great time. And I'm hoping the parents had at least an enjoyable time. It's fun because it's a 'safe place' so the kids literally can run wild and you don't have to worry too much about them. Well, until they start hurting each other. But when I noticed a few of the dads trying to casually throw balls at the kids...I gave up on trying to make sure no one got hurt. Is that bad of me?

Well Asher also recieved quite the bounty for his birthday. Grandma Pat got him this little water table for the back yard. Asher is obsessed with water. He would play in it all day every day if we'd let him. So this was the perfect gift. He can stand for hours and make a mess in the backyard in a somewhat contained area. Awesome.

Mike and I got him this little bike. It's called a 'strider' bike, or a balance bike. It's really really low to the ground and it has no pedals. It's supposed to help the kids learn to coast and balance on the bike for a year or two. Then once they have that down you can put them on a bike with pedals and off they go. So we've taken him out a few times on it. He still mostly just walks while sitting on it, no really coasting yet, but I'm positive he'll figure it out. Just a matter of time.

Overall I think it was a successful birthday. Hopefully one he enjoyed. I should've been better about taking pictures since I didn't actually have to do anything at the party. But I saw Grandma Pat take about a million and a half so I think I just got lazy....

2011-04-20T09:50:00.000-06:00

And he's TWO!!!

2011-04-16T19:38:00.000-06:00

2011-04-16T19:36:00.001-06:00

What happens when you show up to a party and there are not one...but TWO girls wearing the exact same shirt as you. Seriously.

Like Father Like Son

2011-04-15T19:43:00.001-06:00

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changin'

2011-04-13T20:09:00.000-06:00

So I have a really bad habit that I have formed. Every time I'm on maternity leave I tend to redesign the house. I think its all the time spent sitting inside and staring at the same things. And all the daytime TV is awful so I tend to spend a lot of time perusing various stores. So when you combine the two it makes for plenty of new ideas of how to transform our limited living space.

So, last week I ordered new couches (they were on sale, I had to pull the trigger on that one). Then over the weekend Lowes was having a fantastic sale on appliances. So of course we had to pull the trigger on that purchase too. (We redid our kitchen over 2 years ago. It was time to get the new appliances in there (and Mikes mom gave us money for a new dishwasher for our anniversary in February so I figured we should get that installed before she comes for a visit this weekend)).

And since we are not hoarders, when something comes in something must go out. So I started the selling frenzy. I listed the range, the couch, and the dresser. (Oh, forgot to mention the new bedroom dresser). Mike was successful in selling the couch, then last night someone came to look at the range. They talked me down 40% (but I would've given it to them for free just to get it out).

So what does all this rambling mean? We have been without a few essentials for the last day or two. But I'm happy to report that Asher doesn't seem to mind. Today he said he was going to sit on the couch, and this is what I saw. So maybe we didn't need to buy couches. Obviously the floor is good enough for Asher.

7 Weeks

2011-04-13T12:45:00.000-06:00

This little guys is 7 weeks old already! Can you believe it?

And little is actually quite a lie. He is HUGE! I ghetto weighed him the other day and he was 13 pounds. He has about 19 chins and I am constantly wiping between rolls all over his body.
He has started smiling a LOT and giggles quite a bit. He is starting to grow his little personality.

People as all the time if he's an easy baby and my response is no. He is not. He's a bit fussy and reeeealy likes to be held too much. And he does not sleep well during the day at home, but he does great in the car. Needless to say we spend quite a bit of time out and about during the day.

But we do love him and already can't imagine life without him.

The Jump House

2011-04-10T16:07:00.003-06:00

Asher and I met a friend at the Jump Around Utah bounce house on Friday for a little bouncing fun. I was a little skeptical at first because they have one of the inflatable bouncy things at the Little Gym that we go to and he HATES it. Seriously hates it. We have tried countless times with him, sitting with him, jumping with him, and every time he cries and screams until he's off. So we go to this warehouse full of inflatible slides and bouncy things. And he did surprisingly well. I went on the middle 'pillow' with him. We sat there and let the other kids jump around us while we bounced. Then I stood up with him and we jumped together. Then little by little he got more and more comfortable until finally he was running all over the place like a maniac. After a good hour of the bouncy stuff, he found this little wooden slide. Then it was all he wanted to do. It was so funny, this whole warehouse of exciting huge things to play in and he just wanted to go around and around on this little slide. Well, as they say, it's the little things that get us. :)

Happy Birthday Asher!!!

2011-04-10T16:01:00.002-06:00

Today is Ashers 2nd Birthday!! Can you believe it?!!?! Well, we didn't do much. Not because we're horrible parents, but because we're having his birthday party on Saturday. But I didn't feel like we could let the whole day go without a little celebration. So we broke out the birthday plate, and I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Asher obsessivley loves chocolate, Mike and I are not giant fans....but I thought since it was his birthday I should make him somehthing he likes. Well, we lit the candles, sang the song, and he blew out the candles. After he blew out the candles he was so excited and said 'I did it! I did it!'. Cute little buddy.

Then he got to eat the cake. At first it was a giant success and he was shoveling it into his mouth and face faster than mike. (which is quite fast) But then I realized he really only liked the frosting. Bummer. I could've made a much tastier non-chocolate cake and just put some chocolate frosting on it. I guess the double chocolate is better for my diet because it's really not too tempting....

Our Life at Primary Childrens Hospital

2011-04-01T13:37:00.004-06:00

So it all started on Wednesday....I was heading up to pick up Asher from daycare/school and I noticed a voicemail on my phone...from Ashers daycare...from 1pm. Oopsy. It was the head of the school saying Asher was coughing really badly during his nap and couldn't get to sleep. So when I picked him up I apologized for not calling back and said I would take him home and give him his inhaler and send it the next day. Well, that night the cough kept getting worse and worse. Asher couldn't sleep and every time we would give him the inhaler (albuterol) it would help for about 5 minutes, then his breathing would go back to wheezy/labored breaths. Mike tried driving him around because he would sleep in the car. Then he was exhausted so I drove him around for a bit. At about 3:30 we decided we should take him to the ER because his breathing was just getting progressively worse. So I fed Milo and put him back to bed then loaded up Asher and we headed to Primary Childrens. (When I left I told Mike there was a bottle in the fridge for Milo in case it took more then 3 or 4 hours) We got to the ER and the admitting doctor/student immediatley went to get the attending so they could start a treatment right away as his breathing was really terrible. They gave him an albuterol nebulizer cocktail and some steroids. The cocktail took about an hour to 'nebulize' so we sat and watched Dora. After it was done the doctor came back in and listened and said they wanted us to wait there for 30-45 minutes to see if he starts improving more. So we hung out. At one point (around 6:30am) we were just sitting on the bed chatting w/ the doc and Asher literally fell asleep sitting up and almost fell off the bed. (we laid down at that point). Then the respitory therapist came in and said if his oxygen levels keep dipping below 90 then they were going to have to admit us. What? Admit us? I was just planning to be here for a few hours...but what's a few more hours I suppose, to make sure the boy is a-okay.

So the doctor came in and confirmed we were being admitted and that we would move upstairs once they had a bed ready for us. I asked how long he thought we'd be upstairs and he replied 'Not sure, probably just a night or two'. Double What? a night or two? I was thinking he would say until noon, or maybe until dinner...but we're moving in here now? So I called Mike and said we're in it for the long haul, he loaded up the baby and a few technilogical necessities and joined us. We got upstairs and began the dance of albuterol, oral steroids, oxygen, and flovent. Out of everything they do/have done the oxygen tubes in the nose are the most hated offenders. He's gotten comfortable with the mask (though he cries for the first 5 minutes it's on)...but the tubes in his nose...man oh man, if you tap them he screams. Poor kid.

So, it's now Friday afternoon and we're hoping Asher passes the 3 discharge criteria so we can leave. Those are: Being on 'Room Air' (no oxygen) for 6 hours, sleeping on Room Air without dipping below 88 (which he did a few times until we elevated his bed) and Albuterol treatments every 4 hours (they started every 2 hours). We've been on room air since 8am, and albuterols every 4 hours since 11 am. And Asher is currently napping and holding strong ever since we elevated the bed....let's hope he keeps up the good work. It's been an interesting experience having a newborn in the hospital, and not having it be about him. So he's been a trooper sleeping in his car seat and only crying really loudly when Asher is crying loudly for me to hold him. (We call this a double melt down, and Mike is now intimately involved in them). And it always seems that's the exact time that all the nurses & doctors want to be in the room and chat. Right now they're both fast asleep and it's so calm and peaceful.....

Asher's been a trooper being chained to a bed with multiple tubes and cords tangled all around him. The nurses even commented that he's so good and easy to work with. He now moves his arms off his chest and sits perfectly still every time someone just walks in the door because he knows they are going to come over and listen to his stomach. It is interesting to watch all the different doctors various 'entertain the kid' tactics. Some are a little...odd, but most of them are cute and funny.

Oh, and it's a teaching hospital. So the first day the 'intern' came in and gave me the whole rundown of the 76 different doctors we were going to see. She started by saying 'Well, have you seen that show Greys Anatomy? It's like that but without all the relationship issues.'. I thought that was funny...but I learned the hierarchy. It was very educational.

And speaking of educational, as part of our 'discharge procedures' we have to attend an Asthma Education class. Asthma is that big of ... problem? ... that they have a class for parents/caregivers every day at 5pm. And then if you can't make it to the class don't worry, it plays on channel 37 every 3 hours. :) But it was really nice actually, now I know everything we do and why we're doing it and what medicines work for different things, etc.

So I'm rambling now...and this is mostly for our family scrapbooks so sorry for all the details and stories....but I wanted to get it all down. The story of how Asher came to have full. blown. asthma.

5 Weeks Old

2011-03-28T11:56:00.005-06:00

So the little man is 5 weeks old today....wow how time flies. His life has already been so jam packed with travel and visitors...it's definitely nice to just relax in the normal day to day and enjoy each other. I'm using this time to try and figure him out a bit. He's more fussy than Asher was, or at least what I remember of Asher. (Mike was telling me Asher was exactly the same...but for some reason I don't remember that. So hopefully this phase is so minimal and fleeting it doesn't last forever )

I did a little comparison of Milo at 5 weeks (on the left) and Asher at 5 weeks (on the right) and Milo seems to be taking the cake (haha literally) on the size. He has definetly bulked up in the last week or so. I started noticing some definite rolls on his legs last week, then yesterday I noticed he actually has rolls (or creases I guess) in his mid-arm. Who knew you could get fat rolls in non-jointed areas...well he has them.

But I do think it's pretty cute, and I do count myself lucky that I don't have to worry about his weight gain. So many people fight to get their babies gaining weight...well thanks Milo. You've taken one major worry of the plate of this mother.

So a little about him ... we don't have a patterned behavior yet. He will have a day where he eats every 4 hours, then the next day it's every 2 hours....today we're trying to hold strong at 3 hours. But... he's not a very good sleeper. So it's hard to tell. Because when he's awake, he can chill for a little while, but then he gets fussy. And you wonder if he's tired, hungry, gassy or just bored. So....hopefully we'll get this down a little better in the next few weeks.

I am currently dreaming of the time when he only wakes once in the night to eat....I felt like that happened really early with Asher, but obviously my memory is failing me. So we'll wait...maybe tomorrow will be our lucky day. :)

Cutest Brothers Ever

2011-03-24T15:54:00.002-06:00

I am lucky in the Asher really loves Milo. He rarely is resentful or jealous, just loving. If anything, a bit overly loving. But often I will find him laying next to Milo, or telling him stories, or having him watch him do something ('Milo, watch this!'). It's super cute.

Although today they were both crying hysterically at the same time...and I was stuck with the 'which one do I comfort first' debacle. But, we made it through. We're all still alive. :)

Random Life Happenings

2011-03-24T15:46:00.002-06:00

While my sister was in town, we went up to the Canyons one day so the boys could go snowboarding. On our way out one of the girls that works in Engineering asked if the kids would like a little Canyons hard hat. I said of course, and she brought out hard hats and little tap measures for all of them.

We got home and Asher played with his tape measure and 'Digger Hat' for the rest of the day.
We also stopped by to visit my cute Grandpa Bradley (Milo's middle namesake). Even though my Grandpa is blind, he is a lover of babies....so I had to have him hold Milo for a bit.

And while Mike's mom was in town right after Milo was born, Asher was privileged enough to get a new 'big boy bed'. Mike was using the drill to put it together, and Asher definitely wanted to be in on that. So Mike creatively had him drill the card board. It worked out well...although now anytime power tools are out Asher wants to use them, hold them, love them...

Offret Family Mini-Reunion Sort Of....

2011-03-24T14:35:00.004-06:00

My littlest (is that a word?) sister Niki lives in Alaska still. She is the only sibling to not make it out of the last frontier yet...but we're still working on her. :) But because she lives in Alaska we don't see her or her kids very often. Usually just special events that bring us up to the great state. Well, she finally bucked up and decided to bring her whole family down to Utah for a spring getaway. So her, her husband and their 4 kids all hopped on a plane a flew down.

We headed up to Rexburg where my oldest sister lives so that all the grandchildren could be together....for the first time...ever. It was pretty monumental. And we're all really happy that Beki (oldest sister) has a home large enough to accommodate everyone, and has patience great enough to accommodate everyone. :) It was quite chaotic some of the time, but the good kind of chaos. The random songs being song, the multiple sounds of toys coming from every direction, and beki's youngest Isabel always had a new outfit on.

So we made all the cousins line up on the couch for a photo opportunity. From left to right it is: Asher/Milo (not sure who is most left as Asher is sort of laying on Milo), Isabel (3), Gunnar (6), Kaitlin (9), Madalin (3 mos), Keegan (6), Kaitlin (3), Livvy (5).

I'm sure others got better pics with everyone smiling peacefully and looking at the camera, but this is the best one I could get.

So while they were here we had many great adventures. I don't actually have any good photos because I never seemed to take my camera everywhere, but thankfully now days every cell phone has a camera. so I have a few pics from that..

We headed to Hogle Zoo to check out the animals. The day we were going was a bit overcast and chilly (the previous few days had been spring teasers in the 60's) but Maryjane said this was the best weather because the animals would be out and the zoo would be empty. She was right! I think we saw 2 other groups of people the whole time we were there. It was perfect! And the animals were all out and playing, it was great!
We did walk buy the construction area where they are building the new polar bear palace...and Asher was so enthralled with the 'diggers' he didn't want to leave. I would say it was one of his favorite areas of the zoo.
We went into one area with monkeys, bats, snakes, etc...and Asher made a friend. The turtle. He seriously knelt in front of the plexi-glass for what seemed like an hour. He would move with the turtle as he slowly walked back and forth and just stare at him and say 'turtle mommy, turtle'. It was pretty cute.

Jimmy (niki's husband) took so many photos at the zoo of seriously every animal there, that at one point he was concerned there was only space for 162 photos left on his camera. I guess the Anchorage zoo doesn't have all the species that the Hogle Zoo offers. Who knew it was such an awesome place.

Another day we ventured down to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. We have a membership so we go pretty frequently. It's a great place with quite a few 'exhibits' that the kids can just terrorize essentially. A mini-grocery store, an extensive water table, a whole 'ball' area, a construction zone, a mini-house...you name it. A kids dream.
I finally got Asher to sit on the horse long enough to pose. And as a special bonus he wore the cowboy hat.
And I think he played Cashier for the first time ever. He usually sticks to the water table...

After about....5 hours there, Niki turned to me and say 'Wow Lizzie, I can't believe you guys can come here for so long and not want to take a nap.' I looked at her for a minute and told her that when we usually come, we stay for about an hour, then head home. It's only 5 minutes from our house and it's free essentially. So to stay ALL day was extremely exhausting, probably beyond exhausting, but since we only had one day we had to get our money's worth so I was happy to do it. I definitely went to bed around 8pm that night though....

We also headed down to St George, where my Grandpa has a nice condo. It was great to be able to all stay in one place, and be able to put the kids to bed and watch the Bachelor season finale. (priorities people...)

While in St George, we woke up one day and headed down to Vegas. But not just Vegas, first we stopped at the Hoover Dam. It was ironic that while walking over the Dam my dad called Amy (my other sister) and continued to give her a brief history of his life as he apparently used to live in the town right next to the Hoover Dam. (we learn something new every day...)

It was hot though...and after walking halfway across and taking a million photos there's not much to do, so we turned back to Vegas.

Now...I've never been to Vegas with kids, so I was googling 'Vegas for Kids' for days before we went. Every website said things like 'Vegas can be a great place for families, go see the lions, or m&m world, or yada yada....' so i was very optimistic. So we parked at New York New York, and headed over to MGM Grand to see the lions. Well, after walking through the dark smoky casino we finally found them. And they were sleeping. Bummer. Then we headed out to 'the strip' to walk the half block to M&M world. We had 4 adults, 2 strollers, 1 baby chest carrier and 3 walking kids (well 4 when Asher didn't want to ride in the stroller). I will say...it was not awesome. The strip .... well it's not the best place for kids. Maybe infants, but not kids with eyes and memories. I guess I never really paid attention to the amazingly large amount of escort advertising...but seriously, it was everywhere. So we tried to walk fast and made it to M&M world. We walked in and realized it's just a 4 story retail store with everything m&m...(I for some reason thought it had some entertainment value, guess not). So we bought some m&m's and left. Next we headed another half block to the mall. I was so excited because Vegas has an H&M, and I LOVE buying kids clothes there. So after navigating the mall and finally finding the h&m store, I realize this location doesn't have kids clothing...and it was really small. The smallest one I've ever seen actually. So that added to the continual disappointment Vegas was offering. So we went and at dinner then high-tailed it back to the car. Niki's family are huge hockey buffs, so they wanted to see the Alaska Aces play. It worked out quite nice, we dropped them at the arena, Asher and Milo had fallen asleep in the car, so I whipped out the kindle and quietly read for a few hours while waiting for the game to end.

It was so fun having the Leach's here...hopefully we didn't scar them for life so they'll come back and visit us again. :)

2011-03-24T14:34:00.001-06:00

2 Weeks Old

2011-03-09T16:27:00.002-07:00

So Mister Milo officially turned 2 weeks old on Monday. It was quite an interesting morning...a day of 'firsts' if you will. With boys, everyone tells you to be careful when changing the diaper because it's common for them to pee on you. Well with Asher it never happened. Not once. So I conditioned myself to thinking it was a myth... Fast forward to little innocent Milo here, and in the first 2 weeks of life he's probably peed on me over 10 times. And his stream shoots far too...and it's considerable.

So Monday morning I was out on the couch feeding him and I went to change his diaper and what happened? Well, he #2'd on me. Yes, and not just a little on my hand or the blanket. It literally shot out of him in a disgusting stream. Into my hair, all over my clothes, everywhere. So then I reached over to the table to grab more wipes for this disaster and I look back and there it goes again, this time all over the couch. I think I sat there for a few minutes just totally shocked and confused. How could something so little and cute and innocent make such a disgusting mess all over everything? Literally, everything.... I didn't really know what to do. Yell for Mike, just strip down and put everything in the wash...throw away the couch? Needless to say I pulled it together eventually and just cleaned it all up. Then showered and washed my hair twice. And now I am much more conscious and careful during Milo's diaper changes. He is quickly becoming much less innocent.

After this eventful morning we went in for his 2 week appointment. After all the billiruben and eye infection filled appointments of his life, I was excited to just have one healthy one. I was surprised when they weighed him and he was 9 lbs 11 oz! What a little chunky monkey. Even the doctor was surprised. When I asked if that was really a lot she said 'We hope for babies to be back to their birth weight at 2 weeks, and we strive for them to gain 1/2 ounce a day. Milo has gained on average 2 ounces day. So yes, it is quite a weight increase'. I was pleased. :)

She did notice a little strawberry on his lower spine and said rarely it can be caused by some sort of scoliosis/spine issue. So we took him into Primary Children's Hospital for a quick ultrasound where everything checked out okay. So now we are literally on the up and up. We don't have to go back to the doctor for another month and a half. How relaxing....

His stats for the appointment are:

Weight: 9 lbs 11 oz 75%

Height: 21 3/4 in 84%

Head: 38.2 cm 78%

So he's a big kid...just like his brother. At least Milo has dark hair, for now. (Every time I wash it it seems to get a little lighter) I'm just nervous if we have another blonde with blue eyes Mike is going to start questioning my fidelity....

If it's not one thing it's another

2011-02-28T16:37:00.002-07:00

So we went to see our favorite doctor again this morning (which I'm happy we like her so much because I really have talked to her almost every day since we've been home) and she gave us some good news and some bad.

Good News: No more bili-lights!!! Yay!! Milo has been confined to about a 4-foot radius since he's been home. It's made me a bit stir crazy, but at least we get out every morning to get his blood tested. Who knew a visit to the doctor would be so welcome.... but now we are free. And how are we celebrating? I think we might go for a walk this afternoon....it's too bad the sun doesn't want to celebrate with us. If only we were in hawaii....

So then the bad news: He has an eye infection. I noticed it yesterday afternoon when he was waking up from a nap, he had a gunky eye. And the gunk had a greenish hue...then this morning, there was no mistaking it. It was green gunk. So we have an ointment we get to put in his eye a bunch...but it should be cleared up by Thursday. So at least there is an end in sight.

We go in next Monday for a standard 2-week old appointment. Let's hope there are no outstanding issues by that time!

But I am so happy for a quick recovery on my part. Otherwise I think I might have fallen apart by now.... funny how life works out for us.

Bad Bilirubins

2011-02-26T14:51:00.005-07:00

So here we are...day 5 and still doing photo therapy (aka the bili lights). We've been in to get lil' Milo's heel pricked and prodded every day since we left the hospital, and every day the bilirubin level has held strong at 16.
It's oddly comforting when I tell people this and they say 'oh yeah, my daughter/son was under lights for a week' etc. It makes me less afraid and more thinking this is somewhat normal. But still, it's disheartening when everyday there is no progress, just the same. But the doctor today seemed happy that it wasn't going up. And he seemed happier when I told him we weren't under real bili-lights a la hospital, but just the ghetto at home bili strip of light that lays along his back.

But the post-partum hormones mixed in with the consistent afternoon non-happy calls is making for a mascara streaked face. But I'm staying positive. I think if we continue down our path, hopefully Monday's heel prick will offer different results for us. Here's hoping.

First Dr Visit

2011-02-24T15:29:00.003-07:00

Little M and I headed into the doctor this morning for a newborn checkup and a bili re-check. I was so optimistic that we would be done with the disco lights...he was eating well and his poop was no longer brown (I guess the browns are the bili's)...but she called me back this afternoon and it's actually gone up. Don't worry, it's a sliding scale that changes with age, but still. Poor little guy. So, we are still all wrapped up in disco lights, hoping for better results tomorrow. I am now on a mission to be a super annoying mom and force him to eat every 2 hours. The only problem is he will eat really well for about...3 minutes then he's passed out. So I've googled some techniques on how to be super duper annoying and hopefully keep him awake and 'actively' eating for a good 10-15 minutes. I am also open to any advice :)

But, his stats are good. He was born at 8 lb 6 oz, we left the hospital at about 8 lb 0 oz and we are back up today to 8 lb 4 oz. So he's definitely getting something...I guess just not enough to kick out the bili's.

He is in the 72% for height and 58% for weight and 59% for head circumference. We will see how he progresses with time...not quite as off the charts as Asher yet, but he is still young. (It was really weird to see on the sheet they gave me today that his age was 3 days....)

More Pics of Milo

2011-02-24T15:20:00.005-07:00

Here are the pics from the good camera from the Hospital. Keep in mind these are all taken around 9am, so 6 hours after the 3am birth. Meaning both Mike and I really haven't slept at all. :)

In following everyone else's advice, Milo brought Asher a gift. Some 'diggers'. Once he saw those, he really could've cared less about the baby....
And the necessary 'first photo as a family of four' shot. We could all definitely look better for this...but alas, this is how it was. Just keepin it real. (And notice the cute hospital gown. My cousin gave it to me. It was the talk of the floor)
The first bath....

And Asher assisting with the first bath....

Bili-Lights / Jaundice

2011-02-22T20:42:00.002-07:00

So we were all ready to go home today, Mike was super ancy but I kept assuring him we would leave around lunch time. I got the a-okay to go as did Milo, they just needed to wait for his tests to come him from that morning.

Well, the tests came in, and the nurse came in and sat down to chat about them. I knew they weren't all hunky dory at that point. She said his billiruben counts were high, and he needed to have uv therapy. We could take home the uv suitcase and use it at home, or we could stay another day and keep setup the bili lights and blankets in our room and test again in the morning.

I opted to stay another night. First of all, I refer to this place as the Park City Hospital Hotel....it's small, quaint, in the mountains and they have delicious organic local made foods available via room service. Besides being a little boring, it's really not bad.

So here we are, he's been on the lights since noon and I'm feeding him as much as he'll let me. (which isn't as often as you'd think. he's kind of a lazy eater). But I'm really optimistic that his levels will be drastically lower tomorrow and we'll get the all clear. Otherwise, we'll be taking the disco blanket home with us...and really, who wants a disco blanket in their house?

Milo Bradley Saltsman

2011-02-22T20:40:00.002-07:00

So he FINALLY decided to make it!!

Milo Bradley Saltsman was born 2/21/11 at 3:11am.
He was 8 lbs 6 oz, and 20.5 inches.

The Birth Story

2011-02-21T20:47:00.001-07:00

EXTREMELY GRAPHIC - NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART

So, for those that don't know I went with a mid-wife for this pregnancy. I had a bit of long and arduous birth and recovery with Asher and I was looking for something different. Danielle came very highly recommended, and worked in a practice with two OB's and delivered at the Park City Hospital. So, we tried it out and I loved her.
Mike was a big skeptic about the whole mid-wife thing from the get-go. He didn't think they were safe, etc. But I assured him as Danielle had assured me that she has delivered thousands of babies and just like a doctor both mother and baby safety is the number one priority.

So, I went in Wednesday for my 40.5 week appointment. The baby was still really high, not even in the pelvis, and was barely 1 cm dilated. So she set the induction date for the following Wednesday and told me to come in Friday for the NST/Ultrasound. I was really nervous about getting induced with such a high baby. It just seemed like a recipe for failed induction turn c-section. But I was letting fate run it's course I suppose.
I arrived at PC Hospital Friday morning for the testing, and baby checked out well. Danielle popped in during the heartbeat monitoring and felt the baby again, still really high and still posterior (head down just facing the wrong way). She told me to find a staircase and take the stairs 2 at a time up and sort of run down them in a very safe way.
I went back to work (in a hotel) and did 2 20-minute sessions taking stairs 2-up and running down them. (It was actually a really good workout I was thinking I should do when I go back to work). Then on Saturday I pulled out the breast pump as it's supposed to help induce labor. It caused some mild contractions for about an hour that then stopped.
Sunday morning I told my husband he had to love me. Yes, that way. :) A few hours later I started having some mild contractions but thought nothing of them (as I'd been having them on and off for a week or so). Around 4 or 5 I noticed them happening a little more consistently, but still not painful enough for me to stop walking or talking. Just noticed them really. Around 7pm they were getting just a little more intense. I would maybe slow down during them, and they were definitely noticeable. I decided to start timing them, and doing my hands & knees cat/cows to help turn the baby. Timing them they were about 6-7 minutes a part and lasting almost a minute. I decided to text my sister Amy to see if she was available that night in case this continued (I was very skeptical). I then texted my mid-wife (Danielle) and told her I was having consistent contractions. She said 'Excellent! let me know when they get stronger'. So Amy came over to stay the night just in case we had to leave as Asher was already in bed. At 9pm I decided to try and go to bed. I was tired and figured if this baby was going to come the next day I should get as much sleep as possible. I went to bed but couldn't sleep through the contractions. Around 10-10:30 I noticed them getting a bit stronger. By 11pm I had to get up on my hands and knees and breathe through them. Mike was getting very anxious, so I text Danielle and said they are getting stronger. She asked if I thought I needed to head to the hospital. I said I think I had time but was nervous as we were in Salt Lake and the hospital is 30 minutes away. She said to just take it 30 minutes at a time, and trust that I'll be able to tell when it's time. So, at midnight I texted her and said we were going to start packing up and head in. They were getting stronger and more intense, and some were coming 3 minutes apart. Mike immediately jumped up and had the truck warming up, his bag packed, etc., in minutes. I pulled a few things together and we got in the truck to head to PC. Contractions in the car were sucky. They were coming consistently 3 minutes apart now, and sitting in a car seat was the least comfortable place/position I could imagine being in.
It was the beginning of a storm, so it was snowing in the canyon. And since it was the middle of the night, the road was snow covered. I kept thinking 'oh, just our luck. Mike will slide off the road and I'll be having this baby in the truck afterall'. Well, we didn't slide off and we got to the hospital about 1am. We walked into the ER door and the guy sitting at the desk looked up at us and said 'Oh Hi, you must be the Saltsmans'. I was shocked but said yes. He confirmed a few things with our insurance and said a nurse would be by to take us up. Just then, a nurse pops out the side door and said 'Saltsmans? I'll take you up'. I felt like I was checking into the Ritz...it was great. We had a to pause a few times during contractions. Probably had 3 on the way up. The nurse was great and offered me the wheelchair, but again sitting was the last thing that sounded comfortable. We got to labor & delivery and Danielle was there sitting behind the desk. She got up, gave me a hug and walked me into the room with the nurse. She gave offered me the gown or I could wear my own clothes. I told her I had a gown my cousin gave me. She said great, get changed and I'll be back in second to check you. I was so nervous she was going to check me and tell me I was at a 2 or something. I would've been depressed. She checked me and i was at a 6! Woo-hoo!! So the nurse started to check me in by asking me the million questions. She put the bed up so I was on my knees leaning against the back of the bed to get through the contractions. She also went and drew me a bath so I could get into the bathtub after the questions and monitoring was done. (Danielle wanted to see a 20 minute strip of the baby's heart before letting me do what I wished). So after about 30 minutes (there were a lot of contraction pauses in there) Danielle came in and said 'okay lets get these monitors off, baby looks great'. So she took of the monitors and Mike and I headed into the bathroom. I got into the tub and laid down. The warm water felt wonderful, but didn't quite take all the pain away like I was hoping. :) Had some contractions...but I was having a hard time finding a really comfortable position in the tub. Danielle came in to check on me and suggested laying on my side as it would help turn the baby and take some pressure of my back. (did I mention I was having ... I would say mild back labor as i've heard horror stories). So after a certain amount of time...maybe 45 minutes, they started to get really intense. Like, I started moaning through them. I never wanted to be that person, moaning and being all weird and dramatic, but that was me. It was all I could do. Then....it got intense. With each contraction my body was pushing and tightening and convulsing. I kept thinking 'Wow, this could be a great scene for an exorcism movie'. But I was really surprised how painless I felt when the contraction stopped. I was not expecting it to be such an intense change in pain versus relaxation. So anyway, after a few of these exorcist/uncontrollable pushing/sloshing in the tub contractions...well the last one I felt something coming out. I screamed to Mike 'Call the Nurse!! He's coming out!!!!' So mike grabbed the emergency cable in the bathroom and pulled it. Just then I felt to see what was coming out and then there was a pressure pop. It must've just been my water. But none the less 4 people ran in...oopsy. So I said 'I'm sorry I'm sorry It was just my water breaking. I'm sorry I thought the baby was coming out' Just then Danielle walked in and I started having another contraction. After it was done she said 'okay, let's get her on the bed it's time to push'. The other nurse asked 'do you want to check her?' and danielle said 'no, she's grunting it's time to push'. So out of the bathroom to the bed I walked. I laid on my side for a bit and pushed. (this was about 2:45am). I kept pushing myself against the edge of the bed and Danielle was nervous I was going to fall off and kept asking me to slide over. To which I would just push myself back again. funny. After about 10 minutes in this position I said I needed something else. This wasn't working. So she asked the nurse to grab a birthing stool. I was expecting an actual stool, something like a kids training toilet or something. But really, it was like....two metal bars about a foot of the ground?. Not sure how to explain it, but I looked at it with a big question mark on my face. Like 'how am I supposed to sit on that?'. She put towels on either side for padding and told me to straddle it and rest my legs on the bars. I finally got into the correct position and yelled that I needed something behind me to lean on. So in swoops the husband. He sat behind me and basically held me up. So with each contraction I pushed. When I was pushing there was no pain, it was crazy weird. Then after each contraction was like a euphoric relaxation. Then when the contraction would start I would get anxiety until I started pushing again. A weird cycle. I was yelling random things throughout this whole process like 'I can't do this' to which Danielle would calmly reply 'Lizzie, yes you can. You're doing it'. Then after a contraction I would be hyperventilating and she would calmly say 'Lizzie focus. Slow down your breathing. Slow deep breaths'. And I would slow it down and feel so much better. Other things I yelled were 'I hate the monitoring' (the nurse kept holding the monitor on my stomach and it was driving me crazy) or 'Can't you just rip the baby out?' and I yelled at Mike probably every time he moved...poor hubby.
So anyway, she mentioned that it was a little tougher because the baby was still backwards and needed to turn, but not to worry he had plenty of room to turn I just needed to keep pushing. I was thinking it was going to take forever, especially since he was not facing the right way. But then the nurse said 'oh wow, look at all that hair!' and I felt so much better. Yes, they could see him. We're getting closer. So I kept pushing, and as he got lower I realized I was totally pushing in the wrong place. Where the baby was was definitely not where I was focusing my pushing efforts. So once I changed that he really started moving. Then right when I was all excited he was coming out she told me I had to not push him all the way but sit and let him stretch everything out. I knew it was for the best, but holy hannah montana that was so uncomfortable. I explained it to Mike like if you were having a super large bowel movement, and you right at that place where it's going to just be done but then you just have to stop and sit there in that super uncomfortable position. But I listened. And she was 'ironing' me as well to help prevent tearing. But seriously, her fingers felt like sandpaper...I wanted to yell at her but I knew it was for the best. So after a few more contractions I pushed him out. Danielle said 'Lizzie look at me' and I moaned 'no no i can't' she said 'open your eyes reach down and grab your baby' and looked down and there he was. I grabbed him and pulled his soaking wet noodly little body onto my chest. I couldn't believe he was really there.
I was a little nervous as he was really fresh out of the womb and didn't have a lot of color. But after a few seconds he pinked right up. Then I stood up and took a few steps back on the bed. (yes, cord still intact and connected into the womb. i know, gross). I laid on the bed and mike and I adored our new little boy. Then the nurse said 'I have him born at 3:11am'. I thought to myself, holy crap, we've only been here for 2 hours. Crazyness. We sat like this for it seems like a little while. I asked Mike if he wanted to cut the cord, he seemed skeptical but me and the nurse told him he should. So probably 15 minutes later they clamped it and showed mike where to cut. He cut and said 'wow, that is not what i was expecting it to be like'. and i think he meant that in a that was more gross then I thought it would be. Then I told Danielle I really didn't want to deliver a placenta. I was so done. And she said don't worry, it will just fall out. Not really, she came over after a bit and kinda pushed it out. Weird. but i was happy not to push. She had to give me a few surface stitches. She asked if I had an episiotomy last time and i said yes, she said it looks like the beginning of that tore a little bit as it was a super clean straight tear. So she sewed me up and the nurse did her devil rubbing of my uterus. I was holding onto her arm and told her I was trying not to punch her. :) She laughed. So...then time went by. Baby still on my chest. Mike and I just chillin. I think Mike finally took him and held him for a bit...not sure. It kinda all melds together.
A few hours later (about 6am) the nurse came in and I told her I wanted to get up and use the restroom. She said great she would change out my bedding. I got up, walked to the bathroom, and I really couldn't believe how great I felt. It was amazing.
When Amy came up around 9am with Asher she commented on how crazy different I was. the last time the whole next day I was lethargic and out of it and just not happy. And this was 6 hours after I had delivered and I was up and at em, ready to take on the world. It was such a great feeling. I was virtually pain free, just a little sore. I felt great.

So, overall, yes, the natural drug free labor is an insane idea. But in comparison to the last birthing experience it was so much better. A shorter more intense experience, but so much better then the long drawn out labor and aftermath and recovery of the last one. In the midst of it I was thinking 'i will never do this again, this is absolutely insane'. But now that a day and half have gone by...the memory is a bit more distant and I seem to focus more on all the good parts. So...who knows. But for this labor and this kid, I think it was the right choice.

Congrats if you read this whole thing. It's mostly for my own remembrance of events. But hope you enjoyed. :)

40.5 Weeks....

2011-02-16T10:52:00.002-07:00

So I went to the doctor this morning....this was the conversation (abridged version)

D: 'Lizzie, you're still here?'
L: 'Yes... :sigh:'
D: 'Well this storm rolling in is bound to bring a few babies'
D: 'Probably not your baby, but someones baby'
L: :sigh:

So, this guys is turning out to be much like his brother. Either lazy or stubborn, not sure which one. He's still high up, enjoying life in the womb, relaxing in his bath of amniotic fluid.

The one benefit of having a late baby is the Non-Stress Test. Once you're past 40 weeks, they send you in for some 'monitoring' to make sure everything' still hunky dory inside. So on Friday I get to have an ultrasound where they'll check the fluid levels (which said are obviously fine as it's the only thing she feels in there) and check the placenta and cord, make sure it's all still working properly. Then they'll hook me up to the heartbeat monitors and monitor his heartbeat for a half hour. That was one of my favorite things with Asher, sitting in the dimmed labor room just listening to his heartbeat on the loud speaker. So I am looking forward to Friday.

Then, if all else fails and he doesn't come on his own over this holiday weekend, there will be some 'encouragement' next Wednesday morning. So...there is an eviction day set for the little man.

I did have a depressed day on his actual due date, but other then that I've been doing pretty well. And I must have slept great last night because I really do feel great today. I know I shouldn't say that outloud, and I should pull the misery card card more, but really I do feel great.

Here's hoping for some weekend labor pains. :)

No Baby Yet...

2011-02-14T21:04:00.003-07:00

Just wanted to let the world know that No...we haven't had a baby yet. I promise that when we do have a baby we will not keep it a secret.

Just in case you were nervous about that.

and Happy Valentines Day!!

Love Day - Round 5

2011-02-11T12:25:00.006-07:00

Mike and I's love-i-versary is today....5 years. Can you believe it?

We had a babysitter for last night, so we went out on our romantic love dinner then. We went to Cucina Toscana, a little italian restaurant in Salt Lake we haven't tried out yet. The love dinner was quite delicious, actually really delicious. Some of the best italian I've had.

So to the gifts. Mike got me a carrot. No no....not that kind of carrot. This kind of karet :). But the way it went down was quite funny. For those that don't know I'm about 954 weeks pregnant, so I am VERY pregnant and everyone around is very aware of it. There is absolutley NO hiding it at this point.

So we're sitting in this cozy restaurant, by cozy I mean the tables are pretty close together. So you pretty much know what's going on in the tables around you. So Mike says 'do you want your present?' and i said 'Now? You have it right now?' and he said 'Yes' and i said 'Of course I want it' so he said 'close you eyes and put out your hands' and into my palm he drops my newly upgraded wedding ring. I was ecstatic and put it on immediatley and kept holding up my hand and starting at it and saying how beautiful it was and 'oh my goodness i love it' etc etc. Then after a few minutes of this, I realize that everyone around us, including the busser refilling our water at this point, probably thinks the Mike as the baby-daddy just proposed. Oopsy....so people were giving us smiles, and I wanted to tell them that we really have been married for 5 years, I just wasn't wearing my ring because my hands are like water ballons....but, we just let them believe what they wanted to believe. That we were infidels bringing into this world an illegimate child and trying to legitimize it a bit, literally days before he arrives. :) What they don't know won't kill them, right?

So yes, Mike is amazing and got me a beautiful, wonderful, amazing gift. And I'll have you know that I love it so much I'm wearing it today, even though my fingers are swollen like little potatoes.

So on to my gifts....it was the year of 'wood'. In discussing with a co-worker what I could get mike that would be cool and wood, he suggested a wooden briefcase for his macbook air. huh?? Seriously? You think Mike wants a 15 pound briefcase to carry his 10 oz laptop in? Not gonna do it.

So I was looking at wooden watches, which looked pretty cool, but Mike doesn't really wear a watch because he's always on a laptop and it seems to get in the way. So then I thought...how about a cool wooden picture hanging or something. So as I was looking around etsy, I got a little sidetracked and bought a Wood Letterpress picture that said 'Happily Ever After'. I threw that in a wooden frame with our wedding photo and called it good.

I also got this couples love keychain, similar to the BFF necklaces you used to wear in elementary school. The two keychains together make a heart....I thought it was cute. As did Mike, but I don't know that it's cute enough that he will actually use it....but it's the thought that counts.

In Mike's defense, he did order a wooden box for the ring to be presented in...to keep with the wood theme. But alas, he was too anxious and the box was too late. But again, it's the thought that counts.

Overall, a lovely evening with a lovely man. I feel like a lucky girl....

Still Pregnant - 39 Weeks

2011-02-07T13:58:00.003-07:00

In other news....I'm still pregnant. 39 weeks. I know, I shouldn't be hoping for anything better then 10 days late. Apparantley my kids are lazy and would rather sit in the womb.
But, this guy not only is still in the womb...but he's in the womb backwards. No, not breeech (upside down) just facing the wrong way. So everything I've read online says 'Posterior babies will still be born just fine, it's just the labors are much longer and much more painful and much harder' which is not really inspiring....

So here's hoping the magician-like pre-natal chiropractor can work some magic tomorrow. I have kind of sold myself on the idea that once the baby is in the right position I'll immediatley go into labor. Really though? Probably not that lucky...but it's what gets you through the day.

And honestly, I can't really complain. I feel fine, I have no pain, no soreness really...nothing to complain about except a normal, healthy pregnancy.... I'm a lucky girl. :)

Haircut # 2

2011-02-07T13:55:00.002-07:00

I took Asher to get his haircut again on Saturday....

and he still wasn't a fan. He cried the whole time. Crying to the point that liquid from his nose AND mouth was pouring out in a string, hanging down to the cape he was wearing.
In good news, he was so shell shocked by the entire process that he stayed very still. So it went very quickly. I would say 5-7 minutes from the first spray of water to the removing of the cape. Towards the end the girl was telling him how after the haircut he could get a balloon and go down the slide. So the sobbing turned more into the fake cry while saying "ballooon......slide.....". It was very cute.
And now he looks a little more like a man with the shaggy hair out of his eyes. :)

So Big...

2011-01-25T21:03:00.002-07:00

So, I know I'm only 37 weeks, and most likely have 4-5 weeks left of this, but this picture depicts exactly how I feel. Ginormous. Huge. Large and in charge. Today alone I had 2 people come up to me and say 'wow! you're so big! you look so uncomfortable'. (For those that aren't aware, those are not what a pregnant woman ever wants to hear. Ever.)

So...as I would like to be optimistic that this baby will join us sooner rather than later, I am staying realistic that he will most likely be late. My guess today is he will appear around the next full moon, which I think is 2/19?

I am also patiently waiting for my 'nesting' instinct to kick in. My house could surely use a nice deep clean...but as of late all I want to do is sit. Good thing I have an amazing husband who can pick up the slack for me.

Transition to Adulthood

2011-01-17T13:57:00.003-07:00

Last night, my sister Amy was over playing with Asher. And for some reason Mike and I decided it was a great time to put the toddler side onto Ashers crib. So we did. And afterwards, when we had Asher come in and look at it....I couldn't believe his reaction. I thought he wouldn't really care, or care for a second then move on to something else.
But no, he was ecstatic. More like ECSTATIC!!! He climbed in the bed, jumped onto his stomach and said 'Night Night', then jumped up and climbed out. Then climbed back in and jumped up and down, then laid down again, and back up and out. This continued for literally about 15 minutes. All the while Mike, Amy and I were just watching and laughing histerically. It was so funny, and it just wasn't ending. Well, until he jumped out and landed on his bum, and his diaper exploded down his leg. Then he stood up with a very umcomfortable confused look, so we moved the party into the bathtub.
But serioulsy, the kid was more excited then I think I've ever seen him in my life. So after the bath Mike and I discussed this new bed, and said 'Well, we'll give it a try. We might be putting the rail back on tomorrow' to which Mike replied 'Or maybe even tonight'. So we were mentally prepared for a tough night....but it wasn't tough at all. When we went to bed, he laid in his new bed, and went right to sleep. And when he woke up this morning, it was all very much the same as when he was in his crib, except it was lower. He still cried for me, then handed me every item in the crib one by one, then asked me to hold him, then we walked out to the living room together....
So I was SURE that nap time today would be a disaster, but so far so good. He went down perfectly. So maybe this will stick, or maybe it's just beginners luck. Either way, our little man is becoming more of a man every day. It's crazy.

Is it really that time?

2011-01-15T20:24:00.002-07:00

Sorry if the photos are innapropriate for the internet...but Asher's teacher sent them to me the other day. Apparantely while she was changing his diaper he decided to pee on her. Now, seriously....he has never ever peed on me during a diaper change. Not even when he was 2 days old. And she has never peed on her either...so when she's telling me this I was so confused. Then she said that when she looked at his face, he was looking at her with total concentration, like he was peeing on purpose....which is not surprising, as he is entering this phase of 'testing' and stubborness. I call it 'testing the fence' as in Jurrasic Park style...though he's not a velociraptor, nor are we electric fencing. But the analogy seems to suit.

Anyways, I digress. So, as he starts peeing on her, she picks him up and puts him on the toilet. And he didn't fight it at all. He sat there quite content while she changed the other kids diapers. And she said he even peed in the toilet a little.

So the questions is, is it that time already? I think I might wait a little while longer, honestly. With the impending arrival of #2, I can't imagine it's a good time to rock his world. So we'll wait a few more months....

35 & ....33 oops.

2011-01-10T10:35:00.003-07:00

Well, I missed the big mark of 35 weeks pregnant and 35 days to go... This is indicitive of this whole pregnancy. I seem late to the game, not quite as 'on it' as I was with the last one.

I have also noticed I'm pretty much done being pregnant. Well, I would like to be done I should say. I have another month, which will probably extend at least another week knowing my history. But really, if the babe arrived tomorrow I would be so happy. I think this time I harbor so much less anxiety about having a newborn....and it seems so much easier to have a newborn then to carry around all this extra weight.

Last night, after the 5th time struggling to get up from the couch in the same night, Mike commented 'Aren't you so happy that you aren't normally obese?' and I thought 'ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY'. I couldn't imagine it being this difficult to get off the couch all the time....oh man.

But, I will just have to suck it up and try and find the glory in these final weeks. I guess I could spend some time bringing up the baby clothes and getting them washed and ready. I did buy diapers the other day, because they were on sale at amazon.com and they give me free shipping, so why not.

Christmas In Bismarck

2011-01-09T07:00:00.004-07:00

This year for Christmas we headed up to balmy Bismarck North Dakota. And by balmy, I mean highs not exceeding 10 degrees. (i'm exaggerating a little, but you get the idea).

We booked direct flights from SLC, which was the best thing we could've ever done. Even though they changed the flight times about a hundred times, and cancelled one of the flights, it still worked out way better then being stuck in Denver over night.

Mike's mom just finished (like literally laid the tile the day before we arrived) a beautiful new addition onto her home. A 'great room' if you will. It was very nice, and changes the whole feel of her home really. While we were there she put the boys to work installing all the audio visual equipment, so Asher and I could enjoy countless episodes of Caillou streaming from Netflix.

And the first day we arrived she had a gift certificate to a spa for me, so I got a Christmas Eve Eve gift of a Mani/Pedi...it was delightful. Mike did a lot of skateboarding with the boys, and I did a lot of hanging out and last minute shopping.

Mikes family does the whole 'open all the presents on Christmas Eve' bit...so after a delicious Christmas Eve dinner we got down to business. Really, it was sort of Asher's day, although Mike and I did get some pretty stellar gifts.
Asher's first favorite was the 'choo-choo trains' or a few Thomas trains that he could roll around on the floor. It was the first year time he could care less about the wrapping paper, and really just wanted you to help him tear it off so he could get the toy inside. It was pretty cool.
And realistically, we could've gotten him nothing else but that trains and the kid would've been so excited. But we didn't. We got him some lego's (with some lego train cars) and some train books. (are you sensing the theme here....)
Mike's Grandma Anne came over for the festivities, as did her friend Irene. They were all tuckered out afterwards and hoping they could take a few days to recover, but no, we brought them back for Christmas day as well.
Mike scored quite a few nice gifts...but lets be honest, the Macbook Air out-shadowed the rest. I actually have to think hard about what else he did get... I got a beautiful bracelet and a Kindle. And Asher was so nice and got me another spa day while I was there, what a kind and thoughtful son.
So after you open all the gifts on Christmas Eve, then Christmas morning you get one more gift from Santa....and oddly enough, it's usually coordinated to what you got the night before. For instance, I got a new Kindle and then Santa brought me a gift card to buy books for the Kindle...smart guy. Mike got a Kinect for the Xbox, and christmas morning got the adapter for it to fit on our mounted television...
Overall, great Christmas. It will be interesting next year with two kids...I have a feeling it will just get more fun the more kids we add to the fold :)

Christmas Party

2010-12-20T20:40:00.002-07:00

Tonight my work had a Christmas Party for all the employee kids. I knew Santa was going to be there, so Mike came up so we could take Asher to meet him. The whole drive over I had Asher practicing what Santa says 'Ho Ho Ho' and he was getting pretty good by the time we got there. But once we tried to put him on his lap, he was not having it. Santa offered him a gift, and he seemed a little less reluctant, but he still was not going to sit there if we weren't half holding on to him.

So we ventured over to the cookie decorating table. Much less intimidating. No big men with scary white beards. Just colored sugar and more colored sugar to smear all over some delicious sugar cookies....just what Asher needed. :) Mike heavily supervised the decorating, especially after the night we had after the gingerbread house was made. But Asher did very well. He only tried to eat frosting at the end of the activity, which was perfect.

Then we went over and had some dinner, nothing like chicken nuggets and mini corn dogs to fill you up.

Overall it was fun to see all my co-workers kids, and how big they all are. And I absolutley love Christmas, and all the fun activites and parties that come with it! If only the holiday season was more then just a month....

Gingerbread House

2010-12-19T06:39:00.003-07:00

One of my favorite traditions to do around the holidays is decorate the gingerbread house. I love the sugar, the mess, and the sometimes lovely end result. But this is probably one of Mike's least favorite activities...so this year we went the expedited route and bought the 'pre-built' house from Costco. (Last year we spent a majority of the time holding the walls in place waiting for them to dry, then watching them fall over when we let go) The pre-built was nice though, you could just focus on the fun decorating aspect of it.

So this year I was so excited that Asher was a little older and he could participate with me in decorating the house. What I didn't think about was the fact that I was putting a 1.5 year old in front of loads of delicious sugary candy and expecting him to put it on the house instead of in his mouth.

After about the first 5 minutes, I think he had consumed more candy then he had already in his combined lifetime. Ooopsy...

I finally got him to put a few pieces on the gingerbread man....but he would almost immediately eat them off. We did learn our lesson though when he was up all night with a sore stomach.
The house turned out....well, okay. I gave up on decorating the sides, and just focuses on the roof and the front. And I ran out of candy options pretty quickly....

But we'll keep the tradition alive, and maybe one year I'll even try to bake the gingerbread myself....don't worry though, that's a while down the road.

Happy Holidays!!

2010-12-12T20:17:00.002-07:00

The Little Gym

2010-12-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we took Asher to a trial day at The Little Gym to see if it would be something he would enjoy. Well, he LOVED it...and loved might be an understatement. I think it was very freeing for him to have somewhere he could literally just run around and jump on everything and have it be okay.

Well now we go every Saturday morning, and the excitement and the love has not worn off. Even this morning he was climbing up to play on the rings, playing on the bar, the balance beam, with the parachute, balls, etc. It is a child's playground and he takes full advantage of everything there.

I'm so happy we decided to give it a try. It's been a great outlet for him...too bad we can't go every day....

31 Weeks

2010-12-11T14:08:00.003-07:00

So this is me at 31 weeks. I am a gigantic house. Large and in charge. Forging the track for those around me.

Most of the comments I get are "When are you do? Wow! 2 more months? You're gonna expload!" to which I reply "Thank You for the kind and thoughtful words...you have made me feel beautiful".

But below is a picture of me with Asher at 30 weeks. After review I can tell that my belly this time is at least quite a few inches larger then it was last time. And it shoots out straight ahead like a torpedo...

But I can't really say I have a lot of complaints. I can't bend over as well anymore...but other then that, it's been smooth sailing.

This baby is definitely just as active, if not more active then Asher was. So I guess I will look forward to having 2 extremely energetic boys in the house...oh wait, make that 3. Sorry Mike, forgot to count you. :)

Trains Trains Trains

2010-12-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Seriously, out of nowhere this kids is obsessed with trains. Whether it's playing with trains, or watching Thomas the Train...he loves them.

Happy Hanukkah

2010-12-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Hanukkah this year we lit the menorah and played some dreidal games. When we lit the menorah, we had all the candles in it, as opposed to just the ones we're supposed to light. So once the heater kicked on and the flame flickered a bit to the left, the one candle we lit decided to light it's neighbor. Then that one did the same, until the entire menorah was burning.

Well, I guess we can celebrate the first and last night in one night :) Good thing the candles are cheap!

And maybe Hanukkah really is the celebration of miracles....

First Snow

2010-12-02T14:29:00.002-07:00

So, Thanksgiving weekend there were all these alerts about 'Thanksgiving Blizzard!', and 'The Great Blizzard of 2010'. They closed the schools early, Asher's daycare closed early, they closed the University's and cancelled scheduled surgerys and appointments. They shut down the entire valley.

As Mike and I sat in our living room waiting for this great blizzard...we realized it's not really going to amount to much more then a normal storm. Yes, it could've been bad, if the wind had picked up like it was supposed to. But it didn't, it was so minimal I felt a little bad for all the meterologists that made such a huge deal over it.

Fast forward to a few days later and the forecast for 'Snow showers in the early am, tapering off by noon'. Well, when 4pm rolled around and it was still dumping snow Mike and I said 'I guess we finally got our blizzard'. We dropped our friend Cari off at the airport that night and watching all the plows and salt trucks on the runway I felt really cool that I live in a city where it can snow 12 inches and the flights are unaffected.

It was also fun to see Asher and Mike shovel the snow together. Asher is becoming so much more of a boy now, and loves doing everything we do. (I do get nervous when he watches me get ready in the morning, then a few hours later is trying to straighten his hair...) but it is cute when Mike takes him outside to do man things, like shovel the walkways.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

For Thanksgiving this year, my two besties came out to join us for the festivities. It was a great time! Though I did a horrible time documenting it.

I didn't take any pictures of the disastrous house that Asher was constantly making more disastrous. Or of Mike carving the Turkey. Or of the spread of food we had (I had to make 3 variations of stuffing to suit all the needs). Or the friends that joined us. Or the games we played afterwards. Or how crazy Asher was because we let him stay up for hours after his bedtime the night before. Or how I feel asleep at about 9pm when everyone left to continue their evening on the town.

But I promise it was tons of fun. We tried to turn it into an eating vacation. I'm not sure Cari and Valecia were very excited about constantly having to eat, but Matt and I sure were :) Thanks Matt, for making the pregnant lady not feel bad about consuming so much food. But there were so many places they had to try, Jimmy Johns, Cafe Zupas, Park Cafe, Vertical Diner, Ruths (which we're saving for next time).

One day we randomly all were wearing plaid shirts, so it was the unofficial plaid shirt day. We had to document it for a photo, but Matt and Asher were in on it as well.

It was also the big Utah vs BYU game the weekend they were here. We don't have the VS network or Mtn so we couldn't watch it, so instead we just watched the play by play online and were excited every time Cari let out a cheer. It was a close game, but we're happy Red Won by One!!

I guess now that the Belmonts have come to Utah multiple times, it will be our turn to head to Denver to visit next....hopefully they have as many good restaurants and diners as we have in Salt Lake :)

18 Months (at 19.5 months)

2010-11-20T10:43:00.002-07:00

Last week we had Asher's 18 months appointment. I was kinda excited because this is the last appointment with shots until he's 4 I think. Woo-Hoo!! He is growing like a weed, and his personality and vocabulary get larger and stranger every day.

His stats are:

Height: 34.5 in 92%

Weight: 26.57lbs 54%

So he is a pretty tall kid. I couldn't believe it when she told me his height, I kept thinking 'Wow! He's almost 3 feet tall! What happened to my baby?' But it's nice that he's taller for some things. It's easier for him to climb onto the coffee table by himself, and the bar stools, and all the chairs, and pretty much everything. One of his favorite activities is to climb onto the coffee table and jump onto the couch (or onto Mike & I if we're sitting there). He hasn't fallen enough to realize that where the coffee table is in comparison to the couch should affect his jumping. This morning he attempted to jump from the table to the couch, and the table was pushed out a bit, and he just landed on the floor. But that didn't stop him, back up he went to try again.

His favorite toys right now are trucks, trucks, and electronics. He loves anything that plugs into something else. So we have an old pair of headphones and an older iPod that we give him and he will just plug and unplug the headphones into the iPod. Now that he has that down, he's starting to want to use the devices. I have a little netbook that he 100% correlates to Elmo. He thinks it's only purpose is to play elmo movies for him. And now he knows the iPod will play music through the headphones so he wants it on all the time (though it is usually dead).

He loves animals and can say almost all the sounds now. I find it's easier to get him to put his pajamas on if there is an animal or truck on the front. He will continually point to it and say 'Truck' or 'Roarrrr'.

One funny thing, he HATES stamps. Not postage stamps, but ink stamps. Every time we go to Costco they try and force a stamp on his hand. He screams, and if they succeed he spends the next 10 minutes crying and trying to pull it off. We go to the Little Gym on Saturdays and all the kids get so excited for the stamps afterwards. I tried once thinking if he saw all the other kids getting stamps he would want one too, but no bueno. He screamed, so we passed. And now I don't try anymore, actually I make a point to avoid the situations so I don't have to explain to the confused stamp giver that he really hates them.

He is also starting to think he's outgrowing the highchair. Sometimes at dinner he will refuse to sit in it and want to sit in the chair next to his Dad, so we let him. Then we talk about how we should get him a booster, but we still haven't. Some day.

He love love loves to brush his teeth, especially if we are. He'll walk into the bathroom, point to the toothbrushes and say 'Brush?'.

We're trying to get him off the milk....but it's such a convenient calming tool for us parents it takes some commitment. We've gotten a bit better, but it's so much easier if he wakes up early to just grab a sippy cup of milk and give it to him then go back to bed. Versus having to stand there and tell him it's still night time and rub his back so he'll fall back asleep. Otherwise he's up at 5 like he was today, and that is no good for anyone involved.

Last night was probably the cutest, he pulled my shirt up to see the 'baby', then laid his head on my belly and started talking softly to the baby. This lasted about 5 minutes or so. Just complete toddler jibberish conversation....it makes me thing he really knows there's a baby in there. Cute kid.

I think that's a good overview of where the tyke is at this stage of life. We love him to pieces and think he gets cooler everyday.

Promotion Week Dinner

2010-11-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

So Mike and I talk daily about how lucky we are...and the luck keeps coming. It actually makes me quite nervous, like something really terrible is going to happen soon because we are extremely fortunate and so blessed with everything that it can't go on like this forever.

Well, on that note, Mike and I both got promotions and raises in the same week. Mike's was quite a bit more substantial then mine, but to have them both happen in the same week was wonderful and random. So we decided we should go out and celebrate.
And celebrate we did!! Well, we went to a local pizzeria for some pizza. It was so good...very creative pizza topping combinations that are absolutely delicious! And Asher did very well for the first hour, then he started to go downhill fast so we packed up and left. Overall though, a very enjoyable evening under very enjoyable circumstances.

Here's hoping the ball keeps rolling in our favor!

Hawaii....

2010-11-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Oh Hawaii....how I love you.... Mike and I cashed in some skymiles and decided to take a trip to Hawaii. Craig and Amy II moved there this summer, so we thought they would really enjoy it if we visited them. And after we booked our tickets, Amy O decided to come as well. So it turned into a mini-Offret family reunion.
Craig and Mike (well mostly Mike) were obsessed with Sugar Cane. Mike was trying to convince Craig they should build some sort of sugar press machine to ring the sugar water out of the cane, then dehydrate it and make some home made sugar. Craig was fine driving into the cane fields and pulling out sugar cane...but his interest wained after that.
Craig and Mike had tons of fun playing in the waves together.

And Asher loved playing with his newest Aunt Amy.
He hated the sand the first day we went to the beach, then we wizened up and bought him some sand toys. That really increased his enjoyment of the beach...too bad we didn't think of it on day 1.
Craig...always the comic...buried his legs half way and was trying to make it look like he was floating...except the fact that you could see his legs were buried... I might have to ask him about this one again.
Asher was a daddy's boy the whole trip. I think everyone heard him say 'Daddy' more then any other word. And Mike was definitely a trooper. He played with him every moment he wasn't skim boarding. It made for an amazing vacation for me, I just hope Mike enjoyed it as much as I did.
We rented a mini-van for our trip. There were 6 of us all together, so I figured a mini-van would be the perfect vehicle to tote us all around the island. We chose the 'Stow and Go' mini-van, which turned out to be very entertaining. One day while driving around Amy decided she needed to do some sit-ups. So we quickly stowed one of the middle seats so she had enough space to lay down and get her crunch on. I think Mike was nervous the whole time that I would come home wanting one. Every time I said 'Wow, this mini-van is amazing' he would get a look of fear in his eyes. I reassured him on the flight home that as cool and amazing as mini-vans are for vacations, I wouldn't want one as my every day vehicle. It takes all the excitement out of it.
There was also no lock of cheesy photo taking poses. We tried to get them all in before sun-down.
It was a very impromptu shoot, just pulled over on the side of the road on the way home one day.
The only thing Mike wanted to do the whole time we were there was skim board. So we went to the sporting goods store on morning on our way to the beach and he bought one. The whole day he was upset he didn't buy the $200, and only spent $75 on it....I thought that was a better deal for a toy he would only use for 5 days.
And there was no lacking of dot coming. Good thing everyone had a laptop, so we could keep up with world events and facebook status' while we were 4 time zones away.
Amy O even tried out the skim board a bunch. She started to get the hang of it. Both her and mike had battle wounds after a few hours at it. I was happy to be pregnant and watching from a distance...maybe next time I'll be more daring.

Overall it was an amazing trip. Craig made us an amazing breakfast every morning, full of eggs, bacon and toast. Amy was super hospitable, letting us invade her house...and she was the queen of maui destinations. Craig would ask her all the time where stuff was, or where the good beaches were. A true tour guide. :)

We might wait a few years before forcing our family to hang out with our super young children on vacations...I'm afraid we may have scared them off from having kids for a while. Hopefully not too long though.

Halloween Part II

2010-11-01T23:09:00.001-06:00

We finally got him to wear the headpiece. And when we went trick or treating next door, we saw baby Nigel was dressed up as, guess what? Yes, Yoda. Seriously, we will definitely have to order next years costume online. Or make it ourselves....

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Halloween Part I

2010-10-30T14:44:00.003-06:00

Asher's Daycare/Preschool had their Halloween Party on Thursday this week. So Thursday morning we attempted to get him all dressed up, but it turned out to be quite a chore. Every time we walked towards him holding his yoda costume (which is really just a robe and headpiece) he would scream and run away. Finally, we just pulled the parent card and forced the robe on him and locked him in the car seat. He cried half the way to daycare (which is 30 minutes away) and slept the other half. I was so excited to show his teacher his creative fun and exciting costume, and when I walked in the door I saw another kid in his class had the exact same costume on. Now, Asher only has 4 kids in his class. So when 3 out of the 4 kids turn out to be yoda, the creativity really is non-existent.

Apparently the dog costume was the creative fun one this year....oh well. At least he seemed to have fun. But I love his school because they always make such cute crafts. This year they made little footprint ghosts, and fingerprint spiders, and a popcorn stuffed hand with candy corn finger nails.

I think it's more exciting for me to see the stuff then it is for him to make it....but that's what good preschools do right? Just appeal to the parents?
Well Halloween Part I seemed to be a success, now we will attempt trick or treating tonight and see how well that goes....

The First Haircut

2010-10-21T06:40:00.002-06:00

So, after a few months of comments on hair 'Asher's hair is becoming a mullet' or 'Wow, he sure does have some shaggy hair', I figured that 18 months was good age for the first haircut. Not to lie, but I have attempted a few trims of the back of his while he was in his highchair, but every time the scissors would snip he would turn around and scream at me...needless to say that didn't work out.

Since I knew he was going to be a screamer, I decided to take him to one of those Kids Haircut places, Cookie Cutters. We walked in, they had a slide and video games, and they let the kids pick out a video to watch while getting their haircut. I was immediately optimistic thinking these distractions would totally work out.
Well, we picked out our Elmo video and let asher pick which truck he wanted to sit in. I put him in the truck and we were doing okay. Then the girl went to put the cape on him, and the wheels came off. He immediately wanted to get out of the truck but I told him he had to stay, and she buckled him in. Then....she started spraying his hair with the spray bottle. And...then the tears and the screaming came.
I did my best to console him without physically removing him from the chair, he continued to freak out though. I was pressing him against me, trying that 'It's almost like I'm holding you except that I'm not holding you' move. It worked for a bit, but every time she would snip again he would scream.
By the end of it, his hair was a bit longer on the side I was holding him on as she couldn't cut that as well. But once she gave him a sucker and a balloon he was totally fine, like nothing had happened.

He also got a fancy schmancy certificate with a lock of hair, but I'm having technical difficulties with the scanner. Hopefully that will appear later. :)

20 Weeks

2010-10-05T20:27:00.002-06:00

So I've hit the halfway mark, 20 weeks. (well, technically it was last week, but i'm a delayed blogger lately). This pregnancy sure does seem to be flying by much faster then the last. Perhaps it's the crazy 1.5 year old who is an energy drainer, or the fact that my workload/stressload has about tripled in the last 2 months....either way, it's flying by.

Things that are different this time around, so far:

My belly popped out MUCH faster then before. I feel like I'm a whole month or two ahead of where I was last time (as far as showing goes)
I haven't picked up one pregnancy book. Well, I did flip through the baby name book for a second, but realized I didn't know the sex yet and immediately lost interest. Last pregnancy I was very diligent and excited to read about every new week and what fruit or vegetable my growing baby would be sized against. Now I'm having trouble just remembering what week I'm in.
WAY MORE TIRED....Perhaps it's the fact that I can't come home from work and fall straight asleep on the couch for the night...or perhaps it's because work is so much busier...either way, I was WAY more exhausted this time and have only recently (like in the last week) really felt like I was more myself as far as energy goes.
I desire more maternity clothes. Last pregnancy, I really wore a lot of regular clothes for a long time, and just wore long tank tops underneath, or cardigans with a few maternity tops. This time I find myself longing for legitimate maternity clothes. I'm sick of being squished. Let my skin breath for crying out loud.

So, I guess that's it for now. Now that my energy is back I should be back on the more regular posting bandwagon. I use this blog as our family journal and make yearly books out of it. And I keep thinking how dull our 2010 book is going to be if I don't step up my game a bit.

addababyItsaboy

2010-10-03T12:32:00.003-06:00

Well, we haven't had the baby yet....but we're over half way there!! For my birthday gift this week, Mike and I went and had the ultrasound for the little peanut growing inside me. And...we were able to find out it's a boy!! So Asher will have a little brother to play with!

We're very excited, that we have absolutely nothing to do to get ready for this baby. Just pull out and wash some clothes. As they will be born in relatively close to the same seasons...hopefully the years to follow will be just as easy.

The scary part...when the girl was doing the ultrasound, baby #2 was moving around so much and so rapidly that she was having trouble getting pictures of things....I was immediately nervous. Asher was SUCH a mover and shaker in the womb, and has only proved to be equally (or more) energetic outside the womb...so if this one is, again, a mover and a shaker I'm going to have my work cut out for me. Hopefully they will learn to entertain each other sooner rather than later. And I keep looking forward to the hope that the teenage years will be made easier with boys (versus girls). That's what everyone keeps telling me....

Helmets - They're Important

2010-10-03T12:27:00.002-06:00

For Asher's first birthday, one of our friends gave Asher a helmet. Knowing our family, Mike specifically, this is a wonderful gift. We recently got a bike trailer to pull Asher around in during family bike rides. But it was a little difficult getting him to enjoy wearing the helmet.
So Mike 'took one for the team' and put on his helmet, then showed Asher how fun it is to wear a helmet and bang your head against things. At first I was delighted that Asher was excited to wear the helmet....but after a bit I started to feel like I was watching an episode of The Simpson's. Where my husband and son were just running around the house hitting their heads on things....well, you take what you can get. :)

Cute Boy

2010-09-09T18:49:00.001-06:00

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Parry Reunion

2010-08-03T12:38:00.001-06:00

We had the oppurtunity this year to join the Parry's on the reunion to Island Park, ID. It was delightful, fun and beautiful. Nothing like escaping the heat of the summer with a little mountain destination. And the plethora of young kids was wonderful in keeping Asher entertained.

We took a day and drove up to Yellowstone where we saw Old Faithful (twice. We timed it right and arrived just as it went off, then as everyone else arrived we waited for the next eruption with them)

We also went and had lunch by a beautiful waterfall one day. It was really nice that there was a boardwalk the entire way to the waterfall. Nothing like a major tourist destination to take the work out of enjoying nature :)
We also played some Olympic games, Asher really dominated at the Limbo....other things we were not so good at, like running with an Orange between our legs. But me and the other pregnant chick (Lindsey) dominated at the three legged race. All the other kids were soooo jealous. But it was a great time.

Mike went tubing down a river one day with everyone and had a ball. We questioned for a minute if we should both go and take Asher, but we decided I would stay behind and he go. Afterwards he said that was a way good decision, as the river had a few parts where it got a little hairy and people were tipping over and losing shoes. So, perhaps we'll wait for a few more years for that.

We went into 'town' one night and saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It started out with these skits that the cast would put on...that had nothing to do with the actual musical. I was starting to get a little nervous at first that this was supposed to be the musical and I was completely lost...but after about 20 minutes they had the big opening and I felt much better.

Overall it was a great weekend with great people!

Such a Good Speller

2010-07-27T20:59:00.003-06:00

We've really been working with Asher on his magnetic fridge letters. It seems he really picked up on a few things...

First Gondola Ride

2010-07-21T09:59:00.002-06:00

This past weekend Mike, Asher and I headed up to the mid-mountain area of The Canyons to dine at Red Pine Lodge. This was Asher's first trip up the gondola.
I wasn't really sure how he would react to it. Whether he would even care, get freaked out and cry, or love it.
Well he loved it. He stuck his face to the window and didn't move it off until we got to the top.

Needless to say it was a success! We will do this more, and hopefully continue into the winter with skis....

A few changes at Work

2010-07-21T09:55:00.002-06:00

So when I got to work the other day, this is what I saw.....so now where am I supposed to sit? :)

I'm only kidding, I work in a different building. But there are some changes coming, and this is the beginning of them. It's exciting to watch, I must say.

asher LOVES griffin

2010-07-21T09:54:00.001-06:00

2010-07-21T09:52:00.000-06:00

Bismarck - Round 16984028

2010-06-30T12:50:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago, we took a long weekend and headed up to Bismarck. It was a pretty spur of the moment trip. Mike's Grandma is getting older, and he wanted to make sure she was able to meet Asher before she passed, if she does. (sorry, i'm trying not to be morbid and obviously failing). Anyways...it was a great trip.
We've taken Asher on many airplane trips before, but this was the first one since he is able to walk. And since he's been extremely aware of his surroundings, and wanting things, etc. So I was definitely a bit nervous as to how this was going to work out. Luckily, he was totally enamoured with the window, so anytime he started to get fussy I would point out the window and go 'Look!' and he would start out for 10 more minutes... It was a nice distraction tool.

On the second leg, we laid him across both our laps, gave him a sippy cup of milk and said 'Night Night'. He drank the milk, tried for a second to get up and I laid him down and said 'No No, it's Night Night'. He drank a little more milk and fell asleep. It was like magic...wonderful. Except of course the part where I was afraid to move and wake him, so I sat as still as possible to 1.5 hours. But, it was definitely less stressful. And mike had the iPad so we could watch a little video while we sat quietly.

Overall, he's a great flier. No complaints, yet. :)

As soon as we got of the plane, Mike's mom whisked us away to the hospital where her uncle had just had surgery for a heart attack. It was great to meet him, as he lives a little ways out of Bismarck, so I had never met him before. He was in good spirits and had the cowboy boots on, ready to get discharged.

The next day we headed up to Minot to visit Mike's grandma. We headed up with Mike's Dad and wife Julie. It is not a bad drive, about 2 hours. There are tons of wind farms on the way, so Mike spends hours noticing them and talking about them. Which is really fun for about 20 minutes....I seem to have a limited capacity for enjoy conversations about energy. I enjoy it, but not so much for 2 hours :)

We got into town and headed over to the nursing home where mike's grandma is. She seemed in good spirits, a little more quiet then usual. Mike really likes her, it's cute to watch him talk to her and try to get her excited about everything. I enjoy it.

After visiting for a bit, Mike's uncle George and Aunt Sue arrived. They were wearing these crazy hats that apparently were the rage in Minot. We all headed out to the local hotspot. Golden Corral. And it was a hoppin hotspot. We barely found a table.

I don't think I'm very good at the buffet style eating. I tend to get platefuls, eat 3 bites and go get a different plate. So, I end up getting 5 plates and not really eating that much. Which is what happened this time as well.

I think Asher was a little frazzled with all the new faces and places, and the popularity of the hot spot that he was getting a bit fussy. So Mike and I tag teamed and took turns entertaining him with straws while the other went and got yet another plate at the buffet.

After Lunch we headed back to the nursing home to sit and visit. Asher started to get a little restless, so we headed down to the main room where there was a couple playing music. He enjoyed that quite a bit, dancing, etc. Julie took him for some exploration time around the halls and through the offices. I think he had a great time.

Then we hopped back in the car and headed back to the big city of Bismarck.

We hung out in Bismarck for another day or two, visiting Mike's moms office friends, Mike's other grandma, the mall, etc. You know, all the hot spots in Bismarck.

We got to the airport to leave on Monday, and there was quite a line at United. When we finally got to the counter the lady said that due to weather in Denver our flight was delayed...and we probably wouldn't make our connection. So I asked her if we could take the direct flight to Salt Lake and bypass Denver. She said 'hmm, let me look'. And she booked us on the direct the next morning. Leaving at 6am, getting in at 8am SLC. Score!

As we're driving out of the airport I hear this weird whining noise, so I ask what it is. Pat says it's the Tornado warnings. Huh? Tornado warnings? Oh yeah, I am in the Midwest.

So, we're in Bismarck for another night. And what did I want to do that I didn't get to do so far, go to Big Boy and get a pizza burger flying style, fries with gravy and a purple cow milkshake. Isn't that why everyone goes to Bismarck?

Mike's mom was a little nervous that a hailstorm was going to come and ruin her car, so we had to hurry. Luckily the line was only just beginning to go out to the street, it wasn't all the way down the street.

Alas, we made it back and enjoyed our Big Boy. As I'm sitting at the kitchen table casually enjoying my delicious shake I hear that same whining noise again. So I ask, what is that noise?

And, it's the tornado sirens again. I, obviously, have never lived in the Midwest, so the magnitude of the event was lost on me. I continued to sit and drink my shake while Mike's mom looked around outside, gathered flash lights and shoes and shooed us all downstairs for safety.

I was enjoying the bachellorette so I was a little sad we had to go downstairs until I realized Mike had just hung his moms tv in the basement earlier in the day! Score Again!

I get down there and realize everyones a bit intense. So I casually asked Mike if I could turn on the TV. I wasn't really sure if that was kosher for such an event. He said 'Oh yeah, good idea'. And I though, 'Wow! He wants to continue watching the bachelorette too! Score yet Again!'.

After getting the TV on and back to my show, Mike yells 'Mom, what's the weather channel?' and then I knew. The TV was not for my entertainment, but to follow the storm. So for the next 20 minutes Mike sat on his laptop, Pat on hers and the TV on the weather channel. Mike kept talking about funnel clouds spotted around the corner, up the road, over here, over there. And kept looking outside thinking 'This really doesn't look like the wizard of oz'.

When I finally mentioned this, everyone reminded me that Tornados are sneaky. They can plow through a house and collapse the whole thing, without touching the rose bushes in the neighbors yard. So, I wizened up to the strength of the storm and decided to keep quiet and be patient and happy the house isn't being blown to shreds.

Luckily, after about 30 minutes it seems the funnel clouds had stopped forming and the sirens were turned off. Then I was allowed to turn it back to Ali and her suitors....

The Park / The Oil

2010-06-30T12:41:00.002-06:00

For those that don't know, we live just a block away from a fabulous park in Salt Lake City. It is complete with eateries, playgrounds, water features, a lake with paddle boats, ducks to feed, a running trail, tennis courts, an aviary....man, the list is endless.

One of our favortie things to do on a sunny day is take a walk down to the park and feed the ducks and play on the playground.

Well, since the oil spill in Salt Lake (you can read about it here) it hasn't been quite the same. They have closed off half of the park and it's now full of semi's, oil sucking trucks, booms, and a bunch of other random scientific looking stuff.

The whole lake is full of booms. The ducks are all gone, and it's all surrounded by a beatiful orange fence.

Rumor has it Chevron will be all done cleaning up in the next week or two. I cannot wait! But, it does make me realize if it takes them this long to clean up a little over 20,000 gallons of oil...just imagine how long it will take to clean up the gulf. Bum deal...

A Utah Original

2010-06-30T11:17:00.002-06:00

We are lucky, in that we live right around the corner from Arctic Circle. It's a local burger joint, similar to a Dairy Queen I guess.

One thing Arctic Circle has that I love (besides the ice cream treats in endless supply) is the fry sauce. Fry Sauce is a funny thing...I think it's pretty local to Utah. You can make it anywhere, it's just ketchup and mayonnaise, but here in Utah is packaged and usually better then just ketchup and mayonnaise because they must add some secret spices.

Well one awesome thing about Arctic Circle is they give you fry sauce by the gallons. (okay, but the small cup fulls, but still). And it's delicious.

We went there recently and ordered Asher a grilled cheese sandwich. When he wasn't really eating it to well, I decided to give him a little fry sauce to add some deliciousness to it. Well, it worked in that it definitely added deliciousness, but not necissarly to the sandwich. He continued to dip his finger in the cup of fry sauce and lick it off. Then he wisened up and just put the whole cup in his mouth and drank the fry sauce out.

Needless to say, his white shirt was toast. I tried with the Spray N Wash, and it got most of it out, but there's still the ting of fry sauce all over the front....so it's become a landry day shirt. And I'm not sure of the overall nutritional value of the dinner, but it sure was fun to watch.

Bad Blogger

2010-06-16T09:16:00.004-06:00

I've been a very bad blogger lately...and i just realized it's been over a MONTH!!! So, here's a few pics from my phone of what we've been up to lately.

Mike is teaching our son the ways of Apple. Asher really enjoys the iPad...he 'gets' it, more so then the iPhone. I'm not sure why, probably the bigger screen. On the iPhone all he wants to do is press the button to get to the home screen. The iPad, he'll move things around, tap the screen, etc. It's very cute.

Asher loves Griffin (our dog). So much so, that he has started trying to 'ride' him. Griffin is extremely patient and loving, and we are very appreciative of that. Because Asher really loves Griffin and will follow him around the house...it's quite cute.

We grilled hot dogs when the weather turned nice (before it started snowing again. This has been, by far, the longest winter i've ever experienced. And I grew up in Alaska.) But like father, like son. I thought it was cute they were both enjoying their hot dogs together.

We went to Liberty Park (before the Oil Spill closed it :( ) and fed the ducks some leftover bread. Asher really enjoyed it, as did mike. Personally, I'm not sure about them....they seem a little aggressive, and for some reason I have a deeply rooted fear of geese. The little ducks were super cute, but the geese....pretty much afraid. Notice that I'm standing behind the bench.

We really love our park, and how close it is. It's nice to be able to just grab the stroller and walk over to a beautiful park with a lake, ducks, playgrounds, water fountains, etc. It is super kid friendly and tons of fun.

We let Asher play in one of the streams at the '7 Canyons Fountain'. It's a little water feature in the middle of the park that mimics the 7 different canyons in the salt lake valley and the streams/creeks/rivers they create and feed into.

Asher uses spoons as his 'security blanket' so he almost always has one in his hand. He dropped this one down the river about 5 times. Luckily I was sitting on the bridge waiting for it to come out the other side.

So Tired....but So Hungry

2010-05-10T13:56:00.002-06:00

Saturday was a pretty fun filled day....we spent most of the day playing in the front yard and back yard and chasing the neighbor dog. Just generally being extremely active. I put Asher in his chair around noon to eat some lunch before going down for a nap. I threw some Apples and 'Puffs' on his tray while I went to make some lunch for him. But, when I returned he was totally out. I went and grabbed my camera, he seemed to wake up...but then I noticed his eyes were closed. It was torture holding in my laughter so I didn't wake him. (and yes, I did take him straight into his bed after this. And he slept for 3.5 hours)

1 Year Old

2010-05-01T15:59:00.003-06:00

I know...Asher really turned one almost a month ago. But I figured it was about time we did a little update on the lad.

Well, following the advice of the great Mildred Bradley, we took away the bottle and the pacifier when he turned one. (We really took the pacifier away a few months earlier, so he didn't suffer a double loss at the same time). He hasn't seemed to mind too much. It took him a bit to get used to milk, but now I don't know if he'd even recognize a bottle it seems.

He is walking around like a little big person. His favorite toy for a while was the hair dryer, but now it seems he enjoys spoons. Just holding on to them. He carries one all the time. And he's very good about switching hands when we're getting dressed or buckling him in the car seat. One day he substituted the spoon for an old tooth brush. I didn't even notice until the checkout lady mentioned the fun toy. I looked down and he was holding a tooth brush with jet black bristles. Oops.

He sleeps amazingly, though he has for most of his life. He goes down at 7:30 and gets up at 7. He does have bad nights every once in a while...but for the most part he's pretty easy.

I think he's getting all 4 top teeth in at the same time. He's only had 2 teeth for most of his life so far, so the additional teeth might prove nice in the eating department.

But having only 2 teeth hasn't slowed him down at all in regards to eating. He eats everything, and his favorite food is whatever I'm eating. I can always count on him to eat peas and black beans if nothing else is appetizing for him. Fruit is more difficult, but he will eat the freeze dried apples, so I figure that's better then nothing.

He says Mommy and Doggy, and just started to say Daddy more clearly. He waves Bye-Bye and is the best hugger around. Every time I pick him up from daycare he runs to me, I pick him up and he lays his head on my shoulder for about 5 minutes. It's the cutest thing.

He loves the neighbors dog. Every time we get out of the car he looks around feverishly for the dog say 'Doggie, Doggie'. If I let him walk alone he will run to the sidewalk and over to the neighbors to see the dog. (I'm starting to wonder if it hurts Griffin's feelings....)

We're pretty lucky to have him, and are excited for every new step he takes. Literally and Figuratively.

(sorry, I've also realized we've been slacking in the photo taking department lately. Hopefully the selection will improve soon)

The New Push Toy

2010-04-30T19:28:00.001-06:00

The other day I was picking up the house a bit before putting Asher down for bed. I came out of the bedroom and saw him pushing the garbage can around like it was his walker. He continued to do this for about 25 minutes, but don't worry, I only show you the highlights.

Asher's Birthday Extravaganza

2010-04-16T12:15:00.007-06:00

Last weekend we had the 'Birthday Extravaganza'. I actually contemplated whether or not to even have a party, or to just have cake at home quietly. But Mike's mom and brother were coming into town for it, then my two best friends bought tickets to come too. So, of course we had to have an extravaganza!

We decided to have it at Liberty Park (the park by our house) which turned out perfectly. We arrived and found a crew of LARPers (Live Action Role Play) right by our pavilion. They fought battles with foam swords and full costume, and who could complain. Free Entertainment.

We grilled burgers and hot dogs while the kids played in the nearby playground.

Then everyone gathered around the high chair to sing Happy Birthday before devouring the cupcakes. After everyone started clapping, Asher looked around for a bit then started crying. I think the large amount of people all staring at him made him a bit nervous.

Once he started eating the cake it seemed to all get better. He didn't, actually, devour the cake. He started out poking the cake and licking the icing off his finger. After watching him do this for a few minutes, I cut out a piece of the cake and handed it to him. Then the fun began.

We went out onto the grass and opened gifts. Asher was pretty done by this point, so we went as fast as possible. Asher got some pretty great gifts from some pretty great people!!

Overall, we had a blast! But I'm not sure we really need an extravaganza for every birthday.

Birthday Weekend Photos

2010-04-16T08:11:00.000-06:00

Ashers 1st Birthday

2010-04-10T21:12:00.001-06:00

We had a little party at the park for Ashers First Birthday. We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and let Asher enjoy his own personal cake.

More pictures to come.

-- Post From My iPhone

Springtime in the Mountains

2010-04-08T13:57:00.001-06:00

Mikes brother is in town so I took him up to enjoy the Utah mountains.

-- Post From My iPhone

Shopping

2010-04-07T23:00:00.000-06:00

Asher was getting a little ancy at the grocery store so I decided to let him have a try pushing the cart. The aisle was empty so he managed to push it all the wag down the aisle bumping each side as he went.
I was tempted to let him continue, but thought the other patrons might get a bit annoyed.

-- Post From My iPhone

Idaho Weekend

2010-03-31T21:57:00.004-06:00

This past weekend Mike was heading to Vegas with the boys, so Asher and I decided to head to Idaho. They're almost the same type of trip, right? My older sister lives in Idaho with her 3 kids (and her husband), so it was fun to let Asher play with his cousins.

We walked in the door and Gunnar (5) couldn't stop offering Asher things. 'Asher, do you want to play with this?' and 'Asher, do you want to sit in the jumper' then 'Asher, do you want to play with this truck' and also 'Asher, come play cars. Here, do it this way'. He is a great cousin...but I think Asher was a little overwhelmed.

After an hour or so he got into the groove and played well with all the toys, and the massive amounts of carpeted space at my sisters house. He walked more there then I've seen him do ever, and I think it's because of the carpet. And it was nice not to have to worry about what he was getting into. What a relaxing weekend..... I could just let them all play and sit and watch Oprah while eating Bons Bons on the sofa. Well, more like brownie sundaes...but you get the drift.

Also, my sister has a full set of stairs. Asher has attempted to climb a stair or two here and there, but he's not around stairs often so we blocked them off so he wouldn't fall. So I spent the whole weekend making sure the gate was and the stairway was blocked. Making sure the other kids didn't inadvertantly move anything so Asher could fall down the stairs. All this hype about the stairs made him want them even more, and at every oppurtunity he would b-line to the stair case. Finally on the last day I thought, 'I'll just let him climb the stairs and watch him without him knowing and see what he does'. After a few minutes of slowly climbing up, and realizing I wasn't chasing him, he started climbing down. And climb down he did, all the stairs. I was so impressed. So I continued letting him try more and more....after an hour I felt totally comfortable with him on stairs. If only I would've done that the first day the weekend would've been much more relaxing.....

I planned to leave Monday at 12 noon-ish so Asher could take his nap in the car for the drive. At around 11:30am he started showing signs of tiredness, so I made him a bottle and started to pack up the car. After a few minutes I didn't hear him anymore, so I walked around the corner and saw him passed out on the floor. He didn't even finish half of his bottle....apparantley being around such fun kids is tiring. Poor buddy.

But he slept well the whole drive home and we made it safely and soundly....

The Walker

2010-03-31T08:17:00.000-06:00

So I know we've talked about Asher taking steps for a long time....but it seems now he's really starting to get the hang of it.

He still hasn't figured out how to stand up in the middle of the room, so he still crawls over to the couch or the wall to get himself standing, then walks back over to his destination.

I have a feeling once he learns to stand up, he'll never crawl again.... Oh, the young one is growing up.

Uh-Oh....

2010-03-30T20:29:00.000-06:00

Sick Day

2010-03-25T15:25:00.002-06:00

So Asher called in sick yesterday. Mike and I did the half day dance. Mike stayed home with him in the morning, and I left work early then stayed home with him for the afternoon. After he woke up from his nap he seemed ready for action, so we headed out on the town.

My sister Amy works at a restaurant downtown on the top floor of a tall building. It was such a nice day they had the roof retracted, so it was like we were sitting outsite.

Asher sure seemed to enjoy it for the first 20 minutes. Then once the food came out he immediately lost his happiness. Luckly Amy didn't have any other tables so she toted him around showing him off while I ate alone enjoying the view.

We left shortly after and cut our afternoon short. Asher was not too excited to be out on the town. Perhaps he was really sick.....