The Devil in Pink Pants

I've spent the weekend battling a cold I got from Ellie. I think it was the snotty kisses that did me in. It's annoying because I pride myself on my being able to avoid little illnesses like this. However, if it was a choice between Erin or myself, I'm glad I'm the one with the cold. Sickness and pregnancy are never a good mix.

Saturday was really the worst, as I spent most of my day on the toilet. On the bright side, I got a lot of bathroom reading done (I have two types of reading: bathroom reading and bus reading). I finished the biography of Spencer W. Kimball's presidency years, Lengthen Your Stride. Apparently the author (Edward L. Kimball, SWK's son) and the publisher (Deseret Book, owned by the Church) had some heated disagreements about the content of the book, so I was expecting some controversial statements, but I couldn't find any. Maybe they were successful in editing the things they wanted (He includes a longer, 1,000+ page version on a CD that comes with the book, but I haven't looked at it). Overall, it was a good read - especially the chapters on the revelation on the priesthood.

Lucky for me, I didn't have classes today, so I got an extra day of recuperation for free. I'm not totally recovered, but I'm feeling better and I'll go to school tomorrow regardless of how I feel. Whether I'll actually get anything done remains to be seen. The past several work days have been less than productive.

And before I go, I leave you with the little devil who caused all my suffering this weekend. It's just so hard to stay mad at that, you know?

African Queens

Well, it has been a little while since I have written a blog, so there is lots to say.

Well, first off the picture is of Elise and I in our African outfits that Webers brought back for us from Nigeria. Ellie looks much cuter in hers than I do. Not a huge surprise. Mine is a little big. We joked that our whole family could fit in there.

Anyways, there has been a lot going on but I have to think about it since I am covering several weeks. Well, I took Ellie to get new shoes a couple of weeks ago and it was quite the process. First, I thought we would go to Stride Rite and get her shoes. We usually get her church shoes there, but I have always got them on sale before. We went and they want like $40 for a pair of toddler's shoes!!!! No way. So we ventured over to more affordable territory-- Payless Shoe Source. I hadn't been there in awhile but it turns out they had some really cute shoes so I got Ellie 3 pairs. We got her some tennis shoes, some dress shoes and these clogs that she is in love with (she wants to wear them everywhere). Payless was an interesting place to take Ells. She went buck wild!! That girl loves shoes. She was running up and down the aisles and grabbing shoes wherever she could. It was pretty funny. When I went to pay we were the only ones in the store (it is a stand alone store, so it wasn't in a mall or anything) so I let her run around and she got herself lost and was crying out for me. It was cute.

Ellie's vocabulary has been increasing and she is doing more things. She started saying her own name today and will recite a lot of what we say back to us. Still in single words, but soon she will be talking like an adult. We taught her how to put her own diaper in her diaper champ and flip the handle so it goes in, we also taught her to throw stuff in the shopping cart when we go grocery shopping and she has learned to climb up into her own seat when it is time to eat.

Unfortunately, Ellie has been sick the last couple of days. She is pretty bad this evening. She is in bed but we can hear her coughing and having problems trying to breathe. It is just heartbreaking!! I imagine I will be up a few times at least to get her settled down and back to sleep tonight. I have already been in once. I think it helps when I hold her a little more upright. Anyways, I think I will take her to the doctors tomorrow since it will be the third day with this cold and she has been running a slight fever. This is actually the sickest she has been ever so we have been pretty lucky.

I went to the doctors on Friday. It was a pretty routine appointment. I did my diabetes test which seemed a little nastier this time than it was last. I think because last time was orange drink and this time was just a flat cola. Yuck. Anyways, I was poked and prodded while I was there as well. The doctor also scheduled an induction for November 20th so we for sure won't go past that! We decided to do that so we will have things a little more planned out and we know Daniel will be around the first few days and my mom can be here and also because we were due around Thanksgiving we wanted to be sure that our doctor would be available. Of course Owen could come earlier (which I am still hoping for).

I have had a lot of contractions. Still just practice ones, but on Sunday they were really bad and painful so looks like I am going to be suffering for awhile longer! Only 9 more weeks.--- 8 weeks and 6 days. Yippee!!!

I won't write much about Daniel since he promises to write soon. But, he is doing well and seems to be making it through school so far. I think being away from Ellie this summer has made him so much more attached to her. They are inseparable.

Well, I think that is all for now. It is almost 9 so I am going to bed in preparations for the long night ahead!!! Hope you are all well!! Love ya!

Ellie updates

Hello all. Well, Elise Louise has been quite the busy girl. She has learned how to climb and is very good at it. Whenever we leave the computer area open she will climb up onto the chair and play with the computer and mouse. She looks pretty cute doing it so it is hard to get mad. She just likes the light on the mouse and loves to play with the keys on the computer. This next picture is of Ellie and her stool. We got this stool forever ago because I was just short enough not to reach the cupboards in one of our apartments. It is only like 8 inches off the ground. Anyway, Ellie found it and she has always got it. She carries it around all over the apartment. She is very smart though and has learned that she can climb up on higher things using this. For example, when she wants something off the kitchen table that we have stuck there for her NOT to get, she will carry her stool over and stand on it to reach the object. She has also learned that she can climb over the gate we have in front of the kitchen if she places the stool in front of that. She has also had some accidents with the stool. Like I said, she carries the thing everywhere and carries it over her head and runs with it and all sorts of things. She has popped herself several times in the face with it. Poor thing.


This last picture is my favorite. Yes, Ellie has a new hairdo! It is finally long enough for pony tails!!! I did a sloppy job on these since we don't own a comb in our house! (Daniel hasn't combed his hair since his mission apparently). So, when we have a comb we will do a better job, but isn't she cute? --- And hasn't she really gotten to look like her dad? I think so!!!

School's back in session

I shouldn't have worried so much about getting registered before the first day of classes. Apart from a $25 late fee (which I wouldn't have had to pay had I not listened to the graduate secretary), registration meant nothing. Since the first day, my schedule has changed four times. I went to one class on Thursday and when the professor kept asking questions like "How many of you have seen this before?" and I was the only student not raising my hand, I knew the class was not for me. I didn't even finish the hour out - the second he gave us a break, I took off to switch my schedule around.

I talked to the professor of another class I wanted to take and he told me I wasn't ready for his class; I needed to take some prerequisites first. Unfortunately, taking the prerequisites would probably add another year onto my projected graduation date. That's not going to fly with me or Erin. So I managed to convince him to let me audit the class, though it took some persuasion. I think he was kind of miffed that I was skipping the usual route, but what else was I going to do? I'm not going to put off contributing to my research for a year just to satisfy some silly requirement, even if he is the head of the Operations Research department.

So as it stands now, I'm taking two classes and auditing one, in addition to my research responsibilities. It's going to be a busy semester. Now back to pretending I'm doing something productive as I listen to my iPod and surf the 'net.

Skinny Ells

It has been a pretty good week for us. To start off the week we took Ellie to the doctor for her 15 month appointment. 20 lbs. 8oz. -- She is in the 75th percentile in height but still only the 20th percentile for her weight. Not a huge surprise since I had noticed her sprouting up and also noticed that she still doesn't eat as much as other kids. I think she is doing better on the eating front though. She is at least sitting down and eating SOMETHING at each meal. It was a good visit to the pediatrician. It was the first time I have gone to the pediatrician with Ellie and not felt like a bad mother. Usually when I go they go through a list of things that I should have been doing for her and all the things that she should already be learning. However, this time Dr. Gritzka said she was ahead as far as 15 month progress!!! This was exciting for us. Elise knows and says more words than most 15 month old toddlers and she understands and responds to commands. This was exciting news for us. I guess we aren't terrible parents.

While we were at the pediatrician we got the details about what we needed to do to inform the pediatrician we were having another baby. Turns out we do nothing. We just tell the hospital who our pediatrician is and he comes on over to the hospital. He said he was there like all the time so he should see our baby, no problem.

Oooo... my favorite part of the week was our tour of the hospital. It was a pretty nice hospital. It has some nice amenities and I will have my own room which is much better than I had last time. Just seeing the hospital and what we will be doing and where we will be got me pretty excited and I decided I am ready to go!!! However, Owen is only 2/3 cooked so I have to wait a few months still. Bummer. It is especially a bummer since I have started having contractions. They really suck. They are really common in the third trimester so nothing to worry about but they are REALLY uncomfortable. I never had Braxton Hicks with Elise so this is just an added perk I guess.

Last night we babysat Ellie's little friend Ally. Her mom and dad are in the same situation that our family is in. He is a grad student, they are poor, they are expecting a son on Halloween, so pretty much the same situation. We decided to start switching off babysitting with them so we can each go on dates. It is fun because we will have some time alone and Ellie will have a play date. Ally was afraid of Daniel (apparently she has issues with men) and both Ellie and Ally were possessive over their sippy cups. Besides that it was just another Ellie around. We are also going to watch each other's kids when we each have our babies. We both have family within 3 hours of us so we needed someone to watch our daughters when we went into labor. It is a pretty good arrangement we have going I think.