Movin' on up!

We are having a baby in 2 1/2 weeks (or less), Thanksgiving is 3 weeks away and Christmas is just around the corner. So, we have decided to move the first week of December!!! Yeah, we are crazy. Here is how it happened...

When we got back from Katy this summer, we realized that our apartment is getting cramped. With another child coming, we knew that we were going to have to find a place a little bigger and with another bedroom. As I have been researching apartments with 3 bedrooms I realized that it was about the same as renting a house or a mortgage payment. So, we knew we wanted a house. Mostly because it would have more running around room, wouldn't be on the 3rd floor and would have a backyard!!! We thought about buying but realized it would be too tight and risky on our budget, plus we probably wouldn't build up much equity while we were here. We also just didn't have a good feeling about buying here. I started thinking about how we were going to have to pay a penalty for moving out early on our lease no matter when we moved out so I thought that since we would have some time off for the holidays that we could move in December.

I just kind of started looking at some prospective places and somehow got myself linked up with an agent and that same day I went out looking. We looked at a couple of potentials but they weren't real impressive. On kind of a fluke we looked at this one place that was more than we wanted to pay but it had been on the market for over 4 months so we knew that it would be negotiable. It was bigger than other houses I looked at and nicer. I loved the set up of it and so our agent talked to the seller's agent and was able to negotiate a good price for us. Daniel came and looked at it that same day. Today we got the call that it is ours (at least for the next 2 years!).

It is a 1 story brick house built in 1999 located in Pflugerville. We are psyched because we will stay in our ward. It is just over 1600 square feet and feels pretty spacious for that size. There are two living areas. The living room is a living/dining combo that we aren't sure what to do with yet. We certainly don't want to buy a whole dining room set and aren't ready to buy a new sofa for it yet either. It might be a playroom for a couple months anyway. That leads to the kitchen/breakfast area that is open to the family room. The openness of it is Daniel's favorite part about it. It has a laundry room, 2 bathrooms, 2 kids rooms and a master bedroom. The master closet is pretty big. The master bathroom is like a regular bathroom but we don't need the garden tub/separate shower thing, so it will work fine for us. We will finally be able to get a King size bed in this room. It has a cute rectangular, flat backyard that will be perfect for the kids to run around and enjoy. And, of course, it has a 2 car garage that will also have some storage space in it.

We are sooo excited! No more hiking kids up 3 flights of stairs or groceries! Can't wait!

Hallo-weenie

Today was the ward trunk or treat and we managed to coax Ellie into wearing her octopus costume. As you can see from the "before" photos, it wasn't an easy job. We tried once in the morning and she cried for about ten minutes before she got used to it. When we tried again in the afternoon, she only managed a couple of whimpers.


It was worth it though. She was easily the cutest kid there. Everybody loved her costume and commented on how cute she was. Ellie and I made a ghost out of a lollipop, which she then ate and drooled all over her costume. We got a couple pictures of her coloring her trick or treat sack and "fishing" for stuffed animals. During the actual trunk or treat, Ellie managed to steal some of the candy in her pail and shoved it in her mouth, wrapper and all. That made for some oddly shaped peanut butter cups, to say the least.


You have to admit, she makes an awfully cute octopus, even if she was scared to death at first.

What's up Doc?

Well, I went to my long awaited doctor's appointment today. They brushed me off earlier this week so I got scheduled for an appointment today. I suppose it went fairly well.

First things first, my blood pressure was great! It was like 116/70 or something like that, which is really good. I think last time was a fluke or the nurse that took my blood pressure had no clue what she was doing. I would guess the latter. The second thing is that I measured 38!! This is pretty big. Usually you measure the number of weeks you are along. I am 351/2 so I should have been between 35 and 36, but I was 38!! I thought that I had grown quite a bit these past couple of weeks and I was right. Basically this means either I am going to have a huge child or I will likely deliver early. I am hoping I can keep this kid under 9 lbs! I am dialated to 1 and 1/2 centimeters. This isn't significant or anything, but anything over 1 gives me a little hope!! Last night I was contracting quite a bit, again nothing worth counting but still gives me hope!! I have definitely gotten increasingly less comfortable after my extremely invasive check up. Sometimes they say that the checkups themselves can help get things going a little more. Basically, the doctor said this kid could come anytime and he would be perfectly ready.

Ellie Lou is doing well. She has learned to climb up her changing table so we are constantly fishing her off of that. She wants to turn the light switch on and off and she can reach it from atop the changing table. Ellie went to the doctors this week with a small eye infection. It really only looked infected one day. While we were there she got her flu shot which she wasn't thrilled about. Giving her eye drops in her eye has been a bit of a challenge but less of a struggle than I had anticipated. Tomorrow is our ward's trunk or treat. We are excited about it but a little worried about Ellie and her costume. Basically, she is scared to death of the costume. I think she is scared because she has extra legs and can't feel them when she touches them. So, we might have to come up with a back up plan.

Mission news and this week

First and foremost, my most exciting news is not even my news, it is my brother Patrick's exciting news. He has been called on a mission to serve in Fresno, California!!!! He reports to the Missionary Training Center on January 10th!!! We are all very excited because he is the first in our family to serve a mission. Daniel I guess is considered the first, but he is married in so he doesn't count :P. I had a feeling that he was going to go to California and I guess my dad had the same thought. I think it will be a great mission for Pat and I am so excited for him!!!!

This past week Ellie and I were in Katy watching the dog and keeping Evan company while my parents went to Mexico City. It was nice to go down there and be able to have them go off on a "sorta" vacation. However, it was a little difficult being 8 months pregnant and having Ells be the active toddler that she is. On top of that, I had what I am convinced was food poisoning for a couple of days while we were there. We felt a little shut in since it rained quite a bit this past week so it was nice that the weather straightened up for us by the end of the week so we could have some outside time. Daniel came down on Friday to pick us up. It was fun spending the weekend in Katy visiting with Ellie's grandparents!!

Tomorrow I have my 35 week appointment. I am pretty anxious about it because we should hopefully find out if we will have to be induced earlier (like 37 weeks) or not. Basically it all depends on my blood pressure. I am a little concerned about it because I have had pretty bad headaches the last week or so as well as a bit of swelling. 37 weeks sounds great to me because I have been really uncomfortable this last week. I have felt a lot more pressure down low and just feeling really large. Having the baby in 2 weeks doesn't really work for Daniel so he is hoping for at least a week longer. I am starting to think (and my mom thinks so too) that I will have the baby before the 20th regardless. We shall see I guess!! I have a habit of having these babies at really inconvenient times so I am sure I will have the baby while Daniel's in finals or when the Webers are in Italy-- wouldn't be one of our babies unless someone was out of the country! We will see though. 4 weeks is not far at all so I can stand to wait that long if I last until then!! I have a huge list of things I want to do before we have the baby... LOTS of cleaning and I actually need to do some Christmas shopping too. Yikes!

Ellie is doing well. She was waking up pretty early (like between 4 and 4:30) each morning we were in Katy, but by this morning she was sleeping normally. I think it will be something we will deal endlessly with Ellie, she just is not a sleeper and getting her on a schedule is a nightmare. Oh well, that's Ells. She has been reading lots of books (as always) and is picking up new words. Her latest words are "pretty, rain, Kyra, Evan, seat, ruff ruff (like a dog), meow, tomato, peas". There are probably more, but she has been learning so fast lately that it is hard to keep up. She says the words much more often when she is just playing or reading. Getting her to say a word while we prod her is another story. She has been eating a lot better since she was sick a few weeks ago, still not like a normal kid, but MUCH better for her!

This week's happenings

Ellie is sleeping and I am waiting to vacuum so I figured I would write a quick post.

Things with us are going really well. Daniel is at school. He took a test yesterday that he thinks he made lots of stupid mistakes on and will receive a bad grade, so I am sure he will make an "A" instead. He is always swearing he fails and then gets an A. Never worked for me like that. Dan is getting geared up for his week home alone. While a little quiet time is nice, I think he will be sad to have so much quiet time. Ellie and I are going to spend next week in Katy. Daniel has lined up a bunch of movies on Netflix. I actually think he is going to check out the first season of Battlestar Gallactica. Not my cup of tea so I am happy he will be watching it when I am not around. I think Daniel is also getting excited for Owen to come. It is not far off now and after next week we will only have 4 weeks until the induction. He has really fallen head over heels for Ells, so he is getting eager to see what a son would be like. Me too.

Elise is doing wonderfully as always. She had some rough nights last week and earlier on this week she was having really horrible diaper rashes which were not fun. The cream that works really well kind of stings her for a minute after so it is always really difficult to watch her squirm and cry from it. Luckily it is looking much better. I think we were lucky early on that she didn't have many diaper rashes. It seemed like she always got them when we went home for the weekend and forgot diaper cream, of course. We haven't done too much this week because of bad weather and yesterday and today we have been getting the house cleaned (which she loves doing) for when my family comes into town. She is learning a few new words but mostly she has been trying to do new things around the house. For example, she wants to switch off the light switches. This is a particularly annoying "new thing" because she wants you to pick her up to do it and she only wants to turn them off and not on so she gets mad when the switch is already in the off position. Ellie has also been increasing in her frustrations and has developed a bad little temper. She is just at the age where she wants to do everything by herself or wants you to help her in a certain way (some way that you don't know but she knows) and when it doesn't turn out like she wants she throws a little fit. Her fit is usually accompanied by biting the object, luckily no people bites yet.

I have been feeling large, but overall I have been feeling alright. I mean, at this point I am just uncomfortable but that is expected. I am starting to get more and more excited. Daniel makes fun of me because he will often catch me going through Owen's clothes and refolding them or showing them off to Ellie. I am just excited, that's all. I am looking forward to tomorrow when my family is coming in town and also my Grandpa. I only see him about once a year so it is nice to see him and he should get a kick out of Ellie and Kyra. We are planning a picnic in Zilker park but the weather is not looking great, so we might be picnicking in the apartment. I am also going to make yummy pumpkin bars which I haven't made in forever. They are the only thing that Daniel has actually requested me to make (is that a bad thing?). It is good that I will make them while everyone is here, otherwise Daniel and I would pig them all down ourselves.

Daniel and I are thinking about buying a house. It is still in preliminary stages. Meaning we really have only thought about it. We want a bigger place and it is possible that we could be here for awhile so our kids are going to be big and wild. I really want a backyard for the kids and a bigger living area. We might be better off renting a house but we are not sure at this point. This is still a ways off. But I have been doing some research and our best bet would be to buy a foreclosed or preforeclosure property. This would mean that the house would sell for cheaper and we can turn a higher profit when we sell it. --- We really have a very slim budget to work with so it makes the thought of buying a house and the risks that it would bring very scary. I have just been looking for three bedroom apartments and they are just about the same price a mortgage payment would be, so that is why we are looking into it. My guess, we will be in an apartment forever and ever and ever.

Tired Mom with an Active Helper

Well, it has been kind of a bad day for us here. As Daniel mentioned, Elise woke up at 3 in the morning. I am not sure what her deal is today but she wouldn't go down to sleep and has been particularly cranky. It is not helping out much that there are people out on the tennis court outside our apartment that are playing roller hockey or something equally as loud and annoying. Grr. It is just really hard to function when she doesn't sleep routinely. For some reason my body could get up in the middle of the night no problem when she was still a baby and when I was still nursing her, but now... forget it!! I need my sleep!!! Hopefully we will get her back on track because we can't handle this too often.

Not too much has been going on this week. Ellie and I went on a play date and also to the park. She is now really into playing in the sand at the park so I need to buy her a shovel and bucket (she has been mooching off of the other kids' sand toys). Also she has wanted to go up and down the stairs constantly. Other than that we have done a bunch of housework (the usual). Ellie is getting to be quite the helper. She helps putting toys away, throwing out garbage, unloading the dishwasher, sorting laundry, switching around laundry and folding it, washing windows, dusting. This sounds like she is a good helper, but really it is just her making my job 5 times harder than it really needs to be. But, I figure if I want her to do chores when she is older, now is the time to teach!! Plus, she loves to help.

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday. All with the baby looks good. My blood pressure is elevated a bit but at this point that isn't a huge concern. Basically I need to check it periodically to make sure it isn't too high, but that is pretty much it. At this point, it is almost good news (says the doctore--- and me) because this means I can have the baby at 37 weeks (still considered full term--- same time as I had Ellie). We shall see though. I am thinking our little Owen is not the smallest child ever so I am looking forward to having him slightly early. However, Daniel keeps saying that it would be pretty inconvenient for him if I had the baby before 38 or 39 weeks. I am not listening to him much... it is has been a little inconvenient having a bowling ball in my stomach too!!!! I think Owen will come when he is ready.

Our God is vengeful

We got to prepare for the Sabbath early this morning when Ellie woke up for the day at 3 am. I guess she figured we owed her one, as she let us sleep in until 6 on Saturday. Erin let her cry for a half an hour or so before she went in and tried to rock her back to sleep. Unfortunately, Ellie had already decided that it was time to play and that it needed to be a family activity. Erin managed to coax her into a nap around 7, so we were able to get an extra hour before we had to get up for church.

Due to our daughter's shenanigans, I didn't have time for breakfast, so I pulled one of those "I forgot to eat, so I guess I'm fasting" fasts. Lucky for me, today was our ward's Fast Sunday (In my defense, I didn't know whether they had already had their Fast Sunday or not, as I skipped two weeks ago when Ellie and I were both sick). Leave it to me to accidentally fast on Fast Sunday (though if this is some divine plan to encourage my righteousness, I'd like to make it known that waking my daughter up at 3 am Sunday morning is a very mean way to get me to fast and I don't appreciate it).

We found out today that Ellie can't go to Nursery until two weeks before she's 18 months old. Of course Owen is due around that time, so we'll basically be trading Ellie in for a baby that's less mobile. That's just fine with me - I spent Sacrament Meeting and Priesthood chasing her up and down the hall. That baby must be cheating somehow. She eats next to nothing, yet she somehow manages to find the energy to run around the church at full speed for three hours straight. But she's cute, so I guess we'll keep her.

Katy and more rambling on about us

Well, it has been a pretty decent week or so for us. Daniel and Elise have recovered from their 2 week long colds. I had a scratchy throat for a day or two but managed to dodge the sickness. So, that was good for me. I am surprised since both Daniel and I kissed Ellie's snotty little face quite a bit!!!

Unfortunately for Ells, we have spent a lot of time indoors because she has been sick. We usually do play dates, Gymboree and go to the park with friends, but couldn't do much of that the past couple of weeks so hopefully we will get back on track this week. I always feel so bad for her when we are cooped up in the apartment for several days at a time. She gets restless and so do I.

The picture that I have included is of Ellie the morning we went down to Katy this past Friday. It was a pretty good trip I think. She didn't sleep much in the car but was still fairly good, especially after we stopped for an ice cream treat. She is just like her mama and daddy and LOVES ice cream.

We spent the weekend in Katy for Kyra's first birthday. It was a lot of fun. We were able to see Grandpa Weber since he was home from Nigeria for a little bit. And Ellie got some much needed grandparent time. Ellie also enjoyed playing with all the toys Kyra got for her birthday. She especially enjoyed a riding toy that was VERY noisy and VERY annoying. So we were glad to leave that one with Kyra's mom and dad! She was a little protective of that particular toy and pushed Kyra off of it a few times. While bullying is not encouraged in this family, it really has been the first time Ellie has done something aggressive to another child. Usually she just gets beat up on by other kids or just lets others steal her toys. So, we are sorry Kyra, however, it looks like you might be beating up on Ellie here very soon!!!

When we went to the doctors when Ellie was sick she had lost weight from being sick and weighed under 20 pounds and Ellie is fairly tall so she is kinda skinny. The doctor said to really concentrate on her eating when she gets better and we have. She usually spends her days nursing a cup of milk, but we have tried to eliminate that during the day so she has actually been eating really well. I think she has packed on a couple ounces at least. (Wouldn't it be nice to count your weight gain by ounces???? I count by 10 pounders myself!!!)

Daniel has been in a mild depression since the Astros weren't able to pull through at the end. He still has the playoff beard that he was growing out. He says he is keeping it until Owen is born, but I think I can convince him to shave before then. He is starting to look like a bum.

I have been feeling alright actually. Most of my complaining is just discomfort. This last month and a half or so will be filled with it I am sure. Dan and I share a full size bed and that has been pretty tight lately. I mean, with me and my huge stomach and the pillow for my legs and for under my stomach and I need a blanket of my own since I kick it on and off all night, oh and Daniel is there too.... like I said SNUG! We already have to synchronize our nightly flips from side to side. I also just about killed myself at the grocery store. I went by myself with Ellie (my first mistake). It took a long time and I didn't realize how much I relied on Daniel for bending down and loading stuff and how difficult it is to unload your cart with a huge belly. When we checked out HEB was short staffed so they didn't have sackers so I had to sack and load my own cart. It was so tiring. I was pooped out when I got home for sure!! Don't worry, I make Daniel unload the groceries. I am not dumb, that is 3 flights of stairs!!!

Well, my next appointment is Friday. I am a little off on my weeks as far as appointments go so I am not sure what they will be doing to me this week. I will be 33 weeks. Usually one goes at 32 and then at 34 to the doctors. I am hoping they do an ultrasound because I am thinking this kid is huge already. He feels bigger than Ellie by far! So, it would be nice to get a guess on how much he weighs now. However, they will probably just listen to his heart, measure me and send me off. --- We are starting to get really excited about having Owen. We are pretty much ready. There is some cleaning and organizing I would like to do beforehand but besides that we are pretty ready. Even though Daniel originally voted for another girl, he is pretty excited about having a son. He has mentioned quite a few activities he is looking forward to doing with his son(s). I am thinking about making a video diary type thing for Owen. I think I want to do little interviews with Daniel and myself and possibly other family members. I just want to do something special with number 2. Don't want him to get jipped.

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.

Box Babies

This week has been a fairly eventful week as far as our weeks usually go. The weekend started off with Daniel's parents coming up to visit. It was wonderful having them here. They were able to see our apartment all put together (they were here last when we were moving in). We went out for some yummy barbeque and played a little speed scrabble (sadly, Daniel still reigns as champion). We had fun that morning visiting and playing with Ellie. Of course, there was the wasp incident that Daniel described, but Ellie faired very well. I think I made things a little more dramatic because I was scared she would be allergic and also I just didn't really know what to do. However, she is practically recovered. She has a couple of dots on her but that is all. She cried for about 15 minutes after the stings but that is it. I felt worse for Brent who had been stung many times!!

After the grandparents left, we headed up to Dallas to visit my sister Kim, Ryan and Kyra. Ellie was really good in the car. She slept for about an hour and was happy the rest of the time. I had to make a little potty stop (darn pregnancy!) so she got a drink for the road (which ended up all over her of course). Anything to keep a baby happy in the car. We took a wrong turn somewhere so we ended up taking an extra hour to get there. Ugh. But we got there eventually!!

The weekend went well. We spent most of Saturday doing family pictures. It was very interesting taking pictures with 8 adults and 2 babies. Ellie was, of course, not really cooperative, so we have no smiling pictures of her. Go figure. However, we finally have a picture of our little family (Dan, Ellie and I) so we are happy about that. Kyra and Ellie got along great. Kyra can walk now so the two of them were pretty cute together. They ran all over the house together.

Since getting back to Austin we have mostly been watching our 4th season of 24. Daniel has also tried to register for his classes 3 times now but the lady that can do it has been wrong about the time each time Daniel has gone down there. It has been stressful for him but I am confident that he will get signed up tomorrow.

This afternoon we are going to go take a tour of the hospital where Owen will be born. It is a pretty nice hospital so I am anxious to hear about their amenities.

We are mostly just happy to be back home and to be here for awhile and back into our routine. Hope everyone is well.

It's the queen of something!

This past weekend Elise had a run in with some angry wasps that had made their home on our balcony. You can see the softball sized nest to the left. She was out there blowing bubbles with her Grandparents Weber, and when they moved the little table, the wasps got angry and started stinging. Dad got stung five times and Elise was stung at least twice (we found some marks on her head later that suggest she was stung a couple more times up there). Mom somehow escaped unscathed (for some reason she feels bad that she didn't take a few stings as well - though I don't get it; I sure don't feel bad I didn't get stung).

Erin was able to summon up some super-human Mom strength and quickly grabbed Ellie and brought her inside. I've rarely seen her move so quickly - especially six months pregnant. In fact the only other time I can remember was when we were in that car accident shortly after Ellie was born. I don't think the car had stopped moving and Erin was already out the door and into the back seat screaming "My baby!"

Erin's first instinct was to get Ells out of her clothes. This was smart because a wasp had climbed under her shirt and left two stings (you can see them after the swelling had gone down on the right).

Erin insisted on taking her to the pediatrician, though by the time we were in the car it was obvious that Ellie would survive. The swelling had already gone down quite a bit and Ellie was laughing and singing like nothing had happened. Later we realized that the first stings are freebies - even if you're allergic, you won't go into anaphylactic shock during the first incident. The doctor told us to give her some Benadryl (I had suggested we do this right after she was stung - that First Aid merit badge wasn't for naught) to reduce the swelling.

The thing about wasps is that they don't die after they sting you like bees do. They live to sting again. Dad was able to get revenge on the wasp that crawled up Ellie's shirt, as it was inside the apartment. Later that day, I got in my wasp suit and sprayed the nest with some wasp killer. I think I took down about 15 or 20 of them in one fell swoop. Let this be a lesson to wasps everywhere - if you come after my family, I will hunt you down and kill you. I wanted to pin the wasp carcasses to the porch wall as a warning, but Erin nixed that idea - too gross, she said.

Ellie has fully recovered and I think Erin will eventually realize that she's a good Mom and it's not her fault. I actually feel pretty good about the whole experience. We knew what to do in an emergency situation and our instincts were right. Maybe we're not terrible parents after all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get Ellie off the kitchen table.

A little Daddy attachment?

Since we have been back in Austin, Daniel and Elise have been quite the pair. I think because Daniel was gone a lot this summer and Ellie is realizing he is here for awhile, she thinks she should be with him constantly. She has always loved books, but she is obsessed with them right now and wants them to be read to her constantly. AND not by just anyone, mostly just dad. She will go in her book basket where we keep her books, grab a book, run over to the chair in her room and whine until her dad comes into the bedroom and sees what she wants. It is kinda cute. This picture was yesterday when they disappeared for like an hour and I hunted them down and found them reading books together.


It has also been difficult moving in our stuff because Daniel would have to leave to go downstairs for a new load and Ellie would say "bye bye" and then cry when the door shut. After awhile I think she figured out he was going to keep coming back.

Today Ellie and I went to Radijazz. Yeah, I had never heard of it either but it is this place in Austin where there are a bunch of little play areas for kids to run around and everything is soft. It is more targeted to toddlers which was perfect for Ells. Yeah, Ellie is still pretty terrified of Pump it Up so this is a nice alternative. We are thinking we might take her again next week. In fact, she is finally laying down for a decent nap after running around there, so I am pretty certain we will take her again!!!

SURVIVING another year

Well, we are back in Austin now. It was quite a bit of work to move us from Houston to Austin. For some reason, I am sure Daniel is to blame, we have accumulated quite a bit more stuff. Go figure.

Today is Daniel's and my 3rd anniversary. We didn't do much to celebrate. We got a video camera for my birthday that counted for our anniversary too. It was expensive. So far, the only thing we have done for our anniversaries is move. It will be nice not to do that one year. We figure we will have a big "to do" every 5 years. It was still fun to reminisce about what we did on our wedding day and how things have been this year and how this next year will be. We went out to dinner tonight and while out I asked Daniel what he wanted, what goals he had for the upcoming year of our marriage. He answered, "TO SURVIVE!". I hope he was referring to the busy year in school and a new baby coming this year. At least, he better be.

We played a little cribbage tonight and I really got whooped. I got skunked twice and almost got double skunked the second time. I am sure I will massacre him in the rematch though. I just offered to play a game of speed scrabble, but Daniel must be afraid since he denied me a game. Elise spent game time coloring in her coloring book. She has gotten much better about not eating the crayons but we still have to watch her. She did take a big chunk out of purple to which we let her know that coloring time was over.

We've been working doubly hard on getting a good sleeping routine for Ellie. She sleeps wonderfully at night... THANK GOODNESS... It took long enough. And she also takes a descent nap but lately she has been taking a 30 minute nap in the morning and then nothing the rest of the day. She is just dying to sleep by 5:30, but by that time it is too late and we have to struggle keeping her up. I think we are making progress though, she took her nap at 11:00 this morning. Ideally, we would like her nap to be right after lunch. We'll get there.

I think that Thursday we will be going to a play group while Daniel is doing some school business. I am kind of excited for that because Ellie has missed her friends here.

Most of this week will be spent just doing errands. We have a lot of things that need to be done before Daniel starts school. I have been a little melancholy this week since this is the week we were supposed to go on our cruise, but the doctor told me I would be too pregnant. It was a bummer. However, thinking about it it would have been a nightmare with Ellie at this age. She just wants to run everywhere. Still, it would have been fun.

Owen is doing well. We went to the doctor's office yesterday and he sounded and measured perfectly so all is well. At my ultrasound he was moving so much that they weren't able to get a really good look at the spine so my doctor offered us to get another ultrasound to ease our minds. Seeing as ultrasounds are expensive and that nothing could really be done if they found something wrong, we declined. We will love this babe no matter what. There is another test that they do early on in the pregnancy that tests whether or not the baby is down syndrome. It is kind of a sensitive test and has a lot of false positives in which a lot of women have to go through amniocentesis to check for sure and nothing ends up being wrong and the mom is freaking out the whole time thinking something is wrong with her baby. However, even if something is wrong with the baby, there is nothing that can be done. I think those tests are just to make moms freak out about not having a normal child.

Well, I am already tired (it is 7 o'clock) and I need to spend some time with my groom on our anniversary. Hope everyone is well... we are!

S-M-R-T

To start off, I still reign supreme as Speed Scrabble champion.

I managed to survive my last week of work, presentations and all. I did the whole exit interview and my boss (really my boss's boss) said they were impressed with everything I did and that they would find something for me to do if I wanted to come back next summer. Afterwards, I had to give him a demonstration of my superior intelligence by repeatedly trying to pull a labeled push door as I was leaving. I wonder if they still want me back. To cap the whole experience I was "red-lighted" as I was leaving (when you get red-lighted, you have to pull over and have your car searched to ensure that you're not leaving the plant with proprietary material -- "Security is EVERYBODY'S problem" at ExxonMobil, literally).

We're back in Austin, and I managed to get all of our stuff up to our third floor apartment without giving myself a heart attack, though just barely. While our apartment is still here, a lot has changed, including the locks on our storage closet and mailbox.

I still haven't registered for classes, but I know what I'm taking. Three courses: Multivariable control, large scale systems optimization, and reservoir engineering. Hopefully I won't burn out, but as long as I can manage to open the doors the right way, I'll consider it a victory.

Kwyjibo on the loose!

Last Wednesday, we had dinner with the Hedengrens (two social events in less than a week - probably a record for us introverts). John graduated from BYU a several years before I did and earned his Ph.D. under Dr. Edgar at UT. So we have a lot in common.

While we were there we played "Speed Scrabble," a version where each player creates words from their own tiles. Erin and I were probably too humble when describing our Scrabble skills, as the Hedengrens seemed pretty surprised when we massacred them. I did feel a little bad, as they were the ones who suggested and taught us the game. They didn't know what they were getting into. We're just too competitive - when we smell blood, we can't help but go for the kill.

So we've been playing Speed Scrabble all weekend, and I'd like to say it while it's still true - I am currently the undefeated champion of Speed Scrabble. There have been a couple of close calls, but so far nobody has been able to get to 500 points faster than I have. I'm sure this will have changed by this time next week, so I'm getting my gloating in now, before it's too late.

I have one more week of work (the presentations start Wednesday) and then it's back to school. I'm anxious to get back to Austin, but I know I'm going to be much busier this semester. I'll talk more about my upcoming schedule next post, and we'll see if I can survive another weekend of intense Speed Scrabble action.

Boy oh Boy

Last night I was laying down in bed staring at my stomach and it was moving all over the place! It looked like it looked when I was eight months pregnant with Ellie! This little Owen is a mover and a shaker that is for sure. He never seems to perform when his dad has his hands on to feel but just about every other time he is MOVING. Just the other day I felt like all of my insides were bruised because he was just moving constantly. It is just so crazy how different my two children have been inside the womb. Just goes to show that they already have little personalities.

So, I have four other friends who are expecting boys within a month of ours. It is pretty crazy. Must be the year of the boy or something. I don't know anyone having a girl.

The other night was spaghetti night. Need I say more?

Ellie Lou has gotten pretty accustomed to "feeding the animals" here at the McPherson zoo. Toby is getting fat I think. We have had to go back to basics and just feed her by spoon ourselves (obviously spaghetti night she was on her own... otherwise, we have bad aim!). It will be good to get back home and back to reality where there is no one to eat her droppings off of the floor-- just mom to clean them up-- which reminds me that we should really get something plastic to go under her high chair for a bit.

This next picture is typical Ells this summer. We have been putting a ladder on the stairs to keep her from going up them constantly and so when she hears someone upstairs she just hangs on the ladder calling their name or yelling something or another. The funniest thing is that I am always yelling up the stairs to my mom, "MOOOOOOM!" and so Ellie has picked up on that and yells (in kind of a loud annoying voice- obviously not mimicking that from me), "MMMMAAAAA!". So we are working on her saying "Grandma". She did say "ga-ma" one time but no grandmothers were around to witness, so I have been told it doesn't count.

Ellie has learned lots and lots of words. Hi, Bye-Bye, shoes, car, ball, papa, mama, dada, juice, no, cheese, thank you (sorta, comes out more like "tantu"), nigh-night --- that is all I can think of at this moment, but she is always talking these days whether or not it makes sense is something else. She has been really good about going and getting things and putting them away. I tell her to go get a diaper or go get her shoes or go get her milk etc. and she will scurry off to go get it. She also points at the things she wants. When I can't decide whether or not to give her juice or milk she comes to the fridge and points to which one she wants. She also knows when she wants to go to sleep. Just the other day she was so cute because she was so tired that she went and got her cup of milk and then went over to the quilt rack, grabbed a blanket and dragged it over to me (we were sitting at the table playing a game at the time). SOOO CUTE. Of course she knows who people are now. For example, I say "where's Uncle Evan?" and she goes and finds him or points to him or looks right at him. She does that with pretty much everyone she knows.

Ok, that is enough from me for now. I just can't help but brag about my little babe. She is getting so old now! 15 months on the 21st! Sheesh.