Waters Family Blog

Spoke too soon

2011-12-13T18:47:00.000-05:00

Of course as soon as I posted my last post, I started feeing awful and have spent the last three days as sick as I have been. Uggg...

Coming back to life

2011-12-08T10:42:00.000-05:00

I am twelve weeks today, and I am actually starting to feel better! I don't feel great, but I also feel like I can actually get out of bed. And shower. And maybe even pluck my really scary eyebrows. This is a really pleasant surprise because with Bailey and Avery, I was sick until almost twenty weeks. When I thought about how long I might be sick, it was really discouraging. It it miserable to sick. My house was really really scary. I mean it. Even Mike, who never even notices if the house is clean or dirty was starting to feel like it was unlivable. Our whole family was eating terribly. I thought that vegetables were the most disgusting food on the planet, besides garlic, so nobody ate any. It's nice to kind of be returning to normal. I was reminded that we really take our health for granted- we don't know how good it is until you feel like dying. Here's hoping the worst is behind me!

What I've been up to...

2011-11-30T09:05:00.000-05:00

So, we got a new computer, and I was all excited about keeping up with the blog. But instead, I've been spending a lot of time looking at this:

Why? Because of this:

We are having another baby! Baby #3 is due this June, and we are super excited about it. I just have to survive the next few months...

Haunted House

2011-10-22T11:58:00.000-04:00

Last night, I was home alone. This isn't unusual, Mike spends at least one night a week at the hospital. There have been weeks when he spends an entire week of nights there. I remember the first few nights when Mike was away- I was a little scared. I would check the locks one, two, or three times before heading to bed. I would peak in at the girls over and over to make sure they were okay. And every sound would creep me out. I would lie in bed awake, for hours, listening and worrying and about every unknown creak. I know it was silly, but that's how it was. I have long since gotten over that. Mostly. There have been a few times when I had read a scary book, or watched a scary movie that I repeated those first all alone nights.

So, back to last night. I have been watching the series, "Drop Dead Diva" on netflix. On the episode last night, a couple was trying to get the bank to release them from their mortgage because they thought they had been sold a haunted house. Now, in all fairness, the show was not that scary. Okay, it wasn't scary at all. But as I sat there watching, I saw something move from the corner of my eye. Something outside the glass window. (I'm not a huge fan of sliding doors. Remember this?)

I glanced over, and continued to see a something moving around outside. I was definately startled, and feeling a little creeped out.

Soon, the moving thing revealed itself- it was a....

cat. Nothing but a stray gray cat. It was still a little weird though. The cat stared at me with it's green eyes through the window for a few long minutes. I don't know if it wanted in, or was just attracted to the light in an otherwise dark outside. But it totally startled me.

Tim's Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T11:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, some of Avery's joy school friends headed to Tim's pumpkin patch. It is forty five minutes away, but worth the drive.

Instead of a sand box, they have a wheat box. (Last year it was a corn box, also a lot of fun). They have cats and dogs wondering around, a petting zoo which included some pretty cute pigs, a maze, and of course, a pumpkin patch.

Unfortunately, I guess we waited a little long to head over there this year. There were only rotten pumpkins left in the actual field. However, this did give Avery the chance to pick out a very unique pumpkin from the pre-picked pumpkins.

She chose a small, very bumpy pumpkin. She absolutely loves it!

Afterwards, Avery went to McDonald's went her joy school friends. It was a fantastic morning. On the way home, Avery said the cutest thing I think she's ever said:

"Mom, I have a lot of happy's today."

Joy school at Beaver Lake

2011-10-22T11:29:00.000-04:00

This week was a busy week at Joy School. On Thursday, because they are learning about the joys of nature, we headed to Beaver Lake Nature center. It is a beautiful place to be in the fall.

As usual, despite the cold weather, Avery refused to wear her jacket. Or give me a normal looking smile.

I love fall here on the East coast. Unfortunately, our backyard actually looks a lot like this picture... and I don't feel like raking...

Once again, I'm not quite sure why Avery thinks that face is a smiling face, but it's the best I got. (: She was supposed to be doing a leaf rub, but didn't like that idea. She wanted to glue the leaves to her paper instead. That silly stubborn girl refused to do the craft because it wasn't how she wanted to do it.

So far, I think Avery is loving preschool. And I have to admit, it's nice to have a few hours to myself each week too.

Friends at the zoo

2011-10-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

Last week, my friend Lindsey came up from Ithaca for a trip to the zoo with her daughter, Norah, and another friend. Lindsey was one of my room mates from BYU and I love having her so close! We didn't tell Bailey about our trip to the zoo- she is starting to realize that she misses out on a lot things being in school all day. Last time we went to the zoo with Norah, Bailey was devastated.

We got to see the new tiger triplets- they were really cute.

We always love the penguins. It seems like they like showing off to all the little kids.

While at the zoo, we sent Mike a picture of all the fun we were having, so he sent us a picture of all the fun he was having at work. It totally made us laugh.

We love the zoo- and have to get as many trips in as we can before it gets too cold.

A little calmer

2011-10-01T21:36:00.000-04:00

So, I'm feeling just a tiny bit calmer today. Well, I should say, just right now. I'm still really mad at some of the residents for dumping their night of call on Mike's year, while taking the better night. Even though they had the better night last year and are taking it again... Yeah. I'm still mad. And wondering why they think that is okay. Anyway, on to a related subject.

My friend pointed me to this blog about doctor wives, but nobody is really posting on it anymore. She had a link to an interesting article: http://www.humanehealthcare.com/Article.asp?art_id=138

It's all about the struggle for intimacy is doctor's marriages. As it turns out, they have a higher rate of divorce than average, and have all sorts of issues.

I'm not surprised.

This last month Mike was home a lot more than he was during the months of July and August. I am sorry to admit, that when he was home during those months, I was really mad at him. I picked fights and was basically just miserable. And it was totally subconscious. I didn't even realize I was doing it. Then, I was thinking about September compared to July and August, and realized how happy I was. This last month has been wonderful. I'm happy, he's happy, we're not fighting and it's just been a pretty great month.

October-December is not looking so great. So how do you stay happy when he's gone all the time? Any ideas?

Even more joys of residency

2011-09-30T16:50:00.002-04:00

Today at work, the more senior residents presented a plan to turn a nice rotation for the second years to yet another crappy one. All in the name of following the law. What a load of garbage. The truth is, it's to make their lives better, and ours even worse than it already is. What part of the law involves making Mike work all day, all night, and all the following day? That is most definitely illegal. And it's happened twice. Nobody cares if the twos work ninety hours a week, never get the required 24 hours off a week and work more than 24 hours straight. All of that is against the law, and all of that happened countless times over the last three months. I don't think Mike had twenty fours hours off in the last three months more than two or three times.

I am so angry and frustrated right now. I was really looking forward to that rotation. Now I have nothing but never ending work hours and no weekends to look forward too.

Avery's first day of joy school

2011-09-14T16:47:00.001-04:00

This last Tuesday, Avery went to her very first day of joy school (a co-op style preschool class where the moms take turns teaching). She has been waiting for this day for what she thinks is a long time. After watching Bailey leave her behind all last year, not she has her turn.

She was so excited, and had her Hello Kitty backpack full of her very own school supplies. That little girl is adorable- doesn't she look so much like Mike? She too, was not sad to leave her mom behind. However, she did tell me that I could play with her toys while she was gone. What a sweetheart!

Later that day, she got to go to her first Ballet and Acro classes. She was in love. She had such a great time, she asked me this morning if today she had ballet again.

Bailey's first day of Kindergarten

2011-09-14T16:38:00.000-04:00

Last week Bailey started a new adventure- Kindergarten. She was so excited to go- she has been waiting to ride a school bus from the time she first saw one.

That little stinker saw the bus, and got on without even looking back. I'm guess that's better than her getting on with tears, but I would have liked to feel like she would miss me at least a little bit.

When she got home, she was definitely a little bit grouchy. Or more than a little bit. When we asked her what she did that day, she replied acidly, "Why do you keep asking me all of these questions!" She fought with Avery, refused to talk to us, and went to bed early. As Mike was putting her down, she finally opened up and talked about her first day away from mom and Avery.

After the second day of school, Bailey told me there was a girl in her class whose name was Show-and-Tell. I was confused, and asked her if a girl had brought something for show and tell. She replied with her new I'm-in-kindergarten attitude, "No! I think her name is Show-and-Tell." I know there are some crazy names out there, but surely this girls name was not Show-and-Tell. I thought for a moment. "Do you mean Chantel?" I asked her. A light went on. "Yes! I think that's it!"

Bailey also has had a little trouble eating her lunch. I'm not surprised. She eats her blueberries by peeling off the skin with her fingers carefully, eating the skin, and then, only then, eating the berry. It drives me absolutely crazy. It can take her an hour to eat a bowl of cereal. I tried telling her that she needs to eat faster to prepare for school, but it just went in one ear and out the other. Needless to say, she hasn't finished her lunch yet.

And I must admit, I miss Bailey. She is gone for seven hours every day, and I miss having her around. Avery misses her too, probably even more. She is having a hard time without her big sister. She has been throwing enormous fits, crying about everything, and asking me all day if it's time to get Bailey from the bus stop. Poor girl. I am trying to keep her busy, but I am no replacement for Bailey.

We are only five days in, and I'm betting that things will get better. Bailey does really like school, and I'm sure we will all adjust to our new schedules.

Avery turned three!

2011-09-14T15:06:00.001-04:00

Last week our little girl turned three. I can't believe it. She is finally old enough to do all the things she watched her sister do- preschool, dance, swimming lessons. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be that independent!

This year, she wanted an "A" cake. If you can't tell, she is really into learning her letter right now, especially if they are in her name:

She had also requested cotton candy ice cream- so her cake and her ice cream looked exactly the same.

Avery was lucky enough for Mike to be off work, and to have her Grandpa Scott visiting. At lunch time, she decided she could wait no longer. She was ready for birthday presents. She had been waiting and waiting, pretty much since Bailey's birthday, to open her presents. However, because we still haven't got her sleeping past six thirty, she was not a happy present-opener. The wrapping paper frustrated her, and we got a lot of grouchy faces from the birthday girl:

Poor thing. She didn't really enjoy opening her presents, and was sent for a nap as soon as she ate some cake and ice cream.

Yes, more band aids. (:

She got lots of stuff for her bike- a helmet, a basket, a bell. She has become my little bike rider. Her grandparents spoiled her big time this year!

After our little sleeping beauty got up from her nap, we took her to a bounce house where she had a phenomenal time. We bought the girls balloons on the way out, and we went happily home. However, when we got there, Bailey ran into the grass and promptly popped her balloon. This proved to be too much to her over tired self (she had started school this week) and proceeded to scream like we had chopped off her arm. This, in turn, caused Avery to scream. A few minutes later, Bailey was pacified by a generous Avery offering to share her balloon. Unfortunately, Avery's balloon soon met a similar fate. This caused serious tears by both girls and an early bedtime. Luckily, Grandpa Scott saved the day by heading out to the local Wegman's and returning with two harder-to-pop and smiling mylar balloons.

Right now:

Avery is getting more and more independent- she gets herself dressed and puts on her shoes everyday
She is a very hands-on little girl. She loves puzzles, legos, and really anything that she can sit and down and play with
She loves reading- especially the Llama Llama books
She is finally getting old enough to have little friends of her own
She loves dancing, somersaulting and playing with Bailey
She is a little ham who loves to make her family laugh
Avery tries really hard to be a good little girl. She gets very sad if anyone corrects her who is not mom or dad
She loves music
One word to describe her: love

Happy birthday Avery! We love you!

Soccer Star- Sort of...

2011-09-14T14:44:00.001-04:00

This summer, Bailey took a break from dancing, and did soccer. I thought that she would love it. She has so much energy. If you know Bailey, you know how she runs every where instead of walking, and is bouncing off the walls all day. Soccer seemed like a great sport for her- lots of running, lots of playing. But she really surprised me.

She was so shy. That little girl would not kick the ball for anything. The first game she had, she just stood in the field and cried until I pulled her off. The next week, she was a tiny bit braver and decided to play goalie. It was the perfect position for someone who just wanted to stand there. She did great. She even stopped a goal.

The next week, she decided she wanted to try a new position, so the coach put her on defense. And she just stood there. Game after game she played in the spot. Never moving. Never kicking the ball. So much for getting all of her crazy energy out. A few times the ball even rolled into her foot. Did she kick it? Nope. She just stood there.

The last game was kids against parents, so I was out in the field with her. With me out there, she was finally brave enough. She ran after the ball. Then, she actually kicked it. And then, she scored a goal! Who knew that she needed me out there on the field to give her the confidence she needed. Just in time for soccer season to be over.

So tired...

2011-08-18T14:05:00.000-04:00

Dear Avery,

Please stop waking up a six (or earlier) every morning! And then not taking a nap! You are exhausted and grouchy every day, and that is making me exhausted and grouchy. I am tired of you fighting with Bailey all day. You need more sleep. I do too. We are both used to getting up at seven thirty- and you would still take a nap. Our days have become incredibly long. How on earth do I fill an additional three hours where you should be sleeping? I am started to dread them. I've tried putting you to bed later, but you still get up just as early. Only you are even more miserable. Sometimes it's not even light when you get, so I don't know what is getting you up so early. Now it's a really bad habit and I don't know how to break it. Please please please stop getting us both up to early!

Dear Pager,

Stop going off every five minutes all night long. Do you really need to be paging about a discharge in the middle of the night? Really? Who sends patients home at two in the morning? And how about all those needless updates? And aspirin requests. Are you serious? Isn't there an open note for that? Sometimes I think you call just out of spite. Just because you are awake, you have to wake up the doctor on call. But come on. He's even more exhausted than me. He falls asleep every time he sits down. Between working ninety hours a week, being on call twice a week, studying for tests and preparing for presentations, he is not getting near enough sleep. He slept a mere seven hours in two nights. Yes, he did not get even a full nights sleep in two combined nights! Please only go off if it's absolutely necessary.

Our entire house needs more sleep...

Pajama Ballerinas

2011-08-04T20:50:00.001-04:00

Bailey and Avery have turned into some serious ballerinas. Even Avery has ballet shoes. And they always have to have an audience. Always. One day I was playing the piano for them while they danced around the room. Bailey got very upset because Avery wouldn't sit down and watch her dance. I am trying to teach her that sometimes you just dance because you like to, and it makes you happy. We are not there yet. I do love to watch them dance though. I'm sure I'm going to miss their impromptu dance sessions when they are teenagers. And I'm beginning to think they will be teenagers before I know it.

Mike is thirty... one!

2011-08-04T20:41:00.001-04:00

Mike is really getting old now! Last month, he turned thirty one. Mike thinks it's worse than turning thirty. (: Luckily for him, he had the night off so we headed to his favorite mexican restaurant. Unluckily for him, they had closed down. It's really too bad. We weren't entirely surprised, every time we went there they were almost empty. I guess Syracuse is just to far away from Mexico.

However, he did get what he always wanted: an ice cream cake:

I went ahead and skipped the whole 31 candle thing and did a cluster of three candles, then a one by itself. It just keeps getting trickier to keep up with his candles.

We had a nice little family birthday party. He got t-shirts he really needed, BBQ tools and the 7th Harry Potter movie. He wouldn't tell me what he wanted, so that's what we came up. (Bailey wanted to get him socks.)

His birthday also marked the end of the first month of the horrible horrible second year. Yeah. He survived. And so did we. I admit, our yard is looking worse and worse, but it's just not on my top things to get done list, and Mike works Mon-Sat, Sat night, and then sleeps on Sunday. We are counting down the days until the year is over...

April NYC half marathon

2011-08-04T19:08:00.001-04:00

This last winter, I trained for a half marathon with my friends, Summer and Rebecca. Yes, we ran in the snowy freezing winter of Syracuse. I ran outside pretty much no matter what the weather was. After months of running, we ran the NYC half marathon. We had a great time driving out there with another friend, Jamie. I am glad that I did not do the driving. It's true what they say about NYC drivers!

The night before, we made the mistake of eating NYC pizza. It was delicious, but we definitely paid for it during the race. The pizza place itself was a crazy experience. You went down the line, picking out what kind of pizza you wanted and then they gave it to you. Then, you were supposed to go down to the end and pay. However, there was no line. It was just a bunch of people shoving their way forward to pay for their food in who-ever-can-shove-everyone-else-out-of-the-way order. It took me a while to figure that out- so I stood there for a while.

I am sorry to say that the four of us ate almost all of that!!

The night before the race was less than restful. Let's just say one of us couldn't get comfortable and kept the rest of us up. It was like a real sleep over. (:

The day arrived cold, and we had to wait a while before the race. Needless to say, conditions were not exactly great. Between the pizza, the lack of sleep, and the cold pre-wait, I was not feeling up to par. However, I was determined to finish in my goal time. I almost did- I was 45 sec. over. And I was beat by a guy in our ward who had trained for three weeks, and have never ran that far before. Oh well.

I had a great time. It was really fun to get away with just the girls for a weekend. The ride home, however, was painful. First of all, we had to check out of our hotel before the race, so our post race clean up involved a bathroom and baby wipes. Then, after pushing myself so hard, I was soooooo sick. I made everyone stop about a million times from NYC to Syracuse.

Maybe next year I'll actually go for the marathon! Anyone want to run it with me? Anyone?

Family Photos

2011-08-03T16:20:00.003-04:00

Last month my friend Summer took our family pictures. She did a FANTASTIC job. I loved them all, and couldn't decide which ones to post, so I made a slideshow.

Bailey is five!!

2011-08-03T14:23:00.002-04:00

This past June, my baby turned five! It's hard to believe that so much time has flown by. Luckily for Bailey, her birthday landed on a day when Mike was home.

After lunch, we opened her presents, and had unicorn cake. Unfortunately, our camera died mid birthday celebration:

Our friends gave us a great idea- band-aids for birthday presents! In our house, if there is a box of band-aids, every fall, every ouchie means a huge tantrum because I won't give a band-aid for an injury without blood. So, both Bailey and Avery got band-aids for Bailey's birthday and they can do whatever they want with them.

Bailey got soccer stuff too- she started playing soccer right after, but I'll have to do a separate post about that.

Bailey had a great birthday, and had a serious stack of presents- thanks grandmas and grandpas! Unfortunately for Avery, it did not go so well. Poor Avery was very jealous, and despite getting band-aids from us and a new pair of sandals from Grandma Cindy, she spent a lot of the party bawling, poor thing. It's hard to be two.

We were able to surprise Bailey- she had wanted a bike, but obviously, there were no bicycle shaped presents wrapped. After she finished opening her gifts, and thought she was done, we pulled down her new bike. She loved it, and of course had to go out and give it a spin immediately.

Here are the things I want to remember about my five year Bailey:

She is a great help around the house and with her sister- she even cleans her room and vacuums
She is getting really good and cartwheels and flips
She loves playing outside- her favorite things to do right now are riding her bike, roller skating, jumping on the trampoline and swimming
Avery is her best friend-they will play together for hours
She loves listening to music and books on tape
She loves learning to play the piano
I am always amazed by how excited she is about life- she wants to try everything and gets excited about every day.
One word to describe her: sunshine

I love you Bailey!

Ballet Recital

2011-08-03T13:51:00.000-04:00

Throughout this last year, Bailey did ballet at a dance studio in Cicero. She loved it. She would come home from dance and show us all the things she learned, and even taught Avery some of the ballet terms.

She had a great time- except when she thought about the ballet recital at the end of the year. Whenever it came up, she was terrified. She told me she didn't want to do it, that she wasn't going to. When I asked her why, she said she was afraid of falling of the stage, and was scared to dance in front of so many people. (Her second fear kind of surprised me. She won't dance at home without an audience. Really. "Mom, why aren't you watching me dance?" was something I heard all day long. "Mom, I can't dance! Nobody is watching me! It's not fair!" I watched her, I just couldn't do it for hours on end like she requested.)

The long dreaded day of recital arrived, and she sat next to be practically shaking. She got to watch the other dancers first, but was curled up in the ball in her seat. When it was finally her turn, we walked back stage, and said good bye and went back, nervous myself. In one of the earlier dances, one of the little girls just stood on the stage and cried. I was afraid that was going to be Bailey for sure.

But, as you can see in the video, she surprised us all, even herself. She loved performing and did a great job. After it was done and I went to get her, she was gushing about how fun it was. She even said she wanted to do another recital that very day. I'm just glad she had a great time!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Avery wore her little green ballet dress up there too!

Finally! A New Post: Graduation

2011-08-03T13:41:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's been a really long time since I blogged. I have lots of excuses, but mostly it's because I hate my computer. I guess I should be grateful I have one, but it's way too slow!!

So, back to June. This last year Bailey and I did joy school. We both had a lot of fun. I am really glad that I got to be Bailey's teacher before I send her off the all day Kindergarten this September. This was our second year doing a co-op style preschool, and I have to say, joy school was pretty nice. It had all the lessons planned for you, complete with pictures, songs, snacks, everything. Mike will tell you I stayed up late many nights coloring, but still, it was pretty easy as far as teaching preschool goes. Here are some pictures of our preschool grad:

Avery insisted on wearing her dress up dance costume to the graduation. That little girl wore the outfit for about a month straight.

Here is a little snipet of them singing. It was adorable. At their first party back in October, they were supposed to sing, but mostly just stood there looking shy. And now they are singing! They have all grown up a lot this last year, and I can't believe that in a little more than a month I'll be putting Bailey on a bus, and sending Avery to joy school. Where does all the time go?

Swimming... in our basement

2011-07-30T15:40:00.000-04:00

In March, we finally bought Bailey a new swim suit, and the goggles that she apparently couldn't live without. Bailey and Avery were so excited they ran around in their swimsuits for a few days. I'm glad that we are members of the YMCA and can go swimming all the time, even where there is snow on the ground.

A few days later, Bailey could have used her new swimsuit to swim in our basement. Due to the home repair projects we were working on, we had unplugged the sump pump. We should have known better. One warm day and a rainy night later I woke up to six inches of water in our ENTIRE basement. It was awesome. I called Mike at work, and of course he didn't know what to do, and couldn't leave to help out. Oh the joys of residency.

I spend the entire day pumping water out with a pump I bought at home depot, and bucketing water out. Despite the thousands of gallons an hour the pump pumped, it wasn't enough. If I stopped bucketing, the water would actually get higher! It was so frustrating.

Luckily that night, we borrowed a pool pump from a member of our church. We dried the sump pump off and had both those running. Within an hour we had gotten most of the water out of our basement.

Oh the joys of home ownership...

Maple Syrup

2011-03-27T19:16:00.000-04:00

This month has been a pretty miserable one, but we still got out and did a few fun things. Right now, it's maple syrup season in central New York. Last fall, we were reading a book, and Bailey was curious about maple syrup. We told her when it was maple syrup season we would take her too see. So, a few weekends ago, we visited Beaver Lake Nature Center and did their maple syrup tour. (We took Flat Stanley along with us. He was a project from one of our nieces.)

Ice Skating

2011-03-27T19:08:00.001-04:00

One of the things I love about Bailey is how she always wants to try new things. She had been wanting to go ice skating all winter, so on a free Saturday we finally took her. Avery, or course, was too scared to try. Bailey was too cute- she was trying to convince Avery that she needed to try and told her, "Avery! It's super fun! I've been waiting my whole life to try ice skating!"

Mike took Bailey out on the rink, and she picked it up really fast. Avery and I had a fun time eating nachos, watching Bailey and Mike skate, and watching "basketball show" in the lobby.

It's been a long nine months

2011-03-20T16:59:00.000-04:00

So... residency has been a lot harder than I expected. I knew it was going to be hard. I knew Mike was going to be gone a lot. But I guess I didn't really know how it was going to effect us. I didn't realize that Bailey and Avery would feel the effects of his absence so deeply. Bailey has been sleep walking since the year started, and it's almost always when Mike is at the hospital. She has thrown massive tantrums in the middle of the night, but only when Mike is not there. Last month, Mike was home a lot (he was on a radiology rotation), and this month it has swung to the other extreme. Since the month began, Avery is a different child. She throws marathon tantrums, I'm talking an entire hour long, screaming how she wants her dad.

And then there's me. I have become so jealous of any time he has off. Today I got so mad because he was off doing good, service oriented things, but I thought it was so unfair. How come other people get to spend time with him when I don't? Why does he get to serve other people when I've been doing everything that's required to run a household, except for the going to work part?? And even then, I teach piano lessons four days a week. Why do we have to spend next Saturday cleaning the church, when we haven't even finished cleaning out our own flooded basement? It makes me so mad, and depressed, and overwhelmed.

Bailey, Avery and I are very busy doing lots of fun things, and lots of not so fun things, without Mike. It makes me feel like we are living two separate lives, and when and if our paths cross, we're lucky. But even then, there are extra study groups that are "voluntary" and the church service that "needs" us. How do I not resent this??

Mike keeps telling me that it's only one and a half more years of this terribleness. I have a hard time believing him. I see fifth years working more that I think they should be. Maybe I'm just in too deep to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it's just been a really long month. Maybe I'm just really tired.

Before...

2011-02-25T19:40:00.001-05:00

A mere six months after another leak ruined our upstairs bathroom, we are finally getting around to fixing it. I'm realizing that when you start fixing things in your house, there is no end of things to do. We were only going to tile the bathroom floor, but now that the molding is off, I've decided to repaint the whole room. The paint is really awful. Sometimes I wonder why people do the things the do. (Mike pointed out that in twenty years, someone might be ripping out the "awful" tile we put in). In addition, they had this terrible wallpaper strip around the top of the room. Yuck. Today, I spent hours peeling it off. I'll be really glad when it's done!! Here are the before pictures of the upstairs bathroom:

Here's the room without any linolium.

And there is the awful blue trim and wallpaper strip.

As most of you know, I'm not much of an interior decorator. I want to be, but I don't think I'm particularly talented in this area. So, we're trying to decided how to paint the bathroom, and I am looking for suggestions. Here is tile we've selected:

And here are some paint ideas that I really like:

Mike's a little worried that the colors are too bold. (He's thinking about when we resell the house in a few years). Any thought? Which one do you like best? Or would you do something else entirely?

Since we had already started on one bathroom, we figured we may as well do the downstairs one while we're at it. Here is it's before picture:

After two days of working all day, and countless trips to home depot, we have made some good progress. I'm just hoping that the after pictures aren't too long in coming!

February is not a good month for ears

2011-02-16T13:31:00.000-05:00

The last three February's have not been great ones in our house. Last February, Avery spent the entire month with an antibiotic resistant ear infection. We were at the doctor's office every two days for yet another roceferin shot, only to be told by our ENT that we should have been able to see him on an emergent basis after the first. The February before that, Avery also had never ending ear infections. Both months ended with tubes. This February is proving to be no different. Poor Avery has a plugged tube, and is off to the ENT next week. I really hate it when they get ear infections while they have tubes. Instead of oral antibiotics, they get ones that you put in their ears. Really, instead of ear drops, they should be called torture drops. Avery despises them. At just the slightest mention of them, her hands immediately cover her ears. If the actually bottle is pulled out, screaming ensues. And the hands do not leave her ears. Period. And she is really starting to get strong. Mike and I both have to hold her down to get it down, twice a day. Poor thing.

Want to know what 140 in. of snow looks like?

2011-02-16T11:25:00.000-05:00

When we found out we'd be moving to Syracuse, we knew we'd be getting a lot of snow. But I didn't know we'd be getting quite this much. I had never shoveled a driveway before this year. And I would be okay if I never did again. It got to the point where I could no longer shovel. I couldn't throw snow up on to the snow bank because it was so high.

Notice that you can not see our mailbox. Somewhere peaking out is what's left of it.

I don't think the pictures really do it justice. We tried to push Bailey down into the snow to show how really really deep it is, but the snow was too packed down.

The sun finally came out this week, and Bailey asked me, "Is is summer??" We don't get to see the sun too often around here. In fact, Avery cried and cried about the sun shining on her. Yes, it's been that long since the sun has shown her face.

Luckily, at least hopefully, spring is around the corner!!

Curly hair

2011-02-16T11:15:00.000-05:00

At long, long, last, Avery's hair is starting to get long. And, as a big surprise to us, it's curly!

I don't even know what to do with it! (Besides, of course, her must-have piggies.) Mostly, it's just frizzy all the time. I'm open for curly hair tips!

Sisters

2011-02-16T11:10:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, Bailey and Avery don't get along at all. (In fact, just this morning Avery gave Bailey a chomp for trying to come in the bathroom while she was trying to shut the door.) But when they do, I really love it. They have a great time playing together, and these are the times I want to remember, and the times I want them to remember. (Let's hope the bite memory doesn't stick around for too long!) Here are pictures from one of those times:

Waters Top 10 of 2010

2010-12-31T19:22:00.001-05:00

10. We moved to Syracuse NY and bought a house!!

9. We flooded our new house, and took out a huge section of ceiling.

8. Bailey was our Sunbeam this year. She kept busy with preschool, swimming lessons and ballet. She is getting bigger and smarter every day.

7. Kari started teaching piano lessons.

6. Avery went through a phase of throwing everything away, including our brand new GPS. Luckily, she grew out of it. Now she finally, finally, growing hair.

5. Mike fixed the ceiling, only to have a toilet leak ruin it one short week later.

4. Kari shoveled her very first driveway ever. She wasn’t very happy about four feet of snow in four days. She did a lot of shoveling.

3. Mike turned thirty!

2. We drove all over the country. We drove to Chicago, Washington D.C., Reno, SLC, Nauvoo, Ithaca, Syracuse more than once

1. Mike graduated medical school and started his orthopedics residency!

Gloria

2010-12-31T17:21:00.001-05:00

Bailey and Avery have loved learning Christmas songs this year. My personal favorite was the two of them singing, "Angels we have heard on high." Avery singing the glorias is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. She sings them all the time- in the car, around the house, and in her crib (when she is supposed to be taking a nap). Here is a video of them singing their favorite Christmas song (taken with Mike's new camera):

Christmas Day

2010-12-31T17:04:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning started at 7:30am. Lucky for us, Bailey didn't let the excitement get her up too early. However, since Avery was still sleeping, she had to wait. She ran downstairs and brought up her stocking. Inside, she found a new pair of earrings, a giant lip gloss, and three head bands. Bailey was a sweetheart, once she saw her stash she announced, "Since I have three head bands, I'm going to give one to Avery, and one to you, Mom."

Once Avery awoke, we headed downstairs, but Mike pulled a classic, "Wait! I'm not ready!" One of the things I remember about Christmas as a child was my dad always making us wait. First, he had to get dressed. Then, he had to make sure the camera was ready. Then... who knows what. I laughed when Mike was doing it too.

Finally, finally, it was time to open presents.

I love this picture. Bailey is so excited about her new zhu zhu pets. I'm glad she was so easily pleased...

Bailey was thrilled to finally get a pillow pet. She has a few other big stuffed animals, including a pillow pet like duck from last year. I tried to tell her she already had one, but she wasn't convinced. Her duck didn't fold up like other pillow pets. I asked her why she wanted one. She said, "Because it's good for travel." Oh, really. I asked her where she learned that. "From T.V." Of course.

The girls were super excited about all their new toys and books. Avery's favorite present was the giant lip gloss (the green object in her hands in the above picture). That lip gloss did not leave her hands or purse (which is also always carried around) for a whole week, until it was gone. Maybe next year she'll just get lipglosses. (:

I surprised Mike with a Flip camcorder. Well, it was kind of a surprise. I told him there was no way we could afford it, but I went and asked parents to contribute instead of buying him a gift. I got a great deal on an amazon.com black friday sale, and wrapped it up. I figured he wouldn't be able to guess what it was because it was in such a small package. When I put it under the tree, he announced, "It's a camcorder!" I told him it was way too small, trying to through him off. He wasn't convinced. He, too, had seen a a tiny camcorder "on T.V." I'm beginning to think we watch too much T.V. around here...

I got the cheese making ingredients I wanted. Yes, I know, it sounds kind of weird. Oh well. I'm excited to give it a try.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!

Our little shepherds

2010-12-31T16:41:00.001-05:00

This year, we celebrated Christmas a little bit early. Mike had to work on Christmas day, of course, but he did have Thursday off. So on Wednesday night, we had our Christmas Eve dinner. For the last few years, we've done a Shepherd's dinner and read the Christmas story from the scriptures. Here are our little shepherds:

We ate our Shepherd's dinner on a blanket, and talked about being both sheep and shepherds. It is a fun family tradition (picked up from ward friends in Columbus.) After that, we opened up Christmas pajamas, drank hot russian and had treats while Bailey and Avery ran around like crazy.

Bailey had been excited about Christmas in years past, but this was the first Christmas that she could hardly wait. She made sure Santa had cookies and milk, and that we put enough carrots out for ALL the reindeer. She was adorable!

Before she headed to bed, she asked us if Santa still left presents if she saw him. We told her he did, so less than a minute after we put her down, she was sneaking out, looking for Santa. We told her to at least wait until we went to bed to look for him, but that didn't stop her from making three more sneaky trips before she fell asleep at nine.

In case you are interested, here is the recipe for out Christmas Eve dinner:

Shepherd's Dinner

Serves at least 12

10 chicken breasts

Rub with garlic and sprinkle with Lawry Season salt

3 to 4 c red potatoes diced (not peeled)

2 c sweet potatoes peeled and dices

2 c cooking apples sliced

3 c carrots, peeled and sliced

2 c celery

1 c raisins

1 c craisins

1 c pecans chopped coarsely

2 bunches green onions chopped

2 tsp cinnamon

Tear parchment paper into squares. Place chicken in center. Toss all other ingredients together. Heap veggies on top of breasts. Bring 4 corners up and tie with string (twine, kite string). Put bunches on cookies sheet for one hour at 350 degrees.

Sauce:

1 c beef broth

1 c cream of mushroom soup

½ c orange juice concentrate

½ c currant jelly

¼ tsp minced garlic

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp onion salt

1 tsp dried basil

½ c melted butter

Mix above ingredients together, heat, and serve warm

Polar Express

2010-12-31T16:34:00.000-05:00

This year, we took the girls on a train ride to the "North Pole." They had a fun time riding the train, eating treats, and seeing Santa Claus.

Well, Bailey saw Santa. Avery was less that thrilled with the idea...

First Snow

2010-12-31T16:30:00.000-05:00

The beginning of December brought the first snow of the season. Bailey and Avery could not contain their excitement. When they woke up (at 6:30am I might add), they immediately wanted to play in the quarter inch of snow that had collected on the deck. Here they are in their snow things, ready to play:

Please note that it is still dark outside! They didn't want breakfast or anything before they headed out to the snow.

In case you're wondering, we've had a total of six feet of snow already. Four feet of those where dumped in four days. It was snow like I have never seen it before. Bailey can't get enough of it, but poor Avery has had a hard time walking around in such deep snow. Syracuse really is a winter wonderland!

The night shift

2010-11-24T11:43:00.000-05:00

Last week Mike got his first taste of working nights. And he didn't like it. As it turns out, it's really hard to sleep during the day, every day, because of your bodies' natural rhythms. Consequently, Mike did not get a lot of sleep. The rotation was also stressful because of an unusually high number of patients. It was a vreally long week.

Bailey however, had a totally different perspective. Here is the conversation we had one night:

Bailey: "Is Dad working nights again?"
Me: "Not this week."
Bailey: "Does Calvin's daddy work nights?"
Me: "No, Calvin's daddy isn't a doctor. He's an engineer. He never has to work nights."
Bailey: "I'm so glad my daddy's not an engineer!"
Me: "Why?"
Bailey: "Because then Dad would never work nights!"

I think Bailey loved the night shift because at least Mike was at home. Even if he was just sleeping, I think she liked having him close by.

Avery's Spike

2010-11-18T22:55:00.000-05:00

With my recent running class, I've been sporting a lot of pony tails lately. (It's hard to fit in a run every day). This had led Bailey to wearing a lot of pony tails too. Poor Avery didn't want to be left out. One morning, she came up to me with a brush and a hair band, and asked for a pony tail. Well, at two, she still doesn't have a lot of hair, so this is what we came up with:

I absolutely love it! And Avery does too. She calls it her "spikey pony tail." She has gotten a lot compliments on her spike, and I think it's here to stay.

Trunk or Treat

2010-11-18T22:49:00.000-05:00

This year, the "big" night of Halloween was the ward Trick of Trunk. Our little Pocohantas' (?) had a blast. Here are a few of my favorite moments from the night:

Avery playing the donut eating game! I think this is too hilarious. Bailey would not even try- she did take a donut off a string to eat, but wasn't up to eating it without hands. Avery didn't even end up eating it after we took it off for her, but it was too funny to see her try. (I tried to convince Mike to join in, but he would only do it if I would do it. I just wanted to laugh at him, not be laughed at, so I declined. Oh well.)

Bailey and Avery both loved the face painting. Can't you see that it her smile?? I am realized surprised that Avery even went for it, being the shy girl that she is. By the end of the night, both girl had butterflies on their faces, and Avery even went back for a bat.

Here is my beautiful family! And here is Avery's new past time:

I love October, and all the fun fall and Halloween activities it brings. I'm sad to see it go!

Carving Pumpkins

2010-11-18T22:24:00.001-05:00

One of our favorite traditions is carving our Halloween pumpkins for family home evening. This year was no exception, except that a squirrel or skunk got to our pumpkins before we did.

We didn't let that stop us, and the girls had a great time digging out the pumpkin seeds. Bailey wanted to save a few for her to plant.

Unfortunately, Bailey remembered that she got to take her shirt off during pumpkin carving last year, so there aren't really that many appropriate pumpkin carving pictures of her. That's a tradition that needs to end... (:

The girls picked out what kind of faces they wanted, and for some reason, I got to be the mouth designer. They wanted scary, but I'm not quite sure that's how they turned out.

However, my favorite, and scariest, moment of the night was when Avery was reaching for a little knife we had on the table (little relative to another knife we had out). Mike immediately jumped on it, and told Avery that knifes were dangerous, and were for mommy and daddy only. Ever the comedian, Avery replied, "But Daddy, that is a baby knife." Oh, the perspective of a two year old.

In the end, the wildlife won, and the pumpkins ended up a smashed mess, but they were cute while they lasted. Even bitten and smashed, the girls were sad when we put them in the trash. Good thing we'll do it again next year.

Dress Rehearsal

2010-11-18T22:13:00.000-05:00

I figured it was finally time to update the blog... so here goes.

This year, since we decided not to go trick or treating on Sunday, I tried to cram as much Halloween into October as we could. Here are some pictures of my twin Pocahontas princesses at the Disney Store Halloween dress rehearsal:

They were too enthralled with the pile of stuffed animals to actually turn around and let me take a picture.

Avery, once again, wouldn't actually look at the camera... It's amazing we walked out the store without actually buying anything.

And this is Bailey doing the wave so graciously taught her by the Disney Store employee who was leading the parade. She looks just like a princess. (:

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

It wouldn't be fall if we didn't go to a pumpkin patch. This year, we went with Bailey's joy school class on a field trip. As with all things school related, Bailey took this very seriously. She asked me if we were going to ride a bus, and why everyone didn't leave at the same time as us. They girls had a great time climbing on pumpkins, playing in a corn box (a sand box full of corn), getting lost in a maze, using a porty potty without me (I don't do porty potties!), and of course, picking out a pumpkin.

Surprisingly, Avery did get in the corn box, but only for a few minutes.

I wanted to get a cute picture of the girls in front of this beautiful sunflower patch. However, Bailey was off running around with a friend, and Avery would only give me grouchy faces.

Our first Waters family attempted campout

2010-09-26T15:45:00.000-04:00

On Friday night, we decided to go camping. Bailey has been wanting to go camping forever, so with Mike's last few days off, we found a campsite, got ready and headed out. Online, I had found a site that was by one of the fingerlakes. We were excited for a beautiful view.

But when we got there, this is what we saw:

Our campsite was right next to the lake. A stone's throw away. And I wasn't happy about it. I was really nervous that Bailey or Avery might be get a little too adventurous, or maybe just a little too close. Needless to say, I was extremely diligent about knowing where they were every second. It was a very pretty view, but it was scary, and not the wooded campground we were expecting.

It was, luckily, a very warm September day. However, it was also very windy. Poor Avery was terrified. She could not stand to be in the tent when the wind was blowing. In fact, she was screaming. A lot.

The campsite was also right next to a playground. While we were playing there, we made a terrible discovery on Avery's head. Mike pulled tiny black bug after bug after bug out of her hair. Yes, we found lice.

It's not exactly what you want to find out when you're planning to sleep all together in a tent where everything will have to treated. But, we decided there was not much we could do about that night, and that we would try to have a fun campout anyway.

When it started to get dark, we made a campfire. We had a great time roasting hot dogs, and marshmallows. It looked like our campout was going to be salvaged.

But then it was bedtime.

Bailey and Avery would not go to sleep. Every time one of them was almost asleep, the other one would wake them up. I threatened ("If you guys don't go to sleep we're going home!" "Nooooooooooo!"). I cajoled ("It's so much fun to sleep in a tent!" "I want to go home!"). And finally, after two and a half hours of this, we packed up and went home.

Unfortunately, I was planning on taking all of our camping pictures in the morning because the sun was in such a terrible place.

These are the only pictures I have of our failed campout. Mike and I decided we would only talk about the fun things we did while we camped, instead of the bad. Maybe next time (if there is a next time) it will be better.

And now we have to deal with lice!!!

Weekend Visit

2010-09-22T20:14:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Shelli and her great job at Jet Blue, Mike's parents were able to come and visit us this last weekend. In a lucky turn of events, it was also Mike's week off. We went to Palmyra (I might add that it was my third trip there in two months), made an apple pie, worked on the hole in the ceiling, and hiked Carpenter Falls. I only brought my camera on the hike. It was gorgeous, but a little too steep for the kids.

We love it when we have visitors!

Playing church

2010-09-11T09:48:00.000-04:00

Bailey and Avery are into playing church right now. They sit my down on the couch, give me a book of "songs", give talks and say prayers. My favorite part is when they sing and lead the music:

It makes me smile when I hear Avery sing all the words of a song. She is a huge fan of music. I have two super cute girls!

Birthday Girl!

2010-09-11T09:29:00.000-04:00

Our little baby is two! It's hard to believe that two years have gone by. She may not have grown much hair since then, but she is getting big, and talking a ton.

Yesterday we started the day by baking the birthday cake. Bailey and Avery had to help, of course, and lick the mixing spoons.

Avery was a chocolaty mess before she even had any cake. (:

Lately, we have been reading the book, "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?" Consequently, Avery loves loves loves dinosaurs, and asked me to make a dinosaur cake for her birthday. I think it turned out pretty cute. I have to give Mike the credit for a great frosting job.

We celebrated around lunchtime before Mike had to go to work.

I was looking at pictures from Bailey's second birthday, where she got a purse too. I didn't even realize that. I guess purses are perfect for two year olds.

She was so excited about the trains she got from grandpa, she wouldn't even look up for a picture.

And the bubble wrap was almost as cool as the trains. (:

Right now, Avery:

Wants to read books all day
Sings songs by herself as she is playing (itsy bitsy spider, I am a child of God, Head, shoulders, knees and toes, Jesus came to John the Baptist, Popcorn popping)
Loves trains
Walks around with some serious attitude
Talks with some serious attitude, it's actually funny (for now)
Sends herself to timeout
Is still our little snuggle bug
Like to give us eskimo kisses

Avery has brought our family so much joy. Happy birthday!!

What we do at 6:00 am...

2010-09-10T15:51:00.000-04:00

In case you were wondering, Avery is getting a little better at sleeping in to the late hour of seven. (But mostly that's because we have been staying up until nine almost every night this week.) When she does get up before the birds, this is what she wants to do:

This little stink crawls into my bed with a huge stack of books and wants to read them all. I wonder where she gets that from...

I can't do this post without her classic "anticipate the flash pose."

I can only hope that the darker mornings will mean later wake up times!

Swimming Lessons

2010-09-10T15:43:00.001-04:00

The YMCA here in Syracuse does free swimming lessons with your membership. Needless to say, we signed up. Bailey had a great time in her Pike class, and has graduated onto Eel. Here are some pictures of her swimming fun:

Her confidence in the water has improved a ton. She'll go under water all by herself- all the way under. In fact, she kept getting into trouble for doing it when her teacher wasn't there. She will also swim all around by herself with floaties or a noodle, something she wouldn't do before this summer. I am super excited, and I hope that she'll be swimming all by herself soon.

Poor Avery just had to just sit and watch. We did sign up for a mom and baby class, but didn't end up going every week. We usually went swimming before or after the class so that Avery could swim too. She was a good sport about it most weeks.

Bailey started her new classes this week so hopefully by next summer she can swim floatie free!

Good Morning Beautifuls

2010-08-19T15:32:00.001-04:00

For some reason, Avery has decided to get up before the crack of dawn. She is FINALLY sleeping through the night on a consistent basis, but is getting up between 5-6 am. Some mornings Bailey joins her. Yuck. I've tried putting her to bed later, but that usually turns into her waking up even earlier. By mid morning, this is how she feels:

Yes Avery, that's pretty much how I feel too.

Bailey wanted in on the picture taking fun...

And here is Avery after I comment on her very grouchy face:

What a silly baby! Please, please, please start sleeping in!!

This is why I was afraid...

2010-08-13T16:11:00.000-04:00

So, Bailey got bangs a few months ago. I was sick and tired of not seeing her face, only hair, all the time. She wouldn't leave a clip or a headband, or any hair thing in for any length of time. There was only one option left. Bangs. I was hesitant, but went through with it. I thought they ended up pretty cute.

But then they got long.

I have absolutely no hair cutting experience. None. I was afraid to cut her bangs, so I put if off, and put it off, and put it off. I could procrastinate no further. I grabbed a comb, a pair of hair cutting scissors, and a spray bottle. We headed outside.

It was a disaster. Bailey wouldn't hold her head at quite the right angle, I was super nervous, and the hair scissors were terribly dull.

This is the result:

Yes, they are a little uneven, and yes, they are super duper short!! I tried to at least even them out, but I blame the scissors. They are hopelessly dull.

Bailey looked in the mirror, and this is what my four year old said:

"Mom, it looks like boy hair in the front."

"Can you glue the pieces back on?"

"Do I have to go to swimming lessons like this?"

"Do I have to see my friends like this?"

"Can you make it grow back now?"

Oh well. At least hair grows back. Eventually. Maybe next time I will suck it up and pay someone to do it... poor Bailey! I now have a lot more compassion when I see terrible bangs walking around! I am little embarrassed that everyone has to see what a terrible job I did at cutting her bangs. I hope it comes back fast...

Why??

2010-08-10T07:33:00.000-04:00

I feel like we've been sick every since we moved to Syracuse. I'm just about ready to scream. The last two mornings I've woken up to an Avery who is covered in diarrhea from head to toe. Yesterday, I spent a full 40 minutes cleaning poop off of everything in her crib. I thought that this morning would be better- she woke up at the grand hour of 5:30 and had a messy diaper. I changed her, relieved it wasn't all over the crib, gave her a bottle and laid her back down. She didn't go back to sleep. When I finally went in there at 7:15, she was covered in poop again. Why?? I feel like I'm having a difficult enough time trying to take care of the house, the yard, and the girls all by myself. Why does she have to be sick, again, too?? Why is she making huge disgusting messes on top of everything else? Why can't we just all be healthy??

Avery's growing up

2010-08-09T16:23:00.001-04:00

Avery is starting to try to dress herself. I can't believe it. She hasn't been very successful, she can pull a shirt onto her head, but she can't get her arms into yet. The other night, she found one of Mike's socks and pulled it on. It was adorable. I guess I should stop calling her my baby...

Out of the mouth of Bailey

2010-07-30T20:18:00.000-04:00

This week, my mom and brother Chris came to visit us. On one of those days, we visited Palmyra, and forgot the camera. I don't know what got into Bailey, but she was full of hilarious sayings:

In the bathroom: "Mom, nobody else is in here. I don't see any feet!"
In another bathroom: "Mom, the big person came out of the big bathroom (the handicapped one), and the little person came out of the little one!" (Yes, one of them was still in the bathroom. And she wasn't being quiet about it.)
In the church bathroom (the day before): "How come someone has been in that bathroom for a really long time? When are they going to be done? Why are they taking so long?" etc...
In the car: Chris: "Aren't I hot?" (he was being the typically teenage boy) Bailey: "You should get a drink of water."
On a trail: "Mom, I wish we had known it was going to be a hot day. We should have brought cold drinks."

She had us laughing and smiling all day long. I wonder what she's going to say next.

Open Farm Day

2010-07-24T21:59:00.002-04:00

Today we took advantage of "Open Farm Day" and visited two farms that we about an hour outside of Syracuse. It was fun to show Bailey and Avery that our food comes from a farm, not a supermarket.

We had told the girls that we were going to a chicken farm, and Avery was super excited. We had to stop and home and grab snacks, to which Avery announced, "No. Chickens! Chickens!" So, our first stop was Brick's Farm, a free range chicken farm, home to 3000 chickens. It was truly a sight to see- and smell.

Bailey was not too happy to be in a room with so many chickens, who would happily peck your toe if you got to close. Avery, however, thought it was fun, and willingly pet a hen.

After reading about the horrors of caged hens, I was excited to see a farm where chickens are treated more like chickens, and less like egg producing machines. We bought eggs, and I actually think it is really cool that we got to see exactly where these eggs came from. I'm excited to make omelets this week. (:

At Brick's Farm, the girls were also able to feed some farm animals, or really, watch mom and dad feed them.

Our next stop was at a dairy farm, where we got to see a brand new baby calf. Even Bailey swallowed her fear to touch the tiny cow.

Apparently, the little cows have a serious need to suck. When you try to pet a calf, they try to suck on your hand- your whole hand. Luckily, our tour guide, who happened to be the owner's daughter, was happy to let the cows suck on her hand so the kids could pet the cows.

We had a great day visiting the farms. I'm just glad that Mike was able to go with us!

Mike is thirty!

2010-07-22T14:33:00.002-04:00

Today Mike hits the big three-o! I'm putting together a list of reasons why we love him. If you know him, post a reason why you think he is great!

I'm the wicked stepmother

2010-07-19T21:44:00.000-04:00

Tonight Bailey threw the tantrum of all tantrums. And that is saying something. It was actually very sad. It was a full hour of violence, threats, and thrown objects (all done by Bailey, I might add).

It culminated in me holding her bedroom door shut while she angrily screamed, kicked, and threw her toys at the door. I never thought I would lock my daughter in her room, but I can honestly say I was afraid for Avery's safety, and I was tired of being scratched, bitten and otherwise attacked.

While this was going on, I heard a sobbed,

"Bruno!! Bruno!"

Sound familiar? At first I couldn't understand what she was talking about. And then it dawned on me. Remember Disney's Cinderella?

Then,

"I know. I need Cinderella's mice. Mice! Avery, bring me Cinderella's mice! I need out of here! Bring me Cinderella's mice!"

I felt like laughing, kind of. I was the wicked stepmother, locking the soon to be princess in her room. I hope that's not how she thinks of me...

Let't hope for a fresh start tomorrow. After all, sleeping beauty ends well. I might just have to wake her up with a kiss.

Preschool Gradution

2010-07-17T14:33:00.000-04:00

Trying to catch up here...

Back in April, we had a preschool graduation for the six kids in our co-op preschool. The co-op preschool was a great experience. There were six kids, and we each took turns teaching one week at a time. The week after you taught, you babysat for the that week's teacher. I'm not going to lie, when it was your turn to teach, it was a lot of work. Keeping six kids interested for two hours took some creativity. But they all learned a lot this last year, and had a great time doing it.

My favorite moment of preschool happened when I was teaching. It was before class started, and I had music playing. I asked Bailey if she wanted to dance with me, she replied, "No mom. I am not here to dance. I am here to learn."

For their gradution gowns, they took their dad's white shirt and turned it backwards. Bailey, my fashionista, wasn't convinced until all the other kids were doing it. (:

They even got to do a graduation march down the stairs, with pomp and circumstance playing. Apparently, it was not an easy walk in dad's shirt...

We are really going to miss all our preschool friends!

Bailey is four!!

2010-07-17T14:11:00.001-04:00

I can't believe that my baby is four. They say that time flies as you get older, and I believe it. I remember when we brought Bailey home from the hospital- I thought it was weird that they were letting us take her home. What if we broke her? What should we do if she cried? She changed our lives forever, and I love her more than anything.

Sadly, her baby pictures are on the other computer, so here are pictures of her starting when she is one:

Was she really ever that little?

On her actually birthday, we had a little family party. She had wanted to make a lady bug cake for my birthday (I might mention that nobody actually made me a cake on my last birthday, but that's a different story), so I attempted one for her. I think it turned out pretty well, until the frosting started to melt while I was frosting it. Oh well.

This is Avery and her someone-pulled-out-the-camera face. Hilarious.

Later, we had a princess party for her, but I didn't take any pictures. Oh well.

Here are some things I want to remember about Bailey right now:

She loves, loves, loves to cook with me in the kitchen
She likes to play this silly game where she makes up new words and wants me to copy her
She is getting so independent- she doesn't need me to get her a drink anymore
She loves swimming, painting, and crafts of any variety
She actually likes to help me clean the house, and she is very good at folding laundry (she calls it wrapping it up)
She loves her daddy- anytime to she seems him for the first time that day, she starts screaming, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" This includes in church.

I can't believe that next year she will be going to Kindergarten. Where did my baby go??

Pioneer Children

2010-07-17T13:51:00.001-04:00

On our way back from the west this this June, we stopped by Nauvoo. We spend a day and a half there, and had a great time. We didn't get to see everything there is to see, so we will have to go back. I was impressed by how family friendly the sites were (especially compared to Kirtland. Let's face it, Kirtland and kids just don't go well together!). They had pioneer games, including dress up, pioneer cookies and crafts, and John Taylor's rocking horse that was featured in the Friend recently. Bailey is still talking about it, and asking questions about the pioneers.

Yes, this is kind of a weird picture, but I couldn't get one where everyone was looking...

What a cute pioneer!

That evening, we went to one of the shows. In the break, the sister missionaries went around asking peole what their favorite part was. The people who sat next us said that it was our girls! They were being adorable. Bailey and Avery were singing and dancing and leading the music. They were our little show stealers.

The only downside was the bathroom situation. Despite taking Bailey right before the show started, she of course, had to go potty. Mike loves these kind of shows, and well, let's be honest, I'm not a huge fan. But. They only had porta-potties. I don't do porta-potties. So, Bailey and I wandered around until the piano tuner let us into the building, promising to keep it our little secret. I was really glad.

Nauvoo was a memorable experience. I loved how they tied everything into their testimony of Christ. The printer shop wasn't just a place where they printed the paper, but a place where they shared a message of Christ. It was an uplifting vacation spot.

Museum of Play

2010-07-17T13:37:00.000-04:00

Last week, my old college roommate, Shannon, and her family were in town. While they were here, we visited the Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. (Of course, Mike couldn't come. Shocking.) It was awesome. It was like COSI on steriods. We were there most of the day, and didn't have time to do everything. Bailey asked me if we could spend the night there. When I told her it was closed, she asked if we could come back tomorrow. We didn't, but we will have to go back soon. Avery, of course, took eons to warm up to the place, but when she did, she had a great time.

Sometimes I'm still amazed that we are old enough to be married and have kids!

They have a giant grocery store there, and Bailey and Avery loved it. It was funny to see what items Bailey put in her cart (they could only pick five): two popcorns, a lemon, oatmeal and a loaf of bread. Maybe I'll let Bailey do the shopping now...

Avery really enjoyed the post office. For some reason, all she wanted to do was to stand at the counter and smile at me. Maybe it was fun to have a counter just her size... I don't know. She spent at least ten minutes there.

With an entire museum to play in, Bailey and Avery just wanted to read. They are girls after my own heart. (:

It's too bad that Rochester is about an hour and a half away, with a toll road between. We love the Museum of Play.

Green Clean Review

2010-07-03T11:39:00.000-04:00

Last night (while Mike was on his first call), I made the green cleaning plunge. I've been wanting to do it for a while, so I figured I would start now that we are in our new house. It's amazingly inexpensive, and I felt okay letting Bailey, and even Avery, help out.

To "green clean" your bathrooms, you only need a few things, most of which are probably already in your house:

To wash the mirrors, sinks and the outside of the toilet, I made a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar. It worked great! Bailey and Avery loved spraying everthing down, and I didn't have to worry about it getting on their hands or clothes. I was really pleased with the results- everything looked really clean.

Next, I poured a mixture of 1/2 c. baking soda with two cups of vinegar into the toilet bowl and let it sit for about 15 min. I was impressed by the results. The inside of the toilet was gleaming white. Who knew?

Lastly, I made and mixture of one cup water with 10 drops of tea tree oil for the shower. I used that on the shower doors and the tile. It's supposed to prevent mold and mildrew growth. Obviously, it's too soon to say how if it works, but at least it smells good.

The only downside is that your bathroom smells like vingear. Luckily, even that didn't last long at all. I admit, I like the smell of a chemically cleaned bathroom, but I'm sure it's not good for your lungs.

So, I give the green clean experiment two thumbs up. I'm excited about saving money, and making our house a little bit greener.

Angry Blog

2010-06-26T16:12:00.000-04:00

I hate residency all ready. And it hasn't even started.

Today, the second year asked Mike to come in. He doesn't start until next week, and today was his last Saturday off for forever. And they asked him to come in.

Too make matters worse, Mike had already agreed to help his fellow intern move in that morning. I was happy to have him do it. We had a lot of help moving, and I was glad to help someone else. But that meant he couldn't come in until the afternoon.

I'm so mad. Today is Bailey's birthday and we had promised to take her to the zoo. Because of that stupid meeting where the second year showed him the supply closet (yeah), we couldn't go to the zoo.
That's just great. And apparently he has to go in on his very last day off too.

While in the car...

2010-05-28T23:07:00.000-04:00

We've been driving all over the country, so I'm pretty behind on the blog. I'll have to catch up later... but I wanted to post about Avery saying the cutest thing in the car.

We had spent the morning wandering around a thrift store with Mike's family, including his sister Shelli. She told Avery that she would buy her a purse, so they picked one out and Shelli filled it with little toys. During the course of the trip, Avery lost interest in the purse, so Shelli set it aside and did not purchase it. We left the store thinking that Avery would not even realize it.

Once Avery was buckled into her carseat, her little voice peeped up:

"Shewee?"

Shelli was busy talking, but Avery kept at it.

"Shewee?"

Once Shelli realized that Avery was trying to talk to her, she asked her what she needed.

"Purse?"

She had not forgotten. Shelli ran into the store, bought the purse, and brought it back to a very happy Avery.

Last day of medical school!!!

2010-04-23T18:56:00.000-04:00

Today was Mike's very last day of medical school. I can't believe it!! Where did all the time go? Here he is at the beginning of medical school:

Look at how little Bailey is... she has gotten so big.

Here he is today, before he headed off to his last day of being "student doctor Waters." Same white coat, just a lot dirtier.

There have definitely been some really rough times- before his first set of boards, Mike was gone for 10-12 hours everyday, including Saturday. However, this last year has been awesome. I'm afraid we've been seriously spoiled before his intern year. We only have a few more months before his 80 hour work week begins. We've got to enjoy it! Congrats Mike!

The price of peace and quiet

2010-04-23T11:43:00.001-04:00

A few days ago, I was enjoying a very rare moment of peace and quiet, by myself. Bailey and Avery were miraculously playing with each other. There were no screams, no fits, and no one crawling all over me. In the midst of packing and the stress of moving, it was a surprising oasis in my day. And then I got up and saw this:

Oh well. It was still totally worth it.

R.I.P. Dora

2010-04-13T09:59:00.000-04:00

Five or six weeks ago, we got a tadpole. I was teaching the preschool lesson about the letter T, and I thought it would be a great to teach them about tadpoles. Bailey was thrilled to have a pet tadpole, and name him Dora. Avery was totally in love with him. Every morning she would ask for, "Fish, fish" and feed him way too much food. The only spontaneous "I love you" out of Avery's mouth went to the tadpole. I try not to be jealous.

This weekend we went to Cleveland for our niece, Hannah's, baptism. When we came back, we discovered Dora on the carpet. He was turning into quite the big jumpy tadpole, and I guess we filled his container up too much. Mike went to pick him up, and he was still alive! We put him back into his water, where he swam around crazily.

That night, in her prayers, Bailey said the sweetest thing. "Please bless Dora that she won't be died." Sadly, Dora didn't make it. Bailey was, of course, very sad, but didn't want to participate in the Dora's flushing ceremony. (We also had a goldfish who died a few weeks ago. Bailey was very concerned that we flushed him. "How can he be resurrected out of the toilet? He can't be resurrected if he's in the toilet.") That morning, when Avery woke up and asked for, "Fish, fish" I had to tell her that the fish went bye-bye. She threw a small tantrum with lots of "No! No!" and them moved on.

Poor Dora. I feel terrible about it. I guess I'm not very good at keeping animals alive...

The breakfast of champions is...

2010-04-09T22:53:00.001-04:00

... can you tell?

Nutella and bannanas. What more could a three year old and an nineteen month old ask? Or me for that matter? I should have taken a picture of Avery when she done- I could have eaten her. She was covered from head to toe with Nutella. Yum!

Ode to the Lender

2010-04-06T20:38:00.000-04:00

Here's my ode to our lender

who sits, with great splendor

having power to say

"yea" or "nay."

Make haste, if you please

give my mind greater ease

the slow pace of this loan

I cannot condone.

With a house contract signed

and communication misaligned

our fears will abound

til the lender is found.

This wait is too long,

we fear it'll end wrong

our good credit is sown

please approve the loan!

House Shopping

2010-04-04T13:01:00.000-04:00

This weekend Mike and I headed to our new hometown to look for a house. We were super excited, and relieved that everything came together. You would not believe how hard it is to get a loan in the state of New York. Mike and I talked to at least six loan agents before we found one who got it done. New York does not offer doctor loans, and to get an FHA loan, you HAVE to have two pay stubs. They don't make it easy. I'm actually very grateful that we found the right loan agent. I really think we were being watched over and taken care of.

Now might be a good time to talk about the TAXES in New York. (Lori- maybe I'm supposed to learn something and change my more liberal political ideas.) The taxes there are crazy. Really. On a $150,000 house, they are at least $4000. That is a nice car payment. Every month. New York also has the highest upfront fees and taxes when buying in house in the United States. Let's just say we were very surprised at how much we had to have upfront. It's amazing anyone in New York can buy a house.

We dropped Bailey off in Cleveland on Thursday, and continued on our way to Syracuse. Avery was a dream. She is turning into a car riding pro. On Friday, we looked at the nine houses that met our criteria. There were some very interesting houses. My particular favorite was a four bedroom house with one of the bedrooms off the middle of a staircase. It had obviously been built there after the fact. Also, it advertised a two car garage, but there was literally no way to get to the garage. It was purely for storage. Another bedroom was actually in front of the master bedroom, and you had to walk through it to get to the master bedroom. It was hilarious. I was laughing for about an hour. Other awesome houses had carpet in the kitchen, laminate squares in bedrooms, and awful "new" bathrooms and floors. I'm amazed at people's taste. Avery continued to be the perfect baby. She didn't slow us down at all. I was very impressed with how easy it was to have her along.

On Saturday, we made an offer on this house:

This house has four bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a fenced backyard, and an unfinished basement. This house is in move-in condition, only a block away from a playground, and walking distance from the amazing grocery store Wegman's. We made our offer, and they didn't get back to us until this morning with a counter offer. Now we are just trying to decide what to do...

Match Day Pictures

2010-03-22T11:04:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday was the big Match Day. The day we had been waiting for all year. I remember the fourths years celebrating last year, and being jealous. I can't believe that Mike only has five weeks left of medical school!

Match Day was quite an event. All the fourths years and their family and friends went to the Fawcett center to get their letters. A few people spoke, they passed out the much anticipated envelopes, and then blew a horn at exactly noon. Every fourth year medical student in the country opened up their letter at the same time.

It was a strange day. The anticipation had been building all year, and it kind of felt anti-climatic. It was a relief, it was exciting, but it was also bittersweet. We are super excited to be going to Syracuse. However, of course, we are also nervous to be leaving. We love Columbus and our friends here. I remember how long it took us to make friends, and I'm not excited to be doing that again. It it scary to be buying a house, and it is kind of scary to not to have the option of more student loans "just in case."

We are heading up this weekend to find a house. Hopefully we will find one in the few days we are there. The next five weeks are sure to be a whirlwind.

We matched...

2010-03-18T14:01:00.001-04:00

We're are going to Syracuse NY! We are super excited!

The things we do for Dora

2010-03-07T15:47:00.000-05:00

One of our favorite places to go in Columbus in the science museum COSI. In January we got a flyer advertising that Dora was going to come to COSI in March. Bailey was ecstatic. She adores Dora, and asked me a least once a week if Dora was at COSI yet. Finally, the much anticipated day arrived.

We got up, got a drink at the gas station, and headed to COSI. Across the street from the museum are parking meters that are super cheap- only 25 cents for an hour and fifteen minutes. Mike started to pull into a parking spot next to a F-250 truck with tinted windows, and suddenly ran into something. That something was the door of the truck being opened at the exact time that Mike was pulling in.

Nobody was hurt, luckily, The car was not so fortuitous. I'm amazed that such slow speeds could cause so much damage. The truck's door was also crunched, but not nearly to extent of our little Honda. After the initial angry swearing by the truck's driver, everyone was very cordial.

However, we definitely had a problem. The truck driver was adamant that it was our fault. The police came by and wrote it up, and gratefully, only cited both drivers for inattentive driving, instead of giving both of them tickets. The police officer tried to explain that his truck was only safe inside his parking spot lines, and that we are not responsible for the damage done out of it (which his door was).

Our insurance company also thinks that the truck driver is at fault, but will only file a claim against their insurance if we tell them to.

So, we don't know what to do. Mike could/should have pulled in slower, but the guy should have looked before he opened his door. It was also frustrating that Mike and I both had looked at the truck and thought that no one was in it. Because of the tinting, it looked like an empty truck.

We kind of feel like both parties should just pay for their own damages. However, if we don't file a claim does that mean we are admitting fault? Who knows. I thought insurance companies were supposed to figure all of this out. Instead, they are leaving it up to us.

The police officer left, and we all went into COSI. The lines were the worst I have ever seen. We have been members for three years, and have gone to COSI more than a few times. And I have never seen it so crazy. The line just to get in wound around the front hall. We finally got to the front of the line, and were informed that they were not letting anyone else into the Dora line. Bailey was crushed. We told her that we didn't think she was going to see Dora and the tears started pouring. She had been waiting for months, literally.

We went to the line anyway, hoping to be let in. They told us it was a two and half hour wait, but if we took a purple ticket and stayed in line, Bailey would meet Dora. So we waited. Avery and I ended going home for nap time. And Mike waited. After a "mere" hour and a half, Bailey finally got to meet Dora. Unfortunately, although the camera we had the camera, the battery was dead. Mike took a picture with his Blackberry, but neither of us can figure out how to get pictures off of it.

A car accident and super long wait later, Bailey got to meet her story book heroine. I guess it was worth it...

Was this a sign?

2010-02-28T19:47:00.002-05:00

In the neighborhood where I live, the street names are all golf themed. I've always thought that the street "Player Court" was terribly named. I know that they were thinking along the lines of golf player, but the slang meaning is awful. What were they thinking?

Then Tiger Woods fell from grace. And we got this:

Yes, this is a real picture from our complex. Hilarious!

Big days

2010-02-25T08:04:00.000-05:00

Mike's rank list is in! Last night, he made his last changes at 8:53 pm. (It was due at 9:00 pm). He didn't make any huge changes, but we were still trying to decide on which of two schools should be ranked number one. We feel good about our first choice. Now we just have to wait until Match Day on March 18th. It still crazy to think that medical school is almost over. Where did the last four years go? I'm starting to feel nervous about moving. I guess it's finally starting to sink in- we only have two more months in Columbus.

I took my sick grouchy girls to the doctor yesterday, and they both have ear infections in their right ears. I am really hoping that Bailey's frequent tantrums are more a reflection of not feeling well than a phase. I admit, it makes me feel a lot better to have a reason for her fits. I guess we'll see in a couple of days. Sadly, Bailey's second set of tubes has fallen out within the last month, and she already has an ear infection. There better be a great ENT in our next city!

Family Dinner

2010-02-23T19:18:00.003-05:00

Even with all the tantrums, parenthood is wonderful in a way that nothing else is. There are moments that you wish you could bottle up and keep forever. Family dinner can sometimes be that way. One night last month, the girls were being adorable. They were giggling and smiling, and I was reminded again why we want these little ones around.

Avery is our super tiny girl, and we do everything to get her to eat. Mike told her to put her fork in her mouth, and she did. Not quite what we wanted, but funny any way.

Bailey of course, couldn't be left out, and joined in the non-eating fun.

Today was a better day with Bailey. I tried to turn her tantrums into a "grouchy" face contest. I tried to bring some comedy to her fits, and it seemed to help. At least it distracted her for minute. Let's hope the days just get better from here on out.

Help!

2010-02-22T10:14:00.002-05:00

I don't know what to do with my three year old.

I really am at the end of my rope with her. She's miserable, and so am I.

Bailey is going through an extremely negative phase right now. Take this morning for example. We sit down to do crafts, which used to be one of her favorite things. I thought we could practice cutting with scissors. After about one minute she is crying and telling me to do it. I show her how to hold the scissors and tell her to just do her best. She throws another fit, and I put the scissors away.

Next, I pull out stamps. She stamps happily for about a minute, and then gets mad because there is ink on her hands. I tell her to go and wash them, but she wants to use a wipe instead. I tell her no, you can use the water in the bathroom. She throws a huge screaming fit, and I don't give in. (Should I just have let her use a wipe? I don't know...) She eventually washes her hands in the bathroom.

Then, she tells me she wants to color with crayons instead. I tell her to go and get her crayons out of her room, and that I would get her more paper. She demands that I get the box of crayons out of the living room closet. I explain that they are not crayons, but coloring pencils. She angrily demands to color with those. I explain they are not sharpened, and she should go get her crayons. Another screaming fit ensues. (Once again, should I have gotten the coloring pencils out? I hate them. They don't sharpen well, we only have a hand sharpener which breaks the points instead of actually sharpening them. Only a few colors end of sharp, none of which are the ones she wants to color with. It drive me crazy.)

After several minutes of screaming, she returns with a book. At this point, I am too frustrated to look at her, let alone entertain her with a book.

What am I supposed to do? Do whatever she wants me to? All the time??

This lasts all day long. With everything. She tells me she's hungry. I offer her a selection of snacks, none of which is acceptable. I tell her it's time to go, she doesn't want to.

I'm going crazy. Really I am. I feel like I can't continue to be calm when all she does is fight. I try to stay happy and positive, but I feel myself getting angrier and angrier with each passing fit.

Any suggestions? Any at all? I don't like feeling upset with her all the time...

Root Canal

2010-02-19T13:04:00.002-05:00

This last week I had what no dental patient wants- a root canal. While I am glad that dentists can do them, instead of pulling the tooth out, I don't recommend this to anyone. It is as bad as it sounds.

I learned a few things about teeth that I didn't know before:

They don't like to stay numb for very long. Therefore, every time you think you can relax during the long long procedure, you get stung. Then you get another shot.
Even though the tooth has no nerves left on the inside, the outside nerves can feel the pain of what is going on inside. Then you get another shot.
At every dentist appointment I have been to, I've been told I have great teeth. I like to think I take good care of them. I've only had a few cavities, and those were from loose sealants, and I couldn't have prevented them. But I still got a root canal. (I cracked the tooth).
Painkillers don't last as long with tooth pain. Your tooth is killing again, and you realize you still have three hours before you can take the next dose.
The dentist tells you that you won't feel pain after a few days. Try a week. And then you get the root canal finished, and you're hurting all over again.
Despite what Bailey (and Mike) say, getting a gold crown does not make you feel like a princess.

I am happy to report that I am feeling much better after the second round, where they finished it off. Finally, finally, my tooth is not hurting. It was a frustrating experience for me. I got a root canal on a tooth that had been filled a few months ago. Before the filling, the tooth did not hurt at all, I was not aware of the cavity. After the filling, the tooth bothered me, and got worse and worse until I went back. Then I got the root canal which was the worst pain of all. All for a tooth that didn't even bother me.

Well, I can say I did the whole root canal thing. I can't imagine why anyone would want to be an endodontist. It has to be for the money. Let's hope this is the last time I have to pay one.

Shrum Mound

2010-02-03T19:54:00.003-05:00

During Mike's month off, we were definitely running out of free things to do. We did a little research, and decided to visit this:

This is Shrum Mound, a Native American burial mound right in the middle of Columbus. We had actually tried to visit it before, but the directions we got from Google Maps did not get us there. Mike got better directions this time, and it turns out, it is only five minutes away from our house.

This mound was built by the prehistoric Adena Indians who lived in Ohio from 800 B.C. to about 1 A.D. It is kind of a sad historical sight. It consists of a fence, a sign with little information, and a mound. However, it was still cool to see something so old just around the corner. Bailey was a little scared of it. We told her Indians were buried in it, and I guess that worried her. I don't know if she thought they were going to pop out or what.

We decided to make the day Indian Mound day, knowing that there was at least one more mound in Columbus. We typed "mound" into our recovered GPS, and several entries popped up. "Indian Mound Park" sounded like the place we needed. After thirty minutes of driving, we ended up and "Indian Mound Park" which is actually a rec center. There was no mound in sight. How can they name a place "Indian Mound Park" and not actually have an Indian Mound? Especially when it is right next to "Indian Mound Apartments" and "Indian Mound something else." We even stopped and asked someone if there was an Indian Mound nearby. There wasn't.

The Indian mounds in Columbus are proving to be very elusive...

One toddler's trash...

2010-01-30T12:25:00.004-05:00

... is our families "treasure." This morning we were getting ready to head out to Cincinnati and Dayton when we realized that our GPS was missing. We had used it on Wednesday, and I was almost 100% positive I had put it in the diaper bag. We searched the car, the closet, and the entire house. I called where we had been the last few days. Mike and I were beginning to think that it was gone forever when I remembered something that had happened a few days ago.

I was making dinner when Avery came into the kitchen, went to our recycling can, opened the lid and stuck her hand in. I thought she was trying to get something out of it. I told her no, it was trash and closed the lid. A few minutes later, she was back, doing the same thing. This time however, there was more urgency to her digging. I opened the lid, and pulled out a bracelet of mine that had been in the diaper bag. I told her not to throw things away, and didn't think more of it.

So we decided to do a little digging. Mike pulled out the recycling (which is the bigger trash can in our house) and started digging around. Sure enough, he pulled out the GPS and our camera case. We laughed, but only because we had found it. Now I'm wondering what else Avery has thrown away. I guess it must not be too important if we didn't notice.

I suppose we'll have to do a quick search in the recycling now before we take it out. Avery is officially a toddler.

State of the Waters

2010-01-28T07:49:00.002-05:00

I guess it's time for a new post.

I have lots of pictures to post, but that will have to wait. Last night, for the first time in her entire life, Avery slept through the entire night. That's right, from the time she went down at 7:15 until she woke up at 6:45.

However, poor Bailey was up half the night throwing up. She woke up early and threw up again. Yeah. Luckily, Mike is still on vacation, and did clean-up duty. I cannot clean up throw up. I think I have thrown up so many times that my stomach is super super super sensitive and the slightest smell would send me to the toilet.

Maybe someday I'll get an uninterrupted night's sleep...

Crib recalls and tainted milk

2009-11-24T16:54:00.003-05:00

Today, two news stories caught my attention. One was the big crib recall, and the other was how China executed two men in connection with the melamine tainted milk. First, I checked and double checked our crib to make sure it had not been recalled. Thankfully, it is supposedly safe. Then, I really started thinking about the endless safety issues that parents face.

I admit, I never really thought about the crib my baby sleeps in as a potentially dangerous place. A classmate of Mike's had a baby suffocate in a crib because of a space between the crib and the railing. (This separation is why many cribs are recalled). How can I feel safe putting my baby to bed? Even though it is deemed "safe" now, in six months someone's precious baby may die and the crib will be recalled.

Along the same lines, I found the story from China interesting. At first, I was really surprised. Execution? For a mistake that might have been out of their control? As I kept reading, I learned that a company put melamine in the milk on purpose to boost it's protein content. Six babies died, and countless others were made ill. I think that if indeed they did that on purpose, their execution is just.

So, what do we do about companies the keep producing fatal baby products like cribs? Is it an innocent accident? Or did they not do enough testing on their cribs to make sure they are safe? How can we know? I'm sure that they didn't purposely make bad cribs, but they might have rushed planning them. Are they accountable?

Needless to say, this makes me an even bigger worrier. I feel like I can't buy cribs, toys, formula, bottles or anything without doing my research. Even then, it's not guaranteed.

I am realizing that there are a million things that are out of my control. I can buy the BPA free bottles and toys, but I can't protect them from some other toxin yet to be discovered in the plastic. I can't worry about the things that are out of my control, even though I'm tempted too. I would go crazy. I can only make the best choice I can with the knowledge that is there. I can make my voice heard that I want safe, non-toxic products for my children and my family. And I can hope that cooperations will make that their top priority.

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-11-15T17:42:00.006-05:00

This year, as a birthday present to myself, I ran my first half marathon. I trained for about six weeks with my friends, Fran and Sherrida. I don't think I could have done it by myself- running for 2+ hours gets boring with just music for company. We ran the Monumental Half-Marathon in Indianapolis, meeting up with a friend who moved from our ward last year.

Here we are, getting ready for the race. I had butterflies in my stomach!

And we're off. By that, I mean we walked to the start line. I was amazed at how many people were there- over 6,000. Here are the good little babies, patiently, or not so patiently, waiting.

Our husbands were such troopers. We had to get up at 4:15 am to drive there. Then they had to take care of tired, and maybe bored kids for two and half hours. Luckily, Bailey had a friend, Savannah, to keep her entertained. In this picture they are playing on a monument in the middle of Indianapolis which we ran around.

Here's us, after the race. I almost finished in my goal time, just two minutes over. Mike did get a picture of me as I crossed the finish line on his phone, but I couldn't figure out how to get in on the computer. Oh well.

A few miles before the end, the chip fell off the shoe. I carried it across the finish line, but it didn't read it. So, sadly, I don't have an officially chip time.

It felt good to set a goal, work towards it, and accomplish it. Now I am working to run another half marathon in May, with a much faster finish time.

Here's what everyone else is up to:

Mike applied to 49 orthopedic surgery programs. So far, he has five interviews scheduled, and has had about 5 rejections. He's starting to get really nervous, since he thought he'd have more interviews by now. We are praying really hard and are hoping the interviews start rolling it. Only half of the people who have had five interviews have matched in the past. Not a good number...
Avery is finally walking. She definitely is not as daring as her sister. She hates falling, and cries about the tiniest things.
Bailey is getting so grown up. Her big thing right now is knock-knock jokes. All day long, everywhere we go, all the time. The first knock-knock joke I told was "orange you glad you're not a banana," and now all of her jokes are "something, aren't you glad you're not something else." They are usually somehow related, like the light post outside and the car sitting next to it. Bailey has told so many, and demanded so many, that even Avery knows how to say, "Who's there?"

Halloween 2009

2009-11-15T16:41:00.006-05:00

This year we got all halloweened out. We went to a Halloween party, trunk or treat, trick or treating and boo and the zoo. Bailey also got to wear her costume to preschool. I finally put all the candy up (saving it for stockings) after Bailey decided that she didn't like any fruit or vegetable.

Bailey was a "good" witch for Halloween, and Avery was her black cat. She came up with that idea all by herself. They were a cute pair.

Can you guess what Mike and I were??

In case you can't tell, we were Bella and Edward, from "Twilight." I think we went a little overboard with the white make-up on Mike, but he was very glittery. I watched youtube videos on how Bella does her hair and make-up in the movie. I think it's funny that people are that obsessed with her.

Looking at our pictures, I realize that I didn't get any of just Bailey in her costume. We kept thinking we still had so many opportunities to get pictures, and then we never did. I tried to get her to put on her costume now so I could get pictures, but she wasn't interested. Oh well.

Here is a picture of our Halloween family:

Circle S Farms 2009

2009-11-12T19:31:00.003-05:00

Still catching up...

I guess there's not a whole lot to say about Circle S Farms. This was our third and last year visiting there. We had a great time. Bailey decided that it was more fun to play with her friends than stay around boring old mom and dad.

Avery thought it was fun to make "hay angels."

Apple Orchard with Grandma

2009-11-05T19:23:00.003-05:00

We had such a fun time at the orchard, we took Mike's mom, Windy, when she came out to visit us. There were only a few days left of apple picking, but we still made a haul. In fact, we still have a ton of apples. Any good apple recipes??

Bailey and Avery were apple picking pros. Avery could hardly see an apple and not pick it. She was in apple picking heaven.

Instead of a sand box, they had a corn box. I guess it's a good thing Avery doesn't like food when it comes to playing in a corn box...

We got a few cute shots of the girls in the miniature hay maze. They both loved this little "peek a boo" hole.

Afterwards, Windy made a delicious and giant apple pie with the girls. What could be better then an apple pie made with just picked apples?

Pumpkin FHE

2009-11-03T21:25:00.007-05:00

A few weeks before Halloween, we had a pumpkin FHE. We read "The Pumpkin Experiment" from the Friend, ate pumpkin soup for dinner, and made pumpkin cookies for dessert.

We also had to carve our pumpkins on pumpkin night. Bailey was a little squeamish at first when it came to pulling out the pumpkin guts, but ended up having a great time.

We also tried to make roasted pumpkin seeds. The seasonings on them were great, but they never got crunchy. I had forgotten that at low temperatures, our oven needs at least twice as long. Oh well.

I think we have started a tradition. You can never have too much pumpkin in the fall.

Things I should have blogged...

2009-11-03T20:29:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been too long since I've updated. Here are a few things I should have posted forever ago:

Our garden this year was okay. I'm not quite sure we got the $100 of produce that we spent, but it was still delicious. The best thing we grew was brandywine tomatoes. We had one plant, and the first harvest was a disaster. They never turn really red like other tomatoes, so we let them rot on the plant. Luckily we got a few others, and they were phenomenal. I highly recommend them. All was well until the end of the season when something decided ruin the rest of our tomatoes. Oh well.

Our zucchini and squash plants also met an early death- aphids. Gross.

Bailey got her ears pierced over Labor Day. She had been asking about it for months and months. When she saw a little baby at church with her ears pierced, she was convinced. When they showed her the selection of earrings, of course she picked the super plain gold balls. With a little persuasion, she picked the pink "princess" earrings. I was expecting her to cry after the first one, but I was not expecting her to scream bloody murder like she did. Mike and I had to hold her down for the second earring because she decided that she didn't want the second one. All is well now, and she is glad she did it.

Mike has had a great couple of months. He did radiology and anesthesiology, and was often done really early. On one of those days, we went to Cooper's Apple Cider Mill in Bucyrus.

The name was a little deceiving. They don't actually make apple cider. However, they do make over 50 different types of jams and butters. And they use a wood burning stove to do it. The tour probably wasn't worth the drive- it was only two rooms. It was still fun to see and try the wide variety of jellies, including dandelion.

We also went to Lawrence apple orchards in Marion. There we picked 23 lbs. of apples for $8. Avery had the time of her life. Bailey got bored after a while, but Avery could have picked them forever. It was adorable. We picked red delicious, idared, and melrose apples. We weren't sure if we could use that many apples, but we did, quickly. We made apple crisp, apple cookies, caramel apples and ate a lot of apples.

We love fall in Ohio.

Bailey Ballerina

2009-09-18T10:36:00.003-04:00

At the rec center close to our house, Bailey is taking preschool ballet. She had her first class this week, and it was pretty much the cutest thing I have even seen. Her teacher, Miss Brittney, asked the parents to leave so she could see how they would do. I can understand why she did it, but I was sad not see my little ballerina dance for the first time. Mike and I peeked in when they were stretching. It was adorable. The girls, including Bailey, were mostly looking around at their classmates instead of actually stretching. And when she did stretch, it was too cute. She is growing up too fast. What a beautiful ballerina!

Avery is one!!

2009-09-13T16:38:00.011-04:00

At long last, here are pictures of Avery's first birthday. I can't believe that she is one already!

Bailey, being a sweetheart, was sad that Avery didn't get as many presents and she did for her birthday. However, as you can see, Avery got a big present instead.

Once she opened the baby, which also happened to be the first present, she didn't want to open any of the others. She only wanted that baby! Hopefully, now that Avery has her own "special" baby, she will leave Bailey's alone.

Like I said, she loves that baby!

I amazed even myself by making and decorating this cake. It came with great directions. (:

Notice the baby again.

My complaining post

2009-09-06T07:49:00.003-04:00

I am really discouraged. Yesterday, Avery was officially diagnosed with a milk allergy. The doctor said he's not sure if it is a lactose intolerance, or a milk protein allergy, but it looks like an actually allergy. She gets hives every time she eats cottage cheese, has had diarrhea for the last two months and has had a horrific diaper rash complete with blisters and open sores. Poor baby!

I'm mostly frustrated because we have worked so hard to get her to like eating. Because of her severe reflux and long memory, she did not want to eat because it caused pain. Months on Prevacid had made her happy to eat again, but now she flat out refuses anything because her stomach has been bothering her for so long.

I feel like I'm back at square one with her. I guess I wouldn't worry so much if she wasn't so tiny. At her last appointment she was 1st percentile for weight. She used to be in the 80th. She has crossed so many growth lines that she meets the criteria for failure to thrive. How am I supposed to not worry?

I am really overwheled by this right now. Even that makes me feel guilty. My Avery-won't-eat-just-like-Bailey trial is so small compared to what it could be. She is relatively heathy. My life really is great. I just feel so frustrated that I have to keep doing this over and over again. First Bailey. Now Avery. Do I have to do this with a third child too?

I hope she eats something soon...

August in review

2009-08-29T16:08:00.009-04:00

This month, I have obviously not kept up with the blog. Here are the highlights of this last month:

Avery took her very first steps! She really wants to walk, and practices standing all day long. I'm sure she will be everywhere soon.
My toothless baby is toothless no more. (Maybe she'll start looking like her age). Poor thing had six teeth coming in all the same time.
Avery finally slept the entire night long- from 8:00pm to 7:00am. Yeah! And we didn't have to let her cry it out! She has yet to repeat the performance, but we are getting close.
Avery has also found a new favorite game:
Bailey got her second ever haircut- from her two-year friend, Bailee. Luckily, even though the trash can was full of her beautiful curls, her hair is so thick you can hardly tell. One side is noticeably thinner. Oh well. I think it's time for another haircut.
Mike and I had our first full day sans kids at King's Island, an amusement park in Cincinnati. We had a great time.
Mike thought he had decided on general surgery, but is having a hard time letting go the great hours and equally great pay of orthopaedic surgery. He's doing radiology next month, and that specialty is still on the table. He's seriously thinking about interventional radiology because of the lifestyle and pay. Applications can be submitted Sept. 1st, only a few days away. Hopefully a brain wave will come his way ASAP. Maybe I'll set up a poll and take everyone's opinion...

The joys of parenting

2009-08-27T18:14:00.002-04:00

Today I took Bailey and Avery to Papa Murphey's while Mike tried to "figure out his life." There was a line, so a young professional woman in very nice clothes moved over on the bench to make room for Bailey and me. Bailey promptly said to me, in a rather loud voice I might add, "Mom, you have lots of boogers all over your nose!"

Nice. I didn't actually have boogers all over my nose. I've had a wonderful summer cold this week so my nose is chapped and sore. On top of that, who knows when I last brushed my hair. Or how long the boogers have been on my shirt (and no, I have not been wiping my nose on my shirt. They belong to Avery who has the same cold as me). Needless to say, I was relieved when the fancy woman got into her fancy Honda SUV and drove away.

All I can say is, you don't know until you've been there.

American Idol

2009-07-27T19:11:00.002-04:00

Bailey is pretty famous for her singing. Here is a video of Bailey singing a few of her favorites. Watch out American Idol!

Mommy's make-up bag

2009-07-27T19:02:00.006-04:00

I'm sad that these shots are blurry. I turned the flash off, and then I couldn't get the picture to sharpen. Oh well. Bailey and Avery had a great time playing in my make-up bag. What a beautiful finished product!

A day at the bird pond

2009-07-27T18:30:00.008-04:00

Today we braved the hot Reno weather and went to Virginia Lake, just a few blocks away from my mom's house. Bailey had a great time feeding the birds, which included a very few ducks, lots of geese, even more pigeons, and a variety of other little birds.

Avery wanted me to put her down so she could crawl after the birds, but, I just didn't want her to get that dirty!
This picture doesn't do these birds justice- they were huge! They were as big as Bailey.

When she realized there would be no crawling in the dirt, she tried to get me to let her pet a bird. Poor Avery.
Bailey ate just about as much bread as she fed the ducks.

We tried to play on the playground out there, but it was just too hot. I wondered why the playground was so empty. So we decided to take a walk around the lake, but there was not enough shade and we were sweltering. We took a seat on a bench to watch the birds and after a minute there is a big splat right in front of me. I looked up, and we were sitting directly under some birds. We had missed being pooped on by inches! After that, we just called it a day and headed back home for a drink and air conditioning.

The worst airport experience ever

2009-07-15T14:43:00.003-04:00

On Monday, we flew from Salt Lake City to Reno and we were lucky to make it. My first mistake was to underestimate the amount of time it took to get the airport. We got there really, really late- only 45 min. before our flight. I had also assumed the the SLC airport would be just like the Columbus airport. I had forgotten the SLC airport is always busy, so when I walked inside and saw the long line at the check in counter, I almost cried. On top of that, I had luggage and carseats on a smartcart, Avery in the sling, two carry-ons over my should and a screaming Bailey who wanted to hold my hand. Unfortunately, one of my hands was pushing the cart while the other was keeping the carseat from toppling off. I got in the long line, despairing, and I felt like everyone in the whole airport was staring at me. Bailey was out of control. While she screamed at the top of her lungs, she was also hitting, scratching and biting me. I didn't know what to do! I was practically in tears.

I finally grabbed an airport employee and told her of my dilemma. At this point, it was 3:50 at our flight was at 4:20. She told me there was no way we were making it. And then she said I could try to get SkyCab and maybe, just maybe, we could get there on time. Of course, he was already helping someone else. He soon helped me, even though I didn't have any cash, and we ran off to security.

I was prepared for security. I didn't go through the long family line, didn't have any liquids, had Avery in the sling, and was wearing flip flops. I least at did something right. (In case you are wondering, Bailey is still screaming.) We made it through, and a good samaritan carried the car seat and one of our bags right to the gate. That allowed me to hold Bailey's hand and the horrible screaming ended.

The plane had already boarded, but luckily we got there in time. After twenty minutes of Avery crying, things finally settled down. They were great on the plane.

Unfortunately, I will flying back to Columbus by myself as well. I think I will get to the airport a little earlier next time.

Lagoon

2009-07-14T23:05:00.008-04:00

Our five week long vacation is about half way over. We have been super busy. Last week I took Bailey to Lagoon with her cousins. Unfortunately, Mike was already in Portland in his storage closet and therefore couldn't come. (He thinks we waited to do all the fun stuff until after he left.) I was the pack mule, as I anticipated, but Bailey had a great time riding the rides with her cousin, Benjamin.

Bailey is definately going to miss having so many people to play with when we go home. I have a feeling she really really won't entertain herself at all.

Need I say more?

2009-07-10T15:32:00.001-04:00

A typical night

2009-06-11T07:17:00.002-04:00

7:00pm: Mike leaves for scouts, I put the girls in a bath.

7:30: Two clean girls leave the bath, Bailey is coloring in her room, I am putting Avery down.

7:45: Bailey tells me she has peed in her panties. Of course, I didn't put her in her training panties because she has not had an accident in weeks.

7:50: I lay Avery down, and go to deal with Bailey, who has peed all over the bathroom floor right next to the toilet. I tell her she has to clean in up. She falls in the puddle and gets covered in her own pee. Nice.

7:55: While she is in the shower, I clean up the big mess, and then clean her up.

8:05: Bailey and Avery are both in bed. Yeah. Time to relax.

8:05-8:50: Bailey gets up about four times having to go to the potty. Mike comes home and tells her no more potty, and no more getting up.

9:00: Avery wakes up. I refuse to feed her- it's only been an hour. She cries for a few minutes and goes back to sleep.

9:40: Avery wakes up again. I decide maybe she really is hungry and try to feed her.

9:45: While I am feeding Avery, Bailey is yelling in her room, "DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" I am worried that she is going to really wake up Avery, who is almost asleep. Mike goes back and wraps up Bailey's baby.

9:50: Avery is in her crib again. Finally.

10:30: We are getting ready for bed. Bailey is still awake.

10:45: I am seriously exhausted. We turn out the lights, and Avery wakes up again.

11:00: After feeding Avery, she is back in her own bed. I think that Bailey is asleep.

1:00: Avery wakes up and kind of eats, again.

4:30: Avery wakes up and kind of eats.

5:30: Avery wakes up again. I refuse to feed her. She fuses for a few minutes and goes back to sleep. Mike has to be up in a half an hour but doesn't go back to sleep.

6:00: Mike gets up, Avery fusses a little, but I still don't get her up.

6:30: Mike leaves. Maybe now I can go back to sleep.

6:50: Bailey wakes up, I tell her it's too early and that she needs to go back to bed. She at least stays in her bed.

7:00: Avery wakes up for the day and eats. Bailey hears us up and gets up as well.

I am ready for a good night's sleep! And a vacation by myself. Maybe Mike can come if he promises to just let me sleep...

Tutu Cute

2009-06-08T21:47:00.005-04:00

Here are a few pictures of the girls in their new favorite p.j.'s. I can never get a picture with both of them smiling...

Doesn't Avery's hair look pretty blond? This week I had someone comment about her blond hair. She has some dark spots, so I'm betting it comes in brown. We'll see when she gets more hair- hopefully soon.