'Tis the Season

So, from now until the middle of January it is a waste of time to try to lose weight. Not that I'm trying to lose weight yet, but it would be nice to keep it down for the next 7 1/2 weeks. So much chocolate. If I can keep myself out of the kids' trick-or-treat bags I should be fine. Luckily, they're getting old enough that they know what is in their bags so I can't sneak any.

Today Emma's class had their Round-Up party. It wasn't a Halloween party since that's not PC, but the kids got to dress up as cowpokes. I was asked to tell a spooky story around the campfire. (The campfire was construction paper.) I told the story called "The Ghost With One Black Eye." I'd write it out for you, but it's much better told than read. It was fun to perform again. I don't get to do that too much anymore.

Halloween night was a success and I hope to get pictures up soon. The kids wore the same costumes they wore at the party we went to earlier in the month. They helped me make my shirt which was a jack-o-lantern over my belly. We called it Millie's costume. We hit WalMart and trick-or-treated their departments. Then Uncle Pete took the kids around the neighborhood. Unfortunately, Josh had to work tonight. We did get to visit him for a little while.

I hope your night was as fun as ours!

Relationship Theories: Is This True?

Okay, this is my third posting today, but I have a lot to say and they all deserve their own posting. Not that any of the things I dwell on are too important, but I feel inclined to share.

I was going through our old files and paper yesterday (hours of sorting, ugh!) and I came across this page we got from an education/parenting seminar Josh and I attended several years ago. It's about Metastructural Dynamics in relationships.

Josh and I did this test and proved it accurate. Take a look at it. Tell me how you and your partner do. Were Josh and I just lucky to have it prove accurate, or is this a legitimate theory?

"MDS, Metastructural Dynamics, is a therapeutic tool used to identify a personality profile and to identify the corresponding profile of who we energetically bring into our lives for partnership. Being aware of three patterns -- our sense of self, how we view time and how we view space -- together represent from birth 'our genetic wiring.'"

1. Our sense of self...whether we are I centered or Other centered
(75% of men are I centered; 75% of women are other centered)

2. Our sense of Time -- Big Now or Step by Step

3. Our sense of Space -- Telephoto or Wide Angle

There are four profiles that include the ideas of Time and Space
A. Wide Angle/Step by Step: Concretist
B. Telephoto/Big Now: Perfectionist
C. Telephoto/Step by Step: Realist
D. Wide Angle/Big Now: Idealist

According to this theory, the complementary pairs are concretist/perfectionist and realist/idealist. Also, one I centered, one Others centered. The opposites balance each other.

Josh and my results: Josh is a Concretist, Others centered (one reason he's a very good nurse).
I am a Perfectionist, I centered (no surprise I'm an actor).

Therefore, Josh and I complement each other perfectly. Is it the same for you and your partner? Is this accurate? Tell me what you think.

Dancing Babies

Today we decided to surprise the kids and take them to a matinee to watch "High School Musical 3." It was a cute movie. I was trying to figure out if I would've liked it as a high school senior, and I'm pretty sure the answer is, "Duh." It was all about how great high school is and a musical. What more would I have asked for? My only negative thing was the focus prom had in it. My prom (cotillion) wasn't the highlight of my senior year (thank goodness for you, Min) but other than that I really loved high school and really liked the movie. Afterwards, Matt asked if he could go to the front of the theater to dance to the credits music. This is a tradition I think Josh's mom started with the kids. But, Abby and Matt went to dance. Emma decided to sit with us. Just as I was beginning to wonder if she thought she was too old to go dance, she got up and rocked out with her brother and sister. Thank goodness she hasn't gotten too old for everything yet. The three of them danced at the very front of the theater, right in front of the screen, and seemed to really like the movie. I love that they find so much pleasure in music. I love that my husband sees it important for us to do things like go to the movies together. I love that I have so many good memories of my own high school years. It was a good night.

Fortune Cookies

The other day, Josh and Matt and I went to lunch. The girls were at school, so don't tell them. We had Mongolian BBQ at 3-Ds. If you ever come visit us you will eat there. That's a requirement.

Anyway, we got our fortune cookies at the end of the meal and mine said this:
"You will inherit a large sum of money from a surprise source."

I thought that was good to know, and we actually got more insight into this surprise source with Matt's fortune cookie. It contained two fortunes. The first one said:
"A long lost relative will soon come along to your benefit."

The second one said,
"Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you."

So, if you are one of my long lost relatives and very wealthy, get your affairs in order and write me into your will. 'Cuz you gonna die in three months. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Baby Ashton Dean Eagar

Here are some pictures of the incredible baby Ashton. He's so cute! I was wrong about his due date. He was actually due November 7th, not the 11th, so he was only 16 days early not 20. Still, he was 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 1/2 inches. Mommy and baby are both home and doing well. He's sooooo cute!!! And so not going to fit the onesies Josh and I sent him, the little chunker!

I'm an Aunt!!

Just found out a little bit ago that Tara had her baby this morning around 3am. I don't know many details yet, but he wasn't due until Nov 11 (in 20 days), but he weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz. Holy cow! I only have a pic on my phone, so I'll show him off later when I can get Jabon to email some to me (okay, Jabon?). His name is Ashton Dean and he's joining his awesome brothers Cody and Brett. I'm so excited for them!! Hooray!!!!

From the Mouths of Babes

Today at preschool Matt's teacher had the kids learning about their names and how to recognize them. His teacher asked Matt what his name is. Matt said, "Matthew." Then his teacher asked him what the rest of his name is. Matt said, "Well, when I'm in trouble my name is Matthew Ammon Johnson."

Emma and Abby drew a picture for Josh and me. If I had a scanner I'd put it on here for ya. It's a picture of a mummy and monster. Anyway, Emma wrote on the back of it:

"Happy Halloween

frum: Emma

To: you guys"

Abby wrote:

"Abby hapy hawan (translation: Happy Halloween, from Abby)

Matt yow wusap (translation: yo, wassup, from Matt)"

Matt was asked tonight if he put his dirty clothes in the hamper or if he left tem on the floor. He said, with the flick of his wrist, that he put them in the hamper.

The other night Emma was rambling on about something, I have no idea what. She generally goes off on these tangents that seem to lead nowhere, but will ask you at the end of them what you think of the little rant she just endeavored in. I swear sometimes she just goes on and on and you don't even know what to say except just nod with glassy eyes because she lost you somewhere along the way, but you can't even ask her to repeat herself because she's gone way past the point of being able to back up just a little bit so she'd have to start all over from the beginning. I think sometimes she gets bored of what she's saying herself because she seems to lose interest in her own statements. She just sort of pauses and doesn't get it back and...what was I saying? Anyway, she's the only person I know like that. But for some reason sometimes Josh listens to her and thinks that she actually reminds him of me, if you can believe it. He made the comment of wishing he could've known me when we were kids, but I think if he would've known me in high school he never would've married me. She is a bit of a Mini-Me. And I couldn't love her more.

Taste of My Own Medicine

Poor Josh has had a horrible flu the last several days. He was fighting a cold last week, but went ahead and got a flu shot. He's got a full-blown case of flu and has just been miserable the last few days. Yesterday he said his skin hurt. My natural instinct is to do whatever I can to make him feel better, but everytime I rubbed his back or shoulder he hurt. He tried to be nice about it, but he was in pain and couldn't take it very well. He told me that now I know how he felt while I was in labor. With both of the girls, I couldn't stand people touching my feet. It was the easiest thing to do -- walk in the room, want to tell me hi, and touch my foot. I immediately put Josh on foot duty so no one would accidentally wig me out. That's right, I said, "wig me out." He was so worried about making me uncomfortable but wanted to help me so much. Now I have a bit of an understanding of what he went through! ***Update: We found out last night that Josh actually has viral meningitis. It's not the deadly kind, but it's a virus, so it's just got to run its course. Hopefully he'll get past this very, very soon!!***

Thanks to everyone for voting, and those who couldn't: I highly suggest renting each of the movies. I think The Dark Knight is worth purchasing, and it looks like most everyone else agreed.

Okay, so I've come up with a Top Ten List. I'm no Dave Letterman, but I thought this was worth sharing.

Top Ten Things That Are Hard To Do When You Are Pregnant

10. Eating well. Why are sugar and salt so appealing when you should be eating healthily?

9. Touching your feet. Anyone who can tie their own shoes or trim their own toenails deserves a medal!

8. Proving yoo is smart. Josh says our babies are all so bright because they steal all my brainpower while I'm pregnant. My response to that is, "Huh?"

7. Sitting modestly. (This was originally called "Keeping your knees together," but then I realized the innuendo associated with that. Whoops!) Wearing a dress is a challenge in many ways, but keeping myself modest in church is a joke. Thank goodness for floor-length skirts.

6. Finding clothes that fit. (See picture in title.)

5. Finding clothes that are flattering. (See picture in title.)

4. Not crying. Stupid tv commercials.

3. Sleeping. How many pillows does it take to screw in a lightbulb...or sleep? Whatever.

2. Making less than four trips to the bathroom every night. 'Nuff said.

And the number one thing that is hard to do when you're pregnant...


1. Not talking about being pregnant.

Pregnancy Update

Well, yesterday I finally got to have my 28 week appointment. Problem is that I'm 29 weeks. My doc was a bit busy last week. He gets all the complicated cases and he ended up with 15 deliveries during business hours last week. Poor guy.

Anyway, I'm doing fine with my weight-gain, despite what the scale tells me. My belly is measuring about 30 weeks. The baby is moving and her heart sounds strong. My blood pressure is normal. So, things are going well.

Our only concern has been knowing what exactly I went through when Matt was born and how complicated Millie's birth is going to be. My records finally came in and my doctor lovingly and patiently went over everything with me. I couldn't quite put everything together myself, but Josh can listen to the notes and remember what he saw and help me place it all. Thank goodness he knows so much.

So, in an effort to share the news I received, I've decided to tell all about what happened with Matt. If you're pregnant or want to be pregnant, you don't have to continue reading...unless you're morbid like I am and like to revel in the horror stories of pregnancy. Anywhoo, the cord wrapped around Matt's chest and neck and with each contraction I had, the placenta was pulling away from the uterine wall, and it hurt really, really bad. That's an understatement, by the way. I was so scared of an epidural with the girls that I didn't have one, but it hurt so bad that I told Josh something was wrong and I really wanted the epidural. It was a good thing I asked for it because not long after that I was rushed to the operating room and if I hadn't had the epidural already I would've gone under general anestesia and Josh wouldn't have been allowed to come into the OR with me.

So, we go in for the emergency c-section because Matt's heart kept flat-lining and since we already knew about his heart condition, we were even more nervous about his well-being. The doc opened me up just as any doc would in performing a c-section, but when he attempted to pull Matt's head out, the cord was wrapped too tightly and he couldn't get him. He went to turn him a bit and Matt went transverse and I think this is where the problems for me began. He turned him even more and ended up having to pull him out breech. Matt was pretty lifeless. I remember when the doc handed Matt to the NICU team he said to them, "Jump-start this baby!" And I knew that he was in trouble. The NICU team got Matt going fairly quickly, but then again, my mental time-frame was a bit off. I got to see him for about a minute when they rushed him to the NICU to do his heart evaluation. Josh asked me if I wanted him to stay with me or go with Matt and I told him to go with Matt since I was going to be okay and we didn't know how Matt was.

Josh left and the doctor began to clean me up and discovered that in the rush to deliver Matt my uterus tore. The problem is, it tore into the ligament next to the uterus. I can't remember what it's called besides some sort of ligament, but it's not really a ligament. It's actually a bunch of blood vessels. This probably was the reason I lost at least 1800 mL of blood and needed a transfusion. Josh estimates that it's about 1/3 of my blood supply. Maybe a little less since pregnancy increases the amount of blood in the body.

Anyway, the main thing we were worried about was the shape of the tear in my uterus. According to the records, it was a "Y" shape, but not the severe Y. Most Y tears have an arm of the Y going up into more of the muscles of the uterus, which make laboring very dangerous and the prospect of new tearing a huge probability. However, the arm of my Y went down, which makes it much more safe to attempt a v-back delivery. There was also some shearing that occured. To find out about that, ask Josh. Anyway, my doctor looked over these notes and noticed that there were three pages of dictation, which is a lot, and he couldn't find it, but he remembered that the time we spent in the OR was written in there somewhere and it was quite a significant amount of time. He told me that his usual time in a c-section is about 10 minutes. Can you imagine having your baby within 10 minutes of deciding it's time to have her? Anyway, he said 20 minutes in a c-section is because it has complications, but I was in there for a lot longer than that.

With all this new information, my doctor told me that based on the record he would recommend doing a v-back, but he wanted to know what the delivering doctor had told me. This is what I really like about my doctor. Not only does he know the delivering doctor (they practiced together in San Diego) but he trusted me to relay the message that doctor gave me nearly four and a half years ago. I told him that the delivering doctor looked over the divider at me (by the way, did you know that in a c-section they tie your arms out away from your body? I didn't until they began tying me down) and said to me, "If you have any more children they'll need to be delivered by c-section." So, even though my current doctor would've normally delivered me vaginally, he trusts my previous doctor that for whatever reason he believed a c-section is necessary and he'll deliver me that way. Plus, he trusts me to relay that message to him. He's a good guy.

I told my doctor that there were two things I remember the delivering doctor told me. He peeked over the divider to tell me about the c-section and he told me that they could only find 15 of the 16 needles they used to stitch me up. My current doctor told me that the usual amount of needles used is 2.





It didn't take long before I was pretty much out of it. Josh wasn't allowed to come back in the OR after the chaos began. He stood outside in the scrub-in area and after a few minutes one of the nurses came and closed the blinds on him. So, the poor guy was left outside not knowing what was happening. At one point a rumor began that I was going to need a hysterectomy to save my life. But it was just a rumor. I was in and out of consciousness most of the time Josh was gone. I was awake during this whole ordeal, but not oriented a lot of the time. I was afraid to fall asleep because I didn't know if I'd ever wake up again. I don't remember the x-ray that was taken to check for that 16th needle within me. The needle ended up being on the floor, by the way. I remember shivering as if I was very cold. When Josh did see me he thought I was shaking from fright, but I was just really cold.

I remember being told that I had to recover enough to be able to walk to the wheelchair before I could go back to the NICU to see Matt. It seemed to take forever before I was allowed out of the recovery room, let alone try to walk to the wheelchair. Because of the emergency of the situation my epidural was turned up very high and I could feel it's effects on my lungs. I had to think about breathing because it felt like my lungs wanted to go numb like the rest of my body. It took so long for the epidural to wear down enough to even attempt that stupid wheelchair. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and hearing that Matt was having to take bottles because I wasn't there to nurse him really got to me. I forced myself to stand up and get to the wheelchair. I fought the desire to faint and just fall on the floor as I took the three steps to the chair. But I was going to see my baby. No stupid rule about recovery was going to keep me from my baby, especially my baby in the NICU.








I stayed in the hospital for five days, but then we stayed in the inn at the hospital while Matt was in the NICU for another nine days. Luckily, my current doctor assures me that I should recover a lot quicker than I did then. Man, I hope so. It took over a year to feel better. I've never quite gotten back to normal, but I don't know if you can after something like that. Phew.





Thanks for letting me get that out. I needed to share. It's amazing how reliving the moment can actually help you get over it.

I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say "No"

Here's the view out our back window taken yesterday morning. Our yard goes to the fence, then there's the ballfield, then a few ponds are by the trees in the background. Beyond those are fields but the clouds are covering them. It's really a very pretty sight.

On with the rambling...

Oklahoma is such a great show. I often am reminded of this musical when I begin to take on too many projects that I don't really want to take on. (Hence, "I'm Just the Girl Who Can't Say 'No'" reference.) This transition into full-time motherhood has been rough. I love my children beyond anything else in the world, but the uncertainty of parenthood scares the living daylights out of me. In school just about anything I did I excelled in. Motherhood is not that easy. You have to listen to whining, crying and fighting and actually know how to deal with it. You have to teach these little souls right vs wrong, and why what you're doing that's wrong is not okay for them to do (self-evaluations are often needed at our house). You have to make big decisions, like permission for heart surgery, and smaller decisions, like becoming a Head Room Mother. You have to be sure to hug and kiss and love each little child sufficiently each day, and the number varies per child per day (sometimes more than usual but you won't know that until after the fact). Of course, those are just the perks. Okay, not really. But it is a lot more difficult than I ever expected. Anyway, that was a long rant I didn't expect to sojourn on. My point is that, in trying to be a good mother and do everything possible to better my children, sometimes I feel like I take on more than I can do. Plus, I've agreed to host a party for Home Interiors, which actually has great products. I've thought about becoming a representative for them and making a little side money, but I don't think I will right now because I don't want to commit to something like this before the baby's born. Anyway, I guess I'm going to host a party, which consists of everyone coming to my house for some fingerfoods and ordering some really nice stuff for their home. By the way, you are all invited.

Movie Poll

So, I've been wanting to do a poll, but I had nothing of note to poll anyone about. Finally I decided to do one about the greatest action/superhero movies this year. I've seen each of these and thought they were all great.





Iron Man. This movie is close to my heart for a few reasons. Number one, I love Robert Downey, Jr. Who can watch Heart and Souls and not love him? Number two, Matt was the one to realize that Iron Man has a special heart, just like him. How can you not love that?











Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I love Indy. I think Harrison Ford makes the ultimate adventure hero, even if he is pretty darn old. Shia LeBeouf is a fun actor to watch and I'll watch something just because he's in it. Despite some of the predictability in it, I still love Indy.














The Dark Knight. I have loved Batman since Michael Keaton brought him to life in the original movie. I really was disappointed when subsequent movies went to some stupid neon, quasi-comicbook fashion (even though Val was Batman once). Batman Begins was such an incredible resprise of the darkness of the Batman series and it quickly became my favorite movie. Now, I think The Dark Knight is my favorite. I was afraid it got such great reviews because of everyone being upset about Heath Ledger's death. But, Heath was amazing and if he doesn't get nominated for an Academy Award, then there is no justice in the world. As always, Christian Bale was superb. Another actor I'll watch anytime.





Get Smart. Okay, not what you might consider a "real" acton movie, but Dwayne Johnson is in it. Anything with The Rock kissing Steve Carell is a winner. Okay, not really. But I love them both. And I love Anne Hathaway. And I truly laughed my butt off at times.

So, go ahead, vote for what you liked. I think I even set it up that you can vote for more than one.

Happy October

Well, it's the first week of October, so that means that it's birthday season around here.

Cody's birthday was October 8. He's 10...double digits, can you believe it?

Cody and Matt at the Pueblo Zoo, June 2008

Josh's birthday was October 9. Now he and I are the same age, again.

Josh, just a second ago.

Genica's birthday was October 10, yesterday. Now she and Peter are the same age again.

Peter and Genica, their wedding day.

James' birthday is today, October 11. Hope you're feeling better, James!

Trenton, Lori, Teagan, James, and Tyler; August 2007. This is the most recent pic I have of James!

We also took the kids' to Mom and Dad's ward Halloween Party. It was so fun to dress them up. They've been asking for weeks for us to go through the Halloween costumes, but I was always in a hurry, or not in a position to buy any costumes, and just felt the stop would be a waste of time. So yesterday, after school, when we went and actually started looking at the different costumes they were ecstatic. Then they found out that they even were going to wear them that night and we had to cover our ears as the excited screaming began.




Josh has always loved Halloween and to make it even greater, he took a stage makeup class at school. We both have professional stage makeup kits, but haven't had much of a chance to use it except when we were doing plays two years ago and every Halloween. So, I did the girls hair and Josh did their makeup. If you think it's kind of funny that he is the makeup artist in our home, add this to your imagination: Josh is a nurse, he's an incredible interior designer, he's my fashion consultant, and the kids often refer to his stage makeup as "Daddy's makeup." All kidding aside, he's really a huge stud and his strengths completely make up for my weaknesses.







Emma was an elf princess. We couldn't find any elf ears and our makeup putty wouldn't stay on her ears very well, so we couldn't even use some of our special effects makeup. But her wig covered it and I think she still looked great.







Abby was, according to her costume picture, a Ninja Geisha. I don't really understand how the two correspond, but whatever. She was so excited because we colored some of her hair purple. And she got to wear makeup. She always wants to wear makeup.







Matt was a spider. I love this costume. I think he's so cute. He's got a hat that's kind of hard to see because his head is so big! It makes me laugh. It was almost like a little top hat yamaka. And he was really excited about wearing makeup too, but it was boy makeup.

Good Memory

Tonight I was reminded of a good memory and thought I'd share (or remind). I let each kid choose a book for us to read, so we read three stories, one of which was The Little Mermaid. Now, I was reminded of how much I enjoy this movie last night during my rant, but for some reason, tonight I was reminded of a person I met while we were at school in Colorado.

I had been cast in my first lead role. I was ecstatic! It was a play called Good Night, Desdemona Good Morning, Juliet and was about a mousy little assistant professor who was pulled into the worlds of Romeo and Juliet and Othello. She meets all the main characters, Juliet and Desdemona both teach her how to become a stronger woman (and in turn become stronger women themselves and don't die--always a good thing) and in the end tells the jerk senior profesor that tries to use her to go jump in a lake. It was a fun, silly play that captured a great point and was a blast to be apart of. Our final dress rehearsal was opened to the public because it had been sold out so quickly. A rumor suddenly began flying that a former Disney animator was going to be in the audience and that he worked on The Little Mermaid. I was soooo nervous. This was only my second appearance on stage at Adams State, it was my first lead with lots of monologues directed to the audience, and now some dude from Disney was going to be in the audience. This final rehearsal was more like our opening night with the number of audience members we performed for and I soon learned who this guy was. I knew his name was Dave, but I didn't know his last name for quite a while, so I just referred to him as "Dave the Disney Dude." Disney Dude, later known to me as Dave Woodman, somehow enjoyed this show and my performance. He enjoyed it so much that he put himself on the waiting list and attended all five subsequent performances. And then, something really cool happened. He learned my name. Dave the Disney Dude knew who I was and a few years later was even surprised when I knew his name. If you look at the final credits during The Little Mermaid, you'll see him listed as one of the in-between artists. It always feels so good to have your efforts and talents recognized, and it always feels so good to have them recognized by someone you recognize as talented.

Good times.

P.S. To see some of Dave's work, go to http://www.davewoodmanart.com/sculpture.html?voltar=4

I Was Born This Way

I've been trying to deny who I really am. I've been holding back (believe it or not) and unwilling to admit the dorkiness that is inherently the person I've become. I've gotten to that point where I think, or even say aloud, "This is going on the blog." I shudder to think that, since I fought the whole blog/facebook/myspace fad. But, since it's turning out to be more than a fad and it is a way to help our family and friends stay in touch, I too have joined. And yet, I digress. I've been finding things happening in our lives I think may be of interest, but I've been afraid of the judgement.

Hello, my name is Shelly, and I'm a movie-holic. (Your line is, "Hi, Shelly.") As trivial as it may seem, I've been afraid to admit that I love movies. I love to quote movies. I love to sit with my husband and a bowl or bag of popcorn and devour movies. Movies have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I've already unwittingly admitted my love for Annie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Flight of the Navigator, and I've quietly stolen a line from Friends. Not a movie, but a visual media nonetheless. Josh and I have an uncanny knack for picking up on relative quotes in our daily lives, usually at the exact same moment. I nearly blew my chance to be Cindy's friend when I accosted her with an entire conversation from Home Alone. Tara and I licked our wounds with a little story based on the movie My Best Friend's Wedding. My sisters and I used to quote Quigley Down Under nearly every time we entered the town of Roy (Crazy Cora is such a great character). We bonded with our local serving missionary over Matt Foley, who lives in a van down by the river (SNL). My brother, JC, has asked me to help him come up with a list of Tim Curry movies to marathon-watch. (By the way, JC, Home Alone 2.) I can't hide who I am any longer. This is who I am, and I can't edit myself.

So, my whole purpose of this was to share that the kids have finally passed a few rites of passage. Not only have they seen the two worthwhile Home Alone movies, but also Saturday's Warrior. I actually felt like I was leading them through childhood. I watched all three kids laugh their guts out when Kevin booby-trapped his uncle's home-in-renovation. Nothing brings more joy than the laugh of a child, even if it is because Daniel Stern just got hit in the face with a brick again.

Phew, I feel so much better now that I got that off my chest and into the open!

Rule of Three

Does everyone know about the rule of three? It's used in many areas: comedy, writing, placement, aesthetics, and bad stuff. We learned in doing improv comedy that a joke repeated in one way or another two times, so three times total, is a satisfying and complete experience for the audience. Of course, the joke has to be funny the first time. But three is the max: "And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it'" (courtesy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail).



Anyway, I was just bragging about how great life is with our new baby and new house. The last two days we've been feeling the pitfalls of homeownership. I'm not going to try to find the pretty, happy, namby-pamby junk to talk about anymore because it bites me in the butt. I'm going to stick with what I know, sarcasm. So far, we've had two home problems hit and I'm really afraid to find out what the third one is going to be. Our fridge is on the fritz. Having slightly cool milk on your breakfast cereal is not a happy experience. We think we know what's wrong and it may not even cost us anything to fix it, just the cost of ice for the coolers holding our food while I let the fridge defrost. Number two is our toilet is leaking at the water source. Josh fixed it today, costing us about $9, but he has to tweek it a little before it's completely fixed. I really am not looking forward to finding out what number three will be. Chances are it'll cost a lot more than $9!



And while I'm on this kick of near-complaining, let me just talk about this whole maternity clothes issue, AGAIN. This time I was trying to find some clothes to buy myself. Why do companies think that pregnant women want to dress like IDIOTS!?!? I don't do ruffles. What the heck are ruffles doing on maternity clothes? Are we baby-dolls? I stopped by Walmart for some items and thought I'd just check the maternity section, which barely exists, and the cutest thing I saw was a tye-dye tanktop that said "I'm with Stupid" and an arrow pointing at the belly. Okay, that's a lie, but it should be true. I just don't understand it. We have an Old Navy in town and I still need to go check it out. Maybe I'll find something there, if I don't have to buy a new fridge.



FYI: Samantha Who? begins Monday, Oct 13. Hooray! Love it.

Matt says...

I totally don't understand boys. Everyday Matt asks me how old he is. EVERYDAY! And everyday I tell him, "You're four, son."

So today Matt is talking all about how great Spider-Man is. Josh asked him, "Is Spider-Man amazing?" Matt said that yes, Spider-Man is amazing. Josh asked him if that's why he's called The Amazing Spider-Man. Matt said, "No, his name isn't Amazing Spider-Man. It's Peter Parker. Spider-Man is his middle name." The boy can't remember how old he is, but he can remember that Spider-Man's alias is Peter Parker? If kindergarten was based on Spider-Man, Matt could enter a year early.

Time Flies...

Josh and I were eating lunch today and trying to figure out his next day off. I was trying to remember his schedule and the subject of his birthday came up (it just happens to be his next day off). He sat there and realized that this year is almost over. After Josh's birthday is Halloween. A few weeks later is Thanksgiving. Only a few more weeks will pass before Christmas. December 30, 2007, we arrived here in Montana. We are only a few months from our year mark. The cliche certainly is true: Time Flies. It's amazing how quickly time seems to go when you look back. However, there were times this year when we wondered if we'd ever do any of the things we'd dreamed of: have our own home, have another baby, get the kids back in school after a long, long summer. We've already met so many incredible people, we get to have Sunday dinner with Mom and Dad every week, Josh works in an environment he thrives in, our kids are constantly surprising me with how bright they are, our miracle baby is on her way and will be born before our year mark, we own a wonderful home in a great ward, what more could we ask for? I forget how great it would be to have time slow down sometimes . . . until it's already passed.




Blast from the Past...

Also at lunch, we grooved to the likes of Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel", Prince (I can't remember which hit), and En Vogue's "Never Gonna Get It." It was a total trip back to the early 90s. Remember my hair? I hope not!