Random Sad Story, we can help

So Margie had posted about a friend's baby on her blog, and I feel I need to do the same to spread the word about poor sweet baby Mia. From Mia's blog:
Baby Mia was born with a severe congenital heart defect and is in need of a new heart. The McDonalds have a job and insurance but after heart operations, and then a heart transplant, additional operations plus all the doctors and medicine and hospital time that this will require... it would financially destroy the best of us.
These are the kind of people that would never ask for help like this. That is why we are stepping in to ask on their behalf. This is what we propose: Donate a few dollars. Donate ONE dollar. It doesn't seem like much, but if you give one and then forward this on to others who donate one; well, one turns into a miracle. If you can afford to give more, please give what you can. Then, send this link to everyone you know and encourage them to make a donation and send it on to people they know. Ask yourself, "What is a heart worth, what is a life worth?"

Also, there is a quilt giveaway- you get an entry for spreading the word and more entries if you donate money. I'm not a spammy type, you won't ever find an email from me in your inbox asking you to "pass along", but this story touched me and I can't imagine what the family is going through. So please take a moment to consider helping this family out.

I... got tagged

Lori tagged me, so here goes:

I am - the luckiest girl in the world. Honestly, things just go well for me whether or not I merit it. I have no doubt I have one powerful guardian angel.

I want - to make the people around me happy, comfortable and loved.

I have - spent WAY too much time on the internet the last few weeks

I wish - there were more hours in the day

I dislike - Loud sounds and crowded hallways

I fear - being an annoyance to those around me

I hear - blessed silence. Daniel is sleeping, Lucy is sleeping, and the pesky chimney birds are quiet for once.

I search - for new ways to make Daniel smile every day

I wonder - how to make Kenny's students let him be the great teacher that he is. How do you teach someone who doesn't want to learn?

I always - go to bed before 10 pm these days. How lame are we?

I usually - make the bed just after I brush my teeth. That way, if the bed's not made, I know I haven't brushed my teeth either.

I am not - a self-confident person.

I dance - lamely. 'nough said.

I sing - all the time. "Baby Daniel, you're the one... you make ___ time so much fun!"

I never - go a day without saying and/or hearing "I love you" at least 20 times.

I rarely - do the dishes anymore. I just can't handle the floaties in the sink.

I cry - more often than I should but less than I used to.

I am not always - the most motivated person.;)

I lose - a year off my life for each month I continue working and being a mommy

I'm confused - about who to want as the next president. I really don't like either of them (though I did vote)

I need - more than 3 showers a week!

I should - do about 4 loads of laundry today and clean all the bathrooms

I dream - of writing a novel in the next year or so.

I love - my husband more than anything in the world.


K, so I'm now tagging Margie and Trina (seems like Lori already tagged everyone in my family). Just take the same prompts and fill-in-the-blank.

And because all posts need a picture- here's Daniel in a cute outfit from my mom:

From November 2008

Halloween!

Here's my sweet little man as a penguin:

From October 08

From October 08

I had bought black tights to cover the legs, but didn't have the heart to make him wear them. Trunk-or-treating at church was a lot of fun.
Before going trunk-or-treating, Kenny held a mariokart tournament at school with his students. I got to participate, it was a lot of fun. Kenny of course won (how embarrassing would it be to lose to your math teacher?)

I also created a new siggy for my pregnancy.org board:

More cute bath pictures here.

Tag, we're it

It would appear Daniel got tagged by Margie

Five things you may not know about Daniel:

From October 08

1) His hair is coming out to be the color that mine currently is- light brown with a little red. This is surprising, since I was a blond kid and Kenny had platinum hair as a kid.

2) He's one average sized baby. At his 6 month appt on Monday, he was 17.2 pounds and 25 inches long- 50th percentile for weight, height AND head size. At least he's proportionate

3) He still wakes up every morning at 5:30 am for a quick feeding. And if he happens to sleep in a little, my body wakes me up anyways.

4) He always sneezes when sunshine hits him.

5) He has a happy noise. I wish I could describe it. He's done it since he was 2 months or so. It sounds almost like a sneeze that doesn't involve the nose, if that makes sense. He makes that sound when we come get him from a nap and he's excited to see us, or when the dog comes and says hi, or when we do something funny that makes him happy.

Random post- Best Gifts ever

As christmas comes up, I've been thinking lots about gifts I've gotten over the years. Here are my favorite gifts ever:

If it counts as a gift, my engagement/wedding ring:

From Random Stuff

From Wedding

It's two seperate bands that kind of weave together, with the bottom band alternating between diamonds and saphires. Kenny and I found it together at Delusso's in provo (now out of business I think). Though we chose it together, Kenny surprised me by adding in the sapphires in the wedding band. It isn't the hugest diamond, but it suits me so perfectly. I can't picture a ring that is more "me". And of course, I love the significance of it:).

"My" concert harp:

From Young and Cute

This is an OLD picture (I think it's from my senior year of high school). This was a gift from both my parents and my Grandma Lola (who passed away in... 2003, I think). Concert harps are very expensive and I didn't think I'd ever get one, so I'd have to be content with my silly little folk harp which can really only play folk music. We searched a long time and even temporarily bought a few only to return them/sell them back. It's largely my fault, I didn't practice as much as I should and it would be hard to commit to such an expensive instrument when your punk teenager won't buckle down and practice.
Anyways, my senior year my mom found this beautiful french camac harp and combined funds with my grandma, herself a former concert violinist, and surprised me with this harp. I was so happy I literally cried.
The harp still lives at home in Washington with my parents, as a 6-foot, 90 lb, many-thousand-dollar instrument is just not very transportable and hardly suiting for the college lifestyle. I really hope now that we've settled down I can prove I deserve the harp again by practicing with my piddly little folk harp and maybe getting to the point I can give lessons.

Random gifts from Lori:

From Random Stuff

My sister Lori is the best gift-giver I know. She may not give you a gift for every occasion, but if she sees something that really suits you, she'll buy it, even if there is no real holiday or if it's more expensive than the standard gift. For instance, this bookend/sculpture of Rodin's "The Thinker" (it's one of a pair). She bought this for me sometime in High School at the beginning of my book obsession, I think as an early birthday present. I'm pretty sure it cost her 80 bucks or so from Barnes and Noble- that's a lot for a high school sibling gift:). Anyways, it's still one of my favorite things and I really appreciate her thoughtfulness. How she knew that eventually Rodin would be my favorite sculptor, I have no idea. Years later, I'd get to see the real "the Thinker" in person at my favorite Paris museum at Rodin's old house. Another good example of Lori's skill at gift giving: Kenny's "Retired Mario" gnome. Really, she had no reason to buy/paint this other than it was a perfect gift:

From June 08

K, I actually finished this post but as I think of it I have to come back and add one more:

From Baby Shower

My baby shower. My sister in law Candace was such a doll and gave me a baby shower while I was on bedrest and even made this adorable diaper cake. I know she put a lot of work into it, and I will always be so grateful that I got a shower with my first baby. They've done a lot for us but this takes the cake. I also appreciate all the near-strangers from church who came even though I didn't know them. It was really touching to feel so loved.

I'm sure there are many other gifts I should talk about, but these stand out and have a lot of meaning to me.

And since, as previously stated, I can't post anymore without a picture of Daniel, here is him in a new little sailor outfit my mom sent us. Kenny says I could only let him wear it once (he seems to think poor Daniel was quite embarrassed by it):

From October 08	From October 08

6 months!

My little baby had his half-a-birthday yesterday! I can't believe it's been six months!

My little man now rolls both ways, sits without any support, stands, sucks on his feet, says "mommommommommommom", eats real food... he's so grown up! It's been fun looking through his old pictures and seeing the little changes in his face.



I know it's so cliche to get teary-eyed and mumble about "my little baby is so grown up" but really, it does me get teary-eyed. He's growing so fast! He's such a smiley little boy- even if his smiles are a little doofy sometimes, I wouldn't have him any other way, because you can't help but smile along with him.

These 6 months have been hard, I won't lie. I've never been so tired. I'm only just now to the point that I consider myself fully healed from labor (you don't want the details). Even though I am now 7 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight, I own about 4 shirts that fit right (not counting my frumpy work t-shirts) and I'll admit that I still wear my maternity jeans. I've lost probably two thirds of my hair down the shower drain as my hormone levels go back to normal (fortunately I had more than enough to begin with). I have stretch marks on my chest and the silly linea negre line on my belly won't go away. My right arm has become significantly beefier than my left (if "beefy" is an adjective that could ever be applied to me) because I tend to hold him in my right. I've changed probably 1000 diapers by now and spent about 400 hours breastfeeding. I've been pooped on, peed on, barfed on, sucked on, and bitten on a daily basis.

And it has all been SO WORTH IT. I already can't imagine living without him. Our family feels whole and he's brought so much love into our home. I can't wait to see him grow up but at the same time I already miss my tiny little man who did nothing but sleep:).
Daniel, thanks for a wonderful 6 months!

It's all happening at the zoo

We finally got to the zoo today! They had a halloween thing going on, called "Zoo boo" where little kids could come dressed up and they had halloweeny things every where. It was as fun to see the costumes as it was to see the animals.
Daniel didn't have a costume, per se, though we like to say he went dressed as bumblebee mario:

From October 08

Actually, that's one of the cute new (to us) outfits we got from Kevin and Candace. And that picture was pretty indicative of how much Daniel enjoyed the zoo: he slept through most of it:)
We did get a couple pictures of me with an awake Daniel at the elephants- one of the few pictures in the last few months of him and me together. I'm not feeling my most glamorous these days and am a bit camera shy, but Daniel's cuteness makes up for it:

From October 08

Aside from kids in costumes, the zoo really wasn't all that different, other than some animals had jack-o-lanterns to play with (though now looking at this pic, it looks like the giraffe has a jack-o-lantern for a head):

From October 08

The Houston zoo is alright, though in my mind nothing compares to the Portland zoo. We do think it's a step up from the Hogle Zoo in SLC though. Someday we'll move back up to the NW and have Portland Zoo memberships.
We're excited for halloween! My mom sent this adorable halloween outfit:

From October 08

Our ward is having a trunk-or-treat at the church so we'll actually have reason to dress up. I have no idea what I'll be, though Daniel will be a penguin (see previous post) and Kenny will probably be Dr. Mario again. Let me know if you have any good ideas for what I can be.