Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year's Resolutions

Do you make New Year Resolutions? I seem to have trouble actually fulfilling mine (strange, I know, and highly uncommon, I'm sure). I thought by posting them on the blog, our readers could help remind me occasionally to do them. Here we go:

1. Finally get the last tattoos of my ex-girlfriends' names removed.
2. Trim toe nails more than once a quarter.
3. Stop giving Kat reasons to beat me.
4. Limit Nintendo time to 40 hours a week.
5. See a doctor about my mole.
6. Break my addiction to chlorox.
7. Change a diaper this year.
8. Let Kat win at least one game a month when we play together.
9. Eat at least three servings of vegetable per week.
10. Meet the families I home teach.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Getting closer

Here I am at 28 weeks. I am still wearing the same outfit that I have been in the previous photos but as you can see it is getting rather snug so I don't think I can wear it again for next months picture. At this point I can't sit and breathe at the same time. I can hardly walk because of a constant pain in my leg and I don't sleep at all due to headaches, heartburn, and having to get up and go to the bathroom several times. All these symptoms mean that I am nearing the end so bring it on. Speaking of getting closer, Lily is also doing well with potty training. She didn't have a single accident yesterday. She doesn't go much in the toilet either so you might wonder what she is doing. The answer is she holds it. She is still a little nervous to go on the potty but at least she knows not to go in her pants. Even when she wears a pull up she won't go. She did go a couple times in the toilet yesterday and was excited. She ran up to me a few minutes later with excited eyes and said "Yay Lily peepee potty." She is such a little champ. May I just say that being pregnant and potty training your child with only one bathroom in the house has not been pleasant. Yesterday she had been sitting there for about 10 minutes and I asked her if I could please use the potty for a minute and she shook her head and said "NO" Then she proceeded to sit there for another 10 minutes. Her cute little bum has a permanant red mark on it from sitting so much.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Are we crazy?


The answer is yes. We are crazy. At least that is how I have been feeling these last few days. We have decided to potty train Lily. I didn't want to right now because she is only 19 months old, but the truth is it was her idea. It got to the point where I couldn't even go to the bathroom without her barging in, glaring at me and then trying to push me off so that she could "sit" as she calls it. She also hates wearing a diaper and I was getting so tired of her taking off her diaper because then I would spend the next 10 minutes wrestling her to get it back on and then clean up the little puddles I would find on the floor. Not to mention the times she took it off in bed when she was supposed to be sleeping and smeared number two all over. Today is day three on training. The first day was a complete failure and I decided that night after she went to bed that I would give up and try again in a few months. The next morining I went to the grocery store right after breakfast and when I got home I found that Jacob was still continuing the training. This time we didn't put pull ups on her. We rolled up the rug (which is the only carpeting in the whole house) and let her run around "commando" as my brother-in-law, Ryan, would say. That day was spent sitting in the bathroom with her reading books for long periods of time just to have her get off the toilet and pee on the floor a few seconds later. Again I thought she was too young and that it was hopeless. Later that evening a few light bulbs seemed to turn on in her young little mind. She kept going to the laundry basket and pointing to her many pairs of pants that she had wet and would say " Wet. NO. Wet. NO." So I decided to continue on to day three. This morning she had been drinking a ton and saying "Potty. Sit." but it was still a hit and miss for the first few hours until finally she started taking off her clothes and saying "sit" again so I sat her on the potty and this time put her feet in a bowl of warm water. It took a few minutes but she FINALLY went in the toilet. Too bad Jacob had just stepped out to deliver some Christmas treats. She got some m&m's and now she walks around clapping her hands saying, "Yay chocolate." She went one more time in the potty before her nap and was proud of herself. Now I have a little break while she is sleeping so I think I'll go take a snooze myself.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Goofball

This morning as I was cutting more banana for Lily's breakfast, She came to me asking where her juice was. Focusing on the banana, I just kept telling her I didn't know where it was. As I turned to her to ask her where she put it, I then saw the lump in her leg and realized she was just teasing me. As I was getting the camera I heard her in the other room say " Oh! There it is."

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy Twenty-Five!

It's my wife's birthday today. The big quarter century. I could do the husband thing and go on and on about how awesome she is and show pictures of all that stuff, but I thought I'd just post my favorite picture of her and me, and post a couple little poems I found on the internet that pretty much encapsulates how I feel. The first is anonymous but has some jokes I think she'll find funny.:

You say your wife is wonderful

She’s like no other kind

Her beauty’s so unparalleled

She makes most men go blind.

You say your wife is magical

Her every word’s a charm

She’s sculpted like angels

Blowing trumpets with one arm

You say your wife is talented

She cooks like Boyardee

Every bite is heaven sent

A five-star French cuisine

You say your wife so patiently

Looks after your five boys

They’re all so perfect, well-behaved

And love to share their toys

You say your wife is luminous

That she transforms a room

By waltzing in so gracefully

With only an old broom

You say your wife is pure and clean

She never passes gas

And rarely burps and couldn’t scream

(And always shaves her legs)

You say your wife is clever

And she has a rapist wit

When telling jokes at parties

She will put the guests in fits

You say your wife is number one

And I say that’s just fine

I only let you ramble on

Because you’ve not met mine.

The second is by Lord Byron:

SHE walks in beauty, like the night  

Of cloudless climes and starry skies, 

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meets in her aspect and her eyes;      

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which Heaven to gaudy day denies. 


One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress      

Or softly lightens o'er her face,

Where thoughts serenely sweet express         

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.    


And on that cheek and o'er that brow           

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,           

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,—

A mind at peace with all below,        

A heart whose love is innocent.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Welcome Home ... I guess

My wonderful sister Becca was so nice to fly Jacob and I home for Thanksgiving. In return, we watched her two little boys while they went on a vacation. It was so fun to see our families again. If we hadn't gone home, it would have been about a year before we saw them again so we were very grateful. We had a good time visiting with them and enjoying the nice weather.  The first picture is of the lodge we stayed at for a few days. It was so nice and relaxing. We returned home tonight and when we landed we saw that the weather was horrible. Then we went to get our bags and one of them was missing. Who knows when it will show up? We arrived home to a FREEZING cold house with absolutely no food. We ate it all before we left so it wouldn't go bad. We remembered there was a ward party that would have dinner and we were just in time for it so we got in the car ... only to find that it wouldn't start because the battery was dead.  We went back inside to make some calls for help and our phone died. I went to get the charger and remembered it was packed in the bag that the airline had misplaced. Next we tried the neighbors' houses to see if we could use a phone or get some help, but then found that they were all gone at the ward party. We then proceeded to eat top ramen and a box of chocolates (thanks, mom). Since it was so cold, I put Lily in a hot bath then rememberd all her warm clothes were also in the lost bag. Jacob sent emails to his friends' phones and we were finally able to get some help.
Thanks to everybody who helped us and thanks Stacey for driving in the awful weather to pick us up from the airport. We have such great friends.  Jacob got a ride to Wal-Mart to get a car battery and I am so glad that he remembered to pick up a few groceries since tomorrow is Sunday and we wouldn't be able to go to the store.  I was impressed with the stuff he got. It is probably the first time he has ever done the shopping without a list from me.  It has been a long night but now our car is fixed so we can get to church tomorrow and we have food to eat. Now the only thing I am worried about is how to do my hair tomorrow. All my hair stuff was in that darn bag. I won't be able to blow it dry, so for those of you who will see me tomorrow, if my hair is wet. you know why.

This is just a quick video of Lily playing with her cousin Cody. After that, there's a cute clip of Cody talking to his mom on the phone. It was so cute how excited he would get every time he heard her voice so I thought she might like to see it. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

One of the top 100 Greatest Accomplishments of My Life

So, I've been spending most of my days lately studying for the upcoming boards I'm taking on Dec 22. It's the most important test of my life thus far. 400 questions of pretty much everything I've learned so far in dental school plus the things they never taught me. Every now and then I take a quick break and play a little game: usually Internet Spades. But, since I'm at my sister-in-law, Becca's, house, my laptop isn't connected to the internet, so I play either Freecell, Hearts, or Spider-Solitaire. I'm not really a HUGE fan of the latter, but whenever I see someone play it, it gets me re-interested. Lately, I've been playing it more often during these breaks, and finally I decided that the easiest level was just too easy. (My record for moves was 89.) Then I tried medium. It was fairly challenging, but I beat it almost every time I played, so I figured, what the heck, let's do HARD! I'd only tried hard once, and my brain started to drip out of my ears and nose, so I stopped. But for whatever reason, I was ready. On my 3rd try, I beat it! In fact, I took a picture of it just to prove it to you. Here it is:

I don't know if 240 moves is good for the hard level, I could have done it in about 6 or 8 less, but I arranged it with the last 4 stacks of each suit piled up with just the Aces left out so they didn't automatically disappear. I wanted to show Kat just so she'd believe me. Anyway, WOOT WOOT!