Lucy and Fisher

Compare pictures of the two, to see what he looks like compared to her. Also, some video of how excited Lucy was to first meet Fisher.

Time Flies

So, I posted real quick on the 10th, thinking I would do more the next day. Here I am almost a week later. But Fisher looks different and we need new pictures. Apparently I am going to be raising a gansta, or he has come to bring peace to the world.

He's Here

Fisher Eli was born yesterday at 8:58 am, and I am too tired to give details. So, here are some

pictures. He was 7 lbs 13 oz, 21 in long. Lucy loves him and is great about getting his pacifier when he cries.

Big Bed

Lucy is becoming such a big girl. We moved her into a big girl bed a few weeks ago, which I think she really likes. It takes US longer to get her to take her naps or go to sleep now since she likes to get up about 4 times, but she snuggles in this bed too. And the girl LOVES fruit snacks. She calls them "cks" and will ask for them by name, and then go to the food storage closet for you to get them. So much for long term storage. They were on a lower shelf, but then she just helped herself. Luckily, she can't open the package by herself.

Slow moving

So, I guess it is a good thing I said something about my slow internet in my last post, since I have waited so long to post again. And there is a lot going on. We got Guitar Hero World Tour from my dad and Lucy started playing the drums before Gary even had them all put together. She knew exactly what to do without being shown. I had a baby shower, which was loads of fun. Maegan and I are 2 days appart. I think I am carrying the larger child, and the Dr. agrees. So we are taking him a week early. Fisher will be here the 16th, unless he decides to come earlier on his own. We are very excited. Only a week left.

Internet speed

So, I got this email a few weeks ago, actually I got it twice. It was someone's notes from sacrament meeting. It had good things to say and mine said it was by Pres. Packer. My sister got it and it said it was Pres. Monson, and my VT partner got it and it said it was Pres. Oaks. I talked to another woman in the mother's lounge who got it 3 times in an hour. The church officially says that things aren't official unless it is published by them. Well, we had stake conference this weekend and Pres. Packer spoke, it was great, but it made me think of this email I received. It got around so fast, and so many people read it, with enthusiasm. I just hope everyone reads their conference Ensign with the same excitement. We got ours last week or you can go on lds.org and read all of them if you prefer to use your computer. There are many talks about preparing for hard times. Elder Cook even quotes Pres. Hinckley's comparison of the years of plenty and then years of famine from Joseph of Egypt's time. So, please read your coference reports, don't make me have to copy and paste them into an email and start the frenzy.

Happy Halloween

We had lots of fun for Halloween. Lucy was a monster and had to put her costume on each day after her bath, she was so excited. I wasn't going to go spend money on a new costume, since this was a hand-me-down and so cute, so she wore high-waters. She didn't mind. We tried to teach her to say trick-or-treat, but mostly got tk-tk-tk-tk-tk. The video is the best one I got, but it isn't a very good video. Then most of my pictures were blurry too. I am bummed, you try to be a good parent and document everything, but to no avail. Anyway, we went to a fantastic carnival with some friends at the beginning of our evening and Lucy had a blank stare for most of it, as in the picture of her at the fishing pond with Gary. She figured it out by the end and was wild the rest of the evening. We finished the evening with friends with smaller children who aren't interested in trick-or-treating. I can tell, she is going to Love Halloween each year.

Arizona Fall

Since the temperature is still in the 90's, we decided to create our own pile of leaves for Lucy to play in. She loved it. The colors, the way they fall on you, it was all very exciting. Okay, we don't have any deciduous trees that change colors, so we used what we have...newspaper adds. It was a fun fall evening in the living room.

We also had to carve Lucy's first pumpkin. She picked it out, and thanks to our local farmers' market, it was $.15/lb. I paid $.87, that is a great price and the girl can pick a pumpkin. She didn't even think. Just point and lets go. She doesn't really like to get her hands dirty, so she didn't dig in, but she enjoyed using the spoon and even tasting the pumpkin. She thought it was pretty cool when it was all lit up, but knew right away that it was hot. She kept saying, "hot" as she was reaching towards it.

Getting Ready

I don't think Lucy gets that she is going to have a brother in a few months. She likes to play with my belly and we tell her there is a baby inside, but the girl doesn't even like to say the word baby. She will look at babies, but that is about the end of it. Also, when other kids try to touch her, she gives them a funny look. Like, "why are you doing that?" But, today Tyler fell and was whinning a little about it, so she walked over to him and gave him a hug. All on her own. She'll be ready to love a little brother. We only have 8 1/2 weeks left. That means you all only have 8 1/2 weeks left until Christmas. Get shopping.

Definately Advanced

Gary has always said that Lucy is advanced. It is a joke that is repeated often in my family. Well, as of today, a third party said the same thing. Ronald McDonald said that Lucy is advanced. She was afraid of him and so he figured she was 2 yrs old. Since she is only 15 1/2 months, he said she must be advanced. He signed a picture of himself and gave it to her. She held it and stared at it with a smile on her face for the next hour. I guess she will be that kind of child. We will have to force her to step out of her comfort zone, but she will be so proud of herself after it is all over. Then at dinner time, when you see what she learned, I think it is official, she is definately advanced.

Fall Break

Gary had Thursday and Friday off last week for fall break, AND the temperature dropped dramatically, so it was WONDERFUL. We went to the zoo and took Tyler who is the boy Lucy and I watch on Thursdays and Fridays. We tried to go to the opening night of the state fair. Once we parked, I went to change the diaper Lucy was complaining about, and no wonder. It was a blow-out. So, I felt like we would fit in with her just in a t-shirt and diaper with her tennis shoes and no socks. But after traffic, sitting on the shuttle in more traffic and then standing in line for tickets, we missed the cheap time deadline by about 10 min. So we turned around and got back on the shuttle and went home. We didn't think the $11/person mark-up was worth it. But, we were even more relieved when we saw the news later that night and a huge fight had broken out with gun shots fired. I guess going to the fair wasn't really all that great of an idea anyway. We had some wind come into town as well, so we went to the park and flew a kite too. Lucy thought it was pretty cool. We also did a little of Gary's favorite thing to do on days off, shop. But after dropping his car off for some routine maintenance and finding out that it would cost $1000 to turn off his check engine light, out spending spirits were dampered. We have not gotten the light off yet.

Centralia Illinois

Lucy and I had the opportunity to go babysit her Kleinhenz cousins in IL at the end of Sept. We stayed a few extra days to spend time with Paisley and Grant as well. It was pretty low key and we had fun visiting. Grandma and Grandpa Ogden came to visit and brought Courtney too, so we got an extra bonus. Lucy loves being with her cousins. She loved the fact that each morning we would wake up, eat breakfast, and then get into the car to take the big kids to school. I think going on a outing first thing each morning was exciting to her. Then she would wait all day until we went back to pick them up so she could play. Elijah asked me if having a baby was hard. I told him sometimes because Lucy couldn't talk very well. The next day at dinner, which is always a stressful time for me as I try to make sure she gets enough of the right things, he said, "Oh, I see. Now is one of those hard times." He was right, another adult there would have made things a little easier. It was so nice to be able to see family at an unexpected time. The week before I found out I was going, I had been complaining to Gary how I needed some "family time". Ahh, tender mercies.

Well Done

Lucy decided to walk on Monday. I saw her practicing and so I grabbed the camera, which we have had out, just in case. I wasn't sure if she was really going to keep at it, but she walks all over. She is fantastic and has now decided she is a big girl. She fed herself her yogurt on Tuesday and opened her door for the first time. Yesterday we went to the park before I left for mutual and she decided she could go down the slide by herself. Not just the little one, but the big swirly one as well. We have gotten really lucky being able to catch a lot of her firsts on film, now I wish I were as dilligent about doing her hair each day, so it would be done for those little moments. She even likes it when I do it, but I don't want the rubber band to break all her hair off.
Gary only has two weeks left of his current masters class. He goes each Tuesday and so we don't get to see him on Tuesdays. This Tuesday, Lucy and I are going to babysit the Kleinhenz cousins in Illinois and Gary thought it would be perfect because he has his big paper due the next week. Well, it is due this week, so he has No Idea how he will fill his time without us. I am sure you will all see his sign-in name on the xbox each evening of the week.

But, I still love technology

I only have one child and sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed trying to keep up with all the things I would like to record for her. Her scrapbook, her babybook, her journal, the blog, my facebook page, my journal. Weren't things supposed to be simplified with technology? I did finish her scrapbook, since I am only doing the first year, and she loves looking at it. We do that at least once every day. She doesn't even recognize herself as the tiny baby, but still loves to look at the pictures.

Almost

Lucy is such a careful child, she isn't walking yet. She has taken a up to 4 steps, but that is all. She decides to try about once a day and will work on it for a little while before she gives up. Yesterday, she was sitting on the bottom stair and I could see her little mind working. She stood up and walked her 4 steps before she slowly came down. I'm sure it won't be too long before she is off. We learned not too long ago that it too her dad 18 or 19 months to start walking. Since they have some very similar temperments, I am not concerned.
She is picking up words much faster. She noticed an airplane yesterday and I tried to get her to say the word. She won't perform unless she wants to, so she just listened to me, but didn't respond. A few minutes later another plane went by and she said, "mama, airplane" and pointed up. She has figured out that we respond to what she wants much faster when she will say the word. She has a good handful that she says now. Help, apple, cheese, keys, hi, ball, dada (one of her favorites) and she is working on up and out. I anticipate I will have a much different child in the next 4 months when her baby brother comes.

Big Sister

Lucy is becoming such a big girl. We made a little film for family home evening. Hope you like it.

It's a boy

Not that I forgot, but I thought it deserved it's own posting. We are having another baby, due December 23rd. And it is a boy. We are all very excited, including Lucy.

July

My how the month flew by. We went to Utah to celebrate the 4th of July and Lucy's 1st birthday. She performed marvelously well. She shook her American flag during the parade and was in heaven the entire camping trip. She smiled and hugged all her birthday presents to show her gratitude. She is such a joy. While in Utah, I also got to take my sister Kelly to the MTC and spend some time with grandma Jackie. Kelly is going to Berlin Germany on Sept. 9th. Gary had some S&I meetings to attend and enjoyed meeting up with old friends that stayed in Utah for their assignments. It was a great trip, and we got home easily, and in time for me to go to girls camp. Camp went fantastic, the weather was awesome and so were the girls. Gary and Lucy played all week and he said he was a little jealous and could understand why some men want to be stay-at-home dads. I have had a little time to relax and am now heading off for youth conference. When I get back, Gary only has a week left until school starts. Boy will our sleeping habits change when he has to start teaching A hour at 6:30am each morning.

ER visit

Lucy usually goes to bed really well. On Sunday night, she whined and whined for an hour after we put her down. We decided she wanted to play with us and went up to get her. As she came into the light, we could see her entire body was red, swollen and covered in hives, and the poor thing just kept itching and whining. A bit of panic set in. We called some "mothers who know" in our ward and they showed up with benadryl and experience. We ended up calling 911. The fire truck and ambulance showed up took her vitals and told us to go to the ER. She was given more medication and we were watched for 3 or 4 hours before released, still with a red and swollen baby. We don't know what it was, but it could have been Ibuprofen or peanut-butter. We have been advised not to give her either for a while and no more PB for a year. She has been doped up for the past few days and goes between a sweet tired baby, to an whiny, wiggle worm who doesn't know what she wants. I'm just glad we got through it. She was exhausted the next day. Gary was a champ as we tried to stay calm and do the right things.

Lucy-our Arizona Baby

Lucy loves the water, no matter what kind, pool, faucet, sprinkler, bath. I dread the day she discovers the toilet has water.