Blogging to come!

Our old computer (Raymey's from law school), is basically unusable. Therefore, we've ordered a new computer. It is supposed to get here by April 19th. I'm really excited because I'll be able to put pictures on it and blog again! Our little guy is so cute! He's 9 weeks and he'll usually sleep 8-11 hours in a row at night, and then go back to sleep for a couple of hours after a feeding. He smiles and makes noises at us. He's a pretty calm baby unless he gets really hungry! Madeline has been really good with him, she gets nervous when he cries, and she doesn't give him his space sometimes, but we're glad that she loves him.
This weekend was Raymey's birthday, Easter, and General Conference. Raymey was going to come home early on Friday, and he kinda did, but then he was called to do research over the weekend. He did a some Friday, and was kinda busy with it on Saturday (his birthday), but he didn't have to do any on Easter. I guess that lots of people work on their birthdays, it is just that we thought he'd have it off! We're just glad that he has a job. Baby just woke up, so Bye for now!

Finally some pics!

New Baby Pics

Baby Grant

I have been neglecting the blog because our computer takes so long to uplod anything that I go crazy! Raymey got a computer for work, and it works much better when I'm able to use it for a bit. I'm going to try to get some good Grant pictures uploaded tomorrow. He was born on Friday morning at 6:55am--an hour before his schuduled induction. I went to bed at about midnight and at 1am my water broke, and I started taking my time getting ready for the hospital. By 1:45 the contractions were really going so we woke up Madeline and started to hurry. By about 2:15 when we dropped her off at a friend's house my contractions were pretty bad and 3 minutes apart. Raymey was speeding to the hospital and both of us were a little worried that we might not make it! Of course when I got to the hospital at 2:30am there was a line at the maternity ward check in. So, I had to sit on the floor and wait until the lady in front of me finished taking her time filling out her papers. The rest of the labor went incredibly fast, and Grant Ethan Walther was born without any complications.
I've been recovering well, and more quickly than I did with Madeline. I'm really tired, but Raymey is home this week helping to take care of things. Grant and I have been sleeping in until 10-11 every day! He wakes up about every 2.5-4 hours at night, which really isn't bad for a newborn. Grant is the most relaxed baby ever (at least in this house)! It really feels like he is awake for a total of an hour every day. He'll be awake for 5-10 minutes and it is just too much for him, and he falls back asleep. I really hope this lasts!
Madeline has done really well with all of the changes. She had a blast at Izzy's house (her new friend here) where she stayed for 2 nights while we were at the hospital. Can you believe that someone offered to take her for both nights? How nice! It was great that she had a good time with lots of attention before we brought home a baby and all this change. She loves Grant and hasn't resented him at all. She's taken out any frustrations on Raymey or me, which really is fine with us. We'd rather it be that way, especially because she always apologizes afterwards, and then turns up the sweet.
My mom is coming in a week, and it will be so great to have an extra person to dish out attention to these kiddos. I'm really excited for her to come! Raymey's mom had planned on coming this weekend, but she's in Haiti helping right now and so she'll be visting us later.
We are so, so, so grateful to have these two beautiful and healthy kids. We love them both so much and we love being parents!

'Tis better to give than to receive...

Last time we were at Kroger Madeline gave the Salvation Army lady a dollar and the lady gave her a sucker. Today as we passed Madeline asked if she could put money in a new lady's bucket. I gave her a coin and she ran and dropped it in. She waited expectantly, and the lady didn't know what she wanted, so she gave her the bell so she could give it a ring. Madeline's eyes lit up and she ran (still carrying the bell)back to me, grinning. I think she was much more impressed with this gift! The Salvation Army lady chased her saying, "wait, I need that!" and Madeline reluctantly returned the bell. So, now unfortunately she thinks that you're supposed to get things from the bell ringers. I'll bet the Salvation Army lady is more careful about who she lends her bell to!

CONGRATULATIONS TO RAYMEY!!!!!!

At 7am this morning we found out that RAYMEY PASSED THE OHIO BAR!!!!!! I knew he would, but you can't help but have the tiny gnawing doubt at the back of your mind, "what if....?" At the firm where he works there was a starting associate last year who didn't pass the bar, and had to retake it in the winter. We were just hoping that would not happen to us! He should be sworn in as an attorney sometime in the next couple of weeks. Please tell Raymey how wonderful he is! He's earned it:)
Other recent news: We closed on our house last Friday. We moved in on Saturday and have spent most waking hours scrubbing, wiping, steaming carpets, and unpacking. It is a lovely house, and really comfortable! On the way home from chuch last Sunday we had to drop by our old apartment for a couple of odds and ends. Madeline recognized where we were headed, and started to say, "NO! Not the tiny house, let's go to the new house!!!" It really upset her when we went there anyway, and for a while she refused to come in. Now it has become a good threat. "We have to take care of our house and keep it clean or else we have to move back to the tiny house..." Ahhh, it is great to be a parent and finally get to torture my own kid:)
Also, we found out a couple of weeks ago that we are having a BOY! I need to be a better blogger and post these things when they happen, but things have been a little crazy. We need to upload ultrasound pics, take house pics, and a halloween pic, but we just haven't gotten there. My "free" time is going to unpacking right now. OK, well I have done my blogging duty! Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

Our internet connection is so bad that I can't get videos longer than 10 seconds to upload directly to our blog. I had to do the smilebox thing again. It is so much easier that way, but the pics and video are lower quality. Oh well, you get the idea! (The last 3 are videos and take a bit to load, but they're of Madeline singing and telling about ABC sounds!)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Spelling

Silly Girl

As I sat here talking to myself trying to update our background Madeline just announced, "OUR BLOG IS NOW A BLOG!!!" and she was really happy. Neither of us have any idea what that means, but it is truly exciting.

What's up?

Well, I haven't summarized our trip, but it was all I could do to pull together a few pictures (and we've been home for a month). We have been busy searching for a house. It was a difficult search! We looked at 25 different houses and on the 25th house we found exactly what we were looking for. It is a 4 bed 2.5 bath. We love this house! The owners just updated the kitchen and the bathrooms are great. It has an unfinished basement so if we happen to be here a long time we will have the option to finish it. We have an inspection this Saturday morning (don't worry, we'll be home for conference). I think we'll have to do a little painting inside, but that is by choice and will be a little bit fun!
Also, we will be finding out if we are having a boy or a girl on October 13th. I am 23 weeks now and we could technically have found out by now, but the way the appointments were scheduled it is a little late. Madeline can only think of the baby being a girl (all of her dolls are girls I guess) so if I suggest that "maybe it is a boy," she replies, "it's NOT a boy, maybe it's a girl." So, either she's a good guesser, or she's in for a big surprise!
Life is going well here, but just as we begin to get used to one area of Cincinnati we go and buy a house 25 min away (with a better commute for Raymey) and we have to start all over! I think that if we have to start over sometime, this is the time to do it. This should be the last move for a while!!!!

For Raymey

There you go. Now put a different picture on your work computer!!!

Vacation 2

The two of us in Mexico without Madeline. It was fun, but we REALLY missed her!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Vacation 1

These are the highlights (what we have pictures of) of our trip to Utah, Colorado, Canada, Oregon, and Washington. I can't get rid of the crazy words without messing up the link!

table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff">Make a Smilebox slideshow

Posting in Mexico City

I have been hogging the computer for 45 minutes, and I should probably get off. We have had a crazy summer! Quick summary and update. We were in Utah where I went to a family reunion for my Dad´s side and then my Mom´s side and Madeline loved her cousins, and I think they thought she was kinda funny too. Then we went back to Colorado to a flooded basement at my parents´ house, where I stayed for 2 weeks generally doing, nothing. It is really nice to have morning sickness at your Mom's house, especially when she takes care of your little girl and makes the food. Wonderful. Then we went to Canada (finally with Raymey, yes, he is done taking the bar). After this trip we went to the Tillamook County Fair and hung out with Raymey's family for a few days. That was fun and Madeline had fun with her cousins, and everyone else! We dropped Madeline off in Colorado and Raymey and I have been in Mexico City and Veracruz. I am completely amazed at how much I can understand. Obviously, my comprehension and speaking skills could be much better, but I am not as lost as I felt in Japan! We are with the family of a mission companion of Raymey's. They are being really nice to us and feeding us well and showing us neat things. We miss Madeline like CRAZY and she apparently thinks that we are still up in an airplane (she always tells my mom, Look, there are Mommy and Daddy in the airplane!) We will do a bigger post later when we can upload pictures and I can us a keyboard that is familiar! It is hard to find the correct punctuation marks on this one!!!

100th post! Happy 4th!

Hanging out with Daddy before the parade started.

With Mommy.

We didn't bring chairs, and you can only sit so long on hard cement. This amused Raymey.

The Frisch's Boy was so amazing, and so strangely proportioned...she couldn't stop staring.
The night before we went to a celebration where we heard Huey Lewis and the News live, but from very, very far away. There was a little Back to the Future theme going on because we also saw 8 Deloreans, one of which had a flux capacitor. We didn't have our camera and were sad that we didn't get a picture. Lo and behold it showed up at the parade the next day! It really was cool!

Quick, get it before the big kids! She held her own!

Got the flag and a huge wad of bubblegum. Nothing beats a parade! (Shannon, do you like our candy bag? What a multi-functional gift you gave us!)

Eating Humble Pie...

When I was pregnant with Madeline I had a very sensitive stomach. One day Raymey was telling me that when he was little he thought that making "ends meet" was a kind of food. It made me gag and I told him to stop talking about it. I'm sure he thought I was crazy, and he kept trying to tell me he wasn't talking about food, but I wouldn't hear it. It still grossed me out!
Now, being in the 1st trimester again I'm back to the sensitive stomach. I think it is really funny how you wish you could escape food, but it is always haunting you in one way or another. I was reading a book this afternoon, and an embarrassed girl said she could only eat so much humble pie. For some strange reason I started imagining a delicious, flakey, salty, and hot pie. So, I think you know it is bad when an idiom sounds yummy. By the way, I looked up humble pie and it is an actual kind of pie made out of gross stuff like heart, liver, and other entrails. Needless to say, my previous craving has withdrawn.

Mommy/daughter date

Today Madeline and I went to a real movie theater. The only reason was because for the next two months they have a free movie twice a week. They are "old" movies. We saw Kung Fu Panda. Madeline hadn't seen it before and she was mesmerized by the gigantic screen and the tons of big kids. I was completely shocked to find that she didn't cry or misbehave during the whole thing. She LOVED it. She didn't laugh or smile the whole time, she just stared. Afterwards she kept telling me about the panda who eats so much and the naughty leopard. She thinks it is funny now, but it was serious business while we were watching.
Wow! Our first movie theater experience. Our little girl is growing up!

Secrets Revealed

Yes, until recently we had a secret. Now it is rapidly becoming common knowledge! We'll be having a baby sometime in late January or early February. We haven't been to the doctor yet (I go a week from today), so I guess we don't know the details yet. I've been feeling pretty yucky. Poor Madeline always asks, "Mommy, are you sick? You go to the doctor?" I'm sure she wishes I'd just be more fun! Raymey is being a good sport to help me get whatever food I think I can stomach at the moment. I'm sure it will feel more exciting after the morning (afternoon, and evening) sickness wears off. We are happy though!

The other day I finally got desperate and decided to try wristbands that supposedly help with nausea. I'm not usually into "alternative medicine" type things, but the bands have been surprisingly helpful (they are on pressure points on the wrists, and I was more willing to try them when I read that they use them in hospitals for anaesthesia and chemo sometimes, and people also use them for motion sickness). I still have to try to eat every couple of hours, but my symptoms are subdued when I wear the darned things. The first pair (shown above) are hideous, and look like tacky exercise bands. When I got them Madeline cried and cried because she wanted bracelets too. So, we came home, improvised, and accessorized. These are our matching bracelet pics (hers are made of rubber bands and felt!). I found some psi bands online and they are much prettier, although you do have to wear them on both wrists at the same time, so it still looks a little strange, but not quite so ugly!!!

Last time we called a bunch of people and told them we were expecting. I just don't have it in me this time! So, you people that now know are rewarded for checking our blog:)

ABCs

Here's a conversation we had today.
Madeline standing with her feet apart on the floor: "I do an x!"
Me: "Wow, did you do a 'T'?"
Madeline: "Yes!"
Me: "Did you do an 'L'? [yes] An 'O'? [yes] Did you do a 'P'?"
Madeline: Quiet, thinking...very seriously says, "No Mommy, I NOT do a pee on the floor."