Happy Birthday Oscar!

I can't believe that it's been one year! Oscar has grown so much since his birth. Here's some stats...
Birth
8 lbs 4 oz
19.5 in

One Year
30 lbs (97%)
32 in (95%)
I can't remember head size but now it's 19 in (91%)

Oscar is learning and growing so quickly. We love having him in our family and can't imagine what it would be like without him!

Before

After

Halloween till Now...

Sorry about the late post but our computer has been broken and just recently got fixed. So for Halloween Oscar still had the swine flu so all we could really do is dress him up and play at home. I don't think he understands the whole trick-or-treat part anyway. I was going to come up with a creative costume but I saw this one at walmart and thought it was just too cute to pass up... Not to mention, I got lazy and didn't want to make anything. After Oscar went to sleep, Christian and I decorated sugar cookies that I had previously made earlier that day. You can probably guess which ones I decorated and which ones Christian decorated. Here are some pics.







Also, awhile ago I made a baby quilt from a bunch of old fabric squares that I had collected from various activities like young womens and chain letters. (Note: I have had these for a very long time.) Here is the result...

Oscar Updates...
He officially fits into and can walk in shoes!
Has six teeth. (So close to seven.)
As of last week, started putting things in his mouth. (Which means he will finally eat his own food!)
Still only weights 30ish pounds. (Thank heavens... my arms were going to fall off.)
I'm not sure on height but can easily reach door handles.
Hides in corners.
Claps his feet. (Hopefully hands will follow suit.)
Is learning to run.
If he hears a ringing noise or a 'hello' whatever he has in his hands he puts up to his ear like a phone. (Occasionally, starts talking 'into it'.)
Cleans up by putting toys back into their buckets. (Unfortunately he think the trash cans are buckets too.)
Now can open each page of his books instead of just turning it from back to front.
Is figuring out how to get down from the couch. (Hopefully that will come in handy for the stairs.)
Well, that's it for now. Enjoy the pics.

He got a pen and accidentally wrote on his forehead. He was pretty proud of himself.

This is how I transfer the laundry into the living room to be folded cause I can't carry them both in there so I drag them.

Yes that is a tylenol bottle but he loves chewing on it and I thought it looked pretty funny.

Putting on his first pair of shoes to walk in... Size 6!

I don't even know how to explain...

Happy Anniversary...

So Christian and I knew that our anniversary (Oct. 28th) this year would not be fun per say. First of all it was on a Wednesday. And secondly, Christian had a BioChem test that Friday. However, we never could have expected what would happen next. So 3 a.m. I woke to a screaming child. When Oscar wakes he normally does more of a whimper so I knew something was wrong. I ran in there to find Oscar crying so hard and throw up all over his crib. I picked him up and felt that he was burning up. So I took his temperature and low and behold it was almost 103 degrees. I gave him Tylenol and got a bottle to see if he was hungry. He immediately inhaled the bottle and feel back to sleep. I decided to let him sleep and I would call the doctor that morning. He woke up and I thought I would try to feed him a little oatmeal, see if some food helped. Well he threw that right back up. So I stuck with liquids only. We finally went to see the doctor around 3ish that afternoon and his symptoms had not changed. The doctor took a swab from his nostril and we waited for the test results. The doctor came back and Oscar had tested positive to influenza A. So yes, Oscar now has the Swine Flu. The only thing we can think of were he got it from was Christian. He got sick a week ago and had all of the same symptoms. However, he did get tested for it but it came back negative (even though the doc still thought that's what he had). Anyway, so far Oscar has been doing good. He's on meds and tylenol. He sleeps a lot and we try to keep liquids in him as much as possible. Well, not exactly what I had hoped for for a three year anniversary but that's life I suppose.

How did they do it?

So I've been wondering lately... How did the Pioneers survive? Christian and I have really had to figure out ways to cut back on expenses. A couple ways we figured more cost effective was to resort to powdered milk and grinding our own wheat (instead of flour) to make bread. Also, I always thought of chocolate chips as a necessity in life but have soon realized that they are a luxury. It was very sad to have to come to that realization. Even though I don't milk cows or have to grow my own wheat in order to grind it it's still a lot of work, the pioneers did do that and still survived and they did it with out chocolate chips... not to mention most had more than one child. All I have to say is this is exhausting work and I'm grateful to be here during this dispensation.

More Pics...

Sorry if your bored of looking at Oscar but I thought I would post some more pics for the Grandparents...

Church would have been a little different had he have been just a little taller.

I put a movie on and he watched it for a good 30 minutes. Probably the longest I've ever seen him sit still!

He thought being shoved in that box was the funniest thing ever!

We were at Nauvoo and he started throwing a tantrum... One of the many to come I'm sure.

So the bumbo cuts off the circulation in his legs so this is my alternative for now... I'm going to have to be more creative for this child...

He got stuck in his tent just because he would not flip over to the right. I guess he is not an ambi turner!?

My favorite. Occasionally I need get things done in the laundry room so this is where I put Oscar so he doesn't get into things. (Well I've only done it twice cause I'm worried that my washer will break...)

Pictures and Christian is 26 on the 26th

He's Walking!

I've been reading a really good book and it kind of took precedence over blogging. But Oscar is walking he's been walking since the 12th of this month. He is really getting good and if he was not so scared all the time, I think he would be walking everywhere. He has quite amazing balance and strength. We weighed and measured him the other day and so far he is 27 LBS and about 30 inches tall. I've now got to go get Oscar so hopefully I will post again soon.

Pictures!

So Oscar got a hair cut a long time ago and I'm just getting the pictures on plus some other fun ones.






Christian and I went to Zion's just before we left. Our quick little get away before we were glued to Med School.

I was feeding Oscar and he just conked out and fell asleep in between bits.

We took a trip to Nauvoo and this is the Mississippi river.

The White Coat Ceremony.


Some more random pics...

Hello Kirksville!

Sorry I don't have a lot of time but I thought I would pop in and report a little news... We are officially moved in to our new home in Kirksville, Missouri! What a wonderful place to be (I can say that now.. We have not had winter here yet...)! Christian had orientation for med school today and tomorrow is the orientation for families along with the 'White Coat' ceremony. Christian is really excited to be finally starting med school. We already have made lots of friends! I think this town is going to be called Mini Provo because a lot of students here are LDS. Also, since we have been in Kirksville it has rained 11 out of the 21 days that we have been here. I think this is more rain than I ever seen in my history of living in St. George. Some quirky things about living here is that you can tour the town in one day (less than that even... more like 3 hours), every Saturday is a farmers market (amazing food!), and then we have the trash days... On trash day everyone has one tiny garbage can and you are only allowed one and it can only weigh 40 pounds (Oscar's diapers weigh more than that). So if you happen to have more garbage that doesn't fit or exceeds the weight limit they have 'one dollar tags' for each bag over. It gets to be quite expensive so to save on money they do recycling. The recycling bags have to be clear and only contain; paper, plastic, and aluminum. You would actually be surprised as to how much stuff is recyclable... our first week here we filled up the teeny tiny trash can and then for recycle pick up we had 12 bags. So far we have only had to use one 'one dollar tag'! Now to Oscar...

Oscar Updates...
Some of these things are recent but some are old sorry.

-4 Teeth
-25 LBS, 28 inches
-Stands and climbs everywhere on everything
-Waves (Only when he wants to)
-Tries to whistle
-Does the Indian call with his fists
-Says Mama and Dada
-Almost Ball and Book
-I'll ask for the book and he'll bring me any book but I'm not sure if he really knows or those are just his favorite toys?!
-Bits Everything
-If you've seen 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' he's the little baby girl. I'm not exaggerating either... He uses his mouth to climb up on things.

Well, hopefully in the next few days I can get some pictures for all to see! Au revoir for now!

Twilight....

I am amazing... Twilight had a contest that you could enter to win the audiobooks of the Twilight Series. To enter you were given this question: If you were on a road trip with either a vampire or werewolf what would your itunes playlist be and what snacks would you pack to ensure you’re not the snack?

So I thought I would attempt knowing that there would probably be thousands of contestants. I didn't find out till later that the winner would actually be chosen at random so I put a lot of effort into coming up with creative songs and snacks. When the winner was announced they listed some of their more creative entries. I don't mean to brag, but if this contest weren't random, I totally would have won. I received a whole paragraph for my snacks and the top 13 songs they listed on Edward's playlist were all the songs I submitted.

From the website:

And then there was this...

"Snacks: Animal Crackers, Gushers, Stephen King" - Kenna A. (Um, wait, let's talk about this first, okay? Clearly, someone is still sore about this. Stephenie, your fans will avenge your honor! And we're just going to gingerly step away from this one...)

and my songs:

# Ice Ice Baby -Vanilla Ice
# Hero -Enrique Ingesias
# I'm a Slave for You - Brittney Spears
# Another One Bits the Dust -Queen
# Bring Me to Life - Evanescence
# I'm too Sexy -Right Side Fred
# The Taste -Five For Fighting
# Love Bites -Def Leppard
# Forever Young -Alphaville
# I Can Do Anything Better Than You -Annie Get Your Gun
# Stay'in Alive -Bee Gees
# Juicy - Better Than Ezra
# I Love Everything About You -Steve Poltz

The Joy's of Parenthood

A few days ago I (Christian) was watching Oscar as Kenna was taking a shower. He had just finished his dvd. For those who don't know, its a dvd reading program that Oscar watches twice a day that's supposed to enable him to match wits with Stephen Hawking by the time he's two. I pulled him out of his bumbo and laid him on his back. We then played one of our favorite games which consists of me eating Oscar and he laughs really hard. After a couple of minutes he started to roll over to crawl. I was in the middle of eating his side so just I continued to chomp on him. He rolled over and I gave him a big bite in the middle of his back. To my horror, Oscar's back was wet. While he was watching his program, he had pooped and the poop had shot out of his diaper and up his back, saturating his pj's. I spent the next 30 minutes scrubbing my mouth and tongue with soap. To this day I still can't taste food.

Family Vacations... TO BE OR NOT TO BE

We set off for a family vacation on Friday, June 26th. We were heading to Christian’s family’s cabin in Boulder, Utah. We left around 1 pm and arrived about 5 pm to the local gas station where there was a hopin’ party. We enjoyed Pizza, Music, and Poetry (Good old Boulder). We left for the cabin about 7 and it should have been a short ride to get there but you have to have a 4 wheel drive car ‘cause you drive up a river to get to it. The river had been a little high that day but we thought we could get through without flooding the engine of the truck or the car (big car… like a land cruiser) that we were in. Well the truck went first, about 10 feet before it actually would have arrived at the river, the front of it sunk. The so called dirt we though we were driving on was more like a jell-o. The water had soaked so much into it you could actually jump on it like a trampoline. The front tires were half way in the mud. We had to drive the car back to the gas station to find a chain to try and pull it out. We got the chain hooked up and after some time finally freed the truck from the mud. This obviously meant that we were not going to get to the cabin by car. It was getting later and getting darker at night. I thought that was it… we were just going to have to drive home but then I found out that, nope we were going to hike in with all of our luggage and two babies! After dead ends, steep rocks, cliffs, we finally found our way to the cabin. Oscar was exhausted but ok and Ella was not too happy (I don’t think I can blame her). There were a lot of mosquitoes but the only skin showing on me was my face and hands so I thought I was fine. Others had on shorts and I thought for sure they were going to have a lot of bits. Well it’s just my luck that I ended up with seven bits on my left hand, two on my right, one on my left elbow, one on my thigh (through my jeans… impressive), one on the tip of my left ear, one on my eyebrow and one in my scalp. Not to mention that fact that I am allergic to mosquitoes and instead of a little bump that itch I get baseballs that itch. My hands no longer had knuckles they had dimples there instead. However, I can handle swelling from mosquito bits… what I can’t handle is tendonitis. The first night at the cabin my entire right arm was shooting with pain because all the tendons had inflamed from carrying my luggage at the awkward angle while hiking in. I could not sleep at all. I wanted to cry but Oscar was asleep in our room and I was afraid to wake him (I still cried a little though… I know I’m a baby when it comes to pain). Fortunately my father-in-law is a doctor so Christian woke him up to see what to do to help stop the pain. I took meds and finally got about two hours of sleep that night. The next day was just fine as long as I kept up on my meds for my arm. We had fun playing games and being with family. Then Sunday came… (that’s right it’s not over). We went to church and came back to the cabin to pack up and head home. It’s about a 3 ½ hour drive to get back home so we left around 3, 3:30ish. Around 4:30 we hit Tropic and stopped at the gas station to feed Ella. Right when Madeline (Sister-in-law) got out she threw up everywhere. She was so sick. We got back on the road after she thought she was ok and we grabbed some paper bags just in case. She continued to throw up the entire way home but it’s not over… So we’re on the road and Ella started crying not soon after. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her cry so hard. She would not calm down and right when she would take a breath to try and calm down, Oscar would freak out from the cry and started balling himself (he normally doesn’t cry that hard either). In the middle seat it went: Ella, Oscar and then me. So here I am on my knees trying to help Ella with my left hand and Oscar with my right. They bawled back and forth forever and ever and ever. Everyone was kind of laughing because it was just out of control and we had no idea what was wrong with the both of them (I think I was crying more than laughing because I was in charge of them and I could do nothing to make it stop). Ps. I never want twins. So we finally pulled over to get them out of the car. We are in the middle of no where almost all our cell phones where dead and Mike and Kelly (in the truck) had gone the other direction to get home. So I had tried everything for Ella except food so when we stopped I tried to feed her a bottle but she would not take a bottle so poor Madeline being so sick as it is had to try and nurse her. She ate a little and calmed down so he headed back on the road. (Side note: while I was trying to feed Ella the bottle, Christian had Oscar and he was scanning the cars as they passed by and Stephen and Peter where throwing rocks at the cows across the street (they never hit any so don’t worry) but so when Stephen went to throw the rocks he set his cell phone on the back of the car..) We drove off and ten minutes into the drive Steve remembered the cell phone (one of the few with a battery left). We went back and the only way we would have found it is if it fell off exactly where we left off. Low and behold there it was, scratched a little but in great condition. So lucky. About 25 minutes later we hit a rest stop for Madeline. We got the babies out to play with them for a minute and then put them back in the car to get home. We only had an hour an 15 minutes left. Right when we got on the freeway Ella started screaming again. Madeline was too exhausted to feed her and I was convinced that’s what was wrong again. I figured she was on a growth spurt or something (I’m used to it… Oscar has one of those everyday). So I got a bottle again and she ended up drinking almost 3 ounces but that didn’t stop the crying. This time every time she screamed Oscar would laugh. I have to idea what is wrong with my child but that carried on for the entire hour and 15 minutes. We got home at 9 o’clock that night. I was so exhausted emotionally and physically. However, it’s not over… The next morning around 2 am Stephen and Peter got really sick. Then I woke up and Oscar started throwing up all his food and carrots stain. I called the doctor and they told me to wait and they gave me some signs to look for. So as we went through the day, he through up everything. He had one messy diaper early that morning but nothing the rest of the day. He would cry but have no tears. Oscar was not himself so I called to doc again and they said to bring him in. It was now 8:30 at night and the nurse practitioner prescribed some vomiting medicine to help. Ps. They weighed him in at 21 ½ lbs. It worked, he was keeping down what we gave him but that night Christian started to throw up. When we got up that morning Kelly said she felt sick too. I immediately started cleaning; there was no way I was getting sick. I cleaned the kitchen, my bathroom, washed all the clothes that where worn and the sheets of our bed so everything was fresh. So six of the nine people on the trip have been sick and it is now the next morning and I still feel fine. I’ll keep my fingers crossed but personally I don’t think I deserve to get sick and throw up given the fact that last year I threw up at least 275 out of the 365 days of the year. Well, if you endured this post… Congratulations and maybe think twice before you go on your next family vacation. Here are some pics but not from this weekend. These are just of Oscar and his radiating good looks!