We took Emily back for another appointment and to have her weighed again. She gained 6oz in 2 weeks. Dr. Rand says this is a good amount of gain, but he would still like to see her doing some catching up since she now weighs 10lbs 11oz. I'm just glad that she's gaining instead of losing. We're supposed to keep bringing her back for regular weighings until we're sure she's growing again. But for now, scare over!
There's not much to tell yet, but I thought the blog needed an update since Mike updated the look of the page. My mom sent out an email to my family about Emily recently, so I thought I'd explain in my own words. Last Friday, I took Emily to the doctor for her 6 month checkup. The doctor says that she looks really healthy, except for one tiny little thing... Emily has lost weight since her 3 month appointment and is now down to only 10 pounds. The doctor asked a lot of questions like what she eats, how often she eats, how much she eats, if she likes to eat, had she been sick, had I been sick, even what her poop looks like (yes, I know.. yuck!). He couldn't find a single thing wrong with any of that information. We're assuming that even though she nurses often enough that she may not be getting enough milk in her feeding sessions, so he's having me try some things. In two weeks, we're supposed to take her back to be weighed again, and if there's no change they'll have to run some tests to make sure everything is alright with her digestive system. However, the doctor is confident that she is just fine since those types of problems usually present themselves at birth and she has been fine up until now. I'm sure that everything will turn out to be just fine since she is basically a very healthy baby aside from being terribly skinny.
In other Emily news, she has started rolling over and is so proud of herself! She even tries to get her knees under her, but she's still just a bit too wobbly to manage that for very long. She loves her brother and is crazy about the cat. Despise her small size, Emily has a deep hearty belly laugh. Not the tiny little giggle you'd expect from such a little girl. It always cracks us up to hear her laugh, and we all have a lot of fun trying to get her to do it.
Hyrum is talking a bit more, but he's still not speaking in sentences and doesn't use clear words like other kids his age. He is very smart, however, and has a great memory. His current favorite game is pointing out colors around the house. Red is his favorite color. He loves having a nice back yard to play in and spends hours running around, loading his dump truck with rocks, picking strawberries, and taking his stuffed kitty down the slide with him. Every night, he begs to run through the sprinklers. I cannot stress what a great brother Hyrum is! Whenever Emily cries, he runs to her and talks to her or tickles her belly with her stuffed cat until she calms down. It's a little silly, but he even loves to brush her hair and put barrettes in it after she has a bath. I bet he can't wait till she's old enough to play with him. He misses his Grandmas and Grandpas too. The other day, we were driving around town and pulled up alongside another car at a stoplight where he saw a man who he must have thought looked like his Grandpa Crooks wearing a baseball cap. He got so excited and started shouting, "Grandpa! Grandpa!" When the light turned green and the car started pulling away, he got a little bit upset saying, "No! No!!... Bye.." It makes me wish we lived closer both to my parents and Mike's.
Mike got a lawnmower for Father's Day this year. Our old hand-me-down one which worked just fine cutting down thick weeds at our house in Ammon finally gave up the ghost. It mowed the front yard and half of the back yard before it quit and wouldn't start again. We got tired of always having to borrow a mower from James or from our landlady. We were able to find a used refurbished mower with a full warranty at Home Depot. It really is great to have a nice yard to enjoy. Now what we really need is hedge clippers... Kind of makes me wish we had just agreed to pay the extra $25 a month to have all the yard work taken care of for us!
Mike is still loving his new job. The company Mike works for sells playground equipment to parks and schools. It's his job to talk to installers, maintenance crews, and equipment buyers and sellers. On Wednesday, a maintenance crew had to be sent out to Settlers Park here in Meridian and Mike had to be there to represent the company. He was so impressed with the park that we decided to take the kids the next day. We invited Hyrum's friend Emily from his Sunbeams class and her mom to come along with us. I had never seen the park before and was amazed at how large and how nice it was. The park isn't quite finished yet and has several coming attractions such as climbing rocks, a fishing pond, splash pad, sand pit, 23 acres for 8 youth baseball fields, and a bunch of other plans I don't remember in the making. I mean, this park is HUGE!! They even put up a large screen and show movies one night a week.
Before too long, we ditched the standard playground equipment for the main attraction and the biggest reason we had come. Water Odyssey! It's like running through the sprinklers, but better!! They had all sorts of different types of sprayer including water cannons you can aim at your friends and a pirate ship's mast that fills up with water and tips to dump sheets of water on those standing beneath it. Here are a bunch of pictures.
An unsuspecting Hyrum pokes his finger in a pressure release sprayer...
... and gets his first drenching of the day!
Mike apparantly thought that Hyrum wasn't already wet enough. He wanted to really soak him, but decided that the "Dumping Buccaneer" was a bit too much water for such a little boy.
So he lined him up under a smaller version... Miss!
After watching all that water splash down, I was surprised that Hyrum was gullible enough to let his dad reposition him once more for a direct hit. It scared him pretty badly at first, but after a few seconds of panic and a hug from his dad, he decided it was pretty funny.
After getting hit with that final bucket full, Hyrum was cold and wet and tired and we headed home. But we had a lot of fun and it was all free! We'll definitely be going back!
Here are a couple of random pictures of the kids that I found in my phone's camera. This first one is of Hyrum sleeping on the couch. We didn't set him up on the couch like this. Mike had dozed off watching TV on the couch one afternoon, and wanting to be like dad, he went and got his pillow, Cookie Monster, and his kitty and fell asleep himself. Hyrum has recently gotten very attached to his kitty, insisting that it watch him eat breakfast. We even caught him pretending to drive the car one day with his kitty bucked in his car seat in back.
Here is one of Emily with my Grandma Page on our recent visit to East Idaho. Grandma enjoyed feeding her, and I'm pretty sure Emily enjoyed it too. I was glad we got the chance to see my Grandma Page on our visit since she wasn't at home and we thought we'd miss her completely.
Hmm.. looks like I missed a week, and a lot has happened, so I hope I don't miss anything in this update.
May 12th was mine and Mike's 7 year anniversary. We celebrated that and Mother's Day with a trip to East Idaho to visit friends and family. We had an enjoyable weekend. On Friday, we went out to dinner with my long time friend Sandi and her husband Nathan. They took us to an Australian restaurant. We couldn't help but think of Angie. Mike had fish and chips and I had a meat pie. We both had ginger beer to drink.. I thought it tasted like someone had dumped a full bottle of ginger in a glass of water. It was strong. I also sampled a little bit of Vegemite. I actually really liked it! For desert, Mike made a special request, and although it wasn't on the menu, the cook knew just what he was talking about and did her best to accommodate, and we split a fried Snickers. As we ate, we were entertained by a local barbershop quartet. We finished out the evening at Sandi and Nathan's home playing Apples to Apples with them and Sandi's brother Steven.
Saturday, the actual day of our anniversary, I went shopping with my mom while Mike went golfing with Sherwin. I think we did better shopping than they did golfing. Mike says he hit a few balls into some living rooms. After shopping, my mom and I went to visit my Grandma Sears. She had never seen Emily in person, and I wanted to show her off. Grandma was thrilled to see that Emily's hair is a dark auburn. She said she's been nagging her kids and grandkids to give her a redhead grandbaby for years, and Emily may be the closest she gets. Now I just hope her hair doesn't darken. I'd hate to disappoint my grandma! (plus, I'd love to have a redhead myself!) That night, we let my mom and Sherwin babysit while we went to see Spiderman 3.
Sunday was Mother's Day. My Mother's Day gift was just being out of town and not having to prepare a Primary lesson that day. We attended church with my mom. I was surprised at how many people in that ward still remembered us. We only lived there for a few months, and it was so long ago. Of course, I got a plant too, but I think I left it at my mom's house by accident. We visited Sandi again that afternoon to show her the kids since we didn't take them to dinner with us the first night. We came back in time for a yummy dinner Sherwin had prepared and played Pinochle and Farkle. We decided that Mike ought to just give up the job hunt and send me to Vegas. Turns out I'm pretty lucky with dice.
Monday was our last day. We stuck around just long enough to have lunch with my mom on her lunch break, then headed out. On the way home, we stopped to see my Grandma Page who was visiting her sister in American Falls. She had also never seen Emily. She was mostly a good baby, but she was getting tired of the trip and wouldn't show off as much as I wanted her to. I guess I can't complain though. She's still so pleasant and far from being the cranky child that Hyrum was. I can't wait to show her off to Mike's family! (Yes, Jen. We'll be returning your DVDs too.)
When we returned home, Mike interviewed for the last of the two jobs at the call center, and although he said the interviews went well, they didn't take him for either. So as of last Friday, he works as an office manager for the playground company, Recreation Idaho. Either he or I will take a part time evening job to cover the rest of our expenses that the lower pay won't take care of. I'm less worried about the low pay than I am about the lack of insurance, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. I think that Mike will like the change of work though. He's been working in call centers pretty much since we got married, and he's tired of that line of work. This will be a nice change of pace for him. As for me, part of me wants to stay home with the kids, but another part of me wouldn't mind the chance to get out of the house and feel useful again. I just wonder if I'll have a hard time getting a job because I've been unemployed for so long staying home with the kids. But I have a good work record prior to becoming a stay at home mom. If nothing else, I'm sure the Arctic Circle on the corner near our house will take me since I've worked for 2 ACs in the past and was a favored employee at both.
Mike was released from his calling as Sunbeams teacher yesterday. He was trying to work 2 callings, and they decided to give callings to the seniors who are graduating this year before they head off to college. Their first objective was to relieve anyone who had more than one calling. Mike is still the ward choir director. I just hope that Hyrum will do alright without Mike teaching the class. Hyrum is so attached to his dad. They also released my teaching companion and replaced her with a senior. I hope this will work out better. My old companion had a lot of health issues and rarely came to church. I hope she'll be able to take a break now and be in better health.
Ok, I'll stop stalling and get to what you all really want now.. new pictures of Emily!
Aww, isn't she beautiful!?
Well, it's been a while since we've updated this blog. The main reason is because my mother has been hounding me to add new pictures of Emily, and we have yet to take any new pictures of her. We can't find the memory card for our camera, and while it has a decent amount of internal memory, the lost card still works as a good enough excuse for us to be lazy. Actually, part of it is that her nails grow at an astounding 1/2 inch per day and her face is constantly scratched up because of it and we have a deep respect (fear) for The Department of Health and Welfare. I promise new pictures of Emily next post.
It's a good thing that we put away that money from our tax return because Mike is still unemployed. Mike was so worried that he began a fast. That very day, Bro. Pond in our ward offered him some work. Unfortunately, it's not a job that Mike can do regularly due to his back problems. Bro. Pond is a plumber and Mike can't handle the lifting and digging for very long. However, Bro. Pond allowed him to work with him for a couple of days while he found something more permanent. Shortly after, he was hired at an outsourcing company to work customer service on an HP account. The day after he was hired, they called him back and told him that they were no longer hiring for that position. He lost the job before he even started. However, they told him that they had 2 other jobs available that they could interview him for. Both pay better than the job he was initially offered. One of them is a tech support help desk job and the other, which has the same title but pays more, is more of an IT position. They told him that he is well qualified for either. He interviews for the first of the two tomorrow and has yet to hear more about the second or to set up an interview for it. I'm thinking it may be an internal promotion type thing, and maybe that's why he hasn't heard from them. More help from Bro. Pond came in the form of his son-in-law's company. Consequently, he's in our ward also. (we have the best ward!) He and his wife own a company that sells commercial playground equipment to schools and businesses and such. They need a receptionist/web developer. They have already offered the position to Mike and he can start immediately. The downside is that they don't pay extremely well and there's really no chance of advancement. The wage is somewhere in the $9/hr area with a commission based on how well the company does that month. They told him it would come to around the high end of $10-$11/hr. This is less than he was making at T-Mobile when we were still just squeaking by. The upside is good hours and a friendlier environment. He'd also be able to bike to work. He'll probably take the job if he isn't given a better offer at EDS tomorrow. Either way, we can breathe a little easier now knowing that Mike will be going back to work soon.
Joseph got me hooked on drawing. I'm still not very good. I've never been a very good artist, but in the past couple of weeks, I've turned out some of the best stuff I've ever managed to draw. I've put it aside for a while, however. I ran out of erasers and sharp pencils. So until we buy a pencil sharpener and a (rather large) eraser, my new hobby will have to wait. Unlike Joseph who uses Photoshop or some other program of that sort to draw, I can't seem to make the computer work for me. I get frustrated when it doesn't do what I want it to. I think maybe I need to go over some tutorials or something to figure it out.
We were planning a short trip this weekend to celebrate our anniversary and Mike's new job, (the one that ended before it began) but now we're not entirely sure if we'll be able to make the trip anymore. It all depends on what job he takes and when they want him to start. I sure hope we can make something work out. We haven't taken a trip since... well, so long that I don't remember. Even if it's just a weekend away, it would be worth it. If we do take a trip, I'm sure we'll be updating the blog with lots of new pictures of the kids!
Speaking of the kids, they're doing great! Emily is such a joy. I just can't even express how much happiness she brings into our home. At a time when Mike and I have been so depressed and worried, her smiles and giggles and coos are all that have kept us going some days. Lately, she's gotten to be rather cranky and has been shoving her fist in her mouth and biting down. We think she must be teething. I'm so amazed at how quickly she's growing up. And yet, at church yesterday, I was in the mother's room with her and saw several other girls from another ward with their babies. They were all about the same length, maybe a little taller than Emily, and about twice as big around. Two of the mothers were apparently friends who had their babies around the same time. One was born in late February and the other in mid March. Here I was with Emily who was born in early December. It reminded me that she's still so much smaller than the other babies her age. I guess I shouldn't complain too much about her growing up.
Hyrum is potty trained!! I know that's probably not something any of you care about, but Mike and I are so thrilled that I had to post it here! He even sleeps through the night in regular underwear without any accidents! We're so very proud. Even more than we are proud, we are relieved. We just cut our diaper changes in half and reclaimed an extra few stink-free minutes of our day! All it took was a few new pairs of Cars underwear, and he decided that he didn't want to have any more accidents. He loves the movie Cars.
I really can't think of anything else.. I suspect that we'll be updating again soonish, so I'll just tag on anything else that I've forgotten on the next blog. Check back soon for more pictures of the cutest kids ever! (no, I'm not bias)
