Boulder, Baby!

 

While in Colorado we drove north and visited Boulder for a day. It’s a pretty cool town. We were there for their fall festival and it was fun to be celebrating with the other tourists ;)

We walked all the way up and down Pearl Street watching street performers, ducking into cute shops, tasting local flavor, enjoying a parade, listening to music, and learning how to skateboard.  Nate especially liked watching the magician who got himself stuck in a toilet lid. Pretty funny stuff for a 5 yr old boy!

 

 

On a boulder in Boulder. 
 

The Russells

We did some family portraits of Breanna’s family way back in July. Here they are finally being blogged!

Cute family.

 

Cute couple.

 

Cute big brother.

 

Cute little brother. I took extra pictures of him ‘cause he’s new!

 

 

Family, here is a link to the gallery. We love you guys!

Lab Results

Sigh. Once again one of my kids had to have blood work done. This time it was little Caroline. She had her 12 month checkup last week and is far below what she should be in weight. The doc wanted her to get some testing done so we obliged even though I wasn’t worried whatsoever. Anyone who meets her knows she is a happy, healthy little girl who just has her mom’s petite-ness.

Her first poke was horrible. After fiddling with the needle in her arm for at least a few minutes until she bled out, the second arm was tried and the needed blood was obtained. Poor thing.

I heard back from the dr and the results weren’t as reassuring as I thought they would be. The results were:

Protein: borderline low
Vitamin D: too low
Liver enzymes: slightly high
Alkaline phosphatase: normal level = 50-130. 200 is high. Caroline’s is at 403.

Explanation: Caroline is so undernourished that her bones are breaking down.

Caroline loves her formula, warm, in a bottle. She hasn’t been keen on the idea of switching to whole milk. I’ve even tried it with Carnation Instant Breakfast. She’s not interested. She does eat a variety of food, but mostly about 6 bites and then she is done. No more. Unless it’s cookies.

My plan of attack is simple. Hide as many nutrients in cookies as humanly possible. Sure, not an intelligent solution that has staying power through the years, but for now I’m just trying to get her little body to grow. I’ll worry about the other stuff later. 

The doc also prescribed her a vitamin with iron and vitamin d at 1 1/2 times the normal dose. She’ll get checked again in three months.

All this seemed to fly out of the doctor’s mouth. Seriously. I was barely following along. At the end of the conversation she asked me if I had any questions. I had barely been able to process anything at that point. So since hanging up, internet-ing,  and thinking about this all night I pretty much just have one question.

Is she SURE it’s malnutrition? I can handle that. But I don’t want to be treating her for it and three months later find out that we’ve been treating the wrong diagnosis. There are quite a few diseases that can cause the number in her alkaline phosphatase to be so high. Diseases that are much worse. Diseases that aren’t cured with cookies.

But for tonight, I’m done worrying. We’ll pick back up tomorrow with a reassuring call to the doctor and a run to the grocery store.

No More Baby

My baby had her 1st birthday.

 

The night before, she just happened to wake up at night and needed some rocking. There I was, in the dark, rocking my baby. Then came the slight breakdown. Mine, not hers. I love her cheeks and her nose. I love her toothy smile and her chuckle. I love her all over from the top of her messy hair (since she pulls out any barrette I try to place in it) to the bottom of her arched feet (the only one of my kids with them).

She loves playing with her brother and sister. She thinks she should be able to do everything they can.

She loves her blankie. It’s the one we wrapped her in at the hospital. She sleeps on top of it and and carries it around wherever she goes, if I let her. She hates when it drags on the floor. She wants it all up in her arms.

 

Caroline is normal in height but drops off the chart in weight. She doesn’t like whole milk. For now we are mixing half formula and half milk and making sure it’s warm so she’ll drink it.

 

She had a birthday party where she had many loving family members attend. She loved all her gifts

including the wagon her dad and I bought her.

 

Here is her red velvet cake.

 

 

 

Happy birthday, Caroline. Your family sure loves you!

Copper!!

Rob’s cousin Nicole and her husband Mike stayed with us for some days in August. We had fun spending time with them and getting to know them a little better. Nate and Madeleine especially ate up the extra attention.

I’d been meaning to take us to visit Bingham Canyon Copper Mine for a couple of years now and finally took the opportunity while they were with us.

 

I love how Madeleine is “reading” the sign.

 

  

 

One of the things I enjoyed about visiting the mine is that I learned a little more about the project Rob is working on for Kennecott. He is helping in the design of ……..something with the tailings facility and preventing slope failure in the event of an earthquake………

Ok, maybe I didn’t learn that much. Some time he needs to blog about exactly what he’s doing because I can never quite grasp it.
But anyway, here he is playing in the gift shop!

Thanks, Mike and Nicole, for coming to visit us!!

Two Stories About Nate

 

I have two wonderful stories about Nate that had to be recorded here on the blog at all costs.

First, Nate is a big hugger and it is common to receive a hug from him a couple of times per day. So the other day when he walked up to me for a hug I didn’t suspect a thing. He didn’t have a silly or excited look on his face either. I had no idea what was coming. Just before settling in for a hug, he spins around, sticks out his bum, and plants a giant fart right on me! I couldn’t not believe my son! We all completely broke down laughing. Completely hysterical!

The next story happened tonight and it wasn’t the first time either. After the kids finished reading books for the night he walked 50’ out to the loft and made this request, “Dad, will you please come turn of my light? I’m too tired to lift up my arm.” Awesome!

Some Fun in Denver

While in Denver for two weeks we actually got out to see and do quite a few things. Well, free or inexpensive things that are suitable to do with 3 kids. After all, why would I ever want to go to a nice restaurant and actually eat at a leisurely pace? Or do some gnarly hiking? Or antique shopping? Or be out after 8:30pm? Or, or, or? Traveling with kids is sure different than travelling as a couple, but we still had fun.

These are some pics taken on the fly with the ipod. It’s just too darn hard to haul around three kids AND a heavy camera that needs toying with while the babes are on the loose.

We toured the Hammond Candy Company.

  

I thought Rob would get a kick out of this.

We went to the talked up Mile High Marketplace but it was just junk and more junk.

Rob went to the Tattered Cover bookstore.

We went to the Museum of Science and Nature three times. Our Discovery Gateway passes got us in for free and it was totally fun.

They had a T.Rex Encounter which I thought was pretty fun. The Animatronic dinosaurs were huge and followed you with their eyes and heads. Their roars were quite loud and scared Madeleine and Caroline just didn’t know what to think. This was taken in front of a green screen.

 

Here Nate is looking at the sun and its solar flares.

 

The kids loved Space Odyssey’s AstroTot area. Madeleine especially loved to dress up and pretend they were crashing into an alien planet.

 

 

We also went to the huge play area in the mall. This gave them a chance to play with kids and me a chance to sit back and be stared at because I actually have three children. The whole time in Colorado I never once saw a family with more than two kids. So I got some stares and a “Way to go!”.

 

 

The kids got to sit in the new Tesla and got free posters of the car. I wouldn’t have minded taking it out for a test drive. Too bad it doesn’t fit 3 carseats.

 

While in Denver we were also able to go out to dinner with two of Rob’s cousins and their families. We haven’t seen them for years and our kids have never met. It’s nice letting our kids meet more cousins. They love cousins!

We also met up with an old friend, Brian Gardner, and his family. He and Rob were in the band FOUND nine years ago. It was fun to catch up with all the craziness that has happened since then. We ate at the (in)famous Casa Bonita and watched the silly dive show, which the kids loved. We were so happy we got to meet up.

We had a few day trips while in Colorado including downtown, Georgetown, Golden, and Boulder. We’ll blog those when we get a chance.

Can We All Just Ease Up A Little?

I’ve been thinking lately about how much effort we women put into looking good. I mean, think about it. First, there is the time we spend. Like, HOURS and HOURS of every week. Second, the money we spend. It’s a multi-kazillion dollar industry. Lastly, the mental effort we spend. We think, critique, agonize, patronize, stress, judge, compare, and get depressed.

Here’s a quick run-down of SOME of the things we torture ourselves with (and yes, I’m guilty of more than a few of these).

• Shave, wax, laser hair removal
• Tanning, both real and fake
• Makeup including eyelash torture devices and spiderleg falsies
• Hair cut and color
• Spanx
• Padded bra
• Teeth straitening and whitening
• Botox and more drastic plastic surgery
• Fake nails
• Deprivation diets or eating disorders
• Up-to-the-minute fashion trends, even when they’re unflattering and expensive
• Flat-Iron or curling iron
• Masks, scrubs, Micro-dermabrasion, chemical peels, etc
• Goo, goo, and more goo from the “beauty” aisles. Not one aisle, but many

That’s insane. Seriously INSANE. Why do we do this to ourselves?? On tv, all you here is “If I look good on the outside, then I feel good on the inside.” Well THAT’S NOT TRUE and we all know it.

My goal here isn’t to knock basic hygiene, making ourselves presentable and even beautiful, or indulging in some simple pleasures. My problem is that I think we all try a little too hard. 

So. Here’s a goal. Let’s all just freaking ease up on ourselves. Let’s do the things we really care about and love. Some people LOVE to get a mani-pedi. That’s great! Some people naturally tan easily. Super! But let’s stop trying so hard to go against the beautiful, natural bodies Heavenly Father created for us. If we go too far against our natural selves it’s frustrating, depressing, time-consuming, and

JUST NOT WORTH IT.

Provo River Falls

Man! These falls are so fun!! We spent a couple of hours here on our way to Mirror Lake. Next time we might just spend more time at the falls and forget the lake. Totally wicked fun.

 

Nate’s blurry in this picture, but I love his facial expression.

 

Check out the abs on my boy!! We’re gonna be in trouble with him someday.

Can you tell he had a blast??

 

Madeleine liked the falls, but she also liked the puddles

 

And the branches.

 

 

Next we moved on to Mirror Lake. While the girls finished their nap in the car I snuck out and took this.
I believe it’s a horse feeder thingy. Feel free to correct me or give me the real word for it.

 

The kids played in the field and picked me wildflowers. So sweet.

        

 

 

We had fun here a couple of years ago but this time it was just crowded, dirty, and buggy.

 

Caroline eating a graham cracker.

 

“Fishing” with trash she found.

 

More “fishing” with trash.

 

Good times, family. Good times.