Home Improvements

We are finished all the "big" stuff in our half bath -- took down wallpaper, painted, put down new floor, replaced toilet, installed pedestal sink, new mirror, and new light fixture. The pictures I have really aren't great because of the lighting and the space, but maybe I'll post a couple before and after shots. Aside from bathroom improvements, we have also had to deal with our water heater not working right and our upstairs toilet leaking. The joys of being a home owner. Anyway, we've been spending a lot of time at the home improvement stores (mostly Home Depot). And the kids are horrible! They aren't quite so bad at other stores, but something about the store brings out the worst in them. Lately, I've been making trips there by myself after they go to bed, but last night we decided to risk it again. It was actually the best trip we've had there in awhile. Probably because we were in the plumbing section (for the toilet, which is now fixed) and they invented some sort of plunger-human bowling game...Whatever it takes!

(And yes, they are wearing pajamas with sweaters)

Joseph's Blessing

Our normally very sweet, calm boy cried the entire blessing! I totally knew it. He hardly ever cries, but I just had a feeling. It was pretty cute. I was hoping for pictures of him with others in the family, but by the time he woke up from his after church nap, everyone else was changed and/or napping. I can't believe how big he is.

Halloween

We carved the pumpkin way too long before Halloween and ended up throwing it out before the big day. I hate to admit it, but this is the first pumpkin we've carved in our marriage. It just didn't seem worth the trouble before, but now the kids are getting older and can appreciate it more. Plus, at three (and a half) years old, our oldest is so much more aware and I'm not sure he would have let us miss out again.
(Do you think I should cut bangs or continue trying to pull it back with a clip? I was hoping to let Carolina's hair grow, but sometimes she just looks homeless)


Tim wanted to be a firefighter and Carolina wanted to be a princess. I'm really not into all the girly-girl stuff, but it's cute that she is. I tried to get her to consider other costumes (like Tim's old Elmo costume), but she wouldn't even try it on. She's pretty particular about what she wears. Basically, as long as it is pink or purple or has a princess or something fancy on it, she'll wear it. Joseph was a turtle. I removed the shell from Tim's first costume and sewed it on to one of Joe's pajamas. The older kids had a bunch of fun trick or treating; Joseph slept the entire time. Kids come from all over to our neighborhood for Halloween and it's super crazy congested. It was really fun at first before the crowds, but after a bit, it became overwhelming.

Pumpkins!

Okay, so these pictures are at least a couple weeks ago. The kids really had fun. Joseph slept through it all, as always.

Tagged by Rebecca

Thanks, Rebecca!! I've wanted to post a blog lately, but have been slow to do so because I'm afraid I'll start off talking about my sleep deprivation and end with talk of poop. I keep a personal journal every night and two entries in a row last week talked about my kids' excrement. Aaah! (the above picture is just because)

Anyway...

5 years ago... (that's October 2003, right?)
1. I was planning a December wedding to my wonderful husband!
2. I was living with my grandma
3. I was driving a 1991 Subaru
4. I was in the last semester of a library science program at the University of Maryland
5. I had a cool job working both as webmaster for the Univ of MD library science website and as a teaching assistant (it paid half my tuition!)

Things on my list for today...
1. Take the kids to the library
2. Pick up the house a little before my sister Mary comes for an afternoon visit
3. Finish up thank you cards
4. Pay the water bill
5. Mail Ben's first paycheck to the bank
6. Laundry
7. Enrichment
8. Go to bed by 9:15

5 snacks I enjoy...
1. Ice cream
2. Cereal
3. Cinnamon-sugar on toast
4. Bagels and cream cheese
5. Homemade chocolate chip cookies

5 things I would do if I was a millionaire...
1. Get a new couch
2. Pay off student loans
3. Buy a bigger house
4. Get a minivan
5. New clothes for me!

5 places I have lived...
1. Frankfurt, Germany
2. Silver Spring, Maryland
3. Frederick, Maryland
4. Loretto, Pennsylvania
5. Provo, Utah

5 jobs I have had...
1. Store clerk at an office supply store for a summer (thanks, Hilary!)
2. Sbarro pizza restaurant
3. Sam's Club
4. Family History computer lab assistant at BYU
5. Library assistant at a D.C. law firm

Now I can tag 5 people... who will they be?
1. Chantal
2. Renee
3. Lindsay
4. Jen
5. Christine

All that I can handle?

So we were leaving a restaurant the other night (just me and the older two kids while Ben was in the restaurant with Joseph paying the bill) and the kids were being their usual energetic selves. Not being bad, just a little rambunctious. A lady held the door for us and said kindly, "You've got all that you can handle!" I just laughed...little did she know there was a third in the restaurant. She's probably right anyway. :)

Joseph is growing so quickly. He was born at 7 pounds 1 ounce and when he went to the doctor for his first appointment (at 2 weeks) he weighed 8 pounds. Yay! I always breathe a sigh of relief when the kids get back up to birth weight.

The kids had dentist appointments this last week and all is well. Technically, Carolina did not have an appointment because their pedodontist usually does not see patients as young as she is (21 months). He did take a peek in her mouth and told us to go ahead and schedule her an appointment the next time. He told us that she is very precocious (dentally speaking) with all 20 of her baby teeth already in. I doubt it's true, but he said he hasn't seen a full mouth that young. I'm just happy that both kids were so compliant during the exams.

These pictures were taken a week ago at my aunt's house. I really need to take more. Carolina is a little upset in the first picture because she'd rather be the one holding Joseph. She loves holding him -- she holds on tight (a little too tight) and she'll sway back and forth, "rocking" the baby.

Benjamin Joseph

Born September 12th -- we're calling him "Joseph" (Tim says we can call him "Joe" too). He's a very good-natured little boy and has already started figuring out that nights are for sleeping. The first thing Tim did this morning was check on Joseph, really cute. He says that he "used to not like him, but now [he] does." Carolina is another story. She's coping okay, but she's doing her best to ignore her baby brother and impose herself physically on me everytime I'm holding him. I need to post a picture of her with her brother. When we got home from the hospital, I could have sworn that she grew twice her size while we were gone just the one night. If she hadn't gone in for a check-up a couple weeks ago, I would have sworn that she was much bigger than average (she actually weighs under the 50th percentile, but she's definitely still solid!)

Here is Joseph within a few minutes of birth. Absolutely amazing!!




Here we are a few hours later.


These last two were taken today -- he's four days old. He weighed 7 pounds 1 oz at birth and lost a few ounces while we were at the hospital. He's so tiny. I always laughed when I saw "newborn" clothes at the store -- my kids would never need them. Tim was 8lb6 and Carolina 8lb14. Now, I put their little sleepers on him and they don't come even close to fitting. He was born two weeks earlier than they were, but he still would have probably been my smallest. Eventually, he'll catch up!
(I made this quilt and am finally adding a post to my other blog soon).


Brothers! (3 1/2 years apart)

Big news!

So, Ben has accepted a new job. This is going to be a huge change for the whole family. He'll be moving from a neurosurgery/neurology position at a big hospital 35 minutes away, working 14-hour shifts, nights and weekends included. He started looking for his new job earlier this year, mostly to get away from working nights and Sundays. He had a bunch of interviews with nearly as many job offers, but felt like he should turn down every single one of them. He was getting a little discouraged and then a family practice job less than half a mile from our home was posted on one of the job sites. Yay! Of course, they liked him -- he'll be starting there a couple weeks after the baby is born. The hours are great. Now, the kids will be able to see him every day!

So this map shows our home (the house), our church (the sun), his work (the red cross), grocery store and even the school that Tim will start attending in two years. Everything within a half mile of home -- Amazing!! (just eight more shifts left -- half are nights)

Carnival time

I really like living in a small town and here's proof -- a Carnival that is very accessible, not too expensive, and just the right size for our family. Carolina takes a while to warm up to new things. She wanted to get on the rides, but then would try to throw a fit when we tried to get seated. She's 'miss independent' and likes to make her own decisions about everything. Both kids had fun though!

This made for a long day -- Philadelphia in the morning until afternoon and the carnival in the evening. Ben is such a good sport! He's been working long days (or nights sometimes) and lately has not been able to enjoy a "stay at home" day like the kids and I do. About once a week, I just announce in the morning that it is a "stay at home" day and the kids know we are just playing at home. They know not to even ask "where are we going today?" I get so much done on these days!

Philadelphia trip

Yesterday we journeyed up to Philadelphia, about 2 1/2 hours from here. This is our third year heading up to Shriner's Hospital (a wonderful free orthopaedic pediatric hospital) to have the orthopaedic hand surgeon, Dr. Kozin, look at Tim's thumbs -- his thumbs don't really bend at the first joint. This year he says that he doesn't believe Timmy will have any deficiencies or delays related to his thumbs and we don't have to return unless there is a problem. Yay! He's a really great doctor and we were happy to hear the news. Tim's deformity (don't really like that word) is very minor compared to most of the patients we encountered, so we already felt so blessed. I was never too worried about his thumbs; he still uses them at least as much other kids and does really well. As he says, "my thumbs are good."

After Shriner's we stopped by Franklin Square for a carousel ride. This was a first for Carolina and Timmy doesn't remember an earlier time that he rode. They really enjoyed it!

The next two pics are from the same square. We went to the foodcourt a couple blocks away (remember it in one of the chase scenes from the first "National Treasure?") for Mexican food.

Mets game!

The last post said "Big games!" so here's the second one -- Mets vs. Nationals. This was just three days after the Redskins game. Ben's a big Mets' fan, so I gave these tickets to Ben for father's day, hoping it would be a fun evening for him and Timmy. I think Timmy had had his fill of pro-sports and so he was not a very good sport himself. He decided he missed his sister and was disappointed she wasn't there. It will be awhile before he goes to another game. I think they left after the fourth inning with Ben actually able to watch just one of them. Tim did get to ride the metro -- that was a first according to him because he was too young to remember an earlier time.

Big games!

We've had a busy week! Last Saturday, Tim and Ben went to a pre-season Redskins game with our friend Kris. You can check out their blog too for a few pics. Carolina and I were tempted to go, but I knew it would be a late night for her and I wasn't willing to ruin our Sunday morning. She's been doing so well in nursery. The only "off-day" she has had was when we were visiting with family and she lost some sleep on Saturday. Although she didn't go to the game, she dressed up to see them off.

Notice the multiple barettes? She used to be opposed to any hair decoration; now, she insists I put as many as she can find in her hair. I think she had six in yesterday!

Tim's fondest memory is the big helmet that all the players run out of at the beginning.