That They Might Have Joy

Why yes...

2012-01-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

we did give our child a cardboard box for Christmas :)

And she was delighted!

I am not in the least bit ashamed to say that this was her main Christmas gift from us. She loves it! Still. Don't worry, it wasn't her only present. There are more boxes in various sizes in the heater closet. We also gave her the "If you Give a Mouse..." book series.

What do you do when your toddler wakes up at midnight..?

2012-01-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there was a very good reason for the Jelly Bean waking up at 12am, not wanting to go back to sleep, not wanting to play and not even wanting to cuddle...I don't know what it was. But this is what we did:

I blogged, did some nutrition research, and dried some sprouted wheat. She spent equal amounts of this almost four hour time slot watching DW-TV (that's the German News) and Food Network. Is she my child? Do you have to ask that question? :)

Note: I don't know how I was with TV as a child. I only remember that I never really liked cartoons. She's never really watched TV. (Though we very rarely have it on - we're not TV people) She is allowed to watch one episode of Baby Signing Time (appr. 35 total minutes) every day. Unless it's an especially hectic and stressful day, in which case she's been known to watch it twice in a row. She's watched the occasional part of a movie with us or the babysitter, I'm sure. We don't mind. But usually nothing keeps her attention. Of course, if I let her, she'd probably watch Baby Signing Time just about all day. She loves it!

Well, I don't know that you can call the news educational, but it was surprisingly refreshing to hear the German, and a lot more uplifting than watching the American news. Actually, I started getting homesick for Germany.

I think you get what you give. I hear I was a pretty good child. But since I didn't seem to find a need to sleep much through high school and university, and Conrad can't function on less than 8 hours of sleep a night, I'm thinking she inherited this not-so-stellar-sleeping pattern from me?

the great escape: attempt #1

2012-01-27T00:49:00.000-08:00

"I would really like to go outside. Pretty please."

"Hmmmm"

"This could work."

"See ya later, Mom"

For obvious reasons I didn't get the next picture...

As Promised

2012-01-27T00:37:00.000-08:00

Ooh, pumpkin seeds are sticky. This is a whole new level of fun.

One left.

Do you see where she decided to place that last seed..?

And just in case you're wondering. That pumpkin provided: three large pumpkin pies (the healthiest and tastiest I've ever made - I'll post the recipe later) one very large batch of soup, a dozen muffins, a bunch of seeds for stir fry, and 1 hour toddler fun. And there was pumpkin to spare. Oh and it was fresh from the garden in Ephraim :)

excuses

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Normally I don't have one. Well, I always have at least one. Her name is Emma Ruth. She's almost as big as me, makes 5 times as much mess as I do, exponentially increases the time required to do just about everything, and has figured out how to miraculously propel us into the future. Conrad calls her our little time machine. You spend five minutes with her, and when you're done, you find you've lost at least 15.

But this time, we've actually been very busy with various things. Conrad is busy with school and work, as always. He has two jobs (sometimes three) and I tutor German on Saturdays. We are working on a nutrition website. At the moment, it's entirely for us. Someday we hope to share it. I'm working on something else. It ~~may~~ will be a while before it's ready.

And---I'm going to get my Master of Nutrition Therapy degree :)

I'll keep you updated. Maybe. I'll try, ok?

Don't worry. It's going to take a long time.

I mean, who needs to rush when you've got help like this?

She was very helpful. Until the pumpkin was finally cleaned. Then she started putting all of the seeds and pulp back into the pumpkin.

a little update

2011-11-15T23:14:00.000-08:00

I'll post some pictures later...

For now, a few stats+

Emma Ruth is one year old! In fact, as of today (yesterday) she is 13 months old!! Wow. Crazy!

She is 22 lbs - 49th percentile

and super long - I don't remember her length, but she's in the 98th percentile.

Her hair is crazy long. And just plain crazy sometimes.

She doesn't like baths anymore, but she'll tolerate them if I am in the bath with her. No idea what happened...

She doesn't like to sleep. She would just rather play. She's a very light sleeper. Like me. So as long as nothing wakes her up, we're happy. She talks in her sleep. Like Conrad :) It's pretty cute, actually.

She LOVES to be outside. She signs 'outside please' all day long.

She can spend twenty minutes trying to put on her shoes. She likes her shoes (and my shoes. and everybody else's shoes) because she associates them with outside.

She loves, loves, loves the slide. She loves walking. She took her first (four) steps by herself a few weeks ago, but she prefers to push things around and drag me along. I hold her hand and she walks back and forth through our apartment. Every time she gets to the living room, she walks up to Conrad's chair and says "Hi Papa. Hi!" Then turns around, goes back to her bedroom and does it all again. This can keep her busy for 40 minutes.

She LOVES her Papa!! And she especially loves reading with her papa. When Conrad comes home, the first thing she does, after smiling at him, is point to her little bookshelf.

There has been construction on campus. On the way back from lunch with Conrad one day, we stopped. Emma Ruth went crazy! She just kept pointing and gasping and saying, 'whoa!!' She was especially impressed by the digger.

Favorite 'toys', in order of popularity:

Books: Llama Llama Red Pajama is her favorite and then Skip to my Lou and then all the rest.

Silverware/Cutlery

Die-cast BMW and Audi

Wooden cars, Hot-wheels cars ($.29 each at Saver's!), and anything else with wheels

Wooden sorting cone

Elephant stacking cone, xylophone, and everything that plays music

Oh and she likes balls of all shapes and sizes.

She leads any music she hears. She's been doing this for months. She used to lead in 2/2. Now she can do 4/4 :) Sort of...

Words and Phrases:

HI! (this one is her favorite and gets her all kinds of attention everywhere she goes. She loves to say hi)

Mama

Papa

Nanam (Nana M)

whoa!

yeah

milk

but

buck (book)

I need this - I was sitting on the chair with a package of German Christmas cookies. Emma crawled over to me, moaning and groaning, pulled herself up, reached for the packet and said "I need this!" very clearly... She's said it once since then. I don't know how she picked that up. Obviously, she got a piece.

Signs:

milk

outside

please

food, eat - she usually just smacks her lips and signs 'please' when she wants whatever it is she sees

dirty - she thinks this one is hilarious for some reason

where

water - this one is more like an open hand over the mouth

puff - i made this one up. i just do a double 'f'. the first time she signed it, i thought she had something stuck to her finger :)

cereal

hot

cold - she also thinks this one is pretty funny

When she learns a new sign, she uses it for just about everything for a whole day.

Whenever she wants something, she does a sign that seems more like what we might do to say 'come here'. It looks similar to her sign for 'outside'. I suppose it's the same with signing as it is with toddlers speaking. Sometimes only parents can understand. Anyway, it's progress. Milk was the first sign she learned and understood. So when she wanted something, she would point to it and sign 'milk'. Sometimes it was funny. I tried to teach her want and please at the same time, but it's kind of abstract, so it took a few days. She picked up on the please and made up her own sign for want...

Favorite Foods:

anything she can eat by herself with a fork and knife

avocado

all fruits, especially berries of every kind

bread

black beans

curried lentils

moon pops

She really likes spicy things, and she loves eating off my plate.

She doesn't like plain sweet potatoes or squash. I don't blame her.

She likes ginger, especially ginger cookies and gingerbread. She loves drinking anything from a glass.

She likes to dress herself. She hates it when I try to dress her. She will try to put everything that slightly resembles an article of clothing over her head. Except socks, of course. Those she tries to put on her feet. She's pretty good at putting her pants on like a scarf. Or getting the waist around her head like a hat. She's also pretty good at taking her pants off. Luckily only her pajamas. I'm still not sure how she gets them off. I've never seen her in the act of removing them. They just are on, and then they aren't...

She enjoys watching me cook.

She is busy busy all. the. time.

That's our baby Ruth. Though, I'm sure I've forgotten loads. We love her, and can't wait to see what this next year brings.

Difficult Math

2011-08-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

Natural Directions Salsa Serving Size 2 tbsp

Servings per Container 16

Natural Directions Blue Corn Tortilla Chips Serving Size 15 chips

Servings per Container 10

The Problem:

How do you eat only two tablespoons of salsa with 15 chips? And who only eats two tablespoons of salsa, anyway? And if one did, how do 16 and 10 match?

The Solution:

Eat one bag of chips and one jar of salsa in three sittings. It actually matches pretty well. I suppose that would mean that 3.2 tbsp of salsa is sufficient for 15 chips. But I'm pretty sure that makes a serving size 50 chips and almost 3/4 cup of salsa.

Probably shouldn't have read the label on that one...

It's a hard life.

2011-07-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

This cracks me up...I have no idea how it happened. She wasn't very happy when I put her down for her nap, and when I came in to check on her after she finally fell asleep, this is what I found.

Even Eeyore tried to escape.

"What do you mean it's naptime?"

JOY

2011-07-17T13:55:00.001-07:00

Gotta Love this Hair

2011-07-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Go ahead...tell me I'm not super cute ;)

Some more of the Garden

2011-07-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

And some more...

2011-07-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

More Plants

2011-07-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Our Garden

2011-06-30T09:43:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I bought some containers for a "Father's Day" gift. I put it in quotations because it was just as much for me as it was for Conrad. I got some coconut fiber containers and some seeds and we finally started our apartment garden. We were super excited. We both love gardening. We have squash, spinach, tomatoes, and cucumber. And of course, there is the avocado, but we don't plan on harvesting fruit from the tree for quite some time.

Do you like our little tomato seedling planter made from a Damascus nougat box? Yeah. That's homemade ;) Conrad gets the credit for that one.

On the Topic of Food:

2011-06-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

When you eat matters much less than what you eat. Eating just before bed doesn't make you fat. Consuming more calories than you burn makes you fat.

Eat Less Meat: Save Your Health and the Planet

2011-06-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

According the UN, meat production actually produces more global warming greenhouse gases than driving cars.

Still Living

2011-06-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

Though it was pretty close a few times... ;) Not really. It's just been a crazy busy couple of months. I graduated! Yay! Okay so I graduated in December, but the unbelievably long ceremony was in April. Apparently Emma Ruth was a well-behaved during the second-day proceedings. I actually started to wonder if it was ever going to end. The first day wasn't nearly as long and the speakers were interesting. Day two was a beast. I was shot. I was so worried that the Jelly Bean was going to start screaming. It seems having both of our families here, as well as Grandpa and Fran, was a good thing for Emma Ruth. When she started to get fussy, they just passed her along to the next grandparent :)

Conrad's mom and dad were here for three weeks and his brother and sister-in-law for three. They overlapped by a few, and it was somewhat cramped in our tiny apartment. But it was fun.

Emma Ruth got sick - really sick: a really bad chest cold (bacterial) and an earache (viral) so we came home early from church after Georg and Gabi left that morning, put the Bean to sleep and deep-cleaned the apartment. It turns out breastmilk is pretty great for an ear infection, too.

Conrad got another scholarship. It's not a whole lot of money but it's a prestigious Honors scholarship. So now he gets a little money to work on his Honors Physics Thesis. And every little bit helps.

We hit a huge pothole coming home from the airport and had to replace all of our tires...

Emma is 8 months old and is starting to crawl. I still haven't baby-proofed. It's on the list.

She loves music. LOVES it. We bought her a glockenspiel (Hohner - It sounds amazing, actually). She didn't quite have the coordination to make it work, so she figured out (all by herself, I should add) that if she holds the mallet up just over and close to the instrument and repetitively drops and lifts it, it plays 'music'. After a few days it didn't seem to be good enough, though, so she learned to hold the looped end with her thumb and beat it sideways. She has a little Meinl wooden egg shaker and a drum. Those are probably two of her favorite toys. Of course, her favorite things to play with are her comb, my sunglasses and my bamboo cooking utensils.

She's starting to eat finger foods. Avocado is still her favorite, but she likes small pieces of banana and HappyBaby Organic Puffs.

I let her taste a tiny bit of cream from my chocolate cream Oreo. In fact, it was such a small piece I actually wondered if she'd even be able to taste it (what was I thinking?) She delightfully chomped it; and then she looked at the package, and back at me, and back at the package and back at me, opened her mouth and started beating her hand on the package. I think she was trying to tell me something. Luckily I was able to distract her with banana :)

Conrad used to call her a little monkey until one day I was folding laundry and I called her a little monkey. Then I proceeded to explain to her that she wasn't actually a monkey and that she was a Homo sapien. Then, of course, I had to explain what genus 'Homo' means and where it comes from and what species 'sapien' means and where the word comes from, etc (what can I say? I'm a biologist) So now Conrad calls her a little Homo sapien. Except two weeks ago, he told her that she wasn't a real Homo sapien yet [let's go and confuse her a little more ;) ] First, he told her, she needs to develop a pincer grasp and learn to reason. Haha! I love that those are the two things he picked. Well, immediately she started picking things up with her index finger and opposable thumb. So I suppose she's halfway there ;)

I can't believe she's 8 months old. At least she's still living. That's gotta be a point for me in somebody's book, right? ;)

Double the Teeth, Double the Fun

2011-06-16T10:50:00.001-07:00

Two days ago Emma had 4 teeth. Today she has 8.

I just realized that you can see from the picture in the post above that the gums under her top lip are swollen. It was taken a few days ago. Sad.

Panacea:

2011-04-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

a cure-all. My cure-all (or at least cure-three) is breastmilk. Talk about healing properties. Most recently I put a couple drops in each side of Emma's nose, waited a minute, and suctioned it out with a bulb syringe. Like me, when she is getting over being sick, everything settles into her chest and sinuses. She was having trouble sleeping because, self-soother that she is, every time she tried to stick her thumb in her mouth to get herself back to sleep, she couldn't breathe. It was a doctor's recommendation (though it did come through a few channels before it made it to me). Well, it worked. Well. Very well. So yeah. There ya go. Try it. I've heard it's really good for ear and eye infections also. Luckily, we haven't yet had to deal with those. But don't worry; I'll let you know how it goes when we do.

This is a link to another fantastic little something. My friend makes a salve with comfrey and plantain leaves, beeswax and olive oil. Note: never take comfrey internally and use sparingly on broken skin.

I think I'm a mom...

2011-04-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

I took a look at my amazon wishlist - I started making it because Conrad (and Mom) always ask me what I want for holidays and I never ever can think of anything I want. So now when I think of something I want I do a quick search on amazon and add it or something very similar to my wish list. This is what I have:

TrendyKid becoPotty, Natural

Lion Brand Cotton Yarn

Lion Brand Nature's choice organic cotton yarn

Real Nappies Splash Wrap Swimming Diaper Medium

Jack LaLanne Power Juicer Juicing Machine

Ozeri Pro Digital Kitchen Food Scale

Creative Home Marble Pastry Board (I want a granite cutting board - I hate using plastic cutting boards)

Bamboo Cutting Boards

Planet Earth- the Complete Series

Lots and lots of toys and musical instruments

I realized that almost everything is kitchen or baby related. I've always loved to cook and I get braver with experimentation every week, I think. Especially now that I'm not doing cow's milk or egg, but I never thought I'd have a biodegradable potty on my wish list...

I think I'm a mom :D

What does your wish list say about you?

18 - minutes of sleep I got last night

2011-04-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

17 - number of times I'm sure we woke the neighbors

16 - number of times I got up with Emma before I finally decided not to go back to bed

15 - days until our parents arrive from England and Indiana and get to meet the Jelly Bean :)

14 - diaper changes in a day (poor baby)

13 - minutes Emma spent in the bath after projectile vomiting three times

12- days until my birthday :) and the first day of finals :(

11 - minutes after my shower before Emma threw up on me

10 - times I had to remind myself that my baby won't be little and cuddly forever, so I should try to enjoy it, even though she's sick

9 - times she's smiled at me even though I know she feels horrible :)

8 - times I've had to clean Emma's nose

7 - hours until my Love returns home :)

6 - times I tripped over or kicked things (mostly our food storage in the middle of the kitchen) last night

5 - collective hours of screaming/crying baby

4 - hours of sleep Emma Ruth got last night

3 - bowls of cold cereal I've eaten today (but I did discover how to make my own schoko muesli )

2 - days until we (hopefully) find out if we are finalists for the website competition

1 - comfortable reclining rocking chair added to my if-I-had-a-million-dollars wish list

I WANT TO EAT IT! (I'm sure she thinks this at least 80 times a day)

2011-03-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

Oooh, big black thing!

I want to EAT it!!!

Don't you hate great hair days...

2011-03-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

when every other day is not, and you only realize at midnight that you have fabulous hair and nobody saw it all day?

Oh well :) Here are a few pictures:

"Ooooh! Mama, check out the spots!"

"Wow, aren't they pretty spots?"

She stared at those spots for almost 6 minutes.

Southern Inspirations Garden Design

2011-03-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

We've set up our site. And entered it into a contest. Check it out! (and help us win :) )

http://www.si-garden-design.com/

And like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern-Inspirations-Garden-Design/213623025317739

11 step program for those thinking of having children

2011-03-28T13:26:00.001-07:00

I find steps 3, 5, and 7 particularly applicable.

Step 1

1. Go to the grocery store.

2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.

3. Go home.

4. Pick up the paper.

5. Read it for the last time.

Step 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

1. Methods of discipline.

2. Lack of patience.

3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.

4. Allowing their children to run wild.

5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Step 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)

2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.

3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.

4. Set the alarm for 3AM.

5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.

6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.

7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.

8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.

9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 1-2 years. Look cheerful and together.

Step 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.

2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.

3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.

4. Then rub them on the clean walls.

5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.

6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Step 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.

2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Step 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.

Leave it there.

2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.

3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.

4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Step 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Step 8

1. Hollow out a melon.

2. Make a small hole in the side.

3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.

4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.

5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.

6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Step 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Step 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Step 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Our Diaper Rash Cure

2011-03-25T19:57:00.001-07:00

About the time that I figured out Emma was allergic to cow milk protein, and her rash started to go away, she developed her first real diaper rash. Nothing seemed to work. We had been using cloth diapers for a few months already, and I tried loads of different creams, salves, oils, butters, and ointments in combination with every type of disposable diaper and wipe I could find at Walmart and Costco. It had turned into a yeast infection, which went away with antifungal cream and a little apple cider vinegar. But the rash continued. In a desperate attempt to make it go away, I resorted to hydrocortisone cream. It worked. For three days. As soon as I stopped using it, it returned. Disposables made it worse (except for Pampers Swaddlers which didn't help either). This week, I finally found something that works.

I clean her with a wipe if she needs it (I use Pampers Sensitive, Equate with Shea, or homemade cloth wipes in a solution of water and a little baby wash). At every change, I apply breastmilk, let it air dry (or pat it dry with a clean cloth if I'm in a hurry), apply witch hazel, let it dry, apply cornstarch (or Johnson's pure cornstarch baby powder with zinc oxide - this is good at night) and put on a clean cloth diaper. Coconut oil and shea butter also work really well in place of the cornstarch and are both cloth diaper friendly. Cornstarch is just a lot cheaper.

This worked so well the first time - I followed the above steps and when I changed her diaper just an hour and a half later, the rash was gone. I've done this at every diaper change and it hasn't returned yet. She went from seriously red all over, to absolutely no rash at all! Yay!

I know most of you reading this won't care, and I know that for the few of you who may, this may not work for you. What works for one does not necessarily work for all or even many or few, but if all else is failing, it's worth a try. It took a lot of trial and error to find this one.

Durum/Doner

2011-03-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

It's a Turkish food that you can find everywhere in Germany. So tasty! It's usually known as a Doner kebab and is served in flatbread, but Durum kebab is served in a tortilla. We found these huge garlic herb tortillas and decided to give it a try. The kebab is usually a combination of lamb and other types of meat and is similar to a gyro (shaved from a spit where it's heated on an electric broiler) We fried thin deli pastrami and beef - so that it's almost crispy - and the texture was a perfect match. Then you just add your sauce of choice. In Germany, you usually choose from a selection of a garlic yogurt sauce, sweet chili sauce and sometimes a few others. Since I can't do yogurt, we used sweet chili and a papaya poppy seed dressing. There was a nice strong garlic flavor in the tortilla, so together with the dressing, it worked really well. The rest of the fillings are: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red cabbage, sweet red/purple onion, and we added orange bell pepper. There is one Doner place in Berlin that puts fries in their durum - we had left over potatoes, so we used them this first time. It was tasty, but the last time we made them we used fries, and it was much better. There's just something about that crispy outside texture that adds to the overall flavor...so good. :D

Oh, and you have to wrap it tightly in foil if you don't want to make a huge mess...

WE MADE DURUM!!

2011-03-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

And it was oh-so-tasty!!! We forgot the feta, though...Sad. Next time.

Also, we didn't have a lamb kebab. We used thinly sliced pastrami. And fried it :)

Precious Sleeping Baby

2011-03-09T19:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Baby #2

Yes, she is still asleep :)

She's a thumb-sucker. But she's so cute.

Recently, she has started sleeping like I do. Except for the thumb thing. She still does that.

After visiting Papa at work for lunch.

Teeth!

2011-03-08T21:17:00.001-08:00

Two of them :)

Adventures in Sitting

2011-03-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

And falling...And sitting...

Practice makes perfect, right? :)

Adventures in Eating

2011-03-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

Sweet Potatoes - not bad

Banana - pretty great

Avocado - best thing since breastmilk

This baby loves food.

symantics

2011-02-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

"I'll be there now now"

In South Africa, the phrase 'just now' means 'in the next few hours' and 'now now' means what we would probably refer to as 'soon.' This took some getting used to. Especially when I was in England with Conrad's family and we were going to leave to go to the shops 'just now' or 'now now.' Apparently 'now' used alone actually means 'now', but I've never actually heard a South African use it. And 'right now' isn't a phrase that exists in the South African vocabulary.

"The other day..."

This morning we were working out and I commented that I was going to vacuum the other day and didn't have time. I was referring to yesterday. Normally I would have said yesterday, but it was a long day and a long night and I forgot that it was only yesterday until after I said it. Conrad's reply? A chuckle. Remember that it was a long night, so I didn't understand why he was laughing. Because "the other day can mean anything in the last seven years" was the answer. We've talked about his before. Just about every day, Conrad begins some sentence with 'the other day' and generally it means anytime in the last three years. Although, he has been known to reference experiences with this phrase that took place more than three years ago. Seldom does it mean less than a few months ago. So when he asks, "Remember the other day when we were talking to so-and-so" (His so-and-so is usually referred to as thingamabob - bob, he says, is a name, and therefore it can refer to people as well) I usually just look at him questioningly until he realizes that the other day and thingamabob mean absolutely nothing to me and that if he's referring to anytime before last week, I probably don't remember anyway.

"One of these days..."

So we would think that, according to Conrad, "One of these days" would mean anytime in the next seven to seventy years, right? Yeah...it doesn't. Last Saturday we were talking about the bassinet and our tiny apartment. I decided we should let somebody borrow it until baby number 2, because we want to keep the bassinet for when we do need it again one of these days, but don't have the room for it right now. "Don't say 'one of these days,' Love" was Conrad's reply. "Why?" I naturally asked. I was puzzled this time. "Because one of these days seems like in the next couple of weeks or months."

No wonder Emma stopped talking...

My Slightly Feminist Soapbox

2011-02-24T09:37:00.001-08:00

There are two items of business in this post. The first one is the following:

Where Have The Good Men Gone?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704409004576146321725889448.html?mod=wsj

It's a long article, and I don't actually care if you read it. Basically it's blaming women for the pre-adulthood stage of young men in their 20's and why so many of these no-longer-adolescents still spend too much time in the adolescent stage watching Comedy Central and cartoons that are meant for children and laughing at fart jokes and having Halo parties on Valentine's day, then complaining that women their age don't want to date them. Really? Come on, people!

Secondly, I have a friend with a little boy. Two friends, each with little boys actually. These particular little boys are just a few months older than Emma Ruth. Now, as we know from previous posts, Emma is teething. A little over two months ago (just before Emma turned two months old) she started going through the oral stage - drooling and putting her hands in her mouth. She wasn't fussy, just slobbery. Six people asked me if she was teething. Lots of drool and hands in the mouth doesn't necessarily mean that a baby is teething, in fact often doesnt, for those of you who actually didn't know. It's relevant because Emma Ruth was definitely not teething.

These friends posted (one on a blog and one on facebook) that their babies were spitting and drooling all over the place. The responses? (Note: these babies were six and five months old at the time) Not a single one about teething, not that that means anything, really. But all about how "Boys will be boys," and "But that's what little boys do!" and "That's the fun part of being boys," and "that's what happens when you have little boys."

Does anybody else see the theme? There were more. There was one comment about how "practice makes perfect." Whatever that's supposed to mean. They weren't even "that's what babies do." But it is, isn't it? Babies do that. So my little girl must be teething? Because she's not a boy? Apparently, that's what little girls do. They teethe.

I did see a lot of people during this period who didn't say anything at all, except maybe "she just drooled all over your hair." Thanks. For being aware that all babies drool and for letting me know that I have to wash my hair again today.

It's not a big deal. It's just something I noticed. One of those little things that reinforces gender identities. There are important differences between males and females. Not only do I understand that fact, but I cherish it.

But do we really need to make excuses for boys to be rough and mean and dirty and gross? (This is no longer about babies drooling, by the way) It seems our society often excuses little boys from learning to become little gentlemen because we are too busy trying to turn our little girls into proper young women. When a little boy gets his pants dirty playing in the mud, we tell him to change his clothes and cringe because we have another load of laundry to do already and we just bought those jeans, and we sigh because "boys will be boys." When a little girl tears her dress climbing a tree, we dub her a 'tomboy' and tell her that it's not appropriate to climb trees in a dress. Is it? No, probably not, simply because of who might be around while she's doing it. But is that the point? And what's gender appropriate, really?

#2 has arrived

2011-02-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

The second bottom tooth popped through this morning. Poor Emma. It was a bit of a rough night. But her little teeth are so cute. Granted, we can't really actually see them well yet...it's still pretty exciting.

Did you know that enamel is the hardest substance in the human body?

2011-02-21T20:45:00.001-08:00

This morning was greeted with something very sharp protruding from Little Miss Emma's lower gums. Turns out she's a pretty perfect baby after all...just a teething one.

tummy time - sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes downright traumatic

2011-02-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes tummy-time is super fun:

And sometimes it just plain wears you out:

We had quite a traumatic experience with tummy time the other day. Everything went well for about three minutes, at which time, Emma Ruth decided to push herself up and lock her elbows. Surprising, but satisfying. She smiled and let herself back down, looking around and doing a few more baby push ups. Then she pulled her legs up; her feet caught and she lunged forward one full baby body length at incredible speed, pushing herself completely off of her blanket. Twice. Luckily, she didn't experience any carpet burn on her face, because I'm pretty sure her nose was grinding pretty hard on our heavy-duty, utility-style carpet. That was when the screaming started. After 12 minutes of cuddling and soothing, she fell asleep - one short hour after the end of nap number one.

Emma Ruth Loves Her Papa

2011-02-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

A few pictures for your enjoyment :)

2011-02-18T14:16:00.000-08:00

"But what do you do all day?"

2011-02-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

When you are a 'stay-at-home' parent whose spouse is taking 15+ credits at university and has to work 20 hours a week;

when you battle to get a fussy, sleepy baby to sleep at night and every nap for a week because she is too interested in what is going on around her;

when your baby wakes up screaming at 2am and even after being changed, fed and cuddled, doesn't want to sleep and is still screaming;

when you finally get dinner cooked, the baby bathed and put to bed, the leftovers put away, the messes cleaned and a shower, and then you have to shower again at 1am because the baby peed on you and puked on you after waking up in the middle of the night;

when you decide that it isn't even worth it to try to sleep because you have to get out of bed every ten minutes to comfort a tired/sick/fussy/teething baby;

when you have to change your whole diet and menu because your baby is allergice to milk protein and eggs;

when you leave your baby bare-bottomed so that a yeast infection/diaper rash will go away and have to change the sheets three times and do laundry every day (at the laundry down the road with a baby strapped to you)...

that's when you can ask me what I do all day.

Weeks 2-4

2010-11-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

"What are you lookin' at?"

Our little jelly bean

2010-11-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

Thinking...

"Enough with the pictures, already"

Weeks 2-4

2010-11-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

Playing hide-and-seek :)

I think she looks like my Mammaw Helen in this one:
Already trying to stick things up her nose. This could be a problem...

For Yolanda

2010-11-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

Two weeks old. This was taken after church - We love the little skirt and sacque.

She was lying on my lap as we were chatting with Conrad's family. As I moved, she got a fright, and her arms stayed up in the air with her hands open like that... poor baby.

Baby Emma

2010-10-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

The Arrival

2010-10-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

Nanna M and Emma Ruth

Happy Baby :)

Emma and her tired Papa

Coming Home

One more of Nanny M and Emma

summer in Indiana

2010-10-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Nursery

2010-10-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Crib Assembly :)

Some very kind relatives gave us this desk when we first moved back to the States. (Our apartment furniture consisted of two card tables-one at which we studied and one for a kitchen/dining table-four folding chairs and an air mattress) Conrad has a nice, large desk that was given to him by some kind strangers and there is a small desk built in a corner in our new apartment. So this desk has been converted into a storage/changing table :)

Gift bags make great storage compartments :)

Crib Assembled :)

The nursery-or part of it, at least. There's a tall bookshelf on the left as well as a small shelf that holds all her clothes, blankets, etc.

We've been so blessed by family and friends who have helped us prepare for the baby. Thanks everybody.

The Bump

2010-10-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

This is probably the last bump picture we will upload.

38 Weeks. 38cm. Circumference 99cm.

Are you in there? Come out Baby, come out!

2010-10-10T17:41:00.001-07:00

With the baby on the way (or so we hope) we realized that we hadn't taken any pregnancy pictures :o Here is our favourite picture:

2010-09-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Do people somehow think that if they stare at you out of the corner of their eye without turning their head to follow you directly as you walk by that you won't notice they're staring? I don't mind if people stare. I mean, I lived in Germany for 19 months. And as a missionary, no less. If you want to look at my gigantic pregnant belly or watch me waddle, just do it. It's not actually less awkward to pretend you don't notice when I see you watching me... It's not even less conspicuous.

Silhouette

2010-08-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

30 weeks. 29 cm.

Can you tell whether I'm looking at or away from the camera?

My husband is cute

2010-07-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

Last night -

Conrad: "Wanna play Twister?"

Me: "Haha! Seriously..?"

Conrad: *smiles mischievously*

Me: "Okay"

And the winner was...

Well, by process of elimination, it sure wasn't the pregnant lady. Conrad was pretty excited. He's never won before :) We've played a few times since I've been pregnant. I thought for sure I would lose last time. Somehow, I didn't. This time. Well, I didn't even have a chance.

pregnancy-a few things I love, and a few things I don't love so much

2010-07-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

What I love most about pregnancy:

-feeling the baby move

-talking with Conrad about what she will be like

-making baby stuff (knitted things and origami to decorate her bedroom)

-making the day of people I don't even know-the other day a woman I barely know in a work meeting exclaimed with this huge smile as I walked into the room "Oh, there's a baby!"

-anticipation of something great

-knowing that every day I've accomplished something great, even if I didn't really get anything done

What I miss:

-cuddling

-sleeping on my back

-cute heels

-tying my own shoes

-not having to plan every activity around where the nearest bathroom is

-my waist

-my feet

-when shaving my legs was easy

-when bending over was possible

-doing any one activity for more than 45 minutes at a time

-cute clothes...that fit

What I definitely will not miss:

-getting comfortable enough to fall asleep just in time to have to use the restroom...again

-visiting the bathroom every hour, day an night

-leg cramps

-back pain

-morning sickness

-heartburn

-my own personal space heater in the middle of summer

-my second chin

rectangles are good

2010-06-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

I realize that there are no pictures with my face...they're coming. For now, here is the most recent bump - taken just minutes ago. And the skirts I made.

So I went shopping, because of course, all of my clothes stopped fitting. I can still squeeze into a pair of board shorts and one of my pairs of jeans - they ride low and are stretchy. Otherwise, I've got nothing. So a few months ago I went shopping only to find that clothes. are expensive. So I wandered into the fabric section, feeling daring. I found these two great fabrics - a navy blue fabric with white pin stripes and a nice dark brown fabric with thin light brown stripes spaced a few cm apart (it's hard to tell from the other photo) - for a buck a yard! Each of them. So I was feeling ambitious. Nevermind the fact that I don't own a sewing machine...

I came home and looked for a free pattern online. No luck. It's a skirt, right. They've gotta be the easiest possible things to make. So I designed one myself. Something that rides low, for obvious reasons, and won't bunch up. So I got to work. I designed a pattern, cut it out of newspaper, "tried it on" and went to work. This all took about 30 minutes (I don't really sew-I can, and I even like it. I just don't do it often. So I felt like I was doing pretty great) So far, so good. I lay my blue fabric out, traced and cut...

I turned it over. I wanted vertical stripes, and somehow I had managed to cut them horizontally. No big deal though, right? I mean, I had bought three yards of each. I was planning on making a few skirts and a few pairs of shorts out of each. Now I would have two different skirts :) I started sewing. By hand. The weather was hot. I didn't want to wait around. I got a seam done. Then it started snowing. Motivation gone. Two weeks later, I got a call from my grandma. She'd heard I was making my maternity clothes by hand. Then she offered her sewing machine :) And the motivation was back. I finished the first skirt-it wasn't exactly what I was going for, but it worked. As I contemplated what would work better, I finally decided to go simple. Forty minutes later, I cut out a large rectangle. Forty minutes to decide that a rectangle was best...

It took me 10 minutes to measure, cut and sew the entire skirt. Not only was it quick, it actually worked :) The next two skirts took another 20 minutes total. Piece of cake. They were so simple, I decided to not even worry about making shorts. Plus skirt are nice and airy :)

But then...I decided I should probably test them. The first three were fine, but as I pulled on the waistband of the last one, the elastic snapped into the skirt...I had sewed too close to the edge of the elastic. Another forty minutes later, I had it fixed. It took me longer to design the first one wrong and then to fix the last one than it did to make all four of them.

But the material was a fabulous price. I love my skirts. And I learned that rectangles are good. (Oh and be careful about the elastic)

Bump Photo #2

2010-06-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well, there you have it. It's a girl! :) Bump photo number 2 is a bit outdated (sorry). We'll post another soon (of course, soon is a relative term). We've both been busy with classes and work. I finished my last exam for the term today. Woohoo! 8 Week vacation, here I come. Of course, that eight week vacation is only a break from classes - not work. And I'll start those again in the fall. Three more classes and a field exam and I'll finally have my degree. Seems like it's been forever.

Conrad was called as Sunday School President. He's really excited. We've made a list of things we want to accomplish this summer. Conrad wants to learn a bit of photography. He's teaching me to play the organ (and piano) and we are both going to learn how to knit/crochet. I want to crochet. Conrad wants to knit. I love that I have a husband who wants to learn to knit :) I think it's great. Also, Spanish is on our list as well as a list of classics to read. Of course, our main goal is to get the baby room done and have as much ready as possible before the semester starts again. We'll see how many and much of our hobbies we are able to develop before the semester starts...Oh and did I mention sewing? Conrad likes to sew. He says it's relaxing because it's creative, it's a useful hobby and he doesn't actually have to think. He thinks a lot -- he programs all day. Then he comes home and programs some more for two other jobs. So if anybody in the area happens to be or know of somebody selling a functioning sewing machine for a good deal, let us know. On that note: I made my own maternity skirts. I'll post pictures now.

Actually, I think I'll post pictures tomorrow...

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2010-05-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

The Good: we heard the baby's heartbeat! Yay! Conrad's reaction: "It's alive!" :) (not in the maniacal crazy scary movie voice - more like one of wow, that's really cool!)

The Transition from Bad to Good: Days without morning sickness record: 5. It's still not completely gone, but it's definitely not so bad vomiting once in the morning every four or five days. So much better than 24 hr nausea and being sick three times a day. I can totally handle this.

The Bad: Welcome to my body baby; I see you are uncomfortable with the living space. It's okay, you make room. I'll be uncomfortable for you. Oh, and my clothes don't fit anymore.

The Ugly: You know when you rent/lease and there are rules? Like you can't put more than four holes in the walls in any given room? Or you can't add on if you decide the house is too small. Baby is adding on and though it's a pro-grower, it's not a pro-builder. Baby is leaving evidence of demolition.

Oh well, grow baby grow. We love you already. And feel free to stay in as long as possible. As excited as we are to have you, we like you best where you are right now.

funny bumps and publishers

2010-04-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

Birthday was fantastic. We mostly took the day off. Had a bbq with a couple of friends at the park. Birthday cake: cheesecake with strawberries AND raspberries! It was fabulous. (Thanks, Steph and Cam). It was the first birthday I've had (minus mission) in about 6 years where it either wasn't a reading day or I didn't have scheduled finals. We spent a few hours studying, but it was surprisingly non-stressful :) It was a good b-day and I love my husband! Okay, here's what you have all been waiting for:

the bump. It looks funny to me...and no, I'm not sticking it out. Due Oct 23rd. Graduating December. Working this summer. LOVING the nice weather. Very excited for baby.

We sent it to the publishers!! Woohoo! Wish us luck...

A few random pictures from last summer

2010-04-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

These two pictures are great. Evelyn isn't really a musical prodigy, but it looks like she's teaching Gideon how to play the piano :)

Our first meal in our first apartment together.

Moving in

Georg and Gabi's wedding in Holland

Because we love tasty food...

2010-04-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Conrad woke up very early to make us hot-cross buns on Easter morning (I have a wonderful husband :) And they were very tasty - despite the fact that I don't like raisins.

samoosas (in roll form)

Rotkohl, white rice with onion sauce, breaded chicken

Chicken veggie pie filling

cheesy onion soup with delicious garlic cheesebread

I made yogurt...in a crockpot!!

2010-04-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

The first time I made it, it was the consistency of a thick yogurt drink.

The second time, we ate it with a spoon. But first we mixed it with fruit juice, so it would be tasty :)

tasty dinner

2010-04-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

mmm...tasty

Conrad cutting pineapple for desert :P

The long-awaited update of updates (for anybody who bothers reading anymore)

2010-03-01T16:09:00.001-08:00

Update: we like our car. It still runs. This makes us happy. We don't like our apartment anymore. We are probably moving-within Provo, of course. School is school and I'm just about ready to be done. Finally. It's been over for quite some time now, but Christmas was a lot of fun. We visited some extended family on Christmas day and decided to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve - German style. We read the Christmas story, had family home evening, opened presents and had an oil fondue for dinner and a chocolate fondue for dessert. It was really quick to prepare and clean-up and most of the time was spent together visiting while we waited for our food to cook. We decided to make it one of our Christmas traditions. For New Year's Eve, we invited some friends over (most of whom were out of town-or state) But a few came and we played Killer Bunnies :) It's pretty much our favorite, and we recommend it to anybody who likes games. And we had sooo much food. Cuz everybody knows that a party needs two things: good company and good food. The only regret is that there wasn't enough time to eat all of it :(

Also, we're having a baby. And I'll end on that note, because nothing else really seems like news in comparison...

what's goin' on

2009-10-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Two things have caused me to wait so long in posting again: 1-I'm lazy. I would like to say I'm busy, and while that would be true, I could probably find time to write at least a few sentences. But alas I have not and now I shame myself and begin anew. After 2, which is that every time I have thought that I should and have even begun, I've thought, "you know, I don't think anybody cares." And perharps you don't. Perhaps I'm writing to myself. But this is ok. And that is why I'm writing again.

Where to begin..? We made it back to BYU. That's good right? Conrad is working for the college of Nursing technology dept. Programming. Sounds boring to me, but he says it's satisfying and he gets paid well because he's so good at what he does.

I am a German 330 TA. Mostly I just grade written papers every week, but sometimes people actually ask me for help and that's fun. I don't get paid as much, but I like it a lot :)

We bought a car. I'll post pictures later. It's a 1998 Audi A6. The man who fixed our oil leak repeatedly told us we stole it because we got such a good deal. It was a good deal, and it helped us find an apartment. When we first got back to Provo, we didn't actually have one yet. But now we do. We sleep on an air mattress and eat and study at card tables, but we have a desk and a kitchen shelf and soon we'll have a couch (we hope). Oh and more shelves.

We study and work all day. Then we cook dinner. And then we study some more. And then we go to bed. Except on Sundays when we talk to family on skype and go to church and then pretty much sleep.

This Saturday we are going to Salt Lake to see the Autumn Symphony. (We have at least two extra tickets so if anybody wants them, let me know)

I feel like we never stop, but life is good and busy life is not so bad.

Oh and I have two semesters left after this! BYU has been great, but it's time to graduate. Besides, Conrad is going to be here for two more years after that. I can enjoy the seminars and library and devotionals (the ones that are enjoyable anyway) and not have homework! I don't even know what life is like without homework. Except mission. But that's different.

The Austins are back! They arrived in Chemnitz when I had 4 1/2 months left. They're the best. They spoke in Mapleton on Sunday, and Conrad and I visited. It make me mission-trunky. I can't wait to serve another mission.

Random Pictures From England

2009-07-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

Conrad at Stonehenge - We were just outside the gate. The path for people who paid was just inside the gate. They were about 1 foot closer than we were to the rocks.

We weeded and tidied the garden at the church. The garden was a mess and everything was overgrown. It took us the entire day and the help of the missionaries, but at the end, it looked really nice. It's so satisfying to pull weeds, and I still want a garden. The lavender was all over the place and the area where I spent most of my time. As a result, I picked two large bunches of it and hung them up in our bedroom to dry (yes, the walls are purple). Our window is always open, despite the rain and cold, and when the wind blows in (which is most of the time) it blows past the lavender making our room smell fabulous. I love lavender.

At the castle. I'm pretty sure there used to be statues where we're sitting...

Another Stonehenge Picture

2009-07-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

Swindon, Stonehenge, and Highclere

2009-07-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

Swindon was great. It was nice to have a few days off. The weather was typical English weather-rainy, windy and cold with a bit of sunshine off and on throughout the day. We had fun, did some shopping and planned a picnic in the park. We couldn't find a park and the weather was bad so we had a picnic in the room instead, which turned out to be a lot of fun.

On the way up, we stopped at Stonehenge. Basically it's a stone henge. Cool? Yes. Worth paying for? Definitely not. We payed 3 pounds to park and walked around the gate and were almost as close to the actual rocks as those who paid 6.50 to see the same thing. Also it started pouring after we were there for about five minutes...I took a picture of Conrad smiling in front of stonehenge as the dark clouds were rolling in. The commentary from Conrad: "I'm smiling. And why am I smiling? Because we didn't get ripped off by paying 13 pounds to see the same thing everybody else is seeing." A lady walked by at that moment-I don't think she was impressed.

On the way back, we stopped at Highclere castle. We walked around the 1,000 acre estate (I think we covered a good 2 acres) and enjoyed the beautiful gardens, took a few nice pictures and decided that inheriting a castle and 1,000 acre estate wouldn't be such a horrible burden but that it's probably not worth it to buy a castle :) Oh, and the library was pretty cool.

And now we're back. Next adventure? Finding a place to live when we get back.

Oh and 'Happy Birthday' one more time to my wonderful, amazing friends: Tara and Steph - I love you both! Happy Birthday!!

2009-07-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

This is a butterfly bush outside our bedroom window. I remembered that I love my camera. I'm going to start building my portfolio again. Another box on the list of things to do this summer :)

Life is good. Normal. Conrad is working a lot: programming, painting, tuning pianos, programming, working on the garden designs, other hard labor for random people and companies, and more programming. I'm editing a novel. It's so exciting. Conrad's sister is incredibly talented, and I can't wait until her book is published. That's basically it, for now.

More later. We're going to Swindon on Monday for two days. Yay! I don't know what they have there, but I'm sure it'll be fun :)

'After' Pictures

2009-07-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

Washed out to sea...this is three days later. It took us five minutes to walk there the day of the accident. This day it took us 30 minutes. There were dolphins when we arrived. It didn't exactly look like this the day the wave came...

This is where we were when the freak-wave came and washed us out to sea.

Here are a few of our injuries:

Swollen Lower Back

Helen's Back

Conrad's Hand

Conrad's Knee

Honeymoon Pictures

2009-07-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

These are from the first week of honeymoon. The ocean was gorgeous

A New Life

2009-05-31T06:24:00.000-07:00

Ok everybody, here's the story :)

Conrad and I met in Germany, where we were both serving missions. He returned home 9 months before I did, and we began writing to each other. We continued to write emails, chat online and telephone almost every day. (Thank you modern technology.) Eventually I was able to visit him in England, and then he came to Utah to study at BYU where we both are now (or will be when we return in August)

So we arrived in England 24 hours earlier than planned, which was such a blessing because we were able to help prepare everything for the wedding and sealing the following Saturday. Everything came together wonderfully, and as you can see from the pictures, the wedding was beautiful. The pictures outside are mostly at the temple grounds in London, a few were at the church in Winchester.

The weather was gorgeous, which also made me really happy. It had been, true to English fashion, cold and rainy since we had arrived. After finally arriving and waiting at the airport, we boarded the plane for Mallorca.

Our transportation from the airport to the hotel was an hour late and we didn't get to the hotel until midnight, but we had thirteen days to enjoy a long-desired holiday and a honeymoon on a nice little tropical island.

And we did enjoy it...for the first eight days.

On the eighth day, we found this really cool cove where the waves would come crashing in and then hit the rocks and there were these concret steps that led down to the see and a white railing with a step on it that looked like pool steps. Everywhere you look, you see the horizon and the sea or the rocky coast (made up of hard, sharp lava rock) We hiked out there one day and watched the waves for two hours. Huge waves would come out and smash agains the rocks and then flow lightly over the bottom concrete step. The next day we went back. It's such a beautiful place. We decided to stand on the bottom step and let the water flow over our feet. Sometimes it would splash us a little. The water was freezing cold, but the weather was warm and sunny so it was really nice. Anyway, a huge wave came, crashed into the rocks and flowed over our feet, then another came except it didn't get stopped by the rocks. The entire water level rose where we were standing to our knees and the wave knocked us into the sharp rocks behind us and the strong current sucked us out to sea. In about three seconds all of that happened. I blacked out for two of those seconds and opened my eyes underwater to a deep green color and the feel of the current. I came up to the surface, and realized I was 20 meters aways from where we'd been knocked in. The day before we had discussed how if somebody fell into the see in that area, they'd die because they'd either be smashed into the rocks or drowned in the strong undercurrent. Our first thoughts were surprise-we had been sucked out to sea and hit the rocks and we weren't dead. But the waves were huge and the current was still strong and there was nobody for as far as we could see. When I came up, I asked Conrad, what do we do? He said swim out, so we tried but it was too much and neither one of us went anywhere. Then he said we should try swimming back to the railing. I told him that there was no way. We would be sucked back into the rocks and out to where we are. There was so much pressure where the current and waves met. We tried yelling help but there was nobody who could hear or see us. We were both praying the whole time. Finally, a sailboat appeared in the distance. We tried yelling but it dissappeared around the rocks after a few minutes. We both thought we were going to drown. There were no other options so I started swimming toward the railing. I made it within 10 meters and it became harder to swim. I swam with as much energy as I could. After about ten seconds, I looked up and realized I hadn't moved. I couldn't make it back to the railing. If I'd made it into that area, I probably would have been dashed into the rocks on the side and wouldn't have made it.

Another boat came as I swam out to where Conrad was. We tried yelling but again nobody saw or heard. I looked around after the boat disappeared and saw nothing but waves and rock and horizon. I decided that if another boat came it would be just as far out as the others and decided to swim out. I swam as far as I could and after treading water and swimming for 60 minutes another sailboat appeared. We started yelling for the boat. Every time a wave went I swam toward the boat, and every time a wave came I swam with it as it rose and then at the top, I raised my arms and yelled.We yelled until we could see somebody's face. Finally I saw the man. He and another tried to throw a life preserve out to us but the wind was too strong, the boat was too high and the waves were too big. It just made it halfway out and got carried back into the side of the boat. Either they used their radio or the divers saw the sailboat, but four divers came on a little dingy and rescued us. They pulled me in first and in less than a minute Conrad was in the boat. They gave us oxygen and wrapped us in emergency space blankets. My back had been slammed into the rocks and then scraped down them leaving my back, arm and part of my leg scraped and bloody. Conrad had tried to grab the rocks and hold on leaving tiny cuts all over and one big gash in his hands. He also got a deep cut in one of his knees and grazed the other pretty badly. After we were finally stable enought to move, an ambulance took us to the hospital and we spent 6 hours there...

By the time we had been at the hospital for about two hours, I was more scared that we'd die from an infection from the hospital than from any injuries caused by almost drowning. That it was dirty and crowded is an understatement.

We are both doing much better and life is good. Married life is wonderful, though I don't recommend getting sucked out to sea on your honeymoon...or anytime for that matter. Oh and buy travel insurance. ;)

Wedding and Temple Pictures

2009-05-21T07:43:00.000-07:00