The Poulsens

Photo shoot

2012-01-17T14:57:00.000-08:00

Catch-up

2012-01-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

I suppose it's time for a bit of an update! There were 3 little reasons (named William, Isaac, and James) I had no energy to keep up on the blogging, but now life is returning to normal. We are so glad James is finally here. Here is his story (I'll leave out the gory stuff for you sensitive types):
I had contractions starting at around 34 weeks so I was exhausted and ready to have this little boy make his debut. When I was 38 1/2 weeks I woke up in the middle of the night with a contraction that was so intense I could hear my heart pounding in my head. That was at 2:45 am. I waited to see if it was a fluke, but then had another one at 3:00. The dog sat at my feet growling as I breathed through it, which I thought was really funny. I woke up Greg and told him it looked like his prediction was coming true and this baby was coming in the middle of the night. Despite the fact that his wife was in labor, he was not that excited about getting out of bed, but before he could even finish asking me "Are you sure this is the real thing?" I had another contraction and he said, "Let's go. I've seen that look before!"
My sister and her husband were kind enough to rush to the house to stay with Will and Isaac and we were out of the house by 3:30. In the middle of a contraction at a stop light my water broke (the first time that's ever happened to me spontaneously), and at 3:40 we pulled up to the emergency room doors.
To get into the labor and delivery ward you have to stand outside the doors and call the nurses inside for them to open the doors. They have a video feed to the doors. When we got there I went off to the side to lean on a counter for another contraction and Greg called the nurses. They had quite the funny exchange.
Greg: "Can you open the doors? My wife's having a baby."
Nurse: "What's your wife's name?"
Greg: "Talia Poulsen."
Nurse: Long pause. "We don't have anyone here by that name."
Greg: "No, she's right here, she's in labor."
Nurse: "What was the name again?"
Greg: "Talia Poulsen."
Nurse: "Sorry, do you know what room she's in?"
Greg: "Talia, come stand next to me. This is my wife. She is having a baby! Can we come in!?"
Even in the middle of contractions the humor of the situation was not lost on me. We finally were allowed in and subjected to a bunch more questions before taken to a room. Then they changed their minds and took us to a different room. After standing around in there for a while by ourselves a nurse came in and finally got things going. She did an initial check and then said "Oh, um, you're an 8. I think I'll go call your midwife." Greg turned on our music (some nice relaxing John Cruz) and did some massage and pressure points while I worked on visualization until the midwife got there. She checked me and asked "how do you feel about pushing?" A few contractions later and our James was born at 5:50 am. From the time I woke up until he was born was only 3 hours.
It was a great birth! The nurses were not very on the ball, but we don't use them very much anyway. Greg was great and the midwife was great and James was great. The hypnobirthing techniques I used were great too. James had a lot of bruising on his arm and sides where the midwife had to really pull on him. Sometimes with big babies they have to break the baby's collarbone to get them out, but we were able to get all 10 pounds 9 ounces of him here unbroken.
James is a wonderful baby. He's very calm and happy and loves looking at his brothers. His brothers really love him too.

Camping Trip

2011-07-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Every year the boys in my extended family go "Male Bonding." A few years ago the girls decided we didn't want to miss out on the fun so we started coming too (but we are only allowed every other year :). Amazingly, despite the fact that I was pregnant and had a cold, none of us slept at all, Ike threw up on me, Greg got shot in the eye with a paintball gun, and Will nearly chopped off his finger, we all had a really good time!
Will loved playing with his cousins, especially Mia and Jacob. This is probably the only picture of him we got because he was always on the move! The two things he was most looking forward to were roasting marshmallows and peeing on a tree, and I'm happy to say he was able to accomplish both.

Ike and Uncle Nick.

Greg got to do what he does- smoke that meat!

Sadie loved playing in the reservoir.

It's DINNERTIME!

It was so nice to be out in the beautiful mountains and with great family members. We really had a good time!

Spring!

2011-03-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

Are you ready? Time to get that garden tilled, compost hauled, and get a jump-start on those weeds! Here's what's blooming around town:

Crocus, Miniature Iris, Forsythia, Hyacinth, Armeria, Candy tuft, Primroses, Daffodils (just starting), and Tulips (only seen 1 so far).

Delectable sea insects

2011-02-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

Greg recently went to Boston for work and brought home 2 lobsters. LIVE lobsters. They spent the night on a bed of seaweed in the fridge and the next day Greg boiled them alive. Don't they look appetizing? Not really! I am not a seafood eater. I'm actually highly "allergic". The idea of eating giant insects that live on the bottom of the ocean is about enough to make me... well, you get the idea.
Despite my overt stick-in-the mud attitude toward the whole adventure, Greg was very excited to cook and eat the little aliens. His dad shared the excitement and came to enjoy the feast as well.

Look at all the equipment needed for this meal for 2. I even had to run to the store to buy nutcrackers at the last minute.

Mmmmm, guts.

This is possibly the goofiest picture of Greg's dad in existence. Had to share it with the world.

The aftermath.

I did have a taste of the lobster, and I must say, it lived up to all my expectations. And yes, it was covered in butter. Still grossest thing I have ever tasted. But Greg had fun and was able to add lobster to his cooking repertoire, and he carefully collected and immediately disposed of every scrap of lobster in the kitchen, so I really can't complain too much.

Cute faces

2011-02-28T07:44:00.000-08:00

It's almost March, so I suppose I've been a little remiss about blogging. The most adorable things that have been going on lately:

We borrowed Papa's truck to move a couch and the boys LOVED it. All day they wanted to ride in the truck, and when they weren't in the truck, they wanted to look at the truck.

Year in Review

2011-01-18T12:12:00.000-08:00

I have never done a Christmas letter for our family before, but 2010 was so amazing for us that I wanted to document it all. If you follow our blog, this will all be old news, but hey, this is for posterity! Plus, then I can throw away last year's calendar. (If you manage to make it all the way to the end, you get a big prize!)

January- We started the year living in our rented house in Ogden. Greg was in school at Weber State. William turned 3 and he had a Cars birthday cake.

February- I did the flowers for a beautiful wedding. It was a lot of fun.

March- Isaac turned 1. We went to Wyoming to visit the Hollins. Isaac and Ayli, who share their birthday, had a little joint party.

April- Things started to get crazy. Greg and I knew we would like to move south after he graduated. We wanted to buy a house, but didn't think it would be possible for another year. We met with the a mortgage councilor at our credit union on the 1st just to see if there was any way we could get a house. Surprisingly, it looked feasible for us, but thing we going to be so busy coming up, and we felt we had to wait until after Greg's graduation to decide what we wanted to do. But the next week, almost on a whim, we decided to meet with a realtor and see if there was any possibility of finding a house. On the 10th we met with Clay and he claimed he could find us the perfect house by the end of the month. We were skeptical, but played along.

To add to the craziness, Tanza came into town on the 10th for a week to plan her wedding. There were lots of trips to Salt Lake over the next week looking for a wedding dress and planning her bridal shower, which I was throwing.

On the 16th, Greg presented his final project to the faculty at school and then we drove down to look at our first batch of houses. They were nice, but not right for us. Then next day was Tanza's shower, which we had to coordinate with our cousin's baby shower which was the same day.

The next week was full of Greg's finals and culminated with his long-awaited graduation on Friday, the 23rd. I was so proud of him and all his hard work. It was over 10 years since he first started college. He had worked full time through most of those years to support me and one, and then two kids, never taking his eye off the goal of getting his degree. He had put off many other dreams and hobbies and sacrificed every spare moment to homework and time on campus. He graduated with his bachelor's degree and a great job offer. He deserved it!

I think it was the next day, although I failed to document it, that we went house-hunting again and found the house we loved. I actually knew it was the place as soon as I saw a picture of it our realtor had emailed to us earlier in the week. Seeing the place in person only confirmed what I already knew. With that, we scheduled the inspection which was completed on April 30th. What a change 30 days can bring!

May- The month was filled with paperwork and endless phone calls. William heard me say our future address on the phone so many times he had it memorized before we ever moved in. After back-and-forth negotiations and rescheduling the closing date 3 times, we closed on the house on Friday, May 21st. Greg had to work that weekend, so we couldn't move right away. We loaded the U-Haul on the next Thursday evening and unloaded it at our new house on Friday.

June- The next weekend Tanza and her fiancé Mike arrived from Hawaii. We spend most of Saturday the 5th at the temple as she took out her endowments. On the 10th my cousin Andrea and her 2 boys came into town to stay with us for the wedding. The next day, Friday, we spent setting up for the reception, in my parent's backyard. I picked up the flowers from the wholesaler and got Tanza's bouquet made. Then there was the big family dinner that night, where Greg displayed his delicious barbeque skills.

The big wedding was on the 12th and it was wonderful! The weather had been lousy all week, and the forecast gave us no hope for improvement, but as soon as the lovebirds came out of the temple, the rain stopped. We all dashed to the house to get ready for the reception and the rain started up again, but about 1 hour before start time, away it went. The sun even came out! Greg and I chased the kids around trying to get them into their suits (poor William wanted nothing to do with it as he didn't feel well) and I set up the centerpieces and put the flowers on the cake. The whole thing came off without a hitch. The decorations were awesome (if I do say so myself), the food delicious and plentiful, the Hawaiian dancing was beautiful and everyone had fun dancing the rest of the night away with the DJ.

On the 24th we hauled about a dozen bags full of about a hundred diapers and bottles of sunscreen to the airport and jumped on a plane headed for Hawaii. We went to Molokai for Mike and Tanza's reception there, and then to Honolulu for a week at Turtle Bay Resort. Such a wonderful time... but that's a whole separate story. While there we also celebrated Greg's birthday and our anniversary.

July- We returned from Hawaii on the morning of the 4th after a red-eye flight. The kids slept on the plane, which was great, but then they were up all the next day. When were mom and dad supposed to sleep? I was in such a haze it took me about a week to realize I was still waiting for 4th of July festivities.

The rest of the month we were finally able to unpack and get settled in the house (remember, we moved?).

August- A visit to the county fair, dinners, play dates, temple visits, and other normal activities.

September- More of the same. My first girl's night out in years!

October- William and I started in a neighborhood preschool. We were able to see cousin Charlie sealed and blessed on the 9th and 10th. We had a Halloween party with Greg's parents and the Hollins. Will really got into the Trick-or-Treating and out-lasted all the other kids. He was a black spider and Isaac was a Dalmatian puppy. I sang in church with a small group on the 31st.

November- The month was pretty low-key. Thanksgiving as in Salem Hills with my Mom's side of the family. Very nice time.

December- Full of holiday celebrations. It was really fun to decorate our new own house for the season. The boys had fun attending a myriad of Christmas parties. On Christmas Eve I went shopping with my mom and Greg's mom at the Gateway Mall, as we have done every year for 6 years. Greg, William, Isaac, my dad, Greg's dad, my brother and his new girlfriend (!) joined us afterward for lunch at Tucano's, where we have eaten every Christmas Eve for the last 3 years.

That evening the boys got to open their pajamas and we watched Disney's A Christmas Carol. Christmas we stayed home and had lots of visitors and a big dinner for Greg's family. It was fun to host and have everyone here.

If you've made it this far, give me a call and I will cook you dinner. Wow.

It was such a wonderful year for us, full of fun times, great memories, and most importantly, new and old friends and dear family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-12-01T11:48:00.001-08:00

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We certainly did. This year Thanksgiving was with my family and we all met up at a church in Woodland Hills. Greg had fun playing what looked like Kamakazie dodge ball in the gym and the boys actually let me out of their sight and had fun playing with their cousins. The food was awesome (anyone know who made the stuffing? Wow.)

I'm not great about getting pictures. The only ones I managed were of the pies I made. I was quite proud of them, though.

How about that blizzard? Or, as my brother put it, Blizzard Watch 2010. Didn't amount to much, but I like how the snow stuck on my back door. I am getting some help with taking pictures. William wants to take pictures of everything! He's not too bad, really. Guess I better start doing my hair.

Sadie

2010-11-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

We got our cat, Lucy, from the great people at Second Chance for Homeless Pets about 4 years ago. This past weekend we went back and got a dog. She's an Australian Shepherd/ Spaniel mix, 1 1/2 years old, and we named her Sadie. She's a very happy dog and the boys love playing with her, but she also settles down and cuddles or sleeps at our feet. Even Lucy seems to be acclimating to Sadie very quickly. She's a fun addition to our family.
If you are thinking of adding a furry friend to your family, adoption is a wonderful way to go. The people at Second Chance rescue animals that are on the euthanasia list at kill shelters and take time to match them with a family. Check them out at www.utahpetadoptions.org.

Fall?

2010-11-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Can you believe how warm it's been? Great weather for planting bulbs and putting up Christmas lights! I know, I said I wasn't planting any bulbs this year, but they were on sale at Lowe's and they had two of my favorite kinds of daffodils- Tahiti and Ice Follies. I was surprised they had those kinds, I thought they only ever had the big bags of King Alfred.

William and I are doing a little neighborhood preschool. Each mom takes a turn hosting and this week it was at our house. The kids made these cute little corns out of Captain Crunch and pretzels (Will's is the second from the left, Isaacs is third. All he wanted to do was sit with the big kids and eat the pretzels).Thanks to everyone who helped us eat our tomatoes this fall. We still have a small assortment on our counter I'm slowly eating away at. Right before it frosted I picked everything that was out there, even the little green ones. Seeing them on the counter reminded me of my friend Jenny's post (http://jenandserge.blogspot.com/2010/10/eat-rainbow.html) about eating a rainbow. Jenny, remember those leaf art projects we saw at the Logan Arts Festival forever ago where the guy framed leaves in a rainbow of colors?

Busy and happy

2010-10-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were able to celebrate a baby sealing and blessing in Greg's family. Greg made all the meat for the lunch after on Sunday (FYI, 16 lbs of pork feeds 18 adults and 15 kids). We had a little luau-type meal, so he made kalua pork and smoked BBQ pork, which he had to start Friday to have it done for Sunday. It was yummy! He also grilled pineapple that was so AMAZING. I think everyone there could have eaten their weight in grilled pinapple. He is going to be one of those crazy guys that grills all winter.

Lotsa meatKalua pork pork in the making, wrapping it in ti leavesA few of the 50 secret ingredients in Greg's BBQ rub

Conference cookies (pumpkins and temples)I don't know how we survived as long as we did without a sandbox.

(His shirt says "Dirt likes me")I had to take this picture because Greg was so happy his boys were watching football with him. Aren't they the picture of a cozy fall evening?I just had to document the bounteous goodness that came out of our garden the other day. I froze the basil, made peach jam with the peaches, and made tomato sauce with the tomatoes. If you ever want to waste a good part of your day, make home-made tomato sauce. Those tomatoes were boiled, peeled, chopped, sauteed, simmered, processed, and out came the most bland, watery tomato sauce I've ever had. Bleh. Next time I'll just wait for Hunt's to go on sale.William has off and on been my vacuumer, and now he really into it. He likes to do the whole house...

...and then some. How lucky am I?

Suddenly Fall

2010-10-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

I love fall! It makes no sense; I hate the cold, I dread winter. But fall... pumpkins, hot cider, candied apples, red trees, misty mountains... how wonderful! Maybe I'll start a petition to remove winter from the seasons so we can go straight from fall to spring.

"Look Mommy, a temple!"

The great adventures of Silly Willy

2010-09-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

We went on a little fishing outing and William caught our only fish! He was so excited to go home and watch TV with it. Once he understood what it was for, he was actually excited to go home and eat it. Greg grilled it up with some herbs and lemon and William did indeed try it (he did not like it, but hey, at least he tried!)

The boys were running around in circles and crashing onto a pillow on the floor. They were so funny about it.

At the county fair Will did the pony ride and loved it. Takes right after Grandpa Gene.

Checking out the stinky sheep.

July

2010-08-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some things we've been up to lately: The boys ready for church. William is too big for the double stroller but he still likes to ride in it.

Our visit to Kennecot Copper Mine with Aunt Bradie and cousins Alex, Kenna, Sam, and Cole. The little boys especially liked it, I think. Will was very excited about the "big hole" and the trucks and rocks.

Greg got a ukelele in Hawaii and has been very dilligent about practicing it every day. The boys love to listen and "help" him. You can tell how much Isaac loves to get his picture taken.

Zac likes to try riding Will's trike, but the seat is too high for him, so he goes chopper style, reaching up for the handle bars from his seat on the back, and then scooting around with his feet.

I took the boys to Thanksgiving Point last week to check out the gardens, and boy did we have an experience. I was feeling quite independent and capable, packing my kids up and going off to do whatever we wanted. I had the boys in the double stroller but I let William get out in the children's garden to check everything out. Well, we got seperated and I couldn't find him for almost 1/2 an hour. The place was packed. They had security looking for him and I was running around frantically tring to find him. I was so worried just not being able to protect him. I didn't know if he was somewhere crying in a corner or if someone had hauled him off, if he was scared or oblivious... Well, someone found him wandering around quite far from where we had been seperated and when I got to him he was at the consession stand getting a free cookie. He didn't seem nearly as upset as I was, but all the way home he kept saying "I'm sorry I lost you, Mommy."

Aloha!

2010-07-06T22:30:00.000-07:00

We survived June! We moved at the end of May, had my sister's wedding June 12, and just got back from almost 2 weeks in Hawaii. It's been really fun, but we are looking forward to some normal, around-the-house kind of life.
Tanza's wedding was BEAUTIFUL! It consumed my life for a good while, but everything turned out so great. The biggest nail-biter was the weather. We has rain forecasts that just kept getting worse and worse, so every day my dad was on the phone ordering more tents. The day before we had a forecast that said it would rain the 2 hours right after the sealing (picture time), clear up for a few hours, and then start again an hour before the reception and rain through the night. The day came, it clouded up, and NEVER RAINED! I heard it rained a lot in other areas, but where we were it was great. I am so glad. Tanza was such a beautiful bride and everyone had so much fun at the reception.
Mike, Tanza's husband, is from Molokai, Hawaii, and we were able to attend their reception there as well. His family is so sweet. It was great to meet the people there and enjoy the culture. Only 8,000 people live on Molokai and we both really enjoyed the laid-back style and friendliness of the place. Plus, our rental car was a jeep!
After the reception on Molokai we were able to spend a week on the North Shore of Oahu with my parents and brother, as well as Mike and Tanza. We has such a good time swimming in the pool, playing on the beach, and just relaxing. William likes to drink whatever he's swimming in, so he preferred the pool over the ocean "because it's too salty." We went snorkeling, ate an entire pineapple every day did a little shopping (the swap meet is my favorite!). Greg's favorite was Pearl Harbor. We saw the Arizona (the boat underwater with the memorial over it), the Missouri (the giant battleship), the Ronald Regan (a HUGE aircraft carrier that was at dock in the harbor, visiting), and saw a military submarine coming into port with the sailors all lined up on top. It was a lot of boats and guns, but it was pretty cool.
Overall, our trip was so much fun, but next time I think we'll leave the kids at home!

Nick, Greg, Will, Tanza, and Isaac at the Polynesian Cultural Center night show.

Tanza, Isaac, Mike, and my parents.

Ancient Hawaiian temple ruins by Pupukea.

Shave Ice

Iolani Palace, Honolulu

Why don't we live here?

Dole Plantation train ride with my mom

Breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe, Laie

Greg on the USS Missouri battleship with the USS Arizona memorial and Honolulu in the background

View from our condo window on the north shore

Tanza and Mike's announcement

What's under your bed?

2010-05-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

This week I packed the food storage that was under our beds:

That didn't include the food from our pantry, kitchen, or basement! Plus, we still have shoes, luggage, sweaters, and beach towels under there. I think we need more space!

Yesterday we went up to Golden Spike National Historical Monument. They do a reenactment of the ceremony that was really cool. We thought William would like the trains, but he didn't really- they were loud. Isaac thought it was interesting, though. It was so amazing to think about what life was like in 1869 and how it changed with a trans-continental railroad. It was something that was celebrated across the country with fireworks and parades. There was even 800 people who came to the original ceremony out in the middle of Nowhere, Utah.

And a couple of random pictures.

(I think this one is funny because it looks like Greg is putting Zac in the trunk).

Our New Place

2010-05-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Things are going well with our new house. We had the inspection on Friday and it went well, so we are on our way. We will be so sad to leave, though. We have loved our ward and neighbors. But we are excited to be closer to our families, and it will be nice for Greg to have a shorter commute. The next few weeks will be full of packing. If you have any spare boxes, feel free to bring them on by!
Here are some pictures from Isaacs birthday a while ago. We went to visit Greg's sister and her family in Wyoming because her little girl and Isaac share a birthday, so I made them a shared cake. William is such a sweet boy; when we go to the house and I went to get the cake out of the trunk (where it had been riding around for 24 hours) some of the lettering was a little smashed. I was kind of distressed over it until William, who had come to help me empty the trunk, patted my leg and said "It's ok, Mommy." And you know, it really was ok.

William and Joseph, hat boys.

Going on an errand with all 3 boys. It's a tight fit, let me tell you!

Isaac "helping" with laundry. You may think it would take days of neglect to get your house like this, but with our boys, it's a matter of minutes!

HE DID IT!!!

2010-04-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

On Friday, April 23rd, Greg GRADUATED!!! We are so excited! Greg had been in school since before we were married (our anniversery in June will make 6 years). He has been hired full time at L-3 Communications in North Salt Lake (where he has been working as a co-op) as a Manufacturing Engineer.
On top of that, we are in line to buy a house in South Jordan and should close on May 19th. We are very excited. It's a cute tri-level with a great yard for the kids, a big kitchen, and right by a park.

still kicking...

2010-03-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

We are still here!
Our lovely HP has had yet another melt-down and we have sent it in for repairs. Again. Thank you to the Peterson's for letting us borrow their laptop so I can occasionally keep in touch with reality.
We are at five weeks to the end of the semester.
Cute litte Issac had his first birthday last week. He is the cutest little trouble-maker I've ever seen. I'll post pictures later.

Happy Birthday Will

2010-02-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Our little William turned 3 last month. Having a birthday right after Christmas is not quite what I wanted for him, but we don't always get to decide these things, do we?

This is him wearing his special birthday hat he made himself.

A new tool set just like Daddy's.

I made Will a Cars birthday cake in the shape of a race track with little car crackers driving around it.

Both boys got bath towels that are so cute. Will likes the bear...

so Isaac is the shark.

We got to go sledding with Auntie Tanza and Uncle Mike before they went back to Hawaii. Will had an awesome crash but he did eventually get back on the sled. What a brave kid!

It's official

2010-01-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

I must be getting old because my baby sister is getting married! She is engaged to her long-time boyfriend Michael Tupola from Molokai, Hawaii. They are getting married in June, which means this year will be even crazier for our little family than we had thought, as they will be having the wedding and reception here in Utah and a reception in Hawaii.
Speaking of weddings, I finally applied for a business license for flower arranging (mostly for weddings, but other things, too). I've been wanting to get one for a long time- I've been working with flowers for almost 15 years and arranging for 10. I have one wedding coming up at the end of February that I'm excited for. I love doing flowers! Greg is really good about putting up with the fact that when I'm arranging he doesn't have a kitchen or a wife for a couple of days.
Otherwise, we are plugging along trying to survive another Utah winter, already looking forward to spring with all the beautiful daffodils and tulips.

Merry Christmas

2010-01-02T21:38:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a merry Christmas! We had a great time with both of our families. My sister is home from BYU-Hawaii and we were also able to go visit Greg's sister in Wyoming. She works at Western Wyoming Community College where they have an awesome collection of dinosaur fossils that William loved.

At home we made yummy candies...

Christmas morning...

Also, some random pictures:
Isaac playing with a balloon at cousin Charlie's birthday party in November.

Greg is on a team building a remote control boat for his senior project and they finished their prototype this past semester. It's about 4 feet long and runs great.

Monday starts a new semeter that will culminate in the greatest day of days: Greg's graduation!!!

Shopping Deals

2010-01-02T21:29:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to share my awesome shopping trip to Rite Aid this week. I bought:
2 bags Snickers candy
1 package Huggies diapers
8 Rolls Bounty paper towels
2 16-packs Duracell batteries
The total was $45, after coupons it was $33, and I had 3 rebate checks that brought the total down to 75 cents! Plus, I qualified for $6 in rebates, so I really made $5.25!

The H1N1 Bandwagon

2009-11-25T19:23:00.000-08:00

People at Greg's work and school have been getting it right and left, so we knew it was only a matter of time before we got it too...
dun, dun, dun... the Swine Flu!
I got hit last Monday at 11:00 am- it's amazing how suddenly it came on. Then a few days later Isaac got it, then the next day Will got it, and finally, several days later Greg got it. (He was proud of how long he was able to hold out). Zac's complicated into croup and then a few days later a bacterial infection in his ear and throat, but we got him on antibiotics and he's fine now. Greg went to the doctor and got Tamiflu so his was shorter than mine, but still no fun.
It's a little ironic we got the swine flu because we've been metaphorically rolling our eyes at the media frenzy over it. Still, for us the swine flu was really just like the regular flu. Now we've all had it and we're done! Bring on winter!

Weird Week

2009-11-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it was because it was Halloween or what, but last week was sure a weird week. Monday morning Greg looked out the window and saw this:

A construction truck hit the pole and we watched it nearly fall over. At first we thought it was holding up the power lines and we were nervous, but it was just a street light. Still could have fallen on a car, though.
Then at 5:00 Wednesday morning, our cat, who always sleeps in the living room and is very calm and quiet, tore down the hall into our room, around our bed, and then under our bed. There are some plastic shopping bags under there hiding Will's Christmas presents and she got her head through one of the handles and was choking and Greg couldn't reach her. He did finally get her and had to tear the bag to get it off. She acted so weird the rest of the night. I've never seen her so scared and I have no idea what it was about.
Also Wednesday we found out I had downloaded a computer virus and we ended up losing everything on our computer (it could have been a lot worse, but it's a fairly new computer, so we have almost everything backed up, thankfully).
On Friday (this wasn't weird, just fun) we were able to go to the Enchanted Forest at the Treehouse Museum with friends Connor and Joseph and Will had a really good time. They all looked so cute in their costumes.

We had Darth Vader, Yoda (lost his costume by this point), a frog, and a skunk (or kunk, as Will says).

2009-10-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

For my birthday my brother gave our family tickets to ride the Heber Creeper. We finally went last week and it was so fun! The weather was perfect and there was almost nobody on the train. Will especially loved it. He kept calling the engine Thomas and now he asks to ride Thomas every day.

I am amazed at how well our boys play together considering their ages. Usually Isacc likes to sit and watch Will do interesting things and Will frequently stops to make sure Zac has toys to play with.

Will discovered he can drag Isaac around when he's wearing overalls- and they BOTH like it! Last Sunday I didn't notice till they were to the end of the hall. I love this picture- they look so caught in the act.

Will is doing much better. He's pretty much gotten over the terribleness that was plauging us for so many weeks (it felt like an eternity!). Last night he wanted applesauce with his dinner. I was feeding Zac so I told Will to get the applesauce out of the fridge, get a bowl (his are in a low drawer), and get a big spoon and a little spoon and bring them all to the table. He did it all and was so proud of himself. After dinner I started putting things away and he was right by my side helping me. He really is so sweet!
Isaac is eating baby food and lots of it! He has his bottom two teeth and is very good at sitting up and rolling around. He always has a huge smile on his face and always brings a big smile to my face.

I told you so!

2009-10-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Greg and I are often accused of having perfect children, and no matter how much we try to convince people this is not true and that although our children are off-the-scale adorable, and very, very sweet, they are still human children, I think there are still some out there harboring this crazy belief.
So, to set the record straight, I will now update you on the last 3 days William and I have had. In the last 72 hours, my 2-year old has:

Colored with crayon on the walls
Colored with crayon on the furniture
Peed on the carpet (sorry Aaron and Lyndee)
Locked me out of the house
Thrown up in his bed
Decorated the love seat with lipstick
Refused to nap 2 out of 3 days, and
Thrown 3, 4, 5...(I've lost count) tantrums a day

That's just one kid! When anyone casually asks how I'm doing I feel like replying simply "I have a toddler." That explains everything. I know many of you have it even tougher. The other day I commented to some friends that children are sent to teach mothers patience. I should have added, "or send us to the nut house in the process!" Really, doesn't that sound like a nice break sometimes?
I know it won't solve all our problems, but I am counting the weeks (seven) until Greg can go back to his regular schedule and come home at 5:00 every night to bail me out!
(Side note: Isaac is such a sweet little guy, but I know someday he will also be 2 and will surely follow in his brother's footsteps. Then I'll have a pre-schooler AND a toddler. The madness!)

Haircut (finally!)

2009-10-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

Will's hair was getting pretty shaggy. I've been cutting it myself (kind of scary- I don't really know what I'm doing, but he's 2, so he doesn't care), but I hadn't gotten to it for a long time. Greg decided he would do it and it turned out pretty good. The hardest part is keeping him still long enough. This time I gave him a Capri Sun and sang primary songs. I don't know how you would do it without someone to entertain. What do you guys do to get your kid's hair cut?

Isaac ready for a walk

Story time

Isaac's doing really good sitting up. He also has started solids and is a big eater. He is always so happy and patient. Isn't he so cute?

Summer Fun

2009-08-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm so sad summer is almost over! We've had a lot of fun, especially since Greg didn't take any classes this summer. Greg is now doing 12 credits and working 30 hours, but his classes are spread out in the day, so he has to work around that. Kind of a pain. On the plus side, we're already a week into fall semester, so only 15 weeks to go!
Fun at the park- Isaac's first time down a slide.

Will loved the zoo this summer, especially the elephants. And, of course, the merry-go-round, or "up and down," as he calls it.
I love being able to bathe both the boys at once, and they have a lot of fun in the tub together.
Will jumped in the laundry basket and asked me to take his picture.
How many Ritz crackers can you fit in your mouth? This kid got in 3.

My New Favorite

2009-08-04T07:10:00.002-07:00

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is my new favorite book! Please, please read it! The format of the book is all letters which is different to read but used so wonderfully by the authors to tell the story. The places and characters are so vivid; I really think that if I visited Guernsey Island today I would be able to meet them all. Read it- you'll love it!

Rollin'!

2009-08-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

Our little Isaac is rolling now! I can't believe it! He had only been really working on it for a couple of days, and then he did it. The first time was on Friday. I put a ball just out of his reach for incentive and he rolled right over to get it and then chewed it to death. He can even roll front to back too. He is so strong and determined. He loves to play on the floor. This picture is right after he rolled the first time and you can tell by the look on his face how pleased he is with himself.

Yesterday I got the boys dressed for church and then realized they matched, so of course, we had to take a picture!

Last night Greg went to bed a little before me and I jumped on the computer really quick and found out Smith's is doubling coupons today and tomorrow (actually it started Sunday). So, crazy girl that I am, I got up at 5:00 am (ok, I was already awake by 4:00) and drove off to the store without telling Greg! I didn't want to wake him up, plus he would have just told me I was crazy anyway! The shopping was well worth it, though. Here's what I got for free:
5 tubes of Colgate toothpaste
2 Reach flossers
3 packages of dental floss
5 tooth brushes
3 4-packs of yogurt
5 bottles of salad dressing
1 jar of pickles
I also got Honey Bunches of Oats cereal for .88/box, family size yogurt for .38, deodorant for .25, Huggies wipes for 1.09 and 1.59, and Extra gum 3-packs for .19! In all, I got $79.85 in groceries for $8.64! Not bad for a beginner, I think. Yea for coupons!

Bear Lake

2009-08-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend camping at Bear Lake with Greg's parents. Will had such a good time swimming, playing in the sand, and being outside all day. I think Isaac had fun swimming too and was spoiled being held every second. My favorite part was being up in the mountains in the COOL air!

Horsies and more

2009-07-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

I finally broke down and let Greg get us a new computer. Our old one was SO SLOW! Now I can post lots of pictures and it doesn't take me an hour!

This is so funny to me. Will was having a little snack before nap time and was so tired he just laid his head on his hands and went to sleep at the kitchen counter! I promise we get him to bed at a decent hour... I have no idea why he was so sleepy! Of course I had to take a picture before I put him in his bed.

Little Isaac is holding his head up so good. He's also quite the chatterbox. He coos and buzzes his lips and blows bubbles and sqeaks all the time.

While we were in Montana my Grandma just loved holding Isaac every chance she could get.

Will enjoyed seeing Grandpa Buroker's horses. Greg tried to give one of our apples to the horse but Will protested and ate it instead. He prefered the horses eat the hay instead of his snack. You can also see Auntie Tanza and her boyfriend Mike in the picture and my Grandpa on the far right.

Greg's mom bought us this wonderful double stroller and the boys and I have been walking all over town. We all LOVE it. It's a great workout for me, too. The weight of the kids and stroller and gear adds up to about 80 pounds.

We love going to the planetarium in Salt Lake. It's free and Will loves to see the rockets.

We went to the Riverton 4th of July parade and me, my parents, Will and Issac, my brother, and Tanza's boyfriend all wore red shirts. Will's favorite part of the parade was the motorcycles and the classic cars. Oh, and of couse all the candy!
We've had a fun and busy July and there's more to come- we're headed to Bear Lake this weekend!

We're still alive!

2009-07-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last blogged! Time sure gets away from me sometimes. We just got back from a great trip to visit my family in Montana. Will had a great time playing with his cousin Scott he hasn't seen for over a year (that's a long time when you're only 2!) We celebrated my Grandpa's 80th birthday with a big party- about 60 people came. It's about a 7 hour drive (Greg claims he could do it in 6, my parents say it's closer to 8)... but the boys did really well.
This week we are moving... again! This will be our 7th move in 5 years of marriage. Yikes. We really are stable people, I promise! The people we are house sitting for are coming home from Italy, so we are going back next door where we lived before. Hopefully when we move out of that house, sometime next year, we won't be moving again for a LONG TIME!
Greg got a new job at L-3 Communications in North Salt Lake. He liked his old job but was ready for a change, and of course a raise. This company is really nice with great benefits. Good job, Greg!

Favor

2009-06-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

Does anyone out there get the Sunday paper and not use the coupons? If so, can I have them? I'll come get them or pay the postage if you want to mail them to me. Thanks!

Today we got an awesome deal on a pair of shorts for Greg at JC Penny. They were originally $49, marked down to $15, and we had a $10 off certificate we got in the mail. That's almost a 90% discount! Woohoo!

On Saturday we took a little day trip up to Causey Resivoir to fish for Will's first time. He kept whining about the cold (really there was just a nice mountain breeze) and then he fell in the lake (probably woke up the whole mountain with his screaming!) Luckily we were prepared with extra clothes and Will eventually settled down for some relaxing fishing.

On Memorial Day we went to the Riverton Cemetery and then to my Uncle Steve's house for the annual family swim party. The weather was a little iffy at the end of the week so we weren't sure about getting in the pool, but it cleared up for a nice day.

Our sweet little Isaac is growing up so fast. The last picture was in his blessing clothes. Luckily we got some pictures before he grew out of them! He a very smiley boy and content to watch us go about our business or sleep the day away. His smiles really light up my day.

The Secret of my Success

2009-06-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

So, like I said, I'm a beginner at this coupon thing, but here's how it works. It takes some time and effort, but I think of it as a job since I have the time to put into it. I use a site called www.pinchingyourpennies.com and they list the grocery deals each week. They even rate them as to what is really a good deal and what isn't (don't you hate it when you think something is on sale and you find out you got 10 cents off? Lame!). The idea is to save the coupons from the Sunday paper each week and then match up your coupons with the store deals for extra savings. The website tells you where you can find deals for coupons that have already come out.
Like I said, I've only started, so I don't have my coupons saved up yet, but just going off store deals has already saved me a lot. I had to go to 3 stores, but I got what I would normally buy plus the $78 extra; and they were all foods that we like and eat all the time. But they do say if you're willing to try new brands and varities it's easier to save. The idea seems pretty straight-forward, but I think some parts can get complicated when you get into it. I still have a lot to learn, but I got my first newspaper yesterday, so I'm on my way!

Chatter and Coupons

2009-05-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

William is becoming such a chatterbox! Some of his recent sentences include:
"I have fun in Papa's Jeep!"
"I like Grandma's car."
"How 'bout some Curious George?"
"I see a big bus!"
"Uncle Nick work post office." (I guess he thinks Nick should get into the mail delivery field)
"I go buy a paper."
The conversation is non-stop with this kid! And like a lot of kids, he'll repeat himself over and over until one of us acknowledges what he said. I've been really impressed with some of the things he says out of the blue.

In other news, I have been inspired by some awesome deal-finders in my ward and decided to become a couponer. I just started this week so I don't really have any coupons built up to use yet, but I got some great deals at Albertsons just with their store deals. I ended up getting $61 worth of groceries for $20! I almost felt bad, like I was stealing from the store or something! Overall for the week I spent $95 and got $78 in free groceries! I'm excited to see our food storage build up and our grocery bill go down!

Pictures

2009-05-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I dragged Greg and the kids to Temple Square to see the tulips and it was AWESOME!!! This is in my old area where I used to work. Spring is without a doubt the best time to go there. I miss seeing this every day, but I love being at home with my boys.

I let William vaccum the front room while I went to change Isaac's diaper, and this is what I came back to find (note the sunglasses- it never hurts to look good when you're cleaning).

Easter Blessing

2009-04-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

We were able to bless Isaac in our ward on Easter Sunday. Greg and I are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives that we couldn't even fit them all in our house! We wish everyone could have been there. It was a lovely day though and we were especially glad to have my Grandma and Grandpa Buroker here all the way from Montana. I didn't get any pictures of Isaac in his blessing outfit becuase my camera died half-way through the day and I lost the charger, but today I found it (whew!), so I will do a few belated pics and post them later.

Isaac doing what he does best- sleeping through all the action! (Except when he is crying through all the action!)

Will had his first Easter egg hunt at Grandma Barbara's this year with all his cousins. Grandma and the aunties went all out on the prizes! Will filled his bucket up after a lot of coaching from Daddy.

Isaac is doing really well. He had a couple weeks where he cried quite a lot, but he has calmed down some. He sleeps well at night and I think he's starting to get into the routine of eating, sleeping, and playing (or staring at Mommy making faces and watching brother play). He is a really big little fellow. His best clothing fit (length-wise anyway) is 6 month clothes (cringe). He is a strong guy, working on holding up his head, and very curious to see what's going on, but from the safety of Mommy's arms.

William is his typical, un-fazed self. He ignores Isaac most of the time, but will occasionally help me burp the baby or examine the baby's facial features. He's had especially fun time the last two days with Auntie Tanza staying with us. We're so glad she will be home all summer!

2009-04-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

So in talking to a few people I've realized that my description of Isaac's birth sounds like he was actually born in the birthing tub. He wasn't; I thought it would be cool to do but found out that facilities need to have special certification to allow water births and McKay Dee doesn't have it. We just used the tub during labor (and, by the way, really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone- if you're going to have a baby here anytime soon, request room 4!).

Since coming home, Isaac has been battling Jaundice. We had the billirubin lights delivered to our house last Sunday and had to stop breastfeeding for a couple days trying to get his levels down to normal. The picture above with the baby glowing is him on the lights with blankets over the top. We finally heard today that we can resume nursing and quit those dang lights (he does not like them at all)! I'm so glad. Isaac hated the formula and didn't sleep for more than 2 1/2 hours the whole time he was on it, day and night (when he's nursing I have to wake him up after 4 hours to feed him and he acts so much calmer).

Isaac is growing well- he had his 2 week check up today and he weighs 10 lbs, 2 oz, and grew an inch since he was born (isn't that amazing?), so he's in the 99th percentile for height.

I am amazed at how fast I recovered from labor. I feel really good except for a cold I got from William. Yeah, being sick with a sick 2 year old and a newborn on billirubin lights has made for a rough week, plus we had to spend 3 hours in an Insta-Care Tuesday because we thought Will broke his toe by dropping a can of Spaghetti-O's on it, but he just got a nice bruise and killed his toe-nail. Really, we're not those parents who run to the doctors for every little thing like that, but the kid was much more upset and in pain this time than he was when he actually did break his foot. It's so hard to tell with kids, especially when they can't really tell you what's up. Anyway, we are looking forward to a better week next week!

HE'S HERE!

2009-03-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Isaac Brian Poulsen finally came Thursday, March 19 at 7:21 pm. He weighed 9 lbs 14 oz and was 22 inches long.

When I woke up on Thursday morning I felt a little different, but I couldn't explain how. My midwife had told me to watch for consistent contractions, but I still was feeling just cramps and random contractions here and there. I got up and got breakfast for William and myself and debated about what I should do. I went to the bathroom and there was a little bit of show, so I decided since that was new we should go to the hospital and just see what was going on. I called Greg at school and he called his mom to come up. Greg got here about 15 minutes later and we worked on packing our bag and cleaning up the house, then I took a shower. When Barbara got here we left Will with her and left about 10:15 for the hospital which is only 5 minutes away.

My midwife had told us several times that if we got tired of waiting we could go to the hospital and fib a bit about my dilation so they would admit me. I had been a 5 on Tuesday and I didn't think it had changed, so we told the nurse I had been a 3. When she checked me she said I was a 5+ or 6, so I was in. They told me if there was no change in dilation in 2 hours they would start Pitocin, which dismayed me; I didn't think there would be a change because I felt pretty much the same as I had for the last 3 weeks. So we started walking the halls. Two hours later they checked and I was a 7! I was able to be the first person to use the hospital's brand new birthing tub, which was so cool! Greg was showing the nurse how to work the doors and drains becuase she didn't know. Then we walked some more, then I was an 8, then we walked some more, and then I was a 9. I still felt the same as I had all month long. Then my midwife broke my water and we walked some more. Then there started to be defined, strong contractions and we went into the delivery room. I spent some time sitting on the edge of the bed with my arms around Greg and some time on a birthing ball. I was so glad for Greg and my midwife, they were both wonderful. We were so blessed to not have any complications with the delivery.

Isaac is a sweet little boy with a mild temperment. He spends a lot of his awake time looking around and making really funny faces. We came home from the hospital on Friday night and have enjoyed getting to know him since then. William thinks he is ok and will give Isaac a kiss and help burp him, but he's not too interested beyond that (can you blame a 2-year old? The baby doesn't really DO anything!). We are thrilled to have him here.

... bleh...

2009-03-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

We decided instead of inducing yesterday we would have my midwife Karen strip my membranes and see if that started anything. It didn't. Yay for Karen, though. She came to the clinic twice on a Sunday to do it, once at noon and once at 7:00 pm. Now that we are nearing the end, all those horrible contractions and cramps I had for 3 WEEKS that made everything almost unbearable are gone, so it's nice I'm not in pain anymore, but now how am I going to get this kid out?! His growth has slowed down so I'm not so panicked about his size and more willing to wait it out. A little. My midwife is amazed I haven't had him yet- everything looks so favorable she told us she didn't know what was holding him in. I guess this little boy just wants to come when he wants to come, which I guess is ok. As long as it's soon.

William decided enough waiting for the baby, he has a life to live. Go figure. He dressed himself up entirely on his own in this little get-up the other day. I think my little boy thinks he is a white rapper or something.

.... and Waiting

2009-03-08T19:39:00.001-07:00

Well, here is the deal. The baby measured almost 9 pounds on Wednesday, so we want him born as soon as possible (before it's IMpossible!), but my midwife said she has to have a medical reason to induce me before 2 weeks. But, she said as soon as a baby measures 10 pounds they are labeled macrosomic and that is a legitimate reason to induce labor. I know we will hit 10 pounds next week. As much as I would like to not be induced, I am SO uncomfortable carrying around this bowling ball on my hips, and also worried that the longer we wait the more difficult the delivery will be. We have an appointment Tuesday, so we'll see where we're at then. At the longest we will have wait until next Sunday (2 weeks early) and induce then.

Meanwhile, Greg and I have been researching and I have been trying anything that anyone has ever said could possibly induce labor. This includes: eating hot peppers, pineapple, spicy food, and Chinese food, drinking raspberry tea, acupressure, massage, different stretches, long walks, housework, and gardening. The last resort is castor oil, which I've head works, but I've also heard it just makes you really uncomfortable intentinally speaking. That, and the fact that we haven't been able to find it in any store yet leaves that option untried.

As soon as the little man gets here, there will be many pictures here to enjoy as Greg is eger to put our new camera to work (a bad economy may be bad for retailers, but Circuit City going out of business is good for us!)

While we're waiting for the baby, enjoy this cute pic of Will. This was taken mid-yogurt cup. I don't know what he loves more- yogurt or getting his picture taken.

Already Waiting... Still

2009-02-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

Just a little update on baby #2. I have been having good contractions since Sunday that get just a tiny bit worse each day. In the morning I don't usually have any at all, but as the day progresses they get stronger and stronger. By the end of the day I wonder "am I really going into labor?" Then I go to bed and start all over the next day. Tuesday when I timed the contractions they were from 3 to 8 minutes apart and I had 9 in an hour. They are still pretty short though. I don't remember to time them, plus our clocks don't have second hands, but I guess they're about 3 to 7 seconds long is all.

Since I was induced with William I don't have much to compare this to. I would say right now I feel like I did with him about 3 hours after my Pitocin was started. Not very helpful. I know things are still so early (I'll be 36 weeks on Saturday), but, without getting into details, let's just say we know things have started. It's just a matter of when they will end! Last week the baby measured 7.1 pounds (the midwife said give or take 1 pound), so he's plenty big. Maybe he's just ready to go! William was 8 lbs 9 oz when he was born at 36 1/2 weeks.

It's such a strange time. The worse I feel, the more excited I get. Greg is excited too. I think anytime I call him during the day he wonders if it's go time. William has been cute. All he can talk about is "a baby." No matter what I ask him- "what do you want for breakfast, what should you wear today? where's daddy?" the answer is "A BABY!"

Holy Snow, Batman!

2009-02-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

We have had quite the storm today. The snow started sometime before 5:00 am and fell all day long. We probably got about 8" on top of what we already had, making a foot or more. William likes to "help" me shovel the sidewalks- I shovel and he follows behind kicking and throwing snow back onto the walk. But he has fun and I get some exercise, so it's all good.

No pics

2009-02-13T10:10:00.001-08:00

Hi there, sorry we have no new pictures to post on our blog. I know that's the best part. I am a bit backwards with hooking up computer stuff and since we moved Greg hasn't had time to do it yet. I don't know why- working full time and going to school full time should leave plenty of time in the day to do whatever your wife wants! :)
William is growing leaps and bounds and is more like a toddler every day. He has his temper moments, but then his is back to his same sweet self like nothing ever happened! His vocabulary is growing so fast- he can say sorry, Papa (Grandpa), ice, water, food, please, thank you, whoah!, all done, and identify his head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, hands, tummy (sometimes there is a baby in his tummy), knees, feet, toes, hands, and fingers. He can also identify and say the letters b and o, and we're working on m, y, d, and t. Oh, and he knows happy, sad, boy, girl, on, off, up, and down. Like many parents probaby do, I think my child is a boy genius and cute enough to be on the covers of magazines.
The new little baby is coming along fine. There are no signs of toxemia this time- yea! He's still measuring quite large and is to the point where there's not much kicking room so he just wiggles and rolls around in there. Honestly it makes me feel a little claustrophobic to think of him crammed in my stomach for 9 months, but I guess we all survived it. I'm excited to have him out and see him. We had a 4-D ultrasound about 3 months ago and he actually looked very cute and had the sweetest smile. I'm taking it as a sign that he'll be a happy child.
I'm optimistic our birth experience at Mckay Dee Hospital will be a good one. They have one room with a birthing tub that I'm really hoping won't be in use so I can try it. I've heard the tub is great for pain relief and I actually think it would be kind of cool to deliver underwater, but we'll see how things go. My midwife is pretty open to whatever I want to do and the hospital policy is surprisingly lenient. William's delivery was really good considering I had to be induced, so I'm hoping this one will also go well. From what I've heard, labor is tougher when you're induced, so if I could do that without an epidural, I'm confident I can go natural again this time.

FOCA

2009-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

President Obama has promised he will sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would make many things associated with abortion not only legal, but prohibit any state from passing anti-abortion legislation. The act would:
-Remove the existing ban on partial birth abortion
-Allow taxpayer funding of abortion
-Remove legal protection of religous-based hospitals who currently refuse to perform abortions
-Remove parental consent laws and waiting periods
-Remove legal protection for healthcare providers who refuse to perform abortions
According to Obama, this will "end the debate over abortion." Hah! As long as there are people out there who think it's their "right" to kill an innocent little person, I hope there are people out there who will protest and stand up for what's right! Please go to the link at the right and sign the petition protesting the passage of this act.

Back online

2009-01-21T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't fall off the face of the earth, just busy moving next door and settling in. I feel like I can't function until everything has a place. We're pretty much there though. It's a full house with Greg and I, Will, our cat Lucy, and the cat and dog that live here (Fuddrucker and Koda). Throw in the little boy I watch during the day, and there is never a dull (and rarely a quiet) moment around here. William settled in quickly. I was worried about him since he's never moved before, but he was his normal, easy-going self. He was very excited to discover the room he moved into has glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. He also really likes having a dog around, and Koda is very good with him.
Greg has also been really busy with school starting up again and working full time. The first week or 2 after a break are always an adjustment.
We had an ultrasound yesterday and the baby is measuring for a due date of March 17 (up from March 28), but for some reason my midwife is reluctant to change my due date. Oh well, I'm still planning on an early baby. I started having contractions last week. They are much more frequent and stronger than any Braxton-Hicks I had with Will.
We had a nice Christmas even though we missed my sister Tanza who went off to Tahiti and my parents and brother who went to Montana. That's the nice thing about having 2 families- we were able to spend a lot of time with Greg's parents and sisters.

Never a dull moment

2008-12-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

There's never a dull moment when you're almost 2 and everything is a toy, even an empty diaper box! Whatever we do, Will wants to do it too- cooking, cleaning, working on the computer, and even shaving like Daddy! It's cute when Greg puts a little shaving cream on Will, and Will loves it, but it's kind of weird to me when afterward my baby smells like Barbarsol!

Yesterday Will played in the snow for really the first time. What can I say, aren't these boys just too cute?

Lately

2008-12-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from Halloween and Thanksgiving. Will was a monkey (note the banana in his pocket). He loved all the walking when we went Trick-or-Treating with Grandma Tish and caught on to the idea of getting candy at each house really quick. Luckily he's young enough that once we got home and the bag of candy disappeared he didn't notice. He did get a few treats though.

Will loved watching all Mommys big cousins and uncles play dodge ball at the church on Thanksgiving. He wanted to play so much he kept trying to jump off the stage!

Will is such a good little boy, but I can certainly see a little bit of 2-year old temperment starting to emerge. It usually only lasts a minute or two though. He loves seeing the Christmas lights around town and is very good with the tree.

We had another doctor's appointment yesterday and they said the baby was measuring 4 days early. They said that's not significant enough to change the due date, but I have a feeling it's only a matter of time. A few months ago he measured 1 day early, the next month he was 2 days early, and now 4. Based on how things went with William, and how big Greg and I both are, I think the timer on this kid may go off 2-4 weeks early. I just hope I somehow go into labor naturally that early because I don't want to be induced again, but I also don't want to wait until the end of March and have a 10 pound baby!

Funny note

2008-12-04T14:32:00.001-08:00

During the day I take care of Joseph, a little boy in our ward. He is 7 months old. Occasionally I go to the grocery store with Joseph and William (really the only place I ever go besides the bank!) and as my pregnancy become more obvious it's getting pretty funny. Today was a great example. The checker asked me how old William was, then how old Joseph was, then looked at my bulging belly, and then continued to check our groceries with a bit of a furrowed brow. I could tell she was doing the math in her head. Of course I never tell them Joseph isn't actually my kid, I just let people think I have 2 kids under 2 and another on the way!

Gookie and Football

2008-11-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Will learned a new word yesterday- cookie ("gook-ey"). He is also doing well with "m" words like Mommy, mine, and more (more comes out with a New Yorker accent: mmm- o-wa, very cute). If you know me at all, you know that cookies are VERY important, so I'm glad Will agrees with me. Here's some shots of Will and Daddy making cookies. Will is always wanting to help in the kitchen and whenever I cook dinner he will get out bowls and play with them in the microwave making his own dinner.

We had a fun family outing last week to the arcade and indoor miniature golf. Will had fun running around with the tiny putter they let him use and dropping his ball into the cups. Greg won a mini football at one of the arcade games and to his delight, Will loves to play with it. He even likes watching football games with his daddy on TV, although to be fair he equally enjoys watching basketball games.

Surprise!

2008-11-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Well, many of you have asked why our midwife was only 80% sure we were having a girl, and the reason is because we're having a boy! The umbilical cord has been in the way our last few visits, but today it moved and we all saw what is undeniably a little boy. I wonder if this is the reason I didn't feel like any of the girl names we were talking about felt right, even names I've always liked before. Greg is of course excited to have another boy, although he was quick to point out to me that a girl would have been ok too. I'm excited for Will to have a little brother. I'm sure they will be great partners in crime! So far this kid is measuring 4 days bigger than his due date, so hopefully he'll stay right around there and not be another huge monster for me to carry (and deliver)!

San Francisco!

2008-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

We were able to take a little trip out to San Francisco earlier this month to see Tanza play volleyball. We were also able to fit in a lot of sightseeing, and there was a lot to see! Will had a good time and was so good on the flight there and back. In fact, on the way back, as soon as we got on the plane he put his head on my lap and slept the whole way! Tanza's team won both nights and her team ended up taking region. They are going to the conference tournament in 2 weeks.

China town

While we were there they had Fleet Week and there were airshows by the Blue Angels. That was probably Greg's favorite part of the trip. It was so cool to watch them fly over the bay and by the bridges. One show we watched from the pier and one we watched from Alcatraz Island. The planes were so close we could sometimes see the pilots in the cockpits! The picture above is from the end of Pier 39 watching the planes fly over Alcatraz.
Blue Angels
Alcatraz

We also saw Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirradelli Square, sea lions, the aquarium (where I was nearly attacked by a 7-foot sea bass) (ok, not really, but he was REALLY big and scary!), and drove some really wild streets. You know a road is too steep if there is a staircase on the side instead of a sidewalk!

Belated

2008-10-23T09:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the delay in posting. Our internet has been down for a few days and before that, well... what can I say? So yes, we are 80% sure we are having a girl. Our midwife is a little reluctant to say a 100% girl because it could be a sneaky boy waiting to make his appearence and she doesn't want us to be upset (maybe she's had a bad experience with angry parents?). But I'm sure she's right, that it is a girl, so I guess ribbons and bows here we come!
Will is growing so much every day. It's so fun to be with him. He can now say vroom (for airplanes only), yellow (and identify it), blue (boo), and just today started saying baby. He can also sign "hungry" which he is fervently doing right now, so more later!

It's a.....

2008-10-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

I know Talia has been keep everyone in suspense about are new baby. So I will tell you all, the midwife is say she is 80% sure that it is a Girl.

Ma-Ma!

2008-10-03T18:29:00.001-07:00

Today William was playing with his friend Connor in our front yard. Connor chased him, so Will ran to me yelling "Ma-Ma! Ma-Ma!" It's the first time he's ever called me Momma! It was such a beautiful sound! I'd given up and have been answering to Daddy for the last few months. The stubborn little man has been saying Daddy since he was about 1 and waited until 21 months to say mommy! What a stinker.

Blue Monkey Stampede

2008-09-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Greg told me he was taking me somewhere on Saturday for a surprise. We had to leave the house by 7:00 a.m. (no easy feat with a non-morning person and a one-year old) and we got in the car and drove to Antelope Island where they were having the Antelope Island Balloon Stampede! I've been wanting to go to a hot air balloon festival all summer and thought I had lost my chance (actually I thought getting him and Will out of the house so early was a battle that was lost before it was begun).
We had a great time. The weather wasn't perfect for hot air balloons, which do best in very still air, as we had winds around 15 mph, but we were able to see several launch and an inflation demonstration. Will was a bit scared of the balloons at first becuase the fans and flames were so loud, and then becuase the balloon was so huge, but once he saw that it just sat there and then floated away he decided they were ok. His favorite part was the little train made out of 55-gallon drums for the kids to ride. He giggled through most of the ride and the rest of the morning kept trying to run back to the train to ride again.
They also had a clown at the festival doing balloon animals for the kids and Will got a blue monkey climbing a banana tree. That clown was a real artist, I tell you. If any of you need a clown for your next big shindig, give Bobbo the Clown a call.
I'm so lucky to have such a sweet husband that does things like that for me. We both realized the other day that at the festival we both felt like we are now somehow an official family. Maybe it's because Will is getting old enough to interact more with us or becuase there's another one on the way. Maybe it was just the magic of the hot air balloons...

Update

2008-09-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since my last post! Time is flying by! William got his cast off last Friday and is doing great. The doctor said it could take him 2 or 3 days to get back to running around, but as soon as we got home from his office and put Will on the ground, off he went! So as far as his break goes, everything seems to be fine. Will got a really gross blister on his heel from the splint he had initially, and that didn't heal with the cast around it, so now we are working on getting that healed up. It's looking a little better but it still breaks open and bleeds every day or a few times a day. At least I don't think it bothers him. I ask him "Where is your owie?" and he'll examine the blister and poke at it and then is bored with it.

As far as my little project, things are going well. We had an almost 12-week check-up today and the baby is growing and looks healthy. The midwife said it's too early to tell the gender and she didn't want to guess, but then did guess it's a girl becuase she couldn't see any evidence to the contrary. We're not putting too much stock in it... we'll find out for sure in 4 weeks. Whatever it is, I think it's pretty cute!

Hangin' Out

2008-08-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

These are just some recent pictures of William passing the time.

Now that the weather is cooling down from scalding to tolerable, we like to sit on our camp chairs on the front porch and wave to cars that drive by. Will is sporting his new cast in this photo- he got it on Monday and only has to keep it on until next Friday.

Some light reading in Mom and Dad's closet (???)

The iron (cold, of course) makes a great toy for sliding along the carpet.

Special Delivery

2008-08-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

For any of you that haven't heard, William will become a big brother around March 28, 2009!
So far things are great, except for a small bout of stomach flu (not morning sickness, thank goodness!), and if this pregnancy goes anything like William's, it should be pretty smooth sailing.

Are you kidding me?!

2008-08-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Last night I was making dinner and Greg and Will were playing in the living room. Will ran around the corner down the hall and fell down like he does about 100 times a day. He didn't fall on anything, trip on anything besides his own feet, hit against the wall or anything, so we thought he would be fine like he always is. He was a little fussy off and on through dinner, and then we took him right in for a bath. Then we noticed he wouldn't stand on his left foot and he screamed anytime we touched it. We thought he might have just bruised or sprained it and debated taking him in the the after-hours clinic at the pediatricians. I pretty much thought we didn't need to, but in the end decided I would rather do it at 7:00 pm instead of having hours and hours more of fussing and then taking him to the emergency room in the middle of the night. So anyway, Greg and I and the doctor were all suprised to find out Will broke his foot in 2 places! He's got a temporary splint on right now until the swelling goes down and then Monday he will get a cast that will stay on for 6 weeks! He's been such a trooper through the whole thing. Last night when the doctor was applying the splint he had to hold Will's foot at a 90 degree angle for 10 minutes and all the nurses kept coming in saying "Why isn't he crying? They always cry at this part!"
He's been really good considering everything. Occasionally he wants to walk but just cries out of pain and/or frustration and ends up scooting on his stomach or awkwardly crawling around. I'm pretty sure there's no way to explain to a one year old that he should lay on the sofa with his leg up and rest. Poor kid! Anyone have any ideas on how to bathe a baby with a cast?

Who?!

2008-08-20T11:00:00.001-07:00

Ok people, in response to the overwhelming number of beloved family and friends who keep asking "Who's Jack Johnson?", here is a little description from an article about the concert. This is because we are pretty much obsessed with his music and you need to find out what you've been missing! Listen to some of his songs on our playlist here or check him out at www.jackjohnsonmusic.com.

"So who is this Jack Johnson guy, the laid-back surfer dude who nearly filled the Usana Amphitheater to capacity on a moonlight-drenched Monday night? He exudes a beach persona yet his songs aren't as melodic as the Beach Boys and his concert is nothing like a Jimmy Buffett Parrothead festival. He's not afraid to sing a Cat Stevens song about the environment but he's no Bob Dylan.
The singer's deceptively simple approach to music, mostly performing with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, might remind you of Paul Simon, another artist who he covered Monday night, only Johnson's not quite as intense.
His songs touch on Bob Marley-style reggae, but can't be that easily classified and, with his close-cropped hair and plain clothing, Johnson certainly doesn't look like Marley. And the Maui resident and son of a surfer doesn't seem like the type of musician who could fill an arena the size of Usana."
"Johnson was the unabashed star of the night, as was his music. He's a performer with so little flash that he relies on interesting lyrics, excellent guitar work plus ukulele playing, and has a great keyboarder in Gill - all that makes him worth a listen."

JACK!

2008-08-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

The Jack Johnson concert was last night at Usana amphitheatre in Salt Lake and it was GREAT! He sang some new stuff and some old stuff and it was just a lot of fun. This was Greg and my first "real"concert and we had a really good time. We dropped William off at Greg's parent's house before the concert and then spent the night there after. I would like to say we slept there, but for some reason, when we got back at nearly 1:00 am, Will woke up and decided it was morning. Needless to say, it was a very long night and has been an even longer day. It's been a high price to pay to enjoy some live music without the baby, but I think (hope...) it will have been worth it once I catch up on sleep again.
I think a love of music runs in the family.

It's Official

2008-08-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

We found out this week that our next-door neighbors who we've become good friends with are moving to Italy for 7 months in January and would like us to house-sit for them. DJ (the husband) is a civilian F-16 mechanic and is currently working in Oman. He will come home for the month of September, then head over to Sicily in October and his family will follow in January until July or August. They have a cute little house (not as little as ours though!) and a dog and cat they will leave in our care. I'm excited to have more room and a dishwasher! After they get back, who knows where we'll go. We'd like to stay in the neighborhood and Greg will have one year of school left, so we'll see.

Road Rash

2008-08-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

William has been able to get down our front porch stairs holding on to the railing for several months, but yesterday he didn't quite make it. The poor kid really banged up his face! It happened yesterday afternoon about 2 hours before we went to the Weber County fair so it looked bad. All these random strangers kept asking what happened and all I could say was "he fell down the stairs," which, I realized, is what abusive parents always say (at least the ones on TV). But really, he did. I guess we're pretty lucky though. This is pretty much the worst thing that's happened to Will ever, so he made it through 19 months a lot better than some other kids.

Good ol' Summertime

2008-08-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

William loves playing in the water. He's always very (overly?) willing to "help" mommy water the flowers or the garden. The fun thing about summer is that when I'm done I give him the hose and let him go for it. It's usually so hot he's dry in 5 minutes anyway!

Have you seen this bug?

2008-08-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

I don't know what they are, but every evening they swarm around the trees by our house and they are FREAKY! A brick is about 2 1/2 or 3 inches tall, so that gives you an idea how big this critter is. Usually during the day they disappear, but sometimes they like to hang out next to our front door all day! Yea! I know in the world of bugs this thing is probably nothing, but one of the reasons I love Utah is the major lack of freaky flying giant bugs!

Whew!

2008-08-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

I know I am not the most faithful blogger, but seriously, life has been a bit crazy lately. Here is a quick rundown of life the last few days:
Friday night- I have the fever and joined thousands of crazy girls (mostly teenage girls) at Hastings to be one of the first to purchase the new book Breaking Dawn in the Twilight series. Most of the people there were dancing or in costume or pratically hysterical with anticipation while I was propped up trying to stay awake and thinking "I'm too old for this!" It was fun though, and I'm glad I went. Life is a funny thing, though. It doesn't listen to me when I tell it to hold on until I finish my book. So...
Saturday- We got up and followed a moving van to Rock Spring, Wyoming to help Greg's sister move. By the time we got home that evening, I felt like I had walked the 200 miles there and back. (Or 150, or whatever it is...) But we had to hustle to bed so we could be up the next morning for...
Sunday- 9:00 am church which we have to be at least 20 minutes early for because of my new calling as Primary Secretary. I am still not very good at it (this was my 3rd week). But I again managed to survive 2 hours of that followed by a patience-trying hour of sacrament with a 19-month old. William is a wonderful little boy and tries to be so good, but he doesn't yet grasp the concept of reverence, sitting still, whispering, staying here, no yelling... ahhh. Not too long after church we were again piled in the car for a trip to Eagle Mountain to see my friends Steph and Paul bless their little baby boy. (Good job, by the way, guys). We got back last night and Greg got to stay up most of the night with a bad headache and then go to work today while I've been able to sit still and move as little as possible!
It was a crazy weekend full of lots of good things, but I'm looking forward to a nice boring week!

Good News

2008-08-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Greg was offered a "promotion" at work last week. He has been working as an engineering intern at GSC Foundries in the machining division since last August. He finished the school year off and we were excited that he had only 1 and 1/2 years to go- Dec. '09! But... the offer of a new position with the company came (because, as they put it, his job had become "too important"). So we traded an additional semester of school for a decent raise, health and dental insurance, a 401k, quarterly bonuses, and school reimbursement. It was a good trade, but we are still anxious to just get done with school! This is a wonderful blessing, though, and we are definitely thankful.

Aloha

2008-08-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

So last week on a very normal-feeling Wednesday I was visiting next door with my neighbor Jan when there came a knock on her door. She opens the door and little Tanza Leigh is standing on the door step! Tanza who is supposed to be in Hawaii! It took me a good 2 minutes to get over my shock enough to move. My parents got her tickets a month ago and everyone was in on the secret except Greg and I. She was here for a week and I made sure she divided her time between Mom and Dad and me. We had a great time! Now she's back in Laie getting ready for volleyball season to start on Aug. 12. We are hoping to scrape enough money together to go see her play in a tournament in San Fransisco in October.

My Flower Garden

2008-07-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad our landlords don't mind (well, really, they love it) my planting up the flower bed in the front yard. Last summer it was grass and now it's full of pretty things- right now the zinnias are looking great. We even have pansies still growing like crazy. It does me a lot of good to work out in the dirt and to be able to enjoy a garden out our front window.

Neglect?

2008-07-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

Or just a handy way to control a wild child? Actually, Will loves to play in the dog kennel in the backyard. He crawls in, shuts the door, and entertains himself inside with doggie toys.

We've got a walker

2008-07-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Finally, 4 days after he turned 18 months, William stood up and decided it was time to walk. He walks everywhere and prefers it to crawling and cruising. Greg and I are elated. We knew he could walk, the problem was that he didn't want to- we could coax at most 6 steps out of him before he would get bored and crawl away. The evening of the first day of walking Greg and I were talking in the hall when we saw a little boy nonchalantly walk out of the living room, down the hall, and into his bedroom, and then turn around and give us a mischievous grin.

The sudden walking combined with Will's first day in nursery (July 6th) has made me wonder "Who is this little boy and where is my baby?" But as much as I miss all the adorable and amazing things my little baby did, I love all the adorable and amazing things this new little person can do too. He's so smart and clever. I'm sure there's not many other 18-month olds who can play catch with his parents (and if you know of any, don't spoil my illusion)...

beach bums

2008-07-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend the 4th of July at Bear Lake this year and William LOVED the beach! It was beautiful weather and we all had a good time. I like it because he could get as dirty as he wanted and then I could just dunk him in the lake to clean up.

Fun in the Yard

2008-06-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

2007, 2008

2008-05-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes! This is little Will a couple days ago (with his favorite new toy- a pinwheel from Grandma Tish- thanks, Mom!) and a photo of him from last May. This was the first pic we got of him smiling. It's amazing, since I see him from day to day I don't notice any changes, but when I see pictures of him when he was younger I can't believe it's the same boy.

Also this time last year I was still working for the church, Great-Grandma Roberts and Aunt Terry were watching William during the day, and Greg was working at American Fork Hospital and going to SLCC. Wow!

In our garden we've got some lettuce up, along with zucchini, peas, corn, the first 2 potatoes, and of course our tomatoes and peppers that were starts. We also had little purple mystery seedlings pop up in several places and nobody could figure out what they were until I remembered I planted sunflowers all over. :) Hopefully this nice warm weather (ok, pretty darn hot weather) will get the rest of the seeds up. I love gardening!

Mommy's Little Helper

2008-05-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

After a very busy few days, we finally have a flower bed, 4 trees, and a vegetable garden in our yard!

William has been a BIG help. His favorite things are digging in the dirt and playing with the hose, or the bucket, or the mud. What can I say, he really likes it all. He just loves being outside. I think both of us are happy to get out of the house and run around.
Greg is also a very exuberant gardener. We put in lettuce, onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, cabbage, tomatoes, and peppers. In a couple weeks we will add beans, corn, and squash. For now we just have to water and wait. I hate this part! After 2 days of no new sprouts, I become convinced that the seeds will never come up and am ready to give up! (Aren't gardeners supposed to be patient and faith-filled people? Hmm...) But thank goodness the seeds never listen to me and they always come up.
We are all looking forward to fun times this summer playing in the yard, running through the sprinklers, and just being OUTSIDE!

1st Haircut

2008-04-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here are before, during, and after shots of Will's first haircut. He was really good about it, as long as we kept the food coming (our main method of distraction). The bottom picture is the before- it's hard to tell because his hair is so light and fine, but it was getting pretty wild. Now he's mission-ready!

I turn away for 1 minute...

2008-04-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

...and Will has his hands on one of his favorite toys- the vacuume. It's big, it has wheels, it has lights, what's not to love? It's a sight that would make Great-Grandpa Buroker (a veteran vacuume-repairman) proud.

Hallway Safari

2008-04-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here are just some cute shots of William's recent rocking-elephant adventure.

Bosch Buddies

2008-03-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

William discovered the lid to the Bosch makes a fun toy. He likes spinning them on the kitchen floor. He's in a very curious phase and likes to find new ways to play with his toys (or find new toys!). (Will's friend Andrew also loves to play with his Mommy's Bosch).

2008-03-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time flies! Sorry to all you faithful Poulsen blog visitors there hasn't been much new on the blog for a while. What's new? Well, Will broke his 7th tooth this weekend and we splurged on Jack Johnson concert tickets (Aug. 18!). This will be my first real concert EVER! Yes, I have been a sheltered girl.

P.S. For those of you who have never heard of Jack Johnson (JENNY & SERGE!), go to www.jackjohnsonmusic.com. You can watch one of his videos and listen to his music.

Aloha!

2008-03-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's finally warm enough for

short sleeves! This shirt was

Will's Christmas present

from Auntie Tanza in Hawaii.

Our pad

2008-02-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

For any of you that haven't been to our place, this is our little house. Our street is only 3 blocks long (Ogden blocks are long and skinny, we're on the skinny end) so we don't get much traffic, which is nice. There is about 3-4 feet of snow in this picture. The sad, skinny little tree in the front yard is the ONLY thing growing on our lot that is not grass (or weeds). For me, you know, this is a tragic thing that needs to be fixed ASAP. But, alas, as we are renting, I don't have much control over the situation. I am, however, working on a plan with our landlords to get some plants in the ground and hopefully a garden in the backyard this spring. Oh, and in case you are thinking, "hmmm, that house doesn't look very big,"- it's not! But we are happy here and have made a comfortable home.

William report

2008-02-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

William is so strong! He loves to pull up on anything and everything, reach his hands as far as they will go, and pull whatever he can reach onto the floor. We have about a 6-inch clearance around the edges of our desk and counters at this point. Greg blames me for this behavior because my parents said I did the same thing when I was a kid, but at least we don't have any china for him to find like I did!

Will can feed himself with a spoon and says Uh-Oh whenever he drops something (even when it's on purpose). If I ask him to show me he can point to the light in any room, mommy (sometimes), the kitty, a window, and a picture of a star in his room. He sat down at a piano for the first time on Saturday and loved playing the keys. I think he has a real connection with the music, but we'll probably wait a couple more weeks before starting lessons :)

Yummy

2008-02-11T09:13:00.001-08:00

We have discovered the best brownie recipe ever. I am not necessarily the biggest brownie fan, but these are excellent and only get better with age. They are easier than they sound (let's be honest, if I can do it, anyone can), so give them a try!

1 1/4 cups cake flour (I just used all-purpose)

1/2 tea. salt

3/4 tea. baking powder

6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 6 1-inch pieces

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth.

3. Remove bowl from saucepan and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla.

4. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous.

5. Transfer batter to 9 x 13- inch baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Spread with spatula until even. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack 2 hours.

Happy Birthday Will!

2008-02-04T14:16:00.001-08:00

Little Mr. William turned 1 on Jan. 4. We celebrated with a little party at Grandma and Grandpa Buroker's house. Will was very pleased with all his gifts and enjoyed his cake. He's normally a neat eater, but who can resist smearing frosting around?

We got Will into his 1-year doctor's check-up a couple weeks late, but as his mother I am pleased to report he came in at an impressive 28 lbs (95th percentile), 33 inches (99th percentile), and a head size in the 100th percentile!

William is a proficient crawler and enjoys chasing or being chased around the house. He can cruise along the couch and around the coffe table, but he knows crawling will get him where he wants to go the fastest. He waves bye-bye, plays patty-cake, and his favorite toy is the computer mouse which he can just now reach (despite the fact that he has a bucket of toys 3 feet away and filled to the brim...) Will is a very good-natured little boy and the center of our family.

Snow!!!

2008-02-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

We have so much snow! Greg measured 28" last night, but it's still falling. Will is 33" tall, so you can see how much there is from the picture. The snow banks along our driveway are up past my waist. We tried to play with Will in the snow but he doesn't really like it. He can't walk, so he just sits there and gets cold.