Cutest dog in the world. sweet sweet dog. Attention like we have never had before.
People love this dog. Wow, he makes us popular on walks. I can love this dog.
A house of 4 boys needs a dog like this.
puppy- I think 9 weeks
boy party
Superhero Birthday party
My 3 year old tadpole turned four. He's losing his tail and getting big independent legs. So smart. So giving, kind. So thoughtful and a total problem solver. social, confident, decisive, determined, creative, bright.. my little superhero.
(superman is saving the cowgirl who is drowning in the water)
training
building a spider web with yarnbuilding superhero gadgets
masked cupcakes
SPRING!
(still discovering bark dust in my gloves)
leaf stew
finally getting out the camera again. finally getting an ounce of creative spirit raising up and swelling inside. Loving my new studio! taking time to look through old sketchbooks, journals, art files, old paintings...organizing it all.. remembering.. planning. Feeling Alive! Thrift store shopping to decorate the new art cocoon. Real. Uncovering my artist self. Invigorating..
"When you come right down to it, all you have is yourself. Yourself is a sun with a thousand fires in your belly. The rest is nothing. Pablo Picasso
lighting the fire... decorating my studio feels like i'm uncovering a bit of that inner sun. can't wait to reveal it.
"Each of us has the right, that possibility to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise. Maya Angelou
Belly
Belly swelling, tightening, insanely tight for only 20 weeks. Doc says this one is impressively kinetic. I feel it everyday.. starting a 6 week yoga class tomorrow to try to reclaim at least a small portion of what used to feel like mine.
Trying hard to find a boy name and more boy energy. Trying hard to feel like I will have it in me to try again for a girl. Trying hard not to feel just a tiny bit overwhelmed with boy..ness. Wishing I could make these old T-shirts into cute little baby girl summer dresses. trying hard to not do it anyway even though it's a boy inside. trying hard.
Favorite things:
"Mommy, I love you more than a blue whale".
"Mommy, I love you more than the whole ooniverse."
We spent a plentiful 3 weeks basking in family life in Utah over Christmas and the new year.Each morning was spent rushing to visit dear friends and family we have not seen in too long, and each afternoon was spent rushing home for naps and quiet time.You would think that 3 weeks would be plenty of time to visit all people dear, but despite all of efforts we still missed going to many places including my grandparents houses.We were able to spend time with them at my parents house, but it’s not quite the same. My aunts gave us a very special presentation about my Grandma Law’s life.They made a book with pictures and stories told by all of her close relatives.As my grandma sat and listened she chuckled, “it’s not right to have a eulogy before you’re even dead.”She was flattered to be so remembered and celebrated, but she’s too modest to not be a bit embarrassed.The stories told of her amazing gardening and canning efforts of her pouring the cement of her own driveway, and her hand washing the clothes and putting them on the line to dry.She had 7 children.She never complained.She was always stalwart.Her family history work has been remarkable.I am honored to have her as my grandmother and to learn from her.I’m so glad my aunts put together the book so I can revisit it and teach my children.It is a treasure.
Here is a smattering of poor quality photos from Christmas. It was a great time even if the photos don't show it.
For Christmas my mom asked me for help designing and remodeling her bathroom.
She had a good idea of what she wanted, but while I was there we did all the shopping and I did a lot of demo.I also let the kids work.I was impressed.They loved the tools.Joren was remarkably successful at his efforts to remove tile.I hope he doesn’t try to use any of his new skills at our house.Eirik really loved the safety glasses and made sure I ALWAYS wore mine.Of course, that’s no surprise, Eirik is ALL ABOUT GEAR!He’s always in full costume and equipped with all his weapons and gear.
Although it’s difficult to pick a highlight of a trip where you get to see all of the family you miss so much, I will admit that our 3 days in the fragrant, dreamy, heartwarming desert air of St. George was the best part.As I drove south the snow began to disappear and my chi came totally alive as I became one with the red rock hills and mountains around us.My lucky-dog sister gets to live there and she doesn’t even love it as much as I do.I was up at 5:00 AM going on walks every morning, doing yoga, feeling so ALIVE.I couldn’t believe how warm it was at midday even in January.Amy took us to a place for a nature hike that was perfect.The kids got to eat nuggets in this little red rock cave and then we hiked until we were all flushed with warmth and life and the sun had warmed our cheeks to nearly a burn.When we returned to our picnic spot we were all warm enough to take off our socks and shoes and dig our feet into that glorious red sand.Oh, I wanted to swim in it.I never wanted it to end.I didn’t realize until that weekend how ridiculously infatuated I am with the desert.I’m sure it doesn’t help to be thinking of it from the middle of a Michigan blizzard, but nonetheless, it was bliss and my heart is still there just a bit.
The hardest part about 3 weeks in Utah, were 2 weeks in Utah without Paul.Every day of the last week Eirik cried for his daddy.When Paul would call, Eirik would just cry and cry which certainly didn’t make it easier for Paul being away from us for 2 weeks either.We sure missed him.My boys traveled well.It was only VERY stressful as traveling with a 2 and a 3 year old is bound to be, but it was not debilitating.We did just fine.We came home on the 14th. On the 15th we had an 11 week ultrasound and got to see a little tiny baby kicking and squirming and moving all around with a strong little heartbeat.It was so exciting.I almost felt like the baby was not possibly real until proven real with an ultrasound.We are now just over 13 weeks and I am waiting oh so fervently for the evening when I do not feel like going into a sleep coma to avoid the nausea.I’m sure it will be soon.The evening of the 15th we found a house that we loved and signed the paperwork to move in at the beginning of March.We also sent in the down payment for our new little puppy coming the first week of March.Then we talked to our friends about buying their van when the move in June.
On the 16th I was called into our bishop’s office and asked to serve as the Relief Society President.I was lucky to have had a premonition that this calling was on its way.About 2 months ago the Lord told me to prepare and I have been, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise.I am excited and happy to serve.I just hope I can do a good job.It’s reassuring to feel that the Lord wants me in this calling.I was only sustained 2 days ago and already there is a woman from our ward in the intensive care unit and a funeral to plan.I am moving in a week and a half with a puppy on the way and I’m still nauseous every night. I’m doing the decorations for 2 baby showers in the next few weeks, planning Eirik’s superhero birthday party, teaching part of a constitution class, coordinating a mid week relief society meeting for next week and trying to plan a play/ dinner party for March as well as teaching 2 preschool classes in the next 3 weeks.Our computer crashed and had to wiped clean.Luckily we learned from our last crash to back everything up and we don’t think we lost anything vital.We bought a new laptop which I am loving and slowly getting used to.But the Lord has confidence, so I’m trying to keep mine.It feels that life just went from relatively breezy to much more busy. I’m trying to remember to breath and I’ve started doing yoga again.(And you wondered why I haven’t posted in 2 months!)
I think we are going to really love our new home.It has a beautiful backyard with giant trees and a 6 year old coy pond with a heater and pump.It’s filled with self propagating fish.I can’t believe our luck at finding this house.It has a huge dog run on the back that opens from the garage.It has an electric fence.There is not a stitch of carpet in the house. (Great news for the owners of a massively shedding dog.) The owners of the house are leaving their dog kennel that happens to be big enough for a Berner for us.It’s almost like the Lord is saying to me, “Melody, I know you don’t really want to get a dog, but I’m going to make it really easy for you to give your husband this great blessing.Here you go.”I know Paul will be so happy having a dog.I have been reading training books and getting more ready.It’s one of those things where I think you just have to jump right In, ready or not.The house is an older house but it is all renovated.It has a gorgeous kitchen, a new beautiful sun room, great deck, basement and big bedrooms.I feel really blessed that we found this place.
I will really miss some things about this wonderful apartment that we have been in for 2 ½ years.Just for sentimentality sake, I want to list them.
The low utilities, warm carpet, quiet rooms, new everything, nice showers, carpeted stairs, good windows, open layout, small living quarters that forces us to be together all the time like it or not, nice private master bath, maintenance crew to come fix any problems and salt the walks and shovel and mow the lawn and take care of all the landscaping, spray for spiders etc, etc.We really have had it pretty great here.
As I have been packing I have really enjoyed having all of my lovely art and decorations in boxes hidden away.It’s nice to live in clean functionality for a while.I almost don’t want to unpack.I seem to do a great job of cluttering my life with unnecessary things.Every once in a while I just need a break so I’ll shift to my left brained functioning effective, efficient motality for a while, but before long my heart cries out and I just have to go back to cluttering everything all up again with loveliness everywhere. Why do I do it to myself.Why can’t I just kick back and watch TV at the end of a day like my friends do.Why do I always have to be planning and making something??My house if full of cool stuff I’ve made that is too cool to get rid of, but I don’t really need it.I’m going to try to keep it simple in the next house and see how it goes.
The news is finally in!! We have hoped and prayed and worked really really hard to get a dermatology residency (well, Paul did most of the working). It seemed so out of reach when we first started going for it. It seemed way too good to be possible. I never thought in my wildest dreams I was marrying a dermatologist, but we got the official acceptance yesterday! We have a spot here in Michigan. It's an amazing blessing and we still haven't really wrapped our brains around what it means yet. Dr. Grekin put his arm around Paul the other day and said, "You don't know what I have done for you yet, but you will." We decided 2 years ago it was Dermatology in Michigan or bust. I'm so proud of Paul. We are so glad we won't have to move. We love our friends here and are looking forward to 3 more years of Michigan.
Paul cracks me up how often he turns to me and says, "I'm going to be a dermatologist." We are both still figuring out what that means.
One of Paul's dreams just came true. And another one is just 3 months away. Since we got married, Paul has yearned for a dog. Being the dog hater I have always been, I have not consented..... until now. I knew the day would come that I would be outnumbered, that Paul's sad puppy dog face and my love for my boys would overcome my lack of interest in the canine type. Luckily Paul has picked for his one and only choice one of the prettiest dogs I've ever seen, and the easy going.est, and the best with children breeds. The Bernese Mountain Dog.
Paul found a breeder and is making the preparations. The litter is due in Jan, so about March we will become parents to a puppy. Now this dog is not small. It's HUGE! I have NO experience with ANY dogs whatsoever. I have never owned a dog. I have never taken care of a dog or wanted to. I have always hated dog hair, dog smell, dog food smell, dog grooming... anyway. You can see this will be a challenge for me. But I know my boys will all LOVE this dog. Every time we are around a dog my three boys go into a state of complete "happy". I know dogs teach children confidence, responsibility, they become a friend and companion. I might have been much improved as a child by having a dog. I know the issues I have with dogs can be overcome as i open my heart to love him. I will have to pray a lot, (and please pray for me) but I really believe that learning to love a dog will help me to be less selfish, (We all know I could use some help with that), more charitable and more loving. I think I will find that the dog will fill a part of my heart that I don't know is missing. I will need a lot of help. I once offered that Paul could get a dog before and then I backed out. It almost broke his heart to pieces. I can't back out. I'm in this. Any advice you have I will accept. I know I can do it. (right?)
The boys were getting to bed late last night because of choir practice and I was in no mood for re-tucking kids over and over again. Yet, Eirik snuck out of his bed again and found me in the hall. He saw the anger on my face and then I visibly calmed myself down, counted to five and walked him back to bed. When he was safely tucked in again he said, "Mom, I'm really proud of you. I could tell you were really upset out there, but you calmed down and controlled your temperature." Then he said, "do you think you could sing us one song. You have such a pretty voice."
Is he for real? And is he manipulating me, because I sang more than one song and I even liked it.
Do you remember how in a previous post I said that my house was in a state of repair and things were as I like them? Also, do you remember how much of a hit the beans were from Joren's dinosaur party a month ago?
Well, photographs A, B and C demonstrate the sheer awesome willpower of Tadpole 1. He has cornered out a "secret hideout" in our living room for all of his special things. In it he keeps his favorite things like knives, screwdrivers, swords.. you know, important stuff. And he hides these special things in .. yes.. you guessed it.. the BEANS! The beans have migrated to all corners of my house. I guess I'm ok with it for all the fun they are having. It just goes to show how much control you give up to be a mom. Isn't he cute being so possessive of "his" corner!
Our little Joren loves all things Dinosaur. For weeks now he has loved saying, "Guess what mama?" "What Joren?" "Dinosaur!" He repeats this interaction over and over. I love how enthusiastic he is. He also has this cute habit of answering any of my questions with the phrase, "because the dinosaurs are sleeping." Try it, it works really well as a distraction. IE: "Joren, why did you take your food in the living room?" "because the dinosaurs are sleeping." See.
Well, we just had to have a dinosaur birthday party, and since Eirik had one at 2, we were already experienced. Dinosaur party #2 was far superior to #1 if I do say so myself. (Sorry Eirik.) My friend Leah is the best party planner I have ever known and she emailed me an entire page of game ideas which were all awesome. The boys had a blast.
1st he got all things dinosaur for his birthday. We played chase and slay the dinosaur with balloon swords. (Paul got to be T-rex) We played Dinosaur cave and tunnel and the kids all came out growling like dinos. We grew dinosaurs from eggs and from the little pills that expand. Paul told a long dinosaur story with our dino felt set. It was enthralling. The kids were holding on to his every word! We had a bucket of beans where we let them dig for dino bones. This was a real hit!
We drew dino tracks in chalk up the front walk. The dino fondant cake from Eirik's party was so cute, but the kids were really confused and didn't really know what to do with all that fondant. Kids really want their own dinosaur cupcake, so that's what they got!
Joren got a blue ribbon and when I asked him how big he was he stuck out his GREAT BIG tummy just as far a it would go.
Paul grew up cutting a tree every year so tradition lives on. Paul and I had a great time choosing our tree, but our boys... well... They pretty much whined and cried through the whole experience. I guess Momma didn't dress them warm enough or something. (Babies! Bah!)
They did love decorating it though, in the warmth of our own home. Eirik got all his favorite stuffed animals and let them live in the tree. They were both so fun with their "helping".
Every once in a while my house looks just how I want it to. For a few minutes this week, it was in a state of complete repair and I had to take some pictures to record the moment before the inevitable chaos ensued. I love decorating for Christmas. I discovered that my white metal snowflake ornaments look really cool in my big dark stained pressbox. This will be a repeat tradition I think.
I got my new family photos (taken by the ever talented Ashley Pace) framed and hung. It was more of a project than I expected. I had to rearrange all of the art in my house to make room for them, but I love how it turned out.
Eirik has been so excited about Santa coming. He has been listing all the things he wants from Santa over and over again. He made this letter to Santa and decorated it by himself (except I cut out the candy cane). The black feathers are the dark night sky. He wrote his name mostly by himself and dictated all the words. He loved dropping it in the big red Santa mailbox at the library.
Some magic dust of some kind settled on my house today at lunchtime. Eirik's picky eating has been about to get the best of me the past few weeks. But today, both of my boys ate a big handful of raw spinach dipped in ranch, then a handful of frozen blueberries, then each of them drank a cup of water and had a half of a banana, a vitamin and then filled up their tummies on fish sticks. I felt, for a moment like a really good mom. It probably helps that Eirik has not eaten anything except toast and milk for 2 days since he has not liked anything I have made for meals. And when Eirik eats something, Joren usually will too. Eirik is very vocal about what he dislikes (ie: everything) and Joren has started saying, "I hate spaghetti (or whatever we are eating)" while shoveling it by the handful into his mouth. He doesn't understand what hate means, but he knows it gets a reaction when Eirik says it. I had another euphoric mealtime moment a few weeks ago when Joren ate a whole bowlful of tortilla soup! I was so excited, but tried to stay calm so as not to jinx the moment. Eirik has never, in my recollection eaten something that I actually like to eat that is a "meal". Eirik won't touch foods that are combined or spiced or have a sauce beside ketchup or ranch. He likes pizza with only pepperoni- no cheese. He like tortillas with nothing on them. He likes rice crispies. He likes instant oatmeal and eggs and pancakes and most fruit. umm... hmmm... he'll sometimes eat brocolli or lettuce or carrots, but never cooked, and he will always eat hot dog. It's disgusting really how few foods he will actually eat. Joren has been eating great. He's actually fun to cook for. He is growing really fast right now and constantly hungry. He likes to eat on the go though. It's like the table is a perpetual jungle gym and he won't sit down. He's either standing on his chair or the table, or getting stuck while climbing through his chair or turning his chair on it's side and balancing on it or climbing under the table or trying to steal the food off of Eirik's plate. Between the "I hate" rants and the jungle gym adventures mealtimes are never tame. And the mess is getting more under control, but it is still exquisite. Will Joren ever learn to drink from a cup?
Anyway, lunch was so nice I wanted to record that once, they actually ate what I prepared and liked it and didn't whine or cry and actually thanked me! The magic dust made my day and whoever sprinkled it.. thank you.
"Gratitude is of the very essence of worship. … When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives”. Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love”
Eirik asked me how to write "DAD" today. I looked down to see that he had grabbed the D and the A fridge magnets to use as a guide so that he could write a note to Dad.
( I wrote this a few weeks ago, but I'm just posting it now.)
This weekend was tough, and I was up many times last night with crying boys and I had let myself get too busy again, and woke up really grumpy. I knew I couldn't let today go on plummeting, so I worked really hard. I think it's one of my hardest tasks to reverse a bad mood spiral when momentum builds and I just want to roll with it. But I did it. I did the things I knew I needed to do, and it's the end of the day and I'm in a good place now. Experience is a beautiful thing.
Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise. -Maya Angelou
When I was much younger I knew a family that had a star chart in their house. I was intrigued and loved the mystery and passion it represented to me. I promised myself that I would be the kind of mom that put up star charts, and wind chimes and globes and posters with every type of whale and science experiments and all sorts of fascinating, mind opening pockets all over our house. I dreamed of trap doors, telescopes rooms full of books, a dining room table scribbled all over with notes and sketches made during vibrant dinnertime discussions. So when I found this shower curtain on Urban outfitters, I had to have it. For some reason it really fit my vision and I want my boys to grow up with this shower curtain. It makes me really happy. I knew that part of why I was feeling so down this morning was because I had let other things get in the way of the time I should be devoting to my kids. They could tell, and were in turn driving me CrAzy! So the first thing I did this morning was sit down in the toy room with my boys and play cowboys and indians and build train tracks with trolls under the bridges and rescue baby elephants who have fallen off the circus train and we all got dressed up in cowboy gear head to toe. We played for almost 2 hours after which I had to lock them in for 10 minutes while I decompressed because I actually really hate playing pretend and it was all I could do to pretend to love to prentend for 2 hours. But I did it, and my boys loved it. After "pretend time" I did the mom part I love which is teaching. We practiced writing letters on the chalkboard and Eirik drew his first shapes today. He drew an E with lots of lines going to the right and then said, "mom, it's a sideways swingset." I worked with Joren on his ABC's and then we read a book we have read lots of times but I discovered that Joren has it completely memorized. Good for him little smarty. Then I made this cute little lunch because I knew if I did it I would feel better about myself. (Not really because they would love it, but because I needed a way to be creative and here's how it came out.) They, in fact actually ate lunch and Eirik only begged for different food for half of the meal. After lunch we read more books and Eirik practiced reciting his favorite new book which he knows word for word after only reading it 12 times or so. (I certainly don't have it memorized, but he does!) It's called Bedtime at the Swamp. It's adorable with awesome illustrations. If you don't have it, you should buy it. Then they had naps and I got to paint for 2 hours. When Eirik woke up he painted with me meticulously in his coloring books at my feet for 20 minutes. I was so proud of him. He didn't get paint anywhere it shouldn't be and he actually broke out of his shell and used a color other than blue black and green for the first time in his life. Even if it was only white. He was a delightful painting buddy. When Paul got home we all had a $6 dinner at Wendy's and then went to Chucky Cheese. The boys had a blast and I felt good because I spent the day as I should, loving my boys. Sometimes I just get off track and worry about too many other things.
I just "baked" a cake for an hour with the oven off. Am I crazy or did my 3 1/2 year old turn it off for me? I know it was preheated when I put it in. I am really baffled. I just can't see Eirik turning it off. Really!? I turned off the oven when I put the cake in?? I'm so confused. Maybe it's a Halloween mystery. Does anyone else feel like this Halloween season has lasted Foreevveer? There are so many fun fall things to do; pumpkin patches, nature walks, pumpkin carving, pumpkin soup, Halloween decorations, Halloween library books, leaf collecting, Halloween candy and Halloween cakes and cookies and pumpkin crunch. I think I start in on Halloween a little too early. I felt this way last year too. I think 3 weeks of Halloween is my max next year. I'm a little relieved that tomorrow before I go to bed I can take down the bats and spider webs.
These are from the our Ward Halloween party. We have an awesome activities committee. There was a spook alley for the kids and trunk or treating, a chili cook-off with prizes, and my dear, mustached pumpkin got an honorable mention at the pumpkin carving contest. The cake ended up cooking fine and it turned out like this: A Ghost town.
it was only half gone at the end of the night because I forgot to cut it. My witches hats however, were more accessible and were gone in moments. The boys got to be Power Rangers this year! (I got their costumes at mom2 mom sales for $2 each!) They were a great team. 2 minutes before we left for the party Eirik decided he had to be Luke Skywalker in black and was trying to shed his power ranger suit at top speed. Luckily talk of Joren being left to fight all the bad guys by himself without his power ranger team helped talk him into keeping his clothes on. He does have black spider man boots, but will he wear them with the power ranger suit? No," cowboy boots are better mom!" At least I can still dress Joren to look cool. I'm enjoying the last few weeks/ months of having Joren match and dress in the clothes I like. Eirik has been wearing the craziest things lately. Today it was Joren's church sweater vest over his inside out and backward dragon fire shirt and Joren's black sweat pants with cowboy boots. It's really hard to go out in public with him sometimes. :)
I love this picture because it has Eirik's two favorite people to play with; Johnathon and Benjamin. AND, they are all actually facing the camera all at once! Wow!
Paul and I decided to dress up as the scariest thing we could think of:
H1N1!!! Ahhh! We thought we were pretty clever.
You have to see these amazing monster hats my new friend Jena made for her kids. Are those AMAZING or what??!!
We had a fun FHE night carving pumpkins. I used to have to twist Paul's arm, but by now, he knows I'll complain enough that he might as well have fun and get carving. Check out the coral reef he made. Seriously, that's great isn't it?? Joren has been saying one phrase over and over and over and over again. It goes: "Guess what Mom? I'm not a big a dinosaur crying. Huh?" We don't really know what it means, but he says it all the time. Also, he usually makes sense but once in a while he will just jabber and jabber and every phrase ends in T-Rex. It cracks us up. He's picked up a Canadian thing too. After each phrase he says, "Huh?" or "Eh"?" He says, "Scary huh?" It's so cute. So, he got a T-rex pumpkin. Eirk gave Paul very detailed instructions about how to carve his vampire. He had to have a forked tongue. "Scary huh?"
And a few more cuties to make you smile.
Eirik picked up the "Guns" somewhere and I love it. You can't teach someone to be such a ham. That's pure talent.
This blog is about the life and times of Paul, Melody and our three little tadpoles Eirik, Joren and Teig. I seem to talk mostly about them, but I try to throw in some other things of interest like my creative home endeavors, religious and political views and updates about the progression of our never ending medical school adventure. I post my artwork on my art blog (link below). Thanks for visiting!
march
puppy- I think 9 weeks
boy party
(superman is saving the cowgirl who is drowning in the water)
training
building a spider web with yarn
building superhero gadgets
masked cupcakes
(still discovering bark dust in my gloves)
leaf stew
finally getting out the camera again. finally getting an ounce of creative spirit raising up and swelling inside. Loving my new studio! taking time to look through old sketchbooks, journals, art files, old paintings...organizing it all.. remembering.. planning. Feeling Alive! Thrift store shopping to decorate the new art cocoon. Real. Uncovering my artist self. Invigorating..
