Working Down the Line in 2009

The following list is NOT a list of resolutions and or goals. Although, I have always been very good at making a New Year's resolution and keeping it. These are just things I really want to do in 2009, things I am so looking forward to and things that I"m not going to slit my wrists over if they don't happen. This may be an ongoing list if I can't remember them all right now.
1. Go away with Ryan and company for our 14th wedding anniversary. We always take our kids with us on our anniversary get away. It's such a blast.
2. Visit Paris and London with my great friend, Kelly. I have to each lunch on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower and stand at the Globe Theater and cry.
3. Marsh Lake with Ry's whole family. If you know me at all, this is just a given. We do this rain or shine or illness.
4. Work out with my husband at the Clearfield Aquatic Center. We bought a family pass, good for a year. I am not working out to lose weight. That, my friends, will never happen. But to just go with him, to do something together. He's lost about 60 pounds and wants to keep feeling great. I am so proud of him!
5. I need to go get a massage at least twice a month.
6. I am going to go tan once a week. THis is not for my body, but my mind. If you know me, you'll know what I'm talking about.
7. I want to stay more connected to friends who have been there for me.
8. Add #4 to our family! I am very excited for this.
9. I get to direct "Peter Pan" or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up." I can't wait to fly~~

Amylee is 2!!

Or as she says it, "Toooooooowa." I can't believe she is so big. She is talking like crazy and still acting like she owns this house. She was a cuss before she ever exited my body. She quit growing at about 34 weeks. I knew from the beginning of the pregnancy something was wrong. But everyone just kept telling me "Every pregnancy is different." Well, I know that. But there is nothing mistaking a mother's intuition. Ryan's mom and sister believed me. I looked about six months pregnant the day I delivered. My dr decided on a Friday that we would start me the next Wed, which would have been the 20th (My birthday! I was so excited. I had always, always wanted a Christmas baby.) He said she needed to come out. She wasn't due until January 8th. But that Sunday I woke up and didn't feel her move all day. I tried everything I could to get her going and nothing. So I went to the hospital to just get on a moniter and make sure everything was okay. I even went up by myself, leaving Ry here. I thought all would be well. The nurses took one look at me and freaked out when I told them I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. I had lost about 20 pounds with her. So, they called my dr who said "We are doing this tonight." They let me try to have her vaginally, but she was in distress. So at 1:45 am the dr came in and said, let's have a baby. And at 2:04 she was here. Weighing in at a whopping 4 pounds 1 ounce. The tiniest thing I have ever seen in my life. She had a hard time at first, so she was in NICU for one week. We brought her home Christmas Day. The best present I have ever received. Below are some pictures so you can appreciate her tiny-ness. Up against Ry she is itty- bitty. The one of me holding her, you can see her in relation to my hand. And I have small hands. I think back on that and I am grateful for intiuitive women in my life and a skilled dr. And a husband who kept me calm while I was FREAKING out during the C-section. Oh my litte Lee-lee. I love her!

OOH MOUSE DROPPINGS!!

So Ann found mouse droppings under the Christmas tree skirt and around the front room. She was so disgusted that we might have brought a mouse in with the decorations(this might be from having mice in our other house, RyLeigh picked one up when she was like two, but other story). She immediately got out the vacuum and started cleaning up. I got home and she said,"You remember how I thought we might have a mouse in the house?" I said yeah. Then she went to the cupboard and pulled out the container of chocolate sprinkles. "Well this was left on the table and Amylee got into it."

That's right, she got into the sprinkles and must have been saving some under the Christmas tree.

I knew naming her Amylee was a bad idea!!

My Duncan's 6th Birthday

I have so much to catch up on, so I'll start with Duncan's birthday. On November 4th, Duncan turned 6. I can't believe he is that big. I want to keep him little forever. He is the funniest, most tender kid I have ever known. He cracks us up. His Aunt Kristie just likes to sit and talk to him for hours. I know long ago, I promised to be his mom. Not because of what I could teach him, but because of what he would bring to me. He pretty much has me wrapped around his little finger. Here is he is just a few days old, then on his first haircut at Jana's, then last May on our way to a wedding. Oh how I love him!

Wow . . .

I am a serious slacker. I can't believe I have not blogged since October. Really cool things have happened. Like, things I can't even really remember to tell but I feel like there were some. So, until I can catch up and talk about Halloween, Dunc's Birthday, my Mom coming HOME! and all the other good stuff, I shall just tell you a wee story. So, yesterday we, the chilluns and I get into the van. There is a poster in there on RyLeigh's seat so I throw it out the window. Well, it rolls under the van. Except I'm not sure if it's under the van, so I lean my head out to see if I need to get it and move it or if I can just pull out and my finger is still on the little button thing to roll up the window which I am proceeding to do with my head still out the window. Yes Friends, I rolled my lip up in my van window.
That is all.