fun with mark and bek

we are home!

2012-02-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Baby Joshua and I got to come home from the hospital tonight. We are so grateful that he is doing so well. We feel very blessed and appreciate all the prayers we had for him.

Joshy update

2012-02-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in a chair at the hospital looking at my beautiful twelve day old Joshua. He is lying on his back, sleeping peacefully in his crib with tubes in his nose, wires on his chest and cords on his feet. In my motherly opinion I think he is the most brave, most charming and most gorgeous little baby in the world. The nurses and doctors keep reaffirming this notion by constantly telling me how cute he is.

Yesterday morning my mom and I looked at his umbilical stump, which was bleeding and infected looking and grimaced. “That doesn’t look normal. Maybe we should call the pediatrician.”

Our pediatrician was out for the weekend, but his partner said to bring him in.

The umbilical area was treated, I was told to keep an eye on it, and home we went.

Around 2:00 Joshy’s breath was labored, and he was coughing and gagging on phlegm.

“That doesn’t sound normal. Maybe we should call the pediatrician.”

“Hi, I brought my baby in this morning, this is my third baby, and I swear I am not an overly paranoid mother, but…”

I was told to bring him in again, and after a ten minute examination the pediatrician told me I needed to head immediately over to the emergency room at Primary Children’s Hospital. Joshy was sick, having trouble breathing and needed immediate care. It could not wait until the evening. He said he would call the hospital right away and tell them I was on my way.

I was brave, but as I passed the receptionist on my way out, and saw the look of horrible pity in her eyes as she said quietly, “Good luck”, I started to cry.

I held this baby inside for nine months, and I loved him. But in the last eleven days I had fallen wholly and irreversibly in love with him. I held him close, adored his amazing little cleft chin, pronounced nose, chubby cheeks, long toes. I had watched my husband and boys adore their, “new baby”. Nothing could happen to this little angel.

I was relieved when after the third call Mark answered and said he would meet me at the hospital. I need him to be my side. He is my partner and my love and my strength.

We were admitted yesterday afternoon. Back in the hospital on the day he was officially “due”.

Joshua has a virus and bronchiolitis. His little body is having a hard time getting enough oxygen because of the mucus in his nose and his enflamed bronchioles. We have been blessed that he has not yet developed any fever, and is still nursing well and staying hydrated. Because of this he has avoided having an i.v, spinal tap and antibiotics. We pray he does not develop a fever and continues to nurse. They have been trying to wean him off of his oxygen, but he has not been able to maintain healthy levels on his own yet.

Because the symptoms of most of these viruses get worse over the first 5-7 days, before getting better, we will most likely be here at least a couple of days. Considering his age and sickness, I think he is doing very well.

I always know I love my little family, but events like this make the love I feel for Mark, Russ Russ, Lukey and Joshua so acute. These boys make my life so rich and meaningful and filled with love. Say a prayer for Joshy. Hopefully we will be home and healthy very soon.

Joshy

2012-02-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with this little man.

It's baby time

2012-01-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

We were excited and somewhat surprised when my water broke at 2 am Monday morning. Surprised because this baby was coming somewhere between 8 and 12 days early (we didn't think we could do early babys at our house), but only somewhat surprised because my body had been warning me for days. We were not entirely ready, but threw some things in a bag, called my sister to come over and stay with the kids -what a saint- and drove to the hospital.

The labor went smoothly and at 3:23 we met Joshua Beck Gardner. He was 19 1/2 inches long and 8 lb 15.4oz. Less than an ounce smaller than Russ Russ was. I was grateful he decided to come early and I did not have to give birth to a 10 1/2 pound baby!

Russell could not be more in love with his new brother. He sings to him, tells him, "It's ok baby, I'm here, I'm here" when the baby cries, and tells us about 100 times per day how cute the new baby is.

Lukey has been a good little boy and loves his baby brother as well. He has not yet thrown a heavy toy at Joshua's head or slapped him in the face, which we think is a positive sign.

So far we are adjusting well, but that is probably only because my mom is here being super-mom, and super-grandma, and super-cook, and super-cleaner woman. She had been planning on coming Friday afternoon, but when we called her at 6 am monday morning, she cancelled her clients for the week, changed her flight and was in Salt Lake by noon. We are so spoiled and so grateful to her!

Greased Pig Contest

2011-12-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

When I was seventeen our church organized a teen event for all of us in the area. A couple hundred of us trekked out of Las Vegas to a nearby ranch for a day and night of fun. The most memorable activity was the greased pig contest.

There was a fenced in area, and greased pink pigs–squealing and running around like crazy. There were a bunch of teenagers dressed in jumpsuits, sprinting and attempting to tackle the swine. The point of the game was to capture the greased pig in your arms. Looking back it seems like such a horrible form of animal cruelty, but the teenage brain is not exactly fully developed, and at the time it was incredible fun.

Fast forward ten years, and my little family has just moved to Utah. The climate is much more dry than Southern California. The children’s skin is suffering, and breaking out in horrible dry rashes. An addition to our daily routine has been added, and looks like this;

A fenced in arena – Luke’s room with the door shut.

Two pink naked boys --fresh from the tubby, squealing, giggling and running around in circles trying to escape me.

A determined mother, with lotion covering her hands sprinting and tackling the boys to lather them up from head to toe.

Every time we enter the room and close the door to begin the chase I am taken straight back to that greased pig contest.

During the original competition there was this kid named Leo. He made a jump for the pig, threw his arms around the pig’s waist and grabbed tight. That poor kid got pooped on.

Let’s just say one of the other side effects of moving to Utah was a couple weeks of the flu, and yes, during one of our chases this poor mom made a jump, a grab, and got pooped on. I wish I was wearing a jumpsuit.

We may not be ready to turn in our California drivers licenses, or take the California plates off of our cars, but we have changed the presets on our radios.

2011-12-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

Leaving Los Angeles was like breaking up with that boy you knew you should not marry. We had been together for five years, and the familiarity of the place made the thought of leaving frightening, but exciting as well. It was time to start playing the field again. Time to see if we could find a better fit. But would the next boyfriend be better or worse? Would we look back in a few months and think, “I’m so glad I did that, this new place is such a better fit for us”? Or would we come crawling back to LA with our tail between our legs and beg him to take us back?

Once our decision had been made, and we knew the breakup was coming, there were many moments Mark and I looked at each other and said, “What the heck are we doing?”

There are so many reasons we fell in love with California. We had infinite opportunities for new and exciting adventures. We had a list of fun things we wanted to do, but the longer we lived there, and the more we crossed off, the longer our list became, because we just kept hearing about more places to see, things to do, restaurants to try, beaches and mountains to explore. We will miss the year-round hiking, camping, beaches, museums, daily walks to the park, farmers markets, amusements parks, tide pools and day trips. And it was hard to leave perfect weather, and friends we had come to love.

Los Angeles was almost all we knew as a married couple. We had lived there for most our marriage, and was the only place we had been parents.

But we had so many logical reasons to leave. The ever-growing expenses of our ever-growing family were making it difficult to get by, with me choosing to stay home and raise our kids. We were feeling pretty crammed in our 2 bedroom apartment, and dragging our mattress out to the family room every night for 15 months was getting a little old. Schools are always an issue there, and not having Mark at home before the kids were asleep was not ideal. If we moved to the school district and neighborhood where we wanted to settle, Mark would be gone an extra 2 hours a day. The reality that the majority of Russ and Luke’s grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins did not really know them also made us sad.

All in all, things have been much easier here. The best improvement is having Mark home before the kids are in bed. He has not had a job landing him home in the evenings before, and having him home around six is beautiful. I have to sacrifice sleeping in a little longer in the mornings, but it is completely worth it. Check with me in a couple months and we have a one-month old, I might be singing a different tune.

We have the opportunity to see family and friends much more. Loved ones have been incredibly helpful to us during our move, and over the last three weeks. We have been the recipients of so many services from family, friends and strangers. Yes, we have had about 15 families from our neighborhood bring us treats and dinners and welcoming us. Mark and I have been shocked by all the kindness.

Having a garage is a definite improvement. I can strap the kids in without first having to navigate through halls, stairwells, a pool and a parking lot. Having a washer and dryer comes close behind.

Yes, it is cold. But if you are going to move to Utah in the dead of winter, I recommend doing it when you are 8 months pregnant and your body's thermostat is a little out of whack anyway. The boys only took a few days to adjust, and now they want to play outside even in 30 degree weather.

Quick story; the boys and I have been used to walking to the park almost every day. The first day we were in our new house Russ said, "Let's go to the park".

'Why not?' I thought. 'It doesn't seem too cold, and they have coats. I bundled them up, loaded them in the double stroller and walked the four houses to the park. We got there, the boys just stood in the grass, unable to move, snot and tears were running down both of their cheeks.

"It's flippin cold at this park." Russ says, "Let's go to a biffrent park." Sorry kid, all the parks in Utah are going to be this cold.

He also recently told me, "Cars in Utah drive sloooooow."

But, if you ask him if he wants to move back to our home in California, he gives a loud, "NO!" He loves our new house.
Back to the dating analogy- are we ready to accept a ring from Utah and make an eternal commitment? Give me a break, we have only been dating 3 weeks and we haven’t even had our first kiss yet. But I think we will try him out a little longer. We are quite happy here in our new home and environment, but let us not pretend that any of us know what the future will bring.

Merry Christmas everyone!

While the nausea is away, the pregnant woman will play.

2011-11-03T14:07:00.000-06:00

October has shined good health upon our family and we have celebrated by playing.

We finally checked out the canals in Venice. I have been wanting to see these for years, but with the never-ending list of things to do in Los Angeles, we finally made it there. We were very impressed with the beautiful homes, clear water, quaint boats, and cute duckies. It was such a serene and peaceful area, until we arrived, of course, with our two rambunctious boys running over bridges and chasing ducks and geese.

The next weekend we headed to Vegas to spend time with my parents and see best friends. My parents completely spoiled us by taking us out for dinner for Mark's birthday, babysitting for us to go to the temple, letting us host a barbecue at their home with our friends, and taking us to the pumpkin patch.

Russell could not be more in love with Grandma. She put him to sleep every night and for every nap.

At the pumpkin patch. Our kids could have moved into the petting zoo, and been completely happy.

Russ loved hugging the rabbits

The following weekend we were visited by Britt, Aaron and their adorable kids. We spent the morning showing them the canals, and all the crazy sights Venice Beach has to offer.

checking out some street performers

The kids were most impressed with this pipe. They could have played on it all day.

We then headed to Malibu Creek for a night of camping. It was great fun.

Here are the kids enjoying Mark's birthday cupcakes.

Early morning in the tent

We also finally made it to Leo Carillo, another spot we have been meaning to visit for years. I was as excited as could be to check out the tide pools and show them to the boys.

We saw and touched many anemones, sea stars and crabs.

Russ thought touching the anemones was so "tickly".

Lukey loved touching everything as well.

Mark

Bekah copying Mark

This last weekend we were visited by my parents who needed a good Southern California vacation. We spent most of the day Friday at the Arboretum and Botanic Gardens. They were amazingly beautiful.

Grandma and Grandpa surprised the boys with headlamps. What an exciting gift. Russell did not take his off all day.

Lukey has a special place in his heart for his "Papa". He must have said his name a thousand times over the weekend. This is them laughing in each other's faces.

Of course the kids could not resist chasing the ducks, geese and peacocks all over the gardens.

We also spent a day with them in Solvang- a Danish tourist town near Santa Barbara- and at night we left the kids at home with a sitter and went to the Griffith Park Observatory. We walked around the beautiful grounds, checked out the city views and stars, looked through a telescope at Jupiter, and watched a fascinating show in the planetarium.

One Saturday afternoon when we were all feeling incredibly lazy Mark forced us to get our bootys to the store, buy some ingredients, and have a Halloween party. I was tired and less than enthusiastic at first, but we ended up having a great time, and I was glad he pushed it.

We made eyeballs, bones, a witches house and carved Russell's pumpkin.

A plate of our edible eyeballs

bones, Russell's pumpkin. He insisted that his pumpkin have a "spooky" face.

Mark and I had never heard him use the word before, so we thought it was pretty cute.

Russell wanted to be a pirate for Halloween, and was at our church party, but on Halloween day he insisted on trick-or-treating in his Woody costume. It was only fitting to then dress Lukey up as Buzz. They were such a cute pair.

Russell and Luke thought trick-or-treat was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to them.

Mark and I were pretty pumped about it too. Plus our kids are satisfied with the 'one candy a day rule' which leaves lots of candy for us when they are not looking.

Yesterday I had the audacity to take my kids to Target.

2011-10-26T23:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had the audacity to go to Target with my kids. Why would one ever do such a thing? Well, the three of us have been running errands together for 18 months now, without too much trouble, but lately trouble has commenced. Or should I say, Lukey has commenced. Everything went relatively smooth for the first 60 seconds, at which point Lukey began to get a little fussy. Let me paint a picture of Lukey being “a little fussy” lately; screaming, writhing his body, and slamming his head into anything he can. If there is nothing available for him to slam his head into, he hits it with his chubby hands.

As I was saying, Lukey began writhing, screaming and slamming his head into the cart because he wanted to get down, so I grabbed a toy for him to play with, and started collecting groceries fast.

Russell was running around behind me asking, “What do tigers eat? Why? Why? Why?”

Eventually I got stuck, “I don’t know”.

“Tell me! Tell me!” he yelled frantically.

We were walking through, I was grabbing things we needed; bananas, bread, salsa, milk. Lukey was grabbing anything and everything he could reach and throwing it on the ground behind us. I was picking up some things, and leaving others in a trail behind us. Don’t judge me, my belly is getting big and bending all the way down to the ground is really difficult.

I stopped to look at the shoes because Russ desperately needs a bigger pair. Lukey started his little tantrum again, and I gave in. I placed him on the ground. He started running around throwing shoes and shoe boxes everywhere.

Okay, sorry Russell, we are not getting shoes today. Lukey got picked up, he screamed, and bonked his forehead into the cart. Maybe the back of the cart would be more enjoyable for him.

I stuck him in the back, started putting shoes back on the shelf, look up at Lukey to see he has stomped and sat on our two loaves of bread, bitten into a couple of bananas and notice that he and every other item in the cart is covered in yogurt.

Why did I leave my wipes in the car?!?

People were staring, or maybe they were not. I was too embarrassed to look up and see if there was disapproval in the eyes of fellow target-goers as they watched the pregnant woman with a 3-year-old, a cart full of destroyed groceries and a yogurt covered toddler hitting his head on the cart.

It was one of those parenting moments where you desperately pray to melt into the Target tile and wake up a couple of days later in your bed. One of those stressful moments that by the time you get everything and everyone back inside your home you have almost forgotten the episode even occurred, because it is not the first time people have stared at you, or your kids have been covered in yogurt.

But, today I was rewarded with a trip to my OB without Russ and Luke. Did you read that? Without Russell and Luke! It was a mini vacation. Peeing in a cup was so much more enjoyable without Russ trying to see what the heck I was doing, and Luke, trying to splash in the toilet, pulling down feet of toilet paper and spreading it around the bathroom, and trying to stick his hands in the toilet again and again.

This also happened to be my glucose screening test -when they make you come in and drink that nasty orange sugar water, wait for an hour and then take your blood- which means I had an entire hour to have a nice chat with my doctor, and sit and read. It was pure relaxation. And, as an additional bonus it was discovered that my belly is now only measuring one week early, as opposed to four.

What is with Lukey though?

Mark and I have seriously watched in awe lately as our incredibly easy, patient and peaceful baby has transformed into a demanding toddler with the emotional range that rivals his mama on birth control, or a woman going through menopause. Lukey Lukey Lukey! It is a good thing your cheeks are so chubby and soft and you give us really cute kisses.

Just in case you were losing sleep at night

2011-09-30T16:13:00.000-06:00

Quick personal update; My birthday was Friday. Mark stayed home on Friday and the rest of the weekend, and I finally got the rest my body had been begging for. A nap, a massage, a much needed date with my hubby, a girl’s night, more resting and resting and resting did the trick. By Monday I was feeling remarkably better. It is so rare for moms to get to take a sick day. We usually have to work our little bums off no matter our physical condition. I was incredibly grateful to Mark for a weekend of rest, and recovered more in two days than I had in six weeks.

My sister was right, and now that I am feeling physically better all other worries seem much more manageable. Besides, who can stay too stressed when you have a three-year-old sweetheart constantly shoving cough drops in your mouth and ice packs on your ribs, and dropping spontaneously to his knees 20 times a day and praying for “mommy to feel all better”, and my favorite, “Please, bless Mommy’s rib to GO AWAY!”?

Who can stay too stressed when you have a chubby 17 month old, red headed toddler running around the house chanting, “Hakuna Matata” with a big grin on his face?

This little man is what I really wanted to write about today. So let me tell you a little about our man Lukey.

Lukey has a real zest for life. There is not a food he does not immediately shove in his mouth to taste, a song he does not dance to, an obstacle he does not climb, or a body of water he does not attempt to jump in. You can see the look of excitement and determination in his eyes when he sees something new that he just has to try. He is adventurous and fearless. Although he is coordinated and balanced for his age, his need for constant exploration and challenge lead to never-ending goose eggs on his poor little head. In actuality his head is not that little. It is in the 99th percentile, which is probably why it always takes the first hit.

He is such a joy and we sit around watching him and laughing at him constantly. I love his little thrill-seeking genes, partly because they remind me so much of myself.

Whenever we go hiking and I try climbing some rock wall, Mark and Russell both yell “Mommy, down!” but now I know I will have a little buddy to climb with.

Lukey loves balls and cars and bikes. He loves his teddy. He loves food. He loves climbing. He is completely in love with his Daddy, and chooses Dad over Mom 9 times to 1.

He says about 20 words, and is starting to put together simple sentences, “My ba” (my ball) “I wan wa wa” (I want water). My favorite word is “Bah-BOOOOL” which is ‘bottle’, and is so completely adorable.

Putting him to sleep for nap and bed is one of my favorite times of day. He asks for his “Bah-BOOOOL”, when he sees it in your hand he runs around the house to find his teddy, picks him up and sprints to his room. He climbs up on the bed, lies on his back and waits for his bottle –I know, he is almost 18 months and we really need to give up that thing. He polishes it off, folds his arms and bows his head for a prayer. I put him in his crib and he lays on his back, waves “bye bye” at me exuberantly, with a huge smile on his face.

It is interesting to see little personality traits and physical traits of Mark and I in our boys, but most of what I see are two unique individuals. They are just themselves. They have their own beautiful, crazy, determined personalities and I hope we are able to teach them and guide them through life in the way that is right for them. Good luck to us all in this parenting business!

What would I do without these three?

The family doctor

ok

2011-09-24T10:47:00.000-06:00

So, the other day I posted the previous post. Which led to a discussion about how public or private a blog should be. I don't have a problem posting about the stresses and the joys of life, because that is just how life is. Sometimes it is quite stressful and it nice to know what other loved ones are going through.

The truth is, it is kind of weird that anyone can read it. I just always assume the only people interested in my life are my friends and family.

Lastly, I think it kind of sounded like Mark has left me alone to struggle. Which is so far from the truth. He easily shoulders as much as I do for our family. It is just that our stresses are so different. I will never have to endure his, and he will never have to endure mine. He has been working very hard lately, and is a wonderful husband. He is my angel.

Stressed? Me too.

2011-09-24T10:28:00.001-06:00

My life usually comes in 3 month increments; three good months, three hard months. Before this pregnancy I had a pretty enjoyable 8 months, and I knew a storm was brewing.

In the past 5 months I have felt that I carry my burdens alone, because I do. None of our experience is the same, nobody understands my personal struggles. Certainly not Mark, whose struggles are so different from mine and is rarely here to even see what I do. I do believe in a Savior who alone understands my experience, but sometimes I wish He would just be with me in my living room for an evening and we could really talk.

And always there is the loud voice that yells at me saying, “You should just be grateful that you have the opportunity to be pregnant” and I truly am.

“You should be grateful that your husband has a job at all.” And I truly am.

“You should be grateful it is you with pertussis and not one of your babies.” And I truly am.

“You should be grateful that at least you do not have to put your little children to bed with empty stomachs.” And I truly am.

And this voice is really saying, “There are so many people who have it harder than you, why can’t you handle this?”

But, in spite of me turning my thoughts to others who have it worse, the truth stands.

I still work like a horse, and am as physically beat up as a prize fighter, and as emotionally worn and confused as a BYU football coach on September 17, 2011.

There have been many times in the last five months where I have thought, “I cannot do this. I actually do not think I am capable of doing this.” Sometimes I have these moments in life. And it is that I do end up doing whatever “this” is, that makes me feel strong and powerful once I am on the other side.

Personally I never look forward to trials with much excitement, I quite enjoy and appreciate the moments when life is calm and makes sense, and my body feels healthy. But, times of struggle do bring powerful empathy to me as well as a sense of strength.

I am grateful for my sister who after hearing me lament about stresses I currently face told me that, “life is so much more difficult when you are sick and in pain, and it will all seem more manageable when you feel better”. I know she is right, and I needed to hear it.

I am so grateful for another sister who is apparently on the same page as I am, or at least I felt that way by reading her words tonight. I had just finished typing this out, when I read her blog and felt understood, which is as good as a long back massage right now.

I am grateful for my little sister who calls over and over rotating between my cell phone and the house until I finally pick up. I always feel so much better after our conversations. I really need to talk to her, and I am so grateful for her persistence.

I am grateful for my sister who always makes me laugh by telling me the craziness of her own children and life. Most recently she told me of her frustrations with her little boy has been violent lately and was strangling the boy next to him in primary. Every time this mental image flashes into my head I chuckle.

And there is no one with matched sweet parental worry and concern as my mom and dad. They love me as much as I love Russell and Luke, and it is wonderful to be loved that way.

Camping and then some.

2011-09-10T22:25:00.001-06:00

When Russ Russ is with me he never stops talking. He is constantly asking me questions. I usually do not have the answers for his inquisitive little mind. The other morning as I was packing up for a day with friends at the beach he was following me around as usual, continuously pestering me with questions I do not know how to answer. What kind of questions does a three year old ask that their mother would not know the answers to you ask? Well, do you know what color the germs were that gave you your cough?

“Were they orange?”

“I don’t know.”

“Were they purple?”

“I don’t know.”

“Were they blue?

“I don’t know what color they were Russ.”

“Were they yellow?”

“They were black.”

“Mommy, did you make a mistake?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you not know their color.”

Oh yes, he LOVES catching me making, “istakes”.

Yesterday he just had to know whose car was parked next to us at Costco. “I don’t know whose car that is,” was absolutely not an appropriate response. I finally just said “George” to halt the questions.

“George is a monkey Mommy. That’s silly.”

Another funny thing about Russell is he loves me to wear my hair down.

“Is your hair going to be up or down today?” is a common question.

“I really yike it down mommy.”

He frequently asks me to put my hair down when it is up in a pony. Funny kid.

He really is a precious and tender little boy. He loves our family so much and tells us so throughout the day. He is very quick to pray for any problem he has or sees us having, and Heavenly Father is also very quick to answer his little prayers. He loves to take care of me, Mark and Lukey, and he helps me clean the house every day and really is as good a helper as he thinks he is.

SuperRuss

We asked Russell if he would like to go to Disneyland, to the beach or camping over Labor day weekend. He immediately answered camping, which is what we wanted too, so we set up camp at Lake Arrowhead. The boys loved everything about it; setting up the tent, running around the campground, finding firewood, making the fire, roasting their hotdogs and marshmallows, laughing and playing in the tent together for hours while mom and dad sat by the fire and they were supposed to be sleeping.

The boys serving their minute long time out sentence after Dad had asked them for the fourth time not to jump on the walls of the tent.

Lukey has a real love and excitement for life. Cute little camper.

Making pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast.

Dinner

Me being pregnant is no longer picture worthy, but me wearing something other than a t-shirt is.

20 weeks.

Actually that is a lie. I won't be 20 weeks for two more days, and this was taken two days ago.

19 weeks.

Am I 26 or 86?

2011-09-06T20:24:00.002-06:00

The other day I took the boys to one of my favorite children’s museums. The Noah’s Ark exhibit at Skirball -for all you locals.

It is a perfect museum for little boys. Everything is hands on, and can be touched and played with. There are experiments for kids to try, animals to climb on and instruments to make noise with. They can help build the ark with pieces of wood and upon entering “the ark” there is a system of rope ladders they can clamber up, and bridges and tunnels to run across and climb through up in the rafters. There is storytelling, puppetry, crafts and music time for those who are interested. My boys would be happy playing there all day. Luke walked around in awe looking and touching everything and saying, “oooo!” over and over again. It was a wonderful afternoon.

This was not meant to be an advertisement so I’ll get back to the subject at hand.

When Mark came home that night I was giving him my daily detailed synopsis, and I said,

“Luke wanted to climb up the rope ladders and into the rafters so bad, but they don’t allow the non-potty-trained kids to go up alone. So, I climbed up there with him.”

“So,” Mark says, “Basically you couldn’t cough up there.”

I guess he really does listen to everything I tell him.

Yes, three pregnancies in four years have not been kind to my bladder.

Oh yeah,

2011-08-17T16:09:00.000-06:00

I thought I had included this exciting information,

IT'S A BOY!

We are so happy to add another cute little boy to our family.

I am 16 weeks along.

Mark and I argue over my dute date. Somewhere between January 31 and February 3.

In the last four months...

2011-08-16T20:15:00.000-06:00

In the last four months;

Our apartment has not once been as clean as it should be.
I have fallen asleep multiple times while my kids run all around me and our home. They occasionally stop by to hit me in the face and yell, “Mommy wake up”.
I literally let Russell have oreos for dinner one night.
I can count the acceptable dinners I have made on two hands.
I have thrown up most every day.
I have started crying almost every time I listen to 'The Lion King' or 'Tangled' soundtrack, which is every day because they are constantly playing in my car.
I have also cried in most every movie I have seen.
I have made Mark get up with the kids almost every single morning while I go back to bed.
I have fallen asleep in Russell’s bed while putting him down a hundred times.
I have done the worst hosting job for company I have ever done –I didn’t make them one meal, and remember the thing about not having a clean apartment, it really was not clean.
I have not been able to accomplish the ordinary tasks I feel I should.
I have lost two phones.
I have been sick enough at night that while my kids are sleeping I have no choice but to lay flat on my back and read wonderful books.
I have been growing a human being inside my body people.

I am sure everybody is already aware of this, but in case you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing my rapidly expanding belly, and my popped out belly button, you are now in the know.

Despite the above whining, the first few months have not been as bad as the last two pregnancies. I am so grateful for that.

Let the name battles between Mark and I commence.

Carrot Top, Ginger, Freckles, Big Red...

2011-08-07T10:49:00.001-06:00

Being a red-head has its pros and cons. Some of the cons; a lot of teasing growing up, having white, sunburny, freckly skin, and being ridiculed by figures like Wendy.

Jessica showed us this video at the beach and it seriously cracked me up.

2011-06-27T19:56:00.000-06:00

I work with the adolescent girls at our church. There are about 20 girls ranging from 12-18. I absolutely love them. Last Wednesday night we had a “heritage night”. Many of our girls were born in other countries before immigrating to the United States, and most of the other girls are second generation Americans, and are still very close to their culture and heritage. Each girl talked about where she or her ancestors are from, and brought something to share –we had an international feast. Our girls taught us many things about the different countries; Philippines, Italy, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Africa, Japan, Brazil, England, Denmark (me) and Guatemala.

Some of our girls were the great granddaughters of a Japanese Duchess, small steps from royalty. Other’s ancestors were brought to America as slaves. As we sat and listened to stories of their families I was awed and grateful for our country, the United States of America.

I am aware that although America is a “free country” there are still thousands of slaves inside our 50 states. I am also aware that although we believe “all men are created equal” American children have an inequitable opportunity for financial stability, education, and a loving stable family.

But, I sat and watched as a granddaughter of a duchess and a granddaughter of a slave sat beside each other as best friends, and I was and always am proud to be an American.

The United States is imperfect, but strives to be the land of opportunity, and fights for freedom. Happy 4th of July!

Choices

2011-06-20T14:14:00.000-06:00

Says Russ, as we are driving home listening to the Tangled soundtrack, "I not like Mother Gawful [Mother Gothel]. She makes bad choices."

Yesterday he threw a pillow at daddy, daddy threw one back, and then daddy put himself in time-out. Says Mark, "I'm sorry for throwing a pillow at you."

Says Russ, "It's o.k. Daddy. It's hard to make good choices when you're really tired." Personally I think that is quite insightful!

Grown up Treasure Hunting

2011-06-15T22:22:00.000-06:00

Our USAA magazine gave us a financial tip this month. It said that there are billions of unclaimed dollars in America. I guess most of this "lost" money comes from uncashed checks, which companies are required to account for to the state. To be honest, Mark is the one who read it, and I wasn't really listening that well when he explained it to me.

But, we went to unclaimed.org, chose all the states we lived in and searched our names. I wasn't terribly surprised that we had no unclaimed checks.

The fun came when we started typing in the names of family members and discovered lots of money owed to others in our family.

Check it out.

unclaimed.org

bad mom award

2011-06-09T22:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday at the park a woman says with an extremely concerned expression, "This baby is all alone. And he has rocks in his mouth!" She is speaking loudly to her friend as she stands protectively over a one year old in the sand. That one year old has fire red hair and a taste for mischief. That one year old is Lukey of course.

I am watching him from over here lady, and he doesn't swallow the rocks, he just likes to suck on them. Although I cannot say the same about the handfuls of sand he keeps shoving in there and gulping down.

I run quickly over, scoop him up and run back to Russell, careful not to glance at her.

At least it gave me something to chuckle over for the rest of the day.

Video Footage! It's a miracle.

2011-06-06T22:00:00.000-06:00

But first, here are a few pictures of us playing in the mountains last weekend. We went up to Lake Arrowhead to hike around.

Isn't Lukey's little wave so cute?

Lukey is at such a cute, fun stage, and I feel so sad that our family is so far away, and they don't get to be around him. Lukey thinks EVERYTHING is a game and runs around laughing.

Lukey loves slapping his belly like that when he is proud. Such a sweetie.

Russell just finished his first semester of Joy School. I really enjoyed having him in it. If you do not know what joy school is you should check it out online. Four of my friends and their three year olds made up our joy school. Each week one of us would teach at our home. We met twice a week for two hours. The lessons are focused on teaching the children to find joy in trying new things, their families, imaginiation and creativity, nature, learning, etc.

Russell is a very tender and sweet boy. He loves people, especially his family. We made these family trees in joy school last week and he was so proud of his family. He would wake up first thing in the morning and run out and ask to see his family tree.

One day in joy school the kids also made these cards for their moms.

Mine says, "Happy is what I feel when my mother plays with my poys -I had to write poys because that is how he says it, and I do not want to forget!-

Her hands thumb.

She's funny when she make funny faces.

I love her because we play."

He then wanted to make cards for the whole family.

I don't blame you for not being able to read my writing;

"My brother's name is Lukey.

He makes me happy when he shares with my toys.

I like to play with him Snuggles, Basketball.

Lukey makes me laugh when he pushes my belly button.

Lukey looks like funny.

Me and Lukey eat goldfishies, shut doors.

I love Lukey.

Happy is what I feel when Russell toys.

His hands are big, thumbs.

He is funny when he makes funny noises and funny dancing.

I love him because he is sweet and kind.

I love when daddy makes me happy.

Daddy makes me happy when he shares toys.

My favorite thing to play with daddy is ROAR tigers.

My daddy looks like funny.

Daddy's feet are toesy.

I love those kids.

the week of unusual excitement

2011-05-31T16:51:00.002-06:00

The first two pictures represent what I generally do all day every day. Well, not entirely. If they were pictures of me changing diapers, and making food, and wiping down high chairs, and going to the park, and cleaning the floors, and picking up toys, and doing laundry, and pretending to be pirates, they would be a little more accurate. But I do smile with Lukey and smile at Russell putting underwear on his head as well.

Now for the atypical events of the month. Between the dates of May 20-May 25 I experienced a weekend with my best friends (with all of our kids at home safe and sound with their papas) in Orange County, and got to go to the finale and after party of American Idol with my dear friend Courtney.

Because these events are such a gross misrepresentation of my life, I hesitate to even post them. We all know how glamorous a blog can make a life appear, and I assure you mine is as simple as every other mom. I happened to have a lucky week.

My best friends and I were all free from nursing, and seized the opportunity to get away without any babes or kids. It was the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. Ok, maybe not the very best, but a mighty good one. We packed a lot in. The very best part was laughing so hard our stomachs might burst and talking and talking and talking.

We met up Friday night at Stonefire, for pizza and planning, headed to Fashion Island for shopping....

I know the picture below is a bit ridiculous, but I love that it shows our crazy excitement. This is Lu Lu and I dancing in jumpsuits. We felt a bit pre-teen, trying on crazy clothes, but it was incredibly fun. Trying on clothing in stores is something we never do, because our kids are crawling out of our stalls and into the stalls of changing strangers.

Went to yogurtland, back to our hotel for lots of talking and facials by Lu Lu.

Saturday morning we woke early and headed to California Adventure, where we got to ride all the rollercoasters.

Then to chronic taco, and to Newport beach. We screamed our heads off in the freezing water, played volleyball, talked and laid in the warm sun, and stopped at Sprinkles on our way out.

Got back to our hotel, showered -yes Britt and I showered together in our swim suits like ten year olds- checked out the Casablanca fund raiser in the hotel. It was gorgeous, and they had a real camel.

Out for Thai food, yogurtland again, and back to Disneyland to ride more big kid rides.

Got back to our hotel around 1 am. Talked until 2 and finally to sleep. Sunday morning we were off to church, grabbed some lunch, and said our sad goodbyes.

I have about 100 more pictures of the weekend. It was perhaps the most photographed weekend of my life.

I was thrilled when my friend Courtney invited me to American Idol! Her husband works for Fox and he had backstage passes to the show and tickets to the afterparty on the roof. It was such a blast.

...and a girl's weekend straggler. We missed you Maggi.

Night Adventures

2011-05-10T16:33:00.000-06:00

If Mark or I need to use the bathroom at night we are both very good about using it in the dark. Our bathroom is connected to Russell’s room, and we both avoid risks.

A couple of nights ago Luke woke up in the wee hour of the early morning. I left Mark lying in bed to go see what seemed to be the problem.

After a couple of minutes I left Lukey and had to use the restroom. I know exactly how many steps into that dark bathroom before I pull em down, turn around and sit. My chest pounded, blood raced and throat closed when I sat on hairy, warm legs. I was frozen with fear. I almost screamed with all my might and woke both sleeping children, which is something I might die before I do.

The thought that it could be Mark obviously passed through my head, but I also realized that if some big naked creepo was sitting on my toilet the last thing I should do is sit on his lap with my pants down.

And another thing, if it was Mark, why didn’t he say something as he saw me walking towards him and then sit on him.

“Mark is that you?” I almost died of horror as I waited a response.

“Yes, get out of here.”

Such relief, well not complete relief, because we only have one bathroom which Mark was apparently occupying.

We promptly returned to sleep without discussing the event until a couple days later. We were both laughing pretty hard when I brought it up.

“Why didn’t you say something when you saw me walking towards you and sit on you?”

“I was going to, but I was just too tired.”

you can't help but smile

2011-04-25T22:55:00.002-06:00

Babes

2011-04-11T20:55:00.016-06:00

Yesterday Russell, Luke and I were out for a walk. I was watching Russ running around in his Woody hat, stopping to look at bugs, rocks, flowers, walking the curb like a balance beam, jumping and then spontaneously lying down on the sidewalk. I suddenly realized that though I know him so well as a three-year-old (I can predict his movements, his responses, and much of what he will say) I have absolutely no idea what he will be like as an adult. I am pretty certain that most of his interests -Buzz Lightyear, trains, toys, bunnies, horses, pirates, colors, Simba, Disney music- will disappear altogether, and what will interest him then?

It was one of those moments when I looked into who eyes and thought, "Who are you?"

It was one of those moments when I saw him as my equal.

There are some parts of him that I believe may be part of his real character. He is very sweet and sensitive. He is quite interested in identifying his and others' emotions and is very good at it. Maybe he will be a psychologist.

He is also excellent and learning numbers and letters. He often tells me, "Mommy, I love counting numbers." He has always been soothed by counting, and memorizes numbers, letters and words quickly. Maybe he will be an accountant.

I just hope that he will be happy and good, and will still love me!

The other night I tucking Russ in bed, and he told me he was "sared". Translation: scared. This is not too unusual, Russ has a lot of fears. We said a prayer, but he was still "sared" so I asked if he wanted me to put his angel on his bed to watch him while he slept. He was very enthusiastic about his idea, so I placed the angel on the edge of his little toddler bed.

When I went to get him in the morning I found that he had found all his nativity pieces in his room and had them watch watch him sleep too. He was very happy to tell me that "Widdew baby Jesus" watched him sleep. Yes, all of his available nativity pieces and Dash.

This morning Russ was playing with his special letter train that "Gate Gamma" gave him and he soon said, "Mommy, Yook!"

"WoodyBuzz!" I was impressed, especially because the train only includes one of each letter of the alphabet.

Next thing I knew he had added Jessie.

I turned around for a few minutes and he had fixed it up even more. Oh so close!

This little sweetie turns one tomorrow! We had a little celebration on Sunday.

I'll give a little more of an update on him later, but he warms our hearts!

2011-04-04T12:20:00.000-06:00

Costa Rica

2011-03-30T16:02:00.064-06:00

How this picture got to the top I know not, but it is that first hotel room with the crunchy bed.

Sorry, blogger won't let me put in paragraphs, so the next paragraph is scary and makes little sense. My mom and dad gave us the best gift they could possibly give, besides the gift of my life and the gift of raising me of course. They gave us the gift of a week. They watched both boys while Mark and I traveled to Costa Rica. We were so amazed and grateful, and promised them over and over to take care of them when they are old :) We did miss our boys very much, and we were so excited to see them when we got home. Russ jumped and screamed and laughed with delight when he saw us. Luke was a bit confused, and wanted Grandma for a couple of minutes while he remembered who the heck we were. Russ has said a number of cute things about them in the week we have all been back home. These are only a couple... "Mommy, you're not my real mommy." "Oh really, who is?" "Grandma". Mark was telling Russ about Heavenly Father yesterday and he said, "Russ, do you know you have two daddys?" "Yes, Daddy and Grandpa!" "We have four boys in our family. Russell, Lukey, Grandpa and Daddy." Here goes the trip; Saturday night, arrived in San Jose. Sunday morning, off to church. The addresses there are a little funny ie. "600 meters south of ..." we got to where the church should have been and found a tiny house with huge gates all around, and barbed wire on top. After going through gates and knocking doors, peeking in windows, knocking on doors again, we decided to leave. Walked by this church, close but no cigar. Back to the hotel. Search internet. Second try: church by the temple. Pull through the temple gates and the first people we see are the brothers of one of Mark's best friends, and they told us he -Ben the friend- was here too! We accompanied them back to their hotel to shock Ben. None of us knew the others were in Costa Rica. Randomly wonderful. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, swinging through the jungle into a waterfall swimming hole. Me gusta. Doesn't Mark look wicked awesome? Sunday we drove from San Jose to La Fortuna. La Fortuna is a little town at the base of Arenal, an active volcano. On to Monday morning. We woke up in our not so delightful hotel, energized for a morning hike through the rainforest to a turquoise blue waterfall and swimming hole. We jumped in our rental, which we named Jimmer...

And drove on some pothole riddled rodes into the cloud forest. These cows spend their days living in a cloud.

It was pouring. We were the only two on the hike. We put on our ponchos and trekked through the gorgeous rainforest. We tried our best to not accidentally touch one of the 11 species of poisonous snakes our guide books and locals had warned us about. Mark looked adorable in his Mickey Mouse poncho.

We reached the waterfall to see the downpour had transformed it from turquoise to chocolate. Mark declared it an angry piece of water.

Back to our hotel room to dry off. This picture really makes it look much better than it was. When we first saw it we almost cried. There were a number of bugs climbing and flying around. The room was tiny. The bed was tiny, and can be described as crunchy. There were windows in our room which could not close, resulting in us hearing every noise and person around. It was a couple notches above camping. Who cares. We were in Costa Rica without the kids.

Monday afternoon we ziplined through the beautiful rainforest.

We loved it!

Arenal Volcano.

There are natural hot springs all around Arenal. We enjoyed swimming in some of these hot springs Monday night.

Tuesday morning we woke up and were off to a "Safari Float Tour". Mark and I floated down the river with a local guide who had an eye for spotting all the local wildlife. Mark jumped in to swim a bit, and within a couple of minutes of getting back in the boat, we passed right by this guy hanging out on the sand. About 8 feet long. I am awfully grateful he did not get gobbled.

We were also lucky enough to see about ten monkeys swinging on the branches above us and toucans. The monkeys were desperately adorable.

Tuesday afternoon we hiked through the dense jungle to the top of an inactive volcano. The crater is filled with rainwater, making a breathtaking misty lake. The hike was difficult and amazing. It was two miles of a very steep slippery incline. We like a physical challenge, and it was even more enjoyable to do it together in such a setting. We were dripping sweat, and our legs were shaking by the end, but we were rewarded with a gorgeous and cooling swim in the lake at the top.

Mark

It is not every day you get to swim in a lake filled volcanic crater.

Wednesday morning we checked out of our hotel -Hallelujah- and headed to the coast. Manuel Antonio and Uvita

On our way down we crossed this river

Manuel Antonio is a National Park where the rainforest is pushed right against the beach. The forests are occupied by thousands of animals, and just walking to and from the beach we came across many monkeys, sloths and deer.

One of the beaches at Manuel Antonio. Note iguana, bottom left.

The beach was one of the prettiest I have ever seen, and the water was as warm as a bath. We spent the afternoon swimming in the warm ocean and walking on paths through the jungle, where Mark spotted tons of animals, and then pointed them all out to me. He should quit finance and become a jungle tour guide.

Sloth

Jumping Monkey

Just checking out us human beings.

We loved being able to go out at night alone together. Wednesday night we found a perfect little restaurant; decorated colorfully, candlelit tables and set by the ocean in the rainforest. The owner waited on us, and obviously took so much pride in his restaurant. Every detail was ideal

including the most phenomenal pesto, chicken, almond pizza. He had described this pizza with sincere tenderness, and once we tasted it we shared the same affection!

We had seen an article online featuring top boutique resorts at an affordable price around the world. When we saw one of them was in Uvita Costa Rica, we made a reservation. It is called Oxygen.

The website does not give an address or directions to make the hotel more private. Once you have made your reservation they send directions via e-mail. As we drove up very steep dirt rodes, our heads were bobbling around and I was beginning to seriously think we had been scammed.

We finally arrived and were thrilled with our glass villa in the jungle.

Our bathroom

The pool

Our villa. Do not fret people. There were curtains that closed all around the villa to ensure privacy.

Thursday morning we took a trail to a small, peaceful river with a couple of waterfalls.

How could I not smile at this image of Mark bathing in the falls :)

Thursday afternoon we headed down from our castle in a cloud to a little beach town called Dominical.

Hung out on the beach, shopped for souvenirs, watched the sunset, and found a little internet cafe to watch the BYU game, and the official end of the season. We had both previously swore if we watched the game we would not let a loss ruin our vacation, or even the night.

Friday we experienced our favorite activity of the trip. We went on a horseback ride through the jungle to a beautiful waterfall where we could swim and jump.

It began with a bit of chaos. There were about ten people in our group. None of us spoke Spanish. We had two guides who did not speak English. They did not give us even one instruction. They helped us on to our horses and the horses just took off. The horses immediately tried to break free from the crowd and were quite jittery. My horse, Sonta, broke free and galloped to the front. One horse started running around in circles and bucked his rider right off. Mark and I gave eachother the, "We might die, but let's see" look and off we went.

My horse insisted on always being in front. This naturally endeared me instantly to her. If she stopped to get a drink and others passed she would gallop to the front. This was my favorite part of the ride, and would hope another horse would pass her so we could trot again.

Mark's horse was named Pollo, which of course means chicken. Pollo and Sonta were the best of friends, and Pollo always had to be right behind Sonta. Pollo would push and trot and kick until he was in front of every other horse besides Sonta. So, we ended up leading the troops. Or rather our horses did, because we honestly had not the slightest control over them.

I laughed almost the entire time I was on Sonta's back. It was such fun, I really want to move to the country and buy a horse.

Ride 'em Cowboy

Halfway to the waterfall we stopped for a yummy Costa Rican breakfast and saw the following;

Isn't the jungle colorful?

Best Friends

And our horses led us here...

We went swimming in the pools and jumped off of the rocks.

Here is Mark jumping. I jumped as well, but Mark documented by taking a long video including my seriously awkward climb to the top.

Friday night we headed back to San Jose and flew out Saturday morning. We were giddy to see our boys.

We had an amazing time in Costa Rica.

We loved experiencing a completely different culture. Travelling always helps me understand humanity better.

We did not watch a bit of television, did not watch a movie and did not use the internet (except to check for church locations and watching the BYU game) and cutting out media was wonderfully relaxing.

We had time to read! Glorious!

We had such a great time with eachother. The longer we are on vacation the more Mark makes me laugh. Spending so much time together was delicious.

2011-03-16T16:06:00.006-06:00

Early mornings are not the best time to entertain visitors at our place. We often still have our mattress in the middle of the family room floor, a dirty diaper rolled up along side it. Kids are eating breakfast and one child is throwing food across the kitchen. There is always food in hair, covering faces and spilled on shirts. Mark and I are in and out of showers, while Russ Russ pulls out every toy he loves and has missed during the night. Russell is also completely naked from the waist down, in between trips to the potty. The house and people are often their dirtiest in the morning.

This morning we had visitors at 8 am. We were quite aware of their visit, but were unable to avoid morning chaos. They came to check our height, weight, and take our blood. The first nurse came in, took a good look at the scene and asked if we were going to have more children. Mark responded very quickly, "Yes. We would like a couple more."

Nothing could hide the shock on her kind face as she looked at me and told me he was crazy. I assured her I was in on the plan.

The next man came in, and after some conversation and measurements he also asked if we would have more children.

Again, we said "Yes, we would like a couple more."

He laughed and said, "Wow, and you aren't even Mexican." Which he could say, because he is.

"Yeah", I chuckled, "But we are Mormon."

"Oh yes. Us Mexicans and Mormons, we love having families."

Occasionally I use my blog as an outlet to vent. Being a mother is many things, and sometimes it is frustrating. When I hear a mother say she loves every second of it, I am tremendously curious, because there are some exhausted, tantrum, poop moments, which I do not "love".

But, there are just as many moments listening to the sweet purity of children giggling, spontaneous hugs, kisses and 'I love you's, walking into a room to find Russ and Luke sitting in a dark closet laughing in each other's faces, swinging at the park with Luke on my lap, watching a sleeping child, hearing Russell suggest a prayer so, "Mommy will get all better", chubby legs and cheeks, the exhileration of teaching a 3 year old how to ride a bike, or helping a baby walk, the pride Russ and I both feel when he confidently tells me he has had "dry undies" all day, running through the grass together, reading to two little boys as they sit on my lap, watching with awe the special relationship Mark has with each of our kids.

Sometimes you will hear me complain, but the truth is I love the family life. They make me a very happy women. I hope I make them happy too!

Mormon Feminist

2011-03-03T15:13:00.002-07:00

The following conversation took place between Russ Russ and me on Monday;

Me: (praying) "Thank you so much for our lunch. Please help the food make us healthy and strong."

Russ Russ: giggling, "No. Mommy not strong. Mommy a girl."

Me: "What do you mean sweetie? Girls are strong. Girls can be very strong. Mommy is very strong. Look at these muscles buddy."

Russell is still learning that his mother is a Mormon feminist, in an -I still respect, need and adore men- sort of way.

Where did this idea come from?

Doesn't he see me run up and down two flights of stairs, through hallways and open seven doors with him on my back my back, a weeks worth of laundry hanging from my arm, and hands full of quarters and detergent?

Doesn't he see me push and pull our queen mattress from our bedroom to the family room every night, by myself?

Doesn't he see me push 50+ pounds of children and 10 pounds of stroller to and from the park almost every day?

But I am really thinking about a woman I love very much who just lost her baby in her fifth month of pregnancy. She is kind. She is one of the funniest people I know. She does what is right. She is strong.

I am thinking about another woman I love who has had lyme disease for two and a half years, and has had to give up nearly every activity that she loves. She is cheerful. She is smart. She does what is right. She is strong.

I am completely surrounded by very strong, happy and wonderful mothers, sisters, grandmothers, friends, cousins and aunts.

In fact, if you are a woman and you are close to me I probably think you are pretty amazing. And you are.

You are a modern superhero; fighting evil with kisses, love, perfume and homemade meals.

And if you don't make homemade meals, I couldn't care less. You are still a superhero.

Maybe I should write a post on my love for men as well.

It would probably go like this;

Men. I love the way you look. I love watching you play basketball. I love that you are easily pleased. I love hanging out with you, talking to you, and playing with you. I love that you are so powerful when you need to be and so sweet and soft when you need to be. I love that we need you and you need us.

There, now everyone should be happy.

Three years ago

2011-02-23T20:28:00.002-07:00

Today Russell turned three. While Lukey was taking an afternoon nap I asked him if he wanted to see pictures of the day he was born. He was as enthusiastic as could be, but looked a little confused and unhappy about the crying, naked, swollen baby he saw on the screen. I could not stop laughing, especially at this one.

Don't worry grandparents, we had a lot of fun, and celebrated all day long. Russ kept saying he needed candles for his birthday, so I put three candles in his pancakes at breakfast, his mac and cheese at lunch and his birthday cake after dinner.

Diaper Time

2011-02-05T13:47:00.003-07:00

When Russell was a newborn I spent a lot of time diapering him, and one time this song just came out. I ended up singing it to him over and over, one day he started singing along. Now, when I sing it to Lukey, Russell runs over and sings to him too. It seriously cracks us up.

And no, my hair is not all sticking to my face because I am covered in sweat. I am not sweaty. It's just some crazy postpartum hair growth combined with not having done my hair today.

And yes, Russ Russ is wearing a swim diaper. He peed through all of his big boy undies today, so he is on to those. I can't really get too mad at him for accidentally peeing his pants, when it seems that I do as well. Now I know what God was thinking when he made weak bladder control one of the blessings of birthing children. It gives us more patience with potty training, we understand.

Interview with Lukey on his 9 month birthday

2011-01-22T13:04:00.011-07:00

These are all my peeps; Mommy, me Russ Russ and Daddy

The woman in my life

My Daddy and I riding a horse

I=Interviewer

L=Lukey

I: Congratulations on being outside of the belly longer than in!

L: Thank you, I much prefer it.

I: Let's get right to it then. First of all, I can't help but notice you have a great physique. Do you work out?

L: I love working out. I usually just do the basics you know; crawl 10 paces, pull to a stand, 8 bounces, 3 supported steps, repeat.

But, my real workout is something I am almost always doing during my waking hours. Smiling. It may sound simple to you, but have you taken a good look at these babies? I've got 6 pounds of cheek on a 19 pound body. 32% of my body mass in these heavy, soft, hangly, dangly, kissable things. I estimate that with every smile I burn about 50 calories, I must be building up some significant muscle under there.

I: What makes you unique as a baby?

L: I think it is my early ability to say thanks. For example, to let mom know I appreciate her nursing me, I give her a series of continual high fives during each feeding. The high fives begin as soon as I have milk in my mouth, and don't end until I am finished. I can't say the words yet, but she knows I am saying, "Keep up the good work mommy! Nice hustle! Keep it coming! You are an amazing milk supplier."

I am also wise and tough.

I: What do you enjoy?

L: My all time favorite thing is to go running with Russ Russ. I want so desperately to be able to run, but I am not quite there yet, so mommy holds me and runs around chasing Russell, and sometimes he chases us.

I laugh so hard I pee my pants.

And I love dad. To show him my adoration I decided to make, "dada" my first word, and refuse to say, "mama". She is cool too I guess, but dad... he rocks all our socks off.

I love Russ Russ. I kick and squeal and laugh with delight when we see each other in the morning. He is a super cool, nice brother, definitely scary sometimes though.

I love swinging, this also makes me laugh hysterically.

I: Do you have any superpowers?

L: The ears of a hawk when I am supposed to be sleeping, and the escape moves of a ninja when mom is trying to change my diaper.

I: What are you soothed by?

L: I am not easily irritated, but being strapped in an impossible car seat contraption for 10 hours really ticks me off. I get sad, then mad, then really mad and there is only one thing that will calm me down. Not mom sitting by me, singing to me, feeding me, not dad sitting by me, tickling me...The only thing that will soothe me is Lukey's Jam.

Have you heard it? Nelly's,"Only Just a Dream". It is so awesome. No other song will do. Mom and dad turn that tune up real loud, and I calm right down. I can feel the beat in my body, and I get quiet and start to dance. Love that song.

I: If you could have one day to do whatever you wanted, what would you do?

L: This is an easy one. I would spend the entire day in my favorite place...the bathroom. I just can't get enough of it. I crawl in there as fast as these chubby little legs will take me and explore the entire area.

I love sucking the cupboard handles, and I am obsessed with all things that are horribly disgusting like the toilet and toilet brush and even the ground around the toilet. I love squawking as loud as possible and listening to the echo.

Mom almost always shuts the door to the bathroom now. I don't get it. But you better believe if she forgets, I will be in there in a flash.

I: You seem like a great baby.

L: Funny you should say that. I overhear a lot of conversations like this, "Is he a good baby?" then mommy's voice, "He has been a dream" and daddy says, "The kid seriously hardly ever cries". Stranger says, "Yeah, the second baby is always so good. It is because you are so much more relaxed the second time around".

At this point me and mommy and daddy all look at each other and try not to break into hysterical laughter. We know the truth. Those two crazies were anything but relaxed.

I remember how mom crossed her legs real tight when the ninth month approached, and kept telling me I could stay in a couple more weeks if I wanted. Days before I busted out of there (belly) dad kept saying, "back in the trenches" in the voice of a scared little girl.

Rumor has it they were naively confident and a little too relaxed the first time around. They were anything but relaxed about me coming. I saw the clear looks of panic on their faces when Dr. Kahen handed me over and decided to cut them a break. Maybe I will surprise them with some rebellion later on in life, only time will tell.

I: Thanks for your time.

L: Ok then. See you later.

2011-01-22T11:57:00.003-07:00

Decided I better be grateful. My mama is watching both kids for us in March for an entire week so we can go on a new and interesting trip.

Also, I better take Jamie's advice and do/learn something I have been desiring deep within my heart to do/learn. Maybe French.

today I got way too excited about mopping the floors.

2011-01-19T23:44:00.003-07:00

Today I got way too excited about mopping the floors.

My kids gave me a big surprise and napped the afternoon away, leaving me time to really deep clean my kitchen floor. Joy. I was on a high from achieving this and other ordinary housecleaning tasks.

I was truly thrilled about the amazing day I had.

I later spent 15 minutes on the Internet while waiting for Mark to get home. This was enough time to make me realize that other people, specifically the kind that do not stay-home-and-raise-kids-full-time, do more interesting things than I.

And actually, according to my Internet, even most stay-at-home-and-raise-kids-full-time-moms do more interesting things than I.

I was now depressed.

There is something upside-down in finding tremendous self-satisfaction in mopping the kitchen floor. Mopping the floor was something I used to not do because I was too busy doing interesting things.

I have friends with interesting careers, visiting interesting places, doing interesting things and talking to interesting people/adults all day.

There is nothing interesting about Target, the park, the library and the grocery store. Well Trader Joe's is kind of interesting...

Oh no, my world actually consists of our two bedroom apartment, Target, the park, the library and the grocery store.

My life is boring. I am bored.

I told Mark so when he got home and he told me not to have an affair. He wasn't serious. Well, I assume he seriously doesn't want me to, but he wasn't seriously worried about it.

The truth is I always loved working. I always loved school. I always loved being out out out as much as I possibly could. I could have a career. I could spend my extra time traveling to new places, doing entirely new things, seeing new cultures, trying new food.

What would my life have been like if we had waited 5-10 years to have kids?

I would have pursued a career in sports medicine. I would have traveled the world.

I told Mark the 5-10 year thing, and he said we wouldn't have Russell and Luke.

I said that yes we would, just 5 or 10 years later.

He said that no, in fact, that one sperm that made Russell or Luke would be long gone, and Russell and Luke would not exist.

He is right or course, and I really do adore those boys.

So, if you are doing anything interesting soon, invite me. I probably can't come because I will be taking care of my kids. But, invite me.

As an afterthought, boring can be good. I am particularly grateful for our health, Mark's job, friends and family. Just had to put that out there. I don't want the wrong kind of excitement being thrown our way.

Au revoir-

Is it Bad?

2011-01-18T15:27:00.002-07:00

Is it bad that I feel like an exceptional mother on the days I remember to brush Russell's teeth?

you will want to read this one

2010-12-01T17:10:00.003-07:00

Mark and I have a tradition. On the Monday following Thanksgiving we set up all our Christmas decorations and tree while listening to Christmas music. When we are finished we clean up, light our candles, turn on the Christmas tree lights, drink hot cocoa and read a Christmas story. If this sounds a little too sparkly to be true, it is. We do all the things previously mentioned while dishing out some sass to each other about where decorations should go, and how to put lights on the tree. But, we enjoy it.

This year we adjusted our tradition, and it is for this adjustment that I titled this post, "you will want to read this one". Instead of drinking hot cocoa (which we still love) we made egg nog shakes. We got the idea from our friends Adam and Ashley. Throw some egg nog, frozen yogurt and a little cinnamon in the blender. Taste it and add milk or ice if desired.

They were delicious. We might have to make a tradition of drinking them every night by the light of the Christmas tree.

Bonus for reading this:

The next morning Mark showed Russ our nativity. Russ took one long hard look at it and said, "Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus camping!"

"Um, yeah actually"

what I am most thankful for

2010-11-19T13:38:00.028-07:00

My wonderful friend Aida for taking these family pictures. urbanstudio5.com

Oh yeah, and these three guys.

I am aware there are way more pictures of us than you were hoping to look at when you came to our blog, but I couldn't stop uploading. These were only some of 300 beautiful pictures. Aida is amazing.

Hey there sugar

2010-11-15T19:40:00.002-07:00

Last Sunday I confessed to Mark my problem with sugar. I eat too much and get stomach aches and crash throughout the day. "I seriously need to stop". This was just after we had gobbled up half a pumpkin pie and some Halloween candy.

I told him I was going to cut sugar out for one week. Not the real fruit kind, but the yummy, delicious, chocolaty dessert kind.

He looked at me kind of funny as if thinking, 'Aren't you the girl who snacks on ice cream while cooking dinner?'

I looked at him as if thinking, 'Exactly! See there is a problem!'

He looked at me very seriously and nodded.

We were decided. I need support when trying to accomplish impossible things.

I walked to the cupboard and threw out the remainder of my precious candy corn. Honestly, it was difficult.

The week went relatively well. There were a few incidents...

On Tuesday I discovered 5 escaped candy corn and ate them all.
I ate half a nutrigrain bar on Wednesday.
I also ate some chocolate chips and marshmallows Wednesday night at mutual. Hey, I didn't want to look like a dieter. Weak, I know.
I ate a few bites of Russell's pb&js throughout the week.

On Saturday Mark and I got in a big fight about whether we should go to the bank before or after our hike.

We made up.

A few hours later Mark said, "Do you want to play a game tonight?"

I, in a shrill, mad voice retorted, "You never play any games with me. We have been through this one hundred times!"

Russ Russ said, "Mommy, chill out!" I guess we have told him to 'chill out' a time or two and he has now begun commanding us as well... which is fair.

I stormed into Target leaving Mark and boys in the car.

I came out, apologized.

On our way home Mark suggested we get smoothies. I thought about my sugar thing and said I probably shouldn't. He said it was ok, and I was convinced.

Ten minutes later, driving home, smoothie in hand, mouth and tummy I looked at Mark and gave him a sweet, sugary smoothie smile as the following thoughts flowed through my mind;

Today has been the perfect day, one of the best I have had in a long time.
Everything in my life is wonderful right now.
I am so happy.

Mood altering, absolutely. And, I don't think I will go off sugar again for a while.

dress up

2010-11-11T16:54:00.010-07:00

Us telling Russ if he didn't stop looking at his wings instead of the camera

we were going to make him take off his costume.

Thanks Aida for the pictures. urbanstudio5.com. More to come...

It turns out your kid's childhood is even more exciting and fun than your own. Watching Russ Russ understand Halloween this year was thrilling. He talked endlessly about costumes and danced around the house with complete joy when we finally showed him his Buzz Lightyear costume.

When Mark and I dressed as Woody and Jessie his happiness was beyond complete. He thought Lukey was Sully and seemed quite satisfied with Luke's costume choice.

Russ stayed in character all day and night, answering only to Buzz and calling us Jessie and Woody. He also loved standing in front of the mirror and saying, "Finity a Beyond!" and jumping as high as he can, which is not very high.

He wore his Buzz costume everywhere we went for the next 8 days.

What is it like being the only woman in the house?

2010-10-23T04:59:00.010-06:00

It is quite glorious. I feel that every other member of the household is unashamedly in love with me. I know, what kind of egocentric woman needs three men adoring her to make her feel satisfied? I guess God knows me better than I know myself.

First, there is Mark. I will not disclose all the ways he makes me feel loved. I have no doubt that you would rather I skip that description anyway.

Then there is Lukey. The kid, or baby, cannot keep his eyes off of me. He constantly stares at me, and when I look his way he smiles so hard his face looks like it might break in two.

And Russ Russ, oh Russ Russ. With his ever-emerging language he has new ways to make me feel adored. Last Sunday as I stepped out of my bedroom, wearing a dress and ready for church, Russ dropped his Buzz, and his jaw, and exclaimed, "Aaah. Mommy beauty beauty! Mommy beauty beauty!"

My heart melted into three thousand pieces.

By the time we had made it to the car he had told me I was, "Beauty beauty" ten times, and I was strapping him into his car seat he said, "Mommy princess. Russell prince."

On the other hand, I do scoop food into two of their mouths, wipe poop off of two of their bums, make endless amounts of food for all three, and clean the house daily... no tri-daily, or trillia-daily. And two nights ago when I asked Mark to help me wash the dishes he walked behind me singing, "This woman's work, this woman's work".

Perhaps I am the maid of the house instead of the queen. I prefer to think queen...while I can.

Prince and Princess

Upon our chariot

Hanging out Saturday morning at the beach

Little Survivor

2010-10-18T20:00:00.011-06:00

6 Things you may not know about Luke on his 6 month birthday;

He has red hair. People seem genuinely surprised when they see him in person.
He is a thumb sucker.
He has a great big bum. It is disproportionately large. He gets it from his mom, no wait his dad, no his mom. Wherever it comes from it is dang cute.
When I put him in his crib, he looks at me, smiles, whines for about a second, rolls onto his tummy and pops his thumb in his mouth and goes to sleep.
He is adored by his family. Russell is more excited to see him in the morning than he is to see mom and dad. He wants to hold him, jump for him, lay on him, snuggle him and sit on him always.
When I was 6 weeks pregnant with him, I bled a lot. We rushed to the emergency room, and were completely convinced we had lost him. We were shocked when the ultra-sound technician said, "Do you see that little flicker, that is your baby's heartbeat." What a wonderful moment. Emotional. I will spare the details. I am so glad he decided to hold on for dear life and join our family.

First Jazz game

He looks a lot like his mommy when she was a baby.

He has started scooting around

Check out Russell's bed head

He loves being kissed on the cheek more than any other activity.

Sometimes...

2010-10-13T15:28:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I go to extreme measures to make sure my kiddos sleep.

Like today when both kids were napping and I wanted to take a stress-free shower. You know, the kind of shower where I don't have to put Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on to make sure that Russ doesn't kill himself, pull lots of messy sticky food out of the fridge, poop in the wrong place, or injure Luke.

So, I showered in the pitch black. It really was the only way. Luke was sleeping in my room, and Russell was sleeping in his room, which is connected to our only other bathroom. Russell is very good at waking up as soon as the bathroom light goes on.

I think the dark shower actually turned out more relaxing.

Also, Mark and I have been sleeping in the living room for about one month. We sleep on a blow-up mattress.

When I tell people we have surrendered our room to Luke, some say I am too nice to my children. This is honestly quite confusing to me. I showered in the pitch black very selfishly. I did not want to hear Russell or worry about him while I showered.

I sleep in the family room quite selfishly as well. Within one week of moving to the family room Luke was only waking up once a night (I define "night" as the full twelve hours). Within two weeks of moving to the family room he started and continues to sleep for the full twelve hours without waking me up.

And just to clarify, although I do think sleep is important for babies, I also think sleep is important for mommys and daddys. I turn into an incompetent, emotional, sometimes hysterically laughing ogre when overtired.

Believe me, sleeping a full night on a very comfy air mattress is MUCH more restful than waking up every 2-3 hours in my very comfy bed.

I don't know why I am sharing this with you. Maybe I am just trying to defend my position as not being "too nice to my kids". Hmm, seems a little sad.

I really do love those little boys more than anything...except their daddy.

2010-10-10T22:47:00.000-06:00

Lovely Las Vegas

2010-09-30T20:37:00.009-06:00

I spent a beautiful 10 days at home in Las Vegas this month. It was therapy for my soul. There is something calming and energizing about being home. Mark was there for 6 of the 10 days. I appreciated all the help my parents gave us, especially playing with Russ Russ in the early morning hours, watching both boys while Mark and I were able to make a trip to the temple together, and for us to go on a date. Russell is completely in love with his grandparents. I only wish our camera was not dead the entire trip. My mom also spoiled me with delicious food and love. They are so good to me. One of the highlights was hanging out with my grandma, Russell's "Great Mamas".

Part of the reason the trip was so special is because my two best friends are now living in Las Vegas. I miss them terribly and loved every moment I got to share with them.

15 years ago I moved to Vegas as a little girl with very large dark freckles and a seriously bad perm. I was nervous to start school without a friend. I showed up at church, saw Britt and Maggi, and thought they were seriously cool. I was lucky they were as kind as cool and welcomed my awkward self.

It has been 15 years of friendship that has meant so much to me. We went through some horribly embarrassing moments in life, high school, dating, college roommates, married friends and now motherhood. Hopefully we will someday even experience menopause together:) I don't know what I would do without these girls. We spent some of our time together hiking and camping. And, as always, I have stolen pictures from Britt.

Bekah Maggi Britt

We have multiplied from 3 to 11!

As you can see, Mags and I tagged up the rocks

When I showed this picture to Mark he said, "this is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Please just let me look at it a while longer."

Russ and Em were pretty trashed by this point

For the record; my friends married some pretty awesome men as well (we all found our Utah raised hubbies at good old BYU) and now have some beautiful and delightful babes.

can I call in sick?

2010-09-22T19:45:00.003-06:00

Today started out as a generic Bekah mom day. Then came the afternoon. I putt Russ Russ down for his nap. He resisted, he sometimes does. The rule is; he can sleep, talk, scream or cry, but he stays in his room for one hour. I know, I am the cruelest of cruel.

Today he chose to scream. I was nursing Luke in the other room, trying to get him down for a nap.

Russell learned how to climb out of his crib for the first time. He ran out of his room with all the pride he could have in his two-year-old heart because, "Russ down bed!"

Ok, he learned how to climb out of his bed and out of his room. Awesome.

He learned to go poop on the potty. Awesome.

After going pee on the potty every 2 minutes of the afternoon he learned that having "accidents" is fun.

He learned to pee on his sock.

He learned to pee on the curtains.

He learned to pee on the floor.

I put a diaper back on.

He learned to throw a toy down the potty, flush it and overflow our toilet all over our bathroom floor and flood the apartment below.

He learned how to stick something so far up his nose, I could not get it out. He kept saying, "Russ put poopoos in nose. Bekah help! Help! Nose, stuck. Stuck in Russell's nose. Poopoos". I did not think any poop had escaped my eye, but considering his half nakedness and the bathroom fiasco, it was a possibility. Gross.

You are wondering where his mother was while all this was going on. I am just as concerned. I swear I am never more than 15 feet away from the kid.

I imagined Mark in his quiet, peaceful office, working away on his computer, free of the stomach-clenching anxiety that comes with the constant noise and mischief our two-year-old creates.

I became envious.

I called him to rant about the poop, pee, nose, toilet overflowing, extremely over-tired, hyper, loud chaos I was experiencing here and told him he better be grateful.

I had had it up to here, whatever that means, and put Russell to bed at 5:00.

He jumped out and ran around the house. It was probably too early anyway.

I read him a story, and while I was reading part of a stick fell out of his nose. Glad it wasn't poop.

I put him to bed at 6:00.

He jumped out and ran around the house.

I put a child-lock on his door, and put him to bed at 6:15.

He jumped out and tried the door and cried.

It has been quiet for an hour. I assume he climbed back in his bed.

Can someone shut me in a dark, quiet room and leave me in until 7 am?

I decided the only thing to do was to eat 3 tortillas, covered with peanut butter and cheese, broiled.

Chubbers Gardner

2010-09-20T17:38:00.019-06:00

Chubby Chubberson was given a special father's blessing, and a name last month. Mark changed his name from Chubbers to Luke Arthur Gardner.

It was such a beautiful event. It was a very special day to celebrate the new life of our precious son. I am grateful for my husband, and the blessings he has helped give myself, Russ Russ and Luke. I am grateful for my other two boys, and I am so grateful for all our family, extended family and friends that came to support us and Lukey. This sounds like a Grammy acceptance speech. Sorry.

My mother, aunts and Grandma set up an elaborate refreshment room for everyone to enjoy after the blessing. Thanks guys! It looked and tasted so much better than it would have if I had done it.

"Great Mama" and Colton

The original Arthur. When Luke was born I called Grandpa to ask if we could name Luke after him. He responded, "So you're going to name him, Luke That Handsome Devil Gardner?"

What can I say?

Thanks Missy for taking these pictures!

My best friend Britt

Two of our offspring, Russ Russ and Emery. Oh, I love these kids.

Handsome men

Feisty and Fiery Christensen women

Grandma and Grandpa Wood

Luke and his gorgeous grandmothers

Aunt Becky, Grandpa and Grandma

Brittney, Valerie and Britt

Busbys

Sleep

2010-09-17T12:01:00.003-06:00

With ongoing sleep deficiency I experience;

Droopy eyes
Foggy brain
Inability to recall common vocabulary
Inability to speak like a coherent adult
Snappiness
A feeling that standing up may be the hardest thing I have ever done
A lot of empty threats directed at Russell -because picking him up and placing him in time out seems marathonic. I don't think that is a word, but words and I are not getting along right now.
Headaches
Stomachaches
Inability to remember what I was doing, or what was I saying

But, today I recognized another side-effect of fatigue. We were driving to pick up Gidge (our Hyundai Accent) from the hospital (repair shop) where she has been diagnosed with something terminal. It is only a matter of time. We decided to forego common therapy, bring her home and enjoy what little time we have left with her...

Back to the story, we were driving to pick her up, and Mark was being completely hilarious, and making me laugh really hard. I was definitely crying, and possibly peeing as well. It felt pretty good to be laughing so hard, and he was going on and on, so I was going on and on. You know how it is. Kind of like a massage for your insides/soul, and a workout for your cheeks/abs.

I realized that over the last few months, while experiencing all the symptoms listed above, we have had a lot of laughter fits. A week ago we were in the bathroom getting ready for bed and Mark was making the ugliest and funniest face I have ever seen, coupled with body distortions and crazy noises, and I was laughing so hard I gave myself a hernia. Kind of...

What a kind biological response our bodies have to fatigue.

I do suspect Mark may actually be more hilarious when he is tired. It may have the same effect alcohol would have on him in making him just a little crazier.

And, in case you didn't figure out, my little Lukey turned 5 months old this week and is still not sleeping through the night. So, all of you who have your babies trained, I don't even want to hear about it.

The kid is completely worth it though. He is the softest, sweetest little guy. The comment I hear from almost everyone who spends time with him is, "What a peaceful baby." It is true. He is simply content. He rolls all around like a happy, chubby roly poly, and gives the craziest smile whenever you wrap him in a blanket. I adore him.

2010-09-10T20:05:00.006-06:00

Five months ago Russell's "Mamas" and "Papas" gave him a special Disney bath toy set. Inside were the following characters;

Buzz Lightyear
Woody "Lightyear" (Russ thinks Lightyear is the last name of Toy Story characters)
Mr. Incredible
Dash
Nemo
Sully from Monsters Inc.

He was overjoyed.

He immediately opened the package and grabbed Mr. Incredible and yelled, "Daddy"

He next grabbed Dash and yelled, "Russell"

He paused for only half a second before grabbing Sully and yelling, "Mama"
I might have thought nothing of this, but it has been 4.5 months and he has never forgotten. Every time he finds that male blue monster it grabs it and says, "mommy".

Hmmm...

Feel the fever

2010-08-15T19:59:00.004-06:00

In the spirit of what is about to begin in less than 3 short weeks...Yeah baby!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnJbeswDpVg&feature=related

2010-08-11T10:43:00.056-06:00

I can't seem to move any pictures around....

But, in the last three month we

have not done enough this

definitely done enough of this.
I've done a bit too, but Mark has better sense than to photograph me in the moment.

experienced amazing Moro Rock on our trip to Sequoia National Park

played with Justin, Jamie and their cuties,

and Christina, kids, Jess and Mom,

Introduced Russ Russ to roller coasters...and hung out with awesome friends

practiced for the future

went camping with other awesome friends

and, back to those other other awesome friends...baseball games. Russ is thrilled to be out at "night". He loves night. He has always had a very early bedtime, and only gets to see night about once a month. We are pretty sure he thinks night only occurs once a month.

and back to Moro Rock. My inability to move these pictures is driving you loco...

Luke has spent time snuggling beautiful ladies,

we hugged a few trees,

and been stinking cute,

Luke has done a lot of this,

and this,

and this

Russ has done his share of this (time out)

and this -showing his big muscles, which he also sings about now-

Mark has been doing this,

and spending a week at the beach with my entire extended family. Best week of every year.

Luke thinks so too. Thanks for the shirt Shell

We hung out with cousins. Evan, Sky and Shea were so sweet with Luke and Russ.

made our acquaintance with Legoland. This is the Hollywood Bowl made entirely of Lego's.

visited Lego San Fran

and Las Vegas

felt enormously large biceps.

I usually just like to feel Mark's, but made an exception for this stud,

Russell's first helicopter ride,

Luke's first umbrella stroller ride. I thought he was so cute, I had to get a pic.

train rides with Grandma,

roller coasters with daddy

met our first real legoman

hung out with my beach babes.

Don't judge my whiteness, these girls are Indians, and I'm a redhead.

Chillin on the beach. We don't know how we got so lucky with this kid. He rarely cries. Maybe 60 seconds a day. Don't be jealous, we had our colic escapade with our firstborn.

Mark helped Russ Russ be a happy boy

We have been spending lots of time doing, "snuggles". Russ asks for, "snuggles pleeeaaase" every day. No matter what I am trying to accomplish, I cannot turn him down.

Modeled for hapari. Modest is hottest.

Someone at Legoland asked if we were twins, and we weren't even wearing our suits.

I was flattered.

Posing in front of a wicked awesome sand castle I watched my family build

Bekah asks for "snuggles please" too

Played with our bffs Woody and Buzz.

and with cousins, even better.

This pic cracks me up. Shea is poking his cheek and thinking, "Holy cow, what is in this thing?"

Hanging out with Caleb Wilde

This one is a little old, but makes me laugh for a couple of reasons;

First, I love that Mark thought his boys were so cute that he had to photograph them before changing poor Luke's pants.

Also, I can tell by the mischevious smile on Russell's face that he is poking Luke as hard as he can.

Third, just look at Luke.

What are you looking at?

Peace

Beautiful Boys

2010-07-27T11:27:00.014-06:00

I am horrible at updating, but time has been scarce lately. My friend Rebecca came over one afternoon, and took some beautiful pictures while she was here. Isn't she talented? I think her editing is remarkable and creative. www.SmokeBrush.com

Precious little Lukey

Big Brother with his favorite toy

Endless fountain of drool

How are we doing?

Russell has been an amazingly sweet big brother. We could not ask him to behave better towards Luke. He has also spent the majority of the last couple of months whining and crying which is driving his mama (who he now calls 'Bekah') a bit crazy. Is it the adjustment of sharing mom and dad, being inside more than we'd like, the terrible twos, or just Russ Russ? Who knows.

Luke (Chubbers) is a very sweet and calm baby. We are surprised and grateful. We are also quite surprised by his size. 95% height and weight, and... yes, another head off the charts. I am so proud of my big-brained boys. The only thing he could do better would be to not be so hungry during the night.

Mark and Bek are exhausted. And grateful. And tired.

3 years in Sherman Oaks

2010-06-29T22:48:00.002-06:00

Three year anniversary in Sherman Oaks

· Apartments lived in- 3
· Houses lived in- 0
· Apartments lived in that felt like a house- 1
· Jobs- 5 (PriceWaterhouse Cooper, Rand dermatology, Yale property management, Disney, and Baby Style for two days)
· Babies born- 2
· Number of times we have had visitors stay with us- 22 (off the top of my head)
· Trips to Disneyland- 24 (at least)
· Trips Bekah and Russ have made to Disneyland in the last 6 months- 13
· Years we have spent in Sherman Oaks that were unexpected- 1
· Cars lost- 1
· Cars gained- 1
· Parking tickets- At least 18 (2 this week)
· Sleepless nights- where to begin?
· Love gained- infinite (ok, seriously cheesy)

California is starting to feel like home.

Poor Lukey is in this picture, you just can't see him.

This is how good we are at taking pictures with all four of us...

Where is your favorite place to live...

2010-06-24T15:16:00.002-06:00

It has been a matter of much debate in our home lately:

Where is the best place in the country to live?

I want to hear what you think and why.

Help

2010-06-03T15:24:00.003-06:00

I am going stir crazy in this apartment. I am confused why I don't get to go play at the park every day anymore.

Love,

Russ Russ

Do your cheeks hang low, do they wobble to and fro?

2010-05-28T14:41:00.013-06:00

Luke's do! He has the wobbliest, hangiest cheeks in the world. Well in the Gardner house anyway. I am head over heels in love with this little boy.

I stole this picture from my bff Britt. It makes me laugh whenever I see it.

6 weeks

This one is a couple weeks old, but may be the only photo capturing his little smile.

We spent a great weekend in Vegas and St. George visiting family and friends. It was amazing to spend the night with my two best friends and their little kiddos, and only wish I would have taken a picture or two.

We met up with Becky, Rasty and youngens in St. George and had a wonderful time with them, and also regret not taking the camera out more. This is what we did happen to photograph...

Lukey and his cousin Danny

We had high hopes of getting a picture with all the kids, but Russ Russ had no such hopes.

I'm sure those of you who know him are shocked.

Grandma Duck got lots of laughs out of him with her games.

Grandma Paula

Doesn't she look beautiful?

This is Russell saying, "No." When we asked him to look at the camera.

The only proof in the last few weeks that I still exist. Taken with Mark's phone. There is no such proof that Mark still exists. I'll have to go take a picture

It turns out...

2010-05-26T16:09:00.005-06:00

syrup makes the best hair gel. It holds really well. Russell may occasionally smear it all in his hair while eating pancakes. And, unlike a respectable mother who would put her kid in the tub and wash it out or at least grab some kind of wet cloth and wipe it off, I just stick my fingers in it and spike it up.

Do Russell's hair...Check.

My toddler smells so delicious I want to hold him on my lap all day...Bonus.

By the end of the day Russ Russ is pointing to the knots in his hair and saying, "Hair, hurt. Hair, hurt."...Oops.

By the way, this happens more frequently than it should.

I have no idea why I spent my two minutes of free time writing this.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-14T14:23:00.004-06:00

It is a beautiful mother's day afternoon. Mark and I are sitting on a bench at the park laughing at Russ Russ. He is running around in circles giggling and singing and looking so cute. His little foot slips, and down he goes, hard on the cement. Scream, blood, Mark scoops him up with the speed of a cheetah, looks at me and says, "I think he might need stitches".

And boy was he right. Six stitches in that little chin. It had busted open to make a perfect peace sign.

So, I spent the evening holding down my screaming, sobbing, bleeding, sweating, pleading son -along with three other large nurse men- while the doctor stitched up Russell's chin. My poor poor little boy. It was the hardest thing I have had to do as a mother so far.

It took four of us, a sheet wrapped around and around his little body, and a lot of tape to keep him still enough to be stitched up.

When they numbed up his chin (injection) my poor little boy was sobbing, "all done, all done, all done" and "mommy help, help! I stuck mama. Mommy I hurt, help. Please PLEASE! Please mommy help." My heart was so broken, It took ALL my strength to not sob along with him. But, I tried to be strong, so he would not be more terrified.

The nurse next to me kept telling me sympathetically that he would tire out soon, but I knew he would scream and cry until it was all over. I was right of course.

When it was all over, it was such a relief to finally hold him, love him, tell him, "all done Russell", and that he did a good job, and that we could go see daddy and Luke in the car now.

We spent the rest of the night spoiling that kid with praise, kisses, hugs, and anything he wanted to eat and do.

Thankfully, young skin heals fast.

After the stitches

Interview with Luke on his 3 week Birthday

2010-05-06T14:07:00.013-06:00

I: Thanks for letting us put this interview together; I know you are a busy man.

L: No problem, but I am pretty sleepy. I will try my best to stay awake until we are finished.

I: Ok. So, welcome to earth! How do you like it so far?

L: I really don’t have many complaints. I am quite happy about being here. Besides a little gas, things have been generally easy, and consist of sleep, delicious sugar milk, diaper time and lots of cuddling. I even smile at my mom many times a day. Everyone keeps saying, “Oh, how cute, he is smiling. It’s just gas though”, but they are crazy. I smile when my mom sings and talks to me because it makes me happy. Besides, who smiles about gas? That stuff is painful.

I: What do they call you?

L: I have three names; sometimes I am called Luke, my mom calls me angel baby, and my brother calls me Lutes.

I: Speaking of your big brother, what do you think of him?

L: He is pretty awesome. Whenever he comes near me I am filled with excitement and anxiety. You see he is really unpredictable. He usually puts his face right up to mine, looks right in my eyes and says, “Cute”. Who doesn’t like to hear how cute they are over and over again?

He also likes to come up to me and put his cars and toys on my stomach. It is easy to share when you know you can have your toys back as soon as you want them.

Other times he tries to pick me up and carry me away, which makes me feel a little scared.

And one time he walked right into the family room carrying the boppy around his waist. He climbed up on the couch and demanded, “Baby Lutes”. Mom put me in his arms and he lifted up his shirt and tried to nurse me…which was a little awkward. But mom and grandma started giggling like crazy. He gives me tons of hugs and kisses and I can tell he loves me.

I: Have you experienced any real disappointment yet?

L: The most disappointing moment of my life occurred the day my mom and dad brought me home from the hospital. For many months I lived in this warm, dark, watery Jacuzzi. While I was in there I worked day and night on growing the perfect hair. By the time I was born it was flawless. Fuzzy all along the top and long around the bottom; I’m talking an inch and a half all around the entire bottom of my head. It was a gorgeous strawberry mullet. And do you know what? My mom cut that baby off the very day she brought me home. Oh well, I forgave her, because she makes milk for me all day and night. It is hard to hold a grudge.

Oh, I almost forgot about the night my mom ate broccoli. Talk about a disappointment. My stomach was in painful knots for hours. I would feel bad that my mama has to cut something out of her diet, but I think she only eats broccoli like once a year anyway.

I: What do you think of your dad? What is he like?

L: I love him of course. He cuddles and burps me, and we have been watching the Jazz in the playoffs together. If I have learned one thing about him it is that he hates the Lakers. He also stayed up with me late the night of the broccoli stomachache. He rubbed my back, and bounced me and helped me until I was all better. We are going to be best buds. He is zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I: And he is out ladies and gentlemen. We will have to catch him later.

Introducing Grandpa Mark

Grandma and Grandpa

The night of the broccoli

All four of us

Russ was having a grand time, but scowls whenever the camera appears

Once again, he went from hysterically laughing to this face the moment the camera came out.

When his daddy asked him to smile for the camera...

Size Matters.

2010-04-17T13:46:00.009-06:00

I forgot the feeling of having a tiny, perfect infant. Like my heart is growing to fill my entire chest. I love thise little boy so much. I am not nearly as fond of pregnancy, but the second they put that little guy on my chest I thought that I wanted 100 more. Babies that is. Don't worry, I won't.

Our little boy Luke joined us in the most wonderful and peaceful way. Monday night I began having more regular and painful contractions. They were coming every 5-10 minutes for a couple of hours, but did not seem intense enough for me to consider real labor. I figured I would lay down, go to sleep and they would go away.

We went to bed and they came all through the night every 15-30 minutes. I tried to sleep, and eventually morning came. I thought all of these contractions might just go away, but called my mom and told her she better come today, because there was a good chance Luke wasn't waiting until tomorrow.

I had contractions all day, but continued with my daily routine. They were still only every 15 minutes, and although painful and I definitely could not walk and talk through a contraction they were not coming any more frequently, so I still thought they might just disappear.

Then began the real excitement...

At 3:45 I went to my scheduled doctor's appointment. I told her about my contractions, she checked me and said, "Honey, you are 90% effaced, dilated to a 4 and you are in active labor. You need to go to the hospital right now. You are going to have a baby tonight. How did you get here? Did you drive yourself here? Where is your husband? You need to call him right now and tell him to meet you at the hospital."

I was excited, but pretty relaxed. I was sure Luke wouldn't be born at least until tomorrow. Russ and I made it home, met Mark, packed bags for all of us, dropped him off at a friends and we were off.

I think we finally got situated in our ldr room at 6:30. Dr. Kahen came to check one me and said I was between a 5 and 6 and was going to have a baby in a few hours.

Mark and I looked at eachother with smirking eyes. We knew better. We were there for the last one, they don't just come out that easy.

The contractions were coming closer to every five minutes, but being that far apart the pain was manageable. Mark did get a pretty funny video of the two of us talking and laughing. All of a sudden my face becomes very serious, focused. A strong one was coming. Mark didn't get the hint. Seconds later I'm yelling, "turn it off, turn it off".

About 8:30 I was at an 8 and felt that I would surely die. The contractions were right on top of eachother and I was shaking like a leaf. Then came the epidural...

Awesome!

Perfect epidural, took away the edge, but I could still feel some pain, and a VERY STRONG urge to get that baby right out.

I was at a 9. My doctor -could not love her more- came in and told us she was so excited to meet our baby. My amazing, adorable, supportive nurse told me to wait a couple of contractions. This part was by far the hardest. A couple of minutes later we were all ready. Pushed through 2 contractions and at 9:30 there he was. My doctor immediately handed him to me and let me hold him for about an hour.

He was pink and little and beautiful. He cried for a couple of seconds then just laid there peacefully looking around. After about 20 minutes he wanted to nurse.

Mark and I kept looking at eachother like, "Is this really happening? This is too perfect."

So, size does matter. It is decided. Russell's birth was so different. Nurses and doctors running around the room everywhere, a giant baby who was purple and not breathing. Myself practically passing out from pain and exhaustion. Still wonderful, but I hope all my babies will be 7 pounders from now on!

We are all in love with little Luke. He is a very cute angel.

Luuuuuuuuke!!!

2010-04-15T20:53:00.007-06:00

Luke Arthur Gardner is finally here. He was born on Tuesday night - April 13, 2010 at 9:36pm. Much more manageable size than Russ - 7lbs 6oz. Bekah thanks him often. Bekah will post more of the story later. We're home now since this afternoon and both her and Luke are doing great. Here are a few pics...

Happenings

2010-04-10T17:17:00.028-06:00

April 9th. Come, gone, no baby, oh well. What does a due date mean anyway? Especially when your due dates have ranged from the 5th to the 15th and are estimated completely by ultrasound. Here is a bit of what we have been up to, besides having babies...

Bug Hunting!

We packed up for the day and went into the mountains to play, hunt bugs, build a campfire, cook dinner and smores.

I haven't been having any baby, but I am still growing a baby.

What a handsome fella. Too bad we didn't snap a pic before church, and the drool that will certainly drench the top of his shirt.

I am so in love with this little sweetheart lately!

Went to an awesome Easter extravaganza. The toddler egg hunt had to be the cutest thing I have ever seen. Russ loved picking up the eggs and putting them in his basket. Unfortunately I don't know how to reformat our videos for the bloggy. Russ is counting his eggs here. This Easter weekend was my favorite I have ever had.

Feeling sharks and stingrays

Well hello lorikeet

Ah! He's eating my head...this is hilarious, awesome...please don't poop. Seriously. Your friend over here just did.

Flattering angle, I know

These birds are so much more awesome than the pigeons I'm always chasing.

Isn't he dashing all covered in birds?

Finally got a picture of a bird on Russ Russ. Is that not the cutest profile? My favorite part is that it matches his daddy's exactly.

Sitting on one of his favorite animals

We call Saturdays "daddy days" in our house, and Russ Russ and I look forward to them with great exuberance. We knew Saturday would be our last daddy day with just the three of us, so we really wanted to do something special/exciting. We went down to Long Beach to visit the aquarium and walk around the harbor and lighthouse. The lorikeets were obvious favorites.

How am I holding up? Well, thanks for asking -I'll just assume all you can think about is how pregnant I am and when my labor will start. Not too bad. I am not really at the peak of physical comfort, but I can't really complain since I have really brought this upon myself by choosing to wait when my Dr. has been willing to help this labor get started since 39 weeks. Besides, I just woke up from a nap, I'm putting pictures up on our blog and listening to Billie Holiday. When will I really have time to do this again?

Breaking Water

2010-03-25T15:31:00.011-06:00

February 23-2008

12:00 a.m. My parents were sleeping in the living room of our 1 bedroom apartment. They had come to visit, and hoped for the arrival of our overdue baby. We all said goodnight and were off to bed.

12:30 a.m. I just dozed off, and woke up suddenly because I needed to go to the restroom... immediately. Even though I had probably gone 30 minutes before, this was in no way shocking as I had been needing to go every 30 minutes for at least 2 months.

12:31 Jumped out of bed, trying to find something appropriate to cover myself with (remember my dad is in our living room) but quickly, this feels like a SERIOUS emergency. Can't find anything fast enough, and, frazzled, desperate, "Mark, Mark, Oh my gosh I'm peeing my pants".

Never mind, it was soon very apparent to both Mark and myself that my water had broke. Woohoo, the baby is coming! We were so excited, and couldn't stop laughing. I was glad my water broke before labor. I never thought it would happen that way, I know it doesn't often, but it was a fun experience.

March 10, 2010 - present

I am seriously paranoid. I am walking at the park thinking, "What's my game plan if it breaks right here right now? Apologize to everyone around me. Walk home? No, go find a tree all alone, sit underneath, call Mark, tell him to come get me."

Walking into church, "What if it breaks during my lesson in young womens, or worse as we are walking into s. meeting with everyone already staring at the spectacle that is an 8.5 month pregnant woman?"

At the grocery store, "Oh no, there are so many people here, how could I possibly make it out of here without causing a HUGE scene? I heard to carry a gallon of water in your cart, and if your water breaks throw the whole gallon all over yourself, on the floor and get out asap. I better go put one in my cart."

Swimming at the pool, "What if it breaks while I'm doing laps? Certainly can't be as bad as any other place, maybe no one will even know. Will I even know?"

Paranoid, paranoid, paranoid. Has anyone's water actually broken in an embarrassing situation?

And... my friend Aida took some pictures of me and Russ Russ. These are a few. She took lots of my bare belly, but who knows who looks at this blog, right?

haha

2010-03-20T23:51:00.003-06:00

I was glancing at our blog, mostly because I wanted to see Luke again, and noticed that I wrote, "but we did get to peak at his cute little face". Funny. I guess I should proof-read the blog every now and then. I'm pretty sure it's peek, but it made me chuckle.

A last escape

2010-03-17T15:04:00.006-06:00

With a newborn in the near future we realized we probably won't get any babyfree time for a while. We drove to Vegas for a little escape, leaving Russ Russ with Grandma and Grandpa for a day and a half. We stayed the night at awesome Lake Las Vegas (why have I never been there?) and felt like the only guests at the beautiful resort. We also made it to the BYU/UNLV game...gag, went swimming and had the entire pool are to ourselves, went out to dinner without having to calculate $40 babysitting into our bill, and finally saw Avatar... and yes I want to be an Avatar. We also got to explore a bit of Lake Las Vegas (beautiful) and the little village (charming, romantic).

BYU game

Our faces of sadness. It was pretty sad and really ugly. The madness starts tomorrow, and I am really hoping the Cougs kick it!

Had the place all to ourselves. We felt like billionares in our mansion with our butlers, maids and towel boys.

Little Luke

2010-03-14T20:26:00.006-06:00

No, he is not here yet, but we did get to peak at his cute little face yesterday.

Sucking his thumb

This one makes me laugh. He has his hand up to his mouth and he is shouting a message to us.

I'll bet the next four weeks go by a lot slower for me than for you!

Terrible Twos

2010-03-09T19:35:00.010-07:00

Russ saying "two"

Glamorous cake I know. Russ loves fruit loops, so we covered his cake in them. He ate all the fruit loops, and not a crumb of cake.

Russ Russ has been two for a couple of weeks now, and the terrible twos are not so terrible around here yet. In fact the last two months have actually been by far the happiest, sweetest most wonderful time in Russell's life, making it a very happy, sweet and wonderful time in his mama's life as well.

Why has this little bubba been so happy lately? We are not quite certain, and only have theories, BUT we are seriously so blessed (haha) and grateful. Not that he was a raving tantrum throwing lunatic child before, but there has been a switch in him and he is a much more joyful and adaptable kid.

My theories:

His papa- and love of his life- has been able to spend time and play with him every single day over the last few months. He is still sad to see him go each morning, but no longer throws tantrums each time his dad leaves his sight.

His mom has now been unemployed for three months. My stress levels have gone way down and my laughter has gone way up- don't worry people, not in volume, just in frequency.
Because of my recent unemployment we have been able to get out of the house 100 times more than we were previously able to. All the activities, especially with other kids, have helped Russ stop running and screaming from any child that tried to touch him to laughing, running around with and hugging kids spontaneously. Of course he can still be a little shy and timid at times, but he has made lots of improvement.
He has learned over 200 words in the last three months, which cuts down a lot of frustration. This could very possibly be the most influential factor. Not only can he tell us what he wants, but seems to grasp discipline and consequences much better. His articulation is atrocious, but Mark and I must have a knack for acquiring language, and have been picking up Russ Russ pretty quickly. He still looks right into our eyes every day and has a very serious and one-sided conversation that we cannot understand a word of. It makes us laugh.

Here is what he is into lately

Counting- loves to count. Just like dad. He counts to ten constantly (skipping 7-8 half the time). Counting actually calms his down when he is upset. Funny kid.
Cars Cars Cars- Just like every other 2 year old boy right? McQueen and cars are the first thing the kid thinks about when he wakes up in the morning. He is obsessed.

Oh how I love you Lightning McQueen

This is Russell's "car slide"

Puzzles- I just found a drawer of puzzles and he loves them with all of his might.
Letter and Numbers- We were given those foamy bath letters and numbers for Christmas and they were a big hit. He surprised us by already knowing a few of them, and learned the rest in a few days. He thinks the Q is a "cute" which is much too cute to correct. He also looks at Z sideways and says N, and calls A "hay", ok, he's not perfect, but definitely loves identifying letters and numbers.
Beach- This kid is desperate for the beach. It is by far his favorite place to be. He wants to be in the water, running in the waves all the time. While playing in the water his face is lit with pure joy, and when we say it is time to leave I have never seen such a look of complete distress and helplessness as he BEGS to stay and play longer.
Playing charades- So sometimes we play charades with him where we act out an animal and he guesses. He gets really into it pointing and excitedly yelling out the answers. My favorite is when he does the acting and we do the guessing. After we guess correctly he has to stop and think for a second of another animal he wants to act. The face he has during this thinking process is the cutest thing I have ever seen.

I know this is probably way more information about him than anyone cares to know (besides grandparents) but read what you like, skip what you like.

Clarification

2010-02-20T17:30:00.004-07:00

It occurred to me, and Mark when he happened to glance at our blog, that someone that does not know him as well as I may have read the previous post and be concerned that my husband is a serious jerk telling his pregnant wife she looks like dinosaur and/or an elephant.

Just to clear up any confusion, extreme sarcasm was obvious in his voice when he laughed and said, "You remind me of an elephant or a dinosaur". He was attempting to show me how ridiculous I sounded. Which he did.

Enormousaurus

2010-02-09T16:10:00.004-07:00

Four weeks into the third trimester and the baby/belly growth is happening fast. Shirts that fit me fine two weeks ago no longer cover the belly. Sleeping must be done on the right or left side, and I have to switch sides every couple of hours. Because my abdominal muscles are currently out of order, rolling over requires either throwing my arms and legs over and letting momentum pull the rest of me, or kicking off with my legs and pulling with my arms.

I was explaining this to Mark the other night as we were lying in bed and our conversation went something like this;

"I am starting to feel really big, gigantic, enormous."

This made Mark laugh, "Enormous? Like an elephant. You remind me of an elephant, or a dinosaur."

Which made me laugh, "Exactly, a dinosaur."

"You are an enormousaurus. That's what we'll call you from now on."

And we both laughed. Now when I complain that it's hard to tie my shoes, or ask him to push my back so I can get off the couch, he says, "It's because you are enormousaurus."

Since I am on the subject of pregnancy...again (s0rry) I have to tell every woman how wonderful swimming is while pregnant. I finally gave up running -slow jogging is more honest- a couple of weeks ago when I felt pretty strongly that if I did not stop my jog immediately my water was about to break all over the treadmill. I decided to try swimming, which is exercise that I have previously loved, but have not done much in the last couple of years.

Getting into the pool when you are heavy with baby is like a massage on your body. It feels delightful! You are weightless! Aaah, all the pressure from your knees and ankles, and hips just melts away.

Swimming laps=great workout and no later aching.

Added bonus- you don't feel like you are going to pee your pants every second, in fact you don't feel like you are going to pee your pants at all.

So, when your belly starts to get real big, call yourself an enormousaurus. It will make you laugh. Then get in the pool.

Mixed Emotions

2010-01-27T16:40:00.009-07:00

I am currently 30 weeks pregnant, and as Luke's birthday comes closer we have been experiencing conflicting emotions. the good news is as d-day approaches there is more excitement, less fear.

In some ways we feel more confident in our abilities to care for a new baby, but both of us sometimes feel a little terrified of "being thrown in the trenches" -as Mark would say- again. We have really enjoyed the last 1.5 years of sleeping through the night. Some people function just fine on minimal and broken sleep, Bekah does not.

The other night we looked at our pictures and videos of the hospital, labor and our new baby Russell. This helped a lot with the excitement factor. Here is what we delivered almost two years ago...

What are you looking at?

Recovering the day after

What a sweet little profile

Don't you want to just kiss those little cheeks?

Mark did stay with me the entire time I was in the hospital, but we did not get many pictures of him, because he was handling the camera. This is a few days after we got home. Such cute little buddies.

Ten more weeks until another little guy joins us. Can't wait to see his little face.

Christmas and a little more...

2010-01-11T12:10:00.023-07:00

The last three months have brought some amazing changes.

First: After a 2.4 year relationship Mark kissed PriceWaterhouse Cooper goodbye. I had been dreading Mark working for one of the "Big 4" accounting firms from the moment I said I would marry him. I don't enjoy Mark being gone all the time, I rather enjoy him being with me all the time. He is a really fun/awesome/sweet guy and I really like hanging out with him. I knew the hours he would have to work would be awful, and I was anxious having my love gone 60-80 hours per week.

Mark is a very hard worker, but in no way a workaholic. He finishes every job he begins, but likes to have fun, to have friends, have time with his family, and enjoy life. We knew it wouldn't be an easy ride for either of us.

I am so proud of Mark. There were times during "busy season" when he would leave for work at 6:30 a.m., get home at 1:30 am, sleep for a few hours and be gone before I even woke up again. This could go on day after day without having a Saturday or Sunday off. I could see the stress in him, building up each day and had no idea how he handled it. I couldn't.

When New Zealand plans came crashing through the floor, we started looking for something else, and Mark received an offer from Disney as a financial analyst. I am pretty sure Mark isn't going to sign onto the blog and post his feelings about his new job, so I will have tell you all that he is very happy working for Disney, and enjoys his work. I love having him come home at night and say, "I really like my job". I also love having him come home at 6:30. I could not be happier. Three weeks after we quit PWC I realized the lonely feeling I have had in my chest the last couple of years was just gone.

Second: Around 22 weeks pregnant my nausea seemed to disappear. I feel so horrible for women who are sick the entire 9 months. What a wonderful welcome change!

Third: While we were quitting jobs, I quit mine as well. I have been working at home as a resident manager the last 1.5 years, and am now done. It is quite glorious. I would way rather deal with a grumpy toddler than grumpy tenants who know how to yell and swear. Especially because my toddler isn't always grumpy and gives me spontaneous hugs and kisses and has cutest face I have ever seen. Another very welcome change.

As for Christmas. Mark's boss was very generous to let him take some vacation time early, and we were off to Utah for the season. It was our first time driving the entire way with Russ. He didn't sleep one wink all the way there or back, but he did love watching Bolt.

Santa came to visit Russ Russ. If you can't tell Santa gets a sweet discount with Mickey Mouse.

These little Disney figurines were by far the biggest hit of the season. Russ has not willingly surrendered them yet.

His first time in the snow. Russ learned the word "cold" very quickly and said it over and over.

Mark's family has this awesome cabin up American Fork Canyon. The entire family spent a day up there sledding and playing in the snow. Gardner cabin sledding is one of the most fun activities I have ever done.

See the road to the left of Mark? This is our bobsled run. The road is covered in packed snow, a perfect course for these wooden sleds (on Mark's right). Mark and I did this on one of our first dates. You can get going very fast on one of these little numbers.

The four of us about to take off on our first run. You can't see little Luke, but he's there.

We put Russ Russ down for a nap at the cabin and Mark and I escaped on a 4-wheeler for a while. Always fun to get out alone.

Mark and Rasty built a jump, and went flying over and over.

I think the picture above is Scott

Rasty

Mark

Mama and Russ Russ watching the boys jump. I'm a little envious I can't try the jump as I am six months pregnant. Russ is loving all the action.

Mark

New Years Eve brought our traditional Christensen party at the Busbys. Mark's a veteran by now, but this was Scott's first New Years party.

Keeping Russ happy until midnight.

Getting pretty sleepy.

Lots of Band Hero

We had fun doing about a hundred other things over our break, but were pretty horrible about taking pictures.

Mom and Dad Wood took the whole family (minus Mike and Beans) to Disneyland after New Years. It was an awesome day. I am so sad we forgot our camera. We had such a fun time.

Back home. It was strange to drive out of the dead of winter to 75 degree weather. Honestly we love the weather in Southern California. The snow is fun for a week or two, but it was nice to come home and spend a beautiful day at the beach.

Wow, aren't they cute?

27-28 weeks pregnant. This picture was three months exactly from due date.

I haven't taken any belly pictures in forever, but you can't really complain because now you get to see the belly in a bathing suit. Doesn't get better than that.

nothing but pictures

2009-11-09T07:03:00.014-07:00

Mark's birthday celebration at Disneyland

Hiking

We have been spending time at the beach lately. A couple of weeks ago the water was actually warm enough to go swimming! Very fun.

Halloween

Our pumpkin creations. Mark's is on the left, and Bekah's on the right

We made caramel apples for the first time. Bekah got a little too ambitious on the first one and tried to put lots of caramel on. It all ended up sliding off into a mound of gooey mess.

17-18 weeks

Interview with Russel at 20 months

2009-10-29T13:14:00.007-06:00

I: So, what has been going on in your life lately?

Russ: I have been so busy. I love reading. I have been reading lots of books about witches and brooms, ABCs, feet in the day and feet at night. I had this huge epiphany within the last month that everything, every object, every body part has a name. Did you know that? I have been working really hard at finding out the names of things and learning how to say them. It’s really hard work. My mouth doesn’t move like mommy’s yet, and the words come out all funny, but I practice and practice and practice.

Mom and me have swimming lessons in the tub. I can kick really good and am the best at blowing bubbles in the water.

I love playing sports, but I think soccer is my favorite. I kick and dribble the ball all over.

I: What’s been going on with your family?

Russ: My dad got a new job. I get to play with him a lot more now. He works for Mickey Mouse, which is so cool. Tomorrow I get to go to a big party at Mickey’s and my dad’s work. I’m really excited.

I: How are you like your father?

Russ: Oh, dad, well he looks exactly like me. Everywhere we go together people call him my “mini-me”. We’re twins.

Also, we love the same food. Mom gets it all wrong, and sometimes I’d rather go hungry than eat those nasty veggies she puts on my tray. When she puts them in front of me I look at her very sternly (so she can understand) and say “BO!” which means no, and throw them on the ground. She’s not catching on yet, but consistency is the most important thing.

Dad knows just what I like, because we’re the same. He gives me macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs. I laugh and clap so hard as soon as I taste that incredible deliciousness. I clap after every bite dad feeds me.

I: How are you like your mom?

Russ: It’s hard to say. I’m still pretty young. I love playing in the ocean, just like her. I love reading, just like her. And mom is really bad at hiding how she feels. I don’t even try. If I’m excited, happy, mad, or sad; people around me are going to know.

I: How do you find ways to help your mom around the house?

Russ: I think the most important thing is to show her she’s appreciated, you know. So I developed this system where I clap enthusiastically for her throughout the day. I clap for her after she sings me a song, or reads me a book, or cleans up my high chair. I think it goes a long way.

I: Do you ever disagree with your parents?

Russ: We do really disagree on one thing lately. I really love punching people in the face. When I get upset it just feels so good to give someone a whack. Sometimes I am playing and then I remember how fun it is to hit someone in the face, so I run up to mom or dad and just hit them. When I want something and they tell me, ‘no’ I have to hit them in the face so they understand I don’t like their behavior. Anyway, they are really stressed about it. They are being really strict with me whenever I do it, and it either makes me madder, or it makes me cry. Parents worry too much. Didn’t they hear the doctor say it was totally normal at my age? Didn’t they hear him say it would probably get worse before it got better?

I: What is the most important thing you do for your family?

Russ: I really teach my parents that you need to stop and play a lot. You need to laugh as hard as you can multiple times a day. Sometimes they keep running errands and forget to play, so I get really really grumpy, until they have to stop. Then I make them get down on the ground and chase me around and tickle me, and let me ride on their back, and throw me around and on the couch. It’s good for all of us. We just laugh and it is so much fun.

I also make mom and dad stop and kiss. I really like watching them kiss. When I can reach both of their heads I push them together and make them kiss. I do it over and over again. They are so cute.

I: Well I know you have a lot to do, and I should let you go. Thank you for your time, and I hope we will be able to catch up before too long.

The cure to morning sickness...

2009-10-26T19:10:00.003-06:00

Curious are you? Well, when following this routine with exactness I almost always avoid throwing up. If I ignore, neglect or try to alter my routine I will pay for it.

First, I must not miss a dose of medicine. I have been on prescription medication for nausea this time around, which does help a lot, but is still not quite enough.

Second, I must eat 3 feet of sandwiches every day. This sounds crazy, but I will do whatever it takes to keep my head out of the toilet. I eat one 6 inch every two hours beginning at 10:00 am. I have a sandwich at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00 and 8:00. I must also have breakfast when I wake up, snack throughout the day, drink soda and have 2 bowls of cereal right before bed.

I know this raises questions. Where do all the sandwiches come from? Where do all the sandwiches go? Are they all the same? What kind of sandwich does the trick? How long has this been going on Bekah?

The sandwiches come from the nearby grocery store. Every morning I walk there and head straight for the deli. Everyone knows me and what I will order. The sandwiches are always chicken breast (my deli slices the chicken really thin which is easier on the stomach) on white (also easier on the stomach than wheat). Lastly, I have been doing this almost every day for 2 months.

To be honest I have often been able to replace the last sandwich for a regular dinner. I still have to eat dinner twice, but I am getting some nutritional variety in my body.

This leaves one last question: What does eating 3 feet of sandwiches daily do to a pregnant woman, or a fetus? I don't think anyone really knows yet.

My favorite thought on my sandwich eating came from my Mark. I am truly fearful of Luke being even larger than Russ at birth. I am afraid that if he is any bigger he seriously will not come out. I was telling Mark about this fear one day, and I hopefully said, "this one will be smaller." He laughed out loud and said, "Honey, you have been eating from my foot to my waist in sandwiches every day for two months, I don't think this baby is going to be smaller than Russ." Puts 3 feet in perspective doesn't it?

Where in the world?

2009-09-30T20:09:00.005-06:00

People are starting to ask where the heck we are. Are we in New Zealand yet? For the last six months we have been planning to relocate to Auckland, New Zealand with PwC. Mark interviewed, received an offer, we accepted, gave notice to our employers, renewed passports and filled out unbelievable amounts of visa paperwork. We have been very excited to spend two years living in the most beautiful country in the world.

Four weeks before we were to be moving from our apartment here in Sherman Oaks we found out a BIG surprise. We are pregnant! Or rather, I am. This is Bekah by the way, if Mark were pregnant it would be a huge miraculous and really freaky surprise.

This was such a big surprise because in June we had been told by Mark's employer in New Zealand that if we were pregnant we could not attain our work visas. At this point we stopped trying for a baby, hence our big surprise in August. If you want further explanation on how this happens, too bad.

We still wanted to move to New Zealand if there was any way. Unfortunately, it seemed the only way involved a commitment from us to not use government health care whatsoever during the next two years. And when we found it impossible to qualify for any international or national health insurance, we decided to avoid possible bankruptcy and stay in the states where we have health insurance.

So, we are so excited to announce that we are expecting Gardner baby numero dos! I am 12 weeks along, and just finished my first trimester. I got to see the little babe in an ultrasound yesterday. It was so cute, jumping around, and then sat still long enough for us to get a good look at its little face, tummy arms, legs and what?!? Is that what I think it is? Yup, it's a boy!

We are so happy to have another lovable little boy. We are naming him Lucas Arthur. Arthur after my wonderful, hilarious grandfather.

In answer to other commonly asked questions;

Due April 15th

Yes, I have been sick with this pregnancy as well, but with the help of some medications have been feeling much better than I did with Russ. I think that the nausea will taper off in the next four weeks.

No, we are not out of a home and job, we were so lucky to both have understanding employers who were excited to have us stay when we explained our situation.

The most commonly asked question of the last 24 hours: Are you sad it's another boy?

Not at all. I am so happy. Honestly I would have been very happy either way. Mark on the other hand immediately said, "Well we'll just have to try again." He wants a little red-headed girl really bad, but I am sure he will love this new kid on the block.

12 weeks

While reading, remember, he's only 18 months

2009-09-15T12:19:00.009-06:00

So, Russ took an elevator ride by himself the other day. You have never seen a woman down and up a flight of stairs so fast!

Explanation; the elevator has been Russell's favorite room in the building for some time. The laundry room in our apartment building is located right next to the elevator landing. While I do laundry Russ runs around the laundry room, and the elevator landing area, and the hall.

Further Explanation; I was watching Russ while throwing clothes into the washing machine. He stood right in front of the elevator as it opened and two people walked out. He gave them a very friendly "Hi" and smile. I also waved my hello as they walked down the hall. Just as the door was closing Russ darted inside the empty elevator.

My heart seriously stopped. I immediately pushed the call button about five times as I heard his little voice going down the elevator shaft. My mind raced to those two bright red emergency call buttons in the elevator, right at Russell's eye level. The ones he always tries to push, but I don't let him. What happens when you push those buttons anyway? Does the elevator stop?

As I was thinking these thoughts I was also running down the stairwell and onto the first floor, where his little voice was headed. I pushed the call button down there about five times, but it seemed it was already headed back up. I sprinted back up the steps to the second floor as the elevator door began opening and little Russ Russ, happy as can be stepped out of the elevator as if nothing had happened.

New Orleans

2009-09-09T09:32:00.017-06:00

BYU rocks my socks off. I completely supported Mark in going to the game in Texas with his buddies, but I was also green with envy. I ended up going to Vegas for the weekend so I could watch the game with all my family, instead of all alone. What an awesome game. Mark will probably post about his Texas trip in the near future.

Rewind to the weekend before. Jessica and I made a trip to New Orleans to visit my sister Shelley. We had an amazing time. New Orleans is a flavorful, beautiful and delicious city. We spent time in the French Quarter, went on a swamp tour to see wild alligators,

ate at one of Emeril Lagasse's restuarants, escaped a scary man who followed us down a couple of streets and into a bar where he was escorted out by security, listened to great Jazz, and played with Shelley's family.

The three of us in the French Quarter

I loved all the beautiful iron!

Our river/swamp tour was amazing. The river was incredibly beautiful and peaceful...even with wild gators swimming around.

Here she comes

Look at that pretty profile

Our guide told us that alligators have been on earth for 200 million years...longer than dinosaurs. Prehistoric is the perfect word to describe how she looked.

Seeing wasn't enough to satisfy Shelley, Jessica and I.

We reached in to feel her with our fingers.

There were many weekend retreats lining the river.

Most had been restored since Katrina, but many had not.

Eating at Emeril's "NOLA"

Everything I tasted in New Orleans was incredible

We couldn't leave without listening to live Jazz

Auntie Bekah with Shea. We are little twins with out bright red hair. Isn't she so cute?

So, I had a perfect weekend in New Orleans. Thanks Shell for being such a great hostess.

Yo

2009-08-28T15:29:00.000-06:00

This is Mark. Haven't blogged in a long long long time. Thought the boys would get a kick out of this...I was able to have a tour of ESPN studios in LA last night. Bekah, myself, and a friend from work were on the set for the 10PM Sportcenter standing feet away from Neil and Stan watching them do what they do best. :) This was a couple minutes before they went LIVE. What a time. It just so happens that it is from these seats that they will be announcing a GREAT UPSET next Saturday when BYU UPENDS OKLAHOMA. I could feel it in my bones as I sat in that seat. :) GO BYU. Later

Summer 09

2009-08-18T12:52:00.031-06:00

We have had the most wonderful summer. Jessica and Danny moved to Sherman Oaks for the summer, and were able to live just down the hall. Mike and Christina also moved here for the summer and were right down the street. We were so lucky to live by them for the last three months, and are pathetically gloomy about their departure. My sisters and their husbands are so amazing. We were able to do many fun things together including; weekly Sunday dinners at our place, days at the beach, Irvine fair, Harry Potter, date nights without the kids, playing lots of games, eating lots of desserts, going to see The Fray, swimming, girls nights, boys nights and temple trips.

One of my favorite evenings we spent together was participating in sealings at the Los Angeles Temple. Jessica, Danny, Mike, Christina, Mark and I were the only ones in the room. It was such a memorable and happy experience to be surrounded by my family there.

My sisters and brothers have also been so helpful this summer. I appreciate everything they have done to help me, and they have made my life so much easier.

We went down to Irvine to see The Fray in concert. We had so much fun...one of the highlights of the summer!

Please look at Mark's face

Grandpa and Russ Russ when Mark and I were in Hawaii

3 Amigos. Ready for a walk.

Ava helped teach Russ Russ how to walk this summer.

On the train at The Americana

Jess and Danny

Pam and D.R. came to visit during the 4th of July weekend as well. It was so fun to have them stay with us. They are such gracious guests, and must have complimented us, our home, and my cooking a thousand times. I want D.R. to be my personal taste tester, and make me feel as though I am the most extraordinary chef in all the land. While they were here we also spent a day at the Getty, a day at the Reagan Library and an awesome concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

Snuggling with Grandma

An additional bonus: Loralee, Taylor and Cameron moved to Irvine for a month. They drove up to our place to spend a weekend with us, which was fantastic. A couple of weeks later we all drove down to Irvine to go to the fair together.

Cute little guys

Looking at the t.v. I think they think they are playing some kind of video game.

The only moment we seemed to capture at the fair; trying our first turkey leg.

We just returned from our annual beach trip in Carlsbad with the Christensen clan. As we drove home Mark decided it was the best beach trip yet (this was his fourth). We had a great time, boogie boarding, taking the raft out on the waves, swimming, hanging out with cousins, playing games, and playing glorious volleyball. I love all of my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, and it really fills my soul up to be with them.

The Wood family's latest addition, Grant Quail Wood

We gathered as many of the great grandchildren we could find one morning on the beach and dropped them in the sand for a picture. They were all pretty much o.k. with the idea except for Russ. He was pretty heartbroken when I dropped him next to all those kids and ran away as fast as I could.

Check out that face! Poor little guy.