Fabulous, Dahling

One of my best friends, Mary, is a amazingly fabulous photographer. I can't believe she just barely started taking pictures a year and a half ago. If you want to see the first shoot she did of our fam, check it out here.

This is our fall-holiday shoot. I didn't feel good about the pics when we were there because something was always going on or someone wasn't happy (Bryce or Paige) or the sun was acting up, or the plants around us were stubborn or dying, but low and behold, Mary still made amazing pictures. I don't know how she does it, but she makes it look easy.

Gosh, there are so many great pics, but I had to narrow it down to a few. So here are the best of the best, in no particular order...

Thanksgiving 09

Disclaimer: I look up to the people who can blog about an experience within 24 hours of the event. I, unfortunately, am almost 3 weeks late. Better late than never...

My parents were in town for a week over Thanksgiving and we had such a great time! Nothing fancy, just hanging out and making fun memories with Papa Rice and Grandma Rice. FYI, she insists on going by Mama-roo, but it's too confusing for Bryce - I think it sounds too much like "Mommy" to him. He doesn't like it. We'll see what permanent grandma name she ends up with :)

Great-grandma Brokaw (Scott's grandma) joined us on Thanksgiving day, so it was a really fun time! For all of you with big families, this is actually a big celebration in ours!



Bryce, Paige and Kim


Kim and Paige (almost smiling - she was SO ready for bed)


Question: why must Bryce have that mischievous grin on his face in over half his pictures? I'd pay good money to know what he is thinking...

Left to Tell

I am so inspired, I have to blog about this amazing book, Left To Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza. It is an inspiring story of a woman who survives the Rwandan holocaust in the 1990's and finds God, faith, and forgiveness while hiding with 7 other women in a cramped bathroom for 3 months. It is a true story as a woman finds her spiritual purpose in life while at death's door. I was so amazed and truly uplifted by this story.


Without sounding overly prideful, I can strongly relate to her because I survived a near-fatal car accident/head injury in '98 and found my spiritual purpose as a result. I wish I had as memorable a story as she does, but just as she did, I prayed about why I was left when my friend died, and I knew that God had more for me to do in this life than what I had done to that point. I was also kinda lost spiritually, and it helped me get back on track...with God's help, of course. I still have more to do, and this book reminded me that life is really beautiful, that God does help us discover ourselves through difficult times, and he wants us to be the best we can be.

Here is my favorite quote from this book:

"I was living proof of the power of prayer and positive thinking, which really are almost the same thing. God is the source of all positive energy, and prayer is the best way to tap into His power."

For more info or to buy her book, visit: http://www.lefttotell.com/

Music of the Night

The last month has been a great musical experience for us. Scott treated out me to the U2 concert, which is my ultimate favorite band of all time. They are truly amazing performers every time I see them, and they use their talents to lift people of darkness, including myself. I can personally attest that they inspired me throughout several difficult times in my life as well as energize me during the fun times. It was the best delayed mother's day gift I could ever imagine!

Second, Scott and I celebrated 5 years of marriage a couple weeks ago. I got him Phantom of the Opera tickets (his favorite play). I tried to surprise him, but I was just sooo excited that I got good tickets that I couldn't contain myself. It's really pathetic because I used to be SO good at surprises!




Mushy alert: I am so grateful for Scott. He is truly the best husband for me: inspiring me, motivating me, and encouraging me. I know that I am a better person as a result of him in my life, and I hope I can become a better person, because he deserves it!

My political blog

Hey friends! I started a political blog this year, and I was on a hiatus for a while, but I'm back. I just wanted to let you know that I posted something, and plan on posting again later this week. I will totally respect it if you don't want to read it. However, while I still have the freedom to express my opinions, I will continue to exercize my right to do so...

http://mypoliticalangst.blogspot.com/

Gratitude in the present

A wise person recently told me something I already knew, but in a different perspective. "Nothing stays the same. The grief will pass, the pain will pass, the trials will pass, and the bliss will pass!" I'm actually in a state of bliss right now. Everything seems to be in a harmony with one another. But it will eventually pass and the next trial will eventually come along.

Life is so dynamic. It is always changing, and nothing will ever stay the same. The hard trials we go through will eventually change, and the wonderful peaceful times will change too. Life is a journey, and we are here to learn from every station, and move on to the next stage without looking back on the easy times or looking back in regret on what we've done. We should also not look forward to the future and wonder what life will be like when ______ happens to us. The only place to be is the present, to be thankful for it, learn a lesson from it, and to have joy in it. That is a challenge, but I am grateful for it, and hope that someday I will master this challenge, and truly find joy in every moment, every day.

My one and only Halloween pic

Yay! I have one Halloween pic to post. Scott and I went to our friend Heather's annual Halloween Party and had a blast. I usually dress as a rockstar/singer...Bono twice (with the band), Village People - I was the sailor, Cindy Lauper (I had backup singers too!), Baby Spice, and the bad-girl Sandra D from Grease. This year, I wanted to do something with a current event. I always thought those were the funniest costumes.

So on a whim, we decided to dress up as the balloon-boy's parents. You know, the lunatics who staged their son getting lost in a homemade flying saucer, and were on the news every single day for at least 2 weeks. I can't believe people like that can make the headlines every day, when real news that is important doesn't. Actually, I do know why, but don't get me started on my conspiracy theories :)

Anyway, we won "best couples costume" for this endeavor, which surprised me because there are always really great costumes at their party. It was a really, really fun party, with my favorite part - karaoke! You can look on my facebook page if you want to see my competition :)

More pics of my kiddos

So you could also judge me because I have no Halloween pics. Why, you say, when you know it's one of my favorite days of the year? First of all, we went to the Prescott Pumpkin Patch Festival a couple weeks ago, and after weeks of searching for an Elmo costume, Bryce wore it for a total of 3 seconds and then threw an absolute fit until we let him take it off. Then it got stolen at the festival, so no more Elmo :( Here's a pic of him with Mr. Whataburger...




I don't have any pics of Paige, even though she was dressed cute that day,because Scott only took video, and that takes foreeeever to upload onto blogs. I don't have that kind of free time. Plus we have no pics of ourselves yet, even though we won a costume contest at our friend's Halloween party for dressing up as the balloon-boy's parents (the crazy people who were on the news for 2 straight weeks). I promise as soon as my friend posts her pics on her blog/Facebook, I will snag them and post them here!

So to compensate for the guilt I feel for being a Halloween-mom failure, I took some pics yesterday of my kids just being themselves outside. It was a cute moment in what seems to be the whirlwinds of life.





I know parents are biased, but my kids really are cute! FYI, I think yours are cute too!



Check out those rolls! She's a whopping 16 pounds at 4 months.



Bryce deep in thought with his trucks.



How can you resist a smile like this?



or a laugh/squeal like this?

Don't judge me, but...

I am waaaaay behind on posting pictures of my kiddos! With my postpartum and Paige's colic/reflux, and Bryce's terrible twos, and the business...well it's not a great excuse, but it kept me away from pics. It is easier for me, I guess to write about my life than to dig out my camera, remember how to download pics, and post them!

Anyway, I'm going to play catch up here, mostly for the sake of the grandparents, and the thought that one day, I'll have this blog printed onto a book for our family. So here goes the last 4 months of our life in fast forward!


Bryce at his 2nd birthday with the ragtop hair do - I miss his cute long hair!





Paige at one-week-old with her great-grandmother, Mary Jarvis. And yes, she is smiling :)







Bryce's first day of montessori preschool, August 17, 2009



Paige's baby blessing day - September 6, 2009






Our little outing to the temple on general conference weekend. Yeah, I know it's crooked. We didn't take the picture, can't you tell? :)

I promise I will do better! Well, I can't guarantee it, but I know I'll try :)

Albert Eistein once said...

“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.”

So most of you who know me well know that I am an all-or-nothing person. I am always 100-110% about anything I do...nutrition/health, joining the LDS church, running (when I wasn't injured), yoga, babies (the science of breastfeeding specifically), and U2 (mostly a teen/early adulthood obsession, but I am going to their concert!), and other naturalistic granola-child things. Whatever it is that I'm obsessed about, I learn everything I can about it and make it a big part of my life!

My newest obsession: reading fiction. I've always been a reader, but I have been on a break from it. I've always enjoyed it, but with my head injury from my car accident in college, I had a really hard time reading and learning, so it was everything I could do to simply get by in college. Incidentally, recovering from my head injury/accident in itself was an obsession to prove to people and myself that I could do it. I was also looking for my religion, so all of my free reading time went to spiritual non-fiction, which ultimately and gratefully led me to the LDS church. Soon after joining the church, I met and married my awesome husband, Scott, started a business (another successful obsession) and now have 2 beautiful children.

So, I'm nursing again, and I thought it would be a great time to pick up reading fiction again. Boy, I should've seen this coming, but I have really enjoyed this journey. I've joined a book club and have read some amazing books. I am officially addicted. I have read a lot of great books (see my book area on the right) BUT the best book I have read in a REALLY long time is (drum roll, please) The Hunger Games and it's sequel, Catching Fire. I couldn't put it down, nor could I stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading. I had to force myself to go to bed, and sometimes couldn't even sleep because I had to know what happened next. Now I'm dying because the 3rd book isn't out yet, and won't be for about a year. (If you haven't gotten the hint already, READ IT...I promise you will love it). Fortunately I am reading another good book now, and I know that there are many other great books out there waiting to be read.

I used to be embarrased/apologetic for being this intense, because I have been told that some people are/were a little intimidated by me and my intense-ness (is that a word?) but I have since accepted that this is who I am. Afterall, life is short. I was born this way, and all my obsessions have led to new knowledge or understandings about myself and life. It has truly made my life and my family's life a fun adventure!

p.s. read the books and tell me what you think! :)

If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

I never knew this phrase to be true until I became a mother. As much as I wish it weren't true, I know that if I keep myself in order and happy, the rest of my family is happy too. I also know that if I'm in a bad mood, so is everyone in my house. So fortunately and unfortunately, (depending on how you look at it) I have a large affect on my family.

I have gained a deeper understanding of this truth over the past few months. I haven't blogged about it, because I felt like if you don't have anything good to write, don't write anything at all. But the truth is, we all have trials. I want my kids to know that they happen to all of us, we can learn a lot from them, and they can make us stronger, better people if we let them. Also, if I can help another woman who is struggling too, all the better.

Some women have a hard time with pregnancy, others have a hard time getting pregnant, and others have a hard time with newborns. I am in the last group. I don't know if it's genetics, or bad luck, or if I'm supposed to learn a lesson, but both of my children have had moderate-severe acid reflux. The first few months are the worst, and fortunately, this time, I knew what the problem was and sought medical treatment instead of letting it go and thinking "it will get better on its own." Anyway, this time, I also came down with postpartum depression and I have never dealt with this before. I was afraid to share this because it is such a private thing for many women, but I felt I should share it. I have always been a happy person, upbeat, and optimistic, sometimes to a fault :) I very rarely cry (only 2-3 times in each pregnancy) and I consider myself pretty stable emotionally. Lately, I have been crying almost every day, feeling hopeless, and quite grumpy to be around. Needless to say my house was not a happy house for a couple months. The worst part is that I felt out of control, and I couldn't think postive thoughts and snap out of it. No gratitude lists or happy songs or massages could break this pattern. So, I came to the unpleasant reality that I had postpartum depression.

The truth is it's very common for women because birth hormones, breastfeeding hormones, the lack of sleep, caring for a newborn, and no alone time with your spouse is very taxing on a woman...not to mention the guilt associated with not spending much time with your older kid(s). It's a real problem that affects women, no matter what their background.

All of my friends know I am a gung-ho naturalistic kind of person (some would say "part-granola" :) and always look for the natural solution to problems. I started with taking herbs, but that didn't seem to be enough. So I went to my naturopath and chiropractor about it, and they both said I might have some mineral deficiencies after the birth and possibly due to nursing. The minerals mentioned were iron and vitamin D as the main ones, and others too. I was taking a good mineral supplement before, but I switched to a new mineral supplement specifically for moods from my chiropractor, and voilà! I was back to myself in less than 8 hours! I am so glad I didn't go to a "regular" dr. who would put me on anti-depressants. Who knows what future problems that would bring...

So now I am officially back to myself! And wouldn't you know it, but everyone in my family became simultaneously happy again too...

Bryce's First Prayer!

Today was so cute at our house! We were sitting down for Sunday breakfast this morning, and Bryce wanted to say the prayer. Usually, one of us says a simple prayer and he repeats us. We start out saying what we're grateful for, and then ask for blessing on the food/day/etc. Today, Scott started it by saying "Heavenly Father" and then Bryce said, "Father...Mommy, Daddy, Grandmas, Grandpas (yes, he used plural), Hannah (his cousin)...Amen." It was so cute and it made my day!

Can someone please explain...

...WHY men don't listen to women?! Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful husband, but after almost 5 years, I feel like he rarely listens to me.

Example: Yesterday he was making me a sandwich because I was nursing and hungry (surprise, surprise), which was very nice of him to do. I asked him to put mustard on the sandwich and then I said, looking him in the eye, "Oh, I need to get more mustard at the store today - we are almost out." Then I wrote it on my list. Almost exactly 10 minutes later, in a completely oblivious tone of voice, Scott says, "Honey, can you get mustard at the store today, we are almost out." I told him I wouldn't even justify that with a response because I had just said it, which of course, he didn't remember. I asked him the question above, and he said that women talk at least twice as much as men, and men just can't handle all the information. Hmm...

We laughed, but I still need to know...why is this the norm? Why do ALL men ignore what their wives say after being married a while? This is probably one of those Mars - Venus questions, but I didn't read that book so I am asking you. Any insight into this phenomenon would be greatly appreciated :)

The Newborn Experience

My fabulously talented friend, Mary, took some amazing pictures when Paige was 3 weeks old. She's 6 weeks old now and quite a bit bigger, but this has been my first opportunity to blog in a while.

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Let me just say that I'm glad the first month is over! It is probably the hardest month for any mother-child, and Paige and I were no exception. We had some issues to work out and she was quite fussy for a while. I then got the baby blues but I got through it! Fortunately, I had a lot of family around to help me and support me. We are all happy and Paige is doing great now!

Poll: Which of the above pics should I include in her newborn announcements?

Also, here's Bryce at 2 and just before a haircut...

Gas Shmas

Anybody who says that "newborns don't smile, they just have gas" is full of it. Last night, Scott was playing with Paige, who was only 4 days old. He was putting his mouth up to her hand and teasing her. Since she's legally blind like all newborns, she enjoyed feeling his mouth and playing with it, and a big smile came across her face. She was having fun, not having gas. So there!

She's Here!

We are so excited that Paige joined our family this past Saturday! As most of you know, I wanted a waterbirth/homebirth, and I had the MOST wonderful relaxing experience possible. I was more comfortable and relaxed in my home, so I dilated super fast! I watched some of my favorite movies, in this order: Nacho Libre, Dan in Real Life, and the beginning of The Holiday. I enjoyed the difficult parts of labor in a birthing tub, which they call the "midwives' epidural" and now I know why. I felt instantaneous pain relief when I got in, and it did slow my labor down a little bit (just like an epidural would). It was fine, because I was so close to the end, so it was still pretty quick. I started labor around 8am, and had her at 2:04 p.m. I was talking and laughing in between contractions until the last 20 minutes. I actually was able to enjoy watching my movies too! :) It was so awesome. I will never birth another way again!

Paige was 21" long and weighed in at 7 lbs, 9 oz, almost a pound smaller than Bryce was when he was born. She's my petite little lady! She is doing great, is very alert, and likes to wiggle. She kinda looks like me when I was born - full head of dark brown hair (that fell out for me and came back in sandy brown). We'll see how she looks when she develops.

The above pic is of Scott and Paige at the delivery. Here are some pics of her today. I know I'm biased, but I think she's beautiful!

Paige enjoying some fresh air this afternoon!

Bryce & Paige

Bryce kissing Paige!

Scott, Bryce & Paige reading

Bryce is handling being a big brother very well. He is excited to be a big brother!

I just have to laugh...

So I'm 38 weeks pregnant, and I have just done the most embarrassing thing in years. I can't believe it, but I was walking in my sleep (somehow) and I fell and sprained my ankle. I haven't walked in my sleep in almost 20 years, so it is quite the shocker to me. All I remember is being on the floor in the dark in a lot of pain. Scott said I must have been dreaming because I said "No, no, no!" and then he heard a thud. As usual, he was wonderful and came to my rescue (but, poor guy, seeing his very pregnant wife on the floor screaming in the middle of the night must have been scary) Scott thinks I tripped on one of the umpteenth pillows I use to sleep with that I must have kicked off onto the floor when I got up. Gotta love pregnancy!

Bryce is being very cute about it though. He keeps pointing at my foot and saying, "Momma's foot hurts...owie" and he's giving me extra kisses. At least I am getting special treatment :) But it sure blows my plans to go on lots of walks this week to bring on my labor early. Deep breath...sigh...laugh...I must have much more character to build :)

Thanks!

Thank you to all those who participated in my baby showers. One of my best friends, Mary, threw one for me last weekend and it was great fun! Unfortunately, she's also my photographer friend, and since she was hosting the party, there weren't many pics. But some relatives and friends got a little marker-happy with my belly, and drew some notes on there. So at least I have a couple belly shots! And, yes, I do have an outie!

My ward friends also threw me a shower this past Tuesday, but I don't have pics from that yet, so I'll post those when I get them. I am just so excited to have so many oh-so-cute baby girl clothes! This is going to be so much fun! Thank you!