What about Clarissa?

So I get this phone call from Clarissa and we talk about how she's getting married, and I haven't heard a word about it since.

What's going on?

Any news?

I know Clarissa has been blogophobic in general, but I'm surprised at the overall lack of comment. (So feel free to comment on this post.)

In other news, I'm looking forward to vacation. I'm excited to see everyone and have a good ol' time in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Yes, we're tacking a little Idaho trip on the end of our vacation.

Talk to you later.

Love,
Eric

My Purchases

So far this weekend I have spent a large amount of money. First I went to the dollar tree and get a bunch of stuff for school. Then I went to Sam's Club where I bought groceries, gas, and a digital camera and memory card. Then I went and bought more groceries at Macey's and pizza at Little Ceasers. Oh, and in between the two shopping trips I got on the internet and bought Emily and Clarissa plane tickets so that they can come stay for two or three weeks at the end of June and beginning of July. Needless to say... my bank account is just about wiped out. Good thing I get paid next Saturday.

Oh, and my ticket for Disneyland arrived in the mail! I was pretty excited about that one. And I got the camera because I wanted to have my own camera for my trip to Cali and for the reunion. It's a pretty nice camera and it fits in my pocket.

This week is the last week of school. The kids will be there in the mornings for four hours, and then I will stay for another three hours cleaning, sorting, grading, assessing new students, and having meetings. And the last day of school is next Saturday. So far I know of about five or six students that will definitely be there and several that will definitely NOT be there. It should be interesting.

So that was my expensive weekend. I should probably not go to any stores on Monday... but I think I will be anyway.

Love,
T

My New Page

Well I finally got it up and running. I've been trying to get it to work all day. I left a lot of the things on there but I arranged them differently. Maybe I should change the title, too, but I haven't decided what to make it yet. Any suggestions?

If someone wants to put the picture of the tutu on the movie page you're welcome to. You can delete my comments if you want.

Jared, how are your changes coming? I keep checking to see if there's anything new

Summer, I love your new blog and the name of it is very clever. I love your pictures and all the comments.

Nathan, are you going to finish the story before you leave for Europe? I keep checking back and it hasn't changed yet.

Let me know what you think of my changes. I'll try to keep it updated more often.

Love ya,
MOM

Changes to Summer's Page

Changes have been made to Summer's page. Go check it out! (Please. Summer will look upon you favorably if you do.)

What is your favorite type of clothing?

Socks. Definitely socks. Belts run a close second, though.

pictures

The pictures of Summer taken at the hospital are up - 13 of them.

Tawnia and Mindy - we got your package yesterday. Thank you! The outfits are very cute, but she won't be able to wear them for a while because they're way too big. The 0-3 month size is apparently assuming that you start with a 10-pound baby, and Summer is just now hitting 7 pounds. Her doctor appointment on Tuesday weighed her in at 6 lb 15 oz. She put on an entire pound in 12 days, since she was at 6-flat when we were discharged at the hospital, so she is putting on weight at a good pace but she's still pretty small.

Field Trip

Today my class went on a field trip to Red Butte Gardens in SLC. It was fun, but we got lost. And since I had printed off the directions for ALL of the parents who were driving... EVERYONE got lost... but at least we all ended up in the same area, and one person did know how to get there. After getting up there we went on the two hour hiking tour. It was pretty cool. I'm excited to take my fourth graders there next year. It was all about classifying plants and animals.

I can't believe that we only have eight days left of school.... and the five days next week are all half days. So we only have three full days of school. It's pretty crazy. My first year of teaching is almost over. Part of me is SO excited because I am ready for a break and I want to be able to put things together for next year. And part of me is sad because I love this group of kids. They really are great.

Other than work, I have been trying to be social. Mindy and I are having a group of people over for games tomorrow evening. It should be fun. We're also enjoying tap and ballet... well, at least tap. Ballet was really hard last week. It could have been our last class, but we had already paid for the next eight weeks. Oh well... I just know that I'm the worst one in both classes... but I don't care, I'm still going to do it anyway.

I am enjoying the wonderful summer weather we've been having. It is nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine. I go for walks a lot, mostly when I'm talking on the phone, even though I get reception in my apartment just fine. It is just to nice to stay inside.

Anyway, I am going to save some stuff to post of the sisters blog, so... for the continuing story... please check there.
-T

Summer update

Summer's pictures are almost ready - Adam put a set together in a slide show format, but has run into a glitch. As soon as he gets it figured out and fixed, the first bunch from the hospital will be up.

Friday and Saturday were a little weird for Summer - Friday, she slept ALL DAY. It was tough to wake her up even to eat. Saturday, she was awake and wanting to eat every hour. I barely left the chair all day. But she's doing good over all. She's starting to catch on to the day=awake, night=sleep thing. The last 2 or 3 nights, she's gone for 2 or 3 hour stretches of sleeping, instead of waking up every 45 minutes. She's also been awake for longer stretches during the day - she's now been up for 2 1/2 hours, and is currently laying on her play mat. (And looking at the wall. Go figure.)

She also went to her first party last night. A friend in our ward graduated from medical school yesterday, and there was an open house for him. Enough people to get Summer introduced to a crowd scene, but small enough that she didn't seem to be overwhelmed with the noise or being passed around. Tomorrow, it's yet another trek to the doctor's office for yet another check. And then we don't have to go again for 3 more weeks, which will be nice since I'm already tired of going back and forth to sit there for an hour just to stick her on a scale. Sheesh. I KNOW she's eating enough, because she goes through a pack of diapers in less than a week.

Drawing

My first drawing in a while, and I had to share. It's of one of the girls in first grade at Reagan. She isn't from my class, but she ended up in one of my photos, and was just too cute to pass up. I added her to my webpage, but since there's a lot there I figured I'd show you here, just to be sure you can see. I'm pretty pleased with it.

To answer Mom's question, my favorite type of clothing to wear is jeans, a cute shirt, and flip-flops (for summer time anyway). I like to wear clothes that fit - after I gained some weight, and didn't change my wardrobe, I had really low self-esteem. Once I had clothes that fit, even though I wasn't any smaller, I felt a lot better.

My summer plans include a job - what it is yet, I'm not sure. I'm really looking forward to the reunion, and seeing everyone - that's the real high-light. In August Tawnia and I are planning on moving to Springville, where we will both be working at Reagan again. I'm also looking at getting my associate's degree, starting in the fall.

happy graduation day

Today is Adam's graduation day at Georgetown - hooray! He isn't walking in the ceremony this afternoon - sitting outside all that time would be too much for Summer and me. He finished all of his classes in December (his official graduation date was Dec. 20), and he's going to walk at the end of law school. But I wanted to get this added to the list of everything else that's going on around here. Hooray!! Hooray for being ALL the way done with undergrad, and finally getting his certificate for his degree.

As for clothes ... my favorite dress code is jeans and sandals and a t-shirt. I look forward to getting back to that on a regular basis soon.

Changes on the horizon

I have decided that my page needs an overhaul. I will soon be removing much of what is on there and saving it on a disk. I don't want to lose all my work but I feel it's getting a bit cumbersome. I just thought of it this morning and figured if there's anything you haven't seen you might want to look at it because it will soon disappear into the Palmer Vault.

I have finally gotten busy working on costumes. Yesterday I made a red tutu for Brooke. I think it turned out very well and I hope she likes it. My next project is to print the icons on t-shirts and capes so if any of you want either of those -please let me know.

My last question, about the various homes you've each lived in, got somewhat lost in the excitement of Summer, but that's how it should be. Anyway - it's time for a new question: What is your favorite type of clothing? I'll be watching for your answers and waiting for other Palmer news.

Love ya,
MOM

random silliness

A co-worker who works with me
Like to tell jokes to fill us with glee
The ARC is his tool,
But he is no fool.
This month he sent this pic to me!

Tap Dance

Last night, Tawnia and I went to our first tap class. We were very excited because neither of us had any idea of what we would learn. In the course of an hour we actually learned eight steps - Irish, maxi, essence, waltz, etc. We immediately came home and practiced them for another hour. I even practiced at recess today, and showed some of my kids how to do things. It's much easier to practice tap at random than ballet (for me, anyhow). Our teacher laughed at us a lot, since Tawnia and I seemed to take longer to grasp things than the other girls, but we know it was all out of love. It was very fun, and I'm really looking forward to next Tuesday's class. In the meantime I get to go to ballet tomorrow! I hope I don't get anything mixed up with the new tap stuff.

New Stuff

I've spend today design and making a few new pages for the website. No, all of the pictures of Summer are not up yet. But they are coming. I've been working on overall designs, so now that I have that out of the way, I just have to edit the pictures and insert them into the pages. I've also had to relearn how to code, as it's been a year since I did anything with HTML, Javascript or Style Sheets. Summer is more beautiful than ever.

Adam

Is the opposite of "Updates" "Downdates"?

This post is actually serving two purposes. First and foremost, I'm
testing my newfound posting ability. Hello? Hello? Am I
on? Good. Secondly, I am announcing the non-updates on my webpage. I had
a couple things in the works, but my jumpdrive crashed and all my work
vanished into the unfathomable void. So I get to start over from scratch.
I was even going to include most of the old stuff that had previously been
removed, but that's all gone too. Yep, gone. Never to be seen again. An
already fading memory in the depths of insanity. So whatever I eventually
come up with for my page, you can rest assured it will be... something else.

Updated!

I'd just like to tell everyone that I updated my page tonight. I had updated a couple sections a week ago, but didn't mention it, so I could do more of it all at once. I still need to finish my big Russia section, but that's still taking a while, so I put everything else up. I spent a lot of time, and had a lot fun, so please look around at everything and post how cool it is, so everyone else will want to go look too.

New Movie

Good evening family. This is just to announce that there is a new movie about Stevie I posted a few minutes ago. I hope you like it.

Check it out while it's up!

It's going back into the Disney vault before long!

Last day in D. C.

Hello, Family.

Well, I spent today playing tourist, running around at the Smithsonian. It was a beautiful day. I looked at the rockets at the Air and Space Museum.

And I stopped at the modern art museum. There are sculptures outside. They make the dead horses outside the Portland Airport look good. At least you can tell those are supposed to be horses. Then I went inside. The carpet of the lobby has very colorful, striped (eye-smarting) carpet. Then I went upstairs. My first thought was how . . . gray. Black and white photos on the wall (such as animals or Henry VIII and his wives), gray walls, gray floors. And downstairs there was a theater showing some modern dance. The weirdest thing I saw was called "Reverse Spit." It showed people spitting out water, only played backwards so it looked like it was going into their mouths. Five minutes of this. Like I said, it was weird. And the best thing about the museum -- there's a great view of the Mall from the third floor.

I wandered to a couple of other museums -- Natural History and American History. My favorite exhibit at the Natural History Museum is the geology, minerals, and gems exhibit. I went there on Wednesday -- I also saw the mummies and stone age tools there. But today I looked at the exhibit on mammals and the insect zoo. And at the American History Museum, I looked at a couple of exhibits on science and technology and computers.

Well, I've had fun. And tonight, we're going to have pizza and watch a movie.

Dentist

Today I went to the dentist. It was the fastest appointment I've ever had. I stopped at home to brush my teeth before heading over and was back at home within 30 minutes. While at the dentist my 28 year streak of cavity-free teeth came to an end. I will have my first filling ever on June 5th. After learning about my cavity I guess I forgot how to spit properly or else the dental assistant forgot to put the little air sucker thingy into my mouth all the way or something. As she went to rinse out the polish from my lower teeth I got a little bit of spit on the corner of my mouth and so she had to wipe it off. I laughed a little and then she cleaned my upper teeth. This time when she went to rinse I know for sure that the sucker thing wasn't all the way in my mouth and I think it ended up blowing instead of sucking... I ended up with spit all over my face. She even wiped some off of my forehead. I just laughed and said that I was a failure at spitting today.

I've been in an exceptionally good mood today. I was silly with my kids quite a bit, even while being strict. I am a little sad that I only have 15 days left with my class. They really are great. And tomorrow morning I'll be spending the day at a different charter school observing. They use some of the curriculum that we'll be using for the first time next year. Plus the entire last week is half days... and our last day of school is actually Saturday, June 3rd. I know, weird to have school on a Saturday, but it was either that or have just one day the next week... Saturday really does make sense. I'm not sure how many kids I'll actually get that day, but we'll have fun with whoever shows up.

Ballet is HARD and my body is SORE from it, but it's a good sore. I'm just looking forward to tap dance next Tuesday! It'll be great.

I'm glad that Summer and Trina made it home. When I called to ask Emily if fillings hurt I learned that they were home... and then talked to Trina for a while. It was good... though it doesn't make me want to have children any time soon.

I'm looking forward to July!
Love,
Tawn

My turn...

to tell a funny story. First off I am posting because Jared's funny story made me think of a funny story. Also I am supposed to be working on my final final. And before I get to the funny story I just wanted to let Trina know that the sister in my ward (we'll just call her Lisa) had her baby on the fifth, so when I mentioned her on whichever day I had, I think she had already given birth. But if I remember I will let her know about water. Though I think she has heard of it.

Ok...

the funny story...

This morning Amanda had to be at work at 8. Usually she does not have to be anywhere until 10, so she doesn't even get up until 9 or 9:30. She was frantically getting her things together while I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth. I heard her ask where her purse was. I thought about the last place I had seen it, and that was when we were coming home from the dining hall the night before, so it was probably in the front room. I stepped out of the bathroom to tell her what I knew. As I did so she was going into the kitchen to check in that direction and I saw a funny thing. Upon her shoulder was her purse strap, and on the end of her purse strap was her purse. Who knows how long she had been holding it and looking for it at the same time? I thought it was pretty funny.

and Jared... you didn't have to be there to think your story was funny, because I wasn't there, and I thought it was funny.

Nathan

Update from Jared

Hi everybody! I thought I'd go ahead and give you all an update on us. First of all, we are certainly happy to hear that Trina and Summer are home safe and sound. I've been busy as usual at work. Michelle has been busy as usual taking children to the doctor. Sometimes it seems like that's all she does. Fortunately, Bryan is doing much better. Those antibiotics are definitely helping. Brooke only has a couple weeks of kindergarten left, and only a couple weeks of Daisy Scouts as well. Next Saturday she will have her "bridging ceremony" and become a Brownie. She's very excited about it. Apparently, Brooke's troop was selected as the number one Girl Scout troop (I'm guessing in the local area). They went from 4 to 15 girls, and all of them completed all the Daisy requirements. Their leader was ranked "outstanding".

Here's a funny story. I was riding home from work today, when I realized there was a hornet inside my motorcycle helmet. I pulled over and raised the visor, and then it flew out. Okay, I guess it wasn't that funny. You just had to be there.

PS to Nathan and Michelle

Nathan, tell the sister in your ward that in some ways, yes, it is easier to take care of a baby while it's still inside you. But when the baby is still inside, she has to do ALL the work herself. When the baby is outside, more people can help you. Like the dad. (See my other post about my amazing husband.) Also, tell her to NOT get dehydrated!!! Water water water and more water. I got dehydrated while in early labor, and they had to pump me full of fluids via an IV before they'd give me the epidural.

Michelle, I don't know that there's anything else that we need at this point ... our ward and some of my co-workers have been very generous in making sure we've got all the necessities, and we were able to take care of the rest ourselves. Now that we're home with the baby and actually using everything instead of just stacking it in a closet, we'll be able to make a better assessment in the next few days/weeks. Thanks for asking!!!

home from the hospital

We're home now ... it took longer into the afternoon to get all processed out of the hospital than we had figured, but I was told last night that over 30 people were being discharged out of maternity today. So maybe we were toward the end of the line. Either way ... we're home.

Yes, we'll be sending more pictures via email until we can get the webpage put together and posted. There will be a bit of a lag for a couple of days though - we apparently put some pretty crummy batteries in the digital camera because they're already dead. We have to get new ones to download the next batch of pictures and to take more.

We're fine. I'm having to relearn how to walk ... hanging out in a hospital room didn't give me much chance to test my physical capacity after delivery, and now I'm finding out what I can and can't do. Let's put it this way - it's a good thing I have a lot of sit-down projects to do right now like my studying and some scrapbooking. Summer started smiling today. (Don't tell me it's gas, because gas doesn't light up your eyes.) I'll keep the camera close so we can try to catch it. Mostly it's in her sleep, but sometimes she looks straight at Adam and just beams at him. She definitely knows her daddy and he puts me to shame when it comes to taking care of her. He's so awesome. I remember thinking a long time ago that I wasn't just looking for my husband to come along, but also my children's daddy. I did better than I ever thought possible.

Hooray for Summer!

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days. I was out of town, and then yesterday Blogger wasn't working for me. I hope it works now.

I also want to welcome Summer to the family and congratulate Trina and Adam.

I was in Sacramento when the baby was born, and Mom woke me up in my hotel room. I thought it was my wake up call, but it was an hour and a half early.

How are you feeling Trina? I hope you're recovering well and I look forward to talking to you. The pictures are really sweet. You're already fantastic parents, I can tell.

WELCOME SUMMER

We're so glad you're here. Thank you for the beautiful pictures. I called my sisters and told them about your coming. I need to let everyone else know, too. I'm so anxious to see you.

Get well little Bryan. We're praying for you.

I thought I'd better give a report on my doctor visit today. They still don't know what's causing this problem with my legs and they don't know how to treat it. The doctor thinks as I get my blood sugar under control that it will gradually go away. I'm seeing another specialist for some testing on a possible cause and that will rule out all the known causes. He said most of the time they don't know what causes this. The doctor gave me a note to take the rest of the school year off so my legs can heal. The more I stay off them the better they get, but I can't afford to stay home without some kid of income. This way I can either get disability pay or get sick leave from the sick leave bank. I'll take the note in tomorrow and see what they say at the office.

Love always,
MOM

Happy Birthday, Summer

I even gave Summer her present -- a stuffed panda I bought at the zoo last week (when I saw the pandas). I did not get to witness the actual birth -- I'll let Trina and Adam fill you in on all the fun details. That was because Trina was in labor all day and all night, but finally, at around 9 this morning, Summer was born.

So this afternoon, I took the bus and the metro to the hospital. It took a while to get across town, but the metro station is only five or six blocks from the hospital. (By the way, they're in Holy Cross Hospital; it's in Silver Spring, Maryland.) Anyway, I got to hold her. She's such a cute little thing, with soft reddish cheeks and deep blue gray eyes. I spent a couple of hours there, and then Adam took me back to their apartment. He's going back again tonight, but I'll be there tomorrow.

Mindy's funny story

I told Tersadie that my sister had a baby girl. She asked me what her name is. "Summer Marie Caudle." Tersadie looked very confused. "Your last name is Caudle?" I explained that Trina is married, and when I get married I won't be Miss Palmer anymore, but I'll be Mrs. something-else. She got a worried/pouty look on her face. "But you'll stay here won't you?!" Of course I'll stay there. Besides, it won't happen for a long time. She seemed pleased with that answer, but still said, "When you get your new name, I'll still call you Miss Palmer."

And my other good news is that YES, I will have my job next year. I don't need to scramble all summer to get my AA degree, but I would still like to work on it in the fall. Turns out that only title one schools need to have the degree, which we aren't. At the same time, my job description and title will change, and I'll have a lot more responsibilty, and possibly my own math and reading classes. Should be fun!

Sick as a dog

First and foremost, congratulations to the new mother and father. Are there any baby things that you still need?

Bryan is very sick today. He has chest congestion, wheezing,fever,and coughing up phlem. Doctor thinks he is developing bronchitis. If that wasn't enough he also has the stomach flu. He just can't keep anything down. I'm concerned that he threw up his antibiotics. He is sleeping a lot. When he is awake he just sits and stares. That is very bothersome to me. I took him to the doctor yesterday. He received a breathing treatment, because his airways were restricted. That improved his breathing, but he still has some wheezing. He was also prescribed liquid albuterol for breathing. And he dosen't like any of these medicines. On a lighter note, this is really gross!

Brooke is feeling much better. Saturday we went to a birthday party. The hosts have 4 cats. Even though the cats were kept in the garage, Brooke still had a severe allergic reaction. She have uncontrollable sneezing, her eyes were extremely red, her face swelled up with a bright red rash, and it caused a bad asthma attack. We had to rush her home, which took 30 minutes, to get her inhaler. Before we got home, she was coughing and could barely breath. Sunday her eyes were still watery and her face was still puffy, and of course sneezing. Monday she just had sneezing and today she is doing fine. That was very scary.

I'm fine, obviously just home today. Jared is fine. Things are going well on the home front. I hope to find everyone doing well.

Love,
Michelle

PS-Does anybody know which hospital Trina is at.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUMMER!!!

It was exciting news when Mom called this morning and let us know that Summer is now here. I was still hoping that it was a boy, but I am so glad that Summer is here now because the days will be longer now and the sun will be out more. Good luck you new parents. It may have been easier to take care of her while she was still inside of you. That is what one of the sisters says in our ward. She is about to have her first baby too.

Anyways, congratulations all around to Trina and Adam and Summer.

Love,

Uncle Nathan

Funny

I told my class and then my math class that I was an aunt for the fourth time. One of the kids in my math class (Josh) asked if I was now called "Aunt Palmer." I thought it was quite funny.

--- and Mindy has a funny story to share also.

Saturday Adventures

Today has been quite the adventure.

This morning I got up around 8 a.m. and took my time showering and getting ready for the day. At about 10:30, Mindy and I took my TV to a place to get it fixed. The guy said he couldn't fix it under the warranty unless I called the TV makers and got them to fax him that I was under warranty. SO I called them and they said to go into Wal-Mart and try to get a receipt. So I went to Wal-mart and after a bunch of run around from them they finally decided to print me a receipt... and so I waited, and waited, and then a lady came and told me that it might be awhile because someone was printing some reports. So I went and did some shopping and then went back to the customer service desk... only to find out that my receipt had STILL not been printed. So they are supposed to mail it to me.

I got home at 12:30 just in time for my friend Angela to show up. (She was my roommate at Ricks my Sophomore year.) We went out to lunch and then walked around Provo for awhile. It was really nice to talk to her and just hang out.

After that I came home and Mindy and I went and bought our tap shoes and then went to Target to buy work out pants for our tap class. Class isn't for another week and a half, but we wanted to get them now... just in case they had to be special ordered or something. So now I'm back home again... wearing my tap shoes... and being excited about taking tap dance.

And that's my adventures.
-T

I was beginning to wonder...

I was really starting to wonder whether Trina was really pregnant or not. Now that I have seen the picture I guess I can believe it is true. Still could be a ruse to get Mom off her back about having grand-babies. But I really doubt that.

There is a family in our ward that I home teach, and they are about to have their first child. She was due the 30th of April though, and as far as I know, no baby yet. She reminds me of Trina because she is about the same age and the oldest sibling in her family. Her husband is also several years younger than her, but the difference is not as much as Trina and Adam. She was also an English major and either a politics major or minor. Amanda and I have been over to their home to play games a couple of times because they are just waiting for the baby like Trina and Adam. But they already have a home and Kelly, the husband, is already done with school, so they aren’t waiting on as much stuff as Trina and Adam.

I need to go read for finals some more. I lost a few days already from being sick, so I am running a little behind. I hope all of you are doing well and eating your greens.

Nathan

places and pictures

I would have to really think about all the places I've lived, particularly in the last 8 years since I moved out of Mom and Dad's house. In 6 years - from the time I moved to Monmouth to when I moved into this apartment with Adam - I moved 18 times. I think. 4 different places in Monmouth, a couple different places in Montana, back and forth to California, Salem ... and then 2 other places here in DC before I ended up here. It's been nice to have been in the same place for 2 whole years now. (I moved here at the end of April, while Adam was still in the dorm and then he stayed with a friend until the wedding.) And with a potential move in August, we'll be looking for a place to stick it out for the entire 3 years of law school.

As for pictures ... I also liked the pictures of Stevie. I was wondering when Eric was finally going to post something of him at Disneyland, since they seem to go there pretty frequently. I had no idea my stomach looked like it had a point to it. Weird. And yes, we will post pictures of Summer as quickly as is humanly possible - probably the day we get home from the hospital, since we won't be able to use the computer while we're there. I'm well aware that since I've spent the last 6 years harping about pictures of Brooke and Bryan (Eric is doing well with Stevie pictures, but we didn't have the website when Brooke and Bryan were babies), it's time for paybacks. Even if it takes us a little longer to figure out a webpage, we'll at least put something on the blog and/or email.

Adam had a very good comparison this morning about waiting for Summer to get here. He said it's like we're sitting in an airport waiting for her flight to arrive, but she has no cell phone to call and tell us when it's coming. So we're waiting and waiting, and have no clue what's going on, and getting bored out of our minds.

I'm doing a little better today with being patient. This weekend is stake conference, and yesterday was Temple Day. (ALL day, and the stake presidency even asked people to take the day off work to attend as many sessions as possible.) I finished some initiatories for names that Adam's mom sent us, and we did a session in the afternoon. The thought occurred to me that if Summer had been born this week, I'd either be in the hospital right now or at home recuperating - certainly not participating in stake conference. So maybe she's waiting because there's something we need to hear at stake conference tonight and tomorrow morning. The temple seems to have mellowed me out, but I'm still saying that unless I'm in the hospital Monday morning, I'm going to work. Being mellow does not make me any less bored, and I've become very bored.

UPDATES

I finally finished answering the question on the home I live in now. Then I decided to ask another one Where have you lived during your lifetime? I also answered that one. They are both posted on my question and answer page. Let me know what you think and be sure to answer the new question. As Clarissa put it everyone has lived in different places - except for her.

I loved the latest Stevie pictures. I also loved the picture of Trina. She does look cute. Will you post a picture of Summer right away when she comes? I'm sure everyone else would love that, too.

Pregnant Trina

Okay, so Trina's OB said on Tuesday that the baby should be here by Friday. Well .... it's Friday and Trina's nowhere close to being in labor. She's not happy. As both of us are bored out of our minds, we've decided to go to work on Monday unless baby is here. Mindy asked for pictures of pregnant Trina, so here it is. Aint she so cute!

day 4

Still nothing. A quick review of the week is ...

- Monday: tightness all across my entire abdomen, like it's one perpetual contraction. At about 2 am Monday night, it felt like contractions were starting on top of that, so I got up and walked around for a while. That's supposed to either stop the labor (if it's false) or it keeps going. It kept going.

- Tuesday: still tightness and cramping, and I was pretty uncomfortable. I've already given the doctor's verdict, so I won't go into all the numbers again.

- yesterday: Adam and I stayed home from work and took a couple of walks. I took a nap, and when I woke up, everything had stopped totally dead in its tracks. Not even the tightness was there. Needless to say, I was very frustrated last night.

- today: I woke up at 4 am with all the tightness back and stronger than before. When Adam and I got up, we immediately went for a walk around the neighborhood for almost an hour and I did have some contractions. Not very strong, but at least identifiable. The tightness is making it a little hard to walk, and even hard to breathe. What the hey. So I called the doctor and they had me go in to the office, and hooked me up to a monitor for an hour. I had more contractions (and the baby is a "text book baby" - she's totally fine), but nothing has changed beyond that. *sigh* So it continues.

What drives me nuts the most is this state of waiting. Everything in life right now is suspended for one reason or another ... waiting for the baby to be born, the wait lists for law school so we don't know where we'll end up living this fall, can't get this or that because we're waiting to see where we're moving, those things will affect what happens with my job at NCSL, blah blah blah ... At least if the baby were born, I could get on with something.

Input needed

It's time to start thinking a little more about costumes for our movie this summer. Thanks to Jared we have the symbol for Dad's shirt. I've changed one of the colors and taken off the word "pure" but the CHAOS will be perfect on a black t-shirt. What does everyone else want me to put together. Will Nathan also wear a Chaos shirt? Will he need a cape? I talked to Eric about my ideas for the Egbert costume but how much of that stuff do I need to gather? I have an idea for the babies costumes - "Super Cute" printed on a onesie - pink and blue respectively, of course. Please tell me once again what Brooke and Bryan what for there costumes - colors, etc. Do they want capes? Does Bryan want a T or a picture of a torpedo? I know you told me earlier and I can probably find it but I also know that kids change their minds quite often. Also I need to know sizes. What do I need to get for anyone else? I know I have 2 months before the movie but that will pass very quickly. I also need to do lots of other things around here and I need to make Summer's blessing dress, so I'll be plenty busy.
Thanks,
MOM

summer plans

So today I found out that I might not have a job next year. That is, unless I get my Associates Degree. I've spent the last couple hours on the computer looking around at what it would take to get that done before this fall. From the looks of it, my best bet would be doing Chemeketa classes online over the summer. I'll start making some phone calls and filling out paperwork in the next week, and then classes will officially start towards the end of June. Since I won't have any other work, I'll probably take an overload of classes and spend the whole summer studying, so I can actually have my TA job next year. I really really do want to keep it, and I might as well get my degree anyway - I was planning on it, I'm just being rushed into it a little. Ah well. At least now I have something to do all summer, right?

not at work today ...

(notice my other post title from Monday for the contrast ...)

Yesterday's doctor check verdict: I've progressed faster than he anticipated. Last week, he said the baby wouldn't come until the middle to end of NEXT week. Now he's saying any time between tomorrow and this weekend. The numbers as of 3 pm yesterday: 80% effaced, 2 cm dilated, and -2 on descent. (Descent = 0 is head is fully engaged at the bottom of my pelvic bone, +4 is crowning, so I'm almost at fully engaged.)

The doctor said that I'm having "false" labor, but I don't know how "false" it is when I've been having pretty steady tension in my entire abdomen for over 24 hours now with a good mix of small contractions. That doesn't sound so fake to me, and it's not stopping like false labor is supposed to. It eases off some, but never goes away. Soooooo ... Adam and I are staying home today to take those loooooong walks around the neighborhood and see if we can't get this kicked all the way into gear for a May 4 birthday party.

Oh, and as an FYI: when we leave for the hospital, we'll call just Mom to let her know. After the baby is born, Adam and Emily will call all of you to let you know. Since I can't predict how recovery is going to go, I can't promise to talk to everyone right away. But I will talk to everyone on the phone over the next few days after that. I'd rather have non-rushed conversations with each of you instead of a 30-second deal because of trying to call EVERYONE (both families and all the friends who want to know immediately) right away, so please be patient with that. Yes, you have priority over everyone else. Muchas gracias and love you all.

New Pictures

Hi everybody. New Stevie pictures are up.

Where Eric Was

Sorry I didn't get your call Tawnia. Sunday night was interesting. We went to Rachel's for a few hours after church and a nap, and then we came home early so Laurel could meet with Sister Davis to plan a YW activity, and so I could change and go to Stake Priesthood Meeting. When we got to the house, Laurel took my keys to her car (which also have my back door key) and drove away. I took the keys to my car (which also have my front door key) and tried to open the front door, but the screen door was locked, so I couldn't get in. So, I drove over the Davis's and told Laurel what happened. By then it was almost time for the meeting to start, so I went in my flip flops, shorts, and a t-shirt. I felt a bit out of place, and nobody asked why I was dressed like that, so I didn't have a chance to tell my story. It was a very good meeting though and I'm glad I went.

To address your concern though Tawnia, it sounds good to me. I was a bit worried about taking many days off work, and was a bit concerned about Laurel and Stevie as well. I'm sure you wouldn't mind Laurel and Stevie tagging along with your friends, or meeting up with Laurel and I after work on those days, but at any rate we have a lot more options this way. I'll take work off on Monday for sure though.

Last night we went to Disneyland for FHE. It was a lot of fun. Stevie liked Winnie the Pooh and Small World. As usual, he was acosted by a pack of pretty girls who wanted to ooh and ahh and take his picture. He smiled and laughed up a storm at them. He's quite the ladies man.

Today he's being watched by Stephanie Spackman (ref. Stevie-D) while Laurel goes to the doctor.

That's all for now.

Except that we're very excitedly awaiting the birth of Summer.

My Weekend

On Saturday I woke up at 6:30 and stared at my alarm clock wondering why I hadn't woken up for my alarm. Then I remembered it was Saturday so I went back to bed. After a few more hours of sleep I got up and got myself ready for the day. Then I went and got myself a vegetarian pizza (with chicken added... so it wasn't actually vegetarian) and filled my car up with gas (man that stuff is getting spendy!) I came home and then headed over to my friend Abby's place. She got set apart to be a service missionary in Nauvoo for the summer and then I took her to the airport. My first mission companion... it lasted for an hour! I got back from SLC around 4 p.m. and then went and picked up Mindy from the park where she was playing games with some other people from our ward. Then Mindy and I went to Sam's Club where I became a member! Woohoo! Food in BULK! It will be more convenient when we have our own place... because at the moment we don't really have any place to store extra large amounts of food. The really nice part about Sam's Club is that we can get gas there... and it's much cheaper. Oh, and while there I also signed up for my first credit card ever. (I was preapproved and there are no fees... and I can get 1% back on everything I buy at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart.) After that Mindy and I headed to Seagull Book (Deseret Book's competition.) I got several books and enjoyed myself. Then we came home and ate some dinner. After dinner we headed next door to join a birthday party for our neighbor. We watched a movie and enjoyed just hanging out.

Sunday was rather relaxed. We didn't have any choir so I didn't have any meetings or anything. So instead I called Trina. Then Mindy and I actually headed to church early so that I could practice the piano, since I had to play for sacrament meeting. Church was good... then we had dinner and ward prayer and I made a few more phone calls in the afternoon. Speaking of phone calls... Eric - I tried calling you, but you didn't answer. I have people to go to D-land with on the 13th and 14th... so I want to go with you and Laurel on the 12th! Okay??

This week is state testing... except for tomorrow which is the fourth grade track meet. So tomorrow I get to spend the entire day at Springville High School in the hot sun... with 19 students! It should be great fun!

And that's what's up with me.
-T

Pandas, cheetahs, and dragons

So, today, due to hordes of people downtown, I decided to go to the National Zoo. As you can tell from the title, I saw the giant pandas. Three of them. And they were awake and outside. (The kangaroo, on the other hand, was asleep under a tree.) The pandas were very cute. I wish I had a camera. And I saw the cheetahs, and the reptile house with a komodo dragon, alligators, and crocodiles, and I really liked the small mammal house. I pretty much saw just about everything there, at least the animals that were awake. It took me about four hours. It was pretty fun.

at work today ...

Yesterday's string of phone calls was a little interesting - the phone did not stop ringing from people calling to check on the baby status.

After feeling a rather strong sense of urgency on Friday to "get this done NOW," I'm at work today. Huh. But I was able to wrap things up for Susan on Friday, and now I can spend today focusing on Jeremy's list of little things. I'm in one-day-at-a-time mode. If Summer isn't born by the weekend, I guess I'll consider on Sunday whether or not to continue coming to work next week. The last week or so has been spent doing various prep things, like getting the laundry caught up and a lot of the clutter under control. Now I'm scouting the floors - I think those will be next, and the bathroom.

Doctor's report last week was that Summer has dropped (it wasn't noticeable to me at the time of the appointment, but it definitely is now), I was 70% effaced and 1-2 cm dilated. Next check is tomorrow, and I expect to be further advanced on both counts. Here's the catch - NO contractions. None. Not even the "warm-up" Braxton-Hicks variety. The doctor's estimate last week was 10-14 days, meaning middle of next week. (Late.) That's all well and good, except for this gut feeling I have of hurry up and get things taken care of at work NOW. Intuition?

Now that Emily is here and I've gotten things under control at work, we're starting the "helps" of getting labor moving - like taking a walk, eating spicy food, ankle massages, and the like.