Leaving on a Jet Plane

John Denver has a way with words. So Little Kate and I are leaving in a few hours. We'll stop and visit family for a few days before we meet up with my mom and head out to the unknown land of New Hampshire and Vermont to do some house hunting. After looking at maps, house listings, jobs, and even the Craig's List out there for over a year, it's a little bizarre to realize I'm just a few days away from doing the real deal. We have prayed, studied, saved as much cashola as possible, called people, e-mailed, and done every other thing I think possible to prepare us for this. We want to buy a house. We're hoping to have at least one other munchkin while we're there, maybe another dog, and have room for people to visit. I had no idea how much goes into buying a house. Is the water public, or a well? Is it oil heat, wood stove, propane, or pellet stove? Why are the property taxes $1,000 more than the one down the street? Do we want to live in the woods with a lot of trails and fun things to do in the summer or more in town so we can be closer to people? Condo or house? Are we OK with no garage when everything will be iced over for 5-6 months of the year and Jeremy has to be a the hospital at 6:00am? So many questions, that I'm really excited about figuring out. I'm so glad my mom is coming with me. Feeding someone who's off of breast milk, but not quite ready for mac and cheese is a little daunting for a 10 day trip with 4 flights involved. We'll have to see how miss mobility handles sitting on a plane for a few hours. I hope well. I also hope I pick a house Jeremy will love since he won't see it till we're there for keeps. We are really thrilled about going to Dartmouth. Nervous, excited, and sometimes we think we're crazy. We will see what happens. But I don't think I'll be writing anything on the blog for about two weeks, and by then we should have something settled! Oh, the anticipation!

Liberty Lake Loop and More Pics

This was the day after we got back. I think Pele missed us, she followed me all the way to the shower.
The girl can stand if someone helps her up.

We went for a hike, I started carrying her, but she's so tall now she sort of walks on my legs, so I handed her off to Dad.

She kept looking for her dad when he'd talk to her.

This is Kate head-butting the screen because she wants out. I don't know where she gets it from.

Seattle

Jeremy had a couple of surprise days off in a row this last week and after a brief discussion of could we afford to do anything, we decided chances are we might not be this close to Seattle again and we better take advantage of it. It was a quick trip, we left after he got off call Wednesday morning (the 15th) and drove back the next afternoon. I love taking family road trips, and thanks to a friend willing to watch Pele so we didn't have a puky dog in the car (what is it with our family and puke?), we had a great time. Kate was an angel in the car (she's also not old enough to demand bathroom stops 2 minutes past an exit yet).
Kate LOVED her daddy carrying her around the city. We got cheap tickets for a Mariners game and killed about an hour before the game just walking around down town.

I believe this is actually a picture of Ken Griffy Jr. hitting his 400th home run as a Mariner. Jeremy was WAY excited. However, in honor of Jackie Robinson, all the players on both teams were wearing the number 42, so I had a hard time remembering who was who.

This is us in our cheap bleacher seats. Some of the fans were almost as entertaining as the ball game.

Papa fed her and she zonked out on us. However, she woke back up at the hotel and Jeremy and I were sleepless in Seattle.

We liked this since my parents live in Cedar City.

This was the most fun part of the space needle for me (it's free to put on furry gloves!)

Years ago roommates and I planned a trip here so we could see the Olympic National Forest. Well, that trip never happened and because it would be another 3 or more hour drive from Seattle Jeremy and I voted not to go, but here's a picture of what I'm pretty sure are the mountains of that park from Pike's Market in Seattle.

Ironic...

Oddly enough, after my ranting and raving about formula, we happened to start on a sample of soy formula. Our little puker is still puking, but it is quite a bit less. We're not 100% positive it's due to the formula, so we figure after she's been on the soy for a while we'll try the dairy/milk stuff again and see if she starts puking big time again. If she does, then I guess we have our answer and mom can eat her humble pie about not giving kids milk (or milk related things) pre-one year old. Like this really matters to anyone who doesn't have a kid under 1 year anyway.

Has Anyone Else Noticed This???

Kate's had two teeth come in over the last month. The teething part wasn't too bad, she just needed some Tylenol and a longer nap, but it was enough for me to say we're done breast feeding. However, that means she needs some other form of fluid. We were given several canisters of formula around the time she was born, so we started using it, but as I've been looking around I noticed it's pretty expensive stuff. Now that she's eating solids it made me wonder what the big deal is about cows milk. For those of you who don't know, babies aren't supposed to have cows milk until they're a year old, and it has to be whole milk, according to all your medical standards. Well, formula hasn't been around as long as humans have and I know I saw people giving babies milk in Argentina, so I did some informal research. The reason they're not supposed to have the milk is: first of all the milk proteins and hormones are supposedly too complex for their little bodies to handle and digest well, which may lead to milk sensitivity issues or upset stomachs; second, the lactose in milk is not the best sugar source for them and may also cause sensitivity issues; third, they need more iron in their diet than what cows milk offers. Those were the big points I found. OK, fine, but then I decided to check the ingredients of 3 different brands of formula. The top two ingredients of all three were 1-non-fat milk, and 2-lactose. Uh......huh? So forgive me for going all natural on people and I'm not saying formula companies are evil because a LOT of babies need formula and I've never seen a college entrance exam ask if you were formula or breast-milk fed, I'm just wondering if it's worth paying the extra $10-$20 a week for something that's made from the same milk they say don't feed the kids. She gets enough iron from the rice and oatmeal cereal she eats everyday, at least according to what the box says. This formula/breast milk/cows milk issue is huge for some parents, medical personnel, and mommy magazines, and I don't really care what people choose or think any answer is particularly wrong or right. I don't think any teachers of Kindergarden look at their smartest or most challenged kids and say, "Oh, their parents definately fed them _________." I'm just thinking little Kate might be off the formula as soon as our samples run out. Just some food for thought.

Additional Thoughts

I've been meaning to talk about a few things for a while and I hope I get them straight. First thing is that several weeks ago our stake president came to our fast and testimony meeting and bore his testimony at the end. It was simple and I was out in the hall with puky Kate the whole time, but what he said really stuck with me. It was snowing again, even though it was the last Sunday of March, and he talked about how when it's winter time, or snowing again, you feel like it always has been winter and will never end. You can hardly remember warm weather, the sun, what it's like in the summer. But when it's summer, you completely forget winter and feel like the nice weather will never end. He talked about how it's the same in our lives, that when we're in our trials we can hardly remember what life was like when it was smoother, and when life is good, we can hardly remember being in the middle of our trials. Then he said that the God of summer is the God of winter, and all things, if we are faithful, will be for our good. Sometimes I wonder how to remember that idea in my heart when I feel discouraged or weary.
General Conference was wonderful. I felt like, especially President Eyring's talk, Elder Holland's, and a few others that I'm mixing up now, really pounded the point that this life is not easy. It's not meant to be easy, and going through trials that seem unfair, undeserved, and impossible are part of this journey. We are here to be tried and how can we grow if we're never faced with adversity? Adversity is not a reason to lose faith, even though we may feel forgotten by the Lord in the middle of our trials. I think going on with hope and not despair is a way of exercising faith. I guess it's like my physical therapy I do for my knees. If I do the little exercises I'm supposed to each day, my knees are strong enough to handle the normal physical stresses they're under. But if I get lazy with my PT, they begin to hurt and ache with the slightest stress. It's the same with the spiritual and faith muscles. If I do those small daily exercises of prayer, scriptures, and being of good cheer, I'm strengthened enough through the Lord to handle the difficult days. Hard days still come so I can grow, but I don't have to break under them.

Keeping Busy

You're looking at the beginning of making Kate's meals. So since we're broke we're going for home-made baby food. It's actually a lot of fun as long as I stay on top of it. This is a butternut squash. I found recipe book that gives me all sorts of crazy ideas. I had no idea what a rutabaga actually is, but she likes it. I boil or bake this stuff, then stick it in the blender, then freeze it. My favorite so far is an apple, strawberry, peach mix. Fortunately, she's not picky and eats anything anyway.

Here's the two of us starting off our hike during nicer weather. It's hit or miss right now. Yesterday it rained. Today it was sunny and nice in the morning, then it snowed around 1, then was sunny again right before the sun went down. So we take what we get and enjoy the nice days.

Easter Pics

Our little Katie Bug suddenly learned how to grab 2 things at the same time and she was just amazed at this! She sat forever just playing with these eggs at an Easter egg hunt.
It was still pretty cool, so we're in our jackets, and we're thinking next year she'll be walking (and stumbling) around trying to find Easter eggs with the best of them. Which, by the way, I learned that eggs, bunnies, and the term Easter, are actually refering to a pagan goddess of fertility that was celebrated around springtime and they merged that with Christianity during the time of Passover and that's how we have Easter.

Here's Papa with his girl.

Although it doesn't show, this beautiful dress was puked on the SECOND I put it on her. We had banana, oatmeal, and formula coming up all three hours of church. It was AWESOME.

Here's Kate enjoying her pagan goodies. She thinks plastic eggs are the coolest. She chases them all over since they keep rolling away from her. The weird thing is, Pele has never touched any of Kate's toys, our shoes, even the food storage we have stacked on our floor, but she's suddenly decided she loves plastic easter eggs. She's chewed on two of them and we stopped her from eating more, but they're not even the one's that had candy in them. They're just empty plastic eggs. Go figure.

Will the Puke Never End?

When I was pregnant and puking my guts out everyone told me it would be better after the first trimester. Well, I was still puking in the hospital right before I delivered her. She is a major puker (I've had plenty of people ask if she has some form of a medical condition and if she needs meds - isn't there a pill for everything now?). Many a person said it would get better after solid foods or six months. We're at 8 months now people, downing chicken, peas, carrots, rice cereal, strawberries, avocados, and the like and the only difference now is that she pukes in bigger chunks in color. Sorry to be graphic for the faint of heart, but I really hope this ends soon. It's pointless to ever change her clothes because each time I do, the second I get her outfit on she pukes all over it. This picture is not a good example of how bad she pukes, but I can't say my first thought is to take a picture of the fountain of green or orange that flows out of her mouth. The upside is Pele and Kate have bonded over these puky experiences. And I will never criticize someones "dirty child" because right now, that child, despite all my best efforts, is surely mine.

Attack of the Sissy Salad

I've been a little bored with our regular salads lately, so I've been playing with what I call "sissy salads." They're the salads with fruit, dried fruit, cheese, and nuts. I only call them sissy salads because these are what they always serve with female gatherings and you don't have the real heavy vegetables. But I must admit, it's pretty tasty.