Family Pictures

We had a friend from church take pictures for us. It was unbelievable how difficult it was to get all three of them to look at the camera without scowling. The trick we finally learned was to ask the girls what a dolphin said. Their imitations were enough to get the eye contact and a smile. These pictures were taken with our own camera at the time, but I'll be sending out the real deal hopefully for Christmas.

If you can't guess who's who, it's Cora in the red and Sydney in the white.

Quick Visit from Mom and Dad

This is a very late post. My parents were out for a few days in the middle of October. It was quick, but we had a good time. These are pictures of a hike we took to Quechee Gorge. These little girls gave all three of us a run for our money as they couldn't help but run and look out over the gorge every chance they got. It was a little wet, and I was so glad my parents were there to spend the time with us.

What Did You Do This Weekend?

I must admit, I've lost some of my interest in blogging, partially because I have too much to say and not the time to get to it, and partially because so many days become such a blur. I feel so insanely busy each day, but can't even remember what I did as soon as the girls go down for bed. But I can share some "highlights" from the last few days.

Halloween parties abound here, it seems. We go to a community group for toddlers called the Romp and Stomp and they had a Halloween dress up this week. Syd was not the least bit interested in getting in a costume, but Katie loved being a witch and Cora was a lady bug (I'll get pictures in some day). We had another party at the hospital that evening with other residents and their families. I was able to talk Sydney into wearing the lady bug outfit and Cora was the purple and green monster, Katie, of course, was a witch. In the whole hour we were there we had two MAJOR meltdowns from Katie, the last one of which silenced everyone in the room to turn and see who was dying. She was upset because all the suckers were gone. That's rough stuff when you're three.

Katie is one beautiful, intelligent, trying child. She is so fun and full of life, but she explodes at the drop of the hat, to a point of being very beyond reason or control. I used to think when I saw kids act like that that their parents let them have their way all the time or didn't give their child enough attention. I think part of the reason God lets us have kids is to realize how wrong we are in the judgements we didn't even realize we were making. It softens and humbles you to realize how little control you have over so many things. Katie is just as strong willed as I am, and as counter-intuitive as it seems, the only thing that seems reliable when she's out of control is to hold, love, and rock her. Then she calms down and we can talk. I'm learning how true it is that each child is different and all of the preconceived notions I had about being a parent only have some merit to them. There's a lot that can only be learned on the way, and realized by no one other than Jeremy and myself (though we are grateful for the help and support we get from so many around us).

It snowed that night, about an inch or less, and was pretty cold, but beautiful the next morning. I decided to take all my girls for a walk. The current get up is the twins go in the double stroller, and Katie is strapped to my back with an ergo (anyone out there with little kids, it's awesome!), and Pele walks to the right of the stroller. Well, that sounds maybe easy enough, but with it so cold out, getting warm things on everyone and then getting us all outside takes a total of 45 minutes, which tend to be filled with little girls and sometimes a mama crying and screaming because nothing can get done fast enough for anyone. But we made it.

I must have been feeling really adventurous that day because I decided to put the twins in their pack-&-plays in my and Jeremy's room for their nap so Katie could have her quiet time in her room. The twins have been able to climb out of their pack-&-plays for a couple of months now, but I'd taken care of every potential mess in our room and hoped for the best. I ended up taking Katie with me outside to trim some bushes. When I came in to check on them, I could smell something sweet. The twins were out wandering around upstairs (not such a good thing), so I checked our room and it was fine, checked Katie's and the girls' room and it was fine, then I walked into the bathroom. They had dumped a nearly full box of tampons into our little toilet and them poured their strawberry shampoo on top. It was almost hilarious except our toilet no longer flushed. You'd think they'd be happy to not worry about girlie products for a few more years.

That was Friday. So our Saturday was spent first trimming our bushes, then Jeremy took apart the toilet with the help of his brother over the phone (who is a plumber, thank goodness), and then Jeremy and I got us all ready for our church's Halloween trunk or treat. I actually painted my fingernails for it which I don't think I'd done since my Junior year in high school. We did have a good time with that and it amazes me how easy it is for our girls to wander away, even in a room filled with people dressed in all kinds of costumes.

As good as Saturday was, Sydney did not sleep at all last night. She was up about every half hour after 2am, and Katie woke up with a nightmare as well. Props to Cora for sleeping through all of this. We were tired, but we made it to church OK and the girls weren't too bad. We went to a friend's house for dinner after and thought the day had gone well. Then Sydney became REALLY upset once we got home. We thought she was just tired and cranky, but after we'd laid her down and were hoping to just let her cry it out, I hear this fountain sound coming out of their room. The poor girl was puking all over herself and could not stop. I came in and picked her up just in time to help her puke all over the wall. Crib, animals, blankets, floor, wall, jammies, hair, it was awesome. We're hoping it's all out of her and that this isn't a sign of how our trip will go this coming weekend (we're heading out west again, folks).

That was our weekend. We also got 4-6" of snow last night. I really love winter, but I do feel a bit differently about it when it entails dressing three little people simultaneously. I have great hopes that this is all part of Heavenly Father's plan to teach me things I would not otherwise understand. He knows a lot more than I do, and I think sometimes it takes things being out of control to remind me who's in control.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures in before we head out on our journey.

Fall

There is something so magical to me about fall. Really, about the start of each season, but especially fall. The air has this crisp feel to it and echos of so many memories play in my head when I look at the sky, the colored trees, the pumpkins, and smell the air. Memories of going back to school, of campfires, of different sports games, hiking, memories of working at Disney's Animal Kingdom and some of my co-workers and I going to the "autumn celebration" in Celebration there, memories of the MTC, of dances, starry nights, rivers in Idaho, and the list goes on as I'm sure it does for everyone. I start to get excited about certain foods I have no idea how to make and no money to consistently buy - cinnamon rolls, freshly made apple cider, all kinds of chocolate candies, and ginger bread. It's like a pre-Christmas appetizer season.

It's nice to look away from the news, from the bills, from questions and worries and doubts that I think everyone works through at one point in time or another and just feel the change of the season. It comes every year. There's always a fall, winter, spring, and summer. The seasons seem a little more unpredictable with time, but the changes are welcome, all the same. I took Pele out for a walk this morning after the girls woke me up a little after 5am (they went back to bed). We were able to see some of the winter stars and constellations - Orion, Sirius, Gemini - and my breath catches at seeing them. There is something so magnificent in watching the Heavens. The stars in the sky seem to calm and inspire me. There is so much more beyond this earth, and it is good. There is a God watching over all who knows us, and orchestrates our lives as well as the planets and stars in the heavens.

I hope my girls will appreciate all of the beauties of this earth. I hope they will love experiencing it for themselves and letting the beauties of the world open their eyes and calm their hearts. Again, those thoughts of fall - apples, leaves, crayons, trees, the wind, fires, pencils, trails in the mountains and on the river, fresh baked bread, home made blankets, hay rides, corn mazes. I'm writing to say there is much good in the world. It may be so hard at times, but there are just as many good, strong memories, happy moments, and momentary glimpses of what heaven may be. I'm happy to be alive and have the trials and triumphs I do.

How Long Can One Hold Their Breath?

We have some exciting news! (Whoever may be jumping to the conclusion that we're pregnant, hold off, I don't have a death wish yet.) Yesterday Jeremy was offered a fellowship position here in regional anesthesia for the 2012-2013 year. For anyone not in doctor-land I will explain. After your 4 years of med school you apply for and hopefully get into a residency program. It's 3-12 years of on the job training, depending on what you're going into. If you want to specialize in your select field a fellowship is an additional however many years of more specific training. So you're still not quite finished with school, but it gives you more options down the road. Jeremy will be finished with his anesthesia residency in June of next summer. The regional fellowship has to do with specific nerve blocks - knees, shoulders, etc. After that we are still looking at a possible peds fellowship or maybe a real job, we'll just see what happens.

We are breathing a huge sigh of relief though, it took a lot longer than usual for the decision to be made and we were beginning to wonder if we'd be putting our house on the market this spring. I'm glad to know we are not and we'll be enjoying New England for another year. Jeremy has worked very hard for this and I'm proud of him.

Sweet Fruit of the Earth

After a week of feeling like I was losing my mind, we were blessed with Jeremy's parents coming to stay with us for a few days. I suddenly realized this house is easy and fun to run when there's four adults in the house. Besides trying to keep all of us sickies from going under (his parents weren't feeling well either), we went off to pick more apples and berries, then today we rode a train and merry-go-round with the girls. The above picture is at one of our favorite places to pick. That dog's not Pele, his name is Max, and he's seriously the size of a horse. His shoulders fall just below my hips. I'm a sucker for animals, but especially winter dogs.
Here's Katie enjoying the produce.

Sydney's the one in stripes. They love that they get to run all over and eat whatever they get a hold of.

There's Grandma and Grandpa getting a taste of things.

Cora steals my heart in this picture.

That is the infamous Connecticut River behind them. That was one of the rivers that just below us flooded out a lot of areas. We had two shopping areas that were under up to 5 feet of mud in some places. I was blown away at the destruction that happened. I'm sure grateful we were OK through Irene and I've been amazed as I watch so many people in all of the communities here really work to help each other out.

I don't know if you can tell, but there are berries smeared on Cora's face.

And Sydney can now scowl with the best of them.

This girl loves her merry-go-round rides.

This is the very end of the train they got to ride.

And my favorite picture of Sydney.

So just to cover some of the exciting events this last week. Our fridge has been dying since July. It went out completely Wednesday morning. I couldn't be grateful enough for Vicki and Jeff who were there to help with the kids and finding a new fridge while I was also getting what we could save to the neighbor's freezer. Jeremy was able to get a Dr's apt and found out he had some pneumonia in his lower left lung. Then we also had 45 lbs of apples. Between Jeff, Vicki, Jeremy and I we did our first canning adventure and canned 14 quarts of apple sauce. It's pink because of the apples we used and it is yummy. Vicki helped me get a MEGA jump start on the quilts I was working on for the girls, and between the four of us we were able to still feed the kids and walk the dog amidst all of this.

We've felt very blessed to have the family we do, especially when they help us really just enjoy our children. There is still so much that I want to talk about, but it's time to go to bed.

A Long Update

Urrr, so this is a month late. The above picture was Katie's birthday "cake," well, cupcakes. Yeah, her birthday was the beginning of August. She is now three years old.
We invited the neighbors over to help eat all of those. Too bad our freezer won't really freeze the ice cream any more and it was more like cold soup. Oh, well. The kids still ate it. I tell you what, I've got to set the expectations low so we're not stressing over big birthdays for all three.

This is our first attempt at a family camp-out. Smores were a favorite for Kate and Cora, though I have to tell you that was a very long night with all of us in one tent with no way to keep the girls from crawling all over us and each other. I think we slept in 20 minute intervals. But I am determined to try camping again with our family. Maybe not until next summer though.

Besides a family camp-out, I was also determined to take the girls to the beach. I could only pull that off with some help, so this is a friend from church who offered to come play at the beach with us. We took turns riding the waves. The girls at first were terrified, but as they realized it was fun to splash and dig in the sand, we ended up having a great time.

A friend told me there are places to pick peaches up here, and since I have such rotten luck finding decent peaches in the store, we went peach picking. I think one of my favorite parts was watching the girls eat the fruit. We've done some blueberry, raspberry, apple, strawberry, and peach picking this year. I've become a huge fan of pick-your-own. We've made some jam out of the berries and peaches. I'm starting to feel like a real New Englander.

We also went for a quick family "hike" around the house this last week when I was trying to figure out what to do with them for a half hour. This is off the side of our house.

I'm pretty sure that's Sydney.

Then this should be Cora.

All three of them can't get enough of their books, which has preserved their lives some days when they realize mom needs 3 minutes to herself for something and they go and look through all of their books. Cora and Sydney can now climb out of their cribs and pack and plays, which makes for some interesting messes. All three of them love to smile at me and walk away when I ask them something as if to say, "ya gonna make me, Mom?" And as we have been battling on and off with teething, runny noses, and who knows what else, these last few weeks have been weeks of many tears from every girl in this house. I think even the dog feels bad when she doesn't get walked as often.

I would love to say how much patience I'm gaining, and how adorable every minute is with these girls. But I don't know if I can. They are adorable and they do and say some wonderful things, but my patience has also been so put to the test when all three of them cry about anything. I'm getting the tiniest insight into what God really means when he says unconditional love. When you think about it, we're just as whiny as his children. We want things how we want them and fight any change that's not easy or what we want. Yet He still loves us and is so patient. So much more so than I. And that's why God is God. He can somehow handle and love all of us. Perfectly. I'm hoping to make it through these three and not damage them too much in the process.

On a side note, I auditioned for a group called the Handel Society. It's a community choir that's connected with Dartmouth. There are 75 members and it's the longest running community choir in the nation. I made it in as a first soprano. We had our first rehearsal last week. It's an awesome choir to sing with, but just a little intimidating. They take this stuff VERY seriously. It makes the music and the people there fun, but after not really singing in a group for many years now, I have to work pretty hard on the music. We're singing the entire Messiah at the end of November. I've missed singing in a choir. I'm excited to see how it goes.

I hope that's enough update for now. I really hope we can get everyone over their sicknesses (seriously, it's only the end of summer! Does this mean no winter bugs?). Jeremy's actually had it the worst. My poor Honey. For anyone who doesn't know this, residents literally have to be on their death bed to have a sick day from work. Is it now ironic that physicians, the guys we go to when we're sick, aren't really allowed to rest? Somehow, we will get through this. At least no one is vomiting.