The Noble House of Black

Zoo, in the winter?

2011-02-16T21:20:00.002-07:00

Gay, I must say. It was a nice day so we drove the 40 minutes to get there. They are building a new area to the zoo, so currently it is half of what it was. It will be great when it is done but until then, boring. I think I am sick of the place.

We tried out best to get a good picture of the two of them but Britta isn't one to cooperate.

We did get a smile out of her on the ride there. Kierra was doing something weird to make her laugh.

This wasn't the face when we left. She threw a massive fit making herself hysterical. I understand she just wanted to explore but I am afraid she is going to get herself hurt fighting us. Life is a battle for her now and so the terrible two's begin.

This is for me

2011-02-16T20:27:00.004-07:00

If you are easily offended by immodesty, then don't look at this post. I am posting photos of myself in a bikini for me. Why? I feel like it will hold me accountable. People seeing and knowing that I am trying to better my body will keep me motivated to have an a good answer when questioned.

So here is what I am doing. I am not altering what I eat too much besides limiting my soda to maybe one can a week. I already don't eat a ton so I think I am just trying to keep my calories at 1500 a day. Richard and I have started a Jillian Michaels dvd and are incorporating cardio. I would like to increase my endurance and tone the flab.

I know this is silly but I feel like now that I am 30 (ick, I hate that number) I need to change. Not just my body but mentally as well. I am hoping that puting myself out there like this and working toward a goal will help me.

When mom's away...

2011-02-10T20:39:00.004-07:00

the kids will play. Serious weirdos!

That's yogurt in her hair. She was crying because I yelled at her then I decided to get the camera. Bad mom moment.

Yes, those are elbow and knee pads. Richard decided to make them look like wrestlers.

You can dance if you want to

2011-02-07T21:08:00.003-07:00

Kierra's first dance recital. She was beyond excited. It was such a proud moment for us. We were so suprised that she really did her best and did the dance.

Kierra is now 4!

2011-01-30T20:42:00.006-07:00

Well, she has been 4 for over a month. We will blame this on the slow internet connection.

She had her first friends party and we went sledding. Everyone had so much fun, especially me.

Not so much Britta though.

They all piled themselves on the tube.

Kierra's family party, Britta made her way to the cake and helped her self.

The fabulous cake made and decorated by none other than Richard himself!

Christmas has come and gone

2011-01-30T20:31:00.003-07:00

Blogger hasn't been very reliable so this is all I can post for Christmas. It was a plentiful christmas and we went overboard on the kids. We learned our lesson. Lots of evil food and lots of stress on top of it. It was good to be with family and realize how blessed we are.

Kierra and her friend Tallinn

Christmas dresses

Britta eating the gingerbread house out of the garbage.

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

2010-11-22T13:46:00.002-07:00

Third times a charm right? Yes, this is the third time I have tried to get this post to work. Maybe I need to find another blog site.

So here is halloween. As you can see, Britta isn't too thrilled about it but when we got to the halloween party, she couldn't stop dancing. They all danced. We caught Kierra and Logan dancing very serious together. They knew exactly what they were doing. And of course we didn't have a camera to catch them in the act.

Disneyland

2010-11-09T14:59:00.011-07:00

We made it to disneyland. Long drive to and from but it was all worth it. Everyone had such a good time. I think after a few days home we all wanted to go back. There aren't too many details so I will just explain the pictures.

Scariest thing ever. Kids loved it. Don't do the swinging one.

Not sure how much fun she had stuck in the stroller.

The kids loved the Nemo ride.

I think Richard liked this more than Kierra did.

Gay ride I must say. Didn't go fast enough for Kierra. Poor thing wanted to go on all the big rides but just wasn't tall enough. Her favorite was the madderhorn.

This was the last shot. We didn't stay any night for the fireworks.

It's funny but Kierra at this point had never seen toy story.

She wore those mouse ears all day, every day.

Dream come true after an hours wait.

Kierra loved the tea cups. Britta didn't. She didn't like most rides that we could take her on. She loved Nemo and Buzz Lightyear. Who doesn't love the buzz ride?

I knew you could go inside the castle.

That famous book.

She loved the Autotopia ride. They did it twice I think.

What to report

2010-10-03T19:57:00.012-06:00

I can't believe that it has been two months since the last post. Pretty pathetic I know. I need to do better.

Time has gone by pretty fast making me realize that I need to slow down and enjoy the little things. Watching Britta has been so much fun. She finally started to walk and she just looks like a little midget running around. She likes to spin and fall down. Loves to be chased. It's hilarious.

Britta loves to wear Richard's shooting ear muffs

Oh so pretty in green.

Kierra had a short swim class for a month. She did what you would expect her to do. I just wanted her to get used to the water, not to be afraid to get her face wet. For me it was great just to sit and watch instead of participate. She also started a ballet class. She has been obsessed with ballerinas and would go around the house and actually doing proper positions. So I signed her up and she couldn't be happier.

At the end of August we went camping to Bear Lake with our friends. Of course the day before we are supposed to go, the kids start puking. Seriously? I was so anxious about going anyway and then everyone got sick. We ended up going after the kids were done hurling, or so we thought. That lovely windy Logan canyon sure did a number on Britta. She puked all over the place. We ended up cleaning everything in the river and then when we got to camp. I can't stand the smell of vomit and the rest of the way there was miserable. In fact the whole rest of the day sucked. We got the kids to sleep in our tiny tent and then this white trash a-hole decides right in front of our tent, to light off fireworks. The campground people come to yell at us and I had just had it. She went to talk to the guy and he lied to her so I corrected him. No one messes with me when I have PMS. I think Matt will eternally be scared of me. Wouldn't you know, while we were there, the family got diarrhea. We should have expected it. The first night in the tent there was this horrific thunderstorm. I thought we were going to die and the kids slept through it. The second night, the wind was so bad I thought the tent was going to rip open and yet again the kids slept through it. Of course at the end of it, Kierra wanted to get a trailer like everyone else. It wasn't as warm as we hoped but we did have one good day at the beach. Camp was full of owls, bats and skunks that liked to sneak up on you. Freakin weird. It was a lot of fun and we are so looking forward to doing it next year. We love our friends and don't know what we would do without them. Thanks you guys for a great weekend even though I didn't enjoy seeing Matts butt cheeks and Josh just about walking in on me naked in his trailer. I think I saw more bums than I ever wanted to.

This one deserved some explination. This is Matt and Axcil. They built a lake and fed water into it. Axcil decided he needed to pee so he just dropped his pants in the lake. Not pictured are the girls running out. Matt is trying to get him out. This seemed to be the theme among the boys. If you have to pee, go where you are standing.

Kierra and Mazee

She isn't a baby anymore in this picture.

I don't know why I put this picture in.

Of course like all summers, it was full of the zoo, swimming, birthday parties, shooting and as always, the race track. I went to Park City for a weekend with the girls and Richard got free tickets to the races at the Miller Motor Sports Park. He kept leaving me messages of race cars driving by. He and the kids had so much fun. I think it will be something Kierra will always remember.

Kierra and Mazee at their friend Eli Weber's birthday party at the zoo.

Britta and her best friend Cassie. Well, mine too.

I now know how to handle a gun. Not so much hit the target though.

This is at the race track with Richard's parents. You can't really tell that's where they are.

Next adventure will be disneyland next week. Yes, we are driving and I am not looking forward to it either. I will post video of Kierra pooping her pants when she sees the castle.

Random Stuff

2010-07-31T13:37:00.006-06:00

Ahh, the little muffin
My grandmother died this past week, so this is Kierra at the funeral. She is trying to pose as a princess.

Hurray for fireworks!

Britta has developed her own personal way of talking to the cats. She uses a special voice just for them.

We took the kids to see the floats at the south towne expo center. They had so much fun listening to the marching bands and getting their faces painted.

Kierra at Logans Birthday party

Britta messing with their dog

She got a hold of the purple lip gloss. Too bad she missed her lips.

Her new thing to do is sit and look at the DVD's.

Trying to catch up

2010-06-07T20:22:00.007-06:00

You would think that there is so much to tell since I haven't blogged in two months. Well, there really isn't. I wish our lives were exciting but I bet we couldn't handle it. Ok, I will think of something.

Britta finally started crawling. She is definitely in no hurry to get going. I think both of the kids take after me, love to be lazy and do what they want when they want. I think that keeping her confined for the length of the trip motivated her. She looks so cute because she is slow and careful. She just got over a bout of what we think was roseola. It was a miserable 5 days. I am glad she is back to herself.

Kierra is her normal loud self. She is now fully potty trained so now we just have to get Britta there. She loves to go outside and play with whoever is out whether they are her age or not. It is really hard to explain to her that older kids don't want to play with her. She just wants to be everyones friend. I hope it doesn't get to a point where it is annoying to people. Maybe it has already reached that point. At lowes today, an old man asked her how she was and her response was "I threw up in the potty!" I think I need to teach her proper greetings. I don't think he heard her luckily.

We have been working on our yard. It is hard to do it with the kids. I want to help but I have to be mom. It would also be nice if we owned a truck. We can't get anyone to deliver sod because we aren't ordering enough. Don't they know I wish I had a bigger yard?

Anyway, here is a video if it loads. Kierra is just doing something stupid to make Britta laugh. I was sure she was going to choke on her watermelon.

San Diego Baby

2010-06-05T20:26:00.009-06:00

We finally took a vacation. After our last vacation I decided it was time to fly. I am spoiled I know. It was so much more fun to fly than to babysit the kids on a 10 hour drive. But of course I had to babysit Richard on the plane. You wouldn't know by looking at him that he is terrified of flying. I think he really wanted to get a drink. Sometimes I thought it was funny except for the fact that I had to hold Britta the whole time because he had to clench the seat.

Anyhoo, back to the vacation. We started the trip in a crappy hotel that said that they provided breakfast online but they don't so that set us back a bit. It was great fun getting the kids to sleep and then having them wake up at 6:00 every morning. The first day we went to Sea World. This time they had all of the rides up and running and I wanted to go on them but we didn't end up having enough time. Kierra had a blast in the sesame street play area. She called it Elmo's World. I had fun in there too. I am so glad that she isn't afraid of things. She wanted to do everything that she could. Britta mostly stayed in the stroller but I think her favorite thing was the Shamu show. She got really excited. She was so good the whole trip, never once did she cry. After only one day, I think I had just about killed my parents. It was a lot of walking but I think they liked it.

Day two we went to the harbor to visit the Midway museum and go on a harbor tour. The hotel shuttle dropped us off at one end of the harbor and the Midway was at the other end. That was really annoying. Anyway we finally found the place but kind of left my parents behind. As we were walking up to the ticket booth, there were a whole bunch of people in suits standing around and then this guy started to film us. One guy in a suit stopped us and congratulated us on being the 5 millionth visitor. We were quite surprised by all of the fuss they were making. They gave us a long list of things along with a private tour. We met a lot of cool old retired airmen with great stories. It was fun to get pampered for the day. I don't think I have ever seen Richard so happy and excited. I think it was a dream come true for him and my dad. We didn't get to see everything because we had a scheduled harbor cruise tour (which is a waste of time in my opinion). Richard liked it because he got to see the air craft carriers up close and they were bringing in a submarine. He is fascinated by that stuff, something that I just can't relate to. Luckily we were able to get back to the hotel just in time to see our spot on the news. They didn't run the interview which is ok, because it sucked anyway.

After an extremely exciting day 2, day three was the zoo. We all had high expectations for this day. I wanted to do something else but Richard thinks you can't visit San Diego without going to the zoo. After two days of non stop walking, I was sure my parents were done, but the zoo really did them in. It did me too. At least this time they had finished the elephant encounter. It was nice but none of the elephants were out. We lost my parents trying to get to the hippos. That zoo is such an annoying maze. Thank goodness for cell phones. Since they don't have a carousel, Kierra wanted to ride the sky ride. It was a nice short expensive ride in a bucket. That is one thing we had to let go of was frugal thinking.

All in all I think it was a successful vacation. I do think that we will do things a little bit different the next time we go just to make things a bit easier on all of us. However, I don't think that Richard will want to fly again. Yes he is a pussy!:)

Just some pics

2010-04-02T16:29:00.002-06:00

Probably the last time we will see her eating broccoli

She is just starting to stand at stuff

What's my tummy picture?

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

2010-03-28T20:57:00.007-06:00

I can't believe my Brittles is 1!

Kierra loved getting dressed up for the party. I bought both of them leggings and it is all she can talk about.

I just had to buy a cute little birthday outfit for her why I was out getting supplies. She looked so cute.
She had such a great time. I think all the kids had a good time. It's a good thing because she was grumpy earlier. We probably should have done the grumpy bear cake.

Richard was a good boy and decorated her cake for me because I just don't have the patience. It was a Care Bear, but not for long!! Sorry to those who missed the festivities. It is always fun to watch a baby destroy food and make a complete mess. By the way, I didn't completely clean it up until Sunday.

I hope this year will be a good one for her (and for us). We have two vacations planned this year so it's already looking up for all of us.

2010-03-18T11:02:00.003-06:00

Recently I have been evaluating my life and family. We have a new home and many nice things that many people would love to have, but why do I constantly question them? Since moving, I have realized that I just don't seem to be happy with what I have. I don't understand it. There is always going to be something that someone has that is nicer or they got a better deal on it than you did. With people moving in on our street, I have begun to feel like we got screwed on our house. New move-ins were able to negotiate their purchase as we were not. No matter how much I want to, I can't change what happened. I can't change that home values have gone down in three months. I can't change that maybe we were taken advantage of because we needed a place to live fast, and the sellers knew it. However I can change how I look at things and if I can do anything about the things that bother me. So after much thought in the middle of the night, I decided to call the West Jordan Building Department about city codes. Shortly a city inspector will be contacting us for an inspection of our home. To be perfectly blunt, I feel like I have a need to get the builder to fix what they refused to do. There are some safety issues that I have and want someone to fix them. Finding a large hole covered with leaves in the front yard topped it off for me.

But of course, there is nothing in the world like a family that loves me and will do anything to make me happy.

I want to go to disneyland!

2010-02-26T20:24:00.002-07:00

Lately, Kierra's preferred topic of conversation is going on an airplane to find the castle at disneyland. In fact, it is getting a little out of hand. The other day I told her we were going to the store. She threw a fit because we weren't going on an airplane. She has been quite strongwilled lately. She cried one day because she wanted to go on a space ship like the little einsteins. What am I supposed to tell her? No, you cannot go on a space ship. So we told her that if she saved her money she could go on a space ship with Richard Branson. She still doesn't get it.

We have been sick here. In fact, we haven't been to church in a month. The kids are finally well after ear infections and pneumonia. I am still feeling a bit sick but nothing compared to how it was. Of course Richard didn't get sick. I don't know how his immune system is so good. I would think that since his sleep schedule is so screwy that it would affect his health.

I have been trying to find things that I am interested in. What I have not so recently discovered is that I really love gardening and plants. I love to look at them and plant them and take care of them. We had an enrichment activity the other day on gardening. The person who taught it has a degree in horticulture. It was really interesting to learn what she knows about composting and pruning. Her husband is an engineer and made a homemade composter out of one of those blue water barrels. It had to be the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. He made a contraption for it to sit on and rotate it too. It made me want to start composting, which I think would be a good thing for some great gardening. I plan to build planter boxes for vegetables in the backyard when we finish the yard this summer. I think it is the one thing I am excited about.

Oh yeah, and we all want to go to disneyland.

Wow it's been a long time

2010-02-07T17:01:00.004-07:00

Here we are, the beginning of February and I am just barely posting something. Since we moved, we don't have a very good connection and I have been unable to post.

There have been many holidays and Kierra's birthday since I last posted. Kierra is now in the terrible 3's. It's not that bad, I just say it is to get sympathy. She had a great christmas and birthday. Definitely got the motherload. Of course most everything is tinkerbell. She has been doing great with the move and loves her house. There really hasn't been an adjustment at all for her. Nursery is all the same for her even though some of her friends are missing. She is just that social butterfly that we would all like to be. I have been looking at preschools for her but I think she is a bit too smart for them. It was quite disappointing to me to see her telling the kids that are a year ahead of her the answers. Should I pay for that? I have decided that I will try to teach her on my own for now until she is a bit older. Not homeschool or anything but but just maybe for the next year.

Britta is now done with her helmet. She got a bit behind on her motor skills because of it, but she will catch up. So, her mode of transportation right now is scooting on her back and rolling. My baby is growing up so fast. She got her first tooth on christmas and a second just popped through. She is definitely a harder teether than Kierra was. She bites everything, so I hope she doesn't get used to that habit. That's all I need is a biter on my hands. A cute biter that is.

As for Richard and I, nothing is really new. We aren't learning anything new or going anywhere. Just the same old business. I guess the big news is that we sold the beast. Yes, the camaro that is. It isn't clogging up space in my beautiful garage anymore.

Holy Cow!! Holy Sheep!

2009-10-30T20:42:00.005-06:00

That is a phrase from our good friend Kierra

So, many a things have happened in a month so lets start a list:

1. Britta got a helmet

2. We all got what I think was the swine flu

3. We looked at probably 100 houses

4. We sold our house

5. We are in the process of buying a house

6. Went to a halloween party

7. Bought a fridge for the new house

8. Bought a new garage door as a request from the buyers of our house

Hmm, I think that is probably it so hopefully this next month will slow down, except for the move.

Inspiration/Motivation Needed

2009-09-20T21:17:00.002-06:00

Do you ever get in that rut where you feel as though your brain has become the size of a pea and your energy level has gone below that of a sloth? That's me.

Our lives lately have become caotic. We finally took the leap and listed our house. It has been extremely stressful and at the same time exciting. Yes, I said exciting. There are so many homes out there for sale and in some ways we have our pick of what we want and we found it. Problem is, we still have our house. It is sitting here clean as a whistle but only for the likes of the inhabitants. We have only had 2 showings in a month. Much to be discouraged about. Kierra has enjoyed the house hunting experiance by playing on other peoples yard equipment and jumping on their beds. She is now banned from going with us as she thinks that she owns every house we go in.

There are other things going on that aren't so interesting as well.

-we had a garage sale and made $60 in 5 hours.
-worked on potty training a bit.
-cleaned, cleaned and cleaned some more.
-went to the zoo to see the baby animals.
-went to idaho to see the fam.
-had a laser treatment.
-Kierra went to the dentist.
-went to the park.
-went swimming.
-Richard had a birthday.
-and so on, and so on.

So you may ask, what is the purpose of the beginning sentence? Perhaps it would intrigue you as the reader or it would cause my mom to call and tell me that I am depressed. Na, it's just the life of a stay at home mom having the life sucked out of her. No, that's not it either. I just need to get myself motivated to get off my butt!

I have tons of pictures to post but blogger won't let me. I may have to post them on facebook.

Finally we can sleep in comfort

2009-07-29T14:44:00.004-06:00

It only took them 2 1/2 weeks to get it to us but it is finally here. Our super soft, super comfortable, super expensive bed. However, they didn't ship the pillows. Let's just say I've had many conversations with the store and their warehouse. They aren't too happy with me considering I filed a complaint with the BBB. That's right, when I am unhappy with a company, they shall meet my wrath. Ha Ha Ha Ha. Did that sound like a witch? Eh, who cares.

With that said, we have been trying to have fun these past few weeks. Our house was full of fun for the 24th with all of our neighbors over for BBQ and fireworks. Richard and our friend Josh are the pyros of the group so being the boys that they are, there was experimentation. No injuries were reported for that but then the illegal fireworks came. Lets just say a few days later and one trip to the ER, Josh is doing fine. I guess it serves them right.

Family from out of state have been here this month for my uncle's funeral. Kierra has had so much fun playing with her cousins and uncles that she skipped three days worth of naps. Jeff came so it was great to get to spend time with him and for him to see Britta for the first time. It had been a long time where both our family and my aunts family had been together.

Britta and her new best friend Riley. He sings her Star Wars to get her to sleep.

Jeff and Britta

Kierra finishing her (my) Neilson's Custard on the way home from the cemetery.

Jeff and Kierra

Britta just being her cute self, who by the way sleeps through the night now. I know, isn't it awesome!!

Kierra likes to make forts with pillows now. I think she really likes to hide from us.

Here she is with her boyfriend Mitchell at her friend Logan's birthday party. Seriously though, they love each other :)

Take them skinheads bowling

2009-07-12T21:04:00.004-06:00

Oh yeah. We went real bowling. Not the fake Wii bowling, but old school bowling. I must say that I suck at it in comparison with the Wii. It's quite disappointing when your Wii score is 276 and at the old alley, it's a whopping 102 and that's with bumpers. It is also quite sad that a 2 year old can get a strike but I can't. Out of everything we have done with Kierra, I think this was the most fun she had ever had. Full on tantrum when the game was over. She refused to leave. She picked up the ball and ran toward the lane to throw it while crying. Good thing we caught her. It was actually kind of funny but at the same time embarrassing. The bowling alley in fort union has games for $1.50 so we decided to give it a go and I think it was money well spent. Maybe we have created a future pro bowler that grandma garton would be proud of.

Here we go!!

Britta had fun too.

Anxiously awaiting the ball to return.

Time flies when you're not having fun

2009-06-21T21:24:00.018-06:00

We have been really busy here at the Black household. Life can get pretty crazy with two kids that are cranky at the same time. Let's see where do I start?

The binkie fairy visited Kierra and brought her a bike. It wasn't too bad getting her off of them and sometimes I would like to go back to the old days of less whining but then it would have been for nothing.

She looks a little handi in this photo but it's the best one we've got.

I think that Kierra has finally hit the terrible two's as well this month. I think I am going to loose it. Lots of crying and screaming and tantrums. I am running low on patience and some days would like to run away (or at least get a job). But then again some days she does such cute things. I made her a hideous princess blanket and the first thing she said was "oh my gosh!". She loves the thing. She has also been running around singing "I am a child of God" all day every day. That makes me proud.

Britta has become a little princess and a mamma's girl. Yes, finally a child that likes me. She has the biggest smile for you when she wakes up. She is just so darn cute you just can't stand it. She had her 2 month appointment this month and weighs a whopping 7lbs 6oz. She is on the same track as Kierra was.

We thought about putting our house up for sale but decided not to. We are really attached to our friends here and I would hate to lose them. So, since we changed our minds, I redecorated. I'll post pictures later since we aren't completely finished yet.

We also blessed Britta this month and have no pictures of the actual day but here is a picture of her in her blessing dress.

The zoo has been frequented this month as well. We bought a zoo pass so we have to get our money's worth. It sucks that it is so far away.

Kierra's favorite part of the zoo.

Popcicle face

Kierra and her friend Mitchell

It's been a long time!

2009-06-07T20:54:00.004-06:00

Sorry to those two people who check our blog frequently for new posts. I hadn't realized that it had been two months since our last post.

We have been so busy with the kids and working on our house that I just didn't feel like blogging. We have been adjusting to Britta and I think we kind of have a slight schedule for her. I think Kierra is still feeling neglected a bit though. We had to give her binkies to the binkie fairy. It was quite traumatic for her but I think she is over it.

Hmm, what else has been going on? We blessed Britta today and I must say that she was the cutest baby being blessed. Richard did a good job and so did she. I would post pictures but as we didn't get any (yes I am a moron, but apparently she pooped on her dress before we could get a family pic) I will have to get some from other family members. It's always great to have our families together supporting us. Too bad that we worked so hard on the yard only to have it rain.

I will post some pictures later!

Sometimes I love my body

2009-04-06T15:38:00.002-06:00

So I am going to brag a bit. I don't do it that often about myself especially so I am going to do it now. As you know, I was pregnant two weeks ago. With this pregnancy I gained 12 pounds. With Kierra I gained 18 but I think I needed some of it anyway. So I came across a scale yesterday and it looks like I have one pound to go to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I can fit into all of my old clothes and I don't have much of a muffin top.

Don't hate me, I can't help that my body handles pregnancy well and gets back to normal. We were at USA Baby on Saturday and a lady was asking us a bunch of questions about our car seat. She couldn't believe that Britta was a week old. Then she said that she hated me and how I looked.

I wish that I had a picture of me before I delivered like I did with Kierra to see the difference in the two. Even though I looked small, I was still pregnant. People didn't believe me that I had aches and pains but boy did I ever.

Anyway, it is not that often that I feel good about myself and how I look. I am excited to be ready for that bikini again this year, but I need a cool place to wear it.

Just some pics

2009-04-04T12:38:00.006-06:00

Here are some more pictures of Britta and we will throw in some of Kierra.

Do you think I will be able to use this for Britta now?

It's been a long week

2009-04-01T21:24:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates but I have good excuses. I couldn't get blogger to work at the hospital so I was unable to post anything.

After 5 days in the hospital, we were finally able to come on on Tuesday morning. First, Britta's oxygen would drop while she would eat. Because of that, they kept her in the nursery permanently. I would have to go in and feed her all day and night. They had her hooked up to monitors and every time she ate, they would document what her oxygen was. So it only took a day for that to improve while I was already being discharged. I did the hotel stay thing so that I could feed her and besides, I didn't want to leave her there. So then they thought that she wasn't breastfeeding well enough, which I didn't think was a requirement for you to leave the hospital but whatever. Sunday the doctor ordered an unnecessary chest x-ray and another billi test, both of which came back normal. Yet again, she was still not well enough to come home. Monday they decided that she couldn't maintain her weight, so they wanted to keep her another night but this time I could take her to my room. They weighed her that night and she weighed 4lbs 13oz. They said that if her weight didn't drop from the night that we could probably go home. Tuesday morning came around and her vitals were checked except for her weight and they sent us home. So, I still don't know what the point of all of it was but we are home now. I took her to the doctor this morning and she weighed 5lbs. From the beginning of all of this, I have felt that there wasn't really anything to worry about. I think that they treated her this way because of her size. I am grateful that they took such good care of her though and that I was allowed to stay. Here are some pics of her. I have some video but am having trouble.

Bye Bye hospital

Ready to go home

Yuck!

Do you think this makes me look fat?

I like sleep

She's Here!!

2009-03-27T09:57:00.003-06:00

Britta Cathrine Black was born March 26 2009 at 1:42 pm. Measuring in at a whomping 5lbs 1oz and 17in long. She has a lot of Kierra's facial features but is as blonde as can be.

Wednesday my doctor stripped my membranes and at one in the morning labor began. It was a lot more rough than it was with Kierra but I dealt. We got to the hospital at 5:30 and by 9:00 I was dilated to an 8. Once they broke my water, she came quick. This time I only pushed for 10 minutes. She is just a little peanut.

I am recovering remarkably compared to last time and feel great. Britta was admitted to the NICU last night though. She can't keep her temperature up and her oxygen levels keep dropping. I have been really impressed with the nursing staff here and how they have taken care of me and Britta. They have kept me up to date on her progress so well and are actually taking care of my concerns.

Here are some pics.

We are still alive

2009-03-22T22:54:00.003-06:00

I know it has been a while since I posted anything on here so to those of you who are faithful readers, I am sorry. We recently lost the privilege of using Richard's work computer for anything therefore we have gone without the internet. So, Friday we went out and bought a laptop. I am currently mooching off of someone's unsecured connection in the neighborhood.

So, the countdown is on for the baby. She is now at the point of practically falling out on her own. Not many people thought it was possible that you could walk around dilated to a 4 but apparently you can. There have been a few false alarms which has gotten me depressed and more anxious. It is now hard not to think about when it will happen.

Some good news though that I didn't think would happen is that Kierra is in a toddler bed now. We decided to stimulate the economy and support commercialism and bought her a princess bed. The moment we got it, she loved it. There hasn't been a transition at all which was the part that stressed me out a great deal. However, now that we have painted the baby's room with flowers, she is obsessed with it. We might have to change rooms since the baby obviously won't care.

It has been so nice to have Richard at church with me these last few months. But it looks like we only have one sunday left. His schedule will go back to what is was before in April. I think it has helped our family grow spiritually but we will have to continue to work harder at it.

Other than that nothing exciting has been going on. We have no pictures to post yet again and hopefully the next post will be of baby Britta's arrival.

What's going on?

2009-02-10T20:27:00.002-07:00

I don't even have any pictures to post that's how exciting our lives have been. We gave up on the big girl bed thing. We think she is just too little and I think that it's more that Richard and I don't want to give up our control over her sleeping. So I guess we have to buy another crib. Shopping for one has been really hard. Either I am really picky or I am just stuck on the great deal that we got on Kierra's at NPS.

Kierra had her face lasered again this month. They changed the laser to who knows what setting to do who knows what to her face. It seems to have healed a lot faster this time though. I think it was the hardest trip to the hospital yet. She put up such a fight when we were trying to put the cream on. She just screamed bloody murder and kept ripping off the plastic. I wish there was an easier way. She definitely noticed that something was done this time. It really hurt her and she knew she had an owie.

All of us got that crappy stomach bug that's been going around again. Well, again for me, first time for everyone else. Kierra started it and ended it. She never gets sick and so I am really proud of myself for how I handled it considering the crappy month I've had emotionally. It has however made her a bit more of a needy child. She always wants her binkie now. She only wants crackers and cereal and just won't eat much else except for the odd random thing like beef jerky. The eating problem has developed an evening tantrum since she won't eat her dinner. I don't want to be the parent that makes a separate meal for each person so we are sticking to our guns and only offering her what she didn't eat at dinner when she cries for food after dinner. One day I hope she will give in.

I had a doctor's appointment today. Things are fine. Surprisingly enough I gained 2 pounds after being sick last week. My weight gain this pregnancy is up to 7 pounds. Woohoo!! However, I am measuring 4 weeks behind. We aren't too worried because I was the same with Kierra. The doctor says he will only be worried if I stop growing. Maybe the kid is burning off stuff since she is kicking so much. Maybe not.

Big girl bed

2009-01-17T20:38:00.002-07:00

Does anyone have suggestions on how to do this smoothly. We put a mattress on the floor and she was excited at first but when it came to bed time, she was scared. Richard has been laying with her for the past hour on it. Is that what our lives are going to be like now, sleeping with her? This seems like the hardest thing we have had to do with her in a very long time. What do we do if she wakes up? She doesn't know how to open doors yet so I guess that is a plus. Do we just leave her in there to work it out and eventually crash?

Happy Day! I Two!

2009-01-08T20:05:00.004-07:00

Happy Birthday Kierra!! Two days late! Guess what we did for her birthday? Nothing! She did have a party at my parents house on Sunday so we aren't the worst parents. Besides, she doesn't know the difference. Here is one highlight.

She did so good trying to blow out her candles. I ran out of memory on the camera and at that point she trying to blow so hard and fast that she looked like she was going to hyperventilate.

Mama and Papa Gee came over on her birthday and brought her a birthday balloon. She was so excited and ever since she has been walking around saying "happy day". Thank you for coming over. I know it meant something to her as it did to me.

Tis the Season for Presents and Puking, fa la la la la

2009-01-05T14:48:00.005-07:00

Ah the Christmas Season. Toys, power outages, and family togetherness. Maybe too much family togetherness what with the stomach flu. Mmm, yummy. We had Richard's family over for christmas eve in our newly finished basement. It was actually quite nice and low key. The kids had fun playing and didn't bother us too much so that makes it nice. Christmas we woke up to no power. This has been happening quite frequently lately. I was really disappointed because I wanted pancakes and hot chocolate. Nope, cold cereal. We took Kierra downstairs to open her presents. She wasn't really into it. I think she got bored but once she figured out what they were, she got excited.

Kierra taking George for a walk with her purse and hat (bucket)

The day after Christmas we went over to my parents for the festivities there. Of course my parents spoiled us with grocery money (which we already spent) but Kierra got a laptop. She loves the thing and can actually play the games on it. She calls it her puter.

Kierra just being cute

Sitting with daddy and the puter

That night I started to feel sick, and spent the night pooping and puking. Some of which simultaneously. It was not fun especially when you are pregnant. When you are up all night, so is the baby and she was definitely making herself known.

So, that was our holiday in a nutshell. Richard and Kierra didn't get sick so I am so grateful for that. I hope everyone had a good holiday.

Drats!

2008-12-22T13:50:00.002-07:00

So today I broke out my maternity pants. I am not too happy about right now because it just makes me feel more pregnant. I forgot how uncomfortable they were but leaving my jeans unbuttoned was not an option anymore. My zipper kept going down then the pants would go down. I am not sure what I am going to do about church clothes though. I don't remember what I did last time. Maybe I was just extremely uncomfortable for those 3 hours. I do have a maternity dress but it is still way too early for that. My belly button is already starting to poke out too. It actually looks like a gnocchi to me.

New Calling

2008-12-04T15:24:00.002-07:00

I hate getting a new calling. Especially when I have been the assistant librarian for 3 years. So they called me to be a sunbeam teacher. There are a ton of people in the ward that don't currently have a calling. I don't know why they wanted me especially with how complicated our lives are. Richard's schedule does change in January making it possible for him to come to church, but it is not guaranteed that it will stay that way for the next quarter. They didn't know that I was having a baby either. So they will release me on Sunday and they are going to give me until January to get Kierra settled in nursery since she won't go by herself. I am not looking forward to doing it so hopefully it will be some sort of blessing in disguise.

The dreaded Bishop's office

2008-11-30T20:48:00.003-07:00

So, you get that phone call that a member of the bishopbric wants to see you. I hate the waiting and wondering of what it will be. If I am going in there, I am most likely being released from my current calling. Will I get another one? Or are they going to give me one in addition to the one I have. Kelly, if you are reading this, did you know anything about it?

It's a...Baby

2008-11-19T20:29:00.003-07:00

Girl to be exact. We had an ultrasound today and it was confirmed. The baby is good although she measures a week behind. Kierra was the same way so it doesn't worry me. For those that didn't know I was pregnant, sorry. This entry probably explains a lot about my mood and other feelings in previous entries. It is weird being pregnant this time since it is a bit different than it was with Kierra. I am not sick any more which is a nice plus. Dealing with another kid at the same time has made me realize that the uterus is definitely made of steel. Yes, when I was preggo with Kierra, there was a huge amount of heavy labor but I never had someone stepping on it. I am starting to look more like I am fat than pregnant though. I have an upper bulge rather than a lower one. I am hoping that everything goes as well as it did with Kierra and that I don't get huge.

I forgot to add that the due date is April 14th. I also hope that none of you are thinking "that's the last thing that they need is another kid." We are excited and especially to have another girl. Richard doesn't know what to do with a boy. I guess he likes being extremely outnumbered.

Hmm, what do I really like?

2008-11-16T12:29:00.002-07:00

Since I have gotten some comments from family members of how grumpy I am, I have been thinking about what I actually like about life. It's been 7 months since I quit my job and so I think I might have lost a bit of myself since then. Here is my attempt to redeem myself.

I like...

Kitties, lots of kitties. Especially petting and cuddling them.

Uninterrupted sleep.

When Kierra gives me hugs and kisses.

When Richard gives me hugs and kisses.

Being snugglie under lots of blankets in the cold.

Quiet.

Being loud with my friends (that doesn't happen that often).

Rollercoasters.

A clean house for 5 minutes.

A good, cheap salad. Lets just say good, cheap food in general.

Getting a good deal.

Accomplishing something.

Getting rewarded for my hard work on something.

Hearing Kierra sing the ABC song perfectly and yelling the last 4 letters. W X Y Z!!!

Successfuly cooking a meal that results in tons of leftovers that Richard will eat.

Yummy smelling candles.

Going to school.

A well rested child.

Going somewhere I have never been and enjoying it.

Sitting by a fire and burning random things. HE HE

Having someone that loves me no matter what, and is sexy too!

I think I will leave it at that for now because it could go on for a very long time.

I'm venting ok!!

2008-11-08T20:20:00.002-07:00

This post is for me. IF it offends anyone, keep your mouth shut. In our household we have the terrible two's and the terrible twenty-seven's with Richard on the sidelines. I am at my whits end with Kierra and yes I know that I have a long way to go. How in the crap are you supposed to parent a kid that whines, screams and cries all of the time. She doesn't know what she wants and when she does, it still involves a tantrum. I suck at motherhood. I have zero patience for it and I am afraid the neighbors can hear it. Most of the time I am dissappointed in me rather than her for my actions. I completely understand why she doesn't like me. It's like both of us have become different people within the last month. We are constantly butting heads. Is this what our lives are going to be like forever? Hormones constantly surging. It makes me feel bad when I hear or read about other people's children and how they love everything they do. They are sweethearts. It makes me wonder if it is all because of me. Is my personality and temperment the cause for the constant tension in our house? It makes me feel really bad when she is always asking for her dad too. If he leaves the room, she cries. Is it like that for anyone else? I feel like I am eventually going to lose it. It is causing me to have a hard time to express my love to her when she acts like she hates me. Then I get freaked out to think about how you do this with more than one. Why do we want to do this over again and it's only just begun.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to deal with temper tantrums, advice is welcome. I also don't want this entry to sound like I don't love Kierra. I really do but I am having a really hard time expressing it to her when she is like this. If you suggest therapy, we can't afford it.

Halloweeeeeeeeen

2008-11-04T20:31:00.003-07:00

I don't have a whole lot to say about the festivities because there weren't many. Kierra went trick or treating for the first time this year. She also did the trunk or treat, I thought it was pretty gay. We had more fun going from door to door. She didn't get what we were doing at first. The first couple of houses she tried to go inside. She thought we were going there to stay. Here are some pics. She is a turtle by the way.

Soliciting Help

2008-10-25T20:43:00.002-06:00

This is a plea from me (not Richard, he wouldn't approve) for help with our basement. If you can't help, baby sitting would be helpful as well. We still aren't finished sheetrocking. It has been going slow for many reasons but mostly because we don't have a second person to help. We also need to know if anyone has access to a sliding compound miter saw. Our molding is double the width of normal so a regular saw won't work. Any kind of help that could be offered would be greatly appreciated. With that said, thank you to Richard's parents for all of the help that they have provided with this project. We greatly appreciate it.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-15T20:48:00.002-06:00

We took Kierra to a pumpkin patch last week while it was still nice. She really could have cared less. She did finally learn that they were pumpkins and not balls. The day after we went, we saw on the news that someone had gone through a destroyed all of the pumpkins. I don't know what purpose it served them.

Kierra isn't the best at posing for pictures, I guess she gets that from me. Here are some pictures of our 10 minute adventure.

Yes, it's been a while

2008-10-01T16:48:00.006-06:00

Richard has been getting on my case to post something new since it has been a month since the last. Problem is, I think I am getting bored with the blogging. There really isn't anything interesting in our lives worth posting about. At least I don't think so.

Richard's name has been changed to "Mr. Grissom" as he is now a Crime Scene Investigator. He is pretty excited about it. So am I, I guess, as now he will be on call every once and a while. He has had to do a lot of training this month so the basement has been on hold.

This month Richard turned 30. We had a deathday party for him that was pretty lame.

In regards to the last post, Kierra has added about 50 new words to that list. As soon as I posted that, she blossomed. Anyhoo, here is a random video of her terrorizing the cat and some other pics.

Mmm, raw corn

Last day of swim class

Not just another pretty face

2008-08-30T16:09:00.003-06:00

This post is for the sole purpose of validating myself as a good stay at home mom. Since we don't talk about how much Kierra can do, I figure now is the time. She has now learned her abc's. Not just saying them but handing you a letter and saying what it is. Now I need to get some solid form numbers for her to practice with. She also has started to draw shapes that we tell her to. She has mastered the circle of course but we are working on the others. With much thought, I've decided that I need to compile a list of words that she can say. She isn't quite old enough for sentences so words will have to do.

hi (first word)
car
book
color
kitty
thank you (she has said this for about a year)
mommy
daddy
no, (of course)
yes
oh yeah
ok
circle
yellow
baby
pretzel
cheese
night night
bear
awesome
drink
fish
eat
chip
cracker
nose
eye
toe
key
grape
shoe
wow

If anyone can remember more of what she can say, remind me as I my brain is at a loss.

She also knows the basic signs for: more, milk, and eat.
Her favorite things to do at this time are to color and to play with her felt letters and felt board (thank you Jeff for the christmas gift, she loves it obviously).

Infrequent Blogging

2008-08-16T20:48:00.002-06:00

Sorry I am not posting much but I have wondered what the point is. No one is commenting on anything I post. How do I know anyone is even looking at it?

Weekish in review

2008-08-16T20:38:00.003-06:00

So not much has been going on in our lives lately. Last week we tried to go camping up in Idaho but had to come home in the middle of the night. Kierra would not sleep and I was getting frustrated so we just packed up. You would think that she would sleep on the way home wouldn't you, but no. The weather was getting bad any way and we couldn't have a fire. Here are some pictures of her.

We have of course been enjoying the olympics. After watching the trampoline today, Kierra has been trying to jump. It is quite funny. However we missed a lot of the good stuff as the lamp in our TV went out on Thursday afternoon. Good thing it is under warranty. We just got it fixed today.

So, it's official!! We are going to WEEZER in October. The last time we saw them was in Vegas when they opened for the Chili Peppers. We are so excited. With this concert it looks like we might have to miss Metallica. Sorry Bryan.

Glub, glub, glub

2008-08-04T10:37:00.004-06:00

Kierra has turned into a fish. Her swimming lessons started 2 weeks ago and so began the crying. It was her first time in a pool so I kind of expected it. I was a bit embarassed because you couldn't hear the instructor but she stopped after about 10 minutes. Last saturday was her second lesson and now she loves the water. She especially likes to swim on her stomach and is really good at kicking her feet as she goes. In fact, I think she was the only one in the class that did it. Yeah for swimming!

Successful Holiday

2008-07-25T20:23:00.004-06:00

The 24th started with an early delivery of $1600 worth of basement stuff. We spent the morning filing it into the basement piece by piece some of which never fit so it is in our garage. In the process, I smacked my forehead on the foundation. I laughed at myself. In the afternoon we went and saw the Dark Knight. It was definately dark. We both really liked it. After the movie we all had a really nice nap and then went to our friends, Josh and Kim's house for fireworks. I am so proud of Kierra. She handled it really well. In fact, I think she liked the fireworks. She was such a well behaved little girl for being up so late. We had a lot of fun with our friends and look forward to perhaps creating a tradition of it.

Anniversary FUN!

2008-07-17T20:25:00.002-06:00

Saturday my parents took Kierra while Richard and I went to Park City for the night. We went to the Olympic Park to ride the zip line and the alpine slide. Let's just say it is a super long wait for things that don't last very long. The zip line was fun but I wish we had done the bigger one. After we did that we rode the lifts up to the slide. It is supposed to be the only stainless steel slide in the western hemisphere. OOOOOOOO amazing! It would have been a lot more fun if I didn't have a 60 year old lady in front of me. She rode the brake the entire way down. I had to completely stop a couple of times. I wanted to go faster of course but you have to keep 80 feet between the next person. It was fun though. We had a good time at the hotel. It was a relaxing evening after engorging on fattening food.

Bored out of MINDS!

2008-07-15T11:18:00.002-06:00

Kierra and I are so freaking bored it is not funny. She doesn't want to play with toys anymore and I just don't know what to do with her. We bought her a little pool that she wants nothing to do with. So what would be plan F? Anyone with suggestions on what to do with her would be welcomed. No TV!

6 years and still going strong

2008-07-11T12:47:00.008-06:00

Happy Anniversary to us! It is actually tomorrow but I won't have time to post anything as we have "plans". So, Richard and I have been married for 6 years. Let's reminisce about that exciting day:

6 years since I asked Richard on the way to the temple "what if I say no?"

6 years since I relaxed on the couch in the sealing room and my feet barely hung over the edge of the cushion.

6 years since my wedding dress didn't fit because I lost weight while Richard was gone.

6 years since in every photograph at the temple, my underwear was showing and the photographer was just after "catching the moment".

6 years since it was 114 degrees and us in the heaviest clothing you could possibly wear.
6 years since my mom tripped over Brooklynn at the luncheon.
6 years since our photographer sent his mother to the reception instead of himself.

6 years since the photographer's mother wouldn't let us have pictures taken outside. She was stupid as well.
6 years since the air conditioning failed in the building.
6 years since the air conditioning in our car failed on the way home from the reception.
6 years since walking through an auto zone an hour after our reception.

6 years since stopping off at my parents house to try and fix the car in our dress attire.
6 years since our landlady brought people down into our apartment while we were naked.
6 years since the power went out in our apartment, therefore having no light to do anything in our two window basement apartment.

Oh and I almost forgot :) 6 years since I married the most awesome guy on the planet. One of the happiest days we have ever had.

5th of July

2008-07-08T20:16:00.003-06:00

I had this great day planned for Kierra but of course we had to go to plan F. We didn't have 4th of July festivities as Richard works that night so it would have to be the 5th. Richard's family were going to come over for a party that evening, but Kierra woke up with a fever. Despite med's, it continually rose throughout the day. We decided to go on with the party anyway because we just thought she was getting another tooth. I had bought a mini pool and fireworks for her to enjoy but boy did she not. Her fever spiked to 104.4 that night and didn't subside until Sunday afternoon. She had her 18 month appt. scheduled for Monday anyway so I waited to talk to the doctor. Monday morning she developed a rash on her legs and still was a bit cranky and not eating. So we found out at the doctor that she has roseola. The doctor was surprised that her symptoms only lasted a few days. It is always nice when you go to the doctor and they know what the problem is instead of sending you home with more questions.

Here is a picture of Kierra and her swimming pool. We were hoping that it would cool her off but she just screamed when we put her in there. Let's hope for a better 24th!

Explanation of the Tunes

2008-07-01T12:22:00.008-06:00

I thought I would explain why there is such a mixture of song choices on the music player. Some songs are ones that I just like, but others have something behind them.

Probably the most important one on there is "Travelin Soldier" by the Dixie Chicks. I know they aren't that popular but the lyrics of the song have deep meaning to me. The first time I heard the song was at the beginning of 2003. This time was very hard on us as Richard's unit had just been activated to go to Iraq. We were watching SNL and they were performing on there. I cried and cried throughout the song. I think that was the point when I became determined to get Richard out.

Weezer is on there of course because if it wasn't for them, we would have never met. Well, that is only partially true. We probably should give most of the credit to Kevin and Sara Cook. It makes for a better story though with a Weezer concert in Idaho.

The song "Something" by the Beatles has always been one of my favorites. When I was younger, I was obsessed with the Beatles and my favorite Beatle was George Harrison. Richard thinks it's weird that I have all of their songs memorized.

Since it is widely known that I am a Harry Potter freak, the theme song is on there. But that is not as shocking as the song "Pilgrim" by Enya. This is a song that I reserved for the 7th or probably the 8th movie. As Harry discovers that he must surrender himself to die and walks through the forbidden forrest, this song to me sets the scene. I cried and cried in this chapter.

Last but not least is the song "Toast". This song always got me laughing on the early morning drives to work listening to the Bob and Tom show. I suggest you take a listen, it is quite good.

Tunes Below

2008-06-28T20:49:00.002-06:00

So, does everyone turn this feature off when you get onto the webpage? I am just wondering if I need to tone it down a bit. Place your vote on whether I should keep it or not.

Not much going on

2008-06-28T12:20:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I posted anything. Sorry for those that actually care. There isn't that much to tell as life has been uneventful lately. Richard finished wiring the basement today. That's a plus. Kierra is getting teeth all over the place, which makes for a satan baby. It is hard for us to go anywhere because she throws tantrums. Our new neighbors moved in today. They seem nice. I hope they mow their lawn. Richard has me reading the Hobbit. It is ok. I think he wants me to read the whole Lord of the Rings series. I am sure there will be a lot of boring details throughout. The is the most exciting post ever! I won't care if no one reads it.

Goodreads

2008-06-14T20:11:00.002-06:00

Amber had me join this website called "Goodreads". I haven't read that many books to know what I really like and what I don't to contribute much to it though. I do however know that I do not like sappy love stories, I think that is why I wasn't into Twilight as much as everyone said I would be. "If you liked Harry Potter, you will love Twilight" they said. Why? A group of us were having a discussion about this and decided that there is no comparison between the two series.

Anyway, since Amber has introduced me into the world of literature, I have found myself in need of a change. Having read the Harry Potter series three times, I need to invest my imagination into a new world. Something inspiring and inventive I think. If anyone has some good suggestions, they are certainly welcome. If my mother is reading this, yes I know I should be reading my scriptures. I have been reading the Ensign, so that is a start.

Laser Day

2008-06-12T11:45:00.002-06:00

The procedure got approved on Tuesday and so they fit Kierra in on Wednesday morning. When we checked in, they gave her a stuffed bunny. She really liked it. In the waiting room, she walked around with it patting it's back and loving it. The treatment went as expected. There were about 6 other doctors in there so that might have overwhelmed her a bit. So now we have the fun task of the after care. She has to stay out of the sun until the bruising goes away (2-3 weeks). It is really hard to keep the sun off of her when you have places to go. We'll manage, we always do.

Week in Review

2008-06-08T20:19:00.003-06:00

What an exciting week! Nevermind, it was normal. Tuesday a mountain lion was running around in our neighborhood. The girls and I were on a morning walk and this car stopped us telling us to get home because of a mountain lion. We were quite a ways away from our houses so we hoofed it. They caught it about the time that we got home. That was fun.

From the major rain on Thursday, the basement had water in it again. Richard dug out one of the window wells and there was more water the deeper he got. I am wondering if we are sitting over some sort of natural water source. There is a crack in our foundation (something the builder won't do anything about) so Richard got some stuff to patch it up. I hope that we can get this taken care of before we get any further on the basement.

As promised, I have a cute video of Kierra. It started out with Richard putting bottles of nailpolish down a wrapping paper tube. Kierra would laugh at the sight of them coming out at the other end. She started to try and get the bottles by putting her arm down the tube and it became a smackdown between the two of them.

What's been going on?

2008-05-31T20:33:00.002-06:00

Well, not much. Our week started out with the lovely suprise that water was coming into our basement again (really wasn't much of a suprise seeing as our house sucks). Figured out the problem and got mom to babysit on Thursday so that we could fix it. It freakin rained again on Thursday, so there went that plan. We were able to fix it along with putting up the lattice on the deck while Kierra napped (process of 2 days). Our neighbor's sold their house so that gives us one month to steal their rocks for our landscaping (they told us to, so it isn't stealing).

Hmmm, what else. Richard is finally on the 7th Harry Potter book. I am so excited for him. I cried at times in that book. I am constantly made fun of for my obsession for Harry Potter, but there is someone who is worse than me. Amber Ford. Yeah, that's right, Cassie can vouch for this. When we went to get our hair done, we had the capes on and were walking by a mirror and she asked me if I felt like we were at Hogwarts wearing our robes. It never crossed my mind. Sure the name of our blog has a reference to the books, but a hair cutting cape as robes, nah. I do want a wand though and I wanted to dress up Kierra as Hermione for halloween.

Anyhoo, there really isn't anything exciting going on in our lives. I have no new pictures to post. I promise the next post will have something eventful.

FOR THOSE WHO LIKE CATS

2008-05-25T19:02:00.002-06:00

"Excerpts from a Dog's Diary"

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!

9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!

9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!

10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!

1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!

3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!

5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!

7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!

8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!

11:00pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

"Excerpts from a Cat's Diary"

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow--but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...

I know they are up to something!

Forget That!

2008-05-21T19:40:00.003-06:00

Kierra didn't get her laser treatment today. We got to the hospital nice and early, they called us in and when we got into the O.R., the doctor was on the phone with the billing office. It turns out that our insurance company now requires pre-authorization for her procedures and needs proof that it is medically necessary and not cosmetic. They decided to change their policy without telling us so we got her all ready for nothing. The doctor has sent numerous letters and pictures to prove the need for the treatments. We have never had a problem before and now we are worried that they may not cover the treatments at all. According to the doctor, IHC (which we don't have) will only allow her to treat the birthmark if it is on a certain place on the face. If Altius takes this stance, I think we will be screwed. We now pay close to $200 a treatment every three months. Without insurance it is a little over $1000 a treatment. Looks like I may really have to get another job.

Laser Day

2008-05-20T10:39:00.006-06:00

For those who don't know, Kierra was born with a port wine stain birthmark on her left cheek and chin. Every three months we take her up the U to get laser treatments to help minimize the mark and stop further growth. Tomorrow we have to take her in again. There is about 2 hours prep work for a procedure that takes five minutes. I think it is getting easier on me at least where I don't cry while she is screaming. The worst part of it all is the care after. Keeping her out of the sun, having ointment on her face constantly, keeping her from touching her face and scarring it, and of course the weird stares that we get from those who don't know her situation.

Incidentally, there was an article in this months Parenting Magazine about a couple having a child with a birthmark on her scalp. I was really annoyed with how the parents reacted and tried to hide their daughter. They acted like she was cursed and they didn't like people asking questions. That's the part I don't mind. I would rather people ask than just stare and assume that we beat her or something. In this article, the girl had one surgery to remove it from her scalp and now she is done. Kierra is in this for a lifetime possibly. We have never tried to hide her face from anyone or anything because it is something she is going to have to deal with when she is older. Her situation isn't nearly as bad as many others that have this sort of birthmark. We have met some that have the mark all over their body and also those that have it on certain parts of their head that cause seizures and occular nerve damage.

When we found out what it was, I felt horrible. Thinking of a little girl possibly getting teased because of a mark on her face. I questioned why did this happen and then I thought, there is nothing wrong with her. She is alive, healthy and to us is perfect.

Before treatments began

Day of a laser treatment

3 Hours of Pampering

2008-05-18T20:13:00.006-06:00

My friends Amber, Kim and I went to a beauty school for mother's day. It was a bit late but oh well. We got facials, scalp treatments and I got a trim too. It was nice to get away for a while with good friends. Afterwards, we went to Paradise Bakery and vegged for a bit. It was a good school because it wasn't crowded. Amber's sister goes to school there so she was able to schedule us with the best students. Warning to all, this picture contains women with no makeup. I was the only one self conscious about it. Oh, I am standing on my tippy toes. Thanks guys for a fun afternoon!

Richard was on the news, again!

2008-05-18T20:08:00.002-06:00

I looked everywhere to find a link to the story that was on channel 2 news. There was a stabbing in Murray last night. They found the guy but he kept threatening them and going in and out of his house bringing out different lethal weapons. He threatened to shoot them so they ended up shooting him with a huge rubber bullet from a grenade launcher. Richard was shown for like 3 seconds walking around with his new rifle. His good buddy Ben was shown shoving the guy into his car. I am a little upset that there is nothing anywhere on any of the news websites about this especially when they showed the story twice.

Warning: Complaint Below

2008-05-10T20:23:00.003-06:00

Since I am really only 30 credit hours away from my bachelors degree, I have been considering going back to school. The problem is, I don't know what to do. I have people telling me to go back into occupational therapy, but I am just affraid of screwing up. There is also the problem that I am not sure who's education is more important right now, mine or Richard's. Even though Richard's would be for free, there is still the time taken away from our family if both of us are going at the same time. Although, he isn't sure what he wants his degree to be in either. It doesn't matter much I guess what you have to get into the FBI. But lets get back to me. I have discovered that I am good at things that are medically related. I actually get that kind of stuff. My problem is my lack of confidence in my ability to apply my knowledge in a practical situation. So now I am just mumbling. I have felt that since I quit my job at Globus, I have been losing my smarts. There is nothing to keep my brains on their toes. Besides that, I am freaking 27 years old with an associates degree. What have I done with my life?

San Diego

2008-05-09T10:59:00.009-06:00

So we made it there alive and very tired. The first day we got there we hated it. Our hotel was kind of in the ghetto. The room was ok but I am glad Kierra is walking now so that she didn't have to crawl on the carpet. We walked to get dinner down the street and there was a guy on the sidewalk getting super drunk. We really looked stupid with a stroller thinking it was ok to walk places. Getting Kierra to sleep that first night was kind of hard but she eventually did it.

Unfortunately we arrived without our Air Race tickets. They never arrived in the mail (and still haven't). So instead of going to that, we went to Balboa Park. It was really pretty and a ton of museums. After that we navigated our way to mission beach. Being that it was only 60 degrees, there were quite a few people laying out and swimming in the ocean. I thought it was a bit to cold for that. It was awesome to see the beach. I have never been to a pacific beach like this before. I wish I could have worn the bikini that I bought though. We played in the sand with Kierra. She really liked it. It was fun to see the beach houses and how much people were asking for them.

Monday we went to Sea World. I thought this was the highlight of our trip. It was a nice day for it too. The shows were really fun and it was nice to see that Kierra enjoyed them too. We got to have personal interaction with some of the animals like dolphins and bat rays. The food sucked, but it's a theme park, what are you going to do. We bought Kierra a stuffed shamu. She really likes it. I think her favorite thing there was one particular walrus. He had his mouth up against the glass and he kept spitting out his food and sucking it back in. It was really disgusting.

Tuesday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a really cold day and it sprinkled on and off. I had hurt my foot somehow at Sea World, so I was really hurting at the zoo. Richard and I enjoyed all of the different types of kitties and Kierra liked the elephants. They have a children's zoo there as well where the kids can pet goats and other types of farm animals. It was cute to see Kierra interested in a goat. This zoo was unlike any that I have been to. I couldn't believe how many area's looked like natural habitats. Tons of trees and canyons. It was nice that there were moving walkways up some of the canyons because I was really needing them.

Wednesday we left for the drive home. Kierra probably slept for about a half an hour in the 13 hour drive. We had to keep stopping to change her diaper. By the time we got home, I think that we were all ready to ring each other's necks. No more road trips for me. Hopefully a cruise without a baby is on the horizon for us.

Road Trip

2008-05-01T21:04:00.002-06:00

San Diego, here we come! We are making the 740 mile journey beginning at 2:00am on Saturday morning. I hope we survive. This will be the first super long car ride of Kierra's life. We plan to visit the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and the main reason for going is to see the Red Bull Air Races. Richard is a nut for anything that has to do with airplanes. We will be there until Wednesday.

I love feeding myself

2008-04-25T11:38:00.007-06:00

Since Kierra only has two teeth, we have had to be creative in what we feed her. She wants to eat like us but giving her steak is a bit out of the question. Last Sunday evening she finished her "baby food" so I decided to give her yogurt. Not the cat but the real stuff. She always has to have a utensil and try it herself so I let her have at it. She was doing fine until she decided to dump the yogurt out on the tray. "Screw the spoon, I think I will use my hands." I probably should have changed her out of her dress but it was a bit late for that. We took her piggies out so her hair looks funny too along with everything else.

Can I have some?

2008-04-24T19:56:00.003-06:00

Every time I do Kierra's hair she has to have me squirt water into her mouth along with her hair. When the cats see the squirt bottle they run for it but when she sees it, she gets excited.

So darn cute!

2008-04-18T21:29:00.005-06:00

I thought I would just add this video because it is so cute. This was when Kierra was three months old and just starting to interact. Those were the good old days when her cuteness was overwhelming. She has grown up so much since then, she doesn't even look the same. Ahh... It will make you smile, I promise.

Freedom!!!!!!

2008-04-16T16:17:00.007-06:00

Apparently I left the door open to the garage and the kitties had a night of freedom. I noticed that they didn't sleep with me and when Richard got home from work, he said the door was open. The garage is such an exciting place for most of the animals in the neighborhood. We are always having to entice the Perry's dog out of the garage and a couple of times we have locked some random cats in there. I hope they had fun because I won't let it happen again.

I'll do it when I want to!!

2008-04-14T10:14:00.001-06:00

Kierra is finally starting to walk. She throws a tantrum if you try to help her though. We have tried to bribe her with suckers and binkies but to no avail. She is just as stubborn as I am. We think that she has finally figured out that if she does walk instead of crawl, she gets praised. Brilliant!

Dance, Dance, Dance

2008-04-14T09:38:00.004-06:00

I'm a Kierra pants and I dance, dance, dance and I dance, dance, dance. Kierra has always loved music and she started dancing at an early age. I can honestly say I don't know where she got those moves from (Richard). She is so into it that she even starts dancing when my cell phone rings. Maybe that's why she is so skinny, she burns everything off by dancing. You will notice at the end of the video she has a fake laugh. She does that every time she sees the camera. She is such a spaz!