The Olsen Zoo

Hmmm....

2011-06-19T22:48:00.002-05:00

Its been a few months since I blogged and mostly that's because who wants to write a cute or funny post when they feel like garbage. However it appears that after 15 weeks the garbage feelings have mostly retreated and I am feeling better. Baby Olsen #3 continues to grow and make me look a lot farther along than 15 weeks, but what can you do.( I have considered a corset) And though insomnia appears to be a current symptom of my parasitic condition, along with lower back pain, and sciatic nerve issues, December will bring a change, if not a cure to some of the issues.

Peter has missed most of the nausea this time around by being deployed. We girls are sure anxious for his return, hopefully in time for our next OB appointment. Megan is so excited every where we go she blurts out, "My mom is having a baby" or My mom has a baby in her tummy." It has also led to lots of interesting discussions on how they baby is going to get out, thankfully no questions yet about how the baby got in....but I expect that one anyday. Madie seems to feel a little threatened since she has lately found a binky in the toy box and sucks on it occassionally. She maintains that she wants a sister, while Meg is really hoping (along with Mom) that this baby is all boy!

And though somehow we are ending up with our THIRD December baby, we are excited for the arrival of possibly another riotous redhead to join our zoo. Megan prays for the babies safe arrival every day. Its very sweet.

So now we are almost caught up on the last 3 months of our lives...minus our fantastic trip to Englan which I will blog about once I figure out which program I want to use to store pictures in on our new computer.

Musings on Prayer

2011-03-14T16:55:00.003-05:00

This coming Sunday both Pete and I have to speak on prayer in church. I found out two Sundays ago, and so I have been thinking about the topic a lot. I can't decide where to go with it. I have thought about addressing the importance of recognizing when the Lord answers our prayers, how prayers of faith proceed miracles, the language or prayer, the importance of prayers of gratitude but I just can't seem to find a clear path through the topic. So dear friends who read my blog...any thoughts. I guess tell me why prayer is important to you, what makes your prayers meaningful, what blessings have come into your life because of prayer etc...maybe one of you will be the means of directing my thoughts in the way I should go.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-31T17:15:00.002-06:00

We finally had a family picture taken. Minus Mimi's little facial abrasion from an unsuccessful attempt to tame a treadmill, they turned out pretty well. And somehow the lady got everyone to smile...even Peter. But alas there will be no Olsen family Christmas card this year...or New Years card either...and I don't anticipate being any more with it by President's Day or Valentines...

So Happy Holidays friends and family. We wish you all the best in 2011!!!

Happy Birthday Megan Grace

2010-12-14T05:41:00.003-06:00

Today is Megan's 4th Birthday. I can't believe it! When did we get so old? We are grateful for our special first born. Megs is a darling. She has an extensive vocabulary which has recently been expanded by my brother living with us, and recently she has learned a lot of important life lessons. "Princess Jasmine dresses like a floozy", when asked what she wanted to eat for dinner "Crispy baby monkeys" was her reply, and I was told for her birthday party I should fill the pinata with candy, not "rabid weasels." She never ceases to amaze and amuse. She currently is very interested in germs, and human anatomy which leads to many interesting (sometimes eyebrow raising) discussions, but she maybe the only 4 year old I know who will tell you that she really likes macrophages, because they eat up the germs in her body. She has also till recently had too strong a will and/or to week a bladder to potty train successful. She likes Madie(most of the time) and loves her Dad. We love you Megan Grace Olsen!!!!

The post I should have written December 1st.

2010-12-14T05:24:00.003-06:00

Today(the 1st) my baby turned 2. We are so grateful for our little Mimi, as she has nicknamed herself. She is sweet and girlie, and the next minute rough and tumble. She is Captain Destructive. She is a cuddle bug and yet at the same time a very independent little girl. She loves all toys, but especially Megan's. She is growing up so fast and starting to really talk. The other night we were out and about and she said, "Go home, EAT!" She loves Un Nee, which is what she calls Uncle Nick. She loves Elmo, Dora, and Boots! She is a love and we feel so blessed to be her parents.

Spending the day with Maddox!

2010-11-23T23:27:00.002-06:00

Today I spent the day with my miracle nephew, Maddox. (While his family went to Disney World.) My sister is my hero. He is a darling, but wanted to be held most of the day, and between meds, G-tube feeds, dealing with constipation, and breathing treatments...I actually stayed in my PJ's until 6pm and my living room is strewn with the wreckage of the day. She is a warrior mom! I will continue to attempt to live up to her amazing example. But not until I get a nap and a chance to shower.

How do you working Mom's do it?

2010-10-29T11:54:00.003-05:00

Whoa, what a crazy two weeks. Only three or four more weeks to go. You should see my house. Can you say federal disaster area...hopefully tomorrow I will have time and energy to get it whipped into shape before I go back to work on Monday. Weekends are way too short. I really miss the girls, while I am gone...or I would if I had a chance to think about them once I clock in.

2010-10-17T13:12:00.002-05:00

Megan to me as I am getting dressed for church: Mom do you look beautiful yet?
Me to Megan: What do you think?
Megan to Me while handing me some eye shadow. "Stylish, but not beautiful yet."

2010-10-12T23:11:00.004-05:00

I am the worst of all slackers. Especially when it comes to my blog. So anyway its been...a busy summer, lots of trips to Disney, a trip to Texas, a trip to Missouri, with almost no pics to show for it. Yep, we stink!

And fall has arrived (as much as it does here in Florida) and we are busy. Megan(and therefore me and Madie as well) is enjoying her first semester of our little Co-op Joy School. She was a little disappointed that there was no school bus to joy school, but she enjoys the other kids and has learned a little about the body(unit 1) and nature(unit 2). We have had to have a fairly basic talk about how mammals have babies, but she has been warned that she is to let all her friends parents tell them about the birds and the bees, and not try to educate anyone else.

Madie is turning into a big girl. She is sleeping in a twin bed, toys with the idea of potty training every day at least once, and has finally decided that talking is not just for Megan. She is saying probably 25 words now...her favorite phrase is either "no more" or "no mom." She loves shoes and recently has even insisted on sleeping with a pair or two.

As for Pete, he is doing well. He is scheduled to upgrade to aircraft commander in the next few months. He continues to work hard and often long hours. But he's always such a good sport about the whole thing.

As for me...I start my new job as a Mother/Baby nurse at the hospital next week. I am excited...a little nervous about how we are going to manage it all. But I am excited for the opportunity to use my skills. The schedule is going to be brutal for the first 5 weeks or so, but then it will be just right, as little as 2 shifts a month.

So I will try to post again in 5 weeks or so...

Happy Birthday Peter!!!

2010-05-07T19:41:00.002-05:00

Today is Pete's Birthday!
We spent the morning together and then he has left for 4-6 days for a trip for work.
We intend to celebrate for real next week.
But I just wanted to say...Happy Birthday Hunny!
I love you and I am so glad you were born(and that you will always be older than me)!
Hope you have a good and safe trip.
Love you!!!
The Wife

A weekend in Orlando

2010-04-26T10:04:00.004-05:00

The girls and Mr. J Cricket!!!
Madie and Miss Bunny!!!

Madie, Thumper and an uncomfortably long hug!!!!

This weekend we had a military function up in Orlando. So we went up a little early and took the girlies to the Disney Animal Kingdom. As we pulled into the parking area, Madie vomited a little. As we pulled into our parking spot, row 24 of the Unicorn section, Madie began to projectile vomit. It was pretty gross. So then we had to decided whether to carry on with our plan or call it quits. (I was ready to call it quits) I was pretty sure it was just motion sickness. I had the pleasure of cleaning vomit out of the car seat and off of Madie, with only wipies available while Pete had to take Megan to find a potty. We changed Madie's clothes and then decided to give it a shot. So off we went on our adventure into the park.

WE had a great time and got some really cute pictures of the girls. Madie was in a very affectionate mood and when we saw Thumper she was in heaven. She hugged him for about 90 seconds, then she hugged Miss Bunny (Thumper's girlfriend) and then gave Thumper another 90 second hug. It was darling.

Megan enjoyed seeing all the animals on the safari ride and even got to ride the river ride and get all wet with Dad. But mostly she loved seeing all the characters.

The rest of our weekend went fine. But Disney was definitely the highlight.

Diaper Cakes

2010-04-03T14:00:00.004-05:00

Which one do you like best?

The perfect day for napping

2010-03-12T13:23:00.003-06:00

Today is Friday. It is a very wet Friday. It is raining. It is the perfect afternoon for a nap. Both of my little munchkins are napping. Sigh! It is quiet. I love Friday. I love this very wet Friday. I love the rain. I love naps!

(Sounds like some of the books we have gotten from the library recently).

Megan and Madie..the dynamic duo...

2010-02-27T21:10:00.009-06:00

Madie has started really truly walking in the last month. She is fast and she has an agenda. Her mission to destroy her family home. Mode of operation; empty all drawers of clothing, naw on anything not edible and small enough to choke on, tear paper, all paper especially contained in books...and most especially those books borrowed from the public library, re-organize the contents of mom's purse, unfold all freshly folded laundry, attempt successfully to fish for germs in toilet bowl, climb all pieces of furniture, and do it all while looking adorably mischievous! She is darling...but she is trouble!!!! Watch out world, the destroying angel is mobile and loving her new found autonomy. She isn't much of a talker yet, but she communicates quite well with her nodding skills and as we all know "Actions speak louder than words." She is an action girl!

Megan began January in Sunbeams at church and she is lovin' it!!! She is the youngest Sunbeam in our ward, but certainly not the shyest(or quietest). She gave her first talk last week. Her topic, "We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved." Ummm...since when did atonement, death, resurrection, repentance, and sin become needed vocabulary for three year old talks? However, she did a great job and more importantly after it was over she asked when she gets to give a talk again. She loves her teacher and last Sunday came home from Church telling me she got to be the Holy Ghost in her class and did I want to be Jesus or Heavenly Father when we played Holy Ghost....hmmmm? I wasn't sure how to handle that, but simply assured her I would be happy to be either. :)

I am constantly amazed at the level of her gospel understanding and her love for learning things of spiritual importance. I am also constantly amazed at how careful I need to be in what I say. The other day I was frustrated by something and made some remark, basically to myself about selling my soul. Megan asked" what's a soul." I explained and then she wanted to know how one would sell their soul. I tried to explain it was basically a figure of speech and that mom was just being silly. And then heard her telling her toys she was going to sell her soul to her friends Ashlynn and Avery. Yep, hillarious, but definitely another mother of the year moment. So I will be trying even harder to keep my big yapper shut...I know... good luck to me!!!

Pete and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss by going to Avatar and a wine tasting...we of course just went for the food. We then rushed home to relieve our poor sweet baby sitter and watch an episode of LOST (catching up with season 5) It was a great anniversary and pretty relaxed, just like us.

Recommitted to the blog

2010-02-01T07:52:00.003-06:00

I suppose my hiatus from blogging needs to come to an end, and why not today, February 1st, it is as good as any other day...maybe better than some. So I declare today the reinstatement of my desire to blog, or at least try so that I have some record, however incomplete, of our crazy life.

Peter returned from Qatar on January 3. We had a wonderful reunion in a very cold hanger where we waited for several hours. Megan held a sign that said "Welcome Home Daddy". Three days later Madie came down with croup...A pretty good case that necessitated a steroid injection and an albuterol inhaler every 4 hours. Despite our plans to go to Utah to visit Pete's family...we all ended up too sick to travel.

During the time Pete had off, we also made a major purchase of a new minivan. Despite our best efforts to find a SUV that more than two car seats would be convenient in, nothing beat the ease and convenience of the minivan.( This is in no way an announcement, we are not adding to our family anytime soon, just need a new car). So we are now the proud...okay we are now owners of a very nice minivan.

(Like most of my endeavors...this one got delayed, but really what's the difference between the 1st and the 3rd? )

"D" Day

2009-10-27T19:23:00.006-05:00

Well it's "D" day at our house. (D stands for deployment) The beginning of another adventure. Tonight Pete left for 60+ days. So he is off to the desert for an adventure and while we have one as well. We are still in denial, but I am sure in the next week we will all realize it is really happening. As my parents used to tell us as kids when we pestered them about getting to use our agency, "Oh, you have a choice. You can do it with a smile or you can do it with a frown." So for this deployment I am choosing to smile...but that doesn't mean there won't be a few tears. (Hunny we miss you already!)

Its been a crazy 6 weeks since I blogged last and I can't even begin to sum it up without it becoming a meaningless grocery type list, so just know its been crazy. We are moved into our house...though we still have three bathrooms to paint, some caulking to do, shelves to put up, and more than a little organizing that needs done. But it feels nice to have almost twice the space and to have a garage too! The girls are doing well. Madie is mobile and weaned. I just finished reading Charlotte's Web out loud to Megan. She loved it. So now we are on the look out for another comparable book to read out loud at bedtime.

I really have so much to be grateful for, and am resolved to refrain from complaining while Pete is gone...or atleast about Pete being gone.

In other news I am gather address for Christmas cards, so please send me your address so Ic an have it for Christmas card time...which is coming quickly!!! Thanks in advance!

today at 1:30

2009-09-09T10:59:00.002-05:00

Today at 1:30 pm eastern standard time we close on our house! I am so excited and a little nervous...okay honestly a lot nervous. A little overwhelmed at how much work we have to get done in the next 8 days, but excited to have a bigger place... and a garage....and a tiny yard!!! I will post pictures later!!!

Pray for Alissa and Maddox

2009-09-01T14:40:00.003-05:00

My sister and her husband Jeff are in Boston right now. They are seeing a DR for her unborn babies heart issues. Hopefully tomorrow they will have a procedure done that will save his little life. We know that God answers prayers and still preforms miracles. To know more about our little Maddox you can go to http://sweetheartmaddox.blogspot.com

Funny lines

2009-08-12T19:13:00.003-05:00

Me to Meg at Bedtime:
You know you are just stalling.

Meg "what does stalling mean."

Me "It means you are just trying to get out of going to bed."

Meg " Well what's the point of that?"

So....

2009-08-07T19:29:00.003-05:00

So Peter gets home tomorrow and its been a busy couple weeks. I am counting down the hours until he will be home...probably 27 hours from now. Whoo hoo!!! But while he has been gone we have had a multitude of adventures, really too many to write about, but I will try to hit the highlights and the low spots for you...
Monday July 20th Pete left early in the am. I got up early, woke the girls up and drop them off at a friends house then raced to the town home to meet the home inspector. He found a few little things and one moderate thing...the master bedroom floor, on the 2nd story sags in one corner. He said we needed to get a structural engineer or a contractor to come, saw the floor board open and take a closer peak. He said it may just be cosmetic or it may be structural. Bummer!
Meanwhile Pete, was helping to load the plane that they would be taking to Alaska and in the process sprained his ankle. I never saw it but from the description it was a pretty bad sprain. Bummer!
Wednesday, I went to the dentist and got a cavity filled. It took two shots to get me good and numb, but then I was numb for hours and hours.
The rest of the week was spent taking care of my kiddos and trying to gather all the paperwork, and fill out all the forms for the mortgage company. I swear I have never had so much paper work to do in all my life.
Sunday, my little sister, Ashlie was supposed to arrive, but flights looked horrible. (She was flying standby on a buddy pass) So we decided to wait for the red eye from SLC to Atlanta and then connect her to Tampa from there. Anyway to make a long story short...she didn't make the red eye. She slept in the airport and didn't make it to Tampa until almost 11pm Monday night. Bummer!
The next day we went to the beach!!! Yeah!!!!
The day after we went to Disney World. Megan cried through Snow Whites Adventure ride and sobbed clinging to my neck through Pirates of the Carribean. Hopefully she won't be tramatized for life. We all loved "Its a Small World" though. Otherwise we had a great time and the girls were terrific!!!
The rest of Ashlie's time in Tampa we just hung out. We went swimming and to the mall, and had a lot of fun. Well come to find out, that weekend was an embargo weekend for buddy passes, so we had to wait till Monday to try to get Ashlie home. She had to be at work on Tuesday. We watched flights all day and it looked bleak, but the one direct flight out at 5:30 pm looked good...it looked good until we got there. Then it looked like it would take a miracle. And sadly this time...no miracle. We ended up having to purchase her a last minute ticket out...it was pretty expensive, but better than her loosing her job. Bummer!!!
And then this week we were headed to the zoo with my Visiting Teacher Malinda when the alternator on my car decided to die. Luckily I was able to get off the freeway before it totally gave up the ghost. So there we sat on the side of the road, in atleast 95 degree weather, on the dodgy side of town. The tow truck was going to take an hour, so Malinda started calling ward members and found someone to come pick us up. My car got left there, all alone to wait for the tow truck. It spent a couple days at the car hospital getting fixed and the bill was anything but cheap.
And as usual when it rains it pours so while I am coordinating the car issues, the bank we are buying the townhome from decideds that unlike they had previously led us to believe, they will not be fixing the sagging floor. Bummer! We are trying to work through this issue still, but will see what happens.

It has been exciting and so I am sure you can see why I can't wait for Pete to get home.(besides the fact that we love him and miss him) I need a little help.

Only two hands

2009-07-26T15:56:00.003-05:00

I am decompressing after church today and wondering why God only gave me two hands?

Surely he must have known that two would never be enough. How am I supposed to hold a crying baby, keep a rambunctious toddler from getting killed in the church parking lot, juggle two bags, one full of diapers, the other with items that cannot begin to fill the purpose for which they were brought; (that to keep one toddler quiet for 1 hour and 15 minutes), while retrieving car keys from purse, open car doors, put children in carseats with only these two hands.. Surely he must have forseen the need for another set of hands when balancing the 7 month old sitting between my feet on the cold, dirty bathroom tile while helping the toddler do her business on the "big girl potty."

Maybe that is why he sent my visiting teacher to come and "borrow" on of my little ones after the sacrament, so I could listen. It sure makes a difference when someone lends a hand. Maybe that is why God only gave me two, so he could bless my life through someone else's two hands. Or maybe so I could learn to open my mouth, let go of my pride, and ask for help. Hmmmm...something to think about.

3 weeks of fun

2009-07-22T22:01:00.002-05:00

Pete is in Alaska for 3 weeks. Enough said. Thankfully, my sister, Ashlie, is coming to visit me on Sunday. Roo, as we like to call her around her is my little piece of sanity to get me through this spell of single parenting. Sunday can't come soon enough. But in the meantime we are staying busy. Tomorrow we brave the zoo in the heat. Send cool thoughts our way!!!

GOOD NEWS

2009-07-17T10:07:00.002-05:00

Well the good news keeps rolling in!

1)Peter was offered and accepted a full time position with his unit. This means that we will be here in Tampa for at least another 2 years.

2)So we decided to buy a place to live. On our first outing with tyhe Realtor, we found a town home we liked. Then we decided later in the week that we wanted to see it again and maybe put in an offer. But we learned it was already under contract. We were disappointed, but kept looking. We let our agent know we would be interested in that one if that pending offer didn't work out. I started to pray that if it was meant to be, that the original contract wouldn't go through. That Monday our agent, Dale, called and let me know that the contract hadn't worked out, so we put an offer in the next day. Then we found out there were 4 other offers for the same home. We raised our offer a little bit and waited. Tuesday we found out that our offer on a townhome was accepted and as long as there are no other glitches with appraisal and inspection we should be homeowners at the end of August. I'll post pictures of the place as soon as I can. So now I need to get cleaning, sorting and packing. But we are excited.

3)Meg's MRI came back perfect. She had been complaining about dizziness (the room spinning) since December so we took her to the Dr. and he ordered an MRI to rule out any tumors or anything. We had that done on Wednesday and got the results this AM. We are very relieved. Obviously we will continue to watch her and may pursue further testing if her dizziness persists or worsens, but otherwise we are a lot less worried than we were before.

4) Madie has decided she likes two naps a day and we are loving having some sort of schedule, even if it is always subject to change.

Here's hoping we soon have better news to post about our potty training efforts. Things were going really well for about three weeks and the last 5 days have been miserable. I finally had to go buy another package of panties, because we were going through all 10 pairs before lunch and I couldn't keep up with the laundry. Potty training has been an eye opening expereince as I have realized I am a lot less patient than I originally thought. A bummer, but we will keep pressing on.

Cranky

2009-07-12T20:16:00.002-05:00

This week has been stressful. And I am cranky today. I have tried to be a good sport, but I just can't "fake it til I make it today." Unfortunately cranky and irritable appear to be contagious at our house. Hopefully tomorrow we will all wake up happier and ready to face the challenges of a new week. I hope happy and obedient are also contagious.

Funny lines from Megan

2009-06-19T08:35:00.002-05:00

Me to Megan: Meg do you want some pie?
Megan : No. Thanks. I'm good.

Pete and I just looked at each other and tried not to laugh!

Saturday...

2009-06-13T21:46:00.004-05:00

Today has been a very low key day. The girls and I have enjoyed our day together. (Pete is on a short trip). We decided today just to stick close to home. After our fun trip to Target yesterday that ended with pooh running down Madie's left leg while I tried to get her and Megan out of the car and up a flight of stairs without making a mess; a day at home seemed brilliant.

We started our day with waffles, covered with blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream. Yummy. Unfortunaley that was just after 6 am. But today we all took naps. We watched Dora. We played with Megs princess dolls. Listened to music. Read stories. Cuddled. Looked at homes for sale online, and we did watch "Stranger than Fiction." Meg and I love that movie. She loves to talk about Harold Crick and his wristwatch. (I edit it for her. It is PG-13 after all) Tonight I taught Megan to play Jenga. She was surprisingly good. Madie practiced sitting and not reaching for the tower of Jenga blocks.

And today I decided to do nothing that didn't absolutley have to be done. I ignored the pile of laundry, I closed my eyes when I went into the bathroom I should have cleaned. I pretended the vaccum was broken and I enjoyed the under 36 inches population that seem to get the shaft when mom is trying to hard to get "stuff" done. Productivity ZERO, but I wish all Saturdays could be this fun and lazy.

Back at home in Florida

2009-06-09T07:42:00.003-05:00

We have been home in Florida for a little less than a week and all I can say is "It is good to be home." And it is even better to have Pete back from his deployment safe and sound. We are looking forward to a summer full of fun outings and good family time. I am also going to take a couple cooking classes and also continue my quest to get in shape. I have had a little set back...time in Utah was brutal on my waistline, but I am recommitted to my goal of being in the best shape of my life by October 25th, my 30th Birthday. I got 3/4 of my exercising done this morning before my girls woke up.

The girls are doing well. Madie is still pretty calm and sweet. Megan is still smart and sassy. They handled all our travels and time with family pretty well. And already Meg is asking when we get to go to Grammy's house again. This is good since we will be spending all of November and December there. I hope to get Meg potty trained this summer and wean Madie. We will see how it all works, I am hopeful, but flexible about it.

2009-04-22T22:31:00.003-05:00

Hmmmm... I hardly know how to write this post. I don't know how to begin or end. All I know is that it's been almost two weeks and I am still reeling over the loss of Pete's cousin and my friend, Natalie. Natalie would have turned 34 today. I can't believe she is gone. She was an amazing person. You know one of those people you meet and think, wow, my life is better because I know her. And truly she scattered sunshine and smiles wherever she went. Her life was a legacy of love. I am in awe of the example she left for me to try to live up to. She had four children and was a fantastic mother, sister, daughter, and friend.

I met Natalie early in my courtship with Pete and was at once welcomed into the family as if I had always belonged there, as if she'd been saving a special spot just for me, as if we had been friends all our lives. I miss her and yet I know where she is. I don't grieve for her, I grieve for me, I grieve for all of us who will miss her. I feel sad that my little girls will never know cousin Natalie, that Madie will never be held by her, that Meg will have one less cousin she shares her beautiful red hair with.

When I grow up I want to be like Natalie. I am sure she never knew what a profound influence she had on all who knew her. I am sure she never knew what a profound influence she had on me. I wish I would have told her.

To know Natalie was to love her. I feel blessed I am one of the lucky people who knew her in this life, and that I will know her in the next. I know that families can be together forever, and that my cheering section on the other side of the veil just got one sweet redhead.

2009-03-25T20:59:00.003-05:00

This weekend we had two visitors. Our friends Lael from Washington D.C. and Kara from Gainsville, FL. We knew them both at BYU. In fact they were both present the night we met. (Ahhhh) This weekend was a nice trip down memory lane, and it was nice to catch up with each of them and also hear updates on people we haven't stayed in contact with! Our girls were...themselves and I think that alone was enough to convince both our friends they never wanted children and might be even willing to pass up ever getting married. OK...maybe it wasn't that bad. But I failed to take a single picture. Sorry I am so busy living life I often fail to document it...at least that sounds better than the camera needed new batteries, eh?

Megan continues to entertain us with her amazing wit and intellect. Sunday during church as we were getting ready to take the sacrament. I was quietly talking to her about what we were going to do and why(mostly to hopefully get her to stop talking incessantly in her normal speaking voice...anybody know when kids learn to whisper?) And so I told her we were going to take the water to remind us of Jesus' blood and the bread reminds us of his body. And she replies, "We don't drink blood." She said it fairly loudly two or three times. Oh well, I am sure the sweet sister sitting in front of us was thinking why don't these people get a muzzle for their adorable child. Sigh.

As for my little Madie, she is a sweetie pie. Pretty easy going, sleeping almost through the night and already 17 lbs. She is already wearing clothes that Meg wore when she was crawling. She is a little cuddle bug and so smiley. She coos and babbles a lot, and even tries to sing if there is music on. She got her immunizations last week and was a pretty good sport about the whole thing. Now if we could only get her to take a bottle...tips anyone?

Yesterday we went to a strawberry patch and picked 5 quarts of delicious strawberries. Meg was very excited that we were picking strawberries like on one of her favorite episodes of Dora. I think we will go back Monday and get a few more to freeze or make jam or something equally domestic.

Two going on 13

2009-03-18T14:57:00.004-05:00

Pete brought Meg the pink ukulele from Hawaii

What... do I look like I am on a diet?

Madie asleep in the bouncy chair.

You know you have arrived when you have this conversation with your child. The other day Megan was not happy with us about having to sit in her high chair for meal time. So I was trying to get the screaming and crying to stop and in the process I said, "Megan we love you." And she said between wails, "No, you don't love me. YOU don't love me!" My jaw dropped and I just stopped and stared. It was said with all the drama and angst of a 13 year old girl. I thought we wouldn't have this one come up for another 10 or 11 years, but nope, at two she already gets how to really punish her poor mom.

She has been so funny lately. She assigns us all character roles from movies and then calls us by that name all day. Today is a "Matilda" day and I am "Miss Honey", Pete is "Ms Trunchable", Madie is Matilda's friend "Lavender" and of course Meg is Matilda. On other days we are all characters from Madagascar, Pete is Melman the giraffe, I am Marty the Zebra, Meg is Gloria Hippo and Madie is Alex the lion. She woke up on one of these days asking "Where is Melman?" It is pretty funny, but sometimes I forget who I am, and what movie I am in. Meg is happy to remind us.

Madie continues to be a happy and smiley girl, but does have a fussy time in the afternoon, usually between 3:30-5pm. Otherwise she is a darling girl and its nice to have someone else calm around here.

2009-03-17T05:49:00.002-05:00

This is not the post I intended to write this morning. But after checking out a few blogs and crying over the challenges of some, this is the blog I need to write today.

I am so blessed. I am so lucky. My life is good and full. I have so much to be grateful for and so little to complain about. I tend to forget just how good life is when there are toys and strewn all over our small space, when my toddler wakes up crying in the middle of the night just cause, when I find Pete has eaten the last of the ice cream, when our computer is infected with 26 viruses, when the folded laundry gets unfold for the 3rd time before I can get it put away, when Madie insists its time to eat only an hour after her last meal, when I look in the mirror and see the new wrinkles and the old lovehandles still going strong.

Life is all about perception and perspective. Today I am CHOOSING to see a home where the residents aren't afraid to live and make a little mess, where the toddler knows that even in the middle of the night Mom and Dad will come because they care, where my husband is supporting me in my weightloss goals by getting rid of all the temptations, where we have all the technology we need, where we are blessed to have a washer and dryer and the ability to do our own laundry, where there is a darling healthy chunky baby to cuddle, hold and care for, and where when I look in the mirror I see a daughter of God, made in his image, who gets to experience mortality and look forward to resurrected body.

I will write the post I was going to later. This is the one I needed to write for me.

2009-02-28T08:05:00.002-06:00

Pete is enjoying his Hawaiian Vacation(or work trip) and I am enjoying my sleepless nights with my two little princesses. Seriously, we are having a grand time, but I could use a about a 36 hour nap. Last night Megan had such a hard night she ended up in bed with me...and I ended up sleeping across the bottom of the bed, without a pillow, because she was turned sideways and I couldn't handle the kicking and she had ALL the pillows. Needless to say when the alarm went off this morning I did not get up to exercise.

Wednesday late afternoon Madie woke up with pink eye, so I took her to the urgent care, because it is almost impossible to get into our Pedi on base the same day or even sometimes within two days(grrrr) and I didn't want to wait. Her eye was pretty swollen. They gave me erythromicin eye ointment and seriously by yesterday it looked 98% better. So far Meg and I are pink eye free...I hope it lasts.

While we were at the urgent care they weighed the little chunky monkey and she weighed 16 lbs 12 oz with her clothes on. I knew she was heavy, but come on...Meg didn't hit 16lbs until she was almost 6 months...and I thought she was a nice chunky girl...Madie is a sumo wrestler in comparison. I just don't understand how she can be gaining like this, and I am eating 1700 (very healthy) calories or less everyday, and I am still not really loosing weight. Oh well. Maybe when I wean her in a couple months, the weight will just fall off! I can hope right?

Time flys...and so does Pete!

2009-02-24T19:43:00.006-06:00

Can you say Budda Belly?

The Monkey suit is size 6-12 months. It already fits Madie.
Megan in her Cinderella dress from Delora and Grady!

Saturday, Pete took Megan to her first Daddy Daughter Dinner and Dance. It was hosted on base. I don't know who was more excited Megan or Pete, but they had a good time. Here are pictures of the two of them all dressed up!

Lately we have been having some issues when it is time to pray with Megan...When it is her turn she talks so quietly you can hardly hear her, and when its anyone elses turn she talks loudly through the prayer and so you can't hear them. So the other night she had started to say family prayers..."Heavenly Father...mumble mumble.....grateful....mumble mumble...and so I stopped her and said. Meg, can you say it loud enough so daddy and I can hear. So the next thing you know...HEAVENLY FATHER, WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THIS DAY...etc...all at the top of her lungs. So yeah...who knew two year olds were such literalists.

Madie has had to move up to size 2 diapers. The 1-2's were just too small. This is one big girl. Last night I put a set of 3-6 month pj's on for the first and last time...just too small for our big little girl. She is a little cuddlebug and I am so glad for that. She is also starting to really coo and it is too cute. Madie has her three month check, with shots on Monday ( we were out of town for the two so we are already behind...swell)

Pete is heading off to Hawaii in the next day or so for a 5-6 day trip. Poor Pete. But he did promise to bring me a box of pinapples...I love fresh pinapple.

And I keep plugging away at my resolutions...progress on all fronts is slow but someone wise once said "Progress is not so much a matter of speed, as it is a matter of direction..." or something like that. So atleast I continue to persevere and I have 8 months left on the get in shape one...plenty of time right?

Happy Anniversary

2009-02-20T12:52:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we hit the milestone of having been married for 4 years. Its hard to believe its been that long. How did we celebrate you might wonder...we spent all day unpacking, rotating clothes for little girls,(Madie has out grown EVERYTHING) and ended with a family trip to the commissary for groceries. Thanks to my parents baby sitting we were able to go out to lunch without children on the 17th. But before you think we are too lame...Pete just got back into the USA on Sunday...arrived in Missouri to pick us up late Monday night. We flew out on Wednesday...arriving at 7pm that evening. It's been busy!

Pete rarely reads my bloggings, but I just want to say I love you!!! Thanks for 4 fun fast flying years...heres to at least another 46 more!!! I love you enough to do a feat...even Everest!!!

Ice storms, sleep deprivation, and two little monsters.

2009-01-27T07:02:00.003-06:00

So much for writing more often, eh? Oh well I am working at my resolutions slowly as not to burn out and quit! ; )

Yesterday afternoon an Ice Storm hit our part of Missouri...there is atleast an inch of ice covering everything outside. Thankfully we are warm and safe inside. We continue to pray that the power doesn't go out...which often occurs with ice storms. School and work are cancelled for today for my brothers and Dad, so we will get to enjoy a little down time together.

Megan and Madie have been playing tag team with their poor mother at night. It seems as soon as Madie finishes her midnight'ish snack and mom slips back to sleep...it's Megans turn to make sure mom knows who's boss. Don't worry...it only took a few nights to figure out who's in charge and I know it's not me!!! I am at the mercy of my two darling monsters.

Megan is such a kick in the pants. She heard me talking to my mom about how it would be fun to go down to Puerto Rico and see Peter's Aunt Flo and Uncle John. The next thing I know she is walking around saying "I want to got to Puerto Rico." I told her to tell Pete that when she talked to him on the phone, so for the next 24 hours she would say "Call Daddy. I want to go to Puerto Rico." When Pete finally called she said "Hi daddy. I want to go to Puerto Rico." He of course thought I had been coaching her...not necessary...she is a two year old who knows what she wants! AND SHE WANTS TO GO TO PUERTO RICO!!!!!

Peter is doing well. We miss him, and can't wait for him to come home. But we are so blessed in that he calls almost everyday and our deployments are more or less voluntary and of short duration.

Madie is not quite as calm as I previously blogged about and appears to have a bit of a temper too. Meg hit her for the first...(and better be the last) time yesterday. But at the rate Madie is growing..(according to my parents scale she is already 13 lbs at 8 weeks) Megan better watch out. It won't be long before Madie can hold her own in a sisterly fight!

New Years Resolution

2009-01-12T05:49:00.003-06:00

So I have decided to post some of my New Year's Resolutions in order to increase my accountability, and therefore hopefully my success.

So here they are in no particular order:
1. Get back in shape...I turn 30 this year and want to be in the best shape of my life by my 30th Birthday. This goal will take a lot of work, but I am committed to it! I won't list how much weight I want to lose, but lets just say it is enough to keep me working hard til I turn 30 in October.

2. Read my Scriptures EVERY day... this goal has alluded me since children came on the scene, but 2009 is the year for greatness.

3. Blog more. I am so impressed with the depth of some of your blog entries...mine are usually just about daily events and vomit, so my goal is to include more of my thoughts and feelings about daily events, not necessarily my thoughts and feeling about vomit because that shouldn't be necessary...who likes vomit?

4. Get more organized...we have 4 people in 980 square feet of space and it is a little tight, but I know it will feel less small and confined if we get organized. I like our place, its just small, so I think if I minimize the "stuff" factor, it will feel bigger.

I think that will keep me busy for the year...don't you??

PS. Peter made it safely to Qatar, and I will write updates on him, as I receive them!!!

Ringing in the New Year!!!

2009-01-07T07:24:00.003-06:00

The December Recap...
We had a great Christmas...of which I will post pictures later. It included a new kitchen set for Megan and Madie, a new flat iron for me, new running shoes for Pete, a trip to the beach and friends over for dinner. It was a great, laid back day! Then Pete took a check ride on the 30th, and then we got up at 3 am on the 31st so we could make our 6am flight to my parents house. Though tired, we enjoyed our first day with my parents very much...

Embracing 2009
...the next day (Jan 1st)Megan vomited while jumping on the trampoline with cousin Zeta and though we hoped it was just due to being jostled...it was the stomache flu.
We blessed Madilyn that night while my brothers, Nicholas and Seth and sister Ashlie were still in town. It was a beautiful blessing and my dad and his dad were also able to be in the circle while Pete blessed her. Pete's mom, made Madie a very pretty blessing dress of which I will post pictures later.

Megan vomited all through the night on the 1st, throughout the 2nd, and the morning of the 3rd. While my mom took Pete to the airport so he could head home to prepare for his deployment, my Dad and I ended up taking an increasingly more and more lethargic, dehydrated Megan to the ER. We spent 4-5 hours there while they drew blood, did x-rays, gave her some Zofran, and started orally rehydrating her. So our last few days as a family were not quite what we had planned, as the last night before Pete left he spent the night taking care of a vomiting Megan and I took care of a hungry Madie in different rooms. Kind of sad, but that is just the way family life is sometimes. Megan woke up Sunday the 4th back to her sassy self and has been doing fairly well since. I got feeling sick Sunday night...and now am feeling better.

Gratitude
I am grateful Madie has so far, stayed well. I am so grateful for a husband who is a hands on dad. I couldn't do this by myself. I am also grateful to be with my parents while he is gone for a 5 weeks. So we are out in Missouri for a while. I plan to try to blog while I'm here (one of my new years resolutions), but it depends on my parents internet connection which is only good between 2-6am, most days! Hope everyone else had a less eventful and more enjoyable way to usher in the new year. Welcome 2009!!!

Happy Birthday Megan!!!

2008-12-14T20:25:00.002-06:00

My darling toddler turned two today...though we won't be celebrating until Pete gets back from his 6 day trip tomorrow!!! Meg has brought us two years of joy, sleep deprivation, and amazement! Being Megan's mom has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. We are so blessed to be the parents of our busy, very verbal, intelligent, and precocious Megan Grace!!! Happy Birthday Megs!!!

Boy are these two girls different!

2008-12-07T09:29:00.005-06:00

Though Madie is not yet even a week old, I am constantly amazed at the difference in personality and temperment between my two darling girls. After only 6 hours of life, Megan had decided it was time to take charge, and started making demands! She cried a lot, slept very little, and had to be held constantly. So imagine our surprise to have a newborn who sleeps, only cries when she is hungry, and can calmly and happily be laid down, awake for stretches of time!!! How grateful I am for both of them, and so glad Heavenly Father sent them in the order he did!!!

Baby Madie is here!!!!

2008-12-05T18:16:00.006-06:00

Baby Madilyn Faith Olsen arrived via C-section December 1, 2008 at 11:14 am. She weighed in at 9 lbs and 2 oz. When we arrived at the hospital I was really hoping to keep trying for my VBAC, but the Dr. was very candid saying she didn't feel comfortable letting my pregnancy progress past 41 weeks and I was already three days over that. She said if I was showing some progress she might have been willing to consider letting my pregnancy continue, but that things were not ptrogressing despite the contractions I was having. I am grateful we went a head with the c-section for a few reasons...#1 There was a true knot in the cord, which could have ended badly had Madie thrashed around too much or been able to descend for a vaginal delivery, #2 is size...She is bigger than I thought she would be, though her head is a little smaller than Meg's was, and #3 I don't have to decide about trying next time for a vaginal birth...I can schedule my c-section at 39 weeks! This c-section has been more painful in someways, but now we are home and things are going well. Megan is adjusting well to little sister and sure enjoyed all the extra time with Daddy. Daddy is doing great, although he may be feeling a little outnumbered... My mom is here helping and that has been great!!! Thanks for everyones well wishes and prayers!

Patiently Waiting!

2008-12-01T02:08:00.002-06:00

Happy December 1st!!! I can't believe December is here and I am still waiting for this baby to be born. I have a C-section scheduled for 12:30 today, but am going in early to see if I can get the Dr. to give me a few more days to go on my own. I have been having a lot of contractions, and it seems as if my body is getting started...just slowly. So we will see what the Dr. says today, today may be the baby's birthday, or it may not... I am just amazed at my ability to wait...as it patience has never been my thing!

Meg Singing!

2008-11-21T08:02:00.003-06:00

Here she is singing I Feel My Saviors Love

A new way to say Good Morning!!!

2008-11-18T14:22:00.002-06:00

This morning Meg woke up, just as Pete was leaving for work, so he went and got her out of bed, brought her to me, and got her the sippy cup of milk she was asking for. She said bye to daddy and drank her milk. Then she and I lay down to snuggle. 5 minutes later she was asleep. Great, so I got out of bed to check my email, do some online holiday shopping, etc. 45 minutes later she woke up and I waddled over to sit by her when wham...all the sudden she threw up, all over my bed. She threw up three times in rapid succession, and managed to get every layer, the duvet cover, the duvet, the sheets, and the mattress pad. I hope this is not our new morning greeting!!!

Why am I ditching church....

2008-11-16T10:38:00.002-06:00

because I am in PAIN...but no, don't get excited, I am not in labor, just strained a muscle in my neck and can hardly move. I decided to skip church and lay around at home, not moving!!!

Its been a fun week. Pete's Aunt Delora and Uncle Grady, and Miss Monique the bunny came down from South Carolina for a visit. We had a blast. They brought us all presents and took us out for Ethiopian food (Very good). Megan loved Miss Monique too much, and had to be told on numerous occassions not to squeeze the bunny and to be gentle. Miss Monique was a trooper!!! We went to the zoo and Megan played in the fountains until she was soaked, much to the delight and entertainment of half the zoo's visitors. We had a great week with Delora and Grady, and can't wait for them to visit again...and of course bring Miss Monique.

As far a pregnancy goes, I am 39 weeks and 1 day and thus far remaining patient. If anything I don't want to go into labor until my neck feels a little better. Last week the baby was -1 station, and that I was 50% effaced, and fingertip dilated. So while it probably won't happen before my due date...it probably will happen before my scheduled c-section of December 1st!!! My gut feeling is that baby will come on Thanksgiving!!! Yeah for me!!

Oh the funny things they say...

2008-11-05T05:48:00.003-06:00

Megan has been super funny and cute the past week, which almost makes up for the non-sleepi ng that has been happening at our house lately. Yesterday morning when I heard her stiring I, went in to get her up and the first thing she said to me was "Are you picking your nose" I laughed, replied no and then asked her the same question. She nodded in the affirmative. Apparently we have another bad habit to break?!

Sunday we were playing on my bed. She likes to play with my hair, and pul it all into my face...drives me crazy, but in the midst of this she looked at me, put her arms around my neck and said"I love you so much". And so of course after that I had to let her keep playing with my hair.

Yesterday we took her to vote, but she was sure we were talking about "Boating" and not voting and kept singing..."Row, row, row your boat" and I am sure she was a little disapointed when we got there and there were no boats and no water. Course her dissapointment is no where near my level of dissapointment over the outcome of the election. :(

Well to day I am 37 weeks and 4 days and am anxiously looking forward to the upcoming eviction of this baby. Everyday I make Megan tell baby sister to come out...hoping that a little positive peer pressure will do the trick. But by December 1st this baby will be out, so I am just trying to be patient.

The day the Binky died!!!

2008-10-27T14:39:00.002-05:00

Just when you think you have life somewhat figured out, something terrible goes and happens. Our tragic event involves the death of one of the few things that have kept us sane through all our moving, traveling, poor sleeping habits, and parental upheaval...Yes Megan's last Binky kicked the bucket. For those of you who are smart enough to use your average Joe, easily replaceable Binky's, you can't understand the trauma involved. In your head your saying go to Walmart and replace it...Our problem is that our Binky's were ordered for us, by a good friend off some cute website, the nipple is unlike others I have seen in the store. So I tried to solve this dilemma by getting on and ordering a couple new ones...no dice!!! They have been recalled! We are out of luck. So I went to Babies R US and bought a few she could try...we even tried calling one "the Harry Potter Binky as Megan loves all things Harry Potter...not working.

My mother said, "Well now you just have to wean her, I guess." The problem is I don't want to wean her....I need a binky for my happiness and survival,...oops I mean her happiness of course. She isn't napping, or sleeping well, and church has become a noise fest, and the best part of all is we have a little less than a month to get it all settled down before Baby #2 makes her appearance and throws a wrench in the already broken nap and sleep routine. Sure I can't sleep through the night anyway, at this point, but that doesn't mean I want my toddler for company at 4 am. Pete and I are mourning the loss of our greatest parental friend and I am sure we will be for a while. I just am happy to know that all Binky's go to heaven.

Home to stay...what a beautiful phrase

2008-10-19T15:01:00.002-05:00

We are back from our Utah trip. We enjoyed seeing family and friends and survived all the craziness of Pete's sisters wedding. It was a great day, but a long one and I think Meg handled it better than I did, by the reception I wanted someone to start a morphine drip and find a flat place for me to lay down, but it was a lovely occassion all the same.

So we made it home on Thursday and to prove to ourselves our committment to stay put, we finally bought Megan a crib. Yes, we have finally moved her out her very protable pack 'n' play into a real crib. While I know most of you probably are moving your kids into toddler beds at this point, we are a little slow, so maybe early next year everyone will get another upgrade. Meg keeps calling her new bed, her "Jesus Bed."(Shrug) I don't know if this is because it is now against the wall where her picture of Christ and the children hangs or what but for some reason she has made this association and it will probably last a while. The first time she got in it, she kept jumping up and down in it while repeating "No jumping on the bed"...oh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

I am officially 35 weeks today and while I still have a ton to do, I am almost ready to mentally check out of this whole pregnancy thing. It is to the point where you can't sit, you can't stand, and you can't lay down because it is all so darned UNCOMFORTABLE!!!! I see the CNMidwife on Thursday and hopefully this will encourage me to have the patience to continue to shoot for a VBAC and not just schedule a repeat C-section.

Attatched are some pictures from Europe as we can finally access them. Ignore the poor quality I am a horrible photographer.

We might just survive

2008-10-02T21:40:00.002-05:00

Life can be pretty hard when you are 21 months and you've never lived anywhere longer than 4 months. Meg and I are back in Florida waiting for Pete to return (on Saturday) from Germany. Last night we went and had dinner with some friends (Jenn and Travis) who now live in our condo complex and on the way back Meg started getting hysterical and crying, she kept saying over and over "go home, want to go home." I kept telling her we were "home", but I am not sure what that even means to my little world traveler. We have one more trip planned (to Utah on Monday) and then I am staying home until atleast January. This kid needs some structure and stability and she is going to get it...sort of.

Today she was sitting in her high chair during lunch and I was wandering in and out doing chores until I heard her singing "we love Megan, she loves me, we love baby sister, yes siree, she loves us and so you see, we are a happy family." I wanted to cry, I was so happy to hear that she plans to love baby sister.

I have been worrying a little about how Meg was going to handle a new sibling, and in the past few weeks she seems a lot more excited and wants to talk about the baby all the time. Now she says... "Baby out, Doctor, in November." Today we went to my OB appointment and Meg was excited to hear "baby heartbeat" she was not so excited when they took my blood pressure though. Today I am 32 weeks and 5 days, and I am praying that this baby will come at 38 weeks so that she won't be quite so large. So just maybe we will all survive afterall. I sure love my little girls...and their Daddy too!

Meg and I made it back to the good ole' USA

2008-09-04T02:51:00.002-05:00

After an exciting and very long 20 hour day, Megan and I made it back to Florida. We were sad to leave Pete in Germany for another month, but happy to be home...briefly. We got home on September 2nd at 6 pm and leave this morning at 6 am for the airport to go to my parents house.

A trip east

2008-08-11T14:24:00.003-05:00

Last week we took a trip to Garmish Germany. Garmish is the lovely area where crazy Ludwig the II built Neuschwanstein. It was a beautiful area. We drove about 5 1/2 hours and met our friends Miro and Joanna (from Italy) there. We stayed in a guesthouse, which is like a boarding house where we rented a room for two days and the landlady made us breakfast. It was a neat expereince, my only complaint might be that the shower and toilet were down the hall and not attached to our room. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the fact that baby #2 tends to dance on my bladder in the middle of the night and that invaribly I must get up and empty the dance floor 2-3 times a night...but anyway my nocturnal bladder habits are somewhat dull so I will continue with other more interesting things.

We were able to see the beautiful area, some castles and churches and then we also drove 2 hours so we could go into Austria to see the city of Salzburg, birth place of Mozart. Salzburg was a neat little city and I wish we would have had more time to spend there. By 4pm we had said good bye to our Italian friends and jumped in the car to make the 7 1/2 hour trip home. Our timing of getting in the car was good as it started to rain heavily at that point, but we also ended up in a stau (german for traffic jam) between Munich and Stuttgart that last a little over an hour. I don't know who had a harder time on the way home...Megan or me, but I was so happy to pull into base around midnight and finally get out of the car. Megan refused to fall asleep on the ride home until a little after 10pm. But happily while she was transfered from the car, diaper and PJ changed, she went right to bed without a peep.

I think my need for travel quota has almost been met for the year and I will be glad to get home and stay put for a few months, until the need to travel gets to me again. Besides the reality of adding another member to our family is beginning to dawn on me and I think this might discourage me from even wanting to leave the condo to go to the grocery store let alone treck across foreign soil with another little person in tow.

A trip to Paris

2008-07-30T02:34:00.003-05:00

So we went to Paris last Thursday and I fell in love with a city. I always thought all the qoutes about Paris from movies like Sabrina were a little romancizied and overdone. But I had those same warm fuzzies for the culture capital of Europe.

Of course when I imagined going to Paris I never imagined going with a toddler in tow. But for the most part Meg was a champ. Her favorite part was riding the subway all over the city, mine was the pastries, and the paintings, and the museums, and everything we saw and did. Meg also made some weird association between Paris and Harry Potter and kept asking "Watch Harry Potter?" Maybe it was the train...who knows how this little girls mind works.

We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc De Triomphe, the museum d'Orsay, the Louvre, the basilica Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, and Versailles. It was an incredible trip. I hope to post pictures later.

Update

2008-07-14T08:39:00.003-05:00

So our laptop won't let us retrieve the pictures from our digital camera, so I haven't been posting in part because how fun are our Europe bloggings without some good pictures. But here is a brief update: We are alive and well. We have gotten to travel a little. We went to Amsterdam and Belgium and had a great time. We went to the Van Gogh museum and the Rieks Museum in Amsterdam. Thursday we are suppossed to go to Paris for three days and I am so excited.

My German Dr. thinks most likely we are having a girl though he is still unsure because baby has not cooperated with providing good pictures. Whoever is in there is getting big and already has big feet. I go back to the Dr in late August and hopefully we will know for sure. I don't really want to be surprised, but maybe we won't have a choice. I am 22 weeks and have already gained 9-10 lbs which is twice what I'd gained with Megan by this time. I blame the German pastries but after our trip to Paris I am committed to quit eating dessert everyday and hopefully slow down my weight gain so I don't have a 9 lb baby this time around!

Our trip to Berg Eltz

2008-06-16T00:26:00.004-05:00

Pete had most of the day free on Saturday so we decided to travel about an hour to see a castle. Here castles are sometimes called a Berg. So we set out to see Berg Eltz. We were hoping Megan would sleep on the way, but this did not happen. So we followed the directions to the castle and come to a little parking area with a trailer, still we can see no castle, but the sign says Berg Eltz. But Peter, talks to the lady at the parking area, who seems to think we shouldn't park there because we have Megan and she says its a 1.6 kilometer walk(this is all in German mind you, so I don't understand anything that is being said) or we can drive 18 kilometers and park a little closer. We decide we have our beat up German stroller and we don't mind walking a little ways. So though the lady looks at us a little disapproving and is probably shaking her head and saying crazy Americans, we pay to park.

So we load Meg in her stroller and head down the paved little road. Then abruptly the paving stops, still no castle in site, but maybe its just around the bend. The path is very rocky by this point and our old German stroller is not enjoying bumping, bumping along, though Meg still is at this point. Then as we head further down the path, and now there are tree roots crisscrossing the path and now Megan is no longer enjoying the bumpy ride either. The path comes to a little glen area where it breaks off in a couple directions, we head up the steep path because we can see the castle through the trees. We have to ditch our stroller half way up because even without Megan it is now almost impossible to push. This is the view from the top of the hill.

No we look around for the rest of the trail and it seems to scale down the hill side, so we begin scaling down the steep hill, really having to make our own trail as the trail doesn't seem to be very good. Honestley, it was exceddingly steep and the whole time Pete and I are saying how crazy this is, so we finally get down the hill safely and meet up with the real trail, and realize somehow we missed the real trail. As we come up the trail to the castles all these people are standing at the top, apparently they had been watching the "crazy Americans" scale down the mountainside with a toddler. Probably not the safest thing we have ever done with Meg, but Pete did an awesome job.

We finally make it up to the castle and buy our tickets. We go and start the tour with a group of Germans, in German. ( I get a paper with the English translation for .60 Euros) and the tour starts. Well about 2 minutes into the tour Meg decideds she is done and begins to cry...loudly. We tried everything as the people in our group are staring us down. Finally we decided to leave and our Tour guide says, why don't you take turns, so Pete takes Meg out to the little restraunt to get a bratwurst and some french fries and I stayed and finished the tour. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the tour, but the inside of the castle was awesome. The furniture, the painintgs and tapestrieis, the weapons, and the metal work were all so neat. I can't believe the quality of the workmanship.

Then Pete and I switched. Did I mention it has been raining off and on since we got up to the castle and its cold. While Pete is taking the tour I chatted with some Americans and chased Meg. When Pete finished we headed back up the trail (sticking to the real trail). Meg decides she wants to take a nap and only wants Mommy to carry her...yeah I was dying. As soon as she had fallen asleep I handed her off to Pete, we retreived our stroller and walked the rest of the way back. I was trying desperately to not get too out of breathe but I think I was lucky just to make it all the way back to the car pushing the stroller. The moral of this story is when a little old German lady says you should drive to the other parking area, you should probably listen to her. But the castle was still worth the hike.

We survived our trip across the ocean!!

2008-06-08T08:16:00.007-05:00

Well, we made it! Whew.....Meg was actually very pleasant. However, the first night here as Mom and Dad were trying to get over jetlag Meg spent the night throwing up. Yeah fun for Mom! The housing situation is a little irritating. The people in charge are telling us that we will have to move rooms every 3 days since summer is the big miitary moving season. It has also been cold for us newly acclimitized Floridians...I guess less than a month ago they had an ice storm here. We didn't really pack for winter, so we will be making some wardrobe adjustments if it doesn't warm up soon.

Everything else is great. The countryside is beautiful. We are in the perfect spot for traveling. Paris is 3 hours, Amsterdam is 4, and today we went down to explore Luxemburg. It's onlyabout 30 min's away. We went to the ward today and it seems like it will be great, everyone was very nice and friendly and Meg stayed in Nursery alone for the last hour...yeah! Luxemburg was cool, the little we saw and I did take a few pictures...mostly of Meg trying to crawl into all the fountains and picking flowers. But Luxemburg is close enough that we take several short trips to see all the cool sites on days that Pete doesn't have to work a full day or has 4 or 5 hours available.

Leaving tomorrow

2008-06-02T13:27:00.002-05:00

We are leaving tomorrow for our European adventure. I wish I could say we were 100 % packed and ready...but we aren't. So I will get off here and get busy. I promise I will still try to blog and keep up with everyone, even from our new location! Tschuss!

Tagged!!!

2008-05-27T14:04:00.002-05:00

I was tagged by cousin Claire and by my friend Kristin, so here it goes...

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was just graduating from high school and getting ready to leave for BYU which I did less than 2 weeks of graduation. Met some of my best friends that summer. Oh the stories we could tell on each other, but dont cause we are still friends!

5 things on my to-do list?
1.Pack
2. Clean
3. Take a nap
4. Make a bunch of important phone calls
5. Laundry

If I were a billionare I would...only do number three from my to-do list! First I would take a nap. Then I would hire a maid, personal chef and an accountant/personal assistant to do all the paper work that I HATE doing. Then I would take another nap. Then I would set up a scholarship fund for nursing students. Generously give to the church and my family. Buy an island and an airplane and live quietly and remotely. Oh and probably adopt a bunch of children so I would never have to be pregnant again!

Bad habits...I occasionally swear for emphasis, I speed often, and I dislike leftovers.

5 places I've lived...
Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah and that is just since Pete and I got married!!!

6 jobs I've had
RN at VVRMC, TX
RN at Primary Childrens, UT
LPN at Primary Childrens, UT
TA at BYU, UT
MTC Teacher, UT
Mormon Missionary...if you consider that a job...I didn't get paid much though :)
Sales Associate for a .com, UT

3 things people don't know about me... I have excellent directional sense and can read a map very well, but without a little mole on my right hand, I couldn't tell you left from right. I was born at home in Chino Valley AZ. Two midwives were there to help my mom. I love books...which some of you know...but I love Tom Clancy books...I am currently reading Executive Order.

I tag whoever feels like they should post something and doesn't have anything exciting to post.

Saturday Matinee

2008-05-24T15:17:00.004-05:00

So we decided it had been a long time since we had seen a movie and decided to see how Meg would do in the movie theater. Today we went to see Prince Caspian. We tried to get Meg to take a nap this morning(which she normally does) but it was a no go, so we risked it and took an overly tired little girl the movie anyway. She was really good...for a while and the movie was good. I look forward to renting it someday to see all the parts we missed. However, I think she might have made it through a 90 minute movie, just nothing over 2 hours. So it wasn't a disaster, but we did have to spend the last 40 minutes juggling and walking up and down the hall with a little girl who was just done sitting. She loved the horses and Aslan though and the snacks. Peter had Friday off and also has Monday off, so we are enjoying our looooong weekend as a family!

PS I did finally get into a Dr's office and they are going to let me try to VBAC if I want. We will see how I feel about it as we get closer, but it's nice to know there is a chance. Well, I need to get off here, cause Pete is cooking bacon and the smell is making me sick...I love being pregnant!!!

Sunday with the Olsen's

2008-05-18T20:11:00.002-05:00

So we are almost settled into our new place and our new life. I taught nursery at church today and Megan quite enjoyed playing with "kids". She has been saying the words kids and Jesus over and over all week as she has been so excited to get back to nursery. Yeah, she is still a little young, but I figure if I am helping out in there they can hardley say no...right? So we enjoyed a loud and rowdy day at church and then after our naps and some clean up went to Picnic Island...a little beach park where we went looking for puppies. Megan is obsessed about dogs right now and since we don't have one and won't be getting one anytime soon, we occassionally try to meet her puppy needs by going out and finding some for her to pet, chase, and yes...kiss. (Gag) Today we saw three or four and she was in Dog Heaven. She tormented one of the smaller ones, Eddy by chasing him around and shreiking happily at him. He will probably have nightmares tonight, but Meg was thrilled. Then we went up the beach a little ways, swung on the swing , watch a fellow Kite Surf, met a bunch of nice, friendly kids and then returned home for a late and hurried dinner before putting Megan down to dream of puppies and kids. What a beautiful Sunday!

In other news, our summer plans have changed...again. We are now leaving for Germany the first week of June and will be there until the end of August or the first day of September. We are excited to get another month to experience Germany, but are a little stressed about all the stuff that needs done on a three week timeline, when originally we were thinking we'd be leaving in 7 weeks. I have yet to get into a DR. here and reaaly must before we leave the country. If you have a passport and can find a cheap ticket we welcome any visitors.

By special request from Aunt Anna...Megs in the pool

2008-05-08T20:05:00.004-05:00

Please ignore the voice of the narrator(me). I sound like a big nerd.

In other news yesterday was Pete's 31st Birthday!!! Happy Birthday, Honey!Meg got daddy some balloons...so she could play with them. And I got him a new pair of shorts...which he actually liked...He is incredibly hard to buy gifts for,not because he is picky, but just cause he never "wants" or "needs" anything. WhenI asked him what he wanted this year...he said, "A hug." I said "nope, I can't wrap a hug"So I am thrilled the shorts were a success. Maybe I'll go but a few more pairs...onefor Father's Day, one for Christmas, and a pair for our anniversary next year!!!HA!

An Announcement....The zoo has moved and will be expanding

2008-04-28T21:06:00.002-05:00

So I guess it is time to announce that the Olsen Zoo will be getting a new attraction come November. The Mother elephant (I already feel big) will be giving birth to the hopefully little, but most likely large, baby elephant. So yes for those who didn't know, we are expecting!!!

While gestation for elephants is usually longer...I am on the accelerated program only 9 months...but I am sure it will feel like two years!!! I am very excited but not feeling well and I am just praying that baby #2 will be a better sleeper than Megan was/is and that he or she will be healthy!!!

Pete is hoping for a boy this time, and I would be happy with another little girl, but we will take whatever Heavenly Father gives us and just be grateful we are going to be having two. I have to say that 2nd pregnancies really do go faster than the first one, but still not quite fast enough through the first trimester...Blah!

I was Tagged... 8 things about Megan

2008-04-26T08:52:00.003-05:00

Chelsea...thanks for tagging me...
8things about Megan...

1 Megan is really a fish!
Meggie loves to swim, bath, and even just play in water in a bowl or cup while sitting in her high chair. She has always loved the water and now that we have moved to Tampa, Fl(story to follow in later post) Megan goes swimming once a day!!

2 Megan is addicted to her binki.
We sadly have only one binki left that Megan will take....she is very particular about her binkis. We lost it the other day at the commissary and had to make three trips back to the store so we could finally retrieve it! Thank goodness there was a lot of crying and very little napping until it was found.

3 Megan is not a sleeper.
I love her to pieces...just the way she is, but if I could change one thing about her this would be it! She is getting better as she gets older which is a blessing, but I would love her to just sleep all night and take two good naps.

4 Megan loves Elmo
Yes, I realize most toddlers love Elmo. But Megan has an Elmo tooth brush and that is her favorite Elmo and if we would let her she would brush her teeth a billion times a day. So while her oral hygiene would be impeccable for my sake I limit it to twice a day!

5 Megan is an Extrovert
She loves people and assumes that everyone wants to be her friend. She says hi to everyone and goes up to strangers as if they were old friends. She is also always ready and willing to share whatever they have...with them.

6 Megan thinks Daddy hung the moon
Megan loves her daddy. All day she asks about where daddy is and when he is coming home? "Home soon," "Home soon" is one of the phrases she says the most at our house.

7 Megan loves Jesus and her scripture book.
Since about 12 months, church has become more of a workout than a spiritual uplift. We spend most to all of our time out in the halls walking from picture to picture of Jesus and identifying him. She wants to pray over every meal and often reminds us when we have forgotten. She also loves to read from her first Book of Mormon book especially the stories about Alma and wicked King Noah.

8 Megan loves to call people on the phone...especially OPA
Megan loves to play with and use our cell phones. Some morning she waked up asking to call Opa (Grandpa Olsen). She likes to walk around the house with the phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder and pretending to chit chat with Opa. Pete claims that is my influence since he is not a phone talker!!!

I tag Alissa (just do three for each of yours), and the Emily's

New Shoes...while the cats away the mice will spend his money

2008-03-29T14:31:00.003-05:00

So Pete is in Florida for the weekend (working of course) and Megan and I went to the mall. And while at the mall we bought shoes...we bought three pairs of size 4 shoes for Megan. I have never been a shoe girl. I wear my shoes til they are barely recognizable because I hate to shop for them and I HATE to break a new pair in. I like flip flops better than shoes, but I only have two pairs of those and my favorite pair is over 5 years old and sadly will probably have to be replaced this summer as they will probably disintegrate before my very eyes. But I love those flip flops. I agree that three pairs of shoes in one day might very well seem like overkill (if they were for me it would seem crazy). But Meg actually likes shoes, needed shoes, and they were reasonably priced. So now we merely get to justify our possibly excessive purchases to the bread winner. Of course, we have to do something to entertain ourselves while he is out of town, right!!!

Our exciting Easter Weekend...or Poor Peter

2008-03-26T10:24:00.003-05:00

Pete left on Thursday evening to fly to Germany. This was his first international flight and he was very excited to fly over the Atlantic and fly into Europe. Everything went well, but during the landing(which he did not do) they blew a tire. So he got stuck in Germany. Poor Peter. Stuck in his favorite place, visiting castles, eating bratwurst and hanging out in Germany. Poor Peter. He is hopefully on his way home. He was suppossed to be back Sunday afternoon and now it is Wednesday. Sadly he did have to reschedule his job interview that was suppossed to be on Tuesday for April 10th, which is a little dissapointing to both of us, but it will all work out. We sure missed hime while he was gone and wish international phone time wasn't so darn expensive.

Megan and I left also on Thursday for Ohio. We went to go visit one of my college roomates for the weekend. Megan had received two immunizations that day and was not entirely herself. Emily and her family made us feel right at home. Meg felt so at home that she decided after crying for 30 minutes at bedtime to throw up on mom and the carpet. Lucky Megan. The next day we discovered that on top of the shots, Meg had about 4 new teeth coming through at once. Lucky Megan. The next day was Sunday and Meg had the good fortune to fall down a whole flight of (carpeted)stairs and land on the tile floor below. She had a little bump and was a little shook up but otherwise she was fine. Lucky Megan. Sunday night after a delicous Easter dinner of Ham, rolls, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and pumpkin cake, Meg went to sleep only to wake up around 2 AM with a mild case of croup. Yep...Lucky Megan. So after reading about our weekend how many of you feel sorry for poor Peter?

PS Despite all the Megan fun, we did have a lot of fun in Ohio. Thanks Emily, Nate, Camden, and Aiden. We enjoyed our trip and look forward to meeting up in Findlay for another fun adventure.

Megan and her baby doll

2008-03-16T18:43:00.003-05:00

A few minutes of Meg, Mom, and the baby doll.

Trip to Tampa

2008-03-01T12:04:00.003-06:00

We went to Tampa this last week. Pete had to go for work and we met him down there. Many of you probably know that were/are planning to move down in the spring, but I can honestly say we aren't sure we will be going anymore. The area is beautiful and the weather is lovely, but the housing is out of control expensive. So we are very open to anywhere Pete finds a good civilian job, and we will plan to vacation once a month when Pete has to go down for his reserve weekends.

Gotta watch what we say....

2008-02-16T13:12:00.002-06:00

Today Pete and I were chatting about something and I said ..." It sucks" to which Megan said..."SUCKS" Pete and I both gasped and then died laughing, apparently we will have to be a lot more careful about what we say unless we want our 14 month old walking around saying who knows what. From now one we will be editing and censoring our language at the Olsen home.

We went down to Texas this last week. We had the chance to see a few of our friends in Del Rio. Thanks to Chelsea, Sven, and Soren for letting us stay with them and taking such great care of us!!! It was fun and the weather was beautiful. We didn't get to stay very long Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning. Traveling alone with Meg is starting to be as real work out, even though she is such a good little girl(most of the time). We are suppossed to follow Pete down to Florida the last week of the month to look around, find and apartment, etc. And I am not looking forward to all the airports, airplanes, and traveling again. But the weather will be beautiful and I will go a lot of places to stay warm.

Meg...covered in cookie and making animal noises

2008-02-05T17:40:00.000-06:00

We took this video tonight because she was so covered in cookie!

Your baby can read....yes she can!!!

2008-02-01T07:52:00.000-06:00

I think I wrote about this some months ago but here is an update. We bought the DVD program called Your Baby Can Read. Our friends, the Garbers started their little boy on it and by the time he was 2 1/2 he could read. So we bought it for Megan and have been watching it pretty faithfully since she was about 7 months old. Yesterday it was on and the word umbrella was on the screen, and before they said it Megan said 'brella, this morning we were watching it and the word ball was up and before they read it out loud she said "Ball" I really think she is learning to read, and I also think that the videos have helped a ton with her vocabulary which is pretty advanced for her age. So here is my plug for the program. If you have any interest get on www.yourbabycanread.com and check out the video of the inventors 9 month old reading. You can also find them on amazon and ebay for less. Happy reading!!!

We are now home in Detroit. We got blasted with snow last night. I am trying to stay happy despite the yucky white stuff outside!!! I hate the cold, and snow is a symptom of it being cold!!! Yuck. Bbbrrrrrrrrr!!!

I feel almost like new...or Mom's are great!!!

2008-01-24T15:47:00.000-06:00

I am feeling 99.9% back to my old self. My doctor said I could resume, exercise and such when I could jump up and down without out pain...and I can. My parents have been taking great care of us, especially my mom who has gotten up with Meg if needed at night so I could sleep and heal! Thank goodness for Mom's.

Meg is still congested and has a runny nose, but no fever so I hope she is getting better. Today we were up at my Grandmas visiting and Meg's nap time had come and she started to whine and say "night-night....night, night!" So maybe she is still not feeling 100% because she was begging to go to bed which is unusual for the child who never sleeps. Thanks so much to all of you who left comments. We are doing better and will probably head home Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to be with Peter again.

Megan decided that Grammy's house was better than ours for walking and has started to really walk independantly since we got here. It is amazing and scary to watch all at the same time. It also makes me sad, she is yet another step closer to toddlerhood and another one away from being a baby. Nest thing you know she'll be asking to borrow the car...

Well I survived....and Megan did too!

2008-01-20T13:02:00.000-06:00

Surgery went allright. I can't remember even some of the parts I was awake for thanks to an interesting drug called versed. It is mostly an amnesia drug with a little bit of pain killer, mostly you feel the pain, but seconds later you don't remember so you don't care. Interesting!

They found endometriosis, but for the most part were unable to remove it because it is all over some of my organs like carpet! The polyps they thought they saw via ultrsound were just uneven distribution of tissue and therefor not polyps. My only real complaint is that my belly button now looks deformed, but I am sure it will look better when it has had a little more time to heal.

The babysitter situation worked out beautifully. A big round of applause for the Kerby's!

And so now comes the recovery. Which I was really doing allright with until Megan decided that she was going to be sick and that her mommy was going to have to be up with her at nights. I am not suppossed to lift anything over 10 lbs for a while and so Pete has been having to handle a lot of it, but last night we kind of had to slpit it and he leaves to go out of town for 4 days on Tuesday morning and I have decided I can't do it by myself so Meg and I are flying home tonight to my parents. Pete is flying with us and will come back tomorrow morning. I feel like I am being a pansy, but I just don't think I can handlea sick toddler and recovery without a little live in help so we are off to Missouri tonight!! Thank goodness we have flight benefits still so it doesn't cost us anything to go home!

Why can you never sleep when you really need to

2008-01-18T01:05:00.000-06:00

Meg in Grammy Sherwoods 52 year old dress

Its 2:04 am and obviously I am awake. For those of you who don't know, and don't feel bad if you don't because it is not a big deal, I am having out patient surgery tomorrow. They are going to check to see if I do indeed have endometriosis by laparoscopy and also to remove some uterine polyps they think they see on a scan. Not a big deal, but of course I couldn't eat or drink after midnight...so of course I wake up at 1:30 thirsty as can be and technically I am not supposed to drink anything. Origionally I was told I would be having surgery around 8am and then a few hours later they called and said 12:15 which means I am going to be pretty hungry and thirsty by that point. Good thing we are used to fasting eh?

Also now I am sitting here worried about the best thing to do regarding my babysitter dilema. I have one on back up so Meg will be taken care of, but there was a little miscommunication some how with the first one...I am sure its my fault...and her mother felt bad and left me a message saying that she wouldn't leave me in the lurch and that she would watch Meg if needed. The only problem is this woman is a nurse and I would hate if she felt she has to miss a day of work to watch my little one because of my miscommunication with her daughter. She left a message on my phone at 10:30 pm but of course I was already asleep, so now I am wondering how early is too early to call...okay obviously 2 :18am is too early, but maybe 5:30 am would give her the chance to get to work. I don't know. Oh well. I guess it will all work out! Now back to sleep...maybe a glass of warm milk...oh snap! Never mind counting sheep then...it doesn't involve eating or drinking!

Well here's hoping I can fall back asleep for a few hours!!!

updated pics of Meggers

2008-01-17T15:05:00.000-06:00

I just can't get over how cute she is. She is also starting to talk up a storm. Its like owning a parrot. If you say it, she tries to say it too. She is now saying "animal" "baby" "no" stop" elmo" but when she tries to say Megan she says "Me" Which is usually the correct usage but not what she is trying to say so I'm not sure how best to reinforce. Oh well!

The weekend is always too short!

2008-01-14T14:51:00.000-06:00

Saturday we went to the Detroit Science Center. It was interesting. Meg enjoyed t, but will probably be more excited about it when she is about 5. The Electricity show was my favorite part. The did some cool things with electricity, like blowing up stuff. Megan didn't like having to have her ears covered for her during the loud explosions.

Sunday we went to Church. We came home and made sushi for dinner. Our new favorite kind of home made sushi is with SPAM. Sounds totally gross and wierd, but it is actually delicious.

And then the weekend was over.

Our little Christmas Angel

2008-01-10T09:54:00.001-06:00

Megan loves pens. Hopefully letting her write on paper every once in a while won't come back to bite us. I was watching her careefully because she was sitting in arms reach of the couch and I love my couch the color it is, free of scribbles.

Pete's Dad playing Guitar Hero. He actually did better than me...which isn't hard. I sucked, but hey its all in good fun right! His sister Maria is very good, she can play on expert or something.

Meg opening her animal train Christmas Eve. She was a little confused about the whole open presents thing at first! She soon figured it out though.

The animal train by Fisher Price was a good choice for Meg. It makes a little too much noise for Mom's taste, but she loves it. Thankfully I know how to shut it off and when all else fails remove the batteries.

We were given this angel costume and it won't fit us by Halloween so I thought she could wear it for Christmas. She looked so cute, but was not a fan of the "halo". It last long enough to take one picture and then she threw it behind her. Right now she goes through the room picking stuff up, looking at it, tasting it if necessary, and then throws it behind her or backwards over her head when she is no longer amused by it. It's funny to watch, but occasionally she doesn't clear her big noggin' and then it's not so funny.

My daughter the aspiring dentist

2008-01-07T13:58:00.000-06:00

We are bad parents and have only recently started brushing Megs teeth. In our defense this is partly because we are lazy and partly because the child only has two teeth. The other day we bought her an Elmo tooth brush. She called him 'MO. However, since we started Meg wants to brush her teeth every time we go into "her" bathroom. She also cries when it is time to stop, but lets face it I have a few other things to do than stand in the bathroom and brush my 1 year olds teeth for hours on end. Even though her daddy always says, "oral hygiene is very important." Her front two teeth have finally started to peek through her gums...sadly a little late for Christmas. This morning Meg was playing with a pen, and Pete came and picked her up. She immediately took the pen and stuck it in his mouth while saying, "AAahhhhhhhhhh." We both started to laugh. Maybe she will follow in Pete's aunts footsteps and be a very successful dentist. It's funny what they pick up from a few attempts at teeth brushing.

Meg might make a better dentist than a doctor because the other day I asked her where her belly button was and she pointed to her nipple....hmmmm we will need to get all that anatomy confusion sorted out before she starts med school!

Home from the Holidays

2008-01-05T18:25:00.000-06:00

Meg in her lamb costume. This has to be one of my all time favorite pictures of her, it's even better than the monkey.
Meg with Pete's grandma Olsen

Meg on her first Birthday. She blew out the candle all by herself...twice because we made her do it again after the first time to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Our family picture for Christmas this year.

I can honestly say I was ready to come back to our little apartment after two weeks of visiting family and get back to "real" life, whatever that is. Megan had the stomach flu on our trip and lost the 2 lbs I was hoping to loose. Isn't that just the way life goes. Pete was suppossed to be heading for Gaum, but his trip got cancelled, so we are happy to have a little more family time.

On Friday I took Megan to the Dr for her 1 year check. Meg greeted the Dr by saying "Dok tor" which impressed the Doctor alot. Meg is in the 75% percentile for height...the Doctor said...So you know she's tall" and I almost fell down...how could a child of ours be tall? So though I was shocked I was also thrilled. Meg got a few immunizations which was anything but pleasant...but all told we survived and will only have to go back for more immunizations in 2-3 months.

Today Pete and Megan hung out at home and I went out Shopping all by myself! It was awesome! No crying, whinning, stopping, pouting, and no, I am not refering to Megan....those of you with anti-shopping husbands know what I mean. Bless Peter's heart he is a good sport when I have to drag him along, but he was grateful to stay home this Saturday too! I bought winter clothes for Meg for next year...as right now is sale heaven...and I had a wonderful, relaxing, quiet time doing it! I came home ready to be a better mom and wife. Retail therapy works!!

Christmas Spirit!

2007-12-22T15:14:00.000-06:00

We got moved into our apartment...mostly, if you can call a dozen or so boxes left to unpack moved in! We got moved in and promptly packed our bags and caught a flight to Utah. We left 6 inches of snow in Detroit and were greeted by more snow here in Utah.

Last night we went to a little program called A Night in Bethlehem. It was pretty cool, but very crowded and cold. They had all these little shops and then they act out the Nativity. Megan enjoyed the live chickens, sheep, and goats.

Meg is enjoying our trip to Utah and getting to play with Opa, Grandma, Aunt Anna, and Aunt Marja. Can't wait til Christmas!

The end of Hotel living....?

2007-12-10T12:49:00.000-06:00

Pete and I filled out an application for an apartment last week, and will be moving in on Thursday....yeah to an apartment!!! It is a nice two bedroom with two bathrooms, two walk in closets in the master, washer, dryer, cathedral ceilings, etc. And the best part is we got a fantastic deal on the price. So our hotel and suitcase living is coming to an end. This is not the end of one of those chapters in life that makes one sentimental. I am so ready to have my own comfortable bed, my own space and honestly for Meg to finally not be in the same room as us!

We move in the day before Meg turns one. Now this makes me sentimental. I am not sure I am ready for my little baby to be a toddler. Even though some days I swear she is turning 2 with all her little tantrums and our attempt at poopy training, I can't believe we've been together for almost a year. I was thinking the other day how miserable I was this time last year...Pregnancy and I don't mesh well, and I can't believe out of all that suffering and swelling came our little darling Megan. On so many levels she is a little miracle and I am so grateful for her.

We went to the Detroit Zoo on Saturday. It was 30 degrees outside, but we had a good time. Meg seemed to really like the butterflys and the seals. Unfortunately it was too cold for some of the animals to be on exhibit and I don't know where they send them all for the winter, but I'd love to be some place a little warmer myself. Pete is going to Gaum in January and we could go, but I's a 17 hour flight from Houston straight to Gaum and I am not sure we could do it. I guess we will see!

Success....

2007-12-05T08:42:00.000-06:00

Megan did her business on the potty chair this morning for the first time. I was totally excited. 1 diaper saved!! She didn't seem very impressed by all the cheering and clapping I made, if anything she just looked at me like...duh, mom, I can do this and anything else I want. Hopefully we will continue to have this kind of luck!!!

Why do little monkeys throw poo?

2007-12-01T07:47:00.000-06:00

We have been contemplating poop training Megan for the last month and a half, notice I said poop training and not potty training. Megan 95% of the time will not poop in a wet diaper. She will only poop in a clean daiper, so by 8:15 this morning I have already changed 1 wet diaper and two poopy diapers, the first was made with in three minutes of putting on the first clean dry diaper of the morning. The way I figure this means we are using atleast 30% more diapers than the average person with an almost 1 year old. And there is nothing more frustrating than to change her, and then three minutes later Sniff her and discover she has left you a present. The other factor contributing to my desire to poop train her is that she now thinks it is fascinating to play in her poopy diaper while you are changing her. This isn't such an issue when Peter is here to help, but that's not the norm so there has to be a better way. This morning Meg had to take a bath because she was finger painting in Pooh. Since Meg is obviously aware of her bowels I think I am going to go buy a Poopy chair today and let her sit on it after each wet diaper of the day. I don't plan on making it a pressure thing, but we will just try it and see if she will do it. And see if this will help our little monkey not to play with her pooh any more, save the world's landfills a few more diapers, and our wallets 16-32 cents every day.

A Few pictures...more to come

2007-11-28T09:01:00.000-06:00

Our trip to the ALPS...otherwise titled I wish I spoke French

2007-11-28T08:27:00.000-06:00

We returned Sunday night from our trip to Europe. It was a blast. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Our hotel was up in Champoussin which is one of the hottest ski spots in Europe, and its almost embarrassing to say we went there and never skied. We did go see several castles, some cathedrals, went to the place where cheese was invented, ate delicious food and lots of pastry, thought we were going to freeze to death the first night, listened to the Primary Program in French, and had a terrific time. Megan was a big hit. Europeans don't seem to have many children so every where we went people were very excited to see her. She was a very good girl and took her first real steps while there. We also spent a little time in Germany and France and made it to the border of Italy. We met so many nice people. My only regret was that I don't speak any French and that woud have been very helpful.

I can honestly say that it was the best Thanksgiving we ever had and we didn't even really celebrate it. Our friends Miro and Joanna came up from Italy and spent a few days with us and they were kind of shocked that we were skipping it. But hey, we were thankful, just not eating turkey and pie, instead we ate lunch in a bar in France and had the most delicious potatos ever, the beef tasted a little too much like wine for my tastes, and the cheese was a little strong, but the experience was terrific.

I have to say that before this trip I just assumed that since America is the land of of Promise, everything is better here. I was wrong. While we do somethings very well, we could learn a lot from our European neighbors. It was a good relization for me. I am proud and happy to be an American, but we need to be opend minded and not above using some of the ideas of other countries, to fix some of our problems. I was very interested in the Swiss Healthcare system and No, its not really socialized, it similar to Mitt Romneys plan for Massachusets. Insurance is mandatory. Anyway, Pete and I would consider moving to Switzerland for a time if the opportunity was there. Then I could work on my French...and German too!

Fall pictures

2007-11-14T12:22:00.000-06:00

Back to the wonderful world of Hotel living

2007-11-13T14:14:00.000-06:00

We left Utah on Monday and so we are back to living in a hotel (in Detroit). Granted this time it is a really nice one, the best yet, but a hotel none the less. Sigh! Oh well, we are grateful to just be together and that Pete has a job he enjoys and pays the bills and lets me stay home with little Megan. We should get an apartment sometime around new years...

We are also excited for our upcomoing trip to Europe this weekend. I am a little concerned about how Megan will do on the flights, but otherwise we are just excited. We are headed to Geramany, Switzerland, and Italy. I will try to take lots of pictures.

Here are some Pictures of Megan enjoying fall.

Our trip to Utah

2007-11-04T21:25:00.000-06:00

Meg and I are in Utah staying with Peter's family. I can't begin to tell you all how excited I am for him to finally arrive tomorrow. We haven't seen each other since conference weekend. Unless you have been seperated from your spouse for a month or more...(three months is our record) you can't understand how in your head you start to wonder if you made them up, if you ever really got married, and how much you miss this almost imaginary person. Course when I look at Meg, I'm pretty sure Pete is real and that makes me miss him more. Thankfully Pete has been able to call almost every day with the exception of a stretch of 5 days he couldn't. His survival training went well, or atleast that is all he is willing to tell me at this point.

Halloween was a little dissapointing. Meg was at the tail end of a cold so we didn't go trick or treating as planned, WE did take her over to her Great Grandma Olsens in her costume. I also bought her the most adorable costume in the after halloween sales that I'll post pictures of soon. Anyway counting down the hours until Pete's plane arrives!!! I'll write more later!!

To the future as a soccer mom....

2007-10-10T10:15:00.000-05:00

Last night, my brothers, Brett (15) and Adam (17 ) had a soccer game. Meg and I went to cheer them on. While standing on the bleachers yelling encouragement, I realized I'm going to make a horrible soccer mom. If I don't change, I will be the overly competitive, sideline yelling, cooler flingin' , child embarassing, referee threatenin', treat bringing soccer mom that all the other parents roll their eyes at when they approach. Sigh! Thankfully there is still time to change. Megan on the other hand, sat and intently watched the ball go up and down the field, giggling and chattering, occassionally flirting with the other bystanders. Maybe she'll prefer swimming to soccer. I wonder what swim team moms are like....?

Thankful for the weekend

2007-10-09T22:02:00.000-05:00

My mom keeps saying, Megan looks more and more like Peter. This picture certainly highlights their similarities...HA!

Peter was able to fly in for the weekend. It was so wonderful to be able to spend some time (that we didn't think we would have) together. We watched conference, went to my little brothers soccer game, and celebrated my mom's birthday. We had a wonderful time. I was sad to drive him to the airport on Monday. But I just feel so grateful for every extra minute we had.

I love October!!!

2007-10-04T07:52:00.000-05:00

October is one of my favorite months. I love Fall. The crisp cool ( but not cold) air. I love the colors of reds, oranges, yellows and even browns. I love the smells of fall. It is also the month of my birth, which was a big deal when I was younger, but now, who wants to get older? It is also the time of year that I start planning for Christmas. Happy to say that I am currently working on three gifts for family members and have most of them already planned...with the exception of Peter who is always difficult to buy for. With any luck I hope to be done by the first week of November. If anyone has any great husband gift ideas, i am all ears!!

oh yeah...Meg and I are staying in missouri with my parents for the month of October. Pete is currently in Michigan, but will be in Washington state for half the month. We miss him tons!

We are moving...today

2007-09-26T07:36:00.000-05:00

As I write I am surrounded by the chaos of moving. I just wanted to post and say, since we are moving I may not be able to post for a while. Peter passed his checkride and so we get to leave Altus, OK. Unfortunately we don't have orders yet, which are crucial in the military, so we are heading to my parents house until they tell us what and where. Isn't it fabulous that we are so... adjustable...HA! Anyway we hope you are all doing terrific!!!

Our trip to the ZOO!!!

2007-09-23T18:50:00.000-05:00

Friday evening we went down to Dallas. We spent the night at a hotel and woke up early to take Megan to the Dallas Zoo. Megan loved it. She tried to crawling over the fences and into the cages with all the animals. We enjoyed several hours at the Zoo and then went to Joe and Melissa Wilson's Home for lunch. Pete and JOe went to high school together in Germany and have been friends ever since. Bart and Janice Gatrell also joined us for lunch. We had so much fun. And then hit Costco on our way home. What a terrific weekend!!!

Here are some pics from the zoo!

Helping Mom with Laundry and Swimming with Dad

2007-09-17T20:40:00.000-05:00

Today was a busy day for Megan. She helped Mom do the laundry, she even sat in the rolling cart with all the clean clothes. Then she went swimming for the last time this year with Dad. The water was pretty chilly(too cold for Mom). But Megan had a good time.

Some recent pictures

2007-09-16T15:26:00.000-05:00

Lets face it, Most of you only get on here to see pictures of Megan and then you feel obligated to read the mindless drivel I feel obligated to write. So today i am just going to post a few recent pictures of Meg with brief captions and save your eyes and keep you from falling asleep sitiing up at your computers...You can thank me later!

Baby in a box. I wish they gave babies away in front of Walmart like they do puppies. We would stock up on a few more! "Tower, this is Texan 209'er request diaper change, a bottle and a nap on runway 3001."

When se gets excited she scrunches up her face and breathes fast and loudly through her nose. It is too funny and the best part is she came up with it on her own. We never taught her this trick.

megan is 9 months old today

2007-09-14T14:12:00.000-05:00

Our little Monkey is 9 months old. Here she is in her Monkey Suit...again. We are so happy to have her.

It looks like we will be leaving here a little earlier than expected. As for where and when....the future is not clear. We will let you know when we know! We do have a bunch of leave we hope to use in the next few months! I'm hoping our trip to Italy still happens.

New Hair Cut

2007-09-11T21:08:00.000-05:00

Today I went to get my hair cut. Megan went with me and loudly complained as my hair fell in large clumps to the floor. It is not as short as I wanted, but it's a nice change and a lot lighter. And perhaps best of all, there is less of it for Meg to pull.

Maybe she was just complaining because she wanted a hair cut too. I think it might be a while til Meg gets her first hair cut. Maybe a long while...

Children...what a blessing!

2007-08-30T09:18:00.000-05:00

As a parent you have to contend with a whole host of issues you never even considered could even exist as possible issues when you were childless...like sleeping at night or suddenly having a BLOWOUT and you never worried that someone might just suddenly decide to bite you.

And while this may sound fraught with negatives to the childless let me just say that while there are several unpleasant situations that seem to accompany parenthood there are so many positives....like we are never bored or hungry at church now, we never sleep too long, we are trying harder to live the boyscout motto by "Always being prepared" for blowouts, meals on the go, wardrobe malfunctions, naps ..etc. Each month seems to bring more and more excitement to our lives.

Megan is now into everything. We are learning that even the most benin looking objects can be
dangerous in the hands of the impetous eight month old. Her method of crawling is slightly unorthodox but doesn't seem to slow her down.

My last trip to the Dentist...I HOPE!

2007-08-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

Today I went to the dentist and had the last of my dental work done. However, my teeth right now are sooooo sore, that I hope I won't have to go back. Pete was able to stay home with Meg who was due for a nap when I left to go to the dentist. She was not very good for him today and wouldn't go to sleep till mom got home. Normally she loves time with daddy! I think she is getting sick...runny nose, cough, general fussiness...Oh well. I guess we will see what happens!

The ten plagues of Egypt...or Oklahoma

2007-08-18T16:57:00.000-05:00

These Oklahomians must be naughty, because we have an infestation of crickets like that of the days of Moses and the children of Egypt. It's not all bad, Megan finds the crickets fascinating and nutritious. I have caught here snacking on their carcasses on a few occasions. Eeeewww!!! They are seriously everywhere. I don't usually mind bugs....but these crickets are quickly starting to annoy me!

Inspite of the bug infestation we have had a good week. Peter had Friday off and as a surprise he took us up to Quartz Mountain for lunch. Quartz Mountain sits right on Lake Altus. We let Megan play in the sand and the lake a little after lunch. It was a fun day!!!

Megan gets cuter and funnier everyday! She also gives the best hugs and now has 2 bottom teeth. We are looking forward to heading back to Grammy and Grandpa Sherwood's on Wednesday to see cousins Keyan, Brenna, and Tracen...oh yeah and Aunt Alissa, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Ashlie, Uncle Nick, Grammy, Grandpa, Uncle Adam, and Uncle Brett!!

some pics from our trip

2007-08-13T21:03:00.000-05:00

The stars at night....

2007-08-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

We went to Dallas this weekend. Saturday morning we got up and drove 4 hours( I drove) to Dallas. We went to see our friends, Joe & Melissa Wilson ( and kids) and they watched Megan so we could go to the Temple. It was so nice. We didn't have a lot of time and so we just did sealings, but it was so cool to be back and I saw a few people I knew from my mission. Then we went to dinner with the Wilsons and Brad, Kathryn, and Logan Garber.

We spent the night with the Garber's and went to the Plano 4th Ward. We stayed an extra night at the Garbers because we just kept visiting. They are so fun and we had such a nice time. Logan is a smarty. He is already reading simple words and books and he just turned 2!!!

We left today and went to Costco, and Target, both things that aren't available near us and then went out to lunch for SUSHI!!! It was so good and we sat at the sushi bar. The waiter and the sushi chef took such good care of us, including getting animal crackers and a little plate of rice for Meg.

We got back to Altus at 6:30 and then Pete took Meg swimming. She sure loves the water. She also was just playing on the floor and when I looked over she had a dead cricket in her mouth. GROSS! We really do feed her! Well I need to put her in her PJ's and put her to bed!

A Trip to the Dentist

2007-08-08T17:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I took a little trip to the dentist. It had been a while...2 1/2 years ...since my last cleaning and exam. I now have 1 cavity, 1 broken cusp on a molar, one leaking filling, and a partridge and a pear tree. So next Tuesday the dental work will begin.... yea!!!!

Megan is getting bigger, louder, and sillier everyday. Unfortunately she is not sleeping any better and is still working on that second tooth. It comes up and goes back down. I can't wait for it to surface for good.

Peter is preparing for his first checkride (test) in the KC-135. It should be on Friday and if all goes well we will leave for Dallas for a weekend out Saturday morning. Cross your fingers!!!