Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy Year of the Dragon! Chinese New Year was on Monday, so we had a New Year's Eve get together on Sunday with our Jacquier friends and Levi.  We played games, ate egg drop soup and fried rice (no dumplings because my wrappers were moldy), and jello shots for dessert.  We set off two fire crackers in our garage because it was too cold and windy outside.  We only set off two because our eardrums didn't appreciate the echoing accoustics, but it is a necessary part of the holiday.  I love having two New Year holidays so close together.  It's like a happy stutter:)

It's been quite a long time since I've written, so I'll just give highlights.

Resolutions update: I've now finished reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and A Midsummer Nights' Dream.  Check 3 classic books off my list of 10 to read this year.  Starting into The Three Musketeers.  I've read through the J section in the Bible Dictionary, and will finish up in a couple weeks.  Given that I can't go biking very often to get myself back into shape for my centurion, I started doing lunges this week.  It's been a while since I've FELT my body like this, and it feels great!  I honestly love feeling that muscle ache after a good workout.  One of the librarians has asked if I'd be interested in helping out with some music for preschoolers sometime...I might just use that as a direction for my guitar learning resolution.  I can learn to play all the songs we sang in China and refresh my memory on the hand signs we used.  Nat, that may require some help from you.

\We took Katie's floppy newborn supports out of her carseat.  A) She looks so grown up sitting by herself in her seat and holding her head up.  B) She looks so little in it!

My parents and sister Lori came to visit us for MLK weekend.

Tommy had lots of youtube music time with Grandpa, and even got some dancing lessons.

He also had peek-a-boo playtime with Grandma.

Lots of shrieking and laughter:)



Ruth came over for a sleepover with Lori and Tommy wore Ruth's glasses for her.

It's always HILARIOUS when you wake up looking like this and your mom takes pictures of you so that everyone can laugh and remember this FOR-EV-ER.

He'll laugh with me some day.

Lori bogarted Katie the whole weekend, giving her up only for me to feed her.  Grandma and Grandpa's only time to hold Katie was when Lori slept in late in the mornings.

They even had sleepovers.  Lori would bring Katie to me when she woke up to eat and I was supposed to bring her back when she finished.

We enjoyed our weekend with them.  I forget when this was, but Tommy was on the piano bench playing the piano with me one day.  I went to tend to Katie for a moment and when I turned around I was horrified to see that he had climbed up on the keyboard.

My boys playing with their girl.

Katie getting tickles from Dada.

A few weeks ago a friend shared this story with me.  IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN- "If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of cocoa to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the cocoa. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.... Bumping into the freezer will remind her... she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for cocoa. Thinking of cocoa will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of cocoa, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it." by Kathy Fictorie

I laughed, because that's exactly how I feel sometimes.  Yesterday I baked banana muffins.  Tommy was thrilled to wake up from a nap and see "yummy," "hot," edibles.  He had a blast stuffing his mouth with Tommy-sized mini muffins, but also enjoyed sharing bites of my normal sized muffins.  This is the face of a boy who has just stolen the last two bites of his mother's muffin directly from her hand and crammed it into this mouth, even though he's holding his very own muffin in his own dimpled hand.  He made up for it by letting me drink out of sippy cup.



And in the afternoon after our walk, he threw rocks on the driveway of the vacant house next door while we waited for Dada to come home.

Oh, what a funny, expressive child I have!

I love this one.

And if that wasn't adventurous enough, then he had to climb on top of the toilet tank to play with the towel bar while Dada showered and Momma got ready to go to her Wednesday night youth activity.

I love this creature.

New Year's Resolutions

I forgot to include these in yesterday's post, so here they are.

Megan's 2012 Resolutions:

--Exercise 3-4 days a week.
--Keep kitchen counters clean.
--Obtain 5 piano students. (tune the piano for them!)
--Pay attention to birthdays on my calendar and recognize them.
--Find freedom from financial stress.
--Read 10 classic books.
--Read the Bible Dictionary and learn more about Jewish history/culture. (Read Apocrypha?)
--Decorate 1 room.
--Learn guitar.
--Learn more Mandarin.
--Finish Personal Progress (before Alexis Henson).
--Bike a centurion (try not to be pregnant while doing so).
--Be 100% on visiting teaching.

Shad's 2012 Resolutions:

--Write to Grandma Howes once a month.
--100% home teaching.
--Exercise 3 times a week.
--Give away 1 Book of Mormon.
--Contact Jason, Matthew, Dan, Jim, Cherean, and Chris at least once a month.
--Read 1 book a day with Tom.

By the way, on December 30 at approximately 9:30 pm, Shad and I sat down to read scriptures together.  We were at Doctrine and Covenants section 124.  Shad thought it'd be really cool if we finished the book by the end of the year.  So that's how we spent a large part of our time on New Year's Eve--reading 50+ pages of the Doctrine and Covenants.  It was actually really delightful.

Never trust a cow in winter.

I really can't remember much of this week right now, but I'll try.  We missed church last Sunday because Tommy woke up with a horrendous cough.  We didn't know whether it was a sick cough or a teething cough, but we didn't have time to find out.  I'm pretty sure it was just a teething cough--he was teething the first half of this week.  We gave Tommy bubble bath soap for Christmas and he enjoyed taking bubble baths this week to ease his fevers.

As usual, we went on our Thursday outting to the library.  After lunch, both kids went to bed.  I finished reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (seriously weird book), and then succumbed to the need to take a nap myself.  I thought for sure that the kids would wake me up within an hour (they went down at 1 and I went down at 2), but they didn't.  Tommy woke me up at 4:30, just minutes before Shad walked in the door.  He and I played Cleopatra that evening, a game he got with birthday money but didn't order until last week.  It's fun and addicting.Tommy ended up staying up late with us (10:30!) to have popcorn and watch an episode of  Shaun the Sheep, which he asks for by saying "baaa."  My kid is cute.  He spent half the time eating popcorn and the other half the time rolling around on the couch laughing.  My kid is nuts.

I got a haircut on Friday, finally! I've been talking about it for almost 3 months.  Shad and I put the Christmas decorations away, played more Cleopatra and ended up having a date night at the movies.  Our movie theater runs on a pretty cool system: the only employee is the manager.  Anyone else that works there is a volunteer and the compensation is a free movie, popcorn and drink of any size.  We found this out shortly before Katie was born and worked there for the first time just 2 days before Katie came out.  We have fun doing it and the manager has called us in twice now when he's needed help.  We saw Jack and Jill, which is not one of Adam Sandler's better movies, but probably one of his cleanest.  I didn't see Bedtime Stories, though.

Saturday Tommy and I both woke up sick.  It was a pretty miserable, achy day for both of us and he's still not 100% today.  I'm glad that we had to be sick on a weekend when Shad was here to take care of everyone.  We both got really good cuddles from our pathetic, tender Tom. And it was really nice to have a store of pumped breastmilk in the freezer from Katie's time in the hospital so that I didn't have to worry about getting her sick by feeding her, or about not having enough for her since I had a hard time drinking much.  And so we stayed home from church today to have a day to recoup.  I still don't have much appetite, but feel fine and energetic otherwise.  Tommy is gaining energy, but is still not feeling completely well.  It's so sad to have him lie in my lap and moan, but not know what he needs.

Anyway, here's pictures I found on our phones:

Tommy helping put up Christmas decorations.

Katie being...Katie.

Tom holding his Katie.  What a goofy look on her face!



Tommy has discovered the joy of heating vents on the floor, namely, the one in the bathroom.

She fell asleep sitting up on my lap, then slouched over.  Cute kid.

New Year!!

I feel like I don't really have much to say about our lives lately.  We exist...and we like it...and each other...I just don't know what else to say about it.  We enjoyed our Christmas and the day after (Shad had a paid holiday).  The missionaries spontaneously spent Christmas Eve with us.  They came over to give Shad something (oh, have I mentioned that Shad is the ward mission leader?  Not sure if I did or not.) and we invited them to stay for games and dinner with us, since they didn't have any plans.  BY THE WAY Elder Riha got transferred a week ago Thursday and I'm soooooooooooooo happy.  Nobody likes to babysit an adult.  Anyway, we're spending more time with the missionaries now.  Elder Nelson and Elder Jarrell were with us last night.  Ruth and Levi came over after dinner to join us for games. 

Shad is enjoying his new quality assurance position so much.  He comes home so happy every day.  It's a less stressful job, and he doesn't feel like he has to strip off clothes and wash his hands before he picks up Tom because he's covered in metal dust.

Tommy loves going over to "the other Kendells'" house and asks for it quite frequently.  He usually has a particular person in mind that he wants to play with, whether it be "NaaaaNuh," (Nana) "Bapa," (Bumpa) "Ebi," (Levi) or "Bufie," (Ruthie).  Ruth is thrilled that Tommy is finally saying her name.  Poor kid seems to just be teething all the time.  He's got four top front teeth, two bottom front teeth and two top molars (not all the way through yet).  He's a trooper.  He's also entered the phase of "anything you can do I can do better.  I can do anything better than you!"  Here's a little bit of it:

Twice he's copied my habit of drinking the milk out of the bowl after the cereal is gone.  Here he's trying to get the last couple drops after the rest poured all over him and his tray.

He's perfected his method for getting in and out of Katie's swing, so that he no longer falls on his face.

Heck, he can even do Liberty's job better than her.  Shad wrapped the boy up in my Moby wrap for fun, then realized he had created the Statue of Liberty.  He grabbed a book and a flashlight and the look was complete.  Tommy held that book and flashlight so well!  He had tons of fun waving the flashlight around, then after a brief photo shoot, we turned off the lights and he shrieked with delight...for about 5 minutes.

Tommy is also developing more language skills.  Not sure which language, exactly, but we'll figure it out soon.  He's starting to copy words we say, generally only when he has a vested interest in it.  He says "beh" for bread, "uh" for hug, "nla" for Mulan.  "Nla" is an interesting one...the "n" is pronounced with the tongue on the roof of the mouth behind the teeth, but hummed in the throat.  The "la" is tricky to get right.  It's pronounced with a soft click of the tongue on the bottom of the mouth.  I'm still trying to say it the way he does.  Oh!  And he's started speaking German.  He's quite adept at the "ch" pronunciation.  He sounds like Sylvester the cat from Loonie Toons when he says "this."  If we don't get this corrected soon, we may just move to Germany.  It won't be a speech impediment there:)

Miss Katie is just getting all sorts of big...for a little person, that is.  She is now 8 lbs and 19.5 inches tall.  We got rid of her Apnea monitor Thursday before Christmas.  Oh, we had a party!  It's so fun to be able to carry her around wherever and to play with her and not get tangled in cords.  She can hold her head up well and is starting to smile and coo.  She has some strong, little thighs and stands up a lot.  We moved her out of Tommy's room a while ago so that she can cry herself to sleep without waking him up at night.  She sleeps sooo much better when she cries herself to sleep.  She generally sleeps from 10-4 most nights, and then shorter periods after her 4 o'clock feeding.  She, like Tommy did, sleeps best with her face covered.

I'm enjoying reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  It's trippy, but a nice change in mood after reading Macbeth and Hamlet back to back.  I'm happy to say that in review of my 2011 resolutions, I did pretty well.  1) I did get into a good habit for a while of daily scriptures, prayer and journaling...which got a bit disrupted with Katie's arrival.  Gotta get back to that journal.  2) I made a baby.  3) I did really good exercising 5 days a week...when it wasn't too hot or too cold.  4) I read the Sunday School and Relief Society lessons.  6) For the first time in my life, I got into a habit of not procrastinating homework.  7)  We were really good at being on time to church. For some reason we had a hard time with that in 2010.  8)  I learned about the raw foods diet.  It's not for me.  9)  I met my neighbors.  I'm still working out my resolutions for this year.  They'll be finalized in the next couple days.

Catch up

You know you've been with the Kendell family long enough when you write a title like that and can't think of anything but Heinz. Gotta love it. But anyway, I am trying to update people a bit, as some would like pictures, and I've become aware that some still don't know that we're home from the hospital. Weird. I do believe I said that a month ago. So here goes:

WE ARE HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL! And have been since November 5th. There we go. The record is set straight for any who may have missed it, or have been confused. Tommy just loves his little sister. He gives her hugs and cuddles and lots of kisses. He pats her to help comfort her when she's crying, or he'll bring her blanket and pacifier. He helps me burp her and is always willing to run and fetch a diaper for me if I ask. He loves playing with her when she's down on the floor with him. He's even gone so far as to bring his computer keyboard and popcorn vacuum toy over to show her how to use them. He's enjoyed the discovery that she has body parts like him, namely: ears, eyes, mouth, tongue, hands and toes. He plays little piggies with her toes and thinks it's just fantastic.

 

Exciting things in our lives:

 

Shad's birthday was November 17 and he is now a quarter century old. Gee whiz, can ya smell that? Yep, it's an old fart:) He got Small World, a Days of Wonder game. Ruth and Levi each got him an expansion to the game. We got the other two expansions with an Amazon gift card and thus have the complete set. We've been enjoying playing the game often and thinking of new races and abilities to create for the "create-your-own" tiles.

 

We have mice. Not quite so thrilling, and generally not something you wanna publicize to the world, but given that it appears as though it will continue to be part of our lives, why not share? It started with just one in the summer that was caught on a sticky trap left by the previous owners behind the oven. We were playing games with the missionaries one afternoon and were caught off guard by frantic squeeking, so we located and disposed of the source. A few weeks ago, we discovered that there was one hanging out on our kitchen counters, and that he came up from underneath the burners on the stove. So I made it a point to keep the burner covers on and have a can on top of them, so as to keep my counters safe. Unfortunately, we forget periodically. We came home one evening and found a mouse on the counter, so my first thought was to cut off his escape by putting down the forgotten burner cover. That didn't work because then he jumped off the counter and ran into the living room. Lovely. He was caught in a trap a couple mornings later. A couple nights ago I came up to make popcorn and there was a mouse on the counter. He ran into my tool chest of plastic drawers and I trapped him there. With Shad's help, we threw the creature into a cardboard box and I hammered him with my meat tenderizer (through the box) in the garage. Joy. Yesterday afternoon Shad saw a smaller mouse in our living room and we tag teamed chasing and catching it, giving him the same execution as the other mouse. And just now after I put Tommy to bed I heard scrambling feet in the wall of the hall upstairs. Seriously? I'm getting better at protecting my counters so I don't have to disinfect and sanitize them every couple of days.

 

On a more pleasant note, Shad got a promotion at work! This is something that's kind of been in the works for a month. First we were waiting for the position to be created, then he applied, then interviewed and then finally Thursday almost at the end of the work day, they told him he got the position. He'll be working in quality assurance, which means several things: first, that he doesn't have to stand in one place for 10 hours; second, that he doesn't have to wear the safety glasses that press in tightly on his temples and give him headaches; third, that I can't stop thinking that my husband will be working in "quabity assuance." For those of you who don't understand the reference, watch this youtube clip from The Office. For those of you who DO understand the reference, watch the clip anyway because Creed is hilarious and we all know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXmhScTUG80

 

Because Shad got said promotion, we went out to dinner to celebrate. I told him I wanted us to dress nice for it. So as we're getting ready in the bathroom and Shad is fixing his hair, Tommy wanted to have his hair fixed, too. I figured that if Tommy was going to have his hair fixed, that he oughta get dressed up too. And if he was going to get dressed up, then Katie had to, too. And if we were all going to be dressed up and looking nice at the same time, we needed to take some family pictures. It was fun. Tommy ended up having to have his hair done twice because as he was getting dressed, he decided he didn't want his hair fixed anymore, so he reached up and tousled it up.

 

Tommy is still addicted to Mulan. He watches it almost daily. About a month ago he started making the sound effects of hocking a loogie. My mom was the one who attributed this to the scene in Mulan where she's trying to pass herself off as a guy to get into the army, and she attempts to spit. We think it's charming. Okay, maybe not charming, but it's hilarious.

 

I taught Tommy how to clean the inside of the toilet a couple days ago. I figured that if he likes playing with the brush anyway, he might as well learn to use it correctly and help me with the cleaning. And for those of you (like Lori) who think I'm poisoning my child with cleaning chemicals, I use homemade cleaners with water, vinegar and baking soda. Really, truly, it almost makes cleaning enjoyable. Dad, remember years ago when you told us about a poster at work that said, "If 3 out of 4 people suffer from diarrhea, does that mean the 4th one enjoys it?" And then you gave a demonstration as to how you imagine that 4th person might act in the anticipation of their diarrhea? Well cleaning is ALMOST like that for me now. Not quite, but almost.

 

Tommy had his first snow experience today. He thought it was soo funny when Shad would throw snowballs and they'd shatter on the ground. He enjoyed running his fingers through it, as well as running his feet through it. At one point I'm not sure if he sat down or fell down, but he couldn't really get back up because he didn't want to press his hands in, due to the cold. It took us a couple minutes to realize that that's why he wasn't getting back up and the poor boy's pants were pretty wet and cold after that. He didn't complain though.

 

Shad came up with a new term for the baby "milk comma" that babies get after eating. He calls it "lactoasted." We laugh at that all the time:)

Alright, I'm gonna shut up now and conclude with the pictures from this week.

Cleaning the toilet.

How German does this boy look?

Loving his Katie.

Spitting.

Tommy was done with pictures at this point.

Stuck in the snow.

Katie Pictures!

Enjoying a good stretch and recline. One day old.


Tubes galore. It was so exciting to watch them disappear one by one.


Pretty little manicured nails. Lori, you'd love to paint them:)

Still relaxing, tiny little feet crossed.


No more breathing tube!


Yep, that's the father of my children!


First family picture. Shad and Tommy left me hours after that to go home. Katie is 6 days old.


No more IV!!


Happy Halloween!


We love cuddle time!


Bright eyed and enjoying her pacifier. Only her nasal gastric tube remaining (for feeding purposes).


No more NG tube!! Why? Because Katie pulled it out herself. Yep, found the one place that it wasn't taped down, hooked her finger through and pulled the full 8 inches out of her nose. Her nurse decided that at that point, she wouldn't put it back in.


I went to the bathroom and Katie was asleep. When I came out, this is what I saw. Just chillin, sucking on her fingers and playing with her ear.


Note the finger. Katie often slept like this at the hospital. I think it's her way of telling the hospital staff what she thinks of them.


I just really like this one:)


So happy! Cuddling with a comfy little girl and my husband just arrived to take us home the following morning.


Comfy car ride home? I think it looks pretty awkward, but she didn't complain.


Katie held my hand while I supported her head for her.


Don't be deceived by the face--Tom loves his baby!

Catching Up On Pictures

Okay, here's catching up on pictures.

Tommy loved patting my belly and saying "baby" before Katie was born. After she was born, he noticed the shrunken belly and the baby on the outside and he seemed to understand what had happened.


Thursday before Katie was born, we walked to meet and visit two of Shad's coworkers. Tommy had fun playing with Jeff and talking with him, but he LOVED meeting Roy. Roy is a guy who is goofy all over the place when he's not playing with a kid, but even more so when he is. Roy gave Tommy his first donut--a mini powdered donut. Tommy took a small bite to taste it, then his face lit up and he shoved the whole thing in. We were all impressed at the capacity that boy's mouth has!


The Saturday before Katie was born, we were at church for a Trunk or Treat, dinner and game night. I messed up the pillowcase that was to be Tommy's ghost costume, but Shad fixed it by drawing a sword and shield on it, and calling Tommy a knight. Then he called the stuffed alligator a "wingless dragon" and gave Tom a plastic bat in place of a sword. Tommy instinctively took to slaying the dragon...or just whacking it real good with the bat:)


While I spent time with Katie in the hospital, Shad took Tommy on outtings to the park. On one of the outtings, they played Pirates. They came back and there were these pen marks on Tom's face above his lips. Shad's explanation was that Tommy needed a mustache, but wouldn't hold still for it. Hahahahahaha! Oh, I laughed for days. But before they played Pirates, they spent time swinging. If happiness could be expressed in a single picture, it would look like this:



All ready for trick-or-treating--Levi as a black knight, Ruth as a princess, and Tommy as a white knight.


The little white knight enjoying his Halloween.


While we were staying at the Ronald McDonald House, Tommy had trouble sleeping by himself. So we took turns cuddling with him til he fell asleep.



And who doesn't love a good sleeping-with-his-butt-up-in-the-air picture?