One Year Older and Less Wise Too

So, I had my wisdom teeth out at the ripe old age of 30. Most people get this done in their late teens or early 20's, but I hadn't developed wisdom teeth at that point. Once I did get them, I procrastinated getting them out for a few years and then was either pregnant, nursing, or wanting to get pregnant (I'm actually wishing I was already pregnant at this point). So, I never got them out. Now that I am ready for baby #3, I decided I better get them out before we start that whole process and have to wait another 2 years. Plus, two of the teeth had broken through a little and were kind of annoying and I felt like my teeth were crowding and didn't want that to get any worse. So $1250 later, I have no more wisdom teeth. Hopefully I won't be any less wise.

They put me completely out, which was quite alright with me. I've decided I would love to be put out for any and all unpleasant experiences in the future. Morning sickness, labor, long plane rides and/or car trips, children throwing fits, etc. It's really quite amazing how one minute you're there, the next minute you're gone, and then you wake up and remember none of it.

The recovery hasn't been quite as bad as I thought it would be. Nate took 2 days off of work to take care of me and the kids. I have had my fair share of smoothies, ice cream, mashed potatoes, soup, pudding, vicoden, and ibuprofen.

They sent me home with this handy dandy ice pack headband that they lovingly called a jaw bra. Why I insist on posting hideous pictures of myself on my blog, I don't know. Here I am trying to show the swelling, which really wasn't that bad at that point. More disturbing is how pale I am. Nate kept commenting on that, but I didn't really notice until now. By Friday night the swelling was definitely worse. Here's another gorgeous picture to prove it. By yesterday I was finally ready to do full hair and makeup for church, which I think distracted from the swelling. Plus, it had gone down.
Wow my face looks asymmetrical in this picture. Was I raising one eybrow or is it always like that?

So after two weeks of suffering and misery (remember, I was sick the week before), I am finally feeling somewhat normal and ready to face life again. I cleaned out the toys in Harrison's room this morning -- a chore that provides lots of entertainment for the kids as they remember long lost playthings.

The remaining complaints are that I still have numbness on the right lower side, and chewing still presents lots of problems. I have lost another 2 pounds since the week I was sick (5 total). Forget dieting and exercise -- illness and surgery are very effective!

For the record, New Beginnings went very well on Wednesday night. It actually turned out fine that I saved all the work for the 2 days before. Thankfully the other leaders helped a lot too. I am SO relieved to have that over with. The stake is putting on YW in Excellence (our other big annual program), so my major YW stresses are done until next year. Hallelujah!

Anyway, I've saved these two pictures for last, because they really are quite disgusting. These pictures are not for the faint hearted. I am not faint hearted (obviously, I'm the kind of girl who asks them to save my teeth for me so I can see them.)

If you get squeamish about rotten looking, bloody teeth with huge chunks of my gum still attached, then don't look down.

Yes, that pinkish red stuff is gum tissue. Now that even disturbed me. And why they look brown and rotten is beyond me.

They say I need to eat soft foods for SIX weeks! If I don't seem normal and happy for the next 5 weeks and 2 days, you'll know why.

Seriously, does anyone know how to make this put spaces between my paragraphs. They're here when I'm editing and then when I post they're gone.

Post Edit: Thank you Kat(e) for your tips on the spacing! It worked perfectly!

Sick and Tired

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired (and having kids who are too)

Let's sum up this week since I got sick on Monday, noon-thrity-ish

(yes, it came on that suddenly)

Times I've left the house: 2

Total amount of time gone: 3 1/2 hours

Times showered: 1

Lounge outfits worn: 5 (I keep thinking that the ones from yesterday have germs on them and I might reinfect myself -- I guess this logic doesn't pertain to the germs living on my body that I have not washed off. . .)

Days Harrison went to school: 1

Nights I've been in bed by 8 PM: 2

Mornings I've stayed in bed past 8 AM: 5

Times I had to call Kaiser to try to get appointments: 3

Key word: TRY -- apparently Kaiser not only forbids patients from directly calling the Dr's office and making an appt., they also decide for you on the phone whether or not you're really sick enough to warrant an office visit. (Maybe when I feel better I'll be grateful they saved me two co-pays plus a prescription or two, but I kind of like the "You've suffered for 5 days? By all means, let's get you on an antibiotic" approach.)

Times I took 2 tsp. of Nyquil instead of 2 tbsp. and lay there wondering why I wasn't sleepy and why my fever wasn't breaking: 1

Really fun birthday parties thrown in my honor: 1 (more on that later)

Time I've asked Harrison to stop terrorizing Elizabeth: Whatever at least once every 5 minutes times 5 days is

Hours we've watched TV/Movies: Way too many to count, it's really quite sad

Highest Temperatures: Harrison 104.4, Me: 103.7, Elizabeth: 101.7 (or was it 102.7? That was Sunday and it's all becoming a blur)

Things I've checked off my huge to do list (that's in my head) for New Beginning's that is in 5 days: 0

Real meals I've prepared for my poor family: 0

Pounds lost due to having NO appetite (that's when I REALLY know I'm sick): 3

I guess there are some perks.

Cutest things Harrison said about sickness:

-"Mommy, you can't go to your party, you'll get all your friends sick." (Hopefully not true - I prayed for a miracle). "Remember to cover your mouth if you cough. . . a few minutes later. . . Mommy, don't forget all the things I told you and be nice to your friends."

-In a prayer: "Please bless Mommy to get feeling better and please bless me to be able to take care of everyone in my family."

Sorry for the pity party.

Arg, why won't Blogger put the spaces in my post???

Happy Heart Day!

Valentine's Day has always been a favorite of mine because 1)it's so close to my b-day 2)it's all about love 3)I love hearts and red and pink 4) I love candy and chocolate!

Side Note: Remember growing up that a select few kids dropped a conversation heart or two into the envelope of their Valentine or taped a piece of chocolate on the outside? It's crazy how it has come to a whole new level. Now it's the norm to have candy and usually more than just some little thing. I would have LOVED that when I was a kid.

Oh and my kids had all of Harrison's Valentine candy from school eaten by 7 AM the following morning. Nice breakfast.


Anyway, I got a nice waffle maker from Williams & Sonoma for my wedding, but being the forward thinker that I am, I exchanged it for the heart shaped one. Now we get to have heart waffles for Valentine's Breakfast (or any other time we feel like having waffles). This year, I also added homemade buttermilk vanilla syrup to the tradition. (If you've ever had breakfast at Magleby's Fresh, it's that recipe. I had tried to figure it out several times (to no avail) and then my friend Shauna had it and I was thrilled!) I put red food coloring in the syrup and it was a big hit!

We tried pouring it on and then decided it'd be better to dip it in! (Thanks Kell, for the heart ramekins!)
For lunch, Harrison got heart shaped sandwiches which he really loved! Harrison had fun at his first ever Primary activity, which was a Valentine's Day Party. We've either been out of town or spaced the other ones, even though he's been in for over a year.

And for Valentine's Dinner our tradition is to get a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. We realized this year that we have about out grown getting only one pizza.


At dinner we exchanged cards and little surprises for everyone. For the record, I got a carton of mint chip ice cream and will be getting Twilight when it comes out on DVD (my idea). Nate got a book that with fun date ides for us to do (kind of a selfish gift, I know, but we really need to work on dating more!) and some silly stuff from the dollar store. Harrison got a PowerRangers coloring book and Elizabeth got pink, red and white headbands that she refuses to wear (I guess they will be mine until she comes around).

We also have this tradition that Nate started of making each other homemade cards for b-days, V-day, and Mother's/Father's Day. He does his on the computer (and they are always clever and funny) and I usually do mine crafty-like. I've done a few on the computer, but I'm not very good at it. This year, mind opened backwards and the inside was upside down, despite that fact that I truly tried to think it out and get it right. I just left it because I figured it was good reflection of my lack of computer skills. Nate was cute and asked if it was a Japanese card (their books open the opposite way of ours!) Too bad we didn't get a picture of me and my Valentine together. He's pretty cute.

Reflections of a Decade

On this the eve of my 30th birthday, I have a head full of memories and a heart full of love. Mostly, because Kelly, my BFF (it sounds so middle school, but means so much more), sent me the sweetest, most thoughtful gift ever. She and Nate were in cahoots to track down 30 friends and have them write a memory and a recipe for a cookbook since anyone who knows me well knows that 1) I love to cook and 2) I have the memory of an elephant.

I could not stop smiling, laughing out loud, slighty tearing up at points, and feeling special as I read what my friends had to say. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all involved and to those who didn't respond in time, were not able to be tracked down, or may have been accidentally overlooked by Nate (he provided the bulk of the list), let's just hope I live a really long time and you can contribute to a future project :)

Reading all those memories made me want to give every one great big hugs (accept Marlene, because one of my memories of her is that she wasn't as comfortable with affection as I was). I LOVE all of my friends and am SO thankful for the influence you've had in my life and for all the good times we've had.

Unfortunately, in reading through the memories, I had a realization that I'm not as fun as I used to be. Or maybe I'm a different kind of fun. I used to be CRAZY fun. Nate said he'll take some of the blame for squelching some of the silliness out of me. I guess I also just grew up. But sometimes I feel like an old fuddy duddy and I don't like that. Don't get me wrong, I can still get silly and crazy sometimes, but I think one of the goals of my 30's will be to bring back the fun more!

I was thinking that the 20's were a decade that held TONS of changes. The most life changes of any decade, probably. Graduating college, getting married, starting (and ending) a career, having two kids, buying two homes, moving twice, having my first pretty big callings. I am predicting that the 30's won't be nearly as eventful. It will be raising the kids I've got and adding a few more to the mix. I'm sure it will be great and hopefully I'LL change a lot (because heaven knows I need to). I guess that really is my hope for my 30's, now that LIFE is done changing a ton, I hope that I can really focus on changing MYSELF into even more of the person I want to be. Don't get me wrong, I quite like myself, there's just 4 or 5 areas that need lots of work!

Anyway, thinking about this last year of my 20's, I'd say some of the highlights are:

-I re-entered the wonderful world of earrings (I know, I'm starting with a really life-changing one, huh?) On my b-day last year Nate was out of town, so I cleaned out my bathroom and found all sorts of cute earrings. I was sad that I hadn't worn earrings since we'd gotten married because my ears were really sensitive and I thought mostly closed up. I found a pair that were for sensitive ears so I put those in and left them for over a month. Then I started to experiment with trying different kinds of earrings and now I am 100% able to wear whatever earrings I want. For a girl who really loves to accessorize, this has been quite exciting.

-I took up and then pretty much gave up running. You can read all about this truly astonishing turn of events in old posts of this blog. I am still amazed I ran that 5K. I don't think I could do it now unless someone had a gun to my head, but I am SO glad I did it. For the record, the reason I stopped was that I got TERRIBLE neck pain in December and started going to the chiropractor and he said that with my scoliosis, running is the worst possible thing I could do for my back and neck. What can I say, Dr.'s orders. So now when and if I go to the gym, I do the elliptical. (Taking better care of myself physically is one of those 5 areas that I need to work on).

-I started this blog! And this, my friends, has brought an extreme amount of joy to my life. Not only in keeping a record of important events (and sometimes not so important events) and funny things my kids say, but also in getting back in touch with so many old friends and getting to know current friends on a different level. I love to read about the things going on in your lives. I recently noticed that checking blogs is like a drug to me (this actually worries me a little). I feel the strong urge to do it often and it always makes me feel better and more relaxed. I guess there are a lot worse addictions that I could have.

I had hoped that two of the highlights of my 29th year would be that I finally got my house in order, and stopped losing my patience with my kids. But alas, I still struggle with those (much to the disappointment of my mother who excels in the house cleaing area and did much better than me in the patience area too). Maybe by the time I'm 40. Or 31 (I guess I could expect a little more of myself!)

So, I'm headed to bed to continue on my birthday celebration tomorrow. It really started last Friday with a fierce 5 layer chocolate cake that my friend Erin made. Then there was another cake on Sunday with Nate's family. The festivities continue with a special breakfast in the morning, a facial, and then dinner to a surprise place Nate picked out for tomorrow. He keeps teasing me that it's Panda Express, but I know they don't take reservations and ours is for 5:30. There's also a party planned for next week. This is going to be almost two full weeks of birthday celebration. Wow. I'm feeling the love.

Thank you in advance to everyone for making this a very special birthday for me. I am so blessed to have wonderful friends and family. I LOVE YOU ALL! So much.

Recession Hurts

Christmas 2005Christmas 2008

I finally realized where Nathan had put all of the pictures from Christmas. When I saw this one, it reminded me of the one of Harrison from 3 years before (same jammies!)

I great blogger knows how to edit and that less is more, so would stop right there. But I am not a less is more kind of a girl. I am more of a blabbering, stream of consciousness kind of girl. So seeing Harrison's owie in the above picture reminded me of another commonality between these two Christmases.

We tend to have pre-Christmas accidents when we're at Obaachan and Ojiichan's house. Christmas Eve of '05 Harrison was in the shower with me and slipped on the wet tile and busted open his eyebrow. Nate's Dad made it even easier for me to avoid the ER by saying "Just let him have a nice scar, he'll look like a samurai." And since he's a boy, I was okay with that. As much as I hate the ER, I probably would have taken him in if he were a girl. Eyebrows are much more important for girls. And samurai isn't really the look we're going for!

Anyway, this year each child had their own personal Christmas injury. Elizabeth was very interested in the stockings and tried to get one down herself. Now we know that those weighted, metal stocking holders (with very pointy corners) are not meant to hold 20+ pounds.

Sadly, her forehead took the brunt of this lesson. Okay, it really looked much worse in person! Thank goodness for "ice" (or frozen sesame seeds). She wanted these on her forehead for days afterwords.

Harrison's accident was also caused by impatience and over zealousness for Christmas things! His was not stockings, but cookies for Santa.

He was really excited to smell the cookies when they came out of the oven. Even though I had just warned him that the cookie sheet was still VERY hot, he got too close and burned his chin on the rim. I actually didn't even realize it had happened (he probably didn't cry because he knew he hadn't listened!) until I noticed that he kept rubbing his chin and asked me if my chin hurt. Then I saw the blister. Which eventually scabbed over, as you can see here. Over a month later, there's still a faint scar. "Santa" really enjoyed the cookies, but I don't know it that's worth it! I guess it just adds to the Samurai look.

So, short and to the point might not be my forte, but at least I thought of a title that pulls it all together, right? :)

New Year's Eve and Day

We spent the holidays at Nate's parents house in Alpine, UT. On New Year's Eve we ate lots of yummy food (as always). Then Nate's mom did a little Japanese cultural lesson on New Year's Traditions. New Year's is THE holiday in Asia, so it would be the equivalent of explaining Christmas traditions non-Westerners. I requested that she do another one when my kids are old enough to pay attention and understand more (instead of bothering their cousins as Harrison is doing below. . .)

Here are three generations listening to Obaachan. Notice the towel around Nate's Dad's neck. That is a very common sight!

She taught us about the Animal Calendar (Year of the Sheep, Monkey, etc.) We all figured out which animal we were and Auntie Becky made a master list of every one's birthdays (all 36 family members).

Obaachan lead the kids in a traditional game that was kind of like pin the tail on the donkey, except it was all of the facial features on the face. Here's Harrison checking out how he did. Not too shabby!The kids love to take bubble baths in the big bath tub. Bubbles help with the modesty issue! Even though I stayed up past midnight every night on this trip, I couldn't make it on New Year's Eve. I fell asleep with 15 minutes to spare and they woke me up for the count down. A quick New Year's kiss and I went right back to sleep. I did get up again for toast later, one sip of bubbly (sparkling pear juice, mind you) and right back to sleep again! On New Year's Day we all (lots of extended family from both Nate's Mom and Dad's sides) went ice skating at the Olympic Oval. I was a little star struck that I was skating where Apollo Ono skated (I became a fan when he was Julianne Hough's partner on Dancing With the Stars).
Skating with Nate reminded me of the first time we went in December of '96 (12 years ago!). That was the first time we held hands. It was VERY exciting! I tell ya, I miss those days of twiderpation and budding romance!

They let you push strollers on the ice (a fabulous idea for baby purposes and people-who-took-an-ice-skating-class-at-BYU-but-still-can't-skate-well purposes!)

Our niece Sydni and her fiance Nych (who were both fine at skating, but just wanted to be nice) took Elizabeth around several times and actually put her to sleep for a decent nap!

Thank goodness they had these walker type thing for the kids. Harrison was a little frustrated at first, but he got better with time.

He spent a lot of time like this, but thankfully kept on smiling!

I love that little guy!

For the record we went to Nate's Uncle Ma-chan's that night for the big annual New Year's Day Feast with all sorts of relatives! Great food and company.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Elizabeth Turns Two!

This darling little girl had her "Golden Birthday" this year as she turned 2 on the 2nd. I was going to do a gold theme, but the holidays plum wore me out (plus she's way too young to care). When she's old enough to know what's going on I'll try to be more enthusiastic (or just celebrate her half b-day in the summer!)

We kept it simple and went to Chick-Fil-A (I have passed my obsession on to my children, she recognizes the logo and can say it too!)

We went with Obaachan and Ojiichan (G-ma and G-pa Watabe), the Lundberg cousins and Auntie Victoria. Cupcakes were enjoyed by all!

Then we opened some presents. I love her classic reaction here!

She got a princess watch. Of course, she knows nothing about time, she just likes accessories -- wonder where she got that from? Plus, it was on clearance at Wally World (there are some advantages to having your child's b-day the week after Christmas!) Sadly, she left the watch in UT and asks about it frequently. She knows it at "Bachan's House."

You can see the watch better in this picture. She's also modeling the Cinderella dress up she got. (Also on clearance, love you Wal-Mart). I absolutely adore this little girl! She is the sweetest, cutest thing on earth!

I am going to take the time to record some things about her before she grows up and I forget it all. It may be boring to others, but I will do it for journaling purposes! She is talking a ton. She asks why all the time while cocking her head to the side and raising her eyebrows. If you ask her why she says, "Suz" (cuz) with the same cocked head and a little shrug. She's even giving reasons beyond "cuz" now. Like when asked why she woke up so early she replied. "Suz, Seson bed." Which made sense, she was on a crib strike and slept in Harrison's bed, which caused her to get up at 5:50 (more than two hours earlier than her usual time -- so I put an end to the crib strike). This morning she brought in a book that was ripped and told me "Seson boke da book." Then she threw it down and growled (a sound she frequently hears her mother make). When I asked why she was so mad she said, "Suz, Seson boke da book." (duh, Mom, didn't I just tell you that?) She doesn't do it as much, but whenever we were in the car she used to ask Mommy over and over and over again and every time I'd say "What?" and she would finally say, "Hi." It was mostly cute, just somewhat irritating! Also in the car whenever Harrison tries to talk to me she interrupts and once she gets my attention she just thinks of a random thing she knows how to say like "Daddy back hurts," or "No Wobbie's house, no beach house." She really just doesn't want Harrison to be able to say his thing and it gets him so worked up.

She adores Elmo and wants to watch him constantly. When I'm on the computer she wants "Elmo Shi-shi (the Elmo Potty Song -- shi-shi is pee pee in Japanese) from U-tube. She loves me to sing Byda (Isty Bitsy Spider) and she does a very exagerated WASH on that part. She also loves me to sing Buhdaytoyou (Happy Birthday to You). At night she loves to "wock" (rock) and always wants me to sing "Sunshine" and then "Sunshine again." (You Are My Sunshine verse one and two.) She used to always remind me to pray right after that, but now we're doing family prayer instead (I should probably do a personal prayer with her too, but it starts to feel very repetitive). At the end of our family prayers we've started doing a tradition that Nate's family did where we all put their hands in the middle and then say "Oyasumina-SAI" (goodnight in Japanese) and we put our hands up on the sai part (like a sports team would at the end of a huddle). Anyway, both kids love it and she's always wanting to do "Sai."

She is very helpful, always bringing me the phone, throwing things away, loving "we-up, we-up" (clean up, clean up everybody, everywhere). She also wants to get "weady" first thing in the morning. She used to demand to "eat" (said while pointing at her nose, her old baby sign for eat) first thing, but now she's more interested in getting ready. She loves pretty things (any and all jewelry, pretty bows, pretty flowers, pretty boots). I love it when I rock her because she often reaches up and plays with my hair says "pretty hair." She has recently started calling me Mama and it is so sweet. "Mo wada, Mama." "Help Mama" I could really go on all night.

She loves treats and knows how to pull chairs and stools over to get on the counter and then get things from off the top of the fridge. She is fairly picky and survives mainly on yogurt and cheese. She also likes mandarin oranges, pineapple, rice, nori (seaweed), pasta, bread, nuggets, pizza, oatmeal, popcorn, crackers, pretzels, ah ah nacks (Curious George fruit snacks -- ah ah from a monkey saying "ooh ooh ah ah") and OJ (she calls it that). She loves "spicy" (soda), but we only have it on special occasions. Harrison tried to talk me into having soda tonight after I called Auntie Wendy, who lives in Virginia, for her birthday, because it was a special occasion. Pretty clever, but it didn't work.

Elizabeth has been an easy child from the start. She slept through the night after a month, she slept almost all day for a lot longer than most babies (for over 4 months - it actually worried me, but the Dr. told me to be grateful). She's still a good napper, goes to bed easily, and sleeps in (Harrison has always been an EARLY riser!) She's always been good natured and happy. I rarely see her do things that are blatantly mean (unlike my other child at that age -- thankfully he grew out of that). She is definitely displaying some of the undesirable characteristics of a two year old, but I know that's an important part of developing her independence. And her cuteness totally outweighs it. I LOVE her smile. She has the most perfectly straight teeth and when she smiles her top and bottom teeth show and her eyes turn into crescent moons.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, ELIZABETH!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY!