Goodnight Caitlin

Our neighbors have halloween decorations up in their front yard this
month. Nothing ghoulish, but just scary enough to be intriguing for
the little Walch girls. Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird? These
girls are like Scout and Jem always sneaking out to poke around at Boo
Radley's house.

Caitlin (2) cried and cried at bedtime last night asking for her
dolly. She already had her favorite dolly… and her birday, and her
rocky dog, and her star bear, and her glow worm, and her other bear,
and her favorite pink polka dot blanket. Then she got more specific
and said "little dolly still in car". So, Joe went out and found her
other little dolly and brought it upstairs. Caitlin hugged her little
dolly and said "It's okay dolly. No more scary Halloween."

Mystery solved. She's like the shepherd leaving the ninety and nine to
go seeking the one lost sheep.

It also makes me smile when every day Caitlin loads all the
beforementioned friends into her toy wagon and hauls them around the
house and insists on dragging them upstairs when shes up, and
downstairs when she's down (usually causing a scene half way when she
and the wagon get stuck). And if ever she wakes up in the middle of
the night, it takes her three trips to bring all her friends into our
room. Now I've drawn the line when she wants to bring her growing
menagerie into bed with me. Funny girl.

Morning Conversation with Miriam

Miriam (4): I had a bad dream last night.
Mom: Were you scared?
Miriam: Yes, and my elephant and hipo were scared too, and even my
blanket was scared.

Reporting on a Wonderful Saturday

Heading to bed very happy tonight. We sure packed a lot of fun into
today, so much fun that I don't think we're even missing Miriam's
cancelled T ball game…

We started off with a pirate and princess themed birthday party for
the Jenks twins. Tons of kids. Joe missed part of the action since he
was helping clean the church, but that was good too I suppose.

Next we moved on to kitty cat shopping at the animal shelter with
Grandma. We picked up a pair of mouse munchin moggies (my words not
hers) to keep the rodents at bay. Plus, Grandma's house has been
pretty quiet since the recent loss of the old boxer dog Rocky and the
other kitty that wandered. Looking forward to fun with the new ginger
and calico duo.

Next Joe and I scored free Fiesta Texas theme park passes and a
generous Grandma who kept the kids for the afternoon while we rode the
roller coasters. This was an unexpected diversion that beat the
previous plan to wash the car and prepare Sunday school lessons. Time
later for that.

Got home in time to pick up our usual babysitter and we took the
tandem out for an early evening bike ride, then finished off by
bringing home pizza and watching a movie. Kids safely tucked in bed
long ago.

Best day we've had in a long while.

Remembering Caitlin's Birth

Caitlin is about to have her second birthday: Here's me filling in the
gaps from the few notes I jotted down two years ago...

Babies don't often arrive on their due date, but Caitlin did.

09/30/11 The day previous
I walked to the Lockheed Martin park about 1.5miles away with my
neighbor, Sharlyn Richardson, (a sheep farming girl from Idaho. Miriam
and Sharlyn's son, Travis, were best friends and we spent a lot of
time together either at church, at the apartment pool at River Park
Place or out on the Trinity Trail biking, walking or running. We were
the resident stroller brigade.). So at nine months pregnant I was
still out walking the trail with Sharlyn, and upon arrival at the
park, the parking attendant made some comment that I don't remember,
but as we continued Sharlyn told me with a smile, "You know, I've
delivered hundreds of lambs." We both really laughed at that and hoped
she wouldn't have to try out her skills on me. It wasn't until the
next day that we realized how close we could have been to that
situation though…
Joe and I drove an hour that night to the Ikea furniture store and
stayed up late building a set of drawers and a book shelf. I guess it
was the nesting instinct working against us. We stayed up until about
2am, and then I sprang awake at 4:30am when my water broke! (I leaped
so fast that I made it without getting my sheets wet; I went from
sleeping, to feeling a pop, and then I was in the bathroom five paces
away.) The contractions started coming every couple of minutes.
Although they weren't yet painful, I had to lie down to calm myself
while Joe got dressed and helped me get a little cleaned up. Sharlyn
came to the rescue and stayed with sleeping Miriam while Joe and I
went to the hospital at 5:30am.

10/01/11 The nurses took one look at me with a towel wrapped around my
lower half and all made the correct conclusion; I was ready for the
delivery room.

My first pain was around 6:30am. I received an epidural shortly after
that (I could have withstood it a while longer, but why not right?).
Active labor began at 8am and before thirty minutes (barely enough
time to savor the occasion) Caitlin arrived! I was so surprised and
felt a bit cheated that it didn't last longer (something I'm sure I
would have been overjoyed about if not for the pain blocker). Until
then I assumed labor would always be like the three hour full body
workout Miriam required.

After greeting our beautiful newborn girl, my next thoughts were,
great—we're all here in plenty of time for the Saturday morning
session of LDS General Conference. So efficient. We listened via
internet and iphone in our comfy hospital room, by chance the same one
we stayed in when Miriam was born. The other coincidence not yet
listed is that the delivery nurse's dad lived in Toowoomba,
Queensland, Australia. Such a small world.

I had prayed for a speedy recovery, and I really received it. It
seemed like I was in far less pain and able to move myself much
quicker than after Miriam's birth. the whole event was seemless
really. I was spoiled and I know it.

Good, Bad, & Ugly

July 4th was fabulous. Joe had an unexpected day off and we went to
the Fredericksberg parade. The girls were so cute with their arms
around eachothers shoulders and waving their little flags. We also had
kolaches (Czech hotdog things), doughnuts, and raspberry snowcones for
lunch, barbecue for dinner with Joe's mom, and a wild neighborhood
fireworks show at night. Seriously, when it comes to fireworks, these
Texans are nuts! It's a wonder none of the houses on our street caught
fire.

Now for the bad and ugly in no particular order; Miriam gave herself
and Caitlin haircuts and Caitlin threw my iphone across the room and
cracked the screen. I was so mad I had to put myself in timeout.

Now circling back to the good stuff... I bottled a couple of boxes of
fresh Fredericksberg peaches with joe's mom in preparation for Lorna's
wedding. We're having cobbler for dessert. I marvel at the skills of
previous generations. Makes me want to go read the Anne of Green
Gables series again.

Pretending to Swim

I heard Caitlin screaming downstairs; The expanation I got from Miriam
standing there with her floatie was "I was pretending to go swimming
and Caitlin was pretending to be the pool. I was diving in."

Triathlon Here We Come!

I neglected to tell you all earlier, but tomorrow joe and I are doing
our first mini triathlon! I just found out two weeks ago that a nearby
neighborhood is putting one on, so we signed up. We'll see how we do.
It starts with a 5km/3.1mi run, then a 16km/10mi bike, and a
400m/437yard swim. Hopefully this doesn't do me in! I think I'm ready
enough so long as the swim part goes alright. Joe has the advantage of
running with me at about half his usual pace, so he should be nice and
fresh for the other legs. This is a fun event to celebrate our 10th
wedding anniversary which is this coming week.

Bargain Hunter Haul

This is a test to see if I can upload pictures from email to my blog.
If you see pictures in this post, then my experiment worked! If not,
I'll keep trying... or else you can just imagine.

This is our new play kitchen bought for a whopping $15. It's grey and
white with all the essential appliances.

Here's Caitlin standing by our new $6 water and sand table. I think
this usually sells for $50 bucks new. This summer will be fun.

And here's Miriam's stylish new $2 princess scooter.

Garage sale mission accomplished.

Footwear Foible

Arrived at church today and discovered I was wearing one silver and
one black shoe—oops! The ten-year-old boys in my Sunday school class
just assumed I was a Spurs fan.

Zoo Keeper Continued...

Following is from an email I wrote to a friend about a month ago:

Yes, as crazy at it is at times, I do imagine myself missing my
toddlers in years to come. I always dreaded this stage, but now that
I'm here i find it to be pretty fun... that is, except when it's not
so fun... Funny story--I got Miriam all dressed for church the other
morning and then dared to go take a shower. I returned not very long
after to find every cushion off the couch and Miriam sitting in the
middle of the pile eating from a carton of chocolate icecream and the
freezer door wide open. This is just like her. Numerous lessons to be
learned from this one. And now that Caitlin is sixteen months old, I
can't turn around for more than a minute without finding her climbing
on tables or dressers, or kitchen counters. Both my kids are monkeys
and I can't leave them alone for more than a minute. It's lucky they
have redeeming qualities as well.

Zoo Keeper

03/17/2013 Caitlin (17 months) said "Kitty, come back!" her first
three word utterance. She can also climb out of her crib then barely
reach and twist the doorknob to escape. Current personal best is 9.6
seconds (just kidding about the point six). A regular Houdini like her
older sister.

03/19/2013 Driving in the car Anne told me we were just planning to
have salad for dinner (pause) oh, and then C-A-K-E. Miriam piped up in
the back and said seemingly randomly "We have cake at our house". I
looked around with eyes wide thinking, did my three year old really
figure out how to spell that? She also carries out covert operations
when I go upstairs; She stacks a stool on top of a dining chair to
climb up and reach the scissors and markers on top of the fridge or
other reconnaissance missions.

A few weeks ago I ran upstairs to get changed to go running and was
gone for about five minutes at which time a neighbor was ringing my
doorbell with two children in hand saying "I found them down the
street". Yikes! I've had better days than that one.

I just keep saying, it'll be okay if I can just keep them alive
through childhood.

Louise's Belated Best of 2012

Yes, this is belated; Here's my personal Best of 2012:

* I could say that just surviving the past year with two toddlers is a
best accomplishment. No kidding.
* Joe earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience. I'm married to a doctor.
* I took up running and experienced racing for the first time in my
adult lifetime. I did a 5k and a 10k, and that has whet my appetite
for more. I used to hate running, but had to find a good alternative
for biking while Caitlin was too young for a bike trailer. (Now
Caitlin is plenty big enough, but still running).
* I learned to mop—that is, more than once in a blue moon. Yes, it's a
small accomplishment, but considering the state of our floors, it's
significant.
* I did not leave the state of Texas at any time during 2012 nor get
on any airplanes. I'm finding it hard to believe myself and keep
racking my brain wondering if I could be making a misstatement. My
list of countries visited remains at 7 and US states visited is umm,
24 I think (although I'm not going to sit and count them all again in
my head right now)
* The best movie of 2012 was Les Miserables. I think it captures the
flavor of the book even more richly than the play.
* I read a ton of books (mostly audiobooks while I'm doing dishes).

I'm surprised and a tad disappointed to see how few nonfiction I read,
but so far 2013's fiction to nonfiction ratio is looking better.

2012 42 books (Sorry if I misspelled or omitted any authors and only
wrote notes about a few. Any numbers indicate my star rating out of
five.)

The Doctrine and Covenants
The Book of mormon
Daughters in My Kingdom, worth rereading for sure.
Ready Player One, a fun fantasy/adventure/quest-type read for anyone
who lived through the 80s.
3 Bossy Pants
3 One shot, it was good, but not all that memorable
4 11/22/63 by Stephen King, fiction about time travel to change JFK's
assassination.
4 One Second After (Very intriguing fiction about what would happen if
an electro magnetic pulse, EMP knocked out all electronics in North
America.)
3 The light between oceans, ML Steadman 2012 australia, I read it
because it was about Australia, but not all that memorable.
4 The hobbit by JRR Tolkien (A great book, mostly for the songs and
riddles. Nobody should pass through young adulthood without reading
this one.
4 Swallows and amazons, by Arthur Ransom (an awesome book for boys and
adventurous young girls. Highly recommended for young readers)
4 Swallowdale, by Arthur Ransom
3 The full cupboard of life
4.5 The pillars of the earth, by Ken Follett (Few books stir me to
tears, but this one had me bawling just a half an hour in. It's a long
book, BUT A PAGE TURNER. YOU MIGHT WANT TO TURN THE PAGES A LITTLE
FASTER TO GET PAST THE RACEY STUFF THOUGH, BUT IN THE AUTHOR'S
DEFENSE, ANY EXPLICIT DESCRIPTIONS DO SERVE THE PURPOSE TO CONTRAST
BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL MEN. Twas an interesting look at war-time
England, the middle-ages, the cast system, the Catholic church, and
masonry.
4Who moved my cheese?
4.5 Tess of the D'urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy
4 A World Without heroes, first book in the Beyonders series by Brandon mull
2 Rebecca by Daphne DeMoye (compelling descriptions of the sights and
smells of the landscape, but characters were hollow. I can't think why
it was on the BBC top 100 except that it was like a cheap murder
mystery film)
4 Corelli's Mandolin by Louis D'bernier? (some sensuality but
compelling characters, rich writing and an interesting look at a place
and time foreign to me)
4 What the most successful people do before breakfast, by Laura
Vanderkam, a short and potentially life-changing read for all
repentant time-wasters like me.
4 A tree grows in Brooklyn (written back when people could speak
English and their writing was more developed and less seeming like it
was written for a TV script)
5 Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (If you've ever liked fantasy, you'll
love this one)
5 Rise of the Evening Star
5 Grip of the Shadow Plague
4 Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
4 Keys to the Deamon Prison
4 Anne of Green gables by LM Montgomery
4 Anne of Avonlea
4 Anne of the island (I just keep rereading the last page
3Anne of windy poplars
4 Anne's House of Dreams (this one might be my favorite)
4 Anne of ingleside
4 number 1 ladies detective agency
3 the android's dream
3 dauntless
4 the power of habit
3 A Commonwealth of thieves: the Improbable birth of Australia (The
low star rating is more a reflection of the reader than the writer)
4 A Light in the Window
3 These High Green Hills
3 Out to Canon
4 Hands On Parenting: A Resource Guide for Parents Who are Blind or
Partially Sighted
4 In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in
Hitler's Berlin

The Preschool Mind

I had a braid in my hair this morning. Miriam asked me "What dat
tangles in your hair?"

January 2013 Brief Family Update

I haven't written an update on the girls for a while, so for my own
records and the benefit of those few who are interested:

The other day the girls and I were at our friend's, the Lillywhite's
house where Miriam and Ethan Lillywhite were dressing up in capes from
their dress-up box. That night after bathtime, Miriam was running
through the house with her hooded towel on and shouting "Superman!"
and Caitlin (15 months old), unwilling to miss the fun, ran along
behind shouting "Maaan!". This carried on for about thirty minutes
until I figured it had been enough fun for one day.

Plenty of fun happens around here and I most often neglect to write it
down. both girls are growing up so fast; Miriam is three and I am
finding that I now have to adjust to thinking of her as a pre-schooler
rather than a toddler. On the whole I find I can trust her more,
although I regret it occasionally when she draws on furniture with
markers while I'm cooking dinner—yes, that was last night's little
surprise. On a nicer note, she's doing well at learning letters, and
even spelling the occasional word, or else stringing random letters
together and declaring the new spelling.

Caitlin just learned how to climb out of her crib, and for some time
now she has been attempting every word she hears. Most recent and
interesting word is vanilla. Most frequent words are stuck (used for
everything from being stuck in a high place where she has climbed up,
or stuck in her seatbelt), and snack (used for all food and drinks
when not specifying). Her very first words were at ten months, "Da",
"Ma" and then shortly after that "duck" and "sock" (with all letters
pronounced). Other words like cheese and shoes are still "chis" and
"shis". Her vanilla sounded pretty good that one time she was
requesting vanilla pudding. She also said chocolate milk yesterday,
which might be her first compound word. She also likes to say jump
while employing her new talent for jumping off the bottom step—show
off.

Their favorite Christmas presents this year have been a toy piano that
I picked up from a neighbor's garage sale, a toy tool set with hammer
and drill, Miriam's Leap Pad Explorer, Caitlin's shopping cart, a
wooden cookie baking set, and play food with mini pots and pans.

The only words to tell about myself are that Joe and I have had a few
good date nights recently in an effort to stay sane with the
combination of Joe's busy work and study schedule and the demands of
parenthood. We went out to dinner at El Chaparral last weekend and we
went to see the Hobbit and Les Miserables over Christmas—two of our
favorite books turned movies. We're doing our best to enjoy daily life
today and also constantly looking forward to all the exciting new
developments of the coming years. This fall Joe will be interviewing
for residency programs. Thus far he wants to do anesthesiology,
probably somewhere in the south such as Tennessee, Alabama, Texas,
Virginia, Georgia, or one of the Carolinas. Poor Joe is stressing over
all that has to happen between now and then. There's not much biking
going on for us unless it's on the exercise bike at home, or a bit of
a jog in the neighborhood. That triathlon won't be this year I'm
afraid. If I really get busy, perhaps another 10k or a half marathon
if I can get myself convinced. Mind you, we're hoping to visit
Australia in early 2014, so I can't allow myself to get too rusty lest
I forfeit the chance to enter a race then.

Signing off.