Sunday, June 29, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The Demise of Mr. Monkey
Further to my post in February, I am sad to announce the passing of the much loved and well traveled Mr. Monkey. Though his life was short he will be sorely missed... by Alena.
We discovered he was missing on May 17th in Auckland... barely a day into our trip. It appears that he was thrown to the floor in a fit of rage by Lena whilst she was protesting sitting in her car seat, and that he fell out of the car unnoticed when the car door was opened. Either that or he just decided that he had had enough abuse and went to find somewhere else to gain affection. Lena was rather distraught and went through a period of denial in which she cuddled other soft toys but insisted that they made monkey noises too. Sadly, this seems to have been detrimental to the wellbeing of the other animals (Mr. Tiger and Annoying Sheep to name a few) since all the other fake monkeys came to the same fate along the trip. We affectionately called them roadkill.
Here is the last documented whereabouts of Mr. Monkey.
It is a mystery how he escaped... his head looks as though it is in a pretty secure vice-like grip to me.
But all is not lost! Unbeknown to Lena, Mummy came to the rescue and ordered not one but three new Mr. Monkeys. They were waiting for her when she got back home in Provo (well, one was... the other two were in plastic bags) and to Lena it was like Mr. Monkey had never gone missing!
She still doesn't know Mr. Monkey II is an impostor. Maybe we will tell her when she is older and can handle the truth. But for now we are happy to tell her in her innocence that Mr. Monkey swam all the way across the Pacific and braved the mountains and the deserts so he could see her again.
She owes us big time!
We discovered he was missing on May 17th in Auckland... barely a day into our trip. It appears that he was thrown to the floor in a fit of rage by Lena whilst she was protesting sitting in her car seat, and that he fell out of the car unnoticed when the car door was opened. Either that or he just decided that he had had enough abuse and went to find somewhere else to gain affection. Lena was rather distraught and went through a period of denial in which she cuddled other soft toys but insisted that they made monkey noises too. Sadly, this seems to have been detrimental to the wellbeing of the other animals (Mr. Tiger and Annoying Sheep to name a few) since all the other fake monkeys came to the same fate along the trip. We affectionately called them roadkill.
Here is the last documented whereabouts of Mr. Monkey.
It is a mystery how he escaped... his head looks as though it is in a pretty secure vice-like grip to me.
But all is not lost! Unbeknown to Lena, Mummy came to the rescue and ordered not one but three new Mr. Monkeys. They were waiting for her when she got back home in Provo (well, one was... the other two were in plastic bags) and to Lena it was like Mr. Monkey had never gone missing!
She still doesn't know Mr. Monkey II is an impostor. Maybe we will tell her when she is older and can handle the truth. But for now we are happy to tell her in her innocence that Mr. Monkey swam all the way across the Pacific and braved the mountains and the deserts so he could see her again.
She owes us big time!
Blogging Rebirth
I can't believe that June is nearly over! And I can't believe our last post on here was four months ago! Where did the time go? Today we officially have 6 months until Christmas Day. Wasn't it just Christmas? I guess we had better start saving seeing as we are buying for two kids this year.
We also have two months until our little boy is born. We are very excited but we realize that he will be here before we know it and inevitably before we are prepared for him to come. Yet, I still feel like he can't come soon enough! (You can track his progress in the widget to the right.)
Which conveniently brings me to my next point... in the spirit of (kind of) rebirth, we have given our blog a make-over. We felt it was in need of some love, especially given the fact that we hadn't posted in eons. So now it is pretty, which we hope is going to inspire us keep it regularly updated and healthy looking... Just one of our many mid-year resolutions.
We also have two months until our little boy is born. We are very excited but we realize that he will be here before we know it and inevitably before we are prepared for him to come. Yet, I still feel like he can't come soon enough! (You can track his progress in the widget to the right.)
Which conveniently brings me to my next point... in the spirit of (kind of) rebirth, we have given our blog a make-over. We felt it was in need of some love, especially given the fact that we hadn't posted in eons. So now it is pretty, which we hope is going to inspire us keep it regularly updated and healthy looking... Just one of our many mid-year resolutions.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Big One
Lena finally turned One. We kept it pretty low key since we had a great party for her on a Friday night with Grandpa P and lots of family and friends. So, Lena spent the day at home with Mummy wearing pretty clothes and getting away with (almost) whatever she wanted. Daddy came home periodically and we even had a chance take in Lena's passport application. (That was a whole exciting experience in an of itself. I don't know if it was because she knew that she had to hold still for her picture or if it was because there were different people around but Lena went hyper when the nice old lady wanted to take the photo. Needless to say she will have the cutest passport picture in the world, but all the photo regulations went out the window.)
Being so far away, we decided that for the cake ceremony (the second one since we had one on the Friday) we would do a video chat with the Palmer family so that they could see the cake destruction. We also filmed most of it so that all the rest of you could see it too. So here is Lena eating her chocolate birthday cake. We placed the laptop (with my family on it) on the table directly opposite Lena so those are the muffled voices you can hear in the background, and it explains why Lena wasn't really interacting with us... we don't live inside the computer, and are, therefore, far too boring.
Being so far away, we decided that for the cake ceremony (the second one since we had one on the Friday) we would do a video chat with the Palmer family so that they could see the cake destruction. We also filmed most of it so that all the rest of you could see it too. So here is Lena eating her chocolate birthday cake. We placed the laptop (with my family on it) on the table directly opposite Lena so those are the muffled voices you can hear in the background, and it explains why Lena wasn't really interacting with us... we don't live inside the computer, and are, therefore, far too boring.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Lena and Her Monkey
Here is a video from October which I meant to publish but never got around to doing so. She has really become attached to that monkey and I guess if I had gone all over the world to get it, I would be attached to it too!
How Time Flies...
Yet again it has been a long time since my last post. Let cover the last two months:
Moving in December - I highly recommend against moving twice in the space of four months. Although in our case, moving from our last place was a good thing. Some of you may recall how disappointed we were with it, and the rest of you saw how bad it was with your own eyes. Needless to say, even though moving was an absolute pain (especially around Christmas), we were glad for the opportunity set up house in a far nicer place... even though there is no peach tree. We were fortunate to have the help of my cousin, Chelsea, and her husband Ryan. The men carried all the furniture and boxes up three flights of stairs, and Chelsea and I looked after Lena and packed and unpacked.
Christmas - Lena's first Christmas. We had a Christmas Eve feast with Chelsea and Ryan around boxes and mayhem. We had enough left overs to last about 3 days. Christmas Day was fairly low key. Lena enjoyed unwrapping things and generally creating a mess, but we only got half-way through the presents before she got overstimulated and wanted to take a nap. Maybe we will just get her fewer presents next year. Best Buy: the psychedelic colored walker that taught Lena how to walk.
New Years - We spent New Years Eve with Evan's boss at his party. We both fell in love with his brand new baby girl, and decided that we wanted another one (just as well, really... see below). Actually I don't know that we necessarily fell in love with his baby more the idea of having something cute and little that sleeps in your arms without cutting off the circulation to your hands. Just as a side note, I don't think Lena was ever as small as that baby... even when she was a newborn. Oh well.
Belated New Years in San Diego - We drove down with Guin, Clark, and Ben. The kids loved looking at the lights from the passing cars, and fell asleep once we left Vegas with our In-and-Out burgers. We had Christmas all over again, with everyone getting plenty of loot from Grandma and Grandpa T. Can't wait until it warms up to use that picnic basket!! Found out we were having another baby, and had a cute little ultrasound to confirm things. It is due sometime around the end of August/beginning of September. Stayed around in San Diego for a few extra days with Lena and flew back to Utah... much better than driving, especially with the antique furniture that they packed into that van on the drive back!
Visit from Dad - I was able to meet up at the airport with my Dad who flew in for a day from NZ on his way to Orlando (? I can't keep track of the places he goes these days). He also brought lots of loot. Mainly sweets and chocolate (which is currently doubling as our 72hr kit) and present and clothes for Lena. He also brought with him my stash of medals and trophies from my swimming days. I need to sort through everything. Once he was done unpacking everything for us his two bags were all but empty. That night we went sledding. Dad got really wet and cold because he wasn't wearing anything water-proof. But he had lots of fun and took some cute pictures of Lena enjoying herself.
Ben's Birthday - Big Boy Ben turned one in January and we celebrated with carrot cake and an awesome chowder made by Guin. It inspired me to start planning Lena's birthday party. Lena likes to climb the stairs at the Woolstenhulme house.
My Birthday - Yes, another year has come and gone. I turned 22 at the end of January. It isn't very much different to being 21 actually. I realized, however, that this was the second year in a row that I was pregnant for my birthday. At least this time round there is no morning sickness, and at least I can still eat a full meal. Last year Evan to me to an amazing Hawaiian restaurant overlooking the San Diego harbor, but I could hardly eat anything because Lena was taking up far too much room.
Our Bathroom - We started to tile our bathroom at the beginning of February. It was supposed to be finished by the time we moved in to our place in December, but time has a way of running out. Fortunately we were able to have the new bath installed before we moved in so that we could stay clean. Anyway, we made good progress at the beginning of the month, and we were helped by my cousin Nathan for some of it. Evan finished cutting the tile over the weekend and now it just needs to be grouted. So... whenever we have the time, it will get finished. It is looking really good though, and we are really pleased that we were able to do it so well. We can't wait to tear down the ugly wallpaper border and repaint everything!
Lena - Well, it seems to be the story of the year, but she just keeps getting bigger and bigger. She is chattering more, although there are few new words that she is saying. She loves to say 'cat' ('dat!'), and recently everything has become a cat... the pictures, the tv, her food, her books. She seems to know what she is saying
even if we don't. Her latest verbal milestone is also cat related. A few days ago she started the cat was meowing at us so we would get up and give her some food, and Lena started imitating her. Now, if she is in the mood (for some reason first thing in the morning is when she usually does it), when you ask her what the cat says she makes little high-pitched meowing noises. It is really cute, but I hope this isn't foreboding some kind of identity crisis. She has been walking since about New Years. We had been trying to get her to do it all through December and she wasn't having any of it. Then one day she decided she didn't want to crawl anymore. So now she insists on walking. Everywhere. She won't sit in shopping carts anymore because she wants to walk around and push the groceries. At church she thinks it is hilarious to try to walk up to the stage and climb the stairs to try to get to the pulpit... she does it on purpose. She knows she isn't allowed because she will give you this look and then bolt off in the other direction laughing maniacally. Lately, it hasn't been walking, but running. The only good thing about her going top-speed during the day is that she is taking longer and more frequent naps. And so am I!
Moving in December - I highly recommend against moving twice in the space of four months. Although in our case, moving from our last place was a good thing. Some of you may recall how disappointed we were with it, and the rest of you saw how bad it was with your own eyes. Needless to say, even though moving was an absolute pain (especially around Christmas), we were glad for the opportunity set up house in a far nicer place... even though there is no peach tree. We were fortunate to have the help of my cousin, Chelsea, and her husband Ryan. The men carried all the furniture and boxes up three flights of stairs, and Chelsea and I looked after Lena and packed and unpacked.
Christmas - Lena's first Christmas. We had a Christmas Eve feast with Chelsea and Ryan around boxes and mayhem. We had enough left overs to last about 3 days. Christmas Day was fairly low key. Lena enjoyed unwrapping things and generally creating a mess, but we only got half-way through the presents before she got overstimulated and wanted to take a nap. Maybe we will just get her fewer presents next year. Best Buy: the psychedelic colored walker that taught Lena how to walk.
New Years - We spent New Years Eve with Evan's boss at his party. We both fell in love with his brand new baby girl, and decided that we wanted another one (just as well, really... see below). Actually I don't know that we necessarily fell in love with his baby more the idea of having something cute and little that sleeps in your arms without cutting off the circulation to your hands. Just as a side note, I don't think Lena was ever as small as that baby... even when she was a newborn. Oh well.
Belated New Years in San Diego - We drove down with Guin, Clark, and Ben. The kids loved looking at the lights from the passing cars, and fell asleep once we left Vegas with our In-and-Out burgers. We had Christmas all over again, with everyone getting plenty of loot from Grandma and Grandpa T. Can't wait until it warms up to use that picnic basket!! Found out we were having another baby, and had a cute little ultrasound to confirm things. It is due sometime around the end of August/beginning of September. Stayed around in San Diego for a few extra days with Lena and flew back to Utah... much better than driving, especially with the antique furniture that they packed into that van on the drive back!
Visit from Dad - I was able to meet up at the airport with my Dad who flew in for a day from NZ on his way to Orlando (? I can't keep track of the places he goes these days). He also brought lots of loot. Mainly sweets and chocolate (which is currently doubling as our 72hr kit) and present and clothes for Lena. He also brought with him my stash of medals and trophies from my swimming days. I need to sort through everything. Once he was done unpacking everything for us his two bags were all but empty. That night we went sledding. Dad got really wet and cold because he wasn't wearing anything water-proof. But he had lots of fun and took some cute pictures of Lena enjoying herself.
Ben's Birthday - Big Boy Ben turned one in January and we celebrated with carrot cake and an awesome chowder made by Guin. It inspired me to start planning Lena's birthday party. Lena likes to climb the stairs at the Woolstenhulme house.
My Birthday - Yes, another year has come and gone. I turned 22 at the end of January. It isn't very much different to being 21 actually. I realized, however, that this was the second year in a row that I was pregnant for my birthday. At least this time round there is no morning sickness, and at least I can still eat a full meal. Last year Evan to me to an amazing Hawaiian restaurant overlooking the San Diego harbor, but I could hardly eat anything because Lena was taking up far too much room.
Our Bathroom - We started to tile our bathroom at the beginning of February. It was supposed to be finished by the time we moved in to our place in December, but time has a way of running out. Fortunately we were able to have the new bath installed before we moved in so that we could stay clean. Anyway, we made good progress at the beginning of the month, and we were helped by my cousin Nathan for some of it. Evan finished cutting the tile over the weekend and now it just needs to be grouted. So... whenever we have the time, it will get finished. It is looking really good though, and we are really pleased that we were able to do it so well. We can't wait to tear down the ugly wallpaper border and repaint everything!
Lena - Well, it seems to be the story of the year, but she just keeps getting bigger and bigger. She is chattering more, although there are few new words that she is saying. She loves to say 'cat' ('dat!'), and recently everything has become a cat... the pictures, the tv, her food, her books. She seems to know what she is saying
even if we don't. Her latest verbal milestone is also cat related. A few days ago she started the cat was meowing at us so we would get up and give her some food, and Lena started imitating her. Now, if she is in the mood (for some reason first thing in the morning is when she usually does it), when you ask her what the cat says she makes little high-pitched meowing noises. It is really cute, but I hope this isn't foreboding some kind of identity crisis. She has been walking since about New Years. We had been trying to get her to do it all through December and she wasn't having any of it. Then one day she decided she didn't want to crawl anymore. So now she insists on walking. Everywhere. She won't sit in shopping carts anymore because she wants to walk around and push the groceries. At church she thinks it is hilarious to try to walk up to the stage and climb the stairs to try to get to the pulpit... she does it on purpose. She knows she isn't allowed because she will give you this look and then bolt off in the other direction laughing maniacally. Lately, it hasn't been walking, but running. The only good thing about her going top-speed during the day is that she is taking longer and more frequent naps. And so am I!
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