So Far Behind

when I was one, I had just begun

2012-01-25T23:09:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Henry!

We survived the first year. As an added bonus, we didn’t have to call poison control or visit the ER.

Today was an early release day for the big kids. I girded my loins and took them all to the pool. By myself.

Henry had SO MUCH FUN! I even had fun. Until the sweaty part at the end when all 5 of us were in a family bathroom showering and trying to get dressed without anyone’s privacy being compromised and children were dropping snacks on the bathroom floor and trying to pick them up and eat them again and dripping their wet bodies all over dry clothes and Henry was trying to climb out of the stroller and crawl on the wet floor and there were 5 bags and a double stroller and 5 people all in a 8 x 8 space that had a hot steamy shower running for 20 minutes straight. Other than that it was loads of giggles and squeals.

I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but I had 3 non-swimmers and only two hands.

Technically we didn’t really celebrate his birthday with gifts or balloons or cake and candles, but the pool was party enough for him.

Saturday we are planning to be a little more celebratory, including some carefully selected and cleaned, then festively wrapped hand-me-down-toys from basement storage. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY!!

Roll that pumpkin down the hill…

2011-10-17T15:39:00.001-06:00

It’s time for Halloween.

(If you don’t have the “Elmo says Boo!” album, I highly recommend it.)

The last 2 years of Halloween memories have been sucked into a swirling vortex of memory loss. Last year was wacky because it was on a Sunday…I somehow managed to not get any pictures of the girls in their costumes. Dave and I were trying to recall what happened when finally it dawned on me, oh, I was pregnant. Of course. Holding a camera and carrying a baby in utero are mutually exclusive.

The year before that I think someone had Swine Flu or H1N1 or something. Is that the same thing? The details are fuzzy.

So as October approached this year I resolved to do better for my children. Decorate. Carve pumpkins. Eat candy. Boo people. Dress up. Lofty goals.

Normally Halloween is my favorite holiday, but my perpetual state of exhaustion is enhanced during holidays. So here we are in 2011, and I can check the pumpkin carving off my goal sheet (and decorations, as evidenced by the photos).

Yes, Henry needs a haircut.

A quick update from the land of perpetual babies…

2011-09-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

It is hard to believe, but Henry is 7 months old. Surely we should be finished making payments to the hospital by now.

He is crawling everywhere and of course everything goes in his mouth, including legos, polly pockets, and collections of dust/lint/hairballs from the broom. He is pulling himself up on furniture, causing squeals of delight for all audiences. We are slow going introducing solids as his milk protein intolerance is still causing him problems (he got a hold of a cup/straw with milk in it and chewed on it for a few minutes, then had hives all down his chin and neck for a couple hours). He loves sweet potatoes, cheerios, and oatmeal with pears. He even had a delicious selection of pureed vegetables and beef for dinner the other night. Mmmmmm, smells the same going in as it does coming out.
I am still enjoying a dairy free diet, which includes 3-4 peanut butter sandwiches a day and various taco, fajita, burrito arrangements sans cheese and sour cream. And lots and lots of sorbet.
I already emailed this video out, but in case you missed it:

summer wrap up

2011-09-09T14:34:00.001-06:00

This summer was very hot and dry

Sometimes it made me want to cry

We visited parks and pools and such

We ran through sprinklers oh so much

Too hot to wash and cook and clean

We ate out a lot, always caused a scene

Dave traveled to many a far off place

A rocket launched his hardware to space

The minutes dragged, we counted the days

“Mom, I’m bored,” a regular phrase

Lunch and recess, friends to play

We love school! Hip, hip, hooray!

Put the scissors down, and no one gets hurt…

2011-05-01T11:53:00.001-06:00

People keep asking me what it’s like to have four kids now. I tell them—the same as having three kids. Except sometimes I get really lucky and things like this happen:

The dark hair belongs to a doll. The light hair does not.

It belongs to my three year old mullet head child:

So after I cried and cried, I called my hair stylist and got her an appointment to fix the self-inflicted disaster.

We’ve had unauthorized cutting in the past, but never on this scale. I realize that hair grows, but when you lose about 8 inches, and it only grows about a 1/2 inch per month, that means it is going to take almost a year and a half to grow back to where it was. Eternity to a 3 year old. And me.

11 weeks later…

2011-04-13T12:33:00.001-06:00

So I had a baby. Number 4. That’s 4 carseats in my car now. Buecher, party of 6.

When we first got married, Dave said he wanted to have 3 kids. I said I wanted 4. He only has two brothers. I am the youngest of 7 children. I win.

Since I tend to freak out and get a little panic/anxiety attack going, I asked to get scheduled with this baby. The panic thing is justified I think after I almost didn’t make it to the hospital in time with Grace. I’ve been scarred for life.

If you don’t like the reading the details of labor and delivery, then skip to the end…

I was scheduled for Thursday, January 27th. My mom arrived on Monday evening that week and I stayed up a little late that night to finish putting some pictures in Grace and Elise’s baby books (it’s good to get that done before you have your next baby). I took a tylenol pm around 11 and went to bed. I woke up very suddenly at about 1 am with pretty hard contractions that were significantly different than the ones I’d been having the past 3 months. And then I remembered. THIS IS IT! I paced downstairs for a while…did some laundry, loaded the dishwasher. They kept coming. I wanted to get in the shower and hang at home for a while, but that is what I did with Grace. So I woke up Dave, and we left for the hospital. Naturally, my contractions stopped once we were on our way. We got to the hospital, and they let me hang out, all the while I am trying to convince them how fast my labor usually is.

Blah, blah, it was a long night of walking around, trying to prove that I really was in labor. By morning, they were convinced. But the doctor was in surgery, so we hung out some more, then finally, my favorite friend, Dr. Anesthesia came and we had a little heart to heart. We came to an agreement and after the epidural went in my BP dropped and I wanted to die. Or at least throw up. Then they gave me a drug to get my blood pressure back up and some oxygen and I was much better.

They cranked up the pitocin and suddenly, it was time. Told you I went fast.

Dr. Anesthesia showed up and gave me some more good stuff, but then told me it would take about 10 minutes to kick in.

“but I don’t have 10 minutes!!!”

I told Dave he had to get me through 5 more contractions and then the universe would be righted.

The doctor came in and surprisingly said, “oh ya, she is ready to push.” Told ya.

So I am determined not to scream, because #2 and #3 were Freddy Krueger deliveries. Luckily, the drug cocktail kicked in just in time. Then my nurses said my favorite thing—it’s what I wait for each time.

“You are SUCH a good pusher!!”

Later Dave told me the doctor said, “If I had an all star team for pushing, you’d be my captain”.

Baby boy was born at 1:28 pm on Tuesday, January 25th. 8 pounds and 20 1/4 inches long.

We finally got settled into the recovery room and after a delicious hospital meal, Dave went home.

In the morning, the circus parade began…

Forgot to give Stuart a haircut before I had the baby.

Love.

Everything went pretty well over the next day or so and by Thursday afternoon we were headed home:

Oh and about 5 minutes before we walked out the door, we signed the birth certificate…

Henry David Buecher.

Welcome to the family.

Stars were gleaming, Children Screaming…

2011-01-08T09:11:00.001-07:00

Christmas came and went like a flash. No one threw up. No one had to go to urgent care. I didn’t go into early labor. Santa didn’t forget us. Bob the elf interceded on our children’s behalf and they were able to get themselves on the nice list. Miraculous.

Here are the highlights:

Christmas Eve Jammies:

Stuart was having some kind of moment. I think he gets it from me.

Incidentally, we spent a few hours Christmas Eve at the Allen’s house. Our other friends, the Sellers, had dropped their kids off while they went to look at getting a new car (their family car got totaled about a week before Christmas and they have 5 kids under 8). They were running late, so we ended up having 12 kids under 8 in one house with the 4 adults. I wish I had a picture of us trying to get 12 plates of food ready and then distribute to all the wild dingoes. The Allen’s neighbors had invited them over since Santa’s helper was coming by for a visit…so we paraded over there with 12 kids in tow. What a scene.

After we got home, we did the jammies gifts and sent them to bed. We didn’t even put out snacks for Santa and the reindeer. Both of us were exhausted and we managed to get everything ready and be in bed before midnight. Miraculous.

Christmas morning:

The tree—not as carefully arranged as last year, lovely just the same.

Waiting on the stairs. A family tradition.

Thanks Grandma Beeks for the Princess Salon in a bag!

Legos… happiness in a box.

All Grace wanted for Christmas, ALL she wanted, was a barbie mermaid. Weird, since that was all she wanted for her birthday back in June, and that’s what we gave her for her birthday. This time, Stuart gave her the Barbie mermaid, just to mix things up.

My Little Pony…

More Barbie Mermaid. It’d be great to have a different role model…any suggestions? We just say no to the Bratz dolls. And can I interject at this point to mention that I’d really like to get rid of the vertical blinds for our sliding door.

Uncle Adam outdoes himself again this year…Leapster 2 for Grace,

and a giant remote control truck for Stuart, so big it couldn’t be wrapped. I don’t think we got a picture of Elise’s gift—Littlest Pet Shop Pet Palace.

Santa’s gift to the girls…a dollhouse.

Santa’s gift to Stuart—a Lego table with Star Wars Legos.

We thought the Lego building experience would last us through the entire Winter Break from school, but by lunchtime on Christmas day, all sets had been assembled.

As for mom and dad, we gifted ourselves with a new toilet, couch, and a deposit on the bathroom countertop that we are still waiting on for installation. Isn’t Christmas fun?

The cousins are coming!

2010-12-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

So they didn’t pull into the driveway like a frigate dropping sail, but there was bedlam, mayhem, and noise noise noise.

Courtney and Brent came out for Brent’s medical residency interview this last weekend and brought Lauren along for giggles.

Courtney and Lauren were kind enough to come to Grace’s dance “recital”…

On Saturday, everyone went ice skating…except me of course (and Elise)

On Sunday there was a cooking and baking exravaganza including PW’s cinnamon rolls, roast, mashed potatoes, rolls with honey butter, and candy salad.

We loved having visitors and making cousin memories for our kids. Thanks for coming to visit Courty-bear, Lauren, Moren, and Brandt!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

2010-10-06T16:25:00.001-06:00

I haven’t been to a lot of zoos in my 33 years, but this one takes the prize for uniqueness for sure…

We started with the giraffe feeding… which was weird and hilarious at the same time.

There was a fun kids play area,

with some overtly phallic mushrooms…

The whole zoo is built on the side of a mountain in Colorado Springs, so everywhere we went was uphill, both ways. Towards the end, we rode the ski lift and I had a panic attack thinking about one of the kids falling out. While we rode over the tiger and bear cages…

At the top of the ski lift there was a yurt, as well as a climbing wall, and some other random things..

In the warthog area, there was a dead zebra…

Ok. It was fake.

Then we stopped and fed the giraffes on the way out again.

We love those long tongues.

Rainbow scarves and tutus

2010-10-04T09:02:00.001-06:00

I was never on any sports teams growing up. I didn’t do soccer, volleyball, basketball, or the like. I played church sports a couple times and always felt hugely impaired. What I did do is dance. I started dancing as a little girl of 5 or 6, and didn’t stop until my feet were cracked and bleeding, my hamstrings were permanently detached, my knees were void of cartilage and my hair was so big it had its own microclimate (my hair actually paled in comparison with my fellow dancers). Roughly, about 15 years. I miss it every day.

Grace started her first dance class a few weeks ago. It was greatly anticipated. I didn’t get to watch her first class, but I peeked in now and again and she was all smiles. Then when class was over, she burst into tears because her teacher gave her a yellow sticker instead of a pink one.

At her next class, there were tears because all the kids got to dance with scarves, and of the 20 scarves in the box, there was only ONE RAINBOW scarf, which of course she didn’t get.

Could you just die at the cuteness of the tiny little girl standing behind her in the ginormous tutu?

There were actually about 4 or 5 girls crying because they didn’t get the rainbow scarf. I almost stole it, just so I could throw it in the dumpster and save everyone the grief.

She got to hold the rainbow scarf here briefly, but then had to go back to holding the purple scarf…hence the pout below.

Her class is a combination ballet and tap. I could do without the tap. No offense to any tappers out there, but to me, tapping isn’t really dance. It’s just noisy. But kids like to make noise, so off she goes.

I am thrilled for her to be starting this journey.

Soccer Legs

2010-09-27T22:23:00.001-06:00

Generally, soccer players (especially professionals), seem to be a little more compact in stature, and have fantastically wonderful upper legs. Ask any woman who has been forced to watch the world cup. They are looking at legs, not the game. I think it is because we only get a little peek-a-boo of that area between socks and shorts, kind of like this:

or the 6 year old version here:

Ok, so the 6 year old version has a little more bone and a lot less muscle. Stuart started soccer a few weeks ago and it has been a great outlet for him to blow off some of that little boy energy that gets trapped in his body during the 6 hours of school each day. His team has gotten slaughtered at all the games so far, but they are having tons of fun running, screaming, and playing keep away from the ball and each other.

But back to the soccer legs…I’ve never been forced to watch the world cup, nor would voluntarily do so, but I will admit that David Beckham is a little easier on the eyes than some of the hockey players I’ve ~~been forced to watch~~, gotten to know these past 10 years…

Alexander Ovechkin?

David Beckham.

Pascal Leclaire?

David Beckham.

Pavel Datsyuk?

David Beckham.

George Parros?

David Beckham

Stuart.

Perhaps instead of subscribing to NHL Center Ice this fall and watching 400 hockey games, we should be tuning in to a little more pro soccer.

Disclaimer: I know nothing of the character of pro soccer players, especially David Beckham, so even though he is much nicer to look at, I am not promoting any kind of role model choice for Stuart. Teeth, or no teeth, hockey players in general seem to be a little less egomaniacal and have an overall sense of humility that seems lacking in other professional athletes.

More of our soccer Saturday:

20 weeks

2010-09-14T20:18:00.001-06:00

HALFWAY DONE!!!! Though for me I think the last half of pregnancy is usually the hardest. We decided to take Stuart and Grace to the ultrasound today in spite of the risk to my blood pressure (actually, my blood pressure is always surprisingly low). Grace was high as a kite in the waiting area and Stuart was engrossed in a Anne Geddes book filled with photos of ~~mostly~~ naked women in all stages of pregnancy and motherhood. As soon as I laid down in the chair and the ultrasound tech put the wand on my belly, Grace started crying. I think she either thought they were hurting me or the baby, which of course we assured her was not the case, or maybe she was disturbed by the photos of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Daniel Craig which were conveniently placed on the ceiling above my chair (what is that about?). We did not find out what gender the baby is (by choice), but everything looked good (as good as alien-like babies can look anyway). Here’s the evidence: (I think it must be the 3-D imaging that gives it the extra freakish qualities—which by the way was not some special thing we paid extra for, it’s just the equipment they have does both, so that’s what they gave us.)

So here’s the face, and on the left side of the photo is an arm/hand on its face, and on the right side, I think that is a knee in its eye. It was EXTREMELY contorted (as you will see below).

So, the baby is pretty much in a ball here, with legs above the head, knee in the nose, and an extreme case of hemorrhoids between the legs. By the way, those are not testes, testicles, scrotum, or penis. So don’t go calling things like they aren’t.

I was thinking about saving this one to show on Halloween, but it is basically a view from the back of spine, scapula, etc. Isn’t it a little Edvard Munch like?

Or more Picasso?

Now, if only they could tell if the baby was refluxing. I am hanging on to the prevacid we still have leftover from Elise. Just in case. Because I am counting on it.

Rejoice! It’s the First Day of School

2010-08-31T16:14:00.001-06:00

I have learned that there are two distinct types of mothers out there. The ones who rejoice when summer starts, and the ones who rejoice when summer is over. There may be a smaller third group that rejoice for the first week or so of summer, then anxiously await that first day of school, but generally, you’re either one or the other. My kids are little so we love school. We love the routine, we love the consistency, we love the constant entertainment that school provides. Summer was kind of long and hot and slow and lazy for us, so yippee for school! Stuart started last week, and Grace had her first day of preschool today. Elise also started playgroup today, and if I am lucky, I’ll get about 12 hours a month for the next 5 months with NO KIDS AT HOME! Imagine the possibilities.

Carter Lake Campout

2010-08-14T20:57:00.001-06:00

We are a pure car camping kind of family. Dave is a backpacker and could hike 80 lbs of gear on his back for miles upon miles, but with the amount of gear we need to take our family overnight, we need a large vehicle and a camp site that we can reach out and touch from our car window. A few weeks ago, we realized that this weekend might be our only chance of the summer to go camping as a family. So we looked around for availability and somewhat blindly chose Carter Lake—near Loveland, CO for our campground. There was one campsite left so we booked it. When we arrived, we realized why this site was unreserved out of the list of dozens of campsites:

Here’s our car--

from the perspective of the campsite itself. There were a few advantages…like being a little more secluded, having a nice view of the lake, and being close to a toilet (pro or con?), but the obvious disadvantage being the major hike up the hill from the car with 8,000,000 items from the car, most of which weighed 100 pounds each.

Luckily, we’ve got a big strong man in the family:

The next problem we encountered was the 8 x 8 (ok, maybe it was 10 x 10) tent pad—the only level area in the campsite. Our tent, “the tabernacle”, is roughly 10 x 16. We didn’t really have a choice, so we set it up and left the last 6 feet hanging off the tent pad on the upslope.

It’s kind of hard to tell from the picture, but there are two queen blow up mattresses in there and the port-a-crib (which no one slept in). We put the kids on the upslope and of course they slid down to the bottom of the bed all night long.

See the awesome rocky scree all around the tent pad area? Guess who tripped and fell 500 times in the 36 hours we were there. All of us!

We survived the first night (barely), and in the morning we took the kids fishing—for the first time. Actually, I think it was my first time fishing as well.

Good ole’ Sponge Bob. Which incidentally is not allowed to be viewed at my house.

Try to remember that I am 15 weeks pregnant. There’s a song in Madagascar 2 where the man hippo, Moto-Moto, sings to Gloria about how he likes his women “I like ‘em big, I' like ‘em chunky”… Dave was singing this to me all weekend. Very reassuring.

In the afternoon we drove around to the other side of the lake and took the kids swimming. There was an inordinate amount of teeny boppers in skimpy swim wear, but otherwise, everyone had a great time. Then we drove to Chili’s for dinner. Cause we’re like that.

When we got back to camp, Dave gave everyone a s’mores lesson or in other words, how to burn your marshmallow without catching your leg or arm hair on fire.

This is Grace. She looks and acts like this a lot. With or without a marshmallow in her hand.

We think maybe she is having a private vision of the future and sees her first boyfriend in the hall at school. High school guys go for that airheaded look. Or so she thinks.

Stuart has never seen Napoleon Dynamite, but I am pretty sure he was channeling Uncle Rico…

…and we don’t let our 2 year old hold her own s’mores.

unless is is 80% in her mouth already.

We again survived another night and in the morning Stuart found this super awesome caterpillar:

We then spent the next hour hauling all of our 5,000,000 items down the hill to the truck and drove home. And we only stopped twice to pee. In the hour and twenty minute drive home.

Yaayyyy for camping.

And then there were four…

2010-07-20T22:08:00.001-06:00

Don’t ask me how it happened. I’m pretty sure it was an alien abduction.

The truth is out there, and will be revealed sometime around February 3rd.

My Bubbles!

2010-05-21T13:51:00.000-06:00

Grandma Betty is here for a visit and brought a fun little bubble blowing tea set for the kids. Our neighbors across the back yard joined us for a bubble fiesta (aptly named by Stuart). My photography skills are still lackluster at best. The sun was coming in and out so my metering was off a lot of the time as I was shooting on the fly. But here’s a few fun pictures of the greatest bubble blowing I’ve seen in a long time.

…so the teacups have holes in the bottom for blowing bubbles.

Likewise, the spoons also have holes. Helpful for those who might want to eat the soap.

Evidence that Grace needs her bangs trimmed:

Can you see Stuart’s face?

Here’s a close up:

Do you like the tall ornamental grass in the background?

It’s not sausage casing day…

2010-05-20T12:28:00.001-06:00

Today’s the day we race.

About two weeks ago some friends and I raced in the Columbine Run for Remembrance 5k. Our little group of 5 ladies did quite well, aside from the fact that I totally got shut down by a 58 year old. Love ya Kathy. Not to mention old man geriatric that I kept seeing ahead of me from time to time. I did improve my time by about 2 minutes from the 5k I did last fall. Thanks Steve for cheering us on and taking pictures!

And in case you missed the Backyardigans reference in the title, here’s the full lyrics:

Racing Day
From Race Around the World.

Austin: Racing day, it's racing day,
Racing day, it's racing day!
It's not nervous pacing day.
Today's the day we race.
I'm ready to race a long, long race.
This race goes almost every place.
It's fast, it's long,
It's vast, it's far,
It starts out right here where we are.
But when the finish line's unfurled,
We will have raced around the world.
When we finish this long, long race
I hope, I hope I'll take first place.
Racing day, it's racing day,
Racing day, it's racing day!
It's not sausage casing day,
Today's the day we race.
Today's the day we race.
Today's the day we race.
All: Racing day, it's racing day,
Racing day, it's racing day!
It's not picture-tracing day,
Today's the day we race!
Tyrone: We'll run somewhere that's not right here,
And while we do the crowd will cheer.
Uniqua: Through the forest over the snows,
Across the ocean and then who knows?
Pablo: Whoever is the first around,
will get to make that victory sound,
Austin: Dunt-da-daa! is what they'll say
at the end of racing day.
All: Racing day, it's racing day,
Racing day, it's racing day!
It's not puppy chasing day,
Today's the day we race!
All: Racing day, it's racing day,
Racing day, it's racing day!
It's not doily lacing day,
Today's the day we race!
Uniqua: A long, long, long, long way we've come,
Tyrone: To get back where we started from.
Pablo: We raced real hard but now it's time,
Austin: To break that tape and cross that line.
All: Racing day, it's racing day,
Racing day, it's racing day!
It's not self-effacing day,
Today's the day we race.
Today's the day we race.
Today's the day we race.

Field Day

2010-05-18T12:32:00.001-06:00

It begins.

I don’t remember doing field day when I was a kid. Here in Colorado it is practically legendary. Kindergarten field day was pretty laid back, and it turned out to be a beautiful day to hang out for a couple hours at the school. Here are some highlights (as requested by grandparents…)

getting ready:

cheering on friends:

50 yard dash:

checking out the competition:

tennis ball balance:

jump rope run:

three-legged race:

the wandering soul:

the spectators:

water balloon toss:

frisbee throw:

the beach:

everyone is a winner:

weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth

2010-05-16T20:19:00.001-06:00

Elise was our first baby to take a pacifier. It was a beautiful and lovely thing. I think I would have had much better mental health as a new mother with Stuart, had he cooperated with a pacifier. Grace wouldn’t take one, but she would suck on my finger. Weird, I know. But when you have reflux babies, you’ll pretty much do anything to get them to stop crying. About six months ago, when Elise was getting closer to her 2nd birthday, we thought it might be time to get rid of her binki. But she was always sick, so it seemed a little cruel. So instead, we only let her have it during naps and at bedtime. Then she turned 2 shortly after her pneumonia/surgery/hospital episode and again, we had many reasons why it wasn’t a good time to take it away. She went through several more rounds of sinus/ear infections and now we’ve had about 2 weeks of her off antibiotics and without any sickness (that we know of…more on that later). So on Thursday last week, I put her to bed with no bink. There was much screaming. For about 4 days now, there has been a lot of crying and to top it off, she’ll get really worked up and yell, nooooooooo, mommy, noooooooooooooooo! I know these things take time, but I was kind of counting on a short transition. I probably would not have minded her having it for a little while longer, but when she wakes up from her naps and in the morning, we put it up on a high shelf, and then lately, as we go about the business of the day, she would make her way back up there and get it down and walk around sucking on it--while she is talking, eating, etc. So we pulled the plug. I’m hoping this only lasts a few more days. We still have to get through the transition from crib to bed. One of my least favorite childhood milestones.

T-Ball

2010-04-10T14:14:00.001-06:00

So a couple months ago my good friend Eileen told me it was time for our boys to start t-ball. I felt a little nauseous and then my skin broke out in hives. My sister Julia has 4 boys and a baseball coach for a husband so I blame all my negative baseball feelings on her. I came to the conclusion that this is the last year he can do t-ball and next year is coach pitch, so it’s now or never. Once I got over my initial reluctance, I realized that this will probably be a fun thing for all of us (today was their first game, so my enthusiasm is still fresh). There was a lot of whining on the sidelines from the girls, but overall it was actually very entertaining to watch. It’s ok to laugh out loud in front of the other parents right?

Here’s 432 pictures capturing our first T-Ball game:

The rest of the Pirates. Arrrrgggghh.

Stuart was 2nd at bat and looked pretty good warming up.

Swing and a miss.

Only pink allowed on the sidelines.

a whole new world

2010-03-10T15:58:00.002-07:00

Stuart has been in semi-private swim lessons the past couple of weeks and today the swim teacher (my good friend Jeni—who is adorably pregnant in her maternity swim suit) asked if we had any goggles he could wear. We rounded some up from the lost and found (should I be grossed out by that?) and he put them on. For the first time. Ever. For the rest of the 25 minutes of his lesson, his entire body was wild with excitement as he was able to see underwater for the first time. I have been anti-goggles for the past couple of years because they are such a hassle—always filling with water or getting lost, or too tight, or too loose. Who’s got time for that? Plus, I wanted him to learn to swim without depending on his eyes being open. Anyway, now that he has seen the bottom of the pool, I don’t think he’ll ever want to swim without them again! Which is fine. As long as he can “fix” his goggles by himself from here on out.
Before the goggles:

See the squinting?
Once he put the goggles on, he was SO DISTRACTED, I don’t think he heard anything Jeni was saying. Good thing she has a lot of patience.
The first pair were too big.

The second pair were too tight. See the adjusting? And the grimace.

I love this picture of Ethan (above). The goggles he was wearing had two straps and when he put them on, one of them stayed in front making a nice little Michael Flatley headband for him.

(By the way, searching for images of Michael Flatley online was definitely disturbing).

The last pair he tried had yellow/orange lenses which definitely altered his state of mind.

So the lost and found goggles went back to the lost and found. And now begins my quest to find the perfect pair (make that pairs) of goggles before our next lesson. Good thing the stores are already stocking items for the summer season.

And I have to mention that I am very much an amateur photographer wielding a nice camera and lens and until this very day had never adjusted the ISO settings on my camera (Canon 20D) because I was too lazy and always felt pressure/rushed to take a picture before whoever was underfoot ran away or into oncoming traffic. Anyway, I was talking with my good friend Amber (hi Amber!), who is much much more than an amateur photographer wielding the same nice camera and an even nicer collection of lenses, and I complained that I never get good indoor pictures—blaming it on my flash. Adjust your ISO she says. When I started shooting today at the indoor pool (with no children underfoot I might add), I checked my pictures and they were very dark, so I did as she said and adjusted my ISO to 800, and then switched to manual aperture and shutter speed (another thing I never do when I have to worry about who’s running away). I was so happy with the way they turned out! They are still not the greatest, but considering what they were before I changed the ISO:

to after:

See the difference? I feel so enabled. Thank you Amber!

Birthday party phobia…or something like that.

2010-03-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

Both Elise and Dave had their birthdays in February. Elise turned two, so her party consisted of a couple of balloons, some cupcakes, and a one present from “the family”. Granted, we’d only been home from the hospital for 3 days before her the day of her birthday, but I’m not sure it would have been much different had the circumstances changed. It was all the older kids could do to wait until mid morning for her to open her presents, then they both threw a fit that they had nothing to open. Luckily, Grandma Beeks had sent out a “get well” box which I mistook for birthday presents for Elise, so when we opened that one the little whiners were lucky enough to get a few little things from Grandma.

The awesome banner I made (last year, for Grace’s birthday).

Is is just me, or is it time for Dave to think about some serious hair removal?

The kids and I picked out some new Lego Duplo blocks for her present. And yes, she is still wearing her pajamas and sporting yesterday’s hairdo (I am pretty sure we never dressed her that day).

Later that night we had cupcakes…(she is still wearing the same pajamas and now we are both sporting greasy hair-dos.

I should probably try harder. As a mother. And with birthdays. And as a housekeeper. And with our general appearance.

Then about a week later it was Dave’s birthday, and the lameness continued. We did go out without the kids for dinner a few nights before his birthday, which was delish, but then we ended up at Lowes, and the grocery store before the night was over. Happy birthday honey. On his actual birthday, the kids had another whine-a-thon, but I had prepared in advance for that by buying them each a little something from Lowe’s (doesn’t every kid dream of gifts from the hardware store?).

Different banner, same handmade love. Now Grace is the one in pajamas. Oh, and I do have a helium tank in the basement that comes in handy so I don’t appear quite as lame in the birthday decor department.

The feigned surprise (he picked out and ordered his own gift—but I wrapped it!)

Werthers counts as a present right? Hey, at least I wrapped it!

Tim Tams count as a present. Hey, it’s from Australia…by way of cost plus world market, and it was wrapped!

Yay, Dad!

Gifts from Grandma and Grandpa… “Mechatronics for the Evil Genius”. And an especially evil expression.

Here’s some of our “plan ahead” for when the kids whine about not getting to open something…the veggie tales kids growing garden:

Don’t ask. And don’t ever ever ever expect me to create any kind of food art.

So admittedly, I am not so good at birthdays. My sisters and I are all of the same persuasion. I guess it came from our mom. I can remember only 2 parties with friends growing up. With seven children, can you really blame her? I already told the kids that they could have “friend” parties this year (for the first time), and I am wondering what exactly I was smoking when I said that and where I might be able to get some more. There’s something about only one person getting presents that really bothers me. I guess that’s where my kids get their issues from.

What’s that religion that doesn’t celebrate birthdays? I need to look into that.

X is for X-Ray.

2010-03-03T16:27:00.001-07:00

Cool! I was able to copy and past the images from the x-rays. The top one was from the day they admitted us (the second week), and the bottom is from a couple days ago. So in my limited knowledge as an x-ray technician, I’ll explain what you are looking at: in the top picture, look at her left lung (on the right side of the picture), and see how the dark area at the top is so much smaller than the dark area on the left? That is the part of her lung that has air in it. The rest of the “white space” underneath is either filled with fluid or being compressed by the fluid on the outside of her lung. Now look at the second picture. See how both dark spaces on either side look fairly equal in size?

Did you also notice her mouth in the top picture? Think she was crying much? The doctor also pointed out how her trachea is being pushed to the right (left in the picture) from the lung being squished by the fluid.

Isn’t technology cool? I mean, I know that x-rays have been around for a loooooooong time, but still, COOL!

Spring, don’t tease me.

2010-03-03T13:34:00.001-07:00

A brief warm up here in the Denver Metro area and my kids think it is summer. Stuart was at a friend’s house yesterday and asked if they could turn on the hose while they jumped on the trampoline. I think it might have been 50 degrees. After such a gloomy February, we’ll take whatever sunshine we can get!

Elise is doing much better and almost back to her 100% mischievous self. She had some x-rays done and met with the surgeon on Monday. Her lungs look much improved, but the lower left lobe still sounds a little “dull”. I was able to get a cd with all the x-rays and CT scans and it is pretty amazing to see the change, and how much her left lung was diminished. It is a huge relief to see her running around and having fun. She is especially enjoying being outside.

Purgatory, the summary

2010-02-17T22:14:00.003-07:00

See post below for a detailed, blow by blow, more than you wanted to know explanation. Otherwise, here’s the summary of our last two weeks.

Elise was admitted to Littleton hospital a few eeks ago with RSV/Pnuemonia. She spent the next 6 days being treated there. We were discharged on Sunday, February 7th. She was then admitted to Children’s hospital the following Tuesday for complications from the pneumonia including a plueral effusion, pleural empyema, and pneumatocele. She had surgery on Thursday, February 11th to drain the fluid/pus around her lungs. She was discharged on Tuesday, February 16th.

We are grateful for all the love, support, help, prayers, and concern from so many people in the past two weeks. Elise is doing very well and SO HAPPY to be home with her brother and sister and toys, in her own bed, and without anyone in masks and gloves approaching her on an hourly basis.

Purgatory

2010-02-17T22:14:00.001-07:00

This post is an extremely long winded explanation of the past two weeks of our lives. I have included specific details and links for our own benefit and future reference. If you are only marginally interested, read the summary post above. Photo disclaimer: all of the photos posted below were taken with my camera phone, which is less than desirable.

Purgatory: any condition or place of temporary punishment, suffering, expiation, or the like.

So I have complained a lot about how awful last winter was for our family…, the chronic ear infections, RSV, pneumonia, ear tubes, the vomiting, the list goes on and on. I thought because we suffered so much last year, that maybe this year we would be spared just a tiny bit. Not so.

First was the beginning of another round of chronic ear/sinus infections for Elise in September. Then it was H1N1 in October. November is kind of a blur, but Julia came to visit and her oldest son Andrew broke his femur on the slopes at Breckenridge, so we’ll claim that as well. I’m pretty sure there was some vomiting then too. By December we were still in infection/antibiotic cycles with Elise, which included allergy testing and blood work. Plus there was more vomiting—including me. Then January came and we had our first bit of good news when Elise went in for an ALL DAY food challenge to see if she had grown out of her milk protein allergy. Yay, hooray! She passed.

Then during the last week of January, Grace started coughing and had a high fever. She threw up all night long and then fevered for the next couple of days. On Saturday, January 30th, Elise started with the fevers and vomiting. Her fever got pretty high ~104, so I called the after hours nurse line and because of her respiratory rate, they advised me to take her to the ER. After a couple hours there, they released us. We watched her over the weekend and talked with the doctor on Monday. He said the virus going around was a 3-5 day thing, and if she wasn’t better by the next day, to bring her in. I talked with the nurse on Tuesday morning and told her Elise’s fever was down to about 101 when she woke up. I was waiting to hear back from her to see if I should take her in then around 2:00 pm, I felt like I really needed to go in and wake her up from her nap and take her temperature. 104.7. So at this point I am pretty much freaking out, yelling at the kids to get in the car, crying because my little almost 2 year old is a limp noodle. Totally lethargic. We got an appointment right away and the doctor told us she had pneumonia and he wanted her in the hospital immediately.

When we arrived at Littleton Hospital, we were almost immediately taken from triage back to a room because her oxygen saturation was so low and her fever was so high. We spent 2 or 3 hours in the ER, getting chest x-rays, breathing treatments, IV fluids, IV antibiotics, etc.

Then they admitted us up to the Pediatric floor. After the blood work and x-rays came back, they told me she had RSV, and pneumonia. They put her on high flow/positive pressure oxygen to keep her bad lung inflated. She had breathing treatments, and more IV antibiotics one of which--Vancomycin—is a last resort antibiotic drug with dangerous side effects. She had a reaction to it (of course), and then had to be administered Benadryl every time they gave her the Vanco. The doctor told me the worst case scenario would be that we would get transferred to a different hospital where she would need surgery.

We spent the next 6 days there in isolation in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. We had one to one nursing until the day before we were released. Every nurse, doctor, respiratory therapist, etc. had to wear gowns, gloves, and masks when entering our room—even housekeeping. Elise would cry before anyone ever even touched her, and started to put her arm over her eyes so she could “hide”. She didn’t talk much, didn’t eat, barely drank, and did not stand up or walk until the day they discharged us. It was a very slow process for her to improve, but gradually they started turning her oxygen down, until finally she was on “room air”. They took her IV out the night before the discharged us.

Then to add insult to injury, both Stuart and Grace had pretty bad coughs all week, so on Friday morning, Dave took them into the pediatrician. After listening to both of them he said, “Don’t freak out, but they both have pneumonia.” They were lucky enough to have the lesser or “walking” pneumonia, and went onto oral antibiotics for the next 5 days.

They discharged Elise on Sunday, the 7th of January. My mom also flew in that afternoon. By Sunday night her fever was back up to 103+ and she was vomiting. I paged our doctor and the on-call doc told me it might be just a lag in the oral antibiotics catching up where the IV meds left off. Monday she looked a little better, and Tuesday she had a follow up with her pediatrician. She had continued with the high fevers on and off all day Monday and Tuesday, so by the time we got there and he listened to her, he told us she most likely had a pleural effusion and sent us to the Children’s Hospital in Aurora on the East side of Denver(almost an hour away).

After a couple hours in the ER, they did a CT scan of her lungs and more blood work. We were admitted upstairs to the pulmonary inpatient unit. By Wednesday morning we were able to talk to the pulmonary specialists and they explained that she had a pleural empyema as well as a Pneumatocele. Normally they would schedule her for surgery right away to drain the fluid surrounding her lungs, but because of the pneumatocele, the surgery would be a little more complicated, so they wanted to make sure they got the right surgeon. They were able to get one of the top surgeons in the country for this procedure, video assisted thorascopic surgery (VATS) to agree, and she was scheduled for mid-morning on Thursday. As soon as the pulmonary doc told me they had scheduled the surgery, I felt so relieved and knew it was the right thing for her.

On Wednesday night, our former bishop came out to visit us, (Dave was also there that night), and together they gave Elise a priesthood blessing, then they also gave me a blessing. It was a great comfort to both of us and I had no anxiety at all about her surgery.

On Thursday morning, Elise slept in very late, and I spent most of the morning crying. Not because of fear or anxiety, but because I felt so much love and support from so many people. We had a literal army of people praying for her and it totally overwhelmed me. About 1:00 pm, they came in to transport us to surgery. They gave her a little sedative or something before we went in and I think she was totally hallucinating. She kept holding her hand in front of her face and looking at it like it was detached from her body. We were able to walk her into the operating room and stay with her until she went under. Since we were dressed in full operating room regalia, with bunny suits, shower caps, and masks, I am not sure she really knew who we were or cared too much.

Dave and I went to get lunch in the hospital cafeteria, and Dave did his best to make me laugh. At this stage I was so run down from lack of sleep I was totally laughing at the slightest things. I managed to get a sinus infection sometime towards the end of our first hospital visit, but I was trying to downplay it while the doctors and nurses were around so they wouldn’t kick me out. About an hour after we finished lunch, the surgeon came out and told us she was fine and we’d get to see her in another 15-20 minutes. This is how she looked when we found her:

She was pretty disoriented and would wake up intermittently and cry like a new kitten. That is her baby in the top left side of the crib with an oxygen mask on. After about a half hour she was able to go back up to her room. Part of the surgery included leaving a chest tube in so she could continue to drain. Here is a picture of the “collection box”.

I kept asking how it worked because the left side was a bubbling column of blue water hooked up to a vacuum in the wall. Dave was trying to explain the physics behind it and it was making my brain tickle, so here we are hovering over our post-op baby with like 25 different tubes and wires coming off of her body and I am giggling like a school girl.

She continued to have fevers for the next couple of days, but they were able to take the chest tube out on Saturday. I hadn’t been home since they admitted us on Tuesday, and I hadn’t seen the kids since then as well, so Dave drove out with my mom and the kids, and since the kids couldn’t come up to her floor, I took them out to lunch and took them to Target to pick out some new toys. Because it was nearly an hour drive home, it wasn’t worth the round trip.

I wanted to be there when they took the tube out, but didn’t make it back in time. I told Dave to make sure my mom was out the door, down the hall, in the elevator, in a soundproof chamber while they took the tube out. They gave her some morphine, but essentially, they just pull the tube right out—and there was like 6 or 8 inches of it inside her body.

Sunday and Monday she improved drastically, and she was able to get out of the crib and do this:

and this:

and they removed the isolation status on Monday morning, so we were able to go to the playroom and do this:

and we got to walk the halls in this:

They discharged us on Tuesday morning.

We are so incredibly grateful that she is doing better each day. It will take many weeks for her lungs to heal and be at full capacity again. We had ample warnings about exposing her to germs these next several weeks, and it will be a challenge to keep her (and her siblings) healthy. She has lost a lot of weight and seems pretty breakable, but hopefully we can inject butter into her food when she is not looking. We feel blessed that she received great care and attention from the doctors and hospital staff.

Lastly, we are thankful for and indebted to so many friends and family members who brought us meals, took care of our kids, and offered their support, prayers, and concern over these past weeks.

Christmas delight

2009-12-26T18:28:00.001-07:00

A word of advice to all young families out there…do yourself a favor and stay home for Christmas. We did. And it was GREAT! Though after last year…our standards have been significantly lowered. I was a little nervous at the beginning of this week when Grace had a high fever and Dave had the stomach flu, but since we weren’t travelling and I don’t do any extracurricular Christmas activities (Christmas cards, baked goods, caroling, gifts for neighbors, etc.) we were able to weather the sickness and by Christmas Eve no one was in dire need of an urgent care visit. In the interest of full disclosure, I did take Elise to see her pediatrician on Christmas Eve morning, but that is another story for the next post. We didn’t make it through the night without a few (ok, all) of the kids in and out of our beds and us in their beds, but that is no different than most nights.

Probably one of the main highlights of our Christmas experience this year was a last minute purchase by Dave and the kids while they were out on Christmas Eve—a new rug (carpet remnant) for the family room. The old one was seriously ca-ca-doodle-yuk-yuk and had been barfed and peed on so many times, no one would dare sit or lay on it. It is kind of hard to have Christmas not on the floor, so it was nice to have something new and clean to spread out on. Especially since we have all hardwood flooring on the main level and our fireplace and brick surround ~~leaks~~ blows cold air on us.

We thought we were pretty well prepared on on Christmas Eve, and still we were up until almost 1:00 finalizing everything. Dave spent some time under the tree arranging the gifts—which is something that would never have occurred to me so here is evidence of the labor of his love:

I realized that growing up in a family with 7 children, there would be no room for artistry under the tree.

The kids had a great time and gave us all the appropriate reactions to gifts we (and others) had mentally strained over. Since the grandparents have requested photo evidence of their delight, here it is:

Stuart’s gift to Elise: a puppy

Grace’s gift to Dad: socks. Look at the genuine exchange of love between father and daughter. Over socks.

Stuart’s gift for dad: slippers.

Elise: Thank you Grandma Betty! And Granddad too. I am sure he contributed.

Stuart: Thank you Grandma Betty! and Granddad. Here’s how it looks built:

Grace: Thanks Grandma Betty for the Thumbelina dolls. It is nice to have some environmental activists in the house.

Grace: Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Beeks for the Backyardigans. Now not only can I watch several episodes everyday, but I can reinact them since I have all 42 episodes memorized.

Stuart: Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Beeks for the blocks. YOu should see the cool stuff I have built with them. Here—I’ll show you:

Elise: Thank you Gma and Gpa Beeks for the Barn. I can so identify with the animals and their sounds and smells.

Stuart: Thank you Santa for the millenium falcon & accompanying guys. Though I have never actually seen STAR WARS, I am a serious collector:

Grace: Thank you Santa, for increasing my doll population to more accurately reflect Grandma’s not-so-secret desire to have perpetual grandbabies.

Elise is thankful to Santa as well though her gift was not evidenced photographically.

Mom and Dad are grateful to each other and Santa for new bike shoes, snow boots, flannel sheets, and a new printer. We are also grateful for the various other gifts from friends and family.

Stuart and Grace also received really cool “kid friendly” digital cameras which also shoot video from Uncle Adam and Aunt Filiz and have been recording life according to them which intermittently includes mom and dad yelling in the background (not at each other). I’ll be sure to include some clips here soon. If only I knew how to do that.

Though we have enjoyed visiting and staying with various family members in the past years for the Christmas season, we are so pleased with how everything turned out and feel like we have indeed achieved Christmas independence. This wasn’t our first Christmas “alone”, but it was the first time we were able to provide our own entertainment. Someday we may travel to visit YOU for Christmas, but as long as our kids’ gifts are sized to require a U-haul rental, we’ll be staying home.

Is the candy gone yet?

2009-11-09T01:40:00.003-07:00

Halloween has come and gone and I have officially eaten all the chocolate candy out of the kids bags. My sister Kelly calls it the parent tax. My kids never knew it was there to begin with. This Halloween was kind of hard to get into since we had a huge snow storm the week before Halloween (they cancelled school for two days) plus my Halloween spirit got sucked out of me last year and has yet to return. So I was pretty much ready to skip Halloween and move to the next holiday, but we managed to limp through the festivities mostly unscathed. Stuart also had the H1N1 virus the week before the snowstorm, so we were coming into it pretty drained.

Here’s proof of the two feet of snow we got the third week of October:

There were a few different events the weekend of Halloween. Grace was Cinderella, a queen, and a princess over the span of the multi-day celebration (school party, trunk-or treat, trick or treating). Stuart was a skeleton. Elise was a puppy and a princess.

Here’s a testament of our half-hearted attempt at dressing up this year:

People all over the neighborhood mistook Dave for the real Mike Ricci who once played in Denver for the Avalanche and was voted sexiest man in Denver, who then got traded to San Jose and has since retired and is now on the coaching staff. It’s a good look don’t you think?

Here’s what happens when your camera is on all the wrong settings and meters off the bright white snow.

The trick-or-treat gang:

Fall is here

2009-10-04T12:19:00.001-06:00

We are still alive. Summer ended. Stuart started Kindergarten. The great and terrible season of illness and rodent infestation is upon us. The first snow has already fallen. Our drawers and closets are overflowing as we experience 60 degree temperature swings from one day to the next. We love fall!

Last weekend we drove up to Georgetown and rode the historic narrow gauge rail train with the kids. It takes about and hour and a half to go a mile and half, which we didn’t realize until we were on the train. But it was fun and the kids did well as long as we doled out gum and candy every few minutes. It was a great day to be outside and we were able to see some of the fall colors. It is always fun to be in public with our very loud and energy riddled children and wait for the commentary. Yes, we have our hands full. Is that supposed to be code for “Your children are obnoxious, how do you get through each day?” or is it more like “Clearly you’ve lost your minds.” We do get an occasional, “You have a beautiful family” every now and then which gives us the self-confidence to continue our parenting with love and logic, not to mention strokes our ego.

Some pictures:

Moab—May 2009

2009-07-05T19:31:00.001-06:00

I do have some great pictures to share of some of our summer adventures so far....They will probably be a little out of order, but if I split them up into different posts, then I won't be so confused in 10 years when I look back on it.

In May we took the kids camping in Moab, UT and it was our first "vacation" with just us and the kids without a greater purpose (wedding, family reunion, holiday, etc.). It turned out surprisingly well. We stayed at an RV/Tent camping site so there were showers, flushing toilets, and basin sinks to clean our dishes in. Here are some pictures:

Here's a view from the car coming into the valley. Of course Dave had to stop to take a picture. Mostly he wanted to capture a picture of "The Big Nasty". He'll be riding the big nasty on his road bike later this fall--3,000 feet of elevation gain in 7 miles. It's part of the 100 mile ride he'll be doing for the Moab Century Tour.

This is the beautiful Riverside Oasis RV and tent campground. We stayed in the tree area on the far left side of the picture.

Here's a good one of Stuart after I nearly took his eye out with a tent pole. Accidentally.

Nothing a little ice cream cone can't cure.

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More love with the ice cream.

Where’s my cone? Grace is eating mine after she dropped hers in the dirt.

We thought the kids would be exhausted after our long drive and sweaty campsite set up, but after laying in the tent for three hours in the fading (albeit hot) sun they were still awake. No amount of threats or whisper yelling could get them to be still and go to sleep.

Many hours later, dawn.

Breakfast—it was freezing before the sun peeked around the rocky hills to the east of us, then instantly blazing hot once it did.

Mmmmmm, bacon. See the fork? We forgot the cooking utensils.

Runaway baby. No really baby, run away.

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Even though camping in a RV campground offers little privacy, at least there were some nice rocks for the kids to climb on to keep them entertained.

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Friday morning--Arches National Park. Or, the whines-a-lot tour. Since they were a little sleep deprived, and we were back in the car after a 7 hour drive the day before there was lots of tears, crying, yelling (not the whisper kind either), and finally we just put a movie on they could watch in between the sites.

Much to our delight, Elise really liked the backpack and was the best behaved of the three for the entire trip (I guess she is fated to be the youngest child forever since she is already turning into “the favorite”).

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Grace, whines-a-lot Buecher was happy as long as she was playing in the sand. Lucky for us, there is sand EVERYWHERE in Moab.

Dave was a camera hog this trip, so I think there are only two pictures with him in it.

Oh Elise, It is easy to be the favorite child when I can’t see you and you don’t run away.

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After a few stops—hiking in to see an arch, hiking out… Repeat, we came to Sand Dune Arch. The clouds parted and angels sang, and there was more sand than the Sahara.

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Here’s the arch itself.

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A necessary cool off in the river. I so did not know that craw-dad’s were that big.

Here’s how Stuart’s face looked on Friday night.

Saturday…

We headed out to Canyonlands Nat’l Park and stopped at first to see some petroglyphs on the side of the road.

Can you see them? Me neither. Well not in this picture anyway.

Then into Canyonlands…we stopped at Mesa Arch first, in which the trail guide read something like this, “Mesa Arch is a great hike for kids. Just be sure as you approach the arch itself, that you take caution, carelessness would lead to a sure-to-be-fatal fall.”

I totally stole this picture from a professional photographer, but since the copywrite info is on it, I figured it was ok. Right?

Here we are exercising caution, so as not to have a fatal fall.

Lastly, we headed over to Whale Rock, which looks like this:

But since we didn’t get a shot of it from far away, I stole another picture from someone else. Copywrite in tact.

Here’s us on the top of that:

And the only other picture of Dave from the trip:

All in all, a fabulous experience. You should go there.

2009-07-03T11:06:00.006-06:00

Yes, I am so far behind.

It is summer. And for some reason, we've been busier than ever (well, relative to our previous stay-at-home-and-don't-infect-the-world-with-our-germs schedule). I've been trying to keep the kids going with different park dates, and activities with friends and so far I think they've had a good time, but it means we are sure not getting much done around here. I am trying to appreciate these last days before we start the next 20 years of school, sports practice, music lessons, cub scouts, field trips, and dioramas. My sister Julia definitely put the fear of God into me regarding dioramas. Have they plagued your school children too? Anyway, even though we have been busy this summer, it's nothing we can't cancel or skip for a day or two if we start to feel burned out.

Every once in a while I get on my high horse about over-programming and over-scheduling kids. I am not a fan. I spent way too many years in California witnessing first hand kids who were under so much pressure to be the best at every one of the 12 activities they were doing each week after school. But since my oldest is now 5, and we have yet to fully embrace any specific sports or otherwise, I am sure my tune will change a little. For now, my kids need time to just play--thankfully. Play in the dirt, play pretend, ride their bikes, jump on trampolines, run through sprinklers, go to the park, you get the idea. I am sure as they get older and their needs change that the organized sports and activites will be great for them, but for now, we are happy to have our Saturday mornings open and our dinner times uninterrupted.

Here's to summer!

PS. Please send pictures of your kids' dioramas so we can start cheating ahead of time.

Light one up with me...

2009-03-19T22:01:00.003-06:00

So another 2 months, ok 2 ½ months have gone by and surely this winter will go down as the sickest most exhausting season on record for our family. Some day I will be able to post about things non-health related, but until then…

After our pneumonia and ear infections came two rounds of head colds/coughing for the older kids, and somewhere in the middle Elise got RSV. Then she got some sort of stomach bug and threw up off and on for a couple of days. The following weekend Stuart got it as well. Each time I went to the doctor (we’ve already had 9 visits, with 2 more scheduled later this month) the baby’s ears were still infected, so after 4 rounds of antibiotics he referred me to the ENT to get ear tubes. So yesterday morning we headed down the surgical center to hurry up and wait. Elise was great while we were waiting and charmed all the nurses and doctors. This picture was taken before they took her away. She is squawking because I got the phone out to take a picture of her and wouldn't let her play with it.

When they came to get me after she was done, I could hear her screaming from down the hall with a couple doors in between. She would not settle down for quite a while, so we finally just took our screams elsewhere.

For some good news, Grace is now potty trained. And lucky for us we get to hear lots of talk about poop, bottoms, and how girls don’t have peepers and boys do, but we don’t touch them, and we don’t talk about them. She also says to us about 10 times a day and often in the middle of the night, “Remember when I throwed up in my crib?”. This was something that happened back at Thanksgiving (and actually lots of other times, but I think she is referring to this incident specifically) in case she asks you and you need to have an appropriate response.

The weird part of all of the sickness and disease plaguing us is that we’ve had a really mild winter so far. There have been so many days of 60+ degree weather it is hard to believe. It’s been kind of nice since at least the kids can go outside to play in between the sick times.

People keep telling me to savor this time, and that I will wish it back someday when the kids are in high school and things like that. Savor it? Bring on the medical marijuana and then maybe I might be able to.

"Hell, Part II"

2009-01-10T18:26:00.015-07:00

I must not be living very righteously, because I had another visit to hell and back. If you missed the first one, you can read about it here. Some of you have commented on my lack of posting during the past two months...so here we go:

It is with great emphasis that I say goodbye and good riddance to 2008. There is a reason why there was no Christmas greeting in your mailbox from the Buecher family. Nobody wants to get a letter filled with cynicism, sorrow, pain, suffering, sarcasm, and pure unadulterated whining accompanied by a picture of crying, tortured kids and angry, sweaty, blood vessel bursting mom and dad. Instead, I will post here--where you have heard and seen enough of that to have your palate already prepared.

We began the holiday season already beaten down by weeks of vomiting, head colds, antibiotics, and sleepless nights. My brother Jeff invited us to spend Christmas with his family in Utah and we vacillated back and forth for a few weeks. We finally decided to go. The Sunday before Christmas we realized there was a major storm coming our way, so we had to leave a day early on Monday, and didn't get away until about 1:00. We knew we'd only be able to drive about half way, and planned on staying near Grand Junction, CO. What should have been about a 4.5 hour drive took us almost 7 since the storm had already started in the mountains. Both girls had woken up that morning with bad congestion and the baby had really yucky, goopy eyes to boot. When we arrived in Grand Junction, Grace threw up at the McDonalds (actually it was Fruita, CO if you'd like to avoid it). After a terrible night in the hotel with both girls fevering and coughing and snotting everywhere, I was resolved that by daylight, we'd start driving back home again and skip Utah all together. I-70 Eastbound was closed indefinitely when we woke up, so we could stay and have Christmas in Fruita at the La Quinta, or keep driving to Utah. I called the pediatrician on our drive and got convinced that the baby did not in fact have pink eye, rather just a lot of congestion that was making it's way up and out through her eyes.

Sometimes when we are taking long road trips with the kids Dave likes to pull over on the side of the road to take a few scenery pictures. It's a big hit with all of us in the car.

We arrived at my brother's house and immediately started contaminating everyone and everything in sight. I am pretty sure Grace threw up again that night, but it's very blurry. By mid-morning Christmas Eve, it was evident that a trip to the urgent care was necessary, so we spend the better part of the day hanging out with the other sick and depressed people in the South Jordan locale. Diagnosis: Pneumonia and double ear infections for Grace, and conjunctivitis and ear infections for Elise. Prognosis: A very unhappy Christmas for the Buechers.

In the afternoon, another coughing/vomiting episode for Grace, followed by ginger bread house making, (Dave's is on the left--the outhouse with the lean-to wood pile...because you never know when you might need to build a fire while you're taking care of business. Stuart's is on the right)the nativity, and the Christmas-Eve-gift-opening-disaster where Stuart's gift was a Christmas blanket I made when all he really wanted to open was a toy. Seriously, what was I thinking? Usually the Christmas Eve gift is pajamas, but I thought I'd mix it up a little and throw down a blanket. So after his hiding and crying episode, I rummaged through the gifts that I couldn't remember what they were and found a toy for Stuart to open. Here's Stuart opening the blanket....

I am not sure if you can see the disgusted look on his face, but the cousins behind him are laughing because of his disgusted reaction.

Here's one of me so lovingly making the blanket a week or so before Christmas:

Here's the smile and the toy that saved the evening:

Grace and Elise missed out on the Christmas Eve festivities (thanks to small mercies) since we put them to bed early.

We spent another night of fevers, coughing, and general misery and as we headed up the stairs from the basement to join the rest of the family on the top floor for the processional down the stairs, Grace threw up again.

Santa did a great job in saving what was left to salvage of Christmas morning, bringing Stuart a matchbox mega-rig shuttle, which we lovingly encouraged and guided him to add to his list.

Grace pretty much whined and cried in between (and during) most of her gifts, but was generally pleased with Santa's choice of all things Disney Princess.

The rest of our time in Utah was spent playing Rock Band World tour: and watching the Disney Princess Christmas movie over and over and over again. A totally inadequate thank you to my brother Jeff, his wife Mary, and all their very, very tolerant and helpful children for putting up with us.

There was more vomiting on the drive home. For reference, the Subway in Green River, UT, and the Burger King in Glenwood Springs, CO.

As a capstone to our fantastic holiday, I left the all the antibiotics in Utah, so there was a lot of phone calls during the last two hours of the drive trying to get new prescriptions prepared, then a late night run to the 24 hour Walgreens here in Littleton.

Then, because we are gluttons for punishment...

Early this week I decided it was time to try giving regular non-allergy formula to the baby for the first time (Her GI doctor wanted me to do it in mid December, but...) So I gave it to her in the afternoon and about an hour later she started to rub her eyes like crazy. I thought she might be getting the conjunctivitis again, but then she started itching her ears. After a few minutes I started to get suspicious so I took her clothes off and she had hives all over her chest and belly. I was getting really nervous that her allergic reaction would escalate and I would have to rush her to the ER, but luckily it did not effect her breathing, so we dodged the bullet on that one.

We seem to be barely coming out of the fog now, although I took all three kids in to the doctor on Wednesday and the baby still has double ear infections.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you from all of us.

Goodbye 2008. I shall not miss you.

Onward and upward.

Our little barf baby

2008-11-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

So Elise is 8 months old now, and still we can count on a baby barf incident about once every 20 minutes during the day. I managed to capture the end of one of these on camera, along with a few other awesome pictures of my kids:Good thing we have wood floors right?

the dark side

2008-11-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

So I had the best intentions of sewing Stuart's batman costume this year. I got the cape finished during the summer for his birthday, but then it donned on me that I am very much a novice sewer. I broke down and bought him 2 star wars costumes (because a boy needs dress-ups too--and they were 60% off). He has never seen the movies or cartoons, but became enamored by the idea of space guys, so he was Darth Vader during the day at pre-school, and a storm/clone trooper at night for trick-or-treating.

We don't take a lot of posed pictures at our house, so when I asked Grace to smile and say cheese...this is what she gave me:

Here is a much more demure princess (yes, her crown/tiara says Happy Birthday, but don't tell her...she can't read)

We joined the Larsen kids for a great night of sprint-candy-collecting. I have never seen so many small children run so fast for a straight hour. The Sellers family (with all 5 kids under 6 years old) joined us too, so we were quite a parade. The kids had a great time (ok, there were a few tears along the way). It was a great bonus to have our first Halloween in 5 years without snow or sub-freezing temperatures.

Round and orange, scooped out clean, face all carved for Halloween

2008-11-05T21:47:00.002-07:00

It seems like everything we do at our house we do with mental stopwatch ticking in our heads...how many minutes will we be able to do this activity before someone has a tantrum/gets hurts/gets punished/falls apart/etc. A few days before Hallween we decided to scoop and carve the pumpkins and our stopwatch broke a long distance record. Grace tried her hand once or twice in the pumpkin to scoop out the guts, but didn't feel it was dignified behavior for a princess, so she then moved seeds that were already scooped out into different piles on the table (happily). Stuart started out scooping with glee, then decided to display his knife wielding skills and raided the knife drawer every few minutes to find the right one for his cutting application (we approached a time out situation at that point), and the baby was squealing and flapping and making the funniest faces so long as her chair was pushed up in between all the gut slinging action at the table. I guess when things get boring this winter, we'll have to experiment with other vegetables.

because they say you should write it down or you'll forget...

2008-11-04T21:45:00.002-07:00

Grace (who is almost 2 1/2 now) has a cold and said to me a few days ago..."Mommy, can you clean my nose, I am running out of air."

It's raining, it's pouring

2008-10-03T23:31:00.007-06:00

I guess we're not exactly well-outfitted for rainy weather. These pictures were taken almost two months ago during a kind of freak rainstorm that lasted all day here. Usually the rain comes and goes in an hour, but since we'd been inside all day, I let the kids out to do what kids do in the rain. Stuart is wearing last year's snow coat, and his pink ladybug rainboots handed down from cousins Maddie and Lauren, and the awesome grandma bird-motif umbrella, (because seriously it came from grandma and who else would use it but a grandma) adds just the right touch. What a fashionista he is turning into. Grace is doing a little better with the gnome outfit, also thanks to hand-me-downs from cousins. Most of her clothes are hand-me-downs, but we are never sure who they came from since her collection is a collaboration of at least four or maybe five older girl cousins. We are so lucky that at least she will always look good. Stuart on the other hand only has his engi-nerd Dad to look up to as his fashion icon, so he'll definitely have his work cut out for him. Though as engi-nerds go, Dave is on the more normal side of the spectrum. I'll take him. Pocket protector and all.

Mt. Evans (Echo Lake)

2008-09-29T20:35:00.000-06:00

Ok, so school started, playgroup started, Dave's been out of town off and on, and I am just trying to hang on!

We spent a morning up at Mt. Evans a couple weeks ago (and nearly froze to death), so when my parents were here visiting, we made a return trip. The weather was a little better, but we were there later in the day so it was still kind of cold. The kids had a great time, and thanks to Granddad's walkie talkies, Stuart was in heaven.

Pig Tails and Praying Mantis

2008-09-29T18:17:00.001-06:00

Stuart came running in the other day and declared that he had spotted a grasshopper. Upon further inspection, it turned out to be a praying mantis. I always thought these were some sort of exotic bug found in far off places, but I guess we have a colorado variety here...and the pig tails at the end are included for the joy that pig tails bring.

First Cereal

2008-08-12T00:30:00.002-06:00

Father and Son

2008-08-11T23:54:00.001-06:00

Note the matching bikes and outfits.

Not to be outdone

2008-08-11T23:44:00.002-06:00

Not long after Grace was born, my mom brought me an old toy chest from my childhood filled with an eclectic mix of dolls, dress-up clothes, and assorted crocheted items from various grandmas. This is Grace's version of dress up... a knitted/crocheted doll cap, a yellow swimsuit, a blue stretchy top thing that I wore when I was little, my pink ballet skirt from ~1985, and some red shoes that are as old or older than that. She left it on all afternoon.

And that is quite possibly the dirtiest glass door behind her I have ever seen.

Dark Knight

2008-08-11T23:32:00.002-06:00

I made Stuart a cape for his birthday (with my mom's help..."um mom? I am sitting here with a giant piece of tissue paper in front of me with lots of markings and symbols and words in English, but I have no idea what I am supposed to do with it). It's double-sided--black for Batman, red for Superman (I haven't gotten around to putting any emblems on it yet). We found some awesome $5 sunglasses at Walmart with the batman logo right on the lenses. I love it when good Halloween costume comes together 3 months ahead of schedule.

Do yourself a favor, and marry a man who's good with his hands

2008-08-11T23:14:00.002-06:00

You know what I mean....

A while back I heard some very disturbing noises coming from our dishwasher. Like metal grating against something. I tried to ignore it for a while hoping it would go away. It didn't. So I called my handyman husband over to investigate. We did a visual inspection, canceled the cycle, started over and it was still making the noise, plus there was no water in it. I got kind of anxious (when you are bottle feeding, having an operational dishwasher is critical). So we decided to go to bed and Dave agreed to check it out more thoroughly the next day after work. I reluctantly hand washed enough bottles to get us through at least the next morning. Having a broken dishwasher is crippling to say the least. Anyway, blah blah, Dave came home the next day and the next thing I know the entire dishwasher inside and out is dismantled, with parts spilling out into surrounding rooms. Turns out there was a paperclip in the motor turny thingy. And some lettuce stuck in the floaty sensor thingy. And the door was coming apart. This dishwasher is barely 4 years old. The part that amazes me (still after all these years together), is that not only did he take it all apart, fix it and put it back together in less than an hour (saving us $$$ of dollars), but when he noticed the door having problems I said, "What kind of screw type thingy is that? An allen? (I have learned some things by association). He replied with the correct name (didn't catch it), and I was like, "do we have a tool for that?" Kind of a dumb question, but it looked totally unique to anything I'd ever seen before. So he saunters out to the garage, and the door barely had time to close behind him before he is walking back in with the right tool--in the correct size no less. In home service, in a jiffy. You gotta love the handyman husband.

Looking back, I can almost laugh about it.

2008-08-10T14:49:00.005-06:00

This was the morning after the all night barf-a-thon. Can you tell? Normally I would not share such a lovely picture of myself, but the world needs to know.

Elise loves Granddad

Kelly and Julia, bless them, took the kids bowling during Grace's barf-a-thon.

How many kids can we fit in Grandma's bathtub?

Fishing with Cousin Elsa

More fishing

Jetskiing with Granddad

Cousin Elsa with Stuart. Imagine the noise that is coming out of his mouth. Now imagine that noise all day long, every day, in my ear.

Yes, that's me. I am running as fast as I can and the kids are all beating me. I don't think anyone in my family had barfed yet when this picture was taken. The virus originated with the little blond half naked one, IAN. Who knew such a small boy could start something so terrible. We love you Ian.

I've been to hell and back again

2008-07-29T10:13:00.003-06:00

In case you've never been there, here's a little overview of hell...

Hell is:

-traveling with three small children to a far away place (enough said, oh wait, there's more)
-waiting on a plane for two hours to take off due to wind shear with three small children
-holding a screaming, extremely hungry baby on the plane for two hours while waiting to take off with no hot water to make a bottle, then flying for another hour and a half with the same baby. Oh and the other 2 kids screaming for various unknown reasons.
-Getting on and off the plane with three small children, two car seats, along with 5 carry on bags.
-Getting to the car with said children, three large bags, a stroller, 5 carry on bags, and three car seats.
-2 year olds vomiting with out warning
-repeat episodes of vomiting days later
-2 year olds covertly ingesting large quantities of prescription drugs
-Being at a hospital all day with a 2 year old
-Vomiting simultaneously with your 4 year old all night long, and periodically falling asleep on the bathroom floor
-arriving home at the airport and not having any help whatsoever getting from the terminal to the baggage claim with said children, carseats, bags, etc. an approximate 2 mile walk, including several moving sidewalks, a train, and multiple elevators. All the while waiting for the repeat vomiting episodes to begin.
-hearing a grown man vomit repeatedly
-getting on another plane and repeating the routine within 3 days for another glorious trip to a far away place.

Have you been to hell lately?

Elise--at 5 months

2008-07-27T00:02:00.000-06:00

Sisters.....sisters....., there were never such devoted sisters

2008-07-25T00:22:00.000-06:00

...the family bed

2008-07-25T00:09:00.000-06:00

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T20:03:00.002-06:00

The best present a man can get for Father's Day (besides a day off from Father duty) is a delicious meal (that's what she said). I cooked this tonight...Brisket, Crash Hot Potatoes, Rolls, and delicious spinach "candy" salad. My new favorite site for recipes is www.thepioneerwoman.com. I've been browsing her site now for a couple months, but just recently decided to try some recipes. Yum. I love her humor, I love the detailed step by step pictures for cooking idiots--like me--who don't know which parts of fresh rosemary I am supposed to use and which parts to throw away, I love that she uses butter and lots of it in most things.

Happy Father's day. I called my dad and left a message wishing him a happy day filled with saucy sauce, kippers, smoked oysters, chutney, and lots and lots of peanut butter. You just have to know my dad. He is one of a kind. Drives tractors in parades. Uses his hands to gesture a lot. Turns the TV up REALLY REALLY loud and stands right next to it so he can hear (especially when there's like 20 grandkids squawking and screeching in the background). He is 70+ years old and loves his technology. Sneaks peanut butter by the spoonful when my mom is not looking. Has lots of "toys" at the shop for various grandchildren, sons, son-in-laws. Always good for a handy-man project. Constantly giving and serving others. He's a good man my dad. All he ever wanted for Father's Day was "something for his book of rememberance." And maybe some good meat and potatoes.

Happy Anniversary to us

2008-06-09T00:58:00.015-06:00

Holy Cow. It's been 7 years. Don't worry, I'm not going to get all sap-a-licious on you, but I may post some embarrassing pictures.

About our courtship:

When I met Dave, his nickname was the bronze god, and he wore red and green knee-high socks with the shortest scout shorts I have ever seen a man wear. Oh, that I had a picture. Here is one from a year or two before we met, minus the knee highs.

He drove a 1973 Pontiac Firebird which at the time was sort of a gold color--when he told me about it he sounded proud. I thought he was joking. It later became known as "the other woman." He changed the paint color to black per my suggestion.

He lived at home (with his parents) and slept in a bunk bed with his younger brother. Imagine two full grown men (age 23 and 21) in twin bunk beds.

He worked part time and went to school full-time, and we lived an hour apart.

We annoyed everyone around us with our googly-eyes and i-love-you-so-much-no-I-love-you-more kind of talk.

I was subjected to countless hours of hockey watching. I did it all for the glory of love.

He could regularly be seen wearing a speedo. It's ok, I'm a fan. Oh, baby. Love my man in a bonnet too.

About our wedding:

The greatest party on earth, until my niece Courtney got married last summer, then our wedding became the second greatest party on earth.

Dave chose his tux (I had to let him make some decisions...) and for some unknown reason did not get properly fitted. His pants fit him in the waist, but were about 3 inches too short in the leg. Conversely, his brother's were about 3 inches to long. Hmmmm, wonder what could have happened there. If you look closely in the above picture you can see evidence.

At the appropriate time, I held out my right hand and insisted that it was the correct hand for the ring. After some arguing with smiles on our faces, I gave him the correct left hand.

I got to borrow a diamond bracelet (thanks Tara!) that I am sure was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ok, maybe not hundreds, but tens surely. And I had the coolest bouquet.

We did not coordinate our seating arrangement for dinner, so we ended up sitting next to some really freakish people that we wanted to pretend we didn't know or invite to the wedding.

A girl I know made our cake. It turned out pretty awesome. Those flowers are made of icing.

I danced a lot without Dave to all my favorite hand-selected disco favorites while he disappeared and did who knows what...

I did not want to wear a garter, and do the garter thing, but we had a creepy garter from one of Dave's friends weddings that he had caught, so he made me wear it. He threw it to his best man, who's girlfriend also caught the bouquet (convenient), who later got married and who knows now where the creepy garter is.

My sister hosted our wedding in her fabulous backyard and we nearly had to have Dr. Phil intervene before, during, and after the wedding. Love ya sis. Here is a picture of her husband. Poor Robert.

I am pretty sure they had to put down their dog because of me and the wedding. Sorry Domino.

Our favorite food item, which we still speak of in excited tones today was the bacon-wrapped dates. Who would have guessed? Although you could pretty much wrap anything in bacon and call it yum.

Our early married life:

I worked full-time as an awesome Boy Scout Executive, while Dave worked full time at Lockheed and went to school for his Masters. The "other woman" was now better known as homework, the likes of Fluid Dynamics, or mechanics, or something along those lines with finite element analysis, mechatronics, and something else about robots or something.

We lived in Palo Alto in the sweetest apartments hidden above a law office.

In the evenings, Dave was at class and did a lot of homework, and I have no idea what I did to stay busy. I had no hobbies.

I am pretty sure we ate pasta 3 or 4 nights a week.

I gained 30 pounds in the first 2 years we were married. I think it may have been related to afore mentioned pasta.

Later:

We lived in a converted tack shed/guest house that was roughly 10 x 20 feet. With a mini-fridge, and a hot plate. Free. Thanks Cathy, Cary, Michael, Nikki, and Kelly. We miss you.

Two years after we were married civilly, our marriage was sealed for eternity at the Oakland temple.

We tried to go camping a lot and our favorite place was Lake Tahoe near Emerald Bay.

One old ghetto car wasn't enough, so we bought a 67 Mustang (much less ghetto), re-did the interior and painted the outside. Traded it in for a mini-van 3 years ago.

I am pretty sure we ate at Chevy's or Baja Fresh 3 or 4 nights a week. Again, probably a contributing factor to the 30 pound weight gain.

Then we moved to Colorado and had kids. And we can't remember much after that.

We still have huge assortment of scout uniforms in lots of colors and sizes, along with many, many pairs of scout socks which sometimes we wear on occasion as a special treat to those around us.

We still have a 1973 Firebird in the garage that no one drives, has no heater (a great feature for Colorado winters), is louder than a jet engine, and has that nice old car smell

If there was a Chevy's here in Colorado, we'd still eat there 3 or 4 nights a week.

There is a robot in our basement somewhere that was designed for underwater use. Why?

I have a hobby now.

So happy anniversary to us. I have loved every minute. Even the stinky ones.

We did it!

2008-05-31T19:21:00.008-06:00

We did it, we did it, we did it, HOORAY, lo hicimos, we did it! (sing along in your best Dora voice).

After a 4 year + hiatus from camping, we finally took the kids on a campout last night. I was starting to really feel bad that we'd never gone camping with the kids, then I realized why...Each summer for the past 4 years, I've either had a brand spankin' new baby, or a baby who was almost walking, but not quite. I would never torture myself by taking a crawler camping--that's just too much dirt. And I've never been awake enough to enjoy camping with a newborn. But since Elise is about 3 1/2 months old, and the other two kids are pretty good sleepers, I figured it was time.

Armed with an 8 man tent, two queen air mattresses, a port-a-crib, the Tucker-Sling, 3 sleeping bags, two sets of sheets, innumerable blankets, 3 pillows, and plenty of camping accessories, we started to load the van, then quickly realized there was no way it would all fit. We transferred everything into the truck, loaded the carseats 3 across in the back seat, and drove away before we remembered anything else we might have forgotten. About 20 minutes later we arrived and the campground. To our south on a high ridge we had a great view of the new Home Depot. To the east, an army of construction equipment beeping and chugging. To the west by about 6 feet, our camping neighbors in their pop-up RV. What a peaceful escape. Our good friends the Carters joined us for the adventure and provided lots of entertainment.

Without listing the play-by-play of hot dogs, dirt, smores, dirt, etc....the kids had a great time. The baby slept from about 9:30 pm until 8 am. Her longest continuous sleep EVER! And we are all looking forward to our next trip, in which we'll venture a little farther away, potentially for more than 18 hours.

Good thing we've got the quad cab...too bad it only gets 12 miles/gallon!

The view to the west, plus a lot of dogs on the fire

Smores for everyone!

Who says you can't take a baby camping??

The "apartment"

Happy at 6:30 am!

If you look closely, you can see the home depot up on the hill

Chocolate milk in the morning. Don't leave home without it.

At the beach

Too cute not to post

2008-05-24T10:29:00.008-06:00

Cute, but still a lot of work.

Remember how I said Elise hardly ever spits up in this post? Well, I was totally premature in making that statement. Even though we tackled the milk-protein allergy by switching to formula, we've been dealing with severe acid reflux and mega-spit up since then. Although she generally does pretty well during her "wakeful" times, as soon as I lay her down to sleep, she tends to end up screaming and bobbing her head in major puddles of disgusting, wet, acid-smelling, spit up (she sleeps on her belly. I know, I know, turn me into CPS). When Stuart was having these problems, someone told me about the Tucker Sling--a wedge shaped piece of foam at about a 30 degree angle that has a harness type contraption to keep the baby from sliding down. Being at a more upright angle is supposed to help with the reflux. I almost bought it then, then I almost bought it again with Grace, then I almost bought it for Elise, then my mom came to visit and couldn't handle the screaming, so she bought it for me...thanks mom. So far, it seems to be helping, though it hasn't totally stopped the spit up puddles and screaming fits. Can we just be done with this first miserable 6 months already? I shouldn't get my hopes up. The second 6 months might be just as miserable. (I sure complain a lot don't I?)

Here's the wedge in the crib...don't mind the awesome levelors in the background with the plaster splattered all over them. Another half-finished home-improvement project. Someday I'll take pictures of all the unfinished projects in our house. Poor Dave. The handiest of men, but so short on available handyman time.

another comparison

2008-05-21T10:28:00.003-06:00

Time flies. We've moved the bassinet and the swing to the basement (a non-functional dumping area), uncovered the exersaucer and scraped the dried spit-up off and voila, like new. Elise was 3 months old yesterday. Here's another time lapse from the past 4 years... (Elise is about a month younger than the other two in these pictures)

Idaho, here we come!

2008-05-21T00:55:00.005-06:00

I saw this post by my friend Camille (hi Camille!) and since I have been in the market for a stroller change, I thought I would call her to get the deets. It's only been about 12 years since I've talked to her...I knew it would be fun to catch up and compare notes. We had a great talk, and in another couple of days, my new Joovy will arrive...Mostly I got it because I finally got the courage to book three tickets to Idaho for me and my three wild dingoes. I found a direct flight to Idaho Falls from Denver, but I still was terrified of getting through the airport without having a nervous breakdown. Turns out Camille was having a similar anxiety attack when she decided to buy hers. My plan is to "wear" the baby in the baby Bjorn, put my 2 year old in the front buckled in, and my 4 year old standing on the back. If everyone is within slapping distance, then we might just make it to the gate. Now I just have to figure out how to get a car seat (or two) all the way from the car through security, on the train, down the 3 mile corridor to the gate and install them on the plane along with my three kids, my carry-ons, a couple of happy meals, and maybe some drugs-without-a-Rx-from-Canada...valium for me, and oh I don't know any opiate would do--codeine for the kids??

Do you read me?

2008-05-21T00:49:00.004-06:00

How many of you would have the patience to use a walkie talkie with a 3 1/2 year old? You're the best, Granddad!

Summer is here

2008-05-21T00:46:00.002-06:00

Friends, popsicles, sprinklers. Summer has arrived.

Tarantulas and Cockroaches

2008-05-13T07:40:00.008-06:00

Whenever we get visitors, we try to go places we haven't been or wouldn't normally go on our own (sometimes you just need a few extra adults to make it somewhere without losing anybody). My parents came out to visit us a couple weeks ago, so we decided to go to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster--about 40 minutes from our house. I had no idea what to expect. I called my neighbor who assured me everything was indoors (the day we went was cold and windy). Otherwise, I pictured a big tropical building filled with butterflies and exotic plants. With three kids and three adults, I figured we had our bases covered, but it still didn't leave me free to bring my camera (sometimes a point-and-shoot would be a lot handier than my Canon 20D. Anyway, the first exhibit we came to "Land Champions" was SO COOL. Normally the site of huge spiders, cockroaches, and other disgusting bugs would send me shrieking, but nicely encased in glass, they were fascinating to look at! There was a nice old man in the corner holding a tarantula, so I asked my dad to take Stuart over to have a turn holding it. I would have done it myself of course, but I was holding the baby (who had an awesome blowout diaper right around then--it seems to be a common theme for outings). Anyway, my dad sat down and was holding the friendly giant, so I walked over and asked Stuart if he wanted a turn holding the spider. I WISH I had a picture of the look on his face. It was as though I asked him to juggle a dozen sharp knives. It wasn't fear in his eyes, but total doubt and speculation. Mom, why would you ask me to do this dangerous thing?

The butterfly room was pretty much as I had pictured it...steamy, tropical plants with hundreds of butterflies floating around freely (some dive bombing our heads). The highlight of the day for Stuart was when he exclaimed, Mom! Look! It's a Blue Morpho Butterfly! Thanks to Diego, the animal rescuer, we have an intimate knowledge of Blue Morpho's. Oh the things my kids know thanks to the hours of TV they watch! (Grace who is not yet two, can count to 10 in Spanish, sing the alphabet, days of the week, and tell you all about Kinkajous (a nocturnal, ferret-like thing native to northern South America. Stuart can recite these facts as well, along with lots of pertinent information regarding household cleaners, "Bam, and the dirt is gone", "Clorox disinfecting wipes clean and shine", and "our toilet has lots of bacteria in it mom. We need Lysol."

Here are some pictures of our butterfly adventure (by the way, the date in the photos is May 2nd, not February 5th):

An Interesting Comparison

2008-04-29T23:02:00.005-06:00

Elise at 10 weeks

Grace at ~10 weeks

Stuart at ~10 weeks

Dave looking >3 months old

I am sure I have a picture of me around the same time, but I am too lazy to go find it and scan it.

In general, I would say that the three kids look nothing alike. There are aspects of similarity between Dave and the kids (at least in these pictures), and to each other as well, but I don't think we have cookie cutter look alikes in any way. I am posting this because everyone asks me who I think Elise looks like, and lots of people tell us that she reminds them of Grace. I guess they are both girls with dark hair and that is pretty much it! If I get ambitious, I'll try to post a picture of me as a baby.

Twilight Lovers?

2008-04-29T08:00:00.003-06:00

Any Twilight fans out there? I read all three books last fall in a matter of days. I guess the 4th book should be ready late this year and the movie is being released in December. Click here for a preview! Thanks to my friend Tracy for giving me the heads up.

As promised...

2008-04-18T22:29:00.002-06:00

We got a new baby!

2008-04-17T07:41:00.003-06:00

The clouds have parted and angels are singing. Sometime between my last post and now, Elise has turned from Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jekyll (he's the good guy right?). We've had at least three days of normal baby behavior. She is still on the $$$$ formula, Nutramigen, so it looks like it is finally working (much to our savings account's dismay). The doctor told me it could take a week to notice any results...and here we are 9 days later with a new baby. HOOOOORAY!!! Just last night she was smiling back at me (perhaps because it was the first time I was smiling at her instead of mirroring her painful expression of agony). Ok, or it could just be a function of her age and maturity. Neverthless, we are all much happier these days. If the moon is right, I may even be able to get a picture of her smiling...

I would like to personally thank the Enfamil company for their life altering formula, along with the Soothie brand pacifiers and bottles. I can't forget to thank TAP pharmaceuticals, the makers of Prevacid. Without these supportive companies and products we would all be suffering greatly for who knows how long. If only we had known about all of this when Stuart was born, I might have been able to get dressed and leave the house a few more times during 2004.

Done, done, done

2008-04-15T06:51:00.004-06:00

NO MORE KIDS… Someone asked me about 6 months ago if this baby would be our last. I replied that it all depended on whether or not it was a good baby or a bad baby. Lots of people told me that their third baby was the best/easiest baby. We have a naughty, naughty, baby. I realized a few days ago that I had not taken any pictures of her for several weeks. Sad. But even sadder are the reasons why I haven’t taken any pictures. First, in order to take a picture of a baby, it helps to not be holding it in your own arms--especially when you have a heavy camera with a long lens. Second, no one really wants to see pictures of your baby screaming in agony. Third, it’s hard to stop and get the camera out when there are so many other things happening that are more urgent, like wiping bottoms, fixing sandwiches, and the PILES AND PILES OF LAUNDRY. I spend all day Saturday doing laundry, and I now have another room full to get going today. So why is our baby screaming in agony? I wish I knew. I cut all dairy for over a week according to our doctor’s recommendation and suspicion of a milk protein allergy and things seemed worse. I started her on an allergy free formula for this past week, and I will say that she seems more comfortable in general, but she is still crying a lot (or at least more than normal, but what would I know of normal?). Meanwhile I have a freezer full of pumped breast milk, several $30 cans of formula, and a barrage of bottles and nipples, (most of which don’t work). So what do I do now? If this is how we make children at our house, then there won’t be any more additions to our family. Three is plenty. Don’t try and convince me otherwise! In a rare moment, I captured a photo of the baby today while she wasn’t screaming. Enjoy.

Elise is almost 8 weeks old here.

Grace really needs a haircut, but that is going to take a lot of work on my part, so it hasn't happened yet!

Stuart is not naked in this picture, just really really really excited that we had a 70+ degree weather day and took his shirt off to enjoy

Three is enough

2008-03-29T19:09:00.001-06:00

We are done having kids. More on this later.

Fat Pants

2008-03-27T09:59:00.004-06:00

How many weeks is it acceptable to wear maternity clothing after you have a baby? My baby is 5 weeks old, and every few days I try on my fattest fat pants, and they still don't fit. I even bought myself a SPANX the other day (which is fabulous at smoothing the bulges I might add, but not achieving the downsize results I was hoping for). I am getting tired of wearing the two pairs of 3rd trimester pants every other day (which I have been wearing every other day since Christmas), plus I am running the risk of getting asked, "So when is your baby due?". Don't tell me I have to go out and buy an "interim" wardrobe... Like I have the mental stamina to take three kids under 4 to a store while I try on clothes that I will have to keep exchanging for bigger sizes. How depressing.

The hard truth: I gained 50 pounds with this pregnancy, whereas I only gained 30 with the first two. I weigh 30 pounds less now than the day I delivered, so I still have 20 pounds to go. If I board an airplane travelling eastbound at 350 miles per hour with 15 passengers with an average weight of 175 lbs. and a maximum load of 3000 pounds, how much luggage will they have to throw off the plane for me to be allowed on board? I guess it just depends on whether or not the airline is enforcing the new baggage weight restrictions...

Oh and I wouldn't dream of including a picture of myself with this post...

I put my guys in families mom...

2008-03-15T16:24:00.002-06:00

I would hate to think of an army guy without a family. There are one or two lone rangers in the line up. Stuart's cousin Nick sent us a batch of army guys plus a few random robots, space guys, and one white ninja about a year and a half ago. We used them as a reward for potty training--one army guy for every successful trip to the potty. It worked like a dream. Way better than candy. I think you can get a bag of army guys for a couple of bucks at Wal-Mart. Now I have to figure out what the girl equivalent is to army guys, as Grace is approaching the world of panties and pull-ups.

2 hands, 2 eyes, and 3 kids

2008-03-15T15:30:00.004-06:00

Two hands, two eyes, and three kids leaves me shorthanded (and shortsighted?)...which means things like this are bound to happen more often now. Grandma left her purse on the couch, which held an enticing shade of lipstick that Grace thought would go well with her Lightning McQueen costume.

2 weeks old today...

2008-03-05T14:46:00.002-07:00

The honeymoon is officially over. After a pretty easy first week home, a dark visitor has descended upon our home. I knew it was coming, I just thought maybe this time we would be spared. Both Stuart and Grace had acid reflux, or GERD, so the chances of us getting a baby without it was pretty slim. What's weird is that it has manifested so differently with all three kids. Stuart spit up every day all day long (I never got dressed, and if we did leave the house, I had to take 3 different outfits for him to change into, along with about 15 burp cloths), Grace would projectile vomit an entire meal once or twice a day with no advance warning (if you look closely around our house, you'll notice a lot of furniture with splatter marks on the lower part of them). And now, with Elise--there really hasn't been much spit up so far. She is a very very loud and painful screamer (as was Stuart), and with a handful of other signs she has shown so far, we started her on Prevacid a couple of days ago (now that I have three kids, my pediatrician gives me a lot of credit). If I remember correctly it takes about a week or more for it to be effective with the pain, suffering, and screaming for all of us.

I guess the honeymoon isn't exactly over as my mom is still here doing dishes, laundry, crowd control, and holding the baby most of the day (she is very sweet while she sleeps). My mom leaves this Saturday, so I may need some heavy duty drugs by Monday afternoon to maintain sanity.

Here are some pictures from today while we had a moment of peace with the baby (and the kids).

More pictures

2008-02-26T20:16:00.004-07:00

A name, some pictures, and a little vomiting

2008-02-23T19:59:00.001-07:00

After much deliberation, (and significant hassling by hospital staff, family, and friends), Dave and I were able to settle on a name for little (giant) bundle...

Elise Nicole Buecher

Already we have received some grief about it..."say it again", "how do you spell that?", "with an A or an E?" We thought it was common enough, and not with any alternative spelling or anything. Hello, Fur Elise...You know, Beethoven. Maybe you've heard of him? Anyway, it may be a turning point for Stuart in his struggle to pronounce the L sound. He is now very deliberate when he says her name. Although today he came home from a trip to the store with dad and said "Mom, where'd that baby go?".

After a long day yesterday at the hospital (we were supposed to get discharged in the morning, but got delayed and were not able to leave until close to 5 pm), we had a pretty good evening with the kids, then around midnight Stuart threw up all over his bed. So we divided--Dave slept with Stuart and the barf bowl, my mom and I slept with the baby taking turns during the shrieking crying spells (Dave says she sounds like a dinosaur. I'd say more like a very large bird in distress). Nobody got any real sleep, and we all walked around like zombies today. Grace looked very pale towards the end of tonight, so we have strategically placed the barf bowl outside her door with hopes that we will hear the gagging soon enough to get in and help her.

Here are some pictures from the past several days. Enjoy!

Grace, with her snotty nose being instructed to only kiss the baby on the hat

Grandma helping Grace love the baby

Sweet, puffy, and a little bruised

Me being mauled by all three kids plus a bonus optical illusion of the baby's giant feet

Not the best family photo, but what do you expect?

Warm and happy with Grandma

The vomiter

Live from Littleton Hospital

2008-02-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Why are epidurals so unpredictable? As I lay here at what Dave calls the "day spa", next to my beautiful new daughter (all 8 pounds 14 ounces of her), I am just curious why anesthesiologists get paid so much. Maybe it is not their fault? Perhaps I should be blaming the pharmecutical companies? Or maybe I was just meant to suffer through the delivery for a greater lesson. Perhaps it is the answer to the question of whether or not we will be having any more children after this one. Or maybe next time, I'll just invite a camera crew and get renumerated for the theatrics and drama of my gutteral screaming.

Elise Nicole Buecher was born on Wednesday, February 20th at 12:56 am. As previously mentioned, she was a whopping 8 pounds 14 ounces (I think aliens must have had something to do with it). We are sharing our last night together at the hospital now, and tomorrow we go home to a lot of noise and chaos. Luckily Grandma and Daddy will be there to ease the blow. In a few minutes, I will turn her over to the nursery, to get my last night of semi-guiltless sleep (or at least a partial night, maybe 4 or 5 hours if I am lucky). It takes a seasoned mom to realize they are better off crying in another room far away with loving nurses to rock them while I cling to the final hours of sleep.

Although my epidural was as a whole, unsuccessful, we have otherwise had an enjoyable stay here at the day spa. My compliments to the hospital and staff. I feel quite at home here, this being my third visit in less than 4 years. I didn't even bring a robe this time. I am sure there is some very nice security footage of me walking the halls in my beautiful hospital gown with easy access openings in the front and back for my convenience.

Lessons learned. All you really need to pack for the hospital is a toothbrush. Don't get pressured into "rooming-in" with your baby. Pacifiers are your friend. Your husband should not sleep at the hospital. It is cruel and unusual to make him. Epidurals are really great, when they work. If you don't name the baby until the final hours of your hospital stay, you will frustrate many people which is ok.

More later with new lessons from home. On the schedule: Dora and Diego for infant viewing--surprising results!; Eating food from the floor--what it means for your toddler AND infant's health; Crying in high definition surround sound; And a special guest feature "Training for a triathlon with less than 4 hours of sleep per night for and extended period of time", and "Gym memberships--a waste of time and money or a beautifully disguised escape plan?"

Puffy Feet

2008-02-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind, that I started this blog last March and I am finally now posting something. I have less than 48 hours until I check in to the hospital to extract baby number 3, so what better time to start posting about my crazy life than now?

3 pregnancies in less than 4 years has taken a toll on my body (and left more than a few marks). It doesn't seem right that feet would be on the list of damaged goods, but as proof, here are a few pictures of mine tonight:

They've been this way for a couple weeks now. I don't remember it happening this bad with my first two pregnancies, but I wasn't chasing a 3 1/2 year old and a 20 month old during that time either.

There is definitely a point during pregnancy (I would assume for all pregnant women) where anything (even a screaming newborn awake all night) is better than spending one more day pregnant. I can't bend over. I can't chase my kids. I can barely put socks and shoes on (I wore flip flops today in three inches of snow). I obviously can't paint or trim my own toenails. I walk slow, I climb stairs even slower. It takes me a full minute to turn over in bed. My hips, groin, back, hamstrings, and whatever other muscles/ligaments/tendons, it takes to move are all sore and tight or loose or wherever they are not supposed to be. My belly button popped out the other day presumably indicating that the baby is "done". These are my complaints tonight. In a few more days, I may eat my words.

As for now, the carseat is washed, the bassinet is set up, there is a box of girl clothes sitting next to a box of boy clothes waiting to washed and folded accordingly. Grandma is on her way. We still have no definative names for either boy or girl. Let the fun begin.