A Slice

It had been a good run.  I finished stretching and walked upstairs to shower. That's when I remembered that we still had a watermelon.  I turned around kitchen-bound, because when you are hot and sweaty, there is nothing quiet as refreshing as that red, juicy, cold fruit. They are, after all, mostly water (92%).

I placed  the heavy fruit on the cutting board and pulled a large butcher knife from the drawer.  After cutting it in two, I grabbed one of the halves and proceeded to make smaller slices.  That watermelon rind, it's thick you know, and slicing requires force.  I pushed down on the knife at the same time that the watermelon rolled.  My left hand, which was steadying the fruit, rolled with it, downward, and directly below the path of the knife.  It happened fast. And with the slice of watermelon there also came the pad of my little finger.

Thankfully, Mike was home and we got to work on repairing the damage.  

I'm glad it was just the tip, because if my finger had been a centimeter over it would have been an amputee or something close to it.

I've sutured plenty and have helped repair similar injuries on others, but I've come to appreciate a few things this week.  #1) Those finger tips can bleed.  Oh can they bleed.

#2) When they say that your finger pads have a gazillion nerve endings, it's no joke.  This thing has hurt and throbbed more than any other injury I've ever had.  Ever.  Which brings me to #3) When I see patients with similar injuries in the future, the words, Some Ibuprofen should be enough, will no longer be uttered and I will give them the good stuff.

Not quiet numb enough; giving myself more anesthetic.

Mike and I sat in bed later that night and commented on the vulnerability of life.  In an instant things can change.  It's easy to take it for granted,  and while I'm not suggesting that you live your life in fear of what could happen, it's after experiences like this, that I'm reminded to more fully live and enjoy it.

But more importantly, at the end of the day, when I-or those I love-finish it unscathed, I need to more perfectly and completely thank Heaven.

Gracie

All of my girls are very different, but with the older two

I can attribute given characteristics or personality traits to either Mike or me. 

Not so much with Gracie.

Where did she come from? I often, jokingly, ask Mike. 

She is sassy, articulate, funny, loving, bossy, and dramatic.

When told they look cute, Raquel will act embarrassed, Elena will go on as if nothing was said, but Gracie will respond by smiling, tilting her head while stroking her hair, and turning as if to model; pleased that you are finally aware of what she already knew.

She gets into trouble often, because being a three year old can be confusing.  She often thinks she is being helpful only to be reprimanded for swinging the baby too hard, or dumping the bottle full of new conditioner down the sink, etc. 

 

But more than any of my other kids, she knows how to diffuse us almost instantly, especially Mike. 
She quickly apologizes and agrees to whatever demands we ask to correct the situation, with an "OK, Daddy."

She can always be heard singing.  She loves to wear dresses. 

And she gets humor like no other 3 year old I know. 

She will try to get you to say underwear multiple times a day with,

Hey, what's under there?  Followed by a satisfactory,

You said it!  If she succeeds.

It's incredible how much pizazz this little being brings into our family.

And at the end of the day, when I catch her fast asleep in places like the baby swing,

 

I am always overwhelmed with gratitude to have her in my life.

Top 10 in the Last 10.

Dear Blog,

Whoa, 10 weeks!  Don't worry, I'm still alive.  A lot has happened in the last 10 weeks and on multiple occasions I have thought about visiting to have you take a glimpse.  There's been trips, birthdays, holidays, races, first teeth, new glasses, and more.   Bringing you up to speed, here are the top 10 things that have happened in the last 10 weeks, in chronological order.

1) EASTER

2) A DAY IN ANAHEIM:  I had a CME conference in Anaheim for a week.  One of the days we got a hotel with a pool and Mike and the girls came up.  They swam, we ate, and ate some more, and visited a few tourist spots, like the Crystal Cathedral. 

3) MY BIRTHDAY: 

Celebrating at Claim Jumpers with my favorite people.

My men and I

4) VIEWS OF THE TEMPLE:  We took a trip to Utah and stayed with, as Gracie calls them, "the grandparents that live at the Temple".  I loved looking out the window and seeing this...

5) LITTLE EMMA:  And out of sheer luck, while we were there Mike's sister, Raquel, had her baby. 

Raquel holding Raquel's Baby

5 months apart

6) TIME WITH COUSINS:  The girls spent every moment possible playing with cousins.

My kids with the kids

7) DANCING:  We used to go all the time.  Then one day we got married and it ended.  After some nudging from my siblings, we decided to resurrect our dancing moves and go while visiting Provo.  I don't have pictures of the actual event, but here we are warming up the night before with Kinect dance games. 

8) PROVO CITY HALF MARATHON:  I've been known for rallying people to sign up for races and then for unforeseen reasons dropping out, leaving them to do it alone.  I almost did it again.  I started training for a half marathon back in January.  And I got my sister to start training too.

As my mileage increased, it became evident that I was going to have to give up on nursing or my long runs; my body was not going to do both.  So I backed off the running and called my sister to tell her it was a "no go" for me.  But as luck would have it, weeks before the race, I learned that you could do the half marathon as a relay.

So I called my brother and asked him if he would run the relay with me so that we could run along with Rebeca as she ran the full half.  He said yes, cuz he's a stud like that.

It was an absolute blast. 

9) BACK YARD EXPLORING:  I love that my kids spend so much time in our backyard.  A few weeks ago our garden flooded turning the outer edge into a mud pit, i.e, a kid's ultimate playground.  They spent the entire day out there, here they are prior to me hosing them off.

And when there's no mud, they still keep plenty busy out there...



A chariot with its horses

Enjoying the shade

10) MIKE'S BIRTHDAY: If it were up to him, this wouldn't have made the list.  In fact, the only thing Mike wants for his birthday every year is for everyone to forget about it, his words not mine.  I never oblige, because I can't help but celebrate the birth of this man.

There you have it.  Hope you enjoyed it.  And to prevent future picture overload (and because I need goals in order to get things done), I will be coming back at least once a week during the summer to upkeep this space.

Sincerely,

Maintenance  

Growing

This house of ours came with a little garden plot.

Last week we (i.e. Mike) planted strawberries, peppers, cucumbers,

tomatoes, peas, basil, and cilantro.

We're growing our very first garden and it makes me so happy.

I go out there periodically, look at it, and just smile.

We're also growing some of these:

Sitting at their designated chairs where they are fed at least 3 times a day.

Though unequivalently more challenging than the garden,

growing these brings me joy I never imagined.

Periodically, I go into their room when they're sleeping,

look at them, and just smile.

It would be nice if the human kind came with instructions similar 

to my garden veggies, i.e., plant, water, let grow.

Here are my fruits, getting some sun.



And while we are on the subject of growing,

here is my fastest growing product.

Michael Jr. at 4 months.

Time

I don't like it. The passage of time.

No matter how hard I try to hold on, it seems to vanish.

I had a baby 3 months ago. 3 months. Thrrr-eeee.

This baby is growing up rapidisimo, and I don't like it.

Here he is today.

I'm so enamored with this little guy. 

I had a feeling it was going to be bad before I had him,

everyone told me so.  But I never expected it to be this bad.

Seriously.

This is what I see when I greet him in the morning.

You see how he looks at me?

We are super happy with this little man.  He has a very laid back personality.  When he cries it's more of a "talk" than a cry, as if he were trying to negotiate.  He gives smiles away easily and coos, babbles, and even laughs.  I love it.  And he is sleeping through the night.  Really, I couldn't ask for anything more.

And though I've slacked in posting, I've tried to keep up with picture taking.  The problem is that the two don't go together very well, because when you finally decide to post you have hundreds of pictures to choose from.  So I've picked just a few from the things that have happened in the past 5-6 weeks.

Little Mike at 2 Months

 

Elena turns 5!

She went with Grandma and Raquel to see Puss in Boots, ate at RR, and had a day filled with presents. 

Mike has discovered the swap meet, which according to him is better than any thrift store/garage sale/craigslist deal.  He spent the weeks leading up to her birthday collecting presents, so on her birthday rather than having her open them all at once, we had her open 1 present every hour.

This worked out so well, we might just implement this for all their birthdays/Christmases.

She was excited about every present.  Actually played with every present.  And it made the entire day special.

2011 Finale

We finished the year off with a bang.  With the company of family from Utah 

we celebrated a birthday and New Year's Eve. 

This little lady is 3. With all my kids this has been one of my favorite ages. 

I say that with some trepidation because it is also one of the most challenging. 

It is a good thing that with the increased dose of feistiness, independence, and demandingness, 

there is sweetness, personality, and cuteness to more than compensate.

And Gracie has that 3 year old charm down to a tee. 

One of my New Year's resolutions is to be better about documenting this spell before it's over.

The stars aligned in such a way that we had a lot of family here to celebrate. 

It was very nice and Gracie loved it.

  

New Year's Eve

It'd been several years since the last time we officially brought in the New Year. 

We played games, ate, danced, and cheered (more pics here).

These girls had a blast!

Thank you family for making it memorable!!