There has been so much in the news lately about environmental toxins in everyday household items, foods, pipes, cleaning supplies, mattresses, you name it. Some of these issues are very serious, some probably not so much. The problem is, the more you look into trying to decrease a given exposure, the more complicated things become.
Take prenatal lead exposure. A few weeks ago, I talked to someone in Mount Sinai's Children's Environmental Health Center, who mentioned that there is a wide range in lead content of various prenatal and children's vitamins. It turns out kids are fine if you give them a prenatal vitamin that is calcium free (which is fine if you are happen to have a serious milk lover), since the lead in vitamins comes from ground up cow bones, which are used as the source of calcium. So fine. Chewable vitamins (which tend to have calcium) are fun, but you can use a calcium-free liquid vitamin up until about age 4, and after that there are certain brands of vitamin (there is a list on the FDA website comparing brands) that have far, far less lead than others. Cows get their lead from eating grass, which gets its lead from the soil (this may explain why some of the very expensive "all-natural" vitamins are actually the highest in lead...SO...this is one issue that is not necessarily solved by simply buying the organic version of the mainstream product). That lead is then stored in bones. Levels of lead in milk tend to be undetectable, so it would seem that milk is a better source of calcium than vitamins. Oh, and for what it's worth, some of the vegetable sources of calcium and folate, arguably the single most important nutrient in terms of pregnancy, are also relatively high in lead.
Complicating the issue for women is the fact that calcium with vitamin D supplementation is highly beneficial to bone health (especially down the road, during the obligate bone loss that occurs due to hormonal changes of menopause and frequently leads to osteoporosis). You only have so many years to build up bone density, and calcium is important for that. Not to mention, there is evidence that maternal calcium supplementation during pregnancy actually lowers lead exposure (for mom and baby) in pregnant or nursing mothers. This is because calcium requirements go up during pregnancy. As these needs go up, calcium is redirected from bone to blood, taking stored lead along with it. Calcium also inhibits absorption of lead in the gut, complicating the issue of calcium supplements that potentially contain lead. On the other hand, none of these supplements are regulated in terms of lead content, and can vary from batch to batch within a given brand. Meanwhile, some women (*cough*....ME) down Tums like candy during pregnancy because of incessant heartburn. Gastroesophageal reflux (the cause of heartburn) can lead to complications like Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer in the long run. You can try to cut down on spicy foods and tomatos, but then spices and vegetables are good for you. And there are other treatments for heartburn, but most haven't been well studied during pregnancy.
And so on it goes....
The solution? I'm sticking to a generic drug store brand vitamin that is relatively low in lead, but I am going to try to cut back on Tums (esophageal cancer takes a while to develop; I can worry about it later). I can drink milk for calcium, and try to eat healthily, but I also like the safety net a prenatal vitamin provides.
In any case, my point is, these issues are complicated! And lead isn't the only issue like this. Anyone want to discuss mercury and the question of fish (I eat more when pregnant, but there is no question this increases my mercury exposure) or compact fluorescent lightbulbs (we use them, but there are arguments both for and against)?
There are a zillion sources of each of these heavy metals, and some metals are either more or less toxic depending on the form. Overall, they do add up, and they do cause harm (I would feel comfortable with the FDA's statement that lead in vitamins is fine so long as it is below the daily recommended limit...IF vitamins were most of our only source of lead exposure, but they're not). And yet...It's complicated. Really. All I know is I am not really the expert.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Still Here
We are still here. Matt's friend Justin came to visit this weekend (ok, he really came for an interview, not just to see us, but we were happy--especially Naomi, who was able to convince him to play with the parachute almost nonstop). I haven't taken any pictures for about a week and a half now, but tonight I did get the camera out, so here you go. Naomi and Matt blowing over towers:
Our new dining room display (I love it, don't you?)
We are hanging in there. I ran five miles the other day and can barely move now as a result. Even sleeping hurts. Seriously. I am that sore. I don't actually see a reason to run so far given all that is going on in life, but I have begun to pick up on a bit of the stress circulating Annenberg 13 (aka, the home of the second year med students at Mount Sinai), and I am really beat.
Oh yeah, by the way, our hospital caught fire AGAIN (the last time was only a couple years ago...maybe something should be fixed?) last Wednesday. All the students were called up to the hospital to help move beds around (half the hospital had to be evacuated, then relocated once the smoke situation was improved). I went up, but I felt very nervous about the smoke. Part of the issue is everything smells so much more extreme during pregnancy...so any type of toxic environment FEELS so much more toxic than it actually probably is. Anyway, I found an attending who said I was probably fine to be there because the CO levels were down, but to just go home anyway because there were plenty of people. So I did. But I felt very guilty for leaving. Even though there were plenty of people to help, this was MY JOB. I didn't do it. Yeah, protecting my unborn child should be my first priority in that situation, but at the same time...I don't know. It bothered me. I don't want to be mediocre as a parent OR as a med student, I don't want to shirk responsibility, I don't want to be unprepared. I want to be the person that pulls through in an emergency. And I wasn't.
Life is complicated. I don't have a great deal of respect for broad knee-jerk statements for or against trying to balance a career with having kids. The "Why have kids if you're just going to ship them off to daycare?" sentiments probably bug me the most, but the opposite camp can as well. Tell me my two year old is evidence that 40 hours a week in an amazing daycare causes any kind of emotional harm, and I will believe it when you show me a happier, more totally normal kid. (Unless the argument is that daycare results in a very, very passionate aversion to the wearing of ANY clothes...in which case, ok, fits with our N of 1 right now! We have a most dedicated future nudist in our midst!) That is a topic for another day. But it is so hard, and there are definitely times when I feel like there is just not enough of me--in terms of time, energy, brain power, you name it--to do what I want to be doing well. And I will admit, there are things to be said for doing ONE JOB WELL, rather than two....at never quite 100%. There are so many things I would love to be doing better, or doing at all, that I am not. So it goes.
PS--I'm up at 2 to give Naomi medicine. Either that or practicing for the new baby, take your pick. Or studying. Or all of the above!
Our new dining room display (I love it, don't you?)
We are hanging in there. I ran five miles the other day and can barely move now as a result. Even sleeping hurts. Seriously. I am that sore. I don't actually see a reason to run so far given all that is going on in life, but I have begun to pick up on a bit of the stress circulating Annenberg 13 (aka, the home of the second year med students at Mount Sinai), and I am really beat. Oh yeah, by the way, our hospital caught fire AGAIN (the last time was only a couple years ago...maybe something should be fixed?) last Wednesday. All the students were called up to the hospital to help move beds around (half the hospital had to be evacuated, then relocated once the smoke situation was improved). I went up, but I felt very nervous about the smoke. Part of the issue is everything smells so much more extreme during pregnancy...so any type of toxic environment FEELS so much more toxic than it actually probably is. Anyway, I found an attending who said I was probably fine to be there because the CO levels were down, but to just go home anyway because there were plenty of people. So I did. But I felt very guilty for leaving. Even though there were plenty of people to help, this was MY JOB. I didn't do it. Yeah, protecting my unborn child should be my first priority in that situation, but at the same time...I don't know. It bothered me. I don't want to be mediocre as a parent OR as a med student, I don't want to shirk responsibility, I don't want to be unprepared. I want to be the person that pulls through in an emergency. And I wasn't.
Life is complicated. I don't have a great deal of respect for broad knee-jerk statements for or against trying to balance a career with having kids. The "Why have kids if you're just going to ship them off to daycare?" sentiments probably bug me the most, but the opposite camp can as well. Tell me my two year old is evidence that 40 hours a week in an amazing daycare causes any kind of emotional harm, and I will believe it when you show me a happier, more totally normal kid. (Unless the argument is that daycare results in a very, very passionate aversion to the wearing of ANY clothes...in which case, ok, fits with our N of 1 right now! We have a most dedicated future nudist in our midst!) That is a topic for another day. But it is so hard, and there are definitely times when I feel like there is just not enough of me--in terms of time, energy, brain power, you name it--to do what I want to be doing well. And I will admit, there are things to be said for doing ONE JOB WELL, rather than two....at never quite 100%. There are so many things I would love to be doing better, or doing at all, that I am not. So it goes.
PS--I'm up at 2 to give Naomi medicine. Either that or practicing for the new baby, take your pick. Or studying. Or all of the above!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
What to do when it is too cold to go to a playground...
We've had a good weekend so far. Lots of playing around the house. Matt and I went to a fantastic dance performance by Rebecca Jennejohn Dance. Naomi went to an *awesome* birthday party at the 92nd Street Y. Honestly, I know it is easy to make fun of NYC parents for going all out on birthday parties for little kids, BUT...when the weather says it "feels like -8", it is definitely a treat for all the other parents to be able to let their kids run around in an indoor jungle-gym for two hours having a blast. You can't complain.Also in big news for the weekend, we took a little trip to the Children's Place for Naomi to pick out some new underwear. We still have not figured out when would be a good time to really focus on toilet training for a few days, but I feel like we should just go ahead and let her try to grow up if she is so hell-bent on it. I mean really, who are we to stand in her way?
More ballerina pictures:
Tomorrow is MLK day. Naomi and I have the day off, but Matt doesn't. It's supposed to be a little warmer (every time I try to complain about the cold here, our Canadian friends from the building point out that in Quebec it is -40, or in such and such town it is -55...all of which simply goes to show that no one should willingly move to Canada!) so maybe we will try to venture out somewhere. I'm not sure where yet.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
New Years' Resolutions
In the ultimate irony/bad omen of the year I have already LOST my New Years' resolutions (along with almost every single Christmas present we bought for Naomi this year...ok, those were all simply left in Utah, they are for the most part not technically lost...and they are dinky presents anyway, but still, they were the presents we got) and ....voila! I can no longer remember what I was hoping to do differently this year.
I know not everyone likes New Year's Resolutions, but I think they give a great opportunity to reflect on what we might do differently, and better, in our lives. Most of the time, when I have some impulse or thought that I should improve in some way or another, my impulses seem so short-lived. Change takes time, and if I take the time to reflect and write out some of the things I would like to do more in life, then keep these goals written somewhere where I can read them over and over it really helps me to focus and not lose sight of the good impulses I have had. Some things are brought to fruition. Others aren't. But so what. In the words of Oscar Wilde, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” I am never going to be perfect. But I really do want to be a star-gazer.
So anyway. I don't think I am going to write out all the specific intermediate goals and so on at least here online, but I do want to write down some of the categories I would like to work toward.
1. Exercise. There is not enough time, and not enough energy. But I feel better when I at least do *some* amount of jogging/gym time/whatever, so the goal for this year is to just do some regularly, 4x a week, and not worry about the quantity so much as the consistency. The goal is also to run a marathon in late October/November of next year, but that is quite a ways away.
2. Eat healthily. I am not making a goal this year to eliminate junk food...other than to stay off caffeine for the rest of this pregnancy. Instead, we are focusing on just eating plenty of healthy foods and hoping this will help me eat less sugar (so far it seems to be working somewhat). I was really impressed with the book Anticancer over break, and have been wanting to make some changes based on that...as well as the desire to save some money by really relying solely on groceries rather than picking up food at the hospital, on the street, etc. We have been very ambivalent about organic foods over time, but this book has me convinced to at least commit to 100% organic animal products, and organic "dirty dozen" fruits and vegetables. (According to this book, "meat and dairy products...furnish over 90 percent of human exposure to known contaminants. These include dioxin, PCBs, and certain pesticides that persist in the environment even though they have been banned for several years." -p79) We are also trying to avoid sugar or high fructose corn syrup (we were already doing this, though), partly because I feel like when Naomi is around sugar she won't eat anything healthy, whereas when she isn't around it, she will eat almost anything we give her (fresh vegetables being the exception...but she will eat them if they are cooked, so fine, I can cook them).
The down side is that this really drives up our grocery bill (but since we are buying less food outside of groceries, our total food costs may be down). Also, the book has me convinced that we should get organic grass fed/free range dairy products because the fat content of corn-fed (the norm) animals is poorly-balanced and pro-inflammatory in humans. Problem is, they do not even sell these products (other than eggs) at our local grocery stores or on Fresh Direct. What to do?...one solution is to subsitute sheep's cheese (I'm not sure if sheep are fed grass, but I think they are, and it turns out their cheese is very high in calcium and cheaper than comparable cow cheese) for some of our usual cheese. The other solution is to say oh well on the milk and be happy with just plain organic. (For what it's worth, our extremely, extremely overpriced organic milk is really delicious compared to the very reasonably priced non-organic alternative...a silver lining?) I am also trying to include more fresh herbs and a wider variety of vegetables, and better oils, in our food, all of which adds to the financial burden. The solution we have come up with to this is to eat less meat, and to get more of our protein and fat from nuts, oils, beans, legumes, eggs (good source of cholesterol also), and whole grains. We aren't going 100% vegetarian (we'll still eat meat if other people are eating it around us), but it turns out we can recuperate essentially all of the money we lose on buying organic by turning to plant sources of protein rather than even MORE expensive grass-fed organic beef, chicken, and so on. Also, it is better for the environment (Did you know farting cows in the US contribute more harmful greenhouse gases to the environment than the entire US transportation system combined? I didn't), and allows for more efficient use of land resources (in a world where billions of people still go with too little nutrition). All of this I'm sure is very boring for anyone to read, and no doubt makes us sound like complete freaks (wait, wait...I had cheesecake at book group this evening, followed by ice cream at home PLUS several hershey's hugs...I am normal, I promise!---either that or hypocritical. Or both!). But it is something we are trying to work toward.
3. Date more, get together with friends more, have a life outside of parenting and med school. I don't really want to be a hermit, but sometimes I end up a little bit of one. Which is too bad because I know so many great people I should get together with more often.
4. Work hard and do my best in school and on the boards.
5. Take some time for quiet and reflection every morning to start off my day a more mindful and appreciative person.
6. Read to Naomi (and to the new baby when she comes) 30 minutes a day. This is actually an old resolution and one of the very rare few I have done well with. It's a good one. I read The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (one of my favorite parenting books) a while ago, and this book makes the argument that you should read to each of your kids separately unless they are very close in age, mostly because kids of different ages get more out of different types of books. I think anything is good, but I think as a working parent it might be a nice way to guarantee some alone time with each child, so for me I think it is a good thing to try for.
7. Do some type of service once a month.
8. Live in the moment.
9. Figure out how to either (a) get Naomi to stop being so obsessed with sitting on the potty all day, or (b) finally toilet train her once and for all! More on this later. The short story is, apparently she has been sitting on the potty every time she has her diaper changed at daycare since the beginning of September. She doesn't do anything, but she insists on going. I was not really aware of this until her teacher wrote a note in her little daycare diary about how independent Naomi is getting with toilet training. What?! Naomi is toilet trained?! Unfortunately no such luck. Every night since we came back from Utah, we have had some sort of incident involving Naomi taking off her pants and diaper unnoticed, then wanting to sit on the potty, run around, sit on it again, run around, and finally pee in the middle of the living room/hallway/bathroom rug/poop in the tub/pee anywhere OTHER than a toilet. *sigh*. It has not actually been THAT bad, but we are in serious need of a coherent strategy here right now (preferably one that dovetails well with the daycare's approach of easing in to toilet familiarity and comfort leading to "training" over many months). I think we cannot put off addressing her desire to use the toilet any longer. Oh well.
I can't remember any more, and I am tired, so that is it for tonight.
Btw, on the school front...I had my first conversation about this pregnancy with an administrator at my school. It was wonderful. She was all congratulations and supportiveness. It looks like I will be able to piece together a plan to delay third year by three months, start out with a geriatric rotation followed by internal medicine (geri because it is the lightest schedule-wise, internal medicine because it gives the broadest background to help get me up to speed on everything), and still graduate on time. This means essentially 4 months at home with baby #2, followed by a month of "easing in" to third year via geriatrics before any hard-core rotations hit. I couldn't be happier.
I know not everyone likes New Year's Resolutions, but I think they give a great opportunity to reflect on what we might do differently, and better, in our lives. Most of the time, when I have some impulse or thought that I should improve in some way or another, my impulses seem so short-lived. Change takes time, and if I take the time to reflect and write out some of the things I would like to do more in life, then keep these goals written somewhere where I can read them over and over it really helps me to focus and not lose sight of the good impulses I have had. Some things are brought to fruition. Others aren't. But so what. In the words of Oscar Wilde, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” I am never going to be perfect. But I really do want to be a star-gazer.
So anyway. I don't think I am going to write out all the specific intermediate goals and so on at least here online, but I do want to write down some of the categories I would like to work toward.
1. Exercise. There is not enough time, and not enough energy. But I feel better when I at least do *some* amount of jogging/gym time/whatever, so the goal for this year is to just do some regularly, 4x a week, and not worry about the quantity so much as the consistency. The goal is also to run a marathon in late October/November of next year, but that is quite a ways away.
2. Eat healthily. I am not making a goal this year to eliminate junk food...other than to stay off caffeine for the rest of this pregnancy. Instead, we are focusing on just eating plenty of healthy foods and hoping this will help me eat less sugar (so far it seems to be working somewhat). I was really impressed with the book Anticancer over break, and have been wanting to make some changes based on that...as well as the desire to save some money by really relying solely on groceries rather than picking up food at the hospital, on the street, etc. We have been very ambivalent about organic foods over time, but this book has me convinced to at least commit to 100% organic animal products, and organic "dirty dozen" fruits and vegetables. (According to this book, "meat and dairy products...furnish over 90 percent of human exposure to known contaminants. These include dioxin, PCBs, and certain pesticides that persist in the environment even though they have been banned for several years." -p79) We are also trying to avoid sugar or high fructose corn syrup (we were already doing this, though), partly because I feel like when Naomi is around sugar she won't eat anything healthy, whereas when she isn't around it, she will eat almost anything we give her (fresh vegetables being the exception...but she will eat them if they are cooked, so fine, I can cook them).
The down side is that this really drives up our grocery bill (but since we are buying less food outside of groceries, our total food costs may be down). Also, the book has me convinced that we should get organic grass fed/free range dairy products because the fat content of corn-fed (the norm) animals is poorly-balanced and pro-inflammatory in humans. Problem is, they do not even sell these products (other than eggs) at our local grocery stores or on Fresh Direct. What to do?...one solution is to subsitute sheep's cheese (I'm not sure if sheep are fed grass, but I think they are, and it turns out their cheese is very high in calcium and cheaper than comparable cow cheese) for some of our usual cheese. The other solution is to say oh well on the milk and be happy with just plain organic. (For what it's worth, our extremely, extremely overpriced organic milk is really delicious compared to the very reasonably priced non-organic alternative...a silver lining?) I am also trying to include more fresh herbs and a wider variety of vegetables, and better oils, in our food, all of which adds to the financial burden. The solution we have come up with to this is to eat less meat, and to get more of our protein and fat from nuts, oils, beans, legumes, eggs (good source of cholesterol also), and whole grains. We aren't going 100% vegetarian (we'll still eat meat if other people are eating it around us), but it turns out we can recuperate essentially all of the money we lose on buying organic by turning to plant sources of protein rather than even MORE expensive grass-fed organic beef, chicken, and so on. Also, it is better for the environment (Did you know farting cows in the US contribute more harmful greenhouse gases to the environment than the entire US transportation system combined? I didn't), and allows for more efficient use of land resources (in a world where billions of people still go with too little nutrition). All of this I'm sure is very boring for anyone to read, and no doubt makes us sound like complete freaks (wait, wait...I had cheesecake at book group this evening, followed by ice cream at home PLUS several hershey's hugs...I am normal, I promise!---either that or hypocritical. Or both!). But it is something we are trying to work toward.
3. Date more, get together with friends more, have a life outside of parenting and med school. I don't really want to be a hermit, but sometimes I end up a little bit of one. Which is too bad because I know so many great people I should get together with more often.
4. Work hard and do my best in school and on the boards.
5. Take some time for quiet and reflection every morning to start off my day a more mindful and appreciative person.
6. Read to Naomi (and to the new baby when she comes) 30 minutes a day. This is actually an old resolution and one of the very rare few I have done well with. It's a good one. I read The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (one of my favorite parenting books) a while ago, and this book makes the argument that you should read to each of your kids separately unless they are very close in age, mostly because kids of different ages get more out of different types of books. I think anything is good, but I think as a working parent it might be a nice way to guarantee some alone time with each child, so for me I think it is a good thing to try for.
7. Do some type of service once a month.
8. Live in the moment.
9. Figure out how to either (a) get Naomi to stop being so obsessed with sitting on the potty all day, or (b) finally toilet train her once and for all! More on this later. The short story is, apparently she has been sitting on the potty every time she has her diaper changed at daycare since the beginning of September. She doesn't do anything, but she insists on going. I was not really aware of this until her teacher wrote a note in her little daycare diary about how independent Naomi is getting with toilet training. What?! Naomi is toilet trained?! Unfortunately no such luck. Every night since we came back from Utah, we have had some sort of incident involving Naomi taking off her pants and diaper unnoticed, then wanting to sit on the potty, run around, sit on it again, run around, and finally pee in the middle of the living room/hallway/bathroom rug/poop in the tub/pee anywhere OTHER than a toilet. *sigh*. It has not actually been THAT bad, but we are in serious need of a coherent strategy here right now (preferably one that dovetails well with the daycare's approach of easing in to toilet familiarity and comfort leading to "training" over many months). I think we cannot put off addressing her desire to use the toilet any longer. Oh well.
I can't remember any more, and I am tired, so that is it for tonight.
Btw, on the school front...I had my first conversation about this pregnancy with an administrator at my school. It was wonderful. She was all congratulations and supportiveness. It looks like I will be able to piece together a plan to delay third year by three months, start out with a geriatric rotation followed by internal medicine (geri because it is the lightest schedule-wise, internal medicine because it gives the broadest background to help get me up to speed on everything), and still graduate on time. This means essentially 4 months at home with baby #2, followed by a month of "easing in" to third year via geriatrics before any hard-core rotations hit. I couldn't be happier.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Christmas (backwards)
Our last friday in Utah, I went skiing with my dad. Meanwhile Jayne took a snowboard lesson for the first time (she got a snowboard for her birthday). I don't seem to go skiing a ton anymore, but I really, really love it. There is just something so exhilarating about catching a good rhythm on a beautiful slope. Which is also why I don't understand why anyone who already knows how to ski would give that up to be a beginner again on a snowboard...but Jayne had a blast. We also went skiing another day with Jayne and Matt, who is surprisingly good for only learning a couple years ago. Anyway. Later that night, Matt and I drove down to St George for a short weekend to ourselves. It was fun! We spent most of our time at Zion's national park.
The park was almost completely deserted, but there were still some great scenic drives and some hikes that were not closed due to ice. The drive up Kolob canyon was closed, though, so we hiked up the main road (which was snowed over) instead. We stopped when the animal to human footprint ratio got a little out of hand. When we got back in the car we realized we had been hiking in about 10 degree weather, but it was truly gorgeous! You just cannot beat southern Utah when it comes to pure natural beauty:
Hiking along the river:
I just think these cliffs are absolutely gorgeous:
More cliffs:
The park was almost completely deserted, but there were still some great scenic drives and some hikes that were not closed due to ice. The drive up Kolob canyon was closed, though, so we hiked up the main road (which was snowed over) instead. We stopped when the animal to human footprint ratio got a little out of hand. When we got back in the car we realized we had been hiking in about 10 degree weather, but it was truly gorgeous! You just cannot beat southern Utah when it comes to pure natural beauty:
Hiking along the river:
I just think these cliffs are absolutely gorgeous:
More cliffs:
Jayne's birthday was January 1st as usual. Happy Birthday, Jaynie! (Yes, I do look completely pregnant in this picture at only 3-1/2 months...oh well! I figure I must be helping someone to feel better about how NONpregnant they look in comparison at a similar stage)
Sarah, Beata, my mom, Matthew, and Naomi dancing up at the cabin.
I love what a complete and utter cheeseball Naomi is.
Eating at the Rhode Island Diner near Oakley, Utah:
Sunny, Naomi, Hank, Cecilee. Naomi had a lot of fun with her cousins (technically they are my cousins) this year, especially Sunny and Hank. She was usually the first one up at the cabin, and when she came downstairs, she would immediately ask "Where's my friends go?". It was cute.
Sarah, Beata, my mom, Matthew, and Naomi dancing up at the cabin.
I love what a complete and utter cheeseball Naomi is.
Eating at the Rhode Island Diner near Oakley, Utah:
Sunny, Naomi, Hank, Cecilee. Naomi had a lot of fun with her cousins (technically they are my cousins) this year, especially Sunny and Hank. She was usually the first one up at the cabin, and when she came downstairs, she would immediately ask "Where's my friends go?". It was cute.
Matthew snowmobiling with Naomi. She was a little hesitant about sledding at the cabin (though she apparently loved it when she went with my dad--who didn't take any pictures--back at the house), but she LOVED snowmobiling. I liked tagging along when she was there also because it meant that the driver wouldn't go too fast.
Naomi sledding with Matt:
Playing with the Huish's bunny on Christmas afternoon:
Climbing out of her new Dora house Christmas morning:
Trying out her new apron and some bean bags (it looks like I did not do a very good job of capturing Christmas morning on camera...sorry)...it was fun, though! Naomi, true to form, wanted to keep playing with one present rather than opening the next, and then we went to the cabin for a couple of days, so Naomi didn't finish opening her presents until 2 or 3 days after Christmas.
Naomi sledding with Matt:
Playing with the Huish's bunny on Christmas afternoon:
Climbing out of her new Dora house Christmas morning:
Trying out her new apron and some bean bags (it looks like I did not do a very good job of capturing Christmas morning on camera...sorry)...it was fun, though! Naomi, true to form, wanted to keep playing with one present rather than opening the next, and then we went to the cabin for a couple of days, so Naomi didn't finish opening her presents until 2 or 3 days after Christmas.
Christmas Eve
Naomi and Hank playing Twinkle together. My family has a little musical program every Christmas Eve after the nativity, in which all the kids who want to get up and play or sing some sort of Christmas song. Naomi and Hank both wanted to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells (kind of...Hank's got it down a little more than Naomi does) at the same time, so here they are cracking each other up in the process:
The nativity. Matthew and Sunny are Joseph and Mary. Naomi's Baby Becky was supposed to be Jesus, but she would have none of that. So...in our version of the nativity this year, Mary's donkey had its own baby to rock in a manger alongside baby Jesus:
Mary, the donkey, and a shepherd:
Christmas tree decorating contest:
My Grandpa Alvin, Grandma Barbara, Grandma Pat, Matt, Naomi, me, and Grandpa LaVell on Christmas Eve:
The nativity. Matthew and Sunny are Joseph and Mary. Naomi's Baby Becky was supposed to be Jesus, but she would have none of that. So...in our version of the nativity this year, Mary's donkey had its own baby to rock in a manger alongside baby Jesus:
Mary, the donkey, and a shepherd:
Christmas tree decorating contest:
My Grandpa Alvin, Grandma Barbara, Grandma Pat, Matt, Naomi, me, and Grandpa LaVell on Christmas Eve:
Temple Square
Matthew and Naomi
Naomi and my dad, "Grandpa Bonk":
Hamming it up as usual:
Sarah and Matthew swinging Naomi:
The closest thing we got to a family Christmas card picture this year (there's always next....):
Naomi and my dad, "Grandpa Bonk":
Hamming it up as usual:
Sarah and Matthew swinging Naomi:
The closest thing we got to a family Christmas card picture this year (there's always next....):
Christmas Part I: The Vegas Bowl
We had a great Christmas vacation this year. In an effort to save several hundred dollars in airfare, we flew out earlier than we should have (three days before finals were over...I am still nervous about one grade I haven't gotten back yet), and back later than we should have (a day after school began for me, the afternoon Matt was supposed to be back to work....to a disastrously messy apartment complete with dead Christmas tree, rotten vegetables in the fridge, etc). On the up-side, we did have about two and a half weeks straight of vacation in Utah (a luxury I don't expect again anytime soon).
One of the first things we did was drive down to Las Vegas for the Vegas bowl. Matthew was a walk-on for the BYU football team this year, and dressed for this game, so we were all very excited to see him. Naomi is now fully trained to say "BYU! BYU! BYU!" anytime she hears the word "football". It was not a happy final score, but we did have fun. Matt, Naomi, me, Sarah:
Our favorite player on BYU's team:
Naomi, my mom, Matt:
One of the first things we did was drive down to Las Vegas for the Vegas bowl. Matthew was a walk-on for the BYU football team this year, and dressed for this game, so we were all very excited to see him. Naomi is now fully trained to say "BYU! BYU! BYU!" anytime she hears the word "football". It was not a happy final score, but we did have fun. Matt, Naomi, me, Sarah:
Our favorite player on BYU's team:
Naomi, my mom, Matt:
Thursday, January 08, 2009
...And here she is!
Our new baby girl:
We're not sure yet if she looks like Naomi, but she certainly DOES bear an uncanny resemblance to this familiar face:
Another lovely shot:
And just in case anyone was starting to worry that she really is going to look a little like the star of a horror movie, here is a much more comforting view. Look--normal!
Anyway. All her organs are great. Right now I have placenta previa (the placenta is blocking the cervix), but 90% of the time the placenta manages to move out of the way by term, so there is only a 10% chance that I will need to have a C section. Either way, the baby should be fine.
We're not sure yet if she looks like Naomi, but she certainly DOES bear an uncanny resemblance to this familiar face:
Another lovely shot:
And just in case anyone was starting to worry that she really is going to look a little like the star of a horror movie, here is a much more comforting view. Look--normal!
Anyway. All her organs are great. Right now I have placenta previa (the placenta is blocking the cervix), but 90% of the time the placenta manages to move out of the way by term, so there is only a 10% chance that I will need to have a C section. Either way, the baby should be fine.
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