Early Poll Results

So it looks like many of you got wise to our poll. Here we are trying to be all sneaky and subtle in making our announcement and you sniffed it out. I gotta say though that it is a big relief to see that so many of you think that April is the best time to have a second child. After all, that is the well thought out and actively planned decision we made... hmm... kinda, sorta :)

A few weeks ago we sent out a card to our families telling what Madison would be going as for Halloween. We then included this picture of her as a cow -->

I am excited as can be about having another lil' one. People ask if I want a boy or a girl... I tell them that I do. Jenny has been feeling much better with this pregnancy, although she did just lose her lunch, dinner and evening snack all at once. Days like this are rarer this time around. Madison couldn't be happier with the thought of being a big sister, just look at her embracing that pumpkin!

April 16, 2009 is the due date. It really is ideal timing. I will be officially done with my medical schooling by the second week of April and graduation will be in June. So that will give us six weeks or so to have me at home helping and packing up the house before we move somewhere to start residency

Washing Windows

Madison loves to be involved in everything we are doing. In these pictures she was fascinated by Jake washing the windows. She made sure to clean the inside of the window for us by making some great blowfish faces.

More Art Fun!

Last weekend I created another fun work of art for our living room. Once again I got the idea from a picture I found... but the next picture I am painting is going to be a Jenny original. I already have the idea sketched down on paper. Let's hope it turns out! These paintings have been great warm ups to get back into the swing of things.

She makes me laugh!

Madison is growing up so fast and learning so many new tricks. The other day when I was holding Madison Jake had just come home and she saw me give him a kiss. Immediately after I looked at Madison's face and she had the biggest pucker on her lips that I have ever seen her do. She decided that she needed a kiss too. She often makes these funny kissy faces and uses all the effort she can to suck her cheeks in oh so tightly. It is so funny. I am also amazed at the things she picks up. I was in the kitchen getting breakfast and I heard a meow sound in the other room. She had opened up her animal book and was making the same noises I make when we read it together. Madison has also started saying num nums when she wants food. Sometimes I will sit down and eat my cereal first while she plays in the living room. However, the other morning she saw me eating and crawled across the room as fast as she could chanting yum yums. Now whenever she sees me eating something she usually does the same thing. What a cutie!

Back Into Painting

This weekend I decided to pull out my paint brushes and create art again! Oh how I missed painting! It was so much fun to create and I am determined to continue to paint more. This is a picture that I did for our living room. It isn't a Jenny original, I got the idea from a picture I saw on the internet but it's a start. The size is 14x24 inches. What fun! Thanks Jake for keeping Madison entertained so I could finish it. She always wants to do what I am doing:)

My Very First Tag!

That's right, I've been tagged. This is the first time I have been tagged, how fun. Thanks Julie! Here is the tag:

The Rules:• Link the person(s) who tagged you.• Mention the rules on your blog.• Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.• Tag some fellow bloggers by linking them.• Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged!

1. I apparently leave drawers and cupboards slightly open. I didn't realize this until Jake and I got married and he had to go around closing everything for me:) I now try to remember to close them, especially after he got a few bumps from my open cupboards. I guess I don't like the sound they make when they close so I leave them open.

2. I love to collect frames. I don't usually buy new frames because they can be so expensive. I usually buy old art/pictures from garage sales or second hand stores and I knock out the picture and keep the frame. You can find some amazing frames at these places. I have quite the little collection now and I plan on painting some great paintings to put in them. I just need to make time. I have put a hold on this frame collecting because I need to actually do something with them besides let them pile up:)

3. I must have a glass of water by my bed before I go to sleep at night. I usually drink a lot of water right before I go to bed and I need to have a cup beside me just in case I get thirsty in the middle of the night. And yes, this quirk does result in extra trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

4. I must wear my retainer every night. I even take it with me on camping trips. My retainer has traveled to Egypt, Peru, Jamaica, Mexico and many other places you wouldn't think someone would pack their retainer to. I just worry my teeth will go crooked.

5. I know this is gross, but I love to clean out my ears. I don't like the thought of having wax in them so I used to clean them out with a q-tip once or twice a day, despite the warnings from a roommate, who majored in audiology, that it could damage my ears. Her advice finally sunk in when I lost some of my hearing for around two or three weeks. I finally went in to a doctor who reversed the damage. I guess it is better to use a washcloth. Word is q-tips destroy the ears natural ability to remove wax.

6. I don't like the sound of loud T.V. or commercials. I usually mute the commercials and I don't like the T.V. or movies very loud. Whenever I am watching something that is at all suspenseful or scary I love to turn the volume down really really low to take the edge of the scariness.

I am going to tag my sister Becky and cousins Staci and Esther

Flashback to Teaching Junior High!

So today I did a crazy thing... It made me feel like I was in my junior high teaching mode again. Don't get me wrong, I was a really nice teacher, probably too nice sometimes, however you do have to put on your I am serious face quite often. The picture to the left is the only picture I have with my students where my face looks "tough" (and by the way, it was Halloween not the everyday teacher attire:). Anyhow, back to my story. So, the last few weeks there has been this car who will park near our house and play the loudest most awful rap music, to the point where I can hear a lot of four letter words crystal clear. The house vibrates and sometimes it goes on for a long time. I think this guy is waiting for someone he picks up in the apartments across the way. Today I had heard enough of his loud music. Madison was sleeping and I was worried it would wake her up. In a moments notice, without hesitation I ran downstairs and outside to this guys car. Luckily his window was cracked open so I could politely ask him to turn his music down. I explained that I could hear it throughout my whole house and that I didn't want my daughter to wake up. I felt angry but I put on a very pleasant face and said thank you after he apologized and turned down the music. He didn't realize it was so loud. Hopefully my gesture will prevent him from further hearing loss and Madison from learning new shocking words. Looking back at the whole thing it wasn't the smartest thing to do. I really had no idea who was in this car and definitely could have compromised my safety. Maybe it's the mother in me wanting to clean up the neighborhood??? I guess I did some crazy things as a junior high teacher as well. One day when I found out my student had a gun in class I asked him to come up to my desk and proceeded to drill him on the contents of his pocket. What in the world was I thinking? Lets hope I can try to make the world a better place without doing anything too crazy.

10 Months Old

Madison turned 10 months on Sept 21. I am a little behind I know:) She is crawling all over the place and pulls herself up to furniture. She loves to dance, give kisses and to cuddle. She has added hey, hi, down, and kitty to her baby vocab. It is so fun to listen to her cute babbling and try to understand what she is saying. She has lots of cute conversations with her stuffed animals. She especially loves to talk to them in the morning when she wakes up or at nap time when she is supposed to be sleeping:) Often in the morning she will yell hi and make happy screams until we come in to get her. The other day Jake and I went to the Wixey bakery for breakfast and she said hi to everyone that came in. They were so happy to have a Wixey greeter! What a cutie. She has also started to let me know what she does and does not want. When it's time for a diaper change or I am not understanding what she wants she does an amazing back arch throwing her head back in protest. It must be hard not being able to communicate. We are trying to teach her some signs, hopefully that helps. Mostly however Madison is a really happy baby! We are having so much fun with her.

Happy Birthday Becky!

My cute wonderful older sister had a birthday today! Happy birthday! I won't mention the age because it's a sensitive subject:) But don't worry Beck, I am not too far behind ya. Becky and I are just 17 months apart which has been so much fun. She is seriously one of my very best friends. Growing up we always shared a room and I can think of so many fun memories that we have together as a result. One night, when we were little of course, she dared me to pee on the floor in between our beds. I did of course and then she told on me. Luckily she got in the most trouble since I was the younger sister who was tempted to do wrong;) I did have to sit on the toilet for a little while as my punishment. Most of the time however I was the one thinking of mischievous tricks to play on our younger siblings. Anytime we did have arguments my mom made sure that we made up so we would always be close.
Becky was such a great example to me growing up and I always tried to follow in her footsteps. We had many of the same friends and she always let me tag along with anything fun she was doing. Becky and I were roommates my first year at Ricks college and we worked many of the same summer jobs. The picture on the left is us at Oakcrest LDS girls camp where we both had counselor jobs under the code names of Pepper and Sketch. We both ended up at BYU and then later ended up living close to each other in SLC. It is hard to live so far away but thank goodness for phone and email! She is so smart, creative, and an amazing mom! She still is such a great example to me and I just hope I can be as great of a teacher as she is with her girls and little Tanner. I am so grateful to have such a great older sister. Beck I hope you had a wonderful day!

Still a BYU fan!

For all those concerned friends and family who see me in all those pictures dressed in red I am still a BYU fan! I do feel however that I am mature enough to cheer for the Utes when they are not playing my team:) Unlike my husband however who went to a BYU game out here in the Michigan stadium but had to wear the only long sleeve red ute shirt he had to the BYU game. I guess when it comes down to it, I am pretty neutral when it comes to most sports:)

One for mobility, two for captivity.

After nine exciting weeks on the road Jenny, Madison and I have finally returned to our home in Toledo. All in all we drove 3500 miles, spent 4.6 million on gas and discovered that the finest Quizno's in all the world is in Beloit, Wisconsin of all places.
For the first month I was doing a Pediatrics internship at Primary Children's Med. Center in Salt Lake City. It was a great place for a rotation and I had a great time. We stayed with family and had many good times. Next up we drove to Milwaukee where I did an otolaryngology (ENT) internship at Medical College of Wisconsin. I loved it! So all the months of deliberation on what to do with my life came to resolution in Milwaukee and ENT is it. I have submitted my applications and now we watch and wait for interview offers.
During all this travel Madison had many firsts which Jenny has documented for you. I will add just one that she picked up during our last week in Milwaukee. Crawling! There was no army crawl or scooter stage for Madison. She went straight from tummy time to perfect technique, all fours crawling. She has not looked back since. As excited as we are for her it did not take long to realize that her mobility would lead to our captivity. Within two minutes of arriving home from our long journey she had crawled to the fan and tried to put her fingers in it, crawled to the power cord and tried to bite it and crawled to the radiator to suck on it. A whole new world of freedom for her... perhaps more captivity for us. We wouldn't trade it for the world!

So Much to See!

Milwaukee is a fun city. Tracy has taken us to so many cool places. I should clarify who Tracy is for those of you who don't know. Tracy was one of my college roommates for like three years! We were first roommates at a summer camp I worked at in Utah called Aspen Grove, then at BYU and we both lived in SLC for a little while when we were working women:) She went with me on travels to Egypt, Peru, and many other adventures. Now her husband is doing a fellowship here in Wisconsin so we get to take our kids on the many adventures in Milwaukee! We are so lucky to be staying at a home just two doors down so I can just walk over and visit while Jake is busy working at the hospital.
In the pictures we are in downtown Milwaukee on the river walk. There are some fun sculpture along the river that the kids loved playing with. We also made a stop at the famous sausage factory and cheese factory in the city. The cheese hats are so funny! Madison loved the cow. At the end of the day both girls fell asleep in the same position in their car seat. It was a cute picture.

Family Picture Fun!

The little kids had a hard time holding still in the family pictures but who knew my little brother (who is a senior in high school) would pull so many funny faces. He will just have to live with a goofy picture. You are so funny Jeffrey:) In the family picture are my four sisters, one little brother, my brother in law, two nieces and one nephew, parents, and my grandparents. Oh, and can you see who is sporting their new haircut? I gave in and got the mommy cut. It was just taking too much time to have it long. It is a fun change.

In the Mountains

Once we got to Utah we did a little bit of relaxing at Jake's family cabin but it wasn't long before Jake was busy doing some "man work". Here is a picture of Jake and his dad cutting down a tree. Madison and I are watching from a safe distance. On a little side note, I have been given the name of "Safety Patrol" in our family because I am the anxious concerned mom who is always checking all situations out for safety. Jake seemed to know how to handle a chain saw but I did remind him that his future career was on the line if anything should happen:) I have also come to accept that Madison is just going to get a few more bumps and bruises hanging out with dad since he is a little more daring and forgets the things she hasn't learned how to do yet (like balance on her feet). She will definitely learn fast with dad!