Hannah's Birthmark

Hannah has a darling little birthmark on the outside of her left shin. Bryan and I noticed it in the newborn nursery shortly after her birth. We thought it looked like a little pink heart - in honor of her Valentine's Day birthday, of course! I think it's pretty cute. Whenever Logan sees it he points to it and says, "Hannah has an owie!"

Another interesting thing about her birth is that she had a "true knot" in her umbillical cord. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, because it was really cool to see. I'll have to add a picture from the Internet instead. Apparently, it's pretty rare to have a true knot in the cord; it occurs in about 1% of births and is associated with abnormally long cords or increased fetal movement (I told you she was wiggle-worm - she tied her cord in a knot!)

Green Eggs & Ham

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, we had Green Eggs & Ham for dinner on Monday. (Yes, I know it's not very Irish, Bryan pointed that out, but it's green, okay?)

It looked totally disgusting, but it was a big hit with the kids! They actually ate their dinner for once! Bryan made delicious green pancakes too - YUMMY!

For dessert, we enjoyed "Magic Leprechaun Pudding:"

First, place a bit of "Leprechaun Gold" (butterscotch chips) in the bottom of clear cups. Then, fill the cup half-full with vanilla pudding. Add a couple of drops of green food coloring, but don't stir. Finally, fill the rest of the cup with pudding to hide the food coloring and top it off with more butterscotch chips. Tell the kids to stir the pudding while saying some magic words, and it will magically turn green!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat...

Logan rowing the laundry basket gently down the stream.

"...merry, merry, merry, merry,

Like a SPIDER DREAM!"

Kiddie Quotes

So Summer and I were discussing our picks for who would be the front runners on American Idol. Carly put on a really impressive performance last week, while David Archuleta was only mediocre, and that's being generous. Regardless, we both agreed that the top four (based on performance rather than popularity, and in no particular order) would probably end up being David Archuleta, Carly Smithson, Chikezie, and David Cook. During this conversation, I said something to the effect of "my vote is for Carly, but David Archuletta could very well give her a challenge."

Andrew looked shocked and quickly threw his two cents in with "What about Obama!?"

And then there's Logan. On a totally separate occasion, Summer was working on helping him to get excited about potty training, so like a good mom, she made up a potty chart and told him that he could go to Chuck E. Cheese as soon as he filled up the potty chart. Logan never mentioned a word about it during the rest of the week (and showed no interest whatsoever), until one day we caught him staring at the potty chart posted on the fridge. He was quietly counting the spaces and Summer asked him what he was doing. He looked at her, pointed to the potty chart and said "where a kid can be a kid!" We both started laughing because neither of us had said anything about the Chuck E. Cheese motto. He had somehow picked that one up himself.
Lastly, (and on a similar note) we had parent-teacher conference today for Andrew and part of it consisted of reviewing the pictures and accompanying stories that our child had drawn and written about each week during the year. Well, the first drawings showed Andrew playing checkers, going on picnics, playing at friends' houses, going sledding, etc. After about 15 or so of these types of pictures, we came across a clear picture of a television with lines coming off the bottom, and a person holding a black blob. The caption read something to the effect of "me playing PS2 and trying to get 20,000 points on Kim Possible." The next page had another picture of a TV and read "me playing PS2 and trying to beat the high score on Kim Possible and get Club Banana tokens." The next few pictues also showed the TV, but this time had lines going to a flat mat with well-depicted arrows and said "Me playing Dance Dance Revolution on the PS2 and trying to open a new guy." Another two or three of these pictures followed.

Maybe it's time to join Fathers of Video Game Addicts Anonymous....

Me: "Hi, I'm Bryan"
Everyone: "HI BRYAN"
Me: "and um... I'm here because my son is a video game addict."

This somehow happened despite the fact that we rarely let him play more than 30 minutes a day. We're really not bad parents! His teacher even said that he was an exceptionally good student, and his report card shows near-perfect marks in every subject area. What to do, what to do!

I Saw God Today

Okay, one more "Hannah in the hospital" story:

One night, I was driving home from the hospital after an especially hard day visiting Hannah. I was feeling so exhausted, sad, scared, and alone when I heard this song on the radio for the first time. I was so touched, and felt as if this song was written and playing just for me at that exact moment! It reminded me of how my Heavenly Father is so mindful of me and my trials and how much he loves me! I am so grateful for all He has blessed me with. This beautiful world full of miracles is a testimony of Him; truly, "His fingerprints are everywhere!"

(You can hear it if you scroll through our music player on this page)
I still tear up every time I hear this song:

I Saw God Today by George Strait
Just walked down the street to the coffee shop
Had to take a break
I'd been by her side for 18 hours straight
Saw a flower growing in the middle of a sidewalk
Pushing up through the concrete
Like it was planted right there for me to see
The flashing lights, the honking horns
All seemed to fade away
In the shadow of that hospital at 5:08
I saw God today.

Chorus:
I've been to church,
I've read the book
I know He's here but I don't look
Near as often as I should (Yeah I know I should)
His fingerprints are everywhere
I just slowed down to stop and stare
Opened my eyes and man I swear
I saw God today.

Saw a couple walking by
They were holding hands
Man she had that glow
Yeah I couldn't help but notice she was starting to show
Stood there for a minute taking in the sky
Lost in that sunset
A splash of amber melted into shades of red.

Chorus

Got my face pressed up against the nursery glass
She's sleeping like a rock
My name on her wrist, wearing tiny pink socks
She's got my nose, she's got her mamas eyes
My brand new baby girl
She's a miracle
I saw God today

"...all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me." Moses 6:63

"I'm wearing UNDERWEAR!!!"

Universal Truth #1: Boys are dificult to potty-train! My boys are no exception! When Andrew was FINALLY potty-trained (after several agonizing months), we decided that with our future kids, it would be much easier to just wait until they are ready rather than pushing them when we are ready! Up to this point, Logan has shown absolutely NO interest whatsoever! So imagine my surprise today when he asked to wear underwear after his bath! We had a nice heart-to-heart chat about going in the potty, NOT his underwear, then he even let me set him on the potty just to test it out.

Things were going great, so I dug out a pair of Andrew's outgrown underwear (ew, I know, but what else was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to waste this opportunity!) Logan put them on and looked SO PROUD of himself! He immediately jumped up on Andrew's bed (where he could get a good look at himself in the dresser mirror) and shouted, "I'm wearing UNDERWEAR!!!" I had to get a video of him checking himself out in the mirror!

Five minutes later, he peed on my carpet and asked for his diaper back. Oh well, I guess it was the first step!

Snow is FUN!

Thanks, Mom!

Dear Mom,
How can we ever thank you for everything you did for us these past few weeks? That first week, when Hannah was in the hospital, was so difficult for us! It would have been unbearable if I was also worrying about who was caring for Andrew and Logan all day (and night!), or if Bryan had to stay home with them and leave me to face the hopital alone. I really needed him there with me, and you made that possible. I missed the boys and wished I could be home with them, but I always knew that they were in good hands! THANK YOU!

Thanks for letting us sleep in when Hannah had been up during the night! Thanks for taking Andrew to school every morning and enduring Logan's diaper battles ("I NEED the motorcycle diaper!") The boys say, "Thanks for the chocolate milk, Nana!" Thanks for doing my cooking and cleaning and laundry for three weeks. Thanks for giving Bryan and me a much needed date night! Thanks for supporting me through all my breastfeeding issues and helping me to feel like a good Mom! My entire life, you have been the definition of selfless service to me! I just hope I can follow your example and be as great a Mom as you!

I miss you already!
Love, Summer