Day #13

Xavier is 13 days old today. What an experience this has been. First of all, I had a super easy delivery (compared to Elizabeth). He is nursing a lot better than Elizabeth as well, however, we still have the weight issue. I have to feed him every 2-1/2 hours (from start of one to the start of the next) and if he's asleep, I have to wake him up. That was not so easy to do last night. I had my alarm set for 3:00 a.m. but I couldn't wake up. It's easier to wake up when he's ready to wake up, not so easy when I have to be the one, so he missed his 3:00 feeding and I didn't wake up again until a little bit before 6:00. Then the doctor has us giving him 1 oz. of formula after each feeding to make sure he is getting enough. He didn't want it this morning. On Monday, we go back to the doctor and I really really hope he has put on the weight he is expected to. Babies are supposed to put on 1/2 oz. a day and over an 8 day period he only put on only 2 oz. He should be at his birth weight which is 8 lb 13 oz. and he's only 8 lb 3 oz. So, during this same doctor's visit, the doctor runs her hands over his shoulder and feels a knot - turns out he has a fracture (can't remember the name of the bone). She thinks it could have happened during birth since its a very common fracture. So, I had to take him for his first set of X-rays yesterday. That was an interesting experience - it was very quick but the poor guy was hungry (I wasn't prepared for a long trip) and he cried the entire time. They basically laid him on a table and a tech held him down and they took 2 snap shots - I wish I could have copies for his scrapbook! :) It has started to heal and there's nothing for us to do except not lay him on that side. Of course, every time I pick him up or get him dressed or even feed him, I worry if I'm doing something that could be hurting him.

Elizabeth just loves "her baby" and loves to try and help (even when I'm nursing!). The first time she came to the hospital to visit, I said I needed to feed Xavier and she goes and grabs some applesauce! It was so cute. We've only had one case of "that's mine". He was covered with her Winnie the Pooh/Tigger blanket and she really wanted it. She had to make a trade for another blanket in order to get it. She loves playing with his bouncer and swing - she puts her teddy bears and baby dolls in there and always fastens them in. She tries sitting in them as well, but I think has finally gotten over that. Not sure how it will go next week while I'm by myself. She tends to ask me to do things while I'm feeding Xavier so I feel bad to tell her not right now or go ask daddy. The other thing is that Brian has been getting up with her in the mornings so I can sleep in until Xavier's next feeding, but I won't be able to do that next week. She is usually up between 7-7:30 and I've been sleeping until 8:00-9:00. If anyone knows me, then they know I have to get my 10 hours of sleep in! :)

Xavier has been lifting his head. I lay him on his stomach and he just moves that head around and actually wiggles his way forward. I just love watching him, he amazes me. It's funny how I have forgotten things - like how many poopy diapers a new born has. I actually called the doctor's office b/c I thought he was having too many! I had to be reminded that a breast fed baby has a lot more poopy diapers than a formula fed baby.

Well, I hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July! We'll be sticking close to the house (which is fine with us b/c our neighborhood has some pretty good fireworks). Hopefully, it won't rain and we can shoot some fireworks off, but we may not be that lucky. It's raining right now. :(

Our Valentine's Day

Brian and I actually got to go out - just the two of us - for Valentine's Day! My mom and dad came to town to visit Elizabeth, I mean us, and they were all too happy to babysit Elizabeth. We started out early to miss the dinner crowd. We didn't really know for sure where we wanted to eat so we got our movie tickets first and then though we'd go to the Cheesecake Factory but on the way, we passed by a TGI Fridays. Okay, not the most romantic place and its someplace that we could take Elizabeth too and not worry about her being loud, but...I wanted to try out some of the food from "Ultimate Recipe Showdown" from the Foodnetwork. Mainly the Gourmet Mac & 5 Cheese. Brian thought I was a little crazy, but it was Valentine's Day so he went with no complaints. He actually LOVED a smoked salmon past dish he got. After dinner, we went to see "Taken" and that was AWESOME. I really liked it. Then we went to Dean & Deluca. I had never been there before and I don't know that we'll go again. I knew you get food and coffee there, but it was also a little bit of a very expensive grocery store. Definitely out of our price range and quite honestly, I prefer the white chocolate mocha from Borders book store than I did from Dean & Delucas. And, they closed at 8:00 - It was Saturday night for goodness sakes. So, we skedaddled (however you spell that) and went to the $2.00 theater and watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still". It wasn't bad.

Before our date began, Elizabeth and I made cupcakes. We didn't ice them until the following day and she had sooo much fun doing it. She loves using the mixer and when it came to icing the cupcakes, she loved to lick her fingers. We had fun doing it and can you believe I didn't get any pictures of it. or of Brian and me for our date! Gees, what was I thinking??

However, I do have some pictures of some of our bath time and bed time rituals. Pretty much, after bath, we get the pleasure of chasing her around the house in order to put lotion and pajamas on her (and sometimes her diaper). Something about a bath/shower just fills her with energy. I don't know where she gets it from. She just wares me out! Our new bed time ritual is to read a couple of books before going to bed. I realize its something most parents do with their kids but we had always just put her to bed. We read the same couple of books over and over again, we really have to try and throw in something new every now and then. She loves Dora the Explorer (and she got a bunch for Christmas so we now have a variety to read), she likes a book called Snowy Days and Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop. There's also has a Winnie the Pooh search and find that she loves to go through - I think she has all that memorized now.

We went sledding behind our house at the school yard. Elizabeth had a great time being pulled around by Storm (Storm really got her exercise, after we'd slide down, she'd pull Elizabeth back up the hill). Afterwards, we came back to the house and Elizabeth and I played ring around the rosy and made snow angels. We had lots of fun playing in the snow!This pretty much recaps our January and February so far. Wow, I posted a blog only about a month apart! Maybe next time I'll add some of my new scrapbook pages!

A Year in Review

Well, another year has come and gone. I can't believe Elizabeth is 2 years old! She is so full of personality (and sometimes full of attitude). If I tell her to do something and she doesn't like it, she'll tell me to go play and she just now started to tell me to leave her alone - even if I'm not bothering her! Oh the things they pick up! She really likes watching DVD's now. Her favorites are Winnie the Pooh, Shrek, doggie movies (101 Dalmatians & Snow Buddies) and Tinkerbell. I think I'll have them all memorized in another week or so! She likes to be read to - Dora used to be her favorite but not so much anymore - I think right now it's Dr. Seuss - Hop on Pop. She likes to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but she calls that one "Up Above". It's funny, but it's hard to remember what she was like a year ago. I guess that's why it's so important to write that stuff down. At the beginning of last year, she had quite a few ear infections and colds. I thought we were going to end up getting tubes put in her ears, but we got past that phase. So far, we're doing good in the health area! She moved up with the "big" kids in daycare. She really started picking up talking even more - instead of saying 1 or 2 words, she started using sentences and phrases. There are definitely times where I can't understand what she is saying and we'll have her take our hand and show us what she is talking about. She still gives the best hugs and kisses and has started saying I Love You back to us. Despite her occasional crabby attitude, she is still a good kid. Just gotta make sure she gets her nap!

As for the rest of us, Brian had a full year of home repairs - he took a long weekend and replaced our roof with the help of his brothers. He put up a new shed and finished the built-in shelves around our fireplace. He didn't get much "play time" this year. The week that daycare was closed in June, Elizabeth and I went to Alabama while Brian worked on the house (this is when he did the roof). Elizabeth and I had a great time with Papaw and Gramma. We went to a petting zoo with Emma and just relaxed. Didn't take advantage of the pool as much I had planned but I did take advantage of the babysitting and got to see 3 movies!

We didn't have a "big" vacation, but we managed a night at the Great Wolf Lodge with the Wendt's and for the day one other time. Elizabeth LOVED it. We're going to try another trip there in the next couple of weeks. I went to a Star Trek convention in Vegas with Kim in August - what an experience (I guess I did get a "big" vacation). My sis really wants to go again - after all, there are still some more autographs we need!! I also had my annual scrapbook convention in October with my friend Monica. We had visits from family - my parents came up twice and Brian's family came to visit as well. We spent Labor Day weekend in Omaha and spent the weekend before Christmas in Alabama for the Curry Christmas. Thanksgiving was spent with our friends and of course, there was the magical day after Thanksgiving shopping! I don't think we did anything Memorial weekend and 4th of July instead of everyone coming to our place, we went to Harrisonville and saw some great fireworks. It seems like our year was busier than this, but I can't remember anything else.

Of course the big news that happened in 2008 is my pregnancy. We have another little Yoder on the way, due in June. At my 13.5 week check up, they were able to tell us we were having a boy! I'm wanting to double check with my next visit which will be next week before I completely believe that. They usually wait until 17 weeks or so before finding out so I'm a little anxious they could be wrong! I am glad that we went neutral on the car seat, high chair, play pen, etc. so we won't need any of the big stuff. I am going to go ahead and say it - boy clothes are not as cute as girl clothes!!

2009 started out on a great note - sung by Celine Dion! Kim and Mark came up for the concert and she was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!! She was without a doubt worth the money spent! Plans for the new year include a trip to South Dakota to visit the Wendt's in April and we plan on stopping to see some of Brian's family along the way. Of course, the baby is due in June and I'll have 12 weeks off for maternity leave. I'm going to figure out a way to get a scrapbooking weekend in there sometime before the baby comes! :) We have to get started on converting the spare bedroom into a nursery which will be a nautical theme. Of course, going to wait to make any changes until we're sure it's still a boy!

I haven't been scrapbooking much since the convention in October. The beginning of this pregnancy - I didn't feel well most of the time, now I feel fine, but I'm tired! I've been working a LOT lately trying to get year end done so once I can get settled back home on normal hours, I hope to have the energy to get some layouts done and pictures printed and maybe even stay on top of this blog and the picture website! Can't promise much on the last 2 though!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S FROM THE YODERS!

Scrapbook weekend

My friend, Monica, and I had a scrapbook weekend!! Creating Keepsakes came to town this past weekend along with some great vendors. We volunteered to help with a crop on Thursday so we received vouchers which we were able to use to purchase tickets for the Saturday night crop. Plus we took one class each. I can't say much about my class b/c they will become Christmas presents for 2 lucky people! We got some good deals, did some scrapbooking, spent some money and all in all had a GREAT time.

Elizabeth is growing like a weed! She's saying more words now - she knows a lot of her body parts (chin, eyes, nose mouth, knee, elbow, etc.). Last night I was calling myself "silly momma" and she repeated that. So, I guess we should watch what we say around her! :) She LOVES Winnie the Pooh right now. She carries around this over sized Pooh and brings us the Winnie DVD to put in. She sleeps with 2 Winnie the Poohs at night! I guess our big news is that she is binky (pacifer) free. She had some sores in her mouth about a week or so ago and we didn't give her the binky b/c we though

it would just make the sores worse, so, one night led to another and here we are. How cute is this little girl?!?! She still has a pretty good attitude, but she's spoiled.

I never did tell of my Star Trek experience. Kim and I had a great time. We got autographs from a lot of Star Trek stars - I got Nichelle Nichols, Leondard Nimoy, Walter Koenig & George Takei - all from the Original Star Trek series. Then I got Brent Spiner and Marina Sirtis from The Next Generation. Kim got autographs from the Voyager cast as the actors from the Original series. She got 2 more of those than I did since I didn't really know who they were but she did. One of the chicks from Voyager (Jennifer Lein) was a little on the odd side. She never looked up and spoke to people and when she did to Kim (to verify what color marker we wanted her to sign the picture) it was like she was drugged up. Not like she was a druggie, but I guess she is super uncomfortable with the whole meeting the fans thing so it's like they gave her something to get her through it. It was WEIRD!! Anyway, there were a lot of stars that we got to see on stage - Scot Bakula (I guess it was HUGE deal that he came, b/c that was only his 2nd one); Zachary Quinto - star of Heroes and will also play Spok in the new Star Trek movie coming out. Next year's convention should be pretty cool b/c the new movie comes out in May and the convention will follow in August. Anyway, we went to 2 parties - 1 at the Star Trek experience ride another in a ball room and Tim Russ (Tuvok from Voyager) has a band and they played. There were not as many FREAKS as I was expecting, there were definitely some there, many with costumes, but they were pretty nice. There was a vendor area and there were some odd booths there. The guy who played Jaws in some of the James Bond movies was there and he was HUGE. The guy who wore the Chewbacca costume was there as well and he's really really tall. There were 2 cast members from the original Battlestar Gallatica there. The Asian guy who was in Revenge of the Nerds was there - he had a Star Trek connection - he played some kid in an episode from the Original series. There were quite a few people there who had been in one or 2 episodes selling there pictues. It was interesting! We didn't do too much Vegas sight seeing. However, we had one of the most expensive buffets EVER! We went to the Rio which has the largest buffet in the world (or US or something like that). I had the most amount of food I ever had in my life. I was going to get my $25 worth! :) We tried to go up Paris but they had it closed. We did a little gambling. Didn't walk away with anything - I kind of lost some, but I never played with much anyway. I guess that sums up the trip very briefly! Here are just a few of the many 100's of pictures I took! It was very hard to pick pictures to add to the blog, especially since I took so many! There was a costume contest and there were some pretty amazing costumes! Not sure that I would spend that kind of money again - but William Shatner is scheduled to be there next year....

Not much else going on with us. We've had a couple of visits from family. My mom and dad came a few weeks ago and spent almost a week. Elizabeth got to spend a lot of time with "momma" and "papaw". She didn't know quite how to say Gramma and it came out as momma. My mom and I took her to the train restaurant. I wish I would have though to bring my camera. A train comes around and drops off your food at your table. She loved it. She became fascinated with trains when my parents took her to the zoo. Listening to her say "choo choo" is just too too cute! :) This past weekend, Brian's parents came to visit. We went to the lake for the day for a picnic and tried to fly a kite - wasn't windy enough.

I can't believe Elizabeth will be turning 2 in less than 2 months. On Thanksgiving Day! Man, I can't believe she's going to be 2 years old! WoW!

Well, no telling when I'll update this again...

Tomorrow - I go where no man has gone before...

Yes, tomorrow is the STAR TREK Convention. I leave for Las Vegas tomorrow morning! Yipee!! I am so looking forward to it and I am so hoping I'm not disappointed! I've music on MP3 player for the plane ride and I bought the 4th of the Twilight Saga - "Breaking Dawn". I can't believe I bought that book on Sunday and have completely controlled myself from reading even a single word. Saving it for the plane. I've spent a lot of time preparing clothes for this trip..why? Well, I don't want to look like I belong at a Star Trek Convention!! Ha! ha! Actually, I look back at my pics from India/Rome/Zurich and I looked like a bum with crazy hair!! So, even though that might make me blend in with the crowd in Vegas, not looking to do that! Anyway...I said I would put some pictures of my beautiful baby girl so here you go...

We got out her wading pool and she just had a blast with it. Sounds silly, but I actually gave her a "bath" in it. Just seemed silly to take her right from the wading pool into the bathtub so Brian brought out her soap.

Elizabeth got to enjoy her first Royals game! She did GREAT! But she had a TON of people to watch. She is a total people watcher. It was a good game and we actually won at the end. Can't remember who we were playing...

We got to meet Brian's brand new nephew - born July 18th - Logan Levi Yoder. Such a cutie! Elizabeth just loved him. She was so excited to see "baby". His bassinet was sitting in the living room and she kept reaching up to it to look inside. It was so cute. Of course, she kept wanting to poke him the eye...but, it was all done with love!

While in Omaha, we went to the zoo. They have a pretty awesome zoo! There is a desert dome, an aquarium, a nocturnal area, a butterfly farm, and on and on. There were parts Elizabeth liked and parts that she could have cared less about! She didn't last very many hours before conking out on daddy's shoulder.

Well, that's about all I have for right now. I know I'll have ton to add after the STAR TREK Convention - be prepared!!

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!!

8 days to Vegas

Well, I am completely obsessed with 2 things right now...First, preparing for my trip to Vegas for the geek fest of all time - the Star Trek Convention. I keep hoping that Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes and William Shatner (can you name the characters these actors played??) will get signed up to come to the convention - there are after all, 8 more days for Creation to make it happen! I check their website daily - at least a couple times a day to see if there have been changes. I'm hoping this lives up to my expectations and that I'm not disappointed. My sister, Kim, and I have a 5 fabulous days of all things Star Trek to look forward to. We purchased the "Captain Chair" package with gets us into 2, that's right 2, parties. We will get to hang out with Star Trek celebs - but we can't take pictures. Do you know how wrong that is for a scrapbooker?! I think I can take pictures during the panel "discussions" so it won't be a total loss. We'll be able to ride the Star Trek Experience which Brian and I went to about 8 years ago and they've added a 2nd ride since then. FYI - they are closing down the Star Trek experience at the end of August I think so I'm glad to get to go one last time.

Okay, now my second obsession - The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer. I started this series about 2 weeks. There are 3 books currently out - Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. The 4th one comes out on Saturday. I'm going to hold myself back from buying it right away so I can read it on the plane to Vegas (won't happen if I buy it Saturday b/c I'll read it before then). Anyway, I read the series in about a week and then started over! CRAZY, I know! Can't really say why I love it so much - it's about a vampires and werewolves and teenagers - not my usual type of book!! But there is romance. The main character is a human who has fallen in love with a Vampire that doesn't suck the blood of humans but animals. Wow, I'm not making it sound very good - but it is!! It really is!! If I was a suavvy internet guru, I could find a link to the first chapter of Twilight so you read for yourself how good it is, but I'm not that person and if I can't find it in 20 minutes, I give up! They are making the first book into a movie which comes out on December 12th. Okay, just now saw a trailer for the movie and so far, hate it! If a book is a #1 best seller, why do they change stuff?? AND the guy they have playing Edward (which is the actor who plays Cedric Diggory from the Harry Potter movie Goblet of Fire) is not very good looking and Edward in the book is described as beautiful and could be a model. So, where as before I was totally looking forward to the movie, now...not so much! Maybe if my obsession with the book wears off by December then I'll be more inclined to enjoy the movie - we'll see!

Coming soon: Obsession for the scrapbook convention which is in October - I have too much other stuff to occupy my mind (and my money) right now so sometime in September I will agonizing over what classes I should have signed up for but didn't and now they're not available anymore and should "volunteer" to help a vendor get set up and get paid $10 cash an hour (which I can then spend at the convention) or do I help Creating Keepsakes the sponsors of the convention and get vouchers that can be used at their booth...hmmm, not obsessed yet, but on the verge!!

Before I sign off - I saw "The Dark Knight" and it was AWESOME!! I'm one of those gals who LOVES a good action flick. Of course, having Christen Bale (don't think I spelled his name right) in it doesn't hurt at all. Ever seen "Newsies" (Disney musical which stars him - he can sing!)? Go and rent it if you haven't yet! Heath Ledger at the Joker was really great. I can see why they are talking Oscar for the part. I do wander if "they" would be talking Oscar if he was still alive. It's not the type of movie to ever have Oscar tied to it. Guess we'll never know, but it was one great performance! Tried to see "Mama Mia" but it was sold out and on a Monday night if you can believe that?! I thought I had seen more movies, but I guess not! There are a lot out there that I want to - X-Files: I want to Believe (and I do want to believe that it will be a good movie!); Step Brothers; Get Smart; and the $2 theater has Baby Mama which just looked funny!

Well, I don't have pictures to add at the moment which feels weird so that means I'll have to come back to my blog this week and get some added! Elizabeth's hair seems to be getting so long so I'll have to make sure I have some long hair shots.

Until I blog again....
(thank goodness for spell check - everytime I spelled obsession and beleive, I spelled them wrong!) Probably just spelled them wrong now, but I'm not going to do spell check! So ha!

Okay - found a website in regards to Twilight - http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilightseries.html I didn't notice at first but some of the books have the first chapter available to read or at least blurps.

Down by the Lake

Well, surprise everyone, I'm doing two entries in one week!!

We went to the dock to feed fish, ducks, geese and birds this evening. Elizabeth just loved watching the birds trying to fly in and steal the bread from the fish and ducks. They didn't have much luck so we took pity on them and threw some specifically at them. There were a ton of fish and ducks to feed, except Elizabeth kept eating the bread herself. She had a good system though, feed a piece to them, then eat a piece herself.

We went bowling about a week or so ago. We let Elizabeth walk up to help roll the bowling ball. She actually isn't bad! I got a spare when she "helped" me. But, I did have an embarrassing episode. She started to run away from me down the lane so I took 2 steps after her and bit the dust. I slipped in a big way. I had no idea the lanes were so waxed!! :) Everyone in the whole place saw me do it! Thankfully, no pictures of that!

I did some scrapbooking last night. I don't scrapbook as often I'd like. Usually by the time Elizabeth goes to bed, I pooped and just veg out on the couch.

I'll end for now and save some more photos for another entry!