When you don't have the money in your account to pay a bill, or you put on 5 pounds, or the house is a total mess and company is coming over, my wedding day, final exams, giving birth, moving, when Mark had no job for almost a month when we were first married, Macie getting her first fever, thinking Molly was going to go blind when her eye looked like it popped out of her head. So many other things come to mind of times in my life when I have been stressed, but none pale in comparison to this past 6 days, and especially today. The direct quote from the Pharmacists today was this is such potent medicine we give it to cancer patients to take. My heart about sunk when I heard those words, but what else is a Doctor to do when your daughter has not held down any food for 6 days and has gone 24 hours without a wet diaper. Other prescribe this medicine or put an IV in her. I still can't decide which route we should have taken, especially when Mark and I have to hold her head, hands and body down to get the medicine and pedialyte down my stubborn girls throat. So hopefully soon after many many prayers, a priesthood blessing, this medicine and a couple total and complete meltdowns from her mother this whole big stressful mess will be done and over with. If not next time you see me I may have no hair and have other lost 10 lbs or gained 20.
Side Note: Ahh the joys of being a first time mother, I am sure many of you mothers of many are giggling in your head right now remembering the first time your first kid got really sick and it stressed you out, and now it is like ahh yes another kid is sick again whats new.
Another Side Note: I love my little munchkin but moments like this definitely have me wishing she was more closer to the 100th percentile in weight then the 5th percentile in weight.
Nov 28, 2012
Nov 20, 2012
LAST GETAWAY!!!
In two weeks I go back to work, yikes that went by way to fast. Life will slow down and speed up all at the same time. No doubt our life at home will be busier but the outings and traveling will definitely slow down. So we decided to have one last small vacation before that.
Thursday we traveled to Ponoka to see Mom and Dad Dudley. We chumbed around Friday and waited for Brock and Chelsey and there kids to arrive, we had an awesome dinner, then sent the kids to bed so the adults could play some games and munch on more yummy food. Then we headed out nice and early Saturday for a day at the West Edmonton Mall Waterpark. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was a blast and the new waterslide there is to die for amazing fun. I felt like a kid again. A huge thanks to Mom and Dad for watching Macie for us in the kid pool so Mark and I could feel like kids again. Macie was adorable and of course loved every minute of it, and why wouldn't she, she loves swimming. The little munchkin lasted over 4 hours in the swimming pool and I kid you not besides the odd snack break was in the water the whole time having a blast, she especially loved going down the slide. When we were done swimming we headed to Red Robin's for dinner and Macie fell asleep as she hadn't napped all day and slept in my arms for a good 20 minutes at the restaurant, this has never happened before that is how much Grandma and Grandpa wore her out. Sunday we chumbed around some more and ate of course more food and played a lot of card games. Such a great weekend with family, it was nice to have the fun moments and the lazy moments.
Thursday we traveled to Ponoka to see Mom and Dad Dudley. We chumbed around Friday and waited for Brock and Chelsey and there kids to arrive, we had an awesome dinner, then sent the kids to bed so the adults could play some games and munch on more yummy food. Then we headed out nice and early Saturday for a day at the West Edmonton Mall Waterpark. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was a blast and the new waterslide there is to die for amazing fun. I felt like a kid again. A huge thanks to Mom and Dad for watching Macie for us in the kid pool so Mark and I could feel like kids again. Macie was adorable and of course loved every minute of it, and why wouldn't she, she loves swimming. The little munchkin lasted over 4 hours in the swimming pool and I kid you not besides the odd snack break was in the water the whole time having a blast, she especially loved going down the slide. When we were done swimming we headed to Red Robin's for dinner and Macie fell asleep as she hadn't napped all day and slept in my arms for a good 20 minutes at the restaurant, this has never happened before that is how much Grandma and Grandpa wore her out. Sunday we chumbed around some more and ate of course more food and played a lot of card games. Such a great weekend with family, it was nice to have the fun moments and the lazy moments.
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| loved Macie's face in this picture |
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| probably played at this station for almost 2 hours in total |
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| was obsessed with this keyboard all weekend, and was being so cute dancing to the music. |
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| Paytin is obsessed with Molly and Lily. |
Nov 8, 2012
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
Throughout my whole entire life every relationship I have had with someone weather it be a brother a sister a friend or my husband I feel that love has been Conditional. There needs to be work there in order for it to grow and blossom. If the work is not being put in the love is not there. There are times when you have feelings of love that are stronger then other times. I love my family and my husband so much and could never imagine not loving them, however I can see where in some relationships that love fades. If both individuals are not putting in the sacrifices and efforts it takes to make a relationship work it is very hard to hold that relationship together. It must be so hard for some individuals whose marriages have ended in divorce knowing they gave there all but there spouse was not, which eventually ended the love they had for each other or even one for the other and ended the marriage. I have been so lucky to be blessed with wonderful parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and most importantly a husband who love me for me and all my faults and weaknesses. When Mark and I first meet Mark knew there was going to be something between us he didn't know what but he knew he would see me again. I never felt that until later when we started hanging out, about a month into being friends I knew there was something there, that this boy was special and he had a special purpose in my life. It took Mark about 6 months of us hanging out all the time to realize those feelings he felt that day when we first meet were the start of feelings of love. We both found our love for each other but it definitely happened at different paces. Mark and I have this amazing love for one another, but there is no question we have to work at it. We have so much in common and are so much a like but have two very strong personalities and two very different ways of being raised. Which means when we are not sacrificing for one another and working together there are definitely vocal levels raised a little louder then they should and sometimes words said that are not meant. Again why I see this love as Conditional, which I think is the best for a marriage. I think if we had unconditional love in a marriage it wouldn't be fun, it wouldn't be exciting, it would be boring and routine, and there is no questions our marriage is stronger because we know we are both putting in the effort and even though we don't have to be together we want to be together. We want to do whatever it takes to always have each other to hold (chessey I know sorry, but true). I love that this is the way love is in a marriage and I wouldn't want it any other way. The moment they placed my daughter in my arms though, I experienced this new kind of love this Unconditional Love. How I could love someone so fast and so quickly still seams crazy to me at times. It is definitely the kind of love needed though between a mother and her child. I think what is most amazing though is how both loves can grow stronger and stronger everyday. Even though Unconditional love is instant and I know lasts forever my love for this little girl keeps growing and growing and growing. Sometimes after I put my sweet little girl to bed I literally skip up the stairs to my bedroom hop into bed and lie there for 15 minutes with a huge smile on my face and just think about how much I love her and how happy she makes me. Last night in particular was one of those moments, and then as my husband made a funny noise I started thinking about him and how much I love him and how even though I love them both in different ways I love them both the same. It then made me think about my Heavenly Father (ah see there is a purpose for this long dragging on post), and how he has the most perfect unconditional love for us, his children. I couldn't help but tear up and thank him for loving me in the way I know I love my daughter. knowing that no matter what mistakes I make, no matter what faults I have he will ALWAYS LOVE me. I thought about all the trials and challenges I have been threw and am going to go threw, I thought about times he does not answer my prayers the way I want them answered and then I realize later on why that is, and how there are times in Macie's life I don't give her what she wants or what she thinks she needs and how hopefully in her future she will realize why. It truly was one of the most beautiful moments I have experienced in life last night understanding how my Heavenly Father loves me.
Nov 6, 2012
Nov 2, 2012
CHEAP FUN!!'
I have never been a huge fan of Mcdonald's food, however I am now a HUGE fan of there Play Centre. Once again it was another cold day in Lloydminster -5 with a windchill of probably -10. Boo for cold winter days so early. So with a little girl that can't just sit at home to be content we have had to get creative in finding fun places to take Macie that don't cost an arm and a leg. Thankfully Lloydminster has lots of great programs for parents with little ones. We go swimming at noon for $2 $4 if both Mark and I can go probably twice a week, the common wealth center puts up a bounce house and some toys between 10 and 2 mon-fri and it is free so we try and hit that up once a week. The library is free, so we definitely go there once a week to pick out new books and now we have found another place to have adventures. The McDonald's play Center. It is huge and has two good slides and lots of things for Macie to climb, and if you go at the perfect time (10:00) there is no other kids playing in there which means room for Macie to play play play. I am just grateful McDonald's has added some better items to there menu. Get a fruit smoothie for $3 and Macie gets an awesome play center to run around in for an hour, once again cheap fun. dah dah dah dah dah I'm Lovin It!!
Oct 31, 2012
HALLOWEEN INSPIRATION
It is funny how one picture can be an inspiration for the best Halloween costume I have ever come up with, and the best part, it was a family affair.
If you haven't figured it out yet we are the characters from the classic animation Movie Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Lily being the most adorable Rudolph on the planet, Molly being the sweet innocent Clarice, Myself as Hermie the elf, and Macie as the ever so terrifying Adominable Snowman. Mark was Yukon Cornelius in spirit as he was working late and then had to run to teach his class.
It was a hectic night and day getting ready for Halloween but so much fun, and honestly worth it alone for the adorable pictures. We hit up two houses with the Onofrychuk's being Macie's first house she ever trick or treated at, she was all smiles and loved the idea of people staring and smiling at her. Then we popped in for a quick visit to the Isackson's. Then we ended the night giving candy to all the little trick or treaters.
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| THE INSPIRATION |
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It was a hectic night and day getting ready for Halloween but so much fun, and honestly worth it alone for the adorable pictures. We hit up two houses with the Onofrychuk's being Macie's first house she ever trick or treated at, she was all smiles and loved the idea of people staring and smiling at her. Then we popped in for a quick visit to the Isackson's. Then we ended the night giving candy to all the little trick or treaters.
Oct 28, 2012
My 10 Monther
That is right my little girl is 10 months old. I can hardly believe it myself less then two months and she will be one.
So what is my little munchkin up to now, so many things..
- She is a tiny one and weighs 16 lbs being in the 5th percentile for her weight, and I can't remember her height but she was in about the 25% percentile.
- She is already so much like her mom and dad and has a lot of our little idiosyncrisies. The strongest trait she has of us I think is our happy dispositions that we have 85% of the time, however we do have that 15% of the time where we are grumpy and miserable and watch out when we are. Macie is the exact same way. She is all smiles and laughs until the diaper needs to be changed (this one is getting better though as we don't have to wipe her eye as much as we use to, so she is hopefully done associating the diaper wipe with an eye cleaning), she needs to be dressed for the day or her runny nose needs to be wiped. It is so annoying when we are in public and people say what is wrong with Macie, and to have to sit there and explain to people she just hates getting her diaper changed or her clothes being put on. First I don't feel like I should have to justify why my little girl is grumpy, she can be grumpy if she wants to be grumpy and second just wait until I am done and she gives you the most adorable smile on the planet, you will be thinking different thoughts of my daughter then.
- Macie is obsessed with books and we probably spend a good 2 hours of our day reading them. Her favorite book is "Where's Dave" and will pull down all her books from her bookshelf until she finds it, then plops herself down and turns all the pages in the book. If I need a minute to make super or tidy the house, all I have to do is sit her in front of her bookshelf and it will occupy her for a good 30 minutes. She just pulls the books down and flips through all the pages. I love sneaking up on her and watching her sit there and look through the pages, I always wonder what she is thinking when she is looking at them.
- She is not walking yet but loves to walk around the house while holding mom and dads hand, or walk from chair to chair to chair to chair, another activity that occupies my daughter if I am busy.
- Is still obsessed with her baths. When we start getting her baths ready, we line up all her toys on the tub and once she finally squirms away from us after getting her diaper off, heads strait for the bathroom, stands up and plops all her toys in the tub. She has this one Octopus toy and she is obsessed with it, once she is in the tub she looks all around for it and will hold it the whole entire time she is in the tub.
- Loves going swimming, we took her down the slide for the first time on tuesday and she loved it, it was a little scary and thank goodness we had someone at the bottom to catch her or she would have gone under. (Royall how you did it and kept Jonas from not going under is beyond me, Mark and I definitely have to tag team that one)
- Is not much of a talker, no wait let me change that, she is a crazy loud everybody pay attention to me talker, she just does not say many words yet, but I am not letting that stress me out, she is a smart little girl and she will talk when she wants to talk.
- She is a great listener though and understands a lot of what mommy and daddy say to hear. My favorite examples are: Macie put your toys away and proceeds to put her toys back in the bin, or Macie I am going to get you and runs in the opposite direction of mom who is coming to give big tickles, or Macie don't drop your food on the floor looks at me smiles and then drops her food on the floor and laughs as the puppies eat it.
- Grabs the attention of pretty much everybody when we go out in public, I will watch her stair somebody down, what for them to look at her, and then give them a huge smile and then an ever bigger one if they smile back at her. The cutest though is when she starts playing pick-a-boo with random strangers in public, it is so stinking adorable.
- Is still a fabulous sleeper and does 12 straight hours for me every night, except rare occasions when she is sick, but that is a pretty reasonable excuse.
- is down to two feedings a day, one in the morning and one at night. It has been nice to have more freedom, but also nice that I still get those two moments a day with her.
- Is on the go busy all the time, she will only sit to watch T.V. while I give her a bottle, which is more then OK with me. Actually it is one of the only ways I can get her to sit for 10 minutes to take a bottle is to watch T.V. if we just sit on the coach she wants to be active and moving and will only drink about 4 ounces, but if we go downstairs and watch a quick show I can usually get about 7 ounces out of her. Once she is down drinking though she is right back at wanting to go and get busy having fun.
- Is really good at playing by herself. Which is so nice for mom if I need to get stuff done, but also loves of course playing with mom and dad which we try to spend most of our time doing.
- Thinks Molly, Lily and Cobalt are the greatest and we get some of our best giggles out of her when she is playing with them. Must give props to all the pets for how fabulous they are with Macie.
- Is the best at giving High Fives, especially to mom
- Gives the best slobbery, suck face kisses ever, but it is hard to get them out of her. If you ever get one consider yourself lucky. Morning after nursing is usually when I can get some out of her.
- Has been to her day home twice now and loves it and I love the lady I take her too (Krista Cryderman). She is fabulous and I feel so good about Macie going there once a week.
- Is a total flirt, wonder where she gets that from? She is obsessed with boys and definitely prefers males over females, although she will go to pretty much anybody. But she always seams to give those guys an extra cute smile, and will crawl to them and want them to pick her up.
Well I know there are so many more things about Macie that are fabulous and that make me absolutely adore her, but these are definitely some of my favorites. I hope I remember to be as good with the next children as I have been with Macie about writing down all her milestones and cute things she does.
So what is my little munchkin up to now, so many things..
- She is a tiny one and weighs 16 lbs being in the 5th percentile for her weight, and I can't remember her height but she was in about the 25% percentile.
- She is already so much like her mom and dad and has a lot of our little idiosyncrisies. The strongest trait she has of us I think is our happy dispositions that we have 85% of the time, however we do have that 15% of the time where we are grumpy and miserable and watch out when we are. Macie is the exact same way. She is all smiles and laughs until the diaper needs to be changed (this one is getting better though as we don't have to wipe her eye as much as we use to, so she is hopefully done associating the diaper wipe with an eye cleaning), she needs to be dressed for the day or her runny nose needs to be wiped. It is so annoying when we are in public and people say what is wrong with Macie, and to have to sit there and explain to people she just hates getting her diaper changed or her clothes being put on. First I don't feel like I should have to justify why my little girl is grumpy, she can be grumpy if she wants to be grumpy and second just wait until I am done and she gives you the most adorable smile on the planet, you will be thinking different thoughts of my daughter then.
- Macie is obsessed with books and we probably spend a good 2 hours of our day reading them. Her favorite book is "Where's Dave" and will pull down all her books from her bookshelf until she finds it, then plops herself down and turns all the pages in the book. If I need a minute to make super or tidy the house, all I have to do is sit her in front of her bookshelf and it will occupy her for a good 30 minutes. She just pulls the books down and flips through all the pages. I love sneaking up on her and watching her sit there and look through the pages, I always wonder what she is thinking when she is looking at them.
- She is not walking yet but loves to walk around the house while holding mom and dads hand, or walk from chair to chair to chair to chair, another activity that occupies my daughter if I am busy.
- Is still obsessed with her baths. When we start getting her baths ready, we line up all her toys on the tub and once she finally squirms away from us after getting her diaper off, heads strait for the bathroom, stands up and plops all her toys in the tub. She has this one Octopus toy and she is obsessed with it, once she is in the tub she looks all around for it and will hold it the whole entire time she is in the tub.
- Loves going swimming, we took her down the slide for the first time on tuesday and she loved it, it was a little scary and thank goodness we had someone at the bottom to catch her or she would have gone under. (Royall how you did it and kept Jonas from not going under is beyond me, Mark and I definitely have to tag team that one)
- Is not much of a talker, no wait let me change that, she is a crazy loud everybody pay attention to me talker, she just does not say many words yet, but I am not letting that stress me out, she is a smart little girl and she will talk when she wants to talk.
- She is a great listener though and understands a lot of what mommy and daddy say to hear. My favorite examples are: Macie put your toys away and proceeds to put her toys back in the bin, or Macie I am going to get you and runs in the opposite direction of mom who is coming to give big tickles, or Macie don't drop your food on the floor looks at me smiles and then drops her food on the floor and laughs as the puppies eat it.
- Grabs the attention of pretty much everybody when we go out in public, I will watch her stair somebody down, what for them to look at her, and then give them a huge smile and then an ever bigger one if they smile back at her. The cutest though is when she starts playing pick-a-boo with random strangers in public, it is so stinking adorable.
- Is still a fabulous sleeper and does 12 straight hours for me every night, except rare occasions when she is sick, but that is a pretty reasonable excuse.
- is down to two feedings a day, one in the morning and one at night. It has been nice to have more freedom, but also nice that I still get those two moments a day with her.
- Is on the go busy all the time, she will only sit to watch T.V. while I give her a bottle, which is more then OK with me. Actually it is one of the only ways I can get her to sit for 10 minutes to take a bottle is to watch T.V. if we just sit on the coach she wants to be active and moving and will only drink about 4 ounces, but if we go downstairs and watch a quick show I can usually get about 7 ounces out of her. Once she is down drinking though she is right back at wanting to go and get busy having fun.
- Is really good at playing by herself. Which is so nice for mom if I need to get stuff done, but also loves of course playing with mom and dad which we try to spend most of our time doing.
- Thinks Molly, Lily and Cobalt are the greatest and we get some of our best giggles out of her when she is playing with them. Must give props to all the pets for how fabulous they are with Macie.
- Is the best at giving High Fives, especially to mom
- Gives the best slobbery, suck face kisses ever, but it is hard to get them out of her. If you ever get one consider yourself lucky. Morning after nursing is usually when I can get some out of her.
- Has been to her day home twice now and loves it and I love the lady I take her too (Krista Cryderman). She is fabulous and I feel so good about Macie going there once a week.
- Is a total flirt, wonder where she gets that from? She is obsessed with boys and definitely prefers males over females, although she will go to pretty much anybody. But she always seams to give those guys an extra cute smile, and will crawl to them and want them to pick her up.
Well I know there are so many more things about Macie that are fabulous and that make me absolutely adore her, but these are definitely some of my favorites. I hope I remember to be as good with the next children as I have been with Macie about writing down all her milestones and cute things she does.
Oct 24, 2012
Oct 22, 2012
THE HUNKERS RULE!!!
Yay for races, and sushi, and mini golf, shopping and temple open houses, and most of all fun times with family and friends. This Thursday we left for a little weekend trip to Calgary. We started Friday with spending time with family. First we went to the Calgary zoo and saw all the adorable animals, the best part was for sure the new penguin exhibit. Then we headed to my sister Keltie's house for some excellent Mexican food. Then one of the best parts of the trip, we headed to the Calgary Temple Open House. It was absolutely beautiful and stunning, the construction workers and architects who designed it did an incredible job. My brother was so wonderful and took Macie for Mark and I as she started freaking out and was crying uncontrollably once we got to the temple. He had already been through twice so he came and got her for us and chumbed with her in his van while Mark and I went threw. Saturday Mark and I got up nice and early and meet Matt and Royall Harker at Eau Claire Market to do the Halloween Howl 5KM race. We decided to go as a team and called ourselves the HUNKERS (Harkers came up with the ingenious name) and dressed up as basketball players. We all started off running together but as Royall and myself use to run together a ton when they lived up here in Lloydminster, we fell right back into sink and just flew through the race while chatting all about life. We all rocked it and finished under 36 minutes. Pretty good as none of us really trained all that hard core for the race. It was a blast and we even dribbled a ball throughout the race making everybody envious of our wicked prop. Next was on to our 4th annual Harker Hunsperger mini golf challenge. We lucked out and found a mini golf course inside a sports lounge right by the sushi boat restaurant we were going to for lunch and so we quickly popped in for a quick 9 holes. The Hunspergers were on there game again and came out the victors which meant a delicious reward of the sushi boat lunch on the Harkers. It was delicious and the coolest sushi restaurant I have ever been too, the Sushi floats around on boats that go around a round table and you pick a plate and just start devouring sushi. After our wonderful morning with the Harkers we headed to the mall where I meet my best friend growing up Kim Martin and Chelsey, we visited, shopped and then took a tour of her beautiful new house she is building. Saturday was more delicious food and staying up late visiting. Sunday we went to church in Airdrie and then made the long trek home. It was a wonderful weekend and we had a blast, even with a grumpy sick little girl, who is finally better and back to her old self, thank goodness.
On a quick note I need to say thank you to a couple of people for making this trip better. Jamie Repp, the Isackson's, and Alicia and Olivia Tinney for watching our dogs while we went away, as well my mom for watching Macie on saturday so Mark and I could have an enjoyable day together just the two of us. THANK YOU!!!!
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| Calgary Mormon Temple |
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| best shot we could get of the both of us |
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| this pic is hilarious. Look where my hand is and then look at Mark's face :) |
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| TEAM HUNKER |
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| Mark's whole in one |
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| the Sushi Boat |
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