Cute video of daddy and baby!

I can totally relate to this poor guy! I loved the video!
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/6496678/16845836

Grandma put us all to shame!!

Moroni is sooo in love with his grandma. He has been so excited to see her again and this may be just one of the reasons...

The most shameful part is if you look in the background of the video grandpa is asleep and totally missed the show. Good thing I caught it on tape!! She has done this for us several times - the first of which was at Walmart; I wish I had that one on tape!

Thanksgiving!!!!

We sure had a lot of fun this year!! Since Ty and I have been married Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite holidays. We have always had great experiences together for Thanksgiving, but I think this year was about as much fun as we have ever had!!

We drove down to San Luis Obispo to visity Ty's aunt and uncle as well as grandma Baumgarten and his mom and step-dad. We all (at least I think all) had a blast! Moroni got sick on the way which was kind of a bummer. We drove down the coast which was a little too windy and curvy for his stomach. The drive wasn't all horrible though - he got into the beach toys and found enough sand to have a small sand box in the back seat of the car - YEA!!!

"Thankfully" we got to San Luis in time to give the kids a bath before Thanksgiving dinner!

Fun stuff - Gilbert in two magazines in one month

Gilbert Tuhabonye is one incredible man. So incredible in fact that we named Teancum after him. Anyway, he was in two magazine articles this month.

One was Runners World...

http://www.spd.org/2009/09/runners-world-1.php

The other was Austin Fit Magazine.

19: GILBERT'S GAZELLESGilbert Tuhabonye (gilbertsgazelles.com)Sixteen years ago, Gilbert Tuhabonye could probably never imagine what was about to happen to him would later give others motivation to push forward and reach their own goals. It was late October 1993 when the war between his native Tutsi tribe and the Hutu tribe horrifically erupted at his school in Burundi. More than 100 Tutsi children and teachers were beaten and burned to death after the Hutu rampage, yet amazingly, Tuhabonye survived only after being buried by the corpses of his classmates. He ran away from the massacre on charred feet into a new life. After this traumatizing experience, Tuhabonye never really thought of himself as a pillar of inspiration, let alone a running coach. But after he won the 2002 Capital of Texas 10K, three women — Maeve Magner, Leslie Asaka and Anjeline Gonzales — approached him to help in improve their race times. As time passed, Tuhabonye’s rapidly expanding running group was appropriately dubbed Gilbert’s Gazelles by Paul Carrozza of RunTex. In the last seven years, Gilbert has exploded into a local celebrity of sorts, instantly recognized by almost anyone in the running community. Yet he’s managed to keep an even keel on his business, bringing in only two other coaches since that time. He ensures they care for his runners just as much as he does. Like a family. As Tuhabonye puts it, “You become part of the family, once you join the Gazelles.”

Levin Gunter

So I just remembered what I came on here to post. I wanted to write a post about Levin and found myself rambling about other stuff.

I love Levin. I have loved the time I have had to spend with him. As with most people that knew him the first thing that comes to my mind is his sense of humor. I remember being very depressed toward the end of my pregnancy with Moroni. My mom came to visit to be there for the birth of her grandson and we went about the island doing things together that would be "fun", but I never felt upbeat or in a good mood. Ty couldn't seem to lift my spirits or my miserable attitude. I remember one night going over to the Gunters for dinner and just meeting Levin on the stairs he had me genuinely laughing before we even got to his apartment. I spent the rest of the night in the good company of my mom, my husband and the Gunters. The whole time laughing at Levin and his silly jokes. For the first time in a while feeling upbeat and light hearted. Just a couple days later we were at their apartment again so they could keep us company while I was in the early stages of labor. Amanda (obviously taking after her mom a little) by nursing me and making me comfortable while Levin (like usual) made me laugh through the contractions.

I love them and have appreciated all they have done for us. Levin has been such a light in our lives and I have been grateful for the laughs and memories supplied to us in a way that only Levin can do. I pray every day that the Lord might offer him the comfort that he has offered to so many in the past. Levin has had a week that will probably go down in history as the toughest he has ever had. After losing his beautiful and talented wife in a tragic car accident he is left to recover from some extremely painful injuries. He is suffering from a fractured skull, rib and clavicle. After being in ICU for a couple of days it was looking like he may be released from the hospital but right before leaving he was having difficulty breathing. It is an incredible blessing that he didn't get out of the hospital because he was suffering from a blood clot in his lung. To put this in perspetive blood clots (Pulmonary embolisms) are the third most common cause of death in hospitalized patients; about 30% of patients suffering from this will die. However, most will do so within the first few hours so hopefully he will recover and be able to lead a farely normal life. He will most likely have side effects for the rest of his life, but it shouldn't effect his ability to tell a good joke. Lucky for us!

We will continue to pray for a quick recovery!!

Learning so much

So it occured to me this week that Amanda is the closest person that I have ever lost. I have been around for the death of a couple of great grandparents, but I was so young it didn't effect me that much. This has been an educational experience for me. After having had a couple of psychology classes I have found myself analyzing the different stages of grief. So far I have not had the acceptance stage yet - someday I will get there.

I am soo grateful for the positive aspects of this whole experience. I have learned how important friends are to me. I have been so grateful to those that have been there for me recently. I am particularly grateful to Allyson for notifying me; it is nice just to know what is going on. I am grateful to Levin's mom, Thelma, who has been so willing to talk and to keep us up to date and involved with Levin's recovery. I have learned how much it helps when people offer condolensces and make themselves available to talk. It is such a blessing to be able to "mourn with those that mourn". I now have a better idea of how to help people in the future when they may have lost a loved one.

I have learned a lot about prayer. This may sound horrible, but I never understood the idea of praying for others. It always seemed to me that the Lord would comfort someone in need wether one person prayed for them or 500 people prayed for them. And the Lords will, will be done regardless of what we prayed for so I have always been focused on praying for the willingness to accept the Lords will. Now that we are praying for Levin everyday I am learning that the prayers for him comfort me. Of course the Holy Spirit would be the best comfort for him right now, but maybe my prayers are a way of sending my love and comfort to him as well. Perhaps us praying for him isn't just that the Lord will send His comfort, but more a way for the Lord to offer our Love and comfort to those that we pray for.

What do you think?

Amanda - we love you and miss you.

I have been hoping Ty would do this because he is such an eloquent writer and I don't feel that I can write about something so precious. I will do my best to put emotions into words.

Yesterday I received news that a dear friend, Amanda Gunter had passed away. We were close friends from BYU Hawaii. We had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Gunters while we were living there. We went to the Big Island and Kauai together. We enjoyed playing games and having beach bon fires with them regularly. And of course we enjoyed Amanda's good cooking on a regular basis - because the Gunters were always THE entertainers for all of TVA (temple view apartments). Everyone knew them and loved them. Amanda was beautiful, friendly, creative, crafty, social, a talented artist, handy with hair and scissors and very loving. She had a knack for taking care of everything and everybody.

After Levin graduated from BYU they moved to S Carolina to be with family. Last Thursday they were driving back from visiting Levin's parents in North Carolina. Just before midnight their car swerved off the road. From my understanding in an effort to regain control of the car the car flipped upside down and then they were T-boned by an oncoming van. Amanda had been in the back seat setting Ansley (there 1 year old girl) up with a movie and had returned to the front seat, but had not buckled back up when the collision happened and was thrown from the car. She was taken to the hospital where she died later that morning. Levin is in critical condition and is in and out of consciousness. During one of his conscious moments he was wheeled into Amanda and had the opportunity to see her one last time before she passed on. He understands what has happened and has said that he doesn't feel he can love anyone ever again as much as he loved her.

She was an amazing woman. It was always awe inspiring how much she could get done in a day. No one, save Christ, is perfect, but she has to be about as close as anyone could be. Levin too is amazing and I know that he will be an incredible father and will be able to recover from all of this. Speaking of Ansley she is fine and in the care of her grandparents.

I am so grateful to have the knowledge of the blessings of the temple and to know that this is just a time apart and that we will be able to see her again. I just wish we could have had more time, but I guess the question of how much time remains. I don't think 5 more years would have been enough, nor ten, nor fifty. I guess I will have to work on being grateful for the time I was able to know her.

Say What?

Ty came home the other day and was in the kitchen doing something and Moroni pipes up and says "Daddy you make me sick!" So Ty assumed that Moroni is learning this from me and I must be saying this kind of stuff while he is at school. We laughed about it for a little bit and then went on with our lives...

until...

Later that night as things are winding down and it is just about bed time Moroni gets me in trouble again by saying "Daddy your impossible!" I am pretty sure I have never told Ty he was "impossible" before so I am not sure where he gets this stuff from.

It makes one wonder.

Potty Success!

So it has been a long time since I have done any blogging and since the last post Moroni has been (for the most part) successfully potty trained. We had tried potty training a couple of times before, but one day it just magically happened. Yeah!! We still have occasional accidents, but he is doing great with it.

One funny/annoying aspect of the whole experience was his refusal to have a BM in his potty. He said that the "poo poo was too dirty". So it took us a little longer to get him taking care of that aspect of the whole process, but we finally got it taken care of and I am grateful for it.

Summer Road Tripp'n

I have to admit that although it is very difficult to travel with the young'ns we had a lot of fun. It was a blast to see family and friends and we sure packed in a lot of fun into a short trip. This is a general idea of where we went.

The main purpose to the trip was to see our brother get married to his beautiful wife. Although somewhat eventful it was a beautiful wedding!

We blessed Teancum and were blessed by the presence of most of our family. It was wonderful to have so many loved ones present (interesting word - hmmm) for the event.

The next day we played with my mom and Kirk and Tara's (my brother and wife) kids.

Then we stayed at Jedidiah and Amy's (Ty's brother and wife); we enjoyed their company so much we kept them up all night talking.

We went on to Fairview to do some swimming and camping with Ty's "other brother" Brandon. When we first got to the swimming pool Moroni wouldn't even go in the kiddie pool, but after some help from Brandon, Ty eventually had him jumping off the diving board.

Then it was on to Ephraim to Grandma and Grandpa Widmer's. We went to the Manti pageant with them - well until we were rained out. It was worth it though we came away with some great memories of eating dinner with them on the lawn of the temple; it's not to often you get to do that :)

The next night we went to Panquitch to see Grandpa Dennis. They had quite the treat for us - this is what we saw out their front door. Apparently every year they have a hot air balloon event that takes place just across the street. I had never seen a hot air balloon in real life so this was a new experience for me.

After Panguitch we stayed a night in Evanston and then on to Boise. It was great getting to know Ty's brother Stanton and his wife better. Moroni had a blast playing with their kids; we all really enjoyed being with them. Ty's teeth in particular enjoyed this part of the trip because he finally had a tooth fixed (Stanton is an endodontist).

Well after Boise we wanted to go visit more family, but we were exhausted so we decided to call it quits and go home. We made good time on the way home and ever since I have been trying to catch up with the cleaning and laundrey. Perhaps I will catch up before the next vacation :)

California Academy of Science

Every third wendesday the CA Academy of Science has a free day that I have wanted to go to for a few months. We finally made it and Ty even took the day off school to go with us; which I am grateful for because it was way too hectic and busy for me to safely do it on my own with the kids.

We had a blast; they have all kinds of animals. This was Teancum's reaction to the Albino Alligator.

Here is Moroni talking to a snapping turtle...

Their aquariums are HUGE!! I think the aquariums were my favorite part!

I will try to post video of the adventure soon.

Oh No!! What is in your hair??!

I thought it was difficult finding a moment to take a shower when Moroni was a baby, but now that Moroni is a toddler it is practically impossible. The week before Easter I put Moroni in front of the TV (our frequent babysitter) and thought that Sesame Street could hold him down for 15 minutes while I took a shower. I jumped in and out of the shower as fast as I could and rushed out to check on him before doing my hair. I soon found out that I would not be doing my hair but his...he was covered in Vaseline. Head to toe was a greasy nasty mess.

For a fraction of a second I contemplated just changing his clothes and rushing out the door so we wouldn't be late for playgroup, but of course I had to give him a bath first. I washed his hair and then washed it again and again and again...learning very quickly that Vaseline does NOT come out of hair no matter what you do and no matter what kind of soap or cleaner you try. So, I combed out the larger chunks and got him ready to go.

When we got back I gave in and just cut all his hair off...afterall he looks better without Vaseline.

Moroni is 2!!!

While Moroni was sick we didn't want to have a party with kids because we didn't want to risk spreading croup around so we invited Jeff and Becky over and just an intimate little party. It was Moroni's first experience with cake and ice cream and he loved it!! He certainly enjoyed the trucks that were on the top of the cake!

What a crazy month!!! 1 newborn,2 sick kids and 2 sick and exhausted parents

We have had quite the month. Grandma Widmer (Ty's mom) was here helping with the kids and just shortly after she left we thought it would be safe to take Teancum to church. It was our first time going out (other than Dr's visits) and I would give anything to take it back.

We must have caught a bug because that Wednesday Moroni was as sick as can be. Of course the rest of us got sick and it took about 4 weeks to get us functioning again. As soon as we were getting better I woke up in the middle of the night to a horrible cough coming from Moroni. When Ty and I went in to check on him he had a white knuckle grip on his bed post with violent coughs and difficulty breathing. It freaked me out to see him so scared. After several minutes he got control of his breathing, but would not let go of us. On went the longest and scariest night I have had in a really long time. Come to find out it was croup and was going to last a couple more days. All I can say is thank goodness it is only a couple of days. It has been a little over a week and although he still has some coughs he is pretty much as good as new.

Labor and Delivery

This labor and delivery was completely different than with Moroni. Starting around the middle of the second trimester I was having a lot of braxton hicks contractions. They continued to grow stronger and stronger and by the time I was in the last trimester they were as strong as early labor with Moroni. I figured it was a good thing - maybe I would progress more during these pre-labor contractions and the actual labor would be shorter than the 36 hours that I had with Moroni.

The last month of the pregnancy it was like I was in constant labor. I could lessen the contractions if I laid down, but they seemed nonstop. Some contractions would last several minutes with only short breaks in between. My uterus and I were exhausted; the uterus would cramp up with every contraction which only increased the discomfort. I went into the midwife and complained about the discomfort and lack of sleep. She stripped my membranes and and I used a labor tincture and by that night - or early morning we were on our way to the hospital. However, with all the extra pain from the cramping and strong contractions I didn't make it through the natural labor that I wanted. Instead of natural I took the epidural as soon as they would give it to me :) After that it was smooth sailing. The baby was posterior when I could feel the labor, but go figure he turned after the epidural - at least he was able to come out easier that way.

At around 6 in the morning we were ready to push. When the midwife got there it was just a few pushes and out he came. The best part is Ty delivered the baby. That was so cool!! I really loved the midwife and enjoyed the laid back intimate environment that the midwife brought to the whole experience. If we are still here for the next baby I am definitely going with the same midwife. Hopefully I can do it without the irritable uterus and posterior baby!

Announcing...

Teancum Dennis is finally here.
Born January 30 at 7:10 am.
9 lbs. 2 oz.

As you can imagine things are busy with this new little guy in our lives. We have had the help of Ty's mom for the last couple weeks and will soon be left to find our new groove with this little addition. I am very excited to have Teancum in our family and looking forward to the challenge of keeping him alive with an energetic Moroni running around.

I will probably post an entry soon with a recap of the labor and delivery; right now I am trying to get Moroni to stay in his bed for a much needed nap:)

I am horrible at keeping up with posts - sorry! Here is a little recap on the family.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We are so broke that we stayed in CA and had a little celebration with just the 3 1/2 of us. Moroni loves Christmas and although he is not to sure about the Santa guy in person he sure wants him to come back to our house again :)

We had a really fun evening decorating gingerbread houses with friends!! Jeff and Becky made a bunch of houses and invited a ton of people over to decorate them. I was amazed at how coordinated Moroni was - I didn't realize that kids so young could have such fine motor skill. Dad had to help him with the icing, but he did great with the candy. These little guys just keep amazing me!

Baby is coming - or is he???

I went into the midwife today and she checked my cervix to see if all the contractions were doing anything. The good news is the contractions are "kind of" doing their job; I am dilating, but the contractions have not been able to change the position of my cervix. My cervix is facing towards my back so the baby's head is not able to put pressure on the opening to help me progress.

Apparently this little issue is caused by the baby facing the wrong way and they want me to go see a chiropractor to receive an adjustment that changes the direction the baby is facing. If we can get the baby to change directions it is suppose to help the cervix fall and I will experience less back labor.

Moroni was facing the same way when I was pregnant with him - which explains all the back pain I experienced with his labor. Hopefully Ty can figure out what I kind of adjustment I am suppose to have - it would be great to have a smoother labor and delivery this time!!

How much weight did you gain during pregnancy?

So I am now full term and AGAIN went over the 20-30 lbs that I was suppose to gain. However, I think it is interesting that I have pretty much gained exactly the same amount I did with my first pregnancy even though I have a completely different lifestyle now.

Anyway - I am curious how many women actually gain the appropriate amount of weight during their pregnancies? Please take our poll so we can see what the numbers come out as.