Thursday, May 27, 2010

4 years!

4 years ago today, we got married. best decision I ever made.

Now, some of you might be saying, "wait a minute here, isn't being a mom the best decision you ever made?" and I would argue while it is a pretty fabulous thing, if it wasn't for the decision to marry Kory, I wouldn't have my baby the way my baby is, half Kory half me. And although marriage is not the only way of having a baby and off spring, it was the start of our family. If I didn't have Kory around to share in the joys of parenthood I don't think it would be as fun. Scratch that, it wouldn't be as fun.

Who else would want to listen day in and day out, hour after hour about everything that is Axel. Last night for example, Axel gagged a little on his food, and threw up a little on his tray, and before I had a chance to clean it up, he looked at it, looked at his tater tot in hand, and dipped his tot in the throw up, and continued to eat as if nothing happened. (are you dry heaving right now?) we were, and then laughing and then dry heaving. Kinda gross but kinda adorable too.

SO once again here is to today, the best decision I ever made!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

splish splash!

This is just for kicks really. People always say how much Axel looks like Kory. I don't think that is a bad thing at all. It makes me happy actually. It makes Kory happy.

Like father...

Like son...
I don't really think these pictures show how much they look alike, but the other night when we were spraying Axel down after dinner (an every night thing now that he feeds himself, just FYI). he kept doing this and drinking the water! But it reminded me so much of one of my favorite pictures of Kory. But I think Axel is older in this picture then Kory was in the one above it. But aren't they both so cute! :)


But bathtime is really starting to be an everyday thing for us. Axel doesn't mind, he really loves the water. He is not cautious at all when he is in the water.

I don't know why I haven't done it before this, but I discovered that someone at my shower had given me bubble bath for him. So we put it in his bath and he LOVED it.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

ah mothers day

Mother's day was very nice this year. Kory made sure I had a lot of time to relax, and made sure we did everything I wanted to do. He made it all about me. From the food we ate to the activities during the day. It was a great day.

The day started out with Axel saying another word! DA DA ( we have been trying to get him to say this word for a very long time) Don't worry he already says Ma Ma.

Kory is always really helpful with Axel anyway, he is busy, but still a very hands on dad, and very involved. But on this particular day he was even MORE helpful, and took on all the responsibility so I could relax. He got him ready for church, and got up early with him, and got him ready for our park trip, and just found a way to be more helpful so I could enjoy the day.

Church was really nice, our ward did a good job balancing the talks on Mother's. They had an older sister in the Ward give a talk, who has never been married, and never had children and it was really good. She had a really good perspective on it all. (I don't know if anyone remembers my post from a few years ago where I complained about church on Mother's Day, this talk would have been nice that day.) But I know there are a lot of ladies out there who feel that way on Mother's day, and it is a hard place to be in. I've been there I know. But she had a great attitude about it and I really enjoyed her talk. We also got flowers, which I already killed,

After church we went for a picnic in the park with Kassie, Jerome and Story. It was fun to hang out with them. Something we never get to do it seems because we are too busy all the time, and since both of our Mama's were out of town, it just didn't feel right to just do nothing, and I LOVE Picnics.

Axel and Story had fun playing together, or rather fighting over the ball, and Story's monkey backpack, Axel thought it was the funniest thing on her back, he would look at her and just laugh and laugh. Like "HEY, did you know you have a monkey on your back!"
After that we came home and took a LONG nap, all three of us. Something I love about Axel is that if we nap so will he as long as it is with us. He is truly Kory's kid.

Then Kory made me Steaks, and I helped with the sides (watermelon, potatoes, rolls) It was delicious. And even though he felt bad for not doing it all, having him do that Steak part and entertain Axel was super helpful and I really enjoyed spending the time together as a family. ( I am not really a sidelines do things for me type of gal, I am the go go go and do do do type, a trait I proudly inherited from my mother, who inherited it from her mother. (I think this is hard for Kory sometimes because I just like to know everything and be involved in everything.)

Anyway, back to the day, after dinner was followed by a family craft project (also something I totally loved) Which was totally Kory's idea, and it was fun. (even though most of the other members of our family were not cooperative. It was a hand print project. But it was still fun for me and it was really thoughtful of Kory, I thought.

Then it was present time! Kory and Axel wrote me a beautiful card and gave me a wonderful gift I get to go get myself pampered and have my hair done. Which I am doing today so I will post pictures a little later. I am not doing anything drastic, but it is MUCH over due.

We then played games and went to bed. All in all, a very good day. I am sure grateful that I have these boys in my life!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

We had some very special visitors!


Last week my very good friend Chelsea and her cute son Kaden came to town all the way from Korea, we had so much fun while she was here, and are pretty sad to see her go. Axel loved meeting her and playing with Kaden. Kaden has gotten so big since we last saw them. Sob we will miss them for sure.

Here are some of the pictures of her visit with us. But you have to look at them on Facebook sorry... I am lazy

VIEW PICTURES HERE

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Ba Ba BALLOON!

A while ago someone gave us a BALLOON, I think it was Macey's Grocery store. Ever since Axel has been OBSESSED with balloons and bouncy balls. I know, I know most kids love balloons, I am serious when I say obsessed tho, I am talking takes it with him everywhere he goes obsessed. So to prove my point I will have to show what I mean...
This balloon came home with Nicolas but soon Axel became obsessed. If you notice in this picture his cheeks are a little red well..

At the first of April, Axel caught a slight cold, nothing big, just a little congestion, well the cold then spread to his ears, and he got an ear infection, which had to be treated with antibiotics.

Which at first he was sooo good about taking the 7ml twice a day. (doesn't that seem like a lot for a small baby when the baby tylenol is not even 1 ml?) But day 4 hit and he was DONE! It was a battle every time we tried to give him some, and he ruined lots and lots of his clothes.

He was so stubborn about it, we tried all sorts of tricks, from putting it in a different container, to blowing a little air in his face to get him to swallow. But he quickley caught on and would learn our trick and retaliate the next time. One time he closed up his throat and then spit it all out and it got in his eye! It was horrible. And his poo was bright pink from the stuff, and lets just say it was a miserable 10 days for all.
But then when we got to day 9, a rash appeared, so we went from giving him antibiotics to Benedryll, which he didn't mind as bad but still not fun. And he had that for like 4 days, Then when his rash cleared up after a few days, he got a fever of 102, while we were visiting my grandmother because his two upper teeth decided to come through.
See those two little teeth on top?!

AND after all that he finally got what we thought was ringworm on his leg, (not an actual worm but a fungus) so we had to treat him with an anti fungal cream but it ended up being another reaction to the antibiotics. (Again sorry Kelli and Kyle for accusing your cat of giving it to him, the nurse on the phone was certain it came from a kitty, we were just being cautious...)

It was a crappy couple of weeks for us. Did I mention we were in Idaho visiting my grandmother for the end of all this? Traveling with a sick baby is NOT fun and I learned my lesson.

More on that trip another time.

Then at the end of the month we found out our good friends the Flygares were moving across the country to Georgia in a week! It was hard to find time to get together, because they were busy moving and we were busy on our basement, but we finally got together with our families the night before they left. (Notice the balloon in Axel's hand in every picture, he WOULD NOT share with Shane.)
Shane tried to play too, and Axel was ticked!After that he kept that balloon by his side.
The "babes"
The "boys"
Flygare and Anderson FamiliesHe even fell asleep with it on the way home and he had a firm grasp around it. No one was getting that balloon.
Then it was Mother's day week, and my mom wanted to get together for lunch a few days before. (She was going to be out of town visiting her mom) so we got together and had a really nice lunch in the park in honor of my mom and us mom's. It was last minute but I tried to make it look nice, but the decorations ended up being too light and kept knocking over. Again, everywhere that Axel went the balloon was sure to go

I meant to take more pictures, but I didn't. But it was fun and we had a really nice time.
After all of that the BEST part about his fascination with Balloons is that Axel says "BALL" now and he means ball or balloon. He has been saying Ba Ba for a long time, and it was just something to say, but now he says BALL whenever he sees a ball or a balloon and its out of his reach. And he will say it over and over again until he gets it. It is really cute, even at 6 in the morning and he sees it and decides he would rather get the "BA" then go back to sleep, it's really adorable, and I couldn't be more proud. His eyes light up whenever he sees one and it is pretty fantastic. We laugh every time, which I think just reinforces it.

Ever since we have been filling our house with balloons and all sorts of sports and bouncy balls (I had to be really careful how I phrased that because I didn't want to leave it open for ridicule........kyle)

Monday, May 3, 2010

hello and goodbye


I have been thinking about this post for a long time. How am I going to write it, it seems weird to write it? I think it is the main reason I have been so behind on my blogging. But I need to, for me. If you don't read it I will understand, it is just something I need to write.

I would like to dedicate this to my beautiful grandmother Laura Grace Call, she is my Mom's mama. Although she is still with us, she doesn't have much time left, and although I feel like I am saying goodbye too soon, I feel like if I don't express my feelings now, later when she does pass, I will be too upset and probably too emotional to talk about it.

A few weeks ago my mother called me and asked if I would be willing to come with her to Idaho because her mother was very sick, terminally sick. Her health has began to decline very rapidly over the past few months (She also knew I wanted to take Axel up to meet her). She said she wasn't sure when or how long we had. So we made the plan. With my sister and her kids, we drove up there that weekend. Right when we drove into town, my mother got a phone call from her sister, who informed us that my uncle, a Dr., had said she had about a week left. My mom was devastated and emotional and upset, and seeing her this way, really hit me, and I realized, that this was happening, and that I needed to be strong for my mom. Luckily, my uncle was wrong, and she is still with us and it has been a few weeks, but her time is growing short.

When we arrived at the hospital, the feeling was all too familiar, we had done this before, many times with my other grandmother who struggled for many years with diabetes before she passed away a little over 4 years ago. But with this Grandma it was different. My grandma Call was never sick, she was so healthy her whole life, or at least it seemed that way to me. I didn't love this grandma more, but it seemed like with my Grandma Jorgensen, each time we said goodbye to her it was possible that it would be our last time. But walking down the same hallways, I wasn't ready to say goodbye. There was still so much I wanted to know and that I needed to learn from my grandmother, and in a way I felt cheated, because we live so far away and I just BARELY became a mom, and once you become a mom, your world is different, it changes, and you look at things differently. And suddenly the women in your life, the mothers in your life, become saints, angels if you will because of their sacrifice and devotion to make sure you had a happy healthy life. And I felt like with this new appreciation for motherhood I needed more time with my grandmother. It was too soon, I wasn't ready to say goodbye.

When we arrived to her room, she was sleeping peacefully in her bed, and she was so tiny and frail, but still so beautiful. Her skin was still flawless and soft, and I found myself wishing I would have heeded her countless warnings about the sun, so that when I'm 80, I would have looked as stunning as she did.

She was disoriented at first, and I think this was the first time I had seen my grandmother without curls in her hair. Once she saw all the children her eyes lit up and she put on a brave face, even though we knew she was hurting. Because that is the kind of women she is, brave and stalwart. We hugged her and gave her kisses on the forehead. And she, for the first time, met my baby boy. I of course was balling, and so was my mom and big sister, and the kids, well they were just uncertain as to what was going on.

My Grandmother has always been such a beacon to me. I have always admired her strength and her patience. She was the wife of a sailor who through her faith and prayer helped him turn to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She never gave up on him. I have always admired her for that. I think it would be hard to be married to someone with a different set of beliefs and habits than your own or the ones you would want to distill in your children. It wasn't easy for her for many years, and it wasn't until all their kids were born that they finally went through the temple as a family. What a blessing that temple ordinance has been in the life of their posterity since then. Whenever I think about this story I am floored, because my grandfather is such a great guy. But he has mischief in his eyes, so I could totally see the sailor side of him.

My Grandmother has a fantastic sense of humor. She always told the craziest stories! And always had so many funny things to share about her family. Her stories were ALWAYS the funniest, and so many of her punch lines have become inside jokes to my sisters and I.

I remember when I was little ( lets say 5) we came to her house for a visit, and my parents were going to a reunion or something so we stayed with Grandma. I loved stories, and I knew grandma was always good for a good story. So I asked her to tell me a story. So this is what she told me.

"Once there was a little old lady, who lived all alone in a house in the middle of nowhere. She was very lonely. This little old lady had a mural on the wall, one that had an entire town drawn all over it. Well, this lady each evening would come home and watch her mural and pretend she was a part of the little town.

Well, one evening this little old lady came across a man who had a gun, and was about to shoot someone, and alarmed she yelled "Don't Shoot!" and the little guy in the mural turned to her and SHOT the little old lady and she died. The end."

Yes this is true, she did tell us this story, you can ask my sisters if you don't believe me. I am pretty sure it added to my paranoia a little bit but I loved it anyway. I remember thinking the deer on her wall were going to jump out and kill me in the middle of the night. But I loved that she had an imagination. I think she just liked seeing our eyes light up with horror and disbelief as she told us stories like this. (There were so many more too)

Another memory I have was whenever we would come and stay with her, she would ALWAYS make eggs for breakfast. And they were the BEST eggs. She would make the BEST breakfast. I thought my mom was the LUCKIEST kid in all the world. (I learned later on, that she only did that for us, my mom always got mush for breakfast growing up, so I felt even that much more special, and knew it was a real treat when we came, and that she REALLY loved us.)

When we would stay with my grandmother, we often would fight over who got to play with what trinket and eventually one of us would end up in tears, and within seconds before the first tear could drop from our cheek, my grandmother would be there with a little glass and say "Oh let me catch that tear! I will give you a DIME for each tear I catch in this glass" And sure enough the tears would stop and they would be followed by laughter. Again, I thought my mom had the BEST mom and that my mom must have gotten a lot of money from her. Little did I know that it was just a trick, and that my grandmother just wanted us to stop crying. I plan on using this tactic on my own children/nieces and nephews one day.

My Grandmother instilled in my mother some very wonderful things, who in turn had taught those things to me. I feel very fortunate to have come from such a wonderful line of women. Women of strength, courage, FAITH, humility, virtue, and of course humor. I remember one such occasion. I was a freshmen, and my mother was driving me to school. We were talking about Faith, and my mother told me a story of how my grandmother NEVER stopped praying for my grandfather to join the church. That there wasn't a single prayer that didn't include her plea for him to join the church. I believe this to be true. I believe that my grandmother had the Faith that my grandfather would join the church and it was that faith that led him there. I think about all the Sundays my grandmother had to drag all 6, yes that is right 6 kids all by herself to church. That would be so hard! I would like to imagine that she did it with out guile or complaint, but I am sure it was hard for her, and I am sure she got down on her knees and prayed for strength from our heavenly father every day to endure it.
My grandmother always told us funny stories about my mom, even in the hospital, we were sharing with her a story about Hilary's kids. And she told us one of my mom, and it's cute so I will share...

"When Jackie was born (my moms baby sister) your mother and Janet (my moms older sister) were going through my things from the hospital while I was caring for the baby. When I came to see what they were doing, they had come across a pamplet that had my exercises (birthing) on it, and were trying them out and I said "girls what are you doing?" and your mom (who was 4) said "we're going to get us a baby!"

When she told us this, the whole room went from tears to laughter, again something my grandmother was always so good at.

I remember when I was in the 9th grade I had a project due. We had to document every year of our life with some event. (I know what a painful project) Well, that weekend there was some sort of family event going on in Idaho and our family was going. So while we were at my grandmothers, my mom and I worked on this personal history, and my grandmother joined us. It was a great experience for me. We laughed, told stories about boys and marriage and babies, and scrap booked. My mom told me that my grandmother was always helping with posters and art projects, because she was really good at it, for school or church. And I remember thinking hey that is just like me! And at that moment I realized my grandmother was once just like me.

I don't know if I will ever measure up to be the kind of person my grandmother is, but I could see it in my mothers face that her mama was very important to her. She devoted her entire life to her children and husband and the gospel. I made a resolution to myself that weekend. That I want to be that kind of woman, just like my grandmother, but I think I will have more wrinkles.

And although I said good bye to her that weekend, I know its not the end. I know I will see her again. When we left for home I had peace, I knew that no matter what is in store for my grandmother over the next few weeks. I will see her again.