Bring it on, yo

12/4/09

I stole this picture from Maria's blog. Cute little muffin! (well, Maria's cute, too.) Luke had his official two month checkup yesterday. He weighed 12 lbs. 7 oz (that's almost double his birthweight, people), putting him in the 50th percentile, and he was 22 inches long (15th percentile). Uhh, when I measured him a week ago, I thought he was 24 inches, so my technique must have been way off. Oh, well. he's still chubby and adorable in those size 2(!) diapers. He also had to get four vaccinations (one oral and three shots) and it was so sad. I hate having to hold my babies while they get poked. :(

We got the house decorated for Christmas this week. We decided to go for a kid-friendly tree since this is the first year Madelyn's been super excited about the holidays. She has already spent hours rearranging all the ornaments till they're "perfect."

Here she is playing an alien mod on Call of Duty 4. And do you know what Mark's concern is?? Not that she'll be harmed in any way from the violence or gore of playing such games, but that she will hog the computer and he won't be able to play as much!!!!!!! MEN!
(By the way, all she can really do is walk around and randomly fire her gun--she never really shoots anyone. But I'm sure one of these days it will come to that. Sigh...can't we get her hooked on a Barbie game or something??)

She still is our little princess, though. Lately she's taken to referring to us as "Queen," "King," (or "Father") and "Prince." She'll say, "Mom, I mean, Queen..." I have to admit I like the title.

I took her and I to the optometrist a couple days ago. I had been concerned about her going cross-eyed a lot this year and although Mark thought it was harmless, Luke's pediatrician said kids shouldn't regularly go cross-eyed past six months of age. So then I made the appointment, and I'm sure glad I did!

It turns out Madelyn is farsighted and her left eye has only 20/40 vision (explanation here). Her right eye sees 20/25, and since it's so much better than the left, her brain has simply switched off even using her left eye most of the time. So the reason you see her left eye drifting towards the center in a lot of pictures is because she's not using it to see. My poor girl!! I am amazed that she's been able to do so well with everything despite only really being able to see out of one eye. Mark said, "No wonder she can't catch anything!" Her glasses are arriving next week and the doctor said her brain should start utilizing her left eye once she starts wearing them full time. It might be an adjustment for her, but once she doesn't have to work so hard to see, I think she'll get used to it.

I also ended up getting glasses...I have never had problems before, but since I've had the baby, my eyes have changed a little. It's mostly just hard to focus clearly when I'm at the computer and stuff. Apparently, the giant hormonal changes that come with pregnancy and childbirth are to blame. Since I'm still on Medicaid, the doctor said I might as well get a pair of glasses since I wouldn't have to pay for them.

And speaking of being poor and on government assistance (WIC and Medicaid), this has been the worst financial year EVER for us. We've moved twice, had to travel for school, pay for tests and licensing fees, bought a new house, had a new baby, and had car troubles coming out our ears. On top of that, we quit using all our credit cards cold turkey (but still have to pay them off, ugh.). It's a struggle to get by. Needless to say, it's going to be rather bleak at Christmastime. Madelyn's birthday is on the 21st, too...and then it's our anniversary on the 28th. Luckily for Madelyn, I had already been buying her presents here and there throughout the year, so she won't go empty handed (although she might not get that kitchen set she wanted).

Anyway, in spite all this, it makes me more determined to make it through the year on top of things. We have a warm home, two healthy beautiful children, the gospel, and each other. Once we file for taxes. we'll be able to pay off some debt with the tax return and we'll be in better shape (until student loans come due, that is...) So bring on the holidays and the scary bills!! Oh, and if you bought some of my jewelry, that would help, too. Just sayin'.

Still Swooning

12/2/09

Sunday night, I was lucky enough to catch ♥ Andrea Bocelli's ♥ Christmas special on Great Performances by PBS. I can't watch him without more than a little gawking and drooling, and his performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir had me melting into a very large puddle on the floor.

Some of his other songs had him paired with uh, interesting choices (Reba McIntire??! The Muppets??) but overall I was quite swept away. If I can ever find a full video of this song, you'd better believe I'm going to do another post about it. You can buy this song and the others off iTunes right now or in stores (his album is called My Christmas), but the recording of The Lord's Prayer for his album was done with him in a studio somewhere instead of at the Tabernacle. I think him actually being there with those incredible acoustics makes it that much better. I love PBS.

PS. I just found out that Celtic Woman is performing a two hour "Songs From the Heart" concert on PBS tonight (Wednesday) at 7:00 (on KUED in Utah, but check your local listings). 'Tis the season to join all those old people who like opera and "world" music. C'mon, you know you secretly love it as much as I do!!

Luke's baby blessing

11/30/09

Wow. Things have been busy busy busy busy busy. We had Thanksgiving, Luke's blessing, I cooked and cleaned like a madwoman for days, and did NOT go shopping except for groceries. (Boo. Normally I'd have most of my Christmas shopping done by now.) Oh, and I got stranded in the middle of the road because my car ran out of gas. That was fun. Luckily, Mark was close by in his car and I was right in front of a gas station. And it was only snowing a little.

Anyways, here's my precious Luke Toy Yoder (two months old):

Fabulous blessing outfit, no? I searched online for months before I found it. Love it!!

And about his name...I have had a half a dozen people come right out and ask if we named him after:

Luke Skywalker. Uh...no. As much as I love him (and I have a pillowcase emblazoned with his face to prove it), "Luke" was simply the only name that Mark and I both liked. He wanted a "Samuel" and I wanted an "Isaac" and of course neither of us would cave. So Luke it was! (That's pretty much how we named Madelyn, too, although as it turns out my Grandma had a baby sister who died whose name was Magdalena, which is Spanish for Madelyn.)

We are not too big on family names, but the middle name of "Toy" has been given to Mark and all his siblings and a bunch of the grandkids, too. Mark's dad Frank Toy was orphaned at ten and was eventually adopted by Yoders in Pennsylvania. His father, (Mark's grandfather) emigrated from China to San Francisco when he was fifteen and his name was YuenTsung Yuk Choy. Emigration officers wrote his name down as "Toy" instead of "Choy" for some reason, and he took on the name "Frank." We all are proud of his Chinese heritage, but names like "Shun Tun Man Hung," "Jeck Lung" and "Fu Sai Tape" (Mark's great grandfathers) are a bit much, let's face it.

Anyhoo, here's some more pictures from the blessing day:

Our friend Dorothy Bone knit the white blanket for baby Madelyn and the other for baby Luke

Mark's sister Sheila Brown, mom Kathy Yoder, Mark, Luke, me, Sally and David Yoder with their boys Jake, Alex, Noah and Will

We attempted some family pictures later, and although we got a few cute ones, I want to take more. Because I'm crazy like that. And I might be able to get Madelyn to wear a shirt.

My whole family came to our house after church and of course they wanted pictures, too. Trying to get one big group shot is always a little circus-like.

Shay and Maria Nielson, Ava, Monica, Tyler, Megan, Rich, Nathan, Carolyn, Kevin, Lori and Hattie Murset, Madelyn, Mark Melissa and Luke Yoder

I also made a Mexican FEAST for everyone:

I am the Master of the kitchen Universe! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!! I made two crockpots full of Cafe Rio shredded pork, one crockpot of green chile chicken posole, guacamole, 7-layer bean dip, black beans, Spanish rice, cherry tart and mini lemon cheesecakes all from SCRATCH. It was way too much food, but now I have some very delicious leftovers. I think a recipe post may need to be forthcoming.

...And now I'll throw in a Thanksgiving slideshow, because somewhere between all this we did celebrate it at my parent's house in Hurricane.

I contributed about ten dozen homemade rolls (they were smallish as to have more), two pumpkin pies, and two four-berry pies (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry), one of which went to my brother-in-law Shay, because it was his 24th birthday. The day after Thanksgiving, Mark went with my dad and our friend Adam Jowers to go hiking around some of the gorgeous red rocks behind Quail Lake.

Whew...now that all that's over I only have to get ready for Madelyn's birthday, Christmas, and our anniversary, all of which are in the same week in December. Don't you just love this crazy time of year.
(So tired...must...keep....going...)

Two months!

11/25/09 warning: baby overload

Luke is two months old today. I love my chunky little butterball!! Everything about this kid is round. I've gotten a lot of cute pictures of him the past couple days.

Thank heaven I finally got some pictures of him smiling. The poor kid's retinas were getting singed from so many camera flashes.

Weight: 11 lbs. 10 oz.!
Height: 24 inches
New things he can do this month: smile, coo, chew on his hands, stare at mobiles and ceiling fans, drool all over everything

As soon as he sees those elephants hanging above his playpen, be it 5:00 in the morning, his legs start kicking like crazy. He's not too interested in the fancy lights and music mirror, though.
I just want to eat that chubby little fist!

Madelyn is checking for "tosie lint." Lint-free toes are of the utmost importance to her.

I had just changed a big poopy blow-out (hence the nakedness) as Mark was leaving for work. Love that grin!! Actually, he's naked in almost all these pictures. I promise we clothe him most of the time.

Luke's bath picture reminded me of this one of Madelyn when she was four months old:

Cuuuute, huh. My dad came by today and took some snaps with his new digital SLR Nikon (jealous!). It was still on a fluorescent light setting so everything looks pink.

Time to go make Thanksgiving pies! Have a great holiday!

Just Chillin'

11/23/09

Holy schmoly--where did November go?? We've been busy doing....well....um, I can't think of what we've been busy with. Nothing, really. But the days seem to just fly by anyway. So here's some random pictures of....stuff.

Mark won himself some Cool Daddy points when he brought some dry ice home from work and made fog in the kitchen.

Madelyn, who is often pantsless, made up the pretend realms of Panty Land and Panty Castle in our bedroom. Not sure what one does when in Panty Land. Show off some leg, apparently.

Luke is often pantsless, too. Just realizing the coincidence.

Snuggle

Snuggle

Snuggle

Snuggle (with Grandma Yoder)

...And don't forget to take your notebook and markers out on the freezing, windy lawn in your Sunday clothes to "draw a map of the city."

Well, that about covers it. Now, since it's Monday, I get to go bathe the kids, go visiting teaching, go to the grocery store, do laundry, dishes, trashes, clean the house and change about a million diapers. Oh, wait--I guess that explains where all my time goes nowadays.