It's been crazy!

I figured it was time for a much needed update. I don't know about the rest of you but man, it seems like life just got crazy these past few weeks. We have had all sorts of fun things happening in the Schipaanboord household.

I'm trying to write everything in chronological order (past events to most recent) but just had to put these two pictures of Josh up first (even though they happened today) because I believe they are worthy of first place in this massive post. My dear brother-in-law, Jake, saw Josh drooling over his white cake w/strawberries and whipped cream tonight. He let Josh have a little lick and Josh instantly turned into a ravaging monster. This little sugar binge kept Josh wired all night. He could turn into a sugar addict if we're not careful!

Emma and her two cousins, Hannah and Isabelle, went with me and Melanie (my sister-in-law) to see Disney's Princess on Ice on the 15th. They had a blast and Emma was in heaven (except for the part where Maleficent turned into a dragon and spit out fire at Prince Phillip.) Emma put her hand on my leg and told me that was scary. Other than that though, the princesses enchanted her and she had the time of her life. To be honest, I had a great time too. I've never been to a show like that and it was fun to see Emma so excited.

The biggest news is Jake turned 29 yesterday. I planned a surprise party for him and invited all his good friends from high school and our closest friends from law school. I had to be so sneaky and told hundreds of lies during the week, just to keep it a surprise. I had our neighbors pretend they invited us over for pizza to celebrate Jake's birthday. To say the least, Jake was not thrilled about spending his birthday at our 50-year old neighbors' house and he let me know his feelings quite a few times during the week. We got there and had a great time talking with them, enjoying their company and I got the signal from the party folk (my cell vibrated) and so I let Susi (our neighbor) know it was time and she asked Jake to get some ice for her, since their ice maker was broken. Jake went home to get a bucket full and all our friends were in our kitchen, waiting for him. It was great! Jake had no clue and felt pretty guilty afterward about all his whining and complaining all week. It was a wonderful night. Thanks to all our friends for coming, and thanks to the Mabey's for being such great neighbors and helping me lie and deceive my husband! Happy Birthday, baby. I love you. :)

Last, but not least, Easter. Our Easter was wonderful. I came out of our church meetings spiritually fed, so grateful for the life of our Savior and the gift He gave to us all. As for the festivities, we spent most of the weekend with Jake's family coloring eggs, flying kites, nice dinner, playing with Katie and Jake's rabbits, egg hunt, etc. The kids had a blast, and so did the adults. I love weekends like these, creating special memories with the family. There is nothing better. It reminds me again of how blessed Jake and I are to be back in Utah, with a great job, wonderful house, and near a lot of family.

Now we are caught up to the present. Ben is sick with a 102 temp. He said he didn't feel very good after church and was lethargic all night at Grandma and Grandpa Schipaanboord's. The poor guy is miserable. Hopefully a good night's sleep will help him feel better. I also forgot to mention an update on my wisdom tooth extraction a few weeks ago. It went great... probably the easiest thing I have ever done! I got a couple shots to numb me, I heard two very short cracking sounds (no pain though) and the tooth was out (yes, there was only one!) I had gauze in my mouth for the night and then after that I was good to go. Piece of cake! Jake reminds me if I would have had all four out it would have been much worse, like what he experienced. Well, I'm thankful for my sweet luck. I'll take one wisdom tooth over four any day. Also, my bronchitis seems to still be lingering. I thought I was getting better for a few days and now I'm back to this annoying respiratory crap. I have a bad cough and sound like a chain smoker. I'll tell you, I'm so ready to be 100% healthy. I told Jake how annoyed I am about this because I can't go running when my lungs are at 50% capacity! Hopefully our household will be 100% healthy very soon!

Grandpa Call's 74th Birthday

We celebrated my Grandpa Call's birthday tonight. I love spending time with my grandparents, especially since I didn't spend much time around them when I was younger. They served 4 missions and were gone nearly a decade, serving in different countries as temple president, mission president, and overseeing the Perpetual Education Fund. I'm so happy that we live close (about 20 minutes) to them now and that my children are able to get to know their great-grandparents. Hopefully over the years they will create wonderful memories of them. Just a quick note about my grandpa, Owen Dean Call: he is the most determined man I know. When he puts his mind to something, he does it. I've been so impressed with his work on their new house. He basically finished the entire basement himself (with just a few days of help from others.) He built shelves in the cold storage room and in the garage and continues to keep himself busy with more projects Grammy gives him. :) He's a very educated man and always has deep insight in any conversation. He's also very close to the spirit and has been a great leader in our Call family. We are blessed to have him in our lives. Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Trip to Temple Square

I remember visiting downtown Salt Lake when Jake and I got engaged (December 2000.) We went to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert with his family and walked around Temple Square afterward, looking at the lights and seeing the Nativity Scene by the Visitors' Center. I was in awe by Temple Square's beauty and the spirit I felt there. Now, living in Salt Lake almost 6 years, I've been to Temple Square quite a few times and although I'm still mesmerized by it's beauty, I feel I take it for granted. We really are so lucky to live only 10 minutes from Temple Square and I hope our children understand what a blessing it is to be able to visit whenever we want. We decided to take them downtown last week and the kids loved it. When we were walking around the Salt Lake temple grounds Emma looked up at the Angel Moroni statue and said "I see Jesus holding a telescope!" Jake and I were laughing pretty hard at that one. We went to the Visitors' Center and looked at all the paintings and then saw the huge statue of Christ. We had a great time and can't wait to go back again.

My kids are growing up

Jake and I were looking at this first picture last night and laughing about how cute and little they used to be (Ben was 2 1/2 and Emma was 5 months when the pic was taken.) It's hard to believe Ben is already 5, getting ready for kindergarten this fall. He is my sweetheart, always willing to help me do whatever I ask. He's a great big brother to Emma and Josh and loves to play with them and help them. Emma just turned 3 and is my spicy girl. She adds spice and drama everywhere she goes. My mom reminded me the other day that I was exactly the same way... I'm not sure if I was comforted by that thought. :) Josh is already 7 1/2 months, crawling now and getting into whatever he can. He loves giving open mouth, drooly kisses, playing outside on the grass, and being entertained by his siblings. Ben and Emma get him to laugh harder than anyone else. These three are my world. I have to say, I feel like I'm a much better mom to them than I was to Ben when it was just him and I. I've embraced motherhood and found my life to be rewarding and fulfilling. I'm not saying I don't have hard days, believe me, I do. I'm just so happy to be where I am at this point in my life. I know in just a few short years the kids will be in school and I will yearn for this time, when my kids would give me hugs just because, or they would ask me "Why?" fifty times a day, Emma would ask me to button up her princess dress at 7AM, Ben would be excited at Family Home Evening when we learned about the Good Samaritan, etc. It's a hard and wonderful time and I know it's going fast. It's evident from the first pic, seeing two babies who are now intelligent and beautiful kids. Life is too short. Squeeze your little ones a little tighter tonight.

Toe Tourniquet- Parents Please Read!

I got a pretty good scare last night when I was changing Josh's diaper and getting him ready for bed. I happened to notice his middle toe on his right foot was bright red. One of my hairs had wrapped around his middle toe a couple times causing the blood flow to be cut off. Poor Josh had not been fussy or shown any signs of pain so I had no clue. I quickly ripped the hair off while Josh cried and then I had to make sure it was completely gone. He was not happy with me and did not want me to touch it. The first picture was taken about 15 minutes after I got the hair off and the second was taken this morning. It still doesn't look normal, but I can tell it's getting better. How scary! I actually read about this happening to a lady on a board I used to post on. Her son also had a hair wrapped around his toe, but it was wrapped so tight they had to take him to the ER to get it off. I found out there is actually a term for this in the medical world: toe tourniquet syndrome. Wikipedia says a Hair tourniquet is a medical condition where in a hair or other thread becomes tied around a toe or finger tightly, so as to put the digit at risk of damage. Occasionally this is known as Toe tourniquet.The problem usually arises in babies and small children when hairs and thread are lost loosely inside socks. They can become spontaneously tied round a toe and will tend to tighten with wriggling.

Please make sure to check your little babies' fingers and toes often, and check for stray hairs inside of their footed sleepers and socks. I know this is a pretty rare thing (it never happened to my older two) but I think everyone should still be aware of it. I would hate to think what might have happened if I hadn't seen it for a few days... the poor thing!!

PS The last picture is of Josh showing off his cool new pose. He's getting more mobile by the second and lately this is how he likes to sit, not directly on his bum, but to the side. He's my sweetheart.

I've created a monster!

It seems that Emma's birthday party has brought on a princess obsession (well, I should say a STRONGER obsession.) This is what happened in 10 minutes this morning (see pics below.) She loves wearing her dress-up clothes (and changing them often.) She currently has her cheerleader costume on and has been wearing it for about 45 minutes (probably a record!) She adds accessories to her outfits now. This morning she was hunting around in my scrapbook stuff and found some pink ribbon and she asked me to tie it in her hair. I wonder how long this will go on. :) Jake and I get a kick out of watching her walk everywhere in her dress-up high heels, holding her dress up very daintily, and digging through her dress-up box every two seconds. She's funny! What's more funny is that she can be in there wrestling with Ben and her boy cousins one minute and then turn into this dainty girl the next. It's fun seeing Emma enjoy something so intently and passionately. Hopefully in a couple years she will feel the same passion and drive for homework, staying away from boys, driving the speed limit, and obeying her parents. (We could only wish, right??!!)

Bronchitis

After Emma's party on Saturday I started feeling sick and shaky. I took my temp and it was 101. Then Sunday morning I took my temp again and it was 103.6. I felt horrible and my chest hurt, like it did when I had pneumonia a few months ago. I decided I would go in this morning and get checked out because if I was still sick at the end of the week I would have to reschedule my wisdom teeth surgery. Jake's mom, Jan, kept the kids while I went into Instacare. It turns out I have bronchitis. I'm on antibiotics and should be feeling better in a couple days, just in time for me to have the surgery! This is going to be a fun week... ugh.

Happy Birthday, Emma!

Today is Emma's 3rd birthday!! It's hard to believe our little girl is three years old. I remember her birth like it was yesterday. It was a scheduled c-section and the night before I was so excited and couldn't go to sleep. My mom was there and couldn't go to sleep either, so we stayed up and talked and she painted my toenails. On March 1st she was born at 11:53 AM, weighing 8 lbs. and was 20 1/2 inches long. She was such a sweet baby and adored her brother... still does. Take a look at a video clip from her birth (this was the first time I saw her.) I love you, Emma. Thanks for being my sweet and sassy little girl.

Her princess party went great. She had 6 friends over and they all had a good time, at least I hope they did. :) We played a version of musical chairs, except I used laminated pictures of the princesses and whoever landed on Cinderella when the music ended (Bibbity Bobbity Boo) was out and they got a prize. Then they had to go search for Snow White's poison apple. I hid 5 fake apples and one of them had a green bow tied to it (the poisoned one.) The kid who found it got a prize. Then I told the kids that princesses LOVE to dance so I cranked up "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" (a recording of all the stars from the Disney Channel sing it) and the kids rocked out. It was fun watching them go crazy. And let's just say, Ben has some moves I had never seen before until today! :) The highlight of the party, though, was a visit from Snow White. The kids loved her and were enchanted by her. She sang songs, read them her story, played pin the crown on Cinderella, put lipstick and eye shadow on them, and then took a polaroid pic with each girl and gave it to them to take home. It was great!! Thanks to all of Emma's friends who came (Stella, Emerson, Katelyn, Jami, Sylvia, and Eliza) and a huge thanks to Snow White (Kendalyn, you're awesome!) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Emma!