Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Blech!
I am officially prego today. I don't know what changed, but yesterday I wasn't, and now today I am. I am not saying that I didn't have any pregnancy symptoms before, but it wasn't like this. The main difference is that all of a sudden my belly is huge! No seriously, yesterday - normal flat (kind of) belly, today - can't suck it in to save my life! I am also short of breath, which I am thinking does not bode well for me 9 weeks in. And also, (stop reading if you are the kind of person who might have a problem with certain anatomical references,) I woke up this morning and my boobs are ginormous... What the?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
When's that BABY due?!?!
Yep. It is only fitting that I announce our news on here after every single person in the known world has already heard it.
I am not turning out to be the super-blogger I hoped to be, but just in case any of my three followers don't know...
Ta-ta-la! (that is what Ez says when he is trying to say Ta-Dah.) We are going to have another baby!
I say "we," knowing full well, that Doug has already done his part, and now gets to sit back and enjoy the show, but despite knowing that there is a long road ahead, I am pretty psyched, and will be posting updates of baby #4 on a semi-regular basis, (depending on how flaky I am feeling this pregnancy!)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Two virtues, a vice, and a hospital stay.
Subtitled: Ode to Grant*
Our first born has had an eventful week, so I thought I would take the opportunity to share and brag him up a bit.
Last Thursday we went to meet with Grant's teacher for parent teacher conferences at the elementary school. Of course he is doing awesome. The kid has been studious literally since he was born (something I wish I could claim credit for, but he simply came that way.)
She told several funny stories, but the highlight for us was when she said that Grant had told her that he went to the same church as another boy in his class. On a hunch she asked him if he belonged to the Mormon church. Grant said "No," that he belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has apparently had enough experience with the church to know that they were one and the same, and had a good laugh about it. Then she told us that Grant was a joy to have around, and that he was kind and thoughtful. She also said that her LDS students are always the best students, and that she just has so much respect for our church and it's members.... Way to represent, Grant!
On Friday I got home from the grocery store, and Doug told me that while I was gone, they had all been playing a game, when Grant blurted out his first swear word. That's right folks, my little baby is all grown up. Actually, it probably doesn't quite count, since he had no idea what he was saying, and was pretty upset when Doug told him it was a bad word. I of course had to say something too, and so I told him that it was not just a bad word, but an actual swear word. We are constantly having these differentiating conversations, ie: "Shut-up is not a swear word, but it is not a nice thing to say, and smart children know how to use their words more constructively." Even though I explained this in the nicest way possible, he still had tears in his eyes, as he nodded and pretended to be really interested in his legos. Bless his guilty little heart!
Then last Sunday morning after two nights and a day of him throwing up and having weird abdominal pain, we decided to head to the ER, on a hunch that it might be his appendix. They ran some tests and found that he had a dark spot on his intestines and a white blood cell count of 40,000(which apparently is bad,) so they decided to admit him and run some tests and basically set off an atom bomb of three different antibiotics. Grant was a trooper and seriously did not cry once any of the times that they took his blood, for the three days that we were there. He was really ready to go home though, and has made a point of telling anybody who inquired about his health that the doctors ran lot's and lot's of tests and found out that he has no diseases. And it is true... The best thing that they can figure is that he had some sort of infection in his intestines, and the antibiotics took care of it.
Now for the final little brag...
Yesterday, we asked the kids to write to Santa and tell him what they would like for Christmas and Grant asked for, get this; some clay, some markers, and two mini lego packs (you know, the ones that cost$4.)
The question is, if he is so easily satisfied, then why do we have all that stuff hidden in the basement? Food for thought, right?
PS I know you are dying to know which swear word it is. It starts with a D and ends with an amn. I know... it just barely squeaks into the swear word catergory, but I'm sticking to my guns on this one!!
*The above stories are simply interesting anecdotes that happen to all be about the Author's oldest child , and in no way reflect preference for any of her children. She loves all equally and without bias, and will make a point of posting such one-personed blogs about the other children on a later date, making sure to have equal amounts of stories, and word counts for each of her other children.
Last Thursday we went to meet with Grant's teacher for parent teacher conferences at the elementary school. Of course he is doing awesome. The kid has been studious literally since he was born (something I wish I could claim credit for, but he simply came that way.)
She told several funny stories, but the highlight for us was when she said that Grant had told her that he went to the same church as another boy in his class. On a hunch she asked him if he belonged to the Mormon church. Grant said "No," that he belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has apparently had enough experience with the church to know that they were one and the same, and had a good laugh about it. Then she told us that Grant was a joy to have around, and that he was kind and thoughtful. She also said that her LDS students are always the best students, and that she just has so much respect for our church and it's members.... Way to represent, Grant!
On Friday I got home from the grocery store, and Doug told me that while I was gone, they had all been playing a game, when Grant blurted out his first swear word. That's right folks, my little baby is all grown up. Actually, it probably doesn't quite count, since he had no idea what he was saying, and was pretty upset when Doug told him it was a bad word. I of course had to say something too, and so I told him that it was not just a bad word, but an actual swear word. We are constantly having these differentiating conversations, ie: "Shut-up is not a swear word, but it is not a nice thing to say, and smart children know how to use their words more constructively." Even though I explained this in the nicest way possible, he still had tears in his eyes, as he nodded and pretended to be really interested in his legos. Bless his guilty little heart!
Then last Sunday morning after two nights and a day of him throwing up and having weird abdominal pain, we decided to head to the ER, on a hunch that it might be his appendix. They ran some tests and found that he had a dark spot on his intestines and a white blood cell count of 40,000(which apparently is bad,) so they decided to admit him and run some tests and basically set off an atom bomb of three different antibiotics. Grant was a trooper and seriously did not cry once any of the times that they took his blood, for the three days that we were there. He was really ready to go home though, and has made a point of telling anybody who inquired about his health that the doctors ran lot's and lot's of tests and found out that he has no diseases. And it is true... The best thing that they can figure is that he had some sort of infection in his intestines, and the antibiotics took care of it.
Now for the final little brag...
Yesterday, we asked the kids to write to Santa and tell him what they would like for Christmas and Grant asked for, get this; some clay, some markers, and two mini lego packs (you know, the ones that cost$4.)
The question is, if he is so easily satisfied, then why do we have all that stuff hidden in the basement? Food for thought, right?
PS I know you are dying to know which swear word it is. It starts with a D and ends with an amn. I know... it just barely squeaks into the swear word catergory, but I'm sticking to my guns on this one!!
*The above stories are simply interesting anecdotes that happen to all be about the Author's oldest child , and in no way reflect preference for any of her children. She loves all equally and without bias, and will make a point of posting such one-personed blogs about the other children on a later date, making sure to have equal amounts of stories, and word counts for each of her other children.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Baked Cheese
THAT, my friends is what I ordered last night for dinner at the french restaurant that we went to in Luxembourg. And that is what it was... they have these wooden boxes of cheese that are about the size of my two fists put together, and they cut a slit in the center and pour white wine into it(no worries mom, the alcohol cooks off) and then they bake it. So yup, I ate a box full of melted cheese for dinner. If I had known my whole life that such things existed I would have demanded Baked Cheese wherever I went - ie: "No, no, I don't want the fried cheese sticks, or the cheeseburger, just bring me a big box of melted cheese, please."
It is a good thing that the restaurant is a little over an hour away from our house, or I would have to rapidly get pregnant to justify all the weight gain!
BTW - Doug and I also shared the chocolate fondue for dessert... Oh My Deliciousness!!!!!!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Levaura?
What's wrong with this picture? Yup - that's my face when I was 5 yrs old photoshopped into Levi's body. I pulled out the following picture of me the other day, and Brittni, Doug and I were all laughing so hard when we realized how much Levi looks like me as a kid... different hair color, and eye color, but I swear we could be twins!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Grant's B-day and other happenings at the Sturms
So let me start this off by saying that our life is not all sunshine and lollipops and grand vacation trips to foreign countries, as two out of three posts would suggest. But, as I have nothing of real interest to write other times, and I am feeling the crushing guilt of not having posted anything for Grant's b-day... here goes!
The whole trip was based on two things: getting Grant to Legoland for his birthday (he got in free,) and taking Britt to see some of the cool stuff in Bavaria before she goes home next month.
We headed out Wednesday night after Doug got off work (got stuck in awesome traffic for and hour) and arrived at our hotel at 11:00pm, but we were thrilled to find that the two rooms that we had paid $42 a night for were actually family suites, so everybody got their own rooms... if I had known ahead of time, we probably would have just gotten one hotel room, and snuck in the extra kids, but it was nice having the extra space!
The next morning we headed out to Salzburg, Austria while singing songs from the Sound of Music, but things took a dark turn when, due to a "miscommunication" we ended up getting gas at a place that we thought would accept our American gas card, that allows us to pay in dollars and has no taxes... but it wasn't. Needless to say gas is a LOT more expensive with the German taxes added, and it was not a happy moment in the Sturm vehicle. (Poor Brittni, we found out later, had to go to the bathroom reeeeeeally bad the whole time, but was too scared to ask, due to the vigorous "discussion" that was going on up front.)
Salzburg was beautiful and awesome though, and we saw lot's of great things - and only a few naked pictures and statues, which is always a bit of a gift in a large city over here.
The next day was the much anticipated Legoland day, and of course we had a ton of fun. It was hot and crazy, but not anywhere near as crazy as Disneyland would be this time of year. I think that the longest line we waited in was maybe 20-25 mins. The one thing that kind of irked Doug and I was both of our older boys unwillingness to ride anything that looked even the teeniest bit thrilling or action packed - they were both terrified. They did both go on the Splash mountain-like log ride, but only because we "accidently" got in what we thought was the jungle cruise line... Grant started to figure it out as we were climbing the hill to the top, and began to whimper, I was still reassuring him that it wouldn't be scary, when we rounded the corner at the top, and then he said "And now, we die," in a very matter of fact way. That made Brittni and me laugh, and Levi start crying. Obviously they survived it, but I swear if Grant ever found out that I tricked them I would lose all credibility until the day I die, so no loose lips dear family and friends!
It really was a fun day, and except for all the children running around naked in the water area I would have thought that we were in Legoland California!
The next day we headed down to Fusen to see the Neuschwanstein Castle, and the surrounding area. It was also really amazing, but a TON of walking, and consequently whining from the peanut gallery… that is the cold hard truth of touring Europe with the kiddo’s. They really don’t get, or appreciate most of the stuff that we do or see, and everything is so much harder!
Our last day we went to see Dachau concentration camp before we headed home, and the kids were actually really good – since we lectured them nonstop on the way over about being reverent and respectful. It was pretty intense though, and we had to distract them a few times so that they wouldn’t see some of the pictures or displays in the Museum. Thankfully they really didn’t seem to get what the deal was, except that Grant did have a few questions afterward, but I am sure he really didn’t understand.
Oh yeah I left out the best part of the trip – When Grant peed on Brittni’s face… Yeah so we were driving somewhere on the autobahn, when all of a sudden Grant starts hyperventilating because he has to go to the bathroom so bad, so we tried to find a place to pull over, but there was nothing, so we handed back a bottle (yes we do, do that occasionally – no judging!,) but by this point he is screaming because he has to go so bad and he is frantically trying to unzip his pants. Cue Brittni turning around to check on him and a moment later the deed was done! Sorry Britt. You are the best aunt ever for not permanently disowning him!
So that is our trip in a not so small nutshell. Oh yeah and Happy Birthday Grant – I can’t believe you are Seven! Seriously the years have flown by, and I am pretty sure that I am going to turn around tomorrow and he will be 18!
We miss and love you all,
Laurapants
And Fam
PS brace yourself for about 9 million pictures!
The whole trip was based on two things: getting Grant to Legoland for his birthday (he got in free,) and taking Britt to see some of the cool stuff in Bavaria before she goes home next month.
We headed out Wednesday night after Doug got off work (got stuck in awesome traffic for and hour) and arrived at our hotel at 11:00pm, but we were thrilled to find that the two rooms that we had paid $42 a night for were actually family suites, so everybody got their own rooms... if I had known ahead of time, we probably would have just gotten one hotel room, and snuck in the extra kids, but it was nice having the extra space!
The next morning we headed out to Salzburg, Austria while singing songs from the Sound of Music, but things took a dark turn when, due to a "miscommunication" we ended up getting gas at a place that we thought would accept our American gas card, that allows us to pay in dollars and has no taxes... but it wasn't. Needless to say gas is a LOT more expensive with the German taxes added, and it was not a happy moment in the Sturm vehicle. (Poor Brittni, we found out later, had to go to the bathroom reeeeeeally bad the whole time, but was too scared to ask, due to the vigorous "discussion" that was going on up front.)
Salzburg was beautiful and awesome though, and we saw lot's of great things - and only a few naked pictures and statues, which is always a bit of a gift in a large city over here.
The next day was the much anticipated Legoland day, and of course we had a ton of fun. It was hot and crazy, but not anywhere near as crazy as Disneyland would be this time of year. I think that the longest line we waited in was maybe 20-25 mins. The one thing that kind of irked Doug and I was both of our older boys unwillingness to ride anything that looked even the teeniest bit thrilling or action packed - they were both terrified. They did both go on the Splash mountain-like log ride, but only because we "accidently" got in what we thought was the jungle cruise line... Grant started to figure it out as we were climbing the hill to the top, and began to whimper, I was still reassuring him that it wouldn't be scary, when we rounded the corner at the top, and then he said "And now, we die," in a very matter of fact way. That made Brittni and me laugh, and Levi start crying. Obviously they survived it, but I swear if Grant ever found out that I tricked them I would lose all credibility until the day I die, so no loose lips dear family and friends!
It really was a fun day, and except for all the children running around naked in the water area I would have thought that we were in Legoland California!
The next day we headed down to Fusen to see the Neuschwanstein Castle, and the surrounding area. It was also really amazing, but a TON of walking, and consequently whining from the peanut gallery… that is the cold hard truth of touring Europe with the kiddo’s. They really don’t get, or appreciate most of the stuff that we do or see, and everything is so much harder!
Our last day we went to see Dachau concentration camp before we headed home, and the kids were actually really good – since we lectured them nonstop on the way over about being reverent and respectful. It was pretty intense though, and we had to distract them a few times so that they wouldn’t see some of the pictures or displays in the Museum. Thankfully they really didn’t seem to get what the deal was, except that Grant did have a few questions afterward, but I am sure he really didn’t understand.
Oh yeah I left out the best part of the trip – When Grant peed on Brittni’s face… Yeah so we were driving somewhere on the autobahn, when all of a sudden Grant starts hyperventilating because he has to go to the bathroom so bad, so we tried to find a place to pull over, but there was nothing, so we handed back a bottle (yes we do, do that occasionally – no judging!,) but by this point he is screaming because he has to go so bad and he is frantically trying to unzip his pants. Cue Brittni turning around to check on him and a moment later the deed was done! Sorry Britt. You are the best aunt ever for not permanently disowning him!
So that is our trip in a not so small nutshell. Oh yeah and Happy Birthday Grant – I can’t believe you are Seven! Seriously the years have flown by, and I am pretty sure that I am going to turn around tomorrow and he will be 18!
We miss and love you all,
Laurapants
And Fam
PS brace yourself for about 9 million pictures!
Doe a deer, a female deer!
Mozart's house
"I have confidence in sunshine... "
"Rolf - you're only a boy... "
the abbey graveyard from above in the crypt
Fun stuff in the floor
Creepiest doll in the world at the marionette museum
Right after the deadly ride!
This is the schwan-something-or-other lake by both of the castles that we saw
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