Your Mom!

Maleia is known for her hilarious and mostly random comments. Like tonight for FHE we were talking about loving our neighbors and I asked her who lived next door and she yelled, "Your mom!" Just like someone would say it to be snotty, but she was being completely serious. Brandon and I laughed (no joke) for ten minutes and were crying because we were laughing so hard. After we got control of ourselves and our kids made sure we were okay, I asked, why do we need to be nice to our neighbors? And (once again) Maleia responded, "So they won't kick us out!" Where does she come up with this stuff? I asked Haley if it hard to be nice to our neighbors sometimes and her response, "Do you think it's not nice to tell them that they need to get rid of their dogs? Because they ALL do! Maybe I can tell them nicely in a note and mail it with some cookies. That would be nice, huh? Can we bake some tonight?" Haley has a true phobia of dogs, poor girl, but we have been trying to get her to at least tolerate the dogs to no avail.

Okay, so for the kicker of the night, yesterday at church Maleia prayed for the first time in the Branch Primary and "Blessed Haley so she would die." Nice. She sure knows how to give a first impression. BUT, to her defense, we were talking about what happens after we die at FHE last Monday and were explaining how wonderful Heaven would be, how we would be able to live with Jesus again, how we would see all our family again, and that we wouldn't have to hurt anymore and Haley chimed in, "Well, I'm okay dying then." So good 'ole Maleia prayed for just that and the Primary Presidency were shocked, to say the least, when Maleia prayed that her sister would die, so I had to explain quickly afterward. I was stumbling through it with a red face, but those awesome ladies just laughed and said, "You should hear the things my kids pray for." GOOD THING FOR UNANSWERED PRAYERS! Plus I prayed extra last night that she wouldn't die, so the two prayers cancel out, right? I'll have to pray again so I can be ahead tonight. Any help in this would be great. :) What a nice, sweet, caring sister... right???

Como te llamas?

No, we did not buy a llama, I said "What is your name?" in Spanish. This is what one site thinks about my name:

What Monique Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. People see you as a complete enigma, and only you truly understand who you are. You spend most of your time introspecting and seeking truth. You're a very interesting person... but not many people know you enough to realize it. You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

This is a little spooky for those who really know me. I find that these things are usually very general, but then again, this one is pretty close... but aren't they always "pretty close?" Of course there are things that are outlandish and just nonsense, but it was fun nonetheless. I more just want to live up to the things that they said.

Too serious?? Not. Enigma? Not so much. I worry lots, but I don't like to admit it. Irresponsible? Me? I only loose my keys every OTHER day. Not every day like those irresponsible people. At least I remember my kids! Jamie, shush. :) The school only had to call you two times last year... I had good excuses both times for being a few minutes late. I did not forget her. I was at the doctor once and I didn't know about "early release." Okay, so I only had one good excuse. :)

I'm not into Zodiac signs or fortunetellers at all, but someone telling you how people with my name usually are is pretty fun. The funny thing is: I googled my name and there is a Monique Chapman who is a "spirit reader," psychic, and a has a talk show where she explains things of the "other world." She has been known to go into people's houses and chase out bad spirits and tell people about their visions.

We could be twins!


Your turn to see what your name means:
http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyournameshiddenmeaningquiz/

Taco Bake. Arriba! Arriba!

Pretty huh?

Look. Layers.

Before being baked

After being baked. Kinda crispy on top. mmmm!

I am not that classy to have a blog dedicated solely to recipes, but I did have a thought as I was making a yummy Taco Bake that I should take pictures like the nerdy blogger that I am. More becuase it was a lot of work and it looks kinda pretty. This Taco Bake is sort of like one I found on this website, but I "made it my own" like Randy from American Idol would put it. (BTW I can't wait for AI!!! Has Archuleta even made a record yet? Oh yeah. He didn't win. Some other dude did. What's his name?) Sorry, that is why I can't have a recipe blog. I am too random to stay on task on one subject.

Anywho, I was trying to find a recipe that I particularly liked of Marianne's when we were invited over to her home for dinner one night. Go Marianne! Yes, it was that memorable. First off, I didn't think Haley would touch it, but she asked for seconds! And both Brandon and I enjoyed it. I got seconds too. So since Marianne is stingy with her recipes, I had to try and find it myself. :)

I changed the recipe from the website up a bit because it needed more flavor, but it was stellar.

2 lbs hamburger
1 onion (or 3 Tbsp. dried onions)
1 can diced green chiles
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream
1/2 c. water
1 pkg. of 10 corn tortillas
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips
8 oz. mild cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend) any mild mix really

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. ( I waited until after #3 because it took that long to simmer and put together.)
   
2. Brown hamburger with chopped finely onion. (I only like the taste of onion. Not the texture. Onions are meant to be tasted, not seen) Drain and put back in pan.
   
3. Add green chiles, stewed tomatoes, water, taco seasoning, and sour cream to hamburger. (I used my hand blender to blend the chiles and tomatoes. Again. The tomatoes and chiles are meant to be tasted, not seen. Also I thought the kids wouldn't like to see green things in their food.) Simmer on medium heat 5-10 minutes.
4. Layer corn tortillas, meat mixture, and cheese in that order three times in a 9 1/2 x 11 caserole dish. On the top layer, after the meat mixture, sprinkle the crushed tortilla chips all over then put the cheese on top.
   
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. We like the cheese to be a little brown, so we kept it in there a few more minutes. Enjoy!

I know what you a thinking. Why is Monique posting a picture of sour cream? (Tejfol. Not even close to what we call it huh?) Well. They don't have lids here on their sour cream containers. Weird huh? It's a foil top and then I just saran wrap it shut for next time. Lids. You'd think they'd find them useful by now. :) Oh that and Ziplock bags. They just don't have baggies like that. Anywhere. There was a rumor that IKEA sold them, but I didn't see any. They sell bags with twisty ties here. huh? What are those? That is soooo 80s! Not to worry. I think we have at least a year's supply of them in our garage. But geesh! Reclosable anything here is a foreign concept. Lunchmeat for another example. Oh and they still sell milk in bags. BAGS!! I buy my milk in normal screw-off top 1L (same as 1 Quart roughly) milk containers, but no gallon jugs. I pay a little more for it, but I just can't do it. Pouring milk from a bag? Gotta love the Hungarian way, I just don't have to do it their way all the time.

How To: Microwave Popcorn

HOW TO: MICROWAVE POPCORN by Maleia Chapman

Step one: Wait oh so patiently wearing huggable yellow footie jammies for that last second pop with bowl ready. Open microwave before you smell burning. (We don't have a popcorn button on our microwave that they gave us in Hungary.)

Step two: Ask mommy to open said bag because it's hot hot hot! (How could I say no to that just-bathed gleeful face?)

Step three: Pour into bowl without spilling. Caution: Harder than it looks. Someone's hand might keep getting in the way as he/she grabs the popcorn right as it is coming out.
"Mommy! I'm not done!" :) "Whot?"

Step four: Cheer loudly! (preferably with popcorn in mouth) Yesssss! (Fist up: optional)

Step five: Enjoy each delicious Kettle Corn kernel with a grin of gratitude. Savor it. (Yes, I did say Kettle corn. It was probably the last bag we will have for a while.) And try to keep it away from the Dylan monster approaching from the left. Aaaaah! He'll choke! (Yes. I am a little paranoid after Lucy's episode. Yikes!)

Step six: Share. For some reason it always tastes better when you share it. (She even gave Dylan the teeniest tiniest bites -with our supervision- because I told her that we have to give him little pieces of the popcorn becuase he might choke. She took me quite seriously. They were almost microscopic.) Way to go Maleia. Success! It was gooood!

My words don't give these pictures justice. She was just so excited and so cute because she wanted to do it all by herself! She can now say that she knows how to cook microwave popcorn at the age of three! What can I say. I'm a slave driver.

Pure Elation!

See how Dylan looks utterly blissful? (minus the owie over his eye. dang those sharp corners!) This is exactly how I feel now that we have all our things from the States!! Hooray! The first thing I did after our kitchen was set up was make Banana Bread in my Kitchenaid (thanks Stephanie for the recipe) and share it with the movers since they have never tasted it before. Notice, though, that Dylan was reading the Hungarian book that we got from the Posta instead of playing with all the great toys that we now have. (Pronounced PO-shta. The post office where we have to go to pay our bills. No, we don't mail them. We just pay them there.) We got it from the lady at the window that he was flirting with. It's a book about opposites, but it has a cat on the front. When I asked her if the title was Cat, she said, "Nem. It like funny, and not funny. Slow and speed. (huh?) Sun and cold." Ahhhh. Opposites! Hey, she was close enough. :) I then said, "Kosonem saipen." (Thank you.) And he loves it! The movers seemed super nice and we only had two major things broken, so it was a good move... so it seemed. Our 30 GB video iPod is missing!!!! Now it is hard to believe that they took it, but that is the only conclusion we have right now. It was there before they came and it was gone after they went. I didn't touch it, it was in a place where the kids couldn't get to it, and Brandon didn't move it. Bummer. We will keep looking for another day before we report it, but it just makes us worry what else...nah. I am still giving them the benefit of the doubt until we have combed the house a few more times. :( We are still thrilled to have most of our things though!

Jake Jake JAKE!!!

I was a little mad at "Jake" today, Maleia's imaginary friend, since he has been telling Maliea that everything is yucky. "I don't have to taste it, Mommy. Jake already did and HE said it was yucky." Then I wasn't a fan when she was watching a movie and changed the movie out all by herself. "But Jake doesn't like Barbie movies very well. Well, just not this one very much. He wanted to watch Polly World." Jake! Now my daughter has changed the settings on our TV and she got a DVD stuck in the player! Then, just before I was going to tell her that Jake needed to go back to America, I get this:

Imaginary Friends

The all-systems-go imagination of a 3-year-old can conjure up a new presence in your home — your child's imaginary playmate. Although it can be startling to suddenly hear your child talking to a pretend pal, this development is common and very positive. In fact, it's a healthy sign that you have a creative child. Imaginary friends are great for kids — and are another sign that this year is one of the most magical of childhood.

Yea! I have a creative child. . . Now if only Jake could be a little more creative. I do have to say that Jake loves to hear Maleia sing, he likes to go to the sandbox with her and use the blue shovel (no one else can use it, though), and he is now potty trained just like her! Oh, he does not like Chicken Pot Pie and thinks Maleia is bootiful. I hear her say, "Thank you Jake! I think you are bootiful too!" I will post a picture of what SHE thinks Jake looks like on this post a little later.

Maleia is THREE!!

Maleia my love! This little girl is such a sweetheart. She really is quite mellow, unless she gets around her sister. . . she just doesn't like to be controlled by her sister. :)

Three years ago I went into labor on my own and I remember two hours after playing some games with some friends, I was having hard contractions that I couldn't sleep through. All day I was having contractions, but they were only every 30 minutes or more apart. Then they became every 10-15 minutes. For three hours (From 12-3am) I would have these really painful contractions, but my midwife told me to wait until they were 5 minutes apart. By 4am, I was finally having them 5 minutes apart and I was ready to go in. We called the Harpers, our childrens' honorary aunt and uncle, and they came over right away to tend Haley. They knew everything there was to know about Haley, so I knew she was in good hands. We got to the hospital by 4:45 and I was admitted. My contractions slowed down after 2 hours of 5 minute contractions and being dilated to only a four, so after many laps around the hospital, they gave me Pitocin. That did the trick. After an epidural and finally an hour of sleep, Maleia was born a little after 11am. We called the Harpers, who we forgot would be at church, and the entire congregation knew that Maleia was born because the Star Wars March from their cell phone announced it to everyone while the sacrament was being passed. Great timing Maleia!

She was a great baby. Maleia was a little fussy around 5pm until 10pm for a month or so, but she grew out of it. She had reflux, so that wasn't much fun, but for the most part, she was very easy going. She was a daddy's girl from the start and continues to be an avid daddy supporter. She asks to call him at work, is disappointed when she finds out he's not home when she wakes up in the morning and at nap time, and she rushes to him still when he steps through the door. My favorite conversations are the ones that she tries to convince me to call daddy, again. "But he NEEDS me, mommy!" "I only got to talk to him for a 'couples' of minutes." "He told me to call him all the time." Are just a few excuses I can remember at the time.

Here are some things that Maleia says or does that makes her so darn adorable:

• rooster says "cocka lota doo"
• Hamburger: "hanger-ger"
• Wants to look like a princess everyday and tells me, "Oooo, I look bootiful, Mommy. Just like a princess!"
• No longer needs a bib. . . in her opinion
• Her hair just won't grow past her shoulders. . . We need some miracle grow. Also she has her father's cowlicks and my type of hair. Poor thing.
  
• Thinks flowers smell "deeee-licious!"
• Likes the top of Dylan's head for some reason (fuzzy head) and she will walk around touching it all day. I say "Off Dylan's head!" at LEAST a dozen times a day.
• Asks every day if she can go on the "skoo bus" with Haley. "I want to drive 'back a wards' too!"
• When she prays, she starts with "Dear Hemy Faaah-der. We tank dee for this daaaaay."
• She is our little European. She drinks her drinks room temperature (we even put them in the microwave for a few seconds for her) and wants all her sandwiches open-faced
• When we are eating, she will often tell us that there are "erms" in her food. Which are herbs, pepper, or anything floating or attached to her food that she thinks isn't supposed to be there. She will eat most of them if we tell her they are nutritious and they make the food taste better.
• will do anything for an Oreo
• Knows all her ABC's and can identify all of them
• Memorized the 1st, 2nd, and 7th Articles of Faith so far. (I know it is random that she knows the 7th. You can be as surprised as we are.)
  
• can tell a semi-sensible story for ten minutes straight!
• has an imaginary friend named Jake who we accidentally left in the shopping cart the other day and we had to go back to get him. Sorry, Jake. My bad.
  

favorite animals: still Piggies (of course), "dolphins which are so so bootiful, and Chris." (sigh) Hey Chris? What are you teaching my children? :) Do I really want to know? heehee ... Or is it Jenn that I should be addressing??
favorite colors: "pink, blue, purple, orange, and also gray, all the colors, and blueish"
favorite shows: Hi-5 and Dora
favorite movies: Little Mermaid with "Err-iel," and Enchanted with the scary Dragon part
favorite chips: "burritos!" (Doritos)
favorite cereal: Lucky Charmies
favorite snack: "plain peanut butter on a spoon with apples and bread on the side"
favorite toys: Princess Polly Pockets and her Piggy toys

I love the mentality of a three year old:

Mom: "Maleia, eat your food."
Maleia: "Well, the cheese makes me nervous."
Mom: "Nervous? Why?"
Maleia: "Because it is really dead."

Maleia: "I'm hot, can you scratch my back?... Aaaaah, I'm getting warmer. That's the ticket!" ("that's the ticket" is from either a Backyardigans or Wonder Pets show and she uses warmer when she means cooler.)

Maleia: "Mommy, I don't want to go to the store because then all the people will smile at me and speak Hungreebee. And then you go to the cold place and I'm freezing like a huge crocodile."

She cracks me up daily. Like for instance. She is very persistent and just asked for a cookie. I told her that she can have one after a healthy snack and she said, "okay" and went straight into the kitchen. She is now dragging a wooden chair across our tile floor (very loudly!!) and I know she is going to try to get one herself. . . yup. She just came in with two in hand and exclaimed, "Look! Magic! Here's one for you mommy. I love you." Now how am I supposed to be mad at that? sigh. I love that Maleia girl.

Brandon is OOOLLLDDD!

29?? Wow. I am so glad I married someone WAY older than me... okay 2 months, but he is a whole year older than me for those 2 blissful months. I can tell he is getting wiser and more adept as he is reaching the ripe old age of 30, but here are a few "young" things he is done this year being 28:

*Bought our first game system PS2 (I had NOTHING to do with this :)
*Bought Guitar Hero and Rock Band
*Started beating me in tennis
*Uprooted his family to a whole new country
*Played in a softball league with his friends
*"Worked" with the Ravens NFL league as a referee in their corporate events. (Basically it was a paid Guys Night Out where he got to play flag football, do some work, and eat with his buddies.)
*Played in a pick-up game of soccer on the 4th of July and he is goooood. He doesn't give himself enough credit.
*Organized a Game Night group with three other couples in our Church Ward
*Played volleyball at The Volleyball House and can still school people (BTW White Men CAN jump!)
*Go Cart Racing!!

In my opinion, he has had some fun birthdays. :) Since this is MY blog entry, I'm going to write about some of the most memorable birthdays for me: One year I took him to Tony Roma's for some ribs and country BBQ, which by the way is his favorite food to go out to eat. He is a maniac and has a crazed look in his eye when he eats BBQ. Anyway, while we were talking, I brought up that I was pregnant. B's not a very emotionally-outgoing person, so it is never as fun as I think it will be to tell him that we are going to have another baby, ("What??!!!! REALLY!?? I'm going to be a DAD!!!" -screaming and choking on food. Applause by everyone around us. . . Nope. . . this is what he said: "Say that again? Oh. -nodding- Right on.") but it was still a great experience since we had just miscarried months before and it was fun letting him know on his birthday. Then one day less than 8 months later, we have Haley!

Of course I like to think that his BEST birthday present was when he proposed to me on his birthday and I said "of course I will," but it was still bitter/sweet since I threw the ring in the river, (sorry babe) but I do have to say he was quite creative... point: B. (Story to come on our anniversary. STAY TUNED...)

Yesterday, I had a BBQ for him and invited many of our new friends here. We had American beef hamburgers and lots of other food, and then I made pies because he's not much of a cake lover. The charcoal is definitely not what it's like in the States... it took a while to figure them out, but it was worth the wait. It was great because it was just his style. Laid back, full of friends and family, and good food. Then we went home, put kids to bed and watched the BYU game. It went wee into the morning hours of his actual birthday, so that was his first official birthday present. BYU beating UCLA 59-0!!! So I have to say that he is a wonderful husband and an amazing father to our kiddos. They adore him and I have to say I think he's pretty stellar myself. I love that man!

QOTD:

Haley: "Dad, how do you say 'o' in Hungarian?"
Brandon: "Hmm, 'O' as in the letter?"
Haley: "Um. Kind of. Actually not really."
Brandon: "Well, use it in a sentence then."
Haley: "Oh! I have a cat."
Me: (giggle, giggle)
Haley: "Moooooom!"
Me: "I'm not laughing at you (I couldn't let her know) I'm laughing at Dylan. (squelched laugh) Good sentence Haley!"

*I don't know why this was so funny to me, but the rest of the day I would whisper, "Oh! I have a cat!" and I would giggle to myself.

To remember every fleeting moment

Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11)

This is why I blog... I always want to remember the little things and what makes each of my children unique. I want them to know those things and to love themselves for those things, too. I have WONDERFUL children. If you are reading this Haley, Maleia, Dylan or .... any other kid(s) of mine to come, I hope you always know that you are the wonders of my life and I want to remember every step you took, every smile and good deed, those tough times, and every loving embrace. There are already too many to count. Love, Mom

Remember this day?

We need to remember....

I will never forget this day because it was the day I knew that I could never be without Brandon. He was the first one I thought about when I heard that we were being attacked by terrorists. I thought dreadful stuff like how would we find each other when everyone started panicking and going crazy. (We were in Utah. silly me.) I thought about how he would be drafted in the war and go fight these Barbarians. Then I thought of my life without him. About those families that lost their brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter . . . spouse. And I cried and tried not to show those children in my preschool how sad I was.

We often forget how vulnerable we can be, how cruel the world really is, how much we need each other, and how TRULY blessed we are to be Americans. I want to say to all those who complain about how horrible America is and how this government stinks and how much they hate it there, (Now this is really mean, so I'm just warning you...) "LEAVE! Go to places in Cuba, Africa, North Korea, etc. etc. live there for a while and find out how blessed you REALLY are and how living in a place that you can actually say those horrible stabs is a blessing." I can go on and on, but I do just want to say that I still get choked up thinking about the feelings of that day and how glad I was when Bush announced that he would do everything in his power to make sure this wouldn't happen again. He fought when other Presidents would just side track the nation into something irrelevant. He's not perfect, but I feel I am loyal enough to always support my president no matter who is in office. I might not always like what he does, but I love what he stands for.

Let me conclude with the fact that I don't know how or why I was so lucky, but I am proud to be an American and I feel even more connected to the United States, though I don't even live there anymore. I guess when you are there you take more for granted. I feel somber this day to know that there are so many people in this world who HATE America. I feel blessed to know that we live in a nation UNDER GOD who, regardless of what others say, really does love others and wants to do the right thing. . . and there IS a "right" and a "wrong." period.

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him." ~Abraham Lincoln

"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect." ~Adlai Stevenson

Rise and Shout !

I will no longer have nice long nails... BYU football season has started. As I type this two minutes after our second victory, I am first AMAZED that we can even watch BYU play though we are in Hungary. Secondly, relieved after a last minute win. Third, tired of the commentators not given BYU the respect they deserve. Instead of talking about a controversial call at the end of the game, let's talk about the dominating offense and key ingredients of why we won. So for those who couldn't care less about football, I'll help you so you don't fall asleep with at least some comical prose. . .

I Bleed BLUE . . . It's True! by Monique S. Chapman

Bringing me joys, my BYU boys
Love Hall. He can throw a football (but I wish he were a little more mobile)
Unga rocks! Watch out you teeny jocks!
Collie had a rough go. Dropping three in a row (he did score the 1st TD, so I give him some props though)
Fumble on the one. Not so much fun. (especially after a 96 yard run)
Kicker for the Huskies, kicked our buttskies!
Pitta has some magic hands. B and I are both big fans.
Our defensive line... giving the quarterback WAY too much time

My voice goes hoarse with my frustration scream
Why can't we have a better defensive team?!!!
4th and 10?? We can't even stop them then??

We know the QB can run . . . Catch him you dominators!
Excessive celebration, read the rules you doubting commentators

Blocked extra point. Roaring in the joint!
We were the better team. So I yell my victory scream!!!!
Boo says the Husky crowd, not loud enough to stifle Bronco beaming so proud.

** More notes on the cougs... I feel like the score doesn't reflect how much better we were as a team, though I was pulling out my hair when we were on defense. I almost woke my kids up a few times, but we won. It is 12:30am our time and the adrenaline is still rushing, so I will definitely have to read a while to calm down. I have to "detox" if you will otherwise I go over plays in my head and daydream about how plays could have been different. Oh, and there are only 16 seniors this year, with only six starting, so we feel that we will even have a good team in the next years to come. 40% of our team are freshman!! We are ranked 15 right now in the nation. BCS eat your heart out. . . . Oh, got to go! San Diego State is beating Notre Dame right now in the 4th quarter. This would be a HUGE win for our conference. sigh. I love football season. I also love long nails, but I can't have any unless the defense stops making me so nervous... and I love that we get to watch it with Slingbox. Thanks Reido! :)

Dylan's 1st B-day!!

Dylan's birthday was an eventful one. We started out going to the doctor where we found out that Haley has Pink Eye. ug. They give us some antibiotics and we go home. Great. Now she can't go to school for the rest of the week and we can't go over to our friend's house who invited us for dinner tonight. So we go home and I give Haley her first dose of the eye cream and this is the conversation:

Haley: Oh Mommy, I don't like this stuff one bit! Not at all! I just can't stand it! Oh please, it is HORRIBLE!!! (She's our drama queen, so picture some tears and a face of agony.)
Me: Well Haley, the doctor said that you needed to use this stuff every day so your eyes can feel better.
Haley: Until I'm a grandma?!!!! Oh mom. (sniff) This is so unfair!

So we get home from our trip to the Embassy medical unit and I tell the girls they can watch a movie (since I don't want Haley moving about infecting stuff PLUS she doesn't feel well.) I leave to get a snack for them and when I return, I find Maleia squatted down in front of Dylan staring at him with her head moving from side to side.

Mom: Hi Maleia. What are you doing?
Maleia: I'm watching him grow.
Mom: Oh?
Maleia: But he's not growing. (stands up and puts hands on hips.) So I don't think he's bigger. He's can't be one yet, Mommy.
Mom: But it's his birthday today, honey.
Maleia: Yeah, but he's still a baby!! (talking to Dylan in a high pitched baby talk and back to the squatting position.) Hi Dewin! Do you want to play with me? (He shows her a block Lego that he's playing with, throws it, and laughs while watching it bounce). . . . see mom. He can't even talk yet.
Mom: He can say some words.
Maleia: Not English! And he can't even walk yet. Mommy, we can't have his birthday today. I think you should save his birthday cake for my birthday. It's in some weeks!

Whatever gets you more cake dearie! :)

Okay, so on to Dylan... Let's start at the beginning... I remember having contractions for two weeks and nothing happening. I went in for a routine check up and the nurse noticed that in the last two weeks I was getting smaller, but the baby was getting bigger. hmmm sounds familiar. (I had this with Haley, too.) I went in for an ultrasound to check things out and it said that I had a little less than normal amniotic fluid, but not bad, but that the baby was already 8 lbs. So my midwife said that if I didn't have the baby within the next week and a half, she would induce on my due date, just to be on the safe side. I had another appointment two days before I was due and I was even smaller, so she made the induction appointment for 7am two days later on Sept. 4th, 2007. Crazy it's already been a year!

Yada yada yada, then the baby was born. Yes I did yada-yada over the best part! I had an epidural, easy labor, no tearing, few pushes, lots of rest, and I even got to pull him out myself. (I know you are all cringing right now, and even I kinda get the willies writing that, but it seemed okay in the moment.) Actually it was pretty cool, but weird at the same time. I guess I can say I delivered my own baby.. but only technically. Oficially I had once again an amazing midwife, the same one that delivered Maleia actually. I love midwives and am planning to always use one. They are just Pro-YOU! Whatever you want, within safety guidelines, is great with them. She was there from when I stepped foot into the hospital and I knew her my whole pregnancy. Dylan was such a great baby! A little colicky at first, we found out what worked for him, and he eventually grew out of it. This year has flown by and he has done so much being only one. He has flown to Georgia, South Carolina, Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake, New York, and now Budapest.

What Dylan can do:

• waves hi and bye and says "haaaa" or "baaa" like a southern belle would say 'hi' or 'bye'
  
• walks using furniture. He likes to use a chair on our hardwood floor as a walker.
• knows 'more' and 'please' in sign language
• throws his hands in the air above his head when we yell "Touchdown!!" (just in time for football season... :)
• says: Mama, dad, up, you, that, hello, no, and this
• says: "num-num" for anything edible
• says: "nana" for "banana"
  
• says: "bubble" for "bottle" (my favorite thing he says)
  
• says: "nu-nu-nu-nu-no!" while shaking his head
• says: "dut" for "duck"
  
• when there is something we don't want him to put in his mouth, I tell him its yucky and he looks at me and responds with eyes furrowed, "ccckkkk!"
  
• every time he hears something remotely sounding like an airplane, he stops what he is doing, points his little pointer finger in the air, cocks his head back, and says "up?" then looks for an airplane even though it could be the lawn mower,vacuum, or a truck ... and even if we are inside
• when we ask him for a kiss, he bends forward for an open mouthed slobber, but then makes the real kissing sound after. "kiss, kiss, kiss"
  
• crawls everywhere, can pull himself up on anything (including stairs, yikes!), and walks around the furniture
• LOVES dogs!! says: ""wuf wuf wuf!" when he sees one and goes absolutely ballistic! He chases them around when he's near one giggling, shaking his fists, and jumping on his bum. When the dog walks away he complains, then the chase continues.
  
• LOVES his little furry blanket and pacifier. Yes! I changed him from a thumb sucker to a binkie sucker. I'll find out soon which one I prefer, since both of my girls are thumb suckers.
  
• he's still bald. I was thinking of giving him a haircut, so I cut a few of the long hairs with scissors. A whole whopping 3 hairs.
  
• drinks from a bottle now. He was weaned from nursing at 10 1/2 months because I didn't have enough for him. I have three more Costco tubs of formula and so I'm just going to give him the rest and be done with formula in a few more months.
• eats pretty much anything we give him and just eats non-stop. What can I say? He's a tank. He's 23 lbs and is in a forward facing car seat now and just laughs out the window when we go anywhere. It's a whole new world to him now.
  
• loves to play catch with himself. He LOVES balls. He will throw anything to see if it bounces and if it's a ball, he will laugh hysterically after finding that it bounces, crawl quickly after the ball, and throw it again. I guess it's more like fetch, but still, he has a blast.
• When we ask, "How old are you?" He puts up his index finger and yells, "Wah!" :)
  

All in all, he is a sweet, loving baby who smiles at EVERYONE and is really pretty easy. He likes to flirt. I can totally tell the difference between boys and girls now that he is older. We love having this sweet little man in our lives and can't wait to find out what this next year will bring. . . we also say that he needs a brother. . . but not for a couple of years. :)

Hungary Pictures! -fo real!

So forget all the blabber... I will now SHOW you what we have been up too!

Okay, so there will be a little blabber...Here is our house from the backyard. It is 4 stories high and we just keep wondering how we ended up with such a nice house. This is taken from the park in our back yard. We have a park and a tennis court on the compound where we can play play play. There are 9 families that can live here and they are all so nice. If there are kids already at the park, the girls will go out to play without me or Brandon, and we can watch them from our back windows. We have a high guarded fence surrounding the compound with two gates that we can control, so we feel very safe here.

We went to a festival where they closed one of the main bridges that connect Buda and Pest over the Danube river where there were dancers, crafts, and tons of FOOD! This is the candy that they had there in open buckets and they use scoops to put them in baggies to chow. We tried a few.

I am apart of NAWA (North American Women's Association) and every Tuesday we all take turns having playgroup at someone's home. A lady in my ward lives in an apartment and didn't think we would all fit, so we met at her neighborhood park which was HUGE! It was the size of a football field. The girls had a ball and I loved getting to know new people. This was 4 days after we arrived.

On St. Steven's Day (Hungarian's biggest holiday of the year) they have an air show during the day, where we saw helicopters do backflips and other insane things like barrel rollls, and then a fireworks show at night from one of the bridges. We were able to go to the Marine house (for embassy workers and their guests) for a BBQ and watch the show. Dylan was amazed and it was so cute. His mouth was open all day and when he heard one coming he would point his hand in the air and say "up! up!" The girls covered their ears and watched some of it, but they had more fun playing with their friends all day. We watched the fireworks at a friend's house that night because we weren't brave enough to fight the crowds this year. It's like our 4th of July.

They seem to have statues at every major intersection here. Some are soviet based, some are gifts, many are reminders of how they hate communism, but most are beautiful and have a lot of meaning. Sorry this picture is so blurry. It is taken from a moving vehicle through a window...

This is called "Hero's square" and this piture is at night. It is beautiful! I just went by this the other day and they had a military production for some diplomats who happened to be visiting. And it was quite a show!

This is Parliment, but my girls call it another castle. This is where the governement convenes and is so beautiful.

This is a typical Hungarian Road.

We went to the castle district and for some reason we were excited about the long line of cannons. We found a bird's nest in one of them, so we were looking in ALL of them to see if there were any more treasures to be found.

Cool statue at an intersection. That is a girl draped over a bust of someone. . . sorry for the lousy history lesson.

This is us waiting for the bus to arrive. We are quite the travelers now. We have to walk 10 min. to the closest bus stop, since we are up in the Buda hills overlooking the city, but it is worth the walk. The girls love the super fast subway, and the train is slower, but more scenic and goes even farther up the hills.

This is to show you how gargantuan Parliment is.

This is one of the bridges next to Maragrit Island where they have some amazing things. This Island is in the Danube river. Haley is going on a field trip to it on Tuesday, so I might tag along.

One of the many view points all over the city.

Beautiful garden and, yes, another statue.

THIS is the castle!! Isn't it stunning? This is yet another bridge called the Chain Bridge.

I have tons of pictures but will save some for another day. We wish we can take you all on a field trip to Budapest. :)