We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Love,
Baby Micah, Hopie, Nova Jo, Juneau, Kaleb, and Secily

add it to the list of bad ideas....

as you may know, on Sunday we are setting out for the long car trip to ohio. My whole family is going to be home for Christmas and staying at my parents house (5 kids, 6 grandkids plus my parents), and we are doing some family portraits while we are all home. i thought it might be a good idea for everyone to get haircuts this week before the pictures, so i scheduled Cris and Nova for haircuts (Juneau's looks - or rather LOOKED - ok, and i just had mine cut).

Being fairly new to the area, i booked the appt with a hairdresser we had never been to.

bad idea. very very bad idea. "Auntie Linda", as she likes to be called, and I do not have the same idea about what looks good as far as hair is concerned.

Nova was first. she was a super star for her first haircut. my goal was to get rid of the mullet. Unfortunately, somehow linda actually made the mullet MORE prominent, by cutting all of nova's hair on top straight across her forehead (and crooked, at that), then leaving the back all long.

I didn't really realize how bad Nova's looked until it dried, so when she insisted on giving Juneau's bangs a little trim, i complied.

Juneau didn't really have bangs before, and now she has her little baby hairs (which i treated like bangs), and then a weird chunk of hair in the middle, then the rest of her hair.

Finally, poor poor cris. She took to his head with the clippers and the result left much to be desired. It's a weird length - too long to be a buzz cut, to short to be a normal cut. and then there are the bangs. yes, she buzzed the whole thing all the same length, and then left him bangs. so very odd.

all that to say, scheduling everyone in the family for haircuts with an unknown hairdresser is now on my list of bad idea. please remind me of that next time we are about to capture our entire family in formal portraits forever.

The girls are currently obsessed with all things "Little Einstein". Nova is also into putting anything and everything into her mouth (including sucking on her own dirty socks until they are covered in drool). Here she is giving her special drool treatment to Quincy.

Since the girls aren't really into riding in the sling anymore (and i'm not sure my shoulder/back could even handle it!) Nova tried it out to carry around Elmo in.

It worked pretty well!

I work a long long day tomorrow and saturday, and then we hit the road!

Can't wait to see the fam in just a few days!

"gorgeous!"

Juneau yesterday took a look at the big blue Colorado sky and announced "The blue sky is Gorgeous!". So cute. She's also gotten into using a lot of made-up words. Her current favorite madeup words are "Gwee-gwice" and "Squee-squosh".

We are gearing up for the big road trip. We leave on Sunday for our 20 hour drive....we'll keep you posted on how that goes. I anticipate i will be at least partially insane by the time we arrive.

Nova, excited to spend 2 weeks in O-H-I-O with the fam!

Juneau's been into pufffing her belly out after she eats. She makes it as big as she can, and then says "Juneau's tummy BIIIIIIG, rub it sissy!" Here she was balancing her sippy on her "biiiig tummy"
Today the girls got Christmas cards in the mail from Aunt Nutkin. They each play Christmas carols when you open them up. Unfortunately "Feliz Navidad", and "Deck the Halls" don't sound so great when played simultaneously! They LOVED the cards and kept opening and closing them. "Fun" for whole household!

Nova chillin' out with dad by the fireplace

The girls rough housing with daddy before bed

cold, i mean really really cold.

by the time i made it to work his morning it was 8 degrees BELOW zero! Seriously, people, this is craziness! I can barely stand to even set foot outside the front door! I am getting some serious cabin fever (or as my mom call it "caged animal").

I do want to say a sincere thank you for all of the heartfelt concern about my blood pressure. I have gotten emails, comments, phone calls, and letters checking in on me. I don't have much of an update. I did start some medication last week, but i haven't checked my BP since i've been on the new med. I feel really good though, so maybe it is working. anyway, now that i am really concious about my BP I have been able to really be aware of the times i am getting overwhelmed and stressed out, and i am trying to take a step back and relax when i realize it is happening. I am also really watching my sodium intake (although i have never been a salt-lover), and quit caffeine cold turkey. so, i'll let you know how things look when i finally get around to taking my BP.

So, enough about boring old Blood Pressure....let's talk about adorable baby girls! The cutie pies are doing well. Nova has been a bit challening the last couple of weeks, as she has figured out how to throw a fit. what's really funny, though, is as soon as she starts up with the fit, she heads straight over to the time out mat and plops herself down. We don't have to say a word. It's a little sequence:

1. Nova starts crying over something silly

2. she head over to the time out mat

3. she cries for a couple of minutes

4. she announces "happy"

5. she head back out ot the living room to play.

In other news, as was inevitable, the magic of the magic bracelet has started to wear off. they still want bracelets before bed, but then Juneau starts the "mama, mama" chant and crying just a few minutes after bed.

However, I have discovered the Parental Secret Weapon - The Guilt Trip. One night i told juneau "mommy is sooooo sad when you cry at night. When you go to sleep without crying it makes mom so happy! so try really hard not to cry, so mommy will be happy not sad".

not a peep out of that kiddo after the pep talk.

Juneau started playing a funny game this week. she tucks her hand up in her sleeve then tries to get you to look inside her sleeve, and pops her hand out and tickles you. Here she is in the midst of the trick.

Love these girls...

Disney On Ice - Denver!!

We were so fortunate today to be able to take the girls to an AWESOME performance of Disney on Ice in Denver, courtesy of the Feld Family Activator Program! I was a little unsure about the show being able to hold the girls attention, but boy was i surprised! Juneau especially was fascinated by the ice skaters, and their amazing costumes, props, and choreography. She didn't take her eyes off the ice for the entire 2 hour show (Except to get some popcorn and cotton candy at intermission!). Even Nova was fascinated, especially during the 2nd half when the Fairy Princesses were entertaining her with their spinning, dancing, and fairy dust tossing. They even had fairy princesses floating through the air! This is a definate MUST SEE if you are in the Denver area! A perfect performance for all ages. Click on the picture of the flyer for details about the show and a special coupon code

Here is Nova, excited before heading to Denver for the big show!

Ariel and the Prince were amazing!

Juneau loved the Lion King performance. There were some really cool animal props and constumes, and Juneau just kept saying "Lion King, Lion King" through the whole performance

Of course, Mickey, Minney, Goofey, and Juneau's favorite - Donald - were in attendance! Our seats were AMAZING, and we were so close Juneau thought Mickey was actually waving at her!

Nova LOVING the fairy princesses in the second half of the show

During the intermission Juneau just had to have some cotton candy, which came with this very cool Lightening McQueen souvenier hat!

We had an amazing time at the show! Like i said, if you live in the Denver area, don't miss it!

COUPON CODE! Purchase 4 tickets for the Monday through Friday matinee show for $44, or save $4 off weekend performances by using the code "MOM" when you checkout online.

After the show, we of course got to hang out with our blogger buddies from Pho For Five.
The kids were soooo cute together today, and really played well. It was so nice to get to spend some time chatting and laughing with Laurie and Travis.

Jackson and Juneau having fun with the Train Table.

Hanging out with Jackson. He is seriously adorable.

Can you tell Jbug was excited to be there!?

Finley is only a few weeks older than Nova. I really think they look like they could be sisters!

In fact, the first time we got to actually meet Finley, Juneau kept calling Nova "sissy one" and Finley "sissy two"All the kids (and the grown ups!) enjoyed some delicious Vietnamese food for lunch.

Are they not the cutest bunch of kiddos you've ever seen! What a crazy crew!

The One Where I Talk About How My Job Might Actually Kill Me

I went to the doctor (well, actually to the nurse practioner) last month for my annual army physical. My blood pressure was high, but i thought it was just because i was having a kind of stressful day (it was the week i was Dr. Death). She recommended i do a Five Day BP check.

Today at my BP check my blood pressure was 210/126. And that was while i was sitting and relaxing. First it was 180/107, so the nurse said "hmmmm.....lets check that on the other arm". Well, the other arm was not quite as friendly, and gave us 210/126. At which point i realize i am probably going to have a stroke while i am sitting right there in the chair. luckily i didn't. But I guess what freaks me out is that if my blood pressure is so freakishly high when i am just sitting in a chair, what in the world is it doing when i'm in the O.R. with an emergency c-section, while getting hammer paged from the ER, and all the while wishing i could just sleep 7 consecutive hours without any babies crying. I don't mean to complain about my job. it's really not that the job is so terribly stressful, it's more that i'm just not handling the stress very well.

I am frustrated with the fact that i spent 12 years training to be a doctor, that i have finally made it to being an OB/GYN (although i still have 2 more years before i am technically Board Certified - does the training ever end!), and that the majority of patient's i deal with every day are rude and entitled. That patient's (and their husbands) feel it is appropriate to curse and yell at the medical staff, and to threaten us with complaints to the Patient Representative if they don't get what they want. Just yesterday I had a patient's husband DEMAND that she be induced that very day, regardless of the fact that her due date was 2+ weeks away. She was in pain, and if I didn't agree to induce her he was going straight to the patient rep to complain about the medical care. Although I know i was right not to agree to an unindicated induction, it is still such a pain to have to deal with the patient rep, which often means the physician has to actually call the patient and APOLOGIZE that they were unsatisified with their medical care! What has this profession become! In the end i agreed to do an amniocentesis on this crazy patient to document that her baby's lungs were mature, then do an induction. so yes, she got her way. But who in their right mind would CHOOSE to have a giant needle stuck into their uterus just so that they can be induced 2 weeks early?

To add to the drama i was contacted by the Patient Rep at Tripler this week to inform me a former patient was seeking compensation due to the fact that she didn't like her hysterectomy scar. I have to say I am very, VERY careful with my incisions. Probably to a fault. Sometimes it takes me 30 minutes to get the incision closed the way i want it (compared to the 3 minutes it takes to just staple it closed - which i don't do). So this girl has had THREE c/sections, and a hysterectomy....there is no way her abdominal scar is going to be perfect. So she is trying to sue me, the last one who operated on her, so she can get an abdominoplasty paid for. It's so so so painful to have to deal with this kind of crap.

It is so hard to understand how much i have sacrificed over the last 12 years to become a physician, and now i spend my day, every day, trying to satisfy patients who just can't be satisifed, and trying to keep from getting sued. It is depressing that i gave up so much of my life for this.

So now i am going through everything i can to figure out what changes i need to make to get this BP at least out of the stroke-out range. this means giving up things that i LOVE, like caffeine (i usually drink one Grande Vanilla Latte, and at least 2 cans of diet coke/day). I don't know what else it means giving up. I don't have much of an option as far as the job goes. I can't cut back on my hours since i am employed by the U.S. Army for the next 3 years (oh yes, which adds to the stress that when Obama sends 30,000 troops to afghanistan this year, they are going to need a WHOLE LOT of doctors to go, and i will probably find myself in the desert sometime soon).

so anyway, this is a big, long, ranting post basically to say i am basically a walking ball of stress and anxiety, and it's driving me to an early grave!

Either that or i am allergic to Colorado and cold weather, and they army should send me back to Hawaii to keep me from stroking!

Hello, December

I can't believe 2009 is almost over! We are ready for a whirlwind finish to our year. In 3 weeks we load up the minivan with lots of presents, 2 little girls, 1 little dog, and make the 21 hour drive to Ohio. We contemplated trying to fly, but there is just too much stuff to move from Colorado to Ohio, and we still have some stuff in storage in Ohio that needs to make it back to Colorado. So minivan it is!

Not a whole lot to write about tonight, so i will just add some pictures from the week.

Here you can see Nova in one of her "Princess" dresses.

The girls' new favorite toy is a bag of little glass marbles i had bought at the craft store. They are literally obsessed with these "beads". They talk about beads all day long, and love to get them out and transfer them from one container to another. Cris found this cardboard tube, and they love sending the beads down the tube.

Favorite snack Fruit with a variety of dips.

Delicious!

Nova rockin' in her PJ's before bed