Thanksgiving

So for Thanksgiving this year we went down to St. George with Zac's family. We had a lot of fun. Although with the "blizzard" coming in, St. George wasn't really that much warmer than here. Oh well we still had tons of fun.

First off Lizzie in her winter gear. All bundled up for the ride down.

We went to pizza factory the Wednesday night.

This is just me and Lizzie playing before Thanksgiving dinner.

The girls and Zac were all in the front room. Zac's sisters decided to sing to Lizzie. She thought that was pretty dang awesome.

We were also able to take a family photo while we were there.

Rolling With Laughter - Part 2

My sister Tatiana is taking a photography class and has discovered that she has the photographic nack. Here are some of the photos she took of Lizzie at the beginning of November.

Mi hermana Tatiana está tomando un curso de fotografía y ha descubierto que tiene el talento fotográfico. Aquí hay unas de las fotos que sacó de Lizzie en el principio de noviembre.

Rolling with Laughter Part 1

Ok, so I know it's been a month and a bit since we last posted, but a lot has happened and today we have time to put the posts together that I've been meaning to do for weeks.

Lizzie's personality is developing more each day and she is funny. She's also an avid explorer and quick to let you know if she doesn't like something.

So, the photos and videos. First, we dressed her up as a lady bug for Halloween. I think she just liked the attention. But she got frightened a few times by people scaring the person carrying her, so it may take a year to convince her that Halloween isn't really that bad.

Next we've got the videos of her rolling and laughing. Since taking these, she's acquired more practice at rolling herself (as opposed to falling) and has mastered rolling over from her back to stomach. I bet we've only got a few more weeks before she becomes semi-mobile about it.

Then there's her laughing. I have to admit, this has been the funnest development so far. It's easier to play with her when she laughs at your jokes or even at what she considers a funny face. This last week she has taken to holding nearly hour long conversations with you ... though sometimes she gets frustrated that you're trying to interrupt her.

Ok, ya sé que ha pasado un mes desde que comenté, pero mucho ha ocurrido y hoy tengo tiempo para juntar mis comentarios.

Lizzie tiene una personalidad tan chistosa y la está desarrollando diariamente. También le encanta explorar y si no le gusta algo, te dirá.

Bueno, las fotos y los videos. Primeramente, para Halloween le vestimos como mariquita. Creo que a ella le gustó la atención. Pero cuando alguien espantó a la persona que la estaba cargando, ella empezó a llorar. Qué bueno que tenemos un año para convencerle otra vez que le gusta Halloween.

Después, tenemos los videos de ella rodando y riendo. En las semanas desde que sacamos estés videos, ella ha practicado rodándose y ahora los hace sola (más rodando que cayendo) y ha perfeccionado rodando de espalda a estomago. Creo que en dos o tres semanas más, ella estará moviéndose.

Y por fin tenemos el video de ella riendo. Tengo que confesar, esta ha sido el desarrollo más divertido. Ahora es más fácil jugar con ella porque se ríe de tus chistes. En esta semana Lizzie ha empezado mantener conversaciones por una hora completa, y se frustra cuando le interrumpís.

A Growing Personality

Wow, September is almost over. And at the same time, Lizzie is only three months old and yet she's got a crazy personality already.

We've also taken to watching a show called the IT Crowd and find it really funny. Maybe you've heard of it.

Last but not least, your little-miss-cuteness fix:

September

It's funny how the days pass and you always seem really busy - but then you look back and realize it has been a month and your time is evaporating.
For example, we had Lizzie's baby blessing a few weeks ago, and in those short weeks since, she has discovered her hands (even if she can't control them very well yet), she can smile to light up a room, and just two days ago she realized that the ducks on her feet moved when she thought about them. :D Next week she'll probably be off to college!
Brooke's back in school with online classes, and I'm finishing up the last break-neck projects before the federal financial season closes on Wednesday. There's plenty going on, but it's good to take a moment to mention it for your benefit.
My sister is also taking a photography class and took these photos of Lizzie yesterday.








Es chistoso como los días nos pasan y estamos bien ocupados – pero cuando vemos atrás, nos damos cuenta que ya paso un mes.
Por ejemplo: hace algunas semanas bendecimos a Lizzie, y en el poco tiempo después ya ella ha descubierto sus manos (aun que no puede controlarlas ya), ya puede sonreír para iluminar el cuarto, y hace dos días se dio cuenta que los patos en los pies de su ropa se muevan cuando ella piensa! Parece que en la próxima semana, empezará su carera en la Universidad.
Brooke ya ha regresado a escuela con clases del internet, y estoy trabajando para terminar los últimos proyectos antes que termina la temporada de financias federales este miércoles. Hay mucho que hacer, pero quise tomar un poco de tiempo para escribirlo.
También, mi hermana empezó una clase de fotografía y tomo estas fotos de Lizzie ayer.

Epic Cuteness

Epic Cuteness:
Linda epica:

Sleep is a very good thing!

So at 6 1/2 weeks Lizzie is sleeping so great. She averages between 5-6 hours at night, with an occasional 7 hour stretch. Sunday night she did her first 8 hour stretch and then again Tuesday night. I am absolutely loving it. She is such a good baby.

About this same time she has started being a lot more social. Which we are also enjoying. She loves to talk and play and yesterday I got the cutest picture of her while we were playing.

She sleeps great, she plays great and we absolutely love having her in our family.

Lizzie's Smile

Sorry we haven't posted for a while, Lizzie is now far more alert and therefore consumes far more attention.

At her last checkup, she finally cleared her birth weight and is now gaining weight steadily. She's also sleeping far more regularly, with 5-hour stretches at night being common and the occasional 7-hour stretch every once and a while. She is also far more alert and awake. Her personality seems to shine through more and more each day. She is getting to know us more and we're getting to know her! Sometimes, when she's awake, you can coax a smile out of her and today we sat down with a video camera to try and catch some good ones. Below are the results of our efforts (you can tell when Brooke came to help me out with the camera, the quality of filming improves dramatically). As you will see, she still has some of her characteristic sticking-out of the tongue that did when she was born.

Brooke and I have also discovered that we really like the movie Leap Year and highly recommend it to everyone. It's good, it's clean, and it's what Ireland is actually like ... though without swearing (i.e. no one from Dublin has a speaking role in this film).




Perdónanos que no hemos escrito en los últimos días, Lizzie ya es más despierta y entonces consume más de nuestra atención.

Un su última visita al doctor, finalmente ha pasado su peso de nacimiento y está subiendo de peso bien. Ella duerma más regularmente ahora también, usualmente cinco horas a la vez, y de vez en cuando hace siete. También ella es más despierta y atenta. Su personalidad brilla más y más cada día. Está conociéndonos y nosotros a ella. A veces, cuando está despierta, puedes persuadirle a sonreír. Hoy me puse a capturar algunas sonrisas con la cámara de video. Arriba puedes ver los frutos de nuestros esfuerzos (puedes discernir cuando Brooke llegó para ayudarme, la calidad del video mejora mucho). Como puedes ver, todavía ella saca la lengua como lo hizo cuando nació.

Brooke y yo también descubrimos que nos encanta la película Leap Year (creo que en español se llama Tienes Que Ser Tu) y lo recomendamos para todos. Es buena, es limpia, y puedes ver como Irlanda realmente es ... bueno, sin groserías (es decir que nadie de Dublín tiene una parte hablando en esta película).

SARS, Bird Flu and The Walrus - CooCoo Ka Choo

The only aunt Lizzie has yet to meet has returned from China, but sadly she brought back a cough with her. Since she's coming from the land of SARS and Bird Flu, the doctors, parents and grandparents have decided it's best not to meet Lizzie right off. The doctors recommend ten days - in the mean time she's tuning in via webcam.

The Walrus is actually unrelated, but was necessary for the title to have a Beatles reference.

The cooing is something Lizzie does while sleeping, as can be seen in the video here:



La única tía que Lizzie no ha conocido regresó de china, pero desafortunadamente llevó consigo una tos. Porque viene de la tierra de SARS y la influenza ave, los doctores, padres y abuelos han decidido que es mejor no conocer a Lizzie directamente. Los doctores recomiendan 10 días, mientras hablamos con ella vía webcam.

Lizzie también hace este sonido mientras está dormida. Lo puedes escuchar en este video aquí.

Specialists

Since we came home from the hospital, we've been on what I can only imagine as the usual newborn roller coaster ride that everyone keeps talking about. Actually, to make things more exciting, Lizzie decided to not really eat. Her weight plummeted, she started to develop a tan without sunlight (the beginnings of jaundice) and she slept all the time without eating. Now, I'm new to parenthood and don't claim to be an expert by any means, but I'm pretty sure that anorexia is not a good way to start out on life. So we (Brooke, myself, and Brooke's mom who has been the best help in the world) decided to take Lizzie to the lactation specialist.

Now, there's something oddly comforting about the specialists being stumped. It means that you're not just an ignorant new parent who worries over silly little things - there actually is something amiss about the way your child sleeps and doesn't eat. In the end, she recommended we pump and bottle feed Lizzie for a day and come back for a weight check; the idea being to get Lizzie to understand what a full stomach feels like and to get her liver and other organs into full swing.

Sure enough, her weight is back up, her biliruben is down, and now we just have to teach her to be active during the day and asleep at nights (her favorite time is 3 to 5 am).

In the meantime, photos - since they're really the reason you read the blog. She's met all three of her cousins, all of her aunts except Sage who is still in China, both of her uncles, and all her grandparents. And last night she met two of her six living great-grandparents with more visits to come.




Desde que llegamos a casa, hemos estado en una montaña rusa de la nueva bebe. De hecho, para hacer las cosas más interesantes, Lizzie decidió a no comer. Su peso bajó, su piel empezó a ser amarillas (las señales de ictericia), y ella durmió sin comer por muchas horas. Ahora, estoy nuevo en este mundo de ser padre, pero sé que anorexia no es la mejor manera para empezar. Entonces decidimos (Brooke, yo, y mi suegra quien ha sido la mejor ayuda en el mundo) llevarla a la especialista en lactancia.

Hay algo reconfortante en una especialista que no sabe el problema. Significa que no eres un padre nuevo y ignorante que se preocupa por problemas pequeñas – sí, hay algo que no está bien con su manera de dormir y no comer. En el fin, ella nos recomendó que ocupemos la bomba para alimentarle por 24 horas y la checaríamos otra vez. La idea era que Lizzie tenía que entender que gozo una pansa llena te da y sus órganos necesitaban más leche para funcionar bien.

¡Sí funcionó! Su peso está subiendo, su amarillo está bajando, y ahora solo nos falta enseñarle a ser activa durante el día y dormida durante la noche (su tiempo favorito es entre 3 y 5 de la madrugada).

Por lo mientras, las fotos – porque sé que ustedes lean mis cuentos por las fotos. Lizzie ya ha conocida a sus tres primos, todas sus tías menos Sage quien sigue en China, los dos de sus tíos, y todos sus abuelos. Aún ha conocido a dos de sus seis bisabuelos y hay más visitas que van a seguir.

Lizzie Arrives

The day started with a phone call at 6am, or 6 "in the A" as we used to call it in swim team.

We arrived at the hospital at 7, they got Brooke all hooked up on the pitocin by 8 and by 9:15 the anesthesiologist showed up to administer the epidural. So for about an hour Brooke endured old-school labor and not by choice. I'm proud of her, that was not easy.

After a great US game at the world cup and some otherwise uneventful hours, the nurse came in to check on Brooke. Because she started out at a 3 and this was her first child, we were expecting to be there most of the day. But from the contractions they had been seeing on their monitors, the nurse told Brooke she should be at a 5. "Well, you're not at a 5 ... ," the nurse announced - to which we all were a little disappointed and started mentally preparing for the long haul. " ... You're at an 8!" And an hour later Brooke was pushing.

So all told, 6 hours from when Brooke was hooked up to the pitocin, our little Lizzie was born. As soon as her shoulders were clear, she did an almost perfect flip-turn out of the womb - I was so proud! :D After that, she grunted a little in protest, opened her eyes and starting looking around at everyone around her. The doctor clipped the umbilical cord and handed me the scissors, and then Lizzie looked me in the eye and grabbed my pinky as I went to cut.



She stayed awake for about two hours while she was washed, measured, and taught to feed - and then she was off to sleep. The rest of her hospital stay was focused on the effort of getting her to wake up long enough to eat properly. :) She is incredibly tranquil, and everyone comments on how long her legs and feet are (yet more proof of a natural swimmer), and she has this funny habit of sticking her tongue out at people!



Anyway, more adventures to follow. I just figured I'd get you guys started with that story and I'll fill you in on the next parts as she gives me time.

El día empezó con una llamada del hospital a las 6 de la mañana, o 6 en el A como lo decimos en el equipo de natación.

Llegamos al hospital a las 7, a las 8 ya tenían toda la medicina lista para la inducción y no llegó la anestesióloga hasta las 9:15. Así que por una hora Brooke tenía todos los dolores que no quería. Estoy muy orgulloso de ella, es muy valiente.

Así pasaron unas horas sin evento más que el partido de los EEUU y entró la enfermera para checar la dilación. Cuando entrabamos, Brooke estaba a 3 cm y la enfermera nos dijo que debía estar a 5 cm ya. La checó y nos dijo que no estaba a las 5, ¡ya estaba a las 8! Y una hora después, Brooke estaba empujando.

En total, habían 6 horas entre empezando la medicina y cuando nació Lizzie. Cuando salieron sus hombros, Lizzie hizo una vuelta de natación perfecta. ¡Qué orgullo! Ella hizo unos gruñidos de protestación y abrió sus ojos, mirando a todos los doctores y enfermeras alrededor. Cuando el doctor me dio las tijeras para cortar el cordón umbilical, Lizzie me vio en los ojos y se agarro mi dedo chico. Muy impresionante.

Ella siguió despierta por casi dos horas mediante la lavaron, la midieron y le enseñaron a comer. Después se durmió y el resto de su visita al hospital se enfocó en enseñarle a despertarse para comer bien. Lizzie es muy tranquila, y todos comenten de sus piernas y pies muy prolongadas (otras señales de una nadadora natural) y ella tiene este habito chisto de sacar la lengua a todas las personas.

Bueno, mas aventuras seguirán. Les daré más cuentos cuando Lizzie me da tiempo.

Baby Shower for Lizzie

We have now caught up to the present.
Last weekend we Brooke/Lizzie's baby shower. (Does it belong to the mother or the child?) It was great to see all our friends and family; the event was well organized by Brooke's mom, sister and sister-in-law, and all around it was really fun. Pictures will follow.
Now we've set the induction date for the 18th (that's tomorrow). We are crazy excited! Lizzie's room is all done up (thanks again to Brooke's family who helped us organize and decorate it), and Brooke is ready to be done with pregnancy.Ya nos actualizamos.
La semana pasada tuvimos la fiesta para Brooke y Lizzie (aquí hacemos una fiesta de amigos y familiares para celebrar antes de la boda y el primero hijo). Que gozo nos dio al ver nuestra familia y amigos; el evento fue bien organizado por mi suegra y mis cuñadas. Nos divertimos mucho, las fotos están arriba.
Ahora hemos puesto la fecha para la inducción de Lizzie para el 18 (mañana). ¡Estamos bien animados! El cuarto de la bebe ya está hecha (gracias otra vez a la familia de Brooke), y creo que Brooke ya está lista para no ser embarazada.

Catching Up - Canada

The next installment of our attempts to get caught up. Brooke and I have gone on a big trip every year that we've been married. In fact, some have pointed out that we only seem to blog about our vacations - which might be true: they're the part of our lives that we find most exciting, hence why we typically want to share them more often. Maybe the baby will change that.

Anyway, we decided that we wanted to head out of the country, we wanted to go before the baby was born, but after Brooke finished the semester. That set of conditions ruled out flying (they don't let you fly in your third trimester), and the lack of flying limited the countries we could go to. So we decided to make a road trip to Canada. As Brooke's blood pressure started to rise later in the pregnancy, we moved our trip to about as early as we could and it turns out we timed everything perfectly. But the doctors still gave us the green light so we were off on our tour of the Rocky Mountains.

First we went to Waterton Lakes, Canada. It turns out we were there the first weekend that it was open, and therefore only had to share it with 3 other couples. We were the only ones in the hotel, but the deer came into the courtyard to lick up sidewalk salt left by retreating snow.


On the way back into the US, the boarder patrol officer asked us if we bought anything in Canada during our (one night) stay. We replied that we still had some powerade, but that was all. After her questions, she leaned closer to the car and said: "Canada wants us to ask you to please spend more money on your next visit!"

We drove past Glacier National Park, where the snows still haven't melted, but that made for great pictures. I think they'll open the park next week depending on snow depth.



Next we drove through Yellowstone. We visited the colorful pools, saw the geysers, and waited forever for Old Faithful (who seems to be loosing her touch - 14 minutes late). The crowd that gathered to wait grew and grew to more than 500 people and the older couple sitting next to us commented that just a few days earlier they were trying to see it in the blizzard. Seeing the crowds, I leaned over to Brooke and pointed out that Old Faithful was the epitome of a "watched pot" - to which the gentleman started to laugh so hard he started to choke! I thought I had killed him. But the geyser went off, and we were back on the road to drive down to the Tetons. It turns out the road was opened the day before we came through and all the lakes were still frozen.


On the way into the Grand Tetons, there was a little road sign that I pointed out to Brooke; it was in the traditional brown and white of the forest service and read "We saw wildlife." To be honest, I didn't get it. Then we saw the next installment. It turns out it was a poem spread out across 5 signs that read:

We saw wildlife
from afar...
... till we hit them
with our car.
Slow Down!!

One would think that after so many mountains, we'd be bored of them. But the Tetons were still absolutely astounding. Just amazing! Anyway, we went home fulfilled and having been on our last adventure before Lizzie's arrival.



La próxima parte de nuestro esfuerzo para actualizarnos. Brooke y yo hemos tenido una vacación grande cada ano de nuestro matrimonio. De hecho, algunos han dicho que solamente escribimos en nuestro blog de las vacaciones. Y tal vez ellos tienen razón: las vacaciones son la parte favorita de nuestras vidas y así quiérenos compartirlas mas frecuentemente. Tal vez la bebe cambiara eso.


Bueno, decidimos que queríamos salir del país, queríamos ir antes que nascía la bebe pero queríamos ir después del semestre. Con esas condiciones no pudimos volar y así limitaba los países a los cuales podríamos viajar. Entonces decidimos ir a Canadá. Y a causa de la alta presión de sangre que tenia Brooke, tuvimos que salir más temprano en la temporada que planeamos. Pero todo salió bien: se fue la nieve, los doctores nos dieron la luz verde, y salimos en nuestra gira de las montanas rocosas.


Primeramente fimos a los Lagos de Waterton, Canadá. Qué suerte! Llegamos en la primera fin de semana de la temporada y solo habían 3 otras parejas en el pueblo. Éramos los únicos en nuestro hotel, pero los venados entraron al patio para lamer la sal de los caminos.
(la primera foto es de nosotros en Canadá)


Regresando a los EEUU, la oficial de la frontera nos preguntó si habíamos comprado cosas en Canadá durante nuestra visita (aún que sea de una noche). Le dijimos que no y después de sus otras preguntas, ella nos dijo: ¡Canadá quiere que yo les pedía a gastar más dinero en su próxima visita!


Manejamos por la parque nacional de Glacier donde la nieve sigue demasiado alto para abrir los caminos en las montañas, pero nos dio muy buenas fotos. Creo que van a abrir la parque en la próxima semana dependiente a la clima.

(la segunda foto, estamos en Glacier)


Después fuimos a Yellowstone. Visitamos los pecinas de colores, vimos los géiseres, y esperábamos una eternidad por La Vieja Fiel (quien ya no está tan fiel - 14 minutos atrás). La gente juntaba a más que 500 personas y los viejitos a nuestro lado nos dijeron que la semana antes había una tormenta de nieve. Viendo la gente, le dije a Brooke que es como una olla que nunca hierve cuando la estás viendo. El viejito empezó a reírse tanto que yo creía que le había matado. Pero finalmente se fue el géiser y salimos hacia el sur, donde habían tres pies de nieve y los lagos todavía estaban congelados.

(tercera foto, yo en las pecinas de colores causados por las bacteria que viven en las aguas calientes)
(la cuarta foto de Brooke en la géiser que se llama la Vieja Fiel)


En camino al Gran Tetón, vimos una señal pequeña que decía "vimos los animales salvajes." La mostré a Brooke. No lo entendí. Pero después vimos a los demás señales: se forman una poema que dice:

Vimos los animales salvajes
Desde lejos ...
... hasta que les pegamos
con nuestro coche.
¡Baja la velocidad!


Y pensábamos que después de ver tantas montañas, nos cansaríamos de ver montañas. Pero el Gran Tetón es increíble, aun después de todos los demás. Simplemente increíble. Bueno, después fuimos a casa llenos de aventura antes que llega Lizzie.

Catching Up - New Boots

Brooke and I have fallen pretty far behind in keeping up what is going on in our lives. We've therefore decided to post the series of posts we've been meaning to get around to for months - they'll all just be in the next few days.

For starters, I got some new work boots at work. Because they're part of my safety equipment (steel toes), the company paid for them and they're really nice. They're lighter than normal steel toed boots, they're a good color that works with most things I wear to work, and they go up a lot higher than anything I've had before except maybe ski boots. But they're easy to get in and out of because of a zipper they have along the sides.
Oh yeah, and we bought a car too.


Brooke y yo hemos caído en mantener nuestro blog, así que vamos a aumentar los cuentos que teníamos planeado por los últimos meses - solamente lo haremos en algunos días.

Primeramente, compramos nuevo coche. Ahorramos por meses para comprar el coche (tiene tres años y está en buena condición). Tiene buena economía de gasolina, es el color que nos gusta, y se maneja muy bien. La verdad, nos gusta mucho.

Oh, sí, y conseguí nuevos zapatos en mi trabajo.

It's a GIRL!!!

We got a sneak peek from a friend a few weeks ago but it was only a very quick glance so we weren't positive. But on Wednesday the doctor confirmed that it's a girl! We are so excited and can't wait for little Lizzie to get here. Oh yeah we'll be naming her Elizabeth Rose Boyle, but we'll call her Lizzie. Zac edited down the ultrasound video so here goes my first attempt at putting a video on the blog. :D

Update

Well our last post was at the beginning of last semester. Now that semester is over and I'm starting another one. Last semester was great. I got straight A's. I really enjoyed my classes, but not as much as I enjoy knowing I'm done with science and english classes. I'm really looking forward to this semester. All but one of my classes is in my major.

Zac is still working for UDOT in their rotational program. With the new year he rotated out of the traffic and safety and moved to the materials lab. He'll be doing test on concrete, asphalt, dirt and other materials. So far he's liking it.

Christmas was awesome. We spent Christmas eve with my family and Christmas day with Zac's family. We got so much stuff. We got a heat dish from Zac's parents, a video camera from my parents and Zac got his computer. We got it a few weeks before and I had to threaten him with his life to make sure he didn't open it. And Baby got spoiled. Lots of outfits, books and toys.

Yes you read right. For those of you who read our blog and haven't heard yet, we're pregnant!!! We're due July 1st and can't wait. So far it's been pretty good. I'm in the second trimester and I'm starting to feel a little better. I have more of an appetite. So now I'll probably start gaining weight instead of loosing it.

Anyway that's what's going on with us right now.