Tick-um

First of all, THANK YOU to all you wonderful friends who made such nice comments about me for my birthday. Birthdays are not the same without hearing from those you love. And I would not be the person I am without your love and examples, thank you!
I had a wonderful day. I went to the gym (which has become a tradition now for the past 10 yrs or so), had a Jamba Juice, spent time with Charles' parents and then went out to dinner with them, and then had time alone with Charles while they babysat. I can count on one hand the times we've been able to go out w/o Azure so we greatly appreciate it!
Tick-um is Azure's word of the week. The week before that it was Dum. I thought she was trying to say Twinkle because I sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to her every time I change her diaper (there's a giraffe that plays the tune right next to her changing table). But then after saying, "Tickle, tickle," to her as I tickled her she said it again and I realized she was trying to say tickle. Tick-um. We've got to get that on video b/c it is so cute. She says it with so much determination.

We've received so many blessings this last month. Azure has FINALLY accepted a bottle in her 9th month of living! This calms my troubled mind that she will be able to survive w/o me on our Hawaii trip. This is the answer to many heartfelt prayers. Something so simple testifies once again that the Lord is aware of all our needs. He ALWAYS has our best interest in mind, always.

The April Ensign (the church magazine) is a complete gem! I've almost read the entire thing. It has so many great articles. We got it in the mail on my birthday, so I feel it was like a birthday present :) The words "Ask and ye shall receive" have been on my mind for the past week or so. Two articles specifically talked about this principle in the Ensign. This one is about journal writing and in discussing the blessings received from writing, the author says, "I have discovered that many of my righteous desires are eventually fulfilled." Going through my old journals, I can say the same. The Lord always desires to bless us, in His timing, and in the way that is best for us. Which brings me to the next article. This one is about nurturing children and the last story is what particularly touched me. This woman talks about a blessing she felt was being with held from her, but in receiving it years later she realized how much she had learned and the amazing perspective she gained during the waiting period. Every single thing that is important to us is important to the Lord, even a baby taking a bottle so her parents can go to Hawaii without her.

Happy Birthday to Dee

This is a special post dedicated to the end of the festival of lanterns, which is to say, Deanna's birthday.

Reasons why we should celebrate Deanna's birth:

-She's a great friend. Deanna has a gift for making friends. She also has maintained many friendships that date back to olden times. She cares about, loves, and supports her friends, and I feel fortunate to be numbered among them.

-She has a keen sense of humor and she's quirky. I've shared many a hearty laugh with her and enjoyed unique things about her (see post "Quirky Tag" to see what I'm referring to).

-She's a mega-mom. Being a loving mother has come fairly naturally to Mrs. Lamadrid-Jensen. I find great joy and satisfaction watching her and Azure interact. She has sacrificed copious amounts of sleep and sanity on behalf of our infant.

-She lives her religion. Deanna believes in Jesus Christ and applies what He taught. She unabashedly tries to do the right thing and points to the perfect example with her actions.

-She loves, which makes her easy to love. I'm a lucky guy, what else can I say?

Not much, which is why I would like all of you to post your reasons to celebrate Dee's birthday. And I do mean all of you-especially those of you who fall under the "non-interactive blogger" category. This may be the most valuable present (monetary and otherwise) Deanna receives this year. Thanks and happy Deanna's birthday.

Get paid to have a baby...seriously!

It is too good my friends, but most definitely true!
I learned this little secret working with health insurance at my job 3 years ago, then reaped the benefits myself receiving a nice check in the mail after Azure was born. I've told many people about this but decided it was time to post it on the blog to help all of you make money the next time you get pregnant.
What's the "catch"?
Nothing really, except that you must get on this plan BEFORE you conceive. You need to be on it for at least 10 months. Sorry to you friends that are already pregnant(that's about 5 of you). But, now you know for your next baby!
This is called supplemental health insurance known as hospital indemnity plans. The reason it sounds too good to be true is because these plans are not SPECIFICALLY for pregnancy. They are usually for accident prone people or people who have an illness who may end up in the hospital. But, if you're planning on having a baby in the hospital and not a home birth then you too can take advantage of this!
How does it work?
Sign up about 1 month before you plan to get pregnant. I signed up through my employer and I believe that is the cheapest way to do it. Have no fear if you are not "employed", you can do it through your husband's employer too. Talk to your HR person at work. Both Allstate and AFLAC have these plans. I did it through Allstate so I'm more familiar with them. If neither you or your husband are employed full-time you might be able to sign up through an independent insurance broker. If you live in UT and aren't employed you can do it through these people. (I just found them through a search so I don't know much about them.)
When you sign up you'll pay a monthly premium (amount depends on the actual plan and carrier). Take a claim form with you to the hospital when you are admitted for labor and delivery. Have your doctor sign the form and then mail it to your carrier who will then write you a check :)
Most plans work like this: You get a lump sum for just being admitted to the hospital. Then the more days you stay, the more money you get. You can also add a rider for anesthesia or surgery (C-section). Though I would definitely not recommend having either! If Azure hadn't been breech then I would've had my dream natural birth, which I'm planning on for the next ones.
Let me know if you have any questions.

9 months strong

Azure has now been outside of the womb as long as she was inside!

Easter was fabulous. My camera's batteries died so I'll have to wait to post Easter pics. My family came up to visit for the weekend (hence the days I missed blogging about Easter week). I hope that you enjoyed doing some Christ-centered activities with your family.

Friday was Azure's 9 month appointment and she has finally reached 15 lbs. That's what we guessed she would weigh at her 4 month appt but she was only 13 and then at 6 months she was 14 lbs. We hope she gains more than 1 lb in the next 3 months!

She can now climb to the top of the stairs by herself...

"Daddy, will you catch me if I fall?" "Here I come!"

We went up to campus with my family and stopped in the Harris Fine Arts Center (HFAC) which is named after Charles' great grandfather, Franklin Stewart Harris, who was also BYU's 5th president, to take a picture of Azure and her great, great, grandfather.

Her personality is developing more and more. She is mimicking a lot of our words and sounds, smiling for the camera, tilting her head to the side while she's eating, and being a complete joy to be around.

Easter Week: Day 5, The Last Supper and Agony in Gethsemane

Whoops, didn't post yesterday, sorry.

Such great scriptural accounts to read today. My favorite is the account of Jesus washing the apostles' feet: John 13:4-17.

Activity for the day: Sing an Atonement hymn.

What do you think about this scripture? What's your favorite Easter hymn?

Silly mistakes

Last night we had a late dinner so I was starving as I scooped my bowl full of chicken tortellini soup. In my zeal to eat it, I burnt my tongue! I do this frequently especially when I am really hungry and can't wait for the food to cool down. I always tell myself to not do that the next time because the consequence of a burnt tongue follows into the next day with not being able to taste much. I continue to repeat this silly mistake over and over again.

Please share your silly mistakes (you can comment anonymously if you're too embarrassed to reveal your identity).

Easter Week: Day 3, Parables and Teachings

There are lots of parables found in Matthew 21-25. The activity of the day is to act out one of the parables.

Easter Week: Day 2, Cleansing the Temple

Here are some promised activities for today and some from yesterday since I didn't list any. These are mostly for preschoolers (since most of you don't have teenagers yet):

• Go on a nature walk with your children. Instruct them to find a variety of objects that are significant to the Easter story. For example, have them find a branch to signify the palm branches cast in the Savior's path as he rode a donkey into Jerusalem; a thorn to represent the crown of thorns Jesus wore on his head; a piece of wood to signify the cross to which Jesus was nailed; a rock to represent the stone rolled away from the open tomb; and so on.



• Choose both a Resurrection hymn and an Atonement hymn to learn during the week.



• Make a story line of pictures to display on your wall, mantel, or bookshelf as a visual reminder of the Easter story. Each day add a new picture that corresponds with the events of that day; or display the entire Easter story in pictures at once. Try using pictures from the Gospel Art Kit or pictures from various issues of the Ensign.

Celebrating Christ's last week on earth

Easter is my favorite holiday, I love it more than Christmas!

I love it because it is in the spring and I so look forward to spring after a cold and dreary winter (esp in UT).

I love it because it symbolizes the Savior's Resurrection and the hope of new life.

I love it because Easter is always close to my birthday (I've even had Easter fall on my birthday a few times and I was set apart as a missionary on Easter Sunday 2002).

I love it because there are tulips everywhere on Easter and I love tulips!
There has been a lot of discussion on how to make both Christmas and Easter more Christ-centered. With that in mind I found this wonderful book last year:I bought it for $10.78 at Sam's Club. (They may have it at WalMart for that price too, the UT WalMarts that is :) It is worth every penny. So many wonderful activities for children. Last Easter Charles and I put together an Easter skit with 6 of our nieces and nephews. They loved it, we loved it!Definitely a new family tradition!

We also read the Easter story in plastic eggs as we ate our Easter dinner. I HIGHLY recommend buying this book!

Here is a brief preview of some day-by-day activities to celebrate Easter week:

Day 1-Palm Sunday, Jesus' Triumphal Entry. Scripture reading: Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-36.

Day 2-Monday, Cleansing the Temple. Scripture reading: Matthew 21:12-18; Mark 11:12-19; Luke 19:45-48.

Day 3-Tuesday, Parables and Teachings. Scripture reading(spread out over the next 2 days): Matthew 21:19-26:16; Mark 11:20-14:11; Luke 20:1-22:6; John 12:37-50.

Day 4-Wednesday, Rest in Bethany.

Day 5-Thursday, The Last Supper and Jesus' prayer and Agony in Gethsemane. Scripture reading: Matthew: 26:17-75; Mark 14: 12-72, Luke 22:7-65, John 13:1-18:27.

Day 6-Friday, Jesus' Trial and Crucifixion. Scripture reading: Matthew 27:1-61; Mark 15:1-47; Luke 22:66-23:56, John 18:28-19:42.

Day 7-Saturday, The Jewish Sabbath. Scripture reading: Matthew 27:62-66; Luke 23:56.

Day 8-Easter Sunday, Jesus' Resurrection and Appearances. Scripture reading: Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-12; Luke 24:1-49; John 20:1-23.

Okay, that's just the scripture reading but maybe I will post some activities everyday this week.

Happy Palm Sunday!

On your marks, get set, run for a cure!

This morning the 3 of us ran the Rex Lee Run 5K. Azure wasn't too happy about it but she survived. Thank you to the Birks who let us borrow their jogging stroller!

It was pretty cold but luckily didn't snow during the race, only afterwards. I didn't do too bad for not training at all and having to stop a few times to calm Azure down. (Oh and by the way Azure was feeling lots better so that is why we decided to run with her.)

After we had finished, we saw my cousin David who had also ran the race, it was the first time he had seen Azure so it was good to see him.

T0day we also said goodbye to Evelyn who was here visiting for her Spring Break. We are always glad to spend time with her!

The joys of motherhood

I thought we were in the clear for passing up all the winter sicknesses, but alas Azure caught something sometime last week (or the week before). I guess that happens when you stick EVERYTHING that you see in your mouth.

Fortunately it's nothing serious like RSV, it's just your common cold: fever, runny (and i do mean runny) nose, a slight cough, and crazy knot-like lymph nodes. So, as you can guess weaning hasn't been going very well since I need to keep her hydrated and she's still having issues drinking out of the cup. And I also didn't want to deny her extra antibodies to fight off the virus.

I realized after holding her for an extended period of time that she

wiped off her snot on my shirt and I found several scratch marks

on my chin and neck from "frusterated sick attacks". You gotta love this!

All in all she hasn't been TOO irritable and has been having fun learning to climb up the stairs and continues to pull herself up onto everything.

Close up of those two teeth, she still just has those bottom two.

Musically Inclined

Okay, most of you know I don't watch TV and neither do I get addicted to shows but I have been watching American Idol (not religiously though) mostly just because I like singing and performing. So, I've been thinking about what songs I would sing if I were on and here is my list.

Come on Eileen (Save Ferris version)
Does he love me I wanna know? (NOT the Cher version)
Bubbly, Colbie Caillit
I've got my love to keep me warm, Ella Fitzgerald
Who will save your soul, Foolish Games or You were meant for me, Jewel
Fotographia, Nelly Furtado and Juanes
Tell Him, Lauryn Hill
Fallin' or If I ain't got you, Alicia Keys
Any man of mine, Shania Twain

I'd like to know what songs you would sing?

Quirky Tag

Martha tagged me awhile ago and I never got around to it and I need a new post, so here are some of my quirks.

1) I tremble when I get really excited or when thinking about a potential exciting conversation and shake my hands. I've done this ever since I was about 4 or 5 and most times would do it with a pencil in my hand. My dad I think noticed it first and thought I would grow out of it, but I still do it to this day! It's pretty embarrassing when I get caught in the act because to others it looks like I'm crazy, really!

2) I constantly crack my right pinkie on the side of my face. It's really crooked after years of doing this.

3) I also crack my hip usually before going to bed by kicking my leg up into a kickboxing move.

4) When talking about things that are in close proximity to me I usually point to it.

5) I also "wag" my tongue when I'm excited too.

I tag Julie b/c she likes to be tagged and anyone else that would like to.

Moving on to solicited advice

To prepare for our Hawaii trip in 10 weeks without Azure I have started the process of weaning. She was nursing about 5-6 times a day with 2-3 solid food meals. This past week I've read a lot on weaning and decided to cut out the "unnecessary" nursing sessions which translates to nursing solely for comfort.
We've dropped down to about 3 nursing sessions now: in the morning, nap time and bedtime. I'm grateful the Lord has answered my prayers and fast about this and that it's going more smoothly than I anticipated. In all honesty though, this is hard on me emotionally. It means Azure is growing up and that our special bonding time is coming to a close. I know that we will be able to bond in other ways but I will miss offering her that comfort when she needs it.
Yesterday she fell trying to balance herself on the wall and bonked her head. When I picked her up to console her she immediately tried sucking on my chin!
Before I had Azure I wasn't sure how I'd feel about nursing. And when she was born it was tough, as it usually is for every new mother. I had lots of mixed feelings and looked forward to the day when she would be weaned! Now that that time is nigh I am nostalgic. Nursing has been one of the most precious experiences of motherhood thus far for me.
So, I'd like to open a forum of discussion and solicit your advice on what has worked for you in the weaning process (bottle or breast) and invite you to share your stories/memories on ending this stage.