Happy Birthday Abigail!

Abigail celebrated her 10th birthday on January 18th this year. I know this is rather cliche to say, but I can't believe 10 years have gone by. We have a marathon of birthdays in our family, starting Nov. 30th with Ella, then Juliet in Dec, followed by Abigail and then Maggie a few weeks later and Joseph in mid Feb. I guess winter is a good time for babies in our family. This year, Abigail wanted to try something creative for her birthday cake: birthday waffles. We made a chocolate cake mix and cooked it in our waffle iron. Then everyone got to put on their own toppings which included frosting, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, ice cream and whip cream. Putting 10 candles on Abigail's waffle was interesting but we did it. It turned out to be really fun and so yummy.

Green is for Garden (and monster too)

Here are some cute pictures I took recently. Kids grow up so fast and I realize that if you don't stop to take a picture or make a record, it kind of slips by and becomes forgotten. Xander is really into monsters and dinosaurs. One of his favorite books is Where the Wild Things Are. Kind of like Max, he puts on his wolf suit, only his is green dinosaur PJ's with this tale. He wears this tale in and around the house and outside with what ever clothes he has on (only he likes the green PJ's best with the green tale.) But luckily he doesn't make much mischief of one kind or another. He is a pretty nice boy and loves his sisters, especially Maggie. He recently had tonsillitis for the second time with a high fever that got up to 105.5.

Since we moved into our new house, we have a couple areas where we can plant things. The soil is bad though and while, these cucumbers may look like they are thriving, the blooms turn into little cucumbers and then die off. Maggie started these from seed and watches over them like a mother hen. This is the first cucumber to harvest and she is so proud. We chopped it up and put it in our salad. Out back we also have an eggplant which currently has 8 eggplants growing (again, Maggie checks it faithfully and keeps me up to date,) a very small lemon tree with a few lemons, a papaya tree with 2 papayas, and a guava tree. We harvested our first guava and no one really liked it. Hopefully someone will help me eat the second one that is almost ready. I hate to waste it. I've actually really taken to eggplant. It is so yummy fried and served with soy sauce (my maid taught me that) or chopped up and added to lasagna.

The Little Girls

At first we had "the girls," meaning Abigail and Maggie. Then we added Xander. Once Ella was born they became "the big girls." Now with Juliet, we have the big girls, Xander, and the little girls. I hope they will be as good of friends as the big girls.

I got the camera out to take some pictures of Juliet and Ella started striking poses, begging for pictures. I thought this one was funny. For the most part, she ignores Juliet. Her favorite thing to do with the baby is put a binkie in her mouth when she cries.

Here is a fragment of a poem I came across (as quoted by Thomas S. Monson):

You never know what a girl is worth,

You'll have to wait and see;

But every woman in a noble place,

A girl once used to be.

I love being surrounded by so many sweet and fun girls; and I am anxious to see the noble women and mothers they will become someday.

And the winner is . . .

So Juliet is a little angel, fussy at times, but we love her. I have this song stuck in my head from a TV show in the 80's: You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all, and there you have the facts of life, the facts of like. (You have to sing it to realize how catchy it is--anyone from my generation probably remembers the show--big hair and Blair.) The first couple days home from the hospital, Juliet fussed or screamed every waking moment. But she slept well at night thankfully. Then as the days wore on, on a good day, she would be awake for a whole hour without crying. Wow, progress. By now I had come to terms with the fact that we might have a colicky baby. I had one before and still have scars (Maggie) so I was in denial at first. But on a bad day . . . well, sometimes the screaming would last 3 or more hours and even repeat again. Then the night crying started and that is the worst. We felt bad for her because we could hear the rumbling, hissing, gurgling and churning in her stomach as she screamed and pulled her feet up. In desperation, I grabbed hold of anything I could to ease her and our pain. This is what I came up with:

Coolest looking goes to bottle number 1: Woodward's Gripe Water. It looks like something out of 19thc Cranford. It is much more charming than it is efficacious though, but I think I'll keep it on the diaper changer anyway because I like to look at it.

Best name goes to bottle number 3: Rid Wind. Gas is called "wind" here. It's kind of quaint. Doesn't seem to help our little windy one though.

Worth its weight in gold goes to bottle number 2: Baby's Bliss Gripe Water. With ginger and fennel in it, it even smells blissful. It has been a life saver. I will always be grateful to my friend who introduced me to it and even gave me this bottle. How did I survive 4 others kids without it?

In these cases, no remedy is fool proof except for time. But for impatient (and tired) folks like me, it has been helpful to try and do something. I am happy to report that, almost 5 weeks out of the starting gate, there are now more good days than bad days. Juliet is thriving and weighs 11.1 pounds. When I give her the Baby's Bliss, she quiets down, the noise actually increases in her bowels for awhile but without any painful crying and she eats better and sleeps better.

Baby Arrives

Introducing . . .




Anna Juliet
7lbs 9oz
20.5 in
born on December 26, 2009 at 5:27am

My first glance of Juliet. My water broke at around 1:15am and she was born in 4 hours. I was very fortunate this time around to make it to the hospital in time for some pain relief. I was very nervous about that and in fact was scheduled to be induced at 9:00 that very morning. I was worried about all the circumstances around getting to the hospital quickly with a lot of holiday traffic and making sure the kids were settled and cared for. All said and done, it worked out perfectly and was a decent labor and delivery compared to some of my other children. Juliet was very calm in the delivery room and hardly made a sound.

On the scale shortly after birth.

I must admit that she kind of looks like Ella here, but really she has a unique look of her own. I think she might look more like a Larsen than my other kids. She has really long narrow feet, a much smaller head than the other 4, and long legs with a shorter torso. Sounds an awful like my side.

A brief explanation of her name: During the summer months when I was in my first trimester, I was reading a book about the prophets' mothers. I noticed that in the early 19th century it was common to name a daughter after the mother, and she was often called a different nickname to distinguish. I just thought it was interesting and didn't think about it much until I found out we were having a girl. We liked the name Juliet and it is tradition in our family to give the girls a name that is from my side of the family. I couldn't find anything I wanted to go with Juliet and then I thought of that book I read and of my own name, Anna. Juliet Anna didn't sound right, but Anna Juliet did. This also led me to investigate the history of my own name. I knew I was named after my father's family and so I pulled out the journals and searched online. It was very fascinating to find this line of Anna's and read about them: Anna Maria, who joined the church and came to the US from Sweden. She named her daughter Anna Charlotte (who married John Anderson) and they named their daughter Anna Charlotte (dad's grandma Charlotte who married Rube Larsen). She in turn named her daughter Anna Bernice. I became excited about carrying on this tradition and naming my daughter Anna and passing on a rich family history.

Joseph came with the children after church on Sunday to see their new sister. Here is our first family photo. I wish I could smile, but I was having a bad lip day (I've had some really bizarre cycle with my lips where they crack, get blood blisters and then chap with pretty bad peeling.) The skin was so chapped that I literally couldn't smile without breaking the skin open. Joseph and feel like we have a pretty full nest at the moment, but we couldn't feel happier or more blessed during this holiday season.

The kids all love their new sister. Ella was too busy running around the room and getting in to everything to sit still and hold Juliet. She mostly pays attention when the baby cries.

More Christmas

I have to back track here and post some pictures of our Christmas. We had another great Christmas, although I was really trying to be careful not to do too much and end up having a baby on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Christmas Eve actually began with a trip to the doctor. He informed me that I was very close to having the baby and offered to induce me that day, commenting that I would not make it to my previous inducement date of Dec. 28, the following Monday. I said I would have to chance it because I really wanted to avoid the 24th and 25th. He wished me luck, offered Dec. 26 as an alternative to be induced (which I quickly agreed to) and that was that. I was really nervous though and tense so that made it hard to enjoy the holiday as much. I did as little as possible and that meant compromising a little bit on the details of our family traditions. And the kids were also prepped on what plan B was in case I ended up having the baby (that is Christmas would still happen, just maybe a few days late.) But, as the end of the story is already posted, after about 9:00pm on Christmas night I was able to breathe a little easier. We made it. I not only wanted the new baby to have her own day for a birthday, but I wanted the kids to have Christmas and all the excitement together as a family. It all turned out well, and for that I am truly grateful.

Here are some pictures of our Christmas Eve dinner. We started the tradition last year to have a journey to Bethlehem themed evening where the kids dress up and we stop at an "inn" to have our lamb dinner, flatbread, hummus, grapes, olives, goat cheese, dried fruit and nuts, etc. The kids were so excited again for the lamb. Maggie had 5 helpings, whereas I managed to eat almost 1. Maybe in time, especially as this tradition continues, I will come to like lamb. After dinner we went to the "grassy hillside" to learn about the birth of the Savior. We read the story from Luke, alternating the narrative with Christmas hymns and primary songs. Xander decided he wanted to change into a sheep.

After our dinner and program, the kids opened one present, as is also tradition. (Joseph grew up opening all his presents on Christmas Eve, which comes from his parents' tradition, which is custom in Sweden and Norway where is ancestors come from.) Usually I get them new PJs, but being in Singapore and noting that the girls needed new swimwear (it gets worn out fast here with all the swimming we do year round,) they got new swimsuits this year. Of course they wanted to try them on, and then since they had on swimsuits, why not jump in the pool . . . well, one thing led to another and it turned out that the rest of the evening was a swim party.

Christmas morning came early. Joseph and I didn't set anything up because we weren't sure if we would have to leave suddenly in the middle of the night. So we scrambled out of bed and quickly got everything set up while we told the kids to wait and minute while we checked if Santa really came. We had it all ready in closets from the night before, so luckily it didn't take too long. Abigail and Maggie got the trunks for their dolls. Abigail also got this piggy bank that she absolutely adores. Xander is obsessed with monsters and dinosaurs lately and wanted a monster that can move. The closest thing Santa came up with was a robotic T-Rex thing. It has a remote control and can roam around by itself--a little advanced for him, but he loves it. Ella was in candy cane heaven, finding and opening every candy cane she came across--most of them not hers. Of course she got some presents (a set of tents with a tunnel connecting them), but this Christmas for her was about the candy.

Christmas Fun

Each year at Christmastime, the main shopping area downtown, known as Orchard Road, is elaborately decorated and lit up every night. It is always fantastic to see and the pictures never do it justice. It has become a tradition to go see the lights and get ice cream. I didn't go this year as it is too hard for me to walk around that much. And Joseph didn't feel comfortable taking all 4 himself into the throngs of people, so I stayed home with Ella. And there are always crowds of people like at no other time as well. (I saw the decorations in the day though as all our doctors are on or near Orchard Road.) The kids wanted to take the metro because, believe it or not, we have never been on the metro here. We recently moved right next to a metro stop (another
good reason to come visit us) and so it is really slick to ride the metro downtown now. It takes
about 15min on the metro or by car (without traffic) to get to the heart of the city.

Another tradition is the live nativity at the church. Our stake puts together a nativity where they convert the 4th floor of our building into a journey to Bethlehem. There are guides dressed in costume to take you down lit hallways to see Isaiah and hear his prophesy, into to rooms with angels heralding Christ's birth, wise men, shepherds, King Herod, and finally into a stable with Joseph and Mary. Then the guide leads you into an active marketplace complete with people behind stalls selling meat, grains, rugs, vegetables, etc. where you receive refreshment. It is all quite elaborate with the actors, costumes and sets. Our ward was in charge of the marketplace and Joseph and Abigail helped set it up and then he and the girls had an opportunity to "sell vegetables" to the guests. We went through it as a family on Friday night and they participated Saturday night. Again, if I wasn't so huge with child, I would have also gone dressed up with the kids--I did go through it on Friday with my camping chair (because I can't stand for long). It is kind of a bummer to miss out on so much this year . . .

After the marketplace there is a room full of nativity sets from around the world. I donated 3 to display and I was told that my California beach nativity I put together years ago was the most talked about and photographed. Here it is pictured, however I changed the pieces a little when I saw it Friday. I turned baby Jesus so his head was at the top and moved Mary and Joseph closer to the manger.