The Sorensen Family

Ready, Dad?

2012-01-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

Nick and Claire were sitting on the bed. Nick was sick and let a little...toot...out. Almost directly after, Claire let a little toot out herself. They both giggled together.

And then...

Claire looks up at Nick and says: Ready, Dad?

Nick: Ready for what, Bear?

Claire toots!

*this is where you giggle, too!

Claire has started Primary (LDS church version of Sunday School for kids) this year:
A few weeks ago, Claire's Primary teacher comes up to tell us all the crazy antics Claire has been doing. Apparently she's the funniest girl they have ever heard because they commonly come up to us after church to update us and tell us how hilarious she is.

In class, this week alone, Claire said the following things:

Sister Roxy? Do you enjoy your sleeves?

(we've been discussing modesty. her role model is Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and her sleeves are always off her shoulders. Something that Claire tries to do daily. What kid uses "enjoy"?)

They went on a trip to the potty and they heard Claire:

Eew! Disgusting!

Sister Roxy: Everything alright, Claire? do you need some help in there?

Claire: No, my poo poo is just red and green.

In class they were discussing how to keep bodies healthy.

Claire: My daddy says it's good to toot. My momma don't like tooting. I like tooting. (tooting has been substituting to save my mother's ears. She doesn't like the f word version of toot)

OH MY GOODNESS! this kid is awesome...

At the last minute, they asked her to give the opening prayer in Sharing Time (where all the kids 3-12 meet to say a prayer, sing songs, have a short lesson...etc). I was playing the piano and I seriously had to work not to be hurt that I couldn't help her with her first time. Or even help prepare her with what to say...

The Primary President asked her if she needed any help.

Claire: No, I can do it mysssself.

She gets up to the podium and

whispers into the microphone...

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day,
Thank you for my Momma and Daddy,
Something I couldn't hear,

Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

then she runs to Sister Roxy and gives her a HUGE hug.

It was too cute.

again, my kid is awesome.

pitcher's mound

2012-01-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

Matthew is the ultimate pitcher for the 18 month old league. That kid is hilarious. When we play ball, he throws the ball like a pro and then waits for me to throw it back. He can't catch yet, so he usually has to chase the ball down, but then goes right back to his 'mound' to throw again. He's so stinkin adorable. I love my kiddos.

Claire is LYING! AGH!!!!! Advice? Anyone?

any form of present will do...

2012-01-08T13:46:00.000-08:00

So, maybe I'm the only one in the whole world who thought this was hilarious for so many different reasons, but I thought I'd share:

Does she really even understand what this does?

because every parent needs kids like this...

2011-12-12T08:57:00.001-08:00

what goes in, must come out...

2011-11-30T21:08:00.001-08:00

Bill had another stroke. So, while we were at the hospital Claire...well...this can be funny if seen in the right light. So, let's do it right:

Claire, Nick, Matthew and I went down to visit Bill (my father) in the hospital after this stroke happened. It was this past Sunday. Claire asks if she can take off this necklace that Grammie Krista gave her.

Me: Ummmm...I don't know, Bear. You tend to put whatever you can in your mouth for reasons I don't understand. Will you keep it out of your mouth.

My Trained Monkey of A Daughter: Yes, Momma.

Me: Okay.

Matthew gets a stinky bum, and we left the diaper bag in the car. Nick and Claire go down to get it. Nick hears Claire coughing/choking.

Nick: Bear, you okay?

Claire: cough cough, I swallowed my necklace. cough cough cough

Nick looks in Claire's mouth and sure enough, the necklace is gone. She gets spoken to sternly, I'm sure, I wasn't there. I was told after the fact. And then the two proceed back up to Grampa Bill's room. Claire stops.

Claire: Daddy?

Nick stops and looks at her.

My THREE year old says: Don't tell Momma, okay Daddy?

Obviously it was the first thing he said when he got up to the room! We died. Seriously. Then Gramma Rosi turns to us and says

Gramma Rosi: Should you call your pediatrician?

Me: uhhhh...?

Rosi: I should just pop around the corner and ask Grampa Bill's nurse.

She returns while I am telling Claire that she promised not to put things in her mouth and then did exactly what I was afraid of...

Rosi: Yes, you should call your doctor. Just to make sure.

So, this is getting longer and longer. Basically, because the necklace was 10 inches long, the doc wanted us to get an xray after it passed through most of her body...just to make sure. The next morning we took her in, got an xray and found that is was clumped in a little ball and very close to being on its way out. She was fine.

Is it bad that I almost hoped that it was something that would scare her JUST A BIT to help her remember how bad it is to put things in her mouth? That's awful though, right? Especially because I try so hard to not make her scared of the doctor. Hmmmm...sigh...grrrr...

Thanksgiving II

2011-11-26T19:57:00.001-08:00

1. I am thankful for my amazing children. The more I watch, the more I care. I can't help it. They are positively amazing! Claire is totally PRE READING! And she loves it. She asks to do practice multiple times a day. Matthew is a total flirt. He can't help but liven everyone around him with a smile. And the way he attacks popcorn is something to be seen.

2. Aggies! WA-freakin'-hoooo! We went to the football game in the freezing cold this afternoon. It was awesome. Matthew was an ANGEL! He literally watched the game the entire time. And when he wasn't, he was flirting with the cute girls behind him. Claire was pretty whiny, but she was fairly okay through the whole thing. I was never ever a sports person unless my awesome brothers were playing, but I can't not watch this team. I'm sad if I have other obligations. And if we can't get free tickets, we watch it online! I can hardly believe this! I love it. I love the Aggies! They rock!

3. The Sorensen Family. They almost all came over for this Thanksgiving. It was awesome to spend so much time with them. Matt took us to see "Real Steel", which I totally recommend. Although I had a very hard time with the total destruction parts of this movie, but I really did love it. We ate fabulous food that we spent two days making. We had lots of fun playing games, going out as girls, playing with the kids, Black Friday watching---that turned into buying! ha ha ha!...etc. So glad they came. We love them. Thanks, guys.

4. This country. Glad we live here. Glad for our jobs. Glad for our security. Glad for our home. Glad for our ability to make changes. Glad to eat lots of food. Wish for a few changes, but who doesn't!?!

5. Heavenly Father...For allowing all of the previous. and more.

melissa villasenor!!!!

2011-11-19T13:20:00.001-08:00

Everyone can totally be jealous! I went with my friend, Lizabeth E, to see this comedian on Thursday night up at USU. Not only is she a fantastic comedian but, she's CLEAN and she's a singer! You better believe that I feel in love because of that. She truly is amazing. I could do a complete critique of her vocal abilities, but I'd bore almost everyone but my mom, so...naw.

Check her out:

laughs...

2011-11-12T19:41:00.001-08:00

There is a woman at a store that we use often who has a laugh...

An interesting laugh...

So, the story goes, we were in said store when Nick noticed Matthew had an 'eye bugger'. Matthew does not like to have his face 'picked' so I turn to Nick laughing out loud to see what happened. Nick was 'picking' at this 'eye bugger' when Matthew decided that he didn't like it. He squaked and squinched up his face, then took his pointer finger and jabbed at Nick's eyeball saying "Eye! Eye! Eye!"

After Nick told this adorable story of Matthew standing up for himself, I laughed out loud. Nick and I continued to glance at each other and laugh out loud again and again.

Low and behold, this woman of previous mention is heard laughing...from about 500 meters away.

Claire turns to me and says, "Momma! That girl laughs like you!"

So, Nick and I decided to ask. We recorded this woman's laughter by drawing her into conversation. She was ready and willing. I don't know if she recognized me from when I worked there years ago, but she is absolutely hard to forget, so I will always remember. But she totally told me some very personal things, keeping this upbeat, uproarious laughter at the same time.

Check it out and vote!

thanksgiving...

2011-11-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm copying my dear friend Missy and writing a thankful blog post for a few days:

1. Claire's preschool. SHE LOVES IT! She is a better artist, better reader, better communicator, better sleeper, better helper, better big sister.

2. Matthew's cheery smile. That kid smiles at everyone! I can't get enough. When he adds that giggle, the world is a better place. (insert cheesy comment here)

3. Food. the end.

following maggie

2011-11-09T12:40:00.001-08:00

I selfishly want this so I'm posting it.

free lds 16x20 temple picture

bulldog...

2011-11-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

My friend, Regina, had me watch her kids one morning and as she was leaving, she picked up Matthew, said, "You are such a bulldog." and put him down.

I nearly died! What an apt description of the little monkey. It totally makes me wanna change his nickname. It's not only that he has the personality described by that title: he pushes through anything, he is obstinate as a...Well, he's obstinate...and then there is the crawling factor. That kid puts his little arms kind of to the sides and waddles his little hind parts to resemble the best bulldog around.

My favorite is that when he's in the mood to wrestle, his form of 'tackling' is to crawl up till his practically sitting on you, then just lay. Making it absolutely impossible to ignore the kid.

His breathing might even resemble a bulldog because it's so audible. This kid is awesome.

Not so happy news: he's bleeding out his ears with disgusting pus and nose and eyeball drippings. Poor kid. Doc thinks it's another sinus infection (which is supposed to not be possible because kids don't have any sinuses developed yet). He went in for a blood test on Friday. I am very interested in what the Doc decided to test for...

He's signing! Not even just a little bit. He'll do complete sentences.

"Milk, please, Momma"

"More, please, Daddy"

"Thank you, Daddy"

"No thank you"

"All done!"

"Amen!"

Astounding...

2011-11-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Deb: Claire, will you set the table?
Claire: Sure, Momma.
I hand her four plates. One for Claire, one for Momma, one for Daddy and one for the French Toast to sit on in the center of the table. Though, i didn't bother explaining this to her...Claire sets all four plates in thier prospective places, in front of each chair at the table. I didn't bother telling her because it didn't matter.
Deb: Why don't you get 1 knife for Daddy, and forks...
Claire interupts: and a spoon for Brother.
Deb: Great. thanks.
Claire gets out 1 spoon, one knife and four forks. Again, I didn't bother correcting her because it didn't matter and also, I doubted she knew she had too many and would put it on the table to get dirty. She places the silverware in a pile on the counter so she doesn't have to hold them all at once. I secretly take one fork and put it back. 5 seconds later, I'm still making dinner...
Claire: Hey! Where's my other fork?
drat! She noticed.
Deb: do you need another one?
claire nods.
Deb: okay, here you go.
She finishes by putting it by the extra plate.

If you didn't catch it, my daughter counted. Not only did she count the forks, but she counted the plates to know how many forks to get. I'm sorry if this seems simple to you. This is amazing. She is asking herself questions, drawing conclusions and getting it right! My daughter is SMART! This is six year old material, this. If your kid can do it too at this age, or any age before six, make sure you're praising that kid up and down.

corn fed, well bred...

2011-10-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sharing a bowl of popcorn means very little for the big kids around here.

firetruck

2011-09-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about the fact that when you get emails like this at work, you're whole day is better...

It was titled: Where is he?

Message: Claire and I looked all over for Matthew, finally finding him in his closet on his firetruck,

This kid is hilarious. He can also climb up the stairs in his swing set and then go down the slide, all by himself! It is quite something to watch. I'll have to get Nick to record it for you.

daddy pleasing little boy...

2011-09-16T10:00:00.001-07:00

2011-09-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

Preschool...

I love it. She loves it. I wish it wasn't so far away. sigh. but I'm so glad she's going! I'm not nearly as impatient as I've been with her and she's so dang cute about going! she held her teacher's hand today as she was putting her in the car and didn't want to let her go. Then finally said, "I love you, Miss Lura!" too cute.

me and chelle

2011-09-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Last dress rehearsal. I'm not Miss Hannigan. It was between me and 2 other girls. I didn't get it, I am Mrs. Greer instead. And the other one that also didn't get it (Kat, she's Mrs. Pugh) will be in many pictures later, when I get a picture of her. This is Michelle. She's Annette, and adorable. We are in her dressing room (Mine is next door).

I love it, I love it, I love it. The show isn't what I love. It's being a part of this again. Makes me remember why I love to sing so much.

1st show in nine years...

2011-09-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, I'm in this show. It starts on THURSDAY! AHHH!

I'm excited.

And sad.

and ready to do another!

I've promised only one a year to help keep family and self sane.

Does this have to end?

Because she can't have gum till she's 8, she said

2011-08-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

email to Grammie:

aACACBCBAEEE 8 IS FOR GUM
A FOR AGGIE
B FOR BOOK
C FOR CLAIRE
8 FOR GUM

LOVE YOU GRAMMIE.

CLAIRE BEAR

Response from Grammie:
Good job Claire Bear!

D is for dog
E for Eggs and Elephants
F for Frogs and French fries!
G for Grammies and Grumpies and Grandmas and Grandpas!

We love you!

Grammie and Grumpy
(Grammie sent us the pictures)

sandwiches...

2011-08-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

We were all laying on the bed after naps. Claire is rough housing with Nick. Nick grabs Claire and says:

Nick: I'm hungry. I need a sandwich! Bread, I need bread on the bottom.
*grabs a screaming, giggling Claire and throws her down on the bed*
Nick: How about some Mayo!
*covers Claire with nearest pillow*
Nick: And some blue cheese,
*adds a blue cased pillow*
Nick: And maybe some avocado,
*another pillow*
Nick: maybe some meat,
*another pillow*
Nick: and top it off with another piece of bread
*grabs Matthew and puts him on top*
Nick: This is such a big sandwich, I need to mass it down a bit so it'll fit in my mouth.
*smooshes kids, pillows and all, then proceeds to make eating noises while tickling kids to death*
Claire and Matthew: AH! AHHHHHHH!!! *laughter...the good kind*
*Nick lays back, sighs and pretends to sleep off his large meal. Matthew and Claire creepy crawl to jump on Dad*
Nick: yawn. Hmmmm...I'm getting hungry again. I need a double decker sandwich this time!
*throws a pillow on ME! then a claire (because she's the cheese with flowers on it), more pillows, a Matthew, another pillow and then himself.*

obviously there was no one left of eat the sandwich, so I pulled out from all the tickling and screaming.

Nick: oh no! We don't have bread on the bottom!
*he picks up the remaining 'sandwich' and turns it over entirely and then smashes it again.*

Can I tell you how awesome my husband is?

Simba...

2011-08-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Matthew has a new trick!

From crawling position, he gets up on his knees and throws his arms as high has he possibly can, and then falls flat. Nick and I think he looks like a lion stalking his prey. It is only ruined by his huge grin, which is very un-lion-like. I want a picture of it, but it's over too fast! The camera never captures it! I'll have Nick keep trying.

He has a new word: Simba! which is so fitting!

he has not been feeling well lately. He has a constant running nose, won't suck on anything, whiny, white sores in his mouth...We think it's thrush. Poor kid. Doc is out of the office today. We'll see.

Deb just had a root canal yesterday. Her first. OUCH! Be warned...gory details ahead:
I had been having tooth pain for about a year. Dentist thought we should do a crown first. Did it. Said that the tooth was not doing so hot, come back if there's still pain. there was still pain to the point of inhaling through my mouth, swishing water, eating, drinking, anything put pain on the already constant dull pain.
Dentist sent me to a specialist. I went in and just touching didn't hurt too bad, but as soon as he medicated it and then went for drilling, it was all I could do not to punch him in the nose! OH MY WORD! He finally just took a needle filled with meds and stuck it THROUGH MY TOOTH about six times. You could feel (and see) his arm shaking with the exertion of thrusting that needle through! AHHH!!!! It hurt so badly. and that didn't even make it stop. He had to drill until he reached the nerve, try to deaden it, it wouldn't, so he just cut it out and THEN it was blissful. I hadn't not had pain for months and months. wow.

Nick is in charge of hiring a team of students that he'll teach how to...contact donors...and such...I'm being cryptic because I don't know if I should tell that story fully. Very interesting.

Claire is hilarious. We are working on identifying letters. Finding them on our walks, in our books, drawing them (ha! I'm drawing them, she tells me, "momma, you do it."), etc. It's great. "Momma, look, A for Aggie! C for Claire", etc. She's great. So smart. She always wants to know what time it is. She can tell me the numbers then hands are on, but wants the specific time. I've been thinking about making a clock for her and teaching her how to read it...we'll see. I think it's a bit early. We're looking for a preschool for this fall. Mostly because I'm too quick to get grumpy with her when I teach her new things. You should see us do a puzzle. NO Claire, NO! is all I ever say! I'm sure it's only hurting her. Makes me feel awful. I'm too impatient! She's so smart, though. Shouldn't she just know everything already?

We spend a LOT of time outside. We opted not to buy a second car becuase I didn't want a car payment. Instead I got a bike trailer for my birthday in May and we bike everywhere. Last week, I did about 20 miles in one sitting. WOOSH! Props to me, I know. We have very nice tans ;)

Anyway, nice catch up because I haven't been good about it lately. My MIL just asked me for one and I had to think for a while...

because it was sent on to me...and it's very fitting...ha ha ha

2011-08-24T17:50:00.001-07:00

tease

2011-08-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

Matthew is such a tease. I was talking to Nick on the phone, laying on the couch, when Matthew crawls to the couch, stands up, walks along the couch and then creeps his little hands along and then grabs me and says, "boo boo!" like he was trying to scare me.

Claire: Daddy, why you tease me?
Nick: Because I'm a father, it's my job.

Claire: Why?
Claire: Why?
Claire: Why?
This child is in that stage. But instead of really wanting to know the answer, I feel as if she is just testing my knowledge. She asks me 'why' to questions she knows the answers to. I discovered this when she started to correct me to the answer that she thought was more probable. My new response is to ask her "why?" directly after she asks me and usually she will tell me the answer she wants it to be. In the cases that she doesn't know the answer, she makes it up. Something like:
Claire: Why are you checking your email?
Mom: Why?
Claire: Because...it makes you feel better.

reasons I know my hubby loves me...

2011-08-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Whenever we go visit my mom, he wants a detailed list of jobs that she needs done around the house. He always, ALWAYS is helping with the kitchen in her home.

He takes my daddy on drives. I don't know what it is about that generation. I do not like to sit in cars any longer than necessary, but my dad loves to just take a drive and look at the scenery. My hubby will go with him. Talk to him. My father has had two strokes and three heart attacks and isn't able to do much, so this is one of the few ways that you can spend time with him and my hubby suggests rides with my dad regularly.

I am a bit of a clean freak. Whenever I come up with a new place to put the *towels, he tries to remember that and puts the *towels where I ask him to.
*towels stands for any random change I make.

My dishes are always done because I told him how much it bugs me to go to bed with a sink of even rinsed dishes.

When I tire of laundry, he takes the brunt and I will build up the pile and he'll do them.

If I leave him a recipe, he'll make dinner.

He does every kid duty that I do that doesn't include nursing, carrying the child in uteri or birthing the child.

He LOVES his kids. Does everything he can with them and for them, but still allows me to be the boss of how we discipline (though he is allowed to have input).

While I'm teaching, Nick is a full time daddy.

Let's me sing even though he could go his whole life without ever wanting a performing wife, he deals with it (Nick doesn't like to stand out---he likes to be in the background and with a loud wife, that makes it pretty hard).

I feel very lucky to be married to such a guy.

Matthew's first birthday!

2011-08-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

a shirt of frosting

seeing Claire's and wanting more...

It has taken me weeks to get these pics because they were on Ashley's (newest wife of a BIL, Greg) camera. She was going to email them and then it was too hard to send the file. Then I was going to upload the video of my adorable baby going after his cake with abandon, but it was too big and I'm not capable of cutting the footage. Besides, I think the only people who would watch it would be my family! And maybe only for the first 30 seconds. I digress...sigh.

This is from Matthew's birthday party a few weeks ago. We mostly just had a cake with some family around and let him make a mess. Claire kept trying to put her fingers in it and was finally put in time out because she couldn't leave it alone. Poor girl. I bet I would have had a hard time with a cake sitting in front of me and seeing Matthew making a mess (very little eating went on here) and not have tried some for myself. But you know me, I'm a particular mom. It wasn't her turn, so she had to sit in time out.

STATS:

Matthew is a rolling 23 lbs, putting him in the 45th percentile for weight. He is 29 inches tall (5th percentile), which makes him the squat little boy that he is. His head is a circumfrence that I never remember other than it was in the 45 percentile, like his weight.

Claire is 60% for height AND weight (a shock for her mother).

Matthew:

cutest, sweetest boy. He loves his momma. Likes his daddy, but amazingly, the kid prefers his momma (I guess that's cool because Claire prefers her Daddy). Nick thinks it has something to do with the fact that I'm his walking milk jug, and will often call out to me "Ahn na! Ahn na!" when he's wanting for milk. While this is true, I hope that it's really because of my sparkling personality.

Matthew is not interested in sign language at all. AH! We're still working on it because I do not want a kid to whine to get what he wants.

He LOVES:

-balls

-water

-ropes (foreshadowing here, I'm sure)

-trucks, wheels

-HAIR (my hair is preferred, but he if he can reach Claires, it's a good substitute) to put in his mouth or pull really hard on

-SINGING! (can a mom be proud of this?!?) whether he's doing it or I am doing it matters very little to him.

He doesn't love:

-real food

-being told 'no' (too bad, kid. You cannot play with electrical cords!)

-holding still

Accomplishments:

-He can hold Claire down

-walk holding furniture or me

-crawl

-has 4 teeth

-communicate with specific word babbles for specific needs (ahn na! for milk, doo doo doo for ball are the 2 that come to mind)

I love this kid. He's the best 'mistake' we made.

matthew's 1st bday

2011-08-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

sx mb m,nnmtevfg mvth gtmik fbnu vgmg bh g mklkL.

that was Matthew telling you how much he liked h7i0s3w his cake. He is still talking about it because he keeps trying to tyP@E more.

Ohmigoodness, you little boy. We love you so much. You are so cuddle-y. So funny. Your smile is so big. You LOVE milk. But only if it's Momma's and served in the correct method. You cut your first tooth at 11 months. You crawled at 10 months. You climbed stairs at 9 months! (Yeah, I know) You love to play hide and seek. You LOVE hair. If you are hungry or tired you grab it and try to stuff it in your mouth. You and your sister will end naps with Claire in your crib, you screaming and her jumping up and down. We know that one day you are going to clobber your sister and we don't feel bad for her at all. She really loves you to the point of mothering and disciplining. You love to crawl in her bed all by yourself. Any climbing you can get away with, you do.

You don't like bottles, sippy cups, or cups. You don't like waiting for anything. You hate it when i try and make you do sign language. You whine if I'm too far away when you're hungry.

there is just too many things to love about you.

WE LOVE YOU! Happy 1st bday!

all tied up...

2011-07-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

I'm at work and Nick sends me this....ever wonder what your spouse does when you're not there? LOL

conversations with claire...

2011-07-30T09:34:00.001-07:00

Things have certain titles in our house. For example, Claire has some hand me downs (that we are so grateful for, don't let the story detract from this. It's all about the funny factor). In one of the batches of hand me downs we received were some blue, Cinderella tennis shoes. They are absolutely plastic wrapped with gold sparkles and a prominent Cinderella displayed on each side. I think they are the most hideous things in the entire world. Hence: Claire LOVES them. I started calling them her 'ugly shoes' and it stuck. She asks me where her 'ugly shoes' are, or if she can wear them to church or whatever...(and now I have to explain that I teach Claire that Mom doesn't like pink...blech...but Claire can like pink. that's fine. But we don't have to always like the same things...it's all about independent thinking...I digress...ahem....)

So this is the preface to this story:

Claire is clacking away in these awful fake high heeled, princess, pink, plastic shoes. Nick and I hate these things. If she's not stepping on our toes in them, she's trying to tap dance, which literally shakes the house. I'm in the shower, oblivious. Nick is trying to put Matthew down.

I get out of the shower.

Claire barges in.

Claire: Mom, Daddy told me to take off my 'stupid shoes'. (In our house we try not to say stupid. Honestly, that was harder than I ever thought it would be.)

Mom: Claire! We don't say 'stupid'!

Claire: But Daddy calls them 'stupid shoes'.

So, we have named these too.

this was going to be several conversations recorded...but that'll have to wait. I took to long telling the first story!

mallory...

2011-07-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

So, Nick works with this girl, lady, person named Mallory. I didn't meet her for a while, but her wedding announcement to Wes was on my fridge for...months. She is gorgeous. The typical blond haired, blue eyed beauty. Little bit intimidating.

Then I see her for the first time. She lived up to her picture. But, Nick had to leave in a hurry and never introduced us! So, then I felt completely awkward and left before I could really talk to her. I decided that was a bad choice and told Nick to tell her that I wouldn't wait for an intro. I'd just start talking to her next time like we were already introduced.

So we did. And we're friends. And she remembers my kids' birthdays and Christmas better than 1/2 my relations!

Anyway, she took Claire to a Princess Festival this last month for Claire's 3rd birthday. It was super cool. Here are some pics.

Her prince charming. She always wants to be kissed. Watch it, boys. I have a feeling she'll kiss before most kids ;)

Princess and the Pea---or Winifred's jousting equipment ;)

One of my students from MVHS---Kristen as Rapunzel and Claire

Her name sake...I love her growl face! Claire BEAR!

I'm a pretty princess riding in my carriage!

Birthday Bear! 3 years old today

2011-07-06T15:19:00.001-07:00

It's my dear girl's birthday today!

Happy Birthday, Claire Bear!

You light up my days and nights. I still have to go in to see you before I go to bed because I can't help it. I kiss your soft cheek and you turn over in your sleep, usually away because you don't like to cuddle, which makes me laugh.

You're so opinionated! You want to be the boss of everyone. I love it when you sit and laugh with Matthew. You call him "My son" as if that were his name. You splash in the tub with him. You try and carry him (ahh!), you take things from him if you think he'll choke on it. You yell at him if he's playing with electric cords like Mom does.

You hate time outs, potty training, broccoli, and potatoes

You love your Daddy, Dora, Aurora (eek!), purple, you give your dad anything that's blue because "it's your favorite color, Daddy!", reading, apples, hot dogs
You would drink every meal if you could.
You ARE SO SMART! And maybe that is a very biased mother, but I still cannot believe that you ride your bike so well and how fast you learned to do it. You speak so well. A full year ago you were speaking how most of the 3 year olds I know speak and now that you ARE 3, you speak like a 5 years old.

I love you SO MUCH, little girl who wants to be big.

"I went on a bike ride last years!"

"I am a big girl so I can ride in the street!"

"Mom, can we go to the librahry to play on computers?"

adventures...part 1

2011-07-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

Greg (Nick's brother) was married on June 18th in the San Diego Temple in San Diego. For that temperature I would move there in a second. The beauty is also extremely appealing. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna...

Expense---wow. Okay, probably not.

We went to all three (3)---yes I had to make sure that was clear. THREE) receptions. One in Oregon (in conjunction with Daniel and Sarah), one in San Diego and then one in Provo. It wasn't the amount of receptions. It was the fact that we went to all three. I have a 2 year old and a 11 month old. WHAT WERE WE THINKING!?! They were both so overly tired that we just about died. I remember specific times when Claire (who does not sleep in the car...at all) would finally fall asleep and wake up no less then 20 minutes later screaming no matter what we did. AH!

We also tried to be super cheap, so we drove to Oregon. A typical 12 hour trip was about an 18 hour one. We were crazy and flew to Vegas (normally an 8 hour car ride, with kids, prolly close to 10), then stayed with my sister a night and then drove to San Diego (normally a 6 hour drive, with kids 7...not too bad!). We then drove to Las Angeles and flew to SLC. It really was insane. Things took a lot longer than we hoped, but we saved over $200 bucks doing it that way. Phew!

So, the whiny part is over...

The trips were really very neat. We saw a lot of family, met some new friends, and figured we could and will do anything! The wedding was beautiful. Ashley and Greg were married by her grandfather. Neat! The reception was amazing. I loved her color choice (aqua, white, and silver). It was very posh.

more to come. I have to interact with children now.

Some adorable pics:

kissing princes...

2011-06-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Claire:
"MOM! Come kiss me!"

I look around...Is she in pain? she doesn't sound like it? I find her on the couch, with her eyes closed, clutching a beautiful and fragrant dandelion to her bosom. She waits patiently for me to figure out that I'm to kiss her to 'wake up'.

Through out the day, she continues to call my name and I find her in various places. The last time we played this senario, she had me scale a castle wall, fight and kill the dragon, kiss her, and then dance to "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream".

Matthew:
SO CLOSE to crawling. Yesterday he had his legs working but didn't know what to do with his arms. We'd see him with his butt in the air, pushing himself with his legs with his face on the floor, probably getting rug burn.

He had ear tubes put in last Thursday (he had 7 ear infections in 6 months---it was like he was never without one). The doc even reassured us (I was almost against it, silly me) and said he had an ear infection when he put the tubes in and it was...ahem...congealed enough that it wouldn't have drained without tubes. Gray stringy stuff....BLECH!

picture catch up

2011-05-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

We bought a load of top soil so that I could plant a garden this year. Hooray! Claire and Nick had a blast (ahem) moving all the dirt around the yard. I did very little due to other engagements. Toward the end of the evening, Claire was stripped down to her diaper and running around like a mad woman. It was in her nose, eyeballs, teeth, diaper...everywhere.

Matthew starting to drink from a cup. I can't believe how big he's getting. I feel like Claire was so much faster at all of these developments, but I'll bet that is also from not remembering what age she did what. I know teeth were 8 months. Matthew still doesn't have teeth. PHEW! He's a biter...Also Claire was crawling by about the same time. Matthew is sure rolling like crazy, but no crawling. I don't mind! And Claire is so helpful to get everything Matthew is reaching for that he'll never have to learn.

gettysburg drunk...

2011-05-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

So we went to Gettysburg, PA and this is what we found...among other things...

nine month

2011-05-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

Matthew had his nine month check up:

weight: 20.5 lbs
height: 27.5 in
head: I never remember.

He started to kiss the other day...And only Claire to begin with. He would reach out for her and pull her in (usually by the hair) and put his open mouth on her face and then shake his head...leaving a load of slobber and two grinning kids.

work...

2011-05-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Claire: Daddy, where ya goin?

Nick: To work.

Claire: Why?

Nick: Because it's fun.

Claire: Ohh...Can I wif you?

daaa daa daa da daaa pause daa daa daa!

2011-03-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's important to do the same things for all kids. My favorite moment is watching him bounce his little self up and down just after the 'unveiling' at about 11 seconds.

8 months!

2011-03-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

A new toy that I can't stop eating!

Daxton came over to play and we sat and screamed at each other...We were both very tired and upset and not interested in each other at all.

Aunt Marlies tries to feed my hungry self. I have it more on my face and body than in my mouth.

A picture of tradition. Apparently my sister has this same picture when she was nine months from inside Grumpy's truck.

This one is an awful picture because it's so bleary, but you can see my 'war paint' pretty well. It's medicine for my eczema that we put on me every few hours.

I'm growing like a weed! I've only put on 2 1/2 lbs since my four month check up, but I'm still pretty chubby looking! I'm sweet and cuddly and can't keep my hands outta anything! I am not at all interested in rolling (though I do it when pressed) or crawling. But I do not like things to be out of reach and my sister is so helpful to get me anything I want, whenever I want it. I mostly don't even have to say anything, and there are four toys, a blanket, my sucker (pacifer), a bottle (pretend bottles that drive me crazy), and even my sister pulling on me or giving me suffocating hugs or tackles.

growth...

2011-03-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

Matthew at 7 months...Nick is so kindly hiding behind him. But it's all about the skin condition. We are always in phases of managing it. You can see it on the left eye. It's not too bad here, but there are some days where it looks like he is one swollen piece of skin...and I do mean ONE piece of skin!

He rips my hair out of my head daily. He must like the texture or something, because it's not like he just grabs it, he wraps his little fingers through it and pulls. We always find hair between his fingers and all over his clothes.

He loves his Dada and says his name most of all (not that he knows what he's saying). We've started sign language, but nothing has clicked yet.

Claire at the USU vs UofU hockey game...we won. The opposing team had like 4 Canadians on it. I didn't know you could recruit out of the states...Claire is hugging an armadillo from Texas Roadhouse. Very shoddy photo, but you get the idea...

Matthew at 6 months. He is a steady sitter upper. He's been sitting up for a while, but this is where Claire can't knock him over just by touching him.

happingins with the kids...

2011-02-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Matthew:

has been battling sickness and junk still. It seems never ending, and I guess it is. He was running 103 fever for a few days, but doc couldn't find a great reason but I did get chastised a bit for not bringing him in sooner.
I don't know what to say about him besides that he's adorable. Nick has found out that whenever you open your eyeballs really wide at him, he starts to giggle. If you shake your head from side to side, he starts to giggle. If Claire is within reach, the kid totally attacks her! Pulls her hair, clothes, whatever to get more of her. She's going to be in trouble when he can crawl over to her and pound her into the ground!

Claire:

LOVES everyone and everything. Is doing such a great job being a helper and big sister. She bosses everyone around, even me. She is constantly asking for food and that is okay with me because she has really started to EAT! I developed a thing lately because I was so tired of wrestling with her to eat and eating became my least patient time of the day. Tears were common (claire) and anger eminent (deb). So, finally I decided to let her choose how much to eat and what was on her plate was the only thing she was allowed to eat. As soon as she said she was all done, I let her be but then I wouldn't feed her until the next meal AT ALL! and the first few days I wasn't in positions to allow her to eat any sooner than breakfast at 8 amish and then lunch at almost 2! She was so hungry that she'd eat whatever I gave her. Now, it's not perfect but we are both so much happier! HURRAY!

She is still in pull ups and I feel like it's going to be until the end of time. She's so hit or miss with it. 3 days in a row she'll be GREAT and she'll be in panties the whole time. Then on the 4th day she won't pee in the toilet once, but will wet her pants all day long. Finally we'll just put her back in pull ups because I'm tired of trying to not yell, spank, etc. (which does happen at times...HELP MOMS!)

Yesterday was a day off for Nick. After baths/showers, Nick laid on the bed with a crying Matthew, gave him his sucker (pacifier) and a blanket and just held him. Matthew reached up and rubbed his daddy's whiskers and loved every minute of it. Claire watched and decided she wanted a turn when Nick put Matthew to bed. She sat still for 5 WHOLE MINUTES! very impressive.

We've started to call Claire, Miss Bare for 2 reasons: 1-Claire Bear shortened kinda name. 2- she loves to be naked...specifically when others are around. We had a house guest for three days this last weekend (JT Tullis) and she wanted so much to be naked all the time.

hugs II

2011-02-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

So, Matthew will put his little chubby arms around my neck every time I pick him up. I didn't even know kids could honestly be cuddly at this age, but he so is!

6 month check up

2011-02-15T11:48:00.001-08:00

Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz
Height: 26.25 inches

My adorable son. Ignore the cleavage...eesh!

Andrew Lloyd Webber

2011-02-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

I spent the last few weeks working on an Andrew Lloyd Webber production. If you need a edu-music-ation, try this:

ALW

I've been schooled...

2011-02-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

Marx

blue...

2011-01-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

my blood runs blue!

hugs...

2011-01-21T16:10:00.001-08:00

Claire talks really well on the phone now. She will hand me the phone and ask to talk to a specific person. Yesterday it was Daddy, Grammie, Grumpy and then Amy. It's always a laugh to hear her tell them about her potty training or the bad action she did hours earlier. She remembers things so clearly.

Lately, when I tell her to tell the person on the other end of the line that she loves them, which is an indication that it's time to give the phone to me, she gives it a giant hug and kiss before she'll hand it off. Very sweet girl.

She wants me to document EVERYTHING! "Momma! take a picture!" I finally just started taking one with my fingers---pretending. For a while there, if I didn't have the camera in hand for every moment, I wasn't taking enough pictures.

Matthew is crazy. He screams through his naps lately. Even at night. 2 nights ago, I finally put him down stairs because there was nothing I could do for him. I imagined I heard him screaming for the rest of the night and was up 20 times to check on him. 10 of those times he was screaming. argh.

He's started to babble. His latest is "dadadada". Nick loves it. I can't help but love that kid. He's a cuddle-er.

Eating real food is a trip for him. He hates his cereal. He wants what we are eating. Sometimes we'll give it to him...if it's rice or a bit of bread. he gnaws it to death and then swallows it or it ends up mushed to death and on his shirt.

4 month check up...

2010-12-06T09:53:00.001-08:00

Matthew's stats:

16 lbs and 15 oz---75%
25 inches long---50%
25 head circ---50%

People often comment things like: "What position does he play?" I now introduce him as my linebacker.

Oddly enough, I have neices and nephews who have been even bigger, but I still get these comments. He actually only eats 5-6 times a day and sleeps about 12 hours at night. Then when he does eat, he barfs up almost all his food...no idea how he's so big.

Claire is wonderful. I love this pic. It's so her personality...

Georgetown...

2010-12-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Nick has been in DC this last week. He gets home TONIGHT! It was his birthday on Friday and his boss' wife sent me this photo of him at the game/event that he was over there for. that arena looks HUGE! Claire has been asking for Daddy almost constantly. She has really missed him. I don't know if Matthew knows the difference when he's gone, except he gets more attention ;) Claire has been absolutely amazing this week while I'm ready to tear my hair out (not because of her...just thyroid problems and not sleeping). tonight I told her we could watch a movie and eat popcorn. She was so excited. I asked her to turn the lights off while I carried Matthew downstairs. It took her a while, but she came down and I went back up, all the lights were off. It was too much to expect of a 2 year old, but wow. I'll keep her. I say this as I hear here upstairs thumping in her bed and not going to sleep...waking up matthew---who is now crying. bye!

go aggies!

2010-12-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

Claire sees any sort of sporting event and goes nuts! This is our latest basketball game. The fans were crazy as usual. She's sitting next to Miles---who was calm and sedate the whole time. Claire was jumping up and down, yelling and stealing others' popcorn/food.

a post from Grumpy Sorensen!

2010-11-29T13:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I was reminded of the fact that singing is not one of my talents. This could have been a blow to my almost nonexistent fragile ego, but fortunately I already knew where I stood when it came to my singing skills. The truly comical part of this was the fact that the reminder came from my 2 year old granddaughter.

The reminder came from a conversation with my granddaughter on our grandfather/granddaughter date and it went something like the following:

Matt: Claire, do you want to go with grumpy and get a hamburger?
Claire: Yesssssss
Matt: Ok, let’s go do a little shopping and then we will get a drink and hamburger
Claire: Ok, I love hamburger
Matt: ( singing an old Partridge Family song to Claire ) “ I think I love you ( repeated 3 or 4 times )
Claire: Silence
Matt: Claire, do you want to sing with me?
Matt: I think I love, I think I love you, I think I love you
Matt: Claire, sing with grumpy
Matt: I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire: NO SINGING!
Matt: What?
Claire: NO SINGING?
Matt: ( ignoring my granddaughter’s command ) I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire: Shhhhhhhh!
Matt: ( ignoring my granddaughter’s command ) I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire: STOP!
Matt: ( ignoring my granddaughter’s command ) I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire:(slowly shaking her head back and forth and in an almost disgusted tone she blurted out) BAD!
Matt: At that point all I could do was burst out laughing. In her own little way, my granddaughter got the best of me and had found a way to shut off my lousy singing

pic catch up...

2010-11-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

Loves

Come here, Mafew!

I love this pic of his toes. So will Grammie ;)

Claire has curly hair! Who'd have known?

LOL! I just like this...

true love...

2010-11-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

Claire is in the bathtub, Matthew is having tummy time and I am doing my hair...I hear Claire singing and splashing in the tub and finally say, "I love you!" and I respond in kind. She keeps saying it and I finally look over and realize...She's talking to her rubber ducky!

new resuarants...or...

2010-11-08T15:46:00.001-08:00

Do you ever feel like trying a new restaurant to see if it's good? You know, take the sampler and see if it's worth eating there again and again? I'm starting to feel that way about hospitals. You know, the cafeteria there is not all bad. Maybe we should try a new one this week!

After that charming little antidote, I'll relate the following story:

This Friday (the 5th?) I headed down to Mom's house and went to a very....hmmmm...a play with Mom. charter school production of Cats. Hmmmm is all I can say. Dad watched the kids.

Friday night I put the kids to bed and finally go to bed myself at about 1100ish. I wake up to Matthew having a croup attack. Mom helped me a ton bringing him in and out of the shower and cold. I get back into bed at about 2:30ish. I'm not asleep yet, but Claire and I are sharing a bed. She rolls over and barfs right into my hair! I then rotated between caring for one child or the other all night. Mom came down and helped hold my girl and then Matthew.

Didn't really know what to do, but Mom looked after the kids while I took a nap before driving home.

I get to Bountiful and Matthew has another attack. I call Nick, who calls the doctor, and we decide we need to take matthew in asap. I stop at an Instacare in Bountiful and they totally freak me out and make Matthew ride to Primary Children's in an ambulance. Apparently when babies have such a hard time breaking for such a long time, the second they feel like they can relax, they will just stop breathing altogether. I have the only car, so Nick is trying to find a ride down from Logan to help out. I can't get a hold of Mom (Dad offered to come with before I even left their house. but what did Little Miss Independent say to her dotting father? "No, but thanks dad. I'll be alright"---I digress). Anyway, it was a hellacious day. Test results showed that Matthew has croup with broncialitis and possible tracheal miajia (you better believe that I don't know how to spell this). which means he has croup with RSV with a possible genetic tightening of the trachea that will require surgery to fix.

Sunday, I went to church and nick stayed home with kids because I was in charge of singing time in primary. Nick had to leave his yard job on Sat in a rush and didn't finish. He went back after church to finish. stayed till 2 hours after dark and still wasn't done.

Needless to say...I'm exhausted, the kids are exhausted, nick is exhausted and sore...but we are so blessed! I have a great Mom that helps me with my kids all night long, a dad that would drive with me up to Logan just to make sure everything goes okay. He'd probably even stay if I asked him to, I have health insurance for my kids, great health care providers with exhausting resources, a reliable car, and a husband that would do anything to get to his kids.

I haven't been to that many hospitals, or their cafeterias. I was mostly just being funny. Or trying to be. ;)

carnivore...

2010-11-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

I so do not eat much meat. While I was prego with Claire, I did a good job of keeping up my protein. I guess this is what I get!

a carnivore in her natural habitat!

little momma...

2010-10-27T13:34:00.001-07:00

yesterday, we had dinner with some good friends that had moved away. Claire was a riot to watch. Matthew had everyone captivated with his charm. I thought I'd share a little scene:

6 adults, 4 kids (Claire, Matthew, Miles---18 months and Jayne---2 1/2 years)

it's about bedtime for all the kids. Miles is laughing and happy, but a little whinney from being tired. Jayne is exhausted (from travel) and lays down on the ground and just whines. Poor kids.

Que Claire:

"Ohhhh, sad!" Claire brings Jayne her blanket.

"Feel better?" Claire FORCES Jayne to drink from her sipper.

Jayne does.

Claire steals blanket, Jayne cries.

"Claire, give it back. It's hers. You can ask her if she will share, but please give it back."

Claire lays down next to Jayne and tries to cover herself and Jayne up with TINY blanket. Claire wraps arms around Jayne. "It's all right, Son." (that's what I say to Matthew when he's crying) Pats her back.

Night continues on with Claire being a mother to all those involved. I had no idea kids had such maternal instincts!

too big...

2010-10-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

I bought some costumes online. buycostumes.com gave me two kids costumes for 3.99 each + 4.99 for shipping + 30% off. We got them the other day. I was amazed to receive such high quality costumes for such an amazing deal. This is what they look like:

I sent these pics on to my mother-in-law, so proud of my amazing deal. She sent them on to great grandparents. This is what one had to say about them:

Am getting the impression that our new Great Grandson is not to pleased with his costume. Rumor is he wants to be Batman.

Come on! it fits like a glove! LOL! So, if anyone has a spare batman costume, send it my way ;)

More cute bedtime stories. Claire's routine is teeth, potty, pj's, scriptures, prayers, cuddles, fan on (for a noise barrier), lights out. We have recently allowed Matthew to help with the cuddles.

Evel Knievel...

2010-10-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the LDS Church's General Semi-Annual Conference (what a mouthful!) AKA stay at home church. I LOVE going to church in my pj's. Claire was very entertained by seeing the 'pophet'. She kept seeing 'follow da paphet, follow da paphet, don'tch you, follow the paphet, stray!"

In between the two Sunday sessions, I was making lunch and Claire and Daddy were playing "kick the ball up the stairs" (which is a lot harder than it looks). The game soon migrated into our bedroom with roaring, screaming and chasing. The ball was forgotten and Matthew was added instead. Nick would chase after Claire, carrying Matthew and landing him on her, so he was essentially jumping on her head, back, tummy, whatever. Claire would squeal with delight and keep going.

Soon, Nick was doing anything to make Claire laugh. At one point, Matthew was 'placed' upon Claire's car and took Evel Knievel dives while 'driving' said car.

It ended shortly thereafter to the sound of the phone.

Did I tell you that I adore my husband?

croup

2010-09-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well, Matthew has it...sigh

I've never heard such painful breathing/coughing.

On a happy note, check out Matthew saying cheese for the camera...

... just like how Nick taught Claire to say cheese.

Also: Grasshoppers

Claire has been seeing a lot of grasshoppers lately. At first she would just try to smoosh them, because that's what Dad taught her to do.

A little while ago she switched to saying: eat it? grasshopper? eat it?
Nick thinks this is from watching Lion King and seeing them eat all the bugs.

Now she applauds them:
On Saturday, I was mowing the lawn. Claire was following me around and yelling at the grasshoppers. Then, I notice she is waving her arms and yelling. I turn off the lawnmower to hear her saying, "yeah, grasshopper!" clap clap clap, waving arms in air, "you walking! good job, grasshopper! Walking grasshopper, yeah! good job!" clap clap clap

who's going to feed me?

growing...

2010-09-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Claire was eating lasagna on yesterday. She became covered in sauce quickly. We were prepared and moved her shirt prior to eating. Out of no where, Claire looks at us and says, "I see mirror?"

Matthew is growing like a weed. He was weighed at about six weeks and he has grown to be a round 9 lbs 11 oz!

He loves:
his head rubbed
his belly full
to be held
to sleep
warm baths
to burp
playing horsey with Daddy and Claire
his swing
his sucker (binky)
swaddling
to smile at Mom!

He hates:
Claire pulling him (argh!)
gas
changing clothes/diapers
Mom cleaning out his eyes and nose (WOW this kid gets crustys!)

He is the sweetest baby. I'm so grateful. I am used to hearing moms saying that 'it feels like this baby has always been with us'. I'm beginning to know what they mean. He started to sleep through the night (with TRAINING! THIS WAS NOT NATURAL! Thank you BabyWise!) a week ago. Though it is still erratic, he has done it 4 times this week. HURRAY!

Nick is crazy at work. He's working really hard on so many projects. He is not 'in love' with his job, but he really loves his boss. Last week his boss was in like 40 meetings back to back and Nick knew the boss' car was acting up and he didn't have lunch plans. Nick took his car in, had it fixed, filled up the gas, bought his lunch and didn't tell him any of this. Just didn't make a big deal about it so it was one less thing the boss had to worry about. The boss noticed and was grateful. So typical of Nick. I have such a great husband.

I am crazy with students and kids. I'm trying to loose weight before Christmas starts. I've already started training for my next Ragnar (okay ladies! Let's do it!!! I hope you have started training, too). I'm exhausted---my thyroid is out of control again---but overall, we're doing so well.

Brother-in-law (Daniel) just became engaged (to Sarah)! Hurray! Hurry up and have kids so Claire and Matthew will have close in age cousins on the Sorensen side.

My sis Becky is entering her 3rd trimester with her girl, Elizabeth Jane.

My dad is recovering from his second stroke (last Saturday).

My new nephew Rodrick is doing GREAT in football. Go Arborview!

That's about it for now.

a whole different kind of naked...

2010-09-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

We were at the pool just before Matthew was born, waiting in line to get in. In front of us were two girls in VERY revealing bikinis. Claire looked at them, smiled, pointed, turned to me and said,

"look! Boobies! Bum-bum!"

I'm trying to contain my laughter when she just puts it plainly:

"Naked!"

The girls were looking for attention, I just don't imagine that they expected to get it from a 2 year old.

double tub...

2010-09-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

I let Claire play in the big tub while I wash Matthew in the little tub. The first time I did this, I got Matthew out, wrapped him in a towel and looked up to see this. I think it's rather adorable. Especially because she got in to wash her own babies.

comic strip

2010-09-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

Moses...

2010-08-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

Claire and I were reading a book based on the movie: The Prince of Egypt. The book is focused on Moses' older sister, Miriam. How it was her job to take care of her brother. How she promised God to protect him from the Pharoah's decree that all male babies were to be thrown in the Nile River.

We sat and talked for just a second how it was Miriam's job to take care of Moses and comparing how it is also Claire's job to take care of her brother, Matthew. I didn't think she was interested in hearing it, so I let her go. She sat there with the book, singing (because they have the song in there and we sing it together) for a few more minutes and I started to finish vaccuming. I turned it off to hear this:

"Father...thees day...grateful...bessings...brover, Mafew...amen."

Translation: Dear Heavenly Father, Grateful for this day, grateful for blessings, grateful for my brother, Mathew, Amen.

Ummm...wow.

horz? horz? Mafew?

2010-08-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Claire is such a good big sister. She does her best to maul him with love as often as she can. Even with mother standing over her saying, "Too much, too much!" because she's squashing him flat and he can't even breath to scream to Momma.

Yesterday, I was in the bathroom. Usually I leave Matthew in places that Claire can't reach him (or isn't supposed to be able to reach---she can climb in the pack and play, the swing and the crib), but she was downstairs playing and I was just going to be 30 seconds. I was, but at about 15 seconds, she was upstairs and on my bed. I get there as fast as I can, but also trying to be okay with her wanting to be with her brother. She would never intentionally hurt him. Anyway, she is on the bed with him, laying down next time. She's pulled him into a loose hug and has her head resting against his. I don't have a camera right now, but I sure took a picture with my heart. It was the sweetest thing in the whole world.

She also always wants to play with him like her daddy plays with her. So, 10-15 times a day, she asks, "Horz? Horz? Mafew?" and points to her shoulders. She wants him to ride her shoulders like a horse. We always try to do it, if he's not asleep. Pretty adorable kids, I think.

2010-08-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

matthew's birth story...

2010-08-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

This kid has been trying to come out for a while now and he finally made it. We went in on Thursday July 22nd and the doc said "any day now". That night I had EXTREME contractions and had started counting them at about 3 minutes apart. I woke Nick---or tried to. He told me to go back to bed, still not coherent enough to realize I was saying WE NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL, Nick! GET OUT OF BED! He got me to lie down again and I fell in to an exhausted sleep about an hour later, the contractions having calmed down to about 6 minutes apart and lots less intense. I was furious with him the next morning. He didn't remember a thing, so I couldn't stay too angry. Obviously he didn't do it on purpose. He did, however, wake up to Claire screaming about an hour after I fell asleep. She was barfing on and off for the rest of the night. I think we had to change her sheets 3 times and ours once. Poor girl.

The next few days were uneventful. I went to work a few times, as did Nick. We went to the Pioneer Day Parade in Logan. Claire loves the candy and still asks to go to parades. It's probably the only time I have let her eat candy without restraint.

Monday we went back into the doc and he said we were far enough that we should probably just go to the hospital because I tested positive for Strep B and he wanted the antibiotics in me before my water broke. We went in and Claire came with us. She was still barfing through the nights and it was obvious she didn't feel well. We sent her to Camilla's house when it was time for a nap and she stayed the night with her.

My water didn't break after sitting there with strong contractions for 5 hours and I hadn't progressed in any other way. My doc offered to just break the water. I was hesitant, but we went ahead with it anyway. We wanted to get home to Claire asap.

I really had planned to go with out an epidural, but I gave in when I had only progressed from 4cm to 5cm after another 4 hours of contractions, the last hour had me screaming at times. I wouldn't even let them check me before they gave me the ep. I didn't want to wait. If I had, the probably would have said it was too late! I wish I had just waited! I got the ep and about 5 minutes later they had to call the doc. He came in and had me push THREE times and he was out! No complications, no four hours of pushing, no meconium, no cord wrapped around his neck four times, no being breach, no heart problems, no lung problems (all of this happened with Claire) and NO NICU! He nursed right away and only doesn't nurse when he's not hungry (I say this because he went a few hours longer than he was supposed to without eating and the nurses tried to force feed him a bottle---he barfed it right back up, twice.). He doesn't scream (at least yet) the way Claire did for four months solid. He is sweet and I can't help but love him.

Claire spiked a fever to 103 the next night and we sent her to the doc the next day. She has strep throat and an ear infection. It was hard to keep her off the baby! Especially because she wanted to hold him and kiss him. Krista (my MIL) watched her the second night (we had to stay two nights because of the Strep B). Claire earned her name as Monster #1 that night. She didn't really sleep until 3 am. Poor Grammie.

All in all, we feel so blessed to be healthy and happy. Matthew arrived 2 weeks early (our last ultrasound moved our date back to the 10th of August---but I was UNWILLING to wait THAT long! LOL) but is a keeper! Claire has developed bronchitis and is on an other round of antibiotics, but she is still happy. I am crazy-hormonal, but I'm trying. I get grumpy at Claire for silly things and I'm exhausted, but hopefully I'll be able to sleep more after I die ;) Even with a few bumps in the road, we are so great and happy. We are grateful for God's hand in our lives.

claire and maf-ew

2010-08-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

matthew bradley sorensen

2010-08-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

he's here!

Monday July 26, 2010, 10:05pm
7 lbs 2.6 oz
19 inches
Ratings: 8 & 9

Ummmm...wow. so completely different the second time.

more story later.

fing? fing?

2010-07-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

My momma bought us this swing that we really wanted. Last time we just borrowed one from our friend, who borrowed it from a friend. We used it for like six months, so we were glad to get one. It came in the mail yesterday. Claire was so excited! She calls swings, 'fings'. I guess that blend of letters is just a little hard for her. te he

Anyway, we opened it up and put it together---a nice little 2 hour project, no big deal with a 2 year old around...It probably would have been faster, but the screwdriver kept disappearing and reappearing in strange places. I would be using it and then Claire would ask for help with something and I'd take it with me to the potty, or wherever it was she needed help, and then when returning to my task, forget where I put it. Placenta brain.

I finally finished with it when she was down for a nap. I didn't make a big production of it to her. Just put it in a corner. But when she found it, I wasn't there. I did hear "fing? Fing? help?"

She didn't wait for me or Nick...

I also love her outfit. Some coworker of Nick's (a girl named Mallory) decided that Claire needed a birthday gift. Overly thoughtful of her. It's a Princess Arora costume with a crown, shoes, top, skirt and purse. Ummmm...wow. talk about pink. thank goodness no one will gift Monster #2 with pink (although I would not be surprised to receive something pink for him just because everyone thinks its so funny that I don't like it!).

BOM camp...

2010-07-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

Nick:
Nick went to Youth Conference in our stake (he's in the YM presidency). It was three days of reenacting the BOM. The kids were all supposed to have read it through before they came. Nick played a priest in the court of King Noah. He even had to say a line! Obviously, he loved that. But besides that, he really did enjoy it. They had great speakers, great kids and went through the whole BOM, even with a earth shattering midnight on their last night to represent Christ's crucifixion in the Americas. He came home with a sword that he had to battle with during the Alma chapters.

Deb:
Deb is so anxious to get this kid out of her! Contractions are called "useless pain" by a SIL when they do nothing to further things along but still cause pain and sleepless nights. I have thought that we were ready to have this kid four times now. The first time, we went to the hospital with minute and a half apart contractions and were sent home (35 weeks) because nothing else was happening. $400 dollars to basically check my progress is so not worth it, so deb has made a goal: only going in if the water breaks. Thought we were close three other times, but after HOURS of painful contractions, they would go away for a few days before returning with a vengeance. He'll come when he's ready, despite my efforts of mowing lawns and taking long walks. I need to be more patient. Especially cause when he does come, I might be wishing for peace and quiet. ;)

Claire:
such a super star! She is still whining and doesn't listen as well as she did a month ago, but ohmigoodness is she the cutest thing in the whole world. Her vocabulary is astounding (to the bias mother, of course!). She asked to speak with her dad on the phone this morning when he called. I had just put yogurt in front of her and she said to her dad, "Hi Dad! I blue spoon! Yogurt aldiging ha so eat. Yeah... High chair." Then she hands the phone to me and says, "More yogurt weease?" I love that kid.

We went to Grandma Rosi and Grampa Bill's house while Nick was at camp. She asked to go to Emma's house (her cousin) every day about 50 times. Her cousins came and had a sleepover with us and slept in the big family room in the basement. Claire saw Emma, Ty and Quincey's sleeping bag and knew right what to do. She curled up in Quincey's sleeping bag and refused (more on that later) to get out. I didn't think she could handle sleeping with all those cousins without staying up late so I wasn't going to let her stay until I saw she was practically asleep already. I made her her own sleeping bag out of blankets and she got right in and fell asleep with a little of my prompting and a little reminder from Emma to lie down. It was the cutest picture when I would get up to pee in the night and see all the cousins sleeping together. At one point, Quincey had rolled right over the top of Emma and they both stayed asleep.

Claire is really starting to be able to share. Not willingly at first, but she's learning. If you tell her it's Emma's turn, she give it right over to Emma and then wait (for about 30 seconds) till she can have it back. She sometimes will give it to the person she's to be sharing it with and then stomp her feet (well, stomp her ballerina toes---she still never walks flat footed. you should see her calves!) and yell "uhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhh!" because she didn't really want to share, but she did because Momma asked her too. This is exactly what happened when I asked her to let Quincey have her sleeping bag back. She knows she's supposed to share, and she will, but it is not always with positive enthusiasm. All of her kookiness makes her that more endearing. I couldn't have asked for a better kid. I'm so grateful.

potty update...

2010-07-13T09:05:00.001-07:00

I don't know if I'll ever get this right, but I'm sure trying. Claire will go to the potty, only if I tell her she's going. I think this told her brain that she doesn't have to tell me/herself when she needs to go because I get her to go whenever I do (as a 37 week prego woman, that is plenty!). Anyway, I don't think she's learned to feel the 'urge'. I've started asking her if she wants to go potty, and she ALWAYS says 'no'. I don't think I want potty training to become a traumatic event for her, but I am loosing my patience! I gotta back away...again! AGH!

On a happier note, she did tell me "potty" in the middle of breakfast. She headed straight for her room to play with toys (or something) when I got her down. I redirected her and she went potty! YEAH! Small success....sigh

Silly note: I try to leave her without a diaper so she'll 'feel' when she needs to potty. it has worked two or three times.

I got her out of the shower today (she likes the 'sprinklerrr' of a shower instead of a bath now), and put a towel on her and she ran around with her cute purple hippo hooded towel on trying to ride her little car. I called her the purple-hooded-bandit because she was trying to be mischievous about getting her car outside!

Prego note:

This kid is causing contractions like crazy! Last Sunday, we thought he was going to come and headed to the hospital. The contractions were about every 1 1/2 minutes, but nothing else was progressing fast enough---which is good, he would have been considered a preemie. This Sunday, I thought we would end up going again because the contractions kept me up all night long. Nope. We rode out the pain and they went away on thier own.

Yesterday, I was walking down Old Main Hill from work (about 125 steep steps) to meet up with Nick and Claire to go home. The sprinklers were running on different parts of the hill and I didn't think about it much, just avoid the water kind of thoughts. Well, the steps about half way down were covered in quite a lot of water. I slipped and fell pretty hard. Gashed up my legs pretty badly and went down about seven steps before I stopped. I've had contractions ever since and feel like I'm wetting my panties all the time! Not sure if it's that or leaking amniotic fluid. Doing tests per the doc to find out right now. We are all fine though. Every time Claire sees my owies, she kisses them better and says "sowwy, Momma." We're just fine, just wanted to note this for posterity! I love my kid. She is so gentle hearted.

"how old are you?":

2010-07-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

For a few days, Claire has been able to answer "2!" whenever we ask her age. But, sometimes she gets the question confused with "what's your name?" and will answer with "Claire Sore-sen" when she should have said "2!" Pretty adorable.

Anyway, yesterday was her birthday. we have pics coming from Nick, but I'll start out without them.

Friday July 2, 2010
Claire, Dad and Mom went and had a picnic in a parkish area and watched fireworks. Claire was up til 12pm! Ouch!

Saturday:
nothing special

Sunday:
Almost had a baby brother! Claire keeps asking about "Mat-thew" and kissing and touching my belly. She's such a sweetheart. I hope she won't be too upset when she has to share the attention.

Monday:
Claire, Mom and Dad when to the Hyrum Parade. It was about 2 HOURS long. Claire was plastered with fliers, candy, a helium balloon (red, if you're wondering), water from water guns and Popsicle. She loved it.

She went home to take a reluctant nap that Daddy had to actually wake her up from so that we could go to her BBQ. Was a little fussier than we would have prefered. but, once the other kids got there, she was swinging on a robe swing, playing in the dirt (including throwing dirt in her friend Rayliegh's hair and Ray threw it back at her and they giggled a ton), eating hot dogs, chips, corn on the cob and about 2 bites of birthday cake. Must be a true Sorensen not to like birthday cake!

Then the kids all played with sparklers (with adult supervision) and went home.

Claire, Daddy, Momma and one of the families that was at the party, went with us: the Pabists, to Hyrum to watch a firework display. I have a feeling Claire will be asking for fireworks for a few more months. Great day and celebration.

sucker, sucker?

2010-07-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

When Claire tells me she wants a sucker, it's code for: "I have to pee, Mom." She has been pretty successful at it. I can't get her to go #2 and if I try and catch her in the act and put her on the toilet, she holds it in for a few days and then I have poopy diapers that leak! help? anyone?

pee pee...

2010-07-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

Claire was picking me up from work on Friday (with Nick). She was adorable, and kind of a pain in the neck (what kid isn't). She decided that she HAD to run up the hall (pretty long hall) so she said, "Run, run?" No one was there, I work after hours, so I said, "okay! run!" She took off down the hall. Stopped for a second, said "uh-oh." and then started running again. She didn't want to come back, but as soon as I started counting, she turned around and starting running back to me. Again, she stopped, said 'uh-oh" and her diaper totally FELL OFF! It was stuck to just one of her legs and she was, half running, half shaking the leg to get the whole thing to let her loose. It was a scream.

Eviction Notice...

2010-06-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

30 Day Eviction Notice!

**(I saw this on another blog and thought it was cute. I just had to share)

My Dearest Baby Boy,

Your current eviction date of July 28, 2010 (to the elation of your grandfather---being that it is his birthday and you are being named after him) has been set for the past 240 days. In the past few months, I understand that you have become extremely comfortable in your current dwelling. Unfortunately, I need to discuss some of the key points of your lease with you.

The 4:30am dance parties were not discussed in your lease, and they've been doing damage to the walls.

The blockage of a numerous amount of pipes and the leaking of others has to be put to an end!

Also, as far as adding square footage to the dwelling, we discussed a reasonable addition. You have surpassed that by much more than we discussed.

I have prepared another home for you to reside, so don't let house hunting be the reason you stay. Should your eviction date come and pass, please note that I will use forceful measures to remove you. I would like for this transition to be as painless and quick as possible. Please don't make this any harder than it has to be.

Love,
Moma

purebred, corn fed...

2010-06-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

A while ago, we invited some good friends (the Frenzels...they have the son Miles that I've posted about before---Claire's boyfriend) to dinner. We had corn on the cob. Claire thought it was the best thing ever and asked for corn for the next few days. Sometimes I would try and give her frozen corn or corn from the can, but I think it was the novelty of the cob that really had her interested in it.

Anyway, we gave Miles some corn too. He refused to eat anything else. Or allow us to help him. He was content to just gnaw on this cob...We were laughing hysterically. We'll let you see why:

a trip to grammies...

2010-06-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Nick's mom, Krista, had Claire two weeks ago. These are some of the more adorable pics she sent us of Claire's time there. It was hard for me to have her gone so long ( a whole WEEK!), but I know it was good for me and then she had so much love from others, how can you complete with that!?

Sabby's (Savvy's) shoes

chasing after Grammie!

Got her!

Found a bug!

Got it! But apparently she's never taken shooter safety courses. I'm sure her dad will set her straight as soon as he sees this pic! ;)

"hellllp?"

Nick's old rocking horse from G Grampa Dennis

Too cool!

tip toes---she always walks around on her toes...I guess I need to sign her up for ballet.

Listening to Ariel---The Little Mermaid

2010-06-08T16:32:00.001-07:00

what daddies do with little girls...

2010-06-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

The perfect place to change a diaper!

ohmigoodness, isn't she adorable! Nick still plays with her hair. I love that.

Claire wanted to be like Daddy. He even 'shaved' it off for her.

paddle boats...

2010-06-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

It was harder than we thought to find things to do in a city as small as Boise. Nick and I usually take books with us that tell us about the city we're going to, but our library only had books on the state at large. Very little to do with downtown Boise. This was at a park next to the zoo.

We had a blast running into Krissy, Kiera and Katrina. Nick steered the ship (but only when Claire would let him) and had us find the most interesting predicaments. Giant carp---Clare saw this bright orange thing under the water and I thought, garbage! Yuck... Nope, it was a giant carp that eats the garbage! Claire was completely enamored.

She loved her life jacket. Was mad at me when I tried to take it off of her.

Emma, is that you?

2010-06-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

ZooBoise...

2010-06-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Claire with penguins!

Katrina, Claire and Keira with penguins. I love how poised Keira is! ;)

riding a tiger baby! These were SO CLOSE to us! I'll bet there was (at times) less than a foot between us and a tiger that had shoulders as tall as I am! I forget to take pics of the animals, because I don't remember what to do with them! I prefer pics with people ;)

She didn't want to leave this! kept coming back. I love the different facial expressions.

Mir Cats: Katrina and Nick's forehead

Claire, Katrina, and Nick's forehead

Keria, Claire, Katrina and Nick's forehead

Nick was the hero father for this pic. At the end of the slide, just as he shot this pic, Claire started cartwheeling hazardously down the slide. Nick made a one armed save! all the parents around us cheered.

Keira showed Claire how to use her feet to slow herself down.
Wes to the left and Nick starting down the slide in pursuit of Kiera...

...almost caught her!

cute little hut. You can see Katrina's hands poking through to Claire's right.

A range rover, I don't know why we loved it.

Nick has terrible feet. The poor things are mainly bone and get tired out super fast! After walking around for 2 hours at the park, he decided to take a turn in the wagon. Krissy is pushing, Wes is to Nick's right, Keira to the left. This was one of the moments I realized how much we NEEDED a vacation. I haven't seen Nick be fun like this in....I don't know how long. Especially in public. Glad Claire and Monster #2 have a fun dad. Wait till you see the day at the park pics! I have to wait and get them from Krissy.

Nick, Kiera's eyeball, Claire and Katrina

the crazies...

2010-06-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have had a few nervous break downs. All that crap with Claire and how it was never ending really REALLY was eating at me to the point that I was livid with everyone. from Kelli (who I haven't even spoken to---because she hasn't thought to speak to me! how silly is that!?) all the way to my Hubby (who I would get mad at if he looked at me funny) to myself (I know this is stupid to be so mad! Why am I so mad!? why can't I stop being so mad!?!?) and even to Claire at times (I spanked her! I don't believe in spanking!). I think being prego just added to it and I am still going through it, but my hubby took me on a much need vacation last weekend and then this weekend my mother in law stole Claire and took her to Colorado for a week. I'm trying to focus on being relaxed and letting things go.

Apparently I can't win the perfect mom/wife/woman/daughter/aunt/anything contest. Which I never entered, but gosh it would be nice to be that way!

avoiding the boise trip...

2010-06-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT time in Boise for Memorial Day Weekend, but I don't have any of the pics, so I will avoid telling you about it until I do!

I received my results back from the glucose test a while ago, but didn't remember to tell you about them. Gratefully, I'm not diabetic, my thyroid is showing good progress but I'm ANEMIC! AGH! I was thinking I was so tired all the time because of all the stress. I have noticed that when my body is unusual in some way or another, it is usually for a reason that I ride off as normal. What are they trying to do to me? Make me a hypochondriac?!

Claire is doing well! I still 'see' rashes that appear and magically disappear the same day. I'm wondering if I just have an active imagination with them right now. Her biggest thing right now is actually that she will point at a joint and say, 'owie'. Most common this week is her hip. This makes me nervous, but I try to just roll with it for now.

We started potty training yesterday (again---after we were told to wait via doc's order's). Claire wants a sucker SO badly! She went to the store and picked out suckers and stickers for when she is successful on the potty. She received her first sticker for peeing (sort of) on the potty today! GO CLAIRE! She wants to try all the time so she can get her suckers. She still isn't telling me when she's going, like she has in the past, but I hope to bring that back out. She's a great kid, ya know that?

boy names...

2010-05-27T13:19:00.001-07:00

we are so taking ideas on boy names!

we like:

-single syllable names, but names we can shorten work too.
-non-exotic (no justineal-llo or shufunkwas)
-family names
-something that goes with Matthew being the first name, and him going by his middle name...but we're not opposed to other ideas as well.
-names with great meaning or after great men
-old school names (you know---like Claire is an old school name)

we don't like:

-names with a past ("i knew a kid with that name and he used to put boggers in my hair!"---we won't be using those ;)
-if someone in the family already has the name that is within two generations, we probably won't use it. ie---my FAV name is Daniel, but he has an Uncle Daniel.

Some ideas we have:

Matthew Gideon:
I love the idea my brother Tim had: Gideon is a family name, but they would call him Eon (Ian). I think that's AWESOME! Nick does not agree.

Matthew Jacob:
I love the name Jacob and call him Jake, but Nick doesn't like Jacob.

Matthew Taylor:
Nick loves Taylor, but I don't love that it is a unisex name and more popularly a girl name, right now.

Matthew Bradley:
Just not sold on it yet.

We are LOST! We have so many ideas, but none both of us agree on. Help us!

princesses...

2010-05-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

One of my students (Kiki) won her 'natural' beauty pageant. She wanted to show me the crown. I think Claire was more impressed than I was.

fungus...

2010-05-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Claire's mouth started to bleed...a lot. Took her to dentist and doc. They said it was thrush ( you know, fungus in you mouth). Apparently you only get it if you are immune compromised or an infant. I am considered immune compromised because I'm prego and Claire is because of the steroids. We both got it, but Claire's is worse. It got to the point that when she would move her mouth at all, it would bleed. Her gums still bleed when anything touches them. I can't brush them without making them bleed. It's horrible.

she is doing alright, though. She's eating better now that she's been on the thrush meds for a few days. What a relief! yucky, yucky stuff. She is sure a trooper.

from marlies, melissa, tim and jill...

2010-05-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

We have had so much love from our families and friends. Recently, my sister Marlies and my "sister" Melissa, my brother Tim and his wife (and my sis) Jill took it upon themselves to send a package. This is of her opening it:

Marlies had this one all set up: A suitcase full of princess fru-fru ( you know I love that stuff), 'snacks' (fruit snacks), 'fishy-s' (goldfish crackers), tu-tus, sippers (sippy cups), books and a princess blanket. So that it's ready for when she goes to the doc next. ;)

Apparently, it's more important to feed yourself instead of your babies.

'chap-it' (chapstick)
I think this was her fav

Obviously, we feel loved. And maybe a little overwhelmed by pink/princesses!
She now asks for her "ah-ree-ahl" books (Ariel) daily.

photo catch up 2...

2010-05-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

Learning to climb:

cute new outfit from Grandma Carol

my first ant sighting...tragic for mom that it's in the BATHROOM next to the TOILET!

catch up on photos...

2010-05-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

we have lost our camera, so Nick's phone has been the only camera we've had for a while. I have the ability to take pictures and TODAY found out how to download them. So, here's a catch up:

Leaf 1

Leaf 2

Leaf 3: we were waiting for Daddy to finish work, so we went up to campus and played in the leaves!

I want the whole cup, not a sip from the cup!

I am an artist. A left handed artist!
Claire started wanting to draw at about 13 months.

I like to pretend I'm a baby, so I steal Mile's sucker (AKA binky)

Momma's and my shadows 10.17.2009

glucose...

2010-05-17T12:16:00.001-07:00

I had my glucose test today...blech. that drink is absolutely disgusting!

Claire was pretty upset with the lady that poked me, but she decided she'd settle for saying 'owie' over and over instead of screaming. I was glad to show her that it's not only her that gets poked with needles.

When we were waiting for the doc, Claire looked up to a pic on the wall and said, "Gee-sahs?" Yeah, not even close. It was a farm house or something like that. I said to her, "No, not Jesus." She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and said, "Work?" I always tell her when she wakes up and asks for Daddy that he's at work. I love that she made the connection to Jesus. We talked about Him being with us all the time, but we can't see Him. I don't think she got it, but she will.

We took Claire off the last step of steroids on Friday. That night, she had a fever of about 103 F. Her fever has been about 101.5-103 F this whole weekend. She doesn't like to walk up/down the stairs and she has me worried sick. She will randomly tell me that something hurts (her knee, her toe, her ankle, , her finger---usually a joint) and makes me kiss it better. We called her doc this morning. I hope to hear back from her soon. She also has canker sores all over her mouth, so eating has been hard for her. She drinks a ton. I don't know if cankers could be related or not. When Nick discovered the cankers, I thought, "oh, she's just been teething! maybe this is what is causing the fever!" I'll hope for this, but I really don't know.

going private...

2010-05-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

I have had close to 15 advertisers try to advertise on my blog in the last few weeks. While I have tried a private blog before, it seems more necessary now than it did then. Especially with all of Claire's stats out there for anyone to see.

While I was private, I would have requests left and right for people to be able to view my blog. It only allows 100 people to view it, so I'm setting this up for random people that only want to view it once or twice. For example: if you have a mother in law that loves to share stories with people, but those people don't want a permanent account of view-edge, you can give out this user name and password:

username: sorensenblogopener@gmail.com

password: to be given out to those who want it (just email me or post your email here so I know who wants it)

Then, whenever someone RANDOM wants to view it, you don't have to wait for me to give them permission to view the blog.

FOR EVERYONE ELSE:
if you would like to be on my permanent viewing list, please post your name or your email address in a comment.

Hopefully this solves the problems I was having of keeping the blog private and also the issues of keeping it open! If you have a better suggestion, let me know. I'd be willing to try it.

I will keep the blog 'open' until May 27th (wink wink).

-deb

digging holes with daddy...

2010-05-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Claire always have fun together. She picked up rocks and put them in the bucket after Daddy dug them out of the hole. Very helpful, you know...

stats...

2010-05-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here we go:

CRP: from 28.8 to 37.3 to...... 0.9 (supposed to be below 0.8)
ESR: from 106 to 94 to......... 42 (supposed to be between 1-9)
*Compliments: normal
WBC: from 25 to...... 14 (supposed to be 6-17)
*Hemoglobin: normal
*Platelets: 717,000 (supposed to be 450,000)
*Neutrophil: 41% (supposed to be 33%)

*First time they tested for this level---helps in evaluation for Still's Disease

Doc evaluation: Everything that would be suspect in Still's disease is/was high, but they think it has reacted faster to the drugs than they would have seen if it was Still's. The Platelets and Neutrophil rates are still suggesting that Still's is not completely ruled out yet. We are to watch her and make sure nothing flares back up as we take her off steroids completely. Still won't rule out pseudo blah blah serum sickness (can you tell how I really feel about this one? not that I want it to be Still's, but I can at least look that one up!)

The worrying mother's take:
Could these only be reacting faster to the drugs now? After the second course of drugs has run through her body? I still am lost on what half of this stuff means! Even after I badger the doc and look everything up!

My take:
Yeah, my baby is doing better! She is much more herself these days---but shy-er. I'll take what I can get.

per request...

2010-05-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been much to tell, so I haven't wanted to rant and rave on the blog again. *feels little embarrassed* Sorry you all had to listen to me whine. I would delete it, but I believe it good for posterity to show your bad side with the good.

Claire has progressively gotten better with her scratching. Each day the fits became less and less. This morning---nothing. We have been on the phone with doctors everyday. They always want her status report, which makes me feel reassured that we are trying as hard as we can to do the best things as possible.

Wednesday was much the same as Tuesday, but I started to understand her needs for the scratching better. I don't believe that meds do very much for the itching. An hour after I dose her with it, it will still come on. Oh well. Starting to wind down so it doesn't matter.

Yesterday we took her a step down on the dosage of the steroid. She ran a low-grade fever and the rash was present, but it looked a LOT less severe. She still took quite a nap. I was able to convince a good friend from high school to come over and just talk to me. Much needed adult time. Helped a lot.

Today the doc ordered some tests to be done. Claire did NOT enjoy going to the doc, and we tried to prepare her by saying things like: "we have to get an owie today, sis, but it will be over fast!" We brought her a new toy that was sent from our good friends, The Farvers (from JC, Oregon). She liked it in the waiting room, but then screamed bloody murder anyway. She still won't answer what a cow does, where her belly button is, or things that we have used to try and distract her from previous pokes and tests. The blood draw was horrible because they couldn't get the vein to bleed, so they had to move the needle a TON and then restick her and move it again. She was so upset. but, as soon as it was over, she stopped crying and asked for "water". she got a sucker instead. Not something I prefer to give for pain, but she probably needed the sugar.

Later, driving by the hospital, she said, "Owie, C?" She's quite the kid, if you ask me.

they are testing her inflammation levels (ESR and CRP), her compliments (something with the immune system), her liver (a level they need in JRA diagnosis) and her white blood cells. there's something else, but I don't remember. It was interesting to me to notice that they are not checking her ANA, but they don't think she has that type of JRA. Okay, you know better than me, but I would sure have liked to ruled it out.

We'll find out more on Monday.

Some people have asked what pseudo serum sickness is: short answer---I don't know. Long answer---I still don't know. When I tried to look it up, it only brought up serum sickness. This being pseudo serum sickness makes me even MORE confused. I asked the doc that calls me everyday to send me info, she doesn't have any---not very reassuring to me. The rashes they have pics of do not look the same as what claire had.

(not Claire, just googled it)

pseudo start...

2010-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday:

12:16am: Fever check, feels cool or even cold. Cover up better and go back to bed.

2:34am: Claire wakes up screaming. No fever, no anything I can understand. She is scratching majorly. Give Benedryl and put back to bed.

8:45am: get out of shower to screaming. Run towel-naked into her room. No fever.

"old (hold) me, Momma, old me!" I pick her up.
"down, down, down!" I put her down.
This goes on for 20 minutes. She is scratching violently. Still dripping wet and wondering if that is adding to her scratching (you know how water dries and makes you itch sometimes?).

I look at her legs: COVERED in bloodied scratches. Rash is back around her joints (knees and elbows).

Dose her with steroids and Benedryl. She is still screaming. Won't calm down. Won't eat or drink. Thrashes and tries to scratch. Dress her like mummy to prevent scratching. SCREAMING! I can't handle it anymore. Put her in her room and close the door. scared to death and worried I'll smack her cause the screaming won't stop! How could I?! Why do I even think such things!?

Running through my head what might help. Call Nick. Give her bath, hoping to maybe wash away what's making her itch. Call Nick. Rash more noticeable in water. Freaking out. Call Nick. Call original doc. She calms down some. I get her to eat some cereal (bribe her is a better word). After eating, she gets better.

Dress like mummy again. She rolls on the ground, thrashing, trying to scratch. Starts to pull chunks of hair out of head.

45 mins pass since dosing. She calms all the way down and notices my tears. Brings me HER blanket and kisses me, wipes at my tears.

No idea what happened. I think the steroids are really strong and they wear off between doses. Doc also told me that the steroids themselves can cause psychosis. People literally see things and feel things on their skin. So would giving her another dose cause her to calm???

Am literally emotionally exhausted. Don't know what to do. Is this pseudo serum sickness the right answer????? Called doc from Primary's. The only other thought might be Still's disease. Which they would treat with the same medicine. Scares me too, cause it's still an autoimmune disease. Doc said rash is different from typical rash that indicates Still's, though. Everything else fits that I can find.

Nick comes home with lunch. I'm at wit's end. He puts me to bed and turns on movie for Claire. She comes wandering up about 10 minutes later. Finds Momma and says, "Up, bed? Momma seep-in (sleeping)?" She falls asleep next to me for about 45 mins. Now she's asleep and I'm here. Tearing my hear out.

Sorry this blog has become my sanity. I vent here so I don't do something stupid.

the return...

2010-05-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

well, last week---Wednesday to be exact, I notice:

a rash.

On Claire.

Not a huge deal, rashes happen, right? I watch it. It's different from last time. In her diaper area...again. But it made her poor butt bleed. eesh! Well, Nick reminds me to mention this to the doc for her post hospital check up which is the next day: Thursday.

Thursday:

2am: Claire wakes up screaming. Comfort and put back to bed.

8am: Claire wakes up, feed her, put her in bath.........................................AGGHHHH!
Rash has spread. All over torso. Different still from last time (huge red sheet). This is more splotchy. Fever, low but there. Well, we're already going to doc. Good.

10:30am: Doc says looks like viral rash. Probably from being on steroids. Wrecks havoc on immune system. Became weaker and allowed whatever virus that was not touching her to rear ugly head. Watch it and call with questions or concerns.

Friday:

8am: Claire is up and practicing getting in and out of big girl bed, so she won't fall out again. I'm on the phone with Krista (MIL) and we're talking about how big Claire is getting. She mentions that she's concerned about the rash...am I? Nah. It'll be okay. But I look just to be sure.

"uhhh...it's back, Krista." that's right. Rash has mutated into smaller version of last time. Spots aren't as huge, but still big red sheet sizes of hand and smaller instead of whole body. "Go park on the doc's doorstep, deb", Krista tells me. Obviously very concerned. I call Nick and we decide to call doc, because he said we could.

Doc tells me to go to dermatologist.

10:10am: Dermatologist fit me in because doc made them. Ohhh...she probably just got off steroids too soon. Here is a dose. Use for three weeks (horrible for kids, by the way. They NEED their immune systems, which steriods weaken).

Bed time: Claire is exhausted, she has a small fever. Give her IB Proffen and put to bed (after brushing teeth, of course).

Sat:
2:30am: Claire wakes up screaming. She's is BURNING up. I swear it was like she had a temp of 107 F or something. Pass her screaming off to Nick, grab IB Proffen and thermometer. Took it like fourteen times, said different things each time: 103+ Rash all over body.

Call Doc. Use Tylenol and IB Proffen in rotation every three hours.

Fever calms down to 102 F

Drug her up all day Sat, didn't want to walk or crawl several times all day. Wouldn't eat much, drank some. Way fussy. Grampa Matt and Uncle Greg were here with us to help with fence raising. Not a whole lot of fun to be around Claire, poor guys.

This is following WAY too close to two weeks ago. Exact pattern, same symptoms, scaring me to death. AGH!

8pm: Claire is fussier and has higher fever. We forgot to give her her 6pm dose---which does not make me feel better. She's not getting better, we're just masking her symptoms.

8:30pm: Put Claire down, drugged up and delirious.

11:30pm: Dose, fever check 103 F

Sunday:

2:00isham: Dose, fever check 102 F

5:00isham: Dose, fever check 101 F

8:00isham: Dose, fever check 101 F, not walking, drinking or eating.

Call Doc: not sure what to do besides admit her and look more closely. Call us back in a bit.

Give Claire a bath, try and feed her, pack for hospital. She eats ENTIRE BOWL of cereal, starts to crawl a bit, drinks, happy.

Doc calls back:

me: she's doing okay now...?
Doc: if she gets worse, take her to this clinic that's open Sundays and ask to see a guy named Doc Shcnider.

10am: Claire and Dad are exhausted. Put Dad down for a nap and Claire decides she wants to stay with Daddy. In bed with Dad (she's NEVER done this, not even as an infant---cutest thing I've ever seen) for a THREEPOINTFIVE HOUR NAP!

1:30pm: Claire starts to talk, so I know she's awake. I go in to grab her and Nick is ready to get up too. Claire won't drink, feels hot and won't walk. Decide to give her another bath, because we think that's what made the difference this morning. Nope, screamed the whole bath long. Still won't walk, drink, eat.

2:30pm with Doc Schnider:
Take her to Primary Children's Hospital. Doc Bohnsac will be paged, he's a rhumatoidist (or whatever). Could possibly be JRA (Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis) or something in that family. Uhhhh...did you just say an autoimmune disease????!

6:00pm with three docs at Primary Children's:

All agree it is pseudo serum sickness.

Her blood levels were checked:
37.3 CPR
96 ESR (is that right)
35 White Blood Count

All higher than the first hospital visit.

Treat with steroids (3x the dose that Logan prescribed)

Monday: Went back to specialist, still thinks the same thing.

Hate this diagnosis. Don't agree. How on EARTH could she have contracted it?

we're home...

2010-04-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hello!

So yesterday, after Claire's first 2 hour nap of the day, she ate almost a whole French toast! First thing she's eaten besides a few fruit snacks here and there. Go CMonster! Then she finally was so tired (again) that she fussed, fussed, fussed. We had to ask the nurses if we could give her her meds early so we could put her down. She was wiped. They hooked up her IV again and she slept. For THREE HOURS!

Right as she woke up, the doctor came by and asked if we wanted to go home. Ummmm...do you really have to ask?

Here is what he told us (this is MY understanding of it all...hopefully I got it all right):

-Cultures of spinal fluid, blood and nose all looked really good and normal.
-Urine culture showed signs of a urinary tract infection with some sort of bacteria that was weird and I don't remember.
-Urine also showed a second bacteria growing: staph. From what I understand, the staph had come on so strong that it was starting to get systemic (an illness that affects multiple organs, systems or tissues, or the entire body---Wikipedia), which is why she was having so many problems. The next stage would have been organ failure.

Treatment:

-antibiotics
-steroids

Most Likely Causes:

-Bubble baths (eesh! I do that all the time! Not anymore)
-Potty training (sigh---so much for having her out of diapers before Monster #2. We had really just started putting her on on the potty before/after naps/bed/bath. Nothing too aggressive, at least so I thought.)

Warnings:

-if she has another UTI, she will have to go in for more invasive tests to ensure that she doesn't have 'webbing' from the tubes that go from the kidneys to the bladder.

What does Claire look like:
-steroids have reduced the rash SIGNIFICANTLY! It's still faintly there...you can see the outlines, but so much better.
-Needle bruises up and down both arms. Only a small bruise from the lumbar puncture. and a huge bruise on momma's heart!
-Scratches all over her body---mostly scabbed over. All within the rash.
-Sunken, dark eyes
-Green tinge to whole body

We had our lunch (three hours late). Claire ate a ton of grapes and and some yams. Nurses pulled out IV's and monitors. We signed some papers. Claire was SO EXCITED when we told her we were going home (okay---so was I. Nick had to tell us both to be quiet a few times). We headed for home about 5pm.

She fussed and fussed and fussed. I was finally willing to put her down at about 8:30pm. Wouldn't eat anything else. Wouldn't drink anything else, either. Going to be hard to ween her off juice---her only source of food besides the IV's for the last 4 days (I don't like juice. She can eat fruit for her vitamins---she doesn't need the extra sugar!).

I assumed I would be up with her all night because of the upset to her schedule from the last three nights. She slept a full 12 hours. Even with me checking on her every couple of hours. Wow. Guess she was beat.

This morning she won't leave my side and expects me to entertain her at all times. Something I HAD to do in the hospital. I wasn't going to leave my little girl to be scared in the hospital, so I ruined that training for a while. Hopefully it will come back soon. She ate a whole bowl of yogurt with sunflower seeds and wanted another portion. Won't drink, but I'm sure that's just because I won't give her juice...unless I'm desperate.

We're doing great. Thanks again for all the support!

update...

2010-04-21T07:48:00.001-07:00

Claire had quite the day yesterday. She was needing a diaper change about every hour, so they decided to take out the IV yesterday about 5pm, but leave the port so they could inject her antibiotics. She still had a leash, though. The oxygen level/heart monitor was left on, so she could only walk about 5 feet in our tiny room. She was bouncing off the walls! It was very hard to contain her from pulling off her tethers. She wanted out, out, out! Obviously a sign of improvement.

Anthony, Camilla and Miles stopped by last night with a doctor's kit for Claire. It had a stethoscope in it. What an idea! She wasn't nearly as spooked of that this morning! Miles was a riot! He was so happy. A nice change.

It was not as hard to leave her last night to go to sleep because she had been so whiny all day. I was ready for a break.

She slept like a log. When they came in to inject her antibiotics, she went right back to sleep. Not a peep. Not even after they drew blood at 4am. Nick held her tight. She didn't scream or fight like she has before.

I got a call at about 630am to tell me that her potassium was looking high and that the doctor would like another blood draw...sigh. So, at about 7:30, we did another one. She had a few shouts to the mean ladies poking her again from her sleep, but one tear and she was done.

She's been itching like crazy. We finally had to cover every body part we could so that she wouldn't be able to itch as easily. She drew blood a couple of times. Benadryl doesn't help. There was even an anti-itch med in her IV, but it hasn't touched it. I'm sure a bath will help, but that's not allowed until she has no IV.

Doctor Stevens came in about 8:30 with the results:

-CRP (the inflammatory one) is down to an 8. They feel confident that it will continue to drop.
-White blood cells are normal from this morning's blood draw.
-Blood culture hasn't proven to have too much bacteria in it (phew).
-Spinal culture is normal (phew).
-Nasal culture is normal (phew).
-Urine culture is growing like crazy! But of the four cultures they were trying to grow, this is probably the best outcome. They still don't know what it is specifically, that comes later, but the infection looks to have stemmed from the urine. This is so interesting to me because I can remember that when she went to the bathroom in the last few days was when she was feeling the best.

They want to check the cultures one more time, so we will be going home this evening or tomorrow morning if everything continues to improve.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers and fastings. My daddy (who is diabetic) even fasted and was all shaky and sweaty before he broke it. I know it's sacrifices like this that really turn the Lord's ear, head, heart, whatever. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Love,
-Nick, deb, Claire and M#2 (Monster #2)

blessings...

2010-04-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone that has sent your thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate them. Especially Claire. Here are just a few of the stories that we have heard of so far:

-A priesthood blessing from Daddy and Heavenly Father.
-Grampa Bill in the car ready to come up within about two minutes of the conversation. Had to convince him there was nothing he could do to help.
-Grampa Bill instead called all Mathews kids to ask them to fast and pray.
-Grammie Krista sent balloons---right after all the initial pokes and pods, she saw a nurse walk in with balloons. She was still so sick and lethargic, but she pepped up for a second: "Balloons!" and reached her hand out for them. She would only watch "MeNo" (Nemo) and hold her balloons all day yesterday.
-Grammie Krista and Grumpy Matt offered to come out.
-Grammie Krista and Grumpy Matt called the Sorensen family to ask for fasting and prayers. We heard word that we are even receiving prayers from a family in a worse situation than we've ever thought possible. Thanks for your blessings, Jeff and family.
-Lauren and David are praying
-Becky and Adam are praying
-Luke and Amy are praying (even after we almost infected their precious kids)
-Grandma Rosi and Grampa Bill are fasting and praying
-Grammie Krista and Grumpy Matt are fasting and praying
-Crystal Burke is praying
-GGrandma Claudia and GGrampa Dennis are praying
-Ben and Tamme are praying
-Camilla and Anthony are bringing dinner (even after their son shared cookies---well, he stole them right out of her hand, te he---with Claire on Saturday!)
-Greg offered to come and help out.