I Have the POWER!

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He-Man and Cringer

Hero worship

Happy Halloween! We are last minute costume sorts of people, and this year was no different. But, with a Saturday morning, some cardboard, a new silver pen, some paint, Velcro, and Christmas socks--we pulled off a couple of pretty rad costumes.

The church costume parade was fun. Edgar had just started getting comfortable in his outfit around all of the crazy looking strangers (it didn't help that we are still feeling so new in our ward--he really didn't know anyone), when they announced the parade. I tried to explain to him that he would walk with the other kids and show off his He-man clothes. He dropped to the ground and tried to get under the folding chair. "Hey Edgar, what are you doing?" "I just gotta hide mom! Help me hide!"

Well...I managed to get him to stand in line with me. When it was his turn to walk across the stage I said, "okay, show them your moves." WOW! He had MOVES. He got to the middle of the stage. Stopped. And did some awesome posturing and dancing. They really liked "baby Thor" or "the little gladiator" or "the minimalist" or whatever that kid was. The whole room was roaring with laughter and approval.

Edgar now wants to wear his He-Man pants everyday. I await the day that he is 15 and we tell him (in front of his friends) how much he loved to wear his little sister's bloomers.

Sabrina 7 months--wait--7 1/2 months

Mustachioed Carmichael family August 2011

Whew...I want to say something like, "life is going so fast it's just passing us by" but that wouldn't be accurate. Something more like, life is extremely great, fast, and fun. We are enjoying every minute of our busy life so much.  We are all moved in to our new house and, while there are still boxes to unpack, we are getting pretty settled into our home. We are really busy with house projects, yard work, yard work, yard work (did I mention we have half an acre--half of which is over run with ivy, blackberries, morning glory, overgrown trees, and saplings?), and regular summer fun. With all the busyness, I feel like Sabrina especially hasn't gotten her fair share of documentation. She certainly isn't getting the regular updates on the blog / in her baby book that she deserves. So, let's see if I can get a little of that in before nap time is over...

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Sabrina is crawling! She just started army crawling this week. She also pushes up on her tip-toes and her forehead to scoot. She also occasionally gets up on her hands and knees or hands and toes and rocks or bounces. She loves to stand with her feet on the floor or bed, and her hands on my legs. She crawls over my legs or tries to dive head first off the couch, bed, etc. She just loves to roll, scoot, and crawl around on the floor.

Sabrina is talking a little. She says da, mama, and blahblahblah (which I think sometimes actually means brother). She spits, shrieks, and clicks her tongue--and all of those other noises that are completely unacceptable for grown ups, but amazingly adorable for babies. And she LAUGHS and giggles--especially when she is tickled.

Sabrina LOVES her big brother. She thinks that he is hilarious and laughs and laughs at him. She also sneakily pulls his hair to get him to cry. She loves her mama and if mom is anywhere in sight or within earshot, she wants to be in her mommy's arms. But, if mom is not available, she is pretty happy to play with others.

Sabrina loves food. She started solid foods about a month and a half ago, and she gets so excited when it is time to eat. She likes to eat with the family and likes to hold her own spoon. Her favorite food is bananas.

Sabrina sleeps all night and has for a long time. She loves to suck her thumb and go to sleep. She naps well, plays well, and is generally a really happy girl. We just love having this little girl in our family.

Bombs and Bananas

What a great 4th of July! I don't know if I can articulate why it was so wonderful. In some ways it was "same old same old" as far as Carmichael 4ths go. We got together at my sister-in-laws house. We had lots of delicious food. The weather was perfect. We were reckless with fireworks. There were a few injuries (among them: Edgar had a close run in with a smoke bomb. Mostly just left him afraid--but he did get a few little heat blisters). There were guns and clay pigeons. There was badminton. There was visiting.

And somehow that equaled a super wonderful day.

At one point I was sitting in a lawn chair next to my father-in-law Mick and some sister-in-laws watching badminton and enjoying the sun. Mick sighs and says, "it just doesn't get better than this." And he was so right. During the fireworks I sat by my boy as we watched Alex light off some big exploding fireworks, and Edgar says: "Mama, that firework makes my eyes happy! They (my eyes) go around and around!" Sabrina snuggled in her older cousin's lap and watched the fireworks too. The entire day was magical. It made me heart happy.

Also, we celebrated Sabrina's 6 month birthday a few days early and fed her her first food: roasted banana. She slurped down the whole bowl! She absolutely love it. She was adorable with her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma, and grandpa. She talked (BAH! Da Da DA! AAaaaaAAAAAAAH!), she kissed, she giggled, she rolled around on the floor.

Even though I am absolutely exhausted from the late nights and crazy fun weekend, the sweetness of it all has kept me calm and happy today. I love love LOVE my cute little family!

Writing Letters to Grandma Vickie

Mom: "What does it say?"

Edgar: "I love you. And this says, 'I love Daddy."

"And this one says 'Sabrina'"

"I will do this part: 'Edgar'"

Mom: "Who are we going to send them to?"

"Grandma Vickie!"

"I show you. I...Loooooove....GrandmaVickie"

"I'm doing it very well for Vicke to take it out of the mailbox."

"MY mailbox."

Moving Day (...Week...Month...)

We are officially moved in our new house! Unpacked? Nope. Not even close. Feel like home? Yeah. It kinda does! It sure seems like it took forever to finally get here (we were "closing any day" back at the beginning of April), but we are finally here and settling into our new home.

This has been quite the adventure--and the kids have done great through it all. Edgar has honestly gotten very good with tools and helping daddy fix stuff. Okay, it still adds an extra couple of hours onto any project to have Edgar help, but he is really screwing in screws and hammering in nails--and LOVING every moment of it. "I'm gonna lay down for this one" is something we hear a lot around here. Accompanied by Edgar laying down to screw something in or examine a nail or screw. It's pretty darn cute. 

 Poor kid--his routines were all messed up for a few weeks. More than once he fell asleep in his highchair. I love this picture--he honestly fell asleep mid-bite. Fork made it into his mouth, but not back down. (=

This was right before dinner. We tried to skip his nap that day. It didn't go so well! You can see Sabrina playing happily amongst boxes in the background.

 This cute girl just keeps getting cuter! She is 5 1/2 months. Sabrina likes to roll around on the ground, isn't quite sitting yet, loves to pull off and chew her socks, says, "da-da-da-da-da" and "blah-blah-blah", sleeps ALL NIGHT, is super happy, and LOVES her mommy, daddy, and brother.

My heart is full of happiness for my cute little family. On one hand, we are feeling a little lost, having just been separated from our other "family." For nine years we have loved living in our tiny little apartment--living in the basement of Heather House--under the floorboards of some of the greatest friends we could have. It has been this little chunk of an ideal world. In our home we have seen 2 families grow from newlyweds to a family of 4 (making us a big family of 8). By the end of our stay it was not unusual to have dinner together a few times a week, to run to the store and pick up a few things for the other family, to go out on a date and have someone to baby-monitor-sit for us, and to interact with our friends every day. And, yes, I am getting all sentimental about it. We have all said (more than once) that it has felt like the final episode of Friends around Heather House.

We are lucky to be just a short walk away, but it will never be the same again. It is the end of an era. It is a little lonely in our big house.

On the other hand, it is so fun to have our own house. We are really growing together more as we work together to set up our home. It is a little overwhelming sometimes--all of the homeowner responsibility stuff--but it is a really exciting time of life in our family. I look forward to lots of new memories in this home. Each game of badminton in the backyard, each routine of doing chores in the morning with Edgar, each bedtime story, each dinner around our kitchen table--each of these moments help to fill up this big house and to really make it ours.  

Bedtime Stories and San Diego

Kicking it in the back seat.

Our bedtime ritual now includes lots of stories. We start them, Edgar [fills in the blanks]. There are some constant elements.

• Almost everyone in the bedtime story is named [Edgar]. (Edgar the crabby. Edgar the chicken. Edgar the clam. Edgar the monkey. Edgar the fish. Edgar the boy. Edgar the Edgar).
• The main character in the story is very [busy] and really likes to [run].
• Someone drives a [motorcycle] that is [green] and really [fast].
• They always go to [grandma's house]--but they often go the long way. Like through the ocean, flying up up in the air, via the moon, etc.
• Edgar and company [walks up the stairs] and [pushes the ding dong button] and grandma slowly opens the door and says, [boo boo boo! I love you!]

Tonight I laughed lots. Tonight Edgar the [Edgar] and his friend [Alex the Lion] went to [San Diego]. Then, they wanted to go to [grandma's house]. But, they got there and [grandma wasn't there]. They wanted to see [Grandma Vickie, Grandma Lester (?!?), Grandma Carmichael, Grandma Betty, and Grandma Marcia]--but no one was there...[All of the grandmas were in San Diego]!

They were asleep in the subway. All of them.

There aren't too many places in Edgar's world. Home. Church. The store. Daddy's work. Grandma's house. And...San Diego. (On account of Madagascar). This morning, our little friend upstairs (1 year old girl) was trying out a little ride-on car. She is very little, so the car wasn't going anywhere. Edgar looked at her and said to me (very seriously), "she is NOT going to San Diego."

p.s. has anyone seen my camera? or my wallet? *sigh* hope to have pictures and time soon to update about our new house (!!!!) etc.

Of Easter, Big Changes, and Wockets

Happy Easter! A few days before Easter, Edgar did a face plant off of the swings, resulting in his scabbed chin. But, he had a great Easter. He loved learning more about Jesus in Nursery. If asked, he will tell you that Easter is about how Jesus Died, but now He is ALL BETTER!

After church, we went up to his Auntie Dani and Uncle Todd's house. We had lots of good food, fun with family, and an Easter Egg Hunt in the park.

Sabrina got to meet her twin-cousin Logan for the first time. They were born the same day! He is SUCH a cutie!

The big news that came the day after Easter...

We are buying our first home! It is really close to where we live now--just a block to the south and a block to the east. Definitely walking distance to see our friends (= We have been casually looking at homes for the last couple of years, but when we walked through this one, both Alex and I said, "I LOVE it!" It has just about everything our ideal home would have, and with a little bit of negotiating, the price was right! With lower house prices, low interest rates, and no house to sell--we feel truly blessed to find such a great home at this point in our lives.

Closing date is May 25th. We are so super excited, we are having a tough time thinking of much else! We are going from 600 sq ft, no oven, and a dorm-size fridge to 2500 sq ft + a full basement, a regular-people kitchen, and a half-acre lot with lots of room to play!

This is a picture of my favorite room--the big living room with hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, and a view of the Cascades. I am looking forward to many hours of reading, playing, and snuggling with my family in this room!

Other new things: Sabrina is now a thumb sucker. I love it. I know, I'll have to deal with a thumb-sucking toddler some day--but for now, I love that she can put herself back to sleep when she wakes! And, she is so cute.

This one is for Grandma and Grandpa! Here are some Sabrina laughs (=

Edgar and his Daddy reading A Wocket in My Pocket, By Dr. Seuss this evening before bed.

Doot-do-DOOO Come To the Temple

Portland Oregon Temple

It's 7 am. My sugar-loaded, sleep-deprived son has already been up and whining at me for nearly 2 hours. This post is to remind me how sweet and adorable he can be.

I love to see the Temple is one of his favorite songs.

Angel Moroni on the temple

I am looking forward to renewing our temple recommends this week so that we can go to the temple to worship, learn, and enjoy the peace that only the Lord can bring.

There's Friends Here

Edgar saw this picture on the computer and said, "Look mommy! There's friends here!" This kiddo sure loves his sister. He has this cute little baby babble he does when he sees her and it ends with "HI Sabrina! How are you today?!?!" He is generally unperturbed by her crying, loving, and helpful. His is occasionally jealous, physical, and frustrated with her. Sounds like pretty normal siblings to me (=

I was so worried that having another baby so soon would take away from the sweet one-on-one time I enjoy with Edgar. But, that is definitely not the case. Somehow, there is always time for some sweet snuggling with Edgar, or some one-on-one giggling time with Sabrina. I LOVE being a mom.Here's a photo of Sabrina on her blessing day. It was great to have my parents as well as my brother Ryan and his wife Kaylee come up. Not sure why we are all so serious in this photo (=

Another example of fun times with Edgar. About a month ago, Sabrina was sleeping after dinner and we decided to have a fire and watch a movie with Edgar. After about 30 mins of movie, he got distracted and we ended up having a super fun mommy-daddy-Edgar castle building evening. It was awesome.

I haven't posted near enough pictures of this Sabrina girl. She is 3 months now, and super cute. She loves to smile, will occasionally laugh, loves to be up looking around at the world, and LOVES her family. I just melt when she catches me looking at her and gives me the biggest open mouth grin that goes all the way to her eyes.

Life is good. We are super busy with church callings (primary), diapers, jobs (I am even tutoring a little), playing with kids, car repairs, bedtime routines, Yoga class, trying to get our album finished, feeding kids, and (yikes!) a little house hunting. It's busy, but it's great! I wouldn't trade this for the leisure time-packed life we had before kids. When we could actually spend time together in the evening. When we didn't go to sleep by 10:30. When we could go to a couple of concerts every week. When we could sleep in until noon on the weekends. Okay. Maybe sometimes I would trade it a little bit. (=

2 Years Old!

Happy Birthday Edgar! Birthday #2 heralded lots of changes for Edgar. He woke up for the last time in his crib, and he and daddy put together his Big Boy Bed! He picked out some Woody and Buzz Yite-Year Sheets and Pillow (Pee-yo). He has been prepped for weeks that "2 years old means no more bottles"...but we let him have bottles on his birthday for the last time. He totally understood what was going on. He kept saying "My no is 2. My is ALMOST 2." He was really excited for his birthday. He picked out Sponge bob cups and plates...so, we went with that and made a Sponge-tastic birthday. He kept telling me all day, "Mommy! I'm so excited for my birthday!"

I (who am really not a cake decorator) made this fantastic cake. It was pineapple inside cake (instead of upside down...I put a layer of crushed pineapple in the middle). YUM!

LOVE the look on his face when he realized it was a new MOTORCYCLE toy! It is a cool track that shoots his motorcycles out and a zillion miles per hour, around a loop, and through a ring of FIRE!

That night he lined up his motorcycles so they could sleep.

Last night with your bottle baby. Now you are a big boy! (Yes, I almost cried when I threw his bottles out. And yes, he is crying now as he looks at the picture of his "special bottle").

They're playing our song

I am thankful for God's tender mercies. It's been a tough couple of days. Nursing is proving to be more and more painful every day--and today I was lost in self pity after getting some bad news from the midwife. Basically, there is no problem that can be fixed. No infections, no latch problems, etc.--it is just going to be painful for me to feed my child the way I want to feed her.

So, I was feeling particularly sad and frustrated today. I was remembering my first few weeks with Edgar...the pain...and the questioning the reasons for having children...I love love love my children and am thankful for them. It's just, so many days of pain and sleep deprivation can really wear a person down.

Then, on the drive home tonight, I heard my sweet son singing the lullaby that I wrote for him. I haven't sung it to him for a while, and I didn't even realize he knew it. But, hearing his sweet little voice sing it made me cry--for the 10th or 12th time today--but in a good way. I was filled with peace and love. I made it through the pain with him--and we have a great relationship today.

I'll make it through the pain with Sabrina too. It will make me a stronger woman and mother. The refiners fire and all of that.

Edgar's Song:

Oh Edgar, we can fly
Together like birds on the wind so high
Like a man, rocketing to mars
or fast like dogs going 'round in cars
Oh Edgar, we can fly

We can ride bicycles to the park
Or sing lullabies in the dark
Oh Edgar, we can fly.

Introducing Sabrina Eldora Carmichael

She's here!

Sabrina was born Friday night--Jan 7, 2011 at 10:30 pm. She was born into the water and caught by her daddy. The birth was fast (less than 2 hours at the birth center), intense, and beautiful. Both Sabrina and I are recovering wonderfully and are fully enjoying our babymoon.

I'm not quite sure what to write, because my husband Alex is detailing life so well on his blog 42 days. We are so blessed to have him home for the next 6 weeks (42 days), and he plans to blog about his experiences--one post per day. So, I will try to not be redundant. I will restrict myself to blogging about stuff he doesn't cover.

Baby Brina is such a blessing. I deserve her. Edgar was so hard as a new baby (didn't eat for the first 3 days of his life, cried non-stop for 3 months, etc., etc.) and--so far--Sabrina is just what I deserve after surviving Edgar. She sleeps. She eats. She wakes up and looks around at us. She cries to tell me her diaper is wet or she is hungry or cold--and then stops crying when the problem is resolved.

I love my Edgar. He has made me stronger and more patient. And I love my Sabrina. She is my reward.

The Countdown...

The New Year is here...and the countdown has begun. I'm not exactly sure WHEN we are counting down to...but I imagine that within the next week or two we will be welcoming Baby Girl Carmichael into our home! (Nope--no name yet--we have a short list of 3 and a longer list of alternatives...but, I'm not worried. She'll have a name by the time she comes home...probably).

And...the last minute flurry of preparations has begun...including the all-important Danita Pappas photo shoot. It was pouring outside, so we hit the local used bookstore as a "studio" of sorts for the photo shoot--turned out fantastic. It will probably take a while to get all the photos, but Danita (good friend and photographress extraordinaire) posted a few teasers for us.

I LOVE this family of mine. We had a fun New Year's Day--we meant to do a lot of cleaning/organizing the house to prepare for new baby (and we did get some of those important things done), but mostly we just ENJOYED each other. All three of us seem to be feeling huge loving amounts of joy toward one another. I know that baby girl will only add to that--but in part we know that we are losing--(not quite the right word)--changing our current picture of "family," and I think we are all trying to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment from our perfect little family.

I guess I'm feeling a little nostalgic: Letting go of the old and ringing in the new, and all of that.

I can't wait to meet this baby girl and to see what our new family dynamics will be like--and until then, I will do all I can to enjoy the countdown!