Christmas Pictures

We had a cold, but not white, Utah christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Munk. I was excited when I found out that Christmas was on Sunday- perfect opportunity to make a special dress. She got this:

The dress is sleeveless so I made this little ruffle jacket to keep her warm. Grandma Munk let her wear her pearls. All she needed was some little white gloves! (I don't know how to make those or you can bet she would have had some.)

In keeping with the tradition I started last year, I made us matching Christmas jammies. Laura's were especially cute with pink polka dot trim and matching bunny slippers.



Laura got a playhouse for Christmas. "Santa" spent hours and hours and hours working on this thing. But I think it was worth it because she seems to love it. She has even been sleeping in it at night.


We got to spend time with Peter's sister, Katie, and her family. Laura loved playing with her cousins. She wasn't as interested in her cousin Vea and her princess dress-up and other girly toys. But she loved wrestling and playing super hero with her older cousin Alex.

Happy Halloween!

We just got back from trick or treating and put our exhausted, sugar-eating monster to bed. Starting tomorrow, there will be no more sugar in this house! Laura woke up this morning and the first words out of her mouth were, "Please, can I have a candy?" Halloween is so much fun, but I'm glad that it is now over. So we can move on to healthier holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. :)
We had a fun Halloween weekend and enjoyed every unhealthy minute. On Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch and let Laura run around and hug the pumpkins. Or kick them. Or hit them with a stick. Mostly there was a lot of hitting. This is Laura's new favorite game: hitting things. Is this normal behavior for a sweet little girl?

Saturday evening we went to our ward Trunk or treat. Laura ate way too much candy, got her face painted and wore out her mother who chased her around all evening!


Tonight we met up with some friends who have a daughter Laura's age to go trick or treating. These two girls are best friends.



And in case you want to see one more picture of our cute little peacock:

Laura the peacock

Halloween is so much fun with a 2 year old. Laura loves wearing her costume and especially loves the candy. We have already gone to a Halloween party and a trick or treating event. And we have more Halloween fun planned for this weekend. Let's hope she doesn't get sick of wearing the ridiculous feather headress I keep sticking on her head!

I love fall in Nashville. We have been enjoying temperatures in the 70's and sunny days. And the colorful leaves are just gorgeous with all the trees here. I think we got a pretty good scenario worked out: cool, moderate summer in New Hampshire and home in time for the beautiful warm fall of Nashville. Too bad we can't own homes in two different places because I kind of liked how that worked out.

Laura is still as fun and crazy as ever.


And we still think she is the smartest, cutest baby in the world. We still call her a baby, even though she is obviously not one. Until we get another baby in this house, Laura is our baby. She is okay with this arrangement because she recognizes she gets perks that other children her age do not. Like when Peter brought her into bed with us at 2:00 am a couple of nights ago. And like when she wakes up in the middle of the night and insists Mama sings her a song before she can go back to sleep. Is it normal for a 2 1/2 year old to not sleep through the night? She wakes up at least every other night needing a song or to be tucked back in. Sometimes he just screams, "I need something!" because she can't think of anything in particular. I know it is our fault- if we stopped going in she would stop waking up. But, like I said, she is our baby so we spoil her a little bit. Lately she has been sleeping in a tent next to her bed. We set it up for her to play in one day and she has been sleeping in it ever since.


She even takes her naps in there. She used to take them in my bed. But when I moved all the craft stuff downstairs this arrangement had to be changed. Shortly after moving my craft desk into my room, I came in to get Laura after nap time and found this:

Apparently she was having the time of her life with my markers before falling asleep.

And now she has one more bed in the house to take her naps in:
:
Shortly after we found out that Angelica wouldn't live long after birth, we decided to sign up to do foster care. It is something that I've always wanted to do, but I thought it would be later in life when we were done having children of our own. However, after finding out that it would just be me and Laura at home for another year, we decided it was perfect timing. My days with Laura are so much fun, but honestly, my life is probably a little too easy. It wouldn't hurt to have one more crazy to chase after in this house. And I figure until we can get another baby of our own, I will love other people's babies who need some extra love. I feel like it is a great way to let Angelica's short life bless another child's life since it is because of her that we decided to do this now.

All that being said, I don't know when or if we will even get the chance to have a foster child. We finished our last appointment yesterday and so once our caseworker finishes up the paperwork we will officially be in the program. But we have a specific age range we are looking for so it may be a while, or never, before they have a child in that range that needs a temporary home. And we are down to only 8-9 months left in Nashville.

But I had so much fun getting the child's room ready in case we receive one. I didn't want to spend money on a room that I wasn't sure would even be used, so I had to get creative in trying to make it cute with only buying a few things.


We found the bed and mattress on Craigslist for $20 and I bought a cheap duvet comforter from Target. The rest was made with stuff I have stockpiled in my craft supply. For the duvet cover I used a yellow sheet and white sheet from a yard sale that I cut in strips and sewed together. I love how it turned out. It had to be something that could be used by a boy or girl and I think it turned out pretty gender neutral yet fun and cute.
So now we wait and see if we ever receive a phone call asking us to take a child. And in the meantime, I am enjoying having a bed next to Peter's study desk. I go up every night and read a book and fall asleep on the bed while Peter studies. It's like spending time together without talking. When you have a law student husband you take what you can get!

Panty Picnic

Laura hates clothes. I've pretty much given up on keeping her fully dressed through out the day- these days I feel like a sucessful mother if she is wearing panties. This is a definite result of potty training. She is constantly stripping down to use the toilet and it is so much work to get all the layers back on. And, since Peter keeps our thermostat set at 87 degrees (I am dead serious)I am secretly jealous when she gets to run around naked. Last week her friend came over to play and I fed them a picnic lunch on the patio. Laura, as usual, was wearing only her panties.

Our New England Summer

We just got back from a very fun summer spent in New Hampshire. Although I wasn't sure what to expect having never been to this part of the country, I fell in love with the Northeast. I loved the cool summers, the ocean, the rivers and bays, the trees, the beautiful houses, lobster, everything! Here are some pictures of the fun we had:

Eating Lobster

I figured that we couldn't truly experience New Hampshire with out eating lobster. So, one day after spending a few hours at the beach, we walked across the street to a little seafood restaurant and ordered it. I admit I was a little intimidated by it when they brought it out to me, but it was actually quite tasty. Laura was more interested in eating the sugar packets on the table.

Our last night in New Hampshire, my sister prepared a lobster feast for us. Each person got their own lobster. What a fun way to spend our last night in New England!


The Beach:
I can't believe how much fun it is to live close to the ocean. Laura loved the beach. She spent hours digging around in the sand. This is Grandpa Fielding and Laura at the beach.

Eating Cannolis from the North End in Boston: Wow. Are you kidding me? These are the most delicious things ever. I only had them twice but I can't stop thinking about them. I would move back to the Northeast just for these.

Fourth of July: We had a bbq at the Casper house. It was a perfect fourth of July with great food and great company.


Meeting Mitt Romney: We tagged along with Kashann to see Mitt Romney announce his candidacy for president. I wish I could have heard more of the speech, but I was busy making sure that I didn't lose Laura in the crowd of people since she insisted on walking everywhere and refused to be carried.

Four Weeks Ago

Four weeks ago, today, the doctor put little Angelica on my chest for the first time. We were finally meeting our special little girl after 9 long months awaiting her arrival. The past four weeks have been the hardest, saddest weeks of my life as well as the happiest and most wonderful. I miss Angelica so much, but I know that she will be part of our family again someday and I am grateful for the five days we got to spend with her in this life.






Maybe the most important lesson I learned from this experience is that Heavenly Father is watching over us and listening to our prayers. This has been very clear since the first ultrasound when we found out that our daughter had severe abnormalities. Although we didn't have any answers at that point, we knew that the baby we were expecting was going to be a very special baby. We were obviously confused, sad and worried. But as I said my prayers that night, I felt peace and knew that Heavenly Father was watching over us and everything would work out for our good.

And it has. Heavenly Father has been there for us, answering our prayers and strengthening us when we needed it. I prayed so hard that Angelica would survive the birth and that we would be able to meet our little girl, if for only a few minutes. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father not only answered our prayers, but gave us five days of precious time with our daughter. He didn’t cure our baby; that was not part of his plan for our family. But he strengthened us and brought us peace. Our experience reminds me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon: “And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.”

It would have been a lot easier if the Lord had simply healed our baby. But if Heavenly Father always answered our prayers in the easiest way, we wouldn’t learn all the lessons that we were sent to Earth to learn. He didn’t heal Angelica, but he strengthened us so that we could bear the burden. And although we were not always cheerful and patient, I was amazed at how much joy and happiness we felt during this experience.

I am grateful for our belief in a God that can turn a tragedy into a tender learning experience. And I am grateful for the knowledge that this good-bye is only temporary and we will have our daughter again with us someday.