The Severson Family

"Don't call it 'Catching Up' or anything, because that's what ALL our blogs are titled"

2011-10-18T18:20:00.005-06:00

We just noticed that we've only blogged a total of three times in 2011. That's a bit sad. Sorry to any of you who actually use this as a way to keep in touch with us. It must seem we've abandoned all pretense of friendship. Such is not the case! We're just busy people who don't really blog naturally.

First things first, I suppose. The biggest development in our lives in the last several months is the upcoming addition of another baby to the family. We're expecting Baby the Third at the end of April 2012. Meagan's first trimester has been picture perfect, with hardly any morning sickness (a bit of nausea, some headaches, but no throwing up!). The biggest problem she's had is a bit of fatigue. No matter how much she sleeps, she's always tired.

Ellie and Lydia may have something to do with that. Ellie started walking in August, and has been an unstoppable force of nature ever since. Add in Lydia's potty training (successfully accomplished, thank you very much) and the general homemaker lifestyle, and it's pretty clear that Meagan has every reason to be exhausted.

Unfortunately, I'm not much help most of the time. My second year of med school (started in August) has proven to be much more trying than my first. An overwhelming amount of pharmacology, pathophysiology, microbiology, and other -ologies like them has been keeping me at my desk for hours and hours through the day and night. So far I'm managing, but I keep hoping to get my grades up a little bit more. I finished last year at the very bottom of the top 20% of the class, and I'd really love to stay in that percentile, if not go up a bit. Only time will tell.

A bit more on the girls:

Ellie is a delightful little person. She is frequently smiling and very quick to laugh. She's a sweet girl, but she has a mischievous streak a mile wide. Her favorite activities include pulling dishes off the table (it's even better if they have something in them), running away when you tell her to bring you what she has in her hand, and believing the entire world is a game for her entertainment. It's tough to get mad at her. Sometimes we have to scold her for a minute, then leave the room to get our smiling and laughter out. We can't let her think she's gotten to us. Oh, and Ellie's first word is "nana" in clear reference to bananas. We still can't get her to say either of our names, but she excitedly yells, "Nana!" any time we pull out her favorite fruit. Hopefully we'll get into her vocabulary sooner than later.

Lydia is a sweet girl with a strong personality. She enjoys jumping on her trampoline (often bouncing to the cadence of "jump...ing...on...tramp...line!" repeated ad infinitum) and playing with her trains. Man, this girl likes trains a lot. At home, at nursery, wherever she goes; if there's a train there, she'll find it and play with it the entire time. She also loves to color. She'll sit at the table with a box of crayons and notebook for hours. She's picked her favorite color (brown...yeah, we don't know either) and has recently started drawing faces. Meagan loves these pictures, which Lydia described as "a smile" and "pail."

Pail is a character on her new favorite TV show, Blue's Clues. And it's not a favorite like you and I have, like, "Oh, I like that a lot!" No, this is a full-blown obsessive crazy addiction. She eats, sleeps, talks, and breathes Blue's Clues. She has the episodes memorized. No kidding, she will request to watch an episode based on a little two minute vignette. She can identify which episode has been put on, despite the fact that Meagan and I cannot see any identifiable markers to indicate it. It's almost supernatural. Lest you all think we're just selling Lydia's brain to the TV, I'd like to point out that we have a pretty strict two-episodes-daily rule. In fact, some of Lydia's biggest fits lately have been pitched because she can't watch a third episode.

Lydia and Ellie have an odd sort of relationship. They can play peacefully side by side for a long time. It's quiet, but they're both in their own world. There's not a lot of interaction until someone has a toy that someone else wants. It's Lydia just as often as it is Ellie. This is when the screech fights begin. They don't get particularly physical (they both pull at the toy, that's about it), but they keep trying to yell louder than the other. Ellie's screech tends to be a high-pitched, wordless yell, but Lydia is often yelling, rather ironically, "BE NICE TO SISTER! BE NICE TO SISTER!" If Meagan is in the room, all eyes go to her, expecting her to mete out wisdom and justice like Solomon of old. Her choices seldom meet with mutual satisfaction, but they are grudgingly accepted. If a victor is declared, she walks haughtily away, clutching her prize. The loser is left to find some obviously inferior toy and to wallow in her shame. The Mom giveth and the Mom taketh away.

We've done some other things (summer trips, etc.), but really, there's not a lot to tell there. We've had a good time the last several months. Sorry we didn't share any of it.

To close it up, here are some pictures! Everyone who isn't a grandmother can stop reading now.

Some pictures of Eleanor

2011-08-04T19:06:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of Ellie. I don't have much time to write, but I did want to load these pictures from the last few months. I haven't taken many pictures of Lydia, primarily because every time I get the camera out, she runs over to me because she wants to see the screen on the camera. My brother-in-law, Michael, did take several cute ones of Lydia at Eric's wedding last week though, and here's a link to that album.

My Other Blog

2011-02-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I should probably mention that I have started another blog. This one is focusing on education. I am planning on homeschooling our girls, and am blogging about it as I go. I've started a few little preschool things with Lydia and plan to use that blog to update about things like that. Here's the link in case you are interested.

100th Post

2011-02-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hey, this is our 100th blog post! Also it's going to be a quick catch-up post on our family over the last 4 months or so, because we've been neglecting our blog and it's always hard to get up to speed. So here goes. Also, in order to not overwhelm you with pictures, you can see pictures of most of these events on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/meaganseverson

After Thanksgiving, but before Christmas, the girls and I got to go to my parent's house in Texas. It was quite the adventure to drive 12 hours one way with a 2 year old and a 2 month old, but I managed somehow. It was good to let my dad and a few of my siblings meet Ellie. Lydia enjoyed the attention of aunts and uncles who know how to read as well, an often took advantage of that fact. Here's my mom's photo album of when we were there (combined with pictures she took when Ellie was born).

A few weeks later, it was Christmas break and again we traveled. This time it was with the whole family up to Tyler's parent's house for a few weeks. For Christmas Lydia got a little wooden train set that she loves and lots of other toys from her adoring family. Ellie got a few little odds and ends. The day after Christmas we blessed Ellie. She had an adorable little dress and we were able to Skype the blessing to my family in Texas. Technology is neat. Anyways, it was good to see all of Tyler's siblings and it was their first time meeting Ellie as well. Here's a photo album of those times!

Since Christmas life has slowed down considerably. Tyler and I have instigated a strict healthy eating policy and we're both loosing weight and eating much better than we were before. Tyler continues to excel at medical school, and the girls continue to grow and be fun. Ellie can roll over and pick up her toys and loves to smile and get smiled at. Lydia loves to "read" still and loves to be read to. If you agree to read one book, you must be prepared to read 8 more, because she insists on more once you get started. Lydia is also going through a little "terrible twos" whiny thing right now that is fun.

Well, that's our little world in a nutshell. Here are some pictures and videos I've loaded on facebook or my other blog, but that I thought might be fun to post here:

Frankenpen

2010-10-15T11:27:00.001-06:00

So I'm now nine weeks into medical school. It's been crazy times, filled with...well, studying. Seriously, I'd love to share some hilarious anecdote with you, but it would be something like, "Oh, and THEN I realized that phosphatidylcholine can be made via TWO DIFFERENT REACTIONS depending on the tissue of synthesis! OHHH!"

And now you are all bored.

So, instead of witty tales of sphingolipids, I'll share with you something about my method of study. I'm sort of a tactile learner, I guess, because I can remember something really well after I write it down. As such, my study regimen has come to center around hand-copying the notes I take on my computer in class. Then for each test, I rewrite a condensed study guide of the major points from each lecture.

This is no mean feat, friends. I have killed three pens so far. They were good and faithful companions for about a week, after which they pretty much kicked it. My pen habit was going to get expensive, I could tell, because I had grown accustomed to a well-shaped gel pen.

Upon killing off number three, I reached into my drawer and realized that the only economically viable option remaining was use of--I am loathe to say it--a BiC pen.

Now, nothing against BiC.

Well,

No, pretty much everything against BiC. The price is the only attractive feature on these things. They're little sticks that dig into your hand and do not make for comfy writing, especially when you're going for the marathon like I often do.

I tried using a BiC, but after just two minutes of writing I could feel my fingers aching from where its hard plastic pressed into my flesh. This, I thought, will simply not do. But what would? I can't justify buying expensive gel pens just because they feel nice in my hand!

Then the wheels started turning.

I had a pen carcass with no soul, no essence, but a perfectly viable body.

I had a BiC with a usable cartridge, but no beauty that man should it desire.

I felt a mad scientist laugh well up within me as I realized that I, Doctor Frankenstein, could raise my beloved pen from the dead by forced transfer of a foreign lifeforce!

BEHOLD WHAT SCIENCE HATH WROUGHT!

Frankenpen allows me to use BiC cartridges to my heart's (and wallet's) content, but sheathed in the surgically altered shell of my beloved gel pen.

What could possibly go wrong?

The labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind.
-Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Chapter 3, pg. 34

Family Update!

2010-10-15T10:46:00.002-06:00

As of yesterday, Ellie is one month old. She weighed 11 lbs 1 oz, so she's growing like a weed and is a bit of a chunker. The time has both gone by quickly and slowly. It definitely feels like she's always been here, although I'm still learning how to juggle two kids rather than just one. In some ways it's not much more work. Like cloth diapers. It's very little extra work to cloth diaper two kids rather than just one. However, taking them both to the store by myself is definitely a juggling act. I've been very lucky so far on that front, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. So, just figuring things out.

Ellie is a very good baby so far. She has had a fantastic sleeping schedule since she was born. In the hospital, I decided I would keep her in my room the last night until she got cranky, and then I'd send her to the nursery. However, she slept until 5 a.m. and then ate and went right back to sleep. She has pretty much kept this schedule. She likes to go to sleep at around 10 or 11 at night, and then sleep until 5 or 6, and then go back to sleep until 8:30 or so. It is really a huge blessing to me, because sleep is something I don't cope well without. Besides sleeping, Ellie LOVES to be held. She's more of a cuddle bug than Lydia was and will snuggle and fall asleep on your chest. It's nice.

Ellie does get bad gas though. It's sad. You can tell she has it when she cries really hard out of nowhere and then stops some and cries again. We tried a number of different things, but recently we discovered a baby formula that works with her and significantly reduced her gas pains. Now, rather than crying for a few hours at night, she lays there happily trying to smile at us. It's a much better situation for all involved.

Lydia has reacted much better to being a big sister than I thought she would. When I was in the hospital, she was weirded out by everything, but didn't get angry with me. She didn't want anything to do with the baby, though, and that's mostly how things have stayed. She calls Ellie "Baby Ella" and is not bothered by her presence at all anymore. Sometimes she even likes to talk about her. She says "Soft Baby Ella" and pets her head or "Baby Ella Bopful" (Baby Ellie's bottle) when I'm feeding her. The funniest, though, is sometimes she blames Ellie for her misfortunes, like when she trips and starts crying, she'll say Ellie's name all accusingly, like it's Ellie's fault. Hopefully she'll get over that.

In other Lydia news, Lydia has discovered a deep love of Winnie the Pooh. Grandma Severson got her the original Disney movie on DVD, and Lydia asks to watch it almost every day. She's learned all the characters' names and is generally delighted when the movie gets to parts she knows. Also, her love of books has only gotten stronger, and she spends almost her entire day looking at them or asking me to read them to her. Lately, she's started telling herself about what she remembers happening on the page. It's fun to see her developing.

Tyler is doing extraordinarily well in medical school. He already finished up his first two classes and received A's in both. Right now he's taking two anatomy classes, and already got A's on the first tests for them. He's really enjoying the material, and it's keeping him very busy. He studies every day for several hours, on top of the time he spends in class. It's stressful for him, but he is enjoying it overall.

As for me, I'm recovering quite nicely from my c-section. I feel like I'm doing much better than last time. Already I think my energy level is about back to what it was before, and minus a little understandable soreness, I'm managing the house and both the girls without too much trouble. It's much trickier juggling two kids, but I love it. I find it incredibly fulfilling to stay home with them and see them grow and develop.

We are very blessed in our lives. We have a house that is going to make the next few years very comfortable, Tyler's doing well in school and it looks like we made the right choice, deciding to have him become a doctor, and our girls are both healthy and happy. We are in a position where I can stay home with them, and somehow still manage to make our finances work out all right. Overall, Tyler and I feel like we're getting more than our fair share of blessings, but you won't hear us complain about it!

Now, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. They are in order from oldest to newest:

Still in the hospital. This is one of my favorites from then.

The only time Lydia would come near me or Ellie. She was very nervous about that baby, but a book enticed her.

Lydia reading her favorite book, Madeline, near Ellie. She kept taking breaks and touching Ellie's head and saying, "Soft Baby Ellie, soft."

The last week or so, Ellie has been trying to smile. It's hard to catch them on camera, though, and this was the best shot I could get.

I thought she looked a lot like Tyler in this one.

Baby Ellie

2010-09-14T14:37:00.006-06:00

Eleanor Faith Severson was born at 12:58 pm today. She measures 21 inches long and weighs 8 pounds, 14 ounces. Mother and baby are doing just fine, so I don't really have much to report. Here's some photos!

Scheduled Baby-Havin' Time

2010-09-13T13:10:00.003-06:00

**Note: Sorry for the influx of RSS articles. We temporarily un-privatized our blog and the result has been about 30 posts or so in people's readers. Sorry about that.**

Meagan went to the hospital today for a standard non-stress test, just to make sure the baby is doing all right. The baby passed all the tests with no problems, but upon taking an ultrasound, the doctor found that Meagan's placenta had started to calcify and her amniotic level (which is supposed to be over 10) is at 3.

That's no good.

The baby's strong reactions to the tests indicate there's no harm to her yet, but the doctor says that if we wait much longer, things aren't going to be good. As such, we've scheduled a c-section for tomorrow, September 14, at 12:00.

We're a bit bummed as Meagan has been trying really hard to avoid another c-section, but there simply isn't a choice on this one. If conditions get any worse, the baby will be getting less oxygen and nutrients and damages will occur. A natural birth simply wasn't in the cards. Still, there's a sense of relief that comes with this. No more waiting! We know when it's all going down.

Also, several people have asked if I'll be doing a blog detailing this baby's birth. The answer now, I guess, is probably not. With any luck, there won't be much of a story to relate. We're going to the hospital tomorrow at ten for a pretty routine procedure. The last thing we want is a story. As such, I guess you can just check back tomorrow afternoon for pictures.

Thanks to the family and friends who have been supportive up to this point. We appreciate your continued prayers. I'll post any news as it comes, but we'll mostly just look forward to showing off our new baby tomorrow afternoon.

Still Waiting...

2010-09-07T11:24:00.000-06:00

Well, my due date was two days ago and still no baby. I thought for sure she'd come early, but I guess I was wrong. The doctor told me at my last appointment that he thinks I'll go at least a week late, which was oddly comforting. Now I'm not worrying about every contraction and wondering if "this is it". I'm just assuming it's not "it" unless I have some powerful evidence to the contrary.

In the meantime, I've just been hanging around the house doing a whole lot of nothing. Mostly I've just been trying to keep up with the cleaning and laundry so that I'm not behind when this baby decides to make an appearance. The laundry in particular became tricky this weekend because one our our hoses decided to spring a leak and cause the water to leak through our ceiling. (Our washer and dryer are in the attic, which is weird, but whatever.)

Lydia and I have read together a lot this week. Her favorite books at the moment are Olivia, Madeline, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. She loves to "read" them to herself, and loves to have them read to her as well. Her other favorite activities include playing with her hotwheel cars, playing with her dinosaurs, and playing with her magnetic letters. She also loves to watch Leap Frog Letter Factory, Winnie the Pooh, and Little Einsteins. I only let her watch one show a day, but that doesn't stop her from asking over and over again.

Tyler's been really busy with school. He has a test on Friday, and in anticipation of this baby being born, he studied all day every day over his three day weekend, just in case. He did really really well on his first test, and we're hoping for a repeat. He's working really hard and I'm very proud of him.

And that's about our lives. We continue on in pretty much the same fashion. Tyler studies, I'm waiting to have a baby, and Lydia reads aloud to herself. Hopefully, this new baby will shake things up a bit here.

The Legend of La Cucaracha

2010-07-20T23:20:00.004-06:00

To set the stage, we recently moved to Little Rock. I'm sure we'll say more about that later (I'm actually not sure at all. YOU WILL GET WHAT WE GIVE YOU AND LIKE IT), but just know that we've rented a nice little house.

We had been here for two days. The first day was "Moving Day," in the which I, with the help of two guys from church, moved all of our earthly possessions into our house. The second was "Soreness Day," in which I was sore in pretty much every muscle I have. It was also the first day of unpacking, a long and arduous process that is only doable because you know that eventually you will run out of boxes to unpack. Hell will be an eternal house full of eternal boxes that you must unpack, clean, organize, arrange, and make homey. Then you move on to the next room...FOREVER.

We were retiring for the night. Meagan went to get a pre-slumber drink. Suddenly I hear her call me to look at something. I join her in the dark kitchen, wondering what I'm supposed to be seeing. She tries to point something out, but I don't see anything. Then something moves. Quickly. She turns the light on, but it's already escaped to the dark underworld from whence it came.

"That," she said, "was a gigantic cockroach."

"...Neat!" said I, uncertain as to what else we should do at that point.

The answer? Wait for another visitation.

The next night I went out to the kitchen, in which I had fortuitously left a light on. And there he sat, perched atop our kitchen sink in all his glory.

His shiny-carapaced six-legged, holy-crap-that-is-a-big-cockroach glory.

You might be shouting "SMASH HIM!" at your computer right now. It's probably what I should have done. But something in me needed to preserve this moment. A mason jar was fetched. I comically tried to shoo the roach into it. Cartoon hilarity ensued.

Finally, I managed to trap the roach under my jar. He ran about its circumference for a moment, but then realized that he had no options left. He paused and looked at me.

At least I think he did. I didn't see his tiny little eyes or anything. Let's say he looked at me. It makes the moment more profound.

For some reason, I wanted him to live. Maybe it was the fact that I felt bad about chopping off one of his majestic antennae in the trapping process. The reason I told myself was that I needed to demonstrate the problem to my landlord, and that this would be an indisputable method of illustration.

Whatever the reason, I decided to turn the jar over and put a top on it. But it had to be something that would let him breathe. Roaches breathe, right? Probably!

I grabbed a piece of paper and secured it over the top of the jar. I watched as the roach tried to skitter up the sides, failing each time. He would right himself, scratch at the side, and then fall again. Surely, I thought, there's no way out. I punched a few air holes in the paper and went to bed.

The next morning, Meagan and I woke up. We went about our morning routine in a usual way, until I asked, "Say, did you see the jar on the counter?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I was meaning to ask you what was up with that."

"Is that not a gigantic roach?!" I enthused.

"...There....was no roach in that jar."

My blood ran chill.

"Oh no." I muttered. "He ESCAPED! AND HE'S MAD!"

I went to the kitchen to find that somehow, the cockroach had managed to not only reach the top of the jar, but to chew a hole through the paper I had affixed.

A big, cockroach-wide hole.

Truly these creatures will outlive us all.

Now for the odd part: Ever since the Day of the Empty Jar, we haven't seen this cockroach. My wife wanted to name him James, but I find the name a bit banal for such a survivor. Whatever he's done, he has managed to avoid my wrath. I like to think that he chewed through the paper and before escaping looked in the direction of my bedroom and said something to the effect of, "Nice try," but then, realizing that I would not be so kind next time, retreated, figuring that there were other kitchens out there, a whole frontier that was utterly unaware of his presence. These greener pastures, he thought, would be his home.

In reality, he probably found his way into my bag of flour and I'll someday find him and all his relatives. Who knows? The cockroach is a wily beast, full of surprise and mystery.

Tales from the Intermission: Chapter the Fourth

2010-07-13T13:45:00.003-06:00

In which the narrator catches you up on everything so this blog is in the present and can stop being broken into numbered chapters

The funny thing is that several of you are probably thinking that Meagan has been working all these past months at Lowe's. Well, here's the awful part: Shortly after I posted that blog about her interview series and everything (AND, may I add, after she had been given an established starting day), Lowe's decided not to hire Meagan. Everything involving them was a colossal waste of her time. We were a fair bit hacked off. But rather than fuss about it, we looked at our family needs and decided that this could be a blessing in disguise. Sure, we wouldn't make quite as much money, but there were other things Meagan could earn during the summer. Meagan laid out a rather intense curriculum for her few remaining independent study classes and decided to finish her degree before we move. We're proud to say that she will be taking her last three finals next week, finishing all classes she needed for her BA in political science. I'm incredibly proud of her for managing to finish up all of her classes (not to mention doing pretty well in them) while also taking care of Lydia at home. She's done amazing things.

As for me…well, I've been in the Wal-Mart temp program with a great group, but they weren't especially skilled at putting me to use. That is to say, I got a pretty good paycheck for surfing the internet. I was happy to work when it came around, but that wasn't as often as you would think. A few weeks into the position I actually scheduled a meeting with my manager to discuss the matter, and the best way my position was described was "like a service industry employee," who just stands around waiting, getting paid, until there is something for them to do. OK, then! It's given me plenty of time to work on some writing and some administration projects I needed to work on. I got paid to pursue hobbies! Unfortunately, you can only do that stuff for so long in a day, and so my time at my desk got pretty darned boring. I've been grateful for the job, but I'm not going to be very sad to move on.

Speaking of moving on, I don't think we ever actually talked about where we're going for med school. Short story: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), College of Medicine, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Long story: By the time medical school interviews wound up, I had been accepted to UAMS and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland and I had been wait-listed at Vanderbilt and Wake Forest (I had also been wait-listed at Saint Louis University, but a bad interview experience made us want to avoid that so long as there were other options). We started to examine CWR vs. UAMS (I was personally holding out some hope for Vanderbilt, but alas! They never called me up off the waiting list), and found that both would offer me a pretty great medical school experience and that most of the quality of my education would come down to not where I went, but what I did when I got there. My education is in my hands. As such, we decided to go to UAMS, which offered several distinct advantages, including:

1. It's not in Cleveland!
2. It's significantly closer to both Meagan's family and my own
3. Little Rock has safer housing closer to the school
4. UAMS costs about 1/3 as much as CWR
5. UAMS gave me scholarships; CWR did not

So basically, we found very little reason to pick the stingy, expensive, Cleveland-based school when we had UAMS as an option.

Since deciding to go to UAMS, I have been awarded a 1/4 tuition scholarship for my first year. That's nice. But the most exciting thing at this point is the new house. In our marriage, Meagan and I have lived in three different apartments and one parents' basement. We've never rented a house before, but with child number 2 on the way and a third being likely to show up at some point during school, we thought that getting a three-bedroom house would be our best option. We found one that we were OK with and started putting the paperwork through…until we found a BETTER one. We quickly pulled out of the first deal and signed a contract with the second.
This place is about what you'd expect for people in our position. It's not awesomely nice, but it's well-kept and homey. Three beds, 1.5 baths, a large backyard (in which yardwork is taken care of for us!), and, perhaps my favorite part, it's only two blocks away from campus. I can come home and see my kids during my lunch break! We don't have to use the car! That's pretty great news! That is why I am using so many exclamation points!

Oh, and the monthly rent is under the budget we set, so that is also good times.

But we haven't spent our whole time in Bentonville working and looking forward to leaving. We figured that while we were here, we may as well do some stuff.

Meagan has spent the last few months as a church Activity Days leader for the eight- and nine-year-old girls in the ward, and I was called as the assistant Venture Scout leader (ages 16-17). We have both had great experiences working with the youth of our ward. Along the way, I got to substitute teach the 16-year-old Sunday School and teach a lesson or two to the priests, which was a great part of the calling.

Meagan has been working on building our new baby, and she's entered the uncomfortable stage of the third trimester. We've been blessed to have an incident-free pregnancy. Dang, have we even mentioned that the new baby is a girl? She is. We are pretty sure of this, as the ultrasound tech said that our baby was the easiest gender identification she'd made all week. Apparently we produce exhibitionist fetuses.

Lydia has very much enjoyed the attentions paid by her aunts and grandparents. We think it's going to be a rough transition to suddenly having just Mom and Dad…and THEN having them taken away by the new baby. I sense psychological scarring in the near future!

We have one week left here, and then we're on our way to Little Rock. We're excited, of course, but we have a slight case of the very common pre-moving jitters. A new chapter in our lives! Who knows what it will hold? The best we can do, I suppose, is realize we're in it together, join hands, and boldly move forward. Bentonville, it's been great. We have enjoyed you. But we're out of here.

Tales from the Intermission: Chapter the Third

2010-07-13T13:27:00.007-06:00

In which a doting father shares anecdotes and tales of Lydia since we moved to Arkansas

So, today I am feeling a strange mix of boredom at work and pride in my progeny, so I think today is a good day to write up a post about much better my kid is than every other kid.

Speech

Lydia has tended to take her time with achieving certain milestones. She didn't crawl or walk quite on schedule, but when she started doing them she picked them up quickly. The same has been the case for talking. Lydia's started to pick up words all over the place. She understands a LOT of things we say, and knows how to go upstairs, downstairs, outside, to the car as well as how to identify her toys, including balls, hammers (don't ask), and a plethora of stuffed animals.

What she's not so good at, though? Enunciation. You have to sort of become a master of her language to understand, for example, whether she is referring to her bear ("boh"), a bird ("bih"), bed ("bee"), or a ball ("bah"). "Nana" can mean she wants a banana, that she wants to play the piano, or that she wants to hang out with Grandma. It's all about context clues, really, but if Grandma is eating a banana on the piano bench...well, the meaning would be nigh impossible to decode. Thankfully, Grandma has a strict no-peelable-fruit-near-the-keys policy, saving us all a world of confusion.

Other favorite words: "piz" (please), "pmpa" (Grandpa), "dazdie" (Daddy?), "dada" (The Cat in the Hat, for reasons we remain absolutely baffled about), "flowfuh" (flower), "bikka bikka" (book...?) and the all-powerful "up!" She also knows several animal sounds, including a Scandinavian dog, ("voof voof!"), an inquisitive French duck ("Qua qua qua!"), and an adorably gentle bear (she roars "Raaaah!" but does it in a very quiet, happily excited voice).

Of course, she still cuts loose with some good babblin' now and then. She should really be using real words by now, but I have to admit that it makes me laugh to hear her just wandering the halls and finding some syllable she likes and repeating it in different tones and volumes.

Books (Bikka bikka)

Of course, some of her best rambling comes when she sits down and reads to herself. Lydia has always been fond of books, and has generally proven herself to be quite capable of not ripping pages. As such, we're OK with her playing with her books. She'll just plop herself down, prop the book up in her lap, and start "reading" in a very authoritative tone. She is not just reading; she is sharing wisdom. She can do this, occasionally turning pages, for quite a while--sometimes up to an hour. The funny thing is that she actually DOES realize a few things. Even in books without pictures, she will always hold the book right-side-up. Even if you give it to her upside-down, she'll reverse it before she begins reading. Neat!

Beds

Lydia has sort of a love/hate relationship with beds. When we came to Arkansas, Meagan and I decided that rather than giving Lydia a crib, we would give her a "bed." The reason that's in quotes, you ask? Well, her bed technically consists of her crib mattress on the ground in our walk-in closet. That's right. Our baby sleeps in our closet. She has a story for the future!

The bed, however, hardly matters. Lydia has slept on her bed maybe once or twice since we came here. Most of the times we check on her at night, we find this:

The bed, I suppose, is just there for the feng shui.

So, I guess that's not HATE, per se, but it sure isn't love. The love element of beds, though, is a very special one for Lydia. She has made the magical discovery that Mom and Dad's bed (as well as Grandma and Grandpa's) is simultaneously bouncy, soft, and large. These attributes combined make a perfect playground. Lyddie can spend a long time just knocking herself over on the bed, flopping all over the place and trusting that all will be well. I am certain it's just a matter of time until she misjudges it and flies straight off the side. On the other hand, she just has so much fun doing it that it seems churlish to not allow it. She grins like a maniac the whole time. AND--this is important--it has gotten her to do an accidental somersault. If you have never seen one done on accident, you're missing out. The look of shock on the child's face at suddenly being on her back is just pricelessly hilarious.

Lydia likes attention generally, but when she's on the bed, she REQUIRES active involvement. She will stand in her proudest gymnastic pose and say, "Ah ha!" This, we've discovered, is her call to attention. If she "ah ha!"s and you aren't paying attention, she will walk over to you, and "ah ha!" in your face until you look up at her and repeat, "Ah ha!" She is then free to go about her business, NOW THAT SHE HAS YOUR ATTENTION, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Random Anecdotes

The other night Lydia was in a particularly whiny mood as we led her on her death march to her bedroom. Grandpa was heading the same direction and walked right behind the Whiny One as she was letting loose a mighty "enhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Grandpa thought it would be funny to do a (pretty much spot-on) imitation of the whine. Lydia, suddenly incensed, turns around and just shoves his shin with force equal to her indignity. Then, as though she realized that what she had just done was certainly not a good idea, she ran and took shelter behind her mother's legs. We're not sure if she was afraid of being punished or what, but Grandpa cracked up not just at the insolent spunk she showed, but also at the rapid transition to cowardice.

I am man enough to admit that I had a less-than-flattering nickname as a child. It was related to...um....my bathtime activities. My father dubbed one-year-old me "The Mad Crapper." Apparently warm water worked its wiles on my bowels, and I was powerless against its persuasion. Now that you can no longer look me in the eye, I'll tell you about Lydia. Meagan and I have felt grateful that Lydia seems to have avoided the nickname her father was once saddled with. Her bathtimes generally go unsoiled. In fact, it only happened one time in her first year: on Mother's Day when I was getting her ready for church. That lovely May morning became a horrific nightmare as Lydia cut loose in the tub. And, of course, it fell to Daddy to clean it up. JOY. As Mother's Day approached this past May, I grew fearful. Lydia's record had been clean after the Mother's Day Movement...but what if she decided to strike again? Meagan assured me it was just my persecution complex kicking in. Mother's Day came. I bathed Lydia. Lydia crapped the tub. OK, that was hilarious. But the REALLY funny part is that she was TERRIFIED of what had happened. She just FREAKED OUT in the funniest possible way. She cowered at the far end of the tub, as far away from the floaters as she could manage. I cannot help but think that this will leave scars. Oh, and the best part? It happened AGAIN the next day. She has hated baths ever since.

Lydia turned 18 months old in February, and in the LDS Church, that meant she was now eligible to attend Nursery! Meagan and I were pretty excited about the prospect of a few baby-free months of Sunday School. Lydia, as it turned out, was not. She HATED Nursery. She flipped out and would often had to be returned to Meagan. Sometimes she would settle enough to stay, but it was a nervous fist-sucky kind of settled that lasted only until one of us picked her up, at which point she got really clingy and, presumably fearing further abandonment, would not unlatch from Meagan's shoulder. During stake conference, she flipped out when we stood up to sing the intermediate hymn because she figured it was now time to go to nursery. She did it AGAIN during the closing hymn of the same conference, just SURE that Nursery was only moments away. As time went on, though, she grew to accept Nursery and has since embraced it. She now leads Meagan by the hand down to the Nursery room after sacrament meetings, and plays happily (mostly by stealing other kids' toys, the little bully (OK, parenthetical anecdote: One time the Nursery leader gave each of the kids a toy egg. Lydia went around and stole everyone else's egg until she had a collection sufficient for her wants.)) until we come and get her.

Lydia tends to be more of a snacker than a meal-eater. Dinner is the worst. We practically have to force food down her throat in the evening. So after a while of just sitting at her high chair watching us eat, she gets bored and Mom lets her down. At this point, she delightedly runs to Grandma, who has mastered the art of eating dinner with a child in her lap and welcomes a bit of company. Lydia will then sit in her lap for the remainder of the meal and--this is the weird part--plays salad dressing games. We are honestly not sure what's going on in her head, but Lydia will get all of the salad dressings on the table in front of her, and she will then move them around, examine them, arrange them in different ways, and generally just be a total weirdo for the rest of the meal. If you need to use one of the salad dressings, she'll let you, but she'll whine at you while you have it. I have yet to see her voluntarily get down from this activity, so I can only presume that, if we allowed it, she would do it until she fell asleep at the table.

In short, Lydia is well on her way to being one sassy broad. We adore her.

Tales from the Intermission: Chapter the Second

2010-03-10T09:09:00.001-07:00

In which our heroes bum around and eventually find work, eventually missing the former and regretting the latter

Our arrival was followed by a week of takin' it easy. This was something we were grateful for. The cross-country move kind of took it out of us, so having a week to max and relax was lovely. After we were maximized and relaximized, however, we realized it was time to start seeking work.

The job hunt was not a fun one for us. I hate to be one of those guys who just whines about the sorry state of the economy and all that, but let's face facts: it's a bit hard to find a job out here. I applied to several places: Wal-Mart, the movie theater, several bakeries, and, of course, Bath and Body Works.

Now, those of you reading know me. I'm a decently bright guy. I have a good degree from a good school. My resume is pretty nice. I have good references.

You guys, I could not get a job taking tickets at the movie theater. Bath and Body Works wouldn't even call me. IT IS THAT BAD.

Luckily, Wal-Mart's temp program was hiring. I figured that would be a good way to spend my time, since the position itself is based around capriciousness. I like to think I could have gotten a good, serious, "career-type" job if not for the fact that I'm only here for a few months. I like to think I'd be qualified for it. But as I'm only here for a short time, not many folks are willing to hire, train, and mould someone for several months just to have them pack up and head out.

Anyway. Now I'm big tempin'. I spent the first month of my illustrious temp career in Specialty Tax.

It is exactly as much fun as it sounds.

It's basically the element of Wal-Mart/Sam's Club that deals with state tax exemptions for certain vendors and resellers. My basic purposes there were scanning in documents, copying down license numbers, and doing a LOT of cut-copy-pasting. It was not the most engaging work, but the people I worked with were good folks who took a shine to me. They even got me a cake when I left their division.

Now, though, I find myself in the Private Label Marketing team. I'm not sure if I came as a surprise to them or something, but my employer (again, a very nice lady) just can't come up with anything for me to do. I spend my days getting paid for what is, quite honestly, not very much work. It's not something I'm proud of, but then again, it's not something I can exactly control either. I don't really have the power, knowledge, or experience to really start something out of thin air, so I'm reliant upon assignments and instructions. Alas.

Meagan's job hunt started very similar to mine. She also applied for jobs all over the place, and, despite her great overqualification for them, she didn't get any calls either. When Wal-Mart hired me, they told me that they had looked at her resume and would be happy to hire her, but there was some trouble. Meagan is looking for part-time work so that she can still be home most of the time with Lydia, and Wal-Mart's temp program doesn't do a lot of part-time work.

Finally, after weeks of hunting, Meagan got a call from Lowe's, asking her to come and interview. Think about every Lowe's you've ever been to. You don't really expect the workers there to be rocket scientists, do you? I didn't. But Meagan had to go in not for one, not for two, but for THREE SEPARATE INTERVIEWS just to get the job at Lowe's. And this isn't for a management position or anything--she's just looking to be a cashier.

The three interview system wouldn't have been terrible of itself, except for the fact that the people scheduling the multi-interview weren't exactly on the ball. She did the first, then waited a week, then got the other two in the same night, then waited a week to hear back that she needed to have a drug test….and that she would then have to wait another week to get the results of that test (compare this to my job at Wal-Mart, in which I interviewed, drove straight to the drug test, and got a call that afternoon telling me I had the job and that I could start the next day). So, we fully expect that Meagan will at long last be gainfully employed within the next year. She may even get the chance to start work before we leave town in July!

Tales from the Intermission: Chapter the First

2010-03-08T10:12:00.003-07:00

In which our heroes drive across the country and get burned by a Taco Bell's poor parking facilities.

We had just finished loading up a far-too-full moving truck. We sat in our empty living room. Lydia was busy having a nervous breakdown. Really, it was one of those parenting moments that is made up of a combination of sadness for the child's suffering, entertainment at the hilarity of the child's suffering, and guilt for enjoying the hilarity of the child's suffering. She was trying to get into her room, pounding frantically at the door, and then freaking out even further when the door was opened for her and she realized that nothing was in there anyway. We ate one last meal in Provo (Beto's burritos…perhaps the only non-human element I will miss about Provo, Utah) and then got in our terrifyingly huge truck and got on the road.

It was worst in the beginning. I drove the behemoth through the hills and winding roads of the highway to get us out of the stinkin' Rocky Mountains. This drive was useful in that it was a final assurance that I would absolutely not miss the West. Mountains, man…you can keep 'em. It was a white-knuckle affair for a few hours, as I had to alternately floor the gas to achieve record speeds of 45 mph on the highway and then press the brake to the floor to keep my hulking vehicle from careening out of control. FUN TIMES WERE HAD BY ALL.

Once I broke out of the Rockies, it was awesomely smooth sailing. Straight roads, no issues at all. Man, it is EASY to drive across the Great Plains states. Just put on the cruise control…

Oh, yeah, wait, I didn't have cruise control. Yeah, THAT was great. By the time we finally arrived, my right leg was shockingly tired from the constant pressure I had to apply to the giant diesel's gas pedal.

Well, even without cruise, it was still pretty awesome to drive through those highways. I'll grant that there's not much in the way of scenery, but hey, I'm not there for the scenery. I'm there simply to get somewhere else. And the highways obliged me that much.

We ended up getting a hotel just a few miles away from the Colorado/Nebraska border around midnight. We had a good sleep (Lydia got a Pack 'n Play in the closet) and got en route early the next morning. Also, the hotel had waffles! Like the kind you make right there in the flippy waffle iron. YES, I KNOW IT IS AWESOME, THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS. You are surely jealous.

Replete with fresh-made waffles, we hit the road. The road to lunchtime (the temporal lunchtime, not the legendary Lunchtime, Iowa, home of the world's largest Thermos) was uneventful. But lunchtime…oh, lunchtime, you betrayed me so.

All I wanted was a burrito. Taco Bell seemed a fitting place to assuage this desire. And the Taco Bell in Kearney, Nebraska, seemed so spacious. It would be so easy, I thought. We get a burrito and then we leave. The world keeps turning and all is well.

Taco Bell betrayed me.

The parking lot was not nearly as large as it looked from the road, making turning around in my massive vehicle (which I could not put into reverse due to the car tow dolly I was dragging behind us) impossible. As is my usual response to family crisis, I freaked out. I had no idea how to get our stupid vehicle out of the stupid Taco Bell parking lot. Luckily, my car trip utility belt includes a marvelously sane wife who realized that all we really needed to do was detach the car tow dolly. That would allow us to put the U-haul in reverse, do a 17-point turn, and finally get out of this asphalt Alcatraz.

Leaving our screaming baby strapped into her seat alone in the U-haul (there are so many things wrong there), we figured out as best we could how to get our car off the dolly. It was freezing cold and everything was wet and slushy. My hands turned a rather lobstery shade of red (lobstery, a word used to refer to something resembling an attribute of a lobster, is obviously superior to the traditional adjective lobster-like, though inferior to the intellectual and sophisticated lobsteresque, as made famous in Lord Byron's immortal couplet, "Sittin' at my writin' desk/Feelin' pretty lobsteresque," which many of our readers no doubt memorized in grade school). After struggles with pretty much every part of the dolly (I'm not really handy, you know?), I finally got the car off. We then figured out how to detach the dolly. Our baby still screaming, our burritos growing cold in the cab of the U-haul, we finally managed to get the U-haul facing the exit. Excellent! Now…we just have to move the dolly across the parking lot, reattach it, put the car back on it, secure it properly, and pray it doesn't fly off in the middle of our trip. Simple!

We finally ate our burritos about an hour after ordering them, ready to get the dust of Kearney, Nebraska, off our feet, tires, and anything else the dust of that terrible place touched. We pulled into a gas station to fuel up and get going.

The town was not done with me yet.

Those of you who have driven a large U-haul (or U-haul type vehicle) know that they have a massive fuel tank. This is a good thing. It allows you stop at less-frequent intervals. But it can take a while to fill up.

It can especially take a while to fill up if you pull into the only diesel pump in Kearney, Nebraska, which takes about 30 seconds to pump a gallon of gas. The tank held about 55 gallons. Do the math. We were there for a while. As I watched the ticker on the gas pump climb ever so slowly, I could feel my rage and hatred for Kearney, Nebraska, increase with each slow-flowing gallon.

Basically, Kearney, Nebraska, can just burn. When the revolution comes, that town will be the first against the wall. Readers, I entreat you all to pray for the destruction of Kearney, of its Taco Bell and its accursed parking lot, of its horribly slow gas pumps. Perhaps if our faith is combined, a meteor will come down and wipe it from the earth, instantly raising Earth's cool points by a factor of two.

The trip continued without incident until we were about an hour away from our destination. Then the snow hit. Guys, we drove through Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa, states all famous for horrible snow and ice in the winter. The only trouble we had was in southern Missouri. It was funny to watch our ETA increase even as our distance decreased. When we were 65 miles away, we were an hour away. When we were 55 miles away, we were about an hour-twenty away. When we hit 40 miles, we were looking at nearly two hours of travel. I was worried we would eventually drive straight into an asymptote and just have to eternally get close to our destination without ever actually arriving.

THAT was for all the readers who keep up with us for our legendary math references. Elevated multiple-digit/palmar impacts* for all!

Eventually, though, we broke through the storm and drove into my folks' driveway around 2 am. We all promptly crashed. The deed was done. We were there. We were home, as it were--at least for a few months.

*Known in the lingua franca as a high-five

What times? Valentimes!

2010-02-17T09:27:00.003-07:00

Being the LDS folk we are, Meagan and I were debating whether or not we should celebrate the pagan holiday of the Most Holy Feast of Saint Valentine, Servant of the Lord and Martyr to His Gospel on the Sabbath or not. We ultimately ended up celebrating Valentine's weekend, which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in making your life a lot better.

We started the festivities after I got off work on Friday with the most romantic activity in all of Bentonville, Arkansas: a trip to Wal-Mart. Amorous!

The plan was an amazing one, hatched by my lovely wife: we'd have an extended fondue dinner. Those of you who have ever had a full fondue meal (like at the marvelous restaurant The Melting Pot) know that A) it is awesome beyond most languages' abilities to describe, and B) it can go for HOURS. Here's the basic rundown of how the meal went:

Cheese Course

We made an excellent sharp cheddar cheese dip, which I cooked to an excellent consistency. Into it we dipped summer sausage, smoked sausage, ham cubes, sourdough bread chunks, and well-crusted hard rolls. Amazing. This is one of the faster courses in a fondue dinner. It's first, so you're really ripping into it with crazy hunger-passion. It is also all ready to eat. Everything before you is cooked and ready to go. You can eat as quickly as you want. We wound this one up in about half an hour and took a break to digest.

Broth Course

This is where time kicks in. I seasoned some beef broth and brought it to a boil in our fondue pot. We then set out plates of raw shrimp, filet mignon, broccoli, and mushrooms. Where you go from here is fairly obvious. Each food item needs to cook for about three minutes. Taking bite-sized pieces of food and cooking them one at a time takes quite a while. We were doing this for about three hours. Delicious.

Chocolate Course

And, of course, chocolate. Ohhhh my. We made a creamy dip from a mixture of milk and semi-sweet chocolate that had a wonderful texture to it. Into that we dipped strawberries, pineapple, pecans, pound cake, vanilla wafers (classy!), biscotti, and Granny Smith apples.

All through this, we had the chance to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. Now, I am not a fan of watching TV on dates or at dinner. But this was special. Because we pretty much knew what was going on, we chatted through the whole thing. Sometimes it was about what was on screen, and a lot of the time it was about other things. But we talked through the whole dinner, and it was wonderful. It was one of the most fun nights I've had in a long time, and one of the best dates Meagan and I have ever had.

And THAT was just Friday!

Saturday was simpler; just some gift exchanging. Meagan got me an edited movie of my choice from a website that somehow still offers them, and I got her half a dozen chocolate covered strawberries, which she had earlier hinted she "would take over flowers any day of the week." I also got her one of the great romantic gifts of our time: an Arby's gift card.

Before I'm laughed off…um…the internet, I guess, let me explain why this was something that made her very happy. Meagan is blessed (so far!) to have pretty easy pregnancies from a morning sickness standpoint. She develops some minor food aversions, has a heightened sense of smell for a while, but she never throws up or has too rough of a time. Where the hormones kick in, though, is in food cravings. She can get utterly addicted to something while pregnant. It's amazing. This pregnancy, it's been Arby's. She always wants to go there. Luckily, she's strong enough to forbear and not spend all our money at every drive-thru she passes. As such, despite how incredibly white trash it sounds, I actually really nailed V-day this year! Hooray!

Sunday, V-day proper, was celebrated with a wonderful steak dinner (thanks, Mom!) and a lot of cookies. There is no better way to celebrate any occasion than with a bunch of cookies.

That, madams et monsieurs, was our Valentine's Weekend. It was a great chance to realize how lucky we are to have each other and to have such a great marriage. We hope yours went equally well!

Grand Announcement

2010-02-15T14:14:00.004-07:00

As Meagan already mentioned, there are several reasons we’ve had for not keeping up with our web log site. We’re sorry about that. In fact, one of our readers chastised me earlier for not being sure to keep them up on the elements that make up our lives. While I’m still not certain that “Hey! You didn’t post any pictures of your child taking a bath!” is a legitimate offense, we do aim to please.

I write today with a bit of news. As it turns out, Meagan and I are expecting a new addition to the family. The TBA son/daughter should be arriving around September 4. We are now accepting congratulations in the form of gift cards, cash, and foodstuffs. Also, iPods.

So, let’s consider this the official press release. The rumors you’ve heard are true. The Severson Family is working on developing the next generation of child. Features are expected to include ten fingers, ten toes, fully-functional organs (including appendix and gallbladder*) and an IQ surpassing all human children** produced to date***. Release date expected to be September 4.

The Severson Baby: Next – Everything you’ve come to expect from a Severson Baby, swaddled in one adorably convenient package.

*Optional; may be removed at convenience of user

**Excepting other Severson Children, who are a proud demonstration of the pinnacle of genetics you’ve come to expect from the Severson Family

***Rumors of this feature may be slightly exaggerated; updates to follow through product development

Update on Lydia

2010-02-10T19:16:00.003-07:00

Lydia has changed a ton in the last few months. Her biggest change has probably been socially. She used to cry whenever strangers would come near her. She was very shy and didn't really know how to act around other people. Now she is bouncing off the walls bring strangers toys and generally being a happy kid. I attribute this mostly to the fact that she's had so many changes in her life, what with moving. She went from having about 400 square feet to play in to a whole big house. She's learned to climb the stairs and is a lot more independent. She loves to explore and get into things. She loves to play in the driveway and her favorite part is the rain gutter. She loves to put her feet under the trickle of melted snow water that comes out of it. She's still wary of the grass, but has been venturing a step or two onto every time we play outside lately.

For a while we were worried about all her delays and what they'd mean. We were worried she might have some sort of autistic spectrum disorder, and her therapists told us that 18 months-old was the crucial point for that. We were to look for a lack of progression or regression. Well, I'm happy to say she's been progressing like crazy.

She had a growth spurt a while ago, and for the first time in her life, she fits the clothes that she's supposed to fit. She's still skinny, but with her cloth diapers, she's fitting into 18 month jeans and shirts. We bought her a little dress right after we got here to Arkanasas and she wore it for 2 Sundays and now it's too small. It's good to see her finally growing after being worried about her for so long.

The only thing left is for her to start talking. She is not talking at all and this does keep us a little worried. If it's not one thing, it's another with Lydia. Babies are supposed to be saying their first words by 16 months, so we're getting her evaluated for speech therapy. I'm not too worried, though, because she's done everything right when she wanted to so far, and I'm thinking this will be the same. She completely understands what we're saying, and learns new words every day. Today she learned "whale" and "boat". She has toy ones and I asked her to go get them from amongst her other toys and she brought them strait to me. She's understanding, just not reciprocating. It's really starting to frustrate her, too, because sometimes I have no idea what she wants. Hopefully that will motivate her.

Another big milestone for Lydia is that she is no longer in her crib. Because of our arrangements, Lydia is sleeping in our walk-in closet, which wouldn't fit a crib. So we just put a mattress on the floor and let her have free reign. Unfortunately, the carpet at Grandma and Grandpa's house is comfy and she prefers sleeping on the ground by the vent. We've given up trying to get her to sleep on the mattress.

Last Sunday was her first Sunday in nursery. I felt sort of lost without her with me, but she did well for the most part. At first, a baby cried so that set her off. She was inconsolable, so Grandma went in and helped calm her down. Once she calmed down, however, she was good for the next hour and a half! When I went to pick her up, she was drenched in water. The nursery leader was very apologetic and said that Lydia had been to quick and got a sippy cup loose and dumped it on herself. Lydia didn't care, so I just wrapped her in a blanket and all was well.

Lydia in the bath this morning. She's gone from hating bathtime to loving it and splashing around for 45 minutes.

Last night this was what we found when we went to check on Lydia. She had fallen asleep with her hand under the door. It was both sad and creepy

This is a standard night for Lydia in her little "room". You can see her mattress over to the side.

The following are after a large snowstorm here in Arkansas. This was our attempt at having Lydia make a snow angel.

This last one is the last picture we took of Lydia in our old apartment. Goodbye orange carpet!

Sorry!

2010-02-10T19:01:00.002-07:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since we posted. Those of you that keep track of us in real life will already know that a lot has been going on in our little family since November.

First, our SD card reader broke on our computer, so we had no way to get pictures off our camera. That alone made it so we didn't really want to post.

Second, Tyler graduated in December! He received a Bachelor's Degree in Business from BYU. This was a major achievement for him, and we're very proud. He graduated Cum Laude, even!

Third, we moved to Arkansas. Yup. we're here staying with Tyler's family until medical school starts at the end of the summer. We arrived right before New Year's and have been getting settled for the last month or so. It is such a pain to move across the country, especially when you know most of your stuff will stay packed. It was almost my job completely to pack and make the arrangements (Tyler was busy with finals). That was the most stressed out I've been in a long time, but everything worked out an here we are. I have to say, having a toddler makes moving A LOT more difficult than just being by yourself. The actual trip wasn't too bad, although it was long. Luckily, Lydia really enjoys car trips, especially when she gets to be in the front seat with Mommy and Daddy, like she was this time in the big truck. Poor kid won't sleep in the car, though, so she was completely exhausted by the time we arrived, 22 hours after leaving (with a short layover for the night).

Forth, we spent Christmas in Moab with my family. It was fun, although weird, because it snowed. We got to see the arches covered in snow, though, which I'm sure is unusual. Lydia really enjoyed spending time there. She was a little overwhelmed by all the people at first, but ate it up once she got used to it.

Fifth, Tyler started a new job. He's temping for Walmart right now. It was a major blessing for us because he got the job almost a week after getting here. We thought it'd be a few weeks at least. Not his dream job, by any means, but it's better than what we were hoping for.

Sixth, I got a job! Yup, for the first time since Lydia was born I'll be working. I'm not very excited about this, but she'll be staying at home with Grandma, and it's only part-time, so I think I'll be ok. I'm sure Lydia will be. I'm working as a cashier at Lowe's, right down the street. Certainly not my dream job, but our goal right now is to save as much money as possible, so this will help.

Seventh, Tyler and I both got callings. Tyler is an assistant in the Priest Quorum. It's going to be challenging and a growing experience for him, but he's going into it with a good attitude and I think he'll be great. I got called to be an Activity Days leader, and I'm over the 8 and 9 year-olds. I'm not really sure what I'll be doing exactly, but it should be fun.

Well, now you're officially caught up in the life of the Seversons!

Lydia Abhors a Vacuum

2009-10-17T10:49:00.005-06:00

In her 14 months, Lydia has seen a lot of things, met a lot of people, and has generally liked most of it (her uncle Eric aside...she just does not like that poor guy). But there is one foe so fearsome, so menacing, that even our intrepid little explorer cowers in fear before it:

The Vacuum.

Ever since she was a youngling, Lydia has been terrified of our newfangled automatated cleaning apparatus. Any time we bring it out, she will seek out the nearest corner to shove herself into--guarded by her blanket, of course. She will there sit and watch the vacuum's every move--every move--until she is satisfied that it not coming to get her...THIS TIME.

That's the great secret of the Vacuum Watcher: Vigilance is the price of safety; complacency is the beginning of the end.

Unfortunately, this morning the Watcher forgot her credo and let her guard slip down. After all, she was playing safely in Mom and Dad's bedroom as they made the bed and straightened the place up. Nothing could get to her here. Little did she realize that she had entered the very lair of the dread enemy.

The realization struck suddenly as her parents left the room, calling after her to follow. She toddled boldly toward the door, and then she saw it, crouched in the corner, ready to strike at any second. The vacuum stared at her, and she at it. She realized she had been betrayed and was now at the mercy of her nemesis.

The only reaction left, obviously, was to freak right the heck out.

Frozen in her tracks, she screamed and stared down the adversary, knowing that if she broke eye contact it was all over. No amount of coaxing from her father could compromise her position. Even as he held her hands and walked her from the room, she kept her head turned to lock the opponent in her stare, screaming at it the whole time, certain that this was the only way to keep it at bay.

As any good warrior knows, the heat of battle can really drain you. And like most good warriors, Lydia needed several minutes of cuddling with Daddy and her blanket.

Walking and Feeding Herself

2009-10-04T17:43:00.000-06:00

Stacking cups and walking

2009-09-29T10:23:00.003-06:00

Well, it's official. Lydia took her first step last week. She was standing by the couch and just took a step away from it. Since then, she's been doing better and better. We practice several times a day. I will stand her up in the middle of the living room and sit a few feet away. Then I'll say "Can you walk?" and she'll take a few little steps. And by little I mean little. Like maybe a half inch each step. She sort of looks like those fainting goats, you know, the ones whose knees go stiff when they get nervous? I figure she'll learn to bend her knees as she practices a little more.

She's also been playing with her stacking cups lately. She has two in particular that she really likes. The problem is, they make her very frustrated. She tries to put one inside the other, but she'll do it backwards and the bigger one just doesn't fit. This makes her very angry and she'll usually throw one. I've tried explaining about big and little, etc, but she's not quite there yet. It's good to see her trying though!

Everything else

2009-09-10T11:15:00.003-06:00

This post is for everything else that happened in the last month or so.

First: Tyler had his first medical school interview. It was with Vanderbilt, which is the top ranked school we applied to. He felt like it went very well, and we already have 3 more scheduled over then next month or two. We both got a very good vibe from Vanderbilt (in Nashville, TN) and if it weren't more expensive than Baylor, we'd probably make it our number one choice.

Second: Soon after the family reunion, while Tyler was at Vanderbilt, Lydia and I went on a camping trip with our good friend Sis. Olive. She found a beautiful camping spot in the mountains, right next to a mountain stream. Unfortunately, Lydia hated camping. She refused to go to sleep, and then when she was asleep, I was worried about her being too cold (it was in the 40s that night). Then she woke up around 3 a.m. and just cried for about an hour until I finally let her sleep on the air mattress with me, both for comfort and warmth. This proved difficult, though, because I couldn't move for fear of waking her up. It was fun seeing my mom and sister, though, and I'm glad we went.

Third: Lydia's been crawling since right around her first birthday. Better late than never! About a week or two after that, she started pulling herself up to the couch, and a week after that she could stand all by herself. Now she can even stand up in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything! It's only a matter of time before she starts walking. I'm glad to see that she's catching up to where she's supposed to be. We were worried about her there for a little while.

Forth: Tyler celebrated his 25th birthday yesterday! He was sad because The Beatles remastered collection came out, as well as Beatles Rock Band, and he couldn't get them. Ah well, he's happy about his new rubber spatula and whisks! Also, I made him his best cake yet! Well, at least his prettiest.

Chandler Family Reunion

2009-09-10T10:55:00.003-06:00

In the middle of August we had the opportunity to attend Tyler's family reunion on his mother's side. They rented a large house in Park City and we spent the week doing lots of fun activities. The first day we went to Seven Peaks Water Park. It just so happened that that day was our third anniversary. Yay for being married for 3 years! It also happened to be our best anniversary yet (our first we were in different states, and our second was only 2 weeks after Lydia was born). The next day we went to Snowbird and rode the alpine slides and ziplines and ski lifts. The day after that we went to a lake and rode on Jetskis. On the last day we took pictures. Needless to say, it was a very active and tiring week, but also a very fun one.

I was pretty concerned going in about how Lydia would do. She doesn't have the best track record with either strangers or significant changes to her schedule, but she did very well. She liked hanging out with all of her aunts and uncles, and even met her Uncle Michael for the first time.

As always, here are a few pictures of the experience (some are borrowed from Facebook. Thanks Courtney!):

The first one was taken on the way to the waterpark. It was cold where we were staying in Park City that morning.

Lydia was very very nervous at the waterpark. I think there was just too much noise and the water was too cold for her. After she "played" for a little in the water, I let her regroup in her stroller with her blanket and a towel over the stroller to make her own little room. She seemed grateful.

Lydia didn't much like family pictures.

Lydia's Birthday

2009-09-10T10:11:00.002-06:00

Lydia turned 1 on August 5th. We had a nice little birthday party with just our family and our neighbors. She didn't really seem to get it, but enjoyed the attention and the cake just the same. I've had the videos posted on Youtube for a while, but here they are anyways, along with some never-before-seen pictures!

Mid-July

2009-07-20T10:55:00.004-06:00

Well, Lydia has been progressing slowly but surely. Although not very good at it, she has her own sort of army crawl that is unique to her. It's probably the least efficient mode of transportation I can imagine, but it's a good start. She's also a pro at rolling over to get where she wants, so she's starting to get into things and I have to be careful about what I leave within reach. Last week, she learned to sit up from laying down and her life has changed. She's having so much fun rolling, sitting up, and rolling again that she's happy most of the day. She's even started sitting up in her crib! It was weird to see her sitting up when I came in to get her, but it's making her happy. Although she's behind transportationally speaking, she is progressing, which is good to see, because there were a few months there where she had sort of plateaued and I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong. It's been hard seeing all the kids 5 months younger than her crawl and Lydia just sitting there, but we are very excited to see her start to explore her world.

Here are few pictures of what we've been up to.

Last week was cow appreciation day at Chick-Fil-A, where if you dress up like a cow, they'd give you a free combo meal. It took some convincing on my part, but in the end, the promise of free food won Tyler over. He got into it. I dressed up and so did Lydia. Lydia got her first kids meal that day, although Mom and Dad ate most of it. She drank her whole juicebox after she finally learned to drink from a straw!

Last night, we had some friends over watching a movie when I heard a thump. Then I heard another thump, so I asked Tyler if he heard it to. He went to check on it and called me to come see. When I did, I peaked through Lydia's door, and to our suprise she was standing in her crib pulling everything off the top of the bookshelf within reach. She was so happy and just having a blast. This was about an hour after we put her to bed, so who knows how long she'd been at it. I was very excited for her, though, because she had never pulled herself up before.

Oh, we also posted a few little unimportant videos on youtube here.

Videos

2009-07-08T15:49:00.004-06:00

I'm going to start just putting the best videos up here. When I've loaded all the others, I'll just put a little note on here with a link to them.

This first video was funny. I was sitting on the couch and sticking my tongue out at Lydia. Yes, I get bored sometimes here with her by myself. Anyways, after a bit, she just sort of stared at me for a little while, with no emotion on her face. I kept sticking out my tongue and saying "AHH" until all of a sudden, it made her cry. I have no idea what it was that made her cry. But, when I did it again, she cried again. This lasted for about 10 minutes, she won't do it anymore. I'm glad I caught it on tape.

For the first 9 months of Lydia's life, she either despised her baths, or tolerated them cautiously. However, once she discovered the joys of splashing, she has loved them. This is a very standard bathtime with Lydia. I usually have to use a towel as a shield against all the water.

I also posted one more here, but it's not a big deal, just Lydia swinging in her swing.

MCAT Score

2009-07-01T09:44:00.003-06:00

Well, it finally came. Tyler's MCAT score... the score that determines the next several years of our lives. The score that says whether you get in to medical school, or don't. It came yesterday.

We knew it would be coming by 3:00 p.m. yesterday, because the website said so, but we chatted while Tyler was at work, and periodically refreshed the screen to see if there was any news. At 11:30, I refreshed it and there it was.

First, a little about the MCAT. The MCAT is divided into 4 sections, Biological Science, Physical Science, Verbal Reasoning, and Essay. The first three are scored out of 15, and the Essay is scored on a scale of J-T. An average score for medical school is a 30 (or 10 in each section) with an essay of O, a 30O. A good score is a 33P, and the average score for people admitted to Harvard Medical School is a 37Q. Our number 1 choice is Baylor Medical School, and their average is a 34.5Q, so we were shooting for a 35, if possible, although we'd be happy with a 33.

When Tyler finished taking the MCAT, he told me he was sure that he had tanked it. "It's probably in the high 20s," he said. To be fair, after a few days, he calmed down and admitted that he had no idea how well he'd done. I knew he'd done well, because he always does well on standardized tests and he's brilliant, so I had faith.

The night before the scores posted, Tyler couldn't sleep. He felt nauseous and was generally antsy. Well, turns out all his worries were for nothing because he got a...

37R!!!!

That's right, a score that is slightly higher than Harvard. That puts him in the 98th percentile, which is amazing. This basically means that Tyler is the man and that he is for sure getting into medical school. It means that we don't really need to worry for the next 6 months as we hear back from medical schools, because he is so competitive. It means he can probably get in to whichever school we decide is best for our family. It means Tyler's awesome.

So there you go, congratulate him, he deserves it. He worked hard and it paid off. Good for him!

Learning to Color

2009-06-25T08:33:00.002-06:00

I read somewhere that babies should be able to start learning how to color, on a very elementary level, somewhere around Lydia's age. I've also been dying to use all the neat Crayola stuff I got for free with my coupons, as well as the different coloring books I've amassed from different companies(There are some really weird ones, but I figure Lydia won't care for a while).

When we started showing her, for some reason, she was completely insulted by the idea of us coloring. It doesn't show very well in the movie, but she would get mad at me any time I tried to color. As soon as I'd stop, she'd be fine. This movie takes place a little after it, and as I'm behind the camera, it doesn't really show up.

Picture and Videos for No Particular Reason

2009-06-13T13:10:00.004-06:00

Per Grandma's request, here's a bunch of pictures and videos of our Lyddie. Nothing important, just little things.

I especially like how she's sitting in this video. I think her feet are cute.

MCAT and Guitar playing

2009-06-02T12:22:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday, Tyler took the MCAT. I thought I would semi-document it:

This was where we did some last minute "cramming" outside the place where the test was. Lydia enjoyed playing in the grass... and attempting to eat it.

Lydia also liked eating at Tucanos, where we went the next day to celebrate the test being over with.

And on an unrelated note:

Lydia found the controller to Guitar Hero and Tyler was so excited, he made me take a picture.

Medical School

2009-05-30T10:04:00.002-06:00

Well, the MCAT has finally come and gone. Tyler doesn't feel like he did great on it, but we'll see. I think he did better than he thinks, and am confident he will get into medical school somewhere. We turn in his application to medical schools on Tuesday, which means we've now picked the medical schools he's applying to. I made this handy-dandy little map to show where we may go!

View Medical Schools in a larger map

Wish us luck!

Lydia Wants to Play Too!

2009-05-20T19:45:00.004-06:00

Today Tyler had a little trouble surfing the internet while holding Lydia. Gone are the days of holding her in our laps and checking our email at the same time. Sorry for the blurriness. She was moving pretty fast.

Lydia Taking a Drink

2009-05-11T16:22:00.002-06:00

Lydia surprised us yesterday when she grabbed Tyler's cup and started drinking out of it like she knew what she was doing. She seemed pretty proud of herself.

Peek-a-boo

2009-05-09T20:16:00.002-06:00

You can notice that when I don't say, "Where's Lydia?" she starts grunting at me until I do. It's like I didn't do my part and she couldn't lower it until I did.

Lyddie says Momma

2009-05-04T14:42:00.001-06:00

Roll the Ball

2009-05-04T11:56:00.002-06:00

At the tulip festival. She mostly liked the grass.

I liked her face in this one. She's all grubby, but it's adorable.

Lydia can play roll-the-ball!

Some more random stuff

2009-04-21T08:12:00.003-06:00

Well, Finals are over for both me and Tyler. It's good to be done and have a week before Tyler starts studying for the MCAT. I'm excited to be able to stay home with Lydia full time again. She's becoming more fun as she gets older.

Lately we've been reading the Little House on the Prairie books together (by together I mean I read them out loud while Lydia plays with her blocks-and by playing with her blocks I mean eats them.) Anyways, reading them and a few other factors recently inspired me to make my own homemade cottage cheese! You can read about it on my other blog here.

Here are a few videos and pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Lydia hasn't even attempted to crawl and hates being on her tummy. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while until she learns. In the meantime, I've been trying to help her learn to stand up, because if she won't crawl, maybe she'll walk early. Today she finally understood that you should hold on to something to keep standing up!

This is very typical of how she sleeps. No matter where we put her in her crib, by the time we go in to check on her, her head is squished in the corner and the blanket it all sorts of tangled around her.

Several videos and pictures

2009-04-17T08:11:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures of Lydia in her Easter dress. She was adorable, minus being wet down the whole front of it thanks to drool. Ah well, that's the Lyddie we know and love.

We recently learned that Lydia can sit on the little bench on this toy. She really enjoys it for pretty long periods of time. Below is a video of her playing with it too. Ah, the joys of repetitive noise.

Some Videos

2009-03-31T11:54:00.004-06:00

These videos are nothing important, mostly just videos of Lydia playing around.

March Madness

2009-03-23T19:49:00.002-06:00

No, this post isn't about basketball. It's just a regular post with pictures of Lydia. She's getting bigger and more skilled with life all the time. She can now sit up for as long as she wants and usually won't fall over on accident (Although sometimes she does, and when it's at church on the hard gym floor it's not a fun thing for mom). She also talks all day long and won't stop. Again, at church it's not much fun when she won't stop babbling all through the 3 hour block. But it's cute and endearing. When I apologized to the guy in front of us in Sunday school, he said not to worry, it warms his heart.

Anyways, here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

In case you were wondering, yes, those are Lydia's pants pulled up to her neck with her arms stuck inside. This trick was brought to you courtesy of Dad.

Lydia tried for almost 10 strait minutes with all her might to play on the computer. Sometimes if I'm chatting with Tyler, I'll let her chat too (hit/eat the keyboard. The latter is discouraged). She's recently started to take a special interest in it and this day she wouldn't give up.

Just happily sitting in the rocking chair. Lydia learned at a young age what the camera was, and now it's very difficult to get candid pictures. She was just calmly sitting there with her arm on the armrest, but when she saw the camera, she smiled really big.

This last one was taken when I had to move a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer. I just put her in the hamper and then I realized that with the white onsie she had on, she was camouflaged. She also really didn't mind being covered by laundry in the hamper, either.

Some stuff for the Grandparents

2009-03-10T16:02:00.004-06:00

Here are a few pictures we took of Lydia within the last few days. I have a few videos, but for some reason I haven't been able to load them for the last month. I'll keep working on it, but until then, these pictures will have to do.

This first one is one I took this afternoon. She was very sad until I gave her the afgan, and immediately calmed down and just sat in the rocking chair.

A few minutes later, though, I looked over at her and she was asleep. It was pretty cute.

This last one was of Lydia playing with The Cat in the Hat that her aunt gave her.

Valentines and Other Stuff

2009-02-14T20:35:00.003-07:00

So today Tyler and I made and decorated Valentines cookies. The cookies didn't turn out very well, and neither did the frosting. We didn't have much to work with, but we did try. Here are the results.

This first picture was mine. I tried to make mine look the best they could... which isn't that good.

These next ones are Tyler's. He didn't try at all. In fact, he tried to make them look crappy. The one on the bottom is called "diseased kidney."

Here is what the rest of them looked like.

Happy Valentine's Day!

New Blog

2009-02-12T09:24:00.002-07:00

I've started a new blog that is all about my couponing exploits. I figured that it wasn't really something I needed to talk about on our family blog, so I started this new one. My site is www.homemaker-in-progress.blogspot.com. This one is also a public blog, so no permissions are needed!

Battle of Wills

2009-02-11T16:15:00.001-07:00

Last night, Lydia and I had an intense battle of wills. Lately she's been incredibly clingy to me. She won't let me put her down without crying and wants to be held all the time. Well, I finally decided that it was time she learn that I'm not going to come pick her up every time she cries. I put her in her baby swing and she started to whine, but I ignored it. Then she started to cry, but I ignored it. Then she started to do her furious cry, and still I ignored it. Forty-five minutes later, she calmed down (still in her swing) and sucked on her fist. Whenever I looked over at her she was giving me the meanest look I've ever seen her give. I won though, and hopefully she learned something. I also hope that she doesn't realize how hard it was to let her cry for that long. She's a stubborn little six-month-old.

Lyddie's First Teeth

2009-02-07T12:35:00.002-07:00

Lydia's first two teeth finally broke through a couple of days ago after about a month of whining. We were hoping that her bad mood was just her teething, and it appears it was. She only got one day of respite, though, because now she's sick with a cold. Poor kid. I don't really have any pictures of them yet, because they aren't very tall and kind of hard to see, but when they grow a little more, I'll post a picture.

I Just Had to Brag

2009-02-05T10:25:00.003-07:00

Ok, so yesterday I went shopping and without the help of blogs or anything, got a few amazing deals:

Walgreens:
Lipstick: $10- $2 Coupon- $10 Rebate= $2 Moneymaker
Foundation: $10- $1 Coupon- $10 Rebate= $1 Moneymaker
Total: $3.00 Moneymaker

Alberson's:
Sippy Cup: $4.49- ($.75 Coupon Doubled= $1.50 Coupon)= $2.99
Baby Snack: $2.25- $.75 Coupon = $.1.50
Baby Juice: $2.29- ($.75 Coupon Doubled= $1.50 Coupon)= $.79
-$5.00 off Baby Supplies Store Coupon
Quaker Snacks: 2/$5- (2 $1.00 Coupons Doubled = $4.00 Coupon)= $1.00
Total:2.36

So, for the whole day, I bought $39.03 worth of stuff made 64 cents. I love couponing!

Just Catching Up

2009-01-22T18:39:00.005-07:00

The last few weeks have been some adventurous ones for us, mostly because of the start of the new semester. I'm taking a class and Tyler is taking several, which makes it fun for Lydia. I have class 3 days a week and have to bring Lydia up to campus and drop her off with Tyler and then pick her up an hour later after my class. This wouldn't be so bad, except that it's right during her nap time. She's been growing a ton and has now reached over 13 lbs! That still puts her below the 25th percentile, but it's definitely an improvement and she continues to gain at a good pace. Other than growth, she's been learning a lot. She likes to play with her hands and feet. She can successfully suck on her toes, which she usually attempts when I'm changing her diaper. She also recently learned how to make noises and yells all the time. Happy yells mostly, but it sounds like Tarzan. My least favorite thing that she's been doing lately is being really clingy to me. She won't let me put her down without crying and hardly lets anyone else hold her, even Tyler. This makes it difficult on both of us and I'm trying to figure out how often I need to pick her up when she does that. It's my first try at basic discipline and I'm already confused.

Classes for Tyler and I are going fine. Because I'm only taking the one, there's not a ton of homework that I have to do. I can usually knock it out in one day. Tyler, however, is constantly doing homework. Right now we're trying to come up with our game plan for applying to medical school, which we do this summer. It's already starting to be a stressful adventure and I can't wait for it to be over.

Other than that, I'm continuing with couponing and trying to keep my house clean. It seems like as soon as I get one room exactly how I want it, all the others get messy. I'm shooting for a 100% clean house by this weekend, but we'll see.

Here are a few pictures of Lydia I've taken in the last few weeks.

Snowing Fun Times

2009-01-06T17:05:00.007-07:00

It has snowed for the last 2 days. The snow is really deep and so I thought it would be fun to take Lydia out. She's never been in snow before and I wondered how she would react. Mostly she didn't react at all. She's never minded the snow, but here are some pictures of our excursion (to our front yard).

Lydia is standing in the snow. It was pretty deep and came up to about her bellybutton.

Since she can't sit up on her own yet, I decided to make her a chair that would hold her up out of snow.

It worked!

We tried to make a Lyddie snow angel. I moved her arms and legs. It sort of turned out.

She's done.

Christmas in Arkansas

2009-01-06T15:29:00.004-07:00

After finals, Tyler, Lydia, and I flew to Arkansas to spend Christmas with Tyler's family. We got to stay for 2 weeks and it was a lot of fun and very relaxing.

Tyler's dad on New Year's Eve. Tyler's brother, Eric did it and his dad said he could too. None of us believed him, but he managed. Not too bad for an old man.

Tyler's youngest sister, Tanner.

One of Tyler's other sisters, Courtney.

Tyler's parents had a ton of baby stuff for Lydia to use. She especially liked this high chair, even though she was tiny in it. She liked to use the tray as a foot rest.

Blog List

2008-12-29T10:13:00.002-07:00

So our blog freaked out an deleted the list on the right that shows all the blogs we follow. If I had yours listed but it's not there now, please let me know, because I use it to read about my friends. You can email me if you don't want to put it in a comment: meagan.severson@gmail.com. Thanks!

Family Night Snowflakes

2008-12-13T15:12:00.002-07:00

Tyler and I have been trying extra hard lately to make better use of our time, especially family time. So one night this week we decided to make snowflakes for our front window. My family often did this growing up (in fact, they are impressive snowflake makers) and I thought it would be fun. Tyler wasn't very experienced, but I showed him some of the tricks of it and his turned out well. Here are a few of them.

First time eating food!

2008-12-08T16:57:00.007-07:00

Yesterday, Lydia got to eat rice cereal for the first time. I thought she would hate it, but she actually liked it. The only problem was that for some reason, she felt like she needed to curl up into a ball when it was time to eat. I don't really know why, but it certainly makes it difficult. That and she kept wanting to suck on her fist. Anyways, here is a video and a few pictures:

Yummers!

(It's actually 2008, Daddy was just distracted)

All done!

Just some pictures

2008-12-08T16:43:00.008-07:00

Here are some pictures of Lydia that don't really warrant their own post, but I like.

What I've been up to

2008-11-16T14:03:00.002-07:00

Lately I've been really into couponing. It's my new hobby. I feel very blessed to be able to stay home with Lydia, but it isn't easy monetarily, so I've been looking for different ways I can help cut back expenses. I discovered that there is this entire online world of people who research coupons and sales and let you know how to get things for a fraction of the price. I've really enjoyed looking into these things and have found a few really awesome sources. My favorite is probably www.moneysavingmom.com. She posts deals and links to printable coupons that she can find and also that her readers lets her know about. The other is www.freebies4mom.com. This one is more for fun, because it lets me know about free samples that are available to sign up for. I've decided to keep track of how much I save every week. A few weeks ago, I actually made a little bit of money with a purchase worth $12. This week, I saved 6.50 when I went grocery shopping. When I figure that up, I don't figure the face value of the coupons, I figure up how much I would have spent on a similar product. For example, I bought ziploc bags because I had a great coupon. Usually I buy the store brand. So I didn't save $1.50, I actually only saves 24 cents, because with the coupon, they cost 25 cents less than the store brand.

Anyways, I know this is totally nerdy, but I've really, really enjoyed doing it lately and just wanted to share.

A Candid Moment with Dad

2008-11-09T17:50:00.006-07:00

We were just sitting around this afternoon and I was playing with the camera. I decided to take some video without Tyler knowing. Here is the result. It's shaking a bit at the end because I was giggling.

Yes, he did just call me a harpy.

Exact transcript:

"Feet games...sitting up...
Feet games...feet games while sitting up!

...are you video-taping? Woman, stop the video tape, ya harpy."

Halloween

2008-10-31T21:58:00.004-06:00

Tonight was Halloween and it was pretty fun. We planned on having a small party with just a few friends, but one of those friends got sick, so we postponed it until tomorrow. As a result, we decided to go to a few Halloween parties that were going on. The only problem was that we didn't have any costumes because our party wasn't going to involve them. About an hour before the first party was going to start, I made this costume for Lyddie out of an old laundry bag and a ribbon I had laying around. I made up the pattern and glued the whole thing together. Over all, I was pretty pleased with myself.

Tyler and I didn't dress up, but we had fun anyways. Here's Lyddie after a few hours of partying. Our friend Brittany is holding her. Some of you may recognize the shirt she's wearing as part of her costume. As you can see, Lydia was very excited for Halloween.

(Oh, and for those of you who haven't emailed me yet, I'm closing down the blog to the public on Sunday, so let me know if you want to have permission to read it!)

Security

2008-10-26T20:09:00.002-06:00

I'm about to make our blog available to only limited readers. Pretty much anyone we know is OK, we just don't want any freaks kidnapping the baby. If you want to be allowed, just let me know and I'll add you, assuming we know who you are. I will leave the blog open for another week, and then I'm changing the security features. Thanks guys, sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm Happy

2008-10-17T10:14:00.002-06:00

I've really enjoyed the last few months since Lydia came. Not just because I love being a mom and get a lot of joy out of that, but also because I've had time to do things that I want. When I was working at Verizon, I had very little flexibility. It was very difficult to get off work for a weekend or a Saturday. It also took up a lot of my time. Ever since I've been home with Lydia, I've been able to go on a trip and visit with people, when I never would have been able to otherwise. I feel very free. I get to help my husband with things, like studying for a test or making a rock club poster (which turned out freaking awesome, by the way. I also get to do things for my daughter. Yesterday I spent about 4 or 5 hours making Lydia a book of her family, so she could know them even though she doesn't live near them. It turned out pretty cute and I'm very happy with it.

Tonight is Friday Night Live at BYU, which is basically an even where every BYU club sets up a booth and people come and check them out. There's live music and stuff too. Anyways, I'm excited for it because I get to go help Tyler and I get to dress Lydia up in a cute outfit and show her off. Tomorrow is the Mountain Goats concert in SLC. I'm a little nervous about it because I've never left Lydia for more than an hour or two, but tomorrow we're leaving her with a sitter. I know she'll be fine, but I'm surprised at how much I worry about her when I'm not with her. I'm glad that she's a happier baby, though, because I'd be more worried if she was sad the whole time. I wouldn't be able to go to either of these things if I was still working, and I'm very grateful that we are somehow managing for me to be able to be home with Lydia. It's a joy to take care of her, she's such a sweet baby, if she is a little stubborn. It's been some of the happiest days of my life so far. Even if I have to go back to work eventually, I'm still glad that I get to have this experience.

Lydia's Weight Problems, Cont.

2008-10-13T11:29:00.002-06:00

Well, we went to the doctor to make sure that she's still gaining weight like she should, and she isn't. It's been exactly two weeks since her last appointment and she was supposed to have gained 10 oz. Unfortunately, she's only gained 5. That puts her in the 5th percentile still, despite my supplemental efforts. As a result, the doctor has asked that I give her a higher concentration of formula and some blood tests. We're pretty worried about our little girl and hope to find out what's wrong soon.

Lydia's Personality

2008-10-11T20:24:00.003-06:00

Lydia is a stubborn little girl who knows exactly what she wants. Recently, she's started whining a lot. Not crying, exactly, but almost a sort of moaning cry. She doesn't like it when things happen to her that just aren't fair, like those mean hiccups. Whenever she's happy and I leave her sight for more than two or three minutes, she'll begin to cry. She has to have attention or she's not a happy camper. She's also recently started being very very picky about the temperature of her bottle. She's never had problems switching between breastfeeding and the bottle, so I thought we were in the safe zone, but now if her bottle gets even slightly cool, she refuses it. The problem is, physics won't allow it to stay within her acceptable temperature range. About 2 ounces into her bottle, she'll stop drinking it and I have to reheat it before she'll take anymore. My instincts tell me to not reheat it, because I don't want her to learn that she can be that picky. Because of her weight problems, though, I have to cater to this little whim. It's no fun being slave to a 2 month old, but she's so darn cute, I guess I'll make it through.

Here's a video I took a few days back. She's recently started to try rolling over. She's succeeded a few times from tummy to back, but I think it was accidental because she was throwing a tantrum at the time. Back to tummy is a little bit more tricky though. I think this video also has a good example of her whiny cry.

Lydia's Blessing

2008-10-07T08:43:00.006-06:00

This weekend, Tyler's parents and my parents came to Utah for Lydia's baby blessing. We had the blessing at my grandparent's log cabin on the Snow Farm in Deweyville, UT. Lydia wore the dress that I was blessed in and was absolutely adorable. The next day, we went down to Magna, UT to get a five generation picture with Lydia's Great-Great-Grandma. It was a very special weekend overall.

Grandma and Grandpa Severson with Lydia. This was the first time Grandpa Severson got to meet Lyddie.

Lydia is OK

2008-09-29T15:27:00.004-06:00

We thought she was, but now we know. We went to the doctor today and she's gained as much weight as her doctor wanted her to at this point. She's still only in the 5th percentile, but at least she's on the chart now. Thank you all for your concern. We really appreciate it.

Lyddie Bitty

2008-09-24T21:05:00.005-06:00

Today we had a nurse visit our home as part of a program that we qualify for, mostly to check up and give us information about how to take care of Lydia. As part of the visit, we asked her if she could weigh Lydia, because we've been pretty worried about her weight gain lately. She just seems so skinny, especially compared to other babies her age. The news was worse than I thought. Lydia weighed in at 7lb 15oz. Given the fact that she weighed 7lbs 13ozs when she was born, this is really bad. It puts her below the lowest line on the percentile chart. (Which is the 3rd percentile, by the way. Can you be in the 0th percentile?)

So, needless to say, we're pretty worried about her. It's interesting because I did the same thing when I was a baby, but it looks like it's for different reasons. My mom accidentally starved me (I only gained 1oz in 2 months), but I'm pretty confident that I've been feeding her plenty. We called the doctor and he's going to help us figure out what's wrong at the beginning of next week.

Luckily, every other aspect of Lydia seems to be developing just fine. She's very active and is hitting all of her developmental milestones. We just want her to be healthy, and hopefully, we can fix whatever is wrong and help her get to where she needs to be.

Lydia: A Different Baby!

2008-09-21T18:32:00.003-06:00

For those of you that we haven't complained to in the last month, here's the deal: Lyddie has been crying pretty much non-stop from when she was three weeks old to when she was six weeks old (last week). This has been rather grating, as you can imagine. I was getting frustrated, Meagan was getting pretty sad, and our home was just sort of a stressed-out place to be.

We finally got the idea that babies aren't supposed to cry for twelve hours a day, so we called up Lydia's doctor. He said that it sounded like acid reflux, which is apparently rather common in infants. In fact, Wikipedia says that some estimate as many as 35% of infants have issues with acid reflux. The doctor prescribed medicine for Lyddie, and told us to let him know how it went.

I was skeptical at first. I mean, heck, he did this over the phone. I would much rather have had him see her and actually bother. I was sort of cursing under my breath about doping up my baby without having a clue. But I was just wanting so much for her to be a happy baby that I was willing to do whatever.

We started giving her half of a pill every afternoon (for what it's worth, the pill isn't narcotic or anything. It's called lansoprazole, and it's proton pump that basically just keeps her stomach from producing acid, thus eliminating the pain of the reflux. Oh, and she should grow out of this before her first birthday, by the way.). And in the last four days since she's started it...wow. The change has been night and day. Meagan and I are just so happy to have her here now. We loved her before, of course, but now she's actually a joy to have around. She sleeps throughout the day, only cries for a few hours each day, is consolable when she is crying, and has started smiling and interacting with us more. It's like she's a different baby. And now we're having the pleasure of seeing little peeks of personality come through, instead of just non-stop crying. Heck, she might even start putting on weight now, since she's not spending the whole day yelling and flailing her arms and legs.

All in all, we're grateful to have our little girl back. It must have been a tough few weeks for her too, but now I think we're all happy to be here.

It's a good life.

A few cute pictures

2008-09-21T14:11:00.004-06:00

I've put most of these on facebook, but for those who read this blog who aren't on facebook, here are a few of my favorite pictures of Lydia.

She's recently been trying to smile, but usually it's not quite right. I like this one for that reason.

Scrunchy-faced Lyddie. We hope she grows out of it, but for now it's pretty cute.

This is Lydia with an attitude. She's just ticked off in this one.

A Video for the Grandmas

2008-09-20T18:03:00.004-06:00

Lately, at a six and a half weeks old, Lydia has taken to her tummy. She actually really likes it. It's like her magic off-button. Whenever she cries, I can set her on her tummy and she'll usually stop crying within five minutes. However, those first five minutes can really make her angry and she will usually scoot around like crazy. She's always been a strong baby, but I think she's just getting stronger. In this video, which is about a minute and a half long, she turns nearly 180 degrees and goes from the middle of the blanket to almost completely off of it.

Lyddie's taste in music

2008-09-20T16:01:00.006-06:00

So, I expected it would happen, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. It was inevitable that Lydia would love Rock and Roll. Her father is basically breeding her to do so. For example, he has sung her unorthodox lullabies since she was born. The other day I heard him singing Bohemian Rhapsody to her (I admit I joined in by the end). He's also sung her Led Zeppelin, Simon and Garfunkel, and other of his favorites.

We noticed pretty early on that she enjoyed guitar solos. When she was about 4 weeks old, Tyler was listening to Freebird in the car, and she Lydia was crying. That is, right up until the guitar solo, and she immediately quieted down. This could have been just a coincidence, but there is more evidence.

Some of our friends gave us baby Beatles CDs. They are basically quiet renditions of Beatles songs for babies to listen to while they fall asleep. She doesn't really like them much. However, the other day, Tyler got a bunch of records, including a Zeppelin IV LP. I was holding her as he was playing with his new record player and she was screaming. As soon as he started the album, though, she immediately quieted down. I thought it could be a coincidence, but as soon as he stopped the record, she started screaming again. Like that very second. I asked Tyler to start it up again to see what would happen, and she stopped crying as soon as it began to play. Lyddie likes hard rock.

This makes her father very happy.

In fact, she was just crying a minute ago and I wanted to write on the blog, so I turned on Zeppelin IV and she stopped. It's like magic.

So there you have it. My 6 and a half week old baby is a rocker.

Further Bloggings

2008-09-14T05:53:00.003-06:00

It's now 5:53 AM.

A few counts for you since Meagan has been gone:

Number of shirts worn this week: 2

Number of meals involving pasta: 5 (interestingly enough, this is the same amount of meals that have involved cheese. It's disturbing that I equate eating a block of cheese with some sort of bachelor paradise)

Times I have left the toilet seat up because I can: 0 (I am a creature of habit...courteous habit)

Nights I have gone to bed before 2:00 AM: 0

Hours of sleep I will get tonight: Decreasing by the minute...looking like zero at this point

Ratio of pants to no-pants time: about 1:2 (for every 8 hours with, that's 16 without! Huzzah!)

Grandmothers disturbed by the latest count: 3 (including Meagan's grandma. Hi grandmas!)

Homeworks done: Enough, thank you very much.

The Bloggings of a Lonely Young Gentleman

2008-09-14T04:21:00.002-06:00

First off, I don't know if it really is a word or not, but "bloggings" as a noun is now my new favorite word.

It can also be abbreviated to "bloggins"...so say I? For those unsure of pronounciation, it rhymes with "Loggins," but not "Messina."

Apparently my sense of humor dies at night.

I'm writing this at 4:22 AM on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I think my bishop usually gets up around this time. Maybe I'll call him and say hey.

So, as it turns out, Meagan brings order to my life. She's been in Amarillo for the last few days (and she took Lyddie with her, which has been strange of itself. More on that later) and in those few days, I have not only done virtually nothing in the way of homework or housework (and only the essentials of personal hygiene. I think I've worn the same shirt for about four days by now, but it's OK because it's stylish and I am a dapper fellow), but I've spent HOURS AND HOURS not doing it. Seriously, I got about eight or nine hours of sleep on Wednesday and Thursday night COMBINED. Then, of course, my body decided to take matters into its own hands and I slept eleven hours on Friday night. The unfortunate part is that those eleven hours didn't start until 4:00 AM, so I woke up around 3:00 PM.

This, ladies and gentlemen, explains my presence at this moment. I've only been awake for 13 hours or so.

And...church starts in four hours exactly. Awesome.

It's interesting to reflect upon how much I've come to need Meagan in my life. No, she's not my maid or my nagging conscience. Heck, when she's here, I'm really quite self-driven. But when she's gone, it's like my sense of purpose goes with her. I become hobo-like. In fact, I plan to spend a good part of Monday playing guitar on the corner and actively creating BO.

I suppose that it's times like these that make me realize how good I have it in life. Sure, we're dirt poor and will likely remain so for at least the next ten years. Sure, we don't have a clue on most of the things we're doing in life (specifically, parenthood). But Meagan and I make a good team that can take on what we're thrown. We complement each other in such seemingly miniscule ways that make all the difference. She inspires and uplifts me to heights I am quite convinced I could not reach on my own. We're climbing seemingly endless mountains together, but I've got her rope, and she's got mine.

And Lyddie. Oh, little girl, I miss you. I just watched the videos from Meagan's last post and they made me really happy and really sad. While I'm still really struggling with the idea (much less the practice) of fatherhood, I miss my baby girl. Even though my sleep is much more undisturbed, my hands much less slobbery, and my changing table much less pooped upon, I miss her presence. I haven't gotten to sing "Bird Stealing Bread" in days now, and I miss it (the song, by the way, is by Iron and Wine, and despite its rather sad lyrics, is a beautiful lullaby that she seems to take to. You can hear it here, just ignore the emo video...aw, they broke up, how sad :-(. Anyway, judge me if you will, but my girl will have great musical taste).

Well, they get back on Monday afternoon. There will be feasting and dancing.

In the meantime, I guess I should try to sleep a bit. You know, three hours or so.

Dang, I'm dumb.

Sleep.

Hopefully.

Videos of things Lydia hates.

2008-09-04T18:11:00.006-06:00

Here is a video of Lydia we took about two days ago. She doesn't much care for swaddling, as you can see.

This may be have been taken the same day as the first, but here is Lydia enjoying her daily tummy time. We try not to do tummy time unless she's already crying for no reason, because she doesn't react very well to it.

So there you have it, Grandmas! We'll try to take video of her doing things where she's happy, although, she doesn't smile yet, so it's difficult to tell when she's happy. Mostly she just looks stoned. Once she smiles, which should be any day now, we'll try to get a video of it for all of her adoring fans.

Never mind. I actually just found this one. It's kind of boring, but I'm going to put it up here anyways. Here's Lydia just being happy!

First 2 weeks have come and gone.

2008-08-20T21:06:00.004-06:00

I'm feeling very blessed as my daughter passes her 2 week mark. It was weird this afternoon when I was changing her clothes and discovered that an outfit that she wore shortly after she got home, which was way too large, is now fitting her. In the period of about a week, she's already grown noticeably larger. It sort of makes me sad, because I'm realizing how fast she's going to grow, but it also makes me excited. There are so many cool things that she is going to learn, even in just the next few weeks and months.

Ever since Lydia was born, we have had so much help and so many people caring about us, that it is almost overwhelming. My mom, Tyler's mom, Sister Olive, and my sister have all been so kind and helpful. I've really appreciated all their help. It was weird to have people helping me because I've never needed it before, but I did need it, and I'm glad that there are people in my life who were so willing to do all that they did for me.

Lydia is absolutely adorable. She has the sweetest cry and expressions. I love it when she looks around and is alert. I also worry about her a lot. I used to think that moms that would pick up their babies at every peep were chumps, but now I understand the temptation. I hate just letting her cry, although I do it when it's necessary. I also find myself constantly checking on her when she's asleep to make sure she's still alive. I hope this worry goes away soon, but I have a feeling it won't for a while.

Although having a newborn has been very difficult and recovering from a C-section wasn't the most painless of ordeals, it is completely worth it all for her. I'm excited that she's here and a part of our family, and I'm really looking forward to experiencing all of the events of her life that are coming.

This is a picture I just took of her after I wrote this. She's sleeping in the boppy pillow on the couch on a blanket that Sister Blaylock made for us:

Visiting

2008-08-06T10:53:00.002-06:00

Dear friends,

Some of you have inquired about coming and visiting Meagan and Lydia in the hospital. We're happy to have you, if you'd like to come. Give us a call and we'll get you the info you need.

Ev'ry New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End

2008-08-04T18:16:00.016-06:00

I speak, of course, of the end of pregnancy and the beginning of parenthood. That's right, faithful followers, the time has come for introductions.

Well...not quite yet.

Here's the deal. Meagan went to the doctor this afternoon (Monday, August 4, 2008) around 2:00. It was her 41-week appointment. For those not in the know, pregnancy is ideally a 40 week ordeal, but Meagan has been, however unwillingly, pushing onward. The doctor did his check (it was really fun to watch the look on her face as this happened, by the way), and told here that she had three options:

Option the First: Keep on waiting. The problem with this, beyond the fact that Meagan is ready to have this thing out of her body, is that the baby is getting big and is still being carried pretty high...so there's a chance it would just keep on hangin' out until things got dangerous. We declined this option.

Option the Second: Schedule a C-section. That doesn't sound fun. Though c-sections are incredibly safe these days, it's still more of a risk than we wanted to take.

Option the Third: Induce. This is done in a few different ways. First, Meagan was told to return to the office that night for "cervix stretching." THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD TIME. She would then report to the hospital where they would induce labor with a pitocin drip. The good doctor said that going this route, the baby would be here in the next 24 hours (!).

We, naturally, opted for the third option. The downside is that Meagan's body isn't giving any signs of wanting to be in labor yet. She has had very few contractions, and the baby is still pretty high up. The fact is that even with a pitocin drip, she has, says Dr. Feelgood, about a 50-50 chance of needing a c-section. While it's not the end of the world if that's what has to happen, we're both hoping it doesn't come to that.

So. This blog is going to be a long one. Here's my plan. We're going to keep this same blog constantly edited over the next 24 hours. I'm going to get on and put in any fun stories, interesting facts, and, eventually, the grand climax of the story. Just follow along, if you'd like. Think of it as an obstetrically-centered episode of 24.

That being said...away we go!

CHAPTER I: AT YOUR CERVIX!
5:30 PM

We returned to the doctor at the appointed time. We were a bit nervous, especially Meagan, simply because "stretching the cervix" doesn't sound like a rollicking good time. I mean, I don't even have a cervix (I hope?), and I winced at the idea. All sorts of debate was going on. Would it be a manual operation? Does he have a neat machine (the Cervitron 2000!)? Would it take a long time? Would it hurt? Would it make labor happen, so the miracle drugs aren't needed?

We thought about all of this as we noticed that we were not by any means alone in the waiting room. It turns out that ol' Doc was having a regular cervix stretching fiesta that evening, attempting to induce labor on four different women. As the women debated what "stretching" really implied, I read an article about Italian grilling. SPLENDID TIMES FOR ALL.

The girl that got called in before Meagan came out about five minutes later, so we figured it wasn't a long process. She also gave Meagan the thumbs up and said, "It's completely painless," as she walked out the door.

"Meagan," I said. "She's lying."

"I hope not....she wasn't walking funny or anything..."

Meagan's turn came, Doc lubed up the happy fingers, and...well, it happened just about like you'd think. There was...um..."reaching" (the doctor), stretching (the cervix), and wincing (Meagan). There was also sitting (me) and comforting (also me).

After a few minutes of premium cervix expansion service, complete with filter change and new windshield wipers, Doc gave us our marching orders: be at the hospital between 8:00 and 10:00 tonight, and we'll get this show on the road.

Eep.

CHAPTER 2: "I HATE TO BE THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS..."
9:28 PM

A note to all doctors and nurses present and future: THIS IS NOT A PHRASE TO BE THROWN AROUND LIGHTLY.

I'll get to the history in a second, but here's the scoop for the moment. They hooked Meagan up to a fetal monitor that measures both contractions and the baby's heartbeat. They let this go for a while and saw a few of Meagan's contractions. What they saw afterward, however, was a drop in the baby's pulse. It's a temporary drop, and it comes right back up, but it's still significant. The nurse said that the fact that the drop is coming AFTER contractions indicates that the baby is in a bit of distress, most likely due to the fact that she's overdue. The nurse introduced this information with the title statement.

Ladies and gentlemen, this freaked me right the heck out.

I get strange when I worry. I get a bit withdrawn and pretty serious. I hope that goes away soon, because it's not a good mindset for me or for Meagan right now. The nurse says that this isn't a really big deal and that both of her kids did the same thing, which remains strangely non-comforting.

In any case, the nurses tilted Meagan up on her right side and got her on an oxygen flow. That seems to have diminished the drop in the baby's pulse, which is making me feel a bit better. Meagan and her mom (who is with us, by the way...I don't think I've mentioned her until now) are more upbeat. I guess I'm just really worried for the baby. I have my personal reasons, having to do with my views on God, etc., but I'm trying to do well with those.

OK, with that out of the way:

The doctor told us to come between 8 and 10. Meagan was excited to get here, but thought that she would "look like a dork" if she showed up exactly at 8. Thus, we opted to be "fashionably late" and aimed to get here around 8:15. It turned out to be a really good thing that this wasn't an emergency, because I had to circle the hospital once or twice before we found the entry for Labor and Delivery. We got here eventually, got her registered, and were ushered to a rather large birthing room. Pardon me, birthing suite. And sweet it is (PUNTASTIC)! It's a spacious room that looks as though the Marriott family designed the hospital (then again, this is Provo, Utah, and such a thing is quite possible, I guess).

Meagan got dressed (draped) in her special hospital "clothes" and the fun began. Her nurse seems like a feisty young lady. She needed the energy to check Meagan's dilation. Apparently Meagan's cervix...well, apparently it's pretty far up there. This nurse had to get REALLY involved to check the dilation (which, by the way, is up to two). As she threw away her soiled glove she exasperatedly said, "I'm sorry, I haven't had to be that rude in a long time!"

They got her strapped in and monitored, then all the big stuff spoken of up above ensued. You will recall that this was the freak out time.

Our nurse called Doc, who said that he wanted to observe her for an hour and see if anything would happen naturally before introducing a pitocin drip. And that, my friends, is where we are right now. Just waiting out the next hour to see if Meagan's body will go into labor and if anything bad happens with the pulse (which is looking better and I'm starting to relax about). Her contractions are starting to come more and more often. Right now she's having them about every two minutes or so. We're hoping that means things will go naturally, which would just be lovely.

And now...off to throw up!

CHAPTER 3: IN THE WHICH MEAGAN HAS WEAKSAUCE VEINS
10:48 PM

It took half an hour, three nurses, seven needles (and the same amount of pokes), and Meagan almost shattering the bones in both of my wrists, but Meagan is finally fitted with an IV. Seriously, this was absurd. I would like to point out that the nurses here were not at fault. They were, in fact, very skilled. The problem, as they told her, was her anatomy. Apparently her veins are very sensitive to shutting off. She seems to have more valves in her veins than most people, which means that when the vein gets penetrated, it seals itself off. Good if you're bleeding...bad if people are trying to force you to bleed.

The whole thing the last post was about has gone away. Sorry for the panicked tone...I'm just pretty nervous about the whole thing. I'll probably freak out many more times throughout the evening, but I'll try to keep them in perspective for our viewers at home.

In other news, Meagan has a very strong grip. She used my wrist to take out her pain, and it changed to a very interesting shade of red.

CHAPTER 4: NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS?
1:05 AM

I suppose that the baby's birthday is now pretty much officially August 5. Other than that, we haven't really realized anything new. We have a new nurse who seems to have slightly longer fingers, which will hopefully make cervical checkups a little easier. Unfortunately, Meagan has made virtually no progress in the last two hours. She's still dilated to a 2+, which just isn't that high. Nevertheless, she insists that the contractions are getting stronger and hurting worse, so...well, hopefully something will start happening soon.

Meagan's mom is trying to help her out in any way possible. She's trying to get her to relax during contractions, rather than tensing up. Meagan, however, said that that hurts even worse. "Mom, relaxing isn't the way to go."

Other important things that happened on August 5th:

1861: The United States Army abolishes flogging.
1930: Neal Armstrong born
1957: American Bandstand debuts on ABC
1962: Marilyn Monroe dies
1964: Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys born

Apparently this day was actually pretty boring. Give my daughter fifty years or so, and she'll have this named as a holiday.

CHAPTER 5: SHE WAS TIED TO THE BED WITH A MIRACLE DRUG IN ONE HAND
3:17 AM

After suffering through a few hours of pretty intense contractions, Meagan's doctor approved an epidural for her. The vibe in this room has completely reversed. Where before things were dark and Meagan was writhing and wincing, the room is now just happier in general. As Meagan said, "That was not a fun place where I was...and the idea of it getting worse is just hell." Luckily, her doctor approved the anesthesia relatively early on, so she's really getting the good end of things. She's back to being herself again, which is just...well, things are much better now. By a long shot.

For those who have never seen an epidural, I have to recommend it. It was totally awesome to watch. That was one big ol' needle.

Basically, we're all in a much happier place now, especially Meagan. She even has a happy button, which will increase the flow of the drugs to her spine. Most excellent.

Meagan just got measured, and despite the rather frequent and painful contractions, she's no more dilated than she has been for the last number of hours. Her doctor just said that we'll wait for a bit and then he's going to break her water. Apparently...well, that's gonna be the dealbreaker. It's almost showtime.

But now, thank heaven, we get some time to sleep. Hopefully we actually can. Nerves are coming and going for both of us.

Well, regardless of anything else, Meagan is now and shall forever sing praises to the epidural.

CHAPTER 6: BREAKING WATERS FLOW LIKE RIVER
7:35 AM

Most of this chapter will have to come from secondhand sources, as I was left completely and utterly unconscious through the entire thing. I'm a bit upset about that. Meagan says that they tried yelling at me and at one point her mom got up and was coming to shake me, but the doctor said that it was no big deal and that I should just sleep on. Seriously. I feel as though I've missed out on something.

The events go as follows: Meagan got a little bit of sleep. They checked her three or four times during the night and things looked good, except for the fact that her dilation had still only reached three by this morning. Not fast enough, they decided, and thus the hook was introduced.

For those not aware, water breaking is when the amniotic sac is ruptured and all the "water" (that's in quotes because it's a lot harder to say, "Wow, Meagan, look, your sac of grotesque goo is breaking!") rushes on out. This is usually a naturally occurring thing, but it can be done artificially to drive labor. And how is it done artificially? In essence...a crochet hook. The doctor reaches it up there, hooks the sac, twists it around the hook, and yanks. Voila! Instant rupture!

Apparently it's worked. They checked her half an hour later and she had dilated a full centimeter more. She's still got quite a ways to go. In fact, according to the dilation standards, she has only now officially entered "active labor" (4-7 cm). The baby is delivered at 10. We're hoping she can make it there on her own and in a timely manner. We'll keep this updated as to her hopefully speedy progress.

As a final note, it is with a very humble heart that I acknowledge a grievous error in my "No News" chapter. I said nothing much had happened on August 5th in history, but Meagan's dad corrected me with the information that the Beatles album Revolver was released on August 5, 1966. HOW DID I MISS THAT? I am now throwing around ideas for a Revolver-based middle name for the baby, like "Lydia Taxman Severson." Or "Lydia Dr. Robert Severson." Or "Lydia Tomorrow Never Knows Severson."

THIS IS NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN. Alas.

CHAPTER 7: MO DRUGS MO BETTER
8:25 AM

Well, they measured Meagan again and, alas, she hasn't dilated any more. As such, pitocin has finally been introduced. They have her on a very slow drip, hopefully just enough to get her body into more of a labor-y state.

And....that's about it.

CHAPTER 8: BREVITY
9:50 AM

The baby isn't reacting well to the pitocin drip. Her heartbeat is sort of erratic, and Meagan's body isn't ready for labor. She's going in to have a c-section immediately. Will update later.

-Aunt's insert-
Meagan and Tyler are in the delivery room getting ready for the c-section. They seemed pretty nervous, but we're confident that everything is ok! They should be out soon and we'll be posting pictures of my new little niece.

CHAPTER 9: ALL IS WELL
11:43 AM

Everything went just fine. Meagan and the baby are both doing fine. Thank you all for your prayers and concern. I'll post more later, but be aware that everything is just fine.

CHAPTER 10: BEGINNINGS
1:09 PM

Well, she's here! Lydia Rose Severson was born at 10:24 AM on August 5, 2008. She weighs 7 pounds and 13 ounces, and is 20 inches long. She's mostly bald, but has some thin but hopefully promising strawberry blond hair. In fact, here, I'll start putting up pictures:

And there's our little girl.

Meagan's c-section went very well. Her doctors were very skilled and very fast with their work. Meagan had a curtain blocking her view, but I watched most of the proceedings. I guess anesthesia makes a man bold, because the doctors were just ripping into Meagan. Luckily, she was blissfully unaware of everything going on.

The doctors brought Lydia out and she tried a couple of pretty weak cries before really getting the hang of it. And then she kept going for a while, all through her cleaning and weighing. Apparently there was a little bit of fluid in her lungs that would only come out if she kept crying, and...well, she did. She's since stopped, and her breathing sounds much better. Now she's pretty intent on sleeping, even refusing the chance to eat in favor of catching some z's.

There has been a lot of emotion running around my mind. I had a really hard time controlling myself for a while. I don't really know exactly what it was, but it was generally good. I don't even think there was a lot fear there. Don't get me wrong, the fear came later, but while I was in the nursery with Lydia when Meagan was getting stitched up...well, there was a lot going on in my mind.

Now we're all together in the Mothers/Babies floor...I guess it's our first time together as a family. It seems to make sense. That sounds like an odd way to describe it, but that's how it feels. Nothing here feels illogical or strange. It just feels like this is the way it is supposed to be. It makes sense to my heart and mind.

Pregnancy Update

2008-07-30T13:48:00.002-06:00

Yes, I am in fact still giving pregnancy updates. My due date was on Monday, so I'm 2 days overdue. I went to the doctor and he said that it didn't look like I was getting the much closer. I had a feeling that would be the case, but I was still hoping. Luckily though, he did promise to induce me after my next appointment if I still haven't given birth. That means that I will have had the baby by Tuesday, August 5th. It makes me feel a lot better to have a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, he gave me a 50/50 chance of having the baby before then. It seems that both Tyler and my mother are rooting for Monday. My mother because her plane ticket is for Friday, and Tyler because he has an Organic Chemistry test on Friday. They both made me promise that I wouldn't go into labor before then. I told them that I'd give the baby the message. But I have a secret...I didn't give the baby the message. I'd like her to come sooner rather than later, so it's all good to me if she came today.

Anyways, life is good here at the Seversons. Tyler's still studying and working away like usual, and I'm just chilling waiting to pop. It's been pretty boring not having a job and not having a baby yet. I'm glad I quit when I did, though, because I haven't been feeling fantastic and I've been sleeping a lot.

We'll post the good news and pictures as soon as we have some good news and pictures to post. Thanks for caring about us!

Getting Really Close

2008-07-24T10:54:00.002-06:00

It's been a fun week for me. Last Thursday, my little sister Hannah came to visit for a few days. She's 10 years younger than me and I've never had much of a chance to spend a lot of time with her. Unfortunately, I was still working and then I had a few days of not feeling very well, so it wasn't the best visit ever. We did take her school shopping, though, which was fun. We got her lots of cute clothes. In case any of you guys don't know, Tyler is a great shopping partner. I think he really likes to go shopping. Hannah would be in there trying stuff on and he would be getting the sales people to help him find a shirt that matched a particular jacket, or trying to get their opinion on an outfit. It was really cute.

On Monday, I went to SLC and picked up my brother Dayne from the airport. While there, I dropped Hannah off with the aunt she's been staying with. Dayne left on his mission yesterday, but for the few days he was here, we had a lot of fun. I took him shopping for the little things he still needed and we mostly just hung out the whole time. It was nice to be able to spend some time with him and see him of at the MTC. I'm sure he'll be a great missionary.

Unfortunately, this week wasn't nearly so fun for Tyler. He's studying away at Organic Chemistry. He has a test on Friday and has been working hard for an A. He keeps telling me that I can't go into labor until after he takes the test on Friday, but we'll see.

Speaking of that, I'm only 4 days away from my due date! I went to the doctor on Monday and he said that I will probably at least go that far, but I'm hoping it'll be sooner. I know most first babies are late, so probably I will go late too, but that doesn't mean I can't hope. Today I'm going to go walk around the mall for a while (it's too hot to walk outside) and see if I can get things moving.

Oh, one final thing. Our hamster finally figured out what it's running wheel is for. She's had it for 2 months and has never actually run on it. Then last night, she ran on it for like 2 hours strait. We are very proud of her for figuring it out.

Hopefully our next post will be some good news!

Fatherhood Weighs Upon Me

2008-07-15T13:16:00.002-06:00

Meagan is due with our first baby in less than two weeks, and it's put a lot on my mind. That being said, I shamefully present:

Reasons I Will Probably Be A Terrible Father

1. I still enjoy off-brand macaroni and cheese with hot dogs cut up in it. If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll make grilled cheese to go with it.

2. My suggestion for decorating the baby's room consisted of a picture of Jesus next to a poster of the Beatles, "so the baby would know who the five most important people ever are."

3. If asked, "Do you prefer to wear pants or not?" my answer is always the less socially acceptable one.

4. When my child enters Sunbeams class at church, she will very likely raise her hand and ask if they can sing "Stairway to Heaven" after "I am a Child of God."

5. When my children ask questions like, "Why is the sky blue?" there is a strong chance that I will mention the electromagnetic spectrum and absorption patterns.

6. I can't even remember to clean my hamster's cage.

7. I won't have a real job until I'm in my mid-thirties. This further means that my child and I will most likely have "homework time" together at the dinner table. When she asks if I can help her with her spelling words, I may reply, "Yes, but only if you help me with gross anatomy."

8. Most things that touch my hands strike the floor shortly afterward. I may end up developing a very short bungee cord that ties around my wrist and her ankle, just to prevent such issues. I will attempt to market this device and make approximately $7.43.

I'm sure there are more. I'll post as they occur.

Pregnant Pics

2008-06-03T17:44:00.003-06:00

I went to a wedding this weekend and there was a picture taken of me and my pregnant belly. Since my camera isn't working and I have received requests for such a picture, I have decided to post it on my blog. Here ya go:

Update by Meagan

2008-05-25T22:07:00.005-06:00

Well, Tyler has pretty much all out refused to include a family update, so I have decided that I will. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the cord to our digital camera, so pictures are not available. Sorry to all those who have requested to see my pregnant belly. It's a sight, to be sure, but not one that I can share.

I guess I'll start with me. I am now 31 weeks pregnant, meaning I am only 9 weeks away from my due date. It's pretty intimidating when I think about it for very long, but it still doesn't really seem real. Time is going pretty quick, but I am told that the last few weeks just drag by. We'll see, I guess.

The pregnancy part is going very well. I've only had a few inconveniences. My back hurts if I sit strait for about 5 minutes or more. It's weird that I have to slouch to be comfortable, but that's the way it is. Also, I am starting to get so big now that I can't bend over to pick things up very comfortably. I guess that will just get worse too, but it's defiantly interesting.

As most of you know, a few weeks ago, we got a 3D ultrasound of our baby and it was confirmed again that it is, in fact, female. It was really fun to be able to feel it move and see it move on the screen.

Other than things having to do with the baby, I'm not doing a whole lot right now. I'm working full-time still selling cell phones for Verizon, and plan on continuing until the middle of July, or whenever my doctor tells me to stop.

Tyler is busy working on Organic Chemistry this summer, taking both classes accelerated over the shorter summer semesters. It's good, because he can focus on the classes without distraction, but it is also a lot more difficult. He has a test every other weekend over several chapters.

He just got a new job that he starts on Tuesday, but isn't very proud of it, so I won't go into much detail. It fits his schedule, though, so we can't complain too much.

Besides his job, Tyler is also doing some work on the side doing reviews for non-fiction books for an LDS publishing company. It is proving to be an interesting side job because he gets to read some really different material. Basically, he lets the publishing company know if it is really worth publishing or not.

We are both also doing an online service called ChaCha, where we answer questions that people text in. We get to do it whenever we want, and average about 6 dollars an hour. So, it's not the most lucrative of things, but we can do it while we watch television and it's paid for more than one date night.

Besides school and work, Tyler has just started volunteering in a hospital ER for a few hours every week. This will give him good experience for medical school, because he gets to be around medical stuff and it doesn't look half bad on his application either. He's only done it one week so far, but he has already enjoyed the time he has spent.

Aromatherapy to the Extreme

2008-03-24T14:07:00.005-06:00

My nose has been having an interesting time of things lately. It's interesting to specify a certain part of my face as having "times" at all, but my olfactory senses have been pushed to extremes lately.

To start with the bad: I had the funk in my fridge for sure.

It all started with a lovely pot of chicken soup I cooked up back in November. It ends there too, but it does so five months later. I wish we had eaten it instead of letting it mellow in the fridge for all eternity, but that mistake can't be undone. Regardless, the soup was devoured by something...I think it's a unique kind of mold. And this mold, which I named Miguel, caused the most unholy odor to set up camp in our fridge. It was getting to the point where an exorcist was the next step. I swear the fridge was not far off from head-spinning and projectile vomiting. I think I heard it call my name in the middle of the night.

The unfortunate part is that the spirit of Funk did not just infect the fridge. That would have been bearable. No, it got into all the food. Even the food that was ziplock-bagged. It even got into the SHELLS OF THE EGGS. I swear this is not an exaggeration. MY SCRAMBLED EGGS TASTED LIKE FUNK. It was inescapable, and the lack of delicious food started to drain my will to live.

My wife tells me I am making this up.

I'm not.

At last, when I could handle it no more, I cleaned the fridge. It was nasty. It's been a week, and Meagan and I are STILL arguing over who gets to evict Miguel from his soupy home (we need that pot back...and yes, I am saying that we haven't cleaned it yet). But the tough part is that even after the fridge was squeaky clean, it still had funk! It was incredible, but the funk would not let go!

I almost cried.

After some extensive use of vinegar and baking soda (even mixing them once! Volcano!), I have the fridge mostly good. But it still goes day to day. Sometimes the funk reappears. Sometimes it's completely gone. It's impossible to predict, and I fear I have given the funk the impression that it is welcome to squat in my fridge. Funk, if you are reading this, rest assured that you are NOT welcome. It's hard, but that's the way these things go.

On to the good part for my nose:

My wife got neat soap. For the shower. It's a translucent green bar that smells of cucumber melon.

And it has become an addiction.

A SEXY addiction.

It's one of those scents that's just barely androgynous enough to be either feminine or manly, depending on what you do with it. It's like the David Bowie of scents. After adding my manly-man deodorant to the mix, I smell like a fragrant man-beast. The Creature from Bath and Body Works.

I love this soap.

And it's almost gone.

Mass purchases are on the horizon.

Maybe this time I can get Sun-Ripened Peach.

It's 95% Certain That It's A Girl!

2008-03-11T00:19:00.004-06:00

Or at least 95% certain that it lacks man parts.

Apparently ultrasound results for the ladyfolk are more difficult to read than for the gents. As such, our doctor wouldn't give us better than a 95% chance that the fetus is a girl.

But we're pretty sure it's a girl.

Hooray!

The visit to the doctor went very well. Despite being all kinds of bulgy, Meagan has still only put on three pounds from her original weight. I'm personally pretty confused about this, and have since decided that the law of conservation of mass is, in fact, bunk.

The ultrasound was good. The baby looks pretty creepy...I mean, the ultrasound doesn't really differentiate between skin and bone, so the first thing we see is this creepy skull-face looking out at us. I mean...ahh! It was pretty funky. Big empty eye sockets with little teeth...

As such, the child is currently nicknamed "Skeletor."

The baby put its (her?) hand up against the womb, as though to tell us to bugger off...or to give us a high five. Either way, I have great desires to edit this photo so that only the middle finger is extended, but Meagan thinks this in poor taste. I think she's crazy.

On the upside, there are five fingers, at least on that hand. So far, so good.

After the ultrasound, in a way that I'm almost certain was symbolic in some form or another, we ate hot dogs. I personally suggested that we go to Taco Bell, but this idea was met with scorn.

So, with that, we are, I suppose, accepting all forms of charitable donations that are oriented toward female childrens. We are also willing to hear decent names (though I'm personally pretty darned set on Lydia. I've just fallen in love with that name). So...hit us with your best shot.

Greetings

2008-03-09T00:12:00.001-07:00

To all my Facebook friends:

Hello!

(This is in reference to someone I've never met coming up to me today and saying, "Hi Tyler, I loved your blog," and my response of, "....Hi, my name is Tyler." I was quickly rebuffed because "We're Facebook friends!" and I should know better.

What a jerkface I am.)

Stupid Fish and Other Tales of Death and Woe

2008-03-07T14:07:00.004-07:00

This is the winter of my discontent. This post will most likely seem scattershot and lacking in segue. This is likely because my brain is currently being boiled with a liberal dash of cold virus. The steam is trapped inside my head, as my plugged sinuses offer it nowhere to escape. Thus, explosion may occur. If I suddenly stop in midsentence, you'll know why.

Now like I was saying, this week

Ha ha, I'm so witty.

Our fish died today. We had him for five days. He was an idiot. I attribute this to his fishness.

He was a betta that we never got around to naming. Names such as "Mediocrites" and "Idiot Fish" got thrown around, but nothing really stuck. He didn't like to eat, which is probably why he is dead. He was too dumb to even die right...instead of floating belly-up, like normal fish, he buried his head in the rocks at the bottom of his vase. And there he is...head on the bottom, like a moron.

Stupid fish.

As for me, I am taking a reluctant day off. I don't like being idle...there's always something I can do, and not doing any of it just makes me really nervous. But I can't focus enough to make something happen, so I'm trying to just let it go. My wife is lovely and accommodating and made me a pitcher of juice. This makes her wonderful. As do other things, but cranberry juice is high on the list for the moment.

Tragically, while trying to relax, I tried to play a video game. That wasn't the tragedy. The tragedy was that all of my video gaming implements are at a friend's house and I have none. Thus, no games for me. Sadness and woe.

My goal with this post is to depress the world. I'll be paying attention to liquor sales. If there's a spike...I will consider my job done.

May you all not get sick.

Honorable Discharge

2008-03-04T12:00:00.002-07:00

First off, yes, I probably did write this post mostly just to use that title. Deal.

Well, the saga has come to somewhat of a close. What saga? The belly button story, of course! As you can read in my last blog entry, a few weeks ago my navel started to bleed and ooze and hurt a lot for no discernible reason. Not being a fan of my lifefluids oozing out of me, I thought that it would be wise to have someone of a medical nature take a look at it. I scheduled a doctor's appointment as soon as I could, but even this was a bit of a fiasco, since this whole mess happened over a three-day weekend. Of course, the doctors all took a three-day weekend too, which I'm not sure is safe. In any case, by the time I got in there, most of the problem had taken care of itself. This, of course, did not help my case.

The nurse called me back and did all the standard check-up procedures. She then sat down at the computer, innocently expecting to transcribe a standard medical problem.

"What's the problem?"

"Well....a few days ago my navel started to bleed and ooze. I figured I should see someone."

There was a long pause. And a grimace.

"That's awful."

"Yeah, I'm not too thrilled with it myself."

She typed it into the computer and left the room. I'm certain she went straight to her other nurse friends to talk about the gross guy in room five.

My doctor showed up eventually, and the first thing he said was something to the effect of, "Dr. Morrison down the hall is a surgeon, and he really wants to see this, so I'm going to bring him in, OK?"

Let me tell you, there is no thrill equal to that of being a medical novelty. "Dude...you gotta come check this guy out. Gross!"

In any case, I was quickly on my back with two doctors passing a viewer back and forth. For those of you who remember the thing they use to look in your ears...yeah, that's what they used in my navel, or "umbilicus," in those ol' medical terms. This was, of course, a pretty painful experience. "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" "Well, let me do that! Over and over! And then some more!"

Eventually they both had their fill of gazing into my navel, and, completely ignoring the presence of the actual patient, conversed with each other about what had happened and what to do about it. I guess they just hoped that I would follow along. I did manage to ask my original doctor why this was so intriguing. His response? "We see this all the time in babies, but never in big people!"

Oh, good then.

I walked out with a prescription for antibiotics and the promise of an appointment in a week with a surgeon in order to, and this is really what they said, "ream it out."

Ream: verb. 1. To form, shape, taper, or enlarge (a hole or bore, for example) with or as if with a reamer. 2. To remove (material) by this process.

Yeah. That's right.

So, I took my three giant pills each day and started feeling pretty good about things. No more big pain, no more bleeding. Keen!

Thursday came, however, and with it the promise of a thorough reaming. I showed up and again assumed the position. The ever-garrulous Dr. Morrison stood over me armed with Q-Tips and some forceps. I'm not sure exactly what he did with it, though I would be inclined to believe that the Q-Tip was actually made of steel wool. I wasn't in a great position to watch, but there was pain, and there was blood. That's about all I know. I walked out with yet another bloody cotton "stuffing" and pain upon motion. And, of course, the promise of a follow up on Monday.

Monday came, and the lovely Dr. Morrison, patron saint of good conversation, entered the room and pulled out the ear-looking-thingie. I will never look at one of those in the same way.

"There's some healing tissue...it should still be tender."

POKE.

"Did that hurt?"

"Yes."

Didn't he just promise me that it was going to hurt? Could he just not have left that one to faith?

The good doctor told me that I need to keep it dry (this has resulted in a most entertaining use of a blowdryer). Hopefully this prevents it from happening again. In the meantime, I have now added one more disease to my list of "Weird Crap that Never Happens to Anyone Else." Here's hoping for leprosy next!

Poll

2008-02-22T13:07:00.002-07:00

Long Time, No Blog

2008-02-19T12:40:00.002-07:00

Much has happened in recent days. As has been her trend for the last four months, Meagan continues to be pregnant. We are, for the most part, pleased with her progress. She seems to be pretty healthy and has on occasion, for reasons inexplicable, bemoaned her fate to have such an easy and non-sick pregnancy. Why she would complain about this is beyond this writer.

Our Valentine's Day was subdued. We both had a lot of things to do that day, so we woke up early and worked on everything that had to be done. It proved successful, as we were able to leave campus by three o'clock and go to lunch together. We then drove around, walked around, and generally got around together. It wasn't much, but it was nice to spend so much time together, even if there did have to be some grocery shopping involved. We returned home and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the evening. Simple times, but good ones.

As a preface to V-Day, we decided to adopt some tulips into our family. The part that we didn't expect was that I would fall completely in love with the flowers. Yes, I am completely aware of how intensely femmy that sounds. I just don't care. I loved those flowers. They were bright and alive and responsive to my care, and that made me feel like I was contributing something to the world. It was nice for the few days that they brightened our living room. Alas, despite the best care I knew how to offer, the flowers soon began to wilt and drop petals. It was a sad time for me. I was in denial for a while (maybe they just need more water! Yeah, more water! That will bring them back!) but now I've come to accept their death and have trimmed the flowers in hopes of salvaging the bulbs for another season. I miss you, flowers!

But the fun doesn't stop there! A few days ago, much to my puzzlement, my navel began to hurt. This part of me is usually one to which I'm not really attentive. I mean, who notices their belly button is there? Answer: I have for the last few days. Every breath or movement that influences the navel in any way caused me a decent amount of pain. "That's pretty weird," I thought as I went to bed on Saturday night. Sunday morning, I awoke with my shirt covered with blood and pus. It hasn't stopped oozing since. Apparently...something is infected. This is not normal. Nor is it fun. I have to constantly wear a pad or stuff the navel with gauze...which is just odd. Meagan, of course, is delighted by the idea that in some strange and twisted way, I now understand the difficulties that accompany a period. I was rather disgusted by that idea...but despite my disgust I have to acknowledge that it's a pretty good summary. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow...hopefully it's nothing.

Meagan and I are always working on school stuff...well...I am always working on school stuff and Meagan is procrastinating it. But it usually (read: sometimes) gets done.

Band of the Week: Drive-By Truckers. Amazing country rock. Those who know me will quickly admit that it must be amazing to make me say something positive about country music. But man...it's good stuff. I have the privilege of going and seeing them in concert tomorrow night. This is surely a suicide move, as I have three tests and some big assignments due this week, but hey, how often do you get to go see a new favorite play live?

Oh, and in breaking news, Meagan called me to say that she's 95% sure she just felt the baby move. This is in line with the timing, so...cool! It lives! The fun part is that it decided to make its presence known while "Long Time" by Boston was being played loudly on the radio. Meagan thinks it may have been asking her to turn it down. Daddy hopes otherwise.

Second Trimester Ahoy!

2008-01-29T15:53:00.001-07:00

Well, I've finally reached what is apparently known as the easiest of the three trimesters. At week fourteen, all of my queasy symptoms and food aversions are gone. It's great. I am also starting to show now. Yesterday I went and bought a bunch of basic maternity clothes and was suprised at how cute a lot of them were. The jeans I bought were just as cute as most of the regular kind I can find. Both Tyler and I are excited because in a few weeks we get to find out the gender. Most everyone is hoping for a girl, but we'll see. I was looking online today and found out that I will be able to feel the baby moving in a few weeks. That's something I haven't really given much thought to but I think that I am going to start looking forward to it. We'll try to post a picture of how I look soon (just a little bit showing).

Kermit Eats a Kitten

2008-01-26T22:50:00.001-07:00

Today I was looking on the local classifieds website for baby stuff and as I was looking through the listings for Cribs I found this picture. Both Tyler and I were very deeply disturbed by the image. Why is Kermit eating a Kitten's head? Why would someone post that picture in the crib classifed section? What the heck?

My Rodent Vinnie

2008-01-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

The first subject of this blog comes as a question:

Is it femmy to watch some parts of the performance of "Seal on Ice" featuring Kristi Yamaguchi?

As the man who rewound "Kiss From A Rose" no less than four times, I submit that it is not.

Moving on.

The Severson family, as some of you may have heard, has a new addition. He's adorable, but a bit pesky, like many family members. He's bold and intelligent. And we've tried to kill him twice now.

We have a mouse. But this mouse is not ordinary. No, this mouse has some real chutzpah. The other day while I was sitting on the couch, he runs out across the living room. In broad day light. I think if he had fingers, his middle one would have been extended. I realized that this was odd, so I went to check the trap we had set for him. I found it still loaded, but licked perfectly clean. That's the second trap he did that to, thought I. Though no one was there but my rodent nemesis and I, I spoke aloud, "That was gutsy." I think he understood me, for later he made another living room appearance. But this time he stepped it up a notch. He climbed up the back of the loveseat and sat poised atop it, his wide black eyes staring at me. It was as though he was trying to demonstrate his lack of fear for me.

One must respect such a fearless opponent.

Unfortunately, he ate into one of my bags of flour. Thus...I want him out. And so we embark on mousetrap mark three, trying the harmless Mice Cube. This one lures him inside and slams the door behind him, leaving him alive in the tube. I don't think I could handle killing a mouse such as this one. I'm actually campaigning right now to adopt him and name him Vinnie, but this may turn out to be in vain. Only time can tell. If Vinnie cannot be mine, then we will take him far away to the canyon where he can roam free.

That is, of course, assuming that he doesn't manage to steal the cube and make it into some private mouse jacuzzi.

Right now...all bets are off.

Baby Names

2008-01-15T13:20:00.001-07:00

I have started a baby names list where people can vote on whether or not they like the names. We will probably be adding and taking away from the list, so if you want, you can check back relatively often. The link to the list is

Also, as a disclaimer, the names listed are ones that either Tyler or I and not necessarily both of us like.

Due Date & New Semester

2008-01-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, so just letting anyone know, the official due date for our baby is July 29, 2008. Everything's going well so far. In fact, it's going better than could be hoped for. I haven't barely been sick at all.

As far as everything else going on here, Tyler and I just started class yesterday, and it looks like it's going to be a very difficult and busy semester for the both of us. I'm working 30 hours a week and taking 16 of the hardest classes of my major, and Tyler is taking some of his hardest pre-med classes. We'll both be fine, but the next 4 months or so are definitely going to be interesting.

First Post of the New Year

2008-01-02T20:57:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year from the Seversons!

To celebrate the new year, Meagan had her first real pregnancy hormonal freak-out. It was pretty awesome.

The lovely lady was trying to get an ice cube for a cup of root beer, but managed to pull both ice trays out of the freezer, spilling ice all over the floor. Despite the fact that she knew it was absolutely ludicrous, she started to cry. I stepped over to hug her, calming her down for a minute. She went back to get one cube and put it in her cup, but the cup fell over and that one ice cube fell onto the floor. The crying began once more, mingled with laughter. Hers and mine.

Christmas was good. We went back to Arkansas, and got stuck there for many, many days. United Airlines decided that flying was not, in fact, their business, and as such they canceled two of our flights. It was stressful to deal with the airline, but it was really nice to be able to have a few extra days with the family.

Since returning, we've been preparing for the upcoming semester. Meagan will be returning to school and is thrilled to learn how to pronounce totalitarianism. I'll be learning business and bio, chemistry and information systems. Such a strange mixture.

Quote of the Day

2007-12-16T18:33:00.001-07:00

"I just stepped in a puddle of my own making." -Tyler

Weird Pregnancy Woes: Week 8.5

2007-12-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far. For the most part I haven't experienced any nausea, except when I think about food. It's actually pretty weird like that. The biggest symptom I've had is food aversions. It changes from day to day; I never know what food I will like within a few minutes. I don't know how it works, but if I randomly even think of a food, say...hamburger, all of a sudden I know that I will throw up if I even take one bite. And heaven help me if I smell the hated item. Right now, for instance, Tyler is making hamburgers on the Foreman Grill and I am about to die out here from the smell. He came and offered me a bite, but I couldn't even let him sit next to me with it in his hand, the odor was so gross. It's a shame really. Some of my favorite foods are randomly on this list. My favorite example of my "symptom" is the time Tyler cooked Fettuccini Alfredo (I'm feeling gross just typing the word right now). At the time, it sounded delicious. I started eating it and was halfway through when all of sudden the very idea of even looking at it was nauseating.

As I see it, this isn't too bad, considering what I could be going through, so I haven't been too disheartened. In fact, for the most part, I enjoy my fickle appetite. It's fun.

Feel sorry for Tyler. It's going to be a long 7 months.

Honestly Trying

2007-12-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Finals week is upon me. Literally. I feel its pressure on all parts of my body, arguing with itself about when it should just punch me in the kidneys repeatedly until I just keel over and let it all be over with.

Aside from that, things are going well.

I just used the phrase, "You should make mastery of the dolphin your new quest." I think this indicates the sort of conversations we have at home.

Last night was date night, and it was mostly fun. We decided to try and make a good dinner here at home instead of going out. We started with one of our favorite appetizers, the Bloomin' Onion. That...didn't work. Like, say, at all. I cut it just like the instructions said, and it became, as though by magic, an onion with a bunch of slices in it! Upon trying to spread them out, it broke in half.

As such, we had fried onion wedges instead of the "bloom." Unfortunately, we overdeveloped the gluten in the flour, so they basically turned out like fried cardboard.

Though, as I imagine fried cardboard would, they still were pretty good with the horseradish dipping sauce I made.

Oh, yeah, and steak. Meagan made some good steaks. Props on that one. But successes aren't nearly as narratable as failures, so there aren't any good stories there.

Good times.

Let the Rocking Begin.

2007-12-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Our status (as individuals and as a family) is frequently inquired after. As such, we've decided that it's time to just start an internet logbook, also known as a web log, commonly abbreviated to the vernacular blog.

You may read it.

Thank you.