Tagged by Kristine...

I have been tagged by Kristine. The rules...player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves at the end of the post, player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules.

Here are six things about me that I hope most of you don't already know...

!. I have no idea how I am going to come up with six things.
2. I HATE long toe nails. They are just plain sick and wrong. If you have them, cut them please. They hurt my thoughts. And they are gross.
3. I love to stalk blogs and I feel like it's wasting time by doing it, but I do it anyway.
4. Please don't pop your gum around me. I don't mean popping big bubbles. I mean the kind where you fold over your gum in the back of your mouth and make that little popping sound. It makes me CRAZY!!! I don't know why. I just can't stand it. If you decide to do it around me, I will open your mouth and remove it with my BARE fingers. If you don't believe me, ask dad.
5. I used to pay my little brother to pop his zits. I know, gross, yet satisfying!
6. When I was little I kept a stash of pacifiers in the back corner of my closet and I remember going in there for a fix when I was 7!!! It's true. Lilo is almost two and I don't have the guts to take his away yet.

I am tagging Melody, Katie and Madeline Mc... everyone else I know that has a blog has been tagged already!

Family Home Evening- 21st Century-Style

Papa is in Holland (the booger) so tonight for family home evening we did a video chat with him on the computer. We've had the equipment for a long time and we've done lots of chats with grandparents, but this was the first time we have done it across the ocean and for FHE. I think we might be missing one of the operative words here- Family HOME Evening... We miss you so much papa! See you soon.

Speaking of boogers, Liam handed me one yesterday. Thanks cute stuff! And thanks "Paga" aka Cameron for teaching him that lovely word!

I'm feeling picture happy today

Last week for FHE we decorated a gingerbread Halloween house with Grandpa and Grandma. That head in the bottom corner of the first picture is Grandpa. Fun times...

More photos from the NICU reunion

The first pic is of H and G playing "nurse" together with dolls.

Nurse Kathy was another favorite nurse of ours.

Nurse Rose (last picture) was in the delivery room and took care of H many times. She was her nurse on Christmas Eve and she encouraged me to get a gift for H (it hadn't crossed my mind). So I went to FAO Schwartz and bought her an outfit for a 12 inch doll. It was huge on her! Later I went back and bought the doll for H. We still call it, "baby H." If I were smart, I would figure out how to scan and post the picture of her in the outfit, but I'm not. Many of you have seen the picture already. H was wearing a little pink velour number. That was a fun memory.

A Special Day for H and Mama

Today H and I went to a reunion at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the hospital where she was born. It was the second or third of its kind that we have attended but today was a little different. H is quickly approaching the important age of 8. I am amazed how much more she understands about her history of prematurity now than she has in the past. We have always told her how special she was (is) and she has been to the hospital several times to see the nurses and rooms where she spent the first 4 months of her life, but today I think it really started to sink in for her.

I think in the past, her history was just an interesting story to her. Today she was emotional as she asked questions and met nurses who knew her by name and hugged her with glad recognition. She tried to understand how her entry into the world was a little different from her brothers. She was emotional when I showed her the doorway into the hospital where Brad and I passed every single day for four months to see our little miracle baby. She asked me if we were afraid that she was going to die. I told her about the Priesthood blessings she was given and how we didn't know if she would live, but we hoped she would.

I am seeing in H the change that comes to all children around the age of accountability. There is a maturity that comes with the emergence of rational thought that she is exhibiting. She is such a special girl. She is trying so hard to be good and helpful. I think back to the days when I would sit next to her isolette and watch her struggle with tubes and monitors going every which way and wonder if we would ever see the day when she would be accountable, get baptized and understand what a special miracle she has been in our lives. Her birthday is next month. She will be baptized soon thereafter. I am so excited. What a blessing it is to be her mother. I love you, my little H!

The cute little redhead girl in the picture with H is Baby G. She was the other little Mormon baby that was in the hospital at the same time as H. She was born at 23 weeks and initially was not expected to live. Her parents were so amazing with us and were our greatest cheerleaders for H. At one point H and G shared an isolation room because they both had an eye infection. She was really cute with H today and very affectionate. She turned eight and was baptized this past week. I can see that G "gets it" too. It was so special to see them together. I was also surprised to meet G's 9-month old baby brother (7 years apart). He was born full-term and healthy. G has come a long way with therapy and such, and is doing very well. It was a real pleasure to meet her again.

The blonde nurse (Lisa) in the picture took care of H a lot and was one of our favorites. One night H was particularly fussy and she swaddled her up and tucked her into the pocket of her scrubs. She took a picture and called it "H in a pocket" and gave it to us. H has seen that picture many times. I think it was fun for her to see Nurse Lisa again.

I had the chance to speak with the neonatologist that advised us before H was born of all of the statistics and risks we were up against. He was also in the delivery room. I was able to thank him for being honest and compassionate with us as we faced hard decisions before she was born and then was encouraging and helpful after she was born. We feel so blessed for having had such great caretakers while she was there. It was nice to be able to thank him again almost 8 years later.

Thank you Paga and Katie for taking the boys so H and I could go to this special event together.

I am a total blogger-slacker! We've been on vacation.

We spent a lovely week with Grandpa Gilbert and Grandma Sylvia in Cape Cod. This was our third year in a row spending a fall week there. It is so much fun to go to the beach with coats and blankies. We could drive on the beach for miles and find great isolated spots to play. Papa taught all of us how to cast into the sea. No one caught anything, but we found a great fish market where they brought it in straight from the boat. Yum! We had lobster, clams, mussels, scallops and heavenly haddock. BTW- that cute almost two-year-old is SERIOUSLY addicted to his pacifier aka "didi." Like mother, like son...

Miss Rissa passed this one on...

1. Full name? EPT like the Home Pregnancy Test

2. Were you named after anyone? I think my mom just liked my name, but both of my father's grandmothers had my first name in their name.

3. Do you wish on stars? Nope- just look at them.

4. When did you last cry? Tuesday. It was a hard day.

5. Do you like your handwriting? not so much

6. What is your favorite lunch meat? vegetables and mozarella cheese. I don't like meat sammies much

7. How many kids? 3

8. Names and ages of kids: H 7, Jojo 4, Lilo 21 months

10. Do you have a journal? No, unless you count this blog as a journal

11. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yes

12. Would you bungee jump? Never ever ever ever ever!!!!!!!!

13. What is your favorite cereal? Golden Grahams. (WW friends: I just discovered a new really good one- Archer Farms Multigrain Cereal from Target- it's their premium store brand- so dang good. 190 calories, but 8 grams of fiber and only 2.5 grams of fat= almost 2 points for a whole cup).

14. Do you think you are strong emotionally and physically? No, I'm a total wuss and a wimp

15. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? cookie dough or mint chocolate chip

16. Shoe size? 6

17. Red or Pink? PINK for sure

18. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My lack of patience

19. Who do you miss most? My sisters

the number from this time forward will be all messed up..............

21. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? jeans and no shoes

22. Last thing you ate? Red vines and diet cherry coke

23. What are you listening to right now? Alison Krauss on Benji's blog

25. Favorite smell? rosemary

26. Last person you talked to on the phone? probably Mimi. We talk at least 10 times a day

28. Do you like the person who sent this to you? You bet!

29. Favorite Drink? water

30. Favorite Sport to watch? I can't stand to watch sports on TV, but I love to watch my daughter "play" soccer

31. Hair Color? brown with blonde highlights and 3 inch roots. Cute, eh?

32. Eye Color? my right eye is brown and my left eye is greenish hazel

33. Do you wear contacts? No

34. Favorite food? Food

35. Scary movie or Happy ending? Happy Endings

36. Last Movie you watched? High School Musical

37. Favorite Day of the Year? Halloween and Christmas and Thanksgiving and any day that my husband doesn't have to work.

38. Summer or winter? Winter. I don't do heat or humidity

39. Who do you hate in life? That's not a very nice thing to ask

40. Favorite Dessert? chocolate chip cookies with not very many chocolate chips. I just love brown sugar cookie part

43. What books are you reading? the Book of Mormon.

44. What's on your mouse pad? my finger. I don't have a mouse on my laptop

45. What did you watch last night on TV? I didn't watch tv last night, but I love to watch Larry King on CNN

46. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles

47. What's the furthest you've been from home? Hungary

48. Do you have a special talent? No. Does that mean I'm not special?