A day with Madeline makes you glad there's a night.

It was one of those days. Where it is easier to explain what happened by giving you a rundown of Madeline's activities. So, let me 'splain (no there is too much, let me sum up):

-Madeline broke the only VCR we have in the house and possibly ruined a video that doesn't belong to us in the bargain. And then got mad that she can't watch her videos.
-Madeline learned how to open the child lock on the fridge. And now we are on constant watch to protect the string cheese and the fruit punch.
-Madeline ripped a library book. Repeatedly.
-Madeline stole crackers from the pantry all day.
-Madeline repeatedly opened all the DVDs in the house and tried to put them in the computer and the DVD player. Luckily, I think they avoided scratching.
-Madeline pulled all the rags out of the drawer.
-Madeline wasted half a box of tissues because every time I head to blow my nose, she decided she needed to as well. She also wasted multiple wipes trying to change her baby's diaper.
-Madeline asked to go swimming and watch fireworks every five minutes.
-Madeline dumped all the clothes from the laundry basket and then used it as a stool to try and put on Daddy's shaving cream and deodorant.

I could go on. But you get the idea. Sometimes, I wonder if a sinus infection or a rambunctious two year old is more draining and exhausting. I think I'll go enjoy being sick for a few hours. Lest you get the wrong impression, let me say that I love the dear adorable girl. But bless whoever invented sleeping children.

The pioneers did not have Instacares. So I salute them.

Happy Pioneer Day everyone. Our Pioneer Day has been eventful so far. I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend with the family, but instead was visited by a friendly bug and ended up with a sinus infection. So the weekend hasn't been as restful as I hoped. But between the not breathing and the sore throat and the pressure in my head, we've had some good holiday times. For instance, the nurse at the Instacare told me I was small for six months pregnant, which makes every pregnant woman a little bit happier. And I've been eating a lot of ice cream without guilt.

Madeline planned our 24th of July festivities. She's been talking about the fireworks non-stop since the fourth of July, and asks every day if we can see some more. Then earlier this week, she decided we should go swimming too. Madeline is a little fish with no proper fear of drowning, so swimming with her is an amusing adventure. She likes to take off all flotation devices and jump into the deepest part of the pool unsupervised. We feel this independence will serve her well in future life. If she doesn't drown first. And ever since we got done swimming, she's been asking if it's dark yet, because she knows that means fireworks. The sun has never taken so long to go down, but I'm sure she'll survive. Hope you all are having as awesome a day as we are.

What was lost, now is found.

"Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one apiece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost."
-Luke 15:8-9

Usually I'm not the sort of blogger that starts a blog with scripture. But today is a special occasion. Basically, my mind was blown today. Because things like this don't happen.

Here's the deal: two years ago I lost my wedding ring. It was kind of a big deal. I cried a lot. I had put it somewhere safe while my fingers blew up like sausages while I was pregnant with Madeline, and when the baby dust had settled, I couldn't find my ring anywhere. I ripped apart the house, I searched every crevice, every drawer, every bag, every pocket. We went through two moves where I searched every box coming and going. Eventually, I gave up the ring for lost. Last Christmas, Jessie gave me a replacement ring, which was an incredibly sweet thing for him to do, and I was feeling better about the whole situation.

Then, today, I was going through Madeline's baby things and boxes to try and find the bumpers for the new baby's crib. I was moving a pile of blankets off of a box.

And out fell my ring.

I was flabbergasted. Wedding rings that have been missing for two years do not just suddenly fall out of piles of blankets that we've been using regularly. But there it was.

The only thing I can think of is that it fell out of an upside down duffel bag that was on top of the pile of blankets. A duffel bag that I had searched inch by inch at least half a dozen times. Crazy and totally unlikely, but there you go. Needless to say, I am beyond thrilled to have my wedding ring back. Besides being a rather expensive investment, it obviously has a lot of sentimental value. I don't know how it managed to show up, but I'm assuming there was probably a minor miracle or two behind it. And I've probably used up my good luck and or blessing quota for the next year. But I'm okay with that.

Thank heaven for small miracles.

Somebody stop me.

So I finally like chocolate again. And I can't stop eating it. I want to do nothing but stuff my face with Little Debbie's cupcakes all day. And Swiss Rolls. And Ding Dongs. And anything else with chocolate and creme. I'm pretty sure this is how I gained all the weight with Madeline. So if someone would like to stage an intervention and save me from myself, I will name our dog after you. If we ever get a dog. I would name the baby after you, but no offense, you might have a really stupid name. Or you might be male, which would make our kid hate me all through junior high and high school. So anyway, the honor of having a canine named after you someday is at stake here. Also my waistline.

That's all. Nothing exciting is happening. I'm just having powerful chocolate cravings. You can return to your normal programming now.

It's me again. Surprise.

I feel like I start out most my posts nowadays by letting you all know that I'm still alive and here. Because you probably thought I was dead. But sometimes I have to check every morning to make sure I'm still alive, and I forget that the rest of you are up to more interesting pastimes.

Jessie is feeling a lot better and is back to work. Which means Madeline and I are back to trying to make sure the house is respectably clean and Madeline is reasonably sane and well-cared for. This has been fun the past week, because somewhere I picked up some kind of virus that has twice resulted in horrible stomach pains that have kept me up half the night. And made me nauseated and unwilling to eat again. Welcome back nausea. I didn't miss you. But hopefully my GI tract and I have finally made up and life will be good again, before we get to the part where I'm miserably fat and uncomfortable. Because I could use the breather.

But on to happier things. I bought some new shoes for the first time in about a year, and there was much rejoicing in our house. Mostly from Madeline and I. Jessie is still trying to appreciate how new shoes can brighten your life. And later today, my little brother is going through the temple for the first time, which I'm looking forward to as a relaxing and uplifting event. And Jessie is only three weeks away from being officially done with his MBA, and officially home with me more often. Permanent summer vacation, is how we're choosing to look at this important milestone. So good times are coming for all, and we'll be dancing in the street all night. Or until we get nauseous and have to lie down.

Our life as invalids

Hope you all enjoy the new header. This is what happens when Jessie is stuck at home for two days without being allowed to do anything productive. He begged to be allowed to fold laundry this morning, and then promptly fell asleep for two hours from the exertion. So we're sticking to making photo collages and watching movies.

Madeline is enjoying having Jessie home, although she's not quite getting the whole recovery concept. She knew he went to the doctor, and we tried to explain to her what happened with her Madeline doll and books, which conveniently feature an appendectomy. But although she enjoys looking at his 'owies' and wandering around complaining that her tummy hurts, she hasn't grasped the rule that she can't jump on Daddy's lap or kick him in the stomach. And since I've been trying to enforce this rule for Mommy ever since we found out I was pregnant and she still doesn't follow it, I'm pretty sure she won't be figuring it out anytime soon.

As for Jessie, he's pretty much acting like a pregnant woman. I laugh when we sit next to each other on the couch holding our stomachs and fight over the bathroom (even though there are three in our house.) Both of us are banned from heavy lifting, we both have no appetite, and both our stomachs are bloated. So we're enjoying understanding each other's pain. Although I think it's unfair that he gets narcotics. Something about being cut open being painful. Whatever.

Contrary to popular opinion, it was not all a ploy to avoid Antimony.

Well, welcome back to our wacky and exciting life. For once my lack of blogging is because there were things going on, not because I was weary of posting about pregnancy ills and Madeline's quirks. But brace yourselves- this post will contain only trace amounts of either.

We spent most of the weekend at the Lundstrom family reunion in Logan. Which is pretty much an awesome event, and I'm pretty sad for all of you who aren't Lundstroms. Basically, Lundstrom family reunions are two day sports marathons, with intense games of soccer, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, basketball, kickball, and anything else we can think of that will wear people out and burn up some excess competitive drives. And the old people/gimps/pregnant people sit and hold babies and talk. It works out pretty well. As always, we had a great time but were pretty exhausted by the end of the festivities.

Here's where our story gets fun. We stopped at my parents ward on the way home (since they have church two hours later than us and we could sleep in. I came up with this brilliant idea. Sometimes I am amazing.) Towards the end of church, Jessie started having stomach pain. Having a history of ulcers, he thought it would eventually pass. But instead it kept getting worse. And worse. Until 10:30 at night when he declared he was dying and decided he wanted to go to the hospital. (Wimp. Just because his stomach was exploding.) In an exciting turn of events, they were quick to inform us that he had appendicitis. (Always needs attention, that Jessie. Sheesh.) So early this morning, he had surgery to remove the little bugger. Happy Independence Day, Jessie! Your appendix has broken off from the motherland and become its own entity!

Anyway. So we spent most of the day/night at the hospital, being awesome, and then they got sick of Jessie making excel sheets charting his recovery time, so they sent us home. And here we shall remain, reveling in our appendectomy convalescence, until Jessie gets sick of me asking him if he's okay. On a totally unrelated note, this means sadly that we will not be making our annual Antimony trip this weekend. I am very broken up about this, and begged Jessie to reconsider, but he was adamant. So no stories about Antimony stealing my soul this year. Maybe next year. We can only hope.