This is for Sara and Kati, by special request-

(but everyone else can look too!)

Have a fanatastic day!

First off today-

I went to the doctor's office today to weigh Andrew. I wanted to make sure that he is still gaining weight like he should be. Today he should be 7 pounds 11 ounces, if he were gaining one ounce a day like he should. And his current weight today is...

TA DA !!! EIGHT POUNDS !!!

He has gained eleven ounces in the last six days! Hurray!

The next thing today is-

My sister, Jolene, put 100 things about herself on her blog about a month ago and wanted me to do the same. I told her it might be awhile before I got to it, since I was due to have Andrew anytime. Well, today is finally the day. I must say, trying to think of one hundred things about myself was challenging. It took me about two weeks.

Here are my 100 Things-

1. I like bananas but I hate anything that is banana flavored.

2. In high school I could type 60 words per minute and I could bench press 60 pounds.

3. My favorite colors are cobalt blue, chartreuse, and tangerine orange.

4. The only time I have ever fired a gun was a few days before my 14th birthday. It was a black powder rifle and the kick from it picked me up and threw me back about 10 feet.

5. I am an emotional eater that loves carbs.

6. Math was always one of my favorite classes/subjects in school.

7. I like long walks by myself in the cold.

8. I would rather not wear shoes.

9. Most of the time I don't enjoy the same music as my husband.

10. I avoid conflict as much as possible.

11. I am a creative wannabe.

12. My favorite time of day is between midnight and six a.m.

13.I love chocolate marshmallow milkshakes.

14. I don't mind changing messy diapers or cleaning up puke off the floor.

15. I have collected tens of thousands of recipes, but I never know what to make for dinner. I always end up making the same six or seven meals over and over.

16. I am afraid of bats.

17. I am generally not good with change or surprises.

18. In high school I collected super balls and green and yellow m&ms.

19. I think Mick Jagger and Willie Nelson are both creepy.

20. I would like to run a marathon (or at least a half marathon) before I'm 50.

21. I was hit by a car when I was 4 because I was trying to be cool and I only looked one way. As a result, I cracked my pelvis and my left ear is on crooked because it was torn off.

22. I really admire all my sisters. They all work full time and have families to take care of. I don't know how they do it.

23. I love my calling as Primary Secretary.

24. I wish I was a better mother.

25. If I could live anywhere in the world, I would live in Newport, Oregon.

26. I enjoy sewing, crosstitch, taking pictures, writing, scrapbooking, and cardmaking.

27. I hate wearing hats.

28. I love paper. At the moment I have four different notebooks in my bag.

29. I wish I was closer to my brothers and sisters and that I knew them better.

30. I am not very good at making friends and keeping them.

31. I wish I was like my brother Eric - no regrets, only learning experiences.

32. I am the oldest of 8 children, four boys and four girls.

33. The farthest I have been from home (Utah) is Washington DC, Edmonton Canada, or Miami Florida. (I couldn't find my atlas to figure out which is farthest.)

34. I learned to drive in the car I was brought home from the hospital in when I was born. A gold 1967 Chevy Impala.

35. I have never liked my body, although I think I have nice eyes.

36. I have been pregnant nine times and have -by choice- given birth naturally four times.

37. One day I will graduate from college.

38. I hate shopping, but I love to wander around looking at things.

39. I was one of only four women pregnant at my 20th high school reunion. The other three were spouses who were younger than their husbands.

40. I really enjoy a super cold cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper now and then.

41. This is how old I will be this year on my birthday - August 2.

42. I am pretty handy. I have fixed our dryer, the garbage disposal, changed the battery in our car, replaced a broken pipe under our house, and countless other things.

43. I have owned a guitar for 17 years and don't know how to play a single note on it.

44. I also own a flute that I played for three years in Junior High.

45. I would live in my pajamas if I could.

46. I am technologically illiterate. I don't have a cell phone and if you asked me to text someone or to meet you in a chat room I would have no idea how to do it.

47. I have never questioned that the LDS Church is true. I have just always known it.

48. I was a nanny in New Jersey for nine months. I turned 20 while I was there. (Before I went to New Jersey, the farthest East I had been was Evanston, Wyoming - See#33)

49. I was once a bodyguard for Wayne Newton and the Osmond's Second Generation.

50. I once took apart a piano, cleaned it, put it back together, and started to refinish it.

51. I made my own wedding dress. It cost $73.00.

52. I took classes at Princeton and I saw Brooke Shields once at the Library there.

53. My favorite flowers are hydrangeas, lilac, and daffodils.

54. I love newborn baby toes.

55. I like doing puzzles. Word puzzles, number puzzles, tabletop puzzles, all kinds.

56. I would rather be too cold than too hot.

57. My room-mates at BYU were convinced that I had a tattoo. I do not.

58. I would love to take classes in photography and design.

59. I am in awe of Mike's sister-in-law Kati. She has so many great ideas, she runs her own businesses, takes awesome photos, is always happy, and her kids are always clean. And, she's really cute.

60. I had braces for about 3 years then wore a retainer for almost 5 years after that.

61. I don't like emptying the dishwasher.

62. I hate the feel of sand under my fingernails.

63. I love Mexican food. I would be happy to eat it everyday.

64. My favorite authors are Mary Higgins Clark, Anita Stansfield, and John Grisham.

65. I will see the Northern Lights one day.

66. I don't like playing sports, but I enjoy watching them.

67. My favorite kinds of pizza are pepperoni with pineapple and supreme.

68. I can't use most kinds of soaps or lotions. I am allergic to something in them.

69. Some of the movies I can watch over and over are: "Sweet Home Alabama", "The Italian Job", and "Just Like Heaven".

70. I like most vegetables I've tried, but I HATE lima beans.

71. I don't like to dance.

72. I try hard.

73. I'm really good at making desserts, but I cannot make a good apple pie to save my life.

74. My favorite computer game right now is Bejeweled 2.

75. I think it is ridiculous when people put clothes on their pets.

76. My ideal temperature is between 60 and 65 degrees.

77. I like black licorice.

78. I have been to both Canada and Mexico and I have stepped in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

79. Mike and My song is "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel.

80. The only pregnancy that I had cravings with was my first. I craved lemons and sour cream, not necessarily together.

81. I have eaten a snail.

82. I have seen "Better Off Dead" at least 50 times.

83. All the boyfriends I ever had were younger than me except one.

84. Mike and I used to work in the baptistry in the Provo Temple every week.

85. Before I was a teenager, almost every one of my birthdays was spent at either Bear Lake or in Oregon at Grandma and Grandpa Ballard's house.

86. I am a horrible salesperson.

87. I am a big fan of chocolate - the darker the better.

88. I always feel like I talk about myself too much in conversations with others.

89. I love my in-laws. We get along great.

90. I think the pacifier is one of man's greatest inventions.

91. I wish I was more organized.

92. I dye my hair. Not because it's gray, but because I like it when it's red.

93. My favorite trip I've ever been on was to Washington D.C. to visit my in-laws for four days.

94. I would love to learn to blow glass and make stained glass. I don't know what I would do with that knowledge, but it would be a cool thing to know.

95. I was assistant director for "Our Town" when I was in high school and I've been in "Our Town", "The Wizard of Oz", and "My Fair Lady" among other things.

96. I do not speak any other languages beside English, even though I took two years of French and a year and a half of American Sign Language.

97. I am really bad at staring contests.

98. I like ironing but rarely do it.

99. I have never taken an art class but I would love to sometime.

100. My family is one of the most important things to me and I always want to be with them. I hope they know that.

I would love to know more about anyone who reads this blog, but I know making a list like this will take some time so I am not going to formally tag anyone. However, if you want me to get to know you better, feel free to consider this a tag.

So. I guess it's time I get back into the blogging habit. It has been three and a half weeks since Andrew was born. During that 25 days I have been in the hospital with Andrew for five of them and have taken him to the doctors office twelve times. After all the problems he had with his bilirubin, the doctor weighed him (at his two week check-up) and found out that he had lost two ounces in two days. He's supposed to be gaining about an ounce a day, so the doctor said we needed to supplement the feedings with formula. I felt like he was saying that I was a bad mom because I wasn't feeding my baby enough and he was starving. Of course he wasn't saying that, and I know in my head that my ability to produce enough food for my child has nothing to do with my worth as a mother. But, with my extra hormones and what we had already been through with him, this news sent me to a place I would rather not talk about. I'm sure Mike was glad to go to work each day and get away from this bizarre weeping woman that he suddenly lived with. I am glad to report that now I am okay with things. I seem to be past the post partum depression I was feeling, Andrew is gaining weight, and things are looking up. At his follow-up weigh-in he had gained seven ounces in seven days. He was 7 pounds 5 ounces last Wednesday (April 9). Now the only thing I need to deal with is feeding him every hour and a half. (I stepped up the feedings rather than supplementing. It was just too painful for me to give him a bottle.)

In other news, Mike is trying to kill everything in our backyard today. Under the three feet of snow that melted a few weeks ago we had a nice lush carpet of weeds growing. It actually is kindof pretty. It's those little purple flowers, but I would rather have a nice lush carpet of grass so Mike is spraying. He's also been re-digging the trenches for our sprinkler system. They kindof caved in over the winter, and now that it's warmed up it is time to get serious about installing the system and reclaiming the other half of our garage that's been filled with pipe and such.

Also, many many thanks to Tom and Barbara for watching our kids last night. You were a godsend in a time of need. You guys are my heroes.