My New Addiction...

Now that the honeymoon phase is over at school, and assignments are stacked sky high, I have found solace in this wonderful beverage. Just when my sleepy eyes feel they can't read another word of therapeutic jargon, I crack one of these babies open and brace myself for another hour of reading pleasure. I think this might all stem from many repressed memories of having no success in my childhood attempts to find the "hidden 12 pack" in the Brown house (Mom was pretty sneaky). At any rate, this has been my life saver during the past few weeks of late nights...and it really does taste a whole lot more like Coke than Diet Coke! I think it's time for another one.

Some new pictures

There's (fortunately) nothing big to report news-wise, so I thought I post more pictures ( in no particular order):

Here are the girls hangin' out in diapers...it was pretty warm in our house that day.

Do you remember the beans we germinated? Well, they didn't die, so we planted yesterday. I know fall is here, but hey, we had fun! (I'm sorry Vanessa is so hard to see)

Here's Vanessa's cheesy grin this morning. I seem to keep losing the Mom vs. Laundry wars, so Vanessa wore my old T-shirt to bed.
I had to throw this in...she loves lining up her toys.
I think we have a gnome problem in our pantry!

Her favorite things outside...dirt and rocks (we have to guard the garden carefully).

Our A/C has been a bit goofy since our trip, so we called maintenance. Apparently, we needed a replacement, so that meant 2 vans and a crane to get the job done. The girls had a blast watching. The funny thing is that we were freezing that day already, then they had to crank it to make sure the new one was working. I was contemplating busting out the hot chocolate!

He's such a great daddy!

Our little bookworm! She is really starting to enjoy "playing" with toys now.

Another Vanessa classic. I think she wears more on her head than on her body!


This picture kind of sums up Nicole's club foot history. Note the additional brace bar. Apparently the smallest bar they make is 2 inches too long. She slept much better after we got the modified one.

I've just realized I haven't been taking many pictures lately, especially of Nicole. So, to make up for it, I included this video of her laughing since she's really doing it a lot now. She is such a happy baby!


She wasn't really doing it as much once I got the camera, but this will give you an idea. oh, and ignore the bare bed...laundry wars.

Smoothies!

Lately, Lisa and I (more me than her) have become addicted to some really simple smoothies. We normally wait until the girls are asleep and enj0y them together, but last night Vanessa got to try one...

For anyone interested in trying them, all you need is some french vanilla coffee creamer (you can find bottles at any grocery store) and frozen berries of your choice. Then, you just put it all in a blender and enjoy.

When the going gets tough, the desperate get creative!

I have been noticing lately that Vanessa's "terrible two's" tend to be more "terrible" when she is bored or tired. Although the tired part is fairly easy (I believe in naps!), the bored part proves to be a little tricky, especially when it is coupled with jealousy. Since Nicole eats every two hours and needs to be rocked to sleep, you can see how this can happen!

So, I got at least a little smarter. I thought since it was now schooltime for Matt, we could create "school" for Vanessa, too. During the week I've been trying to do at least one activity a day that either gets us out of the house or involves something fun and hands on (Thanks Mom B. for the helpful books!). I think Vanessa is still getting the hang of it, because sometimes when I ask her if she wants to do something, she'll say no, regardless of interest. Still, it has proven to be worthwhile.

So far we've made beans take root then planted them (I think I've killed them now, though), "churned" butter, gone on walks, colored, played made-up games, and Vanessa's all -time favorite--balloon dancing. I've let her keep the balloons, and a week later, she is still twirling around with them, requesting music and shouting/singing, "I sing all the time." And really, she does! (You'll have to forgive the quality of the pictures...they're all I've got!)

By the way, as an "edit" to my last post, I realized some of the pictures kind of got chopped off, and so Nicole's brace pictures didn't really do the job. If you're interested, here they are:

I have also included a link that has proven both helpful and consoling to me during this club foot correction process:

http://six-feet.com/index.html

The Black Hole

Yes, we have resurfaced from the blackhole of no posts. Life has been busy lately...some tough stuff, but mostly having fun. Because so much has gone on in the past month, I decided to do a picture slideshow. I had way too many pictures I wanted to share, and although I weeded some out, it's still a lot. (Click on the button in the lower right-hand corner...it will show the full pictures better).

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We got back a week ago from our two-week road trip to the Northwest. We got to make several stops, see lots of family and do a lot of fun things. Here are a few highlights:

*Oxford Suites in Boise. I highly recommend!
*We got to see baby Joshua, grandkid #11 on my side
*Matt finally saw Silver Fall State Park
*Nicole shredded her carseat with her casts
*We had 2 anniversary dinners while our parents babysat! Old Europe Inn in Salem, and Budd Bay Cafe in Olympia. Both were expensive, but well worth the experience!
*I finally eperience my first Mariners' game. Vanessa kept saying, "Yay baseball guys!"
*We got to see a lot of family. Vanessa is still requesting people by name, hoping someone can come over and play.
*We saw Taylor and his family
*We spent a whole day in Rexburg: sand dunes, campus, and Craigo's. It actually was a lot of fun!
*Nicole learned to like the car!

There were so many fun things we did, and it was so nice to hang out with everyone again. It was amazing how fast the time went by.

NOW FOR THE NICOLE UPDATE

As we headed home the last day, we went to Nicole's appointment at Primary's, where she actually got her last set of casts off. Yay!!!! She was given the standard Denis-Browne braces to wear while we waited for her custom Mitchell braces to arrive.

So...true to form, Nicole managed to slip out of those braces. We tried many time to get them on right so that they'd stay put, with Nicole crying, and sometimes us crying as well, with no great results. We finally reached a point where we left them off and just stretched her feet like crazy, praying hard that the custom brace would come soon, and that it would be more effective and easier to use.

The good news? Nicole's braces came Thursday, and they are so much easier to use! She stays put better, doesn't cry as much, and we no longer feel so stressed. I have now doubt that prayers from our family and our ward were answered, and I think that is why the braces cames so fast. Now we just have to do the work!

P.S. Matt, our resident scholar, just started his Master's program this week. Yay!

Counting My Many Blessings

Hello once again from the Brown's world!

Although we have been experiencing changes in plans, sickness, and unexpected surgeries, the Lord has filled even my (and my family's) hardest days with sweet blessings...some obvious, some subtle, but all welcome.

Life with two little girls has already given me some sweet moments. Vanessa often goes up to Nicole and "explains" to her what's going on, or sings to her when she's sad. Nicole sometimes will blink first, not sure if she's going to be tackled or kissed, then responds with happy wiggles and smiles. It's neat to see them develop a relationship with each other.
Vanessa is quite the creative soul. I love her imaginative mind! Lately, she has been saying some pretty cute things:

*The other day, Vanessa announced, "I'm going to work." She then came over and gave me a kissed my knee (all she could reach since I was feeding Nicole), and continued, "Love you so much! See you later!"

*Sometimes I can't fully figure out what Vanessa is saying. One time I was eating breakfast with her and she jabbered about something. I guessed. "You hear the birds singing?" "No, Mommy, the birds aren't singing, they're eating plums."


*Last night she tried on some colorful sock-booty things, and commented, "They're kind of funky!"


* One morning Matt brought Vanessa into our room, and she snuggled close, looked at me, then looked at Matt and said, "Mommy's cute!" What a nice way to wake up!

*There's no real story to these, but Vanessa's nickname for Nicole is "Micoe-coe-wi," one of her favorite foods is "taco times" (tacos), she loves being wrapped up like a "baby tister," and she likes to read "book a Mormon tories."

I have recently discovered how to get Vanessa to smile for pictures by telling her to show me her "happy face." It's nice to have smiley pictures, even if some of the smiles are a little cheesy. (I also have to point out that she's been lining and grouping things by size...wherever she is)
Nicole, despite her escapist tendencies, is my little ray of sunshine most days. She loves to just be around you and will often "talk" and smile to whoever will talk to her. She also loves cuddling with Mommy.
She even did great with the most recent surgery. This time when I came to see her in recovery, she was content and virtually hidden under a pile of warm blankets while the nurse quietly charted her stats. She kept trying to give us smiles that day in her drugged up state.

(By the way, we will have to go up again Monday...she's been moving the right foot a little since Wednesday. Hope for the best!)

Matt has been the source of many of my blessings. While, no doubt, stressed and sleep-deprived himself, he has done many sweet and thoughtful things for me and sends me out of the house from time to time so I can feel like a sane human being on rough days. He even made me a delicious breakfast in bed this morning, which Vanessa excitedly helped make and eat. Matt also is so cute and loving with the girls, who are both so happy to see him when he gets home.

He recently found out he was chosen for a scholarship. This will help cover most of his school costs for the first year! In addition to his outstanding academic experience, we think that Nicole's medical needs helped him to get it (it's sort of a financial hardship grant). There's one of many silver linings in that cloud! On the financial note, we also learned that we got accepted for government help, and most importantly, that our girls will be covered by Medicaid once our other insurance ends.

We love our new place and our new ward. Adjusting to a family ward is a little different from our married student ward, but we have found the "diversity" to be a great help. I feel especially drawn to other women whose children have also had to be at Primary's Children Medical Center for various health concerns. My own belated news may not seem exactly a blessing, but I was called as the new Enrichment counselor (church leadership responsibility). It has required more of my time, and therefore more of Matt's, but I feel the Lord has used that as a way to pour more blessings on our family and to bless me with a network of good friends to relate with.

We are blessed with wonderful family and friends. We have received your help, encouragement, and compassion at key moments. Often your thoughtful calls and expressions of love have been just what we've needed when we feel drained or overwhelmed.

Most importantly, I am grateful the Lord loves me and my little family. I find all of this stuff with Nicole to be quite emotionally and physically draining, and some days are just hard. But I know the Lord has helped us, in all that I've mentioned here and beyond. Every day I can see His hand in my life, and I find incredible joy and peace despite the tough times. I know He loves my sweet Nicole and Vanessa, and although I worry at times what struggles they have ahead, He reminds me to "pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good..." (D&C 90: 24).

Castini Has Done It Again!

Just to let everyone know, we made another trip up to Primary's. Nicole will have surgery on her left foot this Wednesday. It just slips a little because it's so tight that Dr. Stotts can't get a great position. Surgery will bring the best results. Her right foot is looking great, though, and has been making wonderful progress...we'll just have to reinforce the cast because she beats it down until the heel is completely soft!