Our House

Well, we haven't taken many pictures of us lately (mostly because we haven't done anything interesting), so today I went outside and snapped some pics of the house. The pictures include the front of our house, the back yard (lol - the ground froze before the leveled it, so now we have our own lake front property), and the back of the house. As as side note, we don't normally keep our garbage can in front of the garage. It just so happens that last week the garbage man came before 8:00 am and we didn't have the garbage out yet. Let's just say that 1+ week old diapers do not smell fabulous and the garbage can was kicked out of the garage. So when I uploaded those on to my computer, I found some other pictures to share (my dad and younger brothers when Ty went to the MTC two weeks ago, and Seara in her cousin Savanna's sunglasses). So this will be more pics, less words. Maybe. Unless I get carried away. I think I already have.

Elijah is getting to be fun. He grabs things a lot. He and Sam will laugh back and forth with each other - it cracks me up! According to Samuel, his favorite things are diaper changes, going outside, and milk.

Seara has suddenly started repeating everything we say - she learned about a thousand new words in the last couple days, for example: legs, sky, rock, poop, pants, arms, coat, etc. Oh! And we've finally gotten her to say "please"! Unfortunately, we are wimps to it. One morning, a couple days after her last throw up, Sam was giving her breakfast. He gave her applesauce and plain toast, just to keep things simple in case the bug wasn't gone yet. He then served himself Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Seara, being the observant and smart little girl that she is, notices what is going on, and looks up at Samuel with her big old eyes and says "please!" And dad, being the softie that he is, promptly gave her the cereal! :)

Well, after much research, Samuel and I have found that the #1 Children's Literature Master's program is at a place called Simmons College in Boston. The program isn't that long, and if you have intense semesters and go during the summer, you can actually get it done in a year. Our (current) hope is to start the program two years from now, so Sam will graduate with his MFA in April 2010. Then we go straight to his PhD that fall. We'll see. I may ruin everything by telling every one!

Samuel continues to be busy at work and keeps hoping for more time to work on his art. I continue to be busy with the kids and keep hoping for more time to do my genealogy. Such is life! Too much to do, too little time!

February 07 Movie

Flu Season Continues

The good news is - you won't believe it - Elijah is better! The bad news is, Seara had a terrible flu this last week. She was sick on Wednesday and Thursday, acted normal Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday morning as we were backing out of the driveway to go to church, she threw up all over herself! I stayed home with the kids while Sam went to church, and that ended up being a good thing because halfway through church I realized that I had the flu too! Honestly, my dislike of winter is turning into hate! Is there no end to this cold/flu season?!

Elijah is really great when he is well! I never knew that because he was always sick! He loves to talk, but he only does it when he sees a face. The minute you show up, though, he'll talk your ear off. He is still really smiley and giggly, and he just loves to grin at people. Thats a big improvement over Seara's giving crusties to strangers! If only I had him there to make up for her when she went through that stage!

Seara now answers two very important questions: What is your name? "Ara" & How old are you? "2". She takes after her mom! :) For those of you who don't know me super well, let me tell you that I have lied about my age since I was about 10. Well, not really LIED, more like I tell my age according to the fiscal calendar that the Social Security Administration uses - that is that once you pass your half-birthday, you round your age up. So, as of January 8th I am 25, and as of January 28th Seara is 2. (I didn't teach this to Seara, she just did it naturally! Although it may be because she can't say "one"!)

Well, I know my husband. I called this one. Last week (or maybe it was the week before) I wrote that he wanted to get an MBA. We've talked about it for a year now, and I figured it was solid enough to share, but didn't I mention that Samuel changes plans at a regular rate? Well, I think he was just waiting for me to put it in writing because now he's changed his mind. Samuel's passion, as you all know, is children's literature & illustration. So he's recently discovered that a handful of schools, including (I think) Oxford, have MA and MFA (Master's of Arts and Master's of Fine Arts) programs in Children's Lit. So as of this week that is his dream. I hope I didn't ruin it by writing it down! :)

As for me, you already know about the flu and the lying, so there is not much more to say. My hair is really long and I hate it with a passion, but I made a goal to grow it down to my elbows. I have six inches left. Which means at least another 12-18 months. Less if I get pregnant. lol. I cannot wait to get a boy cut!!

Our Freezing Home

Elijah was sick again this last week. This is a new cold. Will winter never end?!! Seara surprises us with the words she knows - the other day she looked out the window, pointed at our backyard neighbors and says "house". I didn't know she knew that! She also recognizes drawings - you have the simplest line drawing of a car, and she knows what it is. She still sings - made up words and all - but now she does it on demand. She has started going to nursery, too. We took her a couple times before she was old enough, just to get her used to the idea. (We'd stay there, but just in the background so she didn't get used to us there.) When she turned 18 months we just dropped her off and left, expecting to have a battle or at least to have her brought to us screaming. But, it never happened. Bizarre, huh?! What a cinch. Sorry to everyone who struggled to get their kids to go!


Samuel continues to exist. He says he has a good life but nothing has changed that dramatically. We are looking in to grad school programs - maybe an MBA? Right now we're just researching to see what would work with us and what we need to do to prepare for it. It will be interesting to see what happens. He newest found joy in life is that I now cuddle with him in bed. (I'm the more don't- touch- me- while- I'm- sleeping type.) Anyway, moving into a home of our own has opened our eyes to the cost of natural gas - and after a nearly $200 bill just to heat our house to 68*, I (Janae) have determined that the kids will dress like Eskimos and we'll turn the heat way down! Sam complained until he realized that I got cold at night and suddenly was interested in him. Now he's telling me he hopes we never make enough money to heat the house! :)

Missionary Movie

Tyler & the MTC

My little brother Tyler is going into the MTC this coming Wednesday, so today we had a special missionary FHE for him. Each RM in the family (that was there) shared a story about their mission, and then we watched this little video I made. I'm posting this mostly for my siblings who could not attend, but the rest of you can watch it if you want! Samuel had some fun experiences with Seara this week, so today he is writing the blog. Here you go!

Hi. So, this Saturday, Seara and I went on a walk to give Janae some time to get things done. It was a very interesting experience. There's a trail close to our house and a a river that runs along it, so I decided to take Seara in the stroller down to the trail. Once we got to the trail, I let Seara get out of the stroller to take a walk. I put her down, and she walked a few steps and stopped dead in her tracks. She immediately looked down and tried to look between her feet. Now, at first I thought she was examining the leaf that she had just passed--but no. Seara walked a few steps more, stopped again, then looked down between her feet. She looked up at me as if she was scared, and then she started whimpering and grabbed at my pant legs to have me pick her up. I picked her up and put her back in the stroller, we walked a few more feet, and then Seara wanted to get out again. So, I got Seara out, she looked around a little more, and then she decided to walk in the opposite direction we had come. And she didn't really want to go the way we were supposed to go. Finally, after a few more minutes, I understood what she was doing. The direction we had been going was west, and our backs had been facing the sun, which cast long shadows on our figures. Seara refused to walk west, instead preferring to turn and walk east. She was walking in the direction of the sun to avoid her shadow! She was scared of her shadow! It was hilarious to watch. (Parenthetically, Seara also ate dirt on our walk, but I'll save that for another posting.)

Later on in the day, I took Seara outside to walk around on the driveway, where she discovered her shadow again. This time, though, she wasn't scared of it. She turned, looked at her shadow, tried to grab it off the driveway, stood up, and slowly started waving her hands and watching what her shadow did. Having realized that her shadow was not, in fact,a thing to be feared, Seara proceeded to wildly wave her arms, jump up and down and shout like a mad woman all while looking at her shadow. Anyway, it was pretty hilarious. So, back to Janae.

Anyway, Elijah is good. He has a bit of colic, but we're okay. He did sleep twelve hours last night, so I love him. :) And life is good!

FussyPants/PatientOnes

I was thinking this week that most of you are more friends with Samuel & I than Seara & Elijah (do they even have friends at this age?), so this week I'm gonna give quick blurbs on us as well.

Elijah is still sick. Poor kid! It is funny how different he and Seara are. Elijah is so much more smiley - he grins all the time! He is also much more fussy. I think he's just more moody. Like his mom! Seara, on the other hand, doesn't have the highs and lows he does. She's just really patient and mellow. Like her dad. :) I wonder if that stuff is genetic ...

Well, Seara has suddenly become very motherly. She walks around with dolls and stuffed animals all day and "takes care of them". When I wrap Elijah up in a blanket, Seara wraps her doll. She'll get out a changing pad, powder, balmex, and a diaper and pretend to change the doll. She burps it and gives it a pacifier (which is really funny because neither she nor Elijah have ever used them!) This week I even caught her using the nasal aspirator to suck the doll's nose. (Obviously Elijah still has the cold!) That was pretty funny! Daddy takes her around the living room in baskets, bikes, etc., and now when he's gone at work she'll just sit in a basket and say "voom!" to herself. That's funny too. But not nearly as funny as her trying to feed herself with her eyes closed. She used to just do it when I fed her. Now she'll close her eyes and feel around her tray for her food and milk, then try to make them into her mouth. It is hilarious - especially when she misses. She is really cute about Elijah. His crying really worries her. Yesterday I was frying some stuff and Elijah started crying. I held him for a little while, but my stuff started to burn, so I set him down on the middle of the kitchen table and ran to save my food. Well, when I got back to Lije, he was still crying, but Seara had climbed onto the table and was kneeling next to him, holding his hand. It was so precious!

I (Janae) have forgone all personal interests and dedicated my time to feeding Elijah. Man that kid is a tank!! Hmmm ... what do I like to do? Well, I graduated from BYU in April 2005 in Marriage, Family, & Human Development with a focus on Marital Therapy. I applied to the masters program and was pre-accepted (I had a professor that was co-sponsoring my master's thesis), but then I got pregnant with Seara and, well, that plan got put on hold. Lately my passions include cooking (I especially love making bread and pies, my newest escapade has been egg rolls/wantons - I even made the wrapper!) and making movies. I am working on a massive project - documentaries on each set of grandparents (mine and Samuel's). Right now my focus is on getting the footage before it is too late. (I had done one of two interviews with my Grandpa Smith when he passed away suddenly from a stroke.) I have a good 30 hours of unedited footage, and another 80 or so hours to film. Basically, I may not get much editing done until my kids are a little bigger and a little less demanding! But I'm working on it. Slowly but surely. :)

Samuel is an artist at heart. It cracks me up because if my sisters and I had been given a list of the occupations our future husbands would have, but not told who would marry what job, I don't think we would have put me with the artist. (Cara's married to a dentist, Lissa to an accountant.) Funny how I can never dream of what is going to happen, but I sure love the adventure when it does happen! One of Samuel's life goals is to write and illustrate children's books. He's well on his way to that goal - he's written a book and made the book dummy (sketch illustrations), and was accepted by an editor with Viking. She's been over it once and now Samuel is working on the edits. He only wishes he had more time to work on it! The company Samuel works for right now makes architectural renderings. They actually did the paintings of the temples pre-construction. And some stuff for Sea World. And other interesting and/or famous places. They are doing a job in China right now. (If only that meant that Samuel would have to fly there and take me along!) If you want to see some of the stuff the company does, the website is: kinateder.com (they actually are making a new, better site that should be up in a week or so).

January 07 Movie

My Narcissist

As this last week went on I took notes about funny things Seara does. Hopefully I'm not too comprehensive or I might not have anything to say next week.

You know, when Seara was little, everything she did seemed exciting. Unfortunately, she's grown up and the things she does are even MORE exciting...and poor Elijah seems kinda boring. This week Elijah had the cold, so he coughed a lot. He also smiled and drooled. And ate and slept. And cried. Well, that's about it for him.

Seara is quite the energetic wiggle worm. I think it would be easier to dress a banshee than her. She also got her dads mega buff legs (Sam won the post-Priesthood session Smith buff leg contest every year until Severin came along. We Smiths have chicken legs!) Anyway, this causes me great distress because Seara's legs are stronger than my arms, and changing her diaper is almost impossible! She continues to sport her mullet. Samuel wants to cut it, but if I do she'll look like a boy and I won't be able to do pig tails. She is learning how to count (more like repeat the sounds of numbers in order). She never says one, but she does get two-three-four. Sam taught her to answer "because" when we ask her "why?" That is kinda funny, but also has dangerous potential! Some of her favorite pass-times include putting herself in timeout (I have no clue why - unfortunately, this ruins the "punishment" part of timeouts!) and sitting on Elijah (which usually results in a timeout). I don't really get it, but every time I put Lije on a blanket on the floor, Seara runs over as fast as she can to sit on him. Poor kid!

Samuel continues to work at the architectural rendering firm and teaching private art lessons on Saturday. I continue to clean the house, cook the food, and wash the clothes. That's about it for us!

Seara & Her Boots

January 19th
I am so in love with my kids!! They really, really crack me up! Today Seara found this little dish. She took a sheet of toilet paper and shredded it up in tiny peices, filled the dish, and went walking around with it oh-so carefully so that she wouldn't spill it. So funny! Later, while I was feeding her lunch, she decided to eat with her eyes closed. She'd sit there with her mouth shut, and when I'd put the spoon on her lips she'd open her mouth and take the bite, and then close her mouth again. All with her eyes closed. It was so funny! Elijah is getting more and more handsome each day. I am such a sucker to his good looks! I love being a mom!

January 23rd
Seara did pretend-play for the very first time today! I actually didn't see it, but Samuel told me (without realizing that it was a big deal) that she was using one of the stacking cups as a bowl, and a comb as a spoon, and she was stirring the comb in the bowl, then putting it up to her mouth, and repeating the process. So cute!! She is getting so big, so smart, so fast! Elijah is the smiliest baby. We spent the day in Sandy at my parents and he was giving big old grins to his grandparents and uncles. It was darling! I just love being a mom.

January 26th
Elijah lifted his eyebrows before a smile today, that was so darling. He crinkles his nose a lot when he smiles, too. Just like me. :o)

A Typical Saturday

Another journal entry - mostly put here because it is so typical of us!!

January 6th
Samuel and I made a plan last night: we'd wake up early, get ready, and then Samuel would go to his office and get to work on the papers he has to write to officially finish his last class at BYU. So, we woke up at 9 am, he helped take care of the kids, we went to the BYU Library for some books, then went to the Museum of Art and saw the exhibit on Jesus Christ, ran a couple errands, and came home. Then he read a bit while playing with the kids, we had a fancy dinner, watched a movie and made sugar cookies together. Ooops! But man it was fun to be able to just spend time together. It had been much too long since we actually enjoyed each other! :)

Better to try and fail, than never try at all!!

Sunday Clothes

Hello everyone! I am trying to catch up for the month of January, so I'm posting a couple blogs by pictures I've taken, and just using my journal from the days before the pictures as text. Here we go . . .

January 2nd
Seara is getting really smart now. She can say so many words - light, shoes, Jesus, mama, dada, Sam, sit down, get down, baby, Lija, nana (which actually means milk), okay, Cici, Seara, and, well, the list goes on. She is leaning how to repeat words and it can be so cute! We even got it on video. Now I need to teach her please and thank you. Elijah is getting so big. He is about 12 pounds now, nearly double his birth weight. He eats and eats and eats, and I keep wondering when I am going to have time to catch up! He has started staring at us and memorizing our faces. Every once in a while he even smiles, which melts my heart and makes all the hard times worth it.

January 5th
Having two kids is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Not that I am unhappy or frustrated, I love it, I just can't seem to figure out how to tend the both of them at the same time. It probably doesn't help that we've all been sick pretty much since Elijah was born. This morning when I went in to get Seara, she and her bed were covered in vomit. Elijah had an incredibly messy diaper, which I changed and must have forgotten to put in the garbage, because I threw Seara's stuff in the washer, only to come back and find a poopy diaper smeared all over the clean laundry, Seara's hands, and the new carpet! Ahhhh! Unfortunately, that is probably the highlight of my day! :o)

Pictures of the Kids

I keep getting calls and emails requesting pictures of the kids. So, here are a couple. The first is from Elijah's baby blessing, the second just this morning. Elijah is two months old now, Seara is 17 months. And they are a handful! :o)

Much to our surprise...

Well, we had an unexpected surprise this week . . . on Wednesday afternoon (November 15th) I went into labor and barely made it to the hospital in time to have the baby! I almost had a c-section because he tried to come out Superman style (with his right arm up over his head and coming out first), but the doctor managed to push the baby's hand out of the way and the delivery went perfectly. We named the baby Samuel Elijah Ricks (but we'll call him Elijah) and he was 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 20 inches long. He was also 15 days early - yikes! We didn't have anything prepared, so my mom was out buying us diapers, blankets, and clothes while I recovered at the hospital. Anyway, we're home now and doing very well. I'm attaching some pics - the first is just a few minutes after Elijah was born and the room must have been really dark because the pics not very clear. The second is when he is about 20 hours old. The last one is just this afternoon when Seara got to hold her baby brother for the very first time. She is really cute, she wants to hold him all the time and keeps saying "baby." I think I'm in for quite the adventure now!

Surprise

For those who don't know, Samuel and I are expecting baby #2! I am due November 30th, so I am almost 22 weeks along. I feel great, albeit a bit tired since Seara is still so young (she'll turn 1 year old this next week). The exciting news is that the new baby is a boy! We think we'll name him Elijah, but obviously we can't promise anything. I just thought it would be fun to send his first pictures. Bye!

Starting Solids

Hello again to everyone! Just wanted to send some new pics of Seara. I guess you are supposed to start feeding your baby solids between 4 and 6 months, and since we have our 6th month pediatrician appointment on Monday, I thought we'd start today. (That way when he asks if we've started solids I can say "yes!") We snapped some photos because it was funny watching Seara not know how to eat!

Bath Time

This afternoon we gave Seara a bath here at Trenton's, and she was so cute that we took some pictures. They are pretty much the same, but for those who are far away, they all are cute!

Seara's Halloween

This is quick cuz Sam and I are moving on Saturday, so any time that I am not feeding or holding my baby, I am cleaning and packing.  Actually, a lot of the time that I am holding her I am also cleaning and packing.  We're just moving to Sam's grandpa's basement - we'll be there three weeks.  Then we're going to Arizona for Christmas for two weeks.  Then we'll move to Salt Lake where Sam has an internship with the Utah State Legislature for two months.  THEN we'll move back down here to Provo.  That's moving four times in three months.  This is going to be crazy!!

Here are some pics of our Halloween costumes. Not the best, but Seara's cute. Sam and I only dressed up for the picture, he is Harry Potter and I'm a department store dress. :)

More Seara

I'm doing much better now that Seara is nearly two weeks old. Nights are still the hardest because I'm so tired, but she sleeps like an angel, so I really can't complain. Today is my first day alone, but I've made sure to stay busy, so I'm doing well. Sam also calls every few hours just to touch bases and make sure I'm okay. He's darling! :o)

Ten Days Old

Hey everyone!

Life is going great and we are so happy and excited to be parents! I just wanted to send some pictures of the baby. Seara is ten days old, so in celebration we took a family walk and did a mini photo shoot. I thought the alone ones of her were funny--the blissful one is the face she makes when she is really happy/satisfied and the mad one was just random, it cracked us up.

Announcement....

 So guess what . . . I had the baby!!  I went into labor on Thursday, July 28th at 3:30 am.  The contractions were too heavy for me to sleep, but didn't really hurt. So I labored until the contractions were really, really heavy, and at noon I went to the hospital.  I was only dilated to a three, so they made me wait until I was a four to give me anything to curb the pain.

I always heard that labor was awful, but it was worse than I ever imagined.  Wow.  The good news is, at 3:00 pm they gave me my epidural and the pain ceased that instant.  (It normally takes about 15 minutes to kick in, but the anesthesiologist felt bad for me and gave me something extra to make it work fast).  The epidural was the most wonderful thing EVER - for a moment I think I loved the anesthesiologist more than I loved Sam!   Anyway, the rest of the labor was wonderful.  I felt a slight pressure when I had contractions, but never hurt.  The worst part about pushing was having to hold my breath!  Anyway, the baby was born at 7:02 pm.  She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long.   We named her Seara Kaye Ricks.

 I got advice to doll up for pictures, and remembered seeing others looking to exhausted right after their babies were born, so while I was at home waiting for my contractions to be heavier, I took a shower, did my makeup, and fixed my hair all cute.  The pictures didn't turn out half bad!

Final Countdown

I am due next Sunday, July 31st, and I CANNOT wait!  Neither can Sam - every time I call him at work he gets all excited because he thinks I'm in labor. Unfortunately, I haven't had any signs or progression that I know of.  I feel perfect!  I keep trying to have the baby, though.  On the 4th my little brothers helped Sam and I attach three hoses to the trampoline so that they sprayed right on it.  Then, we all got in suits (I have the funniest maternity suit, you would laugh so hard at me!) and jumped on the tramp for like three hours.  Needless to say, that had a big effect on the baby.  She lightened (that means that she dropped down so that her head is now lodge between my pelvis and her bum and feet can no longer squish my ribs), then I started contracting.  I had contractions two minutes apart for two hours straight, and almost went to the hospital - but then they slowed down.  I was so disappointed! :o)  Since then nothing too dramatic has happened.  I guess I need to go trampoline jumping again!  We're all ready for the baby to come, too.  We have a little apartment, just two bedrooms, but I've already set one up as a nursery.  I have the crib all ready, with pajamas laid out and everything.  I have baby clothes all folded and prepped, diapers and wipes set out, you think of it - I've done it.  Now she just needs to be born!

New things going on in my life

Big news -- we are buying a car tomorrow. CRAZY, huh?! We've payed a down payment and will pick up the car tomorrow.  This is our old 2001 Ford Focus, we are getting a silver 2003 Toyota Corolla. We can't wait!

Our other exciting news is that Sam and I saved up and after a TON of deliberation and price hunting, we bought a new video camera! We didn't have a digital photo camera, so we figured that it would be wise to get a camera that had both video and picture capabilities. So, I just took my first digital belly pic. Pretty big, eh? I think it's funny how skinny the rest of me still is. I haven't changed a bit! The great news is that I am due in less than two weeks and still have no stretch marks! Hallelujah! (Notice that I am taking the photo with a remote control in my hand, ha, ha!)

4th of July

For the 4th of July Dad & Mom took the kids to Stadium of Fire, and since Sam had never been and really wanted to go, I got us tickets for Father's Day.

Heber Creeper

This last week Sam and I got free tickets for a ride on the Heber Creeper. You board in Heber, ride down Provo Canyon to Vivian Park, and then come back. We had a fantastic time!

My belly was its biggest at this point because the baby hadn't lightened yet (it got smaller after that), but since the photo is straight on, you can't tell. You can see, however, that I have no waist now - so strange for someone that used to be only 22 inches around!