A Nice Day to Feed the Ducks

Loaf of bread: $2.99

Gas to drive to Tanasbourne: $2.00

Seeing Aunt Tami getting chased by waterfowl: PRICELESS

TWO Ponytails!

Such a Big Girl!

Anti Comcast

I've been having trouble sending and receiving emails. This is the 3rd conversation I've had with a Comcast Customer "Service" rep. Below is only a glimpse into the best part of the conversation.

Dan>Hi Kristie! Please bear with me and I will be happy to assist with resolving this issue after accessing your account and reviewing the current chat session.
Dan>Kristie, thanks for waiting! May I have the pin you should have received via mail from Comcast so I can verify account ownership?
Kristie>I have no idea where that would be we got this service 1 1/2 years ago
Dan>ufortunately I am very limited as to what I can assist you without that.
Dan>I have requested that the pin be mailed to you and it should be received with 3 to 5 business days.
Dan>I will also send a test email to your account now. Which username are you having trouble with please?
Kristie_>vandarling
Kristie_>i need this fixed, i can't wait for a pin
Kristie_>I can give you anything else and with all of the problems i've had, no one has asked for a pin in order to help me
Dan>Please wait.
Dan>The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that Comcast include additional safeguards to your private information. In addition, Comcast wants to ensure that unauthorized users do not gain access to information such as the names and numbers of people with whom you speak to on the telephone. These new safeguards will help ensure that only the account holder will have access to this kind of private information.
Kristie_>great canned response however i need help.
Kristie_>i use this for business!
Kristie_>i don't want to be obnoxious, i'm just needing help
Dan>Are you aware that this service is not intended for business related activity and you do so at your own risk?
Kristie_>oh my
Dan>we have a business services designed for this.
Kristie_>We just signed a 2 year agreement with comcast that I am about to rescind
Kristie_>this started on 2/14, they told me it was resolved, it has not. I am paying for a service that does not work.
Kristie_>regardless of personal or business use, i would still appreciate that my personal emails be sent and received
Dan>Kristie, sorry for the confusion but the email feature of this service is free. you are paying for the connection to the internet.
Dan>Please wait while I work on this now.
Kristie_>yes connection to internet that i can get from another company
Kristie_>do not treat me like i am stupid and condescend me
Kristie_>you know exactly what i mean and if you were in my situation you would want resolution
Dan>And as a account owner I am sertain you would appreciate us doing our job correctly and protecting your account security as required by law.
Kristie_>Certain
Kristie_>I can get obnoxious too
Dan>Kristie, thanks for waiting while I send and received a test email to your account to verify it is working for you.

So In Love

I knew when I was in love with Josh. I just knew it. He had gone back to Iraq, I was at lunch with my sisters and I said, "I'm in love." They at the time had no idea that there was even a 'candidate' but they didn't question me, they knew I was serious. And you all know the story from there. Megan on the other hand, when did I know I was so in love with her? Was it the morning when I found out I was pregnant? Was it when I saw her on the ultrasound? The first time I felt her move in my stomach? Or when she was born and I finally got to see her precious little face. I'm not sure but I know I've never not loved her and it seems that I love her more everyday. Everyday she does something new that will make me smile even if it's her first tantrum from not being able to have another cookie (yesterday). Or the way that she wants to be all big and eat a banana the big girl way.


Or when she decides we need to see something or go somewhere with her, she now knows how to take our hand and lead us there. Usually it's to the pantry where she wants to play with a box of rice but it's still ridiculously cute every time.


And then there's the day that you realize that all of those sworn statements about never letting your kid watch Barney (before you have kids) were silly when it dawns on you that she really does like it. Her attention span is definitely growing. I've put her in the recliner and turned something on t.v. to keep her off the floor while I vacuum and she's usually down within a minute or two. Well, yesterday she decided the recliner was too far away so when I was in the other room, she plopped herself in front of the t.v. to get a better look.

She has a mind of her own and it's so fun to see it working and thinking and contemplating what she'll do next.

I think I began loving her when I began loving Josh, they went hand in hand even though she wasn't even a reality yet. Dreaming of a life with him, I dreamed of the family we would once have and I loved her then and I didn't even know it. And now she's here and when I think I can't love her any more, she blows me a kiss and it starts all over again.

Come One, Come All!

Visit from Grandpa and Grandma Wyland

It was a "zoo" at the Oregon Zoo

On President's Day we were invited to go to the zoo with Megan's friends Natalie and Jace - and mommy's friends Sheila and Danielle. I knew it was a holiday but I'm not afraid of crowds so I didn't think twice about going until we hit Sylvan off of Hwy 26 and it was bumper to bumper! All going to the zoo. That's okay though, it moved really quickly and it was such a beautiful day, of course everyone wanted to go! Sheila and Natalie arrived when we did so we got started checking things out. Jace and his mom and dad, Danielle and Justin arrived a little later and we stopped for a quick snack and then got going again. Megan really liked the monkeys (primates for all of you specific people) and elephants. You could tell she was having a better time than when I took her the first time. She didn't know what to think of the gigantic sea lion swimming through the water but she loved seeing the sea otter eat his lunch floating around on his back. And she REALLY loved running around on the lawn while her friends were eating their lunches. She of course didn't want to get back into her stroller.


So, I didn't plan very well. I was a little too optimistic about the weather so when it came down to it, I had to take my sweatshirt off and give it to the baby!


Megan running way too fast down the hill and then eventually taking a spill. I thought we'd definitely be going home with some road rash but I managed to keep the falls limited to on the grass.



Megan and Natalie watching the sea lion swim around in front of them.


Megan and Jace


Mommy and Megan on the train.


Megan and Jace trying to kiss on the train.

Updates on Lesly

Updates on Lesly can now be seen on her website. There are also lots of cute pictures of her taken the weekend before her surgery.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/leslyfoster

Fundraiser for Lesly's Family - Mark Your Calendars!

A Silent Auction/Benefit has been planned for Lesly's family. It will be on Sunday, March 16th from 3-6 pm at the Skyline Grange. There will be a blue grass gospel band, snacks and the silent auction.
Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Here's what we need:
Any items for the auction: tickets to games, dinners out, kids baskets, scrapbooking baskets, jewelry, art work, anything and everything.

Also, remember that you can donate money directly to them at any Washington Mutual Bank in the name of Lesly Foster. The bills have already started rolling in.

If you want to donate something, you can also email me or Sheri Russel at sheryl.russell@providence.org.

Lesly's Latest Update

2/18/08

Hi All,
We got the pathology results back yesterday and the tumor is Neuroblastoma. Life sucks right now! That means if she can get well enough to get out of ICU then chemo and radiation. She is out of school now for most likely 3-4 months, if she makes back at all. We had to put her back on the vent this morning as her lungs are just not getting better at the rate that they would like. They also think that the fevers that she keeps hitting every day are because of something in her lungs. I am trying to have a good attitude about all of this but all we have read about Neuroblastoma relapses are the odds are worse than when she had it the first time. But she beat the odds that time so we are hoping that she can do it again. I will be sending out fewer updates as it is getting to hard to write these now. I will send out something if we have any major changes. If any of you do not want updates please let me know and I won’t send them out, or if in the interim you want to know anything let me know and I will try to respond.

Thank you all and keep praying for her
Glen

Ups and Downs - Lesly's Latest Updates

2/15/08

Hi All,

Today was a good day, she is now off the vent and her chest tube is out. We even got her to sit in a chair. She is running a bit of a fever but they are keeping an eye on that. If all goes well we will be out of ICU by Sunday.

Thank you for all your kind thoughts and prayers
Glen

2/16/08

Hi All Again,

Well we had a little setback today. She was on 1 liter of O2 this morning but her saturation dropped into the 80’s, she is now at 3 liters and she is getting a CPAP treatment every 4 hours trying to get her lungs to open up some more. Also her platelets dropped to 63 so she got a unit of those today. When I left they were at 140. Their goal is to keep her above 100 while recovering. But the good news is that we got her to stand and sit in a chair for almost 2 hours. Hopefully she will have a good night; we might not make it out of ICU tomorrow. Kathy has been staying at the hospital this whole time and hasn’t had a chance to get much rest. The sooner Lesly gets out of ICU then I can get Kathy to come home for some rest and let me stay up with Lesly.

Keep her in your hearts and prayers
Thanks
Glen

Today

Hi All
Yesterday, and last night, were not great nights. Her breathing got worse so they upped her air to 8 liters and CPAP every 2 hours. They gave her a break for awhile Sun. morning and her temp went up to 104. They got that under control last night but her breathing got worse. Now she is on a BiPAP and I am heading in to the hospital. I will update you more as I know it.

Send her all you good healing thoughts and prayers
Thank
Glen

"Tried to be sweet..."

Our past couple of days can be summed up in this video. And this is what the tshirt says. Perfect timing from Aunt Tami.

Lesly Update

Here is an update from Glen:

Well it was a long day 6+hour surgery. They were able to get all of the tumor out without harming her kidney. We will not know the pathology results until the middle of next week. There was one small problem when they placed the central line they nicked a vain. They did not realize that until they opened her belly and found a lot of fluid. So now she has another scar on her side where they went in and fixed the problem. She lost a liter of blood during that time. They also decided not to try another central line because of stress. She also now has a chest tube for drainage, as we see it that is not to big of a deal. We will have to see how her swelling goes for the next few days as they might have to open her back up so she does not rip things. She is in the ICU on a vent now and will most likely be on the vent for a few days so she does not put too much stress on the incision. She will be in the ICU for at least 4 days if all goes well. We will just hope that it goes that way. While she is in ICU we are requesting that all visitors wait until we are out of ICU. I have increased my estimation for the length of our hospital stay to about 3 weeks for now, that could be shorter or longer depending on how things go. The scar tally is going up. The one on her side is 4” and the one on her belly goes from one side to the other. I will try to keep people updated as I can, got a long road ahead.

Can You Help?

Lesly's family is very proud and very private however during Lesly's last medical crisis, they had to use all of their savings to get by. Glen is a glass artist and Kathy is a nurse at St. Vincent. They had just started to get back on their feet when this happened to them again. A friend of Kathy's has set up a tax deductible account in the name of Lesly Foster at Washington Mutual. If you can help them, please do. They are not the kind of people that would ever ask for help unless the need was dire. Thank you so much!

Lesly

This is our niece Lesly. Most of you probably remember her as our little flower girl in our wedding. And most of you also knew at the time that she was going through some really hard times and battling cancer. She finished all of her treatments in August of 2006 and has been doing fantastic since then. She was able to finally start school and finish kindergarten and go on to 1st grade this year. She has finally been able to be a little girl and do all of the little girl things without much worry like playing with her new puppy, go swimming, start violin lessons and begin to read on her own.

Unfortunately we've recently learned that she could be sick again. A tumor has been found near her spine. She will be going into surgery tomorrow to remove all or as much of it as possible. Hopefully only one surgery will be necessary. She is expected to stay 7-10 days in recovery and from there we are still waiting to see.

Lesly's parents Kathy and Glen have of course been through hell and back. To say that I understand even an ounce of what they are going through would be a blatant lie. It is unfathomable to me and as selfish as it is, I don't even want to try and relate. And to even think about what if it was me, her, us - makes me break down into tears. I can't go there. All I can do is be here as a shoulder, as an ear, as a dog feeder, a mail retriever, whatever they need as small as it may be. I hug and kiss my baby girl even more now (I guess it is possible) and realize how blessed we are, how tiny our largest worries are in the grand scheme of life.

Please keep Lesly and her mom and dad in your thoughts and prayers.

Water Baby!

January 2007
June 2007
February 2008

Just another reminder of how fast they grow! We took Megan swimming today for the first time in awhile. Whenever we think about it, something doesn't work out. She loved it! She has no fear and wanted to do her own thing for the most part. She was splashing and walking as fast as she could. The Shute Park Aquatic Center is great for her because it's shallow enough for her to walk and gets deep enough to swim too. And of course she loved seeing all of the kids playing and even gave one little girl a kiss!

She was pretty tired as you can tell from the last picture of our sleepy little baby, especially after a warm shower.

Her Loss, Your Gain!

Unfortunately, I had a show postponement for February so......in order to make up for it.............

I am looking for 10 hosts to participate in a Mystery Host Show!

Every participating host will get a FREE Season's Best Cookbook and 10% off their personal order, and ONE lucky winner will get all the host benefits for the combined sales of the show!
It may be a $1000 Show!! That could mean over $200 in free products, 4 half-price products/combos, TWO 60% off host bonuses and 30% off everything else for the lucky winner!!!


Collect $100 in outside or personal orders to participate.

View a current catalog at my personal website...
www.pamperedchef.biz/kristievan

As a thank you for your participation, please take 10% off your own personal order, and if you have a current past host discount,
that means 20% off for you!! If you win, it will be a great way for you to extend your Past Host Discount another year!

All orders must be called, or e-mailed, in by February 29, 2008
to qualify for the mystery host drawing!

Please e-mail me to participate, or request a catalog...

Here Comes Trouble

15 Months, 5 days old and she already has her first "Sugar Daddy". I had some Pampered Chef stuff to mail out so we went to the post office today. A man came in and stood behind us in line. Of course if you know Megan, you can't be the first to wave. She has to size you up to decide if you are wave worthy. If you wave first, she won't wave back. Anyway, this man waved at her and Megan did not wave back in fact she acted as if he was scary and tried to climb into my arms. He kept trying to no avail. Megan's attention then focused on the State of Pennsylvania teddy bears that they were selling and she began waving at THEM. Next thing we knew the man was getting one off the display and brought it to Megan. At first I was thinking, "Thanks buddy, now I have to be the one to take it away from her." Then he got another one and said to me, "I'll use this one to ring it up." Of course I told him he didn't have to do that but he insisted. Then I noticed that the bear says, "I love chocolate." and I knew it was meant to be.

Peek A Boo!

Not a great video, we'll try again.

Simple Pleasures

Daddy wanted a cake and Megan needed a bath.

So, a couple of days ago, Josh made a random request for a chocolate cake. Of course he did so at a time when normal people don't run out to the store but he knows that just the mentioning of chocolate will drive me out of the house in a heartbeat...usually. I tried to keep my wits about me though so I just laughed him off. I think if I really did run out to the store, he would have let me - but never let me live it down. Believe me, I know, there used to be a Dairy Queen nearby.
Anyway, again last night he cheered, "Kristie is great! Make Josh a chocolate cake!" I still fought the urge!!!

This morning being a holiday, Josh still had to go to work but go in at 11:30 instead of 8:00. It was nice to have him home in the morning. We made breakfast and ate together and then when Megan went down for her morning nap, we did too! It was great! After Josh went to work, I decided I should make him a cake and let Megan help. I'm looking forward to when she's old enough that we can make cookies and stuff together. After her lunch, I stripped her down and sat her on the counter next to the KitchenAid mixer. I knew it was going to be messy!



Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Dipped her fingers in the sugar.....first taste!

Now the chocolate!!! Mmmmmmm!





Yes, that is chocolate drool!

Finished Product!

While the cake was in the oven, obviously it was time for a bath. I brought Megan into the shower with me and it's become a ritual that when we're all done washing, I'll pick her up and hold her. She will lay against my chest while the warm water hits her back. She'll lay there and cuddle as long as you'll let her. It's one of my favorite times! When we got wrapped in towels I guess she wasn't done cuddling because she continued to lay against my chest. It was all I could do to get her dressed!

It was a great day!

Pony Tail!

While we were at Skamania Lodge Tami and Grandma experimented with Megan's hair and sent a pix message to our phones. Since I'm not smart enough to put that on here, I thought the second pony tail of her life would suffice. Isn't she a cutie? Duh!

So smart!

Tonight after Megan's bath I told her to go get a book and bring it to Mommy. I've never said that to her before so I didn't know what she would do. She walked right out of the room, went to her bedroom and walked out with the biggest, heaviest, most favorite book she has! It was so cute! She loves this book, by far her favorite Christmas present. Well, next to the baby and the horsie and the quad, well, she likes just about everything.

Still more bonks

So I wasn't going to post this but now I'm going to to explain the bruise on Megan's forehead. Not even an hour back from our trip, we went to dinner with my parents and Megan bonked her head in the Applebees waiting area....on the tile floor. It immediately turned purple and swelled to a nice egg. The colors have gradually gone to green, then yellow. Now, as most of you know, Megan has quite the temper. If things are not going her way, she will let you know. Lately her method of madness has been to bang her head....on anything. The floor, the wall, the table, you - if you're in her way. Well, today was no different. I think she is teething more molars and she was fussy all day long and extra short tempered. We have very little carpet in the house so more often than not, she bangs her head on a hard floor. She must have hit that spot just right because it went right back to purple and swollen. It's going to take forever to heal! Here are a couple of bathtime pics that show off the bruise a little.

New things everyday

Megan continually amazes us. She really doesn't have to do much to impress us, we're pretty easily entertained by her. I think every night before we go to bed I tell Josh something that she did today that made me smile or laugh and he laughs as hard as I did even without seeing her because he can just picture it. Then if I've been at work he does the same with me. I think we say, "Yeah, she's pretty cute," at least 5 times a day.

About a week ago she started blinking. We were eating dinner one night and I blinked at her and she did it back to my amazement. It was like, wow, she can connect the facts that she has eyes like me and knows how to control them just like me. Silly I know but it makes you realize that babies are learning so much everyday and know more than you realize. I was still wondering if she knew the baby in the mirror is her.



We recently moved all of her toys into her bedroom. They were overwhelming my bookshelves in the family room and just cluttered everything. So now I can actually use them for books again.....someday.....when she won't pull them down and rip them apart. Things to look forward to! Anyway, now Megan will go into her room and play by herself and for some reason, prefers the door to be shut. We keep opening it and she keeps shutting it. There isn't anything in there for her to hurt herself on and nothing for her to destroy, well, that isn't put-back-together-able. (new word) So if she wants her independence, she can have it! We just check in on her every once in awhile and she lets us know when she wants out with a scream. That lovely scream. It's much easier for me now to get things done though, like this blog! Maybe some housework if I get really motivated!

Our Getaway!

After lots of planning, Josh and I finally got to get away by ourselves. It's been a surprise for me from Josh to celebrate both our anniversary and my 30th birthday. He's been giving me hints about where we were going but until Wednesday night I still had no clue. He was pretty bummed when I went to work and had my friends brainstorm with me as to where we were going. Skamania Lodge was suggested and I asked him if that was it. He said no but it really was. I was sorry to ruin the surprise for him but I still didn't know that WAS where we were headed until we were on the road on Thursday.

We woke up on Thursday, Josh took our dogs out to Jay and Alia's for their own getaway while I got myself and Megan packed up. After Megan's morning nap, we were on our way to Grandma's house for Megan's getaway. We dropped her off around 1:00 and started driving. We stopped at the Edgefield to do some wine tasting, one of the few perks of being an employee - free wine tasting. Anyway, after that we continued up the Gorge and reached a snow covered Skamania Lodge around 3:45. It was very beautiful.

We got settled in our room and decided to walk around and check the place out. It seemed as if we were the only ones there. We had dinner reservations at 6:30 so we decided to take the opportunity to relax until then and went back to our room to just hang out. At 6:30 we went to the dining room and had a great dinner. It was very peaceful and quiet. Afterwards, we went back to our room, relaxed and went to bed.

Friday morning we started with breakfast in the dining room and then coffee in the lobby by the fireplace. We had our massages at 2:00 so after some more relaxation in our room, we went down to the pool/spa and sat in the hot tub for awhile. We had our massages and then went into the outdoor hot tub which is the picture above. By then we were starving but it was too close to dinner for a full lunch. We decided to go into the town of Stevenson (where the Lodge is located) and see what they have there. We found 'Joe's Mexican Cafe'! We had a margarita and nachos to tie us over until dinner. It was a cute little place in a cute little town. We headed back to our room and went to the seafood buffet dinner at 7:00 that they have every Friday night. It was definitely the place to be because the dining room was now completely full, opposite of Thursday night.

Saturday morning we decided to check out a little early and start back into Portland. We stopped in Troutdale for breakfast and I dragged Josh to IKEA. He was a good sport. He shouldn't have said, "What do you want to do? It IS your birthday!" After that, we came back to our house and started warming the house up again. It was very cold! We decided to go to a movie before we picked Megan up. We saw 'The Bucket List'. It was a really good movie.

Around 5:00 we headed to Tualatin to pick Megan up. When she saw us, she smiled and started toddling over to us. She was an angel for Grandma and Grandpa so that is good. They asked us if we wanted to go to dinner so we headed to Applebees and ate and then headed home.

It was a great weekend! Very relaxing, but I already can't wait for the next time!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 2nd anniversary! Yeah for us! I just wanted everyone to know that I have the best husband in the world and that we (Megan and I) are the luckiest girls in the world!

We love you Daddy!

Bonks and more Bonks

On Christmas Eve Megan took a dive into the coffee table. Of course she immediately began screaming and I started crying too! She caught her left cheek bone pretty good on the edge of the table. After a binkie and some cuddle time with mom she recovered. She didn't get a bruise until a couple of days later which was wierd. Just a little greenish yellow one on her cheek.

Then last night a BIGGER bonk-a-bonk! She hit the table right on the corner with her right cheek. Josh and I thought for sure there would be blood but there wasn't. But she did immediately get a purple bruise showing how her cheek dragged down the corner of the table. This time she needed a binkie, cuddling AND milk. I tried to take some pictures of it but it didn't show as well in the pictures as it is in real life. But she's cute anyway, so I'll post them!





On a happier note Megan has become the smartest baby in the world! Just kidding but she did recently kick into high gear with her signing. All of the sudden she signs 'please' and 'eat' and 'more'. I haven't worked with her a whole lot on signing but when I started doing those signs she caught on right away. So now she tells us when she is hungry and when she tells us, there is no messing around, she is hungry NOW!

And following in Jace's footsteps, she now tells everyone she's 'SO BIG!'