Some of you may or may not know this about Clint but he is a natural born performer. He LOVES to get a laugh out of just about anyone. He's so dramatic and his facial expressions are priceless! When he walks in the door from work he can have our whole house in stitches within minutes. It's one of the things I love the very most about him and I am so proud to say that he has passed this trait onto our daughter.

Kailey is probably the biggest ham I've met (next to Clint). That girl loves to laugh and play and joke, and the more people she can get to join in her little games/jokes, what ever, the happier she is and the more excited she gets. Of course at this age most of her "funnies" are centered around sounds of bodily functions, but it still cracks us up! She is starting to learn actual jokes though, which is good thing. Her favorite, and the only one she really knows so far, is: Why is six afraid of seven?... Because seven eight (ate) nine. She just thinks that this is the funniest thing ever and insist on telling Clint and I this joke several times a day.

Sometimes, though, Kailey makes us laugh without even realizing she's done anything funny. The most recent event happened while we were driving home from the mall. Kailey was VERY tired and having one of her overly dramatic (fake) meltdowns with (fake) tears and all. So Clint, trying to get her to quiet down starts asking Kailey a bunch of questions. It went like this:

Clint: Do you want to play in the bath?
Kailey (through fake sobs): Noooooo!
C: Do you want to read books?
K: Nooooo!
C: Do you want to brush your teeth?
K: Nooooo!
C: Do you want ice cream?
K (still through her fake sobs): NnnoYeeeesss!

Clint and I just busted up laughing. Then of course so did Kailey! I'm fairly certain we are going to have to enlist Kailey in some sort of acting class or comedy troop at some point!

Okay, blog! I miss you now. I think now that summer is over I can devote myself to you once again. However, there is no promise that I wont leave again. I can only promise that I will always come back.

I had hoped for an uneventful summer full of lazy days at the park but it definitely did not work out that way. It seems that every week was packed with trips to the store, trips to the doctor, ultrasounds, surgery, physical therapy, and who knows what else!

Clint finished his physical therapy and spinal decompression with great success! Thank heavens! He's regained a lot of the strength in his left leg and his back hardly ever bothers.

I've been busy trying to keep track of prenatal visits, ultrasound appointments, and Endocronologist appointments just to keep this baby growing inside me healthy. It's been a lot this time around I think just because my thyroid was off to begin with and it kind of concerned the doctors. I actually have a prenatal visit today which will include another blood draw. I don't know how much more I have left to give to these darn Vampires!

Kailey has not had the most enjoyable summer this year. I feel so bad because she has had SO many doctors visits that she's starting to develop quite a fear of them. The whole thing got kicked off in March when I found a lump in Kailey's neck. So I took her to the pediatrician who seemed rather concerned and ordered a blood draw and an MRI. Both came back "normal" so he sent me to the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. She didn't seem to concerned at first and just prescribed some antibiotics. So Kailey took the meds and we watched it. It went down in size a bit, but didn't go away. So more visits and more meds came. Still nothing changed. So the ENT specialist decided it was time to take it out before it got worse or started draining. Two weeks ago today Kailey went in to have the lump removed. At her follow up appointment the doctor told us that it was a severely infected lymphnode. It's a good thing we took it out when we did or Kailey could have wound up being one sick little girl.

Garrett is growing like weed!! He has four teeth and cutting two more. He is pulling himself up and stand on his own, so I'm sure he'll be off and running in real short order! He's getting ready to celebrate his first Birthday on the 12th. I can't believe a year has all ready gone by.

I all most feel a bit guilty having this baby so close to Garrett bear.. he hasn't even really got to have his time in the spotlight. I think I will feel more guilty this time around, about sharing my time, than I did with Kailey when Garrett was born. Kailey obviously still needs me but she needs me in such different ways than what these babies do, so I don't feel nearly the guilt there as I'm anticipating I will feel when this baby is born. You know what I mean? Then on top of it with in months of having this baby Garrett will get thrown into Nursery and Kailey will be a Sunbeam and he'll be all alone.

I also had the realization the other day the Clint and I will have three kids in high school all at the same time! How crazy will that be?! I told him we will have to make Team Norlie t-shirts and put numbers on the backs! We both had a good chuckle over how we plan to torture our children as they get older. I think we see now, with this baby being on the way, that while our children torture us endlessly now, we will have to the power to torture them endlessly when they are older. Doesn't that just ROCK!?!! I think I'm going make this my mantra!

Over all life at the Norlie house seems to move at a faster and faster pace every week! Kailey is going to be starting preschool next week. She's on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule and on Wednesdays she will have tumbling, which Clint will take her to. So with Kailey having a schedule all her own now I can only expect things to be pretty crazy around here for a while. Oh the joys of family life!

Dear Blog,

I'm so sorry to have neglected you so much for the last few weeks. I fear we are both to blame. You seem to be so needy. Which is not really a bad thing for the most part. Your neediness feeds my ego and I like that. But I will admit my part. I have been to tired to care about you lately. I'm sorry but it's true. I have a house to run and little children who's needs come before you or me. I can't promise that I will be as loyal to you as I have in the past. After all with baby number three on the way who knows, I might just disappear all together. I mean, I hope that's not the case anyway. But who knows. Three kids is a lot. A lot for me anyway. So until the morning sickness, fatigue, and general disorientation of my life comes to end and to order, you'll just have to wait.

Thank you dear blog for letting me share a bit of myself with you. I promise I wont forget you and I will check on you from time to time. I promise that I will be back. I don't know when but I promise I will.



Your friend,
Michelle

I have a lot to be thankful for today. It's been a rough week for me overall I'd say, but today I'm just feeling grateful.

For my lovely followers and random readers who may not have heard, I'm pregnant. Yes we just had a baby. No it was not planned. No I'm not ready. Yes Clint's excitement and joy is starting to slowly rub off on me. At 6 weeks pregnant I'm feeling very tired and very nauseous.

So tonight Clint and I are going to the temple for a ward temple night. I'm not really sure how I'll be fitting in my dress but I'm sure those sweet ladies in the dressing room will help me figure it out. LOL!

I'm embarrassed to admit it but it's been a few months since we last went to the temple. We really need this and I'm really looking forward to it.

We've definitely had a lot go wrong over the last couple of weeks but last night as I was saying prayers with Kailey before bed I really started to think about how much we have really been blessed through it all.

This morning I woke up feeling so guilty for all my grumbling and whining and cursing. So I got on my knees and asked the Lord to forgive me for all my complaining and then I thanked him for all that he had blessed us with, including this little surprise due in 34 weeks. That one was hard but it definitely needed to be included. After all what greater blessing could our Heavenly Father have given us?

When I was done with my prayer I felt so much better. So much lighter. So much more at peace with myself and my situation. Prayer has always been a very powerful source of comfort in my life. I think it was probably one of the first things I really gained a testimony of. I'm so grateful to have that open line between my Heavenly Father and myself.

So tonight we will go to the temple and as husband and wife and together we will thank our Creator for all the good in the world and for all that he has blessed us with.

TGIF! and TGFB (Thank goodness for babysitters)!

Why is that when things go bad they can't just go a little bad? Is this like some cosmic joke that when things go bad they have to go really bad?

With our trip to Victoria, even with all it's own little quirks, out of the way I thought we had a great start to another fabulous North West summer. But it seems that sine we've been home things have slowly unraveled and now here I am today, some what amused by the fact that things are as crazy as they are.

First my Dishwasher has been growling at me off and on when I try to use it for a quite a while now. Well it's officially decided it hates me and now grumbles and groans and growls at every use. Time for a new one!

Second my gas range has had a burner out of commission since we moved into our house. I learned to work around it. But now a second burner has decided to join the first in it's protest to my cooking. Time for a new range!

Third, Kailey got the flu last Monday so on Tuesday I took her to the doctor only to find out that I paid $30 for a doctor to tell me that there was nothing they could do because the only people who have flu vacs are the people at the hospital. So Kailey suffers through the flu but still isn't better after a week. So yesterday I took her back to the doctor paying another $30 for them to now tell me that she has a double ear infection as a result of the flu. GRRRR!!!! Could they not have just given me the antibiotic last week and saved Kailey the pain and suffering and me the $30 ?!?! I swear doctors are like a necessary evil!

Fourth, I take Garrett to the doc for his 8 month well child check and find out he has pink eye. Well of course it only took a couple days for that to spread to the other eye!

Fifth and last but certainly not least, we had an upstairs toilet overflow, without us knowing, flooding the bathroom and leaking into Kailey's room and down to the main floor. It's a mess. It could be worse, but it's still a mess.

So with two appliances on the fritz, two sick kids, and floor dryers blowing 24/7 I'd say that things can really only go up from here right? Well at least it's an eventful start to summer! Let's just hope that means that the rest of summer will slow and quiet!

Growing up that is. Everything about it, to me, is fascinating. How relationships wax and wain, come and go. How you feel about yourself and the world and your place in the world. How complex and yet how simple it all can be.

Last night before I went to bed I picked up the new Ensign mag that came in the mail and started perusing its pages while I waited for Clint to finish his computer game. I came across an article (that I actually still need to finish reading) and read the first couple paragraphs. The gist of the article was agency. I was immediately infuriated. Not about the article but about certain people in my life who have chosen to use their agency in a way that has hurt me very deeply.

So I close the magazine and follow Clint into the kitchen. I began talking to him about this article. I told him that I've never viewed myself as being a strong, independent, leader but yet because of this certain persons choices I've been put in that position. It's a frustrating position to be in when I have so much hurt and anger inside but yet I have to be the best Christlike example/missionary I can be at the same time. Then on top of that I can't even work through my feelings with the person because if I say anything then I'm the big, bad, Michelle, that's out for blood.

I feel like I'm in one of those "Round-a-bout" intersections you see on the road sometimes. How can I be a good missionary to this person who I have so much anger towards? I love them dearly and that is a lot of why I'm so angry, but yet I don't want to know them just in this life. I want them to be with me for eternity. And in order to do that I have to be a good missionary.

I also feel that until this person changes I need to protect my family from them. Which is just one more GIANT log on an all ready blazing fire of emotions for both of us.

Clint's theory was that I just need to be a better compartmentalizer. I need to separate my feelings for the person and our relationship and focus on the person only as a non-member investigator and nothing else. Which isn't a bad idea but I'm women... my emotions are the driving force behind everything I do, think, and say.

I can only guess that the answer to all this is time and growing up and maturing. Which of course in turn requires patience and long suffering, which I'm not so good at. This to me is why growing up is a funny thing. It's usually never what you expect it to be and most the time you don't really realize you're in the midst of it until you come across and ensign article that causes you to stop and think about it. And somehow I get the sneaking suspicion the this whole growing up process is more of an eternal process than a "just while your here" process.

For our long weekend Clint and I decided to head up to Vancouver and Victoria BC. It was mostly good but with any family trip there is always at least one hiccup. For us there was a few, like having screaming children waking up my kids until 2:30 in the AM at the hotel we stayed at in downtown Van and then thinking we lost Clint's wallet RIGHT before we were supposed to board the ferry to go to Victoria only to find it and then lose the ferry ticket which meant we had to buy a SECOND $72 ticket, then thinking we lost our iphone on the ferry which turned out to just be in the VERY bottom of the diaper bag (thank goodness!), and because we are still trying to potty train Kailey, driving all over creation to find a WalMart to buy some pants and underwear at because she peed all the ones I packed for her! But over all it was good I'd say. I mean each activity we had planned turned out very well. We went to the aquarium, and I swear I could watch those Beluga whales ALL DAY!! They're by far my favorite! Then we went on a bike ride in Stanley Park. It's so beautiful there it just blows me away every time! Then in Victoria went to the Butchart Gardens of course. That was an experience I doubt I'll ever forget. I just loved being surrounded by so much beauty!

We came home Sunday afternoon and spent Monday catching up the yard work we left behind. My poor little flowers sure were thirsty! I have to admit though as I looked at my garden I couldn't help but think how pathetic it was in comparison to the Butchart Gardens! I was feeling pretty good about my garden until now. LOL!! Anyway here are some pics from the trip.

The Aquarium:









The Butchart Gardens: