Father-less weekend

Chad has been gone on a business trip and it's a total bummer for the rest of here.  To be fair he won't have even been gone 48 hours when he gets in late tonight...but Sundays without Chad just aren't near as great as they are when he's here. 

This is from the rousing game of UNO last Sunday.  Anyone who knows Chad knows he is 

compe-ti-tive 

He does not "let the kids win" (except for maybe Lucy).  And I keep telling him we are going to raise friendless children if they use as much trash talk with their friends as Chad does with them but the kids eat it up.  It makes their victory all the sweeter if they ever do beat their dad!  Sunday card games with dad is a highlight around here and we really missed it yesterday.  I tried to fill in as best as I could but it just wasn't as fun.  Chad makes everything more fun.  So glad traveling is not a usual part of his job!

March Madness

I just finished my NCAA brackets with 20  minutes to spare!  Thank you ESPN.com for posting predictions from sports analysts for me to copy exactly every year and therefore make Chad think I am a sports savvy wife.  (Chad never checks this blog unless I specifically tell him to so I think I am safe in saying that here).  This year I went with Dick Vitale's picks and Barack Obama's...just to ruffle Chad's feathers a little.  Go Louisville and/or Indiana!

For fun...

Reflections on Bedrest

My good attitude has been waning the past couple of days.  I don't know if it's the excessive heartburn that keeps me up all night or the fact that I feel like an inflatable toy that gets pumped up a little more each week...or the stir craziness that has finally settled in after 13.5 weeks.  Either way I'm more prone to complaining than I was before.  That said I REALLY hope we make it another 3 weeks to get these babies to our goal date of Dec 12th, so I really need to stop my complaining and just be grateful things have gone as well as they have.

Last week (pre- complaining phase) I sent my mom an email with an update on how we're all doing and this is what I told her:

As a family we have learned so much these past few months.  Lucy is still being a champ with all this bed rest craziness and is learning to be much more independent.  She wants to dress herself and has strong feelings about what she wears every day.  She can put on her pants, socks and shoes by herself and gets the right shoe on the right foot about 50% of the time.   She LOVES getting her hair done and last Saturday demanded to have curlers in her hair like Marian and she stood perfectly still while I put them in.  If there is anything she wants but can't reach she gets our big IKEA stool and carries it to wherever she needs to go...the fridge, utensil drawer, bathroom sink etc...  She will even push a kitchen chair up to her high chair so she can climb in.  

Chad is being super dad/husband and taking this all in stride NEVER complaining.  He has brilliantly gone to all paper goods for dishes and that helps a ton.  I have learned a lot about humility and gratitude through all of this. I think I have done a pretty good job at expressing my gratitude to all my "Angels" but not as good to Chad.  Why is it that we are hardest on the people we love the most? I have been guilty of getting frustrated with Chad for not doing things the way I think they should be done on the weekends and have not always been very grateful for all he is doing.   I think that because he never complains,  I sometimes forget how hard this is for him.   But thankfully I am learning and we are learning together how to deal with hard things.  This experience really has been a blessing in our marriage because in different ways, we have both had to make big sacrifices for each other and for our family.  In so so SO many ways I think this long bed rest is such good preparation for having twins come into our family.  Chad has learned to take on more kid/house responsibility,  I have learned to let go of the almost total control of house/kid management that I have had for the past 7 years, and we are all, kids included, so much more appreciative and aware of what has to be done to keep our house running.  Most importantly I think we have all felt united in our desire to have these babies arrive safe and healthy.  Although family life is far from perfect, the love we feel in our home seems a little sweeter.  The kids are a little kinder, and little moments during Family Home Evening, or family prayer, or even when we are having chocolate shakes together...those moments seem to mean more than they did before.  It has been a special time that's for sure.

Although I am glad that I don't have much more than three weeks to go, I am grateful for this experience and grateful for all the things we have learned.  That said...I don't know that I'm getting much out of all the heartburn.  Really, it is the worst!

The Ugly...with Beautiful Marian

I have an update to my post about the Good the Bad and the Ugly of Bed Rest .  Another "Ugly" aspect of it is that at this very minute I am missing Marian's very first dance recital.  Oh it is absolutely breaking my heart.  Especially because it is one of those things where I think it probably wouldn't do any harm to go...but do I really want to risk it blah blah blah!!!    Marian was so excited to get make up on, hair curled and seemed completely fine to have me watch video footage of it that my sister-in-law Alicia is recording so at least she's happy.  Chad can't even go because get this...the man has
  kidney stones!
That's right!  Poor guy.  He spent most of last night in the ER because he was absolutely dying from pain.  He is feeling a little better today but is pretty much out of it because of his pain medications.  Basically we are a bunch of dead-beat invalid parents over here.  In fact last night while Chad was writhing in pain in bed (before heading to the ER) and I was getting ready for bed in the bathroom, women from the Relief Society came by with food leftover from a ward activity.  It was almost 10pm, I didn't hear the doorbell ring and I guess Chad didn't either...but Jack did.  Apparently he opened the door, let them in and brought them into the kitchen so they could put the food in the fridge.  The kitchen was a disaster- Chad hadn't felt well right after dinner so there was still food left out, and the like.  I never even knew they were here till after they'd gone and Jack came up and told me they had come by.  So pretty much those women probably think that our 7 year old son is running things around here...which is pretty true.  Jack does SO MUCH to help out it is almost sad...yet wonderful at the same time.  Among other things, he gets Lucy in and out of her crib, cleans the kitchen, sweeps, takes out the trash and sets out the trash cans on garbage day without being asked.  He's such a little man.

Anyway, I digress.  In an attempt to hold back my misery of missing out on Marian's recital we had a little photo shoot so she could show me all of her "poses".

 

 

 

 

 

Admit it, you are dying of her cuteness too!  After our photo shoot we played a few quick rounds of our favorite card game BLINK while we waited for her ride.  Then Marian put on her coat, boots (it has been snowing all day) and walked out the door with Aunt Alicia and I cried and cried while I tried to drown my sorrows in a glass of milk and Little Debbie Swiss rolls that someone had brought over with dinner.  They were pretty terrible...but helped a little bit.

Saturdays

Saturdays are pretty low key around here these days.  There is usually a trip to Costco and Home Depot (for Chad and the littles) and then lots and lots of College Football.  I am not even going to talk about the BYU-Utah game last week because let's be honest, it is not worth mentioning.  So let's just skip that and enjoy this picture.

The kids LOVE to cuddle with Chad on the couch.  They also love to wrestle with Chad on the couch.  It's pretty much a mandatory Saturday event around here.  Lucy however thinks it is horrifying and no matter how much everyone tries to explain to her that it is just for fun, anytime Chad wrestles with Jack and Marian she desperately tries to get Chad to stop!  It's so cute...and so sad.  Eventually I can  usually convince her to come sit with me on the couch where it is safe.

p.s. When I took the curlers out of Marian's hair the next morning she looked in the mirror then squealed with sheer delight, "Jack, Jack!!!! Come see!  I look just like a poodle!"  It was true.  Fortunately she thought that was a good thing!

Daddy Saturday

We often call Saturday "Daddy Saturday" becuase the kids love that Chad doesn't have to go to work...but most often Daddy Saturdays are less than fabulous bonding experiences...partly because Chad often has to work from home on Saturdays and partly due to poor or actually LACK of planning on the parental end. So a week ago I decided that we were going to make plans for a fun day with Chad and if he ended up having to work...then well at least we had a plan. We planned to go apple picking and it turned out that luck was on our side...Chad didn't have to work and it was a gorgeous fall day!


Lucy was making the funniest pouty faces while we waited in line for the hay-ride out to the orchards

Have I mentioned that I LOVE this little girl? Just look at that face?

Pretty sure I had half an apple in my mouth for this shot

The "Honeycrisp" apples were by far my favorite! They were beyond delicious.

Marian could have picked apples all day!

Apple lover #1

Apple lover #2

and...Apple lover #3

It was such a fun and memerable day. Here's to more "Daddy Saturdays"

8 years

 

8 years ago today, Chad and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple

 

From the looks of it, we were in love,

 

we were hotties,

and we looked like we were teenagers.  

(We weren't)

8 years ago today I made the best decision of my life.

Now excuse me as I go to make an appointment to get my hair highlighted.  Then I'm off to the gym to try to look 8 years younger.

Bait and switch

When Chad and I were dating we would fequently go running together. When we got engaged I was so excited because not only was I getting a husband...but I thought I was getting a permanent running partner. Not so much. Chad hates running. He associates it with punishment from his high school soccer days! Apparently he was willing to suffer through it in order to lure me in. I'm glad he did...I would have married him even if he hadn't run with me but it was fun while it lasted. In his defense, Chad has produced an alternative live in running partner. Granted he is 3 foot nothing...but he will run with me anytime I ask. He can run a solid mile and stay right with me...well until I tell him to race to the end and from out of no where his little legs get this burst of energy and he creams me EVERY TIME! Chad pulled a bait and switch on me...but I will take it!

Happy Birthday Mary!!

Anyone who knows me knows that bloggin' isn't exactly my thing.  But I wanted to let you all know how grateful I am to have Mary in my life.

Sometimes at work my colleagues ask, "How does your wife manage raising three kids with you working here?"  My answer: my wife is amazing.  I'm convinced that is true.  Whenever I have the opportunity of tending our three precocious children by myself, I always think to myself, (1) "How in the world does Mary have time to take the kids on so many adventures (see prior blog posts), (2) "How does she have time to cook meals, do laundry, clean the house, etc," (3) "How does she have time to teach violin (she's is amazing by the way)," (4) how does she have time to serve as Young Women's president," and (5) how is she still sane at the end of the day when I come home?"

Since we've been married, we've been through two years of my undergrad, three years of law school, and two years at a large law firm.  I have no idea how she does what she does, all I know is that she is truly amazing.

Babes, you are the best.

-Chad

Dear Goodwin Procter LLP:

Dear Goodwin Procter LLP:

If I could describe my perfect evening it would go something like this.

Chad would walk in the door around 6:00p.m. (aka still light outside) and take the kids in the back yard to play football and make Jack and Marian giggle while he "jiggled" (aka juggled).

I would be in the kitchen cooking dinner (pancakes of course) while listening to two things: First, my children laughing with their dad and yelling "mom come watch this, come watch this!!!". Second, I'd listen to a gifted musician tune my newly acquired piano (from craigslist).

In my perfect evening the piano tuner would be the same piano tuner who works for the Berkley School of Music in Boston (only I wouldn't have known that when I hired him, I would just find out later how lucky I was when he started play amazing Jazz on my surprisingly wonderful sounding piano.) The same piano tuner would also tell me that I had made a real find on craigslist and that the piano was worth at least twice what I paid for it.

My perfect evening would continue as my whole family sat around the table to give thanks and eat our pancakes (with freshly made syrup). I would have just enough leftover Chicken and rice so Chad wouldn't have to eat pancakes for dinner. But only just enough so that the rest of us could.

My perfect evening would include Jack and Marian playing happily in the tub (without causing too much of a flood) while I sat holding Lucy and Chad swept the kitchen floor. Then, after pajamas and pull-ups we would all gather around the newly tuned piano and sing "I am a Child of God" while I messed up only a little bit on the accompaniment and J and M jumped on the couch only a little bit too.

Then we would put the kids to bed and they wouldn't run out of their rooms too many times before falling asleep.

Tonight was just such a night and it was AWESOME.


Thank you so much for making it possible (financially, "scheduley", etc... etc....

Sincerely, Mary Pugh
p.s. I never properly thanked you for the 4 week paternity leave last March. That was awesome too. Thank you.

The BAR

It's hard to believe that RIGHT NOW our future is being decided by which little bubble a,b,c,d,or e Chad carefully colors in with his No.2 pencil (wood, not mechanical...really it is against the rule). I have 100% confidence in Chad and really am not worried..it's just that this test is SO important. When we dropped him off downtown at the World Trade Center in Boston there were HUNDREDS of other would be attorneys waiting outside with there clear plastic bags containing carefully sharpend pencils, water bottles, and snacks. Some people looked relaxed... were smoking, some were even studying (yikes). At that moment I was SO GLAD I'm not Chad. I asked him 1 to 10 how nervous he was, I said 1 or 2. I'm about a 5 and I'm not even taking the test! Anyway, Go Chad!