I just thought you all would like to know the name we've decided on:
John Hiram Wilkerson. We're naming him after John Hiram, who is Marc's brother. John, you're an amazingly talented, good person and we're so proud to name our son after you!!! As well, John Hiram Wilkerson was Marc's grandfather and great, great grandfather's name. I like to think, as well, that we're naming him after members of my family who carry the name "Hyrum". Namely, my brother Jesse Hyrum Broadbent and numerous others farther back in the family tree. After all, Liz told me that before the LDS influence (Hyrum Smith...) entered the picture (sometime in the 1800's, I suppose), the preferred spelling in our family tree was "Hiram". Voila! Hope you like it as much as we do!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Bedtime songs
I thought for memory's sake I'd post the songs that Marcus sings to Garrison and plans to sing to Lorelei when he starts to put her to bed in a few months. I included them in the playlist in case any of you wanted to hear them. They are very relaxing and Marcus sings them very well! For Garrison it's Jimmy Buffet's "Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season" and for Lorelei it's Jimmy Buffet's "Little Miss Magic". Can you tell he's a fan?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Marcus really needed to get away last weekend so we took a quick trip to Branson...well, really Silver Dollar City. The 3-hour drive was his compromise for me not wanting to drive 12 hours overnight to Florida. Anyone else want to drive overnight with 2 kids and then get up to go the beach the next day? While the beach sounds great, the drive doesn't.
Anyway, big news for Garrison, he was finally 36 inches tall and was able to ride on the kid rides for the first time!!! Marcus laughed when I started to tear up, but I could tell that he was beaming with happiness, too. He would have cried had he not been laughing at me. Garrison and I rode the Giant swing together (which he was brave enough to not cry, but sure wanted to get off as soon as it started going), and he did several other rides with Marcus that I don't particularly remember. Poor Lorelei, at almost 35 inches she was not quite tall enough but still enjoyed herself.
Since it's been 7 months or so since I last blogged, here's the update:
Marcus graduated May 9! and he has been amazing at starting up the (public health) dental clinic in Potosi, MO. He has been in the paper (Farmington, MO) I think 4 times...and here is the link to the last one: http://www.dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2009/08/07/news/doc4a7c48a9b1f7b465043267.txt
He is working a lot... He gets up a little before 6 a.m. and comes home at around 7 every Mon-Thurs, then on Friday about 6. The kids sure love when he gets home and lately have begun to run to him for hugs, leaving him to hurry and take off his nasty (blood, spit, etc.) scrub top off before they touch him. I am so proud of him.
Garrison is still so sweet. He loves to carry around my childhood teddy bear "Browny" because I explained that he couldn't sleep with me every night but that Browny would make sure he wasn't scared, just like Browny used to do for me every night before Marcus made me stop bringing it to bed... and Browny definitely seems to help, believe it or not.
Garrison loves to compliment me, even when I know I couldn't look worse. Whether it's my pants, my shoes, my hair, my eyes, or whatever. And sometimes he'll look at me and tell me that I am so beautiful, and I can tell that he means it. He is an angel (99% of the time when he hasn't found some paint to use on the carpet/walls/closets/himself).
He has a belly laugh that is contagious. He loves to jump, and got stitches in his forehead while Lori, my saint of a sister-in-law, was watching him and Lorelei during our move from Kansas City. Luckily Grandma Joyce was able to come to the rescue (despite not feeling well at all) and took him to the doctor. Oh, and Garrison has been potty trained for several months now which is great. With the approval of his daddy, he loves to go "tinkle" out in our backyard. I let him, but can't say that I just love the idea. We did have an empty field backed up to our backyard. The few days that the tractors were out there, plowing the field, loading the large round hay bales, etc., Garrison loved to just watch. Lorelei is his biggest fan and every time he'd say "Lorelei, come here, the tractor...!!!" she'd come running an they'd just stand and look out the window together. A few weeks after the tractors seemed to be done we started to see some growth out in the field. Garrison, being the smart kid that he is, told me that the farmer had planted corn. I was just sure that it was just weeds again, and kept telling him so, but Garrison was emphatic that it was corn. When I relayed to Marcus that Garrison wouldn't believe me, he told me that Garrison was right! Sure enough, it's corn and is now higher than our small swingset.
Lorelei and Garrison have become best friends, fighting some but mainly they just love to play together. About a month ago I was trying to get them out the door to run an errand and Garrison said "Please, mom, can't you wait a few more minutes while we (him and Lorelei) play in the basement?" That was an odd moment for me, realizing that they were really friends, not just siblings with no one else to play.
Lorelei's bottle (water, not milk) was taken away in March I think, because Marcus said it was past time, despite my pleadings to let her have it until I finished school in May. It was rough for a while, and if given the option, I am sure she would love to have a bottle still. Marcus, being the loving daddy and sucker he is when it comes to his baby girl, couldn't bear to see her cry when I left him to put her to bed the Saturday night after the Monday I took it away, and so she was so happy that night. As many of you know, she is my "easy" baby to put to sleep because I used to just put her in the crib and she'd go right to sleep. When I took the bottle away, though, she cried every night, and pretty much has until 2 weeks ago when suddenly, while I was trying to rock her, she said "crib" (more like "curb", but I understood) and as soon as I put her in bed she curled up on her side, smiled, and closed her eyes to go to sleep. She's done the same thing ever since with the exception of a couple of times.
She is starting to talk a lot, but is so hard to understand most of the time. When I think I understand but want to make sure, I ask her, and she'll tell me "yeah" and the cutest little voice and inflection or, of course, no if I'm wrong. When I ask her a question she doesn't know she hold her hands out, shrug her shoulders and say "know" (as in "I don't know"). She loves baby dolls, necklaces, shoes, clothes, and pretty much any toy that Garrison likes. My favorite thing I hear her say right now is "read, book" which she says perfectly. It is very hard to tell her no when I have to.
I finished school May 9th! It was crazy trying to get the last two weeks done in one but thanks to Joyce and Larry I got it done so that I could enjoy Marcus's one week off before he started work. I took one of my finals in California, but was still able to have lots of fun visiting my sisters Rach and Liz and their families.
Marcus was "called" (literally, on the phone tonight) to be the 1st counselor in the young men's presidency, and I as primary pianist. We like our new ward a lot.
Liz and Charlie, you might be interested to know that Marcus replaced some of our kitchen lights last week/weekend and has plans to change out 3 more ceiling fans (1 which we brought from KC). We also had Garrison and Lorelei's rooms painted. Funny thing unless you're me or Marcus, we hired a kid from our ward to do it for us. After seeing the yellow color I'd picked out on Garrison's wall (it wasn't finished because the green from before was still showing through quite a bit) I decided I didn't like it. Then when we left for Branson we left him a key to finish up the job with instructions (over the phone) to finish up the coats of kilz Marcus had started to cover up the yellow and continue with the blue color I'd picked out and set by the piano. We were quite shocked to come home to a yellow room. The kid did great work, but there was definitely a miscommunication. We asked a friend in our new ward to finish it up for us (we'd pay him while I watched his kids) but he did it and wouldn't let us pay him. Amazing, huh? That night I finished it up by doing one coat to finish off the pink in Lorelei's room and the last coat of blue in Garrison's room. And you know what Garrison thinks? I didn't consult him in choosing the blue that matched his quilt (the light turquoise, actually) and he was excited to have his room yellow. He STILL wants his room to be yellow and doesn't like the blue at all, but he is out of luck with me and Marcus. At this point, we're definitely not changing it back!
Anyway, big news for Garrison, he was finally 36 inches tall and was able to ride on the kid rides for the first time!!! Marcus laughed when I started to tear up, but I could tell that he was beaming with happiness, too. He would have cried had he not been laughing at me. Garrison and I rode the Giant swing together (which he was brave enough to not cry, but sure wanted to get off as soon as it started going), and he did several other rides with Marcus that I don't particularly remember. Poor Lorelei, at almost 35 inches she was not quite tall enough but still enjoyed herself.
Since it's been 7 months or so since I last blogged, here's the update:
Marcus graduated May 9! and he has been amazing at starting up the (public health) dental clinic in Potosi, MO. He has been in the paper (Farmington, MO) I think 4 times...and here is the link to the last one: http://www.dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2009/08/07/news/doc4a7c48a9b1f7b465043267.txt
He is working a lot... He gets up a little before 6 a.m. and comes home at around 7 every Mon-Thurs, then on Friday about 6. The kids sure love when he gets home and lately have begun to run to him for hugs, leaving him to hurry and take off his nasty (blood, spit, etc.) scrub top off before they touch him. I am so proud of him.
Garrison is still so sweet. He loves to carry around my childhood teddy bear "Browny" because I explained that he couldn't sleep with me every night but that Browny would make sure he wasn't scared, just like Browny used to do for me every night before Marcus made me stop bringing it to bed... and Browny definitely seems to help, believe it or not.
Garrison loves to compliment me, even when I know I couldn't look worse. Whether it's my pants, my shoes, my hair, my eyes, or whatever. And sometimes he'll look at me and tell me that I am so beautiful, and I can tell that he means it. He is an angel (99% of the time when he hasn't found some paint to use on the carpet/walls/closets/himself).
He has a belly laugh that is contagious. He loves to jump, and got stitches in his forehead while Lori, my saint of a sister-in-law, was watching him and Lorelei during our move from Kansas City. Luckily Grandma Joyce was able to come to the rescue (despite not feeling well at all) and took him to the doctor. Oh, and Garrison has been potty trained for several months now which is great. With the approval of his daddy, he loves to go "tinkle" out in our backyard. I let him, but can't say that I just love the idea. We did have an empty field backed up to our backyard. The few days that the tractors were out there, plowing the field, loading the large round hay bales, etc., Garrison loved to just watch. Lorelei is his biggest fan and every time he'd say "Lorelei, come here, the tractor...!!!" she'd come running an they'd just stand and look out the window together. A few weeks after the tractors seemed to be done we started to see some growth out in the field. Garrison, being the smart kid that he is, told me that the farmer had planted corn. I was just sure that it was just weeds again, and kept telling him so, but Garrison was emphatic that it was corn. When I relayed to Marcus that Garrison wouldn't believe me, he told me that Garrison was right! Sure enough, it's corn and is now higher than our small swingset.
Lorelei and Garrison have become best friends, fighting some but mainly they just love to play together. About a month ago I was trying to get them out the door to run an errand and Garrison said "Please, mom, can't you wait a few more minutes while we (him and Lorelei) play in the basement?" That was an odd moment for me, realizing that they were really friends, not just siblings with no one else to play.
Lorelei's bottle (water, not milk) was taken away in March I think, because Marcus said it was past time, despite my pleadings to let her have it until I finished school in May. It was rough for a while, and if given the option, I am sure she would love to have a bottle still. Marcus, being the loving daddy and sucker he is when it comes to his baby girl, couldn't bear to see her cry when I left him to put her to bed the Saturday night after the Monday I took it away, and so she was so happy that night. As many of you know, she is my "easy" baby to put to sleep because I used to just put her in the crib and she'd go right to sleep. When I took the bottle away, though, she cried every night, and pretty much has until 2 weeks ago when suddenly, while I was trying to rock her, she said "crib" (more like "curb", but I understood) and as soon as I put her in bed she curled up on her side, smiled, and closed her eyes to go to sleep. She's done the same thing ever since with the exception of a couple of times.
She is starting to talk a lot, but is so hard to understand most of the time. When I think I understand but want to make sure, I ask her, and she'll tell me "yeah" and the cutest little voice and inflection or, of course, no if I'm wrong. When I ask her a question she doesn't know she hold her hands out, shrug her shoulders and say "know" (as in "I don't know"). She loves baby dolls, necklaces, shoes, clothes, and pretty much any toy that Garrison likes. My favorite thing I hear her say right now is "read, book" which she says perfectly. It is very hard to tell her no when I have to.
I finished school May 9th! It was crazy trying to get the last two weeks done in one but thanks to Joyce and Larry I got it done so that I could enjoy Marcus's one week off before he started work. I took one of my finals in California, but was still able to have lots of fun visiting my sisters Rach and Liz and their families.
Marcus was "called" (literally, on the phone tonight) to be the 1st counselor in the young men's presidency, and I as primary pianist. We like our new ward a lot.
Liz and Charlie, you might be interested to know that Marcus replaced some of our kitchen lights last week/weekend and has plans to change out 3 more ceiling fans (1 which we brought from KC). We also had Garrison and Lorelei's rooms painted. Funny thing unless you're me or Marcus, we hired a kid from our ward to do it for us. After seeing the yellow color I'd picked out on Garrison's wall (it wasn't finished because the green from before was still showing through quite a bit) I decided I didn't like it. Then when we left for Branson we left him a key to finish up the job with instructions (over the phone) to finish up the coats of kilz Marcus had started to cover up the yellow and continue with the blue color I'd picked out and set by the piano. We were quite shocked to come home to a yellow room. The kid did great work, but there was definitely a miscommunication. We asked a friend in our new ward to finish it up for us (we'd pay him while I watched his kids) but he did it and wouldn't let us pay him. Amazing, huh? That night I finished it up by doing one coat to finish off the pink in Lorelei's room and the last coat of blue in Garrison's room. And you know what Garrison thinks? I didn't consult him in choosing the blue that matched his quilt (the light turquoise, actually) and he was excited to have his room yellow. He STILL wants his room to be yellow and doesn't like the blue at all, but he is out of luck with me and Marcus. At this point, we're definitely not changing it back!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Fun with Job Hunting
Lorelei on the cruise while Garrison slept.
On the Pirate Cruise
Wow, she's got a long tongue, eh?! (o:
Lorelei would lay down her head, then pop it back up to see the parade periodically.
At the "Tree of Life"
Garrison gave great big hugs to Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and ...? Can't remember.
The safari was awesome!
I don't think I'd ever seen a giraffe in person before: especially this close! Garrison loved the elephants too.
Lorelei LOVES her daddy. She gives him great big loves, and EVERY time the phone rings she yells out "Daddy" (the last two d's are less pronounced and sound a little like a y, but it's darling.)Well, I have been wondering for a long time now where we would live for (at least) 3 years while Marcus fulfills his commitment to National Health Services Corps. Today, though, Marcus signed a contract! He will work in Potosi, MO (way out in the booneys) but we will live somewhere else. We think in Washington, MO because first of all, family, and second because Marcus loves the YMCA. Like I mentioned in a previous blog, he loves the water, and the Y has a pool, sauna, and gym. He goes there pretty much every day and loves it. Toward Potosi, there is not another Y or gym with a pool.
Anyhow, posted above are some pictures from January 1-6 when we went to Florida. Marcus really wanted to live by the water/beach, so he applied to a few jobs there. He interviewed in Tampa and Sumpterville and took me and the kids with him. While there we went to Clearwater beach, took a 2-hour long Pirate Cruise, and went to Disney's Animal Kingdom and Magical Kingdom. The kids loved it! I learned that Lorelei, like her daddy, has no fear of the water (including waves) but wants to dive right in. Last year at the beach all she wanted to do was eat sand but luckily she is past that! Garrison loves to collect any and all shells and dig in the sand. Like his daddy, he was emphatic about the necessity of wearing his sunglasses. (o:
FYI: I share this because I hope that we all can be a little more sensitive to others as well as to share with you what is going on in our lives. Marcus and I were both surprised by how many people (I'd say about 20) this past week asked us if Garrison and Lorelei were twins. They are 19 months apart. This was hard to hear. For instance a man at the park today was speaking to his daughter today and said "watch out for the baby" and I thought, "his girl can't be older than Garrison", and sure enough she was 5 months younger. I did point this out to the man... She was taller, sure, but really, calling him a "baby"? He was talking up a storm! I did not like for Garrison to hear himself referred to as a baby, even though I (maybe) am more sensitive to it than he is. You may think that Garrison is oblivious to the fact that every other kid his age is bigger than him, but he is not. While getting the IV in his arm for the testing I left the room and had the nurses take care of that. Since then he has said "The doctor says I'm not growing" with this sad and concerned look on his face and it just breaks my heart. The test confirmed that he has pituitary dwarfism. In other words, his body is correctly proportioned, and he will be getting growth hormone. In the first year of treatment, from my understanding, he will grow 4x that of other children his age so I look forward to him catching up quickly. On the other hand, it is going to be very hard for Marcus and I to administer shots to him every day...
In case you can't tell, they are BOTH asleep!
And I'm sure you'll notice that our stroller squeaks very loudly!
Daddy bought them light-up toys. Lorelei's was actually a light-up necklace thing. The rose was actually for me. Thanks, again, Marcus. The toys were a big hit.
Garrison is so funny. Here he is saying "where are you" repeatedly in a funny voice. He cracks me up!
Christmas 2008
Here's Garrison, "fixing" his digger with his new hammer from Uncle John.
Isn't she so beautiful?!
Lorelei loves her toy from Uncle John!
She LOVES her bottle. When she sees I'm preparing one (even if it only has water, which is most of the time) she starts panting. I need to get it on video 'cause it is so cute.Christmas was great this year. Garrison, especially, was so very excited about the whole thing. As tradition goes, we open presents with the Wilkerson family on Christmas eve (except, of course, Santa's gift because it doesn't arrive until Christmas) and Garrison was so excited opening one after the other until finally he was so excited that he just wanted to play--not to open more presents, so the rest got pushed back until Christmas morning. Lorelei got excited, but she still doesn't get the whole unwrapping presents thing yet. Santa got Garrison a digger/tractor with an extra seat for Lorelei so she could dig with him. Santa got Lorelei a stroller with a baby doll. After the fact, Santa realizes that both of the gifts would have been a little more age appropriate if they were to get them for next year's Christmas, but hey, Santa did his best!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Cruise
I have a lot to post! We had a great December. On December 12, after Marcus and I had finished our finals, we dropped off Garrison and Lorelei with his amazing parents until December 22. Marcus and I went on our first cruise vacation which traveled to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. It was great! Especially once Marcus bought me a little scopolamine patch in Puerto Rico (I was seasick due to the 15-foot swells) to stop me from looking like I had drank one too many! We both got scuba certified, however he is more advanced than me because he took an extra class that I did not want to do. In our first classes together we learned to breathe underwater with the regulator, clear it, clear the mask of water, take off the mask and breathe without it for about a minute, then put the mask back on and clear it once again...and more. Marcus also had to strip off his vest/gear, swim across a pool and back, then put it back on, then start breathing again all underwater...I know that I would have failed that test without days or even months of practice so I didn't pay the extra money to get the extra certification to dive without the help of a divemaster. We completed our open water dive in St. Maarten. Despite my fears, I did just fine and wasn't scared the whole time I was underwater. Anyway, I learned a few things I had not realized about Marcus. He has NO FEAR of the water. Even when my family got a pool when I was around 10 it took me a LONG time to dive head first into the water. I tried a back dive 3 times because my friends were pushing me into trying it, and I back-flopped every time and haven't tried it since. I like to be safe above water! Not Marcus. He might as well be a fish. The dive instructor's helper was a little disturbed doing the testing because when he removed his mask at 30 feet under while breathing through the regulator he kept his eyes open the whole time! My eyes, on the other hand, were stinging for at least a few seconds after every time I did something as little as clear my mask. Marcus was a natural at scuba diving. The instructor told him he was his best student in the class. I don't even have to question who was his worst... and neither does Marcus!
Garrison and Lorelei did well without us for the most part. They love their Grandma! She gives them all of her attention and love. We left knowing that Lorelei had just developed a fever and after just a few days Grandma Joyce took her to the doctor and she had an ear infection. She was prescribed amoxicillin and she got better thereafter. Sometime during that time Garrison told Grandma repeatedly that his ear hurt so she (knowing that we had given him amoxicillin in the past) slipped him some of Lorelei's medicine. For the first time, he broke out with big red bumps on his belly, so now we know he is allergic. Luckily he loved the cherry-flavored Benadryl, and soon thereafter got his ear infection taken care of too. Poor Grandma Joyce is a saint. She was sick the entire time and was still as sweet as ever. We are so blessed to have her.
Me and Marcus on the ship
Marcus and me in Puerto Rico
The beach at Magen's Bay, St. Thomas
Me at Magen's Bay, St. Thomas. Marcus swimmed, and I was so happy just to take a nap in the warm sun. Marcus made me include this picture.
Our ship was the one docked farthest to the right
Marcus and Jorge, our instructor.
This, I think?, was where we did the open water dive at St. Maarten.
Touring after the dive.
Garrison and Lorelei did well without us for the most part. They love their Grandma! She gives them all of her attention and love. We left knowing that Lorelei had just developed a fever and after just a few days Grandma Joyce took her to the doctor and she had an ear infection. She was prescribed amoxicillin and she got better thereafter. Sometime during that time Garrison told Grandma repeatedly that his ear hurt so she (knowing that we had given him amoxicillin in the past) slipped him some of Lorelei's medicine. For the first time, he broke out with big red bumps on his belly, so now we know he is allergic. Luckily he loved the cherry-flavored Benadryl, and soon thereafter got his ear infection taken care of too. Poor Grandma Joyce is a saint. She was sick the entire time and was still as sweet as ever. We are so blessed to have her.
Me and Marcus on the ship
Marcus and me in Puerto Rico
The beach at Magen's Bay, St. Thomas
Me at Magen's Bay, St. Thomas. Marcus swimmed, and I was so happy just to take a nap in the warm sun. Marcus made me include this picture.
Our ship was the one docked farthest to the right
Marcus and Jorge, our instructor.
This, I think?, was where we did the open water dive at St. Maarten.
Touring after the dive.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
So last week Garrison was watching me try to comfort Lorelei as she was crying and he comes over to her and lightly strokes her hair and says "shh, shh...You like that sound, baby girl, huh?" He is so sweet and good. I had never thought about whether or not Lorelei likes the "shh" sound before he said that!
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