2007-04-23 Michelle's Update

Hi everyone,

It has been WAY too long since I have done this and now it just keeps getting easier and easier to not write one. I realize I have only missed a couple of weeks, but still. Our lives are busy and I like to record it:)

We spent the weekend in Frisco, which is where the ski resorts are. We went with Kim and Warren and had a great time. Hans and Warren skiied on Saturday while Kim and I took the kids swimming and enjoyed the lobby of the Hotel. Thankfully, we had a nice hotel. It was great and a nice break from the routine. I like not feeling like I need to be doing something. I didn't take any pictures. The batteries in the camera died. Oh well.

Hans is back to work today and so am I. We made lots of strawberry jam this morning. I went running. I am happy to be feeling mostly well enough to run. I've just been running 4 miles or so 3 times a week. Not too much, but enough so I feel sane. I've started doing yoga again and will add weights back in this week. Finally to be exercising. It feels good. The kids missed the YMCA and Justin just bangs on the kid zone door until they let him in. He doesn't have the patience to wait for me to sign him in. He loves it.

Justin has a lot of new words. He says oatmeal clearly. It's cute. He says "did it" and waves bye and says "ba bye." He loves to push things to the wall and then climb up them so he can look out the window. I won't be able to have any windows open this spring/summer. I just leave the doors open and he loves to go out and come back in and feel so independent. He is very independent. I re-introduced milk, which was dumb. He had lots of diarrhea. We're back to rice milk. He seems to do okay on yogurt so he drinks really expensive yogurt drinks with lots of nourishment and protein so he doesn't get 3rd world country diseases.

The girls and I have been busy now that I am feeling better. Everyday we do education time, storytime, music time, exercise time, and craft time. It's great fun. Their favorite time is education time. They wake up with it on their minds. For exercise I jump on the trampoline with them or we ride our bikes. I have to run with Justin in the stroller to keep up with them now. We go about 3 miles. They are building up their endurance. If we have to stay inside we play "teddy bear" which is lots of exercise. They end up sweaty. It's fun. I checked out a yoga kids dvd from the library and they LOVED that. It was so cute to watch them do yoga. Attached are some pictures. They feel big.

I got the job at the hospital assuming I pass the drug test. I go in Friday to do that. I'm not sure when I will start, but hopefully really soon. I am wondering if I should tell them I am pregnant. In the next couple of weeks I won't be able to hide it anymore. Should I tell them? I am set to train for 4-6 months 2 nights a week and then drop to one night a week. I'm hoping I can talk them down to 4 months so I can work a couple weeks without a trainer before I have the baby. Then I can take 2 months off and go back once a week. They guarantee I can do training on the weekends so I am excited. I'm slightly nervous about the sleep deprivation, but if I can sleep while Hans is home it should be okay. Hans and I just won't see each other too much. Now that I am feeling better I am wanting to spring clean and organize our house since we still haven't completely unpacked. We have lived here almost a year.

Hans is busy with his practice stuff. He submitted the lease to the lawyer and back to the landlord and we are just waiting. He should be able to open October 1st. And then I should have the c-section on October 4th. Great timing. We like to be as stressed as possible and see how we come out. Should we name the practice Egbert Family Dentistry or NorthEast Dental Center?

Hope all is well with all of you!

Love, Michelle

1989 Paula and Tom Heath family photo

In 1989 we were all living in New Canaan, CT

2007-04-23 Mindy's update

We just finished our spring break and Jonathan wonders why he is the only kid in the world that has never been on a cool vacation in his entire life. Short memory since we went on the cruise six months ago. He had two soccer games over the break and his team is still undefeated. He is the goalie which he is not happy about but the coach bribes him with five bucks for a shut out. He only plays goalie for half the game. The other half of the game he is a forward and the majority of the time he scores more goals as forward than he lets in as goalie. I signed him up for a BYU football camp this summer which he is excited about. He has made some friends in the neighborhood so they spend their time out in the open areas of our neighborhood driving four wheelers, motorcycles, riding bikes and building bases. It is fun to be a kid.

Abby will be seven this week. She is excited to have a cooking party. They will make pizzas, fruit kebobs with dip, lemon spritzers, and make and decorate their own birthday cakes. They will decorate aprons and play toss the egg, blindfold the cook, hot potato and break a pinata. I only hope I can stay ahead of everybody and keep everyone happy. I'll let you know how it goes.

Will is still a star wars fan. He is Luke Skywalker, sometimes super Luke. Coray gets to be Han Solo and I get to be Chewbaca. Don't worry. I'm not too offended to be the fat hairy guy. He has some good friends and is used to a play date everyday. He has the most active social life of any of us. I love his happy little attitude. We went bowling over spring break and Will does it all by himself. He bowls the ball (which is a little frightening) and then he can run alongside the alley, pass his ball which is barely rolling and watch it crash the pins. He got one spare. My favorite part is his little strut when his turn is over. He knows how cool he is.

Sarah is turning one on Saturday. I can't believe it. She has learned to blow out candles and is very proud of herself when she does. It is more spitting than blowing but it still puts out the candles. She loves balls now and will walk around throwing and picking up a ball over and over. Her grandpa teases her and rolls the ball between her legs which almost sends her into a somersault as she watches it roll beneath her. She knows the hot spots in our house and will go to them and look at me with a "are you going to stop me?" attitude.
She knows "so big" "yay" "bye-bye" and can nod and shake her head, and say "no-no" and "night-night" and "dad". Mostly she just wanders around our house looking for trouble.

Our landscaping should be going in in a few weeks. Coray is busy with work and I am busy doing kids dance, soccer, gymnastics, school, piano, scouts, etc. Someday I will pick up a hobby or something of my own.

Love you all,

Mindy

2007-04-21 SLC Marathon

Melanie finished the half-marathon in 1 hour 39 minutes - a great time! Mom and I finished the 25 mile bike ride. We recommend this highly for anyone next year.

2007-04-08 Natalie's update

Hello All,

Happy Easter! We hope you all had a great day celebrating Christ's
resurrection. We had a nice Sabbath focusing on the joyous aspects of the
Plan of Salvation. Elsa was especially intrigued with stories of Christ's
atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection. It has been inspiring to see what
a sponge she is. The girls loved waking up to a trail of Easter eggs
throughout the house. Elsa came into our room and said, "Mom, Dad, you've
got to come see this." When we asked her what she was talking about it, she
replied shaking her head, "No. Hurry. You've just have to see it for
yourself." It was fun to see her and Ava get excited about their little
baskets filled with goodies. Afterwards, we had a big breakfast with German
pancakes and lots of syrup - really the only thing that matters to the
girls. We then dressed the girls up in their Easter dresses. It is 30
degrees here, so we had to improvise with petticoats underneath the
sleeveless dresses. Brian got some great pictures of them. (We love our
new camera.)

We had a busy day with church services, dinner with our friends the
Douglas', and dessert with our friends the Smiths. The girls were exhausted
by the end of it all and had an emotional bedtime. Brian and I are just
finishing up a few chores before heading to bed ourselves. We are still a
little jet-lagged from our trip. We have been waking up at 4:00am and then
feeling completely exhausted by 6:00-7:00pm. We can't complain. We had a
great trip with relatively good weather. We saw amazing cities and towns,
enjoyed some good food, and mostly enjoyed spending time together. Amber
was a great babysitter. I still am amazed at how nice it was for her to
watch the girls for a week - with an 18 month-old and being six, almost
seven months pregnant. The girls did great with our absence, but since have
been slightly paranoid about being left again. Even church was a little
challening to have them go to their classes. I am sure the late nights and
sugar overload haven't helped.

I am looking forward to tomorrow. It will be nice to get back into the
routine of swim lessons, preschool, church responsibilities, etc. I am
anxiously preparing for my jewelry show on the 19th. I have quite a few
pieces finished, but have about a dozen or so half-way finished projects.
It has been lots of fun to create new items, and I hope to get some profit
from it all. I have really enjoyed working with my friend and neighbor in
creating new pieces and collaborating. We have already sold a number of
items, which gets me more excited than nervous for the actual trunk show.

After a few weeks of burns and illnesses, life or good health seems to be
returning to normal. Ava's hand looks great. We took the bandages off on
Tuesday night after our return. It still has red raw skin on her palm, but
she uses it freely now. She was reluctant for the first couple of days to
even use it. She was so proud of herself when she first ate with it. I
played a CD with "If You're Happy and You Know It." She was clapping and
said, "Look, Mom. I am clapping with my boo-boo hand." That is now a
common expression of using her "boo-boo hand." She couldn't be sweeter. I
have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday for her pnemonia. She still is
coughing slightly, but I hope it isn't anything to worry about. Poor Ava
has had a run a bad health. She had an allergic reaction to something -
which we will also need to follow-up on.

Fortunately, Elsa has stayed healthy and happy. She is such a big help with
everything. She loves swimming and is proud of each new accomplishment from
her lessons. It is fun to watch her realize her own potential. She starts
soccer this week, for which she is so excited. We bought her soccer cleats
and shin-guards on Saturday. She ran up and down the store to test them
out. It should be fun to watch her. She is very agile and a fast runner.
I am sure she'll do great.

We hope you're all well.
Love,
The Heaths

2007-04-08 Michelle's update

April 7, 2008

Happy Easter everyone.

I've enclosed some pictures of our wintry Easter weekend. Hans and Ashley played in the snow, we had indoor egg hunts, and Hans slid the car into the intersection thanks to all the ice and was lucky that nothing happaned. It is beautiful though, if I can allow myself to get past the anger that it's freezing cold. The trees and grass are all frozen with ice and it looks very impressive. We wore Easter dresses to church anyway and just put winter coats over them. We are going over to Rachael's house for dinner soon. She just had a baby 10 days ago, but assures me she still wants us there. I think she's nuts. But we're going anyway. She's moving around great and feels totally normal. Another reminder of the joys of C-sections. I am 13 weeks pregnant now. I've felt the baby move, which is always such a great feeling. I think because it is my 4th in such a short span of time that I am growing out of all my regular clothes so quickly. I look ridiculous in maternity clothes. It leaves me wondering what to wear, since my workout clothes and pajama type clothes make me sick to look at them. Weird, I know. That and showering and really anything to do with hot water. At least I can drink cold water. All our dishes and laundry are washed in freezing cold water. Bathing the kids about does me in. I have to lay down and not smell anything on them. We've had to ban the use of lotions, etc. in the house and I have to use unscented deodorant. Which doesn't work very well, by the way, especially with the sporadic showering:) I shower when Ashley tells me I am stinky. Perhaps I shouldn't be confessing to all of this. I just have so much hope that it is ending soon. I am already way better then I was. My last Zofran I will lovingly take tonight. Wish me luck for tomorrow.

I got offered the job at the hospital in labor and delivery. I was happy, but the timing's not great. I wasn't pregnant when I applied, but now I am. We'll see how lenient they will be with training and working, etc. I want to take it though. Not if I have to train full-time though. I couldn't handle that many nights of lost sleep.

Enclosed are pictures of the kids in Easter clothes and dyeing easter eggs. We had fun doing all the Easter traditions. Katelyn sang "Jesus songs" all through Sacrament meeting at the top of her lungs. Hans says he couldn't ask her to keep it down since she was singing her praises to Jesus. Who wants to temper that? It's quite cute. And Ashley has all sorts of Easter psalms she likes to sing to us from pre-school. She calls them palms. I'm grateful she can learn about Easter at school.

Justin is happy. He's such a cute kid. I love that he is so social and that he goes up to random people all throughout Church. It makes me happy to see people love him.

Hope all is well with you and Easter celebrations!

Love, Michelle

2007-04-02 Michael's Achille's tendon

Michael tore his Achille's tendon while sporting with the scouts. He had surgery to repair the tendon on April 2, and seems to be doing well, though in pain. We gave him a Priesthood blessing on April 1 with the help of the full-time missionaries following general conference.

Re: Achilles (from Wikipedia)

Legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the first century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable on all of his body except for his heel. These legends state that Achilles was killed in battle by an arrow to the heel, and so an Achilles' heel has come to mean a person's only weakness.

Achilles is also famous for being the most 'handsome' of the heroes assembled at Troy, as well as the fleetest.

2007-04-03 Michelle's update

April 3, 2007

Hi Everyone,

It has been a crazy last couple of weeks. We made the drive to Utah, which proved uneventful and quick. We were happy with that. It is only 7 1/2 hrs of driving time. We stopped a few times on the way there, but only stopped for gas on the way home. It was a lot of driving, but the kids did great. Justin slept 4 hours of the drive home. Nice. Poor guy has been going through it. I think I finally have it solved, as of this morning. Absolutely no dairy or soy and the diarrhea and vomitting are under control. That's hard for me to do though. I rely on cheese and yogurt for snacks. Not to mention all the stuff that has dairy in it that I forget about. He seems to like the rice milk and he is definately feeling better. Yea. I'm hoping to reintroduce some dairy in a month or two when his body gets over the shock of it. He had his birthday a couple weeks ago. We celebrated in Utah and he loved the cake and attention. He weighs in at 21 lbs and is 28 1/2 inches long (I think). It was something like 50 % for weight and 47 for height. He's not a big guy. He is walking speedily and nearly running. He has the strangest baby talk of any kid I've heard. It doesn't sound like English. It's interesting. He'll be a talker. He loves his sisters. He runs and gives Ashley a hug whenever he wakes up. Ashley is great with him. Katelyn is better with him and will help him play.

The other news is that I am pregnant. 12 weeks. It's been sickness, as usual, but I am starting to feel better. I felt a lot better the first weekend in Utah, but it was all downhill there after Katelyn got the stomach flu, Justin's diarrhea, and then I got the flu. I am feeling slightly recovered this morning. The Zofran helps a lot, but I run out the end of this week. My insurance will not cover any more of it and it is too expensive to really consider paying out of pocket now that I am not in my death bed. I'm hoping I don't get too sick as the medicine wears off. I'm cutting the pills in half to make it last longer. I'm due the 15th of October (the 16th?). I can't remember. I'm hoping to have it the very beginning of October so I don't repeat my experience with Justin. Justin will be 18 months old. We'll see how we all adjust.

Hans is busy with practice stuff. Although now I am being fickle wondering if I really want to stay here forever. I have a hard time committing to anything for longer then a few years. I already have the moving bug. I'm glad Hans humours me in this. As a grown-up the longest I've lived in any one place is in Maryland. And that had a definite end to it so I never felt ancy about moving on. I wonder why I do this?

Where would you all move if you could pick anywhere? I'm interested...

Hope all is well with all of you and Happy Easter:)

Love, Michelle