2008 Newsletter

Better late than never I say, and this letter is usually late. 2008 has been a year of changes in the Carlsen household. We started the year with a bang with a new job in a new state and a new house. The move halfway across the nation went very smoothly and we are definitely enjoying life in the mile-high city of Denver, or more officially Aurora. With the move we came closer to family so that’s where our vacations were. In May we drove out to Utah and saw all the Carlsen clan to bid Brian bon voyage for a 2-year mission in the Philippines. In July, the Bartholomew clan joined us here in Colorado for a week filled with camping, hiking, and hanging out. Another exciting adventure came in September when we added yet a 3rd little girl to our estrogen-filled home—Evelyn Rose born September 21, 2008.

Eric now works at Innovative Signal Analysis, a small company based in Texas with a whopping 10 employees at this office. He is currently “on loan” working at a Northrup Grumman facility. He is still enjoying bike riding and has been able to bike commute to work a lot. Eric also enjoys playing basketball weekly at the church and hiking when the season is right. He even hiked two 14,000 ft mountains this year.

As for me, I stay busy with all 3 girls. I coached Elizabeth in soccer in the spring but we’ll try it again this upcoming year since she didn’t quite get it. I got involved at church in book clubs and playgroups and have really found that I like reading. Another thing I found I enjoy is sewing although my repertoire is still limited—rag quilts, pajama pants, and aprons. I also joined a MOMS club out here like the one in Ohio and have made many friends through that. My stab at being a personal shopper for Shade Clothing ended in December when they closed down the PS program but I did enjoy selling the shirts (and wearing them) while it lasted.

Elizabeth, now a big 5 years old or a “whole hand” as she says, is our resident drawer. She can literally sit down at the table and color for hours if you let her. She also enjoys preschool with Miss Jen and can now write all her letters, her name, and can even “read” a little bit. Elizabeth enjoys watching Disney movies, making crafts, singing songs (but I can’t get her to sit at the piano and sing with me), and playing with her sister.

Rachel (3) is a fun girl. She loves playing with her sister but can also sit for a long time “reading” books to herself. She’s fearless with climbing things and loves to ride her bike, another hand-me-down from her sister. Rachel loves Dora, Magic Schoolbus, and dressing up like a princess but still talks about how she was a giraffe for Halloween.

Evelyn (3 months) is our little sweetheart of a baby. She’s an excellent sleeper (I got really lucky in that department) and her smile will melt your heart. She will let anyone hold her and at church that’s what happens.

We have truly been blessed this year as a family and wish you and your families a great 2009.

Love,

The Carlsens

Otto Reed

For Elizabeth's birthday, we got a new addition to our family-a goldfish Elizabeth named Otto Reed. Otto comes from the fishes name in the book "Fish out of Water" and I don't know exactly where Reed came from. How long did we last as pet owners? Drum roll please, six days. I just checked the fish bowl and he was belly up (or side up). I don't know if it was the kids putting their hands or other objects in the bowl (Elizabeth said Rachel pulled his tail) or just the normal life span of a goldfish but RIP Otto Reed.

Just a Flesh Wound

I'll let Alicia post on the Birthday/Christmas happenings, but I thought I'd catch up on some old stuff. On the evening of the 23rd, the night before Elizabeth's birthday, she decided to spin around in the family room. She kept spinning and spinning and spinning until finally she sprawled out across half the room and smashed her head into the entertainment center. She started crying and I knew she'd have a goose egg, I told her to come to me for hugs. Then the blood started gushing.

Head wounds bleed a lot. That's a scary moment as a parent. It was dripping all down her face. Luckily I applied pressure and we rushed to the bathroom, so it didn't get to the floor or even her clothes much yet. It was a small but deep gash. It bled for a good 15 minutes, but we had gauze pressed up to it. I thought we'd have to rush to the Urgent Care but I wanted to stop the bleeding first. Eventually it mostly stopped and we put a band-aid on and I thought we may not have to go after all. Then she touched it or something and blood started gushing out again.

I made the mistake of commenting to Alicia that Elizabeth would freak out if she needed stitches. Did I mention that was a mistake? She kept saying "I don't want stitches, I don't want stitches." Eventually she calmed down though and we decided to go see the doctor and see what they recommended. In her words, "we'll see if you're right and I need stitches or if I'm right and I don't need them. I hope the doctor says I don't need stitches."

Luckily they decided to glue her head together :-) Yep, they have skin glue, awesome huh? Honestly I don't think it worked that well because the cut was so deep that the doctor couldn't keep the skin together enough for the glue to set. But at least it hasn't re-opened since then.

The best part was watching Elizabeth at the Urgent Care. I now have no concern about her inheriting my timidity and shyness. She was the life of the party, she just didn't stop talking. Telling them all about our family and that she was getting a fish and necklace for her birthday and that this was the last day she was going to be four years old. She also kept saying she would only spin three times in the future and count it out. She was very brave as they worked on her head.

You can kind of see the cut with the glue and steri stripe just at her hairline in the photo above.

Our Fearless Leader

This is an old video but we took it when hiking El Dorado State Park in November. Rachel is fearless. I kept trying to get her to hold my hand but she didn't want to. She's the same way with climbing, she loves to climb. There's no playground she won't attack with complete abandon.

Look Ma...It's a Personality!

I hope nobody takes offense, but I (Eric) find newborns incredibly boring. They start becoming more fun when they do things like this.

A Woman Scorned

Today I was watching the kids while Alicia ran some errands. I was trying to read to Elizabeth, but Evelyn was getting tired and fussy and I had to stop reading quite frequently to take care of Evelyn. After a while I noticed a banging sound coming from downstairs. I went down and Elizabeth was stomping her foot. I tried to talk to her but she kept turning her back on me. This was a new type of tantrum, my little girl is becoming a woman! (I know that sounds sexist, I said it for comedic value only :-)

Finally she decided to stop giving me the silent treatment and told me what was wrong, "Daddy, I feel like you don't love me anymore. You keep giving Evelyn all of the attention." Well, that sort of broke my heart so I told her how much I loved her and explained (using one of our Berenstain Bears books) how baby's just require more attention. That doesn't mean we love them more. I think we're good now, but it was definitely a new experience and just reminded me that she's growing up.

Look Mom, My Thumb!

A first in the Carlsen household, we have a thumb sucker. Evelyn will now fall asleep sucking her thumb and it's pretty cute. Hopefully this doesn't mean a bad habit that will result in major dental work (how bad am I to even think about that!).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I love Christmas time even though it seemed to sneak up on me this year. I know a lot of people get stressed around this time but I love it! I love the parties, baking (I baked goodies most of Saturday), decorating, and even shopping to some extent (the Internet is fabulous!). Here are some things we did this week that makes it feel like Christmas.

We bought a gingerbread house kit and made it on Tuesday.

We went to Home Depot and bought a real live Christmas tree. We may have to break down and buy a fake one for next year because it's so dry here but we love the live tree smell.Our Stockings are also hanging nicely over the fireplace.

I don't have pictures of either of these events but we did have two Christmas parties this weekend. The one at church was huge and they hired a videoke group where people could lipsynch with costumes. Needless to say we didn't participate but it was fun to watch others. Santa came and the girls got to sit on his lap. We told Elizabeth it was one of Santa's helpers dressed up as him so he could be at the North Pole preparing presents. Our second party was Eric's work party on Saturday. Lisa graciously watched the kids so Eric and I could go on a date which was nice. The party was at a co-workers house and they had hired a chef to cook for us. The food was good but it was two hours late.

It's also beginning to look like Christmas with snow and negative temperatures. Last night it got down to -13 degrees. It's cold! Here's a picture from our front door (I didn't venture outside) of the snow. Not too much but it did make for some slippery roads yesterday.

She's back!

Thanks so much for all of your support with Rachel. It looks like she's doing much better, she's gone over 24 hours without losing her food and her appetite and energy are back. We greatly appreciate everyone's comments and prayers and may the Lord bless you for your thoughtfulness. Have a Merry Christmas!

Poor Rachel

As Alicia mentioned in the last post, Rachel has not been doing too well. We thought she was over it, but we were wrong. She hasn't been able to keep hardly any food down for 10 days and has been totally fatigued and lethargic. She's got a little bit more energy now, but last week she didn't hardly move or talk. The most worrisome is her not being able to eat at all. It's gone on long enough the doctors are about to move to the next step of tests and I'm imagining all the worst case scenarios. For those of our readers who believe in God if you could keep her in your prayers we'd appreciate it. Thank you.

Train Ride

This past week we were pretty much bums while Rachel was sick. Poor girl, she didn't eat practically all week because she felt nauseous so now she's skin and bones (more so than before) and all she wanted to do was sleep and watch movies. She's feeling much better now so we'll try and fatten her up with all the holiday goodies I shouldn't eat.

Saturday we went to downtown Denver for the parade of lights. I think the girls had more fun on the train (light-rail) than they did at the parade. The weather wasn't too cold, pretty warm for December actually but it was really crowded. We watched the parade for about 10 minutes before it stopped for no apparent reason and then both girls were whining to go home. One good thing about not staying for the whole parade is that we beat the crowd. I don't want to know what the line for the train ride back would have been like; probably worse than Black Friday lines at Walmart.

Elizabeth excited to be on the train

The one float we saw before leaving.

Eric must have snapped this one yesterday. A fun science experiment on static electricity in the making!

Christmas Lights

Here's the latest modification to my commuting bike. I bought some battery powered Christmas lights from Walmart and I've had the chance to ride it a few times so far. Most of the comments have come from kids:

"Look at the Christmas bike!"
"Aw ****, your bike is da bomb" (from a kid about 8 years old, of course he didn't say da bomb, he used some more modern slang that I'm not familiar with)
"You're bike is awesome!"

"I Love Chocolate"

Elizabeth helped me make brownies tonight and got the brownie mix all over her mouth as she licked the beater. I don't know if you can see the chocolate on her face but I thought this was too cute to pass up.

Hubener vs. Hitler

I recently finished reading Hubener vs. Hitler: A Biography of Helmuth Hubener, Mormon Teenage Resistance Leader. This is the story of Helmuth Hubener, a Mormon teenager who lived in Germany during World War II. I would by no means call myself a WWII buff, but every time I learn about it I'm enthralled. So this book combined a few of my interests and was very interesting and enjoyable. Furthermore, I'm convinced this should be required reading for any LDS youth about to enter his or her teenage years, I'll eventually tell you why.

By all accounts Hubener was a very intelligent and likable teenage boy. As a young teenager Hubener actually started out in favor of Hitler. It's cliched but I think it had something to do with the whole "trains running on time" thing. That and giving people hope and pride for their country. But events quickly changed his attitude. He saw the atrocities committed on Kristallnacht and was disgusted. He also began to see the social repression and bullying going on by the Hitler Youth and the SA. As a determined young man he decided to do something about it.

The book explains how it's plausible that the love of freedom instilled in him by his religion (and American missionaries) created an environment that led to his actions. He recruited two of his LDS friends and began listening to the BBC broadcasts on a forbidden radio (when it wasn't being jammed). He then captured what he learned in pamphlets (as well as some invective against Hitler) and began distributing these pamphlets with his friends.

That's where the story gets interesting. He was alternately very careful and extremely bold. Part of it was a teenage thrill, I'm sure, but not all of it. When he and his friends were caught they were "interrogated" then tried before the highest court in the land (the Volksgerichtshof), which was unusual for 16-17 year old boys. Hubener was given a sentence of death, and even the Gestapo agents who interrogated him plead for life imprisonment, not death. He was surprised and shocked by his sentence, but he boldly declared to the court "Now I must die, even though I have committed no crime. So now it's my turn, but your turn will come."

There are many more points of interest than I can capture here. But the biggest impression was the enormity of purpose and courage these young men had. While many teens today worry about self esteem, what someone said at school, that pimple on their face, and when the next CD is coming out from their favorite artist these young men were voluntarily fighting for freedom under the threat of death. His life was an inspiration. I will keep an open mind, but I just wish a major Hollywood studio would have chosen to do the upcoming movie rather than the typical Mormon filmmakers.

2 Month Checkup

The stats from Evelyn's 2-month checkup.
9 lbs 15.5 oz.
21 1/2 in.

Some little Quirks

My baby (okay not anymore since Evelyn) Rachel turned 3 on Thursday! She was so excited about her birthday. She would go around for more than a week before her birthday saying "my birthday" coupled with "my dragon." Let me explain the dragon part. We took Rachel to the Walmart toy department to pick out a birthday present. We went up and down all the toy aisles and pointed out things like a digital camera and a princess couch. With the help of her older sister, she got fixated on a toy dragon that breathed fire and can walk. I'm surprised the batteries haven't died yet with all they've played with it. Here's a video of her opening her dragon.

She also got some other presents from mom & dad like some toy pots and pans, a Dora movie, and bath toys. Aunt Lisa and Carissa were there for present opening and they brought more presents--a Sleeping Beauty dressup and an Ariel purse and necklace from Aunt Lynne. Grandma and Grandpa brought some clothes when they visited too. Elizabeth was almost excited as Rachel as she helped her open the gifts and kept saying "our present."

Look, I'm 3!

The purse and dressups plus a movie of her opening them. Do you think she's happy with the presents? She couldn't stop smiling and don't worry Lisa, she loves being Sleeping Beauty with an Ariel purse.

Here's Rachel sporting some pretty cool sunglasses earlier on her birthday.

Earlier this week, Eric read Green Eggs and Ham to the girls at bedtime and stressed the importance of trying new foods. Almost every night at dinner the girls hardly eat because I make them eat what I made for us adults and before even trying it they say they don't like it. So they asked if I could make green eggs and I told them I would on Saturday since that's the only day I really make breakfast for them. The result, Rachel who normally doesn't like eggs ate hers while Elizabeth who does like eggs said the green ones were "a little bit yucky."

Facial Expressions

I was trying to think of a cute title for this post and I decided on "Facial Expressions" because of my girls and some pictures & movies we got of them this week. We'll start with the youngest. Eric still doesn't believe that Evelyn smiles, even with the following evidence.

I also caught Evelyn sticking out her tongue.

Rachel loves to lift her eyebrows and it's the cutest thing. Everytime she does it, I just have to laugh.


Our week in Review.
-Normal food shopping, preschool, library visit, laundry, cleaning (a clean house just isn't achievable!)
-Girls lunch and movies at Angie's house. I love watching chick flicks with other chicks!
-Our fridge decided to stop working so we put all the fridge food in coolers outback (it snowed thankfully) and the freezer food in our chest freezer. Eric was able to figure out what was wrong and buy the part. He's an electrical engineer and can fix anything electrical, right?
-Saturday we visited friends that followed us to Colorado from Ohio, albeit Colorado Springs and not Denver. I think we really started a trend when we moved here :) Eric and Cassie Dittman have two cute little girls. Justina and Tom, it's always good to visit old neighbors and I love how Elizabeth, Rachel, and Meghan play together so well. Thanks for letting us crash your house while Eric went to the BYU v. Air Force football game. BYU won, yeah!

A Few of my Favorite Things

We had a busy weekend last weekend filled with some of my favorite things.

Family

My dad came to town this weekend to help bless Evelyn at church. We had a great time with him and it was fun to see him play the grandpa role, especially with Elizabeth & Rachel.

Grandpa B

Our cute little family

The girls all together

Nature

I love living in Colorado and the mountains that are relatively close to us (about an hour). We took my dad up to El Dorado State Park by Boulder and enjoyed the beautiful scenery there. Watching all the rock climbers made me want to try the sport but I am probably a little too afraid of heights to get as high as them. Also, I don't have my life insured for enough should I fall and die, have to think of the husband and children I'd leave behind :)

Show me those muscles!
One of the many rock climbers out thereA nice shot of the river
Halloween

Candy, candy, and more candy! As I sample all the girl's candy I think of all the holiday food coming up and how I really am trying to lose that baby weight. We had a fun Halloween and I donned my witch costume and took the girls out trick-or-treating for a little bit. We had hardly anyone come to our house even though it was unseasonably warm. My little princess, giraffe, and Dalmation were the cutest kids out there of course.

Elizabeth's preschool class Halloween "party"
Wearing Halloween orange. I guess Minnie's a part of the family now too.
Halloween night

Early Halloween Pics

I can't believe it's almost Halloween. Candy is starting to roll in and of course I get to do some sampling. We had our ward trunk or treat on Friday with almost 300 other people and here's the best picture I got of all three girls in their costumes before we went. Elizabeth has 2-3 costumes so we'll see which one she actually picks for Halloween.
On Saturday, we headed east on the I-70 to May Farms pumpkin patch. That's about the only thing east of Denver except for tumbleweeds.
We got to go on a hayride and Elizabeth and Rachel went on a barrel ride. The second time around the driver went a little bit too fast I thought on a turn as the girls were in the last barrel and got whipped around pretty good but they had fun. We went through a corn maze and Elizabeth effectively led the way.

And here's the pumpkin we finally decided on. We haven't carved it yet but hopefully we'll get to it tonight or tomorrow.
Elizabeth must have learned this song at preschool because she sings it all the time, it's really cute.

My Mommy Rocks!

Yes, I bought Evelyn a onesie that says "My Mommy Rocks" because I totally do. I never lose my temper or raise my voice at my children, I never lock the girls in their rooms because I can't take their tantrums anymore, and I absolutely never give in to their whines about having treats before dinner just so they'll be quiet! Okay, if you haven't noticed any sarcasm in that statement, you don't know me well but I really do rock.

To give them credit, Elizabeth and Rachel have been really good with the new baby around. I haven't noticed any jealousy and they love to hold Evelyn, play with her, and even feed her a bottle. All this is heavily supervised but they do really well. Evelyn herself has been a really good baby waking up 1-2 times a night and generally going back to sleep right away so I've gotten sleep myself. It's amazing the difference sleep makes as I'm actually enjoying having a newborn, I can't believe she's already 4 weeks old.

Here are some pictures, some taken this week and some today.

This week we did a few fun things. Playgroup Monday, library with Rachel on Wednesday, Aunt Lynne and Aunt Lisa took the two girls out to lunch and the park on Thursday, and we went to the park Friday with Callahan & Cami. I started to get sick Thursday afternoon with a sore throat and fever which really spiked Friday night so that ended my fun for the weekend. Eric took Elizabeth, Rachel, cousin Carissa, and cousin Stewart to the zoo on Saturday while I vegged out with Evelyn at home. It was Colorado free day and the weatherwas nice and warm so it really was a zoo at the zoo. Here are a few of the animals they saw. Elizabeth's favorite was the elephant while Rachel's was the giraffe which she will be for Halloween.

And a note about the girls. Elizabeth is doing well in school which I am glad to see. She is finally friends with "G" (see quote on side bar) and she's reading the Level 1 easy reader books to me. Today she even wrote the whole alphabet out so a big shout out to her teacher Miss Jen! Elizabeth loves to write her name so much that she thought it would be fun to put it all over her leg. I hope this doesn't mean she'll want a tattoo when she's a teenager!

The girls also wanted a turn with the camera so here is what they shot, not too bad actually but I'm not very photogenic when sick.

Well that's all for now!

Look Mom, I did it!

No, this post isn't about Elizabeth impressing me, it's actually me wanting to impress my mom. I'm not too old for that, am I? We started a sewing project while my mom was in town and I actually finished it! I know it's nothing big, but it's something. Actually it's two somethings, matching pajama pants for Eric & me.

As for baby news, Evelyn has been such a good little newborn for me so far. At her 2-week appointment she was up to 6 pounds 14 oz, Rachel's starting weight. I hope I'm not jinxing anything but I've gotten decent sleep and she's pretty calm. I've even survived a week with three kids by myself during the day. It's a little harder getting everyone ready in the morning but manageable. Here are some pictures of the girls, they're about a week old, sorry I haven't done any recent photo shoots.

I have to end this post with a quote that I found from Russell M. Nelson that I absolutely love, especially since I have a newborn.

"No one can cuddle an innocent infant, look into those beautiful eyes, feel the little fingers, and kiss that baby's cheek without a deepening reverence for life and for our Creator."

Visit from Grandma

We've loved having Grandma B here to visit this week. We mostly just chilled but what more can you do with a newborn? I'm glad the weather has been perfect for walks and going to the park. Here are some pictures from our outings.

Here are some pictures of Evelyn at 1 week taken by our friend Kelly. Doesn't she look precious?

Evelyn has continued to be healthy and sleeping pretty well at night waking up two times like clockwork. Eric got sick this week with who knows what--flu, strep, virus--take your pick but he's feeling better now. Luckily, the girls haven't gotten it but Rachel did have a fever yesterday but good old Motrin did the trick. We say goodbye to Grandma tomorrow so hopefully I'll survive the week by myself. No more sleeping in for me :(