Birk Adventures

When I was at the MTC, I heard life described like this: the days are like weeks and the weeks are like days. That's how life feels right now--long days but short weeks. Time is going fast (I can't believe Emmy is almost four weeks old!) but days and nights seem to go slowly as they are one big round of feeding, changing diapers, and trying to keep everyone happy. I've been trying to think what "bloggable" events have happened for us and can't think of a whole lot. Emmy is growing well. We're trying to figure out what's going on because she screams after she eats for anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. I'm not sure if she's gassy, still hungry, wanting to be held, or just grumpy. She is the cutest thing ever though, as you will notice in the pictures. Mini is now done with swimming lessons and took great strides forward in blowing bubbles, doing bobs, floating on her back, climbing out of the pool from hanging on the wall, and overall gaining more s...

You can see why I love it when Adam blogs--he's so much more entertaining than I am. I love his wonderful rendition of how everything went. Now that we're a week out, we are all doing well. I am recovering well (I highly recommend a 2nd degree tear over a 4th degree--much easier to recover from) and getting my energy back. Emily is so fun and soooo spacey. She's a good eater and sleeper. Mini is a fabulous older sister and is really good at helping with diaper changes, putting Emmy's binky in, and assisting me with all my postpartum paraphernalia--pads, nursing pads, cleansing bottle, etc. And Adam has been so supportive. He's taken charge of getting Emmy back to sleep at night, which has helped me immensely. So although life does feel chaotic and at times very overwhelming, we're doing well and enjoying this time. Here are a few recent pictures. This was Emmy last week. I love her little worried eyebrows and how her hands are perched perfectly--she has them lik...

When in the course of human biological events it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the umbilical bands which have connected her with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle her, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that I, the father, should declare the statistics and condition of such individuals so separated....... so here is my post: Sunday morning: 0330: Martha, who has been contracting, wakes Adam. 0330: Adam, who is happy to hear that contractions are coming, is nevertheless content to lie in bed for a little longer. 0330-0350: Adam and Martha time contractions at 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes apart. 0400: Contractions increasing in strength. 0410: Joe arrives to watch Marian. 0415: Martha is not enjoying contractions which are strong and consistent by now. 0416: Joe's expression shows that he's never seen a woman in labor. 0420: Adam and Martha leav...

So today is May 22, the day I have looked forward to for many months now, because it is my due date! So the good news is that I have reached my due date and the bad news is that I am still pregnant. The last couple weeks have been quite the emotional roller coaster as I have waited for the baby to come and nothing has happened. Last Thursday we saw one of the doctors at our clinic. He checked me and said I was dilated to 3 cm, 80% effaced, and was ready to be induced anytime. He offered to induce me the next day (the 15th). We thought that was a little early so decided to come in on Monday and schedule an induction. So we had an appointment with another doctor on Monday. He said I was 3+ and still 80%. He was a little more hesitant though and offered to induce next week. We were surprised that his approach was more conservative (I think the baby had moved up higher which maybe caused that) but asked about being induced Friday (today) and he said it should "probably" be fine. ...

Unfortunately my lack of blogging is not because life has been crazy having 2 kids! Nope--I'm not one of those lucky people who delivers babies early. My lack of blogging has been because life has been crazy moving into a house. Our friends the Wagstaffs have (sadly) left for a year and so we re-located to their house for Adam's last year of school. We are sad to lose them but are so excited to be in their house! Adam and I keep finding things that we love about being here: dishwasher, washer and dryer, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, our own driveway, no 20-step staircase to get to our apartment, no surprise disappearances of water pressure while in the shower, abundant closet space, a yard, etc. etc. The move went well. Adam decreed that every last thing would be in a box so that the move would be organized. So I gathered boxes from stores all over Provo and we went to work. The move went really quickly with a lot of help from ward members and family. We could have done without the ...

Today is officially one month from my due date--hooray! I had a doctor appointment yesterday and was a little disappointed because my blood pressure is already starting to rise. With Marian, my blood pressure didn't climb until 39 weeks and then I was induced the day before my due date. So now that I'm only 35 1/2 weeks, I was a surprised to see that it's already high. It's not scary high--130/72, but hopefully doesn't keep going up. There was also trace protein in my urine (sorry if that's TMI). The nurse practitioner said they'll just keep an eye on things. I'll admit I wouldn't protest at being induced early, I just worry about future pregnancies if my blood pressure gets high earlier every time. One exciting bit of news I haven't blogged about is that Adam was selected to be co-editor in chief of ILMR, one of the journals at the law school. Maybe in six months when ILMR is taking over our lives I won't be so excited, but right now I think...

We had a fun week getting ready for Easter! We dyed Easter eggs, which was a first for Adam and Mini. Apparently they don't do that in Denmark. This one makes me laugh because Marian has been making this face all week. It's like she's part bothered/part confused. She knows it looks silly so she does it all the time. Saturday we did an Easter egg hunt with Mini's cousins Madison, Zachy, Jake and Josh. (Favorite) Aunt Anne-Marie, as she prefers to be called, did the whole thing. Everyone had a color to find so the egg distribution was really even. As you can see, Mini's eggs were all yellow. The kids were really cute about not taking each other's eggs. Thanks Anne-Marie! And here she is in her pretty Easter dress (thanks Madeline and Emma--we love your cute hand-me-downs). And here's my big Easter tummy. Shees, it looks like I could pop any day but I still have over a month! One more great thing about this Easter is that I gave a talk on the Garden Tomb in our...