Ah-nah

For a long time Lizzie has tried to say Ellie and it always comes out Eyie (can't quite get those "L" sounds). She typically has resorted to calling her sissy, but just yesterday she made a new discovery. Since we have been using Ellie's full name more often (as she seems to be finding trouble more frequently with her recently discovered mobility of arming crawling), Lizzie has heard "Eliana" enough now to realize that she isn't just Ellie and Sissy, but also Eliana. Being the creative/smart little girl that she is, she skipped trying to call her Eliana, since she new that wouldn't happen, and now calls her Ana. And that my friends is how people get their life long nicknames, but at least this one makes sense.

So, if you haven't met her yet...here's Ana!

Girls

Today, Lizzie changed an Ellie diaper with a little help from Mommy. Lizzie loves her sissy and takes very good care of her.

Tonight, Ellie tried to play peek-a-boo. But the hilarious part was her pulling the blanket up to her chin, not up above her eyes. Ellie still thought the whole process was hilarious and giggled the whole time.

Greek reader

Lizzie stole my Greek book, wouldn't let me have it back and then proceeded to sit down in her own chair and read...

Homestead

Just posted some photos of the new homestead for those that are curious.

http://flickr.com/photos/familyhutch

Exams and Sleep

So Allen's exam went well, but the sleep, not so good!
We still would love to hear peoples ideas, and comments, so please feel free, and in the mean time we will keep plugging along trying new things as others fail, until we succeed. Thanks to those that have been praying, and keep on praying for us.

Road Stats

Finally got around to adding up all the gas info from our trip. While not exhaustive (I’m sure we missed a receipt or two), here’s the numbers:

* Average price per gallon: $3.20
* Gallons used: at least 158
* Total cost of gas: at least $505
* Total miles: at least 4,000 (Google Maps puts the trip at roughly 4,000)
* Average miles/gallon: 26.6 (not bad for a sedan with 4 humans and a full trunk)

Funny observation: there wasn’t one stand out section of the country for low cost gas. It was hit and miss from one state to the next. Example: expensive in SD, cheap in MN, expensive in WI, medium in IN, cheap in OH. But gas was definitely cheaper on the east coast versus the west coast. Still is.

Praise-the-Lord-observation: 4,000 miles, not one mechanical (or otherwise) problem with the car.

4 Little Monkeys in a Bed, 1 fell off and...

So we have struggled since Lizzie was born to get her to sleep, that is no secret...but now it is the littlest monkey's turn. Maybe teething, maybe her digestive system adjusting to new foods (namely solids in general), maybe getting used to yet another "home"/place/people/routine.... don't know, and at this point don't care as long as we can figure it out and address the issue. She has been up every four hours morning, noon and night to eat despite our best efforts and is keeping all of us up.


The worst of it is that Lizzie can't cope with it at all. Every time sissy lets out a cry, Lizzie comes unglued and begins an even longer session of whimpering, crying and even waling, just in case Daddy and Mommy missed Ellie's "little cry".

In fact often if we just let them go Ellie will cry for sometime and then stop (even go to sleep at times) and Lizzie will still be going until finally she wakes her sister back up and they begin again. This happens with them in separate rooms, the same room, with Daddy and Mommy trying to comfort them both down while they are still in bed, with one being held while the other is in bed, doesn't seem to matter.

Today Allen has his first exam, so last night we did all we could to get whatever sleep we could salvage. At the end of the day Lizzie ended up in bed with us, and we "only" had to get up at midnight, 3am and 7am for Ellie. Please pray for us. Allen and I are going to sit down this afternoon and prayerfully decide our next plan of action (since this plan has failed as have others). If you have any advice/thoughts/questions/comments/personal stories/you get the point, please leave them we will take what we can get at this point.
Thanks
Momma Monkey

PS I wish our monkeys would start sleeping again, they look so cute and peaceful when they do :-)

crackers and bologna

Ellie had a cracker for the first time today and loved it. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first, but is slowly getting the concept (of course a few more teeth might help :-) ).
Lizzie is loving her bologna. She forewent her much loved pizza for the option of a slice of bologna. That should fatten her up in no time :-)

2 years go by so fast

Our little Lizzie turned 2 yesterday! It is amazing how quickly a little one grows. Only two years ago our little girl was just being diagnosed with tetralogy of fallot and pulmonary atresia. Less than 2 years ago she had her surgery. Today she spent her time running, climbing, laughing and getting into trouble only a true 2 year old could find. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZZIE! We are so blessed to have you in our family. You are a wonderful daughter, incredible sister and a bright spot in the lives of all who know you as we do. We love you sweet girl and hope that 2 is even more fun than 1 was.

Birthday fun

124-2438_IMG, originally uploaded by allenthehusband.

FamilyHutch on Flickr

Now that we have hi speed internet, we can post big groups of pictures to Flickr, not just onesie-twosies here to Blogger (though we will continue to put pics here on the blog). So, check out our Flickr account. We've also put the link on the sidebar.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/familyhutch/

1st day of class

Well, posts on Day 13 and 14 are still to come, but today was my first day of Greek 1. Went well. Big class, but a laid back environment. Fortunately today's class was stuff I was familiar with thanks to prior tutoring. That should last me one or two more class periods. I like it. Weird and good to be working at home though. Cause I was out of the house for a few hours. And that's it.

Also of note, Ellie slept through the night last night. From about 8:30 to 6:00 this morning. Woo hoo!

Ellie Sleeping

Just a quick note that we started teaching Ellie to sleep thru the night last night. She cried from about 12:30 or so til about 1:15 and then went back to sleep. We woke her up at 9:00am.

Whoa.

Praise the Lord.

Day 14

Move-In Day! We tried to move in this morning at around 9 or 9:30 and were able to get the keys, but when we showed up to the apartment it had furniture and other items in it and had yet to be cleaned. Come to find out the painters got in here late and were in process of painting around the front door when the guys came to remove the furniture, etc. so they weren't able to do it and ended up not coming back right away since they thought we were coming 2 days from today (originally that was the date we had given and the switch wasn't fully communicated to all parties involved). So we began moving in once the apartment was ready in the afternoon. Thanks again Dad and Mom H for all of your help getting us into our new home. We couldn't have done it so quickly and smoothly without you! So now we are in...up to our ears in boxes, but in.

Day 13

IKEA!
We spent the day at IKEA getting as much furniture and "stuff" as would possibly fit in our sable (with 2 adults and 2 kids) and a Ford F250 with the extended cab. We couldn't get everything (after all we sold everything so we were trying to replace a 2 bedroom apartment worth of furniture, kitchen supplies, storage, and other miscellaneous items...all at one time!). We had never before been to IKEA and boy was it crazy. Thanks Dad and Mom Hutchison sooooooo much for patiently going on that very long and tedeous journey with us as we spent hours to decide on all of the various items we would purchase. Thank you also for helping us out with some of the many purchases we made.

We were able to get a ton of things:
a bookcase
computer desk
floor lamp
another bookcase
coffee table
(2) side tables
silverware
plastic kids bowls
platic kids plates
eating set for Ellie
dish towels
tea towels
(2) desk lamps
floor mat for under the office chair
office chair
kids hangers
(2) hanging toy storage tubes
(4) storage containers on wheels
(2) small dresser type things
drying rack for dishes
tupperware set
3 mixing bowls with lids
large drinnking glasses
small drinking glasses
storage bowls
colander
utensil set of 3 (for teflon pans)
utensil set of 4
large decorative basket (I am a sucker for those)
cutting sheets
measuring cups
measuring spoons
ice cube trays (2)

And that is all that I can remember, but our total was around $500.


Update: we returned to IKEA 3 days later and just about completed furnishing our new home

Day 12

Short day of driving from NY to Littleton, MA. Massachusetts is gorgeous. There are more trees here than in Oregon. I'm not kidding. It's unreal. And the town we're staying in was established in 1715. Whoa.

Turns out that Gordon Conwell was painting our apartment today and will be doing final cleaning tomorrow, so we can't move in til Wednesday (like originally planned). So, kinda bummed about that, but it is nice to be in the state now and to have had such a laid back day today (we all got naps today!).

God has been very gracious to us on this trip. No car issues, gas prices have been reasonable, we didn't get on each other's nerves too badly. We've been able to see good friends and family, see a beautiful countryside and take an amazing trip. All by His grace and love. To Him be the glory.

Day 11

Drove from Sandusky, Ohio to Oneida, New York today. Good day of driving. Eventful moment when we had to stop at the Erie Auto Auction in Somewhere-in-New-York to take care of our oldest daughter who was trying to make a mess in the back seat with the mess she had made in her diaper. Don't know what it is with this girl and poop. Seriously, I don't get it. But these are the things memories are made of. :-)

We like New York: vineyards in the west (didn't expect that), trees everywhere and toll roads that are by far the best highways we've driven on thus far.

Day 10

Fun day with Allen's familly at Cedar Point, the premier amusement park in the country. I understand now why this park is so highly regarded. Wow. 17 coasters in one park. And what coasters. The Raptor is now Allen's favorite. Ever.

Lizzie got to go on her first ride and, after taking a little bit to figure out what was happening... loved it! The laughs and smiles were priceless. Course, when the ride was over, she was none too thrilled that we had to take her out of the car. Yeah, crying, the whole bit. Later in the day, she got to go on quite a few more and really, really liked the experience. Me thinks she'll be a coaster addict some day.

All in all it was great to spend time with Allen's family and to go on rides with Abby and Claudia (Allen's nieces) and to eat gigantic elephant ears. :-)


Lizzie on her first ride with her cousin Claudia.


Allen and his sister, Maria


The whole gang

Day 9

Much better day today. Went to Saranac, Michigan. Steph's great grandfather's old stompin' grounds. Had a yummy lunch at the Saranac Sugar Shack (I kid you not). Mmmm... burgers.

Went to Steph's dad's grandpa's old farm and house just to snap a couple of pictures... and lo and behold the current owners are family! The gal we talked to remembered some of Steph's aunts and uncles from when they grew up and would visit grandpa's farm! We took pictures and went in the house and talked for about an hour or so. We exchanged contact information and got a bunch of info about Steph's dad's genealogy (which is a big deal... since we had been hitting road blocks in that area). It was great to see the excitement in Steph's face and to enjoy those moments with her. We then went to a local cemetery and were able to find the graves of Steph's great grandma and great grandpa.

After Saranac, we went to Sandusky, OH to meet up with Allen's sister (Maria) and her family. It was great to see them. Steph had never met Tim before and our girls had never met Maria's girls or Tim before either. We went out to dinner at Outback (had a good experience this time... Outback green beans are the best on the planet) and caught up a bit. I had forgotten how much I liked hanging out with them. Though we'll still be a bit away from them in MA, it's nice to be in the same time zone as them.

Now for the pics...

Michigan really is beautiful. This pic is simply trees along the highway, but is typical of how green and beautiful most of Michigan is. Had no idea.

Steph's great grandpa's old farm house (spruced up quite a bit by the current owners).

Aerial picture of the farm, hanging inside the farmhouse.

Day 8

Since Day 7 was a day of fun at the Mall, Day 8 was back on the road. Minnesota to Wisconsin to Michigan. Hard day all around. Rough go in the morning getting the kiddos ready. Drive was okay, but since we got to the destination a couple hours before Allen's folks, we stopped at a laundromat to clean up the big bag o' dirty clothes. While necessary, this resulted in a meltdown all across the board. It was hot and humid outside, even hotter inside with the machines going, in a town we weren't familar with, around people we weren't familar with. The kids, us, yeah, tired and hot and hungry and cranky and... we were glad to see this day be over.

But here are a couple of pics entering Wisconsin and Michigan. By the way, Wisconsin cheese is good (but not better than Tillamook), and Michigan is beautiful.

Day 7

Today we met up with Greg (a good friend from MBC) who was in Minnesota attending an annual conference. We all spent the day walking through some of The Mall of America. It is massive! Allen and Greg built toy race cars in the Lego area and then raced. Greg's was much softer on the eyes, but Allen's held up on the race track. We were all able to tour a massive Underwater Adventures which was spectacular since you travel through a tube and are able to watch sharks, rays and various types of fish swim all around you. It was great to spend some time with Greg, we have missed him and his lovely wife since their recent move last year to John Brown University in Arkansas. Lizzie really took to him, and now can't stop doing "knuckles" a fun little thing Greg taught her.The pictures are from the end of the day when we were all saying goodbye.

Day 6

Today we left South Dakota. It was another long day of driving, especially since this morning we all woke up with a cold or some sort of nasal allergy thing. Driving all day in a car packed tight with stuff and two tired and sick little girls is sooooooo much fun :-) ! Actually it has been great to spend so much time as a family. The girls love driving breaks because they get to play with one another and smile at each other. Allen and Steph love to watch their little girls bond so well. Here are a couple of pictures of the roads on our way into Minnesota.

Day 5

Day of fun and rest. Site seeing spectacular. In the morning we went to Reptile Gardens. Saw lots of cool lizards and snakes and such. Even a 126 year old tortoise. Here's a pic of Lizzie touching an albino python. And of zookeeper Lizzie. :-)




After lunch we headed on up to "The Faces" where Lizzie got to run around and get out some been-in-a-car-way-way-too-long-wiggles, and Ellie got to watch tons of people walk by the big rock people and say silly things like, "do you think they re-do it each year". It is incredible to see and even more incredible once you are made aware of just how much work went into it.

Day 4

It was nice to have a short day. Left Wellington, CO about 9:00am this morning and arrived at Hart Ranch (just outside Rapid City, SD) about 3:30pm. Met up with my folks without a problem (though the lack of cell phone coverage made things interesting for a bit there).

As for the trip itself, we got to experience more of the flat, uneventful, beautiful land that is Wyoming. And then South Dakota. What a glorious state. Beautiful prairies that stretch as far as the eye can see. Slight hills that rise while the trees on them rise just the same. Wonderful people that don't require you to prepay inside to pump your gas. Really good waiters. Glorious.

Steph and I had some good conversations in the car today, so that was helpful in the grand scheme of things and, as a bonus, made the time go by rather quickly. Lizzie is beginning to settle into the traveling routine, though still is quick to throw a fit should something not be quite right. And, since she is two is just a couple weeks, she is testing every boundary that comes her way.

We could really use prayer for Ellie though. 85% of the day she is the cute, smiley content baby that we adore. The other 15% she is the not-quite-as-cute, screaming her head off (in pain?) baby we adore. We think she is teething again. Today while feeding her rice cereal, I (Allen) touched the top of her mouth with the spoon and she instantly flipped out. We've been giving her infant Motrin, which helps for a little bit, but is not quite the results we've been hoping for. The teething tablets that worked so well in the past are packed away somewhere. We may have to dig those out. The biggest issue is falling asleep. Both last night and tonight was a big challenge. She gets so tired she can't think straight, but because she's uncomfortable, she won't give in to her body's need to rest. Took lots of holding and comforting and praying to get her down tonight. So yes, your prayers for her ability to sleep at night would be most appreciated.

Sorry, no pics today. We took a couple, but it's late and quite honestly, I'm not sure where the camera is. Fun day planned tomorrow though with lots of site seeing. Should be able to post a few pics then. Good night!

Day 3

Today we spent the day with the Goodrichs (Benji was Allen's best man in our wedding). We met up for some educational animal fun at the Denver Zoo (if you get a chance click this link and try the poop quiz called "Whose poo?"..Steph got an 86, Allen got a 50). For the NW crowd, the Denver Zoo dwarfs the Portland Zoo. Very impressive and a blast. Saw lots of animals I had never seen before (did you know ant eaters have really long fur?) and animals I never knew existed (there is an animal called a bongo. Go figure).



All in all, it was a ton of fun to see Benji and Missy again, to finally meet their little guy, Isaiah, and for them to meet our wee munchkins. Thanks for a great day Goodrichs!



The kiddos finally got comfortable with one another after a little bit. Benji and I have often discussed the possibility of their arranged marriage. Cute couple, no?


There's a lot of humor here. Insert your own caption. (Thanks Brewsters for the wonderful gift of the mai thai (the kid carrier strapped on Allen). It held Ellie comfortably all day. And it was super easy to get on and was way less painful than using the sling (which we started to use until it began to hurt Steph's shoulder).

Day 2

Got some great rest and started the day a little later than planned, but no worries.

Northern Utah and Wyoming are both incredibly beautiful and incredibly boring.


Lizzie is back to her normal self, which is both good and challenging (...she is 2 after all).

Never go to the Cheyenne Outback on a Friday evening during the weekend of both a convention and many graduations.

Day 1

Took off at 5:20am. Drove I-84 for a loooooong time. Got into Brigham City, Utah about 8:00pm. It's been wonderful to have time alone with just the family and enjoy seeing a ton of God's amazing creation. Believe it or not, eastern Oregon is a lot prettier than most would have you believe. Kids did well. Lizzie wasn't quite herself on Day 1, but sleeping a lot was a good thing for her.

Departing shot of Mt. Hood. We'll miss you.

Sleeping in the backseat. O, to be a two year old.