Driving in Atlanta drives me crazy!

Happy Halloween!

Wanna hear my scary Halloween story? (don't worry, it's not that scary)

Erik worked the 3pm - 11pm shift again tonight, so I packed him some dinner and snacks to last him till his midnight snack (he's always hungry when he gets home). However, he left his dinner here, and I didn't realize it until he was already at the hospital. Abigail and I had dinner with my sister-in-law Kris and her family, but we finished up around 6:30 and headed downtown to Crawford Long to deliver Daddy's dinner.

Suffice it to say that I hate driving in downtown Atlanta. No, on second thought, that will not suffice. I need to do some venting. Let me tell you why I hate driving in Atlanta. If it were just the awful traffic, I could deal with it. If it were just the aggressive, reckless drivers, I could handle that. If it were just the pathetic street signs and the stupid roads always changing names, I could live with that too. But what REALLY drives me crazy about driving in Atlanta is the fact that 90 percent of the streets seem to be one-way. I am a seasoned expert at getting lost while driving. I can't go anywhere for the first time without getting lost, and often I get lost the second and third times too. That's why my Dad is #2 on my speed dial. He is a walking, talking map of Atlanta/Georgia/United States. I can give him the names of any two streets, and he can tell me how to get home. Besides that, he is also the sweetest, most patient man alive and never tells me he's too busy to be my personal GPS. The first year I was married, I probably called him 3 times a week because I was lost somewhere in downtown Atlanta on my way to or from school. (It's such a blessing--for both of us!--that we both have Verizon! Otherwise I'd have racked up his phone bill.) The reason for my calls became so predictable that he would just start laughing as soon as I said hello. I tend to get really panicky when I'm lost, but every time I heard my sweet father's voice on the phone, I calmed down and knew everything was going to be all right.

Ok, enough nostalgia. Back to my ranting.

The one-way streets in Atlanta kill me because they make it impossible for me simply to turn around and "retrace my steps" when (when, not if) I miss a turn. Since I do NOT have an internal working map of Atlanta (like Erik and my dad do), I am 100 percent dependent on my mapquest directions. So when I miss a turn and can no longer go by them, I am immediately and hopelessly lost. Oh yeah! I almost forgot another one of my top reasons for hating to drive in Atlanta. I can almost never find a place to pull over! (you know, to press #2 on my speed dial) So that just adds to my panic; not only can I not just turn around and go back, but I can't quickly pull over to determine my bearings (ok--to call my dad to figure out my bearings). So my options are either to keep going straight on the same road until I stumble upon another street name that looks familiar (that happens one out of a hundred times, and invariably I turn the wrong way down the road), or I can make the nearest right hand turn and try to find my way back to the street I missed. Nine and a half times out of ten, the result of either approach is that I become increasingly more lost.

So, with that brief bit of background, let me continue with my story of tonight.

Erik had given me directions to Crawford Long, and his directions are always very thorough. (as in he tells me the name of every street I'm going to cross--not just the ones I'm going to turn down--in order and what gas station/restaraunt/hardware store is on every corner of each intersection I'm going through...You thought I was kidding about the map inside his head?) So tonight I knew that I was going to pass three major things going down Peachtree St. before I got to Crawford Long: North Avenue, Lindon St., and the Bank of America building. So I'm going down Peachtree Street, and I cross over North Avenue. Check. Then Lindon Street. Check. Now what was the third thing? I quickly grab my directions and try to read my handwriting in the dark: Bank of America. I look up, trying to find the building ahead of me (it's the tallest one downtown--how could I miss it?), and then.....was that the hospital emergency entrance I just passed? Yes, it was. Ok, stay calm. Stay calm. That's hard to do when your daughter's screaming in the back seat, you just missed your turn, you can't read the names of the street signs in the dark, and even if you could, it wouldn't do any good because you don't know where you're going! Noting the one-way street sign in the upcoming intersection, I decided on the keep-going-down-this-road-until-something-familiar-jumps-out-at-you approach, but after crossing a few streets, I decided to switch tactics, and I quickly made a right-hand turn. Then, seeing a Mellow Mushroom sign and praying that it was somehow accompanied by a parking lot, I made another right-hand turn. No parking lot. What?? So I made another quick right-hand turn and pulled into the only available space off the side of the road--the loading dock of some big building. Abigail started to cry again, and, with tears streaming down my face, I said, "Abigail, please stop crying!" Then I called Erik. No answer. What?? What emergency could he possibly be dealing with that was more important than the one his driving-impaired wife and helpless daughter were in?! I said another prayer (about the tenth one in the last two minutes) and called again. He answered this time, and when I told him the name of the street I was on, he told me it was right behind the hospital! All I had to do was continue down the street, and I'd see the hospital emergency entrance on my right. And, he added, if I missed the turn (he knows me so well!), I just needed to make a right at the nearest light, and that would take me back around to the front of the hospital. How come it all sounds so ridiculously simple when he tells me?

Well, I made it. And Erik was outside within a minute. When he opened the door, I managed a watery smile before bursting into tears again. So he just sat there holding my hand, telling me it was all right, while Abigail began chattering away happily at the sight of her daddy. Fortunately, the way back home was really easy; I only had to make two turns. (I still managed to miss one of them...) Needless to say, I was extremely relieved when we finally got home.

Here are some pictures of my beautiful baby that have nothing to do with this post.

Abigail returning with her spoils from a trunk at our church's recent chili cook-off and "trunk-or-treating" activity. The few pieces of candy she got were quickly confiscated when we got home. I did let her keep a pack of raisins, though. I know, I'm such a mean mommy!

Abigail in her one-year birthday outfit from Great-grandma Heiss (which finally fits her at 19 months). I asked her to smile, and this is what I got. It'll have to do for Great-grandma, though. I couldn't keep Abigail still long enough to get another one.

Sick, sick, sick!

Sorry we've been absent for a while. The last few weeks have been a little crazy and somewhat draining. It seems like Abigail has been sick with one thing or another for the past three weeks. (But as you can tell from the picture, she's been her happy, rambunctious First she had roseola, which was a little scary for me until Erik diagnosed it and told me about the symptoms. Then all last week and into this week she's had a really bad cold which we thought might be RSV, and this week she's also had diarrhea and a really bad rash. I haven't been able to keep up with all her dirty diapers; sometimes she tells me she's poopy, and other times she just goes about as usual with her cheerful play and chatter and I don't find out till much later that she's been sitting in it for hours. So the rash hasn't healed much the last few days, and it has been making her very uncomfortable at night. The last few nights she's woken up around the clock, and Erik and/or I have gone in to change her and reapply the rash cream (yes, sometimes it takes both of us to do that because she kicks and screams in pain--I would too). Not very fun or easy to do at 2 o-clock in the morning when I can hardly get my eyes to open all the way.

So.....Abigail's had a tough time lately. And usually that means I have a tough time too. She generously shared her cold with me (actually, it's probably my own fault since I'm rather reckless about sharing drinking glasses and giving her bites of my breakfast), so we've been draining our Kleenex supply the last few weeks and trying not to sneeze on Erik.

Despite all that, we've all been in very high spirits (during the day, at least!). Erik has started a new rotation - emergency medicine - and is enjoying the fact that most of his assigned shifts don't start until 3 pm! We're still getting used to the luxury of having him around in the morning! He loves being able to spend time with us when he's awake and energetic, which he hasn't been able to do the last month when he's gotten home just before or after Abby's bedtime. Abigail is thrilled and doesn't like to let him out of her sight.

On the first morning of this delightful new schedule (Tuesday), I was feeling like a particularly happy wife, being able to enjoy a sit-down breakfast with my husband, so I decided to make a scrumptious scrambled egg breakfast. A while later, we all piled happily into the car to drive to a nearby park to exercise. Unfortunately, our car battery was dead. Undeterred, Erik went and got the jumper cables and brought the other car over to jump us. I tried to keep Abigail entertained the whole time by singing her favorite songs, but right in the middle of the chorus to "The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock" (right about the time I was singing "and the floods came up!"), she suddenly erupted, covering herself and her carseat in scrambled eggs. I'll leave the details of the smell to your imagination....but it wasn't pleasant. However, nothing seemed to phase Erik that morning. He just kept smiling as he helped me get Abigail out of the car. Then while I took her inside, changed her clothes, and fed her some lunch, that Super-husband of mine took care of ALL the smelly details. He cleaned up the mess in the car, brought her carseat in, scrubbed every inch of it in the bathtub, and put all her clothes in the wash. I hardly touched a thing. Then he took our car over to the Saturn place to have it checked out (the battery had been dying on me pretty frequently). What a man! I felt almost guilty letting him do everything; I was expecting to clean things up during Abigail's nap. He did it all himself, though, and I was so grateful that I told him I'd do almost anything for him. His response: "Would that include making me a tuna fish sanchwich?" (I absolutely detest the taste and especially the smell of tuna fish. Erik loves it, though, and always gives me a hard time about never letting him eat it. I have to remind him that I don't mind in the least his eating the stuff, but if he wants it, he gets to prepare it himself.) It was a true test of my love, but I passed. I made him a yucky tuna fish sandwhich.

THEN after all that, he went to work for 9 hours! What a tropper!

Tottering

I happened upon this video when I was looking for one in particular, and I laughed out loud. Erik took this back in Provo when Abigail was starting to walk. It lasts about five seconds, so you have to watch and listen carefully (the background is Chronicles of Narnia, which Erik was listening to on tape).


I don't know. Maybe it's just my unique sense of humor....

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Daddy Gone?

I've decided to post a little family update for those who don't live near us:

Erik is in his fourth year of medical school at Emory and is working hard this month as a sub-intern (a "pretend" resident). He submitted his residency application last month to the following schools: Cincinnati, Dallas, UAB, Vanderbilt, Charleston, Emory, and MCG. Next month will be an especially busy one as he interviews at the different schools. We're hoping to take some family road trips to the ones close by. Erik's excited to look at different programs, but we're pretty sure Emory will be our first choice. They have a good pediatrics program, and (perhaps of equal importance) both Grandma's live within half an hour's drive! "Match day" for residency is not until March, so stay tuned!

I am loving life right now. It's wonderful to be a wife and a mother to two healthy and very happy people! A summer of classes at BYU has refreshed and rejuvenated me, and I am eager and excited to continue taking online classes. I am currently enrolled in two BYU independent study classes: a family finance class and a jogging class. I'm really enjoying them both. I'm learning all the secrets to getting rich; now we just need an income! My sister Tabitha found me a steal-of-a-deal for a jogging stroller at a consignment sale, and Abigail and I have been putting it to good use! We've tried out several nearby parks, and occasionally we run at the park near my parents' house. Tabitha agreed to be my running buddy, but we've only run once together. It's hard to make the half-hour drive early in the morning, so mostly we've been running on our own....but at least we've been sticking with it! I also have started doing yoga with my sister-in-law Kris once a week, and it has been a blast! Yoga's much more difficult than I ever thought, but it feels really good when we're done!

Abigail is 18 months old now and continues to delight us with her charm and energy and amaze us with her rapid learning abilities. She learns new words every day and invents all kinds of games for us to play. Her most recent favorite is when we pretend to be dogs. The first time I did it, I started to pick up her blocks with my mouth and put them in their bucket. She thought that was hilarious, so now she frequently asks me to be a dog, and as soon as I get down on all fours, she begins shoving blocks in my mouth.

With Erik's busy schedule this month, Abigail has not been seeing much of her daddy. There have been several days, even in a row, when he leaves before she gets up (well, that's the case every day) and gets home after she's in bed. I know we're not the only family that has to go through that, but it's still hard! And the saddest part is that Abigail has started asking about Erik frequently throughout the day. A hundred little things that she sees or that we do seem to remind her of Daddy, and she'll all of a sudden look up at me with her head tilted and say, "Papa?" (I don't know how to do accent marks on the blog, but she says it with a perfect little Spanish accent!) I tell her he's at work and will come home when he's "all done," but she continues to ask for him the rest of the day. "Papa" is the first thing she says when I get her out of her crib in the morning, and she runs to our bedroom as soon as I put her down, even though I tell her he's not there. It's so sad! But it warms my heart too. And I'm just thankful that Abigail has a daddy who does come home every night.

This one's from this past summer--this was Abigail and Daddy's reunion in Provo when he finally arrived after finishing his finals back home. We were apart for two weeks.

This month so far has given us a little taste of what Erik's residency will be like. I know it's going to be hard to have him gone so much, especially as Abigail gets older. But when we do get to have Erik home with us, we try to make the most of our family time. Erik and Abby usually get some playtime in before dinner, Erik reads her a story before bed, and then we all sing a few of her favorite songs and have family prayer. It's neat to observe what a difference our family bedtime routine has on her. She is always most content when we are all together. So I think the important thing during residency will be for me to talk a lot about Daddy during the day--how much he loves us and how hard he's working and how we love to spend time with him--and make his homecoming special, something the kids look forward to. That's how it was in my home growing up. That way, I hope it won't seem like he's gone all the time--because we think about him so much during the day.

So here's to Abby's wonderful Daddy!

Pumpkins and Petting Zoos!

My sister Tabitha was thoughtful enough to invite us to join them this past Friday for a fun excursion at Randy's Pumpkin Patch. We had planned to go during the cool morning hours, but we were all running late and by the time we arrived at the pumpkin patch, the cool morning was melting into a hot afternoon, the cute fall outfit I'd dressed Abigail in was becoming a nuisance, and nap time was fast approaching. That said, it should come as no surprise why I couldn't coax a smile from Abigail for a single picture!

I'm glad I got this shot because once we got inside the petting area, Abigail showed no interest in touching the bunnies!

Here's Grandma showing Abigail how nice and soft the bunny is. You'll notice, however, that her gaze is not directed there but at the rabbits' drinking trough. Moments after I snapped this shot, she had her hands in the water....

Here we are again, still trying to convince Abigail that petting bunnies is fun. Mothers are great at projecting their feelings onto their children. (At least I am!)

My lovely sister-in-law Char with her sweet daughter Elizabeth, the only one of the cousins old enough to really appreciate this experience

Abigail did enjoy carrying a little pumpkin around with her the whole time we were there, so we brought one home with us.

Abby with her sweet Grandma Weiler

I can't help laughing at this picture. We all wanted to get a "cousin shot," but we waited too long and Abigail was really cranky. Here she is storming out of the picture! But as you can see, she wasn't the only one ready for lunch and a nap!

Despite the tantrum at the end, a fun afternoon! The best part for me was just spending time with my family. Thanks for including us, Tabitha!

Note: To see some really cute pictures from the pumpkin patch (of a baby who is actually smiling!), visit Tabitha's new blog! http://tommyandtabitha.blogspot.com

Fiesta de las Naciones

Our family is currently attending the Chamblee (Spanish-speaking) branch/congregation while our church building is being renovated. Erik served his mission in Colombia and likes to take advantage of any and all opportunities to improve his language skills and enlarge his vocabulary, so we volunteered to serve in the branch for the next year or so. Erik is teaching a prospective Elders class, for those who are preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He enjoys it, and it's neat for me to see him interact with everyone. He seems to be friends with everyone there (he has served in the branch before, so many of them already knew him). I am touched each week by the love and appreciation they show for him.

I am going off my meager high-school and college Spanish experience, so I have plenty of room for improvement, to say the least! Fortunately, my one skill happens to be in high demand there, and it doesn't require speaking! I play the piano for Relief Society and occasionally in Sacrament meeting and Primary. It's nice to have that niche that allows me to feel like I'm contributing, but also makes the transition a more gentle and comfortable one. The people are warm and very welcoming. Abigail attracts a great deal of attention, as she is the only blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby there by a long shot. We have recently started taking her to nursery, which has been an interesting experience. She gets along pretty well as long as people (read nursery leader) give her her space! One of the nice things about the nursery, though, is that it provides her additional exposure to Spanish.

A few weeks ago the Chamblee branch put on their annual Fiesta de las Naciones. The members really go all out to prepare for this event, and it is quite impressive. The food this year was incredible, and I only got around to two of the tables that lined the whole room representing different countries. The decorations were beautiful, and the entertainment was definitely worth waiting for (but we did have to wait....which meant we had to leave well before the program ended to get Abigail to bed). They had a great turnout; the room was absolutely PACKED to capacity. Erik had invited a friend from Public Health school who came with his wife and younger brother. Fransisco, his classmate, is from Ecuador, and he really enjoyed the program (and really really enjoyed the food!). I tried to take some pictures, but they didn't turn out too well. I'll post some anyway.

Chowing down on a scrumptious tomale--I was surprised by how much Abigail ate that night. We already knew she had a thing for beans and rice, but she willingly tried several other dishes and seemed to enjoy them.

Not only does Abigail have a taste for spicy food, but she also dances like she's got some Latin blood in her! Whenever she hears music, she starts wagging her head and twisting her shoulders. It's pretty cute.

Just as a side note, Abigail's shirt says "Sassy Senorita." It was a gift from Erik's Aunt Gayle at Abigail's baby shower. She's starting to outgrow it, but I thought it apropos for the festivity!

This one's for Clark!

I've been meaning to post some videos for Abigail's cousin, Clark Weiler. Abigail and Clark are addicted to each other's blogs! They especially enjoy watching the videos. Shannyn has requested that I post a 10-minute video on the blog for Clark to watch so she doesn't have to keep replaying the same one over and over for Clark's pleasure.....Well, for the sake of other viewers, I won't do any quite that long, but hopefully Clark will enjoy them!

Walking to the park

Playing Abigail's favorite game: Where's Abby?