Do I have to cut it...?

For the last nine months I have been growing out my hair.

It started when Melanie asked me to grow it out a little longer than my self-cut, No. 2 chop job. I liked my buzz cut. It was quick, easy, and zero-maintenance. However, after several of our friends had seen our wedding pictures and had commented about how young I looked and then asked how long we had been married (evidently expecting a response of "oh...about ten years"), I began to reconsider. Melanie heard this (and some comments that Aaron made) and decided I needed to grow my hair out longer. To be completely honest she has been dropping subtle and not-so-subtle hints that I should grow it out a bit for the last couple years. Little did she know she was about to open Pandora's Box. Now look at me...a mangy beast. She was right...growing my hair out has made me look a lot younger, and it has also resulted in a rather unexpected change of view...I really like my long hair. In fact, I love my long hair (and a lot of people have commented that it looks good). But like all good things, there must be an end. Now Melanie has begun to hint that it is time for a cut (or maybe just a trim). But instead of just getting it cut, I thought it would be fun to poll our readers (I know...a little vain). The ground rules are the following: Wife's vote = 5 points, Family votes = 2 points, Friend votes = 1 point

So here are the questions:

1. Should Paul cut his hair?

2. If YES, which style of short hair should he get?



The "Christian Bale": Yes, you say, I looked better with the buzz cut.










The "Mentalist": Melanie likes this one only because she likes the show...but honestly...I would look ridiculous with this.








The "Wolverine": Yup...the chops are part of the deal.











The "Jake Gyllenhaal": Melanie wishes I had the blue eyes to go with this one.










The "Two Face": I actually like this one but I think I look like a total goober with a part...you never know though...







3. If NO, which style of long hair should he go for?



The "Owen Wilson": Broken nose not included.

The "Jon Bon Jovi": This is actually kinda what I am sporting right now.










The "Soundgarden": I think I would need a perm to make this one work.










The "Alexander": Greasy...but I could do it. Melanie says the goatee is not a part of this one...I agree.







Please post a comment with your votes by Saturday, September 5th and we'll post a picture of the winning "do" next week.

Iverson Rebellion 2009

Every year in Preston, Idaho is the Iverson Family Rebellion. Paul's grandparents have a nice big house for everyone to stay in...or set up tents around. Every year there is plenty of food, games, and crazy ideas. This year was no different.

For one reason or another (don't ask me...I haven't an idea) it was decided that there would be a parade, and each family would march in it. My one question was, if everyone was in the parade, who would actually watch it? Regardless, the parade was held. So Aaron and Tandy rigged up this awesome longhorn cow. And the rest of us threw ours together last minute. Can you tell Tandy is an artist? But I heard that Aaron did most of the work.

Yup, it was painted, shaded, and everything.

Here I am, the pregnant cow. I doubt this caused my water to break early.

All of the Texas Longhorns. I must say, we had the best entry in the parade, probably because Christina was the pooper scooper who shoveled all our chocolate cow droppings.

Here is Paul's mom, Jessie, with all of her granddaughters. Yes, Hattie is sporting a mustache. She accidentally drew on her mouth with a permanent marker, and Paul decided to embellish it! It was still slightly visible at church the next day.

Another part of the reunion included a fair, in which each family set up some sort of booth. All the boys took turns on the dunking booth, and I particularly like this shot of Paul.

And one of our "booths" was sumo wrestling. I didn't try my hand at this...it certainly would have been the cause of my water breaking!

The pie eating contest was also a hit.

And, making this reunion most memorable, was the gigantic slip and slide. Don't worry - I didn't go down. And Hattie wasn't the biggest fan.

All in all, a great reunion full of board games, late night 4 square games, and good conversation. We hope we can make it next year!

The Otter-pop girls

I've finally finished downloading, organizing, and renaming all my pictures from the summer, so over the next few days I'm going to try and catch up a bit during naptimes. Not that I expect all you readers to care about the details of my past summer, but I do it mostly for my own record keeping.

But I'll start with this little tidbit from a few days ago.

Hattie's friends Juliet and Callie came over for a swim in our inflatable pool the other day. Hattie is slowly remembering that they are her friends - the nine week break from Texas has clouded her memory. They enjoyed splashing each other, and Hattie actually stayed outside with them instead of coming to search for me. Once they left she was constantly asking for "Et" and "Ca-ee." We get together every week with Callie and Juliet, who are both very close to Hattie's age. And I get to enjoy a few hours with Chelsea and Kristina, two girls who are lifesavers here in Lubbock. I'm glad to be back where I am surrounded with wonderful friends.

For Paul

This post is mostly for Paul, so he can see how his little girls are doing since he's been away. Hattie certainly hasn't forgotten him. She consistently cries, "Daddy go-way?" followed by whining, "Daddy!" We are counting down the days til we see him again.

Grandpa has certainly been helpful while Dad has been gone

Whenever Hattie sees Anna's clothes, she tries them on

Hattie has learned to love the trampoline this summer

Anna accidently found her thumb! (she now weighs 5 lbs 9 oz)

Aunt Sharee cut and styled her hair...and she looks just like me when I was young

Hattie loves "helping" me with the baby. She always wants to "howld it", tickle her toes, and help me hold the bottle (twice a day I give her breast milk fortified with extra calories)

Lifesavers

During the past two weeks at the hospital, I have discovered a few things that made the entire ordeal bearable.

- My water bottle - I love this thing. We bought it at REI a few weeks ago. I thought it would be a good bottle to take to the gym since my old one spilled like crazy. But it has proven its worth long before I return to the gym. It doesn't spill and I can drink from it lying down in bed, so at a hospital, it's perfect. I recommend one to all pregnant mothers!

- My sleeping mask - I'm sure I would have never had any sleep while in the hospital without it!

- My own pillow - Hospital pillows are not squishable or moldable. So even though Paul wondered why I brought my pillow with me from Texas, I am more than glad I did.

- Lots of pillows - By the end of my hospital stay, I mastered the use of hospital pillows. I learned how to manipulate them to make the bed more comfortable. In the end I was using 8 pillows to cushion my body and help me be relatively comfortable (true comfort is not possible in a hospital).

- My husband - For 9 nights he slept on a not comfortable bed, in his clothes. He only left my side to get some food for himself, since he quickly depleated his supply of Skittles and Starbursts. He spent hours in boredom. We watched a lot of soccer. But he was always there to talk to me, to hold my hand, and to give me the strength to get through the hardest moments. After Anna came, he spent his days in Ontario with Hattie so that she would have the companionship of her parents for a while. And now he is alone in Texas and having to start school again while his mind and family is here in Oregon. I am so grateful for his patience, his faith, his sacrifice, and his confidence through this all. I am more than anxious to be together as a family again.

- Prayer - There were moments when I thought the physical pain was unbearable, moments when I was scared for the life of our baby, and moments of worry for the stress on our family. But through it all, I felt remarkably calm. Through prayer and the Holy Ghost, I was able to find and maintain peace.

Home to Ontario

My mom brought Hattie over on Monday so that I could see her. Between feedings, we went to the Ronald McDonald House basement, which is full of toys. I was amazed how much she has changed during the two weeks I spent in Boise. She is talking so much more and loves to play with her cousins. We will definitely miss them when we return to Texas.

After 8 days in the NICU, Anna was released. She really has done wonderfully. She had no developmental delays - she breathed on her own from the beginning, never needed a feeding tube, and didn't have any problems nursing. Many premature babies have trouble sucking, so we have been very blessed. One of the nurses said that lots of babies born at 34 weeks are in the NICU for about three weeks, so we are glad our stay was so short. I stayed at the Ronald McDonald house Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, going to the hospital first thing in the morning and staying until 9 at night. It certainly made recovery from my c-section easier, since I simply sat around knitting or reading while I waited to feed her. Tuesday morning the doctors determined that she had gained weight consistantly for the last few days and we got to go home.

Hattie already loves Anna. Whenever she sees her, she squeals "Baby!" and runs to see her. So far she has been pretty gentle with her. And she loves to point out all of Anna's body parts - eyes, nose, fingers, toesies, head.

We'll stay here in Ontario for two more weeks, then travel to Utah for the wedding of Paul's brother. And finally we'll travel back to Lubbock with Paul. Although I wish we could be together with Paul already, I'm so glad to be back home with my parents and sisters and out of the hospital.

Together!

Yesterday Paul brought Hattie to see Anna. It was so nice to all be together. Hattie loved holding her. She kept giving her hugs (good thing she didn't have any food or else she would have tried to feed her) and didn't want us to put her back in the crib. Hopefully that is a good sign that she won't beat her up later!

It was our last time to be together for a few weeks - Paul left this afternoon to drive 20 hours back to Lubbock. School starts Monday. Gratefully, a room at the Ronald McDonald House opened up for me, so I am staying just a few blocks from the hospital, making Anna's time in the NICU a little bit more comfortable. Even though I have a room close, I still spend most of my time with her, even when she's sleeping. It's better to be close to her than in a bedroom by myself.

Here are a few more shots of our little one.