Family Pictures

Mr. Spastic Boombastic

Remembering Heather

Heather, Cassie and I- Homecoming Freshman year, BYU


Heather and I in her dorm room


My friend Heather Ann Luedtke Chapman passed away on August 31st at the young age of 32. She battled breast cancer for almost 3 years and although I wanted her to beat it so badly, I visited her a couple of days before she died and realized how much pain she was in. It was hard to see- Heather was not herself anymore. So while I am sad that she is gone because I will miss her, I am glad that she is no longer in pain. When I heard that she passed away, I instantly imagined her in my mind smiling in heaven, with her big smile, long blonde hair and healthy body- able to run and dance like she loved to do. We had so many fun times together. She was my second half my freshman year at BYU. We did everything together- and I mean everything. We even planned our trips to the bathroom together. And although we lived a couple doors down from each other in the dorms, I talked to her on the phone several times a day. I remember my roommate thinking it was crazy that I had just seen Heather and then we were on the phone talking. Heather was a loyal friend. She always was an example to me. Some people are just "good"- and that was Heather. I know it has been a long time since college but I often think back on my memories. I loved BYU and always treasure the experiences I had there, and especially the friends that I made.

I went to Heather's funeral in southern california. It was a quick trip because of the baby at home. I flew down that morning and back that afternoon. I am so glad that I was able to attend though. Her funeral was a powerful spiritual experience for me. Her family is so strong. And I left feeling determined to be a better person, to be more like Heather. She didn't complain as she battled the cancer. She will always be remembered for her constant smile. And she kept her faith throughout her trials- enduring to the end. The chapel was packed and I hope Heather could feel how much she was loved and how many lives she touched.

Just a few memories that come to my mind right now- skipping dinner at the Cannon Center and eating brownie shakes at Cosmos instead, football games, anatomy lab and stinky clothes, building snowmen, our "Jared" tape that we listened to over and over, singing and playing the piano together in the practice rooms, dinners at Brick Oven and Los Hermanos, dressing up and being my date to the Opera, Homecoming dance at the Capitol Building, candy at the Bookstore, studying together in the library until Hawaii 5-0 started to play, stalking "Ball Boy", food fights in the Canon Center, eating dried cereal for dinner because we were sick of the food, starving on Sundays and late night walks to Circle K or Taco Bell, playing Red Rover late at night, going to Provo Canyon and building a fire and singing hymns on sundays, going to open house at the boy's dorm, sneaking into the boys' dorm through the back door and getting caught by Atila the Hun dorm mom, dollar movies, having the boys take turns waiting all day in line to buy tickets for the friday night movie on campus, going to those packed BYU dances and the Helaman Halls dances- those were so much fun!, forcing her to listen to country music, Disneyland, several trips to Whittier to visit her, eating lots of Mexican food and also at one of her favorite food places- Islands, having her perform her latest song for me on the guitar, watching her tap dance when I could get her to do that for me, always making me laugh- I called her my own personal comedian, Sparky the fireman who was kidnapped by the boys along with her camera- and later returned with funny pictures of the guys dressed up like Sparky, buying Sparky a birthday card, laying on her bed together and talking, her timidly knocking on my door Saturday mornings to see if I was finally up yet, waiting for Amanda to find her meal card before most dinners, Chicago (singing group) concert at the Marriott Center, Tuesday devotionals at the Marriott Center and then lunch together, emailing almost every day after we graduated and lived away from each other, our Book of Mormon trip to Central America. I could go on and on. One of the best things in life is to have true friends. I hope that she knew in life how much I cared about her and admired her.

My baby is getting so big!

See the post below- I added to what Ross wrote. And I have no clue what the first part says- Ross was posting pictures so his mom could see them in the Philippines.

My baby is getting so big!

Ma, para sa imo kini. Dili mang mo magkita so pictures lang sa. Patiencia na lang. Mahal kaayo kamong duha. Ayo-ayo diha.


That was a message from Ross to his mom. Marcus is almost 3 months old! I feel like we went through a huge transition and finally I am feeling like I have things in control. And my body almost feels like normal again- just a couple sizes bigger... The first 3 months have been hard but I am loving being a mom. Marcus is smiling so much now- it makes the sleepless nights a lot more worth it. The little stinker can't make up his mind about sleeping at night. Some nights he will give me a wonderful 5 hours of sleep and then other nights- like last night- he is up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Maybe he just gets lonely and misses our company but I wish I could figure out how to get him to sleep well every night. Thank goodness he is taking one long nap everyday- although as I have learned, babies like to make you think that you have it all under control and then they change it up again.
We blessed him on Sunday. He looked so cute in his white suit. I'll have Ross post pictures later. It was wonderful to have my family there and also my second family- Susan, Sheree and Cherish. I love having company because I feel like I am just home by myself a lot. That freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want is gone.
Ross started school. I know it is hard for him to be away from Marcus for so long. Marcus really loves his daddy. The pictures below are from when Ross was changing Marcus' clothes and thought the onesie on his head was really cute.
We took Marcus swimming for the first time last week but it just happened to be a day when i ate a little dairy and it bothered his tummy- so now I know for sure that the dairy was what made him scream so much at the beginning- so he was already upset from not feeling good so he just cried. We are going to try again later this week since he loves bath time so much.
I don't have many updates about me. Mostly I am just at Marcus beck and call. I am missing out on the annual Rucker Lake camping trip which I am sad about. I have been trying to use what little free time I have to start baby proofing our house. I am headed over to my parents' house in a little while to hang out with Liz before she moves to Italy. Sounds fun huh? Anyways, we are surviving and doing well. I feel so proud for having made it through these first 3 months- shout out to all the other moms out there :)

Marcus' first laugh

Marcus has laughed for a while in his sleep but this video shows his first real laugh. Ross was tickling him and he was cracking up. He loves his dad! Still not getting much sleep around here but it is fun to watch him grow and develop his personality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DZyw-iWcRo

Surviving "Colic" (Wastebasket diagnosis MD's use when they don't know what is going on)

We have survived 10 weeks of new parenthood! Marcus is really breaking us in. He had a tough few weeks where he spent a lot of time screaming. I just thought to myself that I never knew babies cried this much. I slowly realized that his was not a normal amount of crying- especially when my mom and grandma told me that they each had 5 kids and they were not as bad as him. So I did some research and decided that he had many of the signs of acid reflux. All babies have "reflux" but for some reason he was in a lot of pain and could only let me know by screaming. Now that I have read way more information, it is obvious to me that he had many symptoms that are not normal but being a new mom, I just thought all babies were like that. So we started him on Zantac which didn't help right away but gradually seemed to help. And then I stopped eating dairy which helped even more. He no longer screams like he did. I am not sure if he has an intolerance to the milk proteins in dairy or if the dairy was contributing to his reflux. I wish babies were easier to figure out. But I am just happy that he seems content most of the time. He still doesn't nap for very long and has nights where he is up a lot. So I am waiting for that day when I get more sleep. But he smiles a lot and is making so many sounds. I am enjoying motherhood so much more now.

We haven't been up to much else. He isn't the easiest baby to take places. My family was all together the past few days so we spent a lot of time at my parent's house and went on a few short excursions. Tom and Monique were visiting from Nebraska and it was fun to see my new neice Ridley. And see how much Christian has grown. And Amanda was visiting from Utah. I miss having her close by but am excited for her as she starts grad school. Matthew just left for college this weekend and it is hard for me to see him move away. So I am getting used to the idea that my family is becoming more spread out. We had a fun few days hanging out and remembering old times.

Otherwise I have just been trying to figure out what does and doesn't work for Marcus. I still have 2 months before I go back to work and I really hope he sleeps more and is even more content to not be held all the time by then. It is amazing how the day just flies by and I feel like I didn't barely leave the house or get much done. So I haven't updated my blog because it doesn't feel like there is much to share.

Ross will post some pictures of Marcus. He is growing and seems to change all the time. Our world does revolve around him so sorry that he is going to be the focus of much of our updates.