Last year for my birthday I decided to party like I had just turned 30 (I had only been here for 1 month when I turned 30 and I didn't have as many friends yet nor did I know of any cool places to party for a married woman). I invited my friends and shared my party with my good friend, Caroline. It was an awesome night.
Another semester has ended with all A's for me! And Summer semester started today. This may be the last time I post until I'm done with Summer classes. This semester is 5 weeks long and I'm taking 2 classes. I also happen to be in Utah visiting family until the 23rd and so I don't have time to post updates for a while. I will be posting lots after this semester in an attempt to catch up my perpetually behind blog. On a lighter note, I'm going to be graduating in December and will finally be finishing what I started 13 years ago....my undergraduate degree! Yipee for me! I already have a pile of books I will read that I am actually interested in reading rather than required to read. I can hardly wait!
(February 14-20) The week of Valentine's. What a week! We played a lot (Brian worked a lot) and that is about it. We had a "play group" activity with another ward at the church and I was happy to see a few other moms from my ward come play. Johnny-Lu thought he was so big playing with all the other kids. James had a hard time sharing some of the toys (of course, the other kids had a hard time sharing too). I guess sharing is hard for a 2 year old.
Note to self: Watch James more carefully while he is eating strawberries. I found Johnny-Lu right beside James' chair chomping down on a Strawberry! He was enjoying it a lot (even though the pics say otherwise). He also got some new clothes from his Grandma Shelley and his bump (as we call it) was just too cute to not take some pics. Johnny-Lu has also moved into the "I-hurt-myself-all-the-time" phase of life. He seems to always have little bumps and bruises.
Moving on. This week Brian and I also celebrated our 8th anniversary!! Crazy eh? Well, we finally figured out how to use the timer on my camera. We just didn't figure out how to make it focus on us at the same time. I think Brian kept putting his finger in front of the camera and so it was focusing on that. We didn't have time to fix the issue because our babysitter arrived. Still the years are all kinda blurry now anyway so I guess these photos fit. Aren't we a cute couple?
I can't believe we have been married already for 8 years. It sounds a lot cooler when I say that we met in 1995 and started dating in 1996 when we were just 17! (That is 14 years together)! We waited till Saturday (Tuesday was our anniversary) to celebrate for obvious reasons. We went to a super expensive restaurant and had lots of awesome food. It was a 5 course meal!
We started with tiny pan-fried lobsters (to die for!) with Lobster brulee. Then we moved on to eggplant caviar (not fish eggs) with red lentils and fish (I'm not sure what kind of fish it was but it was good). From there we got to the main course of the most amazingly, yummy filet mignon ever! It was covered with the most amazingly, yummy garlic butter ever. It was served with steamed green beans (like 6), sweet potato puree, steamed turnips, and about a thimble-full (okay maybe a bit more) of awesome french fries. Seriously, the stake was cooked exactly perfect! Med-rare the way I love it! (Of course, Brian's was "well-done" which here means about mediumish). Then we moved onto a cheese plate. 5 different cheeses to try. My favorite was the Gruyere. And to finish some lovely little chocolate molten cakes served with super awesome, home-made, vanilla ice cream! And some lovely little fruit compotes (passion fruit-which I love!-and something red that was amazing but I didn't know what it was). Sorry, I did not dare take pictures because it wasn't that kind of restaurant. If you come visit we can go! Oh, and you don't want to know what it all cost. But it was totally worth it to me! I love going out and WE almost never do it (Brian gets to go out all the time with clients to these fancy restaurants).
So what have we done together in these 8 crazy years?
1...House bought and fixed up.
2...Beautiful boys!
3...continents visited together (North America-duh!, Asia and Europe) plus the Caribbean too.
4...temples in Utah visited together. (Bountiful, Salt Lake, Timpanogos and Ogden).
5...moves, 5 different wards, 5 cars owned and 5 strollers owned.
6...temples (outside of Utah) visited together. (Oakland, Atlanta, Dallas, Nauvoo, Madrid and Bern).
7...European countries visited together! Switzerland (where we live), France, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Spain. (Brian has also been to Russia, Norway, England, Denmark, Ukraine and maybe a few others with work). We plan on seeing a lot more!
8...blissful years of marriage...and counting!
Before: June 26, 2009. 7 am Friday morning. Just about to leave to the hospital.
After: July 1, 2009. 6:06 pm, Wednesday. John-Luke Fila Gillespie sleeping like an angel.
In between: Friday.
Well, we were all scheduled for a lovely induction on Friday beginning at 8 am. Got to the hospital. All went well. Got checked in. Got to the delivery room and got "hooked up" with the IV. I even got one of the two rooms with a huge Jacuzzi tub to chill in while waiting. Because of my prior c-section the doctor/hospital started the drugs off really slowly. I mean really slowly. And nothing happened....and still nothing happened....and still nothing happened. Basically, nothing is all that happened on Friday. We sat and waited and although I had some contractions they weren't really that painful and I didn't even get an epidural that day. Later in the afternoon the doctor came by to dicsuss my options. We decided to stop the medication for the night and to start it up at 6 am the next day. I was shown to my lovely recovery room and finally given a great steak dinner to eat. Oh, and the dessert was to die for. A lovely mango/passion fruit mousse. It was heavenly. Got a nice hot shower too. Didn't get too much sleep that night. Who sleeps good in a hospital? Even a really posh private one?
Saturday. Got woke up bright and early by a really nice nurse and they took me back to a different delivery room (still got a Jacuzzi tub) and got hooked up all over again. I did get to eat a yogurt and some chamomile tea so that was nice that I wasn't totally starved. And as the doctor recommended I jumped in the Jacuzzi to help things get started up. (I guess it can help get things loosened up or something or perhaps it just keeps the moms relaxed). Well, this time things started working. By about 12 I asked for an epidural and it was promptly given by a super nice guy. Unfortunately, I waited too long to avoid vomiting so I was lucky enough to continue the day with vomit breath. Lucky me! I even tried to ask for gum but that was not allowed. Well, as it happened with James the epidural was spotty but was good enough to make it all quite bearable but not good enough to really get any good sleep. I wish. And then I just sat there and waited for things to progress. Well, I also tried various different positions to get John-Luke to move down and get into a good position. Things started slowly but by about 5 pm it looked like we were really getting somewhere. At about 8:30 pm I started pushing and that was even going well until John-Luke stopped coming. He was so close (the doctor could see his head) but just wasn't budging. She tried using the little suction thingy (don't know what it is called) and that did nothing. The doctor wasn't comfortable with using forceps (and frankly neither was I) for fear of hurting John-Luke so by 9:00 it was decided that a c-section would be done.
I was all prepared and ready to go and was quickly wheeled down to the operating room. The doctor gave me the good stuff so I wouldn't feel a thing and off they went to cutting. It is kinda surreal to have your belly cut open while you are laying there wide awake. Surreal in the sense that I could feel everything they were doing (not pain). I could feel them make the first cut and then start going deeper and pulling things to the side and going deeper. Apparently, a second c-section takes a bit longer than the first as they cut exactly on the old wound. Another surreal part of this experience is having the doctor ooh and aah over how beautiful my old scar and wound had healed. To me scar and beautiful are kinda oxymorons and don't really go together at all but all the doctors I've seen have told me how "beautiful" my scar is. Whatever. In fact, the doctor was so excited she told me that I could easily at "at least 5 c-sections" if I heal that well. Again, Whatever!!
So after what seemed like 10-15 minutes of digging in my belly they finally pulled John-Luke out at exactly 10 pm and he went crying away with Brian. Now any woman who has ever given birth (naturally or via c-section) can relate to that wonderful release of pressure when the baby is finally out! It is the best feeling. Like you have your own body back to yourself. I love that feeling.
Back to the story...After about 3 minutes Brian and John-Luke were back and I was able to give him a few kisses and whisper to him for a few moments (see pic below) and then him and Brian were off to the nursery to be properly looked over and such. Meanwhile, I was just getting all sown up and put back together. All the while the doctor is still oohing and aahing over my lovely healing and scars. They got me all patched back up as quickly as can be expected and wheeled me back up to my lovely recovery room where I was quickly met by John-Luke and Brian.
Everything was great with John-Luke. No problems at all and I was able to nurse him immediately. After which he promptly fell asleep and that is when the real horror started for me.
The epidural wore off. The baby had just nursed. I was on IV medication to make my have more contractions (to stop blood loss). The nurses were pretty much jumping on my belly to get it to contract AND to add insult to injury they were putting heavy bags on my belly to accomplish the same thing. Needless to say, they all worked to get me to have non-stop, worse than anything I have ever felt, pain!!! I was totally crying. They gave me a shot of morphine and said it would be better in 5 minutes. Nope. Morphine does not work on me. Not at all. In fact, the pain just kept getting worse and worse. By this time I was in so much pain that I was pouring sweat and about to vomit (even though I had nothing in my stomach to vomit). Well, after about 20 minutes of waiting for the Morphine to work they decided to give me some IV painkiller (not sure what it was as I was pretty delirious at the time). Again. Nothing. Of course, pain relief was shortly promised and did not arrive. By this time I was totally crying and I finally just asked them to give me more epidural meds straight to the source. Of course, they had to call the doctor who had gone home but he was an angel and said yes. Finally, after writhing in pain for what seemed like hours and was probably at least 2 hours the epidural meds helped enough that I was able to handle the pain. It wasn't completely gone but it was at least bearable again. That first night was truly horrible. John-Luke was an angel and slept about 8 hours through the whole thing.
Sunday was also quite unbearable but at least they were satisfied that I wasn't going to bleed to death and so they stopped pounding on my stomach and putting weight bags on it too. I was still having bad after birth contractions but I was on pain meds so it was mostly bearable (except when nursing). Really, after 2 days of labor and a c-section I was just sore everywhere. Especially on my tailbone where John-Luke had been pounding for 2 days. Every day since then has been better and better.
Oh, and they did figure out why John-Luke suddenly stopped just short of coming out. He had turned so that his head was sideways. Totally different problem than with James but the same conclusion anyway. All things said, I'm just thankful that John-Luke is here and that the only damage he had was a big bruise on his head from pounding into my tailbone. It could have been lots worse if we had tried forceps to get him out. Thankfully we didn't.
He really is a good baby. Sleeps well (so far) and nurses great. He did have to have his frenulum clipped like James but luckily they just did that here in the hospital instead of sending me to a ENT later. It makes nursing so much easier/less painful.
Today, John-luke was circumcised and he is required to stay overnight for monitoring but we will go home tomorrow and rejoin the rest of our family. The doctor who performed the circumcision officially pronounced John-Luke a true American afterwards. It is very uncommon here ti curcumcise unless it is for religious reasons. And that is the better part of the story. At least all the details that I haven't blocked out. Next time, no labor for me. Not with my beautifully healing uterus!
I just finished school and got my grades. I have to say that this semester I had the hardest class I have ever had to take. Even the teacher called it HEL (short for History of the English Language) but it really was HELL! My other class was Constitutional Law (Individual Rights). They were both reading intensive classes and the English class also required a book report and research paper in addition to the regular reading. So, here I am tooting my own horn really loud for this semester!! I can't believe I made it through. And with two A's.
What did I learn this semester? Good question. In addition to the subject matter being studied, I learned that two classes a semester are too much for me now. I'm taking the Summer off to have the baby and then I'm dropping down to one class this fall to see how I handle it. Only 7 more classes till I can graduate! I CAN DO IT! Just wait and see. It may be a couple years but I will make it!
...to the end of our marriage.
Today is our 7th Anniversary. We are still having fun! Marriage rocks!
Unfortunately, our marriage is apparently over. About 3.5 years ago, when we had been married for 3.5 years, Brian started a conversation with these words...,"Now that we are in the middle of our marriage,..." I can't remember what else he said but I asked him if he didn't expect us to last longer than 7 years and I have been counting down the time ever since. Now that it is here...well, I think we will keep it going for at least an eternity. So, if we have decided on an eternity is there really a "middle" part of marriage? I say no. One thing is for sure, we love each other more than we did back in the beginning of our marriage.
This picture was taken in June of 1996 in front of my parent's house in Bountiful, Utah. We were just 17. 
This is the most recent picture that we took a couple of weeks ago when we went to the Balloon Festival at the Chateau D'Oex in Switzerland. 
7 random facts about Brian and me.
1. We met in 1995 while working at ShopKo. Brian was my supervisor at that job.
2. I'm older than Brian...by a few months.
3. We have now, finally, been married longer than we dated.
4. We love to travel and have been to many places together with many more places on our list.
5. Our first date was Feb. 13, 1996. We went to a Jazz game where Brian had nachos dumped down his back by a drunk Asian woman. It was hilarious to me but not to him. Especially when the lady started smearing it all over his back in an effort to wipe it off.
6. We have our own language. We are often asked what the heck we are talking about.
7. We have lots and lots and lots of nicknames for each other. Don't worry, none of them are too sugary.
...and one to grow on...
8. We have the cutest, happiest, snuggliest Bimmy in the whole wide world!! And we love him so much!
I am officially tooting my own horn. I got straight A's last semester! Yea for me! What does it matter that I only took 2 classes?
This semester started on Jan. 20 and I am taking 2 more classes. English Language: Nature and Development, and Constitutional Law: Individual Rights. They are both very reading and writing intensive so wish me luck! I'm already counting down the days till May 15 when the semseter ends. Of course, I will get straight A's this semseter too. Just you wait and see.
That is right. I did it!!! I passed all four clep tests that I needed in one week. It is a miracle and I blame God for it cuz it certainly wasn't me. I have really not had the time to devote to studying as I should have for the tests but it all worked out in the end and I officially do not ever have to take U.S History I or II. Yea!!! Kudos to me!
I offically have taken and passed two of the four CLEP tests that I need to get done before we fly out next week. I totally aced them! Now I do not have to take an extra English class and I do not have to take Biology!! I was actually a bit reluctant to take the Biology test as I have never taken a biology class in my life. But I thought, why not? It couldn't kill me and I can just study real hard and take it again in 6 months. Anyway, I went to Barnes & Noble and purchased the officail Biology CLEP study book ($36) and read it yesterday. That is the extent of my biology training and it worked out for me. I am sooo relieved to not have to take that class.
Now if I can only pass American History 1 on Friday and American History 2 next Monday then I will be set. I am currently reading a book to study up for those. I haven't had a history class since junior high or high school. Wish me luck or better yet pray really hard that I can pass.
And just so this isn't the most horribly boring post you have ever read I am putting up this picture of James and his buddy Dougie. Dougie is 1 year and 2 days older than James. My friend Crystal and I were shopping for suits at Burlington Coat Factory (pretty much the only place to find cute church clothes for baby boys that aren't super expensive) and we saw these suits for $20. We both liked them so much that we each got one and Crystal took these pictures of the two of them in their matching suits a couple of Sundays ago. Don't they look so cute? I sure think so.
He has a special knack for finding the tiniest speck of dust on an otherwise spotless floor. It is quite remarkable really. Even if he is all the way across the room from the speck of dirt, he will "army crawl" directly over to it. He is learning how to do so many new tricks. He can clap his hands and sometimes he even attempts to wave but we are still working on that.
He is a generally happy and smiley baby and likes to imitate sounds when he can. When we are running errands in the car he loves to make all sorts of different noises and sounds. It is his own talking practice time. And he is getting much better at saying, "mama". He is already good at saying, "dada". 
This is what happened when I let Bimmy "feed" himself. I'm not sure a single bite went into his mouth but he sure did have fun playing with his food.
On a different note.... I got an A in my first college class (Business Law and Ethics) at TWU. (Did you expect anything else?) It was a five week course and so it was pretty intense. Lots of reading and research. But I made it through fine and next week I am taking 4 clep tests. Wish me luck! I am taking 2 classes this fall semester. Texas Government (required at Texas state schools) and Personal Financial Planning. I am confident that I will get As in those two classes as well. I will let you know. I am hoping to graduate either December 2009 or May 2010 depending on how much I can clep out of. Not too shabby considering I can only take 1 to 2 classes at a time. 
I know this is something silly to blog about but with Brian working so much I am bored and needed something to do. Anyway, yeasterday I was blog surfing and came across the Picky Palate (thanks, Brooke, for having it on your blog). I found a recipe for Extreme Toasted Marshmallow Candy Bar Rice Krispy Treats. Yes, that is actually the name of the recipe. It said it was a way to get rid of extra Easter candy so I decided to make it and Lemon Bars for dessert tonight. They were a pretty big hit so if anyone ever has need of a relatively quick and easy and kid friendly dessert then give this a try.
I used Kit Kat candy bars but the recipe says any chocolate candy bar. Think Snickers, Milky Way, Baby Ruth...use your imagination. For the recipe from the Picky Palate click here. I have never taken pictures of my cooking creations before but I decided to do it today. I expecially like the close up picture. Don't they look good? I'm sure all the Fila family (my side) can hardly believe that anyone would eat this stuff. I'm also sure that my dad and probably my sisters will call to tell me that I am slowly poisoning myself but who can resist a little poison once in a while? Especially poison this good. Maybe this is why I am much more plump than the rest of my family.
I also have a new favorite pair of jammies for James. I think he looks like a little sausage in them. Totally squeezeworthy. He is offically in 12 month jammies which are much more expensive but his feet were getting too squished in the old ones so I finally bit the bullet and got some. The price jumps from 3 for $10 to 3 for $25 with this size. At least the weight range is from 17 to 22 lbs. so we should get more use out of these than the other sizes that he went through so fast. I tried to get him to smile but it was bedtime and so he just looked at me like I was crazy to be flashing bright lights at him and trying to get him to smile. But he was very patient with me. Unsmiling but patient.
My friend Crystal, who got me into this scrapping in the first place, says that I need to use stitches so that is what I am gonna try on my next layouts. We will see how it goes. I will be posting current pictures of James on Saturday after our family picture. So be patient with me. 
It snowed! Yes, here in Dallas, Texas, it snowed on March 3, 2008. I almost felt like I was in Utah for the Holidays again. Brian went out and took some pictures while it was coming down because we thought for sure it would not stick for long. And then this morning this is what we woke up to. Isn't it pretty? This is my house, by the way. 
It was so peaceful looking and because there were so many wrecks on the road this morning, Brian decided to sleep in and go to work a little late! Bonus for me. Oh and James slept from 6 pm 'til 5 am and then from 5:30 am 'til 9:30 am. I felt like I was in a dreamland.
I thought it was a big enough deal that I made James sit outside in the cold in his bouncy seat so that I could get a picture of him with his first Texas snow. We (and by that I mean I) made a snowman and James got his picture taken with it. I am sure the little man won't last too long but it was fun making him.
Doesn't James look so cute in his little hat? He is just so squeezable. Right after this he pooped even worse than last week and laughed a lot about it as I was changing him. He thinks it is funny to be naked. I don't know why. Maybe it tickles when I kiss him all over his fat, naked belly and on his chubby cheeks. Oh and on a side note I voted today in the Texas primary even though I am kinda apathetic about this election as I don't really have anyone I like really well that is running. And people wonder why we want to move to Switzerland. At least I got a sticker.
So, I missed last Friday. Oops. I was really irritated cuz I gained 1 lb. But this week I lost 1.6 lb. so I am over it. When I told my sister she said, "Your welcome". I have to admit I usually do lose weight at her house cuz it is so healthy and there are two kids to chase after. There is no trash food to snack on. This time, though, we had some organic, raw chocolates and macaroons to eat so I did have some sweets. No sugar added, of course. And don't think that just because I say healthy that I mean low-fat. No, we had our fair share of healthy fat. So after a bad week last week I had a good one this week but I still need to exercise more. I really am planning on doing it. I think I need to just start running again. I will let you know how that goes.
Just thought I would share some pictures of my trip to Sedona. It's kinda like the Park City of Arizona. And it is beautiful. I went hiking with my mom and sister and my nephew and niece and, of course, I went shopping with my sister at "uptown" Sedona. These pictures are taken from the balcony at my sister's place. The view is amazing! The pictures don't do it justice.
James got a Baby Bjorn from his Gramma Sharon as an early Easter present. Doesn't he look cute in it? I think so. Look at those luscious lips
.
Here is James with his Gramma Sharon and cousin Lexy. He did smile I just didn't catch it in the pictures. James did very good on the plane although he didn't sleep much. Now I feel like a pro. Oh yeah, and in case you didn't know you can check a car seat and two bags for yourself and a 40 lb. bag for the baby. At least you can on American. I went out with one bag and came home with two. Totally typical for me when I travel. Mostly I filled my bag with Christmas presents that didn't fit into our luggage at Christmas and health food from my super healthy sister's house. She is totally organic, non-processed, non-GMO, sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, corn free, chemical free and everything else bad for you free. At least she is not a vegan, yet... She did introduce me to the LARABAR and I can recommend them to you all. They actually taste good. They come in flavors like Lemon Bar, Apple Pie and Cherry Pie. They are raw, kosher, vegan and free of anything bad for you. She even lets her kids eat them. I have a lot of catching up to do to be as healthy as the rest of my family. I am trying. Really! Oh, and for those of you who don't know, GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism.
Can you tell she loves the camera? And why not, she is a cutie isn't she? But she refuses to have her hair done most of the time. I refused to get my hair done as a child too. 
This is my nephew Jaxson aka Nickolas. Apparently he really likes to play on the bed I was sleeping in cuz I kept finding him there. Once he had raided the fridge for all the apples he could carry and was just getting started on them when I found him. I laughed so hard at that. He was so sad to get caught with his stash.
As you can see we had a great time in Sedona. I totally recommend it for a family vacation. There is lots to do and see. I will have to go back soon.
