Hello

I have an extra moment this afternoon and I thought I would get on and write a little more.

My three year old twins are winding down on thier nap time which is fine, they went a lot longer than Joseph did on his nap time. The hard thing is that your life becomes so used to the nap time that when it ends, it is difficult to adjust to the extra time. What do you do? Let them try to sleep still or just let them stay up? Oh, what to do? The problem is that they are still grumpy and ready for bed at 6:00 p.m. when they do not take a nap. But then they do not sleep in the afternoon. With Mike going to school twice a week and then a study group once a week I am with the kids all day by myself for four out of the five days through the end of the year. Sometimes it is a little overwhelming to think about. But, many people have done it before me so I will figure it out. I know that my mom did the single parent for many years as my dad traveled on a weekly basis when we were growing up. He not only traveled a lot but was gone for his church callings as well. He was gone a whole bunch when I was growing up. So, if my mom can do it I know I can because I learned from the best. It must have been very hard for her but I do not recall her ever complaining about it. She made the best of the situation. She was willing to up and move about every 18 months to 2 years as my dad took promotions and different job opportunuties throughout the country and abroad as well. We never lived around family except when I was very young and living in Arizonia. But that was when I was younger than Joseph. By the time I was eight, we lived far away from family until well forever after that I suppose. I have lived in many places and sometime soon I will write more about that as well.

I beleive I was writing about my time with the library. I loved that time and really miss it. Someday I would like to go back and do that again.

My next section I think that I will write about will be some of the memorable stories reguarding some of our crazy neighbors in the apartment complex. You would not beleive some of the people that we lived near by. I will not tell every story because I am sure that it would take up many volumns, but I will tell some of the better ones.

But I have to go now to pick up Joseph from school, more later.

Hello

Its me again.

I was talking about getting home with Joseph. After my health improved, I quickly adjusted to having the baby around. I really enjoyed it. It was a challenge but a good one. I began to change my attitude about the apartment and that improved my life there. Joseph was a really good baby and an easy kid to take care of. I would put him in the excercise stroller and we would go for long walks around the local parks in the area. He loved being in that stroller and I enjoyed being outside and doing something. We would often meet Mike near where he worked for his lunch hour and eat lunch with him. For the first nine months he worked at Janus he was on the phones and then he was promoted to the Accouting department and has been there ever since. So when he got the promotion, he moved to their Cherry Creek building and that is where we would meet him for lunch. We would meet inside the Cherry Creek mall and I would window shop all the fancy chi, chi stores. It was a fun distration. We would go often. That is when I began to go to the Cherry Creek Branch Library. I would meet Mike and then walk Joseph down to the library. When Joseph was about three months old, I noticed a sign at the library asking for a Saturday morning volenteer. I thought to myself that is perfect, I am up early to do the laundry every Saturday morning. Thus began the next six years of working at the library every Saturday morning. I would work several hourse at first when it was just Joseph. I would do what they call the router list. I would go around and collect all the books on hold and then run them through the computer and then sort them to where they needed to go. Over the years I learned how to do many other things. I would sort, shelve, and cheack out books. I was a librarian just not paid. I loved doing this. I would consider working at the library as a job down the road. I finally stopped every Saturday when we moved out to the house, it just became to far to drive every week. I miss it a lot. I still do volenteer events downtown every year. I am asked to help with the summer used book sale. This past summer, they held it outside in big tents. You have never seen so many books in one place. It truly is amazing. I work at the private, by invitation only party on a Friday night. It is always fun with a great local live band and a nice catered meal. I am also invited to help with the Book Lover's Ball sometimes. They hold that every fall. It is a big formal event that is a fundraiser for the library. I am seen several local celeberties as I cheak people in as they enter. Many of the people attending that event are Denver's rich and elete. They are interesting and many ask why there is not valet parking for the event. I always find that funny because if you have ever been to the downtown library you know that both main enterences are located on the side of the building. There is not street access to either door. You must get out of the car and walk about 1/4 of a block to get to the enterence. One enterence faces Broadway and 13th and the other faces the Art Gallery. So unless you want to drive your fancy Bentley into either of those locations, you would need to park in the parking garage across the street with those of us of the great unwashed. Oh well, that would be nice if your only worry and concern in life was where was the valet? Must be nice. I use the valet service all the time, so I can relate to thier problem. (Just kidding!) Some of the "famous" people that I have met while working there are: Govenor Ritter, Mayor Hinkenloper, Mayor Webb, Lance Armstrong (the biker), local news casters from 7 news, 9 news, and 4 news. It is always a fun filled night. Sometimes I am asked to help with the silent and vocal auction they hold in the early spring. This is also a fundraiser, they sell alot of rare and very pricey books that night. I have to wear special gloves while handling and showing off the books. I am like Vanna White showing off the letters on Wheel of Fortune, just try not to drop the $5,000 book. Do not worry I did not, but it was fun holding it, the book was beautiful.

Well, I had better go for now.

Thanks for the comments from everyone. I will soon figure out how to comment on the comments. Please be patient with me as I am learning.

I placed most of the pictures from our summer trip on the site, I will also figure out how to change the sizes so that the people in the pictures are not all cut off. This is a large learning curve for me. But I feel I am making progress. At least I know how to put the pictures on the computer. It is a miracle.

It has been difficult for me to post anything new because Mike is taking a finicial modeling class at school and takes the computer twice a week all day and night. Then he is on the computer at night when he is home. But, I try to get on it when I can.

Back to my history of Glendale. In case you are wondering why I am writing about it is that it feels good to me to write it down. Living there was not the easiest time for me, I have not really talked about it openly in detail so it feels good. So bear with me as I continue with the story. I was writing about the pregnancy.

As my health worsened, I was told that I had to go on a modified bed rest. This meant that I had to stay at home as much as possible. I begged my docotor to let me go to the library at least to get out once a day. I would go to the downtown library and sit in a cozy corner facing Civic Center Park. I would sit for hours at a time and read a book and gaze out the window. I guess it was not that bad. It was just very lonely. I felt that I did not have any friends and was very unfamiliar with the area. The time went by very slowly.

As things got worse with the blood pressure, I was forced to be induced at the beginning of my 36th week. I went in on a Sunday afternoon and had Joseph the next morning around 9:00 a.m. Because I was so early, the labor was slow and long. It was filled with many serious complications. He was delivered by using the vacuum extration because his heart rate was bottoming out every time I pushed. It was scary. Because of my blood pressure I was placed on a high dose of mag sulfate. This drug is desingned to shut your body down in order to keep you alive during the process on labor. What a high dose does to your body is this: 1) affects your vision to the point that you are almost blind at least the vision is very blurry. 2) Makes your throat and mouth so dry that you cannot speak, but you cannot drink anything because if you drink any liquid your lungs will fill up with fluid and then you will die. 3) It closes off your lung capacity to the point that you must wear an oxygen mask the whole time because you are unable to take deep breaths. 4) Your body and all its muscles are affected so you cannot sit up or move without assistance. Needless to say it is nasty, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But, I was able to deliver Joseph and hold him very quickly after he was born. They took him away and he spent the week in the nursery as I was recovering from the labor and my blood pressure was returning to normal. Holding him for the first time was a memorable experiance. His head was long because of the vacuum and then I noticed that one of his ears was flat. I thought to myself oh well, I guess he will have a flat ear. Little did I know that by the next day it looked normal I did not realize that little newborns are a little squishy when they first come out. He then yawned and looked so cute I immedietly fell in love with him. He was a cute baby. I did not spend a lot of time with him at first on doctor's orders. He spent most of the time in the nursery and did not sleep in the same room with me until we went home. I spent almost a full week at the hospital recovering. We went in on a Sunday and left that next Saturday afternoon. By the time we got home, there was a message waiting for us from the stake president asking Mike and I to give the opening and closing prayer at stake conference. I called him back and told him that I had just had the baby. He laughed and said that he had called someone else eailer that week when he had not heard from us. Boy did we get off the hook there.

Got to go, more later.

More about Glendale

Hello

Its me again. I was writing about the geese that lived in my apartment complex. They were horrible to live with. I hated everything about them. They pooped everywhere and I mean everywhere. So, when we moved to the "bigger" apartment the management told us that they were replacing the carpet in the new place. I was worried that with the move across the pond that we would track goose poop onto the new carpet. But it worked out alright. The move was quick because we did not have that much stuff. I remember carry my jewlery box and that was about it.

We waited until the move to buy anything for the baby. But, we could postpone it no longer. We had to begin buying things. Have you ever tried to carry a box for a crib up three flights of concrete steps? It was crazy. I suggested to Mike to call someone from the ward to help him carry it, but he would not ask anyone. So in the end, it was him and I who by that time was over seven months pregnant. That was one of the many things I hated about living there. We lived at the top of the concrete stairs. Our door faced the stairs so everyone time someone went up or down you could hear it. It was terrible. Another disadvantage was there was no washer and dryer in the apartment. So, I did all the laundry for us and a brand new baby once a week. I would get up before the sun every Saturday morning and put in 8-9 loads at a time. I would sit in the freezing cold laundry room and wait for the washers to complete the cycle. In the winter it was very cold, there was no heat in the room. I would wear my hat and gloves and sit on the counter and read a book. It was not very fun and I hated it. That was when I began working at the library. I knew I was up early to do the laundry so it made sense for me to work then. More on that later.

As the weeks went by, my health began to become worse and worse. I began to feel light headed and dizzy. It was tough, I did not know what was going on, what was happening. I was placed on a modified bed rest because my blood pressure was getting higher. At this point I had also been told that I had diabetes and had to modifiy my diet. That was a famous story. I was told I needed to see a diabetes doctor and my OB recommended one. We went, and she was the worst doctor I have ever seen. She informed me that I had put on too much weight. I had put on about 20 pounds at 6 months. Then she told me that I needed to loose some weight if possible. I think she forgot that I was pregnant. Then the best part of the story was when she asked me what I liked to snack on. I thought for a moment because I am not a really big snacker to begin with. Then I went with my Romeny roots and said I enjoy eating chips and salsa on occasion. She then suggested that instead of eating the chips, I should eat lettuce and salsa that was a better choice. What an idiot! Needless to say, I did not go back to her. I informed my OB that would moniter by gloucose at home with the pricking and then cut all sugar out of the diet. She seemed fine with it. It worked out alright.

Got to go, more later.

Hello. Its me again. I have an extra moment. Back to the apartment. We were living there for a couple of weeks and then I began to get a little worried thinking that I was a little late, like over two weeks late if you know what I mean. I was so clueless, I did not know what to do or who to ask. I realized that we had a 24 hour nurse line with our brand new health insurance, in effect the week before. So, I called. The nurse began naming off all the early signs of pregnancy and by that time I had all of them. Oh man, I was freaking out. She suggested that I take an EPT, and I said what was that. She described it to me and then I asked where to buy one. I had no idea what I was doing or what I was getting myself into.

I bought the test and then took it that night. I locked myself into the tiny bathroom and took it. Of course it came positive because at that point I was about 8 weeks pregnant. I then sat on the floor and sobbed, and sobbed, and sobbed. I would not let Mike in, I would not speak to him. I was so stupid. I was so overwhelmed. I did not what to think or what to feel. It was crazy. After the initial surprise, we began to adjust to the idea. That is where the apartment thing comes in. We (or I should say Mike) decieded that it was best that we stay in the complex just get a bigger place. So that is what we did. When I was seven months pregnant we moved into the second apartment across the pond. Our complex was huge. It had 11 buildings seven of which surrounded a large pond that sat in the middle. The problem with the pond was in the winter months there was a large flock of Canadien geese that took up resindence there. For three winters I endured their presence. If you have never had the pleasure of living near a flock of geese let me enlighten you about it at once.

They are loud, they are dirty, they are mean, they are aggresive, and they poop everywhere. This is one of the many reasons why I hated living there.

Got to go, more soon.

It's me again. I had a very busy week last week and I have not gotten on for a while. Thanks for the comments. I will figure out how to do that soon. Be patient with me.

Back to the honeymoon. The only bad part about the honeymoon was that we were hopelessly lost more than we were found. But this was before the GPS came out, but I am not sure if I know how to use them now. Oh well, we had a great time and made it back in one piece.

We lived in Mike's grandparents basement for two weeks before moving to Denver. They live on the north side of town near the University of Utah up on the benches of Salt Lake. They have a beautiful home that overlooks the city. It was nice to stay there and the rent was free so no complaints there. The only drawback was that the two beds that were in the basement were older than dirt. The one mattress his Grandmother proudly told us was the one she was born on. The other one was the one that my father-in-law slept on as a child. These were some old beds. Needless to say, I tried sleeping on the couch the first night, but that was rock hard. So, I slept on the floor the rest of the nights there.

We then packed up our meager belongings and then drove out in a piece of crap car all the way across I-80. I am surprised it made the trip. I lost count how many times the cheak engine light came on. We made it to Denver. We stayed in a rent by the week place until the apartment was ready. My in-laws drove a little U-haul out and helped us move into the small one bedroom apartment which was located in Glendale. Glendale is about two miles east of downtown and was less than a mile from Mike's job at Janus. It was a nice location, but I hated living there. I was miserable. The apartment itself was alright, but the side of town was terrible. The neighborhood and neighbors were scary. I really thought it would be a short term thing living there. Oh was I wrong about that.

Well, I am going to go have a late dinner now, more later.

Paula

More about me

Just a little more about me with this next entry. In my profile I was talking about how I got my degrees from college. After gradutation, I applied and was accepted into UNLV's graduate program. I declined going because I decieded to get married instead.

My husband Mike and I were married on June 4, 1999 in the Mount Timpanogos Temple which is south of Salt Lake City, Utah. We had a beautiful wedding complete with a great lunchon in the Navoou Room at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Following the lunchon, we had pictures and then went across the lobby of the building to the beautiful Bonneville Room where we had our reception. It was a great day. The weather in the morning and afternoon was cool and rainy, but by the evening it was warm and sunny.

We went on a great honeymoon to southern California. We flew into LAX and then drove to Anaheim and went to Disneyland. We are dorks because we love Disneyland. We then drove down into San Diego and I feel in love with that city. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. We had a great time there and went to Old Towne and enjoyed some great Mexican food. Then it was off to Sea World and I loved that. I got a huge sunburn on my forehead, but Mike did not seem to mind.

I have to go, more later.

Hello

I am just trying this out to see how it works, I have been told that I must start a blog so that people can read about it. I need to get on board with all the other bloggers. I like the idea of putting things down and writing about them. I used to keep a journal in high school and college, but I have not done that since I got married. This is a good time to start and then I need to learn how to post pictures of all the kids.