Wednesday, December 16, 2009

December 16, 2006

I just couldn't sleep without telling Hollie how much I love her. At this very minute, three years ago, I was folding your teeny newborn clothes, putting finishing touches on your new room, packing for the hospital...and waiting for my entire world to change. It's hard to remember the person I was before you came to us, because you've changed me so completely. From the minute I saw you, you completely stole my heart. You have filled the walls of our home with so much life & joy. Last night, you let me rock you to sleep. And today, I heard you mutter a sleepy, "I want my mommy" as you woke up from your nap. Thank you for the thousands of moments like these that overwhelm me with gratitude for being your mother.


Thursday, December 10, 2009

What's new...

It feels like I have not blogged in ages. We're doing great, just a little busy. So, here's an update. I'm 15 weeks today, have most of my pre-preggo energy back & I haven't thrown up in almost 2 weeks. A month ago, that would have seemed miraculous. There is ONE beautiful baby incubating in my uterus (contrary to some illegitimate facebook rumors) & we can't wait for January 7th when we find out what color to paint the nursery. Boy Sam is also doing great, just trying to ride out the swell of my many mood swings. I couldn't ask for better than him. And Hollie? She's Hollie. Crazy, adventurous, passionate, energetic, loving, curious Hollie. She'll be 3 in less than a week & I just love the little person she's grown into.

On Sunday before church, I pulled out the camera to do a profile belly shot before I really start showing & snapped a few of the Hols, too. How can you not love that face? Except, of course, when she's dumping liquid dish soap on the carpet. It's a little more difficult then.

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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Cinderella

Hollie thought Halloween was the greatest day of her life. At every door, she would knock & say "I need to trick or treat!" We couldn't convince her that full sentences were unnecessary.

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Boulder 09

As promised, I've finally started going through my hundreds of shots from our summer escapades. Here's the first of many to come: camping at Boulder with Sam's fam. Hollie would live there if we'd let her. She hiked, fished & 4-wheeled with the best of us.

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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Missing

Can it really have been since the beginning of July that I've posted? Where have the Hoffmans been, you ask? In a word...Gone. We had Snowbird, camping at Boulder mountain, camping at Ophir, Trek, then the cabin in Heber all in a row. Literally, in a row. We had 1 weekend at home in 6 weeks. We spent over a month being gone with only enough time in between to unpack, repack & head out the door again. I can't tell you how happy I am that fall is right around the corner. I'm really hoping for some semblance of normalcy. I have hundreds of pictures waiting to be edited & posted. I'm just trying to muster the strength to dig into them. For now, I had to share a few from Hollie's play date with some of her BFFs, Lexi & Livvy (or Wex & Wivvy, if you ask Hollie who they are). Hopefully I'll be back soon with more from our summer adventures.

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Friday, July 3, 2009

Toothless

It all started with Hollie getting a cold - coughing, stuffy nose, etc. So, we took her in to the doctor & they thought it might be swine flu. Joyous. Thankfully they ran the tests & it came back negative (whew!). Just an ear infection/cold that can easily be remedied by antibiotics. Not too bad. Well, at 10:00 pm last night we were trying to administer her medicine (which is not pleasant - wailing & gnashing of teeth are involved). As Sam sat her on our solid surface countertop, she lunged to get away & her face hit the top of the counter. Screaming ensued & I thought it was just a bumped lip or something. Oh, if only. Half of her top right tooth is now lost to the unknown abyss. We looked, but couldn't ever find it. And of course this happened late at night, and at the beginning of a holiday weekend when almost all dentists are closed. For the love.

So, we of course called our family dentist (who's in California), who referred us to someone, who referred us to someone else. I was not having much luck. In the end, Sam was inspired to tell the whole ordeal to a random co-worker this morning. Miraculously, her three-year-old had done the same thing & they had an amazing dentist fix it. So, I called Mr. Amazing Dentist & they were not only open but could see her first thing this morning.

I knew the exam was not going to go particularly smoothly as Hollie has a somewhat difficult time sitting still. It actually wasn't too bad, although Sam & I had to pin her body down while Mr. Amazing Dentist (who's real name is Dr. Quayle) held her head. He was actually impressed. He said, "She's surprisingly strong for her petite little frame." Tell me about it.

Anyway, Dr. Quayle determined that the chip only went into the 2nd layer of the tooth & there isn't any nerve damage. Yeah! Which means that he can just fill in the missing piece without removing the whole tooth or putting in a crown. The bad news is Dr. Quayle is out of town until the 13th of July. We're leaving for Snowbird tomorrow, so Hollie gets to be the toothless wonder for the whole trip. At least it will be memorable.

As you can imagine, it has been a long couple of days. We are so grateful, though, and know that Heavenly Father was watching over us. It really could have been so much worse. The doctor even said after he works his magic you'll barely be able to tell that anything happened. All I can say is that it's a good thing we have a week of vacation coming up. All three of us desperately need it.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Disney 09

I can't even tell you what a blast we had at Disney this year. It was the perfect trip - nice weather & no lines. What more can you ask for? Other than the stupid Princess Walk (don't even ask), the longest line we waited in was maybe 30 minutes. Can you guess which rides Miss-Obsessed-With-Animals would like the best? Yeah, Tiki Room & Jungle Cruise. Oh, and Small World. She's been singing the song (or one line from the song) since we got back. We can hardly wait to go again.

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Meeting Ariel? Funniest moment ever. As you can see, Hollie really wanted to kiss Ariel on the lips.

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