Our Forever Family

The January Catch-Up Post

2012-01-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

LATELY

Well, I missed a couple of months of blogging (surprise!), so I'm catching up in one long, obnoxious post.

We are excited that it's almost February because we will probably have a baby by the end of the month (or maybe the first of March)!!! Michael loves to poke my belly and say "Baby," but I'm pretty sure he still has no idea what's in store. He is very sweet with baby dolls so we'll just hope that transfers over to an attention-hogging baby brother.

Jeff has jumped in to yet another semester and is once again both a teacher and a student. His dissertation committee is finally coming together, for which we are very excited and grateful. I am busy being a mom/wife and looking forward to being able to bend over again. I'm also really good at misplacing things these days, as the story in a couple of paragraphs illustrates.

Michael still manages to keep us smiling, laughing, and hopping every day. He enjoys wiping his nose, flushing the toilets, playing with cars and trucks, helping in the kitchen, and mimicking the sound of the smoke detector, among other things. Some of his favorite words are "school," "no," "uh-huh," "baby," "water," and "church." He loves to go to church and we have to be careful not to mention it until it's almost time to leave so he doesn't get too excited too soon. He particularly loves nursery and will literally throw his arms up in the air and cheer when we talk about going to nursery during church.

He prefers to vacuum one-handed, just like mommy and daddy. His specialty is vacuuming the rug under the dining room table, which is good because he manages to get it filthy at every meal.

Who says only one person can fit inside? Isaiah and Co. gave Michael an awesome car for Christmas and the two of them love joyriding together

Michael was playing with his toy kitchen today while I was putting away his clean laundry. I sat one of his monkeys down next to the play table (a storage bin with a blanket on top) and asked Michael to make him some lunch. He was thrilled with the idea and started piling toy vegetables into a pan for the monkey. When I looked over next, he was sitting next to the monkey with his arms folded, offering a prayer before they ate. It was so sweet to see this practice transferring over not only from our real meals, but to his playtime when there was no one reminding him to pray before digging in. I hope he will come to understand one day that it's not just something we do, but there's actually Someone listening.

Here's a story illustrating one of the many reasons I know Heavenly Father listens and answers when we pray, and I also know Jeff loves me: the other night, my cell phone flew out of my sweater pocket and into the toilet. It couldn't have been staged any better and I probably would have laughed had I not already had several costly phone misfortunes. The phone got lodged in the narrow part before disappearing into the pipes and I had to fish and tug for a minute before I could get it out (gross, I know, but at least the water was "clean" at that point). The phone shut down and I hurried to take it partly apart to minimize water damage. We weren't home at that point, so all I could do was wrap it in a tiny bit of toilet paper and stick it back in my pocket. When we got home later that night, I took the phone apart the rest of the way, including pulling out the SIM card. I stuck the pieces in rice because I've heard that's the best way to dry things out. Still, I didn't have much hope because the water-damage indicators were red on both the phone (which has behavioral issues anyway) and the battery, and it had been under water for too long and damp for even longer. The next morning I put the battery back in and was amazed when the phone turned on. The screen edges are a little dark, but otherwise it worked just fine. Unfortunately when I went to put the SIM card back in, it was no where to be found. Stinkin' pregnancy brain (I figure I might as well blame that while I can). It wasn't in the rice, or on the counter, or by the sink, or in the couch, or in my pocket, or anywhere. I knelt to say a quick prayer and ask for help to find it, then continued searching. Jeff then suggested that maybe I had thrown it away, but I walked through the steps in my mind and thought that was very unlikely (Shoulda listened). We all continued looking, and I finally knelt again to pray, this time a bit more sincerely and desperately. I felt a quiet calm as I neared the end of my prayer, and knew that Heavenly Father was listening. When I finished, I immediately remembered about the little bit of damp toilet paper that I had thrown away after sticking my phone in the rice, and I was pretty sure I had stuck the SIM card on it and accidentally thrown it away. I searched through the kitchen trash, even found the bit of toilet paper, but still couldn't see the SIM card. I was disappointed because I had thought that was the answer to my prayer, but I just thought maybe I had needed to show my willingness to listen/act, even if it meant digging through the trash can, and I would soon find the card in its real location. Michael and I took a little break from hunting and Jeff disappeared outside for a bit. When the door opened a little while later I heard, "Tah-Duh!" Jeff had taken the trash outside and sorted through it one little piece at a time, and he found the SIM card in a banana peel. Now that's love -- searching through a nasty trash can, full of food scraps and even the bugs we swept up from behind the fridge when we pulled it out to look for the card, to find somebody else's SIM card. Jeff is pretty much the best husband/friend I know, and not just because of the trash experience. And I am so thankful that God hears and answers prayers, usually in quiet, simple ways.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

We did some fun Christmas-y stuff in Raleigh until Jeff finished with finals, and then we flew to Utah.

Helping Dad stick some Bulgarian pictures to the wall

Helping Daddy assemble an early Christmas gift

Enjoying the assembled train table!

The Santa Train in Durham

Michael was too cool to give Santa a high-five, but was one of the few children who didn't burst into tears when Santa stopped to greet him.

Wandering around after the ride was at least as fun as the ride itself

This is Michael in the children's room at the Community Christmas Celebration at our church. He was very gentle and protective with the baby Jesus doll.

We had a wonderful Christmas/Holiday Break with our families in Utah. We were so happy we got to spend so much time with them--about 3 weeks-- again this year. We loved being with everybody and wish we could see them more often. We were slackers as usual when it came to picture-taking, and we still haven't gotten pictures from those more camera-happy in the St. George crew, but we stole some pics from the Provo crew.

Cami, Michael, and Grandma Johnson

Uncle Danny showing off his accordion while Michael shows off his muscles

(Sorry we don't have more pictures with the rest of the St. George crew. We'll do yet another catch-up post when we have a few of those).

Snoozing on the way to Provo

Poor Jeff, sick with a stomach bug on Christmas Day. We are mostly convinced that he wasn't just trying to get out of going to church on Christmas morning :).

All smiles after Church on Christmas morning. You'd never guess that Michael had an ear infection.

A sweet moment with Grandma Swift

Watching "If I Were a Digger" or some other exciting video with Grandpa Swift

Sporting his Christmas PJs

Getting ready to help Aunt Steph blow out the candles on her birthday cake

We were really fortunate to see Grandma Lamb on New Year's Eve. She came down to St. George with a friend and brought her little mini broom for Michael to try out, since she had heard he is quite the helper. He loved it, and it will always be a cherished gift from his Great-Grandma Lamb. I enjoyed chatting with her for a few hours and one of the few pictures we took while in Utah was with her before she headed back home. Grandma passed away unexpectedly but peacefully in her bed on January 13th. We are so grateful for her wonderful example and for the many wonderful memories we have of her. We will miss her, until we see her again. I am sure her reunion with Grandpa was wonderful.

THANKSGIVING

We had a fun Thanksgiving Dinner with several friends from our apartment complex and the food and company were both fantastic. You can read about it here or here on my non-slacker friends' blogs. :)

HALLOWEEN

The last post had pictures of a Halloween party Jeff and I attended, but I included pictures below of our little bumblebee at the church trunk-or-treat. We loved the trunk-or-treat, although Michael was, unfortunately, more interested in wandering around than in soliciting candy.

Michael with his pal, Isaiah

Cowboy Jeff, stuck handing out candy

The wanderers

Fridge Raider

2011-10-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was trying to pull up a quick recipe on the computer so I could get dinner going with some of our Farmers' Market finds. Michael usually likes to be right at the computer with me, or at least playing by the computer, but this time he ditched me and went downstairs. I heard him go straight for the fridge, as he always does as soon as he enters the kitchen. He doesn't generally get much of a chance to mess around in the fridge with mommy or daddy hovering so close, so it was almost as if he had planned this attack and didn't want to waste a second. I got ready ready to go ask/help him to put the milk back inside and close the fridge when he suddenly let out one of those terror/upset/something's-up-more-than-just-me-being-annoyed cries. I bolted forward, worried to death, and he met me at the base of the stairs. A cracked egg was oozing in his hand. After we got everything cleaned up and Michael calmed down it was pretty funny. I'm pretty sure he won't be messing with the eggs again. I love these funny moments and treasure my time with my little buddy. Jeff and I are so grateful to be the parents of this darling, loving, funny little guy.

October has flown on by (passed the half-way mark in the pregnancy, woot!) and we're looking forward to our church's trunk-or-treat tomorrow night and some mall trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Michael has a very cute cowboy outfit (picture below) but he's going to be a bumblebee for Halloween, thanks to a hand-me-down from a family at church. There will be more pics after the Halloween festivities but here are a few from the past week or two.

Who, me?
Michael doesn't waste any time in the mornings before finding messes to make (10/17)

Cowboy Mike (10/21)

Decked out for the 80's Murder Mystery Party at the Moore's: "Debbie Gribson" and "Alligator Dundee." As you can see, my outfit was particularly flattering with a 5 month pregnant belly.

Mork (Andrew), Karate Kid (Anthony), Teen Wolf (Ian), Pee Wee Herman (Ryan), and Crocodile Dundee (Jeff). Jeff was the murder victim during the night, which we found out when he returned from the bathroom halfway through the night with caution tape around his hat and a rubix cube embedded in his temple. Yeah, gross.

Polly Abdool (Shantel), Jessica Bunny (Christine), Lindy Lauper (Autumn), Toni Oregano (Staci), Spunky Brewster (Catherine), and Debbie Gribson (Me).

This is Michael looking up at the picture of his parents dressed like weirdos. Actually, it's Michael at the Farmer's Market and I really have no idea what's up there (10/22)

Michael styling his hair with some mousse while Handy Manny looks on (10/25). He likes to get Jeff's empty container of styling goo and "apply it" to his hair and anyone else's hair he can get his hands on.

The Results are In

2011-10-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

We found out last Thursday that we'll be welcoming another BOY to the family around the beginning of March :)!!!!!!! We had a change of plans kind of last minute so Michael got to come to the ultrasound appointment with us. He wasn't as interested in the little guy on the screen as we were, but we're sure he's excited about the news too. He will be a great big brother and has already mastered many forms of mischief to teach the little one. We are delighted to have another boy headed our way and are so thankful to be a family.

Boone

2011-10-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

We got to spend another fun weekend in the mountains with the Reeves family this year as we all stayed in a cozy cabin in Boone, NC. Last year we got hit unexpectedly by a snowstorm (and still had a blast) so it was really nice to have perfect Fall weather this time around. The leaves were beautiful everywhere we went and we particularly enjoyed the view along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We enjoyed getting to spend time with Josh, Leslie, Austin, and Annelie and are so thankful they invited us!!

Michael scraped his forehead and bruised his cheekbone in the hospital parking lot just before we left on the trip so he looked a little rough. Still as happy as ever though, with hat hair after an early morning hike.

Tweetsie Railroad

Stairs are one of those things that just never get old when you're 1.

We got to ride the chair lift up the mountain. Michael thought it was funny that our feet were dangling.

One of the mini goats squeezed through the fence at the deer park. Austin was delighted but Michael wasn't quite sure what to think at first.

But he soon started picking up corn for the goat to eat right out of his hand. (Mommy followed up with obsessive amounts of hand sanitizer).

Michael even got to drive a car all by himself. He made sure none of the bumpers felt neglected on the track.

Josh and Austin

Leslie and Annelie

Beautiful!!

Genius

2011-10-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of being a parent is entertaining the idea that your child is a genius. I'm pretty sure Michael is one. :) His ability to follow directions (when he's in the mood) amazes me, his recall of family member names in the family photo is growing ever more impressive, and his growing repertoire of almost understandable words thrown together into even less understandable sentences is beyond impressive. Here is a specific example of the genius at work: Michael and I were singing wiggle songs and had been through all of our regulars when I suddenly remembered the existence of the song "If You're Happy and You Know It." For some reason it never comes to mind when we're singing so it's not one of our regulars. But when I suggested it to Michael and started singing he hopped down off the couch, ran over to the "snail chair," and tugged the rope so it played the melody, "If you're happy and you know it..." I basked in his intelligence even as I strained to sing along 3 or 4 octaves higher than I had started.

Found the Camera Cord, Let's Pretend That's the Only Reason I'm a Slacker

2011-09-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

I finally found the missing camera cord so I guess it's time to update the blog a bit. Jeff finished a couple of summer jobs and went back to school, he got a new calling in the Elder's Quorum Presidency, Michael and I started hanging out with Nolan during the week, and we're expecting another Baby Swift!! We're pretty excited about that and look forward to finding out October 7th whether it's a boy or girl.

Michael is bursting with cuteness and keeps me laughing every day. He is always busy pulling things out of drawers, climbing on anything remotely climbable, opening and closing doors (including the fridge, which, lucky us, he just figured out how to open), and figuring out how things work. He likes to sing and lead music when we get the hymn book out, he enjoys folding his arms and bowing his head when it's time to pray (although we're still working on the whole quiet/reverent thing), and he loves pushing his trucks around the floor and discovering new surfaces on which to drive them (DVDs, Books, the couch, Mom's head, etc.). He is a champion giver of hugs and kisses and is the best little buddy we could ask for. Here are some pictures of what he's been up to the last month or so:

August 13, Michael doing his morning study

Aug 13, Michael's "Uh-Oh" Face

August 17, Michael and his new favorite ride (which we found at a thrift shop for 2.99...score!!)

August 20, Our messy boy, in desperate need of a haircut (especially with his newly found joy in rubbing food in his hair)

August 22, The "Oh" face, not to be confused with the "Uh-Oh" Face

August 23, Helping Nolan find his binky

August 24, Being funny

August 25, Cooling off with Bob the Builder after a hot stroll to the mall with our buds

August 30, Cutie Face

August 31, Strollering again

September 5th, Haircut Day. Ring Pop = Genius. Bare back = Cruel. Duh Mom and Dad.

September 6, Getting into mischief.

September 7, How to eat a PB & J Sandwich

September 7, Helping Mommy make cookies

The Swifts go to Washington

2011-06-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun during our brief stay in Washington D.C. Jeff was being reimbursed to drive to D.C. for an internship training on Saturday evening, so we decided to make a trip of it. We got there Friday morning, checked into our hotel, put on our walking shoes, and hit the trail. We walked from our hotel to the White House (which is harder to find than you might think), the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Vietnam Wall and Korean War Memorial (we kind of breezed by those two), the Capitol Building, and the outsides of a whole bunch of museums. It was supposed to rain that day so we wanted to get all the outside stuff done while it was still dry, and the Smithsonian museums closed before we were ready for them. (The weather stayed beautiful the entire time we were there)! On Saturday we got up and checked out some gift shops while waiting to see Ford's Theater, then we jumped on the metro and headed to the National Zoo. We had a good time at the Zoo and Michael's favorites were the orangutans and the aquarium dwellers. All of the other cool animals we saw were either too far away or too lazy to be interesting to Michael's 1-year old attention span. Anyway, we saw a few more things around town and enjoyed being so close to everything. Here are some pics.

The White House

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

FDR

Lincoln Memorial

Ford's Theater

Michael's first Metro rides

Invertibrates at the Zoo. We all agreed that the octopus was disgusting.

Michael had as much fun exploring our hotel as he did anywhere else. He helped make our vacation so much fun!!

One Year Older and Wiser Too

2011-05-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Michael!!! Michael turned ONE yesterday, and we had so much fun celebrating with him. We had a blast at his birthday party at the park and are so thankful to all our friends who came and made it so fun. We stayed for a whole three hours at the park (really quite remarkable in baby-time), got totally filthy, and enjoyed every minute of it. After returning home and having a much-deserved nap, Michael woke up for his birthday dinner. We had (slightly burned) homemade mac and cheese, but Michael didn't seem to mind. He must have known about the cake he would be digging into after dinner. His demolition of the cake was quite impressive and he just couldn't get enough. He is a biiiig icing/cake/sugar fan and is definitely not afraid to get his hands (and face, and arms, and armpits, and belly) a little dirty. He ended the day with a bath and opening the last of his presents. Thanks to all who gave such awesome gifts -- he loved every single one and couldn't quite decide which one to play with. All in all, birthday #1 was a huge success.

We love our happy, smart, pot-bellied, sweet, spunky, handsome little one year old!

Here are the pictures from the b-day:

Look at his fingers on the keys -- he's seen mommy and daddy typing and he knows just what to do

Party at the park!!!

Jason, Jenn, and Jude

Strawberries are one of Michael's favorite treats

Catherine and Isaiah, Redmond, Autumn's arm and Lisa-Jean, Leslie and Austin, Shantel and Nathan. Uh-oh, it looks like Christine , Aiden, Mona, and Josiah weren't at the table at picture time. We'll have to ask Jenn for some more pictures.

We never run out of fun things to do at the park!

His bib already covered in strawberries, Michael is ready to tackle the monkey cake

All done!!!

And clean again. Thanks everyone for the wonderful B-day!!!

Mothers' Day

2011-05-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

Or is it Mother's Day or Mothers Day? And have you ever noticed how weird the word "mother" looks when you think about it too long? I had to stop for a minute to decide if I really spelled it right. Sad.

Anyway, my M-Day was fabulous. Jeff and Michael took such great care of me and we had a wonderful day. They took took care of the meals for the day (except dinner, which we ate at a friend's house), surprised me with flowers, were really well-behaved at church, did the dishes, got me (and Catherine) a cake (in coordination with fellow conspirators Anthony and Isaiah), and otherwise spoiled me. Jeff also got me some cake pans so I could make Michael's birthday cake a few days later. I love the boys in my life. I can't imagine my life without either of them. This last year has been so much fun -- even though I heard it many times pre-momhood, I never understood how awesome it really is to be a mom. Michael is my joy -- I know it sounds corny, but I seriously say that so often in my prayers as I'm thanking Heavenly Father for my sweet son. I'm so grateful to have Jeff by my side as we strive to follow in our own parents' footsteps to be great examples, teachers, friends, etc. to our children. And since it's Mother's Day, we want to send a particularly loud shout-out to our own selfless, kind, fun, remarkable mothers. We love you!

Michael helping Jeff out in the kitchen

Michael enjoying a fistful of icing, which he acquired while I was distracted by the camera.

Catherine and Isaiah, who also enjoyed the icing

The Matchless Gift

2011-05-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter and really enjoyed all of the festivities associated with celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are truly grateful for Him.

I posted the pictures of Michael's pre-Easter egg hunt, but here are a few more pictures from Easter:

Okay, so this isn't exactly Easter-y but Michael sure does love playing with his daddy

Jeff and I dyed eggs the night before Easter

We dyed, and dyed, and dyed. Apparently I was making up for all those years when we had to split the eggs between 5 siblings and often a few cousins too, and the eggs always ran out a little too fast. I never thought I'd see the day when we would "argue" over who had to dye the last few eggs instead of who got to do it.

Easter picnic at the park

Michael and Austin during a brief break from eating dirt

Tornadoes and Plaid

2011-04-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

Michael just woke up and started yelling for rescue from the crib, so I won't say much before the pictures I just uploaded. We are doing well and can hardly believe April is drawing to a close. We survived our first tornado and are so grateful to have been safe through the crazy ordeal. Our area of town was relatively unharmed while not-so-distant neighbors lost everything. Our hearts go out to them. I included some catch up pictures from March to now:

One of Michael's favorite places to play. He is far more trusting of the banister than I am. (3/16)

Helping clean up with the Dust Buster (3/22)

Entertaining himself while I get ready for the day (3/28)

Useful not only for cleaning, the Dust Buster helps with Michael's weight-training throughout the day (3/31)

Though he can now walk like a champ, the push-walker is still a favorite toy (4/04)

Thank you, Michael, for giving me an excuse never to load/unload the dishwasher when you're awake. (4/04)

We thought it would be fun to get a picture of M and I in their "nightgowns" (I'm not allowed to call them that), but neither boy seemed to think it was fun at all. (4/04)

Just being cute (4/05)

Pausing for a picture (4/08)

Ingenious plan to reach the IPod (4/11)

Sticking the tongue out always helps with concentration (4/11)

The eggs were REALLY hard to find, but they were no match for Michael (4/20)

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

No Excuses

2011-04-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

Alright, so we've moved to our new apartment and we've been settled in for a few weeks now, which means I'm temporarily out of excuses for not blogging regularly. We loooove our new place and are feeling quite at home here. We occasionally have to listen to our neighbors' music against our wishes, but some of the songs are starting to grow on us... ("...like a cyst" if we're quoting Jeff). We all love the extra space, and we are so happy with our move.

Michael has taken his first steps -- 6 or 7 at once -- but he still hasn't taken off walking just yet. His boldness hasn't quite caught up with his ability, but we're not complaining. He loves to play outside and we love to hold his little hand as he leads us around, exploring everything in sight. Today we went out with our buddies to play on the playground and Michael discovered a new favorite pastime: climbing up the slide. There are always plenty of interesting things to do and interesting people to stare at (sorry, people we stare at) when we're outside.

Michael also still loves helping out around the house. His love for helping with the laundry has continued, but my amusement at his helpfulness has not. In fact, it died rather quickly when Michael broke the dryer the day before we moved. A few days, parts, and dollars later Jeff and a friend had it fixed, but we learned our lesson and Michael is no longer allowed to "help" with the machines themselves. :)

Oh yeah, and Michael had his first haircut at the beginning of March. I was going to do it, but at the last minute we decided it would be fun for Jeff to give him his haircut. I got to practice my restraining/entertaining skills while Jeff manned the scissors and, fortunately, Jeff was better at his job than I was at mine.

Besides cutting hair, Jeff is keeping busy with school, scouts, and us. Michael and I keep busy running the home, having playgroup, hanging out with friends, and exploring. And we all keep busy with Church, of course. Life is good for the Swifts. Here are some pics:

2/09/11 -Michael with our neighbor, Mary.

2/16/11 -Our angelic bully

2/18/11 - We took all our coins to Harris Teeter and ended up with $54 of fun money.

2/20/11 My two favorite boys

3/04/11 Sporting a bathrobe on haircut morning

Just a little too long!

Getting shorter!!

Done!

3/5/11

More to come...

Our Busy Little Boy

2011-02-17T05:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of Michael testing out the walking toy he borrowed from Austin -- I laughed all day long watching him putter around the house with that thing.

Our Busy Little Boy

2011-02-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

We've still got some more pictures to catch up on, but we thought we'd let you see a couple of videos of our busy guy. The first one is Michael helping with the laundry again. He is even more "helpful" now that he knows how to open the door. Since I can apparently only post one video in this post, the second video will be above.

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More from January

2011-02-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

More of what Michael's been up to:

1/17/11

1/18/11 Who me?

1/19/11

Cracking himself and the rest of us up
1/20/11 Michael is a great help with the laundry.
Wishing he was tall enough to reach the doorknob

1/20/11

1/22/11 Snuggle time!

Packing up, Moving out!

2011-02-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

It's official -- we signed our lease and we'll be moving to a new apartment next week. We've loved our current apartment, and can hardly believe how blessed we were to end up in such a fantastic place when we didn't get to see it in person before moving here. We're going to miss a lot of stuff about this place, but we're also very excited for our new apartment. It feels like we're getting something a little bit better and spending a little bit less, and we're excited to be closer to friends. I'll be doing a few posts this week because I've got some catch-up pictures for the new year, and then I'll be returning to my weekly posts. (Probably. I hope.) Here are some pics from 1/9/11:

Michael thinks it's hilarious when I brush my teeth. He loves to help me get them clean.

His favorite place in the kitchen, unless the dishwasher is open

My matching studs. Don't mind the weird collar...Jeff was just about to put on his tie. :)

Michael on the day he discovered chocolate-covered peanuts

Catch-up

2011-01-20T08:51:00.001-08:00

I don't even know where to start with this blog post. It seems like I was offline for a long time -- I haven't had my own computer to sit down at since before Thanksgiving, but all the pieces of our new computer finally arrived at I'm now back at my desk, staring at our blog and wondering where to begin.

We had a fantastic Christmas in Utah. We were so fortunate to get to spend over a month with our families for the holidays, and we came back with lots of great memories (but only a few great pictures. Honestly, who's in charge of taking pictures around here? We're going to have to beg for pictures from those more photo-happy than us. We envy your photo-happiness and hope to become more like you).

Michael did not enjoy his first plane ride, and I did not enjoy it either. He absolutely refused to sleep, he was upset, it was noisy, it was very turbulent (which left us stuck in our seat and meant more than usual loudspeaker-blaring explanations from the cockpit (turn that thing DOWN already!!)), and Michael managed to mess his diaper enough times that I began to wonder if I wasn't in some kind of nightmare. I had to laugh as Michael finally drifted off just as the little GPS thing said we had 7 minutes left in the flight. Michael was very excited to get off that plane and the flight attendant awarded him a Delta wings pin.

We loved seeing the whole big crew in St. George and we spent a very happy Christmas with them. We also loved being with the Swift family in Provo and we spent a very fun New Year's Eve/Day with them. We can't thank everyone enough for all the fun, food, and help with Michael. He loved having so many fun people around who love him so much.

Michael was scooting himself around before we left Raleigh, but by the time we came back he was full-out crawling and climbing on things to a standing position. He now speeds around the house and climbs onto everything. He loves to look in drawers. He eats Cheerios about 10 at a time without even choking and he even enjoys a nice Cheese Nip now and again. He likes spinach. He laughs even harder than ever and it cracks us up. His cutest new trick, however, is waving. If you wave at him he'll wave right back. He's even started waving when you just say "Hi" to him. Soooo cute.

He thinks of new ways every day to just melt my heart. I feel so grateful to be the mom of this sweet, spunky little boy. I was definitely born to be a mommy -- I'm not saying that I'm especially good at it, but that I love it so much and know it's what I'm meant to be doing. I love BOTH of my boys so much and couldn't ask for better. Sure, we all have our moments, but the good ones more than make up for it.

Here are a bunch of catch-up pictures, please send us yours Swifts and Johnsons!! (We decided to withhold most/all family pictures because we were missing a few important ones. . .)

Not so sure how he feels about sunshine and luscious grass

Wait! This stuff is AWESOME.

Enjoying the forgiving carpeted floors

Cute in any outfit. Any.

Jeff finished finals and made it to Utah!

Michael helping with the laundry

Santa cousins

Wisemen and angel from our first Christmas re-enactment

Angels! (Dress?! I don't know what you're talking about)

Christmas morning

In our effort to not overspend after buying each other a computer for Christmas, we ended up stuffing one another's stockings with used items. I thought I was so clever when I stuffed Jeff's wallet in his stocking the night before Christmas. Imagine my surprise when I pulled my own wallet from my stocking the next morning. Great minds think alike.

We got some great gifts, but Michael was still the best entertainment on Christmas morning.

Michael with Dale.

The plane ride to NC was much more pleasant than the one to Utah, thanks to Michael's newly found Cheerio-eating ability, his willingness to actually sleep on the plane, and daddy's helping hands.

Catch Up -- End of November

2010-12-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

We had a fun, busy end of November and I'm finally posting some pictures. As Jeff explained in the post before this one (250 husband points for that post :), Michael and I are in St. George anxiously awaiting Jeff's arrival in just a couple of days. Before I post pictures of our time so far in Utah, I wanted to post pics of our last days in Raleigh and our Thanksgiving in Tennessee. We had so much fun, and we look forward to seeing our easterners again!! (Especially Jeff). Sorry that I uploaded directly from Picasa again...I was lazy, so you'll have to click on them if you want to see the whole picture.

Michael and I have a Monday morning sorting-through-the-coupons/ads tradition. He is a great helper. (Nov. 8)

He loves to hang out the side of the stroller to better see what's going on. He is quite the little explorer. (Nov. 14)

Michael kept getting stuck under the couch with his army crawl (Nov. 15)

Loads and loads of leaves in our front yard!! Michael loved to watch them as they fell. (Nov. 16)

Apparently I was a little slow to notice that he was eating a leaf.
Cami and Heather told me to title this one, "Why so serious??" Apparently Michael's expression looks a little bit insane to them. (Now. 21)

Back when you could barely see teeth in his smiley mouth. Now you can see the bottom two perfectly, the top laterals reasonably well, and the two front teeth should poke out any day. (Nov. 23)

Diana and Christine at the Thanksgiving table. We had so much fun in Tennessee!

We enjoyed a feast, Michael enjoyed a couple of spoons.

Michael loved the Dixie salad, baby style.

Grandma Lamb and Uncle Ross

Jeff, Aunt Nancy, and Grandma

We had a fantastic time and were so grateful to be with family for the holiday.

Home Alone

2010-12-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

Yep. For almost two weeks now, I've been home alone. Sheri and Michael flew back to Utah to visit family. I thought it would be nice for Sheri to get out of the house and for Michael to spend time with Grandmas and Grandpas and aunts and uncles.

The opportunity presented itself and I jumped at the chance for Sheri and Michael to spend more time with the family they don't get to see much of these days.

"Sweet!" you might be thinking. "You get the house to yourself, you can drink straight from the milk jug and belch and stay up late watching gory action movies."

First of all, it's funny you should mention that bit about the milk jugs. And second of all, I heard a song that captures that thought exactly: "Ridin Solo" (I only endorse the part of the clip I linked to, by the way. Watch the rest at your own peril).

Turns out, ridin' solo isn't that cool. It's not that cool to have Sheri and the Mikester on the other side of the continental divide. It stinks, actually. I realized the minute I walked out of that airport after dropping them off that I was in trouble, and not just because I'd miss them terribly. Since that time, I've burned my dinner, had trouble making the bed, washed the dishes (once), stayed up late pretending to do homework, done the laundry (once), walked into Michael's room and then walked back out, and . . . well, you get the picture.

It's more like this: [watch until 1:00] (a bit corny, I know. Oh well.)

Although it has been pretty cool to drink right from the jug.

Happy November!

2010-11-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

Michael is six months old today (November 11), and he's getting cuter by the day. He has two cute little bottom teeth and a ready smile to show them off. Here are some of the latest pics, including those from Halloween:

Chicken Legs!! (No, that is not a wrapped Twix in his mouth)

He saw chocolate and dived right for it. Must be mommy's boy.

Sadly, we did not take a single still shot of Michael in his chicken costume. Thankfully, Jeff is rather handy with the computer and whipped out these shots from the video we took. If we can't even remember to take pictures of our first child. . .hmmmm

I feel like that one at least slightly redeems us -- taken just before donning the costume

Fall Fun, Chicken Costume Pics Coming Soon (Whoa, the pictures in this post are huge)!

2010-11-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I used pictures directly from Picasa instead of downloading them, which makes them huge in this post. If you want to see the entire picture, you'll have to click on it.

This just in: We're getting a BRAND NEW furnace!!! This one has been good for a lot of laughs and many, many visits from the maintenance men, but it's time to say goodbye. Goodbye call-the-gas-company-in-the-middle-of-the-night-leaky-gas furnace. Goodbye pretend-like-you're-fixed-for-the-two-seconds-until-the-maintenance-guy-leaves furnace. Goodbye sometimes-gets-stuck-ON-while-blowing-freezing-cold-air furnace. Goodbye it's-freezing-cold-and-you've-been-broken-for-weeks furnace. We won't miss you, but thanks for the memories! :)

I'll post pictures of Michael's Halloween costume next, but they're still on the camera. Here are a few pictures until then:

I just can't get enough of those eyes and that smile!!

All dressed up. And I don't care what you say, Heather, his hair is cute.

We made Michael do most of the dirty work

After Michael got most of the guts out, Jeff and I finished up the rest. Leslie salvaged the pumpkin seeds while Austin cleaned out their pumpkin.

The finished products and two babies who were very ready for bed.

I let Michael do his own hair and this is what happened. :)

The Picture That Gives Me The Hiccups

2010-10-26T13:34:00.001-07:00

Hahahahaha, I just can't get enough of it.

One More Week Til We Decorate for Christmas!

2010-10-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Since we won't be here to enjoy our Christmas decorations for the entire season, Michael and I decided we should decorate right after Halloween. Jeff couldn't help but agree when he saw Michael's face, and he's especially excited for the Christmas music that comes with the decorations. Don't worry, though, we'll be sure to post our Halloween pictures. Until then, here are a few cute pictures of our boy:

Test run in the poofer coat that was too small for Austin. Thanks Josh and Leslie for letting us use it!!

Michael loves sucking on his lower lip and we just think it's so darn cute! He also loves his new board books. Every time he makes this face it reminds me of this, only cuter.

Michael asleep and Jeff half asleep

Still as sweet as ever when he's sleeping

The messier the better when it comes to rice cereal. Michael insists on holding the spoon himself. We've tried each having a spoon, but then mommy's never gets a turn inside the mouth. So I give him a couple of bites and then let him take over for a minute or two. Today's breakfast ended rather abruptly when he mistook his eye for his mouth.

Jeff Still Won't Let Me Sing Christmas Songs

2010-10-11T11:16:00.001-07:00

On Our Street

October is here and we're excited for all the holidays that are just around the corner. We've kicked off the Fall celebration with a trip to Ganyard Hill Farm with Leslie and Austin. We went on a hayride (not the boys' favorite activity) and picked our own pumpkins right out of a pumpkin patch. We all wanted to find a really "warty" pumpkin with lots of character, but after about 5 minutes of searching in the blazing sun we settled for some rather lovely smooth pumpkins. (However, we did get to trade one on the way out for an abandoned, diseased-looking pumpkin/gourd/something).

We enjoyed the cooler weather at an NC State soccer game this week and we love the changing leaves right in our own neighborhood. Michael and I met a slew of new neighbors on our walk today as Michael continues to play the role of friend-magnet in our family. Here are some pictures of our latest adventures:

Michael makes the cutest faces

Practicing to be the reverent child (above)

Cheese!!

Michael loves soccer AND having his face squished

Hard core fans (although apparently only one of them knows that State's color is red...)

Michael snuggling with Daddy before a much-needed nap

At the farm -- Leslie, Austin, Me, and Michael (with the dashing Jeff manning the camera)

10/9/2010
Happier than their faces let on :)
Lamest corn maze ever, but they had a good excuse
Apparently we need to practice our face-placement skills.

My cute boys. Looks like all Daddy needs is a matching hat. . .

Just some pictures

2010-10-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Michael the adorable, creative-socks sailor and his headless dad

Michael's camera face

He loves pajama playtime

Michael's favorite toys are his hands and his feet

Sentences

2010-09-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

Michael has been exploring the range of sounds he can make, dragging out his words into longer and longer howl/statements. We're pretty sure he's saying some pretty important things, especially judging by the thoughtful look on his face.

Less than a week later, woot.

2010-09-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Life is good for the Swifts in Raleigh. Michael has started cracking us up with some of his new "words." He's pretty much adorable no matter what he's doing. The way he opens his mouth with plenty of time to spare when it's time to eat reminds me of a little baby bird, and it's quite cute. It's also quite delightful to watch his little hand as he eats -- it's like he's doing a little dance with his hand. Unfortunately it's hard to take a video at feeding time. :) It's still, even four-plus months later, fun to watch him at pretty much everything he does.

As for Jeff and me, we're doing well too. One of Jeff's, um, *rambunctious* new scouts ended up providing a much-needed father to serve as Jeff's co-leader at Pack Meetings (is that what they're called?), so Jeff won't have to worry about being alone with a roomful of 9-10yr. old terrors. I'm having fun with the 12-year old Sunday School class. We're both enjoying Raleigh and keeping busy with Michael. Jeff does a good job of juggling school, extracurricular school stuff, Church, Michael and me, etc. He's really quite impressive. He even found time to take our car to the shop this week...

Our car's been making a kind of funny noise since we got to Raleigh. The only thing they could figure was causing the weird noise was a "totally messed up" rear tire. The tires weren't flat or anything, or at least not that we noticed, but this particular one was messed up in every other way imaginable. Basically we've been driving on a dangerous tire for almost two months now (and maybe for part of our cross-country journey), and I am so grateful that the tire didn't blow or otherwise cause us problems. We really believe this is an answer to our prayers for our car and our safety before and while we drove to North Carolina. It's nice that you can pray even about your car and Heavenly Father will listen, and I am so grateful for His protection. We have two fancy new tires on the back of our car now, which is nice because we were wondering what to do with the extra couple hundred of bucks we had laying around. :)

So yeah, that's the update for now -- I should get this posted so I can get my Sunday School lesson and Sacrament Meeting talk prepared. Wish me luck!

Best Package Ever!!! (9/20)

Michael and I love to visit the bathroom mirror (9/20)

It's hard to look too serious when there are monkeys on your shirt (9/18)

Okay, that scared picture -- that's just funny. The happy picture was taken just seconds later. (9/21)

Michael loves to play with his daddy (9/18)

Another Resolution

2010-09-19T15:43:00.001-07:00

I have come to the realization that many of the cute videos/pictures I take of Michael are getting lost in Jeff's computer, never to be seen by doting grandparents, so I'm determined to post a bit more often. We'll see how it goes. I was reading the journal I started when I was 11 and finished many years later, and every other entry begins with, "Oops, I haven't done a very good job of keeping my Journal," or "Oops, I need to do a better job of keeping up to date." It's kind of a funny read. But I really am going to try to do better with both.

The weather is cooling down a bit in Raleigh and Michael has been able to try out some of his cute warm clothes on our morning strolls. We're all keeping busy and having a blast. Here are some recent pictures in reverse chronological order:

Josh's leg, Austin, Michael, and Sheri's foot hanging out in downtown Raleigh. Austin (6 months) and Michael (4 months) are best buds in the making. They also both love drooling.

Hanging out downtown

On the wrong side of the "Presidents North Carolina gave America" statue

Michael after his 4-month checkup and vaccinations. Notice the bandaids on his cute little thighs.

Definitely adorable

Yes, I made him wear a fleece hoodie and pants in the middle of September. It was chilly that morning.

He loves to play the "kick off the blanket and laugh when Mom readjusts it" game with me when we go on our chilly walks

Not many things greater than having your precious baby snuggled up to you

Looking so grown up

Michael forgot to get dressed before play time this morning

2010-08-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hello from Swift Headquarters, North Carolina. Our stuff finally made it here (almost 2 weeks late) and it was one of the happiest days of our lives. We had a rather foreboding tower of boxes in our apartment after the movers left, but we didn't feel anything but happy that day as we unpacked. The tricky part was the next few days, as we tried to find a spot for everything while coming to the realization that our former apartment had quite a bit more space/storage than this one. Combine that with our favorite new family member and his boatloads of baby stuff, and you get Tetris like you've never seen it before. Thankfully, we found a spot for everything and we're loving being settled in to our apartment.

Our sweet neighbor, Mary, loaned us her antique rocking chair so we would have somewhere to sit and rock Michael until our stuff got here. She bought it when she had her first child, so it's 50 or 60 years old with a wicker seat. I didn't actually dare sit on it for fear of breaking it, but I still appreciated Mary's thoughtfulness. :)

This shows off Michael's cute little cowlicks, and I love the raised eyebrows. Michael should get extra points for learning how to roll over on an air mattress -- you never know where you're gonna land once you start rolling!!

Lots of unpacking to do

Jeff started school and has had fun with that so far. He's teaching a writing class to a diverse group of undergrads, and he's enjoying his doctoral courses. He basically has to read a whole book for every class period during the week, and it's become quite funny to get a package or two from Amazon every day as his books are arriving. Sometimes I open them and pretend that I'm the one getting fun packages in the mail.

Michael loves to sit up to play

Michael and I are having fun exploring North Carolina, and hanging out with Jeff when he's home. Michael loves to be outside, and sometimes is only happy when outside, so we have already put a lot of miles on his stroller. The walking paths in our housing neighborhood go through quite the wildlife preserve -- we see bugs, trees, bushes, moss, and squirrels galore as we walk along. Actually, I'm pretty sure that Michael just stares at his toes most of the time but he's happy so it works for me. Michael has become a pro at rolling over and his cute little dimple smile just gets bigger by the day. It's so funny to hear him talk, especially when he makes the "ng" sound. He makes us laugh every day and we love him so much!

As much as we love to play, it's also nice when he comes home from a stroll looking like this.

What a Summer!!

2010-08-10T07:40:00.001-07:00

It's been quite a summer! Michael was born on May 11th, we moved out of our apartment about a week later, then we spent a month with the Swifts in Provo, then a month with the Johnsons in St. George, and finally we left on our two-week cross country trip to visit family and move to our new home in North Carolina. (Thanks again, by the way, to our wonderful families for letting us stay with you!!)

We're not quite sure what to do with ourselves now that we have our own little place, but our movers are helping to make sure we don't get too comfy - they're over a week late with our delivery and it sounds like we won't be seeing them until this weekend. Apparently the day we designated as the "delivery date" is considered the "earliest possible delivery date" by our moving company. This makes perfect sense because most people who are moving don't need their beds or other furniture and things until a few weeks after moving in to a new home. :) We've been making the best of it as we camp out in one of the bedrooms (there are two), and we're sleeping surprisingly well on our air-mattress. We're pros at living out of suitcases now that we've been doing it for almost 3 months, so we'll survive a few more days without our stuff. The hardest thing about being furnitureless was not having a single seat in the whole house (unless you count the floor, the toilet, or the air mattress). I honestly never realized before how important chairs are. We spent almost a week without chairs, then we bought an inexpensive patio table with chairs. It will serve as our kitchen table, since we left our real table in St. George, and we are very grateful to have somewhere to sit!!!!! We'll tell you more about North Carolina in future posts, but so far we love it!

We're too far behind on the blog to try to catch up on everything, but here are a few pics from our trip: (we didn't get many pics on our camera in Texas because somebody else always had a camera out. oops).

Our first of MANY feeding breaks for Michael, near Jacob Lake, AZ

New Mexico!
Michael sleeping in the car. He liked having the blanket up by his face when it was naptime. We decided to spare you the pics of him crying. For some reason, we didn't feel as much like taking pictures when we were busy feeling like mean parents for making him ride 3,000 miles in his carseat in the middle of the summer. :)

We like to call this one the "I love you" suck.
On the 50-yard line inside Cowboy Stadium. It was pretty amazing. And below, the picture from the Texas reunion. We had a blast on this little vacation on our way to North Carolina. Thanks Swifts!!

Riding in the car is exhausting!! He's about as out as someone can get in this picture.

With Julie in Houston. Her apt. was right in the heart of downtown and had a breathtaking view, particularly at night.
Playing with David in Columbia, Tennessee. Below we're with the Guymons in Jackson, TN.
2,951.0 miles later, we're here!!!
And amazingly, Michael still loves us after all those miles. We love this smiling little boy so much!!!!

Michael and the World Cup

2010-07-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Click here for the recap of the game

Click here to read a short article about the game, and here to watch the now famous Landon Donovan goal against Algeria (in injury time) that sent the USA out of group play and into this match against Ghana.

Michael, Sheri, and I watched the World Cup game against Ghana. We all enjoyed it quite a bit, and we can't wait until 2014 rolls around. We'll definitely have to watch more soccer as a family . . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scRE7cRKcIU

There's more than one reason Sheri feeds Michael most of the time

2010-07-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

The other night I put my mind to letting Sheri sleep more than normal--that is, more than about 2 hours at a time.

We (Sheri) made Michael a bottle before he went to sleep, and I stayed up with the plan that I'd feed him the next time he woke up so that Sheri could catch a few hours in a row of sleep.

The plan worked out perfectly until Michael woke up and I realized that his bottle was in the fridge. I hadn't put two and two together: if I didn't warm up the bottle, Michael wouldn't be able to handle the cold milk, and would probably end up with a brain freeze. I'm not even sure babies get brain freezes, but I bet they're pretty miserable. I just really didn't want to find out.

I'd heard that microwaving baby bottles is a bad idea, so I decided to warm up a cup of water and then put the bottle in the water, thus warming up the bottle. I didn't know where the pots were to boil water (we're staying at Sheri's parents' house, and I have a hard time finding pots and pans anyway), and it never crossed my mind to just microwave some water, so I went with the old turn-on-the-faucet-until-it-gets-steamy-hot trick. I turned on the faucet and tried my hardest to assure Michael that I was, in fact, going to feed him. He was quite mad about all this waiting-to-eat business, and he made sure I knew it. About this time I started to really need to use the restroom.

So, there I am, doing a little dance, Michael hungry, water running, bottle cold, Sheri asleep. I was definitely determined to keep the last one true as long as I could, so I wanted to keep hungry yelling at a minimum.

Turns out the water never got to the steamy stage--it made it to the pretty-warm stage and stayed there, so I thought I'd try the bathroom sink. I went in there, turned on the water, and waited. Quite uncomfortably. I had to keep on testing the water over and over, and unfortunately it, too, didn't ever start steaming (it was much later on this morning when I realized that the kitchen and bathroom share a water heater, but it was 1:00am, and details like that didn't come easily).

At this point I really needed to go. And tiptoing back and forth between the kitchen and bathroom sinks, where both faucets were running at full blast, to test the temperature of each with my finger, was just getting a little too much.

I managed to handle the problem, and just in the nick of time.

The bottle, after a lot of time sitting in the warm water, eventually was warm enough to drink. I was ready to feed the little guy. I looked down at him to proudly let him know I finally came through for him, and I stopped.

He was fast asleep.

Michael's Baby Blessing

2010-06-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Jeff, Michael and I have had a pretty awesome seven weeks together. Jeff is such a good dad and I love watching him take care of Michael. He is always more than willing to help, and he gets lovingly mad at me if I don't wake him up to take a shift in the night when Michael decides to take his "Party! My crib, 3a.m." shirt a little too seriously. (Jeff, bless his heart, can sleep through just about anything, including conversations I've thought I was having with him :).

Jeff and Michael listening to Mozart

Michael is such a doll. It is so much fun to make him smile and we can't help but follow with smiles and laughs of our own. I also love watching his precious little face when he sleeps. I call him Angel Eyes because his eyes/eyelashes are so angelic.

Our smiling boy

I'm still loving being a mom. I often catch myself wondering, "Is that normal?" when Michael does something, but I try not to get too worried. For instance, Michael tends to get the hiccups a lot, even long after eating, and I wondered if that was normal. So, to put my mind at ease, I randomly woke up with the hiccups a few mornings ago (looong after having eaten :). I got the hiccups three or four times that day, which was hilarious to me. It was funniest when I was feeding Michael that morning, because my hiccups were so strong that they jolted Michael as he nursed. I didn't have any troubles that morning keeping Michael awake for his feeding -- every time when he was about to drift off my well-timed hiccups woke him back up. There is plenty to laugh about as we enjoy our new son, and I love being with him.

Michael grinning at mom

We had a great time living with Aunt Steph, Uncle Ben, and G-ma and G-pa Swift for the past few weeks. They took great care of us and it was so much fun to get to spend time with them before we head out for North Carolina. Oh yeah -- I almost forgot this important post -- Michael's baby blessing was Sunday, June 20th, at Church in Lehi. Jeff gave Michael a beautiful blessing, and it was so nice to have so much family there with us. My sister's son, Jason, also had his baby blessing at the service. We all enjoyed spending the afternoon together after Church.

We're now in St. George with Aunt Heather, Aunt Cami, Uncle Dan, Aunt Kayla, and G-ma and G-pa Johnson. We're excited to spend a few weeks with them before we hit the trail on July 20th.

Michael in Captions

2010-06-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all you who submitted captions! We collected all the ideas, added a few of our own, and are delighted by the thoughts our little dude is thinking already.

Come check out the results!

This was pretty fun--we'll definitely be doing this again in the future. Stay tuned, friends!

Caption Contest

2010-06-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

I took this picture--one of my all-time favorites of Michael--the other day, and it just seems to beg for a caption explaining what the little guy's thinking right now. What do you think he's thinking? Add your caption as a comment below this post. We'll post some of our favorites in a couple of days. . . .

Four weeks as a Dad

2010-06-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

Today is the four week mark of Michael Swift's life. Here are some things I've noticed

The Hard Stuff

1) Putting his arms through long sleeved shirts.

Somehow Sheri has figured this out, but I sure haven't. When Michael and I work together to get a long sleeved shirt on, it becomes a five minute ordeal that leaves elbows poking into sleeves, arms halfway hanging out, and shirt bunches effectively tying the little dude in a knot.

2) Putting shirts on in the first place

Again, Sheri's got this down pat, but I don't. They definitely should've had a merit badge for getting that little head through that tiny neck hole! His head flops this way when I push that way, and the shirt just never seems to cooperate. These experiences end up with Michael yelling at me through a half-donned t-shirt covering his face and neck as I try to pull it down far enough. Eventually we get it, though, and then he just looks up at me with that sweet little face that seems to say "why can't you be as coordinated as mom?"

3) Getting him to sleep when he wants to be awake

Or visa versa. This little guy is the superhero of sleep. When he wants to be awake, you can't really do anything to stop him. And when he's asleep, you could blow an air horn in the room and he'd not even jump. Well, with one exception: The other morning, around 1:00am, he and I were hanging out, his head resting peacefully on my shoulder. I suddenly had that itch in my nose, and let out a rather mild sneeze. Michael just about jumped out of his onesie. That was the highlight of my midnight for sure!

4) Letting him cry in the middle of the night

The other day I thought "Okay, tonight's the night. I'm not going to pick him up when he's crying. He needs to learn to go to sleep." That lasted for about five minutes, and when I went to pick him up he'd spit up all over himself, as if to say "Ha dad. See, I told you I needed someone to pick me up!"

Michael: 1 Dad: 0

The Easy Stuff

1) Holding him

He's a big fan of cuddling, which is pretty awesome. There's just nothing quite like holding the little guy up to you and letting his head rest peacefully on your shoulder or in the crook of your arm. He's a keeper.

2) Looking at him

Over the past four weeks he's developed a pretty strong smile. I'm still not sure if he's doing it on purpose, but I'm pretty sure that really doesn't matter--he's smiling, and just the act of smiling is supposed to release happy chemicals in your brain, right? Well, anyway, it's pretty much the best thing in the world to have him smile at you.

3) Playing with him

Yesterday, Michael and I hung out together on one of his blankets. I turned put my iPod on the floor between us and turned on some Bach and Mozart and Vivaldi, like any good nerd dad would do (there was a streak there of about four or five songs where Michael would smile at the beginning of every new song). He spent some time on his tummy, some time on his back, and just seemed to be having a great time. The main goal was to keep him awake, which we did for quite a while. At least until I fell asleep . . . . but that was only for a little bit. I woke back up and we continued our little games.

4) Being a dad

'Nuff said. It's awesome!!

Almost 4 Weeks Old!

2010-06-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of our happy little boy, taken this morning. It's harder to remember you were up all night with the kid when he looks at you like this in the morning. :)

This is one of my new favorite pictures of Michael. This was just after a bath, so he was swaddled in one blanket and wrapped in another and he was just as content as could be. He looks like a little pea in a pod. We love this little guy.
This was Jeff's outfit when he was a baby. You can't tell well in this picture, but it was a belly-shirt on Michael. You can't really see the collar with the bowtie either, but it's pretty cute. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a picture of Jeff in the outfit.

Grandpa Johnson wasn't able to visit in the hospital but we were so happy that he made it out to visit later. Here he is holding both Michael and his cousin Jason. I realized that we don't have any pictures of the Andrew family (Jason's fam) with Michael. Oops.

This, Or Something Better

2010-05-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

As I held Michael in my arms today and he snuggled up close to me, I was once again overcome with love for this little boy. He is just so sweet and I love him so much. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with this precious son. I pray that God will bless Jeff and me as Michael's parents -- what a great blessing and a great responsibility!

My gratitude has been growing as I've been thinking the past couple of weeks since Michael's birth. Jeff and I started praying as soon as we hit the 37-week mark (officially full-term), that Michael would be born soon. We wanted him to come "early" because we needed to move out of our apartment mid-May and we wanted to have time to adjust and pack. We were always careful to include in our prayers that we only wanted him to come early if it would be healthy for him. There's kind of always that spoken/unspoken addition at the end of our prayers, besides "Thy will be done," where we pray, "Bless us with these things or something better. "

Michael did not come early. The moving day grew closer, I grew more uncomfortable, but Michael still did not come. I began to get nervous when the Dr. said, "You've got a good-sized little boy there" at one of my check-ups, but there was still no sign that he was anxious to be born any time soon. I was nervous because I knew that not only is it less-than-pleasant to give birth to a big baby, but it also increases the risk of complications and C-section. Our prayers for Michael to come continued, but the due date came and went.

Two days after my due date I had a non-stress test performed. There was nothing in particular to indicate that we needed to induce labor for Michael's safety, but the Dr. decided we should schedule an induction for the next morning anyway. Shortly after I was started on Pitocin the next morning, Michael began showing signs of distress. We repositioned, but nothing seemed to help so they quickly stopped the Pitocin. The nurse indicated that the cord might be around Michael's neck and he might not be able to tolerate true labor. A C-section was a definite possibility. One of my doctors came in and decided to break my water to see if that would reposition things and help Michael. Fortunately, it did. Michael's heartrate returned to normal and my labor progressed basically on its own from that point on. There was a point right towards the end when they had to throw oxygen on me for Michael's sake, and his heartrate really dropped and stayed low while we were waiting for the delivering doctor to arrive, but the doctor was able to help release the cord from his neck and he went from blue to pink before I had much time to worry about it. His Apgars were nice and high and his birthweight was a robust 9lbs. 5oz.

I am so grateful that I did not go into true labor on my own at home in this case, even though that's what we'd been praying for! I'm not sure how well Michael would have tolerated those hours of labor before we would have headed to the hospital. Maybe as a nurse I'm just overly trusting of hospitals and medicine, but I'm really grateful Michael was on a fetal monitor when labor started so that we could help him. I think Heavenly Father was really watching out for us and He truly blessed us with the "or something better" that we prayed for. We really have no way of knowing what would have happened otherwise, and it may have been fine, but I choose to thank God that it all happened the way it did.

I had a large group of doctors, but the doctor who delivered that day happened to be the one who had scheduled the induction the day before (not the Dr. on call, but the other one was busy). Michael was even bigger than they had guessed. It was funny to see how surprised the doctor was. He asked, "Was I the one who scheduled your induction? Well I don't want to brag, but God bless me!"

I could write a whole other entry about Heavenly Father's answers to our prayers in relation to Michael, but I guess that's enough for now. We are just so grateful.

Mom, Dad, and Michael

2010-05-24T11:57:00.001-07:00

He pulls off the cutest mohawk I've ever seen.

Okay, I think I deserve a prize for taking the cutest daddy-son picture ever. Or maybe just for having the cutest daddy and son. :)

I love being a mom!!

A closer shot. . .

Who needs sleep when you've got such a darling little one?

The First Week

2010-05-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Spreading out on Grandma Johnson's farm blanket. You can't see it very well, but we put baby oil in his hair and slicked it down for the day. :)

Enjoying Great Grandma Lamb's blanket. He kind of looks like the cutest thug in the world in this picture.

Our happy baby

Caught with his eyes open again

Our precious little Michael

More from the Hospital

2010-05-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

Aunt Steph and Michael

Grandpa Swift and Michael

Grandma Swift and Michael

Grandma Johnson and Michael

Uncle Ben and Michael

Michael's First Hours (Start at the bottom)

2010-05-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Swift Family

Tired but happy on the other side

Welcome to the world, hospital style

Not sure why I thought a non-maternity shirt would be a good idea on delivery day. My plan was to wear the same shirt home. I look HUGE. Wait, I was huge.

Nervous but excited to finally be off to welcome our little angel into the world!

Michael Jeffrey Swift

2010-05-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, May 11th, at 3:16pm, Michael Jeffrey Swift joined our family. He rings in at 9 pounds 5 ounces, 21.5 inches tall.

Farewell to a Friend, Still Waiting to Welcome a New Arrival

2010-05-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

Picture taken December, 2008

(For a clearer image you can click on the picture)
Jeff and I have had the privilege of being caregivers for Dale and Ada since we were married about 2 years ago. We have shared some hard times and many good times with them, and we are grateful to have been able to know and love them. Ada passed away in the early hours of the morning on May 4th after a sudden illness caught hold of her over the weekend. We were able to be with her pretty much 24/7 over the weekend, and Jeff was awake at her side when she passed on to bigger and better things. While we are sad for her loss and especially for how hard it is for Dale, we are grateful for the understanding of life after death that comes through our knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that Dale and Ada will be able to be together again. Her funeral will be this weekend -- the same day our baby is due.

Yes, we're still waiting for our little guy to join us. We've been joking that Ada is probably up there telling him how to deal with us when he gets here. I started my leave of absence from the hospital on Saturday (the 1st), and I'm still hoping our son will be born any day now. Today is my 40 week Dr. appointment, so we'll see how things go!

Getting Rid of the Evidence

2010-04-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Since Baby Swift's due date is only a couple of weeks away, Jeff and I decided we'd better finish getting rid of the evidence of how goofy our little one's parents really are. Here we are finishing our big-lip suckers. One step closer to sophistication. . .

NC State

2010-04-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

What a tough decision!! After weighing all the pros and cons, discussing, praying, etc., we felt so good about NC State that we decided it's the place for us. We are excited to be moving to Raleigh later this summer, and we've started getting moving quotes, looking at housing, and checking out how close we will be to Washington D.C. :) One of the perks of NC State is that Jeff will be able to take courses not only at NC State, but also at Duke and North Carolina. This means Jeff gets to choose from a wide variety of classes and instructors, but more importantly (haha), it means that we can consider any of these teams "ours" so we've got a chance to finally cheer for a winning team.

LDS Temple in Raleigh, NC

B-days, Grad Schools, and 34 Weeks

2010-03-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I both celebrated b-days this month, and I can hardly believe how old Jeff is getting. For some reason, though, I'm the one who's starting to sprout gray hairs.

We're officially deciding between two grad schools now: NC State (Raleigh, North Carolina) and Purdue (West Lafayette, Indiana). These were Jeff's favorite programs, so it's perfect that they're the two where he was accepted. Both of them offered pretty sweet deals, and NC State flew Jeff out to campus this weekend so he could tour campus, look at housing, meet professors/students, etc. Now we just have to weigh and compare, pray and fast, and make our decision! My mom tells us that after we move, we are welcome to come to St. George to visit our baby any time we want. :) Interestingly enough, the Swifts have started telling us the same thing about Provo. . .

Baby Swift reached the 34 week mark, and it's finally feeling like the end is in sight. I'm voting for a delivery at 38 weeks, but we'll take whatever is best for our little guy. :) I love watching his little movements across my belly, and he seems particularly active when I read the scriptures out loud each day. He also loves to kick when Jeff touches my belly. It's still totally unreal to think that we'll be taking care of a newborn soon. When did we get old enough to become parents?

Third Trimester, V-Day, and Grad School

2010-02-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't bear to put up any new pictures on the blog when we had such cute ones on here, but I guess it's time for an update. Baby Swift just reached the third trimester, and we're sure excited. Our preparations thus far consist of : buying a carseat. Yeah, so we'd better get moving a little bit, we know. It was so fun to get the carseat out of the box and set it up. The little newborn insert thing in it is SO CUTE!

Jeff and I spent a fun day-before-Valentine's Day in Salt Lake City. Jeff took me to a random but entertaining park/art thingie, we walked around SLC, visited the library and bought a couple of souvenirs at the gift shop, and ate at Lamb's Cafe. I had a blast with my sweetheart, in spite of being in the process of coming down with a cold, and we enjoyed our day in SLC.

Over Valentine's weekend we also discovered that Jeff has been accepted at NC State!!!!!!! It was so exciting to get that email, and we..err...I was dancing around the kitchen. They have offered Jeff a great deal, and NC State is one of the programs Jeff is most excited about. We're still waiting to hear back from U-T-Austin, Purdue, and Penn State. Then comes the BIG decision and we'll keep you all posted.
Jeff at 29 weeks (Didn't want him to feel left out)

Sheri at 29 weeks (Didn't want her to feel left out either)

The random park/gardens/art thingie I talked about

We think this is a plowshare made out of swords

A sphinx at the park

Baby's First Pics

2009-12-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

We went for our ultrasound on the 21st, and it was quite fun to watch our little BOY move for the first time. He kind of looked like he had the hiccups, and it was fun to watch him enjoying all the room before he fills it. He measured 20 weeks, 3 days, just like we thought, and he looks like a healthy little guy. Here are the pictures:

Thumbs up!

Face shot -- reminds me a lot of Jeff :)

Oops, we scanned this one upside down. His mouth is open here, so it's easy to find.

BOY!!! This is a shot of his bottom, you can see the little legs. . .

M & Ms: Our Announcement

2009-12-09T13:02:00.001-08:00

Great news: We're expecting a little Swift on May 8ish, 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeff and I thought when we first found out I was pregnant, back at the first of September, that we'd wait until Christmas to tell. We soon realized, though, that it's a hard secret to keep, so we decided on Thanksgiving time instead. We had lots of ideas, from fortune cookies to picture frames, but we finally decided on M&Ms since we had them at our wedding too. We are very excited for this blessing, and are nervously delighted at the opportunity to be parents. We'll find out on the 21st whether it's a girl or a boy!

Thanksgiving Fun

2009-12-09T12:59:00.001-08:00

Tyler, Jeff and Emily -- We have the CUTEST niece and nephew

Emily, Sheri, and Tyler (No, he's not picking his nose...)

Thanksgiving Fun

2009-12-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

Brad and Mom, making homemade rolls (which turned out particularly delicious, by the way)

Emily and my Dad

Amy and Grandma Lamb, seeding pomegranites for the Dixie Salad (my favorite!!)

Heather and Cami
Somehow I managed to get a picture of everyone but my cute brother, Danny. Seems he was MIA. :)

More Halloween Pics

2009-11-03T10:32:00.001-08:00

Trick-or-Treating

Okay, so this has got to be pretty much the cutest Halloween family ever. My sister Amy as Toad, Tyler as Mario, Emily as Princess Peach, and Brad as Luigi

Halloween

2009-11-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

We have more pictures, but we're still waiting to steal them from the photographers. Jeff and I went as boy scouts, Ben was a fried egg.

We've got to put up some more pictures of the whole Mario family at the party, but here's what we have so far. I couldn't get over how hilarious his little black eyebrows were. This was pre-mustache. When Jeff and I got to the party, Tyler was watching out the window and he announced to his family that two people that he had never seen before just arrived. Amy looked out and tried to convince him it was Jeff and me, but Tyler didn't believe her until I came in and talked to him. I guess the wig really threw him off. He thought it was my real new hairdo until I took it off when we left later that night. Kiddos sure do make the holidays a lot more fun.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

2009-10-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally put up some pictures of our trip to Bulgaria back in August. We were so lucky to get to spend two weeks in one of our favorite places with some of our favorite people. We have tons more pictures, and even more memories when it wasn't convenient to take pictures (next time we're taking a photographer :), but this will have to do for now. We can't say enough thanks to the people and organizations who so generously donated to make the entire trip possible. Thanks to Phi Kappa Phi for the book grant money, One Heart Bulgaria for the funding, support, and organization, the Swift and Johnson families for their donations and support, Grandpa Fry for the airplane tickets, and other friends and family members who gave money or support for this cause. It was a great success, and will be a treasured memory for us.

Bulgarian Orphanage Trip Continued. . .

2009-10-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

We can't wait to start reading!

Checking out their new library!

Reading together. She slipped her little hand into mine right when we walked through the doors of the orphanage, and sat down next to me as we took the books into the director's office. She couldn't speak, so she just grunted and pointed and I read and pointed. She actually picked an encyclopedia type thing and turned to the pages with industrial objects, which weren't labeled, so I had to pretend like I knew the words for them. Luckily there were some recognizable items like "ocean" and "tree" on the same page... :) What a sweet experience.

In front of another Bratsigovo orphanage

In front of one of the Bratsigovo orphanages

Bulgarian Orphanage Trip Continued...

2009-10-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

If we had to pick a favorite book-shopping experience, this would have to be the one. This orphanage actually had a librarian, who had written a detailed list of the exact titles she wanted for her kids. She was so excited and grateful as we shopped, and even more ecstatic when we agreed to buy a printer for their library. The kids at this orphanage create a newspaper each month based on the things happening in their lives and we are exciting to receive an email copy each month!

We managed to fit a couple of donated sewing machines into our luggage on the way over, which we donated to this orphanage for a sewing class. One Heart Bulgaria donated the machines and is providing a sewing teacher for the girls!! We also bought them a library.

We had the most success finding good books and deals at these quaint little Bulgarian bookstands. The owners were certainly happy to see us coming!

Shopping with Orphanage Directors for the perfect books

Delivering the books...this was an orphanage for older kids

Bulgarian Orphanage Trip Continued...

2009-10-19T11:21:00.001-07:00

In case you didn't know which way to go..

The Penevis (Plamen and Boriana) gave us a place to stay in Sofia, fed us some delicious food, and kept us laughing

Bulgaria...We love this place!

Duners!!!

Visiting the Stoyanovi home

Bulgarian Oprhanage Trip!!!

2009-10-19T11:04:00.001-07:00

We stayed at Neli's house in Varna for a couple of days, she kept us well-fed and we had a blast with her.

Not sure why this picture is tiny, it's a church in a cave built many, many years ago

At the church in Ruse, we're cleaning up for Sunday (although it looks like we're all sitting around)

Me, Jeff, Ayri, Mimi, and our sweet rental car in the background

We got engaged back in December '07 with the fake Eiffel Tower in the background at the Bellagio Water Show, but this time we're standing in front of the real thing!! We were pretty tired after a loooooong flight, but we were so excited for a layover in Paris. We got lost in the airport, finally jumped onto some public transport, and made it to the Eiffel Tower and back in time to catch our flight.

Back From Bulgaria

2009-09-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

So we might just have the most boring blog ever, since there are no cute little babies on it and we've only been updating it once or twice a year :). Oops. We recently returned from our Literacy Trip to Bulgaria and we've got all kinds of fun pictures to share. As soon as I can get them off of Jeff's computer. . .

We Love Games!

2009-08-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

We're a big fan of board and card games and such, and we really enjoy having people over to play. We usually forget to take pictures on game nights, but here are a couple when we actually remembered to whip out the camera.

We had Charlie and Bridget Short over for some Jenga and our beloved Bohnanza.

We had some of the missionaries over on their Preparation Day to play Bohnanza and Word Blur.

Unfortunately, I had to be the party pooper when the Elders were over and I left for work before the games were finished...I bet I had just as much fun at the hospital. :)

Independence Day 2009

2009-07-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day!! We loved having the Swifts over for a barbeque, some games, and fireworks. There's nothing quite like living right next to the stadium and watching the Stadium of Fire for free. :) We are so grateful to live in such a wonderful place.

Hot-Air Balloon Fest (Can't make the pics bigger)

2009-07-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

Provo always throws quite the party to celebrate Independence Day. This was my first time at the Freedom Festival Hot-Air Balloon thingie. We went with Nate and Andrea, bright and early (yes, that's a jacket in July), and we watched them inflate and take off. Our attention spans weren't long enough to watch them all throw their beanbags at the targets below (a few of them seemed more interested in the advertising value of a hot-air balloon in the sky, rather than entertaining the spectators at takeoff point...), but we had a good time topped off by Krispy Kreme donuts. Happy Independence Day!!!

Year-Old Wedding Cake

2009-06-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Oops, almost forgot to post the pictures of us eating our wedding cake on our one-year anniversary. It tasted surprisingly good after a year in the freezer :)

One Year Anniversary

2009-06-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, we can hardly believe it's been a whole year! Being married is such a blessing, and we've had a blast so far. I don't know how I got so lucky to find a man like Jeff. The first picture at the Bellagio is the night we got engaged, the second one is the weekend of our one-year anniversary!

Vegas Trip with Steph and Heather (Click on any pic to see it bigger)

2009-06-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

Heather (my sister) and Steph (Jeff's sister) are both done with High School now, so we decided to take a trip to Vegas to celebrate!

1. Leaving St. George

2. Our hotel room turned out to be both smaller AND nicer than we even expected!

3. Heather and Steph in the casino -- nope, we didn't even drop a nickel in any of the slot machines :0)

4. Jeff and Me in the casino -- we couldn't believe how full of people they were, all the time, day and night!

Vegas Trip (Continued)

2009-06-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

1. At the Bellagio

2. Bulgarian Restaurant

3. In'N'Out

4. The Flamingo

5. Blue Man Group -- all we ended up seeing of the wax museum :)

Camping!!

2009-06-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

When I got home from work on Thursday night, Jeff had a fun surprise: He had packed up our gear so we could go camping up Rock Canyon!! We got to Rock Canyon a little bit after 9pm and started hiking and looking for a campsite. It was really dark and we were hunting for a spot with our flashlights -- it would have been like something out of a horror movie if there had been scary music but it was quite fun in real life. We finally found a little spot and set up the tent for the night. The weather was gorgeous and we got to try out our camping gear for the first time. We're hoping this was the first of many fun camping expeditions...

Equally Yoked

2009-06-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

As you can see, Jeff and I are very equally yoked in our marriage. :0)

Emily, Aunt Sheri, Tyler, Uncle Jeff

2009-06-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

The picture's kinda blurry because we took it with Jeff's camera phone, but I just couldn't resist sticking on a picture of us with our darling nephew and niece. Tyler's wearing his pirate hat. We figured we could lure more readers to our blog if we start putting on pictures of cute kids...

Jeff Goes to Washington...Well, Sort of

2009-05-22T22:18:00.001-07:00

Jeff got to interview for a job as an intern in Gov. Huntsman's office, then Huntsman was made the Ambassador to China and the job openings kind of changed. :) Jeff would've been great working at the State Capitol! He took this picture when he went up for his interview.

One Heart Bulgaria at the Triathlon

2009-05-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

Kelly Anderson, Jeff, Sheri, Brooke Ropelato, Deborah Gardner

Jeff and I left bright and early Saturday morning so we could have our OHB booth set up in American Fork by 6:30am. We enjoyed cheering on Deborah, the Director of One Heart Bulgaria, as she finished the triathlon. We didn't find Kelly, a Trustee of OHB, until after the race. We really love volunteering for One Heart Bulgaria and look forward to delivering books to some of the orphanages there this summer. Wahoo...Bulgaria, here we come!!

Grad Poll 2: Results

2009-05-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the tallies are in, and it looks like Harvard takes the cake this time around. Harvard had 4 votes, University of Arizona had 3, Dixie State had 3, Purdue had 2, and Penn State came in with a lowly 1. We really appreciate your help with these polls, by the way. :)

Be sure to vote in our next poll, which will hopefully make another potentially difficult decision much easier by putting it into the hands of our noble blog readers.

-Jeff and Sheri

PS: Turns out that the poll we decided on really isn't a major life decision. But it is a matter of life and death for these little innocent veggies we're about to plant. So far our tomatoes have survived, but we haven't planted them yet--they're still in those things they come in. The little plastic pots.

Entered to Learn, Going Forth to Serve...Graduation April '09

2009-04-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

Watch out hospital, here I come!!

Brigham Young University: Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve

Laura Beale, Me, Megan Mitchell: Soon to be co-workers!

My wonderful and supportive family at graduation!

Ida, Misha, Me -- We made it!!

Wow, it's hard to believe I'm finally done at BYU. It's been a long but fantastic road and I have been so blessed. Jeff and I just realized we'll be doing BYU graduation 3 years in a row: he got his BA last year, I got my BS this year, and he'll get his MA next year. Graduation was a blast for me and I appreciate my family sitting through it all to support me. Here's what I know so far about what comes next: I'll be working full-time at Timpanogos Hospital as a Med/Surg nurse, Jeff will finish up his Master's degree in April '09 and then we'll move away to school, and we'll be going to Bulgaria later this summer!!!!!

Grad Poll 1: Results

2009-04-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, after a few short weeks on the blog, our first grad school poll ended up with a clear winner: University of Washington.

So, in honor of Grad Poll 1, which asked "Where should Jeff and Sheri go to grad school," we have come up with its sequel, the creatively-titled Grad Poll 2. Please consider carefully your vote before you cast it. This could determine the destiny of many generations of Swifts. Probably won't. But it could.

And, you can select as many answers as you want. Just choose wisely, eh?

Poll Results

2009-03-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed that we had a poll up on our blog. We posted that poll shortly after we were married, right around the time we started the blog. We asked you, our loyal readers, to suggest names for our first child. We wittily had the poll run right up to our 9 month anniversary.

Well, that day has passed, and while we have some great name ideas we still don't have anything to name. So, we thought we'd let you know the results of the poll.

Taking first place was "some gender neutral name so that no one will be able to tell from reading the name whether it belongs to a boy or a girl."

Close in second was "Nikolay."

Thanks for your great votes. Be sure to vote in our new poll!

Happy Birthday Jeff!!

2009-03-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I are on a healthy eating kick, so I made him a strawberry cheesecake for his birthday breakfast (haha). Candle wax looks really weird on top of a cheesecake, in case you were wondering. We had to go to school, then we grabbed some food afterwards and watched a movie before the family party that night. We had some ice cream and cake (yes, I reused the candles from that morning. I also reuse disposable razors), we opened some presents (actually, Jeff hogged them all), and we played a round of Killer Bunnies. It was a fun night!

March 14, Einstein and Me

2009-03-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Sure, there were only a couple of candles to symbolize the 25 years of my life, but it was pretty thrilling to blow them all out in one try after my depressing attempt earlier that morning. Jeff made me a fabulous birthday breakfast, including a candle-filled breakfast muffin. 5 of those 25 candles were trick candles, and we just about burned the house down before we doused the muffin with that spray nozzle thingie attached to the sink. I love that spray nozzle thingie, by the way. Too bad we never have the video camera out when we actually need it!! (I think it might have had something to do with the fact that I had just woken up and I outlawed the video camera :0). But WAIT: I just remembered we got a picture of the flames...

Saying Farewell Before Christmas Break

2008-12-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

We love the Taylors! Jeff and I live in their basement and act as their caregivers. We make and serve their meals and help them with many other activities of daily living. We are so impressed by Dale's example of patience and kindness and his great sense of humor even while he's battling with Alzheimer's. We love Ada's great laugh and her ability to run things. One of Dale's favorite pasttimes is to tell us of all of Ada's achievements. They are a wonderful couple.

Our First Christmas Tree

2008-12-18T09:50:00.000-08:00

2008-12-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Christmas!! We helped Jeff's family (mine too, but you know what I mean) decorate their Christmas tree, and then we decorated one of our own back at the homestead.

2008-12-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

It's fun living in a basement apartment. Especially when the upstairs is being remodeled and there's a big hole where there used to be a wall to keep out rodents. Jeff has become quite expert at setting mousetraps, and I'm always generous enough to let him empty the mousetrap after it's done its job. It's probably kind of twisted of me to put this picture on our blog, but you'd be twisted too if you heard them squeaking and scurrying in your walls...

The Joys of Remodeling Upstairs + Missing Ceiling Downstairs

2008-12-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

We never know what's going to be on the bathroom floor/counter/sink/toilet when we wake up in the morning...

Halloween

2008-11-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Boy, are we creative. We decided to switch roles for Halloween so Jeff was a nursing student and I was an English student.

2008-11-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!! Jeff and I recently passed the four-month mark as Mr. and Mrs. Swift and married life just gets better and better. I must say, I missed out on a lot of hilarious (cough, cough) jokes before I acquired an adjective for a last name :0). As you can tell, we've kind of been slackers when it comes to updating our blog. We'll use the excuse that we've been soooo busy with school -- I'm doing my Intensive Care and Psychiatric rotations this semester and Jeff is doing the grad school thing while teaching a freshman English class in his "spare time." Life is busy but wonderful in our neck of the woods. We're loving the Fall colors we can't wait for the holidays and some quality time with our wonderful families. We've set a new goal to take some pictures every once in awhile and keep this thing updated, so don't give up on us yet.

Happy November!!!

Семейство Суифт

2008-08-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

След много излизане на срещи много планиране и много време като сгодени, Шери Джонсен и Джеф Суифт имат едно и сыщото фамилно име. Казаха ни, че бил слынчев ден а не забелязвахме много освен колко Шери беше хубава и колко Джеф . . . се усмихваше кым Шери. Нашите семейства ни подкпрепваха, нашите приятели ни "накараха" да се целунем, и фотографи хващаха всичко . . . . (кликнете снимките на ляво за да ги видите по-големи).

The Swift Family

2008-08-08T10:29:00.001-07:00

After much dating, planning, being engaged, and more dating, Sheri Johnson and Jeff Swift have the same last name. June 21st was a sunny day, not that we really noticed anything other than how Sheri was beautiful and Jeff was . . . smiling at Sheri. Our families were there supporting us and reminding us that there were other people around, our friends there to 'make' us kiss in front of everyone, and our photographers were there to help us remember it all. (Just click on the pictures to the left to see them bigger).

2008-05-12T10:08:00.000-07:00