Pregnant Me

Well, I thought that I would post a shot of me pregnant for those of you who have never seen me this way. This is me at 33 weeks. My mom and sister Mary picked out this cute maternity outfit for me, and my dad sent it to me without letting me know. It came on a day that I was feeling particularly big and frumpy, and was a very welcomed surprise. Morgan and Rachael loved the outfit. Infact, the next morning Morgan asked if I was going to wear it that day. I replied that I was, and she said, "Yessss!". Later that day, I asked Morgan if she liked it when I wore cute outfits that were not frumpy. She was unsure of the definition of 'frumpy'. After I explained it she said, "Yes Mom. But...your hair is frumpy. You should do it in pig-tails or braids." Guess I still have some work to do in the 'frumpy' department...

Frumpy hair? Okay, she is right. It really needs to be cut...

First Day of School

Well, it got here before we knew it! (I cannot believe that the summer is over.) Chris has been on vacation, and was able to be here for the girls' first day of school. We had a lovely, calm morning and went to school together. It was indeed a treat to have Daddy around for this exciting day. The girls were a little nervous as they were starting a new school, but they ended up having a great first day. Both Morgan and Rachael are adjusting well to their new school, and think that they just might like it better than their last.

May

What a big and exciting month this was for our family! This will be a long post, so read when you have a minute, or two, or five.

1.) We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! Wow, ten great years together. They have all been great, but it seems like each year just gets better. I cannot believe that it has been ten years. In some ways it seems like we just got married, and in some ways it seems like we have always been together. Chris surprised me with a dozen red roses (my favorite and flowers from my wedding bouquet), and had the girls make cards for the anniversary.


A good friend, Jenny Reynolds, came into town for a wedding, and we got to see her right around this time too. (The wedding was on May 1st, our anniversary.) Jenny watched our girls the next evening so that we could go out to dinner. We went to PF Changs. (Did you know that they have a gluten-free menu? So yummy!)

2.) After only 3 weeks on the market, we sold our house! For anyone familiar with the real estate market at this time in Cincinnati, you will know that this was no less than a small miracle. Fasting and prayer work!!! The house hunting began in earnest as our house was set to close on the 5th of June.

3.) Rachael's 6th Birthday!!! We started off her big day with our family tradition of breakfast in bed. This year she wanted scrambled eggs with catsup, sausage and raspberry lemonade. Yum! Morgan made her a necklace out of a sea shell and black yarn, and made her the sweetest card. It said, 'Happy Birthday Ms. 6-year-old'. So cute! Rachael had a great day at school. I was able to bring in cupcakes with blue frosting, which was so fun. When Chris got home, we went out to dinner at one of Rachael's favorite restaurants, Cancun. (It is a local Mexican food restaurant, and is actually quite tasty.) Jennett Simpson and Jeana and Abby met us at the restaurant and joined us for dinner. We just did a small family gift (a 'Teeniest Petshop') this year as her big gift would come later in the month when all of the family was visiting for graduation; a trip to King's Island! All in all, she had a great 6th birthday, and we had a great time watching her.

Rachael and Morgan with the breakfast in bed. Cheeeeeese!!!

Rachael, Abby Simpson, Morgan and Jeana Simpson. The Simpson girls surprised Rachael with a webkinz stuffed animal for her birthday. (It was a white cat. Side note, in case you do not know, Rachael LOVES stuffed animals, and she LOVES webkinz. You register these animals online and it is your job to take care of them on the webkinz website. This is another story entirely. Suffice it to say, she was excited.) It was fun to hear the four girls discuss an appropriate name for the newest addition to Rachael's stuffed animal collection/family. After a few minutes, they all agreed that 'Meowie Pancake' was a suitable and down-right lovely name. All of the girls enjoyed dinner.

At Cancun, they sing to you in Spanish on your birthday. Additionally, they top your head with a giant sombrero which reads 'Viva Mexico' and they bring you fried ice cream. Towards the end of the song, they smear a bit of whipped cream on your face and wish you well. (In Mexico, they get the birthday person's face all messy with cake.) It was funny to see the expression on Rachael's face as they did all of these things. She did not really know what to think as they put the whipped cream on her face. We assured her that they were not being mean, but it was their way of helping her celebrate. She was fine after that. Of course, she really enjoyed the ice cream.
Jeana Simpson, Chris, Rachael & Meowie Pancake, Morgan, Deanna, Abby Simpson.

4.) Rachael's spring music concert. Most of these pictures turned out blurry, but I had to post something. This was to be her first and only concert with the music department at her school, as we would be moving. She was really cute singing. She has been to several of these for Morgan, so it was really special to go for her. Also pictured is one of her favorite friends, Michael Paulson. He is a friend from church, and has been in her class for the last two years. This has been fun for both of them. Michael is on Rachael's left, or to the right of Rachael. Side note, this was a concert solely of Kindergarten students, and was so sweet.


5.) Graduation! Graduation! Graduation! Eight year MD/PhD program completed. Not much more to say than, HOORAY!!!

Blurry, but the only picture that I have on my computer of Chris that day. We have others somewhere (on one of the many family cameras that were present that day), but unfortunately, they are in one of three states right now.

This was Chris's seat for the ceremony. We ended up sitting only two rows behind him. It was pretty neat. Notice that just above his name, it says, 'Congratulations, you did it!'. Yes we did. Eight years and 2.5 children later, yes we did.

****May, to be continued...**** More to update but my computer is acting up and I am sleepy.

April

So, April was a blurr. I will do my best to remember and report. Not many pictures were taken this month. You'll see why if you get a chance to read...

1.) I was still feeling yucky from the pregnancy. A little emotional too. Not mean or moody, just weepy. Ah, hormones...

2.) House projects. At this point, we knew that we did not have to move out of state for residency. However, we decided to move within the city into a better school district for the kids. Because of this, April was a flurry of last minute house projects that included a lot of painting, some yard work, and minor touch-ups here and there. Basically, at the end of it all, our house was finally how we always wanted it to look, just in time to sell it. Mom Runyan came out to help with a few of the last minute projects, and she was a life-saver. We finished what we needed to and got the house listed. Hooray!!! This took up a good portion of the month, so not many pictures were taken.

3.) Pinewood Derby. We had two Pinewood Derby races within two months. One was a combined Cub Scout/Achievement Day activity, and one was on the ward level. Morgan got 3rd place in one of them, but I can't remember which. (Isn't that terrible? This is what happens when you do not blog along the way.) Anyway, here is a picture of the car that she made with Chris:

Chris and the girls had a great time making their cars together. (Who says you need boys to make Derby cars?) Rachael's car is in the crowd on the left. She and Chris looked at different cars on the internet, and she picked out the design. It was in the shape of a log with a beaver on it. (The beaver was an animal figurine.) Chris did the cutting and the girls helped with the sanding and painting. Chris even melted down lead fishing weights to put into the cars in order to bring them to regulation weight. Wow.

4.) Easter. Chris was on call the night before Easter, so the girls and I surprised my mom and went out for a quick visit. It was a lot of fun. We drove out, spent some great time together, spent the night, went to church, did Easter baskets, ate the traditional ham dinner (which was delicious) and drove back home to see Chris after he woke up from being on call. All in all it was a fun quick trip. Also, while dinner was cooking, the girls and I had a photo session. (It is a good thing too, otherwise there would be no pictures of the girls from the month of April...) Here are some shots from the weekend:

The girls watching the 'Speed Channel' with Grandpa. He loves classic cars and the girls love to watch with him.

Rachael in her new Easter dress with her basket. She got a little lamb in the basket. Morgan had previously given her one of her lambs, so that now Rachael owns two. She recently informed us that she is a shepherd because she has two sheep.

Morgan in her new Easter dress with her basket.

Rachael with Oscar, Grandma Gwen's dachshund. She LOVES this dog.


Morgan with Chief.

5.) House showings. Our house was listed less than a week and we began to have showings. We were pleased with this. Boy, is selling a house stressful. I will admit that I enjoyed how clean it was all of the time, but it was a little crazy bustling around before a showing making sure that it was just perfect. Fortunately, our realty office gave us a fair amount of notice. The last bit of April was spent keeping the house clean and finding places to go during the showing times. Thanks to Jennett Simpson for letting us hang out at her place several times, Chief included.

March

March was a good and highly anticipated month in the Runyan household this year. This was the month that we were to find out where we matched for medical residency. For those of you familiar with this process, you know what I mean. I will enlighten the rest of you. In your 4th year of medical school, you begin this process by interviewing at different residency programs in the specialty of your choice. As you interview, you take notes of which programs you like and which ones you don't like. Which cities would be a good fit for you and your family, and which cities would not. Then, you fast and pray, (which you have been doing all along the way so that you can have guidance) and rank the programs in order 1 through whatever. (In our case, it was 1-7.) You submit this information to the powers-that-be, and it is put into a computer. Meanwhile, the programs that you have interviewed at have also been taking notes on all of their applicants. They have ranked the applicants 1 to whatever, have also submitted this information to the powers-that-be, and it is put into a computer. Then, the computer runs a program, and in a matter of seconds, the fate of hundreds of future residents all over the country is decided. WOW! What did they do before computers...Needless to say, we were all looking forward to finding out where we would be for the next 6 years of our lives. Anyway, here are the exciting events of March, listed chronologically. (Again, so that you can see them if I had posted them along the way...)

1.) I started feeling the affects of the first trimester. YUCK! There really is nothing redeeming about the first trimester. Don't get me wrong, it is exciting to be pregnant and to know that you will be adding another member to your family. But that is so far away from this point in your pregnancy. Furthermore, you are super tired, your kidneys kick into turbo action causing multiple trips to the potty, you are super tired, and if you are like me, you get really, really, really nauseous. Plus, you are super tired. -It was worse for me this time than with the previous two pregnancies. (I really can't complain as I was not as sick as some.) Suffice it to say that nausea and heaving were a big part of my life for a good three months, and that brushing my teeth at night was not pretty.

2.) Dad Lueken's 50th birthday! Wow Dad, you look great! Plus, you are way to young to have a daughter my age...We went to Indiana for the weekend to visit my parents and celebrate my dad's birthday. Here are some shots from the best part of the weekend, the cake and ice cream of course!

Dad with cake and presenents. (My nephew Owen used to call presents 'presenents'. It was so cute, we adopted the name. Funny thing is, he didn't do it for very long...)
Dad reading a card from the girls with Rachael looking on. -Yes, if you are wondering, Rachael is in her pajamas, and no, it is not the morning. This is Rachael's outfit of choice after church 9 times out of 10. Can't say that I blame her...Who doesn't want to put on their p.j.'s after wearing a dress and tights?
I thought that I would include this shot just for kicks. You can see the Graeter's ice cream, cake and presents in the background. Yum. Morgan and Rachael with their new webkinz ON the table. (At grandmas, of course. At our house, you are not allowed to have toys at the table, let alone on the table. The toys could get food on them, or worse, distract you from the wonderful purpose of being at the table: eating.) Then you have me in the background looking sick and tired. I am looking at the beautiful cake and wishing that I had even the smallest desire to partake of it and some ice cream. Darn you 1st trimester!

3.) Achievement Days. In our ward, another sister and I work with the Achievement Day girls. It is loads of fun. This particular evening, Sister Hand taught about temple marriage and had the girls try on their mother's wedding dresses. They all loved this. Here is a picture of Morgan in mine, big slip and all. (She loved it!)
4.) Home Repairs. Yes, that is Chris attached to a rock climbing harness and rope, being belayed by his 2 month pregnant wife on our roof so that he can fix the gutters. We do not own a ladder, which is something that we will have to remedy in the not-too-distant future. Chris did a great job fixing the gutter, and he did not fall, and I did not drop him. (Thank goodness!) We had to do a minor repair or two in order to get the house ready to sell...This was one of them.

5.) Morgan's violin recital. This was a fun night. She has been loving the violin this year, and is really playing quite well. She played 'Go Tell Aunt Rhody', and did great!

This picture turned out a little blurry, but it had to be included. She really did a great job.

Here is a shot of Rachael while we waited for the recital to begin. She is holding two very dear possessions, Dottie, her first webkinz animal, and a small pillow that she acquired from the treasure box in gym class. Thanks Mr. B...

This is Morgan with her friend Elizabeth who also plays the violin.

6.) MATCH DAY!!! March 19th! We made it! Here is a picture of me and Chris at the Match Day party. Here in Cincinnati, everyone gets together to open their match letters. Fun, right? Well yes, however, your name is drawn out of a bowl and you and your significant-other go to the front of the room and open it in front of the entire class. It really was quite exciting. Fun, nerve-racking and exciting. This shot was taken just before the letter opening commenced.

What a fun day. My dad, grandmother, and Chris's mom came to join us for the event. (Chris's dad couldn't get away from work, and my mom was away on a business trip.) Everyone was thrilled to discover that we would get to stay here for residency! The program for plastic surgery here is really good, and both of our parents live within 2 hours of driving. Hooray for grandparents living close!

7.) Quick visit with family! We had a quick visit with family the end of this month. Chris's sister Emily, her husband Jaron and their boys came from Iowa for a quick weekend trip. This was the first opportunity that we got to meet our new nephew and cousin to the girls, Trevor. Chris's cousin Tom came from Louisville, KY to join us. We spent time together, ate yummy food, and the cousins had a blast as usual. Tom brought his AWESOME camera along and took some fun shots. The only problem is that his camera takes pictures that makes our camera's pictures look, well, not as good as his. It takes great pictures. So crisp and clean. Wow, thanks Tom!

Here is Morgan holding 'Baby Trevor'. He is such a sweet baby!

This is Rachael with a stuffed bunny of hers. She loves stuffed animals, just like I did when I was a little girl. Though, hers are her little buddies. Each week or so, she has a new one that has to go everywhere with her...This week, it was 'Bunny'.

Morgan, Chief, cousin Spencer, 'Bunny', and Rachael.

***Family picture of the Runyans taken by Tom, to be inserted here. For some reason, we could not get all of the shots from Tom that weekend. -They were not transferring. I will get a copy and insert it here.***

February

What a fun month this year. Full of exciting happenings. (The events are listed chronologically, not in order of their significance. This way you can see them as if I had posted them in order of their happenings.) Here we go:

1.) The first event was actually bitter-sweet. Both of my grandfathers passed away this January. I was only able to attend one of the funerals as they were both in California. In order for me to attend, we had to postpone Morgan's 8th birthday party. She was such a trooper. I was able to attend my Grandpa Richard's funeral. It was a nice service. He had been sick for a long time, so are all glad that he is no longer suffering. Grandma is doing well, though she misses him terribly. She has since moved from California to Indiana to live with my parents, so we get to see her much more often. We love you Grandma!

2.) I found out that I was pregnant with baby #3! Hooray! Exciting! We are starting all over! (Oh boy...But not a boy. You will see when I update the month of June that we are having our 3rd girl. We are thrilled. Girls are so much fun. Besides, we like drama here...)

3.) A most significant thing happened for Morgan on February 14th. She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Chris performed the baptism, my parents spoke, and Chris's parents took care of the music. (Ahh, musical connections...l) It was lovely. I cannot believe that she is old enough to be baptized...Here is a picture that we took while preparing the programs for the event:

What can I say? She likes to pose...

This was the picture that we used for the baptism program. Don't worry, we zoomed in on Morgan cropping out the garbage bag and other clutter in the background. We love you photo shop!

***Classic picture of Chris and Morgan dressed in white pre-baptism to be inserted here.*** In the chaos of the morning I forgot my camera. A word to you other mothers of children to be baptized in the not-too-distant future: Don't do this! A lovely picture was taken on Opa Runyan's camera. I will get it and insert it soon!

Here is a fun picture taken after Morgan's baptism at our home. This is with my grandmother Gwen, my mother, and me and the girls. (Back when I could still zip up those pants...) It has been really fun for the girls to get to know their great-grandmother. Rachael actually took several pictures this day, but most were too blurry to post. I have to say a word about Rachael this day. This was clearly Morgan's day. Rachael was loving, supportive and excited for her sister. She never once tried to get attention, only went along with the flow. Thanks Rach! -She also attached herself to Grandma Gwen. Something that was fun for the both of them.

4.) Morgan's 8th birthday party was a hit. We had to move it from the beginning of Feb to the end, due to the previously mentioned funeral of my grandfather. We actually braved a sleep-over! There was pizza, movie watching, cupcakes and ice cream and camping out in tents in the living room. (Can't camp outside here in February, unless you are a crazy boy scout.) We used a couple small tents and the girls loved it. Here is a picture of the girls in attendance:

From left to right: Michiah, Hailey, Abby, Morgan, Jeana, Lindsay, Rachael, Adalida, Campbell and Emilee.

Where Have I Been?

Where to start? Well, since my last post 6 months ago, I have been in what I like to call 'SURVIVAL MODE'. I was running the house, helping Chris finish interviews for residency, working with an elderly woman, helping with kids homework and music lessons, making life-changing decisions, getting our house ready to sell, packing our house, celebrating graduation from medical school, moving, and unpacking at the new house. Did I mention that I did all of this while I was pregnant and sick with our third daughter? Yikes. I have not had the time or energy to put into updating our little blog, and for that I apologize. We have had some great family experiences these past months however, so I will do my best to give you an update on the Runyans from February to August. I promise to include pictures wherever I have them. This may take a few posts to update, so please bear with me...