I know...it has been a while since I have posted.
This week has just been a hectic, yucky whatever week. I have felt like crap, not sure if it's a cold or allergies, this stupid weather has not let up and it's driving me nuts, and we have been moving all of our stuff into a storage unit all week and I can't remember how we accumualted so much junk!
I remember when I helped move Matt out of his 325 square foot apartment and we got everythign in one truck load, not a small u-haul, but an actual truck. SAD! Now it seems that we have collected so much crap, and I don't know where it came from. But then i realized that there is holiday decorations, baby stuff, food storage, and all sorts of things we didn't used to have. It's so depressing and I have been packing most everything myself. Today my sisters, Jujubug and Kamiatis, came over and helped a ton. THANK YOU! I have jsut been in the middle of it and felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. Oh, how that made my day...now if it would just stop snowing!!!
We are expecting up to 7 more inches of snow. I can't take it, I want it to stop! I love winter, but I do not want to move in it again!
For those of you who don't live in the Inland Northwest...the schools have been closed, and there have been hundreds of accidents and so many of the roads have been closed because of blowing snow, the passes have had avalanches...it's just a mess. Today it got warm enough to melt some of the snow, which means really icy roads tonight and with more snow coming, not a good mix.
I guess this post was more of a rant...sorry!

Sweet Prophet

Our dear sweet Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckely, passed away today...he is now with his beloved wife. I don't know much more than that. You can go here to learn more about him. It hadn't been posted on LDS.org yet.

Church was cancelled

Wow, what a day!

I was woke up to the sound of three phones ringing. People from church calling to tell us that church had been cancelled today. I looked outside and saw that the snow was still falling from yesterday and we expecting more all week. It just won't stop! I love the snow, but this is ridiculous...it will not be a fun week for us. We are supposed to be out of the house on Friday. We cleaned out the garage yesterday, took a load to the dump, and at least 5 loads to the storage unit. I have tons more to do and this weather is not cooperating with my plans.


My mom called to tell me that a plane had skidded off the runway here in Spokane, which now means that the airport is now closed. I guess that means that we made national news!


Take care everyone...be safe and stay warm! I wonder if Brinley will have school tomorrow...

Fun with Brinley

I let Brinley put on makeup, so she let me take a bijillion pictures of her. We both had fun... Please excuse my messy bathroom


Chris and Sylvia have already moved their piano over, so I let Brinley play on it for a few minutes...she looks like a natural!

do you need a really good laugh and a trip down memory lane? You have got to check this blog out! I haven't laughed that hard since...well, last night at GNO

"My little friends"

Do you ever go out with a group of friends and just laugh the entire time? Last night was GNO, there are times where i think we need to get out more than once a month. We were laughing from the moment we walked into the restaurant until the time we all got back to our cars at Target.

We went to a place called American Cheesecake Cafe in Hayden, Idaho. It was so good! Our waiter , Ali, was interesting, and was the reason for most of the laughs throughout the night. I'm really not sure what he said half the time, nor do I have any idea where he was from. Poor Cristie, his "number 1". She had to deal with him, literally, right over her shoulder the whole time. He also kept calling us "my little friends"...so wierd!

Has anyone ever done "napkin folding"? Probably not like we do. There is a way to fold a napkin to look like a bra. We had done this before, but one of our friends, Cindy, hadn't seen it. I loved the reaction on her face!

Good times...good times!

Does anyone remember the Chris Farley GAP girl thing from SNL? The one where they are at the food court. He keeps eating Adam Sandler's fries... anyway, last night I was really hungry. Jill had gotten some of her fajita toppings before any of the other food came, so i grabbed a little cheese shred and said "BACK OFF, I"M STARVING!" oh my gosh, I thought Lindsey was going to hyperventilate. I guess you really needed to be there to appreciate it!

This was my salad...SO GOOD! and my dessert, the biggerst piece of chocolate cake I have ever seen...I don't like cheesecake!

blah, blah, blah...

I hate being sick! It's not often that I get so sick that I don't do anything but sleep and just sit on the couch and stare into space. This week, I had two full days of it...Thank you Julie for taking Brinley for a night. Finally, I feel better and can get back to packing my house.

Friday, Julie and I took Brinley and Cody swimming at the Y. Those kids are like little fish! Then Cody spent the night and went to a primary activity with us. Cody was a little sad that his name wasn't on the table with Brinley's class, so it was added. They played a game about getting to know each other. When Cody was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up he said " a train driver". I think trains run in the Erickson blood...my grandpa worked with trains, my dad worked with trains, my uncles worked with and one still works with trains...go figure, he wants too also.

After having been sick this week, I was glad that no one else got it...then Sunday comes and my little Brinley girl gets the bug. Since I was substituting in Primary, she got to be home with her daddy.

Holy cow! Is it cold here. We got more snow last night and then the wind came and has been blowing all day. Our thermometer said 21, but it felt like 2. Tomorrow the high is 15, the low 6...don't you wish you were here right now?

We got our copy of the autopsy report and I sent my sister-in-law, Juli, a copy because she is a medical transcriptionist and could tell me what things meant. (thank you Juli!) she got it back to me today and we saw that her lungs were somewhat "flip-flopped", meaning that the lung that usually has two lobes had three and the one with three lobes had two. We also found that her liver had severe congestion, a result of poor heart function and that her umbilical cord, which should have consisted of three vessels, 2 arteries and 1 vein, had two vessels and 1 artery. I'm sorry if this is too much information, but medical stuff fascinates me. Matt hates when I watch any kind of surgery on TV.

Today is just one of those rambling days...

Last night, Matt and I talked about house colors that we liked. We have to paint the outside or the new house eventually and I found a website that you can pick a house that looks similar in style to yours and then pick out colors and then have fun playing with it.

We like something similar to this, but is it too dark? Or something more like these. I really want a red front door...can you tell?
This is Brinley's choice...Barbie anyone?

Autopsy results...finally

I got a phone call today from Dr. Barrong. He had the results of the autopsy...finally. The Pathologist told us it would be three weeks, so here we are, 9 1/2 weeks later. The results are just what they expected. Olivia's kidney's were pretty much a bunch of cysts. Her lungs were undeveloped tissue and they found a hole in her heart. Everything else looked perfect.
We are so happy that it isn't genetic. The only difference with future pregnancies is that I will have more ultrasounds early on and they are going to look at putting me on something other than asprin for my blood clotting. I will still have to be on Prometrium the first 12 weeks and thats about it. Oh how I would love to have a boring pregnancy...I don't think that will ever happen so it's a good thing I have such an awesome doctor!

I love sock monkeys/monsters. I don't think a lot of people know that. The first one I made was Mya, she belongs to Cody and was given to him on his first birthday. This past Christmas I made my brother's girls and Julie each a monkey. I am addicted. I found some more adorable socks and I want to make sock monsters.

How can you not love something so ugly? I believe you would have to know how to knit to make these, but it's not hard to figure out how to make them from store bought socks.

Yeah! I am so happy...Matt's niece, Betsie, found out today that they are having identical twin GIRLS! 4 children (two boys, Jadon 2 1/2, Josiah, 9 months and soon to be two girls , in June) under the age of 3!
They are nuts...

Random pictures from today: I went out to Olivia's gravesite and made her a snowman. I didn't have a hat for it, so I used one of my gloves. The snow is getting really icy and crusty otherwise I probably would have made her a big snowman.This is just a better picture of the stake my dad made for the chimes that hang from it.

The cemetery where Olivia is at is really old. There are a lot of headstones from the 1880's. I walked around the grounds and thought I would show you something I thought was interesting...this headstone is from 1910. It is a baby named Arthur who was just two months old. It sits in the middle of two trees. My guess is that they planted a tree when they buried him...there are also a LOT of silk flowers everywhere. It looks kinda funny when there is snow on the ground and these flowers all over the place.

My birthday

I had a really nice birthday. I think I got a little spoiled...they officially accepted the offer on the house on my birthday, so I told Matt that he got me enough and didn't need to get me anything else.

My sister, Kami, couldn't join us for lunch, so it was me, Brinely, Mom and Julie at Olive Garden. Brinley was getting a little bored waiting for the food. Yum! (I know, my fellow weight loss challenge friends, this is not a low fat appetizer...but it was MY birthday and I still lost 5.5 lbs this week)
I got a lot of phone calls from friends and my sweet big sister, Corinne. She can talk your ear off, but it's alright. By the way, thank you everyone for the b-day wishes!

This was not my official birthday cake, this is the one they give you at OG. It didn't taste nearly as good as the one Matt's sister, Ami, made...it was an unbelievably good...dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting! Can you tell I love chocolate?

After we ate lunch, we all got pedicures. It was a lot of fun. I laughed really hard, it tickled so much. I loved it though and think that after I am all moved in, I will have to get my hands done. I do recall saying that I had never been in a Salon, that is true, but I have been to a Spa, once. Matt sent me to one in Seattle for an anniversary gift while I was pregnant with Brinley and I got a massage and a facial. That was fantastic!

I didn't take my camera with me, Julie got pictures and will have to send them to me. Well, my brother, Jared, is officially engaged to Marcey. She was trying on her wedding dress and wanted us to come see it. So we tried on tiaras while we waited. I am not allowed to post a picture of the dress..you'll just have to wait.
Princess Julie.

On the way home from all of my birthday doings, Brinley and I had this conversation:

Brinley: "Mom, why is Julie my aunt?"

Me: "Because she is my sister, if she were my brother, she would be your uncle."

Brinley: "Nut ha, it's because she has Aunt in her name...'AUNT' Julie."

She got a little bored waiting around...she is a very impatient child...

I then went to see a movie with Julie and Kami later. It was a long day, but lots of fun. Thanks Matt for letting me hang out with my fam all day!

the big 20-10

20-10 sounds better to me than 30. Ugh!

I have not been looking forward to this birthday. Julie, Kami, Brinley and my mom have big plans for us today...lunch at Olive Garden and a pedicure, which I have never done before. I have never even been inside a salon...

Back when I was younger, thinner and spunkier, I had a list of things that wanted to accomplish by the time I was 30. Most of those didn't happen, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Some of them I can get done later in life and some I can work on now. My list of things included:

Serve a mission-I was actually in the process of doing this one when I met Matt and those thoughts went out the window. So maybe when I am old and grey...Matt's already there...we can go on one together.
Finishing school to become a Pediatrician- this will never happen, but I do hope to finish school someday, maybe a photography degree.
Travel the World- I only got to see England, Scotland and France, so I still have a ways to go. But now I would like to take Matt with me.
Get married-This one I did. But I thought I would have been a little older than just shy of 22.
Start a family-We started a family, but it took a few tries before Brinley came. Now we are just working on the rest of them.
Debt free-HA HA HA ...we just bought a house.
Learn another language: I took Spanish in High School for two years...that was a joke...and can only remember a few words. But I wanted to be able to speak a language fluently.

There are a few more, but I can't quite remember them and they are packed away somewhere.

Today, Olivia would be 2 months old. I may take a side trip today and go out to her grave...I had a great email chat with my friends sister's friend (confused?), who lost their son, Alan, to Potter's Syndrome. I haven't met anyone else who's child had the same thing as Olivia, so it was "nice" to compare notes and even then, the stories and experiences are so different. Thank you Aarin for sharing your story with me.

Matt took me out last night, since Brinley was already staying at my sister's house. We went to a movie and saw 'I Am Legend'. I hate scary/suspensful movies and not that this movie was gory, but I can't stand waiting to see what's in the dark. It was a good movie though...keeps you on your toes.

So, off I go to celebrate my day of birth...

WooHoo...my sister, Julie, has a blog! go here.

and the house goes to...

We got it!...I don't want to jinx things though, we still have to get through the inspection.
This house feels like home. I feel really good about it and it's where we should be. We spent all day going back and forth with the owners and finally came to a reasonable offer. I feel like i can show you the inside of the house...it's so cute and I can't wait to "Arah-ize" it, my sister's word.

This is the front room. It's actually quite large. I love the character of the house...hardwood floors, arched doorways, molding...so cute.
This is the kitchen...duh...it's really bright and cheery and even has a dishwasher. The green color grows on you.
The bathroom. For the size, it has a ton of storage. We are downsizing from two bathrooms. Yikes! Thecolor reminds me of a beach house.
This is one of the two bedroom upstairs. This one will be ours. Brinley's is already painted a lovely shade of lavender, so no work for me...it's a very colorful house. I love the windows in this room.
Here is the basement. We have big plans for it. There is already a bedroom, we want to put in another bedroom, finish the family room and add a bathroom.

snow...snow...snow

Yes...that says 9 inches. We got 3 inches overnight. We are expecting more today. Matt and I have been shoveling/snow plowing our driveway all morning. Then Matt went out to snow plow some friends driveways. It's a mess here. Brinley decided she would rather go to school than help shovel snow...I actually enjoy doing the work. I know, I'm weird.
We will hear back on the house today. And if they don't except our counter offer, we will keep looking for another house. I don't see why they wouldn't accept, but some people are a bit greedy. I have packed some of the house, including most of Brinley's room, which she is not pleased about. Her toys are out she has a bed to sleep in and clothes to wear...what is there to complain about?

January Support Group

I went to the MISS support group tonight. I am glad I decided to go despite the snow that won't quite (I love the snow...I hate driving in it, our driveway slopes and we have a really hard time getting out of it). The weather here is horrible, with 6 inches of snow in our front yard and supposedly, 3-4 more inches expected until 7am.

The group was really small tonight, with me, Karen, Sarah, Sara and two new people. It was good to talk to new people, one of them lost a neice to SIDS and the other was there for support. I don't know how people can get throught these expereinces without having a group of people to talk to that know, in their own way, what you are going through.

I really needed to be there. It seems like it's been a while since I had a really good cry. I was able to do that tonight and it felt good. The last few weeks, I have been looking for a house, packing, sorting, throwing away, working on new banners, posters and bulletins for the Primary's new theme, etc. I hadn't really taken time for myself and had been keeping some thoughts bottled up, So tonight, I felt like I could just let it out. I guess I am the type of person that I don't really like to bother people with my "problems"(not that this is a problem, that's just a figure of speech)...Sunday was week 8, we didn't make it to church, mostly because I forgot to set my alarm ( We would have been late anyway because I forgot about the time change). I didn't feel bad about missing church though, I have a hard time on Sundays. It's like every week is a milestone...well, this Friday, Olivia would be 2 months old...it is also my 30th birthday. Every holiday/Sunday/11th is just one more thing for me to think about Olivia missing.

Another hard thing for me is packing her things. I want to leave it out as long as I can, and her stuff will not be going into storage. Karen said that she did the same thing, and now, 4 1/2 years later, can put it in her storage without feeling bad.

This house has memories for me, and it will be hard to leave because this where the 'Olivia memories' are. I know that I need to progress and not become stagnent, that is part of my grieving process. I know I can come back to it because Matt's brother, Chris and his family, will be living here. Our new place will bring new memories and I am really excited about that.

The house

So here is a couple of pictures of the outside of the house that we just put an offer in on. We should hear back tomorrow morning...I am so excited. There are a few thing that need to be fixed on the outside, but the inside is move in ready. It has 3 bedrooms (1 non-egress in an unfinished basement), 1 bathroom and is 1768 sf. I will post pictures of the inside once we know the offer was accepted. If everything goes as planned, we will be moving in on February 15th. We will be crashing at my parents for two weeks while our stuff sits in storage...ugh! This is a picture of the side and the front. The front door is hidden behind the shrubs.
This is the side of the house, with a view of the two car garage. It sits on a coner lot and had a huge yard. I am so excited for Brinley to have a place to play and I don't have to worry about the yard not being fenced in or an extremely busy street.

We are putting an offer in on a house today...wish us luck.
I'll post more info later.

Random December Pics

We went sledding up at Matt's sister, Lori's house. Oh...way too much fun!

This is a picture of Matt and I riding down the hill.

This is Matt at the bottom.

This is me...I landed somewhere in between the top and the bottom of the hill.

Ah, isn't he handsome! You can't even tell his hair is covered in snow.
The Lowe's also have a pond and since it was frozen, we could go ice skating on it. Brinley was awesome, a natural on the ice.

Have to take a ride on the quad. Oh so fun in the snow!