Lesson learned the hard way...

We got back from our 10 day trip to Phoenix on Thursday. On Friday, I decided it was time to get the pictures off of my camera and update the Flickr page. As soon as they were finished transferring off the camera Iphoto closed. And then it wouldn't open. It just kept coming up with an error message telling me that I needed to restore from backup. I have over 2500 photos on that program. I started to go into panic mode because I haven't backed up my computer since the middle of October. I spent most of the day trying to figure out what to do since all of Vivian's pictures have been taken after the back-up. In the end, I did have to restore to the October version of Iphoto. For some reason my computer kept all the pictures from the Phoenix (some fine, others very fuzzy for some reason) trip but all the others are gone. Granted, I have a decent number on Flickr, but I'm heartbroken that the rest of Vivian's pictures up to this point have vanished into computer limbo.

On to my question for all of the computer genius people that read this blog. I want to get the photos I have uploaded to Flickr back into Iphoto. When I try to just drop them in, they are not very good quality. Any advice on how to make this work?

I now vow to back-up my computer every time I upload new pictures. And I might not ever erase another memory card.

Enough dwelling on the depressing photo issue. Our trip to Phoenix was great. I'm glad we went for longer than the week trip this year as two days are spent mostly in travel mode. Both of the kids were so amazing on the plane. I was seriously psyched up to have the most awful experience. We got compliments from people around us about how pleasant the flight was sitting near two small children. We didn't even have to go through many snacks. Vivian is generally quite happy, especially if someone is holding and talking to her. And Bennett seemed to be in a comfort zone while in his car seat. The Mickey Mouse DVD's certainly didn't hurt.

We spent most of the trip at my SIL Crystal's house. She was there with her two kids and my mom stayed with Bernie's parents. Many margaritas were consumed. Many many Patron margaritas. Bernie got to go golfing a couple of times and lost some money at the casino. I did a little shopping. We didn't get out to eat much at all because my mother is anti eating in a restaurant.

Bennett had a difficult time with all of the chaos going on around him. His cousins are two and five and FULL of energy. Those two run around screaming and playing most of the day. He did not have much interest in running with the pack and mostly clung to Bernie or I. He would play near them only if one of us was with him. He is going through some kind of phase where he wants one of us with him to do everything. I'm sure it has something to do with Vivian. I just hope it's now some larger social issue. Still hardly any understandable talking. A mother can't help but worry. Hopefully the speech therapist will be able to help.

Now I have laundry in the dryer from yesterday to fold and a diaper blowout mess to clean up. Come on, I know you're jealous.

Twice a month

That's my goal for blogging. If I can update twice a month, I will be happy. It's always on my mind, but never the primary thing that needs to be accomplished. We'll see if it's a realistic goal. Judging by the date of my last post, probably not.

We are headed to Phoenix on Saturday for almost two weeks. Bernie's entire family will be there (minus the brother-in-law) and so will my mom. It should make for an interesting group of people, especially with my mother in attendance. I don't think we have any really exciting plans. I would like to get up to Flagstaff since there is a weather service office there...need to check out possible future locations after all. Speaking of weather service jobs, one of Missoula's management positions is coming open. I'm 95% sure Bernie is going to apply, and we're also 99% sure he won't get it. But it will be good for him to keep his resume up to date. We hope he at least gets an interview so we know how close (or not) he is to a promotion.

Vivian had her two month MD visit over two weeks ago now. Everything looked great. Last week at the weigh in I take her to she was 12 lbs. 11 oz. I looked back at Bennett's adjusted growth and they are fairly close. We'll see if Vivian keeps up with him.

I need need need to get some exercise in my days when we get back from Phoenix. I think I will try some stroller strides with just Vivian when Bernie has days off during the week. I enjoyed that with Bennett. And maybe some Wii fit if I can find a game that gives a decent work out. The one it comes with is a joke.

Whoever said breastfeeding takes the weight off is a dirty liar. I keep waiting, but the scale never goes down.

We took Bennett for his speech eval last week and were not surprised by the results. She felt he was "significantly delayed" and needs to have therapy. In fact, she thinks he will qualify for free therapy through the school district because he is likely below the 8th percentile in his speech. So we have an appointment set up for that when we get home. If he does qualify, they will come to the house until he is three and then he can get therapy in the pre-school in our district. It hurt a bit to hear that, but I'm glad we are going to get some help with it. They may be able to help us out with some issues that seem sensory as well (especially his eating habits).

I am in the thick of organizing the preeclampsia walk. It is quite the undertaking. We're hoping to raise $10,000. To that end, I am compiling lists of sponsors and sending out the letters. Then we need a route map, mileage chips, portable toilets, trash cans, entertainment, food, etc. The list seems endless at the moment. We did get a great location at a park in downtown Denver, so that big part is out of the way. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to do this.

The winter is long. Even though the weather hasn't been too bad, I will be excited for spring and getting outside with the kids more.