Unfortunately for our home, it didn’t fair as well during Ike. During the storm or pine tree in our front yard came down and smashed into the front of our house. Again, we are fortunate because it is a pine tree and it didn’t destroy the home, but now we’re figuring out the implications of the tree coming down on our house.

It took almost two weeks, but on Friday the tree company finally drove their crane up and removed the tree. The whole thing is still kind of surreal.

I’ll post pictures of them removing the tree later.

Pictures from the day of the Hurricane:

The aftermath:

I really loved this pine tree in our front yard. I’m sad it won’t be guiding me home anymore:

I have to say, I am so grateful for the Church being action driven. We weren’t even home and our new friends, because let’s be really we’ve only lived here for three months, came over, trimmed up the tree, patched up some of the shingles, and cleaned up the water from in the house. Amazingly blessed.

While Bob was in France, Kristina and I took off for the lovely Seattle area to visit family and friends. She has built a good fan club up there, and we had tons of fun. Her cousin
Hannah (who’s middle name is Christina) just loved baby Kristina and thought she was so fun. She also had a “baby” too and we both got to feed our babies and change their diapers. I would have traded her diapers with her any day. Kristina and I also made a trip out to the family cabin too – and she got her first glimpse of the ocean while we were there which I am sure she will remember all of her life. Both her Morfar (Swedish for mother’s father) and Mormor (mother’s mother) thought the world of her. Morfar kept telling people how good she was, and how she never cried. Well, news to you Morf, you need a hearing aid, or you tune out the tears really well. Several times she was crying, and it seemed like he didn’t even notice. That was pretty funny.

Well… while all of us were out of the state, Hurricane Ike paid us a visit. Ikie must have been upset that we were gone because there was our tall pine sitting on top of our house. That was sad to see out tree go, and sadder to have holes in the roof. Luckily, we have great friends here that took care of the house for us, and helped minimize the damage and patch up things for us. Just on Friday we finally got a company to come in and take the tree off of the house, and we are in the process of getting bids for the repairs. Watching them take the tree off the house was really cool actually. In 20 minutes they had set up the crane, put straps on the tree, lifted it off the roof and on to the lawn, cut it up and cleaned everything up and left. Very efficient.

Bob’s brother Seanie left on his mission this week, so Bob and I drove down to Corpus to visit with him right after we both got back to Houston on the 20th. It was tough trying to get down there after all that traveling (especially for Bob with the 11 hour flight, and a 7 hour time difference!) but it was well worth seeing Seanie again before he took off. While in Corpus, Kristina had her first belly laugh. I was getting Kristina ready for bed – so I took off her dress, and then took off the diaper and looked in the diaper bag for a new one. When I returned to her, I found her wet from head to toe with pee (luckily, I had her on the changing pad). Well that was pretty funny to me… so I started to laugh. Well Kristina thought it was funny too and she started to laugh too. Then a tiny giggle turned to a full on belly laugh… the cutest and funniest thing I have every seen. Really there was a twinkle in her eye as to say, “Got you this time, Mom!”

Bob has been working like crazy… averaging 64 hours a week for the past two months. The sad thing is that his busy season only started 3 weeks ago, and they only ask for something like 50 hours a week. So life as been a little out of balance for him to say the least, but hopefully it will get back on track here soon enough.

With all this going on, I was slightly distracted on Friday (trying to find something to blame this on…), and made the 2nd worst meal of our marriage – only to be topped by tuna surprise. I talked to a friend that day, and had a conversation about Bob’s mom’s good Mexican cookin’. Well, it put me in the mood, and I thought I would just attempt to do the cooking myself. What a mistake. I burned the rice (a serious burn – probably will need a new pot) made the world’s chewiest corn tortillas, the meat turned out tough, and the beans were somehow tasteless. I did manage to microwave a can of corn ok, and cook up some peppers and onions but that just didn’t make up for the fact that everything else just stunk (literally – the rice stunk of smoke). Looks like I need more Mexican training.

Well… there’s the news. I will try to post pictures of the adventures (when I can figure out this whole ftp thing… it’s a little much for a non-computer nerd) and maybe even post photos of our new painted study. I might even shock the world and post again soon. But don’t cross your fingers for that one.

Also, if you click on the pictures in the application a larger version of the picture will be shown.

Click on the photos link or go here:   Photos

- Bob

It’s quite relaxing to be sitting on the training. The movement is pretty soothing; now I know why Kristina falls asleep in the back of the car when we come home from church. Anna and I always appreciate it when she does that.

France has been interesting so far. It is always fun to see the way other people live their lives, the way cultures interact, and the way they eat differently. I don’t know if I can name everything I have eaten, but I did try escargot. Ironically, I think the best meal we get everyday is at the company cafeteria.

The other neat thing about my visit so far is the room we are working in. It’s your normal conference room filled with cords and laptops. True it is the standard corporate blah, but we have a large window in the room that we keep open and it allows fresh air to flow into the room. A fresh breeze is constantly coming into the room and has probably help keep back the jet lag. The air is truly rejuvenating.

I’ll spend Friday night through Sunday in Paris which should be fun, thoug it is weird to be so far away from Anna and Kristina.

1. Don’t buy a brand new mattress five days after having a baby. I demanded that it had to be really, really soft, since I was still in quite a bit of pain. The princess and the pea had nothing to my ability to feel non existent lumps in a mattress. Now – both Bob and I feel the one that met my approval is way too soft. Oops. A very expensive mistake…

2. Shopping for high price ticket items less than 72 hours after you give birth can lead to problems. Bob really wanted me to see some leather couches he had spotted, and I went with him leaving little Kristina at home with grandma soon after I was discharged from the hospital. Completely worried about the baby, we take off for the store. When Bob’s expected eyes didn’t find mine thrilled with couches, he was a little disappointed – but nothing like the turmoil from within my little soul – due to a healthy dose of hormones. Ultimately, the story ends with me breaking down in complete sobs in front of the store as we left, and Bob confused not really knowing what to do.

3. Forgetting to book a room the night that you are moving from one house to the next. Bob somehow thought we would both be fine sleeping on the floor. But me – being 37 weeks pregnant – didn’t think that was such a good idea. We ended up finding a (very expensive) room at midnight. Oops.

4. Buying a brand new car while trying to establish milk production for breastfeeding. We again, left Kristina at home in the care of grandparents as we trekked out into the wild world of shopping. The car sale associate took their sweet time… and then the finance guy took way too much of our sweet time. Mid way through his spiel, I could feel the big wet spots forming on my shirt. Soon I realized there was no amount of arm crossing that would hide the huge mess of milk on my shirt – now drifting down to my belly button. Luckily I wasn’t pulled over as I sped home in our old car – leaving Bob to finish up buying the other one – a full 6 and a half hours, and one soaked shirt later.

5. Allowing your newborn to cuddle up and nap in your arms a few times in a row. So fun to do yet it comes with a high price tag. The price is – now that is the ONLY way she naps. I put her down – and within about 15 minutes (usually more like 5 minutes), she figures out that she is not in my arms, or on my lap – and she wails! Yikes! So needless to say – she spends a lot of time in my arms.

Life hasn’t been a complete disaster however. We have been enjoying cuddling with lil’ Kristina, and we are enjoying our new home. So life is good!

Pregnancy has been an interesting ride for me. I think that at some point or the other, I have had all of the less serious annoyances of pregnancy at one time or the other…. the swollen feet, the heart burn, and of course finicky sleeping habits interrupted by the need to use the bathroom every time I roll over. The sleeping is one of the worst for me – any one that knows me understands that I love to sleep, and get plenty of it. With pregnancy threatening to keep me awake, I have devised a vast system of pillows and other devices to get comfy for sleeping. This works pretty well most nights, and has helped me not have the insomnia problem that I was having at the 6 month mark.

Well, the other night I was up getting some house stuff done – actually unpacking for once – when I realized that Bob was no longer around. I found him in bed already (it was only 10:00) and I figured that I would just get a few more things done, then I would head to bed myself. Well, once I finished up and hopped into bed – Bob wakes for a moment. He looks at me with a steely, half asleep glare and then looks at my favorite pillow. He snatches it from me and says, “You don’t deserve it”. He throws it under his head, turns away and is right back to snoring in no time. All I could think was… what did I do?

I contemplated my moves from there – do I dare wake Grumpy to get my pillow back? Or do I just try to do with out for a night? Recalling that stare, I chose the latter, and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what in the heck I did that was so wrong to deserve a punishment that would leave me sleepless half the night.

I can almost laugh about it now. Almost.

-Anna

The other night I did get Kristina to play on the floor. I put her down on a play mat with a mirror and some other toys. Kristina reached out with her hands and began to turn the mirror back and forth so she could see herself better. She sat there for the next hour just turning the mirror and looking at herself in it. I’m sure she was just enjoying the changes in light, but you never know. She could’ve been thinking: “By golly, how did I get so cute. How did I already become the fairest of them all?”

The honest truth– it is just a sign of things to come.

She was calm and happy to be on the playing mat, so that was good. I try to put her back there when I’m done holding her and I need two hands to get something done.

Here are some of the pictures:

I’m here:

Ummm Fingers:

Did I say I liked my fingers?

On occasion, I will open my eyes:

I like to pontificate like dad:

Smiles:

Boxer:

Eyes and Hair:

I’m cute:

Gazing in the distance

One of my first photos:

Trouble maker eyes:

We have to thank Grandma, also known as the Mamarazi, for her excellent photos.

Kristina Louise Bolster

She was born in the afternoon of June 19th 2008. She weighed in at 7 pounds and 13 ounces and measured 19 1/2 inches long.

We are so happy to have her as part of our family! Anna was absolutely awesome! Each moment I see her with Kristina only amazes me more.