IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Introducing Bridger Elwood Linn

Play Dates

Madi is having a play date this afternoon. I wish we could have play dates everyday. She wants nothing to do with me. I ate lunch by myself. I read my email by myself. I went to the bathroom by myself. It's heavenly.

HALLOWEEN!

I don't really know why, but Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for. I spend the whole month making new decorations or buying something cute to add to my growing collection. I have a problem. I might need help.

Blah.

Nothing new here. I'm still sick. All the time. It sucks. That is all.

Our FIFTH Anniversary

Engaged June 2007

Married August 2007

Honeymoon August 2007

Troy went above and beyond for our anniversary this year. He took us to Park City for a mini vacation at the Waldorf Astoria. HOLY CRAP! It was so fun. We swam in the pool everyday. We ate room service. Roast marshmallows for s'mores at the bonfire. We walked up main street and shopped. We ate at River Horse...OMG!! We got as many Waldorf Astoria chapsticks as we could. It is bomb! We had the best time. Madi and I have already requested that for our 10th Anniversary we visit the Grand Wailea on Maui...it happens to be a Waldorf resort and it is where we got married...TRADITION! wink wink

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I haven't been feeling well...explanation in the previous blog post...

Madison the Big Sister

We are having another baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In all honesty, Troy and I pretty much accepted the fact that Madison was going to be our only offspring and then SURPRISE we're having a baby. We are all so excited! Even Kaiser. Madi talks about the babies all the time. Don't get confused we are just having one, but she just doesn't agree and still insists that there is a brother and sister in there. She also says that I have a forest in my tummy...she isn't a reliable source for information. She has named the babies Elwood Danger and Kenzie Polkadot (MacKenzie). Don't ask. At least we have moved on from Choo Choo Express. I can live with Kenzie. That is actually a name that is fully agreed on by her father and me.

I am 14 weeks and the baby is due March 4th. So far I have been sick sick sick. Completely opposite of my pregnancy with Madison. It is starting to get better. For the first 10 or 11 weeks I was sick all day everyday. The last couple of weeks I have been sick for just part of the day. A nice improvement.

Here is our babies first picture! It was taken at about 11 weeks. I can't believe that you can already make out the profile. Crazy!

Baby Linn #2 11 weeks

I have a preschooler!!!!! WTF! LOL!

Madison River Linn started preschool today. They asked the parents to come on the first day to go over the calendar for the year, policies, field trips, etc. Madi was in a different room the whole time, but it really bothered her that Mom and Dad had to stay at school. She can't wait for Thursday when she gets to go ALL BY HERSELF! I'm not going to lie, I started tearing up several times while Miss Bobbi talked about the year. I didn't think I would be sad, but I am! So sad. I just can't believe that we are already here. So weird.

My Name is Doyle Doherty...

This last month has been really hard. REALLY HARD. My Grandma Doherty passed away on April 22nd. My mom, Aunt Rosie, and I were with her when she passed. It was a very sacred and spiritual experience, but it was also heart breaking. My Grandma is gone. I knew since the beginning of January that this day was going to come sooner rather than later. She just declined so fast. I feel like I didn't get to say goodbye to MY Grandma. The last couple of weeks of her life she barely communicated or even stayed awake long enough to get her attention. I'm grateful the time that I did have with her early this year when we could talk and laugh. When we could tell each other how much we loved each other. I think part of the reason that losing her is so hard, is that we have lost our last connection to Grandpa. It's almost like losing both of them at the same time. I miss him more desperately now than I have in years.

Until I was 11 years old I lived just down the street from her. I literally saw her everyday of my life until we moved to Carnation. When my Grandpa died just a few months after we moved, I became her traveling companion. Some of the best memories I have of her is in Hawaii. I really believe that is her heaven. Whenever I think of her now, I picture her there, on the beach.

Heavy Heart...

My friend Joie lost her little boy Lincoln yesterday afternoon. He just didn't wake up from his nap. I am completely devastated for her. My heart is broken. Lincoln was the sweetest little boy. He had a grin that lit up the room. He had eyes that looked into your soul. He was also special needs. He had just started to crawl. He was clapping. He was progressing. He brought joy into the lives of everyone around him. He oozed love. He was a fighter. His parents are perfect examples of unconditional love. They were completely obsessed with him and could not be prouder of his accomplishments. I am grateful for my testimony of life after death. I am grateful to know that Lincoln is in the loving arms of his Heavenly Father. I am grateful that he has been made whole through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I pray that Joie, Shane, and Jezelle will be comforted as they grieve and they will feel the love of everyone near and far.

Are you Santa?

Madi met my parent's neighbor Henley today. He has long white hair and a long white beard...some would say he is a hippy. Okay everyone says that. Anyway after a few minutes of staring at him and not saying a word she pops out with "Are you Santa?" to which he quickly replied "Well some people call me that." hahaha!

Taxes when you are 2.75 yo?!

Madi 'Mom, how come you don't work at my house anymore?'

Karen 'I work at Granny's house. She needs my help with taxes.'

Madi 'I need you to help me with my taxes puz they are so tricky.'

Crescendo

The other night I was trying to get Madison to stop talking and fall asleep.

She said 'But Mom I am doing Crescendo.'

'Crescendo?'

'Yay, I am making my voice get louder and louder. Little Einstein's taught me that.'

Thanks again Disney Junior for educating my daughter.

Mack the Moose

Troy met us at the airport last night with two dozen long stemmed roses and Mack the Moose. Mack is a 4.5 ft stuffed moose that Troy picked up yesterday for Madison. She decided to wait until she had a nights rest to name him, so first thing this morning he was dubbed Mack.

Madi and DD

Madi and I are in Kentucky with my Mom visiting Ryan and Tiffy for Cassidy's birthday. Madison LOVES DD. She has been so excited to go on this trip for weeks. Mom bought them matching outfits before we came out so the girls started the day out in those, then we went to Target where they received more matchy matchy stuff. Needless to say I think we are on outfit number three today. Wowza!

Talk and talk

The other day I was trying to get Madison to take a 'rest' in Martha's bed. She would not settle down. Finally I said, 'Madi close your eyes.' She said, 'I can't Mom. I won't be able to talk and talk.'

Leon's Love Songs

I just received the BEST cd ever made in the mail today. Amy was given it SEVEN years ago from an older gentleman that we worked with at 24 Hour Fitness in SLC. He had a little (HUGE) crush on her. Anyway he made her a mixed cd of all his 'favorite' songs. We quickly named it Leon's Love Songs. Each song was him pouring his heart out to her. It would have been very romantic if he had been a little (A LOT) closer to her age. Anyway she found the cd a couple of weeks ago and made me a copy. Pretty much a started listening to it as soon as I opened the package. So many memories!!!! Oh man. Is it weird that I feel 24 all over again?

Madi Daddy Day

Madi and I are heading to KY on Friday, so she and Troy have decided to have a day together today. I just got this phone call from her.

"Hi Mom! We are snuggling in your bed. And I am going to Brown Bag to get a pancake. Love you. Bye!"

I think maybe I need a day with Daddy too...

licking

Madison has started pretending that she is a puppy. She licks me ALL THE TIME! I knew I had to draw the line when the other night we were out to dinner with my parents, Nick, and Veronica and she went up to my dad and licked his bum. Luckily he didn't even notice because he was so engrossed in his conversation with Veronica. Needless to say we have been having lots of talks about licking people.

well...

I just read a blog post talking about blog guilt. I definitely suffer from it. Big time. I want to capture it all and when I get behind I get overwhelmed by the amount of things to write about! Well I'm going to try to do better and document the 'little things', the day to day.

My Grandma Doherty is sick. We found out two weeks ago that she has cancer. We still don't know how bad yet, but we know it's bad. She has a tumor the size of an apple at the base of her spine and SEVERAL tumors in her liver. We are still waiting on the results of her biopsy. I hate waiting. I hate not knowing what we are up against.

I found out tonight that my Grandma Gremmert is having some heart issues. I mean seriously! Both at the same time. It doesn't seem fair. At all. We know nothing about what is going on with her. We should have more answers at the end of the week. More not knowing.

Tax season has started. Wowza! That's all.

Madi, Eva, and I are going to KY on Friday. Madi is so excited to go see DD. It's all she can talk about. She has outfits picked out. It is going to be a much needed break for all of us. I think Mom is about to be crushed from all the stress she is under. She needs to be surrounded by her grandkids.

Troy is amazing. Really amazing.

Madi is a dress wearing girl. I have to fight to get her in jeans. She is such a girly girl that loves farting and talking about poop. What can I say? She is a Gremmert/Linn. Sorry. Madi is obsessed with getting another dog. She wants a little one that she can carry around like a baby. Troy is very anti little dogs. She also is in love with Martha. For those of you that don't know Martha you are missing out. She is the cornerstone of our family. Madison is really trying to get this potty training thing down. We have had some success this week because her pull-ups now have Rapunzel on them. She doesn't want to pee on Rapunzel. hahaha! She has no issue pooping on her though. hahaha!