Sweet Home Chicago!

Heidi-ho, baby don't you wanna go?

As I mentioned, we are loving Chicago. The city is beautiful,
the people are kind, the museums are kid-friendly,


and public transit is efficient, for the most part.

We've met some great friends and done some great things.

We have a little playground just at the bottom of our building. We don't currently have a car, so we've walked and taken buses and trains for everything--a toddler's dream come true! We live in a building that was used in the 30's as a hotel. It is a gorgeous building, which Cadence calls "The White Castle". The apartment, which Cadence calls "The NEW new house" (she never quit calling our last place the "new house")

is very spacious and the windows are really nice, as are the walls. But the floor is like a bad dream. We just try to keep our chins up-literally-and appreciate the walls! So much more to write about!

Back in the Saddle Again

After not having the internet for what seems to have been an eternity, I'm back at it! Pictures will come shortly, and I have so many posts floating around in my head, so give me time. For now, just know that we are 90% settled, we're safe and well, and we're really loving it here in Chicago. And I mean REALLY. We miss all our friends out West, and Cadence has begged to see so many of her friends that we left behind. It makes me sad to think of the odds of whether or not we'll ever see some of our great friends in CA again, so I try not to. More details later, but we love you all and are very excited to be here finally.

The "No Time" Post

No time to write all the things I want to, but here are some pictures from our trip to southern California to see Spencer's family.

Nothing like a little naptime nudity.

Cadence and cousin Reese Clive at Disneyland.

In Mickey's house. Birthday cake is a topic of daily discussion around our house these days.

She could hardly believe she was meeting Mickey Mouse!

This one is primarily just to document Campbell's first trip to Disneyland.

A Name and a Blessing

Cadence after her baby blessing: Aug 13, 06
Wasn't she absolutely gorgeous? (both pics are Cadence)

One of the many things that makes me so grateful to be a member of the Church is the "Baby Blessing". What is more special than the father of your children standing before God and in humility giving the baby the name that she will be known by and asking God to bless her throughout her life--the life that you are responsible to provide and prepare her for. When you have a new life and the feelings of inadequacy that every new mother has, it is a sure comfort to feel that you may ask God for specific help and blessings...it's just nice to know you have some help, if you know what I mean!

Cadence was blessed at my sister Mignon's farewell address in Utah at 5 weeks old. Since Spencer's brother is soon leaving on his mission (Jordan, going to Taiwan), we decided to make it a tradition and we blessed Campbell at his farewell. She was blessed on August 10, at 2 weeks old.

It was a beautiful blessing, Spencer's dad and 4 of his 5 brothers (John is too young) stood in the circle with him and when Spencer said her full name in the blessing, she looked straight at him and stared him down. He choked up a bit, which made me choke up a bit, which made it hard to take notes on what he was saying. He blessed her with the drive that characterized her forebearers whom she was named for (Campbell), and with charity like her mother (that's me, which means I've got a lot to live up to). She was quiet through the whole thing and looked beautiful in the dress. We got pictures afterward, but they were all taken with a Camera that is now touring India for three weeks, so we'll have to post some of those later. Sorry!

Thanks, Spencer, for being worthy to provide my daughters with the opportunity to be blessed by their father.

I'M A BIG SISTER!

Welcome to my new baby sister:

CAMPBELL JEANETTE CLIVE

Campbell was born on Sunday, July 27, 2008. She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 20 inches long. She came 8 days early, which was about 5 days late for my mommy, who was really excited to be un-pregnant and have a new baby.

The day began early, when Mommy woke up with contractions at 5:20 am. By pure luck, the night before "Gramps" (Clive), Uncle Jordan, and Daddy's cousin Nicholi had driven up from L.A. to deliver some furniture to us, and spent the night. So Mom and Dad were able to leave before I woke up to go to the hospital, and I had three fun guys to play with all day while we waited for the baby to come! Gramps took me to the Muir Woods (Redwood forest) and we had so much fun.

Giant belly, your hours are numbered!

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad waited while the nurses tried seven times to get an IV going, so that the epidural could get started. Finally the warm fuzzy feeling of relief flowed through Mama's legs and the enjoyable part of labor began! Luckily, there was one small part of her belly that Mama could still feel. I say luckily because at some point the labor, which had been moving along rather slowly, suddenly switched to high-gear and probably nobody would've noticed if Mom hadn't been able to tell that the contractions were one on top of the other! She had Dad come watch the contraction monitor and he judged that she was in hard labor and that the baby was coming. He went and told the nurses, who told them they were watching and shooed him away like an overly anxious expectant father. When the nurse did finally come in to check, the baby's head had already "crowned"! Everybody took their posts and Mommy pushed for less than 2 minutes!! It was 1:53 pm. How's that for smooth sailin'?

Mommy is very happy to have her baby in her arms, only moments after birth.

Very proud (and handsome) Daddy, with a slightly squished Campbell.

Pretty soon I got to come and finally meet my new baby sister! I seemed to know what was going on and had explained to Gramps a few times that day that Mom and Dad were gone because the Doctor was getting the baby sister out of Mommy's tummy. I was interested in Campbell for about one minute and then I wanted to see everything in the room, and slam the doors, play with curtains, push buttons, etc. It was hard for my mommy to have to say bye to me when it was time to go, especially since she had so many things attached to her, IVs, monitors, etc. that she could barely even hug me.

I guess neither of us knew how much our lives were about to change!

Now that we're all home, and Grandma Orton is here to play with me, we are having a great time! Mom is still healing, but things are looking good. Campbell eats well and sleeps a lot. I like to sing to her and as long as I'm still getting attention from somebody, I don't mind having her around at all! People say she doesn't look much like I did, so far. I look so much like my Daddy, and Campbell looks a little more like the Orton babies do. She has a little bit of dark hair (a very little, but in our family, every little bit counts, right Dad?), very pink skin, and delicate, well-defined little features.

We are so excited that Campbell is finally here. Mom and Dad are especially grateful at this time for their Eternal Marriage and that because of that, we can all be together forever. They are so excited to teach us about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can be an eternal family, and that we are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us. They want us to always know that their testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are important to them and that they want us to have the same strong foundation so that we may be blessed by it our whole lives through. I'm pretty sure they love us more than anything in the world!

Mom wants to thank everybody who has helped, like everybody who contributed their opinions in the name game; and Gramps, Jordan, and Nicholi; Merica and her family; and especially Grandma Orton, who flew out as soon as she could and has kept things together so that we could enjoy this transition all together with less stress.

The Lame Game Continues

Thanks for playing, everybody!

Okay, so far the people have spoken thus:

Esme: Four votes and one "nay" (which was actually just a statement of confusion toward pronunciation. I counted it as a negative).

Corinne: Also four votes and one "nay" ("nothing special")

Campbell: Two votes and two "nay"s (or comments about soup/masculinity)

Darcy: Two votes and one "nay" (a boy name? I've only heard it as a girl's, except Mr. Darcy, and it's his last name).


Write-ins of honorable mention:

Daphne received two votes
Tessa is cute
I like Piper but I'm betting Spencer doesn't (although it fits all prescribed guidelines--not too 'pansy', would look good on resume, not too common, easy to spell...)


I'm not going to comment on all the other suggestions, except Nor's, because I think she really wants me to. I figure the rest of you don't NEED to know if I really like the names or not. Nor does.


Vivian=Will Smith's aunt (Fresh prince) (Also "Viv Clive" is a little much).
Magnolia: Uh, doesn't sound like a person to me. And would you call her Maggie for short?
Cassandra: Does sound good with Clive but is the name of a girl who desperately wanted to rip Spencer out of my grip and marry him herself. I do think it is really cute and doesn't Cassie Clive sound nice?

Thanks everybody for your input! Tonight I informed Spencer that Iwas resigning from the game and that I would call her whatever he names her. He told me he was about to tell me the exact same thing. I said it first, so I won. We'll let you know what he decides, and meanwhile, keep us posted on any new ideas, suggestions, or anything else.

More Cadence-isms

Some of my latest faves from my crazy kid:

-She loves to point out "booty mawks" (beauty marks, which can be moles, freckles, or pimples).

-She can't pronounce her "r"'s.

-She can sing the alphabet, several primary songs, and loves "the hard rain song" by Bob Dylan, and more.

-She can identify all the letters of the alphabet (capital only).

-She's into kissing me. She grabs my face like she's seen Daddy do, and kisses my chin, my forehead, my cheeks, my neck, etc. It's one of those little payoffs for all the difficult times.

-She uses phrases like: "Oh, what have we got here?" and "Does that sound nice?"

-She insists on helping with all household chores, "brooming", vacuuming, washing dishes, laundry, etc.

-She has moments of extreme frustration that she vents by screaming whatever word she can think of at the time. My personal fave was, "MARACA!!!!!"

Some things that are more perplexing and frustrating than cute:

-She refuses to pray. She liked it at first, now she won't participate.

-She is lately very very emotional and dramatic and is almost obessessed with doing the opposite of what I say.

-She STILL hates getting her diaper changed.

Well, I'd better end this on a good note...

She may be a little fireball lately, but she is still the sweetest little talker you've ever seen. She likes to talk about anything she hears or sees. Today she talked a lot about Machu Pichu and China (places she learned about on Little Einsteins at least one week ago). She remembers everybody she meets. She's a little motor-head--she can hear or see a helicopter or motorcycle before anybody else. She loves to watch Daddy play a racing video game that involves fast vehicles and lots of crashing. She gives great hugs and loves to sing happy birthday to anybody that she likes. What a cutie.

"Cadence, make a pretty face."

Okay, now tell my your favorite things that your child is doing lately. And tell me I'm not the only one whose child drives them nuts sometimes, too!