The Many Faces of Lois

 ...and they put me in this huge pink thing of water, and I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know what to think, and now...well...whew! It's over!

Are you taking a picture of me?

Watching the Olympics--Go USA! 

(I think she might have a crush on Apolo Ohno.)

Glamor Girl

When Lois was a week and a half old, David's friend Dayna came and took some pictures (You can check out her website here). The pictures are so fantastic!  Here are some of our favorites:

Bells on Temple Square video

Here's a youtube video of the Orchestra on Temple Square and Bells on Temple Square performing at the Christmas concert. The bells play throughout. I wonder if this will be as fun as it seems right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRJHsHB7Tm8

I got my "bell assignment" for the workshop this Saturday. I'll be playing E3 and F3, which are the E and F below middle C. I'm a little nervous, to be honest. But I think it will be a lot of fun. I'll have to focus and be relaxed. It's like a choir practice, just without talking, right? (ha, not that I ever talked in choir... riiiiight. :)

Bells on Temple Square audition

On Monday there was an article in the Daily Universe (BYU's newspaper) about how the Bells on Temple Square needs more male members. Bells on Temple Square (or BoTS, as it's apparently called) is the bell percussion group that performs with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in their Christmas concert. (I've recently learned they also perform two other times in the year.) ANYWAY, they need more men since some are leaving, and they prefer men to heft the larger 13-pound bells. So on Monday I filled out an application and sent it in.

I got an email back from the director today about workshops they are having each Saturday morning in the Tabernacle on Temple Square until the end of the month. If it looks like I am showing potential, I will be asked to continue possibly as as long as March 13. The purpose of the workshops is to give people without bell-ringing experience (like me) a chance to become better acquainted with the technique.

It probably sounds totally random that I want to do something like this. I suppose it is a little. But the truth is that Karen and I have talked about wanting to be a part of the Tabernacle Choir. And while I won't be singing, it is technically a part of the choir. I think it will be a fun experience, even if I only get so far as one workshop.

Two Funny Diaper Stories

Two of our funniest Lois experiences thus far have occurred, interestingly enough, during diaper changes. Ya never know what's gonna happen when she gets that diaper off!

The first eventful diaper change was last week when I was changing her. Just as I put that cold wipe to her little bum, she lets out a heart-wrenching, Mommy-I'm-in-pain cry. I, of course, immediately take that offensive wipe away and go into aaaah!-what's-wrong! mode, and David comes running into the room in a panic. Where he finds me laughing hysterically. Lois had her little fist in a vice grip around a whole chunk of her hair and was pulling it with all her might. (Now's a good time to mention that while laughing I was also gently prying her fingers open one at a time...I wasn't letting the poor thing just suffer through her self-inflicted pain, I promise.) The cute thing had no idea that she was the cause of her own misery. :)

Yesterday was our next funny occurrence at the changing table. First, a little background about how her room is set up. We don't have an actual changing table, per se. It's a changing pad that's curved up on the sides (like one you would find on a changing table), but it just sits on the top of the glass-topped desk we have in her room. So David was changing her diaper while I was sitting on the glider in her room. Lois was having a grand ol' time kicking her legs around without a diaper, and the changing pad is waterproof, so David was just letting her enjoy herself diaper-less for a minute. She had her head craned back and was just staring at the wall, so David flipped her around so she could crane her head back and see the rest of the room (so now her bum was facing the wall). He then noticed that the area around her bum was wet...oops. As he checking to see if the rest of her was wet, she shoots out a whole stream of pee. "Oh no!" David picks her up by her underarms, calling to me to help, as Lois is kicking her legs and splashing in the puddle collecting on the changing pad and in everything that is continuing to stream down her legs. I run over to grab her and hold her up a little more and quickly discover that yes, the pad is waterproof, but it is also slightly inclined...and all the urine was running off the side and dribbling right on to my bare feet. Meanwhile, we are doubled over with laughter, we've had to just put Lois's bum back down into the puddle, Lois is squawking, and my toes are starting to get cold. Don't you wish you could've been a fly on the wall for this one? Needless to say, Lois got her second bath of the day, and after all that excitement she slept great. :)

Oh, the adventures. :)

Lois Nalani: How She Got Her Name

You ready for this? It's a long story. :) We packed in all the meaning we could into her little name. Growing up, my mom always told me what my name meant, which always gave it special significance to me. I loved knowing that I was named my name for a purpose. We wanted to give that same significance to Lois in naming her.

Lois
First, pronunciation. It's not Louis, it's not Louise. It's Lois. Like Lois Lane from Superman. Except not Lois Lane. We did not name her after a superhero's girlfriend. :) But since I know there will be issues with people not knowing how to say it (there already have been)...that's how I gotta explain it. :)
Literally, the meaning is "battle maiden" or "superior" (or a number of variants on that, depending on where you look). Personally, I like the battle maiden thing--it makes it more clear why she was so active in my belly. :)


But the reason we chose to name her Lois is because both my grandmothers' names were Lois. I never knew either of my grandmothers, but when they both had the same name...I mean, how cool is that? And I think it's really awesome to be able to name her after two grandmothers instead of just one. I'm hoping it will also spark some interest for her in learning about her great-grandmas.
David also has a connection to the name Lois. His high school choir teacher, who was a very special lady to him, is also Lois. She never had the opportunity to have children of her own, so we wanted to honor her dedication to young people and just how wonderful a person she is by having our daughter share her name. Funny enough, we found out after our Lois was born that she and David's choir teacher share a birthday, January 13.

Nalani

May as well tell you how to pronounce this one too. It's Nuh-lah-knee. It's Hawaiian for "of heaven."
My mom and her family grew up in Hawaii, and she and her sisters have Hawaiian middle names. Mom continued the tradition with my middle name, Mailani (my-lah-knee), and we wanted to continue it even further with Lois's middle name. We chose Nalani because it's my Aunt Cathy's middle name. She also wasn't able to have children of her own, and she has so many admirable qualities that both David and I want our Lois Nalani to also have. She's generous, compassionate, loving, and has never-failing faith in the Lord.

Lois Nalani Krueger: The Birth Story

On January 13th I woke up at 4:30a.m. after a rather restless night. It didn't take too long to figure out that all that restlessness was actually contractions. I popped in the shower and they didn't go away, so at around 5:00 I started timing them. They were coming at about 4-6 minutes apart. I didn't really know how consistent "real" contractions were supposed to be...I mean, do they come at exactly 4 minutes apart? Or does it count that they're between 4-6 minutes? I had no idea. But they were hurting and eventually started to get more intense and closer together. Of course, we hadn't packed, so David was busy packing, I was busy hurting, and at around 7:15ish I told David we needed to get the hospital asap.

We arrived at the hospital at 8:15. (We'd passed another hospital along the way and every bit of me wished that we were delivering there.) I'd kinda already decided that my decision to go all natural was crazy...gimme the drugs, baby. But when we checked in, who was at the desk? The same nurse who was our Lamaze instructor, Kirsten. Part of me thought it was great to see a familiar face. But my pride was kicking in too, and I thought, "Awe, crap. Now I have to go natural. She can't know that I'm such a wimp."

Kirsten suggested that I have an IV of a drug that "takes the edge off," so I decided to hold off on the epidural and go with that first. Meanwhile, I was already dilated to an 8. The IV helped me to rest between contractions...and feel sleepy and fuzzy around the edges. About half an hour or so later I was still at an 8, so they broke my water.

And then it just happened. At 9:44, Lois was here. All 6lbs14oz and 19.5 inches of her.

 Ok, I say it just happened. But I mean, this is the delivery of a baby I'm talking about. If you noticed, I didn't mention that epidural thing. Yeah, it didn't happen. And that "take the edge off" drug...I don't know what edge it possibly took off, because I think I felt every bit of edge that delivering a baby had to offer. I wanted that epidural, I really did. There were two things that got me through it. David is number one. And all we learned in the Lamaze class. I couldn't have done it otherwise.

Lois was incredibly alert as soon as she arrived. She had her little eyes open and was looking around. And all her hair! She took after me in that regard; I had tons of hair when I was born too. We thought at first that it could be reddish, because the edges around her ears looked strawberry blonde. But she's definitely got dark hair. Maybe she'll end up a little auburn, but for now she's got my dark brown. :)