The Suisse Family Robinson

The long awaited Vivi Birthday Cake video.



Lara's favorite secular Christmas song is I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. I've been trying to capture this on video for a while. Finally!



Reed loves to let Lara drive in empty parking lots. We were waiting for my family in a church parking lot and this is what we get to look forward to when she's a teenager.

Today our darling Genevieve turned one-year-old. I can't believe it! My baby is not a baby anymore!

Last year, on Christmas Eve morning, Reed had gotten up with Lara so that I could sleep in for a little while. I wasn't due until January 4th but I was thinking to myself "Self, wouldn't it be great if the baby came today?" Now, I had been saying that to myself for a whole week at this point so I didn't really think it would actually happen. I got out of bed and my water broke. Weird feeling but unmistakable. I ran into Lara's bedroom and told Reed that we were going to be at the hospital for the rest of the day and that we'd better get ready (because of course I hadn't packed anything). Contractions hadn't started yet so I took my sweet time getting ready- took a shower, finished packing, and then we opened all our presents. I knew I wasn't going to be around for Christmas and I wanted to be there when Lara opened her presents. Later on that night, Genevieve Noelle was born. All 7 pounds and 8 ounces of her.

Reed and I like to be surprised at the last minute as to the gender of our baby. I thought Vivi was a boy up to the moment I saw her. Luckily we had a boy's AND a girl's name in mind way before Vivi was born. Genevieve was chosen because it was French and Reed had spent a lot of time in Geneva on his mission. It was also the name of my first french teacher in college and I had liked the name at the time. Noelle was Reed's choice as a first name (I disagreed) so we comprised and thought it would be a good name for a baby born around the holiday time. Little did we know that she would decide to come on Christmas Eve (Get it? Genvi-EVE?).

Vivi has accomplished a lot in her first year. She is now only one pound away from Lara and is pretty much in the same size clothes as Lara (2T). She has taken a few steps and, I'm sure, will be walking confidently by the new year. She eats everything in sight and knows when anybody within 100 yards has food. It is great fun watching her when she eats! (Video of her eating her birthday cake will be posted soon).

Happy Birthday, Genevieve! We are so glad you are a part of our eternal family. You are our best Christmas present ever and we love you so much!

This might be a weird thing to blog about but this is actually a momentous occasion. I've always had musical callings in church and I've pretty much had them all- primary chorister for about 7 years, primary pianist, church organist, and choir director. Not that I'm complaining, I looooove music. Obviously, I chose it as my profession.

With the wards being re-organized and Reed and I being in a new ward, we had the chance to sit down with our new bishop for tithing settlement. Part of that settlement was him asking us what our ideal callings were. We, of course, said we were willing to do anything. I fully expected to be called as choir director again since I knew there was a need and I had just been called to that position in our old ward. We received a call on Saturday night asking both Reed and I to meet with a member of the bishopric to talk about a new calling for me. Hmmmm... first flag right there. They don't usually talk to the spouse about a choir director calling.

I, of course, said yes when I was extended the call to be the first counselor in the Powell Ward primary presidency. My first non-musical calling in a long time! And the perfect calling for me. I absolutely love serving in the primary and, with sharing times, I'll get to do music also! Did my life just get busier? Yes. But I'm looking forward to serving in our new ward and learning new things along the way.

Today I went through my first re-allignment of ward boundaries in my entire life. It was quite the experience! For those of you who might not know, our church organizes congregations by geographical regions so where you live dictates what congregation you attend. Because of this, sometimes new congregations are formed to better serve the members in the area. Reed and I are now in another ward along with a small portion of our old ward. Exciting!

When we heard of the special meeting where the new boundaries were being announced, I knew that we were going to be in another ward. I felt fine with that because that's just the way it is. There was a moment in the meeting when members of the new congregations were asked to stand and sustain their local leaders. In that moment, I saw all the new faces of our new ward and noticed how many of our old ward were still in the old ward. I felt a twinge of emotion not because I didn't want to leave our old ward but it was the kind of feeling you get when you remember all the fun times you had with certain people. We had fun in Worthington and there are many friends there that we will miss. We are looking forward to meeting new friends and learning the ways we can serve in the Powell ward. I'm grateful for the opportunity we have to see the growth of the gospel in the world and how it impacts even our small neck of the woods!

Last week we started potty-training Lara and after the first few days she's done a phenomenal job! I'm so proud of her but that's not the real reason I'm blogging tonight.

There are a few weird things that I've thought about during this whole process and I've decided to share them. Lucky!

1. Who decided to potty-train children and when did that happen? Were kids potty-trained in ancient Greece? I know that every culture has their own version of where and how to go to the bathroom but did everyone systematically teach their kids that version? Just wondering.

2. Is there anything else in the world that can get grown human beings get so excited about seeing poop and pee in a little potty?

3. Did you know that the bladder is a smooth muscle and it's not supposed to be voluntary? Human beings are cool creatures though and we adapted!

So there. My thoughts on potty-training.