Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart

I wanted to do a Christmas round-up, but a lot of crazy stuff has happened over the past week. Here are a couple of pictures of the family in Logan. They are all Rachael's family, but that's all I had time to upload. Here's Lily-Bug in her cute tutu (I got it at the Festival of Trees)

 

Grandmother holding Tessa-rooney (she hardly put her down!)

 

Seuao opening his berry 'pecial jersey

 

Little Tweet Heart!

 

It was a good time. There was plenty of craziness with balls and toys and babies galore, but it was fun. And, we got in some good Pounce playing! Yay! We went to Logan on Wednesday afternoon. We drove both of our cars, since we had so much crap and since gas is so cheap (I paid $1.29/gallon today!). We have had a lot of unexpected expenses come up, like car repairs, etc., so I didn't get much for Christmas. Allen kept asking me for gift suggestions, and I gave him quite a few (like Penelope, Mamma Mia, the Joseph Smith Papers vol. 1, Mormon Scientist, the Illustrated Church History, etc.), but I got the Mummy Trilogy (uh, did I want those?) and Prince Caspian DVDs. And I had to wrap them and transport them to Logan, or I wouldn't have had anything from him to open. Yes, it's pretty shallow of me, but I was feeling sorry for myself afterward, since Rachael, Becca and Lexy were all showered with gifts from their husbands. So on Sunday I was annoyed with Allen and I wasn't feeling well (I have been hacking my lungs out), and I had to drive back to SLC in the snow. Needless to say, I wasn't in a good place. Then . . . As I was carrying Benji from the car downstairs into our apartment, I smelled something funny. I didn't realize what it was until I stepped on the carpet and it squished. Yep--flooding. I put Benji in the exersaucer, which was safe from the water, and looked in the kitchen. There was a couple of inches of standing water on the linoleum, water was dripping from the ceiling, and I could still hear some flowing. I found the faucet in the laundry room blasting (I had to use a wrench to turn it off), then I went upstairs to see where the water was coming from up there. In the X's apartment, the faucet on the kitchen sink was also running full-blast. It turned off easily, though, so I was a bit confused as to what happened. Apparently Mrs. X asked one of our neighbors to fill the water bowl for the cats while they were gone, and one day the pipes were frozen. They must have left the faucet on inadvertently, so when they thawed . . . Anyway, I was in a bad mood already, and I just couldn't deal with it. I called Rachael to see if we could crash at her place. So we have been there for a few days (since our apartment is currently uninhabitable) going back and forth to clean and pack while the restoration people have been tearing out carpet and drywall and ceiling. So we are trying to find a new place to live, all while working and trying to take care of the little man. It has been insanity. Thankfully my Mom volunteered to watch Benji for a day or two--at least we don't have to worry about him for the moment. I didn't realize how hard it was to leave your child! I know he's in excellent hands, and I have worked overnight before, so it's not like this is my first night away from him, but I won't get to see him in the morning! It makes me so sad! He took my heart with him! :o( Here's the upside: we did find an apartment, which is probably smaller than the one we are vacating, but it has TWO FULL BATHROOMS (no more sink baths!), a dishwasher, laundry hook-ups, and covered parking. Plus, it's affordable, and it's much closer to work for me! All in all, it's pretty good timing, too--at the end of the month, so more apartments were available to look at; it was over Christmas vacation and Grandmother came out to visit, so we were able to sleep in my Dad's room at Rachael's house, and we are moving on New Year's day, so many members of our EQ can help us load the truck. Don't get me wrong--it still sucks--but I'm glad to be getting out of our old place and I feel very blessed right now. I'm incredibly tired: I have been at work all night, I'm running on about 2 hours of sleep, and now I have to go pack up the rest of my life, move it all across town, then come back to clean. Bow-wow. I need sleep, but there's no rest for the weary, right?

I Am Thankful

Today, I am thankful. I'm thankful for winter; if it weren't so miserable, then spring wouldn't be so glorious. I'm thankful my car is still running, even though I have no gas in the tank and I managed to get it high-centered yesterday. I'm thankful that Benji was asleep for most of that drama (getting stuck on a busy road) and that he didn't freak out when the tow-truck came. I'm thankful for Granny, whose gift of AAA meant that we only had to wait for 20 minutes for help, not hours. I'm thankful for my job, and that my manager has enough faith in my abilities to want to give me a promotion (more responsibility, but more $$, too). I'm also thankful that I work in an industry whose necessity is not affected by the economic climate. I'm thankful for my husband, who is a handy-man at heart and understands mechanics in a way I never will, who took apart the washer today in the crazy, snowy weather. I'm thankful we had enough money in our checking accounts to purchase a space heater, in an attempt to unfreeze the pipes to the washer, even though that didn't work either. I'm thankful we hung up a blanket to cover the door to the laundry cove, so that any potential home buyers would see how ghetto the place actually is (they must have lowered the price, because Mrs. X has done several walk-throughs this week). I'm thankful I haven't been home during those walk-throughs, or I would have been extremely embarassed over my messy house. I'm thankful that my Christmas card extravaganza is almost done, and that they will be mailed tomorrow. I'm thankful for the extra hours the USPS puts in at Christmas time. I'm thankful I get to spend time with my family tomorrow. I'm REALLY thankful that I only have one hour left of my shift today, and that I'm not on-call tonight. I'm thankful for my sweet baby. I'm thankful that he loves it when I take his picture!

It Felt Like Christmastime

I know I need to post again, but I have been so busy! My work schedule is kind-of weird; it alternates every-other-week. Last week I worked Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and this week I work Monday, Tuesday and Friday. So I have a couple of days off here and there, but last weekend was the one bookended (is that a word?) by two 12-hour shifts. It's pretty exhausting, and I never look forward to it. I live for those days off! I don't have to work tomorrow (Wednesday), but I have so much to do! Laundry, cleaning, babysitting, visiting teaching, making my yummy Gorp (a delish chex mix!), finishing/wrapping my Sub-for-Santa gift, and tithing settlement. It usually takes me a day to recover from the short weekend, but I don't get that luxury tomorrow! Mrs. X sent me a text on Monday to see if I could babysit that morning; I told her I could if she was back by 9:45 a.m. so I could be to work on time. She asked me if I could do it if she found someone else to watch her at 9:45. I told her that I could, but it would be easier if she could do whatever she needed to do on Wednesday, since I don't have to work. Then she told me it was a doctor's appointment at HAFB, and she'd try to get it changed. She did, but come on--if you have a doctor's appointment, shouldn't you arrange for babysitting more than one hour before you have to be there? I'm SO over it. I haven't babysat for probably a month, so it's not like it's all the time anymore, but I'm just tired of our living situation. I don't know how long we'll be living here, and I don't really want to be here anymore. I'm adding another requirement to our living situation: a bathtub. A dishwasher and laundry hook-ups were already prerequisites. Mrs. X gave us a Christmas gift (to encourage us to stay?). Yes, it's a bucket. To bathe our baby in. Here's a reference as to how big it is (that's my purse). As Peggy said, "Do they think your baby is a dog?" Call me crazy, but I don't think we'll be using it as a baby bath. In other news, at least I got our tree up. This is what part of it looks like: It's a pretty cheap pre-lit fake tree, but I think it turned out nice. And this is a picture of my cute CTR-5 class and the lady I team-teach with. She is seriously Super Mom! She has 11 kids, sews her own clothes, does day-care in her home, etc., etc., and she still manages to get to church on time. I can't get my one child to church on time! I'm learning a lot, and I just love these kids! Aren't they fun? I love Primary!

There'll Be Kids Jingle-Belling

I got my friend Lynette to take some pictures at Gardner Village. Here are a few. Isn't he the cutest? He was a little scared by the elf! I love the lip! I love this little man! He was melting down toward the end, and he took a little tumble and has a nice goose-egg now, but we got a lot of good ones. Thanks, Lynette! You're the best!

Crumbs From Your Table

All right--as for the Thanksgiving round-up, I just don't have time or energy to write about it all. Rachael's post pretty much sums up the insanity. It was wonderful, but it was very busy, too. Here are some pictures--I'm sure you can imagine how it would be with 5 kids under 2, a four-year-old, a family moving, Jazz tickets and one broken clutch in the mix! This is Mom's "Angel Picture" with all of the grandchildren. Benji kept trying to eat Lily's halo, Mia was having a come-apart, and none of them would look the same way at the same time! Oh well! Lily and Noah "helping" Nanny decorate the tree Lily had an uncanny (get it? Un-CAN-ny! Ha!) ability to find any and all open Diet Cokes. She is definitely part Nolan! Noah is so stinkin' cute! Auntie Sarah and my little man. He is such a ham for the camera! Okay. Thanksgiving was fun and crazy. Dinner was great. Allen decided he needed to brine a turkey. It turned out pretty good, but honestly I couldn't tell the difference between his labor-intensive bird and my Mom's turkey-in-a-bag. In any case, there was plenty of turkey, but not enough left-over rolls and cranberries for yummy sammiches! My cute baby. He has started smiling every time he sees a camera. Love it! When Becca was moving, we had all the babies upstairs playing the Wii. Benji can't exactly play the Wii yet; he's more entertained by his cousins. I'm pretty sure he was saying, "No way!" Noah and a Wii remote. He's so funny! We also celebrated Mia's first birthday. I made her little cake. It wasn't very pretty, but it was yummy! Happy Birthday, sweetheart! That's all for now. I love family time!

Counting Up The Years

I was feeling seriously old today. I found out that one of the nurses I work with is 24. Another nurse I thought was older is just 25. One of our anesthesiologists was asking an orderly how old he was in the early 1990's--assuming he was in the 5th grade or something like that (I was in the 5th grade in '89-'90). The orderly said, "No, I was younger than that. I was born in 1988." Good grief! I'm going to be 30 in January, and I have never really felt this old before! It's a little disturbing. One of the core techs said he'll be 26 in January, and he actually told me, "30 is not that old." Yeah, thanks. Okay, I'm watching Conan O'Brien, and he and Hugh Jackman are having a push-up contest. It's pretty funny. Conan is slowing down, so I'd say Hugh is winning. Hugh Jackman is a beautiful man. For a while, I thought he and Clive Owen were the same person. They don't even really look alike, but they are both pretty darn hot. Yum. Apparently Robert Pattinson is the new hunk-of-the-moment because of Twilight. I have heard it's not that great, but it does stay pretty true to the book. I still want to see it, even if he is much cuter as Cedric Diggory. Some of the pictures didn't show up on my last post. The "Blog This" feature of Picasa 3 isn't very reliable. Here's hoping it works this time! Babies! Babies! Babies!

 

5-dollar foot-long

 

I love this picture. Benji is giggling, and Lily is looking up to her hero, Ella. So cute!

 

Happy almost-Thanksgiving, everyone!

Is This The Real Life

I didn't get to spend much time with the family over the weekend, but we did have some time to get a few pictures! It was baby-palooza for a little while! Beck brought the girls to SLC to get pictures taken. I came along to help; I didn't do much, but Ella and Mia looked so cute they didn't need much assistance. I'm excited to see them! Benji will get some new pictures in a couple of weeks. Yay! Here's the group (minus Noah).

 

5-dollar footlong

 

Fun times with Ella and Lily

 

My little man looking cute . . . as usual!

 

Fun shopping with Mama!

 

Isn't it crazy how much he is changing? I just love this boy!

 

I had to work today. It wasn't too bad; Captain Chaos was in a pretty good mood and kept his surgery under control (and under two hours! That's something!). Then I got to do a gamma nail with a cool orthopedic surgeon--it went well, especially since the Stryker rep was there. It's so helpful to have someone telling you what you need and in what order! I'm not really looking forward to working tomorrow, but at least I get to sleep in. Here's hoping Benji does too!

I Don't Want To Wait

I wanted to post these pictures on my last entry, but I conveniently left my camera at my sister Rachael's house. So here are some fun baby pics from this month.

 

I like the splash on this one. Yes, he is still getting bathed in the sink. It's my favorite thing.

 

He actually looks like a Nolan here!

 

He looks so concerned!

 

I really like the way this picture turned out. It shows his happy personality! Here are some pictures of my crochet-fest. This is me wearing the scarf. It's a little bulky, but it turned out pretty nice for a one-nighter! And here are some close-ups of the scarf. I like the way the pattern casts shadows. P.S. I took Benji to the pediatrician for his 9-month check-up today. He weighs almost 24 lbs, he's 29" tall, and he's in the 95th percentile for weight and head circumference, and in about the 75th for height. Sounds about right, eh? He was fine until I laid him down on the table to undress him. When he looked at the ceiling, he started crying. He knew what was coming, and the last time he was there was 3 months ago! He's so smart!