"Sleep is for the Weak"

That's part of the title of a book my mother-in-law recently gave me--all about surviving as a working mom. Well, I guess I go in the "weak" category because I have succumbed to sleep in the last month instead of updating my blog. It occurs to me that November was national blogging month and I failed to produce even a single blog. Shameful! And when I have pictures like this to post too!

I haven't even been blog stalking, much less commenting on all the blogs of my wonderful blogging buddies and fam. I don't suppose I can count all the blogs I've written in my head over the last month and a half? No? Okay, well I'm going to sit here and eat sour gummy worms and try to turn them all into one big super blog. First, more pictures. That's all anyone really wants to see anyway, right?

I think Lil thinks sleep is for the weak as well. She was sleeping through a very large chunk of the night up until I went back to work. Now she's getting up again smack dab in the middle of the night and again early in the morning. I think she must figure, "well Mom doesn't get to see me all day, I'll bet she'll want some more bonding time around 1:30 AM. Aren't you glad to see me Mom?" Well who wouldn't want to see more of this face?

Ok, so work. I guess hate would be a strong word, but I can't say I'm completely happy to be going to work every morning. Of course I love seeing my friends that I work with and all that running around a hospital has helped me shed a few more baby pounds, but man I sure do miss my Lil' Miss. It seems so wrong that I leave her for so much of the day so often and let other people care for her and play with her and teach her things. Well I guess it's Dad right now since he's on break from school, so that's not so bad, but starting in January it will be strangers doing the job I'm supposed to be doing. I feel like one of those people that buys a dog because the idea of it seems cool, but then they put it in a kennel in the backyard and barely see it and just let it bark at the neighbors all day long. Perhaps that's not the greatest analogy, but still, how can it ever be okay that I will miss so much of the first few years of my daughter's life? I should say that I remain grateful that Ian has the opportunity to finally get his PhD and I would never say I regret the changes in our life that mean I need to keep working so he can be back in school. I am happy to contribute to what will hopefully be a more secure and fulfilling future for our family, but I do also hope that it won't be too too long before my financial contributions will be of less importance--oh, and that my daughter will still like me better than the ladies at her daycare.

Speaking of daycare, what a nightmare that has been to find! We had a home daycare all set up and then it fell through two days before I went back to work. We've been on a mad dash since trying to find a new one that doesn't have a year long waiting list. That is no easy feat, believe me. I think we finally found one, but it is very much out of our way, so that means we have lots of driving and long days in our future. Poor Lil is going to have longer days then I am and I will get to be with her just in time for the evening fussies then bedtime. Oh a little bit of my heart breaks off every day thinking of all this, but it is our reality, so I will try to dwell on it less. I'm certainly not the first or only person that has to deal with these challenges, so we will make the best of it.

We owe a very big thank you to Ian's mom who just left us after a couple of weeks of playing nanny to bridge the gap between me going back to work and Ian finishing his fall semester. She's a true pro in baby world and I'm pretty sure Lil finds me very boring now. She was so incredibly helpful and I'm so grateful that she sacrificed her time for us. Of course, being Grandma can be kind of fun too though. Thank you, Cindy, again and again.

So now Ian's done for a month (hallelujah!) and playing Mr. Mom and I'm off to work every day. That pretty much sums it up for now. I have done virtually nothing to prepare for Christmas, but it will be here before we know it. I look forward to having a long weekend with family and time to think about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. How grateful I am for His life and for my incredible family and good friends that do so much for me. I don't deserve them but I'm glad they don't know that. I hope you all have a joyful and restful holiday. Merry Christmas!

Halloween Greetings

I Heart Prevacid

That's the title of the post I've been planning to write for the past week. It was all about how the prevacid (anti-reflux medicine) that our pediatrician prescribed last week all of the sudden turned my baby into the angel child I know is in there somewhere. How it made her cry much less and actually eat for longer than five minutes before she started screaming. The doctor, darn him, didn't seem real optimistic that it would work (my baby have colic?! Certainly not!). He said give it a week and if things really were better, then go ahead and continue it. I so wanted to prove to him that I knew what was wrong with my child better than he did.

So...is it working? Honestly, I really can't say. Things do seem to be better, but I'm not sure whether its from the med, or just that she's growing and that we have come to a better understanding between the two of us. She does seem to be crying a lot less and now she eats for 10 minutes before she starts screaming. I've been reading that some experts don't think anti-reflux medicine does much for infants and it has not been well studied in infants younger than one. I'm tempted to take her off of it again and see if there really is a difference. The only problem is that if it really is working that will mean she will get worse--again. Hmm. Oh the dilemmas of motherhood.

Take this dilemma for instance. You're in the shower, you've got one leg shaved, and the baby starts screaming from her crib. Do you hurry and shave the other leg or do you give it up for a lost cause and run to the baby?

I shaved the other leg.

You may well ask why I am even bothering to shave occasionally (sorry, I've suddenly realized I've gone on and on about shaving on my blog. This is a new low.). Well it's all a part of my ruse to make myself feel like a normal woman again. I find it easier to enjoy my now not so swollen ankles if they are not really hairy.

Speaking of feeling normal, I've been thinking about how I have to face going back to work soon. I am so dreading this hurdle. One, because it's, well, work. But most of all because no one should get to spend the whole day with my baby but Ian or I. Oh the thought just hurts. Yesterday I was thinking how it still kind of feels like I'm playing house, but then next month I will have to go back to work and back to normal life again and I will have to give my sweet baby back. Luckily, life won't get back to that particular normal (i.e. I get to keep the baby). Once again, we'll just have to figure out a new normal. Thinking about all this makes me very tired. Enough about normalcy.

So lest I give the wrong impression, it's not all crying and fussing around here. Enjoy her smiles...I sure do.



P.S. What's everyone making for dinner tonight? I seriously need ideas.

Retraction

Yesterday may have been a fluke.

Yep.

Definitely a fluke.

I am Mother, Hear Me Roar

My cute daughter that cries all of the time has suddenly become much more agreeable as of yesterday. Now let's hear some knocking on wood from all across the country and pray that yesterday was not a fluke!

Yesterday was a big one. Li'L Miss and I went for a walk, then went to the post office, Party City, AND Target. Stand back everyone, I've left the apartment and I'm on a role! I even bought a pair of jeans. Not cute, skinny jeans of course, but they're certainly a step up from sweats. The waist of said jeans is way higher than is strictly decent in my opinion, but at least my belly isn't bulging over the top of them like it would be with my more typical low-rise variety. I hope I remember to do up my fly--it's been a while.

To Know One's Self

It's difficult to believe it's already been a whole month since the two of us became three. With lots of nursing and rocking to sleep going on, there has certainly been some time for reflection. Being able to add "Mom" to my list of titles is without doubt the greatest joy of my life, but I do have to say that the last month has been, in a word---hard. There's quite a long list of things that make this transition hard, including an overwhelming sense of having no idea what I'm doing and feeling very cut off from society, though that is getting slowly better.

The whole sleep deprivation thing actually isn't the worst part for me. Yes, I am so very tired, but I never really have been much of a sleeper, so I can get around that one mostly ok. I've always been a night owl and hate going to bed, so I really can't remember the last time I got 8 hours of sleep anyway. I think in my pre-baby life I didn't like going to bed because it was like admitting defeat that I wasn't going to get anything else done that day and I always get restless if I feel like I'm not being productive somehow. I also hate that whole getting ready for bed ritual--I find brushing teeth, washing my face, etc. etc highly annoying.

Speaking of getting things done, I guess that would be one of the hard things about new Mommy-hood for me. My list of accomplishments in a day is far less tanglible now. Not a bad thing I suppose, just takes some getting used to. I still find myself getting restless and racking my brain trying to think of other things I should be getting done. On the up side, I now count eating, brushing my teeth, showering, and getting the baby dressed as accomplishments. And really, how bad can it be I suppose if my to-do list includes staring at this face?


If you will allow me to be very shallow, I will also have to admit that a hard thing about all this is I feel so utterly unattractive. Everyone in the world will tell you you shouldn't worry about that sort of thing after having a baby and people will always say things like "oh you look great for having just had a baby" (they always put that qualifier in there), but lets face it ladies, who doesn't wish they were the exception and just looked prepregnancy normal again only weeks after the baby comes? I hate that I don't fit into any of my clothes. I only have two pairs of pants that even fit, and they both have elastic waistbands. Even most of my shoes still don't fit. For someone that absolutely abhors shopping, I mean really abhors it, the thought of having to somehow squeeze a shopping trip into the three hour window between feedings to buy clothes bigger than I've had to before and that I hope to not need for very long is totally crappy. If I want to go anywhere besides the grocery store, I really do not have anything to wear and I'm not about to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. Grrr. Like I said, shallow, but true, and a daily annoyance.

Really though, looking back on the last month, I would have to define it by a sense of not-quite-rightness. It's a feeling that's hard to explain. I think the closest thing to compare it to would be that I've felt homesick for a month, but that's not really what it is. In part, this feeling can of course be explained by my longing for my family that is far away and by missing my Mom, oh and of course hormones I suppose, but that's not quite it either. I have come to recognize this feeling whenever I'm in the middle of a major life change. I think this time I've finally figured out what it is. We all know that change, even good change, is hard to go through. I think this is because, invariably, changes in life make us think more about ourselves, and also create changes within ourselves. Major life events are always going to turn you into a slightly different person, hopefully a better one. I think this feeling of homesickness is just my subconscious way of reconciling myself to the person I'm leaving behind and accepting the new person I am becoming. Megan the Mom is always going to be different than the Megan, just a wife. Hard to do yes, but gosh I'm so glad I get the chance to become a new me. This baby of ours is just so darn cute! With her around I think I'm in for a lifetime of becoming a new me, hopefully a better one every day.

Surviving Two Weeks and a Sponge Bath

Well Li'l Miss is two weeks and 3 days old and since I am still cognizant of my surroundings and she is already almost a pound over her birth weight, I must conclude that we are surviving okay. As of this morning, she has already outgrown two of her newborn sleepers. They only stay curled up and with their little chicken legs for so long. Sigh. There is a little tear in the corner of my eye.

We have even survived her first, actually thorough, sponge bath.

While this tends to be a big first among a baby's milestones, I think it's a bigger one for Mom. I actually managed to get her clean, smelling good, and dressed again without causing her any bodily harm. Okay, so Grandma helped, but still, I'm all for little victories at this point. I may even shower today. Maybe. Or maybe tomorrow.

Our Long-Awaited Arrival

Alrighty, so a big thanks to Ian for keeping things updated until I could get around to actually posting something. Oh how I love that guy. This experience does not come close I'm sure to anything he's had to endure in the past, but it's certainly not a competition so I will just be grateful for his sweet comments and move on.

So here's the long and nitty gritty detail of the past week or so. Not that you really want to read it, but it's more for me anyway so here it goes. Things did not turn out much like my visions for the perfect birth story I was hoping for, but there has been such a multitude of tender mercies from the Lord through the whole thing that all I can feel at this point is gratitude. Mostly I'm grateful for the people I believe God put in my path and that made all the difference in things turning out okay in the end. And of course, oh how grateful I am for my dear husband Ian and my sweet sister Jessica.

First let me explain what I was hoping for with the birth of Lillian. I had originally hoped for a natural birth experience meaning no inducement and little or no intervention. I had chosen a doctor and hospital that were supportive of that decision. Ian and I attended a natural childbirth class and we hired a doula, Christine, several weeks before my due date for support and coaching through labor.

Heading up to my due date the baby was looking fine, but I was not dilating at all and the baby was not dropping at all. On my due date, Wednesday, Sept 1st, I had a doctor's appointment and they did a sonogram. I was still not dilated and according to the sono, my amniotic fluid level was dropping. My doctor said we were still okay to keep waiting, but that if it dropped more, I would need to be induced. With that in mind, she wanted to start giving me medication to encourage dilation. So on that Friday, the 3rd, I went into the hospital for several hours and had "cervical ripening." After they gave me the medication I had to stay on the fetal monitor for several hours to make sure the baby was okay and that I wasn't going into labor (fat chance). It was super fun; Ian especially enjoyed sitting there with me for five hours staring at a fetal monitor. I went in again for the same thing the next Monday morning. Again, super fun. Oh, and still not dilated at this point.

Finally late Monday night, I started having some contractions. (Hallelujah, bring on the pain!) I had sporadic contractions all that night. I had semi-regular contractions all through the day on Tuesday (Sept 7th). They were anywhere from 15 to 7 minutes apart at times. I thought we were really getting somewhere now! Late that afternoon I had another doctor's appointment. We did a sonogram again then exam with the doctor. And the big news was......barely 1 cm dilated. Aaaargh! Bad news was my amniotic fluid had dropped further and was getting close to the point where they would want to induce anyway. So we went through the options with the doctor and we all were in agreement that I would go to the hospital that night for more ripening and just stay there. Then if I wasn't already laboring by morning they would officially induce me. So we went home to get ready, oh and quickly resign our apartment lease. The leasing office employee must have wondered why I was not in a very talkative mood. Those contractions will get ya you know.

While we were still at home I had a good dinner since I knew I wouldn't be eating again for a while (I thought while I was eating that I may learn to regret this....which I did). I also had Ian give me a blessing. It was a very special blessing and became a great source of comfort to me through the next two days. We left for the hospital and checked in around 9:00 that night. We decided to wait on calling the doula in until we knew whether things would really get going that night or not.

I got all checked in in my labor and delivery room and they placed the cervical ripening medication. I would have to stay on the fetal monitor all through the night since the ripening agent would stay in place until 8:00 the next morning. It wasn't long before the contractions really picked up. The nurse tried giving me Ambien and oral pain medication so that I would be able to rest for the night, but they didn't do a whole heck of a lot and I was getting increasingly uncomfortable. I was unable to relieve the discomfort with things we had talked about in our class since I had to stay in bed. By the early morning hours I was really starting to work hard so we decided to call in our doula, Christine. That's about when I lost most of my dinner Ian had so lovingly made for me. He also so lovingly held my hair out of the way and cleaned up said dinner for me. Then Christine finally arrived which was a big relief!

Christine helped me out of bed and onto an exercise ball where I could sit in more comfort but still be on the fetal monitors. She rubbed my back and coached me through each contraction. All through the early morning I had contractions that were close together and long! By 8:00 on Wednesday morning my contractions were lasting 10 minutes sometimes with several peaks. I wasn't sure I was going to make it at that point. Finally my new nurse for the day (Karen--who was super awesome) came in to remove the medication. That made things go back to a more normal pattern of contractions. And the good news was I was up to 3 cm! They would not need to induce me and I could continue to labor on my own.

So I labored through the day, mostly sitting in a rocking chair or walking the halls, with Ian to lean on and Christine and Karen coaching me to relax and breath through each contraction. At some point I tried to freshen up a little and lost whatever was left in my stomach, but all in all I was handling things okay. By midday I was making slow but sure progress, but since I had been sick, they decided to give me a little IV fluid. I had to stay in the room for a while to get the liter of fluid. That's about when who should come walking through the door but my dear sister Jessica, straight from the airport. How how happy I was to see her! She brought that extra dose of love and cheer into the room that she always brings with her. After the fluid, I was up again walking the halls to try to get things going. The contractions had slowed down somewhat, so I was trying to stay upright as much as possible. The nurse would check the baby's heart rate periodically, and on one check the rate dropped lower than they like. There were no further incidents, however, so they let me keep walking around. Around 5 or so in the evening my doctor arrived from her office and checked my progress. I was only up to a "big 6, a 7 when I was contracting." That was so discouraging! I so wanted my nurse Karen to be the one helping me push this baby out!

On a little side note, I have to mention that during this time (Wednesday evening) six tornadoes were touching down in the Dallas metroplex area. Part of labor and delivery had to be evacuated. Thankfully we didn't have to move because there were no windows in our room. Remember the Utah tornado? It touched down the day after our wedding. Now six tornadoes the night before Lillian was born. Weird.

So anyway, after that evening check, the doctor strongly suggested starting some pitocin to get things moving again since my contractions were still farther apart than they should have been. They started me on a very low dose and assured me that it should not make things more painful then they would have been anyway approaching this stage of labor. The bummer was I was now again stuck to the fetal monitors continuously. By this time, my new nurse, Heidi, (who was also heaven-sent) had taken over my care. The contractions finally started to pick back up again. During one contraction, my doula had me lay back and onto my side and asked me to take big breaths. I soon learned why when the nurse and doctor came running back into the room. The baby's heart rate had dropped again. They had me stay on my side and I had to wear an oxygen mask. The doctor said the baby wasn't tolerating the stronger contractions with the pitocin. They turned it off again, then started it back again slowly, increasing the rate ever so slightly about every half hour or so. With each increase, the nurse would have me turn to the other side, but that's the only movement I was allowed. The baby's heart rate dropped a couple more times, but came back up quickly.

At this point, late in the evening of Wednesday, I was exhausted, unable to move, on oxygen, and was very tired of this whole contraction thing. I finally decided I had had enough. I remember very vividly Jessica holding my hand and leaning over me. The doctor and Ian were at the foot of my bed. I whispered to Jess that I didn't want to do anymore. I was finally ready for some pain relief. Ian leaned over my other side and told me I had nothing to prove to anyone and it was okay to be done. Even my doula said I had worked hard for a long time and it was time to be able to relax. So I asked for the epidural. I think the doctor was relieved with my decision. My doctor was a real trooper through this. She wanted to give me every chance she could to not be induced and to go natural, even though all this made her stay for a much longer night than perhaps would have been the case. I'm very grateful to her. So anyhoo, finally the anesthesiologist arrived and quickly administered the epidural. It felt so very weird, but I finally was able to relax. This also allowed them to really crank up the pitocin to see if things would finally progress.

They continued to ramp up the pitocin and turn me every half hour or so. I was in a bit of a blur at this point. Finally around midnight the doctor came in to check me again. I was still only 7 cm dilated. The doctor said we had come to the end. We needed to get the baby out. So we decided to move forward with the c-section. They came in to turn up my epidural and prep me for surgery, and Ian got into his cute OR scrubs and hat.

(Ian trying to look convincing as an MD.)

Then they wheeled me into the OR.


What a strange and surreal experience! Mostly I remember shaking uncontrollably through the whole thing because of the epidural. Ian sat by my head until curiosity got the better of him and he stood up to watch the progress of the surgery.

Finally, a little after 1 am she was out. She needed a lot of cleaning and suctioning because there was meconium staining, but she was declared well and healthy and was soon in Ian's arms. The longest part of everything was sewing me back up. At long last we were done though and they put her in my arms and wheeled me into recovery where I got to snuggle her and really look at her for the first time. Oh how long I had waited to have a sweet baby in my arms! I was so very tired and couldn't believe I was actually holding my own baby in my arms. It had certainly been a long few days, and things didn't turn out anything like I had imagined, but I was just so grateful to have a sweet healthy baby and was touched by the compassion and good service of my nurses, doctor, and anesthetists. I felt nothing but gratitude and felt content in the decisions we had made throughout the process.

Lillian and me in recovery

So the rest of Thursday continued to be long and frustrating, full of trying to walk, trying to eat (still not going so well) and trying to breastfeed (also not going so well), but by Friday, Lillian and I were both doing better and were both finally able to eat and rest. The rest of our hospital stay was uneventful and we continued to improve. It was actually kind of nice to hang out in our own little cocoon with Ian and Jess for company and nice nurses checking in on us from time to time.



But reality must intrude!

Now we are home managing feeding, diapers, not so much sleeping, and of course those ever changing hormones. It's only taken me a week to write this, I really can't imagine how I will ever actually manage to leave my apartment again, and I ache to have my sister living next door, but I'm sure things will get easier.

Right?

Well there you have it, in much more detail than you wanted I'm sure. Thanks to anyone who actually read this ridiculously long post the whole way through. Our adventure continues!

More Lillian Pics

Lillian Ruth: Born 9/9/10 at 1:27A

This is Ian posting on behalf of my far tougher, stronger, insane, better half as she is still unable to spare any of the two busy hands needed to type this.

The story is long but I will be brief as I have no right as a man to even pretend like I understand the events that have transpired over these past few days. In fact, there are really only three things I know for sure. One, I really am lucky to carry the XY chromosomal pairing. Two, my wife could end my life if she ever so pleased; after what I witnessed, I will never cross that woman. And finally, I don't deserve such perfections.

Here are a few pics (and the obvious stats), with more to come as things settle down.

Stats: 7 lbs, 10 oz, 21" long.

And....

Nothing.


Still waiting.


I have decided, though, that this baby girl, besides being very stubborn (like Daddy perhaps?), also has a sense of humor and must be in cahoots with the man upstairs. You see a while back I was inspired by good cousin Abby and her scripture reading goal. I decided that I would make the goal to read the entire Book of Mormon in my third trimester. I did fairly well at first, but true to form, I have dropped off in the last month or so. As my due date came, I found I still had the last books, Ether and Moroni, to finish. I've decided that our baby girl wasn't going to let me out of finishing my goal, so this morning I sat my little hiney down and finished the rest of the book. Oh how grateful I am for the Book of Mormon! I am grateful for the clear testimony of Jesus Christ that it contains and I'm so grateful for the innumerable sacrifices of those that labored to bring it forth for our behalf.


So baby girl, I finished. Now will you come?

Current Status

Estimated due date: Today!! (You hear that baby? Today, today!)
Current temp: 83 and raining (Oh sweet relief!)
High temp last week: 107
Ankles: Introducing the new spokesperson for StayPuff
Work: I am outta there!
Progress towards labor: None, zip, zilch, zippo

My legs are shaved, the bathrooms are clean, and there is still food in the fridge. Come on baby, now would be really good.

Code text for Ian if he is in class when labor starts:
Thundercats HOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Don't hold your breath. We'll let you know.

Big Happenings

So let's just dispense with all the excuses about why I haven't blogged for so long (even though I actually have something to blog about), shall we? Yes lets.

Ok, so we've got big news going on in Dallas in our little lives so I will hit the highlights.


First BIG item--my tummy.
This picture is actually about two weeks old so it's even bigger now, but I'm just not feelin' the love this morning so this is the picture you get. This is the day I was showing off my nice new "low maintenance" haircut.


Of course even BIGGER news is I have completely failed to even post about what kind of baby we're having (as in either the boy or girl kind). Many of you probably already know, but if you don't, let me enlighten you. How about I show you our very first baby purchases and see if you can guess?

My first baby purchase:
Ian's first baby purchases:

Ian said he'd let the flowery number slide for now, but that he would appreciate a little say in the wardrobe from now on to make sure there is enough coolness factor in there. She may be a Texas baby, but Ian is determined to make sure there is still some So Cal mixed in there.

We're officially on the countdown now before her arrival--about 3 1/2 more weeks to go--and we are on a mad dash to get everything ready and settled before she arrives. I still have freak out moments from time to time, where I suddenly stop and think "Oh my gosh! I'm going to have a kid I have to take care of!" but we certainly feel abundantly blessed and we are so excited to meet our new little girl. (Name still to be determined.)

Another item of big news is I kind of got a new job. When we moved down here I was having to move back and forth between two hospitals to get enough hours. Well, I have finally managed to get a full-time position at just the downtown hospital which is much to be desired. I start my new position this Monday. So at 37 weeks pregnant I'm starting a new job! Not bad, eh? I'm actually really nervous about making it through each day, but we'll take it a day at a time and the ladies I work with are fabulous and will help keep me going. Go me!

OK, so now imagine you hear trumpets for the next bit of REALLY BIG news! Up until a few weeks ago there was a whole lot of studying going on at our house as Ian prepared for the qualifier exams to be able to move on in his PhD program. (Bella was very helpful in this regard).



We finally got the news last week that HE PASSED!!!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you what a relief this is for us! Ian can now finally finish his dream of getting that elusive PhD and he is now fully funded for tuition and has a Teaching Assisstantship that will give him a monthly stipend. Hallelujah! A huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders (to make room for that whole Dad thing) and we are ever so grateful.

We have truly been blessed immensely these last few weeks. We're a little afraid to drive our cars thinking there must be a semi or something coming our way, but for now we will just be grateful for all the good things that have come our way. We are happy and excited and as always, so grateful for our good family that supports us. We love you all so much! More to come!

Happy Birthday Mom

Missing you and needing you more than ever.

Do you believe in miracles?

YES.

No shots, no endless ultrasounds, no uninterested third parties. Just God's miracle when he decided the time was right.

And we are grateful.
ETA: September 1st

WHAT??!!!

The backyard this morning:


"Oh, winter in Texas is not bad at all--it's very mild."

Hah! Texas is determined to prove all y'all wrong.

"You probably won't even need your winter coat."

Sheesh.

Calisthenics

I have a whole new respect for our brave men and women of the military. I love the guy at the end who kind of gives up and just jumps up and down. Bless his heart.

Texas Christmas and other such news

Well I've been meaning to blog forever and start out with something like, "Now that the holiday craziness is over it's time I should be blogging again," but really, in February you can hardly use that excuse anymore. So excuses aside, here I am again, finally.

We had a great Christmas by the way and I actually got two whole days off from work, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Will wonders never cease! I had to head right back on the 26th, but we won't go into that. And of course, in true fashion, I have no photos to document that we actually did indeed celebrate Christmas. With no kids around and after 10 years of marriage, I guess things just start to look the same every year so I tend to forget to pull the ol' camera out. I'm sure someday I will be better at this. But I digress. We had our lovely traditional fondue dinner on Christmas Eve, made more enjoyable by the presence of some new friends that are in Ian's program. Christmas day was also a wonderfully relaxing day that we spent at Ian's Dad's house. One interesting note was we actually had snow on Christmas day, the first in several decades apparently. Ian said of course it figures since it was his first December here (he's not a big fan of snow see). I did get a picture of the snow falling, but of course failed to document the actual white stuff on Christmas morning.


(This is the view from our back porch, one of my favorite things about our apartment.)








Ian didn't have to head back to school until January 19th, so we got lots of time to hang out and be lazy together. It was just heavenly to have him around so much. New Years celebrations this year were highlighted with a visit from Ian's little brother D-man. He came to stay with us for two nights. The first item of business when he arrived was Ian took him to Target and purchased what is most essential for boys hanging out together while I was working--Nerf guns of course. They got all the proper gear for an all out battle, hindered only by the close proximity of our small apartment. Needless to say, they had a little fun.

Here's the pair of them.











And here's Ian battling D-man into submission. The kid's hilarious--he thinks it's absolutely hysterical if you hit him in the face with a dart. It's really quite entertaining. You can relax on the couch and keep him in hysterics by firing one dart after another. Again, I remind you that this is perfectly acceptable behavior for a sister-in-law (he had safety goggles on after all).












On a side note, I am happy to report that I actually made a resolution in 2009 and kept it all the way until December. I made a goal about my temple attendance and I actually reached it! Woohoo! I think that's my first ever completed new year's resolution. I am now well on my way to not keeping any new resolutions for 2010, but hey, the year is young.

So Ian is now back in school and it's back to the same old grind. School, work, clean, bleh, etc.


And to end, more Texas bumper stickers:

"Illiterate? Write for our free brochure"

And of course, "Gun control means using two hands."

By the way I officially declare the Texas state saying to be "Oh, bless your heart" followed closely by "I'm fixin' to ......" These phrases fit surprisingly well into many types of conversations. Try it for yourself.