Welcome home, Elder Darren

My little brother came home! He was on a mission in Canada for 2 years. He got back 1 week ago today. It was weird, I wasn't sure what to do since I have never been there for anyone's actual homecoming before. And there is a possibility I might never have another sibling go on a mission, so the pressure was on to get it right!

Here we are anxiously waiting. There was one missionary who came down by himself about 10 minutes before Darren did, so we were all worked up over that for a while.

Then later, we finally saw the group of black suits through the very small area that we could see people walking before they got to the escalator, and then down he came!

So I love this picture because of my dad. I wish you could see his face a little better, but I watched him for a few minutes and it reminded me what a wonderful dad I have. He had tears in his eyes and you could see that while I'm sure he was glad to see his son, that's not why he was so happy. I know my daddy was so proud of his son for completing an honorable mission, and thats where his real happiness was.

Lila Meets her uncle! A little rocky at first, but when mommy got close she warmed up.

Mommy and Lila hangin out while everyone else gets to say hello to Darren.

Lila is 8 months old!

Here are some things about her:

loves to crawl and roll. stopped taking a bottle. still no hair improvement. still in size 2 diapers (until we run out). likes to swing and slide with mommy at the park. loves her daddy. curious. can't sleep if it's too cold. climbs up on furniture. still loves to pull hair. starting to turn her nose up at any food but grain cereal. stayed in the chapel for a whole sacrament once. is always loud (happy or sad) in sunday school. met her uncle Darren! squeals with glee any time you help her walk. loves other kids and trying to grab their faces. mommy is her favorite. still doesn't sit more than 5 seconds. when she wants to be held she will try to follow mommy around a room, changing directions every few seconds as mommy runs around cleaning or getting ready. probably still hates binkys but we stopped trying. can play with electronics, cords, CDs, paper, or other no-no items forever, but gets bored of her normal toys in less than a minute. wears size 6-9 or 6-12 month clothes. tried a sippy cup- no luck. Won't put small items in her mouth. parents say HALLELUJAH! to that. doesn't like baths but stays quite and mostly holds still during them. we think she is starting to recognize mommy's voice on the phone when she calls from work. still loves the outdoors. brightens every single day in our home.

I worked today, so my pictures are limited to the short time I've been home, but here's what I got. Please take note of her playing with my lunch for tomorrow. A burrito in a baggie. That kept her entertained for at least 10 minutes-we had to take it away from her- while her toy landed on the floor only a few moments after she stuck it in her mouth.

Addendum: after posting about my little lady, I was feeding her some applesauce (not very successfully), and she started clapping! It was so cute. I love her.

Bum Sleeping

One of the cutest things babies do is sleep with their bum in the air. It is just so dang adorable.

Stressed

Have you ever been so stressed that your head just starts hurting? Like the long-term kind of stress. As in days long-term (as opposed to hours). It's like my head actually hurts, rather than I have a headache. Impossible to describe. Just so many things. Hard things. Frustrating things. Unfair things. Sad things. I just hope it ends soon.

I have gotten to the point where when people ask me how I am I can't even say I'm fine. I tell them that I'm not doing that well.

But, just so you know, I am aware of how freaking awesomely amazing my life is. Yes, I do know that despite all the day to day stinky stuff, I still have a beautiful and healthy daughter, a husband who loves me and is on track to be able to take care of me the rest of my life, a good job that pays well in the meantime, a wonderful (and true) religion to help guide my life, safety and security in a my community, more than enough food to eat, and loving family close by both on my side and Todd's. So yes, I do understand that in the broad scheme of things I have no room to complain.

But yet, my head still hurts.

I'm crafty!

I did something crafty. I am not very creative so this is a big thing for me! Here is a picture of our old desk. We weren't really using it anymore, and we were going to give it to DI. But instead I did this:

My niece and nephew have already gone to town on it. It kept them entertained for quite a while. Mission accomplished! Of course it doesn't really erase very well, but I don't think the little kids will care that much.

Teefers!

I finally caught those little buggers on camera!

Comments

I love comments! Every time I post I check for the next few days to see if anyone has commented on my fun and witty passages. (haha). So I am making a concerted effort to comment more on the blogs that I read. I love to read them, I love when people update them. And most of the time I thoroughly enjoy all that I read. And now I will try to be better at telling you all. Yes. We'll see how long this lasts.

Root Canal and Fruit for Breakfast

Yes. I am the unlucky one. I thought I was taking good care of my teeth. I had a cavity filled right before I got married. I had done well since then, no new cavities to be filled. But at my last cleaning in January, I found out it had cracked. My dentist fixed it the same week Lila was born. It was sore for a while, then the pain would wax and wane. It was worst when I would eat. But I just had a new baby, then I started back at work so I ignored it until my new cleaning. Yup. Infected. Root canal. My dentist said some teeth can't handle having too much work done on them. This particular cavity had been difficult, I remember both times, different dentists getting that "hmmm. how should I go at this?" face and the appointments taking extra long.

So yesterday I had my root canal. One of the roots would't stop making pus, so it was hard for my dentist to dry it in order to fill it. Yummy huh? Aren't you glad I'm going in to such detail? Anyway, I am lucky he was eventually able to dry it because if he couldn't he would have had to leave it open to drain and I would have had to come back later to get it filled. So he was able to fill it, but said it would probably hurt a lot as my tooth tried to make more pus and pushed against the filling. Well, he was right. I had Top Ramen for dinner with the noodles all broken into little pieces so I could swallow without chewing. Whenever I accidentally touched my teeth together, it caused sharp, stabbing pain. Some ibuprofen every 6 hours didn't quite take that away.

So this morning I knew I would starve unless I got something to eat that was chew-less. So I loaded Lila into the stroller, and walked to jamba juice. It is only about 8 blocks there, some good exercise, and of course Lila loved it since she got to be outside. Then when we got home I fed her some bananas. And she went for it! I think she finally decided she really liked them. She did eat them one other time in the evening, but this was the 5th attempt, so she is 2 for 5 on bananas. I think she is doing a lot better in general about eating. I think at first maybe she just didn't want anything other than milk. The spoon and the new flavors were a bit much for her. But now she is slowly getting used to it and I think she likes it more and more. So we had a nice morning with fruit for breakfast!

Lila turned 7 months old on Sunday!

Lila has been growing like crazy. She is more fun every day. Here are some things about her:

ticklish. smiles. usually takes 2 naps a day. wakes up to eat once a night. either doesn't like eating in the morning or doesn't like fruit. crawling. little hair wispys are getting longer. has left scratches all over moms arms, face, chest, and back. doesn't really like baby toys. but loves mobiles. loves peas. hates turkey. likes squash. likes ham until you give her peas. loves mommy. loves sucking on paper. has two little half teeth on the bottom. I only found out about the teeth because I let her suck on my finger. loves the outdoors. walks when you hold her hands for her. still likes pulling hair. gets lots of comments on her pretty eyes. smiles for the camera. won't let me get a picture of those teeth:

Dishes

Why are dishes so awful? Why do they pile up so high? How come they start to stink so fast? What makes the food stick so much to dishes that even procrastinating a little makes it seem as if they have become one? Why does it seem to take longer to clean up the dishes than cooking and eating combined? How did my mom convince me to use a food net catcher thingy over the drain to protect my garbage disposal? Isn't that why we have garbage disposals? So why do I do it anyway? Did you know I saw on the news once that the kitchen sink has the most germs on it? (compared to toilet flushers, playgrounds, doorknobs, cell phones, and a myriad of other everyday things).

Despite all this, I still feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when that sink is empty, the sink disinfected, and the dishwasher humming. I think I get some kind of pleasure out of doing such an awful task because I do it so well. Yes, I scrub each dish until it looks clean before putting it in the dishwasher, and most of the time I would rathe handwash the items that didn't fit in one load so I can officially empty the sink. I guess I probably go a bit overboard. But gosh dangit my dishes are sparkling and it's all because of me!

My favorite part of the day

So I have a new thing that has become my favorite thing to do on my days home alone with Lila. In order to understand why this is my favorite part of the day, you have to understand that I do not have a cuddly baby. She is so wiggly and hates to face me tummy to tummy. Any time I hold her that way she twists and fidgets until her back is towards me.

So in the mornings we get up and hang out for a while. Then I feed her and we go for a walk. We walk not too far to the park and swing on the swings. At first she sits on my lap. Then after a while I flip her around and she rests her head on my shoulder. For some reason the whole time we are swinging she doesn't wiggle at all. By the time I finally decide it's time to go home my bum is pretty much numb because I don't want to shift my weight on the swing and bother her stillness. Sometimes when we walk home I even wrestle with the stroller with one hand so I can keep her still against my chest. And if you have ever pushed my stroller you even with 2 hands it can be hard to keep it on course. But it is so worth it for the little while I get to have her so close to me.

Yup. Definitely my favorite part of the day.

Anniversary

So I started writing a post about our anniversary as we drove home from Colorodo. It turned out to be about 5 pages single spaced in my word processor, so I decided to use that for my journal and not bore you or post something so long that no one would read it. Instead here are some things about our trip.

1. We went to Denver

2. We saw the Phillies kill the Rockies. 3 times.

3. Lila hated it.

4. We ate good indian food.

5. We went shopping!

6. Everyone in the ballpark LOVED Lila in her Phillies onesies.

7. Once she didn't wear her onsie because she pooped for the first time in 5 days on the way to the park.

8. The extra onsie we had was Rockies colors. oops.

9. We left something one night and were able to retrieve it from the lost-and-found vault.

10. Our hotel room had a closet that fit the pack 'n play.

11. Lila didn't sleep well in it anyway.

12. We ate hot dogs at the ballpark!

13. We didn't get to see Cliff Lee pitch.

14. Megan likes live baseball! (saying that is about as shocking as when she announced she would be a nurse. I make this comparison to point out that I am NOT joking.)

15. Lila likes live baseball.

16. About half the fans there were Phillies fans.

17. Since we have a baby we got to park right across the park one night without a pass.

18. The rest of the time we were able to find free parking not too far.

19. People are a lot nicer to opposing fans if they have a baby.

20. I love you Todd. Happy anniversary.

Baby Advertisement

My little sister told me that I was just like my other sisters- once I started having kids my blog turned into a baby advertisement. Well, I guess that is mostly because once you have kids your life becomes all about them. I used to think it was kind of sad, like I would somehow loose myself and be deprived of things I like. But actually it is happy. I still do things I like and I have something new that I like the most.

Despite the fact that yes, Lila and Todd are the most important ever and hello, why take pictures of me and Todd when that little lady is so dang cute, I will try to take more pictures of NOT Lila. But, in the meantime, I will try to post about me using pictures that yes, are of Lila, but I am still in them. Take what you can get.

Change

So although most people don't like change, I do. It is nice to have differences in life and I am able to adapt well. For instance, whenever I move I don't accidentally start to drive to my old place or even think about going toward it. It is second nature to go toward my new place the moment I move in. Changing jobs turned out to be the same. I graduated from nursing school and have adapted well to non-school life even after 16+ years of being in it. So my latest change I have been thinking about doing for a long time. I was planning on doing it sometime last year, but then I got pregnant and didn't want people to think I was lazy. So I waited until Lila was 6 months. Here are the results.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Proof she won't take a binky

Lila is 6 months old!

Happy 1/2 birthday Lila! Here is a little bit about her:

loves to grin. gets around by rolling. can put herself to sleep without crying. loves being outside. no longer likes the carseat. still won't take a binky. drools more than a bulldog. NOT teething. pulls mommy's hair. wears size 2 diapers. everyone notices she has mommy's eyes. went swimming first time. wants anything you're holding. gets up on all fours. mastered the pouty lip. pulls daddy's hair. likes mommy best. lets others hold her. can't sit up. picky. could crawl if she would just move her hands. reaches to be picked up. grabs anything in reach. wears size 6-9 month clothes. went to first Phillies game. pulls her own hair. gets more adorable every day.

Lila is 5 months old

Lila turned 5 months old last Monday. I know we are a few days late, but here are some things about her:

rolls both directions from back to tummy. sucks on her whole fist. sometimes sucks just on her forefinger (like her mommy did). slowly getting better at sleeping in her crib without her carseat. smiles and laughs. has the cutest pouty lip. knows and loves her mommy. knows and loves her daddy. can hold her own bottle when she wants to. still won't take the binky again. plays with toys. has rolled from tummy to back at least 2 times. sometimes wears size 2 diapers. spent her first whole day babysat. didn't do very well. rarely sleeps through the night. likes to have her fingers and toes nibbled. ticklish. grabs things and puts them in her mouth. scratches like a cat. gets more beautiful every day!

A trick up her sleeve

When Todd talks to his mom on the phone she often asks if Lila has any new tricks. basically as a newborn she hasn't really done anything. True she has grown stronger so can lift her head up and hold things when you pry her little fist apart and stick something inside those little fingers. ut besides the whole eat-sleep-poop deal there isn't much else. This last week she hit a baby trick growth spurt. She started taking things we put in her hands and moving them to her mouth. Then she started reaching for things and grabbing them herself. Then, yesterday, her biggest accomplishment so far! I laid her on the floor across the hall from me on the carpet while I was getting ready in the bathroom. She was happily entertaining herself, so I just periodically looked over to make sure she was still ok. And I almost missed it..... She went from back to tummy all by herself! She has flopped on her side before, but this time when I saw her on her side I could tell she was aiming to go all the way. I ran and grabbed the camera to capure her proud face after her accomplishment.

The rest of the day she kept flipping over. Then today something even more exciting (but just for us as parents). She was fussy because she was tired, and we laid her in her crib. She rolled over and fell asleep in less than 10 minutes. Usually this little tyke takes a lot more than that to get some shut eye. I just hope she keeps it up!

Work at our house

We don't have a lot of pictures of the work we've done because, well, we were working. But here are a couple of Todd showing off his new house skills.

mowing our 50 square foot lawn

With the evidence on his face

Some Smiles

We don't catch her smiles very often because she seems to be intelligent and gets weary at the sight of the camera because we have flashed it in her face so many times. I wonder if that is why she has such wide eyes in most of her pictures. The bright light freaks her out a bit.

Lila at 4 Months

So my grandma Faber loves to read the blogs of her grandkids. If you talk to her and it's been a while since your last post, she will certainly point that out to you. And if it has been a really long time, she will sometimes even send you a little email telling you that it is time to get yourself together and post something for her to read.

I love that she is so excited to learn about our lives. It is fun to know that there is someone who checks just about every single day to see if you have anything new for her to look at. I feel lucky that I am able to see her fairly often, but it is nice that she can catch up with things in between our get-togethers.

So the last time we talked she wanted me to give montly updates about Lila. So I will basically (meaning exactly) copy cat my sister Anna, and I believe Jasmine did this too for her kids until they were 1. Wish me luck in keeping up with this every month.

At four months Lila: laughs. cries less. rolls to her side. likes arching her back whether happy or sad. stopped taking her binky. holds things. starting to put things in her mouth. loves sucking on her fingers. spoiled rotten. pretty blue eyes. scratches whether or not her nails are long. likes having her diaper or clothes changed. fidgety. no longer screams during baths (sometimes is even quiet!) still likes driving, but not as much. loves being outside. occasionally sleeps through the night. Finally sleeping in her own room. wearing size 1-2 diapers. starting to grow out of size 3-6 month clothes. drools like a bulldog. blows bubbles.

Sold!

In case you didn't know, we bought a house!!! Surprise! We moved to Orem on the east side of State Street. We bought a nice condo in a great neighborhood with a great ward full of great people. We live across the street from an elementary school and city park, and are equidistant from 3 different grocery stores! Our place is great and will allow us to grow while we are still here in Utah. We expect to be here probably anywhere between 3 and 6 more years. Todd has 5 more semesters of school, then he has to get some experience working as a nurse in the ICU before he can apply to CRNA schools. Since it can be hard to get a job in the ICU as a brand new nurse, it might take a while to get the required experience. And since I want to keep our kids pretty close together, we might have a few more before we leave! So while our 4 bedroom home currently has 2 unused bedrooms, I am pretty sure that it won't stay that way!

We love the new place. As we finish up our decorating we'll post some before and after pictures. We have made a few updates that have really helped us to love our new home and feel like it really is ours. Another plus is that our mortgage, insurance, HOA, and taxes is less then we probably would be paying for rent on a much smaller place and our "rent" can't get raised!

While there are many wonderful things about our beautiful abode, we have already experienced some of the pains of homeownership. We found a nice puddle of water about 4 days after we moved in, and it took more than 2 weeks to get the leak found and fixed. We figured out that the spot got wet when we used the kitchen sink, so we weren't able to do dishes for that entire time. Our kitchen was dirty and smelly and we couldn't do anything about it. We were glad that our home warranty covered all the work for a $60 project charge, but the plumber we were working with was terrible. He was rude, he wasn't prompt, he didn't call to let us know why he was late, he didn't ring the doorbell and then just left after 2 knocks, didn't bring everything with him to get the job done and had to come a total of 3 times to do everything. Then he left our dishwasher in pieces the last day and left without even saying anything to us. He also cut out holes in our wall downstairs for no reason as the leak was upstairs behind the dishwasher. Sorry if none of that was coherent but I am not happy and now face calling his company to see if I can complain about him and get someone different out here to help us put our dishwasher back together. And I am so bad at being confrontational and demanding things, but man this guy was ridiculous. Ok my soap box is done!

We still love our new house and look forward to sharing pictures!

Dread callings

So in the church we have a wonderful system. Everyone gets assigned a job, and they do it as a volunteer. No one is in the same job their whole life, we get to switch it up and do things that are more or less demanding, involve different people, and are more or less visible to those around us. I think most people in the church have callings that they dream of and ones that they dread. My parents both happen to currently have the opportunity to fulfill their dream callings. My mom in the library and my dad as gospel doctrine teacher. While it was very demanding, Todd and I very much enjoyed his role as 2nd counselor in the bishopric. So we were excited when we moved into our new ward to find out what we would get to do. So Wednesday night we went over to the church and found out...... dread callings. For both of us.

I never imagined that it would happen to us at the same time. Completely separate callings, and we would gladly trade with each other. Todd was called as Weblos leader. When he first heard it he didn't even know what it was. He was raised as a city boy, and was never a boy scout. And there are only 2 boys (we aren't sure what age group this is for....) He says he can't even tie a knot, let alone teach a couple of boys about boy scout stuff.

And for me? Choir director. Even sitting in relief society while they make assignments I am terrified that they will ask me to lead the music. There have even been a few times that I have gotten out of it by offering to say a prayer instead. I am AWFUL. I love to sing, I can follow notes pretty well, but I cannot keep the beat when I try and lead. I find myself leading 3/4 halfway through a 4/4 song, and sometimes don't even keep the beat. And how in the world am I supposed to figure out who needs help just by listening to the people singing? I don't know how to make a bunch of people sound good? I am pretty sure we will have a very sad sounding choir. And it's even worse because the ward hasn't had a choir in about 2 1/2 years. Of course I now have all these visions of them canceling the old choir because it was so bad and no one came and now I am pretty sure people will still not want to come.

Well, another day another challenge! At least I can feel lucky that my challenge is both me and my husband facing weaknesses, rather than something more terrible like Lila getting really sick or one of us losing our job. In reality I suppose our dread callings are blessings in that sense. They won't actually cause our lives any physical, financial or terribly emotional pain. Wish us luck!