Did you know?

Did you know that Thomas slept through the night last night for the first time all week? Here's hoping we can call that regular again.

Did you know that President Packer is coming to speak to our stake today? Maybe if you're good I'll let you know what he said later. Maybe.

Did you know that 95% of the creatures on earth are smaller than a chicken egg?

Did you know that lightly falling snow in the dark is one of my very favorite magical things?

Did you know that I (sortof) invented the worlds most amazing enchiladas last night? Josh had 3 servings, and can't wait for the leftovers today. That's pretty incredible if you ask me.

Did you know that Thomas loves "hang time"? This is when Josh holds him by his feet (Josh just corrected me "not feet, legs. Right on the femur close to the ball and socket" it's funny living with a man who has taken anatomy 900 times) way up in the air so their heads are at the same level. Thomas looks all around and laughs.

Did you know that while the rest of the country is getting dumped on (in terms of snow) we, with our "greatest snow on earth" have had driveways and roads free of snow for at least the past week? Something is wrong here. *update: I write these lists throughout the week, today (Sunday) I woke up to a winter wonderland. My whining has officially stopped.

Did you know that I inherited a bunch of books from my mom this week? My bookshelf is now a full as it can possibly be. How long do you think it'll take to convince Josh I need another bookshelf?

Did you know that parking in visitor parking is one of the 7 deadly sins? Apparently that's the truth. I just saw the tow truck ride off into the sunset with some poor homeowner's car in tow. If that was your car I'm sorry.

hot dates

Sometimes Josh and I go on hot dates on the weekend.

Other times I fall asleep on the couch while he takes my blood pressure 10 times for practice.

Other times I fall asleep on the couch while he watches TMNT II

Other times I fall asleep on the couch while he plays Cabela's Big Game Hunter on the Wii.

I'm not quite sure who to blame all the lameness on. Thomas's fault for needing to go to sleep so early? My fault for falling asleep within 15 seconds of becoming horizontal? Or Josh's fault for thinking blood pressure, turtles and fake hunting count as hot dates?

One thing I love about my dentist

One thing I love about my dentist is that when I show up for my 10am appointment at 9:51 he has me in the chair with a needle in my gums by 9:52.

I've never ever waited in his waiting room. And that's worth loving.

Did you notice the pages?

Blogger in draft now allows pages. (across the top of the blog "blog" "All About Josh" etc.)

Very cool eh?

So if you're bored (and only if you're bored) you can read more than you ever wanted to know about this family. Fun huh?

The best part is that will never go away. So there's no rush. Just parooz at your own convenience, that's right, they're perma-posts!

So much potential!

The Sounds of Silence

After rocking and pacing and singing and holding and loving and cuddling and rocking some more with my (adorable) screaming child for the past hour, I am currently (finally) enjoying the sounds of silence.

I sit in the rocking chair in his room and listen.

I listen to the clock tick. With each tick tock tick tock he's been peaceful for 1 second longer.

I listen to the dishwasher drying the dishes. The utensils settle into themselves clanking together a bit.

I listen to the furnace start up and slowly spread the warmth through our home.

I listen to the grunt of a baby. I can almost hear his muscles relaxing one at a time. Slowly his body calms and eventually it will fall asleep.

I listen to the squeak of my rocking chair. Back and forth back and forth back and forth.

When it's painfully apparent that I'm the loudest one in the room, I slowly sneak out, leaving Thomas to his dreams. Ready to start my own.

Camera face

This is Thomas' regular camera face:

I think he's not quite sure what that thing is, or why his mother holds it ALL DAY LONG.

This is Thomas' "mom is so funny" face:

It requires a stealth sneak attack and some serious distraction.

This is Thomas' "whoa what was that flash" face:

I think it's more "interested" than "afraid". Josh thinks it's "wow I'm blind"....meh what does he know?

One thing I love about my husband is.....

One thing I love about my husband is that he can make my baby smile (and now giggle!) pretty much any time he wants.

And there's nothing sweeter than watching my big boy grin because my little boy is grinning.

Wow. Just plain wow.

What kind of parent would I be if there were NO bathtub pictures? Just sayin'.

"Guys. There is something very interesting going on over there....please stop trying to get me to play in the tub, I'm clearly busy categorizing this new discovery."

"I can't believe you've never showed me conditioner before! This is better than watching paint dry."

Making dinner is boring

Sometimes while Thomas is helping me make dinner (chicken cacciatore....you're jealous) he falls asleep.

OK really he hasn't done this since he was teeny tiny (that was a long time ago in case you were wondering...) but today he did again, and I'm pretty sure it's the sweetest thing he's done all day long.

One things I love about living in Utah

One things I love about living in Utah, is that once the smog clears and the inversion is over (hip! hip! hooray!!! I don't care if it is only temporary.) it looks like this outside.

Mmmmm......Utah.......

Did you know?

Did you know that after 1.5 hours of chatting with my visiting teachers I was still sorry to see them go? At least I know they'll be back next month. (Right? You're not going to abandon me just because I talked at you for an hour and a half are you? Nikki? Jessica? Are you out there?!?!?!?!)

Did you know that Thomas loves books? We read tiny little cardboard books 2-3 times a day before naps/bed. He is totally enthralled with them and nothing makes me happier. He doesn't even eat them, he just looks where I'm pointing and dutifully pays attention. My baby is a genius.

Did you know that even though my child is everything I ever wanted (and more) I still reserve the right to be driven totally crazy and wish he'd just. STOP. CRYING!!!!! Just because I knew it'd be hard and wanted it anyway doesn't mean it's not hard.


Did you know that a sneeze leaves your mouth at over 600 MPS and "goes" 3 feet? Unless google lies....yes I googled that, I was curious.

Did you know that the Secretary isn't supposed to conduct or teach Relief Society? Sa-weeet! :)

Did you know that the church is less than a mile from my house and we have yet to walk to church? Sad. Maybe when the weather is nice for like 2 days.....if one of those days is a Sunday.....and we're not late.....and I can talk Josh into it.....Yeah....not gonna happen, I may as well give up now.

Did you know that the zipper is probably the best invention of all time? Well maybe right after the onesie. Or maybe it's a toss-up. I don't really know, what I do know is that the button on the baby clothes is definitely not the best invention of all time.

Did you know I can get ready in 45 minutes if that's all I'm doing? I'm talking ready-ready. Showered, hair dried, makeup on (even lip gloss!), dressed, shoes, ALL of it. Who knew?!?!

Fearless

I'm not. He is.

When we do our "sit......stand!" routine he has just started letting go of my fingers. During the stand part.

Not because he has exceptional balance.

Not because he's able to stand on his own.

Just because he's fearless.

He does the same thing when sitting up.

Rather than defaulting to the "folded in half toe-sucking" position (which I think we can all agree is the safest bet), he tries to sit straight up and wobbles all over the place. Generally I'm there with him and I catch him as he throws his body back in an apparent attempt to slam his head THROUGH the floor.

Maybe if I let him fall back one time he'd stop the madness?

On the plus side, at least he's striving for good posture.

Dear Treadmill, I hate your stinkin' guts

Listen, I hate treadmills because they beep at me too much:

"put your hands on"
"take your hands off"
"adjusting speed because you don't know how fast you wanna go"
"adjusting incline because you don't know how high you wanna climb"
"put your hands back on"
"blah blah blah blah"

Maybe I'm a control freak but I hate the idea of the machine being the boss of my jog, call me crazy but it bugs.

That being said, I ditched my precious elliptical (which I have lovingly named "Bonnie" - doesn't that seem like a good name for a faithful friend?) tonight and got on the treadmill ("Gene" - doesn't that seem like a good name for something ultra-lame?) instead.

I did it because it seems that the healthiest people I know prefer the treadmill (Hi Jillian and Bob!), so (since nobody was watching) I thought I'd give it another chance.

It wouldn't let me run, then it wouldn't let me walk, and it had me stuck at that stupid awkward pace where it's not fast enough to merit a jog but if I try to walk I will fall off.

Then it beeped at me for not holding the things (which are relatively useless anyway right?) and then it beeped at me for holding them while I was running (which is "not recommended"). So why did you tell me to hold them in the first place? Stupid Gene.

So I'm left wondering - what's the deal with the treadmill love affair? Why do people like it? What makes it better than the elliptical? Why wouldn't I completely abandon it and go crawling back to Bonnie begging for forgiveness for cheating on her with something as horrible as Gene? What am I missing here?

The weekend of bliss...

For some reason Josh was in no major hurry to get to work this morning.

He slept in with me until 7:30.

We both had a chance to shower and get ready while Thomas was still asleep. And by "get ready" I mean showered and dressed. In clothes - not a bathrobe. Let's not get too carried away what with hair and makeup.

Then when Thomas woke up we sat around listening to good music because my sister gave us money at Amazon for mp3 downloads. We had to choose wisely so we didn't squander our gift which means we spent at last half an hour listening to the first 10 seconds of some of our favorite songs and buying the best ones. Love Story meets Viva La Vida, Fireflies (which I have named as best weird song of 2009), and Somewhere Over the Rainbow to name a few.

Josh is now at work and Thomas is back in bed for his nap. (I literally rocked with him for less than 60 seconds and put him down and he's out like a light.)

If this is any indication of how my weekend will be, you'll have to pry it from my cold dead fingers and force me to start the next week.

One thing I love about being a stay at home mom

One thing I love about being a stay at home mom is that I didn't get out of bed until 10 today. 


And I did it on purpose. 


And I'm not sick.


Just tired.


And lazy.

MLK Rerun

Remember last year when I loved Martin Luther King?

This year I sorta think he stinks. Josh is at work and Thomas and I are at home. Just like every other day.

I literally locked myself in my closet for 15 minutes this morning because it's the only place I couldn't hear the screaming.

Thomas woke up at 4:30 and said good morning in a "waaaaa waaaaa WAAAAAAA AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" kind of way.

Even though "I'm not that kind of girl" I went running at 5:30.

Unlike last year the laundry will never be done and I don't care if my bed never gets made again. As long as it's there for me to sleep in tonight I couldn't care less what it does during the day.

As for free fake holidays I think I'll spend mine planning a road trip to California. Because today when we went to get the mail I realized that Thomas has no idea what sunshine is. And that's just wrong.

Did you know?

Did you know that I'm the new Relief Society Secretary in my ward?

Did you know that my baby not only "sleeps through the night" but also sleeps through the real night too? I know it's a big deal to get 6 hours of sleep in a row, but when I'm waking up in the hours when nobody else is awake it just doesn't count. 

Did you know that even though Santa has the worst handwriting I've ever seen (we won't even talk about his grammar & spelling), his letters stay proudly displayed on my fridge longer than anything else? It's because they make me smile every time I see them.

Did you know that elephants are the only animals with 4 knees?

Did you know I own a CD of nothing but different versions of Pachelbel's Cannon? It's called '74 minutes of heaven' because that's what it sounds like. My brother-in-law Clint made fun of me for it, but it turns out I'm not the only one with a CD like that.

Did you know that I haven't been running since I went back to work and Josh went back to school? I'd like to say "this will be the week" but with Josh in school again that would require getting OUT OF BED long before the sun comes up and we all know I'm just not that kind of girl.

More on "the new normal"

It's now more normal for me to sit in a rocking chair than in the car.

I know because I'm currently sitting in the car and I just keep leaning back waiting for the seat to recline but it doesn't happen because I haven't lifted the handle.

I like the new normal.

non-nap

This is called my "I'm too cute to nap" face. I bust it out at least 3 times per day - and my mom falls for it EVERY time! Ha ha....suckah!!!!!

Napping

Listen, don't judge me for letting him sleep in our bed OK?

Just enjoy how cute he is with me.

See? Don't you feel better now?

Rolling: In photographs

This is Thomas on his tummy.

This is Thomas on his side. Where he got stuck for like 5 minutes. As you can see he loves being on his side.

This is Thomas's "hey I can roll over!" face.

Also we thought about replacing that missing hand with a hook, but since he can't really say "arrrgggg" and we don't want to adopt a parrot it seemed sorta pointless.

Thomas: 3 Months

Remember when my baby turned 3 months old last week?

You don't? Oh. Maybe that's because I didn't write about it yet.

In that case, look! My baby turned 3 months old!

Did you notice how big he is? Me too.

He's usually quite smiley. Especially when daddy goos and gahs at him.

But sometimes he's serious. He's a deep thinker this one.

I know what you're thinking "Cute blanket, but does it HAVE to be in all the pictures?" does it freak you out that I can read your mind like that?

No. It doesn't. It's just that to celebrate 3 months we had "no pants day". Won't it be funny when some creep googles "no pants" and winds up here?

Some stuff about Thomas:

• He "sleeps through the night". I've been getting up with him at 2:30 but he goes right back down after eating and "the night" lasts from like 7/8pm - 5/6am so I'm happy. And well rested. We're still working on naps. Somedays it's 30 minutes and somedays it's 4 hours....we like the 4 hour days.
• He gets bored. I blame Josh for that one. The kid loves to be entertained. Hold him, make faces at him, coo, giggle, dance, it doesn't matter. Just don't blog. Blogging is boring.
• He rolled for Josh one time. And for me another time. I don't think we can officially call that rolling though.
• He is much less spitty - but still on the medication. I'm just glad he's not so miserable. And I'm not so covered in digested formula.
• He loves sitting in the bumbo. And the swing. Until he gets bored.
• He's growing more hair on top. But still has the mullet in back. I can't handle cutting his fingernails - what makes you think I'd take scissors that sharp to the back of his noggin? And the random 3 long hairs. I've cut the 3 long hairs - HOW did they grow back?
• Bathtime is still the best time of day. I'm seriously hoping that he'll love swimming just as much. 
• He's still learning what those things dangling from his wrists are for. But I think he knows they belong to him and they're for SOMEthing because he hates it when we "take them away" from him by swaddling him.

These have been the best 3 months ever. And not just because of oreo truffles at Christmas.

Sick

We are.

Fever: 102.5
Headache: throbbing
Cough: dry and hacking
Cold chills: all day long

So far it's just Josh & me.

You wouldn't believe how much I haven't kissed my baby today.

What do I do to keep him well?

Did you know?

Did you know that bats can't chew through steel wool? That's what you're supposed to use to fill small holes that would allow bat entrance into a building you'd rather not have them enter.

Did you know that I got fired from my calling as a RS teacher right when we got new exciting manuals?

Did you know that I'm a big sissy when it comes to mice? They freak me right out.

Did you know that I blog stalk a guy named Andy who is taking a year off to go camping all over the country? He's currently in Florida and taking pictures like these. When I grow up I want to do this. Seriously.

Did you know that when I was in first grade I sprained my ankle while jumping on the trampoline? I had to be carried up to the stage to get an award at the year-end assembly. I was mortified. That week I also remember my sister braiding my hair and making me hop down the hall to the bathroom to get another twistie. When I whined she just told me "it hurts to be beautiful". I still sorta believe that.

Did you know I've been growing this amaryllis since Thanksgiving? It decided to bloom the week that I was at work. I think my house plants hate me. On the other hand - isn't it beautiful?

Flying Solo

Weird how 1 week without being alone with my child even for 2 minutes has made me completely insecure with my ability to care for him.

Josh is at school this morning and I'm on my own again.

Thomas has been screaming for an hour (I can only assume he wants his daddy.....if we're being honest I do too) and I can't figure out what's wrong.

Food? Check.
Diaper? Check.
Warm? Check.
Medicine? Check. (times two!)

I got nothin'.

A week ago I would've known just what to do, and today I am completely incapable. I can only hope it will take less time to get it back than it did to learn it in the first place......"just like riding a bike" right? Right?!?!?!

In other news: I haven't called him "Baby Thomas" for at least 2 weeks. He's Thomas, and sometimes Tommy. But mostly he's "my baby" or "sweetie" or "darlin'" or "hi there" and most often "my love".

When he goes to kindergarten and they ask him his name do you think he'll be confused?

It hurts

Today was my last "real" day at work.

For good.

Forever.

I'm not going back.

I find myself completely without words.

I started crying when Aundrea left at 4:30 and I haven't stopped yet (it's 2 hours later....) I sobbed through saying goodbye to her because she's more like a sister than a friend. I can't imagine having life that doesn't involve daily conversations with her. I can't figure out who will understand like she does. We can't be Christmas Card friends. I don't even do Christmas Cards. And I can't lose anymore close friends. It hurts too much. And she's just my favorites of the Office Support People.

In the meantime I also have to say goodbye to "the men" all of them. The ones who work harder than anyone I've met. The ones who teach me things I never knew I cared about. The ones who value my opinion and the ones who value my ability to keep it to myself. The ones who smile and say "10-4" when I say "there's poop all over the floor, can you fix that?" The ones who taught me about construction and let me teach them about paperwork. The men who wear blue shirts and those in suits. The ones who smile just a few times a week and those who never stop. There are the whistlers, the hummers and the stompers. The ones who check on me just to make sure I'm having a good day, and those who swing by because they want me to check on them. The men who love me and those who hate me. Some are smart, some are funny, all are kind. Together they are the best of the best. I have my favorites, but I truly care for all of them.

I'm going to miss every last one of them. And my heart truly breaks today.

But I count myself blessed because I was lucky enough to associate with them for 18 months. I was fortunate enough to learn from their examples. I was honored to be invited into their lives and share just a small part of their joys and pains. They truly changed my life in ways they'll probably never know.

I just didn't expect it to hurt this much when it was over. Because I'm fairly certain that there will be those I never see again. And that breaks my heart.

Baby blues

These are my favorite blue eyes. Thank you Mr. Postman - or whoever is responsible for them.

Tommy's girl.

I'm back at work this week and it's a really strange feeling. I like it. I like being there. I like being productive. I like not needing to re-shower before noon. It's a nice change. But I miss my baby.

I'm only back for a short period of time to train my replacement. So Josh is taking some time off work to be Mr. Mom (which he excels at, of course).

Josh also got a letter saying that a CNA is a new pre-req for the nursing program. So he started his stupid CNA classes this week. 6:30 - 10pm twice a week. Lovely.

Tuesday was his first day and I did the bedtime thing with Thomas, but Wednesday morning he was still asleep when I left for work (you know, because I'm SO good at putting him down!) so I didn't get any hugs and kisses before I left.

To be honest I didn't really notice, until I got home. Josh said he was horrible and grouchy and ornery and wouldn't anything for the past hour. But Thomas smiled for me when I held him. And he looked at me with those big beautiful eyes, and I'm totally pretending he was trying to tell me he loved me and missed me. And then I cried. Because that's what I do. I missed my babe and I like to think he missed me too.

Fast forward.

It's 3am and he woke up about an hour and a half ago. Josh got up with him to feed him (because Mr. Mom really is a great roll for Josh) and couldn't get him to go back down. I rocked with him, and put him down and he stayed asleep for about 2.1 minutes, then he woke up and freaked out because I had abandoned him for the warmth of my own bed. I know. Rude.

We rocked, and sang, and listened to music (soothing lullabye music that we listen to every night before bed) and he was still wide awake. Happy (as long as I was with him). But awake. At 2am.

Finally I put him down with the intention of sticking the binkie in his mouth and running back to bed before he could cry so it would be Josh's turn again because he seemed like he would sleep.

He started to cry, and grabbed at things. I normally give him a bear to grab at since I don't usually want to stay with him all night long, but he wanted nothing to do with it tonight.

Finally I gave him my hand and he grabbed onto my finger and fell asleep immediately. He grabbed on tight and he was not about to let me go.

I like to think he just wanted me to be there. To not leave him. To hold his hand because sometimes nighttime is hard. To not stop loving him. And I'm happy to oblige because I don't want to leave him. And I like holding his hand (almost as much as I like holding Josh's...although I won't know, I've barely even seen Josh in days....maybe I don't like holding his hand anymore...who knows.). And I like him knowing that I love him.

How long before he stops thinking that my finger is the solution to all problems? How long before something hurts more than my presence can help? How long before he doesn't think I put up the sun in the morning and hang the moon at night?

I won't lie, tonight I really like that he's a mamma's boy.

Because I'm a Tommy's girl.

Josh's Birthday

For Josh's birthday I spent the entire day not blogging. And not reading your blogs.

He was totally satisfied with that as a gift.

He didn't want a cake.

He didn't want presents.

He didn't want a parade in his honor.

He just wanted me not to blog. And to play raquetball with his brother-in-law. And to play games at night. And to have "a happy family".

Because it was his birthday and all, he got all of those things. Lucky boy.

And just like that, my husband is 26 years old.

Valid fears

He did it. He showed me up.

Jerk.

You just can't help but love that man.

First day back at work

Today I went back to work.

I was nervous about a lot of things.

They've had hardware and software upgrades since I left.

How was I supposed to train my replacement on something I've never seen before anyway?

I had to wear nylons. It's been 3 months. What if I forgot how? What if they got a big fat run in them? What if I remembered how bad I hate them? What if I just refused, would they fire me?

I had to talk to/entertain new person all day long. What if it turns out I didn't do anything and I couldn't keep her busy for a full day? And now we just sit here talking to people because it's so much fun.

Josh was home with my baby. I was not worried Josh wouldn't care for him well. He would. Thus the fear.

What if I came home and Josh had done laundry, dishes, taken care of the child who napped and ate exactly as he should? What if they were both dressed in real clothes and had their hair done. What if neither of them smelled like spit up and the smell of delicious dinner was wafting through the house when I walked through the door? What if Josh is a better mom than me?

I don't wanna be shown up by my husband who already wonders what I do all day......and unfortunately that's a very real possibility.

It's out there...

I can feel it getting closer and closer. It's lurking in the shadows. Maybe it will come in stealth mode and I won't really notice, or perhaps there will be a grand entrance. I just have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to take over my life.

The mom haircut.

Now that Thomas thinks grabbing things is the coolest thing since sliced bread - actually he doesn't think sliced bread is that cool. He thinks it's the coolest thing since bottles full of formula and because of this new love, I've stopped wearing earrings and I know the mom haircut is just around the corner.

I'm just not so sure I can rock that look....

A pretty good night

Here's what's cool:

Today I ate 4 almond rocas (because my neighbors are trying to make me fat and I love them anyway) AND some Hershey's hugs (because Santa is on the neighbors' team and I love him too) AND some chocolate covered raisins (Santa again). AND this broccoli cheese soup that is really really bad for you, but tastes oh so good (Happy birthday Josh).

But I logged all that, along with my snacks of carrots, celery, orange, and apples and wha-bam! I'm green. (that's good)

calorie reflection
		Calories Allowed		Calories Consumed		Net Calories
for weight maintenance		2202		1360		842		A high net calories number indicates that I am burning more calories than I eat, which could result in weight loss.
for weight goal		1863		1360		503		I can eat more today and still stay on track toward my weight goal.

intake reflection		water log
Percentage of Calories from Source TARGET     ACTUAL  CARBOHYDRATES 45-65% 63% FAT 20-35% 22% PROTEIN 10-35% 15% ALCOHOL 0% 0% Click here to adjust target preferences.	% of Recommended Daily Maximum TOTAL FAT SAT. FAT CHOLESTEROL SODIUM % of Recommended Daily Minimum FIBER VITAMIN A VITAMIN C CALCIUM IRON
		Try to drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses each day.

See all those green bars up there? If you do a bad thing they're red. But you wouldn't know that because today I'm ALL green! AND I did it all with food, no vitamins or supplements or anything. That's a first.

So, even thought today was technically a "bad" day - I fixed it and repented and made it all green baby!

Kermit has no idea what he's talking about, it's good to be green.


With my baby in bed and asleep (I think) I'm feeling pretty good about this day.