Little Everyday MOMents

Sweetheart!

The Yuck

The yuck is still around these parts. Apparently. Kimball has the squirts again and Lance has been sick all week with an awful cold. He finally went in to the doctor on Friday and found he has a sinus infection, no wonder he's been in so much pain and discomfort.

I am feeling great.  :)  I think Heavenly Father has compassion on me because #1 I'm the mother who must take care of everyone and everything even if she is sick and #2 I had the worst pregnancy ever so I'm still redeeming my brownie points from that. At least I like to think that's the reason I haven't gotten sick.

So I've been baking zucchini bread and cookies. And sewing little things like a curtain for the office and little tidbits to go in Kimball's Easter basket this year. I even managed to convince Lance to stay home with Kimball for an hour or two so I could have some much needed me-time. I spent the rest of the mall gift card he gave me, Macy's had some killer clearance racks and I used my Macy's coupons to get several shirts for about $5 a piece! My wardrobe has been very pathetic since I had Kimball.

And yet again, I'm staying home from church with the squirty boy. So here's to a restful and quiet Sunday.

Erranding

A few days ago Kimball and I were running errands and I stopped at the pharmacy drive thru to pick up some medicine. It was taking FOR-E-VER! (And only to be told I had to come in and pick it up. Grrr). Kimball was losing his patience, poor boy.

“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.”

And then mommy slipped him a bit of chocolate. Good as new!

Future Barbershopper

Last Tuesday after dinner Sagie Poo made Kimball this hat out of a paper bowl. Kimball thought it was the best thing ever and couldn't wait to show his Daddy. Doesn't he look like a barbershopper? Now all he needs is a dingy white shirt with his pants pulled up to his arm pits and he'd have a complete ensemble. (No offense Lance, it's just the old guys).

Spring Fever!

A few weeks ago we had beautiful weather! It was so nice to see the sun and feel the warmth and actually be outside!!! Last Saturday I went over to mom's just to hang out - I was bored and Lance was working and I just needed out of the house. Mom was watching Trish's kids while she was at the temple so Kimball had a great time playing outside with his cousins. Come to think of it, this is the first time I let him outside without my supervision so he could just walk around and explore. He loved it and got dirty like little boys should. I might just hang out at mom's every weekend this summer!

Chocolate Party #1

Last weekend we helped out Charisse and hosted a chocolate tasting party for her. She sells the Dove Chocolate Discoveries and we had a house full of people. Thanks to all for coming, but I think it's time for a serious chocolate party. Some serious melt in your mouth kind of chocolate that we can spend all evening devouring and playing games and visiting!

Question

I got Lance a small package of Reese's for valentines day. They've been unopened ever since. I did finally put them in the freezer because I like my candy bars frozen to preserve them longer......how long do I have to wait before I help myself? Isn't there a one day rule about uneaten chocolate? Or maybe a one week rule?

It's All A Matter Of Perspective

Well, I'm not sure how to go about this post. By the way I've been slacking big time with journaling lately. I've got pictures on my phone and camera that I need to get downloaded but I haven't had the time yet. Remember my little rant about Lance working? I finally lost my patience and complained about it all to him. And this is why I married him.

I'm definitely more of a "glass half empty" kind of girl and Lance is definitely more of a "glass half full" kind of guy. And thank goodness he is, otherwise my life would be pretty depressing. After all of my complaining he put things back into perspective for me and he's right. We have so much to be thankful for, so why am I complaining that my husband is always gone? A lot of guys work two or more jobs and don't get home until after 10pm every night. A lot of guys also work 2 jobs plus have extremely busy callings and lot of other extra curricular stuff going on. A lot of guys don't like their job. A lot of guys don't even have jobs.

But we are so blessed. We have a home that's warm and sheltered us from the four inches of snow we got last night. We have health insurance. We have two working vehicles. We have an incredibly fun little boy. We have each other. Things may be tight financially and I may not get to see my husband as often as I'd like, but I'm so thankful I have him and so thankful we have a job, especially in this economy.

Reflections of (Brotherly) Love

Anybody who knows me knows that I loathe valentine's day. It's so cheesy and full of fluffy commercial crap. I (like many) think you should show your love every day of the year and not just on one particular day. My particular love day that I celebrate with Lance is our anniversary, that day we actually make a special effort for each other. We don't and never did celebrate those awkward anniversaries (two weeks since we've been dating! or three months since we first held hands!). Puuuuuulease people!

Speaking of love, my best valentines day was my junior or senior year (I can't remember which). Everybody knows that when my family moved to Twin it was very hard for me. I never remade friends, I became a total recluse, I never talked to anybody, etc. It was hard. But my brother Adam sent valentine flowers to me at school. It wasn't just one rose or one sunflower in a tiny bud vase, it was a huge bouquet of flowers! It meant to world to me. Of course I didn't expect anything for valentines day, Adam moved out right after he graduated. Which is why those flowers meant so much more to me. Now that I type this I just remembered that when I was about 12 or so, Adam again sent me flowers but this time it was roses. I remember I saved every last petal and put them in a mason jar and tied the card he sent with it, around the neck. Those dried petals sat on my dresser for years.

In high school in Twin I always parked at the seminary building and on multiple occasions I would find little notes on my windshield. During the time Joseph was delivering salt for the store, every now and then he'd stop by the seminary building and put a used receipt or return envelope for salt tickets in my windshield with a note just for me. I loved it. It made all the difference in the world and I still have them in a box.

The rest of the boys are pretty awesome too, but they never sent me flowers or an encouraging note.  :)  I love them anyway! All of my brothers have been my biggest protectors and my loudest teasers. Come on, they wouldn't be brothers if they didn't tease me would they?

Weekendings

• The squirts continued for Mr. Kimball who was progressively getting grumpier and fussier. I really didn't know what else to do for him except snuggle him when he wanted it. He was miserable. And his poor bum hurt really bad. But I knew it was just a stomach bug going around so I waited out the option to take him to the doctor. I figured if he wasn't better by Monday (day 9) then I'd take him in. (Being that today is Tuesday.......yay! Monday was the day that with a snap of the fingers he was a whole different toddler! Thank goodness).
• Christine came to town a few days early so I spent Friday with her and Mom. We went out to lunch and then to visit Adam for a bit which was really good. I secretly think he gets a little lonely out there, of course it doesn't help his wife is gone so much with school and work. Kimball loved the big dogs!

•  Saturday was my Craft Day and thanks to Mom for all the help with the food, it was so much fun. Unfortunately because of the storm, Nancy and girls turned around and went back home. I think that was probably a good and smart thing, some things just aren't worth the risk and when it comes to lives and health, nothing is worth the risk. The Boise crew came and we all had a great time, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. But it was so good to see everyone and visit and help Kaitlyn with her new adventure of being married. She had a great turnout for her bridal shower and it was good to meet her fiance's family.
• Sunday I stayed home with Kimball, he still having the runs and I came down with congested sinuses. I was anxiously awaiting Lance to come home so he could take over for me, but Lance was too tired.
• Speaking of Lance being too tired, work is wearing him out! It's been six weeks since it is just down to him and Trent and it is taking it's toll. The past two weeks they have been swamped. Some days Kimball doesn't get to see his Daddy at all and as hard as that is for Lance, it's especially hard for Kimball. Of course I don't see much of him either and normally I wouldn't care but with the issues of pay and appreciation on the table, I find it isn't worth it. Of course that's just me. I don't know what the future holds, I just want him treated fairly and paid what he deserves. Right now they're taking advantage of him and it's really making my blood boil. And a day off would be nice. Just one day. That's all I'm asking. Just one day.

Give Said The Little Stream

I found this printable several weeks ago on blogland and I fell in love. I love the simplicity of it but especially the message. This is my own version which was super easy to make although the lighting for my picture was awful. The original link with directions is HERE.

Hockey Pucks and Death

I attempted for the first time ever, to make homemade rolls. I used Grandma Watson's recipe of Parker House Rolls. The directions seemed easy enough and having never before used yeast, I thought it would be a good learning experience. Well.....the rolls turned out like hockey pucks. Pretty hard outside, a few had soft middles but the consistency and taste was definitely more that of a biscuit. So, you're supposed to half each one with a dull knife and fold it over, then let rise and bake. While they were rising, the fold didn't hold and all but one came open. This is what they looked like.

With the left over dough I just plopped it in a pie plate and topped it with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. This was surprisingly yummy although it doesn't look it.

Donna came over later in the evening to show me how to work my sewing machine. She asked how dinner was and I showed her the huge mess in the kitchen. I told her I wasn't sure what I'd do with the 30 biscuit pucks we weren't going to eat and then a thought hit me! I could take Kimball down to the cemetery tomorrow where they have the pond and we could feed the ducks together. I voiced this out loud and Donna said, "Oh you don't want those poor ducks to die, do you?!"

More Firsts At 15 Months

Kimball had a major blowout this morning. The kind that fills his pajama legs and pools in the feet. Nasty! I'm sure everyone wanted to know the extent of the grossness. Of course it was while Lance was at work so I had no help in cleaning/containing the yuck. I left Kimball in his pajamas and stuck him right in the bath tub so I could spray everything off before giving him a bath. He hated it. He was cold and miserable and completely covered.

I figured, well he's already cold and miserable I might as well prolong it and make him suffer as much as possible. So I gave him a hair cut. Yes he has enough hair for a hair cut! Some of the long baby hairs were 4-5 inches and they needed to go. I got out the buzzers and gave him a #8 buzz which is the longest. Normal people probably can't tell that he got a hair cut, Lance probably won't notice he got a hair cut, but I can see a huge difference! I desperately wanted pictures or a video of his first cut, but given the gross circumstances and the crying, cold, miserable baby I opted not to grab my phone. I'm sure Kimball will thank me one day for that.

(When I published this post, I noticed this is my 700th journal entry! Woohoo!!)

Little Squirt

Saturday I had the butterflies in my stomach all afternoon. I felt weird. Come five o clock I ended up laying on the couch, then the nausea came and wouldn't go away. Until 9:30pm when I finally threw up once. And then I felt all better although I haven't been sleeping well. It was a quick five hour bug, thankfully.

Kimball hasn't thrown up but he's had the runs since Saturday. Poor guy, I know he doesn't feel good. Lately a typical meal is this: 3 pretzel sticks. That's it. The good part is, he's been very snugly with me and Lance and I love that! He sleeps pretty good at night but his naps haven't been very long, I think because he's got nothing in his stomach and wakes up dying of hunger.

I got out his next size of clothes, 95% of which are hand me downs and I love this little outfit! I don't know why, it just makes me smile.

Mid Week Mini "Vacation"

(My actual camera doesn't keep a charge even though I just bought a new battery for it. I think it's time for a new one and until then, [maybe next year] my phone camera will have to do).

This week Lance had to do several sox audits of other SCI funeral homes. We decided to make a little vacation of it so Tuesday morning we drove to Idaho Falls. While Lance did the audit, Kimball and I went to the mall for some lunch and for something to do while we waited for Lance. The audit was about an hour and I thought for sure the mall would have a food court. Their only food places were the Pretzel Twister and Subway. All other restaurants were around the perimeter of the mall and walking in the snow wasn't a good idea. So we had pretzel dog bites, Kimball loved them. And much to my surprise in the middle of the mall is a play area. Kimball loved it! He seriously just walked and crawled around for the first 30 minutes laughing at himself. He loved playing with the other kids and it was a really nice play area, much to my surprise. How come our mall doesn't have that? Of course I didn't get any pictures of him smiling or laughing. Figures.

After the audit we drove down to Ogden and stayed at a super nice Hampton Inn. We met Matt and Krystal Tipping for an amazing steak dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse......always SOOOOO good to see them when we can! They offered to let us stay with them but we wanted to take advantage of the company and get a hotel.  ;)  Before bed time Lance took Kimball on a ride on those luggage cart thingamajigs down to get some ice. Kimball loved it, especially the ice. 

We had a pack n play all ready for him but Kimball cried and cried and cried, mostly because he could see us over the top of it, and he could see the tv. Great. What to do? I thought for sure our neighbors would come pounding on our door or we'd get a call from the front desk about a crying baby. I put the pack n play in the bathroom so he couldn't see anything. He cried some more, probably a good 30-40 minutes (he was extremely tired) until he gave up the fight. I was so relieved! Lance wanted to take advantage of two queen size beds so we slept separately in our own beds. But then Kimball started crying again 15 minutes later. Just perfect! I couldn't let him cry himself to sleep like usual so for the first time ever, Kimball slept in bed with me. He slept great for the rest of the night. His Mama on the other hand, did not.

 

 The next morning we all enjoyed a nice breakfast and hit the road.

 Where's Kimball?

Oh there you are! Haha, he enjoyed riding the cart everywhere!

We drove down to Midvale and Lance dropped Kimball and I off at Christine's house. In the mean time, he did an audit in Riverton and a few more in SLC. I had a few hours to kill and Christine was still at work so after playing and lunch, I decided to clean Christine's house. Funny how I clean someone else's house much better than my own. But I had time to kill so I did it. When Christine got home we only had about an hour together so we browsed Home Goods for a bit.

Lance came back, we loaded up the car and headed home. Kimball didn't take a nap at all on either day so he was very, very tired. We stopped at a gas station and I got the healthiest things I could find for Kimball - a lunchable. (Hey, at least it has a little bit of protein with the ham and cheese. It's better than donuts or candy or chips). I gave Kimball a piece of ham which he scarfed down. I gave him one more piece of ham and turned to get his water. When I went to give it to him, I found him like this. Too tired to eat his ham.

Poor boy! He was exhausted! He refused to lay his head back so I slid his puppy under his face for some cushioning.

It was a long 11 hour drive in total and next time we probably won't go with Lance. Unless someone took Kimball but I haven't left him overnight yet. I'm not sure I'm ready for that quite yet.

An Oldie But Goodie

I found this video in Lance's phone, I forgot it was in there. I think Kimball was 8-9 months here.