the two of us

Wow. It's the middle of September! I have never gone this long between posts, and I know my last two were short. Thanks for reading. Here is the first of some updates on our family.  



:: me ::

Mother's Day 2013

With two of my siblings on my mom's birthday -- I stole my friend's idea (she did it for her dad) by having people write my mom letters, and she said it was the best gift she has ever received. That makes me happy.

Hmm, what to say about myself. . . . I'm enjoying my life. The hours and the weeks go by pretty fast. Summer vacation was super fast but wonderful. I love being a stay-at-home mom and I am so grateful I get to spend a lot of time with these angels (we're working on them being angelic when we ask them to put their things away or do other things that they don't want to do). They make me smile and laugh often. I like that they have friends in the neighborhood that they play with often, too, and grandparents nearby to help us. I get a little bit of time to myself in the morning, at least enough to pray and read The Book of Mormon. I can also have alone time after the kids are in bed on most of the nights when my husband is working. It's nice that he's home by 9 or 10 p.m. usually. I like watching a show on Netflix with him, but I also like when we just talk.

Lately I have been exercising for 30-40 minutes some time before lunch, 4-6 days a week. It's usually closer to 6 days a week than 4, of running or HIIT cardio or both. In spite of that, I have a belly that sticks out. It's not my fault that I look pregnant, I guess -- it's because of my umbilical hernia and diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal muscles). I am definitely not pregnant. There's probably some fat there but I don't know how much because of whatever weird stuff is happening underneath. I can grab a little fat on my inner thighs, but there isn't any anywhere else. Well, I found a lot of diastasis recti information on youtube, including exercises to heal it, so I'm doing them as part of my strength training 3 days a week. I have "before" pictures but not enough has changed to take "after" pictures. I am trying to eat even more like the Eat to Live weight loss plan, which includes fewer grains/starches and processed foods and more vegetables (especially cruciferous ones). And I am trying to be patient with my body even though it's been a while since I gave birth. The other day I talked to my midwife, who referred me to a doctor that I will meet with this Friday to get more information about getting laparascopic surgery to make my belly flatter like it used to be.


:: him ::

June 2013

September 2013

My cute husband is still working hard at his three jobs. He did not get the railroad job he wanted, and we don't know why they didn't even interview him. But he did basically get an offer for something different, a position we had sort of given up on because it had been so long. It's still taking a while but it might happen: he might be a highway patrol trooper! Apparently they are always doing the hiring process, so he is on the list or his file is in the stack or whatever, and when they need him they will call. First he had an interview -- actually, I think it was two. Then we turned in his packet for the background check in November. Yep, ten months ago. In February they told us that a lot of people had applied, so we would have to wait a few extra weeks. Then they actually did the background check, and an employee met with him in our home. On May 23rd they talked about why he wants to be a trooper, and they gave him a piece of paper that is a conditional offer of employment. He took a polygraph test, psychological evaluation (both of those the hardest things he has ever done), and a physical all in the week before leaving with his unit for Annual Training. Another three months have passed. . . . He doesn't want to continue forever with what he's doing, and he has hard days (with his depression) every once in a while probably more often than I realize, but the Lord is blessing us. My husband is in very good shape physically because he really wants to get a certain score on his next Army PT test. He works out early before his full time job and told me he likes that he's "a runner," which he hasn't been in a few years. 

Side note: he and I have never lived together this long before. Between his deployments we had almost three years together. But now he has been back for three years and four months.


:: us ::

This summer he decided that we needed to get away to relax without the kids for more than just a couple of hours. I agreed. So we went on an approximately 26-hour date and had a really great time. It was Friday to Saturday August 9th-10th. {Third Girl survived that time without breastfeeding (I was fine too), and was happy to continue when she saw me again. My goal is two years.} Since some of our little family had been sick back in April when it was our anniversary, and D and I never did much to celebrate, this was like a 4-months-late anniversary vacation. I'm not sure if we will take the whole family on a trip any time soon, which is okay. It will just be that much more exciting and special when we finally do, right? Anyway, here are some of the pictures from our big date! It was so nice to be in the hot tub and pool at night. This was also his first time in a tram, he thinks, and his first time rock climbing, which surprised me. I love being married to him.

It was  cold and gorgeous.

My view as I walked out of the lodge to start my morning run.

I overcame my fear on the ropes course. I walked on most of the areas.

Although this doesn't show any of the bikers, it was neat being at one of the Tour of Utah venues! I want a bike. . . . Also, we might have felt the need to return to our kids sooner if it were not for the road being closed in the afternoon. :)

(My hair flips out if I don't straighten it. And he's even better-looking than he seems in some photos.)

He had the day off for Labor Day so he and I did some good work on our home, with the kids helping, too. We rotated our rug so the couch covers the stains. And we switched bedrooms with the kids (this took more than one day, and a lot of it was done by Saturday night). It's much better! We haven't taken pictures yet, but not all of the items, wall decorations, etc. are in place. We have the smaller bedroom but it's nice that it has a bigger closet, and the three girls have more room to play in their room now.

We are still in a 2-bedroom apartment, even though at first we thought we would only stay for a year or so. We just signed a new lease, our fourth one, because we're waiting to hear about which city he will be working in. Anyway, these changes are good. We like the layout of the furniture better now; changing bedrooms helped it feel kind of like a new place. One day soon after Labor Day he swept and straightened up the patio, I gave the toddler's seat (not quite a high chair) a bath and did three loads of laundry, etc. I still need to thoroughly clean the blinds. We got rid of junk including shirts I've had a long long time, and some toys and other kid things. I'm pretty sure that I have blogged before about the fact that it's hard for me to let go of stuff. I have gotten better with my husband's help. We know we made the right decision by not moving out yet. We had actually told the people at the leasing office that we planned to move out September 14th, but it wouldn't have been worth the stress and the other costs, since we would likely move again less than a year later. It's good to be able to still serve in this ward, where my husband has only taught Gospel Doctrine class a few times so far. I also have a fairly new calling.

why Friday is good

I got the girls in bed before 8:55 -- even the youngest at the same time as the others, since we had a few places to go* which meant she napped less today. (First Girl loves it when Third Girl is there and doesn't get to (need to) stay up later.) It's me-time, quiet except for some music from The Piano Guys.

I wonder if a lot of couples with kids like Fridays because that is their date night. Every few weeks my husband and I have a date, but it's on Wednesday or Saturday because of his work schedule (which is fine). For me, Friday is good because it's almost Saturday and Sunday, when he doesn't have to work at all. Unless it's drill. This weekend follows a drill weekend, so when he arrived home after 9:30 p.m. it was the end of a 12-day "work week" that began on Monday, March 4th. He will be so happy to sleep in. Pretty much every day when he gets home he says that he is really tired.

Why do I feel like making this public and not just a journal entry? I guess probably most of my blog readers know us personally, which means they care. Anyway, I was thinking last night about writing what a typical Thursday is like for my family right now. How about if I let y'all know what all the weekdays are like. 

I wrote in a post before that my husband works about fifty hours a week or more. The hard thing is that it's not five ten-hour days. A typical Thursday is the same as a typical Tuesday. Both evenings he works the part time job. It starts an hour and a half after the full time job ends. So on those days he leaves by 6:30 in the morning, before our kids are awake, and usually is back by 9 or 9:30, when they are already asleep. That's 15 hours away from the house. We have less than two hours together, and then he has to go to sleep. Monday he has the full time job from 1 p.m. to close so he has even less free time at night because the other days it begins at 7 a.m. We love Wednesday, and Friday he is off at 1 p.m. instead of 4 (the other days are a little more than 8 hours, so Friday is a shorter day).

Yep, I'm complaining a little here. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for the time that I do get to spend with him during the week. I'm grateful that he's not deployed, and that he does what he needs to do to meet all our expenses and let me be a mom. This situation is doable but we're both getting sick of it and pray that he will get a higher-paying full time job -- career -- very soon. These hours are tiring for both of us. I would like the kids to be able to see their dad every day. Our current lease ends the end of July, so we hope to move by then into a place that at least has a third bedroom. A month ago he applied for a job that he really wants, with the same company that interviewed him for a manager trainee position last year. I keep thinking that any day now he will get a phone call or email about it. Online, the status says they are still reviewing his application. The job is about 50 minutes north of here.

I'm not sure how to end this. Oh, I do have other family news. Good news. First Girl was chosen to be in a Spanish dual immersion program starting this fall! So she will be in it, at a different nearby elementary school, if we don't move too far away (but of course, we do want to move too far away, and maybe she can transfer to a program there).

____

* Dropped off First Girl at school for short day, went to the grocery store, back to the school where there was a short PTA meeting, home for late lunch and putting away groceries and cleaning up the kitchen and having a little bit of time with Daddy (although he started a nap), to the park for a play date with 5 other moms who are in our ward.

August {2012}

{How is this already the second half of October??}

August was my husband's second month of working a freight position full time. It's his "until I get a better-paying one" job, in addition to his three-evenings-a-week job and the Army Reserve. I probably mentioned before, but he is working 50+ hours a week (about 68 when it's drill week). August was also the month in which a railroad company paid for him to fly out for a panel interview for a manager trainee program. We felt like he was very well qualified because of his specific background in the military and his bachelor's degree. He thought he would get the job . . . but he didn't. However, he learned from the whole experience, and while on the short trip he got to go (with another job candidate from our state) to a cool museum:

It was my mom's birthday, and we went to a farmers market. My husband took this picture.

For about six weeks this summer our van was our only working vehicle, because the Civic needed an expensive repair. We decided to sell the Civic instead, nearly ten years after he bought it. It sold very quickly, and that was kind of a sad day. But the stereo had been stolen -- for the second time while we've lived here -- a few days earlier, and it was time to say goodbye to that car. We bought a PT Cruiser. Although the van needed two repairs in order to pass safety and emissions testing, and the Cruiser already needed a small repair (I don't remember what they needed), that total is still a few hundred dollars less than what it would have cost us to fix the Civic.

I didn't mind being at home more (grocery shopping was one of the few challenges). The girls and I couldn't do M__ Park Monday and F__ Park Friday anymore. Many days we walked to nearby playgrounds, or just walked to see the ducks, or ate lunch outside in our neighborhood. They love pretending and coloring in our fitness center while I use the treadmill. Oh, and we swam (the girls mostly sit on the steps) in our pool a few more times. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I love swimming for exercise, even though I doubt my strokes look very good and I'm still a slow swimmer. It's never felt as good as it did this year. We reorganized our dresser drawers and Shboogoo was excited about folding things "the new way" so we can see everything. Some days we cooked delicious new recipes I found online, like this Mexican bean and rice casserole. If we wanted to see friends, they were able to come to our place. And we're thankful that we were never down to zero working vehicles.

Marbleworks

We like to make flowers out of fruit.

Here's a picture of my husband and me on a date in August. We're trying to go out together at least twice a month. We are also having regular meetings and writing down what we discuss in a notebook; it was his idea and it's been very helpful. We're more aware of things, and we're starting to actually budget!

Might as well include this here. He sent this photo to my phone one day, after asking a coworker how to write it in Spanish.

On August 29th, I had the baby in the actual seat part of a shopping cart, and let the other two kids sit in the part where you put whatever it is you're going to be buying. I wasn't looking at the kids and accidentally bumped the cart into the corner of a display. That made L fall right back out of the cart and hit the back of her head on the hard floor. She had been sitting on the edge, not down where she was supposed to be. She started bawling right away, and a bump formed. I took us straight to the closest emergency room. Daddy was working his part-time job but came over before we even got to see a doctor. The doctor said L seemed just fine; she didn't think there was any reason to do a CT scan.

The next day L was a little different. She was not her happy self and did not have much of an appetite, so in the afternoon I took her to the pediatrician. He said, from the way she was acting (maybe I don't remember everything) she had a concussion and we needed to give her extra fluids. 

Then, when she was in bed about 9 p.m., she threw up. The next morning (August 31st) she threw up a little two times. I called the pediatrician again, who told us to go right to the ER. At the hospital they examined her and of course I had to explain several times what had happened. They did a CT scan to see if there was any internal bleeding. She was not afraid at all, just laid perfectly still during the CT scan. Daddy came up from work, and by the time he arrived we found out the results were good. The last doctor who saw L said he thought she did not have a concussion, and that the throwing up was not related to her fall, since she didn't throw up until over 24 hours after she fell. It was a 12-hour stomach bug, I guess. We're so glad she is fine!

this May

Here are some a bunch of photos to show moments and events from May 2012. By the way, I would have published this post over a week ago if there hadn't been Blogger glitches and stuff. Actually, I think I'm done trying to fix the dumb glitches. :-)

"the bone shirt." L loves this shirt that is a recent hand-me-down from some ward friends.

my husband's graduation! It's still kind of strange for us that he is done with school. He finished his bachelor's degree in Exercise Science about nine years after starting it. He wanted to attend the convocation ceremony and not the huge commencement ceremony. It was great to have (almost all of) our immediately family members there. I don't know why my brother and his girlfriend, who made the lei with dollar bills and little candy bars in it, weren't in the photos. My sister and her husband and two young kids were also there but not in photos. Afterward we all went to a buffet restaurant for dinner (I should have brought a snack; I was so hungry!).

  

 

What an accomplishment: getting an education with two deployments interrupting it, while supporting a wife and kids!

Our kids and their four grandmas.

  

I'm so proud of him.

a new mom. On May 6th, the Sunday before Mother's Day, we met my nephew who had been born less than two weeks earlier.  He's adorable! He is the first child of my sister Angie and her husband Todd.  She gave birth naturally like she wanted to. I loved hearing the story and seeing the gorgeous photos her doula took -- so I have hospital photos and May 6th photos here. This is cool: While Angie was still pregnant she asked the baby, "What should we name you?" and a name that she had never heard before came to her mind. They made it his first name. 

My sister and I and our families brought dinner to them, but decided to let them eat it after we left so it would be enough food for them. (I hope they weren't too hungry . . . we didn't think we would all talk for as long as we did.) I also brought my cloth postpartum pads and newborn size cloth diapers in case she wanted to borrow them. She had wanted and received one-size diapers for the baby and I knew they were still too big on him.

almost 4 months and 2 weeks, 1 month and 2 weeks, and 2 weeks old

dinosaur museum. Our kids, especially the dinosaur-loving 5-year-old, call the natural history museum "the dinosaur museum." We'll have to go again. There is such cool stuff and it turned out that we arrived only two hours before closing time (it was a Saturday).

 

 

 

Beautiful sunshine, don't you think?

two years. It was the two-year anniversary of the end of my husband's second deployment. I love those reunion pictures!

job fair in Las Vegas. My mom watched our big girls from the night of May 15th until the afternoon on May 18th. We left the morning of the 16th and stayed at my husband's grandma's place. His aunt lives there too, and it's fun being with them. The job fair he went to on the 17th was just for veterans (baby and I hung out in a diferent part of the hotel). It was disappointing when we arrived and saw that the list of employers included Walmart and Verizon. We drove all that way to find unique opportunities, ya know? But he got some good advice and a lead for a management position. This was our first time going to Las Vegas together, but we were only there for part of a day because it was 102 degrees and our car's air conditioning wasn't blowing cold air (sweaty!!). I don't love that city anyway. We were there longer than anticipated because of two problems. 1) He lost his wallet in the hotel . . . got it back thankfully, but it took time. 2) He left the headlights on while we ate lunch and it took a while to get somebody who could jump our car. Other than that it was a nice little trip for the three of us. I'm pretty sure that I hadn't been more than an hour or two away from home since November 2010. It was baby C's first time in Arizona and Nevada. She was great the whole time, maybe just a little fussy when we were hot in the car. We were glad the weather was cloudy, rainy and cooler on the 18th. She is just such a happy baby! We're really blessed.

 

 

 

 

some of the beautiful scenery we walked/ran past

  

 

In the backyard after our workout and Mexican take-out.

 

I was the one taking pictures, with my hubby's iPhone. This is me helping him practice his "personal pitch" the morning of the job fair. (The iPad was what he wanted for his graduation gift. The whole family has enjoyed it.)

He likes an energy drink every once in a while.

  

his lunch at Denny's in Las Vegas

my lunch (veggie skillet)

They're cute. We stopped in Mesquite for a few things we needed at the grocery store, and cooled off.

 

Grandma's guest room. Her oldest daughter (my father-in-law's sister) painted the one on the right. They had made dinner and it was about ready for us when we got back from Vegas. We had planned on going to a restaurant again, but it was nice to stay where it was cool, have a home-cooked meal, and look at Grandma's old scrapbook.

 

real food for the drive home

 

five and a half. First Girl was excited for her half-birthday. I had told her it was coming, and she likes it when I say how old she and her sisters are going to be on their monthdays. She didn't get a gift. She just wanted to be five and a half. I did her hair really pretty with the curling iron, though.