Monday, March 21, 2011

'Tis the Season

David had a quick audit trip he went on last week.  He wasn't gone too long, but what made it bad was that we were all sick.  He was only gone for three days.  We all somehow managed to get to the peak of the congested stuffy heads right in the middle of it too.  So we couldn't even complain about it to each other, well Katelyn complained to me, but she wasn't very good at sympathizing with my complaints.  We were all pretty miserable and wished we were all together at least at nights.

David didn't like blowing his nose in front of his boss all day, but couldn't really take "nose blowing breaks" especially when he was riding in the car with her, working side-by-side with her all day, eating out with her for every meal, and did I mention the 4 hour car ride home?  I'm absolutely sure she was ready for some peace and quiet away from the nose-blowing David.

Does anyone know how you have to eat with a stuffy nose?  You can hold your breath with each bite until you swallow or you have to keep you mouth open so you can breathe.  Nobody holds their breath, so I just hope that David never had to sit directly in front of his boss because that would easily make me lose my appetite.

So when David got home I thought it would be nice to eat a nice home-y meal.  I have never liked chicken noodle soup unless it is homemade which I wasn't up for making.  I thought a homemade chicken pot pie would hit the spot.  Doesn't that sound like a nice "Welcome home sick dad" dinner?  I even "artfully crafted" a little house with a picket fence and walkway out of extra crust on top :)



Well David got home and we said our hellos and exchanged hugs and kisses all around.  He couldn't smell the dinner in the oven, none of us could but I am sure it was lovely!  I told him that dinner was just about ready and it was in just finishing up in the oven.  He wasn't too thrilled.  He was tired of food and eating out. . . and probably eating and trying to breathe while he ate.  He wanted cereal.  Simple.  Plain.  Boring.

I couldn't believe it.  I was sure this would be the perfect meal to come home to and he wanted cereal?

Well I didn't convince him this pot pie was better than his cereal.  We each had our different dinners and mine looked a million times more delicious, but I couldn't taste a thing.  Having a cold makes my taste buds paralyzed or something.  I could smell or taste anything I was eating :(  It was a fail all around.  

David even got some girl scout cookies, thin mints, from work and I couldn't even taste those.  Very disappointing.  So maybe I should have just stuck with the canned chicken noodle soup since I wouldn't even taste it.  Might be something worth remembering the next time the cold decides to take over our house.  I think we have had our share of stuffy noses and I am ready to be able to enjoy my food, be able to say "nose" instead of "dose" and "Katelyn" instead of "Kate-l", and to be able to see friends without getting them sick.

Not That Bad

This whole March Madness thing is actually a lot more fun than I expected.  I have only watched part of one game during this whole tournament and it was the BYU and Gonzaga game. . . . as a side note, I haven't seen BYU play though I have heard tons about their star player and also about the center who is off the team now.  I couldn't believe how sweet of a shot that Jimmer has.  He was shooting way beyond the 3 point line with defenders guarding him racking up the score.  He definitely has some talent and David and I were amazed with how easy he made it look.

Anyways, my bracket is doing ok. . . nothing fancy.  It is funny how David and I are rooting for some of these teams to win even though we have no idea who the players are, we probably don't know where the school is, and we don't have any connection to these schools except that we picked them to win that game.  I have never been so curious how the games are going.  An update of the score and how  much time is left is good enough for me.  I think the bracket system makes it easy for people to get emotionally invested in this tournament and follow the games.

Like I said before, David is rooting for Texas and picked them to win the whole thing.  He has picked them to win the last three years.  Does anyone know who has won the last three years?  Well all that really matters to him is that Texas isn't one of those.  David has been let down year after year.  Yesterday, Texas lost to Arizona. He was pretty bummed about this and disappointed in his team for letting him down again.  His Texas blanket has been his support system.

I haven't been very sympathetic, but he hasn't really been that sad over it either. . . AND he's my competition and I even predicted that Arizona was going to knock Texas out so I was a little happy.  I thought of cheering him up with a little Texas song on my recorder, but I just barely found it unpacking some leftover boxes and haven't practiced.  I am sure he would have loved it though :)  I have a pretty good chance of coming out on top of this whole competition.  I wonder what the winner gets. . . I'm ready to negotiate that now :)

Friday, March 18, 2011

The rest of the story. . . for you Papa



My dad sure is on top of the current events.  I left out some VERY important events of Katelyn's visit to Washington. Dad sent me an email and let me know. . . 

"You didn't mention some of her first time experiences that we had here at the farm!!!  If you recall we had a wonderful time that one night and Katelyn's first taste of ice cream!!  and what about her first Georgia Mud Fudge blizzard which happened to be the same time she had her first ice cream experience.  And, and what about the first time I really got David upset!!  or, or how about the time she had her first fortune cookie, or Frieto corn chip, ro, or her first kissk on the lips from Maggie!!
    lorry you're going to have to get your journal entries updated so that little gal can savor all those firsts that evidently you are just letting pass by!  :) :)
    Just kidding!!!!  I love your letter and the photos were pretty good too!!
Later,
DAD"

So first of all, my parents don't live on a farm or anything like it but that is what he called his place.  Actually I do remember Dad always saying "Who left the barn door open?!" whenever we would leave the door open during the winter and let all the heat escape out the front door.  So maybe we did live on a barn.  All of us kids must have been his animals. . . now I get it!

Dad loved coming home from work and playing with Katelyn.  They played plenty of peek-a-boo and were just plain silly together.  Sometimes Dad would even let me play with her for a bit and just loved watching me be mom especially when she would get the giggles.  



The ice cream story is his favorite.  Here's how he tells it:


"I went to see Abby at work, purchased a few blizzards and shared them with the family.  When I got home Lorry was Skyping David with Katelyn on her lap.  She kept looking back at me away from David, . . . sooooo cute!!  Well, I just started sharing some of my blizzard with her, . . . . ooh, she liked it!!!  Her eyes lit up, her lips got to smacking, and I could tell I had a buddy for sure.  Then, BANG!!!  David caught onto what I was doing and busted us!!  Oh did she put up a fit when the spoonfuls stopped, . . . not really, but you could tell she liked it!  David was funny though, " Hey, Lorry stop your dad from feeding her that stuff!!"  " Hey, that can't be good for her!"  Man was I in a pickle now!  no more from me for sure!!  I'll be good!
    Katelyn and I are buds though,  . . . . . there's a special bond there now I know!! :)  :)  Saturday night we danced at Vanessa's wedding reception for about half the night away.  Every now and then someone  (like Lorry) would come take her away from me, and then I'd have to go rescue her from some stranger and we'd go dance some more."

Katelyn wasn't very happy when the ice cream stopped coming.  Dad loves his ice cream and the fact that Katelyn liked it too won him over.  He was a proud grandpa. . . even though David got on him about giving "poison" to his little girl.  Dad liked sneaking treats to Katelyn all week.  We went out for Grandma Honey's 87th birthday for Chinese food and Katelyn got a hold of a fortune cookie.  She sucked on that cookie until it was so soggy, then she left it for me as she stuck it on my shirt.  She also got a big corn chip which she sucked on until she broke a piece off and  was on her way to choking on that.  I had to take that one away from her.

Dad loved having Katelyn around.  She didn't mind the extra attention at all. . . except those puppy kisses from Maggie.  Katelyn wasn't sure about the big furry animal especially since Maggie didn't like when Katelyn tried to climb on to her!    They just don't know about each other yet.  

So those are some of the things that I didn't mention about the trip.  Let me know if I left anything else out!  :)

She Poos in Blue

I don't usually buy the name brand diapers, but with sales and coupons I snagged some of these for really cheap.  I can't help but laugh about them.  David was disappointed that the pockets weren't real and they were just printed on.  It was just too good to be true.

Here's our little mover showing off her jeans.





This is the Huggies commercial that makes me giggle every time I put one of these diapers on Katelyn.



Katelyn sure has been inspired to go-go-go when she wears her "jeans".  She is moving all over the place now.

"The coolest you'll look pooping your pants."

Around here lately. . .

We aren't doing anything too wild and crazy around here.  We are just kind of going with the flow it seems.  Here's an update:

David:
~Lots of work and auditing trips.  He isn't doing taxes, but most of the people at work do taxes there so he is working more hours.. . . it doesn't really make sense to me, but he says he has stuff to do, he gets paid, and so I guess it works out.  Not so fun for him, but the extra bits in the pay checks are welcome anytime.
~Putting together bed frame for storage. . . for a second time.  When I started to get too much food storage and non food items from my coupon shopping to fit into our cupboards, David built a bed frame that was tall enough to slide boxes under it so we could store everything under there.   It isn't fancy by any means.  It is really heavy.  When we moved it was best to unscrew all the pieces and move it all separately.  When he was putting it back together after the move, he thought of a sturdy way to put it together.  That way wasn't very sturdy.  David likes to "plop" into bed.  I climb into bed.  But David's plopping jostled the bed too much and we were afraid all of our soaps and food would all get squished.  I never liked getting into bed first, especially trying to fall asleep before David came to bed because I was scared of the night where the bed just couldn't take it.  It got to the point where the frame would sway a little bit and make scary creaky noises when I would roll over.  So David fixed it and he can plop his little heart out every time he gets into bed.  He is very proud of his bed frame he built.  It has a lot of "character" :)
~David's birthday is coming up and all he wants is cake and ice cream. . . nothing else.  No presents.  Well he did ask for cookies for his birthday dinner, but he's not getting that.  I should make veggie cookies or something healthy that looks like a cookie.  Maybe he won't try to sneak into the stash of German chocolate and treats.  I'll show him!  I am going to have to be creative and think of something for a good gift and birthday dinner/date.
~CPA exam. . . he is planning on taking the big tests this summer.  His review material is ordered and on its way.  He's excited, but very nervous.
~Online classes. . . he is retaking a couple classes he took a long time ago and didn't do so well in.  He wants to get his GPA up so it looks better on resumes.  He is also thinking about doing an online MBA program starting this fall.
~His job is fine for now, but definitely not his dream job.  The work is fine.  The co-workers are too old.  He has to travel too much.  He has to work on Sunday every once in a while.  They are very set in their ways and don't want to change, grow, be more efficient, or any of that stuff which is very frustrating and boring to him.
~Not playing table tennis.  He hasn't played much since Katelyn was born.  He still loves it, but this little baby is just too precious to leave and he feels like he is already missing out on so much while he's at work that he likes to be home as much as he can.

Lorry:
~Finished off the basketball season with a pizza party.
~Volunteering at the school and enjoying not working there full time.  I do miss the kids, but I do not miss the stress that comes with that job. . . or the crazy parents. . . or the stress that some teachers have about the new bills/laws/reforms or whatever they are called that are cutting into the teachers.  I do keep picking up all the sick bugs from there I think :(
~Visit to Washington. . . usually when David goes out on his business trips, I will head out to my parents.  They love seeing Katelyn so often.  Each time we go Katelyn has more and more personality and spunk to her.  And maybe some attitude too.  My parents like that David has these trips since they get to see the baby, but we all wish he could be there to play too.
~Mom guided me through making a baby dress.  I wasn't able to finish, but it was actually looking like a dress, so I was proud of my sewing job.  The last time I sewed anything was when I was 9 and I made scrunchies out of rubber bands and scraps of fabric.  Mom had to start from the beginning basics with me.  I'm sure she could have easily made it herself, but she was patient with me and let me try it out.
~Dad and I went to the temple.  It had been a while since I had been especially since I had been to that temple and it was so refreshing.
~Dad and I climbed Badger.  It's a good climb that gets you huffing and puffing. . . especially hauling around the baby!



~One of my best friends got married!  Too cute!  Too beautiful!!  I am such a cry baby for happy things. . . Thanks Dad :)



~Coupon Shopping. . . once a week I will sort through my newspapers and file away my coupons and put together a shopping list of the best deals at one or two stores and then go for it.  It takes a lot of planning, but coming home and playing the guessing game, "How much did all this cost?" is always fun.  It is so great to be able to stock up on things we use every day for so little.  David likes it too except I have a hard time buying anything at full price when we need them.  For example, we ran out of face wash and I would almost rather not get anymore because I know that if I wait for a good sale I can get it for free if not really cheap.
~New recipes. . . I am tired of the same meals that we keep rotating through and have been trying out some new recipes.  David has been a trooper.  He now knows that if I like it, then he will say it is good even if it isn't good to him.  If I mention anything that I don't like about it, then he knows he's safe to share what he doesn't like about it.  David likes plain and simple.  I have been trying to get him to branch out a little and for some reason I think he is crazy when he doesn't like something that I love.  I always know when he likes something because he will ask or request to have it for lunch or leftovers the next day.
~My sister coming home from work with a free yummy ice cream cake for being such a good worker!

~Doctor's visits. . . there have just been too many between Katelyn being sick and her regular appointments.
~Teaching primary. . . I have the best girls.  I teach the 9-11 year old girls and they are great.  They are so sweet and it is so neat to see how much they know about this church and that I get to fill in the gaps and help them understand more.  They like learning about the gospel.  I am so glad there aren't boys in this class :)
~I am wanting my long hair back.  It is taking way to long to grow again.  Luckily I am not shedding anymore, but there are more little baby hairs coming back in that I've noticed.  This is a post pregnancy thing that I am very glad to be done with.  I was worried I was going to go bald for a bit there.

Katelyn:
~Trying to crawl. . . I think she is almost there, but this could be like having a baby due date. . . it could happen in a week or in a month.  She's up on her hands and knees, sometimes on her hands and feet when she's really showing off :)  It's like she's doing girly push ups and then the occasional manly push-up.  Funny girl!


~She's getting more and more ticklish, but only when she's in the mood, otherwise she just looks annoyed and gives me this look like, "Nice try, Mom."
~Get's excited and bounces on her bum when I blow my nose.  She's weird.  That is not exciting.
~Does not like when I wipe her nose.  She is a pro at turning her head away the second you are ready with the tissue making me chase her little nose back and forth.
~No teeth yet thankfully. . . she likes to suck on my collar bones and my chin when we are playing and tickling.  She actually gave me a hicky on my chin last week.  She got me good, but I am just glad there aren't teeth to chomp down on me!
~She LOVES peek-a-boo.  She leans from side to side with eye brows up to catch where you went and looks so pleased and happy when she finds you.
~She's been a wonderful traveler and does a million billion times better in the car then the first 2 months when she would scream until she was sweating.  Now she sweetly plays with her stuffed animals and chats and sings away until she falls asleep.
~Learning to play the piano.  She really likes to repeatedly whack at things, and this made noise so it was extra special.


~Her 6 month shots were not fun.  She can wiggle too much so they literally held her down.  She did not approve of this.  And then they poked her chubby little legs. OUCH!!
~She is determined to get things. . . especially things that she shouldn't ever play with like cords, poky things, plastic bags, messy food, and such.  She is not as easily distracted.  She will look at the new toy for a second  and then continue squirming and doing all she can to get what she sees.
~Watching her uncle do homework.

~She has a nasty cough. . . .her dad and Grandma both had it so she was bound to get it.  It isn't anything serious, just annoying for her.  Tis the season!
~She DOES NOT like to be left alone.  She is getting more and more attached to me, but if I leave out of sight and there isn't anyone else around, she is  not happy.  She lets out a full scream to let me know I have gone too far.
~She is a pro at scarfing down baby food.  Those green beans, peas, squash, broccoli, carrots, bananas, pears. . . so creamy. . . .mmmm.  Doesn't that sound so yummy?  She thinks they truly are lip smackin' good!  I'm not brave enough to try them but I have caught myself a couple times about to eat a spoonful of baby food because sometimes I feed her while I am eating and give her a bite of her food then take a bite of mine.  Almost got our spoons mixed up. . . that would have been a dirty little surprise!
~Loves to stare and then try to eat everything . . . including other babies.  This is new.  She used to just stare, but now she knows she can kind of move places so she goes for them and likes to feel how squishy they are.

 So that is life for us!  We are staying busy, but not too busy!  

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Madness? . . . Nah.

David convinced me to fill out a bracket for the basketball tournament.  I don't follow basketball too closely but I have seen a game here and there.  So in filling out my bracket I was really clueless.  I have always just filled them in and called it good not even having any idea who the top ranked teams were.  I have no idea who is going to win what game, who will have the big upsets, and all that.  David gets really excited about it.  Of course, David is betting on Texas to win it all.  He is a loyal fan and will always support any team from Texas over anyone else.

I didn't do any "research" on the teams and I just went off of the rankings.  So we'll see how my guesses play out this time.  I guessed Duke is going to win it again this year. (I didn't realize they won it last year until David told me)  So maybe I have a chance of racking up more points than David. . . let the madness begin :)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Our Growing Girl

Katelyn definitely isn't a little baby.  We went in early awhile back for her 6 month appointment but just a week.  The appointment scheduler lady said it would be fine to go in early and she would still get her shots.  Well the first thing they said to me when I got there was "Oh, it looks like you are a little early and you will need to come back in a couple of weeks for her shots." I was definitely annoyed.  They still did her wellness check-up and she was looking nice and healthy.

She is weighing in at 17 pounds 15 1/2 ounces. . . almost 18 pounds.  She is about 25 1/2  inches long with 17 1/2 inches around her head.  She is high on the charts for weight and low/middle for height.  So she is still a squishy baby.

Her recent talents and interests include:

  • this fake roll over trick belly out and all

  • rolling over and getting disoriented and losing her toys.
  • pulling things apart or stretching them over her head. . . like socks or paper or bears. . . just to show off how big and strong she is getting :)
  • grabbing, grabbing and grabbing some more.  (especially the things we don't want her to grab like cords, phones, glasses, and plastic bags)
  • anything she can get her hands on gets a stare down and then goes to the mouth to really figure it out
  • she sticks out and tries to suck on her own tongue. . . go ahead and try it and you will look just about as cute as Katelyn does, maybe
  • she is getting close to crawling, but she pushes too much with her arms and goes backwards.  This makes her very frustrated because she ends up further away from what she wants
  • she knows how to throw tantrums and doesn't like when I take things away that she really wants to play with
  • sleeping during basketball practice
  • she still stares people down and is tough to crack a smile out of when we are out
  • she's really good at girl push ups
  • when she drops a toy and you pick it up, she realizes she just started a fun game.  If you don't want to play this game, she gets very sad.
  • distraction is wonderful. . . new toys, tickles, songs, etc
  • socks don't belong on the feet
  • people are personal jungle gyms that can be sucked on, pinched or climbed on with the occasional snuggling
  • bananas make the yucky vegetables taste wonderful
She's our little princess and she keeps getting cuter and cuter!


Good ol' February

This month hasn't been too wonderful.  We started it off passing around a cold.  I go and volunteer at the school after the kids leave once a week.  Some of the kids are still there and are waiting for their parents, who are teachers, to finish up and take them home.  One girl in particular is one that I had in my class when I student taught.  She was excited to play with Katelyn.  I wasn't so excited about this.  She came sniffling and sneezing away and I knew I was in for it.  She asked to play with Katelyn and I suggested she wash her hands first.  She went over to the sink and flicked water around and called it good.  I offered her some of my hand sanitizer and may have given her a little too much on purpose.  I had her rub it in really well and up to her elbows too :)

Katelyn is usually very cautious to smile at strangers, but this little girl was trustable I guess.  Katelyn was smiling, grabbing her glasses, and playing with her in no time.

Not long after that visit, Katelyn was sniffling.  David noticed first, and I blamed it on the crying.  It lasted all week and the sniffles stuffed her up.  It was passed on to me and then on to David as well.

We all cleared up and were on our way.  Katelyn's didn't clear up all the way I guess.  One day she was hot.  Just by holding her I could tell she had a fever.  I figured it was probably teething, but called the doctor just in case.  My at home temperature checks were high and they asked me to come in.  Her congestion turned into an ear infection and the fever was connected to it.  We picked up some antibiotics and were on our way.  Katelyn loved the medicine and didn't seem to be in too much pain so it was manageable.

David started working Saturdays so he only gets one-day weekends now.  It's busy season.  I am coaching the basketball games on my own now which isn't as fun.  The boys miss having David around at the games.  I miss him too.  This Saturday is our last game and pizza party.  David won't be able to be there because of work.  Bummer.

Valentine's day wasn't anything too fancy.  Each year we trade off and this year it was my turn to plan our date.  We don't know anyone too well to babysit, so we had Katelyn with us but we still like her so we were okay with it.  David only gets Sunday off so I had limited time.  David also has a tough time wanting gifts of any kind.  If he wants something, he gets it.  He has a hard time wanting me to get him gifts because he sees it as his money being spent on him and he already has the basic things he needs.  He is very simple too. So the real way to his heart is food.  I made some egg rolls and I think David is convinced that I am Asian because the egg rolls, sweet 'n sour sauce and fried rice was that good.  We went and enjoyed a college basketball game that night too.  On the real Valentine's day, I snuck a little love note with him as he went off to work.  Katelyn and I joined him for leftover Asian food and cookies for lunch.  I made some yummy tacos for dinner.  His belly was filled with love that weekend and he was a happy boy.