The joys of a new baby...

Josh and I made a gingerbread house this year. The windows are melted gummy bears that worked out quite nicely, except the foil from the baking sheet stuck to the insides.

Ally in her favorite Christmas present. She really likes looking out at the world so the Bumbo chair is perfect. It came with a LARGE warning label not to put it on high surfaces in case the baby could tip it over and fall off. Sad that some people put their babies in danger so they need a specific label warning against it.

I love dressing her in little people clothes! Speaking of Ally, yesterday at church she threw up all over me during sacrament meeting. Apparently I left a trail as I rushed her out to the bathroom. One of the wonderful women in the ward (Mary H.) came and helped me clean her up. It was definitely a 2-person job. Luckily I had a backup outfit, but my poor baby had to wear little blue pants and a onesie for the rest of church. I, unfortunately, did not have a backup outfit for myself, so I just smelled funny for the rest of church. One of those things about being a mother that I never thought would be fun, but the day after I can laugh about it. It did make me realise that I will be dependent on other people to help while Josh is gone.

Happy Birthday to me!

My new pressure cooker/canner. I am so excited to can food!

Ally in her Christmas dress, which no-one got to see.
This week, Ally got her shots and Josh got the flu, so between her fussing and Josh deciding if he needed to throw up, we were late to church on Sunday. I just sat out in the hall and then set up my Sharing Time in the Primary room. I had a sharing time all prepared with activities and visuals on the board. I even had two nice young men from another ward playing Christmas carols on their cellos. (they were actually just practicing before they played for their ward, but I invited them to provide my prelude music for Primary) I waited and waited but no children came in to the room. Finally someone informed me that the remaining meetings had been cancelled! By the time I put away my materials, most people had already left the church. I still have a whole stack of Christmas cards that will probably not get delivered. To top off my frustrating day, my vehicle decided not to start due to the cold weather.

Today has been better. Josh let me open my present even though my birthday isn't until tomorrow, so all day I have been playing with my new toy. So far I have canned chicken and potatos to add to our food storage. I think it will come in handy while Josh is gone, so I don't have to cook as often for only myself (10 days until departure). I am also looking at buying a new vehicle (yay!).

ally

Christmas time!

Ally has started smiling! She loves the Christmas tree and turns her head to look at it even when I am trying to rock her to sleep!

Toby getting into the Christmas spirit.

My tree. I made the tree skirt last year because I could not find a blue one with snowflakes.

When I was younger, I was always slightly embarrassed by my family's Christmas tree. My friends' trees were always tastefully decorated with coordinating ornaments and an overall theme, like the ones in stores. Mine at home was completely covered with a random assortment of mismatched remnants of ornament sets and child-made crafts. Each ornament was special, but as a whole, the effect was not so pretty. Now that I have my own tree, I have a mix between the two. I decorated mostly in one theme, but added random ornaments, such as baby's first Christmas, some japanese and german ornaments, like the pickle. I'm sure some day it will be covered with memories just like my parent's tree.

all about me

1. What time did you get up this morning? 12:30, 4:30, and 8:00
2.Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? twilight
4. What is your favorite TV show? smallville, but only the first 3 seasons, or Alias, also the first 3 seasons
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? chocolate-chip pancakes or eggs
6. What is your middle name? Carol
7. What food do you dislike? mushrooms :(
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? They Might Be Elders (mormon parodies of popular songs, look it up at DeseretBook.com or listen at http://www.halestormentertainment.com/p_music_details.asp?sID=jnlofpn4
9. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota 4Runner
10. Favorite sandwich? toasted turkey and pepper jack
11. What characteristic do you despise? closed-mindedness
12. Favorite item of clothing? fuzzy boots
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia
14. Where would you retire to? somewhere in the Western US, not too close to family, on a chunk of land that still has all 4 seasons and not much wind
15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 22, took Josh snowboarding and he broke his knee
16. Furthest place you are sending this questionnaire? Afghanistan
17. Person you expect to complete it first? who knows?
18. When is your birthday? December, same day as Joseph Smith
19. Morning person or a night person? morning
20. What is your shoe size? currently 7.5, I'm hoping it goes back down to 6.5 so I can wear all my pre-pregnancy shoes
21. Pets? 2 dogs
22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? my husband has a new job and he loves it!
23. What did you want to be when you were little? a bird
24. How are you today? motivated to get Christmas decorations up
25. What is your favorite flower? hyacinth
26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 15, Josh graduates from FLETC and comes home
27. What are you listening to right now? my freezer humming
28. What was the last thing you ate? scones with creme fraiche and strawberry jam (mmm...)
29. Do you wish on stars? I used to wish for gumballs when I was little, I never got any...
30. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? sky blue
31. How is the weather right now? looks cloudy
32. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Amanda!
33. Favorite soft drink? root beer, after it sits open for a few hours
34. Favorite restaurant? Macaroni Grill
35. Hair color? blond/brown
36. What was your favorite toy as a child? bike/rollerblades
37. Summer or winter? summer, no winter, no summer, ummm
38. Chocolate or Vanilla? vanilla ice cream, chocolate everything else
39. Coffee or tea? gross!
40. Do you want your friends to complete this? of course
41. When was the last time you cried? when Ally got diaper rash
42. What is under your bed? storage tubs and a fire-proof safe
43. What did you do last night? slept intermittently, fed the baby, slept intermittently
44. What are you afraid of? tripping and falling down the stairs while holding Ally
45. Salty or sweet? both together
46. How many keys on your key ring? 1
47. How many years at your current job? Mom: 2 months, my previous job doesn't seem to matter anymore
48. Favorite day of the week? it used to be Friday, now they all seem the same
49. Do you make friends easily? yes
50. How many people will read this? probably 10
51. How many will respond? probably 2
52. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? yes
Josh holding Ally, wearing his uniform for the last time, Yay!

Thanksgiving

Allison getting a baby massage from her aunt Rhonda (I got one too). It's nice to have a massage therapist in the family...

Our little family made a trip down to Colorado Springs to be with Josh's family for Thanksgiving. We had 19 people, most of them under the age of 10. By the end of the weekend, I was very glad to only have one child, who still sleeps most of the day. The dinner was good, I ended up making a lot of it since the host became ill (sorry Lauren). Dessert was better. We had a good time with family, and then got stuck an extra day due to weather. Our sister-in-law braved the weather and it took her 3.5 hours to get to Denver. We decided to spend another night, but even so the roads were icy on the way back.

I did brave some stores on Black Friday, Walmart included. I have a very handy baby carrier wrap from Heather so I just strapped Allison on and dove into the craziness. I got some good deals, mostly for my husband (yay Lowe's!) I have to say that Walmart was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Emergency Preparedness

This week, Josh and I both felt strongly that we should start preparations in case of an emergency. I'm not sure if these feelings were influenced by the recent weather, the outcome of the elections, having a new baby, or just something we have been procrastinating for a while now. Anyway, we packed our 72 hour kits with all sorts of goodies (thanks Cabelas!) and supplies. I ran a search online for a list of items to pack and the very first result was lds.org! Interesting. Then we beefed up our food storage (thanks Sam's Club!) so we have enough to last us for a while. It really is a good feeling to know that we could survive independent of others for at least a month or two.
Here are some of my favorite things:
MRE's (these have really improved since I remember eating them years ago)
water filtration bottles (it's a water bottle with a filter built in)
extra tiny blankets
foldable tools
Technology has really come up with some nice things. We are now debating buying an emergency generator. A family in our ward was without heat during this last storm which would be horrible. Also we have a large freezer full of food that would be wasted without power to keep it cold.

As always, I need to share a picture of my little girl.

Kudos to Josh for receiving his CCAF degree in Aircraft Maintenance Technology. Ironically enough, his graduation ceremony coincided with his last day (ever) working on the aircraft. Starting M0nday, he is officially an Agent in Training for OSI. For those of you who don't know what OSI is, watch NCIS which is basically what he will be doing, but for the Air Force. He is excited to:

1. Not wear a uniform

2. carry a gun

3. do something "worthwhile" for the Air Force

I can understand his frustration as I have been here with him during his 6 excruciating years as an aircraft maintainer. He has worked long hours, been called in on so many weekends I can't even remember, and deployed yearly, not counting his numerous TDY's. Just last night he was called 3 times between midnight and 2 AM by someone out on the flight line who needed help to do their job. I'm sure he will come home tonight and breathe a sigh of relief that it is over.

I finally made it out of my house this morning t find a huge snowdrift across my entire road, with this Yukon inside of it. My dog was nice enough to pose for the picture (he loves the snow).

this is the view out my back door. Unfortunately that is the only access to my back yard (also full of snow).

This is my neighbor's house. Behind that large drift is their front door.

It has been almost exactly 6 months since our last snow day, in May. I have to say that snow days are not quite as exciting since I don't go to work or school any more. I don't think we even got that much snow but the strong winds just piled it up together. Gotta love that SD weather!

Allison, 4 weeks old!

My little pumpkin

lounging after a bath

This blog is rapidly becoming a page about Allison. I hope that those of you who read my blog will recognize me as a new mom and cut me some slack. I used to have so many things going on all the time, and now I have one main focus, which takes up most of my time.

I am recovering from the weekend, during which I had 18 family members visiting for Allison's blessing. My tiny little house could not hold them all! Thank goodness not everyone arrived simultaneously. I think they took pity on us and visited in shifts. It was nice to have so many of Allison's grandparents, aunts and uncles willing to hold (and change) her. I was very touched to have all those people here who love us and our daughter.

More about Allison

She is already a daddy's girl.

Here is my baby, sleeping (as usual). She really sleeps a lot and cries very little. I think I got lucky. We actually took her on a road trip last week, which went really well. She slept all day in her carseat with barely any complaint. Hopefully this continues when she is older.

I never knew motherhood would be so exhausting. I used to wonder what I would do with my day when I didn't have a "job". Nowadays I am proud of myself if I do one thing a day. Kudos to all those moms of multiple children out there. I am exhausted with one!

She has arrived!

Ok, here is me about 12 hours before I delivered

Here is our little family. Josh is the cutest dad ever.

Here is Allison. She mostly eats, sleeps, and yawns (as pictured)

I was a little surprised, since I was technically due to deliver on the 16th, but I am definitely not arguing with her arrival. My water broke at 2:30 AM Tuesday and she was born at 8:30 AM. 8lbs 1oz 20.5 inches

She is my new favorite person in the world. More updates to follow...

School is in session...

The weather is cooling, the leaves are changing colors, and I am NOT in school. I realized today that for the first time in years, I am not attending/working at a school. I honestly believe that I have been in school for the past 18 years of my life. How strange it is to not worry about homework or lesson plans or even getting up at the same time every day.

Josh tells me I deserve a break because for the past 3 years I was teaching early-morning seminary, which was a wonderful experience, but I don't know how I got the sleep I needed. Add student teaching on top of being pregnant, and this has been a long year. I can't believe I have been pregnant since January! And it is almost over. My doctor said I am dilated 2 centimeters, which means almost nothing in the long run, but I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel! We still have some things to move and finish (like her crib) but I am almost ready to be a parent. In a few years I will be getting little Allison ready for school and then fall will once again mean something. For now I am enjoying sleeping in and not following a regular schedule, for the first time in my life.

Life at home

We are continuing to get the house ready for a baby, re-arranging furniture and cleaning (I must be in the nesting phase) I can't reach my feet but I feel a need to clean out the fridge. Apparently the Air Force has decided that a 2-bedroom house is large enough for 3 people to live in comfortably. I have to disagree. Especially after living in this house for 5 years with a husband who likes to build furniture. It has been a little difficult trying to fit her and all her stuff into the house. Plus my mom is coming to stay for two weeks and we no longer have a guest bedroom. I guess we will see how it all works out...

Toby and Lia. I wonder how they will do with the new addition...

My handsome man =)

Josh all dressed up in his blues. He won an ACC safety award of distinction for saving a jet and pilots from a faulty ejection seat handle. I am very proud of my military man!

furniture

Josh the handyman. It is so nice to have a husband that is good with tools. He built this bookshelf to hold all the books Allison will acquire.

This is her toy box. It is already full. The crib is currently under construction, but will hopefully be finished before she arrives...

Allison waving Hi!

Finally, here is the baby belly. I am just beginning to get to the uncomfortable stage, but I'm hoping for a few more weeks to get my house in order before she decides to make an appearance.

Finally a blog...

Apparently I am behind the times so I have decided to start a blog. Many exciting things have been happening in my life lately so I will post them to share with anyone who cares to read about them.
First and foremost, I am due to have a baby girl in about 3 weeks. Josh picked the name Allison and I love it.

I recently had a very PINK baby shower with lots of fun people and games. Thanks to everyone who came and for all the nice gifts!

my PINK cake

Lindsey (my neighbor) and her little girl Aliza

my good friend Raxsel made lots of yummy food

and I got so many cute little girl things!