Sunday, November 15, 2009

Sunday Evening Post

I’m not really in the mood to write anything, but Neal is working all night (just like last Sunday!), Sally is soundly sleeping, it is 9:10 PM on a Sunday evening, and there isn’t a ton to do. I’m aiming to go to bed early tonight, and I’m afraid that I’ll start writing and not want to stop (which sometimes happens), and ruin my chances for extra sleep.

I just read a bunch of random thoughts from my sister, so I’ll think I’ll jot down some random thoughts of my own:

-Sally is so sweet and I’m so grateful to be a mom. She talks about her baby brother frequently and the things that she’ll do for him (give him blankies and binkies; share her sippy with him—I really hope not; hug him; share toys with him). The other day she kissed my stomach repeatedly, saying that she was kissing baby brother.

-Sally isn’t screaming much at bedtime anymore (thank goodness!), and has had a few naps lately. It’s been nice. I don’t expect that she’ll go back to napping every day for 2 hours like she was doing 6 weeks ago, but I think I can expect at least one good nap a week out of her.

-My friend Rosemary and I have started a babysitting swap. When it was her turn to watch Sally this week I had planned on getting some work done but ended up going shopping and buying some new picture frames—something I’ve been wanting for a long time. It was so nice to shop alone!

-Neal and I have done a lot with his family lately, which has been fun. We spent the last two Saturdays, at least in part, with his siblings that are still at home, and on Tuesday we all went ice skating as a family at Crown Center (I opted out: clumsy person + big belly + ice = a disaster waiting to happen). I had fun on the sidelines with Sally. Neal was the only member of the family who stayed on his feet the entire time.

-My pregnancy is going well for the most part, but I’ve had some unpleasant pregnancy symptoms lately, including heartburn, blurry vision, and heart palpitations accompanied by dizziness (the most common symptom, and becoming more and more common all of the time). All of these things happened when I was expecting Sally, but not until the very end of the pregnancy. The blurry vision especially scared me when it happened with Sally, but I looked it up in a pregnancy book, and apparently it is a common symptom. I’m sleeping well except that I don’t get enough. 99% of the time that is my own fault. Neal and I have a hard time getting to bed at a decent time. We are too fond of our “normal people” time to cut it short by an early bed time—no hospitals, no patients, no singing of silly songs, no one to pull our hands off of the computer, etc. At some point, though, we’ll have to balance the scales, since sleep can’t lose out forever.

-Sally is starting to say lots of funny things. One example: a few days ago she was pretending that she was a kitty. Neal joined in the game and said that he was a doggy. When he asked Sally what Mommy was, she said “Mommy piggy!” Neal and I couldn’t contain our laughter. A few days later she pointed at me and said “Mommy piggy!” and laughed and laughed at herself.

-I love being a stay at home mom, despite the hard days. I’m learning that I can make hard days fewer and farther between by how I respond to situations and how I plan my day. In most cases when Sally is upset or cranky, I can look back and see things that I could have done differently. I’m trying to find a good balance between doing the things that I want to do and doing the things that Sally wants to do. Of course I don’t want to put my priorities aside and let Sally run the show, but I also don’t want to be so set on getting the things done that I care about that I overlook Sally’s feelings and desires. I’m finding the joy in spending an afternoon (or even 20 minutes) in an unmade bed reading story after story with sweet, curious, bright, little Sally while the laundry sits unfolded, the dinner waits to be made, and voicemail answers the phone.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I messed this up

This is Neal, and I am responsible for messing up this blog and posting the videos. That is all.


Sunday, November 8, 2009

It's Autumn Time: Halloween

I don’t really get into Halloween, but I do end up dressing up every year. Neal is usually the mastermind behind our costumes, but I put myself in charge this year when I spied a toddler sized cow costume hanging in the window of the local Goodwill store. For a mere $2.50, Sally was a cow, and Neal and I were dairy farmers. Minimal effort, satisfactory results. I hadn’t planned on having Sally being a cow, but she liked the costume (which resembled jammies) and got excited to put it on. I couldn’t have been more excited myself.

We had a fun afternoon and evening trunk-or-treating at the church and having dinner and treats with the Petersons. A few photos:

High ho the dairy-oh! The farmers take the cow...


Me and little Sally Moo. My costume really was quite pathetic.


Sleeping on the way to Grandma's house (she really does still need to nap!)


Sally and her beloved Uncle Canute (about to leave on his mission). Sally will miss him (I guess Neal and I will, too :) ).

It's Autumn Time: The Louisberg Cider Mill

Since I’ve lived in Kansas City I’ve heard about what a fun place the Louisberg Cider Mill is. We decided to give it a try. If Neal and I had just gone by ourselves, I probably would have been disappointed. But since Sally makes everything more fun, we had a good time. Sally loved the bales of hay, the pumpkins, and the other kids. I enjoyed the cider and donuts, but I wouldn’t have made the drive just for them. Of course the actual mill itself is one of the main attractions of the place, but unfortunately it was not operating when we were there, so we missed out in that respect. Overall we had a good time and got some cute pictures of the Sal gal.

"I want this one, Mommy!"


Sally's new friend. She had a great time throwing hay with him.


Neal and Sally. Thanks to Neal many families were saved from having Sally enter into their family photos. She was trying to run after more children when he caught her.


Me and Sally (with crazy eyes in this picture).


The mill and the Petersons.

It's Autumn Time: Deanna Rose Farmstead

The city of Overland Park owns an awesome child-friendly farm/park that is free of admission and lots of fun. It's called the Deanna Rose Farmstead, and I'd recommend it to anyone, old or young. Sally and I first went with my parents in May when they were visiting for Neal's graduation, and I've since been back several times. A few weeks ago I went with my friend Rosemary and her cute twins, Lanny and Spencer.

Lanny, Spencer, and Sally enjoying a quick rest.


Sally trying out the rocking chick at the playground. Unfortunately the white unicorn with the purple horn was monopolized by a 3 year old who would not give it up for anything, even after 30 minutes! Sally got over it.


The Longmores. What would Sally and I do without them?


The kids enjoying one of the many tractors open for exploration.


Happy Sally on the tractor.


A fun day with fun friends. A great Fall outing.

On a Jet Plane

In October Sally and I took yet another trip to Utah so I could attend my friend Anna’s wedding. Here are a few highlights of the trip:

Sally and I at Temple Square (with my dad, who took the picture). Sally loved the "big Jesus statue", and I enjoyed my first ever tour of the roof of the Conference Center.


Sally and I at Wheeler Farm. We went with my dad and the Squire girls, Ada and Kate. My dad is enjoying his retirement and is a good sport about taking his granddaughters on outings.


Grandpa and the girls (Kate was with me). It was a beautiful Fall day.


Anna, Kim, Cailey, and myself following Anna's bridal shower.


It was nice to see my friends and my family, but Sally and I missed Neal and I’m getting sick of traveling and being apart. In the past 20 months I’ve been on more airplanes than I hope I am on in any 20 month period in the future:

February 2008: Sally and I flew to Utah for my friend Cailey’s wedding.

June 2008: Sally and I flew to Utah to spend time with my family while Neal was doing a rotation in New Mexico.

September 2008: Sally and I flew to Utah for a visit while Neal was doing a rotation in San Antonio.

October 2008: we took a quick trip to Chicago so Neal could take a test/we could visit Angie and Hyrum. Neal, Sally, and I all traveled together (for the first time).

February 2009: Sally and I flew to Las Vegas to meet up with Neal, who was doing a rotation for school there.

March 2009: Sally and I flew to California to help the Cherry family (Neal’s cousin Caryn and her husband Brett and their four little boys, the youngest of which was hospitalized for leukemia)

June 2009: The three of us flew out to Utah so my parents could watch Sally while Neal and I went hiking in the Grand Canyon.

July 2009: Sally and I flew to Utah for Abby and Scott’s wedding.

October 2009: A trip to Utah for Anna’s wedding, just me and little Sal.

Nine different trips by plane, seven of which have been without Neal. And there are more upcoming: a flight this month to St. Louis (1-way for me, so I can qualify for a free flight from Southwest Rapids Reward; Sally may or may not be with me), and another flight to Utah in December for the Christmas holiday (just me and Sally will travel together—Neal has separate travel arrangements because of his work schedule).

I’m not thrilled about either of these upcoming trips. I’m sick of airports and airplanes and traveling without Neal. Although Sally has always behaved well when we have traveled together, the whole process is exhausting. I do feel lucky that I’ve been able to do so many things and go to so many different places, though. We’ve been on a lot of airplanes, yet we’ve also done a ton of driving, and I’ll take the plane over the car when it’s to a destination more than 200 miles away.

Since Sally is about to turn two (which means she’ll need her own ticket) and I’m about to have two children to travel with, our air travel will decrease significantly. Not a bad thing.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Updates

A few updates on the Peterson family. Some cute pictures will follow (maybe in a day, maybe in a month, but I'll get to it eventually).

Sally:

Has stopped napping and hates going to bed at night. Every night she screams after we put her in bed until she is exhausted and can scream and cry no more (for about 10 minutes on average). She is getting good at trying to stall at bedtime and getting Mommy to go back in her room once she’s been put down.

Has four new canine teeth with which to chew, and is having a hard time adjusting to them (which we hope is part of the reason why she doesn’t want to go to bed at night). She chews on her fingers during the day, and pulled a vampire act on Neal tonight (which got her sent to the corner).

Loves to sing, and is really good at it. She can sing several songs by herself, including “I Am a Child of God”, “Do Re Me “ (from The Sound of Music), “Old MacDonald”, and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. She can carry a tune very well on her own. I sing to her a lot and often make up my own songs. She is starting to get creative herself and make up her own lyrics to songs.

Love to dance. I play Primary songs for her on the piano, and she twirls/runs around the rug while giggling and grinning from ear to ear.

Is obsessed with pajamas. She wants to wear only pajamas, and thankfully she has several outfits that resemble pajamas enough for her to want to wear them. Getting her dressed is becoming a struggle.

Is a great talker. I can have “normal” conversations with her (in which she responds appropriately to questions, offers unique ideas and suggestions, and asks appropriate questions).
Is into names. Whenever we see someone new, she asks me their name. She isn’t satisfied when she asks her friends’ parents’ names and I respond with “Brother ____” or “Sister ____”. She asks me the names of her friends’ houses. She knows the names of everyone in her Nursery class.

Is very sweet and caring. When I told her the other day tha I had a headache, she got me a pillow and blanket and told me to lie down. She then kissed my head, and said "Feel better, Mommy!"

Has tantrums, but none that are terrible. She will usually calm down after just a few short minutes and can somewhat be reasoned with.

Likes to talk about her baby brother and being a big sister.

Loves to play hide and seek with daddy.

Emily:

Is struggling to get work done during normal daytime hours due to Sally’s nap boycott. Hence, more work for the company is done after Sally has gone to sleep.

Is enjoying her Thursday evenings away from home with the Mormon Chorale (a local regional church choir). Is loving singing more often, getting to accompany the choir at times, and letting Neal have some daddy-daughter time.

Is getting bigger all of the time, and is often told how large she looks.

Is always hungry.

Enjoyed making (and eating AND sharing) festive Halloween treats with Sally: pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, pecan pie bars, pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, and caramel apples.

Misses Neal, and is just starting to realize how unpleasant the intern year of residency is for the whole family, but is trying to make the best of it.

Neal:

Works a lot and often gets the short end of the stick at work.

Is busy with church when not at work—EQ meetings (weekly), moving people in/out of the ward, home teaching (his own, and coordinating his district), etc.

Still makes time to run and play basketball.

Is a great daddy and has a special ability to get Sally to snap out of a bad mood.