Here It Comes...

...the Whirlwind of December. I can feel the rushing of the days already. And I'm still tired from Black Friday. How am I going to make it? Emmett watched a Christmas episode of Curious George the other day and ever since he has been asking when he gets to open presents. I keep showing him our advent calendar and explaining that there are still more than 25 days left till we open presents. We did put up our Christmas tree and it looks lovely. I have the piano bench in front of it creating a wall of sorts to prevent Melynn from eating the ornaments. Emmett broke one while we were decorating the tree. He wanted to help so badly but just couldn't quite get the metal hooks over the branches well enough to keep the ornament ON the tree. Anyway, he loved the decorating and wants to put presents underneath and then open them. When Josh got home from church today Emmett said, "Happy Christmas!" It was cute.

So lets rewind since I haven't been writing as often and the days are slipping past quickly. Last week was a stay at home week. We spent a lot of time with Josh, which we all needed. He watched football, I did cross stitch, we were totally and utterly lazy (except on Saturday when Josh cleaned the ENTIRE apartment) and it was WONDERFUL. Thanksgiving was awesome. Totally relaxed. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and I danced during the Rockettes to show Emmett how they kick, kick, kick. He was kicking around the apartment the rest of the day. He loved seeing the giant balloons. He got really excited when he saw Big Bird and Abby from Sesame Street. I can't remember if there was Elmo too. I was in another room at the time. He came running down the hallway saying, "I see Abby! I see Big Bird! I see Abby!" He also got excited when he saw Santa Claus at the end. All day Saturday he kept saying that he wanted to go see Santa Claus. We postponed that for another day.

We made a turkey for our Thanksgiving potluck dinner with friends and friends of friends. It ended up being a perfect get-together. Relaxed and casual, so low stress, but good food and fun company. I also planned out my Black Friday shopping with Kassi and Karen, which turned out beautifully. I, of course, took my camera to both the Thanksgiving dinner and the shopping in the middle of the night but didn't remember to take any pictures. Doh! I was able to find everything I wanted (well...I didn't find any good movies for the family) and was home and back in bed by 7 AM. Not too shabby. Josh was sweet and let me sleep in for a little while. I was lucky and Melynn slept until about 10 AM that day.

We missed our families but we were thankful that we are happy here in Omaha among wonderful friends. We feel so blessed this year. We have two healthy, happy, smart and energetic kids. We live in a warm and spacious 3 bedroom apartment. We have a good marriage and Josh is doing well in school. We are finding joy in the everyday funnies and laugh all the time. I love my life and even though the Christmas season will be action-packed and maybe a little stressful, I'm ready. Bring it on!

Emmett and Melynn

I love my kids. They are so much fun. I have some new pictures and a video of Melynn. She is starting to babble a little. I've heard the ba-ba-ba and ma-ma-ma sounds. She is the cutest baby. And Emmett is getting so smart and independent. He can close the car door by himself now. That is a huge help! Melynn loves to pull up to things and heads straight for the bathtub if she knows Emmett is getting his bath. Pretty soon I can see her climbing right in with her clothes on.

Emmett watched Black Beauty with me the other day and then wanted a horsey ride from his dad. He looks more like a monkey clinging to his back.
Melynn loves Emmett's chair and gets stuck on the bars when she tries to crawl over them. We call this getting high-centered.
Emmett being silly. That's what nostrils are for, right?

Snippets

I just have a few little things I want to remember from the last few days. Here they are in no particular order:

Today during Sunday School I actually got to attend a class (rare!) and I chose the family history class since that is where Josh has been going. It was all about gathering information about our history and it confirmed what I have been doing with all my pictures. If you don't know about this little project, I am basically scanning in all my old photographs and writing about them on a private blog. I hope to add to the pictures with my journals (starting from junior high) and other memories that I still have floating around in my head. I find that writing about my life helps me remember my life, especially the good parts. Which leads me to my next snippet...

During Sacrament meeting the first speaker talked about Gratitude and she mentioned how journaling can help us be grateful, especially when we record the daily blessings we receive from the Lord. I know this is true. I feel like I am a pretty consistent journal writer and I have been for years but as the years go by my testimony of journaling grows stronger. Printing this blog into books has made me realize that my words can be permanent and that my kids might actually read it someday!

Speaking of my kids, here are some cute stories:

Emmett has said some really sweet things lately. Like at dinner tonight, he said, "Thank you for making this dinner, Mommy. It is really good." It melted my heart. And the other day he said, "You are the great mommy." I think he meant, "You are the best mommy." Either way, I just had to hug him. He has been so sweet this week.

And Melynn. Here's a good one. Josh had put her pacifier in the hallway during one of her naps so I would remember to put it away when she got up. Well, I forgot to put it away and she picked it up while crawling down the hallway on the way to Emmett's room. I found her in there with the pacifier in her mouth surrounded by all his toys. She loves getting in there because usually it is forbidden to her (Emmett will shut the door so she can't come in). I know that isn't really funny, but to me it was just precious.

Okay, enough about the kids. Here is one just about me. I hit my goal weight this week. I have lost fifty pounds since I delivered Melynn. That includes how much she weighed and everything though, so it is more like thirty-five pounds, but it is still a lot of weight and I'm really happy. I only have three more pounds to lose so I can weigh less than Josh. Woo hoo! I am determined to not gain during the holidays and during Josh's surgery rotation that starts in January.

One last story. I went to New Moon with my friend Karen on Friday night. We called it a Wife Date since it was just us. Our sweet hubbies stayed home with the kiddos. It was really funny. The best part was when Jake took off his shirt and all the teenage girls were oohing and aahing in the theater. We just busted up laughing at them. We sat on the back row, ate too much popcorn and candy and had a great time.

Snapshots

We have new pictures to share. Melynn is officially pulling up to her feet. Thankfully she is not yet cruising around. She thinks she is pretty cool. She started by pulling up to short things, like our file box. Now she can pull up to the couch and Emmett's chair. And Emmett has officially become a turkey (just for a day though).
And here is a look at my new advent calendar. I saw this on a digital scrapbooking blog (although it is a paper scrapping project) and fell in love with it. The box and numbers are from Karen Foster and the rest of the paper came from a Christmas scrap pad that I've had for years and years. I just cut it to pieces and went crazy. I love it. Our plan is to fill each drawer with three things: 1) a treat for Emmett, 2) a fun activity to do during the day (i.e. cut paper snowflakes) 3) a scripture to read as a family. Hopefully it will be a fun thing this Christmas season!

New and Old Pictures

I have been excited to do this comparison between me and Melynn. I was actually shocked at how different we look, even though we are in the same dress. I guess there is more of Josh in her than I realized. Either way, we both look like doll babies, especially Melynn. These pictures are all done professionally so I'm probably breaking copyright. Please don't turn me in. I'm just sharing for the purpose of comparison. Um, and so they can be in my blog book forever and ever...

First is Melynn at 6 months. She is wearing one of my baby dresses.

Next is me in the same dress at 6 months. I had a lot more hair. Josh was laughing at me because it looks like I've had a hair cut. I told him I'd probably already had two hair cuts.

Here are the rest of Melynn's pictures from this photo shoot.

And here are Emmett's 3 year pictures. We did these all at the same time, of course. Last picture is of the two kiddos together. It's a good one.

New Stuff

Josh got a letter last week telling him that he was awarded a scholarship for next semester! I am so proud of him. It won't give us any more money in our pockets but it means we get to pay back less (just a drop in the bucket). Anything helps, right? Way to go, Josh!

And here are some pictures that Emmett took last night. He is getting much better...anyone want to buy him the bounce-proof kid-size digital camera for Christmas? I'm worried that mine won't bounce too much longer the way he treats it.

And All This Time I Thought Med Students Were Smart

I guess they are still smart, but some lack some common sense...

Here's the story: Josh had a mandatory financial meeting this afternoon about residency loans and repayment of student loans. The lecturer had just explained the concept of how residency loans are private loans based on your personal credit score and they don't go through the normal financial aid process, when a student raised his hand and said, "I don't get it. I thought we got paid during residency?" Josh said about 2/3 of the group were nodding in agreement as if they had never considered how you paid to APPLY to residency programs. That's the whole point of a RESIDENCY LOAN, also called a RESIDENCY APPLICATION and RELOCATION LOAN. Come on guys, how did you expect to pay for your applications? Maybe it is because most are single and don't have to worry about finances as much as a married student with two kids. Remember how single students and married students all get the same amount of loan money (the government doesn't really care how many people are in your family when they give out loans)?? Anyway, Josh said the seminar was really informative and that the bozos in his class that didn't have a clue about what was going on were really disrespectful. By the way, Josh did know what a residency loan was before this seminar and the lecturer did a good job considering her audience. End of my soap box. Sorry everyone, it just had to be said.

Anyone Need A Giggle?

If you do, here's a good one.

Melynn Pulls Up to Her Knees

We still have a little while (I hope) until she can pull herself all the way up, but she is officially pulling up to her knees. And she is getting in a few predicaments because of it!

As you can see, she managed to get stuck by crawling OVER the bar of the chair. Funny girl. I almost caught her today on her feet (pulling up to the piano music) but it was only for a second and I didn't have my camera close enough. Oh, and we think she is teething again. I can feel one on the bottom that is swollen. Poor thing. Hopefully this time it won't be as bad as the first two. 

Magical Mommy Moments

Every once in a while I will have a moment that my kids make magical. They make me smile just from doing something simple. Yesterday I had two: one for Melynn and one for Emmett. And guess what, now I'm racking my brain as to what they were. I remember Melynn's. We were busy trying to get Emmett to take a bath and I had turned on the water to fill up the tub. Then I left the bathroom to help Emmett and when I came back Melynn had crawled all the way down the hallway to the bathroom and was trying to pull up to the tub (she can't quite pull up yet). It was so adorable. We have been putting Emmett and Melynn in the tub together about half of the time and they both love it. It's just hard for the parents! Anyway, seeing her head into the bathroom for a bath gave me a smile.

I think Emmett's was this: he was trying to read Melynn a story. We got a library book called Winnie the Witch right before Halloween and he loves it. The story is about a witch with a black house, inside and out, and how her black cat Wilbur keeps getting in her way. So she turns him green and you'll just have to read the story to find out the end! It is really cute and has excellent pictures.

P.S. The author is Valerie Thomas

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween. Most of the day we just spent time as a family at home. We decided we didn't need to go all over town and trick or treat all day...we just saved that for the branch Trunk or Treat party. We did make a last minute trip to the store to get some more Halloween supplies and were rewarded for our efforts by winning the cutest pumpkin award. Thanks for the idea, Mom!
Emmett with Katie, the frog.
I dressed up like a Target employee and Melynn was a witch.
Melynn and Emmett
Josh was the Cat in the Hat. I think he looked pretty awesome!
Choo choo! Emmett was Thomas the Choo Choo Train.