Hannah's First Ice Adventure

We're lucky enough that the closest ice rink to our house is the Olympic Oval. It was used for the 2002 Olympic speed skating competitions. The track is 400 meters long. To help you imagine, it encircles 2 full size hocky rinks. They close the big oval every year from April to July so this week was our last chance to go in who knows how long. I've been wanting to take Hannah skating for a while, so we took a chance and brought her. When we go without her we usually stay for the whole 3 hour session and do about 40 laps. This time we stayed for an hour and did 2 and a half laps. I could see definite improvements by the end. We'll keep working on it. Plus, it's free for her to go until she's 3!

 Hannah needed lots of breaks

 Her favorite part was walking in her skates. We did a half a lap like this.

I don't think I made the point of that last post very clear. I wasn't all that excited about her peeing, just where she chose to pee. I did a little math, and if she were my height the height to the toilet seat would have to be almost 3 feet and the seat she's so gracefully straddling would be 2.25 feet wide. I don't care who you are, that's talent.

Just moments ago...

Devan changed Hannah's diaper and then told her to try to use the potty. He walked into the bathroom and found this...

And she even "went".

St. Patrick's Day

This weekend we went to a St Patrick's Day parade at an outdoor mall. It started out fun with horses and motorcycles, but it quickly became an endless stream of every child from every Catholic school in the valley. They didn't even do anything cool either. Some walked by eating pizza straight out of the box. It was raining and we left early. However, it was worth going to just to see this guy. I've decided  that after spending his life with Heather, this will be our friend Ryan Barton in 40 years...

Today I kept the car to run some errands, so when Devan and Jordan (Hannah's uncle) ended up working late, I was able to go over and babysit the cousins. We had a fun time. We played outside in the sun and took a long walk.

I wanted to get pictures of all the kids in their green clothes and Kylee was the one who pulled out the box to make it all professional. She put the poses together all on her own. This is the best we got...

I had potato soup and soda bread planned for dinner, but by the time we got home, it was too late to start cooking, so we had Mexican instead. I also made green ice cream, but it isn't frozen yet. We'll have a nice St. Patrick's Day dinner tomorrow.

Today was the first time since my morning sickness started that I've been back up to my pre-pregnancy weight. It was fairly traumatizing. I have a feeling that now the weight is going to come on really fast. (It's probably because I've found a new craving -- Ritz crackers. I've eaten 2 whole boxes in the last week. Not good.) Coincidently, it was also the first time I've felt like I looked pregnant and not just chunky. This is me, a few days shy of 5 months...

We're going to be CLEAN people!

We bought a washer and dryer. My only requirement for having this baby was I needed to be able to wash clothes whenever I wanted. I can go without a crib, changing table, swing, or nursing pillow, but this time I put my foot down about the washer. Devan wasn't very hard to convince. I said I only needed one by August, but we've been watching prices for a while and a really good sale came up. And after having two loads of vomit laundry in my house last week I didn't want to wait much longer. Plus, Devan said that it would be nice to know we got something out of our dead car (because apparently, the ability to live for the last two months wasn't enough for him). So we paid Sears the rest of the insurance money and we are now proud large appliance owners. I have to say, trading my car for a washing machine was totally and completely worth it.

We got a high efficiency washer that should save us a ton in utilities over time, plus we get $150 back from our gas and electric companies just for getting them. We've been discussing since we moved here in August if we should spend some money for a new washer or risk it with a used one. Would you be surprised to learn it was Devan that wanted to get the nice one? And that he insisted we get matching ones? I would have been okay with a used dryer since the energy efficiency doesn't vary too much among dryers. After 4 years together I've learned he's superficial in one single area: laundry machines. Oh how I love that sweet, strange man.
 

You can see in the background my homemade laundry soap. I'm still trying to be frugal. To make it I had to grate a bar of yellow soap and Hannah threw a fit when I wouldn't give her any "cheese".

We loaded the washer and the three of us pushed the button at the same time and then we sat and watched it. It's pretty interesting. It squirts a little water in and then spins it a couple times and repeats until all the clothes are wet. Every time the water squirted Hannah got startled. The first couple times it happened she ran all the way out of the room.

I had to take a lot of pictures to catch that face.

She's not even two yet!

The terrible twos are upon us. I don't know where this whiney, clingy, stubborn little girl came from. In the last week she's undergone a huge personality change. Oh the tantrums! And the attitude! When I ask her to do something she doesn't like she says, "No, baby!" So hilarious.
However, when she's not asserting her independence, she's been a very sweet girl. Devan has been away at work and school all day everyday (which we're happy for. I'm not complaining one bit) and we're having to relearn how to be alone together for that long. She's a good helper and she's learning how to play by herself. I've been so sick and tired this week that I spend a lot of my day on the couch. The last two days I've fallen asleep before nap time. She played by herself and when she was ready to nap she got in bed with me and fell asleep. What a kid.

We had a sweet moment this evening. Devan had his night class, so he got home while I was getting Hannah ready for bed. She took a bath and we sat on the floor in the bathroom watching her and talking. It was so nice and I realized I take for granted how peaceful and easy our life is right now. After the new baby comes, I think it will be a rare occasion for both of us to be able to give our full attention to one child. It will be good for Hannah to learn to share attention, but it's still sad to think that this period of being able to give everything I have to one child is ending. When I was pregnant with Hannah I tried to spend as much time alone with Devan as I could. This time I'm trying to soak up all the Hannah that I can.

A little clarification

I couldn't let that last post go without saying that other than today's little inconveniences and the whole poverty thing, we are doing really well. I know that I don't say it as much as I should, but we are so blessed. We're happy and healthy (except for today) and we have everything we need. I'm grateful that we are able to eat the way we want to and that we have a home that is more than sufficient for our needs. I'm grateful for the gospel we have in our lives and for the peace and assurity that it brings to us. We were just called to be the nursery leaders, which I'm very excited about. It will be very easy to make sure that the things Hannah learns at church suppliments the things she learns at home, since I'll get to give her lessons on Sunday. And we're very happy that so far our little BOY is growing just the way he should. He's been a fun one. I think he must have some really beefy man hormones in there that have still got me throwing up a couple times a week. But I'm not taking anything for granted this time and I'm so grateful to have him with me. I'm just about half-way done, which is a little scary. Last time I couldn't wait for her to come, but this time I know what happens when the pregnancy ends. I'm still pretty early in the pregnacy, but so far I'm still saying I'd rather be pregnant than have a newborn! All in all, we have a good, good life.

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; " 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

What a day!

I know gross, but look how sweet.

Last night Hannah woke up at midnight and was really smiley and talkative and generally annoying. All of a sudden, a fountain of foamy apple pie spewed from her mouth. We got up, took off the sheet and the mattress pad, I gave Hannah a bath (it took 3 washings to get all the chunks out of her hair), brushed her teeth, and we all went back to bed. 10 minutes later we have another explosion, this one soaking through to the bed. This time I wiped her up with a wet rag and we moved onto a mattress on the floor. A few minutes later she went again, so I flipped over the mattress and put on a fourth sheet. After putting on the fifth sheet, I stopped caring so much. She'd throw up, and I'd just put a towel over the wet spot, wipe her face with a paper towel and lay back down. Once we ran out of towels, I'd just fold the towel over to a clean spot every time she dirtied it. She fell asleep for the night at 3 am and was up vomiting again at 7:30. She threw up 7 times before noon, but they weren't bad because she was learning to get it in the bowl. The only really traumatizing event was when she threw up in her sleep and soaked me. Seriously, every single article of clothing I was wearing had to go in the laundry. We took a nice bath after that one. Then she slept for an hour and only puked 4 more times this afternoon. She's sleeping now and I think she's getting better because she had a cracker a couple of hours ago and hasn't thrown up since. All day long she hasn't even been able to keep water down. She'd ask for a drink and I'd give it to her, but I'd know that it would be coming right back up. The saddest thing is between episodes, she's such a sweet little girl. She's laid in bed smiling all day. Every once in a while she'll say, "Oh no!" and when I ask her what she says, "tummy". Poor kid. I know that this is all normal parenting stuff, but I've managed to go almost 2 years without having a really sick kid, so it's a little shocking.

Devan has had a nice long day of being away, which I don't think he minded much. Except that he had to go to school this morning after only 3 hours of sleep. He's only been able get 60 hours of work so far this year, so we were really excited when they started a new job this week that should take a couple of months. The problem is, the place they're working in won't let them stay past 4 pm and he doesn't get out of school until 1:30 three days a week. So, he found out he could go to his latest class every Tuesday night for three hours rather than three days a week for an hour. And he didn't have class before that class anyway, so really it gets him an extra 7 hours of work a week just to go 3 hours at night. I'm really excited. Still, with him quitting at 4 everyday, I'm not sure he'll be bringing in enough, but it's better than definitely not making enough to live on, which has been the case the last 6 months. So, tonight he's at his night class and I've been counting the hours until he gets home ever since he left at 7 this morning. One more left. And he's going to bring home french fries for me, which I think will make the whole day worth it. Something about seeing everything we at yesterday come back up makes me not so in the mood for leftovers.

That's my little pity party. It really hasn't been that bad and I'm really glad I only have one sick kid and that this is the very first time anything like this has happened. And I don't really mind a day when I don't feel guilty for staying in bed all day. The only thing I really wish was different about this situation is that I had a washing machine. Look at that!

And it's not like I can go somewhere to do the laundry...she puked on all my bras!