I've been leaving my blog hanging on a rather sour note for quite some time now. Thankfully, I'm feeling pretty good, and my lack of blogging is mostly due to an interest in other projects and I also found that the more behind I get with blogging, the less inclined I am to catch up. It seems like an overwhelming, insurmountable project. It's not, I'm just a wimp.
Here's a month in a nutshell...
After my miscarriage, and subsequent D&C, Jake took off work. He was off of work from Dec 19-Jan 2. Can I tell you how wonderful that was? We had Christmas and New Years' here in Milwaukee and it was pretty uneventful. One of the best things I did for myself over that break was just use the time to put my life together. Between our schedule, with Jake's school and work; and the fact that I had morning sickness from early November through December....my house was in shambles. I'm honestly now embarrassed to admit how behind I got on my life and the sub-standard I had adopted without even really noticing it. We picked up several neglected home improvement projects; including replacing pipes in our basement, building a laundry chute, and finishing a half-finished plumbing problem in our bathroom. We also re-painted and re-furnished our living room as our Christmas present. I used so much of the time Jake was home to just clean and organize. You know how clutter piles up...bills that need to be filed, other misc papers that need to be taken care of, kids clothes that are too small that need to be stored, my messy basement....all mostly taken care of. The goal was to start back into school and work with me more in a position to not spend my entire life feeling like I'm living on the edge of chaos....
I guess somewhere in the time I hit a personal 'milestone'--the big 30. It was the day after I had my surgery, so we kept it very low-key. Jake was thoughtful and gave me gift certificate for a massage at a local spa. I've never done that before, it was so wonderful! I appreciate the massage, and just having Jake take the kids and leaving without the guilt of how much I'm paying the sitter or when I have to get back to her. There's always next year for a fun party...I had a few other friends turn 30 this winter, maybe we'll go celebrate in the summer when there's more to do.
Oh yeah, we did celebrate the holidays. For Christmas Eve, we had Jared and Katelin and their crew over for tamales. The kids had fun doing the nativity and honestly, other than that, for me the night was a blur. I don't think I was really feeling like myself yet, but it was comforting to be in the company of family and to see the kids enjoy being with their cousins. We had fun doing the Mexican Christmas thing and I enjoyed not cooking one thing.
Christmas Day we just kicked back and enjoyed the kids' new toys. They were so thrilled with their stuff and the whole Christmas thing. Ty was the funniest. Santa brought Ty a big wooden train set. He had also built a large table for playing with the train. Ty asks me every day if we can go the mall or the library to play with their trains...we thought he'd be thrilled. He was, but he was most excited about a comic-book style Lightning McQueen book from WalMart with a big sticker that said $1 on it. Kids.
The day after Christmas we had breakfast with friends. The kids and Jake got out and played in the snow...I just hung out around the food and enjoyed having some time to chat with friends. We really appreciated the invite and it was fun to spend some time with friends...you miss family around the holidays and friends can help so much with that.
The next week was spent mostly on the aforementioned projects...and also we used to time to get the kids out of the house a little. It's so much less of an ordeal to go and do when there are two parents. So, we took the kids to the library, to the mall...ordinary stuff, but fun time with Daddy.
New Years Eve we hosted a party here with a few friends. It was so much fun! We enjoyed delicous appetizers and the kids played well for long enough for the big people to play a game. We must not have been having too much fun, because everyone came at about 6:00 and called it quits by 9:30...but honestly, it was fun to have a party and funner to put my kids to bed and not deal with crabbies the next day. They didn't know the difference...we did a countdown and everything at about 9:15. My kids bately are starting to understand the concept of time anyway, so 'New Year's' is virtually meaningless. All it meant to them was food and friends.
New Years' Day, we went to dinner at a friends and enjoyed some yummy Southern cooking. We rocked at Rock Band while the kids played in the basement. It was a lot of fun...and I'm thinking of trying out for American Idol after my awesome solos!
Hmmm....I don't think I missed any other highlights. The Mortons' are doing good. It has been wonderful to get back to our busy life with my life in order. I'm able to make time for things that I need to do, like reading my scriptures and working out...and even have some time for doing things that I want to do, like crafts, sewing, reading, and putting my living room together. I'll have to post some pictures later...I now am the very proud owner of a red sofa/loveseat. I adore red, and others don't, so I got a great deal. I found some curtains that are a perfect match...because Jake hung our TV on the wall over the break, I'm re-finishing our old entertainment center to be used to store coats, hats, boots and all of our winter gear...it should be illegal to sell a home in Milwaukee without a mud room.
This week, we're just freezing. I think the high today was 3 below, with wind chills up to 35 below. Yeah, that's cold. Sadie has had the pukes all week, so we're just cooped up and sick. Yuck! It made my day today to read my sister in law's blog...in the hope of summer she posted pictures of her kids swimming last summer. Here's to summer...we're on the downhill slide, right? (That's the problem in Milwaukee, I don't think we are, I just keep thinking we are! Spring doesn't come here until late April!)
