Our Trip!

I just wanted to say that we are back home (to DC)! We had a great vacation and it was very wonderful to see everyone. Our time felt too short, but we enjoyed every minute.
We arrived home safely and without incident, which we were grateful for. We received many compliments about Everett's good behavior on the plane, which we were happy about. He makes the job easier than a lot of toddlers would because he still loves his bottle, and he has an amazingly sweet temperament (minus the biting!).

Joel immediately came home and wanted a bath and added one of his "bath bombs" that I got him as sort of a gag gift for Christmas (he loves baths and has used all of my bath salts people have given me through the years). When I went in a few minutes after he begun his bath to see how it smelled, he informed me that the bath bomb was "weird" and that it was too "spongy" and not dissolving quite right. I looked at it and noticed one crucial point: Joel had neglected to remove the plastic wrapping!

What a funny guy. We set him right and now he is still in there enjoying himself with a book. Maybe I'll make my claim on the bath later tonight.

Pictures are still to come--I have not been able to download them yet but I will get them together shortly.

Everett

Today while I was finishing up with the packing for our trip, Everett found his little slipper shoes that he is going to wear at the airport and kept trying to put them on his feet. He never actually got them on, but the whole thing made me laugh because he was doing it so matter-of-factly.

"Why of course I can put my own shoes on, Momma. What's so funny about that?"

And (and Joel will never believe me because he wasn't here to hear it) I swear Everett said his first real word today. He has been saying "Ma" for a variety of things, and "Na" when he wants something to eat, but today he was playing with his favorite stuffed kitty and when I asked him what it was, he held it out to me and said "tiddy".

Precious. He is slow to talk, but he'll get there. I am constantly amazed at how much he knows that he can't express.

Widgets, Presents, and Packing

So...it's Christmas soon! Did everyone know that? Well I did, but it came up way too quickly for me this year. I am not prepared to pack up and go to Utah yet (we fly out tomorrow). I have to get our Christmas cards mailed out (still), finish ribbon flowers for a throw pillow for my Grandparents, and I still have to buy a couple of gifts, which is a little difficult considering that I don't have a car during the day. Oh, and I have to pack as well. And clean the house. All with zero energy, major headaches, and morning sickness up the wahzoo. And a toddler. But it could be worse, and it is for a lot of people. I really do feel I have a lot to be grateful for this year even though I sound a little frantic.

Yes, I said it: morning sickness. I went to the doctor yesterday and found out I am thirteen weeks pregnant! Who knew?! I figured if I was, I was only a little ways along, but what a nice surprise. I'm 90% sure it's a boy, which probably means it will turn out to be a girl and I will be shocked and pleased. I say pleased because Joel has been wonderful and got me a sewing machine for Christmas, so I am thinking of all the things I want to do with it, all the little clothes I could make, etc. The thing is, clothes are so much more fun to make for girls than for boys. Usually for boys it is more cost effective to buy a t-shirt at Walmart than to try to make one, but with girls, you can whip up a cute little dress in practically no time at all. And hair bows! Talk about hair bows and accessories. Wow. Joel just rolls his eyes, but baby stuff is so much fun.

And I'll have to find a toddler bed for Everett. This means they will be 19 months apart, so Everett will have been in Nursery for a month, which was the goal, but I think he'll still be too little for a real bed. Craigslist out here has so many toddler beds for sale it's not even funny, and they are generally in very good condition. That is probably because out here people stick with one or two kids and don't have five then pass the bed down to cousins, then friends, then everyone but the neighbor's dog, then finally send it to DI.

But how cute. I'll have to find some very cute bedding as well. If Joel had his way, it would be Spiderman all the way, but maybe I can talk him into cars and trucks or something like that. Who knows, maybe I'll even do something super boring.

Well anyway, I have a million thoughts about all of this, but I'm sure no one wants to hear them all. Let me just direct your gaze to the upper right hand corner of this blog, where you will see a very neat widget. Ever since I saw it on my friend's blog, I have been waiting weeks to be far enough along so I can announce the pregnancy and use this, and I finally can! How exciting.

Walking Fun

Everett has been having a lot of fun learning to walk. Today he has been walking all over the place with this look on his face that tells me he's immensely pleased with himself. In fact, often when he is toddling around, he will be giggling because he is enjoying his new trick so much. Give it a couple more weeks and he will be a little walking terrorizer!

It is so funny how a toddler immediately looks like a little person when he's walking instead of like a baby as he does when he is crawling.

What a sweetheart.

Baby Kisses

Lately Everett has been very affectionate toward me and will give me his version of a cuddle kiss. These are the steps involved:

1. Grab Momma around the face and pull yourself close
2. Make a cute sighing "aaaahhhhhh" sound
3. Smoosh your face into hers, preferably mouth-to-cheek
4. Hold it for as long as Momma lets you or until you get bored.
5. Repeat. Liberally.

What a sweet boy. These are the moments I live for!

Missionary Journal

Lately I've been reading a little of Joel's missionary journal when I sit down to eat breakfast or lunch, and it has been such a great experience I wanted to recommend it to all of you. It is really nice to be able to hear about things that happened in such a personal way, and since I know a lot of the stories already, it is nice getting more detail.

So far, I've only encountered one problem, which is when Joel decided to be ambitious and practice his German by writing his entries in German (he served in Austria). As I get farther into his mission, those entries become much more frequent, but I still find quite a few English gems. It has been really fun and I have been able to see Joel in a little bit of a different way.

Portrait Innovations

We finally had our family pictures taken. All in all, they turned out very well and we were very pleased with the experience. Portrait Innovations is a great and inexpensive studio, and the best part is that you get your prints in 15 minutes. Interesting side note: Everett is wearing make-up in these pictures because he had the beginnings of the rash that exploded all over his body on Sunday.

Everett was very fussy and was crying during the whole process, but we took 91 pictures so we did get some really good ones out of it even if there are none with him being his usual happy self. Joel, on the other hand, looks exactly the same in every single picture, and I never like pictures of myself. It was easy to find some good ones of "the boys", though.

A Picture

If a picture says a thousand words, what about this one? Too bad the flash washed out almost all of the color in Everett's face, or this picture would be much more representative of the way things are. If you can't tell, he has a terrible, terrible rash all over his cheeks, forehead, neck, and torso. His entire face is very red and bumpy and he looks very uncomfortable. So yes, if a picture is supposed to say a thousand words, we need to take another one, because this one doesn't do the rash justice.
Poor little guy! I'm assuming this is from the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccination he got 10 days ago. They told us he may develop a rash, but wow. If it is something else, we will find out tomorrow because if it gets worse we're taking him to the doctor.

Maybe he's developed an allergy to my cooking? We'll have to find out and see. Tune in next time, folks, for an update from your friendly eastern bloggers.

I'm Dreaming of a Dry Commute...

In the DC Metro Area:

=

We had our first snowfall of the season on Wednesday. I woke up in the morning and thought, "oh, how beautiful, and peaceful, and serene. I just love the first snowfall". Later, Joel called around 9:45 am to tell me that he was still in the car (he left at 7:30) on his way to work. It took him almost three hours to go 20 miles to downtown DC (to put that into perspective, we could almost be to New York in that amount of time).

I'm just betting that during that time Joel wasn't thinking "oh, how beautiful, and peaceful, and serene"...

Multi-Tasking at its Finest

A few days ago I used my wonderful bread machine to make a loaf of bread, and today I used it again to make pizza dough (that's right, folks, it can do dough only!).

Everett was in the kitchen at my feet, wanting either some attention or to get into anything within his reach (it didn't matter which). After I got the bread together, I was faced with the task of trying to load a dishwasher with a child around who, no matter where he is in the apartment, will scurry as fast as he can to the kitchen if he so much as hears the dishwasher door open. You can see my problem. However, with the push of a button, I was able to completely eliminate this disaster-waiting-to-happen.

. . . Introducing the Breadman® ! The newest thing in toddler distraction, complete with:

• fascinating sounds sure to keep your child's interest
• a clear viewing window at the top so no sound goes unexplained
• sturdy, furniture-cruising toddler support for all his standing needs
• surprise starts and stops: a special sensor detects the moment your child loses interest, and a new sound kicks in
• And, for mom: freshly baked bread for all your eating needs. Go ahead. Eat a slice--you've earned it, considering all the work you accomplished while your toddler was engrossed by the bread-making process.

Oh my darlin' Clementines

Saturday night I went out and bought a five pound box of Clementine oranges (which I had never tasted before) for only a few dollars. I was so excited about this buy, but I knew Joel would want "real" oranges, so I bagged and bought a few of the Sunkist variety for him.

This morning, we only have a handful left of my now favorite oranges. I guess Joel actually did like them better--even though he maintains that they are not "real" oranges, he has yet to give me a solid reason (I think it's because they're smaller).

I just wanted to give a shout-out to this wonderful fruit. I really like oranges, but I really dislike the peel and all the stuff that remains on the wedges after you remove the peel. I spend more time cleaning off the orange than I do eating it, which gives Joel ample time to poke fun at me and jokingly tell me to "get over it".

HOWEVER, this problem is non-existant with Clementine oranges. The peel is thin and is removed extremely easily, and the fruit inside is perfectly sweet. No more meticulous removing-and-cleaning for me!

For those of you out there looking for the perfect way to combat all of the holiday sweets and treats, I would like to suggest you sit yourself down with a big box of Clementines. But don't be surprised if it doesn't last you as long as you thought...

Random Thoughts

Everett has all four molars coming in (a couple have already broken through) and has also had a cold lately. This occurrence manifests itself by snot, boogers, and every other derivative of the mucous membrane of the nose exiting in gushes. All day. Every day. This has resulted in five things happening:

1. I use the nasal aspirator as often as I can be sure that it won't irritate his nose.
2. Everett has gotten so used to the aspirator that he will actually lean forward and hold still as I perform the necessary sucking-and-removing procedures.
3. If I even come close to him with a napkin, kleenex, or even my own finger to remove any boogers, a litany of wails, shrieks, and thrashing ensues to the point that I have nearly dropped him several times.
4. I have wondered why Everett prefers the much more aggressive removal of snot to what I was sure was the kinder, gentler, more humane method. This has led to me being tempted to try the aspirator on myself to see what it feels like.
5. When I communicated this thought to Joel last night, he merely shook his head in resignation and said "Only you, Elise. Only you."

Well. Perhaps.