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Sunday, January 29, 2006

8 months old, in review

Everyone,

Things have been a little crazy here. What with no dryer (still) and me trying to go work out 2 days a week, Butterfly's swimming class on Tuesdays, my regular mom's group on Fridays, and weekends with the fam...I feel swamped! I'm happy we're so busy though. My mom asked that I do an update on Baby Girl for her 8th month birthday. So here you go Mom!

Butterfly is now 23 lbs, and 29 inches long. She is rapidly growing out of her 12 month old clothes. In the past week I've cleaned out about half of the clothes that fit her just 2 weeks ago. I am frustrated with 18 month old clothes (next size up) because they all figure the child is walking. And that is something she is definitely not doing! It's hard to find things that fit right on her. I hate the in between stage.

We have been taking a swimming class at the local YMCA since the beginning of January. It is so much fun to see her in her little swimming suit and get her into the pool. It is the highlight of my week. She does not like it as much as I do. The first class we took she clung to me like I was sky diving instead of just swimming. She wouldn't play with any of the bath toys, smile at the teacher (this was big, she smiles at EVERYONE) or let go of my hair. She got a little more relaxed each time we went, but only the last 5 minutes or so. Last week, we were so early that I sat on the edge of the pool with her and helped her count how many laps people were doing, what the flags said, how many women were in the aerobics class, etc. By the time our class started and we got in the pool she was warmed up to the idea. And she splashed. And splashed. And splashed. She loved the rubber duckies, did little frog kicks and was trying to get me to let go by the end of the class. So cute it makes my eyes water to think of it. ;)

We are starting to get her really into solid foods. It's a slow process. She eats a little bit of whatever we're having at lunch and dinner, plus her own food at dinner. So far she is okay with squashes...butternut being her favorite. She also likes refried beans, any kind of meat, bread, and goes crazy for drinks. She loves to drink out of our cups and I think she has learned how to use a sippy cup. We have to feed her first otherwise all she will do is drink. She also loves to get food all over herself and me. I wonder how much of it she is eating. Today I started giving her cherrios and she loves them. She also loves popcorn. She is her mother's daughter, after all.

Yesterday morning she woke up a little under the weather and today, she has a nasty barking cough. Poor thing. She also has a fever. And I know right where she got it too. On Friday morning, we went over to my friend's house in the ward to talk about Enrichment...since I'm on the committee. Well her kids have all been sick with this icky barking cough. And she played with Andrew's toys (born 8 days after her...same day as Jacob!) who has been recently sick. Voila, instant sickness. I guess not everyone is as committed to the joys of wiping down baby toys with clorox wipes as I am. Next time she can play with her own toys.

Can you believe that she is almost as old on the outside as she was on the inside?

Until next time,
Safire and Butterfly

Saturday, January 21, 2006

What did I fuse now?

Everyone,

One and a half loads. That's all I ever get out of this dryer. One and a half loads and then weeks of nothing. Do you think the dryer is trying to tell me something? Do I need to put it out to pasture? I think so, and I'm willing to let it rest and rust wherever. But those stupid home warranty people. I blame my captious loads of laundry on them.

At least I got the whites and the towels mostly dry. And it's a very good thing this child has so much to wear. And at least the washer still works.

Safire

Thursday, January 19, 2006

That's your problem, it's fused shut.

Everyone,

Back from Utah. Had a wonderful and full time. Juice and Dad and Andrew had a great time in Las Vegas seeing cool electronic things. Mom, Me, Angela, and Butterfly did some girl time. Watched some movies, did some shopping, lunch, etc. Very fun and not something I get to do on a regular basis out here. (Girl hang out time, I mean) Anyway, I also got to spend some time with Laura, Zuke, Dennielle, Jae, Heber and all of our good friends. I even got to meet Kaiden, Zuke's baby, for the first time. He's so cute.

We also enjoyed being able to be with family this time around. We spent the morning with Juice's sister Nanette and her family, and had dinner with all the Ws that night. Also, Butterfly got to her great grandma P. We were also able to take a big family picture of my mom's side of the family. All 32 to of us. I sat next to my Grandpa and as he looked around while everyone was gathered, he asked me how many of us are there now. I told him 32 and he smiled and just said, "Amazing. 32 and no one is missing?" Nope. He then said, "32 and 2 dead and more on the way, I'm sure." He just looked so happy to see all of his family there. Together. I was very amazed myself.

I'm glad to be back home. Even if coming home brings over a week of mail, bills, and problems to deal with. One of our problems is on going. THE DRYER IS STILL BROKEN. I don't know if I've mentioned it but our dryer has been broken since Halloween. Yes, 4 months. We have a home warranty policy that covers the dryer so we went to them first. They pointed us towards a matience company who deduced that our heating element was broken. He ordered the part (which took almost 2 weeks) finally put it in (after playing phone tag with him for about a week) and we had a working dryer. For one load. I put the second load in and turned it on and heard a thunk. Then nothing. It wasn't going. I opened it up and you could lift the drum around in the casing. Not good. So the guy comes back, determines the bracket that it spins on in the back wore down to the point of it breaking (so THAT'S what that nasty squeak was...) and he had to order that part too. Enter the holidays. It took him till late December to get the part. And then when he went to put it in, we discovered when the drum dropped, it broke the heating element in the back. Which is the first part we installed.

So, a recap: dryer doesn't dry. Dryer guy #1 comes out to determine problem. Problem is bad heating element. Dryer guy #1 orders part. Gets part, puts part in dryer. Dryer works for 1 load. Stops working. Dryer guy #1 is called again. Back bracket broken. Brand new heating element broken. Dryer guy #1 is frustrated. I am frustrated.

We went back to the home warranty place and they said that they would have to send someone else out to look at it before they approved a replacement. Or we could take $200 and fix it ourselves. We have a stackable unit. It's over $800 dollars to replace. We opted for the second guy to come and look at it.

Dryer guy #2 comes a few days before Christmas and sees the problems and says he can fix it. He gets the parts in a lot faster than Dryer guy #1, and puts in the new bracket and heating element. Should be done, right? Wrong. The dryer still won't turn on. We have been going to the Laundromat for weeks now. I thought it was hard when I had to carry it all down 3 flights of stairs and down the road like when we lived in Provo. It's 10 times harder when I have to load it all in the car, add the baby and drive there, unload it all and keep Butterfly entertained, etc. What a pain.

Anyway, Dryer guy #2 finally figures out what is wrong with the thing. When the drum dropped, it caused a lot of electricity to go through the dryer. It fused the motor. Oops. So now he has to order that part. Fine, part ordered. He came today to put it in, and it still won't work. Now the thermostat is fused shut and won't regulate the temperature so it gets way too hot and can short out again, catch on fire, etc. Great.

Luckily, he had a different thermostat in his truck so he put that one in temporarily until he can order yet another part. He said in 26 years of doing this, this is the hardest thing he had to fix. He said it haunts him. It haunts HIM? Try looking at it everyday.

Good news is that he got it so it works and I can do the mountains of laundry I have stacked up in my room. Bad news is that he has to come back again. Sigh...

Safire

PS- In the time it's taken me to throw a load in, put the pictures on this and go back downstairs for something, the washer has shut down. Why me?!

Monday, January 02, 2006

2006


Everyone,

2005 was a year of change for us.
  • Butterfly's birth...big change!
  • Juice finished school
  • I quit my job
  • Soot became a little more mellow and not such a fireball

2006 promises to be another fun filled year!

  • Butterfly will turn one, and do all the things one year olds can do like talk, walk, feed herself, etc. Time really does fly when they are this little. They learn so much so fast.
  • Juice will graduate in May and be done with school for awhile. He may go on and get his doctorate in a few years, but we both need a break from studying.
  • We have 2, possibly 3 trips planned this year. Our trip to Utah in 2 days (no I haven't started packing), my family's trip to Hawaii in August (happy 5th anniversary to us!), and maybe a get together with my good friends Zuke and Tine and their baby Kaiden, and also Stacey and Ryan and their new baby Madie. Zuke, Stacey, and I were big time cronies in high school and we still like to keep in touch. Since we all now have kids, we want them to meet too! No ideas on where that trip will be other than North America.
  • I joined a local gym to get myself back into shape in time for Hawaii. Wish me luck.
  • Juice and I are going to try to eat more at the table as a family and not so much in the living room.
  • I would like to write in my paper journal more often. I really enjoy reading past journal entries and I hope to give them to my kids at one point. I'd like them to hear about their childhoods through me.
  • We want new doors and windows for our house. Something to save up for.

We are so happy and blessed to be here. And to have all the things that we have. I wouldn't have this year starting off any other way!

Safire