Looking Back

I did not blog much last year. 

You would think that not much happened. 

The opposite is actually true. 

I guess that so much kept happening that I was unable to keep up!

A quick recap of 2010:

Rocky started a new job.

Moved 2200 miles to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Bought a house in Selinsgrove (so another move, but not so far).

Ciara and Caden attended 3 different schools.

All of my grandmothers died.

Rocky started another new job, but this time in State College.

New church callings (Sunday school teacher for me, Elder's Quorum Presidency for Rocky)

Lots of exploring!

(NYC, DC, Philadelphia, Lancaster, Baltimore, Hershey)

We have now officially lived in PA for 1 year.

I feel like I have learned some things.

1.  I am still fascinated with the Amish.

2.  Small country down does not always equal less diversity.

3.  I am a pretty good baker.

4.  40 degrees here is MUCH colder than 40 degrees in Utah or Colorado.

5.  Snow is not always powdery.

6.  Probably most importantly, Heavenly Father has his hand in all things.  I don't understand a lot of it right now, and a lot of things have not gone as planned (aka jobs) but I still know there is a purpose to all of this. 

I will also have to post some pictures of my new hobby, crocheting! 

I have been making baby hats constantly.

Not sure why, since I have no babies myself.

Considering starting and Etsy store to sell them. 

Remembering

On Friday, my cousin and his wife welcomed their first child.  Thank goodness for technology, because it was on facebook that I found out that her water broke, and through texting that I was notified that she had been born.

They live in Las Vegas, so the chance of me seeing this new baby anytime soon is quite small.

I do love babies!

Every time I hear the news of a new baby, I immediately start to reminisce about my own birthing experience.  Does everyone do that?

And now you all get to read about it!  

(Aren't you lucky?)

Ciara was late.  I can remember on my due date taking a walk with a co-worker (while at work, I think he was trying to get me to go into labor) and people would stop and ask when I was due.

Telling them all that today was my due date was kind of upsetting.

It got worse the next few days when I would have to say, "Oh, it was 5 days ago!"

She stayed in 10 days too long, and we finally decided it was time for her to get out.

She was officially evicted on April 19th.

I didn't want to be induced (I was hoping to go without an epidural) but was so tired of being pregnant, and going to the non-stress tests twice a week.  

Plus, I had almost no amniotic fluid left.

Anyway, they broke my water, and hooked me up to pitocin.

Wow, that stuff worked fast!

I was in the worst pain ever for about 4 hours when I finally changed my mind and got the epidural.

I slept for the rest of my labour, pushed for about 2 hours (2 hours and 20 minutes to be exact) and there she was, my 9 lb baby girl.

Caden was a little different.

They  knew he was going to be big, and at the last ultrasound (a week before his due date), they estimated him to be close to 11 lbs.  

So my Dr decided that she was not "comfortable" delivery such a large baby, and pushed me to have a c-section.  

I knew that he was not that big, and that I could do this the "regular" way, but after her terrifying me with stories of paralyzed arms and brain damage, we decided to have the c-section.

It was so quick, and anti-climactic.

But I did have a healthy almost 10 lb baby boy.

I wish I could go back and experience those days just one more time.

(Yes, I realized I could just have another baby to experience it again, but I really don't want another baby, just the experience of giving birth again.  What a magical day!)

We Now Interrupt This Season . . .

Our Christmas season has been interrupted with illness.  And what horrible illness it has been!

If any of you are friends of mine on facebook, I am sure you have heard me complain plenty about this. 

Sorry, I am going to do (what I hope is) the last of my complaining.

I just can't believe the wave of sickness that has passed through this house.

I had the flu a couple of weeks ago, and I thought maybe that would be it.

Of course not!

Caden came down with ear infections last week, which is not that bad.  But then on Saturday, Ciara woke up with a fever.  An hour later she threw up all over. 

The puking lasted all day.

Sunday, I woke up with the same illness.

Fabulous!

For me, stomach illness is the worst kind of illness I can have.  I just HATE it.

I would much rather have a flu with headache, chills, cough, etc. 

But when you through in nausea, I want to die.

So Ciara and I got through that, but my throat began to hurt like it has never hurt before.

I started to spit instead of swallow because it hurt so much, and because it choked me.

I couldn't drink anything because I would choke as well.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to visit the Dr.

I had a feeling it was a virus, and they would send me home and tell me that it would just have to run its course.

Nope.

Strep.

I have not had strep since I was a kid. 

Seriously, at least not in the last 15 years.  I can't even remember the last time I had this horrible illness.

Then late last night Ciara woke up complaining about her ear.

Great, another trip to the Dr.

Since I had recently been diagnosed with strep, they wanted to test her as well, which is understandable.

Ciara did not think so.

The started screaming, clamped both hand over her mouth, and curled into a ball.

I had to pin her hands to her sides, tilt her head back, and then pinch her nose closed so she would have to open her mouth while the nurse stuck the long Q-Tip thing down her throat.

All that work did have a purpose, since the test was positive.

So now 3 of us are on antibiotics.

Plus, I have the biggest cold sores.  And I do mean the biggest. 

I would post pictures to prove it, but they look so bad, I really don't want anyone to see them.

They cover about 50% of my mouth, and they are all over the inside as well.  Canker sore all over my gums, inside of my cheeks, seems like everywhere.

I am really a mess.

Plus, I really hate how antibiotics make my pee smell.

It is just gross.

**And on a side note, our boiler broke while it was about 26 degrees outside.  But luckily I was able to get someone out here to fix it, and it did not cost an arm and a leg.

To Foster, or Not

I have mentally written about 5 posts since the last one, but none of them ever seem to make it onto the blog.  Not sure why that happens. 

We have had quite the December.  I went on a girl's day trip to NYC, Rocky started his new job (and new commute), I got sick, Caden got sick, and now Ciara is sick.  I went to a Secret Sister gift swap, 2 cookie exchanges, and have been frantically finishing some baby books I am making for friends and family. 

Lately, fostering has been on my mind.  We (my extended family included) are sponsoring some children from Christmas (by sponsoring, I mean buying presents, and food, and anything else they need). 

One of them is a 14 year old foster child.  On his wish list, he listed fruit.  He doesn't ask his foster parents for it because it is too expensive.  For some reason, that really struck a chord with me.  It almost made me cry.  (I get pretty emotional around the holidays.) 

I have a pretty strong feeling that our family is complete, in that we will not be having anymore children.  Although now that I have put it in writing, some miraculous surprise is probably going to happen.

Seeing how much these kids need, compared to how much we have, I feel like we could do some good.  I argue with myself about fostering in general.  You hear all sorts of horrible stories about how fostering can go terribly wrong, and I do have my own 2 kids to worry about. 

But what about the good stories?  Foster kids are not throw-away kids. 

Then I worry about the kind of influence that a foster child might have on my kids.

To that, I try to think of the influence my FAMILY might have on an otherwise forgotten child.

There are way to many arguments for and against this to write down.

I have discussed it with Rocky, and he is not enthusiastic, but he hasn't ruled it out.  I think he is very concerned about what it could mean for our current kids.  He will be much more willing when they get a little older, I believe. 

For now, I hope that our 7 year old boy and 14 year old boy will have a wonderful Christmas. 

We may not be able to purchase everything you have requested, but we are sure going to try!

Hoping and Hopping

I can't believe the Holiday season is already here!  

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, with lots of family in town for the occasion.

We spent some time in Hershey, ate our way through Philadelphia (literally, it was a food tour of the city), and had lots of fun!

I decorated the house for Christmas (with the help of my sister and parents).

And now I need to get some presents under the tree.

And one other big change:

A new job for Rocky.

Yes, another one.  

I have to ask, "Seriously?"

I am tired of the job hopping.  I know that it is mainly economy based, since architects seem to be hit pretty hard during this time.  I am grateful that he has been able to maintain employment even though we seem to move a lot.  

I am not moving this time though.  At least, not yet.  

The job is in State College, which is over an hour away.  Neither of us are looking forward to the commute, but that should show how desperate he was to leave his current position.  

Today is his last day, and I hope it goes well.  Apparently they are trying to get him to sign some document stating he cannot market to anyone within a 50 mile radius.  

Again, SERIOUSLY?  Why would he sign that?  Are they crazy?

I could have a whole other blog with stories from his boss.

We also have more guests coming out after Christmas, so I am preparing for the craziness to start again!

I will miss all the parties back home with everyone.

I have been contemplating having my own party here, but can't decide when to do it.  

I was thinking New Year's, but I don't want to host a party while I have a house full of guests.

Maybe another day, or another year!

Holy Halloween!

Last night was Trick-or-Treating here in Selinsgrove. 

For some reason, they assign a night and a time for this celebration. 

(Yes, I know it sounds strange, but I LOVED having a time limit, because we were done at 8pm, and had no one come after that.) 

This year, I decided to give out juice boxes (or Capri Sun pouches).  I had purchased 200 in preparation for this night.  I had been told by some people that the street we live on is THE place for trick-or-treaters, and I thought 200 was a good estimate. 

I was SO wrong.

Trick-or-Treating was scheduled to start at 6pm.  Right on the dot, the doorbell began to ring. 

 I saw lots of cute costumes, and people were THRILLED with the juice boxes, even the teenagers. 

I never had time to shut the door, the kids just kept coming. 

At 6:50, I was down to my last juice box. 

Yes, 200 kids in less than an hour.

SERIOUSLY??

I panicked for a bit, then remembered the candy the kids have been accumulating from previous Halloween parties.  I ran and grabbed a bucket full of their candy.

I started to hand out the candy one Tootsie Roll at a time.

It sucked to go from hearing exclaims of delight (Cool!  A juice box!  Thanks!) to a barely audible "thank you."

Even then, I ran out of candy at about 7:20.  Luckily, a friend of mine showed up in the nick of time with a car full of candy from a Trunk-or-Treat.  She immediately brought me some candy from her car which lasted until 7:45, at which time a turned off the light.  (It was scheduled to finish at 8, so I didn't feel too bad about shutting down 15 minutes early).

When Rocky got home, he told me that our street was by far the busiest.  There were hardly any people on the streets just one block up and down from us. 

We had a band on our street, and the police were our keeping an eye on everything and handing out glow sticks to all the kids.  It was quite the event.

I have a small gripe about some of the trick-or-treaters. 

If you are not old enough to hold your own bag, then you are not old enough to ask for candy.  I couldn't believe the amount of parents with babies that were getting candy for them.  I know the babies aren't going to be eating it.

Next year, I will be purchasing 300 juice boxes, and then turning off my light when they are gone.  I am pretty sure we saw over 400 kids, but I really don't want to have to buy 400 juice boxes (or even pieces of candy for that matter).  We will see how it goes!

I Know, I Know!

Yes, I have been HORRIBLE about posting lately.  Not sure where all the time goes, but it seems to be slipping by at an alarming rate! 

We are all enjoying our first BEAUTIFUL east coast fall.  The colors are just gorgeous, and the weather has been perfect. 

I have been keeping busy by being crafty.  I have taught myself how to crochet, and have been busy making scarves, and ear-warmer headband things with flowers on them.  I will have to post some pictures. 

I have also been reacquainted with my scrapbooking!  It has been so long, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get back into it, but a friend of mine has asked me to make her a baby album, so I had to get going!  I have really been enjoying being creative again.  I will post pictures of the album once I get closer to being done.  Plus, having a Cricut makes me want to experiment some more!

My organizing business has still been on my mind.  I do need a name for it.  Any suggestions?