i am not in college anymore

Staying up all night kills me. I tried to sleep, but it didn't happen. I think my body rejected the notion of sleep because it knew that even if I did fall asleep, Sprout would wake me up before I got asleep enough for it to do any good. The little guy has been congested for 3 months. I took him to the doctor at the beginning of the month and he didn't find anything wrong with him. I pushed, saying that something HAS to be wrong, because the boy can't breathe out of his nose and hadn't been able to for the last 2 months. Doctor said, "Maybe it's allergies. Try some benadryl at night. If that clears it up, it's an allergy." It didn't clear it up at all. So I'm thinking it's not an allergy. I have an appointment for him with an Otolaryngologist on Thursday. Then at least we'll know if there is some sort of issue or swelling or whatever somewhere that is preventing him from breathing normally. Since Thanksgiving, I've had maybe 2 decent nights of sleep. Before that, Sprout was not a super sleeper by any means, but he would go a few hours at a time most nights. Now his snuffiness keeps him waking about every 45 minutes, at best.

So tired.

Like, Don't Like

Like:

30 Rock
House
Ugly Betty
Glee
Modern Family


Don't Like:

American Idol
Other Reality-Type Shows

Lawyer shows

Crime shows

I like funny. And escapism. I like to be sucked up in a funny world for a little while, not subjected to the drama of other actual people. Isn't that why we have family and in-laws?

My sister is awesome

Actually, both of them are very awesome, but this is about my oldest sister Melody. She has started a blog aimed at sharing the joy that living the gospel of Jesus Christ should bring. She is trying to get it out there, in the hopes that it will help people and help the world see that LDS women are happy and fulfilled. Every day that I've opened it up and read it, I get something from it, some great nugget of truth to carry with me for a few hours. I highly recommend that you check it out (and become a follower--she'd like to have lots of happy faces in that box). Here it is: Enjoying the Journey

Way to go, Melody!

Love is....

banana nutella crepes.

don't you agree?

I got a crepemaker for Christmas (yay!) and hadn't taken the opportunity to try it out yet. As David and I aren't ones to do much for Valentine's Day, I had the thought to start a V day tradition of making crepes. So we bought supersized jars of Nutella and frozen berries at Costco, some overpriced bananas (and very cute baby bananas just for fun) at the latin market, and we had some killer crepes Sunday night. Ours didn't look quite so finished as the picture, but they still tasted divine! We ate some more this morning for breakfast. I think it is a tradition that I will quite enjoy for years to come. I'd like to make "dinner" crepes, too. I've had those before and they are quite sumptuous.

perspective

My Baby is ONE!

This year has FLOWN by. So much so, that it makes me think maybe I shouldn't have any more kids, since time seems to speed up with each new addition to the family.

Sprout has been such a wonderful addition to our family. After Spud was born, I had a hard time adjusting to my new reality as a stay-at-home mom with two kids. Up until his birth, I was a Grad Student Mom with ONE kid. I went through a really rough patch for about 6 months, and then started feeling pretty normal. After Sprout joined us, though, I realized that I'd still had lingering mild depression for the previous 3 1/2 years. When Sprout entered the world, he brought with him a calmness and serenity that really soothed my spirit. It was noticeable to those who were present at his birth and to those who spent time with him during those first couple of weeks.

Not too longer after Sprout's arrival, I had a bit of a scare with a thyroid issue, and (probably at least partly induced by those crazy hormones) I was paranoid that it was going to be cancer and that I'd die, leaving these three mostly fabulous kids without a mom. Through that experience, I came to realize that I had been wasting so much time and energy on worrying about things I couldn't control and hadn't been using energy on things that would bring me and my family true joy. That's obviously one of those lessons that is easy to forget after a while, but I have tried to make it a part of me, and I can see gradual improvement in my attitude and interactions with others.

Sprout has stayed "babyish" the longest of our three kids, and I've appreciated it. He crawled later, and both of the others were walking well by age one. He's such a big boy that it's kind of nice that his development is not accelerated, just average (Spud walked at 8.5 months--it was so easy to think of him as older than he was, and he's been like that his whole life).

He looks for things to be happy about. He is not one to cry or fuss for no reason, though he really is a mama's boy and prefers to be within eyeshot of me. He is very inquisitive about his environment and does to love to explore (perhaps I should have expected as much given his namesake!).

I'm so grateful to have him in my life. Before he was conceived, I was feeling a little fretful about disrupting our life with a new baby. I was worried about the rearranging that would be neccessary--making room for his crib and carseat and all that sort of thing. After three years, we'd gotten quite used to just being the four of us. I had a distinct impression that there was enough room in our lives for #3, and felt very calm and excited about the person who was coming to join us in time. I didn't worry about it at all after that experience. (Though there was a couple of weeks when the midwife wondered if he might be twins and I thought, "Crap, there's no way we can fit in our car!")

So, happy birthday my sweet little boy. Thank you for a wonderful year!