another video of Erin

The master plan

Okay, so the next couple of weeks are going to be big ones for us. On Wednesday we're going to move all of our stuff into a storage unit and clean the apartment to as sparkling as we can get (if you've seen my tub, you know that it's not going to be anywhere near the actual definition of "sparkling").

We're going to be spending a week or so in our bishop's extra room in their basement. (They have a queen sized bed and Sis. T doesn't want me sleeping on an air mattress on the floor of somewhere. I have a feeling she's going to treat me like an invalid! lol)

Since the company's HR department has been out of town until today, Matt hasn't been able to sign any paperwork to officially accept the position, so we haven't been able to get in contact with the moving company. (if it hadn't been the holiday season, we'd have the paperwork signed and the moving company would probably be moving us on Wednesday, without the storage unit/homeless step in the middle). So hopefully tomorrow HR will fax us the papers, Matt will fill them out and fax them back, and we will be able to get in contact with the company's liason with the moving company. Maybe. There's not actually anyone in the mover's office until NEXT Monday. Not only that, but since the movers want to be there "every step of the way" we can't really sign a contract with the apartment complex we want on our own. They'd like us to do it through them. Matt's been in contact with the people at this complex since this summer when he spent some time in Denver during some downtime on his internship. We can get a good deal if we sign by the 8th of Jan, so I'm really hoping that we can get this thing going with the moving company soon!

So, overall, I'm stressed but excited. It's kind of weird to me to think that I'm actually moving out of Rexburg. I'm excited for Denver and for the changes this will bring in our life though!


And if any of you have any tips for long car trips with a toddler (mom? dad?), please share them! Erin gets fussy after about 2 hours in her seat, and the trip to Denver will take anywhere from 10-12 hours depending on the weather. (At least we won't be pulling a trailer!!) I'd like to keep our sanity and hers as much as possible, without resorting to something like bendryl to put her to sleep!

Video of Erin opening a present

Christmas pictures

I know you've been waiting for them!

All the pictures are located here. You'll just get the highlights here on the blog...because it's harder to upload pictures here. =Þ
I'm also uploading a video....maybe...


And a look at how much snow we got yesterday. This is all pretty much from late Chrismas Eve night and Christmas day.

Erin's Christmas dress

So, my mom recently asked me to get a picture of Erin in her Christmas dress to replace the pictures we had done last year. Well.........we tried. We really did. But my sweet little Erin was anything but cooperative.

Here's a few though. We might have to dress her up and try it again.

Need a snow day?

((It's a link, click on it. Search Brittanie in Idaho and you'll find mine))

Finally, enough hair!

It's too cute, I'm so excited!


Of course, she didn't let it stay in for long...

We have a job!!

So Matt got a call this morning from the company that he interviewed with and was told "We interviewed the other guy and you are definitely the better candidate."

I knew he was great!

So we'll be moving to Denver sometime before the new year, and Matt will actually start mid-January.

Thanks for all your prayers!!

My new favorite quote

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is a though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is." ~Albert Einstein


I'm so thankful for all the little miracles in my life.


Every
Single
One

The Lion says...

Moo?


Every time we've asked Erin today what a lion says, she's said "moo." I think it's hilarious. We're watching Lion King 2 right now, and even in spite of all the roaring lions, she is still insisting they say moo.

Maybe she thinks the cow in the little people nativity is actually a lion?

I am so blessed.

You know, it's interesting to see small blessings in my life. Even with the loss of Cora. I always said to myself, "At least she was easy to come by." I always was glad that she wasn't the result of years of failed trying, and doing IVF. At least she was easy to come by.

So when Nat joined my stillbirth forum it broke my heart into a million little pieces. Nat lost her Devin with 4 weeks until her due date. Devin was the result of a second IVF attempt. The first had failed. He died because a fiber of his amniotic sac came loose and wrapped around his umbilical cord, like a hair, cutting off circulation.

Well, yesterday they just did the embryo transfer of yet another IVF. She has been added to my list of people that I'm praying will get pregnant (or that will have safe pregnancies), and has already experienced one small blessing/miracle in the process. The meds made her hyper-ovulate, which means that she ended up with 38 poor-quality eggs, instead of the 10 or so good ones they wanted. But out of that, they got two really good embryos (they're only transferring one). So now, we just wait. And pray.

It's funny that my support forums have given me so many new people to pray for. I wish I could do more.


But my prayers for her and others makes me reflect on how blessed I am myself. Yes, I had to give Cora back to Heavenly Father before I really even got to hold her, but even in that I was so blessed in small circumstances. I am so grateful for all those small blessings which He gives me daily, that seem so much a part of "normal" life that sometimes I don't notice. But I AM so very grateful. Even when being pregnant makes me feel horrible, I'm glad that it happens easily. It breaks my heart that it isn't that way for everyone. I wish it could be. I pray for it every day.

I suppose I should be glad.

Erin loves nursery. She hasn't wanted to leave the past couple of weeks. Today, I took her in there when she woke up a short way into Sunday School. She was still a tad sleepy, so I went in with her to make sure she wasn't going to be upset. She soon got excited about the toys, so I said, "okay honey, I'm going to go." She looked up at me and said "Okay. Go." and went right back to her toy.

It made me laugh, but it also made me a little sad. I LOVE that she loves nursery, but I feel like she doesn't need me any more. *sniff*


And apparently today she decided to finish off the snacks of the kids who were eating too "slowly." LOL! That's my little mooch.

The Graduate

It was a really great night, actually. I was a bit nervous leaving Erin with my friend Aubrey for so long during her normal bedtime (she was at Aubrey's from 5:30 to 9:30), but I'm so glad I did. It was so nice to not have to fight with her all evening and to just enjoy what was happening.

It's a good thing that the school is building a new auditorium because the Hart is just really not a good place for this sort of thing. The grads filled up the entire center floor, and most of the actual seats were reserved for faculty (and other "dignitaries") and the choir. So Nyssa and I ended up getting bench seats. It honestly wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been pregnant. (my right foot was pretty swollen by the time we got home. I managed to avoid that with Erin. I guess I won't be so lucky with Baby Brother. Maybe it's just graduation stuff that does it?? After all, the swelling with Cora started when we went to Kim's senior recital!)

BUT it was really great to see Matt file in with his cap & gown, and read about what all the "stuff" on the robes and stoles of the faculty meant (to see who actually had a doctorate and who didn't. Pres. Uchtdorf has a doctorate in engineering, btw). Pres. Uchtdorf's address was really great. He spoke a lot about not being afraid of the future, and to not let our fears make our decisions for us, but rather depend on the Lord for His guidance. It was really good for me to hear that actually.(this is Pres. Clark [in red] standing next to Pres. Uchtdorf)

Then we trekked up to the Taylor building for convocation. It was a bit less formal than Commencement, and I got a soft seat (yay!) which was just perfect for video of the walking graduates. There was a point when a girl was going to walk in front of me, and I stood up and almost fell over, so that's why it gets shaky. In the video I also got our friends Brooke and Andrew also walking.



And then the picture to top it all off...

Today is Matt's last day...

...as an undergrad! Tonight, he will officially be full of B.S. =p


I promise to get pics of him in his cap & gown for alla y'all.

Just wanted to take a moment to say...

So this week has been an interesting one to me. On Monday I faced the dilemma of the fact that I was out of bread and I did not feel like going to the store to get some. It had snowed that morning, and I really didn't feel like taking the risk of driving in the first snow of the season (stupid drivers!).

So I decided to make some. I'm rather proud of my bread, in spite of the fact that I got a little impatient in the rising process and baked it a tad early so it was a wee bit dense. Still delicious, but not as fluffy as it should have been.

I've also spent the last couple of days sewing a pair of pjs for Erin for Christmas. And today I made pizza for dinner. I made the crust and everything. (I had everything except pepperoni, so in reality this dinner cost me $1.25. YAY!)

All this has gotten me to think a lot about my mom. Earlier today I was trying to sew the feet on the footie jammies and frustrated beyond all reason, and Erin decided she wanted to play (what is it about a pincushion that is irresistible to a toddler??). I started wondering how my mother found time to sew us all those things she made us for Christmas as kids, without us knowing about it. (of course, that's where the joys of public schooling come in)

So then I just started wondering how my mom did it. Some days I'm at my wits end with just one kid...how on earth did she function at all with SEVEN? I'm sure her answer would be "I just did what I had to do and tried not to go crazy while doing it."

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks Mom. Thanks for everything you were always doing for us. Thanks for staying home with us as long as you did. Thanks for the childhood memories of homemade bread and pizza and other such good foods, as well as home made everything else. I may not have appreciated it enough then, but I really cherish those memories now.

Thank you for giving me the example of the mom I want to be.

Makes you think

Conversations

Erin points to the package of crackers on the desk.

"Gwaguh?"
"Can you say please?"
"Plee."
"Okay, here you go sweetie."
"Day-doo."
"You're welcome honey."


She started saying "thank you" on her own too. Such a smart girl!

Snow!

First off, yes I'm feeling better. I was feeling well enough by Friday evening to go to the ward Christmas dinner (I didn't want to make food). Matt got sick on Saturday and was fine by the end of the day, so it seems to be a whirlwind bug...

And we woke up to snow yesterday morning. And it has actually stayed. It looks as though, though it was slow in starting, Winter is officially here. It's pretty, I just wish that people around here weren't so stupid about driving in it.


And I wanted to again share the lyrics of a Christmas carol I just heard on Pandora. It's such a sweet song.

"Welcome to our World"
Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from god
Youve been promised, weve been waiting
Welcome holy child
Welcome holy child

Hope that you dont mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long awaited holy stranger
Make yourself at home
Please make yourself at home

Bring your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking heavens silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around you
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect son of god
Perfect son of god
Welcome to our world

And a video



((I love it when they use LDS artist pictures too))

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Finally, nearly a whole week into December, Matt and I put up our tree last night. Okay, I did. He helped me move the furniture around, but all the tree putting up was me. And let me say, I'm a convert to pre-lit trees. It's not as lighted as I would like, but I was WAY too tired to fight with strings of lights last night! It doesn't have any decorations until about a third of the way up, to keep Erin off of it.

Here it is:

I also wanted to show you the stockings I made us!Yes, Cora has one. I'm going to put a letter in it on Christmas Eve. Kind of like a "Christmas Box" sort of thing. Truth is, I was buying one for each of us (even baby brother, but I can't make his until he has a set name. And he doesn't need it this year anyway), and felt bad about leaving Cora out. So she got one too.

And to my surprise, mine lights up! I didn't realize that when I bought the kit.


I also pulled out the Little People Nativity Set that Grandma Linda gave us. Erin's had so much more fun with it this year.

Last year she tried to eat Mary. This year, she put her on top of the stable. lol

And a video... ((if I can get it to upload))



And on a completely random note, Erin is 18 months old today! Wow, where does the time go huh? I can't believe how grown up she's getting. She really isn't a baby anymore, she's now a little girl, and sometimes I feel like reality hits me over the head with it. I'll look at her and think "wow, she looks so grown up."

I guess they really mean it when they say cherish every moment, huh?

Sick! and some other things

I think I've officially got the flu. It's always hard for me to tell when I'm pregnant...but...I'm throwing up a LOT, and it's not just that (I'll spare you the details). I've pretty much done nothing but lay on the couch all day so far. Matt and I were supposed to move around the furniture so that we can put up the tree...who knows if that's actually going to happen now.

As for his interview, he feels it went pretty well. But, they're going to be interviewing one more person on Dec. 15th or 16th (I can't remember what day he actually said), so we should find out around the 18th. Which is cutting it really close for finding an apartment either way. *sigh*

And if you try to call me in the next little while, don't be surprised if it goes straight to my voicemail. My phone is dead and the last time I saw my charger Erin was playing with it...

Here we go again

Matt has another interview tomorrow (Dec. 4th). If you can spare any prayers or positive thoughts, please send them our way! I don't think I need to go into how stressed I am.


Tomorrow's going to be a hectic day. Matt's flight leaves at 7:25am, which means we need to leave our apartment for Idaho Falls no later than 6am. Ugh. Then I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow for my glucose tolerance test at 2pm, which I have to recover enough from in time to pick Matt back up at 4:45pm.

So it's going to be quite a day tomorrow. But it will all be very worth it if Matt gets a job!

Our Thanksgiving trip

So, we had a great week in Utah with family. It was really good to get to see family I hadn't gotten to see for more than a quick "hi" as I was running around doing other things. ((it's not letting me upload pictures, so I'll have to add those later!))

We drove down to stay a few nights with Matt's sister Jenny (Sun-Tue nights). We got to meet Jenny's little Emma, and Erin just loved her (right now we're looking through pictures and Erin keeps pointing and saying "Memma! Memma!"). She also had loads of fun playing with all of Emma's toys.

Jenny and Mark had a rocking horse that Emma was too young to play with, but which Erin just LOVED. They were kind enough to let us borrow it for the rest of the week, and Erin was sad to leave it behind. I'll have to try to find her one of her own...

Wednesday was busy as we drove down to the Provo/Orem area, had lunch with Adrienne, visited Telima, and then took a tour of the BYU Geology department (and then went to dinner). We were exhausted by the time we got to Jared and Amber's house.

Erin LOVED her uncle Jared. Maybe because he tossed her around and hung her upside down more than Matt and I do...I don't know. She just loved playing with him.

Thanksgiving dinner was great. It was the first time that I can remember that we had homemade stuffing. Amber made it and it was SO GOOD (and I forgot to get the recipe!)

All in all we were sad to go home. We had so much fun spending time with our family. We brought our Wii and played Wii Sports and Dr. Mario. I do have to say, that I got my butt thoroughly beat at Dr. Mario by both Amber and Adrienne. I guess that's what I get for thinking I'm good at it, huh? =Þ It was fun though. And it's always fun to watch Erin and Marcus play with each other. I'm so glad I got to spend time with everyone.

Jared, Amber and Mikkena, thanks for letting us stay!