Today is my birthday and I’ve tried to spend it doing what I want. Turns out doing what I want is a lot like what I do on most days. This morning the boys had swimming lessons. Jason humored me with my honey-do list and did some basement cleaning and got the last of the Christmas lights taken down and put away. I deep cleaned the boys’ rooms. I did some transcription work. I had free coffee from Starbucks with a GF eclair Jason hunted down for me for breakfast. Pizza for lunch, and burgers on the grill for dinner. Yoga in the living room and some blog writing. For a January birthday, today is beautiful–50 and sunny in Utah. I’m officially 38. These numbers are starting to get out of hand but time passes whether you like it or not, may as well celebrate!
The last time I wrote was way back before Thanksgiving! I hosted Thanksgiving this year for a small group of Jason’s family. It was a bit snowy but the roads weren’t too bad and the food was pretty good. Autumn was in town from New York but we were missing Misty and family who are finally settled again in California. The only downside is we all had colds on and off from a couple weeks BEFORE thanksgiving until a couple weeks AFTER Christmas. Bleh.
The Christmas season is always a blur. We got a new computer and desk for the family/boys. Jason got me a lovely new pair of earrings. There were an assortment of gifts and new toys for the kids to fight over. Christopher was PUMPED to get cheeseballs and William thought everyone got more toys than he did. In keeping with a horrible holiday tradition, a round of the stomach flu showed up in our house at 11:45 pm Christmas Day night. Andrew seemed to be having a bad dream and 
Jason got up to to settle him. A few minutes later he was still restless and Jason took him in to use the potty. He proceeded to blow chunks all over Jason and the floor. In his sleepy state Jason didn’t think to grab the garbage can next to the toilet. The scene I found was horrific to say the least. The next one to get sick was Christopher who started in at about 5:00 AM. The poor kid was so sick he pooped himself twice. Then in a strange turn of events, JASON got sick and threw up around Noon. As he later admitted “I threw up a little on the floor because I was worried about crapping my pants”. This is significant because Jason has NOT thrown up during the entire time I’ve known him (15 years plus). William and I walked around on eggshells for the next few days but thankfully we didn’t get this particular bug. After the horror I witnessed, I pretty much went to sleep each night assuming I’d be next. Once the plague had left our family, we celebrated with the Baxter family the Monday after Christmas (December 30th). Misty and Curtis were in town and the kids were super excited to have some cousins to play with. Unfortunately Autumn headed back just before this particular event. Maybe next year we can get everyone together for Christmas.
Christmas break with the kids home was LONG. There was more fighting/whining/bickering/naughtiness than I care to admit, probably because everyone was an odd combination of over-stimulated and pent up indoors. In comparing notes with the other parents at school, our house was not alone in feeling this way. We kept up a few family traditions this year (other than the stomach flu) including a trip to see the lights at Temple Square and new matching PJs from grandma Laura on Christmas Eve. I sewed some Christmas gifts for people again this year including handmade doorstops and cute reusable notebook covers. I also tried my hand at homemade bath bombs. I was really happy with my teacher gift this year as well (picture below). I could use a few more elves. As Jason observed, once the projects start it’s 24/7 until I’ve got them finished. No one should stop by my house unannounced in December, as they may find it in total disarray.
In big news William got BRACES! His pediatric dentist suggested a consultation with an orthodontist because we’ve known for awhile he’s going to need help. His long term thumb sucking (which is finally done!!) caused him to have a very high and narrow palate, leading to crowding and a cross-bite. I was 
surprised they would start this so early…he’s not even 8 yet, but the orthodontist saw some things we needed to get a jump start on right away. The first step was to get an expander and turn it religiously every night to widen/flatten the roof of his mouth. I never had an expander and have always thought they looked like some sort of torture device but he was a trooper. Never complained, not once. We turned it every night and he expressed it felt ‘snug’ but by morning everything felt back to normal. Step 2 was that he got braces put on a few of his top teeth. Again, not much complaint to my surprise. It’s exciting to see his mouth literally change shape. We’re hoping the two top incisors that haven’t had room to come in will now show up soon. He’ll still probably end up having braces twice but we’re hopeful getting ahead of some big problems now will prevent it being a total train wreck later. In fun news, his ortho office is super fun. They have monthly contests, ice cream in the summer, an Xbox in the office, and the kids get points they can redeem for gift cards. I don’t remember any of these perks when I was a kid. William actually enjoys going there! If anyone needs a referral William will appreciate the extra rewards points. 🙂
Christopher is as silly as ever. He is really loving school and learning to read like a champ. I’m impressed every day how he loves learning Spanish. He seems to use it a little more outwardly than
William did in Kindergarten. It’s fun to listen to the two of them lay in bed sometimes at night with William quizzing Christopher on math problems and Spanish vocab. They’ve become such great learners together. Christopher did have his first scuffle of sorts at school this week. The teacher told me after school that him and another boy had gotten kind of physical in the line and she wasn’t sure why. After a little quizzing it turns out the boy had the audacity to tell Christopher he was NOT A NINJA. This is the sort of stuff Kindergarten fights are made of. When I reported back to the teacher we had a good laugh about it. Christopher is typically not a trouble maker and especially not one to get into physical fights but if he tells you he’s a ninja it might just be best to go along with it.
Andrew is changing from a toddler to a boy. He and his brothers now get lost in very involved games of pretend from time to time. He and Christopher still struggle on occasion (mostly because Andrew picks and Christopher’s skin is a little too thin) but sometimes I catch them actually playing together and getting along. Naps are a thing of the past, although he does tend to crash on the ride home from daycare a few times a week. He loves daycare at Debbie’s. I’m letting him go almost every day right now. He’ll be starting preschool in the fall and we will officially be done with daycare. I’m sure they’ll still visit Debbie from time to time, but it’s kind of sad. Debbie, Kimi and Alissa have been such a big part of our lives for almost 8 years and it seems crazy to think that stage will be over.
In January I started a 20 day Yoga Challenge to kick off the new year and get back into Yoga. There are parts of me that are super tight and weak, partially due to not really doing any organized exercise for over a year and partly due to having surgery in September and being very limited. I’ve been doing a 
program through YogaDownload.com so I can do everything at home on my own schedule. I’ve found that yoga at home with children presents its very own set of challenges. Day 1 Andrew did some yoga poses with me and I was like “aw, this is adorable”. Day 2 I found that someone had bit my yoga block leaving a perfect bite imprint (again Andrew). Day 9 William decided to do some yoga with me. He farted, accidentally drooled on the floor, and then moments later couldn’t do a pose and started to cry. I advised him there is no crying in yoga. Day 10 Andrew was back at it. This time he unexpectedly slapped my butt when I bent over, crawled under me whenever I did plank pose and spent the end of class trying to roll up in my mat while picking his nose. Day 11 it was Christopher’s turn as he ate too much too fast and I got to listen to him puke into a bowl during my class. When the boys aren’t around Kiki tends to circle as if she is concerned that I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. I’ve gotten used to classes with yelling children in the background, probably not exactly what the instructors had in mind. Never a dull moment.
In other news we’re back in winter swimming lessons. It’s a good excuse to get out of the house and the boys really are making good progress. Christopher still loves lessons the most by far. William can finally swim a few strokes without plugging his nose which is big for him. Considering he’s the kid that wouldn’t get his face wet, all of this is wonderful progress. Andrew is taking lessons for the first time this session. He is generally intimidated but tries to do what the teacher asks. He will not yet blow bubbles in the water and refuses to get his head wet if at all possible. He’s a lot more like William in this respect. There’s one little boy in Andrew’s class who has thus far (4 lessons in) refused to get into the water, so I’m reminded to be patient as each of these kids will probably eventually learn to swim. 
This spring there will be BIG projects going on in our house once again. We just committed to replace the living room picture window and two doors, so in about 10 weeks those new windows will be showing up. We started replacing all of the original house windows in 2017. After this set, the only remaining original windows will be in the kitchen. Those will get done with a total kitchen remodel in a couple of years. This February my dad is coming out to finish the drywall in the room we framed for a basement family room last May. It’s great to have such skilled help that won’t charge for labor, I just have to be patient. In anticipation of having a finished family room in the basement, I’ve been doing all sorts of shopping. We decided to purchase an entertainment center off of the classifieds to save some money. We then purchased an area rug in anticipation of the horrid red berber carpet coming out. One of the last steps will be moving our current upstairs couch to the basement and buying a new couch for upstairs, I have a nice leather one picked out with a recliner on each end. Twelve weeks from now the upstairs living room and downstairs family room will feel like totally different spaces.
I probably missed more than I remembered. Here are a few more pictures to finish things up!
