New Years Resolutions

Hmmm... I've been thinking if there is anything that I really want to do better this year. There's a bunch of things, but I don't know if its anything I really want to 'resolute' to do better. You know? I know I would like to keep my house cleaner, but lets be honest... what is the likelihood of that. ;) So here is what I've come up with for now and I might edit/add to it later. Meredith put some things on her blog and it got me thinking that with this being so 'black and white' I can come back at the end of next year (or throughout the year) and see how I did.

1. Food storage. An ongoing goal, but I would like to be better at maintaining my 3 months of canned food and start using the flour and sugar from the cannery instead of buying it from the store. I also want to learn about sprouting which is something my ward learned about the day that I had Nathan.

2. Go to the temple more often. I may defer this goal until Nathan gets a little older and I am more comfortable leaving him the hands of teenagers. Once I do I need to go at least once a month, but my goal is twice a month. (And with Chris too)

3. Budget. I'm good at putting money away for savings and for certain purposes, but the leftover money (ie going out to eat, walmart and target trips, and other random stuff) I don't keep track of as well.

4. Alright, I'll put it on here... I would like to clean the house more often. Even through the exhausted days (and nights) to keep up on something. Vacuuming, picking up toys, filing the bills, bleaching the shower, whatever. I know that spending 20 minutes a day will probably help out more than a couple hours on a Saturday. Ugh. I don't like that one. You think I could convince Chris to take this one on too and help? probably not
Thats all for now. I may come back and add more later. Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all enjoy 2008!! Its 9:30 and I think I might go to bed. LOL!

It finally hit us :(

The stupid stomach bug that every single person I know has had - has finally come to the Porter household. Eli is the only one who has had it (so far) and he is feeling slightly better, but we missed Cecelias blessing today. So I'm bummed. I was really looking forward to getting the 3 of them in more pictures. This is the best we could do.

Christmas Day was such a fun day! Unfortunately Eli woke up at 2am because our hall nightlight burned out. How he became addicted to nightlights I'll never know... but it woke him up enough that he wanted to open presents. Luckily we got him back to sleep until 8am. His first present was the Superman bag from Grandma. He was so excited to get his Superman pajamas! He put them on and you coudl just see in his eyes that he was done. He got the perfect present. But #2 was the Transformer which he loved. And the rest he was just having a blast unwrapping. He didn't care what it was, he just wanted to unwrap. Poor Nathan slept through the whole thing. But we had Round #2 when he woke up. Chris got a Craftsman toolbox from Santa, but it was dented on the hinges, so we'll be taking it back and he is going to buy the rest of the set. Other than that, I don't think we have to take anything back!

After presents, Eli and Daddy went sledding at the park while I let Nathan sleep some more. The rest of the day I spent cooking rolls, sweet potatoes, pie and who knows what else. I swear I was in the kitchen almost all day... but I don't feel like there was a lot to show for it. We ended up snacking all day that we weren't even that hungry for dinner. Oh well. And then we went over to our neighbors house to visit and eat pie while Eli played with their 2 yr old.

Last night would have been a breakthrough night (which I guess it was) Nathan slept for 8 1/2 hours!!!!!!!!!! And then he went back down for another 5. I seriously had to keep checking on him that he was alive. Unfortunately Eli woke up throwing up in the middle of the night, so it was still a long night for all of us. We think it was just something he ate because he is doing better today. His tummy doesn't hurt and he is keeping everything down that he has eaten so far. I hope he is fine. I know the stomach bug has been going around like crazy and I really don't want the baby to be sick. I don't want either of my babies to be sick, but it could be dangerous if Nathan were to get it. Anyway, here are some pictures.... their Christmas outfits, and lots of wrapping paper. :) Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas. I know I sure did!!!

Nathans Sunday Christmas outfit


Another cute one


Elis Christmas outfit


Brothers


Its a White Christmas (backyard shot)


Christmas Day


Superman opening his Transformer


Superman in the wrapping paper


Nathans *round* of presents


Nathans presents


Eli and Nathan in the wrapping paper

Mommys Christmas Present

All wrapped up and good to go. I was talking about this with another lady who had a baby about the same time I did (but 12 years ago) and what it is like to have a new baby at this time of year. What a blessing it is and you get a real sense of what Mary was going through and how special it was to bring a new baby into the world. Obviously her child was the Savior of the world, but the love of a child and especially a new child is something that any mother can share. We are so blessed to have our kids and I feel especially blessed to be a mother. These pictures are kind of silly, but he is my special gift for this year. :)

Bless the crack cookie

And bless Meredith for giving them to me. Man those things are good. I just finished off the last one and I'm so sad! Although its definitely a good thing that they're gone. I could eat them by the truckload. Hence the name I guess. ;)

So I think we're officially ready for Christmas. I still have presents to wrap, but shopping is done. I went to the honey baked ham store this morning. Merry Christmas to Mary! I absolutely love honey baked hams. They're huge, but we'll freeze the rest and the best part about them is there is no cooking involved. They "prefer" you to serve them at room temperature. Ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, homemade bread... yum. I'm making shortbread cookies right now. We've had so many nice neighbors bring us treats I'm starting to feel bad. So I'll make a couple batches of cookies and deliver them tonight. That is if I don't eat them all. Now that the crack cookies are gone, I need to eat something. ;)

So how do I stain something that is painted? It doesn't seem to stick. I was told to paint it first and then stain it... but it looks awful. Maybe I'll sand it a little to get some of the paint off or something. or maybe it just takes 10 coats??? who knows. any thoughts you might have I'd appreciate it.

Christmas shopping

Why is it that I have been looking for the 2 hardest to find toys of the Christmas season????? Hungry Hungry Hippos which you wouldn't think (since its been out for 30 years) but its out of stock everywhere and Transformers which is obvious. I have checked Toys R Us, 3 Walmarts, 2 Targets and I finally tried the Toys R Us by my office and got one of the last Transformers!!!! I'm so excited. Chris tried ordering one online which was great, but a day later they sent him a note saying it was backordered. Couldn't they have mentioned that when he bought it in the first place? I know Eli doesn't need more toys, but I really wanted to get him something that was on *his* Christmas list. He wants a bike, transformer and a soccer game? Not sure what that one is, but he isn't getting it.
The good news is that his birthday is pretty much done too. He'll get all the leftover toys that he didn't get for Christmas! Oh, and I found this Ninja Turtle when I got the Transformer. Its a 6" action figure that kicks. It didn't have a price, but its about the same size as the Transformer which was $9.99, so I figured it would be in the ballpark of $10-$15. Nope. $2.20. Can't beat that!!! :) Probably save that one for his birthday too.
Now I just have the babysitter and if I can just finish up these things I'm making for my family - that will be it. Sorry Mom and Matt... it'll come in a couple weeks. I hope they turn out. Any ideas for my daycare lady? In the past, I've done lotions, and gift certificates to Barnes and Kohls. I was thinking maybe a restaurant this year, but don't really know... I guess I'll come up with something.

I own a freezer!

I don't exactly have it yet, but its coming on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to me! Its a Frigidaire upright freezer. Its the smaller one... 14 cuft I think? But its more space than we have now! They had one that was a bit bigger, but I just don't see us needing that much room. ::sigh:: just to be able to buy an extra box of waffles or something and not think... where is this going to fit?? I can't wait. And yes, Mother, it is frost free. :)

Mommys Wishlist photo shoot

Thanks J-U-B

WOOHOO!!!! Thank you JUB! One more reason that working is kind of nice. I got a bonus! I think I might get myself a new stove (hopefully gas) and/or a freezer for the garage! It very much made my day. Plus we should still be getting our "Christmas present" at the Christmas party which isn't much - maybe $200, but that'll add in to 'get Mary some new appliances' fund. :) Wow... just realizing how sad that is. I get this extra money and the best thing that I can think of to spend it on is appliances. I'm pathetic.

So everyone is wussing out on me as far as taking their babies to the company Christmas party. Usually its an adults only party, but this year there were 4 babies born, 3 of which were within the last 3 months. One definitely isn't bringing his, one will depend on how tomorrow goes and if he eats just before they leave, but the third has to bring his little one (thank you Justin). I think my boss might be kind of sad. He is kind of expecting to see these babies with all the baby talk that has been around the office. oh well. I guess 2 for sure. To be honest, I'm just not comfortable leaving my screaming 2 month old with a 14 yr old babysitter. Maybe if Grandma lived nearby it might be different.

Thank you Mom

My mom sent this to me, and I very much enjoyed it. :)

Day One... not so bad

I'm back to work! Not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm here. I'll admit I've been dreading it, but to be honest its like I never left. I've missed the office dynamic and all the conversations that go on around here. These guys crack me up. But I'm definitely missing my baby. I miss Eli too, but I know that he is having more fun at daycare than with me. I don't have that with Nathan. So I just think about him and hope that he is ok. I can already tell you that being away from them is doing wonders my sanity. Is it bad that I already know that? Ever since I figured out that I don't NEED to work anymore, I've been dreading it. Now that I'm here... its definitely for the best. I enjoy my job. I always have. Now maybe I can look at it as something that I 'get' to do instead of something I 'have' to do.

The pumping sucks (pardon the pun)... whoever invented breast pumps was probably laughing his head off at what a cruel joke it was. I HATE PUMPING! But at the same time, I feel like its an important thing that I'm doing for my baby - so I do it. I only get 1/2 of what he needs, but at least its something. I don't mind that he gets formula and am thrilled that he'll eat both. Unfortunately, I know that the pumping won't last nearly as long as it did with Eli. My goal is to pump until he is 6 months old. I made it to 9 months with Eli. who knows. Take it one day at a time. And one day... check. I survived.

Can I sleep now?

I could really use a nap. I don't think I've stopped all week. But I'll admit, its been a fun week. Today I took Eli to the movies. Actually it was the first time he had ever been to a movie theater. We went to Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium. He enjoyed himself, although I'm not sure which was more fun... the movie or the popcorn. ;) We only had one potty trip and it was about 20 or 30 minutes before the show was over and he was ready to go home. I got him to hold out until it was 5 minutes left but he was really done. Nathan went to daycare. I thought it might be good if he went for 1 day before he HAD to go. Let Julie get to know him a little bit and see how he was going to react. I guess he did pretty good. Thankfully. Its just so weird to bring him to daycare. He seems way too little. Eli was much bigger by now, and I think its just hard to give such a little baby away. (even if it is just for 6 hours) I don't know.
I actually figured out today that we could PROBABLY make it work if I quit my job. Our savings would take a serious hit and we would never eat out again... I just don't know if I'm willing to sacrifice our savings. At the same time - that is really all I'm working for. Most of my paycheck is going to daycare, gas, and other expenses that is costs us for me to work and leftovers go to savings. What is worth more? Helping our kids go to college or raising them as they're small kids? At the moment I can't answer that. Either way, I would work until the fall when Eli starts preschool. Right now I'm just sad that my little tiny baby is going to be in daycare. He is just so little. We had his 2 month checkup and he was 10lbs 14oz and 21.5" long. Don't remember his head, but he is exactly 50th percentile across the board. He was miserable after his shots, but he is fine now. He got the new rotovirus vaccine which is given orally. He sucked that thing up like it was going out of style! He loved it! Although, I'm thinking that some of his crying later that day could have been his tummy from the vaccine. Who knows. Alright, enough rambling for now... I'm going to bed.

Why does blessing day = poop?

Who knows. Today was a great day. Nathan was sleepy, but a very happy kid. His schedule was right on with being on time for church (aka it wasn't time to eat) although he had decided to cry for 2 hours in the middle of the night... (aka mommy was tired). We got to church on time and our family was all there. Sara and Kyle, Mary and David, and Chris' friends Justin and Mike came. And Chris did great. Actually, we found out later that Uncle David recorded the whole thing and its now on our computer! Thank you David, and thank you technology!! So that is neat. What a wonderful day.

We all came back to the house for soup and sandwiches and visit with each other for a little while. We were all sitting around enjoying each other when Ambi comes upstairs and said there is water everywhere... huh?? Well, I guess someone used the toilet and it overflowed and never stopped overflowing. It gushed into the family room. Poop water everywhere. The term 'turd water' was used. The shopvac was brought out and picked up almost 12 gallons of water. They pulled up the carpet, threw out the pad, and now it is drying. I don't know what is going to happen next. We're planning on getting carpet with our tax return next year, but it might happen a couple months early and we'll pay it off when we get our tax return. We'll have to survey the damage when its done drying and the mildew smell sets in or doesn't set in. David rented a rug doctor, so we cleaned the carpets as good as possible for now... its just a wait and see thing now.

I just can't believe that it happened. Its so funny to me. On the day Eli was blessed, he exploded out of his diaper during the opening song. Yeah, blessings happen right after the song is over. So I run to the bathroom and its all up his back and everything. I had 30 seconds to clean up a mess that would have normally taken 10 minutes. Luckily he had a onesie on underneath so it didn't leak out onto his outfit. I'm 2 for 2!!!! I guess its yet another reason why we shouldn't have more kids.. ;)

An Ode to Target

Ok, so maybe not, but can I tell you how much I love that store?? We spent an hour and a half there and accomplished EVERYTHING! We pulled up and the bad mommy that I am didn't realize the hour. Eli mentioned something about being hungry... oops. Well, we had already parked, so we go in and eat. They have a lovely $2 meal with a hot dog and drink, or for Eli - Mac n cheese with fruit snacks and milk. Then we go shopping and I get a baby present for Cassie, Christmas outfits for the boys, snow boots, a car seat cover, and all my grocery shopping for tomorrow. One stop shopping and it isn't run each other down like it is at Wally World. Of course if I had done my shopping at Walmart, I probably wouldn't have spent as much as I did. We're not going there.

At least it stopped snowing. Not that I necessarily want it to stop - I just don't like it snowing when I have places to go, or I know that family is driving. And everyone is coming to our house tomorrow. At least wait until after then!! I think everything is ready. Everything except a clean house. Oh well. Its family. They can understand my hectic life. If I could crawl into bed right now I would.