Saturday, December 31, 2022

Christmas and 8 Weeks Visits

As per usual the kids are not allowed to wake us up until 7am but they were definitely up and about around 6. Once Tyler and I came out at 7 we made them take pictures at the top of the stairs and then released them to the presents.


The presents were torn through quickly and all was done in a matter of minutes. It's crazy all the work and planning and build up and how short lived the actual event is. Below is Penny with her gifts: a locker for her dolls, a glamper Lego set, a Pop-It backpack, a bracelet maker, beanie boos, a squishmallow, and a fashion design book. She said her favorite gift was the bracelet maker, although she wore the Pop-It backpack pretty non stop for days after Christmas.


Below is Lucy with her gifts. She got a Taco Truck Lego Set, a travel set for her dolls, Beanie Boos, a squishmallow, a Unicorn Painting Craft, cat headphones and a Pop-It Backpack. Her favorite gift was the travel set for her dolls. 


Below is Ben with his gifts: Pokemon cards, Harry Potter Lego chess set, Stranger Things books and Mad Libs, and Happy Little Dinos Game. His favorite gift was his HP Lego Chess Set. His dad wants to glue it together so he doesn't lose pieces. Since Christmas you can often find Ben versing himself in the games he got for Christmas.


Below is Steven with his gifts: a Samsung Galaxy Watch, a fidget magnetic pen, Harry Potter Brickheadz and lots of soda. His favorite gift was his watch, he's been wanting it forever. That first day he could not stop messing with it and drained the battery so fast. 


Below is Tyler with his gifts: a Nerf Gun, 2 Harry Potter Lego Sets, and he got Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the illustrated version. His favorite gift was the Nerf gun and he enjoyed shooting his kids with it all day. He also got this puzzle cube from Mariah that him and the kids have enjoyed making shapes out of. 

Below is me with my gifts: Lego Orchids, pour paint and a hair blow dryer (to use on the pour paint). I also got a cool puzzle from Jezerea. Ben helped me work on it this week and it was a lot of fun- it had different pieces that at the end you were showed how to rearrange and then given more pieces for the middle. Sounds more confusing then it was. 



Other gifts...all the kids got new towels and drinking mugs. My parents got the kids a shaved ice maker. It makes the ice so thin- like Bahama Bucks- and the first flavor we tried out "Tiger Blood" was sooooo good. I mean it's basically water and sugar so what's not to like? I think it will got good use from us. Tyler's parents got the kids a giftcard to MJR and then another kid's kayak. Now we all have a kayak...except for this new baby that's coming. I also got the kids the game Hookey. It basically has numbered hooks and you try to ring the hooks and get the most pooints. It's been a lot of fun to compete with each other. I am hoping it is something they can play with their friends too.

After all the gifts were opened, the kids got to play with them while I attempted to tidy up some of the disaster. Then I went and got ready for church and then it was time to get all the kids ready for church. Once again I had to force them to take pictures but this time Tyler stood by with his Nerf gun as a threat to all those who wouldn't cooperate. That threat actually worked really well.








Our church service was only an hour long and it was really nice. Some really good musical numbers and short Christmas themed talks. I wish we had more musical numbers in sacrament in general, they're nice.

After church there was lots of Lego building by the kids- Steven even made my Lego flowers for me. And the kids generally just enjoyed their new gifts. They also enjoyed chatting with both grandparents and showing off all their new things. Tyler enjoyed building his Legos as well and threatening the kids with his new Nerf gun. For dinner we did our usual Bethlehem meal- fish sticks, fig newtons, grapes, pita bread, hummus and grape juice. I love what a simple meal it is and it was made even easier with our double oven- I could cook the fish sticks and the pita bread chips at the same time. This holiday season was the first that I could to truly utilize my double oven and it's been great.

After dinner we went to the Bloomfield's house just to hang out and have treats, the Eakins were there as well. It was a low key night and felt good to get out. Melissa gave Jason cornrows on his hair (he's got long hair). It was pretty funny and everyone worked hard on giving him a thug name- in the end it was Lil' Jay Swag. 

The rest of the week was so chill. It's been a couple years since we have had a Winter Break here in Michigan and we have had absolutely no plans. It's been nice. Especially since I am pregnant and queasy and low energy. I worked on my new puzzle, have been reading "The Shining" and binge watching "Emily in Paris" (lots of drama and not appropriate, have to fast forward often) and I have been taking lots of naps. The kids have been playing with their new things, driving eachother crazy and having more screen time than ususal. Couldn't ask for a better break :)

Also this week I have had a lot of pregnancy related appointments. I had my televist with the nurse practioner and she was really nice and answered some questions I had. Then I had my first ultrasound. I was super anxious and my bladder was super full and uncomfortable but the ultrasound tech was really nice about it and having Tyler there was really comforting. Baby's growth is good- was measuring 8 weeks and 4 days (which was a few days ahead of schedule) and the heartbeat was 167 which is good. She commented that the baby looked like a Gummy Bear and I couldn't deny it. My baby did look like a little gummy bear up on that screen. It was really comforting to have everything go good but I do still feel some anxiety. I think it will take getting through that first trimester for me to truly embrace this pregnancy.


I also had another visit to the obgyn for some excess discharge (gross I know). Not sure if it was a yeast infection or something else. Apparently the test came back negative so it might just be one of those fun pregnancy things. Boo. I met with a midwife for this appointment because that's just who they had and I liked her. She was really sensistive to the fact that my previous pregnancy had been a miscarriage and she told me she had 5 kids and we talked a bit about teenagers. So far everyone I have met at this practice have been great, I hope I like my actual doctor too. After that fun visit I went and got my lab work done, blood drawn. After he drew my blood the guy wrapped the gauze around my arm so tight that I thought I was going to lose circulation. Then when I tried to take it off I could not find the end of it. So fun.

The only other real thing I did this week was celebrate Melissa's birthday. She was getting an ear piercing for her birthday (it's supposed to help with anxiety and migraines) and she had asked Grace and I to go with her. We were her moral support although neither of us are the hand holding type. We just stood outside the door and said encouraging things, lol. It was a quick piercing though and then we were out. 

Afterwards, Melissa, oh sweet Melissa, requested the mall food court for her birthday dinner. I ended up with an amazing smoothie and then got a sandwich, my only issue was the sandwich place was soooooo slow and I ended up waiting for at least 15 minutes (there was only one person in front of me). Anyways we sat and ate and chatted. It was a heavy conversation. Grace basically wants to leave the church but is staying for her husband. Melissa talked about some trauma she had growing up. And I am so vanilla I had nothing to contribute but I listened. I did suggest Grace at least read "The Case for Christ". She basically told us she doesn't believe in Christ or God or anything. I think this book has some pretty solid evidence that Jesus was real and did do the things the Bible says. I dunno if she'll read it but I hope if anything she can at least gain a testimony of Christ someday.

Anywho that was my week and here is a pic of my Lego set, our shaved ice, a painting I did this week and my complete puzzle: 




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