Planes, Mega Family Reunion on Many Levels

The only way to document this is chronologically.....

Day 1 - The Flight from NC to AZ

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Was dropped off at the airport by Kelly with Lexi in two (5 months for one more week).  First flight headed into Charlotte, and went on without a hitch.  Second flight was from Charlotte to Phoenix, AZ.  While this flight was long, Lexi was a champ and did a great job.  I arrived in AZ late into the night (about 1 AM my time, and about 10 PM Arizona time).  After getting off the plane, I noticed that Amy was waiting for me!  She caught be a bit off guard as the only way to meet someone at the gate is if you've come into the airport also.  She arrived with Liz and Melissa, and gave me a warm welcome with all the siblings (except Debi), and my parents.  It was such a warm welcome; words can't describe how much fun it was to see them.  All of us are married now, and all but Melissa have kids so it was a bit surreal to all be there without spouses.  Anthony was among the most excited and was ready to party that night.  I, on the other hand, just wanted to find a bed and get some sleep.  We checked into the hotel around 2 PM (my time), and 11 AZ time and my roommate was Melissa.  It was odd not having a chance to really talk with her and trying to get right to bed. 

Day 2 - Wedding Day

At 6 AM my time (9 AZ), I said to Melissa, "can we have our sleep over now that I've had some sleep?" She laughed and we enjoyed getting to know each other again.  It was super fun that Lexi got to meet her aunt Melissa, Amy, and Liz. Downstairs to have the continental breakfast super early, it was an exciting day just getting started.  It was so fun to talk with Melissa and get to know each other again.  Soon after, met up with Liz and Amy, staying down the hall, and we were off to Anth's house for the day.

After arriving at Anth's, we got the grand tour.  Anthony has a beautiful home and it awesome getting to see it.  Lunch at Anth's, a good nap in Anth's bedroom for Lexi, and back to the hotel to change, we were off to the wedding.  What a beautiful wedding.  I think Angelica was the most beautiful bride I've seen.

After Angelica had there ceremony, we met in the reception hall.  This venue was absolutely beautiful and the reception hall was no exception.  Due to the music and late hour for Lexi, Amy helped me out by taking me home early so I could put Lexi to bed.  She'd had enough soon after meeting in the reception hall.

Day 3 - Melissa's 25th Birthday

This morning Amy and Liz and I decided to take Melissa out to breakfast for her birthday.  She was really excited for her birthday this year because of the news that Jeff got a job working for the International Rescue Committee.  I'm so happy for Melissa.  She's grown into such a beautiful woman. 

After eating a hearty breakfast, we headed over to Anthony's house where we discovered that Dave and Anthony wanted to treat Melissa out to lunch....oops.  After holding off Dave and Anthony as long as possible giving Lexi a nap, we had lunch at the Paradise Cafe.  So, out to each for both breakfast and lunch - a real treat for me.

Saturday afternoon, after having a nice chat with Melissa, and getting to know Angelica, we had a pool party.  Anthony's pool was crystal clear, but very cool.  That dip in the pool I'm sure gave me a much needed cold skin treatment.  After the swim, we were off once again for a catered meal, this time at Angelica's parents home for authentic mexican corn tortillas.  So delicious!

Saturday evening Mom & Dad stayed with Lexi to sleep while we all went out for frozen yogurt.

Day 4 - AZ to UT Car Trek
Sunday morning I packed up our stuff and we were off for the 11 hour drive from Phoenix, AZ to Salt Lake City, UT.  What a memorable trip traveling with a 6 month old.  The highlight of the trip was having my mom and dad all to myself for 11 hours.  I hope I didn't wear them out, but really loved their company.  Lexi was also blessed with being content and happy as a pea in a pod.  We arrived at my parents home at around 9:30 PM.

Day 5 - Being part of Salt Lake Family
Day 6 - Salt Lake to Logan, UT -------------Go Aggie's
Day 7 - Grandpa's Funeral
Day 8 - The Flight Home

gotta finish this later........

Two passes to a clean tub!

Yup, that's right, it took two passes of bleach to get the tub clean.  The second one I had to get right because I finally got dressed today after a much needed post-long-weekend bath at around 2:30 PM today just after getting Lexi down for an afternoon nap and seeing Kelly off for work.   After the second pass, I felt relieved as I finally got dressed into my black jeans and dark hot pink shirt; not a friendly mix for mildew remover bleach cleaner stuff.  Hanging out in a hoodie sweatshirt and sweat pants all morning wasn't good for my already low morale.

This morning Kelly (my DH) was off work.  So, I decided to dilly with a bit of work, a bit of cleaning, and a lot of baby care.  Lexi (my infant DD) had a rough night last night with a her waking at 2 AM for an unusual feeding time.  Then, when I returned, my DH was in a deep snoring snooze until I left the room at 4 hoping to get a few hours before getting Tristan off to school at 7:30 AM.  Lexi was in the same room as me and was a tosser until she finally went down again around 4:30 AM.  This morning I discovered she has her first top tooth.....go figure.....get to blame that one on teething.

While Lexi napped this morning, I found myself having a pity party.  The end of this residency marathon has been wrought with unexpected climbs, bruises, and a possible extension.  I'm sure if I really ran a marathon I'd be crawling to the finish line, and metaphorically I feel I'm there with Kelly's medical residency, and now it might be a few more months.  Being in limbo is really rough mentally.  Not knowing how you're going to pay for the remainder of his student loans, health insurance, mortgages, groceries, the list goes on and on is stressful.  The pity party centered around the fact that I thought we'd have the answers to these questions by now.  We don't.  There are still options to consider, a lot of work to do, and the prayers needed to make the right decision for our family. 

So, that's where I'm at today.  Cleaning the tub today reminded me that sometimes you have to make more effort than you anticipate, or go a little further than you expect,  to get the end result.

So Romantic!

Wow!  That was the longest weekend ever!  I swear, Tristan was the hardest he's ever been dozens of times taxing both Kelly and I to our limits on patience.  On Friday afternoon I felt victorious as I had ALL the laundry done in the house before Kelly got home from work about 7:30 PM.  This gave me a good guage to see how many pants/shorts Tristan goes through on average in a day.  To back track, he's regressed significantly since Lexi came 5 months ago.  He's always wet his pants, but now he's choosing not to use the bathroom and wets his pants all day.  Any people out there with suggestions on how to stop this, let me know?  Right now, he can't play video games again until he's potty trained.  This is defined as no wet pants outside of his bed.  He's still permitted to wet at night if he has accidents, but can't walk around the house in his wet pull-ups; such a pet peeve of mine.  So, ready for the tally?  We went through TEN outfits last weekend or an average of five outfits per day.  Totally unacceptable. 

Add this stress on top of all the other crazy stuff he was doing all weekend, and you'll get an idea of how tough it was.  He's such a tough kid, but there is a tender side of him that wins my heart every time.  Lately, he's been obsessed, and I mean obsessed with collecting acorns.  Now this is something I love about Tristan; he reminds me often of how beautiful the mind of a 7 year old is.  Don't you just love his serious face?  Collecting acorns is serious business.

 

The other big happening this weekend was watching general conference.  http://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng  For those of you who have never watched it, I highly recommend it!  It was a breathe of fresh air for me to hear and remember what's most important in life; doing Christ's work here on earth. 

So Romantic!

Being 38 years old with a 5 month new baby, and broke at the end of Kelly's medical  residency, I'm in a bit of a fashion crisis.  My body still has about 17 pounds to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight, and about 40 pounds to lose to be at my pre-residency weight; stress is my biggest contributor to weight gain.  This has left me with limited options to take care of myself.  It doesn't help that I don't feel good about my current weight. 

On Friday night, while talking to my mom on the phone, I started crying as all the pent up emotions of me giving up so much of myself for our family came out on the phone.  I kind of feel bad now letting those emotions loose as its been something I've kept pretty secure.  Kelly came in afterwards, and saw that I'd been crying and asked me why.  I confessed to him that I was crying because I didn't have a dress to wear to the wedding, and that I was sad that even if I wanted a dress, we didn't have the money for me to buy one. 

Before my wonderful husband left for the men's session on Saturday night, he knelt down next to me and said he needed to talk to me about something. A little worried, I said "okayyyyy?" He then got out two intricately and neatly folded up one-hundred dollar bills and handed them to me. He had been keeping these hundreds in his wallet since December when he got some money as a gift for Christmas.  He was saving this money to buy something he really wanted. He then said that he wanted to spend his Christmas money on getting me a nice dress for my brothers' wedding coming up in two weeks and said on Monday or Tuesday night, he'd like me to get a nice dress for the wedding with this money.  It was a very tender and loving moment for me.

Nutella - Try with Caution!

So last week, on a whim and after I ran out of sunflower butter (I sadly discovered a moderate peanut allergy in my mid-thirties), I had a Nutella Sandwich.  Wow!  I'm 38, and have never tried Nutella.  I've missed out on this hidden delight all these years.  I'm shocked.  So delicious.  So tonight, I picked up several items I can try with Nutella including graham crackers, strawberries, bananas, and vanilla wafers.  When I got to the store, the Jiff chocolate hazelnut was cheaper so I bought that.

Oddly, Catriona discovered Nutella about the same time and has polished off the whole container in about a week after she ran out of her staple; peanut butter. 

Discovering Chocolate Hazelnut Butter is not good news for my weight loss goals, but I just don't have the oomph lately to work on losing more weight.  I'm working on it, but it seems the more behind my vendors get at owing me money, the harder it is for me to lose weight.  Financial stress directly correlates to weight gain for me lately.  When Kelly started residency, I weighed 173 pounds.  I now weigh 210.  When I started my pregnancy last year I weighed about 193 which means I only put on 20 pounds during his residency; not too bad.  Just writing about this makes me want to lose the weight again because I loved how clothes fit and how I felt when I was thinner..

In July and August, I lost 10 pounds!  In September I didn't lose any more.  I need to lose about 40 pounds to be at what I consider my acceptable weight.  I've discovered that every 10 pounds of fat corresponds to about a size larger. 
200 = 18
190 = 16
180 = 14
170 = 12 acceptable
160 = 10 ideal

All that said, gaining weight and sacrificing the health of my hips had its massive reward!  I have the most beautiful new baby you've ever seen!  I know I'll be fit again soon, but at age 38, every month I put of having another baby lowered my chances off her getting her here safely.  I feel so blessed and thankful today.

Kindermusik

This morning I attended a Kindermusic class for our 5 month old Lexi.  Lately, I've been trying to think of ways to entertain and play with her that are outside of my usual play routine, and this class was just what I didn't know I was looking for.  It was fun to sing to her, work on movement, and watch her responding at such a young age to all the different stimuli.  I give it a thumbs up!

This morning was also my first day at a new gym I joined.  It's a step up from my previous gym, especially with what I would rate the gym child care as being 5 star!

Kelly has his first post residency interview tomorrow.  He's getting his hair cut right now for the big interview.  My mind is continually wondering lately as this season in our lives is coming to a close.  It's always both exciting and stressful entering a new phase in life.  My hope is that all these "investment" years are going to make for a fantastic 40's phase of our lives!  I feel like I've been standing on a platform ready to jump for five years now.  It's been a tough but wonderful 57 months!  He's 95% done with residency now with just 3 months to go.

Early Morning Seminary

So my husband has successfully driven Catriona to early morning seminary from 6:10AM-7:00AM every morning so far since school started in August - a little over a month!  Why would anyone, let alone a teen, want to get up so early in the morning for a religious instruction class?  It's because it works!  Having instruction on spirituality and of the teachings of Jesus Christ is absolutely the best way to start your day.  It also teaches children the concept of sacrifice.  Sacrifice is a good thing when you think about it.  It usually requires you to give up something you want for something better.  Kids that choose to go to early morning seminary, and parent who support it give up that precious last hour of sleep in the morning for something better; having their kids start their day at school getting in tuned to the Holy Ghost and what the Lord wants them to learn that day or do that day in and through the Holy ghost. 

Here's some more info on early morning seminary:  http://seminary.lds.org/?lang=eng

My son Preston just started college this year.  He attended early morning seminary all four years of his high school experience.  What a blessing early morning seminary was for him, and is currently becoming for Catriona in her freshman year of high school.

Oatmeal Cookies & Breastmilk

Catriona made some oatmeal cookies on Sunday and I've discovered two things about them. 

1.  The cookies have given me a plentiful supply of breastmilk.  The past two days, I've gotten Lexi, five months, up early in the morning to feed her rather than letting her wake me for feedings.  The reason is because I'm too uncomfortable and engorged to continue sleeping. 

2.  I can't have cookies of any kind in the house because I have no filter.  So I've been trying to watch what I eat lately and this has completely thrown me off the past three days.  I ate the last cookie about half an hour ago so thank goodnesss they are out of the house now. 

I just got off the phone with my sister Deborah.  I love talking her her.  She's such a strong women.  She lives in New Jersey and has a beautiful family with four beautiful children and a wonderful husband.  Her youngest, Gwen, is 7 week old.  I just love talking to any of my sisters. 

After picking up the kids this morning from early morning seminary (to learn more about this - http://inthedoghouse.hubpages.com/hub/Mormon-Teens-Get-An-Early-Start-To-The-Day--Early-Morning-Seminary-Religion-Class), I told them how upset I was that Goyte came to concert last night and I didn't know about it.  My husband told me about it before I left, and it left me sad.  Sad because not only do we have zero in our budget for anything outside of food and bills the past five years, I was also sad because I would have really like to see them in concert.  I was also sad because, for a moment, it got me thinking how my life lacks fun stuff that costs money.  Yes, people say, money doesn't buy happiness, but that's such a lie to me.  Money would have bought the memory of taking my husband to the Goyte concert for his 38th birthday, and money would have paid the babysitter, even if it was Catriona, to watch Lexi while we enjoyed dinner (ideal) and the concert. 

That moment of feeling sorry for myself led to immense feelings of gratitude for what I do have that doesn't cost money.  Bring house poor the past five years during Kelly's medical residency has given me the rare opportunity to appreciate hundreds of things that don't cost money.  Here's a small list today of what I'm thankful for:
1.  My faith - we had the missionaries over last night and this gave me a moment where I really appreciated my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  What an amazing organization who's mission is to bring us closer to Christ.  Mission accomplished all these years with my membership and activity in the church.
2.  My husband - how thankful I am to have the best husband in the world.  He truly is my knight in shining armor.  He's the wind beneath my wings.  He's the first person I want to speak with when anything significant happens to me daily.  He's the one I look for in the middle of the night when I wake suddenly.  He's also amazingly talented, and is a wonderful husband and father.  People often say wonderful husband and father but don't say why.  Well I'll tell you.  He's a wonderful husband because his first concern every day is my well being.  From the moment he wakes in the morning, he says a prayer with me often on our bedside.  When we retire at night, he'll often give me much needed back rubs, and is quick to listen to anything I haven't had to say about the day.  He's a wonderful father because he has dedicated his career to both providing for our family, as well as devoting adequate time for each of our children.  He's just there for them from helping our daughter with math, to reading Harry Potter with our son.
3.  My 4 amazing children - The true gems and jewels of my life are my four beautiful children; but I can't talk more on them now because Lexi needs me more than this blog; she's hungry and time is up for her here on my lap.