Christmas 2011

*Be warned, we got a new camera for Christmas, so this post has a lot of pictures! 
And it's just a really long post.*
Ahhh, Christmas has come and gone already. Why must it go by so fast? I loved that Christmas was on a Sunday this year. I found it so fitting to attend sacrament meeting and hear songs and words about the birth of our Savior. I think the rest of the Christian world has it right about attending services on Christmas day, regardless of the day of the week ...

Family photo on Christmas Eve

Now that we have Layla, we decided to forgo our usual "running around like mad in an attempt to see everyone" charade and just see one side of the family each day. It was so much more relaxing and I felt like we were able to spend quality time with everyone. Plus, Christmas is much more fun when you have a little one. Layla obviously doesn't grasp the whole Santa thing this year, but we're super excited to threaten her with it next year! Ha, ha. But she did enjoy opening presents, playing with new toys, and visiting family. She was so fun to watch during all of the festivities. She sure has us all wrapped around her finger!

On Christmas Eve we visited with Mitch's grandma. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the nurses and staff who work on the holidays to take care of her. I know they get paid and it's their job, but still, I wouldn't want to work on Christmas and the nurses we did see that day all had smiles on their faces and were very kind when they had good reason to be grumpy. Verda gave Layla a Christmas teddy bear and I was so glad that she could see and hear Layla's excitement over the gift. Isn't that the best part about presents anyways?

After visiting Verda we headed over to Mitch's parents house. We ate a really good dinner and had some of the richest ice cream I've ever eaten, as well as Kevin's homemade Oreo cookies of deliciousness, for dessert. Then the festivities began. Let me just say that my in-laws go ALL OUT for Christmas. I usually leave feeling so guilty that they gave us so much. Too much. But it is really fun to see the huge pile of wrapping paper at the end.

The first three presents that Layla opened each contained  an Elmo something or other. So every time she opened a present after that, she would say, "Elmo!" thinking that he would be in the box. It was pretty funny.

We were all spoiled rotten. Mitch and I are especially excited about the fancy schmancy camera that our parents got us; we used the Christmas money from his parents and my parents to buy it. It's super nice, but to be honest, it kind of overwhelms me. I need to read the manual ... but I love that it's fast enough to catch moments like this:

And this:

Layla slept good on Christmas Eve, especially considering the only nap she took that day was in the car on the way to Mammy and Boppa's. Isn't she beautiful?

(She refused to nap when we tried earlier that day. Rare for her. She usually loves to sleep. Just like her Momma.) We kept joking that she must have known Santa was coming and was too excited to nap. Oh well, at least she slept well that night, right?

Mitch and I set up Layla's presents after she went to bed. I built this tower out of blocks and spelled her name at the top, and I must have accidentally knocked it over at least three times. I was pretty annoyed by the end. Ha, ha. We gave her parent-and-child swimming lessons (which start on Monday and I think I'm more excited than she is), clothes, a new swim suit, blocks, a Cookie Monster toy (that she is obsessed with, good pick Mitch!), a play farm with animals (one of which she insists is a monkey), and a book about being reverent (that served its purpose and kept her quiet at church).

Christmas morning Layla wasn't nearly as excited as we thought she'd be when she saw it all laid out on the couch. Maybe next year? We dolled her up in her Sunday best, spent an hour at church, then went to my grandma's  for a delicious breakfast. Seriously, it was so good. Layla got really messy eating her fruit and had to have a bath. Then we headed over to my parents' to open gifts. Layla got even more Elmo stuff! And my parents also gave us WAY TOO MUCH and once again I felt guilty. But loved. :)

My grandpa had bought himself this hat. Too funny with the fake hair.

And Layla had fun wearing Uncle Dudin's cowboy hat. This picture seriously brings a tear to my eye. My little cowgirl ... can't wait until she's old enough for riding lessons!

Layla loves this tube my parents got her. Our cat Harvey loves it too. I love watching both of them play in it together.

Layla also loves her play vacuum from Mammy and Boppa Miles, which cracks me up because it has a detachable dust-buster. Remember those? Do people still use dust-busters? We haven't put batteries in the vacuum yet because I'm afraid it will annoy the crap out of me and Layla thinks it's fun without making noise. Is that mean of me? And I think she looks adorable in this poncho my parents got her (don't mind that it doesn't match, we were just seeing how it looks).


Finally it was time to take Layla home for a nap. She was exhausted! She had too much fun with her fan club. She sure loves her Mammys!


It took her a long time to fall asleep. Mitch's parents and sister came over that evening for a bit to see what else Layla got. She had fun showing them her presents. Then Mitch put her to bed, and I captured one of my favorite scenes on camera. Just check out that belly!

One of my favorite things about Christmas is that Mitch has Christmas Eve through New Year's Day off of work, and obviously school is out too, so we get to hang out with Daddy all week! We've managed to do a lot already. Mitch was invited to go skiing with friends, but once they got up there they realized there's not a lot of snow (which I am LOVING, btw), so they went and saw Mission Impossible instead.

Here is Layla in her "party Christmas dress" and the awesome boots Aunt Katie gave her. They crack me up.

Then that night we met up with my fam and saw War Horse, which is a total tear jerker. Mitch said it should be called Bad Luck Horse since (almost) everyone who rides him gets killed. Ha, ha. My dad kept thanking Mitch and telling him how nice it was of him to come see it with us. Geez, did you really think the movie was that bad, Dad?

Here is Layla in her Christmas Day Christmas dress. Doesn't she look like an angel?

On Tuesday we visited with Mitch's grandparents whom we hadn't been able to see yet. They gave Layla a cute teddy bear, which she also loves. It was nice to see them. Tuesday evening my family came up, this time with my Uncle Kent who was in town, and we went to dinner. Layla hasn't seen Kent since September, and she instantly fell in love with him. She calls him, "Kah!" and insisted that he carried her everywhere. It was so cute.

Mitch and I spent the rest of the evening watching our new season of The Office (thanks, Katie!) and laughing our heads off. Seriously so funny. But awkward! I love that show.

Here is our girl on the piano, which she still loves to play.

Wednesday we cleaned the house, etc., then met up for dinner at my gma's and went with most of the fam, including Kent, to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which was so awesome. I loved it!

Sometimes Layla insists that I sit on her dinosaur with her.
We barely fit.

Tonight we are going to dinner with some friends. Indian food, my favorite! We've got a few more activities to pack in before Mitch heads back to work. Then one more free week before school starts again. It's been such a great Christmas break!

Dear Santa,

Thank you for putting me on your "Nice List" this year, even though I refused to take a nap on Christmas Eve and was kind of grumpy for my momma and daddy.

Also, I am terribly sorry about screaming my head off when my Aunt Katie took me to the zoo to see you. I really liked you last year, but this year you were scary! Maybe next year I'll like ya again. Isn't my Aunt the best for putting up with me that night? 

Thanks for all the gifts. I really love them! I know you'll be watching me to see if I'm naughty or nice, so I will start taking naps again every day so my momma can keep her sanity.

XoxOXo,

Layla

A Christmas Miracle

Remember how I thought I had food poisoning? And then I thought I had the flu? Well, after a visit to the doctor, and another visit to the ER, someone finally figured out that I actually had a kidney infection.

Weird, I know, especially considering I did not have any of the "normal" symptoms. But that must have been it, because I feel so much better after taking the antibiotics.

I keep referring to my two-week illness as "the Christmas Miracle" because after talking to other people who have had a kidney infection, it sounds like I got off easy. I didn't have to stay in the hospital and it only lasted two weeks; other people I know had it way worse.

I would like to attribute this miracle to the priesthood blessings I received from my husband and our wonderful home teacher, as well as the invention of antibiotics, which I consider to be a miracle in itself.

While I feel like I lost two weeks of my life, and I was absolutely miserable during that time, I do feel very blessed to be feeling healthy again. I am still tired, but overall I feel so much better!

Bring on the holidays!

Flu

Remember how I thought I had food poisoning on my birthday? Well, that was on a Monday night and I didn't feel better until Tuesday afternoon. Felt fine Wednesday, Thursday, and most of the day Friday.

And then "It" attacked me. Friday night at my parents' house, where we were gathering with some friends from out of town, we hadn't been there for more than 20 minutes when "It" hit me full-force. We left in a hurry and upon arriving home I threw up the whole 2 bites of dinner I had eaten (I will never eat spaghetti again). I felt so awful, and this was the second round of this illness that week, that I asked Mitch to take me to the hospital. (Would have gone to the regular dr., but they were closed.) I thought I had appendicitis, it was that bad. Thanks again to the Denzers, who rescued us and came to stay with Layla.

Two hours later we leave the hospital with two prescriptions, one for nausea and one for stomach cramping, and I'm told I have the stomach flu.

Well, here it is, one week later, Friday, and I'm still throwing up and having severe stomach cramping. I had to miss out on one family Christmas party that I was really looking forward to, and I am missing the Jon Schmidt Christmas concert tonight. I don't want to risk having another attack while I'm there, and I can't drive when I'm on this medication. We also missed out on seeing the lights at Temple Square with our friends.

I went to my regular dr. on Tuesday and repeated the blood work, which all came back normal. Apparently it really is just the flu. The nearly-two-week-long-throwing-up-super-painful-dehydrated-stomach-flu.

Trying to look at the positive, I have lost over 5 pounds. And "It" has given me a new appreciation for the good health I usually have. And for family. Mitch took several days off to stay home with me. I forced him to go on his business trip this week, even though he wanted to cancel it. Layla and I stayed at my parent's house, where my mom, brother, and grandma took turns taking care of us. Thanks you guys, for dropping everything to help me. For not getting grossed out when I vomited in front of you, several times, while crying and trying not to appear too helpless. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight.

I've never been this sick in my life. I'm a very healthy person. No one else that I've been around has come down with it. I swear it's really my gallbladder. I've heard that blood tests won't always show problems with the gallbladder. If I'm not better by Monday, I'm going to see a gastroenterologist.

28

I turned 28 this week. I'm glad to be an even number again. Maybe it's weird, but I don't like odd numbers.

Mitch's family took us out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Brick Oven. (I highly recommend this place! They have one in Layton, Provo, and St. George.) Thanks again, Kevin and Kathy!

My family came over Sunday night to celebrate mine and Jordan's bdays. We had our traditional Coldstone ice cream cake. It tasted like heaven. This year we got the Oreo Cookies 'n Cream one.

Isn't it funny the things you ask for when you're older? Like a food processor and a salad spinner (thanks, Mom and Dad!). Ha, ha. Brock and Natalie gave me some really cute wood letters that spell our last name that Natalie made; she is very talented. Dudin gave me I-tunes, which I've already used. Grandma Ruth let me combine my bday and Christmas present and gave me a pair of Tom's that I've had my eye on for a while now. She even went through the trouble of wrapping my present half in birthday and half in Christmas wrapping paper. Creative! Katie gave me some awesome running gloves that I've been wanting. They match my running jacket perfectly, which I bet she wasn't even aware of when she bought them. Everyone else gave me money, which will be spent wisely, I should assure you. Maybe I should buy Layla a scarf, seeing as how she loved wearing my mom's. (This is the best pic we could get.)

Since my birthday was on a weekday, and Mitch's finals were this week, I told him not to worry about planning anything. I did ask him to bring something home for dinner. Unfortunately, I ended up with food poisoning (I'm not sure what from, could have been anything really) and spent the better part of my actual birthday throwing up and whining about how bad my stomach hurt. I didn't want to wake Mitch up, so at 2:30 in the morning I drove myself to Maverik and bought a bottle of Pepto Bismal, and I literally did not fall asleep until after 5 a.m. When Mitch did wake up from me tossing and turning, I told him what was going on and that it was the worst birthday ever. Ha, ha. Lucky me though, Mitch was able to stay home from work and somehow managed to work from home, take care of a sick wifey, babysit our crazy toddler, and go grocery shopping! Husband of the year award, for sure. He was exhausted at the end of the day, but I truly appreciate him. I was feeling much better by the evening thanks to my large bottle of Sprite and lots of rest.

Layla tried on my slipper boots at our party. Too big.


As always, Mitch spoiled me with gifts. He always does too much. This year he gave me something I've wanted and needed for a while: a sunrise simulator. It's basically an alarm clock with a light lamp built in; the light slowly gets brighter over a set amount of time and is at its brightest when the alarm goes off. People with Seasonal Affective Disorder, like me, are supposed to greatly benefit from using one. Let me just say that I can already tell a HUGE difference in my energy and happiness levels. Best gift ever.

He also gave me a zip up hoody since my old one had holes in it from being worn so much. Layla (Mitch wrote her name on the gift) gave me an attachment for our BOB stroller that is essentially a clear, plastic cover to enclose the stroller and keep the kid warm and dry. I plan to go running during the afternoons this winter and having Layla enclosed in the stroller will keep her snug and dry. I'm really excited about it. Layla is too. She just doesn't know it yet.

Even though I was sick, it was still a great birthday. I'm just thankful for great family and friends who make me feel loved. They even love me when I wear this ugly Christmas sweater to Bunko. It has bells on the sleeves, an awesome pinecone brooch, and fur around the collar and wrists.

Monkey Reindeer

I generally consider myself to be pretty smart, but I definitely have my ditzy moments as well. One such occurrence happened yesterday, when Layla and I went to make cupcakes with Shelly and Parker. First of all, Shelly was nice enough to provide everything, I just needed to bring cupcake liners, which I already had. I forgot them. Then, Shelly showed me a picture online of the reindeer cupcakes we were going to make and I thought they were monkeys. Only halfway through the activity did I realize they were indeed reindeer. Ha, ha, we had a good laugh about that one.

The girls had fun and actually played together really well, even if it was only for short amount of times; they mostly played separately, but got along well regardless. Thanks, Shelly, for the fun and yummy time!

The Toddler

Our toddler. She's a little bit hyper you know. Okay, really hyper at times. And she is so loud! She yells all the time; not because she's mad, she just gets super excited! She does this really loud, fake laugh when she's happy about something. She's also endearingly sweet, hilarious, and really fun.

I kept telling Mitch that I would rather have a hyper and social child than a shy, boring one. I got exactly what I wanted.

Here we are playing "ghost baby." Layla loves to walk around with something over her head and pretend to be a ghost. A friendly one though — she gives hugs. You can hear her say, "how" in the video, which means hug in Layla language.

This is what our car rides typically sound like. Layla yells out someone's name  — maybe Ernie, Elmo, Baby, Daddy, Mamma, Papa, Mammy, Katie, Brockie, Dudin, or Natalie — and then we repeat it.  She usually says the names of whomever we had seen last.

And here she is just being Layla.

Her little sense of humor is really emerging. The other day I wore this hat and she wanted to put it on her Ernie doll, which she thought was so funny! She also enjoys putting her hair barrettes in Ernie's hair.





A few things she's learned lately:

• all of the actions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and some to "Popcorn Popping" which she calls "papapapa."
• she sings the ABCs while we wash her hands. She usually sings something like, "a,b,b, m,m,m,o,v..."
• how to walk on her tip toes, which she does a lot.
• all of the letters in the alphabet by sight and sound.
• several numbers; she tries to count and usually says something like, "Two, Nine, Eight, etc."
• if you ask her which number comes after one, two, and three, she can give the correct answer.
• she tries with all her might to jump, but just ends up squatting really low and then standing up really fast while saying, "Jump!" It's absolutely hilarious!
• besides her normal vocabulary, she started talking jibberish, and often throws in one of her "real" words in the middle. It's pretty funny to hear her chew us out in toddler language. 
• Mitch went to change her diaper the other morning and in the middle of her crying she yelled, "Why?!?" Too funny. When Mitch puts her to bed at night, I bring in her milk. She will say, "how!" which means hug, and then sit up and hug me over and over again, saying "how" each time. I love it.
• Other words she's learned lately are: oh no! (sounds more like ah no), alrighty (which she pronounces perfectly), and hello (she says hewwo and I'm not sure why it took her so long to say hello, maybe because she always said hi instead?).
• The other day I gave Layla something she wanted, she started walking away, and then turned and signed "thank you" without me even telling her to say thanks! Proud mom moment for sure! 

On the other hand, Layla is now starting to throw tantrums. Isn't that fun? She's only thrown them at home so far, so I have yet to experience the drama of carrying a screaming and kicking child out of the store, but I'm sure it will happen eventually. So far we've managed to keep the tantrums to a minimum by using the two I's our pediatrician suggested: ignore and isolate. Sounds mean, right? But it works! As soon as I leave the room, she stops crying, comes to find me, and is distracted by whatever I'm doing.

Today we had a great day at church — Layla was really, really good during sacrament and she absolutely loves nursery. She even got to see her new best friend at church, a 10 year old girl named Lila, whom Layla just adores. She can't say "Lila" so she calls her "Owa." After church, we did our customary eat-lunch-and-take-nap-routine, the nap part has yet to happen. We spent over two and a half hours trying to get her to take a nap. (That never happens; she's usually so good about going down.) She was hysterically crying and completely inconsolable earlier. It's now 3:45 and she's finally stopped crying, but I can hear her Ernie doll talking through the baby monitor, so she's obviously not asleep. Frustrating.

Overall, she's a total sweetheart, she just has a lot of energy.