Election Day

Election Day..... what a big ball of emotion that wells up in me.  After Eric got home yesterday we drove to Lebanon County to vote.  We're not registered to vote here yet but we're still registered in Annville.  Eric was already planning on meeting the hoof trimmer at the Gingrichs to get his cows all trimmed up that evening as well.  We headed out to Pizza hut (fail on no spend november), then off to vote.  We then dropped Eric off and went to hang out with some friends from our old ward.  I was really grateful to reconnect with them and we had a good time talking and hanging out. 

 

As we waited for results to come in, I was really nervous!!!  I kept thinking about this statement that was made...

“After we win this election, it’s our turn. Payback time. Everyone not with us is against us and they better be ready because we don’t forget. The ones who helped us will be rewarded, the ones who opposed us will get what they deserve. There is going to be hell to pay. Congress won’t be a problem for us this time. No election to worry about after this is over and we have two judges ready to go.” Valerie Jarrett. A senior Obama Adviser. Quoted 5 days ago.

 

After results came in, I'm still nervous.... then I read this posted by a friend on facebook

 

Remember, friends, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." -2 Timothy 1:7. Now, more than ever will the adversary use fear as a tool to destroy. Our nation is divided, almost in half. We are seeing what prophets have foretold of our nation's values and faith in God disintegrating, the very faith that made this a blessed country in the first place. Regardless of what anyone else chooses, let us not weaken in our personal resolve to follow the example of the Savior, to love those around us, and to live with courage in God's great power, not fear or contempt toward mankind.

 

I will be praying for President Obama do what's best for this country.  And I will be praying for a sound mind and greater love for everyone! 

A picture

Let me take a few minutes and paint you a picture of my day yesterday......

Sadie woke me up at 6am.... bright and early.  I didn't mind since I went to bed so early the night before.  While watching the sun rise out my window I read my scriptures and watched Sadie as she tried scooting around on her little blanket.  We then went downstairs and I did a P90X dvd while Sadie chilled in her bumbo.  Does this not sound liek a fantastic start to a day??? 

Sadie had a doc appt at 9:10 so I planned to leave the house at 8:30.  We were running a few minutes early so I figured we'd all get in the car and take a nice leisurely drive to the doctor through some pretty back country roads.  As we walked out to the car.... my hands loaded down with Sadie in her carseat in one hand, and the diaper bag and my breakfast smoothie in the other I was feeling pretty good.  Mom of the year award definitely in order..... then mayhem erupted.  Instead of walking on the sidewalk to teh car, Peyton was walking to the car via the grass..... breakfast smoothie in one of his hands.  Well, unfortunately we still have a lot of debris from tropical storm Sandy and there went Peyton.  Tripped on a very large stick.... He landed straight on his belly, smoothie landing perfectly square all over his head and face. 

Peyton let out a howl of death (only way I can describe it).  Peyton had dark green/brown smoothie everywhere.  It was a freezing day so I took off like a rocket yelling the whole time to Peyton that, "MOMMY IS COMINGGG!!! I'LL HELP YOU.... HAVE TO PUT SADIE IN CAR!!!"  I threw Sadie inside, turned the car on and blasted the heater so she wouldn't freeze her fritters off and ran back to help Peyton.  At the time, Peyton had stood up and was toddling toward me, mouth wide open just howling.  Running definitely did not do him any favors when it came to keeping the smoothie localized where it already had been.   If it hadn't been allllll over the kid, it definitely was then. 

So much for our early start, so much for the darn cute outfit Peyton had been in.  I stripped him down lickety split, baby wiped him down and threw him in the car.  I ran inside as fast as possible, grabbing him an extra outfit and changing myself.  That smoothie had gone airborne and now covered my jeans and cardigan as well. 

As we traipsed into the doctor 45 minutes later (we were only 3 minutes late) I noticed the smoothie on Sadie's carseat, and how Peyton's hair had gone all crusty on one side from dried smoothie that the wet wipes just couldnt' completely get.  I sighed but was just thankful we were there.  This appointment had been cancelled the previous week due to the storm Sandy.  This was her 4 month well child visit and she was already 5 1/2 months.  I was quite anxious to see how her weight had progressed and such.

Despite the hub bub of that morning, as I sat in the room I felt so blessed!  Sadie has jumped quite a bit in weight percentiles, she's on point developmentally and she's perfectly healthy.  What a great day..... what a lucky mom I am to have these two raga muffins to call my own! 

Changes

It's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. what a few small changes can make in a day..... in life!  Peyton has started to like watching a couple episodes of Thomas the Train.  This is a big deal!  Finally I can use the TV as a babysitter for about a half an hour.  I don't mind how horrible this sounds but I'm pumped.  Up until now, he has to be in the same room as me at all times.  I have to be entertaining him the whole time he's been awake.  And seriously, it's just exhausting some days.  I finally have the luxury to turn Thomas on and go do a load of laundry... or blog! 

I can put Sadie down in her pack n play and she'll put herself to sleep.  This is a big change around here too.  It has been such a stress for me to want this to happen soooooo much but the bottom line is.... I couldn't handle listening to her cry it out.  It just breaks my heart in half.  I know people have been doing the cry it out method for ages but i just don't have it in me.  So all I can attribute this awesome change in Sadie is...... prayer.  I have been seriously praying that I will know what to do to help Sadie sleep well, and easily so I don't have to walk around like a zombie anymore.  She's been waking up 4-5 times a night.....naptimes were battles around here.  Happy to say that she doesn't fight naps anymore and she only woke up ONCE last night.  HUGE BIG DEAL!!  I can't believe how much brighter and better the day seems today to be well rested. 

We now have an official bedtime.  Took us long enough right?  Sadie has been going down at around seven and without much fuss.  But Peyton...... he's never had a bedtime.  We've half heartedly given numerous bedtimes to him before this but nothing stuck.  I think it mostly has to do with Eric's old work schedule.  He'd be out at the barns till 7:30.  I really wanted him to have some time with Eric before bed so we'd eat dinner and play for awhile.  Peyton has just gone to bed with us when we go.  That's just been the way it is.  And he sleeps in our bed.  Touchy subject with lots of people but I'll just admit it.... I like it that way!  Well last night we had a bedtime.... and routine.  We started at six...... took both babes for their baths, brushed teeth, read books, read scriptures, family prayer, then some primary songs.  The minute Peyton's head hit his pillow, he was out.  Then Eric and I had 2 1/2 hours before we went to bed as well.  Woah........ seriously awesome!!! 

Peyton doesn't take naps anymore.  This detail has been ruling our lives lately.  When out to friend's houses, we'll leave before naps.  I schedule grocery shopping, and everything around the nap.  Well, for the last 3 days Peyton has been fighting those naps tooth and nail.  It has literally taken me 2 hours every day to get him to sleep.  Finally I decided it just isn't worth that fight anymore.  Yesterday was the first day without a nap and it was great!  There wasn't 2 hours of utter stress to get him asleep..... he wasn't grumpy AT ALL, all day long and putting him to bed at night was a piece of cake.  AND, he slept in a lot longer. SCORE, SCORE, and SCORE!  Have been dreading the day that there was not a nap but I've actually really loved this change!!

Last but not least change around here..... we've converted to healthier eating.  Let me just say what a new lifestyle this is for us.  But it's amazing the changes that have come from it.  I have so much more energy.... I have ZERO anxiety, Sadie doesn't spit up that much anymore.  And so many more awesome side effects of this choice!!!

November is a month of change for us and I'm so grateful that they've all been positive!!

No spend November

Here we go my peeps.  I've declared it a NO SPEND NOVEMBER!  Totally going to make it work.  First saw the idea on another blog but didn't think twice about it.  Then we moved...... our free time increased, our salary increased, etc etc and I'm totally ashamed of how frivolously I've spent the past month.  Sheesh!  You know the saying, "You spend what you make."  Well, it's totally true.  If you have less money, you'll spend less. (for most cases anyway) 

I had always told myself that when our salary increased we would still spend as little as we could so we could save the rest.  Ha...... but it didn't happen. 

So for the whole month of November I'm going to spend as little as possible.  So it's technically not going to be a "no spend."  I will still do the grocery shopping...... but hoping to hold off for at least two weeks.  We figured we'll probably have to buy one tank of gas because I go to mutual every Wednesday and that makes two trips to the church a week.  40 minutes away.  But other than that.... nothing.  No clothes, not lots of extracurricular activites that cost, going to make a bunch of fun things to do at home instead of driving everywhere. 

I'll let you know how it goes..... I'm excited!

Mud Run 2012

So the mud run...... it was pretty much awesome!!  Thank you Amber for doin it with me!!!!  We are totally going to do it again.  There were walls we climbed, holes we had to jump in and climb out, creeks to cross, tunnels to crawl through, barbed wire we had to crawl under, slip and slide and lots more. 


Here are some pics of the race.... the picture above is of me and the few under it are random people in the obstacles!!!







It was awesome!!!!!!!  Amber and I had our own little cheering section.  Next year Eric said he'll do it too.  Can't wait.  I'm not gonna lie, it was tough.... real tough.  I didn't train as well as I should've and I sure felt it.  The walls were the hardest for me.  I don't have any upper body strength which was crucial to those since you have to hoist yourself up over them.  But we finished.... and it was fun! 

 Our before picture.  We totally didn't coordinate outfits but after we got out of our separate registration lines we realized we both chose teal shirts and black bandanas.  Ha, we must be related!!

 The fan section, minus Chin-chin.

 The start of the race, we were still bounding with energy and just excited to get started.

 These three guys were our running buddies.  We helped each other through.  They started with us, and ended with us.

 This is right after the finish line.... Peyton didn't know what to think at first.  But once he knew for sure, it really was his mommy, he gave me a big wet hug.

 That's what Sadie thought when she saw me at the finish line.

 After wading through a few creeks and walking through mud hole after mud hole, we had lots and lots of rocks in those shoes.  Felt great to take them off!!!!!

We survived!!!!!!

Sadie Mae

Well, Sadie is eating solid foods now..... ish.  She hated rice cereal, and carrots at the beginning.  So we tried apples and bananas.  She loved the bananas. 

Then she got sick this week.  She had a horrible cough and was super stuffed up.  Well, haven't been able to get her to eat solids again.  She is all better now but everytime I try, she turns her head away.  Oh well, we'll wait a couple more weeks. 

She is five months now!!  Has just a skiff of hair yet.  Boy, has she found her voice.  She loves to scream, just jabber away or just sit there and sigh over and over.  She sure cracks me up.  She still spits up like you wouldn't believe.  Baby food has helped a little........  we go to the doctor for her new stats. 

She can't crawl or anything like that but she sure does move.  We'll set her on the floor with some toys and when we come back she's clear across the room.  She can roll over back to stomach and stomach to back, along with scrooting herself backwards gradually. 

Man, I'm lucky to have her! 

Dreaming...

We've been perusing the auction/home for sales section of the newspaper and these are the top two houses we want......too bad we don't have a money tree growing in our backyard.