A December Post

It has been hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year. We have minimized pretty much everything we can. Scott even said that Pixie doesn't need any gifts, that she can play with wrapping paper. I might get her something little just for pictures. We aren't really getting much of anything for each other either. I asked if I could get a little more food storage instead! We borrowed a small artificial tree from Becca because I just didn't want to put our huge one up. Not to mention that if Perrin or Pixie happened to pull it down, it would be a disaster. A week ago I had finally pulled up all our decorations and we decorated the tree. We used plastic metallic ornament balls, some non-breakable ornaments, and some gold bows I tied out of wire ribbon. No garlands or tinsle this year, just lights. It's actually very pretty! I have never had a Christmas tree without a star on top, but our star is silver and I am only doing gold. So I did a big gold bow on top. I left some of the Christmas boxes upstairs and was intending on getting our green garlands to put around the doorways, but the next morning our furnace stopped working. It was 60 degrees in here even with our space heaters. Pixie and I huddled and then went to Becca's house. That was last Thursday. We are just now getting the furnace back up and running. Since it was the weekend, we had someone come out to look at it on Monday. They said they fixed whatever was wrong with it, but found out that the chimney was clogged. They said that probably when the roof was being put on (before we moved in) some roofers knocked some of the chimney bricks inside itself and didn't say anything about it. They said that gas had been billowing into the basement.
Scott cleared the rest of the chimney last night and this morning. I helped some too. We pulled out at least 3 more bricks! He went up on the roof and hurled a 2x4 attached to a rope down the chimney...over and over and over again. It's great to have heat again!

Now for the fun things we have done recently. Last Friday we went to the Stake Christmas Cantata. Last year I was in it, so it was nice to sit there with my little family and just watch.
Last Saturday we went to Eagle Days. I didn't know that we were on the bald eagle migrating route! There is a refuge right by our lake house where they hold the event. It was so neat! They had a demonstration by a bird sanctuary and then we went on a 10 mile car trail and saw 9 mature bald eagles and 1 immature one. It was really something to see them in the wild.
Scott went for a day trip to Nauvoo to see his nephew's baby blessing, so I skipped Stake Conference and went to visit my Mom and Dad. That was nice. There was no way I was going to get to hear anything at Stake Conference without Scott there to help me entertain Pixie and it's such a big ordeal. You have to get there super early to get a parking space and a good seat.
Earlier on this week we decided to stay home, make cookies, and watch "The Santa Clause". I hadn't seen that movie for years! It was fun and I got a super big sugar overload.
Tonight I went to a soap and lotion party at someone's house in the ward. Pixie was so tired and whiny that I couldn't have too much fun. So, I went back home and put her to bed 30 minutes ago....she's still whining.

Pixie has been sleeping better though! Scott and I decided to sleep in the living room so that Pixie can sleep in a room by herself. We have been lugging a futon on the floor and then storing it on top of our bed in the daytime. It about kills me to have to sleep on the floor when my bed is so comfy! It hurts my hips and back, but I slept for 6 1/2 hours straight the other night! Most nights she wakes up 2-3 times, but mostly it's been happening before midnight lately. This morning I brought her in bed with me at 5am when she woke up, but the other day we went in at 7:45 and she was just playing in her crib!
Pixie isn't crawling yet, but in the past week she has all of the sudden started showing an interest! She will roll and scoot all over or just flop up and down on her belly, flailing her arms and legs like she should be able to take off.
I can't believe how old my baby is now! She was 8 months old yesterday.

Perrin is growing at the rate of about 3 pounds a week. He's 22 pounds today and will pass Nova probably in another week. She is 24 pounds. Perrin is also only 3 months old. Nova was 13 pounds at 4 months. Last night I kept Nova in her cage and cuddled with Perrin on the futon. I found out that he is going to be a great watch dog. Scott went through the basement and came in through the back door, when he got home from a Young Men planning meeting. Perrin jumped out of bed and started towards the back door growling, then barking. He's going to have one deep bark! Nova howled/barked once, but she doesn't sound like a big dog. It'll be nice to have a big man about the house! When Scott's gone I mean.

Scott and I got to go to the gym last week, once. With all the stuff that has gone on and is going on with our babysitter (Becca), we haven't been able to go back. It felt so good to go and Scott is like my own personal trainer! He is such a good motivator for weight lifting. I would go myself, but we get to go for free at the University and Scott has to get me in with him. Hopefully we'll be able to go back again regularly and I can get rid of more of this baby fat! I'm still working on baby fat, but I'm working on marriage weight. I should have gotten rid of the marriage weight before I got pregnant!

Scott had his last final yesterday! Only one more semester for him. Hooray!
It has been really frustrating for him lately. He has been trying to find some more business investments, but there was too much competition with a more established opponent on the loose. Finally, yesterday something came through for him. Wahoo! Every month that was going by was another month I was farther away from getting a bigger house. At least now it feels like we might be moving towards something actually. Of course, it'll still take a while, but I can't wait until Pixie gets her own bedroom!

Blah. My one channel is full of repeats tonight. Scott is at work. Pixie finally fell asleep and I forgot to pull the futon out before that happened. I guess I'll find something to watch online! I don't feel like doing anything and I've had something like a cold for weeks.

That is what I have been up to!