miscellanous

I spent the weekend with the flu. On Monday, Ladybug had the flu. Today, Baby and I are sharing a head cold. No bueno.

Our new favorite movie is Bolt. We've watched it five days in a row now. but this morning when I tried to start it Ladybug said sadly "I can't watch my Bolt." Why not? "My daddy not here."

Our most annoying habit recently is the way Butterfly will ask the same question over and over and over. Even if I say yes, she will ask eight more times until I get mad and say no. Then she cries. We talk about it, try to explain and she promises to listen. And then does it again the next day.

I saw the doc again, my foot is healing well despite a minor but stubborn infection. Time for a stronger antibiotic and transition to weight bearing without the boot.

Last night was our last course in the Financial Peace University series. I am so glad we chose do this and am trying hard to not soapbox about it because I really do believe EVERYONE I know could benefit from it, regardless of age or position in life. But I do want to say that I used to constantly feel anxious and overwhelmed about money. We argued about money (one of the leading causes of divorce in America) and were frustrated. No budget ever worked, I felt guilty for spending money on myself and was intimidated about our debt. I now feel confident, well informed and optimistic about our finances. We have an aggressive plan to get out of debt and are much better educated in investments, insurances, budgeting, retiring and even how to teach our kids about money. There are many commonly accepted ideas about very common subjects (credit scores, life insurance, car payments, etc.) that need to be better understood and hope I can share that with friends and family. As a side note, I'm kind of just going to miss having a class to attend and getting to spend that time with my husband and away from the regular chaos of my home. I'm hoping we can continue to take class together, perhaps parenting or maybe someday I'll even find a way to talk him into ballroom dancing or something. ...wish me luck.

We have our Christmas tree! Daddy went out to cut it and bring it home on Saturday. On Sunday, he put on the lights during naptime and we spent the evening decorating it. We let the girls put on all the shatter proof ones and then after bedtime, we finished adding the more fragile ones. I wish we could have gone out as a family to find and cut the tree but between my broken foot, the knee deep snow, the three month old baby and the lack of any other adults to help juggle, we decided it was easiest for Daddy to go by himself. He did take Ladybug with him and carried her in the kid backpack and I think she loved having the one on one time with him.

When Ladybug was out with Daddy, Butterfly was with me and was "doing jobs". We were talking about Christmas presents last week and she asked me if she could give a present to her sister. I think its amazing that she, at 3 years old, has the generous understanding and desire to make others happy. So we talked and she is doing special jobs for me to earn money to buy her sister a present. She has a little, clear, plastic jar that is slowly gaining quarters for her hard work. Some days she's less committed but on other days, she's eager and I'm working to come up with tasks for her to do.

As for myself, I'm almost done buying, making and assembling Christmas gifts. I'm really excited about some of the things we've chosen to do and can't wait to share. This is my favorite part of the holiday season. I love shopping and thinking and creating things that would be meaningful and special to a particular individual and get so excited. And I'm thrilled that my Butterfly seems to be sharing in that excited-to-give-to-others spirit.

Husband and I went to his work Christmas party and had a ton of fun. He works with some incredible people and they are so fun to be around. I got to met a few individuals that were recently hired and catch up with old friends. The food was delicious and we had a white elephant circle with a ton of laughing and teasing. It was a great night and a wonderful party.

We also had our ward party. We arrived, got some snacks and waited in line to meet Santa. I waited at the table with a sleeping baby but Daddy took the big girls. Butterfly was eager and chatted with him. Daddy told him he thought Ladybug wouldn't go to him but eventually she did and he showed me pictures of her smiling shyly and impishly flirting with him. After Santa left the official program began but the baby was fussy and the girls were too rambunctious and full of energy to sit and listen. I was worried we were distracting others from the evening and wasn't feeling very good so we went home early instead.

My beautiful baby is almost 3 month months old. Time is going too fast! Already, I'm lamenting about how tiny she used to be. She's filled about and put on healthy weight, so much in fact that her round cheeks and face have earned a new nickname "JabbaJaws". Her chunky little legs are adorable and even have tiny dimples in her knees. Her smile makes me melt. She is an incredibly happy baby and easily beams with a huge, open mouth grin. She also loves to stick out her tongue. Yesterday, I took her to the photo studio for a 3 month portrait and she surprised me with an unprecedented fussy fit! She refused to smile or even focus at the camera and cried until I held her. We tried but reluctantly decided she must not feel good to be so uncharacteristically fussy. (which turns out to be true) oh well.

It snowed yesterday! Last year, I posted a complaint on facebook about the lack of snow and two days later, a huge storm dumped several inches of snow. This year, I again complained that if it's going to be this cold, it really ought to snow to make it worth it. And again, exactly two days later, there was a snow storm! The snow is melting quickly but I'm hopeful that there is more to come. If it doesn't, I will experiment with my newfound power and complain again.