craziness......

Ok, I know that I've been a major slacker around here lately. What can I say? I can only support one online addiction at a time! LOL...anyway, I have recently discovered the wonderful world of babycenter.com groups and messaging boards. And it takes a lot of time to keep up with all 3257 people on all the boards I'm a member of.
Although I have been busy in real life too. Monday, Dan and I watched Elara in the morning, and we had SO much fun. She was such a happy, fun little girl and the two kiddos had a bunch of fun together. On a related note, Nate rolled over for the first time on Monday. I know that he's been mobile for a while now, but I've never seen it. He's just always in a different spot and different position when he wakes up vs. when I put him to bed. So, on the one hand, I was really really excited to see him roll over. But, his timing sucked. I was holding Elara, sitting on the ground with my legs crossed. Nate was on a blue mat, covered with blankets when he rolled over and fell onto the tile! I freaked out and managed to scare both babies into a frenzy of tears and screams, but Nate wasn't hurt at all.
In other news, my brother, Spencer, has decided that he wants to be a chef, so Dad bought him a Williams Sonoma cookbook. We decided to make braised lamb shoulder chops, that took over 2 hours with prep/cook time. So, when we were all done and we plated up the food it looked delicious. The meat was sooo tender and the sacue was delicious. The only problem: neither of us had ever eaten lamb. Turn out, we don't like lamb. So, after all that, we ended up going out for McDonalds! Good times. At least we got a funny story out of it, and Dad really loved it.

grapefruit

I've got to say, I LOVE the sweet, deliciousness of grapefruit. They're 3 for a dollar at Sunflower Farmer's Market right now and I've been averaging 2-3 per day. It's just something about the yummy goodness that I can't resist.
My advice for today: eat a grapefruit. It will make you happy in your soul!

check out this cool giveaway

This stroller is so super nice. Everyone needs to check it out. It's really customizable, and seems like a top-of-the-line product. I may not need it right ths minute, but I still hope I win b/c in the next 18months I bet I will use it! :)

http://inevergrewup.net/giveaway-25-bumbleride-indie-stroller/

Goofy, Giggling Guys

I recently figured out how to shoot video clips from my camera. That was a couple of weeks ago, around Christmas time. Now that I've realized how to put them here on my blog, there's no stopping me. Muah, hah, ha......

Seriously though, I love this. Especially the part where Dan wipes Nate's drool off his chin and onto his shoulder.

Bad Steroids

I've got to say I do NOT enjoy taking steroids.
I picked up a bug somewhere the week after Christmas. I thought it was gone and done, but it came back to kick my trash this week. Long story short, I ended up in urgent care b/c I couldn't get an apt, and my throat/face/mouth was so swollen I looked like a chipmunk and couldn't completely close my mouth. Turns out I picked up a bug that's been going around. Apparently this particular bug likes turning from a cough/cold into bronchitis/laryngitis which it did in my case. So, when I find out where/who this pain in the butt bug came from I'm going to kick their trash!!!
This makes the second night in a row that I took my steroid pack (fights the bronchial infection) and was totally wired. Last night I was up til 5am cleaning and doing laundry. Tonight it's almost 3 am and I'm just settling down. The worst part is that with the meds I'm on I can't nurse. So Nate gets primarily formula for the next week cause I only had a 2-3 day reserve in the freezer.
I just can't figure out where this crap came from. I haven't been around anyone I'm not related to lately. And everyone I know obviously knows that I have a baby so I can't imagine that a friend/family member would knowingly and willingly expose my infant to such a nasty illness.
I just hope that I don't end up with a diminished supply by the end of the week. I will be INCREDIBLY PISSED OFF if I end up having to give up breastfeeding and switch to formula.
Well, enough of this sleepy, crazy rambling (as a result of the steroids and Nate's schedule I got a grand total of 4 1/2 hours sleep last night). I think I'm going to lay in bed in the dark until I get too bored to stay up any longer. Happy Thursday to all, and to all a good-night!

the holidaze

Things have been going pretty nonstop around here. The Andersons and the Lines's were here for Christmas, and that was a BLAST!!! Sara, in an effort to "get back at me for stealing her birthday" decided to bless baby Madi in our ward with Nathan. Little does she realize that I thought it was awesome. I've been to quite a few baby blessings in my day, and I've always thought that they were pretty cool. But having my own son being blessed was such a new experience. There is literally nothing that I can compare it to, and I was in tears. I am so, so grateful for the restored gospel and all the ways it blesses my life. I am also grateful for my sweet husband who does everything he can for our family and makes sure that he is always worthy to exercise his Priesthood. I'm also grateful for the love of my family. My dad even came, all dressed up in his Sunday best. And my Aunt Patty. She may not understand my beilefs, but she came to support me and my son on a day that was special for him.
Later that night, we had 'second Christmas.' That grew to definately unexpected proportions. My original plan was to have Mom and Dad, with all their kids/families at Dad's house with me, Dan and Spencer. It turned into a 'the more the merrier' type deal with Sara's in-laws, a friend, Dan's grandparents, etc. I was worried about feeding everyone, but we ended up not only having enough, but having leftovers too. It was my 'second Christmas' miracle.
Speaking of miracles, Dan and I got the oportunity to go out, just the two of us, to the Temple. Dan ended up getting sick, and I went by myself with the extended Anderson fam. Poor guy. I had an awesome time though. We haven't made it to the Temple since Nate was born, almost 3 months ago. And I've not been with a family group doing family names before. That was a really special feeling. Somehow it was a different feeling, knowing that these were people I night have met, had I been alive and in the family a hundred years ago, versus doing work for some random person. I know that we're all spirit siblings, but it's neat to feel like there's a connection. And Sara promised to help me do the work for my own family after she pointed out that on mom's side, I'm the first who can do it all. Wow, that feels like a big responsibilty, but Sara says it'll be worth it. So, we'll see how it turns out.
New Year's Eve was so much fun. Every year, Dan's extended family gets together and plays board games to bring in the new year. This year I was watching Lilly for Suzanne, she went to Tempe Town Lake, or the block party, I think. Either way, she came along, and she and Nate were fun, but challenging. I managed to play apples to apples, balancing Lilly's bottle with my chin as I threw out and drew cards. I fed Nate while playing the bean game one handed, and when asked for a binky for Nate, I produced one from my pocket, along with Lilly's socks. After the kids fell asleep, we played Catch Phrase until the wee hours of the morning. We only broke it up because both babies woke up crying around 4am. So, we said our good-byes, returned a happy, alert Lilly to her sleeping mother, and headed home.
Well, I think this has been quite lond enough, so I'll end here for now. Starting late next week we'll have internet in our room, so I should be able to post more often and hoepfully avoid these novelesque ramblings!