Well....

.....life is still happening.  We haven't been overly busy but have been plodding along pretty well.  This winter seems to be a bit easier for me emotionally.  I went back & read what we did at the first of last year & mostly it's me trying to write my way out of the winter blues.  I think being pregnant this year has made it easier on me.  Once the first trimester of really high hormone levels wears off, I usually feel pretty good emotionally.  I've had bad days.  And a couple stretches of bad days, but overall it's been a better winter & I'm so glad for that.  I caught a stomach bug near the beginning of January & was laid up for a few days.  Not fun.  I only had a pound of weight gain at my check-up that month, but was still measuring where I needed to be.  Luckily the rest of the family escaped that.  This past week the kids & I have been sick with bad colds & coughs.  We've been housebound for what feels like forever, but hopefully Carson will be well enough to go to school later this week & things will continue to get better.

Burkie (ok, and all the rest of us) loves his "chockit spead" or Nutella.  The kids like it on toast for a treat.  I like it on a spoon.

 

 

Mark took a charge while playing basketball one night & landed hard on his shoulder.  He was pretty miserable for a couple weeks.  We iced it & he took ibuprofen faithfully (a big deal for him) and it's mostly better now.  He still gets a twinge every now & then with sudden movements, but hopefully those will go away too.

Sometimes Burke falls asleep.  He's actually asleep right now.  But that's because he coughs all night & wakes up at 4:30am.  I've had two short naps today myself.....

I finally sewed new curtains for our desk.  Too bad I couldn't clean up the desk to get a decent picture.  This is real life, folks.

I also covered my red red couch pillows.  And sewed new curtains for the living, but I don't really like them, so there's no picture.  It's these fabrics sewn similarly to the kitchen ones I did - only not as cute.

I took a little trip for a few days sans children & husband & met my mom & sister in Idaho Falls.  We got there on a Thursday night & left Sunday morning.  It was so so so fun to shop and visit and laugh.  I decided I don't laugh out loud enough.  It does the body good.  We ate good food at some yummy restaurants.  We shopped more than we should have (I got some great deals on clearance at Walmart & Target - nice/sturdy work shoes for Mark for $12! - and a couple of shirts elsewhere).  We did a few beauty treatments.  We looked at pinterest every night.  It was so so so fun!  It was foggy on Sunday morning when I left.  I hoped to get back to Heber by 12 so I could teach my Sunbeam class.  I had 2 quick bathroom stops, fog, rain, wet/slushy snow that hadn't been plowed, & a near accident, but I managed to get there just as Sacrament Meeting was ending (& go to the bathroom).  I drew a picture of what happened.  It's pretty great art.  Don't be jealous.  

So I pulled off at the exit at McCammon/Lava Hot Springs.  You pull off the freeway to the right, turn left to go over an overpass & then there's a Flying J right there.  I was feeling good about my pit stop taking less time than the song on the radio - it started before I left the car, finished after I got back.  So I go back across the overpass, planning to turn left to go down the on-ramp & back on to the freeway.  As I'm coming across the overpass, I can see a semi with a wide load coming up the ramp to head across the overpass to go the truck stop.  I can see him & I'm certain he can see me because he's looking out his window at me, and I have a full view of him.  He starts pulling out to turn left in front of me when I'm 2/3 of the way across the overpass!!  For a split second I think he's probably thinking he'll need a minute to get going, so he's just starting to pull out while I finish getting across.  But no.  He pulls out & keeps coming!  I stop my car & have to throw it in reverse - luckily no one was behind me because I didn't even look in my mirror - and back up  beside the semi who is carrying an extra wide load that hangs over his trailer & will surely come through my windshield just before his tires crush my side of the car if I don't hurry & back up.  I could have rolled down my window & held on to the side of his load while I back up.  It was less than a foot from my car.  Needless to say I was furious.  I was so thankful for Heavenly Father helping me to know what to do in a split second.  I was more mad than shaken up and prayed for help to settle down.  If I hadn't had an agenda (or been a vulnerable pregnant woman traveling alone) I would've gone back & given that driver a piece of my mind.  Even thinking about it now gets my blood boiling & puts me on the verge of a panic attack.

So anyway.  I made it home safe & sound.  Our Valentine's Day was pretty low key.  We had our Seiter Family Home Evening the night before where the kids exchanged valentines.  Carson sat for 2ish hours that day & wrote out all of his own Valentine's for 12ish cousins & 9 preschool friends.  I would write it down on a paper & then he'd copy it into his cards.  He was a little antsy by the time we got to the last couple of ones, but he wanted to stick it out and finish! 
On Valentine's Day I took some balloons to Mark at work and gave him his new work shoes.  He brought the balloons home at lunch & the kids enjoyed playing with them.  He brought home dinner that night & we ate it by candelight...........so classy.  I made some really chocolately cookies earlier in the day & that was it. 
















That was Tuesday.  Carson got sick on Wednesday - fever, cough, runny nose.  Mark was going to Salt Lake to pick up some things for the shop & I thought it would be fun for us to ride along.  It was....for the first couple of hours.  The kids slept a little & did really well waiting at the stops.  Then Burke started to get a tickle in his throat & cough.  And then he threw up.  All over his coat & shirt & carseat.  So we cleaned him up.  I had two shirts on, so I took my top one off & put it on him.  He slept all the way to Park City where he woke up & threw up again.  So we stripped him down & cleaned him & finally made it home.  He had a bad croup-y cough that night & has been sick ever since.  I got sick on Saturday & was happy to stay home with kids on Sunday.  Yesterday I didn't feel quite so exhausted but had the worst sinus pressure I've ever had.  Today is better on all accounts.  Now all we need is to be able to get a good night's sleep for everyone for a few nights & we should be good as new. 

OH!  And my sister- and brother-in-law had their baby.  #3.  Ultrasound tech told them it was a girl............it's a boy!!  Needless to say I was already paranoid about our "girl" ultrasound being wrong because it was wrong with Carson.  But after this I was extra worried!  So on our girls' weekend we went out into the hotel parking lot in the dark one night armed with a book light, a pop can with 2 Tablespoons of powdered Drano, and a small soft drink cup full of......my urine.......  We poured it into the Drano & watched it foam & gas & it stayed green - which according to someplace we found on Google - means it's a girl.  The needle on a string test said that too.  Super scientific?  No.  Lulled into false security?  Maybe.  But not really because I'm still trying not to get my hopes up about it being a girl!  I'll be happy with healthy - and human.  This kid kicks in double time & I question whether it has arms & legs or flippers.  Or hummingbird wings.