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Random Snow, Semester's End, and Stats

So it is now the end of the most stressful, emotionally, physically, mentally straining semester/months of my life. Perry and I felt so burnt out by mid semester.  We have also been the most poor. I know I'm not taking classes, but having a husband feeling stressed stresses me out. Plus having a baby doesn't help make things less stressful and a toddler can definitely increase the fatigue. But we are done with the semester and we made it through. Things can only go up from here. :) It had definitely stretched us and made us grow and know what we can handle as far as general life struggles go.

Snow. It's snowing thick white flakes as I type. Its sticking to the trees and every other surface around but I especially like how it dusts the trees white. I loved it as a kid. I loved to sled in it, ski in it, and snowboard in it. As an adult I learned to hate the snow what with our unreliable car, bad tires, and scary slippery encounters and accidents. I hate driving in the snow. I learned to hate cold weather when I lived in Rexburg, ID for a couple years. Now I live in snowy Utah. Its not as windy or cold here as in Rexburg. Now that I have kids I have had a desire to like snow again because I want to enjoy playing in the snow with my kids. Well as this season has begun I have grown more fond of seeing the snow out my window. It is truly beautiful. It is so bright and brilliant. So white. It reminds me of the Savior's countenance and what Heavenly Father and Jesus have been described as in scriptures to be so bright. Spiritual things aside, I am even eager to go sledding with Grant in it and teach Perry how to snowboard. So I have learned to possibly coexist in a snowy place and actually enjoy myself. I may just accept living somewhere with snow, whereas before when asked where we wanted to live someday I would respond, "Somewhere that doesn't snow." I just need to plan how I interact with the snow, bundle up of course, and never drive and run errands while it is snowing. A bit of planning can make me even love snow with out being frustrated by its existence.

Carly had her 4 month appointment. Now she turned 4 months about a week ago but her appointment was on Friday. She weighs 11 lbs 6 oz which is the 5-10 percentile range. She is 24 and 3/4 inches tall which is between the 50-75th percentile and her head circumference is 39.8 cm, which is between the 10-25th percentile. So she is still long and skinny.  Her eczema on the other hand is her main problem. Her cute little legs and cheeks are so kissable but when her skin is clear of eczema it is soooo soft! I can't believe it so I want to kiss them more! So it makes me sad she has to deal with eczema. We cream her down with Cetaphyl and cortisone cream morning and night. The flares come in waves so she's not always exposed to the steroid. I know that its not good in the long run. Since there seems to be nothing external causing the rash the Dr. and I decided to explore dietary options. So the first thing they want me to do is cut dairy out of my diet. This is ironic since I couldn't have dairy at the end of my pregnancy and I'm now lactose intolerant and mildly allergic to dairy. So I decided that I will start that after the Holidays. Then I can cut everything including whey which can be found in certain margarines and a filler for other products such as bread. I just don't feel like reading every label for now. But yes after Christmas and New Years I will start that. The dr. said to do that for 2 weeks. If there's no improvement within a month then to come back to see her. Then we will continue down the line of foods, like soy and eggs and so on.

*I tried to insert a photo here but its just not working... ugh. sorry.*

So enough of the health issues. Carly continues to be a joy in our lives. She  is so happy and smiley. She is just adorable. We love her so much. I used to hear stories of moms who just love their babies so much and love the alone time they get with them in the middle of the night. Well in my opinion I would rather sleep but when I happen to change her diaper in the middle of the night..maybe once a week and turn on the little night light she is so happy to see me! She just smiles and smiles and of course I try not to interact so that it doesn't cause a night-waking habit just to smile and play with me but she sure is cute! That is the only time I ever slightly enjoy waking in the middle of the night for her lol.

Some ear and eye candy of Carly laughing :)

And a video of Grant since we don't talk about him much due to Carly's being so cute.

My New Toy

   So Mom and I are obsessed with DI. I think the rest of family enjoys it too but we were a little crazy over Thanksgiving weekend. We spent and hour and a half at the American Fork DI on Saturday and got a bunch of fun stuff and stocking stuffers for our little cheap gift exchange at Christmas. Then on Monday we went to the Provo DI. We got started at 1pm. I thought we would maybe spend an hour there. Lo and behold Carly slept for 2.5 hours (this NEVER happens) and then she woke to be nursed. After I nursed her, after being at DI for about 3 hours a cart comes out and there was an old looking Kitchenaid. What?! So I said, "Mom go snatch that Kitchenaid" since I was holding Carly. She was a little too slow so I went over there and tried to get it. It was too heavy but some guy eventually helped me and then my mom took over and got it from him.
   We tried it out. It did not work. Then a seasoned DIer came over and started fiddling with the plug and then it did work! Oooh! It was $35. So I took it home so delighted by the find! Mom cleaned it all up and we researched it online. It is a K45 vintage model. Basically the first of its kind. I'm betting its about 50 years old. Then after she cleaned it up I plugged it in and it did not work! What the heck! I was really sad. My dad then got to work on it all day and going back and forth to the The Mending Shed in town and they have lots of parts and accessories for it. During the cleaning process I have unscrewed the two things on the side to clean around the screws. Apparently that was a key reason for why it wasn't working. My dad replaced the plug because it seemed that the plug was faulty. And the Mending Shed guy said that the part I took out needed to be put in just the right way or else it would not turn on the machine. Wow. Who would have thought. So it works and I made cookie dough and I'm so thankful that my dad did all that work on the machine! I have a Kitchenaid! I'm so happy. I have been oogling over kitchenaids and bosch mixers for a while now and thought I could never afford one until later in my life!
   So as I posted on Facebook before, this is my Christmas present from Perry. So yay! I now have two vintage appliances: The kitchenaid mixer and the juicer. But after researching kitchenaid they didn't miss a beat in the capabilities of the machine. They thought of everything from a grain grinder to an ice cream maker. I doubt I'll buy those attachments but if my juicer dies someday I will consider the attachments.

Voila!

Plus I thought I would add some pictures of Grant at Vangogh to Playdoh this month.

In the nativity parade shaking bells and sporting the reindeer antlers.

Painting a heart ornament

Decorating a pretend cookie.

Rolling Along!

So Carly is now 4 months today! Crazy. I can't say that time has flown by because it really has felt like 4 months from all the struggles of fatigue and her resisting naps and so on. She has lovely chunky cheeks and legs. So cute! Grant never had chunky anything.

I have also read a number of books. My favorite is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. His methods are great because he caters to everyone and wants everyone to feel comfortable from cry it out method people to nurse to sleep people. Anyway, it has really helped Carly go to sleep much easier. It is no longer a battle and a stressful situation at every nap. Soon she should consolidate her naps but at this point she takes about 4-5 naps a day, each 45 min long.

The main reason for this post that Carly has reached one of her milestones. She has rolled over from her stomach to her back, about 3 times in a row and all caught on camera. She has yet to do it for Perry but at least I got it recorded. Also Grant was slightly jealous of her camera attention so I asked him to roll over for me too and I recorded it. Silly boy!