Sunday, February 09, 2014

Family Letter (a weekly feature, hopefully)

Dear Loved Ones:

We are going to try to follow the good examples of Elena and Mom Melin and write a weekly letter since I’m not the best blogger anymore. Perhaps I can use our facebook posts and photos as references. February is off to a good start for us, mostly.

Like most of the U.S. we have had extremely cold and snowy weather. Our lowest morning temp was on Wednesday the 5th, when we woke up to -29 degrees, which clocked in at -52 with the wind chill. Luckily we didn’t have much to do outside that day and Rich was out and about and able to bring the kids home from the bus stop. We are more grateful than ever for our warm house and our cozy fireplace. And I am more grateful than ever to be a stay-at-home- mom who rarely needs to leave the house.

Last month I started babysitting our friend Maria’s daughter, Maren. She will be one year old in May and is a very easy baby. I watch her from 8:30-3:45 M-F, and it’s working out pretty well. It has also been good practice for us—me for juggling two little ones again, and Niles for sharing Mom’s daytime attention. The only challenge is when the big kids need me after school, like if they’ve missed the bus or something—I have to have Rich’s help or they have to wait a half hour til Maren gets picked up. It will give us a little extra cash to finish some house projects and stock up for a new baby (and pay for his birth), as well as just having this sweet little friend...
Maren at her house


I blogged about last weekend—we had a nice cozy Saturday working around the house and playing in the snow, and even taking in a matinee of “The Book Thief.” Addie babysat for us and it was so nice. We are really starting to enjoy the benefits of having our very own Beehive in the house.  Even though we don’t really watch football, we invited some other lukewarm football fan families from our ward over to watch the Super Bowl, which turned out to be kind of a silly game. The Mexican finger foods potluck, on the other hand, was stellar. I was grateful to have felt good enough to do so many things is one day—church, food, socializing, clean-up—with a nap, of course--almost like a normal person! Rich was also a great help as usual, and had a good time with the other dads.

Most of us had a cold this week. Niles and I felt terrible on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have another sinus infection and can’t take anything but Tylenol and rinse like crazy. It got very painful, but a priesthood blessing Tuesday night helped me get some good sleep and start to heal. Niles got better, but started coughing yesterday, and so did James. As I type, they are wrestling like wild men while hacking like crazy. Silly boys. I have successfully weaned off escitalopram (SSRI for anxiety) –down from 20mg to 10 to 5, and this was my first week with none in 18 months. I have some dizzy spells and I can definitely feel some of my anxieties coming back (having to wash my feet, feeling claustrophobic when people snuggle me, etc), but I didn’t want to be taking it in my 3rd trimester since it has a small chance of causing fetal heart problems. My blood sugar is slowly climbing in spite of my low glycemic diet, so I will probably start insulin at my next appointment (2/19). The good news is I have gained a total of 1 pound so far this pregnancy, and the insulin will probably keep me right around that mark.

Rich, Addie, and Heidi have all been healthy and active. The heat at the office was finally up and running by the first of the month—FINALLY! Rich also got all of our storage units (including Kiwanis) clean and empty. We could have had another yard sale, lol! But we did find some treasures and get lots of art and photos hung on our new walls—FINALLY!

The girls are doing so great at school and at church. Addie made the honor roll in the newspaper, and Heidi just missed it (because she keeps not dressing out for PE and got a C). They both have great teachers. Addie was just made for the Young Women’s Program. She is loving having activities every week, being a counselor in her class presidency, learning the process of planning activities and setting goals and shepherding. She had her first BYC meeting last month and insisted on earning money to get a fancy planner to keep track of her increasingly busy life. She accepted a New Year’s challenge to read the Book of Mormon before conference and last I heard she was cruising toward Mosiah after being frustrated with Nephi’s Isaiah chapters (I told her she’s in good company ;)). Heidi’s Activity Days group has new leaders and girls in it and they have set some goals and she has refocused on her Faith in God goals. They are learning a lot about journals, record keeping, scriptures, and family history over the next few months. I get to talk to them about personal, family, Ward, and Stake histories next month as the Ward Historian. I look forward to it—they are such cute, fun girls. Heidi got to go to the Bozeman Symphony on Friday and came home excited about hearing movie themes from the symphony—Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, etc. (are those all John Williams?)—and wanting to make music herself.

I am rambling, but it won’t be like this every week. This is a catch-up letter! In closing, here are our highlights from facebook this week:

MON FEB 5: Enough Said


WED 5 FEB: : My busy little chef and I cooked up some love yesterday! I am sick today so he went away to play while I rest (bless u, Naomi!) and I miss him!
FRI FEB 7: " Please don't take my sunshine away"
I think one of the worst times in life is the time between a cancer diagnosis and the staging/treatment plan. Loathsome.

 

[my best friend, Erin, was diagnosed with “probably stage 2” breast cancer on Thursday…heartbreaking!]

 
SUN FEB 9: Pobrecito has a fever and cough, but keeps saying, "Mama, I'm not sick!" He was sad to miss nursery today!

 
Life is good, the gospel is true and we love and miss you all! Have a great week!
 
Love, Jamie, Rich & Family

1 comment:

Steve Finnell said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                                        We have just ...