highs and lows of our holiday vacation....errrr....trip

high: 7 nights, 8 days in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Snowy mountains. Loads of Christmas lights. Toasty fires. Warm blankets.
low: -7 degrees when we left this morning
high: Riding the snow cat up Bachelor Gulch mountain with Ben and my mom for lunch at Zach's cabin
low: Ben and I both making doctors visits for horrible colds that HAD to have been something more than a cold...but wasn't
high: 8 adults and 1 Ben in the house for days. Lots of down time for me...to enjoy my horrible cold.
low: wanting desperatly for more conversation with my family than I got
high: having my Alzheimer's suffering Gramma ask me the rules to a card game (that we've been playing since I was a child) every time it was her turn, and then beat me time after time after time after time.
low: getting ben's leg caught in a changing table railing at the airport on our way home (b/c I pulled him up too fast and was in a hurry) and then seeing him limp on it all afternoon.
high: greg taking one for the team and changing ben's dirty diaper at the airport (5 minutes after I changed an apparently not dirty one) and just throwing his shirt away b/c it was a dirty diaper casualty.
low: the realities of traveling on the 27th of December with a toddler and an 87 year old grandmother in a wheel chair. With 6 pieces of luggage. And a car seat. (and a tired pregnant woman) Through the Denver airport. Where they don't let you push your own wheel chair. But instead....you get to wait forEVER for someone to let you use the "Frontier Airlines" issued wheel chair...about 10 feet before they transfer the wheel chair passenger to a cart (which the rest of the traveling party is not allowed to ride on, even if they are pregnant and tired)...then back to a wheel chair....with 30 minute waits with each hand off.
high: finding an abandoned United Airlines wheel chair....throwing Gramma in....and RUNNING through the airport pushing the chair ourselves with airline employees, security guards and other travelers hollaring, hootings, pointing and trying to stop us....then ditching the chair at a nearby gate and pretending it never happened.
low: coming down off my 8 day Christmas cookie sugar high (and fudge and pecan balls and all sorts of other high calorie low nutrition treats that my unborn child was CRAVING!)
high: being home.
low: realizing we were locked out of our home.
high: greg breaking in through a window...that apparently doesn't lock like it should...while the house alarm was going off. Sorry neighbors!
low: starring at suitcases that need to be unpacked....eventually.
high: knowing that we don't REALLY have to travel again until next Christmas....maybe.

i object!

Oh....the highs and lows of the holidays. As mentioned in a previous post, I just LOVE Christmas cards. The excitement of getting something in the mail other than coupons (that I should be clipping but never do) and mountains of junk mail. This time of year I carefully sort through each piece, looking for a festive envelope, with a familiar return address or Santa stamp. Oh I get so excited. To me, it's a little "still thinking about you" from old friends. And pictures of little babies. And dogs. I love it! And some over achievers out there even include a Christmas letter with family updates, significant happenings in the past year, etc. My in-laws included such a letter this year. It celebrated young Chris' (Greg's little brother) graduation from UT. Brabara and Reid's trip to Italy and updates on the rest of the family. I was kindly mentioned in the second paragraph along with the words "stay at home mom." And that was it. "Lindsay is a stay at home mom." She rarely leaves the house. Is of little use to society, except to her adoring son Ben. Who is well fed and bathed daily. They do not do much of anything. Except stay home. And stare at each other.

That phrase just rubs me the wrong way. I've taken to telling people I'm between jobs...and can easily segway to the economy and feel relevant and smart. Even though I don't know how to spell segway even close enough for spell check to recognize and tell me the correct spelling. Ewwww. Ewwww. Ewwww.

I just feel like we are all so different. And we approach parenting differently. And manage our houses differently. And we have different strengths and weaknesses. Just like in the job market. I think there should be job (sub) titles that we can talk about. Like "creative director" or "CFO - in a recession!" or "head chef" or "landscape architect" or "family therapist." And there are all the things we do outside of the home. Bible studies. Spanish class. Play group organizer. Baby shower thrower. Gift wrapper. Meal taker. Really good friend to people overwhelmed with babies. (Sweet friends...I am describing YOU all!)

I'm feeling the need to write a "response" letter (to share with the Thorburn's Christmas card distribution list) including all the things and I (and Ben) do OUTSIDE the home. Please let me know if you would like to receive a copy along with my recently updated resume.

alive!

The fog in my brain is clearing! The nausea is subsiding! And after 6 weeks of thinking about it....I finally have the energy to actually start addressing Christmas cards. Or at least trying to figure out who I can get away with NOT sending a Christmas card to this year. Oh, I know that sounds horrible, but seriously, the list is longer than a ridiculously long wedding guest list. There are too many kids growing up and moving out of their parents houses....and do they get their own card now? Only if they are related? Or married? Or send us a card? Are there rules for this? Emily Post where are you?

Further capitalizing on my burst of energy this week (total exaggeration...I just got off the couch for an extra hour each day) I, along with the help of my 87 year old grandmother and 21 month old Ben (really just a happy spectator), managed to buy, load, transport, un-load (this was dicey!), drag in the house, and fully decorate 6 foot tall Christmas tree. Last Sunday (pre 12 week pregnancy mark) I'd told my husband I didn't want a tree, mostly because I didn't have the umph it was going to take to make it happen. But post 12 week pregnancy mark....and back to life....I was determined to make Christmas happen in our house this week! And we did! And Ben wakes up every morning asking me to turn on the pretty tree lights. Oh the joy.

This week has been filled with all sorts of other (not really) note worthy moments. But I must say, by far the most significant, was getting to see our little bean of life on an ultra sound screen Friday morning. There he or she was....arms flailing, legs kicking and little heart beating. It was the only thing I wanted for Christmas.

big (brother) ben

I survived, ate turkey, and slept for 12 hours the first night we were home. We had so much fun in Texas with Greg's family. Ben LOVED playing with his cousins and woke up (BRIGHT AND WAY TOO EARLY) every morning saying, "I go play? I go play? OK!" And proceeded to open our bedroom door (he mastered climbing out of the pack and play on this trip! ekkk!), shut it behind him and go running off in his footed PJs in search of cousin fun.

He's getting so big. And speaking of big.....my appetite, my big need for a daily nap, my gonna get big belly and....Ben's going to be a BIG brother! (as if the "how many calories" post didn't give it away!)

We are so excited and have just passed the 12 week mark and continuing to pray for God's hand on our little one. Yea!

The Lazy Complex

Will I ever snap out of this first trimester sleepy daze? Have I forever lost all productivity? How will I ever keep up with two children?!?! (this will have to be addressed in a separate blog entry!) How many consecutive hours of the Food Network channel can I watch with out ever getting up to actually cook anything for my starving family? I've started saying things like, "I think I have mono (you know....the kissing disease that spread like wild fire in high school that left entire classes sick at home with a fever, sore throat and unbelievable lack of energy!)." And, "I only got a two hour nap today....I'm dragging."

I know this will not last forever. There is that brief period, between the first trimester, and when you get too big to sleep comfortably (when ever that may be) where you have the energy of two people. Able to clean entire houses, fix meals for days and decorate babies rooms....all before breakfast. I have BIG plans for that period. But I hope that it is brief....b/c it makes me tired just thinking about it.