Um... You're Coughing On My Kid...

Happy New Year Everyone {Only 29 days late}

So much has happened this year already! We've moved {again} to a bigger place, got a new president and Ian's got his first flu of the year: compliments of the coughing lady in church last Sunday.

I get that we all go to church, among other things, for the spiritual enrichment that can come from a sacrament meeting but, common sense tells me I'm excused from attending my meetings anytime I'm sick with a nasty, highly contagious flu in the dead of winter.

Oh the humanity!

This sister in church was visibly sick: coughing up a storm, sneezing and blowing into her sleeve. Right next to us. Annoying. Even more annoying was realizing she was still there for the third hour, spreading germs in relief society - all I could hear was her coughing.

There was a little sign on our old Lehi ward Nursery's door. It read:

Mary had a little lamb, she also had the flu.
And when she left our Nursery, the others had it, too.
So anytime your kid is sick, please keep her home with you.
So the other children in our Nursery can be happy and healthier, too.

Pathetic that we actually had remind parents NOT to bring their sick children into Nursery. It should be a no-brainer.

Poor Mr. E has been completely miserable since waking up with a fever a few days ago. He's been coughing, sneezing and had to miss preschool this week.

Sorry if I sound a little crass, and while I can't be 100% sure he actually got it from "sleevy", I'll never understand what possesses someone to come to church, or any other public place, while being that sick. Especially church where there are lots of babies, little children, elderly and other people with weak immune systems who can be seriously affected by it.

The Best Things in Life Are Not Things

We were eating at a sandwich shop (jimmy john's) the other day and noticed this story on the wall. I thought it was interesting - one of those stories that puts things in perspective. Here's the story:

A wealthy investment Banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The Banker complimented the Fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Fisherman replied, ‘only a little while.’

The Banker then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The Banker then asked, ‘but what do you do with the rest of your time?’

The Fisherman said, ‘I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.’

The wealthy banker scoffed, ‘I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.’

The Fisherman asked, ‘But, how long will this all take?’

To which the Banker replied, ‘15 - 20 years.’

‘But what then?’ Asked the Fisherman.

The Banker laughed and said, ‘That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions - then what?”

The Banker said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Snips and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails

He's healthy and developing fine.

When we had Ian's ultrasound he wouldn't stop moving around. This little boy was all calm and comfy in there playing with his fingers. They're 95% sure it's a BOY! Due date was pushed back to May 1st. No name yet - it's is going to be tricky - the only name we could ever agree on was "Ian" and that's already taken. We're very excited to have another boy in our family.

John, we should send you a prize for guessing it right :)

Snowed In

winter wonderland

Blizzard

Mr. E loves the snow

Wow, we've got several inches of snow and counting. Duster's working from home today. A few of our neighbors tried to drive to work and got stuck in the muck.

Today was also the day for our much-awaited baby gender finding (and other things) ultrasound - but because of the weather, it was rescheduled to Monday. Someone from the clinic called to tell me that the ultrasound tech was stuck in a ditch and couldn't keep the appointment.

Duster took a break and we went for a walk outside so Mr. E could play in the snow a bit :)

Sniffles and a Little Snow

Yesterday we went outside and played on a thin layer of snow on the grass. But only for a while. Temperature had dropped to a record low and somehow our heavy winter coats, boots and hat, weren't enough to keep us warm. So we hopped on our car and headed to the mall where they have a large inside play area for children. Mr. E didn't seem like himself, he was whiny and only after an hour of playing, threw a fit over some lolipops he saw other children had. That meant time to come home. He kept sneezing and rubbing his eyes on our way back.

This morning he woke up with watering, itchy, red eyes, a runny nose and still sneezing. I called his preschool to let them know he wouldn't be coming today. I gave him some Tylenol in case he had a sore throat, too, and he told me after a while that he still had "water in my eyes" ... he thought the tylenol would make his eyes stop watering :) Unfortunately, there's not much I can give to comfort him further since he's not coughing. According the his pediatrician website, antihistamines such as found in benadryl that would stop watering eyes, runny nose, etc, wouldn't help unless those symptoms were from a nasal allergy (not a cold), which is not the case. I didn't know that.

He's been watching cartoons all day wrapped in a blanket on the couch. For lunch we finished off a box of chips ahoys, the reduced fat kind (that means we can eat twice as much cookies right?) and called it good.

Mr. E's favorite toy is now his new snow boots. He's smitten by them and has been wearing them at home. Last night he went to bed and put them right next to him asking if it was okay that they stay there :) He loves just looking at them and jumping with them on. He insists in calling them his "mud boots" for some reason.

On a side note: Snow. It shuts down the entire town. As a county/town, we're unprepared when it comes to snow, because, they say it's rare, so why be prepared? I somewhat disagree especially because sometimes it rains after snowing, and the water freezes over roads, sidewalks, etc. Last winter I counted and it snowed exactly 10 times here, each time with the snow melting soon after. That's often to me. Church is usually canceled and at Duster's office, people will work from home if it's snowing that day because they're afraid - with reason - to drive on Washington's untreated, unplowed, icy roads. Can you imagine canceling sacrament meetings in Utah every time it snowed a little bit? So far this winter, it has snowed once and it might snow again tonight. I don't know, maybe Dustin will be working from home tomorrow :)

Catching Up

Me and Luciana at my brother's wedding

Me and Duster

Christmas Ligths at Temple Square

Mr. E Watching "Bolt" in 3D

Lunch at Grille from Ipanema with Lizzie

After Watching Twilight with Mylene and Juliana

My Little Niece Ms. E

Thanksgiving at My Parents

Mr. E Bowling

We're back home now, it's been a week actually. Our trip to Utah was very productive. It was unusually warm for end of November/December and we were bummed out that we didn't get any snow while there. As always, there wasn't enough time to see everyone or do everything on our to-do list. There was so much more I wanted to do.

My older brother got married and we were happy to be in attendance. The bride was ravishing in a beautiful, long-sleeved white gown. The groom, it seemed, was very careful to not outshine his blushing bride on their special day - his hair went without a trim, and he wore a tux along with a tall hat and a walking cane ... don't ask.

They got married in the Salt Lake Temple in the morning and we barely made it in time - Duster's phone died in the middle of the night, so it didn't go off. His dad had to come downstairs and wake us up {thank you}. In our hurry to get there, I ended up forgetting my camera, so there's no pictures for this post save for a couple that a friend took. Their reception was beautifully done at a country club in Saratoga Springs and the food was just scrumptious. They had a DJ, and all the little kids were dancing, Mr. E and his little cousins included. It was really cute!

We also spent a great deal of time trying to rent out our house there. It was probably the worst possible time to do that - Not very many people interested in moving over the holidays - but our prayers were answered, and we found a great little family to rent it to {huge relief}.

Other than that, we visited with family and friends, made several trips to our favorite restaurants for lunch/dinner and just enjoyed our time there.

Thank you all for the great times, laughter and yummy food - We had a lot of fun :)

On our way to the airport, we stopped at the Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.

I Know This is Last Minute, But ...

To Our Girly ...

Thursday, the 26th. We're planning on watching Twilight after the Thanksgiving festivities sometime.


Don't be ...


Everyone is invited ... so if you wanna join us, call, e-mail, orkut, facebook me or leave a comment and I'll contact you with the details.