Purge, Purge, Purge

So I finally got motivated this week to start going through all of the rooms in the house and to get things set aside for my mum's garage sale in May. I'm all for purging right now, I'm so tired of having way too many belongings taking over our house. However, John is a SERIOUS pack rat, something he comes by honestly which makes it harder to break, so I'm having a really hard time getting him to be willing to part with anything. We also have super different tastes in what looks good in a house, so that's causing some issues as well. I like more contemporary things and am really picky about what I like or don't like, whereas with John as long as something is still remotely usable then anything goes. It's kind of frustrating, but somehow it'll all work out. I have finally got him to agree to getting rid of all of his blue slips from his mission. It's super hard to get him to let go of things because of his OCD, but we're working on it.
I was a lot busier than usual this week, but it was good for me to get out. Tonight is my first evening at home since Monday, and then I'll be out again tomorrow evening (YAY!). But it was super nice to be able to be the one to put Caleb to sleep tonight, I've really started looking forward to that. Today I had super bad nausea and dizziness in the morning. The nausea went away right before noon but I still had the spinny head until about 3pm, so John was home today to take care of the boys. But all in all, it's been a good week, I'm happy with it:)

My First Inauguration

Today I was privileged to be able to watch part of the inauguration ceremonies for President Barack Obama on TV. I call it a privilege because I truly do believe it's an honour to live in a time where I can see an African-American enter the White House as the leader of the United States of America. I took the opportunity to find out more about President Obama today and found that I think I will greatly enjoy watching him in politics. I believe in the things he is standing for and I think America has made an amazing choice this time around (since most of you know how I felt about George W. Bush). As I was watching President Obama wave to the people in the crowds during the Inaugural Parade, I felt the strongest longing I ever had to live in the United States. Today is a day that they can be proud of, that they can hold their heads high when they look back on this momentous event.

BAH! HELP!

So I actually posted a comment on Lauren's mom's blog the other day. Of course I just left the name as anonymous, but she had written about someone commenting on her 2 year old acting like a 2 year old does and I'd had the same experience on the same day, so I just felt like I needed to say something. Turns out that my comment actually helped her and she posted part of it on her next blog. I'm so glad that it helped. I chose C and D as Lauren's parents by VERY strong inspiration. As soon as I picked up their profile, I knew they were the parents she belonged with. Sure I have my hard moments where I think "what if", but that's mostly just because I have yet to be blessed with a girl of my own and I worry that she'll end up being the only one and John and I will have only boys. I know that probably sounds awful or selfish to most people, but when you hand a baby girl that you carried for 9 months over to someone, you can't help but to worry that she will be the only girl you will ever give birth to, that someone else will get all of the hairstyling and dress up moments that you never will. Not that I would ever deny C of these things, she deserves them as much as anyone, if not more, but it's just a worry that I have. But anyways, I know that Lauren belongs with them and that they are wonderful parents. I can see in pictures of her that she is so loved and cared for. It amazes me all of the time how much Caleb looks like her, and that in itself is a huge blessing to me. They both look very much like my side. Lauren is like a little mini-me and Caleb looks about in between me and my brother. Ty has a bit more of John's side in him, which is great for John because he deserves that too. Anyways, C's latest blog reminded me that each child is an individual and that their misbehaving doesn't neccesarily make us bad parents. I am well aware of the fact that Caleb has anger management issues. I work on it with him far more than anyone could know. But that doesn't change the fact that he is an idependant, strong-willed little guy who doesn't quite get the concept of consequence for actions yet. I'll admit that I occasionally pass judgement on how someone else's child acts, but I keep my opinions to myself and try to remember that I don't have the full story to anyone but myself. Anyway, I've just been so frustrated lately because my kid has become the loud toddler in sacrament meeting who has to be taken out every single week, the kid who is starting to hit other kids in nursery because he doesn't know how else to express his anger and frustration, the kid who caused me to put my tooth into my lip last week because he doesn't understand that he has the ability to badly hurt other people yet. I have no clue what to do about it, I'm at a total loss of how else to deal with these problems other than giving him time outs and removing him from sacrament meeting so that he can't disturb other people trying to worship, but at the same time, I'm getting tired of being hit or having things thrown at me every time he doesn't get what he wants. I absolutely refuse to spank, since John and I have realized that spanking is just self-gratification and only feeds violence and after that I'm not sure what else there is to do. Any ideas?

Back To The Grind

Once we got back home we mostly just hung out and relaxed, although we did manage to get the Christmas stuff put away and rearrange the living room. I like it a lot better the new way because it's set up a lot better for when I use my WiiFit. For New Year's Eve we went over and hung out with Rawd and Jodi, which we really enjoyed. Caleb had a blast playing with Chloe and Brenna. It was a great 2 weeks together.

This week was trying to get back into our routine, which was hard the first few days. On Wednesday I was getting Caleb ready to go over to Lynn's when he decided to jump up under my chin at the wrong time and my tooth ended up going into my lip. The bleeding was pretty bad and the pain was AWFUL so I had to call John home so that I could take a T4. It's a good thing he was home because it made me higher than a kite. That evening I had the book club meeting which made me feel SO young since the person there closest to me in age was still about 5 years older than me. It was good though and I'm looking forward to the meeting next month. I hope we'll get more people out since it's for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I think it's a great book to do because a) It's a classic, b) It's short enough for people to get it read and c) It will help bring up gospel discussions because of how it was written.

Yesterday we got our digital cable back, which I am VERY happy about. John and I watched Ace of Cakes last night, which we really missed being able to watch. This morning Caleb even yelled at the TV when a commercial came on because he's not used to them anymore. It was super funny. So that is pretty much all that's new in the Bly home.

Christmas

I didn't update this nearly as soon as I had wanted to, but oh well. Better late than never, I suppose. Christmas was a very interesting experience for us this year. On the 23rd Ty had his shots appointment, so we went to that and he did great, he barely even cried. Caleb, on the other hand, was having to fight over the toys they have for toddlers with older kids and I got super upset with the parents for not stepping in and saying something. Those toys were there for children CALEB'S age, not 6 or 7 year old kids. Anyways, I kept my mouth shut and once Ty was done his wait and we picked up some food then we were on our way to Wainwright for the holidays. My brother was already there by then and on Christmas Eve my sister got in. Christmas Eve night Caleb left out cookies and milk for Santa, but not before stealing a cookie off of the plate for himself. After he was in bed the adults had their traditional appetizer dinner. It was really good.

Christmas morning we got up around 7, I think. It was whenever Caleb had woken up. So he came upstairs and it took forever for him just to realize that there were now presents under the tree. We had a great Christmas morning together. It's the first time that we were all there together to open presents in the morning, so it was really enjoyable. Caleb kind of thought that all of the gifts were his, but that's fine. He got a tricycle from us and an indoor/outdoor trampoline for younger kids from my mum and Bob. Those were his big ticket items. Ty just got smaller stuff since he really doesn't know any better this year, but we were very suprised and happy that he stayed awake through the entire present opening. Mum and Bob got lots of new bar glasses and what not since their's were all broken when Mum fell in the dining room a couple of months ago. We gave them a gift certificate to their favourite restaurant, which they've already used. Kirby got a DS and Brain Age 2 for it. John got a radio controlled car that goes on walls and stuff like that. Together he and I got a new bedding set, which made me VERY happy. My big ticket item was my huge gift card to Walmart from my mum that I used to buy myself a Nintendo DS, which I'd been talking about for a while. Dinner that evening was wonderful, although it didn't take much to feel very full.

Boxing Day we went to visit my grandparents. It was a frustrating day for me since there was NO room for Caleb to play around and he didn't like that very much. Plus some words were said by other people that I most certainly didn't want said in front of my VERY impressionable 2 year old, but we survived the day.

That night and the first night we were there Caleb had woken up in the middle of the night both times and proceeded to spend hours (honestly, it was hours) jumping all over me in the bed and throwing hard toys at my back and pulling my hair. Because of that and other reasons, we decided to head back home on the Saturday instead of Tuesday like we'd planned. As much fun as we had in Wainwright, we were VERY glad to get back home and are very much looking forward to Christmas in our own home next year. Anyways, I'll update with the rest of our holidays later since Ty is telling me that he'd like to eat.

The way He takes care of us

For the last few weeks we've been on pins and needles praying that John didn't get laid off, since Stantec was laying off 200 people, and hoping beyond hope that a raise would come. Well, John was told a few days that Stantec now considers him too skilled to lay him off, which was great news for us. Even better, yesterday John got his magical envelope that said he was getting a $2/hr raise. We have been so blessed by Heavenly Father. Any time that we've started worrying about where money is going to come from He makes sure that we're taken care of. Now the only concern is whether they have to go to four day work weeks in the new year, but we'll deal with that when the time comes.

I'm so excited for tomorrow. John is working until noon and then he'll be on vacation until Jan 5th, super exciting!!! Tomorrow afternoon we'll exchange gifts with my dad and then on Sunday we have church, which should be fun as we're just going to play a church trivia game with John's Sunday School class. Monday I am hanging out with Lynn for a while. Tuesday is Ty's 2 month shots appointments and we'll be heading out to Wainwright from there. We'll be staying until the following Tuesday, so that should be interesting. We were originally only supposed to be there for a couple of days, but it first got extended so that we can spend some time with the Orr family and then it got extended even more because I have an eyebrow waxing appointment on the morning of the 30th. Then on the 31st it will be our 3 year anniversary, which we're celebrating with a cheese fondue supper and chocolate fondue dessert. Yes, I am actually going to be eating chocolate, ha ha. It's not a huge secret that I'm not a very big fan of chocolate, but it will still be fun:)

Since I won't be posting again until after Christmas I just want to wish you all a Happy Christmas and hope that you enjoy the holidays. May we always remember during Christmas the greatest gift of all, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Happy Christmas is Almost Here:)

So the book club went well. We didn't have quite as many people as I thought we would, but we still had a really good discussion, mostly about the Twilight movie rather than the book. Should be interesting when we go see it together next Tuesday as most of us thought that the movie was pretty crappy for the most part, ha ha. I'm looking forward to laughing at Carlisle again, though. I've actually been quite busy lately, which is a big change for me. Friday our company got here for the weekend and John and I helped to clean the church that night. The next day I went to Generations with my SILs in the morning and spent WAY more than I should have and then that evening was my baby shower. Oh, and in the afternoon I went to Bootlegger and bought 2 tops with a gift card my dad had given me for my birthday and my mum bought me a hat. Sunday was Ty's baby blessing, which was good. I was super happy that Spencer Pasowisty was there and able to help with it, it was nice to be able to include a friend in there. Monday was supposed to be the night that we put up the tree, but none of us were feeling up to it, so we decided not to. Tuesday was mine and Ty's 6 week checkups. They went well, other than I have to do back strengthening exercises to get my hip better and if it's not better by the time Ty's 3 months old then I have to start going for physio. Ty weighed in at 9lbs9oz!!! That night I went to the church and did 3 glazed pictures. I peeked at them yesterday and I didn't get a great look at my big one, but the 2 smaller ones with pictures of Christ look GREAT! I'm really happy with them. Yesterday night was the Relief Society Christmas party, which was a lot of fun. I loved the video we watched (The Nativity) and the song that Kari chose to go with it, they worked perfectly together. The games were super fun too, it was very enjoyable. Tonight was supposed to be our night off from the crazy schedule, but John is going to have to go out and get groceries because we don't have enough formula left to get through tomorrow, so may as well do it all at once, I guess. Tomorrow night we are putting up the tree and hopefully we'll be watching Prince Caspian. We never got to see it in theatres, so I'm really looking forward to it. I think next weekend we'll watch Polar Express with Caleb. I'm really loving the fact that the Christmas season is upon us. I don't have to hide my favourite Christmas album from John anymore (he hates that I listen to it year round). It's one the the Trans Siberian Orchestra albums and I love the music on it. Caleb has been getting his advent chocolates, which he's been greatly enjoying. John is buying him a gingerbread house kit tonight, so we'll put that together some time this weekend. I love December, even though my toes are frozen:)