Normalcy

Our life over the last few years has been a lot of things, but normal is not one of them.  This week we had a short sneak peak of what normal is really like.  Jeremy has this small window of time before he starts bar prep so he is able to go to work for two weeks.  This week he would go to work at 8:30 and be home by 5:30 or 6.  We were able to eat dinner together every night.  No studying until 10pm.  No big family lunch because Daddy was going to be at school until after bedtime.  No Saturday trip to the grocery store with both kids so he could study.  It was so strange.  It was so normal.  It was so wonderful.

In fact, because he was home on Tuesday evening (typically a late class night), Jeremy was able to take Merrick to Lego club at the library, something he has been begging for for months.  It did not disappoint.

The other highlight of this last week is that Carrigan has really stepped up her game on the walking front.  We had been wondering if she would walk before he birthday and that did not quite happen, but about two days later she took her first steps.  Everyday since then she takes a few more.  She is getting to be a good little walker.

A Tale of Two Cities

How do I sum up this past week?  I think the best way is to quote Charles Dickens, "it was the best of times it was the worst of times".

Things started out a little rough.  Jeremy had a final on Thursday that he was busy studying for and I had a really challenging week at school.  Combine that with regular, everyday stressors and lack of sleep.  I felt like we were barely hanging on.  The one thing that was keeping us going was looking ahead.  Jeremy was about to complete his last final and had plans to take Merrick to the fathers and sons camp out over the weekend and we were all so looking forward to these events.

Thursday FINALLY came and after three long years Jeremy finished his last law school final.  The sense of relief that immediately settled over our family was palpable.  My super sweet hubby came home with flowers and we went out dinner at Red Robin to celebrate.

When we got home from dinner we put the kids to bed and Jeremy ran to the store to get us some celebratory dessert.  On the way home he got a call from an attorney in our ward.  It had been in the works for a while, but now it was official, Jeremy has work starting Monday!

Friday I woke up on cloud nine.  I got in the car and the Pharrell Williams song "Happy" was on the radio and that is exactly how I felt.  I was happy and bad news could come along "talking this and that" but it was not going to bring me down...I was wrong.

I called my mom on the way to school to ask her a question and she was acting really weird.  She said she was having some sort of problem and that Becca was trying to help her, but she was feeling really weird and having trouble remembering things.  I hung up with her and called Jeremy and told him that I was worried about my mom and I thought she might be having a stroke.

Within 30 minutes I started getting texts from Becca and Jeremy.  Jeremy went over to help Ben give my mom a blessing.  Between the three of them they decided that something was really wrong and they need to get her to the emergency room.  In the ER they concluded that she must have had a mini stroke.  They started running tests and admitted her to the hospital.  Over the course of the day they ran every test under the sun.  Everything came back great and I think that the doctors were a little baffled.  They ended up deciding that she had either a TIA (which is little a warning stroke that causes no lasting effects) or a "complicated migraine".  I saw the doctor's face.  They really thought she had had a stroke and were at a bit of a loss when the tests didn't back that up.  What we know is that she had a blessing, lots of prayers said in her behalf, and we had a miracle take place in our lives.  She ended up getting to come home that same day.  The shortest stay in IMCU history.

Because my mom needed to come first, the boys ended up not being able to go on their camp out.  We did our best to make it up to Merrick.  Jeremy took him on Saturday to Safari Sams, an arcade and play place.  He had a great time and I don't think in the end he minded not making it to the camp out.

To top the week off, Jeremy and I took some time last night to go out on a celebratory date.  It is really rare these days that we actually get to have a date just the two of us.  It was really nice.

Like I said, the best of times, the worst of times.  Here is to hoping for a boring week to come.

Carrigan Turns One!

I am simultaneously so full of joy and so heartbroken today.  In a blink of an eye my baby turned one.  I was telling Jeremy today that I don't remember feeling so sad when Merrick turned one.  I think that is because with your first baby to are so excited for them to meet all their milestone and each one is so exciting.  With subsequent children you know those milestones will come faster than you are ready for them to so you just try to hang on to every second.

As far as first birthdays go, Carrigan has been a bit jipped.  While Nana is already in town, later this month Papa, Grandpa and Lollie, and Emily and Kai all come to town.  We decided to wait and have CC's party when everyone could be there to celebrate with us.  This left us wondering what we should do today.

The answer was not much, mainly just enjoy some special birthday treats.  Based on some bad experiences we are wondering if CC is allergic to eggs.  The last thing I wanted was to spend Carrigan's birthday dealing with an allergic reaction so we did some experimenting with vegan muffins this morning and vegan cupcakes for desert tonight. (We are waiting until her party to let he feed herself cake.  I fed her bites of cupcake with a fork).

Since in many ways today was not a very memorable birthday, we decided to at least get out the sticky bellies and mark the occasion with some pictures. Enjoy!

We are so lucky to have Carrigan in our family and we could not (and would not) want to imagine life without her.  Happy Birthday CC girl.  We sure do love you!

P.S.  Recently Carrigan started saying "uh-oh" and it is just the cutest thing ever!

Final Stretch

This week has been kind of quiet.  The reason is that both Jeremy and I are both trying to keep our heads down and get through this next little bit.  Monday was Jeremy's last day of classes of his law school career and now he is in the hard press through finals.  This coming week he will take the first two of his three finals as well as complete a final paper.

Once all his finals are complete he will have a couple week break before graduation and then starting bar prep.  His bar prep class starts the Tuesday after graduation and last all the way until he takes the bar at the end of July.

It feels like such a relief to have him done with classes, but we are by no means out of the woods yet.  Even after finals, bar prep, and the bar, there is still one more thing to do.  He still has to find a job and that is probably the toughest part of all.

Easter 2014

Today is Easter and I am so full of the Spirit of love and thanksgiving.  I am so grateful for my Savior and my knowledge that He lives and because He lives, so will I.  I have so thoroughly enjoyed spending extra time today talking with Merrick about Christ.  Every time I do, I watch him just soak up the information.  I see that he gets it and it make sense to his sweet, pure spirit and I know that is because it is true.  It strengthens my faith every time.

As a whole, it has been a great Easter.  We started celebrating yesterday since we try to keep most of the secular stuff the day before.  In the morning we took the kids to the city Easter egg hunt.  They had an Easter bunny and Merrick wanted to have his picture taken with him, but Carrigan wanted no part of it.  Later on we had the fam over for an Easter egg hunt, movie, and take-out.  Everyone had a great time.

Today we did start out the day by opening our Easter baskets (after we found them...silly Easter bunny), but then tried to spend the remainder of the day focusing on the real reason for Easter.  I found this fun little picture of a bunny that listed the Christlike attributes of a "real Easter bunny" and it had a scripture to go along with each attribute.  I cut it up into pieces like a puzzle and hid the pieces for Merrick to find.  Once he found all the pieces, we put the puzzle together, read the attributes, and the scriptures.  After church, the family all got together again for dinner.  We had a non-traditional/traditional for our family dinner of sourdough pancakes.

We really could not have asked for a better Easter.  We are truly blessed.

11 Down, 1 To Go

Late as usual, but the topic for today's blog is Carrigan reaching the 11 month milestone.  Yet again I was late in getting her pictures taken and getting them up on the blog.  Thankfully, my mom came into town and helped me check a few things off my to-do list and I was finally able to move taking pictures to the top of the priority list.

First, a few things about CC this month.  She really wants to walk!  She is cruising and pulling up on everything and you can just see the determination to figure it out in her eyes.  She is a busy girl and mostly wants to be down and going.  I am rarely able to carry her up the stairs anymore because she almost always wiggles out of my arms so she can climb up herself.  When she does hold still, she gives kisses and loves and likes to play peek-a-boo.  She says "Dada" (her first word), "Mama", "Kee-kee" (Linky-for her bestie cousin Lincoln) and sometimes "Baba" (for brother).  She will also wave bye-bye if the mood strikes her.  That is the thing about Carrigan, it is always on her terms.  She know what she wants, when she wants it and she is not afraid to let her feelings be known.

She is our little sassy go-getter and we seriously love her!

Business and Babies

Two points to start.  One, you may have noticed the blog for this week is late.  That is due to the fact that Jeremy and I have been lost in the vortex of tax time.  We have been working on both my business and our personal taxes and this has left little time for anything else.  The second point is that the title of this post should actually be "baby" rather than "babies", but it sounded better that way, so there you go.

So, business.  A while back I was contacted by our local library and asked if the preschool would like to display some artwork.  Of course I jumped at the chance, I never turn down free advertising.  My co-teacher, Lora, and I started brainstorming and decided on a springtime mural.   The kids completed the projects over three weeks, first painting, then adding butterflies, then snails, and finally flowers.

What we ended up with a massive (approx. 30x190), adorable piece of artwork.  Transporting and hanging was a bit of a challenge, but I am really pleased with the end result.

And now on to baby.  This last week we added a new member to our family.  Becca gave birth to Isabel Skye Brown on 4/1/14.  After 9+ months and a really bad April Fool's joke we were all really excited to find out Ben and Becca would finally get some pink in their home.

We couldn't be happier to add this sweet little spirit into our family and look forward to loving her and watching her grow.