Christmas Craziness!

This last week has been absolute craziness! We finally got our tree up on Monday. Our living room is a little more squished than normal but luckily we only have to deal with it for another couple days.

Starting Wednesday I’ve been going into work after Levi gets home. I guess this is the busiest they’ve ever been. That nasty freezing we had a week or two ago has really done some damage to people’s pipes. So I just go in for like 2 hours. It’s kind of nice to get out of the house for a little bit and give Levi and Claire some Daddy-Daughter time. But it’s really hard on days that I haven’t gotten much sleep.

So Thursday I took Claire to the pediatrician. I’ll spare you all of the gory details but she’s still having a hard time going #2. When I called and spoke with the triage nurse the night before she kept asking questions implying that Claire isn’t poohing because she hasn’t gotten enough to eat and that is definitely not the problem. So she was weighed, drum roll please……. 11 lbs 15 ounces! She’s gained 3 lbs in a month! Our doctor was super impressed with her weight gain; she checked her out and said that all was well and that she is just using her food very efficiently. And just so everyone else knows this (because I had no idea) she said that it isn’t uncommon for infants to only go once a week! And she said to be prepared because it’ll be huge; great something to look forward to. ;)

When I got home from work Thursday night Levi had the best surprise ever for me. He had taken Claire to get a picture with Santa. It has got to be the cutest picture ever! I’m still so impressed that he got her all dressed and braved the mall with her. I haven’t even made it to the mall with her yet.

Last night was our little ward Christmas party. It was so wonderful. We go to church with such great people. The talent is amazing; it seems like everybody either plays an instrument or sings beautifully. Well everybody except for Levi and me. Back in the day when I was a teenager, I was dating this guy and we went to his house after our date. His family was very musically inclined and it was around Christmas time. When we got there, his sister was playing the piano and the rest of his family was singing Christmas carols. We joined in and it was really fun. Later, this guy said something along the lines of, “My sister was really impressed that you sang even though your voice isn’t very good.” Ouch, so needless to say I keep my singing to myself now.

Baby Claire loves her little jungle mat (thanks Tia!). I try to put her down on it a couple times a day for some exercise. She is so cute though, she hits the hangy-downy things (I haven’t quite figured out if that’s on accident or if she actually meant to) and then just watches as they swing back and forth. And she’s smiling at us! It is the cutest, toothless smile I have ever seen. It literally just melts my heart!

Well I had better get going, Levi’s family’s Christmas party is in just a couple hours and I’m not even finished getting ready yet.

Baby Blessing

Yesterday was Claire’s baby blessing. For those of you that aren’t LDS (aka Mormon), this is a blessing that is given to a baby usually by the baby’s father, in other religions it’s called a “christening”. The father and other worthy men chosen by the baby’s family stand in a circle around the baby while the blessing is given. Baby boys usually wear an all white suit or romper type thing and girls wear a white dress. My Mother made Claire’s dress and I can’t even believe how wonderfully it turned out; she is so incredibly talented.

So Levi gave the blessing and it was absolutely beautiful. He blessed that she would be obedient and always read her scriptures, say her prayers and attend her church meetings. He also said that he always wanted her to know how much her family loves her and to be a peacemaker and not hold on to grudges, and blessed her that her body might be strong and work the way it’s supposed to. We had so many family members come out for it. They took up 3 and a half of the middle pews at church; it was like 35 people! Then afterwards everyone came over to our home for a light lunch and just to visit. It was a little cramped in our tiny home but it was so nice to get to visit with everyone. We have such wonderful families; we are so grateful for all of them!

-Elizabeth



P.S. I still can't believe we fit this many people in our house, it was like a clown car!

-Levi

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

After 2 years of Christmas tree shopping in a parking lot, we decided to make it a tradition of going to a u-cut and picking out a perfect tree. Levi knew someone at work whose family owns a Christmas tree farm. We got out of the car, walked to the Douglas firs and decided on the first one we saw. Levi’s coworker was so nice, cut it down and hauled up for us. He even bailed it and threw it on top of our car! So it ended up being more of a u-pick, we-cut. But then on the way home we heard a loud noise. Crap, did our tree just fall off!? Levi was on the phone and there was nowhere to pull over so we were trying to adjust the mirrors but had no luck being able to see the tree. We pulled into the driveway and I held my breath as I opened the door and looked on top of the car. Hallelujah, it’s a Christmas miracle; our tree was still there.