So, since I've been on many a blogging guilt-trips lately, I decided since I had some quiet time at work I'd start to fill in the gaps on the many fun happenings at the Webb house over the past few months. Pictures will just have to come later!!
This month has been a crazy busy one and I for one am glad Christmas is done and over, however, I'd love to keep my tree and lights up for awhile longer. We had lots of Christmas parties and programs to attend this month, and braved the cold to go see the Nativity out to Tuachan which is a family tradition. We sat up towards the top, but I'm sure everyone heard Camrie yell as loud as possible throughout the whole performance "Go horse, go, go fast!" while the donkey was on stage. That came from watching the NFR the first of the month, and her standing right in front of the TV, jumping up and down, yelling for the horses to run fast! I hoped that for as many times as we saw Santa this year, that Camrie would eventually warm up to him, but clearly that wasn't going to happen. When you ask her what Santa says, she answers so cute..."HO, HO, HO M-E-R-R-Y CHRISTMAS" then adds, "Santa....scary!"
We had lots of fun getting ready for Christmas by making Gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving day with all the Smith cousins, we also made tons of cookies (eaten mostly by me!) we made cute little baggies full of 'mixed up snoman parts' for Braxton to give to his friends for gifts. We also made reindeer food & sprinkled it out on the front yard, and made sure Santa's 'magic keys' were ready & on the door Christmas Eve so Santa could get in that night. We loved driving around to see the pretty lights and listening to Christmas music. Tanner & Camrie sing Jingle Bells, and Frosty the Snowman so cute, and they sang it over, & over, & over.....& a week later they are still singing it!!
Braxton spent the first week of the holiday break & Christmas with his dad which made for a pretty quiet house, but we still had a great time Christmas morning/day. Santa brought new bikes for all 3 kids, and they have had so much fun on them. Camrie is so cute on her pink Barbie bike with her pink helmet that is way too big for her, yet she insists on wearing it. She sustained her 1st bike accident because her helmet had slid down over her eyes and she couldn't see and tipped over! Santa was good to all of us, and we are so very blessed. We spent most of the holiday focusing on service and trying to teach the kids the importance of helping those who are not as fortunate as us, and how it is so much better to give than to receive. Tanner's favorite gift (which was of no suprise) was the new Thomas the train set that Braxton picked out for him. These trains go EVERYWHERE with Tanner & the funniest thing is the paper that comes with the train set to advertise all the other trains and sets available has been glued to Tanner's fingers since Christmas! He shows us the paper, asks us to read it, & at least 6x's a day to point out on it what we want for Christmas. Troy has made quite a few copies of the paper because it can only be taped and retaped so many times as it goes to bed with him, to the potty, in the car, to the store, & he shed HUGE alligator tears this morning when he tried to take it into daycare and this mean old mom made him leave it in the car! If we would have known it before, Santa would've brought 15 Thomas the Train set advertisements for Christmas!! We hope you all had a Merry Christmas too and enjoyed the spirit of the season as we did.
This month also brought news of big changes to Troy's job at the InstaCare. He will no longer be the manager of the River Road InstaCare starting in January. Out of 30-ish clinics in the SouthWest region, he is the only nurse-manager, and is too expensive to pay a clinic manager at his nursing salary. He will be going back to patient care and doing 3 - 12 hr shifts, but is being moved to the Hurricane InstaCare. While he is so excited to get back to what he loves doing most....he isn't so excited about the whole Hurricane thing, & hopes that it will be only a temporary move, until something opens back up at RR. He as been at RR since it opened about 14 years ago, and has been quite emotional about leaving all his great employees, they have been so great to him. He was so overwhelmed at the wonderful surprise gift that his staff gave to him at their party this year, that he couldn't even talk!
Now that Christmas is over, I can really focus on getting ready for our new baby to arrive, which in reality could be anywhere between today and Feb 23rd. We are all very excited, and can't wait for him to get here. I'm 32 weeks and feeling good, except for my L hip which rolls forward, making my L leg longer, and makes me walk like an old arthritic granny in the mornings. I went to Physical Therapy for a couple months and loved the water therapy, they showed Troy how to roll my pelvis back into place when it goes out and I figure I can do the stretches & exercises on my own and just deal with it for a little while longer.
I have been on Progesterone shots again, & this time around they aren't bad considering how thick the serum is. Troy really does give good shots (yes, it's true!) only once, I've had to ask just what the heck I did to him to have it hurt so much! It's crazy to think that in 4 weeks baby could be here, (all my kids have come at 36 wks) it's gone so fast, & I don't feel very prepared! But it will all be ok and maybe by then we will be set on a name!!
The kids are all good and keep us on our toes...Braxton is doing well in school this year and loves being in 1st grade. He is becoming quite the little reader, and i think amazes himself with the things he learns as he reads! He is going to be a big kid, he already towers over quite a few of his friends, and his hands are not that much smaller than mine! He is becoming more interested in sports and I'm glad about that, hopefully his coordination will improve, talk about a clutz!!!
Both Tanner and Camrie have moved up in their classes at the DRMC child development center. Troy & I get way to attached to their teachers, so this latest move was harder on us! Tanner is a Dragonfly and is so happy to be with his friends that moved up before him. He is almost totally potty trained, and has been accident free since a few days before christmas when I told him that Santa doesn't bring presents to little boys who poop in their pants....TAH-DAH!! He gets so very excited & proud when he goes on his own and sings the toilet paper song out loud to himself when he isn't on his little potty that sings when he goes. Camrie is now 19 months old and a Firefly. She keeps her teachers laughing all day with her big-girl vocabulary. She is such a smartie and has the cutest personality ever. She loves to play dress ups, & color. She also likes to get 'pretty' in the mornings with mom, & have her hair put in piggy tails, which she promptly pulls out! Her favorite things lately are toothpaste and toothbrushes. Troy has been through several toothbrushes the past few months just b/c he's not so sure where they've been. Maybe he'll wise up and put it away where she can't get it....the other day I found my makeup bag in Braxton's bottom dresser drawer after looking all morning for it, although Braxton swears he didn't do it, nothing is safe with Camrie on the loose!
Troy finished another project on my list this past month that turned out so great, making me a very happy wife! I have wanted to make our pantry shelves deeper so we can have a bit more storage and to put bypass doors in front of them, to hide my unorganized mess, and to keep the kids from standing in front of the pantry gazing at snacks and limiting their endless grazing. Braxton was a great help in painting the laundry room doing whatever he could to be at Troy's side with tools. Thanks Troy for being so patient with Braxton helping him learn to be as handy as you!
I had a great time in November with my mom & sisters for our annual mom/daughter weekend, and also our annual Christmas shopping day with my dad and sisters in December where we shop for my mom. I'm so glad my family is so close and we have such fun traditions that we all look forward to.
October was a busy month, Braxton turned 7 and had a fun party in our new backyard with lots of friends. I flew to Delware for a couple days to attend an Ultrasound conference with a co-worker to learn how to scan baby hips, and while there we braved the rain and went to Game One of the Philadelphia Philles World Series Playoffs and was there to witness the Phillies now infamous 'no-hitter' which was awesome! We also went and saw the Liberty Bell. Oh, and we did learn a thing or two at the conference!! The day after I got home from Delware was a special day to share with the Marshall family as they were sealed as an eternal family in the temple and also had Josh blessed.
That pretty much sums up in a nutshell the highlights of the last few months. Hopefully it won't be so long in between posts again and I can avoid the non-blogger guilt trips!!!
