January 2019

 Of course the first thing the kids wanted to do when we got home from Utah was try out their new motorcycle! Chris thought it would be 'safest' if he drove it first. hahaha. Dads. The kids did not like having to wait but they soon were having a turn.  Its pretty heavy and powerful so only Alec and Charlie are strong enough to drive it right now, but I bet it won't be too much longer before Gwen's comfortable with it too. 

Chris submitted an application for a position at BYU last month and he has a work conference in Hawaii at the end of January. His interview at BYU was just a few days later so we decided to shave his beard and trim his hair before his Conference. 

We got to work right away on our master bath remodel as well. We did the tile on the floor and had these new spacer tools that help keep the tops level too. Really hand things.  We have to do it in batches, laying as much tile as we can with a 5 gallon bucket sized batch of mortar.  We got in a good groove, Chris cut any tiles we needed cut, and I laid all the tile. 

Freddy, Max and I continue to go to the Homestead for some fun with the community outside. My friend Andrea, who kind of runs the thing, parent's were in town and her dad is a retired PE teacher. He led the kids in tons of fun activities. I remember thinking I would LOVE to do something like this on my own someday. 

Our friends Amy and Dustin Ormond came for a visit! We love hosting people and seeing old friends. 

Playschool is super fun. The kids LOVED doing these color mixings based off the book, Mouse Paint. 

Max is such a handful. He loves to explore things and can make the most awesome messes. He's just so determined that he can get into things even when I think I've safe-guarded against him.  One day he got his arm out of his sleeve and wanted to finish the job and take off his whole shirt. It took him a while and was SO funny to watch. Alec, Chris and I were just dying. He stuck with it and did it! He got his shirt off all the way by himself. He was so proud. 

Alec's first time in the Temple! We went to the Birmingham temple with some friends from our branch.  Also pictured here is Max with a lollypop at church. He was pretty really loud and fussy and someone gave him a lollypop....that quieted him right up. (and was such a mess!)  He's at a challenging stage right now but he's still so cute. We love him. 

Chris played this game with him forever one day. Max would throw the ball down the little stairs and Chris would catch it and toss it back up to him. Both he and Chris were patient and enthralled enough to keep this up for a long time! 

We finally finished the floor the last week of January and also finished the wainscoting before Chris and I left for his work Conference! We figured our big crew was too much for just one person to handle so we invited BOTH our moms out to help watch our kids together. I think it worked out really well. Their strengths and preferences compliment each other. Dixie likes to stay home and cook stuff, my mom likes to take the kids out for outings and is comfortable running errands in a new location etc. 

But the CRAZIEST thing of this month, I don't have a picture of. We found out I'm pregnant!!!!!!!   Like,  so crazy. Over Christmas celebrating Tiff's baby announcement was kind of bitter sweet for me. I cried happy tears for her, but also sad ones for me because I knew that this would never happen to me again. We were done having children.  Using all the special help to thaw frozen sperm and track ovulation and pay to be impregnated was a lot and I didn't feel like I could go through all that again. Plus, with Max's antics, I really felt like I was at the very end of what I could handle. I did not think I had enough energy or patience for more children.   Tiff kept telling me about her pregnancy symptoms of being winded just walking up stairs, or needing to go to the bathroom all the time, or just being tired and gaining a little weight. I actually kept thinking, "Oh,... I kind of feel that way too!" but there was no way in my mind that it could be possible for me to be pregnant so I just chalked it up to me feeling a little sad that we were done having kids and that I was reading into random thoughts too much because Tiff was pregnant and I kinda wished I was.  We had gotten Chris' sperm tested a whole YEAR after his stem cell transplant and got the results that there were no viable sperm in the sample at all. Then we talked with his doctor about the results and he said, normal function would probably have come back after 6 months, so if its been a year and there was ZERO sperm than it was likely he would never regain viability.  Plus, before Max, I had been praying for Chris to be healed and we waited almost a year of trying naturally before we took efforts to figure out how to use the frozen sperm to get pregnant.  Anyway.... all this to say that doctors, lab results, and years of experience had proven that Chris was sterile.  Also, I had been nursing Max full time still and so my period had been unpredictable and only happened like once during Max's first year. But as we were getting ready for Hawaii, I was waiting and waiting for my monthly cycle to start and I really hoped I wouldn't be on my period in Hawaii.  Finally, I texted Chris to just pick up a pregnancy test on the way home from work on the Friday before we left for Hawaii, because, that act alone would probably fate my period to start. (it happened so many times like that whenever we were trying to get pregnant). 

Lo, and behold... it was positive. Chris and I couldn't believe it. We laughed all night.  Chris' moms came a few days later and we had fun telling them we were pregnant. Chris and I flew out to Hawaii, still laughing and frankly, not really believing it either. We arrived on a Sunday and enjoyed walking around the beach and attending church. 

Chris was expected to attend his conference so mostly he went to meetings in the morning while I slept in, exercised/got ready, and laid by the pool. Then we'd meet for lunch and he'd go back to meetings and I would lay at the pool or beach. It was kind of rainy while we were there and just BARELY warm enough to not be cold in a swimsuit. A day or two he skipped presentations and we did excursions by bus and one day rented a car to drive to the northern shore. We attended a temple session and drove around the island, visited the Dole plantation and hiked inland. We were following Amanda Lewis' food recommendations. Her and Peter and lived in Honolulu for years and JUST moved away 8 months previous. So sad we missed them, but she emailed me a lot of information and I basically just followed her advice. It was nice to not spend too much time planning out the vacation. I didn't have time before we left and I was still grappling with the fact that we were pregnant like the whole time. Are we really pregnant?!? was almost a constant comment.  

It was over too fast, but Chris had to get home to prepare for his BYU interview and we had all our darling kids waiting for us and our angel mother's to rescue. So home we went on Saturday.