Lots of Things

It's amazing how time gets away from you. I logged on today and realized that I haven't written in over 2 weeks. It's way overdue. And it's been on my list to write all week, but ... you know.

We've had a fairly busy couple of weeks. Last Tuesday, January 27th, Daniel had invited his primary class, the 11-12 year olds, and his team teacher, Brother Alonso, over for a little class get-together. We built a fire in our fire pit and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. We had a good time with the kids, getting to know them. And they loved playing with Brooke and Camille ... well, the girls did, that is.

On Thursday evening, January 29th, we went to the annual firm dinner at the country club in Valencia. We were a bit late because of babysitting/feeding the baby issues. It always takes a little longer to get out the door than it used to. But it was a nice evening away. We had a good time visiting with everyone; and Diane had brought her new little baby boy, just a few weeks younger than Camille, and he was so cute and fun! I thought it was hilarious, too, that Bob, one of the partners, sat next to me and not very subtly started trying to convince me that we needed to stay in Santa Clarita and that Daniel was really needed at the firm. He is on the school board, and he started talking to me about how great the schools here are. And then he went on to rave about Daniel, saying how great he is, such a good worker, all of these things that I clearly already know about him (but it's still nice to hear. :) ). He said that he's going to get some new clients for Daniel to work on, auditing type jobs (which is what Daniel told them that he wanted to do). I think Bob was trying to be subtle about it, but it was fairly obvious that he was trying to convince the little wife that her husband needed to stay with his firm. It was pretty funny to us.

Our car was done being fixed on Friday, sometime in the morning, so Daniel came home for lunch to have me drop him off to pick it up. Later that night, I was frantic trying to get everything done. The Halls were coming to dinner, and I was making them something delicious and vegan (because Brother Hall is always teasing me about being mostly vegan), but I was missing a few ingredients. And there were many pieces to the dinner I was making. I started cooking after Brooke's nap, around 3pm, and worked on dinner for the rest of the night, basically. And then, of course, the little ones had to be taken care of, the baby fed and slept all the time, Brooke fed and kept out of trouble. On top of which, the house is nearly constantly messy. Aaaanyway ... I ran to the store once Camille woke up, ran back to feed Brooke, continue dinner and get her ready for bed. All the while, Camille is a bit fussy, because I woke her up and now she's hungry ... and I'm already really late with dinner ...

It was stressful. And I realized that while I'm making this grand dinner to impress people, I'm letting my family suffer, in a way, and fend for themselves. It wasn't really fair to them. And I felt bad.

Daniel came home to help, put Brooke to bed; I fed the baby, kept working on dinner. Dinner was fine. The Halls were nice. I'm not sure they really liked what I made. Oh well. Whatever. I don't have to justify the way I eat to everyone I meet. I rather like it. It definitely wasn't worth all that went into it, though. And poor Camillie, crying at me because she's hungry. :(

I got a new calling last weekend. Sunday, our Relief Society presidency was released. And I was put into the new presidency ... as secretary. It didn't come as a huge shock. I went on quite a long walk on Saturday, anticipating and contemplating a meeting with Ryan Haslam (one of the counselors in the bishopric). And while I walked and thought, I was speculating, and for whatever reason, I kept thinking that I was going to be called to be secretary. I kept shoving the thought aside, just thinking about all the other people who would be so much better at it, and also chastising myself for being so, I don't know, lofty? Prideful? But still kind of thinking that that's where I was going. And then, lo and behold, Brother Haslam called me to be RS secretary. No. It didn't come as a shock. More of a relief, though. I would rather be secretary than 2nd counselor in charge of activities. Being in charge of activities was certainly not my forte. And my rather simple style created some inward conflicts when I saw others going way above and beyond for a 3 hour activity.

Mindy Fox is the new Relief Society President; Kristin Hill is 1st Counselor; and Allison Leishman is 2nd Counselor. And though I'm sad that I won't see Lynn Lamb on a regular basis anymore, or Brynn or Belinda, I'm so excited to work with such wonderful women! And to learn from them!

I also taught Relief Society that Sunday. It was a bit ... different ... our Relief Society meeting. Just with one President going out and a new one coming in. Things weren't as put together as usual. But that's completely understandable. And my lesson went just fine. Mostly I had put together a bunch of questions for the sisters to answer to create and discussion. And they sure did answer and discuss. That's the wonderful thing about teaching RS. You don't have to put SO much into lessons every time you teach, because you know that they are just going to talk a bunch and basically teach it for you. :)

Anywho, I went to visit Siv Flick after church, one of the women I visit teach, for January, even though it was already February 1st (actually, she kind of asked me to come visit and count it for January, and since I was already feeling guilty for missing her last month ... due to my own ... whatever, I was grateful that she was so forward about it. Plus, I always like/dislike visiting her). It was a little hard, this visit. I brought them some of my frozen milk, which they are ever so grateful for, as am I -- that someone can use it. But they just have such family issues, sometimes it's hard for me to be around. Because I want to help and fix, but I can't. And I have my own ideas of what they need to do, but am very obviously an imperfect and partial judge. Part of it, too, is that I love Siv and think she's wonderful, and I don't like seeing how her family and many people in our ward treat her. Because it's usual not what she deserves.

This last week ... is a bit of a blur, actually. I did the mom thing, of course. Camille wasn't sleeping well during the day this week, which was a bit frustrating. And Brooke didn't take a nap for a couple days in a row either, inexplicably. Which is very frustrating to me, because she still really needs naps.

We still had Grampa's car this week (we were going to take the car down last Sunday, but my visit was quite long and we missed our window); so on Wednesday, Brooke, Camille and I got ready to go, and then went shopping, ran errands and visited Dadda at work. We went to Wal-mart to get a few things and I took Brooke to get some lunch at McDonald's. I know. Not a great choice, and I have been relying on fast food too much lately when we go out. But I knew we wouldn't have time for her to eat before nap by the time we got home. Plus, I had Camille in a little over the shoulder carrier, and she'd fallen asleep. It was perfect timing; Brooke ate lunch, right there in McDonald's and Camille was getting a little nap in. We ran to Old Navy to make a return and then went to Daniel's office. They were happy to see the kids, those who were actually there. Brooke has serious issues leaving Dadda, though, once she sees him in the middle of the day. She cries and fusses a lot. It's almost not worth going to visit. She is SUCH a Daddy's girl, though Daniel tries to deny it. She loves him so much. And even though it's hard not resent it a little, who can blame her?

Thursday afternoon, Nicole Faucette and Lynn Halladay were hosting a cookie decorating party at the park down the street, so we went. It was one of the days that Brooke didn't take a nap and Camille wasn't napping well either, so I thought, "What the heck. I might as well, if no one is going to sleep like they're supposed to." They were both exhausted, too. It was little sad. I put Camille in the Moby and hoped that she would fall asleep on the walk to the park. No such luck. Brooke didn't really decorate a cookie; mostly I smeared some frosting on a cookie and she just ate it. She took a LONG time eating it, and then asked for another, at which point I told her to go play. There were a ton of people there that day! Almost all the young women with kids in our ward, and some from other wards, came. It was kind of hard to keep track of Brooke, especially when I was focusing on helping Camille to fall asleep and talking to other moms. But, even in keeping my eye on her occasionally, I could see how tired she was and she didn't seem to be having much fun. Camille eventually dropped off (thankfully), and someone agreed to help Brooke swing a little. But whoever it was abandoned her to chat with someone else, so she was just sitting in a swing, not moving, not talking or fussing to get out. I helped her out, but she sort of just walked around in a haze. She asked another mom for sand toys to play with, but we hadn't brought any. She ran around with little kids for a while, and sort of played on the playground, but I think she was a little wary of it because of her fall.

Anyway, we left when other people started leaving. I probably should've left earlier, but I kept getting stuck in conversations with people. I'd turn to leave and someone else would walk up. Poor Brooke! She was so tired! We went home, and played and ate for a bit, and then I put her to bed a little early. It was a rough night for her, though. She woke up a few times and fussed for a while.

That night, Lynn Lamb and Brynn Candell came over for a little final get-together. Lynn brought a delicious lemon cake (it ended up being my dinner ... didn't really have much time to eat ... ) and a gift for each of us, and we just chatted for a little bit. It was nice. And when they left, the girls slept pretty well for me and I watched Castle and worked on a project.

Friday night, Daniel took me on a hot date. We went to a new Thai place for dinner, made out in the car, and then went back to our community to hang out in the hot tub for a little bit. We had Hadley Delhoyo (a new girl in our ward) come babysit, and Brooke was in bed when she got here (no nap, you know), but Camille gave her a bit of a rough time, I think. She said Millie was a little fussy and didn't sleep much. She didn't sleep much for us, either, after we got home. It was a nice date, though, really sweet of Daniel to take me out, even though he's busy right now. He's my favorite.

Yesterday was not very exciting. We mostly hung out at home. I worked out a bunch, finally finishing the arm challenge. Whew! I'm glad that's behind me. I couldn't finish it on the last day of January like I was supposed to because my back, right behind my shoulder blade, was very painful. It hurt to breath deeply, sneeze, move in certain ways. So I'm glad I could finally finish the challenge.

Daniel took Brooke shopping last night while I stayed home with Camille, hung out and watched tv while I let her sleep in my arms. I was just trying to get a good nap in for her. She's been a little difficult that way lately. Although right now, she's been sleeping up on my bed for a good long time while I write. I'm staying home from church today with the girls because Brooke is still coughing and sick. Daniel stayed with Brooke last week, but he's teaching today, his little primary class, and I'm not really needed at church today.

After we got Brooke to bed last night, and I attempted to put Camille to sleep, Daniel and I stayed up watching part of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and snacking. It took a long time to get Camille to sleep; she kind of hung out with us for a big part of the night, sitting in her bouncy chair while we watched (and I crafted). It was nice to let go and relax a bit together.