December

 This December was our first holiday season in our own home. It was nice to be able to buy and decorate for Christmas with the feeling of more permanence. So far it's been a great month. Here are some picture highlights of some of our favorite things:

 

Flannel shirts! Our new favorite thing to wear. So cozy. And my Mountain Hardwear shirt hides my growing belly, which is a plus since I'm currently just in the fat stage of pregnancy.

Snuggling in bed with our puppies every morning. Porsche and Koda are the best kids ever. We love them and they are absolutely LOVING the snow.

Our first year putting up lights on the outside of the house! Justin did all the work and it looks great. Not quite as spectacular as our neighbors to the south, who are somewhat reminiscent of the Griswolds. But ours looks cute just the same.

This year my neighbor gifts were jars of homemade hazelnut chocolate spread (Nutella). This recipe was a lot more crunchy and rich, but I really like it. My sister Hilary found the recipe on Epicurious. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Better-Than-Nutella-Chocolate-Hazelnut-Spread-51134600?mbid=ipapp

Working with the puppies. While Justin works on the computer from home, the dogs literally hang out next to him all day. It's really adorable. They love being in the same room as us. And the loft is their special place. Most of the day is spent fighting over toys, wrestling, and sleeping. Every time Justin needs a break he cuddles with them.

Cocoa crackle cookies. I made these to spoil my husband and feed the hungry 16-18 year olds I teach in church. I love these cookies because they are my favorite flavor.... chocolate. The best recipe in the history of Earth is actually owned by an out of business shop called "All My Cookies" that my mom used to take us to on 9th and 9th after our semi-annual haircuts from the time I was little until I was about 8 years old. I dream about those ginormous gooey cookies. But alas, they are no more. So the 2nd best recipe in the history of Earth is by Williams-Sonoma. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/chocolate-crinkle-cookies.html

Date night! Our favorite restaurant ever, Red Iguana is a must do every month. I try something new every time, Justin ALWAYS gets 2 carne asada burritos, horchata with 4+ refills and sometimes we splurge for dessert. Last time they had chocolate flan and it was to die for.

Crackling fire and glowing Christmas tree. We finally got our chimney cleaned, tuned up and now we burn fires to save on our gas bill. What's more homey than a warm fire and a glittering Christmas tree? Nothing.

Family time! Unfortunately, I didn't take a ton of pictures of family get togethers this year and I'm kicking myself for it. But last week was Oakley's dance recital (picture above) and Ashton's baptism. This week we had Christmas Eve at the Hendersons with Chinese food, Christmas afternoon again with the Hendersons, and Christmas evening with the McAvoys. Today my brother-in-law, Zach, is moving to Hawaii so we got together for breakfast to say goodbye. Tomorrow is a get together with Justin's cousins. Tis the season for a billion get-togethers!


So that's the month in a brief nutshell.

I also want to copy my sister, Caroline, who is 38 weeks pregnant and has been doing updates like this every few weeks. I thought it would be a good way for me to document the pregnancy since I don't really keep a journal.

How far along: 15 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain: No weight gain yet. Actually last week my doc said I was down 6 pounds from the first appointment. But I had a dream last night that our dentist told me I was overweight and needed to lose 15 lbs, so I guess I'm subconsciously worried?
Maternity clothes? Not yet, but my pants are pretty snug so a trip to the H&M maternity section is probably in order.
Stretch marks: Not yet. I have been very diligent about putting seaweed lotion and oil on every day, plus a coconut/shea body butter a co-worker made for me for Christmas.
Sleep: Not good. I have to go to the bathroom 3 times/night and I can't breath lately thanks to the dry air.
Best moment this week: Well, it was Christmas this week.... The food all day on Christmas was amazing. And two days ago we saw Les Miserables which I loved.
Movement: Not yet.
Cravings?: Sushi sushi sushi!!! On Christmas Eve I did go to Sushi Blue in Park City and bought a crab roll because it was cooked, not raw, and deep fried so it was served hot. I almost died it was so delicious. Yesterday and today I'm craving mayonnaise on a white roll. Disgusting, right? So I'm thinking it might be a masked craving for fats. I'm going to eat pistachios and see if that fixes it.
Anything making you queasy or sick: I'm feeling sick in general today. I stayed home from work.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Symptoms: Peeing frequently, passing kidney stones every day, cravings for specific foods, random cramps in my pelvis, weird dreams about dentists telling me I'm overweight....
Belly Button in or out? In still. Probably for a while.
Wedding ring on or off? Still on. No swelling.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Moody. Definitely moody. Everything makes me cry or angry.
Looking forward to: Eating more cooked sushi. Haha.

The dog ate my phone and I had kidney stones

The title of this post says it all. I always knew dogs could eat homework, but a phone??? You've got to be kidding me. It all happened one day while I was outside raking the millions of leaves scattered across our front lawn. I had only been gone maybe 30 minutes before I came inside for gloves. There on the floor was little miss Porsche chewing on my cell phone. Yep. Bits of phone everywhere and parts were missing, which I can only assume she swallowed. She is, afterall, a garbage disposal who is infamous for eating my earplugs (which are essential for me for a good night's sleep given my light sleeping condition), earrings, garbage, paper, etc. My phone was trashed.

Everyone teases me because I hadn't jumped on the smart phone bandwagon yet and so I used this opportunity to justify getting a smartphone. Justin found an iphone 4 on KSL, 32 GB, for $210. Deal.

The next day was Saturday, which was my first and only Saturday off of the whole year. I wanted to take advantage so I went Christmas decoration shopping, ate a waffle from the waffle truck, set up the tree, decorated, etc. That night I was going to a meeting with an instructor I would be co-teaching with at Healing Mountain Massage School. More about that later. Then I would be meeting Justin at his family's favorite restaurant, Five Alls, for dinner with the adults. As soon as I hopped in the shower the McAvoy family menace started rearing its ugly head. Back pain, really bad, right over my right kidney. I immediately drank straight lemon juice, a liter of water, and took 4 tylenol. I hoped it would get better before my meeting.

I took off for the meeting, had a great time and talked about some really interesting stuff for the class. The pain grew steadily worse. As soon as I left for the restaurant, the pain grew more intense and I considered running home for my stash of Lortab... until I realized I was out of my nausea medication, which would mean the Lortab would be coming right back up. I got the to the restaurant, told Justin the problem, and said that going to the ER was probably the best course of action. No chicken kiev for Justin. And no baked halibut for me. :(

As soon as we got to the ER they only had me waiting 10 minutes before rushing me in, taking my vitals and hooking me up to morphine. Glorious morphine. And Zofran for the nausea. Well, after the nurse insisted on inserting the IV into a vein that I told him over and over would collapse. It did collapse, by the way, and having him dig around my arm and cause a 4 inch hematoma in my forearm which I use EVERYDAY to massage people with was super fun. But at least it took my mind off the kidney pain.

We were there 5 hours. Apparently the conversation was pretty funny. I didn't realize it at the time. I asked Justin if a handle on the overhead light was a penis. I also told him, after appearing dead asleep, that when Elmer Fudd tried to poison Bugs Bunny with carrots he was doing the impossible. Obviously carrots are too small. I also listed for a 2-3 minutes all the people that loved Justin, including his parents, bishop, hairdresser, teachers, etc.

After an ultrasound that revealed no stones, but a blocked ureter, the doctor told me he couldn't diagnose me with anything but back pain and sent me home. My new nurse forgot about me for an hour after the doctor had signed the discharge papers, I had to call the station to ask them for more medication after the pain started to return. Then he tried to give me medication without the nausea medication. I had to remind him of the doctor's orders. Sometimes our medical system scares me. Good thing I actually pay attention to what they do.

The next morning I passed 5 stones. The next day two more. But, officially, I only had "back pain." Jerks.




Anyway! Yes, I have a new part time job. I was offered a job after teaching a class of students about our hydrotherapy techniques at Spa Montage. I am a new Hydrotherapy and Advanced Massage Techniques instructor at a very cool, mostly hippie, school calling Healing Mountain Massage. I think my big plan is to cut back at the Spa over the next year, and get more full time into teaching massage and having private clients that I provide in-home massage to. Why? Well, thanks for asking. It's just that working at the Spa is not a very supportive environment for new mommies. And by the end of June I will be a new mommy. So that's that. I would like to transition my career into a more part-time piece of my life so my full-time commitment can be to our new little baby and my wonderful husband. Yay! (And that, apparently, is why I am getting a crazy amount of kidney stones. My OB said they would be increasing for my pregnancy. But on the upside, I haven't had morning sickness. So I traded throwing up constantly with crazy pain ending in peeing little pebbles everyday. But at least we get a reward for it all in 6 months!)