January

We arrived back from Utah on Dec. 31, so we celebrated the new year the following day with fondue.  My kids are crazy.  They were mostly uninterested in dipping bread in melted cheese.  What?!

In January I started physical therapy appointments, as recommended by my doctor.  At first I wasn't overly impressed.  (I was stretching/exercising regularly all of 2017, and it didn't particularly help with my pain level, or preventing my back from going out in December..  So when the therapist told me I needed to correct my imbalanced hips by stretching and exercising I kind of rolled my eyes.)  During a subsequent appointment I saw a different person who was immensely more helpful.  He did a lot more physical manipulation (feeling certain muscles and areas to find out what was tense.)  Oddly, he told me I had adhesions in my stomach, on my right side, which I could totally feel when he pressed there.  I don't fully understand it, but it is interesting to learn things about your body that you hadn't realized.

On the 22nd I had my MRI.  That was one of the craziest experiences.  I laid on a table, and they pulled it back into the machine, where I sat completely still for 20 minutes.  I was completely surrounded bu this machine, so there was a ceiling only about 2 inches above my face.  I couldn't lift my head at all to see infront or behind.  They say you can relax and sleep, but the machine sounds like jackhammers next to your ears.  There was a lot of tapping sounds (loud!) and occasionally the table would reposition itself forward or backward.  I kept my eyes closed most of the time and tried to forget I was in what felt like a plastic casket.  But the alien-invasion type of noises prevented any further meditation or rest.

My doctor called with the "results", which he rattled off in about 5 seconds.  Something about the L5-S1 area (next to the tail bone), a bulged disk, pinched nerve, tear on a ligament, etc.  I didn't understand any of it, and it was over the phone, but the important thing is he referred me to an orthopedic spine specialist.  That should be helpful!  If nothing else, it's nice to hear specifics of what is causing me so much pain (over 7 years) instead of it just being "chronic back pain." And I feel like the spine doctor will be better equipped to talk about it (and educate me about it) than my general practitioners have been.

Unfortunately, our insurance is THE WORST and I have had to call 5 different times to get the correct referral (with a 50 minute wait time on each call.)  I'm still not sure I have what I need to make the appointment, but my fingers are crossed.  Forget about healthy eating and exercise, I think phone calls with insurance are what will cause us to die young.

Along with exercises at the therapist, I've been trying to get back to the gym. I am not pushing it, because I don't want my back pain to flare up again, so just walking, stretching, yoga and light weight lifting.  I guess this isn't the season of my life to be buff.

We had a military dining out on the 19th.  It's like a military ball, except women wear coctail dresses instead of ball gowns.  That was the only difference I noticed.  Oh-- and they do what they call a "mess."  They have rules for the mess, and a president of the mess.  When the mess is "open" soldiers can stand and address the president to inform him of rule infractions.  For example, that soldier so-and-so is wearing a clip on tie instead of the army issued tie.  Then the president checks if it's true and hands out punishments.  (Like singing a song for everyone, or most commonly, drinking from the grog bowl-- a bowl filled with a variety of alcohols and other odds and ends.)  They did something similar at the ROTC events I used to go to with Hyrum, and I remember them feeling SO awkward and generally embarrassing.  This time it was actually amusing and mostly in good fun.

I tried on several dresses trying to figure out what to wear.  We struggled to get a good picture of us while we were at the ball (bad lighting, mostly) but I took the picture above while I was comparing dresses.  I ended up with this green one, which I actually bought back in around 2011.  Since then, I haven't attended anything other than a ball, requiring a floor-length gown.  The green dress is definitely a little different (different sleeve lengths!) but I like the color and thought it was flattering.  And basically, I figured if I didn't wear it now, I never would.  So now I've worn it and can donate it for someone else to wear!  (As it turns out, I actually have a ball gown in my closet waiting to be worn for the first time.  It seems I always have the right dress ready for the wrong event.)

The kids loved their babysitter.  When Hyrum and I were getting ready to walk out the door, Mila started crying, "No, five more minutes! I want to keep playing!"  We had to explain that we were leaving, and she could stay and play.  (She was thrilled.)  The next morning, when they saw us, they asked, "Where's the babysitter?"

Since we finally have a couple of babysitters, and since Hyrum would be in Afghanistan before we knew it, we tried to go out as much as possible.  We went on a lunch date, and ended up wandering through an old book store (and spent as much as we did at lunch...), bought baklava at a Jerusalem cafe, and browsed sofas at a furniture store.  All those activities are so much more pleasant without kids.

One of my favorite purchases of the month (and year, so far!) has been our Amazon Echo.  My sister told me about them in December, and after doing some research I pulled the trigger.  It's a device that connects to wifi and uses "Alexa", Amazon's smart-person, to interface for a bunch of different "skills."  The main reason I wanted to get it was to play music in our downstairs without having to turn on the TV.  Previously, when we wanted to listen to Pandora, I had to turn on the TV to go to the Pandora app, and that made my kids want to just watch a show.  Now, I just say, "Alexa, play the Frozen Soundtrack" and it automatically starts playing.  It's good sound quality, and we listen to a lot more music because of it.  I also ask it the weather every day, and can set alarms (like when it's time to go pick up Tiago.)  Or a 10 minute timer so I don't forget I have a burner on.  It can tell jokes, which sometimes are actually pretty clever.  Overall, we've had fun with it!

We spent one Saturday of the month purging toys!  And it felt so good!  They've been building up for several months, and Christmas didn't help.  Out with the toys that are broken, missing pieces, or don't get played with.  We had a couple of trash bags to donate.  I've been doing the same thing with my closet.  Why does it take years to get rid of clothes that don't fit?  Or aren't that cute?  I probably have 7 or 8 pairs of jeans I need to get rid of.  Even if they fit me again at some point, they won't be in style anyway.  There are a few pieces of clothing I'm holding on to, because I really like them and if they fit again I'd be thrilled.  But most of my 'old clothes' I'm indifferent to.

One weekend we were able to get together with my college roommate, Jennifer, and her family.  We lived together freshman year, and junior year right before she got married (and I left on my mission.)  They're in Denver, and we've seen each other a couple of times since we've lived in Colorado.  We both agreed that if it were less than an hour away, it would be so much easier to get together often.  Being a little over an hour makes it far enough that we just don't do it much.  But I love spending time with people that I know so well!  None of the discomfort that comes in making new friends.  We've already seen each other at our best and worst and liked each other enough to want to keep sharing a tiny room.  (And she was the best--- she gave me all the dresser space and kept her own clothes in plastic drawers in the closet.)

It snowed a couple of times.  It takes so long to get the kids ready--snow pants, boots, coats, layers underneath, gloves, hats, etc... And then Mila and Siena only want to stay outside for about 2 minutes.  So I'm officially done letting them play in the snow for the winter. Maybe next year.  One hilarious thing, though, was the show requests they were making beforehand.  Siena wanted to wear her pink rubber shoes (that have holes in them.)  And Mila wanted to wear her "water shoes" (which also have holes in them.)

When we were digging through our snow stuff, Tiago found this coat that he wore for the last few years (18-24 month size!)  He insisted on putting it on for a while, and looked ridiculous, but then he changed back into his very-large 'new' coat.  And for future reference, it's Siena in the pigtails.

Now that I'm teaching in junior primary at church, I've been able to re-use some of my lessons with the kids at home.  We did a lesson about baptism where they had to follow footsteps.  I love seeing them so into it, and wanting to learn.  We have a huge stack of family home evening lessons my mom gave us, and they love going through them.  (Granted, they only are interested in the games/activities of any of the lessons, and we have to keep a pretty quick pace.)

I took the kids to the dentist for cleanings.  It's such a relief that they look forward to going to the dentist.  The toys/movies in the waiting room certainly help, along with the TVs on the ceiling. Only Tiago had cavities, so we had to take him back a few weeks later.

My sister sent me a free week of Blue Apron meal service, so we gave it a try.  It was actually more fun that I thought it would be.  They send you all the individual ingredients, with the exact amounts you need, along with a detailed recipe card.  We had a few ingredients I'd never seen before.

We went to a family night at Tiago's school.  Tiago enjoys showing us that part of his life, and the girls LOVE seeing Tiago's school. They often talk about it, and Siena had a full-on melt-down when we had to leave.  (She also had a melt-down one day when we were at the school, saw the school buses, and she couldn't get on, too.)  

Scene from the toy room one afternoon:

 Another day in the toy room...  Mila as a dragon, Siena as a crocodile, and Tiago as a well-informed Spiderman.  (We have no idea where he learned about that hand thing.)  Then Mila wanted to be a princess, and Tiago Woody offered to be her prince.  And Siena just looks kinda homeless.  (Their hair is so difficult these days!)

Tiago discovered the joy of photography.  And once I showed him how to use our big camera he walked around wanting to photograph EVERYTHING.  I think there are a hundred pictures of our floor, and one picture of every piece of furniture on our main floor.  He even learned how to display the last picture taken, so he'd get a shot and then come show me and ask for my opinion.  It's hilarious how kids mimic what they see.  He was trying to take a picture of me and the girls, so he told Hyrum to come stand behind him to make us smile.

So many activities to pass the time!  I think this particular day we were baking.  Which ends up such a mess, and I'm sure I ended up yelling.  (Because why do they need to brush all the flour on the floor??)

Tiago has been enjoying school more lately, it seems.  (He complains less about having to go.)  He has learned most of his letters, and talks about friends he's making, and stations they do.  The school bus is late many days, so he and the girls love playing with the other boy (named Tiago) at the bus stop.  One morning it was only a few degrees outside, and Tiago still insisted on getting out of the car to play.  It only lasted about 3 minutes before he came back in the car to warm up.  One afternoon the girls and I went to his school to pick him up.  He asked us why we were there, then told us he preferred to ride the bus. I think he likes sitting with friends and talking during the 30-minute ride.

 Lots of playing with their 'new' magna tiles.

We spent an afternoon making paper crowns.  That had mixed success.  But then the girls wanted to re-create their hugging picture from a year ago.  Siena always insists on opening her mouth in a big smile.

Another bored afternoon, when I'm sure I was at at the end of my rope, I told the kids they could have some chocolate.  That turned into Tiago trying to eat the entire block of chocolate in our pantry (courtesy of "Matt's" chocolate factory.)

And yet another day trying to entertain ourselves, we created these bowling pins and spent several hours throwing balls at them.  Then a few days later, when I was on my mom-vacation, Hyrum took the kids to a real bowling alley.

Despite having a few snow storms, we also had some really warm weather.  We were wondering, at points, what happened to winter.  We took a walk one afternoon, and Woody wanted to come along.  (He really loves this costume, and the kids watch Toy Story a lot.)

And we'll call that a wrap for January.  It was a full month, but it didn't feel like I nailed it, like I always like to feel starting a new year.  So far, not nailing February either.  Life is just happening, and it's messy and frustrating and exhausting, and one day maybe all my closets will be clean and I'll have perfect routines.  Maybe March. 2028.