Happy tag

Because we can always use a little cheering up in January.

1. Link to the person (Hilary) who has tagged you.

2. List six things that make you happy.

In no particular order . . .

3. Post the rules, tag six (or three?) others and let them know you did it.

I tag . . .

Cold

The sun did not shine
It was too cold to play
So we sat in the house
All those cold, cold, cold days.

I sat there with Sally
We sat there, we two.
And I said, “How I wish
We could go to the zoo!”

But the zoo had just closed
The carousel too
We went to the playground
We couldn’t get through.

So all we could do was to
Try something new.
We went to the library.
You should go too!

Tribute to Family

The first Christmas we were married, John and I were supposed to go to my family's for Christmas but ended up spending the holiday with some of his family instead because his brother had decided to come out. It was the first time I'd been away from home on Christmas, the first time any of my siblings had been away from home on Christmas, and I was the only one not there. It was hard. I behaved poorly. To my in-laws' credit, they didn't call me on it, they just acted like they didn't notice the petulant 3-year-old married to their son.

This was neither the first nor the last time they have cut me slack when I didn't deserve it. Luckily, I've grown up a bit since then. But more than that, I've grown into the family a bit. I really didn't understand on our wedding day how lucky I was to become a Prete, but I pinch myself sometimes when I realize that not all women are as excited to see their in-laws as they are to see their own brothers and sisters or when I think about how lucky Evelyn is to have so many fun cousins on the Prete side.

Since I was never in a younger-sibling position in my own family, I particularly enjoy getting big brother/big sister advice from John's brothers and sisters. Of note today is something his sister Becky wrote on her blog when describing her thoughts about some of the trials her family has faced:

"I have found it necessary to completely avoid questions about why this happened, whose fault is it, is it a punishment, a necessary test, etc…I find there are no satisfactory answers to these questions and it is best to leave them alone. It is much better, instead to just trust God. . . . The better question to ask of God after something like this is What should I do now? and What do you want me to learn?"

Well said, Becky. The entire talk, on faith, is wonderful. Also, thanks again for hosting the entire family and letting us hang a sheet from your bedroom ceiling in July. (The tradition of Pretes kindly overlooking nonsensical behavior on my part continues full force).

8 Mile(s)

Thursday, I was supposed to go with friends to see the Rachael Ray show. The night before, we did a little googling to determine how long before our ticket time we needed to arrive and line up. The answers were depressing. Long, bitter stories of people with tickets who waited in line for two hours and still didn't get into the show. Since the ticket time was 10:15, a 2-hour wait meant we'd have to be down to the studio before 8:30, and even then it seemed, we'd be taking our chances. None of us are THAT big of RR fans, so we decided to bail.

That is how I ended up with a child-and-other-commitment-free morning. The night before, I thought, great, I'll go running tomorrow. I set out for my run around 10 in the morning. I ran my "long run" of 5 miles. Then, I just kept running for 3 more miles. Something about being out there in the late morning without any deadlines, without anyone waiting for me at home, without trying to push myself faster to make it home before John needed to leave, and without a stroller was so refreshing that I didn't want it to end. Considering that I've pretty much never run farther than 5 miles before, it was surprisingly easy.

I was so proud of myself afterwards that it was all I could talk about to John that day.

"What do you want for dinner?"
"I don't know. I'm pretty tired. Did I mention I ran 8 miles this morning?"

"Man, it is COLD out here."
"It is cold, yes, but it was colder this morning, when I was running 8 miles. Did I tell you how I ran 8 miles this morning."

Etc, etc, etc. I think he's pretty sick of hearing about it.

I'm not a natural runner. I don't LOVE running the way some people do. I've always said that running a marathon is crazy, and I stand by that statement. But if I can run 8 miles, then maybe the thought of 13 and change isn't so bizarre? Anyone want to train for Brooklyn?

Mother's Helper

Now that Evelyn is 15 months old, we've started to get "the question" again. You know.

* * *

Acquaintance: "I can't how big she's getting! How old is she now?"

John/Emma: "A little over 15 months."

Acquaintance: "15 months, huh?" Significant look at my abdomen. "Any news to share?"

* * *

Come on people! It's just a little holiday weight!

My memories of breastfeeding and entertaining an infant on little to no sleep are still too fresh to be ready to "try" again.

The other day while doing some "internet research," I realized what I need for my next go round. "A Mother's Helper essentially helps out a stay-at-home parent or a family needing extra help while they are home. A Mother's Helper mostly works under some supervision to handle all aspects of child care, errands, easy meal preparation and light house work. Because of the varied duties and because an adult is often in the home as well, the role is different than that of a babysitter, nanny or in-home provider." Childcare.about.com.

How, you might ask, is a single-income family such as ours going to afford this luxury while living in one of the world's most expensive cities during the biggest recession in decades? It's simple, really. We just need to reallocate resources and encourage Evelyn to start doing her share. She's getting there slowly but surely. Examples:

Feeding oneself - one step closer to feeding a younger sibling

Learning to use the ergo carrier

Entertaining the baby

To illustrate the progress she's made, I offer the following example. A few short months ago, Evelyn was total deadweight when laundry time rolled around. Literally. Every Monday would see me dragging baby, bumbo, two hampers, detergent and a pocketful of quarters back and forth alone. Things started looking up after her birthday when she learned to walk. At first, she could walk down as long as I held her hand. Now, she walks to and from the laundry room by herself with only verbal encouragement (No! Yucky! Come with Mommy! Evelyn, look at Mommy! Come over here! No, yucky trash!). Yesterday was laundry day. As is my custom, I sorted through the laundry before putting it in the dryer to pull out items for air drying. I then hung said items on the drying rack in our bedroom and went about my business. A couple hours later, I walked into the kitchen to find the kitchen rug, which I had washed and hung to dry in the bedroom, back in its place on the kitchen floor. Evelyn had gone into the bedroom, pulled ONLY the rug off the drying rack, taken it into the kitchen, and laid it out on the floor in front of the sink. As you can see, this marks a big improvement over her usual throw-everything-on-the-drying-rack-into-a-pile-on-the-floor routine.

In fact, come to think of it, at this rate a second child could be closer than we think.

If a picture is worth a thousand words . . .

Then this post shouldn't need much text.

* * *

Christmas in Ohio

Book? No, "Hat, Mommy." Diaper? Nope. "Hat!" Pants? What was I thinking? Of course not. "Hat."

Cold weather victim - our apartment

The offender

Brief Update

For all those who got a holiday card with nothing but a message directing you to this blog, last year . . .

Emma quit her job, officially. After 18 weeks of paid maternity leave, 3 weeks of vacation, and a few more months of unpaid leave, she figured it was time to hand back her blackberry. She cleaned out her office September 10. Five days later, John's employer (Lehman Brothers) went bankrupt.

As of this writing, John still works for Lehman Brothers. His funds are in the process of being auctioned, and we hope to have a better idea of (1) who will be taking over the funds and (2) John's place under the new owner sometime in the next few months. John really enjoys the people he works with and hopes to continue working with his team. It's been a long road since September 15, but we are all grateful to still have health insurance. Especially since Evelyn had an acute wheezing episode over the holidays that led to our purchase of a home breathing machine as well as three different prescription medications. (She's fine now.)

Outside of work, John settled into new responsiblities at church after he was called to be the stake clerk earlier this year. This may not seem like a big changes from his prior calling as "assistant stake clerk: special projects," but it has been an adjustment. Example: 5:30 a.m. stake presidency meetings most Sundays. We have settled into the new routine a bit, and we all enjoy the friendships we've made with members in other wards due to his stake responsibilities.

Evelyn's exploits in 2008 have been well documented on this blog. She continues to amaze us with new words, new skills, and new (surprisingly strong) opinions. Evelyn spent time at various points over the holidays in the adoring company of all four grandparents and eight different aunts and uncles. She turns 15 months old today. Her favorite toy is her new pink glitter-filled bounce ball. Her favorite food is cheese.

We hope this update finds all of you in good spirits as we start the new year. May it be filled with the joys of good health, good food, and good family just like 2008. Now, off to play our new Wii.

I remember, too

Today, although I have not yet met her, I too remember Lily.

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If you want to help, follow me to www.marrow.org and find out how you can become a bone marrow donor.