Holiday Fun

This semester has just flown by!  When it finally starts feeling like life is slowing down a bit, something else pops up for us.  However, our life here has been SIGNIFICANTLY better since we initially moved in though.  Thank Goodness!

After Emerie was born, my mom took Lyndi back to her house for a week while I recooperated a little bit. A few weeks later, on Tyler's birthday, we went downtown to the historical part of Philly.  We ended up getting there later than we planned, so most everything was closed for the day already.  But we saw the Liberty Bell and the outside of Independence Hall and went to eat then went home. We also got some family pictures taken for the first time in few years.  The girl in our ward that took them did a great job, I was really excited about them!

Then we had a Halloween party at our church and Lyndi dressed up as a Princess (my mom and sister made her a little dress while she was at their house).  When we did the trunk or treat, it took her about 3 cars to figure out what was going on and then she pretty much raced through the rest of them to get as much candy as she could!

For Thanksgiving, we ended up going over to my mom's house and had fun playing games and seeing everyone.  I hadn't seen my baby brother in a year and a half, and I was shocked when I saw him!  The funny thing is even though he's the baby, he's definitely the biggest!  He's taller than everyone else by a long shot.  Sarah, my sister was due on Thanksgiving day, but she ended up getting induced the day after we went back home, so we had to wait a few more weeks to see my new niece!  The above picture was taken the day we went home.  This is Sarah holding Emerie and her husband Brandan.

A few weeks later, Tyler finished his first semester successfully and then his parents came to visit.  The time they spent here flew by!  It felt like they just got here and then they were leaving.  We got some Christmas shopping done, and they were able to go over to my mom's with us and bless Emerie in my mom's ward.  Sarah and Brandan's little baby Kaiya was a pound and a half smaller than Emerie's birth weight when she was born, so it was really fun to see their size difference when we got them together!!  I held Kaiya for the first time and she was such a little lightweight compared to my chunky girl!  And man, does Kaiya have hair!!  I kept thinking Emerie's hair was coming to nicely, then I'd look at Kaiya and change my mind entirely.  Kaiya has LONG THICK BLONDE HAIR!  I've never seen than on a baby before.  We blessed them both on December 16 (also Lyndi's third birthday!) then celebrated Lyndi's birthday that night.  Sarah made a princess castle cake (Holy cow) for her. 

We celebrated Christmas at my mom's house, but a few days before, my stepdad came home with a terrible cold, and then my mom got it, then me, then Lyndi, then Emerie, then my little brother, then Sarah, then my other sister.  One more person woke up sick everyday for a week!  Lyndi got it the worst, I think she had something different, more like the flu.  She had a terribly high fever, runny nose, raspy voice, cough, etc.  She was just miserable.  I wasn't even concerned when Emerie woke up coughing and had a runny nose compared to my concern for Lyndi. I took some NyQuil before I went to bed on Christmas Eve.  I've taken the capsules before and they've worked great, but all my mom had was the liquid NyQuil.  I took some and have never felt that drugged in my life!  I woke up Christmas morning and stood up to go downstairs and the floor seemed to follow me as I stood up.  I was holding Emerie and falling asleep while I was trying to entertain her.  The NyQuil took about 24 hours to wear off!  But Christmas was still fun and the trip went really fast!  Tyler ended up getting lots of gaming time in with Brandan and my brother while we were there (to make up for all the time he spent studying instead of playing at home, I've been really impressed at his studying abilities this past semester, he's kept his head in school really well!)

We got home and finally moved Emerie into Lyndi's room.  She's done great!  I was worried she'd wake Lyndi up or vice versa, but they've done really well in the same room so far.  This next semester is supposed to be Tyler's hardest and most-time consuming, so I'm hoping that I can keep it together and be able to handle being alone for the semester!  Lucky for me, Emerie is an easy baby.  She 1) takes a pacifier, 2) plays on her playmat, 3) sits in her swing, and 4) is content to just sit and watch Lyndi run around and suck on her fists!  I think I've been blessed with an easy baby so I can leave Tyler alone while he's at school and studying... sigh, someday we'll  be out of school!!  Well, that's all for these last few months, more to come later probably :)