Spring Has Sprung

So finally spring is here... almost that is. It just keeps on snowing and snowing that when there is a warm day I think that spring is finally here then it snows again. But I think that we are out of the woods and it is going to warm up for good.

With that said it has been far too long to not post. We are all doing good. Health(ish) and happy. The -ish part comes for me and my stupid gallbladder. I have had 3 attacks and sometimes I thought that I was having cramps but they were pains for my gallbladder (I think a sign that something was up should have been it wasn't even my time of the month and I was having horrible pains.) But besides that and mostly getting it removed because there are in fact stones in it we have been good.
I am getting off my depression meds and I am excited and a little scared. So far so good. My doc wanted me to wait until Spring and since that is almost here I have been taking them less and less. Sometimes I am naughty and I forget to take them and like this week I haven't taken one in 4 days. Whoops it was only supposed to be 2 but I wasn't allowed to eat anything for 24 hours because of the ultrasound and then I forgot. I can tell I haven't taken them in a while and I know that I need to but I am still doing really good. One thing that I think has helped is I have been working out a lot lately and I joined Weight Watchers the last week of December and I know that these things have helped.

My mom, 2 sisters, and sister-in-law went to Vegas in January and we saw The Phantom of the Opera front row and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! I saw the Phantom spit when he sang we were so close. I don't think that I could ever go back to the back to see a play. What can I say? I'm spoiled and it is all Cody's fault! I love him! So back to Vegas I had fun but I wanted to kill my sister and almost left them in the desert to fight it out. I mean come on we are adults let's act like it. There is nothing like getting in the bath (big huge bathtub) and it being halfway full and all of a sudden you hear screaming so you turn off the water and then 2 angry girls run in the bathroom (the door didn't lock) and then you have to hop out of the tub to break up a fight... Yeah like I said we are adults. Luckily my sister-in-law (she helped me to laugh at my fam and not strangle them) was there or the 2 sister's booties would have been walking home. It was fun and not as relaxing as I hoped but all in all it was fun (plus baby was left at home!).

Tatum is finally walking! He decided just last week to start walking and he does really good. He still crawls but when you have crawled since you were 5 months old you get pretty fast and there is no need to walk. So he started walking at 15 months. He loves to clap. You will hear him clapping and saying yeah and have to run to see what he threw away. He loves to throw things away. his diapers, tissues, wii motes, paper, anything he finds on the floor is his to throw away. We are still missing a wii mote so I am guessing it was thrown away. He is a lot of fun though. I think that we will keep him and his silliness.

On the subject of crawling Tatum has the funniest crawls. There is no regular crawling for Tatum. He has the wounded monkey crawl which is using one hand to crawl he scoots on his butt dragging a leg like it is hurt. There is the tornado crawl where he pretty much rolls all over the floor but it gets him to where he wants to go. Then the alligator crawl, this is my favorite, where Tatum crawls normal but shakes his head left to right and he kinda wiggles while he does it and it is so CUTE! Another is the quarterback crawl. For this one he is on one knee and has his foot out in front and he uses that foot to propel his self forward. He is a crazy funny kid.

So we as a family haven't been up to much. Cody did get Lasik in Feb and then we went to Reno to see Cody's sister's family (Necia) and we had a bunch of fun there and then they came out a few weeks later and then in May we are all going to Disney World with me, Cody, and Tatum, the in-laws, Cody's oldest brother and their 4 kids, and Necia and Derrick and their kids. It is special because my niece Hallie is having her wish granted from Make A Wish. We are really excited to go and I have never been to Disney World. But before then I am getting braces put on (my teeth aren't that bad but my front tooth is shoving backwards and I keep chipping it. I am excited but not too excited. I get those on not even a week before we go to Florida so I guess I won't gain too much weight in Florida cause I won't feel like eating....RIGHT!

So that is what is going on with us here. Now I have to go save Tatum from the Wii mote knot he has created with all the wii motes that we have left that he carries with him all over the house.. Silly boy... Gets is from his dad....

What I Have Been Busy With

 

So my sister Emily kept bugging me to write on my blog but I was busy and here are the pictures to prove it. I made, all by myself may I add, 8 baby quilts. I even made up one of the patterns just from seeing some pictures online of quilts like it. The reason why I had to make so many was I am on a committee for Festival of Trees and I had to make 8 item to be sold at the shop there. So here are the quilts I made.

 

 

 

So there they are. The zig zag quilt is the one that I made up. I want to do a tutorial for on my blog but I am working on decorating my house for Christmas and getting presents wrapped and finished so when I finally get a second I will work on finishing the tutorial. It was very therapeutic to sew and I have always liked sewing. I don't think that sewing is cheaper than therapy but I do have something to show for all the money spent.

Thanksgiving was good this year. First we went to Cody's parents house at one. After dinner Cody's parents had to fly to San Diego so we went to our house for my families Thanksgiving. We ended up having it here at our house because my parents have downgraded their house because only Amelia is home now. Speaking on Millie she turned 18 this last week! I feel soooo old! So back to Thanksgiving we had it here and it was a packed house! At one time all of my family was here. 7 kids, 6 spouses, 1 Perrie, 2 parents, 4 grandkids, and a partridge in a pear tree (well in a Christmas tree which has been up since the second week of December). This year Cody wanted a 9 foot Christmas tree but I don't have enough ornaments for the whole tree so I put them on the front where you see them.

So this is why I have been busy.

Halloween

 

Here is Tatum and his cousin on Halloween at my parent’s house. This year I decided I wanted to sew Tatum’s costume so in August I bought all of the fabric and pattern and knew that I had 3 months to sew it but of course I procrastinated but luckily I cut it out (which took all day). So the week on Halloween I knew I better start so I asked my mom, who has sewn all her life, it took both of us sewing all day 2 days to sew his costume. Lesson learned. Yes it is way cute and I can say that I have sewn a costume but I will never do it again. That costume was a monster but so cute! So for Halloween we went to my parents to see Collin and Emily and we got some really cute pictures of the 2 of them together. Afterwards we went to Cody’s parents to hang out. So that was our Halloween. I will post later on why it has taken me so long to post.

Babys Grow Fast

Tatum is growing sooo fast. He has been crawling like crazy. So today I was helping my friend Abby move and Tatum was playing with her phone and chewing on it. I took it away and gave it to her and she set it on a box beside her. Tatum was crawling all over her floor and saw a box (which he loves to play with) and crawled up to it and pulled himself up onto his knees. Tatum has never pulled himself up onto his knees so I was so excited. He kept reaching for the phone, (he loves playing with phones, remotes, or controllers he's his father's son) which he really wanted, and pushed it into the box so he decided that he wanted it even more so he pulled himself onto his FEET! I couldn't believe it! He is growing way too fast. Nothing much more exciting but I just thought that I would share Tatum's comings and growings.

LIfe Goes On

Wow it has been forever since I have written. I have a lot of excuses. 1) My laptop sucked 2) I forgot my password and the email address that I had used 3) Children suck all your time, yeah they are freakin cute but dang I miss Heather time 4) Any other thing I can think of to keep me away from the computer and typing. I am a very slow typer. I'm not even kidding. In Jr High I took typing and it was on typewriters and also in college my little sister would type my papers for me. I would write them down and then she would type them for me. I think that is one of the reason I fell in love with Cody cause he was a computer guy and he could do all the computer stuff for me and I would never have to worry about it. So one reason I am actually writting on my blog is because we finally have a computer in a central part of the house and I have no more excuses.
Life has been going so fast. Tatum is 7 months old and is crawling like crazy. I will put him in the living room on the floor and I turn around and he is gone. He likes the kitchen floor which forces me to clean it more often than once a quarter. (I'm not exaggerating). I always said that I was never going to get married but I was going to adopt 20 kids, then it changed to getting married and having 6 to 8, and now I would like to change that to maybe 4. Dang children are a lot harder than I thought. I can see now why children think that their moms are a little crazy cause we drove them there and left them without keys to return home. I mean I love being a mom and it is the best job ever and I have a VERY WELL behaved child (Heavenly Father knows I couldn't handle a naughty baby right now or you would find me in fetal position crying) I have come to a greater understanding of my mother and all the mothers around me and I really look up to them. I am going to be brutally honest right here: Hormones are a bitch. That is all that I have to say on that.
I've decided that I am going to use this blog to vent and clear my head, a kind of free therapy, and I am going to be honest and some may not like what I have to say but there are things that I have to say that if I don't then I just might explode. With that I am putting out there something that not many people know. After I had Tatum I was suffering from postpartum depression. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong with me and when I finally did I didn't want to tell my husband. I felt that I was less of a women for feeling the way I did. Now I never wanted to throw my child out the window.... well sometimes and I have to argue that I think he would like it. I also felt like I should be happy and have no clouds above me because I had such a well behaved baby and also seeing those close to me suffer with babies that weren't healthy or my own sister having lost her 2 precious babies I felt I should be happy and just get over it. But I couldn't no matter how hard i tried. Any small thing would set me off into depression and tears. I am so grateful for Cody and him always being there for me holding me when I needed to be held and holding me even when I wanted to push him away. I always thought that depression was in your head and that you can get over it, and well it is in your head, but chemically and nothing you can control. It was hard to except this fact but I feel that embracing it is actually a step out of the "clouds" you feel trapped in. SO when I finally told Cody when I would have my "episodes" we knew what the deep problem was. If I would start to crying then it was very hard to stop. I would have about an "episode" every other day and we weren't sure what to do about it. So I tried working out and that helped a little but one bad day and everything was shot to Hell. There was one time while I was being good and working out and I had a bad day and fell into a bag of Reese peanut butter cups and from that almost entire bag I gained all that I had worked so hard to lose. I tried everything I could think of and yes a lot of things helped for a second and then something else would set me off. Finally Cody and I decided that I needed to see a doctor so a little over 3 months ago I finally went to my OB and we talked and she asked me what I had done to try to ward off depression. She was so understanding that I didn't feel broken or ashamed. So she put me on a medicine called Wellbutrin. It took 2 weeks to finally start working and slowly the "episodes" came less and less. Now I only have an "episode" about once a month or maybe 2 but I think all girls understand what one of those "episodes" really is (PMS). I went to see my doctor last week and I asked her how long people are usually on meds for postpartum depression and she said at least 6 months and then they try weaning you off slowly. I have to say that I was embarrassed but I know it WAS NOT in my control. I am finally feeling in control. I will never think of depression in the same way again. I asked Cody if I was back to the Old Heather yet and he said just about but I think that I am (at least on medicine) I mean children change your life completely and so the Old Heather didn't have many cares whereas now I worry all the time about my baby, the economy, dinner, and everything else that is thrown my way day to day when it used to be just me and Cody to worry about. I feel I have truly grown from this experience and I will be a better wife and mother as time passes.
Wow I didn't think that I would ever admit all that. Still as I write this I am thinking of pushing the delete button or hoping that the power goes out and having not saved all this writing I will have an excuse for not writing it again. Well none of that happened so I guess I am going to push publish and hope that this doesn't come back to bite me or that I will regret this but why should I care what others think about me. I know what the people I love think about me and they love me for I am. CRAZY! So here goes cause now I am just stalling.....

Wisdom Teeth

Ok so I finally have something to write about. I had my wisdom teeth out on Thursday. My dentist gives you 3 sleeping pills and an anti nausea pill. I took these pills 45 mins before my appointment so when I showed up they get you all comfy so you can fall asleep. So they put the gas on me and started to numb me up and I started watching Grounded for Life. The dentist kept coming in and checking on me but I still wasn't asleep nor was a tired. I was very very very comfy with the laughing gas but not tired. Finally they gave me another pill (which he says he has never given a patient more than 3) and turned out the lights so I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. It never came so they started pulling out my 4 wisdom teeth. So I was able to watch my entire movie and have all 4 teeth extracted (only one was impacted) and I was awake the entire time (which my dentist says has never happened with one of his patients before). I feel like a medical mystery. I have been really good though. I mean I have been soar and a little swollen but I think that I have fared well.
In other news Tatum is growing like a weed. He is now wearing 3 to 6 months clothes and just turned 3 months today. He is so much fun. He has turned into a thumb sucker. He wakes up in the middle of the night and noisily tries to get his thumb in his mouth but manages to turn himself sideways. It is so nice to have family around who is willing to watch him and even some take him over night for me and Cody's sanity. He slept over at my parents on Friday night and they said that he was really good.. which is nice cause I told Tatum to not burn any bridges so others wouldn't not want to take him for the night.
I already got my mothers day present. I had decided a while ago that I wanted a VitMix blender that they demo at Costco. So we were at Costco yesterday and they said this was the last time they were here until September so I "talked" (Cody is a sucker to me) into getting me the blender now. We have already used it once and am going shopping tomorrow to make a bunch of stuff. We also got the attachment that grinds wheat. This blender does everything! It makes juices, smoothies, and even soups because the blades go so fast. I am way excited to try a bunch of things out and maybe even get my daily veggies eaten. Tatum also got his Easter gift early. We were at Cody's parents last Sunday and our sister-in-law brought over an exersaucer for Tucker to play in. We put Tatum in it as well to see how he would do and he seemed to like it. So we bought one on sale at Target and it is cute and all but I guess the one our sister-in-law- has is a little older and therefore in his exersaucer he is a few inches too small so his feet just hang there. It is really cute but I think he will have fun as he gets older.

Life Goes On

I know that I haven’t written in a long time. I guess that I have been busy and yet I feel like I have nothing much to write about. Tatum had his baby blessing the first of this month so afterwards we had a lot of people of here to celebrate. It was a lot of fun but very busy and I have to say that I am still recovering.
We had a great weekend. Cody was off work Friday thru Monday so it was a nice and long weekend. On Friday we went with Cody’s family to lunch and then we went to the Draper temple. It was beautiful! It was so awesome to get to go into the celestial room with me, Cody, and Tatum. He slept through the whole thing but I wish he could have been awake because he would have loved the chandelier. He loves to look at lights and Emily’s living room ceiling light is his best friend. He loves to look at it and smile and try to laugh. He is getting more and more fun. He likes to sit in his bouncer and try to figure out his hands to try to get to the toys. He is very awake in the morning (much to my and Cody’s dismay) and is all smiles when he first wakes up. He wakes up at 7 to 8 but with the time change he wakes up between 7 and 8. You would think that he would change to 8 to 9 but no he has already figured out the time change. We got him a bumbo and he likes to sit in it. I will have to get a picture of him sitting in it. He doesn’t sit in it for long periods of time. He is getting a lot stronger too and a lot of work. I have finally been figuring Tatum out. He goes to sleep really good at night but during the day he has to fall asleep with me holding him then I can put him down and get things done. He was getting up 2 times a night and then I read What to Expect the First Year and it said that by 3 months he should be only waking up 1 time a night. The book suggests letting you baby cry for up to 30 min and then try to comfort without feeding and it that doesn’t work feed but smaller amounts. So the first night we tried this he cried for 10 min and then went back to sleep and from then on he has only been waking up 1 time a night. It has been really nice plus with Cody’s help there are nights when I don’t have to get up at all except in the morning cause Cody does not get up well in the morning.
Well Tatum is wake again and so he thinks he is hungry so I must go!