Hyrum's First Christmas

Um, we survived? (I'm blogging this on October 18, 2013)

Christmas Quotes

Having a baby is apparently exhausting...something I had completely forgotten. And adding all the holiday festivities of Thanksgiving, birthdays, and Christmas which are tons of work regardless has left us a little overwhelmed.

We slept under the tree even though it was crazy and we had to turn the tree lights off after the older kids fell asleep so we wouldn't wake Hyrum. I told Taylor it was completely pointless since we were laying in the dark. To which he replied: "We're just keeping traditions alive this year."


On Christmas Eve at dinner...
Me: You guys can't wake us up tomorrow until 8 o clock.
James: How about 7 o clock and I'll give you a dollar.

Hannah Said...

I routinely watch Hannah's babies for her so she can go to young womens and the other day I was keeping an eye on them for her when she asked for the duster and said:

"Part of my job at Young Womens is to dust and if I don't do it I'm out of Young Womens and I have to go to Relief Society."

I really was sad to leave my young women for my new Visiting Teaching calling...can you tell. =]

Grandma Harvey's Puff Balls

The annual Christmas puff balls arrived in the mail today. Love these things! One of the many perks of marrying into the Harvey family.

I Had Forgotten...

When you're right in the middle of it all with babies and toddlers life is just like that...you're feeding and changing and chasing and crazy. You never get enough sleep because your newborn goes to bed at 10 and your nutty 2 year old wakes up at 5 am...for 3 years. You don't get a nap unless you want to wake up to complete destruction. You squeeze in errands and food prep. If you pick up a book everyone piles on your lap. You generally only have one arm to do anything with. You're just right in the middle of everything and running around like a crazy woman and trying to get anything done.

Then all of a sudden they go play in their rooms together. For hours. They dress and toilet themselves. They unload your dishwasher and put away their own laundry. They sit on the couch and read themselves a book for 3 hours. Some start going off to school for several hours a day. They buckle their own seat belts. You have interesting conversations with each other. 

And you can sit and read a book for a couple hours...every day. All the chores get done and the house is spotless. You actually fold the laundry the same day you wash it. You sew and take a nap. When they are off playing at a friend's house you have no errands and the house is clean so you take a bath and read a book. No more meal planning because you can just wander into the kitchen at 5 o clock and decide what you feel like cooking...and then spend an hour cooking it just because you love to cook. You serve your meals in courses because it's fun. After the kids are in bed you putter around and chat with your husband and eat ice cream. You get plenty of sleep and even wake up 30 minutes before they do to read scriptures in the peaceful quiet of the morning, relishing the thought of a new day where you can enjoy time with your precious children and complete your to do list. You feel accomplished and efficient.

Then you decide it would be great fun to have another baby. But after a glimpse of that potential life it's a rude awakening. And you wonder how you ever accomplished anything with a baby AND a two year old. It's a small miracle that you actually did the laundry...that is if you did. Otherwise your kids have to go to school without wearing socks. And you never sleep and you had forgotten how much you resemble a zombie in appearance and temperament. Plus now you have to drive older children to and from school and dance and gymnastics and art class...so people may actually see you so you probably should at least wear clothes and possibly, if you feel really great, brush your hair. And you find yourself saying, "I don't remember any of our other kids doing ____ as a baby." Only to look at their baby books and find out they all did and Hyrum is quite typical. What? James didn't come out of the womb dressing himself? I'm pretty sure Matthias made his own lunch even back then, right? And Hannah slept through the night at 5 weeks. Oh wait, she really did do that. 

But despite all the craziness of it all we are loving our little Hyrum. 

Hymns

Was at the church the other day learning my new calling, VT coordinator. For 3 hours. And Hyrum slept the entire time besides when he woke to drink a bottle. Wonderful boy.

And my other kids had a ball...what's not to love about an empty church house. So many rooms and hallways to explore. I loved going to the church on non Sundays as a kid. They had a blast. At one point it was totally silent and my friend said, "You're kids are just doing so great." To which I responded, "You think, maybe they are destroying the church right now."

About 2 minutes later Hannah walks in the room and says, "The boys are singing hymns."

Hahaha.

They were racing around in the gym and had found the cart of hymn books so they took a couple and started singing Christmas songs...Angels We Have Heard On High and Silent Night. They also told me they attempted hymn #123, but "we didn't know the tune."