Natalie & Ryan: Busy Week

Just a quick run-down of this last week, and then I have to get back to being busy. Lilly and I fly out to Seattle tomorrow. My dad is moving again, and I get to pack for him, unpack, and then decorate. We stay the week, then fly back Friday, stay in Utah until Sunday (for a wedding), and then fly back to Seattle for another week. Ugh, I'm so not excited about that much flying.

This past weekend was really fun. We had Jack and his girlfriend (soon-to-be fiance!!) over to watch the ND game. Lilly loved Susan. She kept begging to be picked up, and would just snuggle or talk to her. Lilly's a good judge of character, so I'm pretty sure this is a sign that Susan's the right one for Jack. Once the game was over, I put them to work. Jack and Susan gave Lilly a bath and read her a bedtime story. It was super cute!....Sunday was not so cute. Lilly was supposed to go to nursery for the first time, but let's just say we didn't even make it that far. I'm blaming it on the time change. She was so cranky during sacrament meeting, that I gave up and took her home after that. Okay, and yes, I was cranky too! When we got home, Ryan made me take a nap. Lilly and I both slept for about 3 hours, and were much happier after that. We'll have to try again when we get back from Seattle.

This past week has been good and bad. Starting with Monday. For some stupid reason, Lilly's insurance doesn't cover routine care, so when I took her in for her normal checkup and vaccinations a few months ago, we got a $500 bill!! Ouch! I canceled all future appointments and was told about a clinic in Provo, that does vaccines for $10 each. First thing Monday morning, I packed everyone up and went to check it out. I wanted to die by the end of the visit. It started with a miscommunication between the receptionist and myself. She thought I was there because of income-based restrictions, when really it was an insurance thing. Before getting on the same page, I was on the phone, panicking with Ryan, sending him home to get pay stubs and fax them over. All the while, we didn't really need any of that. Ugh. Once that was sorted out, I had to fill out paperwork. Simple, right? Nope. The pen she gave me was one that had a giant, glittery flower taped to it, so of course, it screamed to be played with by Lilly. She threw a fit when I wouldn't let her play with it. All the while, she was running around the clinic, getting under foot, banging on glass doors, you know, the usual naughty stuff. I was up and down, trying to grab her, making her sit in the chair next to me, yelling at her, etc, etc. It was exhausting!!

We waited for an hour to finally be seen, and I think Lilly did more crying and tantrum-throwing in that hour, than when she got her shots. We were in and out once we were called back. She got 4 shots and hated each one more than the last. I felt terrible! To top things off, Joel started screaming when he heard Lilly crying, and he literally didn't stop crying for the rest of the day. The poor guy had a raspy voice by the time he went home at 5. After shots, I had to run to the mall to get the voicebox taken out of Lilly's other bear. She passed out in the car not 30 seconds after leaving the clinic, so I got to carry her in to Build-a-Bear. She woke up while I was talking to the sales woman, and I swear, she thought she was in heaven. She played with everything she could get her little hands on, and it made me feel much better to see her happy and playing, after having to get shots.

The rest of the week seemed to get easier as it went on. I got to work on a few crafts and more decorating. I wanted to make large Scrabble letters that spelled out "Goodrich." Getting the supplies was cake, but actually making them look like Scrabble letters was the tough part...and I'm not entirely sure I was successful. It took me two tries to get something I was happy with. I free-handed the font the first time around, but I hated how cheap they looked. For round two, I used a stencil. The finished product is cute, but they look too fancy to be Scrabble letters. Oh well! I put them in several places before finally deciding they looked best above the kitchen cabinets. I had no idea that the cabinets provided a whole world of decorating possibilities. Once the letters were up there, I realized how empty and plain they looked. So off to Hobby Lobby I went! I cleaned them out of their Fall clearance flowers and leaves (80% off, baby!). I also got tons of ideas for what to do for all the other seasons. So, here I was, working on a project that only cost me 57 cents (wood was provided by Jan, so the paint was the only thing I had to buy), and ended up getting over $200 worth of fake flowers for only $30. Woo!! I'm pretty proud of myself, but I think Ryan's slightly annoyed. :P But, our house feels so much more homey and warm.

I don't babysit Joel on Fridays anymore, so I was happy to lay in bed for an extra half hour this morning. I had assumed Ryan already left for work. Lilly wasn't making any noise yet, so I just played on my iPad. I was surprised when I heard the bedroom door open, followed by "HI!" from Lilly. She and Ryan had been in the kitchen, making me breakfast. I got Lilly snuggles and yummy food to start my day! It was the best!! Well, I better be off. I have lots of laundry to do, packing to finish, and a baby who won't take a nap. Ciao!

This picture is SO cute. Lilly was just sitting on Susan's lap, chatting with her.

She loved her "pitties!" (earrings)

Reading her the book he got her for her birthday.

MONDAY:

This was BEFORE any poking happened. I was totally "that" mom, and I hated every second of it.

These stuffed animals had rollerblades on, and she loved getting to push them around.

Ryan took us out for dinner that night, since I had such a hard day. We went to Dickey's for some BBQ. I gave Lilly my mac & cheese. She couldn't get enough in her mouth. She just kept piling it in by the handful, and it made her so stinkin' happy!

"THIS IS SO GOOD!!"

Mom, this one is for you. After I butchered my first attempt at the Scrabble letters, I decided to sand them down and start over. Lilly helped me sand! I thought of you and how proud you would be that I was teaching her how to sand at such a young age. Next, I'll teach her how to use the drill...

Side note: the original price of the wheat bundle was $10. $10?? Who the heck would pay $10 for that? I only paid $1!!

Ryan took this picture while they made breakfast this morning. She just sat quietly in the corner, drank her milk, and watched him cook.

And some random pictures from the week:

This was from our Hobby Lobby outing yesterday. I was feeling a bit lazy, so I kept her in her jammies, bundled her up in her huge coat, put on some mittens, and topped it off with a monkey hat.

I was trying to make dinner with these two playing peek-a-boo between my legs. Joel likes to ram his head into the back of my legs until I spread them wide enough for him to crawl through.