Changes for the Brittons

Well everyone, this is a post to update people on the many big changes happening in our lives currently. It feels like 2010 is off to quite a crazy start. Let's go back to the beginning...

ITEM 1. January 1 saw us still in MD about to begin the last leg of our very long cross continental drive for Christmas vacation. While there my sweet, wonderful in-laws gave us their Toyota Sienna minivan. Let me tell you...to 5 people who had just driven across America in a Chevy Cavalier, with all of their luggage and christmas paraphanelia, no greater joy can be imagined then driving back in a much larger, more comfortable vehicle. This also answers the question of what we were going to do this summer when...


ITEM 2. Baby #3 arrives. Probably around the end of July/beginning of August. I think we will find out the sex ahead of time, but that won't be until March. I am super excited. Tommy has started walking (which is so cute as he zombie toddles from room to room) and I am in need of another baby. We love that our family is growing and getting bigger each year.

ITEM 3. Ontario's work. Before we left on vacation, there was a period of unrest when there was the possibility that Ontario would be laid off (right after we found out we were pregnant of course) and so he started sending in resumes to various companies. The company he was working for ended up deciding to keep him, so we had *some* job security, but he decided to keep looking at his other options. When we got home, he contacted, and eventually hired by, LIME marketing. This week he has been finishing up his last work for ZAGG, and he starts at LIME on Tuesday. It's a higher paying job, doing work he likes a lot better, for a company he is really excited about. We both felt really good about his decision to switch. It looks like it will be more high pressure, and I don't know what the hours will be like yet, but I think it will be awesome.

ITEM 4. New calling. On Thursday we got a phone call from the Stake Executive Secretary asking if we could come talk to the Stake President that night. Man...that phone call makes you nervous. So we went in and Ontario was called as the new 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric. He was officially called and sustained yesterday during Ward Conference, and was set apart that evening. His papa flew out to ordain him, and we loved having him visit, even though it has been for a very short time. Sunday was a little crazy to say the least. I know Ontario will do great, and the initial shock is subsiding. I keep thinking about what it means for our family (basically, we see him a lot less), but it also makes me grateful for how the Lord prepares us. I am not usually one to make New Years resolutions, but I have had a lot of goals this year, and I can see how they will all help us as Ontario magnifies his calling. Maybe I will do a separate entry on them later.

School Bag

Alice (our exchange student) has been having lots of issues with her school bags. She prefers using a tote, but every bag she has gotten has broken within a couple of weeks. I suppose that is one of the hazards of using a handbag for schoolbooks. Anyway, she has been getting really frustrated with it, and she finally asked if I would make her a bag. So...she bought some sturdy black material, and last night I made her a bag.

I didn't have a pattern, so I just made it up as I went. I have actually made quite a few bags recently as part of a church humanitarian aid project, so I wasn't flying completely by the seat of my pants. This one was a little more complex though, since she wanted side panels and a pocket. It actually turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. The bottom corners are a little funky, and it doesn't have the straightest lines ever, but to a casual observer I think it will pass just fine.

Things I am glad I did:

-I topstitched all the seams after I was done, so it had a little more structure. It also reinforced all the seams, making the bag stronger.
-I sewed a seam on the pocket to make it into two front pockets. It was originally one large pocket, but it kept flopping open. It just looks better this way.


Things I wish I had done:

-Have someone teach me how to do those corners, or figure it out online. They turned out okay, but I am sure they could have turned out much better.
-Measure a little more. I faked a lot of stuff, and I think measuring and creating even a simple pattern would have made it a little better.
-Made it slightly smaller. Alice wanted it big, but the material is a little light for it's size. So, I would either use a sturdier material that had more structure for a bag that size, or make it a little smaller so it wasn't quite so floppy.

I was going to post some pictures, but our camera is ghetto, and won't let me upload them. That also means I can't upload any pics from our Christmas trip. Hopefully I can figure that out sometime soon and get the pictures up.

So, what creative projects have you done lately?

Musings...

So, I thought I would post about how fun Halloween was, or how cute the boys are, some of the other exciting things we have been up to, but I haven't. I keep wanting to post pictures to, but again, I am sadly lacking in the picture department. Instead you get my ramblings from 3:45 am. "What?" you say..."why did she stay up so late?!?". The answer, dear reader (if there are actually readers, a fact I sometimes question considering how often I update) is that I didn't. Nope, I went to bed at 10:00 pm, which is actually LATE for us these days. But, the boys are sick and Gabe has been hacking and coughing for 45 minutes. So, I got up and gave him some medicine and cough syrup and a drink of water so he could sleep, and propped him up on his pillows so he could breathe a little easier. Now he is sleeping peacefully, but I am wide awake.

Here is what I have been thinking about lately:

1. Next year. I think we will be moving next year. That thought makes me happy and sad, as moving usually does. On the one hand, I am ready for a new house. I like this one, and it has served us well, but we are growing out of it. Also, the floor plan kind of drives me crazy. Also, in the last two weeks our toilet seat broke, 3 of our cupboard doors fell off, the caulking came off the kitchen sink, and the caulking came out of the shower. Plus the kitchen is pretty terrible in general (although I like how big and airy it is). On the other hand, I really, really love this ward. It's one of my favorite wards I have ever lived in in my whole life. I love the friends here, I like the calling, I like the feel of the neighborhood, I like all the extra stuff we do. I will be very sad when it is time to go. So, I think next May/June we will try to find a nice single family rental home. I would like a yard, and I want to move in time to get a garden in. Alice finishes school in May, and we might have to wait until she is done, but right around then is when I think we will be going.

2. Books. Right now I am reading somewhat of a mix. "Belles on Their Toes" by frank and LIllian Gilbreth. This is the continuing story of the Gilbreth family from "Cheaper by the Dozen". I have read it many times before, but it is a classic and I can read it again and again. "The Kingdom Keepers" by Ridley Pearson. This one I am not very far into, but it has an interesting premise - a group of teenagers get hired to be models for holographic guides for The Magic Kingdom (Disney World). They end up becoming holograms and discovering the dark secrets at night behind in the scenes in one of America's most beloved theme parks. "Birth" by Tina Cassidy. I picked this one up from the library as I was browsing the other day. It's a history of birth, and how the different ways we give birth kind of happened. I am not very far into it, but once again, it's a subject I am very interested in. I have been looking for a comprehensive history of obstetrics and midwifery. I will let you know what I think.
Assorted Agatha Christies. What can I say...there is a reason they call her the, "Queen of Crime". I can't get enough of that Dame. "Peter and the Starcatchers" by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I have been wanting to read this one ever since I first saw it on the shelves. I am enjoying it so far, but I got stuck for awhile, because I accidentally left it at the dentists office. "Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians" by Brandon Sanderson. My niece just returned home, but while she was here she shared with me her love of all things by Brandon Sanderson. So I thought I should check him out. In a literary way of course. I am happily married, even though Brandon does teach at BYU, so I could probably meet him if I really wanted to. Last but not least, "The Kingfisher Illustrated Dictionary of Dinosaurs" by some science guy. Joe and April invited us to go to the BYU Paleontology museum last Monday as our FHE. Gabe hadn't really been introduced to dinosaurs before, but now he thinks they are very cool. That is the book he picks pretty much every time. I am actually learning quite a lot about theropods and the carnosaurs and what cretaceous means. Having children can be very educational.

3. Parties. I like parties. I like hosting and throwing parties. I like getting to know people, and I really like cooking and creating fun party menus. I have a couple of party ideas brewing that I have been wanting to do for some time. That being said, I don't know when they will actually happen. Going back to section 1 on this post, I really hate the floor plan of this house. It is not conducive to parties. One of the best parties I have ever attended was a tea party by my friend Krista in MD. She didn't just make a few little sandwiches and a few mugs of herbal tea. Oh no...this girl went all out. She spent weeks shopping for real china cups and saucers. None of the dishes matched, but they were a lovely hodgepodge of china. The best part? The let everyone take theirs home as their party favor. HOW COOL IS THAT? I know...someday I will be able to be that awesome of a hostess.I still have my cup...it's black and white china with a rooster on it. Much prettier than it sounds....kind of that old school french style. As for food, she had scones and teacakes, and tiny little sandwiches, and clotted cream, and lemon curd, and something like six different kinds of tea. It was the tea party I dream of. I have been wishing I could do one similar ever since. The other party I want to do is a mocktail party. I want to make some yummy drinks (maybe pina' coladas and daiquiris) and have everyone dress up in cocktail dresses. The main reason I want to do this party is so I can make the hors d'ouvres for it. In March we visited my old boss, and he showed me some of the new hors d'ouvres he had been working on. Combined with the old ones I used to make, all I can is...yum. I would have fandangos, and cold spoons, and those mushroom thingies, and figs wrapped in prosciutto, and tons of others. And they would be delicious. I am hungry just thinking about it.

4. My kids. They are so darned cute! They are finally at an age where they can play together, and it is so fun to watch. They will talk and laugh, and take turns being silly. Tommy loves to follow Gabe around, and both of them hate it when the other one is sleeping and unavailable. We have had many discussions about not waking up your brother. I am glad they want to be together though. The other day Gabe was playing with a hand mirror and he stuck it under his chin, mirror side up. All of a sudden he looked down (into the mirror) and started freaking out and stumbling around. I think seeing the reflection of the ceiling made him think that the floor had disappeared, and he was about to fall over the edge. It was so funny. I had to take the mirror away and he got his balance back and then said, "woow....sad!". I laughed so hard. Tommy is just a cute smiley guy all the time. Well, most of the time. Right now he is cutting his top two teeth, he has had this nasty cold for over a week, and he has a diaper rash. He has been a pretty sad baby. But aside from that he is cute and happy and a joy to be around. Alice is also cute, though in a different way. The other day I got a text from her that said, "In Marketing class I forget we have big test. But I get A! I think I'm genius!" Haha...she is so cute! I love having her as part of our family, and I am glad that she will be here the whole school year.

5. My husband. He is so awesome. I love him! He is awake right now, doing some work just to give us a little extra this month so that things won't be too tight. He is amazing. Also, he is funny. We still laugh. The other night at Wal Mart we were laughing so hard I may or may not have snorted loudly in a public place. I am glad we are still friends and can have so much fun hanging out. He is also a great dad, and I love watching him with the boys. They love him too, and it's cute to watch them try to be like their daddy.

6. Now I am starting to think about my bed. I think it's time to return to the land of slumber. Speaking of, I got a couple of blankets off of freecycle, so now we actually have bedding that fits our bed. It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. We live in the basement, and the cement walls get cold at night. So it's nice that their is enough blanket that no one is left next to the freezing wall with no insulation (and just for the record, that someone was usually Ontario....poor guy). Anyway, I think I will follow my children's lovely example. Good night all!

Nothing better on a cool autumn night...

Is it bad that I treat my children as teddy bears/bed warmers? I just love nothing better on a cold night then grabbing a warm cuddly little bundle of sleeping baby and pulling it in close to me. I love the way their hair smells and the sound of their breathing. I feel safe, and not only that, I know they are safe, close to me.

Now, for some reason I have a lot of friends who won't admit they sleep with their kids. Or, if they do admit it, there is always a caveat telling people not to worry because it's only in the mornings or occasionally when everyone was too tired to go back to their own beds. Did I miss some piece of common knowledge that says that sleeping with your babies is almost as bad as driving without a car seat? I would like to publicly state that I have my babies sleep with me. I don't worry about rolling over onto them in the middle of the night for the same reason I don't worry that I will roll on top of Ontario or suddenly fall off the bed. Even when I am sleeping, I know where I am, and I know who is nearby. I don't worry about them suffocating on the blankets. They are tucked in close to me and I keep the blankets off their faces. Our sleep patterns match each other, so we naturally wake up at the same times. I can hear when they start making the first little sounds of hunger, so I can feed them before it becomes a screaming match and we are both completely awake and cranky. I sleep so much better, knowing where they are, knowing they feel safe, and not having to miss my babies all night.

I know some people don't sleep with their kids because they don't get a good nights rest. They wake up whenever the baby makes a sound, or they worry to much about the baby getting hurt to relax and go to sleep. That is fine. I think people should sleep in whatever arrangement lets everyone in the house get the most rest. But if you secretly enjoy it when your baby somehow makes their way into your bed, don't feel ashamed or like you are breaking some rule. Just enjoy it, and give that baby all the cuddles it wants.

And now, I am going to go snuggle under my blankets with my sweet little Tommy boy and head off to dreamland...

Don't expect any updates anytime soon!

Due to my unfortunate broken arm (no, seriously, I DID break my arm, I am not just avoiding communication!) don't expect much in the way of blogging for the next couple of months (until I am out of the sling!).

For those of you who want more details, on August 19th (last Wed), I was decorating for my friend Krissie's lovely backyard wedding. I climbed onto the outside of the deck to hang some curtains, but when I went to grab one of the cross supports, it turned out the wood had rotted and I fell 6 feet, onto my right shoulder, breaking my humerous bone (no, it isn't funny!) and bruising myself pretty badly.

The break is too high for a cast, so the doctors estimate I will be in a sling for 2 months, with no heavy lifting for 4 months, which is not easy when I am the mom of two very active little boys. Since I can't even use my left arm very effectively without hurting the broken one, I am not doing a lot! I am grateful to have such great friends and family who love me and who are helping me cope with everything that needs to be done!

And don't complain that I managed to blog this alright with a broken arm--because I actually dictated the whole thing, and had somebody else do all of the actual typing.

A brief moment for clarifiying...

I didn't realize when I wrote that last post that it sounded like we are adopting. Sorry for all the confusion. We are not adopting, we are hosting JiYoung (english name Alice) for a full school year as she attends High School in the USA. We already feel like family, however, so we have gotten into the habit of referring to her as our, "Korean Daughter". As much as we would love to keep her, she will be returning to her own family next year. I will try to post some pictures of our fun times together. That should be easier now that we have found the camera cord.

A brief moment for blogging...

We leave in about an hour to pick up our new korean daughter. I'm a little nervous, but also excited. We have spent the morning decorating her room, and I hope she likes it. It's actually the first room in our house that we have made an effort to decorate. Hopefully this will start a trend and we will get our pictures hung up. After all, we have only been living here a little over a year.

The boys are so amazing. Tommy is THIS close to crawling. He can get up on his hands and knees, and rock. Usually he goes straight to chest diving, since that gets him closer to his goal object. I think he will be crawling before his aunt arrives in a week.

Gabe is quickly learning many new words, mostly automotive related. He LOVES cars, and anything to do with them. He can hear a motor anywhere in the house, and recognizes the different types. "Mo!" (Motorcycle), "Apane Car!" (Airplane), "Chain Car!" (Train), "Chuck!" (truck) and the classic, "CAR!". I also found out he can recognize and say "Buzz" in reference to Buzz Lightyear. I don't even know where he learned that. We don't own Toy Story (though I wish we did), and I don't know if he has ever seen it.

I need to go finish the cleaning, and hopefully get Tommy don't for a nap. He has been struggling staying asleep today, so we will see how it goes.