Sunday, January 27, 2013

MIA

So clearly my blog has been missing some action this month since January is nearly over and I haven't posted since the 1st but I promise I have good excuses!
Excuse #1- The 2 lovely animal friends that now clearly have worked out their differences have spent the last 2 months battling it out with an event called "my territory!" in our office.... right by my computer.  We tried to keep up with cleaning up the constant mess but none the less the lingering smell was enough to send me running to the bathroom.  Which leads me straight to the next excuse....

Excuse #2- I am pregnant!!! I am in the 11th week and a heightened sense of smell was the first indicator that I was expecting and my nose is still on high alert for anything yucky.  Ivy is so excited and Tula still in the the denial stage, but yes, we will be welcoming another little Smorstad to the family this August.  
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This weekend our friend's Stanley Steemer came and fixed all the ick smells I was smelling so hopefully our family memory book will be back up and running!   But for now let's get caught up on our VERY eventful January!

Greg and I celebrated 8 years of marriage on January 8th.  I can't believe it has been that long, yet at the same time I feel like we have created such a life together that it feels like 8 years.  I am so blessed to have found my soul mate early and look forward to many more anniversaries together.  This year he is loving me a little deeper because we say it will probably be the last time he gets to love me pregnant.  Only God knows for sure though!

Then on January 9th- Greg had surgery to repair a hernia.  He did great through surgery and recovered pretty quickly.  I stayed home to play nurse for two days and on my first day back to work got a phone call that Tula was running a fever.  So back to nurse it was and our little munchkin got the flu!  Poor girl!

Everyone had recovered by January 20th when I celebrated my 29th birthday!  It is hard to believe this is the last year in my 20s but I am totally ready for my 30s.  I think they hold great things for my family so I will welcome them full on.  But I get to enjoy 29 for 358 more days! 

Then you won't believe it but Tula got sick again!  This time just a fever virus but for Tula this is worse than the flu.  She ran a fever from Sunday to Thursday so I spent a lot of time at home playing nurse again.  This month I have been nurse more than I have been teacher and let's just say I am ready to get back to teaching reading rather than administering meds, taking temps, and wiping noses!  But the sick days were full of cuddles and lots of productivity in the Smorstad house.... more on this soon!

This weekend we have spent time pre-celebrating this man, who will celebrate is 28th birthday on January 30th.  We are excited to do happy birthdays all week because in this house we try to stretch out the good things! 
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While I would be lying if I said January was a breeze, I will have to say through the trials we saw so many blessings.  My family came together and we have taken good care of each other.  My parents helped by bringing us food, going to the grocery, loving on our healthy girl, Ivy, and even taking a sick day to keep Tula.  My friends were so faithful in helping keep Ivy healthy (busy away from home), running to the store for more motrin when the fevers wouldn't go away, and preparing us dinner when it was all I could do to keep my own nausea at bay while nursing everyone else back to good health.  Even though God didn't answer my prayer to keep everyone healthy while Greg had surgery, I was able to see the blessings I experienced through this trial.  He gets the glory for us surviving the month of January!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Christmas 2012

We had a very Merry Christmas at the Smorstad house.  Christmas is a time built on family traditions, some old and some new.  Christmas is a time for all things magical- from flying reindeer, to Santa cookies, to the most magical thing of all....our savior sent to us as a baby in a manger.  Christmas is a time to stay in our pajamas until late in the day, blow out Jesus' birthday candles at every meal, and a time to surround ourselves with family.  We enjoyed this Christmas season to the fullest and are sad to kiss our Christmas break goodbye.