Busy! Busy! Busy!

That's how I have felt that the past month has been!  From the unexpected move to the expected hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Years, it has been quite the month.  I was telling Gregory that now that things are finally starting to settle down, I think I have become a little depressed.  It seems like our life is in a never ending whirl wind always being tossed to and fro.  We never seem to know where we will end up or for how long.  This may be the reason that we are both longing for a house.  It's stable and has a sense of permanence to it.  It's been hard to even do our callings because we are only in our ward for a few months.  I know I need to change parts of my attitude, but all the same, I can't wait until Gregory starts his job and I feel like we have some stability to our lives.  Also the sun won't hurt either!

It's been a record cold winter.  In Manti this morning it was -22 degrees and by 9:45 am it was only up to -1!  Lydia and I have stuck to staying indoors (again) while Gregory braves the cold with work and school.  It doesn't help that the heater in our van won't turn on until the van is warmed up. It's really like we have no heater because even after driving for 30 min or so it sometimes won't turn on.  We really need to put in a blanket for poor Lydia whenever we go anywhere with her, it can get really cold. 

The politics of the present have been driving me mad! I am tired of all the political games, the blaming and the shameful way those in power handle themselves and the office to which we have elected them to serve us.  I hate being called names because I believe a certain way and I hate things being shoved down my throat. As far as I am concerned BOTH parties are to blame for the mess we are in and I don't think that either one will be able to get us out. It makes me sad to think that there might not be more than a handful of men and women in Washington with any morals or conscience at all, and that's with over 550 in power in our congress alone!  What has our world become?  All I see is men calling good evil and that which is evil, good and for our benefit..... and all for their own profit.  I can see how there will be some tough roads ahead for this country and just pray that we will have the financial means to take care of ourselves and hopefully to help care for others. That is where faith comes in I suppose.  I have to be careful about how much news I watch because I do get bogged down and wonder what will happen to my daughters future.  I still pray for the Lord to be with all those who are making the decisions and to soften the hearts of  everyone and especially those who haven't totally decided which side they are on.  Hopefully a new wind will blow and things will start looking up soon.

Some good new though.....I have decided to train for a 5K with my sister in law!  She called  me from Texas and was anxious to get back into shape after she had her baby a month ago and since we would be in Texas in May when all the 5K's started, she thought it would be fun if we trained and ran one together.  I was really excited and a little apprehensive of what I was getting myself into.  I have always wanted to run a 5K but I have always hated to run.  I am told though that once you really start and just do it that it becomes addictive and you won't want to stop.  I hope this is the case.  At least I have 5 months to train for it and get my time down to 30 min (that's my goal).  It will be good for me and now that we are with my parents I am finally physically better and can work out.  It was so hard not being able to work out for over a month because of being sick. Luckily all that is in the past and now I am able to go for it and hopefully be back into my jeans from before I was pregnant by Lydia's first birthday.  If I stick with it I think that I will be able to do it.  It's been a long road getting all the weight off but I have decided that I am no longer going to accept others deadlines or judgments of when I should have lost the weight.  My body was simply not ready to give up the weight after the trauma of her birth but I can feel that now things are different.  I can feel my body calming and settling down.  I know it sounds weird but that's how it is.  I am finally starting to really recover after the birth and most of the pain has started to go away (yes I have been having pain and symptoms of just giving birth this whole 10 months).  It's really exciting and I have learned a great deal about being patient with myself through it all.  Can't wait to fit into all my clothes comfortably again!

Lydia has been a complete joy!  She is so much fun these days and is so interactive and smart.  She can figure out how to do things after only watching us do it once or even sometimes not at all.  You can see the wheels in her brain always turning and she is always experimenting and exploring.  Cuddling is something that she has been doing more of much to her daddy's and my delight!  When Gregory has her on his shoulders she will lay her head down on top of his.  When I am holding her, she will sometimes lay her head on my shoulder or chest.  Other times she will come and sit in my lap and want to be held while we read a book and she leans against me playing with one of my fingers.  She also gives me lots of wet kisses!  It is so sweet.  She talks a lot and she knows she is saying something and she knows what it is that she is trying to say she just can't form it into words yet.  Words like you're welcome, thank you and even Amen she has babbled at appropriate times, in the appropriate tone, to the appropriate person, all more than once!  It blows us all away.  I have created a monster for myself though that will take some new training in her sleeping habits.  I started putting her to bed with her bottle at nap time so she would sleep better and it worked wonders!  Still does.  But now I am left wondering, what am I going to do to get her to sleep without the bottle in hand because when she wakes up, she wants the bottle to put her back to sleep.  She did very well falling asleep on her own with her binki before and I know that the bottle has basically just replaced the binki now but I don't quite know how to fix this when she will probably stop using bottles all together in a few months.  See my dilemma? Any advice other parents have on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

So life is good with us.  I apologize for the infrequent posts but you wouldn't believe how busy I've been! And now here are some pictures of our sweet little gift from God!

She loves her family and especially her cousins!

My little explorer loves her rubber ducky.

Still as skinny as ever and opening doors to all sorts of trouble all on her own.

Gregory thought it would be funny to see what Lydia would do when she was put on the Treadmill with me while I was starting my workout.  He was surprised to find that she picked it up pretty well!  Silly girl!