Well Rounded

The girls requested and received lightsabers and the Millenium Falcon for Christmas. The next day, I walked into their room and saw this:


She's no Princess Leia, but I guess she'll have to do. :)

What a day!

Well, Christmas is over. It was a wonderful, jam-packed day in the Fear household. There is much to blog about, but here are the highlights:

* My Dad came to town - hooray!
* We actually ate breakfast before opening presents.
* The girls' favorite stocking present: their own packs of gum
* I forgot to charge my camera battery.
* Present opening went well... there were actually no "Are there any more presents?" comments.
* Natalie went straight to bed after the unwrapping festivities - she had a 101 degree temperature and felt miserable, poor little thing.
* In the afternoon, Natalie's fever went down so we went to my mom's for Christmas dinner.
* Mid-party, Natalie's fever returned with full force.
* A side note: my mom makes really good shortbread cookies.
* My Nana & Papa loved the quilt - more on that later.
* On the way home, Jay stopped to help a lady who was broken down on the side of the road.
* After the kids were in bed, Jay and I watched one of my awesome new DVD's - North and South. Highly recommended (when you have four hours to spare).
* During the movie, we heard a loud noise outside - it was a hit & run on our neighbor's van.
* Jay tracked down the suspect, who was drunk, and kept him from running until the (on-duty) police arrived.
* I think Jay really misses work.

And that was it! It was a crazy day but we had fun. And the best part of Christmas? The day after, when the kids are happily playing with all their new toys and there is nary a "I don't know what I should do" to be heard.

Merry Christmas!

Each of us is an innkeeper, who decides if there is room for Jesus.

- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Merry Christmas, my friends and family. I love you!

It's the most wonderful time of the year, etc., etc.

The last week has been full of gift-making, cookie baking, Christmas shopping, present wrapping, and trying to keep my head above water. We are all adjusting to life as a 6-person family ... the kids are probably doing better than I am! In fact, the one person I was most worried about - Dexter - seems to be handling it like a pro. I, however, seem to alternate between feeling completely under control and being a blubbering idiot. Ahhh, such are the joys of postpartum life.

Anyway... with a few days until Christmas I thought I would share a few of the handmade gifts I've made this year. For obvious reasons I can't show everything that I've made, but here are a few examples:

An apron for someone-who-I'm-not-going-to-mention-in-case-they-read-this-blog. It's a self-made pattern, by the way. I actually like this pattern better than the one I purchased! I made a few other aprons as well, but I can't show those yet.

Crayon rolls for some friends of the girls:

These are so fun and simple to make and are perfect for church. I found the tutorial here.

I am also in the process of finishing a quilt for my grandparents, which I am really excited about. A few months ago my mom stopped by my house with a bunch of fabric from my Nana, who doesn't really feel up to sewing anymore. Among (amongst?) the fabric was a half-pieced-together quilt front that Nana had started many years ago. Many of the quilt pieces were hand embroidered with the names and birth places of our family members. I decided that I should finish the quilt for her as a Christmas present, so that is what I'm attempting to do. Wish me luck!

And now I'm heading back to bed since it's 3:30 in the morning and I just got Calvin back to sleep. He actually slept from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. (which was exciting), but of course that meant he wasn't ready to go back to sleep as quickly as I was. :)

Week in (backwards) review

1. Calvin had his follow-up hearing test today and I am happy to say that he passed! I wasn't really worried, but it's nice to have it done nonetheless.

2. On Tuesday, I had two wisdom teeth extracted. It was complete drama. I had an emergency referral to get the teeth removed because I had been having severe toothaches, but when I met with the oral surgeon, she claimed the referral was only for a "consultation." I was all psyched up to have my teeth removed, so when she said, "We'll schedule you for about 3 weeks out," I was really upset.

I sat in the car and cried (fasting all day + being nervous about surgery + sheer frustration + postpartum hormones will do that to you) while Jay dealt with the oral surgeon and insurance. For once insurance had it together, so they told the dentist what was what. At that point, I wasn't sure I wanted her to remove my teeth anymore since she seemed so incompetent, but I went ahead with it anyway. I'm glad I did because at least now it's over and we were able to get it done while Jay still has time off and we still have so many wonderful people bringing us dinner. :)

3. On Monday, we got our Christmas tree! Like last year, we went to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. The kids really enjoy the tradition, and so do Jay and I. Below are a few pictures from our outing.

That funny story I mentioned

Picture this:

I am sitting in a hospital bed, anxiously awaiting the "go-ahead" to go into surgery, getting more and more nervous by the minute. I am not generally nervous about the surgery itself, it's the epidural that freaks me out. You would think that having three previous epidurals would make me less frightened, but in fact the opposite is true. So, I'm sitting there, waiting ever so patiently, with Jay and my mom by my side, when the anesthesiologist comes in to give me the run-down and have me sign my life away.

As she's talking to me, I realize that she is the same anesthesiologist that took care of me when Dexter was born. I was comforted by that, because, well, she did a good job the last time. Plus, I remembered that she was very kind (which makes a difference when they are poking you in the back with a humongous needle). As I'm about to mention this to her, I look at Jay and notice that he recognizes her too. But I didn't expect to hear the next words that came out of his mouth:

"Do you remember me?" Jay asked her.

"Um...." she looked at Jay without recognition.

Jay continued, "Did you get pulled over on highway 85 about a month ago?"

The anesthesiologist started turning bright red just as I realized what was happening. I was horrified beyond belief! "Jay!" I yelled, hoping to stop him from continuing his story. For heaven's sake, this woman is about to have my life in her hands and he's reminding her that he pulled her over!

Jay laughed, "It's ok," he looked at me. "I let her off with a warning."

Oh, PHEW!

We all had a good laugh over the situation, although the anesthesiologist was still embarrassed about being pulled over. The story spread like wildfire throughout labor & delivery, and all the nurses started flirting with Jay in hopes that he would remember them if they were ever caught speeding down the 85 as well.

It's been a week already!

In honor of Calvin's first week on this earth, here are a few more pictures:

It's a boy!

First bath

Where am I?

Nana and Cal (check out the hair!)

I've been waiting for you, bro!

Stop taking my picture, woman!