Aussie's & Thanksgiving

This will be multiple posts in one, as our computer crashed and it's been difficult getting online. We are VERY grateful for Derrick's brother's laptop (he went on a mission and let us use it) as it is our only computer currently. Thank goodness Derrick is good at fixing electronics. Since the two years we have been married, here is a list of the things that have broken (and most Derrick fixed!): television, my laptop (twice), Derrick's laptop (twice), xbox (probably 6 times), & our desk top (twice including this time now). The hard drive crashed so we are just waiting for the new one to come in. And hopefully I can still get all of our pictures off of the previous hard drive.... I am trying to brace myself for bad news of all my baby's pictures being gone, but am still trying to be positive. We shall see how that goes.

With that being said, I have been reluctant to load my pictures off of my camera onto any computer! I am definitely going to start loading them online so no matter what happens to my computer, I will have them. (As I said before, my laptop has broken more than once and I lost a bunch of pictures that way... you'd think that I would've already learned that computers aren't reliable...)

But much has happened! So here is my attempt to catch up on our lives.

I have switched Aaron's crib to a toddler bed! And I so should have not done this by myself. Or at least read the instructions BEFORE I started. I moved the bed part to the lowest level, which is very difficult by yourself trying to balance all four corners right to get the screws in with a big belly in your way. After I got it lowered, I read the instructions and the bed was suppose to be at the level it already was at! So I had to undo everything and put it back to where it was. It was frustrating, but Aaron LOVED watching and "helping" me. Whenever I put the screwdriver down, he would grab it and pretend to screw whatever screw I just finished. It was really cute. Then he'd give me the screwdriver when I needed it, and he would take it back whenever I was done. It was fun.

Having Aaron sleep in a "big" bed has not been what I thought it would be... He has always been a cautious kid, and he is too scared to get out of his bed. He loved getting into it when we were finished and playing, but he continues even today to refuse to try and get out. So nice for me, I can still corral him in his bed.

What I didn't expect was him falling out of it... every night... sometimes more than once! He likes to fall asleep perpendicular to how you should, with his head almost hanging off. I always check on him before I go to bed (just a mother habit I guess) and I move him to where he is more safe (behind the bumper). But he still falls out! Then other times his blanket would fall out but he was too scared to get out of bed, so I am up again putting him back to sleep. It was really rough sleep as I am already not sleeping much at this point of the pregnancy. I have lots of hard contractions that wake me up all throughout the night, as well as just plain can't get comfortable (all you moms out there can relate I am sure). Well, my mum from Australia said to put chairs in the way so he doesn't fall out. I thought genius until we buy a lower bed (We are on a "no buying furniture" mode as we don't know when or where to we will move. We don't want to buy furniture to move in a few weeks if we can help it.) as it's rough on Aaron too. So now, I slide my rocking chair to the half of the bed that doesn't have the bumper after Aaron is asleep, and Aaron has slept through the night ever since. Yeah for good advice! Makes me feel like an idiot for not thinking of something like that sooner. My mum is so smart. :)

So my family from Australia came and visited me!! Their son, James, got married in Canada, and they figured if they were already coming across the globe, so why not pop in to see Salt Lake? And so my two worlds collided... They were able to meet Derrick and Aaron for the first time, as well as some of my family. It was weird to see them in my house talking to my family. But it was SO MUCH FUN to see them. :)

Derrick, Aaron, and I met them in Salt Lake and took them to Tucanos. Funny that they come to Utah and we take them to a Brazilian restaurant, but I guess that's the American way. They LOVED the food and it was fun to chat and catch up on everything. We then separated as they had plans to see other people, but they stopped by my parents house later that night. We all chatted for a few hours and then they were off again. They found out Aaron was learning sign language, and taught him "poop".... which if you know me, I CRINGE at this word (which they know and thought it hilarious to teach my poor, innocent child). Sadly, Aaron caught on fast and still does this sign and laughs so hard every time even though I haven't signed it once to him. Thanks for your help mum!

Thanksgiving was right after that, where Derrick and I went to my grandparents in Cedar City. I can count on one hand how many times I've done Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family, so we definitely had to go when they said they were hosting one. The night before Thanksgiving, Aaron REFUSED to go to bed. He just cried, and screamed, and cried, and screamed... And we decided that maybe he was teething. Finally after 2am, we put Aaron in bed with us so all of us could get some sleep. And let me say, sleeping with your one year old is not pleasant. He slept perpendicular to Derrick and I, kicking Derrick all night long and trying to use me as a pillow. I didn't sleep much. We were all pretty dead on Thanksgiving. I went down for a nap around 11 with Aaron in his play-pen, but I don't think he ever slept. Derrick came and got him around one and I conked out. My aunt came and woke me up for Thanksgiving dinner, which through confusion she left me and I had no ride to dinner. Derrick came and picked me up just as everyone was dishing out food. Aaron refused to eat, had a major runny nose, started running a fever, and loved to chew enthusiastically on his blanket (which is rare). That confirmed our previous thought of him teething. So we asked my aunt for some tylenol, gave him that, and he started feeling/acting better.

That night, we put him down at about 10, to have him wake up screaming at 11. Nothing I did could console him (including tylenol), so Derrick was off to Wal-Mart at 11:30 pm to see if he could buy some orajel. Thank goodness, there were no lines at the pharmacy or check stands yet, so he snuck in right before the mad rush of Black Friday. (I have definitely learned my lesson to ALWAYS pack medicine even if my child seems perfectly healthy and normal when we leave!) Aaron was out on our bed before he was back, and not wanting to move him we put blankets and pillows all around him and slept in the other room. He slept the rest of the night. :)

The next day, we all went boating and motor-biking near St. George. Weird to do this so late in the season, but it was fun. Derrick and I only boated as I cannot ride being 7 months pregnant and Derrick stayed with me. We both were able to drive the boat (a very first for me) and Aaron loved it. Although his absolute favorite of the day was probably throwing rocks into the water off of the dock. He laughed pretty hard at that.

Derrick then found out he worked Saturday morning when he thought he had it off, so we were off early Saturday to come home. We are all a little sleep deprived, but overall the vacation went well. Too bad Derrick got off of his grave SUPER sick... he's been puking or in bed all day. He started running a fever this evening as well. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. And thank goodness Aaron is miraculously already done teething so I only have one boy to take care of! (Aaron's teething was a one day thing instead of his usual week long episode. Yeah!)