A Post about Throwing Up

I figure every blog has to have a post about throwing up at least if you're part of my family where everything (pleasant or unpleasant) has to be shared...so here's mine.

Last week our house was hit with what seemed like death itself! (Probably a little dramatic of a phrase, but somewhat justifiable.) Eric was away for work so it was just Mia and I at home. Thursday I woke up to what seemed would be a normal day in the life of someone who is 6 months pregnant with a toddler to tend; however after eating breakfast everything spiraled from there. By noon breakfast was long out of my system and I had thrown up 6 times with little relief in between and Mia was on her 3rd movie of the day. By this time my energy was completely zapped and I had no idea how I was going to continue on through the rest of the day with Mia with my throwing up becoming more frequent and vicious. After managing to get Mia down for a nap I called my sister Sara in a full out cry to ask for some help. I can't express my gratitude for her braving the extremely icy roads and once again taking on the task of watching not only her baby but mine as well! We have been so very blessed to have lived so close to family who can come and help and are so willing when it is needed. Needless to say, she is the BEST sister and I will be sad when we don't live close by anymore!

After going the whole day without any food or water and throwing up more times then I can count my body and energy was completely spent and yes...it felt something pretty close to death! However, I was finally able to rest for a couple of hours in some relief. Eric made it home around midnight to help nurse me through a rough night and take care of Mia the next couple of days. Friday I woke up to an extremely sore and tired body, 2 black eyes and a swollen face with spots all over it from all the broken blood vessels from the strain of throwing up so much. (My body was not made for throwing up!) By Saturday and with a lot of rest I was finally feeling much better; however by that night Eric was in the same condition that I was a few days previous and I was up all night myself in a little bit of a relapse.

Up to this point we have been really lucky in the fact that Eric never seems to get sick so we have never really had to deal with both of us being sick at once while taking care of Mia. This led to another day of Mia pretty much just watching movies and eating whatever was the easiest for me to get her.

So to sum this nasty weekend we both ended it many pounds lighter with our bodies totally cleansed (sadly not in the greatest way) and through all of this I must say Mia did so well with the little attention she got and being stuck at home for pretty much the whole weekend. Poor girl has been saying the name of every friend she has over and over again out of pure boredom. We have been lucky so far in her not catching whatever we had as well so fingers crossed it stays that way! As for Eric and I we are both feeling much better and after laying around for so many days it led me to getting a lot of projects done I have been meaning to do...mainly for Livy's room after of course a total sanitation of our house and bathrooms!

We are looking forward to a fun weekend with Eric's grandparents. Oh and to make up for this not so great post, that for some reason I felt I needed to document, stay tuned for an update post on Mia and the pregnancy! My face has finally cleared up enough where I feel comfortable having my picture taken :)

San Diego Bonus Dinner

One of the great things about Eric's company is that every year they treat all their employees to a bonus dinner weekend where they flight you and your spouse out to a nice hotel for the weekend, host a nice dinner and hand you a nice bonus check. We have been so impressed with how Sunrise Technologies takes care of their employees and shows their appreciation to their families who they have to leave each week for the job.

First off, I want to give a BIG thanks to my sister Sara and her husband for watching Mia while Eric and I got to enjoy this weekend all to ourselves. We really appreciate them taking on the challenge of our daughter along with their own and every thing else they had going on. Eric and I don't get much time together, especially when it comes to getting out of the house so this was a real treat for us!

We flew out of "extremely" cold Salt Lake City Friday morning and less then 2 hours later where in beautiful San Diego with high's in the 70's and sun shining. Boy did that feel wonderful! Some of the highlights of past trips and trips we talk about taking is the food we eat and this trip was no exception. So upon arriving we decided to grab some lunch, but decided beforehand to try out some places we had found that were featured on some of the show on Food Network. (For those interest there is an app you can download called TV Food Maps that shows you all the places that have been featured on different food shows closest to you.) From this app we decided to try to place called Hodad's Burgers. It claims to be in the top 5 best burger places in the country so obviously we had to try it. Even with a line out front we were able to get in pretty quick and enjoyed a fabulous burger, fries and chocolate milkshake not to mention a fun atmosphere.

Of the few pics we took e only seemed to be good at taking pics this trip when there was food involved.

Next we decided to check out our hotel. For this year's bonus dinner they reserved everyone rooms at the Grand Del Mar.Talk about fancy! Eric and I felt like we probably stuck out like sore thumbs because we weren't use to all the great service such as greeting us at the door, taking our bags to the room, turning down our covers while we were out at night and leaving chocolates and rose petals on our pillows and providing us with our own slippers and ropes. After relaxing at the hotel room for a bit we went to a gathering that Eric's company was putting on with appetizers and drinks. Eric was able to introduce me to some of the people he works with and we were also able to see a few others that were hired on from BYU along with Eric. I get along really well with on of the guy's wife who I spent time with in while I was Fargo, North Dakota this summer. She is expecting their first baby and is due just a couple days after me and is also a twin so it's nice to have someone who I really relate with, plus gives me someone to talk too and these work gatherings :)

Saturday we started off the day by going to breakfast at another restaurant we found through the TV Food Maps. It is called Hash House A Go Go. Reviews all warned to prepare for a wait which we ended up waiting for about 40 minutes but it was SO worth it! The food was AMAZING with plates the size of the table! Eric and I split their signature french toast dipped in banana cinnamon cream with pecan maple syrup. So yummy! We found out that there is also one in Las Vegas so if you ever find yourself there make that a MUST place to go for breakfast! Eric and I spent the rest of the day shopping/walking around these outlet stores they had near the hotel. It was fun to just be out with Eric and shopping is always more enjoyable without an antsy toddler :)

This is our breakfast for Hash House A Go Go. We should have taken this picture with one of us in it so you could really see how huge these plates are.

That night was the fancy bonus dinner. It was formal so Eric and I got to get all fancied up and enjoy a nice 4 course dinner following drinks and appetizers. The boss of the company spoke for awhile after the dinner about how successful their year had been and that he was giving out over 4 million dollars in bonus!

It was such an enjoyable weekend leaving Eric and I both excited for next's years bonus dinner! Even though it was an adjustment when Eric started this job and I'm constantly getting those "poor you" looks when people find out that Eric has to travel for work, I am very grateful to the Lord providing us with this job and such a great, family-friendly company. It has helped me also appreciate Eric more and what a blessing it is to have him as a husband and father to my children. If anything this job has made him a better at both!

Holiday Post (The Novel!)

One month later, after lots of fun, food and being with family we are finally back home and officially ready to start the new year!

The week before Christmas Mai and I went out to Ely with my mom when Eric was in California. Mia spent her first week at "Grandma's house" pretty sick which landed her a visit to the doctors. After getting some drugs Mia slowly regained her health, but not before coughing in everyone's face and wiping her nose just about on every surface of my mother's house. Luckily, even with Mia so lovingly sharing her germs the rest of us were able to stay healthy for the holidays. I spent the week sending my parent's Christmas cards, wrapping all the presents and baking all their goodies to give to people and of course watching all those Christmas movies my mom recorded for me throughout December. Eric flew right into Ely that weekend and had the next two weeks off which was SO nice to have him around and free! Sara, Collin and Addi also came to Ely that weekend just in time for Christmas as well.

We usually have Christmas Eve dinner at my Grandma's house but she was sick that whole week as well so we stayed home and had a yummy meal with all our usually favorite holiday dishes. Mia wasn't quite better by then and was just really grumpy so she was in bed by 6:30 and we had the rest of the night to enjoy child free. And of course it wouldn't be the traditional "Robertson" Christmas Eve without reading the story of Christ's birth from the Luke and singing all the Christmas hymns.

Christmas morning started when Mia got up and we all started showing ourselves in the living room. Having Mia unwrap a present every week in December was a great way to practice her "opening presents" skills; however she still wasn't super excited about the whole thing as I think she will be in years to come. Some memorable moments/gifts on Christmas morning was first, the quilt Sara and I made my mom from a bunch of my Grandma Bohn's house dresses that we took after she passed away. When you can make mom cry from opening a gift you know it was a successful gift :) Another great moment was when Seth opened his present from Sara and Collin. All he wanted this year for Christmas was a PS3 so when he opened the gift to see a PS3 box he was so excited until he opened it to find a sweater. We all couldn't help but laugh at his disappointed expression while trying to still seem grateful. Poor kid was close to tears! However, don't feel too bad because Mom and Dad had his real PS3 waiting for him to open next so all was forgiven. All in all it was a great Christmas opening gifts with family and we were grateful to be a part of it. After gifts we had our traditional Christmas brunch and as tradition ate way too much!

One last look at the Christmas tree with all the presents before we opened everything

I didn't quite capture the look on Seth's face when opening the PS3 box and finding the sweater. I think this look was when he thought we were just kidding and he was actually getting one. (We didn't let on for a while that he really was getting one. We made him believe that was it.)

Mia got her first duplox set! She loves it, especially all the animals in it.

Mia apparently didn't think it could officially be Christmas morning without dig around the kitchen for some chic "strainer" hats.

Mia and Grandpa (or "papa" as she likes to say)

Addi was a pretty good sport with all the hugs and kisses that Mia would always try to give her.  After one of Mia's kisses Addi had a big drip of snot from her forehead down to her check. Count on Mia to share everything, including her snot!

This is the quilt that Sara and I made my mom.

Before Sara and Collin left to go home a few days later we decided to go sledding with the girls. It was freezing outside and getting dark so we didn't stay long but the pictures that I captured were priceless! Mia LOVES sledding. Eric even had her go down a few times by herself and it was really funny to watch her go down with her hands out and yelling the whole way down with a smile on her face. (Please excuse some of the really grainy pictures!)

"Look Mom! No hands!"

I must say Addi's facial expressions are always the best for capturing! Love that little girl

With Christmas over we were on to celebrating the New Year. For this holiday Tyler and his family came down to enjoy it with us. Mia had fun having Sophia to play with and for the most part they seemed to keep out of too much trouble, but enjoyed many times their favorite "scream and then laugh" game. For New Years Eve we originally had this big party planned with lots of activities and games, but after eating a big dinner we were all way to stuffed to do anything but sit around. When it looked like we were about to loose everyone from going to sleep around 10pm we decided to pull out the new Just Dance 4 game and it saved the night! We all had so much fun that we (for the first New Years in awhile in my family) made it past midnight!

Also when Annelise was there she did Mia's hair everyday. She did that hard step of getting Mia to hold still long enough to do it. The first day Mia acted like is was torture but by the third day she would let her do it without fuss. I've been trying to do it everyday now to keep Mia use to it. A BIG thanks to Annelise for doing the hard part and I must say I didn't think Mia could get any cuter until I saw her in pig tales!

Tyler's family left a few days later and it was back to just us at my parent house. Eric worked from the house  for a few days and then flew back out to California. Mia and I enjoyed one more week in Ely. I was worried how Mia would do that long of time at my parent's house, but she did so great! She loved playing with all the toys my mom had for her grandkids as well as all of the attention from Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Nathan. My parents were also great enough to even drive out with me to Windover to meet Eric so I wouldn't have to drive by myself in all the snow.

I'm so grateful for a wonderful family and parents who have been such a big help with Mia when Eric travels.