January Things

Well, a blogger I know does a post every month called a GBOMB. It stands for Good, Bad and On My Brain. Basically, I love the idea and I hate the idea. I love that it gives you a chance to recap the month…which is something I’d like to do here. But I hate that it makes you think back to bad things that happened. It seems  a little…negative (?) to me, to actually sit down and think, “Hmm, what were some of the crappy things that happened this month?”

Not my fave.
And, yet, the concept is intriguing… so Imma give a try…and if I hate it I’m just going to go back to random bullet points.

Deal? Deal.

So…here’s my January GBOMB:)

GOOD

• We welcomed in the New Year with Ben’s family in Idaho…while Ben slept peacefully on the couch. Ha!
• Ben did not have to go back to school until after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was crazy and I loved it! After our trip to Utah and Idaho we had a whole week of just hanging out before he had to get back to it.
• Snow! For the first time in a long time I have totally LOVED getting a heavy whallup (definitely not a word…) of snow! I think it has everything to do with the fact that there’s not a whole lot of places where I have to go…which almost completely erases my most dreaded winter task: driving in the snow. Not to mention, those beautiful piles of snow (we got over 2 feet) meant that Ben got a couple of snow days since his break wasn’t long enough already.
• We took Wendy swimming for the first time! It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a little bit and we took a free Saturday to go to the Aquaplex here in Flagstaff. Wendy was…underwhelmed. Ha! She had the exact same look on her face the whole time…that of a trying-not-to-seem-too-impressed teenager. BUT I’m still glad we went.
• I finally pulled my La Passacaglia quilt back out. I packed it up a week before I had Wendy and we’ve just had so many visitors, I haven’t wanted to get it back out (English Paper Piecing isn’t messy…but I am messy when I English Paper Piece…or do any sewing).

BAD

• During the week before Ben went back to school, we all got a little cold, Wendy included. It broke my heart a little bit. But she was a total champ and had a good attitude throughout. I was glad Ben was there to help aaaaaand we all got better pretty quick.
• We had to take down the Christmas tree! I know, I’m so lame! We kept the tree up until Ben was back to school (yeah, such a faux pas), and as soon as I took it down and packed it in its box, I thought, “Oh, man, that was a mistake!” Glitter, lights and happiness…why can’t it be up all year?
• Wendy’s growing! Ha! Okay, so I know that it’s not really a bad thing…but I feel like I just blinked and suddenly she’s not a newborn anymore and I’m like, “Wait! I wasn’t done with that sweet fresh cuddliness!” Babies grow so fast! And I’ve always known that but I’ve never known that, you know?

ON MY BRAIN

• Sooooooo….we took Wendy in to her 2 month doctor’s appointment where she got her first set of immunizations….and….for like 2 whole weeks after we felt like her demeanor changed. She became a lot fussier than normal and just didn’t seem to be her happy and content self. It was weird and it just made me wonder if that’s normal…or if it’s something that we should expect after every immunization. I was worried we made the wrong choice in getting her immunized. But she seems to have gotten back to her sweet self. Anybody else notice that problem?
• I started reading French Kids Eat Everything and I’ll definitely include it on my next book review, but the concepts in it are so interesting and most of them make so much sense. The French love food and take their eating seriously. The book pointed out that Americans love food but we treat eating like it’s an inconvenience, which is so true (at least for us). Ben started reading it as well and it’s been a great catalyst for discussing our own meal time routines and what we want to improve.
• So…one topic of conversation Ben and I talk about basically every day is PhD programs! Ah! Kinda scary…although not as scary for me I guess! Ben is still a little flip-floppy as to whether or not he wants to take on a PhD program (which is fine because he still has about a year before he’d apply), but I definitely think he’s leaning more towards doing one than not doing one. We talk a lot about what (linguistics or literature), when and where. Time will tell, I guess…
• Summer! I’m still doing fine with the snow, but people are starting to talk about summer trips and it gets me all sorts of excited! Ben will teach through the summer so we won’t have any super crazy trips but I’m hoping for a good backpacking/camping trip and a trip to see my family! My sister just had a baby (technically a February thing) and we’ve got 2 more Lifferth cousins coming and I can’t even wait to meet all of them!!!