Things Can Always Get Worse...

Several of my closest relatives have already heard this story (sorry!) and I always fear that I tell far too many poop and barf stories on this blog, but I just have to vent about my Saturday evening.

Saturday evening Alan and I were doing the 35-minute drive home from Alan's parents' house when Jared started rubbing his left ear on his shoulder over and over again and whimpering slightly. Since he had had a cough and runny nose all week, I thought perhaps he had an ear infection and that we should take him to an Instacare on the way home. So we went to an Instacare and found out that yes, he had ear infections in BOTH ears! The doctor gave us a prescription for Amoxicillin. It was about 8:30 at this point, and we would have just waited till the next morning to fill the prescription if it wasn't going to be Sunday the next day. But we felt it was important to fill the prescription that night and get some medicine in Jared's system. Since the Walmart pharmacy was already closed, we drove to the nearest Walgreens (about 15 mins away from our house) only to find out that THIS particular location did not have a 24-hour pharmacy, and the pharmacy was already closed. (I thought that ALL Walgreens had 24-hour pharmacies!) We called the Instacare back and asked the receptionist if she knew where the closest open pharmacy was, and she told us that it was at a Walgreens about 30 minutes away!

We were extremely discouraged since it was way past Jared's bedtime already, but we decided that Alan should take me home and I would put Jared to bed while Alan would make the long trip to get the Amoxicillin. Then we would just wake Jared up to give him a quick dose when Alan got home. Anyway, as we are driving back to our house, figuring out this plan and feeling sorry for ourselves that we were being inconvenienced in such a way, Jared starts coughing so hard that he THROWS UP!! I was sitting in the back of the car next to him and, of course, try to catch as much of it as I can in my hands (how many of you have been there, done that?!) We were literally half a mile from our house by this time. We got home and took off Jared's coat and clothes in our cold garage, and then I cleaned him up and put him to bed while Alan threw Jared's clothes and coat (and my shirt) into the washing machine and washed his puked-on car seat pad by hand in the bath tub. Then Alan left our house to make the long trek to get the prescription; he returned very late. I washed my hands about 10 times that night and they still smelled like puke for the longest time!

To make matters worse, I had been invited to a girls-night-out party at my neighbor's house that night that I was really excited to go to (we have lived in our house for 9 months and still don't really have friends, although everyone in our ward is REALLY nice to us), so I was bummed out to miss a good chance to get to know people. I know we can't plan when our children get sick, but wouldn't it be nice if it just always happened to be on a day where you had nowhere to go?

Jared is always so sweet when he is sick. It doesn't seem like barfing phases him at all! He was more upset by the fact that he had barf all over his clothes than the fact that he had a cold and two ear infections. He was being all chatty and cute when I was reading him stories before bed that night. We kept him home from nursery on Sunday, although honestly, he was bouncing off the walls and seemed just fine other than an occasional cough.

Free Money!

I have been tutoring precalculus to a couple of girls in my ward the past month. I have really, really enjoyed using my degree again, and it has been nice to get some extra cash! Alan and I decided to use the money I've made so far to buy some little pieces of furniture we've been wanting for our house (rather than putting the money in savings, which we probably should have done. Ha!)

Here's the result after a fun run to IKEA: a new entryway that solves our lack-of-coat-closet problem!

Here is our new sofa table with a shoe rack that fits PERFECTLY underneath!

Also, we bought a coat rack!

I'm loving my new entryway, and I'm already planning on more little things I would like to buy for our house. Bring on the tutoring!!!!


This post has a bonus picture: my almost-25-week bump shot, and me in my new glasses! (I think after nine years of the same old glasses, I deserved a new pair, don't you?)

Children's Discovery Museum

Jared playing with the tubes that suctioned up little balls

Last week my friend Rachael invited Jared and me to go with her and her kids to the Children's Discovery Museum in SL. It was so much fun, and I loved seeing Jared explore all the fun things to do!

I am always embarrassed at the quality of pictures I take, but here's a sampling of what we did that day:

giant xylophone thingy

riding the horse--Jared didn't so much like being up so high

Policeman Buddy

Jared's favorite place--the tree house

Zuppa Toscana

If you are like me, the only soup Olive Garden should serve is Zuppa Toscana (why would you choose minestrone over Zuppa Toscana? Seriously.) My sister-in-law gave me this yummy recipe for it. I made it the other day for some company, and it was pretty dang good, if I do say so myself! (And it lasted us 3 meals!)

1 lb ground Italian sausage
1½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
¼ of a bunch of kale

Brown sausage and red pepper. Drain fat and set aside. In same pan saute onion, bacon and garlic until onions are soft. Add water and bouillon. Bring to a boil and add potatoes. Cook until soft, around 30 minutes. Add cream, sausage and kale. Cook until heated through and serve.

(Note: I changed the recipe a bit when I actually made it. I used finely-chopped green pepper instead of red pepper, I used minced garlic out of a jar instead of garlic puree, I used 12 cups of water instead of 10, I used half-and-half instead of cream, and I doubled the amount of potatoes. Delicious!)

Winnie the Pooh

Jared loves Winnie the Pooh. Although he hasn't seen any Pooh movies, I have taught him the theme song. Here he is singing it (almost) by himself:

I'm posting these next two videos mostly for my own enjoyment. They are "outtakes" of me trying to record Jared singing, and I think they are hilarious.

Other Christmas Festivities

We had such a wonderful Christmas season, and the few pictures I took don't show nearly the extent of the fun we had. Here is a glimpse of some of our Christmas events during December.

This was taken at our Very Billy Christmas Party with 3 of my former roommates and spouses (we miss you, Ash and Tim!)

This was taken at a family Christmas party a few days before Christmas

The one above and the one below were taken the day of our ward Christmas party. We were asked to dress as if we lived in Bethlehem at the time Christ was born. Jared is one of the three kings, if you can't tell. I had to improvise a little bit with his costume. :)

This is Jared and me on Christmas afternoon.

Jared with His Grandparents

As I was looking through my December pictures, I found these cute ones of Jared with each of his grandparents. I thought I would post them for posterity's sake (and to prove that once in a while, Jared will smile for a picture).

This is Jared with Grandpa Stout. Grandpa plays the ukelele, and he would let Jared strum the strings for him.

This is Grandma Stout reading Jared one of his new Christmas books, Go Dog! Go.

This is Jared being thrilled with his new Magna Doodle from Grandma Curtis on Christmas Day. He is also donning a new sweater from Grandma and Grandpa Curtis. He looks so grown up in it!

Here is Jared with Grandpa ("Papa") Curtis on Christmas Day.