Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

So, I've never really been one of those people that goes all out for Halloween...but I was extra-excited this year. Why? Because of Joshua, of course! Holidays seem so much more fun and special when children are involved. We originally weren't going to dress Joshua up, but we saw costumes on sale at Walmart and decided it was worth it for the pictures. I know many are anxious to see them, so I won't leave you hanging. But first of all, check out our jack-o-lanters (ten points to whoever can guess Cody's):
And here is our little lion! Isn't he adorable?
And this last one--instead of putting the candy, Joshua put the wrapper in his mouth. This is me trying to fish it out:
Oh, and funny story: Joshua and I sat outside on the front porch to wait for trick-or-treaters, and I let Joshua crawl around a little. As a woman and her costumed son were approaching our driveway, I heard the woman say, "That's not real! Oh, wait...that's a baby!" Apparently she saw Joshua crawling around and thought he was a toy! I guess his crawling just looked too methodical or something? But I assured her he is quite real and she said he looked very cute. We got a lot of comments on his costume. Don't you think he makes quite the darling little lion cub? =)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Too hot to handle...

First and foremost, thank you everyone for your prayers for Cody's financial aid appeal! It has been accepted pending a meeting with a financial aid counselor. But before he does that, he needs to officially change his major over to the business school (he's decided to become a paralegal, for those who didn't know) and figure out if they'll still let him go for an associate degree or if he needs to do the bachelor program. His first meeting is this afternoon, so we'll keep you posted! Yay, he's going back to school!

Joshua got sick over the weekend =( He had seemed fine for the majority of it, but soon after church on Sunday, I noticed he started feeling quite warm to the touch. Cody had to work that day (he only has to work one Sunday a month, which is nice--and he got to go to church with us, which was even nicer), so Kirsti and Rich came over to have dinner with me and play games. Joshua had seemed pretty lethargic and a lot more cuddly than usual all afternoon, laying his head on my shoulder and being very clingy to his mommy. I had stripped him down to his diaper, but he was still super warm. I finally took his temperature around 6:30, and it was 102.6. No wonder he was so hot! I called the pediatrician's office and they made an appointment for 7:30 that night. It's a good thing Kirsti and Rich were there, because they were able to drive to Target and bring back the car so I could take Joshua in (thanks so much, guys!). Our game night was cut short, but they did manage to make us some awesome stir-fry =).

Luckily, Joshua didn't have an ear infection or strep throat or anything. The pediatrician on call said it looked like it was just a virus, and that all we could do was keep him on Tylenol and Motrin and give him lots and lots of fluids. He slept a lot all evening and the next day (I stayed home from work all day Monday and Tuesday morning, since I am the source of his fluids, after all), and his fever finally seemed to break yesterday morning. His temperature is still a little elevated, but he'll be fine. He's a lot more fussy than usual now, though--I think it's because he finally has the energy to cry. He was such a good little trooper during the worst of it, smiling at the doctor and just laying there quietly as I rocked him and kept a cool washcloth on his back. Now that the fever has gone down, I think he still doesn't feel well so he fusses and cries a lot. But I'm so glad he's on the mend!

Yesterday and today are pretty special days for us...yesterday marked three years since Cody and I met and had our first date, and five years ago today I entered the CTM (Centro de Treinamento Missionário) in São Paulo, Brazil. Both of these days bring back so many memories...

On October 29, 2003, I remember arriving in the São Paulo-Guarulhos Interntaional Airport after an overnight flight from Atlanta, Georgia, going through customs, taking a bus through the crazy traffic-filled streets on our way to Casa Verde, entering the CTM, getting a companion (if she reads this, Hi, Sister McMurdie!), moving in, meeting our district (44-A--five of us going to Brasília and four going to Belo Horizonte), eating our first Brazilian meal (kind of), and finally crashing for the night. My mission changed my life. I'm so grateful for that time and for the things I learned, and I'm eager to pass on those memories to my children.

On October 28, 2005, just about six months after returning home from that mission, I went on a blind date with a man named Cody Alleman. We had texted back and forth a few times since he had asked me out via email earlier that week (for those that don't know, we met through an online social network called ldslinkup), and we found out we only lived about five minutes from each other. I had gone to a BYU soccer game that night, and he came to pick me up afterwards. We ended up getting tickets to an after-midnight showing of The Brothers Grimm at Movies 8, had shakes from the Malt Shoppe, played Yahtzee in his apartment, and went to the movie, where Cody boldly held my hand and definitely showed me he was interested in me. The months after that are unlike any I've ever known, and I'm so grateful to know that, now, I am married to this man who treats me like a queen and is a wonderful daddy to our son.

Anyway, I'm just rambling now, so...here's a cute picture to end this post. I believe I took it on my way to go get groceries one night, or maybe before leaving for work one day...sorry for the poor quality (once again, gotta love cell phone pictures). For those that haven't been to our house, the stairs lead down to our front door, because we live on the top floor of a duplex:I just love that little guy. And the big guy. The two most important men in my life =)

Monday, October 20, 2008

10 months old!

Joshua turned 10 months old on Saturday...I can't even believe that we're in the double digits already. Only two short months until he's a year! Time passes so quickly. He still brings us as much joy as ever, of course, and every new day is a blessing. I'm so grateful to be his mom. I don't get as much time with him as I would like, but the sacrifice is worth it to make sure he has food, clothing, and a roof over his head. We've been blessed that friends and family have given us old toys and things that he loves, so we haven't had to buy much in that department! We don't get a lot of family time anymore, seeing as how Cody is working at Target some evenings, but that only means that the time we do get together is precious. We just love being a family and seeing our son grow up and learn things about the world around him!

Like I said before, Cody is now working evenings at Target (about 20-30 hours a week--seasonal employment), so that will bring in some much-needed income as we struggle to meet all of our expenses. Still waiting to hear about the appeal, but we're hoping he'll be taking classes next semester and on his way to that degree. I'm still working my two jobs, and while I miss seeing my husband every evening, I'm loving the one-on-one time with Joshua. It's kind of a preview of what it will be like to be a stay-at-home mom, I think. I can see how it could get boring, but the only time I'm really bored is after Joshua's in bed, and as long as I have some transcription work to do, that helps the time pass by more quickly.

It's getting colder and darker as winter approaches...this morning it seemed a lot darker than usual, and Joshua had a hard time opening his eyes when we turned the lights on--it was too bright! We did get some winter clothes for him, so hopefully he'll be toasty-warm once the snows arrive. I'm excited to see him play in the snow soon...

Anyway, that's pretty much what's going on with us right now. We're just plugging along, doing all that we can, and praying that the Lord blesses us according to our efforts. We appreciate everyone's well-wishes and prayers in our behalf, and please know that, while we may not always remember to pray for you by name, you are still loved and we hope that you feel the love the Lord has for you as well!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Life goes on...

Things have been crazy at work the last few weeks...I was in charge of a banquet for all of the alumni of BYU Chemical Engineering, and as you can imagine, I had a lot to do to get ready for it. Well, it was last Friday, so I'm now free! Yay! And now I can get back to posting pictures of our adorable son =) For starters, here is Joshua sitting by his daddy, who was trying to nail the cable cord around the door frame so it wasn't running across the floor and inviting Joshua to play with it. Joshua seemed very interested in what his daddy was doing. I'm sure he'll be a great helper around the house when he gets older: Here is one of the rare times when I let Joshua play with my cell phone. He loves cell phones, of course, because Mommy and Daddy use them all the time so they MUST be fun to play with: Doesn't he look all grown up in a hoodie and jeans? We can't leave him in a onesie anymore due to the recent cold spell around here...:
Here is a picture from the banquet...Joshua had ripped off my nametag, so Cody thought it would be funny to put it on Joshua's head:
And then he wrote "Product of" on the nametag as well...yeah, Cody is quite silly sometimes:
Just as an update, Joshua is now VERY adept at crawling and crawls all over the place, eats at least two solid meals a day (we're trying to incorporate a third), pulls himself up on everything and can even stand alone for about 5 seconds before toppling over, has four teeth and is working on a couple more, and babbles constantly. He sometimes says "Mum mum mum" when he wants me to pick him up, which of course I take to mean he knows my name. My little baby is growing up so fast! He'll be 10 months old on Saturday...

Now that the banquet is over, I'm ready to start planning things for the ACERC Annual Conference, which will be in February. I'm still busy busy busy, working both my day job and doing transcription, and I still definitely wish that I could be home with Joshua. Cody starts his new job with Target tomorrow night, though, so I'll no longer be the sole breadwinner, which I'm very excited about. Everybody please keep Cody in your prayers--he's in the process of appealing to get financial aid so he can take classes next semester, and we're hoping it goes through so he can be on his way to getting that degree. Thanks for reading!