Tripping time

I'm sitting here next to my man, by the light of the tv and Christmas tree, listening to little Jonah in the next room over in his crib talking when he should be falling asleep. "mamamama" and "babababa" maybe even a "dadada". He's got his little blue doggy blanky and I'm sure is in a corner of the crib sideways, because he NEVER sits still. Ben is in bed, and I'm thinking of him and how I'm concerned a little for him. This has been a hard year for him. Life as he knows it has changed a lot. And I think part of it is because there's a new member of our family, but he's growing older and learning more and realizing more and more how things work every day, which is getting him in to trouble. He's pushing his limits, us, his teacher at school and causing some trouble. I am hoping it's just a stage and not something we'll have to always worry about. He's always been a pretty well behaved kid... but lately, he's been quite difficult. He's very smart and sensitive though... I guess both of those things are maybe not a good combo? I love him, so much, but get so frustrated with him. I have to find balance with him and remember he's a lot like me and if it were me how would I want to be treated? Anyway, that's on my mind right now.
Jonah and I went to go visit my family out in UT this past week. We flew to Las Vegas and met my sister Delinda. Jonah did pretty well on the flight out... I know it was hard for him because he is a wiggle worm. He slept a good bit though. And luckily I sat by two very nice guys who didn't mind him at all. We got there Wednesday afternoon, and Delinda picked us up. We went straight to Rubio's to get fish tacos... because we love them and never have them. After we were done eating, Jonah had a barf fest, (neither of us have seen a barf like the first one, shot out and my hand deflected it and his face was covered from above his eye brows all the way down... in his eyes, nose, all over the car seat, EVERYWHERE...) so as soon as we got that cleaned up we were on our way to St. George. Not long after we got there (and Jonah slept the whole way), Claudia and Nico and Missy came to see us, and then when John got off work he came over. We had Cafe Rio for dinner and then Jonah and I went over to John's to go to bed. Although, he went to bed and I stayed up to chat with them. I love them so much. I wish we lived closer. I love the talks we have with each other and I love their kids. Thursday we spent the day hanging out with my parents and went and ran errands and then that night had our traditional Christmas dinner of Roast, Yorkshire pudding, cream corn, roast potatoes and trifle for dessert. Mom and Dad had 3 of her 4 [living] kids there that night. We missed Greg and his family. Jonah unfortunately really started to feel sick... cold, yucky eyes, coughing and wheezing. He was pretty miserable the whole time. Not his cheery and happy little self. Poor thing! Friday, Delinda and I ran some errands, did a little shopping... I had Kneaders for lunch (there's a theme here, all the food I had been craving that we don't have out here I tried to get! haha). I tried to sleep for a little bit, but couldn't. So we ran a couple more errands to get prepared for our trip home and then we went to see Shauna's grave. I sat by her and just thought abouthow much I miss her. And how much I wish she was there to meet Jonah. The horses came to say hello to us though. On the way back to mom and dad's, Delinda and I talked about all the things we missed about Shauna. How funny she was, her pretty handwriting, her hugs, We sang Heart and talked about how she loved Anne Murray... I was glad to be with DJ to talk about it all.
That night, we went to John and Claudia's for dinner. Claudia, the angel she is, made us Empanadas. They were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! I haven't had her empanadas in years and she was kind enough to spoil us with them. They are hard work to make. And they were amazing. And so is she. I am grateful for such an amazing family and awesome sisters in-law to take care of my brothers. After we ate dinner, we had pumpkin pie cheesecake and then all watched Elf together. Everyone sat on the couches and Nico and I listened to music on the floor and shared some of our favorites bands with each other sharing headphones. It was a nice evening together. Then Saturday it was time to go home. Delinda's flight was a lot earlier than mine, so mom and dad took me and Jonah to Vegas to the airport. Gave us a little more time together. It was a rough ride home, the plane had a malfunction and Jonah was a bit of a stinker- and at this point I was exhausted. Jonah didn't sleep well the whole time we were there, which means I didn't. So by the time we were about an hour from landing I was just DONE. Luckily, people were kind and generous and offered to help and were generally nice. I had a lot of offers to help me which I appreciated, and a lot of compliments on how well behaved Jonah was. I know that most of them saw us and thought "oh great..." when they saw me entering the plane with the baby. He fell asleep pretty fast though. But then we had the engine problem. He slept through most of that, but then woke up when they started making announcements. Right after our malfunction on the plane was taken care of and they alerted us that we would be now taking off, he pooped. AWESOME timing kid... I couldn't get up because we were starting the take off process. So, I tried to hold him on my lap as much as possible and held his shirt down as to block the smell, I just didn't want someone to smell it. BUT, there was nothing I could do. After we'd gotten in to the air, I asked the flight attendant if he could let me know when I could get up because the baby had pooped and I didn't want it to bother the people around me. As soon as he could, right before the drink service, he came to me and told me to go ahead. The only restroom with a changing table was in the back of the plane and I was 12 rows from the front. (sigh) So I took him and my purse back there. Got him on the fold out table in the tiny little bathroom and undid his diaper only to look in my purse and find I didn't have wipes in there, they were in his duffel bag in the overhead. Ugghhhhh. So I had to use wet paper towels. While I was getting said paper towels wet, he was getting his shirt wet by PEEING everywhere! (Again, UGGGHHHH) I yelped, he stopped, I got more paper towels, he peed more... WHATEVER... I can't do anything about it. Luckily, it was just a t-shirt and it wasn't his pants and it was just a section of his shirt in the back. So I got his diaper on, got MORE paper towels and sopped up the pee from his shirt. Then proceeded to go pee my self with the changing table still down and him still laying on it, which incidentally lays over the toilet. So I had to stick my toosh back there and maneuver the peeing business. All the while he's rolling around and I'm holding him up with my head, right arm, and shoulders! It was a circus in that little bathroom! But we got it taken care of. Phew. The rest of the flight was just... too long. I just wanted to get home. He fussed, fell asleep, kept waking up, and did this like 2 or 3 times. Oh well. We made it... and it was a great trip, I'm SO glad we got to see my family and visit, it was short but the perfect amount of time. I missed Ryan and Ben like CRAZY and was so glad to see them when we got home. Me and Ryan snuggled most of the night. I realize whenever I'm away from him how much I don't like it. haha! I love to have my partner around all the time, he's my best friend and I just love being with him. Jonah was SO glad to be home, so glad to see his daddy and big brother. Luckily, we ALL slept until 9am this morning. Jonah didn't wake up once... I think he was SO tired. He even took a 3 hour nap today! And the rest of us about an hour and a half nap. Now it's back to work... and I'm not looking forward to it. Things are going to get crazy. But Christmas is about 2 weeks away so we'll get some more family time together.
We are having a little shindig for Christmas with our friends this weekend I'm excited for. We also have our Relief Society dinner this week for church, and Christmas lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens next week... volunteering for work on the 21st at the Salvation Army giving away the Angel Tree gifts. Lots to look forward to.
And something to make me feel old, my nephew JC who is on a mission is turning 20. Weird.
Jonah's two bottom teeth have come out, right at 8 months old. He's army crawling and is in to EVERYTHING he can find. When he's not scooting around that way, he rolls everywhere. Loves to play with tags on anything. Calls me "mama", especially when he wants me. Says and waves "Bubuh" (bye bye). He's pretty serious, he's happy, but doesn't laugh much. He doesn't like to be tickled, he cries or gets mad if he's not in the mood. He'll laugh, but he really has to be in the right mood for it. He's big. Or at least I feel like he's bigger than Ben was, but I don't really remember right probably. He's starting to grow out of his 6-9 mo clothes though. He doesn't like to be told no, and gets pretty mad at us when we take something away from him he shouldn't have. He's my snuggle bunny. Mama's boy.
Well, I should go to bed. I will have to do better with updating this... I am so forgetful nowadays that unless I write it down, it will disappear in to the oblivion.
*photos to come.