Decorating the Trees

Monday, December 9^th, Avery went to day care so that Steven and I could go to my surgery consult. For some reason the doctor submitted my referral to a hospital in Nampa, it took nearly 40 minutes to get there - naturally the appointment only lasted 5 minutes. The surgeon felt my belly and said there was no hernia where the first doctor said there was one… no one has any idea what the weird sensation is but I do have an umbilical hernia that I didn’t even know about. The umbilical hernia is very small and doesn’t require surgery at this point. Avery was already napping by the time we got back to Meridian so went home. My mom picked up Avery at 3:30 and we went to her house for dinner.

Avery stole Mimi's pizza

On Tuesday we took Avery to see Santa J We met Steven’s grandparents at the Black Bear Diner, they had Santa there taking pictures with kids for FREE. We've seen so many places charge upwards of $20 just for one print with Santa, its crazy. Avery didn't really like Santa but she didn't hate him either, she got a penguin pencil, stickers, a note pad, and a candy cane.

Our family with Santa and Steven's grandparents

I dropped Avery off at day care on Wednesday so that I could clean my parents’ house. I’m sort of their housekeeper now – I clean their house and they pay for day care while I’m there so it works out. I don’t bring home any money but simply work in exchange for the cost of day care, Avery LOVES day care now and I’m happy to work so that she can go for a few hours a week.

I mailed out our Christmas cards on Friday, we ordered 40 cards so labeling them was an all day event. I dropped Avery off at day care and cleaned my parents’ house again. After work Avery, my mom, dad, and I went to get a Christmas tree. We found a good tree almost immediately, I could not stop myself from sniffing the trees haha. I’m so excited for Avery’s first Christmas in the states! When I got home Steven was still out with his dad so I bathed Avery, put her to bed, and cleaned the house.

Using Avery as a pack mule for clean laundry

On Saturday morning Steven’s phone completely died. Normally a broken cell phone wouldn’t be a huge issue but Steven works from home, all of his work calls come directly to his cell phone, his work emails got to his phone, so for him it’s a very big deal. We had to brave the mall to fix the phone since we had to go to the Apple store. It turns out he had a faulty battery (Steven had called Apple two days prior complaining that his battery was dying too quickly and they told us it was nothing), we got the battery replaced with only 18 days left on his warranty.

We went to my parents’ house after the mall for an early dinner and decorating the Christmas tree. Decorating was interesting this year, we didn’t use any ornaments that had a metal hook on them, we only used ornaments that hung by string. Avery “decorated” the tree by throwing ornaments at it haha. That evening my parents babysat Avery while Steven and I saw the new hobbit movie.  

My parents' tree

On Sunday we went to Steven’s grandparents’ house to decorate their tree and have dinner. No one really seemed into decorating but I had a good time doing it. 

The tree at Steven's grandparents' house

Avery Quinn - 23 months

Lots of Doctors

Monday, December 2nd. At 8 am I began calling the doctor about my knee, but for several house I got transferred to their answering service. I was in a lot of pain so I decided to just drive out to Meridian and get a same day appointment. I dropped Avery off with Yvette and went to the doctor. Of course there were no same day appointments left, the receptionist told me I should have called ahead first... they had no idea their phone system was down all morning. The receptionist suggested I try the urgent care, which was a 3 hour wait.... I checked in and went to my parents' house to eat. When I went back to the clinic there was still an hour and a half wait!

When I was finally taken to an exam room I had to put on super sexy medical shorts, it was not pretty haha. The doctor moved my knee around a bunch, made me walk, stand on one leg, etc for the examination. The diagnosis was seasonal tendinitis which made sense, I went through the same exact thing last October in Korea. The doctor really wanted my x-rays and MRI from last year but the damn Army STILL hasn't given me my medical records - I've been repeatedly requesting them since right before we left Korea. When it was all said and I done I was put back in a knee brace.

That evening we went to Steven's grandparents' house for a going away dinner. Steven's uncle Bob was leaving the next day for the Philippines to be with his wife.

On Wednesday I took Avery to day care. When we got there she wiggled out of my arms and immediately asked her teacher where the toy vacuum was. I was a little shocked that she didn't cry so I decided to leave before she freaked out, she saw me going and yelled "bye mommy!"  and ran to give me a kiss. I had another doctor appointment that day, this time for an odd sensation in my belly. The doctor told me I had a hernia, one the size of my thumb. She submitted a referral to see a surgeon, it freaked me out to be honest. To make matters worse, she told me I couldn't lift anything over 5lbs until I had my surgery consult :/

I meant to go get my final pay check from UPS on Friday but Kristen asked me to watch the boys last minute. I only watched them for a few hours but being unable to pick any of them up and being in a knee brace wore me out. I was too tired to get my check that day haha.

Conner playing with magnets

Sleepy Cassius

It snowed a bunch on Saturday! We went to my parents' house for dinner before going to a Christmas party. Avery was helping my mom make mashed potatoes when she started rubbing raw potato on her face. We thought it was funny until her cheeks became bright red, we washed her face immediately. Avery started rubbing her eyes and forehead and we realized she had broken out in a rash :( I called the pediatric nurse who advised we treat the rash with Benadryl. Steven, mom, and I went to Walgreens to get children's Benadryl but right after we checked out I noticed that her rash had cleared. At least now we have Benadryl just in case. We went home and had dinner - ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, and creamed corn. I was STUFFED and almost fell asleep on the couch afterwards.

Peeling potatoes

Potato rash

Trying to steal Minnie Mouse from Walgreens

Mimi bought Avery Minnie Mouse slippers

Around 7 pm Steven and I went to Kristen's house for the Christmas party, Avery stayed the night with my mom. The party was kid friendly but I never bring Avery to any kind of adult get together. There were around 15 of us at the party, we did a Christmas exchange which was called a Dirty Santa on the invite. Well, some of the group misunderstood Dirty Santa and brought dirty gifts for the exchange, it was hilarious. After the party we went back to my parents' house and stayed the night.

I woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking the next morning. Mom and Avery were up making potatoes (with no rash thankfully), sausage, eggs, and bacon. After eating we went with my parents to Toys R Us and Gordmans to try and find a little plastic table for Avery. We couldn't find little tables and chairs so we took Avery home for a nap, we came home to find our house at 45 degrees! We've put in a request for the damn windows to be fixed but the repair guy still hasn't come. It took close to 4 hours to heat the house back up to 65 degrees, that's going to be a pretty penny :/

Avery Quinn - 23 months

My 24th Birthday!

I didn't have to work on Monday so my mom picked up Avery and I for lunch :) We haven't had a lunch date in a while so it was much overdue. When we got home after lunch Steven wouldn't answer the door, I had forgotten my keys in the house. I pounded on the door for several minutes while calling and texting but I didn't get a response. I decided to take Avery to the apartment clubhouse because it was so cold out. My mother in law called while we were stranded, I told her Steven wasn't answering the door and she told me that he didn't answer when she called a few minutes prior. We both kind of freaked out thinking that Steven may have collapsed or something so I went back to the apartment. As I was walking up I could see the very top of Steven's head through our bedroom window, it was moving around so I figured he was stuck on a phone call. He called me about 10 minutes later saying that he unlocked the door.

Yvette came over after Avery's nap, we went to Carter's :) Yvette bought Avery a bunch of cute outfits and a toy car. The three of us went to Fred Meyer on our way home to grab a few things. It was a good way to end the day.

This week I turned 24!! Steven snuck out early to get me my favorite breakfast burrito from Goldy's. He gave me a funny card with a Victoria's Secret gift card in it just like I asked for :) I left for work early enough to stop and get coffee, the woman in the drive thru in front of me paid for my drink :D I dropped Avery off at day care and went to my parents' house to get ready for work. Just as I was tying my boots I got a text saying I didn't have to work until 1 pm instead of 12:30 pm, yay an extra half hour to eat!

I made out like a bandit

Work started out great but quickly turned awful - my knees were KILLING me. I worked until 7 pm that night and by the time I got into my car to leave I was crying because my knees hurt so bad. Steven was already at my parents' house when I got there, he had reserved movie tickets for an 8:30 pm showing but we ended up missing it. I had to shower, get ready, eat dinner, and have cake with my family in less than an hour. I hate being rushed so I said 'F it' to the movie and took my time doing things.

Avery and my mom french braiding my hair before the movie

There was another movie showing at 10:30 pm so Steven and I went to Denny's for my free birthday meal, my mom kept Avery over night so we could go out. While sitting at Denny's Steven asked if I wanted coffee, I said yes and he immediately left and went to Starbucks for me :) After our meal we went to the Village, we had planned to walk around and check out the stores but I could barely walk, instead we sat inside the theater and waited. I love the way the Village does assigned seating in the theater just like in Korea, it takes all the pressure out of being the first one in the theater to get a good seat.

Thursday was Thanksgiving :) Steven picked up Avery from my parents' house in the early afternoon so that my mom could cook in peace. We went to Steven's grandparents' for dinner this year. I wanted to spend time with my family as well but that didn't happen :( Oh well, we'll be spending next Thanksgiving with my family especially since my birthday is on the same day. Steven's family had a cake for me, I wasn't expecting it at all so it was a very nice surprise.

I hadn't planned on going Black Friday shopping this year (mainly because we're poor) but my dad invited me to go out with him. He picked me up around 10 am and we hit up several different stores to get Christmas presents for the family. We grabbed lunch after battling the crowds and lines, then went to my parents' house for dinner - Steven and Avery met us over there. It was a really good day and I like wrapping presents so that was a plus.

I got up pretty early on Saturday morning to go to the urgent care for my knees, they were painful 24/7. The nurse at the urgent care was a real b_tch though and turned me away. I told her my knees have been in constant pain since I got off work on Wednesday and she immediately assumed it was a work-related injury and refused to help. I tried to explain that it wasn't work related, the same thing happened last year in Korea, but she wouldn't listen and told me it was a workman's comp issue. Since I had already driven all the way out to the urgent care I began to tell the nurse I was also experiencing some abdominal issues but she refused to see me for that too. I was so frustrated!! My friggen feet and legs have been in pain and tingling for several days and I am refused medical care?!

That evening Mike and Yvette came over to watch Avery while Steven and I went out to dinner with my family and Ashley. We always go to Fiesta Guadalajara for birthday dinners. We usually have a large group go but since it was my first birthday with my family since I turned 21 I wanted it to be just family. I have photos from dinner but they are on my mom's camera so I will try and remember to post them.

On Sunday, Mike and Yvette came over and picked up Avery, they took our Durango and our baby to their house and left us Yvette's truck. Steven and I went to the mall, I had Victoria's Secret gift cards to use :) Steven and I window shopped, smelled all the Yankee Candles, and shared a soft pretzel. It was a good day.

Avery Quinn (and Daddy) - 22 months

11/18-11/24

Well, I'm behind on my blog updates again, that didn't take long. Work has sucked every bit of energy out of me. I didn't work on Monday but day care wouldn't reimburse me for that day since I pre-paid for the week. I decided to drop Avery off at day care anyways since I wasn't getting my money back, but I did change her schedule to 'flexible' which means I can add or drop days as needed and not be charged extra.

I used the free time to run errands. My first stop was Avery's pediatrician to drop off day care paperwork. I hate that her doctor is SO far away, its always a 30 minute drive minimum. After the pediatrician I went to my friend Laura's house to pick up my maternity clothes that I let her borrow. I brought her a gift and got to hold her cute son, I don't remember Avery ever being so small even though she was much smaller at that age.

I had to work on Tuesday which SUCKED. Avery had a really hard time going to day care, when we pulled into the parking lot she started crying and telling me "No day care! Home, Mommy!". It broke my heart and I spent an hour before work crying because of it. As if that wasn't bad enough, Dale didn't have his usual truck so work was even harder - my seat was 3 inches higher so I had to literally jump into it.

I couldn't stand to take Avery to day care again so on Wednesday I had Steven do it, we had to pick up our other car anyways so it worked out. After dropping Avery off at day care Steven took the Neon home, I had been letting my mom borrow since their car was in the shop. I only worked 3 hours that day but could barely drive home afterwards - SHIN SPLINTS.

Thursday was nothing but mind-numbingly long hours at work.

but trying to keep a smile on my face

I had a ridiculously long day at work on Friday but the thought of amazing food got me through it. Avery was spending the night at my mom's that evening so that Steven and I could go out with his parents. I stopped at my mom's house after work to see Avery before going home to shower and primp. Yvette took the three of us out to Chandler's to thank us for moving her apartment while she was gone. I had the filet minon with smashed red potatoes YUM!! We were at the restaurant until after 10 pm which is probably the latest I've stayed out in a very long time.

We had breakfast with my parents on Saturday morning, they took us to the Egg Factory for the first time. The food was pretty good but we waited almost 2 hours just to eat. That evening I got some alone time, Steven took Avery to his grandparents' house for dinner. Kristen came over after she got off work and we had a girls night. Steven had planned to go watch the game but his plans fell through, instead he put the baby to bed and spoiled us - he went out to rent us a movie and got us milkshakes :) The three of us watched Monsters University while Kris and I did a mini foot spa.

Flipping creamer at the restaurant

On Sunday morning we went to Mike and Yvette's house for breakfast. Yvette let Avery play with a box full of beanie babies - she was so happy!

Making pancakes

We went to my parents' house for dinner that evening. Steven set up a tubing trip for the entire family, I'm really excited. Its scheduled on our 3 year anniversary so it will be a lot of fun! My uncle and his family (Uncle Mike, my mom's younger brother) are coming up to Idaho for Christmas :D My parents, Quinn and Ashley, Steven and I, Uncle Mike and his family, and the Prochaskas (I think) will all be attending! Yvette will be watching Avery that day because its a nearly 2 hour drive each way and she wouldn't last in the cold.

Avery Quinn - 22 months

Working Momma

Monday was Veteran's Day AND orientation for my new job at UPS :) My mom came over to watch Avery while I attended the 2 hour orientation. It was very BORING - our study guide was full of grainy black and white pictures and spelling errors, the introductory video was even more ridiculous. I was struggling to keep my eyes open during orientation BUT I got paid for it so it was worth it :)

On Wednesday I took Avery to playgroup, I really didn't feel like going but since its my last week as a stay at home mother I kind of felt obligated. Our playgroup toured a fire station this week, a lot of people showed up. Avery instantly fell in love with the fire truck, she called it the "big vroom vroom".

Driving the fire truck

That evening I left Avery with Steven so I could have a girls' night. I drove to Kristen's house and from there Kristen, Allison, and I drove out to Nampa together. The 'party' was at Jeca's new apartment, we ate finger foods, had cider, played Taboo, and chatted. I didn't get home until 1:30am!!

Naturally, Avery woke up super early on Thursday. Quinn came over that morning to give Steven money to get him a PS4. I was dragging ass because of my late night so Quinn bought me coffee :) I love my little brother, I'm sad that we don't get to spend a lot of time together - I have a family to take care of and he has a job and serious girlfriend so our time is pretty much accounted for. Quinn came back to our house in the evening to hang out with Steven before the two of them went to the PS4 midnight release. Steven had his pre-ordered and Quinn happened to get the last PS4 at Walmart.

Friday was a very big day in the Lyon household. It was my first day of work in 3 1/2 years and Avery's first day of day care. I dropped Avery off at New Horizon just before 11 am, Avery's class has lunch at 11 am so all the kids were sitting at the table. Avery didn't want me to go and threw a big fit :/ I left rather quickly, no point in dragging out the goodbye. I told Steven that Avery freaked out when I left so he called day care and had the director check on Avery - she was already over it and playing with the other kids :) I went to my mom's house to wait for my shift to start, I talk a lot when I'm nervous so I talked my mom's ear off the entire time. Dispatch had called me that morning and directed me to meet my driver in the D&B parking lot at 1 pm. I got there about 20 minutes early and waited just in case he happened to show up early. Steven called me while I was waiting and kept me from completely freaking out. I was so nervous - my hands were shaking, I was nauseous, and I wanted to cry.

When my driver showed up he began chatting me up immediately, I was so happy to know he wasn't a hard ass, his name is Dale. He gave me my uniform, I changed in my car while he delivered a package to D&B - I looked pretty ridiculous in brown pants, black boots, and a puffy brown pull-over. We began our route immediately, it was weird driving with my door wide open. I was only scheduled for 3 hours that day and it went by in the blink of an eye. I spent the entire time jogging - Dale told me company policy says no running but jogging is highly encouraged haha. Dale and I quickly fell into a good routine with each other, the moment he stopped the truck I unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the truck, Dale scanned a package and I jogged it to the door, while I jogged to and from the door he went in the back of the truck and got the package for our next stop, we pretty much always made it back to our seats at the exact same time.

We were supposed to deliver to 400 houses that day, there are 2 steps on the truck, which is the equivalent of me going up and down 1,600 steps - Basically 3 hours of work is the same as me going up my apartment stairs 145 times!! That's only the steps in and out of the truck, that doesn't even include however many steps it takes to get to and from a person's front door! I am going to wear a pedometer on Monday for sure!! Needless to say by the end of my shift my shins were KILLING me. It was a very good day though, Dale told me that Linda (the woman who conducted the interviews) specifically placed me with Dale because I seemed extremely capable for the job :) Dale often sets company records for how many packages he delivers in a day and Linda was sure I was the right woman for the job. The 3 best newbies were picked to work today and I was the first of the bunch picked! It was a HUGE ego boost.

When I got off work I told my mom to meet me at Avery's day care, my mom will be the one picking up Avery so I wanted her to see how its done. Steven surprised me by also showing up to pick up Avery from day care. We found Avery outside playing on the jungle gym, she was so happy to see us :) She took Mimi onto the jungle gym and made her go down the slide. Avery's teacher said that she made two friends who she basically hung out with all day, she had tacos for lunch, and she played non-stop all day. I took Avery back to my mom's house, my mom and Steven went to the store, they brought me coffee and flowers, my mom also got my a Starbucks gift card. I love having such a great support group.

I woke up in SO much pain on Saturday morning. I had awful shin splints, my calves and feet were cramping, my back ached, and I had a bad head ache - my body is definitely not used to so much activity. I spent most of the day trying to recover although I did managed to leave the house long enough to have breakfast with the in-laws.

First real snow of the season

By Sunday I expected to feel better but I didn't haha. We went to my parents' house for dinner, it was awesome. Their neighbors gave us a 7-ft fake Christmas tree and a bunch of lights for free :D I'm so excited, we had a fake Christmas tree but I gave it to a military family that moved to Korea right before Christmas. Yay Karma!!

In other news, my childhood best friend is pregnant! Kelly, and her fiance, Luis, are going to be parents :)

Kelly's first pregnancy photo :)

Avery Quinn - 22 months

Sick Baby

I am officially caught up on blog updates!!! For weeks I've been behind and my grandma has been on my ass about it :) Now I just have to STAY caught up.

This week had been very boring, for some reason Steven and I have been bored out of our minds. On Tuesday Steven finally broke out the Nintendo 64 so we could play some kind of video game until the Playstation 4 is released - we beat Pokemon Snap in a day. The only excitement we had was when Steven somehow dropped his iPhone 5 into the oven, the oven was set at 450 degrees! The damn thing slid all the way to the back of the oven so I had to save it with tongs. Thankfully Steven's phone had a bulky case on it so the phone was completely fine, the case was melted though.

I had another interview this week, this time with UPS. The interview was in the middle of the day so my mom used her lunch hour to watch Avery for me. I think the interview went well (although I thought the last one went well too), the interviewer said she would call me on Friday to set up orientation. On the way home I stopped to get my mom coffee as a thank you for watching Avery twice now. My mom went back to work and I put Avery down for a nap, she took a super long nap though. After 3 hours of napping I woke Avery up, turns out she was running a low grade fever :(

Sick baby cuddles

Thursday kind of sucked - we enrolled Avery in day care :( I'm so sad that I can't be a stay at home mother anymore but I am thankful for the time I did get. Steven, Avery, and I took a tour of the day care facility, it seemed very nice. We weren't able to meet Avery's teacher because we took a late tour but we did get to see her classroom. After the tour we went to my parents' house for dinner, the day care is only a few minutes away from their home.

Avery woke up with a nasty cough on Friday morning :( She wanted to lay around all day but I still had a lot to do at Yvette's apartment. Avery was so needy that I ended up packing and cleaning with her strapped to my back, thank god for baby wearing. We were there for several hours before going home, I got a lot done, Avery even got off my back for a few minutes to help mop :)

Cleaning Lita's apartment

Also, I heard back from UPS! I have orientation on Monday and thankfully my mom already has the day off :D

When my mom got off work the 3 of us went to the dollar store together, she needed to get a few things for her team at work. It was fun and I love the dollar store. Afterwards we went to Albertson's for coffee and cough syrup. Most cough syrups are for kids 4 and up so we had to go with an all natural food based cough syrup. It got rid of Avery's cough but she was really hyper after she took the medicine - I'm not sure if the medicine made her hyper or she was finally feeling well enough to burn some energy. That night Avery ended up coughing so much she threw up :( I brought her into bed with us and after a few inconsolable hours I put her back into her own room. Steven found the humidifier and put it on for her, we didn't hear another peep the rest of the night.

On Saturday we met Mike at Yvette's apartment for the last leg of the move. I had pretty much packed the entire house already so it didn't take us that long. I mainly cleaned while Steven and Mike moved all the boxes to the truck. We all had lunch together after the move, Mike was kind enough to buy our meal.

We went to my parents' house early on Sunday. Quinn had work that evening so we had family dinner earlier than usual so he could eat with us. I helped my mom make chicken casserole and then decided to clean our their freezer haha I was bored. After dinner my mom made cinnamon swirl coffee cake, it was awesome. Avery was suck a cranky butt all day because she wasn't feeling well. She ended up going to bed before 7 pm, but spent several hours violently coughing. I hope she gets better soon because day care won't take her like this :/

Avery Quinn - 22 months