Christmas and New Year

About a month late, figured I would post a few pics from our holiday celebration. Again, keep in mind the dominant theme of 2011 Christmas and New Year's Eve was the fact that we were moving, but we still had wonderful friends around who made sure we took time for some fun. At the BEST New Year's Eve party ever, we got to release lanterns just like the ones on Rapunzel. They were mesmerizing. And huge. About as tall as an adult person, swirling colors in the sky until the flame ate up the tissue paper. No photos, but see clip art above. =)
Had Christmas Day dinner with a family from my mission. I LOVE these people. Truly they are eternal friends of mine. This is Mr. Lo having just opened almost the entirety of gifts he got to unwrap this Christmas (yes, he really only had a couple gifts, since we saved most of the toys etc. to dole out little at a time during our cross-country drive in January). Note Lo's face looks bored and dull. Really he was just suffering from excruciating herpes simplex lesions in his throat and mouth, only I thought it was thrush at the time. Oops. Have I mentioned he has a tiny mouth and rarely opens wide, so really can't blame myself for guessing wrong on the illness. The doctor forced his mouth open, and then we could see the blistering more clearly...Anyway, I digress.
Our Christmas tree this year was awesome, but didn't get any proper photos taken. Our neighbor let us borrow this tree. Lo undecorated the bottom half quite a few times.

And here is Mr. Lo in the only photo of him with his Christmas jammies.  Happened to be 2 weeks before Christmas when my brother Justin was visiting.  Note the moving boxes in the background. Ugh. Did I mention this is the second time we moved right at Christmas? 2 years ago, right after Lo was born the company transferred us mid-December. I hope to never move at this time of year again.

I should report that we had a yummy ham dinner Christmas Eve with the same family who hosted our Thanksgiving meal. But we don't have photos from Christmas Eve. It was sort of a less-fun evening only because of Lo's cranky/fussy mood (remember I still hadn't figured out he had the Herpes and in fact on this day we all thought his bad mood and drooling/mouth pain was just due to teething 2 year molars).

We had a great time celebrating Chinese New Year since the move and illness plague had all come to an end. But I'll post more on that holiday once we upload a few photos from it.  

Material Possessions

I want to get back on the ball with my gratitude challenge.

The second step suggested is to list 10 Material Possessions for which I am grateful. This is an intriguing activity at this point in my life because we Tams ended up leaving behind at least 90% of our material possessions when we moved last month. I have alternated between feeling liberated by having less junk, yet on the other hand grieving a variety of losses. I try to keep reminding myself about those pioneer ancestors. Anyway, I still have some few cherished items we shipped/hauled here to Boise, as well as a few items I have acquired since arrival. In no particular order, I am grateful for:
1. A Willowtree Nativity. Sort of embarrassed about this one, because I probably could have spent this money more wisely. But anyway, I bought it yesterday at a yardsale. I showed the man running the sale a whole pile of items and offered $40. The pile included an organizational shelf, a toy ball for Lo, a kitchen scale, a like-new board game (Cranium) and the Willowtree Nativity parts pictured above in their original packaging with all authenticity papers inside. (My dad seemed horrified about how much I had spent, saying, "Haven't you ever been to a yardsale?" so maybe I paid too much?). Please validate my purchase everybody!! I had left behind a couple of Nativities when we moved from Ohio, afterall...and I love the way the Willowtree Nativity can be added to over the years unlike other nativities that must be purchased as a whole.
2. Our car. We have a great car. It is just a basic sedan, nothing fancy and starting to get a bit on the high-mileage side, but it is so reliable. I've had various times in my life without owning a set of wheels or else having to use a car that was less reliable, and so it makes me that much more grateful for the vehicle Jerry and I have right now.
3. Our laptop. Using it with the internet brings me connection to family and friends, and since Jerry and I don't own a TV, the laptop has been our primary way of watching movies for the past few years. So useful and enjoyable.
4. Clothes. Especially since I've been reading accounts of the handcart pioneers, and it still feels relatively chilly outside, I am so grateful to have clothing in general to keep me warm. And I'm thankful in particular for some cute items of clothing that really boost my mood and confidence. ("Grandma Style" shirts, Jerry calls them; what can I say my preference is classic).
5. A bed. My aunt and uncle gave us a queen sized bed when we arrived in Boise. It is really comfortable. And miracle of miracles, Mr. Lo stays out of it. He finally just hit a stage of wanting his own bed...The few times I have put him in the big bed, he protests saying,"Go nap my own baby mattress" which is amazing because there were days Jerry and I asked ourselves Is this kid ever going to sleep in his own bed. Even though it has taken awhile, the transition to him moving out of parental bed proved an easy drama-free event when it finally did happen. Thanks to all who reassured us along the way. =)
6. A calendar. Random, but I just glanced at it and realized how much I rely on a wall-calendar. It helps me remember important events. When we didn't have a calendar for a few weeks right around the New Year, Jerry and I kept stressing about it.
7. My toothbrush. Wouldn't life be horrible without one? Oh, the wonderful feeling of a freshly scrubbed smile.
8. Food. This seems like it should be a category all its own. The countless yummy, healthy, and everything in-between goods that I consume each day. So much food so easily available--how many people in the world lack this possession? I am blessed.
9. Camera. I am a sentimental person, and being able to record life through photos lifts my heart. I am grateful Jerry thinks to whip out the camera at all the right moments, preserving our best memories.
10. Books. Scriptures, easy-reads, board books for Lo, what else. The library at my parents house includes so many beloved books I read as a child and I pause to take note of how these possessions have enriched me. Fuel for the mind. Similar to what I mentioned regarding food, books plentiful and accessible for me--not something all people on earth can say.

I am grateful!

Pioneer lessons

My relaxation method of choice these days is to chip away at a book I started after we moved here to Boise. The Price We Paid, by Andrew D. Olsen. My normal reading style is to get immersed for a day or two and finish a book in one big gulp. But my conscience declares I have more worthy ways to spend my time these days...*sigh*...so the book remains mostly unread as of today, but I would still recommend it. Wow, how wonderful were our pioneer ancestors.

Pictured above is Mr. Lo riding a wagon in the children's section of the Independence, Missouri LDS Visitor's Center. We stopped there for a diversion on our drive across the country earlier this month.

Cousins

Sorry for the dearth of posting lately; we are still trying to get settled and accomplish all that a move entails. I did finally commit to start using facebook...am in that awkward stage of not liking it. Much prefer blogging, but maybe I'll come around. Anyway, if you want to be my friend, look me up. =)

One of the aspects of this move that we most looked forward to was getting to see family more. Pictured above: Lo Lo and Ashlyn, first cousins. Ashlyn seemed transfixed by Lo most of the evening recently, staring with perpetual surprise at all the cool things a 2-year-old can do. We love these kids! (although yes, that is a bumbo chair perched on a table...I know, makes me nervous...are we the only ones who have ever done this??)

Tips for traveling with toddlers

I don't mean to imply any sort of expertise, because honestly we mostly just borrowed ideas from others...but just in case anybody else is looking for help, here is what we did RIGHT in getting our 2-year-old bouncy boy moved from Ohio to Idaho via cramped, overloaded family sedan.
1. Emotional Preparation: THE MAP. I am pretty proud of this one. Months (okay, maybe weeks?) ahead of time, I let Mr. Lo help me create a map from Ohio to Idaho. We used scrapbook paper, stickers, markers, photos of family members, etc. and I haven't scanned it but for your visualization help, see below: We discussed and examined the map on at least a daily basis, so frequently that Lo became able to read it aloud to any friends who came to visit. "My home," he would say, pointing to the house on the far side. "And this GrandMom's home. I move Idaho, live GrandMom home." We especially made sure to pull it out during the trip whenever Lo started pleading to "Please nap my own bed?" rather than a hotel room/carseat/etc. and we'd remind him why we were on the road. He really did seem able to understand and respond positively to the visual of the map.

While driving a few days into our trip, Lo enjoyed using the map to talk about places we'd already seen and activities already done. "What this, Mommy?" he queried, pointing to one spot or another, and I'd tell him what the pictures on the map represented.
2. Special Treats: OUT OF SEASON FRUITS. We tried to keep Lo's candy intake to a normal level, and instead supplemented our roadtrip snacks with special fruits he hasn't had in awhile to delight his palate. He regards fruit as the same category as candy anyway--gets equally if not more excited over watermelon, grapes, and strawberries compared to chocolates or whatnot. The watermelon was something like $6/lb. Yes. Worth every penny.

3. Special Clothing: SLIPPERS. We don't normally allow Lo to wear slippers out and about, but he got this pair for Christmas from a friend and loved them. They became his number one pair of footwear throughout the trip and he seemed to really enjoy wearing them. Simple pleasures to make the car ride more comfy. ps. he was making Nauvoo rope in that photo below, just happened to be the shot that showed his slippered feet. =)

4. Plan to be spontaneous: CHUCK-E-CHEESE. We ended up getting a hotel one night that was located directly across the street from a Chuck E Cheese (sp?). We decided to go there for dinner and it really boosted Lo's mood. On another night, we were musing about dinner plans and then drove past a McDonald's that had a playplace. No hesitation--we had gotten tired of fast food by this point, but knew the playing and running around would be good for that Lo. It is good to leave enough time in the trip schedule for unplanned playtime. When opportunity presents itself, take advantage.

We temporarily lost his slippers at Chuck E Cheese. =)

5. Teach. CARTHAGE JAIL: probably one of my greatest joys of the trip is when Mister Lo absorbed the brotherhood and love between Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He saw this statue, became enthralled, and for days afterward mentioned at random moments in the car,"Hand on arm" (referring to the pose of Joseph and Hyrum). I am glad we had a mindset of teaching our son during this trip because it made us as parents more patient and loving overall--and Lo picked up on our attitude. He was more coachable because he could sense we were intent on coaching.

On one of our other trips a few months ago, an irritable fellow flier on a plane trip with us snapped that we should be using Benadryl to keep our child quiet during the flight (Lo hadn't been crying, but was making loud happy playing noises at the time). The reason we Tams choose to abstain from drugging our child into complacency during trips is because we value teachable moments. And those moments often come unexpectedly. The brain of a child is precious and geared to learn--even on a long cross-country journey.

6. Activities: BUSY BAG EXCHANGE. We stuffed an entire 18 gallon tote full of hundreds of small activities. Some were dollar-store toys, some were more quality Christmas gifts (thanks again for the Aquadoodle, Joanne!), and some were hand-crafted treasures to keep a toddler occupied. I wrangled together a group of Mommy friends and we all made activities, then got together and traded what we had made so we each ended up with a huge pile of different activities. It isn't making sense the way I explained it just now probably, but suffice to say we all got some great ideas and ready-made "boredom busters" from each other. These photo cards were my favorite. My friend Chelsea pasted photos of all the little kids in our group, along with a tidbit of info about each child. There are also stickers on the laminated cards. Endless entertainment for Lo! He loved looking at the photos of all his friends, talking about their likes/hobbies, etc. and sorting the cards.

The item I made to give everyone was a clothes pin color matching game. I only used the colors Red, Yellow, and Blue, thinking to keep it simple for the younger set. But it still seemed a little over the head of our 2-year-old. He needs a lot of help to do this game. Still fun though.

By the end of the trip, we had gone through almost every toy in the box. It seemed like a near-perfect amount. We supplemented by buying a few small toys along the way (bouncy-ball from a vending machine, additional stickers from Wal-Mart, etc.) (By the way, the sticker book and stickers were a huge hit, I think because Lo recently hit that developmental stage of being able to easily manipulate the stickers on his own).

7. Spiritual Preparation: FAST AND PRAY. Both us Tams and others in our extended family/friend group were sending serious supplications heavenward that the journey would go well. I know this effort was heard and rewarded by a loving Heavenly Father.

I think that's about it. We had a fairly happy toddler for the majority of the trip, even with him getting pink-eye a couple days into the journey and coming down with a cough/cold the last day of driving. Seriously, it was a miracle how well the trip went. Best wishes to any others attempting a similar journey.

ps. I should cite this blog post for giving me the original framework of ideas to make traveling with toddlers a positive experience. I love her idea about incorporating literature, and though we didn't choose a specific book to be our theme for the trip, we did read a ton of books about cars/trucks etc. in the months preceding said driving, which made Lo be extra excited to see all the other vehicles on the highway. =)

Safely Arrived

To anybody who was wondering and didn't know yet...

We had an interesting Christmas/New Year holiday that mostly consisted of being sick and getting ourselves packed and moved out of our Ohio apartment.

Then we spent the past week driving across the country seeing wonderful sites and being pleasantly surprised how well Mr. Lo did in the car for 30+ hours, all things considered (preparation is everything! We win the award for being Most Prepared Parents Ever, for this trip anyway). Still, we were all ready for the driving to end by the time day #6 rolled around.

Last night we arrived in Idaho. We are busy getting settled and will post more later. Thanks again to all who helped us get moved/cleaned out of Ohio. We were blown away by how much support we received.

Nature Center

We have a free Nature Center just 15 mins. drive from our home. For some reason we never went there until just a few weeks ago, and since then we've returned once more because it was so fun! The Nature Center has a temporary exhibit that includes an indoor play gym--invaluable in this Ohio winter weather.
And a Winter Wonderland backdrop that Lo wouldn't stand still at for a pose no matter how hard I tried. He just kept running around exploring the whole time we were there.
A life-sized game board leads kids through one section of the exhibits. They can roll a dice and move along to various activites on a sort of obstacle course. At this microphone the kids were supposed to chirp "bird calls," so Lo said something like "chirp chirp."
They had lots of tunnels to crawl through as well.
We didn't get photos of much of the outdoor part of the nature center, but it has a lot of animals. A fox that was a cinnamony-chocolate color, so beautiful, a hawk that flew up and grabbed the top of its cage with huge talons, and a teeny tiny owl, to name a few. The animals are all rescue/rehab cases that will soon be released back into the wild.

Cookies Run Away

We've had some holiday cheer lately. Here we are at the company Christmas party, always worth attending. This year Lo loved the bounce house and inflatable obstacle course the most. But he also really enjoyed Santa! I think it helped that we dressed him as a "mini Santa," and Lo recognized they were matching. He says that word a lot, "matching." I made the mistake of explaining that Santa comes when people are asleep and leaves toys and candy, so now having no comprehension of time, Lo wakes up most mornings asking if Santa came already.


The video clip is from a special event at the library. They read a gingerbread man story to the kids and then everybody hunted around the library for runaway cookies. Lo Lo really got into it! He thought it was fascinating that the cookies were "yay my-ing" (Lei Mai..."hiding") and thoroughly enjoyed decorating his own cookie at the end. Listen for him saying "Cookies run away" on this clip. So cute. We love our Lo.

Taking the challenge

The First Presidency message for this month is on Gratitude. Perfect since we all have a lot to be grateful for considering Christmas and commemorating the birth of the Savior. At the end of the article is a challenge to write down 100 things for which I am grateful. I did this exercise before in my journal, but it was years ago and I think took weeks for me to accomplish, just jotting down grateful thoughts as they came to me.

I will take on this challenge again. I know it will increase my happiness and help me see how I can use the blessings I have been given to better serve others.

Part I: Ten Physical Abilities for which I am grateful
1. Being allergy-free. I thought of this one last night when I caught a whiff of dust in the air and remembered my husband is severely allergic to dust. Poor guy gets painfully swollen sinuses and congestion while I don't get bothered at all. I need to be more consistent to wash the bedsheets weekly in hot water to help alleviate his allergies. Also recently I found out a few little boys I know are deathly allergic to nuts. How I would miss eating nuts! So I'm just extra thankful to have no allergies that I can think of.
2. Bearing children. It was an exhilarating, sacred experience to feel life growing in me when pregnant with Lo. It was also wonderful to feel the sensations of the birthing time--discomfort included, I'm not kidding! I felt absolutely alive and empowered by the whole deal. And I know not every woman gets that blessing in this life, so I am grateful it came to me.
3. Sight. I have a few close family members with visual impairment, so I have seen first-hand their challenges. I have independence, joys, and ease in life because of my vision. And to think I sometimes complain about having to wear glasses/contacts. In this moment I am just grateful to have access to such tools to enhance my sight when there are some who never get to wear a pair of glasses though they may need it all their lives!
4. Hearing. Yesterday I heard church bells chiming carols. It lifted my heart.
5. Hands. I have fun learning ASL with Lo. And how many other things my hands can do! Picking up my child, stirring dinner on the stove, all the every-day tasks that I often take for granted.
6. Walking. I walk a lot of places, including grocery shopping on a regular basis since Jerry and I share a car. This past week we vacationed in Toronto and got to walk all around that exciting city. Jerry kept wanting to ride the street cars, but I preferred walking.
7. Eating. Yes, this is an ability. I have always enjoyed food. One little boy in our nursery class consumes his calories through a stomach tube, and I have noticed his parents call it "feeding time," rather than "eating time." I am grateful to be among those who can eat.
8. Smiling. Sometimes Jerry and I joke about our smiles. "What if I really smiled like this," Jerry would ask, pulling a goofy face. "Would you still have married me?" We laugh, but really there ARE people who either cannot smile or who choose not to smile or some people who just don't like their smiles. But I am grateful to be able to smile and be truly happy about that toothy part of my face.
9. Talking. I lost my voice over the past week due to some type of cold/respiratory illness. There were some moments that I desperately wanted to speak, even just to comment on Lo's antics, let alone communicate basic needs or wishes. But I could only whisper or make hand motions. Now that my voice is returning (albeit scratchy still) I am conscious of the glory of speaking out loud. It is so helpful in connecting with other people.
10. Sleep. I have suffered from chronic insomnia, so the nights when I sleep without problem are something to cherish. Last night I slept 6 hours straight before I had to wake up to go to the bathroom, and it is amazing how refreshed I felt after that kind of stretch. =) Granted, I could not get myself to fall back asleep again after getting up for that bathroom run, but we'll focus on the positive here. I am pretty talented at being able to nap during the day with Lo when I ever need it.

So there we go! 10 things I am grateful for. I'll do this project in installments over the next month or so.

Refreshing

A few days ago our church broadcast a Christmas Devotional. Normally Jerry and I would have watched it online that evening, but since we had been visiting friends that day and got home right at Lo's bedtime we decided to just view the archived devotional later.

Still not having watched the devotional, yesterday I went shopping for Christmas gifts and felt an undeniable pressure and anxiety surrounding me. Then, after returning home, I finally got around to reading the online summary of the Christmas devotional. An instant peace filled my heart and pushed away the holiday stress. If there is anybody else needing to refresh their spirits and remember the true joys of the season, check it out.