Once Upon A Time...

… there was this nasty moment in Morris family life where the wife caught pink eye at the family Christmas party…

… she used some over-the-counter eye drops to help it feel better, and when it cleared up, she thought she threw away the bottle.  But she threw away the wrong stuff.  Then, a few weeks later, the husband had allergy eyes, and used the over-the-counter stuff that should have been in the trash can to help him feel better.  And then this happened...

And it was awful.  He tried his best to stay far away from the sweet baby, so that her cute little eyes would be spared, but he couldn't help himself.  After giving her sweet cuddles and kisses before bed one night, she woke up the next morning like this...

Poor thing, huh?  After 5 days of wrangling drops into her eyes every morning and night, I think the curse of the pink eye might finally be gone for good.  I sprayed Clorox disinfectant spray over every door knob and surface in the house.  I cleaned all the bedding in hot water and aired out the bedrooms.  

PINK EYE BE GONE!  … AND PLEASE NEVER RETURN! 

Happy 2014!

I feel like I better write my New Year post before January is over!

2013 was an awesome year! I spent almost all of it growing a human, and then figuring out how to keep that little human alive and happy.  I didn't get much done as far as school goes.  I didn't exercise much at all.  I even gained an awesome 36 pounds.  But I DID read a ton of books and articles about natural childbirth and parenthood.  I tried to overcome my selfish and whiney pregnant tendencies.  And I birthed a darling healthy baby without any compromising pain medications.  And that's one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.  

2014 feels completely different than 2013.  Clementine has completely changed everything.  Life isn't about me anymore- it is all about taking care of her and keeping her healthy and happy.  She is a big ol' life lesson in putting someone else's needs before my own.  I'm learning patience and creativity and how to SLOW DOWN my pace.  It's really good for me.  

This year, some exciting things are going to happen.  I am going to FINALLY finish my lecture recital and dissertation and finish my DMA degree at the U once and for all.  After 10 years of post-highschool education, it's going to be reeeeeally nice to be finished.  

Nathan is also going to graduate from Ameritech College in August and start a real life nursing job.  That's going to be awesome too.  One stepping stone closer to becoming a Woman's Health Nurse Practitioner. Yesssss.  

And we're going to pay off a huge chunk of our student loans.  One stepping stone closer to saving up a downpayment for a house.  Woot.  

This year, Clementine will learn to roll all the way over, crawl, walk, eat solid food, and probably even talk a little.  By the end of the year, she won't be a baby any more, she'll be a little toddler!  What??  This is a huge year for her!  

On New Year's Eve, we filled out these little resolution worksheets and we have them hanging on the fridge.  My word for 2014 is SELF-DISCIPLINE!  I need to be disciplined with my time, especially!  Time is an easy thing to waste, but I have too much to get done and too much of it is flying by too fast to twiddle my thumbs. 

 I'm excited for a great new year.  Bring it on, 2014!  

3 Years Married, Christmas 2013, and Clementine's Blessing

On December 18th, Nathan and I celebrated our third year of marriage.  And what an awesome year it was!  Not long after our 2nd anniversary, we found out that our little baby was on her way, and we spent the rest of the year getting ready and getting excited for her to come.  And then she DID come and she changed our little family forever.  Without a doubt, I fell more in love with Nathan this past year.  He loved me through some of my sickest, fattest, most emotional and hardest times.  I am such a lucky wife! 

To celebrate, we dropped Clementine off to hang out with the Walkers and their cats while we went out to dinner at Tucanos.  Then we spent some time walking around temple square, enjoying the lights.  It was nice being just the two of us, but I kept feeling like we were forgetting something.  Being a mom has turned me anxious! While we were on temple square, we snuck up to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building's Harmony room where we had our wedding dinner.  We quickly snapped this photo, and I think the caterer cleaning up the room thought we were crazy.  But it was a fun memory.  

We picked up Clementine and stayed the night at the beautiful Haxton Manor.  She slept like a little champ, and the inn keeper even commented on what a good baby she is.  

We woke up the next morning to a beautiful blanket of snow- just like on the first morning of our honeymoon.

Fast forward to Christmas.  I had so much fun this year getting ready for Christmas with Clementine.  I loved reading Christmas books to her every night, and singing Christmas songs to her throughout the day. Even though she's still really small, I think she could tell there was something special about what was going on.  

Our Christmas Eve elves, Jingle and Jangle (idea credit to Adam and Andrea) brought us each new Christmas jammies, a new bedtime story for Clementine, a movie and some popcorn.  But by the time we opened Jingle and Jangle's box, we were all toooo tired to stay awake through a movie.  We'll do better next year…

On Christmas morning, Clementine let us sleep later than usual- thanks baby!  We woke up and listened to the last episode of The Christmas Chronicles while Clementine ate breakfast.  And then we opened Samson's presents, our presents and Clementine's presents.  Here we are with our spoils.  

Clementine definitely came away with the biggest pile this year.  I couldn't even help myself.  

Fast forward to January 5th.  The day Clementine was blessed in church.  I'm mad at myself for not taking more pictures of the day.  I didn't even take a picture of her in her dress!  But this is a picture of her in the dress the day we bought it- about three weeks before her actual blessing day.  And on the real day, we changed out the black sash for a white one.  

This picture IS of her on her blessing day, but without the dress on.  I just love what her hair is doing these days.  It's so soft, but it sticks straight up all over the top of her head.  

These darling little girly shoes and socks were given to Clementine by Grandpa Blake and Grandma Laurie for Christmas to be used on her blessing day.  What a sweet sweet gift!  

Nathan did a great job on the blessing.  He called her "little Lady" and "Sweet Clementine" throughout the blessing, just like we call her at home.  She was blessed with many great gifts and blessings, but what keeps standing out to me is how much she is going to be like her Grandma Gae.  And that fills my heart with joy! 

After the blessing we had a little hot chocolate party to celebrate and visit with friends and family.  Thanks everyone for coming and sharing your delicious treats!  I was touched by all the love and support I felt from everyone who came.  We are lucky to be surrounded by so many loved ones.  They say it takes a village to raise a child.  I think Clementine's village is a pretty great one.