Child Life Month

March marked the 9th month of me working as a child life specialist. This is significant because when I was first hired, 9 months was with the deadline of me getting re-certified. At first that seemed like it wasn't going to be that tough, but as the months went on and the classes went on (an on and on...) I was a little doubtful that it was going to happen. In fact, it was going to be by the skin of my teeth.

Lucky for me, the hospital adjusted its time frame on un-certified child life specialists from 9 months to 18 months. Although this relieved a TON of stress for me, I still just desperately wanted to pass. I mean, it had been hanging over my head for close to a year! I just wanted it over. So a lot of time in March was spent in pouring over the books. I felt like the more I studied the more stressed I felt about remembering it all, and the more I felt like I needed to add to my reading list. Nothing to do but keep on reading, highlighting, and making flashcards. I think the stack was 6" high by the time I was done.

In the meantime, there was a lot going on at the hospital! It was officially Child Life Month, and we celebrated with  a lot of perks and treat. For starters, we got to wear jeans on Fridays (though I don't work that day), and we got a few lunches catered. We got treated to new t-shirts and cute sippy cups and all sorts of fun. We had a few dress up days - St. Patrick's Day for one. (Themed t-shirts have become a very big deal, and all my coworkers have stacks of cute tee's for all the holidays. My office mate talked me into getting a chicken-themed St. Patrick's Day shirt, and I shall that I felt so dumb wearing it. (Feelin' Clucky!) I think I'm going to take a pass on holiday shirts from here on out.

One of our days was a "throw back Thursday" and we could wear any t-shirt we wanted that was any sort of throw back. I went with a sweatshirt that had a '67 Ford Bronco on it. (Best I could do from Smith's Marketplace late the night before.) My cute office mates Ashley and Becca went with their beloved 90's designer, Lisa Frank. I wouldn't have known her name, but seeing her art brought back a flood of memories. They were so cute - jelly shoes, butterfly hair clips, the works. So cute. I'm not up for stuff like that. 

Other happy things happened at the hospital - for one thing, my niece who is in medical school had a one-day rotation in the NICU and let me know she was there. Of course I zipped right up to the fourth floor so I could get a hug. I sure love her. 

Well finally the dreaded day came. March 22. I was so nervous I could barely sleep. Finally it came close to the time to go and I made my way up to the UofU testing center so I could take my dreaded certification test. I would like to say here that I have a lot of faith in blessings. I received a priesthood blessing from Troy, and in it he said that that I would find the answers to be obvious to me. I put my faith in that, and could only trust that I had studied enough and would get the help I needed. 

One hundred and fifty questions. Four hours. What a marathon. But to tell you the truth, once I sat down and took a deep breath and opened the test and answered the first question, I felt so much better. I'm not going to say that I found the test to be easy - it wasn't. But I did feel certain of my answers. They actually did feel obvious to me. I forced myself to reread through the entire test twice just to make sure. But I felt confident when I hit that submit button, and what a relief it was when I immediately got notified that I had passed. To be totally honest, it's possible that I only just barely passed. And it's possible that I got 100%. I will never know. They don't tell you!! It makes me a little nutty thinking about it, but I'm trying to just let that go and be so so so grateful that I passed. 

Everyone asks me how my job is different now. Did I get a pay raise? Did my schedule change? Was I given more responsibility? Nope. The difference is now that I get to keep my job and not get fired. I can't imagine a better way to celebrate Child Life Month.

PHEW and Thank Heavens and PHEW PHEW PHEW.

Never Too Old

There isn't a whole of narration to add to this post. The pictures sort of say it all. 

In the middle of March, we got one of our better snow storms of the year. It wasn't great - a year ago in April I think we got 18" or so, and this was only about six. But this was enough for my big kids to get the urge to go and play - they went digging through the bins of winter wear to find boots and gaters and started on a fort. 

It turns out that when your big grown up adult kids do things that they used to do when they were little, it's extra adorable. Troy and I kept peeking out the back window to check on their progress and it made us smile to see them working together out there.

Emma was not interested in participating, but she made them her special hot cocoa when they finally came inside to warm up. The fort was only half way done, and they swore they would get back to it the next day. It was no surprise, however, that regular life took over and the fort was left to melt away in the sun as the spring weather came back like it always does in March. 

Adding to the Flock

Our chickens by the numbers:

Total ever owned: 51

Total roosters we've had to give away: 15 (So far. This new batch of chicks has roosters yet to be unveiled, so to speak.)

Total chickens who have passed through the veil of death: 17 (including two teeny chicks we couldn't get to thrive this year - rest in peace, Tiptoe and Wobble.)

Total current chickens in our flock: 19

And for the record, 19 is really more than we can handle. Our 11 new chicks are already very teenagery in their appearance and behavior and are practically bursting out of their brooder in the garage. We need to get them out into the actual chicken coop and run, getting acclimated to the old chickens, and figuring out which ones get to stay (the gals) and which ones will have to go (sorry guys).

Here's the tough part. It's almost time to send some of our old lady chickens to a retirement home. And no, that isn't a euphemism for killing them. I can't bring myself to do that! Which proves that I'm just not ever going to be a true farmer. I found an ACTUAL farm that takes old chickens and lets them roam free to eat bugs and weeds. I'm pretty sad about letting them go....in fact I haven't done it yet. But also we do actually want eggs from our flock. So I guess this is the way it goes.

Welcome to the family Ripley, Sigourney, Uma, Prim, Ibbie, Fifi, Jane, Lizzie, Edelweiss, Wisteria, and Diana. (Try guessing who named who.)

We are trying a couple of new breeds this time around - D'uccles, which we have had before but weren't able to raise to be adults, and a couple of non-bantam breeds; Easter Eggers and Americanas. Apparently they are both known for being incredibly sweet. So far I do think these chicks are a lot more calm and willing to be held. It's been a couple of years since we have had chicks and it's been super fun to have them around again! We actually kept them in the living room for their first 10 days or so - mostly because we didn't clear out a space for them in the garage right away. But also because we decided it was delightful to have them close by to keep an eye on them and enjoy their little cheep cheeps.

Here is my teen girl with one of my teen chickens, Jane:

 

And for whomever was trying to guess on the names:

Troy - Diana, after his favorite singer, Diana Krall

Rachel - Jane and Lizzie, after the Bennett sisters from Pride and Prejudice, and Ripley after Ellen Ripley in the Alien movies. (Troy and I picked that name a long time ago.)

Chase & Romney - Prim (Primordial), Fifi (Colossus the Fire Dragon), Ibbie (Cannibal), all named after roller coasters at Lagoon. Sigourney and Uma after the actresses.

Emma - Edelweiss and Wysteria. I think we are going to call them Edo (Ay-doh) and Wisty. 

Names will stick if we are able to tell any of them apart!

Happy Birthday to My Troy

I am so happy to say that I think I finally understand what makes a great birthday for my husband. I always want him to have a great birthday, and so I ask him what he wants - what gifts, what food, what activities. We learned long ago that me surprising him with stupid little gifts that I'm guessing he would like is definitely not it. But asking too much about what he wants is also not it. And then I realized that what Troy wants is to not have to decide anything and for the day to not be a very big deal. Being with people he loves and having a yummy dinner is just about right.

So that's what we did. I ordered Indian food from Mumbai House without bugging him about what he wanted. (That's easy - I already know. Chicken makhani for the win, every time.) I asked our kids to be with us for dinner and conversation in the living room. I made a chocolate cake. And it was the most pleasant evening together. We just really love our kids. Both Chase and Romney have significant others now - both of whom we are really just so fond of. Being all together playing Chase's Hugge game (basically just conversation questions) was sweet and pleasant, especially with our tummies full of delicious Indian food. And cake. 

I worked that day, so I had Romney and Chase run to the store for cake supplies like candles and stuff. Romney thought she was hilarious by purchasing the numbers 5 0 0 so we could make a "you're turning 500!" cake. Little stinker. And boy did Troy laugh when he saw it. 

Yeah, Chase has a sweetie. I probably shouldn't blog about her because relationships are precarious and family blogs are weird. But she has been a really happy part of Chase's life for several months now, so on to the blog she goes. Emily is a total sweetheart.

There's not much else to say except that I couldn't ask for a better partner in life than my Troy. Happy birthday.

Our Little Mermaid

Way back in November, about a week after East High finished its production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, auditions were held for The Little Mermaid. Emma (who goes by Lyn at school), really was hoping for the role of Flounder, Ariel's sidekick fish. She thought Scuttle the seagull would also be fun. She didn't get either role, and was a little bummed about that. However, what she did get was awesome. 

Emma was cast as Arista, one of Ariel's sisters. I knew that once she got going with the rehearsals she would quickly get caught up in the fun of being a part of this ensemble. I knew it would mean fabulous costumes and a really great group of girls, and some lines and even a little solo singing. I was not wrong. Of course there were some frustrating days here and there, but overall it was a great experience. 

The performances were in February - five total, including a Saturday matinee featuring all the understudies so they had a chance to shine. I had to confess to being quite impressed with Emma's solo singing lines. She did great. And the mersisters had a couple of songs with really great harmonies. Proud of my little alto! My purple-haired alto.

The most dedicated theater mom is so cute - she headed up the concessions and dressed up a few times, including as Ursula:

We had a mini EHS reunion one evening - Nick's mom Heather, Annie, mom of Scuttle, me, and Eliza all ended up at one show and spend intermission reminiscing and enjoying each other's company.

Grateful to Sam and Kathleen who made the trip from DayBreak to see the show.

In previous shows I've tried to be a little more involved with costumes and stuff like that. I could only take on a few little jobs this time since my certification exam was so close. Instead I accepted the request to make dinner on one of the long dress rehearsal nights. I always think I'm going to keep it simple and easy and it just NEVER is. There is always some disaster or another. I can't get pulled pork to pull, I spill cheese sauce all over my oven, I forget plates....whatever. It's always a stressful mess. This particular time I was really grateful that the rehearsal went long because it allowed me to rescue a few disasters. However, it did mean that the mac-n-cheese was kind of cold. So what did I do? I went and found the drama teacher's heat gun in his shop and waved it over the pans of noodles for a good 15 minutes while I was waiting for dinner to start. That was a new adventure.

As always seems to be the case, the play took up a lot of time and energy and emotion, and was simultaneously filled with joy and memory making that makes it all so much fun. 

Knitting Ups and Downs

Despite the fact that not a ton of group knitting happened on my Romney Women trip, I did bring a project with me that I made a lot of progress on. That project is a sweater for Troy. I'm so happy that Troy wants a sweater from me. You know, I actually started one for him a million years ago. It was just plain - no colorwork, no cables, no nothing. And it was so unbearably boring that I gave up on making it. Which is probably a good thing because I had never made an adult sized sweater before, and even now that I've made several I still struggle with sizing. Anyway. Troy wants a sweater and I want to make him one! 

He picked out the pattern - such a lovely cable pattern with sort of a funnel neck. I love it. And I had just the right yarn for it. It was perfect except one little thing - I had nowhere near enough yarn. I tried to convince myself that I did - the yarn came from a project that I made during the viewing of the winter Olympics in Korea...whenever that was. I remember that I wanted to make a really big scarf. But I guess I had more Olympics to watch than I realized because the resulting scarf was so ridiculously massive that I never wore it. It was too narrow for a blanket and too long for....anything. So a couple of years ago I just ripped it out, determined to find the right project for the beautiful yarn. I thought I had found it. That scarf wrapped around my torso at least twice! Surely it would be enough!

It took me almost completing the back before I had to be honest with myself and admit I didn't have enough. My plan was to go to a few yarn stores (I mean, if I had to go I just HAD to go, right?) and hunt down a really similar yarn. Turns out, that is an impossible task.

I told my fellow family knitters about this problem, we tried to come up with ideas like making the sleeves a different color or turning it into a sweater vest. My cousin Luanne and I decided that after our return to Utah we would get together to visit a new yarn shop in downtown SLC and see what we could find.

I think it was just that next week that Luanne made the trip to the valley for us to meet up and check out Handworks on Pierpont Avenue. And guess what. We found something, alright! (No, it was not the right yarn.) What we found was first, the most wonderful lovely yarn shop I've ever been to. I walked in and just about died of pure happiness and delight. Brick wall, beautiful old floor, steel beams, and best of all, a puppy. Oh yeah, and a ton of really fabulous yarn. 

 

(I added this sweater to my knit-wish list)

Second, we found that the woman behind the counter was very familiar to me - she had worked at Blazing Needles, my former LYS that closed. I was so thrilled to discover that this woman, who was by far the most helpful and knowledgeable person I'd ever been helped by, had opened this shop. She is so wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that she was able to talk me out of trying to patch together the sleeves out of some other yarn. AND she was able to correctly guess the brand of yarn I was trying to find. She didn't carry it, but helped me find the website. Happily I went home to order the yarn!

Only....the yarn I got was so not right. Way too heavy of a yarn and totally the wrong color. I tried again. Found the right yarn, right weight....wrong color. Observe:

Time to give up. I went back to Handworks and just bought the right amount of a different yarn and started again. I'm almost done with the back again. Have I ripped out the first attempt? Not yet. I can't quite bring myself to do it. But when I do, I'll go back to my new favorite LYS (Local Yarn Shop) to ask what I can make with it.