The Scowl... Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid...

Here is a post that was saved in drafts a LOOONGGGG time ago, but for one reason or another I never got around to publishing. This was probably about 3 1/2 years ago or so... but better late than never, right? ;-)

"On Tuesday my uncle came and watched the kids for me while I worked for a few hours to make up some of the time I lost taking Everardo to the doctor during the day. When I got done, my uncle told me that Moroni had scowled at him and that he had the makings of a first rate scowl! His words... "When I give people a look like that, I can make them shiver. He keeps on, and he'll have grown men looking to find a hidey hole to crawl into!" LOL!!! I'm not sure if I should be proud, or scared!"

Here is a mild example of "the LOOK":

If it weren't for bad luck...

...We wouldn't have any luck at all. How many times have you heard that expression? I know I've used it most of my life. After the events of last week, I am still pretty sure that we have more than our share of bad luck, but I KNOW that we are also greatly blessed!!
I got the phone call on Tuesday the 5th... you know the one I mean... the one every wife dreads... Everardo had been in an accident at work, and they were packing him up to take him to Louisville. That was my first clue that it was pretty bad.
They were taking him directly to U of L instead of to the local hospital where they would take a minor injury.  I didn't know at the time, but he was actually flown to the hospital via helicopter... it is probably for the best that I didn't know that at the time. I was shaking when I left the house, calling a friend who lives nearby to come and watch the kids for me. The older kids picked up on that anxious vibe and were kind of freaked out, but I gave them hugs before I left and reassured them that things would be fine.
I felt myself calm down as I got into the car and said a prayer asking for blessings to be poured out upon Everardo and our family. I had to drive the 25 minutes to the cooperage to find out where they had ended up taking him. When I got there, after a quick stop for gas because I was running almost empty, I asked.the supervisor to tell me briefly what had happened. The ladies in the office were.surprised at how calm I was, but like I told them, falling to pieces and freaking out would not help anybody... there would be time enough for that later. The supervisor explained that somehow his arm had gotten caught in the machine, and that his arm was definitely broken, and the skin on the back of his hand was gone. In reality, it was all there, it just had been ripped open, but after seeing it I understand how he got that impression. It was an exceedingly long drive up to the U of L hospital, but I finally made it up there and found Everardo in the emergency room, waiting to be taken up to surgery. I snapped one pic when they had the splint open before the surgery, and that pic is worth a thousand words! (All of them some variation of the word OUCH!!!!) He had one surgery on the 5th to put pins in the hand and place an ex-fix on the arm, then went back to the OR on the 7th to remove the ex-fix and go in to place plates and screws on both bones of the left forearm. The pins in the hand will come out on July 3rd. (Can you imagine... they just use a pair of pliers and pull them out!! I hope they at least numb it first!) Now he has a splint on it, and I change the bandages every day. He started Occ. Therapy today... although the movement that he has is very limited. We are just thanking God that he still has his hand and all his fingers... it could have easily been much worse! Thank you for your prayers, kind words, and good wishes on his behalf. God is good, ALL the time!

Falling behind, as usual...

I'm really going to quit talking about how horrible I am about keeping up with this. I knew going into it, that it would probably be a hit or miss deal, and everyone who knows me is not surprised by that, right? So... I'll just move on. I did really well with my scripture reading... for about a week and a half. I'm not giving up, though, even if it takes me a little longer than planned. I still have not gotten back to work on a regular basis yet. I have filled in once, which was only one call, about 15 minutes worth. Definitely not enough income. I have high hopes that the company will have a slot opening up soon on the "day shift" which is anytime between 8am - 9pm. I really would like to work from about 3 or 4 to 9pm. Then Everardo could watch the baby while I worked, but still not lose out on his sleep. I can't remember if I wrote about it here before, but the plan, if I can get back on a contract that will pay me a flat hourly rate, is for Everardo to quit his job and go to school in order to 1) finish his GED, and 2) improve his English skills. Right now it is next to impossible, because he needs a class-type verbal format. Someone explaining everything. Reading it out of a book isn't cutting it. (and horrible as it is... I do not have the patience nor does he have the patience with me for me to be able to teach him. I gave up my teaching major for a reason!) We have investigated the GED Connection videos put out by KET which are in Spanish, but they are not online as video on demand (only the English ones are) and they are being broadcast over KET, on Saturday mornings at 5am(!), only we don't have a TV that has a digital converter, and you can't get it with rabbit ears anymore, so that is a dead end. I contacted the local public library, and spoke with one of the nice ladies there, and she said she is going to try and order a copy of the DVD's from KET so that we can check it out. I did the legwork for her and found out who to call and how much ($200 for the set of 39 episodes). Hopefully that will come in soon. He really doesn't want to drag this out. If he could attend a class, he would like to get the whole thing done within 3 months. BUT the first step is me getting back on an hourly contract somewhere so I can cover the household expenses while he is doing it. His worker's comp review with the administrative judge was supposed to be February 9th, but we got notification from the attorney that it has been canceled. They will let us know when it is rescheduled. One more frustration. I'm hoping that we can get everything resolved with that sometime soon. I wonder how that affects our taxes? I want to get them done as soon as possible. I don't think we have received any tax form for what little WC has paid him so far... probably it was under the limit and they didn't send one. I'll have to check with the attny and the tax guy.

In other news, I have started a new exercise program called T-Tapp. The lady that came up with it describes it as a physical therapy approach to fitness. She used to train models in the fashion industry, and talks about the different body types (short torso-long legs, vs long torso-short legs) and what that means as far as what results you can realistically expect. The Basic workout is only about 15-20 minutes long, but MAN it KICKS my BUTT!! I did 4 sessions last week and lost a total of 7.25" (between all 14 different measurements that we take), which I think is pretty darn great! Of course, then my husband so generously shared his galloping crud cold with me, which along with a sinus headache knocked me completely out of commission for a few days. I am going to try to get back on the wagon tonight before I go to bed, so I had better wrap this up quick. :) Nefi is growing like a weed, up to 11 lbs 5 oz now, and 24 1/2" long. 0-3 months sized footie pajamas type clothes don't fit him anymore because of how long he is. He can't stretch his legs out all the way when he wears them! The cloth diapering has been going amazingly well. The disposable diaper liners (which basically look like dryer sheets) have made a big difference. That, and having a diaper sprayer attached to the toilet to easily spray off anything that the liner doesn't catch. We do still use disposables on occasion (they are more compact to put in the diaper bag if I'm going to be out and about for more than a couple of hours), but he have only had to buy one pack in the last 2 months, so the savings has been significant. (even counting the small increase in our water bill from the extra loads of laundry!)

Well, that is all for now... I really have to take advantage of the baby sleeping right now to get my workout in.

:)

Motivated Mamas: Scripture Reading Schedule

I am so thankful that a friend on Facebook posted a link to this blog post. It is a schedule for reading all of the Standard Works (Old & New Testaments, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price) in 1 year. I have a goal to read my scriptures more consistently this year, and I think this will be a great help and motivation for me. Feel free to join me, and let me know about your experience! Happy New Year!! May 2012 be a year full of Peace and Blessings for you and your family... wherever you may be!

Motivated Mamas: Scripture Reading Schedule: Read the scriptures in 365 days! It only takes about 15-20 minutes a day and it will change your life! ...

Yeah, yeah... I know, I've said it before...

But I really need to get back into keeping some sort of record, whether it be a written journal or a blog... I also am needing to document and be accountable to myself at the very least for the fitness/lifestyle change that I need to make, starting now. So expect more posts in the near future... just don't hold your breathe waiting for them to come on a regular basis!

Now that we have gotten THAT out of the way, let me share the latest and greatest news, (which you all know about already, but bear with me...) the birth of our 5th child, and 2nd son, Nefi Everardo... after almost 12 years of saying that he couldn't stand his name, because no one can pronounce it or spell it correctly, Ev decided that he wanted a "junior"... I know, technically just having the middle name be after him, is not a Junior, but it works in his mind, so I'm not going to argue. Nefi was born 11/14/11 at 2:43 pm weighing in at 8lbs, 9.5oz, and measuring 21" long... yeah, he is long, and he was really quite big considering he was almost 2 weeks early. He was born via c-section due to his being breech and then our finding out that my amniotic fluid levels were dropping dramatically for unknown reasons. (so they were not able to attempt to turn him manually before birth.) He was NOT the 9 lbs 2 oz that they tried to tell me he was according to the ultrasound 3 days before he was born, but honestly, I think I would have been happier if he had been! I'm used to having chunky babies, and although he is my 2nd biggest in weight and tied for longest with Maria, he looks so skinny! He did lose quite a bit of weight at first, which took him almost a month to recover, but he is up to about 9 lbs now, at 5 wks old, but he still doesn't have the baby rolls that I am used to. He is filling out more, so there is hope! What he is, though is very interesting, because he is FURRY! No joke! He has peach fuzz on his face, but a LOT of lanugo (which really looks like fur) on his shoulders, back, etc... He is exceedingly good-tempered, and sleeps well most of the time (knock on wood!) He is a joy and a huge blessing to our family. The other kids all love him dearly... even Moroni, who was unsure at first, is now in love with his little brother.

We are almost ready for Christmas, so I'll just close this post with a few pictures of Nefi, just to reward you for reading for so long! :)

This is Friday right before we went in for our appointment to try to turn him.

 This is the design on a shirt that a friend gave us for the baby... it made me laugh so hard!

 Christmas lights reflected in his eye...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 

from the Perez Family!

Wow... I have really been neglecting this blog...

I will make an effort to be a little more active. Can't promise anything, but we shall see...

As far as updates, although I think everyone who reads this is also on my Facebook and already knows, we are expecting Baby #5 for sometime around Thanksgiving of this year... so we will have lots to be thankful for!!  I need to work on the background and whatnot here, because it got all messed up, and I ended up reverting to the classic. It works for now, but hopefully I'll come up with something cuter before too long. :)

Santa Claus

     I want to tell you about the Family Home Evening that we had a few weeks ago with our kids. The topic was Santa Claus. We started off (after the song and prayer) by talking about how we feel when we think about Santa  Claus [happy, like we want to be good]. Then I asked what we celebrate at Christmas [Jesus' birth]. So, if we are celebrating Jesus Christ's birth, then where did Santa come from? Enter our trusty set of World Book Encyclopedias! (Thank you Sister Kelly!) We looked up Santa Claus. I won't copy the full text here, but I will pick out some of the main points that we talked about from there.

          "Santa Claus is a legendary old man who brings gifts to children at Christmas.[...] The legend of Santa Claus is popular mainly in the United States. This story adds to youngsters' excitement and wonder at Christmastime.
           The idea of Santa Claus developed from stories about a real person named Saint Nicholas. Historians know little for certain about him. He probably was born in Patara, in what is now Turkey. When he was 19 years old, he became a priest. He later served as bishop of Myra, near Patara, and he died during the A.D. 300's.
          According to legend, Saint Nicholas once aided a poor nobleman who had three daughters. No men would marry the daughters because the nobleman did not provide any of them with a dowry.[...] Saint Nicholas threw three bags of money through an open window of the nobleman's house to show that the daughters now had dowries. As a result they were able to marry. The legend of Saint Nicholas as a man who brings gifts may have developed from this story.
          How the Santa Claus legend began. The custom of giving gifts on a special day in winter was practiced before Christianity was founded. After Christianity was well established, Saint Nicholas became a symbol of the custom among Christians. During the Reformation of the 1500's Protestants substituted non-religious characters for Saint Nicholas. In England, the saint was replaced by a gentleman called Father Christmas. This character was called Père Noël in France and Weihnachtsmann in Germany.
          The people of the Netherlands were especially fond of Saint Nicholas. The first Dutch settlers who came to America had a figure of Saint Nicholas on the front of their ship. The Dutch settlers maintained their custom of celebrating the saint's feast day on December 6th. They told their children that the saint visited their homes and left gifts for the youngsters on Saint Nicholas Eve. In time, the English settlers adopted the legends and festivities associatede with Saint Nicholas. English-speaking children spoke the Dutch name for the saint,  Sinterklaas, quickly and excitedly so that it sounded like Santy Claus or Santa Claus. Eventually, Santa Claus became the most commonly used name.
          [...] Santalike characters in other countries.  Today, people in many parts of the world are familiar with Santa Claus. But [sic] he is primarily and American tradition, and people in most countries have adopted other imaginary characters who supposedly bring gifts on a certain day of the year. In many countries, people exchange presents on a day other than Christmas.
          In the Netherlands and Belgium, Saint Nicholas visits homes on Saint Nicholas Eve, December 5. He leaves small gifts in shoes that the children put near the fireplace. He is often accompanied on these visits by a character named Black Pete, who carries a birch rod to whip naughty children. (I think maybe we should adopt this tradition! lol!) [...] In some areas of Germany, gifts are delivered by Knecht Ruprecht or the Christkind.  From the name Christkind came the character Kris Kringle, the angellike figure who brings gifts at Christmas. [...] In Sweden, the Jultomten, an elflike character, brings gifts to children on Christmas Eve. This elf is called  Julenissen in Denmark and Norway."
    
    Then, since Papi is from Mexico, we talked about the tradition in Mexico of the Three Kings coming on January 6th and bringing presents to children. On Christmas Eve the children would go on a Posada from house to house at midnight asking for candy. (Sounds kind of like Trick-or-Treating, doesn't it?)

     So to sum it up, we talked about why people in different countries have these different traditions... and that all of these figures are symbols which represent good will and joy. So even though Santa Claus is not an actual person who comes around and gives presents, we still participate and "play along", if you will, with the traditions, but that we need to remember and focus on the real reason for the Season. We also emphasized that because Santa Claus is to symbolize good feelings and joy, we never want to make someone feel bad because they believe that Santa Claus is an actual person, so we don't tell people that there is no Santa Claus (especially younger neighbors!) and we can still have fun with Santa at Christmas, (My dad, to this day, sends me presents every year that say from Santa!) and when I ask them what they want Santa to bring them, what I am asking is what is something that they would like that maybe Mom and Dad wouldn't usually get them. (But no promises! lol!)

     Our kids' reactions varied... the older ones had questions... [You mean YOU bought us those scooters last year? We didn't think you had that much money!, Who wrote us that letter from Santa?, Who eats the cookies and milk left out?] Our 5 year-old was obviously not ready to hear it and didn't let much sink in, since she still wants to know when Santa is coming and what he is going to bring her. :) But I feel so much better not having to hear my 7 and 9 year-olds telling me confidently that Santa is going to get them a $150 Nintendo DS, or an iPod (yeah, fat chance!) and the gift requests have come back down into the range of possibility, and so we all avoid disappointment.

What do you think, when and how did your kids find out about Santa Claus and the "parent factor"?