What we accomplished this week

Looking back on the week I realize this has been a LONG week.

Monday was quite the long day for all of us, but Jared definitely took the cake. We all awoke at somewhat of a normal time- 6:30 am. Jared had plans to hit Staples to pick up some essentials before going up to San Marcos. I had plans to finish MY commitment to the stores first day: Manager Binder and Flash Drive. Seemed simple enough, which is why I procrastinated the "easy" part of the project until Monday. Turns out making copies turns into more copies when you really delve into the project. I had also committed myself to getting a hefty check to the Seller by 2 pm. Easy enough...if that was all I had planned on accomplishing. Life back in the fast lane of Golden Spoon work doesn't easily coincide with the slow lane motherhood. Really, I was able to make my commitments, especially the time commitment, but I was quite surprised when it was "just barely". Because of the time commitment, I took all the copies up to the store to put together there, which then turned into staying at the store until 8 pm. So that was more than a full days work for me and Corban- Jared's was a given. Corban handled it like a champ. He loved being held by anyone and everyone willing; hence, the reason we were there until 8.

Tuesday I was committed to a RS Presidency Meeting, so I knew I wouldn't be working a 14 hour day. I spent the morning with Meg Ryan, after she so kindly watched Corban during my massage. We visited long enough for her to feed me lunch. It is interesting to me that food that you eat at an other's home can taste so much better than if fixed at your own home. We had a basic sandwich that tasted AMAZING to me. There was the addition of chips and dip, which I never have at my own home, that added to the novelty of the meal. I left with enough time to go home and grab the items that I needed for my 3 pm meeting.

Upon arriving at home, I let Nika out of the garage, thinking I would give her some attention before I had to go in another 30 minutes. While in the kitchen doing some odd job, I hear Nika let out a yelp- which I only hear if she is in pain. I ask her to come over to me, which she does very slowly, and hesitantly. I begin to examine her for any kind of sign that would be causing her pain. I see nothing, but notice that one ear is extra tender and she shakes her head quite often. I vacillate back a forth a few moments in my head whether I should take her to the Vet, which I know will cost A LOT, or just let it go for a little while to see if it persists. During this vacillating I realized the new world I have just entered into with having a child. It used to be that I get away without seeing a doctor for years, knowing that I would just "get over" anything I was suffering from. Thinking of Nika like I would Corban in this situation, knowing that she was definitely acting different and definitely was in pain, I opted for the "better safe than sorry" plan. Once at the Vet, I wasn't so sure this was the safer route, seeing that the doctor wouldn't even so much as touch my dog to examine her. Ha, they put a mussel on her! If you saw sweet Nika, our little Shih tzu, you wouldn't trust this Vet either. Being under the time constraint that I was, I decided to leave my puppy at the Vet after signing a paper that said I would pay anywhere from $74-$170 for anesthesia for them to get a closer look at what might be the problem "without her wiggling around". In the end I was happy that I chose to take her, as she was suffering from Fox tails that had wiggled their way into her ear canal, and would have soon started causing a great infection. Nika has been her happy self, $120 later. Well worth it!

Wednesday was another enjoyably relaxing day, while Jared continued to labor away with the new store. His day started at 5 am! Yikes, that is insane for him since he didn't get to bed until about 12 or 1 am that morning. I did get him to come home early since he had to watch Corban while I instructed the Step Class. I also convinced him he had put in enough work for the day and we all enjoyed going to bed early (I had to teach the 5:45 am Body Works class at the gym).

Thursday I spent the day at home. You would think I would have accomplished a lot, but this hot weather has made me sluggish. Jared is working double time, so I have resorted to half time. We don't want to over do it. I made up for my laziness that night while at the Cannery. With my position in RS, I am more motivated to heed this long standing council from the Brethren (same reason I am a "Group" fitness instructor, I am motivated by motivating others). We have had a lot of sisters ask for this, and with food prices rising, more people are interested in getting their food storage. It has definitely put the flame under my behind, and I am starting to get ahead. It feels so good getting this accomplished, though the more I talk to people, the more I find out what I need to add to my storage. Oh, and just a note, I need a bigger, cooler house just to store my food storage because apparently the garage is the worst place to store it. Good luck finding any other place for it in my 2000 sq ft home. And the temperature in my house is no cooler than the garage, so I doubt it would help even if I found the space.

Friday I was to Miramar Lake 15 minutes past "walking time". This is another one of the commitments I have made for RS Enrichment: Activity Groups (no one else wanted to be in charge). No one was there to meet me, as usual. Lucky for Nika I have committed myself to walking at least enough for her to go to the bathroom every time we go, whether or not there is someone to walk with. We were late because as I walked out of the house (only 10 minutes after Jared), I saw bees swarming a palm tree that was very close to the truck, so I had to take another route for putting Corban in the car. I thought the bees had a hive there and I was very concerned that I would have to bring someone in to excavate it; however, it turns out they were only pollinating, which took all of one day.

Corban loves nectarines. I couldn't resist, even though I promised I would feed him veggies first.

Corban enjoyed his second day at the beach. This time Meg and Indy joined the crowd, and Kim brought two more children and her husband, Ben. I picked up a new tent shade, that was fabulous with keeping out the sun AND heat. The babies got a little grumpy an hour into it, but we pushed through another hour.

Jared called me at about 6 pm with his tail feathers all ruffled over "incompetant people". After listening to his reasons, I advised him to come home and I would fix him food. When he walked in the door and removed his clothing (this is normal behavior, whether it be 100 degrees or 50 degrees outside...garments stay on), he asked if he had permission to "zone out". This completely rejuvinated him, and he finished the night with doing some work on the guest bedroom closet. I got a tummy ache and was no longer any help. I retired to bed early.

Saturday would have been a likely day for Jared to sleep in, but he charitably awoke at 6:45 to pick up a matress with Mike Seymour at 7 am. I think the only way he made it through was the thought he would come home and take a nap. This would have been nice, however, Corban wasn't keen on the idea, so the nap was cut short. Jared got up, we got ready and went to an afternoon showing of "Get Smart". Corban was great through a majority of the movie, but the excitement in the last 20-30 minutes wasn't enough so I had to take him out. I like to think I saw the better part of the movie anyway. Afterward, Jared went into work and had a successful day. He came home pumped about his efforts from the week. Customers had been commenting on the changes the store has undergone with new management/ownership. His goal of a return of 50 Free Cards a day has almost been met in the first week. He is doing awesome and it looks like his efforts are already having a return! We are proud of him! All we did in his hours away at work was learn a few signs, try to get the fuss out, and make granola. The granola was the most sucessful part, and Jared seems to enjoy it too.

Corban has spent the entire week tumbling around, since he learned to roll over last Friday. He is now working on crawling. It starts with him laying on his belly, putting his forehead to the ground, "walking" his feet up so his bum goes in the air, and then pushing forward. Looks like an inch worm. It is hard to watch him grow up so quickly, but it is just too cute to stop him. We also started baby sign lanuage. I think I will really enjoy learning it, whether or not it actually teaches Corban a way of communicating.

On the not-so-cute side, he has been spending many hours inconsolably fusing. It starts roughly at 1 pm (today it started the 2nd hour of church- 10:45am) and lasts 'til about 5, when he finally settles into slumber, which lasts through the night, only waking to eat. It has been nice to have those extra hours, though ,like I said earlier, with this heat I have been sluggish. So some of the time is spent napping aside him and the rest is spent wasting away the time until Jared comes home and I go to bed.

Corban's way of sleeping: head against something, be it the couch, his crib bumper, or his daddy's back.

That was the week! This next one doesn't look much easier for Jared, and it will end with a Free Day on Saturday. That will probably be my long day of work, since Heather has willingly volunteered to watch Corban so I can help out in the store.

This is the heart melting look I get when I call for Corban and he finds me.