Adjustments

Well, here we are in Heber. Sorry I've been gone... we're still trying to get the internet in our apartment. Apparently the connection is not as free as we might have thought. Ah, well. It's gonna be okay. At the moment, I'm at the Wasatch County Library, and it's a lovely little facility. Cara is calmly sleeping in her carrier at my side, and I am enjoying being connected to people again, even if it is only for a couple of hours and via the internet. We like the city (town?), though. We've decided that we fully love small town life. In a way, it's kindof too bad that Ryan's jobs will almost require him to work in big cities. He doesn't mind the commute, but I'm the sort that wants to capitalize on as much family time as possible. Because my Dad owned his own businesses for most of my life and thus was able to set his own hours, I'm more used to seeing the man of the house around more. The 8-5 thing is wierd to me. At the same time, when Ryan does get home, he loves being there and is totally focused on me and Cara. He's wonderful in so many ways, and we'll make the whole thing work somehow.

In other news, I wonder about the whole motherhood thing. Just as a small preface- I have a tendency to believe that I'm completely worthless and can't do anything right. This is always augmented by a life change, such as when I came to college, got married, had a baby... Yesterday was a really bad day for this. Poor Cara- She was crying on the couch yesterday and I sat down next to her to pat her tummy, give her her binky, and generally help her feel better, and for no reason whatsoever, I burst into tears. I think it scared her. I do think, actually, that she realized that I was crying and upset and it was a new thought for her. She just sat there and watched me and watched me and watched me. It was actually kindof sweet and funny. The thing is, Cara is a fantastic baby. She often gives us 5 hour stretches of sleep. She's hardly ever fussy. She likes baths and usually gives us a huge grin at least once a day. She holds her head up, too, and it's just the cutest thing you've ever seen! But I still feel as though I can't do anything right. Is that normal? Or is it just normal for me because that's the way I feel about myself anyway?

Shortly after we got married, I remember worrying about being a good wife. I came home and asked Ryan what were the three worst things I could possibly do as a wife. He told me what they would be, and it helped calm me because a) they were things that I couldn't imagine doing to anyone, let alone to someone I love so much! and b) they were specific things I could avoid doing. In a way, knowing how I could fail gave me the room I needed to experiment with how to succeed. I'm still working on that, but I have more confidence now. So let me ask you- what are the three worst things I could do as a mother? I'm sure my confidence will grow in time, but for right now, I need to think things out and "self-therapize," because that's how I deal with any emotional problem I have! ;)

Anyway... now that I've talked that out a little bit- let me just say, I've enjoyed reading everyone's blogs! It's so fun to keep up with people and learn how you're all doing. I'm sorry I haven't made personal comments, but I'm running out of time on this computer! Also, I don't know if anybody actually reads the info on the sides of blogs, but if you will look to the left, I have decided to make a response section. It always bothers me that when people comment, I don't know where to respond to their comments! Hence, please check the response section- you may find yourself featured there!

So... yeah. Really running out of time. I also have another errand to run, and Cara needs to eat in about 7 minutes. Yay! Life is fun, isn't it? Stay happy!

Falling into Place

So... we're moving out this week. Sunday was, sadly, our last in this ward. We're signing the contract on our new place and moving our first couple of boxes in today. Our plan is to keep packing up throughout this week. At some point, Ryan's Mom is going to come and help us pack up, and his Dad and brother are coming later on... just in time to help Ryan celebrate graduating from BYU (which happens Thursday and Friday). Saturday we will move all our stuff into the new apartment and a storage unit and then head up to Idaho for the weekend so Ryan can go to his interview on Monday. Craziness.

Our new apartment
Cons:
-It only has one bedroom- and it has kindof a funky shape
-It's in Heber, where we don't know anyone
-It's up a fairly long flight of stairs
-It's the only apartment in the middle of a business park with no yard
-Ryan has to commute to work and won't be able to come home for lunch anymore

Pros:
-It has tons of storage, including a large pantry, linen closet, and walk-in bedroom closet
-The kitchen is beautiful! Small, but beautiful!
-It's a month-to-month contract
-It's in Heber, which is a small town and a new adventure
-It has a real honest-to-goodness mailbox! (I've missed having one of those...)
-It may have free internet access...
-Because it's in a business park, it has tons of parking
-Ryan will have a beautiful commute to work

At any rate, we're hoping we're only going to be there for a couple months, and our next move will take us to our very own house. Wish us luck!

Blog Modifications

Woohoo! I finally figured out after many tries and many months how to get a cute background, and then the three-column blog, and then a picture for my banner... all sorts of fun! Now I just need to figure out what it is that I want to display on the sides, and whether or not I actually like that huge picture of me as the banner. I like the picture, I'm just not sure if this is the place for it. Oh- and in case you were wondering, that was taken last Summer when Ronnie, Ryan and I hiked Timp. It was a fun trip.

Thanks, Mom!

Before Cara was born (so this post is way overdue!) my Mom came. She brought with her a bassinet that has been in the family for many years. As such, it was in desperate need of a new cover- which she made! It's so cute- I love it! She asked me to post pictures of it to show off- so here they finally are! Thanks, Mom!

Sadly legitimate

Just to clarify and ease some concerns... We had a contract through April, but after that we went on a month-to-month contract, in which it stipulates that either we or the landlord could give 30 days' notice to terminate.

Also- Ryan put some new caulking on the bathtub, and it seems to have fixed the problem. They'll still want to go in and redo everything, because the wall and the floor have gotten quite rotten, but it's fun to say that Ryan was right and the owners were wrong. :) Is that bad? Probably.

Calling All Cardboard Boxes!!!

Our apartment rains. It doesn't affect us, but every time we take a shower our downstairs neighbors get a little more flooded. The owners have come by several times in the past week and tried to fix it. Each time they have left with the assurance that they've finally remedied the situation, only to show up again the next day when the problem has persisted. Finally the guy who was working on it decided that we were the problem- that we were splashing water out (unintentionally) when we shower. Ryan tried to tell him that, no, we were not the problem. It was more likely that the ancient grout around the shower was no longer intact and was in effect funneling water into the wall and down through the floor. The guy didn't listen. He told us to put a towel on the floor when we showered to catch any water that spilled. We did. It came out dry, when the wall just above it was soaked.

The situation came to a head this afternoon when the apartment manager came by to tell us that they had decided to vacate the apartment in order to do some maintenance work on it. We have until the 31st of this month to leave.

And so, we need boxes- maybe a couple from large appliances such as a refrigerator or washing machine. After all, we need somewhere to live while we figure out where we're going.