The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

Well, yet another week has flown by and I am knee deep in the muck of moving.  We now have all the boxes we could possibly need and more (thank you so much to the kind people in the ward who gave us boxes).  I have started packing things like board games, books, videos, and various other stuff that we won’t need in our last two weeks here at the apartment, but there is still so much more to pack.  It is always so hard to know what things you need to wait until the last minute to pack and what things you can do without for a week or two.  We plan to pack most everything (even plates, bowls, and silverware because we can use paper/plastic ware) this week while I still have Brandon around.  We are hoping that things with Loomis (and his background check) will progress this week so that he can start working next Monday the 6th of October. 

So last week was a blur of things.  We did attend a little bit of the U of U homecoming week songfest on Wednesday.  The three or so songs we watched cracked me up so much.  They were by some of the frats and sororities on campus.  I felt like I was at a high school pep rally and the girls really showed up the guys in organization and preparation.  All were dripping and oozing with cheese though.  I turned to Brandon and said, “The EFY kids and LDS fraternity’s and sorority’s did a better job tying our various group themes into their cheers then these students.”  He agreed with me.  🙂  That was the extent to which we celebrated homecoming.

Friday evening we switched on the presidential debate for a little bit.  I don’t care what anybody says, republican or democrat.  I do not want either of these men to run our country.  I got such a bad feeling in my gut as I listened to them talk about various issues.  I feel like they are just trying to say whatever they can to sway us to vote for them.  Empty promises to ensure presidency.  How did we get to a point where most americans plan to vote for the, “lesser of two evils” rather then the very best of two very excellent candidates?  But enough about that.

 Saturday morning I had been asked to teach a little bit about sewing for a relief society enrichment activity.  I prepared well and was not nervous for some reason.  Well I got to the church and set up and only 4 sisters came.  I ended up shortening my lesson and hopefully the four sisters got something worthwhile out of it.  I guess that I will never know.  😉

In the afternoon we went to my dad’s to work on cleaning some more.  I feel like we didn’t get much done but there are now futon’s where his couches used to be and some of the garbage made it to the dump.  So I guess that is good.  We also went and looked at some couches that my dad had seen and decided against him buying any because it isn’t really a top priority at this time.  We head back there to clean some more on Friday and plan to get the bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room organized. 

Yesterday we had a busy day as well.  A few weeks ago I made plans with our dinner group this month to do a brunch for the 28th.  Unbeknownst to me until yesterday it was fast sunday.  Doh!  We had our brunch anyway.  Before the brunch though I was visit taught, after the brunch we had an appointment with the bishop, then church and after church we got home taught.  Phew! 

Well, I don’t really have much else to say.  Aiden has been a trooper with all of these changes going on around him and has enjoyed all of the hustle and bustle at my dad’s house.  This week he ate some spaghetti noodles with parmesan cheese and a few bites of meat.  Today he climbed up into the bottom shelf of one of our shelving units, unfortunately when I grabbed the camera the batteries were dead so I didn’t get a picture.  🙁  Oh well, I will be quicker next time and will make sure the batteries are charged.  Tomorrow Aiden has an appointment with an allergist (thanks to me having a billion allergies and wanting to be forewarned about him).  I hope it goes well.  Ta ta for now.  Thanks for reading…

Hey everyone!  Happy first day of Autumn!  I really enjoyed the rain this morning.  I took Aiden out and stuck his toes in a puddle and let the rain drip drop on his head.  It was fun. 

So last week was pretty busy.  Monday I took Aiden to the pediatrician because of a rash he had and his eye being goobered shut when he woke up in the morning.  While there I found out that he had a bit of pink eye and we got a prescription for eye drops.  When I left the appointment I realized that I had left the keys on the back seat and locked them in the car.  I ended up sitting on the grass with Aiden and waited for about 90 mins. before the locksmith guy showed up.  We have verizon roadside assistance so the lock out was free but geez!  It was a LONG wait.  Luckily I had taken the diaper bag in so I had a blanket for Aiden and was able to rock him to sleep. 

Wednesday I fed Aiden tiny bite sized pieces of hot dog, bread, puffs, & peaches for dinner because he wasn’t eating his pureed baby food very well.  He enjoyed picking up the little pieces of food and didn’t drop very many on the floor or in his lap.  After dinner I went to Pioneer Theatre to see My Fair Lady with my aunt Vicky.  As always the costumes and set were AMAZING! 

Friday we took Aiden to Target to get his picture taken.  We had him in a porceline tub with rubber duckies all around, a towel, baby powder, and then we blew bubbles while the photographer took the pictures.  They turned out REALLY cute!

Saturday we went to the University Village Block Party where we gathered some good pamphlets and ate burgers.  In the afternoon we went to my dad’s and I started to clean my sisters old room.  After we cleaned we went to visit my grandma and she gave Aiden a cream puff to munch on.  We also stuck our feet in her pool and visited with her and grandpa.  We spent the rest of the evening at home.

 Sunday I finished emptying my sisters old room and vacuumed.  All that I have left to do is wipe down all of the walls and then we will move her boxes of books somewhere else and take my vanity to the DI.  Hallelujah Aiden has somewhere to sleep!  When we got home I organized papers in our file drawer.  Well, I guess that is all for last week.  Thanks for reading…

This week has been a roller coaster of ups and downs.  Each evening for some reason I have gotten a little case of the blues and I don’t even know why.  Perhaps it is just because of the stress Brandon and I have been under. 

Unfortunately, I do not remember even remotely what went on early in the week and I don’t have anything written down in my day planner or on the calender to help jog my memory.  Oh well.  I do know that we watched Look Who’s Talking Too, King Corn, and Three Men and a Little Lady at some point during the week and I picked up some groceries. 

Thursday evening the three of us went out to eat with my dad to talk about us moving in with him.  (For those of you who did not receive our e-mail we have decided to move in with my dad for the remainder of Brandon’s schooling and part of next summer, so a total of perhaps 9-10 months.  We are doing this in the best interest of our family because we have had bad luck with the poor job economy and it is very stressful each time we go through a period of joblessness, especially now that our savings is gone.)  Anyway, my dad wanted some logistics and to find out what we are thinking as far as who will sleep where, what needs to be done, church, groceries, laundry, etc.  I think we figured most things out and will have to talk about other things as they come up.

We also visited grandma on Thursday and she enjoyed spending time with Aiden while Brandon attended and impromptu tour of UPS. 

Friday we took it easy all day.  We did run some errands to Target 1 & 2 to pick up our photos, to the library, to staples, and to the U of U to return a textbook that Brandon didn’t need.  We didn’t get a full refund for it because the full refund date was Sept. 5th or something and we would have returned it sooner but Brandon found out from his teacher on the 11th that he wouldn’t need it.  BAH!  We lost $6.00ish because of that.  But at least it wasn’t worse. 

Saturday was fun.  We went to the bishop’s for lunch and then dropped Aiden off with my mom to be baby sat so that we could go and see, “Scary Poppins, Super-nanny-gone-ballistic-expialidocious.”  It was funny and very clever.  The American Olio was good as well.  (Usually this show has a Back To School Olio but I am guessing that they went American due to it being an election year.) 

Well, my trouble this week has been with digital photos.  I found out on Weds. or Thurs. that if I want to download my photos from snapfish it will cost me 25 cents for the first one and 5 cents for each one after for every seperate download that I do.  YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!  Oi.  All those hours uploading photos was a waste of time!  Next, yesterday I was starting to transfer my pics. onto Brandon’s computer and I did something wrong and lost like 10 of my photos (total photo loss after recovering the missing data and trying to fix corrupt files).  It was really a bummer because I cherish my photos so deeply.  *sigh*  I am going to be much more careful in the future. 

As for Aiden, he is doing well.  He is getting around more quickly now and starting to get into things.  He likes pulling our phone books onto the floor off of the bottom shelf of our plastic stacker.  He has also started to venture onto the kitchen floor and like to crawl under the tables and chairs.  Another thing he likes to do is climb up into the bottom shelf of our white shelves.  Yesterday while I was folding laundry I had him in my lap and he used the laundry basket to pull himself into a standing postion!  He is so smart.  This morning when I got him out of bed his little eye was goobered shut, after I helped him get his eyelashes unstuck I noticed that his eye is a little puffy and slightly red.  If it still looks that way tomorrow or worse, then I will call the pediatrician. 

As for my Brandon, he has 2 interviews on Tuesday.  One with Loomis (the company he worked for when we were dating, and his boss would be someone that he worked with before), the 2nd with backcountry.com.  He also has an interview next week with UPS.  We feel pretty good about Loomis and Back Country though.  He is also doing a good job keeping up with his homework and Thumbprints designs. 

Well that is all for this week, thanks for reading…

Hello again!  I know that a full week hasn’t passed yet but Sunday is my usual day to write the family news (sometimes I don’t get to it until Monday but hey) and so today is the day I am to write.  I did a LOT of laundry this week, washing the dirty clothes from our trip, the clothes in the laundry basket, and any new clothes that were purchased in between (because I read somewhere to wash all baby clothes before the baby wears them).  Then of course we had all the dishes washed and I decided that I NEEDED chocolate chip cookies and hey, since we have cream cheese frosting in the fridge why not cook up some homemade cinnamon rolls as well.  As a result we have more dirty dishes.  I long for the day when I have a full sized dishwasher that my pots, pans, and baking sheets will fit in. 

The other fun thing this week is that Aiden is starting to really get into things and also get around.  Today I had to put up the gate over by the washing machine, bathroom, and our bedroom because he had crawled clear over there to get the milk jugs by the garbage.  He has also been crawling around under the kitchen table and chairs and all over the kitchen floor.  He has also learned to pull his buckets of toys/books off the bottom shelf of our book shelf and dump the toys on the floor.  (What he really wants is to play with the bucket and is not trying to make a mess.)  Aiden will put anything and everything in his mouth.  Last night he found a leaf on the floor and by the time we realized it he was gagging on it and had a fistful of it in his little hand.  I just patted him on the back and then gave him some water to dislodge it and wash it down.  Silly babies! 

On the night that we made cookies and cinnamon rolls I gave Aiden a little taste of the cookie (note the chocolate on his lips in the picture below).  He was thoroughly thrilled with the deliciousness of the treat.  The next night we want to our stake neighborhood party and they had cotton candy.  I decided to give Aiden a bit and he liked it but I think that he was not quite sure what was happening because by the time it was in his mouth it had dissolved and yet there was still a yummy flavor.  The most exciting thing with Aiden lately is that when he is in the mood he will give us kisses.  We just kiss him all over his cute little face then we say, “Kisses,” put his mouth up to our cheek and he will stick his toungue out and make a little noise.  It makes me smile SO much. 

Anyway, yesterday I went with my mom for a girls day while Brandon daddy sat Aiden.  We had lunch got a manicure and then went to Walmart for a little shopping.  I got some very cute shoes and pajama’s.  My mom got a couple of dresses and some high heels.  In the evening we watched Three Men and a Baby that we had checked out at the library.  It had been SO very long since I had seen it and it made me laugh.  Our next couple that we plan to check out are Three Men and a Little Lady, Look Who’s Talking, Look Who’s Talking Too, and Look Who’s Talking Now.  Go 80’s films!  Woot!

Well, that is all for today.  I will write some more next week.  Thanks for reading…

Well, last week was a whirlwind.  It was full of fun and whipped by quickly.  Monday was just a regular day at home with the exception of eating lunch at Red Robin so that I could have my free birthday burger.  It was tasty.  At home I feel like I am constantly trying to keep up with housework and in this tiny place even the smallest mess makes me feel like the whole house is a mess.  Brandon also started school on Monday.  I am not sure how he feels about it just yet but he seems to be getting into the swing of things. 

Tuesday was a lot of fun.  When Brandon got home from school we drove out to Ogden to IFly Utah and enjoyed a simulated sky dive.  You can see videos of our flight at http://wilhelmsenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/  After our trip to Ogden we came home and I fed Aiden.  While feeding I noticed he was feeling warmer then usual and took his temp.  102.0 on the binky thermometer and 101.0 on the regular under arm thermometer.  I started to worry and was telling Brandon that we needed to cancel our dinner plans.  He said that we should go anyway and we will watch Aiden very closely.  I know that Tylenol and Ibuprofin help to reduce fever but it hadn’t been 8 hours since the previous dose and so I waited.  Anyway, while we were eating dinner I took Aiden’s temp. again on the binky thermometer.  103.3 Aghhhh!  I told Brandon that we needed to go to the ER and gave Aiden his next dose even though the 8 hours wouldn’t be done for 15-30 mins.  Well we went to Alta View hospital and by the time we got there Aiden’s temp. was 100.5 on a scan thermometer and under arm thermometer.  They took us back to a room where after waiting a bit we found out that they do not take molina medicaid.  Well we decided to refuse treatment and left.  Well, amongst all this I find out that my friends were throwing me a surprise party and we were supposed to be at Murray Park at 7:00.  So after refusing treatment we went to the park and planned to watch Aiden closely again.  After about an hour at the park Brandon took Aiden’s temp again and it had gone back up to 102.5 on our binky thermometer.  So we decided to head straight to Primary Children’s Hospital and have him looked at.  Thankfully a girl in our ward ended up being our nurse and the ER doctor was wonderful.  She said that he had a blister in his mouth and that it was the coxsackies virus.  Which is the same virus that causes hand, foot, and mouth disease.  As you know you can’t medicate a virus and so she told us what to do to keep AIden comfortable while the virus ran it’s course.  I am just glad it wasn’t something worse.

Wednesday we stayed in so that Aiden wasn’t exposed to anything else.  We also packed for our trip to Reno and I did my best to get the house cleaned up before our trip.  I also started to feel under the weather with a cold or something. 

Thursday after more attempts to clean up we went to my dad’s for a ride to the airport.  Then we embarked on our flight to Reno which was Aiden’s first plane ride.  It went well, he ate and then slept.  He also did this on our flight to Boise on the way back.  From Boise to SLC though he was wiggly and slightly fussy.  He would not go to sleep for anything.  It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined though and so I was lucky.

While we were in Reno we ate at Red Robin and the buffet at the Atlantis casino.  We attended a rib cook off and Aiden got spoiled because aunt Megan bought him a bunch of clothes.  We also swam in Megan’s pool and played Wii fit and Wii olympics.  The rest of the time we relaxed and let Aiden enchant and delight various family members.  We also visited Brandon’s great grandma (Aiden’s great-great grandma) and that was good for her to see Aiden.  Thanks for letting us visit Megan!

We returned home on Labor Day so as you might guess we spent our labor day traveling home and then my dad took us out to dinner.  Thanks dad!

Well, now it is just business as usual.  Thanks for reading…