Merry Late Christmas

Of course within a couple short months of me resolving to write more on my blog, suddenly I seemingly disappear again with nary a peep for quite a while. I have several reasons for my lack of blogs posts, so here I will try to catch up without getting long-winded, if I can help it.

Halloween and the prep that goes into it is, for me and a lot of people I know, only the beginning of a very crazy, busy time of year. Throw a new baby, a baptism, and a slew of family coming to visit into the mix and it ups the ante about twice as much, or more. There's more than that though, too, and I will touch on that as well.

Moses' birthday is only six days after Halloween, and since his sister's baptism two and a half years earlier, he had looked ahead on the calendars and decided what day he was going to be baptized and what refreshments he wanted served. So, for the week after Halloween I was busy trying to get the baptism and house ready for Moses and our relatives, respectively, who were coming out to stay for the occasion.

His baptism portrait. Sharp looking little dude.

Photo courtesy of Grandma Sachiko

With all that was going on, I had to keep things as simple as possible, so I wouldn't get too stressed out. Of course, my version of simple is someone else's version of going all out, but trust me when I say I kept things on a simple scale for me.

Moses' baptism was a lovely affair. My mom was very generous and bought him a suit, white shirt, and tie, and he looks super sharp and so grown up in it. Moses continues to astound me. He's still as sweet as ever, he still picks things up really quickly, but little by little I find that he's becoming more and more like a young man than a little boy. I'm so proud of him and his decision to be baptized. He's such a great kid.

The cake I made for Moses. Not my best work, but I'm still a novice when it comes to piping.

The same weekend, we also blessed Hyrum, since the family was there anyway. He, too, looked super sharp in the little white tuxedo my mom bought when Moses was a baby. All my boys have worn it now and thankfully, none of them had a blowout in it, so it's still quite pristine.

Photo courtesy of Grandma Sachiko

While that particular weekend was quite busy, it was spiritual and uplifting and filled with family. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Photo courtesy of Grandma Sachiko

Soon after the extended family left us and the house was quiet once more, I started looking a few weeks ahead to Thanksgiving. I was feeling really worn out from everything that had happened in the last couple months that I wasn't really looking forward to it and wasn't really in the mood to cook one this year. Over the next couple weeks I started feeling more and more down, and my mood got worse and worse.

I've struggled with depression before. I'd been hospitalized for it at one point. I could feel it coming. I had known since about halfway through Hyrum's pregnancy that I needed to prepare myself for it. I tried to brace myself for the onslaught, but what happened to me in the next couple weeks was nothing I could have ever imagined. Post-partum depression hit me pretty fiercely, despite my efforts to mentally get ready for it. I'm not going to go into detail in this post about what was and still is going on, but I will say that things got pretty bad.

Joseph went with me to my six week checkup and we talked and have been working with the doctors to get me the help I need. Joseph set up help for me around the house and with the baby by asking several of our friends in the ward to take shifts.

As far as Thanksgiving is concerned, our dear friends, Mike and Gina, were hosting Thanksgiving and simply invited us over to their house. I'm so glad they did. I love cooking and hosting Thanksgiving, but there was no way I could pull it off this year. Mike and Gina have become our surrogate family, so to speak, since we moved out here. Their generosity, not just for Thanksgiving, but the whole time we've lived here, has been overwhelming. I love them dearly.

My mother-in-law, Char, had been with us for Moses' baptism, but had gone up to Washington to help Kailee (Joseph's sister) as she had her new baby. Kailee and her family had been planning on moving to our area for a while, but Char got a prompting that she really needed to get back to us, so (and I still don't know how they managed everything) Char and Kai got everything packed up and started their move ten days after Kai gave birth. They drove down from Port Angeles on Thanksgiving day.

Now we have some family here and will soon have more. Char and Dave (Joseph's dad) will be here permanently sometime in the next couple months. I have to admit that while having family living close to us has been a strong desire of mine ever since we left Utah, actually having family close by feels a little weird. I had come to rely on my ward family so heavily and forged many great friendships with them, that in my mind, these people had, in a way, become part of my family. I know this weird feeling will pass, but I didn't expect it.

Since the depression has been so bad, Char has been helping me around the house, catching up on all the things I was too overwhelmed to deal with. It allowed me to sort of get in the mood for Christmas, which by my standards, was also kept to a minimum this year. With Char's help, I was able to get some projects done for the kids that I had been planning for months, but lacked the motivation to do. It's honestly a miracle that they happened at all.

First, there are the stockings. I've been wanting to do new stockings for the family for a couple years now. The knit ones I'd made before just weren't working out. I happened upon these kits at JoAnn during their after-Christmas clearance last year and thought they were perfect. I bought all five patterns (keep in mind I was not pregnant at the time) and got started on them immediately. I averaged finishing about one every two months, mostly working on them in the evenings after the kids went to bed and Joseph and I would unwind with Netflix. By the time Hyrum was born, I had four of the stockings done and just a little bit left on the fifth one. I love how these turned out. They're beautiful. I'm going to keep my eye out for a couple more so I can make them for Joseph and me.

I'm sorry this is sideways, but I'm simply feeling too lazy to turn it.

My other projects included sewing Moses and Akiko new scripture bags. The one I made for Akiko at her baptism was kind of tight and busted after a couple months. I measured and re-measured this time and got the dimensions right. I love how these bags turned out. I may just jump the gun and go ahead and make three more and save them for the little boys' baptisms. Since Simon is entering Primary as a Sunbeam this year, I made him a crocheted scripture bag, similar to the ones I've made in the past for all the other kids so far, but I neglected to take a picture of it. It's cute, though, and he was so excited for it he took it to his last day in nursery today. I also made Asher an apron since he loves helping me cook, but of course, any of the boys can use it. Things were getting a little silly when they'd borrow Akiko's apron.

As far as teacher/neighbor treats were concerned, I really toned things down. Normally I make three different kinds of cookies, and five of each kind get put on a plate. Last year I made forty plates.

Cookie plates for 2014

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen this year. I kept my list as short as possible this year. I also needed to make gluten-free treats, because a couple of my recipients have Celiac disease. I didn't want to make two separate kinds of treats, so everyone got a gluten-free option:

A simple bag of homemade salted caramel popcorn.

The kids got to decorate gingerbread houses again this year and I found a kit that had five little houses. Of course, Hyrum is too little to decorate or eat his, so I let Akiko do one for him. I had Akiko take the lead with the decorating this year. I think they turned out really cute.

Now the busiest time of year is over. I am so relieved. So much more relieved than in years past.

So, now you all know why I haven't posted anything since Halloween. Not only are the holidays crazy busy on their own, but I've had a lot of other issues and events to deal with.

None of this would have been possible without Joseph, my family, and the many, many amazing friends who have stepped up, put their own lives on pause, and come over to help me in a desperate time of need. I am so very blessed to have so many wonderful, gracious, selfless people in my life. I am also grateful for a very loving Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, who know what I am struggling with and prompt the people who are willing to listen and act, in order to help me. Little me. I know I am important in His eyes. I matter to Him. He is willing to send me the help I need because He doesn't want to watch me suffer needlessly. If He feels this way about me, I know He feels the same way about each one of us.

I hope you all had an uplifting Christmas season and may the New Year bring you many more blessings.