Part Four: 2008 October, November, December

Here is the final phase of our long review of 2008. A wonderful year full of adventure.

He Said:

October – Again, don’t remember much here. I think the constant throwing up for Amber went on for a while because the doctors were not taking the indicators seriously. She had to loss 25 pounds before they finally realized that something was wrong. And even then what the doctors did didn’t help as much as it was intended to. This was the month where I went to Coeur d’Alene for the health district audit. Our audit team was there for nearly 2 full weeks and we stayed at the Ameritel Inn. These traveling audits can be both nice yet miserating. On one hand it is cool to be able to stay in a hotel for a while, eat out, and have it all paid for. On the other hand, because of the extra hours we put in, and a basic yet temporary change in lifestyle, they can get old real quick. Normally, after the first week your brain is already fried!
At the beginning of the month, during General Conference, Amber and I went to the ER so that she could get an I.V. That’s how bad the vomiting was. Because she couldn’t even keep water down, we had to resort to a different method of getting fluids in her body. While I was up at CDA for the audit, Amber came and visited me over that weekend I was there. It was nice to have her stay a couple days, and we got to rent a mini-van since the rental place was out of compacts. We drove around to a few places and even went to church at the nearest LDS building. Basically this turned out to be an extension of our honeymoon since all we really did is go random places together.

She Said:

October: What I remember most about October is being really sick. As Brinton and I were watching the Sunday morning General Conference session, I just felt miserable. I debated after several prayers and a blessing from Dad and Brinton the night before of what to do. I decided it was time to get help from the ER. The best way to describe how I felt was, depleted. I hadn’t been able to keep any food down for two weeks at that point. I had lost almost 20 pounds. Granted, I did gain 10 the first month of pregnancy, so I did have some reserve to rely upon. My ER experience wasn’t too bad. I was in desperate need of fluids, so that is what they gave me. The doctor also prescribed a drug to aid me in the digestion of food. This was the one thing that started working for me. My food for some reason was unable to digest at all and my diet consisted of brothy soup. Even water was difficult to keep down.
**Sidenote, Brinton’s audit in Coeur d’Alene actually took place mid September. It was a nice trip to be able to break away for a few days, despite being sick. Thank goodness the plane ride was short. I had a window seat both times on full flights, I kept my handy in-flight barf bag on my lap, just in case I couldn’t run from my seat. I was blessed with a non-eventful flight and didn’t get sick. I was so grateful!

He Said:

November – Though I am getting my events in September and October mixed up, there is no mistaking what happened in this month! And the reason I remember so well is because I didn’t get to take Veteran’s Day off due to an audit I was on that needed to be done soon. After getting back from CDA and trying to finish off some HD audits, I found out that I needed to get my tail over to the Dept. of Labor to complete that audit. I had left that agency temporarily in order to go to CDA. And since they wanted the CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) signed by the beginning of December I had to book it over there and get the thing done. Which meant working 9 hour days at one point until I was done. So all that pressure ate into my Veteran’s Day hopes – but at least I got to dress in casual clothes, that’s always cool to do when you’re in a professional environment. Thanksgiving was pretty simple if I recall. Amber’s brother Tim had Thanksgiving with the Waite family over at his house. I invited my parents to join since my little sister Courtney was having it with her husband’s family – Pete’s family. It’s kind of funny watching my Mom in crowds. She had a hard time just sitting there and watching everyone else mix and mingle. If she’s not in the action and gabbing it up like everyone else, it bothers her. Yet I enjoy watching people interact with others. Some may think I’m a little reclusive or reserved in crowds, but really I just enjoy watching people socialize and view their body language.

On Black Friday we decided to take advantage of some of the sales in the mall by going to JCPenney and ordering custom made blinds. We also took advantage of the time and checked out some washers and dryers to put into our new home. So it was pretty busy on Friday. That Saturday is when we moved into our new home. I had the BEC section of the CPA to take so I wasn’t there for most of it. Amber’s family showed up much earlier than we both thought they would. So while most of the moving was taking place, I was failing an exam. Funny thing is, even though I had to give up on studying for this one weeks and weeks before taking it, I did better on this one than any of the others I’ve taken. When I finally got done, Amber and I pushed ourselves to get the rest of the house packed up and moved over. That day killed us. Amber stayed home from church the next day so she could rest – and considering that she was going to have to go back to work on Monday, she really needed to rest up. Man, this was a real busy month. Even from making our offer on the new house to it closing happened all in this month. Actually, the process took only 2 weeks total. I think I’ve said enough.

She Said:

November: Still sick and two visits to the outpatient center at the hospital for two more IV’s over the course of the month. Mid way through the month in desperation I went to a Nature Pathologist. She started me out on enzymes to clean out my liver and kidney’s as well as digestive enzymes. Then later enzymes for nausea and my blood sugar. This was the first of things looking up in this pregnancy. I only worked the first week of the month. I was advised to take a two week break from work to try to recuperate. It ended up being three weeks away with Thanksgiving break and days I missed, before they told me to take time off. I spent a lot of time in bed and going to the doctor for my weekly weigh in visits. I began feeling the fluttering movements of the baby this month. It was exciting to feel something going on inside, knowing it was our little one, getting bigger. She likes to move to music and the first few times I felt her move it was to Brinton’s voice. When he would come home from work and he would talk to me she would move like crazy.

To get my mind off being sick, I started house hunting on the internet and around the neighborhood. Brinton and I weren’t exactly planning on buying a house this soon into our marriage (especially with all of the other changes and unexpected sickness) but we decided that since I am still working and real estate is such a buyers market, we would at least take a look. This transitioned quickly when we found a house that we thought would suit us well. It ended up being a three week process from start to finish and botta-bing the weekend following Thanksgiving we moved into our new little home.

He Said:

December – Besides the Christmas spirit being in the air, I think what I was most excited about for this month is that the CPA was behind me and I wasn’t going to revisit it until after this little kid of ours was born. So I could really, truly just not think about it for a while. And believe me I need that; I was burning out from it. Well, at this point we’re in our new home, it’s a major mess, and Christmas and by birthday are right around the corner. We stayed in the Hampton Ward (the ward we just moved out of) for a couple more weeks before starting up at our new ward (Kimball Ward). Since I was Ward Mission Leader I wanted to help make sure the transition to the next WML would be smooth. They called the next one a couple weeks into December, and that Sunday became our last Sunday in that ward. With having a house full of junk to go through, we proceeded to work on the stuff that was most crucial to us – and at the very least get this home in a livable order before we allowed the gradual unpacking to settle in. We know that unpacking is a long process, so we only wanted to get through the real vital stuff right away. Really, this month mainly consisted of unpacking, throwing away, and reorganizing. And for me, it’s been a HUGE motivator in getting rid of stuff I otherwise wouldn’t want to – of course, this is the fourth residence move more me in 3 years. When you move 4 times in 3 years, you just get sick of some of the stuff you have. Unfortunately, I won’t be throwing away my textbooks – unfortunate for my Mom that is; she HATES that I still have them. At work I was spending my time going between audits and getting as many outstanding ones wrapped up as possible before using up my comp time over the Christmas holidays. See, some of the audits I was on in recent months helped me collect enough overtime (comp time) that I was able to take 2 weeks off around the Christmas break. And since Amber already had that time off from school, it worked out great for both of us. So during that period we focused on stuff to clean up in the house – though, honestly, we didn’t get as much done as we could have. But we did get our blinds up and that was the biggest thing to get done during the break. My folks also recorded several College Bowl games for me – I have 2 left to watch. So on occasion I was at their house watching it. And then we ended our year with the same way we started it – a kiss on new years at the Boise Institute New Year’s party. And yes, Amber still wouldn’t give me a good, long kiss!!!

She Said:

December: I returned back to work, but only had to work two weeks due to Christmas break. What a blessing! I still had bouts of sickness, but was able to cope much better at this point. Brinton took the two weeks off from the break and so we were able to spend a lot of time unpacking, putting up blinds and just being together. We spent Christmas Eve, which is also Brinton’s birthday with his parents. We went out to eat and hung out at his parent home. Christmas morning we enjoyed sleeping in and later gathered again at his parents home to celebrate with his sister and her husband. Later in the evening we went to my mom’s house to celebrate with my family.

Over all 2008 was an exciting and eventful year. I knew it was going to be a good year and it really was. At the years end I was 25 weeks pregnant and ecstatic to be over half way to my due date. It seems that a quarter of the year was over shadowed by the sickness of pregnancy, but so many wonderful things did take place. My record at this point of not throwing up since the sixth week of pregnancy is a week and a half. Sad to say it still stands to that this day. I look forward to the day a few months from now where I get to see this precious little one and hold her in my arms. What a blessing that will be. 2009 will be divine.

Thank you to all who made 2008 possible for the many adventures we encountered!!