The Hatch Clan: Where Babies Wear White Tuxedos

The Hatch Clan: Where Babies Wear White Tuxedos

Friday, April 27, 2012

Holy bit off more than I can chew...

IIII....feel stressed. Like, crazy stressed. I've started my two classes for the term, my first time being a 'full-time' student since Jori was born, and it's madness. It'd be hard enough just with like the classes I had last semester, but on top of that the classes I have this term are exceptionally difficult. They're a lot of writing, like technical writing, and both are a LOT of group work. Pain in my fanny, bah. I just discovered: I must be awful with girls, because I almost never like working with girls. In groups in school or in an actual work environment. Don't know what that's about.

Anyway if that weren't enough, I'm trying to find an internship for Summer Term now (since Spring term is too late now) but it has to work around Sam's. And I'm also supposed to take the internship class summer term, and possibly the Religions Around the World class. Which seems like it'll be a fun class, but may be more than I can handle all together. But if I don't, then Sam is limited in his job searching to Utah Valley. Oi.

We also have a family reunion at the end of June, a trek, to prepare for, that I may be a single parent at (since Sam's Korean students are arriving at the same time). And I have my calling, Relief Society teacher. I have a lesson to give this Sunday for that. And don't forget about my most important responsibility: Jori!!

I had no idea it'd be so hard to be away from her so much. It's funny, really. I guess I've just gotten used to the way things have been. Spring Term she gets to be with Sam lots, so she's fine, but I'm struggling with it. I feel bad.

Why am I saying all this? I guess I'm immature and like getting sympathy when I'm stressed out. So there you have it: I'm stressed out!

I got my FIRST...

4.0 GPA Winter Semester since I was 12!! Granted I only took 2 classes. But still! :)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Farewell, HBLL

Today is Sam's last day working at the Harold B. Lee Library on BYU campus.



Woo hoo!!
The HBLL was a big blessing for us. My mom got Sam an interview because she used to kind of be friends with one of his bosses, but they interviewed a ton of applicants and he was the one who got the job. This was almost two years ago now: he started Summer Term, 2010. He would tell me almost every day how out of place he felt working there: he's had so many labor jobs, like working construction, installing gutters, working on a chicken farm, landscaping the BYU-Idaho gardens, etc. He felt very out of place sitting at a desk, in a quiet library. Or shelving books. Still, just goes to show: my Sam is well-rounded.

The job REALLY was a blessing after we had Jori, though. As I said just barely in my last post, Sam has not had much free time the past two semesters. But his department allowed their employees to work on homework when they're at the desk and they aren't helping anyone, as long as it was all on a computer (they couldn't be reading textbooks). This provided the main time for Sam to get his homework done, because there's a lot of down time most of the semester just sitting at those desks.

Still, he's been ready for something different for a while now: he gets a headache almost every day from sitting still inside for so long in the library. That's just Sam-he needs to get outdoors or he goes insane. So we're both excited for him to be moving on from this.

So if you really feel like it, stop by between 2 and 5 at the library commons or periodicals desk (I don't know when he'll be where), and give him a cupcake or something! Job well done, amigo.

BOO yah!

Done with school!!! ....for the semester.

I decided to do something unusual for me, and I got all (2) of my finals done the first day finals were open, which was Saturday. So Jori and I have had a pretty fun week with me not worrying about homework hanging over my head. Yay!

Much more exciting, though, is the fact that Sam is as we speak taking his last final of his last full semester of college!!! I'd say last ever, but he has to take this internship class Spring term and they may have a final, I don't know. But after his internship he'll graduate this August!

In case y'all didn't know, you should be very proud of Sam. School's hard enough when you're going full time AND trying to work at the same time. But then throw in a family to support and it's even rougher. But THEN throw in your wife is still in school, so you have to babysit so she can do schoolwork/go to class, and there's virtually no time to just do something for yourself. That has been my Sam's life for the past two semesters, and I really couldn't be prouder of him for doing all that he has.

Speaking of summer...(we kind of were, right?) this summer is probably going to be nuts for our little family. At least Sam won't have as much schoolwork to deal with, thank goodness, but right now the plan is for me to go full time Spring Term, and do MY internship Summer Term while possibly also taking another class Summer Term, as well. But that has to somehow work around Sam's internship class Spring Term, him working part time landscaping, and then SAM'S internship Summer Term as well.

Wish us luck. :S I've been so adamant about Sam or I being the main ones caring for Jori: I feel like since we made the decision to start our family before either of us was done with school, we shouldn't depend on others to take care of our child. She's our responsibility. But I may not have the luxury to say that this summer. BOY do I hate swallowing my pride. Tastes nasty.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Chatty chatty chat face

I feel like typing something, since it seems plenty has happened since I last made an entry. But this won't have any pictures...ok ok, I'll post two videos at the end. How bout that?

*Dan, Britany and Evie came and stayed for a week at the end of March, their last day being the first day of General Conference. It was great to have them here, and to get to know Evie Lou a little better. She's such a sweet little girl. One of the days, it was really funny though: she crawled up to Jori real fast, and without hesitating just like clawed her face. Jori didn't even realize what just happened so I guess she as no worse for wear. Silly girls!

*Tomorrow, April 11th, is the last day of classes for BYU. Then there are two 'Reading days' and then finals begin Saturday. I'll have two finals, and I may be able to take both of them Saturday so may do that to get them over with. We'll see.

*BECAUSE tomorrow is the last day of classes, I had this paper that I'd been putting off all semester due that I finally had to buckle down and do. Want to know the ironic part? I chose to write about ADHD, which I was diagnosed with in May 2009 but only tried medication for it the following summer and then kinda forgot about it. But I couldn't focus...to write a paper on ADHD! Ha. That tickles me. (If you're curious, I'm Primarily Inattentive type, which means I don't really have the hyperactivity problems. Just the paying attention ones.)

*Sam had some madness with the Linguistics department, and it was looking like he'd have to graduate in December instead of August, but we think we got it straightened out. It's a long story so I'll leave it at that.

*I really want to go see Hunger Games. We'll be going either this weekend or the next, finally. Yay!

*I taught in Relief Society again and kicked butt...just kidding. I felt so un-prepared this time: when I tried to prepare it was just a major failure, I could not think of questions to encourage discussion the way I usually can. Fortunately I have a great ward and the sisters got the discussion going on their own, just with a little prodding from me.

*We got Jori a new carseat, because she still hates being in her carseat most of the time. She is getting better though, and I think this one helped a lot. It's a convertible carseat; we got her the Britax Marathon 70. It's huge, but more upright than her last which she likes. A success, I think. Just not when she's blinded by the sun, yeesh.

*I'm trying to figure out what I need to do for an internship and am totally stuck. I can't make up my mind: do I try to find one Spring Term, which is like two weeks away? Or for Summer, and try to balance with Sam's Korean-teaching? Oi vay.

*Jori's as cute as ever. She's experimented with different crawling methods, and switches off a lot. But she just started crawling the 'traditional' way a bit this past weekend. She also cut her first tooth, a beauty on the bottom, and is pulling herself up on things and in the tub (which means mommy and daddy have to be extra attentive during bath time). Oh! And her cousin Miriam (6 weeks older) does this head-dance thing? Jori started doing something, too. Only Miriam's is fluid, more...well yeah, like a dance move-Jori's is more twitchy. But sometimes you can make her do it if you shake your head at her. We had a lot of fun grocery shopping yesterday, she and I, doing it back and forth.

And without further ado! Promised videos.
Soccer babies:
Jori pulling herself up:
Head-wiggle/twitch...till she spotted me:

Four more recipes


Well a century later...

Shepherd's Pie
Pros: Fast and easy, and only 279 calories per serving. Tasty, tasty :) Oh and I made real mashed potatoes, cause I like them so much more than instant, so I guess that took a tiny bit longer.

Cons: The kidney beans tasted really weird. I guess I shouldn't buy them at Smith's anymore, or something.

Chicken with Asparagus and Roasted Red Peppers
Pros: 271 calories...but I didn't get actual red peppers. I got red pepper flakes instead. You know, the spicy ones. Gave it a bit of a kick but I think next time I'll stick with the real deal. Maybe that made it even less calories per serving?
Cons: um...shoot. I can't remember. Oh, I never like tomatoes so didn't eat all of those like I should have. Still, overall it was a good recipe.

Superfast Salisbury Steak
Pros: super juicy meat, super flavorful. Easy to prepare.
Cons: How healthy can Salisbury steak really be? Come on. At least if you're going for low calorie count.

Slow-Cooker Chicken and Pasta Soup
Pros: Really easy, and it was great for our family: I just put in the first batch of ingredients at like ten in the morning, and that night (a Monday) when Sam got home, dinner was practically already made for him. He just had to add a couple more ingredients.* Plus I'm not normally a huge fan of soup because...I don't know, it's just soup after all. But this had tons of yummy flavor, so that was great! (I added some celery salt and a few other things lightly though, just experimentally.)
Cons: It calls for fresh dill and fresh spinach...but this was the last recipe on our list I tried, so by the time I made it the spinach was much more wilted and half the dill had gone bad, anyway. So I should've just made this sooner, I think.

Overall rankings?
1st place: Sichuan-style Chicken with Peanuts (I've already made this a second time)
2nd: Shepherd's Pie (would have been perfect if not for the kidney beans)
3rd: Superfast Salisbury Steak
4th: Slow-Cooker Chicken and Pasta Soup
5th: Chicken with Asparagus and Roasted Red Peppers
6th: Angel Hair Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce

I enjoyed eating all of them, though, and am likely to use most of these recipes several more times. :)

*Side-note: Mondays have been the pits for us this semester, as far as 'family time' goes. Sam's at school/work 10:00 until 4:00, then I'm at class 4:30-7:00, then Sam goes back to work 8:00-midnight. So we only get about ten minutes right when he gets home and before I take off, and half an hour to eat dinner together. If there's dinner to eat: Jori goes to bed at 7:00 and in case you didn't know, it's really hard to make dinner when you're in charge of Jori. So I really should have made better use of a slow-cooker mondays this semester!