I Survived

Jack survived his first full nursery time without his mommy yesterday. The first couple times we took him were a disaster. He cried the saddest little cries you'll ever hear - just literally broke your heart. Then grandma stayed with him through an entire nursery session and then so did I. And then between conference and him being sick he hadn't been there for about 3 weeks! I was kinda scared that we were going to have to start back on square one. But I decided to get him excited about playing with toys and friends before we got there, and I left him for a moment to check on my primary class, and when I came back he was doing great! I decided to let him be. I checked back several times, and each time was the same. He was happy and smiling and being helpful. I'm so proud of my little guy!

Advice!

So.... Now that it is getting colder outside, Jack and I cannot embark on our typical outdoor adventures.

What do you do with a 19 month - 2 year old inside all day?? And in a little home, I might add. On an even smaller budget?

He's going to drive me up a wall with all his bottled up energy!

And no. TV is not an answer!

This is going to be a loooooooooooooooooooong winter!

Forever 21...

I actually forgot how old I was! WHAT?! Now that I'm a mom and passed the 21 year mark, I lost track. I don't feel older than 21! I don't even think of myself as any more mature than an 18 year old. Ok, so I'm only 22, but I forgot! I thought I was still 21. I still see myself as a young girl, but somehow I have a family - a husband and a son - and I've even graduated from college. Somehow my brain hasn't caught up with my body. Time goes way too fast!!

My baby is 19 months tomorrow! He is just talking up a storm all of the sudden, learning a new word almost every day. My favorite word that he says is "cereal" and a close second is "cookie." I made cookies once like 3 weeks ago, and now he asks for them all the time! I'm hoping if he doesn't see them for a while he'll forget, but that hasn't happened yet. He just lights up my day!!

Love stinks.

A conversation between me and Juan after I was trapped in bed with him passing some less than pleasant gas...

Me: "AAAAAAHH!! I can't handle it anymore!"
Juan: "What do you mean you can't handle it?"
"It smells like you are dieing inside! What did you eat?!"
"Same as you. You made it!"
"No, I didn't eat the beans. It must be the beans!"
"Did you make them with love?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then that's it!"
"What?! Why?"
"Because love stinks!"

Oh, the joys of being married.

Ready to go!

ONE MORE DAY! totally ready to go!! We deep cleaned the house and are all the packed. California here we come!! Too bad I still have to teach primary tomorrow... :/

Did I mention that I was in primary in my last ward for at least a year and a half?... and did I mention that I was called into primary again in my new ward? Same age. CTR 5. But this class has about 10 kids (sometimes 13) that come regularly. YIKES!

i'm killing them, but at least they're dead... right?

Jack is THE MESSIEST eater. I thought that we would be past the playing stage.... but 6 months later it is still just as funny to throw a bowl of food on the floor. He also insists on eating Rice Crispies (quite possibly the messiest of all cereals) for breakfast every morning. He takes a huge handful and tries to shove it all in his mouth with a 20% success rate - meaning 80% of his breakfast lands on the floor. And did I mention that he won't eat it unless there is milk in it? Because that's the way mommy does it. So it's 10x stickier than normal.

Anyway. Needless to say. long story short. etc. My floors are always messy! I should sweep after every meal. I should mop every night. But let's be honest here people. It doesn't always work out that way. We've had a few ants. It's a summer thing. And I hate it. The good thing is, despite the world's messiest eater that grazes in my kitchen, we've only had about 15 at a time at most. Well, I've come to realize that most of them are dying before they can take the food back into their hole. They are dying on top of my food. What is that saying about my food? It's killing them. Even the ants can't eat my food.

And if it's killing the ants... what is it doing to us? But, at least they are dead... right?

Four more Days!

We'll be in California. I can't wait for a little vacation time with my family. We'll be hitting up the beach, the pool, the beach, the pool and Disneyland. Please feel free to join! I would love to see everyone while I'm down.

Who does that?

Found metal BB's in my baby's inflatable pool. Yeah... not so inflatable anymore.

Who does that?

The End

I went to see the final Harry Potter movie this morning. Juan's work graciously gave him and his coworkers two tickets each to the early bird showing. So, I dropped off Jack at the neighbors and had a nice little AM date with my husband.

The movie was more than I ever could have expected. Even though I read the books and knew the ending, I was totally captivated throughout the entire movie. I was full out crying towards the end of the movie - partially because of what was taking place on screen and partially because of what was taking place inside my soul.

Harry potter was a huge part of my childhood, and even as I've grown into adulthood, Harry Potter and the gang have been right there with me. It was my one connection to adolescence, and now it is gone. No more magical spells. No more giddy excitement for the newest book or film. No more midnight showings. No more Harry Potter.

It has been a great run Harry - you will be missed.

I LOVE SUMMER!

Summer is my absolute favorite season of the year. I would not change the hot weather for anything! And I'll even take the occasional thunderstorm. I love it all!!!!!!!! (I could do without mosquitoes though)

Today Jack played in the pool. Then we rode the bike to Target. I bought a popcorn combo for $1.82, and then we rode to the nearest park and watched a baseball game while enjoying our treat! After that, Jack played on the playground for an hour, pet all of the dogs he could get his hands on, and we rode home in the warm summer rain :)

It was total bliss!

A Mental Vacation

After graduation (Yes, I did it!), I decided I needed a little mental vacation. I had been pushing myself so hard for so long. And with my last semester being a winter semester, (imagine no sunshine for months and subzero temperatures) and with all the stress, and with all of the time spent away from my family, I felt I deserved to be completely unobligated (yes, I made up that word - I'm a linguist) to ANYTHING or ANYONE (except family). And that is exactly what I've been up to.

I wanted to make up lost time with Jack. I know it was hard for both of us for me to be gone so much. That's not what a mom is supposed to do. I did BF for a full year- to obligate myself to make it home to spend time with my little one. It was the one thing I could do to keep us connected. But now, we are home together all day, and he is my best friend. He follows me everywhere. He helps me put dishes in the dishwasher, clothes in the washing machine, and the rest of the time is spent just playing and enjoying our time. We go on bike rides almost every day, we play with our new friends in the neighborhood, and we play in the pool. I love being so free. I can tell he is so much happier. And so am I :)

I plan on slowly updating my life again. We have done soooo much since I last wrote, but like I said, I was on a mental vacation. Now I'm back, so keep a lookout!

Suffocation... No breathing.

I just need a moment to relax my poor brain.

*Inhale - exhale. Inhale - exhale. Breathe. Breathe.*

Except for the 5 hours of sleep I got last night (Jack woke up twice during that time period, so it wasn't really even restful), the two dinners I have cooked, and the time it has taken me to travel from point A to B to C to A to B to A, I have literally spent every moment of the last 48 hours doing schoolwork or internship stuff. And on top of that, I got sick from Jack. I'm just trying to keep my head above water, so I'm not drowning by the time I get to the end of the semester.

But I still have to somehow come up with 15 extra internship hours, other than the 75 I already have planned for the rest of the semester. I have 2 tests this week. I have a 20 hour project, which I'm 5 hours into. A 16 hour project, which I'm basically zero hours into. And then I have to do research, make a survey, get approval to distribute the survey (up to a 2 week process), and then write a report - all for my senior thesis, because I decided to do something more "useful" and change my topic at the last minute. Luckily, the projects and senior thesis aren't due until the last day of the semester, but it's still a lot of work I have to do RIGHT NOW! Oh yeah, and I have to make time to take care of my family and be nice.

Bad news: Jack knows when I am stressed and becomes super clingy and super grumpy. Juan is also swamped. BYU doesn't have spring break. My throat is killing me. My nose is running. I think I might die.

Good news: I probably won't die. Both my boys went to sleep at 7 tonight. I have a box of Oreos to get me through the night. Jack will have made it through his first year of life this Saturday! I'm going to be graduating soon and I'll never have to deal with this again!

Only 6.5 weeks to go.

P.S. This was more for my sanity to vent all of my frustration than for any real enjoyment. Sorry for the inconvenience. :)

Life with RSV

Jack has RSV. His nose is super runny and he has a terrible cough and usually wakes up with a fever in the middle of the night. The sad thing is that there is little to nothing I can do about it, and it can take up to three WEEKS to go away. We are on day #2. We've stocked up on tylenol, hooked up the humidifier and we got his suctioning clinic prescription... (a prescription that allows him to get suctioned if he can't breathe in the middle of the night... well, that's comforting... not).

We need a grandma.

MIA

Sorry for all those that looooove reading my blog (*sarcasm), but don't be expecting much blogging action from me... at least not until APRIL 22nd (graduation day)!!!!!!

I'm taking:
12 credits of classes
4 credits of internship (200 hours on the job)
and 2 credits of online classes

And did I mention:
I'm also a wife
a mom
a cook
and a maid?

Free time for me = little to none.

Only 9.5 weeks left to go.

My poor baby...

He found his toys!

Jack is nine months old today. He has grown so much and learns new things every day. He Has 4 teeth and 2 more are on their way. His favorite activities are: trying to eat leaves off the floor, crawling everywhere, bath time, looking at himself in the mirror, opening drawers, standing in his crib, looking for trouble and eating Kix. He gets more and more independent every day and looks more like a kid to me now than a little baby - I'm loving every moment of being his mommy.

This last week the poor thing was really sick for about 3 days. He had a sore throat and was running a temperature that got up to 103.8. All he wanted to do was sleep and cuddle, but other than that, he barely complained at all. As a mother, I was conflicted with loving the fact that he wanted to cuddle with me all day and feeling sad that my baby was sick. It's a weird mix of emotions. Of course, all I really wanted was for him to get better. And now he is! He just has a case of Roseola(a rash) from getting over the infection.

The good news is that he is better just in time for finals week and will be good as new by the time we come to visit you all for Christmas break!

Did I mention...

that I'm graduating in April????

Yeah... It's true!!

7 MONTHS

My baby is 7 months old today. I can't believe how fast the time goes by.... This morning we celebrated by cuddling in bed for an hour and half :)

Juan's Arm

As a response to those of you that hadn't heard what happened to Juan's arm:

He cut it really bad, back in the beginning of August. He was doing the dishes and a ceramic bowl slipped out of his hands and broke clean in half. He reacted to it, trying to catch it, but the bowl had already broken, and it sliced his wrist. I was sitting on the couch and heard him yell "AHH. I cut my arm!" But he made it sound like a little cut. I get over there and there's a ton of blood. And our conversation goes a little something like this:

"OK, I'm going to clean it out but don't get scared."

I see the cut.

"UUUmmm we have to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW!"

"Yeah, I know..."

"Why didn't you tell me that when you said you cut your arm??"

"I didn't want to scare you."

"Yeah, but then I would have at least been a little more reactive!!!!"

Then, I had to use my first aid skills and wrap it up tightly (although I was a little slow to react due to the fact that I was freaking out) and then we ran to the emergency room where he got 15 stitches.

They said he didn't hit any nerves or tendons and he just barely missed the artery. He pretty much got really "lucky" and only got the biggest cut he could possibly get without actually doing any terrible, permanent damage, although it was still really terrible and painful and is still bothering him.

But, like I said he went to physical therapy and now has full range of motion, despite the doctor's (and our) fear that he might not recover so quickly.

I posted the link to the pictures in an earlier post, but here they are again.

Enjoy!









And A cute one of Jack to make you feel better after looking at those other pictures....

Update

Life - is busy!

School - is great! I love being a senior. It means that I have no more GE' s. I HATE GE's! Some of them were ok, but in all honestly I just took them so I could graduate. Now, I love every single one of my classes. And, interestingly, I actually love doing my homework. I can't wait to do it sometimes. I love what I'm learning and talking about in my classes, and best of all, I feel like I'm understanding and doing well despite the challenge.

Jack - is wonderful too. He is such a happy baby, and so cute!!! I can't get over how beautiful he is. He started giving kisses lately, and I love it!! Of course, they are open mouth slobbery ones, but I love that he understands what "kiss" means and he actually tries to kiss me. He just broke his first tooth this week, and he hasn't even complained at all. He woke up in the middle of the night the first night but that's it. I was worried about our adjustment to going back to school, but so far he has loved staying with Kristen (and Kristen loves it too), and he seems really happy. I only have to take him to a couple of my classes a week, which is really nice. He had a hard time adjusting his sleeping schedule, because he wasn't taking naps in his crib anymore, and therefore was waking up a lot in the middle of the night, but he is finally going back to sleeping all night.

Juan - Is mehhh... Whatever... Haha no, he is really great too. He wakes up early and goes to work and then goes to school and comes home late, poor thing. But he is doing really well. He is doing really well at work, they like him a lot, and so far he thinks he's doing well in school. He's also helpful with Jack and around the house where he can be. The wrist is healing ok. He had to do a little physical therapy, and now he can use it the same as before, but it is still really tender to the touch.

We are both so busy during the day, and it's tough with all the homework we have to do, so our time together is scarce and, therefore, very precious. My house is almost always a disaster, but I love having something to do at school.

I can't wait until Thanksgiving and Christmas, though, when I get a break and get to see my family!

Oh how time flies!

The First Day

Oh, BYU.
What would I do without you?
And your freshman with strategically planned outfits. Fresh haircuts. Young men with clean shaven faces. And bright white sneakers?
Bring on the dances, the flirting, and the awkward mormon tomfoolery.
Tell us. "Where are you from? What is your major? Something interesting about you?"
How many got married this summer? Engaged? Baby?
Opening prayer. Closing prayer. Start class with a Hymn?
And homework. Get to it. Because you've got 3 tests next week.