November is for gratitude - Day 4

Tonight I am grateful for parents.

Elizabeth Stone once said, "Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Now that I have a child of my own, I understand this perfectly. I have great parents. Of course we had our family issues, as no family is perfect, but my parents did an amazing job. They raised three girls strong in the gospel of Jesus Christ...two of which served missions, two of which were married in the temple, and one of which has started a new generation. my parents worked so hard to make sure that we had everything that we needed, and that we knew how much we were loved.

one of my favorite times as a child was bedtime. my mom told us made up bedtime stories about a girl named "punkin," and then sang us lullabies. after that we got to listen to my dad play the piano until we fell asleep. i always felt so safe and secure. that's the most important thing a parent can give to a child... security and love.

Again, I am grateful for my parents.

November is for gratitude - Day 3

tonight i am grateful for sisters

i saw a quote recently that said something to the effect that "sisters are a little piece of childhood that can never be lost." i believe that to be true. what is great about sisters is that you can be at each others' throats one day, and the next you are in each other's corner again.

i have so many memories with my sisters, i don't know how i will pick just one, but i wanted to share one with each of them.

when i was 9 years old, i qualified for the state championships for swimming in Georgia. my mom drove me and krista up (i can't remember if kaycie was with us or not) to atlanta, and taught us some french along the way. we learned the french alphabet, the numbers to ten, and she also was so kind as to teach us, "ferme la grande bouche," which means "shut your big mouth." :) when we arrived in atlanta and mom went into the hotel to check in, i stuck my face in between the two front seats, and like any annoying little sister would, proceeded to repeat over and over, "ferme la grande bouche...ferme la grande bouche...ferme la grande bouche..." i guess krista could only take so much, because eventually i caught a right hook in the nose! it was a pretty great right hook, cause the blood started flowing. i don't remember much of what happened after that, but i imagine she got in quite a bit of trouble. next morning though, she was poolside, cheering me on. :) about ten years later, krista and i were having a conversation on the phone. she was telling me about her classes at BYU, and she was telling me about a paper she had to write. the assignment was to write about three people that she considered her heroes. she told me that one of those heroes in her life was me. she told me that i was a fighter... that no matter how far down into a hole i fell (or dug myself into more often than not), that i never gave up... i never stopped trying to climb back out. that has stuck with me ever since, and no... i never stop trying to climb back to where i know i should be. what's funny though, is that she has always been one of my heroes too. her knowledge and faith has always astounded me. her ability to take the most ordinary things and make them incredible, simply through the words that she can magically put together, has fascinated me. she is THAT special.

i used to torture kaycie...she was the baby after all... but boy did she love me, even when i didn't deserve it. one of the most vivid memories i have of kaycie was also when i was 9 years old, making kaycie 3. santa had brought me a SWEET pink and purple ten speed bike for christmas a few months earlier, and i was out riding around the neighborhood. kaycie wanted to come with me, so she was riding her plastic tricycle alongside my sweet wheels. i decided it would be a great idea (yeah i didn't have such great ideas at nine years old) to get fancy on those sweet wheels. i was CRUISIN down the street, pretty fast i might add, when my foot slipped off the pedal and got caught on the pavement. i LITERALLY went up and over the handle bars, landed on my head, flipped over, and the bike landed on top of me. i couldn't move. kaycie came screeching up to me, and told me she was going to get help. yes, my three year old little sister was going to save the day. i have this clear picture in my mind (remember that i'm laying in the middle of the road with a bike on top of me) of her on top of her little trike, with her little legs pumping as fast as they possibly could go. i call kaycie my nephi. for those of you non-Mormons, nephi is a Book of Mormon prophet. he was the youngest of his brothers, but also the most righteous. he was always steadfast, always immovable, and always faithful. i have had my ups and downs, but kaycie has always been a better example to me than i have been to her. she is so special. there is a running joke in our family, that kaycie is the favorite. she's EVERYONE's favorite. she always has been, always will be. we can't help it... she is THAT special.

yep, my sisters are pretty darn special.

November is for gratitude - Day 2

Gratitude Day 2:

MY HUSBAND!

JJ is a good man. He takes good care of me and Laela. He works hard, and he has a good heart. Of course we have our issues, as every marriage does, but we are committed to making this work. I love him so much, at times only God knows why :), but I love him. I know deep in my heart that we are SUPPOSED to be together forever. I will fight as long as I can to make this a love story to remember.

i can still remember the first time i laid eyes on that handsome man. he literally took my breath away, and i am sure my cheeks turned bright red. i couldn't believe that this man wanted to be with me. it truly was a "love at first sight" experience. i mean, i already knew i loved him, but i needed to see if he made my heart flutter... and BOY did my heart flutter. i thought it would pound out of my chest, and i was afraid my knees would give out. i was so enamored, and i'm so glad he felt the same. i know without a doubt we are meant to be together, and i try to remember that every day.

I love you JJ!

November is for gratitude

I decided that this month I would really like to focus on what I am grateful for. Hopefully I can do one each day... baby willing.

Day #1

I don't think it's ANY surprise that my #1 would be... wait for it...

¡¡¡¡¡LAELA!!!!!

I cannot imagine my life without this peanut. She is turning from a baby to a little girl right before my eyes, and though I can't stand it that she is my little baby anymore, I am excited for what the future with bring. She is stubborn, sassy, and confident. I love her more than I have words to express.

i remember the first time i saw her. i'm kinda ashamed to say it, but she was so icky i kinda wanted them to take her away and clean her up! haha! but, then when they did take her away and she wouldn't cry, i wanted nothing more than for them to give her back. i know she needed them to help her, as she had inhaled some fluids and was having trouble breathing, but i wanted her and needed her. she had been a part of me for nine months, and then suddenly she wasn't. in an instant she was no longer safe and secure. she now needed me more than ever before. when they gave her back, i felt a love i never knew i could feel before. i couldn't take my eyes off of her. i was overwhelmed at what was ahead for me and this tiny little baby girl, but i knew that together we would make it just fine. She. Is. Everything.

So, on this Day #1 of November 2011, I am grateful for my daughter.

loooooooooooong stretch

so for teachers, the stretch between labor day and fall break is the longest and most torturous. it just drags and drags and drags. once you get over that hump, then it's smooth sailing. only a month til thanksgiving, three weeks after that is christmas, followed by MLK day, presidents' day, spring break, then the push til the end of the year. i am SO ready for fall break. i am exhausted, over the 500 excuses i hear every day about why homework isn't done, and if i never hear "i don't get it" one more time, i might be the happiest teacher ever. ugh, even i don't want to be around my bad attitude. :)

on a happier note, Laela has mastered standing for however long she wants. she is now working on trying to dance while standing, and taking more than two steps without face planting into a piece of furniture, door frame, wall, or floor. she started clapping yesterday, signs "milk, more, help, up, hi/bye," and is working on "kitty and love." Lae is actually starting to show interest in more than boobie, and gobbles up anything i give her (except baby food). her favorites are grated pears, graham crackers, and string cheese. she also loves sweet potato fries. she is starting to get trim and fit since she runs around so much, and her weight gain has slowed. she was weighed and measured today and is a whopping 22.5 lbs, and just over 28 inches long. poor baby is also working on 4 teeth... count them... FOUR teeth right now. makes for some interesting nights.

funny story for you. tonight she blew out her diaper right before her bath, so i cleaned her all up and plopped her on the floor to go draw said bath. silly mommy for thinking that since she had JUST taken a diaper off her baby that she was safe with a naked kid running around for a few minutes.... NOT SAFE! she was cruising along her crib when she stops, looks at me, and starts PEEING! she is totally intrigued by it and watches. then she looks up at me and starts laughing! i know i shouldn't have, but i burst out laughing and cleaned it up as quick as i could. at least i know she didn't pee in the bathtub. :) gosh i love that girl...

now she's sleeping like the sweet angel that she is... for now... :)

this day needed to be over as soon as it started...

seriously, one of the WORST days ever. i started it by waking up late. I was frantically trying to get ready when the baby decided to wake up early. she and i stumbled through our morning together and ran out of the house about 15 minutes late. i noticed that my battery was a little weak this morning when i started the car, but didn't think much about it. we have known it needed to be replaced for a few days, but thought we had another few days to get it done. i get to the babysitter's house and take Laela in, give her a quick kiss and run out the door because i'm already about ten minutes late for work. i turn the key and hear a "groan... click click click..." yep, dead. at this point i'm thinking it might be time for me to throw in the towel and take a personal day. however, my kids are already a couple days behind and i don't want to get even further behind because i decided to curl up in bed with my baby all day.

so i go get jenny and tell her my battery is dead. to make things worse i had pulled up in the driveway behind where her car is parked in their garage. we somehow finagle the van out of the garage and go to work putting the jumper cables on. hers aren't marked with black or red and we can't find the positive and negative signs, so we guess and hope.... yep we got it wrong, so as we are trying to put the cables on my battery, sparks start flying! we put it on the right way, get me started, and i get to school about two minutes before the bell rings. i teach all my classes before i realize that my lady time decided to pay a visit and i was not prepared. oh, and i forgot my lunch. it was just a bad day all around.

God bless my sweet husband though. i called him and told him what was going on, and he dropped everything to come help me. he came and got my battery out of my car, took it to the dealership to buy a new one. he brought it back (along with my lady supplies and lunch), installed it, and even moved it into a nice shady spot right by the door. in fact, i was right next to the car on my way home when i realized i had locked my keys in my office.... yep. then i got in my car and realized i was on empty. again... bad day any way you look at it.

here's to hoping tomorrow treats me a little better!

funny sundays and rough mondays

it is a rare evening that i don't have a stack of 200 papers to grade and no planning to do for the next day, so i decided to celebrate the occasion with a blog. :)

this weekend my bestie was in town, and we had a blast. that blast however, included not much in the sleep department. friday night i was up til 2 and then up at 6 when Lae woke up, saturday i was up til midnight then up at 6 with Lae, then sunday i was up until midnight planning for the week and again up at 6 for work. this afternoon it really hit me hard, so we had a rough mommy day. i am a little ashamed to say it, but i laid on the couch with my eyes closed all afternoon while Lae played with her toys. i barely talked to her, barely played with her, and i even brought her to bed with me and nursed her to sleep so i could get a 20 minute cat nap to help ME make it to bedtime. i decided that i would make it up to her tomorrow with a trip to the park or the pool. it's good that kids are so forgiving.

Lae is quite the hit at church. she is very social (just don't try to take her from me), and loves to make eyes at people. she loves watching kids and if she doesn't have her paci in her mouth she will have full on babble conversations with the people in the row behind us. she's also stinkin cute so everyone just loves making her smile and laugh. this week in relief society was HILARIOUS! she woke up from a nice nap with about 40 minutes left in the meeting, and she decided that she would like to be down on the floor. i put her down and grabbed a handful of puffs and her sippy to keep her occupied. she was sitting in the middle of the floor in the back, but there were about ten or so ladies that were more interested in her than the lesson. she was putting on a show too! she was doing her little head shake, waving at everyone, and showing off how she could feed herself puffs. at one point in the lesson, the teacher was having quite the moment. she was telling a very personal story, it was very quiet in the room, she was very emotional and even crying. Lae decides that this is the perfect moment to let out a belly laugh. Of course we all start laughing (as silently as possible), with one lady even turning red in the face. :) Oh how i love my little peanut and her funny little personality!