Good News

Swine flu is all gone. No hospitalization. Everything is looking better! Yea!

Swine Flu

Our school has had several students out sick in the past week or two. It should have come as no surprise to me that I ended up coming down with the swine flu on Wednesday. What is even worse is Jessica came down with it today. :( Poor honey! My sister-in-law Angie and I took her to the doctors. She had a temperature of 103.9, an ear infection, and has been throwing up since yesterday. Her pediatrician (who I think is fantastic!) put her on some medicine for settling her stomach so she can eat. Then we got some pedialyte for her to drink. The pediatrician said that if she can't keep it down by tomorrow, she will be hospitalized so they can set up an IV for her to get fluids in her. Poor baby! So far she has only taken 2 oz of pedialyte. I'm praying that she doesn't have to be hospitalized... We shall see!

Packing

has become one of my least favorite things to do. Yet, what it all symbolizes is wonderful! The update for our family is pretty life-changing: Jer has a new job with a company that is based in Eugene, Oregon. He will be able to work from home as well as stay part-time with the MTC. As Jer and I have thought and prayed and talked about what this means for our family, we decided that I needed to be a stay-at-home mom as soon as possible. This decision translated to putting in my notice at school. My last day will be November 20th. In all honesty it was a hard decision to make. Not that staying home with my baby was hard, but leaving teaching was hard. I love my class. I love my students. They are amazing and they teach me new things every day. I prayed long and hard before making the decision. Interestingly enough, I have concurrently been reading President Hinckley's biography. The other day I read about his decision to work for the church instead of the railroad company. That decision truly changed the course for their family. As I was reading about that, the Spirit was so strong and bore witness to me that, as hard as this decision to stay home has been, this is one of the most important decisions I can make for our family. I know that this decision will change the course of our family life. I know that this is the right thing for my children. (Well, child and future children.) In some ways it is unnerving and a little scary though. I have worked, mostly full-time, since I was a junior in high school. Not working is a new adventure. I am so excited though!

Running

I haven't run since before I was pregnant. I have never been a big runner but a few years ago (when Jer and I were engaged) we decided to run a 5K. It was horrible! I was probably the most annoying runner on the trail. I had the worst attitude. Later, much later, I realized what a downer I had been for Jer and everyone around me! I decided to try again and change my attitude.

A few summers ago, a friend of mine was training for a half-marathon and I decided to run with her. She was an awesome running partner! I never realized how important it was to find someone who you could "mesh" with as a running partner. Someone who runs around your speed, someone who you motivate and who motivates you, etc. It was neat. By the end of the summer we were running around 18-21 miles a week. Saturdays were our long runs and the longest we went was around 7 or 8 miles. (Which, for me, is huge!) Then I got pregnant and fell out of the habit of running. Which, looking back, makes me very sad.

A few nights ago I got new Nike running shoes. (Thanks to my mom!) The poor salesman had to answer several questions from me because I wanted to find a good shoe that fit me and my goals. My mom was laughing at me because I had to run around the store in the shoes before I decided. :) I found a really nice pair that I have worn to school yesterday and today to break them in. Hopefully my sister who is down here will want to go running with me. She is a runner and I think we'll have a good time pushing each other...

We'll see how the running goes. I'd like to do another 5k soon. We'll see. :)

Halloween

I am a holiday junkie. I pretty much love any and all holidays. In our family we even celebrate Groundhog Day. (It's true. Complete with watching the movie, a groundhog cake and I'm working on decorations...) Next to Christmas though, my favorite holiday is Halloween! I love the decorations, wearing costumes, candy, and fog machines. (Don't ask.)

One of my 6th grade students told me about this fabulous website that allows me to make different blog backgrounds. So, in honor of Halloween this month, I have changed my background to Halloween. I am super excited about this particular Halloween because this is Jessica's first one. Jer and I have been talking and deciding what to do for her costume. I told Jer we had to be a themed family. We finally decided to be pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. Jess will not be a pirate. She is going to be Jack, the Monkey. We found the CUTEST monkey suit at a Halloween boutique in the Provo Town Center. Adorable. My mom = not so thrilled. She wants Jess to be a princess. :) Maybe next year mom. Maybe next year.

Nothing is Safe

She is officially crawling!

Yikes!

2 Saturday's ago I got up early with her and was at the computer. I looked over at where she was on the ground and... oh my gosh! She was crawling! I grabbed the camera and began taking videos. I had to go wake up Jer to show him. Now, normally waking up Jer early in the morning is an endeavor where I am basically taking my life into my own hands. But, this morning, I was so excited that I had a valid reason for waking him up!

How has life changed? As many parents previous to us can attest - nothing is safe. What does Jess like to go for the most? Anything electronic. Lovely. This face shows how she feels about me hiding the electronics...

She is so fun to play with! She is such a happy baby. She smiles and laughs and is officially ticklish now. We love to play with her!

Here she is crawling! What a cutie! You can see the diaper box to the right... 2 days after she started crawling, she started pulling herself up. What a terrifying experience this has been for mommy! She loves to pull herself up on the diaper box. We put it in front of the DVD/VCR because that is her new favorite "toy". Last Saturday she had a rough day. She is learning about balance and every single time she pulled herself up on something she would fall and hit her head. Poor honey! I wonder if it's harder for mommy than her! I am so freaked out all the time with it. Typical mommy issue I wonder? :-)

She also wants to help feed herself now... like the post says: "Nothing is Safe!"

Have I mentioned how absolutely cute she is and how much we absolutely love her!?!?!?!?!

Temple Dedication

This morning I was blessed to be able to attend the Oqquirh Mountain Temple dedication. The only other temple dedication I have attended was 10 years ago when President Hinckley dedicated the Alaska Temple on January 9th, 1999. I was 18 years old and I remember feeling the importance of being worthy so I could receive the blessings that come with endowment and temple marriage. Now, this morning, as I was attending this dedication, I realized that in 10 years time since I was 18, I am blessed to be sealed as an eternal family to my husband and my daughter. What will the next 10 years hold? I am grateful that I am worthy to go to the temple. I am grateful that I have a desire to keep my covenants and be obedient to my Father in Heaven. It was a spiritual moment of reflection for my life and myself. What a wonderful opportunity.

It's That Time Again...

When I feel the urge to blog a little! I have some friends who always ask when I'm going to update my blog. It seems like the busier I am, the more likely I am to blog. Which is silly because you would think that the more time I have, the more likely I would be to blog. Nope. I've heard it said that if you want something to get done, ask a busy person to do it... there's a reason why they are busy. :)

Here has been my week’s schedule so far:

Monday:

• Gym
• Shower/eat
• Prepare for school
• Come home to spend time with my angel baby
• Make dinner and spend time with my hubby
• Sleep

Tuesday:

• Breakfast
• Prepare for school
• Quick shower at home
• Back to school night
• 10 minutes of time with my angel baby
• Sleep

Wednesday:

• Breakfast
• 1^st day of school!
• Come one to spend time with my angel baby
• Dinner and time with hubby
• Sleep

Thursday:

• Breakfast
• 2^nd day of school
• Parent / teacher conferences
• Visiting teaching with Jess as my companion
• Sleep

Friday:

• 3^rd day of school
• Parent / Teacher conferences
• More Parent / Teacher conferences
• Sleep

Are we sensing a pattern here? Thankfully, parent / teacher conferences will be over by next Thursday and I can just focus on school and my baby. Most of my parents have cancelled on me (real fun!) so I’ve just been sitting in my room planning for next week, making my shopping list, texting my family, and blogging.

Anyways – here are some cute pictures of my darling baby girl from this summer. She has been so fun to play with and be with every day. I try not to think of her during the day otherwise I begin to get teary-eyed. I really love my job but I love being home with her more. I’m very fortunate that it is not as hard as it could be because I love my job. J My students are lots of fun and it will be a good year!

Mommy and Jessica reading the newspaper

I know this picture is hard to see but her crying face is just so cute! I try to get a picture of her lower lip curling down but it's always late at night and the lighting is never good...

There was a 2 week period where Jess would make these funny faces! She would pull both of her lips in. I haven't been able to get it all the way but she is starting to do it here. She's such a funny girl!

One night daddy decided to put on some music (using his new phone) and then he asked me to dance while Jessica sat on the couch watching us. Then, after our dance was over, he led me over to the couch and asked his daughter to dance. This was the dip at the end of the song. Jessica was either looking at daddy like he was crazy or smiling and giggling. It was so cute!

She is fascinated with everything!

Jessica is getting more fun every day! I love being a mother. I love being her mother!

Girls Camp

Wow! I am so tired from just 2.5 days of being with twenty-five 12 year olds! I love girls camp and I love first years. Our stake goes to the LDS campsite Mia Shalom every year. It is a really beautiful campground! We left on Tuesday at 7am. The girls are there until Saturday morning at 8am but I left today because Jessica has a doctors appointment tomorrow. My favorite part of camp was the skits performed on Wednesday night. So stinkin' hilarious!!! One of the girls, during her skit, was laughing so hard that she actually wet her pants! (No kidding.) Each year did a skit together. The stake leaders (I loved their idea) passed out a packet with 4 Mormon ad posters. Each group of girls picked one of the ads and based their skit off that. My favorite skit was the 2nd years. Their poster was the theme "Pray Always". They had a girl who was having a bad day. She tried to fix it by calling superheroes in the phone book (Batman and Superman showed up) and that didn't work. Suddenly 2 Care Bears came in (because they saw her sad on their Care-ometer) and they tried the Care Bear Stare. Twice. That didn't work. Then, the Spirit (in the form of one of the girls) yelled, "Read your scriptures!" She read a scripture about prayer and decided to pray (she walked behind the podium to pray in private she said) and then everything worked out! I wish I had video'd it so I could post it. I almost joined the girl who had wet her pants. It was truly one of the funniest skits I have ever seen!

Anyways - camp was great. Jer has been working hard on his thesis (he is about half-way done with the initial writing) and I have another week of vacation before I start school again. I think it will be a fun year. I have some great kids in my class and we will have lots of fun together. :)

Jessica is doing well. She is growing like a weed (6 months and already wearing 12 month clothes! Crazy) I am guessing that at her dr.'s appointment tomorrow she weighs around 20lbs and is 30" tall. Really.

Well, that's about it for an update into my life. More to follow...hopefully with pictures...

Famine Before the Feast

Just like my journal, I sometimes go awhile without writing... The end of the school year along with the demands of being a wife and mother have kept me super busy. I apologize to my hoard of fans. Although, let's be honest. They are Jessica's fans, not mine. :)

Luckily, I have been keeping a word document on my desktop where I record all the fun things Jessica has done since she was born. I call it "Jessica's Fun Facts." Here is an update on a few things of interest (to me at least. If you're only here for the pictures, skip and scroll down...)

• Weight: a little over 16lbs now
  
• Height: 25.5 inches
  
• This past week she has found her "voice" and is her chattiest when she first wakes up.
  
• Wakes up like clock-work between 5:30 and 6:00 am. No matter what kind of a night she has had. Not so exciting now but, if it continues, will be super exciting when she's a teenager...
  
• For the most part she sleeps through the night (8-12 hours depending...)
  
• Not rolling over yet although she has started to take a little interest in it. She loves being rolled side to side by someone else though.
  
• Holds her head up really, really well.
  
• Giggles and laughs at the funniest moments! 
  
• Everywhere we go, Jessica LOVES to look around. She is such an interested child in everything around her.
  
• The Similac company has quit making Jess's formula so we switched her to soy. The soy formula is supposed to help with gas, fussiness, and spit-ups. She's already mellow, the gas is the same if not worse, and the spit-ups have increased. Hmmm...
• Has 2 regular naps each day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon.
  
• Each nap is anywhere from 30 min - 4 hours. Lately it's been 4 hours. I think she's growing.
  
• In the past 2 weeks she has become a drooling machine. 
  
• She really enjoys music. When music is on in the background and Jer or I am holding her hands while she is standing, she will actually bob in time to the music. Sounds like a coincidence? I'm not so sure. Another time she was in her car seat and bobbing her head in time with the music. She would start then stop. Every time she started it was in the correct rhythm to the music. Every time. I mean, I know every parent thinks their kid is the greatest thing since sliced bread but truly, my kid really is. :)
  
• Has a singing voice that is distinctly different from her talking voice. Now that she has found her talking voice she doesn't sing as much as she used to, but there are times when I am singing to her, or playing the piano and singing to her, and she will sing with me. So cute!
  
• When we read scripures together she calms down when we start reading. I believe that she can already feel the spiritual power that comes from reading the Book of Mormon. I also believe that she can feel the Spirit and that she knows that the "language" of scripture reading is different from the "language" of every day speaking.
• When someone other than her mother is holding her (when daddy is not around of course) she likes to watch me and follow me around. She likes to keep tabs on where her mother is. I love it!
• She is still a snuggly baby.
• Jessica is still a calm baby.
• When others want to hold her, she does really well for them for long periods of time.
• Jessica loves being swaddled for nap times. Sometimes she will be fussy because she's tired but then, when I start to swaddle her, she begins laughing or smiling. Then I pop the binki in and she dozes right off. Sometimes.
• I've noticed that, while in Alaska, other people are not able to get Jessica to go to sleep for naps. She becomes fussy and cries. Then, when I take her, she settles down quickly and dozes off. I love being her mom!

Here is the princess sleeping. She truly is a princess. I am constantly reminded of the trust given to Jer and I from Heavenly Father to raise one of His precious daughters.

Jessica kept waking up because the sun was in her face. So we draped a burp rag on the side and she went right to sleep. I love the difference in lighting in this picture.

The flowers on Temple Square are immaculate. This was just a pretty photo.

This was taken mid-April on Temple Square. I LOVE how she is sleeping so peacefully with the temple in the background! What a sweet reminder that families truly are forever. 

This was taken on Easter day. This is one of my FAVORITE pictures of Jessica! I believe that it shows how much of an angel she is, and how much of a daddy's girl she is!

Momsense...

The Lord truly looks out for the mothers and children on the Earth. This is a simple story but it meant a lot to me. Tonight I was getting my daughter ready for bed. The routine is this:

• Eat
  
• Burp
  
• Bath
  
• Story
  
• Prayer
  
• Scriptures
  
• Prayer
  
• Kiss 
  
• Sleep
  

Unfortunately Jessica has acid reflux issues and sometimes ends up throwing up everything she ate. 9/10 times this can be prevented by careful burping, slower feeding, and not over-feeding. 1/10 times she just throws up. Tonight, while she was in her bath, I had washed her little body and was getting ready to wash her hair. Suddenly the thought came to me that she needed to be done with her bath. I almost dismissed it but again, I felt very strongly that I needed to get her out of the bath. Before her bath I had also felt like I needed to get a thicker towel for her instead of the thin baby towels I usually used. After the 2nd time I felt like I needed to get her out of the bath I decided to get her out of the bath. I wrapped her in the thicker towel and we went into the bedroom so I could put a diaper and clothes on her. Suddenly she peed all over the towel. I was grateful for a thicker towel because it absorbed everything instead of getting all over. A few seconds after that, the poor thing threw up all over everything. Here's the simple part: if I had ignored that feeling and kept her in the bath, she would have thrown up in the bath which would have been a more complicated cleaning. As it was I was able to wipe a lot of the throw-up off her body, get a washrag wet from her bath, and sponge bathe her on the bed without any fuss or trouble.

I know this is simple, but I am positive that Heavenly Father was watching out for Jessica and me in this simple, sweet instance. 

6th Graders Say the Darndest Things!

My 6th graders had to write a practice essay a few weeks ago. We are focusing on persuasive writing techniques. Their writing prompt was: 'Do teachers deserve more pay?' Here is what they said:

"I think so. They have tried so hard for all these years..."

"They have to tolerate so much on us and try their best so when the district comes in our class, we don't screw up everything."

"They have to wait and not get mad. I don' think that is very easy when you're trying to teach something, and the kids are like, 'What did you say?' It's just really frustrating to do that, so they deserve more money."

"It is hard not sitting in the teachers lounge, drinking wine, and just chatting with other teachers. They deserve more money."

"The solution is yes! Teachers are the start to another generation. Teachers are the future...Make teaching legendary..."

"Teachers deserve more money! They need money for clothes."

"I absolutely, positively know that teachers should get more money...They can pay for health and their bills. They can also pay for food."

"Teachers would be happier if they got a raise. Happy teachers make happy students."

"I know that the teachers that work in schools should be paid more!...Teachers paid a TON of money before to get educated in order to teach. They must have paid at least $1,000 dollars just to do school...to work here. It's quite stressful!"

"I do think that teachers should get paid more...Some really good teachers take hours to prepare their lessons. Really awesome and exciting lessons take hours to prepare and hours to get all of that awesomeness into them."

"Teachers work for government. Why do congressmen get paid more than teachers?"

"If you were a teacher you would have a hard life. If they get paid less than you, then that's not fair. Teachers should be paid for how hard of a class they teach. Or, everyone would be teaching kindergarten."

"Dear Principal Densley,

I heard you are not paying the teachers as much. Now that is unstable...Teachers are very smart and they share their smartness to the kids...If we didn't have teachers we wouldn't be smart at all."

"If teachers quit because they are not paid enough, who would teach us? Teachers are the reason people become successful...If there were no teachers, school would be pointless."

It's nice to know that people in my profession are appreciated (sometimes) by their students. :) It's been fun to be back in my class. I really enjoy my students. They are great. :) I think it's been a tough week having Mrs. Workman back. They got away with a lot while I was gone. It's interesting trying to get my class back. This may sound cheesy, but in 6 weeks my class has grown a ton! All of my kids look bigger and sound older! It's really really weird. I do love them though and I'm grateful for their personalities and what they teach me. :) Yea for teaching! I love it!

The Cuteness Never Ends!

Jer surprised me one day with this little hold of his...The Stork.

Needless to say he will not be doing that again. 

At least not in front of mom! :)

It's a good thing she doesn't weigh much more!

Daddy is feeding his daughter - incredible how small she is compared to the bottle.

Every so often she has a little smile! I have been waiting to catch it on camera - I finally did! 

I'm excited for her to continue smiling! :)

The smile doesn't stay for long - thankfully neither do the frowns...

This is, yet another, favorite picture of mine. Look how absolutely ADORABLE she is! 

Is it ok to be addicted to your daughter? :) I certainly am!

Future Plumber?

This is the last picture of my baby in newborn diapers. Can you see why?

Jer and I were playing Scrabble while Jessica was enjoying some tummy-time. She ended up falling asleep (don't worry - I picked her up immediately) but before she did, I looked down and noticed that her diaper was too small...I just had to take a picture of our lil' future plumber! Very cute and very funny! :)

Hug Me, Hold Me, Kiss Me

I bought this outfit one day when I was 7 months pregnant and having a rough pregnant day. This was my reminder that it was all going to be worth it. I decided to have it be her Valentine Day outfit (which, ironically enough, was her original due date!) I've said it before and I'll say it again: she is one super cute baby!

Who could resist such a face?!?

Mom! For the last time I don't want to be on film!

Again with the face!

All right. If I must, I must.

Happy Valentines Day!

Burped

Any guesses as to how much she loves being burped? :)

Sometimes she just goes right to sleep while being burped. :)

Valentine's Day Date

Jer's parents sent us a Valentine's Day surprise.
We opened it and found our:
Package! It came with a note...

Our date consisted of Triple Chunck Hershey's Chocolate Brownies, M&M's and DEJAVU, a movie staring Denzel Washington. (It is a really good movie!) I forgot to take a picture but Jer went out and got dinner. He called me when he was on his way home and wouldn't let me see what he brought. We put Jessie to bed and then Jer made me wait in the back room.

Jer came knocking at the bedroom door in order to "pick me up" for our date. He led me into our kitchen and sat me down to a fabulous candlelight dinner. We exchanged gifts and settled down to eat Indian food from the Bombay House. I LOVE the Bombay House! Amazing Indian food. Lamb Tiki Masala and Chicken Curry with rice and garlic naan bread. Very good. This picture above shows our V-day cards and presents. I gave Jer coupons for massages and he gave me "crooner" cd's. Nat King Cole, Glenn Miller and Bing Crosby. 

Funny story about the cards: Jer is always telling me that I'm to sappy. I'm always telling Jer that he's not sappy enough. So, I tried to get a non-sappy card and wrote a simple, succinct note telling him I loved him. Meanwhile, Jer wrote me a sweet, long, sappy note telling me how much he loved me. :) Funny how we tried to cater to each other...

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day. I love my husband. He is my best friend and other half.  He is a wonderful husband and father. Jer is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Happy Valentine's Day sweetie!

Her Royal Cuteness!

Fun pictures from the past few days.
This little girl is either going to HATE having her picture taken or she is going to be VERY camera friendly!!!!Hanging out with mom...

Hanging out with dad...

She's in her daddy's favorite outfit...hat and all.

She's soooo tired...

Getting wrapped, burrito style, for bed

She is really beginning to love her binki

Ahhh! So sweet!

I love when her eyes are open

Not quite sure what this face is saying...

She's just hangin' out on one of her favorite blankets

She was trying to sit up in this picture...no really. She was. For a second I thought she was going to fall out face first!

She looks adorable no matter what she wears!

She's watching something

Who...me?

Big downward stretch

Again with the camera lady?!?

I LOVE when dad wraps me up for bedtime!

Almost a smile!

I wonder if the smiles that come from having gas help teach babies how to smile. It's obvious when she's having gas but lately there have been a few times when she didn't have gas and was beginning to smile...it's so cute when she does it! (The smiling, not the gas. Ok. Maybe the gas is a little cute right now too...)

Gratitude

There are so many things that I am grateful for. This isn't a complete list but it is definitely a start:

• My membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
• My Father in Heaven who loves and knows me
• My Savior, Jesus Christ
  
• My best friend and husband, Jeremy
• The newest addition to our family, my beautiful daughter Jessica
  
• My parents - they have no idea how much I love them and are grateful for them. In the past month I have gained a whole new perspective on all that they have done for me in my life!
  
• My parent-in-laws - I truly hope they know how much I love and appreciate them.
  
• My siblings - I have the coolest 3 brothers and 2 sisters ever. I love them all very much and am so grateful that we are all friends.
  
• My sister-in-laws - I have 2 awesome older sisters. I love hanging out with them and feel pretty lucky to call them family.
  
• The world's cutest nephew, Ethan (he's a doll! I love him to pieces and wish we lived closer to him!)
• My job - I LOVE teaching 6th grade at the "Best School In the Land" - Wasatch Elementary!
• My co-workers - Betsy & Tawnicia have become such good friends as well. I truly appreciate all that they do for me
• My husbands job at the MTC - he loves it there!
  
• My hubby's co-workers: he has a great boss and co-workers who take such good care of him. I appreciate all that they do for him
• Chocolate...need I say more?
• Cleanliness & organization - we live in a modest 2 bedroom home. I am a pack rat so it has become necessary to be an organization freak! Plus, and more importantly, I love how you can definitely feel the Spirit better in a clean home
• Technology - it is incredible how the Lord has inspired men and women to create such an awesome medium for communication and learning.
• The feeling of love - which sounds a little hokey to say, but it's true. I have felt such love for so many people and blessings that I have to say I'm grateful for that feeling!
• The scriptures - Jer and I really want our precious daughter to feel the spirit and power that comes with reading the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, so we have already begun to have daily scripture study. And you know what? I firmly believe that at the precious age of 1 month, Jessica can feel the spirit of them.

Now, this list isn't complete. But it definitely covers some things that have been on my mind lately! :)

Future BYU Alumni

Rise & shout, the Cougars are out,

Along the trail to fame and glory!

Rise and shout, our cheers will ring out,

As you unfold your vict'ry story.

On you go to vanquish the foe

For Alma Mater's sons and daughters.

As we join in song, in praise of you, our faith is strong.

We'll raise our colors high in the blue,

And cheer our Cougars of BYU.

Ra! Ra! Ra! Ra! Ra!
Ra! Ra! Ra! Ra! Ra!

GOOOOOO Cougars!