Preschool

Recently I noticed comments on Facebook regarding people signing their kids up for preschool this fall. Totally surprised me, I mean, preschool doesn't start until the fall, are people really signing up in February?

The answer is yes and the preschools around here fill up fast!

I panicked. Didn't sleep that night. Called around first thing the next morning to check prices, curriculum, and reviews. Found a cheap one that I knew would be great (I know the lady) and got the last spot thanks to someone cancelling. I felt really good about it.

But then I started thinking ... Layla already knows everything they're going to teach her as far as the education piece goes. She'll probably be bored with that part. But she still needs the social interaction and to learn to follow instructions from a teacher, among other things (like sitting still in a chair for an extended period of time, etc.).

So, Mitch and I talked a lot about it, got a lot of opinions and insights from other parents and educators, and ultimately decided not to put her in preschool this year. Instead we are going to do other activities, such as swimming; tumbling; soccer; etc., where she can still get social interaction and learn to follow instructions from a "teacher."

Next year we will definitely do preschool though so that kindergarten isn't a complete shock when she has to go sit at a desk for longer than she ever has in her whole life. (Whew, maybe I should go back to school with all these run-on sentences!)

We feel good about our decision. Knowing the way Layla is, we think this is best for her. Not saying I'll necessarily do it with my next kid, depends on what his personality is like, but for Layla I think this will be great. I can totally see her being the class clown/social butterfly because she's too bored with the curriculum  so I think one year of preschool will be plenty. And in the mean time I get to keep my little buggy at home with me where I can smother her in kisses every day.

Sick

Little Buggy has been sick. Just look at those pink cheeks and cherry red lips. (Totally reminds me of my baby brother as his cheeks and lips do the same thing when he's sick.)

On Tuesday Layla and I both had clear, runny noses but otherwise were healthy. Tuesday night Layla went to bed without a fuss and woke up about one hour later crying. She had a slight fever and was pretty congested. She didn't sleep well that night. The next day she looked like the pic above and had a fever of 102. Thankfully her fever broke later that evening and she has been on the mend ever since.

I'm hoping this won't turn into one of those colds that lasts forever, though I'm thankful that a couple of colds is the worst we've had of illnesses at our house this winter. I also caught Layla's cold this time, but it's not bad at all and I didn't get a fever. Mitch made sure to steer clear of us, so he's not sick which is good; he seriously doesn't have time to be sick right now between work and school.

These two melt my heart.

Anytime you ask Layla if she's sick she says, "No, I'm happy." Love the positive attitude, kiddo! I try not to tell Layla things like, "Oh, poor Layla, you're soooooo sick" or over exaggerate her illness, partly because that's annoying, and partly because I think she would act more sick than she really is if I focused on it. Of course I took care of her and let her take it easy, but I think not focusing on her being sick has helped her to be happy despite not feeling well.

Starting to get over her fear of laying on her back in water.

The other night as I was putting Layla to bed I told her we were going to do a fun activity the next day, to which she immediately responded with, "Is it baseball?" Ummm, no, it's not. Totally random and made me laugh out loud. I didn't even know she knew about the game of baseball. And in all honesty, I didn't even know what the so-called activity would be at the time, I was just trying to give her something nice to think about as she was falling asleep.

She likes to take books off the bookshelf to build "towers."
And sometimes I consider cutting her hair to give her bangs
because it's always covering her eyes like in this pic.

Last night Layla was giving Mitch a "check up" with her little doctor tools she got for Christmas. He asked her, "Am I alright, Doctor?" She said, "I'm Laaayylaa. I'm just a kid. I'm not a doctor." Oh, excuse me. Ha, ha!

Not sure if I wrote about Valentine's Day on here or not. Mitch and I were able to celebrate twice. On the actual day Mitch brought home yellow roses for me and a pink teddy bear with some candy for Layla. He's the sweetest. I decorated the dinner table with a pink table cloth and some homemade Vday decor. We had homemade pizza and salad with heart shaped brownies for dessert. (I got a box of sugar-free brownie mix and I must say you could not tell one bit that they were sugar-free.) I gave Mitch some new workout clothes and Layla gave him a jar of nuts and fruit that she picked out all by herself and insisted that he would love. It was really cute.

Mitch must have been wondering all day long why I hadn't mentioned the gift he gave me, so when he got home he told me to check my email again. Sure enough he had given me a pass for a 3 hour photography workshop! I was so excited! I did receive the gift email earlier in the day but had deleted it because I thought it was junk mail. Ha, ha. It was a happy day and I loved celebrating with my little family.

I sure love her smile!

I helped (or rather I mostly did it myself) Layla make Valentine's cards to send to grandparents and great grandparents. She got several Valentine's cards in the mail in return and she was so excited every time to open the envelope. She keeps them all in her nightstand drawer so she can look at them periodically. She also got this adorable Hello Kitty night gown from Mammie and Grandpa Miles for V-day. She insists on wearing it every night (over her other jammies for now since it's still a little cold.)

That weekend Layla spent one night at mi padres house and Mitch and I went to dinner at a new Italian restaurant. It was good but slightly overpriced in our opinions. But it was nice to go on a real date with just the two of us. I love my Valentine! (And wish I had taken a pic with him to remember the day by. Such a slacker.) Oh, and on V-day I gave Mitch a package of Airheads with a note that said, "Don't be an Airhead, be my Valentine!" It made him laugh out loud so I'd say it was a success.

Also, I called my parents' house while Layla was over there and asked what they were doing. My mom was like, "Oh, Layla's just writing her name" in a really casual tone. I said, "Yeah, funny Mom." She got kind of upset that I didn't believe her and kept insisting that Layla really did write her name. Long story short, I didn't believe it at first because I have been trying to teach Layla how to write her name for a little while now. She knows how to spell it, and she knows what the letters in her name look like, but she didn't seem to have enough coordination to actually write the letters. I've helped her trace the letters of her name, but it just didn't seem like she was getting it. Well, apparently she really did get it because she seriously wrote her name all by herself a few times at my parents' house. Here's a pic of her best attempt:

Pretty good, eh? A good reminder to me that even if it seems like she's not paying attention, it really is sinking in ...

Potty training has been going pretty good lately. We took Layla to the dollar store and let her pick out 5 prizes. The deal is the first day she goes in the potty all day she can pick one prize. Then she has to go two days for the second prize, three days for the third, and so on. Well, it's been 5 days and she has yet to earn the first prize, but I must say the whole thing is going so much better that I'm okay with that. We are definitely making progress. She hardly goes in her diaper now and I'm considering putting her in underwear just to see if that seals the deal (but honestly I'm still nervous to take that step). Anyways, we've been encouraging her all week and I think we're getting closer and closer. One day it'll just happen, I'm sure.

Actually, I feel like she has grown up a lot in the last few days. She insists on doing so many new things all by herself now that she didn't care about doing before. Like getting dressed and undressed, putting on and taking off her shoes, putting things away, and just overall taking a little more responsibility for herself. She wants to do everything all by herself. It's really nice and will be great when Baby Marcus gets here.

Sometimes she'll even rinse her hair out all by herself.

Speaking of Baby Marcus, he is doing well in there. Had another dr appt and everything looked great. We couldn't see his little face because he wouldn't cooperate. Better luck next time. He moves around a lot, but only during certain times of the day. Sometimes I think he must be having a party because he seriously goes wild for 45 minutes at a time. We might have another child just as energetic as our first ...

Reading. Makes me so happy.

I feel so much better at this point in my pregnancy than I did at this point with Layla. Maybe because I'm exercising a lot more this time around, and instead of sitting at my old desk job I'm chasing an almost three year old all day? My only complaint is that I seriously have "pregnant brain." There are so many times in the day when I literally can't think straight or even speak correctly. I bet there are even typos and confusing sentences in this post. I blame the pregnant brain. But that's minor compared to what could be, so it's okay. Plus, it makes for a good laugh. 

Lists

I currently have three different lists of things I've been meaning to write on this blog ... things Layla has said or done, things we've been busy doing, and some things I want to record just so I remember them later. Eventually I get so sick of these little post-its lying around that I force myself to sit at the computer and write on my blog. Warning: this post is kind of random and scatter-brained. Here goes:

In the past, Layla could keep herself entertained quite easily while I exercised, showered, and got ready. This has been harder lately and I worry every day what I'm going to find her in to. The other day it was the tube of butt creme, which she had opened and applied all over her face like Indian war paint. My first thought was to take a picture, but then I instantly had images pop in my head of Layla rubbing the butt creme in her eyes, and pregnant me trying to hold a screaming, wiggling, 34-pound toddler under the faucet to rinse it out. So I didn't take a picture, but hurriedly wiped it off instead.

Portrait she drew of Daddy. 

Sometimes I wish I had a smart phone. I think I'd take a lot more pics if I had one. My mom takes lots of pics on hers and emails them to me, which is super convenient. Here's one she took while we were shopping at Old Navy and Layla randomly decided to pose like the mannequins.


Random side note: I have taken it upon myself to start teaching Layla how to climb in and out of the Hummer all by herself. It helps my back and poor baby belly so much!

Another one off my mom's phone.

Sometimes she does keep herself entertained by reading books in her bed, all by her lonesome. It cracks me up to find her laying on her pillows, with books stacked around her, talking to herself about the pics. She's got all the words memorized so it seems like she really is reading. Mitch said, "She must be your daughter." (I guess I do read a lot.) It makes me really happy that she's developing a love for reading (or her version of reading for now).

I did finish reading Les Miserables. I finished a day earlier than my goal, on January 30th! It was hands down one of my top 5 favorite books. Mitch and I are going to see the movie this weekend and I can't wait.

Relaxing by the fire at Mammie and Grandpa's house.

Layla calls a "baker" a "maker" and she thinks the ladies who hand out samples at Sam's Club are "makers." The other day I threw her off and instead of going to Smith's and then Sam's, we went to Smith's and then Target. While walking into Target Layla started whining and said, "I want to go to Sam's Cwub and get some samples from the makers!" Ha, ha.

Too bad grandpa sold all his horses ... now he has to be the horsey!

Instead of saying "naked" she says, "make-ed." It's especially funny when she runs around butt-naked yelling, "I'm make-ed!" which actually happens more often than I'd like to admit. I think it's hilarious. It was also awesome when she went pee pee on the potty the other night right after her bath and then did a naked booty dance to celebrate her victory. We laughed our heads off.

Again, courtesy of my mom's phone...

The potty training is still going I guess. We don't really push it much because it seems the more we push the more she refuses. If we notice she needs to go we'll ask her to sit on the potty and she usually will. Sometimes she'll tell us she needs to go all by herself, which is nice. She usually goes on the potty at least once a day. It's a start. I'll take it!

Yesterday Mitch walked in and noticed she was hiding, which is what she always does when she has to go poop but doesn't want to sit on the potty. He nicely asked her if she needed to go on the potty and she said, "No! I'm busy right now!" Ha, ha, ha! I think I know where she learned that phrase!

Another phrase she loves to say drives me nuts because it is grammatically incorrect. I'll ask her what's wrong and she'll say, "Nuffing's not wrong." Too bad she's too young to understand why double negatives are incorrect.

Grandpa is always willing to rough-house with her.

She speaks with a slight accent lately. No idea where it came from. She calls me "Mo-ma." And she says other words with an accent too, mostly words involving the a or o sounds. It's pretty funny and really random. Also, while she does have a contagious, super girly, high-pitched giggle/squeal, she doesn't always laugh. Sometimes she'll just say, "That's kind of funny." Totally reminds me of an episode of "Scrubs" where JD is dating a girl who never laughs and only says, in a monotone voice, "That's so funny." He eventually breaks up with her because he can't handle it. 

I was able to catch a couple of her "concentration faces" on camera at the museum the other day:

We've had lots of play dates lately, which has been so nice for Layla (and for me too as I get to visit with the other moms). We've played a lot with Oakley, Parker, and our new friend in our neighborhood, a little boy named Landon. Next week we also have plans with a little girl named Elsie who lives 5 or 6 houses down from us. I think Layla is much happier when she has play dates and it's also very important for her social growth, so it's a win-win. She has so much fun with her friends!

We've also spent lots of time at the museum. She loves that place!

She LOVES the fake horse at the museum.
Gives him hugs and kisses.
I tell her to beg Daddy for one.
So far he hasn't given in, but he will someday.

Look how good she'd take care of him!
How can you say no to that?
(Just kidding, Mitch. I don't really want one.
They really are too much work.
We'll just settle with riding lessons.)

The other day I told Mitch that I must be in "nesting" mode because I want to get all this stuff done before Marcus is born, to which Mitch responded with, "I know, like how we need a new TV." Ha, ha! I just started laughing ... apparently he doesn't fully understand nesting. I meant things that needed to be done for the baby before he's born. It was funny. But in Mitch's defense, a new TV would be awesome. Ours is rear-projection and the bulbs keep burning out. Super annoying. But besides that the TV works great so it's hard to justify buying a new one.

21 weeks? Maybe 20 or 22?
Somewhere in there.

We have awesome neighbors. I've been meaning to write this on here for a while, but when we moved in we had so many neighbors introduce themselves and one even came over and helped us move our crap in. Then, a few weeks later, we had lots of help when we moved our piano here. The piano mover said if I could find two guys to help him move the piano into our house then he would charge me less. So I had Mitch and I needed one more person. At the time we didn't have a ward directory or anyone's phone numbers, so I walked to a neighbor's house and asked if her husband could help. He was out of town, but she gave me an extra copy of the ward directory and told me to call the Elders Quorum President. Well, the guy I called was not home, and he was no longer the EQP, but his kind wife told me he would be there with more help the next day when the piano mover was coming. Sure enough, that neighbor, and 3 more guys (all of whom we had never met before) showed up at our house, 10 minutes early and ready to move a piano. The piano mover was impressed and didn't even have to use his ramps ... the 4 guys and Mitch carried the piano up the flight of 13 stairs and into the bonus room. It was hard work, no doubt, but so much easier thanks to great neighbors! I wrote them thank you cards and baked them some cookies. It's so nice to have connections through the church and to know there are always people there you can count on, even if you don't actually know them. The church really has a way of bringing people together I guess.

Layla loves to help make sugar cookies. And dump a million sprinkles on.
And lick the frosting off the cookie.

Mitch was out of town last week, Monday through Friday. I was really worried before he left that it would snow and I wouldn't be able to leave the house. Normally I would snow blow the driveway myself, but I can't because I'm preggo and the snow blower, while easier than shoveling, is still a little much for a 5 months pregnant woman. We had noticed that our neighbor across the street has a 4-wheeler with a snowplow on it, so I asked Mitch to ask him to clear our driveway if it snowed while Mitch was away. Again, we had never met this guy before, but he was so kind and said it would be no problem. He ended up clearing our driveway  twice the first day,once the second day, and he even shoveled our porch steps a couple of times. And then it finally stopped snowing ... we go so much snow in those few days! I was so grateful for our neighbor and his willingness to help out. Again, a thank you card and cookies.

And blog purge complete.

Inspirational

I attended our stake women's conference last week and left feeling so uplifted. So many women with such hard trials to bear who use their trials as opportunities to become better, to grow closer to Christ, and to increase in faith when they could have so easily played the "poor me" card.

The woman in the video below was especially inspiring. They filmed her on video several months ago as they didn't think she would still be alive when the conference rolled around. Thankfully she is still here and she spoke to us after they played her video (she lives in our stake). Her words inspire me.


(Source: http://www.daughtersinhiskingdom.com/2013/01/the-life-of-faith-and-testimony-of.html)

Stuff We've Done Lately

I really need to be better about updating my blog ... such a slacker lately.

Here are some funny pics from Layla's last sleepover at my parents' house:

Modeling the Joe Dirt wig.

Eating dinner at her little table while watching "Wipe Out" on TV.

Over the weekend Layla, Mitch, and I attended the car show. It's our yearly tradition, I guess. I think Mitch and I have gone together every year since I came home from my mission. To be honest, I just go to people watch. Ha, ha. But Mitch loves seeing the new cars and always talks about which one he's going to buy. Right now I think it's the latest Camero? It is pretty sweet. I hope someday he can have (a used) one; they're spendy!

Or at least the newer version of his current car, minus the gold rims (Subaru WRX STI). His car is SO much fun to drive because it's a 6-speed manual and it's really fast. Here's the newest version:

Layla also found her dream car while we were there ... drum roll please ... the 2013 Chevrolet Spark!

You can get 34 miles to the gallon in this hog! AND it's only $13K. Sounds like it will be perfect in 13 years from now when Layla starts driving! Ha, ha! We were laughing so hard when she fell in love with this car. I mean really, of all the awesome cars that were there, she picks this one. Not saying it's that bad, but geez why not pick the new electric Fisker worth as much as a house for your favorite car? Or at least a new Cadillac! Ha, ha. Obviously Mitch's taste in cars was not passed on to his mini-me.

Layla insisted on sitting in it with her kitty in the passenger seat:

Now when she gets a 13 year old Chevy Spark for her 16th bday, we have a pic to prove that she really wanted it at one time. It would make a perfect first car for a new driver, don't you think?

Anyways, Mitch and I also went to the Jazz game over the weekend. Fun as always. Mitch's mission president has season tickets a few rows behind ours so we usually see him when we go and that's always nice. He's a super nice, and super smart, man. And best of all, the Jazz won!

We had our 20 week targeted ultrasound yesterday. I am so thankful and feel so blessed that not only do we have access to such great technology, but we were told that our baby boy is doing awesome. All the things they checked looked great (actually the tech's words were, "what a beautiful baby!" meaning that he was healthy and developing very well). I am amazed at the technology, I mean, we got to see all four chambers of his heart! How cool is that? The tech was pretty funny and she printed off at least a dozen pics for us to take home (the cool 4D ones). Some of them are good, but maybe he's not big enough / developed enough yet because we can't really tell what he looks like yet. Maybe next month we'll have a better idea. He was moving around constantly! I was thinking he didn't move as much as Layla did, but now I know he moves ALL THE TIME, I just don't always feel it yet. He was moving all over and even grabbing his feet! It was so cute. I can't wait to meet him! 

I haven't bought many clothes for him yet. Mostly because boy clothes just aren't as fun. Sorry, Baby Marcus! However, today I went to Children's Place and they had the cutest boy stuff! I bought a few things on sale ($4 each, what a steal!) but didn't buy the things I really, really wanted because they were still full price. I'm learning that there are cute boy clothes, you just have to go to the right stores. Personally, I like Children's Place, Crazy 8, and Old Navy. (If I had oodles of money, I'd shop at Baby Gap for Marcus and Layla though. Cutest kid clothes ever at that store!) Also, I never pay full price for any clothes period, always shop the sales racks. So we're slowly building a stylish wardrobe for the little guy.

Lately I have been having crazy leg pains. I swear they're growing pains. Mitch thinks I'm crazy, but I literally grew one inch while preggo and nursing Layla. I think it was all the vitamins. So the other week my left leg had growing pains for several hours from my knee down to the tips of my toes. It hurt so very bad. The past 36 hours or so I had the same pains, but not as severe, in my right leg. It finally went away today. I told Mitch my left leg grew last week and now my right leg has to catch up. We'll see ... I made Mitch measure me a few weeks ago, I am 5 feet 5 1/2 inches tall. When Marcus turns one and I quit nursing I will measure my height again and see if I grew another inch. You never know.

I have been exercising regularly again. It helps me with SAD so much and gives me more energy. I usually either walk on the treadmill on an incline for 30 to 45 minutes, or I do my super cheesy 1980s preggo workout video that I have to mute because the music sucks. It is a good workout for a pregnant lady though!  Let me just say that I am DYING to go running outside again! I know a lot of women run through their pregnancies. I am not one of them. Not to mention the totally nasty air right now. But I am counting down the days to next summer when I'm no longer preggo and can hit the pavement again. Running is so addicting. Every time I drive around our neighborhood I visualize myself running and try to estimate the number of miles from various spots back to our house. I've already planned several routes in my head that I am excited to run. And I love that it's pretty much all flat road around our house. I'm thinking of asking for a double jogging stroller for Christmas, and yes I realize that's a long ways away, but I'm excited to run again! Also my friend Karen and I are planning to run the Timpanogos Half Marathon in 2014. I've been dying to run this race, but didn't last year, can't this year because I won't have enough time to train after having Marcus, and so next year it is! Can't wait!

Martin Luther King Jr.

Every year, on MLK Day, I post a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. What can I say ... he is one of my heroes.

While there are so many great words from MLK, Jr. that I could quote, I chose these two for this year: 

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." 

and 

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

Wow, what wise words! Perhaps difficult for most people to live by at times (myself included), but definitely something worth striving for. I am glad we have a day dedicated to someone so significant in our nation's history and someone who left a great example for us to follow.

Home Sweet Home

A few pics of our house, now that it is starting to come together. We finally got our wood shutters. They are the bomb.com. There are still things we want to do, but one thing at a time, right? 

Those things set aside, we love our new home. 

It is perfect for us.

Layla's room. Still need some long pink drapes.

Main bath. 

Our bedroom. Sorry for the horrible lighting in this pic. Need some wall decor. Can't decide what to do.

Master bath.

Master bath. LOVE the double sinks.

Need some barstools and a backsplash, but love everything else about kitchen.

Need larger/matching table and chairs

Great room. Need some more books or pic frames for the entertainment center.

Bonus room, a.k.a Layla's play room.

View of kitchen from bonus room.

View of great room from bonus room.

Another view of the great room and stairs to bonus room.