Fun with Friends Kennedy and Anya

Sick Chay

Chayla has been a little bit sick today and it is so sad. I don't know what to do for her. We put the humidifier in her room tonight so hopefully that will help. And giving her a bath seemed to help or at least was a nice change of scenery and a distraction. It could be that the runny nose and mild fever are just signs of more teeth to come. I hope she gets better ASAP.

Standing up to things

Life just got a bit more complicated this last week as Chayla has started pulling herself up and standing. It's exciting but at the same time we know walking is not too far away and of course the higher she is the farther she can fall. We've only had one incident so far. She slipped forward while holding onto a bucket and bit her tongue a little bit. She climbed on Max(the babysitter's dog) today like he was her personal pony. Other than that she loves getting into everything she can reach. She has also started grunted really loud when she wants attention or is mad that we took something away. She is getting quite the personality :) And its super fun!

Progress, not Perfection

I can't believe January is almost over. Time sure does fly. Speaking of flying, I'm still flying by the seat of my pants getting this unit planned. It is coming together and I'm really excited to try out these new lessons. I've got the dance portion mostly planned. I might throw in a couple more cultural dances like the Hukilau. I'm excited for ukuleles and for the instruments that I should be able to borrow from Lehi High for instrument families. I have to say that I do love my job but the 4th time teaching the same lessons does get old pretty fast.

I am also grateful for Lee helping me not give up on good goals. We are doing a Healthy Living challenge together and sometimes I fail miserably. But we've decided that even if it only helps for the first few days of the week that is better than nothing. So 3 cheers for never giving up on whatever you want to accomplish. It's okay to take 2 steps forward and one step back. Just keep trying.

As good as we choose to be

So at a meeting last Sunday, the Bishop asked how we (RS presidency) were. For some reason I said "As good as we choose to be". Little did I realize I would be tested to see if I could really follow that and choose to have a good attitude. This week has been super crazy. We have been doing a lot of visits for RS. We are going to visit every sister in the ward. It has been a lot of fun but is very time consuming and we always schedule visits for Monday since we are all available. That means that I don't really get a day off to relax, plan for school, clean, craft, hang out with Lee, or anything really. Also, I start a new rotation tomorrow with new lessons and I am NOT ready. I've been very preoccupied and busy with planning and prep work.

Anyways, yesterday (Tuesday) I woke up twice in the night with Chayla -as usual :( and I thought for a moment it was Saturday. But no, it was only the first work day of the week and I was waking up really late. I only had about 10-15 minutes to get ready. When I got to school I had to skip my prep time to be on bus duty. Then, I had 2 classes that were not so good. In fact, I cried a little after first grade left because I felt like such a terrible teacher. Then after school I rushed home, did some more planning and went back to school for 3 hours and still didn't get everything ready. Well by this point I was pretty tired and feeling emotional and sorry for myself. And then I remembered what Keri (my mentor) would always say "Focus on the Positive"

So then I thought about the day this way: I'm lucky to have a wonderful baby and even when she wakes up she goes back to bed quickly. And even though I woke up late, I already had lunch packed and Chayla's bag packed and I just got my hair cut the night before and it still looked good so I was able to get ready quickly and got to school on time. And even though I was on bus duty it was really warm day. And even though my first grade was awful, they are leaving tomorrow. Then I realized that I was so lucky to have Jake who watched Chayla and fed her and gave her a bath, so that I could go to school and work for 3 hours and get a lot done.

SO, I guess the moral of the story is I need to stop whining b/c its a vicious circle that just seems to make me feel worse. When in reality, I have so much to be grateful for.

Thoughts for the week

Chayla was watching TMBG on Sunday afternoon and totally fell asleep sitting up and slowly drooped down into the pillow. It was funny to watch as she went lower and lower.


Cheese! I have 2 teeth now.

Now that she is crawling she gets into and under everything possible. Sitting up under the bouncer is ok but she tries to sit up under the end tables and bonks her head.

Chay was playing with this Christmas yard decoration. She really liked swinging it around and banging it on the kitchen floor. But then I noticed it uses nails for the snowman's arms. They are pretty poky so I picked her up to do something else and she threw a fit until I put her back down. She seems to focus on certain objects that she wants recently and will fuss until you take her to it.


This is Kenna (L) and Paige (R) - Nicole's daughter and they all play together when I'm at work. They are cute girls and they love to play with Chayla. She loves the attention and I know she is learning a lot from them. It's good for her to be around older kids. I'm really glad she has the opportunity because she doesn't get much "kid" time at home.

Thanks

Things I am grateful for..

I am grateful today for such a happy baby. I have been going on visits with the RS to all the sisters in the ward. Today we visited 7 ladies and Chayla was happy the whole time. She has been teething lately but only gets really fussy in the evenings. And tonight she was very happy and talkative. She recently figured out how to crawl and enjoys her new mobility. I'm grateful that she is so smiley and I can make her laugh. I'm grateful that I have a wonderful husband. Jake helped me clean out and organize all the kitchen cupboards.

I'm also grateful for Pam - she has been invaluable in planning this next RS meeting. She has done so much leg work and always has great ideas. I'm excited instead of stressed because of her help.

Adventures of 2011 week one

Happy New Year everyone! 2011 is going to be a great year. We are so exctied for the adventures ahead of us. To Ring in the new year we went to the Nymans house and had dinner and played games. They have a new baby and we didn't want to stay too late so we watched the ball drop at 10 and headed home. The best part of the night was playing charades (it's our new fav game. Can you tell). Brian and Jake were partners and us girls were guessing. They pulled a card that said "Madonna". As you can imagine it was quite a hoot watching them act it out. I didn't want to guess the right answer b/c it was so fun watching them.

Here are some pictures from the first days of 2011.

We never let Chayla sleep on her stomach but when we put her in there to play she found this position after fussing for a few minutes and was sound asleep.

We went to a baby shower on Jan 1st for my friend Ashley. We are so excited for them.

What a big helper! Chayla enjoyed "helping" by pulling clothes out of the basket.