Article of Faith #2

I couldn't decide if I wanted to teach the Articles of Faith in order, so we'd been working on #8 (one of my favorites). But then Spencer made the executive decision that it'd be best (and probably easier to remember) if we went in order. I don't know how I'm going to get Madi to remember all 13 without teaching her the songs. But can I just say, I do NOT like the tune to the new songs! They're all so boring!! Is it bad if Madi learns a different tune than the Primary Song book teaches?

Feeling blessed

The past few days I've been feeling kinda blah. I don't know what it is, but nothing seems to get me motivated. I haven't felt like my normal, energetic self. I'm lacking motivation (my house seems to be a constant mess), I'm tired and lethargic (my work-outs have been really struggling), and then I end up annoyed and frustrated about the things I didn't get done.

I'm not quite sure what could be causing this funk- I'm thinking mostly the weather (something about a warm sunny day always gives an me added boost of energy), but after a morning of feeling bad for myself- whining about having to share a car with Spencer, griping about my morning plans being thrown off because of his schedule, longing for warmer weather and walks to the park, I talked to my sister and found out that a close friend of hers (who I've been getting updates on for awhile now) passed away this morning after a long battle with bone cancer. She left behind a husband and 3 kids (ages 2, 4, and 6). It broke my heart. I spent my girls nap time in tears. I can't imagine going through something like this. My greatest fear is loosing a child and/or my husband. But then I started to wonder what would be harder- loosing one of them, or me loosing all of them. I can't imagine what this mom went through, knowing that she wouldn't get to watch her kids grow up, not to mention the 2 youngest probably not remembering her.

My sister said her friend was super positive about it all the way up to the very end. It made me think about the trials we're given. I'm always wondering what my big trial is going to be. Up to this point in life everything has seemed pretty easy. Even though we're super poor, crazy in debt, and don't know what life has in store for us after Spencer takes the bar in July, we're all very healthy, truly happy, have a nice home, warm beds to sleep in, and the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. I'm tremendously blessed. So, today my heart goes out to the Stubben family- our prayers are with them.

7 months

It's been quite the interesting month- a lot of changes, some drama and stress, but of course lots of laughs and smiles! Elle started out her 6th month of life with some serious separation anxiety! Of course right?! I knew it was bound to happen. It started anytime I'd go to lay her down. Knowing what was coming, she'd instantly begin crying. Ah- it drives me crazy!! I hate to see her sad (especially when it's because she wants to be with me), and I do love sitting and snuggling her, but seriously- I refuse to create a monster! She's actually gotten a little better- I just always have to make sure naps and bedtime are timed perfectly. If she's the least bit overtired, she'll always end up crying. Aside from naps and bedtime, she'll cry when I leave the room if she's all alone or if she can hear me but doesn't know where I am! It's not bad though- I went through it with Madi so I'm not too worried about dealing with it again.

*Warning* If you're not comfortable reading about bodily functions (namely poop and the inability to do so), please do not read the following two paragraphs.

As for changes- I started Elle on baby food two days after she turned 6 months. Everything was going great! She's a fabulous eater- loving all the food I was giving her, even opening up real wide and saying, "Ahhhh". Then almost 2 weeks into her "new foods" experience, I gave her a jar of bananas (I wasn't planning on letting her eat the entire jar, but she was just loving it way too much). BAD idea! I then spent the next week dealing with constipation (I know- such a lovely conversation piece)! But really, it's been quite stressful for me (as I'm sure it would be for any mom). It's not fun watching your 6th month old cry in pain when they have to go! After stool softeners, a trip to the Dr. and completely changing the foods I give her, I think I've finally got the problem under control (knock on wood). I've taken her completely off of cereal and only feed her a jar of fruit in the morning (can only be: peaches, prunes, or pears), and a jar of veggies in the evening (peas or green beans). Quite the boring diet if you ask me, but I'm still a little nervous to try anything else.

Well, the stress didn't end there. Since Elle wasn't popping regularly and would painfully cry every time she was trying to have a bowl movement, it messed her sleeping up a bit. The only way (I believe) to get a baby to sleep through the night to to not go and get them when they cry. Well, Elle's present circumstance made this a little difficult. She'd cry out in the night and I'd fly out of bed knowing that she was trying to poop. Using my trusty flashlight I'd peek into her diaper to check it out. Sure enough, she usually was- so then I'd have to take off her pj's, undo her diaper, and push her legs up to her chest to help it out (sorry for all the vivid details). There were a couple nights I had to do this 3 different times (doesn't sound that bad, but remember- I hadn't been pulling nights like that since the beginning of October- so it was definitely exhausting)! It's now been a week since her last episode and Elle's thankfully doing much better. She is currently still waking up once though.

Before I get to the fun, happy, wonderful parts about the month- I have to say one more thing about sleep. Elle is an incredibly short napper. I'm not used to a baby needing such little sleep- at this age Madi always took a 2 hour morning nap and a 3 hour afternoon nap. Since Elle likes to nap in short increments, it's been tricky trying to get rid of her third nap of the day. Luckily, she had a whole week at the beginning on February where everyday she'd take a full 2 hour afternoon nap! It was wonderful and I'm trying my hardest to make it the norm.

I think it was all the constipation/ sleeping drama that threw Elle off. She just didn't seem like her happy, easy-going self this month. But then about a week ago, I solved the poop problem, Elle had a huge blow-out, and she instantly had her charming personality back. Since then Elle's back to being her happy, smiley self. Elle's actually become even more fun and entertaining this month. She'll dance when music comes on, and laughs at the littlest things. And it's not always just that cute "baby laugh". It's the whole body, fling your head back, and bounce off the pillow type of laugh (still working on getting a good video of this- it's hysterical). Here's a couple videos to give you a glimpse.

Most of the time Elle just laughs at all the weird noises we make- but sometimes she's the instigator. . .

One last thing to note for the month- not only is Elle's dark hair fading, but she's also loosing her curl. The only time I kinda see curl anymore is after the bath when her hair is still wet. It's adorable! But, I do realize that her hair was destined to be straight (and blonde)!

Let me count the ways...

Flowers sent from our neighbor- for shoveling her car out. Is that not just the sweetest thing!?

It's been a good weekend. So good in fact, that I've forgotten all about the cabin fever I'd come down with earlier in the week. We've now spent a grand total of 11 days together as a family! It was quite the unexpected vacation but now with knowing that Spencer will be officially going back to work and school tomorrow, I'm a little sad to see it over (just a little). I think we're all ready to get back to our normal schedules!

Madi's picture of our family- in the snow!

A few things that made this past weekend a good one:

1) Went out as a family Friday afternoon- very needed since we'd been homebound Wednesday and Thursday.

2) Got a babysitter on Saturday so I could go on a hot date with my honey.

3) One hour of church on Sunday! Not only did the snow cancel work, school, and church last week, our regional Stake Conference was canceled for this weekend. And since our church parking lot hasn't been completely cleared of snow, there wouldn't been enough parking for the three wards that meet in our building- hence only meeting for one hour (well, ended up being more like an hour and a half).

4) Homemade pizza for dinner. I can always count on Spencer to whip up something amazing!

5) Movie and dessert after kids went to bed (well, this is really how we spent the majority of our snowy evenings. Here's our list (in the order we watched them):

* New in Town (A- super funny- thanks Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob for the recommendation)

* Post Graduate (C+ it was ok, some weird parts)

* The Guardian (A- good movie, entertaining)

* Blindside (A+ Awesome movie- definitely one we'll be buying)

* My One and Only (D+ kinda slow, a little weird)

* Love Happens (B- entertaining, a little sad, but love didn't really happen)

P.S. I just looked out the window and it's now snowing- again! I have a feeling this is going to be the longest winter ever!

Works every time!

I love sticker charts! I loved then when I taught 4th grade, I loved them when I taught 5th grade, and I'm lovin now! They're totally effective with Madi! We set a goal not too many days ago and I probably should have made it a little harder cause Madi's already earned her bike (thankfully, giving up the binky was way too easy- she seems to even sleep better without it)!! No, we haven't gotten her a bike yet (cause honestly, where would she ride it- through all the snow?!)! Thankfully, our crazy weather conditions have bought us some time. We did let Madi get on the internet today to look at what type of bike she'd be interested in getting though.

Now on to our next sticker chart goal. . . .

Today I set a "being obedient" goal with Madi. Our FHE lesson this week was on obedience and doing things the first time mom or dad ask her to do it. It hasn't been a problem, but I'm pretty sure Madi will start finding ways to really impress us if stickers randomly came with her obedience! She'll get a sticker at random times during the day when she quickly obeys the first time (this is where we bust into song- "Quickly I'll Obey" :).

The reward: For every 5 sticker she earns, she'll get a special treat with mom and/or dad (I'm thinking anything from reading a special story with us, to sharing a thing of jello pudding).

Consequences: If she's not obeying I'll remove a sticker from her chart (of course this will also be followed by her regular time out discipline).

I'm excited to see how it's gonna work. I'm thinking it will be great because I can use it for pretty much anything- getting dressed, eating dinner, sharing toys, cleaning up, etc. etc.

See- it's totally makeshift. Nothing fancy, but hey- it works!

And just cause I'm feeling really good about the sticker chart- I put a little place on there for Madi to pass off her Articles of Faith. We taught her the first one as part of FHE last week and she had it memorized by Wednesday. I wonder how long it will take her to memorize all 13!?

An extra sticker is earned if she'll say it on video- without being crazy (something about bringing out the video camera makes Madi extra silly)!

Going a Little Crazy!

It's snowing again! Supposedly we'll have another 10-20 inches by tomorrow afternoon. Elle and I went on a walk yesterday. We didn't last long- it was a pretty bumpy ride. As of earlier today, the freeways are drivable- it's our road that needs some desperate plowing!

There's only so much of being inside all day that I can handle. I think I've exhausted every creative idea I can possibly think of to keep life fun, interesting, and sane while being indoors. Funny though- I'm pretty sure Madi's loving not going anywhere. She's thrilled with all the new games, projects, and activities I've busted out to keep me from going crazy! Anyone and everyone- please, please, please feel free to send new ideas my way!

It's nice having Spencer home and not having to make trips to and from the Metro, but with work projects, school assignments, and a slide show/ power point presentation (for an upcoming stake leadership training), Spencer doesn't have anytime during the day to play. So that puts me working extra hard at keeping the girls (mostly Madi) preoccupied so that she'll leave daddy alone to get his stuff done. We've played outside, done art projects, had karaoke contests, gone on bear hunts, and built lots of towers....

Spencer usually does the building with Madi (I never come up with anything good), so I was pretty pleased after Madi and I finished building this castle! Inside we made beds and chairs for all her Little People and their animals!

Madi's been loving this new series of Dora books (level 1- easy reader). They have pictures in the writing so she's able to "read" them completely by herself. It's made for many hours of enjoyment (I have some video of it- I'll post later).

It's been a fun few days (the snow actually started last Tuesday), but I don't know how much longer I can last before loosing my mind! What are the rest of you MD folks doing to keep yourselves sane?!?

After the Storm

Today was sunny- I'm grateful for that. Spencer was able to shovel our car out in addition to our elderly neighbor couple who we borrowed the shovel from. Uncovering both cars took him a grand total of 3 hours- straight! Though I'm sure it was exhausting, there was something exhilarating about seeing everyone out today- helping each other get "unstuck", sharing shovels, chatting about the "crazy storm"- a real sense of camaraderie.

For some reason it was stressful to me seeing our car like this:

After: SO much better!

It does make me feel better not having a buried car, and the roads seem to be a little more drivable. I have to admit- when I first heard the news declare DC and the surrounding areas to be in a "state of emergency"- I laughed. I found it humorous that a little snow would cancel the majority of school for the week, not to mention clearing out all the local grocery stores. But when our power went out at 2am on Saturday morning I started to panic a bit (luckily it was back on 5 hours later). Unfortunately several friends in the ward were without electricity almost the entire day on Saturday. I don't know what we would have done- keeping Madi bundled up, entertained, and happy for the entire day would have been a task (I'm interested to hear how they survived)! Instead I spent the day thinking about how grateful I am to have heat, warm water, a microwave, oven, washer & dryer, internet, movies, and fridge and freezer that I can open as many times during the day as I want!

The storm was kind of exciting, but now I'm ready for it to be over. I'm dreading the thought of having to live in all this snow- not to mention drive in it, and cart kids in and out of places. And I'm pretty sure it's not going anywhere. The temp's aren't supposed to get higher than the 30's and it's predicted to snow again on Tuesday and Wednesday!

Snowpocalypse!!

If you've been following the news, you would know that a major snow storm hit the DC area yesterday and last night. The news media definitely milked this story for all it was worth-my favorite was one local news channel naming this storm "Snowpocalypse." Apparently everyone in the area was listening. I made a quick run to the grocery store yesterday morning to pick up some milk and it was a madhouse. People were filling up their carts like death itself was upon us! I was lucky to get to the store when I did, cause there were only 2 gallons of fat free left on the shelf. Anyway, Snowpocalypse arrived yesterday around 11:30 a.m. She came quietly, but the snow started to really dump around 10pm, and it hasn't stopped since! Combine that with the wind and its been quite the storm. It's actually really fun-especially since we missed the last big storm when we were in California. When the snow plow guys finally came to plow our road and walkway, Spencer looked out the window and said appreciatively: "You know Anie, I think I admire and appreciate the men who shovel our walkway just as much as a Fireman." Wise words from Spencer! I was definitely appreciative though- especially since we couldn't open our front door this morning!!

Madi contemplating a bleak future after her daddy told her that we were trapped inside forever and that she would never be able to go outside again... (nice Spencer!!)

After the nice men dug us out, Spencer and Madi suited up and went exploring.

Check out these snow drifts!!

Our car. . . don't think we'll be getting out of here anytime soon.

Watching some guy get his car stuck in the middle of the road trying to escape Snowpocalypse...oh the arrogance!!

It's now after 3pm and still snowing......