Patience is a Virtue

Patience is a Virtue

Possess it if you can

Always in a Woman

Never in a Man

I'm pretty sure that, much like the sayings that Pregnancy and Childbirth are beautiful, this verse was penned by a man.... who was gone all day long, and didn't see his children act out during the day, or when they were born was out in the waiting room, or out of the room completely with cigars with his buddies. 

I've learned a lot about patience in this past 20 months that Liam has been alive. I've also learned that I barely have enough to survive the day lately. Patience is something that I've really had to work at, I always thought that I was a pretty patient person, and I'm pretty sure that, like most things, God laughed and said "well, here's your test". Liam is full on a toddler now. He will be 2 in four months. That time called "terrible twos" should be changed to "terrible 10 months to what feels like forever" Terrible Two's is just a pretty alliteration, that's the only reason it's called that. 

Liam first started throwing tantrums when he learned how to walk efficiently, he took his first steps at nine months, but didn't feel comfortable cruising until about ten months. That's when his whole world of independence shifted. Suddenly, he didn't need mommy to pick him up to go anywhere, and he certainly didn't have to waste time with that crawling nonsense anymore. I remember thinking how excited I was that he could walk.... that excitement was short lived. Lately, Liam has been pushing boundaries to see how far he can go before he gets in trouble. He doesn't really talk yet, but I'm not all that concerned. My friend Rachel asked about his hearing and I know he can hear, because from wherever he is, if he is doing some dastardly deed, the second he hears you approaching he will immediately run away. No, his hearing is excellent indeed. He's just a stinker half the time now. 

Today, I was feeling really run down and quite emotional, but that's to be expected being 8 months pregnant and still having to keep up with a very active child. Liam didn't listen to pretty much anything I said today; let me rephrase that- he listened, because he would acknowledge, then he would do the complete opposite of what I asked him to do or he just kept doing what he was doing. I was drowning in my frustration today. Finally, after all day of him hearing me and then pushing his boundaries he had had about three time outs, got yelled at twice and swatted on the leg once. I feel like I've been doing a really good job at being patient with this child, but today was really my off day. I pray everyday that Heavenly Father will bless me with patience, and usually I do really awesome. Today.... not so much. Sometimes being patient takes longer than I want it to, and doesn't get Liam to listen, so I have to yell at him. I hate doing it. Every. Single. Time. But sometimes I feel like it is the only thing that will get him to pay attention and follow directions. 

I hate admitting that I have problems. I hate admitting that I feel overwhelmed sometimes. I hate admitting that I'm not the perfect "make cookies and have a clean house Mormon" mom. Truth is, I struggle, not all the time, because like I said earlier I pray for patience every day; and most days God helps me through and I am able to have wonderful days of patience and nothing Liam does annoys me. But then there is the one day out of all the good ones that remind me that I really cannot do this without my God's help. 

After Liam went to bed and I recanted the days events, I just cried and cried and cried. In fact, I'm wanting to cry as I write this. I love Liam so incredibly much that it emotionally pains me when I get angry with him. Because like I mentioned earlier, he turns 2 in four months. He is not even two. That is something that I have to constantly be reminded of. I'm sure he is so frustrated at the fact that he doesn't talk and so he can't really communicate with me other than the head nods, points and babbles. All of the stress, frustration, emotions, hormones from the past little bit finally accumulated and I couldn't push them away anymore. I had a slight emotional breakdown. Which, I'm sure when Jon heard from the other room freaked him out. But he was very sweet and put a pause on homework to come and comfort me and to give me words of encouragement. I really married a wonderful man, and I am so grateful that I have him by my side. Then, came the guilt. I have to admit, I haven't felt like I did tonight for a good long while. I think it was a reminder of how I took my relationships for granted during my Postpartum Depression. I felt guilt because there are so many women who do parent alone, and who are single mothers- without help, encouragement, support or guidance. I'm lucky enough that I have so many people in my life who do give me these gifts every day, and tonight was kind of a reminder to keep the lines of communication open. Because it is ok to cry. It is ok to feel run down. It is ok to feel overwhelmed. It's not ok for me to hide those feelings from those who are closest to me, because they really have my best interest in mind and want more than anything for me to be ok. 

Those are my thoughts from the past couple of days. It's always interesting to hear other people compliment you on something that you don't feel like you are doing very well. Liam and I went and visited Jon's grandma and during our stay she mentioned how patient I was with Liam. That took me off guard for a moment, because I feel like I'm not very patient with him- hence me praying for patience everyday. I definitely know that God hears and answers prayers, because even the simple act of being more patient with my child is becoming easier. Even if I feel like I'm not very good at it yet. I just know that I love my little boy so much and that I really do need to work on being the best mommy I can, and not stress so much about the little things that honestly don't matter. He's curious, he's adventuresome, he's a handful. And it's ok for me to not know exactly how to handle things. That's why I have an awesome mom who will send me encouraging texts, and a wonderful husband who will put his things on hold to comfort me. And a little boy, who still gives me loves and kisses after I've gotten short with him, and will pat my back as if to tell me that all is well and that he holds no grudge or malice of any sort with me. I truly am blessed. 

My favourite scripture since finding out that I was pregnant with Liam has been:

“And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

“And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works”

 (Alma 7:23–24).

Patience is not always in a woman, it has to be constantly worked on. 

Men need to stop writing false statements on things that pertain to women.

A Little Pregnancy Story and Liam Updates!

Alright, I'm trying to write down as much as I can about my experience with this pregnancy, as it has flown by pretty much and I haven't been able to document like I did with Liam. By the time that Liam was one, I already had three scrapbooks filled with pictures with a good two thirds of the first one just pregnancy photo's. I haven't really taken photo's of my pregnancy week by week with this one, and now all of a sudden I'm 35 weeks and had my first real labor scare tonight!

Baby Number 2's Pregnancy Story!
Jon and I were not trying to conceive when this little guy decided it was time. In fact, Jon and I were going to wait until Christmas to discuss having another baby within that year. But July came around and all of a sudden I was feeling really sick. And I mean- really sick. I am not one to throw up. It's just not my body's way of dealing with anything. I will pass out, I will feel ill, but rarely do I ever throw up. Within one week, I managed to throw up at least three or four times every day; and when I didn't have any food to throw up, I was throwing up stomach acid. It got so bad one day that I was vomiting blood. I was at my parents house so that my mum could take care of Liam and I seriously sat in their giant tub all day long to help ease the nausea. My mum and I didn't know what was wrong with me and finally she asked if I could be pregnant. At that point in time I was grasping to anything to explain what was wrong, so she went and got me a pregnancy test. The end of June/beginning of July was my LMP and this was now the week of Jon's birthday (12th of July), I took the test and waited for the allotted time and it came back negative. So with that out of the way, we began looking at different illnesses that could cause that severe of a reaction in my body. We noticed that it was when I had eaten particularly greasy foods, so I started researching into that and saw that gall bladder problems could cause a person to become violently ill. So, my mum and I went to the store on one of my good days and we bought a whole bunch of new foods that are supposed to be good for people who get gall bladder attacks. Then about a week after we had changed my diet, I woke up and just instinctively knew that I needed to take that other test. I remember waking up and thinking, "you need to test today" and in my head I told myself: NO! But I got up and tested, and I didn't even have to wait for the two minutes it tells you to. It automatically brought up that second line.
Getting in to see my doctor was more tricky this time around, he had an accident and so I didn't get in to see an OB until I was 10 weeks, we got an ultrasound to date how far along I was and there was our newest little baby! He looked like a little praying mantis, but a cute one! Then, my doctor finally was back in the office and so I got to go see him then! Then, the saddest day happened: my doctor told me at 22 weeks that he was retiring at the end of the year. So then the search for a new doctor happened. At 22 weeks I had the Anatomy Scan and we found out that we are adding our second BOY to the family, we also discovered that my fluid was low again with this pregnancy and so I was sent up to McKay Dee to meet with the Perinatal Specialist. I met with them and had the ultrasound done to check the fluid, then was told to come back at 32 weeks to do a follow up. Between this and my 32 week follow up I met with my new OB: Dr. Johnson. He is really sweet and I am really grateful that I was able to get in to be one of his patients. He is always very open and makes me feel like I am the most important patient that he has. He was very open about the choices that I wanted for my birthing experience, and was willing to listen to my experience with Liam's birth. At the my 32 week follow up, the ultrasound tech turned on 4D "just for fun". It was amazing! We were able to see features on this little baby, it was phenomenal to see him. And we determined that my fluid was up to 17.5! At my last appointment it was at a 15 but I'm still in the ok zone!
Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant, and it's surreal to think that this little guy will be making his debut in about a month. Last night, I was having some real painful contractions, and not just the Braxton Hicks that I've been used to. These were not fun, after resting on the couch for a bit, I got up and I went up and took a shower and they subsided a bit. Jon brought me Tylenol PM and I was able to sleep. This morning I woke up and I was very sore, everywhere. It felt like I had done some intense workout all night long, and I was in some major pain! This little baby needs to stay put for at least another five weeks. It was good practice though.

Liam is so stinkin adorable! I love my little man so much, that's one thing that I'm terrified for for when I have this new baby, is the time alone that I have with Liam right now. Right now, we are able to do so much together, and I hope that he doesn't grow up to resent not having me 100%. I want to do the absolute best that I can, and I am having serious fears about not being a good mom to two children. I've heard so many people say that your love never diminishes for your previous children, but I really am terrified about how to split up my attention so that Liam and Baby 2 will have more than they need. I honestly don't know how mothers who have more than one or two children do it! I feel so guilty already and Baby 2 isn't even here yet.
Liam loves to sit up on the counter with me while I bake! I've been in lots of baking moods lately, and so he will sit up at the counter and help me pour in sugar or flour, and I will give him his own little bowl and spoon so that he can stir. He really loves it! The other day, I was baking cookies, and I realised that I did not have chips to put into the cookies, so Jon ran off to the store; when he got back I put the chips into the batter and then gave Liam a couple to eat. Well, Jon took some out of the bag and put them on the table and closed up the bag and told Liam that these were theirs to share. Liam saw Jon ate one, and then realized that there were not going to be more after they were gone, so he took one chip and put it behind him and then ate a chip. Then he did it again, and Jon and I noticed and Jon said, "are you stock-piling?" We thought that was pretty funny of him to notice that there weren't going to be more and so he put them in his own little pile. Then the other day, I was making apple cake, and I had to check the cake in the oven. Well, I told Liam that he needed to stay out of the kitchen so that I could open the oven and check the cake. He was not ok with this and so I put him out of the kitchen and he threw one of his tantrums and then made sure that he put at least one foot over the threshold to the kitchen. He's such a stinker! He definitely loves to push boundaries and to see how far he's actually allowed to go.

Making sure his foot was over the line!

He loves to sit and to read his books!

Liam also has had a huge change in his life! I was trimming his hair one night and he moved right as I snipped the scissors-which left a huge gap of hair. So, much to Jon's happiness, I knew that I couldn't just leave it like that, so we got out the clippers and cut off quite a bit of Liam's hair. He didn't like the sound of the clippers at first so I had to let him hold it and put the guard on his hand to show him that it wouldn't hurt, and then finally he allowed me to cut his hair. It was such a hard moment for me, to see all of his gorgeous locks of hair falling to the ground. It was a lot shorter than I originally had anticipated, but he looks adorable, and he most definitely is my little toddler now. I was holding onto his infancy with his hair, but he's not a baby anymore, that is for sure!

His pretty, long hair...

His new hair: Cut and Styled!

Wow... What a difference! He looks even older now than when his hair was long.

That's our latest updates as of right now. We are doing really well, and I am getting anxious for this next month when our world/life will be changed again!

First Diploma! Many more to come!

There is an old movie that my family watches called "What's Up Doc?" in this movie there is a really funny couple of lines that my family will always quote- those couple of lines are:

"I'll try to be the same"
"The same as what?"
"The same as those people who are not different"

The saying that we are our own worst critic is so completely true! I know that I am my own worst critic, at all times. Right now, my upstairs is looking amazing! I'm doing really good at keeping it clean (except my room.... that's a whole new story), unfortunately the basement has become the latest disaster area. I try really hard to clean it at least once a week, but I've learned that keeping areas clean with an active toddler is like cleaning up splatter from an open, running blender. I am proud of myself for keeping upstairs clean, but then the overpowering negative thoughts blare through and I feel pretty crappy about not keeping the basement clean. When I was going through the postpartum depression, I wouldn't have even given the clean upstairs a second thought (probably because it wasn't ever clean...) and all that would be on my mind would be the nagging feeling that I wasn't being a good housewife because I wasn't keeping a clean house. Now that I'm over the PPD, I give myself credit for what I have done, and I remind myself that while the basement is a mess, I have worked really hard to keep the upstairs clean. I have reached a whole new milestone as well in my life: I asked my mother for help. For those of you who know me, you'll know that that really is quite a big deal! I am a very proud person, and I don't like to ask for help, because I feel like I should be able to do things by myself. This was one thing that when I was going through the PPD that was extremely difficult for me. I remember feeling so stressed with Liam even though I did have help from Jon and my mother, and then I would feel guilty for feeling so stressed because there are women out there who are single mothers who are wonderful parents and can do it all without the amount of support or help that I had/have. But the other day, I texted my mom and I asked her if she could come and vacuum corners for me because I have officially gotten to the point that bending over is a struggle. We had a wonderful time! She came over and she vacuumed corners for me, and then she helped me clean Liam's room by bending over and picking up his toys and books that he takes out to play with when he doesn't want to go to bed right away. It was actually really fun to work along side her.

Now getting to the original part of being the same as those who are not different. The other day, I was reading blogs of other friends of mine, and one in particular mentioned having the same type of feelings that I do about keeping a clean house, and basically with goals in general. It was a huge wake up call to me because it made me realize that I really am not alone, and I am really not all that different. There are so many friends of mine that get on Pinterest all the time and I know that if I were to get onto Pinterest I would be super addicted, I also am not a fan of those type of websites because for me, it's hard to see all of the "perfect" things that people do. Most people don't put down the difficult things or hard things for them, they like to show off all of the wonderful things that they do. Which there is nothing wrong with, at all! But for me, I immediately think to myself, "why can't I do something that awesome?!" so it's just a lot better for me to not have the temptation there. I am really grateful that I came to the realisation that I am not alone in the world though, and that I am not alone in my strife for a clean home!

Things are going really well for us! Liam is quite the rambunctious child and he is definitely a toddler, because he wants to get into absolutely everything! His latest fascination is the bathroom. I don't know what it is about the bathroom, but he loves coming into the bathroom with me whenever I do anything. He makes me want to laugh and pull my hair out all at the same time! I get done doing my hair and makeup and then it's time to leave the bathroom and he throws a full on tantrum because we are getting out of the bathroom. It's ridiculous! Last night, Liam managed to get out of his room by pushing down the baby gate and he went into our bathroom and decided that it was in need of a cleaning. He had taken all of the toilet paper off of the roll, and he took the toilet brush and decided that not only did the toilet need a cleaning, but the walls... and the shower... and the counter... and himself... The worst part about this is the fact that Jon and I were both downstairs at the time and so we had absolutely no idea that any of this was happening. I had to go upstairs to get more water and saw that his gate was down, let me tell you that nothing strikes more fear in your heart in knowing that your child is not where they should be and that you really don't know where they are. But Liam came and found me and took me into the bathroom and showed me, quite happily, all the "cleaning" he had done. He was clapping for himself and smiling, and it was so cute to see him so proud of himself. So we had a little chat about how cleaning the bathroom is something he has to wait for mommy to help with, Jon came upstairs and took him to clean him up while I cleaned up the bathroom.

The other exciting news that we have is that Jon's diploma from SLCC came in the mail today! He officially has an Associates of Science! We are so excited! It is the first of many diploma's to come and I could not be more proud of him and of all the hard work that he is doing to provide for our family! The other day, he was sent an email stating that he was the recipient of two scholarships! I love that he is working so hard, and I love that he is being recognized for all of his hard work. There are days that are really difficult for me, because even though he is home, I still don't really get to see him because he is in his office working on his homework. I have to remind myself that he is working so hard for us, and that there will come a time that I will see him whenever I want, but for now, he has to lock himself away in his office to finish his homework! It WILL be worth it in the end! I just have to remind myself of that now.

Fluid is Up!

Um... where has half of February gone to? So much has happened that I don't even know where to start!

I'll separate everything into sections! That seems much easier!

SJHS:
We started second semester at the school, which meant that we were starting Musical Theatre and the audition process for Aladdin. We started working on the audition song the first day of class and then the next class period Kallee taught them the dance. We did the solo auditions after school that day, and there were some kids that truly surprised us. I love it when kids truly shine! We had callbacks and then we cast the show. I am really happy with how our cast turned out. We have had a slight drawback because our Jafar's father got a new job in a different state and so he is going to be moving about three weeks before the show opens. So we've had to switch some kids around, but part of being in theatre is being able to improvise and create something magical and that's just what we are doing.
Alyn, Jon and I took a road trip to Orem to pick up the Cave of Wonders set piece. We had a blast! Stopped at the Maverik and drove to Orem, got the set loaded into the truck and tied down and then while driving back had to stop to re tie the set down because coming back around the Point of the Mountain was extremely windy! But the set looks awesome and I am so excited!

Jon:
Jon is doing really well! He got another perfect score in his Calculus Exam! He is working really hard and I am so proud of him!

Liam:
Liam has a mouth full of teeth now! After fretting a little bit about his teeth not coming in, they all came very fast!! He is also starting to talk, which is amazing to me, his little voice is adorable. Lately, he'll point at everything and say, "what's that?" and then when we answer he'll say, "ooh" with a little lilt. So cute. He is sleeping really well in his twin bed and he sleeps all night long. He has started doing something that I'm not too thrilled about, and that is throwing tantrums and pushing his limits. Every time I tell him no or ask him not to do something he will immediately burst into tears and throw a fit, he is so dramatic! My brother so kindly let me know that that was my fault, ha, which he is probably right. Liam is also into pushing his limits. The other day he taught me quite a lesson: he was playing with the humidifier and I asked him not to play with it anymore, he proceeded to shout at me and got a little more resilient. I, again, told him no and he then pushed the humidifier off of the table it was on and it broke and water went all over the carpet. I lost my temper and yelled at him and spanked him then put him in his room. He went to sleep almost as soon as I put him in his bed. I then went into my room and I began to just cry; He's only 19 months old and his behaviour really is a phase that he's going through. I just seemed to forget about that at the moment. When he woke up about an hour later I heard him get up and play in his room for a little bit. So I went to his door and knocked on it, and he came and opened his door for me and as soon as he saw me he threw open his door and wrapped his little arms around my legs and patted me as if to say that everything was ok. This little act pushed me to tears again because it's amazing to see how the smallest member of my household teaches me the greatest lessons. That night I prayed so hard that God would grant me more patience, and I feel like I've been blessed greatly just in the past week.

Me:
February 3, I had a follow up appointment at McKay Dee Hospital to check my amniotic fluid. I showed up and the tech took me in and started the Ultrasound. She was going through the body parts of his that we could see and then she turned on 4D "just for fun". It was AMAZING! Ultrasounds themselves are pretty amazing but to see the little face of the baby growing inside of me with such clarity was phenomenal! He looks identical to Liam! It's pretty cool to have an idea of what he will look like! She checked my fluid and it's gone up to a 17.5! Which is right in the middle of where they want it to be. I was so excited. The baby is also measuring two days ahead and he is weighing about 4 pounds. Of course those are just estimates because he'll come when he is ready and weight measurements can be up to a pound or two off in either direction. Either way, everything is looking really good with him and me and we are having a really healthy pregnancy. We have about seven weeks left until he is estimated to make his arrival, and even though it's just that, an estimate, it's still coming up pretty fast! I can't believe that we are going to be having our second son in two months! I went to the mall today to go to Motherhood Maternity to look at nursing bras. They have a sale going on to buy 3 get the 4th free; I was fully ready to spend the money on good quality nursing bras until the sales associate got bratty with me. I had some questions and she acted as though it was such a burden to answer my questions, so then at the end when she asked which ones I wanted I just told her that I wasn't prepared to buy anything today and that I just wanted to see their selection. She seemed even more upset that she had "wasted" her time on someone who wouldn't be purchasing anything, but I was really annoyed by her attitude! After that I went to JC Penney, and even though Baby 2 will be using all of Liam's clothing I saw an adorable outfit that was only $11 so I bought it as this baby's coming home outfit. I am starting to get really excited about having a new baby. I'm excited to complete our family!

Theatre Conference!

For the past year and a half I have been the Primary Pianist. It has been one of the most fun callings I've ever had! I love hearing the kids learn songs, and I love hearing them pass off their songs, and sing so sweetly. Nothing brings the Spirit quite so strongly as when you hear a choir of children singing I Am A Child of God, or I Love to See the Temple, or my personal favourite: Families Can Be Together Forever. 

I was released from my calling today. 

There is good and bad to it. I have developed Carpal Tunnel in this pregnancy and so it's good in that regard because now my wrists won't be in so much pain after church, but I'm also very sad, because now I don't have any callings and I don't know what to do with myself. I am so sad that I won't be with the kids every week, but I am relieved that I will be able to have somewhat of a break before the new baby arrives and after. It'll make nursing at church a lot easier than if I had to be in the Primary to play. I'm sad, but I'm also very at peace with the events of today. I knew as soon as Brother Teeples called last night to have me come in today before church that I was going to be released.

This past week has been so incredibly fun! I met with Alyn and Kallee last week to set up our schedule for the rehearsal calendar for the Musical Theatre class so that we can start working on Aladdin with the kids! I am so excited to work with Kallee again, she is so incredibly talented and she is so much fun to be around. And then, of course, to work with Alyn. I say this after every show, but I seriously learn so much from her! She is an amazing teacher and I feel like I am always learning new things whenever I'm with her.

We also had the opportunity to go to Theatre conference with a group of kids on Friday! I had to be at the junior high at 7:30 am on Friday morning. I don't know about most people, but I haven't been awake and ready that early in a very long time! Since Jon would be at school and work for most of the day, once again childcare was left to my fantastic mother (I honestly don't know what I would do without her!). We decided that it would be much easier for Liam and I to just sleep over at my parents house, that way I didn't have to get up so early to get Liam and I ready, drop him off and go to the school. So Thursday night, whilst Jon was still working on homework, Liam and I got ready, packed an overnight bag and gave Jon lots of hugs and kisses and went on our way to my parents house. It was pretty relaxing actually! We got there about 7 pm, and so we had a good hour to play with Liam until his bedtime and then we brushed teeth, said prayers and then he went down for bed. After he was in bed, I decided that I would take a bath in my parents big bathtub! It was so nice to be able to just soak there, we have a tub at our house, but it's itty bitty, and not at all relaxing! So after that, I got out and got ready for bed. Then, I went downstairs into my old room, laid down and watched a movie, then finally went to sleep. I woke up so early, because I was so afraid of not waking up on time to get to the school! I showered, did my hair, and got dressed and ready to go! 

I got to the school at 7:30 and we got on the bus and we went to the Egyptian Theatre in Ogden where the workshops would be held. Alyn went and got us all registered and brought back our name tags and shirts and packets that had all of the info about workshops. I felt pretty important because my name tag had my name and then "faculty" written on it, letting people know that I was a teacher. I felt pretty awesome. 

The first workshop that I went to, I went with a cute girl who was quite shy who didn't have anyone else who wanted to go to that workshop. It was really interesting! It was called the Mastercraft of Colour and it was for technical design working with textiles and costuming. It was really intriguing and I loved the info that was given. The second workshop we went to was The Tangible Objective, this one was really fun because the instructor had several games that the kids played. One of them- the objective was to walk across the room with your eyes closed and pick up a shoe. He got several kids up and they all went for their shoes; then he had this one kid get up and he had him stand in a neutral position and breathe, I was sitting behind the kid and so I never saw his face, but the instructor kept telling him that he needed to stop making faces and just be neutral and breathe. This kid had the hardest time, and I could tell that he is constantly being the clown or the goofball, and that he probably didn't know how to just be neutral. This one girl who was sitting down said, "oh that's just him" and the instructor was very poignant as he said, "you are doing a disservice to him by saying 'oh that's just him'. Because this is not a person that I would ever cast in a show and for you to give him that crutch is enabling him." the room was dead silent after he told that girl off. Finally, this young man was able to not make a face and was able to just breathe and then they went on with the exercise. But it was interesting to see the difference in him between when he was "performing" and when he was just being real. 

After, we got lunch and then went to the keynote address, and then we got dinner and then went to see Oklahoma at Bonneville high School. Holy cow! They have some amazing male performers!! They were doing some really hard, intense ballet dances and their male actors had phenomenal vocals! I was surprised because the girls were not nearly as strong as the boys! It was a fantastic performance and I was very happy that I got to see it, and spend time with some of my junior high kids. I didn't get home until 11pm, and I was exhausted, but it was so much fun!

Mid January Update

We are well into January, and I have been so busy that blogging hasn't even crossed my mind! But, surprisingly there is lots to tell!

As a lot of you know, I work at Syracuse Jr. High under Alyn Bone- the theatre teacher- she was my high school drama teacher and after graduation, I still performed for her community theatre shows and started helping out when she would direct at Sandsprings Elementary. That sort of all blossomed into her hiring me to help out for her shows at the Junior High. I love it! This is seriously the best job ever! I go several times a week for a couple hours and still get to be a SAHM to my growing toddler! I get to work with the kids, and to teach them to love theatre the way I do and I get to watch them as they grow and progress! Our latest project was the 7th grade musical, which we finished up this week. We auditioned about 20 seventh graders-mostly girls- and only had to recruit three boys from higher grades, but we put on the show and it was so much fun. The performance was a short 45 minute musical with about five songs, and in teaching these songs there were days that I would be a little frustrated that the kids hadn't caught on as quickly, or when we got really into the thick of running the show that they would forget something that we gave them notes on. I would come home and express my frustration to Jon and my sweet husband would be the one to reel me back in and remind me that these kids are 12 for the most part and that I can't expect perfection. That was always a wonderful reminder to me- this is why I married him!
Even though I can't expect perfection, the kids did an incredible job performing! Opening night was a little rough, because this really is one of the first experiences that most of the kids had performing in front of an audience and there was that moment of sheer terror in a lot of their faces, but as the night progressed, they warmed up. Second night, which was our closing night, ran a lot smoother. They were so good! I was so pleased with how hard they worked and so proud of the fact that they did such a good job!

The next thing that is super important, well to me anyway, is that my sweet husband and good friends Cameron and Nate, brought over my treadmill that my dad had bought me ages ago. It has been in my parents basement for years untouched because it was in the storage space, but we brought it over so that I can walk in my third trimester, and then hopefully be able to lose all this weight I'm gaining. Truth be told, I lost twenty pounds in the first trimester and part of the second and then I have gained about five back. But considering that I gained about fifty pounds with Liam's pregnancy and then with the Postpartum Depression, I really have so much to lose still when this little one is born. I want to be back down to at least my pre pregnancy weight. I remember thinking that I was so huge before I had Liam, but then I got pregnant and then gained so much weight after his birth that I would give anything to go back to being that weight. But hopefully with the treadmill in the basement living room where we have our tv and relax, I'll be able to walk. I've done really good at walking the past couple of weeks, I wanted to get on every night, but some nights have been really difficult because I've been pretty exhausted with the last week before the show. But I'm feeling really good about walking and I've been able to up my speed and up my distance. That first day was really difficult and I only walked twenty minutes at a 1.9, because I just couldn't go any further without my belly aching. But I had bumped it up to thirty minutes at the 1.9, and then today I managed to do 1.05 miles in 30 minutes at a 2.5! and my belly only slightly ached.

Third Trimester hit last week, and it hit with a passion! I had been totally fine, and then it was the day that I turned 28 weeks and all of a sudden I was exhausted, and I felt like a hungry, hungry hippo! I wanted to eat anything and everything! It was ridiculous, and I kind of went slightly overboard and I made myself two sandwiches for lunch.... TWO! Yeah, that can't happen again. At least it was healthy foods that I made two of, because when I was pregnant with Liam there was one time that I went out and accidentally came home with the 12 taco box from Taco Bell... and then I accidentally ate all of them. At least haven't had a taco incident in this pregnancy! Overall, I feel as though I've done pretty well food wise. I'm trying to eat really healthy and not gain too much weight.

Jon and I are officially adults now! We have a Costco Membership and everything! I really like the Costco Brand Diapers and Wipes and so we went and got a box for Liam today and then we started stocking up on little ones diapers. We still have so much to do to get ready for his arrival, and I feel like we aren't as on the ball as we were with Liam, but also Liam was due in the middle of the summer, so we had a good couple months to get ready for him with no stress. This one is a little bit different because he's due in April, right before/in the middle of finals and so we really have to wait for Spring Break in March to do everything in that week! Not that it's a ton, but we have to get his room ready and painted and then we need to bring up all of Liam's newborn-3 month clothing and get that all situated. Anyway, back to Costco, we went there today to get diapers, and we left with much more! Liam got really annoyed at sitting in the front and so we took him out and let him sit in the back of the cart, and he LOVED it! Until we had to put him back in the front because we were buying some bigger boxed things and needed the space. Then he threw a mini fit in the store, with tears and everything, but then he calmed down later.

Overall, we've had a pretty enjoyable January so far!! I am so excited, because on the 17th I get to go to theatre conference with Syracuse Jr. High! And then on the 27th, I have another doctors appointment. My last one going at a month, before starting the two week regiment of third trimester! It's hard to believe that I'll be delivering our second baby in just 11 weeks! I have 82 days left until the due date and as far away as it seems, it's really not! 

Happy New Year!

The New Year has officially been rung in! What wonderful things are in store for this upcoming year! But before we look forward, I want to touch on some highlights of this past year.

ME:

• I have had perfect vision for a whole year now, January of 2013 I went in for LASIK and was given the gift of sight! I am so grateful for the modern technology that allowed this remarkable thing to happen! I was almost legally blind, and now I have perfect vision. It's wonderful to not have to rely on glasses or contacts anymore.
• I overcame Postpartum Depression. This was something that I was very afraid of not being able to overcome, but through the power of prayer and the Priesthood, my family, friends and my God I was able to overcome the negative feelings that I had about myself. It's so unbelievable to me that I was feeling like that just a year ago. It feels like it's been eons. 
• I musically directed with Alyn at SJH.
• I performed in the worst show I've ever been in. 
• I found out that I was expecting our second baby 
• I went back to work with Alyn and was the assistant director for the school play and am the music director for the 7th grade musical
• We found out that Liam is getting a little brother!
• I switched doctors because Dr. Hall retired. But I am now with Dr. Johnson at Tanner Clinic and I am very excited to have him as my new doctor. I was very happy with my appointment time with him yesterday.

JON:

• Finished his last semester at SLCC and transferred all of his credits to Weber for Fall Semester
• Worked at Resolutions, Salt Lake School District, Avantguard and recently got a job working at Weber State!
• He did so much work around our house this summer and painted the whole outside of the house. Took a lot of work, a lot of days, and a lot of Motrin but he did such a fantastic job!
• Started Fall semester at Weber State and got a 4.0!
• Got an amazing present from his wonderful wife and when he moved his office downstairs he was able to set up two computer monitors and a second desk. He claims that he has upgraded.
• Made the final degree change from Business Administration to Applied Mathematics

LIAM:

•  Learned how to crawl, stand and walk all in this year
• Performed in his first musical in April as the Elephant Bird in Seussical Jr. He loves applause!
• He turned ONE and we had a wonderful day with him at the Aquarium. He loved watching all of the fish
• He was the cutest little Batman for Halloween!
• Liam went into Nursery! He loves playing with all of the toys and the other kids. Still learning the importance of sharing, but it's a work in progress!
• We took out his crib and he moved into his big boy bed. It was a very exhausting week, and he still doesn't love it, but he's done so incredibly well in his big boy bed. 
• He is still the most friendliest, kindest kid you'll ever know.
• He has a very special relationship with his papa. He lights up whenever my dad walks through the door, which is so sweet to me. 

These are some of the highlights of the year, and I am so grateful that I have my little family. This year will bring lots of new changes as well! We will be adding a new member to our family, and we couldn't be more thrilled. We are pretty sure this is our last baby and as disappointed as I was that I am not going to get my little girl, I am so excited that Liam will have a little brother to play with. I am going to be overrun by testosterone being the only girl in the house. But I couldn't be more thrilled that our baby is healthy and that he is growing nicely. I watch Liam and see how much he's grown in just the past year and it's amazing to me how much can change. Jon and I have been together for almost 6 years and will have been married for 3 in March, and who would have thought that when we met for the first time that September of 2009 that we would be married and have almost two kids in this time. I knew he was special when I first met him and he's definitely lived up to that first impression of him.