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.

Christmas Posts!

Such a busy week!

Since getting married, Christmas has become the most stressful time of the year. Not the events leading up to it, but the 24th and 25th are super stressful because of how much family that we have. Coming from a family where we spent the whole day with one another, all of a sudden having four families to please was dropped on me. We've gotten into a pretty good system though that I have been pleased with, that doesn't completely overwhelm Liam. Christmas Eve Morning we have breakfast with Jon's mother, then that night we have the Christmas Eve party with the Mosher Family- usually at Grandma and Grandpa Mosher's house, but this year it was at Pam and Mike's house; then we go to Rod and Sheri's and open up our jammies. Jon, Liam and I went home after that and then put Liam to bed, then Christmas Morning, Liam slept in! It was a wonderful Christmas Present! We opened up our stockings and presents and then we went over to Rod and Sheri's house for Christmas Morning breakfast. Liam was showered with presents over there too, and he happily played and jumped around and ran as fast as he could. Then it was time to go over to my parents house, so we packed up the toys and presents and we went to my parents house. We opened up presents and then waited patiently for dinner to be prepared; Liam promptly went down for an almost 5 hour nap, the kid was really stimulated and finally crashed. We had our traditional roast beef with yorkshire pudding, and it was delicious! After dinner we talked and then Jon and I went to see Frozen while mum watched Liam. Jon and I really enjoyed the show and I am excited to see it again!
 
The new baby is doing really well! I had my appointment today with my new OB: Dr. Johnson. He is really nice, and I feel completely comfortable with him. I still miss Dr. Hall, but what can ya do? I am grateful that I was able to find someone that I feel will do as good of a job as Dr. Hall. He did an ultrasound today to check the baby's kidneys and thankfully, he said that they look really good! Also, my fluid is up! Prayers work wonders. Not a day goes by that I haven't prayed for the safety of this baby and for my fluid to be at a level that will help the baby grow healthily. I also had to do my gestational diabetes screening this morning. I dislike that glucose drink, that stuff is nasty! I chugged that sugary syrup down as fast as I could and promptly had to stop myself from vomiting it all up. Thank goodness this is my last baby, so that's the last time I'll have to drink that stuff. Then I drove to my appointment and got my blood drawn.

Liam had a bout of sickness over the weekend. The poor little kid was so sick! Saturday night his fever was so high that heat was just radiating off of his body. We decided to have him sleep in his diaper that night in hopes that he wouldn't overheat. Sunday Morning came and his head was still really hot, but his body had cooled off considerably. My poor baby, it's no fun having a sick child, but the only perk that we have was that he wanted to snuggle more. His teeth were hurting, because he has his bottom molars coming in, and his incisors. But later Sunday night, he was so much better and he was no longer running a fever at all. Liam has recently loved taking out his blocks and putting them back in to the box that they come in. He's become quite the happy helper! He also has learned how to use that smile of his to his advantage. Today, he came over and grabbed something that he wasn't supposed to and so Jon and I both said no at the same time- what does Liam do? Continue to do what he's doing, only smiling that cheesy smile of his. How can you get mad at that smile? You can't. And he knows that. And he loves the power.


intermission: Hey this is Jon, I just wanna say that my wife is an amazing women, and I love her very much. It brings me the utmost joy to be sitting here with here, binging on 24, that I ever thought was conceivable. Thanks sweety pie!! I love you, and back to Brittney....

Exhaustion at its Finest!

Well, I officially became the worst mother in the world on Tuesday! Liam had an older heater in his room, because his room is always cold. Usually, when he wakes up in the morning, I would turn off the heater and then we would go and eat breakfast. I shut the door so that he can't get in there while the heater cools off. After breakfast this day, I went into his room so that I could get his laundry basket so I could wash his clothes. He followed me in and everything happened so fast, but he managed to put his hand on the heater. I grabbed him as fast as I realized what just happened. I looked at his palm, where I thought the burn would be, and it was fine. I was so relieved! Until, I realized that it was not the palm of his hand that had been burnt, but his middle finger knuckle. I took him to the kitchen and ran his hand under water and prayed that it wouldn't be a horrible burn. Jon had gotten up by this point in time and I explained what had happened. Jon looked at his fingers and it didn't look too bad at first. So, I finished running his hand under the water and then patted his hand dry. Later, we were sitting in the living room as Liam was playing happily. He came over to us and I looked at his hand again, and to my horror, not only was his middle finger blistered, but part of his ring finger, the knuckle, and a tiny dot on his pointer finger. I just broke into tears. My baby had such a bad burn, and I felt like it was all my fault because I hadn't realized he'd come into the room with me. Jon went to the store and got an antiseptic/burn spray, and when he got home we sprayed that on Liam's burn. Then we wrapped his fingers in band-aids, and I cried some more. Miraculously, he's not been acting like he's in pain, or has been favouring his hand at all; it really is, as though it's not been affecting him. Small blessings, probably more for my sake than his. Wednesday he managed to break one of the blisters, and even then was still not crying from pain or anything from the burn. It's been almost a week and his burn looks much better, even though it still doesn't look great. Yeah... I've been beating myself up about this all week. We got rid of the heater that had been in his room and got a different heater that my mum had bought me, but was at her house, that is electric and doesn't have the ability to burn my baby.

Then, after Liam's nap on Wednesday, I walked in to quite the terrifying sight. Liam's leg was over his crib side and he was trying to push himself up so he could climb out. Jon and I decided that that was probably a sign that it was time to move him out of his crib into his bed. We took down his crib and moved it into the new baby's room, I vacuumed really quick before we moved his desk to where his crib was. And then, it was time for Liam's bedtime. That first night was rough... Liam was such a good sleeper in his crib, I guess I was hoping that it would be a breeze getting him to sleep in his bed. That first night, I put him in his bed and then left, and he followed me out into the living room. So, I put him back in his bed, and he again, followed me out into the living room. So then I finally stayed in his room with him and scratched his back, and tickled his arm, and caressed his face and played with his hair. It took three hours, but eventually he started dozing off enough that I could leave. But that was short lived, he woke up two and a half hours later, and I had to go back into his room so that I could calm him down again. Each night has gotten progressively easier, but it's still a difficult process. Tonight, I only had to stay with Liam for less than an hour before I left, he fussed for about twenty minutes and then he managed to fall asleep on his own. It amazes me how fast he's growing up! It was a year ago that he crawled for the first time, and now he is a busy 17 month old.

This month has been a bittersweet one, at the beginning of the month I had my doctors appointment with Dr. Hall, which then ended up with me going to the hospital to meet with the perinatal specialist. I was also told at that appointment that Dr. Hall was going to be retiring at the end of the month and that he wanted to see me one last time before he retired. So, I went to my last appointment with him on the 16th; I switched to a new doctor, was given my glucose drink for next time, and Dr. Hall gave me a hug before I left, and I made my next appointment. As soon as I got out into the parking lot, I started tearing up. Dr. Hall has set such a high standard of care and he was the reason why I didn't have to have a C-Section after such a long labor, he was so caring and he is the one I attribute credit to saving Liam's life when he was born, and keeping me calm during the whole process. I love that man and I am truly devastated that he is not going to be my delivery doctor. But, I am excited for him, for the new chapter of his life that he is entering now. Dr. Johnson, the new doctor, that I chose has equally good reviews and I've heard nothing but wonderful things about him; and upon my making my appointment with him with the receptionist told me that he was very good. So I am happy with my decision... even though it means not having Dr. Hall as my delivery doctor. That night, I did have a dream that I went into labor during a showing of Aladdin (remembering that Dr. Hall's granddaughter attends SJH and is in the drama department) and Dr. Hall got to deliver our new baby anyway. But, I highly doubt that'll happen because Aladdin opens weeks after my due date.

I feel like this month has whizzed on by. Christmas is in four days! How fun holidays are with our little one! I know that he is excited to open his presents! He's been eying the presents under the tree for quite some time now. Every day he'll bring me a present and every day we have to put it back under the tree. I am so excited for Christmas Morning and for him to open up his presents!

Nursery!

Well.... We did it, we sent our baby into Nursery! He loved every minute of it! He played with toys, colored a picture, and sat happily with one of his leaders during the lesson. 

I cannot believe my baby is growing up as fast as he is. I was beaming and close to bawling all day today. 

I love that our church has a special place for our small children! I love the leaders in there! Nursery is the best calling in the church in my opinion. I love it! 

The Year Update on Postpartum Depression

As we are close to finishing out the year, I want to give an update on how life has been for me this year! It is with a smiling face and a happy heart that I can say that I have overcome the Postpartum Depression. I don't think I ever fully explained what had happened; I don't want to go too much into detail but basically, the birth control (an IUD) that I had chosen had caused my hormones to go completely out of whack. I dealt with the postpartum depression for about 8 months by the time that I had it taken out. The reason for me getting it taken out was not because of the emotional side-effects but because of the physical ones. I had developed extreme discomfort and would cramp so bad that I could barely function in daily activities, most days all I could handle was curling into the fetal position and crying.
Within the week of getting my IUD out, my cramping went away entirely, and within the month I felt so much lighter emotionally. Everything changed! My perspective on everything became better, especially on myself. For months, I had dealt with the thoughts and feelings that I was not worth much. I had dealt with the feelings that Liam and Jon's life would be better off without me; and that I was not important to my baby and husband. It was a really hard thing to go through life feeling like that for months on end. At the end of the month that I got my IUD taken out, I went to my doctor and he felt confident in taking me off of my anti-depressants.
The next couple months were still slightly hazy, because my body was recovering from having the anti-depressants in my system as well as phasing out the extra hormones that came from the IUD. But by May, I was feeling so much more like my old self! It was wonderful to not have to worry about whether or not I was going to wake up depressed, or if I was going to have those horrible feelings about myself. There were and are times where there are things that are said that push those horrible thoughts to the forefront of my mind, and I will have a down day. But those are few and far between, and I feel more confidant in talking to Jon about when these times happen and venting to him and allowing him to comfort and help me. This past year has been a crazy learning curve, and as much as I never want to go through postpartum depression again, I am glad that I had to endure the bad. It has made everything so much more sweet and made me realize that I really do have a divine destiny. My role as a mother and wife is of utmost importance and I would not give up this gift for anything.
Looking back on this year, I have learned so much, and I have grown spiritually and temporally.

Update on Liam:

• He has two speeds- asleep and running
• He is starting to make animal sounds- he does monkey, snake, owl and will click his tongue.
• He follows hand gestures pretty well. We do a routine where we will go "clap, clap, clap, UP!" and when we say up we make the touchdown sign. He also is getting good at blowing kisses, and he loves playing peek-a-boo.
• He loves to climb up and down stairs and open doors.
• He loves food. Any and all. Eating is one of his absolute favorite things to do. He loves PB&J sandwiches, tomato soup with toasted cheese sandwiches, ham, turkey, steak, eggs, sausage and basically any food that we are eating he will happily gobble down.
• He has several teeth now- after me fretting about him not having many teeth it was like we went from 0 to 10 almost 13 practically instantaneously.
• He knows how to use utensils- this came as a shock to us, we had gone to dinner to celebrate Jon getting a perfect score on his math test and we gave Liam a spoon and he started stabbing at the bread that we had given him, so we gave him a fork and he started using it! Shocking, but exciting at the same time.
• He knows what the potty is for- I am not pushing potty training, but the other day he was playing and he stopped and squatted and made that infamous face, and I told him that that was what his potty was for. So then the next thing I know he runs into the bathroom and sat on his toilet, diaper and pants still on and did his business. It's so funny to watch him figure things out. We'll see how things progress as far as toilet training. It's definitely a work in progress.
• He loves it when Jon chases him. He will squeal with delight and run down the hallway, then he will turn and chase us.
• He loves his movies, he is on a Mary Poppins and Ice Age kick right now. He has his own tv, and knows what buttons to push to turn on his movie.
• He is quite into dramatics. He is extremely good at being able to throw a tantrum when he doesn't get his way. 
• He takes after his dad and is very good at pushing boundaries. Which is very frustrating at times, because even after I have told him no he will continue to do whatever it is that I have just denied until I punish him. Some things he will stop immediately because he knows it is not worth it, but other things... when I put him in time out, he laughs at me.
• He loves Peppa Pig! We watch it on Youtube all the time!
• He loves to play the piano, he will jump up onto the piano bench and pound on the keys. He'll also sing for me too!
• He also LOVES the Christmas tree and the lights and decorations!

• He gets to go into nursery NEXT WEEK!!!! I cannot express just how excited I am for him to go into Nursery and to get little friends and to play with other kids! I honestly cannot believe just how fast time has gone by! My little baby is no longer a baby and he's definitely becoming Jon's and my little man!