Today was such a treat for me. Kat's first dance class! She did REALLY well considering she's two and a half and most children don't start until 3+ years old. She was SO happy about it and in it!!!
Ria was excited about Kat taking dance, too. Ria was actually doing a countdown (starting about a week ago) on the number of days till Kat's dance class! Today, I wasn't sure who was more excited: Ria or Kat. Ria kept saying, "You get to dance! I get to watch you dance!" It really warmed my heart.
Kat did really well in ballet. It was obvious to me that she was more excited about Tap because she paid less attention to what she was supposed to be doing. She was just so happy to be able to wear her tap shoes on a floor that enabled her to HEAR them tapping! So she didn't stay with the class as well for tap, but she loved it more. She kept looking over to see that I was watching (which I was able to do for most of the class) and then smiling her biggest smile. Can you heart my heart swell?
I'll probably have to use my allowance to pay for some of the classes (with two taking dance...) as well as the recital costumes, but after today I'm a bit more okay with that because of her reaction to actually dancing.
Kat is still a little confused... before we left for her class she came up to me to 'remind' me that she didn't have her lipstick on yet. I told her she didn't wear lipstick for dance CLASS, but only when she went on stage for RECITAL. She seemed okay with that. Well, when we got home she told me she was excited to go on stage and wear lipstick. I told her she had to go to a LOT more classes before she would go on stage, she responded, "No I don't. I did that. I'm DONE with that!" I hope she is excited about class next week even though she won't get to put on lipstick....
Showing posts with label dance class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance class. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Fullness
Today was a full day and my body is full in more ways than one.
Bloating as Part of the Process
With my first two pregnancies, I started to fill with/retain water around 37 weeks... this time it held off for a week, but I'm definitely feeling it now. :-P Not comfy. At least the hips were better when I awakened this morning... yes, you read right! I actually woke up in the morning hours of the day. Well, I did that on Tuesday as well, actually. Rough week, this one! Sunday I was only able to sleep 2 hours before church, Tuesday was around 6, and this morning was 3.5! UGH!!! I keep hoping the baby won't decide s/he is ready right now because that would make for a difficult labor (starting tired and all). I can do it since I was super tired after laboring for TWO days with Kat, but I'd rather have a more peaceful time this go 'round. Ya know? I was finally able to get to sleep this morning around 5:30am (due to some kiddos night waking issues as of late).
Tire Troubles
Jess awakened me at 9am this morning because one of the tires has been leaking so badly that he had to fill it two times each day for the past two days. That's $0.75 at a "pop," of course. So, he informed me last night (after my totally physically painful evening) that we had to purchase two tires whether new or used, it had to be done. If you can imagine that on top of what I'd just been going through physically you'll probably guess that I broke a bit. You'd be right. But I was sobbing, just a few tears was all. I knew it (about the tires), but it was really depressing to hear out loud. He even went so far as to say that he felt we should use credit. We've been struggling horribly because we're doing our best NOT to add debt to the tremendous pile already on our backs!
I disagreed vehemently and since I'm in charge of the bills, we used our checking account... sort of floating the purchase of tires on other things not yet mailed out, but due sooner than I would like! :( I'm worried about it, but I REALLY believe that Heavenly Father does NOT want us to use credit. So, I'm trying not to actively worry about it and just have Faith that things will work out somehow. They always do... they always have. And I'm really trying to make sure we're doing all the things on our end that we can. *sigh*
Story Time
So, Jess awakened with the girls, figured out where to buy the tires, and then hit the road to do that by 9:15am or so. I was up, of course, to monitor the girls. He was able to get home in time to take the girls to Story Time, which is a huge BIG deal around here because it's one of the few outside activities that they get to count on attending and enjoying other people. And, if you only knew how TOTALLY social these little butterflies are, you would understand how really important Story Time and other such activities are for them both. Right when he got home from taking care of the tires he departed with the girls.
I put myself back to bed to rest. Unfortunately, even in my exhausted state, I didn't fall asleep. I was hoping I would be able to, but it didn't happen. Go figure. Me and my sleep issues, I should've known, really. I did doze lightly, but my mind was hopping the whole time. ahwell
The Mad Dash
The girls and Jess got home RIGHT before noon and we went right to work getting things ready to take Daddy to the drop0-off point so he could catch a ride to Orlando to do service work in the Cannery/Bishop's Storehouse there. He's been SO excited to be able to do that work! He specifically asked for the day off about a month in advance, and then when he was put on the schedule, he traded with someone so he could make sure to be there!
The priesthood requested 12 workers for this particular trip and was able to get that many volunteers a while ago, but this past Sunday a bunch of (at least 6!) people had pulled out at the last minute. Jess was REALLY troubled by that, but was SUPER glad that the Bishop and someone else had spoken to the Brothers about keeping commitments and such. Jess was really disappointed in those who'd signed up and then renigged, though I don't think he knew the names of all involved. It was/is really interesting to me to see how invested he is in "my" church. Honestly, he often refers to it as OUR church, but when it's convenient or he's aggravated with me about something he calls it "YOUR" church. Take of the "Y" and you have... heeheehee ;)
So, even though we left late to drop Jess off, we were able to make it to the drop point TWO minutes before we were due there! YEAY! I'm so grateful for small miracles!
Researching Jobs
Upon returning home I set to work to find jobs for Jess to apply. He's set some really great goals for his employment and I'm doing my best to support him in accomplishing them. Hopefully he'll be able to get out tomorrow after food pickup and put some applications in! We'll see.
I was actually able to find quite a few in the near area. That's pretty awesome to me. In addition, since I was looking in Craigslist, I also looked at property and, believe it or not!, found a house in Ormond-by-the-Sea for $92,000!!!! It's a small home, but from the front door you can see the beach entrance. That is a rediculous and amazing price. Another house in the near area was $115,000. So, it seems that we may not have to move to Orlando to find a home in our price range if things keep at this level and Jess is able to get the job he needs or replace his morning job. Amazing, right!?
Dance Class
Today was Dance class day! Even though I had the van, I took the walk. Who knows when it will be too rough for me to do it, so I'd rather keep plugging along as long and as much as I can! Frustratingly the walk (normally at most 15 minutes) now takes me just over 25 and feels likeI'm creeping along like a snail! :( But at least I'm going!
Ria did quite well in class today and I really only reminded her about her behavior once! I was a pleased Mama. Also, she was SUCH a sweetie... a little girl who arrived right before class started was sitting all alone apart from the other girls (Ria as part of the other girls). I suggested and asked Ria to go sit with her and she was happy to do it. As soon as Ria was over there by that little girl, at least 3 other girls joined her! So, the little girl was no longer all alone! The Grama of the little girl was very appreciative, which was nice, but I was more happy that the little girl wasn't all on her own anymore.
They are definitely learning new steps! It's so exciting to see. And, MAN, I love to see my little Ria lined up with the other ballerinas at the barr for exercises and stretching! It just brings such joy to my heart!!
Kat Dance
Kat has been "tapping" all over the house. There's a particular song from dance class that she LOVES and she'll tap her foot and demand that I sing it for her. Most of the time I love to and I, of course, encourage her desire to dance almost every time she does it. But every once in a while she'll make a poor choice or won't do something she's been asked to do because she's asking/demanding I sing for her dancing. I refuse to oblige her until she's done the right thing. Most of the time she does because she wants me to sing the song SO much! Funny, right?
My Walks
I do feel obligated to add and sort of confess that my "long" walks at this point are 35 minutes. And the distance is puny! No, seriously! It's 1 block west, 2 blocks north, then 1 tiny block north, 2 blocks east, what amounts to 2.5 blocks (in reality) south, and then 2 blocks west to my house. And THAT took me THIRTY-FIVE minutes on Tuesday! UGH. I was totally out of breath through points of it AND sweated a bit at the half-way point (which I knew because I had to stop at the public potty near that playground!). Can you believe it? The funny thing is that I often feel like I should just be able to GO and GO... but then I get out of breath and I realize that having a baby in this belly of mine really DOES put some breaks on me!
ChaCha
I'm still a Top Guide with ChaCha! YEAY!!! It's so much easier to work and build up my payday in TG status. Now, if only I could refuse to answer certain questions!
Typing Training
Oh... as part of my self training I've been working on my typing skills. :) I'm at between 67 and 71 words per minute and 100% accuracy right now. At least, that's how I do when I'm focused and not too tired. I'm pleased, but I would really like to get up to 100WPM! Good goal, right? That could help in numerous ways, too, not just ChaCha (especially since I write....). ^_^ I haven't added the site I'm using to my HS list yet, but it's quite cool. If you're interested in it before I get around to it, just let me know and I'll be HAPPY to share!
Toilet Training (done?)
Kat is doing amazingly well with using the potty! She's kept her special panties (some pull-ups my Primary Preside gave us that have little dinosaurs, which smear if the diaper is peed in, on them) dry each day she's worn them all week this week! Today, as a matter-of-fact, she actually pulled down her shorts and "special panties" to use her little potty ALL BY HERSELF! And then, if that's not cool enough, she actually pulled them back on rather than stripping (as is normal for her as of late). She subsequently stripped a little while later, but still! She hasn't had any accidents since we moved the little potty into the kitchen/dining room for her.
After the last couple times that Kit Kat had accidents, which were really Mama's fault since I couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough to let her in, we brought a little training potty in from the garage. She wouldn't use it when Jess first started her potty training, which is why it ended up there. Jess threatened to toss it a few times, but I couldn't let it go and I'm SO glad!! She's so pleased with herself. But she still uses the big potty for poops, which is awesome. I just hated cleaning poopers out of the the training potty with Ria!
Ria and Reading
So, Jess is picking 2nd and 3rd grade books as a standard for Ria's reading class now. I have to say that she IS, shockingly enough or not, pretty dang competent!! The problem I've encountered since I've been responsible for reading class a few times in the midst of it being primarily Jessie's job is that I can tell he dozes off while she's reading. HOW can I tell such a thing? Well, she's gotten even sloppier than she was when she knew I was attentively reading along with her. She injects inappropriate conjunctions and articles amidst her reading of actual text. Also, she's not as careful with her sounding out of long or unfamiliar words. She's SUPER good at figuring out how to read long and new words on her own, but it's apparent she gets away with sounding confident with Jess because she's not trying as hard when she comes to unfamiliar or infrequently use long words. She seems like she's reading, but she's really guessing. Very upsetting to Mama.
I don't mind if she guesses a bit as a silent reader, to some extent... when she's older. But I feel it's SUPER important right now that she read precisely. Not only for her own development, which is the main reason (right practive makes right performance), but because she's reading SO much to Kat! It's entirely possible, even probable, that Kat will learn how to read by reading with Ria... and I don't want her learning wrong habits and guessing strategies! *sigh* Well, it's a problem I'm glad to have (on one hand). I mean, how many Mamas have to worry about such a thing with their 4 year olds!??
Bloating as Part of the Process
With my first two pregnancies, I started to fill with/retain water around 37 weeks... this time it held off for a week, but I'm definitely feeling it now. :-P Not comfy. At least the hips were better when I awakened this morning... yes, you read right! I actually woke up in the morning hours of the day. Well, I did that on Tuesday as well, actually. Rough week, this one! Sunday I was only able to sleep 2 hours before church, Tuesday was around 6, and this morning was 3.5! UGH!!! I keep hoping the baby won't decide s/he is ready right now because that would make for a difficult labor (starting tired and all). I can do it since I was super tired after laboring for TWO days with Kat, but I'd rather have a more peaceful time this go 'round. Ya know? I was finally able to get to sleep this morning around 5:30am (due to some kiddos night waking issues as of late).
Tire Troubles
Jess awakened me at 9am this morning because one of the tires has been leaking so badly that he had to fill it two times each day for the past two days. That's $0.75 at a "pop," of course. So, he informed me last night (after my totally physically painful evening) that we had to purchase two tires whether new or used, it had to be done. If you can imagine that on top of what I'd just been going through physically you'll probably guess that I broke a bit. You'd be right. But I was sobbing, just a few tears was all. I knew it (about the tires), but it was really depressing to hear out loud. He even went so far as to say that he felt we should use credit. We've been struggling horribly because we're doing our best NOT to add debt to the tremendous pile already on our backs!
I disagreed vehemently and since I'm in charge of the bills, we used our checking account... sort of floating the purchase of tires on other things not yet mailed out, but due sooner than I would like! :( I'm worried about it, but I REALLY believe that Heavenly Father does NOT want us to use credit. So, I'm trying not to actively worry about it and just have Faith that things will work out somehow. They always do... they always have. And I'm really trying to make sure we're doing all the things on our end that we can. *sigh*
Story Time
So, Jess awakened with the girls, figured out where to buy the tires, and then hit the road to do that by 9:15am or so. I was up, of course, to monitor the girls. He was able to get home in time to take the girls to Story Time, which is a huge BIG deal around here because it's one of the few outside activities that they get to count on attending and enjoying other people. And, if you only knew how TOTALLY social these little butterflies are, you would understand how really important Story Time and other such activities are for them both. Right when he got home from taking care of the tires he departed with the girls.
I put myself back to bed to rest. Unfortunately, even in my exhausted state, I didn't fall asleep. I was hoping I would be able to, but it didn't happen. Go figure. Me and my sleep issues, I should've known, really. I did doze lightly, but my mind was hopping the whole time. ahwell
The Mad Dash
The girls and Jess got home RIGHT before noon and we went right to work getting things ready to take Daddy to the drop0-off point so he could catch a ride to Orlando to do service work in the Cannery/Bishop's Storehouse there. He's been SO excited to be able to do that work! He specifically asked for the day off about a month in advance, and then when he was put on the schedule, he traded with someone so he could make sure to be there!
The priesthood requested 12 workers for this particular trip and was able to get that many volunteers a while ago, but this past Sunday a bunch of (at least 6!) people had pulled out at the last minute. Jess was REALLY troubled by that, but was SUPER glad that the Bishop and someone else had spoken to the Brothers about keeping commitments and such. Jess was really disappointed in those who'd signed up and then renigged, though I don't think he knew the names of all involved. It was/is really interesting to me to see how invested he is in "my" church. Honestly, he often refers to it as OUR church, but when it's convenient or he's aggravated with me about something he calls it "YOUR" church. Take of the "Y" and you have... heeheehee ;)
So, even though we left late to drop Jess off, we were able to make it to the drop point TWO minutes before we were due there! YEAY! I'm so grateful for small miracles!
Researching Jobs
Upon returning home I set to work to find jobs for Jess to apply. He's set some really great goals for his employment and I'm doing my best to support him in accomplishing them. Hopefully he'll be able to get out tomorrow after food pickup and put some applications in! We'll see.
I was actually able to find quite a few in the near area. That's pretty awesome to me. In addition, since I was looking in Craigslist, I also looked at property and, believe it or not!, found a house in Ormond-by-the-Sea for $92,000!!!! It's a small home, but from the front door you can see the beach entrance. That is a rediculous and amazing price. Another house in the near area was $115,000. So, it seems that we may not have to move to Orlando to find a home in our price range if things keep at this level and Jess is able to get the job he needs or replace his morning job. Amazing, right!?
Dance Class
Today was Dance class day! Even though I had the van, I took the walk. Who knows when it will be too rough for me to do it, so I'd rather keep plugging along as long and as much as I can! Frustratingly the walk (normally at most 15 minutes) now takes me just over 25 and feels likeI'm creeping along like a snail! :( But at least I'm going!
Ria did quite well in class today and I really only reminded her about her behavior once! I was a pleased Mama. Also, she was SUCH a sweetie... a little girl who arrived right before class started was sitting all alone apart from the other girls (Ria as part of the other girls). I suggested and asked Ria to go sit with her and she was happy to do it. As soon as Ria was over there by that little girl, at least 3 other girls joined her! So, the little girl was no longer all alone! The Grama of the little girl was very appreciative, which was nice, but I was more happy that the little girl wasn't all on her own anymore.
They are definitely learning new steps! It's so exciting to see. And, MAN, I love to see my little Ria lined up with the other ballerinas at the barr for exercises and stretching! It just brings such joy to my heart!!
Kat Dance
Kat has been "tapping" all over the house. There's a particular song from dance class that she LOVES and she'll tap her foot and demand that I sing it for her. Most of the time I love to and I, of course, encourage her desire to dance almost every time she does it. But every once in a while she'll make a poor choice or won't do something she's been asked to do because she's asking/demanding I sing for her dancing. I refuse to oblige her until she's done the right thing. Most of the time she does because she wants me to sing the song SO much! Funny, right?
My Walks
I do feel obligated to add and sort of confess that my "long" walks at this point are 35 minutes. And the distance is puny! No, seriously! It's 1 block west, 2 blocks north, then 1 tiny block north, 2 blocks east, what amounts to 2.5 blocks (in reality) south, and then 2 blocks west to my house. And THAT took me THIRTY-FIVE minutes on Tuesday! UGH. I was totally out of breath through points of it AND sweated a bit at the half-way point (which I knew because I had to stop at the public potty near that playground!). Can you believe it? The funny thing is that I often feel like I should just be able to GO and GO... but then I get out of breath and I realize that having a baby in this belly of mine really DOES put some breaks on me!
ChaCha
I'm still a Top Guide with ChaCha! YEAY!!! It's so much easier to work and build up my payday in TG status. Now, if only I could refuse to answer certain questions!
Typing Training
Oh... as part of my self training I've been working on my typing skills. :) I'm at between 67 and 71 words per minute and 100% accuracy right now. At least, that's how I do when I'm focused and not too tired. I'm pleased, but I would really like to get up to 100WPM! Good goal, right? That could help in numerous ways, too, not just ChaCha (especially since I write....). ^_^ I haven't added the site I'm using to my HS list yet, but it's quite cool. If you're interested in it before I get around to it, just let me know and I'll be HAPPY to share!
Toilet Training (done?)
Kat is doing amazingly well with using the potty! She's kept her special panties (some pull-ups my Primary Preside gave us that have little dinosaurs, which smear if the diaper is peed in, on them) dry each day she's worn them all week this week! Today, as a matter-of-fact, she actually pulled down her shorts and "special panties" to use her little potty ALL BY HERSELF! And then, if that's not cool enough, she actually pulled them back on rather than stripping (as is normal for her as of late). She subsequently stripped a little while later, but still! She hasn't had any accidents since we moved the little potty into the kitchen/dining room for her.
After the last couple times that Kit Kat had accidents, which were really Mama's fault since I couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough to let her in, we brought a little training potty in from the garage. She wouldn't use it when Jess first started her potty training, which is why it ended up there. Jess threatened to toss it a few times, but I couldn't let it go and I'm SO glad!! She's so pleased with herself. But she still uses the big potty for poops, which is awesome. I just hated cleaning poopers out of the the training potty with Ria!
Ria and Reading
So, Jess is picking 2nd and 3rd grade books as a standard for Ria's reading class now. I have to say that she IS, shockingly enough or not, pretty dang competent!! The problem I've encountered since I've been responsible for reading class a few times in the midst of it being primarily Jessie's job is that I can tell he dozes off while she's reading. HOW can I tell such a thing? Well, she's gotten even sloppier than she was when she knew I was attentively reading along with her. She injects inappropriate conjunctions and articles amidst her reading of actual text. Also, she's not as careful with her sounding out of long or unfamiliar words. She's SUPER good at figuring out how to read long and new words on her own, but it's apparent she gets away with sounding confident with Jess because she's not trying as hard when she comes to unfamiliar or infrequently use long words. She seems like she's reading, but she's really guessing. Very upsetting to Mama.
I don't mind if she guesses a bit as a silent reader, to some extent... when she's older. But I feel it's SUPER important right now that she read precisely. Not only for her own development, which is the main reason (right practive makes right performance), but because she's reading SO much to Kat! It's entirely possible, even probable, that Kat will learn how to read by reading with Ria... and I don't want her learning wrong habits and guessing strategies! *sigh* Well, it's a problem I'm glad to have (on one hand). I mean, how many Mamas have to worry about such a thing with their 4 year olds!??
Friday, September 19, 2008
Pictures Update
Some Random Shots
A sweet Kit Kat smile!
Ria with the black eye and bum lip.Notice they are both on the right side.
What does THAT mean?
Kitty Kat at Dance Class:
The Evolution In An Hour
After a nap, she eats a snack.OH! And can you tell she has
a little bun in her hair!?
She DOES!
And it stays for ALL of dance class!
More snack eating while watching Ria.
Still working on the snack in
a new watching position.
Running in her new tap shoes
after Ria's class is done.
Do you see the fully joyful look
on that little shmoook?
Oops, the shoes slipped off again.
She's not perturbed a bit.
"Just takes a minute and,
I'm off again!"
DADDY'S POCD AREA/SPOT
This is what you see as you approach his areafrom the house. Quite tight... small.
Looking at it from right next to the striped chair.
Looking at it from behind the striped chair.
The view from sitting on the couch.
Another of the same.This is really just to show you
how close he is to the parked van.
Sort of a width shot.This shows that the "entertainment" shelves
are not fully dedicated to his area
AND how little they actually are.
This is the view out from the couchto show you his saved fan.
He is SO very pleased with it
and how COOL his area stays with it in place!
Jess just joked Sunday (the 21st) that he was going to steal
the leather recliner we received from some friends
who moved and put it in his 2X2 space.
That was both a joke about the amount of space he has
(being as little as it really is)
and an acknowledgment of the space that is JUST his!
Temple Trip and Lots of Other News
TEMPLE TRIP
We were able to get to the temple on Tuesday. It was WONDERFUL for me. Jess let me do an endowment, which is at least 30 minutes longer than if I serve in an alternative way. I was able to converse with a lady I met last month. It was really nice. Jess and the girls were really hot when I was finished. I'm so grateful for their sacrifice for me! (Especially Jess, the girls were just totally happy to be at the temple!)
Kat was especially pleased to be there. She shrieked when she saw the temple spire the first time and then when she saw it (and I was present) each time after that she would say in her sweet loving way, "Bumpoo," which, 'in Kat,' is temple, of course.
Ria was totally and completely excited to get to go to the temple when we told her about the trip the night before. She was thrilled to be there and excited about the prospect of a picnic for breakfast, made possible by a sweet, generous, and totally thoughtful gift from someone we all love! That gift enabled us to have STORE BOUGHT food (we've been bringing our own lately) and that was RIGHT UP THERE with the joy of being at the temple for Ria! ^_^ It's pretty funny how into food our girls are... but, then again, maybe not. ;) We were able to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, which was our first meal out in a restaurant in a VERY long time. And our girls really seem to LOVE eating in restaurants! It's pretty cool and sort of funny. They are quite well-behaved, too! Believe it or not.
Acorn TEA!
Jess and the girls gathered acorns for the purpose of making Acorn Coffee. Ria was just tickled pink that she would get to have some "coffee" and Mama is not pleased about the name of the beverage. We're trying to call it Acorn Tea, but Ria is really attached to "coffee" much to Mama's chagrin! Jess cracked the acorns and the girls and Mama worked to remove the meat from the shell on Wednesday. Jess finished the preparations and we had Acorn TEA with out dinner on Wed. It was actually pretty interesting in flavor. And then we tried it with some creamer - even better! And finally we added some Quick... WOW! What FLAVOR!!! And, apparently, acorns are FULL of nutrients (the squirrels knew it all along!). Indians used it in everything and it's really good as a fortifier! So, we're hoping to experiment with it (especially Jess). There will, surely, be a blog post about ACORNS from Jess before too long. ^_^
Midwife Non-Visit
Today at dance class someone made mention of the fact that Karen, my midwife, is the only one in her practice so that if she had a birth and I had an appointment I wouldn' t get to see her. I acknowledged that, but added that I probably wouldn't want to see anyone else even if there was another midwife in the practice. Well, Karen had a labor this evening and I had an appointment... so I didn't get to see her. It toally IS a bummer, but I still feel that I wouldn't want to see anyone else, so it all works out. She's planning to come on Saturday, so I'll still get to see her this week. I'm in my weekly visits now, so I think she feels it's important to make sure to see me this week.
People really look at you oddly when they find out you home birth... I never really KNEW it the way I do now because when I was preggie with Kat I couldn't really talk about it since my midwife was sort of not totally legal and all. It's weird how totally brainwashed basically EVERYONE is... okay, so out of 5 women, MAYBE 1 will be admiring or say something positive about the prospect and fact of home birth. The others just look at me like I'm a freak or say something negative (or both, really). I don't say rude things about their choice to expose their newborn to untold numbers of pathogens by having a hospital birth when they are completely and totally healthy... but hey, at least I know it! I'm glad hospitals are there, but I just wish people knew how unnecessary they are for the majority of births, mothers, and babies! ahwell...
DANCE CLASS
I had two talks with Ria before her dance class about her behavior in class last week and how she SHOULD behave. She did MUCH better even when she wasn't moved away from the other girls. She's SUCH a total social butterfly/magnet, though! A few times I saw her move from an "outskirts" sort of position (put there by teacher) to a position IN THE MIDDLE of the other girls. One of those moves is caught on a video you'll be able to view before long. When I asked her about it (without leading) she said that even after her teachers moved her the other girls came around her! ....hmmm.... that's TOTALLY NOT what I saw. But, obviously, that's how she felt things were happening! How funny, right?
TAP SHOES ALL AROUND
Ria received her special pink sparkly tap shoes in class this week. She's TOTALLY happy with them! I'm pleased that she's so happy and now Kat gets some tap shoes, too! :) TWO winners for the price of one! They are both SO in love with dancing and, especially right now, their new tap shoes!! Kat was completely and totally happy to get to wear tap shoes (even though they are AT LEAST 2 sizes too big!!). She snuck her little feet on the grey dance mat during class time to do her own tapping to the music and when the class was over I let her run around on the mat with her tap shoes on. She was IN HEAVEN!
I took some video and pictures of our two little dancers. They are so fun! Ria is actually very attentive and DANCING (she wasn't so much, last week, if you recall). Now, I just have to make the time (amidst my work and other activities) to upload them to the computer and then load into blogger (here).
Daddy Gifts
I have this tradition around the time of the birth of a new addition to our family. I feel it's really important and a way I can show Jess how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does. It's a gift of some sort that I give to him in expectation of the new arrival or shortly after the birth. With Ria I couldn't really think of anything particular, so I arranged for a few of his buddies to take him to a bar across the street and hang out there for a while. He really enjoyed spending time with his friends, but wasn't thrilled with the whole bar atmosphere anymore. A joy to hear, but also a crimp because I would have to come up with a new "gift" for the next birth.
When I was still preggie with Kat things were crazy and I knew they would get even crazier after she was born, so even though the "gift" wasn't extra humongo or anything, I arranged for a day that I would encourage him strongly to go off and fish on his own. Considering that I was packing the house while trying to deal with our unruley 2 yr 6 month old Ria, sacrificing a day of him being away was a BIG gift from me at the time! He was pleased with it, though. If you know him, you'll think, "Duh, give that man some time to fish and he's happy for a week!" But, if you know me, you'll know that I would like to do more for him.
This time (currently pregnancy) I had something very specific I wanted to do, but never any time to do it. Seriously, I haven't even finished the new baby's blanket, jacket, hat, shoes, or Tigger!!!! Well, the other night I decided to sacrifice work time (money making time) and baby gift making time to work on his special "Daddy" gift and some other house stuff. The reason for the "other house stuff" is that I couldn't possibly do just one thing, as per Tori, I had to have at least 3 things I could vascillate among depending upon my interest and ability to focus my attention on any one of them. It worked out quite well and I accomplished a GREAT DEAL in 3 hours!
This particular gift is especially huge considering the amount of physical effort required. I have tried NOT to complain too much about the pain I've had more and more of lately, but it's getting quite rediculous, really. I'm going to share a bit about it here and now only to illustrate further what a great gift this thing that I did for Jess is. :) Illustration of my pains: most days I wake up and either my hips or back hurt VERY very baddly and I either have constipation and/or a totally upset tummy (like unable to eat barfy feeling upset!). My hips will throb off and on through the day and cause my walks, when I can kick my butt out the door (usually only 3 or 4 days a week right now), are very slow, but, amazingly, I still sweat! Perhaps I sweat as a result of the pain... either belly, back, or hips hurt every time now. Anyway... When my back hurts, it hurts ALL day. Major bummer, of course, but almost more tolerable than the off and on pulsing throb of the hips, which LITERALLY stops me in mid step and causes me to shriek when at their worst. I'm TOTALLY not exhaggerating. My poor girls are getting pretty desensitized to hearing Mama in pain... but then, maybe that's a GOOD thing! ^_^ I'd rather have neither of those pains, of course! And the upset tummy thing... well, I'm not eating very much. I'm drinking tons of milk (to get the protein in) and for whatever reason I can tolerate that. But I can often eat only 1 banana for breakfast and a ramakin size amount of most anything else. (I just discovered this is basically the perfect size (FULL) when I'm hungry. If I don't feel hungry, but need to eat, if I full the ramakin about 1/2 way it's enough to help me feel good about eating, but not feel barfy 30 minutes later. How annoying, right? Anyway... motion often aggravates the upset tummy feeling. ARGGH! BUT helps move the stuff that causes the constipation. Win on one hand, lose on the other! anyway...
Daddy's POCD Area/Spot
Back to the gift! So, when we were given the awesome livingroom furniture we have now Jess wondered what to do with the old $10 couch we'd purchased from Goodwill. I already knew what I wanted to do with it! I moved it to the garage and started a corner that I wanted to turn over to Jess as "HIS SPOT" at some point. He bugged me about getting rid of the couch, so I had to share my plan. He was really happy with the idea and subsequently found a really nice arm chair that seemed to go REALLY well with the couch! Then someone from Jessie's work gave him a small TV and VCR, which were the PERFECT size to fit in the shelving that I'd designated for his "entertainment center". You see, I got this idea that I wanted to make a corner in the garage for Jess from a house on my longer walks (way back when!). The front half of that garage was dedicated to a whole outside hang-out area/grill spot. While we couldn't do that because we park our vehicles in the garage, I could totally see using a small area for a Daddy area.
Well, over time the area was sort of jam packed with random things. Jess hadn't started using it because the TV/VCR came many moons after the furniture and he just never went out there to hang out alone when it was just the furniture. And the shelves had stuff he didn't want to move when he DID get the TV... so it just collected stuff.
The other night I spent the majority of the 3 hours I put ChaCha aside to clean up and clear out the spot I wanted for Jess. Just as a note, my back AND hips hurt really bad that night, but I just couldn't see it getting better and I wanted to have the area ready for Jess BEFORE this baby arrived. So, it was completed that night! The projected entailed reorganization of that whole side of the garage, movement of lots of things, large and small. It's been 2 days since the work and my shoulders are STILL killing me! My back actually felt better mid-way into the effort, but my hips have been significantly worse since then. But Jess is REALLY happy with it! Unfortunately, he found out about it WHILE I was doing the work because he heard something that woke him up. I was really hoping he would take the girls out there for Story Time and see it then... but, alas, he foiled my plan! My hard sleeping hubby actually awakened! :P
I had the joy of realizing exactly how much he loves his area over the past couple of days. I call his area "DADDY's POCD Area/Spot". The acronym stands for: Pissed Off Cool Down. ^_^ Appropriate, don't you think? So, not only did I find Jess with our girls chillin and sort of neslting down in HIS area after Story Time yesterday, but he told me how cool people at work thought it was (he doesn't tell people at work all that much, so that's a HUGE indicator of how much he loves it), AND again he and the girls were hanging out there today when I got up! ^_^ So, I'm SUPER pleased that he's so very happy with his spot!
Daddy's So Pleased
Jess has been Ria's primary HS teacher as of late. He's SO pleased with her reading ability and bragging to me about her reading level. I've sort of taken over the "Principal" role, in that I ask him to focus on ____ and follow up with questions about how it went afterward. It's been kind of nice. Difficult for me because he does classes SO different from how I would prefer... especially Writing Class, but I'm doing REALLY well at not criticising and just letting it happen. As Principal, though, I have asked him to be a little more attentive to reading class (since he falls asleep a lot) and to work more closely with Ria during Writing class so they can focus on spacing, which she doesn't stick to very well.
When they went to the library yesterday, Jess picked out a bunch of books that were all 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. When he was reading through the levels of the books, he came across one that said FIRST and he turns to Ria, all surprised, and asks, "Who snuck that one in there!?" Of course, it's totally not a big deal because we DO want and ask her to choose books SHE wants to read. But it was REALLY funny for me because he was just SURE that ALL of them were 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels! ^_^
I'm not at all surprised that her capacity is so high since he's had her reading the HUGE Disney watercolor illustrated books (like +60 pages and totally NOT easy readers)! He bragged to me when I awakened today that her reading class consisted of a 3rd grade book and she'd done perfectly well with it. ^_^ As it happens, it was a 2nd/3rd grade book, but still!
What a pleasure it is for me to hear him speaking with such excitement about her education! I mean, he's been totally supportive and all, and happy for my excitement, but he just wasn't getting excited about her abilities. Now that he's involved, he totally is! So, this is another way I'm trying to see this difficult time as a positive experience. He's becoming more invested in her education and intelligence! I'm so glad I turned classes over to him since he's home!
We were able to get to the temple on Tuesday. It was WONDERFUL for me. Jess let me do an endowment, which is at least 30 minutes longer than if I serve in an alternative way. I was able to converse with a lady I met last month. It was really nice. Jess and the girls were really hot when I was finished. I'm so grateful for their sacrifice for me! (Especially Jess, the girls were just totally happy to be at the temple!)
Kat was especially pleased to be there. She shrieked when she saw the temple spire the first time and then when she saw it (and I was present) each time after that she would say in her sweet loving way, "Bumpoo," which, 'in Kat,' is temple, of course.
Ria was totally and completely excited to get to go to the temple when we told her about the trip the night before. She was thrilled to be there and excited about the prospect of a picnic for breakfast, made possible by a sweet, generous, and totally thoughtful gift from someone we all love! That gift enabled us to have STORE BOUGHT food (we've been bringing our own lately) and that was RIGHT UP THERE with the joy of being at the temple for Ria! ^_^ It's pretty funny how into food our girls are... but, then again, maybe not. ;) We were able to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, which was our first meal out in a restaurant in a VERY long time. And our girls really seem to LOVE eating in restaurants! It's pretty cool and sort of funny. They are quite well-behaved, too! Believe it or not.
Acorn TEA!
Jess and the girls gathered acorns for the purpose of making Acorn Coffee. Ria was just tickled pink that she would get to have some "coffee" and Mama is not pleased about the name of the beverage. We're trying to call it Acorn Tea, but Ria is really attached to "coffee" much to Mama's chagrin! Jess cracked the acorns and the girls and Mama worked to remove the meat from the shell on Wednesday. Jess finished the preparations and we had Acorn TEA with out dinner on Wed. It was actually pretty interesting in flavor. And then we tried it with some creamer - even better! And finally we added some Quick... WOW! What FLAVOR!!! And, apparently, acorns are FULL of nutrients (the squirrels knew it all along!). Indians used it in everything and it's really good as a fortifier! So, we're hoping to experiment with it (especially Jess). There will, surely, be a blog post about ACORNS from Jess before too long. ^_^
Midwife Non-Visit
Today at dance class someone made mention of the fact that Karen, my midwife, is the only one in her practice so that if she had a birth and I had an appointment I wouldn' t get to see her. I acknowledged that, but added that I probably wouldn't want to see anyone else even if there was another midwife in the practice. Well, Karen had a labor this evening and I had an appointment... so I didn't get to see her. It toally IS a bummer, but I still feel that I wouldn't want to see anyone else, so it all works out. She's planning to come on Saturday, so I'll still get to see her this week. I'm in my weekly visits now, so I think she feels it's important to make sure to see me this week.
People really look at you oddly when they find out you home birth... I never really KNEW it the way I do now because when I was preggie with Kat I couldn't really talk about it since my midwife was sort of not totally legal and all. It's weird how totally brainwashed basically EVERYONE is... okay, so out of 5 women, MAYBE 1 will be admiring or say something positive about the prospect and fact of home birth. The others just look at me like I'm a freak or say something negative (or both, really). I don't say rude things about their choice to expose their newborn to untold numbers of pathogens by having a hospital birth when they are completely and totally healthy... but hey, at least I know it! I'm glad hospitals are there, but I just wish people knew how unnecessary they are for the majority of births, mothers, and babies! ahwell...
DANCE CLASS
I had two talks with Ria before her dance class about her behavior in class last week and how she SHOULD behave. She did MUCH better even when she wasn't moved away from the other girls. She's SUCH a total social butterfly/magnet, though! A few times I saw her move from an "outskirts" sort of position (put there by teacher) to a position IN THE MIDDLE of the other girls. One of those moves is caught on a video you'll be able to view before long. When I asked her about it (without leading) she said that even after her teachers moved her the other girls came around her! ....hmmm.... that's TOTALLY NOT what I saw. But, obviously, that's how she felt things were happening! How funny, right?
TAP SHOES ALL AROUND
Ria received her special pink sparkly tap shoes in class this week. She's TOTALLY happy with them! I'm pleased that she's so happy and now Kat gets some tap shoes, too! :) TWO winners for the price of one! They are both SO in love with dancing and, especially right now, their new tap shoes!! Kat was completely and totally happy to get to wear tap shoes (even though they are AT LEAST 2 sizes too big!!). She snuck her little feet on the grey dance mat during class time to do her own tapping to the music and when the class was over I let her run around on the mat with her tap shoes on. She was IN HEAVEN!
I took some video and pictures of our two little dancers. They are so fun! Ria is actually very attentive and DANCING (she wasn't so much, last week, if you recall). Now, I just have to make the time (amidst my work and other activities) to upload them to the computer and then load into blogger (here).
Daddy Gifts
I have this tradition around the time of the birth of a new addition to our family. I feel it's really important and a way I can show Jess how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does. It's a gift of some sort that I give to him in expectation of the new arrival or shortly after the birth. With Ria I couldn't really think of anything particular, so I arranged for a few of his buddies to take him to a bar across the street and hang out there for a while. He really enjoyed spending time with his friends, but wasn't thrilled with the whole bar atmosphere anymore. A joy to hear, but also a crimp because I would have to come up with a new "gift" for the next birth.
When I was still preggie with Kat things were crazy and I knew they would get even crazier after she was born, so even though the "gift" wasn't extra humongo or anything, I arranged for a day that I would encourage him strongly to go off and fish on his own. Considering that I was packing the house while trying to deal with our unruley 2 yr 6 month old Ria, sacrificing a day of him being away was a BIG gift from me at the time! He was pleased with it, though. If you know him, you'll think, "Duh, give that man some time to fish and he's happy for a week!" But, if you know me, you'll know that I would like to do more for him.
This time (currently pregnancy) I had something very specific I wanted to do, but never any time to do it. Seriously, I haven't even finished the new baby's blanket, jacket, hat, shoes, or Tigger!!!! Well, the other night I decided to sacrifice work time (money making time) and baby gift making time to work on his special "Daddy" gift and some other house stuff. The reason for the "other house stuff" is that I couldn't possibly do just one thing, as per Tori, I had to have at least 3 things I could vascillate among depending upon my interest and ability to focus my attention on any one of them. It worked out quite well and I accomplished a GREAT DEAL in 3 hours!
This particular gift is especially huge considering the amount of physical effort required. I have tried NOT to complain too much about the pain I've had more and more of lately, but it's getting quite rediculous, really. I'm going to share a bit about it here and now only to illustrate further what a great gift this thing that I did for Jess is. :) Illustration of my pains: most days I wake up and either my hips or back hurt VERY very baddly and I either have constipation and/or a totally upset tummy (like unable to eat barfy feeling upset!). My hips will throb off and on through the day and cause my walks, when I can kick my butt out the door (usually only 3 or 4 days a week right now), are very slow, but, amazingly, I still sweat! Perhaps I sweat as a result of the pain... either belly, back, or hips hurt every time now. Anyway... When my back hurts, it hurts ALL day. Major bummer, of course, but almost more tolerable than the off and on pulsing throb of the hips, which LITERALLY stops me in mid step and causes me to shriek when at their worst. I'm TOTALLY not exhaggerating. My poor girls are getting pretty desensitized to hearing Mama in pain... but then, maybe that's a GOOD thing! ^_^ I'd rather have neither of those pains, of course! And the upset tummy thing... well, I'm not eating very much. I'm drinking tons of milk (to get the protein in) and for whatever reason I can tolerate that. But I can often eat only 1 banana for breakfast and a ramakin size amount of most anything else. (I just discovered this is basically the perfect size (FULL) when I'm hungry. If I don't feel hungry, but need to eat, if I full the ramakin about 1/2 way it's enough to help me feel good about eating, but not feel barfy 30 minutes later. How annoying, right? Anyway... motion often aggravates the upset tummy feeling. ARGGH! BUT helps move the stuff that causes the constipation. Win on one hand, lose on the other! anyway...
Daddy's POCD Area/Spot
Back to the gift! So, when we were given the awesome livingroom furniture we have now Jess wondered what to do with the old $10 couch we'd purchased from Goodwill. I already knew what I wanted to do with it! I moved it to the garage and started a corner that I wanted to turn over to Jess as "HIS SPOT" at some point. He bugged me about getting rid of the couch, so I had to share my plan. He was really happy with the idea and subsequently found a really nice arm chair that seemed to go REALLY well with the couch! Then someone from Jessie's work gave him a small TV and VCR, which were the PERFECT size to fit in the shelving that I'd designated for his "entertainment center". You see, I got this idea that I wanted to make a corner in the garage for Jess from a house on my longer walks (way back when!). The front half of that garage was dedicated to a whole outside hang-out area/grill spot. While we couldn't do that because we park our vehicles in the garage, I could totally see using a small area for a Daddy area.
Well, over time the area was sort of jam packed with random things. Jess hadn't started using it because the TV/VCR came many moons after the furniture and he just never went out there to hang out alone when it was just the furniture. And the shelves had stuff he didn't want to move when he DID get the TV... so it just collected stuff.
The other night I spent the majority of the 3 hours I put ChaCha aside to clean up and clear out the spot I wanted for Jess. Just as a note, my back AND hips hurt really bad that night, but I just couldn't see it getting better and I wanted to have the area ready for Jess BEFORE this baby arrived. So, it was completed that night! The projected entailed reorganization of that whole side of the garage, movement of lots of things, large and small. It's been 2 days since the work and my shoulders are STILL killing me! My back actually felt better mid-way into the effort, but my hips have been significantly worse since then. But Jess is REALLY happy with it! Unfortunately, he found out about it WHILE I was doing the work because he heard something that woke him up. I was really hoping he would take the girls out there for Story Time and see it then... but, alas, he foiled my plan! My hard sleeping hubby actually awakened! :P
I had the joy of realizing exactly how much he loves his area over the past couple of days. I call his area "DADDY's POCD Area/Spot". The acronym stands for: Pissed Off Cool Down. ^_^ Appropriate, don't you think? So, not only did I find Jess with our girls chillin and sort of neslting down in HIS area after Story Time yesterday, but he told me how cool people at work thought it was (he doesn't tell people at work all that much, so that's a HUGE indicator of how much he loves it), AND again he and the girls were hanging out there today when I got up! ^_^ So, I'm SUPER pleased that he's so very happy with his spot!
Daddy's So Pleased
Jess has been Ria's primary HS teacher as of late. He's SO pleased with her reading ability and bragging to me about her reading level. I've sort of taken over the "Principal" role, in that I ask him to focus on ____ and follow up with questions about how it went afterward. It's been kind of nice. Difficult for me because he does classes SO different from how I would prefer... especially Writing Class, but I'm doing REALLY well at not criticising and just letting it happen. As Principal, though, I have asked him to be a little more attentive to reading class (since he falls asleep a lot) and to work more closely with Ria during Writing class so they can focus on spacing, which she doesn't stick to very well.
When they went to the library yesterday, Jess picked out a bunch of books that were all 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. When he was reading through the levels of the books, he came across one that said FIRST and he turns to Ria, all surprised, and asks, "Who snuck that one in there!?" Of course, it's totally not a big deal because we DO want and ask her to choose books SHE wants to read. But it was REALLY funny for me because he was just SURE that ALL of them were 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels! ^_^
I'm not at all surprised that her capacity is so high since he's had her reading the HUGE Disney watercolor illustrated books (like +60 pages and totally NOT easy readers)! He bragged to me when I awakened today that her reading class consisted of a 3rd grade book and she'd done perfectly well with it. ^_^ As it happens, it was a 2nd/3rd grade book, but still!
What a pleasure it is for me to hear him speaking with such excitement about her education! I mean, he's been totally supportive and all, and happy for my excitement, but he just wasn't getting excited about her abilities. Now that he's involved, he totally is! So, this is another way I'm trying to see this difficult time as a positive experience. He's becoming more invested in her education and intelligence! I'm so glad I turned classes over to him since he's home!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Poop and Other Current Events
POOP
Yes, this entry is about Number 2! Kitty Kat's in particular. :) In the past week, Kat has pooped 2 times on the potty! YIPPEE!!!! This is such wonderful news to us - especially as we have the arrival of the third baby approaching ever faster. It would be truly lovely to have only one child in diapers (as I did when Kat was born because Ria was using the potty day AND night before Kat was born).
I planned to use Infant Potty Training (also known by many other names) from the beginning with Kat, but the move when she was 3 weeks old, and the multitude of physical and emotional issues I had subsequent to the move caused me to change my priorities. I have had many days during which I've let Kat run around naked butt, but not NEARLY as many as Ria did respectively. Actually, by 20 months old, which is how old Kat is, Ria was already totally using the potty during the day by herself! Kat usually isn't interested in using the little toilet. She'll happily sit on the big toilet, but even though she grunts and pushes, prior to the two poops of this week, she rarely produced anything.
A huge difference between Ria and Kat's toddlerhood is that when we lived in VA, Ria and I didn't get out too much. Ria, Kat, and I go all over the place regularly! Before summer started, we had at least 4 outside obligations each week as well as any play time we spent out and about. IPT definitely isn't terribly conducive to an active lifestyle.
THE BIG CLASS
Jess has tonight and tomorrow night off from the Club. Tonight is just the night off and tomorrow night is a night he requested (otherwise he would probably be working 6 nights again). It's much easier to deal with his long work hours at the Club lately since his hours at the Cafe have been cut WAY back. However, this is not my point. My point is that Jess has been actively working hard to prepare for the class he's teaching our Ward tomorrow night! ^_^
He's VERY excited! He was asked, by the Elder's Quorum President, if he would be willing to teach a class on using food storage in meal preparation; specifically wheat bread. The members in our Ward know that we've lived off of our food storage a few times, so we have some real experience and perhaps a little expertise. :) Our Ward had a day at the Bishop's Storehouse a little over a week ago and they wanted to have this class soon after so people could learn techniques and make use of their stores.
Tonight he's been making bread. He's tried out a couple other recipes that he plans to present for tasting at the lesson. He's also going to make at least one more item that's a little bit more like the main course in a meal. All of this is just bits to taste, so we're not feeding the Ward or anything. He's so excited... I've mentioned that already, but it should be repeated at least a couple more times because he is! :) He's thought about it a LOT, he's planned the food to present/share, and he's worried about getting his thoughts down into an outline so the class will flow smoothly. He's even thought he might be able to do this sort of thing monthly - or, at least, after each Bishop's Storehouse trip. I really think he should be a Prof... perhaps he'll listen to me someday. ;) You know how guys can be!
When Will I Get To Be On Stage Again?
Ria asked me this today. She was very let down to hear it wouldn't be for a while. But she persevered and asked, "You mean, in 2 months?" When I told her it would be longer than that she asked, "Maybe in September?" I told her it would be a lot longer than that to which she suggested October. ^_^ I finally told her that she would have to wait until next May, which was almost a year away. She looked a little downcast. I told her it was really only about 11 months away and she seemed happier. She is very excited to return to dance class and enjoy the stage and adoration of the audience once more! I love it!!!
The girls and I watched Kung-Fu Panda online today. Ria was very impressed with the Kung-Fu moves performed by all of the characters and asked if she could learn how to do that! I'm happy about this because I plan to start our kids in Karate at 5 years old (assuming fund-age allows). I actually would have started Ria already if we had enough moolah for it! But I think it's even better that she now has some inclination toward that sort of education... so the wait, in this case, is definitely worth it. ^_^ I just wish we had a piano because she's stopped asked quite as much for music lessons. :( *sigh* Hopefully she'll still be excited about it when it is possible.
Cleaning, Walking, and Movies
I have really enjoyed the respite this summer has offered, thus far. Life has been slower since dance class and Play at the Park has ended. We still go to Story Time most weeks, but I've actually missed a few for various reasons.
Thus far I've almost got the house back up to par (the cleaning) - much to Jessie's relief and pleasure. However, if I didn't know him, I wouldn't really know that he was relieved and pleased (especially pleased). Such is life with a man who doesn't get the fact that he's married to a Words of Affirmation chick... no matter how much I tell him. I did spy The Five Love Languages on his bedside table, but I'm not sure if one of the girls put it there or if he did. ahwell What can I do more?
I'm still walking, though last week was down to 4 days. The main reason for the down by one day is the blood issue and not feeling well Saturday night (missed my 5th day by missing my Saturday night walk). I subsequently missed church on Sunday, so I really wasn't doin' so hot physcially. Tonight was a woosie walk (all by myself, since Jess is home for the night) because I started it with a headache. I'm trying not to push myself too much since the bleeding bit and all. It was a pleasant walk, for sure! I continue to feel really good about the walks - even if it's really REALLY difficult to start after 2 days off (Monday). I think, perhaps, I feel even better about those days than others because when I walk I overcome my natural tendency to quit when something is difficult or dull. YEAY me! ^_^
I've found an URL from which I can pretty easily watch movies. I don't even know where to begin, really, but I've been watching movies again. Mostly, I think, "family" is the best and safest genre. I started watching one movie that looked quite okay, it must have been rated 'R' because not 10 minutes in I saw something I did NOT want to see. So, I'm checkin' on the movies I watch outside of "family" a little more carefully now! I watched the newest Harry Potter last night. COOL movie. I mentioned the movie the girls and I watched today... I've seen the new Narnia movie. Also very cool. I should, perhaps, keep a list somewhere of the movies I'm watching... but I don't think I'll actually devote time to that. Sorry. I'm watchin, though. ^_^ Any suggestions?
Jumping Belly
Like jumping beans, ya know. This belly... rather: BABY!!! is moving all over and strongly! I've now been feeling REALLY strong movements for more than two weeks, with some of them so strong that I can see it on the outside. The outside visibility aspect of the baby moving is going on at least 1.5 weeks now! With Ria and Kat we didn't see this kind (or even feel this strong) of movement until sometime around 25-30 weeks. This baby started at about 22 weeks (earlier??) and now at 24 weeks (tomorrow) I see the baby kick once a day most days (usually more). And I certainly feel strong movements a lot more than that. With Kat and Ria Jess usually had to press into my belly pretty firmly to feel the movements I felt, but this baby won't move if you press hard. You have to just rest your hand on top and the baby kicks up to it!
Ria is the first in the family to feel the baby move! She felt him/her move for the first time today! Jess was sitting there and saw the movement, but didn't feel it when Ria did (he wasn't trying at the time). When he did move to try he pushed in, so the baby stopped showing off. When he laid his hand on my belly gently, a moment later, he felt the strong movements (rolling as well as kicking!) and commented on how the baby was "really moving around in there." Yeah, no need to tell me! I wake up with the kicks already! I can truly NOT imagine how this baby will feel at 36 weeks!!! I rather hope the space gets tight enough that baby won't want to try to stretch out. Fat chance? Well, a girl can hope, right! :) Kat missed this bit of action because she fell asleep in her eating table (it's really NOT a high chair, so I can't call it that!). She almost laid her head down to sleep, she was THAT tired! Poor Kitty!
Yes, this entry is about Number 2! Kitty Kat's in particular. :) In the past week, Kat has pooped 2 times on the potty! YIPPEE!!!! This is such wonderful news to us - especially as we have the arrival of the third baby approaching ever faster. It would be truly lovely to have only one child in diapers (as I did when Kat was born because Ria was using the potty day AND night before Kat was born).
I planned to use Infant Potty Training (also known by many other names) from the beginning with Kat, but the move when she was 3 weeks old, and the multitude of physical and emotional issues I had subsequent to the move caused me to change my priorities. I have had many days during which I've let Kat run around naked butt, but not NEARLY as many as Ria did respectively. Actually, by 20 months old, which is how old Kat is, Ria was already totally using the potty during the day by herself! Kat usually isn't interested in using the little toilet. She'll happily sit on the big toilet, but even though she grunts and pushes, prior to the two poops of this week, she rarely produced anything.
A huge difference between Ria and Kat's toddlerhood is that when we lived in VA, Ria and I didn't get out too much. Ria, Kat, and I go all over the place regularly! Before summer started, we had at least 4 outside obligations each week as well as any play time we spent out and about. IPT definitely isn't terribly conducive to an active lifestyle.
THE BIG CLASS
Jess has tonight and tomorrow night off from the Club. Tonight is just the night off and tomorrow night is a night he requested (otherwise he would probably be working 6 nights again). It's much easier to deal with his long work hours at the Club lately since his hours at the Cafe have been cut WAY back. However, this is not my point. My point is that Jess has been actively working hard to prepare for the class he's teaching our Ward tomorrow night! ^_^
He's VERY excited! He was asked, by the Elder's Quorum President, if he would be willing to teach a class on using food storage in meal preparation; specifically wheat bread. The members in our Ward know that we've lived off of our food storage a few times, so we have some real experience and perhaps a little expertise. :) Our Ward had a day at the Bishop's Storehouse a little over a week ago and they wanted to have this class soon after so people could learn techniques and make use of their stores.
Tonight he's been making bread. He's tried out a couple other recipes that he plans to present for tasting at the lesson. He's also going to make at least one more item that's a little bit more like the main course in a meal. All of this is just bits to taste, so we're not feeding the Ward or anything. He's so excited... I've mentioned that already, but it should be repeated at least a couple more times because he is! :) He's thought about it a LOT, he's planned the food to present/share, and he's worried about getting his thoughts down into an outline so the class will flow smoothly. He's even thought he might be able to do this sort of thing monthly - or, at least, after each Bishop's Storehouse trip. I really think he should be a Prof... perhaps he'll listen to me someday. ;) You know how guys can be!
When Will I Get To Be On Stage Again?
Ria asked me this today. She was very let down to hear it wouldn't be for a while. But she persevered and asked, "You mean, in 2 months?" When I told her it would be longer than that she asked, "Maybe in September?" I told her it would be a lot longer than that to which she suggested October. ^_^ I finally told her that she would have to wait until next May, which was almost a year away. She looked a little downcast. I told her it was really only about 11 months away and she seemed happier. She is very excited to return to dance class and enjoy the stage and adoration of the audience once more! I love it!!!
The girls and I watched Kung-Fu Panda online today. Ria was very impressed with the Kung-Fu moves performed by all of the characters and asked if she could learn how to do that! I'm happy about this because I plan to start our kids in Karate at 5 years old (assuming fund-age allows). I actually would have started Ria already if we had enough moolah for it! But I think it's even better that she now has some inclination toward that sort of education... so the wait, in this case, is definitely worth it. ^_^ I just wish we had a piano because she's stopped asked quite as much for music lessons. :( *sigh* Hopefully she'll still be excited about it when it is possible.
Cleaning, Walking, and Movies
I have really enjoyed the respite this summer has offered, thus far. Life has been slower since dance class and Play at the Park has ended. We still go to Story Time most weeks, but I've actually missed a few for various reasons.
Thus far I've almost got the house back up to par (the cleaning) - much to Jessie's relief and pleasure. However, if I didn't know him, I wouldn't really know that he was relieved and pleased (especially pleased). Such is life with a man who doesn't get the fact that he's married to a Words of Affirmation chick... no matter how much I tell him. I did spy The Five Love Languages on his bedside table, but I'm not sure if one of the girls put it there or if he did. ahwell What can I do more?
I'm still walking, though last week was down to 4 days. The main reason for the down by one day is the blood issue and not feeling well Saturday night (missed my 5th day by missing my Saturday night walk). I subsequently missed church on Sunday, so I really wasn't doin' so hot physcially. Tonight was a woosie walk (all by myself, since Jess is home for the night) because I started it with a headache. I'm trying not to push myself too much since the bleeding bit and all. It was a pleasant walk, for sure! I continue to feel really good about the walks - even if it's really REALLY difficult to start after 2 days off (Monday). I think, perhaps, I feel even better about those days than others because when I walk I overcome my natural tendency to quit when something is difficult or dull. YEAY me! ^_^
I've found an URL from which I can pretty easily watch movies. I don't even know where to begin, really, but I've been watching movies again. Mostly, I think, "family" is the best and safest genre. I started watching one movie that looked quite okay, it must have been rated 'R' because not 10 minutes in I saw something I did NOT want to see. So, I'm checkin' on the movies I watch outside of "family" a little more carefully now! I watched the newest Harry Potter last night. COOL movie. I mentioned the movie the girls and I watched today... I've seen the new Narnia movie. Also very cool. I should, perhaps, keep a list somewhere of the movies I'm watching... but I don't think I'll actually devote time to that. Sorry. I'm watchin, though. ^_^ Any suggestions?
Jumping Belly
Like jumping beans, ya know. This belly... rather: BABY!!! is moving all over and strongly! I've now been feeling REALLY strong movements for more than two weeks, with some of them so strong that I can see it on the outside. The outside visibility aspect of the baby moving is going on at least 1.5 weeks now! With Ria and Kat we didn't see this kind (or even feel this strong) of movement until sometime around 25-30 weeks. This baby started at about 22 weeks (earlier??) and now at 24 weeks (tomorrow) I see the baby kick once a day most days (usually more). And I certainly feel strong movements a lot more than that. With Kat and Ria Jess usually had to press into my belly pretty firmly to feel the movements I felt, but this baby won't move if you press hard. You have to just rest your hand on top and the baby kicks up to it!
Ria is the first in the family to feel the baby move! She felt him/her move for the first time today! Jess was sitting there and saw the movement, but didn't feel it when Ria did (he wasn't trying at the time). When he did move to try he pushed in, so the baby stopped showing off. When he laid his hand on my belly gently, a moment later, he felt the strong movements (rolling as well as kicking!) and commented on how the baby was "really moving around in there." Yeah, no need to tell me! I wake up with the kicks already! I can truly NOT imagine how this baby will feel at 36 weeks!!! I rather hope the space gets tight enough that baby won't want to try to stretch out. Fat chance? Well, a girl can hope, right! :) Kat missed this bit of action because she fell asleep in her eating table (it's really NOT a high chair, so I can't call it that!). She almost laid her head down to sleep, she was THAT tired! Poor Kitty!
Labels:
baby movement,
cleaning,
cooking,
Dance,
dance class,
food storage,
movies,
stage,
toilet training,
walking
3 comments:
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Babies Babies Everywhere and Not a One to Touch!
Dance class day.
A little girl, a bit younger than Kat, comes with her Mama and big sister to dance class. The almost 1 year old ALWAYS sits in her stroller, doesn't interact much, and definitely doesn't talk. Probably a month ago Kitty Kat identified her as a baby and has been so attentive to her every Wednesday since, much to the little girl's chagrin! :(
Sage's daughter Mary is another "baby" Kat tries to love. Now, I have to say that Kat is AMAZINGLY gentle! She has been ever since I can remember. People have even commented about how gentle she is and how much she loves babies. But Mary is NOT interested what-so-ever! Sage tells me that at other activities there are toddlers about Kat's age and size who love her not-so-gently, so she thinks Mary is just sort of afraid of the "look" now. Makes sense to me. But try to tell Kitty Kat!
Another Mama of two dance class girls had a baby a month ago. She AND her hubbie brought the girls to dance, so, of course, the new baby was there. The baby was sleeping the whole time, so it took Kat a while to notice her. But when she did she wanted to pet and love her!!! It was sooo sweet. Kitty doesn't say many words really clearly, but she enunciates BABY sure as shootin!!! :)
Poor Kitty Kat has so much baby love and not a baby interested! If you couldn't guess by all of that, Kat is so VERY excited about the baby coming to our family.
Ria informed me today that she knows for sure that we're having a girl. She even told my belly, "I love you, baby Theresa!" I thought this was sweet of course, but tried to convince her to call the baby "Baby" since I won't know that the baby is a girl until I see the baby.
The funny thing about the name is that Jess and I decided on that name quite a while ago. I'm not sure we ever really talked about it with the girls. I'm pretty sure we DID talk about the boy's names a while ago. Well, out of the air one day Ria told me, "I think that if the baby is a girl we should name her Theresa and if it is a boy, we should name him John." The context was that she had asked Daddy if she could name the baby and he told her to ask me. She was asking what I thought of those names. I told her I thought they would be PERFECT. So, Ria is naming our baby! ;)
On to a disturbing incident.
I've been walking the bridge this week for my hour long walks. It's about 4 miles total and I finish it in about 64 minutes. Pretty good for a preggie fat girl!!! ;) Today was my third day on the bridge. It's a great workout! Today, however, I saw, as it were, my daughters' lives flash before my eyes!
Upon coming DOWN the bridge into my town I get to a light. I always push and wait for the little crossing man and then shoot across. Well, I won't be doing THAT anymore! There are a bunch of scrub palms that are set against a fence, which is around a pond, but because of those palms walkers and drivers cannot see each other at this corner. Today, even though the little man (WALK) went up right away I was moving really slowly, for some reason, compared to normal. It actually felt like I was walking in mud.
This is a tremendous blessing because, had I been moving as normal, the car that ALMOST hit us would have either hit the my girls in the buggy or me AND the buggy!
A stupid young female driver almost hit us. And I don't use stupid much to describe people, in general, anymore, but she DEFINITELY was! She had a red light. Rather than stop at the line appointed for stopping at red lights, she zoomed right through the pedestrian crossing area and stopped close enough to the corner that someone in oncoming traffic would have likely been VERY close to hitting her! (Since the little accident I was in when I was preggie with Ria I am a very careful driver and can honestly say that I am pretty darn sure I always stop at the line or before it before I continue driving.)
I was already crossing the street when this girl did her stupid deed and if I hadn't pulled the buggy back she totally would have hit the front wheel, which would have put an end to my walks. (Bad enough, but I've already illustrated the worse outcome!) Anyway... I yelled at her and almost cursed (which you will recognize, I hope, as a sign of how distraught I was!!)! :( But, thankfully, I did not actually say the bad word that shot across the stage of my mind. I said something like, "What the freakin' heck are you freakin' thinkin'???!!!" Loudly enough that I'm pretty sure she heard me even though her windows were rolled up.
A young guy and an older lady were behind me on the bridge, so they saw the whole thing. Right after she almost hit us I think I was overwhelmed by shock, or something, because as the guy crossed the street I totally lost it and started shuddering and crying hysterically. (This reaction is probably explainable by the fact that I'm preggie! heehee ^_^) The guy finished crossing, but then totally stopped and kept checking to make sure I was okay. The older lady was behind him and stood with me while I caught my breath and calmed down. She talked to me a bit, which helped me refocus.
The good from this very bad situation is that I felt deep concern from two complete strangers. This is really wonderful to me because sometimes it feels like people just don't care. So, that was heartening and uplifting to feel. I really feel like I was touched by two angels (as I feel people in our daily lives are the angels most of us see, but, perhaps, don't recognize).
A little girl, a bit younger than Kat, comes with her Mama and big sister to dance class. The almost 1 year old ALWAYS sits in her stroller, doesn't interact much, and definitely doesn't talk. Probably a month ago Kitty Kat identified her as a baby and has been so attentive to her every Wednesday since, much to the little girl's chagrin! :(
Sage's daughter Mary is another "baby" Kat tries to love. Now, I have to say that Kat is AMAZINGLY gentle! She has been ever since I can remember. People have even commented about how gentle she is and how much she loves babies. But Mary is NOT interested what-so-ever! Sage tells me that at other activities there are toddlers about Kat's age and size who love her not-so-gently, so she thinks Mary is just sort of afraid of the "look" now. Makes sense to me. But try to tell Kitty Kat!
Another Mama of two dance class girls had a baby a month ago. She AND her hubbie brought the girls to dance, so, of course, the new baby was there. The baby was sleeping the whole time, so it took Kat a while to notice her. But when she did she wanted to pet and love her!!! It was sooo sweet. Kitty doesn't say many words really clearly, but she enunciates BABY sure as shootin!!! :)
Poor Kitty Kat has so much baby love and not a baby interested! If you couldn't guess by all of that, Kat is so VERY excited about the baby coming to our family.
Ria informed me today that she knows for sure that we're having a girl. She even told my belly, "I love you, baby Theresa!" I thought this was sweet of course, but tried to convince her to call the baby "Baby" since I won't know that the baby is a girl until I see the baby.
The funny thing about the name is that Jess and I decided on that name quite a while ago. I'm not sure we ever really talked about it with the girls. I'm pretty sure we DID talk about the boy's names a while ago. Well, out of the air one day Ria told me, "I think that if the baby is a girl we should name her Theresa and if it is a boy, we should name him John." The context was that she had asked Daddy if she could name the baby and he told her to ask me. She was asking what I thought of those names. I told her I thought they would be PERFECT. So, Ria is naming our baby! ;)
On to a disturbing incident.
I've been walking the bridge this week for my hour long walks. It's about 4 miles total and I finish it in about 64 minutes. Pretty good for a preggie fat girl!!! ;) Today was my third day on the bridge. It's a great workout! Today, however, I saw, as it were, my daughters' lives flash before my eyes!
Upon coming DOWN the bridge into my town I get to a light. I always push and wait for the little crossing man and then shoot across. Well, I won't be doing THAT anymore! There are a bunch of scrub palms that are set against a fence, which is around a pond, but because of those palms walkers and drivers cannot see each other at this corner. Today, even though the little man (WALK) went up right away I was moving really slowly, for some reason, compared to normal. It actually felt like I was walking in mud.
This is a tremendous blessing because, had I been moving as normal, the car that ALMOST hit us would have either hit the my girls in the buggy or me AND the buggy!
A stupid young female driver almost hit us. And I don't use stupid much to describe people, in general, anymore, but she DEFINITELY was! She had a red light. Rather than stop at the line appointed for stopping at red lights, she zoomed right through the pedestrian crossing area and stopped close enough to the corner that someone in oncoming traffic would have likely been VERY close to hitting her! (Since the little accident I was in when I was preggie with Ria I am a very careful driver and can honestly say that I am pretty darn sure I always stop at the line or before it before I continue driving.)
I was already crossing the street when this girl did her stupid deed and if I hadn't pulled the buggy back she totally would have hit the front wheel, which would have put an end to my walks. (Bad enough, but I've already illustrated the worse outcome!) Anyway... I yelled at her and almost cursed (which you will recognize, I hope, as a sign of how distraught I was!!)! :( But, thankfully, I did not actually say the bad word that shot across the stage of my mind. I said something like, "What the freakin' heck are you freakin' thinkin'???!!!" Loudly enough that I'm pretty sure she heard me even though her windows were rolled up.
A young guy and an older lady were behind me on the bridge, so they saw the whole thing. Right after she almost hit us I think I was overwhelmed by shock, or something, because as the guy crossed the street I totally lost it and started shuddering and crying hysterically. (This reaction is probably explainable by the fact that I'm preggie! heehee ^_^) The guy finished crossing, but then totally stopped and kept checking to make sure I was okay. The older lady was behind him and stood with me while I caught my breath and calmed down. She talked to me a bit, which helped me refocus.
The good from this very bad situation is that I felt deep concern from two complete strangers. This is really wonderful to me because sometimes it feels like people just don't care. So, that was heartening and uplifting to feel. I really feel like I was touched by two angels (as I feel people in our daily lives are the angels most of us see, but, perhaps, don't recognize).
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