We recently decided it might be time for Mary to start preschool. I started asking around a little bit. We happened to go to a make-up gymnastics class last Thursday where I met a mom that told me about her little girl's preschool. She said she had researched and checked out several preschool's and this was the one she liked the best. Later that day I called and set up a time to go check it out. So this past Monday we went to meet the teacher and look around. Mary immediately started talking with Miss Karen and Miss Kristen. When we left Mary said, "That was fun, I played at preschool!" We decided she would start on Thursday and here we are. My little baby had her first day of preschool today.
The preschool is held in Miss Karen's basement. She has a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Development or something like that. She has a piano and they teach the kids a lot of songs and they have programs--I think that's what sold me. Of course, there are all kinds of toys.
When I dropped Mary off she went right in, gave me a hug and went with her teacher. Fortunately I had Anna or I might have been to sad to leave. Even now my heart is sad that my baby girl is already growing up so fast. The time went quickly while she was gone--it was awfully quiet though. When I picked her up she seemed happy. The teacher said she did great--was a little clingy to her at first and then was fine and played with the kids. Mary said she played with a girl name Lily and a boy she didn't know his name, but told me what he was wearing. She said she got to paint and sing and learned about the letter H and that her teacher helped her write her name and the letter H. I was proud of her.
It snowed on Saturday. Quite a bit. Mary was so excited when she saw it. She gasped and said, "Mom, is it Christmas? Did Santa Claus come?" Santa Claus didn't come yet, but she got to play in the snow so it was ok. On the side of my grandma's house, where we are living, has a hill that is the walkway to our door. But when it is snow covered it makes for a great sledding hill. Mary went down over and over again, screaming and laughing and saying, that was fun, can I do it again--faster? I took several videos, but never got the times she fell off and went rolling, face in the snow. She thought it was so great. Anna just loved being outside, watching. I don't know why I have such a hard time formatting these posts, but I can't do anything with these videos. I only put one on, but there are two showing up and I can't for the life of me delete one or move them anywhere. So there they will stay. I hope at least one of them works!
For Halloween this year Mary was a Sparkle Witch and Anna was Love-a-Lot Bear. We had our ward Halloween party on Friday night. Then on Halloween we went to Grandma Shirley's to go Trick-or-Treating. One lady had made homemade donuts. We didn't go to all that many houses, but still ended up with a lot of candy because the neighborhood we went in doesn't get many trick-or-treaters so each house gives a lot of candy. Mary kept saying, "I think this is enough candy. Let's go home and show Grandma." And I would say that we should at least finish the street we were on and she would say, "OK mom." I think she tripped and fell (completely flat on her face) 3 times in the short time we were out. It was pretty funny. Later that night we found a large snail-like bug in her Halloween bucket because she had fallen right in the dirt and must have scooped it up somehow. She had fun though. And Anna just likes to be in the action.
To explain the pictures, Mary is riding her tricycle home from the mailbox carrying her Halloween package from Grandma Sue.
Mary likes to dress Anna up as a princess.
We joined the rest of my brothers and made a rice krispie treat pumpkin for Family Home Evening. And the last one, John carved an extra special jack-o-lantern for the
ward contest. If it would have been a real contest it would have won.
We went to Burley last weekend. John had the whole week off for Fall Break. John's sister Lindsey and her fiancé were here the first part of the week and we did some fun things with them--went to Thanksgiving Point Gardens and swimming at their hotel. We don't get to see Lindsey very often so it was really fun. Mary had a great time playing with Aunt Lindsey. She brought both Mary and Anna some cute clothes and a really neat art kit for Mary. We left Thursday morning to go to Burley. I don't think there is anything in the world that Mary likes more than going to Idaho to visit Grandma Sue and Grandma Melody. Somebody to play with her 24/7. We went to a pumpkin patch in Oakley with Grandma Sue, Aunt Natasha and Cousin Kyler. Mary and Kyler are great friends and always have a fun time together. I came downstairs to find them jumping off the bed in their underwear. Good times. So at the pumpkin patch there was a haunted house, which both Mary and Kyler were afraid of, a hay bale maze, a corn maze, a hay ride, a putting station and bean bag toss. We all rode on the hay wagon through the patch to find our pumpkins. Later that day John went on a bike ride with his dad and brother so the girls and I stayed with Grandma Melody, Aunt Brook and Aunt Tylynn. Mary got to play and play and play and Anna was sick so I had to just hold her and watch Brook and Tylynn make some really cute hair things for us. Poor baby girl Anna had a rough week. We also went over to Aunt Brook's new house where she and Mary made play-do! Everyone was so nice to make sure we had a good time. When we were at the grocery store Mary saw a Rapunzel costume and Grandma Sue got it for her. She's worn it so much since that it's been ripped twice. Mary wears the costume and puts a jumprope around her neck to make Rapunzel's long hair. Brook gave us the Tangled soundtrack so Mary listens to it constantly and acts out the whole movie. She's quite the actress. It's amazing how she memorizes all the words to the songs, plus the lines in the movie.
We had Stake Conference today, but I was so sick that we didn't go. It gave John the chance to play Tangled all day with Mary. Baby girl said dada all day long, except for when she was whining--which was quite a bit. I sure hope she gets a tooth soon and that's where the whining is coming from! We are getting excited for Halloween. Mary is going to be a witch and Anna is going to be Love-a-lot Bear.
I need to update on the past week or so--we went to Burley over last weekend, but I am sick and will have to do it later. Anna has been sick all week so I didn't do it earlier. Funny we don't have the same thing though. It looks like she had Roseola and started feeling better just today after being sick since Saturday. And I got sick yesterday with what seems to be a sinus infection. Thankfully Mary and John are still okay though. One funny thing Mary said though. We were at Grandma Shirley's and Mary was playing while I was talking to my grandma. I was talking about the gas fireplace. At some point during the conversation my grandma said, "for crying out loud," which she says a lot. So then Mary came up to me and said, "Mom, were you crying at the gas station?" I guess as she was playing she picked out a few words from our conversation and that's what she came up with in her mind.
I've got to start writing down the things that Mary says as soon as she says them. I try to remember them all, but pretty soon I've forgotten how many I'm supposed to be remembering and then I've lost some. To make sure that we don't lose sight of Anna though, she just keeps getting cuter and cuter. She's been clapping her hands lately and is very active. I'm wondering if she's figured out that she can move around more than she has been, but just hasn't figured out how. She's also very vocal--laughing, squealing, saying mama mama and giggling with Mary. It's a wonderful for moment for me when my girls are looking at each other and giggling together.
Here goes trying to remember. Let's see, on Sunday Mary didn't want to go to church (although she doesn't want to do anything when she's playing). She was reluctant to go to nursery, but once there seemed fine so I left. Awhile later her teacher brought her to me because she had to go potty. I came out and she looked so happy and excited. We went to the bathroom and while Mary was going she said she had to hurry and go potty so she could get back to her class because it was almost over. She said this a few times so I said, do you get to do something fun at the end? And she simply said no, but you have to come and get me. Later that day John's sister Lindsey was coming over for dinner and bringing her fiancé, Claude, whom we had not yet met. So Lindsey walked in first and Mary came running up to the door when Claude walked in. (Claude is a little bit older than all of us). Mary took one look at him and said to Lindsey, "Is that your grandpa?" Fortunately they were both very good natured about it. The only other one I can remember at the moment isn't a good one. She yelled at the people behind us in line at Walmart. She was in a mood and they started putting their stuff on the conveyor belt. She yelled, "You can't put your stuff up there until we're done!" It was embarrassing. Other than that she is in this phase where she wants to wear a dress all the time. But she doesn't say I want to wear a dress, she says, "I need to wear a dressing gown."It's funny, but it's getting old. I know there's more, but that's all I have right now.
Just a couple of pictures I took this week. I still can't figure out how to format this the way I want so it just looks random. It's been quite the week. It seems like it should be Saturday and yet it's only Thursday. It's been rough because the weather is starting to turn and every time we're about to go to the park it rains--Mary doesn't handle disappointment very well. And I can tell myself that she has been harder to handle because we've had to be inside a little more and she's restless, but I don't really think this is the case. It's hard because sometimes she is as sweet and helpful as she can possibly be and then...she's not. I know she's 3, but it's really hard to think about that in the moment. Tonight she was super sweet. I was walking home from a ladies house down the street with the baby in my arms when their neighbors dog attacked me. Luckily it was a small dog. It bit me 3 times on the upper leg. I think it was going for the baby because I remember having to lift her up and turn away from the mean dog. Anyway, when we got home Mary gave me a cookie she had made while I was gone and told me it would make me feel better. "Are you okay sweetie? This cookie will make you feel better." Fortunately the baby didn't seem as traumatized as I was. I was thinking all the way home I was going to have to go get a shot, sure that I was bleeding down my jeans that I can finally fit into after being pregnant. But turns out the jeans were thick enough that the bite didn't break the skin and I just have bruises. And John just called on his way home from playing basketball and said he just sprained his ankle. I guess we're on the injured list.
This past week I realized how horribly out of shape I am. I knew I was out of shape, but it's a lot worse than I thought. My mother in law very kindly gave me her Zumba work out DVD's because she knows I really love to exercise, but can't get out to do it much with the kids. So I tried one of the DVD's. It was ok, but it did cause some pain (I'll get to the source of the pain shortly). The next night John and I decided to do a P90X workout. It didn't go very well. Needless to say it was pretty discouraging. The most discouraging part about it though isn't that I'm just in bad shape. It's that the pain is preventing me from being able to do the whole workout so that I can get into better shape. It's not that I can't do all of the repetitions because I get to tired or winded. I can't do all of the exercises because the pain stops me.
When I was pregnant with Mary I got an inguinal hernia, not uncommon. After she was born it went away. No problem. When I was pregnant with Anna it came back. And I got one on the other side as well. This time they were bothering me. We decided to wait until after she was born to see if they would go away again, and then we could decide if I needed surgery to repair them. Unfortunately Anna's birth didn't go all that well. The c-section seemed to go fine. It wasn't planned like Mary's was (Mary was breach so I had to have a c-section and chose not to try a v-bac). In fact, Mary's 3rd birthday party was scheduled for that afternoon. On the morning of the party I woke up early with pain. Went to the hospital to check it out hoping it would be fine to come home and have the party. I wasn't in labor yet, but they said it could be the start of it. Went home. Was there for about 15 minutes when a new, horrible pain in my back started. Within another 10 minutes it hurt so bad I was crying so John took me to the hospital where the pain was so bad all I could do was lay there and moan, cry and throw up every few minutes. They figured it was a kidney stone and fluid around my kidney and the only way it would go away was to have the baby. So they gave me a shot of demorol and we headed to the other hospital where my doctor was (it was about 30 minutes from our home). Poor Mary's party was cancelled. Thankfully Grandma Sue was there and she didn't seem to notice too much. Anyway, the c-section was around 6pm. Anna came out weighing 6 pounds 7 ounces. Small compared to Mary who was 7 pounds 8 1/2 ounces. She was breathing a little fast so they put her on oxygen or something...I'm really not sure because that's when I started to go downhill. After they sewed me up I never stopped bleeding. I was losing quite a bit of blood. They had to give me 6 units of blood in a transfusion. But they couldn't figure out why I was still bleeding and couldn't get it to stop. The pain was great. I continued to have contraction after contraction. I was on morphine, but it didn't seem to touch the pain. I don't remember seeing Anna or holding her. That makes me sad. The next day they decided they had to cut me back open and search for the cause of the bleeding. They did so, found it and were able to save my uterus (the doctor told me beforehand that there was a good chance I would have to have a hysterectomy). There was large amounts of pain after this double surgery, but then I started to heal and about 2 months after I was doing well enough to start jogging a little bit (obviously Anna was ok and was able to go home the same time as me). At some point I realized that the hernias were not gone this time. I went back to the doctor and he said they needed to be repaired. I chose to do it right away. It's been about 2 months now and it still hurts. I went back to the doctor 2 weeks ago and he said that the surgery had been difficult because of my previous surgeries and he said I could wait for 2 to 3 months to see if the pain goes away or go back into surgery and he would cut the nerve that he "thinks" is causing the pain. So that is why it hurts to exercise and why it is discouraging. I don't know when or if the pain will go away. I know it sounds like I'm a whiner and just feel sorry for myself and maybe I am and do. But I do know that I am lucky to be alive and that Anna was healthy. I also know that there are many others who live with much worse. It's just discouraging right now. Eventually I will be back to normal. I know this post was long, but I have a lot of backtracking to do. I'll try to make it shorter next time.
The day after we moved into our new place was a Sunday. Unfortunately we had a lot of things that needed to be done and seemed to be first priority. We hadn't unpacked at all and the dryer wasn't working yet and neither was the fridge. I was feeling a little panicked because with John in law school he is barely home during the week and I knew I wasn't going to be able to get much done with the girls to take care of. So we were working to get as much done as we could with every intention of going to church at 1. We even got all dressed to go. But right when it was time to leave John had to go and get a part from the store to fix the dryer (some may think that it is not essential to have the dryer working right away, but in my case it's a must), the baby was crying and needing a nap and Mary was crying because she was exhausted and traumatized from being up late from the move and leaving Grandma Shirley's house where she had grown accustomed to being. So we never went to church. As the end of the day grew near Mary asked when we were going to church. I picked the worst way to answer her and said that we didn't have time to go to church that Sunday, but we would always go after that. So now, every Sunday she asks, "do we have time to go to church today?" I really don't know how to explain that we always have time to go to church because that is really all we are supposed to actually do on Sunday. We already didn't go one week and I had to say that we didn't have time to go. And Mary has the best memory of anyone I know. She will never forget.
So we have moved into our lovely apartment in the basement of my grandma's house. We didn't have internet for awhile and that is why I could not post anything. The apartment is really nice--it has brand new pretty much everything--paint, carpet, tile. We are very fortunate to be here. Mary and Anna have adjusted fairly well. I say fairly because I'm not completely sure about Mary yet. She seems fine most of the time, but she has had a few mega-tantrums and I have to wonder if all of this craziness hasn't affected her more than we think. She's a good girl though. Soccer has it's ups and downs. One time she was just standing in the middle of everyone--they all trying to get at the ball and she just standing there staring at something. The ball came right up to her and hit her feet. She didn't notice. She started to take a step and actually tripped over the ball and fell down. Then another time it was her turn to kick off. She kicked it very carefully and gently so it wouldn't go to anyone else and she tried to keep control of it, but of course somebody stole it. She then ran after them and tried to get it back for a moment. After the game she told me that she got mad when they took the ball and went to get it back. I was so glad because that's what we've been trying to get her to do. Not scream cry and throw a fit, but go and try to get it back.
Mary recently started going poop in the toilet. She wouldn't do it up until now. She's completely potty trained--never has accidents--but when she has to go she just said she needed a diaper. She said it hurt to go on the potty. Anyway, I made her try it in the new house and she was so excited, said it didn't hurt and has been going ever since. But now she has remembered something I said once at least 3, maybe 4, months ago. I basically promised her anything if she would just use the toilet. She asked for a pet and I told her we could get a fish if she would do it. She seemed to forget about it after that...until yesterday. "Mom, now that I go poop on the potty we can get a pet!" So I guess we are going fish shopping on Saturday.
Little Anna gets cuter every day. She has the sweetest little face and smile. Whenever she sees me her little nose scrunches up and she get so excited she moves her arms and legs so fast. I already mentioned the story of her grabbing the sacrament tray. Well this last Sunday was even better. I thought it was out of her reach, but she is lightning fast. Before I knew what had happened she shot her hand to the tray and grabbed 2 or 3 cups spilling the water all over. She makes the funniest noises--I swear sometimes she sounds just like a cat purring. I just hope it's not because of her acid reflux!
We got read into our new ward on Sunday, but before they even read us in I got sustained in a new calling. The first counselor in our ward is a man from Lander, Wyoming, where I was born and my family lived for 11 years. My mom is of course very musical and he seemed to remember that and called me to be the ward choir director. I put that I can lead music on the paper they gave us, but geez. I guess we'll see how that goes.
John continues to be very busy with law school, but seems to enjoy it despite how tired and busy he is. I am learning a lot about the legal system as well, which is fine because I find it a lot more interesting than trading. That's what I used to hear about all the time.
Finally going to add some pictures here. First, a few tidbits...things I've remembered that were funny. A couple of weeks ago in church, the boy passed the sacrament to me and I took it, but he wasn't taking it away. I looked up at him and he was looking down at the tray so I looked down and Anna had a death grip on the tray. She really had a good hold on it--it took me more than one try to pry her little hand off of it. She is s so aware of everything. She notices things quickly and goes after them. You cannot get a drink while holding her--she will grab it, swat it, anything to try and get it to her mouth.
For the most part, Mary is the happiest little girl. She goes about singing and humming. She lives her life to the soundtrack of Dumbo--humming the tunes as she goes about whatever she is doing. Unfortunately this didn't carry on to the soccer field. Her first game was this last weekend and it was worse than I ever imagined. I thought she might just lay on the grass and pick dandelions or something...that would have been great. The game started and for the first few moments she just stood there looking around. The next few moments she ran with the pack. I was feeling proud. She even kicked the ball. But then she started getting mad that she wasn't able to kick the ball more. Anger turned to overwhelming sadness. The tears started. The wailing came. It didn't stop for the rest of the game. The other team would score and she would run off the field crying. She would sit for a few minutes and we would talk her into going back in. Then her team would score. The same thing happened. Then it was her turn to kick off...she kicked it then got knocked down and someone stepped on her hand. Once she got up--same thing happened. This happened over and over again until the end of the game. Nobody else cried or ran off the field. Then when the treats came out she burst into tears again. They had brought Cars fruit snacks which is a "boy snack" not a "girl snack." Needless to say it was pretty rough. But we will go back on Wednesday because we aren't quitters!
Before the game--she was playing but excellent foreshadowing.
Today wasn't all that eventful. We went to the Children's Gardens at Thanksgiving Point with Micah, Mary's friend, his mom and baby sister. They played in the water and ran around together. Since we have moved they don't get to see each other quite as much, but still seem to enjoy playing together. When John came home we went for a run with our new to us double jogging stroller and then John took Mary swimming. She is doing really well and is able to tread water for a little bit, staying afloat on her own. Baby Anna has started eating rice with vegetables mixed in and seeming to like it.
So this is our story right now. We are living with my very gracious grandma while the apartment we are moving to is finished being renovated. It is a basement apartment in a home belonging to my other very gracious grandma. It's really nice and we are very excited to have our own place again. Mary is getting somewhat confused, understandably and is anxiously waiting to play with her own toys. It will be a transition for her not to play with Grandma every day though. Grandma has the best story lines and plays the best at "animals," "princesses," "dollies," and whatever else. Anyway, the reason we are doing all of this is because John is going to law school. He started a few weeks ago and is really enjoying it.
This last weekend we had a surprise party for my dad's 60th birthday. All of my brothers and their families were there, as well as several aunts, uncles and cousins. I hope he could see how much he is loved and appreciated.
So, much has happened since I last posted more than 8 months ago. We had a baby girl, Anna, on March 5th, to name the biggest thing. At some point I might go back a little more in depth, but I mostly just want to start putting in bits and pieces of our daily life. Mary says some pretty funny things and I have already forgotten most of them. Anna is already 6 months old and as cute as can possibly be. She has started saying mama when whining, but only then. She started sitting up without help about 2 weeks ago. She is definintely a mama's girl, but Mary might be her favorite person of all. She lights up with big smiles and laughter whenever she sees Mary. Mary will just jump up and down and Anna will laugh so hard. Then Mary thinks that is funny and tries to get her to laugh by saying random things like "teeth!" or "feet!" So, pretty much everyone quotes the nursery rhyme, Mary Mary quite contrary to Mary--but she doesn't get it yet that that is what it is. So she has started saying contrary all the time and calling the baby contrary.
Mary had her first socce practice today. I didn't think it went very well, but when we got home Mary said, "Soccer is great!" The coach quickly learned her name as she had to repeat it 12,000 times trying to get her to take her turn, stop throwing the grass, stop trying to stand on the ball, kick the ball to her partner, not pick up the ball with her hands, and then put her hand in the circle to say "Go Blue Team!" I was pretty frustrated as it didn't seem like any of the other kids were doing this, but I have to remember that she is 3. Anyway, when we got home and John got home he wanted to play with Mary. (We have been staying with my grandma waiting for our apartment to get finished). Mary was sitting with my grandma reading the newspaper and looking at catalogs when John was trying to get her to play with him. (Some background--we have to tell Mary that Grandma is resting so that she doesn't have to play with her 24 hours a day. She is always asking if Grandma is going to rest or play with her). So when John went in to get her she said (quite defiantly) "I am resting. I will play with you when I am done resting."
So there are just a few things, but so many more occur. I am already sad about what I know I have forgotten, but can only go forward from here.
