Wordy Wednesday (2)

For those of you who don't know, I am in school right now and *boy* is it a lot of work going to school with a baby. I have brought her to class with me a handful of times and I wouldn't call it a disaster, but it was by no means easy.

Thankfully, I have a group of wonderful friends who have happily watched Tenley along with their own children. I am so grateful to Rachel, Elaine, Hillary, Shaina, Cammie, Emily, and Sara for their help with Tenley so far this semester. And thankful to those who are willing and have volunteered to help in the future. I wish I could express how much it means to me that you take care of my Tenley like you would your own daughter. Also, without a doubt, I could not have done this semester without your service to our family.

Well May is already flying by, is it not? Dalin and I had some plans in mind for this month which I was telling someone about recently when suddenly I realized we're already halfway through the month! So darn, but our plans may require some adjusting at this point. At any rate, I am glad May is going by so quickly because it means school is getting closer and closer to being completed and it means we are almost to June, which is when my mother is coming to visit for two weeks to help me take care of Tenley! Right after she leaves, I have finals, then the following week summer semester starts! This spring/summer is just crazy but at least we have our trip to New Hampshire to look forward to at the end of August! Plus Tenley turns one (one!?!!?) on August 12th and we're excited about that!

As you can imagine, I have some homework to do now, so I'll just share a few fun facts about us real quick:

1. I love birds. You should see Tenley's room actually. That's kind of the theme. I think for me it's kind of an artistic thing mostly because I love painting and drawing them, but I do love listening to birds singing, too. I used to love waking up to that sound every morning in New Hampshire. Anyway, I love them all (except crows--I could live without them and their ominous presence) but especially hummingbirds, cardinals, chickadees, owls (Harry Potter...), loons, flamingos, peacocks, etc. I attribute my love of birds partly to my mother, who always loved photographing them when I was growing up and who always had several bird feeders on our back porch, and also to my Grandpa French, who would often take us bird--or more specifically, hawk--watching and teach us about types of birds, their appearance, flight patterns, their calls, and so on.

2. I hate running. It's like that Pinterest pin says: "If you see me running, you should start running, too because something's probably chasing me." I kind of run to class sometimes because I hate being late but that's a little different. And even though I feel like a complete fool when I run, it's worth it to me to be on time. And honestly, who is going to remember some crazy girl running to class on a random day? Probably no one. There was a brief, brief time when I enjoyed running back at BYU-Idaho when my roommate Rachel and I would run 3 miles a day each weekday, but that was because I had a buddy and it was a regular thing so it wasn't an inconvenience. At this stage in my life, if I should happen to have an hour of free time (which pretty much never happens anyway--I'm always multi-tasking as it is), I sure as heck wouldn't waste it running. I'd rather read or eat. I don't have time for either of those things much anymore...

3. (This is more of a confession) In relation to the last thing I said, I have been simply awful at eating lately. It's not that I'm not hungry--I feel starved constantly, but for one, no matter how many times I go grocery shopping, we never seem to have any snacks. So I have only been eating a spinach salad each day, with an occasional dinner, frozen taquitos, and lots of water and juice. At least I drink a lot. And two, I just don't have time to eat! My priority in the morning is getting Tenley well fed and ready to go to a sitter's while I'm in class. Then I go to class. Then I go get Tenley and have to feed her and give her attention because she gets clingy after I've been away from her for 3 or 4 hours. Then I have homework. I try to make something decent for dinner, but I'm so exhausted by this point, that anything edible will do. I very much wish I had time to cook again (partially because I enjoy doing it), but school has kind of stolen that from me...especially since I'm gone so much on weekdays. Anyway, it's taking a toll on me and I've had very little energy lately so I need to eat more.

Well that's all for now. Gotta do homework and grab little Tenley.

Have a great weekend! It's almost here!