Wednesday, August 19

I'm DONE!


Friends, sound the fanfare--I've finished!

I attended commencement and convocation last week for my bachelor's degree in English!

It was a crazy week all around with my 24th birthday on the 9th, my last final, Tenley's birthday on the 12th, and graduation stuff at the end of the week. Now I am left feeling undecided about how to spend my extra time now that homework is not a concern!

My diploma holder and white Humanities' tassel are just patiently a-waiting the arrival of my diploma and my white orchid lei from graduation is still sitting inside the fridge door and I'm not quite sure what to do with it. It doesn't seem like the type of thing that will dry that nicely, but who knows. It's hanging on our family portrait in our living room and every time I see it I pretend it's from our imaginary trip to Hawaii.


Anyway, my mom leaves Friday morning and we have been doing a whole lot of organizing and purging while she's been here. It's nice to finally enjoy being at my apartment!

Now I've got to figure out what to do with my time (besides being a mommy of course;)! Maybe the reading and painting I've wanted to do for two years!

We did, however, celebrate our FOURTH anniversary yesterday (even though it is actually today, the 19th:) because Dalin has to work this evening. It's okay though. We had an AWESOME time in Salt Lake and the sirloins/filets were just incredible. I wanted to do that little "perfection" hands emoji from Instagram just then but, alas, I can't.
We had a $150 giftcard and my mom was around to babysit on our anniversary. No brainer, and it was so much fun!
Tenley dressed herself today. Can you say divaaaa.
This was mid-fake laugh at the splash pad today.
I was so happy Tenley enjoyed it eventually. It was boring until other kids showed up. 
Anyway, this is just a tiny little update so you know what's going on in my life. I am alive though. Just enjoying my post-grad life. I'll try to post more (though possibly brief) posts more often!

Enjoy the last of your summer!


Saturday, August 1

How is it August?!

I'm so excited for graduation--I can almost TASTE it. Just two weeks (but only 6 days of class + a final) until I complete my bachelor's in English! Yippee!

Note: Just because I'm an English major doesn't mean I know every little grammar rule (I feel like a lot of people assume I'll know all that stuff, but I seriously don't! I enjoy editing, but I've never taken an editing class so...buyer beware!). Those people are the English language or Linguistics majors...don't get me confused with those guys. As much as I enjoy proper grammar, I've learned more and more (particularly from my current ELANG class) that there is very little you can do that is "wrong" in the English language. Most speech patterns are regional, cultural, etc. and so when you think a person is "wrong" for using some word that sounds strange, it is probably just a cultural thing.

Anyway, long side note.

I just have to make it through two presentations, a paper, an essay, (some tedious reading...), and a final exam. By this time next week, all but one of those things will be done which is pretty fantastic.

My mom flies in on August 6! Three days after her birthday and three days before mine (then 3 days after mine is Tenley's)! Woohoo! I'm feeling pretty good about 24 right now. We'll see how I feel next weekend;)

As for the rest of my life--it's been good. Crazy with school, but great.

Declan is just a little over-achiever/very active baby and is already crawling (more like army crawling, but he gets on his knees and feet a lot in between) rather fast! It's so funny and weird to watch such a little guy scurry across the floor.

He turned 6 months 2 days ago and has eaten a jar of sweet potatoes, plenty of rice cereal, and some bananas so far. I waited on the solids as long as I could with him, unlike Tenley (though I'm fairly sure he was ready even before she was)...I'm not a fan of the stinky poop that comes with starting solids (breast milk poop doesn't smell really at all). He has two cute little bottom teeth that came out at four months, and his third tooth (top front) is just poking through as of the last couple days! He's gonna be a cute little chipmunk;)

Declan loves water, swimming, toys (just all toys...which is weird because Tenley couldn't have cared less about toys at his age), gnawing on stuff, napping twice a day (Ten didn't nap!), being worn in the k'tan by mama, nursing, smiling, watching Tenley, yelling like Tenley (he seriously learned her yell...), following Tenley across the floor, getting beaten up by Tenley (jk he doesn't love that), sleeping with mama;). I put him in his bed at 8pm and he sleeps until midnight then joins us in our bed, not that I mind one bit! I miss him terribly when he isn't with me...the one night I thought I'd try to leave him in his bed, I just couldn't do it. I sleep better (and less worried) when he's by me. He also loves people. He smiles at everyone. But he totally is a mama's boy right now...seeing him light up when I get home from school is the best. Or when he hears my voice and looks for me. He's my little buddy:)

Declan hates the car seat. He gets mad every time I put him in. Once we get moving he's usually okay...until those red lights, dang it. He also hates when Tenley wakes him up with her loud voice when he's napping (who doesn't...). So far, that's pretty much all he hates. He's a pretty good baby! (though Tenley was quite a bit easier still).

As for Tenley, she's almost TWO! How can I have a two-year old?? She's the sweetest girl and I love her with all my heart. She took a long nap in the rocking chair with Dalin today (like three hours!) and I ran to another quad within Wymount to buy something and I just missed her so badly as I was walking back alone. I just thought, I wish Tenley was with me so I could show her this and chase her and teach her. She's seriously my best little friend and I'm so happy she's mine!

What else about Tenley? We don't watch Frozen much (we're a Tangled family;) but she got an Elsa nightgown from Nana with a little sheer layer that she loves to twirl in. I ask her sometimes if she wants to be called Tenley or ReNae (her middle name), and she says "ReNae." Then I ask her if she wants to be called ReNae or Elsa and she says "Elsa" (well, half the time). She's the brightest little girl. I'm studying her speech patterns for a linguistics class and she has WELL over 200 words in her vocabulary and is quite advanced according to my textbook. She also says the funniest sentences now. She cracks me up every day with her new words.

Tenley's favorite friend is Javin, our cute little neighbor who is almost 4. She talks about him all the time ("where'd Javin go? I wanna go Javin's house"). He used to act kind of annoyed by her, but now they play outside together often and if Ten goes to do something else, Javin will follow her. We're going to his birthday party tomorrow evening:). Also, if I can't find Tenley when we're outside, the first place I check is Javin's house. She runs away there every other day, I kid you not. She is very comfortable there, too...she kicks off her flip flops as soon as she's in the door and runs into Javin's room to jump on the bed (which they did under supervision one time and now she thinks it's okay every time). Javin loves it. I always have to run in and get her though, which is a pain.

Tenley is very helpful most days. She changes Declan's diaper (with and without supervision, much to my dismay), cooks and pretends to cook, washes the dishes (she says, "I wanna do wash-it!"), sweeps the floor, picks up clothes and carries them to the dirty laundry, fetches things still, loads the washer and dryer for me when we walk to the laundry building, "folds" clothes, "vacuums," and picks up toys (but only if I help her...). She thinks she is just a little lady and is the sweetest little mommy to Declan and her baby doll (which she nurses and sits up with toys and puts on the potty) and to other children when they're crying.

She is so close to being fully potty-trained, we just need to figure out an easy way for her to put her panties on herself (it's quite confusing apparently). We even wore underwear and went potty at Target today (that was interesting, but it went fine). She will still need pull-ups for night-time though, I'm sure (she drinks a LOT).

So that's our life right now. It's crazy and going to get even crazier over the next two months, but I'm so excited for all the adventures to come (including a new nephew any time in the next couple weeks)!

Happy August! And you'll see a lot more of me once I graduate hopefully. For better or worse...;)


Saturday, July 4

Fourth of July 2015




Happy Fourth, ya'll!

As most of you are aware, I'm not from the south at all, but the deeper we go into discussions of linguistics and grammar in English (in my ELANG 223 course), the less actual "rules" there seem to be. Which is a little bit confusing as a former editing minor, but what is "the right way" anyway? So anyhow, that means I can use ya'll and it's perfectly acceptable for me to do so. (P.S. if you take that class at BYU, Sister Nancy Turley is pretty great!).

I love America the beautiful! Land of the free, home of the brave. It's nice to forget our economic, social, and political problems for a day and just praise God for our freedom.

Our little family has lived in Provo for FOUR years and this was the first time we've been to the Freedom Festival or watched the parade! It was fun, even though it was very hot (everything is hotter, I've learned, when you have to carry a toddler or a baby through a tight crowd), but we loved spending some time with Whitney and Brian and sharing our fruit salad. Whenever an old car would go past and I could smell that strong, mechanical scent of gasoline, it reminded me of the boats on Lake Winnipesaukee. I'm thinking of home today as I always do on the holidays (fact: I've only spent one holiday with my family in the last four years).

Tenley was very tired and a little grumpy, but she enjoyed the parade and clapping and yelling "yay!" with everyone else. She also loved the horse-drawn carriages that went by. She kept saying to me, "More horsies, more horsies." Sadly, I was not in control of the parade floats or every other one would have had horsies just for her.



After a steamy morning, we fought the masses back to our car 6 blocks away (though it felt like 12) and then meandered back toward our apartment through a few side roads. It's not convenient to live on the corner of 900 east and University Parkway during holidays. They also re-direct our intersection. It's like hey, people, we live here and have to get home because the kids think they're dying and our brains can only take so much whining per day.

At home, we turned the A/C and bedroom fan on and everyone (but me, sadly) took nice long naps. I am incapable of taking naps unless I am at my limit (which happens very rarely, I guess I have a high exhaustion tolerance). I think I would enjoy a good nap now and again but I am always busy and by nature I can't sit still very long (unless it's like 10pm, the kids are in bed, and we're doing a netflix marathon). Basically, unless I'm sick (or one of the kids is) I definitely can't sit on the couch and watch TV all day (and I wouldn't want to anyway, I'm sick of TV). I hate being cooped up inside and am pretty certain I would get depressed if I didn't play outside at least once a day (and usually several times). Dalin and the kids are still asleep right now, so I am planing on getting a good start on my New Testament course, which is not looking as "easy" as I had expected it to be.


I did, however, finish my Composing Personal History course after turning in my 65 page final (and received an A--easy peasy;) so I am down to three courses until I am officially done!!!!! It's such a good feeling, even though I can't really celebrate all that much since I still have to complete New Testament in the next three weeks (eek!). I'm slightly anxious, but it'll work out.

I can't wait for August! I love Independence Day, but after there isn't really much to look forward to until my birthday. I'm not a happy birthday person. I usually don't care at all about my birthday (I just want to stay in my twenties forever--come on!), but I'm kind of excited for Tenley to turn two! I have a little Kelly doll for her that she chose at Target a few weeks ago and which I've been saving and I think she'll like having a little doll she can take with her. Plus my mom is coming for graduation because she's the best, and then I wish I could say we were going back to New Hampshire with her...and we are! Just not in August:/ But in mid and late September, we'll be heading home and hopefully we'll get a few warm ocean days and a few cooler fall days while we're there.

I am sorry to say this (especially when it's only July 4th) but I am already excited for fall! I used to be a summer girl (and still am when I can go to the ocean) but I love fall clothes and smells and flavors. And I'm really into that romantic feeling of the cooler air and harvest and colorful leaves. It's just pretty and the best. Plus, the fact that we're going to New Hampshire then has made me long for it just a wee bit more;)

Well, have a lovely Fourth and thank you so much to our service men and women. Will and Julie and any others I know--I am so grateful to you for your willingness to serve and protect us. You're the greatest! (Plus Will and Julie are having their first baby this fall so that makes things even more exciting!).
Two pics, because Ten's too cute not to share;)
P.S. Sorry for slacking on the blog lately...come August, my schedule should be freeing up substantially so, I ought to be much better;)

Thursday, June 25

Tenley Says (Part One)


Dalin and I really want to be able to remember the funny little phrases Tenley says as she learns to talk. At 20+ months, she can speak quite well--maybe not clearly, but she is intelligible to us at least. So over the next few months I am sure I will be adding sequels as funny things come up. It's highly unlikely that I'll remember them all, but I'll do my best. I hope we will look back someday and laugh at these silly things with our funny girl.

During sacrament at church, Tenley yells "AMEN!" after every prayer, hymn, and testimony. Sometimes she even says, "Amen! Amen!" It's quite loud. I think she believes the louder she is, the more righteous she will be.

She started saying, "Ow! Eyes!" (pointing to her eyes and rubbing them). "Ow, knees!" She tells us where she is hurt pretty well.

She also randomly started saying "No way!" when we ask her to do something she really doesn't want to do right then. We don't really say that so I'm not sure where she got it. Maybe her cousin who says that? I said, "Tenley, please go pick up that cereal all over the floor" and without stopping what she was doing, said: "No way." It was hilarious except I tried really hard not to laugh. Why are kids funniest when they're naughty??

"I do it!" She thinks she can do anything just as well, even better than Dalin and I can.

"Mo'!" (More) She says this for more food especially. Usually something we're eating. Usually candy or ice cream or grapefruit.

After changing a diaper once, I jokingly said to Tenley, "Hi, poop!" (I got that from Dalin...) and she immediately replied, "Hi poop!" I never said that again.

No more saying "Crap!" or "Shoot!" or "Geez!" either.

Whenever someone toots, she says in a very accusatory way: "Mama! Toooot." or "Dada! Toot." And she gets this huge smile on her face. A lot of times it'll be Declan though and she won't realize it so we'll say "No that was Declan!" and she laughs and says "Dec toot." She learned that from us because we always say, "Tenley! Did you toot?" However, it is much more funny when your one-year old calls you out on it.

"Go, Pete, go!" (thank you, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). It sounds more like "dough! dough Pete dough!"

"I-pad/pi-pad/ice-pad" Tenley says a variation of this word for three things: the iPad (for Elmo or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), her backpack, or an ice pack. Yes, she now asks more an ice pack when she gets hurt (mainly when she bonks her head, which is almost daily).

"ca'mere" or just "'mere!" (come here), while opening and closing her little fingers to beckon me toward her. She does this quite a bit.

"'s he otay?" I ask Tenley to check on Declan for me (I don't rely on her word though) and I'd say "Is he okay?" and now if Dec is sleeping, Tenley will poke him and then ask me all seriously: "'s he otay?" She also asks this when she sees me check on him from the doorway. It's pretty cute and hilarious.

"Hands!" She loves to wash her hands.

"Pop-pop!" Her favorite book is Dr. Seuss's "Hop on Pop." She knows what all the words in it mean because she points to each thing as I read about it (well, except Constantinople and Timbuktu).

"Potty, potty" Tenley will say this over and over until I bring her to the potty.

All she signs now are "pease!" or "mease!" (please) and "aw done" (all done) while she says them. I love how she still signs them.

We were at Target for the first time in forever, wandering the aisles of cute things and I said aloud to Tenley, "Why is there so much cute stuff here? It's killin' me!" and she replied, "It's killin' ya?" I about died laughing in the seasonal aisle.

If I pretend I'm leaving to get Tenley moving faster she says, "I'm humming! I'm humming!" (I'm coming:)

I was helping Tenley on the potty and rolled the back of her onesie up so it wouldn't be hanging in the toilet and she said, "Heyyy!" and reached behind her to unroll her onesie.

Whenever I tell Tenley she's going to time-out, she immediately signs and says, "I'm sorry, mama." Her little "sorry" is too cute and it's so hard to punish her after that! Especially because she sounds so sincere!

I've had to start saying "sit down" to her instead of just "sit" because she repeats after me only it sounds like a swear coming out of her little mouth.

Tenley has started saying, "He's sleeping" about Declan when she sees him sleeping somewhere.

She asks for "mo'" (more) horsey rides, more tickles, more tickles for Declan, more of my singing to her "mo' song!", and lots of other things.

She tries getting out of stuff now by saying "my dada! I want my dada!" ....

I ate something yucky and spit it out in the sink and Tenley saw and asked, "Was it gross?" I laughed and said "Yes. It was ewww," then she said, "Was it 'isgusting?" hahaha. "Disgusting" is my favorite word that she says right now.

She calls candy "minties"--a mix between candy and mints. She always asks for minties when we get in the car (where she knows about our stash of orange tic-tacs to use on her in emergency tantrum situations mainly) and she asks for "choc-it" (chocolate) after she goes potty, which is multiple times a day now. It's awesome!

If we eat candy in front of her or something that sounds like candy and try to hide it, she runs at you and says, "Mo' this! Mo' this!" She doesn't know what we are eating, but she knows she wants it.

I just adore our smart little girl. I can't BELIEVE she'll be two years old in less than two months. Are you serious? Or as Dalin taught Ten to say, "Are you ser-ous?"

Wednesday, June 17

Declan: 4+ months


Declan's four month stats (now closer to five months) are finally here.

Size:
  • Height: 25" (31st percentile--however we measured him against some other 4 month babies in our ward only days after and he was even taller than them and they were in the 75th percentile...I'm pretty sure the nurse measured poorly...he's closer to 26". Plus everyone is always telling us how long he looks.)
  • Weight: 14 lbs 8 oz (28th percentile! Yay for not being nerve-wrackingly little like Tenley!)
  • Head: (I can't remember but it was 60th percentile (which is weird because I thought his head seemed normal to small). 

Personality:

Declan is very alert and always wanting someone to be near him. When he spots someone walking by he is sure to shoot them a smile. This morning he was smiling at Dalin in the kitchen from the living room couch for a long time until Dalin finally noticed. Dec is also a screamer. A happy screamer, but it's a little bit obnoxious how high-pitched it is. Cute, but still obnoxious. He talks a lot especially directed toward Tenley. Declan also laughs and smiles super easily. He is very ticklish. The only trouble is he gets the hiccups every time I tickle him and then he gets frustrated. He mostly cries for food or attention. He gets bored being left alone too long but is easily satisfied even if he is just fed or held for five minutes.

Favorites:

Declan loves toys! Tenley had little to no interest in toys (and still doesn't for long periods of time)! I didn't realize babies would have such different preferences like that. He loves crinkle books, teething toys, anything he can suck on or chew. He also loves regular books! He will stop crying if I read to him. It is a lifesaver. I don't feel as though I am as diligent about reading to him as I was with Tenley, mostly for lack of time, but I'm going to keep at it. I want him to love books as much as his daddy and I (and his sister!) do.

Teeth:

He has two bottom teeth coming in so you could say he's teething except he doesn't really exhibit teething behavior apart from the excess drool. Plus the front teeth are thin and usually don't cause as much pain when they cut through the gums as canines and molars do.

Eating:

As for solids, we're kind of holding out a little longer at least, though I have let him suck on a halved red grape in my fingers and I recently gave him two or three tiny bites of rice cereal. He pushed it out with his tongue a little bit which I am taking as a cue he's not quite ready (Tenley was by now but that's fine with me!). Plus, even though it means breastfeeding full time for a little while longer, at least his diapers won't smell yet.

Sleeping habits:

Declan co-sleeps with us mostly. Some nights he starts in his bed, but we are very relaxed about it. I sleep better when he's by me usually or I freak out about his safety the whole night. He does this precious thing as he's falling asleep where he reaches an arm out and feels around looking for me. Then he clings to my clothing or skin so I won't leave him. It's the sweetest, especially when he can't find me and his little arm keeps lifting up and clawing around for me. It's less sweet when he finds my hair and grips it with all his might (he's totally a hair-grabber--Tenley didn't really do that that I recall). When he sleeps, if he's on his back his two little arms always end up above or behind his head. A lot of times he's on his side though (which is more convenient for nursing) and during naps or in the morning I let him sleep on his belly if he rolls over (which he usually does).

Movement:

Speaking of rolling, he rolls to his belly and now back to his back with ease. He also is quite mobile with his little scooting. If he isn't buckled into his bouncer he WILL either roll off, or scoot off and hang with just his shoulders and head on there, and try to keep going (but I usually catch him). He is a wiggly little fellow.

Pacifiers:

He is more choosy about his pacifiers than he was the first couple of months. The green hospital ones no longer cut it, and sometimes he will take a paci fine, other times he refuses.

Bathtime:

Declan is rarely given baths. He comes in the shower with me maybe once a week (I'm a believer in not over-bathing babies...toddlers is a different story) and is great. Tenley used to fall asleep on my shoulder in the shower but Declan hasn't come close to doing that. He liked putting his legs in our neighbor's kiddie pool the other day, too even though the water was quite cold.

He's a little champ and sweetheart and we love him.