James

James has been learning a lot of new things lately...he is certainly growing fast.

Catching a ball:

He already knew how to play catch, he just couldn't do it very well. The other day we started playing catch and he consistently threw the ball and caught the ball for about twenty minutes. Yay! I am so excited that he is learning how to do cool things like this! And I am really excited that I get to teach him! Pretty soon I will be able to play basketball and soccer with him! I am not very good at sports but I still like to play sometimes. I can't wait!

The potty:

So far James has gone to the potty (on the potty) twice. So I have been thinking about trying to potty train him. I think I will try and see how it goes. I am not sure if he is really ready, but I think we will give it a week. If he does well, then, great! But if he is not ready then we may have to give it a rest and revisit the subject later.

Talking and the Alphabet:

James has this toy that allows him to push a letter of the alphabet and it will say & display the letter , letter sound, and two words that start with that letter and display pictures of them. He has been repeating everything he hears lately so this toy I really think is helping him learn about the letters and how they tie in to our language. Sometimes I try to do the same thing with him but he doesn't always want me to. At least he loves electronics so using his toy is playing to him and he goes over the alphabet a lot.

Christine

I have a beautiful baby girl! She is now almost 3 months old! For those of you who don't know...she was born May 6.

And although having a new baby as well as a toddler has been very exhausting...there have been wonderful times, too.

Now she smiles and coos at us. Like the other day James and I were singing together and she loved it! She was smiling through the whole song and just looking at us. I love babies, they don't care if I am off key. :)

James loves being around her. He asks to hold her frequently, so I help him. He also asks if he can burp her, but I tell him no. When she starts to cry he says, "Uh oh. Baby. Uh oh." He is such a good big brother; he tries to help by putting her pacifier in her mouth, or when I ask he will bring me burp cloths, diapers, wipes or whatever is needed.

I was worried for a while because she spits up A LOT. However, I have relaxed a little now because at her last appointment she weighed in at 9lbs 11 oz. And I am sure she will keep growing.

Now I am still not getting any amount of quality sleep. (Which started in my third trimester) I know this sounds odd, however because of her eating (sometimes every hour) & spitting habits even when I do sleep its not for very long. So I am sorry if you talk to me and I don't make much sense or I am monotone and not excited or enthusiastic. It doesn't mean that I don't like talking to you...it just means that I am a walking zombie. :) And I am sure it will get better soon.

pictures

I have come out of hiding!

I know it has been forever since I posted, but hopefully I can keep up with this again.

One of my very wise friends told me that blogging is pretty much her way of keeping a journal. And since I don't journal like I should...then I should blog more. :)

One of my favorite things in life...my son. Now we all know that I am not really a great singer. I used to get by okay in high school choirs and church. But I went for a while not singing at all pretty much and now I would say that I can't sing at all. But my poor baby still has to listen to me sing.

I actually sing to him most of the day. I think it is a great way to help him learn. Songs stick in my head way better than anything else. So I sing to him a lot about a lot of different things.

And almost every day while I am singing there is a wonderful moment where he will stop whatever he is doing and look me in the face and just smile. The biggest and cutest smile I have ever seen in my life! Even if I am feeding him, he will stop eating and look at me, smile, and go back to eating.

So I think that James' little spirit really likes music.

Also, sometimes when I am singing and dancing with him around the house he will start to giggle. And of course his giggle is so cute that then I can't even finish the song, because I am giggling too!

I love my son! And he is a huge blessing to our lives that we don't really deserve...but the Lord is wonderful! And I am sure that Ryan and I will need the Lord's help the be a blessing to little James, too.

One final note...
I was listening to a talk on tape that our friend Jared gave me for Christmas. One of the things the speaker pointed out is that each member of a family has different spiritual gifts, so that they can balance and help each other out. And so all together the family is more complete and strong. I have been thinking and wondering... maybe one of James' gifts/ strengths is joy. Joy is something that Ryan and I struggle with sometimes especially over the last few years. So what that woman said seems to be very true.

The End...

Love you all!

Wow, I am not very good at writing regularly. And a lot has happened since the last time...

Family life is good...I'm sure you all know now that Ryan and I have a bun in the oven. I dont have my first appointment until October 29th. And that makes me very very nervous because I have never done this pregnant thing before and I want it to go well. I think I would have an appointment everyday if I could just so I would always know everything is okay.

It is kind of frustrating that I analyze everything (that should help me be a good counselor right?), and then I am concerned about several things. Eeek! And I have been pretty much nautious all day every day for a month atleast. Grrr...

But even if our excitement is premature....Ryan and I are very excited. We have sooo much to work on and get ready. We have thought about names, but produced none yet. We also want to teach our kids sign and spanish from the time they are born. I have been looking for classes on teaching children things like reading and multiple languages, etc.

Well, I want to teach my children a ton of things before they ever enter school, but I cant teach it all to an infant so right now I am trying to figure out what you can teach to a child by the time it turns one exactly and how to do that.

Oooh, I just had an epiphany! I can buy children's books in Spanish, too! That would help. I can read Spanish fairly well because my ability to pronunciate vowels was drilled into me by my first Spanish teacher, but I cannot speak it fluently. Ryan will have to head up that part of the project.


Right...I talk a lot.

Next.

School is okay, I stink at Math...so I am working on it. But Psychology and Dance are going great!

We had a "mock" dance competition at our school. And we had a dance partner assigned to us. At first I didn't really like that idea but it turned out okay. We competed against all the students in the same level as us, Bronze International Ballroom Dance (we are just beginners). My dance partner and I ended up third among our peers. I was kind of relieved because I love dancing a ton and I have always wanted to dance, and dance well. Third is not bad, even if we are just beginners. :)

Work...

Substitute teaching is taking a back burner. I will probably still try to do some, but I am waiting to see if this nautious feeling will go away after the first trimester.

I found a phone job taking surveys, where I can sit down and have a flexible schedule. :) It is so nice. It is in the evening and usually I am even more nauseated in the evening but at least I can sit down and have food and drink at my desk. :)

Other stuff...

I never ever sleep through the night and I usually can't sleep any substantial amount of time at once. So if I seem more of a ditz or spacey that is probably why. Ha ha, oh well.

Ryan and I went to the zoo with his mom, and his sister Natalie and her boys. It was so fun! I have some pictures.

After the zoo, Ryan planned a special date. It was soooo nice. A complete surprise. He brought me my favorite flowers. Took me to one of my favorite restaurants, surprising me with us meeting my favorite friend, and then we went bowling. And by the end of the day I was exhausted but between the zoo and my husband from heaven I was very happy.


And I will post some of us attempting to hike Timpanogas from about a month ago. Ryan could have made it, but I was exhausted because we went dancing until 2am, then we drove to Mt. Timp. Slept in the car for two hours then started hiking. We took a 45 minute nap in the first meadow, and I think a couple hour nap in the second meadow. But I still couldn't go all the way. We had fun, though.



And I am hungry so I need to go.

Have a good day!

Life is good.

I got an 'A' on my first math test!!! Yay! Thanks to Ryan and my teacher I am actually getting it, which is a big deal. Especially since I have struggled with math for quite some time.

AND I had to write a paper for psychology that was so fun! I really forgot how much I love writing until I sat down to write that paper today and words just started flowing. :) I asked Ryan to read it, to make sure that it made sense and he approved. :)

Also, it looks like we get a free date this saturday (olive garden and a movie) from US Synthetic.

Life is good.