Peer-enting

I have a confession. 

Evie is my daughter.

And it's not just that she's my daughter, it's like she's a mini me.

Now here's the connect to the title:  Evie is like a teenage me.  She is totally cool hanging out and doing her own thing by herself.  She is her own independent person.  She is a miniature, introverted, empowered me.

I discovered this today, when I realized that since I became a full time mom, my daughter is not constantly requiring my attention.  Ergo, we do our own thing for most of the day.

I have become a lackadaisical mother.  How depressing is that!?  My degree is in Behavioral Science (Family Studies), translation: I should be the bomb at raising children.  Not that I expected to suddenly be awesome and proactive; I just expected to be more motivated to make play dates, spend an hour reading to her every day, and teaching her letters and how to be super smart.

Reality: We spend most of the day with the tv on while we multi-task pursuing our individual interests.  Occasionally we meet in the middle and play some.  Then there's naptime.  That's the one thing I'm proud of.  We read a couple stories and sing songs as part of the naptime routine.  But other than that we kind of just co-exist.  We're roommates.  What the heck kind of mother am I?

Oy.

Updates

 For the last couple months or so, we've been working extra hard to hold Family Home Evening.  At first we tried singing primary songs so that Evie would become familiar with them, then we'd have a story/lesson for the older members of the family, then we'd top it off with dessert or an activity. Evie had a hard time with structured family time lasting that long (15 minutes).  So we decided to focus them more on her, showing her pictures of Jesus and Heavenly Father, the goal being to get her to identify them on her own.  That particular FHE ended with Evie screaming bloody murder and being put to bed at 7:30, which benefited no one.

So the last two weeks have simply consisted of an activity (walk, getting ice cream) and singing primary songs.  Those worked out much better.  Anywho, the point of this story is that it's working!  In addition to this introduction to primary songs, I've been singing them to Evie when I put her to bed.  Last night, she tried singing "I Am a Child of God" with me.  So cute!  She's pretty good at singing "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam," "Popcorn Popping," and "Once There Was a Snowman," but it's nice to know she's learning the more spiritual ones.  Yay :-)  She can also identify who is in the pictures of Jesus in her room.

In other news, we are continuing the battle of solid foods vs juice fast. 

If Evie had her way, she would survive on juice, and never eat anything but hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and popcorn.  While most of her meals still end up being hot dogs or chicken nuggets, I am still fighting the battle to introduce new foods to the inside of her mouth.  The greatest success I've had so far is with-holding juice in order for her to take a bite, and the success hasn't been that great :-I 

 Why can't she just love food the way I do?

Lastly, I figured out a way to get pictures from my phone to the computer.  So here is the string of protruding belly shots I've taken of Baby #2.  She is definitely growing.  Mommy can feel it.

 15 Weeks

 16 Weeks

17 Weeks

 19 Weeks

 20 Weeks

 21 Weeks

25 Weeks

I feel I need to apologize for my hair in this last picture.  I'm working on growing my hair out, and doing that while I'm pregnant seems to be a good idea.  So, in an attempt to make it healthier, I've been trying not to destroy it so much, the way I usually do when I tease it and such.

My name is Brooke...and I'm a Mormon.

This last weekend was our church's semi-annual general conference.  I love conference, for lots of reasons.  I get to stay home and watch it with Brandon.  Sunday usually means we get together and watch those sessions with family.  But even if you take away the cozy, family aspect, you are still left with a phenomenal feast of spirituality.  No matter the questions or attitude I come into conference with, I am always left with an overwhelming feeling of love from my Heavenly Father.

During this conference, I had the impression to share my testimony.  I don't normally stand up during fast and testimony meeting to do this, but I felt that perhaps it would be better shared this way, even though most of you reading this are also members and have your own testimonies.  I appreciate the example you set for me, even through what you post on your own blogs--I look up to each of you :-)

For as long as I can remember, I've had a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of the Book of Mormon, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's church on the earth today.  At first this was a product of the instruction I received from my parents, extended family members, and teachers within the church.  But since my younger, more naive days, I have come to reinforce that testimony with knowledge gained myself.  I have read the Book of Mormon, prayed about it, and have felt the warmth and reassurance from Heavenly Father that it's teachings are true.  I have heard the arguments and been shown the literature of others who would dissuade me from my faith and my beliefs.  To those of you I say, I may not have the counter-arguments and responses to win a debate, but I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father that I can't deny.  I have felt his love, I have received answers to my prayers, and there are many instances in my life where I have gone against the "logical" and followed his promptings to find greater blessings than I could have planned for myself. 

I love the Church.  I love the gospel and doctrines taught within it, especially the doctrine of eternal families.  I am grateful for my temple marriage; that I am sealed to my husband and my children for time and all eternity.  They mean the world to me, and all the titles and worldly pomp I could gather for myself would be little consolation to me if I lost them after death. 

I testify that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.  He is the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I sustain him with all my heart.  He truly is a witness of Jesus Christ, not only through his words, but through his actions and demeanor as well.  Everything that I've observed of him speaks of love, kindness, and all other Christ-like attributes.

If any of you reading this are feeling lost, looking for answers, or simply have questions about the Church, I invite you to click on the "What We Believe" button on the side of my blog.  That will direct you to the mormon.org website and to some answers you may be looking for.

Happiness Today, and Tomorrow...and Probably Sunday.

I LOVE Fridays.

And I'll tell you why.

Brandon pretty much always has weekends off, so Friday marks the beginning of two days of uninterrupted "Brandon Time."  :-D  

Fridays also remind me that I have a life outside of being a wife and mother, namely, I get to see friends who are still in school, or who work.  Yay!

Overall, there is just something in the air on Fridays, be it sunny, cloudy, rainy, or what not, that screams "FREEDOM!"  Even though I'm not in school anymore, weekends are still a godsend, and Friday is another reason to give thanks.

And for this particular Friday, I think I'll be a little bit lazy.  Instead of scrubbing down and sterilizing the bathrooms, which is the usual plan for Fridays, I think I'll just clean the toilets and call it good.  Also, I am attempting to use my bread machine again...so far so good.  I've checked on it, and I have rising dough at this point.  In addition to home-made bread and minimal cleaning, I will be giving Evie a bath, which means a not stinky Evie (always a plus) and I get to do her hair some intricate way that will allow me to leave it alone the next few days :-)  So much fun!  As if that wasn't enough...I will maybe pamper myself a little.  Finish the manicure I started last night, or something else fun.  

And I get to see my friend Ashley tonight!  (Bonus!)

Saturdays are also great.  We usually stay in bed till 10, sometimes I make a big-ish breakfast.  Sometimes we go out and walk around the mall, or other stores, which is a high-light for Evie.  And this particular weekend means we get to see Brandon's family.  I enjoy this, because it means good company, and Evie gets to play with her cousin Alex (she only has the one).  

I love spending time with family :-)

Sunday will also be great, because this Sunday is Stake Conference, and Brandon's parents are in our stake.  So, we will get to see them at church, and instead of being 3 hours, church will only be 2 hours.  I feel that life is good right now.  

After church, we will come home, maybe Evie will take a nap, and around 2-3 that afternoon, we will walk to Brandon's parents' house (we live that close) and we will be treated to a phenomenal meal cooked by Brandon's dad, like we are every other week we come to visit :-).  I feel good about this.  

And then sadness will set in around 8, when the realization hits that the weekend is over, and Brandon has to wake up at 5 the next morning to go to work, and our week will start all over again.

But until then, I will be happy that I have the weekend to spend with good friends and wonderful family.

Random Musings

1. My back hurts.  Not that that is an uncommon occurrence during pregnancy, but it's starting to remind me of that stage of labor where the baby is about to come and your back is KILLING you because the baby's head is resting on the bottom of your spinal cord.  It hasn't been that bad, but yesterday it was that consistent sort of pain.  It wasn't my favorite.

2. On a happier note, I've finally got a cleaning schedule for the house.  Each day do a something, and usually, by the end of the week 90% of the house has been cleaned.  I feel good about this, in part because Evie likes to "help."

3. This pregnancy has been SO DIFFERENT from my first one.  Despite the "new" inconveniences, it has been a breath of fresh air, so to speak.  I can actually drink water, which I couldn't with Evie.  I feel like I can work out more, and I don't just have to lie on the couch all day b/c I feel like death.  I don't, or didn't, want sweets; that one was kind of sad.  But it's coming back to me :-)  And I definitely haven't been eating as much.  Woot!

4. My daughter thinks she doesn't need naps anymore.  

I strongly disagree.

Something about the way she gets bipolar around 7:00, is asleep by 8:00, and then wakes up at 4:00 the next morning isn't working for me.  This has happened twice this week.  I really don't want to resort to this, but I may have to lay down with her until she falls asleep.  That way I can monitor the "getting out of bed and playing with toys" situation.  On the one hand, I'm glad that she can stay in her room for 2+ hours and just play by herself, on the other hand, she needs a nap.  On the third hand, I really can enjoy her happy mood from 4:00 am to 6:00 pm.  On the fourth hand, if she's going to go to sleep at 8:00, she should at least be sleeping until 7:00 the next morning, which she isn't. Maybe I just need to wear her out more during the morning so she's tired enough for a nap come afternoon?

5.  I am TERRIFIED about our sleeping arrangement once the baby comes.  Mostly because I don't know what kind of sleeper this baby will be.  Should we put the baby in Evie's room, so that we can hear her when she wakes up, but don't wake up every time she moves?  Should we keep her in our room so that Evie's sleep will be as peaceful as possible?  Should one of us sleep on the couch with the baby downstairs, and have one parent attend to Evie at night, and one attend to the baby?  I just don't know, and it has always been the lack of sleep that scares me the most about having this baby.  I know that after the first few months it will all be behind us, I just hope I don't completely lose it before then.

6. Lastly, I recently acquired a bread machine.  I don't have the manual, so I searched online for general bread machine operating.  I thought I had it all figured out, Evie helped me put all the ingredients in the machine, and we were set!  Or so I thought.  After 3+ hours of rumbling and normal bread machine noises, I expectantly opened my machine to find some delicious homemade bread...and was sorely disappointed.  The first thing I saw was the flour and yeast...unmixed and dry.  Needless to say, we did not have homemade bread for dinner.  I feel like an idiot, but question:  Do I have to do the bread making in two parts?  Do the dough setting first, and when that's finished, do I do the baking setting?  I could have sworn that I had my pan all locked in with the kneading blade set, but maybe I didn't?  I don't know.  But I will be investigating this matter further. 

Still Alive!

Ugh, I know it's been forever since I updated our blog...like 5 months :-( So, here's a quick recap:

The biggest news is that we are expecting baby #2 in the middle of January, so I am 22 weeks pregnant right now, and the doctors are predicting a girl!  Yay!  Still trying to determine a name, but there's still time for that.  The biggest challenge with this change in our future has been preparing Evie for the arrival; the challenge being to help her acknowledge it.  Ah well, it will become all too real for her once the baby comes.

Big change number 2 is that we moved to Spanish Fork, UT at the end of May.  A little upgrade from our two-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom town house.  It came at probably the best time a move can come during a pregnancy, but either way, I detest moving at any time and it wasn't the most joyous event needing to eat during a majority of the process.  C'est la vie.

Also, we were able to get Evie potty trained before our move, which was an adventure.  I think we were pretty lucky though, because she got it down by the end of the second day.  I'm just happy I had Brandon to keep my sanity in check; that first day was awful.  But definitely worth it at the end of day two.  Since then she's been fairly consistent with using the "big girl potty."  Not to say she hasn't had minor relapses and accidents, but I feel overall our experience was not as bad as it could have been.  I'm mainly excited we got this taken care of at the beginning of the pregnancy, so that when the baby comes, Evie will have had nine months to have the whole thing down pat.  Also, we won't have to buy diapers for two kids. Bonus!

And finally, I have officially, OFFICIALLY, graduated with my Bachelor's of Science.  I received my degree in the mail shortly after our move, and at some point I may get it framed :-)  Now, what should I do with all that knowledge that I paid for? Hmmm....  At this point in time, I am thinking about teaching piano lessons to beginners.  This would allow me to work at home, it won't be super time-consuming, and it'll bring in a little extra income, which definitely wouldn't hurt.  So, for the past while I've been casually investigating different book series and tips/techniques for teaching...hopefully this will all come in handy if/when I can get this gig going.

That's a brief overview of what's been going on at our end of the universe.  I'm hoping now that the nausea has left, I'll be able to get back to being productive and keeping everything together more effectively. 

Fun Family Event!

Ok, as some of you may know, I've been doing an internship this semester at United Way of Utah County with their program, Help Me Grow.  For all of these last four months, we have been working on our annual family event, which is taking place April 30th at UVU Centre Stage. 

This activity has a ton of merit.  Parents with young children in the area: Please consider bringing your kids to this event.  There will be SO MUCH information on parenting alone that will make it worth your while, not to mention all of the fun activities that will occupy your children for 2 hours.  There is a fee for going, but it is minimal.  $5 for families with 1-2 children (this includes one child's t-shirt), $10 for families with 3-5 kids (2 children's t-shirts), and $15 for families with 6+ kids (3 t-shirts) *Additional kids shirts can be purchased for $2.50 a piece*.  Small price for a family outing.  Plus, if you register now *today* you will be entered into the final two drawings to win educational toys for your kids.

 

I'm really excited for this event.  REALLY.  I'm excited to see how much fun my daughter has.  I'm excited for all the parenting information that has been running around our office since I've been there to be put on paper for everyone to benefit from.  I'm excited to see all of the parents there learning how to help their children grow and develop.  I'm excited to see all of the pro-active-ness.  It's going to be AWESOME!