17 Months

I don't know if it's just the fact that I've been home more with Meili this month, or if it is an age thing, but Josh and I say so many times every day that we can't believe how smart she is. Not that I'm bragging that my child is smarter than everyone else's (even though there is that possibility :), I just think that around this age kids start picking up so much and learning so many new things everyday.


I love that when Meili and I talk now, we both can understand most of what the other is saying. Meili now knows...
-When I say we're going to read books, she goes upstairs and starts picking one out
-When the garage door opens, my phone rings, or I get a text, she says, "Daddy!"
-She knows that we need to pray before we eat and she folds her arms
-She dances when there is music
-She understands when I say that we're going upstairs, downstairs, or outside
-When I tell her to put on her socks and shoes, she can do most of the work herself
-My favorite...When I ask Meili her name she says, "Mei-Me."


These are the words that Meili can say (that I can think of off the top of my head):
Momma, Daddy, dog, nana (banana), book, bubbles, bird, ball, outside, shoe, baby, no, juice, and Amen. But most often she just points and things and says something that sounds like, "What's that?"


And our quest for good pictures continues... These are the best of the month.

The second Meili wakes up, she believes that she needs to be wearing shoes. However, these jellies that Josh got her, terrified her from the moment she saw them. Luckily, she got over it after a few days of coercing-because they're so cute!


If Meili could live outside, she would-which I am fine with because I love being outside too. She doesn't care what she's doing, if it's cold, or if it's windy like this day-she loves it!

We spent a weekend at my parents' house, and they had an easter egg hunt for the kids. It was such a fun experience for me, no matter how short-lived it was.

I asked her to say "cheese" and she yelled at me.

For my 27th birthday, I taught my first class at my new job, so the percentage of the day that I even remembered that it was my birthday was less than 1%. When I got home, Josh had made me a cake :) I didn't even notice, but he pointed out that the orange rolls are in the shape of an M-for Mommy.

Loved spending my birthday (even though it was only about an hour) with these 2! Thank you both!

What is this?

This is YEARS of hard work.

This is one of my proudest moments.

This is not perfect.

This is boring for most of you.

This seemed like an insurmountable task just a few short years ago.

This shows that I have some kind of scrapbook for my entire life from Jr. High to now. I am caught up!

The reason that I am making such a big deal of this is because…

A few years after Josh and I got married, I started getting down on myself, and thought, “Well I guess I will just never have a scrapbook for High School, College, or the first few years of our married lives. Because I’m sure as soon as I start having kids, I will want to do their scrapbooks and not work on my high school stuff.” So I kind of gave up. I had a scrapbook from Jr. High, and had done a few pages of dances that I went to in High School. Then I did our wedding scrapbook (which was 50 12x12 pages-no wonder I was so behind.)

Then I did a scrapbook for Josh’s football career. (There’s a story for that too. I started getting really down about Utah State football, and I hated some of the things that I heard people saying about the team and the players, so I wanted to do a scrapbook so that our kids could know that Josh worked really hard, and that the Win/Loss column didn’t really show the whole story. So I had to do it quick, while I still had memories about the good stuff.)

I was able to throw a college scrapbook together really fast. But then I was burned out, and started on High School, but just didn't like how it was going etc.

Then, there was Blurb....

Which has changed my life. I think I will try a different Digital scrapbooking program now just to see the difference, but I like that I'm familiar with Blurb, and their backgrounds are cute but not too-super busy or "scrapbooky" looking.

Here are some pictures-which will probably go down in history as the least exciting pictures in all of blog history-because they are pictures of pictures. But I am just so proud. And hope that someone who reads this, will see for themselves that they too could have this joyous feeling of being caught up!! And it's kind of fun to see how my style and technology have changed just in the last 10 years.

This is my Jr. High book, which for the most part, I did in Jr. High and High School.

Every single one of those letters I traced with a stencil, and cut out. Then traced out the little holes (in the E's and A's) and glued them on top. I also cut the frames for the pictures out by hand (GASP).

High School

Another High School-thank goodness for Cricuts, eh?

College-(Never mind the boy that's in most of the pictures. I just liked how these pages turned out. And in my defense, he was my boyfriend for a little while-but one of my best friends for much longer.)

Wedding. When we got married I told myself that I would never scrapbook it, because I wanted it to be perfect and knew that it never would be. But I did. And it is anything but perfect. But it probably took the most blood, sweat and tears of any of them.

Josh's football scrapbook is probably my favorite of the "real" scrapbooks-and it's a good thing, because he's probably looked at it...once.

About a year ago, my friend told me about a really good deal that they were having on Walgreens.com. So I did this one-the first year of our marriage-in about a day. And I can't remember, but I think it cost $7. But that was when I finally realized that I could probably get caught up.

Their program was definitely not my favorite and there wasn't a ton of customizing that you could do, but for a first, it will be just fine.

2008: So now I'm going to try to do one a year, and I think that will probably be manageable, especially if I continue my blog.

This one came by FedEx today, and is what prompted this blog. I was telling Josh yesterday, that I can't believe how excited I am for my books to come in the mail. It's not like it's going to be much of a surprise-I've looked at it a billion times on the computer and when I get them, they will just sit in the basement for years to come. But I do get so excited. I submitted this book last week, and the next day started watching my front door. Hey, you never know. Maybe the Blurb company will decide to print my book in the middle of the night, and ship it in less than a day even though I paid for standard shipping.

And, of course, this is my favorite one of any. Maybe that's because the baby in it is so cute!!!

For anyone who is thinking about digital scrapbooking, and has done the "old-school" scrapbooking-here's my sales pitch.

It usually takes me about an hour to scrapbook one page-the old fashioned way. Which, if you think about my wedding scrapbook that was AT LEAST 50 hours (and I can tell you that it was so far over that it's sickening.) And, like I said, that entire 2007 book took me about a day and all the other ones, I worked at for an hour or 2 at night for a couple weeks-maybe. (However, it does make it easier when you keep up on a blog.)

The 8x10 book that I got today-cost $40 with shipping. Meili's that is 12x12 was about $80 and it has about 50 pages. So if you compare cost: digital vs. "old school" it's not even close. My wedding scrapbook and Meili's first year have about the same number of pictures in them. And I remember it cost us about $40 just to get all the pictures developed for our wedding. So then when you add in the cost of the book, pages, page protectors, glue, stickers, brads, etc. etc. it's a pretty expensive hobby.

The last added bonus is that if you look at that stack of books at the top-that's a lot of space that they are taking up on a bookshelf in our basement. So if I kept up with that, I don't know where I would store them all, and don't really want to store them on a bookshelf in case of a fire or flood. So the digital scrapbooks take up much less space.

(However, I do still have lots of scrapbook supplies and money invested in it, so I'm sure I will do a few more the "old school" way.)

Whew...I'm long-winded...

With all that being said, and in the spirit of full-disclosure, I should mention that my High School one isn't REALLY all done. I have like 10 pages left-but you have to give me a break because High School is 2 GIANT books for me.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, I will say that almost everyday I come across a picture or a ticket stub that I wish was in one of my scrapbooks, but it isn't, so I'm sure I will make a "MISCELLANEOUS CRAP I FOUND" scrapbook one day as well.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, I would like to mention that my Jr. High, High School, and College scrapbooks have next-to-nothing about my family in them which is kind of a big chunk of my life missing. So I will probably have to do a "FAMILY ONLY" scrapbook someday.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, I haven't scrapbooked any races that I've run, because I decided that no one will ever care about any of that besides me, so I am going to do a scrapbook all about running.

So, moral of the story, is that I am not even close to being caught up, but for today, this is a good feeling.

Good-bye!

I had a little good-bye breakfast with some of my friends from work to celebrate me leaving. They told me that they did not want to see these pictures on my blog-so I told them not to look at my blog :)

It's sad how few pictures I have from work, when I worked with these people for 20-40 hours for the last 4 years. Most weeks, I felt like I saw them more than Josh.

Elaine and Julie

Hilary, Leigh, and Jillian

Jen and Laura

I will miss you all! But I will visit lots!

Tender Mercies, Bitter Sweet, and Breathing

I know, without a doubt, that the Lord is constantly aware of us, our needs, and not only what we need in our lives, but exactly how we need it to come. What is the most amazing to me, is how surprised I am every time I learn this yet again. As I look back at the last year or so, I feel so blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord in my life.

Tender mercy #1: Being called as the Young Women Sport's Coach.

Okay, in all honesty, this could either be a tender mercy for me, or a cruel joke for the Young Women-either way it worked. I am completely aware that I am not a good enough coach to get the girls to their true potential in basketball, but I know that it was for a reason that I was called.

I went back to work in January of last year. My director said that I could bring Meili with me to work as long as she wasn't a distraction-which for most people was about 4 months old. I was determined to stretch that out for at least a year. But, yep, low and behold, it got really hard to get work done in about March. I asked a few friends to trade off watching her, but that never really worked well because, since they are moms themselves, there was always something coming up, one of the kids was sick, or they lived so far away that I was driving almost as long as I was working. In February I had received my calling, so by about April, I felt good enough about a few of the Young Women in the ward, that I was able to ask one of them if she would watch Meili a couple times a week. Which has been such a blessing, and worked so well.

Tender Mercy #2: We lost our daycare provider, Josh was called to be the Young Men's President, and he got a promotion at work all in one week.

In August, I needed to find someone else to watch Meili in addition to the young woman. We found someone that I felt "good enough" about, and on New Year's Eve, just a few months after I felt like we were finally adjusted, she called and said that she couldn't watch Meili anymore. She was only watching her 9 hours a week, and since infants require a higher ratio, she had to hire someone in order to watch Meili. So she was losing money. I understood, but really didn't want to have to find someone else. Then Josh got a promotion which meant a little more money, but also working later nights-which was primarily when I worked. Then he was called to be the Young Men's president, which I figured would take whatever nights we still had left. So I had no idea when I would be able to work and I figured between his raise, and what we were paying in gas and daycare, we would almost break even without me working. I told Josh that it was a sign that it was time for me to quit. I knew that the Lord was telling us that I needed to be home, and he would bless us so we could make it happen.

Josh was a little hesitant, in part, because of the extra income that we would be losing. But I think mostly because he knows my personality, and knew that I would be so sad to leave my job. It really wasn't a good time for me to leave anyway, so Josh said that we would find someone to watch Meili for the interim until I made my final decision.

Tender Mercy #3

At the end of January, Josh saw a job posting in the newspaper, and said, "Hey, isn't this what you do?". I had heard about it at my job but didn't really think anything of it. Josh said that I might as well apply, because it was for only 10 hours a week (as opposed to the 20 that I had been working), and he said it may work better. I was nervous about applying. It's a long story, but the job was to teach classes through Utah State, which we were already teaching a very similar class at our center. I knew that people at my job would be mad at me for leaving to do essentially the same thing, but I applied anyway.

See, for the last 2 months or so, I heard these song lyrics in my head almost everyday, "I'm still alive, but I'm barely breathing."

That's how I felt. I wasn't being a good mom, I wasn't being a good wife, I was barely getting by in my callings, and I don't think I could even say that I was keeping my head above water at work. And it wasn't fair for Josh, my coworkers, my clients, me, and certainly not for Meili.

There have been a lot of people who have told me how much it breaks your heart when you leave your child with a babysitter and they just cry and cling to you. Yes, Meili did that, and it sucked, but for me it was harder when I got home and she was so excited to see me. I almost felt worse that she wasn't even holding it against. She just trusted me wholeheartedly again, even though she knew full well that we would go through it all again tomorrow.

So, I applied for the job. In the interview, they said that I would be able to do a majority of my work from home-and I was sold.

The whole process took about a month-for me to get hired, tell my current job, work 3 more weeks etc. And through that month+, I have gone through the whole range of emotions. I know I sound a little melodramatic, but I loved my job. I believed wholeheartedly in what I was doing. It was challenging. There was never a day that was the same as the day before. I loved my coworkers and I loved the clients that I was working with.

I worked at the center for 4+ years. So when I categorize my life, I can break it in to different periods of time: Elementary School, Jr. High, High School, College, and the CFSC, and I feel like that time defined me just as much, if not more, than all of the previous ones.

Anyway, I've babbled long enough. So I will say, that I am so sad that yesterday was my last day at the center. But I will also say that I know it's the right decision, and I know that this whole process has been filled with tender mercies from the Lord.

(I'm also really excited about my new job!-and not just the working from home, 10 hours a week part)

When I found out that I got the job, Josh got me the flowers in the picture at the top, and this is the card that he (and Meili) made me.

In case you can't read it, it says,

"Mommy,

Congratulations on getting the new job. We love you and know you will do an awesome job. Meili is so happy that she gets to spend more time with mom now.

Love, Daddy & Baby"

I cried, and remembered why I do everything I do.

Obsessions

A couple weeks ago, I finally cracked and uttered the words that, as a mother, I promised myself I would never say,

"No more books Meili!"

I am not exaggerating when I say that we read for probably AT LEAST an hour everyday...and she's 16 months old. I feel like she has quite the collection of books for being 16 months old.

And of course, she doesn't want to read all of them. She wants to read the same ones over and over and over again. I think she's actually doing pretty well for her age. She's kind of grown out of board books already, and her favorites lately have quite a few words, and she'll actually sit and listen to a good chunk of the book. But she doesn't like it when Josh or I try to get through the book quicker by just telling her about the pictures. She wants the real thing!

And if we haven't read enough that day, she will go in her room and get her favorite book at the time, and chase us around until we stop what we are doing and read to her.

So, yes, in a moment of weakness, I cracked. But I have repented and continue reading to her all day everyday.

I can't figure out why she likes the books that she does. Josh and I will buy a book for her for whatever reason, thinking that she will love it...and then nothing.

Brown Bear was what I consider her first favorite book. I think it's funny because Josh really liked Brown Bear when he was young. His parents said that they used to say, "Purple kitty, Purple kitty..." and for some reason Josh changed that to "Purple dubba, Purple dubba..." So then, when Meili got the book, for some reason she became obsessed with the Purple cat, and would laugh when she got to that page, and didn't want to turn to the next.
Then came December, when we had to read this multiple times a day, to the point that I still have it memorized.
This was the one that absolutely baffled me. This book is really wordy, and the pictures are mostly black and white and pretty detailed. But she loved it.
My sister gave Meili this one, and promised that her girls loved it. It's a silly book, but I totally didn't think Meili would understand the humor. Sure enough, she chased me around with this one for a couple weeks.

Now I know that Meili can't really be blamed for her obsessive behavior. She may have gotten it from at least one (if not both) of her parents.

One day, Josh came home with these shoes. I thought they were SO cute.

Then he found a really good deal on these two pairs.

I told him that Meili really doesn't NEED that many pairs of shoes-especially all tennis shoes, because she will only wear them for a couple months anyway. Josh said he agreed.

Then these ones came in the mail.

And yes, this is my watch collection. I could have taken pictures of all the clocks in my house, but it would have taken too long.

I just don't know where Meili gets her obsessive personality from :)