The things we forget

I'm trying to do a better job of documenting the things Vivienne does more commonly that I may forget down the road because we just take them for granted. For example: Vivi tries to scare people. Really. She yells "Baaahhh!" and gets her hands out and it's a full body convulsion. She loves doing it! Most people either react by pretending they're scared or scaring her back, which usually just makes her yell "Baaaaahhhh!" louder and getting her body even more into it. I need to get that on video.

And she loves books! As you can see from the picture. She says 'Book' (it's a pretty soft 'k') and will bring one to us and then sit herself on our lap (she MUST sit on our laps our there will be issues). She's really good about flipping through them herself. I hope this is a habit we can continue to encourage...although, I don't know if we will have room on our bookshelf for it; she already has her own section of the book shelf!

She loves to dance! We just discovered last week that you can make her start dancing just by saying the word 'dance' or 'dancing;' it's hilarious. She rocks back and forth, will twirl in circles, claps her hands, etc. But her signature move is to put her 'hands in the ayaa (air) like she don't caya (care)'! She'll do that in the car if a song comes on the radio that she likes. A song will come on and see her little hand pop up in my rear-view mirror. We just put her in a foward facing car seat this weekend and now I'm a little worried I'll be busy watching her dance when I should be watching the road.

She doesn't like giving kissies and she's good for the occasional hug, which is funny because she gets hugged so much. Now that I think about it, maybe she thinks she gets hugged, too much :)

She LOVES swimming. On Friday we went swimming with Janetta and Miles and Audrey her boys. She swam the whole hour at the MLT Rec Pavilion! It was amazing. I put a floaty noodle under her chest and kinda supported her legs and she just floated around the pool! She walked into water up to her chest without blinking, fell in face first a couple times without crying, walked, crawled, and jumped into the water! The other really cool thing is that, using an infant lifejacket with a head support, she floated around the lazy river on her back and had so much fun! She such a water baby and I bet she can swim by the time she's two. You can hold me to that. :)

Hello, Bye Bye

Vivienne has the cutest habit of saying "Hello" when she wakes up for the day (if she's not ready to get up for the day and just wants to nurse, she just cries). Earlier this week when I laid her down for bed, she looked at me and said "Bye bye" before sticking her thumb in her mouth, rolling over, and going to sleep without a peep. It was so sweet.

This week she also discovered our butt cracks. Doug told me that she stuck her finger in his butt crack when it popped out as he bent over; I thought that was pretty funny. The next day, my pants must have been sitting a little low as I packed her diaper bag because she came and did the same thing to me! Not only that, but after I pulled up my pants, she started pulling them down so she could point at my crack again! Hilarious.

She's really good at saying "Hello" to anyone and everyone, especially in the grocery store. Most of the time people are really nice and say "Hello" back, but I have to admit I get kind of upset when she tries over and over to say Hello to someone and they either don't hear her or don't respond. I'm just want to say "Hey, she's saying hi to you and she's new at this, so could you please indulge her!" Anyway, Vivienne always makes friends wherever she goes...people love her.

I've started reading a Love and Logic book, which I love, but I'm not sure I'll be good at. It requires parents to not show anger, but empathy. I think I'm pretty patient...to a point. As any parent knows, there's a point where you just start screaming at or with your child. Our situation is made even more difficult because Vivienne doesn't have her room that I can 'send' her to for discipline, that Doug is usually sleeping in our room during key times, and her age. A lot of the concepts are too old for her and the ones that aren't, I can't really implement because of our living situation...and I'm kind of a pushover :)

A day off

Yesterday afternoon I left Vivienne with Doug while I spent the evening instructing a soccer referee clinic in Mount Vernon (about 1 hour North); the clinic continued through Saturday, so I stayed the night at my parents in MV. This meant I got a night and day away from Vivienne! I love my daughter very much, but it sure was nice to get a good night's sleep and sleep in until 7:45am! Today I taught at the clinic all day, went to a youth football jamboree where I watched my niece as a cheerleader, and went to a girls' night at my sister's house for a while.

So this is what it's like to have a life! Ever since I started working full-time at the YMCA, I don't think I've had a 'life.' My work hours were often-times long and almost always in the afternoon, evening, and weekend, which meant I missed most social opportunities. Not to mention the hour-long commute just wiped me out most days.

I will say that I think Vivienne actually improved my socializing opportunities because of all the 'play dates' we did with other kids/moms and now that I'm home more, my schedule is much more flexible (although I'm still exhausted most of the time). However, it's still limiting. The last 1.5 days it was nice to not have to worry about whether it was approaching nap time, whether I brough enough snacks, 'oh crap, she just pooped,' etc.

I'd like to say I missed Vivienne so much that when I got home, my heart melted and I cried when I saw her. But that's just not true. It was only 1.5 days and I know I'll get the opportunity to re-introduce myself later tonight...probably around 2:30am.

Busy, busy

Vivienne is getting to be so much! Today she got into cabinet, pulled out the pots and pans, crawled inside, and shut the door on herself. She thought it was so much fun when I yelled "Vivienne, where are you?" so we did that for about 10 minutes. So cute.

Yesterday wasn't so fun, though. She was one sick baby Sunday night and Monday morning. She was hot and sweaty, threw up all over Doug, was so lathargic, and wouldn't eat/drink anything until the mid afternoon. It was actually scary, but by mid-afternoon she started to become more of herself. We're thinking she either got dehydrated, got too much sun, or swallowed too much yucky lake water when we were at the beach for the a couple hours on Sunday with some friends.

I have been so busy keeping up with my 16 hours a week doing the marketing for the Y, keeping up with Vivienne, cooking healthier meals, keeping our place relatively tidy, doing what needs to be done for a new web site (more on that later), and more. I just wish Vivi would sleep through the night!

Terrible two's!

Ok, so she's only 15 months, but this has to be the terrible twos or an ear infection or some serious teething. This past week or so she has not been a whole lot of fun to be around. Not just fussy, but also mean (ok, as mean as a 15 month old can get). She thinks slapping me is fun, she won't let me out of her sight, she cries when she wants sympathy/attention (and then she won't let go of my legs), freaks out when she doesn't get what she wants, and has half her butt hanging out most of the time because she's wriggling all over the place (screaming) when I try to change her diapers. We are going to the doctor tomorrow and I hope they tell me it's an ear infection or something because I'm about to go midevil on this kid.

I did actually put her in momentary timeout today. It kinda worked. She was having a melt down for no reason so I put her against the wall and told her she was going to stay there until she calmed down. It only took a minute or two for her to stop and then start looking around for something to do. That's all I wanted her to do, so I let her go. Granted I had to put her back in timeout 3 minutes later for another meltdown, but the result was the same. So, I would consider that a success!

Unfortunately, our shopping trip to Goodwill was not as successful. She pulled down a box filled with Rice Crispie treats at the checkoutlines (don't store managers know they are creating hell when they put the candy and stuff there where we just have stand there and wait in line?). Luckily, a nice lady helped me put them back (I have a feeling it was more because she felt like she'd look like a jerk if she didn't than because she wanted to...which she should totally would've).

I'm really enjoying taking the time to plan and make meals for my family. Not all of them are really healthy. Doug likes a lot of cheese and got me a recipe book where every recipe has bacon in it (hey, it got him to eat a broccoli salad), but they are still healthier than the frozen/prepared meals we used to buy at Costco. I think all of us, including, Vivienne are enjoying the variety of meals I prepare. For a couple weeks now she hasn't been eating very much, but it's slowly gotten better the last couple days. I still hate cleaning up, but it's not as big of an ordeal because I have more time to do it (ie if I don't get it done right after dinner, I know I can do it after breakfast).

One thing is for sure in all this: we are getting closer as a family and my baby is definitely a stubborn little girl now :)

For posterity

Yesterday I bore my testimony in church and I had a good friend recommend I write it down and because I can't find my journal right now, here it is (as best as I can remember):

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who gave me and all his children the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us through this life. At the prompting of the Holy Ghost and through discussion with Doug and prayer, we decided it was best for our family for me to quit my job, a job that I loved and that I was good at, than to put Vivi in daycare. So now I am (pretty much) a stay at home mom. The blessings we have received since we made this decision tell me it was the right thing to do.

We still have lots of things up in the air and lots of questions: should Doug go back to school? what about jobs? should I get a parttime job? where should we live? should we try buying a house? However, I know that the path will be made clear to us as we need to know it as long as we are doing what we're supposed to. Since I've started staying home I've opportunities to serve friends, family, and mere acquaintances in ways I would not have been able to while I was working 8 hours a day, commuting 2 hours a day, trying to take care of my home, cook food, etc. I've had missionary opportunities that would not have taken place if I was still focused on my work every day. I've felt the spirit more strongly and more consistently recently than I have in the last 4 years. I am studying my scriptures more and reading other books about the gospel (right now it's 'Eve & the Choice Made in the Garden of Eden'), which is allowing me to explore and learn about the gospel. I am able to serve my husband and daughter better by preparing healthier meals for them, which I love learning about and doing.

This is not a testimony about being a stay at home mom. It is a testimony about personal revelation and willingness to do what the Lord wants you to do when He wants you to do. Everyone's circumstances are different, so the key is to do what's right for you and what the Lord wants you to do. The day before church, we went to a baptism and it's wonderful to realize that the spirit that prompted that gentleman to get into the waters of baptism is the same one that whispered to us the next step our family should take. One of the speakers paraphrased a beautiful saying by one of the apostles: 'what the heart knows today, the head will understand tomorrow.'

That is so true. My head is just starting to understand the reasons for our decision. The emotional payoff just between Doug and I has been so positive. I'm silly, goofy, expressive and not so naggy. It's great that we just don't have to be all business every time we see each other because now we are seeing each other more! Vivienne is really responding to not always being on the go and I love watching her grow daily.

Who knows what else the Lord has in store for us, but the steps will be revealed one at a time as we need them.