Before I get to what "it" is, I must brag about our genius child. Annette will be 18 months this coming Friday, still young enough to be considered a baby but old enough to be a kid at the same time. She never ceases to amaze us with the things she learns each day. She has learned how to manipulate adults into giving her what she wants. It doesn't always work out for her, much to her disappointment. She's figured out that if she wants to be picked up and comforted all she has to do is lay on the ground and kick her legs and slam her fists. She tries this with Grandma after her cousin just a few months older than her is comforted after falling down. Her language is what amazes us most, though.She is able to communicate just about anything she wants with words. In the last week or so I have enjoyed counting with her. We were walking through the store and she started saying "one, two free, four." She said it about three times before I figured out what she was saying. Then the other morning as we were leaving she said "one two free four five sis." I was a proud momma! Since then, I've been able to get her started by saying "one" and then she'll say "two free four five." After five is sometimes six and sometimes seven. If I give her eight after that she'll say "nine" and I'll finish with ten. I'm not sure if she has figured out how to use numbers to count objects. She's been able to count to three with objects before but I haven't seen her go past that. I'm very excited to spend the next week home with her during fall break to see what new things she can learn!
So.... "it" has arrived. I thought we had hit "it" at about 13 months, but now I know it's really here. At 13 months that was just the start of the transition to toddlerhood. I think now at about 18 months, we have hit the "terrible twos." I know that's supposed to be when they're 2 years old, but in talking with other mommies, it seems like it goes for more like 2 years- from 18 months to 3 and a half. She was a pill and a half today. Nap time is usually very easy. She says she's sleepy and asks for night night and then goes to bed. If she decides she's not quite ready to sleep, she'll play until she is. Today she threw a fit and half taking a nap. And because she was throwing such a fit all day today, she ended up taking two shorter naps instead of her usual one long one. So it was two huge tantrums. Tonight we went to put her down for the night and it was an even bigger tantrum than any other today. Just screaming and crying like she might die. Speaking of manipulation, she kept throwing her baby doll (her most prized possession) out of the crib then begging for it to get us to go in there and get her out of bed. I did go in there but to her disappointment I only gave her back the baby doll and left. She has finally calmed down after some attention from daddy.
So there you have it, we are now the parents of a terrible two at 18 months. Still wouldn't trade it for anything, though!
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Happy Fall
Well, writing on this blog has not turned out like I thought it might. Abram has been pestering me to update it for a while now and I'm finally in the mood and available. I'm not quite sure what happened in February but at the end of March, as a slightly early birthday present, Abram got me my very first tablet. I had been wanting one and he totally surprised me with it! But without a keyboard, it's hard to really write blog posts so I'm blaming that on my lack of updates.... :)
Obviously we finished up last school and we have started another one. Only a couple weeks from fall break now! We celebrated Annette's first birthday in April with a dinner of chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and ice cream cake. Almost all family members from both sides were able to come celebrate. She got her very first baby doll from Mommy and Daddy and it has gone everywhere with her ever since. Sometimes she likes bringing other toys with her, but baby us always one of them. When she grows up she is going to be a mommy. I don't know if she'll be anything else, too, but she's ready to be a mommy now. Every time we tell her it's time to leave she goes looking for her baby. She needs to work on how she holds that baby sometimes, though.
Our summer went by too fast. I almost worked the afternoons at the theater in June and July but in late April I decided I wanted to stay home with Annette for the summer. So we had lots of fun while Abram worked full time. We did get to go on a little vacation to Utah in late July and that was fun. We headed up there for a family reunion for Abram's mom's family. I really enjoyed getting to know that part of the family. By the time we got home, Annette was so excited to sleep in her crib again and not the pack n play. She was pretty sick of riding in the car, too.
We did get to experience two things this summer; one that I didn't mind that much and wouldn't mind happening again, and one that I hoped never would and never will again. In late June we found out we had a surprise pregnancy. I was already several weeks along and although I had some big plans I was trying to put in place for the school year right at the time I was now due, I quickly adjusted them and we were very excited. Just 5 weeks later in early August, a few days after returning from our vacation, I miscarried that pregnancy. Even though the pregnancy was a surprise, we were still devastated. Within a couple days we did become very grateful for the experience and were thankful that circumstances had worked in our favor to make the experience less devastating than it could have been. We were thankful it wasn't our first pregnancy, we hadn't worked months for it, and we did not yet know the gender. We are excited for the opportunity to try for a little brother or sister for Annette when we are ready, though, in the near future.
My school year is shaping up really well. I love my new schedule with four orchestras in a row, and then two theatre classes in the afternoon. One of those classes is technical theatre so I finally have a dedicated group of people to do lighting, sound, costume, and set design. They are helping me to be so much more organized. My other theatre class is an acting class. Our new choir teacher is phenomenal and the kids really enjoy him.
Abram is back to school with a full schedule and working three days a week. He seems to be doing fine but has to work extra hard in his Physics class. He recently got his 1976 Suburban back to our house so he could work on it and has since gutted out the insides.
Annette is approaching 18 months in October and is the joy of our lives. Her language skills are incredible.For quite a few months she's been saying full sentences like "where's the puppy?" "where's the baby?" and "where'd it go?" She has started to be able to communicate just about everything she wants with words. She knows that "up" and "down" go together and what it means to be stuck. I took her to a volleyball game at school last week and she kept pointing to the court yelling "ball!" and in between plays she'd look around, shrug her shoulders and say "where'd it go?" She just loves her cousin Kingston, who is 7 months older than her. They play together at Grandma's at least twice a week while their mommies are at work. Every time she sees him she giggles in delight. She loves books and baths and playing with toys. We were quite impressed recently when she asked for our friend, Ciara, by name. She never ceases to amaze us with the new things she learns each day. Watching children grow is an incredible and rewarding experience.
That about sums up what's been going on in our lives. So to finish, here are some family pictures taken by our lovely sister-in-law, Lindsey, while we were in Utah in July.
Obviously we finished up last school and we have started another one. Only a couple weeks from fall break now! We celebrated Annette's first birthday in April with a dinner of chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and ice cream cake. Almost all family members from both sides were able to come celebrate. She got her very first baby doll from Mommy and Daddy and it has gone everywhere with her ever since. Sometimes she likes bringing other toys with her, but baby us always one of them. When she grows up she is going to be a mommy. I don't know if she'll be anything else, too, but she's ready to be a mommy now. Every time we tell her it's time to leave she goes looking for her baby. She needs to work on how she holds that baby sometimes, though.
Our summer went by too fast. I almost worked the afternoons at the theater in June and July but in late April I decided I wanted to stay home with Annette for the summer. So we had lots of fun while Abram worked full time. We did get to go on a little vacation to Utah in late July and that was fun. We headed up there for a family reunion for Abram's mom's family. I really enjoyed getting to know that part of the family. By the time we got home, Annette was so excited to sleep in her crib again and not the pack n play. She was pretty sick of riding in the car, too.
We did get to experience two things this summer; one that I didn't mind that much and wouldn't mind happening again, and one that I hoped never would and never will again. In late June we found out we had a surprise pregnancy. I was already several weeks along and although I had some big plans I was trying to put in place for the school year right at the time I was now due, I quickly adjusted them and we were very excited. Just 5 weeks later in early August, a few days after returning from our vacation, I miscarried that pregnancy. Even though the pregnancy was a surprise, we were still devastated. Within a couple days we did become very grateful for the experience and were thankful that circumstances had worked in our favor to make the experience less devastating than it could have been. We were thankful it wasn't our first pregnancy, we hadn't worked months for it, and we did not yet know the gender. We are excited for the opportunity to try for a little brother or sister for Annette when we are ready, though, in the near future.
My school year is shaping up really well. I love my new schedule with four orchestras in a row, and then two theatre classes in the afternoon. One of those classes is technical theatre so I finally have a dedicated group of people to do lighting, sound, costume, and set design. They are helping me to be so much more organized. My other theatre class is an acting class. Our new choir teacher is phenomenal and the kids really enjoy him.
Abram is back to school with a full schedule and working three days a week. He seems to be doing fine but has to work extra hard in his Physics class. He recently got his 1976 Suburban back to our house so he could work on it and has since gutted out the insides.
Annette is approaching 18 months in October and is the joy of our lives. Her language skills are incredible.For quite a few months she's been saying full sentences like "where's the puppy?" "where's the baby?" and "where'd it go?" She has started to be able to communicate just about everything she wants with words. She knows that "up" and "down" go together and what it means to be stuck. I took her to a volleyball game at school last week and she kept pointing to the court yelling "ball!" and in between plays she'd look around, shrug her shoulders and say "where'd it go?" She just loves her cousin Kingston, who is 7 months older than her. They play together at Grandma's at least twice a week while their mommies are at work. Every time she sees him she giggles in delight. She loves books and baths and playing with toys. We were quite impressed recently when she asked for our friend, Ciara, by name. She never ceases to amaze us with the new things she learns each day. Watching children grow is an incredible and rewarding experience.
That about sums up what's been going on in our lives. So to finish, here are some family pictures taken by our lovely sister-in-law, Lindsey, while we were in Utah in July.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Back to the grind
This post may not have happened as soon as I thought it might, but it is my second one this month!
We returned to school and work the first Monday of this month and it's hard to believe we're finishing up our fourth week back already. Abram is taking classes only in his field this semester and working three days a week after school. He's taking a night class on Wednesdays, so Annette and I get to spend some quality time together that night. I went back to work the same day and I'm continuing to work hard at building up my music programs. One thing that has been "solidified" about next year for me is that I will no longer be teaching choir. I will only be teaching orchestra. When I graduated and was looking for a job, I thought that my dream job was to teach orchestra and choir and do after school drama at a small school. I found just that. Well after a year and a half at that, I've learned that that's too much for one person to do. I don't know how I did it as a first-year teacher while pregnant. I also have realized that while I'm adequate at teaching choir, I'm not great and the choir program could be much stronger with a "real" choir teacher there. Plus, my orchestra program suffers because I can't spend all my time focusing on just that. So I'm excited to welcome a new choir teacher in and hand them that program in the fall.
Annette is growing so fast! She's already 9 and a half months old and we're starting to look ahead to her first birthday. She loves spending time with her grandma during the week. She has gotten to be a pro at clapping, standing and holding on with just a couple fingers, and crawling up and down stairs. She has also gotten smart enough to know how to be sneaky. We're working on standing. She doesn't trust that she can balance herself but sometimes we get a second or two before she starts to go down. At her 9 month appointment a couple weeks ago she measured between the 75th and 90th percentile in height but only the 50th to 75th in weight. I don't know what that means for the future yet, but she seems on track to be taller than mommy.
And now that I've gone through the boring stuff, here are some pictures for your enjoyment:
We returned to school and work the first Monday of this month and it's hard to believe we're finishing up our fourth week back already. Abram is taking classes only in his field this semester and working three days a week after school. He's taking a night class on Wednesdays, so Annette and I get to spend some quality time together that night. I went back to work the same day and I'm continuing to work hard at building up my music programs. One thing that has been "solidified" about next year for me is that I will no longer be teaching choir. I will only be teaching orchestra. When I graduated and was looking for a job, I thought that my dream job was to teach orchestra and choir and do after school drama at a small school. I found just that. Well after a year and a half at that, I've learned that that's too much for one person to do. I don't know how I did it as a first-year teacher while pregnant. I also have realized that while I'm adequate at teaching choir, I'm not great and the choir program could be much stronger with a "real" choir teacher there. Plus, my orchestra program suffers because I can't spend all my time focusing on just that. So I'm excited to welcome a new choir teacher in and hand them that program in the fall.
Annette is growing so fast! She's already 9 and a half months old and we're starting to look ahead to her first birthday. She loves spending time with her grandma during the week. She has gotten to be a pro at clapping, standing and holding on with just a couple fingers, and crawling up and down stairs. She has also gotten smart enough to know how to be sneaky. We're working on standing. She doesn't trust that she can balance herself but sometimes we get a second or two before she starts to go down. At her 9 month appointment a couple weeks ago she measured between the 75th and 90th percentile in height but only the 50th to 75th in weight. I don't know what that means for the future yet, but she seems on track to be taller than mommy.
And now that I've gone through the boring stuff, here are some pictures for your enjoyment:
She was happy to be on a walk at the memorial park
Boo from Monsters, Inc!
I don't know how it ended up on her eyebrow
Helping daddy pack for a weekend drill
She does her own laundry!
Addicted to TV already
Sometimes eating just makes me tired
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy New Year!
It is my goal to write on this blog more often this year. Not so much for you as readers (sorry), but for me and Abram as a record for our family. So if you don't see a post for awhile ever, bug me about it.
The fall semester came and went for us really quickly. We're glad that Abram passed his classes and is prepared to move on to more. He's looking forward to an internship (hopefully at the place where he currently works!) next summer and I'm looking forward to a fun second semester in my second year teaching. I actually get to finish the school year this year since last year I left at Easter on maternity leave. My school is in the process of trying to get a bigger campus. It has been promised to us but we don't know if it will happen next fall or a whole year later. We're keeping our fingers crossed for next fall!
Annette is a happy, cute baby. She is the joy of our lives. We have enjoyed spending the time with her during vacation. She's 8 months old and starting to get where she understands how to play and laughs at the silly things we do.. She crawls all over the place (has been since she hit 7 months), stands up on everything, and is starting to throw big tantrums! Welcome to the next 18 years of our lives.... :)
Christmas was tons of fun. My brother and his family came in from Utah two days after Christmas so we had Christmas with my family on the 28th. So the celebration went on the entire week. Annette got tons of new clothes, a high chair, an entertainment saucer, a walker, some toys, and some neat dolls and stuffed animals. Just what a baby likes. Mommy and daddy got new sheets, some movies, accessories for the truck and some great decor pieces.
We are excited to see what 2013 has in store for us and the blessings we will receive!
The fall semester came and went for us really quickly. We're glad that Abram passed his classes and is prepared to move on to more. He's looking forward to an internship (hopefully at the place where he currently works!) next summer and I'm looking forward to a fun second semester in my second year teaching. I actually get to finish the school year this year since last year I left at Easter on maternity leave. My school is in the process of trying to get a bigger campus. It has been promised to us but we don't know if it will happen next fall or a whole year later. We're keeping our fingers crossed for next fall!
Annette is a happy, cute baby. She is the joy of our lives. We have enjoyed spending the time with her during vacation. She's 8 months old and starting to get where she understands how to play and laughs at the silly things we do.. She crawls all over the place (has been since she hit 7 months), stands up on everything, and is starting to throw big tantrums! Welcome to the next 18 years of our lives.... :)
Christmas was tons of fun. My brother and his family came in from Utah two days after Christmas so we had Christmas with my family on the 28th. So the celebration went on the entire week. Annette got tons of new clothes, a high chair, an entertainment saucer, a walker, some toys, and some neat dolls and stuffed animals. Just what a baby likes. Mommy and daddy got new sheets, some movies, accessories for the truck and some great decor pieces.
We are excited to see what 2013 has in store for us and the blessings we will receive!
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