Parenting

Parenting has come fairly easily to me for the first part of Adelyn's life.  That doesn't mean that I think I am the world's best mother though!  A lot of it has to do with the fact that I have a super good baby, an amazing husband that does his fair share and I have had lots of experience with babies from babysitting and being a nanny, so there were no surprises.  The past week has shown me that parenting is going to be hard though. 


Now that Adelyn is mobile and her mind is making connections every day, she is starting to get into everything.  I am having a hard time knowing when and where to set boundaries.  Being a teacher, I know that a lot of children learn best through experiences.  I want her to experience and many things as possible but at the same time I don't want her to think she can do whatever she wants!  It is such a fine line!  And at what point does it have to be consistent?  After she has experienced something then can I set the boundaries?  Then does it make sense to her that yesterday it was ok to figure out how to do something, but then today it isn't.  It is all so hard and confusing!

Her newest discovery is learning how to open cabinets, empty the contents and climb in!

I find that I am starting to say "no" a lot.  Today as she was trying to get a glass decoration I told her no and she smiled and wagged her finger no at me.  It was kind of funny that she was mimicking me, but it made me realize that I have said no and shook my finger at her enough times for her to do it back at me.  I know that you are supposed to find positive ways to reinforce things but it is so hard at this age!  I tell her why she can't do different things but it is so hard when I am not sure if she even understands what I am saying.  At least I can be consistent in my phrasing so she can learn what the word means. I wish she could talk! 

I have a feeling that the next couple years will be a bit harder.  I feel a little bad that Adelyn has to be my guinea pig as I try to figure it out!  Like I said though, at least she is a good baby to help break me in!

Utah Friends

I am so far behind in blogging!  I never finished telling about my Utah trip.  Although it was a whirlwind of a trip, we were able to sneak in a couple of quick visits!

 

Jessica, my roommate for 5 years, came up and had lunch with us.  She is one of the best friends I have ever had!  I love this girl so much!  We don't talk everyday anymore, but seeing her always feels like we never were apart!  

 

Adelyn loves her almost as much as I do!  I always joke that Adelyn is more like her than me!  Same hair, both a little on the short side, more athletic than frilly and girly.  It's a good thing that she is willing to claim her!

 The week that we were there just happened to be the same week that Travis' best friend was blessing his baby.  Travis got to get together with some of his best buddies.  It is so fun that they are all married and have kids!

I love seeing old friends!

10 Months

This little munchkin is 10 months old today!

 She is seriously one of the happiest babies I know!  We had a pretty rough month and she handled it like a champ!!  She traveled in the car 8 hours without a complaint.  She traveled across the country without too much trouble.  She did great with the time change and us dragging her every where and getting her off schedule/missing naps.  She had an ear infection and RSV and I didn't even know.  She never skipped a beat!

 

She is really starting to develop a personality!  She is going to be a mischievous one!  I can already tell! Just look at that face!  She knows when she isn't supposed to be doing something.  She always looks at me before she does something naughty.  For example, she will crawl over to the bookshelf and put her hand on a book.  Before she pulls it off she will look at me to see if I am watching.  If she sees me watching, she will smile and while not taking her eyes off of me, pull the book down.  She is a little rascal! 

 

She is really turning into a problem solver and learning about everything around her!  She likes to test limits and see how things work.  I love watching as she makes connections and discovers new things!

She is getting really steady on her feet.  She can stand on her own but will sit down as soon as she realizes that she is doing it. She walks really well with her walker so I don't think it will be too much longer until she is walking on her own.

She is really starting to play and interact with us.  Travis LOVES it!  They love to play chase and hide and seek.  It is really quite adorable!  I love seeing how much they love each other!

She makes me laugh every day!  She was trying to reach a toy and she started to fall in so she decided to just climb all the way in.  It made me laugh so much!  When she sees me laugh, she laughs too!

She gets so proud of herself after she accomplishes something!

 She loves climbing on any and everything!  She loves climbing through the kitchen table and chairs.  I can either find her there or racing up the stairs!  She has gotten so fast! 

 

She is finally starting to grow like she is supposed to!  We don't have to go in for height or weight checks anymore.  Yay!  Her other exciting news is that she is FINALLY starting to get her first two teeth!  She loves to eat so I am excited for her to be able to try more things!  

 Her shirt says is all!  "You Make My Day Bright!" 

Life Happens

It has been forever since I have written!  Why?  Because life happens!  I read an article a few weeks ago about how times have changed.  Instead of living in the moment, people are too busy trying to capture the moment through photos, instagram, snapchat, blogs, status updates, tweets, etc.  I admit, I am guilty of it too!  There are times I see Adelyn doing something so cute that I just have to photograph it when sometimes I should just soak up the moment!

That being said, I lived in the moment this week!  I only have a couple pictures from things that happened.  Part of the reason may have been that I didn't really want to remember some of the moments from this week!

Last week I taught a lesson at church and part of it talked about trials.  (I wrote a whole post about it but it disappeared!)  During my preparations I made the comment to Travis that I couldn't really remember going through any big trials.  While that remains true, I was given some small trials this week.  So, lesson learned: never state that you can't remember having any trials!

From my last post, you can see that Adelyn was sick.  She is still sick!  The medication they gave her for her ear infection gave her a really upset tummy.  It was no big deal because she was still happy.   Then she started throwing up several times a day and it got progressively worse.  On Thursday afternoon into Friday she threw up every time she ate.  She wasn't keeping anything down and hadn't had a wet diaper in 12 hours so my Doctor's office told me to take her into the ER.

Luckily one of our friends, Scott, was her doctor and knew her history.  He got her some medicine and she was able to keep a bottle down.   He sent us home and she has been great ever since!  The ER visit could have been avoided if our doctor had given us a prescription.  I don't know why he didn't!  At least we have great friends that work at the hospital so I know she was well taken care of!  I think she liked all of the attention and visit from our friend Dr. Kent.  Plus she looked pretty adorable in the tiny hospital gown!

 Another small trial came yesterday.  As I was driving home, I got rear-ended.  Seriously!  My family has the worst luck with car accidents!  None of them have ever been our fault at least!  This is the 3rd car that has been hit since Travis and I have been married!  Looks like we are on a trend of 1 a year.  I have to look at the bright side of things though.  My car was barely damaged!  That is a HUGE deal because I was hit by a SNOW PLOW!  Somehow the plow hit my trailer hitch just right to protect the rest of my car.  Travis tried taking the hitch off just a week ago, but the key wouldn't work.  Small miracles!  Oh, and I was alone!  Another small miracle!

Luckily we have amazing friends here that help us through our trials, big and small!  I seriously have the best friends ever!  I will have to save that for another post though.  I had so many people ask how Adelyn was today when they saw me.  It just makes my heart happy to know that people care.  Thanks for all the prayers and to anyone that had to listen to me cry!  I am grateful for all of you!

Snow Day/Sick Day

If you get on Facebook at all, I am sure you have seen around the country that it is COLD.  Everyone is talking about the cold.  Pipes are bursting, furnaces are breaking, schools are closing, the world it about to END!!  Prepare yourselves!

Today is the 3rd day in a row that school has been cancelled due to...not snow...cold temperatures.  It is actually a little crazy to me.  Monday was understandable, seeing as it was -10 when the kids would have been standing outside waiting for the bus.  Tuesday was a little better at 1.  Today we were put on a two hour delay.  I prepared myself, got up and dressed and then got the phone call that school was cancelled AGAIN!!  I was SHOCKED!!  This is CRAZY!! 

I have mixed feelings!  This is our 5th calamity day.  That is all that is scheduled in at the beginning of the year.  If we take any more, we have to start making them up!  I would rather go back now then cut into my summer vacation where at least I can go outside and enjoy my time off!  At the same time, I love being home with Adelyn...especially because she is sick.

Yesterday we went in for her 9 month well check.  I thought it was good timing because she picked up a little cold on Sunday, but seemed to be doing better.  As the nurse was taking all her measurements (she finally grew!!  yay!!) she asked me how long Adelyn had been wheezing.  I honestly hadn't noticed.  She has wheezed a lot worse before!  I told her she started getting sick on Sunday.  She watched her breathe, checked her oxygen levels and said she though it was RSV and sent the doctor in.  He said it was bronchiolitis and had me give her a breathing treatment.  When he came back in, her wheezing was much better.  He continued on with the exam and she also had an ear infection!  I felt HORRIBLE!!  First I didn't notice the wheezing then I didn't notice the ear infection.  She never really pulled at her ear or was whiny.  The only thing is that Sunday night she woke up about every 2 hours crying/whimpering.  He gave me a nebulizer and medicine for her ear and sent me on my way.

So, I am glad I get to spend one more day home with my baby to help her get better.  She has been so good through all of this!  I really had no idea how bad she felt.  Either she has a really high pain tolerance or she is just so happy she hasn't noticed!  Maybe we will go back tomorrow?!

Doing her breathing treatment and watching Despicable Me.

Temple Square Lights

While we were in Utah, we had the opportunity to go see the lights at Temple Square with the Barlows.  The kids were freezing so we didn't stay long. 

I loved it!  It reminded me of my first date with Travis!  He took me to see the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert and then we walked around temple square.  We even held hands!  :)

December 2009

 

December 2013

 

I couldn't find the picture that was taken in front of the same tree as this year's picture, but it is still fun to look at the then and now picture.  Unfortunately Adelyn didn't come along with us.  We thought it would be better for her to go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour than to stay out late in the cold.  I think she would have loved the lights, but I also enjoyed the time Travis and I had to walk around holding hands!

 This picture was taken just to the side of the pedestal where tons of brides get their wedding pictures done.  While Shonda was taking our picture, we started to hear clapping.  We looked over and there was a guy proposing to his girlfriend on the pedestal!  It wouldn't be a trip to Utah without a marriage proposal! 

I had a great time reminiscing on old times!

Next Stop...Utah!

Christmas in Georgia came and went!  Sometimes I feel like Christmas didn't even happen.  Things were so stressful leading up to Christmas and after Christmas has been a whirlwind!  I am still trying to catch up on sleep!

Time spent at my parent's house was pretty relaxed.  We ate a lot, played with Adelyn, chopped down trees and the boys put out another fire!  Read about the first one here!  I was able to catch up on some sleep while mom watched Adelyn!

Travis left on Thursday because he had to be back at work on Friday.  I hung out an extra day before heading off to Utah.  We were able to plan it so that Travis flew down to Georgia after work and then we were able to catch the same flight out to Salt Lake City.  I wasn't worried about the flight because Adelyn was so good last time, but she made up for it on this flight!  She was terrible!  She was wiggly and whiny and exhausted!  She is used to falling asleep in a crib and could not fall asleep in my arms.  She finally reached her limit and screamed!  I was so stressed and worried about bothering the people around me.  She finally fell asleep for the last hour.  I apologized to everyone around us and the sweet boy in front of me said, "I actually thought she would cry a lot more.  She was great!"  I was glad to finally get off the plane!

Saturday was spent celebrating the life of Grandma Barlow Hyer.  She lived a remarkable life!  I only saw her about 5 times, but I could tell she was a sweet, loving lady that was here to make others happy!  She knew me and asked about me and loved me.  She left a great legacy of love and friendship to her 6 kids, 32 grandchildren, 93 great grandchildren and 13 great great grandchildren!!

This is from a visit to see her last summer.

The day was really a celebration!  I loved hearing all the stories about her!  One of her children talked about tender mercies.  He mentioned the tender mercy of having a lot of the family in town for a Christmas dinner the week before her death.  After she took a turn for the worse, he talked about how each family in town was able to go in and see Grandma one last time to say their goodbyes. She was 97 years old.   

Travis' sister, Kristine, wrote a really sweet email about her visit with Grandma Hyer.  I hope she doesn't mind me sharing a couple parts.  I just feel like it sums up who Grandma Hyer is as a person. 

"Most of how she spoke was soft and not always clear, but repeatedly she said how happy she was for her family.  She said many times.. "So happy...so happy".  She was telling the kids how much she loved them and that family brings her happiness.

Julie(her daughter) said the nurse told Grandma,  "You must be feeling better because you are smiling".  Grandma said, "Whats not  to smile about when my family is here".

All of this made me reflect on who I want to be as a person and what legacy I want to leave behind.  I think most of her grandchildren and spouses were there at the funeral.  I never knew there were so many Barlows!!  I recognized many of them from an extended family dinner years ago when Travis and I were only dating.  I was surprised to see how many remembered me!  Everyone was so kind to me and welcomed me with open arms!

I love being a Barlow and learning from their examples!  Grandma Hyer, we love you and thank you for all that you have taught us!

All of Travis' immediate family was able to make it!  There are 10 kids so I numbered them from oldest to youngest.
Back row: Jared (6), Tyler (5), Brenda (4), Devin (10), Kristine (2), Angie (3), Travis (9)
Front Row: Kim (7), Mom, Courtney (8)
Not Pictured: Dad (passed away in 1996) and Rochelle (1-passed away in 1995)

 To the left of the picture is his Dad's grave.  To the right is Grandma Hyer.

 Cute picture of Adelyn.  My sister-in-law, Shonda, took all these pictures!  She is the one that did our wedding too!  She is amazing if you are ever looking for a photographer in the Portland area! 

New Year's Resolutions

In the past, I have never really gotten into making resolutions.  I have been a proponent of making goals and self-improving year-round.  This year, there are a couple goals of mine that I want to last all year so I need to make the goal now!

1.  My biggest goal is to run 1,000 miles this year! 
Sounds crazy, but I think it is totally feasible with some dedication!  Broken down, it is 4 miles a day, 5 times a week.  That will also help me reach my goal of working out more and getting in shape.

2.  Food Storage
I really want to put some effort in building up our food storage now that we have a big basement to hold it all!  The thought of a year's worth of food is overwhelming and intimidating to me.  I am just going to start small by doing a little each month.

3.  Creating 72 hour kits
This is another thing that seems overwhelming to me.  I found a website that shows one thing to add each month to build it up.  I just really feel the need to get prepared!

All my other goals are daily based (reading scriptures, eating healthier, etc).  These are just the big ones that will take all year to accomplish.  I am excited to see how much I can do!