5.29.2013

Life inside the mind of Jody

So what is roaming around inside my brain today? Your probably scared to know. I would be too. But I shall tell you all.

Lucy vs. Friends: This has been on my mind today quite a bit. So i mentioned in a previous post that there are about 1 million little boys running around here, and no little girls, except mine. Which is fine. All of these little boys are older than her as well. Today there was about 6 or so of them outside our house trying to catch our neighbors poor little cat (well its actually quite a fatty but thats besides the point) and they were running around with no shoes on in the street and getting all dirty like little kids do. But the problem is Lucy was doing or trying to do EVERYTHING these little boys were doing. I tried to make her stay on the sidewalk, stay where I could see here, and to not crawl under cars. Of course Lucy being Lucy, listening isnt a strong point and defiance is. So I had a hard time reigning her in. Well some of the older boys (who were brothers) were talking to each other and said in a very mean way to each other "You are so stupid, your such a butt head" and "your so dumb get away from me". And some of the other boys werent very nice either, in a bad example sort of way. Soooo moral of the story is, people scare me. Lucy scares me. I cant control everything and I am scared for the example and impression people will leave on my children. How do you control who your children hang out with, without being rude or judgmental? Especially trying to explain to my children why I dont want them to play with little Suzy or Johnny especially when they cant understand the problem. I guess really the only thing I can do is pray really really really hard, and second teach my kids appropriate behavior and the rules we have for them and hope they make good choice and influence others for good. But thats the part that scares me, especially if my children are anything like me, which Lucy is 110% like me. Sigh...

Polygamy: So we discovered this show on discovery channel called Polygamy USA. Totally fascinating. Having grown up near and now living so near Polygamist groups I have always been so fascinated by their culture. Mainly because I dont know anything about them really and their religion is a lot of ways so close to mine, yet so different. I see folks from Colorado City and Centenial Park all the time around town and I want to so badly just go and ask so many questions I have, or be a fly on the wall in one of their homes or churches. Kind of a cool show to watch and just learn (hopefully its accurate).

Cakes: Last night I made some fondant to practice with today. I used about a gallon of food coloring and it took FOREVER to get the shade of Navy that I wanted. My hands were dead from kneading it. Today I went to cover my fake cake and the stupid stuff wont work. I realized I forgot to put water in with the recipe and now its too late and completely ruined. I was/am so mad about this. I hate wasting, its sort of a pet peeve of mine, and I wasted all that fondant, food coloring, time, and energy all for nothing... Boo. But I guess I did learn some things so i cant complain too much.

Neighbors: Ty and I are beyond house hungry. We have been dying to get into a home for probably the last year or so. I doesnt help when my favorite channel on tv is HGTV and ALL of our friends are home owners. It also doesnt help when we move in to a cute little neighborhood of townhomes and the unit next door in empty and then all of a sudden a bunch of teenage boys move in and blast their electric guitars and video games! I feel like such an old lady saying that. Cant you just picture me walking outside my door in a robe and curlers shaking my fist saying "you young whipper-snappers, turn down that ruckus before I come over there and turn it down for you"!

Last but not least, BUGS: I hate cockroaches. Hate them. There was a GIANT one this morning on its back by the door. Luckily I clobbered the bugger but still, the thing was like 2 inches long!! Of course hot places are usually infested with them, and St George is no exception. UGH! I can handle spiders, I can handle ants, but I cannot handle roaches!!!

5.22.2013

Catch up and stuff

I really need to keep up on the blog. I have so much to blog about. Nothing super cool, but stuff I want to document none the less. But where do I even start?

Mothers day: This day was of course special and I was spoiled. We have church at 9 so i didnt get to sleep in BUT I was woken with breakfast in bed! Yummy french toast muffins, eggs, and a piece of bacon and a few magazines. It was so good. Lucy kept telling me Happy Birthday. Then Ty cooked dinner, he made kebabs with rice and rolls. Then for dessert I made texas sheet cake (one of my FAVS!) It was great. Also a great day to reflect on all the mom's in my life and how they have impacted me and made me a better person.

Lucy: Lots going on with this little girl. We got her all signed up for preschool (that was awhile ago) but all her testing was done. She is "moderately delayed" in her speech and she was tested for behavior and she is "slightly delayed" in that as well. Even though they dont do any diagnostics they said per the test results she has tendencies for ADD and something else I cant remember at the moment. It doesnt mean she HAS these things, just means she has a few characteristics that coincide with this. The funny thing is we KNOW she has a speech problem, thats obvious but when she was tested at the end of her speech therapy in Provo they said she was now normal. NO WAY!! The guy that did the testing here sat with her for 5 min and new she needed help. Just goes to show that parents inclination sometimes overrule "professional" opinion. So she has the summer off, no therapy, but when school starts up she will start. She will be in a class with kids just like her as well kids that have no delays at all with a teacher that is specific for this kind of structure, plus there are aids and people that will help. I am so happy with this and we hope this will catch her up to speed quickly.
 As far as behavioral, I thought I was just being super paranoid and sensitive to her behavior and she didnt have any problems, I was the one with the problem. I always felt like the worst parent when I would explain Lucy's "spirited" behavior to people I would always get the feeling like people were thinking "well, she is 2. 2 year olds dont sit still, and they are hard..." kind of like I was over exaggerating and being a baby. I always just felt like nobody understood my feelings of how "difficult at times" she can be, my feelings were never validated and for SO long I felt like I was the WORST parent ever because everyone has kids that seem so calm and mindful and they listen somewhat. I felt like maybe its all my fault because Im not patient, I yell, and I get mad, and maybe im too hard on her, and she watches too much tv, and Im not one of those creative moms who make these activites that keep their child occupied for hours, and its hard for me to be patient and play with her all day, and maybe im not made for parenthood, and on-lookers and people who dont live with her 24-7 make quick judgements and it of course reflects on my parenting.... And so on and so forth.  These thoughts go through my mind a lot. Anyway as much as I hate the fact that she is "below normal" I feel like FINALLY somebody understands and I really am not crazy and a horrible person to think that I ave had a hard time with raising her. But most of all I am glad that now we can DO something about it rather than just get frustrated and mad at her. I still think that somehow these issues with her are my fault, I dont think I will ever not think that. But I am just so grateful for the technology and BRILLIANT people that help families like us.  Reading back over this paragraph it doesnt expain what I really feel, and mean, but I think you get the picture...

Royal Icing- we are just sitting a waiting. I have done everything that I need to do and now I just wait for the home inspection and then turn in my business application to the city and then do more waiting. I had my first client. Ty's boss's little girl had a party and they had me do a couple sheet cakes for the guests. I also have another order (if you can even count it, its from my MIL) for a missionary farewell in a few weeks. Other than that, I wonder sometimes what I have gotten myself into. Honestly I have no idea what I have gotten myself into. But I guess I will see!

Ty: Ty is just working, working, working! He works SO hard, and for that I am grateful. He does a great job and I am proud of him. He is also prepping for a bike race in a few weeks in Cedar. The other night he went out and about 10 min later in he walks covered in dirt, blood, and lots of scrapes and ripped up gear. He wrecked big time. Every time he goes out I get really paranoid, for this exact reason. He is honestly lucky he didnt break anything or chip his teeth! But he is doing much better and is still biking.

Me: I am doing great. This sunshine has worked miracles for me. Im not joking. Being cooped up inside all winter was not doing great things for me and it was really hard. But I feel great and I am just happy for new opportunities. Big and EXPENSIVE decisions have to be made really fast about what route we are going to take for our infertility journey. Ahhh, back to the grind of the infertility battle. It was SO nice to take off the last 5 months and not even think about it, but with the hormone treatment completely worn off, we can now get back to the stress of it all. We are now working with Red Rock Fertility in Vegas (that is the closest fertility center to us). Wish us luck, and a lot of prayers. We need a miracle...

This post is forever long So i will cut it short and add some pics.

Lucy's new bike for being potty trained!!!! I honestly and truly never thought this day would come.

The girls playing with the water table and Grandma and Grandpas house

Lucy's princess dress that she got for pooping in the potty. This was the BIGGEST hurdle of potty training

Kite festival. SO FUN!

The girls and uncle Andrew. He is SO good to play with them.