Pregnancy #2
I didn’t include much other than the announcement of the pregnancy of our second child in the updates so far. We found out on January 20th, 2012 that we are expecting baby #2. We are due Sept 28, though Chad seems to think we’ll be welcoming this little one a little bit early (rather than a little bit late). I am currently 18 weeks, 5 days (just over 4 months) along and we’ll be finding out gender TOMORROW! I personally don’t have any preference either way- I would love for Gryn to have a little brother to make trouble with and I’d love to have a little girl in the family as well. Chad wants a girl, really bad, along with just about everyone else in the family. Lots of people were sure it was twins, but thankfully, they were wrong, there is just one little bebe in there.
The question we’ve been asked the most is whether or not this baby is planned/expected. We generally laugh (and say yes) at this question because it makes no sense to us at all. We are so happy about adding this little baby to our family!
The only similarity with this pregnancy and Gryn’s, was the first trimester exhaustion. That was workable because Gryn was still napping in the afternoons during the worst of it, so I napped when Gryn napped, and Chad got about an hour and a half to himself every afternoon- lucky guy! Other than that, this one is completely different. I’ve been asked about cravings- I’ve had them, but it’s mostly been, “Oh, this actually sounds good to eat!” So I don’t really think of it as a craving, but as a good idea for something to eat because I have had very little desire to eat anything since January since the nausea has been pretty bad. I have thrown up WAY more this time around than with Gryn and actually lost weight before I gained anything. I’ve gained less than 10 pounds so far (which is not a bad thing, if you ask me) and I’d like to keep the weight down. This baby does like comfort food, I can generally go for Italian or chocolate, but even that varies. I’m hoping I’m over it all by the time we’re out of school!
This time around I’ve been really sensitive to smells, which just plain sucks. I work in a classroom, and not just any classroom, a 15 year old portable, and teach mostly boys. It’s been pretty yucky. That also contributes to my lack of appetite! I never know what it’ll be, but there is generally something that makes me dry heave everyday. Luckily my husband is a good sport and (after being forced) will cook things outside so I can stay inside and not vomit. Foods that have been banned from being cooked in the house: bacon, hot dogs, and black bean chipotle burgers. We haven’t really encountered anything else yet and I’m grateful for that. When Gryn got sick (and even still when we’ve got poopy diapers), Chad is really awesome to step in and change Gryn because I generally dry heave and/or vomit while changing poopy diapers. I’m really going to have to make it up to him when the newbie is here! I am feeling much better and generally have lots of energy which is good because I'm almost half-way! I'd like to spend a bit of this pregnancy NOT tired! Foods are getting better as well, I just don't have much of an appetite still. I forsee lots of smoothies this summer!
I’ve been able to feel the baby for about a month now, which has been really awesome! There was even one night where I could feel it bunched up on one side, so I grabbed Chad’s hand and he could even feel it moving around and kicking/punching him. So cool! Chad was SO happy to be able to feel the little one.
Yesterday was the first day of my pregnancy that I felt good the whole day. I wasn’t tired or sick at all, it was lovely! We’ve been able to go for a walk every night for about the past week since the weather has been nice. We also try to play at the park a lot too. I’m happy that I’ve had the energy to do it! That’s about all with the pregnancy stuff. Again, we’re so excited for baby #2 to join our family, we can hardly wait for September!!!
2012 Catch Up Posts
Here is what I've got for you for 2012. I've got one more post to do, but it's late, so I'll be working on it tomorrow!
January
January is always met with disdain and renewal at the same time. I always have a hard time getting back into the groove, but I try to go back with a good attitude. The first week back, I came down with a cold that didn’t get better. I tried Nyquil and daytime cold remedies, but NOTHING was helping me get better. By the 9th I felt like I was dying- I was congested, had a horrible cough. I couldn’t sleep and was basically miserable at home and at work. I finally went to the instacare on the 11th to find I had viral bronchitis… nothing they could do for me other than give me a cough syrup with codeine in it so I could sleep. Lovely. I took two full sick days and prayed like crazy that Chad and Gryn would not get it. By the time the long weekend was over, I was well enough to get back to work, though my voice was not 100% and I still had a cough. The cough syrup was a blessing from heaven… until Jan. 20th. I found out on the 20th that I was (and still am) pregnant. I figured I had already exposed the baby to codeine for the first week of my pregnancy and didn’t want to go any further than that… call me crazy if you will, I just don’t like taking medication unless it’s absolutely necessary- anytime, but especially during pregnancy. Luckily, I was well enough that I really began to heal, and 3 weeks after I had gotten sick, I was finally mostly recovered. Chad came down with a cold for about a weekend, nothing insane like mine, but it took him out for a weekend. Gryn came down with it a few weeks later, as did our sitter and her whole family, though not to the extent that I did- thank goodness. I got it again in late February. It went around for about two months. We finished up January fairly healthy though. The winter was super mild, so we were able to spend time outside in sweatshirts at the park and on walks. It was REALLY nice (it may or may not have contributed to my healing process… I can’t say).
February
February was spent, at least for me, doing a lot of sleeping. I was completely exhausted from 1st trimester stuff. It was nice to have the time to sleep in the afternoon and not miss out on time with Gryn since I slept when he did in the evening. We passed up Valentine’s Day (as we always do). Thankfully my mother knows that I don’t do V-Day and sends my son a package every year. The weekend after Valentine’s Day, Aaron was in town from NJ for a conference in Las Vegas, so the whole family (minus the rest of the Titus fam) was in town. We had decided that since Aaron was going to be in town, we would have Gryn’s Blessing that weekend. We had a nerf war, played on the trampoline, went to jumpin’ jack’s, and overall just had a good time being in the same place at the same time. Gryn’s blessing was on February 19th at our home. We had a lot of family and friends over for the blessing and food. We really had a great time with everyone. We broke the baby news while everyone was around. Most people expected that we were, but everyone was super excited about the prospect of a newbie in the family! We had a combined birthday celebration for Aaron and me while everyone was in town and had a very low-key evening when my birthday came.
March
We spent a lot of time in SLC in March. We finished up yet another quarter of school and went on spring break. Generally, we get way outta town for Spring Break, but this year, we decided to go to SLC for the break. We spent some time with friends and lots of time with family. We had planned on going to Idaho to spend time with my grandparents, but found out that tey had planned on being at my parent’s at the same time we would be! It was nice to not have to do more traveling. The week was generally pretty good, but Gryn had a really hard time sleeping away from home and the time change really threw him off. I was a mess without sleep, especially at night… I felt bad for Gryn though too. Needless to say, nights were hard. We went to the Gateway and Gryn wanted to run though the fountain, despite the fact that the water was freezing and he was in long pants and a long-sleeve shirt. Chad’s cousin’s wedding was on Monday the 12th so we spent some time with Chad’s family, then had lunch with Papa. We had family pictures taken and Gryn was not into it, but the pictures were still cute! Alex also had his birthday party that we were able to attend. Gryn loved running around with the big kids! It was super cute! I was at my worst with vomiting and nausea during this break. It was a little unfortunate, but I did what I could to be positive and ok with everything. We retuned to Hurricane and immediately had a maternity appointment where we finally got to see our little baby. It was moving around like crazy and looked much bigger than we had expected. All in all, it was a wonderful moment for use to be able to see it! We started up the new quarter and shortly thereafter took a personal day. I generally don’t get excited about movies, midnight showings, premiere parties, etc. Well, I am a huge fan of the Hunger Games, so we took off from Hurricane about 2:00 p.m. on March 22nd and went to the Premiere party and Midnight showing of the Hunger Games with Mandi. We dropped the boy off with Gramma and Papa, they had a blast with him and we had a blast getting our faces painted and picking up our loot bags and eating good food and getting excited for the movie! Chad was actually chosen as a tribute for the games. It was just a good time all around! We finished up March happy and healthy and ready for spring!
April
This month has been pretty kind to us. The weather has been a little bi-polar, but is now absolutely gorgeous. Well, I think it is- we’re already into the 90s, but it will drop into the low 80s and high 70s in the next week or so. We have been at home every weekend of April (which is quite refreshing) and have just really enjoyed playing together as a family. Easter weekend was spent hiking and relaxing. Again, my mother knows we wouldn’t be doing anything for Easter, so she had a basket made for him when we left from the Hunger Games weekend. Gryn now knows that plastic eggs = candy, so if he wants some jelly beans, he brings me a plastic egg. Next year will prove to be fun with the egg hunts. We looked at a home on the Monday after Easter and put an offer on it that evening. Our offer has been accepted, but we’re still in the process… so hopefully we’ll know by the end of the week whether or not we’ll be moving into a new house at the end of May or at the end of another month before school starts. Regardless, we’ll be moving out at the end of May while Chad works in Cedar City. We’re really hoping for the house to work out. I’ll update more when we know more. We just went to the annual Kite Festival on Saturday and I have banned them from my attendance unless it is overcast and windy from here on out. It was 92 degrees outside, Chad was putting together his kite for 20 minutes, there was NO wind (as usual), and Gryn wanted to run around, so I didn’t stop moving the entire time we were there. I was overheated to the point that I almost vomited on the way out. It was fun to watch Gryn enjoy himself though. We also spent some time with Chad’s side of the family afterward, which was really nice. Since the weather has really gotten nice, we have gone for a family walk every evening. Sometimes we go to the park, sometimes we just walk. Gryn sits in his wagon with a happy little smile on his face while mommy or daddy pulls the wagon. Its been really nice! We’re looking forward to the rest of this month and the news it will bring us!
Christmas Catch Up
Christmas Season
Oh my goodness. Can I just say that seriously from Mid-November until about Dec. 23 life is just plain crazy? This year we decorated for Christmas super early (like 1st weekend of November) because I was hosting a Christmas party early and we were having family over, so we wanted it to be festive. It was also in an effort to get Gryn used to our house changing a little bit and so that he was familiar with the rules of Christmas decorations. Once we returned home from Thanksgiving our schedule was inundated with Christmas Festivities!
The first full week of December we spent two evenings at our schools’ faculty Christmas Parties, one evening having friends over, then a Sunday brunch with all of Chad’s family for our Annual Baker Christmas Party. It was fun to have all the brothers (except Max) and all the younger grandkids over. We opened presents, ate, played, and visited. The kiddos had a great time opening presents and playing together. Gryn didn’t really know what to do with opening presents, so he was mostly running around the whole time while we opened presents and showed him what he got!
Chad’s Band concert was the following week. Band Concert days are always pretty stressful, the holiday one is the most stressful by far! Historically, I’ve been able to come help Chad get things going. Since our little guy was an actual human this year, things were a lot more difficult. I came to help- even brought dinner- long story short, I didn’t even get to eat until after the concert, Gryn wouldn’t eat at the school, Chad never eats before the concerts, so by the end of the night, we were all pretty mean. However, Gryn was actually not too bad once I stopped trying to make him eat- he was super cute for most of the program. He sat on my lap for the entire beginning band concert and listened intently as they played. There was a ½ hour break in between, he saw the drumset, ran over, grabbed the sticks and started going to town. During the last concert, he ran around for most of the time. I, of course, was horrified when he ran up and sat on Chad’s podium, against Chad’s legs, facing the audience! The band teacher’s kid was the worst behaved in the audience. Luckily, people understood that he was only 15 months old and I mostly got “He’s so cute” or “Cherish these memories” or other very understanding comments from others. It really was adorable- I couldn’t help but take pictures- along with everyone else in the audience. And I definitely will cherish that memory of my cute little boy!
The Sunday after that, we had another family Christmas party with Chad’s Grandma, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. At this point, Gryn knew what to do with the presents and was happy to open them! We love that we’re close to some extended family and are able to share the holidays with them. The festivities calmed down for a little bit so we could wrap up the last week or so of school before the break- it’s always crazy during that time and we feel a little ripped off as teachers because we really don’t get to enjoy the holidays very much. School ended on the 21st and we were SO happy to have some time to just play before Christmas.
At the last minute, Chad and I decided that we wanted to have Santa bags for gifts. We spent at least two nights sewing and ironing the bags and finally finished the bags on the 23rd. Hayley’s family came over on Christmas Eve- the first time in the 7 years that we’ve both lived in S. UT that our families have gotten together for Christmas! We had a lot of fun chatting, watching movies, and eating! The kiddos left and were very excited for Santa to come to their house! We put Gryn to bed in his new jammies and wrapped presents on the 24th (as we usually do) while we watched a Christmas movie. We loaded up the Santa bags and were so excited for Christmas morning- everything was perfect!
Gryn slept in until about 8:00 on Christmas morning and we all wandered out to the living room. The Polar Express train was running and the bags were filled with gifts. Gryn immediately went to the train and followed it around the tree. He didn’t quite get that the bags were filled with presents until we opened one up just a little bit for him to peek into. It had an unwrapped toy in it and he couldn’t wait to get it out! He played with the toy for about 30 minutes- we would hand him a present to open, but he was completely uninterested! We finished opening presents, ate some yummy breakfast, and headed to church. We came home and napped and played for a while and then decided to head to SLC for the break. We realized quickly that not only was it Sunday, but that I was also Christmas, so our food choices would be limited… we stopped in Cedar and ate dinner, then headed up to Gramma and Papa’s house. We arrived late and went to bed.
Before I move on to the break, I just want to say how enjoyable it was to have Christmas at our home this year. We have never been at our own home for Christmas since we’ve been married. We have either been in Las Vegas, SLC, or out of town. We usually leave the evening we get out of school or the next day. It was so nice to have a few days to just relax at our own home and sleep in our own beds on Christmas Eve. It’s not that we don’t enjoy spending time with family during the holidays, we love it, but it was nice to have the change! It was very enjoyable to spend Christmas with Gryn! I always noticed that my parents never really opened presents while we were opening ours and I always wondered why. I thought that maybe they didn’t want to take the special-ness away from us or that we were demanding of their attention, but as I watched my son open his gifts, I realized that all these years, their own presents didn’t matter. They, of course, were grateful for gifts given by their spouse or children, but the best gift was seeing their children happy. I completely understood this Christmas that the best gift for me, is to see the people I love happy, especially my son and husband. It makes me so excited for the future Christmases we will have with our children.
Ok, on to the Christmas break. It seemed short this year, as it always does. This year was different because Mandi and Ryan had moved out of the basement and my mom and begun moving things in, so our space was in the basement. It was nice to be down there again, but strange at the same time. We really enjoyed playing with cousins, having some time with Gramma and Papa, opening present a THIRD time, and spending a lot of time with old friends. It has been nice that some friends have stuck around the SLC area and that some come back to visit their families like we do during the holidays! Mandi and I shopped the after-Christmas sales and scored some pretty good deals. Mostly we just enjoyed spending time with family and friends. We spent the night at Mandi and Ryan’s apartment on New Year’s Eve after watching 4 episodes of The Walking Dead. We couldn’t think of any good scary movies, but this show definitely fit the bill for scary (mostly disturbing). The break was excellent- we were torn as usual to get back home, ready to be back at our house, sad that we were leaving the fam, and sad (at least I was) to get back to real life (aka school…). We always enjoy our time with family so much!
Catching up #1
I'm including 3 parts of my list in this post. State Football/Drumline, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday. Whew.
State Football/Drum line
Now that its February, I’ll catch up on the HHS football season. I’ve always been a football fan, unfortunately, I was not blessed with a positive high school football team experience. I am happy to say, that experience is being made up by teaching at a high school with an amazing team! Our HHS team has made it to State for the past 3 years and each of those years, I’ve been able to go to the games. This year was a bit different. Chad and I went to college with the new band teacher at HHS, so Chad offered to help with the drum line. It was a lot of fun for him (and me) to be involved in that. We hardly missed a game during the season, and if anyone missed more, it was me due to the little 1 year old we had running around the stadium (he unfortunately was not really into hanging out with the big kids… hopefully next year will be a different story)! Anyway, we made it to state again this year and the drum line went up to Salt Lake for the playoff games. I was bummed because I had to miss the semi-final game. It was on a Thursday and I didn’t want to make the trip up and back with Gryn by myself since Chad was going up on the bus with the band. So we waited until the next game and headed up as a little family. We dropped Gryn off with Gramma and Papa so we could go to the game (good thing too, because it snowed almost the entire time). The drum line kids were so cute and just a blast to have around, the drums filled up with water, so we’d have to keep turning them over so the kids didn’t get splashed in the face, the pep band kids had to put their instruments away because mouthpieces were freezing to the instruments, pads were getting soaked, you name it! It was a completely different experience that what we have in Hurricane! We were up against Desert Hills HS (a St. George school, where my brother-in-law is the band instructor) and once it started snowing our poor boys who never see snow kind of started to lose it. However, we still brought home the title. First time in 3 years (the previous two years we lost to the same team with seconds left in the game- total devastation)!!! It was fantastic! We were wet to our knees and stinkin cold, but we were a happy group of Hurricane High Tigers!
Thanksgiving
It always happens that State Football is the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we are always reluctant to go up for the game if we’re planning to go to SLC for Thanksgiving. It always turns out that we go anyway, but it makes for a busy week of traveling. Our playoff game was Nov. 18, so we spent that weekend in Salt Lake, came back on Sunday the 20th, “taught” for two days and left Nov. 22 to head back up to SLC for Thanksgiving break. We’ve found it’s always worth it! The 23rd was Anna’s birthday, so the day was spent with cousins visiting a local animal shelter (we opted out of that one) and then the family heading to Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday dinner. Anna was a cutie and all the kiddos had a great time playing together and playing arcade games. Gryn was in love with the balloons and was stealing two of Anna’s presents consistently- the “Fur Real” dogs she got. He loved them. She was not so happy about him taking them just after she had gotten them, so we tried to limit his play with them to when she wasn’t around! He was a bit ornery by the end of the night and fell asleep on the way back to Gramma and Papa’s house.
The next day was Thanksgiving. We spent the morning watching the Thanksgiving Parade, which was interrupted by a skype call with Aaron’s family. It was nice to talk to them and see the kiddos since we don’t get to do that very often! We had to cut that call a bit short because we were running a little late for our annual Thanksgiving movie- this year it was The Muppets! We had a great time, but found that if there are stairs, one or the other of us will not get to watch much of the movie because Gryn will be up and down the stairs. It doesn’t bother us, but I know people in theatres get bothered by kids running around, so I wandered the theatre with our little guy and tried to take in as much of the movie as possible! We went home and got ready for dinner. It was so yummy! Green bean casserole, home-made rolls, mama’s turkey, fruit, salad, dessert. MMM. Good food. We all relaxed afterward and enjoyed each other’s company while the kiddos played.
Chad and I had arranged to meet with a few friends the next day. We finally got to meet Tiff’s sweet little baby girl and Liz’s sweet not so little anymore girl! We had a great time visiting with them and catching up! We met up with the fam afterward at Kangaroo Zoo. Gryn was not so sure about it at first, but really caught on to jumping around if we had the jump stuff mostly to ourselves- he didn’t like the big kids around while he was trying to jump.
Saturday and Sunday were pretty uneventful, just playing and hanging out with family. We headed home on Sunday and went back to real life!
Black Friday
Although this is part of Thanksgiving Break, it deserves its own post. Chad and I are both big fans of Black Friday. We started going about 5 years ago and have had to tweak it a bit as our lives have changed, but we still really enjoy it. This year, with stores opening so early, we decided that one or the other of us should go, in case Gryn woke up during the night and so that one of us would be functional in the morning (turns out that Chad couldn’t sleep until I got home. He was so worried because we were out until about 3:30 and we hadn’t expected to be gone that long, so when I hadn’t called, he got nervous)! Chad opted to stay so I could go with my sisters- what a sweetie! Our game plan was to hit up WalMart and Target. Those two places had what we were looking for. Mostly WalMart (unfortunately). Hayley and I arrived after Mandi and headed into an insane crowd and ended up getting stuck- like claustrophobic stuck. It was insanity! We met up with Mandi and split up to find what we were looking for. I was out for a TV, wireless printer, SD cards, and digital picture frames. Hayley needed a new Laptop and Mandi needed a desktop. Hayley, miraculously, was the last one to get a laptop! She was in line waiting to get her computer for longer than Mandi and I were shopping and checked out. Mandi grabbed the last desktop, and I got everything I needed. We scored some other amazing deals like wireless mice, legos, angry birds toys, and stocking stuffers. We headed to Target to see if there was anything there that we wanted/needed- I scored some great deals on movies and such, but we mostly got everything at our first hit. We went to Kohls just to check it out and quickly left- the lines were still SO long despite it being 3:00 a.m. After we checked out, we noticed the carts full of “take-backs” and started scavenging through the carts. We did this as we walked into Target too. No shame. And we weren’t the only ones doing it either!! I did learn that if I can get it online, I’m shopping black Friday deals online first- avoid the crowds, get the same deals, ship it home. Awesome. However, nothing beats the rush of being out “in the insanity” during Black Friday!!
Summary
Here is a summary of what has happened since my last post:
Halloween (see Gryn's stuff)
Stitches (see Gryn's stuff)
State Football/Drumline
Thanksgiving
BlackFriday Shopping
4 Christmas Parties
Band Concert
Christmas Break
Christmas
New Year
Back to School
Illness
November and December seem to be our craziest time of the year (as it does for everyone else, I'm sure). There are stories for each of these and I'm going to do my best to post about all of them! Some will be as posts here, others (such as stitches) will be posted under Gryn's "milestones." I had an update that I had written as a word document all ready to post today. Unfortunately, my flash drive is missing (hopefully not stolen by a student, just missing). Hopefully, I'll be able to find it ASAP and share an update about our cute little boy!
Rollercoaster
Can I just say.... THANK GOODNESS OCTOBER IS OVER IN 24 MINUTES?! This month has been SO long it seems. Generally, we look forward to October very much, but this time around it was a super big let-down.
Not-so-much awesome as not awesome:
Deciding to FINALLY take the plunge and buy a home we LOVE, to find out that an offer had been accepted two weeks before. Boo.
Not going anywhere during Fall break like we normally do because of said house and hoping to pack during fall break. Didn't happen- we just stayed home. Boo.
Lots of parent and student issues at school- to the point where I was ready to quit my job. Boo.
Just a general feeling of ick for most of the month. Boo.
Halloween taking over the entire last week of October. I usually am all for Halloween, but it seems like it was drawn out this year. Boo. ;)
Highlights:
Get-togethers with friends!
Chad's birthday!
Two days off for fall break!
Watching Gryn learn new things!
Realizing that not getting the house really was what we needed. Our neighborhood is lovely and we're hoping something comes up in our neighborhood (long story).
Chad was given the Priesthood in our Church.
Holiday celebrations.
Ultimately, there were way more good things than bad, but it just seemed SO DANG LONG this year. Anyway, I am in desperate need of a get-away- like out of state, long drive or airplane, kind of get-away. Hopefully, we'll get one in soon!
Happy Halloween. Look for the post in Gryn's stuff.
September
Again another month has come and gone. Its funny because at this time last year, I was chillin at home and feeling really good about how much I had accomplished before I left on maternity leave. If it had been this year, I would have been a wrek! Anyway, we're surviving the first quarter of school, which oddly enough ends in like 17 or 18 days. Time flies.
We have been enjoying the lovely evening weather of Hurricane and watching our little boy play outside.
We have also been enjoying the awesome Hurricane High football games. Its a completely new experience for Chad and I: Chad went to an arts academy so there was no football team and my high school's football team sucked. Boy did we miss out! We have a blast at the games and Gryn wanders about, loving the outdoors and attention from all the cute high school girls.
This school year started out pretty rough for me, but I love my kids and the satisfaction I get from my job. There are always moments when I think that I am failing at my job when a student will say something and I remember that I do make a difference and that my teaching is not in vain! It makes my day!
Chad loves his band kids and is really escited for the new kids he gets to teach this year. He has 5 different classes, plus before and after school programs, and all of them require different curriculum, so he's busy as usual.
We love life and are so amazed by the blessings we continue to recieve.
Joy is...
- Picking fresh peaches from a tree in the backyard
- Filling up a teeny pool for your baby who jumps in before his clothes come off
- Wet hugs from said baby because he's SO happy to be in his pool
- Watching a hummingbird fly by you then perch on the peach tree
- Seeing a lizard HUNT a spider for the first time EVER
- Having baby RUN to you when you get home after a hard day at work
- Coming home to the smell of dinner in the oven
- Splashing in the tub with the kiddo
- Spending time with the husband after bebe goes to bed
- Doing what I love to do everyday
Take home message: I live a very charmed life and am blessed to have it. I just need to focus on it more. :)
Paths
Today was one of those days where I thought a lot about the paths I have chosen and where they have taken me. I had a difficult time at work today, not because of my students or co-workers, in fact when either of those groups found out I was struggling, they were there to lift me up and support me. It was a parent problem (other teachers will understand that sentence well). Long story short, I love my job, I do whatever I can to help my students succeed and I had a parent negate EVERYTHING I had done that she had asked of me (literally 4-5 HOURS of time spent trying to please her and her son). The breaking point was when she told me that no one at the school cared about whether or not her son graduated. Really?! It was on... I was literally shaking and between the point of completely losing it and telling her off or hanging up and crying. A bit of the first happened and A LOT of the second happened.
For those who know me well- physical and emotional reactions over things like this are not the norm for me, so I was completely taken aback. I felt bad for being a little unprofessional, didn't know how to process the emotional and physical reactions I experienced, and was disappointed that I couldn't solve this problem on my own (HUGE character flaw of mine- I take pride in solving things on my own), which made me even more emotional. Anyway, breakdown in the Vice Principal's office ensued (full on... tissues and all) with the reassurance from everyone that "its not you, it's DEFINITELY her." I went back to teach my class and tried- half way successfully- to finish off the day without letting this parent get to me.
The emotion hit me again in a different way as I came home to an understanding husband, a baby who ran to me and gave me a hug, the rememberance of kind words and gestures from friends... I pondered on the many paths I "almost" took and realized even when things are bad and not as I expected, I am in a place for a reason and given opportunities for growth and learning- challenging as they may be. I wouldn't change the path I have taken if given the opportunity. I'm still at a loss about what to do, but am very blessed to have the people in my life who are there to support me when I struggle.
The End... until I get another call from this parent...
Ok, one more
I just have to post about today because it's been pretty awesome. We got up around 7 after 15 minutes or so of snuggling in bed after Gryn called to us from his bed. Its just been one of those days where we've gotten so much done and still have lots of time to play. So after making about 20- 4 oz containers of baby fruit, canning two jars of apricots, swimming in the splash pool out back, lunch, and both naps- we are hanging out with the Backyardigans and having a snack. Oh, and I found the sippy cup that we thought we had lost. Awesome! We also got some super cute video of Gryn feeding himself at lunch today which I will post with the my pictures. Just wanted to share and bask in my glory!
How close are we to starting school again?
The answer is 3 weeks. Too soon. This is the first year of my career that I would like to start school after Labor Day. I haven't had the "best" summer of my life, but the idea of going back already is killing me. Partly because I have really LOVED spending so much time with my kiddo and I will miss that, but partially because I DIDN'T get to spend much time with Chad. It's been rough. Our summer break in a nutshell:
End of May: playing with mom and Hayley's kiddos.
Early June: Trip to SLC for a few days to hang out with family- especially my little bro!
Mid-Late-End of June: NOTHING! In a bad way. Chad was in rehearsals everyday sometimes for a 3 hour rehearsal (which meant 5 hours including travel) but sometimes for a 10 hour rehearsal (which meant 12 hours including travel). It was rough, not only on me but on Gryn and Chad too. June kind of sucked.
Early July: We got a new bed, so I got to redecorate our room, which is still waiting for me to finish... Also 4th of July celebrations! Chad's students did a hand drum performance in the local parade and were awarded the "Committee's Choice" award. They did a fabulous job! I drove and Gryn slept in the car despite the drumming just behind us. We also had friends and family over for food and fun. We live close to where the city fireworks are set off, so we have a great view. Gryn fell asleep before fireworks and slept through them (as he is now).
Early-Mid July: Gryn and I went to Disneyland with my parents and little brother. Gryn was spoiled like CRAZY by everyone, but especially Uncle Nate. They were best buddies by the time we headed home. Nate came home with us and it was AWESOME to have him around. In fact, we're going to persuade him to move in with us and watch Gryn while we're at work! One day after we returned from Disneyland, Mandi and her family came for a visit and my cousin Leslie and her husband Jeremy followed the next day! We always have a great time with them. The activities included: a Nerf war (of course), a crazy/scary movie, chatting, video games, food, fun, and a day trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Chad and I are realizing more and more that we need to take advantage of the amazing beauty around us. We live 30 minutes from Zion National Park and 2.5 hours from the Grand Canyon- of which both attract visitors from around the WORLD. Anyway, we decided we're going to hit as many national parks as we can from now until April when our pass expires- and then we'll probably renew it. Let me say this- if you have the opportunity to get to Zion or Grand Canyon, do it! It's well worth it. And you have a place to stay in Hurricane!!
Mid-Late-End of July: We had planned on heading to Yellowstone, but due to finances, we weren't able to go :( Hopefully we'll be able to get there next summer. We're planning on it anyway! We're kicking back and just hanging out for the rest of July. We'll head up to SLC again for a baby shower on the 30th and be back by the 2nd of August. In the mean time, Chad and I will be curriculum planning for his new class, I'll be planning for my classes and prepring myself for the first day without seeing my little dude for the ENTIRE day, and I'm going to get caught up on Gryn's baby book and pictures as well as one other project and getting all the pictures loaded to the picture page as well as some video of the dude.
August will be INSANE with the start of school- adjusting to a new school year with a kid, meetings, planning, IEPs, etc; Shakespeare performances, and wrapping up summer. Don't expect a post. I'll be spending some quality time on the floor after school with my kid and sleeping. And I'm not good at updating anyway. :)
I'm a slacker... kind of.
What I mean is I am a blog slacker. May is seriously the busiest month of the year for us, I swear... regardless, May is done with- THANK GOODNESS! We had concerts, finals, and the annual end of the school year mayhem. We got to spend some time with family for Mother's Day- we also got to pick up our new Durango, which we are in love with! Our weekends were spent relaxing at home and we were actually able to attend our church for the first time in about three months! I honestly don't remember much. School ended and that's really what matters most!! I am SO excited to NOT have anything I have to do until August except play with my kiddo!
So far our summer has consisted of:
Two glorious weeks uninterrupted!
Time in SLC to see my little bro (and other family)!
Two and a half weeks of no daddy... boo. Shakespeare rehearsals started on June 11 and Chad hasn't been around much- 6 days of 8 hour or more rehearsals. Luckily, the show has started and the schedule is now set!
Lots of mom and Gryn time! I am having a lot of fun with my little guy! He is learning so much- I'll do a separate post about him!
3 days of mama working- I subbed for summer school for a friend and had a lot of fun!
Getting a new bed and re-decorating. We are still in this process and will be in the process for a while. We're replacing and updating some of our furniture. Its been fun, but I'd like to just have unlimited money all the time to get everything that I want!!! Next on the list is a new kitchen table!
Getting a garage freezer!!! I have been able to make TONSof meals for us and for Gryn and it has been AWESOME! Everyone should have one!
One parade. Chad put together a group of kids to participate in hand drumming for the local parades. The first one was today and they were INCREDIBLE! They have a lot of fans and were given the "Committe's Choice" award! I am lucky enough to be the driver and I get to see the response of the crowd when they come to a new part of the crowd! People love it!
Relaxing! Honestly, our days are very chill and we just get to play a lot!
Our upcoming summer adventures:
3 days of relaxing!
A trip to Vegas/Disneyland (Beth and Gryn will leave Chad in Vegas and continue to DL with Beth's parents and borther)
A half day of relaxing, then family will visit for the weekend and a trip to the Grand Canyon
5 days of relaxing, then Beth goes to Vegas to chill with a friend while Chad holds down the fort.
A parade.
Beth returns and we go to Yellowstone the next day until Aug. 1 (I've got some apprehensions about it and kind of want to wait for a bit, but we'll see).
July is going to be BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, but it will be SO fun and memorable.
April?
You know how I posted that March went fast? Yeah, I'm thinkin the same thing with April. Where did April go? I'm totally NOT complaining though, April has been AWESOME, as usual! I have always thought of April as kind of a "blah" month because the weather is so bi-polar and its in between Spring Break (fun) and summer break (fun). It's the necessary evil of the school year. However, the past few years have brought us SO much fun in April.
First, it always brings waterfalls at Zion. AWESOME.
Second, it always brings Easter. Now, I'm not a big fan of holidays to begin with, and Easter (in the sense of the commercial Easter) is probably my least favorite. I don't want my kid worrying about the Easter Bunny and candy and dying eggs and Egg hunts- even though, inevitably he will. Anyway, what Easter means is family time, whether they're all here or we're in SLC with them. Which usually means a NERF war. This year it was a NERF war/egg hunt. AWESOME!
Third, it always brings the Kite Festival in St. George. AWESOME. This year Chad's before/after school Jazz Band performed and we all went. As usual, there was NO wind, but it is still fun to go hang out in the sun, especially now that we have a little boy who LOVES to be outside.
This year we had some added bonuses:
This year brought us the baptism of Alex, at which I spoke and Chad gave a prayer. It was a wonderful event!
April also brought us a visit with Nate. Oh, man, it was good to visit with him! Last time he saw Gryn was in November, so needless to say, he's a completely different child now and Uncle Nate had a GREAT time playing with him.
During this same trip to visit Nate, my grandparents and Aunts and Uncles were in town, so they all got to meet (and meet again) Gryn. He was as charming and obliging as usual which made him a hit! It was SO nice to be able to be able to spend time with so much family that we don't get to see very often.
We also got to spend time with my cousin Leslie and her husband Jeremy. We totally love them- they are a TON of fun! We played Disney Cranium (boys against girls) and it was hysterical. Mandi and Ryan were also a part of the group and we all just had a great time!
Last but not least, April brought us a new vehicle. We have been so fed up with the size of our Audi. It's super fun to drive, but it just doesn't have the space we need now that we have a little dude and a percussionist in the family. So, we found a great deal on a Dodge Durango. Unfortunately, it needed to have some bolts replaced, so we don't have it in Hurricane with us. We'll probably have to go up and visit family again in May- dang it ;)
This month has been so interesting. With all the breaks and our school schedule and our sitter's schedule, Gryn hasn't been to the sitter since the 19th. It's been crazy! But we've been really blessed to be able to have him around us so much. He'll go back on May 2nd and be a completely different kiddo! Hopefully he won't be crazy clingy... we'll see!
Good news minute: We're less than a month away from school being OUT! I've had spring fever HARD CORE this year, so it can't come soon enough. After spending so much time with Gryn, I can't wait to have the summer off to play with him! It'll be awesome!
FYI- Any Gryn updates will be at the bottom of the website. I've got a few things to catch up on still, but as things are happening, I'm putting them on!
Changes
Obviously, I've made a couple changes to the site. I actually sat and explored the site and figured some things out. Most importantly, I found the addition "Baby Milestones and Moments." I am updating the milestones we've already hit, little by little. Some will be written as I would tell Gryn, others will be written as a journal entry for me. I like that it could be a story for Gryn in the future. Anyway, keep looking at those as I update- just in case you've missed some in the past.
Other happenings
March ended with us being sick. As it turned out, I took half the day off on Tuesday and all of the day on Friday after we returned from Spring Break because Gryn and I were so sick. Chad had it by the weekend and took the following Monday off. It turned out to just be a cold for Chad and I, but poor Gryn had an ear infection. We spent most of our evenings laying around being a sicky little family and trying to recover. We are finally feeling well again.
We haven’t really been able to spend much time outside with Gryn because it’s been pretty cold since he was born- or I was too disorganized to get outside when he was teeny. The weather has really started to be wonderful down here so we put a blanket on the grass the other night before it got dark and played with our little dude. We blew bubbles and brought out some toys. Gryn found the grass and couldn’t get enough of touching it and pulling it out to eat it. It was so much fun! We also were able to see the stars come out. It was SO cool! I don’t think I’ve ever just sat at dusk and watched the stars come out.
We decided to take advantage of the good weather yesterday and headed up to Zion. We figure- we live 30 minutes from a national park that people come from all over the world to visit- we need to get out there more often. We hiked up to weeping rock where we saw a spring waterfall. We went back down to the Grotto and had a picnic and then headed home. We are SO fortunate to live close enough to Zion that we can just do one hike and then come back another day to do a different hike. Gryn loved being outside and was SO chatty the whole time we were hiking and eating. We all have lost or broken our sunglasses, so we bought new ones at Zion yesterday- including Spidey ones- for Gryn. He wore them the whole time- and he wore a hat too! It was absolutely adorable!
Some things we decided after this day trip to Zion: 1)we WILL go to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone this year and 2) we need a better baby backpack for hiking.
Who knew that of all the blessings we have been given in the past few years, our guidance to Hurricane, UT would be the biggest? The course we have taken is obviously the one that we needed and we are so humbled by the plan that is unfolding before us. I can’t say it enough, we LOVE it here!
Good news minute: Beth will continue her job full-time at the HS next year, Chad will finally be full-time at the Intermediate School next year, Chad will be working for the Shakespearean Festival in the pit for “The Music Man” over the summer, Beth will be subbing for ESY (extended school year) over the summer, and Gryn is still growing like crazy and learning new things everyday!
Spring Break
We started off the spring break with our 5th anniversary and an evening at Tuacahn to see Bill Cosby with my parents and sister and brother-in-law! We did not regret it at all- he is so funny- we didn’t stop laughing the whole time! It also made for some good laughs during the rest of the trip!
We spent the night at Hayley’s house that evening and got up early the next morning to begin our travel to Anaheim. We had some very excited kiddos with us and Gryn could feel the excitement in the air- it seemed he was even excited for the trip! We made one stop in Las Vegas to eat breakfast and then we were off. Gryn was great the whole time- played, slept, and ate. We arrived at our hotel around 1:30 p.m., unpacked, hit the pool for a little bit, and relaxed.
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were spent at Disneyland. Our first ride was Dumbo and the line was only 10 min long (far too deceiving- lines were not that great for the rest of the time we were there)!! Gryn really liked it and we had fun just watching him discover things! The next ride was Peter Pan (again short line- awesome) and Gryn loved this one as well. He was so intent on looking at everything he could! After that, I don’t know what else he went on specifically or on which day… but here are the ones I remember:
At Disneyland: Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, and Captain EO.
At CA Adventure: Flik’s Flyers, The Ladybug One, Toy Story Mania, and Brother Bear Land.
Chad and I were able to get on more than that, it was nice having lots of people so that we could use fastpasses and rider switch passes.
A few Disney Highlights:
Character Breakfast on Wednesday morning with the whole family! We got a great picture out of it and it was fun to see all the kiddos playing together!
World of Color! INCREDIBLE! We were really amazed at what they can do with water and lights over there at CA Adventure. We really enjoyed ourselves!
Fireworks on Friday night! Gryn was super sleepy, but wanted to see all of the fireworks show- he stayed awake as long as he possibly could and fell asleep about ¾ of the way through and didn’t even wake up until the next morning. It was very sweet!
A few lowlights:
There were huge amounts of crowds since it was spring break in So. UT, AZ, TX, and parts of CA.
The atmosphere of CA Adventure was lacking since they’re re-doing so much of it. It made it difficult to get around and it just wasn’t the same relaxed feeling as we have had before.
Overall though, we just enjoyed our time experiencing Disneyland with Gryn for the first time.
Aaron’s family came on Monday evening and we got to meet our newest niece, Savanah. Gryn could probably have eaten her- she is so little! We all played at the pool for a little bit.
Tuesday we all split up- Hayley and Aaron’s families went down to LegoLand, Mandi, Ryan, and Alex went to Universal Studios, Mom and Dad went to Disneyland with Darek, and we headed out to Hard Rock Hollywood and Newport Beach. We ate lunch and looked at some of the stars on the “Walk of Fame.” We went over to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to look at the handprints, footprints, and signatures of the stars in the cement there! It was SO much fun- we even got to see the Travelocity gnome in action! When we were done, we spent TWO HOURS in traffic getting back to Newport Beach (I was SUPER annoyed- motivation NOT to move to a big city) to hit up the International Surf Museum! It was awesome! There was a street market going on outside as well, so we walked that as well. It was a very relaxing day.
Thursday was spent whale watching and playing on the beach. We didn’t see any whales, but we did see dolphins and sea lions. Really, just being out on the ocean was fantastic (motivation TO move to a coast)! It made us want to get a sail boat SO bad! It was fun watching all the cousins play together. We all ate at Ruby’s Café out on the pier, then everyone spent a little time on the beach. Mandi, Ryan, Alex, Darek, Chad, Gryn, and I stayed on the beach for a long time! We played in the water a little bit, Gryn slept on the beach, and Chad and I built a sand castle! It was SO much fun! Before Aaron and Jen left, we watched as Christopher played chicken with the waves and it ended how it always does- the waves won and there was a sad, soaked little boy!
We said goodbye to Aaron’s family on Friday morning and everyone else packed up on Saturday morning- except Mandi’s family. We met up with them for a few hours to play and shop and then headed home ourselves. We decided to drive all the way home and arrived at 2:00 a.m. Thankfully Chad was well enough to handle it by himself. Unfortunately the vast majority of our group went home sick (Gryn and I included), so I sat in the back and slept from just after Barstow almost all the way home.
We were very glad to have been able to take a trip with the whole family! We built some amazing memories and had a wonderful time with brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and parents! We’re ready for another one!!
February Wrap up
February was a great month! Gryn learned lots, I turned 27, we spent lots of time with family, made lots of baby food, had lots of trainings for work and the community, and had fun together.
One particular experience from February has really stuck with me that I'd like to keep in a place where I can remember it:
I sat one day during my prep, toward the end of February, feeding and playing with Gryn, feeling very blessed and wrote a journal entry, which I ended up not being able to publish. I had been keeping up on my "blog stalking" and had just read a post that was the obituary of a two year old girl who had suffered from a painful disease her entire life. I had kept up with this blog for quite some time and could see the rapid deterioration of this sweet girl. At two years old, she weighed less than Gryn did at 3 months old.
Blogging is such an interesting world- at any moment you can read of someone else's tragedy, joy, adventures, sorrows, everyday life, children, pregnancy, husband or wife, students, book review, etc. The interesting thing is that no matter what it is, it isn't your life and its completely fascinating and addictive to "share" in other people's lives. I had just read the blog post of a person I only knew through her blog- and I began to reflect on the months since Gryn had been born.
The reflection on reading others' experiences of loss and watching family members experience the loss of a child brought me to many things, but mainly: I don't know why certain people are chosen to experience loss, but I will always be in awe of their strength to persevere- I think about moving forward with my life without Gryn now that I have experienced it, and can hardly bear the thought. I am so blessed to have a strong, healthy baby who is developing beautifully and am grateful to those in my life who show me how to be a stronger, better person and loving parent
The Family Update!
I can't seem to update more than once a month lately. I'm trying to be better so we can keep you abreast of what's happening with our family! Here it is...
I am doing quite well. As for my transition back to work, I will say, it was fantastically easy! My mom came down for the first week I was back and my sister Mandi came for the second week with her boys. I was ready to be back and happy to get back into a regular schedule. That only left two days before Thanksgiving that we needed to take Gryn to a sitter. We started up on our regular schedule after Thanksgiving and it has been a breeze. I arranged with my administration to be able to have Gryn during my prep everyday so that I can feed him. I take him to the sitter during my lunch and Chad or I pick him up around 3. We really couldn’t ask for a better situation!
Chad is awesome! He’s getting ready for his piano recitals and the annual performance of his bands at SUPAF. He’s keeping busy by playing drumset with a local band and as an assistant scout leader for the Weblos in our ward. He loves having mornings with Gryn while I’m at work. I don’t usually have much to say about Chad, he’s always doing pretty well!
As for Gryn- he is ADORABLE! We just can’t get enough of him! At his 4 month appointment (two weeks ago) he weighed 17 lbs 2 oz and was 25.75 inches long. About the size of a normal 6 month old. We went through all of his 3-6 month clothes and put them away. He now wears 6-9 month clothing- awesome! A few things about Gryn:
He smiles at EVERYONE! Its like he's thinking "Oh, that person is smiling at me, how nice of them, I must smile back!" He is super content with his life and very rarely complains ;)
He is starting to have a sense of humor and is starting to understand games.
He LOVES his feet! If he is on his back, he is chewing on his feet! It is adorable!
He started eating cereal on January 25th and started eating carrots tonight! He LOVES food, he has had no problems with any of it! He grabs our hands when the spoon gets close to his mouth and he tries to “help” us feed him!
He has just started to get excited when people come to pick him up from out of his car seat, bouncer, the floor, really, from anything. His arms start flapping and he starts kicking, it’s so much fun!
He also does this strong inhale when he gets excited too. If he does it too much, it freaks me out, but otherwise, its really cute and pretty funny!
He thinks laying down is for babies, but isn't sure how to get what he wants yet.
He laughs when we play games with him and when Chad flips him upside down.
He is starting to understand that being on his belly means he can reach toys and play more. It lasts for about 5-7 minutes before he gets too frustrated.
He has rolled over from his belly to his back once and I think it was a fluke, although, he was quite proud of himself. We’re working everyday on getting him to roll because he’s SO frustrated that he’s not mobile yet. He can see what he wants, but can’t quite get to it on his own.
He is super close to sitting on his own as well. He is getting the hang of balancing himself and correcting himself when he’s beginning to fall. He still does faceplant though.
He wiggles on his belly in circles to get what he wants.
Gryn started sleeping through the night just after Thanksgiving. He kept it up until we got back from the long weekend. The week after was a nightmare because when he would wake up, he would be up for two hours. He kept up the waking until two nights after we started feeding him cereal. Since then he has slept quite nicely through the night. We haven't put him in his big boy crib yet because we don't want to screw with the sleeping yet. We're not sure when we're going to make the transfer yet.
Dad’s favorite time with Gryn is in the morning when they get ready together. Chad loves that he lays and talks to him and tries to eat his feet. They have their routine and Chad LOVES having that time with him. It’s funny because I’ll have days where I’ll get Gryn ready in the morning and I can just tell that he likes having mornings with his daddy more than with me (by the way, totally not sad about it all, just in case it sounded like that. I LOVE that my guys have bonding time in the morning).
Mom’s favorite time with Gryn is at night. He has outgrown his infant crib and we’re not ready, for reasons stated above, to put him in his own room, so he sleeps with us. Since he sleeps with us, we get to snuggle A LOT! He will wiggle his way over to me or to Chad and will snuggle into us. I know its dangerous because in a few months when we want him in his own room, it could be quite difficult for us. But I’m LOVING it now.
We have pictures and video of the dude eating and being cute. I'll try to post them tomorrow, since it's too late tonight!
Reflection
I have been doing a lot of reflecting on my life lately. All I really have to say is: I am SO happy with my life! Chad and I have been presented with numerous opportunities in the past year to make our family’s life what it is. And although the choices that we made came with much apprehension and took lots of faith to accept, the Lord knows EXACTLY what we need and what our family needs- we only need to act on it.
We met January 2010 with the news that we would have a baby join our family. February gave us the opportunity to share the news of a baby, Beth’s 26th birthday, and a job offer for Beth. March came with a much needed beach vacation; April with the gender of our baby and time with family at Easter. May came with the end of school; June with relaxation, readying the house for Gryn, and the Utah Shakespearean Festival. We met July with a final 3D ultrasound of Gryn and a trip to Lagoon. August was the start of a brand new school year, final preparation for our little dude, and meeting new co-workers (for Beth). September went SO quickly and we finally got to meet Gryn in person. October was a month of one-on-one with Beth and Gryn, a 31st birthday for Chad, and Halloween Celebrations. November had stays from Grandma, Aunt Mandi, and Cousins Alex and Darek, Beth went back to work, Gryn started going to the sitter, and Thanksgiving with the Bakers. The final month of the year brought much joy to us: lights, trees, concerts, festivals, a two week break, and Christmas with the Titus’ and Woods. We had our trials and adjusted to having an infant in our home! Overall, 2010 brought us much joy and we feel extraordinarily blessed!
We are SO excited for 2011 and all the excitement it will bring- most especially the upcoming Titus Family Reunion! It’s been two and a half years since all of my siblings (that could be around) have been in the same place. We’ve added 3 boys and 1 girl to the mix and can’t wait to spend some time with all of our family! The best part of it is that it’ll be at our favorite place: Disneyland! We want to take a trip out to see my brother and his family this year as well, especially since they are moving to New Jersey this week! We are looking forward to having the summer with our little guy and building memories as a family!
Long Weekend
Over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Chad, Gryn, and I were able to fly out to the bay area. My cousin got married, so we figured it would be a good excuse to go play, catch up with family, and show off the new member of the family!
We flew out of Vegas on Thursday night. We were severely delayed, which meant we got to spend time with Chad's family. Gryn fell asleep before we got on the plane and slept all the way to my cousin Heather's house (we arrived at 2 a.m.) and then through the morning. Such a good baby!
Friday was spent participating in the wedding festivities at the Oakland Temple and at the reception. We helped with food and had fun catching up with aunts, uncles, and cousins! The bride and groom were SO digustingly cute, as we all are on our wedding day. We were so glad we could make it out to support them.
Saturday morning, we helped "un-decorate" the church where the reception was held. We had a fun time hanging out with everyone. Afterward, we headed, with my cousin Megan, into Sacramento where we hit up the California Train Museum. It was fun to visit a place with memories from my childhood! We were graciously invited to have dinner with a childhood friend and her husband; she is an amazing chef, so of course we accepted her offer! I had not seen her since before her mission and before I was married, so it had been a long time! We had SO much fun and figured out that Chad and her husband are the same age and have a TON in common!
Sunday was pretty laid back in the morning, we just hung out for a little bit and left for San Francisco around noon. We walked the Golden Gate Bridge, went down to Baker Beach, and got tea and cocoa at the Japanese Tea Garden. It was wonderfully relaxed, especially since we've been to the area 3 times in the past year and a half. We headed home to have dinner with the whole family. I forget how important family is and how much I miss all of them until we are together.
Monday was our travel home day. We had breakfast with my aunt and uncle and cousin Heather and her husband Mark. We made it to the airport in just the right amount of time to get checked in, through security, and to the gate and boarded. Gryn fell asleep as soon as we buckled him in and stayed so through the whole flight. We spent time with Chad's family again and got home late.
Our trip was wonderful and we had a lovely time visiting with family and friends.
Friday is our 4 month check up, can you believe it? I'll be posting his update on Friday.
Christmas #1
The Christmas Break... ah, two weeks of workless bliss. Each year, I feel extremely blessed that I am a teacher and that my husband is a teacher because we get the said time off together and with our kid! We spent this year in SLC with my parents and sister's family. It was lovely, like I said, bliss.
A few experiences that deserve mentioning (in chronological order):
The Gateway: This is one of our favorite shopping areas in SLC. Its an outdoor mall and we usually make a trip there when we go. This time we needed to go so that I could replace my phone. My sister also had coupons for build-a-bear. We took Alex with us and he had mentioned Barnes and Noble, so after spending an hour and a half at Verizon getting our lovely new phones (Chad totally benefitted because it was buy on get one free on Droids), we took Alex to the bookstore and spoiled him! We then went over to the Build-A-Bear workshop to get little guy a stuffie. We put about 5 different ones in front of him to see which he liked the best. We got absolutely no response from 4 cute little animals, but when we picked up Bumble- the Yeti from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie, he started smiling and cooing like crazy, so he got a Yeti for Christmas. Awesome.
Christmas Eve (of course): We spent this day doing some last-minute shopping (and scoping what we wanted to hit up during the after Christmas clearance), cooking, and hanging out. We ate a lovely meal prepared by my parents and changed into our Super Hero pjs to watch The Polar Express (a Titus family tradition). We ate snacks, drank hot cocoa, and snuggled. We had a wonderful time! After the movie was over, we sent the kids to bed and wrapped presents. The men played some video games while Mandi and I chatted and wrapped, then we went to bed (at midnight) and the men wrapped! Gryn, who had been sleeping through the night for a month, woke up TWICE on Christmas Eve! He could totally feel the exciting energy around him! Luckily, the festivities didn't start until 8:30 on Christmas morning, so we were able to get some sleep!
Christmas Day (duh): Gryn and I woke up around 6:30 and wandered downstairs while the sun was still down and all the Christmas lights illuminated the house. We looked at the tree and snuggled on the couch. It was very special. We went back upstairs and to sleep around 7:15 and woke up again at 8:30. We mozied downstairs and the festivities began. Alex and Darek were so fun to watch- the plan was to take turns opening, but Darek literally played with each toy for about 10 minutes after he opened it and as patient as Alex was, he was equally excited to see what was in those darn presents, so taking turns was thrown out the window! Its always so fun to have kids around for Christmas! We got Gryn a few presents that we thought he wouldn't be very interested in yet and my parents got him a few as well. We got him "Scout" the dog who talks and sings (which Darek loved), a Bumble (story above), and a couple other things. My parents got him some personalized PJs (which he has almost outgrown already), a Tigger, a Stitch, and some toys for when hes older. He absolutely ADORES Scout, Tigger, and Stitch (I think he likes Stitch the best, but I'm a little biased). He sat and chewed on each of them and talked to them. He was very intent on looking at everything. It was very neat! I didn't think he would be so animated at this point in his little life! We stayed in our PJs all day and relaxed. Later we skyped with my brother and his family! Its always good to see the east coast family! This is one very memorable Christmas!
Visit with Nate: Each time we've gone up for the past couple of months, we have tried to visit my brother Nate, especially so he could meet Gryn! Nate has made a lot of progress on making mature decisions and wanting to be part of the family! Usually we are able to take the baby in to visit, but this time we couldn't, so he got to see the little guy from a distance, but Chad, Mandi, Mom, and I got to hang out with him and he seemed so happy and much less withdrawn.
The Annual Christmas Nerf war: As always, we had our Nerf war. It was so awesome! We didn't have as much time as we normally do, and I sat out one round to feed our newest member of the nerf battle, but we had a great time. My team won two of the three rounds. GO TEAM! We always have insane amounts of guns and ammo!
The Annual New Year's Buca Di Beppo night (with a twist): Usually we spend New Year's Eve at Buca Di Beppo with the family. This year, we knew we would have to leave before then, so we decided to do our own Buca Di Titus night at my parents house before New Year's Eve. We've always wanted to get the coveted "Pope Room" at the restaurant, so we created our own "LDS Pope Room" (complete with all the pix of the LDS Prophets, it was pretty much awesome). Mandi, Chad, and I looked up our favorite recipes from Buca and prepared them. The menu included: Lemon Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Fried Ravioli with Pesto, Green Beans (that were absolutely perfect), Manicotti, Chicken Carbonara, and numerous different Italian Sodas. We were totally stuffed! We didn't have time for a cake this year, which was a bummer. We'll figure out another celebration that warrants an amazing cake.
New Year's Eve and Day: While these weren't super amazing, they were definitely memorable. We got ready to leave on New Year's Eve (weather delayed our trip home). As we were packing the car, I noticed that Gryn had some white raised bumps in his mouth. I called the Urgent care centers that were super close to my parents and they either didn't accept our insurance or had a 2 hour wait. Boo. So we drove up to Layton and found out that he had thrush. Boo again. We got out later than we had hoped, so we celebrated New Year's (midnight) in our car somewhere between Cedar City and Hurricane. When we got home, we realized that we had locked oursleves out of the house and it was about 10 degrees outside (literally). We finally found an unlocked window that would open and I climbed in. We found that our thermostat was at 49 degrees and that our stove/oven, microwave, and the water in our bedroom and kitchen would not work. Luckily we had water in the guest bathroom. We went to bed and woke up early so that we could attend Tyson and Holly's baptisms. We had moved the car we had taken to SLC into the garage so that we wouldn't have to unpack it until after we returned home from the baptisms. When we got in the other car to leave, it wouldn't start because it was SO COLD! So we had to unpack our car in a hurry so that we could get to Ty's baptism on time. Crazy morning! We ended up spending all day in St. George with family, it was wonderful!
Our break was wonderful and we had a blast visiting with friends and spending time with family.
Christmas #2
This is the "before the break" Christmas update. We had so many wonderful experiences and built a lot of memories with friends and family here in the Hurricane area.
A few to mention:
Christmas with the St. George Bakers- we opened presents and had dinner with Chad's family that lives down here and we had a BLAST sharing stories of our lives. We love our cousins and are really glad we can share experiences with them.
The end of the Quarter- Its crazy to think that this school year is halfway over. Its amazing how quickly it goes when you miss six weeks of school! I think I may do this every year! The end of the quarter is SO busy, especially being at the high school and figuring out if your kiddos are going to graduate in the spring.
The Nutcracker- this year my niece was a mouse in the Nutcracker. It was always a tradition to go see it when I was little, so it was fun to see my little niece in the ballet. She made a very cute little mouse and we had fun spending time with everyone afterward.
Our first Christmas experience as a family- we have a tradition that when we go out of town (and have little space to pack everything) at Christmas, we open presents before we leave so that we don't have to pack them with us. It was Gryn's first time opening present and he LOVED the paper! We stuck him in his bumbo and he grabbed at all the presents we put in front of him.
Oh and last- I left my phone on top of the car as we were leaving St. George the night before we were to leave for SLC for the break. It took flight as we got on the freeway, in the dark, at 10:00 p.m., in the rain. Needless to say, we didn't go find it. The saddest part is that I lost all the pictures I took while we were in the hospital. :'(
We look forward to a happy and exciting 2011! Lots of fun headed our way!
BUSY!!!
This week has been INSANE! A good insane, but insane nonetheless.
Monday we stayed home in the evening and I got the "neighbor gifts" ready to deliver (they're still sitting on the kitchen table). We watched a movie and relazed as much as we could! Oh, we did do some impromptu Christmas Shopping. The only things I wanted this year were diamond earrings and an exercise bike. We got the earrings on Black Friday and they only cost $8- AWESOME! The bike I really wanted was $200 and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much, but we went to Walmart and found it on clearance for $99. So we got it. It's still in the box because this week has been crazy!
Tuesday after work, we went into St. George to get a bit if shopping done and look @ the Temple Lights. Gryn did well, he liked looking at the really big white light (aka the Temple) almost the whole time. We went to Brick Oven Pizza for dinner and its now one of our favorite places- expect to be treated to dinner there if you come visit! We didn't get home until about 10:30. It was crazy.
Wednesday was Chad's Band Concerts! The kids sounded so well and were very proud of themselves! I stayed at work for a while and met Chad @ his school in enough time to help out a little. Gryn was happy the whole time (despite the fact that he hadn't eaten since 2:00- what a good baby!)! He charmed people and fel asleep during both concerts! We got home around 9:00 and were exhausted!
Thursday was the Piano Recital and the Middle School's Band concerts. I picked Gryn up andheaded over to meet a friend for a bit, which was lovely, I hadn't seen her since May! We went over to the recital and watched those kiddos perform- they did quite well and were also very proud of themselves! We hurried over to watch Chad's previous students perform! It was fun to see that reunion with the kids! Again, it was a 9:00 night! We were EXHAUSTED! We went to be as early as we could!
Today we worked and have had some down time. We're heading in to St. George tonight to do some Christmas Shopping and to have dinner with some friends. It'll be a lovely evening! Tomorrow holds cleaning the house (!) and our ward Christmas Party and since we're on the "activities committee" we get to tell about Christ's birth in relationship to the Americas. Sunday we'll be hanging at Church and then having dinner with Chad's Grandma, Uncle, Aunt, and cousins. We've got a fun-filled weekend to look forward to!
Bebe Update
The much needed bebe update has arrived!
Gryn is now 11 weeks and 3 days old or 2 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days old.
Here are some fun Gryn facts:
- At his 2 month appointment he weighed 13 lbs 1 oz and was 24 inches long.
- I JUST weighed and measured him: he is now 15 lbs 6 oz and about 25 inches long.
- Needless to say, he is wearing 3-6 month clothing and is quickly outgrowing them.
- He has also graduated to size 2 diapers. We're hoping he slows down a bit so we can stay in a diaper size for more than a month!
- Gryn loves to play now- he bats at his toys and is grabbing them now. He grabs fingers and puts them in his mouth, we're working on getting the toys there too! If he doesn't get play time, he gets really fussy- something we discovered over Thanksgiving break.
- He is already trying to be a master manipulator. He's got a fake cry that cracks us up because its such a "my life is over" kind of cry!
- I put him in the Bumbo chair and he LOVES it, he's convinved himself that laying down is for babies (and he CERTAINLY isn't a baby), so we're having to re-think the toy situation.
- He "talks" anytime he is laying down and can see faces and smiles ALL the time. He also has a little laugh and is on the verge of giggling- we CAN'T wait!
- He only cries if he is "starving" (that's his "end of the world" fake cry). We've really only heard a real cry when he's got gas pains and when he's extremely tired.
- He easily falls asleep (my favorite so far has been while he was sitting in his Bumbo chair) and is a great sleeper. He started sleeping through the night (9:30 or 10:00 until 6:30 or 7:00) on Nov. 30th. He sleeps through me blow drying my hair, loud movies that Chad watches, dishes, etc. The only time he has a problem is when there is conisitent loud noise for extended peiods of time (4 or more hours).
- He still sleeps in our room in a tiny antique crib next to the bed and we snuggle for a bit in the morning.
- He chows on his hands all the time now and is SO drooly that we have started putting bibs on him.
- He got to spend a week with Grandma and a week with Aunt Mandi when I went back to work (huge blessing for us) and started at the sitter on Nov. 22nd (and no one cried!).
- He loves to be around people and is very aware of what's going on around him. He likes to watch what we're watching and gets quite frustrated if he can't. He loves other kids- he gives the biggest smiles to his cousins and the kids at the sitter's.
Dad's favorite things: Gryn's smile when he is excited and his explosive (sounding) poops!
Mom's favorite things: Gryn's voice when he is "chatty" and he's still so snuggly!
Alright, there it is! I want to keep all of our out of town family and friends updated because you don't get to see him as often as you would like! We are SO blessed to have a happy, healthy, strong, growing baby boy.
And Check out the new pics- we had some fun last night after church!
Christmas Time
It seems that this time of year is the time where you want to be relaxed and enjoy some time with family, especially as teachers because the students start bouncing off the walls (or get apathetic) two weeks before the break (that would be this week). However, Chad and I put our calendars together so that we can figure out when to do things and much to our amazement, we have a full schedule EVERY NIGHT for the next two weeks. Of course it's all things we love doing and are excited for, but it just seems to be the busiest time of the year. Hopefully there will be lots of posts about what we are involved in!
Here's the first:
Last night, LaVerkin held "Winter Fest" complete with parade, a performance program, and fireworks! It was so much fun! Chad put together a small group of kids who play saxophone and they played two songs (Winter Wonderland and The First Noel) during the program. After they were done, Chad, Gryn, and I stayed for a bit and had hot cocoa and watched a bit of Frosty the Snowman. It was a wonderful night spent with lots of people we care about in our community! We are SO blessed to have such a wonderful community! Keep your eyes peeled for pics (we only took a few).
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