2014: page two hundred forty-seven

The first thing B asked for this morning when she woke up was, "to do my chart again." :) I guess she did actually really like it. :) I told her that one was just for bedtime but I would make more charts for her if she wanted. She said yes, so I spent some time today putting together a morning routine chart and a responsibilities (chore) chart. We'll see if these ones are as popular as the bedtime one. She was pretty excited tonight when she got to do the bedtime chart again.

I'm thankful that I talked for a wonderfully long time on the phone today with one of my dearest friends! We haven't talked for a while, so it was great chatting and catching up! Her son and B did a little FaceTime at the end of our call and they both thought that was great, except for then they wanted to play. Hopefully soon sweet kiddos.

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While I am sad and frustrated with the whole preschool ordeal, I am also thankful for a few things. I am thankful that:

• my mind is starting to clear and I have a much better mindset and outlook
• my medication seems to be kicking in (based on the above)
• with a clearer mind I can see other options such as doing some "preschool" at home, which means I get this fun time with my girl
• I can truly see the good in this

Like I said above, my funk/fog/whatever-it-is is slowly going away and I can't say enough how wonderful that is! Starting to feel more like myself, enjoying life more, etc. makes me realize just how bad it was. Thank you, God, for being with me through this and for some relief through modern science!

On a completely unrelated note, tonight we started a new chart for B with her bedtime routine on it. And she loved it! I wasn't sure if she would like it or how she'd react, but I wanted to give it a try to see if it helped with bedtime. It's nothing fancy, but she likes putting stickers in the squares when she's finished a task and then seeing what's next. I'm pretty stoked that she was so in to it and hope that it continues that way!

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Ryan worked from home today, which I always enjoy. :) Even though he was locked up in the guest room for most of the day, it's just nice to have him here. And when he needed a break, we got to hang out for a bit.

B and I played outside for a while, enjoying the sunshine.

She filled this with water and got in it to "swim" :)

In the early evening, the three of us went to B's preschool open house. I was so, so excited about this, to see the new place (the preschool moved into a new house since I registered her), get to know her teacher a little bit more. In all honesty, during the summer I was reconsidering sending her to preschool, but the past few weeks all she has talked about is going to school (even though we hadn't ever talked to her about it). I figured that since she was so interested that I would stick to the original plan and send her.

Once we got there, we noticed that the house sits on the corner of a residential street and a busy, high speed street. And it didn't have a fence. "That's ok," I thought, "they probably just don't play outside." After all, it's just a 2 hour/day preschool and so playing outside isn't really necessary for that short of a time. I was wrong. They play outside the last 15 minutes of the class.

Expressing our concerns to the teacher about how B is only 2, likes to run and actually thinks it's a game, she kind of just blew off the dangers. Stating that the first time it happens she will get put in time out and will hate having to sit there watching the other kids play, which will lead to it not happening again. I'm not really comfortable with that answer considering there will be sixteen 2 year olds supervised by 2-3 adults. Somehow, being on that busy road I'm not comfortable with there being even a chance at running away even once. Not to mention that a fence is also a good way to keep other dangers out, such as creepers and mean dogs. I'm still in shock that there was not a fence and it wasn't a big deal.

Ryan and I brainstormed to see how we could make it work, but never came to a point where we felt comfortable sending her there.

I am so bummed! So, SO bummed! What bums me out more is that B will be bummed, too. :(

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Since today was Labor Day, Ryan had the day off. So went up to the mountains to play a bit and ride around on the 4 wheeler. Fun, fun!

It turns out, however, that a helmet is required for children under the age of 18. The $100 ticket that we got proved that to be true. :( Now, we had a helmet for B with us and she wore it most of the time, but we took it off when she was tired and fell asleep with me holding her. Ryan was driving very slowly on a mountain dirt road. Nonetheless, he got ticketed for it.

We were hoping that since we didn't know that it was a law that she would just give us a warning, but nope. No such luck. Apparently this lady officer has a reputation and it's not a good one. Like Ryan told her, no one cares more about B's safety than we do. Ugh. Pretty frustrating.

We made it home in time for B's nap and Ryan went over to help his dad with something for a while. Then we took his mom and dad out to celebrate his dad's (60th) birthday.

Other than the encounter with the mean lady, we had a wonderful holiday day. :)

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After church today was the 5th Sunday potluck. Actually talked to some people that I don't know very well or talk to very often, so that's good. :)

Followed that up with a 3 hour nap. Didn't mean to take a 3 hour nap or even realize that it had been 3 hours. But it felt good and I guess I needed it. I'm pretty sure I could have just kept sleeping if I hadn't forced myself to get up when I did.

In the evening we ended up over at Jeremy and Crystal's new house to help them with painting (well, Ryan helped anyway).

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2 Corinthians 12:9
"My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." (NLT)

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (NIV)

Praying for God's power to rest on me.

A pretty low key day at home. Really at the time of writing this, I can't remember if we did anything on this Saturday other than chill at home.

Thankful for God and His grace.

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An outing to Sam's Club for some essentials and I stumbled across this...in August... I like Christmas and all, but seriously it's not even Labor Day. Pretty soon Christmas stuff will be up year round. :)

A whole huge aisle of Christmas decorations...

Then I had the chance to get away by myself for an hour or so in the afternoon for some "me" time at Beans N Brews. Actually, I spent most of the time looking at the upcoming few months and trying to get back into a routine. Hopefully, that will help me get back in my groove, be a better mom and that it will be great for B, too.

Although, the weirdest thing happened while I was there. I was thinking back over the past few days and I simply could not remember what I did yesterday afternoon. I remembered I went somewhere by myself, but that's about all. After approximately 5 minutes trying to remember, I finally remembered I had gone to Kmart to find a Utes t-shirt. That was the strangest feeling and I didn't like it.

John, Stacey, Jensen, and Jack came over again in the afternoon, so we got to hang out with them for a couple of hours before B and I headed to the airport to pick up Ryan and then drive home.

She adores baby Jack.

A similar thing happened with my memory on our drive home when Ryan asked me about the past few days. I couldn't remember what we had done on Wednesday. Again, it took a good 5 minutes to remember our Savers excursion. I sure hope this doesn't last. I've got to get out of this funk/fog/whatever-it-is soon. Please.

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Game Day!

My first Utes game in five years! And I got to go with my dadda!

What a fun daddy-daughter date! Thanks mom for letting me use your ticket! Oh and they won! :)

He looks so grumpy here. Ha ha ha! But he wasn't really. :)

There's a smile.

Dadda and me

Our game faces

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A trip with my mom and dad to the "big" Savers was how we started our day today. And, bonus, Wednesdays are "seniors day" at Savers and customers over 55 get a 20% discount. Thanks for being old, mom and dad. ;) Then, after Savers, we hit up the Arctic Circle that's in the same parking lot for lunch. Score again with the senior discount. Ha ha ha! Oh and the yummy food.

Enjoying her courtesy cone at Arctic Circle

In the evening, John, Stacey, Jensen, and Jack came over. B couldn't get enough of baby Jack at first. She loves babies! But then she was off to play with Jensen. Although, she checked in on Jack regularly. :)

Jack :)

Cousins!

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Once again we headed out to Salt Lake today, so Ryan could fly out on business. At least this time he went somewhere that he wanted - Alaska. :) B and I will be at my mom and dad's house while he is gone.

Every Tuesday evening, Jensen comes over to my mom and dad's so John and Stacey can have a date. Today was no different, but this time he had B to play with. :) I so enjoy watching them play together.

Running around in the back yard.

Cooking with Grandpa and Grandma. They each had to have an apron on. :)