Saturday, January 26, 2013

Statistics,Blogging,Big Bang Theory

Statistics... ah statistics.... I dislike you greatly. For you have created a gap between me and my beloved blogging time. Oh, statistics... I will so not miss you.

So, obviously (as stated above) studying for my statistics exam has been consuming my life. No lie. I have not even been able to spend very much time with my children. However, I have passed said exam and statistics is behind me FOREVER!!! Except for those times that I will encounter it in my life. In those instances I can now say that I understand. BOO YAH!!!

So, this is Kourtney finding a loophole in my rule that she is not allowed to climb into or on top of Kloey's jumper toy. Well, I shall just stick my legs through it... HAHAHA!!! She was quite proud of herself for this discovery and I was rather amused by it. She's fantastic.

I must share a discovery that Jordan and I have made upon starting school and dealing with our Kourtney-Bear. You see, she was turning into a complete and monstrous terror after my first week of school. Oh my goodness. Admittedly, we did not know how to deal with these tantrums and outbursts of negative energy. Losing our patience and getting frustrated were the only things that we were capable of. We were simply exhausted. Finally, I decided to hug her... trust me, I really didn't want to. And this led to a host of insights. Realizing that she probably just needed attention and that she was going through an enormous change as well, we decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if we tried our hardest to ignore the constant whining, not yell at her, and spend more time playing. I will not tell you that this has produced an angelic change in her behavior, because I would be full of ca-ca if I said that. But, it has brought a lovely feeling into our home. She has stopped yelling for the most part. She only needs to be asked once or twice to clean up her mess. She is being a lot less aggressive towards her sister (except for the random biting of her sister's foot yesterday... I was not quite as patient for that one). Homework does take up a lot of my time. So Kourtney and I have a new bedtime ritual. I stop doing homework. We read scriptures and pray, brush our teeth, and then snuggle while we watch about 10 minutes of a movie. Then I sing her a song and she is asleep. This is really helping her to recognize that she is still important to me. And it is a lovely tradition for me as well.

This is Kourtney's cheese face... and Kloey's "I just want to take a bath in peace" face.

My Kloey. Tell me... When does the perfection of infancy fade and the attitude of childhood start to replace said perfection? And when that does happen is it as sad for everyone else as it is for me? I have grown so accustomed to Kloey being a little baby. As is apparent from the picture above, that is not the case anymore. Sometimes when I try to give her a kiss she will put her hand on my face and push it as far away as possible (especially if I am getting in the way of her view of Sesame Street). She gets so upset when I tell her no! Oh my goodness. She starts to flail her arms in frustration and yells as loud as she can. Geez. She moves around so quickly now. Getting into things is her specialty at the moment. And she loves taking things from her big sister. Oh Gracious! I just didn't want this phase to ever come. Alas, it must come with all children right? Down Syndrome or no Down Syndrome... Which brings me to my point. The longer I have with Kloey, the more I learn that children with Down Syndrome are going to reach every stage that a typical child will reach. They may reach it a little bit later, but they will reach it. There will always be a few things that set them apart from others.. but really, doesn't every child have something that sets them apart from others? I think the answer is yes. And so we begin our bumpy ride into the toddler years with our Klo Bow. Hang on tight. 'Cuz here we GO!!!!

Kloey playing with her favorite toys... clean diapers. Love!!!

Just a little side note: We have a Sheldon bobble head right next to our computer screen. (from the Big Bang Theory)..... BAZINGA!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Lazy and Clapping

I so desperately want to pour my feelings and emotions into this post right now... but I just don't have anything left in me after over 5 hours of homework. So, I will share a video of our Klo Bow and her new accomplishment... CLAPPING!!! Oh, she is just so excited to show this off and I get stupidly crazy over it... Enjoy :)

Friday, January 11, 2013

At the close...

To say this week was stressful would be to seriously under-state the reality that was this week. First week of school for me. First week of night school for Jordan. Running out of gas in the middle of a busy street by myself. Catching a horrific virus smack dab in the middle of it all. Trudging through blowing snow in insanely low temperatures before the sun rises. Listening to my daughter beg me to not leave her one more time. Witnessing Kloey prefer Jordan over me. And then of course there was the typical stress of the first week of a semester. And I can proudly report that I am alive. My brain has not exploded. My children still love me. I have gotten a grip on most of my classes. My body has banished all illnesses. And... it is the weekend. Huzzah!!!

As I was out amongst actual adults this week, I realized that I really really missed my husband and children. I thought about them all the time when I was not with them. And then I would come home and struggle to focus on anything but the heaping mountain load of work that each of my professors seemed to keep pouring on top of me. The overwhelming task of balancing family and home life with this new academic schedule seemed to be quite impossible.

Though I missed my family very much, I really did enjoy being at school. It was nice to be back in that environment of learning and meeting new people. Admittedly, I did feel a bit stupid at times. Let's face it... I've been talking to babies for 4 years now. To jump into the world of Victorian Literature from baby talk is not so easy.

At the end of the day yesterday I just had to say to myself, "Chill out. Stop with the 'what if I fail' thoughts. Take one day at a time and give it your all." Truthfully, my family will always come first. But it is no secret that studying does not take up any small amount of time. Oh dear me, it does not! But we've got this. We can all handle this. Today is proof of that.

Anyhoo... Kloey had her first therapist session on Wednesday. (her first here, that is) We have been instructed to snap her pants together at the feet to prevent her from doing the splits. See, that is how she gets in and out of sitting. She does the splits to get out of sitting, and then to get back up. It really is adorable. But it is not the "right" way of doing it. Apparently it is bad for her hips and causes a host of problems. Of course we listen to them. They are there to show us what to do to help her. So... now our child hates us. Okay, not really. But she is never happy when we snap her pants together. She has to start the learning process all over again. It is just so frustrating for her. I can see it as she is trying to move around. She just gets so mad. But she does try it and doesn't start yelling at us for at least 10 minutes. I see that as a fabulous sign. Hopefully we will get her to crawling in no time at all.


Excuse the mess: they tend to wreak a bit of havoc...

She thought she would pack a picnic for her dolls


Kourtney's Christmas from Daddy... she named him Sully (from Monster's Inc.)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New year and resolutions...

I do this every year... review my resolutions from last year and see how I measured up. Then I make new ones for the new year. Shall we get started???

Last year's resolutions:

  • Lose my baby weight. ... okay. I've done pretty well. I weighed 113 when I got pregnant with Kloey and I didn't really want to get all the way back down there. That was a bit skinny. I am at 122 and I feel really good. Gonna count that as a success.
  • Be more loving, forgiving, patient (especially with Kourtney). This one is tricky. Kourtney and I go round and round! Sometimes we're best friends and other times we can't stand each other. But I feel like I have made significant improvement in the way that I handle her. I make a conscience effort everyday to love her and play with her and teach her. Another success.
  • Judge less. We could all do a little better at this one. This is hard for me. What I can say is that I have been aware of it all year long and immediately reprimanded myself for judging prematurely or harshly or judging at all. So, I feel good about how far I have come with this. Success.
  • Smile more! My goodness, sometimes I think I might smile too much. Success on this one!
  • Much less computer time. I have to be honest here. Epic fail. That's all.
  • More silliness and games with Kourtney. While there is still room for improvement here, I feel like we have come a long way. We play card games and Scene-It. We do puzzles. We chase each other around the house. We play dress up. Success on this one.
  • Teach Kloey to hold a bottle. Success.
  • Teach Kloey to crawl. This is a half success. She is army crawling. And we are sooo proud of her!!!!
  • Make to one year with breastfeeding. We made it to 7 1/2 months. We were so successful in our effort. And I was proud of that time with her.
OVERALL.... A GREAT SUCCESS LAST YEAR!

2013 Resolutions:
... oh where to begin...
  • Well, let's start with the failed attempt of the previous year... MUCH LESS COMPUTER TIME!!!
  • Look for the good in everyone.
  • Maintain at least a 3.5 GPA... yikes.
  • Make sure my children come first, even though I am going back to school.
  • Teach Kourtney to read.
  • Teach Kloey to crawl.
  • Teach Kourtney basic math.
  • Teach Kloey to sign.
  • Show Jordan how much I love him every single day!
  • Slow down and pray.
  • Hold family home evening every week.
  • Study my scriptures every single day.
  • Exercise at least 4 days a week.
  • Fill my body with healthy, wholesome foods.
  • Love my body and myself... stop feeling insecure about seeming "imperfections"
  • Serve others more
A great way to start a new year I think!