Elder McGrath

Last week we went to Utah for a few reasons: 1) to visit my mom and dad, 2) to see my brother off to basic training for the Army (the he's off to OCS after that), and 3) to surprise my youngest brother, Colin, at the airport when he came home from his mission in Chile.

Seeing Tristan off on Monday (and then again that night...and then again on Tuesday!) was sad because he was leaving behind his beautiful, pregnant wife, Ana. He is supposed to graduate from OCS the week she is due. I am hoping since this is her first that she will go over her due date, just to be sure Tristan is there for the birth. But, if not, she is staying with Mom and Dad and I know they will take good care of her.

Wednesday was so fun. We got to the airport early and rolled out our banner for Colin. He was expecting my mom and dad, Ana, and maybe my oldest sister and her family. BUT, my second oldest brother was also there, along with our family, and my youngest sister and her family. We had quite a group! He was so surprised to see us all there!

It was so nice to see Colin and hear his stories and feel the Spirit. He was/is such a wonderful missionary and I know that the people in his mission were sad to see him go.

Friday was fun. I almost died several times, but it was fun. My dad and brother took Jeremy and I skiing up at Sundance. Neither of us have been, and we really needed a lesson, but we decided since we were going with such skilled skiers they could just instruct us. So I made it off the lift just fine (which oddly enough was the SCARIEST thing about skiing). After that, well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. I didn't know how to turn or how to slow myself and stop. They kept yelling, "Wedge! Wedge!", at me. I would point my skis together and nothing. I think I started going faster. I would get going so fast that I thought if I did fall and crash I was surely going to break something, so then I would just make myself fall. I was an excellent butt skier though. I would just bend down to where my butt was almost touching my skis and just go. If butt skiing were an Olympic sport I would medal for sure.

Now that we are home, Shelby is having some major cousin and grandparent withdrawals. When the plane was taking off yesterday Shelby yelled, "Bye Me-tah! Hope to see you in a month!". She begged me this morning to be the Shavy Gravy Monster. I don't think anyone can play that game as well as my dad though.

I am too tired to go through and put any pictures in order, but here they are (the airport pics are blurry. I think the camera was on the wrong setting.).

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Hooray!

After two weeks of being cooped up in the house (one week due to the ice storm and one week due to sickness), we are finally all back to normal. Jeremy and I felt like after all that we deserved a date night on Friday. We went to our very first hockey game and saw the Stars play the Blackhawks (defending Stanley Cup champs). It was a great game to go to for our first hockey game. The Stars won in overtime. I was definitely more into it than I thought I would be. On the way home we had an opportunity to do some service. On the Dart on the way back a woman and her three small kids got on. The mom was only wearing a short sleeve shirt and the kids had only thin jackets on. It was in the 30s outside so I know they had to be freezing. I could hear the mom ask a woman behind us if there was a bus stop at the next Dart stop. There wasn't one. The mom and her kids stayed on and then got off on our stop. They just kind of stood on the platform for a minute looking around. We asked if they needed a ride somewhere and they hesitantly accepted. We drove them to their apartment about 10 miles away. The mom was so thankful and tried to pay us, but of course we refused. It was just nice to be able to help someone in need and I was so thankful that we left the game a couple minutes early so that we could catch the earlier Dart and ended up on that same train as them.

The only picture I have of the night is this silly one of the two of us on the Dart. Hooray for date nights!

The weekend weather was AWESOME. It was sunny and in the 60s. Beautiful. The next few days are supposed to be just as nice. It is amazing what good weather can do for your mood. We went to the park, played outside, washed the cars, and just tried to soak up some of the good weather. Hooray for good weather!

This little one will be 10 months old tomorrow! AND....her first tooth FINALLY popped through today! You can see it on the bottom. I tried to get a picture but she was too quick for me. We just love this girl. You can't help but smile at every single little thing she does. She can say mama, dada, baby, and she tries to say bye-bye when she waves but it ends up sounding like baby. She loves to wave at everyone and blow kisses. She really loves her baby dolls right now. She will pick them up and hug them and pat them on the back. It's adorable. She also really loves music. She will press her little ipod or Shelby's little CD player and just bop her head. She also really loves water right now. Instead of me wiping her hands off with wipes, she loves it if I run the water and let her just run her hands through there. I can't wait til it's really warm and we take her swimming for the first time. I just know she'll love it. Hooray for 10 months!

Rough Patch

We've hit a bit of a rough patch in our house lately. It just seems to be one thing after another lately. It started with Joey's fall down the stairs a month ago. We hadn't installed the baby gate at the top of the stairs yet, and apparently I hadn't moved the playhouse that was blocking the staircase completely against the wall. Joey found a way in between while I was on the phone and the next thing I knew she was tumbling down the stairs. She was fine- in fact I was more traumatized than her. Then I weaned Joey. Talk about pain. I could barely even lift Joey for about two weeks. Then last week Joey had her second flu shot on Monday. Tuesday she started running a fever. We didn't know if it was a reaction to her shot, teething, or both. Then she started with a runny nose and cough, but I never did take her to the doctor because they were closed all week because of the ice storm, and even if they had been open I figured they'd just tell me it was a cold and there wasn't much we could do since she's a baby and can't really take cold meds. Last Wednesday Jeremy went to put sand on the driveway because we couldn't get the car back up due to the ice. He ended up falling and thought he had broken his arm and had to go to the ER. It wasn't broken, thank goodness, but he did have to have his arm in a sling for a few days. Last night when Jeremy got home Shelby started screaming in pain that her ear hurt. She's never had an ear infection before (I am not counting the SLIGHT one she had once because the doctor only caught it when at her well check and said it was the very, very beginning). Anyway, we went over to the insta care and Shelby, Joey, and I all got checked out. (I started not feeling great on Saturday, but again, thought it was only a cold.) We all tested positive for the flu. We stopped by Walgreens and picked up our super expensive Tamiflu and came home. Jeremy woke up this morning with fever and chills so he stayed home from work. To top all of this off, Joey just crawled into Shelby's room where the vacuum was sitting (I left it there because I got stopped in the middle of vacuuming) and pulled the vacuum on top of herself. She now has a nice huge bruise on the side of her head/face. Uuuuuuugggghhhhhhhhhhh!

I am really trying to stay positive and hope that NOTHING ELSE can/will happen to us. We are trying to just not go anywhere and stay in and rest so that we can get all better for our trip to Utah. We are definitely in need of a good vacation!

Random

I have no real purpose for this blog, just wanted to put all the thoughts going through my head "out there", well, out HERE anyway.

I know I just posted about Joey turning 9 months and things she could do at this age, but I swear every time I post something about her she learns ten new things. She is CRUISING now. She can also climb really fast up the stairs. We have to make sure we are right behind her when she does though because she still doesn't understand that she can't just stop and sit down or turn around or she'll fall down the stairs. Yesterday we had lunch at Del Taco and she ate half of Shelby's cheese quesadilla. She was getting mad at Jeremy because he wasn't tearing the bites up fast enough for her.

Also, I know I said she was done with bottles, but that was before I weaned her. I decided for the good of everybody that I would wean Joey. We started off trying formula. She hated it. We tried soy milk. She didn't like it. So then I just decided to pump. I was surprised she put up such a fight because when I gave her a bottle before at like 3 or 4 months she had no problems taking it. I guess it was my fault for not having given her more bottles so she was so used to nursing. Thursday night was a struggle. She resisted her bottle but FINALLY she was so tired she gave in, drank it, and went to bed. Friday I was really strong. I still had some guilty feelings about not nursing anymore- there's something about the bond that you just don't want to give up. But really, once babies get to a certain size I think it is just weird and awkward to nurse them. So I just made up my mind that I would not give in and nurse her. She did pretty well all day until about 4 pm. She was SOOOO tired and did not want a bottle. She cried for about an hour until she finally just fell asleep without eating. I felt so bad but I knew that if she were really hungry she'd take the bottle. Saturday she did great, and I even went out with friends and was gone for like 7 hours. That is huge! I am really not the type of person that is away from my family long. I am a worrier. And I love my family and want to be around them! But that was a good break. Sometimes you just need something like that to recharge your batteries. Joey did awesome today with her bottles and is now reaching for them and pulling them to her- so I think she's pretty much weaned. Pumping is hard- it's a lot of work, but that's ok. I am going to try and pump a lot and get some milk stored so that if I do have a migraine I can take my medicine, then "pump and dump", and not worry about the medicine effecting her.

Shelby has been on my mind a lot lately. Well, of course she has been on my mind, she's my child- but so many things have been weighing on me. I am terrified that my child is going to be the class clown and not care about school. I was always a great student. I knew the importance of making good grades. And in church I understood that you are to sit reverently and listen to the teacher. If anyone has ever taught in Primary, you know there is always the one kid you dread being in class. I think that Shelby is that child. She does not sit still. And if she is at church anything like the way she is here at home-she doesn't stop talking. I know she is only 3 1/2. I know this! I just don't want this to be a sign of things to come.

On a positive note for Shelby, she continuously cracks us up. She is still infatuated with my hair and when I don't have it in a ponytail she will tell me, "Mom, you look pretty when your hair is not in a piggy tail", as if she is trying to persuade me to leave it down more so that she can play with it. Tonight at dinner she wanted some Magic Mommy Milk (Ovaltine). I told her she could have some if she finished all her rice. She looked and me and Jeremy very seriously and said, "But I don't like rice. It makes me toot".

The thoughts are out of my head now. I can go to bed.

9 Months in Hattiesburg

Since we didn't go to Hattiesburg for Christmas we decided to make a trip this weekend. We loaded up the car and left at midnight Thursday night (Friday morning). It is so much easier to make the drive at night when the girls are asleep. It stinks for Jeremy and me because we end up exhausted the next day, but I will take exhaustion over listening to Joey cry because she can't get out of her car seat or listening to Shelby ask us 6,037 times if we are there yet.

We had a wonderful time in Hattiesburg, as usual. It is always good to see family. While we were there the girls got to open Christmas presents from everyone.







On Friday, Joey turned 9 months old! She has not had her 9 month checkup yet so I don't know exact stats, but I do know that Tuesday when I had to take her to the doctor after she fell down the stairs (a whole 'nother story), she was 19 pounds (with clothes and diaper on). That is kind of crazy to me because Shelby was almost 25 pounds at this age. Obviously Joey is healthy, so I am not worried. She is such a fast crawler and pulls up on everything. She is learning to climb the stairs. She can say "mama", "dada" (and she knows who we are), "baby", and this weekend she learned to say "papaw". She will also look for Shelby when you ask her "Where's Shelby?" or "Where's sister?". She has kind of skipped bottles altogether. She has had maybe 5 total ever. She doesn't want anything to do with them now, she only wants sippy cups. She hates baby food and loves big girl food. She loves her puffs, rice, avocado, and potatoes. She loves to play patty cake and peek-a-boo, and loves to wave hi. She is still the smiliest baby and loves people, although lately she does the super cute "let me bury my head in mom's shoulder when someone says hi to me". Love it!

The problem with America

I am so annoyed that there is such a huge problem with illegal immigrants and people who abuse the welfare system, yet it seems all the government does is cater to the problem rather than fix it.

I have been researching preschools for quite some time now. The problem is that the only preschool (and by preschool I mean a school that actually has a curriculum, with set days and drop off/pick up times- not just daycare) decently close to where we live is $500 a month. Any other place that I would even consider is about 20 minutes away. 20 minutes there, 20 minutes back....then 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back again in the afternoon...just doesn't work when you have a job. Yes I work from home, but I can't just up and be gone whenever I want.

Anyway, so I was very excited to learn that the elementary school by us is adding pre-K next year. I packed up Joey and Shelby tonight (Jeremy went to sleep as soon as he got home from work since we plan on leaving around midnight to drive to Hattiesburg) and headed over to the school for a meeting. And then...WAH, WAH, WAAAAAAH. I found out that in TX (not sure if this is the rule in all states), there are certain requirements you must meet in order to qualify for public pre-k. Basically if English is your first language or you make a decent living- sorry! You have to pay tons of money for preschool. I understand that the reasoning is that pre-k is to help those children that they don't think will do well in kindergarten. I think a lot of people (me included) see it as a way to get a head start as well as to help develop social skills, whereas it is really designed for kids who need extra help. I just don't think the requirements are fair. First of all, they are presuming that any child who speaks English as a second language is going to be delayed. Ummm...not true. I have two brothers who are married to Spanish speaking girls. The children learned Spanish first, but they are extremely intelligent and know English just as well. Second, just because we have good jobs, why should we have to spend $500 a month on preschool?

I know this is not the end of the world. It just annoys me because I would like Shelby and Joey to have the opportunity to go to preschool. I guess I will just have to buckle down and really start doing my "lessons" with Shelby. Today I ordered a book from Amazon.com that Ree from The Pioneer Woman recommended.

What are everyone else's thoughts on preschool?