1. For a few days in a row Emma was waking up at 5:55. It was horrible. She wouldn't go back to sleep, and then her naps were horrendous as well. She also had a runny nose and was drooling a ton. I figured that she was teething and that it all was related. Well, one night I forgot to turn her ceiling fan on in her room, and that night she slept until 7:30. Last night I didn't turn her fan on again and she slept until 7:15. Poor thing was just getting cold around 5:55 and couldn't put herself back to sleep. She still has the runny nose and is drooling, and she still gets cranky and clingy, but hey--she didn't wake me up at 5:55, so I'm okay with that.
2. One of the ladies I visit teach is a librarian and obviously a big fan of books! When we visited her in August (I think?) she had printed off a list of "100 books you should read to your children". It had been a long time since I had read most of those books (although it had only been a few minutes since I read "Are You My Mother" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar") and some I had never read, so I decided that I was going to read them all and keep track of whether I like them or not, and how old I think Emma should be when we read them, and if there were things that could be "scary" or that would need extra explanation so they would be fresh on my mind when we go through and read them. One of the books was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. It mentioned the series, but only book #1 was on the list of 100 books. I read #1 and loved it, so I've been reading the series. I only plan on reading the original 19 written by the author (other authors have written books about the same children), and I think last night I finished book #7. I've also read Pippi Longstocking, and quite a few picture books. It's fun to have this list to read!
3. My mom was going through stuff cleaning out some closets at their house. One of those closets was "my" closet. In it were a few boxes of books and other random stuff of mine that I didn't take to college with me. We were on FaceTime and she would go through boxes showing me things and me deciding if I wanted to keep it or donate it. We ended up finding a ton of books that she sent to my sister-in-law who just started her first year of teaching. We also found a ton of books that she sent to me, and a bunch of stuff that she donated somewhere in Nauvoo. In the mix were also some notes that friends had written me in junior high, as well as a few notes from elementary school. I got a bunch of photos that I hadn't seen in years and now I want to do some scrapbooking!
4. When we had Emma's baby blessing (July 2013) my in-laws bought her a swing. She outgrew it in the beginning parts of 2014, but it still was sitting in its same spot, taking over a big chunk of space. It wouldn't collapse down to a reasonable size to store, so we decided to sell it. It was on Craigslist for MONTHS, getting hits every couple of days but not from any serious buyers. I had plans to consign at a big consignment sale here later this month, but over the weekend we SOLD the swing! I got way more for it this way than I would've at the consignment sale, and now I'm not going to consign other stuff. I'll take things to a resale store and see if they want to buy any of her clothes, and then see if people in my ward need any of it. We do NOT have the space to store things here which is kind of a bummer, but that's okay. If we have more kids we'll hit up the consignment sales and resale stores and get everything we need there rather than holding onto clothes forever.
5. Bath and Body Works brought out their fall line of scents recently. I love their candle that is called "Leaves" so I was especially excited when I noticed the candles were 2 for $22 instead of $22.50 each! You better believe I got 2 of them! So worth it! It's been fun to burn the candle during the day and smell the yummy scent of Fall, something we don't really see much of here in Texas.
6. It was General Conference this past weekend. I had spent a bunch of time coming up with things to keep Emma busy during conference, and hoped she would sleep during it. Some of the things were huge hits, others were big flops, and now I am looking forward to re-listening to and re-watching all of conference once it's available! I know I heard some great things, and felt certain things, but it will be nice to go back and hear it all again without Emma bringing me her shoes and begging to go outside.
7. Emma is terrified of dogs and cats. One day we were heading out for a family walk and Chris opened the front door to leave with Emma and some tiny little chihuahua or something (I didn't see it) came towards Emma and started licking her legs. Chris didn't even notice it right away until Emma started SCREAMING. She wasn't a huge fan of that walk. A few days later Emma and I were on a walk and stopped to talk to some of our neighbors. She was standing on the sidewalk when one of their cats walked out from underneath their car. It didn't take many steps towards us (we learned that cat is terrified of kids) but Emma must've thought it was coming for her. She screamed instantly and put her hands up in the air for me to pick her up. We watched the cat walk away and she calmed down a little. A few days later we were talking to the same neighbors (Betty and Jeff sit out on their driveway a bunch when the weather is nice) when Emma held her arms up again so I picked her up. One of their cats came up and started rubbing up against my leg. She didn't even like that happening so she started crying and the cat eventually walked a few steps away and laid down on the driveway. If dogs bark at her she starts freaking out, and now there are certain houses on our street that she doesn't even like walking by because the dogs are always barking.
8. Emma is starting to figure out how to climb. She likes to climb on top of diaper boxes and then just sit there. Our couches seem to be a little too tall for her to have figured out yet, but she tries. I haven't seen her climb up anything besides diaper boxes, but I'm sure that is coming.
9. Emma still loves to play with her Water Table. Now that the weather is cooling down (ya know, only in the upper 80s instead of 100) we'll probably head out to the backyard more to play with it.
10. One of the things my mom sent from my closet was a small black purse. Emma found it in the box and has decided it is hers. Right now it has a few shapes from her shape sorter, and some animals from Noah's Ark inside. She likes to take her purse with her when we go places and sometimes when we go out for walks. She almost left it in the cart at Hobby Lobby last week, but another customer saw it in there after I pulled her out of the cart and made sure I didn't forget it. Makes me chuckle a little bit.
11. Emma says "pooty"when she poops, and sometimes when she toots. She also tugs at her diaper a little and then makes sure I get up to go to her room to change her diaper. I don't think she likes sitting in her poop (and I don't blame her)
12. I put Emma's hair in pigtails every day. She likes to pick what color the elastics are, and she will happily walk into her room if I say "Let's go do your hair!" She sits still pretty well while I do it, but sometimes she moves her head too much.
13. Yesterday I was trying to get Emma to take a nap, but after a while I decided she just wasn't going to go to sleep. When I walked in her room I realized she had taken her shirt off. She was just sitting there holding it like she was trying to figure out what to do with it. Made me laugh.
14. Emma loves her doggy. He goes pretty much everywhere with us. And I mean everywhere. Emma doesn't like to go to sleep without him. Aren't they cute together?
16. I like to listen to audiobooks/podcasts while I get ready and while I clean. I recently was introduced to the Power of Moms podcast, and I love it! The founders of Power of Moms are a sister/sister-in-law duo that are LDS. I love their perspective on motherhood/parenting/womanhood and find their podcast to be really uplifting. Their website (www.powerofmoms.com) also has a ton of great posts about parenting. I'm excited to go to the library tomorrow to pick up one of their books too!
17. A week and a half ago I got an email from my Academic Advisor from BYU. It said I needed to come in for an appointment or call and schedule a phone appointment. I did that and had my appointment with her last week. Apparently I wasn't really the type of student that this "group email" was geared for, but it was nice to touch base with her. She encouraged me to try to finish my degree in the next 4 years since my emphasis has been discontinued (my major is Family Life with a Marriage and Family Studies emphasis). If I finish in 4 years I am automatically guaranteed a diploma in exactly what I left BYU with the intention of finishing. If it takes more than 4 years I will still get a diploma in the same thing, my advisor will just have to fill out some extra paperwork to make it happen. She was really encouraging and told me to stick with it and finish strong! She wants to make sure I finish what I started and seemed like she was willing to help in any way I may need (that is within her authority). It makes me want to start a class and keep making progress towards that degree that I started just over 7 years ago.
Okay, I think that's probably enough for one post... plus Emma just woke up from her nap and I don't really want her banging on my keyboard as I try to finish blogging!
I'm hoping to carve out a little extra time for blogging soon. As I'm reviewing General Conference I hope to be able to share some of my thoughts from some of the talks, and I hope to be able to #ShareGoodness online like Elder Bednar encouraged in his recent devotional at BYU Education Week. And I'm hoping life calms down a little bit and that I can get into a better routine than I've been in lately.
