what kapria's been up to

Kapria is 21 months old, i.e., 1 year and then some.

During the month of June, she has gotten a lot better about letting us brush her teeth. She'll most of the time sit still. Then we brush top and bottom and sides. Then say "cheese" so we can get the front. And we have to hurry, because she's trying to stick her tongue out all the while because at the very end we say "tongue" and she sticks that out to get brushed. Whew! We're done.

On the 26th she got her shirt on all by herself. It took about 5 minutes of her trying to get into it. As soon as she got it on, she immediately started crying because she wanted it off. But at least she's trying to get dressed.

She loves to swing. When we go to the park, she relaxes into the swing and is happy for about 10 or 15 minutes. Often she'll even fall asleep, if she's really tired.

She sings and chats to herself and her dolls all day long.

She most often wants a doll or stuffed animal to go to bed with her.

She must pick out her own story at bedtime - we are no longer allowed to pick for her.

She reads on her own all the time.

Yay - we have a reader!

favorite faces: june

hard days

Leaving for work this morning was hard. As soon as Kapria woke up:

K: Where's daddy? (running to our bedroom)

S: He's at work.

K: Work? (in a sad tone)

S: Today you get to play with Zoe!

K: No.

S: Yeah, Zoe's coming over because I have to go to work.

K: No.

Then she grabbed her blanket and climbed onto my lap.

K: No, mommy.

And I had mommy guilt, so we got a blanket out, spread it on the floor, and she got to eat breakfast while watching Baby Einstein: World Animals (one of her favorites).

By the time Zoe arrived, she was all smiles and even gave me a kiss goodbye.

I love you, Bappy. One day I will get to be home with you all day long. And we will love it.

owie

We went to the park for Family Home Evening, and Kapria fell while racing with Trav. She's tough and didn't really cry.
But when we got home, she realized it hurt a little.

"Owie, Mom."

"I kiss it."

(and is it just me, or do those legs look incredibly long?
I hope she got Trav's lengthy legs and not my short, stubby ones.)

sunday morning walk

Travis had been out of town for a few days, working on the Idaho Falls temple. He was coming home Sunday, and we couldn't wait. We miss him so much when he's gone. To pass the time, and to get some energy out before church, we decided to go for a walk.

1 walk around the block = 1 fun hour of exploration




By the end, Kapria was sitting in the cart and I was pushing her slowly home, sweaty and tired from chasing her around all the neighbors' driveways. I know I got rid of any extra energy I had, but did Kapria? She was still hyper as always during sacrament meeting.

they're home!

Kapria and I have been missing them oh so much these past three weeks. Nicole, Weston, and Tave have been in Texas, and we have been sad. Kapria asks about them nearly every day:

"Where's Jeff?" ("he's at work")
"Where's Cole?" ("she's in Texas")
"Where's Weston?" ("he's in Texas visitng his grandma and grandpa")
"Where's Tave?" ("he's in Texas with Nicole and Weston")

So I was excited to tell her we were going to see them TODAY.
And see them we did.

We had lunch with all of them at our house and played and talked and talked. Kapria and Weston ran all around, laughing and yelling, and Tave happily crawled around carrying a little figurine of Big Bird.

Then tonight we went to their house (because Trav is still working out of town, so I invited myself over and Jeff & Nicole were kind enough to oblige. we're family - I can do that). We played outside, had dinner together, and the kids all took a bath.

It was a great day.

We're so glad they're finally home!!

fip-fops

Kapria loves shoes. She puts on any shoes that are left at our front door (which is a lot, since we don't wear shoes in our house).

But flip-flops are her favorite. So when I found a pair on clearance, I decided to get them as her inside shoes.


She loves them and wears them every day.

She calls them "fip-fops" and says it in the cutest way. I tried really hard to get it on video for you, but she was concentrating too much to pay me any attention. Maybe next time.

awarded

On June 14th, Imagine Learning celebrated its 5th birthday as a company. Five years seems like a long time. The company changed a lot, I changed a lot, my family changed a lot. Five years is a long time.

One thing they did during the luncheon was give everyone who has been there since the beginning a "Five Year Service Award." You're looking at it. (It also came with a gift card. :0)

The earth comes off and you can spin it nicely on top of the base. We've also discussed what horrible blunt trama you can cause a person with such a heavy, sharp object.

I'll keep it in my office, you know - in case I'm working there late at night (as happens sometimes) and someone breaks in. I now have a great weapon to help defend myself on such nights. Thanks, Imagine!

PS. I have to add that I love working at my company. The people I work with are amazing, most days I love what I do, and my supervisors - and everyone I work with - have been understanding and generous in allowing me to be flexible with my work-in-office vs work-at-home time. I couldn't ask for a better job or better people to work with. IL is definitely a big blessing in my life!

the new fort

I love it!

got milk?

"Kapria, please don't splash the milk in your bowl."

*Splash, splash, splash*

"Waaa aaa."

"That's what happens when you splash, sweetie."

"Boo hoo. I wet Mommy."

"Don't cry. It's funny! Here, let me take another picture."

"Okay! Cheese!"

ode to the sleeping bag

My favorite memories from my childhood are all of our camping trips. Every year we would go on at least one trip. One time it was with Mom + 4 of us (maybe Mckenon was a baby? I don't remember), Aunt Meg + 5, Aunt Pix + 4, and Grandma Abreu. It was a ladies trip + kids. And it was craziness. I think I recall a skunk coming in camp (Grandma threw a shoe at it). And Curtis was sitting on the table about to get a bath (thus naked) when someone spilled hot water on his bum and he jumped into Aunt Meg's arms. Tee he he. That picture still makes me laugh.

Most of the other trips I remember were our family going to Mexico with the group - the Mecham, Marler, Porter, and Barnum families. We'd play at the beach, ride quads and trikes, eat a lot of licorice and goldfish (our road trip staples), play card games, and everyone else would eat a lot of fish and lobster while Bryan Mecham tried to convince me that it was good (I never believed him and so refused to taste it).

And for all those trips, plus many more, I had my tropical bird sleeping bag. I loved my sleeping bag. It was all mine, and it was beautiful.

So when Mom & Dad came to visit last, they brought something of mine that they wanted out of their garage: my sleeping bag.

It was pretty hashed. The inside was in tatters. But I was so happy to see it! I decided rather than trying to fix it, I would take some photos and allow it to retire.

So here it is, my good buddy:

May it Rest In Peace, as I did so many times amid its birdy covers.

31 weeks

Here we are at 31 weeks on Sunday, June 7, 2009.

That means we're in the eighth month now. Wow.

Eight months already! The time has flown by. I have mixed feelings about August coming. On the one hand, we have such a busy summer that I know it will go by incredibly fast. I'm not worried about that at all. The part that worries me is knowing that I have two more months of getting bigger to happen. Somehow I feel that I am as big now as I was when I had Kapria.

Now, I know that can't be the case, since I am measuring exactly on for how far along I am, and I measured that way with Kapria, too. Yet somehow my stomach still seems bigger. And bigger. And bigger.

But I won't complain. So long as this girl is perfectly healthy, I'll be happy. And though I'm feeling the normal aches and pains of an expanding and crowded waistline, I am also feeling good, getting sleep (unless I stay up too late, which I can't blame on pregnancy at all), keeping cool, and enjoying the last bit of one-on-one days I'll have with Kapria.

Meet you soon, little baby.
(But not too soon. You've got much more growing to do.)

awesome april

I'm DONE with posting for April!

A few highlights:

Egg Hunts
Easter
Shawn & Abby's wedding
Our trip to AZ & CA (for wedding events)
Kimball's Birthday
and even some videos!

So Go! Enjoy! Click here!

hailey

Kapria loves playing with her friend Hailey, who lives just a few houses away. She especially loves Hailey's just-the-right-size couch. And baby dolls. And big red wagon.



We are so sad that Hailey will be moving soon (as soon as they sell their house). So we have to get as much playing in as we can before they go!

friends

Some of our favorite friends moved away this month, and we miss them terribly.

Mariah and I had our first babies two weeks apart. We’ve spent the last two years learning how to be moms together, getting together for kids-to-play-and-moms-to-chat time, going to concerts or late night movies together, walking off our baby chub in the early mornings (at least for awhile). And talking. A lot.

When Mariah told me she was having another baby, I was excited, but a little sad. Now we won’t have as much in common, I thought. She’ll be a mom of two. I’m only a mom of one. We won’t connect in the same way.

Silly, silly me.

1. We're friends, no matter how many kids we each have.
2. Surprise: we're having baby number two as well.

And then Sam was born, and there was sickness at our house for nearly two months straight, so we couldn’t go to see them. Instead, Mariah and I chatted on the phone, emailed, and caught glimpses of each other at church. We exclaimed how annoying it was, not being able to see each other.

When our family was finally healthy enough to visit, Mariah had news. “We’re moving,” she said, “to California.”

I love Mariah. I love California. I love the two together.
I do not love that we’re not there and they’re not here.

Their house sold quickly. More quickly than I’d hoped, if I’m being honest. We saw each other a few times and tried not to think about The Big Day. We can still talk and email, I told myself. But it’s not the same as going for a walk and stopping by to see if the other person wants to come. Or calling because you need to get out of the house and so does your toddler, so can we please come over right now? Or deciding to see a late night dollar movie fifteen minutes before it starts and having someone to go watch it with.

I love you, Mariah. I miss you. And I’m glad we got to be first-time moms together. I needed you, and I think you needed me, too.

PS. Kapria misses Andrew, too.

And we both miss holding and kissing Sam.

to our favorite man

We love you so much!

we love even more family

One of Trav's cousins got married, and Mom & the kids and Kjerstin & McKay all came in town for the event. We loved seeing them, though it went way too fast. Trav had to head out of town for a scout high adventure trip, so he wasn't able to attend the reception. But we had a fun evening together. Kapria and YaYa even danced. I would have, but after dancing big and pregnant at Shawn and Abby's wedding, I vowed I would never do that again. Too much of an awkward spectacle...

But here are the fun people we sat with:



Kapria also found a friend who loves dancing and holding hands as much as she does. Unfortunately, the cute video I got won't upload...so see the picture above.

*************

After the reception, Kjerstin & McKay came home with us and spent the night. Once the kids were in bed, the two of us talked for several hours. And ate taffy cookies with milk. Yumm. I love my sister-in-law. We don't talk often because neither of us are great at making phone calls. But when we do see each other, it's always comfortable and fun, and we pick up where we left off. I love that about us. Thanks for a great night and great conversation, Kjerstin. I miss you!

*************

Kapria loved playing with McKay the next morning. She adores him. (Who wouldn't?!)

I want to kiss those cheeks!

happy birthday weston!

Weston turned three this year! I can't believe how big he's gotten.

He is a great cousin to Kapria. Though they can fight like crazy, they also love each other like crazy. When they're being nice to each other, they like to dance and play and laugh a lot.

We love you, West!

We hope you had a happy day!

we love family

We had a lot of fun with my mom in town. Kapria loved reading with Gramma and would climb into her lap to show her books.



We even got to see Chels, Syanne, and Aydrien for awhile. It was so much fun to have other girls around!

Kapria also loves hanging out with Uncle Jeff. While Nicole & the boys were still in Texas, he came over to visit. I think she enjoyed not having to share him with Weston and Tave.




Trav is the best dad. These pictures prove it.

writing conference

This year's conference was probably one of the best for me. I was in an advanced writing class with Louise Plummer as the author/teacher. The week was full of laughing and funny stories and renewed determination and realistic expecations.

Here are all the amazing writers I was able to attend class with:



Me and Louise:






Probably the best thing I learned, which Louise spoke about a lot, was this:

You are a writer if you write every day. So decide what you can do each day. Is it fifteen minutes? (That's the minimum.) Twenty minutes? An hour? Two? Whatever you decide, commit to that amount and stick to it. Do not write for less than that time frame, and do not write beyond that time frame.

The last part of that is what always got me. I would say, "I'm going to write 20 minutes a day." Then I would get going, and one day I would write half an hour. The next I would write an hour. The third day I would say, "I wrote for a longer time yesterday, so I don't need to write today."


And that was my mistake. Because then I was breaking the habit that I hadn't yet formed. Louise compared it to exercise. If you are struggling with finding time each day, and you set a goal but then go beyond that goal quickly, you burn out quickly. That's why it's important to only write for the amount of time you're committed to. Once you can consistently meet that goal, then you can consider increasing the time. But not until then.

I've given myself the summer off from writing because I needed to focus on my daughter and husband in any spare time I have before this baby comes. But come fall, this will be my new goal:

Write for 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

I can do it. And then I will call myself a writer.

waiting for grandma kare

We drove to the airport to pick up Mom and had some fun while waiting in the car.



Kapria was excited to see Gramma. Me, too.

good mood song

b.r.a.

Kapria found this and thought it was the coolest that she knew where to wear it. I got a really funny video, but Trav thinks it should only be viewed by the three of us. You get the picture(s), though.

mariah and sammy

My good friend Mariah had a little girl on May 2. Samantha Lou is adorable, and seeing her, I can't believe we'll have a baby her size at our house soon.

We didn't get to see Sam until she was nearly a month old because Kapria and I kept trading off colds. Now that we're finally better, we're spending as much time as possible with Mariah, Sam, and Andrew. That's because at the end of June they will be moving to CA. I'm excited for Mariah because I know how much she craves the warm weather. (I wish we were moving there, too!) But I will miss them terribly. Andrew and Kapria are only 3 weeks apart, and we've had so much fun together the last year and a half.

Well, here's Kapria with Mariah and Sam. She is definitely going to be excited to have a baby at our house! She couldn't get enough of Sam.




And here's Sam's cute little face. (I had to snag this from Mariah's blog, because I didn't get one the day we visited.)

Mariah: I'm going to miss our ice cream dates, concert-going, walks whenever we could fit them in (who's going to help me get my body back?), and just knowing you're around the corner in case I need anything. At least we have phones and email, right?

We love you guys!

can't wait

My mom is flying out tomorrow to spend 10 days with us. I am thrilled! I will be attending a writer's conference all next week, and for what I was going to pay babysitters for 5 days I realized I could fly her out (if she wanted to come). Gratefully, she said yes. Kapria and I can't wait. I'm sad that so much of my day will be away from them, because I'd love nothing more than spending every day all day with my mom and Kapria. But I'm glad Miss K will have so much one-on-one time with her Grandma Kare. She already loves her and talks about her a lot ("Where's Gramma?" or "That's Gramma," when pointing to photos). It will be great to have them spend time together now that K is remembering so much more.

This is one of Kapria's favorite photos.
She looks at it on the bookshelf nearly every day,
and points to each person in the family, saying their name.
*************************

And so while they are having fun at home, I will be having a different kind of fun. The learn-as-much-as-you-can-in-a-week and don't-let-yourself-feel-too-vastly-inadequate-at-what-you-love-to-do kind. I know I'll learn, I'll make new friends, I'll be inspired, and I'll be reminded that I just need to WRITE.

I'm bringing the same working novel to this year's conference as I did to last year's. I have added a total of 10 pages to its length. Yes, that's Ten Written Pages In A Year.

At least it's better than 2007, when my page total = 0. See, I am improving!

********************
But while I want to allow myself to say that finishing my novel just can't be a priority at this time in my life--what with being a mom of one soon to be two, working 30 hours a week, and trying desperately to be a good wife , mom, sister, daughter, friend, and employee--I just can't bring myself to actually agree with that statement. I am going to be 30 next year, and I want to finish my first novel before then.

So that's my goal. And after next week's conference, I hope to have some good tips and fresh ideas for accomplishing it. Or at least some good motivation, since I've attended so many conferences on writing that I already know what I'm going to hear:


Sit your buns down and write if you want to be a writer!


PS. Mom decided to stay an extra few days so that I could hang out with her, too. I'm so glad. I'll have her all weekend with no work obligations whatsoever. One good week turns into one good weekend. Can't wait!

27 weeks

Here we are at 27 weeks on May 10, 2009.
I'm looking kind of tired. But do you like my new glasses?

Oops...I kind of skipped my six month pregnancy photo. I have not remembered to take photos very well this time around. I'm determined that habit will not continue once this baby arrives, so I'm trying to do better. Come to think of it, I don't believe I took consistent pregnancy photos for Kapria, either. Oh well, one mom-big-and-pregnant-with-me-at-nine-months photo should make them happy when they're older, right?


Anyway, still feeling good and keeping busy. At this point, I definitely have to sleep with my 3 pillows - back, tummy, and legs. But the nest I build each night around me is definitely worth it, because I sleep soundly. Well, I wake up once to use the restroom, but then it's off to slumberland again. I think it's because life is so hectic that I fall into bed absolutely exhausted (and lacking sleep due to the late hour). No matter the reason, I'm grateful for sleep!


Baby moves a lot, and I love feeling her. It's amazing, having this little growing person with me all the time. I remember after Kapria arrived, I missed feeling her move inside me and talking to her any time of day or night. Though holding her was definitely more of a highlight than having her kick my bladder. But pregnancy is just an unexplainable miracle that I feel so blessed to enjoy...despite my growing butt.

**Hmm..of course it's explainable. At least the how part. But I mean that it's hard to explain what joy and peace and love and excitement and amazement I feel at having another person grow inside me. As a writer I should know how to explain these feelings better. But I don't. It's simply the most miraculous thing I'll ever take part in.

puzzles

Kapria loves puzzles. While she's working on one, there's no getting her attention.

kapria says...

"Kiss it."

Any time she gets hurt, she'll usually only cry for less than a minute. Then she'll say this, wait for us to kiss the owie, then run off happy as can be. It's amazing how a kiss can make the worst hurts feel better for her.

"I touch it."

She wants to touch everything she sees. The fire hydrant we pass on our walk.

The neighbor's fence. The baby in line in front of us. The meat I'm cooking for dinner. The tulips blooming in our front yard. You get the picture.

(this is her "i just ate yummy strawberries" face)

"One more."

This one is really hard to resist. She asks for one more of everything. One more story at bedtime. One more m&m for dessert. One more song before nap. One more time down the slide. One more toss in the love sac. My limit is one "one more" of whatever she's asking for. Unless we're playing a game, then I'll deliver all the one more's she wants until I'm tired of playing.

today was Just One of Those Days

I know why it was...it's because I have been staying up late the last few nights either reading my book (saturday, sunday) or working on some projects that are due for work (monday, tuesday). I used to be able to stay up late doing such things.

That's not the case any longer.

My 28-year-old body can't handle late nights like my 23-year-old body could. Neither can my pregnant body.

So I've found that when I get less than 6 hours of sleep in a night, the next day is a mess:
I cry for no reason...or for valid reasons. Either way, I cry.

I get frustrated more easily with Kapria's running away while we're outside, or smearing syrup into her hair from dinner, or throwing a bag of marshmallows all over the kitchen floor.

My feet get swollen more quickly.

And a myriad of other grumpies that I just don't need to go into.

************
So that was my day.
************

Then, Kapria helped me sweep up all the marshmallows (and even ate a few in the process).

Then, Nicole called to see if she could come over for dinner since Jeff would be working with Trav on the studio.

Then, Mariah called to see if she could stop by to bring some treats from the french bakery and say hello. Sure!

Then, Cami stopped by to bring me my favorite cookies of all time, because she and I had been talking about them last week, and she saw them at the store and thought of me.

And here I'd been feeling sorry for myself and cranky and just out of it.

***********************

Thanks Kapria - for bringing joy and love and smiles and kisses into our home every day.

Thanks Jeff - for helping Trav on the studio. I hate seeing him out there so many hours alone working on it. We both appreciate you being willing to help and giving so freely of your time.

Thanks Nicole - for coming to see me the night before you're leaving. We're going to miss you so much! And for making most of dinner when I should have been the one hosting you guys. You always take care of me.

Thanks Mariah - for a much needed chat both in person and on the phone (a couple times) today. And for yummy eclairs.

Thanks Cami - for thinking of me and stopping by to show me that you were.

Thanks Heavenly Father - for sending a host of angels to my door today.