The Whirl wind of Life

Seriously, I don't know where the time goes sometimes.  It's April, getting close to Easter already (I feel like it was just March and Easter felt like forever away so I had not put any easter decor up until yesterday when I realized it's in 2 weeks), and I'm graduating in 3 weeks.  What keeps us so busy?  Tacy, school, work, Tacy, sleep, Tacy...ok so maybe not a lot of things, but enough to keep time going by.

First of Tacy: She is officially 20 months tomorrow!  I'm excited because she is old enough to like Easter and kind of get what is going on, so we bought her a basket.  She had her 18 month follow-up on her her 19 month day and she weighed 22.8 lbs and was 32 inches long.  Crazyness cause she is half my height!  Tacy still screamed at the doctors.  Poor kid has not forgotten that she gets shots there.  At least her next appointment won't be until August so maybe that will be a long enough time to forget.

Tacy's funny personality keeps developing.  She still loves technology, she loves to dance and sing (especially during quiet moments in church), she loves pushing her baby stroller and shopping cart, but she also loves turning them funny ways and carrying them or sitting in them.

Tacy loves yogurt again, she LOVES salsa.  Oh man, so we went to a mexican resturaunt and they had no high chairs, so Tacy got a booster seat (meaning no seat belt to hold her in the seat).  Tacy loved this idea because she stood the whole time which allowed her to reach the chips and salsa.  She dips chips in the salsa and sucks the salsa off the chip, then re-dips.  I have to remind her to take bites of the chips.  She got to the point of using anything to get salsa (crayons, forks) until she grabbed the salsa and tried to drink it from the dish.  Needless to say, I didn't eat much of my meal because I was a little busy trying to keep Tacy sitting and from drinking salsa.  But it was very funny.

This was acutally at Outback when she kept sucking all the butter off her bread

My mom got Tacy an easter dress and it is very puffy and adorable.  Tacy had fun twirling around in it (very much like her Aunt Katie used to always do in her dresses).

Tacy is getting good at counting, granted she always skips number 3 but she loves 1,2, 4, and 5.  We count the stairs when we go up and down them.  We are working on colors still.  Tacy loves trying to put her pants on.  Pretty funny because she is good at getting one leg in, but then she will take them off and start to put a leg in again.  She also can now push/pull everything out of the way of her closet which she then likes to "hide" in and ask "where'd go" and then pop out laughing.    Funny kid.

In the mean time, I have three more tests until graduation.  I decided that I would walk since my nursing degree is a pretty big deal and a big accomplishment for me.  I'm even graduating with honors (yup I've gotten my best grades since becoming a mom and having no time/focus...).  Brad and Tacy will be there to cheer me on.

At the dinosaur Park in Ogden

Brad still works at his job, I still work a night or two a week.  We still aren't sure where exactly we will be going after I graduate since we are still on the waiting list for the PA program in NC.  Who knows.  I'm just hoping we can find out soon so we can start planning.

Dancing Queen

Tacy loves to bust a move but trying to get it on record is tricky.  Here is a video I managed to get the other day.  I take no credit for the dance moves.

Counting the Days

I finished my preceptorship/Capstone for school!  Hooray!  Now, I just have class 1 day a week and graduation is April 25th.  So less than 2 months.  I'm so ready to be done.  Tacy is ready too because she is not happy when I'm trying to study/do homework/not paying attention to her.  

I'm just ready to have more time to be a mom.  Some days I feel like I can't do it with my crazy/busy toddler and school and lack of sleep from work.  It can just get crazy and demanding.  I'm surviving, but Brad unfortunately doesn't always come home to a happy/smiley wife.  Yesterday I told him that maybe we could have another child when Tacy is 10.  I understand why some people only have 1 kid and I'm constantly amazed by all the moms with multiple children.  

Tacy kept reaching over me to get popcorn instead of standing on the other side of me

As for Tacy, she is a little spitfire (thanks Grandma Taylor - she always told us that she hoped we had a spitfire).  Tacy runs around like a crazy kid, climbs on everything, keeps trying to climb over the couches (she fell yesterday over the back doing that) etc.  Busy busy busy.  I'm better at accepting that our place is just a mess of toys, random nick-nacks, paper, pens, etc until Tacy goes to bed.  I keep thinking "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and having "Let it go" play through my head.  

morning hair

Tacy keeps learning new words which is so fun.  I swear she is always saying "bite".  She is such a bottomless pit sometimes.  She is good at saying please however we are trying to teach her that just saying "Please" doesn't mean she gets everything she asks for (like the tablet or our phones).  Brad and I tried putting lock screens on our phones.  It seemed like a smart idea.  Sometimes giving Tacy your phone is the only way she will hold still while changing her diaper.  Unfortunately the lock screen has an option for emergency calls.  Tacy called my parents a lot!  And Brad.  

However, she also called 911.  So much fun explaining to the operator that everything was fine and that my toddler was just playing with my phone.  Kaysville emergency response is really fast (good and bad)!  One night i was changing Tacy's diaper and she had my phone.  She likes to pretend call all the time, so it's hard to tell when she really has called someone (especially when she is good at preventing you from getting your phone back).  By the time I got my phone back from her I had a message from 911 asking me to call them back to let them know everything was ok and that they were sending officers over.  I called them back and as I was speaking to the operator the door bell rang and I got to talk to 2 officers.  Everyone was very nice and understanding.  But that took place in maybe 5 minutes.  

Other than 911 calls, Tacy is getting better at putting socks on her feet.  She can always get them on her big toes, but not always on the rest of her toes.  It is very cute to watch as she tries to mimic Brad and my actions of stretching out the sock over all the toes.

Tacy is obsessed with buckles.  She will stand and try to click together and undo buckles for a while.  So Brad went to DI, bought a lot of dollar fanny packs, cut off the buckles and attached them to a board for Tacy to play with.  She loves it.  She also likes dancing on it.

Brad's most recent project is fixing a jogging stroller.  We got a used one for free (it is very well used).  He just fixed all the tires last night (they all had at least 2 holes).  Now he is going to work on attaching new straps because it had none left on it.  Like I said, very used, but it was free.  He loves having little projects to keep his mind busy.

Tacy and I have been enjoying as much of the warm weather we get as we can.  She loves going outside!  Tacy now loves swinging, going down slides, and of course seeing all the animals.  Today she laughed so hard while touching a horse (she would only poke his nose with one finger but she thought it was so fun).  She really loves the chickens and is great at making chicken noises.  And she still loves all dogs.

Here is to hoping we get more warm weather with Spring just around the corner!

17 months and one tired mommy

I can hardly believe that Tacy is 17 months already!  It's crazy how fast time has gone.  Brad and I just went through a bunch of old Tacy clothes and seeing all her little 3-9 month clothes was crazy.  I keep looking at her and remembering what was happening a year ago - she couldn't even sit up alone last January.  

Tacy is one cute but crazy kid.  She loves climbing up on everything!  She can get pretty frustrated when she finds a piece of furniture that it so tall for her to climb up.  She is so funny to watch climbing up on things because she uses mostly her arms and belly to pull and wiggle her way up.  She lift a leg up for things that are to tall to just use her arms.  

Tacy continues to love to dance in her little circles.  She will put her arms behind her back and do a little spin.  If it's not that dance move she still does the bouncing squat.  So fun to watch, but still hard to try and get on camera.  

We are really trying to work on animal sounds with her.  Tacy has "meow" down.  Brad taught her cock-a-doodle-doo last Thursday, but since then she struggles to remember to say "doo-doo-do" when we ask what a rooster says.  Last night she was neighing like a horse.  But her go to sound for an animal is ding ding ding...thank you "what does the fox say".  Oh well, we are working on them.  She can Moo really good though even if she doesn't always remember that cows are the ones who moo.  

Tacy is also learning a few more words like cracker.  She also says a few more phrases like 'let's do it'.  She still understands a whole lot more then she speaks (in english anyways).  But she will carry on long conversations in baby gibberish.  

Tacy now will throw things away in the trash, which I love, except when she starts throwing away paper I actually want (like coupons).  However, she still loves to pull things out of the trash.  Brad caught her eating a reeses' wrapper the other day (the paper lining).   

Thank goodness Tacy loves bathes so much!  Sometimes she just will keep on playing when I tell her to come downstairs with me or come to her room, but if I say "lets go take a bath" she will stop what she is doing and hed straight for the bathroom.  She loves bath time!  

My crazy story of being a tired mommy:

So I work nights and during Christmas I was working full time hours.  I worked the 26,27, 29, and 30th.  So a crazy few days.  Well Friday morning (the 27th) I was exhausted.  I had fed Tacy and we had been playing but I fell asleep in a chair.  I don't even remember sitting in the chair.  But the next thing I knew I was awake in the chair and across the room Tacy was standing in the computer chair, dancing, laughing and having so much fun.  Vanilla wafers were all over the computer desk and the floor.  Tacy had chocolate all down her jammies and her face.  So much that was on the shelves around the computer was pulled out on the desk and floor.  Oh my goodness it was a mess.  Tacy had grabbed Brad's toblerone bar and eaten through the foil wrapper.  She ate the tops off almost all the pieces.  The thought in my head was "Oh crap".  I got up, grabbed Tacy and stripped her down, gave her a bath, and laid her down for a nap (because it had been 4 hours since she woke up by this time).  Then I tried to clean up the mess.  During this process Brad came home (he only worked a half day so I could get some sleep before going to work again).  Brad walked into the room and just started laughing.  Then he asked if I had taken a picture.  I hadn't.  Taking a picture was the last thing on my mind.  Brad told me to check my blood sugar and go sleep.  Turns out my BS was 50, so I was running low which on top of my lack of sleeping the night before probably caused my sudden loss of consciousness.  At least Brad was laughing even though the room was a mess and his chocolate was all eaten by Tacy.  Tacy had fun, Brad laughed, and I finally got some sleep and can laugh about it all now.  Now I am very sad I didn't get a picture.

Goodbye 2013

I've been told that the older you get, the faster the years go by.  All I know is that this year did fly by for us.  Here is a look at some of the highlights of 2013:

1. Brad's sister, Kimber, got married to Sam in February

2. My sister, Katie, married Mark in May

3. I finished my first year of nursing school and passed the LPN NCLEX officially becoming a nurse!

4. I started working as a nurse

5. Tacy turned 1!

6. Brad applied for PA schools

7. I started and finished my third semester of nursing school

8. Brad interviewed at Campbell University PA school (fingers crossed)

Trips:

-we went to California twice (Katie and Mark's wedding and early Christmas)

-we went up to Island Park, ID

-spent a weekend in Park City, UT

-Brad flew out to NC

All in all it was a good year.  I'm glad we survived my first year of nursing school.  We have been so blessed.  We love Tacy so much and she makes us so happy.

Here's to hoping for a great 2014!

Wowsers of a Christmas

Christmas was so fun this year with a toddler.  After Tacy went to bed on Christmas eve, I set up our little tree and Brad put together 2 of Tacy's big gifts.  I got our stockings hung, the tree all arranged and everything ready for the morning.  Tacy woke up at 7:30 in the morning.  She is pretty good at busting out of her room to get food as soon as her diaper is changed.  I tried to keep her in check since Brad wasn't up yet but she did get a peek of the tree/presents and said "Oh wow!"  Brad then got up and played with Tacy in her room while I got the lights on by the tree.  Then Brad opened the door and out came Tacy.

She was in heaven!  She said "Oh wow" so many times.  Opening all of her presents took 4 hours because she kept wanting to play with her toys instead of unwrapping something else.  But it was so fun.  Tacy even helped me open my new boots.  Tacy had so much fun playing with her ballapalooza and pushing her shopping cart all around.  She also got several toys that make noise and she danced a lot.  After presents were finally all opened, Tacy was pretty tired and took a long nap.

The rest of the day, Brad's whole family came over to skype with his sister Christine, who is on her mission in NJ.  We had a nice big dinner, opened presents with the whole family and played some games (after Tacy was in bed).  It was a fun Christmas and I'm so glad Tacy loved it, even if she was a little spoiled.

Brad's parents did presents differently this year for the kids (not the grandkids).  They decided to play bingo for presents.  All the presents were wrapped and numbered.  If you won bingo you drew an envelope and in the envelope it would have a number (correlating with a present), cash, or a random thing to do.  Interesting way to do it all and not Brad and my favorite.  We did get our own razor to cut Brad's hair.  But we also got a puzzle, jerky, and a tool kit (of tools we already have).  Oh and our $1.  Some couples were luckier then us.

Christmas in California

Wow, so to recap for the last month....I finished my 3rd semester of nursing school with 2 A-s and 1 A (not too shabby!).  Brad flew to NC for his interview at Campbell University.  He kept gloating about how he was going to NC, in NC, or was in NC (yes I am still hearing about it).  Brad  LOVED it out there (no shock to me cause NC is a great state).  He tried some Carolina BBQ and has been craving it ever since.  He found a Guy Fieri Carolina BBQ sauce at a grocery store which is pretty close to the real stuff.  My family was never a big BBQ pork family so I never knew the difference between Carolina and Western style BBQ but apparently Carolina is a vinegar base sauce instead of a tomato base sauce like Western.  Brad is in love.  He really liked Campbell too, his interview went great, and we found out he is on the waiting list (so I guess not great, but good...we are crossing our fingers it works out!)

Brad flew straight from NC to Sacramento (flying to Sac was cheaper then flying to SLC).  Meanwhile my Dad flew from Sac to SLC, Tacy and I picked him up, and we all drove out to Sac (well Rocklin).  I brought Hunger Games to read (per my Dad's request) and got him hooked.  We had a nice week in California with my family.  We went to BJ's!  My absolute favorite restaurant/pizza/pzookies.  My mom told me that she loves when we visit because it means we are going to BJ's.  ha ha.  My best friend Shalise had an inpromtu visit to Rocklin (from Houston) so we got to meet up and her daughter Millie and Tacy got to have a fun play date at a park.  It was funny because Millie was not so good at sharing and Tacy is used to sharing everything with Grant...so it worked out but I laughed a lot.  Brad, Tacy, and I went to my parents ward Christmas party but only stayed for the dinner because Tacy was tired and I was meeting up with some of my friends for a girl's dessert night.  Dessert night was so much fun.  We went to this place called Rick's Dessert Diner in downtown Sac.  Lots of options and I got cheesecake haha.  But it was so fun to catch up with Katie and Tamie.  I love seeing my friends!  

Saturday we went to breakfast with my sister, Katie and her husband Mark.  I love breakfast food.  Katie and I got banana pancakes and Mark and Brad both got omelets.  Tacy had a little of everyone's.  Then Katie and I watched White Christmas while the boys escaped to do christmas shopping because they were bored.  It's a sister movie and both boys aren't big fans of old musicals.  Mark looked up the movie on IMDB and said "everyone in this movie is dead".  I think that pretty much summed up Mark's feelings. Ha ha.  Mark and Katie also gave Tacy a cute teddy bear from Build-a-Bear for christmas.  She has on a cute ballerina dress, bows, and her name is Snuggles.  Tacy takes the bows off all the time but she loves snuggles.  We also went over to Mark and Katie's apartment and watched Rudolph.  Mark won Tacy over by giving her colby jack cheese.  Tacy loved running after their cat "Boo" and saying "meow".  Boo was scared and spent most of the time hiding behind the couch.  Mark and Tacy also bonded over watching college basketball. Tacy loves Aunt Katie and Uncle Mark.

My mom made street tacos for dinner.  She and my Dad went to Mexico for 2 weeks and feel in love with street tacos so my mom has been trying different recipes to find one that is similar to the real deal.  They were yummy.  My mom also made tons of treats while we were there like white chocolate cranberry rice crispies, peppermint bark, and lemon white chocolate cookies.  We also ate a lot of local mandarins.  

My brother flew home for Christmas from school in LeGrande, Oregon.  It was fun getting to see him.  Sunday we had a big family breakfast (Dad's waffles = heaven) and dinner.  Then my parents had Brad, Tacy, and I open our gifts from them.  Basically is was Christmas part 1 for Tacy.  She loved it!  Ripping off wrapping paper and opening boxes was so much fun for her, plus my parents spoiled her rotten.  She got a grocery cart with a baby doll to put in it.  She got lots of clothes, a minnie mouse, a princess book, princess puzzle, and a large Sully stuffed animal.  Tacy loves her Sully.  She's never seen Monster's Inc. but she loves caring that huge Sully around (he's almost as tall as she is which makes it entertaining).

I forget how crazy my parent's street can get during christmas.  The neighborhood is pretty famous for setting up lights and disney/WB displays for christmas.  Trying to get in and out of the house at night is a nightmare between all the cars and people walking.  But it was fun to get to walk the street with my Dad one night.  Brad, Tacy, and I did it during the day.  

Monday my mom, Brad, Tacy, Steven (my bro), and I went to the Sacramento zoo.  It was so fun.  Tacy loved seeing all the animals, especially the big cats.  She kept saying "Meow" to all of them.  So cute.  My Dad's work party was Monday night so we all went to dinner at Claim Jumper.  I haven't been there since homecoming my senior year.  The food was good but Tacy was so tired.  She clung to me almost the whole dinner (which made eating hard).  One of the sweet lady's kept trying to win her over but Tacy would not succumb.  It was nice to meet everyone who works with my Dad though, even if Tacy was fussy the whole dinner.

Tuesday we packed up, did a little shopping, and drove home.  We had a great time in California.  I'm so glad we were able to go.