About Allie

Hey guys! I've finally joined!  We haven't had internet to save money, but we have it now.  Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, apparently we suck at taking family pictures.  But, here's one of me (23 weeks along).

Me and Savannah

Savannah and Corey

Beautiful Savannah on her brand new swing set (or park as she calls it)

Right now, our biggest thing going on is my pregnancy.  I'm 24 weeks right now and holy cow, I think I'm WAY bigger than I was in that picture up there. Seriously.  I can feel her kicking way up by my ribs now.  It's crazy.  I'm not going to lie, I am a little terrified to have two, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.  Savannah is excited for her little sister (most days).  I can't wait for her to meet her.  She's become a psycho about other people's babies.  If I hold one and then give him back to the mom, she starts yelling, "No! That's mommy's baby! That's Savannah's baby! Put the baby in the car! Take the baby to the family house!"  She's like a crazy kidnapper...

We're making a garden.  We have a big space all tilled up and we're going to go buy plants for it next week.  I want to grow tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.  What other stuff should we try?  I seriously want like 4 basil plants.  I want to have tomato basil pasta every day of my life.  We also need to go buy some flowers to beautify our poor yard.  When we moved in last year, the lawn hadn't been watered or mowed all summer long.  It was bad.  This year it's looking a lot better (it's greener now than in those pics because we've had some rain) but it still needs a lot of work and weeding.  But, Savannah is thrilled with all the dandelions :).

We are starting cloth diapering!  I ordered 4 to try out from a website called alvababy.com.

Cute, huh?  We tried out flip covers but Savannah hated them.  She LOVES these.  They're pocket diapers and so far I'm a fan.  We have a bunch more coming, but I got free shipping from China so they're taking forever to get here.  I also have a bunch of newborn sized ones on the way.

Corey is working for Chase Bank and doing well.  He works in downtown SLC (about 30 minutes away) and we hope that he can eventually transfer to a branch nearer by.  He's a great dad and husband.  It's so crazy that we're coming up on our 5 year anniversary!  I feel like it was just yesterday we met and were working together and possibly driving my roommates crazy ;), and now we've got 1.5 kids, two cars, and a house...

My job is babysitting three girls in their home.  They are 4, 2, and 9 months.  I take Savannah with.  It's M, Th, F 10-4.  Holy cow, it's hard!  The dad works from home and that makes what would normally be a minimally stressful situation 10x worse.  But, it's fine and hey, only 3 months left!

And then there's Savannah.  Oh man, what can I even say about Savannah.  She's talking very well now.  She says new sentences all the time.  She loves movies and books and songs.  Lately scriptures have been making her super excited.  She's started noticing things.  Like yesterday she said to me, "A potty is a lot like a clam." She has an amazing memory.  The other day we were at Corey's mom's house.  As we were leaving, she said, "I saw a grasshopper and a spider here!"  It's true, she did see those things in the driveway.  Last April.  I said to Corey, "No wonder she gets so stressed out.  She has so many thoughts and memories in her little head!"  Corey said, "I think she needs a Pensieve."  I think he's right...  She is such a little worrier and so scared of everything which she totally got from me.  She loves spiders, snakes, sharks, and dinosaurs which she got from who knows where.  She's fun, but she's very hard.  I've worked with a lot of 2-year-olds and the vast majority are not as difficult and demanding as she is (she was the same way as a baby).  If Lily is as hard as Savannah, we are seriously considering having two kids.  I hope she's more easy going though.  I have really wanted to start potty training, but when I put Savannah on the potty (we've tried a toddler potty and a small seat on the adult toilet) she screams and yells, "I won't go pee pee in the potty! I don't want to wear panties! I want my diaper!"  So, I have a hunch she's not ready :P.

Our routine is, um, not very routine.  The days I work, Corey wakes up with Savannah and I get up when he leaves at 8 (thanks for the extra sleep Corey!).  We get ready to leave by 9:30, go to work, come home and make dinner.  Since my job drives me crazy, I tend to fill up my days off with fun.  So, I often do a playdate in the morning, go to Spanish Fork to see my mom, or hang out with Rachael.  I LOVE being close to my family.  Savannah is trying to give up naps, but I won't let her dang it!  If she skips her nap, she ends up crashing around 4:30, refuses to be woken up for at least an hour, wakes up cranky, and then refuses bed until like 10.  So, a lot of naps are accomplished by her crying herself to sleep in the crib which we both kind of hate, but she needs her sleep!

My hopes and dreams...  I want to go back to school.  I miss BYU soooo much!  I love being a mom, but I miss that interaction with professors and educated people my age.  I want to get my master's somehow (online probably).  I want to get a Master's of Social Work and be a child therapist.  I have no idea when this will happen, but I think about it a lot.

My big goal right now is I'm trying not to be the world's worst housekeeper. I really struggle with keeping things clean and picked up, but I'm trying really hard to get better.  I'm lucky that Corey helps out a lot since I am gone three days a week, but I feel like I should be organized and doing more.  I'm working on it though.

My confession: I miss having friends.  I miss all of you like crazy!  I have a hard time connecting with most of the women in my ward and I'm not sure why.  I've made a few friends recently and that's good, but I don't know if I can ever be as close with them as with you guys.  You guys were there for so many important milestones in my life!  Melissa, Cathryn, and I grew up together and Katie helped me analyze every bit of my relationship with Corey.  You knew I was in love way before I did :).  No one else can replace that.

Anyway, sorry about the novel, I'm just really excited about this blog :).

So tell us about you, about your family, about what's going on, about how things are, about your routine, about your hopes, about your dreams, about anything you want to share.

About Cathryn

Okie dokie! I haven't blogged a bit since like November, so I'm a little rusty...

No, he doesn't still have the beard.

Scott graduated with his master's in Geography last May. He is currently working on some final revisions to get his thesis work published as an article in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment under the fascinating title "Evaluating the Effects of Spatial Resolution on Hyperspectral Fire Detection and Temperature Retrieval" (sure to be an instant bestseller, har har). He now makes maps for the government here in St. Louis and is loving the work that he does and the people in his office. He is basically the best dad in the world--Luke laughs his head off when he sees Scott in the evenings. They like to read books together, go for runs in the jogging stroller, wrestle around, make faces, tease Mom...

At church, he's the branch mission leader, which keeps him super duper busy. When he gets a spare second, he likes to read and watch movies. We're missing the free cable we had in Salt Lake, but we're kind of making up for it with shows like 30 Rock and The Office and even Parks & Recreation sometimes. (But holy cow, have you guys seen Up All Night? I think it's one of the stupidest shows I've ever seen.)

I'm seriously digging this stay-at-home-mom gig. Luke and I are little buddies. We love going to the zoo, the store, the park, the science center, the shops along the little main street in our town, and the library. Luke is still too young to appreciate what we're doing, of course--he'd just as soon check out the fence as the elephant behind it--but I love to see all these things and he's game to go along! I'm slowly falling in love with St. Louis. It's a cool city, and we live in a great neighborhood. We walk or ride bikes to all those places, which works out well since Scott usually takes the car to work. You would think I would be losing weight faster...the last 15 lbs of Luke's residency still haven't come off yet, but I'm (half-heartedly) trying to watch what I eat a little more closely and be more active and my jeans are slowwwwwly fitting a little better. 

At church, I teach the CTR B class in Primary (6, 7, 8, and 9 year olds) and am the Activity Days leader. Since there are only 6 of us that work in Primary, everyone helps out with everything: the secretary is also the pianist (she and I swap once in a while), the president is also the CTR A teacher, the counselor is also the Sunbeams teacher, the nursery leaders are also the Elder's quorum second counselor and the Young Women's first counselor, etc. etc. Most of my Primary students can't read, lots of them have learning or developmental disabilities, not much support at home, etc. Basically the branch is a lot of work and it's pretty draining. The few of us who kind of hold things together (the student families out here from Utah & Idaho for grad school, mostly) are all really close out of necessity, but we all talk about how we go home and cry every Sunday out of frustration & exhaustion. 

Really, I'm doing pretty well. I miss my family and friends more than I can put into words, and the branch is tiring, but I really do have a pretty charmed life. I get to play all day with my sweet little boy and, now that he's a little more consistent about taking solid naps, I can even read or work on some Pinterest projects while he sleeps. It's lonely sometimes (a lot of the time?), but I'm happy.

Luke is a little tornado. He's 10 months old now and kind of in between 12 and 18 month clothes--too big for his baby car seat anymore! We were gone for 3 weeks over Christmas (not quite 2 weeks seeing Scott's family in Texas & Louisiana, and then a little more than a week in Utah) and during that time he learned how to crawl, cut two teeth, learned how to pull himself up in his crib, quit eating baby food, got a nasty ear infection (took two kinds of antibiotics to FINALLY get rid of it), started saying "mamamamama," went from 5 or 6 feedings a day to about 4, etc. etc. And since we were traveling, he got used to sleeping in the same room as me. Basically January has been a miserable month of teaching this kid how to sleep again. He had just barely started sleeping through the night right before we left, and it's taken 4 miserable weeks to get back to where he can do that again. It's about half and half now--some nights he sleeps for like 12 hours straight, but last night he woke up 4 times before midnight. I think he might be teething again?

Besides all the sleeping hullabaloo, Luke is just the most darling little monster. He loves to read books--he'll turn the pages, open the flaps, point at the details in the pictures (especially anything that looks like a ball!), and turn back to the front cover when he's done if he wants to "read" it again. Thank heavens for libraries. He loves balls ("babababababa"), especially his beach ball, and especially when he can situate himself about a foot from the wall and bat the ball back and forth to himself. His favorite thing this week is walking (very slowwwly) around the house holding your fingers. He will eat just about anything (and eat a TON of it) as long as he can feed himself--today so far he has had scrambled eggs, cheerios, peas, raspberries, blackberries, peach slices, and a hummus & wheat bread sandwich. (Obviously he eats healthier than I do!)



Good grief, sorry this is getting so wordy! You guys know me. Okay, I'll try to be faster. Plans...we're definitely staying in St. Louis for the foreseeable future (sorry, Mom). Scott loves his job and I love that I can stay home. We are definitely moving this summer when our lease is up, though. Our house (duplex) here is great, but it's way too big & way too expensive for what we need--we pay over a thousand dollars a month just on rent & utilities. Hopefully we can find a teeny little 2-bedroom house to rent closer to where Scott works, since right now his commute is 45+ mins. each way. (We won't complain too much about being in a regular ward again, either.) No plans for kiddo #2 yet; ask me again in the fall. We are trying to save up to buy a house (which is the main reason we'll be moving somewhere cheaper soon!). People at work keep nagging Scott to buy buy buy right now since interest rates are so low, but we really want to be able to put down 20% so we don't have to pay escrow. So depending on how cheap of a place we can find to rent and what raises are like for Scott at work in the next couple of years, buying a house is probably between 2 and 5 years off. We'll need a second car before then too, so we'll have to see how that all falls out.

Routine...my life is pretty formulaic right now, and I actually really like it. Scott leaves for work about 6 every morning, and Luke and I sleep in until 7:30 or so. He nurses & then we both have breakfast & play for a little while, and then he takes a nap around 9:30 for either 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 hours. He nurses when he wakes up, and then our afternoons vary a little bit--some mix of walks, lunch, playing with toys, reading stories, making visiting teaching visits, etc. He usually goes down for his second nap around 2 or 3 and sleeps for about an hour and a half. Dad gets home around 3 or 4 most days, and then we just get to hang out as a family--maybe go on a walk, eat dinner, something like that. He goes to bed about 7 or 8, and then Scott and I watch TV or movies or read together for a while before we go to bed. It's a good life!

Speaking of sleeping, Luke just woke up from his nap. I'm hearing "bapbapbap wahhh bababap ewahh!" from the other room in between thunks of him hitting/chewing on his crib. Off to the rescue!

About Katie

Ok. I'm going to be completely candid here. I've lived with you girls and love you all so hopefully you won't judge me. :)

My Family:

We're currently living in Wisconsin and have no idea when we'll be back in UT again (visiting or living).

Colin:
Colin is incredible. He's in the 2nd semester of his 2nd year of medical school. This means the last semester of lectures, just a few more months until boards (the huge test they take covering their first two years of med school and weigh heavily on residency placement) and then a couple weeks after that is rotations (you spend a month working in each basic field of medicine to see what you would like to do)! Not only is he super smart and hardworking when it comes to school he is also a massive help at home. He's supportive, loving, a comfort, and I lean on him a ton.

Naomi:
Naomi is adorable. She just turned 2 earlier this month. She loves to dance. She is addicted to movies (currently Rio and Tinker Bell) and candy (wonder where she got that from...). She's talking more and more everyday and becoming a little bit of a parrot. This means we have to be careful with what we say. She now knows "booger" and that it's "yucky" and that stinky diapers are "gross." She makes us laugh, drives us crazy, and makes me want to cry with the fact that she seems to be growing up so fast. In my mind it feels like she's going to be starting school in a month. I just want her to stop growing. Well, that and take a really long nap. Or sleep until 8. Both work for me. :)

Chloe:
Chloe is a joy. She's been giving me a rough time at night lately (she still won't go longer than 3 hours between feedings, even at night) but she makes up for it by being so free with her smiles and giggles. She's so excited to get any sort of attention. She's not the cuddliest baby (she's a wiggler) but at least she's happy!


Katie:

I'm exhausted. I feel like I'm not getting enough sleep and I believe it's beginning to affect my parenting. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm losing patience with Naomi and I'm not always the best comforter. It's just frustrating how my girls always seem to prefer Colin to me and then when Naomi gets upset with me she'll ask for Daddy, Grandma, Pa, anyone but me. I've begun to feel a loss of self lately and I'm not sure how to fix it. I love my girls, but I need a break from them. Is that horrible to feel like you need a mini vacation from your kids? It doesn't help that Naomi's having a hard time napping lately and Chloe's still waking up 3 times a night.

In other news, I'm loving Wisconsin. It's nice to lean on each other and really become our own family unit. However, I agree with Melissa. It's challenging making friends. The way I made friends was I either grew up with them or lived with them. Neither of those methods work here so it's been difficult.

I've been trying to improve upon myself. I strive to exercise everyday, I try to diet, and I've been using Proactiv but I've been discouraged. I have no idea if the exercising is working, dieting is tricky while nursing, and I'm not convinced the Proactiv is working.

I swear I'm not as unhappy as this all sounds! Just in a bit of a rut. Otherwise, I'm the same Katie! I still love movies although now we Redbox and stream Netflix instead of going to the theaters and always buying movies. I still love to read although I don't know what's good these days. I still love candy although I can't eat as much in one sitting and I'm leaning towards chocolate. And, of course, I'm still picky, although I've been working on that too. :)

Sorry I was so wordy. I'm still that too. haha Any questions?

About Melissa

Hey all!  I tried to make this easy to skim/easy-to-read.  I didn't mean to make it long.

Here's a little about me and my life as it currently is...

My Family
Me
It's been a big change for me going from super busy, always doing homework, never finishing said homework, and just barely squeezing by to being not so busy and have almost no obligations.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of it though (now that it's been a year).


Ryan
Ryan works as a recreational therapist at the state hospital and he really likes it.  He works with the adult male general psychiatric department.  Good for him (I would never enjoy that).

Vidalia
Vidalia is now 1 and is a super happy baby/little girl.  I'm so glad to have her.  Life would be so hard without her I think.  She's currently up to 13 steps.  So that's the stage we're in.


What's Going On With Us?
Moving
In March.  Staying in Lincoln.  Much better place.  Much cheaper place.  I've already started packing.

How are things?
We like ourselves, however, we wish we had friends.  How do you make those again?  I can't seem to remember.

Our Routine
We play lots and lots and lots and then eat and sleep.

Hopes, Dreams, Etc.
Family
I wish they were closer.

Children
I hope we are able to have a large family, but we'll just have to see.  It's too soon to know how that's all going to work out.  (Our official child policy is we have 1 we know we would like 2.  After we have 2, we'll be able to decide if we want 3.)  So asking/telling how many kids we want has become a taboo thing.  We just don't do it.  In large part because my family is super full of fertility issues and miscarriage issues and early menopause history.  I suspect a lot of how many and what timing will not be up to us at all.

Other things
Cloth Diapers
We use cloth diapers.  I'm willing to tell you guys anything you want to know about that.  We are experts at how we use cloth diapers and there are about a billion other ways to do it as well.  It's not really a one-size fits all.

Homeschooling
I've thought about it and thought about it and thought about it and I'm leaning towards homeschooling.  There are pros and cons to all types of schooling and when it comes down to why we're thinking of homeschooling, mostly we just want to.

Violin
It's always been my dream to teach my kids the things I know, so we've been teaching Vidalia the violin.  She's 1, so it's slow going, but we both love it.

Egypt
I keep hoping someday the records from Egypt will become available to someone like me.  One of my biggest dreams is to be able to find my family lines.  They go basically nowhere right now and it's currently impossible for me to do anything past what is done.  (At least right now it is.)


If there is anything you guys are curious about in our lives or how we do things or whatever, please feel free to ask.  As far as things I mentioned above, feel free to share insights, opinions, or what you do.  I want to know.

January: Getting to Know You

The goal for the month of January is a simple one.  We're going to get to know each other a little better as who we are now...a mother, a wife, and whatever else you may be.  I suspect (and hope, in the best way possible) that although the time we've spent as wives and mothers (vs. N109ers) has been only a few years, we're not the exact same people. Our responsibilities have changed and how we fulfill them is probably very different.

So tell us about you, about your family, about what's going on, about how things are, about your routine, about your hopes, about your dreams, about anything you want to share.

The goal I have in mind is that we'll get to know each other better and be able to discover more we can share with each other throughout this year!