Brynlee: Is such a smarty-pants. Several months ago Brynlee started pointing to letters and asking what it was. I saw some foam letters at the dollar store and put them in the bath with her one night. She would hold up the letters and say "What's that?" After a while, she would remember what they were so I started quizzing her. Turns out she learns pretty quick and can now say the ABC song, recognize all the letters, count to 11 (I have no idea where she learned 11, I only taught her to 10), knows all the basic colors, and a few shapes. From what I'm told this is what 3 and 4 year-olds learn in preschool, so it leaves me wondering what I'm going to do with her for the next 2 years or what she is going to do when/if she goes to preschool.
Brynlee talks all day long sometimes. I can understand almost everything she says. She has a bedtime book she can "read" to us because she knows what all the objects are. She can also sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (it's so cute- I need to get it on video).
She tells me she likes Barney more than Elmo. That's no fun because Barney is so 10 years ago and I never see any Barney toys or videos or anything like that. Sesame Street is everywhere so that's easy. I had already planned her birthday party to be Sesame Street so she had to be happy with that.
She loves candy, chips, apple juice and milk. She seriously has the worst diet ever. She pretty much never eats fruits or vegetables. She will drink V8 juice so I consider that somewhat a success. She used to like carrots and cucumbers with ranch, but now she just eats the ranch with a spoon and won't touch the veggies. Brynlee won't even eat bananas anymore. She is very skinny for her age and it's because she never eats real food.
Brynlee loves to read books and play outside. Her naps are getting shorter and shorter (which is not cool) but she sleep 12 hours at night most of the time (if not more) so that's pretty good.
John: Received his Associates Degree from Dixie College at the end of the summer!!!!!!!
He is still working hard at school. He transferred to SUU this fall because Dixie didn't have the program he needs/wants. It's a pain having to commute, but what other choice did we have? He is currently working in his Social Science composite degree. He will be able to get a teaching certificate in several different areas such as history, geography, psychology, sociology, etc. This will give him several different options for a career (when we finally get to that point). He still wants to be a seminary teacher, but the other teaching certificates are the back up plan if he doesn't get that job.
We decided John needed to get a part-time job to help us pay all the bills and save. He currently works at Sears in the receiving area. It's not too bad and the biggest bonus is he gets health insurance working only part time. The holidays won't be too fun working in retail, but we do get some good discounts to Sears too.
Krista:
I am teaching full time at Mohave Community College. This is my 4th year teaching and I'm just now realizing that this is the perfect job for me. There are 2 other nursing schools in the area, one about 15 minutes away (so no commute!) and the other about 45 minutes away. I applied twice to the one in Cedar City (45 minutes away) before we got married and was denied both times. I was extremely disappointed. I ended up applying for the job at MCC only out of desperation. I had graduated with my MSN in 2008 so I knew the longer I went without a job the worse it would be. I took the job, but always had a longing to work somewhere else for a couple of reasons. 1. Location- it is about 40 minutes away, in Arizona, and in Colorado City, which is polygamy town. Although polygamists are nice people, it's a totally different culture that takes some getting used to. 2. Since the school is in Arizona, the health insurance only covers Arizona. Doesn't work when you live in Utah. When you have a little one and want more kids, a husband who had skin cancer twice, health insurance is a necessity not a luxury.
Even though I have to drive a long distance to work, I only have to go to campus 1 or 2 days a week. That means I can work from home the other days and be home with Brynlee. That is amazing to have a full time job that only requires 2 days away from home!!!! They are looong days (with the driving it's usually 10-12 hours) but still not bad. It is hard having no life, no hobbies, and little free time because I have to do work during nap time and after Brynlee's bed time, in the mornings before she wakes up, and any other time I can find, but again it works. If I worked at the other schools I would have to be on campus 4-5 days of the week, so then I would be paying for childcare and someone else would be raising my kid.
We are so lucky and grateful that we have family close by who can help watch Brynlee, especially after John started working.
With this being my 4th year of teaching, I finally feel like I have the hang of it. I have been told by others that I am a good teacher. And I agree :). I put so much time and effort into it and the nice part is that I have recent experience in the field so I actually know what is useful and what isn't. I haven't been out of school that long myself, so I know what it's like for the students. And I am starting to find the balance between work and life.
We started trying to have another baby July 2011. Brynlee was only 8 months old and I was sooo not ready for another baby then, but knew it could take a while to get pregnant. If only I knew how long, I wouldn't have waited at all. It is now November 2012 with no news. I had surgery in May (same surgery I had before to get pregnant with Brynlee) with no success. One of my ovaries is completely blocked off and nonfunctional. My hormone levels are probably way off because my cycle is sooo short. But without health insurance all summer AND still paying for the $5000 surgery, there was no money to go to the doctor and figure out what is going on. After so much heartache and tears, I have finally come to the realization that I may not ever have more children.
I finally was able to go to the infertility doctor last week. I will start taking a medication next month and will have 3 months to see if it works. If not, the doctor said my only other option is in-vitro. Just thinking about the money part of it I can't see us spending up to $20,000 a cycle with no guarantee of a baby. I guess we will have some big decisions to make in February if there is no news.
