Another First...

This one needed it's own post.

She was SO excited to go to the dentist for the first time (September 10). The doc and the hygienist were so impressed by how well she was doing, and because of that, they were able to do x-rays and the fluoride tray.

Once again, proud mama.

 

Many "First's" for this little one!

I am one of those people who has a million things running through her head of things to do or things to remember, but because i never organize those thoughts or prioritize, I'm in a constant state of chaos.
One of those "things" on my list of to-do's has been blogging.
Well, the longer  I go without posting, the higher up it goes on the anxious/panic list in my brain.
As you can imagine, I've met my breaking point and I am putting it off no longer. Who cares that I have boards to study for that are so rudely creeping up on me? Not me, apparently.

The problem is, I don't keep a journal nor do  I scrapbook, so... this is my only outlet for Jaiya to know and reminisce on her childhood. I've even become a 21 century teenager and have ditched the "old school" idea of using a digital camera, and I literally only use my phone. yikes is right...

But before I start with my little J's update...I would like to formally introduce to you, Ms. Rosie Posie Johnson- born June 24, 2013.

 

no. she wasn't supposed to bath her in the sink. Rosie owes me for saving her from this one!

I have no new stats on Jaiya's actual height or weight being that she only sees the doctor once a year now. so that is coming up....

However, there is plenty that I can share.

Jaiya has always seemed to be a little bit older than her actual age. She is so smart and eager to learn, and her vocabulary is awesome. So, Dustin and I decided that we'd give preschool a shot. She started in September and she loves it, to say the least. Her friends; Avery, Mia, and Remi are all in her class, and she is making more and more friends every time. It's so cute, and maybe tugs on my heart strings a little to see her growing up and venturing out already, but I know it was the best thing for her. And I'm happy to see that she absolutely loves Ms. Jill.

                                            First day of Preschool

Along with school, she is involved in dance, tumbling and singing. All of which keep her super busy, and she loves it so much. This Mom-n-Tot tumbling class her and I are in, well, it's rather comical if you ask me. Some days, like anything else, are better than others, but trying to keep the attention of a two year old is just impossible sometimes. I find myself saying, "Jaiya, do we need to go home and not tumble today?" "Jaiya, listen to Ms. Katie and Ms. Autumn!" And yes, I talk in my "we are out in public" mom voice that's much softer and quieter. But, truth, she does pretty darn good. She is only two and is making progress like crazy every week! And those days where she totally impresses me, I am like a kid and look at the teacher like, "Hey...Did you see that one?! Yep, she's my kid!" ....all arrogant and such...

Oh I must not forget...She did Mini cheer for the first time this year. I worked most of that week, but the first time she showed me her cheer she did the actions and said, "Gooooo Big Glue!" ha ha. I had to carefully correct that sweet sentence and explain they say the color blue!

 

                                                 Mini Cheer

 

 

                                           Mom-n-Tot Tumbling

 

 

Her teacher in dance, Ms. Bree, does so well with them. Especially since the kids are with her, and no parents are there. We watch outside the studio that has a mirror-like window so they can't see us very well. Genius! And, I still can't get over how adorable she looked on her first day...

First day of Dance!

Ms. Tammy, her singing teacher, lives right across the street from Grandma Mille. SO convenient. Especially when dad gets the time wrong and forgets to come and pick her up. Psh, something I'D never do;) So, little J can walk across the street and see Grandma on Mondays!
                                             "First" day of singing

Some odd-n-ends:
Jaiya is still crazy about vegetables. Kind of like her mama with this one...little to no meat, but LOTS of fruit and veggies!
She is in a size 7 shoe.
She wears a 3T in clothes.
She is extremely "gaggy" just like her mama. It is non-stop, every day! She gags at smells, texture of food...anything...
She loves to sing, dance, play doctor, watch her fave TV shows, play outside, run away every chance she gets to Grandma and Papa's, and especially the iPad!
She talks like a grown-up, with a lisp, and smacks her lips together in between sentences to give you the sassy/girly effect...
She wanted to be a "Popcorn Maker" or "Vegetable" for Halloween this year, but since I couldn't come up with either, she finally settled for Strawberry shortcake!
She loves to shop with her Mama!
She will help with anything around the house, cleaning, cooking, etc.
She can sing the song "Royals" by Lorde from start to finish. She has most of the 20 on 20 xm songs down!
She STILL is obsessed with choc. milk.
She is getting very imaginative! Love this!
SUPER DUPER sassy, but then totally sweet the next the minute.
Thinks the word "poo poo" is hilarious and she says it CONSTANTLY! We can't stop her.
She has the best deep-belly laugh that is so contagious.
If she gets in trouble, she sings me her ABC's until I smile, and then she says, "Now are you happy Mom!;)"
Oddly enough, she has always been very easy to reason with. If she wants something that she can't have, you can explain why and she will totally drop it.
She is a fanatic for ice cream and Popsicles! She heads straight to grandma and papa's every day for a orange cream-cicle!
She still loves brushing her teeth!
She loves Rosie. Sometime to the point that she is smothering or rough with the poor thing.
And just because you can't ever have enough pictures:

 

 

 

I hope I didn't forget anything.
As you can see, we have been extremely busy.
This Mom thing rocks!

Because I love "YOU."

As a parent, there is so much to teach a child before they are old enough to venture out in this big world on their own. But, more specifically, as a mother, I feel that I have a deep responsibility, one that I fear I won't live up to.

I wish I could just keep my little J-Bug wrapped in bubble wrap, and then surround her in a puncture proof bubble. No one could get to her. Physically, emotionally, spiritually...she'd be safe.

I know I'm not alone when thinking about my child's future. But one thing has been eating at me. Something I just want to get out some way or another, that Jaiya will probably need to read one day.

Every time I have sat down to blog about our summer, this comes to my mind. And, because it's so overwhelming and somewhat deep, I end up deciding to just bag the blogging altogether. Not because I don't want to write it, but trying to gather my thoughts on exactly how to put it and what to say is hard.

What I want to instill in my sweet baby girl is self-esteem.

We all do right?

It's so important. And whether we do our job as parent's to provide our children with the best self-esteem in the world, life may stab at it now and then, diminishing the little girl who had big dreams, the gumption to take a chance, and the naive thought that this world is nothing but full of good, and one big opportunity, and that being yourself is okay.

Trials and ignorant people can cause us to try to be someone or something we are not. And, how unfortunate that the wonderful individuality we each have to offer would be hidden away, scared of judgement.

My fear is that this little girl will one day not have the confidence to do these things the she dreams of doing, and most importantly, that she will not be who she is. Original.

In ways, I have experienced this. Because of things I've been through, heard, felt, whatever.... I led myself to believe that I wasn't smart enough to do this or that, or pretty enough, or skinny enough, or that my hair/clothing wasn't enough. And somewhere within all of the "not good enough's" I lost a huge chunk of my self-esteem, which is taking time to get back.

If it be the only thing I do in life, I will never hold back when telling my little girl she looks pretty, that she's taking great care of herself and her body, that she is so smart and can achieve anything she puts her mind to, that she is loving, kind, compassionate, a great example, fun to be around, and that failure is normal, and is only to better us. That she is talented. That mistakes are normal, no matter what she does, the Lord is on her side, as am I, and her dad. All of these things are things she should never doubt.

I don't agree that someone can have too much self-esteem. There's a difference between self-esteem and arrogance. And just by reinforcing the good in our child, arrogance won't be the result.

So, my Jaiya bug- By just being YOU, YOU are enough.

Love you to the moon.

                                          

2 going on 12...no, seriously!

Let me start by saying, THANK GOODNESS that Jaiya was blessed with her daddy's "smart" genes.

She loves to learn and will spend hours upon hours excersising her little brain.

Recently, Dustin taught Jaiya to spell her name to the "B-I-N-G-O" song, and it was a total hit! Props to him on that one. We hear "J-A-I-Y-A, J-A-I-Y-A, J-A-I-Y-A, and Jaiya was her name-o" all day every day!

So why not take it a little further? Well, we did. We make sure she is ready and that she is interested, cause let's be honest, two year olds will NOT do anything they don't want to do...so we moved on with writing her J's. We showed her by saying "dooowwwwwn.....whoop!" to teach her the little curl at the end. She does it so good. She is now working on her a's, but we haven't quite mastered that one. Instead of doing a circle with a tail, she does a circle with a dot. Still pretty good.


Now, the bike thing has taken her a little longer, but she was so determined she picked it up in just a couple of days. The problem she was having at first was she kept trying to peddle forward then back which was only causing her to brake. But, she finally got the hang of peddling forward, so long as we keep saying, "Push, Push, Push, Push..." so she doesn't forget and peddle the wrong way! Hey...whatever works, right?!


She has mastered all of her shapes...square, circle, triangle, diamond...and even octogon. She will also tell you that an octogon has 8 sides!

She plays matching games better that I do. Let the competitive-ness begin!!!;) hee hee

I have to tell a quick story so that one day Jaiya can read this...
The other day, Jaiya was playing outside at my Mom and Jerry's in one of those little cars that you push with your feet...She wheeled over by my mom and I, got out of her car, walked around to other side of it, and said, "Oh no! Mama, I'm out of petro!" I was floored, and asked the obvious thing to ask when you hear something like that, "What, honey?" She replied in her oh so shocked voice, "I'm out of petro! I better get some!" So, she grabbed a cup of water from the hose and filled up the gas tank!
I have NO clue where she got that, I definitely don't use that word, but I had to share! So funny.

I'm a Bachelor

...Oh wait...

I mean, I have my Bachelors!

A Bachelor's of Radiologic Sciences with a specialty in MRI.

6 years of college down, and 0 more to go.

I barely survived by the way. I am NOT going to tell you how much I love to be a student, cause I don't. I hate deadlines, and things keeping me from my babes, the countless hours of not being paid to work, and actually working on top of it, it's exhausting. But, it's possible, and I did it. However, it would NOT have been possible without Dustin's daily encouraging "pep-talks" telling me how smart and wonderful I am, and that I am capable of anything. Him telling me how school isn't easy for anybody and that everyone else goes through days with pure overwhelming depression and the want to quit, really helped me when I felt like I was drowning in everything I had to get done. Oh and lets not forget that our parent's and other family members babysat weekly so we could make all of this work. I seriously can't thank them enough. Support is an amazing thing.

As for the future, I still need to take my boards before I can apply for a job doing MRI. I still have some procedures required that I need to pass off before I can take them, but until then, I will continue to work in x-ray PRN.





I had to share pics of my great friends from school. We started in x-ray together and then continued with MRI, and I am telling you...there is not a doubt in mind that I couldn't have done it without them.
(Jeff Dansie/Carrera Cook)

Love at first sight?

So I've had my eyes set on this particular swimsuit for a while now.

I just "glance" at it every now and then on the internet and lust till I'm sick with want.

I do this from time to time. I find something I seriously love, and I don't know what to call it other than "torture" myself because I look it at so often I just feel worse about not having it.

Pretty sure I have a problem.

You can imagine my horror, when I realized that it was quickly going out of stock on every site I had my eyes on.

My very very very favorite designer with swimwear is the fabulous Mara Hoffman, who's swimwear costs roughly $200. I personally don't have that kind of cash to blow on a swimsuit. Her style is very boho chic, and that is by far the one style I will never get sick of. I love it. So, I came upon this suit one day, and...after months of staring at it, and looking for others to see if there was one I wanted more.....I finally BOUGHT it!

Yay for me.

I even found it on sale.

Double Yay!

I ordered it last night. Like, late last night. Maybe 9-ish.

And I just checked on it, and it's HERE! ALREADY HERE!

It was meant to be.

Is it weird that shopping makes me so happy?

Tell me you feel the same...



Also, I have to say, that in April it should NOT be snowing.

The last thing I want to hear from my 2 year old on an April morning is, "Hey Mama! Can we make snow balls please? Just for once?"

Yuck.

Our Sweet Kezi-boo

March 15th turned out to be a day we wouldn't forget.

We lost our sweet little fur-ball of a puppy after she followed too closely to the tires of our car as Dustin was leaving for a BBQ with some friends.

Worst part is Dustin knew she was there and had kept his eye on her the whole time as he backed out very very slow. He kept saying, "go to grandmas Kez..." something we always did cause she'd never let us catch her to take her in. Sending her to Grandma's until we got home became the norm. Dust looked around and never saw her again so he assumed she did what he said and ran in to Grandmas front door...he even checked again at the stop sign. No Kez.

Not too long after he left, our neighbor saw her lying in the road by our driveway and he went to Dustin's parents to tell them. Mike, Dustin's dad, called Dust and told him to hurry home cause Kez was ran over....

Immediately after he got home, I got the phone call at work. I had worked the whole day and I was supposed to be on-call that night... I decided to have someone take my shift (someone offered..thankfully) because I was crying way too hard to have patients see me, and because I knew Dust would need me. (Jaiya still doesn't understand) I got home and Dust showed me our sweet, lifeless dog in a perfect little box in the back of Dustin's parents truck. I patted her on her little side, and Dustin told her how sorry he was. All we did the rest of the night was cry. I cried so much I threw up at least 4 times. We knew we'd be upset if we ever lost her. But not this upset.

The next morning we gathered up Kezi's blanket, her coat, brush, pictures of our family, her favorite toy, and an angel teddy bear, to put in the little box with her before we buried her. We decided to bury her by Dustin's parents dog, who died last year, in a place somewhat close to home. It was so hard.

Dust and Kez were always so close. She was my idea, and my dog, but she loved Dustin so much more. He felt the same about her. Kez was our first baby. We got her the year we got married, October 2007, and she was with us through everything. Stuff like, moving from state to state, keeping me company during summer sales, getting in to our first home, and welcoming a new baby girl into the family.

Kez was well loved and we enjoyed the 6 years we were able to spend with her!

Bye bye Kezi-Boo. Thanks for the memories!

 

The day we got Kezi



 

Kez and her BFF Scruffy... 

 

 

 

 

 

Kezi and Jaiya watching for Dad!

 

Christmas 2012

 

 Poor Kez just let J do what she wanted...ha ha. I caught J putting her bows on Kezi one day last year and I'm so glad I snapped a pic!

 

LOVE YOU KEZ. We miss you so much already!