A Wonderful Blessing

I have been teaching the sunbeams in our ward for the past 6 months. I had a partner teacher the first month or two so it was totally manageable, but then she moved and I've been on my own ever since. Some weeks weren't too bad, but others basically killed me. It's CRAZY trying to control 8 three-year-olds at church on my own. The presidency must have noticed how hard it's been on me, because I got great news today: I'm going to move up to be a CTR-5 teacher, which means I'll still have about half my same kids. I was super stressed about trying to start the year with newbies from the nursery. Also, I'm getting a partner. They'll sustain her next week. YAY!! I'm soooo happy! I've really grown to love these kids, and I'm glad I get to have some of them for another year. Plus, 4 turning 5 seems so much better than 3 turning 4. I'm really happy and I think this was a huge blessing for me.

Somewhat Random

When I was growing up, my big brother Scott was in a band called "Somewhat Random". Since then that has become one of my favorite phrases.

I decided I don't blog enough. Why? Because my life isn't that exciting. I keep waiting for some big important exciting event to blog about. But seriously, how long am I going to keep stalling in a blogless existence waiting for something massive and amazing to happen? I could be waiting for a long time!

So here's what I'm thinking: in an attempt to blog more often, I am going to start making my blogs short, sweet, and always "somewhat random".

You have been warned.

My haircut is like, WOAH!

Sooo short!! The shortest I think I've ever cut it!
It's only been a few hours, and the jury is still out on whether or not I love it. It might take some getting used to. It's a pretty drastic A-line, really short in the back then longer in front. I'll post a pic soon. Not tonight, I'm exhausted. Time for bed!

Surgery

Since we're trying to keep things semi-private for awhile, here is the extremely un-detailed version:

Jay had surgery Tuesday.
I took Tuesday, Wednesday, and today off work to take care of him.
Recovery has been slow and painful, but going good now.

What I have learned the past few days is how thankful I am to have a loving husband around the house to help with everything. Jay isn't allowed to carry anything over 8 pounds for a week, which means I have to lug Topher around everywhere. I can't just hand him over to Jay when I need a break. Geez, I would DIE if I were a single mom! I am really lucky to have a guy who is such a great husband and father.

Yep, I'm going private, too.

I decided it would be a good idea to only let my friends read my blog. I worry that since I often blog about teaching, that someday I'm going to write something that will offend others/get me fired/etc. etc.
I just spent half an hour writing an awesome, detailed blog about something bad that happened to me this week at school. But then I erased it because I realized that if a parent came searching and found my blog and read it, I could really get in trouble.
AND I HATE THAT I HAVE TO CENSOR MY OWN BLOG!!!
I should feel free to write whatever I want to!!! Without worrying about "getting in trouble" or whatnot!!!

So, friends, if you want to still be able to read this, please let me know ASAP.
As of next Friday, Nov. 13, my blog will become locked down.
You can comment on this, hit me up on facebook, or email me at ashley_dixon@hotmail.com.

My Poor Sick Baby

As if this week couldn't get any worse...

#1.) Report Cards all weekend.
#2.) Comments/SEP forms to fill out Monday/Tuesday.
#3.) Parent - Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow (Wed. & Thur.)
******Meaning I leave for school at 6:30am and get home at 8:30pm.

As if that isn't enough, here's how today went:

I didn't realize I had forgotten my phone at home until I got to school. This is the first time I've ever forgotten my phone.
Today is a normal teaching day and I'm gearing up for conferences from 4 - 8pm, when I get a phone call at the school around 3. Jay tells me that our babysitter called him at noon and said that Topher was really sick. Jay leaves work to go pick him up and takes him to our doctor. Turns out he has ear infections in both ears and conjunctivitis (a.k.a. a gooey gross eye infection). He didn't eat all day, had a fever of 102, cried and screamed all day... and I couldn't even get home to be with him until 8:30 tonight. Grrrr. My poor poor little Topher.
Luckily Jay is such a great daddy and was able to take good care of him. Our dr. gave us antibiotics for the ear infections and medicine for his eye and we're also giving him baby Motrin to keep him fever down. The dr. said he should feel much better by tomorrow. I hope so.

I guess we're lucky that Topher is 9 months and this is the first big illness he's had. We've made it 9 months without any huge health issues, so I guess it was just time. I hear it's pretty common for babies to get ear infections, but it still doesn't make it any easier. I told Jay tonight how even though I hate being sick more than anything in the world, I'd rather be sick myself than have my sweet baby be sick.
Welcome to parenthood, right?

Edward Cullen, Jr.

Today was our Halloween parade and carnival at school. All the kids were so excited to wear their costumes to school and play all day. I was pretty excited about my costume, too.

My team decided to be contestants in the "Sixth Grade Science Pageant". We all had fancy dresses, tiaras, jewelry, pretty hair and makeup, and sashes that said our different titles: I was "Miss Solar System" (I covered my dress in pictures of planets), Melissa was "Miss Moon" (her dress had the moon phases) and Trudy was "Miss Seasons" (her dress had leaves, flowers, suns, snowflakes, etc). We looked sooo super cute together! I have really cute pics but I left my camera at school. I'll post them asap.

Back to the kids. In my class I had a princess, a fairy, a ballerina, batgirl, two zombies, Little Red Riding Hood, a ladybug, a surgeon, two Michael Jacksons, and the other typical Halloween costumes that 12-year-olds like. But one boy took me by complete surprise when he walked through the door to my classroom...

...he was Edward Cullen.

I about died! He looked A LOT like him! I have a New Moon poster hanging in my classroom so we took a picture of him standing in front of it. He was SOO CUTE!!! It totally made my day. He said his mom made him dress up like that, but I'm pretty sure he was happy with his choice. Especially after all the little girls started chasing him around all day chanting "OMG it's Edward! Aaaaahhh!!!" Hahaha! Makes me laugh!

So it was a really fun and successful Halloween celebration. These are the moments I'm glad I'm a teacher. What an exciting, exhausting, fantastic day!

Cute New Topher Pics!

Our good friend Christy is an amazing photographer. Here are just a few of the super-cute pictures she got of Topher.

Happy Anniversary...

...to me!!!

Married 5 years today.

Amazingly I still like him most days.

I wish I had one of "those" blogs...

...the kind that people actually read and comment on.

As I check my friends' blogs, it seems as if every blog they've ever written has tons of comments.

So I wonder.... why do mine not get comments? Am I not a good blogger? Are my stories not comment-worthy? Do I not have enough friends around to read my blog? Or does anyone actually read these things at all?

Hmm. Of course this is ridiculously shallow and radiates my need for peer acceptance, but...
... let this be the test.
Go ahead, reader.
Comment.
I dare you.
I double dog dare you.

Hooray for not having swine flu! (probably TMI)

Yesterday morning I was feeling pretty gross when I rolled out of bed, but my carpool was coming to get me in like 10 minutes so I just pulled on clothes and went to school anyway. The entire car ride I'm saying, "I wanna throw up and get it over with, then I can feel better!" So I proceed to throw up in the school parking lot (Sorry, TMI) but unfortunately I don't feel better.

Things start to really go downhill over the next hour or so and when the bell rings and my students come in I feel sooo horrible that I go to the principal and tell her I have to go home. I called Jay who rushed in to pick me up. Yesterday was spent in bed and in the bathroom with vomiting, diarreah, fever, dizziness, headache, bodyaches... basically I felt like I had been hit by a bus. Then I started to worry... what if it was swine flu and I just exposed everyone at school?? Oh no!

I called my drs office and they said to come in to instacare to get checked. When we got there I slumped in a corner as we were told it would be a 45 minute wait. After an hour of waiting, Jay got up to ask how much longer only to be told it would be another 30 to 45 minutes. ARGH!!! So we left and figured I could hang out in bed at home and we'd call in a few hours and maybe go back later when it wasn't so busy. I fell asleep and Jay didn't wake me up so we didn't go back.

I slept until 2pm today! WOW! Now I'm up, still feeling woozy and weak, but otherwise a lot better. Must have been some 24 hour bug or something. I'm just SOO glad it wasn't more serious! I quaranteened myself to my bedroom and Jay's been taking care of Topher so hopefully he won't catch anything.

The last 24 hours have been awful, but at least it's almost over and it wasn't more serious!

Ladies First!

I have a little boy in my class that is going to be the death of me.
Sooooo needy!
Every 5 seconds I hear:
"Mrs. Dixon, can I go to the bathroom?"
"Mrs. Dixon, can I fill up my water bottle?"
"Mrs. Dixon, I don't have my crayons."
"Mrs. Dixon, I don't know how to do this spelling paper."
"Mrs. Dixon, I didn't get my planner signed."
"Mrs. Dixon, I need a new gluestick, my other 4 are all gone."

GRRRRRRR!!!!

But... here's the silver lining of today:

As I'm walking to the front of the classroom, he's walking to the back. We meet face to face, he steps to the side and says, "Ladies first, Mrs. Dixon!"
CUTE!

Maybe I'll survive after all... we shall see.

School is...

...good.

I have some cute pics but I'm too lazy to get them off my camera. Maybe another day.

I have 27 kids. I'm not one to stereotype kids, but if I were I would say I have one class clown, one know-it-all, one constant teacher suck up, three that never ever shut their mouths, and two shady troublemakers. Other than that they're pretty well-behaved. Academically pretty low, but that's the entire 6th grade. Besides, that just means we've got a lot of work to do.

I'm happy. Things are good. I'm still bummed about not staying home with Topher, but I really do love teaching so I'm okay with it all.

Sorry this is a lame post but just wanted to say I've survived my first 2 weeks of school and everything is great.

Tomorrow is the first day of school...

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!




(is this even considered a blog? It's only one word. Actually I'd consider it a scream. An anxious, excited, exhausted, frustrated, hopeful, on-the-verge-of-insanity scream.)

The Reason I Teach

Today I got my class list. I have 31 students. After having 25 or so the last few years, 31 seems like a ton! For those of you who aren't teachers, big class sizes are NOT a good thing.

As I looked over the names of the students I would have in my class starting next Wednesday, umm... honestly? I was a teensy bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong; I have some great kids that I'm excited to have and a bunch that I don't know yet. But I was kinda bummed... there were a few kids that I REALLY wanted in my class that I didn't get. Also there were a few kids that I would prefer NOT to have in my class that I got. I'm sure it'll all be great, but still...

So I'm walking though Costco today, not even paying attention because I'm stressing about school, when I bump into this lady. She's staring at me, that look when you're trying to figure out how you know someone. Then this happens:

"What's your last name?"
"Dixon."
"As in Mrs. Dixon who taught in Cedar City?"
"Yeah!"
"My son Cody was in your 5th grade class! Cody Marshall!"
"Oh my gosh, I remember Cody!"
"Yeah, he's in high school now."
"No way! How crazy! Has he gotten any taller since then?"
"Haha, not really. He's still the shortest of all his friends."
"Oh no, poor kid. I remember he was the shortest one in our class!"
"I believe it! He still talks about you. He always says you were the best teacher he's ever had."

We talked for another minute, then as we went our separate ways I told her, "tell Cody I say hi and that I definitely remember him" and she says "and he definitely will always remember you."

(((((Tears in my eyes)))))

There are lots of reasons why I am a teacher. But that's another blog in itself.

The main reason above all others is so that I can have moments like that.

Cody. I was his 5th grade teacher. He's in high school now. And he still talks about me. I'm the best teacher he's ever had. Wow.

So all the stress, all the worrying about who's in my class, who's not in my class, big class sizes, prepping for school to start, yadda yadda... it all melted away thanks to a 2 minute conversation in Costco.

I am a teacher... and I thank God for it every day.



P.S. Cody is in the picture above. He's the little one in the navy blue shirt with his mouth wide open, middle left.

A Few Cute Pics *part 2*

We gave Topher a teething cookie to chew on. We didn't realize what a mess it would make! The top picture shows how Topher reacted when we tried to take it away from him before he was finished. BIG mistake!





He was so confused by the camera. I love his cute confused face. He's like, "What's that blinking red light??"





I love this little outfit that Auntie Kristy bought him. It says "Mommy's Lil Monkey".




Also we took Topher to his 6 month dr appt this week. His dr was very pleased with his growth and development. He has made a lot of progress since his 4 month checkup! Here are the stats:

Weight: 28th percentile (up from the 8th percentile at 4 months! Not a scrawny chicken anymore, YAY!)
Height: 55th percentile
Head Circumference: 70th percentile (he needs a big head so his big brain will fit!)

The dr was saying how at 6 months hopefully he's reaching and grabbing objects and at that exact moment Topher reached and grabbed the doctor's stethoscope around his neck! We got a good laugh out of it. Also, Topher is teething again and should have his top 2 teeth in another week or so. My baby will have 4 teeth!!!

A Few Cute Pics *part 1*

I have a bajillion cute new pics I wanna post, but I figure I'll post a few every couple days for the next week or so. Here are today's pics, enjoy!



It's too hot to wear clothes!


I swear my kid makes the funniest faces!


His 2 year old cousin TJ "shared" his candy necklace with Topher. Problem is, Topher didn't wanna give it back!


Grandma bought this mini chair at a yard sale. The woman has become a yard sale queen!




This is definitely one of my favorites. He is such a funny little guy!



He can hold the smaller bottles fine, but he has trouble sometimes with the bigger ones.


The rocking horse Grandma brought him. He's still a bit too wobbly for it, but soon.


Oh my gosh, this was the funniest thing ever! He kept trying to attack the monkey on his swing chair. He'd grab it and try to bite it! I was laughing so hard!

Happy 6 Months, Topher!

Once again I proclaim: WHERE DOES THE TIME GO???

My little baby is growing so fast!
Seriously, Topher is like the greatest baby ever. Only he's had a tough couple days cuz we're teething again. He got his bottom 2 teethies at 3 months and now he's got a top one sprouting! Poor lil man!

Happy 6 months, Topher Gopher! I love you Bubba!

Oh, Back to School.... Back to School...

Up until two days ago, I had planned to be a stay at home mommy (SAHM). I was really excited to stay home with Topher and just focus on being a mom and wife and housekeeper and all that. However...

The last 48 hours have drastically changed my plans.

So much has happened so fast that it's almost a big blur in my mind already. I will try to be as detailed as possible, so get comfortable cuz this is gonna be a novel. Hopefully your butt won't fall asleep.

Jay and I have been stressed out about money all summer long. Two days ago we finally came to the conclusion that financially we can't survive unless I make money. I figured, okay, I'll substitute teach a couple days a week.

Yesterday morning I went to Alpine District to fill out substitute paperwork. I found out subs only make $70 a day, then once they take out taxes and I pay for childcare, that's just not enough even if I subbed 5 days a week!!!
Next option: part time teaching?? Nope. No part time or specialist jobs available.

Then I find out a new 5th grade job just posted at Pony Express, the elem school right by my house. For those of you who don't know, I've been teaching at Sandy Elem the past 2 years and I LOVE it there, but it's about 35 minutes away. So that's over an hour out of my day just commuting. So the idea of teaching 1 minute from my house sounded great. Plus, my good friend Natalie teaches 5th grade at Pony Express so I'd get to be on her team and how fun would that be?!? Also, Pony Express is extended day school so I'd get paid I'm guessing like $5000 more than I got at Sandy. Sounds fabulous, right?

There were some downfalls. First, it's 5th grade. I've loved teaching 6th and it would be hard for me to switch back to 5th. Next, I'd have to be in a trailer outside... picture packing 32 eleven-year-olds in like a 20x20 room. Yikes. Then there's the whole "starting over" thing. I wouldn't know anyone (except Nat), I wouldn't know the programs or how the school works or anything. That would be stressful.

So, all thoughts considered I decided to apply for this job. I filled out & sent the application online last night. Natalie had told me that several others had already applied and so it wasn't a sure thing I would get the job, but I decided that I needed to be prepared in case I did get it. Teaching in a trailer with no storage is hard, and I had left some bookshelves at Sandy Elem just cuz I had no place in my house to keep them and I figured I wouldn't need them but if I got the trailer job I'd definitely need them, so that leads me to this morning.

I hopped in the jeep to drive to Sandy Elem with the soul purpose of picking up my bookshelves.

Wait a sec, flashback to yesterday again for a minute. I called my friend Melissa who taught with me at Sandy to ask her opinion on applying for the Pony Express job. I commented to her how if I had to go back to teaching full time I wish I could just come back to Sandy and she told me she would be so happy if I did but that she thought our principal had hired someone to take my place earlier this week so that was an impossibility.

Okay now, back to me in the jeep this morning. I get to Sandy Elem at 8:15 and as I walk in the front doors I figure I'll stop to say hi to my principal. Her name is Sandra. Isn't that funny? Sandra is the principal at Sandy. Haha. Okay, game on. Sandra & Jodi (Vice Principal) are sitting in Sandra's office and she's basically got her hand on the telephone when I walk in. They seem really excited/surprised to see me and as we start talking I tell them I have to go back to teaching and that I had applied for the Pony Express job and I was just there to get bookshelves but how I missed everyone at Sandy so much. I'll paraphrase, but this is basically what she said:

"Ashley, I can't believe you just walked through the door at this exact moment. I was just about to call this girl to offer her your job. She's okay, but not super amazing. We've interviewed tons of people and just can't find someone who we love to take your place. If you want to come back, your job is yours again. No questions asked. We want you back..." yadda yadda.

By this time it was 8:45am and she told me to go think about it and get back to her by 10am cuz if I said no then she had to call that other girl and offer her the job.

So.... I spent the next half hour bawling and calling everyone and talking to teachers that were there at school and freaking out cuz I didn't know what to do. I LOVE Sandy, the only thing is it's a long drive. Plus if I got the Pony Express job by my house it would be more money. I was praying hard to know what decision to make.

Then as I started walking up and down the halls of Sandy Elementary I started to feel really calm and happy and I knew that if I set all the pros & cons aside and just went with my gut feelings, Sandy was still the right place for me. Back to my very first thought from yesterday: If I have to go back to teaching full time, I wish I could go back to Sandy.

This has been forever long, huh? SORRY! Thanks for staying with me! Can't you tell this was a HUGE deal for me?? SO much drama!! I'll try to wrap it up quick:

10am: I told Sandra & Jodi yes. Going back to Sandy Elementary. To the team I love. To the faculty I love. To the students I love. To my classroom I love. To the JOB I LOVE.

So now back to being a mommy. I am still sad I can't be a SAHM. But I'm being super positive about it. You know how many working moms there are in the world?? LOTS! And I'll be fine, and Topher will be fine, and I'll still be a great mommy. My neighbors are gonna watch him for me and they are fabulous so I'm not worried about that. Oh, and I gotta mention Jay: he was amazingly supportive of me today. He basically said for me to choose what I wanted and he'd support me in my decision. Isn't he awesome? Love him.

And hey, maybe if we can save tons of money this year I can try being a SAHM next year. But right now I'm totally frazzled and can't think straight so I'll worry about next year when it comes. Speaking of frazzled, school starts in 3 weeks! YIKES! I gotta go set up my classroom (again) grrr! That was dumb of me to take everything down! But plans change and we gotta roll with the punches. My friend Marie has a quote on her blog that says "Come what may and love it". Totally works for me right now.

So thanks for listening. I SWEAR I will never put you through a blog this massive again! If you made it this far, I owe you cookies! Let me know and I'll deliver!


MORAL OF THE STORY: I'm a teacher again!!!

I'm holding back.

I realize I haven't blogged in almost a month and that's just really sad because I really do have a lot to say. The reason that I have been holding back is because I have a bajillion super cute pictures (mostly of Topher) that I want to get on here but I'm just too lazy to get them downloaded off the camera. Maybe one day this week I will get my butt in gear. So for now, just know that we are alive and well and be watching for a totally amazing pic-filled blog coming soon.

Broken Ankle.

Not fun.

Saturday night we were in Ogden at Jay's aunt's house having dinner with a ton of family. The kids were playing volleyball in the backyard and I ran down the 3 steps onto the grass to join them. As I stepped from the last stair onto the grass, I realized a little too late how uneven the ground was. I rolled my ankle in a low spot, heard a big CRACK, and fell down screaming bloody murder.

I've never broken a bone before, but when people who have tell their stories they always say they HEARD the bone break. Well, I definitely heard it. It was the most sickening sound. LOTS of pain! As people gathered around me I just kept screaming "It's broken! Don't touch it!"
Everyone is asking, "Do we call 911? Do you need an ambulance? What do we do?" But then Jay's aunt said her neighbors had a wheelchair. They got me into the chair and wheeled me to the car. The first hospital we got to had a 2 hour wait in the emergency room but we found out there was another hospital like 5 minutes away so we went there and they got me right in.

X-rays confirmed it was broken. It's called an aversion fracture... the doctor explained it like this: "When you sprain your ankle the ligaments stretch and tear. But what you did was your ligaments are basically stronger than your bone because as the ligaments stretched they broke off part of your bone with them."

Luckily I didn't need surgery. I just have to wear a big boot and use crutches. I can't put any weight on it and I spend most of my time on the couch with it up in the air with pillows. I'm ridiculously immobile for 4-6 weeks. Jay has to take care of me and the baby because I'm pretty worthless. Also Jay's mom is over here today to help out which is great.

I feel like whining and complaining and feeling sorry for myself but in reality this whole thing could've been so much worse. I mean, what if I was holding Topher when I fell? How horrible would that have been?!? I can't even imagine. Plus I don't have to have surgery or anything like that. And we have lots of people to help us out. So I really can't complain.

I've never had a broken bone before so I guess it was just my time. But still, not exactly a fun experience. If you wanna call/text/comment/visit or anything, please do! I can always use some cheering up!

P.S. If any of my JM girls are reading this, would you update the JanPR for me? For some reason I can't log on. Thanks!

We all have an MJ memory.

Good or bad, we all have memories.

GOOD:
I remember crying in Free Willy. The part where the whale jumps over the little boy is just so beautiful.
I remember learning the Thriller dance so we could try to do it at school dances.
I remember seeing the video for Scream with Janet Jackson for the first time. Unreal.
I remember trying to do the moonwalk across my kitchen floor for a solid 20 minutes.
I remember seeing Captain EO at Disneyland.
I remember watching my friend Natalie dancing in pageants to an MJ medley, white sparkly glove and all, and cheering my lungs out.
I remember doing a double take during the video for Black or White... Is that Tyra Banks??? OMG it is! She's totally in the video! Ha!


BAD:
I remember him dangling a baby out of a hotel window.
I remember him making out with Lisa Marie on an MTV awards show.
I remember seeing him and Lisa Marie naked in the video for You Are Not Alone. Pretty song, but not a pretty sight.
I remember him saying the best thing in the world a person can do is to share their bed with a child. Weird and wrong.
I remember seeing pictures of him after his hundreds of plastic surgeries where it looked like his nose was just a hole in his face. Gross.


But....

I'm happy to take the bad with the good. He was and will forever be a music legend. No one will ever be able to even compare to him. Regardless of his strange behavior, the fact that he made amazing music cannot be denied. He is gone but his music will live on forever.

Camping!

TOPHER'S FIRST CAMPING TRIP!!!

Topher loves camping! He loved the campfire, watching us ride the four wheelers, and laughing at the crazy dogs running around everywhere. He wasn't really fussy and slept well just like he does at home. Everything went really well!




Topher loves his daddy



The Dixon Family: Jay, Ashley, Topher, and Rusty




My two-year-old nephew TJ just adores Topher! He wanted to hold him, play with him, and hold his hand! It was adorable.

I hate Lowe's and Home Depot.

After mowing the lawn last night, Jay told me he wanted a trimmer/edger for Father's Day.
So, like a good wifey should, I set off to find one today.
Of course I know NOTHING about trimmers, but I figure I'll show up and ask employees for help.
Argh. I should've known...

First I go to Lowe's. I stand there in the aisle gazing at the 20-something different trimmers. They all look the same to me and yet they range in price from $30 to $200. After about 15 minutes of moping around feeling confused and stupid and mad because TWO employees looked straight at me and walked right past me, I finally went and asked for help. It took about 4 seconds for me to realize this girl had no idea what she was talking about. She basically told me just to pick one that looked good and Jay could return it if he wanted. I left feeling frustrated but hopeful that Home Depot would be better.

Long story short... same thing happened.

I don't get it. If I walk down the hall of my school and see someone who obviously looks lost, I ALWAYS ask them if I can help. If it's something I can't help with, then I try to find someone who can. I would never just walk right past.

Also, I realize that these kids who work at these places only make minimum wage and definitely are not informed on the products the store sells, but shouldn't there be someone in the store somewhere that knows something about trimmers??? What if I walked into a jewelry store or a car lot and the salesman said "Just pick one that looks good"?? It doesn't make any sense.

I am so into good customer service so today was a pretty rough day.
Stupid Lowe's. Stupid Home Depot.

I am a crappy mother.

At Topher's 2 month check up he was perfectly average. 53rd percentile in height and 47th percentile in weight. Completely healthy.

Today at his 4 month check up he is 37th percentile in height which I can live with, but he's in the 8th percentile in weight! Not 80th, but 8th!!!! My baby is a scrawny chicken!!!! He's practically malnourished!!!

It's my fault, I've known my milk supply was low but I've just kept exclusively nursing hoping to increase my supply even though I could tell Topher wasn't happy with what I was giving him. I felt really bad today even though my pediatrician said it's not a huge deal, that we just need to up his calories. So now I'm doing a combo of nursing, bottle feeding breastmilk, bottle feeding formula, and we're gonna start rice cereal, too! It's a fun game called "Fatten up the Topher". Hopefully we can put some weight on the kid and I can redeem myself as a good mommy!

Dr. Seuss said...

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

mixed feelings

Tomorrow is my last day teaching.

I am SOOO excited to be a stay at home mommy. That was always the plan: teach for a few years, get my level 2 permanent license, have babies and stay home for a few years to raise kids, then go back to teaching later. Things are going according to schedule...

except...

Honestly, I am completely heartbroken to be leaving teaching. Tears rolled down my cheeks today as I started taking posters off the walls and packing books in boxes. I love Sandy Elementary. I love the kids, I love the teachers, I love my classroom... it has become my home away from home. It's always hard to leave (and I should know, this is my 3rd school in 4 years), but this time it's really tough cuz it seems much more permanent. I'm leaving, not to go to another school to teach, but not to teach at all. I love teaching. I'm good at it.

Don't get me wrong; I'm definitely not having second thoughts about staying home. I know that is what I want to do and where I'm supposed to be is at home with my sweet baby Topher. But tomorrow is gonna be rough, I can feel it. I'm not good at saying goodbye.

Seems like I cry on the last day of school every year, but I have a feeling this year will be the hardest of all.

6th Grade Actors

Today was our class play that we've worked on for 2 months. It's a funny little version of INTO THE WOODS. And they KILLED it! It was completely awesome!

Well, there were some mistakes...
one girl ran out on stage before her turn...
one boy forgot his lines so just stood there in silence...
one boy didn't even show up today so we had to hurry and fill in his parts...
and the worst of all: one girl's pants fell down on stage!! NO JOKE!! She was so embarrassed but got over it. That's something you don't forget though. I'm sure she'll be like 40 years old and still saying, "I remember in my 6th grade play my pants fell down on stage in front of the whole school!" Aww, the memories!!

Overall it was fabulous and I'm totally proud of all my kids.

I *heart* Adam!

I STILL LOVE YOU, ADAM!!!
Kris is great too, but Adam is amazing!
I am soooo buying his album!

What's Going On

Yesterday I got to see my good friend Marie. We hadn't seen each other in over a year and what do we do when we finally meet up? Go to the mall and spend $20 at Bath & Body Works on foam soap! Ha!! Her 2 little girls are totally adorable. It was fun to spend some time with them!



Topher loves Rusty. It's so cute the way that Rusty will drop his dog toy next to Topher like he wants him to play. Someday, dog! Someday!


He looks so confused! "Hey mommy, what's that blinking red light mean?"


I put him in his bumbo chair for the first time this week. The jury's still out on if he likes it or not. It's gonna take more time to tell for sure.


I wanted to include this cute pic of a bunch of my alpha phi sisters at Rachelle's bridal shower. It was fun to see all you girls! Muah! Love you!

He Rolled!

Topher rolled!! Hooray!!

He's just over 3 months which is really early for him to be rolling! It was Tuesday night; I put him on his belly and he rolled onto his back. He did it like 5 times! I grabbed the video camera and got the last roll on film cuz I knew nobody would believe me. I'd post the video on here but I don't know how to do all that techy-stuff.

That was Tuesday night and I've tried every day to get him to roll again but he hasn't yet. Hopefully it will come back to him soon! *Sniffle* My little man is growing up so fast!! *Sniffle*

I am ridiculously in love!

Isn't he just the cutest thing in the whole world???
I am so lucky!!!
I love my Topher Gopher!

Topher's Baby Blessing

Chris, Grandpa, Topher, Jay & Andy


Today we blessed Topher in church. We had so many family members and friends that came from all over Utah. My family even drove up from Cedar & St. George just for the day! We are so lucky to have such great family & friends who support us and love us.
Of course we totally went overboard on food. We bought enough meat, cheese, and rolls for 100 people and had about 45 show up! So Jay and I will be eating sandwiches for the next few weeks (which is fine by me, that means I don't have to cook!)
It was a very special day! Topher is such a cool little guy! (and yes he is wearing a devil costume... the perfect "after-blessing" outfit!)
Here are just a few of the many pictures we took today!



Mommy, Daddy, & Baby Topher
(Daddy thinks he's pretty funny)



Topher with Uncle Scott



Me, my mom holding Topher, and my sis Kristy



Me, Jay, Topher, Grandpa, Bonnie



SIBLINGS! Scott, Kristy, Me, & Russell



Me with my dad



Sharise, Chris, Dina, & Mike



Jay, Potato, & Ayden




Yuen & my mom