Must... resist...

With all of todays technology, there are a lot of new things for parents to think about. For example, Rachael is at the age where she likes to scream. A lot. For no apparent reason. These screams make her a nightmare to take to the store. So lately I've been busting out the iPod and let her watch Ice Age III. I'm having mixed feelings about this because it is SO nice for her to just sit there, enthralled in something mind numbing, quitely. But on the other hand I don't want her to grow up expecting to have her mind numbed while we're grocery shopping. I want her to learn respect for those around her and for her to just be a good little girl. It may seem impossible but I think it is possible. But right now, she is still too young to really discipline, so should I just let it slide for now? (And don't think I haven't thought about taking the iPod to Sacrament Meeting. I haven't done it, and won't do it, but it has crossed my mind.) Also, for Easter the Easter Bunny brought her a DVD called "The Letter Factory" made by LeapFrog. It teaches kids phonix (?), their letters and the sounds they make. Rachael LOVES IT!! Onces it ends, she throws a fit until I take her away to do something else. Sometimes I justify her watching it by thinking "she's learning, right?" And I really believe she is because she is already starting to recognize letter sounds. But still, she is just sitting in her little recliner, watching TV. I truly, truly, believe that TV is not the greatest thing in the world for a child. It gives them shorter attention spans and makes them expect and need instant gratification. But it is sooo tempting when picking up crayons gets old pretty quick and reading the same story over and over and over slowly drives me crazy, I know its better for her, and will be better for me in the long run. When we have our own place someday, I don't even want cable. Yeah there are shows I like to watch, but when Rachael was first born we didn't have it and I read SO much more than I do now, plus more time for crafts and cleaning. Its just better all around. Ok, I think I'll go let Rachael out of her room now (hey, she locked herself in there)...

Dentist

So I've read that your child's first dentist visit should be between 18 months and 2 years, so Rachael had her first visit this morning. She did SO good! I wasn't quite sure why she should go (they say so they aren't scared and they get used to going to the dentist), but was interested to see what they would do. The assistant tried to brush her teeth with flouride, that didn't go over so well (cuz I usually have to lay her down, straddle her, and pin her arms down just to brush her teeth), but when the dentist came in and put her in the chair to check her teeth she was great! She cried, obviously, but that allowed for a wide open mouth. He told me she had no cavities, strong enamel, and nice big spaces between her teeth (good for when the larger permanent teeth come in) so all in all I was very pleased with her visit.

Easter!

Since Nate had to leave for Rexburg on Sunday, we had Easter one week early. It was fun having an Egg hunt with cousins, coloring eggs, and getting dressed up. We weren't able to go to church this Sunday because I was helping Nate get ready to go, but I decided to get Rachael all done up in her Easter Dress. She was a good sport for a few pictures, and she loved her Easter gloves, but I'm going to try to get some better pictures of this outfit a little later. I love this dress!! We hope you all have a great Easter this coming Sunday and remember the real meaning behind Easter. I'm excited to teach Rachael about her Savior though the years and see her understand as she gets older. Happy Easter!

Some Excitement

I'm actually quite excited about a lot of the things that are going to be happening in my life over the next few months, and since I feel like my blog has been somewhat depressing, here is a little sunshine for it :)

1. We're having an Easter Egg hunt this Saturday. I'm excited to see how Rachael responds to it, if she'll catch on and what not.
2. I'm dressing Rachael in her SUPER cute Easter dress, bow, and socks this Sunday. I can't even describe the cuteness of this outfit. I'd best find my camera so you can all gaze upon her cuteness.
3. Nate and I are planning an amazingly fun adventure for our third anniversary on April 14th-ish.
4. Nate's little sister, Celeste, is getting married on April 23 in SLC and we get to see some good friends from NYC who are also coming to SLC for a wedding.
5. Nate's brother and sis-in-law from North Carolina are going to be here for that!
6. Heidi (N.C. sis-in-law) and her three kids are staying out here for about a month and we're planning some serious road tripping, just us girls (and Lincoln)
7. I'm going to a VIP concert of Carrie Underwood at the end of May with two of my best friends/cousins, Britni and Stephanie in Las Vegas. Woot!!
8. With summer coming, my family gets all a-buzz about our trips to Canada. I'll either be going up with my sister for a few weeks or my parents for a little longer. There has even been talk about one of my oldest and truest friends going with us, which would be AMAZING! (For reals, Kris, you gotta come...)
9. Nate begins his LAST YEAR of schooling at SUU with In-State tuition!! Hopefully we can find a place that we can live in for one year straight.
10. Along with that place to live, I get my couches back! I love my couches!!
*Bonus* Tomorrow is my last day at Iceberg. I'm done with it, and I'm ready to start spending all of my time with my little stink bug (that's what I call Rachael cuz she really is a stinker, but still pretty cute. I like this little nick name I've picked for her)!

I'm going to try to focus on the positive for the next while, thanks for sticking with me through all of the clouds!

Thoughts...

I haven't been able to get to sleep very easily the last few nights, what with all of my thoughts swirling around constantly, so hopefully this will ease my mind...
We have a plan. Nate has a job. The only bad part about it, we're going backwards. We're going back to Rexburg so Nate can work at Lone Pine Nursery and we'll live with his parents. On paper it looks like a fine idea, but I still just feel unsettled about it, like this isn't what we should be doing. I go though stages, I talk to Nate about it and its all good, but then I think about all of the ramifications and I seriously get depressed. I've never been like this, up and then down, then up and down. I'm usually a very happy person, not one to mope around. Nate did get into SUU, but we need to find out about getting in-state tuition because if that doesn't happen, SUU doesn't happen. Realistically, it would be so stupid if we don't get in-state tuition because I freaking grew up in this state and only left to go to school. We think we can get tuition, but we won't be able to find out for sure for who knows how long. We also hit another road block when we found out that Nate has to take 2 more classes to start the Accounting program, and 3 to do the double masters. So dumb, why didn't anyone tell us? He'll be doing those online through BYU-I. Nate has been saying that hind sight is 20 20, but if we had known about these classes we could have stayed in our little apartment in Rexburg and Nate would still be getting paid to go to school. In my ideal world, we would still move to Cedar City, Nate would find a temporary job until school starts and we would have our own place (in a TRULY idyllic world it would be the scholarship housing SUU offers students, free rent of our own place would be amazing!) and stay there for over a year, a feat we have yet to accomplish in the nearly three years we've been married. To get really personal, the thing that has really been tugging at me is my intense desire to have another baby. I'm getting emotional just typing these words. Even if nothing works out the way I want, I just want to have my own space to have my own family's life back again. I'm just so tired of wandering, of wondering, and of wishing. (I promise I didn't plan on that to be alliteration, those words just describe my life right now.)

Hey!!

Nate's older sister, Melissa, came down and stayed with us for a few nights while she was in town to get a scholarship. It took Rachael a little while to warm up to her, but she definitely did in the end. Here is a cute little video of them playing at lunch time. Thanks for all the fun times, Melissa!!

iPod

We just got back from a quick trip to Idaho to surprise Nate's family at his sister's bridal shower. It was so fun and a really nice break from the monotony. This is a picture of Rachael at her Aunt Melissa's apartment, just chillin' and watching Ice Age 3. Nate got a really nice iPod for a graduation present and we put a couple of movies on it and it saved us this time. We do have the portable DVD player still, but I forgot all of the DVDs. lame. Thank goodness for the iPod! Rachael likes it because she can hold it and push the buttons and it won't do anything. She won't keep headphones on, but she'll still watch. Amazing!

*Disclaimer* Rachael does NOT usually just sit around and watch DVDs all day, although I am very thankful that she will watch a movie whenever I need her to.

Role Reversal

So... We are still unemployed... Kinda... We had some bills that needed payment, so basically I went back to my high school job, the fast food restaurant of Iceberg, and asked for my job back. Lame, and I'm kind of embarassed about it, but you do what you've got to do. I'm a manager again, so I'm paid well (ish), and I really don't work that much, just a few hours here and there whenever I'm needed. Today was one of the long shifts, 10-5, and it was a LONG day. It was extra hard for me to leave because Rachael was still asleep when I left :( Anyways, I got home and I was POOPED! I am so thankful I'm not usually a working mom cuz it is hard to be on your feet all day, then come home to a whiney, busy toddler. Boo. But Nate's been great at being a stay at home papa. It was funny to me tonight, cuz we were getting ready to get Rachael down, and Nate got all serious. He was like, "Not to offend you but..." and in my head I'm like, oh great, where is this leading? But he said, "Do you see now why sometimes I would come home from school or work and just not want to do the dishes?" I always knew that, so I said, "Yes, I do, but do you see why when you got home I wanted you to do the dishes?" Haha! Maybe this whole crappy experience is a good thing, to walk in our spouse's shoes. I really, really, really have always known that Nate works hard at school/work, but I am so thankful that he is getting a taste of my day, how its not just the hard work of chasing the babe around, but the emotional part of it. Nate was talking about going grocery shopping tonight (the last thing I wanted to do) and I said we'll just do it tomorrow and he said, "No! I want to go out tonight!" LOL! Story of my life, dude!

*sorry no pics for a while, I lost the cord to connect it. what else is new...*