Just another week

Great news! Claire is feel much better after last weekend when she got her first tooth and fever and terrible nights sleep! We are so glad to have the happy little sunshine back even if her sleep isn't back to normal and she likes to wake up in the middle of the night several times. She is working on pushing her butt in the air and getting on her knees so she can start crawling, and we know she wants to because she is always frustrated with things out of her reach. She can still eat quite a bit of baby food every day and we are looking for a good sippy cup so she can get more fluids. I am very happy we have stuck and done so well with the cloth diapers and I love that Chris wanted to support me in using them.

With the beginning of classes for Chris, life has been a little more busy and filled mostly with study time. He is very good at studying early in the semester and doing really well so the last weeks are easier and more relaxed. Being the last semester of his bachelors is very exciting for us and we are ready for life to keep moving forward after this. I am just so impressed with his work ethic when it comes to school and his passions, honestly it was one of the things that attracted me to him from the beginning. He is motivated and dedicated to get his goals and does what needs to be done without procrastinating.

Other than that not to much has happened but I've been continuing my half marathon training and I'm excited how well it is going. I'm getting to run outside more often and I have been picking up my pace while outside which has always been hard from me because I like enjoying outside more than paying attention to my pace. I have also been able to go for my longest run I've ever done which was 8 miles! It was rough but I did it and I can't wait to get to the 13 miles because it will feel like a great accomplishment.

Sickness and Worry

This past week has been an eventful one! Our little Claire started heating up like a little sun on Friday and got her first tooth poking through, her bottom front tooth. The crankiness that comes during the day wasn't too bad but at night it is a total different story. While she is now much more cuddly, it is so much harder to get her to sleep in her own crib again after having to spend a night in a recliner at grandparents house in mommy's arms. School is going to be starting up again which means getting up at random hours in the night will not be fun for either of us. We are hoping things will get better by trying teething tablets and we won't have to suffer through Claire being hurt by these darn teeth. I would include a picture but they are hard to get a picture of with a moving baby who loves to stick her tongue out.

On to the exciting news that Chris is starting is last semester at BYUI and will be graduating in July! It is crazy and a little scary to thing that we will soon be applying for PA school and moving away from Rexburg this year but we are excited for new adventures. Being in school always helps both of us feel more productive and we will need it to start packing our things and getting ready to move. Things seem to accumulate when you live in one place too long and we have to declutter soon, so I'm creating a plan that each month is a different part of our apartment we will work on. I like that we know we are moving so far in advanced so we have time to take it slow and get things done with Claire.

I think 4 months is a good time line to start getting moving going so I made a plan for each month to get certain things done. Its short and simple and there will be other things involved but the areas of my small apartment are covered and hopefully we won't run into too many problems before moving in July! Here it is, the simple moving plan:
April- pack winter cloths and blankets, collect boxes, declutter office
May- declutter bedroom, pack books and closets
June- declutter living room, pack unnecessary kitchen and cloths
July- declutter kitchen, pack kitchen and cloths , move!

Just an update on us

Claire is now 8 months old and just the brightest piece of sunshine that ever lived! She is enjoying her adventures around our house and can stay entertained while we watch her from the couch. It is always so fun to come home to her happy smiling face and I love how she jumps for joy by kicking her legs. She is still working on making noise and I'm still trying her to get to say mama, but I can see her starting to understand things! I will tell her to not pull my hair and she gets mad at me for saying no to her so she is definitely understanding how to get her way.

We try to get out of the house at least once a day because she needs more adventure than our little apartment can give now. Luckily its getting warmer outside and we can go for walks easier than having to get up to the indoor track. Speaking of which, the past few weeks have been rough on the work out goals because of traveling, inconvenient weather or circumstance, and not planning ahead. I was doing really well when the semester was in full swing and being motivated but things can get crazy really fast! I realize how much I like having a predictable life and a schedule every week.

Still keeping up with my half marathon training even though I did miss my last two long runs that I do on Saturdays. I need to get back into my groove and get outside to enjoy the sunshine and run for the enjoyment of running because that is when I do the best. I love that I have improved and can run a good paced mile and longer races without too much trouble on the treadmill but outside I'm not as good keeping my pace the same.

This break from school for Chris is always weird because it is so short we didn't plan to do anything exciting and feels too long at the same time. Being idol and not having goals gives us free time that we don't always know what to do with and we have to come up with things to do together. We don't like a lot of the same kind of TV shows and it is hard to find one that we will both watch and enjoy, but now that we have VidAngel we have so many more options! I'm so excited they figured out a way to work with Netflix and other streaming services so there is more to watch.

When He's Away

Last weekend we visited Salt Lake City to enjoy a weekend with my parents and to attend the Saturday morning session of General Conference. We were advised to write the feelings we had as we participated in the solemn assembly and sustaining the new prophet, Russell M Nelson. As we were talking about this wonderful opportunity we had on the drive home, we were happy that we got to a full conference center participate in such a simple act of unity. When each quorum was called to sustain President Nelson, it feels so personal to stand and raise your hand, but having the whole church stand together as a disciples of Christ was a different level of amazing.

I personally sustain the new prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and know he is chosen of Christ to lead us to be better individuals. The changes that have been implemented over the weekend are already exciting ways that will help people grow to be more unified and caring towards others. I'm excited to minister to sisters instead of just visit them and be the hand of Christ on Earth for those who are His children.

While we were traveling, I learned a valuable lesson about making sure to bring enough cloth diapers for Claire! We were very close to running out, we were using our last diaper on the drive home and a few of the last ones were kept on probably a little longer than they should have. I thought that I had brought a good amount but from now on I will be over estimating to using 6 a day instead of 5 like she does as home. She doesn't like to be in the car seat for very long when she is traveling unless one of us is sitting beside her so for a trip up to Montana we bought a car baby mirror. I would suggest this to everyone traveling with a baby! It was so much easier being able to see her when I'm alone and didn't have Chris to be back there and entertain her.

Speaking of not having Chris....he is away and I had to find ways to entertain myself while he was gone. First and foremost I want to express how much I will never want to be a single parent because it is soooooooo hard. I felt like I didn't have any time to myself to do anything and it was harder to do anything like shop, pack, or work out. It is also harder to work out when I felt like I didn't have a place I could go with her in a stroller during the weekend! The indoor track at BYUI has been so helpful this winter because I can go with Claire, but most gyms don't have an indoor place to walk in a stroller.

I enjoyed doing my spring wreath project this past week while Chris was gone and I shouldn't have made it so sparkly...there was glitter everywhere! I had the option to buy normal tulle but I can't help myself when I get around glitter. I looked up a couple different references to see how much I would need to make the wreath and over estimated because I liked more colors. I ended up using all but maybe a yard of the 5 different 6 yd tulle spools from Walmart for my 12" wreath, but they were all squished together very tight. I liked the turn out and it is exactly what I wanted because it is easy to pack away and use again next year without having to have it ruined.

What I wish I had done before Chris has gone out of town was get some videos of him speaking to Claire like reading a story for bed time. She likes to look at the pictures that he sends our way and she is always more cranky when she doesn't have us both around. Visiting grandparents, having visitors over, and getting out of the house was a way to help her be distracted from not having her daddy around. I hosted a book club and wanted to share how well my doughnuts turned out! Weird but I was excited to share how easy and yummy they were to make. I made them out of the pre-made biscuit by Pillsbury with simply cutting out the wholes, frying them in oil at 300 degrees, and covering them in glaze or cinnamon and sugar. Yeah! That simple, but I was also thinking I could have done some jelly filled ones if I didn't cut them up...so may possibilities for the future.