Loving the Weekends

The weekends mean so much more now that we have a crazy weekday schedule.  Having Oley come home on Thursday evenings is a much needed relief for me and Adelé loves having him around too!   Much like every other month we hadn't gotten in our temple trip yet, since it was the last weekend of the month we spent Saturday doing the temple.
Ad still loves getting "pretty" with me.  

 While we waited for Oley Adelé looked over Allison's wedding announcement again.  She gets so excited every time she looks at it, it's adorable.

 

We have had this spider next to our front door for the past week.  Oley and I joked that it was what kept Ad and I safe while he was away.  Really it's extremely disgusting so I made Oley do away with it. 

It's amazing to see how much Adelé has grown by the number of pictures she has in front of the Seattle temple.  The weather was beautiful.  She loved getting to run around on the temple grounds while we waited for Oley to get done.

Adelé loves to go to the park and swing on the swings. 

It was so nice to have Oley home but the weekend went so quickly!  Sunday evening came and we said our goodbyes again.  Ad and I chilled on the couch, built with her blocks, and watched Nemo.  Here's to another week!

Oley's First Week of School

The dreaded day had come when Oley would begin his trips to Spokane for school.  He has been so excited all summer to be doing this!  I am excited for him but I am also super worried about how I am going to be able to juggle being a mom to Adelé, working, being the first counselor in the young women's and just keeping up with life.  It's only Monday through Thursday, but that's Monday through Thursday!!!  His cousin is kind enough to let him stay with her family in Spokane during the week and then he will drive home Thursdays after class.  On Sunday night we said our goodbyes and prayed for Heavenly Father to help me through the next 9 months.  

Adelé didn't even blink an eye saying goodbye to dad, I am glad she is still young enough she doesn't really get it.  We played the rest of the day on Sunday and prepared for the week ahead of us.  

Waking Adelé up in the mornings was one of the things I was worried about.  I have blocked my work schedule so that on Mondays I don't need to be in until a little bit later so that it gives us a little buffer.  She woke up with no problem.  

We are blessed enough to have a family in our ward that is willing to let Adelé come play with her 3 little girls during the day.  When I went to drop her off I thought that she was going to scream.  She didn't cry at all.  Luckily I am also able to work my schedule that I am able to take off a little bit earlier in the afternoons so that I can spend the afternoon with her.   She loves to build with her blocks.

The fourth week of the month is always the hardest for me at work.  I have 7 AM meetings Tuesday-Thursday.  Tuesday I knew was going to be hard to be able to get her up and to the neighbor's house and me to work by 7.  But we were successful!  She was really sleepy when I dropped her off on Tuesday so there was no crying then either.  2 for 2!  We played out in the yard that afternoon before she got so exhausted she wanted to go to bed. 

Wednesdays are always hard days.  I have a standing 7 AM meeting at work and then we have mutual until 8:30 at night.  These are the days that I know are going to be the toughest.  But we made it through!

 We went to the skating rink for mutual.  Adelé loved all the loud music and the strobe lights.

Thursday FINALLY arrived!  The day that Oley would be home.  Since this all began on the 4th week of the month and that week is always the most difficult I only went into work long enough for my 7 AM meeting and then came home and worked from home the rest of the day.  It was so good to be home with Adelé.  Although it made me realize even though I think I am gone from her a lot during the day in all reality she still takes a 2.5-3 hour nap in the early afternoon so she really isn't even awake most of the time while I am at work.  By Thursday we were both kind of tired.  But were so excited that Oley came home.  

We have made it our routine that when we get home from the babysitter we play outside for 30 minutes to an hour before she eats dinner.  Then we go for a run and stop and play at the park, being able to spend more time with her this week has been such a blessing.  

The Lord has definitely watched out for us this week.  I know that this is what we are supposed to be doing even though there are going to be good and bad weeks, in the end it will all pay off.  Adelé and Oley get to spend all day Friday together and then we are all together on the weekends.  It's going to be a long 9 months, but we can do it!

16 Months

As Ad grows so does her vocabulary, appetite, and desire to be on the move.  She has now mastered multiple different animal noises - pigs, horses, sheep, lion, cows, snakes, dogs, cats, elephants, and will even beat her fists on her chest to make an ape noise.  She loves to say bye to people with the blow of a kiss and blows kisses to everyone she meets.
She continues to eat and eat and eat and doesn't gain a pound, lucky little girl! 

 

 She is definitely a little busy body - always up to something.  

 She loves her baby that Liz got her, but her blanky is still a must have no matter where she is or what she is doing. 

Reading is still one of her favorite things to do.    

As we get ready for Oley to start school next Monday he texted me saying I think Ad knows I am leaving soon, she is super clingy and fussy today.  When I got home and picked her up I could tell that she was running a fever.  Upon further inspection she had a fever of 101 degrees so we gave her some Tylenol, she laid with me for a little bit and then she started to feel better so I let her down to play. 

We thought that she was better and then as quick as I could snap my fingers she was back to burning up and being miserable again.  I checked her temp again and it was 103 so we gave her some Motrin and hoped that would bring it down.  She laid in bed with me and I would check her temperature periodically to make sure she wasn't too hot.  She was running at about 104 most of the night and then it spike to 105.  After calling Robyn and my mom they said just keep medicating her and trying to cool her off.  Finally it came back down to 100 by 3 AM.  Our poor little bug.  The next day she was fine and then that evening she got another fever.  It never got quite as high as the first night but once she finally kicked the fever she was back to her busy little self!
We are so excited for Oley to be going back to school, but realize it's going to be a whole lot different around the house.  Ad will be going to the neighbor's 4 days of the week.  She absolutely loves other kids, the neighbor has 3 little girls all under the age of 5 so there will be a lot of kids to play with, but with far less germs as a daycare.  She has always been home with Oley all day long and so it's going to be a huge change, but I think it will be great for her and it will definitely be good for me to get to get off work a little bit earlier and spend more time with her during the afternoons.  I can't believe it's already been 16 months.  I am so glad that Oley has been able to stay home with her for this long. I am anxious for him to finish up his schooling so that I will be able to stay home with her. 

Puyallup Fair

Since Ad loved the Blackfoot Fair so much we decided that we would go to the Puyallup Fair.  Going from an Idaho Fair to a Washington Fair was a big change, but they still had bad for you fair food, lots of animals (that you couldn't touch), and a lot of things to look at. 

 Ad especially loved the petting area.  She was able to pet the goats, chickens, ducklings, and a couple rabbits.

 Now that she can walk she wants to walk everywhere but as evidence from her nose she seems to fall quite a bit still.  While traveling home from Idaho we stopped for a rest, she was walking on the sidewalk and missed the curb and scraped up her nose, poor bug!

After walking around a few hours everyone was ready to go.  

 

Allison's Wedding

I love that we have a birth mom that continues to let us be apart of her life and family!  Adelé especially loves it.  When we got Allison's wedding announcement Ad just looked at it and giggled.  We have been practicing Allison's name for awhile now and she is finally starting to get it, she isn't very good at her "L's" yet so it's more of "ison", so she would point to Allison's pictures and say "ison" and then squeal. Super cute!
I am so happy for Allison!  It's stories such as her's that remind me that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is here for us.  Being apart of her most difficult days and now her happiest day is such a blessing to Oley and I.  
Coincidence or not Allison and Lucas were sealed in the same room that Adelé was sealed to Oley and I in - being there twice in one year was a true blessing.  Adelé played with Aunt Robyn while  we were in the temple and then Robyn dropped her by as Allison and Lucas came out. 

 They were married on a Thursday so we were able to spend the rest of the day buying Oley's car and spending time with family. 

 This pictures makes me realize she really isn't a little baby anymore.

 She loved riding in Robyn's Jeep with dad. 

Uncle Jacob was nice enough to let her play the piano with him while at Grandma's house. The next day we were able to go to Allison's reception.  

 Since we have not taken family pictures in awhile and we were all dressed up we had Caitlin take some pictures for us.  

Not only had it been awhile since we took family photos it has been awhile since I have taken Ad's pictures. Pictures used to be a cake walk for her but now that she is walking it's a little bit more tricky to get a good one.  I was only going to post one of these pictures of Adelé but there were just too many cute ones to choose from.  

They had a dance out on the deck after the reception.  Adelé absolutely loves to dance, she was in heaven with the loud music and lights.  We are so happy for Allison and are excited for all the fun times to come!