Tuesday, October 27, 2009

feeling helpless

My hubby's brother is deployed to Iraq (again) so he suggested I come visit his wife in Colorado while he is gone. In the past few weeks, her two sons (28 months and 16 months) have both gotten sick, injured, and otherwise visited the emergency room 4 times. Her husband was in a car wreck and lost a teammate, and also his job in the Army. They have moved twice, with the help of neighbors and ward members. Her mother-in-law (who came out to help) has put the family in an enormous amount of debt due to bad choices and refuses to take any responsibililty, as well as being extremely critical of her parenting methods and very unhelpful.
So I am here, doing my best to help and feeling a bit helpless since most of the situation is out of my control. I can play with the kids and cook dinner to give her a break but not ease the stress. I am just praying that things work out with him finding a job and that they can get out of debt.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Big Day

Happy Birthday Allison!

This is us one year ago today. She looks little but Ally weighed in at 8lbs 1oz (no wonder I look tired).

Ally has such a cheesy grin, I have had many people tell me how they can't stop smiling back at her.

Some stats about Allison:

- she confidently WALKS all over the house
- She has 11.5 teeth
- She will eat ANYTHING
- She LABELS all her favorite things (dog, cracker, milk, frog, book,)
- She says a few PHRASES like "I love you" and "all done" and "thank you"
- She loves her mom but Dad is definitely her favorite. Every day he walks in the door, she yells "DADDY!" and makes her way toward him as fast as her little legs can go.
- She loves BOOKS, especially ones with pictures of animals and other babies
- She plays peek-a-boo by covering one of her eyes with her hand.
- She is obsessed with BUTTONS (on shirts, dressers, bathtub, etc.)

My life has definitely changed in the past year. I went from a full-time student with 2 jobs to a full-time mom. I went from the wife of a mechanic to the wife of a federal agent, from SD to ND. I was a teacher for other people's children, now I get to teach my own (I still coach other kids though). My life is very different but very blessed. Now that Ally is a part of it, I can't imagine doing anything else. She keeps me on my toes and I am never bored.