Books
For the year of 2016, I have written down 8 books that I would personally like to read. I finished one in January but I forgot to blog about that. The book was called Boundaries with Kids by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.The book is about raising kids to take responsibility for their actions, attitudes, and emotions. The authors give the ins and outs of establishing the kind of character in your children that will help them have well balanced, productive, and fulfilling lives as they head towards adulthood.
It was a great read and I learned a lot about myself as a parent. Some good, and some not so good. Every parent makes mistakes, and it turns out I am one of them.
Mom's are expected to raise perfect kids, look good while doing it, have a house that is spotless, be the perfect wife, and some have careers that pay good salaries. Basically, mothers are expected to do it ALL. I don't know about you, but that can be intimidating.
Dr. Meeker has 25+ years experience as a practicing pediatrician and counselor. She wrote this book to help mothers learn how to handle all the things they are challenged with by incorporating 10 habits:
- Understand your value as a mother
- Maintain key friendships
- Value and practice faith
- Say no to competition
- Create a healthier relationship with money
- Make time for solitude
- Give and get love in healthy ways
- Find ways to live simply
- Let go of fear
- Hope is a decision -- so make it!
Working out and dancing
I go to a Zumba class a few times each week and it is a lot of fun. I have always enjoyed dancing, and it's a great work out too.
One night our instructor wanted me to wear this Zumba belt/skirt during class. She thought I would enjoy making some noise while we shook and wiggled our hips.
Well, she was right -- I did enjoy it. In all honesty, wearing that skirt made me work my core more by shaking and wiggling my hips, which gave me a more thorough workout.
Hannah also enjoys doing a few Zumba workouts. We pull some videos up on youtube and she goes to town. Maybe one of these days she'll get to come to class with me. Now that would be fun!
Hannah has still enjoyed doing some ballet with Daddy. We stumbled across a Snow White ballet on youtube a few weeks ago and this is now the new favorite. Every time I see them doing ballet together it just melts my heart.
Bout of cold weather
Generally, the weather has been awesome this month and we have had a warm February all in all. But there was a period in the month where we got a cold batch of weather. That, we did not enjoy.
Brr.
Chiropractor
This is the main part of February that we did not enjoy: Torticollis (aka -- stiff neck).
I don't know what I did, but on Valentine's Day (Sunday) I strained a muscle in my neck that caused it to pull a disc out of place. So I walked around with a cocked neck and could barley move it for a few days. It was terrible and the pain was at times unbearable. If I could have received an epidural for the neck I would have gladly taken it.
When Monday morning came I went and saw my chiropractor. In fact, I saw him 5 times in a 5 day window. He adjusted my neck and by day five I was back at 95% mobility. Thank you Tony for giving me my life back!
During that same week of me having a stiff neck, Nathan fell and slipped on some ice (ouch!). It knocked the wind out of him so much that it made him a little disoriented. So, back to the chiropractor we went. We are pleased to report that there is no damage done there. Again, thank you Tony!
Valentine's Day
Despite having cold weather, and me dealing with Torticollis, Valentine's Day was fun this year with Hannah.
She helped make Valentine's for her preschool friends.
I made Nathan a "paying off student loans" progress chart for his office at work. He mentioned to me the other day that he would like something to put in his office so he can look at it daily (we have another type of progress chart in our home).
He was very happy and surprised.
We also made some sugar cookies too, and Hannah helped put sprinkles on them.
Nathan had some fun with it though and made a scavenger hunt for Hannah to find the pass. She loved it, but was very unhappy when the clues ended.
But she became happy again when we got to the science center.
Hannah had a lot of fun. Great Valentine's Day gift daddy! Her favorite thing was to jump on an electronic pad that calculated how high you jumped on the planets:
Painting
We have started painting our house -- by ourselves. Yes, it is a big project! We started a few days after Valentine's Day, and thus far we have painted 3 rooms: Hannah's room, the laundry room, and the entry way. The sister missionaries have helped us out a lot by taping and prepping the rooms, and they have done an excellent job. We could not have done this without their help. Here are a few pictures of the rooms.
Hannah's room before:
Hannah's room after (the pictures don't do it justice):
Laundry room before:
Laundry room after:
Entry way before:
Entry way after (it look way better in person):
3 rooms down, and a whole lot more to go. Next room to be painted: the guest bedroom/office
Miscellaneous stuff
Nathan and Hannah have had some fun together this month in the kitchen. She really enjoys making pancakes with Daddy. In fact, she will often tell me that she thinks our pancakes are the best.
When I buy cheese at Sam's Club (cheddar, mozzarella, etc.), I buy it in the solid blocks which means we always need to shred the cheese when we get home. Well Hannah will often say in the store (quite loudly may I add) "Mommy, when Daddy gets home we can cut the cheese!" I smirk every time, as do many other shoppers in the store. It will be a sad day when she understands the meaning of that phrase and stops uttering it.
So, here they are cutting the cheese:
Hannah went to a birthday party for a friend and had the time of her life. There were slides, things to climb on, video games, a jump house, etc. We stayed for 2 hours and there was never a dull moment for her.
One evening, while Hannah was getting ready for bed, I noticed she was taking longer than usual. I went to check on her to see what the hold up was and I found that she did her hair in clips:
One morning, I arrived at my Institute of Religion class early. Hannah decided to help the teacher set up the chairs in the room. It took her about 10 minutes to get 4 chairs up, but she did it! She is always wanting to help out and it's very sweet.
Hannah has really enjoyed having sister missionaries serving in our ward. She really enjoys the Plan of Salvation lessons that the missionaries do as well. So they made a "life size" lesson just for her. We are so lucky to have great missionaries in our area.
That folks, was our fantastic month of February.
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