Texas - where the beaches have an unhealthy concentration of bad bacteria over Labor Day.

I keep thinking of little sayings to reflect our leaving Texas. None of them are particularly inventive or polite, but I need an outlet for them. I try to keep things as bland as possible on FB, so the blog is the perfect place to vent. For some reason, I keep turning them over in my mind while running in the morning.

"Smell ya later, Texas." - it really does stink here sometimes

"Texas, where there only thing bigger than its borders is its inferiority complex."

"Too bad, not sad."

"It was real, and it was not fun, and it was really not fun."

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya."

Is there a word for putting your thumb on your nose and wiggling your fingers while sticking out your tongue?

There are others, but I can't think of them right now. I know there are nice parts to Texas, but I am so happy to be leaving!

Last Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum yesterday with Kim and Bridgett. I really wanted to go one last time before we leave. We ended up staying almost four hours! At 1:15 pm, I looked at Kim and said if they didn't crash first, that we should leave by 2 pm. At 2 pm they were still going strong serving us pizza in the little fake restaurant but Kim and I were exhausted! Little June was especially exhausted and had been a real trooper - only getting about a 30 minute nap in the five hours since we'd left the house, poor second child.


Amid many protests, we packed up and headed for home. We hoped Willa and Bridgett would take a little car nap on the drive (it is about 40 minutes). It was too late to get an afternoon nap at home, but they were pretty tired and the whining in the car ended up reaching a fevered pitch.

We told them to go to sleep and this is what we got:

 They would close their eyes and pretend to sleep, and then dissolve into giggles. It was so cute and they played so well together all day. We sure are going to miss this when we leave.

Breaking Away

Willa loves her trike these days. She can really get going on the open road and it is cute to see her little legs pump those pedals so fast. Her favorite thing is for Ryan to go on a bike ride with her on the old beach cruiser. They take a little loop around the neighborhood.

Saturday and Sunday were our first coolish days. Meaning, it got up to the high 80s, low 90s, but the mornings were cool. This morning is supposed to be in the 60s so we are excited. It's a strange feeling to walk outside and have the weather be pleasant and bearable.

I had the last harp lesson with one of my students on Saturday. The other last lessons will happen this week. I cried a little and it was sad for me. I think I would feel a lot better about leaving if I felt good about the teachers I was leaving them with. Sadly, I'm the only Suzuki harp teacher in Houston and most of my students would like to stay with the method. I have been very disappointed in their students of some of the teachers. We played a Christmas concert last year with other students and you could hardly recognize what pieces they were playing. There was a noticeable difference between the other students and my students. I want to be the kind of teacher that I had - meticulous. My students don't pass off music until it's perfect. So far, they have all thrived, but I have to be pretty strict with them at times. I'm the only teacher on this side of town so now my students will need to drive 45 minutes or more to a new teacher. Considering all the sacrifices students have made to take from my harp teacher ShruDe, that's not a huge deal, but when both parents work and the kids are involved in tons of activities it's hard. Anyway, that's my aside. The reality of moving is setting in and it's happy and sad.

The Intelligent Princess

We've had the glasses for one week now and it seems to be going well. She wears them about 80% of her awake time, sometimes more. I don't want to make it a big power struggle so when she takes them off, I just ask her if she wants a little break from them and I fold them up and take them away. Then, a few minutes later we put them back on again.

She has a backup pair and a main pair. We went to this amazing optical store that the hospital recommended. They were fantastic. They had a whole room dedicated entirely to children. It was personalized, one-on-one attention and service. The man who helped us was super knowledgeable and helped us pick some really great fitting frames for Willa. He had a lot of good points that I had never thought of. For example, square or rectangular frames on kids aren't good because often the child will look over the top of the frame.

We picked a pair of frames, but when I got home and called the insurance they wouldn't cover it. I cancelled the order and then we went to another store that the insurance did cover. What a difference! It was not a very pleasant experience. It wasn't bad, but compared to the other store... there was just no comparison. Still, we found a pair of glasses for Willa but the selection was very, very small and none of them fit her great. We ordered them and then that night I was talking to my mom. Willa has to wear the glasses every day and it's going to be a big adjustment. She should have something that is comfortable, durable, and that looks cute on her. The following morning I called the first place and reordered the good glasses. She could use the insurance pair as a back-up; it can't hurt to get a two year old a second pair of glasses.

Here are her insurance glasses. I picked a photo of her looking down so you don't get the glare. They are actually pretty cute in a hipster-ish way. They just are a smidge too big and slide down her nose a little. Just not as high quality. I also think they kind of take over her face.

Playing with Bridgett in their respective princess dresses. Willa's was a Christmas gift from her O'Kelley cousins and it is very much loved. It even got worn to the doctor's office last week! Bridgett is the most princess, girly girl in the world, so we decided to get her one for her birthday a few weeks ago.

Here is her new, better pair of glasses. They are a light polished purple. They're not the cutest thing if I'm going after style, but for a little tot I think they are great. They fit SO much better, they stay on her and I think they are more comfortable. She had been wearing the not-as-good pair for a few days when we went to get these glasses. When she tried them on she said, "I like these glasses!" They came in a brown, which was super cute, but since her other pair is dark I wanted something that didn't overpower her little face. You can tell the frames are of so much better quality and they have a lifetime warranty. So if they break, we'll put on her back-up pair and ship these back to the store to be replaced.

How do I feel about all of this? Her prescription is actually quite strong, which was surprising to me. I'm sad that she hasn't been seeing well and I'm happy that we can correct her vision. I'm sad because it's hard for a little girl to want to wear glasses. She has to wear them all the time. She's been pretty good about it, but sometimes I wish we didn't have to put them on her. It changes her little face so much to me and even though I think she's super cute, it makes me a little sad, a little overprotective. Right now she's getting lots of compliments on them, so I think she sees them as a positive thing. (We got the first pair Saturday afternoon so the next day was Sunday and at church she got tons of positive attention from everyone, which made her happy to wear them.) I'm scared for the day when she might get her feelings hurt about them. Those are my thoughts. I'm not very good with change so it's hard to see such a big change on my little girl.

Plane Tickets and this week

We have had a crazy week. I've been getting all our doctor's appointments in before we leave, so on Monday I took Willa to a pediatric ophthalmologist at the children's hospital in Houston. Many of you might remember that as an infant her eyes sometimes looked like this:

Her right eye would turn inwards. I asked the pediatrician about it. She thought that it was most likely because she had a wide bridge between her eyes. It looked like they were rolling in, but really she just needed to grow into her face. Now, at almost three years old I'd like to believe she has grown more into her face. Sometimes her right eye still looked wonky to me. I asked our new and improved pediatrician and he thought that we should take her to the ophthalmologist just in case. He also suggested the children's hospital, which I was 100% for. I want to go to a place that is specifically catered towards children and working with them.

We went on Monday. I was expecting them to look at her eyes and say, "Yep, they look great! She just needs to grow into them more." Instead, the OT thought something was off and they decided to dilate the eyes. This just turned a 15 minute appointment into something much longer. Luckily, since we were at an awesome children's hospital they had a dimmed playroom where we could wait for the 30 minutes for the eyes to dilate. She finally saw the doctor and amid much kicking, screaming, and holding of the eyelids open - the doctor thought that she was farsighted in one eye. Her right eye is farsighted, so when she is trying to focus up close it crosses and goes inward. 

We are getting glasses, but the doctor thinks that the eyes will eventually correct themselves if we treat it now. That's the good news. It was a long, tiring day - especially since we missed naptime. On Tuesday, we went to look for glasses and had to go to three different shops thus taking the entire day(long story). BUT, finally I pulled in from the last store on Tuesday night at 6:45 pm with the glasses ordered.

This phone call with the insurance company will typify what my Tuesday was like,

me: "M as in Moon."

Them: "Okay, let me verify, N as in Nancy?"

 Grrr !@#@Q#%@##$@!! It was a comedy of errors, Tuesday was.

Then, Wednesday morning I called another shop and ordered her a back-up pair. Then, Wednesday afternoon I took June to the doctor where they gave her FIVE!! shots because they were out of the 3 in 1 shot that they normally do. Finally, Wednesday night Willa started screaming and holding her diaper. Uh oh, not another UTI. She was up late crying until we forced more water in her and made her urinate. I made an appointment for this morning. Then, after much gnashing of teeth, taping a urine bag, crying, screaming, kicking, hitting, empty urine bag, and now a catheter - it turns out that she does not have a UTI, but probably just an irritated vagina. Anyway, that's my week.

The good news, oh the great news, is that I bought our plane tickets! There was about 98% happiness and 2% sadness when I purchased the tickets. Within ten minutes it has transformed into 100% pure, hyperactive happiness. I'm so excited. I'm glad to say good-bye to this place. Smell ya later, Texas!

Time to say good-bye

I know I've mentioned moving on this blog, but I should probably give more of a story. At least, I know that I like to read blogs where context is provided and I hate when they refer to something but never explain it - or worse, when they only hint at it but never explain.

We are moving out of Texas. Yeehaw! As most of you know, we moved here about three years ago riding high on the anger of a Los Angeles traffic ticket and with a lot of chutzpah and bravery. We hardly knew anyone in the city, but thought that with Ryan's schooling and resume, it wouldn't be difficult to find a job. Now, three years later with not much success, we are finally leaving.

In all honesty, Ryan and I both did not want to make the move down here, but things got rolling and in the end we felt a little trapped. In life, we are told to study it out and pray for inspiration, but when you don't have it you should just make a decision. Well, we did make a decision and then we stuck to the plan! As we were packing up our L.A. apartment, we just did not want to come, but I think we attributed a lot of it to nerves and we also felt stuck because he had just taken and passed the Texas bar exam. Most of our time here, we have not felt like it was the place for us. Within a few weeks we knew we wanted to leave, but taking another bar exam is a lot of work and money and we thought we needed to give Houston the ole' college try. This experience has taught us a lot about listening to the Spirit. I like to think if we did it again, that we would say, "Wait, let's slow down. Let's stay in California a few more months and take another bar exam." But, who knows. We acted the best we could on the knowledge that we had. We took a risk and it was very brave. You have to give us props for that.

When we had been here two years, we faced the decision to extend our apartment lease or possibly move out of state. We just did not feel right about either option, and then the chance to rent our current house came up. We moved and felt at peace for almost the first time of being out here. I thought we would be here for a while. However, when June was born, Ryan's sister came out to visit us. She lives in Nevada and has really wanted us out there for a long time. Through her love, persuasion, and extreme generosity, she arranged for Ryan to take the Nevada bar exam this past July.

Meanwhile, Ryan has had steady work most of our time here. It's been mindless, benefits-less work, but it has provided for us and we've been blessed. As major lawsuits have gotten settled, the work really started to dry up. As in, no work at all for a few months. Happily, most of this time coincided with the time he needed to study for the bar exam. In a way, it feels like everything is coming to a head. He has taken the bar in another state and the work that has kept us afloat here is on its way out; so we have no reason to stay here and every reason to leave. In fact, we plan on leaving the first week of October. Even if he doesn't pass the bar exam, we recognize that this is not where we want to be. Also, without work, we really can't afford to keep staying here anyway. One job has come up that he is working on right now, it should only last about another week, but it has given us a chance to tie up loose ends and to save a little more money for our trek.

That's our moving story. We will have a few regrets - leaving the Thalmans and my harp students - but that is about it. We've put down a few roots, but really, this place has not agreed with us. We are SO excited to live near Rebecca and Brandon and be so much closer to family.

I just want to share one anecdote that represents our time in Texas. While I was in the YW, I helped plan and organize a Cardboard Regatta. My branch in Bloomington, Indiana does it every year and it is hilarious and fun. It's a boat race where the boats are made entirely out of cardboard and duct tape, and you have to ride in the boat. Ryan made a nice powerpoint presentation showing photos of past races so that we could introduce the concept to the youth. The first year was so fun that they wanted to make it an annual tradition. The second year, they invited another ward to participate and while it was fun, I noticed that our ward's boats took a serious downward turn. A few weeks ago, Ryan and I went to the third annual regatta. It was just our ward youth again and it was dismal! None of the Young Women even made boats! Instead, they basically took single sheets of cardboard and covered them in duct tape. It looked like they were trying to make a boogie board (but smaller) or a float like the beach life guards use. Obviously, these things did not float at all. When they started to sink, the YW just picked them up and tried to run the course since the water was fairly shallow. They completely missed the point of the race - which was not to win by running on foot, but to build a great boat that may or may not disintegrate before it reaches the end. It felt like I had given them a really great idea and fun activity and with each year instead of getting more creative, they came closer to average. Their boats were worse each year instead of better. It just so encapsulated what bothers me here sometimes. They just didn't get it. Anyone reading this from that awesome Bloomington Branch knows what I'm talking about.

Here is a slide from the powerpoint presentation that Ryan made. The photo is from one of the Bloomington races. I believe the capsizing boat in front was entitled "Ragnarok."

June is Six Months!

Can you believe how time flies? I feel like June should just be around three months old right now. She is such a happy, easy baby. Rolling around, eating her toes, babbling, laughing, smiling. As you can see, she loves to grab nearby toys and is squirmy in a cute, roly-poly baby way.

I tried giving her solids two days ago. The first time we tried rice cereal mixed with breast milk. She did not like it. Last night I tried the rice cereal again mixed with formula, but I tasted it before I gave it to her. That stuff is disgusting! I could taste some of the chemicals and it was just nasty. I tried giving it to her and when she refused, I didn't press the issue. Instead, I opened some yummy sweet potatoes. The first taste she look a little confused, smacked her lips, and then smiled. Then she liked grabbing the spoon from me and slurping all over it until the food was gone. She's such a cutie, I can't stand it. I didn't start Willa on solids until seven months, but June has always seemed more interested in food and since she won't take I bottle, I thought it was time to start introducing solids. I'm not going to push quantity since she is getting lots of milk; I just want to slowly get her used to the taste and texture and the act of eating. Such a big girl! Again, I'm shocked that she's big enough for a high chair :(.

Happy sweet potato face!

 Very sad rice cereal face. "What are you doing to me?!"

June's hair is very curly when wet. The other morning I squirted it with some water and put some mousse in. Miss Curly Sue! Not sure if it's a good or bad thing yet.









Trying out the exersaucer. It feels good to finally get out these old toys that I've been hoarding since Willa grew out of them. There is always this impulse to purge what we're not using. I feel a little vindicated for keeping them now.








June is such a good baby. Her main issue is still sleeping through the night, or not sleeping through the night. She is doing pretty well, and has done ten hours a few times, but not often. Right now she usually does between 7-9 hours before waking up. I'm thinking of letting her cry out at the seven hour mark because recently she has been waking up at the same time every night and usually that means that she's waking up out of habit and not out of hunger. I went back and read Willa's six month post. Apparently at this point she was consistently sleeping 11 hours a night and taking three solid naps a day on breast milk alone. I guess what everyone says about each baby and child being exactly the same isn't true. June's wake-ups right now aren't bothering me too much, often I'm still getting 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Still, I'd like for her to be able to stretch it out a little longer if she could. Maybe the solids will help.

Whomever gets June up from a nap or sleeping is the luckiest person because they get the biggest, happiest smiles that you will ever see. One of my favorite things to do is nurse her and watch her upper leg kick around with the feet splayed. Anyone who's ever seen a baby knows what I'm talking about. Those chubby, dimply legs kick and kick and the little toes flex out while she nurses and it's about the sweetest thing ever. My other favorite thing is singing to June. She immediately smiles whenever I start to sing to her, even if she is in the middle of crying. It is just so heart melting.

Tell June to stop growing so fast. She is our big sweetheart and brings so much joy and happiness to our family. She loves to watch Ryan and follows him with her head and a big smile wherever he goes. She also loves to be around Willa (the feeling is not reciprocal), and of course she loves me because I'm the mommy.

Pee Pee in the Potty

The title of this post is self-explanatory. Last night Willa had just gotten out of the bath and I had just started bathing June (they normally don't bathe together yet because Willa is super possessive of her space and there is a loud tantrum whenever I try it). Willa said she needed to go pee-pee, which is not unusual. I asked if she wanted to use the toilet in the bathroom and she said no and ran into the other room where her training toilet was. Since she often does this with no results, I didn't think anything. Suddenly she came running back to me yelling, "Mommy, I go pee-pee in the potty!!!!" She was sooo excited!

I got June out of the bath and sure enough, there was some liquid in there. She was pretty proud of herself and got super hyper and it was all very adorable. I made her a chocolate ice cream cone to celebrate and right then Ryan got home from work. Then she got REALLY hyper because she loves to play with him. She demanded that he dance with her to music for the next 30 minutes. It was so cute and so fun. I just love her little personality so much. We've tried not to put any pressure on her about potty training. I felt like she would do it when she was ready. Still, she's no dummy and she knew that a lot of her friends were using the potty and don't wear diapers anymore.

We haven't repeated it. I put a diaper on her this morning since we were going out. I'm just not going to stress about it, especially since we're moving. When we're home, she can run around naked and get used to going in the potty if she wants, but if not then I'll put a diaper on her. She is pretty well trained in the fact that she will almost always tell me if she needs to go so that I can put a diaper on, she just hasn't had the control to relax and sit on the pot.

Our almost potty-trained, almost three-year old. Catch a glimpse of the magnificent training toilet on the far left of the photo. That's where this glorious business all went down.