Sunday, December 11, 2011

Christmas.

I usually love this time of year (aside from the snow, I think I could honestly never see snow again and be perfectly content). This year is a little bit different though. I feel like I have about a bijillion things that I need to do and just about zero time to get them done. Yesterday Ben and I spent all day Christmas shopping and I think we are about done, at least I hope. I love that our family seems to be growing every year but man, with so many people to buy for, Christmas is EXPENSIVE!  I planned on making most of the gifts this year but with my increasing work schedule and my unrelenting migraines, it just hasn't seemed to happen. And Christmas cards, well I have just about given up on that front. Maybe you all should just expect New Year's card (heck, I probably won't even have them ready by then).







I hope that sometime between all of this business that I am able to sit back and ponder on the true meaning of Christmas. I am really excited this year that Cora will be able to be a more active participant and look forward to teaching her as much as an almost-two-year-old can know about what Christmas is really all about.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Santa.

It has been many years since Santa has visited my house. My youngest sibling is only 17 months younger than me and we both pretty much figured out Santa wasn't real (sorry for the spoiler if you are reading this and haven't already gotten the memo about Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc.) when we were about 8.

I guess I need to learn up on Santa. This year all of the presents are already under the tree, labeled from mommy and daddy. Luckily for us Cora is not old enough to know about Santa yet and we have got about a year to figure out how this whole thing works.

How do kids find out about Santa anyway?

I'm in desperate need of some advice on how to play Santa.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

I used to blog...

until I found Pinterest. When I have a minute for myself (when I am free of mommy duties, work, and migraines consecutively) I would much rather peruse Pinterest than blog.

Anyway life for this Spalding has been B-U-S-Y. Just when we think life is as busy as its going to get, we seem to some how get busier. I have recently taken on more responsibilities at work (which also come with a pay raise!) which means Ben is busier too. Now instead of just his hectic, already stressful enough job he gets to have lots of one-on-one time with Cora. He comes straight from work to my office and picks up Cora. This is great for me because I am able to get a few hours of uninterrupted work done; truly a miracle! I am not sure how this is going to work out when Ben starts school in January. In January I am set to assume even more responsibility at work. Ben will be busy playing college student. I am worried Cora is going to be stuck in the middle of two busy parents. This would not be so bad if she had siblings (which we are not planning on for a while longer) so I we are really going to have to work to make sure Cora has all of her needs met.

Cora is getting bigger and smarter everyday. Seriously I don't know how it is possible that she gets more and more fun as the days go by (I am not sure if this trend will hold true through the teenage years...). This isn't to say that everything is always fun and games. I have been having a hard time lately with Cora. She has a real problem communicating and she gets really frustrated because she knows what she wants but cant communicate it (can you blame her?). Luckily for us she is starting speech therapy next week and we have heard nothing about good things from the program she is starting. Needless to say, I am hopeful.

Also I can tell that Cora is getting close to being two:
1. Although she doesn't talk much she does know how to say NO!
2. She's a super picky eater (Ben blames this on me, but I don't believe it).
3. She likes to ignore.
4. She gets called a boy all the time because she has no hair (even when she is dressed very girl-y). 

Ok, maybe that last one has nothing to do with being a terrible two...except the bigger she gets, the more people seem to assume she is a boy. It doesn't help that she will not wear a single bow/headband/hat/ponytail/anything to save her life.

Cora still sleeps through the night. Hallelujah. Life is good!





Wednesday, November 16, 2011

UVU

GOOD NEWS! We {finally} got Ben signed up for school again! This time it should be much more relaxed (I hope). Ben will be returning to school at Utah Valley University in January...assuming we get all of the little kinks figured out including deciding what he wants to study, schedules, financial aid, and whatever else. I am really excited for Ben to go back to school and finish his degree, but at the same time I am a little bit intimidated. I know all of the ins and outs of BYU but with UVU I don't even know where to start (and I will be the one figuring out most of the details as that is not one of Ben's priorities!). Luckily, finding classes that don't conflict with Ben's work schedule should be a breeze (fingers-crossed) and UVU should be a lot more laid back and less stressful for Ben.





Pros of leaving BYU:
*Flexible classes including night, weekend, and online courses (I know BYU has these too but not even close to the extent of UVU)
*Less stressful classes for Ben
*UVU is super close to Ben's work!
*No more jumping through hoops and dealing with the academic advisement center (hallelujah for me)

Cons of leaving BYU
*NO MORE HALF TUITION! :(
* I have no idea how UVU works

If anyone has any helpful advice about UVU, we would appreciate any input! At this point we are just trying to find something that Ben can graduate in relatively quickly (he has tons of credit, but not really in one specific area of study).

Here's to our new adventure of juggling two full time jobs, Cora, and college!



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Paci-broken.

We've done the {seemingly} impossible. Cora is officially paci-broken (yeah I may have just made that term up). Can I just say that I am pretty freaking excited about this? After only a few days of screaming *torture* we can finally leave the house without a pacifer. Unless you have had a paci-addict, you cannot understand how great this is, so just trust me on this one. What a relief it is!

*Also, I now see why people let their 3 and 4 year old children continue to use binkies! What a hard habit to break!

Up next...POTTY TRAINING (soon I hope)!




Monday, September 26, 2011

I'm Still Alive and Kickin'

I am embarrassed by how long it has taken me to update this blog! I was about ready to ditch it completely when finally I decided I need to keep it up! Let me assure you that life has been a little crazy over her at the Spalding house. In July I started working (from home) making tutus for poshlittletutus.com. As if that didn't keep me busy enough in August I started my second job as an office assistant for my cousins' transportation company. I love it but most of all I love the fact that I am able to take Cora to work with me! It is a little hard getting work done with her running around but she usually naps for two hours and she is pretty good at finding things to get into while I am distracted!

Ben has been pretty busy with work. We are still trying to get his school situation figured out since back in July his employer gave him an ultimatum...to continue his employment or continue his education. Hopefully he will be able to start night or online classes at UVU come January! Ben is also getting ready to run the St. George Marathon this Saturday. He has been training all summer and I am excited to see his hard work pay off as he accomplishes his goal!

Cora is growing like a weed! She is now 18 months old and is old enough to go to Nursery at church! Hallelujah! At her doctors appointment she measured in the 65 percentile for her height at weight! She isn't talking as much as she should so the doctor suggested speech therapy starting in three months if things haven't improved by then. We are not too concerned as she seems to understand what we are saying, she just hasn't really started using her language skills yet other than to say, "hi dog, hi cat, meow meow, and thank you". Yes, she is a little obsessed with animals of any kind, especially dogs and cats!






Thursday, July 7, 2011

Cora Cools Off












Monday, June 20, 2011

Catch up. Not to be confused with Ketchup

I have been very bad at updating this blog. Oooops. I think its been a combination of not much going on over here and the fact that I would much rather stalk other peoples blogs than write about my own seemingly boring life.

Cora and I just got back from a week-long trip to Oregon to visit my parents. Luckily we flew so traveling was not that bad and Cora did great on the plane rides. She even got her own seat both times which was such a blessing because I don't think that there was any chance of her sitting on my lap the whole time. Plus, as it turns out, planes make me sick. Especially when we choose to sit over the wing. Unfortunately I was a slacker and didn't take any pictures while we were gone. Luckily, my parents are coming down in a few weeks for the fourth of July and then my brother Kenny is getting married in August so we will have plenty of opportunities to take pictures this summer.

Other exciting news is that Cora is learning to talk. Most the time you have to decipher what she is saying but some things she says loud and clear. I am not sure if I am excited for her to talk. I mean it will really be nice to actually be able to have a two way conversation with her, but I am not so sure I want her repeating some of the thing she hears me (and others) say.

Cora has also become quite infatuated with the toilet. She has been semi potty trained for about a month now (read: she knows that the toilet is for her potty and well go anytime I put her on there; she often tells me she needs to go--clearly saying "I'm pooping" (I think she learned this little gem of a phrase from dear daddy) but mommy is kind of slow on the signals). The bad thing is she things that everything goes in the toilet. The other day it was her bottle. Today--daddy's cell phone.

We also transferred Cora to a "big girl bed" about a month and a half ago and she has done great! She knows how to get in and out of her bed when she is just playing around but when its naptime or bedtime she will stay put. If she wants out she will just jibber jabber until someone finally hears her. If that takes too long, she will just scream, notifying us that she would really like permission to leave her bed. As soon as we open the door to her room she knows she is free.

In other news, my new job was supposed to start this week but has been postponed for another two weeks. I am a little sad because I was looking forward to making a little extra cash, but I am also glad because I have a little more time for myself for a while. And with that time I have mostly been reading. I forgot that I do actually like to read now that I finally have time to read things that I want to.

Last night we took Cora to her first ever Rodeo. I think she has a new dream of being a rodeo princess. She mostly loved the bulls. I took her back to the pens to look at the horses and bulls and she wanted to pet them so bad. Um crazy. The bulls scare me!

Look forward to more frequent blog post and pictures in the near future (ok, this is not a promise but hey it might happen...think happy thoughts!)


Friday, May 13, 2011

Friday, April 29, 2011

New Job

I just had to share the news: I HAVE A JOB! I have been really debating with myself about whether or not I should work now that I am graduated, or if I should just stay home and be with Cora all the time. Well I got my answer, and it is the best of both worlds! My job will be from home working for poshlittletutus.com (check them out). I am so so so excited. There were nearly 500 people that applied for this job (um holy crap) and I am one of the lucky 10 who got the job. So awesome!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

i am back from my blog hiatus, officially. yeah, um...sorry about that. life has been super crazy for these spaldings. ben and i recently moved into a new apartment (we LOVE it). but it was a lot of work. two weeks before finals. since then, we have been studying, unpacking, and trying to keep up with cora. let me tell you that little girl has more energy than the two of us combined. i will post pictures of our new little dungeon (ok it is not actually a dungeon, just a walk out basement apartment). we are only five blocks from the timpanogos temple which is really cool. and we have an amazing ward with tons of little kids! also the ward was just reassigned so no one even knows we are new cause everyone is new! hopefully this will make getting to know people a little easier.

this time tomorrow i will be done with finals. forever. well at least until i decide to go to graduate school which still may be a ways out there. i am still trying to figure out what i want to do with life. we will still be in utah for the next 3 years so ben can finish up his degree but i can't decide whether i want to continue to stay at home with cora or if i want to get some kind of job. it is seriously the hardest decision ever and i have yet to make up my mind. the worst part is one of my dream jobs has recently opened up and i want it. lindon city parks and recreation director. and the greatest part is i am SO qualified. did i mention this is such a HARD decision?








Friday, March 11, 2011

Cora turns 1!

Cora had a birthday party (well she had a few). The first one went a little something like this:

Hanging out with her favorite baby cousin.
Eating her cake very lady-like while everyone was watching.
After daddy showed her she could pick up the whole piece.

Determined to finish the whole thing. Sadly I was unable to get my favorite picture to upload on here. It is much similar to this, just she was chugging her sippy cup. Totally Napoleon Dynamite Style. Don't worry, though, you can still see it on my Facebook!
Ready for a bath!

Cora, how old are you?

As you can tell her party was pretty great. What was even more great was she had a second party! I will post those pictures soon!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

6 weeks.
5 Tests.
A few homework assignments.
1 major paper.
1 final interview...

and then I will be the happiest, carefree woman in the world! :) I can see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

I am in the middle of wrapping Cora's birthday presents. For her 1st birthday. How is it already March again? How has it already been a year since my beautiful baby girl made her debut? I can't believe it! My baby girl is turning into a little girl. Can I just stop time, just for a little bit, please?

Monday, February 28, 2011

Dear Reality Steve,

I hope you are right, now. I have been heartbroken since I found out that Brad picks Chantal but now that you have changed your mind and he picks Emily, well that makes me very, very happy. But if you are setting me up for a let down, you better watch your back. This is some serious stuff.

Thanks!

(Yes, I will admit it: I AM ADDICTED TO THE BACHELOR)

Just A Thought

So it turns out that our sacrament meeting is at the exact same time as Cora's nap time. This should mean that I could rock her and she would fall straight to sleep and I would be able to peacefully listen to all of the talks. UM, no, not even close. This means she is extra naughty & cranky. So it is rare that I actually get to sit through a sacrament meeting, and yesterday was no different. Between chasing her around and trying to keep her quiet I did hear something though:

"If you are unhappy you are ungrateful."

Ouch. At first I tried to justify why that statement wasn't quite correct but I couldn't because it is exactly right! So often I find myself "unhappy" when I have SO much to be grateful for. WOW. 

I bet no one else can relate to me, am I right?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

BYU

Did anyone else just watch that BYU v SDSU game? Can I just say awesome? I was really worried about watching it but we really pulled it out! I am no saying I wasn't on edge the WHOLE time! Seriously I get so stressed out with these kinds of things; I don't think it is normal or healthy.

But BYU WON!

& Ben and I have tickets the the conference finals in Las Vegas! Let's hope BYU makes it to the finals! In not, we will just end up selling our tickets but I don't really want to think about that! :)

GO COUGARS!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

February?

For those of you who haven't looked at a calendar recently, well February is ALMOST over! Um, that was fast...almost too fast. It means that in just 13 days my baby girl will be 1! It also means that I only have 7 1/2 weeks left of school! I am so excited, but really where did February go? 

And another month means that I had to clean out Cora's dresser once again! I swear clothes that fit her last week are now way to short on her. Every day my BABY is starting to look less and less like a baby and more and more like a little girl! Luckily for me she is still practically bald which adds to her babyish look. Don't worry Cora, someday you will have hair!

My child has recently become a terrorist! Every time I clean something up, she is right back to pulling everything out! Nothing is safe and she cant even walk yet! She knows how to open all the drawers, cupboards, closets, etc. and if I leave her to play for five whole seconds she is getting into trouble! AH what am I going to do when she walks? Lets hope that is still a ways out for us. I know most parents can't wait for their babies to walk, I am SMARTER than them.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Cloth Diaper & ThredUp

I am EXCITED! I (finally) took the plunge into cloth diapers, well I at least have them on order from Ebay! Why didn't I do this earlier? Oh I know--cause those puppies are so expensive! I know regular diapers are expensive too, but I have managed to get them pretty cheap with coupons so I haven't really felt bad about doing it. Also, I thought cloth diapers would be gross so I didn't really want to deal with that, not to mention at the time Cora was born we didn't have a washer and dryer. But now I am ready to do this thing. The diapers I bought were only $4 each so I am a little skeptical (considering many brands are $15+ per diaper, but they had great reviews so I have high hopes! Wish me luck!

&

Recently I found out about this sweet little site called ThredUp where you can buy/send gently used clothing for kids (and it even has some stuff for momma). I got my first box on Monday and it was awesome! I have another one on its way that is full of brand new baby girl stuff with tags on it (great because Ben's boss and one of his co-workers are both expecting baby girls soon! Pretty cheap baby gift if you ask me! Anyway the site is awesome, you should check it out! I am pretty much sold on it.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Answer to My Problems...

I think that I may have found the solution to all of my problems:

THYRIOD SUPPLEMENTS.

This may not be interesting to you, but for me it is some sort of hope.

Hope that I won't always be tired.

Hope that I will have some energy.

Hope that I wont have to sleep 12+ hours a night and still feel dead.

Hope that my migraines will disappear.

Hope that I will feel happy again.

Hope that life will be back to normal.

The only problem is that my doctor knew my thyroid levels were low months ago and never did anything about it. SO FRUSTRATING! But hopefully now we are on the right track! Hopefully things will be bright for me very soon!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Friends...

So I think it is about time that I get a few new friends. Sounds pathetic, I know--but it's true! Before Ben and I got married I was pretty social and I had what I thought was quite a few friends. The only problem was the majority of my friends were male. You don't really hang out with too many of your male friends after you are married. It just doesn't really work that way. Another problem...most of my female friends are at a totally different stage of life than I am--single. And the biggest problems many of my friends have moved away from Utah or are on missions.

After I got married I didn't really care about hanging out with friends much because I would have rather spent time with Ben anyways. Now that Ben is in school, has to study tons, works full time, and is training for a marathon among other things--well that doesn't really leave much time for him to hang out with me.

Sometimes you just need someone to go shopping with. Maybe even have a date night...Anyone that actually can talk really would do. But where do you find such friends? Obviously I have no clue. I thought that maybe I could find some friends at church but no. We are living in Ben's parent's basement right now and everyone seems to be so much older than me and also in different stages of their life. I can only see my loneliness getting worse in the next few months as I stop taking classes and really have no contact with the outside world. Poor me. Someone help me find some friends!

Skipper

I am a class skipper. There is no other way around it. It is much more desirable to stay home with my sweet little girl. I am burnt out from my 175 question humanities test. Somewhere I need to come up with the motivation to keep going to school for another 9 weeks. I can do this! At least I finally finished my 4 billion internship hours. And my portfolio. Thank goodness.

Now I just need to try to figure out what to get Ben for Valentine's Day. I have NO clue and I am running out of time! We are celebrating on Saturday because Monday is a busy day for us--Ben leaves for work/the gym at 5 am and I don't get home from class until 7 pm.

Also Cora's birthday is coming up soon. I can't believe it has almost been a year already. It goes by so dang fast. I have decided that she doesn't really need anymore toys (I already have a few toys that I bought on clearance after Christmas) so I am trying to refrain from buying anymore clutter.

Speaking of Cora, I can't leave that girl alone for two seconds. Yesterday I was making myself lunch while she was playing downstairs in her room. All the sudden I heard her pitter pattering down the hall and next thing I know she is halfway up the staircase (um when did she learn to climb up the stairs?). Well today I learned my lesson, or so I thought. When getting my lunch today I shut the door to Cora's room (there is no handle on the door) and went about my business. As I was heading back down the stairs what do I find? Cora at the bottom of the stairs. How in the world she got out of her room is beyond me.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

All I want to do today (and almost any other day) is craft. I want to make cute stuff. I want my living space to be magically cleaned and de-cluttered. I want to skip class. I want to be done with school.

Today I will skip class, because I am sick. Which means I probably won't spend all day crafting, or cleaning, or de-cluttering. Nope, I will be in bed (for the third day in a row) not doing anything but studying for a humanities test. What a boring life!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Can life get any busier? I shouldn't be complaining but sometimes I just have too. I am so ready for April to be over and I no longer have to focus on being a full-time student, just a full-time momma (being a mom is a full time job in itself I have come to find out...).

My to-do list is a million miles long and I cannot focus.
do the laundry
clean the room
grocery shopping
bathe the baby
feed the baby
homework
homework
test
test
homework
capstone project
sleep
eat
run
play with baby
have a social life
date my husband
take a shower
get dressed
do my hair/makeup

Right about now I need an identical twin, or a clone. Either would do.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Mommy&Me

Recently I realized that I have a TON of pictures of Cora. I don't think you can have too many pictures of this sweet little girl. Nope not possible. But the sad part? I have almost no pictures of the two of us together. I am always taking pictures of her or her and daddy. So I decided I needed some pictures of the two of us. Ben took them for me and I think they turned out great. I LOVE MY LITTLE GIRL. Isn't she a doll?