January Update

Here's how our month has been!

Adam: started a new semester and his LAST semester! He is taking one class on E-product development (programming for instructional design). He is also taking some internship credit for the work he is doing with Dr. Kramer. That is the new position where he is doing blended instructional design for the big in person IHum 202 course as well as managing the other TAs. He is kept very busy with all of that plus teaching DigHT 215 and finishing up his project. He's hoping to do his final project defense the end of February or beginning of March!

Ashley: started off the month sick which wasn't fun but the rest of the month was good :) just doing the usual mom stuff, babywearing, cooking, playing with Eli.

Eli: is 17 months old now! He got his first experience in nursery at church this month. Since Adam serves as ward clerk, it's usually just me taking care of Eli which has been really difficult lately because he gets into everything. So Bishop was nice enough to let him go to nursery a little early and he LOVES it. He ignores me after we go in haha. Eli has also learned a new word this month, "ball"! He broke two more molars which has not been fun and he got sick in the middle of the month. Thankfully that lasted less than a week. He is such a smart kid that it makes us both annoyed and impressed that he figured out how to push the coffee table to reach the TV haha. So our furniture is ever-arranging to fit his fresh attempts to get into trouble. He has gotten more clingy lately so he often follows me around the house and hugs my legs which is adorable but makes it difficult to do things like exercise or laundry haha. It is so fun to see him grow and develop right before our eyes :)

December Update

Here is how last month went for us:

Adam: finished off the semester and got a well deserved THREE WEEKS off from school! It has been glorious for all of us :) He got an A in his one class even with being sick right before finals week. So last update left us at staying in Utah for another semester and Adam teaching next semester. That would only take up 8-10 of his 25ish available hours to work. Adam checked with BYU Online to see if they had any available TA hours to spare but there were none. Then out of the blue, the Humanities professor he had worked with for the first three semesters of BYU Online emailed him with a job offer. The position would be as kind of an overseeing TA for the big on-campus Humanities GE course and would also include instructional design with making the course more blended (more online elements than just lectures) and converting the current Learning Management System (LMS) to Canvas. An LMS is the digital platform the course material is on. This is HUGE! Most of the job openings we had looked at asked for experience with LMS, particularly Canvas. All I can say is that Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. We didn't know what to do, he told me that we should stay, so we said ok, then jobs line up for Adam like THAT *virtually snaps fingers*! So beyond grateful :)

Ashley: I've spent most of the last month preparing for Christmas and being a mom to Eli. Within that I've also worked on some of my favorite hobbies. I've explored and tried new nail art, hosted traveling baby carriers, and cooked lots of new made up recipes. Actually this month has been pretty great :) I am glad that I do monthly updates even if no one but me reads them. After Christmas, I got in a bit of post-holiday doldrums and within that I looked back at each day with gray glasses. I sometimes feel that because I don't have tangible evidence of substantial things accomplished or progress towards a greater goal, that means I am doing nothing (a very common thought for stay-at-home moms). But Eli is growing and developing (maybe a little too fast for me to catch up haha), I get to spend time with my wonderful husband, dear friends, and my older sister who lives close by. I have a handful of hobbies that I enjoy continually expanding. And I have loads of evidence this month to help grow my testimony that God loves me and directs my little family. Life is good :)

Eli: is 16 months old! He cut his first molar this month which was difficult at times but surprisingly nowhere as bad as when his two front teeth came in. This brings his total to 9 teeth! The only words he says are "mama", "dada", "yah", and "tickle" haha but he does understand a lot and occasionally signs "more". Now when we say things like "go get the ball" or "do you want more water" or "its prayer time", he will respond correctly (except for "don't touch that" which we're still working on...) He has officially transitioned to one nap (mom is still adjusting to that). He experienced his first time playing in the snow as well as a Christmas that he could get semi-excited for. He has also learned that he can climb on more things than the couch, like the coffee table or the rocking chair. That sure has been an adventure haha. As for play time, he has enjoyed all his new presents and is deep within the organizing and sorting stage of toddlerhood. He loves blocks the most and putting things inside other things or putting things in piles. Our laps are usually filled with an assortment of toys as well as random magpie-like places around the house. We are so grateful for our smart, healthy, loving little boy :)

Christmas and our Anniversary

Enjoying a beautiful white Christmas

Christmas Eve we spent with my sister Stephanie and her family going into Salt Lake City. This year wasn't quite as fun because it started raining a ton. But we went back to Steph's house, ate dinner, and watched a The Snowman. Then, we came back home and excitedly put Eli to bed. Nothing brings back the magic of Christmas from your own childhood like creating the magic for your child. I was SO excited to see Eli come out Christmas morning and after being distracted by 3-4 random things, he finally noticed the tree. Then he promptly took off as many bows as he could haha. He showed joy with every gift that he opened, spending a bit of time playing with everything. One of his favorite new gifts however was not given by Adam or me. His fellow toddler cousin gave him a little remote control car that he is obsessed with and he can actually make it move! That I was surprised about haha. We got a fresh blanket of snow overnight and Eli did not want to stop playing in it. Then we had dinner with Steph's family that night. We also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on the 29th going to do sealings at the Provo City Center Temple and then going to eat at Station 22. We hope that maybe after Adam graduates we can do additional celebrating by going on a night away somewhere. New Year's Eve we spent playing all of our new games from Christmas with our friends the Shepherd's. We stayed up as late as we could now all of us are parents haha which is much earlier than past years.

Eli and his best bud, Elliot Shepherd, just chilling with their sippies on New Year's Eve

We can't wait to see what 2017 has to bring us :)

Some spiritual thoughts on parenting

Out of everything I've experienced in my life so far, parenting has taught me the most about our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Here's my most recent example.

Lately, Eli has been in a climbing phase. He will climb anything if he can get something high up. Today I found him on top of two big plastic bins that were stacked by the window sill (he climbed on the rocking chair and then on top of the bins). Needless to say, it freaked me out. He doesn't understand though. If I try to stop him or take him down, he gets upset. It has led me to wish that he would climb and then fall and hurt himself. Not badly, but enough so he would realize the danger he puts himself in.

When I first thought that, I felt like a horrible mom. How could I hope for my baby to get hurt? Then I realized that's exactly what Heavenly Father does. Just like Eli, we have our agency to listen or not to listen to directions. When He can't teach us the right way, maybe he waits for us to experience the danger directly by possibly getting hurt. Just because we experience something hard doesn't mean that He doesn't love us. Maybe we aren't listening. Maybe it is the only way for us to learn.

I'm so grateful for the spiritual things I learn from being a parent. It truly gives me a small glimpse into what Heavenly Father and Christ feel for us.

2016: Year in review

Here is what our year has been like!

- We traveled to Washington for my Grandma Crocker's funeral and my parents finally got to meet Eli.

- Adam started his fourth semester of grad school.
- I got a woven wrap which led me down the rabbit hole of babywearing haha.
- Eli learned to sit unassisted.

- Adam's parents came to go with us to the Provo City Center open house.

- We traveled to Seattle and had lots of adventures including sight-seeing, Adam presenting at an international education conference, and my family coming up to spend the day with us!

- Eli learned to crawl.
- We went to Fort Worth, Texas to visit Adam's two sisters (with a brief layover in Denver visiting Adam's parents)!

- Adam went crazy in the spring and did six different intramural sports.
- Eli learned to pull himself up and started the neverending joys of teething :-/
- I led the Climb Out of Darkness for postpartum depression in Provo.

- Adam's parents came to visit for his 27th birthday.
- Adam finished and defended his prospectus!
- I became a certified Volunteer Babywearing Educator!

- Eli learned to walk.
- Eli turned one and we had a birthday party! :)

- Adam started his fifth semester of grad school.
- I turned 25.
- My sister Jessica came to visit and Eli got his first trick-or-treating experience :)

- We decided to stay in Utah for Adam's last semester.
- We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas in Utah.
- 5th wedding anniversary for us!

Its been a busy year and we can't wait to see what 2017 will bring! We know that the biggest thing will be Adam graduating from graduate school and then who knows where we'll end up :)

November update

Here is how our November went :)

Adam: He has spent the month working and going to school as well as applying to jobs. We've had no luck so we prayed for guidance of where we should look or what we should do. In this, I kept getting the feeling that we were pushing moving too much and that we needed to stay in Utah a bit longer. The only problem was that Adam's jobs at BYU had already hired new people. So we waited, kept applying to jobs elsewhere, and tried thinking of backup plans. Then last week Adan was talking to the program coordinator for the class he teaches and found out that the person they wanted to hire had to be approved by the First Presidency (all full-time faculty at BYU have to go through this process). However they will not be meeting until January. So they asked him to teach again next semester! And there's a chance BYU online may need his help as well because there are a few other TAs that won't be able to work full hours. So we are staying until April!

Ashley: I'm still at home with Eli and just helping him grow. This month I taught a couple cloth diapering classes for my ward which was fun. It is so much easier than people think and I love sharing that :) My days are usually filled with doing things with Eli and keeping up the house. We like to go for walks, chase each other around the house, and all the babywearing haha. My free time usually consists of reading, watching Netflix, and doing my nails. Life is good :)

Eli: is 15 months old! He has eight teeth now and is a very active, independent little boy. He had his check up with the pediatrician and he is nearly 21 pounds. Still a very skinny boy. He loves running around, giggling, and he recently disovered twirling. Now he knows when we sing ring around the rosie that he spins, but still doesn't understand the falling down part. Instead, he waits for us to push him down which he then laughs really hard. He learned how to tickle people and he is learning to use silverware. Now he prefers to try to feed himself which makes dinner time quite entertaining. He is actually getting more affectionate by cuddling more and sitting on our laps. He is having a bit of a sleep regression which isn't fun but for the most part he sleeps well :) he is getting so big and is definitely more toddler than baby :)

walking around the Provo City Center temple; playing with his little friend Elliot; 15 month check up; amazed by our little Christmas tree :)

Thanksgiving

We stayed here again and did thanksgiving with my sister. We split up the dishes and gathered at her house. The meal was delicious and even Eli ate a bit of everything! We ended the evening with watching Finding Dory and pie :)

Playing with his cousin Anders while watching the movie :)

October Update

Time for another update!

Adam: He has been hard at work with his Evaluation class, the class he teaches, his prospectus, and applying to lots of jobs. He got his first rejection but we are still very hopeful :) There are lots of options out there for him and there continues to be new jobs added. In his spare time, he has been playing Orem city league Ultimate and intramural kickball. He has playing on some intramural team pretty much every semester he's been at BYU and in his last one, they finally won!! If you win an intramural tournament, you get bragging rights and a snazzy t-shirt. He was so happy coming home wearing it :)

Ashley: I have been very much enjoying the fall weather and I try to take Eli out at least once every day which he loves. Earlier in the month, I helped organize activities for International Babywearing Week for our local babywearing group. It has been so much fun helping teach people how to properly wear their baby and all the benefits of it. I've also been trying to get out of our rut of usual meals we plan. Adam and I came up with a fun idea for menu planning that has really helped. He comes up with the protein, starch, and cooking method while I come up with a recipe to fit it. It has worked really well so far and it is fun to experiment with cooking :)

Eli: is 14 months old now! He loves being chased and tickled, playing fetch, walking outside, going on the slide at the park, and watching mommy and daddy cook. He has 7 teeth now and can both climb up and back down from the couch. We are trying to teach him the signs for "more" and "all done" which sometimes he does but I don't know if he knows what it means. He doesn't sign it but he definitely knows the sign for milk. If I do that, he walks over to the kitchen and waits for me to get a bottle of milk. Then he promptly walks to the rocking chair in his bedroom knowing that it's nap time. It's so cute :) He doesn't talk much other than "mama", "dada", and "yah".

Halloween and my sister visiting!

This last week my sister Jessica came to visit!! We had lots of fun going to Cornbelly's on Saturday. I was expecting just the usual corn maze and pumpkin patch but it was like a carnival! So much to see and do :) The corn maze was shaped like the Peanuts characters and they had a bingo game throughout it. On Monday, we hiked the Y which Adam and I haven't done since freshman year. It was cool to say that we did it especially since it'll probably be the last time before we move. Then that evening Eli went trick or treating for the first time! He eventually got the concept of walking to people's doors but he kept wanting to take the candy out of his bucket and hold it in his hands haha. He didn't last very long but it was fun :) On Tuesday, we also went to the outlets in Park City and then lastly to Temple Square before dropping Jess off at the airport. I'm so glad she could come even for a short time and I hope some day we will all live close together again :)

September Update

Another month gone!

Adam: He finally got to start of the semester on the right foot (last semester my grandma's funeral was during the first week and the semester before that I had a baby). He only has one class, Intro to Program Evaluation and so far it is going great. He is working on revising his prospectus and gathering data so he can evaluate the course he created for his project. He has also started applying to jobs. Since I have more extra time than he does, I have taken on the task of searching for jobs. I am so happy that there are quite a few that fit his qualifications and are in areas that we are hoping to live. We are aiming for him to start a full-time job at the end of the year and then he will complete and defend his project by February.

Ashley: This month hasn't been too exciting for me. Mostly I just take care of Eli and find hobbies to do. I got the supplies to make a bag but I have yet to find time to sew it. I have been exploring more about nail art. Also, one of my best friends Kayla and I are doing a autumn bucket list since both of us are stay-at-home moms (and they live right upstairs). We've planned all the things we want to do this season and started our own little book club which has been fun so far. And of course, I've been enjoying volunteering as a babywearing educator. I also turned 25 which I guess is exciting haha. We had breakfast babyless with our friends on Saturday and then watched the BYU game that evening. On Sunday (my actual birthday), Adam made dinner, we played games with friends and had ice cream cake :)

Eli: He is 13 months old now! He is officially off formula and has 4 (nearly 5) teeth. He has learned quite a few things this month as well. He now knows how to clap, wave bye-bye, climb onto the couch (oh dear...), reach the TV, and open his dresser drawers. We've been trying to teach him how to give high fives but he often gets it confused with clapping haha. He LOVES going outside. Any time we start putting our shoes on or I grab my purse, he immediately runs to the door. He has gotten a ton better at walking and he enjoys being a big boy and walking to the car with mommy and daddy. He is definitely getting more independent and opinionated. He does not enjoy when mommy and daddy stop him from pulling books off the shelf, close any door, or take anything out of his hands that he wants (phones, daddy's glasses, a random piece of garbage he might find, etc). With every stage, there are good and bad things. Yes, sometimes he screams when he doesn't get what he wants but other times we play and laugh until our face hurts.

Sleepy boy is a tummy sleeper like his mommy; trying on a hat from cousin Anders; not thrilled to go visiting teaching with mommy