Did You Miss Me?

I neglected to post yesterday; did you miss me? Well, no worries I have returned. I thought that I might just do a little update on the family as a whole today. But, I only have pictures of the kids, try not to be too disappointed.

Dan is growing up so fast it seems! He recently started to roll over during his tummy time. He doesn't do it consistently yet, but he has done it a handful of times without any help. Nicole does not like to wait for him to roll over by himself though. The second I start to say, "Roll over Dan!" she rushes over to him and pushes him over to his back. She thinks she is a great helper.

I love my little Dan so much! He is so smiley and snuggly and just a happy baby boy. He isn't attached to just Matt or I, so he will let anyone hold him and I love it! Nicole was so very not this way when she was a baby and it was frustrating to always be the one to hold her. This is perhaps due to the fact that the kids get watched by a different person 4 times a week.

Dan loves to shove his hand in his mouth and suck on it. He is always knocking out his pacifier because he is shoving his hand in his mouth. But, then he gets upset because his hand is not his pacifier. Silly baby.

Nicole gets smarter every day! Her vocabulary is constantly expanding and she often surprises me with the things that she says. The other day, she unfolded a burp cloth and she turned to me and started crying, "Oh no, it's ruined!" How does she know the word ruined? Oh yeah, because every time she messes up her pony tails, I tell her that she ruined her hair.

In the mornings, Nicole says to me, "You da da go to work Mama?"

"Yes Nicole, I'm going to work."

"Okay, bye!"

Then, when I get home home in the evenings, "You da da stay home Mama?"

"Yes Nicole, I am home."

"I missed you!" says Nicole.

She is just very observant and picks up on so much. She is also memorizing things without me realizing it. She can recite the words to many of her books that she owns, she knows the words and tunes to a bunch of different songs, and she likes to recite things back to us that Matt and I have said to each other (we have to be more careful about what we say in front of her).

Nicole has also started playing make believe. She will often be playing with a toy and give the toy a different (most of the time monster) voice. And she plays out little dialogs between herself and the monster toy.

Toy (low monster voice): I da da jump on the bed.
Nicole (high pitched voice (I don't know why she does an immitation of her own voice in a high pitch, but she does)): No, no monkeys jump on the bed.
Toy: Yes, rar!
Nicole: Ahhh!!!!

So funny! Well, funny if you are her parent... which I am, so... it is funny!

Nicole is also very helpful. She loves to help me do the laundry, cook, do the dishes, feed Daniel, change Daniel, bathe Daniel, and pick up toys around the house. She is definitely my daughter in this respect. I loved to help my mom when I was a little girl.

Nicole can be a real sweetheart one second and a real terror the next. We are working really hard to stop the constant crying. She cries over everything and whines over everything. Sometimes I wonder if she has forgotten what it is like to use a normal tone to her voice because everything comes out as a whine. I have to keep reminding myself that she is two and this is a phase, hopefully. But, for now, I pray for patience.

(Pretend there is a picture of Matt here)

Matt is currently taking a Statistics class for second block of the summer semester at UVU. It is a two hour class in the morning, four days a week. Which means that we rely upon the kindness of our sisters and Matt's mother to watch the kids for three hours a day, four days a week. It has been working out, but it is a pain to have to find sitters that often. I would much rather have the kids with one of us every day, be we can't always get what we want.

Matt finds his Statistics class to be fairly easy and he is glad that he took it on the block rather than during the fall or winter because it is probably easier on the summer block. Matt will be completely done with all of his math classes after this semester, thank goodness! Fall and Winter of last year were full of homework because of his math classes. Hopefully, this next semester won't be as homework heavy.

Matt finishes summer semester in two weeks, then he starts fall semester at the end of August. He is going to attempt 17 credits for fall semester, which I think is a crazy mission, but he really wants to be done with school as soon as possible. He did 16 credits for winter semester this year and it was just a nightmare. He was constantly in school or doing homework and it was really hard on us. But, this was perhaps due to the fact that we were also expecting a baby during the semester.

I just cannot wait for Matt to be done with school. I know that we have only been doing this for a year, but I am already tired of it. But, I have to remind myself that this is just a moment in our lives and it will be small compared to the many years that we will have together.

We are happy and we are blessed, that is what matters most.

(insert non existent picture of Becky)

I am working 9 hours a day, 5 days a week. I am currently working an extra hour every day in order to make up the time when I missed three days of work for being sick. I didn't have the time off to be sick, so my work just asked me to make up the hours (they don't do No Pay days here at my work).

My job is constantly challenging me and I love it! I have been given a lot more products to write for and it has been interesting to learn new things and expand my knowledge. I am so grateful for my job! It is something that I really enjoy and it provides for my family, I couldn't ask for anything better than that.

I recently got a new manager and she is great! I'm glad that we have another female on the team, it was starting to feel like a boys club. Plus, she is a mom and her husband recently graduated from school, so I feel like she understands my family situation. There is nothing better than having an understanding boss. I had a great boss before, who worked with me through the whole pregnancy and Matt's wonky school schedule, and I'm sad to see him go, but I find myself in an equally pleasing situation with my new boss.

Even though I miss my babies so much every day, I'm glad that I have a place that I enjoy going to every day.

And that, is the current standing of the Kimball family.