Nursery Part Deux

Not a whole lot to report on this week, but Zuri is down for her nap and J got called into work so I have a moment of free time. It doesn't happen much anymore, so it is nice. Today was Zuri's second time in nursery, and she did great again! In fact, J was holding her when we went into the nursery room and she struggled to get out of his arms so she could get down and play. It is so nice that she is doing so well. After church was over, I was putting Zuri's jacket on her in the foyer and some guy (I am still getting to know people in our ward and he wasn't someone I had yet met) said that he was in the nursery room for a short time trying to calm his boy down and he said that Zuri did so well. When I told him that it was only her second time, he was amazed and congratulated me on putting her in nursery on time and how developed her social skills are at her age. It was nice for him to say, especially since we don't get much good feedback from people regarding Zuri. It is good to hear something positive for once.

On another note, we spoke in Sacrament meeting today. I spent all day yesterday researching and putting my talk together and J spent an hour and a half total. Guess who gave the better talk? J.  Lol, he thrives being in the spotlight. I like to watch and observe. When I have to speak in front of people my mind goes blank. I don't know if anything I said today even made sense...it didn't to me, but people came up to me afterwards and told me how much they liked my talk and what a great job I did. So I guess it wasn't a complete mess! As I was looking at my notes later, I noticed that I completely missed two points that I was going to talk on. Ooops! C'est la vie!

Work is going well--as well as can be, anyway. I didn't realize what a transition it would be for me. It isn't like I haven't worked full-time before! It is hard to let go and know that she is going to be just fine with me not there all the time. I think the hardest part is that she isn't eating much; not that she was a porker before, but she is eating even less now that I am working. I am terrified of her losing weight again--she was just starting to fill out a little. The first part of the week I was in tears constantly. I have to let go. I know that this is the best thing for our family at this time, but it doesn't make it easier. We are still figuring out who is watching Zuri for us, and thankfully we have two people who are able to switch. So far, it is working out--we have next week covered, but this week to week thing is hard.

Nursery

Today was Zuri's first day in Nursery. It went surprisingly well--she didn't cry at all, which made it easier to leave. We went in and one of the nursery teachers gave her a big stuffed rabbit--the best thing he could have done--and she grinned and sat down. We left without Zuri paying attention to us and we watched through the window as she observed the other kids running around. Our ward has three nurseries, which gives you an idea of how many kids there are. J had a harder time than I did leaving. He kept watching through the window and I practically had to drag him to Gospel Doctrine. He even left part-way through class to see how she was doing--he came back and reported that she was doing fine--playing with the other kids.

After Gospel Doctrine we both peeked in the window; the teachers had all the kids on chairs and they were signing and singing to Book of Mormon Stories. Zuri was watching and attempting to follow along with the signs. It was SO adorable! After Relief Society I went into the nursery room and was about to grab her when J got my attention. He was standing off to the side as the kids (Zuri included) were running the length of the room and back. It was fun to see her interact with the other kids so well. Zuri's social skills have grown a ton since spending so much time with McKenzie.

Once Zuri saw me she ran for me and collided with another (bigger) kid, and that was the end of her fun. J was jealous because he had been in the room a while and she completely ignored him but came running for me when she saw me. :-)

In other news, I start my new job tomorrow. I am having trouble letting go of Zuri and going back to work full-time. I know at this point in time that me working is the best thing for our family, it is just hard knowing that I will only get to see Zuri for a maximum of three hours a day. But this is only a temporary situation until J is done with school. All will be fine.

Miss Independent

Zuri has become little Miss Independent. She loves to do everything herself and gets upset when we try to help her. Back in September we were grocery shopping and Zuri wanted to push the shopping cart on her own. We thought it was so funny to see such a little one pushing the cart around. I got a little video with my cell phone. Enjoy!

Halloween

This year for Halloween, Zuri was a flower. It was more by default than anything, but she was really cute. Josh's Aunt Jannie gave Zuri this costume way back at the beginning of September. We are really grateful she did, because we didn't have any money to get a costume for her. Small blessings.
Zuri actually liked the costume; when we put the hat on to see if it all fit, she got upset when we took it off. Pretty funny. We took her outside to get some fall pictures.

Playing in the leaves.

For Trick-or-Treating, we took Zuri to the University Mall. She really didn't enjoy the whole going up to strangers to get candy, so we ended up holding her and the bucket. She did like the candy once it was in! ;-)

We met up with J's Aunt Anne and Uncle Gary and their two girls, Ashton and Bryndee while at the mall. Total coincidence, especially since they live in two and a half hours away! The girls didn't want to stay and chat--they were more interested in getting candy!

After we got home from the mall, we had dinner and put Zuri to bed. We settled down and made Oreo Shakes while watching I Am Legend. Nice scary movie. Since we have seen the movie a few times we discussed the pychological impacts of the movie; everything from Robert Neveille's isolation to the possibility of something like that actually happening. I have read the book--very lame, by the way (and I almost always think the book is better!)--and so we talked about the differences between the book and the movie. Lol, so much for a scary movie! It was still scary for me, though!

It was a really good night; we didn't have very many trick-or-treaters, which I was very surprised about, so now we have a ton of leftover candy. Not so good, since I am trying to lose weight. Go figure! It is always hard to lose weight around the holidays with so many goodies around.