Modeling

Zuri is growing up so quickly!  She is really into modeling these days.  When we go out shopping, we always wipe the shopping cart handles and kid seat before placing Zuri into the shopping cart.  For Christmas Zuri got a doll stroller to push around.  A couple weeks ago I had given Zuri a wipe to play with, and she proceeded to wipe the handle of the stroller with the wipe!  I laughed so hard.  A few days later we were eating dinner and had a napkin near her at the table.  She would pick up the napkin, wipe her mouth, get a drink from the sippy cup, wipe her mouth, and eat something.  She repeated the process several times.  Whoever taught her to be neat and tidy?  Lol.  After dinner we always rinse her hands and face off at in the kitchen sink, well, she now goes straight to the hand towel and dries her hands.  She wants to do everything herself--it is so fun to watch as she grows into this little independent person!

Her favorite time is bath time.  All we have to do is say the word "bath" and she is racing up the stairs.  She has also become a social butterfly.  If there are other kids in the area, J and I become non-existent.  Tonight was a perfect example.  We had a wedding reception to attend but it was for adults only, so we had a baby-sitter all lined up for Zuri.  This morning the sitter called to let us know that she wouldn't be able to watch Zuri due to illness in the house.  Our neighbor was kind enough to watch her for us, even though they had plans this evening--they were able to push them back a bit.  Anyhow, we dropped Zuri off and she went right inside (she had already caught sight of the kids) without a fuss.  When we went to pick her up, she was excited to see us, showing us all the nifty toys they had, but she didn't want to leave.  Funny kid.

On another note, all you who know me, know that I am not an expert in the culinary field.  I detested cooking growing up, and still don't have a fondness for it now.  At work Schelley brought in little mini cheesecakes which were oh-so delightful.  One of my other coworkers asked for the recipe, and when I heard how easy (*ahem, I mean difficult ;-) ) they are, I got the recipe as well and have been itching to try them.  We had Sunday dinner at the Lucero's last week and I offered to bring the dessert.  I made the cheesecakes and Josh made homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream.  They both turned out heavenly.  I even took a picture of my masterpiece!

Zuri got to spend some time bonding with her great-grandpa Lucero.  He was her favorite person of the night, even eclipsing her Auntie Shawnie (whom she preferred over me all night--she loves her Auntie Shawnie).

 

By the end of the night, Zuri was worn out and fell asleep within minutes of getting into the car.  Precious moments!

UP!

The other day we rented UP! from the redbox.  Usually, when we rent movies, we put Zuri to bed and snuggle up together and relax.  Since UP! is a kid's movie, we decided to let Zuri stay up a little longer and watch it.  We figured she would get bored within the first five minutes (like she does with all movies) and play around.  Were we in for a big surprise!  She watched the entire movie!  She was captivated from the beginning.  We thought it might be a fluke, so the next day we put it on again--same thing!  She loves that movie.  Zuri never sits still--she is an on-the-go girl, so it is really strange to see her sit down and watch something.

She started out in her saucer chair, went to her little couch for a while, and then finally snuggled up with me (once I was done taking pictures).

She caught me taking pictures and wanted to show off her new nose-picking ability.

This last picture was taken tonight.  I decided to see if she would still be enamored with the movie after a third viewing.  Of all the movies, I have no idea what it is about UP! that she likes so much (other than the dogs), but something about it definitely captures her attention.  She even clapped at the end the first time she saw it.  During the credits she would clap, and if I didn't clap with her, she would grab my hands and make me clap too.  It was really funny.  Guess it's one we are going to have to buy. 

Internships

Well, I am officially out of the training room!  Yay!  Haven't I been working for three months now?  Yep, basically, you stay in the training room until new people are hired and there isn't room for you anymore.  The biggest thing is that 80% of the people they hire never make it out of the training room.  You heard me right.  It's a tough biz and if they don't think you have what it takes, they fire you; or more adequately, you are given a box.  It's a running joke around the office that if you see a box you head the other direction.  Sad, but true.  I was given the box Thursday, but for a different reason, I was graduating.  I have officially made it past the first cut--it doesn't mean that I still can't be canned at any point in time, but they will at least give me a warning before I am handed the box.   We had three new people start Monday, one of them is already gone.  In the three months I have been there, four people have been "let go" and one moved to another state.  I don't understand the rationale behind having a company that leaves their employees with such fear.  If it weren't for the fact that I will only be working there a maximum of another three months, I would seriously be considering another job choice.  Sad thing is, I do enjoy it for the most part.

Here is the news!  We are officially going to Georgia this summer!  Crazy.  I'm not entirely thrilled about the location (I already have issues with the heat in Utah, and it is a dry heat), but I am way excited to be getting out of Utah, even for a bit.  We still haven't decided what to do about our current place and all our stuff while we are gone, but we still have a bit of time to decide.  J has also found out that his fall/winter internship will be at a local High School, working with the kids .  The internship will be very beneficial because although J doesn't want to be a school counselor/social worker when he graduates, he will have the credentials to do so.  Just another avenue if other things don't pan out!

New Years

This year we brought in the New Year with my mom, Rob, Breanna, Dallas, McKenzie, and my cousin Alexis.  We had a small party at our apartment and just relaxed and played games.  We lost track of time and didn't even watch the ball drop at midnight--we noticed it was a 2010 a couple minutes past the hour.  Ooops!

For Christmas I received an ice cream maker and we made homemade ice cream which we ate at midnight--cheers!  I even pulled out all my scrapbooking stuff so that I could show mom my cricket and play around, but we never did get around to it--the evening seemed to go by so quickly.

Zuri stayed up until close to midnight.  The poor baby was so tired!  She cuddled up with both Mom and Rob and we thought for sure she would fall asleep, but she wanted to be involved so bad that she would wake herself up at the last instant.

It was a fun night--I know it wasn't all that exciting for the teenagers, but I hope they had a little fun as well.  Here are some highlights from the night!

Breanna not wanting her picture taken.

New Years day we relaxed at home.  Because Zuri was off her schedule, and we all got up late, we delayed Zuri's normal naptime.  I guess we delayed it too long, because she fell asleep in the funniest position.  One of her methods of self-soothing is to pull a blanket over her head.  We had been playing with a puzzle and she laid down pulling the puzzle over her head.  I thought it was funny and wanted to see how long she would stay that way.  After a minute I had J check (she was also laying in my lap) and sure enough she had fallen asleep.  Too funny!

 

Christmas

We spent Christmas at J's parents this year.  Christmas Eve we went over to J's Aunt Jannie's for dinner and to play a few games.  Zuri had fun playing with the kids and really enjoyed the big bendy ball.  She even had fun in a new hat!

Zuri also enjoyed spending time with her great-great grandma.

Zuri is still a little too young to understand Santa and what happens Christmas morning, but she did enjoy opening her presents!

Funny story, we got Zuri a Tinkerbell pop-up play tent, and her cousin Addilyn got a block set.  Zuri went straight for the blocks and Addilyn went straight for the tent.  Even afterwards, Zuri was still enamored with the blocks.  We know what to get her for her birthday! ;-)

She also had fun playing with the microwave, and play kitchen set.

Saturday we spent time playing in the snow.  We wanted to build a little hill for the girls to sled down, but we couldn't find a sled; Alisia even went out to the store but they were all sold out so we improvised and found a swimming pool that we tied to the four-wheeler and pulled the girls behind.  Zuri didn't enjoy it as much as I thought she would.  She preferred riding on the four-wheeler with her daddy!

  Sunday we went over to the Lucero's for our Christmas with them.  We had a fabulous turkey dinner and exchanged gifts and just relaxed for the evening. 
Even Zuri enjoyed eating!

 

Ashley's little one got a hat this year too! 

The kids enjoying their presents!

"What's This?"

Zuri's new phrase: "what's this?" She points at everything and says "what's this?" or "dah"--short for dog.  Anything that moves is a "dah."  It's pretty funny, but she loves to say "what's this?"  She is exploring the world and babbling lots.  If you listen to her babbling closely enough, you can distinguish actual words, but mostly it just sounds like jibberish.  I am a little concerned because she doesn't seem to be talking like I have heard other kids her age talk, but her pediatrician is unconcerned.  He said that kids develop their speech at different rates, and as long as she is making the effort to communicate (which he has observed), and she understands simple commands, she is normal.  I suppose that with all the concern and issues that we have had with her weight, I am ultra-aware of anything that might be "delayed" or a problem. 

My dad and I were talking about my concerns and he told me a story about my brother.  He said my brother would do the normal grunt and point and wouldn't talk at all.  He wanted something to drink one day and my dad gave him a glass of water.  He said that my brother spoke up and said "no, I want coke," and from then on was talking.  I can totally see Zuri doing something like that, because she did that with walking.  She just decided one day after church that she didn't want to crawl anymore and walked from then on. 

Hopefully, she will start to expand her vocabulary soon, but until then, I will love "dah," and "what's this?"

Family

Since this year we are celebrating Christmas with J's side of the family, my dad decided to take a trip out to visit us last weekend for an early Christmas treat. Along with my dad came my grandma and Jori. My grandpa stayed in Sacramento to look after the animals and help out with a neighbor.

They drove out Thursday and stayed with us through Sunday--even coming to church with us, which was a nice treat. An interesting thing happened over the weekend, though. My dad and Zuri really bonded.

J had to work Friday, and even though Amanda was available, she wanted to look for a new job that day, so I asked Dad if he would be willing to watch Zuri for us. He said that would be okay, on one stipulation: no diapers. I laughed and told him to have Jori change her. As luck would have it--she pooped, and no one else was around, so Dad changed it. Lol, he told me I was in big trouble. ;-) I am not sure all that happened Friday, but a bond definitely formed between the two of them.Zuri  would only calm down for Dad, and he would go in and check on her before bed. He even made a point to go say goodbye to her as he was leaving to go back to Tahoe (she had been throwing a tired tantrum and we had put her up in her room). It was so sweet. I captured a few of the moments on film!


It was a really fun, if exhausting weekend. Zuri doesn't sleep well when she is in the same room with us. For whatever reason, she tends to wake up more often and have problems going back to sleep. Saturday night, she decided she wanted to be up all night playing; the little bum. I think she crashed about half an hour before we had to get up to get ready for church. Consequently, we were all tired Sunday.

I wasn't ready for Dad, Grandma and Jori to leave. Their stay seemed much too short, especially with me having to work Friday and part of Saturday. Although their visit was brief, it meant a lot that they came out.

Life hasn't gotten back to normal yet, either. Early Monday morning I woke with a feeling of an oncoming UTI. I hadn't had one in almost a year--eleven months to be precise. I thought maybe I could flush it away and spent yesterday drowning myself in fluids. No such luck. I felt well enough after work that I didn't go to the doctor's office, which was a mistake. Last night I was in agony and seriously considered going into the emergency room. I made it through--finally falling asleep around four-thirty in the morning just to get up two hours later. I went in during my lunch break, and sweet relief, I got my prescription. I am still hurting but it is at least tolerable and I am not going to the bathroom every five minutes. I really wish that I could get an advance prescription or just call in and have them fill one out for me so I don't have to go through all this pain.

As for better things, Christmas is Friday, and we will be heading down to J's parents house Thursday morning. Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week, and next week is only a four-day week because of New Years. Yay! Most likely I won't post anything else until after Christmas, so for all of you who read this:

Merry Christmas!