Video of Hazel learning how to talk

Thanks everyone!

I just wanted to thank you to everyone for their words of encouragement. I was pretty disappointed and angry and upset but that is life. We have no set plans but it is nice to know that we aren't the only ones that have struggled.

What's a blog post without picture? I pretty boring one. Here is a picture of Hazel and Olivia. Hazel is about 3 months and Olivia is 4 months. It is amazing how different they look. Overall Olivia does look a lot like me but if you look at the details she does have a lot of Mike's features. And overall Hazel looks a lot like Mike. Mike and I can't wait for Hazel to get bigger so we can really see her features but she does have quite the fiesty personality. I think as parents we underestimate how smart our kids are especially babies. Hazel gets so mad when she can hear us hanging out in the next room but she isn't there with us or if we are all on the bed and she is in her bassinet. And if she wants to be held or sat up don't even think about laying her down because she will scream bloody murder as soon as she is in a horizontal position. As long as the car is moving she is okay but when we get stopped at a light or stop sign the crying commences. She is definitely a lot pickier than Olivia ever was. In the morning she has to be laid in our bed for her morning nap. She loves to be swaddled still. She can't stand being in a wet or poopy diaper for even a few minutes. And she loves to watch Olivia play. Mike took her to get vaccinations and she is a screamer. Luckily for us our doctor is unbiased about vaccinations and he probably leans more towards not doing all vaccinations at once so we are following Dr. Sears schedule. Hazel is growing fast and I love this stage she is at. She coos and talks and she isn't mobile yet. There is only one thing I am waiting for her to learn how to do which is laugh. I let her have tummy time and she has rolled onto her back a few times but this time around I will probably be a little bit sad when she starts crawling and walking.

Olivia is also growing very fast. She loves church. Actually she just loves nursery. She is getting much better during sacrament meeting but it might be because I am more prepared and we have a routine. I have my designated church bag with toys and games she can only play with at church. She even said the prayer in nursery which makes me feel good because that means she is actually learning something from home. Sometimes I feel guilty because I can't fit it all in but we always say our prayers. And Sundays aren't as hectic. There is still yelling on my part but it use to be a lot worse. I made this checklist of things we need to do and pack before we go to church and it has helped out a ton. And maybe one day we will make it to church before it starts.

Potty training. We have had a couple of poo accidents and that hasn't been very fun. Mike and I just throw the underwear away. I just don't have the patience to clean that whole mess up. All I know is if Olivia has to go, it has to be NOW. She has been potty trained during the day for a little over a month. We just started night training but it was initiated by Olivia. Last night was the first night without a diaper and she woke up dry. I suspect that she has been dry for several nights or maybe weeks but she always takes her diaper off in the morning and puts it in the garbage before Mike and I get to it. I was quite worried about potty training and it has been a lot easier than I expected. Granted we waited until she was almost 3 so that probably made a big difference.

Disappointments and now what

Mike had a job interview last week and we were super excited but he didn't get it. We knew the competition was tough but there are civil engineers with 4-5 years of experience that are taking entry level jobs at entry level pay. That is like me erasing 5 years of experience off my resume. That would be devastating. That was an eye opener of the job market for civil engineers.

The economy stinks right now for most people so I did some research and it isn't looking so hot for civil engineers. Even if the economy recovers there is a huge pool of civil engineers. There are atleast 150 civil engineer programs in the US and they have around 30 people graduate each year and between 2008 to 2011 that is a lot of engineers. That doesn't include the civil engineers that graduated before then that have been laid off and the students that will be graduating in the upcoming years.

I can't make any decisions for MIke. I guess he has to decide if he wants to change his career and will that include going back to school. I can't speak for Mike but I can imagine he is disappointed/frustrated because civil engineering was THE major. I am disappointed because I am tired of living in limbo waiting for Mike to find a job. And now it seems like it could be more waiting.

The big question for me is "Now What?" You go to college thinking you will find a job and boom the economy tanks. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find a job with an engineering degree. Lot of questions loom ahead and there are no guarantees that anything will work out. That is where my thoughts are today. Then there is the economy which is a blog posting of its own...

Random summer happenings

We were in Utah for almost a month so here are some random pictures from our trip.


I thought this picture was pretty funny. I won't miss the saggy diaper bum plus her pjs are a little big.


Olivia and Grandma at Lagoon. I think the picture captures how excited Olivia is.


The face Olivia is making reminds me of a face I make. Kanika will know what I am talking about.





Olivia and Ashton waiting for the fireworks to start.

Nothing slows this girl down

Even with a broken leg Olivia didn't let it slow her down. She got her long cast off and wore this boot for the next couple of weeks. She still jumped on the tramp and played in the bouncy house.

Cousins

Last Thanksgiving Mike's parents came from Utah and picked us up in Boise and we headed to Portland to see Mike's brother and his family. It was a very long and snowy drive. Knowing myself I probably didn't post any pictures so here is a bit of catch up. Ava is about 3 weeks older than Olivia. Olivia loves the crib. It has been a long time since she has been in one and she uses it more as a jungle gym and trampoline. Even though Ava is a few inches taller than Olivia she wasn't able to climb in or out of the crib. It probably helps that Olivia is super flexible and uses her toes as hands.

My two girls

This picture is from the first week we were home from the hospital. Olivia loves being a big sister and she is really good with the baby.

Olivia and her broken leg

We have a pipe that runs under our driveway for the canal water. Olivia was running on the driveway and looking back and she was probably expecting the hillside but ran off where the pipe was and landed on her leg wrong. It was atleast a foot drop off but probably more and when your three that is quite a ways to fall.

Anyway she took it like a trooper and her leg has healed up very well. This picture is the week we brought the baby home from the hospital. We have come a long way since then. We got rid of her binky, got her cast taken off and finally potty trained her.

On a side note Olivia stopped taking naps and I only let her have her binky if she is napping or sleeping so it was just the right time to take it away. I let her cut her binky and she had done this a few weeks before with MIke to another binky so she was aware of how permanent it was. She was pretty sad for the first few days. She took the binky with her to bed and held it in her mouth but she got over it. I have caught her a few times trying to suck on Hazel's binky but overall it hasn't been bad at all.