Breathing

So I have never had allergies until moving to Arizona. And it has really triggered my asthma. Yesterday I went to take my inhaler to find that it was empty! I knew I'd be ok for the night, but I was worried about today. Today I was having difficulties breathing and it got worse while at church. During Sacrament meeting I started feeling dizzy, drowsy, and it was getting even harder to breathe and had an added wheezing sound to it. I got a drink of water and tried to stay relaxed but I really needed air. So after Sacrament I asked a couple guys to give me a blessing. It was amazing. My lungs loosened and I have been able to breathe well since then. It was absolutely wonderful. Tomorrow I have to find a doctor to renew my prescription and get me an inhaler, but I wanted to share with you my little miracle. :) It was a great reminder that the Lord loves me and that the priesthood power is real, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true gospel on the Earth.

Disciplining a 2 year old...

Alright so I need help. Wesley typically responds to counting (1...don't do that, or you will get time out. 2...do you want time out? 3...) He will usually stop right after 1, sometimes he will get a time out but our old method of time out no longer works. He would be placed in his play place until he could say "I'm sorry, (name of person)." Now he can climb out of it. (Not to mention he's picked up on that he gets out after saying sorry)
The other day at the park we were running on the grass and he ran up to where the rocks were and started going toward the road. I told him to come back to the grass. He looked at me and kept going. I said, "1...we will go home Wesley." He stops and looks and continues. "2...Do you want to go home?" Stops and looks again and continues. "3." Screaming from Wesley as he darts toward the grass. I pick him up and take him over to the stroller. Once I attempted to put him in his stroller he started to throw a tantrum so it was impossible for me to put him in. I told him he would get a time out. He still didn't stop so I sat him on the bench and told him he was on time out. I told him that he didn't listen to me and that it was time to go home now. He started trying to get off. I picked him up and sat him on my lap. He then wiggled around, stood up, looked at me and smacked me on the side of my face. I told him NO, we DO NOT hit. I picked him up and put him in his stroller. He didn't throw a fit after that. But I had no more discipline at that point. How am I supposed to get through to him that hitting is not ok. It's not the first time, but usually he gets time out. He was already on time out. So how do you discipline a 2 year old and get them to listen to you? How long should a timed time out be? Should I have him count to ten (since he has recently learned how to do that) and then say sorry? Will he sit still on a chair? Will he associate timeout on a kitchen chair with eating and throw a bigger fit about eating? Man, I have a lot to learn about kids before I have my own! If you have any suggestions they would be much appreciated!

Are you laughing at me!?

So, today I was practically begging Wesley to eat his breakfast. I made him pancakes, just like he said he wanted! He took one bite and refused to eat it, saying he wanted water. "Wesley, eat a bite of pancake first, then I will give you a drink of water."
His reply, "eeehhh water??"
"No, Wesley, eat, then I will give you water."
"No. Water?"
"Eat."
"Water?"
"Eat."
"Water?"
"Eat."
"Play?"
"Eat."
"Walk?"
"Eat."
"Farm?" (This could mean Old McDonald song or Leah's Farm Signing Time)
"Eat."
"Farm?"
"Eat."
"Farm?" He gets a smile on his face and begins giggling.
"Eat." Dang, I can't keep a straight face. We both started laughing.

You know, it's really hard to keep a stern face and attitude when they are so dang cute. Throughout the day he would mimic my laughs. It was most entertaining :) My favorite time of most days is right before and right after nap time. :D He will cuddle up against my chest and lay his head on my shoulder until he falls asleep. I love feeling his warm body so close, he's soo cute. After his nap he curls up on my lap and sleeps for anywhere between 10 and 45mins. So I get cuddle time and I always feel so special :)

Wesley and I have begun a project. We are making an alphabet book! Today we did the letter A. I printed out a captial and lowercase letter A and let him color them. I also printed pictures of an airplane, alligator, apple, and uhh I don't remember. Anyway He enjoyed coloring the pictures while I cut and glued this pieces to colored paper. (I tried to get him to help with the gluing, but it didn't hold his attention long). Tomorrow we will do B. Hopefully it turns out nice. When we are done we will use contact paper and then bind it all together :) After that I'm considering doing numbers. It's a good craft plus learning! So, that my update...oh it finally stopped raining, but the sidewalk we usually take to the park is still underwater, it hasn't rained for like 2 or 3 days now...hmph. Thank goodness there is another way around it! :D

UNTITLED--due to lack of creativity

I have never considered myself a very creative person. I can't sit down and draw you a picture, I can't come up with fun activities, or even make believe! This sad fact about myself has become painstakingly obvious over the past couple weeks as I have attempted to nanny for a almost-2 year old child. I have decided that the hardest part of nannying thus far, is the fact that I have to raise this child the way the parents want me to, not how I feel is correct. It's been a stressful weekend. The parents and I had a short meeting the other night and they talked to me about what they wanted me to do better at and what I was doing good at. Afterwards I felt so overwhelmed and like I was not good enough for the job. It's definitely made me reconsider whether or not this is where I am supposed to be. I'm hoping my spirits will be lifted once I start attending the singles ward, hopefully make some friends and not spend every night here in the house and constantly with the family.

So today it had rained, so Wesley and I had to stay inside all day. He went to his drawer and pulled out crayons and a coloring book. I wanted to color too, so I ripped a page out for my own coloring. Well--later tonight he had one of his books and ripped a page out of it...hmm I wonder where he got that idea!? Also he bonked his head after dinner and ran right past his mom to get to me. It was sort of exciting in a way. Wesley and I spent some time with alphabet flash cards, and to my surprise his attention was held until we got to letter "Y". Then he got distracted by his sign language flash cards. I have also learned a fair amount of sign language. I like the idea of kids learning sign language because it helps them communicate before they know how to talk. It helps reduce tantrums and other lack-of-communication issues. Some of the common signs used include: cheese, yogurt, please, sorry, thank you, bike, play, climb, rock (and mountain), help, clean up, sleep, diaper, eat, walk, giraffe, elephant, lion, tiger, bear, dog, cat, bird, zebra, tree, leaf...ok so pretty much everything, you get the idea :) I have always wanted to learn sign language, so this is a good start!

Well, if any of you (scarce) blog readers have any suggestions for fun, developmental activities for children about the age of 2 who like to do pretty much anything..it would be GREATLY appreciated.

Security Complications

So Sam, Erin (his girlfriend), and I flew to Chicago on Sunday night. Since I was moving all my stuff home, and Sam and Erin were just coming home to visit they agreed to take suitcases for me. Out of 6 suitcases between the 3 of us, 5 of them were full of my stuff. Also, out of 6 carry-ons, 3 of them were mine, BUT I got EVERYTHING that I needed home by plane! Including 2 comforter sets, my clothes, shoes, books, notebooks, laptops, pictures, and other random items. Anyway, one of the bags we were going to use as a carry-on was my 72 hour kit mom sent to school with me. I thought nothing of the bag and had Erin take it as a carry-on. I made it through security and was trying to get my stuff situated when I looked back to see that Erin and Sam were pointing at me with the purple backpack that served as my 72 hour kit. I went over to see what the problem was. Little to my knowledge but stowed in the front pocket behind a trashbag was a pocket knife, not to mention also in the bag were 4 water bottles, 2 cans of soup, matches, flammable sun screen and a couple other problematic items. I had to go to the gift shop, buy an envelope and send the pocket knife home--everything else got thrown away. THEN, we found out that Erin had, in the bottom of her bag, a self-defense weapon she got from Tai-Kwon-Do (or however you spell that..). Security didn't like this very much. They patted her down, then made her fill out an incident report. This weapon too, was put in the envelope to be sent home. It was such a FUN experience...quite entertaining now that it's over! We made it to our flight, which left late, then made it to our other flight right before boarding, and then landed in Chicago around 11:30 central time. We made it home at 4am Tuesday morning! It's good to be home for Christmas! :D

Moral of the story: Don't take weapons OR liquids through airports with you...people don't like it much :)

<3 Family, Friends, and More <3

I have been taking a family foundations class this semester and I have learned so much! It has easily been one of my favorites! However it has made me miss my family so much! I'm excited to travel home to see them! I'm also very excited that I will get to take a paid vacation (with the plane ticket paid) to go home to see my family while I am nannying! I think it's very easy to take your family for granted until you've been without them and remember all the good and defining moments you've had together! I'm excited to go home!

Other updates:
I started dating a guy named Curtis. He's a real sweetheart. I didn't think I'd start dating anyone because of long distance, but I am! It will be sort of difficult, but we already have a "long distance" relationship. He lives in Logan (for school) and so I don't get to see him very much. But we talk everyday and have gotten to know each other pretty well, although there is still a lot to learn! He makes me happy and he is coming up to visit tomorrow. I think he is leaving Sunday evening to go home to Salt Lake. I am excited to see him.

Classes are almost over! I've got one more project to complete. Five homework assignments, three quizzes, and six tests (two of which are NOT finals). I need to practice the piano--the choir is singing on Monday night for FHE. Also, my apartment is hosting a hot chocolate night on Sunday at 6:30, so got to get ready for that as well! Then next Friday I will spend all day packing and cleaning. Saturday morning I leave for Salt Lake at 9:30am and arrive around 1:30ish. I fly out Sunday around 8:30pm and get home sometime early in the morning on Monday. I'm then home until the 2nd of January and then I fly out to Arizona! Everything is happening so fast! It's exciting and stressful all at once!

Well, that's practically everything that I've been up to! I'm certainly keeping busy! :D

Holy Intense!

I was given this quote to answer a question for a class of mine. The question is: What can you do to avoid wild speculation and extravagance in your own life? I thought it was a fairly intense and interesting quote...sort of makes me want to be dead before this happens..I guess we will find out, won't we?

"An army of Elders will be sent to the four quarters of the earth to search out the righteous and warn the wicked of what is coming. All kinds of religions will be started and miracles performed that will deceive the very elect if that were possible. Our sons and daughters must live pure lives so as to be prepared for what is coming. After a while the gentiles will gather by the thousands to this place, and Salt Lake City will be classed among the wicked cities of the world. A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the Saints, and the results will be financial bondage. Persecution comes next and all true Latter-day Saints will be tested to the limit. Many will apostatize and others will be still not knowing what to do. Darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people. The judgments of God will be poured out on the wicked to the extent that our Elders from far and near will be called home, or in other words the gospel will be taken from the Gentiles and later on carried to the Jews. The western boundary of the State of Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that as President Young tells us, when you return to that place, there will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail. Before that day comes, however, the Saints will be put to tests that will try the integrity of the best of them. The pressure will become so great that the more righteous among them will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes...

(Blaine and Brenton Yorgason, Spiritual Survival in the Last Days [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1990], 41.)