Beginning of My Summer...

I survived the BLOCK! When I tell people this, they often get confused and don’t understand what the Block is. But basically it’s just a lot of Elementary Edu. classes that have to be taken all at once. It is pretty intense during the regular school year but even more intense during the summer. (Which is when I took it). It is about 20 regular school weeks condensed into 10 summer weeks. You have 5 subjects that have to be learned in those 10 weeks. So each professor gets 8 days of our time from 9:00am-4:00pm every day to teach us everything we need to know. Along with writing lesson plans, presentations, group work, activities, inventions, research, and teaching experience. So for the last 10 weeks of my summer I have been going to school every day from 9am to 4pm learning how to teach methods of Science, Behavior Management, Language Arts, Math, and Social Studies. Not to mention during my Finals Week of last semester doing a two-week long practicum at South Elementary with 4^th graders. Where I had to teach two of my very own lessons for the first time alone and in front of a real classroom full of students. (I did love every minute of it, and I even got kids to turn to me and say, “Mrs. Rees, you make fractions so much fun! I love this!”) It was a great experience. However, by the end of the Block there were definitely fellow classmates I could’ve lived without, but yet two that I grew very close too.

During my summer classes Daisy would go and play with her Uncle Jason everyday. She would leave with him at 8:30am and help him finish delivering newspapers. Then they would ride bikes, play with puzzles, watch movies, read books, and even play on a water slip-n-slide. Wednesday was her last day with him. However, before they left that morning, he turned to me with a sad look on his face and asked if he could come back and pick her up other days to just play with her. :0) Haha. Totally cute, if you ask me. I said yes, of course. I don’t think I could ever keep Daisy and her Uncle Jason away from each other too long. He might just come and kidnap her. Haha

Caleb has been working hard as always and has been studying for his CPA tests. He has already pasted two of them and needs to past the other two. I think he took on last week and then his next one is on my birthday. (Ouch, how rude huh?) Nah, I will be in school anyway, and I’d rather play the night of my birthday than have him studying, so it’s not that bad.

During school and work we have tried to get out a little bit. We did go hiking one weekend but we didn’t get out of the door until noon so it was really hot, and lets just say I am pregnant and already out of shape. So we didn’t make it very far, but it was something different, so it was still a ton of fun.

For the 4^th of July, (which is my favorite holiday) we went to the parade in town. We sat by a bunch of adults and maybe two other little boys, which was awesome because then Daisy was able to collect lots of candy. When the flags went by at the beginning Caleb helped Daisy to put her hand over her heart. She did such a good job. A newspaper man was walking down the street taking pictures and stopped and took a picture of Daisy. He then asked Caleb her name, age, and where she is from. To our surprise she was on the FRONT COVER of the Daily News the next day. And I am not just talking a small little black and white photo but a COLOR picture that took up maybe a ¼ of the page! We were so excited!! Caleb and I joke all the time that this is where it is all going to begin. Soon Baby Gap, Old Navy, and Huggies are all going to be calling us and wanting our little girl to pose for them. Haha. Thanks to Caleb’s brother Jason, we have like 30 copies of the Daily News for all the Journals I keep and for grandparents. And if any of you would like a signed copy, she would be more than happy to. ‘Cause who knows, one day it will be worth millions! Ha ha.

Daisy has grown so much. She knows sign language for more, please, and cookie. She also loves to color any chance she gets and still loves her bottle. We are however, slowly breaking the habit for when she goes to sleep. Because I really don’t think we need two kids on the bottle at the same time. I have also been interested in getting Daisy potty trained before I start school again and the new baby comes but I don’t think it is going as while as I would like. We started this morning but lets just say I am already giving up. It’s just too much waiting, waiting, and more waiting for me. Because right when I get up or walk away for two seconds she runs behind the table and pees. I then shout my favorite word “sh**!” and she stops peeing for two seconds because she gets scared. I hurry and pick her up and run her to her potty while she continues peeing. Now she is crying because I yelled and scared her, when really I was just shocked that I missed the signs and didn't get her to the toilet fast enough. Haha. Oh ….I suck at this. But I have to say she does or DID enjoy sitting on her potty and dancing. But after two hours of that I can see why she wouldn’t want to sit there any longer. But how am I supposed to know when she is going to go? This is much harder than I thought. You almost need a tag team, so one person isn’t just sitting next to her all day and then when she doesn’t make it to the potty, you break down and cry. Haha. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this when I am so emotional? I just know she can do it!! I just get so hurt when she pees seconds before I get her to the toilet. Ugh. Oh well, I have cute pictures and video.

Last Wednesday Caleb made a deal with me. He said that if I didn’t bite my nails until Saturday he would take me to Olive Garden. At first it didn’t interest me because I just can’t stop biting, I’VE TRIED. But to my surprise…I didn’t bite. And STILL HAVEN’T! Yay! Go me! So on Saturday we decided to make a day of it.

We went to Daisy’s friends 1^st Birthday Party that morning, then we headed to St. George and ate at Port-A-Subs. Then went to some water park called Sand Hallow where Daisy went under water 3 times and went down the BIG slide with her Daddy over and over again. They would get to the bottom and I would cheer her on and she would sign ‘mo – mo’ which means more. After the water park my wonderful husband kept his promise and took me to Olive Garden!! YUMM! …. On Sunday he asked me what I want if I can make it to Saturday again!….Humm….What do I want?….

Last Sunday Caleb got RELEASED!!! Yes!!! This was the happiest day of my life!! I know I know…I shouldn’t show or even be this happy but MAN it was time!! You try being in a singles ward where everyone just glares at you because you can’t keep your two-year-old quiet or still for THREE HOURS! When you are pregnant and running up to the stand every 2 minutes to grab your daughter because she knows and sees her “Daddy!” When you get elderly women telling you that maybe it’s your daughters naptime and that you should just take her home and give her a nap. When no one talks to you because your married and you have a kid. Where they don’t let you sign/look at their roll because you’re NOT REALLY in their ward, but then they say you need to go to their activities because you ARE in their ward. And then ….UGH!…. Whatever….IT’S OVER!! THANK GOODNESS!! Now I can get Caleb’s help dealing with Daisy during church.

So this was our first Sunday in our family ward with Caleb’s two other bothers. (Would’ve been three but the third one moved away). Which one is the Bishop (that looks like Caleb, so Daisy kept pointing to him and saying “Daddy Daddy.” We had to keep reminding her that Daddy was sitting next to her) and the other Daisy loves to death…Yep…Uncle Jason. So when we thought it would be easier to keep Daisy in her seat this Sunday with “Daddy” actually sitting with us…boy, were we wrong. She saw Uncle Jason as soon as he came in and kept pointing to him wondering if that was really him. As soon as he turned around and smiled she took off. She came back to us once to get her bottle and then took off again so that her Uncle Jason could hold her. It was nice to actually get to listen to the talks for the first time in a year but at the same time it was sad to see Caleb’s face when he wasn’t the one that got to play with her during our one and only meeting we would have with her that day. Since Sunday was Daisy first time EVER going to nursery. We walked her to the door and she walked right in and never turned back around. We checked on her after the second hour but she was happy as can be, and when we picked her up at the end of church she didn’t want to come with us because they were playing with bubbles. Then of course, she saw Uncle Jason and went running! Haha. I’m telling you…He spoils her!! We are not bad parents, I promise…..at least that is what I have to keep telling myself.

Wow, sorry this blog is so long. But if you made it this far…Good for you! Maybe I will be able to keep up for the next couple of weeks before Student Teaching starts. Wish me luck with that and having a baby all at once. I’m a little scared but I have learned to take things one day at a time.

By the way….What do you think we are going to have? Boy or Girl?

When won’t find out until the baby arrives in another 8-9weeks or so! How exciting!