Life at the moment

Life at the moment:

We have chosen a school! Shawn starts at BYU in the fall. He'll study physical chemistry. I didn't know what that meant, either. As I understand it, it's the intersection of physics and chemisty, blah blah blah....lasers. Lots of lasers, that they use to find out really useful stuff. It's chemistry without the chemicals and the beakers, and he's really excited about it. Even I think it sounds pretty cool.

We are mentally preparing for the move to Utah County, return to full time student life and budget, and the move back to an apartment. This means we are selling the house this summer, and I'm trying to tackle one project at a time, rather than thinking about the sheer amount of work there is to do before we put it on the market. I am sad to be leaving; this is a great house in a great neighborhood, and I'll miss it and the people here.

I am finishing up my CNA class, and will take the state tests soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm enjoying the training. I don't love the bedpans and the catheters and the denture care, but I do like working with the elderly, and I am finding myself fascinated by the little bits of medical science that I'm picking up. It makes me wonder what, when I get a chance to seek more education in a few years, I'll decide to do. For now, the plan is to find a job a couple of nights a week as a CNA, so Shawn can be home with the kids while I'm at work.

Kezie knows that she is going to have to move away from her friends soon, and she is sad. She is excited to be starting school in the fall, though. She has her first dance recital soon, and she's enjoying the fun of having an allowance, and not enjoying the responsibility of having regular chores. Growing up is hard, she tells me. She's doing a good job of it, though.

Ivy is having a hard time because I've been gone so much lately. When I'm home, she doesn't like me to be out of sight. She's growing like a weed, and she picks up new words every day. She is refusing to potty-train, which is driving me a little bit crazy. She still uses her cute to her own advantage, and I find myself letting her charm me into things without even realizing that she's done it.

So, life for the Averett's at the moments is not settled of calm, but at lease we know in what direction it is heading.

I can't believe I didn't post this months ago. This is Ivy, just after her second birthday, singing. I believe that she is singing The Wise Man and The Foolish Man (The wise man built his house upon the rock...)

I'm sure Freud would have plenty to say

I'm pretty sure we're crazy, but we started potty-training Ivy this week. I didn't set out to do this; she asked to sit on her potty one day, so I let her, and Shawn and I both got really excited about the idea that she could be done with diapers soon, so it sort of grew from there. We're trying to fit this in between the classes that I am now taking at two different schools, Shawn's grad-school research (USU or BYU? Feel free to weigh in), and the beginning of what will surely be a long and frustrating process of readying the house to sell.

I'm using the "potty party" approach I used to start training Kezie; basically it means that the kid runs around bare-bottomed for a few hours until she does her business without a diaper, and hopefully in her little potty. Ivy likes sitting on her special chair. She likes the attention she gets, and she definitely loves permission to run around naked all day. She does not yet like actually using the toilet; in fact, it seems to really bother her.

The first time, she came running to me in the next room screaming, "Broken! Broken!" and cried for five minutes. The second time, there was less shock and fewer tears, but she was obviously still disturbed by the whole process. I'm not sure what exactly the problem is, but it doesn't seem to have turned her off of the idea. Maybe this will work. *crosses fingers*

Things are looking up

It's been kind of a rough several months at the Averett house; illness, unemployment, and lots of unpleasant little things have made life a little bit difficult. This last week or so, though, things have been looking up:

Shawn was accepted to BYU's Physical Chemistry PhD program

Shawn was accepted into Utah State's chemistry PhD program (after initially being rejected. They changed their minds).

We got home Sunday night, and couldn't put the car in reverse. This is especially problematic because the car was in drive at the time, and reverse is in-between drive and park. We did finally get the car parked and turned off, but couldn't get it back out of park without using the manual shift release button, which seemed like a bad habit to get in to. So, I learned Ogden's bus system very well, a very nice neighbor picked me up from my night class, and we did okay for two days. The really good news; the car is still under warranty, and the repair was both quick ad FREE.

Even without a car, I've been able to get everywhere I needed to get by bus with my free student bus pass. This includes the WorkMed clinic out in Nowheresville where I had to go TODAY to get a drug test for my class, and the car dealership. The one place I couldn't go, a nice neighbor was available to come pick me up and take me home.

All of this public transit means I've been doing a lot of walking. This week's weigh-in should be a good one.

The weather was perfect for all of this walking around I've been doing.

Both girls slept all night. That's the first time that has happened in at least a month.

I started a CNA program this week. The hope is that, combined with a bachelor's degree and Gerontology major, I'll be able to find work soon. It's not something that's ever been on my list of life goals, but I'm excited about it.

All in all, things are looking up. Here's hoping they stay that way for a while.

Little moments

Yesterday, I put Ivy in her fanciest dress for church. We were talking later, and I pointed to her and said, "Who's that?"
She pointed to herself and said, "A Princess!"

On the way to church, Kezie and I were talking about the snow. I said I thought the snow was pretty on the trees. She said, "They look like chocolate covered pretzels!"
You know what? They do.

Happy Mommy Moment

I was in Primary today, substituting in the class just older than Kezie's. During sharing time, the kids were given dough and asked to make something out of it that they loved that was created for them. There were lots of cute things; a zebra, a favorite climbing tree, food. Then it's my Kezie's turn, and she holds up her long lump of clay and says, "It's my sister, Ivy."

And my heart melted a little bit.

Turtles

We had a couple of boxes laying around today, so Shawn got creative.

Here are our little turtles

This one is eating fish, probably to stay in character Kezie is doing her "turtle walk"