{ f o u r } months

On the 18th, Roo turned four months old!

What the heck!? How can my baby already be four months? It is blowing my mind and I just want to sit with her and never move in hopes that time stops and she never grows up.

At four months, Roo loves to play games while nursing. She will often unlatch and just look at me, smile when I say hello, and then go back to eating. It's sort of adorable. She also likes to be holding onto something while nursing - like my shirt, my hair, my hands, or even just her hands. The big girl can sit by herself for a short time on our bed. She has been trying to sit from the time she was 10 weeks old, so she is very proud of herself. When laying down, she is either playing with her toes or lifting her head (trying to sit up). She has started reaching for things, especially mom's hair. On the 10th, she had her first public meltdown and it was not fun. She loves to laugh and smiles even more. On the 13th, Rooney made it through all three hours of church (which is especially nice since mom is now in primary). She sleeps at least 8 hours a night with short naps during the day. Roo loves watching TV. Always has to wear a bib because of her constant drool. Loves to toot/burp when everyone else is quiet. has started to discover her limbs and always reaches for her toes. she will aggressively attack your shoulder, face, or hands. she loves rubbing her feet together and it is adorable.

She is growing rolls like a champ! Baby girl had her four month check up and weighed in at 15 lbs. 14 oz. (89th percentile!!!!) and is 23 in. long (37th percentile).

We love every last ounce of our sweet sweet baby!

{ t h r e e } months

My sweet little baby is already three months. It hurts my heart that she is growing so fast! I tell her every night to stop growing, but she isn't listening.

She is so alert, awake, inquisitive, bubbly, smiley, slobbery, strong, happy, hungry, perfectly perfect. While I don't want her to get bigger, I love watching her personality come out. 

She's even cute when she cries. 

Rooney loves to talk and especially loves to sing. She can hold her head up all by herself - she wants to sit up so bad and she is so strong, she will get there soon. The front of her outfit is almost always covered in slobber - she loves to make spit bubbles. Now that mom is out of work, afternoon snuggle naps are a must. Rooney's tongue is regularly popping in and out of her mouth. She kicks her legs like a frog while in her car seat and blow outs have been a daily experience. She still hates tummy times, but is getting better. We all sleeps at least 7 hours a night! She turns towards sounds and has to be held looking out at everyone. She will always smile for attention. 

I love my three month old baby. 

porter's farewell & roo's baby blessing

May 24th was a perfect day.

Not only was it our 2nd wedding anniversary...

just because i love pictures from our wedding

but Rooney was blessed and Porter gave his farewell.

Rooney looked perfect in her beautifully handmade dress. She was an angel baby and Ashton gave her a beautiful blessing.

my beautiful baby girl

Porter's talk was great. It blows my mind how grown up he suddenly became. I remember watching boys give farewells when I was a teen and thinking something along the lines of them needing their mission to help grow and mature. After Porter spoke, I think everyone could tell just how prepared he was. It was moving. I will see if I can get him to send me a copy of it.

I love Sundays, especially ones surrounded by so much family and so many friends.

life with a baby

You know - i used to think, "once i become a mom, i'll have time to...". well, i can tell you now that that is not at all true. take my neglected blog/months and months late thank you cards (they're coming i promise), my hairy legs and greasy hair, backed up laundry, lack of social life, and so much more. Now, I spend my days nursing, changing diapers, and walking around with a baby occupying my arms.

While I am behind on most everything, I would not trade being a mom for anything. I mean, look at that face!

ps. sorry about the capitalization that did not happen in this post. I was nursing Roo at that time, so I was typing with one hand. :)

six years down

Today is my last day teaching.

It doesn't seem real (so I am surprisingly not emotional) and I don't think it will hit me until fall comes around and everyone, but me,  is going back to school. I know I recently did a post about teaching so I will keep this one short.

I have loved teaching. I have met/worked with so many wonderful people. I have loved my students the most, though. Teaching special education is a pasion of mine and I hope that I always get to interact with these special kids, even when I am not in a classroom. I have learned great lessons about love, selflessness,  not judging, serving, and always growing to reach our potential. Each of my students has changed my life. Because of them, I am a better person.

These 6 years have been amazing. BUT...

Tomorrow, I become a fulltime mom!!!

elder thorkelson

I am officially the sister of a missionary!

I It has been a day shy of a week since I gave that brother my last hug for two years. We had been waiting for that to come for a long time, but that didn't make it any easier. I am filled with so much joy, thinking of him out there serving. I am also filled with a little sadness when I come home and he isn't snuggling baby Roo or laughing at silly videos. Initially, I felt a little fear too as having a sibling on a mission isn't something I have experienced before. I am not really afraid for him, I know he will be amazing. I was more worried for me - not having him home. It was selfish. 6 days later, I can say that home isn't the same without him, but we are making it.

Six days down. Seven hundred, twenty something left.

I couldn't be more proud of my baby brother. He has over come so much in the last three years. He has grown and helped those around him grow too!

I have watched him speak in both stake conference and in our ward in the last month and have been blown away at how suddenly grown up he seems. In both of those talks, he mentioned his fight with cancer. Porter doesn't talk much about the experiences he had while he was going through chemo and I loved hearing how close he came to our Heavenly Father and Savior through that battle.

I just keep thinking that so many LDS families have done this before. I keep reminding myself of the blessings of having a missionary. I tell myself over and over again that it is going to be ok and that I can email/write him whenever I want! But it doesn't make my heart miss him any less. I just want to hug him.

Today, I got my first email from him. I have never reacted to opening my email the way I did today. Seeing that email instantly brought tears to my eyes. He didn't write much, but he wrote! Getting emails from him has already become an addiction and I cannot wait for next Tuesday.

In short:

I am the sister of a missionary. I love him. I love this gospel.

back to work

I am officially a working mama.

I have all types of feelings about this.

I am missing my little girl so much. I try to keep the texts to mom to check on Roo to only once every two hours, but that is hard. I find myself counting down the minutes until she comes for lunch, then again until the day is over. My heart is anxious, leaving her all day.

Having finished one full day back at work though, I have to say, seeing her at lunch makes it all so much easier. Even if she sleeps the entire time I am trying to nurse her.

I have missed my students more than I thought. I am not surprised by this, it is just that I was so obsessed, in love, and distracted with Roo that I didn't have a chance to really think about them. It is fun to be back with them, though we are mostly working on state testing right now. They have not been embarrassed to let me know how much they have missed me - which just fills my heart with happiness.

Then to top it all off, a parent of a student I had 5 years ago left me the sweetest note on facebook. She reminded me of all the amazing bonds I have made with students and their families over my last six years of teaching. She reminded me of why I got into special education, why I absolutely love my career. But she also let me know that it is ok that the thing I want most, the thing that matters most, is my precious Rooney. It was good to be reminded that I matter, the work I have put into my classrooms has mattered, and I have forever friends through teaching.

My students have invited me to baptisms and birthday parties. Some have invited me to soccer games and to watch them compete in the Special Olympics. Many of them have supported me and my family by coming to Porter's fundraiser and my wedding. It is the sweetest.

I haven't said this publicly yet, but this is my last year teaching (at least for a bit, I think) and I am pretty torn about it. As this school year is getting close to an end, I can't help but reflect. The last six years of teaching has helped me grow so much, taught me to love, reminded me of our potential and how much our Heavenly Father loves us, and taken me on some of the most wonderful adventures.

I started my adventures in special education during my sophomore year of high school. Since then, I have worked with more than 100 students, some through Best Buddies, some while I was a para educator, most of them have been my students. But all of them have a piece of my heart.

So to all of those who have let me into their lives through their most special kids - Thank you! It has been the greatest adventure. You are raising some of my very favorite people in the whole world. They have made me a better person, in fact, I often tell people that I am my best self when I am in my classroom and it is because of your precious children.

We have giggled through wii just dance, put together the most amazing talent shows, developed new social, behavioral, and life skills, become better readers, increased our academic knowledge, put on amazing talent shows, gone on countless field trips, sat in too many IEP's to count, and most importantly, grown to love one another.