4 month Fly By

Wow... Just, wow. I don't even know what to say. When I looked and realized that I haven't posted since August? I mean, BEFORE I even started teaching?? How can I ever catch up on all that has happened. Let me just say it has been a whirlwind of a few months.

Lily went from 3 months to 7 months, and has made the most incredible changes!

Josh has been working full time all day and going to school from 5-9 all night, every single day of the week! so he has been one busy boy.

Heather: I have been teaching at Renaissance High School, working at the bank a few days a week, and doing a grant program for education. As well as being a mom to the cutest little baby you have ever seen.

Needless to say, a LOT has gone on. I won't even try to do everything justice, because that is just not possible, but here is the last 4 months in review so we can get ready to post about the holidays and the new year! Sorry in advance that this may be long...

AUGUST
I started teaching at Renaissance High School. That is a post all on its own. But, I LOVE it. I teach every other day, but I am there almost 12 hours every day that I teach. The good thing is, however, that I walk out of school so happy that I was there. I truly am so passionate about education, and it has been amazing so far. I have some awesome stories of my students... but I'll save that for another day. I have been teaching US History, as well as all the Newspaper and Yearbook classes. I have no clue what I am doing in the journalism classes, but I figure things out and the kids are having fun. It's a headache, but I love the extra challenge. I am already developing so much school pride for my high school, and the staff there is awesome. TOTALLY a blessing from the Lord to land this job. I couldn't ask for a more perfect spot for me. A huge thank you is due.

Lily was 3 months until August 10, and as cute as ever. She started laughing a lot during this time, and we called her "Angel" all the time. She slept through the night like a champ (10-12 hours). Josh also started school this month. He is completing a Cisco Networking associates degree program, and might I say he is ROCKING IT! We are so proud of you Joshy!


SEPTEMBER
School was in full swing this month! We took Lily to the Women's Fitness Celebration, and she did her first 5 K! She got her own baby t-shirt and number. She loved being in the middle of the action. Except during the middle of the race when she decided to take a quick nap in her stroller amongst the thousands of racers. What can I say, her first 5 K wore her out!

Lily was 4 months in September. She started to grab her toes all the time, and really learned to belly laugh. She is so ticklish and fun to play with. Big, huge smile for everyone she sees.


OCTOBER
Working 2.5 jobs started getting a little hard for me at this point, plus trying to be a good wife and mom on top of that. JOSH really stepped up and proved to me once again that he is the perfect husband. We took turns cooking meals, changing the baby, and we made it through!

Lily was 5 months in October, and started sitting up really well! We started to call her "Munchie" all the time (short for Munchkin). Her personality really started to shine through, and she instantly charmed anyone she met. Lily truly is a happy, happy little girl. I do see some dramatic sides to her, which makes me beleive she has more of her mom in her than we thought :) She is such a bundle of joy.



For Halloween, we dressed her up as a Lady Bug, which was fitting, since we called her "Lily Bug" all the time. She loved it... and even wore the tights the whole time! Atta girl!


NOVEMBER
November absolutely flew by! I honestly don't know what happened! One minute, October was ending, and then the very next, December was starting! We did enjoy an awesome ONE WEEK BREAK for Thanksgiving! That was a much needed vacation. We planned on going to Utah with Josh's family, but we ended up staying in Boise because of the bad roads. So we had a little staycation and slept at Scott and Karen's house, and Manda and Jeremy flew up from Arizona! It was so fun to see them, and Lily loved to see her Aunt and Uncle!

I am obsessed with getting her things that say "My First _____", so here is her "My First Thanksgiving" bib!

This is her "I AM SO EXCITED!" Face that we just love to see!

Lily was 6 months at this point, and so much happened! She started rolling over, sitting up all the time, reaching for everything, got two teeth, got her first hair cut, and so much more! She truly is a joy, and every minute I am apart from her does NOT get any easier. I am so increidbly blessed to have my mom and mother-in-law watch her when I have to work. She really is my little side-kick already. She laughs and babbles and talks all the time. She loves her books, and anything bright and shiny. (Yes, that may include her reaching for every single diet coke can she sees).

I made her wear this white blouse BACKWARDS for an entire day. Apparently the buttons go in the back... geeze, what a good mom. :)

Lily's first hair cut at Graffiti Salon! She loved it! It was free since it was her first!

Cute little jean skirt for the occasion

All snuggled up in a car seat cover for the freeeezing cold weather.

DECEMBER
Which leads us right to December! Karalee and Austin got home from a month of Central America, Krysitn and Kayla are coming home for Christmas, and School is out for two weeks!! Josh rocked his last final and school is done for the semester! Wahoo! I am quitting my job at the bank so I will have more time for teaching and Lily, and so I can find some balance in my life. All in all, it's turning out to be a great month so far! We just barely put up our Christmas tree tonight (gasp....) But I love it so much.

Lily is SEVEN MONTHS now! Can you believe that?? She is closer to being 1 than to when she was born! She is loving all the Christmas lights. She gets so excited and opens her mouth so wide and waves her hands around. She is loving her solid foods, and her food choices are quiet extensive these days! She is getting more and more mobile, and she is growing up way too fast for me. We can't wait to spend Lily's first Christmas together.

All dressed up to go see Santa at the mall. She loved him!

Wearing her new party dress (thanks grandma Nola!) for a work party. she was a hit!

In case you can't read it, her shirt says "I cry when ugly people hold me." Yes, her dad thought he was pretty funny buying that for her :)

Our happy little princess all ready for church on Sunday!

Well, that was a whirlwind recap of the last few months.If you made it this far down, WOW, I am impressed. You must really love our little family. :)

I will be better about updating from now on... We have had lots of other good times. Here are a few bullet points of highlights for me over the past little while.

- Harry Potter 7.... wow. no words to describe how much I loved this.
- Left over turkey at Thanksgiving
- Glee Christmas Album
- Crying so hard in the most recent Bones episode
- Listening to christmas music two weeks before Thanksgiving. no shame here.
- Seeing all of our siblings from all over at some point in the last couple months!
- singing crazy, silly songs to Lily and hearing her laugh and laugh
- Dressing Lily up for Halloween
- Moving in to a new apartment which we love
- still being so in love with Joshy and spending time with him when he is home
- watching Eclipse on our new leather couch
- soaking up every ounce of Lily that I can!

Hope your Holidays are wonderful and happy! We love you guys!