Growing Wiser...

What I have learned about Denver:
1.  There are bunnies everywhere.  They just sit out on the lawn and nibble away.  I am torn cause I want for me and Jordyn to sit on the lawn and play with them, but where I grew up, you did not so much play with bunny rabbits as much as you chased them with bats and stuff.
2.  Dogs.  Everyone has a dog.  There are family parks in Utah, and dog parks in Denver.  In Utah, I saw everyone running with jogging strollers.  Here they just run with their dogs. 
3.  A GPS is a necessity.  And even with that, I struggle.  Is it really that difficult to number the streets?  Also, we live on South Monaco Street.  Not Monaco Parkway, not South Monaco Parkway, not on Monaco Street.  All of which are apparently streets in the Denver area.  They need to become more clever with street names if they insist on naming them instead of a much smarter numbering system
4.  There is not a Wal-mart on every corner.  I have yet to see a Macey's, Smiths, or Albertsons/Fresh Market.  There is however a plethora of Safeways.
5.  People here are not quite sure what to do with babies.  Jordyn is the only one in grocery stores, restaurants, the post office, swimming pool etc.  People play with her and talk to her like a baby is a rarity.  In Utah, I felt like not having a baby was the rarity.

What I have learned about being a stay at home mommy:
1.  I have little patience.  You think I would have learned this as a teacher, but it is different.  I think it is cause I am in my house all day.
2.  My body still wants to get up at 6 to get ready for work.  I had slept in all summer, but the day that I got to Denver happened to be the day I would have started back at work and I am back in a familiar sleeping pattern.
3.  I love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Special Agent Oso songs get stuck in my head.  Little Einsteins is not near as cool as Baby Einstein.
4.  My baby poops. All. The. Time.  I sometimes wonder if something is wrong with her.
5.  I thought I would become a gourmet chef.  My cooking is still extremely mediocre.

Thats it.  I am now so much wiser than before.  And I have only been here two weeks!

911... What is your emergency?

So we are in Denver in temporary housing now for the next month.  The movers came and packed up our stuff and will be delivering most of it to a storage unit tomorrow; some will come to this temporary apartment.  The movers and everyone organizing our move have for the most part done well and things have gone pretty smoothly.  I have had little to stress about, and I still seemed to screw it up.  The story goes as follows:
Everything was out of our home in Payson, except the dirt.  I borrowed my SIL Sam's vacuum since ours had been loaded for storage. I loaded Jordyn and the vacuum into my mother in law's car since mine was full of stuff, and went to Sam's house to return the vacuum and say my final goodbye.  Somehow, I lost my brain for about 7 seconds and locked the keys and Jordyn in the car!  I was horrified!  It was hot and the car was directly in the sun.  I spent about 15 minutes trying to find my mother in law and a spare key.  Then tried to find a policeman I had seen on the side of the road.  After about 20 minutes, I called 911.  They sent a cop to the house and it took him about 20 seconds to unlock the car.  Poor Sam and Dillon just stood by the car and listened to her cry the whole time, while I was back and forth between Payson and Salem.  When we finally got her out, she was so hot and sweaty and just clinging to me.  I felt so awful.  But Jordyn was easy to forgive. 

Now I can say I have dialed 911.  Luckily, my emergency was not anything extremely traumatizing.  But still,  I hope it never happens again! 

My Little Side-kick

Jordyn and I have been spending a lot of time together lately. A lot.  It has been great to stay with my parents, and they are so helpful.  These six weeks would have been horrific without both sides of my family helping me out.  I give the highest of fives to single parents. It will be great to have Chad back and share Jordyn with him again.

I feel like Jordyn is at my side at all times, and it is kind of great!  She is getting so much personality.  She is timid, and a bit reserved.  But when she giggles and squeels, my heart almost bursts.  At first I was nervous about leaving my job to spend all day with this munchkin.  But I love it!  She is curious, watchful, and an explorer.  She definately lets me know what she wants.  Usually it is just attention.  She loves to play on the bed and be thrown around.  This is when she giggles the most.  I love it when she is in her high chair and waiting for her food.  She rocks back and forth with her arms out and twisting her wrists.  She knows what ice cream is, and knows she wants it.  Every time the door opens, she is making a b-line.  I could go on and on!

My on-the-road sidekick.  We spent an average of 7 hours in the car for 4 straight days in Denver last month and she was a champ!

My movie sidekick.  I love watching movies, and I am hoping she will always.  This is how we watch baby einstein.  Far enough away she can't reach the laptop, but I can.

My photo sidekick.  I have taken probably 200+ pictures of her the past 6 weeks. 

My summer-lovin' sidekick.  We have had a lot of fun at the splash pad, swimming pool, playing in the mountains and all those great summer time activities.

I know just seeing picture after picture of my baby can get annoying.  But these days, she is kind of all I've got.  I am so glad I have had her around to be my sidekick.  When we found out we were having a baby girl, we were kind of at a loss of words.  For some reason, we wanted a boy.  We had imagined a boy.  Now, I cannot imagine wanting anything else.  I am go grateful for my baby girl.