Evelyn Meets Jesus at the Post Office

Last week I went to the post office to buy Christmas stamps and mail the Christmas cards for our international friends. The Pleasant Grove post office is always understaffed, especially around the holidays, and the line was very long - almost out the door.  I had walked to the post office, and Evie was contained in the stroller, so I decided to try and wait it out. I had a few snacks and a few books, and I was hoping it would be enough to last.  I ended up waiting about an hour, while the two clerks very slooooooowly helped all of the people ahead of me. 

At about the 45 minute mark, Evie had reached her limit. She had eaten all of the raisins, cereal, and fruit snacks. She had read all of the books and had played with all of the baby games on my iPhone, and she was demanding to get out of the stroller.

Behind us in line was a young 20-something guy that looked like a total hipster. He had long hair, a long beard, and a lip piercing.  He had been behind us the whole time, but Evie didn't realize it because she had been strapped into the stroller.  When I pulled her out and she got a glimpse of him, she shouted, "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" Over and over.. much to the amusement of everyone else in the very long line.  The man chuckled and said, "Sorry, kid. I'm not Jesus... but that would be cool."

Evie's Vocabulary

It has been a long time since I posted (almost 6 months! Yikes!), but I wanted to write this down before I forget it.  Evie is now 16.5 months old, and has a pretty impressive vocabulary. I don't mean to brag, this is mostly for my records... but heck, I think she is pretty phenomenal, even if I am a little biased.

At her 16 month appointment, the doctor told me that on average, babies should know about 7 words by the age of 16 months.  He asked me how many she knows, and I said "Oh, around 20, probably."  When I told my mother-in-law that, she said, "She knows way more than 20!", and she started writing them down. So, here is Evie's vocabulary as of December 6th:

Mama
Dada
Grandpa (ba pa)
Grandma (me mah)
Eli
Becca
Bruce
Lily
Jack
Clint
Kitten
Old
Buzz
Eye
Ear
Nose
Hair
Hot
Chair
Outside
Bike
Snack
Bath
Swing
Eggs
Slide
Num Num (yummy)
Move
Toys
Soft
In
Out
Cute
Inside
Keys
Green
Blue
Pink
Purple
Pants
Done
House
Bag
Bear
Boot
Poop
Bum-bum
"Here you go"
Temple
Jesus
Why (Super Why)
Train
Choo Choo
Beep
Vroom Vroom
Baby
Baby Jesus
Woof woof
Bye bye
Hi
Uh Oh
Elmo (moh or Eh-moh)
Grrr (lion sound)
Peep Peep (bird sound)
Eee Eee (mouse sound)
Eeek Eeek (monkey sound)
Glub Glub (goldfish sound)
Meow (cat sound)
Quack Quack (duck sound)
Bock Bock (chicken sound)
Moo moo (cow sound)
Hiss (Snake sound)
Peek
Boo
Tree
Moon
Mouse
Apple
Cheese
Ba ba (bottle, milk)
Bite
No
Thank you
Ball
Spoon
Light
Shoe
Sock
Bird
Pee-pee
Down
Up
Please
"Where go?"
"There it is!"
Phone
Dog
Teeth
Hop Pop (Hop on Pop book)
Night
"Love you"

That is a total of 101 words!  She is one smarty pants!  Not to mention that I was watching Sesame Street with her last night and  the letter R came up on the screen, and she said "Arrrr!!"  And then the letter S came up on the screen and she said "Esssssss!"  Without anyone telling her that was R or S. She wasn't just copying it, she recognized it on her own.

She also loves the show Super Why on PBS, and they are always sounding out words and letters and she sounds things out with them.

She is such a fun little girl. It is great to see her growing and learning so much. It is really rewarding.

32 lbs. down, 11 to go.

I'm back! An update on my goals...

Hi Friends!


It has been a while since I last posted. You can directly correlate my lack of writing to the business of my life... that is for sure. Between working full time, lesson plans, grading, weekly student notes, a very busy 11-month-old, serving in young women, and spending time with family and friends, it leaves little time for extra things. Like blogging.


However, I really stink at keeping a journal, so this is pretty much the only place that things get recorded. I need to get back to writing things down, before I forget them!  I will try to update you a little bit at a time.


For today, I want to call your minds back to this post: Making Goals




Back in October, I set three goals:


1. Read scriptures daily for at least 10 minutes, and use my scripture journal.

2. Do one household chore each day. (at least).

3. Lose 3 inches from my waist by our wedding anniversary. (March 13th).

I just want to report back on their progress, now that I am 9 months into my commitments.

1. The scripture goal, well... I haven't been as consistent as I would like. I am still working on this.. and it has evolved a little more into a new goal of thinking about and preparing for my YW lesson all throughout the week, starting the Sunday before. I have been trying to ponder more about what I teach throughout the week, rather than throwing something together on Saturday night.  Same with preparing for the Sunday school lesson. I have been trying to familiarize myself with the chapters to be discussed in class on the coming Sunday. I haven't been perfect, but I am working on it.

2.  Doing 1 household chore each day definitely has been happening. Yay!  Unfortunately, now that Evie is mobile and human tornado, it doesn't seem like 1 chore is making as much of a difference as it used to. *sigh*  I guess I need to do a little more.. and maybe not count making dinner as my 1 chore.

3. The lose 3 inches goal... while I was skeptical at first, also has happened! In fact, not only have I lost 3 inches, but I have lost 5 inches! Wahoo!  I have lost 30 lbs, and am down 3 dress sizes.  This is the skinniest I have ever been in my adult life.  

Want to know how I did it? 

The first thing was I was inspired by two very powerful documentaries. One is about juice fasts, and is called "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead." In the documentary, this man who has lots of chronic health conditions goes on a 60 day juice fast, drinking only freshly juiced veggies and fruits, and he completely got rid of all of his adverse health conditions.  I was having issues with weird rashes, joint pain, and acid reflux after having Evie, and I was tired of taking meds for it.  I decided to try it - at least a modified version of it. For 5-6 days of the week, I had fresh juice for breakfast, a normal lunch, and then juice and a small vegetarian meal for dinner. Usually salad or stir-fry.  This documentary is on Netflix, and they also have a website where you can learn more about the whole thing: 

http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

The other documentary is called "Forks over Knives" and it is all about the benefits of a whole foods/plant based diet. This inspired me to go about 90% vegetarian to improve my health, and it totally worked. I haven't cooked meat for our family for almost 7 months. I have prepared meat on a couple of occasions for friends who are over for dinner, and I will eat meat when I go other places, like when meat is served for lunch at work. However, I would say that I avoid eating meat at least 3-4 days per week. I have also tried to cut pre-processed foods out of my diet completely.

Lastly (at possibly most significantly), I have been using an app on my phone called MyFitnessPal to track my calorie intake and my exercise. It has helped me learn more about the calorie content of foods, what is the right amount of calories I should be eating to meet my goals, and the balance between food and exercise. I love it, and I know without it I would not have been successful. 

The best part of all of this is that I feel like it has been a lifestyle shift, rather than a temporary diet. I think that my mentality has shifted and my understanding and relationship with food and exercise has changed significantly. 

Now, I only have about 13 more pounds to go until I reach my goal, but I am not rushing it.  I usually only lose a pound or so (sometimes less!) each week, which I think is a realistic and maintainable amount. The part I love the most is that I have been able to do it in a healthy way that is nice to my body. No supplements, no crash dieting, no messing with my metabolism. 

Before

After!  (sorry I don't have a better picture.. I'll have to take one.)