Wednesday, November 28, 2007

"Two of 'um"


Ada's vocabulary is taking off like crazy! She's starting to put words together and say three-syllable words. She's not always consistent, but what child is? Words she's said for a while include 'all done', 'thank you', and 'more please', but recently she's said things like 'pretty flower' and our favorite, 'two of 'um'. She picked that one up from me. I say that to her when she's holding two of something, and I didn't think much of it until she started saying it back! She actually seems to know what it means. For example, the other day I asked her where her ear was and she pointed to it. She then pointed to her other ear and said, "Two of 'um". It's so cute! Her three-syllable words are 'basketball', 'applesauce', and 'animal'. She can tell the difference between football and basketball on TV (you can tell what we watch around here). It's so fun to watch her learn. She's a sweetie!

Illness & a scare

Most readers probably know by now that we're expecting another baby. Yes, we probably are crazy! Well, we had a bit of a scare Friday night. I started bleeding and it seemed like a significant amount, so I called the on-call doctor. She didn't say much except that it might be a miscarriage and there's nothing we can do. That night I woke up around 2:00 a.m. and puked. That didn't seem to correlate with miscarriage, so I had a little hope. I then proceeded to puke ten more times until morning and I didn't feel well at all. When I got Ada out of bed, however, she had puked in bed and didn't seem to feel well either. She puked more throughout the day and we found out Cheryce's whole family had been up puking too. So there went my hope! I did stop bleeding though, so that was something. I had to wait until Monday to call the doctor again and they had me come in for a blood test. Then Tyler got sick that night! No fun. Tuesday they said that the blood test looked good and they scheduled me for an ultrasound for this morning. We went and saw the baby and heard the heartbeat and everything finally seems good. Except that instead of being 9 weeks 2 days like I thought, they said I was 7 weeks 5 days. Interesting. I guess I'll have to wait until my first appointment on the 12th to talk to my doctor. At least I know what's going on now and all is well! We've been so blessed.

It finally snowed around here and it's so pretty. I hate driving in it (I always drive like a grandma because I'm scared of sliding) but it makes the Christmas season seem more real. I turned on Christmas music today and put up some decorations. I still have to wait for Tyler to carry up our mammoth tree (which is sitting in the trunk-- we have to store it at my parents' house because we have no room), but the apartment looks nice. Now I just need to get started on shopping!

Friday, November 23, 2007

It IS rivalry week...

Just wanted to post a reminder of one of my favorite sports moments ever. Can't wait for the game tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Welcome Baby Sally!


My little sister Emily and her husband Neal had their first baby yesterday! Sally Mae Peterson (named after my Grandma Dickson) was 7 lb 14 oz and she's a cutie. She looks like her daddy to me. I can't wait to meet her next month!
Here's a video of Ada dancing to Coldplay and saying hi to her new cousin:

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Silly Girl






It's been a while since I had an "Ada post", so I thought I better give a quick update. As you can see, she's still a silly girl with lots of personality. She's not afraid to make herself known wherever we go. If she's in a good mood, she'll either say 'hi' to strangers or let them know what she has in her hand. Sometimes she'll just walk up to them and stare. If she's in a bad mood she just screams. Either way, she's loud. She loves to wander, especially at church. She also loves to dress up. Even though she seems naughtier than most kids her age, she sure is a lot of fun. There's never a dull moment with Ada around!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

You're It!

Tyler and I have been "tagged" by his sister Alysia. I normally don't do stuff like this, but I've seen it going around everywhere and thought I'd get it over with so I'll be exempt forever. I've seen lots of different ones, but I'm supposed to write seven things about myself that most people don't know. Here goes nothin'...

1. I am a HUGE sports fan. I love sports, and watch them more than anything else on t.v. I especially love watching BYU football, BYU basketball, and Jazz games, but I can watch anything. In fact, last night I was so enthralled in a Central Michigan/Western Michigan football game that I forgot to take the laundry downstairs to the dryer until it was almost too late. It was an awesome game! I'd rather watch college sports than professional. March Madness is one of my favorite times of year!

2. This is going to sound weird, but I like sad things. I love things that strike an emotional chord. All of my favorite books and movies are ones that make me cry. I LOVE Sense and Sensibility, Shakespearean tragedies, Les Miserables, etc. I would love to go to an opera some day (like one of those really sappy ones where a girl makes a guy go with her and he hates every minute of it).

3. I go walking every morning, but not because I want to lose weight. I only started going a few months ago because my doctor told me I have to exercise every day if I want to sleep better. I've had lots of sleep problems ever since Ada was born, and walking really has helped! I need something like a doctor's order to get motivated to get off my butt. So my friend Rachel and I (along with Ada and Ashton) walk through the Harvard/Yale neighborhoods every day and drool over all the old, classic houses that we wish we could afford.

4. In college, my friends said that if I was a Disney princess I would be Belle because I'm most likely to fall in love with a beast. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but I think they meant that I try to give everyone a chance. (I got lucky with Tyler because he's definitely a cutie!) I have a soft spot in my heart for people/things that aren't popular. I'm almost driven away from things that are too popular or people who think they're so cool.

5. If I had lots of money, I would want to spend it on clothes. I didn't used to care too much about what I wore, but then I started watching What Not to Wear on TLC. It's my favorite show! I cringe at some of the stuff I used to wear, and realized that I need to wear more age-appropriate clothing. (Listen to me! Clinton and Stacy would be proud.) I already look like I'm 16, so I don't need to dress that way to help people believe that it's true. I feel like sometimes I'm starting to become vain, but I think it's important to pay attention to myself, especially since I'm a mom now. It's weird that I started caring about stuff like that after I had a baby, but I really don't want to be one of those moms who lets herself go and looks like a slob every day. We're poor, so thank goodness for places like outlet stores (especially Banana Republic), Ross, T.J. Maxx, and Nordstrom Rack. I would also love to buy more clothes for Ada and Tyler, but that's about the last thing Tyler wants to spend money on. Now that he's starting to get job interviews and the real world is in sight, though, I think it's important that he sharpens up his image a bit. Come on, is there anyone out there who can help me convince him?

6. I've been told by a lot of people that I'm way different than they thought before they got to know me. It's not like I try and act like a different person when I'm around people, but I think it's because I'm shy and sometimes afraid of what others think about me.

7. I've never been outside of the U.S. except for brief daytime jaunts to Niagara Falls, Canada and Tijuana, Mexico. I'd love to travel the world, though. Since I'm married to Tyler, I don't think that will be a problem! Traveling is one of his favorite things to do.

There you have it. Hopefully everyone learned at least one new thing about me. I'm not going to try and force anyone to do this, but if any of my readers would like to participate, feel free!

Monday, November 5, 2007

The Final Word on Vouchers

Since tomorrow is election day, I thought I'd put in my two cents about Referendum 1. I've been involved in more discussions on this topic than probably any other of its kind. When I first heard about Referendum 1, I was intrigued and thought that it sounded okay. When I started talking to people about it and learning more, I quickly became opposed to it. Tyler blogged about it a while ago, and he got lots of responses from our friends. Check out this, this, and this. It's been fun to talk and argue with people. After my opinion was firmly planted, Tyler posted again and actually linked to the referendum itself. After reading it myself, my opinion almost changed.

Almost.

After a lot of thought, I will still vote against vouchers. I was almost convinced otherwise because after reading the actual text, there doesn't seem to be much wrong with the idea. I realized that all of the ads, both for and against the referendum, were feeding people a bunch of crap. The Oreo commercial in particular stands out to me. Even though it was trying to convince people to vote for vouchers, it made me want to vote against them since it stated that money will be taken away from public schools to fund the vouchers. Actually, the scholarship money will come from the general fund, and the leftover money will go to public schools. So it will be giving more money to public schools than they had before, but I think that since the money is from public funds it should all go to public schools. If there are really that many problems with public schools (which I don't think there are), why not invest more money in them instead of trying to take students out of them.

One thing that has bothered me from the start is that lots of people are saying that "vouchers would give me a choice". I'm sorry, but parents already have a choice. The money may make it easier for some parents to send their kids to private schools, but they still have a choice. All parents should be invovled in their kids' educations, no matter what school the kids go to. The vouchers are meant to help families with lower incomes, but families who can afford it already also qualify. I think that the poorest families who could benefit most will still be unable to afford the difference in tuition, let alone fees, extra-curricular activities, uniforms, etc. Plus, they'll have to find a way to get to school, and they won't have the benefit of school lunch and breakfast programs that public schools have.

Tyler thinks that I'm anti-private schools. I know that some students need extra help and extra attention, and private schools are just a better fit for some people, but I feel like a lot of people automatically think that since a school is private, it is better. I think that a lot more kids going to private schools probably take education more seriously than a lot at public schools do, but I feel really strongly that public schools give kids a lot more than just education. They have more options for extra-curricular and social activities, which make kids more well-rounded. Plus, teachers at private schools don't have to have college degrees or have special credentials. I know that doesn't mean that you'll automatically be a good teacher if you have those things or a bad teacher if you don't, but I think it's good to have formal training in teaching and specific subjects.

Proponents argue that if students leave for private schools, class sizes in public schools will decrease. That is probably true in some cases, but it may not always be the case. Unless schools change the way things are now, class size could actually increase. If enough kids leave, schools may not keep as many teachers, so the remaining number of students would be divided among the remaining number of teachers.

Overall, I think that Referendum 1 has the potential to do good things, but there are better ways to improve public schools. The points that proponents make sound good on paper, but I don't think that everything will be like clockwork. I know that something needs to be done to improve public schools in Utah since we spend the least amount of money per student, but sending kids away isn't going to fix the problem.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

All Hallow's Eve

Yesterday was a good 2nd Halloween for Ada. After her nap, Tyler and I took her trick-or-treating at Foothill Village with some friends. She quickly caught on. She would walk up to people with her hand held out, and once she got candy she would put it in her bucket. We also took her trick-or-treating to some surrounding apartments. It was fun to watch her. Then we went to my parents' house for dinner and my mom took her around to some neighbors' houses for even more candy! Overall, she got quite the haul! Tyler and I will be enjoying it for a long time (Ada only gets a little bit). Here are some pictures from our parties on Saturday and the festivities yesterday:

Two Oldies and a Cat

Ada (leopard), Ashton (doctor), and Kaylie (tooth)

Fascinated by the root beer brew at the Squires' party

Not happy that this store ran out of goods!

Hayden (Yoda), Ada, Ashton, Charlotte (chicken), and Jade (duck)

Ada, Ashton, and Charlotte

Ada trick-or-treating next door

Ada and Ella