Update

I've been feeling prompted to return to blogging for awhile now, but I always put it on the back-burner. I guess today I'm going to try to come back to blogging. I want my family to know what's going on in my life. I want to share things with them.

I guess this post will be an update on everything that has happened in the past couple months. We moved in with Mitchell's mom, Ellen, the beginning of April. Mitchell is taking this time to work on his art so that he can progress in his career.

I am 10 weeks pregnant with an "Oops!" baby; I had applied to attend BYU in January, but now I'm having a baby in November, so that's not happening. I was on a mood stabilizer for bipolar II disorder, but had to stop because of the pregnancy. I also can't take Xanax any longer. 

I am in the process of getting into the Mental Health system here so that I can get things figured out, but I've probably got a few more weeks before I get to see a psychiatrist. With all the moving and then medication changes, I've been struggling a bit with my mood and functioning and such. I'm just trying to take things slowly right now. 

Joseph is attending school at the "same" elementary school Mitchell went to; I used the quotation marks because it's a new building with none of the same teachers, but it has the same name, mascot, and location. He is doing pretty well. Some days are better than others, but that's how things always are.

That's the biggest stuff that's happened, and the basis of my life right now!

Crazy, Sick Kids

It has been a crazy month for our family health-wise. Mitchell had to take Joseph to the ER at the beginning of the month while I was out of town, and Joseph had some pretty bad bronchitis. He had to take antibiotics, use an inhaler and a nebulizer, and it was all pretty crazy. He is still coughing regularly, so we have to use the inhaler sometimes before school.

Annabelle and Mitchell had the same respiratory infection that started Joseph's bronchitis. And Charlie and I caught it once we were back in town. There was lots of coughing and a bit of misery for the first part of the month. Charlie is still coughing pretty badly and I'm still coughing a bit.

On Thursday, I noticed Charlie's eye looked pink and there was a lot of goop in the corners. Annabelle's 4 year well-check was the next morning, so I just had him seen at the same time. The doctor checked his lungs and his eye, but he seemed to be just fine.

Friday evening, while I was making dinner, Charlie threw up all over the little, neighbor girl, Janina, while she was playing at our house. I stripped him down and took his temperature, but he was asleep before I even finished. His temp was just around 100 degrees, so I didn't think it was a big deal. He slept on my bed for about an hour and a half. When he woke up, he was burning up, so I took his temp again and it had risen to 102.5 degrees. He seemed pretty lethargic and delirious, so I was initially very worried. I was about to take him to the ER, but I felt like I should clean him up first and try to cool him down a bit. We spent about 40 minutes in the shower, just sitting in the water, until we ran out of hot water. I kept asking him if he wanted to get out and lay in the bed, but he would just say, "uh-uh." He just laid in my lap with his eyes closed and swished his hand in the water. When we were finally out of hot water, I got him out, dried him off, and dressed him. And his fever was WAY down. He was also talking to me normally, telling me he was hungry and asking for drinks. He had apple juice and watched PBS with the kids until really late. Annabelle came into the room crying shortly after the shower because her ear was hurting. I gave her ibuprofen and a heating pad to rest on. Sometime while watching PBS, and I was washing the dishes from dinner, Charlie threw up just a little bit on the floor next to my bed. But by the time Mitchell got home from work, around 10:30, Charlie was jumping on the bed and playing as if nothing had happened. He slept on the floor next to me that night, and kept me up with his coughing. I kept thinking he was going to throw up again, but he just had so much drainage running down his throat that he was trying to cough up. He didn't even wake up for any of his coughing fits!

I had planned on taking the kids to Boo at the Zoo Saturday morning, but after the evening's ordeal, I figured that wasn't a good idea. But then all the kids seemed just fine! They played and did all their normal stuff. I figured they were all feeling better, so I started trying to get everything ready for church the next day. I let Charlie sleep next to me again, and he was coughing most of the night again. Joseph was also coughing a lot during the night, and Annabelle needed more ibuprofen for her ear.

By morning, I just felt like I should give them a little longer to get better, so Mitchell went to church without us. When Charlie got up, I noticed a patch of red bug bites on his ankle. I figured he'd rolled on a spider or something on my floor because our house is full of bugs. When Annabelle woke up, we noticed one of her eyes was pink looking. And she had a runny nose and cough. When I went to change Charlie's diaper, I found patches of the "bug bites" all over his body, and that's when I realized they were hives. He had them all over and was scratching a lot, so I gave him some Benadryl. He was also getting warm again, so Mitchell had me give him some Tylenol. About 2 hours after the Tylenol, his temp was around 100.2 degrees, so I wonder what it would have been if we hadn't given him the Tylenol. The rest of the day went fine, but at bedtime, Joseph kept saying he was itchy. I checked and he was covered with patches of hives, too! I gave him Benadryl before bed, and Annabelle needed ibuprofen again.

This morning, Joseph's hives were gone, but Charlie still had his and Annabelle had some. At 9 am, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for all three of them. I was worried about Joseph being contagious because of the hives/rash being on all three kids, so I had him pulled out of class to wait in the nurse's office until I could get there.

They were extremely ill-behaved at the doctor's office. I couldn't believe how rowdy, loud, and disrespectful they were being! I spent the whole appointment trying to keep them under control (and failing) while trying to answer all the doctor's and nurse's questions. After looking at them, the doctor told me they all had ear infections, and Joseph had fluid in BOTH of his ears. That would also explain a lot of the other stuff going on. It's possible to get hives from viruses, so we are thinking that is what is causing their hives. They are going to all be on antibiotics, plus we are getting eye drops for the pink eye. I was instructed to continue with the inhaler for Joseph as needed, and to use Benadryl for the hives, as needed.

Right now, Joseph and Charlie are playing out on the front porch --it's 85 degrees today!-- and Annabelle is sleeping after a dose of Benadryl. I just wish all three of them were sleeping so that I could, too! The past few days have been exhausting!

Craziness

Everything has been so crazy in our lives lately.

Last week, we decided to take one last trip to visit Mitchell's family in Virginia before our move to Texas. Late at night, smack-dab in the middle of Richmond, our car died. Thankfully, Mitchell's mom was driving through Richmond at the same time, so she was able to come pick the kids up. We were able to arrange with USAA to have the car towed to a nearby, reputable repair shop. There was a motel close enough for Mitchell and me to walk to and get a room for the night. In the morning, we found out that our engine was broken, rendering the car useless. So Mitchell's brothers, Grant and Ross, were able to pick us up and take us to their brother, Sam's, house where the kids were.

We arranged for my cousin, Amber, to overnight the title to our car so that we could sell it to a junkyard. And we were able to relax for a week in a small town in Virginia. The kids had the best time with their cousins, and spent hours outside every day. It was so great to kind of get away from all the stress of regular life. On Friday, Ross drove Mitchell back to Richmond, where Mitch was able to sell our poor, little car for $300. On Monday night, his mom took him to get a rental car, and we left very early Tuesday morning. We were able to use the car for less than 24 hours, which made it a lot cheaper, and the price was completely covered with the money we got from junking our car.

While in Virginia, we spent a lot of time pondering, praying, and discussing our situation. We came to the conclusion that Heavenly Father wants us in Georgia for a while longer, so we have decided not to move to Texas. Even though this seems like a very difficult path, as soon as we made the decision, my heart felt so light that I thought I would float away. I know that Heavenly Father is going to bless us to find a way to make things work.

Mitchell has already started applying to pretty much every job within walking distance. We walked to Walgreen's to get some milk and juice, which is 2-miles roundtrip. We have been working closely with several members of our ward, including the Bishop and members of both the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society. We are going to find ways to coordinate rides to grocery stores, places to do laundry, and maybe help getting a bike and/or wagon. We feel so blessed right now as we are learning to stand on our own feet for the first time ever.

The Good and Bad.

The last few days have been pretty crazy. Last week, I had some kind of virus. I'm pretty sure it was the flu because of the severity of the symptoms and how quickly it went away, but Mitchell says it was a cold. Pretty much everyone else got it, but I had it the worst. And then I threw out my back on Sunday morning, and it's been slowly healing since then. So I've been barely doing the minimum requirements to get my family by.

The best things that have happened were being brought groceries from ward members both yesterday and today. We've also received clothes and a gift card. It has been so amazing how much help we have been receiving from our amazing ward. We also FINALLY got our food stamps card in the mail. And we got an Amazon gift card from our credit card rewards that we are using to get some of those more expensive home supplies like A/C filters and printer ink.

So I guess the point of this all is that there are always great blessings even when it seems like things suck.

Oh, and it was Mitchell's 30th birthday last week. It was fun!

Off-Day

Today was an "off" day for me. I just felt moody and frustrated most of the day. I've been working really hard to be patient with myself, and with the Lord's plan, as we try to figure out what to do. We haven't had much come up in the way of work yet. Mitchell is on his last week/paycheck for the freelance indie game he's been working on. He has been asked to do some illustrations for a friend, so that will be great. But that's all. The only time someone seems interested in hiring me, it would cost more to work there than I'd be getting paid! So we keep applying and keep praying and something will happen when it's time.

On the good side, Joseph has been doing well in school. He's going to a martial arts class several times a week, and it's really helping him with his focus, respect, and discipline, as well as getting energy out. We had a great family home evening with a good lesson and a fun activity. I'm also getting really involved in Joseph's school, so that should be fun.

A Day to Relax

I sort of took the day off today. I've been doing so many important things as well as a lot if housework this week, so I had earned a lot of gold on HabitRPG. I did use the morning to find out what stage our Food Stamps application is in, and to go over the budget for July and begin August's budget. We went to Kroger and got some WIC things. Then we decided to treat ourselves to Zaxby's for lunch. Sometimes it's just nice to do something a little special. I took a nice, long nap with Charlie after lunch. And we had breakfast for dinner with scrambled eggs, homemade turkey sausage, and Peanut-Butter-and-Banana pancakes. I did clean up the kitchen completely, and I put in two more job applications. So I didn't waste the day, I enjoyed it. 

We have a little hope right now with the freelance job Mitchell has been working on. If the game is picked up to be developed, he will have full-time employment with them. I'll be praying really hard for this, but I'm always keeping in mind that we follow whatever path The Lord shows to us.

Vacation

Yesterday, we got home from a week-and-a-half in Virginia visiting Mitchell's family. The main reason we went up was so Mitchell could attend his grandfather's funeral with his mom. We ended up staying longer than we originally planned and enjoyed some nice time relaxing and hanging out with family. The kids and I stayed with Mitchell's brother, Sam, and his family, while Mitchell, his mom, and his brother, Grant, were in Indiana for the funeral. Joseph and Annabelle got to meet and spend time with all of their Ellis cousins for the first time ever. And they loved it! Joseph loved playing with Sam's two boys, who are both older than him. And Annabelle enjoyed playing girly things with her only girl Ellis cousin, Celina, who is only 2 months younger than her. Mitchell and I took advantage of the time to relax, enjoy ourselves, and not worry about the future too much. We were able to go to Busch Gardens and watch the show London Rocks, which Mitchell's brother, Ross, is the lead guitarist in. I also rode a roller coaster for the first time in about 7 years. I was so anxious right before getting on, but I loved it just as much as I used to. I'm really grateful that we had that time to rejuvenate before getting into the stress of trying to figure out what's going to happen next. 

         From left to right: Back Row - Mitchell, Ross, Grant, Eden, Joseph. 

Front Row - Zeke, Annabelle, Charlie, Julian, Celena, Ben.

Annabelle, Celina, and Charlie playing with Disney Princess Little People!

Charlie playing in the hose with Grammy.

Father's Day

Ah! I can't believe I missed a whole week!

The Obstacle:

I had 3 migraines this week, including one today. The first two were on Monday and Tuesday. They an be pretty debilitating. Thankfully, I don't throw up when I have migraines.

The Blessing:

When the migraine started coming on today, I started to apply my oils. I put the Deep Blue Rub across my forehead, down my temples, and under my eye on the cheekbone. I followed that with Frankincense, and then Serenity. I made sure to massage it into my temples really well. Then I got a wet washcloth and put it over my eyes. I also had it on the back of my neck for a bit, and then on my forehead. I went and layed down on my bed with the washcloth on my forehead and my sunglasses on. I remembered my mom telling me how my Popi would listen to classical music when he had a migraine, and when I was really little I loved being with him. So I put a classical music station on my Pandora and just listened. After about 30 minutes, the kids were starving and couldn't stand me being in my room any longer, so I came out and started dinner with my sunglasses still on, but I was soon able to take them off because I felt so much better. And I've had hardly any hangover symptoms or anything.

The Celebrating:

Happy Father's Day! Mitchell spoke in church today, and everyone enjoyed his talk. Charlie especially loved seeing his "Dah" up on the stand. At lunch, we gave Mitchell his Father's Day present. Then we had a relaxing, low-key evening. I had the kids do interviews again this year. 

Mitchell's cards and gift, a rubber chicken. The Superman card plays the theme song when you open it; Joseph is obsessed with cards that have music and would not rest until we found a cool one for Dad, thankfully it only took about 15 minutes. When you open the other card, Tramp scootches closer to Lady so they're kissing; it was just too cute to pass up. And the rubber chicken is basically a 6-year, running joke in our family.

Sunday?

I missed a day again. And it's because I was playing video games too much...

The Annoying:
I LOVE video games. I just love playing games, especially when they have goals and such that I'm working towards. The problem is that I'm easily addicted to them. Mitchell and I have a new game that we've been playing together this weekend, and we played the whole weekend, literally. It's just frustrating to try to "fight" against my desire to play games.

The Nice:
Church was good. We made it in time for the sacrament and stayed for the whole time, which is pretty good considering our track record. We have a really great ward and I enjoy getting to know the people more.

The Healthy:
Mitchell and I have been sort of doing this diet thing, where we replace two meals a day with these health shakes. So we did that today, plus I ended up walking about 1.5-2 miles trying to get a good shot of the sunset for my other blog. Maybe I'll start losing weight, even though it seems like I've been steadily gaining.

Frustration, but Fun, too.

The Frustrating:

I spent most of the morning on the phone with various people trying to sort out the problem with my Cymbalta. And I'm still not sure if I made progress. Hopefully, the doctor will just put in the Prior Authorization, but the message that came across to me is that she would rather just switch my medication. I'm worried about switching without regular medication management. Normally, if your meds are switched, you go in every 2-3 weeks until you are stable, but my insurance ends on the 30th, so I don't have long. It is true that I've done really well this week on the Prozac, so maybe that's a sign...

The Blessing:

I'm so grateful that I haven't been sick from missing my Cymbalta. Usually, I my muscles are really sore, my head hurts continually, and I'm nauseated like I have a stomach bug. I've just been continuously amazed and grateful that I'm not suffering like that.

The Fun:

It's Friday night, so Mitchell and I could just hang out with worrying about work tomorrow. We were able to play a video game together for a couple hours and just have fun.

What I REALLY Want for Mother's Day

I was thinking about what I really WANT while I was in the shower.

I've been feeling down a lot lately, and just feeling like I need something, but not know what it is. So my thought process went to how Mitchell and I haven't been spending much time together the past week because he's working on a "Top Secret" project right now, and will be until Monday. But then I thought about how we really haven't spent much time together since we moved to Georgia because he works about 50 hours a week. And we're always stressed about money or job stuff or something "adult."

So I realized what I want is a trip, with Mitchell and without the kids. We've NEVER done that before. In the 6 years we've been married, we've never gone somewhere special just the two of us (I'm not talking about a few hours for a date). We never had a honeymoon or a babymoon or an anniversary trip or any of those things that people normally do. Because we're poor, we've always been poor, and we probably always will be poor.

So what do I do then? How do I realize this dream? How have others done it?

A Lot of Stuff

It has been a LONG time since I posted anything on my blog. I think I have pretty good excuses, though.

I noticed that the last date I posted was November 4th. Four days after that, I had my appendix out because it was enlarged.

Then, just when I had recovered, it was time for Mitchell's art show and we had family in town (the first week of December).

Mitchell graduated, Christmas came, and then everything was stressful while we tried to find work.

Mid-January, Mitchell got a job in Atlanta, and we had just under two weeks to move out to Georgia. Somehow we got packed fast enough, and we moved. We drove out in just three days. We stayed with Mitchell's dad for two weeks while we found our own place.

Now, we are renting a nice little house in downtown Marietta, Georgia. We are 16 miles from where Mitchell works, so a 20-40 minute drive, depending on traffic. We live a few blocks from historic Marietta and "the Square," which has tons of fun shops and restaurants. We have been here for two weeks now, but it's been a busy two weeks, so we are hardly moved in. We just got internet two days ago, and the gas was turned off for most of this week. It felt great to take a shower today!

Mitchell works long hours, and works pretty late, which may give me the chance to blog more often. I want to help all my family and friends keep up with this big change in our lives.

Searching for a Hobby, Part 2

I'm still working on figuring out my hobby. I made this really complicated, long list where I wrote down what the hobby was, when I would work on it, where I would do it, why I want to do it, how I would learn it, and about how much it would cost. Mitchell and I went through it and talked about things. We came up with a couple ideas. Mitchell was saying that I could try one hobby per week and just go through all the ones I'm interested in. He was also saying that I could combine a few of the hobbies and do cake decorating, photography, and blogging together. I'm partial to the first idea because I have so many interests. Mitchell likes the second idea better. I'm not sure what I should do, so I'm going to give it some thought. Any advice?

Searching for a Hobby

I think something important I've been learning is to have something for myself, to keep my "identity." It was recommended by my therapist, too. So, over the past week or two, Mitchell and I have been discussing a hobby for me. We are taking this a bit seriously because we want it to be successful. I have a tendency to start things, but never finish them, or even to do tons of research for something, but never actually start it. That is causing us to take our time to find something that I'm really interested in and capable of doing. As part of the process, Mitchell had me make a list of all the hobbies I could think of. He encouraged me to think outside the box and even put things that I probably wouldn't be able to do or even want to do, just to get the ideas flowing. Here's the list that I made (it's REALLY long):

• photography
• gardening
• music - singing, piano, viola, etc.
• running/marathon training
• yoga
• sewing
• scrapbooking
• cooking/baking
• cake decorating
• crocheting/knitting
• beauty - trying new hair styles, makeup techniques, nail art tricks, etc.
• get a pet
• painting
• drawing/sketching
• woodworking
• dance
• beading/jewelry making
• pottery
• home design
• home repair
• housework
• reading
• writing
• crafting
• travel/sightseeing
• learn a language
• family history
• blogging
• journaling
• cross-stitch
• video games
• watching movies/tv shows
• quilting
• fashion
• party planning 
• hiking
• rock climbing
• martial arts/kickboxing
• model/dollhouse building
• film/make videos
• cycling
• weight-lifting
• swimming
• auto mechanics
• computer/technology stuff
• camping
• calligraphy
• aviation
• teaching
• hang-gliding
• volunteering
• activism - charities, politics, causes, etc.
• antiquing
• surfing
• scuba-diving
• ballooning
• learn a new instrument
• landscaping
• candle making
• art - collage, pastel, sculpture, abstract, etc.
• acting
• shooting
• hunting
• taxidermy
• floral arranging
• glass blowing
• stained glass
• story-telling
• study psychology
• chemistry
• astrology
• astronomy
• nutrition/diet science
• art history
• architecture
• boating/sailing
• racing
• roleplaying
• board gaming/ card games
• basket weaving
• collecting
• puzzles - word, picture, number, etc.
• play pool
• horseback riding

Do you have any hobbies to add to this list?

Having Fun

Today we got our tax return. It was kind of exciting to check our balance in the bank and find an extra thousand dollars that I wasn't expecting. We set about making sure that our various bills were payed and talking about what this money needed to be used for. But the best part of the day was when we went on a bit of a treasure hunt to pick out the perfect toys for the kids. Joseph has been asking, "Do we have money yet?" nearly every day for a week or two because he's had his mind on some toys he wants, so it was exciting to tell him that we do have money.

We were gone a long time today and did a lot of driving to find him something he really loved. We went to Toys R Us and searched the whole store. Then we drove to Walmart and searched that whole store. And we finally found the right thing. He got his very first LEGO set and it has "Luke with the green lightsaber" as well as Boba Fett and the Sarlac. Annabelle picked out a My Little Pony set. And we bought Charlie a Bouncy play center thing.

It's been awesome watching Joseph so fascinated with something that isn't a video game. He's been playing with the legos almost none stop since we brought them home. He even took Luke and Boba Fett to bed with him. And it's been fun to watch Mitchell and Joseph playing together. I never knew that legos were such a great father-son bonding activity. Annabelle and I were able to play ponies together, too.

I think that something I learned from today is how important it is to play with your kids, but to also try to find the things that they have a passion for. It's important to find those passions and nourish them now, so that they can grow and learn from those passions throughout their lives.

Mitchell's Many Projects

I'm blogging two days in a row! Yay!

So, Mitchell is taking photos of a bunch of his artwork right now. He's applying for several different things right now.

 The coolest one is a paid internship with Blizzard. If you don't know who Blizzard is, it's like the Disney of videogames; they are the ones that make World of Warcraft. It would be so amazing for him to be able to work there for the summer. I'm REALLY hoping that his is able to get the internship.

He's also applying for the Visual Arts Department Talent Award. It's pretty much a scholarship and it's based entirely on the student's portfolio. I'm not sure how much the award would be, but I think it pays tuition for a semester or something like that. It would be great to take a semester off from adding to our student loans.

The last two things he's working on are shows at the school. One is for life drawing, which he is very talented at. And the other is the Sketchbook Club show. I believe all he needs to do is pick out the pieces that he wants shown and then they will be in one of the galleries at the school. It's pretty cool thinking that he will have his artwork hanging in the HFAC.

We are also looking at finding him a job. I found several job postings on the school's website. He might be able to get some freelance illustration or graphic design work from one of them. It's been a year-and-a-half since he's had a job, so it would be really nice to actually be earning money again.

And for practice, Mitchell is doing free portraits for members of our ward. The first piece that he is working on is a portrait of a couple in their Halloween costumes. They dressed up as the Joker and Harley Quinn from Batman, so it's right up Mitchell's alley.

After reading about the lives of some artists he admires, Mitchell came to the conclusion that having your spouse involved in your work will bring you closer together. So, I am working as a sort of secretary/partner with Mitchell on many of these projects. I've been finding out a lot of the information for him and I remind him of deadlines and requirements. I'm also the one that set up the ward portraits. It's kind of fun for me to be planning and organizing all of these things for him. We are trying to make his art and work "ours" rather than just "his."

A House Full of Sickies

We have been a house full of sickies for the past 2 weeks. It has not been very fun, but it could have been much worse.

It started with Annabelle acting cranky around the weekend of General Conference; she even threw up twice. A few days later, we noticed her eyes were all pink and goopy. We took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with bacterial conjuctivitis (Pink Eye) and an ear infection. We picked up her antibiotics and started her on them; she has 2 more days left of those.

Then Mitchell got a sore throat, and then a stuffy nose and a cough, all of it causing him to miss 2 days of class. Then he woke up with an ear infection. He went to the doctor and got some antibiotics. Two days later, he got Pink Eye, so he missed another day of class. He's still in the difficult process of catching up on his many art projects for his classes.

And I got sick, too, of course. I got the sore throat, the stuffy nose, the cough and the ear infection, plus the Pink Eye. I missed 3 days of class because of it. My ear is still plugged and my voice is just getting back to normal (I nearly lost it for a couple days). My mid-terms with this week, and I felt so far behind. Thanks to some quick studying and, especially, some answered prayers, I ended up getting good grades on both exams! It feels great to be done with the first block and starting fresh with the second.

Joseph has managed to get away without getting sick at all. He just had to be kept inside and bored because no one could take him out to play. He's happier now that he can play outside.

Busy, busy, busy

I am so busy right now! I haven't been this busy in so long, and it's really tiring sometimes. It's good, though, know that I am able to be busy and all of the things that I am blessed with.

Back in January, I signed up for an Independent Study class, American Heritage. When you sign up, you get one year to complete the class, with no deadlines or anything except that one. I didn't give it enough attention at the beginning of the year, so now I am working on it almost constantly. There are 23 lessons in the course and I'm just about finished with Lesson 6. That shows how very far behind I am. I think the first lessons are a little more intense than the later ones, though, because the first ones deal with the Revolution and the Constitution and all important stuff.

My other classes are just great, and easy so far. My Book of Mormon class is awesome, mostly because we are required to report on our reading as well as answer study guide questions. It really helps me make sure that I am studying regularly, and I am learning a lot more about the scriptures. My teacher did his graduate studies in Hebrew and he spend time in Israel, so he knows a lot of cool stuff. He LOVES showing us external evidences that prove that "the Book of Mormon is an ancient Near Eastern text" ( I think he says that phrase at least once per class). My other class is awesome, too. My teacher used to be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! And he's Australian, so he has an awesome accent. He's really funny, too. I always enjoy the time that I spend in that class.

Mitchell is super busy, too. He's working on a lot of different projects for all his classes. Currently, he redesigning Pinocchio with a Lovecraftian theme, creating a space-age clown, and drawing lots of hands and feet. He spends a lot of time researching and looking up images on Google to get ideas for all the things he is drawing. It's pretty awesome; I have to try not to brag about him whenever we are around people just because the stuff he does is so cool!

Joseph is almost potty-trained. He's gone several days without an accident during the day (although he sometimes forgets to pull his underwear and pants ALL the way down, so they get wet anyways) and he's got half-and-half as far as the nights go. At first he didn't want to wear underwear all the time, but when he realized that all of his friends wear underwear it helped a lot. And we bought him some Star Wars underwear last week and now he loves wearing underwear.

Annabelle will be a year old next month! I can't believe it. She is growing so fast. She is already wearing 12 month clothes; I think she is around 21 or 22 pounds now. She is amazing at crawling and she is practicing walking using different toys. She can say Mama, Dada (sometimes), and Baby; usually it's just baby-talk, but on occasion she uses them in reference to the things they are, with Mama being the most used.

I'm so excited for Fall and Halloween and all the other wonderful things that are coming! Life is so great right now!

The Illustration Program

It has been almost a month since I last posted! I'm just as bad at this whole blogging thing as I was afraid I'd be.

August was a crazy month for us. We had a whole lot going on. Especially with me finishing classes at the same time Mitchell applied to the Illustration program.

I finished up my classes and took exams the first week and a half of the month. I got A's in both my classes! It was a great first term of school.

Mitchell turned in his application for the Illustration program on the 1st and the review was on the 8th. This was his last chance to apply to the program, so there was a lot of stress. He had to repaint almost all of the paintings that he applied with the first time. We found out on the 10th that he had gotten into Illustration program and also into the Concept Art focus track. It's really exciting! The Concept Art track is very exclusive, with only 5 students in it at a time. With a degree in Concept Art, he has the ability to get jobs at places like Disney, Dreamworks, or Blizzard.

Once we found out that Mitchell was in the program, a month long class shuffle began. He learned that he needed to change a few of the classes he was in, but some of the classes he needed were full, so he was constantly checking for new openings. My classes were finally settled the Saturday before classes started. Mitchell's weren't final until the Wednesday after classes started. We are both loving the classes that we are in and are excited for the rest of the semester.

Update on Us

Life at our house is SUPER busy right now. There are times that I have contemplated blogging, but I would prefer to get some sleep right now. Luckily, I am at a slow point in my classes right now, so I have a little bit of time. I even folded some laundry today!

I'm doing really well in my classes right now. I have an A in both of them. After today's lecture in Stats, I've realized that it's going to start getting harder. It didn't help that I could NOT stay awake during the first half of the lecture. We are about to start our 8-10 page Issues paper in Writing 150. I am going to be writing about profanity on television. We'll be required to do a lot of research for this class, but I'm hoping that I can get a lot done during library class days rather than toting my kids to the library.

Mitchell has dropped both of his classes. He was under the impression that he could use the art the he made in his Illustration 2 class to apply to the Illustration program. A couple weeks ago, he found out that he has to submit the art from his Illustration 1 class that didn't get him in the program when he applied in April. He was told that he needed to redo the art pieces to make them presentable. So he dropped Illustration 2 so that he didn't have to work on those art projects, too. Today, he decided to drop his Greek Mythology class because he needs to focus all of his energy on his paintings. He has been working and stressing a lot the past couple of weeks, but he has finally starting making some headway. He is starting to flesh out the ideas he has for each of the projects and even got some initial painting done on one of them. It's going to be a lot of work, but I know he can do it.

Joseph has finally started cooperating with Mitchell's potty-training efforts. He has realized that if he uses the potty, he will get a piece of candy. He has managed to go at least once a day on the potty. He has also recently developed a lot of fears and spends a lot of time hiding between my feet underneath my desk; he's actually there right now because his "room is too scary."

Annabelle crawls all over the house and she is putting everything in her mouth. She loves being able to go where she wants and follows Joseph everywhere. She just got over her first ear infection.

People have been asking how we both go to school while having kids. I tell them that we don't do the dishes or the laundry and we don't vacuum the house. We also survive on much less sleep and very simple meals (cereal, hot dogs, & PBJs are our standard fare). We are so grateful to be students here at BYU and for all of the things we are learning.