Hot and Sticky with a 10-month Old

Before preparing for a long trip, I always get a little nervous. I mean, kids aren't easy to entertain and take care of at home sometimes, let alone in a completely foreign place. 

It's okay to be nervous, right?! Right. Preparing for this 2+ week trip was the longest of its sort that we'd done so far as a family and it wasn't only a new place, but new weather. Florida is really beautiful and green, but... STICKY. I don't think there's any other way to describe it. Florida in the summer is sticky and hot. 
In spite of the summer heat and the sticky air, the trip went better than I had hoped. We were out late every night and up early every morning, but our little girl was a trooper. Although her sleep schedule was a little off, we tried our best to keep her eating schedule and get her out of the stroller as often as the theme park running around would let us. 

If you are planning a summer trip and you have little ones, here are some things that were LIFESAVERS for us:

1. Stroller Fan 

This is definitely number 1. Since the weather was unbearably hot, I worried about Lilly overheating, especially while she slept. We got our fan from Amazon and is made with foam "blades" that didn't leave me worrying that she'd cut a finger off or something. The fan worked great and kept my little girl cool.

2. Blanket

This may seem weird since the weather was so hot, but having a blanket on hand was one of the best ideas we had. We used the blanket to cover Lilly while she slept in the stroller, keeping her area dark and shielded from the sun. Paired with the stroller fan, Lilly was basically sleeping in an air-conditioned private room while we walked in the sauna. 

3. Formula Packets/Bags

This we didn't figure out until partway through our trip. We were toting around a formula container in our small diaper bag every day and then trying to find the convenient times to take it out and scoop it into a bottle each time Lilly was hungry. Basically, it was not convenient. We ended up buying packets of formula (which we just found at Walmart) and when we ran out of those, we just filled Ziplock bags with the formula we'd need for the day. This was SO MUCH better than having the canister, especially because each bag/packet was already measured.

4. Snacks

Baby-friendly snacks, obviously. We bought the Gerber Puffs and Yogurt Bites. These became lifesavers when Lilly was tired, but didn't want to sleep. She'd get super cranky unless we could calm her down and get her to fall asleep. The trick? Snacks. These snacks calmed her down and also helped stave off her hunger for a little while longer when feeding her wasn't quite convenient at the moment. 

5. Sunscreen

This may seem obvious, but something that is not obvious is making sure that the sunscreen is BABY sunscreen. Sunscreens that aren't can really irritate baby eyes if they rub them. We, unfortunately, learned this the hard way. Bottom line, get the baby sunscreen. It will save you from lots of baby tears.

All in all, any trip that you can take with your husband and your kids is the best kind of trip. You make memories that last for a lifetime. The weather may have been sweaty and we may have eaten out nearly every day of the week, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

A Fresh Breath of Motherhood

I'm officially a college graduate and done with my certifications and student teaching! 

I really did love teaching in the elementary school and will one day enjoy having my own classroom of students. However, nothing beats staying home with my little girl. I wish I could stay home forever! Sure, I'm exhausted nearly every single day and I am forced to come up with creative new things to do to keep her entertained and me from falling asleep, but I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world :)

It's been quite a while since I've written last. Life really hit me hard and I've finally found the time to sit and type (with my sweet girl playing on the floor in front of me). It's MOVING TIME in the Kjar household, which means that everything is in disarray and there are boxes everywhere. Bags of garbage and yard sale items are scattered throughout the apartment and we are counting down the days until we get into our new apartment. We are not moving far; we are even still in the same ward. Our landowner is just bumping up our rent to a price outside our budget and we needed to find a place that was still in our budget!

Moving isn't the only thing we are excited about! At the end of this month, Kaleb and I get to return to my hometown and celebrate the return of my brother from his 2-year church mission in Canada. WE ARE SO EXCITED! My brother will be able to meet his niece and also re-meet Kaleb, but as a brother-in-law instead of just my boyfriend. Lots of changes for his to take in, but if anyone can do it with finesse it is my brother.

Lilly is giving me her hungry face. I guess it's lunchtime!

An Apple a Day Makes me a Teacher

On January 4th I became a teacher. Not in the motherly sense (although I guess I am that, too), but in the school sense. 

On that Monday I walked into a classroom with 32 kids I had never seen before and was told to observe for a day or two before beginning to teach. Come the second week, I would need to be prepared enough to do well in an observation conducted by a representative of the BYU education department. Talk about plunging into cold water! Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this. This is, in fact, the third time I’ve done this in the past 1 1/2 years. Call me crazy, but I kind of like it. I really don’t like waking up super early in the morning to get ready, and I really don’t like leaving my super cute husband and darling, chunky, little girl, but I do love stepping into a classroom of kids and helping them learn. 
I could probably tell you all about my class the things that I’ve taught, but I know that you don’t really care ;) If you really are interested in my lessons or activities I’ve planned or come up with, feel free to visit my store on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Lilly is almost 5 months old!! I cannot even believe how fast the time has gone. Here are some fun things about her and her new “things” that she’s been doing lately:

1. Lilly is a talker. She doesn’t know any words, but she certainly pretends well. We don’t even need to be near her for her to start talking. In the mornings, or even after nap times, Lilly will entertain herself in her crib for 5-10 minutes by just talking.

2. Lilly is a kicker. Once her legs are free she kicks. She kicks hard, too. I suggest that you never put your head near her feet or you’ll get a good kick in the face. For Christmas, my mother-in-law got her an activity gym with a piano on the end for her to kick. This was one of the best gifts Lilly got this last year. She can stay entertain for quite a while, enabling us to get some stuff done without having to carry her everywhere.

3. She can easily fall asleep anywhere… unless it’s time for bed. Lilly has a knack for falling asleep in the funniest places: bouncer, highchair, activity mat, face-planted. We’ve also discovered that she can fall asleep with her eyes still partially open…so weird.

4. This girl can roll…but not all the way. Lilly rolls all around from side to side, but can’t quite roll from back to front or front to back. She gets stuck with her little roly-poly arm beneath her and doesn’t know how to get over it. We’ve tried helping her along, but she is really content rolling from side to side.

5. Sweet Potatoes and Rice Cereal! We got the A-Okay from our pediatrician to start Lilly on solid foods. Yes! Lilly really wasn’t so sure about the whole “spoon” thing when we first started, but she’s getting the hang of it now. Each morning we give her a small bowl of rice cereal and each evening we give her a small bowl of sweet potato puree (homemade, thanks to my awesome husband!). The only problem we face is that she much prefers a bottle to a spoon. So, we often have to switch off between the spoon-feeding and a bottle of milk. This helps make meals a more enjoyable experience for everybody…

6. Bouncer = Teething Ring. Basically, Lilly uses the door bouncer as a toy to suck on rather than something to help her bounce. Every once in a while she will use her legs to give a little bounce, but it is mostly just a teething ring for my little girl with no teeth yet.

7. She’s camera shy. Lilly is, more often than not, super adorable. She does the funniest things and I would love to have them on video, BUT as soon as I pull out my phone to take a video she stops and is too interested in the sight of the phone to continue said cute activity. So, I apologize for the lack of cute videos sent to family members and friends…



I want to use the remainder of this post to brag about my husband a little bit. Kaleb has been a lifesaver to me over the past month. It has not been easy for me to return to teaching and it means so much to me that I have a husband who enjoys being at home to take care of things. I am so impressed with his ability to clean, cook, care for Lilly, and, on top of all those things, work on school assignments. He has so much patience and helps me so much when I come home and need to plan more lessons for school. I am so grateful for this bearded man of mine (yes, he currently has a beard :)

Overall, life has been busy, difficult, and frustrating lately. But I have felt so much joy in this little slice of life. 

Oh, The Holidays!

It is that time of year! The time when you get so caught up in the buying, packing, planning, and traveling that you forget the little things that fill the rest of your time.

It's been a while since I've written last, so I just want to take a little bit of time to write about the Kjar family happenings over the last month.

This is the time and season for sick bugs!! Ahhh! Not only have sicknesses been circling the families in our church, but it has been circling around our family as well. Ugh. Kaleb was sick the entire week before Thanksgiving with a stomach bug. Not fun. On multiple occasions I was called to go and pick up my husband from either school or work with the report that he was not going to make it through the day. I just hoped that he would get feeling better before our plane ride to California.

The time for travel arrived and Kaleb was feeling much better. Lilly was fantastic on the plane (she slept the entire time!!) and we enjoyed a week with family celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, Kaleb and I made a Cranberry Relish recipe that scored  with the family. This is a recipe that I've played around with a little after first receiving it from one of my friend's moms. If you're interested, I suggest you try it out!

Cranberry Relish

(Makes 3-4 Cups of Relish)

Ingredients:

• 2 green apples, peeled and diced
• 1/2 C orange marmalade
• 1 bag fresh cranberries
• 1 C frozen raspberries
• 1 C sugar
• Water

Instructions:

1. Chop apples and raspberries
2. Boil cranberries in sugar with enough water to keep them from burning (basically, enough to cover the bottom of the pot)
3. Once cranberries have popped and formed a thicker mixture, combine al ingredients and stir together.
4. Refrigerate until you serve!

Four Generations!

One of my favorite things to do when I am back home with my family is to have our Mario Kart marathon. We play every single level of Mario Kart and learn who is the overall best at the game. We love doing this and it just brings us all closer together. Also, for having not grown up with video games like I did, Kaleb did pretty well in the marathon and even beat me a handful of times! :)

While there, Lilly received no shortage of attention. People were coming over left and right just to see her. We got some really big smiles from our little girl this trip and she loved spending more time with Grandma and Grandpa :)

On the return trip back to Utah, Lilly wasn't nearly as happy. She actually made it through the entire plane ride okay, but our journey through the airport to the gate was horrendous. We barely made it on time due to the lines and how slow everyone was moving and Lilly screamed at the top of her lungs from check-in all the way to the gate. Needless to say, nobody was really itching to sit next to us. Too bad it was a full flight...

These past few weeks right before Christmas have been... interesting to say the least. However, we have started our December advent calendar and have been loving the activities for each day. I would tell you what our advent calendar is this year, but I keep that a surprise from Kaleb (since Lilly isn't old enough to care). And besides, he likes the surprise and the sporadic gift opening throughout the month as well. I will make sure to write another post about our Christmas traditions :)

What has made this month especially interesting is finding out that we had a lot less money in our bank accounts than he had hoped. Due to Kaleb being sick and missing a fair amount of work and our leaving over the holidays, our bank accounts are running dry--something that is pretty scary at any time of the year. But, in order to counter this and still feel in control, we have taken some precautions:

1. Create an Emergency Fund. Over the course of a year, Kaleb and I have been distributing our paychecks into various accounts, making especially sure that we have two emergency accounts; one for small emergencies (like, we temporarily can't pay our rent or we get into a fender bender) and one for large emergencies (like we are out of work for extended periods or we need to travel quickly due to a family emergency). 
2. Reevaluate your Budget. We have reevaluated time and time again our accounts and budgets, making sure that we are not spending more than we really need to in any area, especially in this time of low income.
3. Utilize your Resources. We have utilized our community and government resources. Things like WIC and Medicaid have been absolute lifesavers during this time and we are SO LUCKY to have such resources available to us. I mean, going to the doctor and not having to pay a dime is one of the biggest blessings that we could have had throughout my entire pregnancy and even now. 
4. Take out a Loan. For me, this is a last resort. I don't like the idea of owing a chunk of money to anybody, but, it is a great resource, especially for those still trying to pay their way through school. 

Even though sometimes it seems that life is a little rough, I know that I have been blessed beyond belief. If I ever doubt that, I just look at my little girl and remember that she is mine forever and ever. And who couldn't be grateful after knowing that?

Stop Growing Up!

Can I just say something? I remember when my grandma would tell me that she was going to put a brick on top of my head to keep me from growing and how my parents would say that we kids were all just growing up too fast. I always ignored those comments. Now that I am a parent, I understand what they were saying all too well.

You can believe me when I say that this little girl of ours gets cuter and cuter every single day. Her baby fat is rolling in and she has smiles (including little dimples) that just make me melt every time. 

After looking back on some of our pictures we took after she was born, we realized that she has already grown so much! Now it's my turn to be a parent and say, "I'm putting that brick on top of your cute little head!" 

I'm now starting to realize just how fast the time passes by and I am so grateful for the little moments that bring so much happiness into my life.

Family Home Evening at Cornbelly's

Cornbelly's

Halloween as Peter Pan, Wendy, and Tinkerbell

Too much Cuteness!

Date Night playing Mini Croquet

Cousins meeting for the First Time!