June 2014

The Hankla's visit continued through the first couple of days of June. All the cousins, along with Nicole, Jana, Vinnie, and myself went to the Draper Aquarium together. It was pretty fun. Lilli had been before with Nicole and Dylan and she acted like she owned the place! I loved watching she and Dylan waddling around like little penguins, and Lucas wearing himself out running all around!

Later that day, Lilli and I went to Ikea with the Hankla's. I figured when we moved 5 minutes away from Ikea, that I would spend a lot of time there, but it was only the second time going since we moved to Utah. Its not very fun to go when you don't have any money to spend! However, Lilli LOVES the little daycare center, and had a great time playing while we wandered.

The next day, we went to the splash pad near our house. Dylan hated it, Neko slept (of course), and Lucas liked it until he got too cold. As usual, Lilli had a blast and made some friends. We've spent several afternoons playing at the splash pad this summer, you cant beat free entertainment!

Later that week, Lilli and I drove out to Spanish Fork to see Ashley and her two boys. We hit up another splash pad, and despite Lilli burning her buns (darn wedgies), we had a great time. Lilli loves Clay and Owen, and asks all the time when we get to go see them again. I wish we lived a little closer so we could see them all the time, but it's almost an hour away. Still the same, I am super grateful for them and their friendship!

 

On June 12th, Lilli came up to me and said "Look mommy, one of my teeths is broken." Sure enough she had a very loose tooth! She wouldn't let me near it at first, but a few hours later, I took one gentle tug at it, and it was out. It didn't hurt her at all, and she was super excited to get a visit from the Tooth Fairy. She got $2, and used her money to buy a beta fish that she named "Noodle Noodle".

Also on the 12th, Cason brought home a new family member from work. I couldn't believe when he showed up with a guinea pig! Despite my protests, we named her Ruby after a dog Lilli sometimes plays with (it's also my grandmother's name). She was very timid at first and Lilli wouldnt hold her because of her sharp claws, but she was very excited to have her. Unfortunatly, later in the month, Ruby got sick. She got better, but we were unable to hold her for a couple of weeks, and we had to start the bonding process all over again. Frankly, I don't like her. All she does is crap. Seriously, I never knew something could poop so much. Every time we hold her she poops on us. She's a lot of work, and not a lot of fun. Lilli still wont hold her and shows very little interest in her. Cason is the only one who loves her (probably because i'm the one who always cleans her cage). Hopefully she'll grow on me, but i have my doubts!

Father's day was super low key. Lilli picked some of her daddy's favorite treats as a gift, and drew him a bunch of pictures. After his favorite breakfast, Cason had to go to work (it was his last day at Petco), so Lilli and I just hung out at home and then the three of us went to visit his dad in Bountiful.

Cason started working at Papa John's as a delivery driver, and things slowed WAY down for Lilli and I. Since he needed the car, we were stuck at home a lot! We played, watched Netflix, and did some crafting. Lilli LOVES "crafs", like to the point that I need to hide all of my supplies from her so she doesn't use them all! She also loves "decorating" the house and having parties. I have a birthday almost every day...sometimes multiple times a day. Good thing I love her, because it gets exhausting!!

May 2014

My first niece, Neko Ruby Holloway as born on May 1, 2014. She's an absolute beauty, and I love her to pieces!

I came home to Utah on the third. I was so happy to be with my family again! We had lunch at Red Robin, went to Spider Man 2, and then went to meet Neko. I absolutely love snuggling that baby!

Later in the week, we had a pool day at Cason's parents house. lilli loves the water, but wasn't too keen on learning how to swim. We hope to get more practice in in the coming months.

I began DBT therapy,  and am continuing to try to improve my mental health. Transitioning from being at Sibcy, and being home was a bit difficult. I went from only caring for myself ( and having pele cook and clean for me), to being a full time mommy and homemaker. It was hard. Especially, because I was on a medication that was not working out for me. Luckily, we got things ironed out on that end and after that my transition became much easier.

On Memorial Day, we found a local splash pad to go to. lilli of course had a blast, and we went out to dinner to end the day.

The next week, the Hankla's came to visit. It was great being with both of my sisters and seeing all of the cousins playing together!They played on the neighbors trampoline, and had a good time just playing and chasing each other inside. Lilli absolutely LOVES her cousins!

April 2014

April was rough.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I left for an in patient diagnosis program in Ohio on April sixth.

Before that, I spent as much quality time with Lilli as I could. We decorated for Easter, dyed Easter eggs, and made a few fun crafts. lilli just LOVES to do "crafs". She even likes to look at Pinterest and make her own versions of the things she makes. It makes my heart happy to see how creative she is!

Life at "Sibcy House" was not what I thought it would be. I went with the understanding that they would do extensive testing to diagnose any physical and mental problems I may have. Turns out, it was manly a mental health facility, and my physical problems were barely addressed at all. It was super frustrating. Yes, I have depression, but no where near bad enough to need to be hospitalized. Howeve, after all was said and done, I had som good experiences there (along with some bad ones), and met some great people (along with some bad ones). Cason was able to come and see me for a day, which was nice. I missed Lilli so much that it hurt, but she was well taken care of while I was gone. She spent a lot of time with both sets of grandparents (my parents came up towards the end of he month), and her Aunt Courtney and Uncle Spencer, as well as Aunt Nicole watched her a lot.  Nicole not only watched her, but was nice enough to keep her entertained as well.  They went to the Draper Aquarium, played outside, went to the dinosaur museum, and "the farm", and went to "Rio 2".

Cason worked on Easter, and Lilli  spent the day with the Dotsons. They had an egg hunt for her, and she ended up with 3 Easter baskets when all was said and done. One from grandma D, one from grandma S, and one from aunt Nicole. She was definitely spoiled!  I feel extremely blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives who love us and who are always willing to help out. Thank you all!