October 21, 2010

Our days

The days of Steve and Lauren have consisted of Steve leaving for school every day at about 6:30 am! yikes, very early. He's been doing pretty well but I think he'd tell anyone that school is a lot harder than he thought it would be.

I've been in charge of pretty much all of his meals. If I didn't make sure he ate breakfast, lunch and dinner he would never eat! So I've been cooking a lot! I feel like the ultimate house wife. I mean, I even make our own bread!! But that's only because we just don't like any of the bread they have to offer here in Texas.

On top of that, I've been babysitting like crazy. There's a lady here from the Congo who recently joined the church. When the Relief Society president asked people to volunteer to watch her kids so she could take an English class Monday through Thursday, I signed up because I thought, hey, I have a lot of free time. I mentioned that I speak "a little French" (that's exactly how I phrased it because I do know a LITTLE) and I thought my little bit of French would help when babysitting these kids. Turns out the little girl knows English pretty much fluently already and doesn't need to be spoken to in French. And the other one is 5 months old so she doesn't talk yet anyway.
Well, when the Relief Society found out that I speak "a little French" she continued to ask me what I majored in at BYU. I said, Linguistics and TESOL. And people seem to have a misconception that Linguistics means you know a million languages fluently, which some really do but not necessarily. Anyway, they made me her visiting teacher along with another girl who really does speak French fluently, thank goodness!! So, this past month or so I've gotten a feel for what it's like to be on a foreign speaking mission! I prepare little visiting teaching messages in French and my companion will nudge me when it's my turn to talk :) I'm like the little junior companion. I even bore my testimony on the spot in French this week! I never thought I could do that! Although a little bit stressful, it's been kind of fun to relearn some French. I definitely read it and write it better than I speak it, but I guess who doesn't right? Speaking skills is kind of the most important when it comes to knowing another language. So this is good for me.

So I've been babysitting and speaking French. We've made some friends in the ward who are all about dinner dates so we've been doing a lot of that too which is way fun :) Last week was game night at our place. We played "Scene It." Steve and I LOST  because we have by far seen the fewest movies out of these guys. Especially Steve. He likes like ZERO movies. Last night was fondue night at our friends house and we watched the new Robin Hood (one that Steve actually does like..) We're just trying to enjoy these little evenings while we still can because they're pretty much over once the baby comes. And no one will invite us to stuff anymore anyway once the baby comes.

I'm still reading my baby and pregnancy books like crazy! Right now I'm reading "Childbirth Without Fear" by Grantly Dick-Read. It was written way back in the 40s and he's all about natural childbirth which wasn't so hot back then but it makes the book really interesting. I'm so curious as to what childbirth is like, I just want him to come already!! Exactly 2 months to go.

Well, Steve passed out at 9 pm tonight. Time for me to go to bed!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds fun!!

    And okay.. when that baby is first here, sure - you'll be tired and a little stressed trying to figure everything all out. But once you do (and maybe a little before you're 100% comfortable with it all) you CAN totally still have dates with friends! Just bring the car seat in and let the baby sleep while you eat/play games or whatever!

    In fact.. when Harvey was tiny, we weren't that quiet when he slept, and it trained him to be able to sleep with noise, which turned out to be to our advantage. Just sayin'.

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  2. You're amazing. I'm serious. You bore your testimony on the spot in French! Wo. :)

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  3. So glad you're brushing up on your French!

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  4. thats awesome! I miss speaking french! I've just about totally lost it because I have no one to speak it to :-(

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  5. you two are such a beautiful couple. I wish I knew another language like that!

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