Quick quote

"You cannot drive people to do things which are right, but you can love them into doing them, if your example is of such a character that they can see you mean what you say" - George Albert Smith
 

Birthdays

Today Jefferson turned 6 and Duncan turned 3. It's so surreal to me that I've really been a mom for 6 years, and that I've only been a mom for 6 years. I can't imagine life without little people depending on me.

Something I want to remember about Jefferson - He LOVES creating. Whether creating elaborate art projects out of cardboard, tape and velcro or helping me cook in the kitchen he LOVES the process of making something out of something else. The other day we were riding in the car with a little boy in Duncan's preschool, Grayson, and Grayson was talking about one of his toys breaking, and Jefferson said "It's okay if a toy breaks, because you can make anything you want out of paper, so you can just make a new one". Every day he comes home from school with at least one craft project in his backpack, I wish I could figure out what to do with them all!

Something about Duncan - He is finally starting to really talk, but only on his terms. It is so fun to hear him talk more, but he still will just sit silently if he doesn't feel like talking and not respond to questions. Everything he does he does with his own little attitude and flair, he is such a big personality, and a lot of fun to hang out with. He loves Diego and Dora the Explorer, and will play in his room quite a while making up adventures and taking his stuffed animals along as his companions. He will build bridges and stairs out of books, then I'll hear him say "First we have to climb the stairs, then cross the sticky bridge, then we'll get to stone mountain!", just like Dora does.

Both boys are really excellent big brothers to Karl, I've been so happy with how sweet and kind they are with him.

Happy birthday to my 2 big boys!

Little blessings

Today I had several errands to run, nothing major, just small things at lots of different places, but getting the kids buckled and unbuckled multiple times always feels overwhelming to me.

The place I was dreading the most was the post office. We have 2 post offices within 5 min of our house. One has generally apathetic employees, but no parking lot, only street parking with meters. The other has a parking lot, but every time I've gone there with kids I feel like everyone there hates me for over-populating the planet or something, and the workers feel downright hostile.

Anyway, I decided for ease of dealing with Duncan and Karl to go to the one with the parking lot. I knew it was going to be hard carrying in the big box I had and the car seat carrier, and dealing with Duncan, so I said a little prayer that somehow there would be a nice person there that would help me with the doors (I know that seems like a really dumb thing to pray for... I just was imagining all these scenarios of Duncan running away and me holding a big box and a carrier and not able to do anything, and stuck trying to get in the 2 sets of doors... Okay, explaining it doesn't make it sound any less lame, but it felt like a very hard thing at the time...)

When I arrived at the post office I got the box balanced on my hip and had Karl in the other arm, and right then someone walked out of the post office, smiled at me, and held the first door. A smile and holding the door open - miracle! Then in the lobby there was another person who was getting their mail in their PO box who opened the 2nd door for me - Yay, I was in! THEN, there was a lady who took my box, and put it on the counter for me, and smiled at Karl, and a 2nd lady who started talking to Duncan, keeping him occupied.

To top it all off when I got to the counter the post office worker was actually nice, and told me to have a beautiful day when I left. They were all small things, but to me they all felt like little miracles, and it made my day.  

Two weeks

Two weeks from today we fly to Utah for Erin's and Lucas' weddings!! I am so very excited.

Also the property manager came and fixed our water heater today, which was also quite exciting, I'm very happy to know I can take a shower tomorrow morning.

On a not so exciting note, I made the mistake of letting Duncan get out of the cart while in World Market, and he quickly ran to the wine racks (which are kind of cool looking from a kids perspective I'm sure) and grabbed 2 bottles of red wine, breaking one of them and getting it all over himself... So we had a very smelly ride home.

This is a lame post, but I haven't posted for several days and wanted to try and write something tonight, and apparently this is all I've got, ha.

Prepare a Way

I feel like all I write recently is about being tired... I guess I'm a little preoccupied with sleep (or lack thereof, ha) as of late.

But, once again.... This week Karl had had a couple especially rough nights in a row, and I was feeling pretty down about it. I was reading my scriptures and I read 1 Nephi 3:7 "I will go and do the things that the Lord hath commanded for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way...". As I read it I thought, I could replace "commandment" with "child" in that sentence - The Lord doesn't give any child to me that I can't handle. He loves me, and he loves these little people he's sending to me, and he will prepare a way for me as a parent.

I felt assured that while it's not always a walk in the park, it is a walk I don't have to take alone, and he is ready and willing to help me. And if I keep my trust in him and keep moving forward, he will prepare a way for me to make it, to keep going on. No matter how tired I feel, he is with me, willing to help me do the things I need to do to raise these little boys.

Other People's Words

Two things I've read recently that I've been thinking about - 

 

1. Someone had this quote on Facebook last week:

"Mile by mile, life's a trial.  Yard by yard, life is hard.  Inch by inch, life's a cinch"

For some reason the "Inch by inch, life's a cinch" got stuck in my head. Karl's been having some pretty rough nights recently, which has been leaving me feeling drained and discouraged often. So I've been trying to focus on the "inches" right in front of me, asking myself "What is the small thing I need to do right now?", and just not think about the rest. I think it's been helping me use my time better and not to get discouraged about all the things I'm not getting done right now.

2. Also from Facebook (I'm afraid I spend a lot of time perusing Facebook on my phone while nursing....), someone posted this article:

http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/

I particularly liked the line "...at the end of the day, our children don’t want a discouraged, stressed-out mom who is wishing she were someone else."

I think it's so easy to see where I'm falling short as a mom/wife/person sometimes, but I liked the thought that instead of focusing on that and feeling discouraged about it, I need to remember that my kids love me for me, and not for what I get done.

So there you go, even Facebook can be good sometimes, ha ha.

Short, but not specifically sweet

Three things:

 1. The hardest part of being a parent for me is being happy and fun when I'm tired. I've been tired a lot recently so I'm working on this.

2. I ate way too much junk food last weekend, and I'm feeling it. I need to learn to say no to sugar sometimes...

 3. Karl is starting to smile and laugh quite often now and I LOVE it. So adorable.