A Garden Party

Our Relief Society had a garden party on Tuesday evening, and I bought this hat to wear. And I rode my bike. It was awesome. I love my hat, and I love my bike.

Wednesday was probably the worst day ever. My iPhone’s home button died, and if you know anything about iPhones, you know that the home button is the most significant button on the entire phone. So I got that fixed, but lost the sim card tray, so I had to go back out and buy one. I didn’t get anything done because of the stupid phone (because then I had to set it up, restore, etc etc etc).

It’s back to normal now, though, so hopefully I will be, too!

Happy Hump Day

Is it Wednesday already? I am so ready for the weekend – probably because it is General Conference weekend.

I hope that I didn’t offend anyone with my breastfeeding post. I was just feeling kind of strongly about it at the moment.

I dreamt last night that I gave birth to a little baby boy who weighed about 7.5 lbs. He was beautiful, and I breast fed him. And Christy (my sister) was there with me at the birth instead of Russ. And I didn’t even have to push him out. Ha ha ha. That was probably the part that gave it away as a dream!

Not sure if it means anything (I am not pregnant – and not trying to be pregnant). Just thought I’d share. It was kind of a crazy dream. And at first he wasn’t crying (he was doing that silent cry that really really made babies do) but then he suddenly started crying, and that’s when I woke up (around 1:30 a.m.) to hear Joseline screaming in her room.

So we spent nearly the entire night trying to calm a freaked out two-year-old. Several prayers, songs, water bottles, and snuggles later, she was asleep. But I think she’s going to need a serious nap.

Monday Musings – Breastfeeding, the outcast

I have been thinking about breast feeding a lot lately. Mostly I’ve been thinking about all the misunderstandings surrounding breast feeding. What has spurred this? No, I’m not pregnant (but I wish I was – more about that later). I think what started me thinking so strongly about breast feeding was finding that my aunt who just had her first baby has stopped breastfeeding before her baby was 2 months old because “her milk dried up.”

Now, before I go on, let me say that I know that there are some women who just can’t (physically) breastfeed. But let me also say that the number is a lot smaller than people think it is. However, there are a lot of women who emotionally can’t breastfeed, due to lack of support or lack of desire. I think those are the two real reasons why women aren’t successful at breast feeding. And really, the lack of desire is closely linked to the lack of support. Women who were brought up in “non breast feeding” homes I think are more likely to lack the desire to breast feed.

The whole perception of breastfeeding is what is messed up. Too many people think that breastfeeding is something that is nice to do “if you can” but not essential, and it’s “okay” if you don’t breastfeed. Sure, in way, that’s true. You’re not a sinner if you don’t breastfeed. However, breastfeeding is completely natural, normal, and is actually how God intended for us to feed our children. He didn’t make women produce milk “just in case” someone didn’t come up with formula.

Being a strong advocate of adoption, I completely understand the significance of better infant formula that is almost as good as breast milk (formula will never ever be as good a breast milk. Ever.) There are infants who would die if it wasn’t for formula. So for that, I’m grateful for formula.

But there are women who plan on feeding formula for the majority of their baby’s lives. Vincente never had formula, and Joseline only had formula a handful of times (and I think they were all when I was gone longer than expected).

Now, back to the perception of breast feeding. To a lot of women (even those who are stay at home moms) “breast feeding” involved pumping breast milk, sticking it in a bottle, and giving it to the baby.

This is not breastfeeding. The only time a mother should be pumping is when the baby cannot latch (ie, a preemie, severe latching problems, or separation). I pumped for Joseline when I was away from her for a weekend when she was about 5 months old.

I think part of the problem is that women don’t associate having a baby with breastfeeding. There is a reason why milk comes in when you have a baby. It’s because you are supposed to put that baby on your breast and nourish it.

BREASTS ARE FOR BREASTFEEDING. Sure, they are for other things, as well, but their very nature is for breastfeeding. Women think of their breasts as a sex symbol. We worry about our cup size, we worry about how a shirt makes our breasts look. But breasts are originally and ultimately for breast feeding our children. That’s why even very small-breasted women (like myself  - I barely fill an A cup) can still breastfeed successfully (Baby #1 – 10.5 months, exclusively breastfed until solid food around 4.5/5 months when he started cereals; Baby #2 – 12 months, exclusively breastfed for 6 months). Both of my babies are ultra healthy, have never had ear infections, and have never had anything worse than the sniffles.

I think that if women who wanted to get pregnant would equate that with wanting to breastfeed, and would think about breastfeeding while they were thinking about what color to paint the nursery, there would be better breastfeeding figures in our society.

I do not judge women who choose not to breastfeed (whether for real or perceived real reasons) but please do not spread your lack of enthusiasm for breast feeding to new or expectant mothers. Too often, I hear this from people who (often) chose not to breastfeed (because it was hard because ______ – news flash – breastfeeding is NOT easy, just like being a mother is not easy. Oh wait, that’s right, breastfeeding is part of being a mother). I hear people saying “It’s okay if you can’t (read: don’t want to) breast feed. Your kids will be just as healthy if you don’t.”

THIS IS NOT TRUE! Sure, choosing to formula feed your babies is not giving them a death sentence. But PLEASE do not tell people flat out lies – that formula fed babies are just as healthy as breast fed babies because THIS IS JUST COMPLETELY NOT TRUE. NOT TRUE. NOT TRUE!!! It is a load of crap mothers feed themselves (and others) to make themselves feel better for not breast feeding. Well, I have two things to say to that:

#1) You have no reason to feel bad about choosing not to breast feed. Like I said before, it is not a sin. If you really do feel bad, then make up for it by encouraging other new mothers to breast feed – not by spouting untruths to them to make yourself feel better.

#2) It is a scientifically proven fact that breast fed babies are indeed healthier than formula fed babies. SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN.

You know what, breast feeding is even so important that the Surgeon General of the United States himself has issued a call to support breast feeding.

Breast feeding is natural, normal, and our God-given ability as mothers. Have faith in that God-given ability, and go find help from people who know what they are doing, and by golly, breast feed your child! Don’t pump and give them a bottle – latch that baby on your breast and let them drink the liquid gold that your body creates in a beautiful miracle. If it hurts, find out why and fix it! Don’t just give up because it hurts for two weeks. Fix your latch, talk to a lactation consultant, call La Leche League, go to your OB, your midwife, your friend, your neighbor, SOMEONE, and GET HELP!

And then, if you really can’t breastfeed – then blessings to you for trying, and for wanting to, and for doing everything you could to keep breastfeeding, and my heart goes out to you – you are a great mother, and please help other women breastfeed, don’t feed them a load of crap just because you weren’t able to breastfeed – you are still a good person, and breast is still best.

Sorry for my rant. I hope I don’t offend anyone. I just had to get that off my chest.

Breastfeeding reads:
The Surgeon General's call
Dr Jack Newman’s website
La Leche League International

Happy Birthday, Baby!

 
Today is my sweet Joseline’s 2nd Birthday! We went to IKEA last night to buy her a “big girl” bed for her birthday. She has been asking to sleep in Vincente’s bed for the past few nights, and so we decided it’s about time. We bought this bed in the black pictured below.  It also come in white, but the white looked dingy when it got scratched up, so we went with black. It fits our tastes. We hope Joseline will like it! I’m sure she will. I also love that it is wider than a normal crib mattress, because she’s starting to look cramped on the crib mattress. We’ll probably be getting Vincente bunkbeds for his birthday. We’ve been meaning to get bunk beds for a while, but we haven’t because, well, probably because we are lazy. But since it’s his birthday, and we got Joseline a bed (ironically, her mattress is bigger than his now) we feel we should probably upgrade our 4 year old into a twin mattress.

For her birthday, I blew up some balloons and put them in her crib before she woke up this morning. We were going to get some helium balloons from the party store last night and then tie them on to her crib this morning, but I think she actually enjoyed this more. She was actually HAPPY when I went to get her out of her crib. Joseline is pretty crabby most mornings, so this was a nice change. And she spent a good 20 minutes or so playing with the balloons before they moved on to something else. We’ll do the helium balloons for Vince, probably. It would have been fun to switch her beds in the night while she was sleeping, but we probably would have woken her up.

We’ll have cake and ice cream for her tonight for a party, and eventually we’ll have a family party with Russ’ family for both her and Vincente (their birthdays are 10 days apart).

Happy Birthday, Joseline!

(below: Joseline’s 1st birthday – she has so much more hair now!)

Caution: Bumpy Road

This is what our life has been like the last week – a very, very bumpy road. Thank goodness it’s almost over, and everything has worked out.

I’m always amazed at our Father’s ability to make the hard times not seem so bad.

Among the issues of the week was Russ’ car’s alternator dying. He got it to start at work in Lehi and drove it all the way down Redwood Rd and it died waiting for the light to cross Bangerter highway. So I gave him a little nudge with the van (which scratched the paint on my beautiful bumper!!) and he made it across the intersection. Then I put a cloth shopping bag on my bumper and gave him another little push into a bank parking lot where we jumped his car. It made it a little farther down the road, but then he had to stop at a red light and it died again. So we pulled it over and charged his battery again a little with my car. Rinse and repeat, basically. This time, he made it to the left turn lane right in front of AutoZone and was able to push the car into the parking lot. We had originally thought it was the battery (which apparently in a Dodge Stratus you have to get at through the wheel well -  we will never ever own one of these cars again… ever) but at this point we were pretty sure it was the alternator. Sure enough – the battery was fine, but it needed a new alternator. Our favorite shop is all the way in West Valley, and at this point we were in South Jordan (10400 S 1500 W ish). The shop is at 5600 W and 3100 S. Oh yeah, and it’s been raining pretty much this whole time). So we buy a tow cable at AutoZone and hook up Russ’ car to the van and tow it all the way across the western Salt Lake Valley. It was an adventure. I was actually really enjoying myself. I had prayed the whole time that we would make it safely to the auto parts store (because I figured we just needed a new battery, and the guys at AutoZone could help us figure out how to replace the battery).

Well, we made it safely, and sure enough it needed a new alternator, and it’s all fixed and ready to go for us (we seriously really love this shop – they do a great job, warranty their parts and labor, and you don’t have to pay out your nose for it! and they are honest, and helpful, and fast – we left the car there last night with the key in the drop box, and by the time I called at 9am, they had looked at the car and were finding out which part to order so they could call and give me a quote. Then they called around noon to tell me it was done and ready for pickup).’

So we’re doing well, and have experienced the fact that Heavenly Father doesn’t always make our life peachy, even when we have faith – but he does help us through our trials, whether by actually making them lighter, or by making them seem lighter.

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Philippians 4:13

General Conference Prep

I played the Prophets and Apostles matching game with Vincente again today. He did really well remembering the names! He even got Elder Hales and Elder Scott straight (I really struggle with those two when I see them – hearing them I can differentiate, but their pictures look a lot alike, especially in black-and-white printer paper quality).

While we were playing, Vincente says to me, “I was the prophet when I was telling you what to do.” It took me a minute to remember what on earth he was talking about, but then I remembered for Family Home Evening last Monday we had Vincente pretend to be the Prophet, and Russ pretended to be Heavenly Father – Russ would tell Vincente something to tell me, and then Vince would come around the corner and tell me (“put your hands on your head” “sit down” “stand up” “fold your arms” etc). I couldn’t believe that Vincente remembered that lesson! He has been surprising me left and right with his gospel knowledge. I worry, because we attend a Portuguese ward, and sometimes I think he doesn’t understand what is going on in Primary. On top of that, he doesn’t have a long attention span and never looks like he is listening, so half the time I think we’re just talking to ourselves. But then he goes and says stuff like this, and reminds me that prophets talk to Jesus, and I’m just floored. Over and over again.

Anyway, I was getting excited for Vince to see the General Authorities at General Conference in April, and then I remembered that he has never really heard their voices. So I hopped on to LDS.org and looked up the “General Conference Highlights” and showed him this video:

He actually did pretty well naming them while he was watching.

The thing that struck me, though, was how quiet he was during the first clip of President Monson. I could tell that he was feeling the Spirit while he watched. After a minute, I started explaining what each apostle was talking about in Primary terms - “He’s telling us that we need to obey.” “He’s telling us that we can have the Holy Ghost with us to teach us.” “He’s telling us to be like the Savior.” “He’s telling you to keep the commandments so that you can have the Priesthood, which means you have the power of God.”

Then, on one of the clips of President Monson, Vincente says, “Hey, President Monson! Do you talk to Jesus?” And then, Vince changes his voice (to sound like President Monson, I assume) and says, “Yes, I do.”

It was a really humbling experience for me to listen to that sweet (if somewhat silly) testimony of my not-quite-four-year-old son, affirming that he knows that President Monson is a prophet, and that President Monson talks to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

When Elder Oaks talked about the two lines of communication with Heavenly Father, I tried to reinforce the testimony and explained that Elder Oaks was telling us that we can talk to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father when we pray, and that we can also listen to the prophets because they talk to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and tell us what to do.

I plan on playing the matching game with Vincente more, and then also playing the “highlights” clip from last year’s General Conference. During the six months following April’s General Conference, I’ll play the new “highlights” clip for him every now and then. I think the “highlights” clip is probably the best tool yet for exposing little kids to General Conference. There is gentle background music, and the clips are short (1-2 minutes) and it’s only 16 minutes from start to finish. Vince was just about done at 12-13 minutes, but I tried to help him stick it out. It’s just perfect for his attention span – 4 two hour sessions is going to be entirely too much for him right now, but this will help get him ready to sit and listen to longer talks. And later as he gets older, we can play clips of the talks by the apostles in longer segments.

I think we will have him sit and listen when the Prophet addresses us. I haven’t decided what to expect out of him for the rest of it. We’ll try to get him and sit with us (by me explaining what the speakers are saying – in Primary terms), but I don’t know how much he’ll care to sit through, and I would like to be able to just sit and soak up one or two sessions. We’ll see how it goes.

Honesty is the best policy

From Friday night:
That cup wasn't in there until just before I snapped this picture.

And tonight, the cleanliness of the sink was all Russ' doing.




From tonight:
Here are all the dishes from tonight. Russ' family came over for dinner, and just after they left, my sister and her hubby came over with their adorable dogs, and we ended up playing with puppies instead of cleaning up. I did load and start the dishwasher, so it is mostly just the dishes in the sink. But this is part of moving my mountain - not being scared of doing the dishes the next morning.



So tomorrow I will move this mountain.

Posting these pictures is good for me. It's really keeping me accountable for my attitude about keeping my house in order.

I should do this more often with other habits I want to form.

Segue O Profeta

 
Last week for Family Home Evening, we made a matching game with the pictures of the prophets and apostles. I just printed the pictures from the November 2010 Ensign on cardstock (two copies) and then cut them out to make pairs of each prophet/apostle’s face. I had to resize the pictures of the First Presidency, but that was pretty easy.

Both of our kids love matching games, and this one was no different. At first it was a little hard for them, because there were 15 pairs (30 cards) and they are used to 8-10 cards. But Vincente still did really well, and Joseline even found a few matches on her own! Next time we will probably do them in smaller sets – 4-5 pictures at a time.

As we flipped over the pictures, we practiced saying the names of the person pictured. This was good for Russ and myself as well… I’m ashamed to say we’re not as good as we thought we were at remembering all the names. The leadership has changed so much since I was a teen! I still remember listening to Elder Maxwell and President Faust. It seems like it was just yesterday that they were speaking to us – but it’s been years, hasn’t it?

I hope that this will help our kids enjoy General Conference more when we watch it in a few weeks.

May The Force Be With You

I caught Vince using the Force to open the doors at PetCo a while ago...




It was quite possibly the best thing I have seen in a while. Although I think the manager wasn't amused. If I remember correctly, he was approaching just as I snapped this picture. And he didn't look particularly happy. But that may have just been because some of the animals got loose or something.

Mission Accomplished

Here it is - Day no. 1 of moving my mountain.



It wasn't actually as hard as I thought it was going to be. Once I started thinking about it in terms of 'moving a mountain' - and having faith to move that mountain, it became quite easy. I jut went to work.

The best part? It only took me about 5 minutes. And doing the dinner dishes (I loaded plates, etc right after, and rinsed the pots and pans) only took about two minutes. I think this mountain is going to be a lot easier to move than I thought it was.

And to remind myself of how to think about those dishes in that sink, I put this up on the cupboard by the sink:




Does it seem weird that I am exercising faith to do the dishes? I don't think so.

What mountains do you have that you think you might be able to move just by reminding yourself that if we have enough faith we can move mountains?

-- Post on the go

Moving Mountains

I am about to confess something horrible. And embarrassing. So please don’t judge.

This is what my kitchen sink looks like right now -

Yes, there it is – in all of it crusty-food-dirty-dishes glory.

It is my MOUNTAIN.

Figuratively, of course, but it might as well be one. Yesterday I didn’t clean the house. Not one bit. I didn’t life a finger at all. It was awesome. I did go to pump class, I played with the kids, I read books to them – but I didn’t clean. Then Russ came home, and I remembered that I didn’t clean, and I felt bad. Really, really bad.

Later in the night, after the kids were in bed and we were having some meaningful pillow talk, I mentioned to Russ that my “mountain” is dirty dishes in the sink. I have been trying really hard in the past few years to get in the habit of rinsing my dishes and either putting them straight in the dishwasher, or if the dishwasher is clean or running, in a wash bin under the sink. Why? Because if I have a clean sink, I feel like I can do anything! This is why dirty dishes in the sink is my mountain – if the kitchen sink is clean, chances are the rest of the house is clean, too. If there are dirty dishes in the sink, I feel like I can’t clean anything until they are gone… and, like I said… mountain – so nothing ends up getting clean.

Now, the biggest problem with this is that if there are dirty dishes in the sink, rather than just clean them up and take care of them, I get discouraged (remember… mountain) and add to the mess. The other kink is that I’m not the only person in this house who uses that sink. The other person shall remain unnamed, but he isn’t quite as good as me at rinsing dishes. It comes from how we were raised. In his family, everyone leaves their dishes in the sink (leftover bits of food and all) and one person who’s duty it is to do dishes then rinses everyone’s dishes and loads the dishwasher. In my family growing up, we were each responsible for our own dishes and were supposed to rinse our dishes and put them in the dishwasher, or rinse them and leave them on the counter if the dishwasher was already running. Not that we ever did it, but that was the rule. As I have matured and started running my own household, it is one of two things that make me crazy – dirty dishes in the sink/counter, and clean laundry that needs to be folded. The laundry only makes me crazy enough to take care of it, whereas the dishes… well, like I said… “MOUNTAIN.”

But today I was reading a talk by President Eyring, and for some reason I starting thinking about faith moving mountains, and that reminded me about calling the dirty dishes in the sink my personal “mountain” – and then I had no excuse. If I want to have faith to move mountains, then I can have faith to keep my kitchen sink clean.

I am going to start taking a picture of my kitchen sink twice a day. Once before I go to bed, and once after the kids go down for a nap. Because I want to document (mostly for myself, but a little bit to show off) my ability to have faith to move that mountain.

 

Bring it on.

Casey Jr

Probably one of the kids’ favorite pastimes is playing with the trains. Well, only if we are playing with them.

These wooden tracks are my favorite. Our collection is a mod podge of Ikea tracks and trains, Target tracks and trains, and a few random trains we inherited from friends and family.

Mostly Russ is the one that plays trains with the kids. He’s the one who plays most “pretend” games with the kids, too. I’m just not as exciting. But I do enjoy building train tracks with the kids, and towers. More than that, I enjoy being with them and seeing their personalities, and watching them learn and develop.

I wish I had new exciting things to report about our kids, but mostly they’ve been doing the same old, same old. Joseline tries to talk more, so that’s good. Vincente loves the daycare at the gym, and Joseline finally went yesterday without screaming as I left. Last Thursday I took the kids to the gym daycare, and Joss cried when I left them, and Vince cried when I picked them up. That’s just about how it goes with them.

The pump class is amazing. The instructor is fabulous and upbeat, and the class is at the same time on Tuesday and Thursday, so I get to do pump twice a week and then run the other days (although… I haven’t really been running much because it’s been so cold, and I can only run so long on the track or the treadmill).

I’m doing yoga on my own at home with some good yoga videos I found on YouTube.

It’s nice to get back in shape… and boy do I need it!

Repost and Some Thoughts a Day Late

I was reading the following post today and I just loved it. It was a record of one amazing weekend, and I just thought I’d post it because this past weekend was just about as amazing, but I don’t have time to write about it (I was trying to get Live Writer fixed… it’s fixed, but I have to leave for the gym in about 10 minutes!)

So here’s a repost of July 6, 2009 for your reading pleasure:

Sunny Day
originally posted July 6, 2009

Ah, the sun, the sand, the shore, the waves crashing on the beach, a perfect ending to a perfect weekend. We spent the day on the beach in Santa Cruz with the Wildes. It was fabulous. We didn’t even really do much. Just bummed around on the beach. I like bumming on the beach better than bumming at home – you’re bumming around either place, but at least when you go out to the beach you feel like you’ve done something that day.

Mostly, Russ and Dan went out on the boogie boards, and Michelle and I sat near or in the tent with the babies, while Vince jumped around in the sand, explored the rocks, ate bananas and sandwiches, and made friends with some other little kids on the beach.

The babies were pooped after a while. Okay, well, Ethan mostly slept the whole time. Joseline was awake for the most part, but she was bored with Ethan (since he was just sleeping) and kept squawking at me, begging me to take her out to see the ocean.  When I did, she would just stare at the waves crashing on the shore. It was really just a peaceful day. No rush to do anything. Just … living. That pretty much describes our weekend! (oh yes, that and potty training Vince – which has been WAY wonderful)

I got some pretty great shots – even with my dinky camera. It actually works really well out in the sun. Indoors is where it has problems.

On the way home we stopped at “Top-a-Lot Yogurt” in Santa Cruz. It was a self-serve frozen yogurt place. Think DIY Coldstone. You grabbed a cup, filled it with your choice of 6 different flavors of frozen yogurt, and then topped with any of dozens of toppings from candy pieces to fruit to sauces. Then they weigh your treat and you pay 39 cents per ounce of goodness. I think our total (including Vince’s chocolate ice cream topped with marshmallows) was something like $11. And Russ got a HUGE bowl of ice cream with just about every topping that had anything to do with peanut butter (pb cups, Butterfinger pieces, peanut butter syrupy stuff, chocolate syrup, etc). I should have taken pictures of the place. There are way too many things to think about these days now that we’re taking a two year old to the potty all the time.

This evening, some new friends from Delta Co. came over to hang out. It was a lot of fun. They have a daughter just about Vince’s age, and they are both potty training, and they both had accidents tonight. It was adorable. Okay, well, it was fun having friends over. The kids were exhausted, but they played pretty well together, considering. Joseline went to bed almost as soon as we got home. She was worn out from the beach, even though all she did was hang out in the tent with sleeping Ethan! I’m super ready for bed, but I’m waiting for Russ to finish some Chinese homework.

All in all, I am very satisfied with this weekend. I told Russ that I am neither anxious for him to go back to work tomorrow (like I usually am after the weekend – geez, just go back to work already! You’re messing up our routine!), nor sad to see him go back to work. It’s like the weekend was perfect, and I am completely content for life to just continue as normal! I think that is the sign of a perfect weekend.

Potty Training Vol 2 Issue 1

Three #1's in the potty, one #2 in the potty, and three #1 accidents on the floor (two on the carpet - Adam and Christy, Penny is now officially forgiven...) already off to good start - although I did try quitting twice, Russ kept talking me back into it. That little girl can hold her pee entirely too long. She would go for over an hour without going pee. Silly girl.

I'll update again tomorrow and hopefully post a picture.

I'm just ready to be done with diapers.

For a little while, at least.

-- Post on the go

Of Sleds and iPhones

This was back in November, when it snowed so much it was almost up to my knees, but I never got around to posting the pictures.

On this particular snow day, Russ had the van at work and so I walked half a mile in the snow with the kids to the nearest park (and probably the nearest hill – we live in a very flat part of the valley). Vince loved sledding, but I think Joseline was really cold, so... not quite as happy as V. I don’t blame her. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the park (I was pulling her in the purple sled because the sidewalks weren’t clear enough for a stroller. I need to get one of those bike trailers that converts to a sled with a harness and then get myself some snow shoes and just take the snowy world by storm with my little babies in tow! 

By the time we were ready to get home, I patted my pocket to make sure my phone was still there, and to my horror, it was gone. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I went down the hill on a sled, because I knew that I had it when we got to the park. The kids were screaming because they were cold and tired, so I knew that I didn’t have time to look for it right then. Thankfully it was fully charged, so I figured I could go find it when Russ got home. Well, then he wasn’t going to be home until really late, so I called my sister and asked if she would mind watching the kids and lending me her phone so I could go find mine.

Russ got home just as my sister got here, so she went with me to find the phone. It was dark and cold and the world was (thankfully) quiet.

Christy called my phone over and over again, but ... nothing. Then, when I was near the place where we had been sledding down the hill, I heard something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but then I told Christy to call again, and I HEARD IT!! My phone! Ringing triumphantly under the snow somewhere. I didn’t know exactly where it was, but I had a good idea, so I started digging like a dog in the fresh snow just at the bottom of our sledding hill. My hand hit something hard and I heard the ringtone fly past me, landing behind me. MY PHONE! Relatively unscathed, too. I hadn’t seen a hole in the snow where it would have fallen down, so I figured that when I went down the hill, it must have slid out of my pocket and then through the side of the 12”+ snow in front of our sled track.

I still can’t believe I found it. I had resigned myself to never finding it until the snow melted again, but there it was.

Ha ha, and just a few days before that, I had dropped it in the toilet (it fell out of my back pocket). My poor phone has been through a lot, but it still works great!

And for your viewing pleasure, a (very) short clip of Vince going down the hill. I forgot that I had it zoomed in for picture taking before I started the camera, and this was the last time we went down the hill before we left.

Monday Musings - Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Babies

I love these babies so much. They are growing up entirely too fast, even though I enjoy teens more than small children, it doesn't soften the fact that time is passing too quickly.


Joseline is learning so many new words (in English AND Portuguese). Some of my favorites:
"Mão" - cat (she also says 'gato')
Agua - (water, which she also uses as the word for juice until we correct her and then she will either say 'sumo' or 'jus')
'ctente' - how she says Vincente's name
'cima' - up
'templo' - temple, of course. She recognizes the temples and loves to point them out. We feel blessed to live so close to so many temples.
'finha' - i.e. 'fofinha' - literally 'little soft' but it is the word we use for 'snuggle' which is the word we use for their favorite blankets
'o-mea' - oatmeal
'sammy' - sandwich (which we actually call 'sammy''s, so she's saying this one correctly
'scare' - she uses this word when she gets scared - seriously. The other day she fell off her chair at the kitchen table and when Russ was holding her, she said 'scare!' which meant she was scared.
'appy' - not referencing apps for the iPhone, this is her word for 'apple' (and, coincidentally, 'banana' and all other fruit)
'oo aa' - (monkey sound) this is her word for 'monkey'
'game' - when she wants to play a game on my iPhone

She is working on two word (and more) combos, as well. My favorite so far was when Vince was sitting at the counter and Joss told Russ 'cima ctente' (which, if you see the glossary above you'll know means 'up Vincente'). She was telling us that she wanted to sit up by Vincente. It was awesome.

Russ has a harder time understand Joseline's 'baby Portuguese' than I do. He may speak Portuguese better than I do, but I speak baby better in ANY language! Ha - okay, probably just baby Portuguese, but that's most likely because my Portuguese is closer to baby Portuguese than real Portuguese anyway.

Vincente is like a walking Star Wars soundtrack. He can sing the main themes from just about the entire sound tracks from 5 of the 6 episodes (VI is PG13, so Vince has only seen that one once with Russ).

Last night Russ let him watch A Knight's Tale. He brought up his Ironman action figure sitting on a toy motorcycle and had a baton in his other hand. He said 'Mamãe I want to show you something!' and he proceeded to act out a jousting scene with his ironman, motorcycle, and the baton. It was awesome.

Well, my kids are sweet and beautiful, and that is all. I love my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful babies.

-- Post on the go

Are You There?

I am approaching the 100 reader limit on my blog, and I’m not sure how many people really read it, anyway. So you will be getting an email from me asking whether or not you read the blog. If you do, please respond to the email, or comment on this post. If you don’t, then ... well, you won’t even know that I removed you, and you probably aren’t reading this post, so it doesn’t make sense for me to even be saying this.

What on earth are you doing?

Vince was watching PBS kids shows online while I was downstairs folding laundry... I came upstairs to find this. I guess it was more comfortable? And what’s up with the no clothes getup? I swear the child loves to be naked (except for the fact that he doesn’t want me and Joseline to actually see him naked... hence the underwear...)

A Little Backwards

I have been trying really hard to get my life in order. I have been working on being more productive, getting more things done, and taking better care of myself and all of the temporal needs of my family.

In all that quest to be an “effective mother” – meaning, having a clean house, a stocked pantry and fridge, and dressed and bathed children – I realized that I have been seriously neglecting the thing that matters most.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said this:

“As we turn to our Heavenly Father and seek His wisdom regarding the things that matter most, we learn over and over again the importance of four key relationships: with our God, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. As we evaluate our own lives with a willing mind, we will see where we have drifted from the more excellent way. The eyes of our understanding will be opened, and we will recognize what needs to be done to purify our heart and refocus our life.” (emphasis added)

I studied this talk back in January on my scripture study blog, My Soul Delighteth, but I think that maybe back then my mind wasn’t as willing to see where I may have drifted from “the more excellent way” – but last night as I prayed for the Lord to help me be a better wife and a better mother, I prayed for help to “do the most important things.” And then something President Uchtdorf spoke about came to my mind.

“...it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives.” (emphasis added)

I am a list maker. Ask my husband. I have your usual grocery lists and menus, but it doesn’t stop there. I have priority lists of things to buy, projects to complete, debts to pay off, books to read... even that list goes on and on. My to-do lists are complex and list every possibility for my day. Well, they did until last night when I realized exactly why I am experience that “increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in [my life].”  It was because of the darn to-do lists. Sure, the laundry needs to be done, and the dishes need to be washed, and lunch and dinner need to be served, and groceries need to be bought. But the most important thing to do is spend time with my little ones. “We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e,time.”

I was trying to get into a strict, “efficient” routine that would help me feel like I had accomplished a lot during the day. But those accomplishments were temporal, not spiritual – not eternal. They were things that were going to last only in this life, only in this moment, and would not be as significant as the relationships that I can form with  my children right now while they are small.

From my journal last night: So I am going to try something new. Something completely different. Before the kids wake up, rather than trying to scramble and get things done, I am going to spend time with Heavenly Father and myself, meditating and studying the scriptures. Then, when the kids get up, rather than attemping to distract them so that I can complete yet more items on my to-do list, I will simply BE with my children.

It won’t be horrible if I actually get some chores done. It will be especially good if the kids help. They can sort laundry, fold laundry, help empty the dishwasher, help wash the table, help cook. I have had a little bit of a disconnect between being a mother and being a homemaker. I think that I felt like I could only wear one hat at a time (I could be a mother, but not at the same time as being a housekeeper, and neither of those at the same time as being a cook, or a courier or chauffeur). But really, the only hat I have is mother. And it is by far the most important.

The most frustrating (or rather, enlightening) part of this whole ordeal is that I just read and studied this talk barely a month ago! Why didn’t I figure it out then? I’ll tell you why. I am one of the most stubborn people in the entire world, and it takes an average of 3-4 months for me to admit that I was ever even wrong. Seriously. I think it used to take a lot longer than that when I was younger, but I have improved – probably thanks to my sweet, patient husband.

So far the past few days have been great. I have been spending more time with the kids, and less time doing dishes and laundry and washing toilets and vacuuming and cleaning up,  but you know what, my house still looks fine (not pristine, like I might like it to be, but it’s not unsanitary or cluttered or anything like that). And my kids are happier (especially Joseline – she has been a little cranky child for a looooong time, and finally she’s been pretty happy, only throwing the normal toddler fits, instead of just being ornery all the time.Vincente is being more helpful and loving.

And I feel more relaxed, and closer to Heavenly Father.

Vincente and Joseline playing on the air mattress with a friend. 

But who wouldn’t be closer to Him

around these little angels?

My Wednesday Wandering Post

Wednesday Wanderings moved over to Child’s Play – so here is the link to WW from last week.