Motherhood - Chapter 10 - Personal Gems

As a mother we get to be the discoverer of personal precious gems. When we bring a new life into the world we never know what exactly we are getting. Sure we can usually find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. But what kind of person is that baby going to be? Will the baby be the content baby who loves to sleep and never fusses? Or will he or she suffer from colic and cry all hours of the day and night? We just don't know until we get the baby here and discover this for ourselves.

As each child grows and develops, we find out more about their personality, how they think and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I can think of each of my older children and specifically pinpoint some of their strengths that fill my heart with joy. When I see them displaying these strengths I feel as if I am the luckiest mother in the world and I just want to burst with love and joy.

Granted, I can also think of some of their weaknesses and feel like I am totally failing as a mother because they have these behaviors I have not been able to teach out of them... yet I hope. But we are all like that - a mix of strengths and weaknesses. Even as adults we struggle to be our best selves and over come some of those weaknesses that would make our mother's cringe. Sometimes, when my children are displaying their weaker sides, I try to remember and remind them of their best selves and how much I love it when they choose to be that person instead. It helps me at least to remember exactly how wonderful they really are even when they aren't acting like it.

Lately I have been finding such great joy in discovering some of the precious gems of personality my son has innately brought with him from heaven. This age of almost 2 is such a time of growth and insight into the mind of a child. I never got to this stage with Camille. There is so much unknown about her to me. So much left to one day discover. So seeing this stage with Noble has been all the sweeter.

Some of my favorite discoveries as late about my little son Noble:

He is clean. I LOVE this. I mean I really, really LOVE this. Probably because it is not a gift with which I was innately blessed. Some of my kids take after me and just drop their things where they are and walk off. I have improved in this over the years but I still am not perfect at picking up after myself immediately.

Noble on the other hand, much like Ann Marie, likes things clean and orderly. He is quick to put his shoes away in the shoe caddy when he comes in the house. He will gladly put all his toys away. He runs to get a rag to wipe up anytime he spills water or anything else. When he has a stinky diaper he immediately goes over and gets a box of wipes and takes one out to try to wipe himself and then tells me "Mama, I stinky." He likes his nose and face and hands to be clean. If he is drawing and gets some marker or ink on his hand he will want it wiped off. He is happy to help clean any room. One of his favorite toys is the toy vacuum. He also loves the real vacuum and will pull it out and pretend to vacuum the floor. He is going to be a great cleaner someday.

He is obedient by nature. Some kids will do exactly the opposite of anything you tell them to do. If you say to go inside they run the other way. I have one like this. It almost works better to ask her to do the opposite of what you want her to do. But Noble is not like this. Lately we have been playing out in the street out front since the weather has been good. I have been pleasantly surprised at how obedient Noble is about going to the sidewalk and staying there whenever a car is coming. He also will turn his trike around and come back toward me when I call to him that he is going too far away. I find this unusually obedient. I don't even have to get up and go turn his bike around. He just comes back. I LOVE this. Especially when I am 9 months pregnant and it isn't so easy to get up and get him.

He is loving. He is starting to talk more and I love to hear him tell us that he loves us. I love that he is generous with his kisses. I love that when we say his prayers he remembers to say everyone in the families name, Camille and grandparents included. I love that he is loving to the baby dolls in our house and the stuffed animals. Maybe that isn't very "boy" but I think it is a good sign of a gentle nature which I count as a huge strength in a man.

I love discovering these gems in my son. And I love when I see a new one pop up in one of my daughters these days. Somehow they feel like priceless jewels in the crown of a mother's glory even though we really have nothing to do with creating them.

Here are a few photos of my little guy watching his favorite show and mine, Little Bear.

Oh I've been discovered taking photos!

Links and Update

I have been doing lots of sitting lately. So I have been checking my email frequently and visiting a few sites here and there. Here are a few sites that have come to my attention in my inbox that I want to share.

My friend Emily has started a new crafty type blog. I don't have that crafty talent but I enjoy seeing what others create (and buying it if I like it.) Emily makes yummy food and shares her recipes and cute crafty things that she sells or teaches others how to make on this new blog. If that sounds up your alley go check her out at HERE.

Another family is experiencing the crippling pain of fresh grief after their fourth daughter Samantha Marie died on Sunday. She was just 2 months old. Knowing full well the power of many prayers, I ask you to take a minute and say one now for this sweet family.

On a separate note, I had my 2nd to last Dr. appointment today. Nothing is happening. Snickerdoodle looks good but I am not having contractions and my body is not starting labor anytime soon. Oh well. I am still 8 days away from having this baby out of my insides and in my arms. That is the update from here. Happy St. Patty's day everyone!

Shuffle, Shuffle, Waddle, Waddle

With only 9 days left to go before we get to meet the little son making me hurt day and night, I am finally starting to get excited for a baby. Really, I have mostly been looking forward to the impending birth as an end of my pain. I haven't thought too much about the little baby we will be getting in trade. But as the time is growing near I have felt the need to get ready.

It seems each day it gets harder to walk or sleep or get up and down now so I have been trying to get things prepared before it gets worse. This weekend we picked up a crib from my mom and dad and a small dresser they weren't needing anymore. Jon put them up in Lauren's room. (She doesn't sleep there. But her clothes and things are there. She prefers to sleep with Annie and Sabrina in their room in their pull out trundle.)

I had purchased a couple of extra crib sheets for this second crib. So we put the new crib sheet on. Then a couple of days ago we moved Noble's sound machine and blankets and babies (he likes to sleep with 2 baby dolls) over to the new crib. He started sleeping in that room that day and was happy about the change. He helped Lauren to bring all his clothes over to the new dresser. He was excited. He loves to help. He seems to understand that this is his new room and his new dresser. I just wish it weren't a pink room. (Lauren's choice when we moved here.)

I have thought about painting it for him but as soon as the baby starts to sleep through the night Noble will be moving back into the nursery. So I figure he will just have to be in the "pink room" for about 9 months.

Today I laundered all the baby clothes and folded them and put them in the nursery dresser. I think that has really started getting me excited for the little guy who will soon be wearing them. They seem so tiny and yet I know so often those tiny clothes seem huge on a newborn.

The days pass one by one, though sometimes it seems time is standing still. I hear the words of Shakespeare echoing in my mind ... Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day. And yet I am treasuring each day, each moment with my little family and my little children as I see them growing and changing right before my eyes.

Shuffle, shuffle, waddle, waddle, I move forward with time as best I can day after endless day.

Strength and Humility

I come from a long line of very strong personalities. Not that all of them were without grace or tact, some of them had those gifts in abundance. But many of my progenitors were type A, Red, opinionated, leader type people. As you can imagine these genes have been passed down in varying degrees to my generation and I can even see them in my some of my children.

For the most part, I am grateful for this streak of genetic strength. I am grateful to read accounts of my ancestors sticking to their beliefs in the face of great trial. I smile to think of my great great grandfather being the first to volunteer to make a 100 mile trip to join the Mormon Battalion. And I am even more pleased that when the appointed time came to leave and make the trip to join the group and he was the only one to show up, he started out on his own.

I gain strength from reading accounts of another ancestor, a butcher by trade, who, though starving enough to be boiling and eating his leather saddle bag, would not slaughter a mule he was delivering from a friend to his wife.

But I think the stories of my ancestors that teach me the most and that to me show the most strength are when these strong leader type personalities submit humbly to correction or instruction. To me there is no greater strength than submitting humbly to the will of the Lord, especially when it goes against what your will is. I think this humility is a most Christ like characteristic. I strive to develop it more fully in my life.

When Jonathan and I got married, one of the best pieces of advice the person who sealed us gave us was, "remember it is more important to have peace in the home than to be right." That has been invaluable advice to me. I think following this advice takes that same type of humility. It is like obeying your parents even when the instruction they have given you seems or is unneeded or trivial.

I hope I can develop that attribute more fully so that I can be moldable and teachable in the Lord's hands. I can practice by more fully accepting the council of my husband and my ecclesiastical leaders. Whether it is my Relief Society President, my Bishop, my Stake President, or one of the General Authorities, I can make myself more teachable by following their counsel, even when I don't understand or even fully agree with it. To me, that is the ultimate show of strength.

Yesterday we had ward council and we were given counsel from our leaders that I could easily say, "well, that doesn't apply to me because I am 9 months pregnant and I have all these kids so I don't have time to do that." But my great, great grandfather also could have gone back home when he saw he was the only one who showed up to make the long journey to join the Mormon Battalion. It would have been reasonable to do so. But I think I will choose to make journey of obedience, regardless of my own feelings about the degree of importance of the counsel in my own life.

And when we have General Conference in a few weeks, perhaps I will be a bit more moldable and ready to receive the counsel that will be given to me then.

Motherhood - Chapter 9 - Heroes

Motherhood gives women a new inner fierceness that many don't even know they have. It is the "mama bear" fierceness. You only see the full effects of it when your child or children are in danger. And then you will surprise yourself at what you will do to protect and defend your child.

I remember the first time I felt this. Sabrina was just a toddler and Annie was a babe literally in my arms. We were in California out in front of our house playing with our neighbors across the street. I remember Sabrina was out in the street (I can't remember if she was just playing or had run out). Then a big huge truck came speeding down the street with no regard for the speed limit.

Here I was with my baby in my arms and I ran into the street to grab Sabrina. I am not sure if I expected I would be able to pick Sabrina up (because I couldn't have without dropping my baby) or if I was single handedly going to stop that truck. But at that moment, I just acted to get to my child regardless of my own safety. Luckily the truck saw me and slowed down in time for me to get Sabrina out of the street. And then I thought how stupid it was for me to put all three of us in the path of the truck. But I guess it ended up a good thing since the truck saw me easier than it would have a little toddler.

Yesterday my sister-in-law Nikki wrote to me about a hero of a mother, Kim Beck, who was not as lucky. She had all 5 of her kids aged 10 and under in her van. She saw the family dog out and took the van out of gear and jumped out to grab the dog and put him away. In the midst of that, she realized with horror that only a mother can imagine that her van was rolling backward in Neutral instead of Park.

She jumped behind the van to stop it. I am sure she felt that Mother Bear instinct that I felt that day jumping out into the street in front of that speeding truck. But she was not strong enough to stand against all the weight of the van. It ran over her and stopped on top of her chest. All the children were safe, but Kim was not. She was pronounced brain dead in the hospital and her organs, including her mother heart were donated to save other lives.

To me this woman epitomizes a Mother Hero. She acted to save her children. She died doing so. And then she continued to save lives after her death by donating her organs. I am so saddened for her husband, children, siblings and parents who must face the days, weeks, months, and years ahead without her. I hope those reading will go read about Kim HERE and show her family some love at this time of such great pain and grief.

36th Week: Guess Snickerdoodle's stats

Tomorrow I will be 37 weeks pregnant. When I made Noble's baby book I got to see a photo of myself at 36 weeks pregnant with Noble. Here is that photo for you all:

So just for comparison I took some photos of myself at 36 weeks and 2 days with this little Snickerdoodle. Here are a couple of those:

The first one is Jon's view and the second I took of myself, obviously,  in the mirror. Note my hair. Later that day I went to see my sister in law Diana and she chopped it off for me.

Here is what I look like this morning, a day before 37 weeks:

Here is a closer up on the new hair.

So today I am 16 days away from giving birth. I am officially due on March 31st. I have never had a baby before my due date. I don't really want to have another baby in April. That is the month Camille was born and I want to save that month as hers. I like to focus the month on Easter and Camille. Jon and my anniversary is March 27th. So I have decided that I am going to have the doctor induce me on March 25th. I would rather spend the next 18 years planning birthday parties before my anniversary and then being able to relax and enjoy time with Jonathan rather than spending my anniversary stressing out about a birthday party.

I know it sounds silly to induce for all those reasons, but I live so far from the hospital that the Dr. wants to induce me anyway and I am in so much pain with this pregnancy that I am fully voting for the sooner the better. Some mornings I wake up and think, "geez, can I just get the epidural now?" Noble's pregnancy was so much easier. I was so much stronger and in so much less physical pain. Doing pilates really helped me physically with that pregnancy. This one I was sick for so long that by the time I felt well enough to get back to pilates I was already 7 months and didn't feel good about starting to exercise at that point.

Anyway, so I scheduled to be induced at 4 a.m. on March 25th. I will be 39 weeks and 1 day. My last 3 babies I have been just a couple days over my due date. Noble was 8 lbs. 12 ozs. Camille was 7 lbs. 7 ozs. and Lauren was 9 lbs. 4 ozs. I was a full week over my due date with Ann Marie and she was 8 lbs. 6 ozs. and Sabrina's due date was questionable but she was 7 lbs. 14 ozs. Their heights ranged from 19 to 21.5 inches.

So does anyone want to guess how big this baby will be? Let's see who can guess closest!

Motherhood - Chapter 8 - Memory

Several weeks ago my husband and I watched an episode of 60 minutes where they highlighted people who could remember every waking minute of their lives in perfect detail. They could remember what they had for dinner on any insignificant day of any year and what they were thinking and whom they were with and what was said by everyone at the table.

In some ways this seemed like a super power. It was really incredible. Most everyone who they had found who had this gift (I think there were about 6) loved having it. Sure there were some negatives. Like the fact that if someone asked them about an emotionally difficult day or time of their life, they would refeel all those feelings as if they were right back in that moment. But they also got to relive all the happy moments in the same way too.

I have to admit, I went to sleep a bit envious that night. How I wish I could remember every sweet and precious moment of my motherhood experience. Of course I feel this way especially about my time with Camille. Without new memories to create everyday, I feel like in my fading memory I lose a shade of her more every day.

But I would love also to remember in perfect detail lots of little details like pretty much every moment of holding Sabrina when she was newly born. I would love to be able to recall with perfect detail Annie's voice and all the words and reason she used when she was just a year old. I would love to be able to hear Lauren's little girl voice in my head at any given moment. And I would remember every minute of Noble's cuteness right now.

This morning as I woke I had a memory come back to me. It is not a perfect memory. I don't remember even which year it was 2006 or 2007. I am pretty sure it was 2007 and I am pretty sure it was in the late spring of that year. But I unfortunately do not have perfect recall. We were living at my parents house and they were on their mission in Kenya.

What I do remember is that the grass in their extensive backyard was a bit long and blooming. It was a beautiful day weather wise. (Which pretty much means it had to be Spring sometime.) The girls and I were outside in the backyard and there were hundreds of ladybugs all flying around in the grass. It was magical. It was a sweet day and I wish so much that I could remember this and all the other sweet simple moments of motherhood with perfect detail.

I believe that someday I will have this gift. I believe we all will. Someday when this mortal life is behind us, I believe we will be able to perfectly recall every moment of our mortal lives. I look forward to that day. And that makes me think about something one of these women with perfect autobiographical recall said about how this gift has affected the way she lives her life. She said that she tries to make every moment count, because every moment is one she will remember forever so she tries to make the most of them.

I could do better at that. Every moment is one that one day I will remember. My moments are finite. My moments with my children here in my home and at these ages are gone as soon as they are experienced. I want to be better about making the most of these moments so that my memories will be sweet. And hopefully by writing some of them down I will be better able to remember a few of them while here in this life.

Top Book Picks

Thanks for all the great book suggestions. Someone suggested a post on my favorite books. I found it highly interesting that some of my favorite books were included in some of the suggestions that came in from some of you with wonderful literary taste. :)

In trying to think of my top 5 favorite books I got a little anxious because I like several different genres of books and it is hard to compare a classic to a quick read the I love. Does that make sense? So I am going to do my top books in various categories instead. It just helps me organize my brain better and it will let you know the genre and if you like that genre you can look into it more.

So let's start with "The Classics"
1) East of Eden by Steinbeck
2) Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
3) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
4) Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
5) Great Expectations by Dickens
6) Little Women by Alcott

Historical Fiction:
1) These Is My Words by Nancy Turner
2) The Agony and The Ecstasy by Irving Stone
3) The Work and the Glory Series by Lund
4) The Tennis Shoes Series by Heimerdinger

Biography:
1) John Adams by David McCullough
2) Truman also by McCullough
3) The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
4) The Message by Lance Richardson

Teen / Fantasy / Science Fiction:
1) Twilight Series
2) The Hunger Games Series
3) Maze Runner Series
4) I am Number Four
5) The Mistborn Series
6) Harry Potter Series

I could probably keep adding to these lists for quite a while. But I have to pick up the Kindergarten crew from school now so I will stop. I am going to look into the Ladies Detective agency as many of you suggested that. I also picked up a couple of the other books you suggested. Looking forward to reading them.

Chain Emails - What to think about when sitting.

What do you do when you get one of those chain emails? I have gotten these countless times from lots of my good friends over the years. Years ago when I first got them and if they were something I thought might be a good idea (like the recipe exchange one) I would go ahead and send them along. But I never once got a single thing back from them.

So then when I got them I felt bad not keeping up the chain because I didn't want to let the person down who was expecting something but I also didn't want to obligate any of my friends to keep the chain going. I came up with a new solution. Now when I get one of these I email back the person who sent it to me and tell them I just don't do any chain things and if it is for a recipe thing or something simple like that I send a couple of recipes along with my email so they can get something out of it.

What do you do? And who starts these things?

I know this is a random post but it is what popped into my head when I was thinking about what to write about today. I have spent much of today sitting. I sit a lot lately. My pelvis is coming apart and it hurts to walk or do anything else that requires me to lift one leg without the other. So I have been sitting.

I need a good book to read. I just ordered a few off Amazon. Some Deeanne Gist novels I haven't read. I like her books because they are set in historical settings and they are clean. I also ordered another that Amazon recommended. We'll see about that one.

Other than that I have watched my fair share of Little Bear with Noble. He is napping now. I am obviously scrapping for blogging subjects. Any suggestions?

It is March!!!

I don't think I have been this excited to welcome the month of March since 1999 when I knew I was getting married in March. I have been singing and dancing "24 days till we have a baby! 24 more days!" all around the house and to the kids this morning.

So bring it on March winds and March madness and March everything else. I welcome you all!

Know Thyself

Tonight I talked to my mom for a while. She spent the day going through a filing cabinet of her father's papers deciding what to keep and what to toss. She found so many of the talks he had written and given and letters from him to friends of his that were so beautifully written they brought her to tears. She found important papers like marriage certificates and letters he received that meant enough to him to keep.

Our conversation has had me thinking about my grandfather tonight. I had always admired him as a kid because he served as a U.S. Senator during WWII. But the things my mother shared with me tonight - the things he felt were important enough for him to keep till his dying day - were not letters from the President or invitations to the White House. They were more personal- church talks and eulogies, letters to friends.

My grandparents lived in town. I was always really close with my grandmother. She oozed love. But Grandad was intimidating to me as a little kid and I never felt a real closeness to him even as I grew older. I mean I loved him and I respected him tremendously. But he wasn't the kind of grandpa I went to talk to about how I was feeling or anything.

Talking to my mom tonight has given me a bit of a new perspective on who my grandfather really was and what was really important to him. And in learning more about him, I feel as though I am learning more about myself and who I ought to be. I find it amazing how learning more about our ancestors can really help us know ourselves better.

I feel blessed to have a bit of him living in me, not because of any job he had or title he held, but because of his firmness of faith, his charitable heart, and his ability to write his feelings. Even though he lived until I was 24 and I knew him all those 24 years, I feel in some ways that I have come to know him better in the years since his death, particularly the past 3 years than I ever did while he was alive. I have felt his love and support more. Perhaps because I have needed it more.

It is a sweet note in a bitter trial to grow closer to and know more fully those who watch over you from heaven.

My Princess

My mother gave Ann Marie a journal for her baptism. I had her sit down and write out how she felt that day and what she could remember about the day before she went to bed that night. One thing she wrote struck me. She wrote that when she was being confirmed a member of the LDS church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost she felt like she was in a castle.

I loved this observation of hers. If you have never seen someone confirmed - the person being confirmed usually sits on a chair and those confirming him or her stand around the person with their hands placed upon the person's head. In Annie's case, there were several people participating in this confirmation. Her father gave the blessing but he was joined by her grandfathers and several uncle's in doing so. So all these men (at least 7 of them) stood in a circle around her with their hands on her head. She was in a way surrounded by these stone pillars of the priesthood. How fitting that she should say she felt as if she were in a castle.

Her description inspired me to write a little something to help her remember this feeling and how on point her feeling was. It isn't the masterpiece I wish it were. But it is better than nothing written at all.

My Princess

Little girl dressed all in white, a true princess clean and pure.
You sit in a tower of priesthood stone, feeling sublimely secure.
Hands placed upon your head, crown you with Heaven's gift.
A comforter to be your friend and always give you a lift.

Here you are safe.
Here you are sure.
Here you are surrounded
By love,
By faith,
By family,

Out into the world you now must go, outside of your castle walls.
Choosing daily between good and bad, defining just who you will be.
Oh remember the princess you are, and the Friend who is yours to seek.
Keep Him with you to guide you Home and you will always be free.

Motherhood - Chapter 7 - Pain and Pleasure

It is 3 am. I have been up for the last 70 minutes with pain in my lower belly area keeping me from going back to sleep. I got up and took a couple of Tylenol about 50 minutes ago. I was hoping this would help and I could go back to sleep. Obviously that didn't work so well.

Maybe I will turn on Little Bear. That show always makes me sleepy. Noble likes that show and will sit on my lap through almost 15 minutes of it. It is a sweet time of day for me because I get some sleepy cuddle time with him, even if it is only for 15 minutes.

"30 days. I can do it right? 30 days." This is what I say to myself and the girls tonight as I soaked my aches in the bath. "Tell me I can do it girls. 30 days." They are good cheerleaders. They tell me I have come so far and I can totally do it. Then they sit with me on my bed after I get out of the bath and lotion my legs and feet and scratch and "massage" my back while I read to them.

There is great love in the room. Even my 5 year old can feel it. In a break from reading we talk about how we can feel Camille with us at times like this. Lauren notes how she can feel it Camille right then because of how loving we are all being to each other. We all feel it. And even through my physical pain, I know that this is the reason I suffer - so that I may have more of the sweetness of such experiences with my children.

Our first mother Eve knew there would be pain involved when she partook of that forbidden fruit. But she chose to suffer so that she could also know the sweet pleasure of posterity. And so motherhood is an eternal balance between the sublimest of pleasures and the severest of pains.

Motherhood - Chapter 6 - Distance

I have been thinking about the transitions we go through in life that put more distance between us and our mothers or between us and our children. Some of these transitions are gradual like a child starting school. Some of them are more abrupt like a child moving out of our home or out of our state.

It is a good thing to raise children who are independent and can stand on their own two feet in the world. After all, the time will likely come when they will have to. Ultimately death will be the great divider that will distance us from our children. And as much as we will hate to endure the separation, we will have to prepare ourselves to live without our parents and our children to one day live without us.

Knowing this reality doesn't make taking even the most gradual steps of distance away from out parents or offspring any easier. Even when the "closeness" becomes uncomfortable or even downright painful and the distance is greatly desired, it is still accompanied with mixed feelings and often nostalgia.

The same is often true on the reverse side from a child's perspective. I know each of my moves further from my parents has come with tears even when I was excited about the new adventure upon which I was embarking.  College, law school, marriage -- each step was a step further from my childhood and my life at home with my parents.

And so as I enter my ninth month of pregnancy, I think once more of one of my favorite poems by Carol Lynn Pearson. It reminds me that no matter the distance between a mother and her child, the bonds of mother love can and will always keep us close.

The Ninth Month

Being a duplex
I have been happy, my dear,
To loan you half the house
Rent-free and furnished
As best I could.

You have been a good
Tenant, all in all
Quiet, yet comfortably there
Tapping friendly on the wall.

But I hear
You have outgrown the place
And are packing up to move.
Well, I will miss
The sweet proximity.
But we will keep in touch.
There are bonds, my dear,
That reach beyond a block
Or a mile or a hemisphere
Born of much love and labor.

I approve the move
And gladly turn from landlady
To neighbor.
--Carol Lynn Pearson

On One Hand

I can now count on one hand the number of weeks till I deliver this baby. That makes me happy. I feel all full of baby. I can feel all the body parts shifting and moving trying to get comfy in there. Getting comfy is no longer an easy task for either of us.

I can also count on one hand the number of doctor appointments I will have before I have the baby. One hand it good.

I need to put Noble's baby book together tomorrow. I told myself I would get it done before I had this baby.  :) I figure I better get moving on that commitment. I have everything ready to do it. I just have to compile all my blog entries on him and my pregnancy and print them out to put in the book. Tomorrow. Gonna do it.

I also need to put together my 2010 blog book. Not sure when I am going to get to that. Hopefully sometime before fall? For now I am running around after my mischievous Noble getting him out of trouble right and left. Which I have to do now. More on my Motherhood series coming up soon...

My Little Valentines

We had a great Valentine's day filled with fun surprises yesterday. Jon and the girls surprised me with a bed filled with candy hearts and little Valentine's cards and a nice gift of chocolates and pampering things like bath salts and lotions and a book. It was a perfect relaxation package.

I made white chocolate covered strawberries for Jonathan. They are one of his favorite things. I sent surprise "vala-grams" to the girls through the school. I usually never send thing through the school so they were really surprised and happy about that. I made them special chocolate croissants for breakfast and they came home to a lovely classic valentine's gift from mom and dad.

Who doesn't love flowers for Valentine's day? I went to Trader Joe's and picked up a bunch of each person's flowers. While I was there, I saw the Calla Lilies with the shock of white on top and with Noble sitting in the cart next to me with his shock of white hair on top ... well I just made the impromptu decision to make Calla Lilies represent him. He may not like flowers but it will be something I can give myself to remember him. He still reminds me of a puppy but I can't exactly give him puppy things every Valentine's Day or birthday. We don't even have a dog and probably never will so... Calla Lilies it is.

Tulips for Camille in Valentine colors.

Roses for Ann Marie.

Strong tall pure Calla Lilies for Noble.

Bright happy colorful Gerber Daisies for Sabrina.

And fun vibrant Star Gazer Lilies for Lauren. 

Hopefully these will open up today. 

The girls were thrilled by their flowers and all those flowers just make me happy every time I walk by them. They remind me of all the many beautiful gifts my Father and Heaven has blessed me to have in my home.

Motherhood - Chapter 5 - Community Service

When I was in law school, I grew to love a family of children who lived a few miles from me. The Jenkins were a family of 14 children though I only ever knew 5 of them. The other 9 were in foster care. They all had the same mother but different fathers. The 5 I knew and loved were being raised by their wheelchair bound grandmother as their mother and varied fathers were all in prison.

Somehow I started taking them to church every Sunday. And I sat with them through Sacrament meeting. I taught several of them in seminary and others in primary. They lived in one of DC's rougher neighborhoods. The oldest was 16 and already had a juvenile record. I tried to inspire them every week that they could avoid that life and be more if they would follow the teachings of Christ and apply themselves in their education.

I am not sure whatever became of these children. I still love them. I am a little afraid to know what became of them. There is only so much someone outside the home can do to help someone out of such circumstances. But this experience changed the way I looked at motherhood.

I remember distinctly walking through the ghetto to work one morning and thinking to myself about how sad it was that these 14 spirits had to come to earth in such hard circumstances. I felt so blessed to have been born to good parents who loved me and took care of me and taught me to be honest and to have basic values. I thought about how there are so very many good parents out in the world today, but very few of them have 14 children. What is the average now? 2.3?

This was back when Jonathan and I were nothing more than friends. But I knew he would be an excellent father and I knew that if he and I ever did get together we would make a great partnership as a couple and as parents. I said to myself in that moment, "If I ever married Jon Waite, I think I would have 12 kids. I would want to give as many spirits as I could the chance to come to a home with stable parents who love each other and would love and teach them truth and goodness."

Now my whole idea about the number 12 has been rather altered :) by reality and experience. But this line of thinking changed my perceptions of motherhood. I now see that being a good mother is the greatest act of community service we can do.

I practiced criminal defense law for a year before I had Sabrina. I look at my transition from that life to motherhood as a shift from damage control to prevention. Good mothers everywhere - whether they work outside the home or not - are all engaged in that great community service. We are doing the best we can to raise up productive, honest, contributing members of our society. We are investing our efforts into the literal creation of a brighter future for our society.

In a world that sometimes seems so dark and troubled, I don't know of any better way I can serve help it than to bring more good people into it and teach them to share their goodness with others. So to all you mothers out there who are loving your children and taking care of them every day, teaching them right from wrong -- THANK you for the great act of community service you are doing day by day, year by year.

Baptism Day

Today was a wonderful day. I was much more organized for this baptism day than I was for Sabrina's and it helped me feel lots less frazzled and enjoy the day more.

Annie looked wonderful in her lovely sweater dress. She looked great in her jumpsuit too, though she told me it was way too big. What can you do when you are just little? She said the water was warm and it felt good. I loved watching her immersed in the water and being brought out by her father. There is something so special about watching this ordinance take place. It is very much like watching a different, less messy, kind of birth. I treasure it.

Several of Annie's friends were also baptized today so we got to see them in the bathroom when we were getting dry and ready for confirmation. Danielle Stewart, Sophie Sherrell, and Brynlee Smith were all there with us.

Annie had so many family and friends there to support her in this big step. Present were the following: Grandpa Harris and Nana, Grandpa and Grandma Waite, Aunt Lesli, Uncle Rod, Jack and Morgan, Aunt Elizabeth, Stella Harris, Isaac, Aunt Julene, Joseph, Allyese, Angelina, Benjamin, Uncle David, Uncle Stephen Waite, Uncle Spencer, Aunt Marleen, Nora, Aubrey, Anna, Stephanie and Abby Morris, Justin and Sarah Striblin with their daughters Abigail and Madeline, Chesley Davies, Rebekah Martin with Hailey, Hannah and Lily Martin, Mandy Norton, the Sherrell family, and Ryan Gibson from the Bishopric. Annie's great Aunt Helen and Uncle Jay and Aunt Diana came over to the house after to congratulate her as well.

Her Aunt Lesli gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost and told her lots of ways the Holy Ghost can speak to us. She pinned all these ways that were written on papers to a blanket that represented the Holy Ghost and had Annie walk across the room with the blanket following her as long as she made right choices. Annie loved being in front of the crowd. She liked Aunt Lesli's talk and it answered lots of her questions.

Now I am a tired Mama. This was our last big family event before the birth of our sixth child and I am glad not to have to worry about anything else between now and then. With all the contractions I have been having the last couple of days, I will be glad to just rest for a bit. :)

You know, Aunt Lesli said in her talk that one of the ways the Holy Ghost speaks to us is by giving us a warm feeling in our heart. Some even describe this as a burning. As I sit here and write this now, I feel that in my heart. I know that today I witnessed a great event and that the Lord and the hosts of heaven, Camille included, are pleased with the events of this day.

I love this girl!

Tomorrow my little Ann Marie is going to take a giant leap closer to Home as she follows the example of the Savior by being baptized. My sister helped me put together a baptism announcement card. The above picture is the front with the baptism details in the white space to the left of Annie. The back is featured below.

I am excited for this special occasion. I just can't believe that my little Annie is already 8. My how time flies. This little lady is going to be sneaking up on me in her growing up for years to come I think.

I love this girl. I love this girl. I LOVE this girl!!!

Anxious and yet...

I have 45 days left in this pregnancy. It has been and continues to be a difficult pregnancy. I am sick of my own complaining. :) I am rather anxious to be done. I have been anxious for it to over almost since the beginning. And yet as I come to the last weeks of this pregnancy I find another emotion invading my heart.

With every other pregnancy I have known I would have another child. This time, well, I just don't know that. I don't know that this will be our last child, but I also don't know that it won't. And so as I near the end of this pregnancy I find myself feeling a bit like a kid anxious for what may be her last Christmas, at least for a very long time.

To me, the labor and delivery experience is so miraculous and wonderful and magical. It is like Christmas. There is the wonder and excitement of meeting your child face to face. It is like opening the most incredibly beautiful, wonderful, magical present ever.

And so I feel a bit nostalgic about nearing the end of this pregnancy. There are so many reasons I will be glad to move on from this child bearing stage of my life. And yet, I recognize and appreciate what a wonder filled and amazing time of life this is. It is miraculous. I want to savor the last kicks in my belly (though they do often hurt now) and I want to capture forever the birthing of my babies.

I told Jon about how I was feeling last night. I told him I may be more weepy than normal with this birth just because part of me will be sad to think it may be the last time I birth a child. Then this morning as I was bringing in the groceries something shifted and my hips just started hurting like mad. Maybe part of the reason each pregnancy seems harder than the last is so that by the end it is easier to move on from this magical and yet painful stage of life.

A Good Sunday

Today was a really good Sunday. It wasn't a perfect day. Those are so very few and far between. But every time things seemed to be going sour something turned them around to sweet.

It was Annie's first time fasting. In our family, kids begin fasting (going without food or drink for 2 meals on the first Sunday of the month) when they turn 8. She was not very excited about this. But she decided to do it after we had talked with her about why we fast.

At church we have a testimony meeting on fast Sunday. This is where people from the congregation are invited to come and share their witness of the Savior or aspects of His gospel. I was alone with the girls at church as Noble is sick. Annie was being a bit obstinate at the start of church. I was frustrated with her. I felt my peaceful mood being sucked out of me. I was mad at myself for letting her get to me.

Then as people began to share their testimonies she came over and showed me that she had written down her own testimony to share. Just then I noted that Sabrina had gone up to share. She gave a sweet simple testimony that the church and the scriptures are true. Then I read Annie's. It turned my sour mood right around.

"I'd like to bear my testimony that I know the church is true. I am glad Heavenly Father gave me good parents and sometimes we don't want to do some things but we have to do them sometimes and when we do we are following the example of Jesus. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

Simple yet profoundly true. She asked me to go up with her to give it. So I did. I shared my own testimony of fasting. Mostly I wanted my children to know that I knew the power of fasting. I tried to hold my voice steady as I shared how, as one who has been fasted for by many, many people, I knew of a surety the power of a fast to help and strengthen those who are suffering. It may be uncomfortable for a short time for those fasting but the powerful effect it can have on those for whom the fast is being offered can feel of its power.

I also shared how after Camille's death I fasted every Sunday for a long time and how it seemed every Saturday I would feel so low and get to the point that I just didn't feel as though I could go on. Then I would start to fast and by Sunday I could feel strength coming back to me and I just felt like I could get through this. I could make it. It was a short testimony but teary for me to share.

Sharing it made me tender the rest of the day. Just thinking back on all the love shared with us through fasting and prayers during that time hits my heart. Plus the principle of fasting really helped me get through that very difficult time as I applied it personally so it is one I feel emotional about.

As soon as we got home from church, I made my super yummy homemade pancakes. The girls were happy they had completed their fast and they got one of their favorite things to eat. Tonight we had a family home evening about fasting, of course. It capped our fasting day off right.

All in all a good day with a sweet spirit here to help us teach and learn from each other. I love a good Sunday like that.

Look Who Is 8!

I am a bit late with this post. But better late than never. Our little Ann Marie turned 8 a couple weeks ago. She had a Tangled party the week before her birthday. It was a lot of fun with 15 friends. We took them to Tangled in a theatre and then picked up bean and cheese burritos for everyone on the way home. That was Annie's food request. After the burritos we had ice cream cake.

We hurried and opened presents as parents arrived to pick the kids up. Annie had a good time. That is what is most important.

I remember the day she was born. It was an 83 degree January day in Long Beach, California. Her birth was fun. It was almost too easy. 5 hours from checking in for induction till delivery. I had about 3 contractions to breath through then I got the epidural. I played games with my sister in law Elizabeth and Jonathan waiting to be ready to push.

When I was ready to push we waited about 20 minutes for my mom to arrive and then Annie came on out to join us. She almost came out by herself. I hardly had to help at all. She was a beautiful baby. But she was quite the crier. She is my little rose, beautiful, complicated and yet there are thorns to watch out for. I love her for all her beauty and all her thorns. She is a masterpiece in my eyes.

Happy Birthday my sweet, beautiful, smart, super soft skinned, super fast running, strong and iron willed Annie. I love you more than you can know.


Photos below were taken by my sister Lesli for her baptism invite cards. We used others for the card. Can't wait for everyone to get them. They turned out awesome. Thanks Lesli!

Motherhood - Chapter 4 - The Power of a Simple "Thanks Mom"

My sweet Sabrina! How lucky I am to have this girl in my life.

Last night we were kneeling down to say family prayer. It was late. Okay it was only 8:30 ish but these days that feels late. Jon had been out of town for the day. Luckily it had been a low key day so I was doing pretty well. But like every night, I had reached that point in the day where my belly just hurt. 

As I kneeled down, I grunted in pain. My pelvis is separating too much again and it can be rather painful. We got the kids settled and said prayers. Then after our prayer was over I told Sabrina and Annie to go brush their teeth. As Sabrina walked past me to get to the bathroom she bent over and gave me a hug and a kiss. Then she said, "Thanks for carrying baby Snickerdoodle for all of us, Mom." 

You know, this whole pregnancy I have been feeling so bad that I am such a gimp and can't be the mother I want to be for my older children. I hate that part of being pregnant. It is hard to be physically limited by sickness and then all that comes with the big belly. In that one simple statement of gratitude my sweet daughter made me feel so much better. I just love her. And I am so grateful that she sees the bigger picture and appreciates me. Moments like this are the real "payment" in Motherhood.

Motherhood - Chapter 3 - Buckets

Becoming a mother to many children, I expected to be busy. I expected to have schedules to coordinate and chores to do, lessons to help with and diapers to change. But the more children I have had and the older they have grown I am finding new challenges far more taxing than the "chores" of motherhood. it is these unexpected burdens that make me wonder how women with 9 or 10 children or more do it.

I have always said that everyone has their own bucket in life. This bucket holds all your trials and troubles. I have even said that I wouldn't necessarily want to trade buckets with very many people. I prefer to keep my own, even with the doozy of losing Camille in it. It still seems lighter to me than so many other possible buckets I see other people carrying.

Maybe I would trade individual trials in my bucket for individual trials in another bucket, but that is not the way buckets are weighed. Not that we can trade buckets or trial anyway. But each person's bucket must be taken as a whole. And if one person's bucket seems empty to you, you probably just can't see the big thing in their bucket because they keep it secret. Or if you feel you bucket seems empty ... just wait. No one gets through life with an empty bucket.

What I hadn't really connected before having many children who are growing up right and left is how each child has a bucket and how that affects their mother. I guess, until just recently I hadn't realized that each mother carries a bucket within her bucket for each of her children. And in each child's bucket is all the problems and worries and trials that child has to go through in life that the mother knows about or worries about.

Sometimes the mother's bucket for a child may be more burdensome than the child's own bucket is for him or herself. Because sometimes we as mothers can see dangers our children can't and thus we worry more and their bucket is heavier on us than it is on them. Sometimes, when we can't do anything to help our child and he or she is severely hurting, it is the heaviest kind of burden of all.

Multiply that by the number of children you have ... well I guess I have just been thinking I hope that God makes sure my children's trials are spread out so I can bear the burdens of their buckets plus my own through all the rest of the days of my life.

On the flip side, these buckets also contain all the joys and happiness in ones life. So the mother of many may have more joy and happiness at certain times than others if all her children are well and happy. Her joy is multiplied by the joy of her children.

I imagine having all your family together in the temple for a wedding would be one of those most outpourings of joy most keenly felt by a mother (and I guess father too). I remember my brother Darren's wedding felt exceptionally joy filled.

Darren was the last of my siblings to get married. The other 4 of us got married within 16 months of each other in the years 1999 and 2000. Darren had about 7 years as the only single sibling in our family and got married in Oct. of 2007 at the age of 30. We were thrilled that Darren was getting married. It was kind of like getting a brother back since he had been living such a different life as a single adult than we were all living for those years in between.

He married my wonderful sister in law Nikki. She is one of 11 children and was the last of her siblings to be married as well. She was 29 I think when they married. All of us in our family fell in love with her and were so excited to have her join our family. Plus we knew she would be great for Darren too. :)

In the temple at their wedding, all of her siblings and their spouses were present and all of my siblings and our spouses were present. My parents were there and Nikki's dad was there. Her mother, who passed away years before, brought with her the hosts of heaven to attend. I have been to many weddings, but none felt quite as whole and full as this one did. I can only imagine how it must have felt for my mother and even more so for Nikki's mother, with her heavenly perspective.

So I guess when the buckets feel heavy we must cling to the memories of the joys and the hopes of joys to come. And remember and rely on He who carries all our buckets with us. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Gifted

Yesterday I read the novel Gifted by Karey White. It was an interesting read. I has had me thinking today. The story line kept me turning the pages as I became more and more familiar with the characters in the book. It told the story of a gift with unusual gifts. At first I didn't think her "gifts" were so dramatic or profound. But as the story developed the application of her gifts and the effects they had on those around her made me think.

Mostly, I think the story made me think about what a blessing it is to have opposition in all things. It made me appreciate how our desire to know both the bitter and the sweet could have been keen in that life before this. It also made me think about how difficult it would be go from living a life with no trials to suddenly having lots of trials.

I have often wondered before when I have a newborn that cries for seemingly no reason if perhaps that baby is just having a hard time adjusting to life and physical discomforts. Certainly our tolerance for pain increases as we become more accustomed to it.

In any case, it was fun to have a bit of a book vacation for a day.

Cure to a Hard Day

Yesterday was a hard, pregnant day. It started off fine. The kids and I got up and picked up the whole house. It wasn't that messy so this didn't take too long. Then instead of taking the kids to school I took them all to the dentist. They love going to the dentist. If you are looking for a good pediatric dentist in the Las Vegas area check out Jeff Cox. My kids ask all year when they get to go to see the dentist again. I love it.

The dentist went well for the girls. For me it was an hour and a half of wrestling Noble on my severely diminished lap. I took all the kids to the school and carried Noble in to check them in for the day. An hour later I returned to pick up Lauren from Kindergarten. By this time I was exhausted. I fed Noble and Lauren lunch and then put Noble down for a nap. Lauren and I fell asleep in the family room for a bit.

After Noble woke up it was time to pick the kids up from school and take them straight to their violin and viola lessons. Normally my mom takes care of Noble and Lauren for me while I go with the girls to their lesson. Suzuki lessons encourage parents to attend lessons so you can help the kids practice during the week. But this week my mom is out of town. So I took the kids with me to the lesson. This is no problem with Lauren. She had fun doing crafty things with the teacher's daughter who is Annie's age.

For me this meant another hour long wrestling match with Noble. He loves new places and just wants to go explore. His normal entertainments are no comparison with new places to explore. I ended up with lots of lip gloss all over my face as I let him put it on me. He ended up with lots of hand sanitizer rubbed into his hands drop by drop. At the end I carried Noble and the music books and my purse out to the car. Did I mention I am 7 months pregnant? Yeah.

We raced home to change in to Sunday clothes and eat a quick dinner (luckily my dinner group takes care of bringing me dinner on Wed. and Thus. so I didn't have to cook). Then I called Jon to see if he was on his way home to come with us to the special program at the church to recognize Sabrina's work on her goals and introduce Ann Marie as a new member of the girls activity group for girls aged 8-11. He answered the phone sounding frazzled and overwhelmed and told me he wouldn't be home till after the store closed. Too many employees are out sick and they were getting slammed before closing.

So I got all the kids back in the car and took them to the church for the program. I asked the girls to help me out as this was not going to be easy for me. I was in for another wrestling match with Noble. By now I was in pregnancy belly pain and having contractions and my little baby inside was stretching out to see what new yoga positions he could master. About 20 minutes into my wrestling match with Lauren tired and needing more attention than she was getting, Annie's tummy started to hurt.

Annie laid down on some chairs and then fell off them and hit her head on a leg of the table at which we were sitting. Mind you this is all during a program. So I gave Noble to Sabrina and tried to pick Annie up from off the floor and under the table. This was less than successful with the basketball sized belly in front of me. I finally managed to get her up. She was crying and trying hard not to. That usually means she is really hurt. So I picked her up and took her out of the room.

I spent 5 minutes calming her down and loving her in the foyer till she had her eyes dried and felt better. Then we went back into the program to try to get my other kids to sit down and take over Noble who was squirming. All the while Lauren is doing whatever little disobedient thing she can to get attention. How can an hour be so dang long? Somehow this hour seemed eternal. I would have just packed the kids up and left except that I didn't want Sabrina and Annie to miss their parts on the program which were last.

As soon as the "Amen" was said for the closing prayer I grabbed my kids and we headed out of there. I was barely holding it together. I hurt.

Once I got the kids settled at home (homework done, piano practiced, reading time done, punishment doled out for disobedience during the program, Noble freshly diapered and put to bed) I sat in my recliner with barely enough energy to get up and get a drink. All I really wanted was homemade cookie dough. But I didn't have the energy to make it. So I had a bowl of Life cereal instead.  Jon was finally home and so we watched a bit of TV and then went to bed.

Today I woke up refreshed in my wonderful bed that makes me almost forget I am pregnant after a good night's sleep. I had a really good talk with Lauren about how important it is to learn to be obedient when you are 5 so it will be easier to do when you are 15 and it really matters. I was able to explain how my punishments now are given because I love her so much and want her to learn this important principle now while she is young and it is easier. It was a really good talk and one I needed to have with her.

After I got the kids ready for school I realized my cravings for cookie dough had not gone away with my sleep.  So... I did a little mixing and got this:

 The extra to go into the fridge to eat in times of future cravings.

 The mini sized cookies waiting to go in the oven.

 The big cookies baking.

 The mini cookies cooling.

The big cookies on a platter. 

All the cookies. 

I like my chocolate chip cookies. They are seriously the best. I have fine tuned the recipe from an old one I used to use - "the Scott Porter" recipe, and a secret recipe my friend Britt shared with me and my own tweaks here and there. I would share it but I can't reveal the "secret" ingredient from Britt's secret recipe. But, to me at least, they are ... the best. Today they are helping to make it all okay. Along with a plenty of rest, they may possibly be the cure for a really hard day.

Motherhood - Chapter 2 - Superpowers

When you become a mother, people don't usually tell you that you automatically acquire superpowers. But you do - at least to the little person or people who call you Mom. Mothers around the world are super finders, super comforters, and super creators.

I remember as a little girl how astonished I was at my mother's ability to find all my lost things. I was even more astonished when I became a mother myself and found that I this super finding power. Of course I also realized why I had this power. My home is my office, my domain, my everyday. I am the one who most often puts things away. I am the one who organizes the drawers and cabinets and even the clothes and toys and shoes. So I guess it makes sense that most of the time, I know better than anyone where things are.

Of course this super power comes with the duty of maintaining it by keeping things organized and using it by helping family members find whatever they seek. I wonder if super heroes feel like saving the world is sometimes a lot of work?

This weekend I have been using my super power of comfort. I am no doctor or nurse but I have a healing power no one else possesses - at least to my children. Every mother does. I have had a couple of sick tummies to tend this weekend. Tummy aches are hard to nurse back to health because there isn't always so much you can do. Especially when you aren't sure why the tummy hurts. Sometimes the only reliable help is to have your mom next to you.

I have spent many, many hours this weekend laying in bed with tummy aching girls. Sometimes I read to them. Sometimes I stroke their hair or hold their hand. Sometimes I snuggle them. It is the only medicine I can give them but it does have power. I know that they feel better just having me there. I know because I feel the same way when I am sick or hurting. When nothing else can help, just having your mom next to you helps.

As mothers we also are super creators. I am not talking about crafts and culinary delights. We can be the creators of things far greater than this. We can be the creators of self esteem and confidence. We have the power to create or destroy the self concept of our children. How important it is for us to keep on the side of super heroes, lighting up when we see our children and letting them know how incredible they are as Children of God! It is so easy to lose sight of this super power that we carry almost unknowingly every minute of every day.

Super powers certainly come with great responsibility. But when you feel overwhelmed by everyone's needs that only you can help, remember if you are a mother, you really are a super hero!

Science Project

Tell me I am not alone here. How many of us parents dread the "family projects" and homework that is sent home with our children that is really homework for the parents? I really don't mind helping my kids with their normal homework. Actually sometimes I even enjoy it. I enjoy teaching my children things they didn't quite understand fully in class or showing them different ways to look at a homework problem.

But I am not crafty. I don't like projects. I didn't like them when I was young. I think my mom, who is artsy and crafty, helped make anything I took to school look presentable. And now that I am grown I am seeing how much more I dislike them as they are multiplied by the number of children I have. Projects!!! AHHH! I have one waiting for me to do currently to make something out of 3D shapes for Lauren to take to school.

But this post is not about that. It is about how about 2 weeks ago Sabrina mentioned in the car on the way home that I needed to write her a note to tell her teacher we couldn't do a Science Project. This was the first time I had heard her say anything about any Science anything. She got out some papers from her backpack about a Science Fair and Project including a time line for turning things in. The papers were dated Dec. 10th. It was Jan. 7th. We had missed several lab check deadlines already.

I wondered if perhaps this was an optional thing. So I emailed the teacher that night (it was Friday.) I heard back from her Monday morning that the Science Project was in fact required and that she was shocked I had not heard about it from Sabrina as they had been talking about it lots in class. The final lab book check was due Wednesday according to the paper Sabrina had given me. The teacher said in her email that we should just do the best we could but that Sabrina probably wouldn't be eligible to go to UNLV with her project because she hadn't had a lab book check.

So I had Jon pick up a lab book on his way home from work that night. Sabrina and I brainstormed about what she could do as an experiment. She came up with trying to dissolve packing peanuts with common household chemicals. She got this idea from a friends birthday party that featured a "Mad Scientist." It sounded easy enough to me and not too messy.

So Jon brought home some packing peanuts and that night we got 5 household cleaning agents and wrote up all the steps to the Scientific Method in her lab book and performed the experiment. I must say that the actual experiment part was kinda fun. We enjoyed watching the packing peanuts dissolve in acetone nail polish remover and turn into a goo. And at least she had her lab work done for the final lab book check.

The part I really dreaded was making the display board. That means lots of typing and printing for mom and dad. The final project was due on the 18th. The 17th was Ann Marie's birthday and I had sick kids to take care of and take to doctor's appointments all weekend. It was a crazy weekend.

We did manage to type out all of Sabrina's lab book work and print it out big and put it on the Science Project board I had Jon and Sabrina go buy. I left the pictures for Monday. Tuesday morning about 15 minutes before school I remembered we hadn't gotten to the pictures. I didn't even have them printed out. Luckily I had a spare ink cartridge and could print them out quick at home. Then we quickly used all the rest of the glue in our house to apply them to the board.

We got to school with the completed project just a minute or two before the tardy bell rang. Whatever. I was just glad we got it done and it was out of our house. Whew!

Imagine my surprise yesterday when Sabrina told me she won 4th place in the school's science fair and her project would be going to UNLV to compete in the city wide competition! I was shocked. I was happy for my little girl who was very excited to win a ribbon. Apparently she tells me they judged it based on how well they liked the idea and the experiment and not on how pretty the board looked. Hallelujah.

Words

My Noble has not been a little man of many English words thus far in his life. He talks, in Noblese. But I have been anxious for him to learn some English and start using words to tell us what he thinks and wants and feels.

Actually he is pretty good at letting us know what he wants without words. Maybe he hasn't seen too much need for language yet. If he wants milk he just goes and gets a bottle and brings it to me. If he has a stinky diaper he brings me the wipes. If he is hungry he heads to the pantry to seek out something to eat (or he climbs on a chair to see if anyone has left their food on the table.)

But just recently he has started saying a few more words and I am tickled every time he gets a new one to sound just right. Right now he has the following list down pretty well, "Annie, Nana, Lala, Mama, Dada, Car, Ball, Hi, Bye, Go and UhOh."

Words he is working on but that aren't entirely clear yet are: "Bus, Van, Truck, Brina, Bottle, All the animal names and sounds on Peek a Boo Barn and Peek a Boo Wild, Out, Shoes, and More."

Tonight I was asking him to clean up his cars before he went to bed. He looked right at me and with one definite shake of his head said, "No." It was clear as a bell. No is not one of the words he says regularly. Usually it is "uh uh." I was so pleased that his defiance didn't bother me one bit. I kept asking him to pick up his cars and he kept doing the single head shake and saying, "No." It was beautiful to my ears.

About ten minutes later I got down of the floor and together we picked up his cars and put them away before I took him up to get ready for bed. As I was giving him a bath I made some bubbles in the sink for him to play with. I am not sure he has ever had a real bubble bath and this time the soap made more bubbles that normal. He was thrilled. He held up his hand with bubbles on it in wonder and looked at me. "Yes you got some bubbles," I said.

He put his little hand back down in the water and pulled it up again and clear as a bell said "Bubble." Then he kept doing that over and over and each time saying Bubble. It is lovely to hear him starting to speak and hear his little voice form familiar words. I just love this age and I love my little guy.

Pregnancy Thoughts

As I approach the 30 week mark of my pregnancy, the very small window of "this isn't so bad" feeling that is usually in the middle of my pregnancy has officially closed. My inner dialog is rather whiney. I feel bad that my family has to live with me when I am grumpy and whimpy and can only do about an hour's worth of physical activity a day before I am hurting so bad I need to sit and let my body rest.

On the other hand, even though it is still 10 weeks off I am able to see a bit of the light at the end of the tunnel. I just have to make it through February and March. January is going to be over before we know it. I know it should go fast. But then time somehow seems so much longer at the end of a pregnancy. And I do feel a bit like a kid waiting for Christmas.

I am excited and anxious to meet this new baby and get to know him. I am excited to see what he looks like and give him a solid name. I am anxious to see how life changes taking care of 5 children. I am excited for the delivery and the closeness to the Spirit that there is welcoming a new life into the world. These are the things I have to remind myself of when my back hurts and my pelvis feels like it is coming apart. These are the thoughts that keep me going.

Motherhood - Chapter 1- Failure

I want to start off this series of Motherhood posts with a bit of honesty and truth. But there is some tricky truth to mothering. So allow me to lay down the ground floor here with some notes on failure. 

Every mother, and I do mean EVERY mother, will at some point in her mothering career feel that she has failed. Maybe this has been on my mind this week because I have had a few of those points this last week. The reason every mother feels this is really quite simple. We judge our success (whether consciously or not) on how well our children do in life. And since no child or person is perfect and at some point each of us fails, so then each mother of each child also feels she has failed. 

The real trick to conquering this feeling of failure (which I am sure is sent from the Enemy of all things good) is to recognize that our success as a mother is not based on our child's choices. Kids are supposed to mess up. That doesn't mean we are failing, it means we have opportunities to succeed by helping them learn to do better next time. And the longer it takes to help them overcome their weaknesses or shortcomings, the greater the eventual success right?

So whether your child gets in trouble at school, or acts inappropriately at some social function, or hits someone, or lies, or steals something, or develops a drug problem ... whatever the extent of your child's failure, we must realize that there is only so much a mother can do. Even the perfect Mother and Father have had murderers and dictators and rebellious spirits as children. For every person has to make their own choices and in the end they will be responsible for their own actions. 

Our job as mothers and our success in that job ought to be measured on how well we have applied the knowledge we have available to us based on our current abilities at any given time. Perhaps an example or two will illustrate. 

A mother now would be considered unfit for piling all of her young children and babies into a car without any car seats and taking them out on a busy city street. 35 years ago, people did not have the same knowledge, laws, or baby gear and this was the normal course of behavior. Is my mother's generation a generation of failures because they didn't use car seats? No. 

A mother who is sick and in her bed knows that she ought to go help her child to be obedient when she gives a command. But if her body is not able to get up and go help the child learn this lesson, is she a failure as a mother? No. 

We do the best we can with the knowledge and abilities we have. That is how we ought to measure our success. 

And you know what? Even then we will still sometimes fail. Because we too are human and we mess up. Sometimes we get tired or angry and we say or do things we know we ought not to say or do. Sometimes we neglect to do things we know are important because we forget or get too busy with less important things. It happens to us all. And all too often we beat ourselves up about it.

But even that self beating is coming for an Enemy source. Because the Truth is that a Way has been provided to help us be better and perfect our efforts. When we repent of our mistakes, apologize to our child or children and to God, and make our best efforts to change and do better next time, the Atonement of our Savior can heal the wounds of our mistakes and make up for our failings. 

As one who has felt like the ultimate failure and has felt the deep wounds of her own mistakes, I am a witness to the power of the Atonement to heal our hearts and make us whole. We may always have to live with the physical consequences of our failings, but the Atonement can heal our heart if we so desire. 

"God made our hands washable for a reason," my mother always said as she would clean up icky messes of childhood. And I would add that God made the love between a mother and child nearly unbreakable for the same reason. So that when we make messes in our mothering, the Love between us and our children can help us clean up the mess and forgive each other with hearts cleansed by the Savior. 

Ogre

Tonight Annie got to go spend some birthday money at Target. She picked the Shrek Movies. I told her as we walked to the register how I don't really like those movies. She asked why. I told her it was because they are crude and have lots of potty humor in them. She asked what I meant. I said they make lots of jokes about things like toots and the like.

She noted that her dad also thinks toots are funny. It is true. I told her I just don't like that kind of humor. She said, "Well Mom, Shrek is an ogre. What can you expect?" Point taken. So then I asked, "Well Annie, what about your dad? Is he an ogre then too?"

Her reply -- "Well, maybe half an ogre. He doesn't look like one but ..."

I just had to laugh. This girl's mind just makes me smile.

Taxi

Only my dad would pick up 5 Chinese guys at Walmart who needed a cab and take them 20 minutes out of his way to their China town drop off. Only my dad would make such good friends of them on the drive in all their broken English that they would invite him and my mother to join them for dinner. Only my dad would accept take my mom in the restaurant with them at 9 p.m. for a spontaneous dinner. And who else would afterward pile all 5 of these Chinese men plus one of their friends into his car and drive them to their hotel.

When my mom married my dad she knew one thing for sure ... life with him would never be boring. And I think it is safe to say that at 74 he is anything but boring.

I am grateful the Chinese men were good people. I am sure they are glad my dad isn't a psycho too. I guess these guys come every year for the CES convention. They swapped contact info with my dad to get together next year and invited him to come to China for the best tour ever. :)