One of those Pregnant Days...

I have been so grateful for my husband lately, and his loving and caring soul.  His children love him...Garrett is a little obsessed with him.  When Sam is around, Mommy needs to "go away."  He makes dinner, he does dishes, he does laundry, he wakes up with Garrett who has been waking up at infuriatingly early hours, he takes care of the bills...and I think that is the only reason pregnancy seems even possible.  And it also doesn't hurt that he tickles my back until I am asleep every night.  Mostly, I just know he loves me.  People talk about "angels on earth." Well I married my angel...I lucked out.  

Moving on to the story of the day.  I was kneeling on the floor "watching" Garrett build his very tall tower.  But I was more looking off into the distance...with obviously not a very happy look on my face because Garrett asked me, "What da matta Mom, what wong?"  I responded that I was fine, just a little sad today(mostly exhausted cause he keeps waking up too early, and it makes me sicker during the day...I left that part out).  He then came over and gave me one of his kisses and his snuggle hugs.  He went back to his building and a few minutes later, he very thoughtfully asked, "You miss your mommy and daddy?"  (Then I thought, yea, it would be nice to have them around for this) :-)  But I really thought...oh good...Garrett is just like his dad.  He has his thoughtful and caring little soul.  Well...after this great moment, I read a great quote that I will share, cause I don't want to forget it.

"There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity." -Washington Irving-

My little ones crack me up...

I went to Molly's class to do a Halloween singing time today.  All these little girls before I left were asking for play dates with Molly(b/c I keep telling Molly that we will do that soon...I am not sure I can put it off much longer...when I am sick, I feel like committing to very little).  The singing time was fun.  And other than my Molly running up every few seconds to hug my leg, I think things were totally under control.  :-) We'll see if her teacher lets me return.  

Garrett and I were playing with his cars.  As he was taking his little farmers out of the tractors, he started playing make believe.  But instead of it being in first person.  He was telling it in 3rd, like a narrator from a book.  "Fawmer Gawwett said, "Can I hewp you fawmer Mowwy?"  "I need my Mommy" said Fawmer Mowwy.  "Oh NO!  I need to hewp you Fawmew Mowwy" he wondered?  He has no idea what "he wondered" means, but uses it excessively.  This went on for quite some time.  I am definitely looking forward to the next "story."  Hey...that shows he is at least paying attention when we read to him. Right?  :-)

When I read this blog years from now, I hope I can remember the smile this put on my face.

A whole new world...

The last few weeks, Garrett has started requesting his "goodnight song" and it just happens to be "A Whole New World"  from Aladdin.  Long gone are the little primary songs that touched my heart each night.  Now he wants a love song.  Now there are two things about this that are hilarious...one, he has only seen the show maybe once or twice(don't get me wrong, he has seen plenty of shows..especially since pregnancy hit hard), but not a lot of Aladdin.  So it is so funny to me that he requests this song.  The second thing that makes me laugh each and every night now, is hearing Sam sing it.  He actually stays on tune pretty well for him, only changing keys a couple of times...but he belts it out.  I mean, he sings it with real feeling.  Think, "Don't you dare close your eyes." and add some real feeling to it.  Anyways...anything that can make me laugh now a days is fantastic and that is just one more reason why I love Sam.

My first appointment

I had my first appointment yesterday, and the due date was officially set after they measured the size of the baby.  March 19th!  Here we come!  Molly and Garrett are both excited(well Molly will be excited if it is a girl) and Garrett just keeps lifting up his shirt asking me to feel the baby in his tummy.  As I saw the little one inside of me all comfy and cozy, legs a movin, and heart beating strong, I was reminded of the miracle.  This little life growing inside of me, preparing to join our family, with no idea of what is really in store.  I feel great gratitude, and great responsibility.  Both sometimes overwhelm me, and it reminds me of Elder Ballards counsel: "Pray, study, and teach the gospel.  Pray deeply about your children and about your role as a mother.  Parents can offer a unique and wonderful kind of prayer because they are praying to the Eternal Parent of us all.  There is great power in a prayer that essentially says, "We are steward-parents over Thy children, Father; please help us to raise them as Thou wouldst want them raised."   He also says that the "joy of Motherhood comes in moments" and this little moment at the doctor's office is one of those "moments."  It is also one of the only moments you get in the first trimester.  So as He sends us another one of His little ones, and as much as I pray to be strong during this nausea, I pray more deeply to be a good parent.  

Garrett and his Mom...

Garrett and I have had a lot of quality time together since Molly has started school.  Yesterday we went to the beach and he laid on this board until a wave would get kind of close and then he would hurry and stand up.  I am still not sure if he has watched the surfers enough and he wants to try to "pop up" so he can surf, or if he is just scared of the wave.  One finally took him and he "surfed" until he fell down.  I had to take a pic of him b/c he was SO patient as he waited 10-15 minutes for the tide to come in.  The other highlight of Garrett right now, is he is saying these really long prayers(he says thanks for all the stuff he sees in the room...mom's blankent, the hot dog, the fork, Mollsy,  etc...")  So after an especially thoughtful prayer, we all said "AMEN" with a little flair.  He responded to that by taking a bow.  Yes, a bow, a very deep bow.  A flair for the dramatic, this kid.

First Day of Kindergarten

Hopefully you can just feel the excitement emanating from the picture.  She has loved it so far.  Best quotes have been, "We had to get in a LOT of lines Mom."  "I didn't even go to the bathroom, so I didn't have to worry about doing my button."  "I can walk in all by myself Mom, I can do it."  "Garrett, did you miss your Mollsy?"  

She has had a great time so far, and the only part that got to me was watching her "go and be a big girl"  They have these gates they walk in and then you can see them walk to their classroom.  You saw her walk down the walkway and you knew that she was just trying to recognize which class was hers.  She almost passed it, then stopped, looked, and hung up her backpack.  Yes, only a mom can sit and watch her kid from afar and think it is interesting, but she was just so darn cute.  She is our little champ, and we are proud of her.

My Mom and Dad

I ran into a post the other day that was praising my mom when my mom was her young women's leader.  And I thought, why is someone else posting about my mother and I haven't even done it?  So this is my ode to my mom and dad.  They have had quite a year.  They gave one of the best talks on marriage as an equal partnership that I have ever heard(and I am very unbiased right?) at Women's Conference this year.  Audio can be found here and the PDF, here.  They also wrote a book together, visit Amazon to view here.  I have always loved them and thought they were wonderful, but as a kid I just didn't "get it."  They are so incredible and I just thought everyone was like my mom and dad.  As I am reading their new book, I realized it isn't a book just for "teachers and students"  it is for me as a parent.  This is what they did for us when we were kids. I am so excited to be a "teacher" to my kids and help them develop into the kind of "learner" that will find great joy in this life.  So this day, I am grateful for parents.  I was blessed with goodly parents who have loved, supported, and more importantly taught me.  I love them.  Thanks mom and dad.