I Rejoice in Being a Mother

While doing some final preparations for my sharing time in Primary tomorrow I came across an article by Margaret Richards. I very much enjoyed reading it and thought I would share it in celebration of Mother's Day tomorrow. If you would like to read the full article, click on the title of this post. If not, here is a favorite quote or two:

"When I read or hear about those who condemn homemaking as a constant round of unrewarding drudgery—monotonous, dull, without challenge, confining—I wonder if they’re talking about the same things I do every day. I have found that it takes every ounce of skill and energy and imagination I possess to keep my home running as I’d like it—and, even at my best, there’s always room for improvement. I have found homemaking very satisfying, exciting, creative, interesting, challenging, uplifting.

I admit it isn’t always sweetness and light. There have certainly been times when I’ve been in the very depths of discouragement as I’ve looked about me at wonderful, talented, successful women who’ve had beautiful, uncluttered homes, beautiful figures, beautiful clothes...

Yes, discouragement, failure, frustration, despair—I’ve known them all. But those were the exceptions. I have also found great satisfaction in trying to create a physical environment that would make my home a warm, welcoming place, a place where love, harmony, joy, and contentment could flourish. Even in my lowest ebb, my Father in Heaven has not left me comfortless. He has given me faith and hope, a knowledge that life is meant to have difficulties and problems—that it’s necessary to taste the bitter and experience the challenges in order to more fully appreciate the sweet, to increase our awareness of what is truly of value in our lives, and to help us be sensitive to the blessings we do enjoy."

Happy Mother's Day!

He's Here!

Announcing the birth of Cyrus Grant!

Born March 13th at 1:05 am. 7 lbs 12 oz. 19 1/2 inches long. He's home from the hospital, healthy and doing well!

Gag!

Since having children, I have learned that mother's make far more sacrifices for the benefit of their children than any "nonmother type person" can possibly imagine. And every once in awhile, I am surprised to learn of a new sacrifice I am willing to make for one of my children. Tonight was such a moment.

We get to go see Marvin playing drums in several parades this fall. We had never gone to ANY parades before he started doing this, and have discovered we LOVE small town parades. The marching bands, military groups marching and all the candy throwing are our favorites.

Tonight was the local University Homecoming Parade. It was 42 degrees outside and DH couldn't come. So I bundled everyone up really well, the kids grabbed grocery sacks for the candy haul, and away we went. Of course with all that candy flying through the air, Elsie wanted some. So, I gave her a dum dum sucker. Awhile later, I gave her another. And then another. 3 suckers for a toddler seems like alot. But, by this time we were into this parade for over an hour, not counting the "wait for it to start time"! Her hand became very, very sticky. Do I have wipes or napkins with me? No, of course not! She has developed this thing about having "ticky" hands and starts freaking out. I have no idea how much longer we have of this parade, so I did the only thing I could do:

I licked her hand clean. Really. Mmm. Slobber sauce.

(Oh, and we still feel like it was a great time!)

Ever made any unusual sacrifices for your children?

Works For Me Wednesday: Baby Containment

Today's Works for Me Wednesday idea must be credited to my mom. I ran across this baby picture of myself recently, and realized what a great idea it had in it: To keep a creeping/rolling baby from rolling off the blanket when spending time outside, put the blanket and baby in a clean wading pool. How great would this be camping or at the beach, too! My mommy is so smart!

For more great Works for Me ideas, be sure to visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!

Another Reason I'm Boycotting Bratz

I've never been a fan of Bratz. My girls don't own them and have never been given them as gifts. They already know if they are ever given them to just politely say thank you. And not to remove it from the package, so we can take it back to the store to exchange it for something more appropriate.

Why? I object to the immodest, sexualized styles of the clothes, obviously, but also to the name itself. "Brats" may not have the connotations for today's girls that it has for me, but I don't care. I think giving a toy focused on young girls a name that connotes snotty, spoiled rotten behavior is irresponsible. Plain and simple.

Today I read something that truly clinched my determination to boycott any Bratz products for my girls. You can read it and the lame excuses the company makes here.

I'm really not surprised. But what really saddens me is that Target is selling and also justifying the stuff. I like liked Target. Now I'm not sure what to do. I know some chain stores have local buyers. Is Target one of them? If so, maybe I can wait to see if my local buyer starts to show such bad judgement before avoiding one of my favorite shopping spots. The fact that I am willing to completely stop shopping there, shows how strongly I feel about this. But, sometimes its a mother's job to put her foot down.

In Which My World Does a Flip

This is a picture of me bungie jumping at the Carnegie Science Center on the 8th. Our family spent the day there with several other families from church and had a great time. We spent the day discovering the science behind magic, soda pop, and sports including rock climbing. I wasn't brave enough to ride the roller coaster and jet simulators, though!

The day after I was called as Primary President. Three days later I discovered we are pregnant with our 5th child. Even though I am happy about both events, their almost simultaneous occurrence threw me for a bit of a loop. But, at least I learned my "sick to my stomach", emotional mornings were hormonal, not new calling angst. So, that is what I have been up to instead of blogging. Trying to manage the basics of home and children care, while getting the primary set up, and holding onto my cookies. It's been a bit overwhelming and has reminded me of when I did the rock climbing at the science center. The scariest moment happened when I reached the top of the rock wall and had to let go, trusting that my guide rope would catch me and carefully return me to the ground. I'm just trusting Heavenly Father is going to do the same!

"And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him. O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Matthew 14:31

Happy Mother's Day

As we have had baby birds here this spring I have often thought of the following story shared by Howard W Hunter:

"It was on a summer day early in the morning. I was standing near the window. The curtains obstructed me from two little creatures out on the lawn. One was a large bird and the other a little bird, obviously just out of the nest. I saw the larger bird hop out on the lawn, then thump his feet and cock his head. He drew a big fat worm out of the lawn and came hopping back. The little bird opened its bill wide, but the big bird swallowed the worm.
Then I saw the big bird fly up into a tree. He pecked at the bark for a little while and came back with a big bug in his mouth. The little bird opened his beak wide, but the big bird swallowed the bug. There was squawking in protest.
The big bird flew away, and I didn’t see it again, but I watched the little bird. After a while, the little bird hopped out on the lawn, thumped its feet, cocked its head, and pulled a big worm out of the lawn."

I am grateful that I had a mother who taught me so well, in what she told me, but especially by her example!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Works For Me: Tub Medicine

Shannon's Works for Me!


Pediatricians don't seem as eager to recomend baby vitamins like they used to, back when my teenager was just a wee one. Vitamin supplements aren't really necessary if your child eats a well balanced diet. I would agree. Unfortunately my toddlers haven't always been eager to eat such a diet when offered to them. To ease my mind about their nutritional needs being met, I have always given them baby vitamins. The problem is they don't taste too great, so they don't exactly suck every drop right down. Rather than having every item of their clothing covered with brown stains, I started giving them their vitamins in the tub, where dribbles are easily rinsed away. I found this actually works with any kind of medicine, such as antibiotics, too. Because, I'm not crazy about hot pink Amoxicillin stains, either!

I Love Baby Toes

Today, as I was taking a moment to play with my toddler, I realized how much I love chunky baby/toddler toes. She loves to hide in the curtains in her room, standing with her back to the wall, holding very still, listening to see if we've noticed she is missing. When she can stand the suspense no longer, she whips the curtain off her face, grinning and says, "MmmmmmmB!" Which, of course, means, "Boo!" We all laugh and she does it again till I can no longer resist sneaking up and tickling her. Her curtains are sheer, so usually you can still see her face through them, making her frozen waiting all the more cute. Recently, however, I started hanging a dark green sheet over the window in a futile attempt to help her sleep longer despite the ever earlier sunrise. So, when she hid behind it today, all I could see were her adorable chunky toes peeking out. She also has gotten adept at removing the chair barracades from in front of the art cupboard, so we relocated the markers, crayons, etc to a cupboard we can lock. This left us with a tiny empty cupboard where, believe it or not, my 6 yr old can squeeze into the bottom shelf. After witnessing this event, the toddler will now skooch in on her hands and knees, so all that we see is those fat toes peeking out from the hem of her dress. Once again she holds very still, relishing the "so this is what it feels like to be in the cupboard" feeling.

Too bad their toes grow up. I'd die if I ever had to nibble on my 12 yr olds toes. Probably because he'd kill me!

PS. Check out Kara's March 5th blog entry for a super sweet pic of baby toes!