Be Like Unto a Little Child...

In Sunday school, and in the Bible, we are taught to be like little children. I've always kind of passed that off as something that wasn't that important. I mean, sure there are a lot of things that are good about kids, but does He really want us to be like KIDS?? Certainly not MY kids! Ha! If that was the case, the world would be full of nothing but Macaroni & Cheese, Wonder Pets!, and messes, messes, messes! Or, in the case of my other child, it would consist of poopie diapers, waking up every hour in the night, and lots of rug burned knees (He is learning how to crawl).

Then I had a little realization. I wouldn't call it an epiphany, which I classify as a moment of great realization that almost makes you fall to the ground. But it was definitely a realization that made me go, "Huh....yeah....that is right...." I had the realization that children, up to a certain age, love unconditionally.

Sure, children are teachable, which is also a good characteristic that I'm sure we are all supposed to have. Children are also generally kind and innocent, which are also good things to be. But I think the main thing that we are supposed to learn from children is to love unconditionally.

Ella taught me this. Ella is the friendliest, most outgoing kid I've met. She is automatically friends with EVERYONE she meets: adults, big kids, little kids, babies, animals, EVERYONE. She calls them her "new best friend" and is SO excited to see everyone and is pretty distraught when we have to go home from them. Ella is definitely "no respecter of persons", as the scriptures say, which I interpret to mean - everyone is equal in her eyes.

She also is completely forgiving. No matter what anyone does to her (mostly meaning me) she automatically forgives them and is "best friends" with them again. Sometimes I lose my temper and am a little too harsh on her. She is upset for a little bit, but as soon as I lighten up, she immediately is my "best friend" and wants to cuddle. Seriously - how often do we get our feelings hurt, or are offended, and we IMMEDIATELY lighten up without the person apologizing or anything? I don't know about you, but I definitely DON'T! She doesn't hold a grudge and doesn't even need an apology.

Ella is also trusting. Now, I know this can be a good and a bad thing, but I'm talking about it in a good way. She doesn't think anyone is going to hurt her feelings and she only expects the best from people. I don't think she can possibly fathom anyone being MEAN. I, for one, have a hard time opening up to people about my true feelings because I'm worried people won't understand or will judge me or whatever. Ella doesn't care. She loves everyone and tells everyone how she feels.

Now, I know Ella is only three and she isn't perfect, by all means, but she is my daily example and reminder of what it means to be "liken unto a little child." If a three year old can be more Christlike than me....then I seriously need to step it up.

What do you think?

Post about Tommy :)

So I realized the other day that I didn't really have any posts dedicated to Tommy. Granted, not many things are interesting in a day in the life of a baby, but here are some cute pictures and some info about the Little Dude :)

Here he is all bundled up and ready to weather the cold!

He is learning how to eat by himself, which is VERY good because it keeps him entertained in his little chair! He likes the little puff cereal and yogurt puffs. His favorite foods include bananas and peaches. He does NOT like green beans, peas, or squash. He is pretty picky when it comes to food and gets maaaaaad if I try to feed him something he doesn't like! Spoiled from the beginning...

He is getting pretty good at crawling, but mostly army style. It is pretty cute. He is going to get rug burns on his tummy! haha!

Here he is crawling! so cute :)

Little Tommy is just over seven months old and is biiiiiiig. He is chubby and long, which is totally different than little string bean Ella! He cries a lot more than she did at his age, which is a little obnoxious...but what can you do? He likes being entertained and held...ALL the time. He takes pretty good naps, and goes to bed pretty easy. He is already in size three diapers, which is funny because Ella didn't wear size three diapers until she was one! Even now, she is only in size four pull-ups! Such a string bean. Little Tommy is pretty cute, though, and looooves to giggle! He is really ticklish on his back and head, which is pretty bald. His hair is REALLY fair and in the right light looks red! His eyes are VERY blue, just like his papas!

Tommy and Ella like to play together, but sometimes Ella is a little rough with him...which leads to a bonked head and tears. But ya know, they'll get the hang of it :) Tommy looooves being outside, which is good when it is warm...and unfortunate when it is cold!

Anyway, that's a little about our "Wiggle Dude"! :)

Thoughts?

Okay, so I want peoples honest feedback on this. I think it will help me feel better :)

This is a question to all you stay-at-home Moms:

Do you ever feel like you aren't living up to your full potential when you are just a stay at home mom?

This is how I am feeling right now and I'm not sure if this is normal? I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but I think I'm pretty smart and a really hard worker and I sometimes feel like playing with play-doh and going for walks is not exactly challenging. I mean, granted I am teaching Ella things every day, but helping a kid wipe their nose isn't exactly rocket science.

I feel like there is more I could be doing. Like, I know I'm a really hard worker and a really good employee. I'm a fast learner and really smart. I've never had a boss that didn't want me to quit and the only job I've ever not been good at was working for my dad (go figure! haha!) I feel like being cooped up in my house is going to drive me crazy. I've had a job since before I was married and was either working full time, going to school full time, or a mix of the two. Even when we were living on the island and I wasn't allowed to have a real job, I ended up being Spouses Org President, teaching piano lessons two days a week, and being seminary teacher. AND having Ella.

Right now I am just being mom. I feel like I am being a big slacker because all I do is laundry, clean, and feed my kids. And a lot of times I don't even want to do those things! I know that being a mom is really important and that there isn't anything else better that I could be doing...but sometimes it is hard to remember that. I read a lot and play with Ella a lot. Is this really what being a stay-at-home mom is?? Or am I missing something??

I've looked into fencing lessons and I can't find any that work around Tom's schedule. I've looked into cooking classes and they are just too expensive. I found a book club, but it is at the same time as Tom's online class. I found some activities at the library, but they are for mom and kids. I want something WITHOUT kids. Is that terrible? I want adult conversations that don't evolve around Mickey Mouse Playhouse or Dora the Explorer...or potty training or baby food. I don't really have many friends in Salt Lake yet and the girls in the ward don't seem like they are very social with each other. Our ward is REALLY transient so it is hard to make friends, but we'll see how it goes!

Anyway, I think I am just getting a little burnt out of being cooped up inside all day, every day. Anyone else feel this same way? What do you do to find more satisfaction out of just being a mom???

Goal setting...

Okay, so now that I am officially a "stay-at-home-mom", I feel like I need to be doing something to prove that I am still a productive person. This is the first time I've actually not had a job since before I was married. Even down on the island, I took up a lot of responsibilities that ended up being like a job: piano lessons, spouses organization president, seminary teacher, etc. So here I am - two kids at home, with nothing to do that isn't part of being a mom!

While I was thinking up this list, there are some goals that are more possible than others, but this is just a little list! I'm not crafty AT ALL, either, so it is hard to think up things to do inside the house that don't involve decorating, sewing, hot glue gunning, etc.

1. Get together the kids baby books
2. Make a picture board
3. Make "Tommy" and "Ella" signs for their bedrooms
4. Take up fencing lessons
5. Organize my closet
6. Organize the kids toys
7. Learn a new cooking recipe every week
8. Take an online class (about what? I'm not sure yet...)
9. Read all the Harry Potter books again
10. Learn a new Beethoven Sonata
11. Put Ella in a toddler pageant
12. Print my blog entries from the island into a blogbook
13. Join or start a book club

Okay, so that is all I could come up with. It's not very many! Anyone have any suggestions?? What do you do during the day? Granted, there are some days that you literally just chase and clean up children all day, but for the days that DO go according to nap schedules....any suggestions?

A Post About Ella :)

So I thought I would give a little update on Ella and her super cute Ella-isms!
Now that she is a little older, her language skills are progressing quite quickly. She comes up with the funniest ways of how to say things and the funniest ideas!

"I can't how a do it!"
Translation: I don't know how to do it.

"I will don't"
Translation: I will.
"I don't will"
Translation: I won't.

Picture: I saw Ella had fallen completely asleep like this...then I noticed her pull up on the side of her bed. I pulled back the covers to reveal a bare bum! Soooo funny :)

"Don't say that word."
Translation: Don't tell me what to do.

After picking up some words from her uncles...
"Let's go to Sams Club to get some damn samples!"
(She doesn't say this anymore...THANKFULLY....)

"That's not fair!"
She says this at really random times, so I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what this means...but that it just sounds good.

"I just want a family."
She says this when she is pretending to be sad. So random?

"I wanna ride my gooter"
Translation: I want to ride my scooter.

"Claire! (the dog) You can't ride your blanket!"
Translation: Stop humping your stupid blanket!

"Too bad for you!"
Translation: No.

"I want a gablana and a gabloon"
Translation: I want a banana and a balloon.

Anyway, that's all for today. Each day she does something SUPER funny. She even understands the concept of teasing and will constantly tease me with something like this:

Ella: Mom, I'm fungry. (Translation, I'm hungry)
Mom: You just ate!
Ella: I know! I'm just teasing!
Mom: So you aren't hungry?
Ella: Nope! I was teasing you!

She also comes up with things like this:

Ella: Mom, I want a new baby brother.
Mom: You can't have a new one, we have this one.
Ella: No, I don't want him anymore.
Mom: Why not?
Ella: I just want a new one.
Mom: Well, you are stuck with this one....we can't get a new one.
Ella: *sigh* oh okay...

As we speak, she is in front of me with her tutu and red sparkly shoes, and butterfly wings, dancing her little heart out! She has also started narrating every thing she does and sees. It is pretty cute :)

Love that girl...

Pictures!

Here are some pictures of the babies, since I realized I haven't posted very many on here recently!

This is Ella Christmas morning. She got an art easel that said, "Hi Ella, Love Santa" She was quite ecstatic! :)

Wiggles decided that Christmas morning was a good time to take a nap...fine with me! :)

Ella and her cousin, Kyle, playing with their new Christmas toys!

Grandma Pam with the babies! :)

This is a picture from a little photo shoot we had! They are so cute. :) Yes, my son looks a little bit like an old man, but I don't care...he is adorable :)

Brief update:

Okay, I know how I have been a terrible blogger recently, so I am apologizing to all my faithful readers (whoever you are!) and am giving a brief update:

Christmas: Everyone in my entire immediate family was at my parents for Christmas and it was super fabulous! You should have seen that ginormous pile of presents under our Christmas palm tree! Yes, Christmas palm tree. Every year, my parents do two trees: a beautiful, real, flocked tree in the front entryway, and then a little decorated, fake palm tree that the presents go under. It is really fun :) Anyway, being that there were five siblings, four babies, three in-laws, two parents, a dog, and a partridge in a pear tree, there were soooo many presents under that little palm tree! It was really fun to see :) It was all Ella could do to keep from attacking them all! Ha! She was good, though, and didn't unwrap any of them.

So our Christmas trip consisted of airsofting, paintballing, a helicopter ride, and other various activities. It was super fun :) Also, it was kind of crazy with so many people in the house, but luckily my parents house is GINORMOUS so it didn't even really seem that crowded. It was just funny when we all tried to eat at the dinner table at the same time! Haha!

Christmas was also super fun this year because this si the first year Ella has really gotten the concept of Santa Claus. We made cookies and she put out juice, not milk, for him. In the morning when she saw that they were all gone. She was quite astounded!! She kept asking where Santa was - she thought he was still going to be in the house somewhere. It was pretty cute :)

So that was Christmas - after Christmas, we headed back to Chicago and started packing. Yep, we were moving again. So we packed everything up and we were off - kind of. Because my husband is AWESOME, he decided it would be okay if Tommy and I flew to California for the weekend to the NAMM show, while he and Ella DROVE with everything from Chicago to Salt Lake! Yes, my husband is awesome. So Tommy and I flew to California, where I got to attend the NAMM show for the second year in a row! IT WAS SO AWESOME AGAIN!! We will save that for a later post though :) Heheheh....love the NAMM show.

Anyway, after the NAMM show, I flew to Salt Lake, where Tom picked me up. They had already unloaded everything from the trailer and it was just up to us to unpack everything. Well, that was a week ago, and we are still unpacking. Yes, it is a slow process. This is the first time in three years that we have actually had our own stuff to use! It is really nice :) I'm opening boxes thinking, "oh yeah! I forgot we had this!!"

We are living in Salt Lake at the condo my dad owns, because my parents are super awesome and are letting us stay here, even though it has just been completely renovated! It is really nice! Ella and Tommy share a bedroom and so far it seems to be working out. The only bad thing about that, is when one of them wakes up crying - it wakes the other up. Oh well, I guess it will teach them to be deep sleepers?

Other big changes in our life - Tom has decided that the Medical School route isn't for him. So, right now he is getting his MBA though Cal Lutheran in an online program. After that, he is thinking about law school to practice medical law. We will cross that bridge when it comes. Needless to say, it has been a difficult concept for me to grasp...and we'll just leave it at that. But things seem to be going well and Tom is a lot happier with this new decision, so that makes me happy.

Baby Tommy is getting bigger every day, of course, right? He is on the verge of crawling and does that rocking back and forth thing. He also just cut his first tooth! So cute! So cranky, too, though. He also got shots, which has made him a terror the past couple days. Sheesh! Poor thing, though: teething, and shots. But he seems to be doing better now.

Ella and Tommy seem to have made the adjustment pretty well to our new place. It is a lot smaller than anywhere else Ella has lived, so she gets a little hyper sometimes and I'm not quite sure how to calm her down when it is FREEZING outside. I think I will take her to the little playground in the mall or something...I'm not sure.

Anyway, Tom is working full time at my dads lab, so that means I don't have to work, which is nice. I'm having a hard time readjusting to being a full-time mom, though. This is the first time since Tommy was born that we are living on our own...so I'm a new "two-baby" mom. It is exhausting. It makes me not want to have any more kids...at least not for ten years! Haha! :)

Well, that's about all. Again, sorry there are no pictures. if you want to see pictures, go on my facebook, I guess. :)