There's No Place I Can Be Since I Found Serenity

Everyone, she's almost 3 months now, so we'd better look at some pictures of her. And videos. Yes.

 Sunny yellow outfit before she lost her newborn ruddy skin tone.  Also she had a little bit more hair then. As it's starting to fall out, we gotta keep the headbands on. Babies' heads are so funny looking!

 Raise your hand if you're a baby!

During the day she's great at just hanging out wherever James and I are hanging out. For example, if I'm feeding James lunch, she hangs out on the table with the coaster.

The bigger problem has been teaching James not to attack his baby sister with all his love.  He says, "Eee-lah!" instead if Leah and it's adorable, but not so much when he smothers her with a hug, or head bangs into her forehead, or bites her foot, or gives her The People's Elbow.  We ended up getting some nice play gates to keep them apart. Usually it's Leah inside, but sometimes Bames gets to play in there too.

Maybe she can learn Kung Fu to defend herself.  

This is her practicing her right uppercut.

Not much of a fighter, she'd really rather snuggle with Dad for a couch nap.

Yep...the money shot. Really, anytime I go over to her and smile, she just beams.

It is hard to get 2 babies to smile at even remotely the same time, but you can see James is learning to control his love (Alma 38:12).  I can't blame him for wanting to hold her hand - she really is a cuddly little firefly.

Finally, the video you've all be waiting for: She can roll over. Yes, now that she'll be 3 MONTHS OLD, she's mastered the skill of "Anything to get out of tummy time."

Like most of the things she does, she's polite and graceful about it.  Even her little grunts are adorable.

Alright, that's enough unabashed child gloating for today. Rest assured that I love being a stay-at-home mom, and I love my kids waaaaaay more than I ever loved working.  And I really, really love teaching English, so that is saying something.  

3rd Anniversary Mini-Vacay

It was our anniversary, but instead of going on a Caribbean cruise, we went to the second most exciting place we could think of....Brigham City, Utah.  

Well, first we passed it, and passed Corinne, and passed a whole lotta nothin until we got to...

The Golden Spike National Historic Site.  

It was cool to see the actual trains on the actual tracks that met up when they actually put an actual golden spike to actually connect the rails from the east to the west.

Just kidding!  The biggest thing I learned from this place was that it's all a scam! The trains are reproductions. The tracks were pulled up in the 40s for the war effort. They never even pounded in a "golden" spike; but even the actual symbolic gold spike isn't there, it's in a museum in California.  So I guess the only literally "historical" thing about the place was....the place!  Whatevs.  It was cool to be there.

Then we kept driving down the road, and kept driving down more non-roads, and got to the Spiral Jetty.  Sweet.

The water was nice and warm.  And salty.  And briny.

Check out the caked-on dried salt on my calves.  

The rocks were way cool and the place has a quiet solitude about it.  After all, it was only us for miles!  Except for the nice woman camping there.  She even had a kayak.

After that we made it back to civilization, and took a swim in another kind of water - Crystal Hot Springs, in Honeyville, just a little north of Brigham.  The water was green with apparently the highest count of minerals in any hot spring in North America. I'll admit it was relaxing, though it did have a faint, unappetizing smell.

We finally made it to our hotel - fitting with the theme, a Crystal Inn in Brigham City - where the funniest thing we noticed were the complimentary box of "bath salts" left for us as part of the toiletries in the bathroom.  Ha! After getting salted and mineraled all day, there was no WAY I was going to bathe in even more! If there was any a time I wanted clear, pure water to wash off in, it was then.

The next day we did sealings at the Brigham City temple, which was absolutely gorgeous.

And we had a delicious lunch at - where else? - Maddox.  Here's Aaron's chicken-fried Bison that he was so proud of, and my fish. Mmmm.

On our way back we had one more stop to make: Antelope Island.

You probably can't tell, but that's an actual antelope. On the actual Antelope Island.  This time it wasn't a scam.

What? You really can't tell?? Fine, I'll put in a couple of pics from Aaron's phone, which don't really show when zoomed in but...proof nonetheless.

Oh, and yes, those are Antelope Island bison. So Aaron met his lunch.

Special thanks goes to Thomas and Brianon for watching our sweet baby James while we escaped! It turned out to be a great little getaway not too far from home.  We love seeing things we haven't seen and visiting places we've never been.

Here's to another year of marriage!  Huzzah!!

James peekaboo

James likes peekaboo so much that he will start playing it himself in hopes that others will join in. Fortunately for him, many of us did.  You might want to turn the sound down, we got really excited.

Mom Blogs. They're Everywhere.

Get ready for a link blitz, but with purpose!

Last week on Facebook, about ten different Mom Blog posts were making the rounds.  All with their own unique message by the moms, of the moms, and for the moms of the First World.  I will now throw them at you:

First this:
"What We Mean When We Say We Need A Break"

• Now keep in mind, it IS "Huffington Post" so we need not take it too seriously. I do appreciate the sentiment - it's nice to specify the difference between "vacation" as in a big family trip, or even "escape from mom-life," and the kind of break she's talking about here.  I like the clarification that moms tend to be so involved in service that they lose themselves.  What the author might be missing is that, with the perspective of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, losing yourself IS finding yourself. Which is why we do it. But of course I understand the need to slip away for a moment to read, go for a walk, or do something you love, and RECHARGE for more service.  
• On another note, Aaron did not entirely appreciate what the author had to say about the role of fathers. "Moms need breaks but Dads don't?" It literally says, "When you're a father, caring for your kids doesn't count as work." It's something you promised to do, etc....  I agree that this paragraph was a little unfair: basically everything she said telling Dads to do their duty applies to Moms, too. But sometimes taking care of kids IS work, no matter if it's Mom or Dad doing it.  

On a similar vein, This about not making moms feel guilty for taking a few moments to themselves:
"In Defense of the iPhone Mom"

• Apparently this blogger saw a FB post circulating with something like, "Dear iPhone Moms, You are missing out on your beautiful kids! They're on the monkey bars calling your name but your face is buried in your phone! Stop texting and enjoy their magical moments!"  And this really bugged her because - guess what.  That mom has probably had a day - or string of days - of magical moments. She's been at home playing with and laughing with and watching her kids forever. You're just seeing her at a park, where apparently she's taking a break to connect with her "co-workers" (other moms) through Facebook or Pinterest or somewhich. Don't judge! is the message. It's OK to take a break!
• The thing with blogs is, everyone is responding to something someone else said. What this blogger said needed to be said. But I think what the FB post said also needed to be said.  Maybe they don't need to both be said to the same person at the same time though. 
• But yeah, just say no to Mom Guilt Trips. Which brings us to:

This one, which counsels us not to put ourselves down while we compliment other moms:
"Battle of the Moms"

• "That's so great that you can do that! I really suck at doing that."  OK, I admit, I've said it. It's sometimes hard to stop yourself.  But I think that besides being unhealthy and making unfair comparisons, it's also quite a selfish way of talking. "Hey, you said this about you? I tell you that same thing but how it applies to me! Let's bring the conversation back to ME! MEEEEEE!!!" And Brian Regan's "Me Monster" has arrived.  
• What's a better way to respond? When someone talks about a quilt they just made, I should just say the first half of my automatic comment and then shut my mouth.  "That's so great that you can do that!" Because it's not about me, it's about her skill and accomplishment. Boo yah. 
• And yes - you're just being a bully to yourself to constantly think and say negative things about who you are and what you can do. Maybe I can think, "I want to be able to do that someday.  I'm going to work on that." 

A post that reassures you are not a terrible parent, and a reminder of what not to say:
"To Parents of Small Children"

• This one is actually written by a dad, not a mom, but the same advice applies: Don't guilt parents. Including yourselves. 
• Also, this guy is a pastor, and I like the service perspective that gives him: look for ways to help those tired parents you see all around you. Bring them dinner or take their kids for a couple hours. 
• And then this line:  "One of the reasons we are so exhausted is that we are oversaturated with information about the kind of parents we should be." So you can thank this post for my contribution there. Oh, and this next one:

This must be one of the things he's talking about, telling us what kind of parents we should be.  But since I'd never thought about it, to me at least it was interesting: 

"Why I Don't Make My Son Share"

• Again, take it with a helping of salt - the web magazine is called "PopSugar" - but this author says that if your kid is playing with a toy, and another kid walks up and wants to take it, you are under no obligation to say, "Hey son, give him that toy, it's called sharing."  Because, she says, actually that creates entitlement culture.  You, other kid! You don't deserve a toy just because you want it! Someone else is using it, so wait your turn.  Or, That's not even your toy, it's his, so let him play with it and let's play with something else. 
• I guess since James is still young I hadn't even thought about what my potential sharing "policy" would be. This seems fine. Although I would like to teach my kids that giving away your toy is a NICE thing to do, even if it's not the REQUIRED or even EXPECTED thing.  

Finally, a shout out to a new blog that I just stumbled upon, and have subsequently spent way too much time on. But I'll just link to one of her posts:

"Let's Bring the Holidays Down a Notch"

• You heard about the "Elf on a shelf" thing, right? Never did that when I was little, but apparently it's a thing now. So did you know that going on a leprechaun hunt for St Patrick's Day, is also a thing now?? I mean apparently you have your kids hunt for gold coins and crap.  Whaaa? I agree with her POV: "People. St. Patrick’s Day is supposed to be a “phone-it-in” holiday. Yes, I’ve turned into a bit of a grinch, but SERIOUSLY WITH THE HOLIDAY OVERKILL."  
• Now, I'm still getting off this scott-free because my baby is only 10 MONTHS OLD so doesn't need any holiday celebrations, really.  He has no idea what is going on. We could give him pink baby food on Valentine's, or dress him in green on St Patrick's Day, or plastic eggshells on Easter, and he will probably still chew on his own sock instead.  
• BUT STILL. It does seem like a bit much for elementary-aged-kids' moms.  On the other hand, I don't want to judge them for going all-out anymore than I want them to judge me for taking a minimalist approach. So I guess, if no one is getting hurt, and nothing is going against Gospel truths, and they're not making themselves or others feel guilty for not swimming as deeply in holiday waters as others....then to each her own.  

So there you have it: bunch o'blogs for thought.  A little too much?  Probably.  Enjoy!