Kind Words

Yesterday I received an email. It was from a woman I know who is about 80. Some of her peers probably wonder what she's doing with an email account, thinking it's only for people younger than them and they have no need for such a means of communication. It makes me love this woman even more because she has an email account. Her email was short and sweet. Really sweet, actually. She wrote kind words and feelings she had for me. It was only a few lines long. I read it first thing in the morning and it stuck with me all day long. It made me think about the power we have with our words to uplift and strengthen. It made me think that I want to build others with my words, and not hold back with compliments or admiration. One thing that made her email so nice was that is was so unexpected. I want to share praise with another who isn't expecting it. I could make it complicated and pull out the stationary and then dig for a stamp and then drive by the post office. Or I could keep it simple and send an email. Probably the best email they'll get all day. And as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes the packaging doesn't really matter, it's the words that do.

Here we go again...

Remember Addie's imaginary friends? Cleaner and Nemernade (Lemonade) were regulars at our house for a long while. If you dig through the archives (which I'm not currently taking the time to do, but if I were really dedicated, I would) you'll find a few posts regarding the imaginaries. Sam has now welcomed an imaginary friend to our home. His name is Jacey. Or maybe J.C. Maybe even adapted from our good friend J.C.W's. Who know's where his namesake is from. But I'm not sure why imaginary friends have such naughty ideas sometimes. Today when it was time to go pick Addie up from preschool Sam didn't want to have anything to do with it. According to him, Jacey said he could stay here "by his delf" and he didn't need to come pick up Addie. And he wasn't scared, because Jacey told him where the police were in case he needed a grown up. And those are Jacey's rules, so of course we needed to follow them. Not sure why I try to reason with a 3 year old. I let Sam know that if Jacey couldn't obey our rules he wouldn't be allowed to come over. Hopefully Jacey can tell Sam how cool it is to use the potty. Not likely.

Five on Friday- Sam edition

1. We're in the throes of potty training. I've forgotten just how much time+patience this task takes, but Sam is having success mingled with a few accidents, and I'm glad to hopefully see a light at the end of this tunnel.

2. Sam is the one who initiated training which is exactly what I was hoping for. He put the seat on the toilet himself a few nights ago and had his first successful attempt. He requested little marshmallows as a treat for using the potty. I told him I only had big marshmallows. He told me, "It's oday, I wike dose ones too!"

3. Sam has been hilarious. He's constantly asking me who he knows that uses the potty, and then wants to pretend to be that person. For example, "I'll be Danny, you be Danny's mommy, Charlie can be Date, Addie can be Dis, now I'm going to use the potty" and I can only refer to him as Danny. Repeat this scenario for Henry, Addie, James, Jane, and anyone else he can think of, each of us getting an assigned role as he pretends to be the awesome person who already uses the potty.

4. As one strategy to get him to relax, I've told Sam to listen for things to hit the water and to close his eyes. He tried to use this on me the other day. "Close your eyes, Mom. Ok, now close your mouth." Not sure how closing my mouth helped things, but I must've looked ridiculous with my eyes closed and my mouth hanging open.

5. Sam talked to my mom on the phone the other day and was telling her about using the potty. She told him he was being a rockstar using the potty. Now he tells me he wants to have rocket-star poo-poos. That would be great, especially if he chose not to put them in his underwear. Sadly, that's the only place they've gone so far.

I can't believe I just wrote a whole post on potty-training. I'll definitely have to post again soon so this is not around forever!

Blessed

We blessed Charlie in February. I'm just now posting these. Story of my life right now. But man is this boy cute. And heavy. And I still feel blessed just to be his mom.

Six on Sunday

1. This week we registered Addie for kindergarten. As we approached the school, she was wide-eyed and exclaimed, "This looks like a really nice place." While I was busy filling out papers, she was busy looking around, recognizing some kids from church and checking out the social scene. She told me "I'm just looking at all of these kids and wondering who is going to be my new friends!" She was pretty much adorable and now many things are referenced in terms of things she wants to accomplish before she goes to kindergarten.

2. My brother and sister-in-law were in town this weekend and allowed Pat and I to have a much needed break yesterday. We started out by taking Addie and Sam out for a double date, and Sam thought the term double date was hilarious. We had fun with the kids, dropped them off and ran errands, then came home for a bit and went back out for dinner. It was a good day, I must say. Back to real life this week.

3. After about 2 1/2 weeks off dairy, we've reunited and it feels so good. I took Charlie to the doc on Monday and he pointed out that since Charlie had immunizations 2 days before the bloody diaper, it could've been a reaction to the rota-virus vaccine. When Sam had that one it caused vomiting for a couple of days, so I should've been on my toes. We're still going to rule out some things, but he seems much improved. So relieved Charlie seems to be doing great (all 18 pounds of him!) and dairy is back in my life.

4. Sam is getting his tonsils removed in April. The ENT was very thorough in her explanation of how bad his recovery will potentially be. She prepared me to expect it to feel like I have a newborn again for about two weeks. Then she asked, "Do you have a newborn?". Well, he'll be 3 months this week, so 4 months by the time we do tonsils, but still, essentially, yes. Oh boy.

5. I visited In-N-Out 3 days in a row this week. I had a milkshake each time. I'm now on In-N-Out strike if I don't want my stomach/bum/thighs/etc. to go Out-Out-Out.

6. Last week Addie put on hairspray herself one day before school. She looked like most little girls do when they apply hairspray for the first time. I couldn't hold back the laughter, but tried to not hurt her feelings by explaining that I remembered doing the same thing when I was learning to use hairspray. Later she told Pat on the phone, "Dad, today I learned about hairspray." A lesson all women must learn at some point, I say. Now is a good a time as any, especially before she starts kindergarten.

My favorite Valentine

In this series of posts about the goings on of my valentines, I'm most overwhelmed to write this one.

-Pat has been nothing but 100% amazing since my dad came. He's by my side always helping with care for my dad or care for our kids or our home, and he is my true help-meet.

-He's starting a new job (because we felt like we needed a little more life change right now. :) ) Still at the same company, but working for the local division in a senior-level position instead of for corporate. It will be a great move for him and I'm so proud of his desire to learn and grow in his career.

-I have never been more aware of the importance of the priesthood in our home, and I'm so grateful for a husband who holds the priesthood and uses it to bless his family. I've had my fair share of hard days lately. And break downs. And he's always there to step up and lead and bless. And I couldn't do any of this without him.

Pat is currently: incredibly patient, an amazing dad making time for our kids and giving them the attention they need right now, taking the baby so I can take naps when possible, understanding to the max, supportive when I need to leave the house, thoughtful and genuine, the love of my life

All about Charlie

Oh, my baby love.

-Charlie is the gentle giant. Weighing in at over 16 pounds at his 2 month check, he is definitely my biggest baby (Sam weighed around 14 pounds at 2 months) and his chub is irresistable. He has rolls in places I've never seen them before and looks a lot bigger than a 2 month old.

-We blessed our boy last weekend and had a great time with family in town. When pictures finally finish downloading (they've been at it for an hour since I started this post) I'll get them up. He looked oh so sweet and his blessing was perfect.

-Charlie is testing my dedication to nursing with a new-found cow milk protein intolerance. As a girl who has always proclaimed ice cream as my favorite food, it's a bit of a struggle, but we're making it through. It was rather disheartening to find a diaper full of blood, especially given Pat's issues. Hopefully eliminating dairy from my diet will resolve all of Charlie's issues.

Charlie is currently: a spit-up machine (I've taken to using receiving blankets as burp cloths which still end up soaked by the end of his post-feeding burps), smiling on cue, sleeping fairly well except when the binky is lost, loving naps in the swing, cuddling my cares away