My Baby Likes to Climb in Things!

Catching Up: Pre-Christmas Fun

We had a lot of fun leading up to Christmas

We went to the Jubilee of Trees in St. George and The Festival of Trees 

Oliver of course preferred trees with trains!

Oliver's preschool had a Christmas program. So cute! 

Oliver knew the songs and did a pretty good job singing and doing the actions. 

  

 We had a lot of fun activities and small presents as part of our Advent Calendar this year. One of our activities was our gingerbread house. I gave little guidance and let Oliver really take charge of the decorating. I think he did pretty well! (the roof is my work though) 

The little tree off to the side is one of the fun Christmas crafts Oliver made at school. 

Perspective

Last night I started to get frustrated. I was trying to find a home for something in my fridge and it was not going so well. My fridge was just too disorderly because there was too much stuff in it. But then I paused, gained a little perspective, and sent my frustration out the door. I am so grateful that my fridge is full.

New Year

On making New Years Resolutions: I have changed my outlook a bit.

I have come to the conclusion that last years list was not really a list of resolutions. It was a list of goals. But mostly it was a glorified to-do list.

While in many ways the terms "resolutions" and "goals" are interchangeable, and goals do require resolve to be accomplished, I would like this years resolution to focus more on a resolve for change.

Yes, I just said resolution, singular. Because no matter how long my to do list is, or how many meaningful goals I have or would like to set, I would like to start out this new year with one single resolution.

And here it is: I resolve to be more patient.

Most definitions say that to be patient is to tolerate, bear, endure and be uncomplaining. I feel like when I have tried increase my patience in the past it has been more of this "putting up with" type of patience. That's not quite what I'm going for this year.

I would like to embrace patience on a more meaningful level. The kind of patience I would like to embody is that described by President Uchtdorf:

Patience is a godly attribute that can heal souls, unlock treasures of knowledge and understanding, and transform ordinary men and women into saints and angels. Patience is truly a fruit of the Spirit.

Patience means staying with something until the end. It means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings. It means reining in anger and holding back the unkind word. It means resisting evil, even when it appears to be making others rich.

Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it with courage, grace, and faith. It means being “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father.” Ultimately, patience means being “firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord” every hour of every day, even when it is hard to do so. In the words of John the Revelator, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and … faith [in] Jesus.”

Patience is a process of perfection. The Savior Himself said that in your patience you possess your souls. Or, to use another translation of the Greek text, in your patience you win mastery of your souls. Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than in the receiving that we grow the most. This was true in the time of the Savior. It is true in our time as well, for we are commanded in these latter days to “continue in patience until ye are perfected.”

The 5 Minute Rule

I have never been a believer in sending a kid to bed hungry. It just seems mean to me. Having a border-line underweight child doesn't help, I need him to get every calorie he can.

Occasionally Oliver will say he is hungry when he is getting tucked in, or even in bed already. We have the whole "but you've already brushed your teeth" conversation. I offer him a drink of water. But sometimes he's persistent.

So I created a 5 minute rule. I tell him I will check on him in 5 minutes (and let's be honest, sometimes it turns into more like 10), and if he is still hungry then I will get him something to eat.

The reasons I think this works:

- Sometimes kids just want an excuse to stay awake later
- But sometimes the body confuses tire and hunger
- If he's really just tired, he'll be asleep in 5 (or 10) minutes

- If he's hungry enough that it's kept him awake, then I figure he deserves some food

Tonight Oliver ate a good amount of dinner. He also had a cheese stick during scripture reading. So when he said he was still hungry after being tucked in I wasn't in a rush to get him a snack. But lo and behold, when I went back 5 (OK 7) minutes later he was still awake and still hungry. So I got him a yogurt tube. He felt better. I felt good about it.

I like my 5 minute rule.

A Post of Gratitude

So many of my friends have been doing gratitude posts on their blogs or on Facebook all month now. I have read these posts, and thought about doing my own daily posts... but, as in past years, I just haven't.

But I do presently feel a need to do at least one post of thankfulness.

I have been thinking about this one a lot lately.

I am so, so grateful for my friends and family and the countless and endless things they do and are for me.

I am supported, encouraged, understood, fed, clothed, diapered (well, my baby is), trusted, tolerated, listened too, given too, smiled at, laughed with, invited, helped, etc.

I am blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people.

I am grateful for you, and for all that you do for me.

I am no good at writing thank you notes, and I know a blog post isn't really an adequate substitute, but I hope that as you read this post you know that you are included and I truly am grateful.

Identifying Self: Clothing Style

I have struggled for a while with my appearance. The deepest part of this struggle is that I have not felt confident in my appearance/myself. It took a while for me to finally put the pieces together, but I figured out that I needed to embrace "my style". I have also figured out that just because I think something is cute, it may not be my style, and it may not work for me, I may not be comfortable in it.

New clothes add up quickly. This may have been one of my biggest obstacles in taking the leap. But through a gracious alignment of the stars, I was afforded a small REI shopping spree.

Yes. REI. For years I have walked through REI loving almost all of the clothes I would see, but feeling intimidated by them. Instead I just stuck with the familiar, the same old. It seemed easier not to change. But no matter what other clothes I got, I just kept looking at those REI clothes with a sense of longing. Not just longing for clothes I didn't think I could afford. I think the real longing was for the sense of "fitting in" in my own clothes. Longing for the expression of self that happens when a persons style matches their personality. Longing for the ability to actually embrace my inner me.

Some of my favorite new clothes include...
This Skirt:

This Shirt:

and These Pants:

So there you have it, "my style". And the best part of having these new clothes... looking in the mirror and feeling like I'm looking at me, and walking in a room and feeling like I'm actually representing me.

Mama's Girl

Oliver is in gymnastics at the U.

He loves it.

I love it.

Elsie endures it.

This is how she endured it last week:

Identifying Self: These ARE a Few of My Favorite Things

My favorite color is green. This one hasn't changed in a while and I don't see it changing any time soon. There are certainly times where certain shades of green just don't work. But generally, I like it! Almost any shade, almost all the time. I also really like brown. These two colors are the base of my color pallet.

My favorite drink is.... you know it, Diet Coke! My absolute favorite flavor, and seemingly the only thing that quenches my thirst ( I discovered this the other day after drinking cups of water and still having that dry mouth feeling, finally got my dc and I felt better instantly ).

My favorite flowers are lilacs.

I truly enjoy walking. Walking to clear my mind, walking for exercise, walking with friends, walking with family, walking to challenge myself. One marathon was enough, but I really enjoy half marathons and hope to do many more. Occasionally I hate walking, but the rest of the time I love it.

My favorite Slurpee flavor is banana.

I Love Rain! Light drizzles, wild thunderstorms, a little rain or a lot of rain. Rain is magic.

As the title of this post suggests, this list is just the beginning, a few things that I knows are my favorites. Self discovery to continue later, right now it's bed time. Oo, another one of my favorite things is my bed! It is the most comfortable bed on earth ( according to me )!

Identifying Self: Introduction

Over the past few months I have struggled with my identity. At times I have honestly asked the question "What do I like?" and not known the answer. I could come up with things I used to like, but really wasn't sure if I even liked them anymore.

I'm not exactly sure when my loss of identity began. Although it seems to have become more elusive as I have settled more into the role of wife and mother. I'm sure there are many mothers out there that can identify with this struggle to an extent. I began to feel that all of my likes had been altered to "like mores" of those things my husband and Oliver like. For example, I like Dinosaur Train more than Sid the Science Kid. And I like Smashing Pumpkins more than Deadmau5.

Not all of this is bad. Nathan has challenged me over the years, and has ultimately broadened the spectrum of things I like or can at least tolerate. I have also become a more independent thinking in the last few years, and have come to realize how I really feel and what I really believe about many important aspects of life. So, I have experienced new things, learned to like new things, and made some important decisions.

Maybe the question isn't so much about what I like, but more of what I love.

What do I love?

I love being a mother, and I love being a wife. Those 2 roles are my most important ones. They are a large part of who I am. They are not in any way in question.

What is in question are the things that make me individually me. Those are the things I am trying to identify. Those are the things I feel I need to get in touch with. Because I believe that if I can better identify myself I will feel more confident in being myself.

Thus begins my quest of "Identifying Self"