Month of Thanks - post 3

Today I am thankful that:

• I got to vote and that it only took me ten minutes, and I didn't have to take the kids with me.
• Aveline started nursing again.
• I was able to take Aveline to the doctor today and rule out that anything was wrong with her.
• I am able to floss every day.  It is crazy how much stuff gets stuck in between my teeth.
• I am able to use Listerine every day.  I love Listerine.  I especially love the vanilla mint flavor, but even the regular mint (cool mint?) is delicious to me (not to drink, just to swish).
• Matt helped make dinner.  I hate cutting up chicken, especially when it is bone-in.  It just takes forever for me to do, so whenever Matt can help with that it is great.
• I have Lily as a daughter.  It is hard to be patient with her, but she is also so sweet and so much fun.

Month of thanks - post 2

Today I am thankful that:

• Matt took out the trash and that he always takes out the trash. I am especially grateful that he throws out old food in the fridge. That has got to be one of my least favorite things to do.
• We have a public library near our house. I love that I can put books on hold and pretty much just walk in, pick up my books, and leave. I'm also grateful that Lily doesn't throw a fit when we have to return books. I'm grateful that the library puts out a monthly newsletter of recommendations of books for young kids like mine. And lastly, I'm grateful that there is a playground next to the library. Any time one trip can accomplish multiple activities/tasks is great.
• We had family home evening. Any time spent together as a family, not watching TV, is special to me. Family home evening is even more so because we talk about things that are important to our family to help us be better individually and as a family unit. It can be hard to have a quiet peaceful time with the kids, but there are moments of it--moments where I can feel the spirit and know we are doing the right thing.
• I not only showered today, but showered before noon.
• My friend delivered her baby today. Having a baby is an amazing, life-changing experience. It makes me so happy when a baby is born, especially when all are healthy and well, and especially when it is to a friend.

Month of Thanks

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, which is this month, I have decided to follow so many others and write something I am thankful for every day this month.  I hope to do it even longer than a month, like forever.

So, today I am thankful that:

• my husband made breakfast and dinner.
• I got to watch my husband play hide-n-seek with Lily.
• I got to watch him play "I'm gonna get you" with Aveline and see Aveline laugh and squeal while crawling away.
• I got to see Aveline try to rock on our rocking horse and also try to walk with our sit-and-stand toy.
• Lily didn't put up a fuss when I didn't let her pick which story to read, when she wanted to read a story.
• We got to church early.
• Lily stopped herself peeing during her nap time, so that she only needed to change her clothes, not all of her bed things as well.
• I got to see/hear three baby blessings at church today.
• I am part of Relief Society and that we had such a good lesson today about gratitude.

Don't Throw the Baby out the Window

Ever heard the saying "all parents want to throw the baby out the window at some point"?  Well, it's true.  And nap time today was one of those times.

I had already tried to get Aveline to sleep in her crib with no avail, so I put her in her swing.  That calmed her down at least somewhat and after a little while she fell asleep.  I was worried she would wake up though, so I went to see about transferring her to her crib.  At that point I realized she had pooped in her diaper.  I feel bad for babies sitting in poop, so even though I knew she'd wake up I changed her diaper anyway.

I hoped she'd go back to sleep easily once I put her in her crib and gave her the pacifier.  For whatever reason she was being very stubborn.  I had already done this once within the hour and I was just tired.  I was trying to force her to take the pacifier and it wasn't working.  So, I left the room and closed the door and hoped that her crying wouldn't wake up Lily who was napping in the room next door.  After a few minutes of hoping she'd calm down on her own and go to sleep I decided I better go try again. 

Again she wasn't taking the pacifier.  I was so upset I wanted to launch the pacifier at her head and storm out of the room.  In that moment I knew I was frustrated and that being frustrated and trying to force the pacifier wasn't going to work.  But, I also knew that I didn't have it in me to do any better (I think sometimes three months of not enough sleep can do that to a person).  So I said a silent prayer, "God, please just make her go to sleep (so I don't beat her)."  And then I was able to get her to take the pacifier and she did go to sleep, fast.

In times of crisis like these I often struggle on my own without praying for help.  Sometimes I may not think of it, but usually that's not the case.  I don't know if it's because I'm afraid that my prayer will go unanswered or if I just feel like I should handle things on my own.  Either way, I am glad that I decided to pray this time and I am so thankful that that prayer was answered.

As an added bonus, when I left Aveline's room I checked on Lily and she was still fast asleep.

Just One Reason Marriage Is the Best

Today I am grateful for my husband.  I am grateful that when I "grew up" I did not have a time on my own but instead went directly from living with my mom to living with Matt.  When things seem like they suck at least there is always one person there who loves me and supports me and thinks I'm awesome no matter what.

Flowers

I love flowers.  And I love taking pictures of flowers.  Hopefully my neighbors don't mind me stalking their gardens...

These ones are from a bouquet Matt gave me for my birthday:

Making Italian Bread

Last night our dinner was so delicious that Matt said I should blog about it.

We had Pasta Fagioli Soup.  It is pretty good, but pretty light; you need to eat something else with it.  I was thinking some good Italian bread would be the perfect side.  In my renewed efforts to live within my means I decided to make some instead of just buying a loaf.  I've watched my mom make bread before (thank you Mummis!  I definitely relied on your teaching while making the bread), but I have never made any of my own, so I searched online for the most simple, basic Italian bread recipe I could find.  This is the recipe I ended up picking.  It calls for bread flour, but I didn't want to buy that, so i just used regluar all-purpose flour.  The only thing I ended up needing to buy was a 40¢ packet of yeast.

Making the bread was nice; a much more calm and enjoyable experience than any other time I've made something for the first time.  At dinner we dipped it in a concoction of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and ground pepper.  It was delicious!



All that was left of our 12-inch loaf after dinner.