Favorite People

My favorite people are people who have influenced me deeply, people who love me, people I want to emulate.

Today I would like to share about one of my favorite people, my mother-in-law, whom I call mom. :)  My mother-in-law has taught me a lot of things.  She has taught me about the value of appreciation- and that a little of it goes a long way.  I have observed her consistently writing notes of appreciation, usually with her own little touches—stickers, homemade cards out of pictures, homemade envelopes.  Even when she’s super busy, she still thinks of others!  When I call and say, “Whatcha doin’?” it turns out she is often baking something for someone, or making something for someone, or thinking of someone.  Really, the thank-you cards I write, the gifts I give, the few times I do happen to remember birthdays, and the letters I answer can very possibly be traced back to this lady!

Mom loves her husband, and shows him she loves him.  This is another thing I’m practicing--demonstrating love.  She cooks food he likes, she tells him how much she loves him, she hugs him, and she tells others what a wonderful man he is!  I guess I should start figuring out what food my husband likes huh!

Mom loves the gospel.  She really loves the gospel.  She loves to study the gospel, is always willing to have a discussion about principles and insights, and can frequently be seen sitting at the kitchen table studying the scriptures.  She is excited about family history.  She has been an inspiration to me, and a huge motivation!  Seeing someone you respect and love spend their precious time immersed in the gospel reemphasizes its importance.  If that is what they are concerned with, shouldn’t I be a little more involved in this as well? I think.    

Mom cares about people.  She says she doesn’t, but it shows in her actions.  She tries to please others, or at the very least to be conscious of what she says and make sure it’s considerate.  She notices things I never would…but I’m starting to now after associating with her for a while!!  Last but not least, she is fun.  She’s fun to be around, fun to talk to, fun to go shopping with, fun to do anything with.  

These are really just a few of the things I love about my mother-in-law, or that she's teaching me.  I am one of the luckiest girls in the world to have her in my life and be able to call her family :).

Happy Birthday to My Baby :)

My baby is a year old today.  It still amazes me, how much they grow and learn in just a year. 

He has been practicing his walking for several months, and can practically outrun his mom by now :).  Anytime someone leaves the screen door open (which is often around here), he tries to make his escape. 

He brings me books to read to him, which always makes me smile. 

He loves to be tickled, and he likes to play the game where he runs away from me and I chase him and either pretend to get him or tickle him, over and over. 

He has to be sung to sleep, but he usually goes to sleep in 5-10 minutes. 

Lorenzo now refuses to eat baby food.  He only wants what everyone else is eating.

In December, for his father's birthday, we discovered that he adores strawberry shortcake, so that will be his birthday cake as well.

Being outside is his favorite, followed by water (showers, pools, the sink, the ocean, whatever).

He also plays peekaboo anytime he hears a word that sounds even close to "hide," and he plays pattycake.  Sometimes clapping your hands is just more fun though, and you don't even need pattycake.  He claps for people when he's happy.

He doesn't really say much, except "hi."  He has that down, and he waves.  Recently he has started saying "bye" as well.  He knows who you are talking about when you say Mom, Dad, brother, and a few other names. 

He climbs the stairs anytime he gets the chance.  He's pretty good at it too.  And he has learned to turn around to come back down!

Still doesn't sleep through the night, but we are getting close.  It's okay; they aren't babies for very long :(. 

I love my Lorenzo.  I love to be with him every day.  I love watching him learn new things.  I love that he loves me.  Happy birthday sweet baby!

A Difficult Transition

I just threw away a coloring page from Olie's primary class, with his handwriting printed across the top.  "This is Not My Class."  In addition, his teacher told me he folded the chairs up and used them as stilts, even after asked to stop, and when he went to the restroom she could hear him screaming from the classroom.  He had a hard time with the class below him (with only two kids) being combined with his, and was convinced he was supposed to be in the senior primary with the big kids.  It was just one of those days...for a lot of people.  Shawn stayed home with sick kids, we had two teachers not show up, one unexpectedly released, and one who was called just today and had to jump right in and teach.  I'm sure she appreciated that.  But, the day is done, and everyone lived through it.  Olie wrote a letter of apology to take with him next week.  I "completed" (not a whole 24 hours) my first day of fasting in literally years, having been pregnant or nursing for, well, years. 

I have discovered that the hardest thing about being sick (second to getting out of bed in the morning) is not being able to sing.  My voice is almost completely gone, and I didn't realize how much I sing in a day.  It's really stopped me in my tracks.  It's nice to appreciate being able to sing though, knowing this is a very temporary condition.  I played the piano today instead of singing, not that my babies were okay with that in any way.

I guess I should go get a late start on New Year's goals.  We stayed up playing a game, were going to go to bed early, but the baby woke up (go fireworks!) so we watched part of my favorite movie, Bachelor Mother, until he went back to sleep.  Demetri had a gymnastics meet this weekend, and took 3rd in his level, but his coach was not very happy with how he did.  So we have some work to do over the next couple of months.  I think I'm vacillating between making new goals or survival right now :).