From the mouth of a 2 year old

The other morning I woke up to the sounds of my sweet little two year old yelling from his room. This was unusual; he usually just gets out of bed and comes into my room; then pokes my eyes telling me to "Geck up! Stop sleeping! Sol up, luna down." (Translation: "Get up, Stop sleeping, Sun up, moon down!") But that's a totally different story.

So, you might ask, what was this cute little kid saying?

"Mami! Us stuck here! Help! Us stuck!"

Sure enough, I walk into Sam and Luke's room to find two cute little boys wide awake and "stuck" in the crib together.

-Emily

Random things that I talk to myself about.

1. Sam loves doors. Have I mentioned this before? Anytime a door is open, he promptly crawls over and plays with it. He shuts it, then gets stuck behind it. Constantly. The other day, Luke locked Sam in my bedroom. I couldn't get it open and had to call maintenance. It is days like that when I am SO thankful that I live in an apartment building with an on-site maintenance crew. A few days after that, Luke slammed the door on Sam's fingers. As soon as he calmed down, Sam went right back to playing with a door. Oh Sam!

"Door" was also one of Sam's first words! (He says "Mama". That was his first word) But the other day when he was playing, I was talking to him and saying "You like to play with that door!" and Sam promptly replied, "Door!" and I got really excited and I repeated it back, then he repeated it back. He said it at least 5 times in a row! He has said it a few times since then as well.

2. A friend of mine posted a picture of her friend nursing her minutes old newborn baby saying "I am proud of my friend, a proud mama with her baby... she worked so hard" or something like that. So a well meaning woman commented saying that the "proud mama probably wouldn't want that picture on facebook" because it was an intimate moment between her and her baby. My friend replied that she had asked the proud mama and  mama said she did want it on Facebook. So the comment argument continued a little more and a few more mothers commented and really attacked this first commenter. They said it was a beautiful picture and there was no reason for it to not be on Facebook and breastfeeding is natural and she had no right to "dig" on this new mom for breastfeeding... I felt really bad for this well-meaning commenter because I don't think she meant any offense and was really just concerned for the woman in the picture because this intimate moment was all over facebook on her friend's friend's news-feeds (like mine and well-meaning commenter). We don't know this woman and I doubt she would want us looking in on this moment. The commenter never said she was offended by the picture or that it was offensive in any way (which is what the others were accusing her of). Anyway, it was on my mind and it bothered me that people were so quick to judge and attack one well meaning opinion of breast feeding pictures on facebook. My opinion? BF pictures are not offensive and should be allowed on facebook if the mother wants, BUT I think it was inappropriate to have the picture posted on her friends wall therefore allowing all of her friends friends (strangers to the BFing woman) to see the picture. If you want friends and family to see it, great! but it is an intimate moment that strangers don't really need to see.

3. Luke has started doing "imaginary play" with his toys and animals. It is SO cute to watch him "talk" for his animals (his favorites are my old Ty beanie babies). They play together, eat fake food, fly, then convenienly "fall" because they have no wings!

4. Sam is teething and has been pretty grumpy because of it. He has a bit of a passionate personality and I thought that his happy happy days were over and he was already going into toddler-hood where emotions are so unstable. Then, I gave him some ibuprofen and put him down for a nap. He woke up so happy and it was SO good to see him in such a good mood. It makes me sad to see him in so much pain that it is affecting his mood. It really had been a long time since I had seen him so happy.

5. We read the parenting book, "How to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk" by Adele Faber and Elaine Maz... something. It has been really good for us! It teaches you to give emotions a name and acknowledge your child's feelings. So, now Luke tells us what he is feeling and says, "Me happy Mom, me happy!" in a very sad way with a very sad face, often with tears. So I respond, "you're happy?" He replies, "No mom. Me sad!"

-Emily

The simple, routine things of life

One of the things I try to do with the kids is brushing their teeth. We started to brush Sam's teeth and so we made quick video. Hope you enjoy.

Feeling Refreshed for new goals

I am not a believer in New Years Resolutions. Not because I am not goal oriented, simply because I believe in year round goal setting and that you shouldn't wait for the new year to start improving yourself. If it's going to be something that sticks, you might as well start now. I am constantly making new resolutions for myself and I don't think that just because it is January 1st, you need to overwhelm yourself with a bunch of new goals.

That being said, the past few months/weeks/days (I'm not really sure when this started) I have been feeling a little renewed and refreshed. I have gotten over the new baby thing and I am starting to feel more like the me I used to know. It feels good. I feel like I am not just surviving anymore, I am thriving. This does not mean every minute or even every day is fantastic and filled and that my life is exactly where I want it to be. Not at all. However, I feel that now I am able to start climbing that mountain to be the woman that I want to be.

I have more energy, I have learned how to balance my needs along with the needs of my family. I am starting to think more about what I can do for others, rather than what I need them to do for me. Because I am feeling this way at the moment, I have concocted up a few goals for myself that I know will help me to be a better wife and mother, have more energy, and be happier.

I thought to myself, I want to have these goals on my blog so that I am a little more accountable. So here they are!

1. Find time to read the scriptures! (This is a hard one or me. It's 11pm and I still haven't read them! yikes)
2. Exercise every day. Go to the gym 3x/week.
3. Go to the temple on ward temple night each month (Francisco and I are going to try a system where we trade off each month and every 3rd month, we find a babysitter and go together)
4. Decrease the amount of sugar in our diets. We eat too much sugar. I used to not think this was a very big deal because we eat a lot of healthy things too, but I think it  is too much and we need to figure out some alternative snacks that aren't so sugar-packed.
5. Increase the amount of beans/legumes that we eat. I've been working on this for a while and haven't had a lot of success. Just need to do it.
6. Spend more quality time with my husband. Now that school is back in session for him, we need to make time for each other. I got really excited today about some of the silly dates I read about on thedatingdivas blog.
7. Make time for me. Whether it's to read a book, make some crafts, or try something new, I want to have hobbies that are for me, so that I don't lose myself in motherhood.
8. Open up and let people get to know me better. I want to share my thoughts and opinions, my likes and dislikes. I tend to put up a wall and don't get to close to people, but I think that the more I open up, the deeper and more meaningful my relationships with others will become.

I think that's it! I think these are all doable things and I am excited to do them.

-Emily

(and be sure to read the second post from today as well! Yes, I posted twice in one night and sorry gramma, no pictures of your grandkids :)

I'm dreaming of a cool autumn breeze and crisp red leaves.

With the end of this sweaty summer we have been (and still are) enduring, I have become unattainably excited about fall. Most of you already know that this is my absolute favorite season (I've posted about it on here in previous years) but I am just too excited to not write about it!

This year, I have already written my bucket list for the coming season. It is a little longer than normal; actually it is the first time I have made an official bucket list, but still it is more than what I normally think to do during the fall. I think this is for 2 reasons. One, last year I was pregnant and had a baby right before Halloween. That is a bit of a buzz-kill on the outings, recipes, decorations, pretty much everything... Not that having a baby was bad, just bad timing for me, because I wasn't able to do all the things that I wanted, so this year I feel the need to make up for last year. And secondly, this Texas summer has been SO dreadfully long and hot hot hot that I am dying for cooler weather to come! I have been planning my decorations and activities since the beginning of August and the anticipation of waiting has made everything become a little more extravagant in my head.

Here is my list (I had to go get it from my refrigerator):
- Make caramel apples
- Make apple crisp
- Make costumes (I am planning a fairy-tale theme. I will be a princess, Francisco my Knight in Shining Armor, Sam his handsome steed (horse), and Luke the scary dragon. I am pretty excited about it!)
- Make new decorations (I am planning a candy pumpkin garland, a candy corn wreath, adding pumpkins to my living room in my wood-burning fireplace, and some sort of burlap banner.
- Decorate!
- Go to a corn maze
- Pumpkin patch and tractor ride
- Have a Halloween party (I want to have a poker night and use candy as bets!)
- and of course carve pumpkins!

I am just giddy with excitement! Please fall come early this year! (It was 105 today so it's not really feeling like fall.) Oh fall. A girl can dream, right?

Happy dreaming until autumn really does come! What's on your bucket list this season?

-Emily