Patience

"We should learn to be patient with ourselves. Recognizing our strengths and our weaknesses, we should strive to use good judgment in all of our choices and decisions, make good use of every opportunity, and do our best in every task we undertake. We should not be unduly discouraged nor in despair at any time when we are doing the best we can. Rather, we should be satisfied with our progress even though it may come slowly at times."
--Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Patience, a Key to Happiness", Ensign, May 1987, 30

O Ye Hypocrite!

Check out this picture.

Katie Katie's 6 Month Day!

Miss Katie Katie is 6 months old today! Here are some pics from Feb-Apr.

I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog, but Katie has some pretty severe eczema. You can see her extremely red cheeks in a couple of these pictures. We took her to the doctor a couple of months ago and have been using Aquaphor and hydrocortisone on her since then. The latter has worked wonders on her poor face, but we try to use it as little as we can because it's strong. If we even let up just a little bit with either of them, she gets red cheeks within 12-24 hours. I guess she won't need any blush when she gets older! :)


Jenna and Katie love to play together. Jenna can make Katie laugh when no one else can! I'm kind of jealous of it, actually. :) I can make her laugh a little, but Jenna can get full belly laughs out of her. It's hilarious.


Katie in her exersaucer. This was back when she still needed some support (hence the pillow). She hasn't needed it for a little while.


Red-cheeked babe


You can see how big she's getting for the bassinet. This was almost two months ago, too. I really don't put her in the bassinet anymore.


Nice tongue


Katie's dress on Sunday


Katie during Jenna's birthday party. I love dressing her in the clothes that Jenna used to wear.

Stake Conference

I thought I would share this conversation that I had on Sunday, because it was both hilarious and a little embarrassing. We (the Primary Presidency) were at a fireside on Sunday night, and as the man conducting sat down, I leaned over to Rachel and said:

K: Who's that guy?
R: (gives me a funny look) Who?
K: The guy who was just speaking.
R: ...that's our Stake President! [...] Haven't you been to Stake Conference?
K: No. We've always been sick!

So funny. Oops. Actually, when I mentioned it to Braden when I got home, he reminded me that I was prego-sick the first time, very big and prego the second time (and unable to rein in a very active Jenna, since Braden was working that day), and we were all sick again a few weeks ago for the third time. So this fireside I was at was the first time I had been in the chapel of our Stake Center!

Free Cone Day

Go to a local Ben and Jerry's today for a free scoop! See this link for some info; I can't get on their website, probably due to major traffic from people wanting to find out the same thing I do!

My absolute favorite flavor of ice cream is Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk. It's great for pregnancy cravings, and I occasionally treat myself when it's on sale (seeing as Ben & Jerry's is a little pricey, shall we say).

Enjoy your free treat!

Happiness

"Salvation is an eternal goal we gain by a process of constant upward change. Doubt is spiritual poison that stunts eternal growth. We must first feel our way before we can see it with any clarity. We prove ourselves by making numerous correct decisions without being absolutely sure; then comes a greater knowledge and assurance, not before. Happiness is created. Love is its center. Its principal ingredients are sincere faith, true repentance, full obedience, and selfless service."
--Richard G. Scott, "Happiness Now and Forever", Ensign, Nov. 1979, 70

General Conference

"Decide now to make general conference a priority in your life. Decide to listen carefully and follow the teachings that are given. Listen to or read the talks more than once to better understand and follow the counsel. By doing these things, the gates of hell will not prevail against you, the powers of darkness will be dispersed from before you, and the heavens will shake for your good."
--Elder Paul V. Johnson, "The Blessings of General Conference", Ensign, Nov. 2005, 50

Jenna Quote

Braden was laying in Jenna's crib with her (I don't know how he fits, either) this morning and was going over animal sounds with her. The following conversation ensued:

B: "What sound does a wolf make?"
J: [...] (Puzzled expression) "What's up, homey?"

DIRTY DOG

Just had to share this from Passive-Aggressive Notes because it made me laugh out loud. The juzzum (girl/woman) who does the site actually has my name (before I got married, that is). It's quite weird to see my name on her book that she came out with.

Church

Sometimes church doesn't go very well. This was one of those Sundays. Primary is usually chaotic, but it was extra chaotic today. I guess sometimes I feel especially inept in my calling, and I feel like it showed a lot today, and that bothers me. I know it's probably mostly in my head, but I still left church just feeling down. I hope this day gets better.

Also, in the midst of my running around as usual, someone from nursery came and handed a soaking wet Jenna to me. Of course I don't have a change of clothes for her!! And of course, the mother's lounge is all the way across the building from where both Primary and Nursery are located....who planned that? The nursery room should totally be where the Relief Society room is, not to mention that there should be a changing table in a men's restroom in every single church building. I'm super-busy every Sunday, Braden doesn't have a Sunday calling, and yet they bring Jenna to me if she needs to be changed, because there is nowhere for Braden to change her. The poopiness of it all!!! Literally!!

So I changed Jenna's diaper and then put her clothes right back on her...what else could I do? That's totally gross, and I felt horrible doing it, but I didn't have a change of clothes for her because this is the first time I've changed her at church in months. She either hasn't needed it, or maybe they haven't noticed that she has; I'm not sure. The thing is, the diaper she was wearing was wet, but certainly not in proportion to how wet her clothes were. It was really odd. I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned with Pampers, let me tell you.

Anyway, here's hoping for some nicer weather this week. Maybe the combination of bad weather and the fact that it's TOTALLY supposed to be spring (hello, Washington...it's APRIL) is getting me down. Let's see some sun!!! :)

Pics

Some recent (most within the last couple of days) pics for you all to enjoy:


Enjoying her free birthday sundae tonight at Red Robin.



Katie is my cutie. I remember when Jenna wore this outfit and still got called a boy by several people. Geez, what do I gotta do, write GIRL on her forehead???



Love it!



In our lovely backyard (deseret?)



I can't believe how old Jenna looks here. This was taken on Sunday. She's starting to lose the baby fat and her face is becoming more elongated. It makes me a little sad that she's growing up so fast, even though in some ways it's nice. I love my babes!!

Choices

"Some of our struggles involve making decisions, while others are a result of the decisions we have made. Some of our struggles result from choices others make that affect our lives. We cannot always control everything that happens to us in this life, but we can control how we respond. Many struggles come as problems and pressures that sometimes cause pain. Others come as temptations, trials, and tribulations."
--L. Lionel Kendrick, "Strength During Struggles", Ensign, Oct 2001, 24


Thought of your recent post, Carolyn.

WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Jenna is driving me absolutely insane. She is sooooooo whiny today. This is one of my biggest pet peeves, and it's something that mothers run into a LOT. It makes me want to climb the walls, and then when I'm on the roof, maybe I can actually have some time to myself!! Seriously, whining makes me want to tear my skin off. Let's see if I can think of any other disgusting things it makes me want to do. Are you sure you want to keep reading? :)

The hardest thing for me to do is to ignore it, because I want to scream at her to stop. It's something that I'm working on.

Right now she is whining about fish sticks, because she wants them right now. I've already explained several times that they are in the oven cooking, but she continues to whine for them.

My skin is about to come off.

What are your biggest pet peeves as a mother? I'm just curious.

Mothers

"We shall prosper and build up Zion upon the earth; for this is our mission, and the work of your mothers and daughters of Zion—the mothers now, and by and by the daughters, who will, in turn, be mothers in Israel. Great responsibility rests upon you. Upon you depend the training and the direction of the thoughts and the inspiration of the hearts of your children, for they drink into the spirit of their mothers, and the influence of the mother over the children is the most enduring impression that can be made. There is nothing so imperishable as the influence of the mother; that is when she is good and has the spirit of the Gospel in her heart, and she has brought up her children in the way they should go."
--Joseph F. Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 33

DOG

So I just had a conversation with my neighbor since the girls and I went out in our backyard for the first time in months. That was actually the first time I've ever taken Katie out in our yard. Anyway, to give a little bit of background, there is a little, yappy dog that lives about 10 feet from our duplex (in an identical duplex). I hate this dog with a passion. I will do nothing more than dare to step out onto MY driveway, and it comes tearing across multiple lawns to stand two feet away from me and bark its head off, yipping and growling at me. The last time this happened (it's happened like eight times now), I was only trying to unload my groceries from the van. I had to yell across the lot to the group of kids there for one of them to do anything about it. I yelled twice, "Hey, can you come get your dog???", and the response was, "Oh, he won't hurt you." I don't give a crap if he will hurt me or not, I don't want him barking at me, all up in my space!! I am afraid of dogs, besides the fact that I just don't like them. They are unpredictable and tend to jump up on you and sometimes bite you for no reason. I've had a bunch of bad experiences with dogs that have led to me feeling this way. This is a little dog, sure, and I could take it on, but I'm of course not going to start kicking it unless it attacks me or my children. Anyway, one of the kids started chasing it to try to get it away from me, but it wasn't very effective. Oh, and my response to what the kid said, was "I really don't like dogs", which elicited a somewhat of a glare from the kid trying to corral the dog. That made me even more mad, because, I'm sorry if you are annoyed that your dog is annoying to other people, but it is!! I can't stand it when people don't take responsibility for their pets. This dog has zero training whatsoever; it runs on people's lawns, and apparently makes a beeline for my neighbor's front lawn to defecate.

So....I asked my neighbor if the dog had bothered them, and she said yes, and about the pooping on their lawn, which no one but the mother of the boy actually will pick up. It's apparently the grandma who lets the dog out to poop on their lawn, and she couldn't care less about the consequences, since apparently there are none. The situation just really upsets me, because I feel like I can't take my kids out in the front for fear of this dog accosting us. The dog would scare the poop out of Jenna, and I'd be carrying Katie probably, and Jenna would be walking, so she'd be way close to it. I hate confrontation, so I don't know what to do about this. But something needs to be done...I just don't know if saying something will do anything. The way our little neighborhood is set up, there's a long lane and a lot of us share driveways because we're all duplexes. The boundary lines are very nebulous, so it's hard to say, "This is my driveway starting HERE." The kids all ride their bikes on everyone's driveways b/c there isn't a lot of room to play, which is fine, EXCEPT when this dog thinks it's king of the entire duplex territory. Just a few minutes ago, I heard it barking again and looked out the window. It ran onto my other neighbor's lawn to bark at her (she's handicapped) because she dared to sweep her own driveway. Her response was to hold out her hand to it, and I thought, "wow, she's way more nice than I would be!!"

Katie is screaming. Sorry this post is so disjointed, but I've been trying to type it quickly. Anyway, another post to come about what my neighbor said to me in the backyard.

To My Dear Hubbin

Good one. :)