Article: "Your Children want YOU!"

Yesterday I came across an article on facebook. It had been posted and reposted by several people. Each posting came with several people "liking" the status. I read the article and I "liked" it as well. It rang true in my life. It was what I needed to hear. The article talks about how in today's world we have things like Blogs, Facebook, Pintrest, etc where we see people doing amazing things and they can often make us feel like we are failing or should be doing so much more than we are as mothers. I will admit that most days I just try to keep me head above the water. I realize that it has been an adjustment to have three kids and also work 30 hours a week, keep up with cleaning, cooking, laundry, working out, getting kids where they need to be, reading scriptures, homework....and the list goes on. I often feel very unorganized and wish I had more time to learn new things and gain new skills. There are times where I feel like I am failing in so many areas. And yet, I am happy with my life and with my family. I loved the article because it was a good reminder that I am enough for my kids. That even though there are so many things I don't/can't do, I can do what is the most important...which is to love my kids and to be there for them. I realize more every day that we, as moms, do the best we can.
After reading this article and agreeing whole heartedly, I had a girls night out and went to dinner with some friends. When I got home Jax was already asleep and Jade was watching t.v. in my bed. She was so happy to see me and we laid together for a little while. A few minutes later Jax woke up crying. I went in his room and asked hime what was wrong "I want mommy...I missed you." I picked him up and carried him in my room. We sat in the recliner and I held him while he went back to sleep....happy to be suggling mom. (I love that even though he is almost 5 and Jade 7 they still love me to snuggle them.) In that moment I realized the truth in the article.....I am enough for them.

The Article found on Power of Mom's Website:
There’s this crazy phenomenon going on right now. Good, devoted mothers get on Pinterest . . . and blogs . . . and Facebook . . . and Twitter . . . and then they flip through parenting magazines and TV channels (full of advertisements and media hype) . . . and they’re convinced they’re not enough.They’re convinced that everyone else has magnetic, alphabetized spice containers,and unless their garden parties are thematically accessorized with butterfly lanterns, and they’re wearing the latest fashions (in a size two, of course), there’s no point in even showing up for the day.
Last Saturday, this happened to me.I came home from a lovely day out with my extended family and had serious intentions to spend the evening dyeing Easter eggs and making bunny buns.By the time I got everyone settled and fed, however, I was so tired that I just laid on the couch and dozed while my children played and got themselves to bed.Around 8:30, when I finally had the energy to sit up, I decided to try out Pinterest for a few minutes until my husband got home. There it was–1,000 reasons why I’m failing at all things domestic. I don’t make grilled cheese sandwiches look like ice cream.I don’t even have seasonal throw pillows on my couches or live plants anywhere in the house.Is it really so hard? Can’t I pull myself together and wrap some candles in green foliage and bring happiness to our decor with bright fabrics and hand-crafted photo frames?
As I was trying to calm my frenzied state of mind, my husband came home and held me tight. We talked about our day, and he told me how much he loves me and that he wants our boys to marry someone like me. I fell asleep snuggled under his arm.
The following morning, our children enthusiastically bounded into our bedroom and tucked themselves into our covers. My four-year-old gave me an arm massage, and we all sat there together–joking, laughing, planning the day ahead, and enjoying that special feeling of family. Reflecting on the discouragement I’d felt the night before, I realized that my family doesn’t care about what I see on Pinterest. They care about me.
My daughter Grace loves me to sing “Baby Mine” to her each night before bed. When I go to our Power of Moms Retreats, she misses that special ritual. We have recordings of Michael Crawford and Allison Krauss singing their versions, but Grace doesn’t want those. She wants me. So I recorded myself singing “Baby Mine” and emailed the audio file to her and to my husband so Grace can hear “her song” before she sleeps. As far as she’s concerned, my untrained voice belongs at the top of the charts.
A few months ago, I was practicing sideways dutch braids on my two daughters. They had found these great “how-to” videos online, and we set up our comb, brush, and hair bands in front of the computer so I could become an expert.Half-way through the braid, my fingers got all tangled up, the hair was too loose, and one of my daughters had been sitting with her head to the side for several minutes.Feeling extremely frustrated, I said, “That little girl in the video is so lucky to have a mom who knows how to do hair.” My daughter stopped me in my tracks when she responded, “But I have a mom who is trying.”
My mom is in her 70s, and her memory is starting to go. Her sweetness and love are as strong as ever, but when we talk on the phone, she can’t remember the last time we spoke or the last time we saw each other.
At the end of one phone call a few weeks ago, I whispered, “I miss you, Mom.” She said, “Oh, I miss you, too! But we’ll get together soon. You can come down to the park, and we’ll get an ice cream cone at McDonald’s.” I replied, “Yes, that will be fun.” But then the tears started, and I had to use every ounce of control to keep my voice even so she wouldn’t know I was crying. What I really meant was, “I miss being able to talk to you, Mom. I miss laying on the grass while my children make a hopscotch and savoring our long phone conversations. I miss you remembering all those secrets I used to tell you. I miss you asking me if I’m okay. I miss seeing you read books and hearing you sing while you do the dishes and having you drive out to my house without getting lost. I miss you remembering how much I need you.”
My mother didn’t specialize in home decor or gourmet cooking, and she didn’t lift weights or run marathons. But she makes me feel like I am the most important, wonderful person ever born. If I could pick any mother in the whole world, it would be my mom.
There’s something deeper going on in family life than can ever be expressed on a social network. Whatever it is we feel we are lacking, can we collectively decide–as deliberate mothers–that we are not going to sit around feeling discouraged about all the things we’re not?
Can we remind each other that it is our uniqueness and love that our children long for? It is our voices. Our smiles. Our jiggly tummies. Of course we want to learn, improve, exercise, cook better, make our homes lovelier, and provide beautiful experiences for our children, but at the end of the day, our children don’t want a discouraged, stressed-out mom who is wishing she were someone else.
If you ever find yourself looking in the mirror at a woman who feels badly that she hasn’t yet made flower-shaped soap,
please offer her this helpful reminder: “Your children want you!”
Written by April Perry- Power of Moms

5 months!

One of my favorite pics of Hads. Those cheeks....love them!
WARNING: There is a poop picture below....weak stomachs should stop here! :) (Dad?)

Can I say again that I can't believe another month has passed? The last 5 months have gone by so quickly. I feel like I was just barely in the hospital having Hads! Wish time would slow down just a little!
This past month has been so fun with Miss Hadley.
- She started reaching for toys a few weeks ago and now loves to grab things and hold things. This has been fun for her as well as me because she is much more content to sit somewhere if I give her a toy to play with.
- She also found her toes and loves to hold on to them. I haven't seen her put them in her mouth yet but I am sure that will come soon!
- On Saturday (the 7th- so the day she turned 5 months) I layed her on a rug in the kitchen so that I could do something real quick and when I turned around she was on her belly! She rolled and I missed it! I was so excited and then had to have her do it again for me! I thought to myself "Here we go...her first step towards being mobile!" ;)
- She stopped taking a bottle. The last time she had a bottle was the morning after her surgery. Before that she was always fine to have a bottle when I was gone. I would just leave some milk I pumped and she would take the bottle like a champ. About a month ago I left her with my mom while we were at church and I left her a bottle. When we picked her up my mom said she was really good but got really upset when she tried to feed her a bottle. I figured it was just a fluke and didn't think much about it. About a week later I left her with Brandee and the same thing happened. I started wondering what was going on so I gave it a 3rd try and saw that she freaks out and acts like the bottle is poisoning her! ;) So, I am not sure if somehow in her mind she relates the bottle to the hospital (can a baby be that smart?!?!) or what. So....nursing only it is for her! Someone told me if I made her cry long enough she would take a bottle, which may be true but I am not going to try it. I like nursing. I will admit that there are times that 3 hours seems to come around very quickly or can come and just the time when I want to sit down and nurse or something, but I am so glad that I kept at the nursing. Life around here gets very busy and I think if I didn't nurse Hads there are days that I would not hold her very often between work, running kids all over and just normal house stuff. So I love that I have to sit down and feed her, and hold her, every few hours. I think it is a huge blessing for me. I haven't started her on solid foods yet but seeing that she watches everything I put in my mouth when I am holding her, I probably will start that pretty soon
- She is sleeping much better now. She usually goes down about 9:00 in her co-sleeper and will stay asleep until about 4:00. After she eats at 4:00 she seems to be up around 6:00 or so and sometimes just stays awake until her first nap. She usually will nap for 2-3 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon and a quick 45 min cat nap in the evening. The one thing I have noticed lately is that that is her schedule when we are home. She has a VERY hard time sleeping when we are on the go which usually means she gets very little sleeping in on Saturday's. That being said she doesn't seem too grupmy on those days, she just doesn't sleep very long in her car seat.
- She had a follow-up apt with the surgeon about a week ago and everything looked great! We were glad to hear that!

Overall this past month we have just seen a much happier and content Hadley. She laughs, smiles, and talks more. She is happier to sit and play and watch what is going on around her. I think it is safe to say she was probably sick and not feeling well for most of Jan and February and explains a lot of her fussiness/grumpiness. I am so glad she is feeling so much better because the difference in her mood is amazing!
We all love her to pieces. I think I tell Jaxon 1000 x's a day to get out of her face! Good to see that he loves her though. Jade still is happy to see her every morning, afternoon when she gets home from school and any other time she is away from her. Jade also started changing even her poopy diapers this past month and yes...she actually does a very good job! That is proof of how much she loves her! I can't get enough of her. I love to hold her. I know this time goes by WAY to quickly so I admit I hold her as much as I can!

Love you little Haddie! Now...if you can just stop growing for a little while! :)

This outfit reminds me of an 80s workout chic: leotard, leg warmers, sweat band!

Kisses from Miss Jade

Gross, I know but it is an everyday occurence around here....I decided I should document it just once!

Dancing Season

Usually March around our house means baseball season. Now that Jadyn is on a competition Dance team it also means dancing season! She loves dance and has loves getting dressed up and putting on all her make-up. Her dance is called K9 and is a super cute routine to "Who let the dogs out/Aint nothin but a Hound Dog" She does great and her facials are always the best! We have 1 performance and 1 competition under our belts and have 4 more competitions and 2 more performances between now and June 9th! With those and Jaxon's Soccer we have quickly become very busy on Saturday's! :) It is so fun to watch Jade dance!

Jaxon update

Jax is getting so big. I can not believe he is almost 5! That is just crazy to me!
Here are a few things he has been up to!
- He found a Lego Dino came on the computer about a month ago and fell in LOVE!!!! He could (and has) play for hours!!! I used the Lego dino's to my advantage and made him a chart that was for buckling himself when we get in the car. He would always throw a fit and want me to buckle so I made a chart and told him if he buckled 30 times by himself without crying he could pick out a lego dino. It worked! He loved the dino and I love that he does it by himself now!
- He likes to get RIGHT in Hadley's face all. day. long. I mean really close up in her face and talks loudly and bugs her. I think he is doing it to just "play" with her but I have to think it probably scares the bejeezies out of poor Hadley! We tell him "get out of her face" probably 50 times a day!
- He has loved the Leap Frog movies the past month and can I say I have loved it to because he now knows all his letters and most of their sounds when I tired working on this for so long with no success! He started watching them because I also bribed him and told him when he learned all his letters he would get a prize and that the movie would help but once he watched them he liked it and forgot about the prize! ;)
- He is so creative and I love hearing him play with his legos and other toys. The other day we were just hanging out and he said "Mom? Can you hear that? That loud noise?" I said no and he said "That's the dinosaur!!! I need to catch him!" and then he ran downstairs and "captured" the dinosaur, brought him upstairs and put him in his "cage"! It was pretty funny.
- He is an "Adventurist". A few weeks ago my mom came over on a Sat just as Jax was trying to leave to go to the park by himself. My mom said "I am just waiting for the day!" I said "For what?" and she said for him to show up at her house without me knowing. She said she needed to come over sometime and just walk with him back to her house so that if he ever did, at least he would know the way and would do it safely. In my head I thought she was a little nuts. He wouldn't ever go that far without me. HA!!!! The VERY NEXT DAY I told Jax that we were going to walk to grandma's. He was excited and I told him to go get his shoes and socks on while I changed Had's. He did as I asked and then I heard the garage door open. I figured he was just getting his scooter out. When I came downstairs I couldn't see him outside. I asked Jade to ride down the street and see if she could see him. She came back....she couldn't. I did not think he would actually go to my mom's by himself but figured I better send Scott in the car. 3 min later Scott came back.....with Jax in the car crying. Scott had found him on the OTHER SIDE of 40th! Yep, he crossed the busy street alone. He insisted he "waited for one car to go by!" Seriously! I could not believe he went alone! Needless to say we got after him big time and tried to explain how scary it was for us to think he had crossed and could have gotten hit! I just hope we got our point across!
- Oh my...this kid gets funnier every. single. day. I wrote down a few things he has said in the past few weeks:
-"Ladies first" My friend takes Jax to preschool and she told me the other day he said this to Izzie in the car. I guess I am glad he is learning to put girls first...not that he always does it! ;)
- "Hadley will you calm down? Me and mom are trying to live here!"
- "Does anyone know where I can get a cold drink around here?"
- "Mom do you know what slide walking is? It's where you slide and walk at the same time!"
- "You know who I love mom? Brody's cousin! She is so cute. I love her hair. Her mom does it the same every day with like a hole (?). I love it"
- We were at Jade's dance the other day and I was walking with Jax in the hall. He sat down on the floor, took off his flip-flop and started LICKING HIS TOES!!! I said "Jax! What in the world are you doing?" He said "What? My toes are sticky!" So nasty....
- At the same dance place he was down on the floor and we were sitting in the bleachers. He was walking up to us but I saw him stop and start talking to a guy. When he came up to the stand I asked him why he was talking to that guy and he said "He has HUGE tattoos. The biggest ones! I told him they were awesome!" Ahhh...gotta love kids
- "Mom, if I had a baby elephant I would take it to school and give everyone rides and I would get to ride on the front because it is my elephant. And I would give Bostyn lots of rides!"
He loves to have them both under Had's blankets and says she is sharing with him!

His creative outfit. Every Piece served a purpose. The only part I can remember is the socks were sticky and helped with climbing trees! ;)

I hate when this happens! Driving to dance at 4:30 is Jax's tired time and if he falls asleep he is OUT!!!

His Dino Lego game that he loves!

Another awesome outfit! And the famous Dino lego triceratops! And wait....check out the pictures on the wall!This is also his latest obsession: coloring dinosaur pictures and taping them to his walls. His walls are PLASTERED!

Gym Cats

These pics are awful but figured I wanted to document it anyway. I took the kids to Gymcats a few weeks ago and they had a BLAST!!! Jade was off track and we hadn't done much so I took a few hours off of work and took them down there. Jade was so excited to practice her back handsprings on the tramp and Jax loved being able to run around and jump in the cheese pit over and over. We will be going again for sure!

Conference Weekend

Sites from conference:

Dyeing Easter Eggs!

Egg hunt at the Sommer's

I love conference weekend. I usually spend Sat. morning sessions cleaning out the kids closets for the new season and this year was no different. Whew...that is a big job! Sunday sessions are great but pretty difficult to listen to between Jax and baby Had's. Thank heavens I can re-listen and re-read. There were a few really great talks that I loved. One being Elder Uchtdorf. I have to laugh because already this morning there are print outs and quotes on pintrest from his talk. Social media sure does pass things quickly....it also means I was not the only one who loved his talk. He talked on the importance of not-judging, gossiping, etc. and that we all just need to "Stop-it"! He quoted a bumper sticker that said "Don't judge me-I just sin different from you" or something like that. It was something I definitely need to work on. I also like Elder Holland's talk on not comparing ourselves to others and being grateful for what we have, Elder Packer's talk on the importance of family and Pres Monson when he talked about how we are all rushing here and there and we need to slow down and make sure we are doing the important things. Like I said, I need to re-listen/read and work on some of the things that were mentioned. I am grateful for the gospel in my life and that we have a living prophet and apostles to guide us.

We dyed eggs in between sessions on Sunday and then headed over to Roy and Belva's for dinner and an Easter Egg hunt for the kids! It was a great day spent with our family! :)

St. Patrick's Day

After my slightly "failed" attempts at Valentine's this year I tried to spice things up a little for St. Patrick's day. So the leperchaun came and left a trail of "gold" (resses pb cups and rolos) and then decorated the table and left a few treats. The kids were very happy and enjoyed a green breakfast!

Happy Bday Scott!

Catching up: We had a nice...quiet....time celebrating Scott's bday. Usually we end up taking the kids somewhere fun to celebrate mine and scott's bday's. This year, because Hads had just gotten out of the hospital and we were keeing her at home, we decided to just get costa vida and watch movies. Best. Idea. Ever! :) That beats Chucky Cheese to me any day! :) Scott and I were able to leave the kids on Sat and go out to Tucano's. It was so nice to go out alone! :) Happy Birthday Scott!