The Rush Is Over...But the memories remain.

So the holiday season is over and I'm a little sad to see it go, as I am every year. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and even as a little child it was never all about the presents for me. I have to say I think my parents did a good job of teaching me the joy of giving to others. I wasn't raised in a Christian home, at least not one that attended church and prayed before meals and the Bible was never read in my home growing up. I got all of my Christian learning from my grandmother, Baba as I called her (which is a polish word for Grandmother), would come to get me each Sunday and take me to Church with her and then bring me home. In the summer she would come each day to get me and take me to Vacation Bible School, and then often we would go out for lunch with Papap. The point of this story is that when I accepted the Savior at age 14 I knew I would never be the same and though I knew the true reason of Christmas I didn't really KNOW it until after my salvation.

When I had children of my own my husband and I committed ourselves to raising our children to the glory of our Lord. To me this meant making sure that our children knew why we celebrate Christmas and also to make sure they understand that it's not all about the receiving of gifts but of giving back to others as well. Every year when my older boys see the Salvation Army bell ringers the first thing I hear is "Mama, can I have a dollar for the red bucket? Those people really need our help." So each time we pass by a red bucket each child places a dollar inside, we are not wealthy people but we have our needs met and giving those dollars to the less fortunate is really the VERY least we can do.

This year was special because it was the Baby's first Christmas and the older boys were excited to share with him all our Christmas fun! As we decorated the Christmas tree my oldest asked if the baby could help, so I brought the baby out and he sat in his seat and helped "sing" to the Christmas music. As we talked about the Christmas story my two oldest boys told the baby "someday when you are older we'll teach you all about Jesus and how to ask him into your heart", as we made Christmas cookies they told him "next year you'll be old enough to eat these and maybe Mama will let you help decorate too!", as we opened presents they said to him "I hope you like the gift we picked out", as we packed up to head to Grandpa's for dinner they told him "Grandpa gets us gifts too, but the best part is that Grandpa will play with us and Grandma gives us lots of goodies and kisses!", and as we pulled out of Grandpa's driveway they said to the baby "now watch because you'll get to see Christmas lights while we go home", and when we got home they kissed their baby brother and wished him sweet dreams and off to bed they went.

To me this is the best part of Christmas, both celebrating the birth of my Savior and seeing the joy on little faces as they stare wide eyed and full of wonder at the Christmas lights, and as they tear at colored paper to get to the treasure inside.

This year they saw many lights but the most impressive was the display put on by the local Mormon Temple see the pictures (thank you wikipedia for the images since I forgot to take my camera):








































We also enjoyed a train display this year by an area family who worked so hard and opened up their home and yard to anyone who wanted to come and see. It was a lot of hard work for that family I am sure and it was very enjoyable. The boys even asked to go see it twice! This time I did remember my camera:

















These are the best of the photos we took, and it's of two separate train displays one in the front yard and one in the back.

























Birbitt thinks that even though the end of the Christmas season has come, the memories made will be treasured forever.

The newest family member.

Well the children have been bugging me for the past two years to get them a dog. I always told them no because I am a firm believer in actually being around for your dog. So we have always had cats because they don't need their humans nearly as much as dogs do (usually). Well now that I am home with the baby and no longer working Hubby and I decided to get the boys a puppy.

We looked at the shelters several times (always without the boys first) but no luck, we just couldn't find a dog we liked. Then I came across an ad for a lady who was giving away some puppies her dog had. The puppies weren't exactly the breeds we were looking for (we wanted a smaller dog) but we decided to go and take a look.

They were adorable and if I could have I'd have brought them all home all eleven of them...yes you read correctly that poor mama dog had ELEVEN puppies. Slowly hubby and I weeded them down trying to choose the dog with just the right personality for us (as much as you can tell when they are only 8 weeks old). We sorted through the puppies until we had it down to just two little pups, one male and one female. I looked at hubby and said "can't we just keep them both?" he made it very clear that one puppy was enough and he is right...I do still have my human baby to care for so training two puppies would be much too difficult for me. So I left the choice to hubby which dog to get and he chose the brown female.















Her name is Sunday and she's a very good little pup. She doesn't often have accidents in the house and when she does it's generally my fault for not getting her outside on time. She will learn. She loves her people and follows us all around the house, she walks well on a leash (rare for such a young pup) and she rarely barks.















We took her to our local Bark Park to see how she'd do with other dogs and she's quite a good girl. A little shy at first but once she sniffs a bit she's happy to run and play with dogs of all shapes and sizes. She does seem to prefer people to dogs though as she always introduced herself to the people first and then the dog. She already knows how to sit when told, and she will come when called with only a little encouragement! I think we chose just the right dog.
















She is a Golden retriever and Doberman mix but the Golden is quite small for her breed and so the puppies are likely to be no more than knee height. Sunday doesn't like to be left alone, but will happily sleep in her kennel while we are away if we aren't gone too long. I am glad that they boys have a puppy to grow up with now, and they are at an age where they can start helping with the chores...they know to be sure her water bowl is always full and that she is fed twice daily. We don't let them walk her yet but once she's well trained they will also be able to walk her with adult supervision.

We all love our new addition and Birbitt thinks no family is complete without furbabies to love!

He's growing up!

Well it's happening my baby boy is growing up! My little 10 week old baby boy is already trying hard to crawl. Last night he scooted himself a couple of inches across his blanket on the floor. He's holding himself up high and already moving those little legs. Why oh why can't they stay small longer?

It's such a bittersweet thing to see your little one accomplishing all his "firsts", and for me it's even more so because he will be my last baby to watch grow up. So as I watch him hold his head up for the first time, scoot for the first time, and now he's even trying hard to roll (though he's not quite mastered it yet) I am thankful for the blessings The Lord has given me, but I'm also a little sorrowful because I know this will be the very last time I watch my own child reach that particular "first". So last night as I laid on the floor with my little baby boy I watched for the very last time a child of mine hold himself up high and "scoot" across the floor for the first time.

This journey of growing up is full of precious firsts and for me they will be the most bittersweet moments because I know that this will be the last time I will experience these special memories with my children. I can only pray that someday The Lord will bless my own children and allow them to experience these precious days as well.

Watching your baby grow up is so hard because I know that I will not always be able to protect him as he must leave the nest someday, but for now I am thankful that I get to spend these days with him and that the time for "flying solo" are yet many years away though I know these coming years will just fly by and all too soon I'm looking at a 6 year old boy and wondering where the time has gone (I know this because I also have a 6 year old boy and it seems like only yesterday I was wrapping him warmly in his blanket and laying him in his crib).


Birbitt thinks that every mother should take the time to snuggle her child while he's young for all too soon he'll be grown up with children of his own. Hug your children and never let them forget how much mommy loves them and that mommy will always be there even when they are grown, for one day he'll be standing eye to eye with you and the days of wiping his tears away will be only a memory.

I may not remember the date of this photo when my baby is all grown up and married with children of his own, but I will remember the day he first pushed himself up high and scooted those few inches across my living room floor.

Lazy Days

Yesterday was a lazy day, after church in the morning I came home and did little other than to prepare dinner and pick up my son's cake from the bakery. His birthday was actually this past Tuesday, but with it being a weekday we decided to do cake on Sunday, he did however have cupcakes on Tuesday.

So after finishing our last Sunday of Children's Church for the next three months (our church has four "teams" and we rotate every month) Hubby and I decided to come home and just enjoy the day. So we lazed around the house a while, then went to pick up the cake and some fixin's to make kebobs for supper, and we also picked up a movie from one of those little $1.00 movie kiosks in nearly every grocery store in town.

When we do lazy days they really are lazy days! After Church I lazed on the couch listening to my 6yo read his 4 pages of homework from his reader, then I read a story to my 3 boys (yes the baby listened too) and then I popped online for a bit. After this I made my trip to the store and bakery, came home cut up veggies and meat shoved them on a stick and put it in the oven...this was the whole of our dinner, I know it wasn't exactly a balanced meal but hey at least we had veggies. We ate some cake after singing a happy birthday song, and then everyone was sent off to bed.

Hubby and I watched Big Brother while the littles were showering, and then we watched a quite interesting show on ABC called Shark Tank and for those who don't know it's basically a show with 5 self made millionaires who listen to people who have invented something and then decide if it's worth investing in...Hubby and I really enjoy seeing what others have come up with and we sort of turn it into a game guessing who we think will make an offer and who will leave with nothing. After these two shows we figured we'd watch the movie we'd rented.

Hubby and I both really enjoy Julia Roberts so we rented her new one Duplicity, really in order to understand the movie I felt like you needed to be a double agent yourself just to keep track of everything going on. In the end I just didn't enjoy the movie and I'm thankful it was only a dollar to rent. This is why I love those little kiosks! Hopefully the move hubby and I rented to watch today will be better.

So all in all I have to say I had a great Sunday! I got to see the fruit of our hard work this month as we played a quiz game with the children to see how much they remembered and boy were we surprised! Then I got to spend the afternoon with my family lazing around the house and finally I curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and my hubby. I miss days like this but it seems like lately we've been so busy that they are few and far between...maybe I need to put lazy days on my calendar just as I do everything else.

Birbitt thinks there is something to be said for lazy days at home doing nothing...even if there is something to be done. I decided yesterday that the vaccuuming, and mopping could wait another day and you know my house didn't fall apart for lack of doing those things and they easily got done in the morning. I will make more effort to have simple days at home!

The summer monsoons are upon us!

Horray! Horray! Horray! This was all I could say when the weatherman finally reported that rain was highly likely and we would finally be getting our summer monsoons. Now let me be clear I despise monsoon season, not for the rain per se, but rather for the general lack of other peoples knowledge of how to drive in it. Growing up on the north east coast of the US I've always been comfortable driving in all kinds of weather...snow, sleet, hail, ice, rain, storms, wind, sun, you name it I've driven it and happily so. This is not the case here on the west coast and especially in the deserts of Arizona, people here either don't know how to drive in poor weather or are just afraid to do so and it's bothersome to me because I get in a groove of knowing what I'm doing and where I'm going and someone gets infront of me who just has no clue and so decides to travel at a snails pace for miles instead of pulling off into a parking area and waiting out the rain they so fear.

I was however thrilled to hear of the coming rain because for weeks it has been 110+ degrees in the daytime and hovering just below 90 at night. So the rain is welcome because with the rain comes temperatures in the 100-107 range and low to mid 80's at night which feels like a cool breeze compared to what we've been having. So last night we had a great rain, it poured for more than an hour, and then continued to drizzle for another hour or more. This storm however moved in during the wee morning hours when most normal people are asleep, I however was up feeding the baby when it just began to rain. I fed little man and then went to sleep...about an hour later I was awakened to the most awful sounding boom! It was thunder and I have never heard it so loud in all my 27 years, so I laid in bed a few more minutes and the super loud thunder continued. I got up and started to walk in to check on the older boys when my oldest came in crying that he was scared so I cuddled him a bit, tucked him into my bed and went to check on the middle boy (the baby was happily sleeping through all of this) who was sitting up in his bed and told me he can't sleep because the thunder is too loud. I brought him too into my bed, which at this point is quite crowded as it now holds me, my 6yo, my 5yo, and my 1month old poor hubby would have to either move them in the morning when he got home, sleep in the older boys room, or sleep on the sofa since there is now no room in our bed. This terrible thunder continued for more than an hour and somewhere in the middle of it lightning hit someone's air conditioner because all we heard was a loud crack with flashes of light and then this morning the crane was here removing an a/c unit. This was not the start to summer monsoons I was hoping for, as I am now a very tired mama who got all total maybe 4 hours of sleep since it's nearly impossible to go back to sleep with that thunder cracking.

Hopefully tonight's storms will not be so loud or damaging. Oh and I should add mama isn't a fan of thunderstorms (yeah the old angels are bowling story didn't work for me). Birbitt wants the rain but would prefer if the thunderstorms would be a little quieter and maybe not shake her whole house!

Old habits are hard to break...

and even harder to restart. Yes this is a funny way to start a blog post but here's the issue. I was raised on a farm, my family raised goats and we sold the milk as well as the meat (I have never and will never eat goat so please don't ask me what it tastes like) and being that we already owned the goats I was also raised on goats milk instead of cow milk. We made our own cheese from goat milk, we made fudge from goat milk, we made butter from goat milk (that's a funny story), we drank goat milk, we made ice cream from goat milk, and we made yogurt from goat milk. So until the day I got married and moved in with my husband I never tasted even a drop of cow milk. I never even drank milk in school unless it was milk mom had sent in my lunchbox.

So about a week or so ago my little baby was very fussy, generally unhappy (and until then he'd been a very happy baby), screaming, and just miserable. After nearly an hour of rocking, cuddling, burping, singing, talking, rubbing, and everything else I could think of he finally let out this MONSTER burp and then promptly threw up everywhere. I couldn't figure it out, so the next feeding he does the same thing, and again at the next feeding. I started thinking about what I might have eaten that would upset him and all I could come up with was milk. So I didn't drink anymore milk for a few days and he seemed all better. I figured I'd just go to the store and get some goat milk and try that see if it wasn't better...yeah not going to happen I took one taste of that goat milk and YUCK! I know it's not the same milk I grew up on because it's been pasteurized and such but still it just tasted horrible I just didn't like it, so I bought some Lactaid milk and we've been doing good with that and it tastes fine to me.

I found it strange that when I started cow milk I hated it for months, but eventually got used to it, and now I can't stand the taste of goat milk which I used to love. While it was hard for me to break the goat milk habit, it's even harder to start drinking it again. Guess I'll just stick to lactaid milk (and I do love milk).

What is it about babies?

What is it about babies that make complete strangers want to come up and touch both me and my newborn baby? I understand babies are cute and that babies are blessings and everyone (myself included) wants to look at new babies and tell the parents how cute they are and such, and I understand that babies bring us hope and joy sometimes when there is little of both to be found, but WHY must people touch them?

Now I don't mind when someone I know touches my baby, because I know them I trust them and I expect that they are not going to harm or endanger my child. Strangers are another matter all together though and I really would prefer that they simply look, make their comments and then walk away without touching my child or me. I am not so crazy about germs and such that I feel the need to sanitize every possible surface my child will touch, or that I feel I must sanitize myself before handling my baby but really I do not know what other people have touched before touching my little one. Although beyond just the germ issue I really think it's rude to touch someone else without their permission or in the case of a child without the parent's permission.

When I took my little man to church on Sunday for the first time and presented him to the church members no one and I do mean no one actually touched the baby and several people actually stayed away because they were not feeling well and didn't want to pass it on to the baby. I appreciated this because they were showing respect for me and for my baby, and they were being cautious to avoid exposing him to unnecessary germs that may make him ill. Now had the church members touched him I would not have had a problem because these are people I know and trust, and I fully trust that they would not touch him if they thought for any reason it would harm him or make him ill.

I had to go to the grocery store on Saturday and for ease of the whole family my Dear Husband decided to stay home with the older two boys while I took the baby and did the shopping (basically I am the only one with the baby's food source and hubby is not allowed to do the shopping) and in the one hour I was inside Albertson's my son had attracted the attention of at least 15 people 3 being small children whose parents lifted them up so they could see AND touch my son. I did ask that they not touch him, but some people just don't seem to listen. I tried to steer away from any isle that had more than one or two people in it just to lessen the chance of little man attracting attention, but it didn't work. Even the lady behind the meat counter came out and touched him (this was especially gross to me since she handles raw meat all day). I appreciated everyones congratulations and well wishes and kind comments, but I really wish they wouldn't touch my baby.

So to all you baby touchers out there please at least ask the parent before you touch a baby, you never know if that child is very succeptable to illness or very sensitive to lotions, or soaps that you may have on, or even if the parent is just uncomfortable with strangers touching her child so please, please, please ask first or just make your comments and walk on by.