A Glimpse of the Months to Come!

Paul and I had this grand idea of having a little neighbor party this week to really soak up the much awaited nice weather. We figured we would barbeque, play volleyball and let all the little ones run around till they dropped. So without much thought, one night when most of the neighbors were mingling at the Torres yard (which may be a regular occurrence this summer), we told everyone our plan. Then, the day come of our little shindig, I realized we don't have a grill, our backyard is not company-worthy with no patio, no chairs, and no shade... So, off to Heather's I went to nonchalantly ask if we could all crash at her place since she has a grill, perfect shading, and an amazing yard for the little ones to play in. Heather is my new "neighbor BFF", she is the sweetest thing! She is so nice to let me plan a party and make her be the host. So by the end of the night, we all just hung out at the Torres's except for our volleyball match at our place. 

We are so grateful to live in an area that has so many amazing people and a place where our kids can run and play outside and be surrounded by little friends. I am so looking forward to this summer and all of the friendships and memories we will create. 

Easter

Our Easter saturday was stuffed full of hunts, eggs, friends, family, sugar highs, and fun! We started off at the neighborhood Easter egg hunt at the park. There were thousands of eggs! Lily was set after she found about three, I had to convince her to pick up a couple more that she just happened to walk by. Silly girl!!

Then we headed straight to Jeff & Keri's for hot cocoa, snickerdoodle bread (yumm-o), and some more hunting.

We ended the fun-filled day with the traditional egg hunting, hot-dog roasting, frisbee throwing afternoon at great-Grandma Heslop's. The kids were all tuckered out after the long day outside running around.

Easter Sunday was a day to reflect on Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for all of us. What a gift and a blessing it is to know that I don't have to be perfect but that I can still live with Heavenly Father, Jesus, and my family. Christ suffered and atoned for my sins so that I can repent. Another comfort to know is that He felt all of my pain as well. I try to remember that in the times that I feel so alone, because I am never alone.

That night was the viewing for sweet Grandma Eames. It was a great experience as I tried my best to explain the wonderful plan of salvation to my baby girl. Lily was so sweet as I know she was trying to understand death and our savior and the amazing thing that Jesus did for us. He died for us so that we can live with him and our Heavenly Father again when we die. What a sweet blessing to be able to live in heaven with those we love. Lily kept asking why Grandma Eames was sleeping. She wanted to view the casket multiple time to see if she was awake yet. I explained that Grandma's body was here but that her spirit was in heaven with her family and with Jesus.

Lily has the sweetest spirit and this experience made me so grateful to be her mother. It is so amazing to see her little mind and heart grow. I look forward to sharing my testimony with her and teaching her many more gospel principles.

Spider

For a few weeks now Lily has been calling Stewart "spider". At first, i wasn't loving it cause who wants their sweet little baby being called something creepy and yuck! I tried to get her to stop cause I had no idea where it was coming from. But then I watched her one day, she was saying it as he was chasing her around in the kitchen. He was doing his little bear (or spider) crawl on his hands and feet. So since then Stew has become out little "spider"...


They love playing and chasing in the kitchen together. Lily finally has someone who will chase her anytime she wants. I can tell they are going to be great little buddies for life!

A windy/satisfying Saturday

This Saturday Paul and I took Lily over to the park by our house to fly Lily's kite she got for her birthday. It was crazy windy but we thought we would give it a try. The only other time I have flown a kite is when little McKenzie was about 2 years old. So I'm not much of a pro when it comes to kite-flying. Paul ran all over that park! He didn't get too much height on that kite but it didn't matter because it was soo fun to play as a family and spend that time together. We have been pretty family-time deprived lately while Paul has been away on work trips so much. But this fun at the park helped make up for all that lost time with Daddy.

One of my favorite times all year is General Conference. It was so enjoyable to just sit home with my family and listen to inspiring, uplifting words from our prophets. I noticed a lot of topics were based on parenting and especially mothers. Maybe that is because those are the things that I NEED to hear which is why I noticed this re-occurring theme :) Elder Cook said that the one of the most important things we can do for our children is to pray with them. Lily surprises me almost every single day by how smart she is and the small things that she picks up on. I know that I am the most influential person it her life because we are with each other ALL day EVERY day! Makes me realize the importance of my words and actions. Something I will work on...

Keeping it real

I am doing this blog as a replacement for a scrapbook and journal. Not that it is the best substitution for either, but it is what I know I will update more than twice a year. With that, keeping true to more of the journaling aspect, I want to keep it real. I don't want it to be this place for only the good-looking, happy times, which of course are wonderful, but my life is much more than that. It is not all parties, and laughs, and carousals. Being a mother is the most challenging thing I have ever been through. It is hard! And I feel like it is not something that I can really talk about. If I ever do, I feel like I am being such a downer. I feel like everyone portrays the most desirable life with the best kids and husband and everything is great 95% of the time. And maybe for some people that is how it really is, and if so I am extremely happy for them. Only I want to be true to myself and portray my life how it is.

The past three weeks Paul has been on three separate business trips. I have this new-found respect for single parents! Wow, that is one demanding job with very very little breaks!! The first couple trips where Paul was gone I was doing surprisingly well, just tried to keep myself busy everyday with activities and friends for Lily. But this last trip I feel like I am living in this night-mare (sounds extreme, but like I said, just keeping it real). I am beyond exhausted, I have a constant head-ache, both kids have colds, and Stew is sadder and more needy than ever. There has been a lot of crying at our house this week, mostly by Stew and me. With the exception of my tempting pain meds stash (which has been untouched) I feel like there is no way of it letting up. I have just had to focus on Paul coming home and just hope that I'll be able to get a little break then.

Well, depressing I know, but that's how it is. I've bottled the depressing parts of my life up for years and it has caused me to take much longer than I'm sure is needed to get past some things. So I'm going to take a different approach from now on and just lay it all out there. And hopefully it will help..

2 for Lily

Sunday morning made Lily's count a total of two for ER visits. She woke up early coughing and crying in that oh-so familiar croupy way. She was really struggling breathing and her little chest was retracting in a way that was scaring me. Paul set up the nebulizer and gave her some of his asthma medicine. Then I got some of her steroid croup meds that we have on hand. She was still having a hard time even though she was calm and not crying. I decided to be safe and take her in (especially since I would be a single mother later that day with Paul having a 1:00 pm flight to Vegas!)

I was at the entrance of the ER and almost turned around since she looked visibly normal. But I figured since I was already there and I really didn't want there to be a problem after Paul was gone, we went in. After telling the nurse what was going on, she asked Lily, "does your throat hurt?" and with the biggest grin Lily shakes her head no. So the nurse continues to asks, "does your tummy hurt? Does your head hurt?" With each answer Lily has the same grin and shakes her head. Finally the nurse said, "well does anything hurt?" And Lily just shakes her head, still grinning! I felt kinda dumb until she let out her awful seal-barking cough (thank goodness, the staff was starting to think I was some crazy paranoid mom).


So they set her up on a breathing treatment with a cute little purple Dino nose. The Dr. checked her lungs and could hear a little something on the right side so the took a chest x-ray. She looked so cute with her itty bitty body next to all these giant machines. Everything turned out normal and we were set to go with just a prescription in hand. I am looking forward to the day that she is too old for getting croup!

Makes me laugh

We are at that point where Stew gets super antsy staying in his car seat at the store. He loves the freedom of riding in the seat of a cart. But at target Lily loves the "funny cart" and wouldn't settle for a boring regular cart. So we gave it a try buckling Stew in, despite the warnings that the seats were only for ages 2-6! I couldn't help but laugh every time I saw him and his dangling legs. He is growing up so fast!