Crazy Kid

I have to post about an exciting event around our house recently.

I'll let the video speak for itself:

Thumbs

Our kids love their thumbs. This one has really been enjoying his lately:

(I can never resist the thumb-in-mouth smile. It's too cute.)

Elizabeth sucked her thumb:

I think that was when she was about 6-7 months. Look at those thighs! It's still amazing to me how fast she chunked up. Luckily, she spontaneously quit sucking her thumb on her own when she was about 9 months.

Natalie still sucks her thumb:

That was taken a few days ago when she fell asleep during her quiet time. She really only sucks her thumb when she's is going to sleep or when she has her blanket with her watching a movie or something. I haven't been too worried about it yet. Maybe that will change if it starts messing up her teeth. It's funny though because she will occasionally decide that she's going to stop so her thumb can get better (she has a callous on it). It's too tempting for her, though, and she never lasts long.

It really has made for some great sleepers, though. You gotta love that.

Nate turned 6 months old yesterday:

He is 17 lb which I guess is only 25th for weight and his height was even lower but...(shock of all shockers) his head is huge--90th percentile. They measured it twice to make sure it was really that big. :)

He is happy and growing and doing great!

A Great Song

Recently, I was listening to a CD in the car. It was a recording of a concert put on by the Logan Institute Choir way back when. Joe was actually president of that choir when we met through the beginning of our marriage. When we lived in Logan after we were married, I would go watch their performances and I loved it. Listening to the CD reminded me of those happy times and of the beautiful music they sang.

There's a song on the CD that I first heard at that concert and it became one of my favorites. It's called "I Love the Lord" and it is an adaptation of the psalm of Nephi (or 2 Nephi 4 from the Book of Mormon) and is set to the tune of "Be Still My Soul". Listening to the song again reminded me of how much I love it. It portrays exactly how I've always read that scripture in my own mind. Nephi is sorrowing because of his weakness and sins until the statement that turns it all around: "nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted". That to me is the key. We don't have to be perfect. We just have to trust and have faith in the Lord and know that He is there to help us.

Here is a video I found of the BYU Men's Choir singing it at the Priesthood session of Conference a few years ago (with some pictures added):


I Love the Lord

I love the Lord, In Him my soul delights.
Upon His word, I ponder day and night.
He's heard my cry, brought visions to my sleep,
And kept me safe o'er deserts and the deep.
He's filled my heart with His consuming love,
And borne me high on wings of His great dove.

Yet oft I groan, "O wretched man am I"
My flesh is weak and I'm encompassed by
A world of sin, which holds me in its thrall,
If I give in and to temptations fall.
Then strength grows slack, I waste in sorrow's vale;
My peace destroyed, my enemies prevail.

Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin.
Rejoice, my heart! And let me praise again,
The Lord my God, who is my rock and stay
To keep me strict upon His straight, plain way.
Oh let me shake at the first sight of sin
And thus escape my foes without and in.

I love the Lord, in Him my soul delights.

Helping

Nathaniel is sick now. Poor guy. He is coughing and very stuffy. He hasn't had a fever or anything, luckily, but he still looks miserable and is fussy a lot of the time. He has been up multiple times a night, too. After a week of getting up with the girls when they were coughing and feverish and now this, I've been so tired. I think I just got spoiled once Nate started sleeping through the night. I was doing this not long ago but now it seems so hard to get out of bed. Anyway, things could be worse. We're all relatively healthy and that's a big blessing.

The girls were actually pretty helpful yesterday. After a huge tantrum-fest in the morning when I made Elizabeth fold all of the blankets she pulled out of the linen closet, things turned around for the better. I try to have the girls clean up their toys and stuff before dinner every day. A lot of times Natalie sits around not doing much and Elizabeth does it all. This time Elizabeth was whining about it and Natalie offered to clean everything up. And she did! It was good to see that she can actually clean up when she wants to.

I was trying to finish up dinner and Nate was fussy so I put him in his high chair until I could feed him. He was still fussy and I was still busy so I thought I'd let Elizabeth have a shot at feeding him. It was so cute to watch her. Of course it was messy and he didn't eat so well. I don't know if that was because she wasn't quite putting it in his mouth far enough and he was getting frustrated or if he just wasn't hungry. Still, it made for a great photo-op:

Yummy green beans

P.S. I just ordered our very first blog book. It covers Sept. 07 - Dec. 08. I did it through Cutest Blog on the Block. I liked that they finally had it set up so you can delete certain posts from your blog from the book (like videos, etc.) and you can keep your captions with your pictures instead of getting all jumbled up. I'll let you know if I like the book when it comes. Does anyone have any other tips/recommendations on turning your blog into a book?

All is Well

In case you were worried after that last post, we all still love each other. We have bad days (or weeks), of course, but we're doing just fine.

It sure helps to have this chubby ball of sunshine in our lives.



He really does bring so much peace to our home. So many times, I'll be holding him on the couch and yelling at the girls to do something and I look down at him and he's just grinning at me. He gives me these looks like, "Oh Mommy, there's no need to be so upset. Life is great!" Or, there have been multiple times when Natalie has come up to me whining about something and was instantly disarmed by a smile from Nate and even grinned back at him. It's hard to be mad or sad with a face like this looking up at you: