Morning sickness . . . . . or is it??

Last Thursday poor Bronwyn didn't feel good.
The next day Aftyn joined her.
Sadly they had to miss a birthday party they had been invited to (they were heartbroken)
 but felt so awful that we were able to talk them down.
And it helped that when Reed dropped off the gift for the child, the parents had goody
bags for both girls which sure helped their heartbreak. ;)
   Mirren seemed fine through Sunday but the other girls were still sick so Reed stayed
home with them and I went off to church to teach my class of Sunbeams.
Monday afternoon I was convinced something wonky was going on with the baby
and I was freaked out.
Turns out, after a few hours I knew I just had gotten whatever bug the girls had.
Still. Aftyn finally woke up feeling fine on Monday, but Bronwyn, Mirren and I have been suffering all week from whatever this horrible virus is.
And yes, it's got to be a virus. It's awful!
When you eat, you feel sick.
When you don't eat, you feel weak but not terribly hungry but the weakness is awful.
 It seriously reminds me of morning sickness!!!
It's horrible!
I only just got over morning sickness about 3 weeks ago so it's still a little too fresh
in my mind to be battling it again.
So little virus, please go away and leave us alone.
And by the way, Reed has had it since Tuesday.
It got us all. Way to go virus.
Now go away.

Things That Make You Cry

Here is an interesting question: Do you like to watch movies/tv shows that make you cry or movies/tv shows that make you laugh??

The first show I remember that ever made me cry was Little House on the Prairie. The episode where the little girl was ashamed of her dad and how fat he was. And then he falls through the roof he is repairing, assumedly because of his weight. I always hated the way that episode made me feel and I would avoid it like the plague once I recognized which episode it was. Until the day I just made myself sit down and watch it. And. I. cried.  Yes, I don't remember how old I was. Younger than 8 for sure. I don't recall ever watching that episode again, but at least I knew why I didn't like it. It broke my heart!!  I recall feeling very grown up as I cried as well. Ha ha ha!!!

   Are you like Debra on Everybody Loves Raymond, who when given time away from her family, turns on a sad movie just so she can cry???   I prefer the end of that episode when Ray turns on "Lady Marmalade" and gets down with his bad self and makes us all laugh at his goofiness.

Yes, I do not choose sad movies. When I'm feeling bummed or just like life is kicking me more than usual, I turn on a funny movie and laugh my cares away. If I want to let out some sad emotions, I am more likely to turn on some music and let myself cry that way. My expectations of movies are to entertained and made to feel happier. Interesting hmmm?

Now to my point. I just watched Big Hero 6. Kids movie?? I think not. Not unless your 6-7-8-9 year old likes to cry and can handle big ticket topics such as
1. Loss of ones parents 
2. Loss of a sibling who dies in a futile attempt to rescue someone who turns out to be evil. 
3. Loss of a loved thing that embodies said lost sibling.

Seriously people, how is this a children's movie??  Are children becoming so de-sensitized that these topics are no big deal?  Don't get me wrong. There were definite moments in the movie that were feel good, but sadly they were surrounded by bigger things like
1. revenge on someone who helped your sibling die               AND
 2. Anger and wanting to kill someone.

When did these become childish topics or anything any child should even think about or worry about?  Yeah, well, as for me and my house, probably never going to own this movie and who knows when I'll let my kids see it. Seriously.

A Post About Growing Up

Big things seem to be happening this week with Mirren.

Yesterday for the first time ever, she pointed at something specific. I got some balloons for my friends birthday and Mirren loved them so much every time she saw them she pointed! It was so cute!! And then when my friend left our house after picking up her balloons, Mirren waved with no additional prompting. First time ever!!

This girl seems to be picking up on stuff! :)  No solid walking yet, but she keeps taking steps here and there and is so much more sure on her feet when we walk holding one of her hands. Her feet are finally facing forward instead of awkwardly going out.

And tonight because I just feel like the timing is right, she is sleeping on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed. No more crib!

At first she seemed to think she was just put there to play, but Reed and I both sat by the bed and reiterated that it was Mirren's bed. I showed her Aftyn in the top bunk and Bronwyn on the other mattress and told her those were their beds. And then I put her back in Mirren's bed and made her helped her to lay down. And told her she needed to stay there. We read scriptures, said prayers and told the girls goodnight! I walked out the door with some solid hope that Bronwyn and Mirren would both fall asleep easily, and they did! Now if the night goes uneventfully I won't know what to do with myself! :)

Our baby is growing up and this is a milestone for her! The next 2 hard ones will be having our new baby and having Mirren be the big sister, and getting rid of the binkies. Luckily we have a few months before either of those things will happen.

   Oh and another frightening thought. Bronwyn is moving to the top bunk tomorrow night. Reed is worried she's going to get hurt falling down the ladder. I say, let her learn. She'll figure it out and it will be okay. She's had plenty of experience already climbing up and down. Maybe when it's a permanent thing she'll learn to be more careful about it.


**Follow up** Other than waking up early again, 6:30 am, Mirren slept the whole night! Yay!!

Vagueness

      You know, sometimes life has yucky things happening in it that we don't want to talk about.

Such was the case with my last post and I apologize for the vagueness, but I wanted to remember

how awesome the regional conference was and how I was profoundly affected by the messages

shared in it.

     Also, sometimes it's good to remember the vague yucky times so in the future when

things work themselves out, because they always do, you can look back and feel blessed at where

you are now. 

    

Keeping it Positive

Today in our regional conference at church, there were some amazing talks.

It felt like each one had a message for me specifically, and I needed to hear each one of them.

I walked out of the meeting with renewed hope for myself, with vigor and energy to change.

I had a great day! We even had my niece and her husband for dinner and dessert, followed

by a fun game of Rummikub. Who remembered that game was so fun?!?

And then this evening, even though I felt an uncertainty in my heart, I followed through on

something I've been meaning to do for a long time.

What might/may have been a blessing may also have been a tool of Satan's to bring me low,

to cause horrible heartbreak and a sense of discouragement and bleakness to my point of view.

I still remember the lessons I've been taught today, and I'm trying to bring my chin up and keep

my eternal perspective but I must admit that sometimes life can be just too hard to face.

And some hurts cannot be erased without the healing power of Christ's atonement.

Knowing that He has felt this hurt, that He can hold my hand and lead me out of it brings

comfort to my soul even as I am awash with grief and pain.

We Must Have Some Gypsy Blood in Us

At the beginning of the year, like most people do, Reed and I made some goals. Here is a rough list of our goals:

1. Have a baby
2.  Move into a home.
3. Get a new to us car.
4. Get ourselves out of debt.
5. Work together at all of these things. :)

Luckily #1 kinda just happened and everything stayed okay with it (so far so good!) so that was checked off our list.
#2 was where we just weren't sure what to do. We have a home in Nampa that we have been renting for 3 years to the same family. That home is no bigger than our current space, and if we had our druthers we'd like to sell it and buy something bigger. Sadly, the more we looked at the housing market and the work it would likely take to get our home ready to sell, we knew it wouldn't be helping us with our #4 goal of getting out of debt. In fact, we would likely be going into MORE debt. We talked our way around and over and under this problem until one day, like lightning, after attesting that I would NOT be moving our family again anywhere, that is exactly what we are doing and exactly what feels right. We are moving back to our home in Nampa. And at least we'll have a lovely fenced in backyard and a garage to add a little to our space.  So that's #2 marked off of our list.
Still going to be working on #3 probably when we move to Nampa, and with all the moving and having babies, buying a van and fixing up our house so we can hopefully sell it sometime in the future, well, we're just going to keep on working on #4. Little by little. We'll get there.

So here's our announcement! We are officially moving back to Nampa, Idaho as of May of this year. Go us! 

Little Steps

   This past Friday night, I had the biggest surprise of my life. I began playing with an overly tired Mirren, working with her to start walking.
 I was willing to take anything she would offer me! She completely surprised me by being willing to take 1 little step to and from a table or to and from me. In the middle of it all, she just began giggling. It was so so cute and so endearing. After finally getting her to take 2 little steps, I figured I better rush her off to bed before she got too overly tired. I think she still will take this new skill pretty slowly as long as I continue to push her and make her keep trying to take steps. She is a fun girl.

    Bronwyn has a yucky cough. Seems like ever since she got bronchitis last winter, a lot of her colds go straight to her lungs. Poor kid. No church for her today.

   Aftyn finally successfully rode our balance bike this week! She was really excited about it and it shows me that she's probably ready to try riding a regular 2 wheeled bike. She was very proud of herself. She just needs more room to ride a bike around, not just our tiny little patio out back. Hopefully soon we can fix that problem.