Friday, May 31, 2013

THIS WILL HELP!!

I could not help but STEAL this post when I saw it on my friends Facebook page... a good read for everyone!!

To Parents of Small Children: Let me be the one who says it out loud BY: STEVE WIENS
I am in a season of my life right now where I feel bone-tired almost all of the time. Ragged, how-am-I-going-to-make-it-to-the-end-of-the-day, eyes burning exhausted.
I have three boys ages 5 and under. I'm not complaining about that. Well, maybe I am a little bit. But I know that there are people who would give anything for a house full of laughter and chaos. I was that person for years and years; the pain of infertility is stabbing and throbbing and constant. I remember allowing hope to rise and then seeing it crash all around me, month after month, for seven years. I am working on another post about infertility that will come at a later date.
But right now, in my actual life, I have three boys ages 5 and under. There are many moments where they are utterly delightful, like last week, when Isaac told my sister-in-law that, "My daddy has hair all over." Or when Elijah put a green washcloth over his chin and cheeks, and proudly declared, "Daddy! I have a beard just like you!" Or when Ben sneaks downstairs in the morning before the other boys do, smiles at me, and says, "Daddy and Ben time."
But there are also many moments when I have no idea how I'm going to make it until their bedtime. The constant demands, the needs and the fighting are fingernails across the chalkboard every single day.
One of my children is for sure going to be the next Steve Jobs. I now have immense empathy for his parents. He has a precise vision of what he wants -- exactly that way and no other way. Sometimes, it's the way his plate needs to be centered exactly to his chair, or how his socks go on, or exactly how the picture of the pink dolphin needs to look -- with brave eyes, not sad eyes, daddy! He is a laser beam, and he is not satisfied until it's exactly right.
I have to confess that sometimes, the sound of his screaming drives me to hide in the pantry. And I will neither confirm nor deny that while in there, I compulsively eat chips and/or dark chocolate.
There are people who say this to me:
"You should enjoy every moment now! They grow up so fast!"
I usually smile and give some sort of guffaw, but inside, I secretly want to hold them under water. Just for a minute or so. Just until they panic a little.
If you have friends with small children -- especially if your children are now teenagers or if they're grown -- please vow to me right now that you will never say this to them. Not because it's not true, but because it really, really doesn't help.
We know it's true that they grow up too fast. But feeling like I have to enjoy every moment doesn't feel like a gift, it feels like one more thing that is impossible to do, and right now, that list is way too long. Not every moment is enjoyable as a parent; it wasn't for you, and it isn't for me. You just have obviously forgotten. I can forgive you for that. But if you tell me to enjoy every moment one more time, I will need to break up with you.
If you are a parent of small children, you know that there are moments of spectacular delight, and you can't believe you get to be around these little people. But let me be the one who says the following things out loud:
You are not a terrible parent if you can't figure out a way for your children to eat as healthy as your friend's children do. She's obviously using a bizarre and probably illegal form of hypnotism.
You are not a terrible parent if you yell at your kids sometimes. You have little dictators living in your house. If someone else talked to you like that, they'd be put in prison.
You are not a terrible parent if you can't figure out how to calmly give them appropriate consequences in real time for every single act of terrorism that they so creatively devise.
You are not a terrible parent if you'd rather be at work.
You are not a terrible parent if you just can't wait for them to go to bed.
You are not a terrible parent if the sound of their voices sometimes makes you want to drink and never stop.
You're not a terrible parent.
You're an actual parent with limits. You cannot do it all. We all need to admit that one of the casualties specific to our information saturated culture is that we have sky-scraper standards for parenting, where we feel like we're failing horribly if we feed our children chicken nuggets and we let them watch TV in the morning.
One of the reasons we are so exhausted is that we are oversaturated with information about the kind of parents we should be.
So, maybe it's time to stop reading the blogs that tell you how to raise the next president who knows how to read when she's 3 and who cooks, not only eats, her vegetables. Maybe it's time to embrace being the kind of parent who says sorry when you yell. Who models what it's like to take time for yourself. Who asks God to help you to be a better version of the person that you actually are, not for more strength to be an ideal parent.
So, the next time you see your friends with small children with that foggy and desperate look in their eyes, order them a pizza and send it to their house that night. Volunteer to take their kids for a few hours so they can be alone in their own house and have sex when they're not so tired, for heaven's sake. Put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eyes, and tell them that they're doing a good job. Just don't freak out if they start weeping uncontrollably. Most of the time, we feel like we're botching the whole deal and our kids will turn into horrible criminals who hate us and will never want to be around us when they're older.
You're bone-tired. I'm not sure when it's going to get better. Today might be a good day or it might be the day that you lost it in a way that surprised even yourself.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
You're not alone.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Now THIS is funny ~

So did you hear the story about the girl who swallowed her Engagement Ring?? Yeah, I guess her NOW fiance put the ring in her shake at Wendy's and she ended up swallowing it because she was racing other friends there to eat the shake. Once her now fiance realized what had happened they took her to the Dr.s...
haha! HOW funny! That will be a GREAT story to tell the GREAT grand kids for sure! LOL!

Friday, May 24, 2013

God be with you till we meet again...

Seriously... have you ever seen a more adorable Missionary?? 
 I am so excited for my baby brother to serve his mission. I realized recently that there may be many out there not aware of what "Missionaries" for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do... I thought I might want to share what it is that these young men and women do...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' missionary program is one of its most recognized characteristics. Mormon missionaries can be seen on the streets of hundreds of major cities in the world as well as in thousands of smaller communities.

The missionary effort is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in the name of Jesus Christ (see, for example, the work of Peter and John in the book of Acts).

Nearly 60,000 missionaries are serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at any one time. Most are young people under the age of 25, serving in nearly 350 missions throughout the world.
Missionaries can be single men between the ages of 18 and 25, single women over the age of 19 or retired couples. Missionaries work with a companion of the same gender during their mission, with the exception of couples, who work with their spouse. Single men serve missions for two years and single women serve missions for 18 months.

Missionaries receive their assignment from Church headquarters and are sent only to countries where governments allow the Church to operate. Missionaries do not request their area of assignment and do not know beforehand whether they will be required to learn a language.

Prior to going to their assigned area, missionaries spend a short period of time at one of 15 missionary training centers throughout the world. There they learn how to teach the gospel in an orderly and clear way and, if necessary, they begin to learn the language of the people they will be teaching. The largest training center is in Provo, Utah, with additional centers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, England, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and Spain.

Male missionaries are addressed with the title “Elder” and women are addressed with the title “Sister.”
A typical missionary day begins by waking at 6:30 a.m. for personal study. The day is spent proselytizing by following up on appointments, visiting homes or meeting people in the street or other public places. Missionaries end their day by 10:30 p.m.

In some parts of the world, missionaries are sent only to serve humanitarian or other specialized missions. Those missionaries do not proselytize.

Missionary work is voluntary. Missionaries fund their own missions — except for their transportation to and from their field of labor — and are not paid for their services.  

Contacts with family and friends during this time of service are limited to letters and occasional phone calls to family at special times. Missionaries avoid entertainment, parties or other activities common to this age-group as long as they are on their missions, so they can focus entirely on the work of serving and of teaching others the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is TRULY amazing to me that Young Men and Women CHOOSE to serve in this way. My brother is serving a Spanish Speaking Mission in Houston Texas. This means he will also need to learn how to speak the language. My sister is serving her mission in Tampa Florida. I have had MANY friends serve, and MANY family members serve missions. It is the most selfless thing I can think of people doing to help others learn more about our religion.

I am very thankful for the missionary program our church has to offer. I know they young men and young women learn good things while serving, and are better able to come home and contribute to society in a productive way. I am thankful my husband served as well.
I know those two years helped him prepare for being married to me, and learning patience!
If you want to learn more about my church ASK ME! I can have missionaries visit you OR I would love to share with you why I live the way I do.
If you would rather look at stuff on your own... check this out...http://mormon.org/
I am a Mormon. I live it. I LOVE it!

Monday, May 20, 2013

TWO MONTHS

My sweet little one is NOW TWO MONTHS OLD...
I was not able to capture a GREAT picture of her and the TWO MONTHS sign, so I just took a sleeping picture from my camera and decided to use that as the official update picture!!
This was the BEST of my attempts at the other photo... someone did not want to sleep! LOL!
This girl is getting SO Big! At her 2 month Dr. Jones appointment today she weighted in at 9lbs. 13oz!! Almost doubling her birth weight! She is doing great and just a joy to have around!!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAILEY!!

SIX years ago today we welcomed our VERY first child into the world! 
 Hailey Bird. She was my first everything!
She is in Kindergarten! She loves recess time and lunch. She says it is hard to go to school and learn new things. She negotiates doing her homework on a daily basis, and somehow we have gotten her to pass off all her Kindergarten Work!
She is very helpful around the house. She can brush her teeth and get dressed on her own. I used to have to pick out a matching outfit for her, but she is able to do that on her own now! She can also pour her own drink and get herself breakfast! (we don't let her do that often) She loves to help cook dinner and her favorite is either spaghetti with red sauce or spiral noodles with white sauce and bread. Her favorite dessert is ice cream of any kind. She told me "You can bring treats to my school for my birthday you know!" I told her I would because she has been such a good girl in our family. She loves everything Disney and currently Ariel is her favorite Princess. I made sure it was ok to bring treats with her teacher and then ran to get something special for my sweet little girl. I decided cookies would not be too messy, and Hailey just LOVED passing them out to her friends! Then I gave her a special surprise; a cupcake with an Ariel ring on it. She gave me a big hug and had a big smile from ear to ear... She is an amazing example to her younger siblings of LOVE. She plays well with her brother and is very gentle with her little sister.
 We sure love our BIG girl. We are blessed to have her in our little family! 
Happy Birthday Sweet Hailey!!

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Our little Blessing...


Kylie's blessing day was today. She was lucky to have so many special people in the circle for her blessing; Grandpa Bird, Uncle John Jensen, Grandpa Andersen, Uncle Preston Andersen, James Kraucyk, Josh Sorensen and her father who gave the blessing Matthew David Bird. In our church we give the children a blessing for their future. I just love hearing baby blessings because you know their small sweet spirits are just trying to take in this new world they have entered. It is comforting to a new mother to know that others have blessed your new little one in prayer.
Here this sweet little girl is surrounded by the men in her life...
Here this sweet little girl is surrounded by all the family in her life...
Our little growing family.
Sibling LOVE!!
Uncle Preston...
 (this is how big she was before he left for his mission... 
mental note we need to get a picture when he returns to see how much she changed in two years!)
~And that BEAUTIFUL Pink Blessing Dress you see... that was made by my mother! Grandma Andersen sure LOVES Kylie to have made that dress! THANK YOU MOM! IT WILL BE CHERISHED for years to come!!

Friday, May 3, 2013

10 years

What a blessing it is to be able to celebrate my
 TEN YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY with my best friend!


My family was in town for the weekend so they took ALL THREE KIDS to John's Incredible Pizza so Matt and I could enjoy an evening together! We ate at one of our favorite places... Black Angus then went and relaxed while we got pedicures. We were going to see a movie but now that we are SO OLD, and it was late after our relaxing pedicures we just went home to be with family.
With a newborn we knew we would not be able to have a BIG celebration... so for our 11 year anniversary we are going to CELEBRATE in Style for sure! 
THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME MATT!
I LOVE YOU~