FHE Monday #8

Yesterday I spontaneously remembered to do FHE, which is great because GB is getting older and we really need to be better about doing it. He doesn't really participate in the lesson, but we at least try to do songs and a scripture with him.

We started off by singing "I Am a Child of God", and then prayed. Husband Man said he had an impromptu lesson, so while he got it together I sat down with GB's Book of Mormon board book and we read the story about Nephi building the boat. He barely sat still while I read the condensed version in the book, but then I sang the corresponding verse of "Nephi's Courage" to him, and he grinned and waved his arms in the air. When I finished he made his little "sing a song" noise, (kind of a... whine? "ooh"? but not really? hard to describe) and so I sang the third verse too. Then he played in his play hut while Husband Man and I did the lesson.

We've been reading in Preach My Gospel for companion study, and so Husband Man turned to the Attribute Activity in chapter 6 (page 126). We each had a piece of paper, and we wrote down all the numbers (1-57). The activity is divided up into different sections based on Christlike Attributes (faith, hope, knowledge, etc) and Husband Man said to pick two sections. Then we filled in the responses for each question using the response key. It was a fun but difficult activity! For a few questions I thought, "Oh, I'm all right! Whew!" For a few other questions I felt awful, because being honest with yourself is always awful. On top of it all there were a few other aspects that I hadn't even considered!

But despite it all (or rather, despite the guilt that comes with knowing you are imperfect), the activity really opened my eyes. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all of the advice you hear from talks, all the ways you should or can improve, all the steps to take to becoming a stronger disciple of Christ. When I want to sit down and figure out how to start, I can't decide where to start. This activity broke it down into sections, and from there we started with just one. It doesn't matter which one. You rate how you're doing, and then pick one you feel you could do better. It gave a direction for us to go.

If you want to do it, you can read the chapter in Preach My Gospel about Christlike Attributes and then look over the Attribute Activity. The directions are straightforward. You can do the whole thing at once, but I would recommend doing one or two sections at a time. Try not to feel overwhelmed with how good or bad you might feel you are doing, but instead be prayerful in your heart and be honest with yourself. The Lord knows your weaknesses, and wants to help you improve. Satan wants you to feel disheartened and give up. You are a good person! 

After we had finished the activity we sang some silly Primary songs with GB. My favorite is "Popcorn Popping" because he can kind of do most of the actions and it is SO funny to watch him. Then we sang "I Love to See the Temple" as the closing song, and ended with a prayer. I am so happy that we had Family Home Evening this week, because I always feel better about everything when we do! I can tell it strengthens our home for the challenges that we will face this week, whatever they may be.

Gummy Bear: 18 Months

This little boy is simultaneously so funny and so aggravating! One minute he will be running around and having fun, and two minutes later he'll be rolling on the ground throwing a tantrum. He is still just as opinionated as ever, but he's also growing and learning and it is so much fun to watch.

Developmentally he's doing great. For a while I was worried about his speech, since his dad didn't talk until age four, but especially in the last month I'm discovering that he's trying to say things. It really blossomed after both sets of grandparents visited in February, and with each visit I also learned a lot about how to catch on to things he says that mimic actual words. Over Christmas Gma S taught him "uh oh", and since then he's learned "oh no", "mah" (meow), "cack" (quack), "up", "app" (apple), "cah" (car), "ko" (coat), "hi" (or an ultra-squealy version of it, apparently I have a high voice inflection when I say hi to him), and "buh bye" (said only when he feels like it). And last night I think he tried to say "all gone" after he finished his grapes.

He loves to help me with certain chores. When I put clothes in the dryer, I'll drop them down onto the dryer door and he shoves them inside. His current favorite is the dishwasher. He loves to help me unload it, putting the tupperware and his plates and bowls away, and handing the rest to me if he doesn't know where it goes. Lately he's been learning that sometimes we put things inside the dishwasher too, which usually means that when I'm loading dirty dishes he takes all his clean bowls and plates out of his drawer and stuffs them inside too. Its a great lesson to me in patience--they're just bowls and plates, and if they get dirty again then they can be washed again.

It's also super interesting to watch him pick up on stuff that I do every day without thinking about it. He was in the bathroom with me yesterday while I brushed my hair out, and when I put the brush on the counter he picked it up and rubbed it on his head. I found his little baby hairbrush and he refused to let go of it (and so it went to the library with us too). This morning I was putting in my contacts and trying to keep him away from the case, when I caught him sticking a finger in the case and then poking that same finger into one of his scrunched-up eyes. A few days ago he somehow got a hold of Husband Man's thumbdrive, and he took it right over to the computer and was trying to put it in the usb port.

He still loves to run around, and he is all boy for sure. We've managed to get to the park a few times in between winter weather, and he has figured out how to go down the big twisty slide by himself. He always starts with the slides and then begs me to push him on the swings, and I get tired of pushing him long before he gets tired of swinging. We've started volunteering at the YMCA for a free membership, and the nursery has a ball pit that he absolutely adores. He jumps around in it and throws himself into the balls and yells with joy! Then we usually go play in the pool after volunteering, and he has no fear of the water. He splashes and plays and sometimes will beg me to carry him out into the deeper water, where I drag him around and he kicks his feet and makes happy noises until my arms are tired. He hates putting his head back in the water, but mean old mommy makes him try it anyways.

Books are still a favorite, and our library has a small section of board books. He doesn't seem to be very good at branching out to new material unless it has a specific draw (like flaps or touchy-feely stuff) but my SIL says that's a developmental thing. Husband Man and I have been sick of almost every board book we own as GB rotates through which books are his favorites (ie the books we end up reading multiple times a day for a week). He rotates through his toys, too, so even though he has so many he'll find a forgotten one in the corner of his toybox and play with it like he's never seen it before. He also likes the basic matching puzzles; he has already figured out the matching aspect of it and is quickly getting better at working the piece into the space. Sometimes he gets lazy and just sets the piece over the spot, without bothering to put it in properly.

Lately he's been throwing tantrums-- throwing himself dramatically onto furniture or the floor, rolling around, tossing toys as hard as he can, crying, yelling, kicking feet... Yeah. Our tantrum patience wears thin, and he ends up in his room. Sometimes his tantrums make me laugh, because they're just so ridiculous! And he always has to have a tantrum about a quarter to five, every day. That's usually when I'm in the kitchen cutting up stuff for dinner and he decides he has to be held RIGHT. NOW. or else. I think maybe he just wants to see what I'm doing, but it's hard when your kitchen is tiny and you're wielding sharp knives. Sorry kid.

He's opinionated, noisy, fast, and adorable... but this is nothing new to us! We are so grateful to have him in our family!

Gummy Bear: 1 Year!

Gummy Bear is a year old! He weighs 23 lbs 5 oz, and is 31 inches tall. (They forgot to give me percentiles, which is a bummer. Why do I find those so interesting?)

I had this questionnaire thing that I saved to do with my kids as they got older, but as I'm looking over the questions I see they're more for kids who can actually answer the questions... but I'll try it anyways.
Age: 1
Favorite food(s): Grapes, spaghettios, greek yogurt, and hot dogs, especially if that hot dog comes with ketchup. And did I mention he loves grapes?
Favorite dessert: Marshmallows. Hands down. And popsicles.
Favorite color: Yellow? He's always seemed to have a slight preference to yellow.
Favorite book: Any book he can chew on. So, nothing. Punk.
Favorite tv show: Commercials. Without fail. If I'm watching a show and go into another room, I can always tell when the commercials end because that's when he comes running in to bug me. And when the commercials come back on, he disappears and stands in front of the tv. If you block his view, he moves to see it or tries to shove you away. I may or may not abuse this occasionally during mealtimes... 
Favorite game: Probably playing with Daddy. He gets such big smiles!
Favorite song: ???
Favorite animal: I'd go with puppy. He has two stuffed dogs and he loves to carry them around. When you show him the stuffed puppy, he imitates my "woof woof" noise, sort of by making an adorable "ooh ooh" noise... it's hard to explain. But it's adorable.
Favorite toy: It changes. Often. In general, he loves little stuff that he can carry around in his hand.

 He is still just as opinionated as ever. Lately he has entered the meltdown stage, where if something happens that he doesn't like he just melts into a puddle. I try to hold his hand and lead him towards the car or something, and if he doesn't want to then he pulls and collapses... I also don't sit on the floor anymore, because he often forces his way into my lap. That's tough for me, because half the time he's just being annoying but sometimes he insists on giving me a two-second hug... His loving is sweet but vicious! I still don't get to snuggle him to sleep; instead we're often fighting to get him to take naps. Especially at church. Church naps are still the same: he gets cranky during the end of sacrament meeting, Husband Man takes him out during the last talk, and after sacrament I come out to find him sacked out sideways...

Going outside is the BEST to him. He runs to the rock beds around our apartment building and grabs a rock to carry around, and then he's off. Every time we come inside our apartment building he cries and throws a tantrum, even if we just drove to the grocery store and back. Running up and down sidewalks, eating the bark at playgrounds, carrying rocks around... sometimes he'll even play on park equipment, and ride in the swings; there's a bouncy horse at one park that he thinks is pretty cool. But he loves it all. Especially the running. This kid loves to GO.

He's also ridiculously smart... but sort of in his own way. He could care less about silverware, except when he wants to chew on it. He FINALLY learned to tip the bottle or sippy cup up so he can get FINALLY water or milk out unassisted... but at the same time he also knows how to pour milk all over the carpet. Climbing on the couch? Check. Climbing up my leg? Check. I have five-gallon buckets for flour and sugar, and if I don't keep them stacked then he climbs up on the bucket and grabs everything he can reach on the kitchen counters. He knows how to put the wooden rings on the dowel, and gets the idea of the shape sorter but doesn't understand that there are different shapes. He knows how doors open and close, but either doesn't care (and opts to cry every time they close) or is still too short to try again. And the dishwasher was randomly paused the other day, so I suspect he knows about the buttons on the dishwasher. The tv remote is another favorite--buttons!

Talking? Depends on your definition. He's always loved to babble, but I still don't know if he understands what "dadada" and "mamama" can mean. He says "dada" when he's happily yelling and throwing his toys, and "mama" when he's sad or upset... He still signs his version of "all done", which is great when we're feeding him, and a few times he's tried to say it, "ah dah". Sometimes his babbling isn't repeated syllables, and it sounds like he's trying to say things. Maybe he's one of those kids who won't say it unless he can say it correctly? I dunno. He can also sign "please", or his variation of it, but unless he really wants it and isn't throwing a tantrum... "Uh oh" is another one, he'll throw a toy on the floor while saying "Uh-uh ohh".

If you compare this post with the 9 month one,  you'll notice that he's only a pound and 2 inches bigger... but someone decided to cut six teeth in the last three months, and that brought puking and diarrhea like you wouldn't believe. Five of those teeth came in May, the sixth at the beginning of July, putting the grand total at eight. Husband Man and I are more than willing to have a break! (Since I'm late writing this, he's actually 13 months now. I took him to the doctor to diagnose a rash--dermatitis, just needs lotion--and they said he's now 25 pounds and 32 inches.... he grew a lot in a month!)

I also love this stage. It's so funny to watch him learn about his face and make the goofiest expressions. I love watching him show his personality, play silly games with me, babble and squeal while we're in the store or while he's playing with his toys, grin as he shoves his favorite camo blankie in his mouth every time he sees it... And I still think he's so. stinking. cute!

FHE Monday #7

Further evidence that we are not perfect is the fact that this is the seventh FHE post, and clearly not the seventh week of the year... but we are trying, and that is what counts. Maybe by the time Gummy Bear can actually participate we will finally have it down!

This week we started out by singing "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam". We were listening to the Primary songs on the church website, and I discovered that that particular song has a second verse! So we pulled out the words and sang both verses while Gummy Bear grinned and threw himself at us in his weirdo hug-attacks. Then we prayed, and let him play.

The sister missionaries had challenged us to read the chapter in Preach My Gospel about the Holy Ghost. It was about eight pages, and we didn't look up the scriptures so it actually didn't take that long. The sisters read from Helaman 5:44-47 to introduce this challenge to us, and that would be a great place to start. We talked about how those verses explained a few ways the Holy Ghost manifests to us, and how we each individually receive guidance from the Holy Ghost in different ways than others. (That's something I love about the Gospel--we are all different as children of God, and it makes sense that we would each feel the Spirit in different ways.)

As we read, if one of us had a question or a thought then we would pause and talk about it. A couple of times a passage would remind me about something I had read in my personal scripture study, and it added to the discussion. I loved learning the difference between the Light of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Spirit of Promise. Even though Preach My Gospel focuses on missionaries sharing these principles with investigators, its a great reminder about basic Gospel Principles that I think are often overlooked or set aside for "deep doctrine". Reading this section reminded me that the Gospel is so simple, and to turn to those simple principles instead of looking beyond the mark towards things that aren't as important.

When we finished, we sang "Hum Your Favorite Hymn" and said a closing prayer. I feel like Gummy Bear feels the Spirit when we hold FHE, even if all he does is listen to the songs. The songs are also doctrine, so he is still learning. I also love how close we feel as a family, and I often feel like the Lord is smiling over our household for taking the time to do as He has asked.

Yockeyite Banter: Part Six

While visiting my brothers...
Me: So I was weighing Gummy Bear the other day, and guess how much he weighs?
BabyBro: Two chins.


I spelled something wrong while texting Meema...
Meema: Haha did you read that before you sent it????
Me: Today I'm not going to fix any if my mistakes so you can see what my thubs do all the time
Meema: Hahahahahaha
Me: You should do it tio
Meema: Except my ohine automayically clrrects things do I don't notmslly type proper
Me: Mine corrects some thongs but not others
Meema: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Me: I was going to get up and do stuff and then you said to pin more funny stuff and now I'm looking at pinyerest and want to eat chcicokate and marshmallows
Meema: Hee hee I live not fixibg things
Me: I don't even think my thumbs jbiw how to sell chcoikare
Me: Spekl
Me: Apell
Me: SPELL CHOCOLATE
Meema: Your thibs? I mean thubs? Hee her this is fantastic
Meema: This is going to remain funny yntil one of us accidentally spells a bad eoed
Meema: Word
Me: Hahahahahaha


Texting song lyrics to Meema...
Me: IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT PAT YOUR HEAD
Meema: GOSH DANG IT I LITERALLY JUST PATTED MY HEAD IN CLASS


Watching my friend's four kids, and we decide to watch "Tom and Jerry" cartoons....
Me: I love Tom and Jerry! It's my favorite!
5yo Girl: Me too! What is this one called?
Me: "The Cat Concerto"
Girl: Oooooooh... that sounds scary!"


Husband Man, while reading Daniel ?:?? in the Old Testament:
"...and knowledge to them that know no knowledging..."
(Should be "and knowledge to them that know understanding")


Watching my friend's four kids again, and I don't know who said what...
Kid #1: And we have heavy butts.
Kid #2: Yeah, like a tomato.


 Playing Clue with Husband Man's siblings, at midnight, after eating ice cream and soda and are pretty much all loopy...
Me: Chugga chugga chugga chugga... I wanna be a choo choo train when I grow up.
Guy: I think you can.
(I wish I'd written down more. It was a goofy night!)

The Clean Factor

All right, confession time:

I loathe cleaning.

But I also love sitting down after cleaning the house, looking around, and feeling light and free. You know what I'm talking about, right?

I grew up in a household that was always busy. It seemed like there was something to do almost every night, whether it was FHE, symphony rehearsal, dance practices, swim lessons, piano lessons, mutual, scouts, this, that, and the other plus school. By the time Saturday rolls around, the last thing any kid--and probably any mother-- wants to do is clean the house. As the song goes, however, Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday... and for my family, Saturday was the only day to clean. So the chore lists were written, complaints were filed and whining was sounded, guilt was passed around until one of us finally did way more cleaning than was fair, and Mom was probably the only one who cleaned anything properly.

Out of habit, I tried to clean on Saturdays. Now, don't get me wrong-- I have an apartment. Apartments are just the right size that you should be able to clean the entire thing in a couple hours if you just buckled down and did it. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, right? For me, apparently not. Things only really got clean when one of us went on a binge, most likely out of annoyance, and the other joined in because we are really good at sharing emotions.

So while on Pinterest (judge me if you want) I saw an idea for a cleaning rotation. It was a two-week setup that got you to clean the house for what looked like less than an hour a day. Half commitment? Sounds like my kind of chore chart! So I took it, and adapted it for our needs in our apartment.

What I loved most about this is that it got through everything. We don't use our shower enough to wash it every week, so instead of have the bathrooms on one square, I just spread it out. The floors get vacuumed twice a week, but the living room gets vacuumed an extra two times because it seems like there are always crumbs everywhere (thanks to a 9-month-old food lover). Rest Days are Sundays, because that is how it should be. And there are the daily things that need to be done, too, such as making the beds, and loading the dishwasher so that clutter stays down in the kitchen.

Now, I realise this is super minimal and probably makes me look lazy. I don't care, because this works for me. As I dusted the surfaces today, I couldn't help but smile because I knew it would help keep my allergies down this summer. When I use the sink in the evening, it's nice to see it clean instead of hairy and dirty. Making my chore list minimal is fantastic, because it gives me time to do the things I want to do, and it makes my "chore of the day" so much less intimidating. Now I can look around and be proud of my house, instead of being embarrassed every time Husband Man comes home from work. Don't get me wrong-- I fall behind. Today I did pretty much everything that I should have been doing all week. Things were busier than usual, and I didn't get to the cleaning. But I took the time, got it done, and now I'm all caught up. And it feels fantastic. I feel more successful as a housewife.

One of my friends recently told me a cleaning trick: If it takes less than two minutes to finish, then just do it. I'm not very good at this, but it's starting to work for me. Instead of looking at my shirts on the floor, I can just hang them up and be done with it. I've noticed that it's the jobs that take less than two minutes that are what keep the clutter off of the floor, and that alone makes your house feel cleaner! If you have a smaller livingspace, such as a dinky one-bedroom apartment, keeping clutter away helps your space to look larger.

Just put your completed chart in a clear sleeve, and you're ready to go!

Oh yeah, the "Don't Forget" part is so I could write in events and appointments that are happening in the upcoming week. That would have been a great place to remind myself that we were feeding the missionaries today... 

Gummy Bear: 9 Months Old

The monster Gummy Bear is now 29 3/4 inches tall (93%), 22 lb 12 oz (91%), and his head circumference is 47 cm (94%). Every time people ask how old he is, they stare at me in disbelief! And I just nod and say, "Yep... he's a monster!" Haha!

Gummy Bear is walking: I repeat, Gummy Bear is walking! He's taken a step or two before on his own, but in the last week or so he's really taken off-- literally! I catch him toodling around and then falling over, or tripping over something, and sometimes he just stands there. He is walking longer and longer distances, and walks back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. My favorite part are his hands, way up in the air by his head, trying to keep his balance... Although most recently he walks around while chewing on a toy. This last Sunday he figured out how to stand up unassisted, and we're giving him a week, maaaaybe two, before he figures out how to run. He tries to run but ends up falling over, and then he gets up and walks very carefully, trying to have patience... It's so funny. He's too smart!

The monster also doesn't like grass, or at least the half-dead variety... Our area is slow to get green grass, and the two times I've put him on the brown grass he picks up his hands and looks at the grass like it's gross, and then starts to cry. Every time! A couple days ago we took him out and tried to get him used to it, and he just whined the entire time. It's hilarious! My friend raked the dead grass out of her yard and he likes her grass better, so it's probably just the dead grass he hates. The more we take him outside the more he's getting used to the feeling of grass and concrete and rocks under his feet.

He still loves food. A LOT. Whenever we eat something he comes up to us and stares at the food until we give him some. If he likes it, he hangs around, and if he doesn't then he moves on. The staples, such as Cheerios and graham crackers, he scarfs down; chocolate food is even better. I was eating chocolate teddy grahams at a friend's house, and he thought that was the greatest thing since chocolate pudding. (I figure this chocolate love should be attributed to the maaaaaany bowls of Cocoa Dino-Bites I ate when I was pregnant, haha!) I could feed him all day and he would never get tired of it. He still licks everything, too, (like me and my pants,) although he's starting to test the waters with his two little teeth, and will sometimes give his toys a thorough inspection before slobbering on them, as if he hasn't seen that part of it before.

He's very observant, but only when something really catches his attention. Lately he will stare at commercials on tv that involve lots of animals, and will push you away if you get in front of him and block his view. We were standing by the stairs the other day talking with another couple, and as their 17-month-old son came down the stairs on his bum Gummy Bear watched very intently, just like he did when he watched older kids run around. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head, how can I do that...? There was one time I was trying to teach him how to go up stairs, since we don't have any in our apartment for him to practice on, and he wasn't buying it and spent the entire time whining. Fast forward a month or two, and I'm at a friend's house... and I look over and he's climbing the stairs. What?? This kid learns quickly!

His favorite games are anything to do with being thrown around, and when you roll him across the floor. The rolling game is great, because he almost tucks his arms up so you can roll him unhindered and he will crawl back to you over and over again. Going for walks is great, even if it's just in the hall of our apartment building--I think he's sick of our apartment! We walked to the thrift store down the street today and he just stared and looked around and didn't move until we stopped walking. He also loves to shake his head "no". It seems like the head shaking is just for fun, until you yell "No!" at him when he's touching the tv and he looks at you, grins, and shakes his head... and then touches the tv again. We're pretty sure he gets the basic concept, but doesn't listen. Booger.

See those shoes in the picture? One of my friends uses these soft shoes for her baby, and said she liked them because they were difficult to get off. So we purchased some, and he wore them... maybe half a dozen times. Then the shoes looked to be in worse condition than my friend's, probably because he crawled everywhere in them and scraped them on things trying to walk around, and so we just shook our heads and put them away... and Gummy Bear has been shoe-less ever since.

Being opinionated is another thing he likes. Sometimes (oftentimes) his reactions are extreme. He's either really happy and excited and chirps and smiles and is silly, or he's screaming and crying and yelling... And the squealing! Oh man. We were in Walmart the other afternoon, and every so often he would let out an ear-piercing squeal! It's all fun and games until he squeals in your ear... Naptime and going to bed can be tricky because he will only snuggle with me when he feels like it; otherwise he yells and cries and struggles to get away. So then I put him in his crib so he can go to sleep on his own, but then he sits there playing and chirping in the dark... The little stinker. Reading books to him is also difficult, because he always wants to close the book and pat it, which means you're trying to read him a bedtime story and he's squishing your fingers inside the book trying to push it closed! We still don't let him have the board books all the time, either, because he still chews on them until they start disintegrating in his mouth.

He is doing fantastic, overall. He loves playing with the big kids, getting Mommy's attention (whether by being cute or by being annoying and doing thing he isn't supposed to...), and getting Daddy to throw him around. We love this guy, even if he always keeps us on our toes!!