Ah, Time to Relax

This was an old (not that old) video I forgot to post. Scarlet LOVES when we play with her mouth. The only time she laughs is when we take our finger and start at her nose and just stroke down past her lips. She LOVES IT!!!! And does this little miniature laugh. It's the best.

Ah, all tuckered out from the holiday cheer.

This is home, after all the missed naps, going to bed 5 hours later than normal, and being constantly passed from person to person for 3 days straight.

Ah, feels good to be home. Scarlet did really well, she gets that from Greg. Full rooms and constant family stresses me out. I like it in short doses. I love family, but I need breaks. I am getting better though. Christmas. Half my gifts still haven't been given because I was so late in getting them ordered/shipped. Whoops. Next year I'll be more on top of it. We didn't even get out our stockings. Not a very christmas-y year. We'll make up for it next year, especially with Scarlet being 1 year old and able to unwrap gifts. At least I think she will be able to. Well, anyway. Greg and I were talking about how now that Scarlet is around, we want to start our family traditions. Haven't decided completely what we want them to be yet, but they will happen. I loved all my family traditions growing up. The favorites . . . making chocolates with Grandma and watching Small One on Christmas Eve. I don't want to continue the obscene sugarfest that I once loved, but we'll have something tastey, for sure.

Greg and I got ourselves the ClearPlay dvd player. It edits movies for you. There's a bunch of different categories and levels within each category to edit out of each movie. Like if you just want to lose the sex and language, but keep the violence you can. We've been playing around with the levels, 'cause of course the less you take out, the less choppy it will be. But we're excited! We've only watched our own movies so far, but I ordered Slumdog Millionaire from Netflix so we can watch it! Everyone raved about that one and now we can watch it too!!! We're pretty pumped. Now the movie options are endless and we don't have to be disappointed when a preview says a movie is R rated.

Scarlet is getting chubbier everyday. I supposed I'll be saying that every week for the next year. I just can't believe how fast they grow! Could you imagine if our bodies expanded like that? It's like Violet at the Wonka Factory, minus the blue tint. I hope I never stop saying it, but she's the best little girl! She's adjusted to the formula really fast and doesn't seem to be upset by it. But she does seem to always have a cold now. Like every week, if not everyday. It will go away when we thaw out that breast milk and then it comes right back. But thank goodness, she's so easy going, she never seems that bothered by it. She seems to have one bad day a week or so, where she just needs one dose of tylenol and then she's good to go again. One thing about formula- EXPENSIVE!!!!! Man, we go through that stuff fast! And right now, she's very much into this "I'm gonna drink 5-7 oz thing". I wish it was always five OR seven, because we're always wasting formula. I guess I could always give her 5 and she if she wants more, but I HATE listening to her scream as I'm rushing to make more. And it gets me even MORE panicky in the day time when I'm worried she'll wake up Greg. So we're just sort of wasting a lot of formula, unfortunately. Very unlike my personality.

Hmm . . . what else? I've been watching Little House on the Prairie everyday while I feed Scarlet. What a good little show. SO wholesome. It's almost like going to a fireside or devotional. Every episode you see what a good example the parents are, to their children and each other. The kids are so respectful and obedient. They're so grateful to God and concerned about worshipping. There's always a major moral to each episode- be kind, be grateful, serve others, forgive, be a friend, be honest. You'd think it'd be boring 'cause it's so old, but it's really fun!

Greg got me Bob's Red Mill Cookbook. Awhile back we were talking about working in more whole foods and grains into our diet. I sort of forgot about it over the last few months. I'm really excited to look for gluten free recipes for my sister and her husband. They've recently been diagnosed with Lyme Disease which thrives on gluten, sugar and dairy. So suddenly they've got the dilema- what are we going to eat??? I never realized how EVERYTHING has those ingredients!!! I always think I've found a recipe and then realize, "oh wait, that has butter" or "what was I thinking! all that sugar!" It's just so natural to have those ingredients that I don't even see them there. But how can you say goodbye to bread and cookies forever? I'm determined to find SOMETHING for them. Not to be a DOWNER, but every "gluten free" recipe I've had makes me want to puke. I honestly end up SPITTING OUT every bite I've taken to "try it out, if you say it's so good." And then it never is so good. It's not good at all. It's gross. But there must be SOMETHING out there. So for all you readers, if you've got a good recipe, send it to my sister Danielle. Her blog is on my list as "Danielle and Clay". Or you can just email it to me and I'll get it to her. Everyone talks up this Bob's Red Mill, so I'm hopin' to find some goodies.

Now that Christmas is over, I naively feel like I have so much time to do things. Yeah right. Those days ended the day Scarlet arrived in our lives. Things just don't get done. It was so funny. The other day, Greg was home for the day and we only had a couple things on the "to do" list and they just never got done. We kept trying and then something would come up and then I heard him on the phone saying something like, "It's impossible to get anything done!" Meaning, since we have a baby. And it was nice to see someone else go through the same thing. And it was crazy too, because we were BOTH there to accomplish something, but babies just steal away the day. One of my friends always asks me, "What have you done today." And I sit . . . and think . . . and embarrassingly say, "Nothing." And I think, "How can that be? I didn't watch tv, I didn't sit around. I was busy all day and yet I can't think of a single thing I did!" I've had a pile of fleece, that came on sale, waiting for me to sew into little pants or sweaters for Scarlet. I'm starting to think, they're going to sit there forever, untouched. And I've been telling my sister, Danielle, I'd find her recipes for at least 2 months. Another thing that hasn't happened. I've been SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY going through a couple baby/parenting books. The only time I've been able read those is on those few days Scarlet was needing to be held all day. So we rock in the rocker and I read. Time escapes me . . . everyday.

Primary is another time sucker. I love my calling, but at the same time it is WORK!!! I swear I spend HOURS looking online for a few simple graphics/pictures to go with the songs I'm teaching. It takes forever. If I don't keep things fresh, the kids let me know. "We ALWAYS sing this one!", "Not again!", "NO!!!!" It is soooooo frustrating. And then the worst is when I prepare for a song, am all excited, and then they know it already. That's the worst. The little one's attention spans are so small, it's hard to keep them focused- not to mention they can't read, so it's all about repetition (not too exciting) and memorization. The older ones are so quick I never prepare enough and have to spontaneously pick songs to fill up our time. I really want to do better than I'm doing.

I like being a Mom. I'm better at it, than I ever thought I would be. I love babies. Maybe I should just say- I love my baby. But my whole outlook on babies has changed forever. They were sort of boring before. And I was always uncomfortable holding them, with their wobbly, bobbing back and forth heads, never knowing quite what to do once they're in my arms. It's funny. I see it (how I used to feel) in other people now. They hold them funny. You can tell they're not 100% comfortable. It's not that they don't WANT to hold a baby. Is it odd to say they're worried too much about being gentle? The only people that aren't this way are people with babies! I never worry about those ones, they're in the middle of it themselves and haven't forgotten what it's like. I'm picking up the pace on letting my "over protective mothering" go. It's still there, of course, but it's fading. I'm sure people have been annoyed of it, but it's normal- right? Everytime we go out, she's instantly out of my arms and in someone else's, until we go home again. And it was so hard to not think, "They're feeding her wrong, tilt her head up more" or "she's still crying, do something else, she obviously doesn't what you're doing". And to hear her cry and resist taking her back was/is really hard. But it's easing up and I'm sure it will continue. I'm starting to realize if I just leave people be, they'll eventually figure it out and she'll stop crying. It was just so hard before, knowing I soothe her the fastest. I feel like it's just mean to let her keep crying, knowing I can make it stop in a few moments/minutes. Well, anyway. I'd like to say I'm going to bed, but I'm going to look at my new cookbook. Goodnight!