2014 in Review

2014 has been a great year for our family, we have been very blessed!

This little boy grew from this

into this:

 This little girl grew from this

into this

PE received his professional engineering license this year.

We bought our first car this year, a 2011 Honda Civic.

We moved from an apartment to a house. PE's parents left on a 2 year mission, and we are house-sitting for them.

I was diagnosed with colitis, a chronic disease. But thanks to modern medicine, I am feeling much better!

Happy New Year! 

A Truth and a Lie

There is a great lie being told across the world right now. And the ironic thing is that it comes from a great truth, but it has been twisted into a lie. I see it everywhere. In songs, movies, books, political discussions, etc.

The truth is this:

You are of great worth.

The lie is this:

You are good enough the way you are

They almost sound like the same thing. Which makes it a very subtle lie. But one will lead us to our greatest potential, the other will stunt us in our growth.

Now don't get me wrong, I think it is a good thing to be accepting of yourself, weaknesses and all. We should be gentle and kind to ourselves, not harsh and condemning. But we should never excuse something simply because "that's just how I am." We will never learn and grow if we simply sit down and say "Well, this is as good as I can get."

I am an introvert. Recently, I have noticed a push for the world to recognize the power of introverts. Introverts have made amazing contributions to the world. It is not inherently bad to be an introvert. But the danger comes from thinking "well, I'm an introvert, that's just the way that I am so I don't need to learn how to talk to people." I used to be painfully shy as a girl. I have grown a lot since then, but especially since I've been married. My husband has helped me see that I shouldn't make excuses for myself. Being an introvert isn't bad, but not being able to easily talk to people and be friendly to others was holding me back. It's not that I have to be an extrovert, but I have to be willing to overcome the weaknesses that are inherent in being an introvert. If I was an extrovert, then I would have to try to overcome the weaknesses that come along with that.

The most obvious example to me is that of a baby. Most people recognize that babies are of great worth. That they deserve to be treated with love. But honestly, they are not good enough the way that they are. Unless you want to be changing diapers and carrying around a baby the rest of forever, you hope that your baby will grow and develop. That they will learn to walk, sleep through the night, eat by themselves, use the toilet, etc. (Yes, sometimes we wish they wouldn't grow up quite so fast, but we are grateful that they do grow up!) I think their great worth comes from knowing they have great potential.

We are children of a Heavenly Father, and as children we have the potential to become like our Father. As His children, we are of infinite worth because of that potential. Christ suffered and died for us because He saw our worth, our value. We always deserve to be treated with love and respect because of who we are, but we should never fall into the trap of believing that we are good enough as we are. We all have weaknesses, and we are all broken in some way. But once we recognize that, we can work on turning those weaknesses into strengths and strive to reach our full potential.

6 Months Stats

P2 had her 6 month check-up today! Here are her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 15 oz (84th percentile)

Height: 27.25 inches (93rd percentile)

She did great for the doctor and is a happy, healthy baby. She handled her 4 shots, 1 heel poke, and 1 oral vaccine like a champ! I think the one she disliked the most was the oral one, it must not taste very good! She did cry, but only for 30 seconds or so, and then she was fine!

Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we had a nice ham dinner with au gratin potatoes. After dinner, P1 helped me decorate gingerbread cookies for Santa Claus. We gave the kids baths, and we started a fire in our fireplace. Then we read Christmas stories! We read about baby Jesus, and we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. P1 knows that book pretty well, and can fill in most of the words if you pause and wait for him.

Christmas morning arrived and Santa did indeed show up at our house. P1 ended up sleeping in way longer than normal, we almost started without him! He finally woke up, and I went and got him out of his crib. I asked him if he wanted to see what Santa had brought, and the first thing he said was "Cookies?". I guess he wanted to make sure Santa found his cookies! As we started walking down the hall, P1 suddenly started clinging to my leg. I think he was worried that Santa was still in our house. He really likes Santa, but definitely at a distance!

P1 was really worried that P2 was chewing on Minnie Mouse. And when we packed up Minnie Mouse to take to Grandma's house, P1 had to go find his Mickey Mouse to take too.

P1 got some fun coloring stuff. Grandma & Grandpa even gave him a box of crayons that had 24 orange crayons, because orange is his favorite.

We went to Grandma's house in the afternoon. It snowed all day, and the roads weren't great to drive on. We almost didn't make it up the hill to Grandma's house. PE went and brought great-grandma over to spend the afternoon with us. P1 and P2 were definitely spoiled! They got lots of books, toys, and clothes.

I really liked this book that P1 got:

It is a really well done book, definitely one I would recommend.

PE got me a really nice Spanish cookbook, The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden. It's a beautiful cookbook, that also includes a lot of history and stories. So much more than just recipes. I'm excited to try some of the recipes out (except I think I'll skip the octopus & baby squid recipes).This was definitely the year of books though! We have a lot of reading to do now!

6 Months

Our little sweetheart turned 6 months old on Christmas! She is eating solids and has 2 bottom teeth. She still loves to suck on her thumb. We had to switch to formula for a bit, and she can do a bottle pretty well now. P2 is sleeping a little better at night, but still usually gets up at least once.

She loves to bounce! She can really get going in her jumper.

P2 can sit up by herself for a little bit. She's still working on balance. She likes to roll over on her tummy, but she usually will only roll the once. She hasn't shown much interest in crawling.

P2 is a talker! She loves to yell and be heard. She is usually happy when she is yelling though. She loves to laugh, and she thinks her brother is pretty hilarious.

And she is absolutely adorable! I got this Christmas dress for her, and she wore it on Sunday. Turns out I should have washed it first, because we got glitter EVERYWHERE. PE was covered in it by the end of church, and we are still finding glitter all over!

It's a Hard Enough Life

No cute post of my adorable children this time. This one is about me.

I've been having some health issues since P2 was born. It started out small, but it gradually got worse. I finally went and saw my OB/GYN the Friday before Thanksgiving. She gave me a prescription and told me to start taking a fiber supplement. I diligently started a daily fiber supplement. By Thanksgiving day I was dying. The pain was almost as bad as giving birth. I finally realized the fiber was making my condition worse, not better.

My husband and dad gave me a priesthood blessing Thanksgiving night. It was a beautiful blessing, and the words were truly from my Father in Heaven. There were things mentioned that had been on my mind a lot that I hadn't mentioned to anyone.

I wasn't really blessed with healing, but that we would be able to get a quick diagnosis. That I would be strengthened to bear this burden, that I would see the hand of God in my life, and that it would strengthen my testimony.

On Black Friday, I tried calling doctors but everyone was closed. PE discovered our downstairs bathroom had flooded and spent most of the day trying to fix a leak in the wall. This ended up being a tender mercy, because it kept us from taking an expensive trip to the ER which would have turned out to be useless and frustrating. I finally got a hold of my OB/GYN, and she told me the ER wouldn't be able to do anything, and that I needed to try to see a gastroenterologist on Monday. I was feeling a little better since I had stopped taking the fiber supplement, so I figured I could last until Monday.

First thing Monday, I called the doctor, and the earliest they could see me was Wednesday. Bummer. So we set up the appointment, and at the end of the phone call she told me to go to their website and follow the 2 day prep instructions. Turns out they were scheduling me for a colonoscopy (which you have to fast a day and a half for) so Wednesday morning really was the earliest they could have me in. I just figured they would want me to actually talk to a doctor first before we did anything like that.

So I went in on Wednesday and the doctor found severe inflammation of my lower colon. It was either an infection that could be treated with antibiotics or it was left-sided ulcerative colitis. We needed to wait for the biopsies to come back to know which one it was. The doctor gave me some medicine to start taking right away in case it was colitis, and told me to make an appointment with him next week.

I was relieved that they had found the problem. It truly was a quick diagnosis, and I was just grateful to know what we were dealing with so that I could get treatment. However, after getting home and researching colitis on the internet, I began to get discouraged. It is a chronic disease, so there is no cure. But there are medicines to help keep it under control. Not exactly what I was hoping to hear. But as I was feeling discouraged by this new trial, a friend of mine posted a link to her new website about how pregnancy had left her in a wheelchair. I was already aware of her situation, but as I read about her hope and faith, it helped me to look at my trial with the right perspective. Definitely another tender mercy!

The biopsies came back and were negative for infection. That meant it was colitis. I went back to my doctor, and he ended up putting me on new medicine because I wasn't improving as fast as he wanted. Unfortunately, the new medicine meant no more nursing my baby. That made me sad. But it's only for a few weeks and then hopefully we can go back to nursing. P2 has never loved the bottle, so the tender mercy this time was that we had just started her on solids, so I at least knew she wouldn't starve.

Another tender mercy was that two of my sweet friends came and cleaned my house for me (even though they are both busy with little children). It was so helpful and sweet of them, and it was nice to just talk with them.

When it comes down to it, life is hard. And I believe it is supposed to be hard, so that we can grow and develop, and become stronger. We are given mountains to climb so that we can reach our full potential. Everyone is going through some trial. I've been amazed at the trials I have seen others go through. Friends that have lost their mobility. Others who have had stillborn children. Some have lost parents. Some struggle with infertility. The list goes on and on. We are all climbing mountains, and can use all the kindness and help from each other that we can get.

And during our trials, it is always better to look up. God will help us. As we look to Christ, He will strengthen us to bear our burdens, and we will find rest in Him. When I was in a lot of pain with my colitis, I just kept wondering "Why?". Why would Christ choose to suffer all of our pain for us? That is so much pain and agony. My pain alone was more than I wanted to bear in that moment, yet He choose to suffer ALL pain for us. For me. And the answer is, because Christ loves us. He suffered all things so that He could lift us up. So that He could bear our burdens when it is too much for us to carry. So that we can make it home to our Father in Heaven.  I love my Savior, and am so grateful for His humble birth and for His willingness to suffer all things for me. He is the Gift that we celebrate this Christmas season, and it is truly the greatest gift that has ever been given.

Sibling Love

It's so much fun to watch P1 and P2 interact with each other. They really do love each other, and P2 thinks her brother is hilarious!

P1 wanted to give his sister a ride in the laundry basket. He was pretty careful with her, and she seemed to enjoy it!

Playing together with Mr. Potato Heads:

 

Laughing uncontrollably at her brother:

Santa Baby

Some very cute elves and Santa Clauses came to our house! P1 doesn't like to wear hats, but he eventually warmed up to the Santa Claus one and wore it most of the day.

 

 

P1 got to meet Santa at our ward breakfast. He was pretty excited when he saw him come in and couldn't wait to go see him. But then, of course, he only wanted to see him from a distance. Mrs. Claus had to bribe him with a candy cane to get him that close to Santa.