I don't really care how silly it is to just post pictures with no real reason. I miss Derek. He's over 2,000 miles away and I hate it. Every minute.
Also, I miss summer.
The next few months could not go by fast enough.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Late-Night Ramblings of a Tired Parent
Tonight is one of those nights where I can't sleep. It is most likely because I stayed up too late watching an intense television show, and decided to watch one too many episodes of said show. Once I finally decided it was time to go to bed I shut off the TV, Roku, went upstairs, and climbed into bed. Not five minutes later, Reece started crying.
I tried putting her pacifier in her hand so she could have it if she wanted it, and that didn't work. So, I covered her with her blanket and gave her a kiss on the forehead. It didn't work. With her sad little cry in my ears and her cute, chubby arms reaching up to me I couldn't help myself. I picked her up and her little arms immediately locked around my neck like two magnets that finally found their opposite ends. After she tossed and turned, and kicked me in the face, Reece finally found a spot where she was comfortable. She ended up on her side, facing me, with one hand frozen mid-hair twirl, and the other arm reaching out with her hand on my cheek. It was adorable. I took her pudgy little hand from my cheek, gave it a kiss, and scooted back to take a look at my sweet, sleeping girl.
Her blonde hair was a mess from not only being asleep since 8:00pm, but from being in her stroller or car seat almost all day. Her pajamas didn't match because I couldn't wrestle her out of her onesie to get her pajama shirt on. So her white pants covered in butterflies and flowers are paired with a brown striped onesie instead of a pink shirt that says "Daddy's Girl". Her little nose has crusties all around the outside because her cold is hanging on just enough so that her nose still runs a little bit. But she is perfect. She is absolutely perfect.
She has ten fingers and ten toes. She has two beautiful blue eyes. She has twelve teeth and cute little lips. She has an admirably shaped nose. She has a sweet temperament and a strong will. She's smart and undeniably mischievous. She has an attitude that will take you by surprise and she knows how to stand up for herself around all her boy cousins. She is my baby, and she is perfect.
As I laid there and thought about all of that, I was completely love-drunk on her perfection and beauty, and the undying and unconditional love that she has for me as her mom. And then it hit me. Parenting makes you a better person. Being around these sweet, pure, perfect babies kind of rubs off on you.
1. Parenting makes you more patient. Some of you may be scoffing at this and thinking, "A hard day with my kids makes me lose my patience faster than anything else!" And while this may be true, it's working for your benefit. We don't put ourselves in easy situations to help become more patient. We put ourselves in situations where our patience is tried and tested. We give birth to alarm clocks that go off at all times of the night and are wired without a snooze button. We give our children small sized pieces of food so that they can pick them up and eat them. But they can also pick them up and throw them. These are not fun things, but they test our patience. And if we choose to react the right way, we will grow and become a better person.
2. Parenting teaches us that it is okay to be imperfect. The unconditional love of a child is almost incomparable. They don't care if you put their diaper on backwards and then forget to put their pants back on. They don't care if you put them in mismatched clothes. They don't care if you put yourself in mismatched clothes. We are never going to be perfect. We most likely won't live up to the dream of being a "perfect parent." But we can learn to not get down on our imperfections. We can learn to take them in stride and see the good that can come from them.
3. Parenting teaches us how to love. We all think we know what love is when the little boy chases you on the playground, pushes you down, and sticks his tongue out at you. And then we are sure we knew what love is when we're sixteen and get our first kiss. But that moment is then trumped when we find the man we want to marry and we say "I do." "Now," we think, "I know what love is." But then we experience the love felt when pregnant. An entirely new kind of love. We think this is the ultimate definition. But then we experience the love that we have for our child outside the womb, and the love they have for us. Our children are capable of such a pure love, and being their parents gives us the privilege of seeing and feeling that love.
So, even though sometimes we have days like I had today where we get to be that parent at the store who had the screaming child, we can't forget that parenting makes us better people. Even though sometimes your hair gets pulled, a diaper is filled, and your piano sheet music gets thrown to the floor (to get terribly mixed up, of course) within a matter of thirty seconds, these littlemonsters children are a gift.
And of course I can say all of this and be so optimistic about being a mom when my daughter is asleep because she's not doing toddler things. Because it isn't until morning when she will be back to the every day routine: Waking up early, unrolling toilet paper, emptying the bookshelf, sending random text messages from my phone, unrolling toilet paper, prank calling my parents, smearing peanut butter and jelly all over the high chair and in her hair, and unrolling some more toilet paper.
You know what else she does every day? Proves to me that being a mom is the best thing ever.
I tried putting her pacifier in her hand so she could have it if she wanted it, and that didn't work. So, I covered her with her blanket and gave her a kiss on the forehead. It didn't work. With her sad little cry in my ears and her cute, chubby arms reaching up to me I couldn't help myself. I picked her up and her little arms immediately locked around my neck like two magnets that finally found their opposite ends. After she tossed and turned, and kicked me in the face, Reece finally found a spot where she was comfortable. She ended up on her side, facing me, with one hand frozen mid-hair twirl, and the other arm reaching out with her hand on my cheek. It was adorable. I took her pudgy little hand from my cheek, gave it a kiss, and scooted back to take a look at my sweet, sleeping girl.
Her blonde hair was a mess from not only being asleep since 8:00pm, but from being in her stroller or car seat almost all day. Her pajamas didn't match because I couldn't wrestle her out of her onesie to get her pajama shirt on. So her white pants covered in butterflies and flowers are paired with a brown striped onesie instead of a pink shirt that says "Daddy's Girl". Her little nose has crusties all around the outside because her cold is hanging on just enough so that her nose still runs a little bit. But she is perfect. She is absolutely perfect.
She has ten fingers and ten toes. She has two beautiful blue eyes. She has twelve teeth and cute little lips. She has an admirably shaped nose. She has a sweet temperament and a strong will. She's smart and undeniably mischievous. She has an attitude that will take you by surprise and she knows how to stand up for herself around all her boy cousins. She is my baby, and she is perfect.
As I laid there and thought about all of that, I was completely love-drunk on her perfection and beauty, and the undying and unconditional love that she has for me as her mom. And then it hit me. Parenting makes you a better person. Being around these sweet, pure, perfect babies kind of rubs off on you.
1. Parenting makes you more patient. Some of you may be scoffing at this and thinking, "A hard day with my kids makes me lose my patience faster than anything else!" And while this may be true, it's working for your benefit. We don't put ourselves in easy situations to help become more patient. We put ourselves in situations where our patience is tried and tested. We give birth to alarm clocks that go off at all times of the night and are wired without a snooze button. We give our children small sized pieces of food so that they can pick them up and eat them. But they can also pick them up and throw them. These are not fun things, but they test our patience. And if we choose to react the right way, we will grow and become a better person.
2. Parenting teaches us that it is okay to be imperfect. The unconditional love of a child is almost incomparable. They don't care if you put their diaper on backwards and then forget to put their pants back on. They don't care if you put them in mismatched clothes. They don't care if you put yourself in mismatched clothes. We are never going to be perfect. We most likely won't live up to the dream of being a "perfect parent." But we can learn to not get down on our imperfections. We can learn to take them in stride and see the good that can come from them.
3. Parenting teaches us how to love. We all think we know what love is when the little boy chases you on the playground, pushes you down, and sticks his tongue out at you. And then we are sure we knew what love is when we're sixteen and get our first kiss. But that moment is then trumped when we find the man we want to marry and we say "I do." "Now," we think, "I know what love is." But then we experience the love felt when pregnant. An entirely new kind of love. We think this is the ultimate definition. But then we experience the love that we have for our child outside the womb, and the love they have for us. Our children are capable of such a pure love, and being their parents gives us the privilege of seeing and feeling that love.
So, even though sometimes we have days like I had today where we get to be that parent at the store who had the screaming child, we can't forget that parenting makes us better people. Even though sometimes your hair gets pulled, a diaper is filled, and your piano sheet music gets thrown to the floor (to get terribly mixed up, of course) within a matter of thirty seconds, these little
And of course I can say all of this and be so optimistic about being a mom when my daughter is asleep because she's not doing toddler things. Because it isn't until morning when she will be back to the every day routine: Waking up early, unrolling toilet paper, emptying the bookshelf, sending random text messages from my phone, unrolling toilet paper, prank calling my parents, smearing peanut butter and jelly all over the high chair and in her hair, and unrolling some more toilet paper.
You know what else she does every day? Proves to me that being a mom is the best thing ever.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Three Years (Plus One Month and Twelve Days) & Paige's Wedding
- Reece started crawling, took her first steps, and turned a year old! She's growing way too fast.
- We moved back to Rexburg for the last time.
- We graduated!
- Derek completed an internship with a local Accounting Firm, and then landed an internship in South Carolina after graduation.
- I completed my internship as a Wellness Coach for the Biggest Winner.
- We welcomed three new nieces and a nephew to our family.
That obviously isn't a comprehensive list, but it's all I can think of right now. We got to spend our anniversary in a really fun and special way this year. My beautiful cousin, Paige, got married! So we got to spend the day up at the temple for her wedding, we went out to lunch with her and her family, and then went to their reception later that evening. It was such a perfect way to spend our anniversary! Getting to be there in the temple when Paige got married was wonderful, and it was a great way to remind ourselves of the promises Derek and I had made to each other just three years ago.
After the ceremony, we all went outside for pictures. Here are some of my favorites.
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| Paige and Solon |
The Smith Family (left), and the beautiful Bronson girls (right). We don't get to see the Smiths often enough, so it was really good to see them at the wedding!
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| Beautiful Family! |
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| Paige and I on her wedding day (top), and us at my wedding day (bottom). |
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| My awesome parents. |
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| My beautiful sister and mom. |
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| You'll have to excuse my face in this picture. We had been asking her to do that for five minutes, and so I was surprised and happy that she did it for the camera. |
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| The laughter that followed after the previous picture. |
I promise I fixed Reece's hair before we left for the temple. And again when we got to the temple. And again after the ceremony. She just can't keep her cute, pudgy little hands out of it! So her hair always looks like she just woke up after sleeping through a hurricane.
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| This picture cracks me up! My dad tried to photo-bomb us over Derek's shoulder. Derek. Who is 6'4". Not the most effective way to photo-bomb. |
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| I love my little family! |
It was a wonderful day at the temple, and the reception later that night was beautiful! Not only did they have delicious treats, but it was so warm and comfortable, and the decorations were perfect.
Derek and I left the reception early, gave Reece to my parents, and we went out to do a little shopping and catch a movie. While this was definitely the most simple anniversary celebration we've had, it was one of my favorites.
I love Derek more now than I ever thought I would. It's common for people to say that about their spouses, but you never realize how true it is until you experience it. He is one of the hardest working people I know. He loves me not only for who I am, but for the potential person that I could become and constantly encourages me to follow my dreams and reach my goals. I love that he knows me better than anyone else. He is everything to me. Being without him for the past month has been more difficult than I imagined. But it's all for the future good of our family, and he has the short end of the stick in this situation. And yet, I complain about being away from each other more than he does. He's amazing. Since the first three years of our marriage have been this good, I can't wait for the rest!
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