Mr & Mrs Smith

Many may know I've battled with family traditions, specifically Christmas ones for awhile now. I  don't fall in love with most traditions, especially those that are just for the sake of tradition and Mr Smith even more so. However, I do believe the scriptures make reference to righteous AND unrighteous traditions of their fathers, so we can filter for our own families. I only want our heart in it. I want our kids to enjoy time as a family and traditions are great for them.  With Christmas, I also need Christ in it. We are celebrating Him and that's why "happy holidays" makes me a little squeamish. So it's Hanukkah too and some Christians are beginning to wonder if it's best to celebrate with them vs the pagan roots of many Christmas traditions (or are they, it is debatable?!). I think there is a balance with no need to go to the extreme. While other cultures are fascinating, we do have to find a way to celebrate Christ. While our daily efforts are ess...

I've never been good at being concise. I like words too much. I think outloud. And I haven't had time to blog all these conversations & posts & mental thoughts and it's eating at me to write it all down, to get it out there. These are some words that no one understands anymore: love, tolerance, faith, forgiveness, covenants, judgment, respect, moderation, self-worth, humility, equality...at least if they say they do, I wouldn't believe them. In truth, I think we should be forever understanding what these words mean. Yet I hear people affirming over & over again in their actions & with their voice that they want to be right and they want you to know it & accept the choices they're making. So much for democracy & freedom. They might say "to each his own" but I'm not idealistic anymore, people don't really believe that.  I reference "the world" a lot. Let's clarify what I mean. We can start with Holly...

I haven't been good at managing my time. I've learned to lower my standards, but I'm afraid I get to lax & make TV too much the babysitter. I miss the pre-k activities I'd try to do with Lexi. I just get exhausted by the idea of planning something for all the kids. Our park excursions when they work out is the best I can do. I'm really trying to make a more concious effort to SEE my children & not just dismiss the odd things they get excited by & try to listen to Lexi's next greatest idea. I need to value her imagination; even if I just see a chaotic mess, she sees a beautiful party. It really doesn't take much to make them happy. And I've come to realize how much joy Lexi gets from making me laugh. Anytime I laugh at one of her sayings, it makes her happy. I still just stare at her realizing that she is growing up so fast; it's like I'm trying to soak her in. I even started noticing that sometimes she brings her lower jaw out over he...

We are less than theatrical around here when it comes to anniversaries or parent birthdays. I always try to get my free food (Cafe Rio credit, Jamba Juice & Firehouse subs), but we otherwise spent it relaxing as a family (Mr Smith cleaned up the house) & attending Gpa & Gma Smith's gravesites. I was very imoressed with Mr Smith when he walked up to an elderly lady we passed. He asked her who she was visiting with Lexi and she proceeded to tell about her brother who served on a boat. Lexi didn't realize why that was important, but I know it touched her that we were trying to teach our children. She teared up talking about her family. I was grateful for Eric's example of taking time to touch a stranger. We are grateful for all the brave men & women who fight for freedom. Those we lost, are not gone forever & definitely not forgotten. There is so much joy in teaching our children that. ​ Earlier that week we had the awesome opportunity to tow our van o...

"These hours with your family are precious and few; use them wisely to shower your children with love... In the eternal scheme of things, nothing else really matters. You can do it; Heavenly Father will help! Remember, they're His children too."  - Lucile Johnson

Adjusting & Lots of Sibling Love ​ It's always easier with the village. I had wonderful people make things for the baby & drop off food. Mom, Troy & Lisa all came to play with the kids. Mr Smith always gives me a third hand. I let the kids watch a ton of TV, but we also are lucky enough to enjoy good weather now. They've made use of the water table, Jeep & their bikes. I know they have felt some neglect, but they are lucky to have each other. We spoil them once in awhile with treats or late night shows to show we care, ha! Dad took Dallin on the father/son campout about two weeks in. The novelty hasn't worn off of having our own baby. Dallin copies Lexi and she dotes on the baby constantly. They always want turns holding her. We still haven't figured out how to keep the older two from crawling into our bed at night. So it's just one big party by 5AM! First Sunday, Mother's Day + End of Soccer ​ Was a complete fail! Haha. And I didn...

Mr Smith wants me to copy my posts in for our mothers. In many ways, it seems I still just had a baby yesterday, but we have slowly moved on from the bloody pads & early nursing woes. I guess I was paranoid about mastitis again (for a good reason!) and I've fretted over every clogged duct & went to urgent care when I thought we had thursh. I stayed up all night pumping on one side because the sharp glass nipple pain was nothing like I've ever felt before. The NP (who I thought was a joke) didn't think there were thursh concerns, but I still feel like she had a yeast diaper rash & my nipple pain was not just bad latch trauma. I got the "triple nipple cream" and the pain to the touch was gone by morning. Thank goodness! She has still had a tight bite at times, but like I figured, around a month in, and she is sucking better. Besides the nursing woes for a time, she hasn't had any issues. Knock, knock. (but not even a clogged tear duct or cradle ...