Hey guys!!  There’s only one week left to enter my Mommy’s exciting giveaway!

Just click on this link and leave a comment about which adorable product you’d choose.

There will be two lucky winners–good luck! :)

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p.s.  It says you need to be a follower of this blog to enter, but that doesn’t mean you have to read all the time.  Even if you only check in every once in a while, you can consider yourself a follower. :)  Oh!   And followers of Andrea’s blog are definitely allowed, too.

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After much thought (there really are so many!), these are the two principles I finally chose for my children:

1. Obedience to God’s will
2. Compassion for others

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What two principles would you choose for your children?

Hey Everyone! Guess what!?!

I turned nine months old which means time for another check-up at the doctor’s office!

(Oh, and Mommy forgot her camera, so she used her phone camera instead…)

And you know what?  The doctor says I’m headed for a growth spurt because my weight and height were lower percentiles than usual.  But I still have a big “coconut” that quickly grows out of my neck holes.  :)

Weight: 21.7 pounds (70th %ile)
Height: 28 inches (42nd %ile)
Head Circumference: 18.5 inches (91st %ile)

Poor Bubbers. He had a much harder time than I did at my check-up.

During the car ride to the doctor’s office, he casually said, “Scooters doesn’t want any shots.”

While walking into the doctor’s office, he said with a little more firmness, “Scooters doesn’t need any shots.”

When the nurse came in with the needles, Bubbers’ began crying, “No!  No!  Scooters doesn’t want any shots!  He doesn’t need them!!”

Then, in a last ditch effort to escape it all, he said desperately, “I need to go pee-pees!!!”

Poor Mommy.  She was really wishing Daddy was there to help comfort Bubbers, but she had forgotten to tell him about my appointment in time for him to take it off work and join us like he usually does…  So she was flying solo.

And all she could think of was: “It’s okay, just close your eyes and cover your ears!”

Bubbers obeyed with tears in his eyes and dread for my impending wails.

“Okay, we’re done!” the nurse suddenly announced.

“What?” Mommy stared, finally taking her eyes off her emotionally distraught 2-year-old and looking down at the 9-month-old in her arms.  There was a band-aid on each of my legs.  “You’re done?” Mommy asked blankly, “But he didn’t even cry.”

“Nope!” the nurse smiled and gathered her things.

“Wow…  Can we have you every time?!?” Mommy asked with shock.

The nurse laughed as she excused herself and Mommy still couldn’t believe it.

Then she and Bubbers laughed about it as she finished dressing me and we packed up.

Mommy was so grateful that everything turned out so well…

… And that we were all okay!

Washing the car and cleaning out the shed!

Moving two trays of our little guys into direct sunlight.

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The Play:

Hi Everyone!! Guess what!?!

Mommy’s sweet friend, Andrea, is offering a giveaway for her new business Crafted With Loves! here on Mommy’s blog.

And what is it she’s giving away, you ask?

Check it out!!!!

Beautiful custom lettering for the little ones in your life!

You pick the color, ribbon and paint and Andrea will do the rest!

She offers full names…

…Or single letters in 6″ or 9″ letters that are made of wood.

Or if you prefer lightweight cardboard, she offers an 8″ all-in-one letter and name.

Hm, let’s see…

What else do I need to tell you?

Let me sleep on that for a second.

Oh yeah!

Here are the rules for entry:

• Must be a follower of this blog to enter
• 1 entry for sharing which product you’d pick and for whom it would be
• 2 entries for sharing the current giveaway on Twitter or Facebook (please provide a link)
• 3 entries for posting about the current giveaway on your personal blog or putting it on your sidebar (please provide a link)

Contest closes March 19th and there will be two winners!
Contest open to residents of the U.S.

Okay, everyone…

Good luck!!!!!

Why did Heavenly Father make the world imperfect?

• Well, if God had made the world perfect, I think it would be difficult to learn anything.  And the purpose of our life on earth is to learn and grow…  So God designed a world where His plan to further our growth and development could happen.  And, technically, if God designed it, isn’t it perfect for His purposes?  Hmm…   So instead of allowing these imperfections to cause me grief and anxiety, I should recognize them for what they were meant to be.  And I should use them to learn.  And maybe even ask for more of them to learn more?  Wow, that kind of scares me…

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Other questions I’ve thought about:

Are we really supposed to be perfect?

• “Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48, with Joseph Smith Translation)

Wow, that sounds pretty definite!…  Okay, then what does it really mean to be “perfect”?  What should my goal be?

• The footnote for “perfect” in the above scripture says it is Greek for: “complete, finished, fully developed”.  (see here)

Hmm, I expected it to say something about being sinless or without mistakes…  I wonder if you could be perfect and still make mistakes?…  Either way, should I make perfection an expectation for my life here on earth?

• “We will not attain a state of perfection in this life…” (Elder Bednar)

That’s encouraging!…  But I know I should still be working towards it to follow Jesus’ command.  What should my goal regarding perfection be?

• “We will not attain a state of perfection in this life but we can and should press forward with faith in Christ along the strait and narrow path and make steady progress toward our eternal destiny.” (Elder Bednar)

• “Only Jesus was perfect in all things, including love and meekness…. Thus, as members of the Church, if we can see the life of discipleship… as a combination of proving, reproving, and improving, we will be much better off. (Elder Maxwell)

• “None of us is perfect yet. But we can have frequent assurance that we are following along the way. He leads us, and He beckons for us to follow Him.”  (President Eyring)

Hmm…  I can see why my perfectionism has been causing me anxiety.  I need to change how I view perfection and what I expect of myself and the world around me.

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Some questions I want to ask my counselor at our next session:

How do I change my thoughts, expectations and behaviors surrounding perfection?

Is it possible to stop being a perfectionist?

Oh man! I was just sorting through old pictures and came across this one of Bubbers and his friend Ethan.

Bubbers was 26 months old and hanging out with Ethan while I went to my 2 week postpartum doctor visit with baby Scooters.

Ethan’s Mommy took these pictures and I have to say it made me soooooo excited to have warm weather soon…

I have missed all these cute legs in shorts!!!

Hi Everyone!!  It’s time to jump back in time again to last June…  When I was 26 months old and Scooters was only eight days old!  Daddy was still home on paternity leave and Mommy was feeling pretty mobile after her C-section, so we went on our first outing as an official family of four!!

And you know where we went?

The TRAIN STATION!!!

Note: Our enthusiasm looks suspiciously like irritation and shock in the above photo.  But truly, we were enthused.

We waited for a long time, but no trains came–until the very end!!

We were actually loading up the car to go home when Mommy heard the train whistle and we unloaded and booked it to the platform as fast as we could!

“Wook, Daddy!  Wook, Mommy!  A TRAIN!!!”

Then we followed an engine down the tracks a ways.

He was parked and resting.

Note: About this time Mommy realized she’d over-estimated her ability to be mobile and pain free.  She was missing her Percocet.

What a beauty.

“Isn’t she beautiful, Scooters?”

“Scooters?”

Awww, would you look at that?

So sweet and peaceful.

Such a cute curve to his toes.

Little hands.

In the same position they were before he fell asleep.

What a cutie!!

“Hey Ma!  I’ve got a question for you…  What are the chances of you and Daddy grabbing that there locomotive and hefting him into the back of our car to keep forever?”

[I'm afraid the chances of that are mighty slim, Son].

*sigh*

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

… And what did he see?

Popcorn popping on the fake apricot trees!