The adorable Mr. B- Continued

Pictures 1 and 2-Mr. B and I went on a walk the other day and since we did not have mittens we improvised. Mr. B considered them to be delicious.

3&4- We cannot get enough of Mr. B's adorable chubbiness. He is almost four months now and weighs 16 pounds and is 25 inches long (a perfect 50th percentile on the growth charts). So cute!

Hands Free Motherhood: Intro to Babywearing

As you may have noticed from recent pictures Mr. B is carried around in a variety of carriers. We currently have three of them, while you may think that this is a bit overkill, each has its own purpose and as such I love each of them.

My collection began with what is called a "Wrap" although I bought mine at a store I highly recommend making your own as they require little to no sewing. For the first few days of Mr B's life he let me "wear" him to work (thats right, I sadly had to go back to work when Mr. B was one week old). It was wonderful to have him so close to me while I did what I needed to do. He alternated between snoozing and looking around at what I was up to. He was so darn tiny, and oh so cute.

But in that Mr. B was born in July the wrap plus a baby= a furnace, so we looked for something cooler. We did some research and found at about a type of carrier called a mei tei. We loved the idea that it was versatile. The baby can go on your chest or back, and can even face outwards, and the baby can be a newborn (like in this picture) or up to 35 pounds and still be comfortable. They sadly are like 90 bucks so I found someone selling a new one on KSL for 25 bucks! Its been great. We look forward to using it for years to come.

Last but not least is the sling, which would have been amazing to have when Mr. B was a newborn, but it has still been useful. I LOVE this type of carrier because it folds up small enough it fit in a plastic sandwich bag (it is so tiny). I keep it in my diaper bag and use it for quick trips. I even used it at Church the other day. Mr. B was being fussy so I took him out in the foyer, and stuffed him in (when babies are mad they fight you about being strapped into carriers at first) then he started to calm down. By the time I walked back into the meeting he was asleep, and as you can see Mr B also likes the sling at games, it is a comfy spot. Sadly because its not padded it is not ideal for long periods of time, but it definitely has its place. When Mr. B is able to support his body weight a little more I can use it to carry him upright on my hip. I think every mom needs one of these. Ooh and another great thing is that I had a coupon code to buy one for 11 bucks, so that was pretty great (I guess I could have sewed one too, but I am not that talented).
So basically I have fallen in love with have Mr. B attached to me. Even though he initially objects to being confined, he soon realizes that he has a pretty great view of the world when carried. I have loved getting to hold him while having my hands free to do all the stuff a mom needs to do. So basically I wanted to explain my recent hobby of "babywearing" in hopes that I can help out other mom's I know, because lets face it every mom really needs "extra arms."

If you want to learn more (for your own benefit, or to just understand why I am so enthused about this) you can visit http://www.thebabywearer.com/index.php?page=bwgreatthings or http://paxbaby.com/

Motherhood- An eternal partnership with God.

This morning at 5am I find myself awake, and oddly it was not the result of my darling 3 month old boy. Although that certainly was the case last week, which caused me to learn that my favorite shows from when I was 10 years old (Boy Meets World and Sabrina the Teenage Witch) are on between 5am and 7am .

Anyhow, it being Sunday morning I spent some time meandering around the internet instead, and I stumbled upon a video I had seen before, but decided to watch it again anyways.The video is an inspirational video clip entitled "Motherhood an Eternal Partnership With God."

I had seen the video before but I am so glad that I was prompted to view the video again because it touched my heart on this early Sunday morning, just as it did the first time I watched it (which was during a period of time where Mr. B spent most of him waking hours crying). I was particularly touched by the quote:

"You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in heaven has in you. He is blessing you and he will bless you."

Even typing it out I find tears in my eyes, because I find the words so uplifting. Those who know me extremely well, may know this but I am constantly one of those people who believe that they are doing far worse at life, then they actually are. Instead of looking in the mirror and seeing a person who accomplished graduating college with their own hard work (no loans only academic scholarships) and good grades. I see someone who was so stupid that they studied 5-6 hours every day to accomplish a degree that made it no easier to find a job post graduation. Instead of seeing the blessing it is to be a mother at all, I find myself constantly worrying that I am a "bad mother." This especially happens at those moments where I seem to have no idea what my adorable, but inconsolable son is trying to tell me. I feel especially bad because sometimes he is especially dramatic and can announce to the neighborhood (with loud shrieks and cries) that his mother does not know how to help him.

Anyhow, that was a little tangent but it was meant to stress how basically I (and lots of other people) struggle to find the happy medium between being prideful and feeling worthless (or like a failure like I sometimes feel like I am). As such I feel incredibly blessed that the Lord constantly reminds me (through videos or outlets similar to this) that I am not worthless, but that I am just the opposite. He reminds me that as a daughter of God and as a mother, I am of extreme worth (as all daughters of God are even if there are not mothers as well). That I am not "failing at motherhood but rather that I am "doing terrifically well" and after looking at my sons adorable smiles when he wakes up every morning, sometimes I even think so too.

So to any mothers out there that are discouraged I highly recommend viewing this video, it is incredibly encouraging. It reminds us that even though motherhood sometimes seems to only involve endless days and nights of diaper changes, feedings, wiping snotty noses, attending to scraped knees, or endlessly uttering such phrases as "don't touch that, don't eat that, don't hit your brother," to name just a few, motherhood is indeed doing the "Lord's work."

It is my hope that I will remember that I am the mother God thought Mr. B needed, and that that knowledge will cause me to spend less time crying over how I feel terrible that I don't always know what he wants, and more time feeling grateful that I can hold him in my arms (even if he is crying hysterically). Ultimately, I feel so incredibly blessed that I have been given the incredibly opportunity to be Mr B's mother.

BYU Spirit!

You know you are a huge BYU fan when you:

3)Bring your 3 month old to the game (Today Nov. 6th)

2) Bring your 2.5 month old to the game. (October ?)

3) You bring your 2 month old. (Sept 25th ish)

4) Bring your 1.5 month old to the game. (Sept. 4th)

So basically in case its not ridiculously obvious, we LOVE watching BYU football games. We credit Mr. B's attendance at the BYU games as the reason he can sleep through almost anything, and almost anywhere. Sometimes we hold him in our arms and he watches the game, and sometimes we put him in the carrier or sling and he takes a snooze. We have absolutely loved getting to have him come to the games with us. He is definitely the cutest Cougar fan (although we are pretty biased)!