My Little Terrorists

My Aunt left this quote on facebook today and I got a kick out of it...

"Everyone should have kids. They are the greatest joy in the world. But they are also terrorists. You'll realize this as soon as they are born, and they start using sleep deprivation to break you."
-- Ray Romano

Terrorist #1 (a.k.a. Alaina)

Terrorist #2 (a.k.a. Kate)
see, she's using her special spy nockles to spy on me!

Sarcasm

I am definitely not even close to being perfect in the area, but some things I've read on a certain blog recently have really bugged me. I am one who enjoys sarcasm, but within limits. I probably need to do a lot better.

I found some thoughts on the matter: www.lds.org (bold print added by me)

Loud laughter, light-mindedness, and flippancy often betray a state of mind that is lacking in seriousness. “Empty levity,” as Brigham Young called it, detracts from the dignity of those who indulge in it to excess. Such people “have little sense, and know not the difference between a happy smile of satisfaction to cheer the countenance of a friend, or a contemptuous sneer that brings the curses of man upon man.” (Journal of Discourses 9:290.) A person given to such frivolity would find it difficult to follow the Lord’s counsel to “look unto me in every thought” (D&C 6:36) or to “let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds” (D&C 43:34). He would be impaired in receiving revelation and would be weakened in the hour of temptation. C. S. Lewis has written that “if prolonged, the habit of flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour plating against [God] that I know. It is a thousand miles from joy; it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practise it.” (Screwtape Letters [New York: The MacMillan Co., 1962], p. 52.)

A most damaging form of humor is sarcasm, or cutting, hostile, or contemptuous remarks. Though often meant to be harmless, sarcasm denotes insensitivity to the feelings of others, stemming either from thoughtlessness or maliciousness.

Those who profess belief in Christ should shape their humor in the light of Christ’s teachings. Being rejected from His kingdom because of a warped sense of humor would not be funny.

~ A Serious Look At Humor by Peter B. Rawlins 1974~

Parenting

I just started reading this book. Has anyone else read it? What do you think?

On Becoming Baby Wise

P.A.I.N.

I am not thrilled to be having my gall bladder out. Who really wants to
have surgery? Especially when you have a newborn at home. Good grief!

But at the same time I CANNOT wait to get rid of it!
I was in the ER again last night after a really bad attack.
It is the most intense pain I have ever had aside from labor.
This time I got sick and threw up the dinner I had just eaten 30
minutes prior. Not fun. Anyway, the ER was packed last night and by
the time the triage nurse called me back for assessment, I had no pain.
I chose to go back home and just take a pain pill to keep things at bay.

I know it was my own fault. Every time I have an attack, I am really
careful about what I eat. Then a week goes by and I start to take risks.
Monday night I had a small bit of cheesecake and since nothing happened
and there were leftovers, I decided yesterday, that I would have a
whole piece. Oh, it tasted so good! You would think I would learn
my lesson. I guess I have a really thick head sometimes.

So, next Wednesday I get to have my gall bladder removed.

My Awesome Doula

Tonight, Amanda, my Doula (who unfortunately missed Alaina's birth),
came by with her finished painting of Alaina. She said she felt bad
about missing the birth, and offered to do a painting.

I think it is amazing! I just love it!
Below is the picture I sent to her to do the painting of.
I really had no idea what to expect, but it turned out so good!

Thank you so much Amanda!

cloth diapers? what?

I am about to make the leap into cloth diapers. I know, I know.
You are thinking I am crazy. Well, I'm not. I have actually found
that quite a few people I know are doing this. After doing some
research, and learning that the cloth diapers of today are definitely
NOT the cloth diapers of yester-year, I just have to give it a try.

The savings alone are my biggest motivating force. Especially because
we are buying formula, which is very expensive. Add diapers on top
of that and sometimes I have no idea where the extra money comes from.

The cloth diapers that are out there now are so, so cute and fitted!
My friend Adrienne is going to help me make some this week.
The funnest part was getting to pick out the fabric. I LOVE FABRIC!

Of course I am a little nervous (nervous isn't probably the right word),
but I am excited and anxious and very hopeful. It will be an adjustment,
but I have found by looking at a lot of different websites, that there
are a lot of various tools out there to make cloth diapering easier.

Such as:
A diaper sprayer

And:

Planet Wise Wet Bags

Wish me luck!

thanks!

Thanks for the tips guys! I don't even know how I got in the Edit Html mode. Yay!

Alaina's Day

First of all, is anyone else having the same problem I am? Whenever I upload pictures onto a new post and click "done" I come back to my post and instead of seeing the pictures, I just see a bunch of letters and symbols. The pictures still come up in the post, but I can't write in between each one because I don't know where they start and end.

ANYWAY...Today was Alaina Jane's blessing day. It was a really good day. We had about 30 family members come down to join us and we took up 3 whole pews at church. Justin did a great job with the blessing, Alaina was quiet, and I remembered to take notes this time. Afterward, we came back to our house and managed to squeeze all 30 of us in for a potluck lunch. It was good. Good times. I didn't get many pictures this time, but other people did, so hopefully I can put more up later.

We are so happy Alaina is part of our family. She is getting so big and as you can see in the picture, she has started to really smile. I love it! She also laughs in her sleep on occasion, which is so cute.

32nd

I am so glad that Katelyn loves her baby sister. I get a kick out of watching her interact with Alaina. She especially loves it when Alaina is awake and has her eyes open. We love our baby Alaina!