2 months old already!

Amelia Naomi is 2 months old already!! She had her 2-month appointment today and she is 9lbs 8oz and 23in long. She also had her first set of shots. She did not like them one bit!! When Noah got shots he cried for about 2 seconds and then was fine. Amelia screamed with the first one and then went silent (you know when they are crying so hard they don't make any noise) with the second shot. I looked at her and her face was all aquished up and BRIGHT red! I know it sounds mean, but I giggled at her. She then let out a scream I've never heard her make before. I didn't think that she was capable of making such a sound! Then the 3rd shot just made it worse. Poor baby!

She didn't get to see the doctor though. He had an emergency at the hospital (he's a pediatrician and an OB). I wasn't too worried though. She's growing fine and nothing is out of the norm. I just can't believe that she is 2 months already! Time flies when they are little............

My sister and I were talking about time the other day and she was saying that time just flies after you start having kids. I guess it does because you have appointments to go to and then it's school and ball games and so on....... and before you know it they are 18 and out of the house. (That's what it feels like to me with my nephew. He is 17 and a senior........ I remember when he was born....... that was yesterday......right?)

So I don't have any pictures to post of Amelia right now because I am tired and don't want to download them from my camera right now. I know, I know, I'm lazy. I will put some on here next post though. She is fun and starting to smile for real at everyone. She always has her big, blue eyes WIDE open and then even wider when you talk to her. I don't know if you've seen the movie 'The Dark Crystal', if you have she kind of looks like a Podling. It's cute! She looks so much like her brothers that I still like to put some sort of bow in her hair so I know she's a girl.

I love having a girl though! She's my little sweet pea!!

Perception

Just a few days ago my sister-in-law's grandfather passed away and so they were here for the funeral. Since then I have been thinking about perception. Not of pictures like this one, but of people.

Her grandfather grew up and lived most of his life here in Lovell. So naturally most everybody here knew who he was. My sister-in-law also thought she knew who he was until his children got together and she found out some really "interesting" things about him.

My mom was talking to a woman, she lived here in Lovell, that knew him and she was saying what a wonderfully nice guy he was and how he was so devout to the church and so on. Well, that was how SHE perceived him or how he showed himself in public. My sister-in-law also thought he was the fun and safe grandpa. Well, to those he supposedly "loved" and "cared for", namely his kids, he was much different. I'm not going to go into detail, but he was not nice.

Also, my mom's mom passed away this last year and it was amazing how our cousins saw her as a wonderful, loving grandmother. That is how she treated them, but she treated us a little different. My mom joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints a few years after she was married, so we eventually became "spoiled, little mormon brats". She was also wonderful to my aunt and uncle, but she was awful to my mother who cared for her in the years before her death. Hmmmm......

So this got me to thinking how people perceive me and how I present myself in public. Am I the same as I am at home? Do I put on a facade so people think I'm a certain way? It made me wonder what my children will say about me when I am dead. Are they going to have to rack their brains for fun moments or times I was nice or loving? Are they going to mourn or celebrate? I hope it's not the latter. (Unless I've been suffering and dying from some horrible disease for a long time.)

I know this might be a little deep for a blog post, but it's been on my mind. What are those people that I know and love really like when I'm not around? Are we all this way? Are we different when "the world" is or isn't watching? Isn't it more important that our Heavenly Father is always watching? And aren't we trying to strive to be like him? Let's just say that I'm going to try a little harder.

[I need summer to come. This cold and snow keeps me couped up in the house, so all I have to do is think. Sometimes this isn't a good thing.]

Life Update

I have decided that my life is like a rollercoaster. And not one of those rollercoasters that you like and want to ride over and over again. Mine is one of those that not many people ride because it looks like it is going to breakdown or fall apart in the middle of the ride. Scary!

I guess that's what keeps you on your toes though. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. All those lines that should give you uplifting feelings and are supposed to make you feel better....... Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So what's going on with the fam and kids........... Joey's job is still giving him hardly any work and he hasn't been able to find a better one (or ANY one for that matter). I still haven't heard from the elderly lady I am supposed to help. I think that her kids are going to decide that she needs to live with one of them...... so there goes that money I thought was going to come in. It just astounds me how much money problems can stress a person, and relationship, out! *sigh* I also haven't been doing to well on the whole losing weight thingy. (It's a little hard to be motivated right now)

Noah has been doing excellent! He writes his own name (which he has been doing for some time now), he writes his brother's and sister's names all the time, and at school he has been writing down all the areas that he plans to play in for that day (computer area, book area, art area, etc). He has been trying to read and I've been trying to help him. We get new books from the library just about every day that are "learning to read" books. He loves it! He's gotten into a little bit of a rebelious stage that he has "taught" his little brother as well. Elias is in a "No!" phase, which I guess means he is trying to show his independence. I hate it, but what can you do?!

He also is asking me a lot to hold his baby sister. Basically he just puts his arms around her while you hold her up for him. Even if it only last for a few seconds he loves it! Noah and Elias are so different that it amazes me! Noah was walking and talking a lot sooner than Elias ever did. Noah was, and still is, so interested in learning all he can. Elias, I think, could care less. I guess it just goes to show that we were all so different before we came to earth, in the pre-mortal life, even though we came from the same parents.

Amelia is doing well. She is almost 2 months old and she has gained at least 2 pounds since she was born. She is still so tiny and petite though. Noah fit into 0-3 months clothes for about a day and Amelia is just starting to fit into 0-3 months. My brother and his family saw her for the first time the other day and they just kept saying how tiny she was. I don't mind that she is small. It makes it feel like it will be a long time before she grows up and I'm okay with that. She is my precious little girl!

I am happy that we are all alive, healthy, and together.

Blessings

So just when I thought that things aren't going to get better, even though I have done those things the Lord has asked me to do, He blesses me beyond what I could've hoped for.

Joey's job has been lacking in work so he hasn't worked for over a month. Can you imagine not having a months worth of income? And at Christmas time? Well, I can......it's not something I never want to experience EVER again. Let's just say I am glad that we had some, very little, money in savings and some, again very little, food storage. I always thought that food storage was for the second coming or a natural disaster emergency, but now I know that there are many types of "emergencies". I am also very glad to be a part of the true church and that the Lord takes care of His children.

Well, I got a call the other day about a job that I never even thought about. My bishop's wife is a CNA at the hospital and she said an elderly lady wanted to go home, but her kids didn't want her to be home alone. This lady had been looking for someone, unsuccessfully, to help her at home and my bishop's wife told her about me. So she called me, I went to the hospital to meet her and now I have a job. And I can bring Amelia with me so I don't have to worry about pumping bottles! Blessing #1

Blessing #2: Then yesterday Joey's phone rang......and it was his job!!! Yea!!! He is now at work, at least for today and tommorrow. Hopefully they will have enough work for him to go back full time. I'm just glad that he has something to do during the day now. <---Blessing #3. He was starting to drive me nuts! I love my husband, but when you are used to having a schedual and not another person to clean up after (or around), it wears on you.

Blessing #4: We found a house to rent and it is still in the same ward! I am glad for that since I love my calling and I just got it. The only problem is that I can't get ahold of the lady that rents it to go and look at it. Also to ask her if we can have our dog. (We are getting rid of our cat. She's just getting meaner and meaner. And keeps getting into things, like the baby's bed and tipping over water.)

I'm sure that there are many other blessings that I didn't list, but those are the ones that I have been stressing over lately. I know that this post has a completely different tone than the last one and it makes me sound a little bi-polar, but it just happened so fast. Life is good when you're doing what you should! ;o)

VENTING A LITTLE

So today I am just feeling a lot of emotions. It might be that I just got an IUD and my body isn't used to it. It might me that Joey hasn't worked for over a month and there is a severe lack of jobs right now. It might be that we have to move out of this house since my brother-in-law is planning to sell it to his brother in the spring. (Yea for them, sucky for us.)

It might be that I just had a baby and am feeling the weight of having someone so dependant on me on top of all the other motherly duties that come with 3 kids. It could also very well be that I am missing some 'girl time' with my friends out there in SLC. We shall see when we make it out there considering the lack of $cash$ flow. Or it could be the winter blues since the temperature doesn't stay above zero for very long.

I don't know what it is. I guess I just needed to get that stuff off my chest. Maybe I just need to rely on my Heavenly Father a little bit more and things will work out. I apologize for the ranting. If you made it through this post you deserve a cookie or some sort of 'pick-me-up'. *sigh*