Wordless Wednesdays

Gee... "thanks" husband!

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Mere Christianity

I am ready to write my official review of the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis since we have now had our book club discussion. Keep in mind while you read this review that my fellow book clubbers and myself are all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints so of course our oppinions are based around our beliefs. As for myself I have real mixed feelings about how I felt about the book. There was so much stuff in it that I learned and inspired me to better myself, but there were other things that I think he was very confused on and it appeared that he didn't know the full truth. The s at book club agreed on this mostly. Up until the chapter on "The One Personal God" we loved everything & could tell that he totally got what Christianity was all about. When he'd discuss the Holy Trinity, as one lady put it, he just barely missed the boat. He'd be saying all this wonderful stuff & it'd make sense and then he'd steer off in the wrong direction. Still, there were so many great points made that helps lead to the full truth. He is, though, the most quoted non-LDS writer by general authorities... that's awesome. Overall, I would recommend this book to others, but I'm in no hurry to read it again.

Car Seat Safety 101

I can't tell you how uncomfortable it is finding out that your kids really aren't safe. We spend money on these car seats, but what's this... their faulty. True, nothing is so perfect, but it's an uneasy feeling thinking that all that preparation could be tossed out the window by chance in one . When I heard the news of the car seat tests in New York for the infant seats that use bases I was appalled to learn that 10 out of the 12 flew off their bases in a 35 mph collision (two or three others didn't even pass regulation but were already in circulation... WHAT!?!). I looked into it further... this isn't the exact site or article but it is the same topic just written by the consumer's union. My car seat is a Graco which I was happy to learn was one of the ones that didn't leave it's base. Still, I wasn't sure that the was the same so I removed the base from the car & now take the extra time to buckle his seat down directly with the seat belt. This little bit of extra inconvience has left me with a great deal of peace of mind! I'm bringing this all about today because this wonderful woman has made a pledge to donate $3 for each comment she gets on this post about Kyle. His story is touching & devestating. I can't begin to imagine loosing my children so I was glad to give my little post and help where I can. I'm not sure how long she'll be following the pledge, but still go check out this little video & leave a comment if you wish... And make sure you double check your car seats & all information you can find.

Imagination!

"... Adults don't really teach children to go potty. Children teach themselves by teaching their dolls." from Potty Train Your Child In Just One Day

I think this is so true and fun. Here Liv is helping her stuffed Olivia the pig doll, not because I showed her but she just started doing it one day. The book suggests that you set aside one day to have a "Potty Party" where for the first half of the day you demo with a doll all about the potty training, then for the other half of the day it's a combined experience for the child & the doll working together to learn. Well, I didn't do that & walked in one day to find Liv teaching her friend to go pee-pee on the potty! Then I read that quote & thought that it is so very very true! It's been a week since we started with panties & Liv isn't free. But I have learned so much from this "wonderful" experience. I have learned to see the progress not just the end project, because it is real obvious that Liv is learning. One other thing that really helped me was realizing that this is her learning about her body functions... like walking (which my little boy is learning how to walk so this was real easy for me to understand). When a kid is learning to walk we don't get mad when he falls, instead we keep encouraging him to try again and again. He doesn't fall just to spite us... he's just learning. Same with potty training, so encourage, encourage, and encourage! Also, when I notice Liv needing to go potty I don't ask her anymore I just say "It's potty time, let's race to the potty!" She loves this! So I'm always learning, sorry I am so focused on this subject, but I wanted to share what I have accomplished!

Ten Years Ago...

One of my favorite blogger, Fantastic Five, did a post on where she was ten years ago. I thought this was a great idea, then I realized that ten years ago I was in seventh grade & twelve years-old. I decided to check out my journal anyways and see what I was up to. I ended up rolling over laughing cause January of 1997 I did something classic...



On January 24th, 1997 I threw a party at my house while my parents were out of town and I was babysitting my brothers. They knew I was going to have friends over... of the sort, but of course the whole idea was to invite boys over. I even remember bribing my little brothers not to tell mom and dad (although I'm not sure with what... maybe getting to stay up later? I wonder if they remember!) It was great fun... until the next day. In church the next morning one of the boys' dad told me dad told my dad that he thought it was great that he trusted me enough to have a party while they were out. I am so grateful that we were in the church house that day or else I probably would've died! I remember being terrified to leave the building after I saw the look in my dad's eyes as he told me to get to the car. I don't blame my dad for his reaction... I did something really wrong. I definitely learned my lesson & worked real hard to earn their trust back. It was not a good idea overall. And while it's a fun learning experience to look back on I will never forget how heartbroken I was when I realized I had disappointed my parents.

What a memory to come across... now you all should post what you were doing ten years ago!

Missing Mom

I haven't been able to post anything lately since I have been real focused on the whole potty training business with Liv. Well, and cause nothing real special has been happening...

Today Liv and I sat down and watched Ice Age The Meltdown (we had tried once before... we went to the dollar theatre where I thought it'd be safe to bring a two year old. People only pay a dollar to get in there so why would they be complaining, right!? Well, there was only one other family there & he was real impatient, so it wasn't a good experience). Liv loved watching Scrat and all his attempts to keep ahold of his acorn. She'd laugh and laugh at that little critter & I swear I could hear my mom laughing right along with her. See, my mom passed away when Liv was four months old from stupid Breast Cancer so they only got to know each other for a short time, which is real bad since Liv is a spitting image of my mom. Anyways, my mom, Suzanne, loved Ice Age and would laugh until tears came from her eyes. She had a very contagious laugh & I loved that she would just let it go on so far... she enjoyed things that much! So watching Liv laugh at something Mom loved as well and feeling my mom there laughing with us was a very spectacular moment... tiny mercies of our Lord!

Sleep In?

I remember back in the day when I got to sleep in, now days that's unheard of. I've come to accept this as life & I realize that one day my kids will be teens & I'll be trying to drag them out of bed because they have slept in long enough. As for today, though, I wanted to share this morning shot with you. The kids joined us in bed as long as I could take it & then I worked on talking them into breakfast so we could go to more wide open spaces! Well, Liv didn't want to leave her daddy. After Gary & I ate I went to check on her & found my husband tucked in with a whole lot of stuffed animals & his daughter! It's great being a parent! Maybe he got to sleep in a little, somehow!

As a side note, after many discussions with other moms we have switched Liv over to panties this morning. I use a vinyl cloth diaper cover over the panties to slow the leakage of s to protect my furniture. We are really working the system in hopes to get her trained in a week. I know, there will still be s & diapers for the night... but overall I would like her to be ready for panties! Todd wanted me to put as a warning to anyone who uses the old fashioned training pants or the vinyl cover to watch out for the elasticity of the coverings. He had a very unfortunate experience with a -filled one. You're a great Daddy, honey!!