Friday

Disclaimer: I already wrote this post. Then it was deleted. Remember in college when you accidentally deleted the entire paragraph/page/paper that you'd been working on and you cried, because you had written it so well, and then you had to rewrite said paragraph/page/paper over. Remember how it never was as good as the first time that you wrote it? Yeah. This is like that. 

Here are some things that we've been up to lately. It was going to be a Top 5, but not all of them are "top" and turns out that there are more than 5. So. 

1- David has started into his busy season at work for the year. I'm actually really excited because I think he's going to be able to work out his schedule so that half of the days he'll leave early but get home before the kids have to go to bed and then the other half of the days he'll go in late so he can play with them in the morning and then just work really late. I think it's going to work out well. However, we've been spoiled by being able to see him before and after work, and Lydia has really been missing him in the mornings. Several times he's said goodnight to her when putting her down for the night and he's told her that he would leave her a note for her to find when she wakes up. She loves it, and always looks at every piece of paper on her way downstairs as she's looking for her "message from Daddy". One afternoon she was at her little table coloring with some markers and she started saying "Dear Daddy, please come home. Dear Dad. I miss you. Dear Daddy, please come home from work." It was so sad and so sweet at the same time. She loves him! (And he's such a wonderful father.) 

2- My Grandma Walker hasn't been doing super well lately, and when my dad called to tell me that she was in the U of U hospital, we drove up to visit with her. It is so hard to see her in so much pain, but I only hope that she knows that she is loved. (And my grandpa, too.) She loves my sweet babies so much, it touches my heart to see how much they mean to her. 

3- We are potty trained! It's so awesome. I think Lydia's been "almost" ready for a long time, but I was too scared to make the final push and just be done with it all. She's been going pee and poop on the potty for months, so when we talked about how we were going to start wearing underwear instead of diapers from now on - she was totally on board. We spent the first couple of days hanging out in the kitchen (easy-to-clean-floor). We built a fort, colored, painted, and played with beans. I shouldn't have worried - she did great. Only two accidents (after we had added pants) and she's pretty much completely good. I've still put her in pullups for her naps and diapers at bedtime, but almost always they are dry. We've even started going to stores/Target in underwear and she does great. She saw a giant Panda at Walmart that she has decided that she wants to buy with her "money from her bank" (we've been paying her; penny=pee quarter=poop). She's so excited. I think we'll go tomorrow, as she's been dry for almost a week now. Yay!

4- This sweet boy turned 4 months last week. We've been in for a couple of weight checks and he seems to be dropping in his weight percentiles more than they like to see. We've been working to make sure that he's getting enough to eat - mostly, I've been supplementing with all sorts of crazy things to help my milk supply. (That's a possible cause for him not gaining enough weight.) I posted on our facebook page asking if anyone had any brewers yeast I could borrow to make some lactation cookies and a bunch of people posted and let me have samples of the things that worked for them. Everything from fennel oil and mother's milk tea to a Moringa Oleifera blend supplement. I'm grateful to live in such a great neighborhood and hope that this little boy starts packing on the pounds. 

5- Gas prices have been so awesome lately! At the very beginning of January we filled up at Sams Club for $1.83 and pretty much thought we were in heaven. It's been taking over $40 to fill my tank of gas for years, but we filled up for under twenty.  I don't remember gas prices being this low since I first learned to drive! Since then, prices have dropped even lower. I saw gas for $1.74, then waited a day and filled up for $1.69. Then when I was in Idaho (see story about Idaho below), I filled up for my return trip at $1.62! Seriously. Awesome. 

6- David had a business trip in Oregon this week, so Lydia, Austin, and I drove to Idaho Falls and spent the week with Jenna and Camille (and Kevin, of course). We loved it so much! I love my sister and had such a good time spending the week with her. Austin loves Jenna so much. He was constantly smiling for her, and he giggled for her again! She's definitely a favorite of his. Lydia and Camille had so much fun laughing with each other, and I loved going to Target and shopping the clearance with Jenna. We definitely love those guys and are already planning a return trip this summer. 

Happy Friday!

But then...

Last night I finished a fun post full of a few things that have been going on lately (i.e. Lydia potty training, notes/messages between David and Lydia, nursing Austin, gas prices, etc....)

But then - when I tried to publish the post it wouldn't load. So I copied the post, refreshed the page, and pasted the post back into my draft box.

But then - nothing pasted. The entire post was lost! I'm seriously so sad about it. So tonight I was going to sit down and rewrite the post,

But then - I realized I was too tired. So instead you get this sad excuse for a blog post.

The end.


(Maybe if I can really get my act in gear, I'll get a summary of that post AND Austin's 4 month post on the blog before January is over.)

2015

January is flying by and I'm finally finishing my first post of the year. I feel like it took the first couple of weeks just to get back into our routine after the holidays. Plus I've been spending every spare second that I'm not holding Austin or playing with Lydia working on stuff for Primary. (The big switch at the beginning of the year is brutal! I think that I will forever make a big batch of cookies and take it around to the Primary Presidency every January.) Blogging has kind of gotten pushed to the background. It may have taken me a bit to get this post written but here it is.

Last year our family goals were:
1- Have a monthly family goal that we write on the calendar. Focus on that goal.
2- Go to the temple every month. No excuses.
3- Do something social at least every other month. Focus on inviting members of the ward into our home as a way to begin/sustain friendships and to reach out to others.
4- Family prayer every morning. (To go along with our Scripture/Song/Prayer at night.)

And my personal goals were:
1- Be more aware of what I'm saying to others and about others.
2- Read my scriptures in the morning instead of putting it off until night.
3- Put a priority on visiting teaching, temple attendance, and cheerfully fulfilling my calling.
4- Dedicate time for both David and Lydia that is distraction free. Make sure they know they are most important.

(I can't find David's goals, even though I thought that he blogged them in a separate post.) 

We did really well with some of our goals, and not as well with others. But I feel like we grew a lot, both personally and as a family this last year and I'm glad for the things that we chose to focus on. 

This year I don't have a list of goals to write. There are a lot of things that I'd like to improve on, but making a list of goals of things I want to do doesn't really resonate with me this year. I was talking to a friend and she shared a short statement about who she wants to be this next year and it really spoke to me. And so, this year I'm not going to focus on a list of things I want to do, I'm going to focus on who I want to be. 

I am patient and kind. I know that I am the most important person to my little family and I act accordingly.  I am steadfast in my beliefs and I reflect the light of Christ into all aspects of my life. I share my love and happiness. 

I hope to memorize this and infuse the rest of the year with the positive nature of who I want to be. 

We have a lot of things to look forward to: Austin's first year, Lydia's third birthday, a summer o'fun, all of of the wonderful mixed in. 2015 will be a great year. I know it will.