Wisdom from My Mother

(Hey! I finally figured out how to type AND hold my baby at the same time! Two words: Baby Bjorn. It's magical.)

My mother came to take care of us the first week after my baby was born.
THANK YOU MOM!! 

She is so wise and thoughtful, I am grateful for the insights she shared with me. Two in particular have stuck in my head, and I'd like to share them with you. I have not gotten permission to write about her, but consider this an early mother's day present ^_^

One day I confessed to my mother that ever since I became pregnant, and even after giving birth, I had this terrifying, irrational fear that I would drop the baby. I would imagine these detailed scenarios, such as walking up the stairs or down the street, all resulting in me dropping the baby. It kind of paralyzed me with fear while I envisioned these horrifying scenes.

Instead of brushing it off or saying I was silly, my mom told me a story about her mother. When my grandmother (whom my daughter's namesake is partially attributed to) was a young mother with her first child, my grandfather was a traveling salesman. He would be gone for weeks at a time, leaving my poor grandmother alone to take care of the baby and home. She was terrified of being alone. She worried herself sick about her baby and having to be the sole parent watching over him. Then one day she decided she couldn't do it any more. She couldn't handle being frightened all the time, so she turned to the Lord. She gave Him her fears and told Him that they were now His responsibility. She would do the best she could, and let Him do the rest. After she did that, the paralyzing fear she felt was gone.

That is the power of the atonement, and I think it's beautiful. I imagine a lot of people feel like they should solve their own problems, and only go to Christ when they have committed some big mistake. Like Christ's suffering was too grand of a gesture for regular folk to go to Him with regular problems. I know that Christ suffered for the big and the little problems we have. The atonement is for sins of commission, omission, done by us or thrust upon us by others, or those things that are in our minds that are not sins at all. Christ's power covers all of it, even a frightened mother who has an irrational fear about dropping her baby.

                                                   

The second bit of wisdom came from my mom when my milk came in. I got so engorged, and even when I wasn't engorged, the let-down sensation was painful! She reminded me of this scripture where Jesus says:

Isaiah 49:15
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

                                                            

Wow. Wow wow wow. This scripture means so much more to me now that I do have a "sucking child." I know that I can not forget to feed my baby. My body won't let me forget!
Yet Christ says that I would forget to feed my child before He would forget me. I feel the power and gravity of those words now.

Sometimes we feel alone and abandoned from God, but we're not. He perfectly knows what we are going through. I can speculate and give several reasons why people feel like God has forsaken them, but instead I'll just refer you to this amazing talk by Elder Holland. All I know is that God is real and wants the best for us. He is there for us always, as Christ so directly and clearly stated in the scripture above.

Thank you mother for these wonderful insights into the atonement. Your teachings and example have not gone unnoticed or forgotten. I treasure them, and I am so grateful to have been born into my family.

Maybe I'll Wear Makeup Again Some Day

I like makeup yes I do. I like makeup yes it's true.

Before I had my baby girl I developed a new little hobby. I would go online and watch makeup tutorials to figure out how to better purchase and apply makeup. So that I would look awesome.

My husband ALWAYS tells me that I look beautiful without makeup, and that he even prefers me without makeup. I am grateful for this because for the last five weeks I've only put on makeup a handful of times, and it's been mostly minimal. I am blessed to have a husband who doesn't cringe when he looks at me in the morning, but honestly I would rather look at myself with makeup on.

I assume most of you have seen this meme. Cracks me up every time because it's totally true, at least for me.


                                                             


My favorite youtube makeup tutorials are from gossmakupmaritst and Lauren Curtis. Mostly gossmakeupartist, which is funny becuase he's a guy, and I feel like his tutorials and explanations are better than a lot of girls tutorials. Disclaimer: I am definitely not an expert on this stuff, and I'm sure there are plenty of good makeup artists on youtube that I'm not familiar with.

Here are a few of my favorite videos:

Another thing a friend of mine shared with me is Birchbox! (Thanks Sam) If you haven't heard of it, it's awesome! You subscribe and pay $10/month (or $100/year if you pay up front) and they send you a package every month that has 4-6 high quality makeup/skin care/hair care products. It's like Christmas, every month! I am admittedly not doing it right now because we just had a baby and bought a home... so when we have an extra $10/month again I will resubscribe.

This is an example of what you'd get:

                                                                  

Happy makeup-ing. Or not.

How Do YOU Feel the Holy Ghost?

I used to be a crazy good journal-er. I have around 20 journals that are filled- no exaggeration- with my thoughts and experiences. Over the last several years I have filled up probably half of a journal. And these are the years I've been married! So sad. 

A few months ago I read this article in the Ensign, our church magazine. It is entitled, "Helping Children Recognize the Holy Ghost." If you haven't read it, you really should. It helped ME realize how I recognize the Holy Ghost! 

To give you a basic overview of the article (in case you don't read it, although you still should), the mom writes that one of her sons was having a really hard time in school. She realized that his learning style was not meshing with the teacher's homework assignments, so he wasn't getting good grades. As soon as she helped him to learn in the style he was accustomed (auditory/visual/hands-on...), his grades improved! Thank goodness for this mother's wisdom. She didn't stop there- she realized that the same thing applies for spiritual learning. Are you an auditory learner? Perhaps listening to Conference may be the best way to feel the Spirit. Do you learn by Doing things hands-on? Maybe serving others would be a great way for you to feel the Holy Ghost. 

From this article I realized that two of the ways I feel the Holy Ghost the strongest is 

1. When I sing HYMNS, and 

2. When I write my thoughts and feelings about spiritual things. 

I realized that as a teenager, during the time I filled up a journal in a few months, I felt the Spirit more strongly  and consistently during that time than any other. When I testify through writing the Holy Ghost testifies to ME that what I'm saying is true.

So here it is: 

I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that one of my spiritual gifts is having a testimony and faith. I am so grateful for this divine gift God has given me. I know that this life is our time to prepare to meet God, and that we don't have to be perfect right now. We can make mistakes and stumble and fall, and that's okay. As long as we're sincerely trying to do good, follow Christ, and include Him in our decisions, He will make up the difference that we lack. 

I have been contemplating the specific blessings God has grated Joe and I over the past 4 years, and there are a LOT. Seriously, I feel like we have been blessed way more than we deserve. But the thing is that God doesn't keep a tally of how much we owe Him, because that tally would be infinitely in His favor, not ours. He blesses us because He loves and wants to help us. I just want to make sure I always recognize God's hand in our life, because it helps strengthen my relationship with Him. And having a grateful heart makes for a happy person. And I want to be happy. 

It reminds me of this awesome video!

Life is good. God is real. He loves me and you, and wants to help us reach our highest potential. 

Here's my eternal To-Do List:

1. Recognize how YOU feel the Holy Ghost

2. Do things that would invite the Spirit into your life
3. Follow its promptings

4. Be grateful- show your gratitude to God for blessing you

That is all for today.

Breastfeeding!!!!

Just so you know, my baby is grumpy today, which means I have to type this partly one-handed because she is only content in my arms... go me!

And I'm going to be a hunchback soon. But my arm may fall off before that happens.

Also, my baby smells. I need to give her a bath. A bath that actually makes her clean. It's so hard trying to give a bath when she screams bloody murder. I'll let you know my secrets on infant bathing when I figure them out, but for now I will get on to the point, which is breastfeeding! Admit it, you were hoping the first real post of mine was going to be about breastfeeding, right? I have a bunch of friends who are first time pregnant ladies, and this post is for them, and anyone who is planning for the future :)

When I was pregnant I would read lots of mommy blogs on "what to expect" or "things I wish I had known before I gave birth" kind of posts, and I suppose this is mine. I am not going to give the obvious, or well documented tips, because you probably already know those. And I know every pregnancy, delivery, every woman's body, and breastfeeding experiences are different, but perhaps my extensive three-and-a-half-week experience in breastfeeding might shed some light for you.

The number one product that has helped my breastfeeding experience is Medela Soft Shells. And I'll tell you why they're so great.
                                                                           
1. When you start breastfeeding your nipples will be sore and you will not want anything touching them, even your shirt. The shells help by allowing your nipples to be FREE while you are able to be clothed and feeling more comfortable.

2 . When your milk comes in, your breasts will get engorged. Not so fun. Like for real. Before this happens your baby will wake you up in the middle of the night because they're hungry. When your milk first comes in and you are engorged, you will be tempted to wake your baby up (or in my case actually wake them up) because you need them to get the milk out!! The Soft Shells help by keeping your nipples from getting so engorged that your baby can't get a good latch. And believe me, being engorged + a bad latch = mucho pain!

3. If you are anything like me, you will leak. Count on it happening every day, and if it doesn't you can count your lucky stars! I have one friend that never leaks (jerk), so it could happen to you too. You can leak when you're engorged or, oddly enough, when you start breastfeeding on one side- the other side can start leaking.
This one is kind of self-explanatory, but I'll say it anyways. Soft Shells help by catching the leaks! (Although if you're not careful you will leak out of the ventilation holes anyways)

Moving right along, the number two product I wish I had is a breast pump.

                                                                               

 I do not have a breast pump yet, which is dumb. The first night my milk came in I was in so much pain, but it was too late to go to the store. I figured if I could make it through that night then I didn't REALLY need a pump, which is technically true. After a few days to a week your body regulates itself so it knows the appropriate amount of milk to make. BUT, I'm going to want a pump eventually if I ever want  to leave baby girl with dad or a baby sitter in the next year. So this will be one of my next purchases. You new moms will probably want one right from the beginning unless you are masochistic, which is apparently what I am.

The best website, of course of google, but specific to mom stuff it's kellymom.com. I had the hardest time breastfeeding at first because my sweet girl would get a good latch (which took 4 or 5 times to get right), suck for a few seconds, then pull away, only to try and re-latch immediately. To top it off my baby would start choking in the middle of nursing. Wow this was frustrating and scary! I didn't know if this was a "thing" some babies did, or not, and kelly mom answered my questions! Apparently you can have milk that comes out too fast and the baby can't keep up with it (thus the choking, and pulling away). This is called forcefull let-down. Now I feed her at an incline, with her head higher than her body, burp her frequently, and even encourage breaking the latch if it seems she is really frantic while feeding. This has helped so much! Thank you kellymom.com!!

The number one best advice came from my mom. She said that in 10 minutes your baby will have eaten 80% of your milk (if they're eating well), so you can feed the babe for 10-20 minutes on one side and then switch. I am guilty, especially at the beginning, of nursing Parker for however long she wanted, until she pulled away for good. This means sometimes I would nurse her for 45 minutes on ONE SIDE, and by that time she was DONE eating. Then I think to myself, "Oh crap, if she doesn't eat on the other side I will be so engorged by the next time she's hungry." And I just have to suck it up because I was stupid. So try to feed your baby on both breasts during each feeding or else you will be sorry.

The number two best advice is swaddling your little one's arms down while you feed him/her. This makes feeding them so much easier! I know this one is a well-known tip, but it really works!


So there you have it, the most important things I have learned about breastfeeding so far. And speaking of breastfeeding, my baby is hungry!

I feel like blogging is "that thing that everyone does," once you get married or have a baby, or of course if you're just awesome and have cool stuff to say. I'm not sure I'll be in the latter category, and I don't want to be cliche or anything, but I decided long ago that if I want to do or like something even if it's popular, I can, because I want to, not just because it's "the thing" to do. I used to refuse to like anything that was popular, like I was too cool for it. It was probably just an unconscious manifestation of my family's inability to pour money into the latest fads. (Okay, probably too many commas, run on sentences, and off topic thoughts, but who's counting?) 

Man I wish I was as funny as Ree Drummond.

Anyways, here's why I'm starting this blog:

1. I am a new mom (of 3 weeks, yay hooray!) and I want to use my time productively, instead of sitting on the couch watching DWTS all day.

2. This one's serious. I have a problem. I do not often articulate myself well verbally. My husband, Joe, is excellent at this, and I often find myself stuttering or trying to come up with the right words to express my thoughts and feelings, but frequently fall short. This frustrates me, so I figure writing my thoughts will give me time to think and express myself the way I want. I hope this will be a cathartic experience, as many other bloggers attest.

3. As I was listening to General Conference this past week, a few talks touched my heart and inspired me to write my feelings, which I plan to do here.

4. Am I really writing a boring list of why I’m going to start blogging? Sigh… we’re off to a pretty exciting start!

So yeah, basically I want to write about anything and everything that interests me: religious, non-religious, practical baby stuff, and just me. Stay tuned.