Mommy and the Christus



Hello friends... or whoever is reading my blog.

Funny story. Usually when I am done with a blog entry I post it to Facebook and then send the link to my husband. He usually responds with something like this, "Hey that was a great post. But I think you meant 'lose' not 'loose'." And then I go ugg... you're right... oh well, I don't care THAT much. 

And that's what it's like living with an english major. Haha. No bitter feelings, really. It's actually quite helpful. One of my favorite things is saying a word that he doesn't know! AND in the correct context. It's pretty exciting.

Well, that was completely off topic for what I wanted to discuss today, but I think my husband is grrrreat! And I was thinking about him. And this is my blog and I can do whatever I want. So there.

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My baby is almost 7 months old now. The first couple months seemed to last forever (and I suppose anyone who is sleep deprived feels this way), but the last three or four months have FLOWN by! She's just starting to crawl. Actually, she CAN crawl. I've seen her do it when she wants a toy badly enough. I bet if she was around another baby who was already crawling she would crawl more.

So the other day she was sitting on her bum, which is her favorite way to be on the floor, and she was getting upset and clearly wanted me to pick her up. Instead of just giving her what she wanted I made her work for it (as I assume any good parent does). 

I reached my arms out to her, beckoning her to come to me. In that moment I saw the Christus in my mind: Jesus Christ with his arms stretched out saying, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

(Matt 11:28-30)

In essence, as I reached out to her, I was saying all of these things to my sweet baby. She was tired and needed physical and emotional rest. If she is yoked with me her burden WILL be light because I am bigger, stronger, more emotionally stable, and know more than her.

As a mother I keep having experiences like these that humble me and make me realize how I am a little baby in God's eyes. I need Him like my baby needs me. He is bigger, stronger, more emotionally stable, and knows a whole lot more than me. I am grateful to be a mother. I feel like God is confirming eternal truths to me that I previously knew in my mind, but now know in my heart. 

Happy... what day is it again?

Teething Purgatory

Some moms have a really hard time with breast feeding, others struggle with their kiddo's not sleeping well through the night. The bane of my existence came when baby girl started teething. And when I say "bane of my existence," it may sound all cute and euphemistic, but it has been a real nightmare. 

She was sleeping okay through the night up until the teething came. Now one of two things happens: 

• It literally takes 3 hours of her screaming and us trying not to loose our marbles for her to finally get to sleep, or
•  She goes to sleep just fine, but then she wakes up 3 times in the night, and the third time she just doesn't go back to sleep after 4 am... Yeah, not very nice.

                                                            

I called my Mom for encouragement today and here are a few things she said.

1. Babies change so much all the time. If you're in survival mode right now, that's OKAY. This stage is not going to last forever. That makes me feel better. I am in survival mode, and it's nice to know that it's an acceptable place to be for the moment.

2. "The reward for being a grandparent is not killing your children." She said she wanted to kill all of her kids at one time or another (except for me, of course ;). This makes me feel slightly better, knowing that I'm not alone in sometimes feeling so frustrated and DONE with my crazy baby.

3. Prayer always helps. When you're at the end of your rope God will help. This actually happened last night. It was a take-3-hours-to-put-baby-to-sleep kind of night, and when I finally laid her in her crib at 12:30 am I prayed very sincerely that God would let me have a good night's sleep. Baby girl didn't wake up until 8:30. I know it was an answer to my prayers. 

Sometimes when I pray for a good night's sleep (and this is the sincere kind, not just a repetitious night time prayer) God says no. But I don't get mad at Him. He knows best. I need to develop patience and endurance, and that is only achieved by being stretched to my limits, and even a little beyond. 

I need to remember that there are seasons of life. Just as the weather changes from Summer, to Fall, to Winter, to Spring, my life will change from childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood, to changing diapers and dealing with a teething baby, to sending her off to school, to watching my grand babies grow up. This season of life is wonderful and terrible, as is every other season in life. I need to appreciate the good and deal with the bad. 

As Elder Worthlin said, "Come what may, and love it!"