Spiritual Sundays - The Lord's hand in my life

My life is wonderful!! Just wanted to share that. I was sitting on our glider in our living room this morning looking at our home in wonder and gratitude for the opportunity to live here.  I then remembered a really great quote from President Eyring who says that he has written in his journal for years and his guiding principle when he writes is to acknowledge the Lord's hand in his life.  That's what his entry focuses on every. single. time.  Isn't that super?  I want to start doing that.  Today I see the Lord's hand in my life in:

•  Our two lovely children.
• The fact that Moses is getting out of his jaundice and is healthy.
• That Paul and I are both happy and healthy.
• That Paul is starting a new job on Monday.  Can't wait for this to breathe new life into him.
• The lovely spring weather.
• That my dad is feeling better.
• That life is full of promise.

The Boy

A baby story...

Oh me oh my!  I must write this down before I forget it all but yes our dear baby Moses McAllister is here and already 2 weeks old and healthy (if a bit jaundiced still) and lovely and soo sweet.  There's nothing like having him nuzzle in bed with you at night.  I love it sooo much!

 Does lightening strike twice?  Well apparently it does, in blessings.  I've had two easy and normal deliveries now and I feel very blessed.  None of those horror stories for me.  So, on Tuesday, April 9 at about midnight I started feeling my first contractions and they were about 5 minutes apart (ow!  those buddies hurt, bye the way, I forgot how much).  By l2 a.m. I woke up Paul and told him we probably needed to go to the hospital.  My lovely visiting teacher Jessica came over and spent the night in our home so that we could leave Lizzie and off we went.  It was cold and snowy and luckily only a 5 minute drive to the hospital but by the time I got there, I told the nurse "My birth plan consists of one word - epidural!"  I fully embrace the miracle of the epidural.  It's like my friend Patricia says, "you'd never turn down novocaine for a root canal. Why do women turn down epidurals?"  My feelings exactly!  So about an hour, I got my miracle drug.  Paul was an amazing birth coach again.  He held my hand as much as I wanted and was really there for me.  The nurses all thought he was so kind and attentive.  Then, Paul gave me a blessing and then they let us take a nap.  Our doctor (Dr Greg Tayler - love him!) came in about 8 and popped my water (oddest thing ever, it looks like a long knitting needle) and then I pushed a bit and then tada by 8:42 our baby Moses was here!

He came out 8.13 pounds and 20.5 inches long and with a head of wavy, black hair and is just the most darling boy.  His apgar score was close to 10.  He has a gentle, patient soul and we are nuts about him.  A few hours later, my parents and Paul's mom arrived and Lizzie got to meet Moses (the jury is still out on him for her).  We stayed at the hospital for one night and then left the next morning.

Well, that was over 2 weeks ago.  My parents stayed through 2 weeks and left a few days ago and things are going well if a bit hectic.  Paul starts a new job on Monday (excited about it for him!  He is thrilled) and my biggest concern is just giving Lizzie enough attention.  It's a new phase in my life - full time wife and mom and I am committed to being the best one for our family.  Also, I enjoy sleeping and haven't done much of that lately so with this I bit you farewell for now!

General Conference - a unique experience

So yeah.  Guess who got to tweet about Conference from the media room for OKEspanol?  Me and my handsome hubby.  That was a really cool and fun thing to get to do.  I think it was also the best way for me to do it all preggo and stuff cause I could walk around and go to the bathroom for the 20th time during one session without bugging anyone.

It really was great because it was also my last hurrah at work.  As of today (Monday, April 8, 2013) I am officially a stay-at-home wife and mummy.  I've been going through a few withdrawals earlier in the day but I am fully committed to the cause.  Go mama!

We got copies of the talks a half and hour beforehand and got to feel all journalist-y next to Des News and SL Trib writers.  It was a great weekend date with Paco.  I'll never forget it.

P.S.  I wrote this as a draft and never got to finish it before Moses came so here it is a little out of order.  Oops

Note to our new baby boy

Dearest upcoming baby boy,

Hello lovely young son.  Who would have thought that we could produce a boy?  What a blessing.  I have been thinking about you and imagining you lately.  I can't wait to meet you but I'm glad you are still baking inside of me.  I'm still figuring this whole mothering thing out, bye the way.  I've had the exceptional opportunity to take care of your big sis Lizzie now for two wonderful years and it's been fabulous.  I wonder things like, how will you get along?  How will you see each other and me and your dad?  What a journey it is.

I've also been thinking a lot about success and what defines success in children.  In this day and age, people spend a lot of time talking about success and their kids so of course I have been reading a lot about it and I'm still figuring that out too but I have come to some conclusions that I want to share with you.  I want you to be successful but not in the way the world sees it.  I want you to be successful in the ways that matter.

I used to think success meant playing an instrument extremely well or getting the best grade in school.  These are excellent things to achieve and can be important but what if you did that by cheating?  To me, success means being kind to the loner at school, going on a mission and preaching the gospel as a young worthy man, making others feel like they are children of God, having a strong work ethic that empowers you to do your best in any situation, finding a spouse who shares your values and whom you marry in the temple.  This is success and I am writing this note as much for me as for you because I need to remember this.  That in an amoral world, you have morals and ethics.  This is my greatest prayer for you my darling son.  I love you.

Love,

Your mother

38 weeks, day 6

Weight gained:  30 pounds
Feelings:  Excited, calm, happy, nervous
Outward appearance:  Hmmmm, never have quite caught that "pregnant glow" look
Days remaining:  8
Type of walk:  Waddle for sure
Days left until I stop working to become a full-time, stay-at-home mom:  3
Feelings on leaving the workforce:  Mixed.  I've never wanted to be one of those moms who is on the computer working from home and patting her kids on their heads as they run by.  I want to be fully present and I don't think I can continue to work, even part-time, with 2 kids.  Even with Lizzie it's tricky cause I squeeze it in between her naps and during her bedtime.  However, I will miss the adult interaction and just the sense of accomplishment I get when I get in there and work hard and lead meetings and network and all that fun stuff I've been doing for the past 12 years or so.  I enjoy working and I enjoy being mom.
Puffiness level:  Not too bad.  Not as puffy as last time.
Gym attendance:  I go almost every day.  Mostly water aerobics.  Feels good.
Cravings:  Protein (meat and eggs) and cereal.
Current obsessions:  Reading the Book of Mormon in the morning, taking a warm shower, watching Lizzie dance with reckless abandon, talking with Paul at night as we fall asleep (one of my all-time favorites anyway, you know that talking you do when you are about to drop off to dreamland and it's dark and you just say whatever is on your mind), taking lots of naps (oh how I wish I could store them up like a camel), watching Lizzie laugh with reckless joy and abandon (Paul says that light in her eyes when she laughs is a mark of no regrets, I agree), reading a couple of mom blogs which I treasure including Nat the Fat Rat (LDS mom based out of NYC), No More Mom Jeans (LDS fashion blogger who has the worst sense of fashion so I read it ironically, so funny!), and anything by Richard and Linda Eyre and their daughters who created the site Power of Moms.

Well, there ya go.  And some pics below for laughs and giggles.  I'm lookin big!

Easter 2013

And what a great Easter it was!  We invited Nate and Jenny McAllister and their family up to celebrate and spend the night.  Paul made the most amazing dutch oven food for dinner.  Pork loin with cornbread stuffing and for the second layer, potatoes.  Yum!

Looks delectable doesn't it?  I must say my hubby is a fine cook.  He is very skilled at experimenting and not afraid to do it at all while I worry about straying from the recipe.  Anyway, so after dinner, we played games and had a campfire and then some of the kids watched a movie on our projector downstairs while I played bunny and ran around hiding plastic eggs for the next morning.  Hehe that was a lotta fun.

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast prepared by Jenny and then it was so funny because Miriam kept pretending she needed to go for a walk outside but she was trying to scope out the egg situation.  It's all good though.  We caught her in her scheme.  Side note - I LOVE Miriam.  She reminds me of myself sooo much at her age.  She has high energy but she is sweet and sooo loving and patient with Lizzie.  She just doted on our little girl the whole time and Lizzie, little social bug that she is, just loved having cousins over and hanging out.

So then we did the hunt and Lizzie looked so darn cute walking around with her basket and everyone got a good amount of eggs and candy and rolled up scriptures I had included.

 Afterwards, Lizzie hung out with Ethan and Seth for a while and watched Enchanted.  She cracked me up because she kinda just sidled up to the boys on the bean bag like she didn't want them to notice.  Hilarious.

 On Easter, we dressed her up in a cute little dress confection which made her look like a cupcake and she got more cousin time.  Happy baby.