Timmy - 3 Years Old

Timmy is three!  How is it that he is already three years old?  I love taking time at each of my boy's birthdays to think about them, their personalities, what they are up to at that particular age, etc.  The first thing I think of when I want to describe Timmy is he is such a joy to have around.  There is just something about him, maybe it is his mannerisms, how he says things, what he says, his laugh, or just all those things together that makes people smile.  He is exuberant and funny and darling.  

Timmy is generally pretty outgoing with people and animals.  He enjoys telling people about his toys and things he likes to do.  If someone is asking Brian a question about school or something else, Timmy always has to get a word in about himself even if he has to make up an imaginary story about a school that he did not even go to.

Timmy loves being outside and digging in the sandbox or digging in the dirt.  I've just decided to let the boys go to town with digging holes in the backyard.  I'm certainly not going to get around to manicuring it into a beautiful landscape, so they might as well enjoy it.

Timmy loves tractors.  He loves tractors more than trains or anything else.  He can sit on the tractors at wheeler farm for a long long time.  I always have to convince him to get off when it is time to leave.  He collects toy tractors at home and loves to play with them.  He plays tractors by himself, with Brian, and occasionally he can convince me to get down on the ground and play tractors with him.

Timmy is usually pretty brave when it comes to physical activities.  He'll speed around on his strider bike and try new things.  However, he is super super lazy when it comes to walking anywhere!  Believe it or not I am still carrying this guy around.  He even makes me carry him into the store, and into get Brian at school.  I try to make him walk, but he stands on my feet and grabs my legs and whines until I get so frustrated I pick him up.  I know I encourage this when I do pick him up and carry him, but I give in on this one often.

Timmy loves playing with Brian and with Mark and he has the cutest laugh.  I love just listening to him play and laugh.

Timmy sleeps in a big bed now, but he still doesn't use his blankets for cover.  Up until a few months ago Timmy slept with all the stuffed animals and toys he could manage to fit on his bed.  He would ask for more and more every night until finally I buckled down and limited it to his brown blankie and two other items.  His usual choice is his owl, his blankie, and either his baby giraffe or baby panda.  The picture below is how I found him one morning before we put the limit on items in his bed.  He even ended up with shoes in there as little beds for his animals.

Timmy is usually put in bed by 7:00 p.m. but he does not fall asleep until about 8:00 p.m.  He just talks and talks and plays and roles around his bed even when he is super tired. He wakes up usually between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., but his owl doesn't turn green until 7:00 a.m. when he is allowed to come out of his room.  He likes reading with me now and often wants to read the same book over and over again each night rather than reading several different books.

Timmy talks a lot, but he still has a hard time pronouncing his "L's" and his "B's" and he has a cute little lisp.  He is active and healthy most of the time.  He tends to get sinus infections easily.  He is at 50 percentile for his height and 30 percentile for his weight.  He is doing great.

This dude is funny about his food.  When he decides he doesn't like something there is nothing I can do to get him to continue trying it.  He likes kid foods of course and he will eat carrots and corn, but no other veggies.  I know I just need to keep offering and trying to give them to him.  His favorite places to eat are Panda Express where he eats loads of fried rice and orange chicken and Cafe Rio where he eats a kids quesadilla and a whole tres leches dessert.

During the day Timmy hangs out with me.  We take Brian to school and then usually I take him running in the stroller or we go to the gym where he plays with friends and I work out.  Then we either come home or run some errands before we go get Brian.  After picking up Brian we come home, eat lunch and take a nap.  After naps the boys play together or we go somewhere fun for the afternoon.  Timmy is getting really good at climbing and loves parks with something to climb.  In the evening we eat dinner around 5:30, take a bath, read books and go to bed.  This summer he will do swimming lessons and then start two days of preschool in the the Fall.  Timmy is growing too fast!

I love this boy!

Motherhood Matters

Motherhood has been on my mind lately. The following things have kept motherhood at the forefront of my thoughts.

Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day.  I love celebrating all mothers and thinking with gratitude how much my own mother has done for me.  Mother's Day also fills me with gratitude for the opportunity I have to be a mother.  It is one of those most precious gifts from Heavenly Father that fills my soul with emotion and gratitude whenever I think about it.  Not only do I get to be a mother, but I get to be the mother to the greatest two boys on the planet.  Only a mother can understand how much I love these precious souls!  

Without any encouragement from anyone, both boys gave me beautiful Mother's Day gifts.  Brian made a card which included the drawings below, and he showered me all day long with hugs and "Happy Mother's Day" exclamations. 

 This is a picture of "Brian and Mommy playing in the rain".

 This is "just Mommy and Brian being happy".  I LOVE how he draws me.

Timmy's gift came a few days before Mother's Day.  I was buckling him into his car seat on our way to go get Brian from school.  Out of nowhere, he got very serious and said, "Mommy? (then made sure I was listening) I just think you are a good mom."  That little thought coming from Timmy's mouth at that moment was a sweet tender mercy that I needed more than anything.  With a tear in my eye I gave him a warm hug and told him how nice it made me feel.  The experience has been on my mind since and makes me want to try even harder to be that "good mom" Timmy was talking about.

New Baby

My little sister had her first baby a few months ago.  We had the opportunity to visit them in the hospital.  When I saw and held that sweet new baby for the first time, I was overwhelmed with some very strong feelings.  The feelings were so strong it sort of shocked me at the time.  It was an assurance of God's love for all of us and an assurance that this new sweet baby was a miracle meant to be here with her loving parents.  

 This is me holding my baby sister Mandy's first baby named Eleanor.

Choosing Motherhood

Back when I was 19 years old and at BYU, I went for a semester to study Church History in Nauvoo, Illinois. I made many wonderful friends there that still influence me today.  I recently got in touch through Facebook with many old friends from Nauvoo.  One of those friends, Lia Suttner Collings, compiled/wrote a book that just came out this Spring at Deseret Book.  It is called Choosing Motherhood and it is a compilation of stories from successful women who put motherhood first in their lives.  I got the book because Lia, whom I admire and look to as an example, wrote several of the chapters.  I loved this book.  

I learned something from each chapter and each mother represented, but the chapter that has stayed with me the most is called "Teach These Souls To Fly."  In this chapter, Lia was asked by her sister the question, "why would anyone want to be a mother?"  Lia's answer came while contemplating the the painting Teach These Souls to Fly by William Blake.

Some of Lia's own words are best.

"As I watched the flight of this mother-child pair, I thought of how my sister-or any outsider-couldn't know about motherhood until she experienced it herself.  I didn't think that my sister could know that the ignorance I saw in the child's face could also be innocence.  In humility, he let his mother pull him-just as my children let me-proving him everything King Benjamin required: "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, and willing to submit to all things which [his mother saw] fit to inflict upon him" (Mosiah 3:19).  In devoting my days and nights to my children-the sort of individuals the Savior had said made up the kingdom of heaven-I might teach them all that I knew, but they would teach me many, much more important lessons through their childlike nature.  We would lift each other."

"This powerful woman reminded me of Elder M. Russell Ballard's counsel; "As mothers in Israel, you are your [children's] first line of defense against the wiles of the world."  I couldn't provide my children better protection against darkness than to teach their souls to fly above it. . ."

""Teach these souls to fly" - the sacred duty entrusted to mothers, a sacred opportunity afforded to women."

""Who wouldn't want to be a mom?" I wondered. . .What other career could claim as its end product the elevation of a human soul?  Not just the enlightening of a mind or the development of a body, but the improvement of every aspect of a vibrant child of God?"