10 months

Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.

-William Butler Yeats

10 months

Lewie is growing. And he is happy.

And I think to myself...

What a Wonderful World.

Much of the world seems as if it's wrong, dirty, dishonest, hard, exhausting...you get the picture. But you know those times when you think Life is good? The earth is beautiful, I'm so glad I'm on it. People are kind, God is tender. What a wonderful world.

Here are a few of the times I think that:

When my boys are playing with each other. At their ages it doesn't happen much, but there really aren't words to express my joy when they are cracking up together.

When I spend a few hours at my grandparents house. They are the most angelic people I know, and I'm pretty sure spending time in their home is pretty close to heaven. Which must mean, in heaven we will eat grilled tuna daily for lunch and you can be sure my Grandpa will eat his heaping pile of assorted vegetables out of his strainer. We will work and read and serve and pray and take naps.

When Bob the appliance man comes to fix my dryer that has been out of service for over a week. He is fair, and extremely reasonably priced, and drove far to get the job done. And then, I take down the clothesline in our basement, and realize what a luxury a dryer is.

When Friday roles around, and I know I will be able to spend some precious time with Treavor.

When my babies are sleeping. Even if it was a rotten day, I know that they are safe and cozy and happy in dreamland. It is a wonderful world, and I'm so grateful I was able to bring them into it.

for the record

2011 Christmas card

Big day

As if the first day of sunbeams wasn't hard enough for an emotional mama, Owen got to give a talk on agency. He was really excited, loved practicing for two days straight and seemed really confident about doing it in front of the primary. I thought for sure he would be so shy and nervous once he saw all those kids looking at him, and that I would be giving the talk. Well He performed just like he had practiced. He seemed old and confident and I was proud.

Here he is with one more practice before we walked out the door:

Christmas

Christmas was everything that makes this time of year magical.

I have hundreds of pictures, and hundreds of thoughts I want to remember about the whole season, and the fun stage the boys were in, with so little time or energy. The wrapping up of December left me feeling much like my dead Christmas tree that now lies in the dumpster -- dull, tired and dehydrated.

I'll be back with the memories. Until then, I'm feeling grateful for the beautiful December full of all that really matters in life, and the time I now have to recover from it.

Grabby, Crazy, Gooey, Lewie

Treavor came up with the name. It was inspired by my dad who frequently creates long, cute and extremely fitting names for his grandchildren. Treavor wanted to beat him to it, and boy is it appropriate! Owen's been calling Lewis grabby-crazy-gooey-Lewie for months now, and if you ask him what his baby brother's name is that is usually his response (pediatricians, neighbors and people at the store have all looked a little confused after hearing it). This sweet baby grabs everything in sight. He is almost always seen with some sort of goo rolling down his chin, and let's face it, he's a tiny bit crazy. The only descriptive word I might add to this mouth breathing, pudgy pawed, bright-eyed, blanket cuddling, on-the-go baby is: scrumptious.

blah, blah, blah, blah

You know how life gets a little blah sometimes? That's kind of what it's been lately. Thank heavens nothing significantly sad or life-changing to report. Mostly just blah. I won't tell you about it, because who wants to hear about

• Lewie's double ear infections
  
• Owen's beyond description tantrums
• Lewie's allergic reaction to penicillin and the hives all over his body
• Me and my boys having that awful stomach bug, and spending Thanksgiving day in bed without eating a bite.
• Locking my 3 year old in his room for bed time, which I swore I would never do. It had to be done. heart breaking.
• My zitty face.
• blue gatorade throw up stain on the front room rug.
• pharmacy after pharmacy filling prescriptions, where there has GOT to be some sort of substance behind the counter that causes the workers to move in slow motion and look at you with glazed over eyes while your sick kids are crying in the cart.
• Lewie's diaper rash that I can not keep up with and is putting him in excruciating pain.
• cooped up freezing cold days (we got a long road ahead)
• and really lame dinners.

No one wants to hear about it, so I wont' tell you.

On the bright side:

• We got to go to Temple square with Treavor's parents.
• Our halls are decked. The Christmas tree and lights are making all of us happy
• My mom made me a delicious Thanksgiving dinner 3 days late, when I was feeling better. (thank goodness!)
• Owen had fun making a Christmas Tree. Thanks Julie, for the good idea.