"Stand close together and lift where you stand"

We had an excellent lesson in Relief Society from Pres Uchtdorf's message from the Priesthood session of last General Conference. We talked a lot about our callings and the need to magnify them and that every calling is important and helps the ward in moving forward the work of the Kingdom of God. I can think of only one time specifically where I didn't magnify my calling and it was a horrible time. I had a horrible attitude about it and I was relieved when I was released. I feel like I'm really helping the ward and myself in the callings I have right now. Something from the lesson that our teacher pointed out.... All around the world there are terrible things happening. We often feel guilty in not helping with every country's starving children, etc. She pointed out from the talk that the Lord put us in an appointed place, where we live, and we need to do everything we can, in that appointed place. All of us need to work together!

New thoughts on piano

Thanks for the tips I received about piano lessons. I was ready to throw in the towel and wait until she is older. I think I received some inspiration today. The one thing Brynn always says about piano lessons is that she LOVES to do it with mom. I finally caught on! I'm going to have "piano lessons/practice time" with Brynn until she is more mature and can do it on her own. I vaguely remember my sister-in-law saying something about doing that with her son for the first while.

Do I know what I'm doing?

You would think that by the third child, you'd have a few things figured out. And I do...but every child is different, I keep re-learning. This is the continuing saga of Macy and her sleeping troubles.
She slept great for 4 or 5 nights, in her big bed. Mind you, we have been staying with her until she is asleep. But we didn't think it too big of a deal since she was sleeping all night. Well, she oscillated back to the waking several times trick, Stan slept in her bed once, hoping that would help. We finally say "NO MORE!" For anyone who knows me, I've always been the sleep nazi. After a rough start with Brynn, at four months, I taught her to put herself to sleep, which meant screaming until she fell asleep. This continued until she was almost two, for naps and bedtime. I don't know how I survived it. So with Joel, I really didn't want the screaming and starting putting him down in his bed to sleep from a very early age, maybe one month or so. He rarely even cried. Angel! Macy came along, I was determined to give her a soother(binki), which was awesome, and I rocked her to sleep until she weaned herself of that just before she was 6 months old. She weaned herself of the binki too around her first birthday, has always been easy to put down, including being put to bed by babysitters and relatives. The trouble stems from the time we were away on our cruise. The Final answer is that we have her in her crib AGAIN and she is staying there for awhile!

Randomness

Week 2 of piano lessons went terrible. Brynn wasn't getting it and I didn't know what else to do so we had a break for a few days and we are starting again. I did something different, very basic, today. She seems disinterested. Is this normal? How do you make the beginning stuff exciting when they can't really play anything?

Macy is sleeping through the night again and I think naps are going to have to stop. She sleeps better when she doesn't nap. I am so sad to say good-bye to naps though. I love that break and she is so clingy.

I'm the food storage specialist for Enrichment for our ward. I'm getting really excited about the year. We are focusing most of the enrichment activities around food storage. We're going to get prepared, finally! I got emailed a great website. It is full of TONS of great info. http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/getting-started/

Since I married Stan, we read the Book of Mormon all the way through in January. So, I'm currently in the middle of it. It's so hard to not speed read it. When I slow down and pay more attention, it is amazing! I love figuring out who goes where and how the stories relate. I highly recommend doing it at least once in your life. It gives me a feel for converts who pick it up and just can't put it down. It's an amazing book and I know it's true!

Piano lessons and back to school

Today, I gave Brynn her first piano lesson. It was really fun to make it formal and she LOVED it! She asked me if she gets to have one every day. I told her she gets to practice every day until our next lesson, next Tuesday. I hope it will be a fun experience for her and me. I still can't believe I have a child old enough to be learning all these fun things and going to school all day long. We have missed her since school started again yesterday.
Macy is sleeping better and back in a crib. I'm not sure what will happen now. My back is breaking having to put her in and get her out. She's a solid kid. I'm so grateful that she loves to snuggle though. She loves to sit with me and be held. She gives great hugs. She talks about grandma and grandpa daily, since they were here for a week and a half at Christmas time. I think she is wondering where they went.
Joel started a class today, where he will learn a variety of different sports. He loved his first day and is excited for next week because his teacher said they would play basketball. He also started learning about space and the planets. He had fun making planets out of play-doh this afternoon.
One last thing,
I learned yesterday that my great friend, Bridget, who is currently living in Utah, just got engaged and will be married in April! We are so excited for her.