Sacrifice

One of my best friends was over the other day with her baby girl. She is a few weeks younger than Elizabeth, and we love getting the girls together. They are going to be roomies in college :)

We were talking about getting babies to sleep. She said it took two nights of trying this one method with her daughter, and then she has been able to sleep through the night ever since.
I think there is a fine line between what is worth investing in your future with kids. Two nights of tough sleep is SO WORTH having a baby who sleeps through the night. It just takes time and you have to make a sacrifice to get there.

For Zach, he learned how to climb out of his crib so I had to come up with something. I thought of a crib tent, but then I came up with a plan. If he got out, he had to come lay in my bed with me, with my leg over him and he couldn't have his pacifier or blanket. He would cry for a couple of minutes when I did it, then I would put him back. We had to do it three times the first time, and then twice the second day. But then it worked! It was so worth spending an hour and a half using a plan rather than fighting to keep him in there every single day. The pacifier ended up being pretty easy to get rid of since he was older (2) when we got rid of it. He kept getting out of his bed and I told him we had to throw it away because he wasn't listening. He asked for it again, but I reminded him what we had to do. The End!

Things like letting him have a pacifier 'so' long was one of those things that wasn't worth the end result at the time. It kept him quiet, it calmed him down, it helped him when he was teething. It wasn't worth just being able to say that he was done with it. Especially since he only had it at night. But the timing was great when he was done.

I think the next big sacrifice thing for me will be toilet training. Elizabeth is doing pretty good at night again, so that has been a minor one. But toilet training...o boy. I have done it a little with him, so he is getting used to the idea but not super excited about it. I kind of wish we had a couple of days to fully focus on Zach and get this done!

Holidays

I'm excited for Easter this weekend and for seeing all of the family! It is fun to do holidays and really fun to think about the activities we get to do. It will only get more fun as we go on and our family gets a little older and we can add more things. Love it.
Dude got to come play with us today :) Zach loved playing trains on the floor with him for over an hour. And I got to make dinner with both Zach and Elizabeth entertained!
For the first time Zach took one of his trains aside and said 'you in trouble, train. You sit here.' and then he let him come back a little while later. Too funny.
I think we remember holidays and want to be with family because they are special days and they are fun to be with each other and enjoy a different day. Especially Easter and Christmas where we get to celebrate Christ.
Which brings another point...not sure exactly how to make it so the kids grow up being able to separate bunny/Resurrection and santa/Jesus' birth. I am going to have to look things up on that one. One of my friends does the egg hunt on Saturday, so it is more of a spring tradition that is done near the holiday when everyone is in town. Although on Sunday everyone has their nice Easter outfits on. There has to be a good way!

Travel

Whenever we see extended family or good friends who live far away, it makes me wish we all lived closer. It is so fun to see family, and I would love it if we could be together more. I would fly out to Arkansas to see friends there, Florida for my favorite Europe friend, Idaho, Utah, Oregon and So Cal for family, and who knows where else.
I think that must be a huge bonus in the Celestial Kingdom. Being able to see the ones you want to see whenever you want. I've heard people talk about 'traveling' to other kingdoms to 'visit' loved ones, which makes me wonder if that means that travel will be important and very easy for those in the Celestial Kingdom. Kinda makes you want to stop doing anything that will keep you from there and get your family along for the ride!

Friends

I hope Zachary and Elizabeth make great friendships. Today two of my best friends came over for the afternoon. We sat around, held each others' babies and one cut my hair. It is so nice that no matter how long it has been, we can catch up easily. We have all helped each other so much over the years, I am so grateful to have such great friends.
Friends have so much influence over you, I hope they find friends who lift them up and who also need some lifting once in a while.

Consistent

Kids like routine. I started Zach on a strict routine when he was a baby, and he did great. Great sleeper, great eater, always happy. Same with Elizabeth- although I'm not as strict. I can't be. It is either put her to bed or put him to bed, so sometimes she is first and sometimes he is first. Dad is at work a lot right now for busy season, but tries to help with putting kids to bed before he has to go back.
One routine that pays off is praying together. When we have been doing consistent family prayers, then Zach is good at keeping his arms folded and likes to offer the prayer. When things are crazy and bedtimes are off and Zach eats a separate meal from us so he doesn't always have to be at the table for the prayer, things fall apart. He isn't good about folding his arms and sometimes makes noises to bug us.
One thing he loves doing is making sure you bless President Monson when you pray. He will call you out on it if you don't bless him.
My visiting teachers came today and we talked about scripture study and how sometimes just the consistency and routine of reading is what we enjoy. Some days I am getting so much out of the actual verses, other days it is about being obedient and also taking time out of life to spend just on scripture time. In a talk recently someone said that they worried their kids weren't getting enough out of their FHE lessons. Then they realized that their kids were going to remember that they had FHE every Monday night, and that was important. They needed to know that they are a family together and that they would be obedient together and have family night every week.
There's something to be said for consistency. I think we all crave it in some aspects of life.

Zachary and Elizabeth are just so darn cute.
Zach is saying a lot of phrases right now. If you go upstairs and he wants to come, he says "I'll come two minutes mom!" I keep telling him it's just 'too' not 'too minutes' but its very cute. He also turns on all the lights for me when I go upstairs or when we come in from the garage. He puts Elizabeth's pacifier in and tells her "it's okay, 'Lil-beff"

Elizabeth was laughing hysterically tonight. Dad was tickling her and she couldn't stop laughing! She is cutting her first two teeth right now and has been a little more fussy from it. It is fun for her to LOVE having her dad around.

John came home during his lunch break and then we all went grocery shopping. It was so nice to go with all of us! With John working so many hours (8-12, lunch, 1-6, 8-11ish) we have made good use out of the time we have and have a lot of fun as a family.