New Blog!

I have a new blog! It is separate from this family blog and it is to inspire and discover. It is public also so if you have friends who want to find out what the Inspiration Seven is then invite them!

http://inspirationseven.blogspot.com/

Hannah's Gymnastics

So I found a gym class for babies 6 months or older who are sitting up but not quite walking yet. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen! There are all these tunnels, slides, and obstacles for your little ones to develop mind and body.

Hannah was just like me in a formal education setting, all of a sudden she found herself completely surrounded by interesting people and had to fight hard to stay focused on the task at hand. The other babies were having so much fun that she had to figure out what the whole fuss was about.

She went through a tunnel twice that she liked and did really well on this crawler thingy but didn't really do well on the up and down ramps which is fine. The instructor was impressed with how physically capable she was at 6 (almost 7 next week!) months and so were my two friends who brought their 9 month old babies. They were especially impressed with Hannah's clapping which is usually a milestone for 8 to 9 months.

After the gym we went to the library with our little friend Tyler who is an absolute doll. He always forgets my name so he calls me Mommy and Hannah "That Baby." Yesterday he told his mom "Mommy I get to see those girls tomorrow." We got five Dinosaur books for Ty and some Kevin Henkes books for Hannah.

All in all it was a fun day and Hannah has yet to take a nap so perhaps an early bedtime? She's had three hours between the gym and the library and I guess she was too excited to sleep. Hopefully it is a good night!

30 weeks today!

I am so amazed by Hannah. I never knew. I just never knew how much fun a baby would be, how much joy, how much heartache. I love her so much and she amazes me.

Tonight after dinner Adam, Hannah, and I were hanging out in the living room. She is such a climber now but we won't let her near the entertainment center. I don't want her getting into all the electrical stuff or hurting herself on the glass doors. Since we were all there we were teasing Hannah-- letting her scoot forward close enough that she almost made it then we'd pull her away and say no.

At one point Adam made himself a barrier so Hannah couldn't get over him. I laid next to Adam so that she couldn't get over me as well. She tried to climb over us and it wasn't working. Too many kisses and tickles in the way. So what do you know, that smart girl turned the other way and started crawling away from us so she had a wide enough berth that she wasn't within arms reach. She then went the length of our bodies and turned toward the entertainment center. We watched her grab hold of one shiny knob and pull herself to her knees. Then she grabbed the other knob and pulled herself to a standing position.

Standing there it seemed like she didn't really know what came next. She decided to let go only to lose her balance and fall against the entertainment center. She then let go only with one hand and scooted over to the knob her left hand was resting on...held on with both hands for a minute but couldn't figure out how to let go with her left while holding on with her right. She tried it...lost her balance and once again came face to face with the entertainment center.

I watched her try to figure these things out and regretted not noticing the meticulous, methodical way she worked her way around a room.

Tomorrow I am taking her to a place for kiddies 6 months and older who are not yet walking. The kids are able to explore an open gym and interact with other babies while playing on some fun equipment. Hannah LOVES other babies. Every morning when we go out on our walks she gets angry if my stroller isn't in the eye line of another child. We walk with another mom and her 5 month old baby who Hannah loves to ogle at.

I'm so in love with my baby! She is amazing and so worth the wait, pain, and loss of sleep. She is wrapped around my whole heart and I can't imagine life without her.

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In the Arms of His Love

Dylan Catenesso (my friend Kristen's baby boy) was born this morning at 1:35 am weighing 1 pound 12 oz. He was still born.

Give your babies hugs tonight and pray for Kristen.

Holy Cow

Tonight at enrichment we got together and watched Johnny Lingo, a Mormon classic. It has been a long time since I have revisited that movie and now that I am older and hopefully a little wiser than the Beehive I was the last time I watched this movie I had some thoughts.

First of all, everyone should be so lucky to be desired by a man like Johnny Lingo. Not only is he handsome and smart but he is also selfless and loving. Rather than expecting his wife to fulfill his needs as a husband, he recognized he must first treat her with respect and honor. Perhaps Mahana was not an 8 cow woman to begin with but by treating her as one, she became one.

I find this principal to be true, especially with children that I have taught. If you expect a child to behave and be responsible and you expect with respect their behavior will reflect that which you expect.

This movie is more than manipulating someone to become the person you think they should be, Mahana always had the potential to be an 8 cow woman as do we all, not only did she need to gain confidence from her husband, but she also needed to draw that from herself (or she would have never become the person she did.

Our Father in Heaven loves each of us and we (hopefully) find our worth through Him and not from the world.

At enrichment we talked about becoming 8 cow women two ways 1) Mad Cow (finding emotional health, strength, and balance) and 2) Holy Cow (connecting to our spiritual nature)

Johnny Lingo says "Many things can change a woman. There are things that happen on the inside and things that happen on the outside. However, the thing that matters most is how she views herself. In her father's home she believed she was worth nothing. As a result that's the value she projected. Now she knows she is an 8 cow woman worth far more than any other woman in the islands."

I don't want this to be misconstrued that I believe our worth comes from how people treat us or (heaven forbid) how any man treats or values us, but I like the sentiment of Johnny Lingo.

Let us value ourselves as our Father in Heaven values each of his children. Someone with the potential to create beautiful, happy lives.

What makes you an 8 cow woman?

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“That’s what I love about reading; one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive-all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”

This book was fabulous! I took my time to read it, hoping to catch every little line and curve that it took and it was well worth the time.

January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, Dawsy Adams, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. He has come to obtain a book that once belonged to her and wished to know her thoughts (she often writes in the margins of her books).

Set in both London and Guernsey Island, this novel follows Juliet as she becomes friends with the inhabitants of the island shortly after the end of World War II. Written in letters, Juliet learns of the occupied island and its deprivations, as well as the resounding spirit of the people who live there. As she writes, she becomes more and more intrigued with the stories of the people who survived the hard times, and she decides to create a book based on their experiences. In order to gather more information, Juliet moves temporarily to the island and soon finds herself immersed in the culture and relationships.

I loved the characters. I loved Juliet most of all. I felt connected to them and their history. I would recommend this book to ANY book lover, both my parents and my sister before they travel to England next summer, Granma Bea and Aunt Lesley. There is of course a little love story involved.

I am reviewing this for MY book club. I think my book club should have a name like the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society but I don't think anything could beat that honestly!

Holy Heart Attack Batman!

This is Hannah's latest and greatest trick.

The other night when I was letting her cry herself to sleep Adam found her draping over the side of her crib since she decided that was the night to be Ms. Daredevil Danger. Adam dropped the crib and I figured that would be the end of that for a couple weeks.

I was wrong. Apparently she can still climb and peek over the side (thank goodness it isn't as dangerous anymore). This is how I found her when I came in to get her up from a nap. After taking a few pictures she promptly fell over and banged her head. Oh well. I guess it time for Mommy to stop being so protective and learn to be a little braver herself.

{Happy Birthday to Me}

In honor of my 25th birthday (quarter of a century) on 10/10/10 (best birthday ever) I have decided to watch some of the best (and worst) 80's movies to commemorate the decade of my birth. The list include some of my favorites (such as Better Off Dead, Clue, The Burbs) and some of the most hated films I've ever seen (Somewhere in Time, The Last Unicorn). If there are any suggestions please let me know. I am starting to watch tonight with Back to the Future.

The List:

Back to the Future

Raiders of the Lost Arc

Empire Strikes Back

Adventures in Babysitting

Airplane

Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure

The Breakfast Club

16 Candles

The Burbs

Caddy Shack

Can’t Buy Me Love

Clue

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

E.T.

Ferris Buller’s Day Off

Flash Dance

Footloose

Ghostbusters

Goonies

Gremlins

The Karate Kid

Labyrinth

The Last Unicorn

Lean on Me

The Little Mermaid

Mystic Pizza

Never ending Story

Oliver and Co.

Overboard

Poltergeist

Pretty in Pink

The Princess Bride

Return to Oz

Romancing the Stone

Roxanne

Somewhere in Time

Splash

Spaceballs

Top Gun

Tootsie

9 to 5

suggestions welcome :)

{Little Lady}

A thought...

I have spent countless hours on my knees in my lifetime. Many of those hours seemed wasted, fruitless, and lonely. I would sob, begging my Father in Heaven for something I thought I wanted or needed desperately. I felt my prayers go unanswered.

Tonight as I type this my daughter is in her crib...pleading, screaming for me to come and rescue her from the darkness. She is in pain because she has been teething. She wants me to scoop her up and hold her. But it is night night time.

I know that what is best for her is sleep. Since 6 am she hasn't slept more than an hour and a half. I can see the tired look in her eyes. I know she needs sleep but she fights it. She won't fall asleep in my arms and she needs to learn how to soothe herself and fall asleep.

It is not easy for me. I hear every cry and every inch of me wants to scoop her up in my arms and hold her always until all the pain goes away. However, I know that she needs to learn. She needs to take those steps toward independence and self reliance.

So tonight I feel humbled and have received a closer glimpse into the great eternal plan for a loving Father who knows what is best for us. I feel right now that I have the weight of the world on my shoulders and my heart aches and I am grateful that I have the knowledge she will be alright. I know she is crying out for me. It hurts. Parenting can hurt. But I know once she starts to learn to go "ni-night" it will be worth the heartache.

Book Review: These is My Words

"Mama told me to make a special point to remember the best times of my life. There are so many hard things to live through, and latching on to the good things will give you strength to endure, she says. So I must remember this day. It is beautiful and this seems like the best time to live and the best place (p. 327)"

This post might take a while to write and I'm not sure I should write it right now. I like to take a few days to let a book settle in my brain before I make a judgment on it. I can honestly say it was a tremendous read and made me feel the way a book is supposed to make you feel. At times I was so mad I could just stop reading right then and there. Other times my heart felt heavy like when I closed the book and it was over. Most of the time I was loving every second and actually had to cover the pages so that I couldn't see what was happening next because I was so desperate to know what Sarah Prine had in store for her.

The book starts in 1881 as Sarah is 17 years old and her family decides to move from Arizona to Texas. Along the way there are problems, deaths, sicknesses, and sadness and in the end they head back with a wagon company to Arizona.

The book is written in diary form. It starts off very rough as Sarah doesn't know how to write very well but after a while she is taught some more about writing and reading and has a deep love for learning.

I haven't vested as much interest in a relationship other than my own since Twilight. I love the Twilight series but I must say Edward Cullen doesn't hold a candle to Jack Elliot and is not fit to lick the dust off his boots.

I really liked Sarah's character and it validated me in many ways. I have often felt the way Sarah does about myself (I'm not as righteous and good as some, but perhaps it is my feisty personality that makes Adam love me).

The book was so good that I found myself going back to passages I loved and re-reading them before I had ever completed the book. There was one part I read three times over and another that I read about six times with tears pouring down. Although I have finished with the book I am going to purchase a copy of it and re-read it this summer.

I would recommend this book to anyone (but especially women because I think they can relate more). Of the five books I've read so far in 2010 this one has a sense of hope and goodness rather than doom and gloom. Adam got a kick out of me laughing and gasping in shock and reading humorous parts out loud to him and giggling at the scandal.

Adam ordered me 11 new books that haven't come yet and I'm feeling a little lost as to what I should read at the moment but I have one that I guess I could listen to :)

Book Review:The Road

"Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. What if it [the gun] doesn't fire? It has to fire. Could you crush that beloved scull with a rock? Hold him in your arms. Just so. The soul is quick. Pull him towards you. Kiss him. Quickly." Pg 96

These are the thoughts of The Man as his son lay sleeping in his arms. They are faced with cannibalistic humans hunting them and in this moment he is wondering when the time comes if he has it in him to kill his son in any way possible to protect him.

The Road follows an unnamed father and son journeying together toward the sea across a post-apocalyptic landscape, some years after a great, unexplained cataclysm has destroyed civilization and almost all life on Earth. The setting is extremely bleak; the sun is obscured by a layer of ash so thick that the pair must breathe through masks, and the land seems devoid of any living plants or animals (The Man talks about the extinction of cows). The surviving remnants of civilization have been largely reduced to cannibalistic tribalism, or nomadic scavenging of metropolitan detritus that is almost entirely depleted. Realizing that they will not survive another winter in their present location, the father leads them through this desolate landscape towards the sea, sustained by a vague hope of finding other "good people" like them.

Adam read this book and it became his second favorite of all time (second to Jose Saramago's Blindness). For 6 months he has been begging me to read it promising that I will love it. I will say it wasn't the most cheery read of my life...but it certainly had me turning the pages. Some parts were so intense that I had a hard time reading with my back to the door and found myself in a corner just so I wouldn't have any (cannibalistic) surprises awaiting me.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters but when The Man and The Boy (names are obsolete in their world) have conversations you feel for The Man only wanting to do right by his son.

Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie

"In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well."

I'm about ten years behind in reading this book but it was fabulous. I found myself drawn to the story and found myself growing from the insight of the dying man. I won't say much about this book as much has already been said and written. This book was suggested to me by my mom. The synopsis is: (if you've been living under a rock and never heard of it) A young man hears about the impending death of his favorite college professor Morrie Shwartz from ALS. He decides to go visit him one last time and while he is there he gets suckered into coming again the next week until he is flying to Boston from Detroit EVERY TUESDAY to see him and learn from him. It is a true story and I've since watched several youtube videos of Morrie on nightline.

The thing that I found most interesting is that Morrie was so dependent on everyone and wasn't ashamed. Many times in life when I have been faced with a difficulty I struggle to ask for help and even if help is offered I struggle still. I don't want to show vulnerability or put people out. I have decided I need to reconcile with my struggle and learn to let people serve me. Morrie said we need to "have compassion and take responsibility for each other."

I think because Morrie was full of wisdom the best way to talk about the book is to share some of my favorite quotes:

"What's wrong with being number two?"

"Death ends a life, not a relationship."

"...if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down on you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone."

"Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness."

"Aging is not just decay...It's growth."

"Don't let go too soon but, but don't hang on too long."

"The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family."

"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

***So this is a little bonus review for the week as I have already written my review on "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy which will be published tomorrow. I was lucky enough to travel to California for a quick visit with Rosalie and on the way I listened to the book on CD. It was read by the author which I think made it all the more interesting***