Today's Moment

#1 woke up with hair like this. I'm really not looking forward to brushing it out. Tonight we are getting together with friends to watch Wheel of Fortune. One of our friends is going to be on it tonight!

This is mostly pointless.

Big Girl

We had a birthday last week!  #1 turned 2 years old!

Sadly she was sick on her birthday.  We got her a new birthday dress to wear to church, and instead she stayed in her pajamas.

The day before her birthday we went to the zoo.  She is such a fan of the "Amnuls!"  Some of her favorites are the "Pengnnnns"  I didn't take many pictures, cause I was having fun with kids instead, but here is one.

I'm pretty sure I had the cutest girls at the zoo. 

Some of our friends joined us, and they are pretty lucky.  We saw a lot of animals being fed.  They knew all of the right questions to ask, so we were able to learn a lot.  Let's be honest, #1 didn't love that, cause she didn't care, but we found it interesting!

And here she is right before church today.  Man I love this girl. 

Or, if you would rather see her as she travels... You will be impressed by her great style. ;)

A few facts about my two year old.  Her blanket is a girl.  It is a pink blanket she got from one of her great aunts.  It's name is Dee Dee.  All other blankets are "nkets".  I don't know why her favorite has a special name.  Oh, and sometimes Dee Dee is bad.  She was scolded the other day and put in time out.  (Yeah, that happens to #1 too.)

She recently named her pillow.  His name is Charlie.  And yes it is a boy.  I don't know why his name is Charlie.  All other pillows are "Lloowws".  This silly girl.

Oh, and one more story.  About 5 moths ago I taught #1 how to snore when she is "sleeping".  Then when I do it, she says wake up!  And I wake up.  We did that for a week, and then I forgot about it.  At night when we say prayers we always say "help me to sleep through the night."  This is a struggle.  She used to repeat night.  Now instead she fake snores.  It is really hard not to laugh.

When we ride in my car, the girls are on opposite sides.  However, my car needed new breaks.  So, for a week, we used Hod's car.  Here the girls actually fit next to each other.  I wasn't sure how it would go, and sometimes it was less than pleasant.  (#1 liked to put her shoes on #2's face.)  But on Wednesday as I was driving home from dropping Hod off at work I heard giggling coming from the back seat.  They were holding hands and laughing at each other.  How cute is that!?!

I was in charge of my ward Halloween party.  As a result, I didn't get any pictures.  I feel like a slacker.  #1 was a princess.  I was a friendly witch.  A few nights later we went to a Halloween party, and I got a picture of Hod and #2.  They were Waldo and his kid sister Wanda.

#1 was not a princess that night because she couldn't play in her fancy dress.  I was not a friendly witch because I couldn't get down on the floor in my fancy outfit.  So we didn't actually look dressed up.  We were Annie and June from Little Einsteins.  I should have taken a picture.  But it is easy to repeat, so maybe I'll take a shot later and put it up.

Oh, and not to ruin any diets, but did you know this exists? You're welcome. Or sorry. Whichever you prefer.

Regrets

Sunday night after the girls went to bed, I was sitting with Hod enjoying the quiet.  I had the thought that maybe I should paint my toenails.  But I was feeling lazy.  So I didn't.  This fit perfectly with my thoughts in the shower that morning about shaving my legs.  Lazy won then too.

I regret it.

Yesterday I was rushing #1 out into the main room.  She had stolen a toy from #2, and that is not ok.  I was holding both of her hands, doing an awkward waddle (cause she was walking between my feet) moving as quickly as possible.  It was not supposed a fun leisurely walk, she was being disciplined.  We just moved, and I don't have a perfect knowledge of where the walls are yet.  I mean, I can look at them, but you know how when you get comfortable you don't have to look at the walls to avoid running into them?  I'm not there yet.

As I rushed into the main room I hit the corner of the hallway.  And I hit it hard.  It threw me off balance and I accidentally pushed #1 to the floor as I started to fall.  As she hit the ground I could see a small area of ground that I could hit to avoid landing on my child.  I twisted and managed to avoid crushing her.  I hit the ground with a yell.  I was hurting.  #1 was crying because she fell and I had startled her.  #2 was screaming because I scared the daylights out of her when I yelled.  I was rolling on the floor in more pain than I remember being in for a long time.  I managed to crawl over to #1 and help her, and then crawled over the #2 to comfort her.

I texted Hod and told him I had broken my toe.  But then I had to be a mom, so I started walking.  What else could I do?  After a brief conversation I convinced Hod that I had over reacted and that I was going to be fine.  He convinced me to send him a picture of my foot.  I was trying not to look at it because it made me cry.  I'm kind of a baby.  Anyway, this is the picture I sent him.

This may not look too bad to you.  However, my second toe used to touch my big toe.  And that knuckle is super swollen.

I should have painted my toenails.

Later that night I decided we should probably go to Instacare.  I know that for toes they don't normally do much but tape it.  But it was so crooked I didn't want it to heal that way.  We went and they sent us down for x-rays.  I don't have a copy of my x-rays, but let me illustrate what it looked like for you.

See that pretty dark red line?  That is my break.  All the way through.

That is not what I expected.  

The entire time at Instacare I kept thinking, I really should have shaved my legs.  And painted my toenails.

Anyway, I'm pretty lucky.  I'm really not in much pain, and now I get to wear one of those super stylish boots for the next week!

Luckily Hod has today and tomorrow off so I can start to get used to being a mom with this awesome boot!

Life is always exciting at our house.

I really should have painted my toenails.  And shaved my legs.

Success

She rolled over! Finally!

Now she is crying on her stomach. I better go help her.

These Hips Don't Lie!

Today we had an appointment with #2's doctor about her hips.  We don't have to do surgery!!  We are still going to continue OMT, and we are going to start physical therapy, but we don't have to do surgery!!  I am so crazy excited.

 To better illustrate this, here are some pictures.  I don't have really amazing pictures of the before, because I didn't realize what was going on.  So here are a few, and they are both old ones!  I didn't realize how long this had been a problem.

 If you look closely, you can see that her left leg is kind of at a funny angle.  At the time I just thought, yeah, she is a baby, they sit funny.  However, I didn't notice that her left leg was ALWAYS up like that and much higher than her right leg.  As a result, her left leg grew faster to compensate, making her left leg 1/2" longer than her right.

Here is another before.  At the time I just thought it was super cute that she would sleep while holding her foot.  But it wasn't really normal that her leg was always up so high.  The problems were more obvious while she was relaxed and sleeping.

 This is her leg after her first OMT appointment.  I mean, could you see a bigger difference?

This is her at her appointment today.  Look, she can sit up!

Oh, and a great bonus to all of this is, with the OMT helping realign her hips, and because we found this problem so early, her right leg has caught up!  Just like her left leg grew more because her hips were tilted, and as they straightened out, her right leg grew more to even out. 

She still can't roll over, and she doesn't seem close to crawling at all, but surgery is no longer in our plan!  So excited for this little girl!

Little Vacation

Hod was able to get a week off work.  I've been missing family, so we decided to drive to see the family we have that lives the closest.  We had a wonderful time!  My girls were able to spend some time with some of their cousins, and they loved them!  I didn't take a lot of pictures, I was too busy playing, but I think the few I did take were winners!

 #1 playing with her cousin.  This was a fun moment for me because #1 is just getting so she wants to play with people and not just next to them.  Look how cute they are!

 Cute Cousin licking off the beater after we made sugar cookies.  (And I like the handsome man licking a beater in the background.)

We went to a cathedral and it was beautiful!  The girls were really pretty good while we walked around.  This part was #1's favorite, because I actually let her get down and climb on the benches.

A beautiful quote outside of the cathedral.

Sadly I didn't get any pictures with the older cousins who my girls were also big fans of.  Over all it was such a great week!  Thanks for putting us up, L4!

And this is totally random, but last Sunday at church we had our primary program.  They sang all of the verses to Follow the Prophet.  Turns out #1 loves it.  She became quite the distraction as she danced along.  I thought you all may like to see it.  Cause she is stinkin' cute.

And we can't leave out #2!  She is such a sweet girl.  We are still doing OMT on her hips, but she is making great progress.  Next week we will find out if we need to meet with a surgeon.  But through it all she keeps smiling!  Oh, and she FINALLY cut her first two teeth!  So happy for her!

Ladies, Get Over Yourselves

I don't live in Utah.  I used to, but I moved about a year ago.  Sometimes I rely on social media to let me know of the big happenings going on there.  And I recently learned about something that makes my blood boil.  Seriously.  This ticks me off.

http://fox13now.com/2013/08/30/group-of-mormon-feminists-push-to-be-part-of-priesthood-meeting-at-general-conference/


ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!

Ok, so I'll admit, I like some things about the equal rights for woman movement.  I totally believe that women should be able to vote.  Women should be paid the same wages for their work.  It is true that in many situations a woman has to be better at something than her male counterparts to be considered equal.  I experienced that when I was in High School and in College.  It may seem like a silly example to you, but when I was in school, I was a drummer.  In some areas, this has changed, but often girl drummers are not the norm.  I remember a specific example where we were practicing a cadence that my male section leader had written.  He told me it was difficult.  As we were sight reading it, right as we came to the "difficult" part, he stopped everyone.  I was a punk, and I kept going.  The look of shock on his face when he saw that I could play this part was hilarious.  He couldn't even play it.  He figured he would have to water it down to make it playable for me.  HA!  This particular gentleman had been less than kind to me, voicing his opinion that girls aren't meant to play drums.  I knew he thought less of me and my skills because I was female.  Once I showed him that I was actually better than he was, he started treating me with respect.  That entire situation was just wrong!

But the Church is NOT treating woman without respect!  Men who truly honor the Priesthood treat woman as more than their equals.  I DO NOT need to be ordained to the Priesthood to be equal to a man.  And, lets think about this really... Can a man use the Priesthood to bless himself?  No.  So, as a woman, when I already give all of myself to my family, teaching them, trying to care for them, often sacrificing myself... why in the world would I want another responsibility?  Why give me something else that adds pressure, that doesn't even benefit me?  Some people may be saying, "But, Paily, having the Priesthood totally benefits the man!  They have an extra measure of the Spirit when they exercise the Priesthood power."  Heavenly Father is not sexist.  Yes, he gave the men a job that woman don't have.  They are not entitled to extra spiritual experiences because of it!  A loving Heavenly Father will never limit my ability to feel the Holy Ghost.  Only I can do that.

It is interesting to note, that the article mentions that in factions of the LDS church woman have the Priesthood.  I'm sorry, but if you are looking at people that fell away from the Church as an example of what the body of the Church should be doing... You are probably looking at in the wrong place.  Don't you think if they were doing everything right that they would be part of us?

And, let's not forget, Woman can fight for equality all they want, but we will NEVER be the same as Men.  Men will never be the same as Women.

Honestly, not having the Priesthood has done a lot for me.  It has greatly benefited my marriage.  I was 26 when I got married.  I had been living basically on my own for years.  I was working to provide for myself, taking care of myself, and doing anything I wanted to do.  When I met and married my sweet Hod, those attitudes didn't change.  He often felt like I didn't need him.  Men want to feel needed, just as Women do.  He realized that I had more education than he did, I could get a better paying job, I was used to doing it all.  There was one thing I couldn't do for myself.  And that was anything that involved the Priesthood.  Having something that I had to go to him for strengthened our relationship.

Men and Woman are meant to be equal partners.  We are both needed.  If I too held the Priesthood, then I would need my husband for little more than his ability to get me pregnant.  (Sorry if it is crude, but it is true.)  Most woman who have had children will tell you that there is something so sacred about the experience.  Yes, it hurts and is agonizing at the same time, but during and right after the births of my two girls I have never felt closer to God.  Is God sexist because he has allowed me to experience this, and he doesn't let men?  NO!  I am not saying that childbirth is equal to the Priesthood.  What I am saying is, we have different jobs.  We have different responsibilities.  That does not make us less than equal.

I lived in Western New York for 18 months.  During that time I was able to attend the Hill Cummorah Pageant.  This is a commonly protested event.  People that think they know better stand there and try to get things to change.  My first year going to the pageant we parked across the street from the pageant.  We had to walk through all of the protesters to get there.  I will always remember the feeling of confusion and anxiety I felt walking through them.  But then, as I was able to walk onto dedicated ground, I was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.  It left no question in my mind of the truth.  Protesting is not the way of the Lord.  Maybe if you are looking for the Lord to change, you should change.  Remember Jonah in the Bible?  The Lord asked him to do something, and thinking he knew better he did what he wanted.  That didn't work out to well for him, did it?

One last question for those who think Women need the Priesthood.  Why do they need it?  I understand some woman want it, but do they NEED it?  We need to learn to differentiate between our wants and needs.  I often think I know what I need.  Thankfully Heavenly Father doesn't listen to me, and instead gives me what I really need.

If you have questions, take it to the Lord.  But don't throw a fit trying to get your own way.

A Word of Caution To This Tale

#1 loves to play with my phone.   I let her sometimes.  She really enjoys texting.  Most often she texts her dad, because I'm texting him most of the day.  She pokes at the keyboard for a while and makes random non-words.  It makes her happy, and we like that.

However,  it appears that she has figured out how to add words to my phone's dictionary.  Not a huge deal, but I text by Swiping.  I run my finger over the letters and all sorts of gibberish pops up now.

So, when you get random words from me (Like now my phone always tries to say "sui" for "so") just know that is a bit of love from #1.