No More Negativity

I’m beginning to realize just how destructive negative thinking and speaking can be.

It does no good to complain about things that I cannot change.

It is not good behavior to sit around and dream about what the future could be while complaining about the present. I know that when I do that I am missing important things that are happening right now and I am taking blessings for granted. In short, I am being very ungrateful.

Who does it help if I bash my appearance? Does it really matter if I’m the most beautiful girl in the world? Because I am not. And it doesn’t matter because my husband thinks I am beautiful and I need to be ok with the way I look. It is destructive to myself and those around me when I constantly complain about being “fat and ugly.”

Is it ok for me to dwell on the more unpleasant parts of life instead of being thankful for things that I have? Is it ok for me to (even quietly) indulge in self pity? Is it ok for me to break an important commandment (thou shalt not covet) and compare the things that others have to things that I want to have? None of these things are ok. There is no place for that kind of behavior.

Does it set a good example for my children if I call myself stupid or a failure whenever I make mistakes? Especially things that don’t really matter, like messing up dinner or spilling half a bag of rice. Does that make me stupid? No. But my children will think that it is ok to talk about themselves (and others) that way. They may also think that they are stupid whenever they make a mistake.

Is it right for my children to hear me say that I’m a bad mother whenever I get discouraged? Absolutely not. It’s not even ok for me to think it. I saw something on pinterest the other day that said “Bad moments do not make bad mothers” and I really liked that. Everyone makes mistakes. I have to remind myself that I am still learning and that I’m doing the best that I can. I know for certain the my kids love me and I know that I am doing my best to teach them the gospel and make a good home environment for them to live in. Negative attitudes do not make good environments.

And I’m not bashing on myself right now. :) I’m just making a very firm goal to get rid of the negativity. I made this goal several days ago and I already feel like a much happier person. I’m not saying I won’t relapse or have bad days but I really think that I can make it a habit to be positive instead.

No post is quite complete without pictures so here are some things to think positively about. :)

Piano playing and cute Dean sleeping on his dad.

The boys liked this rose Matt got me for V-Day.

Me and Brennen baking V-Day cookies.

Dean in the dryer and on the playground.

Cute boys. :)

My 28th birthday. It seems like the older I get the faster time goes by!

 

The Many Faces of Brennen

I thought Brennen looked especially handsome after church yesterday so I tried to get him to stand still and smile for a picture…

I got one!

He always likes looking at the pictures after I take them but he just kept going last night. He’d make a funny face then run back to me to see it and did it over and over. So here are all his faces. :)

 

My Little Lifesavers

Brennen
He’s in a fun stage right now. He’s a little over 2 1/2 (technically he’s just about 32 months but I don’t keep track of his months anymore!) He was kind of a difficult baby but now he obeys us (most of the time…) and is really fun to be around! And he’s potty trained so at the moment there’s not a lot of stress. :) Here are some fun things he does now.

• He always turns around in bed. I’ll tuck him in all nice but when I check on him before I go to bed he’s always turned around with his head where his feet should be, on top of his covers, with his pillow on top of him.
• He climbs up to the very top of my treadmill.
• He climbs into Deans crib to play every morning.
• He “reads” books by himself. He’s not actually reading but he remembers what each page says and recites them from memory all on his own. I love it. :)
• He loves building with his legos and other blocks.
• He LOVES vegetables and fruits. Both of my boys will eat practically anything so that’s way nice!
• He was NOT a cuddly baby but now he loves to cuddle. He climbs in bed with me every morning and will often climb into my lap and give me big hugs and say “I love you, Mom.” SO sweet!

This kid started talking very early. At age one he was saying: dad, uh oh, juice, and thank you. I remember the day we got our Christmas tree in 2011 Matt and I were trying to figure out all the words he had in his vocabulary and we lost count. He was not quite 18 months then. And his voice has always been so clear and clean and he’s very easy for anyone to understand. Always has been. 
Anyway, I’m going to try to list some of the funnier things he’s said in the past year or so. There’s no way I can remember them all. Some may be border line inappropriate… but really funny! And I swear I’m not making this stuff up. How could I? :)

• We were in the car and it was dark so he said, “The sun is sleeping. Have to be quiet.”
• He was giving me a hug and suddenly grabbed my chest and said, “These are eggs!”
• He pooped his pants (at the very beginnings of potty training) and so I put him on the toilet while I was washing out his undies and he put his hands over his face and said “I just cannot handle this.”
• Right after Dean was born he narrated everything. “Baby Dean sleeping. Baby Dean hungry. Baby Dean crying.” and etc.
• When he could barely talk he’d go around crying, “Juice! Juice!” Now he says, “MOM! I need some more juice-UH!!!!”
• He sings several entire songs on pitch! He always sings to Dean whenever he’s upset.
• Whenever he sees anyone wearing a cowboys shirt (or just anything brown) he says, “I love your nice cowboy shirt!”
• Whenever someone cries he says, “It’s okay! It’s okay! It’s okay!” over and over very quickly. This started about the time Dean was born.
• He understands words like: behind, under, on top. And uses them appropriately.
• He was pretending to teach a piano lesson and I heard him yell, “Key signature! The KEY signature!!!!” (I’m pretty sure I don’t sound quite that angry with my students when they miss an F#…)
• He sings along to songs on the radio and the other day he randomly started singing “I got da moves like JAGGA!” oops…
• And just today I heard him singing, “Here’s my numba, ca-call me bayBA!” (I don’t really like either of those songs, they just happen to be on the radio in the car I guess…)
• Last night he looked at Brad and said, “Brad! Where ya been, bud?”
• My mom taught him a game where she says “Give me that face!” and when he does she’ll kiss him and then he wipes it off. It’s really cute. :) So now he’ll go around saying “Gimme dat face!” and wipes off my kisses then says, “Grandma teaches me to be funny. HA HA!”

He says WAY more smart and funny things but of course I can’t think of them when I want to! I’ll probably insert more “Brennen-isms” in future posts.

Dean
He turned 10 months about a week ago. I’ll just list a couple things since not much has changed about him since my last post. :)

• He can stand alone for several seconds and when he wants to get down he just slowly lowers himself.
• He still wakes up at least 3 times a night.
• We give him a lot of table food (the kids has 8 teeth) and he loves everything he’s tried.
• He still loves unplugging everything.
• He can reach the piano and plays it while I’m trying to (it’s electric so he also likes to unplug it…)
• He climbs onto everything! He can get onto the couch by himself. Oh boy… :)
• He crawls around SO quickly and bats things out of his way as he goes.
• He laughs and “talks” ALL the time! Actually, his talking is more like happily screeching words.
• He’s starting to retaliate to Brennen. If he gets pushed he’ll push back. He also tries to bite Brennen if he tries to do anything to him. :)
• He’s started to throw fits. He’ll get up on his knees and bounce around a couple times and then fall backward and burry his face into the floor and cry. It’s actually really cute. :)

I appreciate and love these boys even more when I go to work and then come back. :) I realize how much they mean to me and that I would do anything for them! They bring so much joy into my life. I don’t even know how I lived without them before!