Gotta LOVE this girl!

Here are some of my favorite Mariah photos from the past month. She is growing so fast, and is so adorable. Gotta love this girl!

My Valentine

For awhile now, I've been wanting to brag on my husband a little on my blog. I figure right now is a great time since Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I even changed my blog header to my favorite scrapbook page, "My Best Friend, My Love."

Our story began about a year and a half before we actually met. I was coaching a volleyball camp with his sister, Angela (who I coach with now at MVHS). During our lunch break one day, she pulled a picture of a really cute guy out of her wallet and said, "This is my brother, Tony. You two should go on a date when he gets home from his mission." I shrugged it off, of course. People say things like that all the time, but nothing ever comes of it. I really never thought about it again.

Then, when Tony got home from his mission, EVERYBODY tried to line him up with somebody they knew. He started getting a little frustrated with everybody trying to "hook him up." Thankfully, Angela knew that. All she said to him was, "I've got a girl for you to marry. She's in Laramie. Maybe you'll find her." She didn't tell him who I was.

We first met about a month or so after he started school at UW. I was a junior then, and since I had only had 3 or 4 dates in two years there, I really wasn't figuring I'd be meeting the man of my dreams anytime soon, and had decided I'd be at least 25 before I got married. I was okay with that. I was sitting in church one Sunday, and a really cute guy walked into sacrament meeting with a friend. I instantly remembered Angela's photo as well as his name, Tony.

We saw each other at FHE and at the institute a few times that fall, but that was it. Finally, the last week of the semester, he asked me on a date. It didn't take long at all for me to fall in love with him, but I was pretty scared of getting my heart broken. I didn't really think that someone so PERFECT could actually fall in love with me. But apparently, miracles do happen. We were engaged by April and married July 18, 2002.

Now, seven years and three kids after first falling in love with Tony, I love him even more. He is the most patient, kind, caring, and sincere person I know. He makes me want to be better every day. He is the most helpful husband I've ever seen. In fact, he stepped in and cooked dinner tonight while I was busy unloading groceries, and he does this A LOT! He is such a good listener, and I feel like I can share anything with him without being judged. He tells me I'm beautiful every day. He leaves little love notes around the house that I'll find during my day. Those always put a smile on my face. He's a wonderful dad. He's the type of person that everybody likes. What's not to like about him? Every time somebody I know gets married, I think to myself, "Good for you. Hopefully you got the second best man in the world, since the best is already taken."

The past seven years have been the best years of my life, and I look forward to many, many more amazing moments, thanks to my valentine, Tony Micheli.

Tony, I love you.

A Little More Positive . . .

As I've read over my last entry, I feel a little like a negative critic. So, lest any of you think that is actually true, let me share THREE books that I feel are well worth the read, and that I have actually taken a wealth of advice from to improve three areas of my life: my personal improvement, my relationship with my husband, and my parenting.

This book is written for teens, and there is just a regular 7 Habits book you can buy for adults, but I prefer this version. It is shorter and easier to read and you get the idea just the same. My whole outlook changed a couple years ago as I took a workshop from my sister-in-law on the Habits, then set specific goals. The most profound changes came as I decided to be more Proactive and Put First Things First, two of the habits taught in the book.

This is an amazing book that has helped me understand myself and my husband so much better. In understanding the different ways we feel love, we have been better able to show love to each other in a way that the other will understand--speaking THEIR love language. I think this is a MUST-READ for any married couple. It has also helped me with my relationships with other people I love as well.

Finally, my absolute favorite parenting book I've read. Most parenting books are written for parents of average children. However, Connor (and even Mylie in some ways) aren't exactly average. They have been MORE intense, MORE persistent, and just MORE in general than a lot of other kids I've been around. This book is written about them, and how I can embrace their personalities and try to just channel their personality traits, not crush them. I don't know if that makes any sense, but if you're looking for answers for your one child that is just a little MORE challenging than the others, this book may be for you, too.

P.S. Totally changing direction here, I've had a little fun the past couple days digital scrapbooking. I LOVE this new, mess-free way I've found to display my photos in fun ways. I will NEVER go back to the old paper, scissors, and glue scrapbooking method that I hated anyway, but did out of some sort of sense of duty. Here are a few of my favorite pages I did yesterday. (If you keep up on my blog, you've already seen most of these pics, but oh well.)

Raising Babies

So, for about 5.3333 years, I have been interested in the topic of raising babies. There is SOOOO much info out there that a mother has at her disposal, as well as plenty of unsolicited advice that every young mother would love to dispose of. In my search for baby raisin' know-how, I came upon this awesome book at a flea market several years ago. It's titled OUR BABIES: Their Feeding, Care, and Training. It was first published in 1925, although my version is copyright 1947. It's amazing how the baby raising methods and advice have changed over the years. For example . . .

"Giving the new-born baby enough water, especially during the first days, is very important. Some doctors believe it advisable to give the baby boiled, lukewarm water as soon after birth as possible . . . For about the first four or five days, while the baby is not getting much milk from the breast, he is, as a rule, offered as much lukewarm, boiled water as he will drink just after he has nursed. After this time, the healthy baby is usually offered drinking water between feedings only, several times each day, but he need not be awakened to give him the water." Have you ever heard of this?!?

Further, "As soon after birth as the mother and baby are rested, the average, healthy baby is put to the mother's breast. This is often FROM 12 to 24 HOURS after birth, although some doctors may advise that the baby be nursed as early as eight hours after birth." EIGHT HOURS AFTER BIRTH?!?

While on the topic of breastfeeding, it states, "Nursing a baby will not cause a mother to become fat, nor will is cause her breasts to become FLABBY." I beg to differ on the flabby part.

Here's an interesting FACT: "All babies, beginning when they are about two to four weeks old, in order to grow and keep healthy, should have certain kinds of foods in addition to milk, which are rich in the necessary vitamins not found in milk." Perhaps they need more vitamins to compensate for the milk they DON'T drink since their belly is full of water!?!

There is also some interesting information about TEACHING THE BABY TO ACT PROPERLY. For instance, "When parents go out in the evening to visit or to go to motion pictures or on automobile rides, the baby should not be taken along, as this interferes with his regular habits." And "When the baby is about three or four months old, the parents may pick him up for a few minutes at a time several times a day and play with him . . . The young baby should play much of the time by himself . . . The mother may watch the baby from an adjoining room where she cannot be seen by him."

Finally, my favorite topic, The Baby's Bowel and Bladder Habits. "The mother may start to train the baby when she finds that he is beginning to have his bowel movements at regular times. This usually happens when he is about three months old." Here's how you do it: "Place him on a small, clean, warm pot, in a comfortable sitting position, each day when his bowels are expected to move. Have a pot which is large enough for the baby's buttocks to fit well down into it. Hold the pot in the lap, with the baby's back held firmly against the chest, with one arm across the baby's chest and the hand under his armpit. Steady the pot with the other hand. Keep the baby on the pot until his bowels move, but not longer than ten minutes each time, at about the same times every day." Pretty simple, huh? Oh, but don't worry too much because, "Some babies cannot be trained to have their bowel movements on the pot, toilet seat, or nursery chair as easily as other babies can. So, the mother should not become worried or over-anxious if her baby does not take to bowel training as quickly as she thinks he should." Phew!

So Blessed

This past week has been full of "blessings." Here's the first. Mariah Kristine Micheli was given a name and a blessing on New Year's Day by her father. Her cousin, Jace, was blessed on the same day. Tony and I felt very blessed to have my entire family there, and his entire family there as well (minus Frank, who's on a mission). It was a wonderful day. Here are the pics.

I'm lovin' these smiles!

Mariah's not so happy here, but her dress looks beautiful. Patty, Tony's mother, made it. Thanks a ton!

Here's my entire family--up to 17 now!

The next day, I headed to Cokeville to spend a little more time with my family. I have been blessed with two adorable nephews, Tel and Kimball (thanks to Tami and Casey), and a wonderful new brother-in-law, Austin (thanks to Vi). I am SO blessed!

Connor and Mylie wanted to wear corsages, too. Aren't they adorable?!?

All five of my parents' grandchildren.

Our New Christmas Tradition

I've been wanting to do a Christmas post all week, but have had trouble deciding just WHAT to write about and WHICH pictures to share. I didn't want to bore anybody with the endless pictures of kids unwrapping gifts or holding up their newly-acquired toy (which-let's be honest-look EXACTLY like the pictures you took Christmas morning, just subsitite a different child and a different gift.) I was actually kind of bored looking through these photos, and they were of MY kids!!! So, instead, I'll share something we did before Christmas, which we have decided will definitely become a Christmas tradition for our family.

This was our first Christmas spent in our own home with just our kids, and we set out at the beginning of December wanting to create some traditions that were just our family's. We decided we wanted to go to Temple Square and see the lights, and after some more talk, we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. So we got a hotel downtown using priceline.com (I would definitely recommend this, as we got a really nice room at the Sheraton for only $35! I should get a free room for this kind of advertising, don't you think?) We checked in around 4:00 in the afternoon and explored the hotel while the kids kept ogling over everything and how fancy and nice it all was. I think they would have been satisfied with the trip if all we did was stay in the hotel! Around 5:00, we headed to the Mayan for dinner. For those of you who have never eaten there, you've got to take your kids! It was SO much fun. The restaurant is decorated to make you feel like you're eating your dinner in a rainforest. And every half hour, they have a show with cliff divers dressed like ancient jungle people. The kids (and I, I'll admit) loved it! Next, back to the hotel to park the van, pull out the stroller and walk the six blocks to Temple Square. The temple and the lights were beautiful, and it was a nice night, so nobody got too cold. Then back to the hotel to play in the hot tub, since --bummer--they only had an outdoor pool there. While at the hot tub, a nice old man that worked at the hotel came in and started talking to the kids. He then pulled some balloons out of his fanny-pack and tied them each a balloon animal. Then up to the room to go to bed. The next morning, we just slept in, ate the breakfast we had packed and headed home. It was so much fun! We plan to do it just the same next year, with one addition. I was bothered by the two men that asked us for money and the fact that we turned them down, not having any idea what their situation might be or how badly they may have needed it. I think next year, we can help our kids learn to think of others by baking bread together before we go down, then loading it in the bottom of the stroller and walking around the outside of temple square distributing it to those in need before we go and enjoy the lights. I think this one addition will really make this new family tradition complete!

Connor and Mylie at the Mayan. They thought it was SO cool, but didn't touch their food. Note to self: Only buy one plate of food for the kids next year and let them share.

The temple looked so beautiful all lit up!

Since Mariah slept through most of our family outing, we didn't get any pics of her. So, I thought I'd just throw this one in for fun. Here she is looking adorable on Christmas Eve.

Parents in Training

So, today my kids have been trying out parenting . . . first on me, then on some of their dolls. Here's how it's gone.

Connor hit Mylie this morning, and I sent him to timeout. On the way, he reminded me (for about the hundredth time) about the time a couple weeks ago when I lost my temper with him, and that I still had not served a timeout for that offense. So, thinking that maybe he'll be able to forgive and forget if I just serve my sentence, I agreed. He then proceeded to tell my that since he and Mylie had to do the number of minutes of their age, that I had to do the same--a 28-minute timeout. I started to protest, arguing that there was no way he would leave me alone in my room for that long. And surely Mylie wouldn't. He then promised me that if I did my timeout, he would leave me alone and if Mylie needed anything, he would help her. Now, this timeout idea started to sound pretty good. Maybe I really could use a timeout. I began dreaming of just lying there on my bed for a full 28 minutes, maybe reading my book or even falling asleep for a quick nap. But, just as I had imagined, after about five minutes, Connor came to inform me that he was going downstairs to do his basketball work. Immediately after that, Mylie came in asking for a drink. Timeout was over. Although this one didn't work out as well as I had starting hoping it would, I still might try this again sometime. Connor will think he is in charge, and maybe I can get a little peace and quiet. . . maybe a whole 28 minutes!

Now, I have been getting a kick out of the kids' last half hour or so of playing. They are playing babies, and are doing a great job of mimicking what they've been seeing for the last five weeks. Here's Mylie feeding the baby.

Connor, of course, can't feed babies (at least not in the way Mylie likes to do it), so he is burping each one after Mylie finishes feeding.

Finally, here's a picture of them taking the babies to their new apartment. Notice the safety, with each one buckled in her "car seat."

They're doing their best, but have already interrupted my blogging session about five times with, "Neighbor, we need some help with . . . (buckling, unbluckling, diapering, etc.) Was anybody else tempted to do this exact same thing as first-time parents?

And now my baby is crying, so off I go for some more mothering, and mentoring these young future parents, I guess.