About time!

I figure since I'm home alone with Brenden just hanging out until Chris gets home from work, I might as well update our blog a little bit. I'm telling you, unless I'm doing a blog challenge, I'm not super great about keeping it that up-to-date. Good thing I do blog challenges often, right?

We're all doing so great this Holiday season. Its been great to have Brenden around. I'm loving his first Christmas. He is just so dang cute. He's getting so big. Not only is he crawling and getting into everything, but he's starting to balance on his own. He's going to walking in no time. He's been walking along furniture for quite some time, but recently he's been getting pretty brave and letting go.

Being a mommy is great and the best thing happened to me the other day. Brenden has been saying mama for a few weeks now and the other day he's across the room and is just all smiles as he starts to crawl towards me. He's a turbo crawler! And he's crawling towards me says mama mama mama. It just melted my heart. Its so cute.

Next I'm going to get him to say Gran, just to be in good graces with Chris' mom. Not that that's a hard thing to do. She loves me, which is great because I have the best mother-in-law anyone could ask for. And I love when she showers me with gifts. Not to sound spoiled or anything. I love this woman, she is the sweetest, funniest woman I know and I couldn't imagine anyone else in her place. She reminds me of my own mom in some cases, but at the same time she's her own person and brings so much to light. She has taught me so many things in the last two and a half years.

Tonight, I feel like the luckiest girl alive! I've got the best little boy, and the best mother!

Mommyhood

First off, its been a long week with Brenden being sick. Lets just say I have not been able to accomplish much of anything so I feel like a bum. Although yesterday I managed to finish our advent calendar, a scarf, and start on another scarf. I felt pretty accomplished.

I just feel so bad for Brenden. He spent most of yesterday screaming and just not feeling well at all. His naps were definitely at a minimum. He woke up late last night trying to scream, but after screaming all yesterday, he just didn't have any voice to really get anything out. This teething 4 teeth and being sick is just kicking his bum. He's just not really getting any better and now I'm pretty sure his ears are infected. I just don't know what to do for him. Do I take him back into the doctors tomorrow, do I actually fill this new antibiotic prescription, do I wait it out. I just have no idea. But I think we're going to start by filling this prescription and we'll go from there.

Sometime I just wish that I had that awesome mother's intuition where I knew exactly what to do every time a problem cropped up. Am I wrong in thinking that that should be instinctual or is it something that is obtained over time from wisdom and experience. I just don't know, I wish I knew, but I'm glad for the wisdom I've got. I'm glad I know when something is wrong and when its time to take this little guy to the the doctor. Sure, sometimes I take him to the doctor and its really nothing, but for the most part our doctors have validated me and told me exactly what's wrong with him, and that makes me feel great!

I'm grateful to be a mommy to such a great kid that can tell me when something is wrong and is happy even when he's not feeling that great. I love Brenden so much, he brightens my everyday.

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Poor Sick Brenden

As many of you know, Brenden has been sick over the last few days and it sure has been hard on this mommy! I just haven't really been able to get anything done and I am so exhausted! It all started Sunday morning. Brenden had a temperature that was a little high, but we weren't too concerned about it because it was only high by 1 degree and babies temperatures tend to fluctuate. So we just kind of continued on with our day. We knew he had been teething, so we just kind of blamed it on that. We had a relaxing morning with Brenden and had some fun and fed him, and gave him a bath, made him take a nap before we went to church, and life was great.

We got home from church and fed Brenden again, everything still seemed to be fine. Chris and I combined efforts and made us and our friends, Mike and Melanie some dinner. It was yummy. We had some roasted chicken and carrotts, and Mike made us some delicious steak fries. Our last meal! Ha. Well, back to Brenden, we let him go to bed early since on Sundays his nap schedule gets so thrown off with afternoon church.

Then, Monday rolled around and it seemed to get much worse over night. And to add to it, Chris and I started a cleanse on Monday, and as the day droned on, both of us had less and less energy. Suck! I pretty much slept the morning away being sick myself, Chris got home from school early afternoon and I was about to go out and hit a few stores for last minute shopping for our gingerbread night. I decided before I went that I should take Brenden's temperature again. 101.4! Now, that was something to be a little concerned about. So I got on the phone with our doctor's office and we had an appointment in the next 10 minutes. I love how fast our doctor's office is to get us in. Its very important that when I have a sick baby I can count on our doctor's to see us almost immediately.

We went in to the doctor and Brenden's temperature had risen another degree! Yikes! Poor little kiddo. I felt so bad for him. We had him check out, he had a rash, a high fever, onset of a few more ear infection, coughing, sneezing, and 4 teeth coming in at once! I'm so proud to be his mommy. Mostly because he doesn't wine and cry and complain a lot. He's been really clingy and wanting to be held the whole time, but hey, its to be expected, and I LOVE it! I hate that he's so sick and in pain, but I love this little snuggle bug. I just can't get enough of it this week. There really is nothing better than a little snuggler.

Updates!

Life has been keeping us crazy busy lately. Chris has been going to school and working a ton, same ole same ole, right? And me, well between Brenden and Christmas projects I have been having the time of my life staying busy. This last week, I have been able to make so many things. I made a tree skirt, a Christmas quilt, and numerous Christmas presents for family.

The first part of the week I was going back and forth between feeling really awfully sick and just feeling okay. Not fun at all. Especially with Brenden. I was sick on Sunday and felt a little better on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday morning rolled around and I felt so horrible. And for the most part it was just Brenden and I. I set up a heap of blankets on the floor in the living room and just let him go, while I was half way asleep for most of the morning and early afternoon. I started feeling a lot better mid-afternoon and we had our good friends, Mike and Melanie over for Psych. We usually have more people over for our Psych nights, but I just wasn't feeling up to it.

Big news!!! For Black Friday Chris bought me a chest freezer! I have been wanting one for almost 2 years now and I finally got one. We got it for a steel! Its a 7 cubic foot chest freezer, made by GE and we got it for $150. Which if you don't know is pretty dang incredible. For now its being set up in our bedroom until we can find a more permanent spot for it. I really want to put it outside in our storage shed. What needs to happen is for us to organize that closet and put shelves in there so we can fit it in there. Christmas project for my father-in-law maybe? I'm really hoping so. When they come to visit Chris' dad is always looking for projects to work on and we hardly ever have one for him, so this year we've been saving it just for him! I hope he likes it. So back to our chest freezer. Yesterday, Chris and I went grocery shopping to fill it up, and I feel so wonderful. If Rexburg has a blizzard and we get stuck for days, we are set! And, everyone is welcome, seriously. Although, if we lose power that would stink.

Chris and I were able to really decorate for Christmas this week and I am getting so excited! This holiday we get to see all of our family!! Its wonderful. Last year, we were stuck in Rexburg mostly because I was 9 months pregnant with Brenden, but also because Chris couldn't get anytime off. And our families didn't come out because Brenden was going to be here in the next month anyways and they all wanted to come out then. So it was just Chris and I in Rexburg. It was okay, but definitely not ideal. This year will be so much better. I'm excited to see everyone and exchange some awesome gifts.

For now, I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Circumcision

Circumcision is a very controversial subject, so if you're pro-circumcision, it may be wise just not to read this post. It may only produce negative feelings, and that's not what I'm about. Today I'm about expressing my own opinion on how I feel about the issue of circumcision.

As most of you know, Chris and I did not have Brenden circumcised. It was a very hard decision for us to make because we were on opposing sides. Chris was pro-circumcision, mostly because he didn't know the difference. Chris wanted a circumcised baby because he was under the assumption that at least 80 percent of babies today were circumcised. And me, I was totally against circumcision. Once I knew we were having a boy, I started doing a lot of research on the subject. Yes, I know that it was a commandment in the old testament, but so was animal sacrifice. Do we do that anymore? Definitely not! And after doing more and more research I was finding that it was less and less common than we thought. We also found that it was not medically necessary. All of the things we thought were pros for doing it, just weren't true.

Some of the benefits we thought of circumcision were health benefits such as help against infections, help to fight against STD s, and cleanliness. We found the the cleanliness and infection benefits were just a scare tactic. And we had read many articles from personal blogs to news articles to articles from the American Academy of Pediatrics. We were well informed. We also read a lot about the so-called effectiveness of circumcision related to STD's. The U.S. practices doing circumcisions more than any other country, yet we also have the highest rate for STD s. So please tell me, how does being circumcised really help.

When Brenden was born we also found out the medicaid doesn't cover circumcision. Why, you ask? Oh, well because the government has decided that circumcision is cosmetic surgery, so they refuse to pay for it. If circumcision was really all that necessary, why would it be considered cosmetic surgery?

So, here's an article I read today about circumcision. Get Informed!!!

My Body, My Choice: Ban Non-Consensual Circumcision

by Matthew A. Taylor
November 22, 2011

Rabbi Lerner’s defense of infant circumcision (“No to the Proposed Legal Ban on Circumcision”) is filled with holes. One of the holes is in my heart and inscribed on my body.

Credit: Creative Commons/G. J. Charlet III

Like countless men who have been circumcised, I’m angry about what was taken from me. If I could go back in time to the moment before this was done to me, I would use any means necessary to stop it. I wish there’d beena law against it. I’ve spent many nights ruminating in grief. I know other men like me who have sunk into deep depression while wrestling with the pain of this violation.

“Circumcision is a matter of individual choice,” Lernertold the Jewish Week newspaper.

What about my choice? Shouldn’t my right to an intact body matter? Lerner doesn’t address the possibility that a man should have the right to make the choice for himself. Advocates of circumcision evidently believe the feelings of the human who is being cut are irrelevant. Anyone with an open heart who listens to the screams of a baby being circumcised cannot honestly believe that babies want to be circumcised.

While parents have to make tough decisions about many things concerning the health of their children, this is the only routinely made choice that involves an irreversible amputation that is not medically necessary. Why is this one body part of newborns of this one gender OK to forcibly amputate?

Not only is circumcision’s harm permanent, the traumatizing event takes place in early infancy, when the baby is most vulnerable and sensitive to pain. With enough therapy and personal growth work, most forms of verbal, physical, and even sexual abuse can be overcome. But circumcision leaves a man disfigured for life.

Lerner claims, “there is little evidence that circumcised men have less sexual pleasure than uncircumcised men.” In fact, circumcision throughout history has been motivated by a drive to reduce men’s sexual pleasure. In the twelfth century of the Common Era, revered scholar and sage Rabbi Moses Maimonideswrote, “One of the reasons for circumcision is to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ in question, so that this activity be diminished and the organ be in as quiet a state as possible.”

Christian puritans such as Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (co-inventor of the corn flake) promoted circumcisionin the nineteenth century as a means to curb masturbation and reduce male sex drive, which led to its widespread adoption among non-Jews in the United States. Female circumcision was widely practiced in institutional settings in this country until the mid-twentieth century for the same reasons, and is still performed on a limited basis today, despite being illegal.

While circumcision may not reduce a man’s desire to make love to himself, it irrevocably reduces his capacity to experience sexual pleasure. The foreskin is a natural and integral part of a man’s penis, containing tens of thousands of nerve receptors found nowhere else in a man’s genitalia. The foreskin glides up and down on the penis, providing pleasure to both a man and his partner, and keeps the head of the penis moist and sensitive. Many men who have been circumcised as adults report a significant decrease in sexual pleasure.

A recent British Journal of Urology study offered this report:

The glans of the circumcised penis is less sensitive to fine touch than the glans of the uncircumcised penis. The transitional region from the external to the internal prepuce (foreskin) is the most sensitive region of the uncircumcised penis and more sensitive than the most sensitive region of the circumcised penis. Circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis.

But we don’t need studies and medical research to know how much sexual pleasure a foreskin provides. Ask European men. Most of the intact men I’ve spoken to say they enjoy having a foreskin, and they feel lucky to have escaped the circumcision lottery with penis intact.

Imagine there was a surgery performed on babies that removed their capacity to see in color. An entire life spent viewing the world in black-and-white would still be beautiful, but shouldn’t human beings have the right to see in color? Why should anyone have the right to take that away?

Most men who experience sex in shades of gray don’t know what they’re missing. And when the topic is brought up, a lot of men get defensive because it’s difficult in this culture to admit that one’s penis—the center of many men’s definition of manhood—is somehow less than it should be. It’s also hard for men to admit that their loving parents made a poor decision that caused irreparable harm.

Rabbi Lerner repeats many of the myths about circumcision, such as the claim that there’s “some evidence that [men who are circumcised] are less likely to carry some diseases than the uncircumcised.”

In fact, reputable members of the medical community have argued that the studies that show any such benefit are flawed and suffer from selection bias. According to Doctors Opposing Circumcision, all claims that circumcision provides any protective benefit against sexually transmitted diseases, male and female cancers, and urinary tract infection have been disproved. They add that history shows that medical professionals have for decades invented theorized benefits as a rationale to justify the procedure––a solution in search of a problem.

George Denniston, M.D.—a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health associated with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington—writes:

The United States has high rates of HIV and the highest rate of circumcision in the West. The “experiment” of using circumcision to stem HIV infection has been running here for decades. It has failed miserably. Why do countries such as New Zealand, where they abandoned infant circumcision 50 years ago, or European countries, where circumcision is rare, have such low rates of HIV?

Even if circumcision really did lower the rates of STD transmission, shouldn’t educated adults make their own decisions about their sex lives? Condoms and responsible sexual relationships prevent STDs, not circumcision.

Protesters march in an anti-circumcision protest in San Francisco. Credit: Creative Commons/Mik Scheper

No medical organization in the world recommends routine circumcision, and in fact, most Western medical associations recommend against the procedure. For example, the Royal Dutch Medical Association released the world’s most up-to-date national policy statement on circumcision in 2010. Their well-footnotedpolicy recommended that doctors aggressively counsel familiesagainst circumcising due to the “absence of medical benefits and danger of complications.”

Lerner extols the virtues of the Jewish community’s traditional abhorrence of violence against women. But why is violence against men OK? Mainstream Judaism practices a form of patriarchy that holds women and girls as sensitive and vulnerable, while men and boys are emotionless warriors against whom violence is not only permissible, but also necessary.

Lerner refers to allegedly feminist arguments in favor of circumcision, lines of thought that strike me as misandry masquerading as feminism. For example, feminist-identified Rabbi Elyse Goldstein argues that men’s “phallic-centered power” must be decreased in order to teach men to respect and become more like women. “In ‘sacrificing’ a piece of the penis, in uncovering and revealing themselves in their most vulnerable part, in making themselves more like women, men can be made more whole,” Goldstein claims.

From where I sit, arguments like Goldstein’s sound like hate speech. If a man said he needed to cut off part of a woman’s genitals in order to make her “more like a man,” he’d rightly be ostracized. Why do we, as a progressive community, let this kind of dehumanization of men go unchallenged? Yes, male violence against women is a huge social problem and must be addressed. Inflicting irreversible harm onto our innocent sons’ genitals is not the answer.

Which part of your daughter’s body would you cut off to prevent a disease? Which part of her genitals would you cut off because you believe that God commanded you to do so? Well if you wouldn’t cut your daughter, why is it OK to cut your son?

Abolishing infant circumcision would benefit the Jewish people. Rabbi Lerner rightly mentions that we’ve left behind numerous Torah commandments in the dustbin of history, such as stoning people to death and taking slaves from neighboring nations. Did giving up those divine dictates harm the Jews or make us more righteous and compassionate?

We can look to the foundational myths of Judaism for guidance toward the abolition of infant circumcision. Abraham’s smashing of the idols represents the Jewish commitment to iconoclasm, which, according tomedia theorist Douglas Rushkoff, is one of the three pillars of the Jewish experience, along with social justice and abstract monotheism. Circumcision is a false idol, and must be discarded.

Similarly, in the story of the binding of Isaac, the angels tell Abraham that even though he is willing to sacrifice his son, doing so is not a path to the divine. In the story, Abraham’s alternative sacrifice of a lamb is his idea, not requested by the angels. Eventually, Jews left behind animal sacrifice as well, as we recognized that killing defenseless creatures does not bring us closer to the Creator. Someday, we will see the same truth about circumcision that we came to see about human and animal sacrifice. After all, circumcision is nothing more than a different flavor of those ancient practices. It’s sacrificial violencepassed from generation to generation, with holy intentions and unholy consequences.

When we finally liberate ourselves from the mental and spiritual prison of this tradition, we will clear space to engage in more loving, compassionate practices, such as Brit Shalom (covenant of peace), a contemporary Jewish baby-welcoming ceremony that preserves the positive intentions of a standard Bris but without the cutting.

Such a change would be a blessing not only for the babies condemned to lose part of their bodies, but also for those who lose their lives. Over one hundred babies die every year in the United States due to circumcisions in medical and religious settings, and many others end up with other complications, including severe disfigurement. As many may recall, a young man named David Reimer committed suicide in 2004 because he couldn’t live with the debilitating consequences to his love life of having his penis amputated during a circumcision.

When I was in Jerusalem at the Wailing Wall during a human rights research fellowship a few years ago, an Orthodox woman told me: “Baby boys are born without a soul. When we cut off the foreskin, a hole is created in the body for God’s soul to enter into them. This is why circumcision is a divine mandate.”

This woman is as mistaken as Abraham was when he believed that God required the sacrifice of Isaac. Someday, we will see that our baby boys are born perfectly whole and complete, with their souls as intact as their genitals.

Lerner argues that banning circumcision against nonconsenting minors undermines “the First Amendment rights of Jews” and creates “a slippery slope toward the abolition of all religious practices.” Such claims are unfounded. The First Amendment’s protections of speech and expression do not apply to harming other people. The First Amendment does not give you the right to sacrifice a virgin, punch someone in the face, or even cut off a tip of someone else’s finger because it’s part of a religion. Simply put, the First Amendment ends where someone else’s body begins.

Anti-circumcision protesters march in San Francisco Credit: Creative Commons/Mik Scheper

As for the supposed slippery slope, if circumcision is banned, will that lead to the outlawing of Passover Seders? Not in a million years. Not in this country. Let’s give the United States the credit it deserves for being a relatively free, open society.

As a corollary to his slippery slope argument, Lerner claims, “It’s not hard to imagine some who were sexually abused by Catholic priests as children attempting to ban Catholic educational institutions or even the Church itself, attacking the entire institution as sexually perverted or violently patriarchic.” This is as misguided as saying those of us who wish to abolish the U.S. imperial war machine seek to abolish the entire country, and yet another tactic to silence the voices of the abused. And what an eyebrow-raising Freudian slip! Doesn’t Lerner’s comparison point out that when we strip away the emotional tug of religious tradition, infant circumcision lands in the same ethical boat as institutionally shielded sexual molestation?

Speaking of the slippery slope, what if—God forbid—the Supreme Court one day were to rule that the First Amendment permits nonconsensual circumcision as a form of protected religious expression? Wouldn’t that create a slippery slope in which even more extreme forms of religious violence against defenseless children become legalized? Federal law prohibits all forms of genital cutting performed on nonconsenting minor girls. This includes female circumcision variants that are far less harmful than the typical male circumcision, for example, a small ceremonial nick of the clitoral hood (the female analogue of a foreskin). The U.S. Constitution provides for equal protection, and it’s hard to imagine a law that protects only girls from genital cutting withstanding a legal challenge that sought to extend such protection to boys.

To be clear, I have no objection to circumcision or any other form of body modification when it’s freely chosen by a consenting adult. Sensibly, the proposed San Francisco ban only applies to circumcision of nonconsenting minors.

Many Jews today oppose circumcision. For more perspectives, see jewishcircumcision.org,jewsagainstcircumcision.org, and beyondthebris.com. Circumcision is not a requirement to be Jewish; this is determined solely by parental heritage or conversion. Circumcision is on the decline among world Jewry, for example, less than half of newborn boys in Swedish Jewish families are cut.

Routine circumcision of nonconsenting minors is a human rights violation, whether it’s practiced on boys or girls, and it must be outlawed. Anyone who stands in the way of this reform—including Rabbi Lerner—stands in the way of human rights and genital-integrity equality. I hope my words, as painful as they may be to read, will contribute to an Abraham-like transformation of his perspective.

During the weeks since Rabbi Lerner wrote his original critique of the proposed legal ban, a judge struck the ballot measure from the San Francisco election, and the California legislature passed a law that prohibits local municipalities from restricting circumcision. I believe both actions were wrongheaded and inconsistent with existing federal law that protects female minors from nonconsensual genital cutting. One day, I believe justice will prevail and that the law will be expanded to accommodate equal protection for male minors.

Our Saturday!

Saturday Chris and I went to a mini Craft Holiday Fair that was put on in town. We were just going to go and take a look, but as luck, seriously, luck would have it. We got a call Thursday night from our Scentsy director, Maria, she was going to do this craft fair, but as circumstances would have it with sick kiddos, she was unable to make it and had asked if we wanted to set up a table at this craft fair. For one, we had nothing going on on Saturday, and 2, it was free!! We went and we were able to sell quite a bit for it being a small fair. We got to know some other sellers in the area of different companies and got to have some fun. After our little craft fair we picke dup our friend, Melanie and headed to the Rexburg Expo. Its a swap meet our friend Paul was putting on, on campus. They had quite a few things there. We're really looking forward to the next one. We didn't really buy anything this time, but Chris got a great shoe shine out of it for $3! Great deal!

We got home just in time to do some dishes, get Brenden a nap, and get ready for our hot date! Our friend, Steven was up from Utah for the weekend staying with us and my friend from high school, Kristina, just happens to be his girlfriend. They offered to baby sit for us Saturday night. We jumped on the idea. We haven't had a real date night in a long long time!

Steven ad Kristina came over to babysit Brenden around 5, they got there and Brenden was already eating dinner and he was ready to play. Chris and I headed out to Idaho Falls. We've been wanting to do dinner at Red Robin for quite some time now. So we did it and it was good. After dinner we headed over to the theater in Idaho Falls to see the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn. I had heard from some people at the craft fair that it wasn't that good and that it was grusome. It really wasn't as bad as they were saying it was, AT ALL! I definitely wouldn't take a little kid to go see it, but who in there right mind would take a 10 year old to go see a PG-13 movie anyways. They have ratings for a reason. That's all for another post. So, good movie, go see it!

After the movie, Chris and I headed back to Rexburg to pick up some ice cream for our awesome baby sitters. They were very much appreciative.

We then had Mike and Melanie over for some games, it turned into just talking for a few hours. It was a ton of fun! And that was our Saturday!

Day 30

A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

1. Chris and I had a fabulous date night to go see Breaking Dawn.

2. Chris and I started Scentsy again! Whoot whoot!

3. Brenden said MAMA for the first time!

Day 29

Something you could never get tired of doing.

Okay! So I can't just have one thing, so I'm going to cheat and have 2. I love Brenden, so I could never get tired of playing and taking care of him. Ask anyone whose spent any amount of time with him. He is seriously the best baby in the whole entire world! He started sleeping through the night at 2 weeks old, he's given up bottle completely now and went straight for the sippy cups. He started crawling at 5 1/2 months. He loves looking and talking to Jesus. He's such a cute little jabber jaws. He loves to talk and smile and play. He is just a heart melter. He sleeps usually around 14 hours through the night, and still takes 3 naps during the day. He feeds himself. He's starting to learn signs and use them, like milk and more. He lets you know when he's upset or wants something without screaming his head off. He'll sit with you while you play video games. He loves watching movies with his mommy and daddy. He goes straight to sleep when you put him in his crib at night or for bedtime. He loves taking baths and will just play and play. He loves helping his mommy with the laundry and cleaning the kitchen. And the best thing of all, He said MAMA this week!! And he can wave bye-bye. He is such a fast learner and so ahead of the curb. He's growing so fast and really is a wonderful baby.

Now onto my number 2! Sewing and being crafty. I love sewing and making new things for my family and just things around the house! Its so much fun. Something that's shown to be even better lately is teaching people the things that I've learned over the last year. Its been so much fun! I've made so many things and I am really proud of all of my accomplishments. I have become so crafty over the last few months thank you to pinterest. I seriously love pinterest. I've gotten so many great ideas off of there! And even better, I've looked at a lot of ideas and tweaked them for my needs and made them even better. I'm loving life in the new apartment and love getting all thse new crafty things done. Maybe I should make a portfolio. Ha ha.

Day 28

In this past month, what have you learned?

I've learned that life gets busy, and that is perfectly fine. I have learned that I love my husband. I've learned that there are really so many things that I'm great at. I have learned that I have a gorgeous little baby that loves me too! I've learned that I can do anything that I set my mind to. I have learned that we have so many great friends here in Rexburg, and that's what really makes living here worth it! I've learned that life is about making mistakes and learning from them. I have learned that I can make mistakes and still be a good wife, and mommy. I've learned that it's okay to have a messy house. I have learned that it's okay to get upset, but its also okay to let the little things go. I've learned that its a great thing to look to the past to learn what to do better in the future.

This month, or more since I have been a bad little blogger, I have learned so many things, but mostly that life happens and its okay to be myself and get upset, just a little bit before getting back into the groove of things. I feel so lucky to be here in Rexburg and to have so many great friends. I love my family, and I'm sad they're not here, but so happy we get to see them in a few weeks! Life is great, so I'm going to do my best to live it!

Day 27

What kind of person attracts you.

My husband. I just think my husband is a stud. He's everything to me. I love how driven he is. I love how he wants to make everyone happy, even at the expense of his own happiness, and sadly my own. I love how he throws his whole self into everything he does. I love how he can relate anything to the gospel, its really amazing actually. I love how great he is with children, especially our own. I love how he's not a clean freak at all, but he knows I am, so when it comes down to it, he will clean, clean, clean. I love that he can do the laundry and be so great at it! I love that he has learned how to grill, just for me, and boy is it tasty. I love how he loves to make me breakfast. I love that he's an eagle scout, it just makes me feel extra special for picking him. I love this man! He is just the most wonderful person I have ever met!

Day 26

A photo of somewhere you've been and a picture of somewhere you want to go.

I have never been on a cruise, but I think going on one with my husband, or my family would be wonderful! I would love an experience like that. I have heard so many cruise stories and they all sound like this amazing dream come true. So if anyone is looking for hints into a birthday or anniversary present, ahem. Just kidding. Cruises are super expensive, but it would be fun. I think it would be fun to go somewhere outside the continental United States. I think the closest I've been outside the continental United States I have been is Canada and oh wait, after ouur honeymoon Chris and I went to the outer banks in North Carolina. But that's it for me folks. A cruise would be a dream come true!

Day 25

Who are you? What makes you different from everyone else

I am a wife, a mother, a sister, an auntie, a niece, a friend, a crafter, a couponer, but most importantly I am the person that I love to be. I like to make people happy, but I will not do it at the expense of myself or others. I am the person who likes to do what I can to save money for my family. I am the person that is willing to do almost anything for family. Family is the center of who I am. I may have similar qualities to many people, but I am not completely the same as one other person, I have my own personality, my own emotions, my own likes and dislikes, my own experiences, and that is exactly what makes me different from everyone else.

Day 24

A photo of something that means a lot to you.

It is because of this temple that Chris and I can be sealed for all time and eternity to each other and our children. Being a family forever means everything to me. Nothing could be better. I know that through the temple all things are possible. I know because Chris and I were sealed in this temple it was possible for Brenden to be born in the covenant. I feel the blessings every time Chris and I can go to the temple. I love being able to go to the temple and receive the blessings. I can't wait until I can take Brenden to the temple and see the understanding of importance on his face. I took Brenden to the temple one time. I remember this one time so vividly. Brenden was only a few months old, it was still cold and snowy. Brenden and I had gone to our ward talent show and I felt that we should go to the temple, even though it was closed and 8 o'clock at night. I just happened to have his stroller in the trunk and had a bottle waiting for him just in case he got hungry. We walked the temple ground for quite awhile, I took Brenden out of the stroller for a bit and we walked back and forth right outside the doors that led to the baptistery. It felt so special to be able to share this experience with him. Even though he was only a few months old I could see this look on his face that he knew exactly where he was. He just looked so happy and peaceful. I loved every minute of it. I'm excited for when Chris and I can take our children to the Las Vegas temple where Chris and I got married. It will be an experience to remember!

Day 23

A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Okay, lets start with the most obvious! I don't have a baby in my tummy. One thing that's changed a lot since having Brenden is I don't wear nearly as much make up. I didn't wear a whole lot of make up before, but since having Brenden, its not that I don't care, its that I just don't think I really need that and I didn't really see that before having a baby. Since having Brenden I'm a lot more secure about myself other than trying to lose all of this post baby weight.

Day 22

Nicknames you have; why do you have them

Here it is folks!!! The one and pretty much only nickname I have is Sadie. Really? Yes!!! My real name is Mercedes. Weird, huh. I was born and had two parents who couldn't agree upon a name and so this is what I got stuck with. My grandma started calling me Sadie when I was a little baby and it totally stuck and I am really okay with that. I'm not saying that I hate the name Mercedes, it just sounds so formal and long to me and I would much have something much easier to remember and much easier to spell.

I guess having a nickname like that is pretty common. I mean, its not like Chris' name is actually Chris, its Christopher. It kind of makes me wonder what we'll eventually start to call Brenden. Other than Bug or BB. Sometimes I'll call him BB for short for Baby Brenden.

Nicknames are wonderful!

Catch up

Time to play some catch up with the blog challange since I have been so obvioulsy neglectful. Life has just kept me so busy this last week. Its been a crazy week of couponing and crafting, but its been fun! Chris has been so lucky to have most of the week off this week and it was so needed for his sanity. Working in Idaho Falls 30+ hours a week and going to school everyday and trying to keep on top of homework and family has really started to take its toll on Chris. Poor guy.

So this past week, Chris had to work last Sunday so Brenden and I went to church, he did okay for sacrament, but that was it. This 1:30 church is really going to be the death of me. I just don't know how to do it with a baby that naps from 2-5 every other day of the week. He'll take a nap before church, but he won't really nap around people with that much going on and by the time we get home from church, its to late for Brenden to take a nap. Its definitely a trying experience for me and I am so glad that our church time will be changing in January and I send my condolences to the families with babies that will have to deal with 1 church all year next year.

Monday, I made a fabulous recipe for baby pancakes. I'll have to share the recipe. They're super easy and Brenden loves them. We decided to make some baby pancakes because its gotten increasingly harder and harder to feed Brenden. He hates to be fed. He'll just not open up, spit it out or play with his food. Which I wasn't really a fan of any of those. Since the baby pancakes he just sits in his chair and feeds himself and life is great and he gets the same nutrition, if not more! Tuesday, Chris and I did some couponing. Amazing! We did so well and have so much more stock. I really love couponing and saving us money. My thinking is, I can save this money for us now, so when Chris graduates and we move away from Rexburg and Chris is looking for work there is all of this stuff that we won't have to worry about. Its going to be great! Wednesday, I had a craft morning with our friend, Melanie and I made a door draft stopper and she worked on her t shirt quilt some more. The door draft stopper looks so great and works even better than I imagined. Its great. I'll have to post a tutorial on it later when life isn't so crazy! Thursday, Chris and I went coupon crazy again! We've saved $45 this week, just in coupons. Its pretty astronomical if you ask me!

So there you go! You're a little caught up on our lives, I'll have to post about the craft fair we did yesterday and our date night thanks to our great friends, Steven and Kristina!

Smart Phones

Its time for me to apologize to the world and tell everyone that I'm a hypocrite. Because I am! As many of you know, Chris and I got smartphone yesterday and while yes I really did love my old phone, I love this one even more! Its pretty much amazing. I've only had it since last night and have no idea what I would do with out it! Okay, that's a little exaggeration, but I have been connected to it almost since we've got them. I've been busy playing with it and browsing all the many different apps. Its pretty cool. I'm sure I'm just this crazy over it because its new. I really don't want to turn into one of those people who always has to have their phone and have it out and to be constantly using it, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't a concern. Mostly because that has been me since yesterday. I'm hoping that when the newness factor wears off I can go back to normal life and just use it when I need it and not 24/7. Well that's it for now folks! I'm going to go and enjoy the rest of my day.

Brenden's Appointments

Brenden had a few different appointments this week. He had an appointment with his doctor and he had a WIC appointment yesterday. His doctor's appointment went really well. He hasn't gained any weight since we took him in last month with the double ear infections, but that's okay. We're pretty sure its because he was sick. He still eats a ton so we're really not worried at all. Brenden is weighing 18.6 lbs. which puts him in the 16th percentile. Brenden is now 27.25 inches long which puts him in the 18th percentile. We've got ourselves a growing boy. Also at his doctors appointment he's kind of been having some scratchy skin, apparently its a little baby eczema. Weird. I never would have thought that, we just thought it was a rash. So the doc prescribed some cream to put on Brenden morning, afternoon, and before bedtime. It seems to be working. We'll be putting it on him this week and see how it works out.

Brenden also had a WIC appointment yesterday afternoon. They wanted to check his iron. His iron is exactly where its supposed to be, so they said they wouldn't check it again until he's 18 months old. They printed us out some checks through his year appointment and we were out of there. Easiest appointment ever!!!

I have a growing boy and its making me so sad. Maybe some late baby blues or maybe just a normal mommy not wanting her little baby to grow, AT ALL! He is just getting so big and getting around so well that when I see other babies I just get a little sad because I miss Brenden when he was that age. ANd now when I see these little babies it just makes me realize that Brenden isn't really a baby anymore, he's moving into the toddler stage way too fast! He's already getting into everything, having those toddler looks, and trying to talk, and WALK! What is this little kid doing to me. STOP GROWING!

Day 21

A photo of something that makes you happy

I love love love my husband. Its no secret, AT ALL. He just makes me so incredibly happy. He does such an amazing job and I really have no idea how he does it. HE really does it all. School, work, homework, a social life, and helping me keep our house clean, and spending time with Brenden and I. I would think that it would be almost impossible, but he does it. This man is like Superman, but so much better! This morning before he went to school he even cleaned up the mess I made before I went to bed last night. I had a mess with our sewing table and he cleaned it up like it was nothing. He just keeps going and going. I'm sure his batteries will eventually die out, but I won't love him any less. I'll just have to pick up the slack, but for now I am just extremely happy!

Day 20

The meaning behind your blog name

Really, the same post? See day 13 here

Day 19

Something you’re proud of in the past few days.

Last night I started to teach myself how to crochet. I am far from being a pro, but I always find it nice to teach myself something that I don't know how to do. I'm finding when it comes to crafty things, I'm a wicked fast learner. And its fun. I think today I'll attempt making Brenden a baby scarf. We'll see how things turn out.

Couponing 101

Chris and I started couponing over the summer and we have saved a bunch of money. I have had so many people ask me to do a blog post on how its done. I've been thinking about doing this post for quite some time, but with moving, being out of town, having a sick baby, keeping the house in order, and working on other projects, I have finally reached a couponing post on my priority list. Sorry for all of you that have been waiting.

So here it is!

For those of you who are visual learners, you'll love this. And for those of you who are less visual, hopefully you can keep up.

Just an apology ahead of time, I'm sorry if some of these are sideways. Sometimes blogger changes them for me and other times blogger is just weird. Bear with me.

Here we have our coupons from the Sunday newspaper. Chris and I have a monthly subscription to the Post Register. We get 1 newspaper for every day of the week, and Saturday, and 3 on Sunday. Sunday has all of the big coupons, so we get 3 of every coupon, pretty awesome. For our monthly subscription it's only $17 a month.

A new system for organizing coupons that Chris and I came up with just this Sunday. It make sour couponing lives that much easier. Instead of laying every coupon out the notecards above have categories and underneath we have separated coupons into subcategories, then when I went to place them in their subcategories I can separate them out. Yes, it may sound confusing, but its pretty easy and went by super fast.

A close up on one of the categories, along with a few of the subcategories.

My couponing binder. I use the front zipper pocket for receipts so every weeks I can see how much I've spent couponing see how much we've saved.

Upon opening the binder on the left you can see this is where I store current weekly store ads. I also store every stores coupon policies there as well. Below that is my storage of notecards. I use notecards to write down what I'm going to coupon at each store. It makes it very simple to go in, get what I want, and then go on to the next store.

Here is where I store my supplies. We've got some extra tabs, a pen and pencil, a pair of scissors just in case I can't find my paper cutter. We've also got a few highlighters and another place for note cards.

This note card just happens to be one for this week that I've written on for specific stores telling me what I should get at each store and how much I should expect to pay.

Here we have the first section of coupons. Its on one side away from all my other coupons. Why? We'll as you can see, well may, but at the top the tab reads "expiring soon". I have all of the coupons that are expiring this week in this section so its a good idea to have these separated from everything else so you know to use them fairly quickly.

A close-up of the tab.

Here we have a perfect place to put all of my membership cards so when I'm ready to pay I don't have to rifle through my wallet to find the right one. I always know where they are and its really easy.

And now onto the rest of the tabs....

Cosmetics. These coupons are going to be face cleansers and tweezers, make up and such.

Deodorant. Very self explanatory, I think.

Feminine. Everything your husband would be too embarrassed to be walking around the store holding onto.

Hair. Here we have coupons for shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, hair gels, hair dye, and everything hair.

Lotion. I also include hand soaps in this category.

Medicine. I also put baby medicine coupons in here.

Mouth. Here we have everything mouth from toothpaste to toothbrushes and floss.

Body. This is mostly going to be body wash. There are so many body wash and soap coupons that come out every Sunday.

Bottles. This is in a difference color because this is the start of my baby section.

Diapers. Also I include coupons for diapering needs such as rash cream and powder.

Baby Food.

Baby Toys. There aren't many coupons for this section, but with the holidays coming up I'm sure they're start coming out soon.

Wipes. Both for baby and Adults.

A different color again? This is the beginning of our food section. Baking. I include sugar, flour, Vegetable Oil and all other baking needs.

Beverages. Anything you can drink.

Bread, both store bought and refrigerated.

Breakfast. Cereal and frozen pastries.

Canned. Here you have your canned veggies, fruit, and soups.

Canning. In the summertime they had a bunch of coupons for mason jars and fruit pectin of all kinds.

Chips. Trust me, there are a ton of chip coupons, especially from pringles. Pringles has coupons coming out almost every single week.

Condiments. Mayonnaise, Mustard, Jelly, Salad Dressing, Croutons, just anything that is an add-on to food.

Dairy. Milk, Yogurt, Butter, even Eggs.

Frozen. Anything that you can stick into the freezer that isn't in another category.

Kitchen. Baggies, Dish Detergent, Foil, that kind of thing.

Meat. Lunch meat and any other kind of meat.

Quick. This is for quick dinner coupons such as mac and cheese or hamburger helper kind of things.

Snacks. Here we have nuts, popcorn, candy, anything you can find to snack on,, chips have there own section just because there are so many chip coupons.

Misc. I use this for anything that doesn't fit anywhere. I've noticed its mostly gum and batteries.

New color! This is the household section. Cleaning. Any cleaning product coupons you can find. Other than dish soap and laundry soap.

Laundry. All your laundry needs from soap to fabric softener.

Paper. I use this section mostly for paper towels and toilet paper.

Office. Here is a section for anything office from pens and pencils to ink coupons and glade air fresheners.

Free! The best category. This is for anything free, not for buy one get one, but for things that are actually free.

Eating out. We use this section for all of the coupons for restaurants we get in the mail.

Crafts. This section is for all of the craft store coupons that come in the mail and newspaper. Here in Rexburg it would be Porters, Joann's, and Michaels.

Here is a picture of a different kind of coupon. Online coupons. There are some sites that offer to let you print coupons for free. This is from coupons.com

I hope that this has helped you. Post a comment if there is more that you want to know. :)

Websites that I use frequently.

If you're just getting into couponing this is a great website to use.

This website is awesome for deals. It tells you what deals are current and what coupons to use with what. Its pretty great!

Just a few to get you started.

Happy Couponing!