New Habits on the Horizon

I have been in such  rut lately and finally had enough and decided to get out of it. Typically the best way for me to regroup is through exercise and eating right and then I naturally want to read scriptures and be more proactive in life in general. But the exercise and healthy eating weren't happening, so I just focused on my scripture study. And let me just say that it was life changing for me, seriously! I studied for 20-30 min out of the scriptures and the President Benson manual. The key for me is my notebook. I only ready one or two scriptures, but I pray, ponder and think about what the Lord wants me to learn from those. As I write and pray, insights and ideas come and it's just wonderful. I have the spirit with me and I just naturally feel better about life. Which means that I naturally feel like I can accomplish the hard overwhelming things that seem daunting when you don't have the spirit. Couple that with sincere, kneeling prayers and it was a great week. That's not so say I didn't struggle and have some hard moments, but I bounced back quickly. So I'm just here to say that I love the scriptures, I love the words of the prophets, I love prayer, and I love the Holy Ghost, I have such a strong testimony of all those things and embracing them really will change your life.

Next up on the list was exercise and eating. Heather mentioned she was doing whole 30, which means you eat completely healthy for 30 days. It's a paleo diet, which I try to eat in general, but with no slips. I didn't think I could do it in the past, but I talked with Heather and felt inspired and encouraged so I just dove in. I am on day three now and have exercised (I love P90x3!) two days now so I'm on a roll. I even started going to bed earlier, getting up at 5 to do scriptures and exercise. I read my sleep book and we sleep trained Max in a couple days so he now sleeps through the night so life is good!

Okay, now on to other things. Ryan has all of a sudden begun this self-directed play downstairs with the trains. He is totally fine going down by himself and he'll spend 30-45 minutes down there. It's amazing, but great that he has things he likes to do and he doesn't have to wait around for anyone else to do them with him. I played with him this morning and we had so much fun and then he built towers for me out of blocks and was so proud of his creations. He's doing so many things and such a smart boy, it's fun to see him growing up.

Today Lily got to go with her friend Aubrey and another friend Paige to Jumpin', a bounce house. Aubrey's mom Amy took them (so nice!) and she was thrilled to go out with her friends. Yesterday I watched Laren and Kyle Batemen's kids, 2 and 6 months, and Lily was so sweet with them. Ryan napped, but Lily got toys out of them and if she had to correct them she did it in a very nice voice. She told me she'd watch them if I needed to go to the bathroom. I can tell she's going to be a great babysitter someday. Lily's favorite song is "Breakin Free" from high school musical. She could listen to it all day and never get tired. We put it on when we are cleaning the house or just wanting to sing. Ryan sings now too, but he sometimes gets bored of it.

Max slept through the night as I said before and it feels like a miracle! Just reading in my book that it's okay for kids to cry (I know this and did this with Ryan, but it's still nice to be given permission) helped me have the strength to help him learn how to sleep. It was a very hard two nights, but now he's doing it! Ryan and Max share a room now, Ryan in the toddler bed, and Max in the crib, and they are doing well. Sometimes we'll hear them laughing hysterically, but they eventually go to sleep. And Ryan is always really quiet when he goes into Max's room at night. Although one night Max was asleep when Ryan went in there. Eventually Ryan was laughing hysterically, but I didn't check in because they have done that before and eventually go to sleep. However, then Ryan started crying so I ran in and he is under Max's crib and kicking up the mattress and the crib is also a bit lifted. He had gotten stuck in the rungs under the mattress. I think it's high time we put the monitor in that room!

Sometimes he doesn't make it to bed. 

Max LOVES getting into the fridge and taking all the pots and pans out of the cupboard. Oh, and he loves taking all the dishes out of the dishwasher. Basically he likes making messes.

 He's got six teeth now and his toothy grin is adorable. He's cruising around furniture more and loves going up the stairs. Church is always interesting with him and a little exhausting, but we will just be all the more grateful for nursery. Poor Max fell down a couple stairs today. I ran upstairs and closed the door to get fish thawing for dinner, and then Ryan started talking to me. It dawned on me that he had opened the door and I rushed to look and Max was on the second stair and then just fell. It was so sad and he cuddled me for the longest time, but he seemed okay later on.