Attitude Adjustment

This morning was a rough one for me pregnancy-wise. I woke up very tired, sore, and emotional. I took a shower and took a short nap before I had to get ready for 11 am church in the hopes that it would help to fix my sour mood, but it didn't really and I got ready and went with Bryan to church.

During this pregnancy so far I have felt like this is something that I can handle and that things in my body were changing, yes, but that they were things that weren't much more than an annoyance. I've kept my spirits up and have enjoyed every Dr. visits, hearing baby girl's heart beat, and feeling her rambunctious movements in my belly. But today my spirits were low as I thought: pregnancy is hard! It is hard to deal with all the changes and especially as she is growing SO rapidly now and I am having more side effects like swelling and heartburn. Today I was asking myself and Heavenly Father: how am I going to handle the next 9 weeks? It's just going to get harder from here and Labor and Delivery is well on its way.

So, this was my state of mind going into church today. I did, however, kneel down and pray to get out of my bad attitude and that I would be able to meet new people at church. I was still very exhausted, but decided that I needed church today more than ever. Amanda, who lives two town homes over from us with her husband and daughter, gave a talk today on Faith. She talked about how she was blessed with her first little girl and then a year later her and her husband decided it was time to have another baby. She got pregnant soon after, but miscarried within a few months. Then again that fall they tried again, got pregnant, and miscarried a second time. They tried another time just this winter, got pregnant, and miscarried for a third time and this time she was hospitalized for complications. All through her talk and her experiences she talked about how she prayed and kept faith. God told her everything would be okay. She talked about the scripture in Alma that says that if you even have just a desire to have faith that it is a good starting point for building faith in Christ.

This talk hit me (and I was crying my eyes out during church!) because I realized that in all my thoughts this morning I was lacking in Faith. I was thinking of finishing this pregnancy alone and how hard it would be for ME to do it and deal with all the changes. I neglected to remember that I have been provided with a Savior who understands all the joys and sorrows I am feeling. It was the perfect reminder today that I need to have faith that God does have a plan for our little family and that He never wants us to feel alone in ANYTHING we do.

I am grateful for Amanda's willingness to share such personal and sorrowful experiences in order to show how faith can lead us out of even our darkest moments. I am grateful for a small answer to my prayer today that helped me to realign my perspective and realize how blessed I am for little baby girl. I truly can do all things through my Savior Jesus Christ!

She likes to Move it, Move it!

Little girl is so SUPER active lately!! Usually she moves and kicks around when I'm sitting down or laying down to rest. Yesterday she started her kicking around 4 pm and didn't stop squirming until after Bryan's basketball game was over at 8 pm. Four hours of constant movement!! What is up with that?

I am beginning to think that she is dancing to her own little beat or that's she's having her own disco party in my belly. And she loves to sit HIGH up just under my ribs. Luckily, my ribs haven't been too sore lately though!

She does love to kick and punch when I go to sleep. She also loves to wake me up in the morning to a few side jabs. I think she's ready for breakfast at that point. I usually wake up a little more sore than when I went to sleep. I try to tell her we're on the same team, but I don't think she understands the whole "team" aspect just yet.

We've got a very active little girl on our hands. I can only imagine what a little squirmer she'll be when she gets here!

Playing Mom for a Day

I got the chance to play "mom" for a day while Rhiannon flew out to GA for a funeral. I watched Madison (6), Alexis (5), and Brinley (18 months) from Thursday to Friday. It was a blast!! I learned a ton from just that one day of having three little kids to take care of. I learned that:

1. There is a reason why they come one (or two, in Liz's case) at a time. It takes some time to learn how to care for that little individual and to make adjustments.

2. Rhiannon is AMAZING for being pregnant AND taking care of three kids. That is a full-time (and even overtime) job! She is even more amazing for having a new born baby and STILL
keeping up with the energy of her girls.

3. Kids truly are what can make our joy become full. I had so much fun playing with those three girls and they kept me laughing the whole time with their cute personalities. I was completely tired by the end of the day, but it was one of the best/most fulfilling days I've had in awhile!

4. Little girl hair is SOOOO hard to do. I pulled it together and it started to fall out of my grip. I hair sprayed it and it became impossible to comb through! I will definitely need some practice time before our little girl's hair will be cute. (Maddy even said kindly, "You don't know how to do hair, do you?") We missed the bus because I took too long working on their hair! (which ended up being less than perfect, but the girls were nice about it :)

5. Schedules/Routines are great for kids! Rhiannon left me a schedule for what happens when and we followed it pretty precisely. I anticipated a struggle when trying to get everyone bathed or putting toys away or going to bed, but to my surprise there was no struggle! They were super obedient and helpful girls. Everyone was asleep before 8 pm and I couldn't believe there weren't tears in the process! Brinley even went down for a nap right on schedule the next morning without even a whimper. Such good girls!

6. Kids are SO forgiving of your faults. I felt very flawed and human as I struggled to do all the tasks that Rhiannon does well on a daily basis. I was upset at myself for causing the girls to miss the bus because we were behind schedule, but they were okay. Maddy said,"It's okay. We miss the bus sometimes" and she even gave me directions of how to get to the school. Their love and forgiveness motivated me to keep on trying.

So, I learned a thing or two about being a mom just within that one day. I really enjoyed taking care of the girls. I learned that Madison is such a BIG helper and a little angel. She has such a great attitude and is a little sunshine. Lexie is so playful and loving! We were always pretending to be something or to be doing something with any task we did during the day. Brinley is a sweet heart and is a bit shy around anyone besides her parents. She was happy and fun to play with the whole time and didn't complain at all that mom or dad wasn't around.

All-in-all, I feel like this experience taught me a lot about families. It also got me even more excited for our little girl! I am grateful for the Patrick family and how great they are! I am glad, however, that Rhi is back to take her place as the mom: a position she does the best!

Holidays with the Fam Part 2--Christmas

We spent Christmas this year in lovely Waterflow, NM with my family. All of the Jones kids were able to make it out from Florida and Idaho and Utah, but the Brett Jones family stayed deep in the heart of Texas this year. They were definitely missed!

Bryan and I were there from the 23rd until the 28th. It was a great break and even greater to see Matt and Cindel who I haven't seen since we got married, meet our new little niece Paisley Marie Patrick, and to see all the rest of the family. It always seems to fly by too fast!! We played lots of games, opened presents, had lots of family get-togethers with Aunts and Uncles, and played soccer (again, preggies not allowed. I spent some quality time with Lex and Brinley on the sidelines). I took a TON of pictures, but am only going to post a few highlights. It was a great Christmas and I couldn't ask for more than being with family for the holidays. We are very blessed!

Christmas Eve Party at Aunt Jovanna's House.

Chase and I posing beautifully for the pic

Bryan holding brand-new baby Paisley! She is so super cute and such a good baby! We can only hope for a baby as great as this one! Good practice for Bry :)

Grandma French and all the girls: Olivia, Sophia, Madison, and Alexis
Christmas Morning! Santa came to New Mexico! Maddy and Lexie were good this year :)
Bryan multi-tasking: holding baby while opening presents. Again, good practice :)
Me and the girls painting pictures. I love my nieces!
Christmas Program (casting and directed by Lindsay. Narrated by Bryan.) Baby Paisley made her first (and last) debut as baby Jesus this year! Matt and Cindel Liebenhaut as Mary and Joseph
The Whole Cast: Brandon, Chase, and Corbin as the 3 Wisemen, Alyssa as a sheep, Madison as the Angel, Sophia, Olivia and Lexie as pink shepherds. (not in photo: Ty as Caesar Augustus AND King Herod. He was probably our best addition to the play this year!)

Cute little Brinley Patrick!! We bonded this trip!

The Boys (all in-law brothers are at least 6-2' tall!)
This pretty much sums our trip up! Good times together with the fam! In our Core Services hoodies doing gang signs (which includes UNM's "Everybody Lobo! Woof! Woof! Woof!")

I can't wait to see all of both sides of the family again!! We had a great Holiday season!

Holidays with the Fam Part 1--Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with the Bryner Family this year and had a great time! All of the Bryner boys were able to be there too. We ate lots of Turkey, had the Bryner Turkey Bowl game, and played a bunch of games. Bryan and his brothers and dad also went out and shot clay pigeons for an afternoon. It was alot of fun! I've posted some highlights below:

Our Christmas Tree

Bryan and Garth decorating the tree
The Bryner Turkey Bowl (preggies not allowed. I cheered from the sidelines!)

Bryner boys shooting things

This looks like trouble!

The shooting range

Matt had to go to jail for bad aiming :)

Bryner Brothers all together playing games

Garth and the kids