Teaching Her Early

We had a pretty fun week last week with visits to two sets of grandparents chasing after the snow we were promised in Seattle but didn't get. She learned how to make a snowman and, a more essential truth, that snow is cold even when you eat it!

Earlier in the week we also took a trip as a family to the temple. We wanted to get out of the house, but weren't really sure where to go and since Doug is always talking about just walking around temple grounds with Vivi (teaching her young the importance of the temple in our faith) and he had that afternoon off (he normally doesn't), we headed out to Bellevue. She had as much fun at the temple as she does at the park!

 She wasn't so sure about the statues at first...

 The baby statue freaked her out...

 Walking down the steps with the temple in the background.

 We tried to hide the water from her, but she found it and spent a lot of the rest of the trip trying to get her way through the hedge...

The prophet Joseph Smith taught that if we teach people (including our children) correct principles, they will 'govern themselves.' We had an former bishop who told us that his children had pretty much decided on their faith by the time they were 12 and most of the teaching he did was before that. If that's true for most kids, that means we have less then 10 years to point Vivi in the right direction, so we're starting early...and she seems to be pretty happy with it.

Baby Weight

On (or around) Aug. 9, the Harringtons will welcome baby #2 to the family! Yup, Vivi will be a big sister and a great one at that (we'll have to work on the jealousy issues, I'm sure). This second pregnancy has been much different from the first so far...most of the time I forget I'm pregnant because I'm chasing Vivi around, not sleeping, and not thinking about the baby 23 hours per day.

Physically, it is different, too. My back already hurts sometimes, my abdominal muscle strength is gone so those muscles hurt, I'm not as sick (which, apparently means we're having a boy) and I'm also feeling movement a lot earlier (because now I know what it feels like).

However, one thing I hope is different: the weight I gain. Last time I gained 40 pounds and I really don't want to gain that much again; it took me about one year to lose. At my last check up, my weight gain was great (minimal), but just in the last week or so, my fat jeans stopped fitting! What the heck! I'm not eating as many sweets, I'm only eating when I'm hungry (or sick because I haven't eaten in a while), etc. But I am still pregnant; here's a Facebook post from last week:

"my healthy spinach salad for lunch may have been offset by the two pieces of bacon I put in it (I was hungry!), but I think the cottage cheese and blueberries offset the bacon...but I think the amount of dressing I put on the salad offset the cheese/berries...so I might as well have a chocolate :)"

While I don't think about this pregnancy as much, I'm so excited for what means for our family.

Pressure Cooker

So lately I've been feeling lots of pressure...lots of stress. I've really enjoyed working part-time as Marketing Director, which was a new position at our small YMCA. It allowed me to be creative and challenged me to make this position, find opportunities, and have some leadership again (while still being very flexible). Well, last week I found out that in about 2-3 months I won't have this job anymore. I'm very grateful for the time I've had to do this and understand why this change needs to be made on the side of the organization.

But it has me stressed out. Yes, I will miss the money (but I know God has something in store for us and my husband's confidence is reassuring). Yes, I will miss the people (I've been there for 5 years). Yes, I will miss the opportunities to be challenged and creative...but I do not what another part-time job. This is an opportunity to put all my talents, skills, enthusiasm, and passion into what's most important: my home, my family, and my faith.

The stress comes because I'm not exactly sure HOW to do that. For so long, my passion has been my job. Then when Vivi was born, it was her...but still my job, too. Now, this is it. How do I transfer my work-ethic, skills, and passion from my work to my home? Because I think that is the only way I can be truly satisfied being home full-time.

I know I can be happy staying home full-time...I just have to figure out a way to do it my way. I just have to figure out what that way is.

I know I'm over thinking this and I just need to try some things with Vivi and for myself to see what works. But all of this combined with everything else going on in our lives gets stressful when I let it: new baby; are we going to grad school? Which one? Will this job opportunity work out better than we could've ever hoped (the interview process has been more than a month!)? Where will leave? What can we afford? bla bla bla

I know many of you moms have or have had these same concerns and stresses. I'm trying not to let it get to me. I have a wonderful husband who is so supportive of me and reminds what I need to do: just have faith and trust that we've done everything we could possibly do to ensure a bright future and the God will do the rest.

V-day!

Valentine's Day in our house is a big deal because it's "V-Day" and there just aren't that many holidays (or anything) that start with "V." Ok, really it's only a big deal to me, but I'm hoping it will rub off on the little "V," too. We celebrated with our traditional heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. This is actually a tradition that I love to hate. Our first V-day we were so poor that's all we could afford to do to celebrate. The next V-day, I we decided to draw out of a hat and, wouldn't you know it, the heart shaped pizza won. I was mad because I wanted a real romantic dinner, but it was fate and so we've done it that last 5 years.

This year was really fun, though, because Vivi and I got to eat a yummy breakfast with Doug (not the norm), made heart shaped jello, and just had a great day!

Vivi had lots of fun coloring and eating the jello hearts we made for papa! My life is so full of love! I appreciate today to reflect on all the love I have in my life.

Tiara's and Princesses

Last night I was flipping through the channels and came across TLC's 'Toddlers and Tiaras' for the first time. I had heard of the show, but never watched it. And now I'm afraid I won't be able to look away from that train wreck. Here are just a couple short clips to familiarize yourself.

I'm sure my reaction was the same as many people. I think the audience of that show can probably break down into 2 groups: the ones who completely understand where these families are coming from and the families who think these parents are CRAZY. I fall into the latter category...for sure. In the first 2 minutes I was watching the show, one mom stated she had 2 girls competing in pageants, which meant if the entry fee was $1,800, she was spending $3,600. Whoa. Then she said she spent $10,000 the couple months on costumes for her girls. What?!

The next scene was a dad spraying tanning his 5 year old...with his paint sprayer...in their bathroom...while the girl was in her bathing suit. That's creepy dad.