GC Day 19

Whew, what a morning.  I feel like Sundays getting ready for church and being at church are such a whirlwind.  So many people to talk to and things to do and arrange and classes to get to and children to pick and change diapers etc.  It's been extra hard because I pretty much have to do it all on my own because of Mark's work schedule.  He is usually able to make it to sacrament meeting but then he heads home to get some sleep to recover from or prepare himself for an overnight shift.  Also, I've been attending the Spanish Relief Society which meets at the same time as my ward RS--but I've been substituting playing the piano in my RS.  It's a little hectic.

Today I am grateful that/for

1.  I actually understood about 90% of what was said in Spanish RS today.  Fortunately the teacher followed the lesson manual pretty closely and I had printed off a copy in Spanish to study during the week and bring with me to church.  That helped so much!  I even read some scriptures out loud in Spanish!

2.  My (midnight) nursing station :

Complete with diapers and wipes, extra baby clothes, spit rags, nursing pillow, neck pillow (in case I fall asleep), moby (in case I need to hold baby for awhile and fall asleep), foot rest (aka night table), a blanket for me.  Also, a book or ipod to help keep me awake.

I do my best to stay awake at night when I nurse Elise.  I know a lot of people are really into co-sleeping right now but that's just not for me.  There were a few times that I nursed Maren in my bed without even remembering that I got her up and I almost smothered her both times.  One of Mark's colleagues who is working in the forensic pathology lab right now said that she sees a lot of dead babies.  More of them die from co-sleeping than from SIDS or other things.  After hearing that I am trying a lot harder to nurse her sitting up rather than in bed where I would probably fall back asleep. 

3.  I don't have to use my nursing station as often!

4.  My Grandma.  She is such a great example of service to me.  Even when she is sick or recovering from hip replacement surgery, she still wants to do anything possible to help others.  I think the hardest thing for her, more than any illness or physical obstacle is relaxing and allowing others to serve her.  I hope I can be more like her!  I don't see her very often anymore since we live across the country but she is still serving us.  She has made blankets for all of my kids and they just love them:

Even Noah still uses his baby blanket every night!

5.  Elise feel asleep all by herself while I was getting lunch for the kids and myself.  (see picture above)


Here's a couple more pictures:

Mom, this is the new shirt you got Maren.

I should add that the blue quilt on the bed was made for Noah by Mark's Granny Rae.  Grandmas are so great!

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