More from last weekend

Marty has been asking me to post these pictures for a while. He is SO wrapped around that little girl's finger!


"Hmmm, something is missing."

"That's better. Now I'm ready to go!"

"This is the life!"

Two steps forward, one step back...

...Three steps to Heaven.

Today the bad mom award goes to me for having to call Poison Control AGAIN. Brynn was taking a bath this morning and I wasn't paying too much attention, because at least she wasn't trying to climb out (that's been our latest battle). I was sitting on the floor and eventually I noticed that there was something brown on her chin. So I take a second to try to think what she might have in the bathtub that's brown...oh right, the same thing that's in about half of her baths these days, poop. I looked over the edge of the bathtub and ya, it was pretty much all over her. I have no idea whether she actually ate some or not, but I'm pretty sure she tried. I wasn't super worried because I knew she couldn't have gotten too much in her mouth in that amount of time, but I called Poison Control anyway. They said it was no big deal and to just give her some milk, but it seems like I am always hearing these horror stories about people who don't wash their hands after changing a diaper and then they give ecoli or something to everyone.
Well, I just have to say whatever, because I have a little on my plate now. I blogged something like this recently and everyone told me to just wipee her off. Wipees it is!!! Oops, too many wipees, now the toilet is flooding. Oh good, and now Brynn is peeing all over everything in her room. And I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off wondering what to take care of first. And by the way, is letting so much poop go down the bathtub drain all the time ever going to come back to haunt me?

Um, this is not my most glamerous day.

I taught Marty's seminary classes on Friday, and I think that I am glad I am not teaching them tomorrow. I taught about Hannah's promise to the Lord that if He would give her a son, she would raise him up unto the Lord all the days of his life. And she did, and her son grew up to be the prophet Samuel. Then Marty had a big power point with the heading:

"Evening Gowns to Holy Jeans"

And he showed pictures of me from college and they showed me doing pageants, and student council, and Carnegie, and my whole point was that I used to be up on stages in evening gowns all the time, and now every pair of jeans I own has holes in them because I am on the floor all day long with a little baby, but that this is the happiest and most at peace that I have ever been, and although all of that stuff was exciting, I would never go back. Because Heavenly Father wants me to be a mom, and I LOVE being a mom right now, right? RIGHT? Ok, of COURSE I love being a mom, but right now I need to do...something. So I put on some nice suit pants that I used to wear at this great internship that I loved, trying to make myself feel a little better, but I don't have a single pair of brown shoes to go with them. We are trying to be really frugal right now so that we can refinance our house. Do I have the self-control to not go buy some nice brown shoes? On pretty much any day I would say "Absolutely!!!" But today is...special...I'll have to see what the rest of the day holds. Ok, remember all the cute cute stuff Brynn does, and all of the sweet snuggles she gives me? I love being a mom, I love being a mom, I love being a mom...

Actually, in the December Ensign Presidents Hinckley....OH...sad sad sad!
Moment of silence:











Ok, President Hinckley gave this amazing quote that I've been trying to remember throughout the day:
“When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.”
I guess if Hannah wanted to change the world (like we all do) God could have asked her to go lobby all of Israel's political leaders or something important like that, but what he asked her to do was to have a baby and raise him up unto the Lord. And thus we have the prophet Samuel. So Hannah really did change the world. She probably just did it two steps forward, one step back.

I Love You, President Hinckley!

President Gordon B. Hinckley

1910-2008

Whoa, I was totally unprepared for this. For some reason I guess I just thought he would be our prophet forever. I remember somewhat President Benson and President Hunter, but I was a little less...attentive back in 4th grade, so President Hinckley is like, MY prophet!

Here are some of my favorite quotes by President Hinckley:

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us,...if we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers."

"You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for you presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others....

"But in this world so filled with problems, so constantly threatened by dark and evil challenges, you can and must rise above mediocrity, above indifference. You can become involved and speak with a strong voice for that which is right" ("Stand Up for Truth," in Brigham Young University 1996-1997 Speeches [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1997], 22).

Life with Marty

Life's great when you're married to Marty!

Yesterday we were cleaning out the outside storage area. We couldn't wait to get done with that so we could go do something FUN (both of us are very motivated by fun) but we couldn't decide what we wanted to do. Well, Marty ran across our tent in storage and decided that since it was kind of late in the day to find somewhere to camp, we should just pitch the tent in our living room. Naturally. After some tricky furniture-maneuvering, we finally managed to make it fit.

Ya, it pretty much took up our whole downstairs.

Brynn had a blast pushing her dolly around in it.

Then we had a BBQ for dinner and roasted marshmallows for s'mores for dessert! Brynn loved that, too. I heard it's really good parenting to give your kids s'mores when it's already past their bedtime.

And P.S. to all of my Utah and Alaska loved ones: I just wanted to make sure you read this correctly - I said a BBQ in JANUARY. Tee hee hee

We even blew up the air mattress so that we could play games in it all night long. Well, we're not 22 anymore, so we only lasted til about 11:00. :) And the too-small-for-both-of-us air mattress definitely wasn't the best rest I've ever had in my life, but totally worth it!

I am so grateful to be married to such a fun and energetic man, and I know Brynn and our future children are so lucky to have him for a dad. I think one of the most frequent questions I've had since I've been married is, "What's your birth date?" (That's after I tell someone that my name is Emily Johnson and they realize that there are 47 other Emily Johnsons in the database.) But the OTHER most frequent question is, "Is Marty really like that?" And the answer is yes! He is the most positive person I have ever met. Thanks for such a fun weekend, Marty! I love you!

I have a little helper!

This mom thing just gets better and better! Last night it was totally worth the extra 20 minutes it took to do a 15 minute job. Brynn really has a talent for making messes in the kitchen and suckering mom into giving her tastes.

Family Pics!

Forget Me Not by Jana Photography is the BEST!!!!!

www.forgetmenotbyjana.com

Yeah, the pictures are the proof of what a good photographer she is, but what you can't see is how much Brynn loves her! Every time Brynn sees Jana, she practically leaps out of my arms to see her! So I was really glad Jana could get Brynn to smile when she wasn't having the best day of her life.

Overwhelming Update

Since this last month is such an overwhelming one to blog (I mean it's only Christmas, New Years, birthdays, 2 week vacations, etc) I am going to blog it in my usual organizational style: random. Bear with me, this is the only way I will ever actually get it done!

Christmas 2007

One of my new favorite moments as a mommy - Brynn snuggling her first dolly. She's never had a doll before but it was really sweet and kind of insightful, I thought. The first thing she did with it was put it up to her shoulder and start patting it. I never taught her that, or at least I never taught her that on purpose. I think she perceives a lot more than I giver her credit for sometimes.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Peterson

Cousin Carter

Great Grandpa Oldham

Great Grandma Oldham - I am so glad that Brynn has been able to meet all four of her great-grandparents on my side.

Happy Birthday, Brynn!

By the way, there is a post about her birthday that for some reason ended up way down on the blog, so if you want to check it out, scroll down below "sigh" and "pay it forward."

We started out Brynn's birthday by waking up in a hotel in Kanab. We decided to split the drive to UT into two days, mostly because we are already so guilt-ridden about her birthday being so close to Christmas and we really didn't want to wake up and say, "Happy birthday Brynn, you're first present is a car seat. Like it? That's good, you're second present is going to be sitting in it for 12 hours." Here she is opening up her first wrapped present, a Barney DVD hoping to make the rest of the way a little more pleasant for her.

That afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Oldham were ready to kick off her first birthday with everything pink! Pink cake, pink dresses, pink books, and most importantly, pink wrapping. Why is that so important, you might ask? Because it wasn't red and green with "Ho ho ho" written all over it. Oh and one other thing, they spoiled her ROTTEN! And I am ok with that! Sometimes it pays to be the first grand kid. I love seeing this beautiful, sweet sweet sweet baby being so appreciated and smothered with love. She so deserves it!

The next Saturday we had another birthday party with the Johnson/Mather family, and let me tell you, they really know how to throw a party!

More pink cake!

Here is Brynn opening her presents amidst a swarm of "helpers." That's the top of her head there in the middle. With SO many kids and people around her, Brynn had kind of a permanent look of shock on her face.

I wish I had taken more pictures of more cousins, but here is Brynn with cousin Brinley who became her mother for a couple of days and carried her around until her arms were about to fall off.

Cousin Zachary and Grandpa Neil.

I will post more Christmas pictures soon (I took most of them with my parent's camera). This was the funnest Christmas morning ever!

Other updates:

Brynn had a Dr. app last week.

~I thought she was looking so chubby and would be up in the charts, but no. She went from the 8th to the 5th percentile. The dr isn't worried about her though. Maybe he is perceptive enough to notice that her mother it 5'2. It's especially hard to miss when I walk in with Marty.
~We're going to have to take her to an eye specialist because by this point, she shouldn't ever be crossing her eyes.

~And now we know why we have been awake every night this week at 3 a.m. trying to calm her down. She is not cutting one tooth, but an entire mouthful at once. Even molars. Yikes.

~She is a healthy, happy baby and we are blessed beyond our ability to even comprehend it!!!

Oh, and one other thing - She is becoming a walking champion! It is so exciting to see her take steps on her own! But my baby is growing up! And just for the record, that is NOT my cute way of saying that I am pregnant. :)

By the time we grabbed our camera she was getting pretty sick of us sticking her back in the middle of the room after she had worked so hard to get to us. But we did catch a couple steps before she stopped.