Potty training is everything I expected but 'easier' (knock on wood) then I thought too. It's all kid based I think. My biggest concern about starting Logan so soon (some would argue 21/2 is not too soon while others I know have all waited till their boys are 3) but Logan was down right ready - I was getting sick and tired of finding him half naked as he attemped to get his pants down and diaper off to go pee..
Anyways the past two days we have only had 1-2 accidents in a day! And we even left him in underwear for our outings around town and into the city. I put a plastic bag and a towel down in his carseat so should he pee (or worse) during any drives I won't have to disassemble the carseat to wash it. And now of course I have a change of clothes with me at all times for him too - more stuff for the diaper bag! sheesh.
But really, he has been really good at this whole potty training business. I keep -expecting- more accidents but there hasn't been any. I think the stress of that expectation has been what's kept me on edge more lol. That being said, his maturity level is still on the low-end and he gets to the potty 98% of the time because we are hourly (or more) hounding him with the question 'do you have to go potty?' and if he hasn't gone ina while we just plunk him down on the toilet and he pees... he has yet to come to me and say 'mom i have to go' - so i'm not sure how long that will take for him to click into, but in the mean time I get to be that person for him.
Nighttime training - we aren't even going to think about crossing this bridge until he's well into his 3's lol. He does wake up in th enight and maybe we'll put him on the toilet at that wakeup but frankly he's always been a bad sleeper, so i'm definetly not going to -wake- him up to take him to go pee! LOL how silly right?
Anyways, my conclusion: as long as the kid is ready, potty training isn't too bad! -knock on wood-
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Update - on everything
Good morning World! I haven't blogged in awhile and I have lots of things i've been wanting to blog but haven't, so i'll just try and remember things as I go.
1. Potty Training: I started this with Logan, and frankly he's doing very well I think! We go through underwear like no tomorrow but he's also getting to the potty. The part that's most 'frusterating' to me is that it hasn't clicked for him that he can go to th epotty without me asking him or dragging him there. He start to pee, then we rush to the potty and he finishes. So we still have to change his underwear even though he potty peed. -_- I know potty training isn't easy or fun and Logan is officially 2 1/2 with interest in doing it so I figure I need to jump on it. ...his thing is that by the end of the day (or like 2/3:00) he brings me a diaper and asks to put it back on. We talk about it and I say okay because by that time i'm usually getting tired of it all too LOL, so i'm not sure if that's a digression or a progression for him, it's only day 2 and hard to say! We will keep on trucking! Today we're heading to the city for hte morning so we'll try the afternoon for potty training instead.
2. Carter: He weighed in at 6 weeks at 13.5lbs and 25". THREE inches in length over 6 weeks, holy cow, that's some serious growth I think! Looking at his body when I change him, he has a reeeally long torso! It's been interesting even still with Carter for me. I love my boys through and through, but it's a different kind of love for each - equal love, but different. Does that make sense? ...on another note, he is still a pretty good baby! I am going to be transitioning him to his crib today (as he is 8 weeks old today)... I don't konw how that will go but we'll give it a try! I'm so used to just rolling over and nursing him then going back to sleep, getting up will be a different story. I'm going to sleep on an air mattress in his room for a few nights to transition... hopefully his cries won't wake up Logan every night! Thankfully Michael is still sleeping with Logan so if it does he should be able to put him back down. ..My midwives told me at my 6 week that Carter's weight is large enough that he doesn't -need- to be nursing at night at all, so i'm hoping to kind of ween him of a feed with this transition as well. I don't mind one feed, but 2+ is not okay. He's already a chubby baby LOL (it reeally bothers me despite mybest intentions that he has a fat neck with a double chin).
3. I'm throwing a halloween party on Monday! It's going to be a BLAST I think. I have 35+ moms & kids coming - being the numbers grew so rapidly I had to move my location to my church as my house would just be too crowded. I have a ton of games and activities planned, and I also have a healthy snack table (as it is hween so I stayed clear of too many treats). I'll blog about it afterwards but i'm pretty stoked about it.
4. ZUMBA. I have taken on a zumba class on Tues/Wed evenings! I had no idea what zumba was other than hearing that it's the latest 'craze', so I decided to check it out! Well there's a LOT of shimmy-ing and shaking LOL. I was like 'oh dear, am I allowed to do that?' hehe, so I of course went to the class again! Ha! After the initia shock of what zumba is wore of, the class on day 2 wasn't nearly as shocking to me, and it was even a lot of fun! You only shake as far as you'd like to take it, it's the constant dance movements that is the exercise, so you can of course really make it inappropriate or just do the base moves! I am going to keep it up for a solid month, combined with healthy eating and see if i'm getting results that i'm happy with! :)
I think that's all? oh wait - we did carter's baby blessing this past weekend and it was just lovely :) - what is a baby blessing? Well it's basically a special occasion in our church where the father of the baby and other priesthood holders of our choice get to stand up in church and offer a blessing on your child, or a specal prayer I suppose it could be compared to. Carter was blessed with lots of beautiful words by Michael and then we had a lovely get-together afterwards at our home. I was pretty disappointed certain people didn't even bother to come or call and say they weren't but well that's why we've stopped attending their 'important events' because it's definetly not a two-way street. Other than that, I was really happy with the day and how it all turned out! Carter was a very good baby (always nice to have when there are crowds around LOL) .
1. Potty Training: I started this with Logan, and frankly he's doing very well I think! We go through underwear like no tomorrow but he's also getting to the potty. The part that's most 'frusterating' to me is that it hasn't clicked for him that he can go to th epotty without me asking him or dragging him there. He start to pee, then we rush to the potty and he finishes. So we still have to change his underwear even though he potty peed. -_- I know potty training isn't easy or fun and Logan is officially 2 1/2 with interest in doing it so I figure I need to jump on it. ...his thing is that by the end of the day (or like 2/3:00) he brings me a diaper and asks to put it back on. We talk about it and I say okay because by that time i'm usually getting tired of it all too LOL, so i'm not sure if that's a digression or a progression for him, it's only day 2 and hard to say! We will keep on trucking! Today we're heading to the city for hte morning so we'll try the afternoon for potty training instead.
2. Carter: He weighed in at 6 weeks at 13.5lbs and 25". THREE inches in length over 6 weeks, holy cow, that's some serious growth I think! Looking at his body when I change him, he has a reeeally long torso! It's been interesting even still with Carter for me. I love my boys through and through, but it's a different kind of love for each - equal love, but different. Does that make sense? ...on another note, he is still a pretty good baby! I am going to be transitioning him to his crib today (as he is 8 weeks old today)... I don't konw how that will go but we'll give it a try! I'm so used to just rolling over and nursing him then going back to sleep, getting up will be a different story. I'm going to sleep on an air mattress in his room for a few nights to transition... hopefully his cries won't wake up Logan every night! Thankfully Michael is still sleeping with Logan so if it does he should be able to put him back down. ..My midwives told me at my 6 week that Carter's weight is large enough that he doesn't -need- to be nursing at night at all, so i'm hoping to kind of ween him of a feed with this transition as well. I don't mind one feed, but 2+ is not okay. He's already a chubby baby LOL (it reeally bothers me despite mybest intentions that he has a fat neck with a double chin).
3. I'm throwing a halloween party on Monday! It's going to be a BLAST I think. I have 35+ moms & kids coming - being the numbers grew so rapidly I had to move my location to my church as my house would just be too crowded. I have a ton of games and activities planned, and I also have a healthy snack table (as it is hween so I stayed clear of too many treats). I'll blog about it afterwards but i'm pretty stoked about it.
4. ZUMBA. I have taken on a zumba class on Tues/Wed evenings! I had no idea what zumba was other than hearing that it's the latest 'craze', so I decided to check it out! Well there's a LOT of shimmy-ing and shaking LOL. I was like 'oh dear, am I allowed to do that?' hehe, so I of course went to the class again! Ha! After the initia shock of what zumba is wore of, the class on day 2 wasn't nearly as shocking to me, and it was even a lot of fun! You only shake as far as you'd like to take it, it's the constant dance movements that is the exercise, so you can of course really make it inappropriate or just do the base moves! I am going to keep it up for a solid month, combined with healthy eating and see if i'm getting results that i'm happy with! :)
I think that's all? oh wait - we did carter's baby blessing this past weekend and it was just lovely :) - what is a baby blessing? Well it's basically a special occasion in our church where the father of the baby and other priesthood holders of our choice get to stand up in church and offer a blessing on your child, or a specal prayer I suppose it could be compared to. Carter was blessed with lots of beautiful words by Michael and then we had a lovely get-together afterwards at our home. I was pretty disappointed certain people didn't even bother to come or call and say they weren't but well that's why we've stopped attending their 'important events' because it's definetly not a two-way street. Other than that, I was really happy with the day and how it all turned out! Carter was a very good baby (always nice to have when there are crowds around LOL) .
Monday, October 17, 2011
The Plan of Salvation
Well as of recent I have been contemplating alot of things (if I can find the time to blog about it I will), but the one thing that has come to my attention is the question "what do you believe". As far as being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints goes, that question sometimes seems overwhelming because in all honesty, where do I start? One thing i've noticed is that people refer to us as 'the mormons' and that mormonism is all about these weird rules we follow (ex: no coffee, no sex before marriage, etc) when honestly most of those 'no...' things that we believe are all engulfed in something called the Word of Wisdom we have been given via revalation from Joseph Smith (a whole other blog).
So what do we believe? Well there are SO many things, in fact you could write a book on it! oh wait, that already exists (ha ha.. bible, book of mormon)..Well I think that the Plan of Salvation really does sum up a large majority of our beliefs, but most importantly it answers alot of questions that are also answered - why are we here? and where are we going? <--I think that is really the question people want to know what you believe right? All of the little rules and guidelines are really just to help us through the journey the plan of salvation lays out for us, and to help us be better people. So here is my understanding and testimony of the plan of salvation!
First of all, a photo that i'll talk my way through, a visual if you will :)
Pre-Mortal Existence:
Okay, in the PME is where the great 'war in heaven' happened. This is where we all as spirits had the opportunity to choose 'sides' - to follow Jesus or to follow Satan. Those who chose Satan will never be given a physical body (as that was what his plan ended up entailing, to follow Satan and never experience death, pain, etc but little did they know they'd also miss out on happiness, love, etc). We know that every person on this earth today chose to follow Christ in the PME because otherwise we just wouldn't be here! **This topic could be delved into deeper for sure but there's alot of information still to come so I'll keep it very basic. Ask me if you'd like to know more!
Veil:
There was a veil put up between our premortal existance and earth in order to allow us to come to this earth and have the opportunity to have free agency (which was Christ's plan). Basically it was meant for us not to remember the details so that we wouldn't be skewed in our thinking and we can make our own path and decisions. Basically Heavenly Father wants us to accept Him as our God on our own terms.
Birth & Earth Life & Death:
So we are born and live on the earth as we know it! This is a time of challenges and tests. Every spirit requires a body before the full plan can be complete. Christ also required a body. He lived on the earth and his test wasn't to forget the spirit world but his challenge was to Atone for our sins so we could all return to live in Heaven again - that was a requirement of the Plan. So on earth He was a perfect being, and then as the scriptures tell, he was crucified, and then resurrected. Death was part of the plan - death is a place where our spirits can leave our bodies and then we can be resurrected in a perfect form.
Spirit World:
After we die our spirits all go to the Spirit World. There are two parts to the spirit world: Spirit Prison (people who have not heard the gospel and will there be taught and have a chance to choose if they want to accept it or not) and Paradise (people who have accepted the gospel and are baptized and temple work is done - I think that's part of it anyways). There is alot of work going on in the spirit world. Basically if a person did not hear about God or have a chance to learn of God on earth, there will be plenty of opportunity in the Spirit World to choose whether you want to follow Him or not (see, agency is key to the plan). We don't have a lot of knowledge of the on-goings in the S.W. but I do know that when people talk of angels and such, I think this is the spirits they are referring to - I think they are all around us on this earth trying to help and support us as Satan's 'angels' are trying hard to get us to choose him, or at least make choices that would lead us closer to him. (Side note: Satan's followers will never have a body but their spirits are allowed to come and help tempt us on Satan's behalf because he wants as many of us to follow him and not reach that godly state that we are promised in the end - why doesn't he want us to reach that? because he is a selfish and evil being and I think he has the philosophy 'if I can't have it, no one can').
Side note: I mentioned that you need be baptized to be in the Paradise side of the S.W. - and again, aren't mormon's the only ones on earth that are in the 'proper way'? Nope! well, yes, but that doesn't exclude people from the opportunity in the spirit world. In our Temples there is alot going on. One of the things that happens is we do proxy work - meaning we perform what is called 'baptism for the dead'. Having the full keys of the Priesthood in our possession allows us to do this kind of work. So we do geneology to find these spirits names and baptize on their behalf. Once baptized, on the 'other side' so-to-speak they then accept or deny it. Same thing for the other temple covenants - we can do the work for them on earth since they no longer have a body to do it themselves.
Resurrection:
When the time is right, Jesus Christ will come to the earth again - this has been prophesied to all of us in the bible and book of mormon. We refer to this as 'the Second Coming'. He will come and when th etime is right we will all be resurrected - meaning our spirits and bodies will be reunited in an immortal state. That is, not every spirit and body will be resurrected, but rather those who have chosen to take upon them the name of Christ (to follow God).
Judgement:
At the time of the resurrection we will all be judged on our works and deeds. This will determine our eternal glory. We will remember all of our mistakes, guilt and errors we have made in our life at this point. Judgement day is what makes the concepts of Repentance and Forgiveness so very important to our salvation - when you repent of your sins they are 'erased' so-to-speak from your slate and they won't be brought up at the judgement seat. In the chart there is something called 'outer darkness' listed. This is the place that all the evil people will be cast, including Satan and his followers at the time.
Three Kingdoms of Glory:
**This next part is what seperates us from other religions. At judgement we will be assigned our level of glory. I dont know too much about the different levels and if you can move up if you're placed ina lower level, etc but frankly i'm just aiming for the top lol, you have to have a certain level of faith that things will work out if you do your best in our present earth life.
Telestial Kingdom - Telestial glory will be reserved for individuals who “received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus”. These individuals will receive their glory after being redeemed from spirit prison, which is sometimes called hell. The Telestial Kingdom is compared to the stars because they are quite phenominal but not as big and wonderous as the moon, or one step further, the sun. I imagine this kingdom to be the 'bad' people of the world who aren't bad enough to have been cast out of the presence of God but generally were just bad people!
Terrestial Kingdom - This is a quote from the church website on the knowledge we have on the Terrestial Kingdom: "Those who inherit terrestrial glory will “receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father. Wherefore, they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun” (D&C 76:77-78). Generally speaking, individuals in the terrestrial kingdom will be honorable people “who were blinded by the craftiness of men” (D&C 76:75). This group will include members of the Church who were “not valiant in the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:79). It will also include those who rejected the opportunity to receive the gospel in mortality but who later received it in the postmortal spirit world.
Celestial Kingdom: Now this kingdom is where the misconception lies in the world about how 'mormon's think they're the only ones who can get to heaven'. In this Kingdom both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ dwells - so you have to imagine that you would have had to be a very good person - or at the minimum trying your absolute best to be a good person during earth life. In order to reach celestial glory there are certain things that must be obtained: you need to have been baptized and you need to have made temple covenants. There is no other religion on this earth that has these particular ordinances in it's fullness and correctness. This however does not mean that only Latter Day Saints can obtain that glory but rather it means that if you did not have the opportunity to obtain these things but were generally one of those people that lived a wonderful life of -trying- to be a good person (ex: Mother Theresa) you will absolutely have an opportunity to obtain this level of glory - compared to the Sun. AND, just because you are a Latter Day Saints who has made those covenants does not give you a free ride!
One last note about that and i'll move on, but the Lord has also communicated to us that in the grand scheme of it all, he knows us each individually and knows our hearts and it is Him that will judge us at judgement day - not anyone else.
So! That all being said as a very simplistic overview of what I believe, all the 'little things' (like dont smoke, don't swear, keep the commandments) are guidelines to help us all reach that Celestial Glory where we will have immortal bodies and eternal life as gods and goddess' of our own kingdoms (which is what we have been promised). I truly believe in the Plan of Salvation (or sometimes known as the Plan of Happiness) and have a strong strong testimony in it, and I do my absolute best to keep my focus in that direction and that is what I want out of this life, is to be able to sit before my God at judgement day and him to say 'well done they good and faithful servant'. I'm so grateful to have this knowledge and to have a focus in my life as to where I am going and where I have come from.
So what do we believe? Well there are SO many things, in fact you could write a book on it! oh wait, that already exists (ha ha.. bible, book of mormon)..Well I think that the Plan of Salvation really does sum up a large majority of our beliefs, but most importantly it answers alot of questions that are also answered - why are we here? and where are we going? <--I think that is really the question people want to know what you believe right? All of the little rules and guidelines are really just to help us through the journey the plan of salvation lays out for us, and to help us be better people. So here is my understanding and testimony of the plan of salvation!
First of all, a photo that i'll talk my way through, a visual if you will :)
Okay, in the PME is where the great 'war in heaven' happened. This is where we all as spirits had the opportunity to choose 'sides' - to follow Jesus or to follow Satan. Those who chose Satan will never be given a physical body (as that was what his plan ended up entailing, to follow Satan and never experience death, pain, etc but little did they know they'd also miss out on happiness, love, etc). We know that every person on this earth today chose to follow Christ in the PME because otherwise we just wouldn't be here! **This topic could be delved into deeper for sure but there's alot of information still to come so I'll keep it very basic. Ask me if you'd like to know more!
Veil:
There was a veil put up between our premortal existance and earth in order to allow us to come to this earth and have the opportunity to have free agency (which was Christ's plan). Basically it was meant for us not to remember the details so that we wouldn't be skewed in our thinking and we can make our own path and decisions. Basically Heavenly Father wants us to accept Him as our God on our own terms.
Birth & Earth Life & Death:
So we are born and live on the earth as we know it! This is a time of challenges and tests. Every spirit requires a body before the full plan can be complete. Christ also required a body. He lived on the earth and his test wasn't to forget the spirit world but his challenge was to Atone for our sins so we could all return to live in Heaven again - that was a requirement of the Plan. So on earth He was a perfect being, and then as the scriptures tell, he was crucified, and then resurrected. Death was part of the plan - death is a place where our spirits can leave our bodies and then we can be resurrected in a perfect form.
Spirit World:
After we die our spirits all go to the Spirit World. There are two parts to the spirit world: Spirit Prison (people who have not heard the gospel and will there be taught and have a chance to choose if they want to accept it or not) and Paradise (people who have accepted the gospel and are baptized and temple work is done - I think that's part of it anyways). There is alot of work going on in the spirit world. Basically if a person did not hear about God or have a chance to learn of God on earth, there will be plenty of opportunity in the Spirit World to choose whether you want to follow Him or not (see, agency is key to the plan). We don't have a lot of knowledge of the on-goings in the S.W. but I do know that when people talk of angels and such, I think this is the spirits they are referring to - I think they are all around us on this earth trying to help and support us as Satan's 'angels' are trying hard to get us to choose him, or at least make choices that would lead us closer to him. (Side note: Satan's followers will never have a body but their spirits are allowed to come and help tempt us on Satan's behalf because he wants as many of us to follow him and not reach that godly state that we are promised in the end - why doesn't he want us to reach that? because he is a selfish and evil being and I think he has the philosophy 'if I can't have it, no one can').
Side note: I mentioned that you need be baptized to be in the Paradise side of the S.W. - and again, aren't mormon's the only ones on earth that are in the 'proper way'? Nope! well, yes, but that doesn't exclude people from the opportunity in the spirit world. In our Temples there is alot going on. One of the things that happens is we do proxy work - meaning we perform what is called 'baptism for the dead'. Having the full keys of the Priesthood in our possession allows us to do this kind of work. So we do geneology to find these spirits names and baptize on their behalf. Once baptized, on the 'other side' so-to-speak they then accept or deny it. Same thing for the other temple covenants - we can do the work for them on earth since they no longer have a body to do it themselves.
Resurrection:
When the time is right, Jesus Christ will come to the earth again - this has been prophesied to all of us in the bible and book of mormon. We refer to this as 'the Second Coming'. He will come and when th etime is right we will all be resurrected - meaning our spirits and bodies will be reunited in an immortal state. That is, not every spirit and body will be resurrected, but rather those who have chosen to take upon them the name of Christ (to follow God).
Judgement:
At the time of the resurrection we will all be judged on our works and deeds. This will determine our eternal glory. We will remember all of our mistakes, guilt and errors we have made in our life at this point. Judgement day is what makes the concepts of Repentance and Forgiveness so very important to our salvation - when you repent of your sins they are 'erased' so-to-speak from your slate and they won't be brought up at the judgement seat. In the chart there is something called 'outer darkness' listed. This is the place that all the evil people will be cast, including Satan and his followers at the time.
Three Kingdoms of Glory:
**This next part is what seperates us from other religions. At judgement we will be assigned our level of glory. I dont know too much about the different levels and if you can move up if you're placed ina lower level, etc but frankly i'm just aiming for the top lol, you have to have a certain level of faith that things will work out if you do your best in our present earth life.
Telestial Kingdom - Telestial glory will be reserved for individuals who “received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus”. These individuals will receive their glory after being redeemed from spirit prison, which is sometimes called hell. The Telestial Kingdom is compared to the stars because they are quite phenominal but not as big and wonderous as the moon, or one step further, the sun. I imagine this kingdom to be the 'bad' people of the world who aren't bad enough to have been cast out of the presence of God but generally were just bad people!
Terrestial Kingdom - This is a quote from the church website on the knowledge we have on the Terrestial Kingdom: "Those who inherit terrestrial glory will “receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father. Wherefore, they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun” (D&C 76:77-78). Generally speaking, individuals in the terrestrial kingdom will be honorable people “who were blinded by the craftiness of men” (D&C 76:75). This group will include members of the Church who were “not valiant in the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:79). It will also include those who rejected the opportunity to receive the gospel in mortality but who later received it in the postmortal spirit world.
Celestial Kingdom: Now this kingdom is where the misconception lies in the world about how 'mormon's think they're the only ones who can get to heaven'. In this Kingdom both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ dwells - so you have to imagine that you would have had to be a very good person - or at the minimum trying your absolute best to be a good person during earth life. In order to reach celestial glory there are certain things that must be obtained: you need to have been baptized and you need to have made temple covenants. There is no other religion on this earth that has these particular ordinances in it's fullness and correctness. This however does not mean that only Latter Day Saints can obtain that glory but rather it means that if you did not have the opportunity to obtain these things but were generally one of those people that lived a wonderful life of -trying- to be a good person (ex: Mother Theresa) you will absolutely have an opportunity to obtain this level of glory - compared to the Sun. AND, just because you are a Latter Day Saints who has made those covenants does not give you a free ride!
One last note about that and i'll move on, but the Lord has also communicated to us that in the grand scheme of it all, he knows us each individually and knows our hearts and it is Him that will judge us at judgement day - not anyone else.
So! That all being said as a very simplistic overview of what I believe, all the 'little things' (like dont smoke, don't swear, keep the commandments) are guidelines to help us all reach that Celestial Glory where we will have immortal bodies and eternal life as gods and goddess' of our own kingdoms (which is what we have been promised). I truly believe in the Plan of Salvation (or sometimes known as the Plan of Happiness) and have a strong strong testimony in it, and I do my absolute best to keep my focus in that direction and that is what I want out of this life, is to be able to sit before my God at judgement day and him to say 'well done they good and faithful servant'. I'm so grateful to have this knowledge and to have a focus in my life as to where I am going and where I have come from.
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