Some Thoughts and Kid Updates

I'm a late night blogger, apparently. I don't know why. Maybe because I have Restless Brain Syndrome (ok, so I just made that up).

Or maybe because my children and husband are all sleeping peacefully.

Actually, I think it's a combination of those 2 things.

But once again, I have a lot on my mind late at night.

I should be sleeping. I know I'll regret staying up too late when I'm a total zombie in the morning.

But at least I don't have to go anywhere :D I love being a stay at home mom. I get to work in my PJs all day everyday. Seriously, what could be better than that?

That's not what I want to write about tonight, though.

Disclaimer: if you don't want to read goody goody churchy-ness, feel free to skip the next section of this post :)

Many of you may know that I'm a choir director at church. I direct the choir for our ward (congregation). We've been practicing for stake conference (basically, several congregations meeting together), which is next week. Thankfully, I do NOT have to conduct for that! Talk about scary.

We're singing 2 beautiful, inspiring songs. I love both of them. But one in particular touches me. You may (or may not) know it: How Can I Keep From Singing. Gorgeous gorgeous song. I bought a CD with this song on it several years ago, but I didn't know all the words until I had the sheet music in front of me.

You know how it's often hard to catch lyrics on choral pieces. Especially when you're multi-tasking. And most of my music listening occurs while driving or cooking, so obviously most of my attention goes to those tasks.

But this song is beautiful. I've always thought so. But I didn't know just how beautiful until I sang it myself.

And no, that's not a bragging "I'm such a great singer" statement.

Although there's truth to that as well ;)

No, the song itself is beautiful. I'm just an instrument in the orchestra, one of many voices in the choir.

Look it up if you don't know it, because seriously, it's gorgeous. It's about how beautiful the gospel is and how, knowing that, how can you not sing about it. The line that strikes me most is this:

"The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart."

Isn't that gorgeous? I love the imagery. Love love love it. And it's followed by:

"A fountain ever springing
All things are mine
Since I am His
How can I keep from singing?"

Seriously, this gives me chills. I can't adequately describe how much I love this, how much it touches me. I won't even try. I couldn't do it justice. But I love it. It's so true.

And I know all of us need that peace, all of us need a fresh heart that only His peace can give.

Something else struck me during the stake choir rehearsal today (er, yesterday now). While we went over the men's verse, I watched Emma climb all over the organ bench.

I realized her birthday is next month. Intellectually, I've known that for awhile. I've started on her birthday gifts and everything. But today, it really hit me.

My little girl is almost 3. 3!

And I got emotional. I started tearing up, mid-rehearsal. And it wasn't even a part that I sing in, so I couldn't claim the music caused it or anything.

My baby is nearly 3 years old. My tiny, 6 lbs 11 oz baby. The teeny tiny girl who wore newborn clothes for 3 months, who has spent most of her life below the 5th percentile for weight.

Heck, she still wears some 18 month clothes. And her baby brother is now in 12 month sleepers...

It's strange to think it's been almost 3 years since she officially joined our family. It goes so fast.

And yet, I can't imagine life without her.

I think of her as she is now. It's strange to look back at pictures of her as a baby. I know she was a baby, and she was a dang cute baby (and no I'm not at all biased), but I don't really think of her as a baby. It's hard to remember her that way. I think it's because I spend all day every day with her and have watched her gradual growth and development.

I'm glad I've taken so many pictures and written down milestones and such. Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be able to fully remember it all.

I'm continually amazed by the things she learns. She's such a smarty. She's learning her letters and their sounds. She recognizes many of them. I think she'll be full on reading by the time she's 4. At the rate she's going, I'm sure she will be. She's a smart kid.

I love that she says every kid is her friend. When she sees or hears other kids, she says, "oh it's my friend!" I love that. What a great attitude to have. I want to be more like that.

She said the cutest thing today. She was talking about her friend who's moving this week. We were going to babysit the other day so her parents could go to the temple, but it didn't work out. I told Emma we might have her over while her parents pack up and clean. She replied, "they go to the temple, to get married!" She was really excited about it. I love that she already equates marriage with the temple.

It means I'm doing something right.

Not everything, by any stretch of the imagination.

But definitely something.

She's so totally ready for the dollhouse I'm making. She likes to make people with blocks and play with them. Today, she made Emma, Hyrum, and "her friend" and they played on some sort of block playground.

I love how creative she is. She "colors" (draws) all the time. Her drawings are becoming more and more recognizable as actual objects. She's getting pretty good at drawing faces and people.

It's now 2:30 in the morning...and my son is awake. I just fed him, but he wouldn't nurse back to sleep. He's wide awake. Looks like he's going to be my little blogging buddy for a bit.

It's his turn for an update now anyway.

Hyrum is learning so many things now. He can for real crawl a bit. He prefers to army crawl. He's a little torpedo on his tummy. He'll get in real crawling position on his hands and knees, start going a little, lose his balance, and continue on his tummy.

He's cruised a little bit. He's so efficient at army crawling that other modes of mobility aren't as enticing. He's really good at pulling to stand now.

Hyrum now says mama!! I love love love it. Cutest thing ever. I try to get him to say dada, but he won't have it. Poor John. He's such a mama's boy. He does love his daddy, too. Sometimes I swear he says Emma, but her name is so easy to say that I can't be sure. I'd like to think he says it. I wouldn't be too surprised if he does. He just adores his big sister.

He waves! It's so cute! And he points. He's mastered the pincer grasp as well. He's all about the self-feeding...especially when he sees us eating. Or when it comes to forbidden non-food objects. He's like a human vacuum. I really need to pick up Emma's droppings (ok, that sounds sooo gross) after meals before he gets to them.

Gyah, and now Emma's up, too. Hopefully this means they'll sleep in for me? Here's hoping. Guess we'll have to call it a "night" for now.