I Get My Chocolate Therapy!

Many people know I love Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. My absolute favorite flavor is Chocolate Therapy. I was so disappointed when they took the shop out of Brigham's Landing in Provo. I had to go up to the Gateway to get some after that happened. Then I moved to Iowa where there is not a Ben & Jerry's anywhere close by.

A couple weeks ago I got an email from my Ben & Jerry's newsletter telling me Chocolate Therapy would not just be sold in the Scoop Shop. They were now selling it in pints at the grocery store! YIPEE

So what did I do? I went to Wal-Mart and got me 2 pints of Chocolate Therapy. I had to buy 2 because I knew Cory would eat most of my ice cream unless I got him one of his own.

I couldn't be happier.

My New Favorite Blog

So I haven't been feeling that great about all my new stretch marks. Last night I decided to search them on Pinterest in hopes of finding some magical cream or inspirational quotes. I happened to stumble upon this blog-- http://womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com/. There is an amazing post about why this woman loves her stretch marks. In the post she quoted Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the First Quorum of the Seventy and his wife Marie K. Hafen. They said,


Just as a mother's body may be permanently marked with the signs of pregnancy and childbirth, [the Savior] said, 'I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands' (1 Ne. 21:15–16). For both a mother and the Savior, those marks memorialize a wrenching sacrifice--the sacrifice of begetting life--for her, physical birth; for him, spiritual rebirth" ("'Eve Heard All These Things and Was Glad': Grace and Learning by Experience," in Dawn Hall Anderson and Susette Fletcher Green, eds.,Women in the Covenant of Grace: Talks Selected from the 1993 Women's Conference [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994], p. 29)." 


The Savior has too has marks on his hands, feet, and side. Those are His marks for giving his life for me. Just as I have marks that represent the life I gave to Carson. As women, our bodies are beautiful. This has been so hard for me to remember lately. But now every time I see my tiger striped tummy, I think of the Savior and His sacrifice for me. This post definitely made me feel a whole lot better about myself.


This amazing woman has many other great posts. But so far my favorite one is "The Importance of Birth." I think everyone should read it! Her outlook on things is amazing! I quoted some of my favorite parts.



"The first veil that all mankind passes through is the veil of birth in which man is born into the world by water, blood and the spirit. Women have a stewardship over this first veil. When Eve partook of the tree of knowledge she became more like God, knowing good from evil and gaining the capacity to bear children. Eve's transgression "opened the matrix", as it says in Exodus 34:19, the womb, the gateway through which the souls of all mankind would pass through into the mortal world. The only possible way to enter this mortal world is through the body of a woman and by the shedding of her blood... there is no other way."

"...many of Satan's tactics are directed at women and at the structure which protects and guards the first veil... the family. Satan is doing everything in his power to convince women that their bodies, which are the gateway through the first veil, are dirty, ugly, imperfect, dysfunctional and of no importance. He is doing everything he can to distract and confuse women so that they abandon their responsibility as the guardians of life into this world. If he can destroy women's faith in their bodies and help them lose sight of the importance of the first veil---and the power and sanctity of conception, pregnancy and birth--- then he is well on his way to thwarting God's plan."

"I believe that how women birth and how children come into this world matters deeply to God. I feel that He expects the processes of conception, pregnancy and birth to be treated with the same type of reverence and faith with which we approach priesthood ordinances. I also believe that He expects women to protect their wombs, honor their ability to give life, and to participate in cultural and medical practices which bear witness to the divinity and power of women's bodies and the birth process."

"...no child comes into this world unaccompanied and that God sends angels to be with them as they enter this world. I also know that God sends angels to laboring women to help them as they birth His children into the light of the world. The veil is thin for a woman in labor and if she is listening she is able to feel the power of God in an incredibly powerful way. For a few hours she becomes a wide open portal into heaven, foreordained from the foundations of the world to bring the children of heaven into this mortal world. What a great blessing it is that God has such faith in His daughters to entrust them with such a great power!"

I get goosebumps every time I go back and read this. The woman's body is so sacred. I understand this more fully after reading this post.  Heavenly Father loves His daughters. That first moment when Carson was born was the most miraculous feeling. I can't wait to have another sweet little angel to add to our family.

Carson's 3 Month Update

He has grown so much this past month. He is no longer my newborn--which I'm okay with. Here's what he's been up to.

-He became interested in the tv. He now watches it.

-We heard him giggle for the first time.

-He is completely out of his newborn clothes.

-We moved him to his crib shortly after he turned 2 months. He loves it! After the second night of sleeping there he started sleeping longer! Yes! And the past few days he has only woken up once to eat the whole night--at 12:30am. I'm loving it. He sleeps from 7-7.

-His naps are getting better. They have been such a struggle for us! He has always been such an alert baby. This past month he has gone through different phases for his naps. He was doing quick 30 minute naps throughout the day. Now he does about 4 1hr naps. (he could use 5 though). I'm just glad he's sleeping longer than 30 min. I just wish he would sleep longer! But I can now put him down fully awake and he can fall asleep by himself. I am one happy mama!

-Carson now plays with us! I love this stage so much. He's not mobile yet so we can just sit and play!

-He loves the fish. He likes to lay on the floor next to them and just admire all the colors.

-He tries to sit up all the time. If he's in his carseat or laying in his boppy, he will pull himself up and try to sit up. We need to keep a closer eye on him now.

-He is still very particular about when he eats. He eats when he is ready. 

-This may sound crazy but whenever he hears another baby crying, he gets a very sad face and starts crying too. He started doing this when he was a couple of weeks old. We took a video of him when he was a newborn and he happened to cry during the recording. Well we watched it back and that's when he first did it. We thought it was so funny and cute that we played it back a few more times. Each time he cried--right when he heard the crying! At first we thought, eh he's just tired. Then he did it at church, multiple times.

Here's a funny story for ya: since he started watching tv, I thought I would turn on the movie "Babies." Well right at the beginning there are 2 toddlers/babies playing. They quickly start fighting and crying and you know what Carson does? Yep, he puts his pouty face on and cries with them. I wanted to keep watching so I comforted him and told him he would be okay. Except I quickly learned that more babies=more crying. Each time he saw and heard crying, he would too. So I had to turn it off.

He also gets this way when he hears a "sad" song. Like in church. We sang, "I Need Thee Every Hour." This isn't exactly a "sad" song, I know. But it's a slowish, almost depressing sounding song. (Especially when sung slow) Carson didn't like it. One more example (I'm sorry I just think it's so cute): I was listening to the radio. The song, "You had a bad day," came on. I think it was during the bridge that he started his sad cry! Every time he does this I have a good laugh. Then I go comfort him of course. It's hilarious though because he is always perfectly content before! I didn't want to tell people about this at first because I thought maybe it was some kind of fluke. But now that I know it's not, I have been trying to document it and tell people. He's a very sensitive boy! I did post a video below. :)

-Carson has also been sucking on his hands more. Sometimes we catch him sucking his two middle fingers. Just like his Aunt Cassidy!

Here are some pictures from this month. Major photo bomb here...

Tummy Time

He loves that book

Watching tv with daddy

This was right after he turned 2 months. He still fit in his newborn clothes!

"Leave me alone Mom. I'm studying."

Blurry, but cute. 3 months old that day!

This one is just cute.

This video is of him watching a video of himself doing tummy time. He started crying towards the end of his tummy time. I wanted to catch him getting sad over crying. I had to do this while Cory was gone because he hates it that I do this. He was already a little fussy in this video but watch until the end! He gets sad and it's so funny! Don't mind my voice on both the original video and this one...