Friday, February 27, 2009

Code for Poop

One of Savy's favorite things to do is take a little crap when she's supposed to be napping. She ends up stinking up her whole room, or sometimes our whole house, and usually misses out on her nap because by the time I go rescue her, she's been in her crib for about an hour and won't go back to bed. Oftentimes she'll just talk herself to sleep, or talk instead of sleeping, and sometimes she'll talk instead of sleeping because she can't sleep with her stinky bum. So the other day we laid her down for nap, let her talk for an hour, went in to get her up and was blasted by her stink. Sammy decided Savana needed to learn a code word to let us know when she was poopy so we could change her bum. He sat there for a good five minutes while changing the stinky diaper (he's such a good hubby, eh?) and practiced having her say "Mommy, poopy, change bum." I thought it just went over her head. But today, after taking a refreshing dip in the Lehi Legacy Pool with my sis and her littlest boys, I laid her down for a nap, hopped in the shower, and started browsing on the computer. Savy was blabbing away in her crib, and I was baffled as to why she hadn't fallen asleep yet. I even stuck my nose in to smell her room, and it didn't stink. So I just let her talk. And then I listened to what she was saying. And I heard, "mommy, change bum, mommy, change bum," in a little sing-song voice. Did she really understand what her daddy was teaching her yesterday? And sure enough, I walked in her room and was blasted, once again, by her stink. (I must have stuck my nose in prematurely before). So I changed her bum, put her back in her crib, and am now enjoying my peace and quiet while she's sleeping.

It always amazes me how much she understands and what she picks up on. Kids are so observant at this age and simply soak everything in. I need to remember to never underestimate Savy's capabilities. She's a smart, beautiful, incredibly entertaining girl who can learn code words about poop.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Stinky Air and Expressing Feelings

I just spent the afternoon with the most beautiful bride-to-be, Brynn! She is so gorgeous, it's impossible to get a bad shot of her. We traveled all the way out to SaltAir and were blessed with the most beautiful weather, and the most awful smell! The Great Salt Lake surely does stink! I wish I would have thought to grab my camera so I could snap a few shots of her. She looked absolutely incredible! (Brynn, does it hurt to be so beautiful?)

I've really loved the time I've been able to spend with my sister over the past few weeks. Her life is crazy busy with all the wedding plans, but I've enjoyed being a part of some of the craziness. I'm blessed to have five wonderful sisters, four who are close by and one who's left the comforts of home to join her hubby far, far, away. Life with girls is certainly great, and certainly crazy, and sometimes absolutely insane (when we are all home our hormones are connected and we have a week of PMS among ALL of us), but I certainly love it. It's interesting to look back on our childhood and our lives nowadays and contemplate how we all turned out the way we did. One would think that growing up in a life of girls would promote serious communication, heart-pouring, feeling-sobbing, skills, but this seems to be one of the area I am lacking in, and in talking with one of my sisters, it seems to be common throughout the fam. Why is it so hard to express my/our feelings?

My hubby has wonderful communication skills and he's helped me to express those feelings that can be so hard to express. But I still struggle sometimes. It's not hard for me to express my happy feelings, it's the feelings of insecurity, sadness, unsureness, doubt, depression, etc. that I find hard to share. It's almost like I have to put on a face/facade to the world around me that says I'm always happy. I am usually a happy person, but why can it be so hard to express the sad part of ourselves? Is it because we feel so vulnerable in those stages? I'm convinced that the only way someone can really know me and I can really know them is if we can share our true selves with one another...the happy self and the sad self. It's not a shame to be sad, depressed, lonely, insecure, upset, angry, mad, etc...everyone feels that way...we just have to learn to express these feelings in a healthy way.

I'm not sure why this post turned into a rambling about my feelings and inability to express them, but I admire those people around me who let their true selves shine and who accept me and my true self. I hope I can learn to let down my barrier a bit to let people in to see who I truly am. I tend to let people see what it is I think they want to see in myself instead of truly just being myself. Maybe as I learn to express myself, I can find out who I really am and let everyone see what I'm really made of.