Author: elisabeth
My Kids Are Too Cute
I couldn’t resist showing you just how adorable my kids are!
This is Fay and her little buddy next door, Auden. Yesterday Auden was going on the bus to take his dad to work and Fay swung an invite! They both had their little backpacks and snacks and stuff and it was too adorable not to document!
Last night, I put Carter in Fay’s bed to entice her to get in it (she’s rather possessive) and they ended up just playing the entire time we were doing scriptures. (I’m sorry! I know I was totally encouraging it by taking pictures. But I promise that most of the time I’m listening to family scriptures!) This picture shows perfectly how Fay works with Carter. She just tries to get some kind of response out of him. He looks pretty excited about the prospect of getting that finger in his mouth!
Still totally siblings! I love how much they look alike!
This is Carter playing with his toys. I don’t feel like Fay was anywhere near as intent on playing with her toys as Carter is. Boys will be boys. 🙂 I love how you can see how concentrated he is!
My Father, My Husband, My Son
I meant to do this post much earlier in the week, as to be closer to Father’s Day, but it turns out that other things have priority.
I am so grateful for the men in my life! And I felt like it was so beautiful that we got to talk about the Priesthood in Relief Society this Father’s Day because I know that the privilege of holding the Priesthood of God is largely what has made my father and my husband the men that they are.
Daddy holding Fay, May 2013
My Daddy is genuinely one of the greatest men I know. He works harder than anyone else I know. He is brilliant, and yet so humble. He is patient and even tempered. And he loves Heavenly Father with all his heart. I know that he does because he made sure that if we knew anything growing up, it was that living the Gospel is the only way to be happy. I can’t even count the number of times I asked Daddy why we had to do “such and such” a church thing and he responded with “Because I want Elisabeth to be in Heaven with me, so we are going to do every good thing possible so we can strengthen our chances.” He has never told me this in so many words, but I know that he takes his Priesthood responsibility as the head of his home very seriously. He knows that ultimately he will be accountable for how well he exercised that Priesthood for the welfare of his family and our Eternal Salvation, and he is determined to be able to answer to God in good conscience. I love my Daddy! And I fully intend to continue to do every good thing possible so as to strengthen my chances of being with him for Eternity!
Josh on his birthday–June 19, 2014
Josh is the perfect husband. I have come to learn that there are many personality types that do not require the things that Josh has to offer, and so perhaps I ought to say that Josh is the perfect husband for me. But I figure, this is my blog. Obviously everything is from my perspective. So the original statement stands. 🙂 Being married to Josh has helped me to understand better what a righteous father’s influence can really be. I always knew I had a great dad; but now that I see from the other end of things (as the mother rather than the daughter), I see just how much of a blessing a righteous father who honors his Priesthood is for children. I don’t think I could ever quite explain it in words; but I feel his influence on our family daily. When I’m at home with the kids we have a good time and I try my best to teach them good things and show them love. But when Josh comes home we really become a family, and that is because our family is the most important thing in Josh’s life. He tells me about the mentality that guys he works with have, and I see that it is unique to be a family man. I am so grateful for his desire to be a family man! And I am Eternally grateful that he is the father of my family forever!
I know I didn’t put this in the title, but that is because it didn’t quite have the same ring. 🙂 But I don’t feel like I can really talk about how wonderful Josh is as a father without talking about his father. My father-in-law is another one of the greatest men this world has to offer. I obviously don’t know him as well as I know my dad, but I do know enough to see that he also feels very strongly the importance of his role as the father of his home. I know that Josh is the man he is because he grew up with an example of a man who understands that in the end, our families are what are important. I am grateful to him for showing Josh how to be so wonderful. I am also grateful to him for inviting me into his family and showing me that I am just as important to him as one of his own children.
Carter is little. Two months old today. He is clearly not a father. But one day he will be. One day he will also hold the Priesthood of God, and be charged with the giant responsibility of making sure his children are all in Heaven with him. (No pressure, buddy. 😉 ) As much as that is a huge responsibility on him, and on Josh and me to prepare him, I know that he is going to be okay. I feel like he is going to make it! He has the highest quality men there are for his father and grandfathers. I know that he is as important to them as he is to me, and with all of us doing every good thing possible (thanks Daddy!) we should have pretty good chances of being in Heaven together forever.
Happy Father’s Day!
Wilmington!
We Monsons have been staying at home too much! We haven’t really gone anywhere since we moved here! We did go to Utah for Christmas, but we haven’t had a chance to see anything outside of the Triangle in NC. UNTIL NOW!!!!!
In the southeast corner of North Carolina, there is a city called Wilmington that is pretty well THE beach city for people who live around us. It is only about 2.5 hours of driving to get there and it has tons of fun things to do! I guess there is a UNC Wilmington, and I find myself wondering if I would have ever actually graduated from college had I lived in a beach town. Good thing Provo doesn’t have a beach. 🙂
Anyway, Josh worked a half day on Friday, and we headed out of Chapel Hill around 12:30. When we got to Wilmington, we checked into our hotel and the first thing we did was (at Fay’s request) go to the hotel swimming pool.
Josh and I took turns playing with Fay in the water and holding Carter on the side. This is Josh helping Fay to be a mermaid. She kept declaring that she was a mermaid like Ariel!
At the pool they had music playing. This is one of the songs that played. I thought it was pretty groovy. You should leave a comment on what you think about it! If you do, I will tell you a secret about it!
By the time Fay had gotten her fill of swimming, it was dinner time, so we looked online for yummy places to eat. We found this place called Island Fresh Mexican Grill. It was really close to our hotel and had a TON of people there! It was really good, too! We decided that it was like a combination of Rubio’s, Rumbi, and Cafe Rio. After dinner we took Fay to a park, which we were told once we were there was the best park in Wilmington. Way to go GPS for finding it! We also got some Brownie Pillows from the Fresh Market. Those are probably the most genius dessert ever created. For those of you in North Carolina that have yet to try them, DO IT! They are something else!
Saturday was our beach day! Fay loved it with all her heart!
She played in the actual ocean/waves/thing for only a few minutes, but she loved finding places where water had pooled in the sand and just staying there forever. She threw a bunch of sand, built about 30 snowmen in it, and had a good handful of it in her swimsuit by the time we were done!
Carter chilled in the shade tent (thank you a MILLION, Emily Warburton!) and slept a good portion of our time at the beach. Josh and I took turns with the kids again.
Look at that little stud!
This is Josh being super hot at the beach!
And this is the only picture of me for our whole time at the beach. If you look in the upper right hand corner, you can see me in the shade tent. I’m feeding Carter, but I’m at the beach!
Later on Saturday (after lunch and naps for everyone!), we went down to the pier where we could see the USS North Carolina and other, much less impressive, boats. Then we went home and went swimming again!
Thanks to the random guy with a cigar who offered to take a picture of all four of us together! I love how Fay is mid-yawn!
On Sunday, we went to church at the ward that met at 9:00 so we would have time to do one more thing before we had to head home. It turned out to be the Wilmington 2nd ward wherein one of the elders who used to be in CH2, Elder Lee, is currently serving. That was cool. Also, a guy who is a brother to a guy in my home ward was also in the ward. I seriously love the Gospel so much! I love that there are connections everywhere because it is true everywhere!
After church we went to the Aquarium!
Awesome ironic picture of Fay! Look at her face and then look at her shirt!
Fay loved the fish! She would get super excited and say “BIG!!!!” whenever there were a lot of them! We had lots of fun at the aquarium; but by the time it was over, we were all ready to go home.
And though it was a much needed vacation, and we had a ball the whole time, it is nice to be back home just doing our normal little thing!
When I am Weak
Today I had my 6 week postpartum doctor visit, which means that Carter is 6 weeks old, which means that I have had two children for 6 weeks. The kids decided to celebrate the occasion for me by reminding me that having two children is a different game than having one.
For example: When Fay was a new baby and was having a really fussy/needy day, it meant that I spent a little more time with her than usual, helping to soothe her to sleep, or feed her extra, or whatever. Looking back, it doesn’t seem like it should have caused me too much stress–though I know that it did. Anyway, today, when Carter was having one of those days, it meant that I had to spend a little more time with him than usual, helping to soothe him to sleep and feed him extra. That extra time spent with Carter meant less time spent with Fay. She is such a sweetheart, and really is quite patient with it all (and she is a champ at entertaining herself when she has to do it); but by the end of the day, she was craving attention, and Carter was still having a needy day, and I was still only one person.
I suppose this is mostly just a ramble. But the point I guess I’m trying to make is that I basically have little to no idea how to be a mother of two children. And yet, here I am.
This much I do know, however: I know that the greatest gift God ever gave to the world was the gift of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And I am learning more and more all the time that the greatest gift that God can give to me is also the gift of His spirit sons and daughters. They are a gift because they are sweet and hilarious and snuggly and happy, and because they stretch you beyond your own capacity when they have rough moments or days or weeks. And I know that through the gift of God’s Only Begotten Son, I can live up to the privilege of the beautiful gifts–my two children–that God gave to me.
No. I don’t know what I’m doing. But Heavenly Father knows everything, and the Grace of His Son “is sufficient for [me]: for [His] strength is made perfect in weakness.” Only Jesus Christ’s Atonement can make up to my children what I lack as a mother. And there is nobody who can do more for them than Him, so it’s okay if I just have to let Him take the helm. “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. …for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
Sibling Harmony
Sometimes Fay likes to thump Carter on the head. 🙁 Sometimes Fay likes to shake Carter’s bouncer way too much. Sometimes Fay gets irritated that Carter is getting held and she’s not. Sometimes Carter cries when Fay holds him. Sometimes Carter cries when Fay is getting attention and he is hungry. Sometimes Carter cries when Fay thumps him on the head.
But most of the time, Fay loves Carter and Carter loves Fay. 🙂
Fay has recently started asking to hold Carter several times a day. She knows that if she wants to hold him she has to sit in the corner of the couch (so his head has somewhere to go), and so she will declare “I Carter” and then when I tell her that she can indeed hold him she squeals “corner!” and rushes to the couch. A lot of times when Fay is holding him, Carter will open his eyes wide and look around. That is his happy face!
This is a cute picture of Fay in a hat. That’s all.
Yesterday, Fay was holding Carter and she started giving him the most tender kisses on the cheek. She never ACTUALLY kisses anybody. She just makes kissy noises in the general direction of people’s “owies”. But she gave Carter real kisses! It was adorable! I tried to catch it on video.
I didn’t catch any of the kisses. But I did get Fay explaining what was on her and Carter’s clothes as well as showing him some body parts. It’s so tender!
I love my two kids! And I am so grateful that they love each other!
Tummy Time Comparison
Family of Four and Mother’s Day
So … I have the greatest family ever! I came from the greatest family ever. I married into the greatest family ever. And now Josh and I are making our very own greatest family ever! Let me tell you about how great it is!
Having two kids at home by myself all day is the bomb! I feel like that is the appropriate expression because it is so fun and new and exciting, and because I feel like my world can go from totally great to demolished in an instant. I’ll admit it, I have stressed a lot this past week since Mom left. There have been many tears shed (I have tried to institute a rule of one child crying at a time. Fay actually complies some of the time!); the house looks like a bomb went off somewhere; and I have been up a lot, a lot, a lot at night and am, therefore, rather sleep deprived. But who wants to hear about the lame stuff?! We all know it happens; but it’s still lame. Let’s talk about the good part!
Carter is growing fast! I feel like he gets chubbier every day! Also, he doesn’t sleep as much as Fay did as a newborn (or a new-from-the-hospital) and so we get to see him play more often! He will wake up for a good hour or two at a time and just look around and make cute faces! Of course, he doesn’t cooperate very well when I have the camera, but I did manage to get this cute picture! I love my sweet, snuggly boy!
Fay is also as fun as ever! The other day, after she woke up from her nap, she came into my room and led me to her room. In her room, she had prepared a lovely little array of toys on a frisbee. She pointed to it and just looked at me as though I must surely know exactly what to do with it. I enthusiastically noted what a great “plate” she had made, to which she responded “Two ducks!” We played with just the items on that frisbee for the next half hour at least! I love my adorable two-year-old!
Speaking of two-year-old, Fay turned two on Wednesday! Because we celebrated last Saturday, and Josh worked all day long, and I am home-bound most of the time so Josh can drive to work, we really didn’t do much. After work, however, we went to the “baby swing” and then to the store where we got Fay some bubbles and princess band-aids. I think it was still an enjoyable birthday for her. 🙂
Today is Mother’s Day and Josh totally spoiled me! He made sure that I got a good nap (3.5 hours!) and that we ate REALLY good! He also entertained the kids a bunch so that I could take it easy! He is so good to me!
For dinner, Josh made a whole meal of my favorites! We had chicken gnocchi soup with Crystal-style roasted cauliflower (which Fay calls “Ga wawee”) and carrots, fresh strawberries, bananas, and kiwis (did you all know that kiwis are the most nutrient dense fruit on earth?), and for dessert…warm chocolate melting cake!!!!!
I found the actual recipe that Carnival uses on Pinterest several weeks ago, and Josh saw it and decided I needed it for Mother’s Day! It was perfect! Plus, Josh did all the dishes! I have the greatest husband ever!!!!
This is our family!
Also, I wanted to take a moment to express my love and gratitude for my Mother! She is truly such a good mother, and I feel as though I am only beginning to understand just how good she is! I am also so grateful for my sweet Mom, Jenny, who raised the perfect man! She is also so good, and I am so grateful to be part of her family!
Fun with Grandma!
A week ago Friday, April 25, Grandma came to visit! And by “visit,” I mean that she came to save our lives! She made sure that we had yummy food, that the kids were entertained, and that I got a nap every day! I feel so much more ready to tackle mother-of-two-hood on my own, now that I have had a week to ease into it! Thanks a million, Mom!
And as much as I loved having Grandma around, Fay had a ball!
Grandma had brought a sewing project with her to work on during her down time which was a bunch of fabric circles to make yo-yos. Fay LOVED the finished yo-yos! She would beg for yo-yo showers, and liked just holding and playing with them. But then Grandma started a “yo-yo fight” which was probably the awesomest thing ever done with fabric yo-yos!
I love this picture because it is adorable, and because I feel like it is a good representation of the fun we had while Mom was here! Also, Fay is on the “circle blanket” that she got from Grandma when she was born, and Carter is on his! They are basically the most beautiful quilts ever!
She also did lots of snuggling! There’s nothing better than a good snuggle, after all! (Sorry for the blurry picture.)
We decided that we should celebrate Fay’s birthday while Mom was here! Josh made sure that she had the perfect little girl cake!
She called it “owl cake” and she loved it! We all loved it too! (It was a white cake with a strawberry mixed with vanilla Greek yogurt filling, and a cream-cheese/whipped cream frosting!)
We will miss having grandmas with us! But we are excited that we have an excuse for them to come back soon! We will have Carter’s baby blessing sometime soon, and then we will get grandmas and grandpas!!!!
Can’t Get Enough!
I know that the post earlier this week was only a small taste of what we all wanted regarding our fabulous new arrival! So, I’m going to add some more!
Carter Dallin Monson was born on Monday morning at 8:23 AM. I feel like it was a pretty reasonable labor experience. I started having contractions at about 10:00 the night before and I only pushed for about 20 minutes. Although, I must confess that I was surprised by how painful contractions were. I slept through most of labor last time, and I just assumed that the contractions didn’t really start hurting until you were around a 7 or 8. I was wrong. I was writhing (more or less) in pain when I was only at a 4. I have been sufficiently humbled by this past labor experience and will be much less likely to roll my eyes at labor horror stories.
Anyway, when he was born he weighed 6 lbs 10 oz, and was 19.3 inches long!
Carter’s name was chosen before Josh and I even met. Josh’s mission president in France was President Carter, and Josh felt so much respect and admiration for him and his wife that he decided to name his first son after them! Dallin is a name that I have liked for a long time, and one which we both agreed was a good, solid name, and sounded nice between Carter and Monson.
You may be wondering how Fay is handling all this new-brother-business. She is doing great! She loves saying “Baby Carter” and stroking his head saying “good girl” (she learned that because of Grandma and Grandpa’s dog, Boo). We let her know that in Carter’s case, she would do better to say “good boy;” but it is so cute to hear her say it that I don’t push the issue too much. She is a little disappointed each time she realizes that he can’t go play at the park with her, or ride in her toy car; but she gets over it, and really does just love him.
As for me: I am doing well! I came home from the hospital on Tuesday (about 30 hours after Carter was born) and have been doing my best to take it easy. Mother had to leave on Wednesday morning, and so Wednesday and Thursday were rough (especially since I had to take BOTH kids to the pediatrician–Mother called it baptism by fire). But Mom (Josh’s mom) got here on Friday night and is already making my life easier! Also, my neighbors have been so great and so helpful (watching Fay on Thursday morning so I could recover from a sleepless night with Carter). I am so blessed to have good mothers and good neighbors!
We absolutely love being a family of four! We are now assured of our capacity to create adorable children of both genders! Another beautiful thing I have learned this week is how bringing a new baby into the family has increased my love exponentially for both Josh and Fay! It seems that you just can’t add something so beautiful to life without it making the rest even more beautiful! We are so grateful for the amazing blessings that Heavenly Father has given us! 