LDS Papas and Mamas #48 - Page 2

[holyhelianthus]

Jenni- how is Alaska anyway? i have been so curious.

[Stacymom]

I'm Stacy, I live in Utah. My girls are 6 and 4 1/2. I teach violin lessons, I'm a new doula, and I homeschool my kids. (Kind of. We're more of unschoolers.) We've been ttc for almost 2 full years, and I'm currently on my first round of fertility drugs, which has made me a little bit psycho-crazy.

I'm the stake music chair, and am currently prepping our stake choir to sing in stake conference where Elder Ballard will be speaking. No pressure.

My kids watch Disney movies, (we saw Enchanted today- its really fun!) we watch way too much tv, and eat too much crap. My four year old is singing veggie tales sons in the background as I'm typing, and my six year old is asleep. We are so not being productive today!

Oh, and I haven't started the Twilight series, but I think I might find a day or two to check out of reality over Christmas break to start.

[marlygf]

Maggie, some people pay their tithing at the beginning of the year or the end. i don't think it matters if you pay it in the month you get paid, just as long as its paid That's just my understanding of course. I think it's easiest to make sure it gets paid when you get it, but for example, we pay it once a month, we get paid twice a month, but I just do it once.

I'm Marly, married to my engineer husband for 7 years. We have 3 cute kids, 5yr old ds, 3.5yr old ds and newborn dd.
I've been a pretty onery mommy to my two boys but I'm working on it. This whole kindergarten and newborn is starting to wear on me. Luckily I'm not getting ppd, but just a little onery'ness. There was a good article in the Dec Ensign that's helped a lot

[marlygf]

I knew I was getting close to 1,000 posts, but didn't realize I had done it I think this pregnancy took me from 500 to 1,000 and I've been a member since before my second ds was born. Go figure.
I guess I can come up with a fun title. I'll have to start thinking about this.......

[klg47]

Originally Posted by lacysmommy

Dave, who works construction but recently expressed a desire to go to school for an engineering degree (that boy can't make up his mind what he wants to do!)

My husband is the same way (sigh). He's having a difficult time taking care of the kids and working graveyards, so he's decided that starting in January he's going to take care of the kids, work graveyards, and go to school. That'll be fun. Not to mention that it will completely derail our get-out-of-debt plan. Though if he finishes school, it would certainly be worth it eventually.

Originally Posted by magstphil

i feel like it doesn't matter because it's late so that will "count against" us.
how exactly does that work?

I don't understand what you're asking. Like Marly said, it doesn't really matter when you pay it. Just don't get so behind that you can't catch up. In 2005 we ended up $2000 short just because of poor record keeping - we didn't really pay attention to when we had paid it or not. Our bishop just told us to pay more attention the next year and sent us on our way. Some bishops would require you to pay every cent in order to be temple worthy. So anyway, for us, we need to pay it right away (or at least write the check right away) just so we don't end up forgetting. I just recently turned in some checks from September. I had written them out, but kept forgetting to bring them to church or give them to the bishop. I finally mailed them just to get it done!

Sometimes when our accounts are tight, my husband asks me to not pay it right away and we'll make it up later. In not so many words, I just say "heck no," because I know that we're not the type that will EVER have the money "later". But there's nothing inherently wrong about doing that.

Originally Posted by magstphil

but they like to point it out and have a good laugh over it "oh we can't talk to Maggie about birth because she is anti-episiotomies. oh she's so ignorant for wanting to tare." blah blah blah and then they do like to poke fun of us and how we live quite often. sure, it's all in goof fun but um, yeah, i don't like it. :

I would HATE that. No one has ever treated me like that at all. They've made comments about how tough I must be to choose homebirth, but nothing like what you've experienced. When I tried to shock people by telling them I sleep with Baby #3, the universal response was that that was a fantastic idea - and this is Utah - the land of few AP'ers. So I have no idea why I've had that experience and others have had the opposite.

[RasJane]

Originally Posted by Nemmer

Subbing. As of a couple weeks ago we are officially an eternal family, since we had the baby sealed to us. It was incredible.

Did I miss the story? I am so thrilled for you and would love to hear how everything went!

Originally Posted by linzogonzerelli

Hi all! My name is Lindsey, I'm a SAHM of two (soon to be three) sweet kids. DH and I have been married for 7 great years (8 in Feb).

I knit, I sew, I cook, but as much as I sound like a stereotypical Molly Mormon I have frequent rebellious spells that knock me out of the running for RS pres

We live in TX and are currently trying not to melt in the winter heat.

Long time LDS lurker, first time poster...

Welcome, Lindsey! Looking forward to getting to know you.

Originally Posted by magstphil

re: tithing-
DH and i had a long hard road to the church (back for me) and i feel like if we miss anything it's this huge blemish. well we missed two weeks of church so we didn't get our November tithing in. we have it, it's on my desk as i type this, but i feel like it doesn't matter because it's late so that will "count against" us.
how exactly does that work?

We pay at the end of the year, usually. We both want to try to do better at paying month-month, just haven't gotten good at that yet. It doesn't "count against" you at all. But yeah, putting it off makes it too easy to keep putting it off.

Originally Posted by lacysmommy

That really hit my DH so we started spiritual time that night. We only read 5 verses in the BoM, sing a hymn (usually a children's hymn) and say our family prayer together. My kids now have it so ingrained in them that they can't imagine not having spiritual time.

I love this idea. I've been really bad about FHE or anything spiritual at all. Seems I use the 3 kids as an excuse too much, when that should be my main excuse TO do it.

I'm Sarah. Wife to an engineer who desperately needs a new job that he likes. Mamma to 3 boys-M (9), G(3), and E (3 months). I'm a SAHM, we unschool, G and E are adopted siblings. I am looking forward to finalizing in a few months so I can stop being a glorified babysitter.
We live in wet Oregon and love it. And I just found out that my husband doesn't have to take his 2 week+ business trip to Singapore until after New Year. Yay! We get Dad for all our pre-Christmas traditions. It was going to be weird doing it without him.
I love to read, sew, knit and cook. I recently addicted myself to the His Dark Materials series. I'm done. Whew, I'm not so good at mommy-ing when I'm buried in a series I want to get done NOW.

[quarteralien]

Originally Posted by RasJane

Wife to an engineer who desperately needs a new job that he likes.

Lockheed-Martin here is hiring. He could work with my DH and we could be neighbors. Though I know the idea of leaving Oregon doesn't excite you.

[holyhelianthus]

thanks guys! i know it was a ridiculous question but i just wasn't sure if there was a due date or something...

and another question- with this new bar code thing does that mean if you miss tithing or do something else they punch it in and your recommend is void? i'm confused on that point. i know i know another dumb question...

[Nemmer]

Maggie,
Like others have said, it doesn't count against you at all! I always write out the checks and deduct them from our register, but am horrible at remembering to actually take them to church with me. I think this year has been the worst, and I once took 6 months of checks in at one time! As long as you pay it, you're ok. There aren't any "late fees."

RasJane, did I not post that update here? So sorry -- things have been busy, it is hard to keep track! Here's what I posted on my blog:

We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. My entire family was here, which was great, especially since we haven't all been together in quite some time. We spent Thanksgiving day at my in-laws, having a combined dinner celebration. There were 45 people so it was a bit insane, really. But it was still nice to be surrounded by so many people who love us, and was a relaxing day despite the crowd.

The next day we went to the Temple to be sealed together for all eternity. Kiddo J was nervous, but he did remarkably well, considering his high anxiety about new places and experiences. He was in a place that was totally unfamiliar (in his memory), but we made sure he had at least one familiar person with him at all times. Despite a few tears shed when we said our temporary goodbyes, he was quickly comforted and then seemed to thoroughly enjoy the whole experience. I'm so grateful he was able to go at a time in his life when he will be able to remember and reflect on the experience.

The ceremony was beautiful, and when the children entered the room, my heart was so full of joy. My worries about Kiddo J's anxiety were calmed, and I was able to see that his fears had been calmed as well. Baby Z was beautiful, in complete awe of his surroundings and a perfect angel the entire time. He was content to sit still during the ceremony, instead of trying to climb all over me like he usually does. Being surrounded by loving family was amazing, and I cannot imagine a happier existence than what I felt in that room. It truly was heaven.

[holyhelianthus]

oh Nemmer that is so wonderful!!! i know that feeling all to well.

[frogleymom]

I'm Emily, wife to a Computer Programmer (who desperately needs a job... pretty much any job that pays at this point... except that we're not moving, so it needs to be close by), and SAHM to 2 toddler princesses... soon to be three (technically due in three weeks... hoping for labor to start any minute. ).

We're still living with my parents until DH finds a permanant job... but it's starting to get stressful here, and there's a chance my grandparents might move in also in January. (They're finishing their mission in a couple of weeks and don't really want to go back to Utah.) DH does not like that particular set of grandparents and normally goes crazy just spending dinner with them... living together would be a bad thing.

Also, I mentioned a while ago that DD#1 was having a hard time in nursery and the nursery leader is totally into CIO. : well... I just got my new VTing assignments and I now visit teach the same nursery leader... who is currently the only nursery leader... who DD#1 still doesn't like (though she's been actually going to nursery as long as DD#2 is there with her).

And... I'm sick of being pregnant... DD#2 came at 37w3d according to the u/s... so I'm hoping this baby does something similar. I'm currently 37w0d according to the u/s, and since I'm totally ready for Christmas (everything is wrapped and under the tree except for stocking stuff), I really want to get this baby out now... unfortunately, she doesn't seem to agree yet.

Anywho... that's me!!

Emily

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

I'm NCD.

[LionTigerBear]

Hi everyone! I'm back! I read most ofthe thread, so I feel I've caught up a little. I did complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. Yay! I am feeling so much healthier on this new diet we've been following-- SCD-- so I am very grateful for that-- but still not 100% yet.

BTW, I'm 24, SAHM, DH and I are converts to the church of about 5 years, we have two boys, ages 3 and 1. We homeschool/unschool, we do gentle discipline (except when we slip up and then we do Apologizing) and we cosleep and eat all organic, traditional foods, and all that jazz. But we use disposable diapers because we're evil like that. We were using cloth diapers for a while, but we kind of fell out of it. I guess it wasn't high on my list of AP priorities what with my low energy and health problems and all.

Hmm, what else. We have always had trouble with FHE but we're doing better now. Def. have trouble with personal scripture study and personal prayer, working on that. I've never been very consistent with it. That whole, "God doesn't like me and doesn't want to hear from me" is a lie that I have to continually shoot down when it pops up in the back of my head, yk?

Tithing-- Maggie, you're fine, we thought we were paying all of our tithing this year-- totally meant to-- it was supposed to transfer out of our account automatically every month-- well for most of the year, apparently, it didn't. Yeaaahhhhh . . . . so now we have to double up tithing for next year-- I mean, we don't have thousands of dollars just sitting around, you know? So we're going to pull it out of dh's quarterly bonuses so that it doesn't feel like as much of a pay cut. Yeah, that was a big "oops" moment, though.

I just got called to nursery and I love it! Tonight we just organized the toys and supplies and majorly decluttered the nursery room. That felt good. I like being in nursery and I feel happy to have a calling again! I love the lady that I work with.

We are doing an almost-no-presents Christmas this year! We are doing only stockings and we won't go overboard with those, either. I'm happy about that, less stress. Also, with the SCD, no cookies or cake or brownies or candy or any of that fattening stuff this year-- it's not allowed on the SCD diet-- so my figure is not suffering at all, this holiday season. I am almost back to my pre-baby weight-- only 5 pounds to go-- and it feels really good-- also feels great to have my energy back.

Hmmm, I think that's it. It's nice to "see" everyone again! I missed you guys!

[Leiahs]

Originally Posted by marlygf

Maggie, some people pay their tithing at the beginning of the year or the end. i don't think it matters if you pay it in the month you get paid, just as long as its paid That's just my understanding of course. I think it's easiest to make sure it gets paid when you get it, but for example, we pay it once a month, we get paid twice a month, but I just do it once.

DH gets paid bi-weekly, but to make it easier on my sloppy bookkeeping skills, I only pay our tithing once a month, along with the fast offering. While I think the important thing is getting it paid, period, I have gained a recent testimony of the blessings that come by paying it in a timely manner. Part of the past year, I was being slow about turning my tithing in. I also would have the check written, the funds set aside, but it'd be sitting waiting to get in an envelope, mailed, put in the bishop's hand, whatever, for at least a couple weeks. When we hit a rough patch with our finances (mostly due to losing a renter in our condo, and thus paying both a mortgage and a rent on one income), I decided to pay tithing immediately, no matter what. We had our own small miracle and both got the condo rented again with no gap in tenants , which has not happened in the 4+ years we've been trying to rent it out, and also found the most fantastic, reliable young man to rent it out that we've ever had. Every other tenant we've had in there has totally trashed the place, or has been unreliable in paying rent or taking over utilities, whatever. This is a huge blessing to us, to have this reliable guy in there, committed to at least a year of renting. And I totally believe it's because I made the commitment to pay our tithing ASAP.

Originally Posted by Stacymom

we watch way too much tv, and eat too much crap.

: :

Originally Posted by marlygf

I knew I was getting close to 1,000 posts, but didn't realize I had done it I think this pregnancy took me from 500 to 1,000 and I've been a member since before my second ds was born. Go figure.
I guess I can come up with a fun title. I'll have to start thinking about this.......

I'm extremely close myself. It also took the pregnancy to get me going, I think I joined later than you, it looks like, but also just before my DS was born. Good luck deciding on a title! I have no ideas for any....

Originally Posted by klg47

I would HATE that. No one has ever treated me like that at all. They've made comments about how tough I must be to choose homebirth, but nothing like what you've experienced. When I tried to shock people by telling them I sleep with Baby #3, the universal response was that that was a fantastic idea - and this is Utah - the land of few AP'ers. So I have no idea why I've had that experience and others have had the opposite.

I almost fainted a couple times over the last week when I realized I had let slip to sisters in the ward, on two different occasions, that I'm planning a homebirth. The first was to a woman I VT, who feels rather alone in the ward with me because she goes non-epidural for her labors. But that's about the extent of her "natural" ways, that I know of. She said something to the effect of "I just feel that since I know I can do it in a hospital without drugs, I could probably do it anywhere else if I absolutely needed to." And that's when I said it - Oh yeah, I'm actually planning on being out of the hospital! I didn't even think about it before it escaped my tongue. She is a good woman, and thankfully didn't taunt me for it, but she still did act a bit shocked and concerned about the "what-ifs". I felt awkward after that. And the second time, a woman was talking about her daughter who just had her first, couldn't have an epidural because of a platelet problem I guess?, and only had "2 contractions that really made her go 'I can't do this anymore!'". Of course many comments ensued about how most of the women present would JUMP for the epidural, and someone directed something to me, and I said, "I don't know, I really can't relate since I actually choose not to have an epidural." And then the sister who was talking to me said, "Oh yeah, aren't you planning a homebirth this time?" Apparently she remembers me mentioning quite a long time ago how I'd like to have a baby at home someday. I don't remember saying it. But I felt a little grateful that she hadn't heard through the grapevine because of my earlier sharing with the other sister And she reacted more curious than aghast. I explained a little of my background influencing my decision for that, and her final comment was that "Yeah, you know it really does make sense for you to plan a homebirth when you've been exposed to it so much." But I know a lot of the women in my ward will probably have not-so-nice things to say, but hopefully have the tact to not say them to me. I think I would feel like dying if people treated me so rudely about my lifestyle choices, as if it were some big joke. I definitely wouldn't feel very loving towards them.

Originally Posted by lacysmommy

We only read 5 verses in the BoM, sing a hymn (usually a children's hymn) and say our family prayer together. My kids now have it so ingrained in them that they can't imagine not having spiritual time.

Just take baby steps to get started. Spiritual time takes a few minutes, and you can do it whenever. It's the easiest thing to incorporate into your home, and it is a gateway to more family spiritual togetherness.

It has improved the spirit in our house dramatically. I encourage you to make the commitment to spiritual time in your own home!

Thank you so much for your post. I told DH about it during dinner tonight, and he agreed with me that a plan like that would *definitely* be easy to incorporate. So we did it! We read about 15 verses from the BoM tonight, talked briefly about what it said, sang I Am A Child of God (DD even sang along with us!!!), and then even had Family Prayer. Kids didn't really pay attention to the scripture reading, but as we closed them up to move on with the bedtime routine, DD said she wanted to read more scriptures I think this is something we can keep up, and it is a change I've very much wanted to make in our home.

[guestmama9911]

What is the SCD diet?

[lacysmommy]

Awwwww, Becky, I can't stop smiling after reading your post! I got a little misty eyed there. : You will be so happy you started doing spiritual time with your family. It truly makes the home a happier place and brings in so many blessings.

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by alisaterry

What is the SCD diet?

Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It's a healing diet for people with digestive issues. It's also been found to be helpful for many persons with autism. It eliminates many foods from the diet, including nearly all additives of almost any kind, and pretty much all starchy foods, and all grains of any kind. The diet allows nuts and a lot of people make "nut breads" as a substitute for grain, but I've found that our family has a low tolerance for nuts. The diet also allows small amounts of cultured dairy (yogurt) but DS2 is allergic so we're not doing dairy either. I just got some goat cheese and we're going to see if that is tolerated or not. I was thinking of trying to make some goat yogurt too, if he seems to tolerate the goat cheese okay.

Anyway, that's what we're doing. We had started the gluten-free diet first, and we saw some immediate improvements at first with that, and then it seemed like DS1 and I started getting worse again. So we tried this and I just feel like it is a blessing from God. DS1 is like a different child and I feel so much better. It is HARD though, I crave things like pasta and cinnamon rolls all the time. But I'd rather feel healthy, so it makes it a little easier to just say no.

[quarteralien]

Originally Posted by Leiahs

I almost fainted a couple times over the last week when I realized I had let slip to sisters in the ward, on two different occasions, that I'm planning a homebirth. The first was to a woman I VT, who feels rather alone in the ward with me because she goes non-epidural for her labors. But that's about the extent of her "natural" ways, that I know of. She said something to the effect of "I just feel that since I know I can do it in a hospital without drugs, I could probably do it anywhere else if I absolutely needed to." And that's when I said it - Oh yeah, I'm actually planning on being out of the hospital! I didn't even think about it before it escaped my tongue. She is a good woman, and thankfully didn't taunt me for it, but she still did act a bit shocked and concerned about the "what-ifs". I felt awkward after that. And the second time, a woman was talking about her daughter who just had her first, couldn't have an epidural because of a platelet problem I guess?, and only had "2 contractions that really made her go 'I can't do this anymore!'". Of course many comments ensued about how most of the women present would JUMP for the epidural, and someone directed something to me, and I said, "I don't know, I really can't relate since I actually choose not to have an epidural." And then the sister who was talking to me said, "Oh yeah, aren't you planning a homebirth this time?" Apparently she remembers me mentioning quite a long time ago how I'd like to have a baby at home someday. I don't remember saying it. But I felt a little grateful that she hadn't heard through the grapevine because of my earlier sharing with the other sister And she reacted more curious than aghast. I explained a little of my background influencing my decision for that, and her final comment was that "Yeah, you know it really does make sense for you to plan a homebirth when you've been exposed to it so much." But I know a lot of the women in my ward will probably have not-so-nice things to say, but hopefully have the tact to not say them to me. I think I would feel like dying if people treated me so rudely about my lifestyle choices, as if it were some big joke. I definitely wouldn't feel very loving towards them.

I'm going through the same thing now and I feel like it's ridiculous to have to be so cautious, and yet that's what I'm doing. So far, there are only 3 women in the ward who know I'm pregnant, and all three know I'm planning a homebirth. But I'm sure when other people start finding out, they'll ask, because I haven't exactly been quiet about my research over the last year. I just want to avoid as much negativity as I can while pregnant. Good luck to us both.

You'd probably have passed 1,000 if you had split up that post. But then you'd have to come up with a title sooner.

[RasJane]

Originally Posted by quarteralien

Lockheed-Martin here is hiring. He could work with my DH and we could be neighbors. Though I know the idea of leaving Oregon doesn't excite you.

Hmmm, very tempting. But then, I nixed the job in ABQ because it was too far from family.

Jennifer, thank you so much for sharing your pictures! They are beautiful. I'm so happy you had a great day at the Temple!

Welcome back, Caitlin. I missed you.

Baby birthing dust to you, Emily. You can do it. I didn't realize your dh was still looking. I hope he finds something really, really soon!

I need to go make breakfast--and convince my 3 yo to stop fighting with his big brother. Sigh.

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by RasJane

Welcome back, Caitlin. I missed you.

Awww, thanks! It's good to be back! I love reading your comments on my blog and I'm sorry I haven't been better about always replying! I haven't been good about keeping up with other's blogs the last couple of months, either. I'll be getting back into the swing of things now, though.