Inspiration

I was just reading some truly inspirational stuff, and I would like to share it with you.  

"And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else."

Alma 11:40

"If ye repent... then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son... [you] shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remissions of [your] sins; and [you] shall enter into my rest"

 Alma 12:33-34

Through these chapters, it talks about the resurrection, and that when Christ comes again, and all our spirits are reunited with our bodies, that we will be just as we were in mortality when it comes to our personalities and thoughts and everything.  

I want to be a good person, so that when I "shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit," that I won't be embarrassed about the things that I've done when I account for them. (Alma 11:44)

The only way that can happen for me, and for anyone, is to use the beautiful gift of the Atonement that Christ has given us, to change and become better. 

Especially during the Christmas season, I'm grateful for the opportunity to repent, and hopefully please God.

I've also been re-enchanted with Ithaca.  Our first (sticking) snowfall has come today, and it is beautiful.  I was driving home from a meeting, and at a stop sign, I was looking at the snow hitting the windows.  Perfect little crystals were coming down. 

I can already tell that this Christmas season is going to be amazing!

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Cute Babies!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day! The Gullys and the Millers make a dream team when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner.  Leslie made the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean casserole.  I made a sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and rolls.  

After dinner, we had a delicious completely homemade apple pie that Leslie made, and a delectable derby pie that I made.  (No shame in tooting my own horn.  The pie was dang good.)

This little lady was downing stuffing and potatoes like she hadn't eaten in days.  It was so cute!

After dinner (and sitting for a minute to recover) we played a round of Mario Party.  It was pretty fun, and I made a surprise finish from behind.  It was quite glorious!

Because I won, we had a wiimatch a couple days later.  Corbin stomped us all.  I guess we'll have to have a wiimatch of the wiimatch. 

 On Friday, Theo and I decorated for Christmas.  He had a grand time playing with all the glittery beautiful decorations, the soft fluffy blankies and stuffed snowmen, and our musical snow globe that plays Here Comes Santa Claus. 

Decorating took a bit longer than last year, since I now have a little helper, but I found that I didn't mind.  It made me think of last Christmas time when Theo was still hanging out inside me.  I was so excited for my baby-to-be, and now he's here!  And wonderful!  I'm so thankful for a happy, healthy, adorable little boy!

 Even though he is such a wonderful blessing in our lives, he's still a little rascal! I plugged in the strings of lights to test if they worked, and I thought to myself, "he's going to to love playing with the twinkly lights!"

But instead...

 All he wanted to do was unplug them.  He's really into unplugging things these days, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Now for extra cute pictures!

 He is also into dropping things into the tub.  Here he is dropping floss and a pacifier.  The other day, while I was in the shower, I got some baby sockies and a comb in there to join me.

 First time wearing shoes

We took some lovely walks over the weekend since it was relatively warm. I think I feel a Thanksgiving tradition coming on!

Speaking of traditions, we did not watch the Macey's parade.  We didn't even watch the Pedigree dog show!  But maybe some day when we have TV that tradition will come to life for the Millers!

Our date on campus

Friday night Corbin and I went on a date. Nothing fancy, just wondering around Cornell campus, finding free snacks and treats (almost getting sick from drinking too much root beer), visiting all his econ friends that he knew would be studying on a Friday night.

Even though there wasn't anything grand, and even though we love baby man child, it was fun spending time together just the two of us. 

 

While we were out, Theo was busy poop-sploding into his jammies, so he got to borrow some of Ava's. 

 

There's my hot hot man! Hey, ladies, step back.  He's taken!

 

And yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty hot too. 

Why does my brain do that?

Yesterday, Theo had his 9 month check up.  We got to meet our new doctor, and I had all my questions answered.  The doctor was impressed by all of Theo's sweet tricks, like cruising and having an odd number of teeth.  But one thing about the appointment upset me a bit.

Theo has always been in the high 90th % for height and weight.  But at 6 months, two things happened: he started crawling, and he started eating solids.  I knew babies thinned out when these things happen, but when the doctor told me that Theo was in the 9th % for weight, I was surprised. 

He's still like 92% in height, but really? 9th in weight? Imediately my mind jumped to, "you're not feeding your child!  How could you not have noticed! Terrible mother!"

But of course, the doctor explained to me that since he's progressing well and doesn't act hungry or grumpy through the day, that he's probably fine.  Babies find their own balance for eating, but bring him back in a month and we'll re-weigh him.

What part of the brain calls you a terrible parent whenever you or your child isn't perfect?  I have a whole list of logical reasons why I know I'm not a terrible mom:
-I love my son
-he's a happy, healthy baby
-I'm a first time parent, so I'm still learning
-etc, etc, etc

But still, it's pretty annoying to have that silly, illogical whisper in the back of my brain, "Don't you know better? Well, you should."

Of course I'm a good mom.  Would he look this cute otherwise? Come on.

But I'm just taking this as a learning experience, and giving Theo lots of extra opportunities to eat.  I think by the end of today, he was sick of looking at food.  Maybe that's why he went to bed at 7 instead of 8:30...

Corbin Scares Me Sometimes, and other stuff

OK, Corbin doesn't do it on purpose.  And he always feels bad when it happens.  But every once in a while, Corbin sneaks up on me, and scares me so bad it's a code brown situation, if you hear what I'm sayin'.

I'm thinking about this because it happened yesterday.  I was giving the baby a bath at about 4 o'clock, and I was chatting with Kellie on the phone.  (Corbin usually comes home around 6, so I was in a false sense of being home alone security)  Theo was splashing around being all cute, when he looks behind me and smiles real big.  I wondered, what's he smiling at, and I turn and see Corbin like two feet away from me.  It was a good thing I was sitting on the toilet at the time (just kidding, but not really).

Maybe I'm just getting jumpy in my old age, or maybe Corbin doesn't realize how stealthy he is. I should just expect that every once in a while, I'll turn around and a large man will be standing real close to me.  

Well, now after I said that, I'm going to live my life in fear, as if I were living in some suspense movie.  It's a good thing Corbin is a loving husband and not some crazed murderer.

And now, some other stuff.

 We got to play with Ava while Leslie went off and got some exciting financial training.  We were all pretty jealous we couldn't go too, but we made due.  Theo was greedy and took the crib for nap time, so Ava got a nest on the floor.

 Later, we all went to vote!  It was the first sunshiny day in about a gazillion days, so we walked to our polling place.  It was great to get out, and we fulfilled our civic duty.  Theo even got a sticker that says "Future Voter" on it.

 I was going to submit this picture to the Vlogbrothers, but I didn't do it in time or something.  But don't I look like a cool Nerdfighter? 

Also, Corbin is going full throttle on the banjo.  He even got those fancy finger pick things in the mail today.  I'm not gonna lie, I look pretty legit playing my lick on the banjo.

Also, Theo now has 7 teeth.

Budgeting and DMV: pure enjoyment

Last night for Family Home evening, Corbin and I took care of lots of family business, such as budgeting for big things in the next couple months (Christmas gifts, a weekend in NYC, more music equipment, etc).  Then we got all our paperwork ready to register our new car and get our NY drivers licenses. Being a grown up is complicated sometimes.

This took us many hours of the night that we were not expecting to spend.  I guess it's a good thing we never got around to getting our redbox flick, since we wouldn't have had time to watch it.  

I'm just clinging to the idea that we have a date coming on Friday thanks to the Young Single Adults in the branch.  They're having a babysitting night, which gave me a great excuse to rope Corbin into a homework-free evening.  I guess I didn't do a very good job though, because he'll be spending the first few minutes taking a test.  But I get him afterwords, dang it!

Now for cute pictures.

 Leslie has some fun tickly hair!

 It creates adorable baby giggles.

 And here are my two wonderful boys!

They are the greatest thing in my life.

I'm excited to vote today!  And since the sun is shining for the first time in a million years, we're walking to our polling place!

Fun pics

Just to let everyone know, we were not affected by the Frankenstorm.  We got lots of rain, but that's pretty usual for Ithaca.  We're praying for all the people who were affected, some of which are my friends. Love you miss you!

 Instead of carving pumpkins, we invited the Gullys over to make jug-o-lanterns. Can you tell which one Ava made?  Theo was too good for it, Ii guess.  Either that, or he did not approve of my helping him.
I think I feel a Halloween tradition forming, though.  I sure love this!

 Best baby trap ever.  He knew how to crawl in, but couldn't figure how to crawl out.

You can see all 5 of his teeth perfectly!  And a cheerio.