May-May

My little man is 8 weeks already. He is turning out to be my baby of opposites, as he is different from his brothers in lots of ways.

First off, he is so, so, so calm! I can't believe how amazing it is to have a baby that doesn't scream day and night! I can just set him down and he will sit there and smile and coo...unlike Carson and Jonas who would have just screamed and screamed. I love that he is such a happy guy.

Second, he is so chubby. Last week he weighed 11 lbs 14 oz...so I'm sure he's over 12 or almost 13 by now because he's been gaining about a pound a week. To give you a reference at 10 weeks Carson was 11 lbs 14 oz and Jonas was 11 lbs 13 oz. I've already got him in some 3-6 month clothes.

Third, while he was born with super blonde hair (his brothers were born with dark brown) it has now fallen out and is coming in dark (the older boys' hair came back in blonde).

I have to mention that his nickname around here is "may-may". When we brought him home and told Jonas his name was Mason, Jonas called him "may-may" and it has just kind of stuck. I'm sure he's going to hate that when he is older!

Buy Clearance and Save the Difference

I am a huge fan of TLC's 18 Kids and Counting. Think what you want to about this family, but they have very well mannered children and are 100% debt free. I find their example of frugality inspiring. Everyday at 1 o'clock I put Jonas down for a nap and Carson and I snuggle up in a blanket and watch their show. Yesterday, their show featured how they saved money by buying their children's clothes at second hand stores."Buy used and save the difference" is their motto. At the end of the show they left the store with a bag full of clothes and only paid $46.

I'm all about saving money, but I never shop at second hand stores. In fact I think my motto would be "Buy clearance and save the difference" I'm not against second hand stores by any means, but I don't see the point in buying used clothes when you can buy brand new for the same price or cheaper. With clothes that have to last through 3 boys, I'd rather start out with something new!

Here's my case in point. I hit up The Children's Place Monster Sale this morning. I walked out of the store with a bag full of clothes... and only paid $27.16. If I would have paid full price, these clothes would have cost $135.17. I got all of these clothes on clearance at $3 each (for the little boys) and $4 each for Carson's. Then I combined the clearance prices with a "15% off of entire purchase" coupon I had.


So thank you Duggar family for your great example of frugality (and amazing parenting, oh and of great faith, too)...speaking of which, its almost time to go watch your show.

The Refiner's Fire

The words Charles Dicken's once wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." have run in my thoughts over the past month. While my life has never before been so abundantly blessed, I've also never been so abundantly challenged. To say that January has been a horrible month would be a gross understatement. In fact, I can't remember a time in my life where I've felt so overwhlemingly overburdened. But I've never been so blessed! So blessed for my sweet little boys, for my amazing husband, my incredibly charitable mother, for my wonderful new home, and especially for the gospel.

For me, trials have a way of purifying the imperfections in my life. One of the many lessons I've learned over the past few weeks is the power of friendship. Being stuck home, in the dead of winter with a newborn and two energetic little boys has been quite difficult. Now please remember I love my boys dearly! But when the only adult interaction I get in an entire week is with Jeff or talking on the phone with my mother, life gets a little depressing.

Its a bit challenging to feel like you've just slipped through the cracks.

Now here's where my lesson comes in. While thus feeling sorry for myself and my lack of friends and anyone "caring about me", I began to realize that human nature tends for us to be selfish. How many times have I been so busy doing "stuff" that I've let one of my friends go through trials without my support? How many times have I let someone else slip through the cracks because I've been too wrapped up in my own life to notice? How many of my friends are caught up in their own trials right now and I'm too absorbed in my problems to notice? How many times have I left some lame comment on Facebook or a blog instead of calling that person or going to visit them?

I very quickly began to see that I've been the selfish one.

How can I expect to get support when I've been slow to give it at times? May I strive to become a better friend to all those around me! May my heart become more charitable and my thoughts more concerned about those who matter most. May I not waste my time doing something that won't matter in years to come and focus more on building relationships with those around me!

Because in the end that's what's going to matter.

Smile

A few of the things that made me smile this week: Homemade bread: 10 loaves of it actually. Oh, and two batches of cookies and a batch of orange rolls. I love my KitchenAid.

Watching the boys play on the hill in our backyard with their daddy and cousins. They even broke out the snowboard! The hill in our yard is proving to be quite fun.

Snuggling with this little man.

And just spending time with all my little men.

Before & After

Jeff had a little bit of birthday money left over and he decided to spend it on fixing up our TV armoire. We've had this armoire since Carson was about 6 months old and it has worked great for us. About 2-3 years ago we bought our new couches and end tables and our new furniture is aqua and black. Since then I've been wanting to paint our armoire black, but until now we've never had a place where we could conveniently do it. So last Saturday the armoire got a fresh coat of paint and some new knobs courtesy of Target (I love that store!).

Before After: The lighting isn't the greatest in this picture, it makes it look shiny or something, but you get the idea.

6 Weeks

Mason is 6 weeks old today. Can you believe it? Time sure does fly, especially over the holidays!

He is now 10 lbs 14 oz...that means he's gained 4 pounds since birth! That boy has gotta be drinking straight cream. I think he is my chunkiest baby yet, and I'm getting a little worried that the blessing outfit won't fit because we aren't blessing him until February 7th. He is already in size 2 diapers and starting to loose that newborn look, which makes me kinda sad.

He is my angel baby. He has fussy moments, but it is no where near what I endured from his brothers. For the most part, he only cries when he is hungry or needs his diaper changed. His brothers adore him (especially Jonas) and I have to keep a good eye on him to make sure they aren't smothering him too much!

He has already rolled from his front to back three times and can hold his head up very well. His eyes are going blue...crazy, huh? What's the probability of Jeff and I getting all three boys with blue eyes when ours are both brown. I know its possible, just doesn't seem too probable.

Simple Joy

As you may have noticed I've finally given my blog a name beyond the generic "Birch Family". I've been thinking for awhile about what would be an appropriate name for a journal of our family and the one word I kept coming back to was "simple". I know simple, simplify, and simply are all catch words right now, but for me "simple" has a whole different meaning.

As I was growing up my Grandma Carson would always tell me to live simply. I remember talking with her on the phone one day and she told me "The less things you have in your life the more simply and happily you can live." I've never forgotten that. My grandma was a simple woman in her life. She kept her home simply decorated and clean...always perfectly clean. It was shortly before she passed away that I was sitting in her living room and realized how much I loved her simplicity. I loved the peaceful feeling that her uncluttered and uncomplicated home had.

Our family has not been immune to the current economic situation. In an effort to tighten our purse strings we've cut out a lot of "stuff". Its been very difficult at times, but I realized the other day just how much I've learned. I've learned to get more for less; that joy can be found so much more at home than anywhere else; that frugality is a skill best learned by experience; that I can better use the resources right at my fingertips; and most importantly that if we continue to pay tithing, the windows of heaven will be opened for us.

I am learning to look at my situation as an opportunity to grow and learn new skills and not to shrink back and ask why. I'm learning to look more at what I do have instead of what I don't. The other day while I was doing laundry it hit me: Simple Joy. There is so much happiness to be found in the simple things in life! It truly is the small and seemingly simple things that really are the most important! Like sharing story time with my little boys, or rocking my beautiful newborn to sleep. These are the things that life is made up of. Simple, sweet moments that can bring us the greatest joy.

30

Jeff turned 30 yesterday (that sounds so old when you are only 25!) and the boys and I had a fun day getting ready for Daddy's birthday party. We made him a happy birthday banner, cake, and a special card that the boys colored.Then it was time for the party!

Jeff's little brother, Jason, was in town and he snapped a new family picture for us with his SLR camera.

Wishing You A

I have a million things on my to-do list this year. The more I thought about it the more I decided I could break down my resolutions into three basic goals. This year I am going to:

Simplify
Organize
Create