Motherhood

I love this little boy so much. I am so grateful that he was sent to me and Will, and that we get to be his parents. In his (almost) four short months on this earth, he has taught me so much and I am learning what a sweet, unique spirit he has. By getting to be Marshall's mom, I personally have grown in love, patience, kindness, humility and probably many other things. I would do anything for this child - and I finally understand more about God's love for his children. Marshall's pain is my pain - and I would do anything to make him happy (and currently I often do ridiculous things to get him to laugh). It both breaks my heart and makes me incredibly happy to see him change daily and learn new things. He is getting so big - and its exciting(!) but sad because time is going way too fast. He's turning into a little boy, and its hard to see him as a little baby anymore. He is so mobile now, and I know he'll be crawling early. It hurts my heart that he is teething and has such pain sometimes - but overall, he is such a sweet, happy, content baby. He smiles constantly and is so happy just to lay on the floor and kick his legs and "talk" away. I worry a lot if I am doing enough for him - like "Am I reading him enough books? Should I be playing him classical music? Does he get enough tummy time? Should he be sleeping more or less? Why is he rolling over in his crib? Is he breathing?" Its a constant worry - but I am relieved to know that he is overall a very happy and healthy baby. Marshall has a very sensitive personality, and I am learning to cater to his sensitive needs. He is very aware of tension and anger and general discontent in the room and people around him. He startles easily and he gets scared and cries during loud noises (like cheering crowds). He needs to be swaddled and cuddled in order to fall sleep. If he is just mostly asleep and you put him down in his crib - he will wake all the way up until you rock him all the way back to sleep THEN lay him down (when six months rolls around, we are going to try to break this habit - but for now, I love it). Marshall LOVES bath time and looking at himself in the mirror. If he is ever upset, holding him while looking in the mirror will inspire an immediate smile and an adorable head-bury into your chest, then he'll peek out at the mirror and smile again. Marshall is a very sweet, sensitive child with very specific needs - and I am learning more about him everyday, and this brings me great joy.

Not every moment is pure bliss - sometimes its just plain hard. I would prefer not to work away from the home 40 hours a week and I look forward to when I will stay home with my children (or maybe just work part-time), but ultimately I'm very grateful for my position in life and for the time I do have with my son. I appreciate the words of the Prophet and Apostles of the Church and specifically for Elder Holland's talk on Motherhood - and the way it reassures my ever-worried mind.

"I know deep down inside that I am doing God's work. I know that my motherhood is an eternal partnership with Him .... There is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and glory of God."

I am so grateful for eternal families. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who was kind enough to send Will and me one of his children. I am eternally grateful for the gift of motherhood and the opportunities it has afforded me to learn and grow. I hope to savor each and every moment I have with my little baby boy, until he is too big to want to be cuddled or rocked to sleep. I am grateful for Marshall and the joy he brings me.

Okay, Last One ... I promise

So I found out that the YouTube app on my iPhone uploads videos SOOOOO much faster. Like, it takes seconds instead of 10 minutes - so I did another one!

And again, please ignore the commentary. This is proof that I've been sick. I sound awfully congested - because I am. Yay.



I was just tricking you all before. Goodnight .... for reals!! :D

I Couldn't Resist

Okay, I couldn't resist another video that I took from today....

While I was eating my dinner of Kellogg's Mini Wheats (with fruit in the middle - just get the regular kind, the fruit kinda sucks) - Anywho I looked over to find Marshall almost off his bouncy seat! This boy seriously LOVES kicking his legs. He scooches himself all over on the floor by kicking, he kicks in the tub, while he is laying on your lap, on the changing table - this kid can kick! Here is proof.

Also - please don't mind my commentary. I never intend for anyone to actually see these clips that I take, but then I upload them so whatev. I'm loud and obnoxious on these clips. Just ignore me. If I could "mute" the video, I would.




Okay, and another one : )



Okay, seriously. I'm going to bed!

13 Weeks

So I've been back to work for a week and a half now. Its been going surprisingly great - minus the cold that I picked up from the germ infested office. I joined the YMCA gym right next to my building and have been working out on lunch (which is wonderful) - and its also great so I don't have to take more time away from Marshall than I have to. So work is good. Another new perk of working - Marshall has been EXTREMELY consistent in his bedtime routine. We try not to start his bedtime routine until 7pm, but he has a hard time staying up past 630pm. So he generally sleeps 630pm-7pm - then we wake him at 7pm to do his "routine" - which consists of bath every other day, bedtime lotion massage, jammies, then swaddle with bottle. He's asleep by 730pm and we watch tv until 8pm when he gets put down in his crib. He will then generally sleep until 630am. Sometimes he'll wake about 4am - but not normally. We've been blessed with a good nighttime sleeper. At least for now. And daytime sleeping is another story. He is NOT consistent for naps. But I do believe the two year old that he hangs out with during the day wears him out. :)

I honestly can't believe Marshall is 13 weeks old today. Time flies! We've been doing lots of tummy time. And also lately, he has been so good at playing by himself on the floor. He notices toys more and actually plays with them a bit. He has also been noticing our cat Abby quite a bit lately and seems intrigued by her tail - hehe.

I've been taking LOTS of video of Marshall doing funny things lately - or just things I find awesome. They take forever to load to YouTube so here is just one for now.

I love that when Marshall does timmy time - he always has to lift his feet. If I tried to do that it would be a total ab workout for me - haha!

Well - its late. Because have such a consistent sleeper, I know I should spend the 8-9pm hour being productive - but tonight it was a blog. That was my productivity. I need to be in bed by now - so goodnight all!

Let's Be Honest....

Let's be honest .... this blog is for my parents living in Washington more than it is for anything else - so of course every post is going to be dedicated to Marshall. Because let's face it, neither Will nor I are quite as interesting as this little guy. Plus, nothing really changes for us - while Marshall, on the other hand, changes daily. :)

Before church last Sunday:

Yesterday I got to ride along with my friend Shannon and her little girl to visit Hammond's Candy Factory in North Denver. It was pretty awesome seeing all that candy made! I am definitely planning on going back during December for their Candy Cane Festival. Yay!

Here is Shannon and Evie:

Because the our tour group was so small (3 babies under the age of 1 and their parents) - the tour guide gave us "good" lollipops from the store (versus the broken samples) for our babes.

Here is Evie devouring the stick of her lolly:

....and my favorite photo of the day.

Marshall and his lovely blue lolly.

:)

Marshall Video

Not much has been going on lately in the Brawn household. This is currently my last week of maternity leave before returning to work full-time. I definitely have some reservations about returning to work, but I know that once I get into the swing of working again - and once we get used to the schedule of dropping and picking Marshall off elsewhere - it will all be fine.

I can't believe how quickly Marshall is growing! He will be 11 weeks this Wednesday and he is just growing like a champ! He doesn't feel like my little, fragile baby anymore. He is quickly becoming a little boy. We love him so much - and I have really enjoyed hanging out with him all the time. We really enjoy our time together. Marshall definitely entertains us each and every day with all that he is learning and doing. He makes quite the facial expressions. It seems as if the tiniest of things crack us up. Being parents is awesome - and we couldn't have asked for a better little boy.

I have been playing with iMovie - and here is the results. I thought a video might be better instead of a string of photos as usual - you know, to mix it up a bit. :) Also, the song that is playing is what I refer to as "our song". I usually sing it to Marshall several times a day. It really calms him down when he is in freak-out mode. I also used to listen to this song a lot before Marshall's arrival. It is a special song to us. Enjoy.

Family Update

Well - its been one month since my last post. I believe my goal was to post more often .... so here is another attempt at that! We were lucky enough to have my parents here with us in Colorado for a good majority of July - well, they left to head home August 1st - so I guess it really was most of July! Now that its been a while since we've seen them - I'm going to need to post more updates of Marshall more often.

On July 31st we had Marshall's baby blessing at our church. We had lots of family in town to help celebrate Marshall's birth and witness his baby blessing.

The picture below is of Will, Marshall and Will's Grandpa: James Brawn (hence - Marshall James)

And below are pictures of Marshall in no particular order:

Both of my babies ... although one has been neglected lately (Poor Abby)

Last week I took M into work to show him off to my co-workers. Here is my buddy Jim showing Marshall how to process mail in the mailroom. M quite took to the bright flashy screens. :)

We LOVE this playmat we got M.

It has provided hours of entertainment for him and more free time for us!

Here is M before church yesterday. It was the first time we went to all 3 hours with Marshall, and of course I was by myself (Will was working) AND it was my week to teach Young Womens. Thank goodness Marshall was a gem all day!

It is hard to believe this was just 8 weeks ago (well officially 8 weeks on Wednesday)!

I like these photos of Will. It was taken at Annie's Cafe, our favorite lunch spot in Denver. It's going to be sad once I go back to work cause I won't get to spend so many lunches with Will and Marshall. We've gotten used to our lunches and mid-morning walks when Will works his late shift (2-11pm). Its been a fun summer - but I still have 4 weeks of maternity leave left, as I return to work September 19th. I better soak up all the time with Marshall I can! :)