Yesterday I went to my cousin's wedding.  As I waited for the wedding to start, I looked around the room and I began comparing myself to everyone.  "She's skinnier than I am."  "Her hair is so long and pretty, it looks so much better than mine."  "Wow, her outfit is so much cuter than mine."  I did this until I had gone around the entire room, and of course everyone was better than I was.  

"This is a wedding.  A wedding is supposed to be a time of happiness," I told myself.  But still I was sad.  I hated myself.  I hated my hair.  I'd cut it because I hated it but now I was jealous of everyone around me with their long hair.  I hated my body.  I'd been proud of the weight I'd lost since having my little man but there was one of my cousins whose baby was younger than mine and she was definitely skinnier.  And then I started hating myself for hating myself.  

Has anyone else ever been in that kind of vicious cycle?  It's so hard to get out of!

But as I sat there, full of hate and frustration, I began thinking.  I believe in a God who knows and loves all His children.  Sometimes I don't think about how that affects me on a personal level.  I heard the parable of the talents from the Bible and it hit me in a way it never had before.  God didn't make us all the same.  And guess what?  That doesn't make us worse than everyone else.  Someone is going to be better than me at a lot of things.  I may not be the best at anything, actually.  That's possible.  However, I'm still me, and I'm loved.  My husband loves me.  I see it in the way he kisses me and smiles when I come in the room.  My baby boy loves me.  I feel it in his precious little hugs and the way he snuggles up to me when he's tired or sad.  My Heavenly Father loves me.  I feel that in the way I am blessed.  My life is not perfect.  Far from it.  But every day there are little things that show me that I am loved.  At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how I compare to anyone else.  I am me and I am loved for it.  Now it's time that I learned to love myself the way my boys love me.  

And the way my Father in Heaven loves me.

 

(via google images)

I was right when I thought that baby boy's favorite part of unwrapping presents would be eating the paper.  However, he also enjoyed eating the presents....

Yum.  Teddy bear.

We had a fantastic Christmas and all of us were really spoiled!

My sweet boy especially spoiled me by saying his first word on Christmas Eve: "mama".  Hubby and I are both so proud.

I hope your holidays were equally amazing!

Last night we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah to view the lights they put up every Christmas.  It was cold.  But beautiful.

Little man enjoyed seeing the lights, the water, the horses pulling carriages...he loved it all until he started to get cold.  Then the poor baby boy screamed until we got back in the car and the heater was running.

I find Temple Square is always a good place to remind me what Christmas is about.  I sometimes get lost in the bustle of presents, shopping, parties, etc. and forget that Christmas should be about CHRIST.

My blogging during the Christmas holiday will probably continue to be sporadic, and I apologize.  There's a nasty stomach bug going around and that coupled with the busyness of the season makes it hard to find time even for my blog!

Last night we participated in a family tradition that I have always enjoyed....going to the Festival of Lights and the lights on Salem Pond.  Our little man is a big fan of lights, and I think he enjoyed it!

Also, my sister helped my hubby put together a fun costume for the holiday season, and he made sure to wear it while we were out.  I think I'll be seeing a lot more of it in the next few days....  

We are heading out for our Christmas celebration with my family.  I'm not sure when I'll be posting again.  A few days ago I made my little man a special Christmas hat....

and then we had a fun Christmas photo shoot!

Merry Christmas!

We are celebrating Christmas 3 times this year!  Saturday we celebrated with some of hubby's family.

Sunday hubby, little man, and I had our own Christmas.

And next week we'll celebrate the actual Christmas Day with my family. This little man is getting sooo spoiled (and loving every minute of it)!

This baby boy loves the Christmas tree so much!

I have such a talented hubby!  Look at this amazing early Christmas gift he made me....

A headboard for our room!  Hurray!

Remember when we discovered that little man liked spicy soup?  The other day he also ate a green bean baked with bacon and red pepper.  So the other day when he was refusing his rice cereal, hubby mixed some cinnamon in it and our little man ate it right up!  It turns out that this baby boy likes his spices!

Now that we've discovered this, he seems much happier about eating.

I'm getting very excited for Christmas!  I have completed almost every project I had in mind and have almost every present already wrapped and under the tree.  My little man is being spoiled with some pretty awesome gifts, and I can't wait to see him open them!

If his gram's birthday was any indication, we can probably find him eating the wrapping paper instead of enjoying the present inside...

When my little man was first born, he was given an adorable pair of overalls and a cute polo onsie.  Hubby and I loved them and were so excited for the day he would be able to wear that outfit.

That day has finally come!  Doesn't he look adorable???

I decided to do a Christmas themed photo shoot with my little man.  I'll probably do one or two more before the season is over; I have some fun ideas.

I hadn't realized how strong my little man is.  At the end of the photo shoot, he pulled the arm off the small nutcracker.  Oops!  Sorry Mr. Nutcracker!

Remember when baby boy used to sleep like this?:

Well, he's graduated from the Swaddle Me to a blanket.  And now he sleeps like this:

Funny story...a few weeks ago at church, little man was really fussy and tired.  I had tried everything to get him to fall asleep.  Well....almost everything.  My hubby threw the blanket over little man's head and he immediately went limp!  Silly boy!

My little man drinks from his bottle all by himself, which of course we are really proud of.  He's been doing it for a few weeks and it's nice to be able to set him down while he eats if there are other things that need to be done.  The best part, though, is HOW he holds the bottle:

He palms it with one hand.  Too cute!

In church this last Sunday, we had a lesson on love.  We listed some of the attributes of love. They include:

-sharing joy
-thinking of someone above yourself
-a feeling of security and comfort
-the foundation of service and charitable acts
-forgiving
-the reason or motivation for what we do
-uplifting
-the power that helps us become like Christ

In my own mind, I listed some of the things that I love, based on that definition.  The top two were my hubby and my little man.

(isn't it funny how they have the EXACT same look in this picture?)

What do you love?

Little man was really enthusiastic about solids for a while.

Then it suddenly changed.  He didn't want carrots or sweet potatoes...

and just look at his reaction to peaches!

I'd given up hope.  And then last night, while we enjoyed soup with my mother in law, our little man looked at my hubby with this face:

So we gave him some Italian Bean Soup.  He loved it!

I guess we'll be eating a lot more soup at our house!

We are getting ready for Christmas at my house.

Little man looks a little funny in this last picture....he wasn't impressed that I'd been taking his picture!  He does love the Christmas tree though.  Sometimes it is the only thing that will calm him down when he is fussing.  We sit in the chair and he leans over the side and touches the tree with his fingers.  It's sweet.

I am so convinced that he will be a musical prodigy...

I haven't caught it on video yet, but our little man also tries to match pitch!  He's so clever!