I'm a brat!

Sometimes I find myself complaining about life or my circumstances, but then there are those times that I realize how blessed I really am. I was changing Ryan's diaper this morning and enjoying the peace and quiet in my home when I had one of these moments. I hadn't gone to church because I had been bed ridden from the flu this weekend and wasn't 100% yet, so I stayed home. Gary took all the kids with him except Ryan-I want to point out that I took all of them last week on my own, on my birthday because he had to go to work for an emergency. I was holding Ryan and loving on him as I walked into the front room to change him. I told him,"This is how it is going to be in just a few years. Just the two of us at home. Ryan and Mommy!" All of this was said in my "mommy talking to baby" voice. As I laid him down on my carpet I thought about how fortunate I was to have this home. There are so many people in the world who have dirt floors, or can't afford diapers to change their babies. I am so blessed to have a home, and a beautiful one at that! Just looking around my front room, I feel blessed with what we have. I am also grateful that I can get better after having a cold or the flu and don't have to worry about horrible diseases like malaria, or parasites-yuck!! Thank you Microbiology for making me never want to travel outside the US!

With it being Sunday and missing church, I turned on the TV to KSL channel 5 so that I could watch Music and the Spoken Word, which was followed by Mormon Times, and then a documentary Part 1 about Winter Quarters. I recently read a book that chronicles the events of the pioneers during this time so I was well aware of its history. To know that 12,000 people settled in this rapidly thrown together town that was only a stopping place and that 1 in 12 of these people would not live to cross into the Salt Lake Valley makes me more appreciative of our modern day conveniences. Once more, I am reminded of how blessed I am. I remember thinking as a child that I was so glad I wasn't a pioneer because of all the hardships they went through. That I was happier to be living today. Could you imagine being a pioneer child and having to walk, and walk, and walk and walk, etc.? Well, I am grateful for the comforts I enjoy and to have cars tat get me places when I have to move but I have to say it was simpler and easier in their time. With that said, I am grateful to be here in America and to have my wonderful family. And now on to our family announcement!!!!!

We told the kids this morning that we were going to make it so that we wouldn't have any more kids. They were a bit upset. Karly asked for one more baby and if it could be a girl. I explained to her that I can't make the decision for boy or girl and that we could have five more babies and they could all be boys! She said she understood and didn't want anymore boys. We are saving up for Gary's surgery this spring. I am excited to close the pregnancy chapter of our lives!! I know the new church handbook discourages vasectomies and that we should consult the Bishop-which we will; but I think we've done our part in this area. 5 kids! Come on, that is definitely enough! So I am grateful for my comforts and I am grateful for my "fertile loins" that have brought such beautiful children into our homes and I am grateful that my loins now will have a break. I am also grateful that I am no longer throwing up and have learned my lesson that my body doesn't handle sickness as well as my husbands. When he says he is sick with the flu, I will not share his fork or drink even if I think he is doing okay!