Mommy Plays The Organ (Part 2)

It's Sunday again.  Time for another attempt at playing the organ at church.  I had high hopes that today would be much better than last Sunday; I remembered how to adjust the master volume, plus my kids had proved to me that they knew how to be reverent during Sacrament meeting.

All went well during the prelude music.

The opening hymn was Scatter Sunshine.

If you are familiar with the church hymns and have experience playing some of them, you probably know that while this song isn't particularly difficult, it is a bit more challenging than the bulk of the songs in the hymn book.  Particularly on the organ where it's a struggle to know when to connect the notes, or not.

So I start playing, and my kids start fighting (Um, hello?  Were they not paying attention?  They are supposed to be scattering sunshine!).

They end up walking up to the organ and fighting while I am struggling to play the hymn.  I am now attempting to play the hymn (FAIL!), watch the chorister (EPIC FAIL!), and discipline my children (SUCCESS!).  I forced them to sit on the stand and be quiet.

The congregation had the benefit of seeing my children look something like this until we could return to our pew:

I think they looked like this, except Sara is about 3 years older now.

And she was more mad than she was in this picture.

And Rebecca was mad too.

So yeah, just use your imagination...

Today was an example of why I should not be the ward organist.  Surely there must be somebody else?

Mommy Needs To Bathe The Baby

Every month I take Matthew to JC Penney's to get his picture taken. They always ask about what he is doing developmentally so that they know the best way to pose him and possibly attempt to capture some of those milestones on film.

Several times they asked me if he had discovered his feet yet. The answer was always no.

Well, on New Years Day, I caught him doing this:

Matthew Jayden has not learned about figurative speech yet.

Here he is demonstrating the phrase "Open mouth, insert foot."

All of a sudden I am sensing an urge to bath this child more often. But hey, I recognize a blessing when I see one. At least he isn't sucking on MY toes.

Sara Mackenzie

October 2000

Mommy Schedules A Playdate

When I was a child, it seemed like there was plenty of time to play and just be a kid.  These days, at least in our household, it seems like those times are few and far between.  I find myself grateful that my girls are close in age, because when they do have free time, it's nice to have a built-in playdate.

Every once in a while, however, we need to branch out and invite some friends to come over and play.  Today was one of those days.  I am fortunate that I know several families who just happen to have two girls the same ages as my girls.  It makes it easy to have a play date because I can have both girls over to our house, send my girls over to their house, or even swap girls for the afternoon.  Everyone has someone to play with and for the most part, we avoid the "left out" feelings that occur when only one child has a friend to play with.

The girls had a lot of fun playing with Victoria & Christianna and we hope that they had a good time as well.

Mommy Is On Cloud Nine

Matthew turned 9-months old today.  He is such a wonderful, sweet, baby!  He is generally very good-natured, although lately he has had a bit of a sleeping problem.  It's easy to cheer him up, it's easy to entertain him (now that he can sit up), and he is oh-so-easy to smother in hugs and kisses.

I love watching him bounce back and forth in time with the music.  I love hearing him squeal and giggle.  I love his big-mouthed smile.  I love his cute little pointy tongue that is almost always sticking out.  I love his curly hair and his big dark eyes.  I love his long, dark eyelashes.  I love his tiny little feet that somehow already manage to get that sticky-sweaty feel that is so common in little boys.  I love his curiousity, his hugs, and even his very drooly kisses.

Matthew Jayden

9 months old

I love the way he smiles and squirms in the morning, and the way he moans himself to sleep at night.  I love the way he attempts to "eat" everything.  I love seeing his delight while playing "Peek-A-Boo" or "Patty Cake"  and hearing his squeals when he is lifted high into the air.

Love you, Baby Boy!

Mommy Can't Breathe

Once again, Utah has the WORST air quality in the entire nation. And I live here. With asthma. What a lovely combination!

Visit ksl.com to see a picture of what "inversion" looks like. It's not just fog, it's fog you can eat, and my friend Cheri tells me that it tastes nasty!

I think I'm content with staying inside for a while.

Mommy Gets Help

I suffer from postpartum depression. It is real. It is scary. It is a very dark place to be in, and I have been there for almost 10 years.

You might wonder why I didn't get help earlier. The simple answer is that I did. But when I thought I was better, I wasn't. I spiraled back down and my sense of what "normal" is became greatly distorted. I don't think that I even realized that I was still depressed, and 10 years later
I have a hard time even remembering what "happy" is supposed to feel like.

Did you know that 1 in 8 women suffers from postpartum depression?  Get the facts and learn more about it and other perinatal mood disorders.

Did you read the article?  Does any of it sound familiar?  If this is you, get help now. Talk to your doctor about anti-depressants, and find a psychiatrist to talk to. You are not alone. You are not the only person who is struggling with depression. Again, you are NOT alone.

The happiest day of your life is supposed to lead to years of happiness...

not years of sadness.  Postpartum depression is real.  Get help now.

I'm getting my life back on track... why don't you join me?

Detailed information (including local resources) about Postpartum Depression can be found at: http://www.postpartum.net

Mommy Experiences Peace & Quiet

"Winter Break" is officially over, so Sara and Rebecca returned to school today.  Both girls were very excited to be reuinted with their friends.  Matthew and I spent a quiet day at home, but Matthew kept gazing at me with his big brown eyes as if to say, "Hey Mom!  Where are those crazy girls?  I want to play!"

Matthew & "The Crazy Girls"

Mommy Plays The Organ

Every new year brings a change to our church schedule.  This year we attend church from 1:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon.  In addition, I have a new calling - ward organist!  If I can survive Sacrament meeting this year, it will be a miracle!  3 kids and an organ - crazy!

As can be expected, my first day was not without some trauma.  Unbeknownst to me, I somehow managed to adjust the volume of the organ.  Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been a problem if my brain had been functioning properly, but all of the excitement and nerves caused a bit of confusion and I completely forgot that the volume of this massive instrument is controlled by one single (albeit big) pedal located near my feet.  Duh.

I know what you're thinking... the organ was too loud.  Nope, I had the opposite problem.  The organ was so soft, I could barely hear it over the congregational singing.  This created multiple problems:

• I can't hear it, so it's hard to tell if I am really following the chorister or not.
• The chorister can't hear it, so he's not really sure what I'm doing.
• The congregation can't hear it and rarely seem to follow the chorister anyway, so they are just singing.

Um, yeah.  If you missed church this week, count your blessings.

On the bright side, my children were very well-behaved.  Maybe I can do this after all...

My not-so-talented feet that have to learn to play the organ. 

Why oh why are there so many pedals?  Can't we just pretend they don't exist?

CLARIFICATION: Our ward chorister seems to be very talented, so I would just like to say that he is not to blame for this fiasco.  This week's entertainment was provided for you by yours truly.  :)

Mommy Helps With The Big Move

Today was a very exciting day for my brother and sister-in-law. Tim & Kristel got to move into their brand new home. Michael spent most of the day helping with the move, while I assisted with the move by staying home. Trust me, keeping the kids away from this project was a BIG help!

No pictures yet, but I trust that Michael was working hard.

After all, he came home sweaty. :)

Mommy Goes Sledding

Happy New Year!

Today we went sledding at Sugarhouse Park. This year, Sara and Rebecca were old enough to go down the hill by themselves and strong enough to carry the tubes back up the hill by themselves! Matthew didn't seem excited about sledding, but he was content to be pulled around in his little inflatable sled. What a fun day!

Michael has a neck injury so he wasn't going to go sledding,
but he eventually decided to try the hill just one time.

The girls enjoyed going down the hill by themselves,
but I saw the biggest smiles when they went down the hill together.

A beautiful sight...
My two girls working together without fighting!

I went down the hill once or twice,
but it was a lot more fun to pull Matthew around in his sled.