Heart Tenderizer.

Jake blessed Abby the day after Thanksgiving at my parents house because most of our family from both sides was able to make it. It was a little hectic but luckily my mom and my sister Amber helped and did all the cooking for after the blessing.  

Hearing Abby get blessed was a lot more... everything then I expected. I loved the feeling in the room while she was getting blessed and hearing Jake say things I could tell weren't coming from him. I was afraid she would cry during the blessing because she hadn't had a nap and was being a little cranky and when she's like that she won't let anyone hold her but me. But, when Jake took her she locked eyes on him with a pleasant face and my dad said she continued to lock eyes and gaze at Jake while he blessed her.

Amber let us borrow the dress her three daughters were blessed in... a double thanks to you!

Being a mom gets better and better. I never thought I'd be the gushing type, never wanting to put her down, wanting to play with her all day long. I never liked baby-sitting or was very baby hungry. But man. I find myself having a hard time parting with her at night, leaving her for short amounts of time... I'm just a cornball like everyone else.

The last time we went to the Dr he advised us to put her in bed when she's sleepy and let her put herself to sleep, even if it meant her crying. He said she was old enough to understand and would need to learn to calm herself down. Again, I never thought I'd have trouble with it but when we did it last night, it was a rough go. I listened to her the 2 or 3 hours before she fell asleep and just kept thinking that, even though I wanted to so badly, if I went and got her it would teach her that crying would give the same result. I guess it was the first time that parenting caused the internal struggle as far as what is really best for her. It's not that big of a deal, not really, but I kept thinking that, even though she's so sad in her crib, the ultimate goal is for her to learn to sleep and be able to do it herself and not depend on me. It could even potentially affect her to adulthood, who knows?

So I did it. I say "I" because Jake was asleep the entire time. She slept until 10 this morning and didn't seem betrayed and was just as smiley as always. It was a real eye-opener as to how it can be difficult to not raise a bratty kid because of how easy it is to give them what they want. Like pretty much everything to do with being a parent, it's so tangible to Gospel principles. Imagine how bratty we'd all be if our heavenly parents did that to us. We'd all whine until we got what we wanted, we'd only eat ice cream and would be fat and lazy... and miserable because we wouldn't progress. We wouldn't be independent or understand how growth brings happiness.