Motherhood

Almost three years ago my life was changed forever.

I became a mother.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mom and there is nothing else I'd rather do.

Becoming a mother wasn't the easiest process for me, and while I have truly struggled with my ability to have more children, I am overwhelmingly thankful for the little boy that I call my own.

He is the light of my life.

If he is the only child that my Heavenly Father entrusts me with, I will have so much to be grateful for.

It isn't perfect and is a lot of work, but it is by far the most rewarding work I have ever done.

Happy Mother's Day!

Nightmares in Potty Training

Potty training was not a fun experience. I was told that boys can be a nightmare to train. 

True that.

James caught on quite quickly as to what he was to do, but knowing what to do and actually doing are two completely different matters. 

I got a lot of unwanted advice. Mostly people telling me that he wasn't ready. But many of these people don't realize that diapers are forty bucks a box and we are still starving students.

Unfortunately, cleaning out underwear is tons cheaper than diapers.

He was very good about going pee in the potty (he had that down a year ago), but poo was a different matter.

I read a lot of books. 

The books lied.

I know that every child is different. 

But my child had no issue with sitting in his own excrement.

The books gave a million ideas of how to train a child in three days or less:

M&Ms

Praise

Stickers

Prizes

Or, no prizes allowed

Everyone was pretty clear on not yelling or punishing.

And so I tried being calm.

Then I tried (not calm) timeout..but it didn't work.

Nothing was getting through to this little monster of mine. I was starting to feel like a total failure as a parent.

His future looked bleak as a 1st grader in diapers.

So one day, after cleaning poo out of  his underpants for the 9,483rd time,

I took Buzz.

I put him in the closet and informed the little person that the only way to get Buzz back would be to poo in the potty.

I fully expected him to test me to see if that really was the only way to get Buzz back, 

and he did. 

I took Woody, his puppy, his camera, his trike...

And he finally got it.

I haven't cleaned out underpants for two weeks and...

it's the best thing ever.

The Hearts of the Children

As many of you may know, the 1940 census was recently released. 

I've been trying to get at least one batch indexed from as many states as I possibly can (some states are already  complete so there's no hope of getting them all, otherwise I would). 

I found my grandparents and my great-grandparents.  It was very exciting to see their names on the census and feel the brief connection with my Grandma. 

Gosh, I miss her. 

In my search for my grandparents I had a little chat with my dad and found out some things I didn't know before. I had always assumed that my grandparents had met in Utah since they were both born here. 

Turns out I was wrong.

Grandpa was living with family in National City, California and Grandma moved to National City to live with her Aunt. He was a linoleum layer. She worked at an orange packing plant. They met at a church dance, fell in love and traveled back to Utah to get married in the Salt Lake temple (where we were married 66 years later to the day).

My dad assumed that they were both in National City in 1940 since they got married in 1941, but I was already halfway done searching Brigham City records when I found Grandma. She was still living with her mother and was only 17.  She was a mere year away from being sealed to Grandpa.

This year the Brigham City Temple will be completed. The new temple sits on the plot where Grandma used to live. I cannot wait to go. 

I love family history. 

I love to know who and where we came from.

I love that we can be together forever.

That knowledge keeps me going.

Random Update

Life is going on here. Some days are worse than others. I find myself breaking down over seemingly small things every now and then. I'm lucky to have some awesome friends and family and the gospel to keep me grounded. 

Don't give up.

Don't you quit.

You keep walking.

You keep trying.

There is happiness ahead...

You keep your chin up

It will be alright in the end.

Trust in god and believe in good things to come.

- Elder Holland

Anyways, onto happier things:

I did some more sewing (of course). A vest for James and a shirt for myself. 

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

We made a cat in the hat hat from paper, tape and a paper plate, and read a bunch of the books. 

St. Patrick's Day

James loves green. He LOVES it. Seriously. It's his favorite color (he says so several times a day). He firmly believes that almost everything would be better if it were green So you can see why I was excited about St. Patrick's Day this year-it's GREEN day!

We all wore our green shirts (no pictures of this...oops), had a green breakfast of waffles and green fruit salad. James wore his special green hat all day long and we made a fun rainbow craft and did an awesome preschool packet. He had a blast!

Easter

We took James to an Easter egg hunt at the BYU football stadium. We got him a Cosmo DVD for Christmas and he's been obsessed with Cosmo ever since. He was more excited to meet Cosmo then he was to hunt eggs. It was fun though.

 

On Easter Sunday we went to my parent's house and James had a little egg hunt there as well. He had so much fun. Uncle Ryan even showed him how to throw rocks. Yay. 

James Being Silly

 Oh, and I also made James some new bedding! I actually did this the day before the miscarriage and totally forgot about it! I wish I had a better camera. It's pretty awesome though.

Trying to Stay Positive/When it Rains it Pours

Charles James Cohoon passed away Monday evening. Grandpa raised Paul and so he's essentially lost his father. It has been a rough week. We take comfort in the fact that he is in a better place. He is not in pain. He is no longer afflicted with a brain injury. He is at peace.

We, on the other hand, are very sad with his passing. We miss him. We are sad that he won't be able to physically attend Paul's graduation and be there for other life events.  We are glad for the plan of salvation and temple work and look forward to the day when Paul can do the work for Grandpa.

So far this really hasn't been our year.  We've had many reasons to be sad and depressed, and we've spent our fair share of time feeling that way. The day before Grandpa died I had a sort of breakdown at church. Everyone was kind and friendly, but you know when you're trying to hold it all together and then someone asks, "how are you feeling?" and then all your feelings just rush out in the form of tears? That was Sunday.  We left after Sacrament meeting and went for a drive. We drove up to the temple and talked about how hard everything has been (we knew Grandpa was going to pass this week) and about how we have to decide to focus on our blessings even during our trials.  I think we both felt at peace for at least the rest of the day.

As with all aching holes in the heart, this one will take time to heal.  I hope that the next ten months are more pleasant than the last two.

Obituary

In Memory of

Charles James Cohoon

June 21, 1929 - February 27, 2012

Obituary

Cohoon, Charles James, February 27, 2012, age 82. Cherished husband of Carol (nee Sutton). Loving father of Laura E. Phalen, Robert M. Cohoon, Rodrick M. Cohoon and Donna J. Cochrum (Paul). Dear Grandfather of Paul (Rebecca), Jason Phalen, and Catherine (Matt) Beasley. Also 4 Great Grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Dear Brother of Harvey Cohoon, Vivian McNeely, Stephen Cohoon, and the late Phillip Cohoon. Memorial Service Friday, March 9th 11:00a .m. at Pixley Funeral Home, 322 W. University Dr., Rochester, followed by the Committal Service with Army Honors at 12:15p.m. at Christian Memorial Cemetery. Contributions to Crittenton Hospital Medical Center Foundation, 1101 W. University Drive, Rochester, MI 48307.

Valentine's Day 2012

Lately I've been drowning myself with projects to keep me busy and distract me. One of them was this wreath. It took 3 days to make!  I think it's probably because I got super cheap cotton fabric that was quite difficult to ruffle and then it would fray everywhere so I had to do a lot of trimming on top of what the tutorial said. However, I'm pleased with it. Actually, I love it.

James also helped me make Valentines. I got the idea off of pinterest...I love pinterest. Anyway, after I had finished painting his hands I got distracted (doing what I don't know) and when I turned back to look at him he was completely covered in red paint (face, arms, chest..). I nearly freaked out but he said so sweetly, "look, Mommy! I'm like Iron Man!" And then I promptly bathed him.

Paul got me these the day before. I LOVED them.

How cute is he?

For play school I printed out this preschool pack to do with James. He absolutely LOVED it (of course, he absolutely loves all the "school" stuff we do together).

Because it was a week night and Paul didn't get home until 9 pm, I decided we'd go low-key. I cut hearts out of pepperoni and made some homemade pizza. I also made Paul a strawberry  chiffon pie (because Paul loves pie).  Then I blew up the air mattress and brought out our blankets and pillows and we watched Lady and the Tramp.  I put these little gift bags together for Paul and James:

James' bag

Paul's bag

 It was so much better than our first Valentine's Day when Paul told me to dress warm and that he had a surprise for me. So we get in the car and he takes me to church distribution to buy me scriptures. He's such a romantic. Ha ha ha ha. And that's when I took over the planning for Valentine's Day.  This year he bought me what we refer to as the rose bush. These flowers must have weighed like 20 pounds!

 Whenever I read other people talking all mushy about their spouses I sort of get squeamish...and sort of jealous at the same time because we don't do mush. I didn't marry Mr. Darcy. I know, shocker! When I see women comparing their men to Mr.Darcy I don't believe them. I don't think Mr. Darcy would pass gas in bed or watch football all day or leave his dirty underwear on the bathroom floor. It's called fiction for a reason.

It was in the midst of my miscarriage that I realized just how unimportant mush is. Paul took off nearly a week from work. He cooked. He cleaned. He went to the store in the middle of the night to get some medicine because I was miserable and constipated (I know, I know, TMI, but it's a harsh reality of my recovery and it sucked) and he came back with medicine and some fiber drink mixes and a watermelon. He knows me. He knows what I like and he thinks about me all the time.  He cares for our son. He's always ready to use his priesthood if we need it.

He may not write me fluffy love letters or stand in the rain and gush, but the man is a fantastic husband and I love him.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!