Monday, August 29, 2011

It's Monday Morning

I was up a lot last night with a baby.

I'm exhausted.

Actually, I've been up every night for the past 8 months with that baby.

No wonder I'm exhausted.

There's coffee spilled on my shirt.

And someone peed on my shirt too.

My hair isn't fixed; I feel like a wreck.

The house is a wreck too.

My cup of coffee went cold; no wonder I'm so exhausted.

My kids are in Operation Torment Your Sibling mode and I swear the next person that fights will pay me a $5 bill to settle their dispute.

My floors need to be vacuumed because I keep retracting objects from my breastfed only infant who insists on eating everything that fits in her fat little mouth.

My kids are supposed to be doing their Chores-Around-The-House system but the only one really doing the deep cleaning, is the 8 month old.

My four-year-old has already been to the elderly neighbor's house once this morning, bumming peanuts and Pepsi off the generous grandpa. Before breakfast.

The good thing about all this is:

#1: Nobody died.

#2: It's Monday morning: that only happens once a week.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

We Have An 8 Month Old In The House!

After an unexpected positive pregnancy test, 9 months of constant sickness and fatigue that dissipated any form of normalcy in my life, 6 weeks of continual contractions, 26 hours of the hardest labor I've ever had and 5 months of non-stop screaming and food intolerance issues that left me with nothing to eat but pears, rice, turkey and potatoes, you'd think I'd be ready to move on to the not-a-baby-anymore-stage.

(As I write this, said child -- who is now 8 months old today -- is laying on the living room floor absent-mindedly taking her diaper off. Hehe.)

But I'm not.

This roly, poly, fluffy, smiley 20+ pound infant is the epitome of everything you want to squeeze in the little bassinet sized co-sleeper attached to your bed. Read: you don't want to spend a minute apart from her, even when you're sleeping.

Okay, at least I don't want to spend a minute apart from her.

She loves to snuggle. Smile. Scream when she's excited. Catch your eye and grin. Touch your face. Coo. Sit and listen to whatever is going on. And just be with her mom. Or anyone for that matter.

She LOVES going to restaurants to just sit and squeal excitedly at her siblings and watch people.

She LOVES going shopping and will recline and chill in her stroller for hours and watch for any little kids that she can catch with her eye.

She LOVES attention.

And as long as she can see at least one other human being, she's content.

Except at night. She seems to sleep better alone. Away from everyone. She loves to lay in her bed and suck on her pacifier and play with her blanket until she slips off to sleep. When her fat little belly starts begging for food, she'll holler. Other than that, she likes to be by herself. Asleep.

Technically, with the difficult year I went through to get her to this point, I should be glad, right?

But I'm not.

If I could stop this season, slow down this journey, put the brakes on this ride, I would.

But I can't.

Like grains of sand, the moments I have to just enjoy my baby are slipping through my hands faster and faster. And I can't do anything to stop this.

But even if she is 8 months old, today is the smallest she'll ever be from now on.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

It's Okay To Be Delusional And Smitten When It Comes To Your Baby Sister

A sign your baby has an endearing 7-year-old brother can be summed up in this following quote:

"I once heard someone say that their baby was the cutest baby in the world, but when I looked at their baby, it was not cute. Not cute at all. We have the cutest baby in the world."

(Followed by said 7-year-old covering his 7-month-old baby sister with kisses and swooning sweet nothings at her.)

Sunday, August 21, 2011

I Want To Be A Trader!


Missionary:
Not determined by where you live
but by the mission you are on.
Our pastor shared this in his message today. It was the most applicable-to-your-life-no-matter-where-you-are sermon I've ever heard on missions. A lot to think about and actually do something about.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

On Spanish And English And Which One Our Baby Will Likely Learn First

Janae, being the caring and adoring 6-year-old big sister of her one and only little sister, expressed concern to me the other day.

You see, our almost-eight-month-old cherub, has yet to utter any audible English. Her communication has proven to be quite immature in the sense that she uses no obvious or familiar language when expressing sounds to us.

Janae recognizes this.

And in as careful of a way as she could, she explained to me that she fears her baby sister will 'turn into Spanish' and therefore when she does start talking, we won't understand her because she's learned Spanish instead of English.

:)

Friday, August 19, 2011

What's Free And Unexpected And The Key To A Good Day?

A jungle gym fell from the sky last night. And it landed in our backyard. My kids have been outside playing in their pajamas all morning, exploring all kinds of far reached imaginations in their ambitious little heads.

Who knew a strong windstorm and a dead branch up in the tree that landed in our yard last night, was the perfect way to start our day?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

In The Beginning There Was A New Blog

Welcome to a new and improved blog!

I'm a real mom living a real life. This blog will document my journey over the next few years of life with a baby, preschooler, elementary students and my all-time-favorite husband.

The last two years have been one of incredible change in my life. I'm enjoying life. Enjoying my kids. Enjoying guilt-free Christianity. Despite having more responsibility now that comes with having older kids and more kids, I'm so much more relaxed and enjoying life. Stress is a 6-letter-word that I used to know better than my home address. But now, it's not the tone I live in day after day anymore. I love being a mother. I love homeschooling. And being involved with our church family. Supporting our church. Spending time investing in other's lives. God has been so good and even in the hard times, His grace has proven to be sufficient.

Just to set this new blog venture out on the right foot, I have to say that when Jesus said He brings Life abundant and free, He means it. I know that for a fact and can only look forward to the future in anticipation.

So with that, expect to see me post from time to time. The only thing that will hold me back now, is time. Not fear of who I see on my site counter.

If you're reading this, I'm glad you are! Stay tuned because I hope to update as frequently as I can. I have a busy life and so many moments and stories that I want to remember for years to come. But I'm too busy to retain everything in my crazy life, unfortunately. This blog will be the tool that gives me the ability to record the years I spent with my 4 kidlets who are everything from mud puddles to ballet slippers.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011