Maturing

TheHubs said something today that I have seriously never heard him say. And I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about it.

While in the car together, kids in tow and headed to the zoo, he looks at me and tells me I look "old". After I gave him a rather weird look, he back-tracked a bit and said that I look "old-ER" and eventually changed it to "more mature". 

Excuse me???

I'm pretty sure he was trying to be sweet about it all, but his vomiting of the mouth didn't quite come out the way he had planned. At least that's what I'm pretending. He did say the words "sexy" and "beautiful" somewhere in there too, so that makes things a little better. 

I mean, I'll admit, I'm not the young thang I was 6+ years ago when we started dating...but I've never really thought of  myself as "maturing" or looking "older". 

My response was, "Thanks, I guess that's what having 2 kids the past 2 years will do to ya." 

Haha...I blame everything on child birth. Ev-er-y-thing. 

So just for funs, here's some pics I found. One from June 2007- (a few days after our 1st date) and the other from earlier this summer.  I guess I have "matured" a bit. ;)

The sniff

During every diaper change now, I have to tell EJ that his "little weewee" is not going anywhere, and that there is no need to touch, hold, hit, etc.

Weeeeelllll....... Of course the 100% boy he is, he never listens, and gets a laugh each time mid- diaper-change.  And just now, I promise you, he did something I thought I wouldn't see for a long time.

He had his beloved blanket  and "scratched" with blanket in hand.

Then came the shocker.


He sniffed!!!!!


What? Yes! My son just did the ol' scratch-n-sniff.


Where in the world do they learn these things??

Because God loves me...

In reading my devotional for today from "15 Minutes Alone with God" I came across this beautifully written paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 by Christian psychologist Dr. Dick Dickerson.
My devotion for today challenged me to read this aloud to myself each morning and evening for the next 30 days.  The author said that it is "important to believe that we have value and that we are worthy to give of ourselves. This begins by knowing and accepting what our heavenly Father believes about us"

Here's the paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 by Dr. Dickerson. I've added the parentheses to the end of each sentence to show which part of 1 Corinthians he is describing.

Because God loves me, He is slow to lose patience with me. (Love is patient) 

Because God loves me, He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth.  (Love is kind)

Because God loves me, He does not treat me as an object to be possessed and manipulated.

(It does not envy)

Because God loves me, He has no need to impress me with how great and powerful He is because He is God. Nor does He belittle me as His child in order to show me how important He is. 

(It does not boast, It is not proud. It does not dishonor others)

Because God loves me, He is for me. He wants me to mature and develop in His love. 

(It is not self-seeking)

Because God loves me, He does not send down His wrath on every little mistake I make, of which there are many.  (It is not easily angered)

Because God loves me, He does not keep score of all my sins and then beat me over the head with them whenever He gets the chance. (It keeps no record of wrongs)

Because God loves me, He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the ways that please Him because He sees this as evidence that I don't trust Him and love Him as I should. 

(Love does not delight in evil)

Because God loves me, He rejoices when I experience His power and strength and stand up under pressure of life for His name's sake. ( but rejoices with the truth)

Because God loves me, He keeps working patiently with me even when I feel like giving up and can't see why He doesn't give up with me too. (It always protects)

Because God loves me, He keeps on trusting me when at times I don't even trust myself. (always trusts)

Because God loves me, He never says there is no hope for me, rather, He patiently works with me, loves me and disciplines me in such a way that it is hard for me to understand the depth of His concern for me. (Always hopes)

Because God loves me, He never forsakes me even though many of my friends might. (Always perseveres) 

Isn't it so cool to know that we are loved that much?!?! I have honestly never read this passage of scripture, and thought about the characteristics of love in that way. I've always thought about them as things I should be doing to demonstrate love. 

Such refreshment to read such a commonly read scripture in a completely different way...

God LOVES me (and you!) in each of these ways. Despite my sins and failures. Now I am to show that same love to others. No matter the hurt they have done to me.....after all, Christ continues to love me throughout all I've done to Him.

Struggles

Ever have those days moments where you feel like you just can't get ahead?? And you wanna just throw a mini- pitty party but even that sounds no fun...and something would probably go wrong there too. Ha!

Welcome to my day today. Well, I don't really think it was the events that actually happened today as much as it was my attitude and struggle to overcome my hormonal mess. (Can I still blame moodiness on hormones 5+ months after giving birth?? I mean, I AM still nursing...)

I think the fact that I'm working everyday but Wednesday this week is part of it too. It takes me all week to get laundry caught up and the place clean from when I just work weekends, so today I really wanted to get things semi- done so it wouldn't be total chaos by the end of the week.

Wwweeelllll.... I think I forgot for a split second during that thought of "gonna get everything done today" that I have 2 kids under 2. And unlike a few weeks ago, they do NOT have the same nap schedule. MissPriss naps at 10ish and 2ish. And EJ naps at 12ish. Which means..... Yep, you guessed it... No more time alone during the day.

So I'm having to learn to get things done with EJ's "help". He really does a pretty good job at laundry and dishes. I'll have to get better at posting pics so y'all can see his big-boy help. He just can't figure out that the clean/dry clothes are ok to be OUT of the dryer instead if IN the dryer. Or that dirty dishes go in the dishwasher, not the cabinets. Haha!

So ok, back to today. It ended with me (finally) showering and getting groceries. Only after getting kids bathed and in the bed. My feet are exhausted, bottles aren't washed for tomorrow, and there are dirty dishes in the sink because the dishwasher didn't get unloaded today. Aannddd... No clothes are ironed/ ready for work tomorrow and no lunch is packed. 😫
And apparently I didn't get enough groceries because TheHubs has been looking in the kitchen for 10 minutes now asking what we have to eat. He finally decided on chips & salsa... But seriously, there's plenty of food. Men. Need I say more?

It's such a struggle to stay positive. To not let Satan have a foothold and win in the battle of attitude. Especially for me. But I'm so gracious for a God who forgives ... And a husband who continues to love even when I'm not lovable. The struggle is daily but I must press on. With His strength only will I finish the course set out before me. 

His mercies are new every morning. Praise God for that. 

MissPriss' arrival (4 & 1/2 months late)

Little MissPriss 

AKA "Lyla" Kate

Born: 2/5/13

12:09pm

8lb 4oz

21 1/2 in long

And here are a few pics from the big day and the weeks following. 

Proud Papa (my dad)

Uncle Alan (my brother)

Mawmaw (my mom's mom)

Proud Nana (Thehubs' Mom)

The GREAT uncle (my Mom's brother)

Me & my babies!

Aunt ShaSha & Uncle Steve (TheHubs' sis & bil)

Silly boy loves getting in her crib with her

First smiles- 5 weeks old

MissPriss' 3rd cousin loving on her 

5QF

Hey y'all! It's FRIDAY!! So hop on over to My Little Life for 5QuestionFriday! 

Enjoy!!

1. Have you ever been robbed and how did you handle it?

Nope, I've never personally been robbed. However, that does remind me of the crack-head neighbors we had growing up who we're pretty sure broke in our house and stole a few things. One being our really cool video camera. You know, the kind back in the 90's that had the little mini tape, that you had to put inside of a bigger tape to fit in the VCR.

Yeah....you youngins wouldn't understand...

Ohhh and that one time a few years ago my parent's house got broken in to and demolished by the crazy psycho neighbor lady who apparently had a mental break-down. She busted out windows and glass....threw pictures around everywhere and just literally went crazy in there. Didn't take a single thing though. That was crazy.

Maybe my parent's just have bad luck with neighbors...hmm.

But me...thankfully no robberies here. Let's keep it that way.
2. What do you do at a kids function when Parents don't behave? Meaning they are the ones being impatient and rude.

Considering my kiddos are under 2, I haven't really ventured into the kids function world. I'm sure my days are coming...and I'm sure to encounter rude parents. I'll probably just ignore them or try and keep the situation calm and under control. That's what social workers do anyways. Just make sure the kids are safe. Ha!

3. Have you heard of a potty party? Will you/have you had one for your child(ren)?

Seriously never heard of such....should this be something I look in to???

4. How young do you think kids should be when they start taking swim lessons?

Well, EJ is 19 months, and I've seriously thought about starting him in some soon. Maybe this time next year would be better so he wouldn't scream and pitch a fit the whole time. But I really think about 2 is a good age. I'd MUCH rather EJ know how to swim and know what to do if he fell in the water than for him to have no clue....

5. What makes you happy?

The sound of my kids laughing. I could seriously listen to that all day long. And seeing Thehubs smile. I love my family and love to see them happy. Yep- that makes me happy!!

Big boy bed

Life has officially gotten very interesting around here. As if having two kids under 2 wasn't interesting enough. Mr. EJ decided this week to conquer the task of climbing out of his crib. He did this several months ago, and fell on his way out and didn't attempt again until yesterday. And boy did he succeed. Three times!!

We have always been so very blessed in the sleeping business with him and so we just lay him down for nap and for bed and he goes right to sleep (usually). So you can imagine our terror when we made the executive decision to turn his crib into a big boy toddler bed.

TheHubs made the switch Tuesday evening and we caught the big reveal to baby boy on video- no pics.  oops.  Night #1 in the bed was pretty scary for this mamma. I attempted to be all big and bad and make him lay down by himself, but decided after about 2 minutes that he needed me to lay down with him until he fell asleep. Yeah....that lasted an hour. 

I was beginning to be afraid that my evenings would now be spent in attempts to sneak out of the oh so uncomfortable toddler bed without waking EJ. Not to mention what I feared nap time would become. 

So Wednesday I became nap-nanny and was determined to accomplish the task of having him fall asleep by himself and stay in bed. I succeeded after an hour of "nap" time spent with him playing quietly in his room. I then let him out (he sometimes doesn't take the early nap) and we ate lunch and played a bit.  Then came the 2nd attempt to nap time.

And THIS happened!!!!!

Yep, he fell asleep all by himself!! I was so proud! Of both of us!

Night #2 went pretty flawless. I read him a bedtime story and kissed him goodnight. He followed me (crying) to the door, and I laid him back down and gave him a kiss goodnight (again). Didn't hear from him again.

However, I did hear cookie monster talking several minutes later....but then nothing. 

Tonight is night # 3 in the big boy bed and it went just the same as the 2nd. We're still working on nap times. I haven't quite decided if I should just let him play quietly (and rather sneaky) or make him stay in his bed and go to sleep.  I'll figure that part out though. 

For now, I rejoice that he's doing so great. Waking up happy and even playing in his room for a bit before I get him up (out?) in the mornings. What a big boy!