It's Been a Week

This past week has been a bit of a struggle for a few reasons. I'll start with a great story first. One evening this past week-end, I was going to plug in the night light that is on the way to Blake's room, as I often get up with him in the night. God spoke to me and said, "Don't plug in the night light!" I thought, "Well, what if I have to get up in the night and then I'm stumbling around in the dark?" God said, "Don't plug in the night light!" So, I left it unplugged and wouldn't you know it, Blake slept through the night! That was super cool.

A couple of days ago, Kiera suddenly decided to unpotty train herself. She was doing SO well with going on the potty and not having very many accidents, so I don't know what caused her to do a 180. I've tried everything that I can think of. Bribing doesn't work, disciplining doesn't work, words of encouragement don't work, me sitting on the toilet next to her while she's on her little potty doesn't work, reading books to her while she sits on the potty doesn't work, etc. I've been struggling with feelings of failure, but Jared assured me that it's not my fault and to not feel like I've failed because it is completely her decision. I read a blog of a Mom with 6 kids and she assured everyone that our kids will not go off to college in diapers. I'm just praying she won't go to Kindergarten in diapers either. This Mom also said that some of her kids potty trained as early as age 2 and as late as age 4. She advised that it's easiest to basically let the kids train themselves when they want to instead of trying to force them before they're ready. That's what we did with Kiera, so now we will wait until she is ready again.

I've also come down with a cold, which just makes everything harder. I've felt achy, and just generally yucky, with a throat that was scratchy, then sore, and now I have a cough that hurts my chest. Jared was gone one day from 7:15 a.m. - 10 p.m. with just a couple of short stops at home in between on the day that he had his college class. Thankfully, my Mom came over that day, so that was a huge help! I've really been trying to just turn to God throughout the day instead of letting my circumstances bring me down. I recently read about a Mom who has 5 kids and one of her kids has cerebral palsy and has a feeding tube and a breathing tube, and another one of her kids has down's syndrome. She herself has stage 3 cancer. Oh, that sure puts my teeny tiny problems into perspective! I have so much to be thankful for!

Introducing The Juppy

I saw The Juppy Baby Walker online several months ago and entered a contest to win it, but I didn't win. I made a mental note of it and left it at that. Now, months later, after Blake wanting me to walk him around almost all the time, we ordered it. I LOVE it and Blake does, too. I used to have back pain from being hunched over Blake all the time, but not anymore! It has definitely been a GREAT purchase! If you're at all interested, you can order it at thejuppy.com. It comes with pink straps as well and for $5.00 less you can get it in black and yellow. I didn't prefer that color, so I went with the one with blue straps (obviously). I highly recommend it! :)

A New Season

Fall is often a time of new beginnings and new changes for a lot of people. For some of my friends it means their kids are going back to school or going to school for the first time. Our family is obviously not at that stage yet, but it is definitely a season of change for us, too, and the start of a somewhat insane schedule. Jared has gone back to school part-time. Some of you might remember that he completed his accounting certificate last year in June. He took a year off after that partly because he wanted a break after 3 1/2 years of part-time school and it was a good time to take one and partly because we were expecting another baby. He is now taking another class one evening a week. Almost all of the courses he has taken and is taking and will be taking, those credits will transfer into the CGA (Certified General Accountant) Program. So that is what he is working on. This particular course that he is in now has an exam every week, so he really has to be diligent with his homework and studying. I am teaching piano 2 afternoons/evenings a week. We also would like to join a cell group, but we don't have a lot of free evenings left, so we're waiting to see which groups will be running on which evenings. Jared + I are in 2 different weddings coming up, so we have engagement parties and bridal showers for those. In October, my sister + brother-in-law are coming to visit for Thanksgiving, so that will be busy with family gatherings and also an early family birthday party for Kiera + Blake. Also in October, it's Jared's birthday, followed by my birthday, followed by Kiera's birthday, and then Blake's birthday in early November. My sister-in-law is getting married on Blake's birthday (which is the wedding that I'm in), then it's my brother-in-law's birthday and my sister-in-law's birthday. After that, Jared is in a wedding. Then, it's my other sister-in-law's birthday at the beginning of December, followed by Christmas! In addition to all of that, I'm starting back on the praise + worship team at church, so there will be practices here and there and Jared is still on the church finance team which meets monthly. Kiera will also be starting a dance class once a week in October. After Christmas, things should settle down a bit. I'm very thankful that I'm at home with the kids during the day, which offsets the very busy evenings + week-ends! How's that for a summary of the next 3 months? It makes my head spin!

August Videos

This was right after Blake learned to clap at 9 months old.
This was on our holidays. Kiera did SO well in the pool and even "swam" on her own in the deep end (we were right there with her).

Here's Blake falling asleep in the van.

August Blessings

“The more I count these blessings, the more I realize that they really are not the product of my own efforts. They are truly gifts of grace from God above. It’s incredible to open my eyes to them week after week. And humbling. That I should be graced with such wonders? Me… whose heart is weak and black, yet covered with much mercy. How great is Your unfailing love, Lord God of all!” ~Sharaya Crossan

Looking back over the last month, I am thankful for:

396. Petting zoos

397. Easy bowel movements (nothing like constipation to make you thankful for that)!

398. Maracas

399. Decks

400. Big sunglasses on little faces

401. Evergreen trees

402. Microphones

403. A new dehumidifier that we got on sale

404. Cowboy hats

405. Beauty

406. Star sunglasses that she got at a birthday party and when she put them on her face she said, “I’m a cool chick!”

407. Bouncy balls

408. Blake sitting among Kiera’s organized toys

409. The kitchen center with accessories that my Mom bought for the kids

410. Blake’s first mischievous act which made me laugh: he pulled all of the wipes out of the box (I should have known he was being too quiet)

411. 3 of my favorite people

 

412. Mechanics

413. A place with rides that my Mom + I took Kiera to for an afternoon (she went on this one about 8 times in a row, plus another few times earlier)

414. Giving good things to my kids

415. Train rides

416. All of the help that my Mom has given me

417. Little boys in line who agree to go on the ride with Kiera (she went on this about 4 times in a row with at least 3 different boys which I thought was SO cute)

418. Hot sunny days when we have outdoor plans

419. Little boats

420. Growing kids

421. That my son doesn’t care he’s playing with a hot pink wig

422. Toffee ice cream

423. A little bit of bed head

424. Comfy cribs

425. God’s perfect love

Happy 10 Months!

Blake is 10 months old today!  He has hit the double digits now which is pretty cool.  In some ways, this past month has been the toughest so far of his life.  I never I would say that because I usually find the newborn stage to be my least favorite.  The hardest part of this past month has been his constipation.  I found out recently that when babies are teething, they can either get the runs or get constipated.  Kiera got the former and Blake got the latter.  Watching your child cry in pain as they are straining is not fun!  After several days of apple prune juice, pear juice, blended up blueberries, peas baby food, beans baby food, oatmeal baby cereal, prune baby food mixed in at every food feeding, and much prayer, things are better now!  I’m very thankful I didn’t have to resort to a suppository or a laxative.  In my research, I discovered that blueberries in baby food thickens stool, while fresh blueberries thin it out.  That’s why I made my own food with those.  I have yet to see any new teeth but I’m hoping they’re on their way.  He has also had a runny nose and a bit of a hoarse voice for about 2 weeks.  He is totally a mama’s boy and often fusses or cries when I walk into the room or walk out of the room.  There have been happy moments, too as it has been fun hearing him “talk” more and more and he’s great to tickle!  He wants me to walk him around all the time, which has been very hard on my back, but I have found something to make that much easier which I will talk about in a future blog post soon.  Another plus is that he has been sleeping through the night more often!  Happy 10 months, Blake!  I love you lots no matter what you’re going through! :)

Blake Videos

I'm trying to catch up on posting videos, so these are from the month of June.

This was his first time in a jolly jumper at our friends' house