Sick + Tired

I've been feeling sick on + off since Saturday. Sunday was much better but by Monday it was back. I feel achy, sometimes feverish, I have a stuffy nose, and a sore throat. I booked a 1-hour massage for tomorrow and I can hardly wait!! God is merciful and last night Blake slept from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 this morning! He woke up at 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for feedings, but I got about 6 1/2 hours of sleep in a row! It's hard some days having an almost 8-month-old who isn't sleeping through the night most nights. I totally can't complain because he's usually only up twice a night and goes right back to sleep after I feed him. My body is finding it hard now, though, after 8 months of not usually getting more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep in a row. He is horrible at bottle feeding, so pumping and having Jared get up with him in the night isn't an option right now, plus I hate pumping. Kiera started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old and has always been a fantastic sleeper. People told me, "Your 2nd child won't sleep as well," and they were right. He makes up for it by being a generally happy baby, whereas Kiera was a fussy baby. If anyone wants to join me in praying that Blake will start sleeping through the night, I would very much appreciate that!

Thankful Post: England Pictures

“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

Today I am thankful for:

241. Hills

242. Butterflies

243. Castles

244. Sheep

245. Ponds

246. Courtyards

 

247. Sunset

248. The sky

249. Chandeliers

250. Big bedrooms (the top windows on the left were the windows of my room)

Looking Back

To respond to the comments about feeding Kiera: we actually feed her fairly often because she's not good with messy meals and things like yogurt. She often asks for help. Jared did literally try to force food in her mouth on Monday night and she just spit it out repeatedly. Since then, she has eaten wonderfully and has been quite well-behaved. :)

On a different note, I decided to post an old video. Kiera was 4 days old here. She certainly has come a long way!

The Suppertime Battle

Yesterday, I made chicken alfredo for supper. I'm pretty sure that Kiera has eaten it in the past, but yesterday, she decided she didn't want to. We've tried all sorts of things to try to get her to eat when she doesn't like a certain meal, but nothing works except for the grace of God. That girl can be extremely stubborn. Yesterday, we even ate cake + ice cream in front of her after supper and told her she could have some if she would eat her supper, but she refused and just sat and watched us! I was surprised that she wouldn't even give in for sweets! She asked for other food throughout the evening, but our answer was always the same, "You have to eat your supper first." We gave her only water to drink and she wanted milk, but again, we told her she had to eat her supper first. We put her to bed with an empty stomach and she quietly sung + talked to herself for about 45 minutes and then we went to her room and she wanted to eat her supper! She finally ate a couple of big bites and even those took her about 10 minutes to eat. She got some milk after that and then went to sleep no problem. I think she's actually only gone to bed with an empty stomach twice as she usually ends up caving after a couple of hours. I pray almost every day that she will be stubborn in her faith. I try not to always see these kind of characteristics as bad things because I know that God can use them for His glory. It's just channeling them in the right direction that is a challenge! Good thing I'm not alone. I often think of this verse: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3 God gives us everything that we need! :)

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

As it is dark + stormy outside, I choose to be thankful.  Today I am thankful for:

221. That we're not experiencing a drought

222. Books

223. Eyes that can see to read

224. Blue eyes

225. Sidewalks

226. The color red

227. Plastic cups

228. Flowers outside a teahouse

229. Work

230. Finding sweet deals at garage sales

231. Dish soap

232. Candles

233. Pens

234. Cats

235. Face cloths

236. Fireworks

237. Window blinds

238. Fruit

239. Nutella

240. Days that I don’t have to cook :)

My Family Makes Me Laugh

Yesterday, Jared and I were washing dishes together and talking about numbers of kids. We know a family with 9 kids and I was saying, "Can you imagine having 3 kids and then thinking that you would like 2 more sets of 3 kids?!" Then Jared said something about you may as well make it an even ten kids and then he said, "Our kids are good-looking. We certainly have the ability to produce good-looking kids and the world needs to be populated with more good-looking people, so don't we owe it to the world to keep on reproducing?" Oh Jared! If you want to be pregnant 10 times and push out 10 babies, go right ahead. I certainly won't be doing that!

On Sunday, we took our kids for a walk to get ice cream. We got to the store and the guy asked if he could take our order. Jared paused as he was looking at all the different ice cream flavors and Kiera piped up loudly, "Medium black coffee!" We laughed so hard! I didn't realize she had picked up on Jared's coffee preference, but she has been in the van quite a few times when we've hit the drive-thru. Hilarious!

Chaos

That would be the perfect word to describe this past week. Thankfully, there hasn't been any big, horrible event, but it's just been a bunch of little things that have piled up and have me wishing for a break. Today, I said to Jared, "2 years and 3 months!" He said, "Until what?" I said, "Until Kiera starts school!" She's just been getting into everything. I think she's bored. It all started on Wednesday. I had just finished mopping the floor in preparation for company coming in the evening and then 15 minutes later, Kiera spilled her cup of milk all over the floor. Then, I was trying to get food ready and she was getting into everything she possibly could! The next morning, she woke up and I discovered she had done the poop storm of the century! She literally had poop on her from head to toe. I was trying to clean her up, but she didn't want to stay on the diaper pad, so she ended up getting some poop on her carpet, too. While I was running her bath and trying to clean everything up, Blake started yelling and fussing. I eventually got everything done and the laundry going and calmed Blake down. Fast forward 12 hours, at 11:30 last night, Blake woke up and started crying. I thought, "Hmmm...maybe he's hungry." I went to his room and picked up and discovered that he and his blanket were covered in puke! He proceeded to throw up 6 or 7 more times in the next 20 minutes. He was crying and I was scared because I didn't know what was wrong. I still don't know what was wrong, but thankfully he's healthy today. It might be the banana baby food I fed him for the first time yesterday. He fell back asleep and I prayed he would sleep through the night, and he did. Praise the Lord! Then this morning, I was getting his bath ready and he did poop storm of the century part 2! Thankfully, he did it before his bath and not after. Once I got over how disgusting it was, I thanked God that my kids bowels are working properly. So, while I was trying to get him all cleaned up, Kiera got a hold of the paper towel and proceeded to unroll half of it. I got Blake all cleaned up and was trying to clean up his outfit and get another load of laundry going when he started crying. So, I ran back to him and grabbed my slippers on the way. They were under the kitchen table and I bumped my head trying to get them. I went and picked up Blake, sat down on the rocking chair, looked down, and discovered that I had poop on my jeans. Seriously?! Ya, so the past couple of days have been hectic and full of laundry and bodily fluids. I'm really hoping for a calmer week-end. It seems there's never a dull moment these days!

2 hours after posting this, I was sitting with Blake by the window. A lady walked by our house and as soon as she saw us, she smiled big and waved. I took Blake's hand and waved back at her. It may seem strange, but that totally made my day! Right after she walked away, tears sprang to my eyes and started trickling down my cheeks because it felt like God was smiling at me and waving, reminding me that He is still here. Yes, life can be messy and things don't go according to my plans, but "God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1 Thank you, God, for showing your love to me today through a stranger.