Day 9: Gratefulness

Two years ago, when we found out I was finally pregnant, besides utter relief and amazement, I felt so grateful. I always knew that I would become a mother according to God's perfect timing, but I was so grateful that finally that time had arrived. Nine months later, when I gave birth to a healthy child, again, I felt very grateful.

But you know what, life moves on from those mountaintop moments and if I'm being honest, I will tell you that I can easily go through a day without feeling that gratitude. All too often, I take my child, my husband, my friends, my family, our home, our health, and so many other things for granted. And then something will happen that brings this gratitude back into perspective again. Sometimes it is a small event and sometimes it is something a little more sobering.

This past Saturday night Julee Turner, a woman who I don't know, a mother to a 10 month old baby girl, lost her husband in a single car crash. Like I said, I don't know Julee and I have never read her blog, but I learned of her story through several other women's blogs that I read. My heart breaks for Julee and her daughter Preslee.

Upon hearing of this story, once again I was reminded of how grateful I am for Adam and Adeline. I know that Adeline is too young to understand, but I know that I don't tell Adam nearly often enough how appreciative I am of the fact that he works hard to provide for our family and what a wonderful husband and daddy he is. And I don't spend nearly as much time as I ought to praying for Adam. I'm ashamed to admit that I let my own "issues" get in the way and I take for granted those people in my life that I love the most.

I know there are so many people around me who are experiencing so much hurt and fear. I have friends and family members who are courageously fighting cancer and other chronic illnesses. I know people who have recently lost parents, children, and spouses. I trust God with my whole heart, but even I find myself asking God, "Why? What is your plan in all of this?" Even though I don't now and never will have all of the answers, I don't doubt God has a plan and I continually trust that He is good and He alone can see the "big picture." That might sound weird, but all I mean is that I didn't just trust God once, but I actively trust Him each day. And sometimes I do falter, but He never does.

Many of Julee's "blog" friends are silencing their own blogs tomorrow in honor of her husband, Matt. And even though Julee and Matt are strangers to me, I will be doing the same. I'm not doing this to bring attention to myself, but because I want to spend some more intentional time tomorrow being grateful for the loves of my life and praying for them, and also praying for Julee, Preslee, and Matt's family.

Matt's funeral is tomorrow. If you have a moment, please lift this family up in prayer.

Days 7 & 8: Let's talk footwear

Day 7:

We followed our typical Sunday routine today: church, lunch, naps, and relaxation.

Perhaps the most noteworthy part of the day was that due to a drastic drop in temperature, I had good reason to pull these bad boys out of my closet...

Ah, boots. It's funny, in March I can't wait to slip on a pair of Havaianas (my favorite flip flops ever!), but by September I can't wait to pull on a pair of cozy boots. And this pair just happens to be my favorite.

Day 8:

Typical Monday today, which included music class this morning. Right before we left for music class I changed Adeline's diaper and put her in the car with a snack and her sippy cup. I grabbed a suit of Adam's to drop off at the dry cleaners on our way and decided that it wasn't necessary to bring the diaper bag because we were literally going to music class and coming home and would be gone for a mere 90 minutes. When will I learn?

When we arrived at music class and I got Adeline out of her car seat I immediately noticed that she had leaked through her diaper and onto her pants and car seat. Oops! Thanks to a couple of other moms I was able to get her in a dry diaper and a clean pair of pants. (Thanks Lauren A. and Lauren L.!) Maybe I learned my lesson this time. Maybe.

After her nap, I took Adeline to a local Stride Rite store in order to use a Living Social deal I had bought and to find her a pair of "church" shoes for this winter. I put her in a pair of shoes on Saturday for the wedding we attended and several hours after putting them on her I noticed her feet were blue because the shoes were so tight they were cutting off her circulation. Yep, another fine mother moment on my part. Anyways, each time the nice lady at the shoe store laid a finger on Adeline's foot she would start crying. Oh the horror!

The good news is we did find a sweet little pair of shoes that will be great with all of her winter dresses and skirts. We had to order her size so I can pick them up next week. Oh, and by "sweet little pair of shoes" I mean that Adeline's foot has grown two whole sizes in the past 3 months. I guess that explains why her circulation was cut off.

Adeline really loves shoes and brings us her shoes and our shoes frequently to put on. It is hard not to indulge her :) Haha! So for fun, here are a few pairs that I have my eyes on for her.

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Gotta love a classic pair of Keds...and I love this neutral silver color.

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A little impractical? Yes. But these Minnetonka Moccasin boots are so cute! And true story, I was born close to Minnetonka, Minnesota where this company originated. Maybe that's a sign that Adeline needs these, you know, because they are a part of her history. So maybe I am stretching things a bit, but still, can you handle the cuteness?!? I think these would look great for our fall photo shoot.

And finally, how sweet are these pink and white saddle shoes? I don't think we are quite ready for shoelaces yet, but I do love these.

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And with that, the footwear discussion comes to end. Happy Monday everyone!

Days 5 & 6: Dessert and 4 Generations

Day 5:

I didn't post yesterday because it was a busy day that culminated in a late night. And by "late" I mean we had our small group from church over last night and everyone left around 10:30. Ha! We were exhausted by the time everyone had left - most likely because I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. Thursday night on a cleaning spree and Adam went hiking with a friend/coworker on Friday and after 8 miles in the mountains he was whooped too. By the way, am I the only crazy person who sometimes cleans into the wee hours simply because it is nice to be able to get things done when the house is quiet and no one is likely to interrupt? Anyone?

Anyways, the real noteworthy thing about Friday was the dessert I made for small group. Here's the thing, I don't love to cook but I love to bake. Here's the other thing, my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and not so much a warm apple pie or peach cobbler kind of guy. Sigh! So really that means that our food interests are slightly incompatible. Again, sigh. It also means that I end up consuming a large percentage of the baked goods that I pull out of our oven. Queue that sigh again.

On Thursday night I asked Adam which dessert he would prefer: apple crisp (warm out of the oven) and vanilla ice cream, or a recipe I found on Pinterest for S'more Bars (basically Smores in brownie form). I'm not sure why I bothered to ask, because I knew what the answer would be. If you guessed the S'more Bars then ding, ding, ding! You guessed right.

I doubled the recipe which required 3 GIANT Hershey bars, two sticks of butter, marshmallow fluff, and a whole lot of sugar. Nice, right? Needless to say, the bars were really good, tasted just like the real deal without that charred-marshmallow-right-outta-the-fire goodness, but they were very very sweet. I think they would be great to take to a party or tailgate if you cut them up into small pieces. The good news is that my husband really liked them so I guess that counts for something. I didn't take a picture, but you can click on the link up above to get a peek.

Day 6:

We were all up and out of the door by 8:00 this morning. We headed up to Arlington to attend my cousin Elizabeth's wedding. Thankfully the trip up was a breeze and we made it in well under 2 hours - you never know what you are going to get with D.C. traffic!

Adeline cheesing it up before the wedding.

The wedding was lovely. Unfortunately Adam and I miscommunicated and when Adeline started fussing just 5 minutes in I handed her to Adam and he thought that was his queue to take her out. I just thought maybe she needed a new set of arms. So Adam ended up missing 95% of the ceremony and according to him witnessed an epic tantrum from his daughter. Oops.

We were only able to stay for a few hours, but Adeline had fun playing with my cousin's children. My dad wasn't able to attend the wedding, but it was nice that my mom got to see Adeline for a couple of hours. My parents haven't seen her since her birthday in May and won't see her again until after Christmas.

Adeline and Grandma. My mom brought a baggie with some of her old jewelry and Adeline had fun playing with that gold necklace and some bangles especially!

Adeline, Grandma, and my Aunt Marty

One of the best parts of today was that Adeline got to meet my Grandma Ruth, my maternal grandmother. The next picture isn't great. Adeline was on the go and didn't cooperate, but I am so excited to have this picture of 4 generations of beautiful women!

Living so far from my childhood home, I really don't get the opportunity to spend very much time with my family. It has been several years since I have stepped foot in my parents house (before Adeline was born). I don't see my parents, siblings, nephews and niece very often and it is even more rare that I get to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma. So while time and distance may separate us, I still have such fond memories of my family from a child - and that includes both sides of my family. I have been blessed with wonderful grandparents. I have MANY fun memories of visits with my cousins and the things we did together as children. We may talk infrequently, but I love my family and it is amazing to see the different paths and directions in which God has taken each of us and our families.

This was the scene about 20 minutes after we left. Unfortunately this scene only lasted about 25 minutes. Sweet girl.

And finally, I snapped these pictures tonight after Adeline had her bath and was getting ready to go to bed. Adam was trying to have a "moment" out on the deck and she wanted him to come inside :)

Gotta love Elmo's eyes on her diaper peeking out from her pajama bottoms!

Time to run...Adam and I are knee deep in season 2 of "Friday Night Lights". So good!

31 Days: Day 4:: Losing Momentum and Priorities

I can already feel myself losing momentum over this 31 days series. There were half as many views of my Day 3 entry as there were of my Day 1 entry, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse to stop, even if I am the only one to read them. And I honestly don't write entries to generate "traffic" so it doesn't matter anyways.

I spent a large part of today thinking about priorities, specifically in relation to how my priorities relate to how I care for Adeline. I am not going to lie and say that before having a child my house was immaculate all of the time, but undoubtedly it was much easier to keep a picked up and clean house (and I consider those two different things - my house might be picked up, but it is seldom as clean as I would like).

When I was working full-time after Adeline was born (months 3-9) I really struggled with trying to find time to tend to our house. I just never felt like I could stay on top of things, but I wanted to. And then last February when I officially became a stay at home mom, I was like the energizer bunny those first few weeks at home. If Adeline was sleeping I was sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, dusting, laundering - you name it, I was busy doing it. And it felt amazing. And then the momentum and euphoria and adrenaline wore off and I started to feel worn out. So I started spending naptimes napping myself or perusing the internet or some other brainless activity.

So back to priorities. I will be the first to admit that with Adeline down to just one nap a day, it is hard to feel like I have "me" time during the day. And I didn't sign up to be a stay at home mom so I could have "me" time, but with any job it is nice to have even 5 minutes at some point in the day to decompress. Combine that with my desire to get things done around the house, and I frequently find myself disengaging from my daughter during the day. And I feel really guilty about that.

I just can't figure out what the appropriate balance is between actively playing with her and interacting with her and also expecting her to entertain herself so I can shower, fold a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher, or clean a bathroom. I know this will likely get easier the older she gets, but I feel a lot of guilt right now about doing chores while she is awake. I can't tell you how many days I plan on spending the 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. hour cleaning. And then that time rolls around and I just can't bring myself to do it. And then the next morning rolls around and my guilt rolls right in with it.

Adeline has been very fussy this week, and that is likely due to teething, but I don't know that for sure. So again, I feel guilty and a part of me wonders if it is because I just am not doing a good job of engaging her. I don't want her to look back on her childhood and think of me as the mom who wouldn't play with her. I know I'm probably overreacting, but these are the crazy things that go through my mind. Just keeping it real people!

I really don't mean this to be a pity party, that isn't the point. It just feels good to get it out there, if you will. I am curious how other stay at home moms find that balance during the day.

Anyways, as for what we actually did today...we went to our second MOPS meeting this morning. Adeline didn't do as well in her classroom this week, but again she has been off all week. I had a good time. I feel like it takes me so long to get to know people sometimes, but I really am excited about being a part of it and am looking forward to making some new friends.

We also met some friends at Red Robin for dinner tonight. Apparently Thursday night is family night there, so they had a guy dressed up as the robin walking around and Adeline went CRAZY for him. She laughed at him, waved, and danced. So funny! We came home and after Ad was in bed I took another long walk with my neighbor. Good thing too because I felt so gross after eating that yummy burger! I don't eat out a whole lot anymore and now I find that when I do it is so easy to overeat and I always regret it! Note to self: only eat half the burger next time.

TGIF tomorrow!

31 Days: Day 3

*Reminder: I am participating in the 31 Days of... series that The Nester is hosting. To read about why I'm doing it, click here.

Today was a pretty low key day. For some reason this week seems like it is dragging, but it is a busy week so it was kind of nice to have a day with very little on the calendar.

Adeline and I started our morning off with a little iPhone photo shoot. It amazes us how in tune she is with technology and our phones are one of her favorite things to play with.

 We did meet some of our friends from playgroup for lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Adeline clearly enjoyed her lunch. And by that I mean she loved dipping a wedge of apple in the Chick-Fil-A sauce and sucking it off. I'm pretty sure she never ate the apple itself. Gross, but it kept her content when most of her other food was gone and allowed me to hold a friend's 6 week old little boy for a few minutes so she could eat. I was happy to oblige ;)

Before lunch we quickly ran into Target to grab bandaids and command hooks. When we got back from lunch I unveiled our only other Target purchase.

This thing nearly cost me an arm and a leg. I am seriously going to have to forego Starbucks for the next month, but I am a little nostalgic about this movie. It is the first Disney movie I remember seeing in the theater.

Anyways, I put the movie in for a few minutes before Adeline's nap, and she wasn't too into it, but I think someday she will be. It's funny watching these movies back as an adult what things I notice that I didn't as a kid. For instance, I wonder if this movie were made today if they would have made Cinderella's hair longer. I'm also pretty sure that she has 80s bangs in the picture on the cover. No matter, Cinderella is one of my favorite Disney princesses. Oh, and we were watching The Little Mermaid one day and I'm pretty sure that when King Triton destroyed Ariel's cave of treasures it was a really bad example of good parenting.

This afternoon I spent a good chunk of time picking up around the house. I gave my friend Katie a tour of our house last night and then this morning I was really embarrassed by that decision. Our house was a mess when she came through and my conscience couldn't let it go any longer. It always feels good to get things put away, but man, I could spend a solid week around here organizing closets and cupboards and cleaning. And I feel like I do those things all the time already!

Adeline was clearly "over it" by the time 5:30 rolled around so I put her in the jogging stroller and took her for another long walk. I would not say that I am in very good shape at all, but we do have the benefit of living in a hilly neighborhood and our house is situated at the highest point of the neighborhood. So when I stick my child in the stroller I end up pushing 45-50 pounds of weight up all of those hills and it ends up being a pretty good workout.

After Adeline was in bed Adam and I ate dinner. I FINALLY made a roast in the crock pot that I thought turned out really well. That paired with mashed potatoes and I would say we had a nice fall dinner. Oh, did I mention it was 85 degrees today with high humidity? Maybe if I start dreaming of a white Christmas now it will be a mere 60 degrees by the time December rolls around.

Signing out... I suppose we will watch the presidential debate in 30 minutes. It is kind of neat that the moderator is a woman, but I have to be honest, I really don't enjoy watching debates. I will be a responsible voter though and do it anyways.

UPDATE: I heard on the news tonight all about how the moderator was going to be a woman, and clearly that isn't true. Can't remember which channel I was watching, but I promise I wasn't making that part up!

31 Days: Journaling our Everyday Life - Days 1 & 2

Technically yesterday, being October 1st, was Day 1 so today I will cover two days.

Day 1: Monday, October 1st

Okay, to be quite honest, today was a complete bust. I'm not entirely sure what her deal was, but Adeline was out of sorts all day long. She certainly has fussy, whiny moments on a daily basis, but when she spends the entire day at her whits end I can't help but think it is because she doesn't feel well. So here is about how the day went:

She woke up happy and that lasted all of about 5 minutes. Then she cried and threw fits for about the next 4 hours until we showed up at music class. For 45 minutes she ran around and danced and generally had a grand old time. Then we came home and she basically didn't each lunch. This was quickly followed by a decent nap (queue the Hallelujah chorus). And then the nap ended...womp, womp! Again, the next 4 hours involved lots of fit throwing. Around 3:45 I took her outside because she LOVES watching all of the parents and little kids head to the school bus stop to wait for its arrival. So when she wanted to walk towards the school bus stop I let her. And then I wouldn't let her play in the street at the bus stop and OH THE HUMANITY! Then it started to rain and back inside we went.

This was the scene around 5:15 when I tried to feed her a nice balanced dinner consisting of homemade meatballs, vegetables, and I can't even remember what else (you will quickly see why I have chosen to try to forget about this meal)...

Trust me, the feeling was completely mutual at this point. This is a lousy picture, but notice how she has segregated her carrots from the asparagus and corn? She didn't eat any of it, but it was like she was offended that I even placed carrots in front of her. After this little charade, I hauled her outside, strapped her into the jogging stroller, and we walked for 45 minutes.

After putting her to bed I did come downstairs and opened up two packages to reveal this cuteness.

She might give me a run for my money, but it is awfully fun dressing a little girl!

Day 2

Today was a MUCH better day. Adeline was up in the middle of the night again, but a fresh diaper and a few minutes of cuddling and she went back to sleep relatively quickly. Unfortunately I didn't get back to sleep as quickly, so imagine my horror when I didn't wake up until 8:30! I'm sure Adeline had been awake for at least an hour at this point, but she usually just stays content in her crib until we come get her. I normally wake up when she makes the slightest peep, but not today I guess.

I know I already mentioned this on Facebook, but by noon today I felt like Wonder Woman. We had already been to the grocery store, come home and put the groceries away, made a double batch of a casserole that I know Adeline will eat so I could bake one tonight and freeze one for later use, and also had the kitchen cleaned up and the dishes done.

The most incredible part of this was that Adeline stayed in good humor through it all. I love days like this. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Adeline and playing with her. BUT, she is not the best at playing independently. If I'm in the kitchen, she is usually in there with me, tearing things out of the cabinets and drawers or taking every canned good out of my pantry. And if she isn't doing that, she is at my legs fussing for my attention.

So when I have 30-45 minutes of time to get things done while she plays contentedly by herself, I am SO thankful. Here is a peek at what she did while I was cooking today...

Like I said, the girl likes to empty out the pantry. Seriously though, I love that she is really starting to understand creative play and role playing. I need to do an update exclusive to Adeline soon, but it is absolutely incredible to see how observant she is of the things I do. She will watch me do something once and days later I will see her mimicking the exact same thing.

After her nap this afternoon we ran a few errands until it was time to come home and get things ready for dinner. And thankfully tonight she ate...even if I did have to hide her green beans in bites of the casserole I made.

After I put her down tonight Adam got home and I was able to take a long walk with my friend Katie who lives down the street. And it's a good thing because after I got home Adam went to Sweet Frog to get us frozen yogurt. Yum!

And that, my friends, is what we have been up to. Bored yet?

31 Days of...

I don't exactly have "followers" on this blog, but perhaps some of you have noticed that I have been in a complete blogging rut lately. As in I haven't posted a single entry in well over a month. This is ridiculous given the fact that I have several drafts that have been waiting to be published that I just haven't gotten to. I'm not sure what my deal is other than just feeling worn down at the end of each day. Each morning I wake up and vow to be super motivated and by 7:08 p.m. each night when I come downstairs from putting Adeline to bed I have Z-E-R-O energy to do much of anything.

So...in an effort to get out of my rut, I am going WAY out on a limb (for me anyways) and I am joining up with a well-known blogger known as The Nester for a series called 31 days of blogging. To be quite honest, I am not even entirely sure how this is supposed to work, but I'm going to give it a try. From what I can gather, each blogger who is linking up with The Nester is choosing to document 31 days of (fill in the blank) on their blog. I don't have anything major up my sleeve for this series. There will be no 31 days of Halloween crafts or 31 days of marathon training (ha!). I am going to keep it real simple.

One of the things that has struck me so acutely lately is that Adeline is really no longer a baby. At all. I didn't think I would feel this way, but it is a sobering reality that has made me a little sad. The past 16.5 months have gone by so quickly. So, in an effort to truly appreciate these moments with her, right now, I am simply going to blog about how we spend our days as a family. A journal of sorts.

Cutting edge? No, not at all. BUT, I want to be able to remember times like this. The good (giggles and new milestones), the bad (runny noses and a messy house), and the ugly (toddler temper tantrums...need I say more?).

I think it will be a challenge for me to blog EVERY day for the next 31 days, but I also think it will be good for me to have a goal that isn't like any other goal I have set for myself in the past. In the process, I hope that those of you who do read enjoy learning a little bit more about our family. And at the end of this, I would love to have some new blog friends, but we'll see.

Wish me luck!

Oh, and I'm already feeling VERY nervous about here because in order to link up with The Nester I should really have a blog button and I don't have one and I have no idea how to make one. When did I get so un-savvy when it comes to computer stuff? Depressing...

WAIT...here is my ingenious (aka pathetic!) blog button. Man I love that notes app on the iPhone!