My Christmas present to myself.

The past 3 weeks since my last blog have been busy. With Thanksgiving behind us we look to Christmas and the celebration of our Savior's birth. I love this time of year. I don't however like being so incredibly busy. I feel like my to do list each day continues to grow and bleed into the next day. I also feel as though our family is merely crossing paths instead of enjoying the same path. I used to think how great it would be when this "time of year" or that "time of year" was done, but I have come to realize that one "time of year" feeds into the next. So how do we survive these crazy times of year...better yet how do we thrive? Being a control-freak, to-do list creating, slightly obsessive compulsive, clean freak-that is something I have yet to truly understand. I greatly enjoy sleep but find myself foregoing the all-important necessity in order to complete one more thing on my list. Or I find that to be my time to relax without the demands of motherhood, so I mindlessly sit in front of the tv for an hour or two longer than I should. I think my plan this year will be to not be so crazy about the housework and every little detail of our life and really sit back and enjoy everything more. My Christmas present to myself...enjoy what I have and not worry about what needs to be done every moment of every day!

change

My friend Sara inspired this blog!

Change...sometimes we don't even see it coming and other times we feel it before we see it! My daughter, almost 22 months, started showing signs that she was ready for potty training. Thanks to Mamaw we got a potty chair and began a slow process of preparation. This I saw coming. Lilian is almost 2 and very intelligent. However, the following weekend she climbed out of her crib!? So into a big girl bed we went. Did not see this change coming. I'm not sure if the change in the season and all the leaves on the ground have prompted a sense of change inside me or if it's merely God getting ahold of my heart. But I feel more change coming. I have renewed a passion for my daily workout...I started getting lazy and complained more and more about my weight plateau. I took some time to reorganize some areas in my house that desperately needed my attention. I have also been focusing my attention more to our youth ministry and the needs of the teen girls and how I have come up short in meeting those needs. God has been changing me and showing me areas that need attention in my own heart as well. I challenge you to see what change God would make in your heart and life as well. For me this includes more control of my emotions & my eating habits, and more patience with my daughter who needs me to be an example at ALL times. this is not an overnight miracle change but a fight against my flesh daily, where with God's help I have to win every time. No exceptions and no excuses. My heart's desire is to be the change I want to see in this world and I choose to start that change within my heart and life today.

milestones: the first and the last

It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're having fun. What a cliche! But truth nevertheless. I am a bit emotional today. It all started when my daughter climbed IN her crib with the rail down. Ok, not super amazing but wait it gets better. Then she (with the rail raised) proceeded to climb OUT of her crib. I knew this day would come but I thought she would be my "baby" a little longer. Even though she walked at 9 months, has been an avid climber and apt communicator for a while, and only gets her pacifier when sleeping, she was still my baby in her crib. A nice controlled environment. When bedtime came she was safely contained. When mommy just needs a few minutes to deal with the craziness - the crib was there. Needless to say as of today, the crib is no longer. Lilian, almost 22-months old, took her last nap in her crib today(picture to the right!). A milestone that was almost missed. We are quick to catch the "firsts" in our children's lives but often miss the lasts. Lil is spending the night at Mamaw and Papaw's and I took the opportunity to convert her crib to a toddler bed. This only involved taking the rail off, making it like a daybed. I hope she handles the transition well. I imagine there will be a few rough nights ahead of me, but this merely marks the next phase in my little girl's life. We've already introduced the potty chair. I imagine I will cry less to say goodbye to diapers!

fall moments

The sights and smells of fall make me happy. I can't say that the allergies that often accompany this make me happy of course. This is Lilian's first fall to really enjoy the leaves. She had been walking about 2 months when the leaves fell last year and it was a very wet fall. Daddy showed her how to rake the leaves and mommy got to join in the fun a bit when I got home from work. I miss being a larger part of moments like this but am glad Elgin gets to have more of them. It's not a horrible trade just an adjustment for now. Enjoy your fall moments. And don't forget that Christmas is only 7 1/2 weeks away!

made me think

This picture really made me think. the caption on her shirt is "find a cure before I grow boobs." Sure it's cute and funny but I do hope a cure is found before my 1 year old has to think about breast cancer. My mom and grandma both had breast cancer and Elgin's grandma had it too. Unfortunately that raises Lilian's risk as well as my own.

one of my favorite pagan "holidays"

So, halloween isn't exactly a holiday and it has no relevant meaning to my life. However, now that I have a child I find such joy in dressing her up. I didn't put a lot of thought into choosing a costume. Basically, this was the cheapest on the website I used last year, babystyle.com and had relevance to our summer since we loved the elephants on our first visit to the zoo. I also thought since she has always been small that an elephant would be adorable and as you can see she was adorable! We had a blast at our church's harvest party. Not the best turn out but Lilian ran around and played games with all the kids. I am also happy that she didn't even care/know about the candy that was everywhere. I decided a long time ago that she was too young for candy. There is no point except loads of unnecessary sugar and she's not even 2! Moving on...my costume this year was almost non-existent ( I threw on my apron and said I was a chef) but all my focus went into Lil and I had fun doing it! No clue what we will do next year but I'm sure we will find the perfect costume!