Amazing Grace

If you have time today, go to the link below. This is my favorite hymn "Amazing Grace", and I think this is the best performance I have ever seen. Prepare to have your socks knocked off!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1785324681?bclid=1338935106&bctid=1913313052

Bit by the flu bug

*groan*

Now me and the kids have IT...

I feel like crap!

So far though I have been able to take care of the kidlets and myself while hubby is at work. He is still not feeling great, finding it hard to get his energy back.

I think the worst part of this illness, is hearing my three month old baby girl coughing...poor thing, and there really isn't anything I can do about it.

Gracie is doing ok, she has got over the worst of it, and there is just a bit of a lingering cough now. No fever. Alysha basically just has a cough and is sorta miserable. And me.....well, I am a whiner when I am sick, but I have this cough, my stomach muscles hurt from coughing...and I am a bit sneezy and feel like I am walking around in a bubble. Hopefully this is the worst it gets, and hopefully I don't run out of Tylenol cold and flu!! Works like a charm!

I am Mom

When I became the mother of one child, Gracie, I remember feeling overwhelmed, exhasted, and frustrated a lot of the time. I didn't know what to expect out of naps, sleep, feeding, and when naps didn't go well I would get very mad, and annoyed.

I regret that.

Now as a mother of two, I hardly ever get annoyed with Alysha, her naps, sleeping or eating. When she is hungry she is fed, when she is tired she sleeps, and when she is awake, she is awake. What changed? All I know is that this time around I am a better adjusted, content and happy mom.

I feel blessed. I feel content. I am a mom.

With Gracie I think I was having a hard time adjusting to becoming a mom, I felt I had lost my identity. With Alysha, I am becoming something more....a real mom. And it is something that I am proud of. Something that I am content with, and something that I never, ever want to change.

I am part of a family, three people love me more than I ever imagined. Two little people look to me for guidance. I am needed.
I love kids now, love playing with them, loved being attacked by my kids, and my nephew and neice...I am loved.

Thank you God for making me a MOM!!

IT

Hubby has got IT.

I don't know if IT is H1N1 or not.

But he has got IT what ever IT is.

He has a bad cough, achy, and generally feels like crap.

We had pretty much decided not to get the vaccinations, but this kind of takes it out of our hands anyways, kinda late now. IT is in our house.

I just hope and pray really really hard that my Alysha doens't get IT, or my Gracie. Alysha is under 6 months so she wouldn't have been able to be vaccinated anyways, and there is just something so terrible about a baby so small being sick.

I am going to go get groceries hopefully tomorrow before I get IT. I am buying some major refils of Lysol wipes and hope to get IT out of my house before IT gets me!

Mom truths!

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.

You will lose tiny socks in the wash.

You will be able to shower, wash and dry your hair, and get dressed in less than ten minutes.

You will want to apologize to friends and family who had kids before you for never really getting why they had less time for you.

You will fantasize about what you would swap for a good eight hours of sleep.

You will be so proud of every ounce your baby gains.

You will wish you had the time and brain cells to read just one of the novels you blew through when pregnancy heartburn kept you up all night.

You will want to throw the baby monitor out the window.

You won't have the desire or the time to iron the crib skirt after you first wash it. And the wrinkles will drive you crazy. But not crazy enough to dismantle the crib and iron it.

You will wonder how other new moms manage to be so skinny, put-together, or energetic.

You will forget all about your difficult day with your baby when you finally see her sleeping peacefully at night.

You will have some mornings when you bounce out of bed to get the baby... and others when you need a truck to pull you from under the covers.

You will thank God for caffeine.

You will get used to how your husband comes home from work, checks on the baby, and "accidentally" wakes him up.

You will pretend you don't smell your child's dirty diaper as you hand her to her dad

You will overbundle your tyke for winter outings.

You will get sick of hearing yourself say, "I didn't get to it yet."

You will feel naked when you walk outside alone.

You will put your sweet pea in the ugliest outfit he's got, take an obligatory photo, and send it to the distant relative who purchased the fashion disaster.

You will call your new-mom friend to say that your baby has a runny nose and has sneezed twice, and that if she wants to reschedule your play date, you'll understand.

You will get peed, puked, or pooped on when you have nothing handy to change into.

You will pack everything your baby could possibly need for a weekend and forget your own eyeglasses or toothbrush.

You will detest traffic -- it means you're either late getting back home to your child or stuck in the car even longer with a fusspot.

You will crack up when you see your kid get down to music for the first time.

You will chat intimately with complete strangers on the grocery checkout line just because they are pregnant or have a small child.

You will e-mail friends and family pictures of the baby, always noting that if they want to stop receiving the updates you'll totally understand.

You will confess to your hubby whenever you do something not-so-smart with the baby, to ensure he doesn't make the same mistake.

You will catch your husband or partner being moved to tears by the baby.

You will feel so lucky to have a child when you catch up with a friend who's been struggling to get pregnant.

You will hear about criminals on the news and wonder what their moms are doing.

You will wake up feeling sick one morning but will muster the strength to get through the day with your baby because you have to.

You will be excited when your tot grows out of one size and into the next.

You will be sad to put away what he's grown out of.

You will actually be in the mood for sex one night, only to find that your husband's passed out cold in bed.

You will not be in the mood for sex as he runs his foot along your unshaven legs and touches your greasy hair.

You will consider your husband's work commute his alone time, and be jealous of it.

You will be taken by surprise by your first postpartum period.

You will struggle to stay close to some of your childless friends.

You will make peace with your stretch marks because they give you character.

You will accept that your husband will never be as paranoid about the baby as you are, and will decide that's a good thing.

You will eventually find a playgroup whose kids are on the same schedule as yours.

You will live for your girls' nights out, once you get a couple under your belt and see that everything at home went just fine without you.

You will find Cheerios in odd places.

You won't care that she's getting food in her hair when she does "So Big" in her high chair.You will cherish the freedom to empty the dishwasher while your baby holds his morning bottle himself.

You will try not to take it personally when your sweetie's first word is "Da-Da." It must be easier to pronounce. [Editor's note: It is!]

You will write more-heartfelt thank-you notes to anyone who gives a toy without lights, batteries, and noise.

You will be relieved when your child turns 1. You didn't break him.

You will marvel at the volumes of unconditional love you have for your most wonderful achievement -- your baby.

Thankful Wednesday

Ok so I have a lot to be thankful for today. As I wrote yesterday I did some serious changes for Alysha sleeping. And wow!! I was lent this great book "The Sleep Easy Solution" by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. And that along with some great advice from a great friend has done the trick and in less time than the guaranteed week it is supposed to take. Now I know that it won't be perfect, and we may have some set backs, but by the time the week is up, I am hoping to have a sleeping happy baby! She has been terrible the last while, getting so dependant on her soother and her being swaddled tightly. And well....babies spit soothers out and wriggle out of blankets, so it made for some miserable sleep for me. Yesterday morning I had had enough and so the soothers went in the garbage and I just swaddled her from her arms down so that she could learn to sooth herself. She did cry a wee bit, but nothing terrible and to sleep she went. Last night was awesome! She slept until 1, cried for about 10 minutes, and put herself back to sleep until her 4 o'clock feeding, then slept right through until 8:30! So I am praying that this trend continues, as I got a wonderful nights sleep! A happy rested mom, makes for a happy rested baby.

I am also very thankful today for my husband. We have been through our ups and downs (who hasn't) but it is so wonderful to know that you have someone who has your back, someone who believes the same as you do, someone you can call on in the middle of the night, no questions asked. He is the most amazing father, his girls are his world. He is making a job change again because he can't spend enough time with his girls. What better father could you wish for? There are times as a mom that I do feel isolated and cut off from friends and family, you tend to loose things in common with people, and with a wee babe and a toddler it is hard to sometimes get out and socialize, but I am so thankful that even though hubby and I don't have a whole lot in common (He is a bit of a geek and I am pretty cool!) I have someone who I love to spend time with, to spend time with every day!

Thankful Tuesday

Each day this week I wanted to sit down and write out something that I was thankful for.....I feel that yesterdays post wasn't as thoughtful and thought out as it could have been, in between cries and bottle feedings, and feeding Gracie, and playing with Gracie, I just didn't have time.

Last night was, for the lack of a better word, Hellish. Alysha has become dependent on her soother and being swaddled tight....and every time her soother gets lost, she cries. Last night she was up literally every half an hour! So today I am mentally exhausted, and physically as well. We have decided that we have lost all her soothers, and are wrapping her with her arms free so that she can learn to comfort herself. Today has been not too terrible, a few tears, mostly from me, and she has slept for her naps. But as we go to bed tonight we are dreading it, as we have no soothers to give her, Gracie is in the next room having to listen to her cries, and both hubby and I are sleep deprived.

So all that I can think of today to write, is please pray that this goes well.....Pray real hard! I am thankful that I can have people pray for me, so I guess that is what I am thankful for this Tuesday. Hopefully tomorrow I am in a better frame of mind for blogging!