Goodness, its already September 5th and I have yet to blog again. Where does the time go? Although I hate to wish my life away, I am certainly glad that August came and went. It was a truly rough month for me. Struggling with the "weeds" of my life was proving to be a battle I was having to focus on constantly. Going back and reading some of my blogs, they just sound melancholy. I'm glad I wrote them, but I am also glad that the Lord seems to be meeting me on the other side of that valley. I joined an awesome MOPS group this year and our theme is all about Embracing our Story. No matter what chapter we are in. How fitting given my past few weeks.
Evie is simply to precious for words. I love this little girl so very much. She is getting BIG. Her little cheeks are filling out and she has the cutest little tummy. There is nothing more satisfying than squishing the baby rolls on your baby, just sayin.'
She is cooing and talking up a storm these days while smiling and starting to find her giggle and hands. The other morning Bob and I woke up to her just talking to herself in her crib. No fuss, no tears, just cooing and squealing. I simply love to go and get her in the mornings because the second my face appears above her she gets this big happy smile on her face. It just makes my morning bright.
Lily is still cute as a button even if her cuteness is laced with a streak of terror.
She is officially potty trained, YEAH LILY! We are still working on getting the poop in the potty all the time, but if I was grading our progress I would definitely give us a B+. I cannot even begin to tell you how stressful it is to have a tiny baby screaming and a toddler with poop in her pants running through the grocery store. I found myself wanting to scream, "YES, the smelly kid is mine! I know about the poop, I'm just trying to survive my grocery trip!" I've learned the benefit of 1. not cleaning the underwear (I gladly budget extra underpants to not have to scrub poop) 2. not getting upset about it. At the beginning I got so upset especially when I would ask her why and she would say, "because I just wanted to!" and now we just talk about choices. We either choose to go poopy in the potty, or we can choose to loose some of our toys.
Once I gave her the choice and quit being upset, things got a lot easier. One day she lost 5 toys (yes, you read that right) and the next day she earned 2 of them back. Yeah for parenting techniques that work! I have been eternally grateful for Bob in all of this because his grace, compassion and love for both me and his daughters really knows no bounds.
I am learning to be thankful for this chapter in my story. I'm also learning to find memories amidst the chaos. One day I won't have poopy underwear, or baby throw up on my clean shirt. I won't have a little girl asking for me to read one more story to her or a little baby nursing at my breast. One day they will be big girls stretching their wings as they wander away from me and further to the edge of the nest. One day they will leave and these moments that seem so challenging will be but little memories I alone will hold in my heart. Its easy to feel bogged down in the every day right now, but I am learning to find the memories each day. I'm thankful that I am here and that the Lord gave me these two girls.
Evie and Lily, I love you, from the bottom of the deepest valley to the top of the highest mountain. I love you to the stars and back. I'm so glad that you are chapters in my story. I'm so glad God gave us You!
