Followup to MBFC

What on earth is MBFC?  If you haven’t been on my blog for long, you probably won’t remember.  But if you’ve followed for a while, you might remember this post.  It was “My Big Fat Confession” post.  It was me…venting.  (I wrote it on May 29, 2011.)   I never doubted we were blessed, but I saw our current lifestyle as a “trial to overcome” instead of a lifestyle to embrace.  But deep down, I knew this was a heart issue.

“I truly believe if I’ll change my heart to be more content with my situation, I will be happier with where we are and not constantly wanting.”

Y’all…it worked.  This entire year, I put a ton of focus on changing my heart instead of my surroundings.  We farm.  We live out in the middle of the country.  We combat the frogs and mosquitoes daily.  We spend a lot of time not “together” physically as a family.  But you know what? 

That’s okay.

It turns out, I knew 2 years ago that this was a heart issue, not an issue with his job or our surroundings.  It took me another year to really make a lifestyle change and attitude change to better our family.  And I’m so, so glad that I did.  I can tell a difference in my life, and apparently so can others.  Instead of treating our lifestyle as something to overcome, I’m treating it as something to embrace.  It’s making all the difference in the world. 

I expected my year this year to get harder instead of easier.  I have 3 small children and one of them is being carted all over town to school, dance, gymnastics, etc. and my embroidery business is SO busy.  It would be really easy for me to get aggravated and discontent with my life and how much of the parenting I feel like I’m doing “alone.”  However, this year has been my best since we moved here nearly 6 years ago.  I’m happy.  Truly happy.  I love my life. 

Please don’t misunderstand – I have my bad days, too.  Some days I’m just frustrated and can’t get a grasp on things.   I’m human.  But when I start to feel overwhelmed, I pray about it and take a few minutes to breathe…and I usually feel better instantly! 

I did do something that sounds kinda cheesy, but in reality, I really think it helped me a lot, and I encourage everyone (whether struggling with discontent or not!) to give it a shot.

I have a little book on my nightstand.  It’s just a cheap, empty journal from Walmart, but it’s oh so special to me.  Every night before I go to bed,  I come up with at least 5 things that happened during my day that I’m thankful for.  It can be anything!  Big or small.  Life changing or day changing.  I try not to write about the same things every day, although I’ve found that my love for my family always overflows onto the pages.    One night my number 2 item was:  “I had a delicious chocolate chip cookie today.  It was SO good!” and that’s okay!  Because even little things make a difference.  Some nights I go on and on about my kids and how proud I am of them, or how patient my husband is with me.  I’ve been doing this for 10 months now, and I’m on my 2nd book.  I love it!

As I go through my day now, when something kinda cool happens, I instantly think to myself, “I’m gonna write that in my journal!” and my entire day is spent noticing the little things that I’m grateful for, rather than overlooking them.  And when I do that, I realize just how blessed I really am.  I always knew that we were blessed, and I was grateful for what we had, but I don’t think I was grateful enough.  I had somewhat of a sense of entitlement (and that’s a really hard thing to admit) and I knew that attitude had to hit the road.  Because truth be told, if God actually gave me what I deserve, I wouldn’t be living the life that I am right now – that’s for sure!  I am so undeserving of my life. 

I still sometimes struggle with seeing people on Facebook have lots of vacations and family adventures and every single Saturday together, but I’m learning to be happy for them and move on.  My whole life has changed in the last year, and I hope that anyone who was feeling the way that I was will consider praying about it, finding things to be grateful for, and deciding to have a change of heart – because it’s totally up to you.  You decide your happiness with your attitude, not your circumstances. 

We are so blessed, friends!

Happy 4th Birthday, Caroline! (Rather Late!)

Well, I DO have an excuse.  September was CRAZY busy for us.  I hosted a shower, had my big twice-a-year consignment sale, AND was in a wedding.

So, I apologize for how long it took me to get this video up.  Hopefully I’ll be a better blogger since we aren’t QUITE so busy this month. 

Caroline L-O-V-E-S school.  Like, cries if for some reason she can’t go.  Let’s all pray she keeps that enthusiasm…

She had her first “friend” birthday party and she loved it.  We had it at a pizza place in town (super easy!!) and lots of her classmates were there and her cousins from BOTH sides even came!  She was SO excited to have all of her “best friends” there.    I loved seeing her so happy!

Happy Birthday, Walker Man!

Someone pinch me.  My baby boy is one year old today.  Unreal.  I refuse to believe it.  But it’s screaming at me in the face with every little bitty step, splash in the toilet, bite of table food, new words said, and sweet little fingers and toes getting bigger every day. 

It’s seems like yesterday!  All the contractions, the combine rides (that were just too smooth to do anything!) and the exciting ride to the hospital after my water broke and I knew it was time!  Then hearing his sweet voice and that adorable face when he was born.  He was sucking his thumb from the beginning.  My baby boy.  He has 1/3 of my heart. 

He is a good mixture of the girls.  Not quite as socially outgoing as Caroline, but not as painfully shy as Amelia.  He (unlike Caroline) needs a couple of minutes to adjust to his surroundings, then he’s fine.  He laughs and plays and can just about RUN wherever he’s going.  Sometimes he gets a little ahead of himself and falls on his face.  Hence the large bruise on his face that he was sporting at his birthday party.  Poor thing. 

Sweet boy is 25lbs and in a size 5 diaper – but it won’t be long and I’ll move him to a 6.  He’s in his 12m clothing, but it’s starting to get tight.  I haven’t tried his 18m stuff yet, but I have a feeling it’s going to fit.  He’s a big boy!  His sweet belly hangs over his diaper and it’s probably the cutest thing ever.  He recently has taken an obsession with Amelia’s pink blanket.  You can imagine how that’s going.  He grabs it and runs with it.  Amelia is not pleased, at all.

He eats a lot of table food (and some paper off the floor) and does a pretty good job!  He loves to eat.  Ha!

He loves:  his paci, his family, Amelia’s blanket, any toy with wheels, playing in the potty, pulling all the toilet paper off the roll, digging in cabinets, slamming cabinet doors, throwing stuff in the trashcan, playing in the dog bowls, splashing in water, sleeping in the corner of his crib, his bottle (soon to be ending!), being tickled, and EATING!  Did you see that most of that was something he shouldn’t be doing?!  He is a (loving) handful.  Ha!

He dislikes:  Being sleepy (although he tolerates it), being hungry, being told “no” or moved away from something he’s playing with, teething, sitting in the grass, & being taken away from mama. 

He has 4 teeth and 2 more pushing through and couldn’t be any more curious and mischievous than he is now.  We love him to pieces!  Happy birthday, sweet boy!

Walker’s First Year

Our Life in Pictures

Click on any picture to make it larger.  (That’s for you, Deda.) 

 

Just for clarification for those who don’t know me IRL – that teeny tiny baby is my new nephew, Jonah – and he is super squishy and adorable.  Also, since I’m super proud of my hubby, the picture of him holding a frame is his shirt tail from his first solo flight!  He is now a licensed pilot – you can all start calling him Captain Judd or Captain Davis. (Whichever you prefer, he’s not picky.)  I framed his shirt tail (it’s a tradition for your first solo flight…they cut your shirt tail and write the date, etc. on it.) for Father’s Day.  He was really happy!

We’ve had lots of cousin time the last few weeks and my girls have loved every second of it.  Sorry I’ve lagged on the blog lately, Squiggle Stitch has been B-U-S-Y and our summer has been pretty busy, too!    Have a great week!

Happy 10 Months, Walker Man!

Oh. My. Word.

  HOW?!?!

How is this possible?  His life has flown right by me.  It honestly does NOT feel like he’s been with us this long. 

Oh my.  He’s a mama’s boy.  And his mama EATS IT UP!  All I have to do is look his direction and I get a huge smile.  I love it.  He really is the happiest baby on the planet.  So laid back, content, and chill.  I love it.

He loves: MAMA!, eating, his paci, splashing in the bathtub, getting in to everything, opening and slamming cabinet doors, his sisters making him laugh, anything electronic, daddy playing with him, rocking, “walker snacks” as Amelia calls them (Puffs)

He dislikes:  Diaper changes, changing clothes, not being able to crawl, rinsing hair in the bathtub, mama leaving, being hungry or tired.

He’s crawling EVERYWHERE and attempting to walk!  He can hold on and walk around things and he has taken a lot of unassisted steps recently!   I figure by his birthday he’ll be walking around with no problems!  He generally only cries if he’s really hungry or really tired.  But even when he’s really tired, he can push through and stay happy if someone will engage him.  He’s really independent when he’s playing.  He doesn’t care if anyone is with him or not – he’s busy!  He’s so much more “into things” than the girls were.  Boy thing?  He’s in my cabinets, in the dog food, in EVERYTHING.  He got a good bite of dog food yesterday before I could get it out of his hands.  He apparently thinks it’s delicious.  He isn’t really a fan of being outside, but I know that will come with age.  He hates sitting the grass and will usually start to fuss until someone picks him up.  He weighs a whopping 22lbs and is in a size 5 diaper.  Yep.  He and Amelia wear the SAME SIZE.  He’s been in 12 month clothing for over a month now…but they fit well.  Hopefully he won’t outgrow them too quickly considering we don’t have a single outfit in 18months.  Ha!

He is mashing food with his jaws, so he’s been eating some table food!  He gnawed on a french fry the other day and did well.  He’s also been drinking some milk from a sippy cup.  Crossing my fingers that by 12 months old we can get rid of that obnoxious bottle and the expensive stuff that goes inside of it! 

He LOVES music and starts bouncing and dancing instantly.  It’s adorable.  He’s waving and will sometimes say “bye bye” when he does it.  Today he clapped for the first time! 

He’s just like my other two in the fact that he doesn’t have many teeth yet.    He has his two bottom center teeth and that’s it!  I figure those top ones won’t be much longer in coming in. 

That’s about it for a 10 month update.  Have I mentioned yet that I cannot believe that he’s 10 months old?!  We love you, Walker Man! 

  

A Mother

Mother’s Day comes and goes every year and we all hear sermons about “What IS a Mother?” and we go home and we contemplate those things.  This year, I was surrounded by mothers.  My own mother, my aunt who is like a mother to me, both of my grandmothers, and although I wasn’t with my mother-in-law, she was on my mind as well. 

My maternal grandmother has been in bad health for about 2 years now.  Although she is sometimes confused, I know deep down she is still a mother…a mother who wrote this poem many years ago…

FOUR LITTLE GIRLS

“I sat at length, some days gone by, and pondered o'er the past.

Of how a richer life could I, have had fulfilled at last.

Four little footsteps followed me, as down life's path I tread

Four little footsteps, "Oh so dear" as days of life have sped.

I could not say that all I gave, was best for them I'm sure.

My faults were many, times were bad. Hardships I must endure.

God gave us each of them I know, to bless and keep our home.

I am not worthy of them now, as down life's path they roam.

They are not here, the years have passed. No child to soothe the pain,

of a little hurt that would not last; or of clothes wet with rain.

Those memories are so dear to me, as I think of "one another."

As I look now at them I see Four dears that call me "Mother"

I have their praise, their love their prayers, Their care and their protection.

As we now meet from time to time, they show their sweet affection.

Dear God you gave me "oh so much." I know I can't repay.

The joy you gave me is of such that lasts from day to day.

So thank you God, I say again, for four sweet smiling faces, that I look forward to each time; to hold in my embraces.”

I cry every time I read this poem.  My sweet grandmother has 4 daughters.  And although I know this Mother’s Day was a bittersweet day for them, I hope reading and remembering her love for each of them will bring them some peace and comfort. 

I have a mother who sacrificed her entire life to try to better my life.  She instilled the godly values and morals in my life that I hope to instill in my own children.  There is no greater gift a mother can give us! 

Proverbs 1:8 says, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

Thank you, Mom – for everything you’ve done for me. 

 

Last year, I made my mother a video for Mother’s Day.  I kept meaning to put it on here, but I forgot.  So – I’ll put it on here this year.  There’s no pictures of Walker, but it’s because he wasn’t here yet! 

Mother’s Day 2012 Video

As I’ve said many times before – I have another mother.    She is biologically my aunt, but I’ve always considered her an extension of my mother.  She has taught me faith.  Great faith!  She has endured many hardships in her life that would cause most people to become bitter and angry with God.  But she is just the opposite.  She has become even more compassionate, thoughtful, and loving.  I pray that I have just half of her strength in my life’s hardships.  She has always told Audra and me that we are “the right and left sides of her heart.” She is such an inspiration to me!

I also have to brag on my mother-in-law.  She treats me like I am her own daughter – and I appreciate that so much.  It’s been hard for me to live away from my family, and in the last few years I have taken comfort in knowing that I can go to her with anything.  I know one thing for sure – she raised a fantastic son who means the world to me!  I don’t have a picture of her from yesterday because we were out of town (and so was she!) so I’ll leave you with this one…

And as a mother myself, of 3 beautiful children, I have to say that I had a great Mother’s Day just being with them.  They are my heart.  I hope I get to have many, many more years with them.  They are my mission in life – to make sure they are in Heaven with me when the time comes! 

Don’t laugh.  If you can imagine, it’s seriously the best one out of about ten.  But it’s okay – they’re all in there! 

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Life Happens!

So, it’s been a LONG time since I actually made a “for real” blog post.  But I have a good excuse…life happened.  I’ve been insanely busy.  Usually that would be a lie and it would need to read “insanely lazy” but that hasn’t been the case the last few months.  I never really thought having 3 kids would really make life that much busier, but I was wrong!  Especially 3 little kids!  So – here’s the update on all of us.

Caroline is such a big girl.  She is my all the time helper.  She starts 4K in August and I don’t know what I will do without her.  We spent many nights praying and talking trying to decide whether or not to do 4K…but we ultimately decided she would absolutely LOVE it.  This will make her the youngest in her class (which we originally said we wouldn’t do) but we figure she can always repeat it and never know the difference if she lags behind.  She does well with her glasses and at her check up a couple of months ago, she was told she had to wear a patch for 2hrs/day for the next 8 months.  We were a little bummed at first, but it could be MUCH worse.  After a month or so she really adapted to it – and sometimes even ASKS for it!  She wrote her own name and Amelia’s name the other night.  She did hers without any spelling assistance, but needed help spelling Amelia’s.  But after we helped her spell it, she wrote it!  I was so proud!  She’s doing so well.  She also starts gymnastics in a week and she is BEYOND excited.  She’ll be in a class with her friend, Addie Jane so she can’t wait!  She had her first sleepover a few weekends ago with Addie Jane and it was so fun!  We ate pizza, played outside, then popped popcorn in our pjs and watched Rapunzel.  Then they slept in the top bunk together.  So cute.  We got a puppy a couple of months ago, Minnie, a miniature dachshund and Caroline is totally in love.  That about sums up Caroline.

First sleepover!

Amelia changes mentally every day.  She knows things that I didn’t think she knew.  When we were working with Caroline on writing names, I started writing random letters on the board and Amelia was calling them out AND telling me what sound they each made.  She didn’t miss a single one!  I was truly impressed because I didn’t know she knew all of that!  She still has some social issues, but they do seem better than they were 6 months ago.  She’s a lot better around family and kids that she sees often.  She’ll occasionally talk to strangers and say “Hi!” to them which she certainly wouldn’t have done 6 months ago.  She really just seems painfully shy.  But I was told that many moons ago, I was shy too.  She’ll grow out of it eventually.  She is somewhat of a diva princess.  She wants things done for her.  She wants you to hand her the cup that’s 2 inches in front of her, you to drive her around in the power wheels gator, you to push her on the swing, etc. She is so funny!  I’ve never seen a child eat ketchup with a spoon until Amelia came along.  GROSS.  But she absolutely loves it.

 

Amelia was NOT happy about the sprinkler being underneath the trampoline.  Caroline, on the other hand, was thrilled. 

Walker is nearly 9 months old!!!!  How did that happen?  He’s pulling up and crawling EVERYWHERE.  He eats a massive amount of food.  He’s cutting his first two teeth on the bottom.  One is punching through and the other is trying.  He’s taking it fairly well and really doesn’t complain with it much.  He is literally the happiest baby you’ll ever meet.  Nothing upsets him.  He is so chill.  He smiles if you meet eyes with him.  He loves to bounce up and down to music, his wubanubs, sleeping, eating, and his MAMA.  He is SUCH  a mama’s boy…and I’m totally fine with that.  I love it, actually.    He still takes 2 naps a day and goes to bed around 7:30-8p and sleeps until about 6:30-7:30am usually.  That would seem like I get a lot of sleep, but I’m usually dumb and stay up until around 1am and then kick myself all day the next day.

 

Pulling up for the first time!

I am BUSY with sewing!  I took a dress order recently and I got SO many orders.  I’ve been working hard to get them all completed!  Between occasionally taking care of my house (ha!), my kids, my business, and sometimes sleeping, there’s not much time for anything else…like, blogging, for example.  But I’m trying to catch up because I do *love* to go back and read my old blog posts to remind myself of what my days were like back when…

My whole world sitting on that couch!!

Judd is busy planting!  We’ve had weird spurts of rain all Spring, and that has made planting stretch out a little longer than usual – but it’s going!  Just about every time it gets dry enough to plant, it rains again.  But they’ve gotten a lot done in the last week or so and that has made everyone breathe a big sigh of relief.  He’s been getting home after the kids go to bed (and he leaves long before they get up) so they are missing him a lot right now!  Just a few minutes ago, Caroline said, “Mommy…I miss Daddy,” and just kept on coloring.  I’m thinking they may need a trip to ride on a tractor with him. 

Don’t let him fool you.  He’s a softie at heart…

Everybody staring at one tiny phone screen…

I hope you all have a blessed week!