Challenged...

I needed to hear this today...

Your worth and value aren’t found in what you can do.  They aren’t found in how well you can run a committee, organize a retreat or handle a job.  They aren’t found in how well you can sing or direct VBS.  Your value isn’t found in your accomplishments because things never stay accomplished.  Your worth is found in who you are in Christ.  You don’t have to do anything.  Just be.

"In my head" reality vs. "I'm a mom of babies" reality...

I'm a planner.

Not a very good list maker... A planner.

I always see how things are supposed to play out in my head.

Things get interesting sometimes when you throw my "fly by the seat of his pants" uber spontaneous husband and I together :) But I'm getting better. Really. I am.                      Really. Really!!! :)

That was a side note.

On to my point... :)

This morning played out in my head like this:

Get up.

Fix husband's lunch.

See husband off to work.

Baby wakes up. 

Feed baby.

Playtime with 2 year old and baby.

Put baby down for a nap.

Feed 2 year old.

Pay bills.

Clean up misc junk around the living room.

Sweep and mop living room floor.

Hopefully continue on to 2 year old's room with the cleaning.

Baby wakes up.

Feed baby.

Playtime with 2 year old and baby.

Put baby down for a nap.

Feed 2 year old lunch.

Time check: 12:15pm

*AND... eat healthy and "lose weight" worthy today!!*

This is how it really played out:

Get out of bed.

Groggily pack husband's lunch.

Get myself a wonderful cup of coffee.

See husband off to work.

Playtime with 2 year old.

Baby wakes up.

Change baby's diaper - it needs it bad.

Feed baby.

2 year old watches cartoons and whines because his belly hurts. ?

Playtime with 2 year old and smiley baby. :) <3

Naptime for baby.

Change 2 year old's diaper and get him dressed.
Give him something for his belly pains.

Get 2  year old and myself a bowl of cereal.

2 year old still whines about belly hurting.

Pay bills.

Stop paying bills because 2 year old has a dirty diaper.

No more whining. Who knew?? :)

Pay bills again. Why is paying bills so time consuming???
Baby wakes up cranky.

Guess bills will have to be finished later...

Hold baby and try to get her happy again.

Feed baby.

Watch 2 year old pull out every single toy he owns and strategically place them in every nook, cranny, crack, crevace, open surface available in the living room. So much for getting that sweeping and mopping done before the toys are all pulled out...

Baby stops eating - not even half done with the bottle???

Baby poops. Alot. It runs out of diaper. Onto mama. O joy.

Change baby.

Baby is happy and smiling and cooing. :) <3

Playtime on the floor with 2 year old and baby. <3

Baby is sleepy - put her down for a nap.

Get 2 year old lunch.

My lunch ends up being a little leftover KFC crispy chicken and a biscuit and some candy corn. Ok. So mostly candy corn. So much for healthy eating and losing weight today!!

2 year old plays with food instead of eating it. What a mess.

Time check: 1 pm.
Still working on getting 2 year old to eat.

The best part? I'm loving my day:) I love my kids and I love being their mom. :)

Right now...

I want to remember "right now".

Because this moment is perfectly "imperfect".

Coffee - to make up for the sleep lost last night...

Myself and 2 kiddos still in pjs... at 10am... the way it's going it may be noon before that changes...

Morning tv shows playing in the background - an indulgence I try to avoid...

Spending WAY to much time on facebook just now...

I'm SURROUNDED by... broken crayons, trains, train tracks, cars, foam alphabet letters (my little man's favorite new toy - he knows all but 3!! So proud of him:) )

Watching him play with 3 of his tractors - 2 of which his daddy played with as a little boy...

A sleeping baby with a full tummy on a boppy pillow in my lap...

A little boy who wants to hold his "baby 'ister"... if only for about 3 seconds at a time...

Dirty dishes on the end table in the living room from Sunday evening snacking...

Cleaning poopy diapers and baby spit up...

Did I mention TOYS EVERYWHERE????

Little boy snacking on a container of pretzels still left out from ^ "Sunday evening snacking"...

Empty sippy cups strewn about...

Kitchen full of dirty dishes and bottles that need to be washed...

Bathrooms that need to be cleaned...

Beds that need to be made...

Cookies, granola and dinner that need to be made, so I have something to pack for my hubs' lunch this week...

As imperfect as this all sounds to me, it is so perfect I want to record it here so I can look back years from now and remember the sweetness of little children and wish I could go back :)

Yes, I'm sooo happy...

Yes, I love being a mommy...

As ocd as I sometimes am about trying to keep up with the chaos that is, little kids, as yucky as I feel still being in my pjs 4 hours after getting out of bed...

I am so basking in the sweet coziness of it this morning...

I love this moment "right now"...

waiting...

Is it possible that I'm more impatiently waiting on this second baby to arrive than the first time around????

I'm pretty sure it is.

Cause I'm pretty sure I am.

I can't wait for this...

Yep that's right, I'm crazy enough to even be excited about labor (and that epidural) - because that means it's only a matter of hours!!!

But this is what I'm most excited for... That tired but oh so happy and proud looking daddy holding a tiny, fresh newborn :)

Oh such sweetness!!!

Can't stand it!! And this time it will be this tiny one, who is going to be a not so tiny 2 YEARS OLD! and a precious baby sister <3

 

The first bath!!

All that newborn sleepyness!

All cozy in the swing.

Ok, so maybe I'm making it worse by looking at all these newborn pictures of Evan for hours :). But really, I'm so ready.

Ready for her to come.

Ready for life to slow down.

Because a newborn will force that to happen :)

Ready because...

My energy is gone. Gone. Kaput.

Her clothes are all washed, folded and waiting to be worn.

The crib is ready.

Evan is pretty much adjusted to his "big boy" bed.

Ready to snuggle my baby and my big boy.

Ready even for the crazy sleep deprived feeling of exhaustion. (ok, maybe I'm ready for that part the least of all)

Bottom line.

I'm so ready for the next 6 1/2 weeks to be over.

Wow, that still seems so far away...

Pregnancy Randomness...

When I'm pregnant I really, truly sometimes feel like I turn into a different person... Doesn't that make you feel for my poor family????:)

Actually what I'm referring to isn't negative, or at least, I don't think it is.

Let's just say that I get... motivated.

Things happen.

LOTS of things.

My brain kicks into serious overdrive.

My creative juices bubble over.

I really wish that I was like this all the time!

Projects pile up, and I can't wait to get my hands on them!

 

Evan's "big boy room" is in the finishing stages... That is SOOO fun for me!

The nursery is taking serious shape in my brain.

Can't wait to get that in motion too!

Ok, so an example of what happens when my brain operates like this...

I was taking a couple of trash bags full of clothes (yes, purging happens too when I'm pregnant :) ) out to the car to take to GW. Well, they didn't make it all the way out the door because the wheels started turning. As in, "Why am I getting rid of all this FABRIC????" Normally, I'm too lazy to try to come up with ideas of what to do with stuff. But in a matter of seconds I had THREE projects in mind with what I saw at the top of the pile. And as I was walking back to the bedroom to finish my cleaning, I absently stopped, because I really just thought of the coolest idea for a banner to make for Evan's room out of some old khaki's I spotted in there. Well, I turn around and my little shadow had been following me and stopped dead in his tracks right along with me and was totally just standing there staring at me like, man, my mom is weird... Ha!:) I had to laugh out loud and kiss his little cheeks:)

So the projects that just came to me were:

• Curtain embellishments for the nursery out of a flowy fun skirt. Oh and the curtain itself is going to made out of a pale pink sheet that I found in the 'as is' section at Ikea for a few bucks:)
•  
• Matching pillow out of the same skirt.
•  
• Fabric flowers to add to a cardigan in my closet that really needs a boost.
•  
• Fabric banner to hang over the window in Evan's room.

I'm so excited to add those to the list, and continue to work on the pile of things that I already have going:)

 

The 2 "new" bedrooms, Evan's "big boy" room, and transforming the nursery to all things girly, are mostly going to be decorated with handmade items and I am having SOOOO much FUN!!!!

 

I'll be posting pics. If not here then on facebook, so stay tuned :)

 

Oh, and a major thing that I am SOOO excited about?!?!? My family is coming tonight and staying for a week! And the best part? Mom and my sisters are going to spend the whole week helping me with these projects!:) Yay for me! Hello to painting 2 bedrooms in a flash!

Nonny, Nonny!!!

So Evan has this major hangup with anything electronic with buttons - as any active 16 month old would I'm sure. Well he is constantly going in his room and adjusting his electric heater, humidifier and cd player. SO annoying. Well I have spent quite a LOT of time trying to teach him that that is a no no. So this included alot of telling him that is Naughty-Naughty!!

The other day James went into Evan's room to fill the humidifier and adjust the setting and Evan follows him in there, finger just a waggin' as hard as he could and declaring "Nonny-Nonny!!!!"

We had a pretty good laugh at that one:)

Merry Christmas!!

I know, I know... Christmas is over now, but I wanted to share our card with you all.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!