Thankful for the Hubby Watching the 'Nut

Today's Post: Thankful that RoBrotz watched the Peanut this morning so Mama could go out with other moms sans kiddos (except for Bean, she tagged along just in case she got hungry). It was a very nice change of pace!!!

I went out with my Mom's group down if Q-town today. I think this was the first morning since Bean was born that I was out with only one child. Since Bean doesn't really take a bottle all that well, I figured I'd take her with me. She ended up sleeping the entire time anyway. It was a nice change of pace!

Thankful for Little Things (1 and 2)

Today's Post: Thankful for little things, like Peanut giggles and chattering as well as Bean smiles and cooing.

Peanut loves to chat. Most times, I don't understand what she says. Other times, I've learned her 'language'. Biebers = Diapers, Non-nons = Cheerios, Caw-caw = coffee, Jeeewww = juice, kakers = crackers, booo = book, and there are so many more. She loves to giggle and overall, is just a very happy child.

Bean is really starting to smile and coo. I'm so excited because she's my little scowler. She takes after her Mama way too much!

Bean Smiling!

Both my girls' smiling, at the same time!!

Thankful for Friends and Family

Today's Post: Jesus has blessed me with wonderful friends and amazing family that I'm extremely grateful for!

I really don't think I need to go into details too much with this one, because those close to me should know how thankful I am to them. I may not go too much into detail about how much they mean to me, but they truly do.

Thankful for Freedom

Today's Post: Thankful to God for our freedom today but I know it doesn't come without a price. Remembering those who perished 70 years ago in the attack on Pearl Harbor today.

I cannot believe it's been 70 years. From what I can understand, Pearl Harbor was our Grandparent's generation's 9/11. Casualties included 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians, 1178 people were wounded. And the day after the attack, the U.S. declared war on Japan. It was also what drove the US into WWII. At least, that's what I remember from my high school history class. Hitler thought the US was too focused on Japan, but he was wrong. I am thankful for all our service men and women, as well as those at home who support them.

Thankful for St. Nick

Today is St. Nicholas' Day! You know, the guy they based Santa off of? Yea, not many people know who he is. He was known to place coins in shoes that were left in the doorstop in the 4th century. We always put our shoes out the door at school at St. Isidore's. I loved it. My friend put on her facebook about putting your shoes out. So, I decided to do it for the girls. Obviously, Bean had no clue what was going on, but Peanut was sure excited to see cookies and chocolate in her shoes in the morning!

Shoes with Loot!

Peanut sees the cookie and points them out!

Ooo, cookies for breakfast!

And today for the season, I wanted to do some fun crafts. It was rainy, been rainy, so we needed to do something fun. I decided to do Bean's footprint as a tree. I attempted to do a hand, but she still holds her hand clenched in a fist most of the time. For Peanut, we did her handprint. We made three of each, so that Grandma, Grandpa, and RoBrotz and myself can all have one!

Bean's on the Left, Peanut's on the Right

Thankful for Being Happy

Today's Post:

When I was lost and turned away from You, You refused to let me walk away. You stayed with me and made sure to put people in my life that would help me on my journey back to You. Thank you.

For a long time, after my mom passed away and I went out of state to college, I fell into a deep depression. It's not coincidental that I had lost my faith at this same time. I wondered how a God I loved could take the one person I loved and adored more than anything (at that time) away from me. After a long time, and my wonderful husband, I was able to return from the terrible depressed place I was in for almost 5 full years.

God was there for me, no matter what I believed. He gave me the friends (mainly friend, Laura, throughout college) to battle my demons. He saved me from myself. He stood beside me and helped take the pain away when I asked him.

It wasn't until I had my baby girl, Peanut, that I truly turned to Him with my praise and worship.

Thankful for My Hubby

Today I'm thankful for my husband. Now, before I get mushy on this, we are like any other couple. We have our bickering, complaining, and occasionally, misunderstandings. What couple doesn't? I know I'm not perfect. I know I can be whiney, expect my husband to read my mind, and darn it if I don't just want to go to bed right after the girls are put in their cribs for the night instead of relaxing and talking to my hubby about our days. I'm not a great communicator, a fact I've been steadily working on over the past year or so. I avoid confrontation as much as possible, but I've realized that I cannot complain if I don't make my feelings known or voice my opinion.

RoBrotz is loyal, loving and extremely wonderful. God truly knew what He was doing when He put the two of us together. No one knows me as much as RoBrotz does. He knows how to avoid my spitting fire of agitation, how to poke and prod when I don't want to be teased, how to make me laugh when all I want to do is cry, and how to listen when I'm upset. He's fantastic at building me up and taking good care of me. He is a wonderful father to our girls. I can see it in his face, the way it lights up when Peanut runs up to him after a long trip, yelling "DADA!!!!!" and giving him a great big bear hug.

I'm so thankful God put my awesome husband in my life. He truly knew what He was doing. RoBrotz' such a great father and hubby and is an extremely hard worker. I'm so thankful that he has a job he loves, especially in this economy. God truly is wonderful!

Stay at Home Mom

Over the course of the past year, RoBrotz and I bounced around the idea of me becoming a stay at home mom (SAHM). Financially, it didn't make sense for me to continue working since daycare would be the same cost as our mortgage almost. If my job was a career place, I would have considered staying. As much as I loved working with my coworkers in my department and in assessment, it was a job, not a career or life to me. I couldn't justify working and being away from my girls for what my take home pay would have been after daycare and costs of working (foods, gas, etc).

So yesterday, I gave my two weeks notice. I could have waited an additional three months, but it seemed pretty pointless since my mind was made up. RoBrotz ultimately left it up to me, but he supported my decision. He did ask me to continue to look into the job market though, in case a better paying option becomes available.

The entire time driving into work, I was nervous. It's a life alternating decision. There are so many unknowns, so many uncertainties, especially in this economy. What happens if something happens to RoBrotz' job, Heaven forbid? I know it's a heavy load to carry for him to know he is carrying the burden of providing financially for us, not to mention our health, dental and vision care.

There was much prayer on this. And I'm honest when I say it was pretty much the entire year's worth of thinking on it and praying on it. I trust in God that this is the right course of action. Now that the girls and I've gotten a routine down, and with the Moms group I'm in, I honestly felt it was God's push to this direction.

I also have been thinking on this with the chapter I'm in with Radical. It has to deal with poverty and how if we have our own homes, transportation, and can put food on the table, than we are in the top 15% of the world's population. I have long wanted to help, but didn't have a clue how to. God put me in this position for a reason, and I want to help others out as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to be guided more to do His work.

So, thank you Lord for providing my husband and I means for me to stay home with our children.

Thankful for Sleeping In

I love being a mom. But some days, I miss being able to sleep in. I'm still in shock when I get to sleep in past 6:30. When Peanut was younger, she put herself on an early sleep schedule. She'd be asleep by 6 PM, but that means she was up around 6 AM. During the week, that was fine because I needed to be up for work. We'd leave the house at 7:30. So now, even on leave, she is still on the same schedule. But it's okay. I'll just have my few cups of coffee in the morning and I'm raring to go!

Bean has been on almost the same schedule as Peanut now. We're finally in a good pattern for bedtimes. It took a while, but I think we're there. Peanut eats dinner around 5ish, while Bean nurses. Then, every other day, it's bath night. Bean gets her bath first, then is swaddled and tucked into her bouncer while Peanut gets her fun bath. It's usually a good 30 minutes to do bath time for both girls. I can't wait until I can put both girls in the tub at the same time. I don't think I put Peanut in the actual tub, not the baby tub in the actual tub, until she was about 7 or 8 months. Hopefully that'll make bath time a bit quicker, until at least they learn to take baths on their own! Many years until that will happen. Once Peanut's bathed and put in PJs, we all go into her room (Bean still in her bouncer) and we do stories. A friend of mine said that she normally does about 15 minutes of reading, so depending on which book/story she read meant she might read one story or three to five. Then, Peanut's put in her crib, usually upset because the 'bebe' and mama are leaving the room. Once Bean sleeps through the night, we might put her and Peanut in the same room. Anywho, once Peanut's down, I take Bean into her room, nurse her again, and rock her until she's drowsy.

All said and done, I'm back downstairs, alone, by about 6:45-7. I'm hoping to eventually knock that down to about 6:15. I tend to read blogs or what not on my phone while rocking Bean to sleep. Some days, it's just nice to hold her while she's sleeping. She's only waking once a night (knock on wood) now. Normally, she'll wake anywhere between 2 and 4:30 AM. Depending on what time she initially woke up, she'll be up for the day between 6 and 7. I like when she's asleep until 7, so Peanut and I can wake up a bit!!!

So today, I'm thankful that both girls slept in until past 7 AM!!! I don't remember the last time I did that! Very thankful to Jesus today for both girls sleeping in until after 7!!!! They are so energetic and precious but sometimes, this mama needs to sleep in a bit.

Thankful to God's Blessing on my Life

This month I decided to list through my Facebook every day different things I'm thankful to God and Jesus about. I saw on a friend's Facebook for the month of November of things she was thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. First though, I wanted to write what prompted this.

An old acquaintance from high school invited me down to her church with her Moms group that meets twice a month when I asked via Facebook if my friends knew of good activities to do while staying home with the girls on my maternity leave. This is exactly what I've been looking for, what I've felt I've needed for a long time and never knew where to look.

We're doing a study of the book, Radical, by David Platt. The study went through the chapter about being Disciples to all nations. When the study leader asked us how we can accomplish this, I immediately thought of my friend's "November Thanksgiving" posts. I stated quickly that with all the negative thoughts and judgmental 'Christians', this could be my small discipleship.

Thus, I'm brought to my first post:

"Thankful to God's Blessing on my Life"

God truly has blessed my life. There are so many things in my life that I am thankful for because He is good.