When Life Ain't Perfect

 

Hello and welcome! I realize I have been on a long blogging hiatus. After a lot of busyness on the home front, I struggled for quite awhile with my old friend Perfectionism. I could say I had writer's block. But really, I didn't feel like I had that perfect thing to share with anyone. Then I had hiccups with my camera, so I couldn't, you know, take that perfect picture if I ever did come up with a post. But I've missed writing and interacting with you all, and have been feeling a stronger and stronger tug on my heart to just. start. up. again. already! So, here I am! If you are new here, welcome! I hope you enjoy your time here at my little corner of the internet. If you do, please consider hitting the Follow button over on the sidebar. If you are a returning visitor, welcome back! And thank you for your patience with me. 😉

A world of chaos?

I also realize I've returned to blogging in the middle of a world-wide pandemic. I pray you are all doing well! Please let me know if you have any prayer requests in the comments below. I would be happy to pray for you, and I would love it if we could all pray for each other!

There have been quite a few changes around my home. My oldest has temporarily moved back in until things have leveled off. My Hubby is an essential employee at both his full-time and part-time jobs, one being a first responder. That in itself presents a whole new level of precautions and prayers in our home. Especially since I myself am in what is considered the "high risk" category, being diabetic and having an autoimmune disease.

It has not been easy, but I have found a few ways to find peace in the midst of all of this chaos.

How I make my home a haven for my family in the midst of a troubled time

• Prioritize your focus! I'm not gonna lie. Last month, I started losing my focus on Jesus. There was so much going on, so much information (and disinformation) coming in, so many things to do, adjustments to make. I started losing sight of the One that was needed more than anything else. While I was keeping up on my Bible schedule, I came to realize that that's pretty much all I was doing. Keeping up. Checking it off the list. So I could move on to the next thing. I became weary, exhausted, both in body and spirit. When I realized (finally!) what was happening, I asked the Lord to help me bring back my focus to where it needs to be. I now wake up in the morning excited again to spend time with my Father. And I am definitely feeling His peace again.
  
• Love on and care for my Hubby. His already hefty jobs just got heftier. Plus, with my being high risk, he has taken on the task of going out to get things when we need them. I always try and make sure I'm taking care of our home and family in a way that will lighten his load, while making sure I still have more than enough energy for him when he finally walks in the door at night. Now, I'm trying to be even more diligent. I'm definitely not perfect, but I'm keeping GRACE in my mind and on my heart.
  
• Routines! Oh, these are so, so important right now! I think it was a little before Christmas or Thanksgiving of last year that I jumped back in hard core to the Flylady method. And I am still going! Not 100% perfect at being consistent, but most of my morning and evening routines are automatic by now. Which is great, because it brings a sense of stability to our home life. Even though we are in a time where we can't have guests into our home, I still try to keep things "guest ready." Except now, I say that it's "family ready!" With my routines on autopilot, I do it without even thinking about it.

Make your haven a place to relax!

With the exception of not being able to go places, not much has changed in our homeschool. I do relax on it at times right now, however. Some days, we all have the energy to speed along. Other days, it's more like we have to chip away at it. And some days, we just plain need a brain break. I really think God is using this time to show me that our homeschool doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing thing. There's a flow that is unique to each family, and it is GOOD to go with it!

Besides school, it seems like everyone in my family is really learning more to enjoy each other's company. And at the same time, respect each other's space when it's needed. I really believe these times are also making us more thankful for so many things we have previously taken for granted.

How are YOU doing?

I would love to hear below some good things happening in your life, in general, or maybe specifically because of having to shelter in place. I also welcome prayer requests and I would love us all to be praying for each other!

Thank you, friends, for stopping by and reading! I hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend!

When Mom is Sick, What Now?

 

Being a mom, and a homeschooling mom, it can be pretty tough when our kiddos are sick. But, what about when you're the one who's sick? I was "privileged" these past couple of days to receive the "gift" of my son's winter cold being passed on to me. It's a good thing I love that boy! Having Multiple Sclerosis and being a Type II Diabetic, whatever I catch usually comes on worse and lasts a lot longer than normal.

With a fever raging, my middle son recovering, and my youngest deciding to join the coughing fun, it was looking pretty rough. I found myself looking in distress at my freshly fixed up, first week of the year planner spread. Pick up the house. School. Declutter the dining room. Menu plan. As my brain told me to get the list started, my increasing chills fought to put me to bed. "This Mom doesn't have time to be sick!" And then, I realized something. I had a stern talk with myself, and I'm repeating it to you.

Go Easy on Yourself, Mama!

It's okay to set the list aside and get the rest you need! In fact, it can be detrimental if you force yourself to work when your body is demanding rest. Guess what? The housework is still going to be there when you're feeling better. The kids are not going to be scarred for life if Mom takes a day off. If your kiddos are old enough and not sick themselves, put them to work! If you homeschool, you can give them some reading to do on their own, or have them read to each other. Or give them a fun project they can do on their own. My kids actually enjoy playing board and card games together, and they recently got into Mad-Libs. Any of those things can keep them occupied for hours!

If your kiddos are younger, lay on the couch so you can be close to them while they watch a movie. It can be educational if you prefer, but it's okay to just choose something fun for the day, too. Or, if you're up for it, teach them an easy board game or card game. If your throat isn't sore, read them a few books. It's not always easy staying in "rest mode" with the younger kids all day. But do what you can, and give yourself (and them!) grace. When Mom is sick, it's a good time for them to learn sympathy and self-entertainment.

Take Care of Yourself, Mama!

While our focus as wives and moms is usually to take care of our husband and kids, we need to make sure we're taking care of ourselves, too. We can't take care of others if we're down and out ourselves. Eat healthy and make sure you're getting enough exercise to stay strong to the tasks at hand. But, we can still get sick. And when we do, it's okay to set aside that to-do list and give our body the rest it needs to get better. Our families need us, Mamas! So, focus on rest, not stress.

Back to school???

Not really…I may have taken a blogging break, but we have been chugging along at school the entire time.  By the end of October, we will be finished with kindergarten (which V would have just been starting today) and moving right into first grade.
The big thing is, reading is coming along GREAT.  V is reading very short stories from his curriculum right now and it is so exciting!  I taught him how to do it!  Isn't that a wonderful feeling?  Now, I know if I can teach, anyone can!  V is also doing really well in math…he finished up the kindergarten workbook I had got him, so we got him a first grade workbook, and he is just sailing along in that.  I love this!   We are both having so much fun.  I'm still just reeling from the fact that I TAUGHT MY CHILD HOW TO READ.  LOL.  I know so many of you out there know what I'm feeling.  It just gives me so much encouragement to keep on with this because I have seen that I can do it!
Heehee, time to get off the high horse LOL.

Wednesday

What another beautiful day!  We just got back from our walk.  Before that, we enjoyed a picnic lunch out in our backyard.  Our whole neighborhood smells like flowers right now, and it is so lovely to just walk through it and breath in all that wonderful air.  Lilac bushes are becoming more and more popular around here, and those are my absolute favorite flower.  It seems that they're popping up everywhere and they smell sooooo good!
V is doing so good with his phonics!  I am so excited, because the workbooks we had before were doing absolutely nothing for him and it had me worried he wasn't interested in reading LOL.  He is getting better and better at sounding things out and he should be reading short stories in no time.
V is up taking his nap right now…A started his on the walk and woke up when we got home.  I'm hoping he wants to go back to sleep for a little while because I really want to get our cabinet in the living room de-cluttered today…was supposed to do it Monday, but I just haven't had the time.  I think I will try putting A in his swing, as I can tell he is tired.  It's so funny, at night now he goes to sleep right away, but fights it so hard during the day.
I'm off to done my apron once again! 

Lots of smiles!

Oh, how I adore baby smiles 👶.  A smiled for the first time at a little over 4 weeks old, but now, he's doing it all the time!  As long as he's not cranky, I can usually get him to smile whenever I want him to, and I absolutely love it!  He even makes happy noises along with his smiles.  It totally melts my heart every time he looks into my eyes and his mouth opens in the biggest smile I have ever seen. *Happy sigh*

Sugar highs...or lows?

Oh, my, what a week it has been!  Last Monday, we finally settled back into our homeschooling routine here with V.  He has been doing really well, too, and excited to get back to it.  We started learning more about dinosaurs, as he is really into them right now.  We are reading out of a book called Dinosaurs by Design, by Duane T. Gish.  It is a really good book, as it takes on a biblical approach to the dinosaurs.
Despite being back to school, V had been acting impossible for the last few days.  Hubby and I couldn't figure out what was going on, especially since once he has school work to keep him occupied, he's usually pretty mellow.  Well, today we found out what was going on.  Hubby found on the floor a little round pink thing and we weren't sure if it was a piece of candy or some sort of pill or something.  V claimed he found it in his pocket.  I was freaking out looking on drugs.com (they have a very good pill identifier there) to see if I could find this thing on there.  Meanwhile, Hubby tried to get out of V where he got it from.  After lying and throwing a bunch of fits (very unlike V), he finally broke down and led Hubby to the kitchen closet/pantry.  In there, I have a box with holiday baking supplies, including many different kinds of sprinkles and such.  Well, he had been getting into those and he proceeded to show Hubby which ones he had tried and whether or not he liked them.  I could not believe it, but at least we know where this behavior was coming from.  By this point, V had calmed down enough to go take a nap without throwing a fit about it.  And all the sugar (and I'm sure there was tons of red 40 in that stuff as well that was contributing just as much) is hidden out of reach again, at least I hope.  I thought it was last time, too, but apparently, those darn kids keep growing and getting smarter!
So now, V and A are both taking naps at the same time…praise God!  And Hubby has gone off to work for the evening, so for the first time in a while, I've had time to get on this…this…oh yeah, it's called a computer!  I've had time to get on the computer and do a little update and catch up on A LOT of email.

Getting back into the swing of things

Well, Hubby got called in to his part time job this morning, which, while I am sad to have him gone, is really a blessing as the hours there are scarce during the winter.  Hubby has really been blessed with hours there since A was born and he took some paid time off from his full time job as we sure could use the money right now.  The Lord always provides.
So, with the call, we were up and at 'em early this morning and after feeding and cuddling with A for awhile and doing a quick email check, it was off to the kitchen to get it clean!  I cleaned the fridge and got all the dishes done.  I got everything picked up and put where it belongs, so now I have some counter space.  The only thing I have to do now is get a bunch of canning jars out of my cabinet so I can make room for bottles, as they are taking over one side of my counter.  A has been having problems latching on, so I am pumping breastmilk and feeding him through bottles for the time being.  At every feeding, though, we try the breast first and sometimes he does get it!  But sometimes he gets sooooooo frustrated, and I don't want him to get too upset about it, so we go to the bottle.  I know he will get it eventually…I have a friend who went through the same thing and all of a sudden at around 3 weeks old, her little one latched on like she had been doing it the whole time. 
Anyway, as time, energy and A allows, I am going to be working on getting this house picked up, one room at a time.  I'm not going to worry so much about deep cleaning yet, but I just want to get things picked up and to find a home for all this stuff laying around from Christmas and the baby.  The other big thing really, now that the dishes are done, is getting laundry done…it's mostly clean, but I have a huge pile on my dining room table that needs to be folded and put away.  I think once I get that done, the picking up part won't be so bad.
I also really want to make some banana bread.  It seems like it's been forever since I baked, and we have some bananas in the basket that are just about perfect for banana bread right now.  Plus, Hubby will be home close to dinner time, so I want to find a good meal to make for dinner.  This should be fairly easy since when I cleaned the fridge, I found a lot of good basics in there, plus our freezer and pantry are stocked pretty good.  The hard part will be making a decision.
Well, I best go get busy!  I hope you all have a blessed day!

Announcing...

A is finally here!  He was born Tuesday December 27 at 4:54 pm.  He weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and was 22 inches long!  I was able to have a successful vbac, so I am very happy about that.  

We're all home now and adjusting to life with a new baby.  The first couple of nights were rough, but A's only been up 2 times a night for the past few nights, so it's already getting better.  Although, I've had a case of the “baby blues” or as Nick calls it, “the hormone dump.”  That's one thing I had with Vincent that I completely forgot about.  Out of the blue without any trigger whatsoever I will just start crying.  This is really where I remember how lucky I am to have the dear husband that God has blessed me with.  As long as he's not occupied with A (or at work), he takes the time to come over and just hold me until the moment has passed.  He has been so great throughout all this transition…I could just brag on him all day 😊.

Short baby update

I'm still not online too much, but I thought I'd jump on and give an update after yesterday's doctor's appointment (yes, I did make it), as well as catch up on some blog reading.
Since we did make it to the appointment, I fully expected to be scheduling a c-section for today.  But this little stinker just does not want to come out.  His non-stress test came out perfect, and I am now dilated to 4 cm, so my doctor wants to hold out one more week, since he thinks something will happen very soon.  He told me not too many women walk around at 4 cm for very long.  If I go into labor by the end of the day today, I can still leave the hospital on Christmas Eve…knowing this baby, I will go into labor Saturday morning and have him just before midnight Christmas day or something like that LOL.
Gosh, I remember when I was in labor with my V.  My water broke at 1:30 in the morning and by the time we got to the hospital I was dilated to 3 cm, after being 2 cm for the last 2 weeks.  It took until around 3 that afternoon to get to 4 cm, and by that time I was asking for an epidural.  Now, I AM at 4 cm, and I keep wondering if the contractions I feel are “real” or not LOL.  My, oh, my…I know they say each pregnancy can be different, but with these two…I'm wondering how much more different it can get!
If I don't get back on with an update before Sunday, I want to wish you all a very blessed Christmas!

Sometimes it's hard to Let Go and Let God

Posting a little late-night note here after a long day.  Nick had the whole day off today, but is working overnight tonight, so I haven't had much of a chance to get on the computer.  I managed to stay caught up on laundry and got the grocery shopping done and some errands done, too.  Now that it's getting harder for me to move around a lot and harder to carry much, I almost detest going to the grocery store alone, so I was so blessed that he wanted to come with ☺️.
I was almost positive I was going to go into real labor last night.  It's kind of hard to believe, with all the times this little baby has cried wolf so far 👶.  But I was having some pretty good contractions, complete with pressure and pain in my lower back.  Nick and I went to sleep fully expecting to wake up in a few hours because this was really it, but I woke up in the morning with nothing again 🤷‍♀️.
Anyway, since we woke up a little late (yes, on top of it, I actually got GOOD sleep LOL!), Nick said we would get some Chinese food for lunch, since that got his mom going with all 4 of her births.  Of course, nothing has happened yet.  I have caught myself lately looking for natural ways to “get things going,” and while I know that God is really in charge and that most of the things I have tried are just for fun, I have to think that God is reminding me that ONLY He is going to make this happen.
I know in my heart that I really don't want to try and take it out of God's hands, but sometimes my mind tells me “Hey, if this really works, we'll have that baby today!”  I have to constantly remind myself that only God knows the best time and He's already got it all figured out.  It's kind of like a diet you've been on before that has worked absolutely perfect…but somehow you still seem to fall off of it.  I know for a fact that if I just give this completely over to Him and stop being obsessed with this going MY way, the Lord will most likely work it out pretty close to what I am asking for anyway.  It's happened that way so many times with so many other things.  Things always go so much more smoothly when I just Let Go and Let God.  It's getting to the letting go part that's always the struggle, it seems.  That truly can be the hardest part, can't it?
If you find it in your heart, I ask for your prayers in this particular battle of letting go.  I do know what I need to do, but I ask for the Lord's peace to come over me in this, so that I don't have to keep reminding myself over and over again.
For nothing is impossible with God.
Luke 1:37

Baby update

Well, I went to the doctor today for my ob appointment.  We were expecting to schedule a c-section for sometime next week.  Last week, the baby was not engaged, and I was not dialated or effaced at all.  Because I have gestational diabetes, there are a few concerns that my doctor had that made him lean toward doing a c-section, especially since my first was a c-section.  For one thing, this baby is getting awfully big…on Monday I had an ultrasound that estimated him at almost 10 pounds, and I was 37 weeks as of Sunday.  The concern is for his shoulders being too big…If I deliver “normally,” his head could fit fine, but his shoulders could get stuck, which would put both the baby and myself at risk.  Also, the placenta deteriorating soon is another concern because of the gestational diabetes, and they don't like you to go much past 39 weeks.  They can't induce me because the stronger contractions that usually come along with being induced could rupture the scar from my previous c-section.  So with me experiencing nothing different over the last week, we were really expecting to get everything in place for the c-section today.
All that to say, when the doctor checked me today, the baby had dropped, and I am now 80% effaced and 2-3 cm dialated!  Even he was excited, because unlike a lot of doctors I hear stories about these days, he would really like to avoid another c-section if at all possible.  He knows that dh and I are planning (Lord willing, of course!) to have a lot of children, and that he said he has performed many c-sections on one woman, he also knows that a second c-section in a row would pretty much diminish my chances of ever delivering naturally again.  But, I will do whatever is healthiest for the baby.  However he is born, I want him healthy and in my arms.
I am just so excited that it could happen any time now!!!!

A rough yet productive day

Ugh, V has decided to be cranky today😣.  I am trying my hardest not to go insane myself, but with all the preggo hormones in my system, sometimes it is truly a test.  It's a test even when you're not pregnant!  But, he is napping now, so I am having a quiet moment 🙂.

I have been doing pretty well on the housework this morning…I haven't done anything extra yet, but maintenance is good 😉 .  The last load of laundry is in the washer, the bed has fresh sheets, the dishes are done, and dh is off to work with a good lunch and a freshly pressed shirt 🙌. 

Lunch is over, so I am just pondering my afternoon plans.  The main thing I want to do is go through the rooms and just get things put away and the floors swept.  We have hardwood floors, so this should be done everyday, but it doesn't always happen.  It would be nice to get them mopped, too, if I have the energy.  All I use for the wood floors is hot water with a touch of dish soap and some lemon oil.  I would like to get our bathroom tub scrubbed out, too.  I have been maintaining the toilet and vanity daily, so that's the only major thing left in the bathroom.  After that, I will just give the tub a good wipe-down with my poof after every bath, and I will hopefully never have to go through a major scrub session in the bathroom again!  We shall see how this goes…