Wish List and Desires of the Heart...

I was given a challenge by my friend, Erica, about a week ago to list 5 material and 5 spiritual things that I would like in my life. It took me a while to get them posted, but here they are:

5 Material Things
1) A new wardrobe – I would like a new up-to-date stylish wardrobe. I feel like the lady in the commercial that has let herself go since having kids, not to mention that so many of my clothes are very old.
2) A separate office (that is not in our bedroom) so I can put all of my office furniture in it, instead of having it in storage, and so I have a place to go to think.
3) A part-time job that does not interfere with raising my boys, but that can satisfy that part of my being (to think and produce)
4) A job for Fred that is truly satisfying to him, but that requires less overtime and less exposure to the evils of this world.
5) An ipod so I can download my favorite songs and play them in my new car – along with taking another step forward into this century (I’m really behind on all the techy toys)

5 Spiritual Things
1) That I can be disciplined to spend time with God everyday and increase and improve my relationship with Him, along with increasing my knowledge of His word.
2) That my family would come to know Jesus as their Savior, friend, and Redeemer, so they can really start living and experience all that God has for them.
3) That I can have the strength, wisdom, and humility to become the woman that God wants me to be – as a Daughter of Christ, Wife to Fred and Mother to Garrett & Brett
4) That I can discipline and raise my kids through God’s love, wisdom and grace so they will grow up to be all they can be in Jesus' strength.
5) That I can know, develop, and use my God-given Spiritual gifts to bring Him glory.

Parent's Night Out

Last night, we took advantage of our church's Parent's Night Out. We were able to drop off both the boys at 6:30pm and didn't have to pick them back up until 10:30pm. It was great!

Fred and I went to Gumbo's in Round Rock, which is a great restaurant. If you haven't been there, I would highly recommend it and our favorite item on the menu - Tenderloin St. George.
It is the best piece of meat I have ever tasted. It is so tender that it melts in your mouth and is served with crab meat and bernaise sauce on the top - YUM!!! I knew that it had been a long time since we had ate there, but Fred reminded me that it was before we were married - I guess that's what 2 kids will do to your date nights.

Lots of people have told me that we need to go out on dates to keep our marriage strong. Last night was one of those nights that that especially rang true for me. I really enjoyed my time with Fred. It was so nice to go to a nice restaurant, enjoy a glass of wine and eat a fantastic meal, all while talking to my husband without constant interruption from the boys.

Many thanks go out to Celebration Church and to Pastor Elizabeth and Pam for all their hard work in planning Parent's Night Out. As a parent, I am extremely grateful for the time shared alone with my husband knowing that my boys were well taken care of.

HUGE Victory

Many of you will now be able to tell me, "I told you so!" and I will smile to myself knowing that you were right. Last night, I took the plunge and made Garrett go to bed without laying down with him. HOORAY!!!!! For the last 14 months, Garrett has not went to bed by himself and up until December or so, he was sleeping in our bed everynight.

So, with the encouragement from a friend, I took a deep breath and decided that last night was the night that Garrett was going to go to sleep without me or Fred laying down with him. Since Fred had to work late last night, I was the only one that had to hear him scream, which I think made it easier to follow through. I was very surprised that Brett slept through the whole 1 hour and 10 minutes of Garrett screaming while being put back into his bed many many times. I followed the Super Nanny routine (with a few minor adjustments) of telling him goodnight and putting him to bed, then telling him goodnight the 2nd time and each time after that just picking him up and placing him back in his bed. After a while, I wasn't sure if he was going to give up, but I kept at it and with God's help, I was able to keep my calm and patience to endure the very LONG hour of screaming. He did try everything he could think of, though, and I did feel bad a few times when he kept telling me, "I'm sorry, sorry, Momma I'm sorry", which is when I explained to him that I was not mad at him, that I loved him very much, it was just time for him to go to bed. I hugged and kissed him on the way back to his bedroom several times to reassure him that I was not mad at him and I did love him (he just needed to GO TO BED). He finally gave up and went to sleep. YES!!!

Fred had to work late again tonight, so I went through the same routine with both him and Brett....and it worked. Last night I decided that both of them were going to bed without me laying down or rocking them. Brett fell asleep after about 10 minutes of fussing. Tonight it only took him about 5 minutes and he was asleep. For Garrett, there was some screaming and getting out of bed and being put back in bed several times, along with him telling me he was sorry, but tonight it only lasted 20 minutes. He finally asked me for all his friends (Mickey Mouse, Curious George, the dinosaur and Elmo) and after wimpering a few more times, he went to sleep.

Tomorrow may be a little ruff because it will be the 1st night that his Daddy will be here at bedtime. He may try the same tricks to get him to lay down with him, but as long as Fred and I stand united, I think we have won a major battle. I can't say that we have won the war yet, because he did sneak into our bedroom in the middle of the night and crawl in bed with us! That has to stop, of course, but I'm thankful for the battle we just won and am very confident that we will win the war! Hallelujah.

Thank you, Erica. Your honesty and encouragement last night really helped me finally take this giant (and healthy) step forward.

Mustang, "No It's A RACE CAR!!!!"

I must have missed the chapter in the toddler book that described the moment when your 2 1/2 year old becomes all-knowing about the world.

Last night, we were driving home from our 1st experience at Chuck E. Cheese when I pointed out a white Mustang driving down the highway to Garrett. He didn't miss a beat and emphatically told me that it was not a Mustang, "it is a RACE CAR!!!!" It is not that Garrett doesn't know what a Mustang is...for those of you that don't know, Garrett's Dad is the proud owner of a '66 Mustang Fastback so Garrett KNOWS what a Mustang is and what they look like.
No, this is not the first time that Garrett has had to correct me, in fact, it is becoming a very common event. If I say it is black, he says it is white or for example when I told him that he is my son and he had to correct me by informing me that he is not my son, he is his daddy's son (and in some ways that is SOOO true - lol). It is even funnier when he asks me what something is and I tell him, then he corrects me by telling me what it really is! And, he is so passionate (code word - LOUD and YELLING) when he has to tell me these things.

I recall a moment, a very humbling one of mine, when my Mom told me that "it is great that you know everything, but sometimes it is better to keep it to yourself!" Of course being the teenager that I was, I just thought to myself - whatever, Mom, what do you know! As I reflect back, it's funny how people will tell you that "you just wait until you get older and have kids of your own"...that comment is oh so true. I just never knew that my moment of enlightenment would come at such an early stage in my son's life. I can understand it very much so as a teenager...but as a 2 1/2 year old?

Oh, the joys of motherhood! I laugh to myself everytime Garrett starts to argue with me and think ~ we have only just begun!

Lack of Self-Discipline for a Schedule - ???

As of today, I have had 5 people tell me either about the Babywise book or about putting my kids on a schedule, which is the gist of the Babywise book.
I now feel that if I don't get my kids on some kind of a schedule that I won't have the right to complain or that I would be like the guy who drowned and got to heaven asking God why He didn't save him and the answer was that God sent several people to save him, but the man refused the help.

You see, Brett is a good sleeper...at night. Thank God! But, the trade-off is that he is up all day, with maybe a 30 minute cat nap in the morning and in the afternoon. I'm sure that many Moms would love to have their babies sleep all night long, and maybe I am asking to have my cake and eat it too, but I'm sleeping during the night too, so unless I don't want to get anything done during the day, I need him to take longer than a 30 minute nap.

Since he wants to be held most of the time when he is awake, I don't seem to be very productive during the day. Things are getting a little better because he can sit up now and is starting to creep and crawl. He likes to play cars with Garrett and thinks that he is big stuff when he is in Garrett's room playing with him. That buys me about 5-10 minutes until Garrett thinks that he needs to throw the car at Brett's head, put a pillow or blanket over his head or push him over, etc. - you get the picture - brotherly love at its best!

I was thinking about it today and I believe part of my resistance (or maybe the majority of it) is that I do not want to be put on a schedule. Putting them on a schedule means that I have to have the self-discipline to make their schedule work. Now, I come from a family of union workers and most of them punched a time clock. I, however, did not follow down that same road. In fact, I recall at an earlier age making the statement that I would not make it in a career that I had to punch a time clock.

Creating a schedule and sticking to it feels like punching a time clock to me - it does not sound appealing at all. But, I feel that at this point in my life, I am being nudged, maybe even pushed, to grow (change) in this area. Having a schedule and sticking to it would make my life run much more smoothly, at least in theory it seems that it would.

For example, one of my friends gets up very early, I think she told me at 5:30am everyday, to get some things done before her kids get up. If I would be disciplined and do that everyday I could get some of my paperwork and EXERCISE completed without any interruptions. My excuse - I don't like to get up that early in the morning. But, with 2 little boys, that is about the only time I have to myself, unless it is after they go to bed and by that time my energy level is at zero or in the red zone. One of the benefits of putting them on a schedule, I've been told, would be that I get time to myself to get things done, to read, or to just sit down and relax (haha) for a few moments during the day.

As I'm typing this, the little small voice inside of me is saying..."stop making excuses and do what you know is good for you."

Feels like God is tapping me on my shoulder telling me that I may not always like, understand or agree with His plan, but that His way is always the BEST way!

PPM - (Proud Parent Moment)

Thank you Ms. Mandy...you're a great teacher and you're impacting Garrett's life in such a positive way!!!

Football & Fellowship

Admittedly, Fred and I don't watch football. He is not into sports, rather his vices are cars and guns. But, each year, when Super Bowl rolls around it seems like it is almost a requirement as an American to watch the game. Since we just got a HDTV, and was FINALLY able to get the satellite company to hook up the new service, we thought it would be fun to have people over to watch the game (well...really to fellowship, with football being the excuse to have the get-together.) Lots of our friends already had plans, so we had one family come over to enjoy the evening with us. God definitely knows what He is doing, because the one family that came over are about as into football as we are (they like to watch the commercials too!)

But, we had a wonderful time talking, catching up on life, and having some adult conversations that were able to last longer than 30 seconds (because our kids were in the bedroom playing together.)

Every time we have people over, we talk about how we need to do it more often. The same way when you see friends that you haven't talked to in a while and end the conversation with "we need to get together for lunch soon." I can't even count how many lunch dates that should be on my calendar right now for making that exact statement to friends. It isn't that I don't have good intentions, it is more like life just happening and days flying by without the time (or really the discipline) to make those lunches happen.

A good friend recently told me that life is too short not to go through it with friends. The challenge is to make the time for my friendships, because like any other relationship, it takes time and effort to establish and maintain good friendships so that they continue to grow.

There are always reasons why I can't - kids, family obligations, church, work, volunteering, etc., etc., etc. Those things will always be there and will never change, but my friend was right - life is so short and it is so much better when you share it with good friends. It is definitely worth making the time to cultivate my friendships, as well as being a reality check and reminder for me about what is really important in life...and it isn't whether I have the cleanest house on the block. I'm going to make it a priority that by the end of this week I will get some of those long overdue lunch dates scheduled.

By the way, we did watch the last 12 minutes of the Super Bowl game and it was well worth it. We both wanted the Giants to win since they were the underdog - and WOW, what a game!!!!

Definitely Brothers

It is truly amazing to see how much Garrett and Brett look alike, especially in the beginning. I remember showing Fred a picture of Garrett at 3 months and he said that if I hadn't told him, he would have thought it was Brett. Even Garrett would look at pictures of himself at that age and think it was Brett. So, I thought it would be fun to see how long they could pass as twins.

At 3 months, they definitely could have.....



But now, at 6 months, when I look back at Garrett's pictures, I can see at least 2 distinct characteristics...1 being their eyes, Garrett's eyes are sooo blue (taking after his Dad) and Brett's are a mixture of colors, they almost look grey some days, but then on other days they look more green or brown or a mixture of the two (taking after me). The 2nd distinguishing factor that was obvious is the amount of hair....this time Garrett taking after me (with a lot of thick hair) and Brett looking more like his Dad :o) It will be fun to see how things change as they grow up.





Brothers, Friends, Partners in Crime......

My Precious Little Kitchen Helpers

Since becoming a stay-at-home Mom, I have worked on having a family dinner every night. I remember growing up and having dinner at my great-grandma's every day at 4:30pm. It was a daily ritual, one that as I look back now, I cherish very much. My great-grandma was 70+ years old when I was born and after having 13 children of her own (with 4 sets of twins in there), she helped to raise her grandchildren and finally some of her great-grandchildren, including me, my younger cousin and younger brother. The rule of the house regarding food was that you had to try everything at least 1 time. You could not say you didn't like a food if you had never tried it. Once you tried it and did not like it, she would not make you eat it again, thankfully, especially since one of her favorite meals was liver and onions (yuck!).

It is a tradition I plan to carry on with my family. However, I do not like to cook every night. I was purchasing meals at Super Suppers so my family could have a healthy meal without me having to prepare it every night, but as time passed, the portions were getting smaller and smaller. (If you haven't heard of Super Suppers, it is pretty cool...you go into a store where they have all the ingredients for 12 different meals and you assemble them, place them into freezer bags or trays and take them home to freeze. The menu changes each month so you get a variety of food and you can split the orders so that 12 meals become 24, which worked out really well for Fred and I because the 1/2 order would feed 2-3 people...at least in the beginning). After the portions started getting smaller, I purchased one of their cookbooks and began picking a day to cook non-stop so that I could freeze the meals, then take one out to reheat for dinner each day. It makes my life so much simpler, especially with 2 little boys...and, I discovered during this go around that my boys really like to be in the kitchen with me right in the middle of everything.














It was actually fun doing it this time involving Garrett (and Brett) and I look forward to making many wonderful memories with my family during our cooking days and around the dinner table.