Sabbath and Balance

So, it's funny really. This always seems to happen. I get in a rut and then start praying for guidance etc. The Lord then tries showing me over and over again what I'm supposed to do, but it usually takes Him SCREAMING it at me.

And THEN I get it. But not usually until then.

Maybe it's that I'm stubborn. Or that I want to try and figure it out my way (which of course just makes me feel more overwhelmed). Either way, it's not usually until it's plainly clear that I see that the Lord is actually talking to me, taking care of me, and helping me, that I give in.

Recently I have just been having a REALLY hard time with finding balance. Being a stay at home mom, there really is no separating work from family. My family is my work. I have this constant nagging in my head daily that I need to keep up with everything... "Cause that's my job"... "Like a Mom". The house needs to be cleaned, dishes need to be done, laundry needs to be done, meals need to be cooked, Parker needs to have her schedule EXACT so that she's happy when dad gets home. I mean, it's getting ridiculous.  But no one has put these expectations on me expect myself (though sometimes I like to blame my mom because she always seemed to have everything together.... love you mom). Blair is not telilng me I need to have these things done all the time. Parker isn't telling me that I need to have these things done all the time. But for some reason, I always think that they do. And then along with it I'm trying to also focus on my phtography, and yet still somehow manage being involved in our church/other ministries.

With all that, there's no way I'm taking time for myself. To focus on myself. That would be silly.

So, this is what I have been struggling with. I think I mentioned it once before maybe, but I'm just having a hard time with my "me" time. And honestly with my "husband and me" time. And quite honestly I feel like recently those things have been getting neglected. And of course I've been praying about it. But, what I haven't been doing is listening to the Lord. What I haven't been doing is actually doing anything about it. So I just pray, and whine, and cry about poor ol' me not getting my "me" time. Well, it's time to do something about it.

And it seems the Lord agrees, because it seems a lot of things I have come across this week have been talking about "balance" and/or the meaning of Sabbath.

This last week our church held a "Mom'Hood" gathering at our church and it was JUST what I needed. It was a night for mom's of all ages to get together, eat, drink coffee, and hear from older wiser mom's who have "been there done that" or who are "in the thick of it". It was SO refreshing! I'm not alone. And I'm not the first mom to feel off balance. And actually from what I saw and heard, most mom's go through it. They all gave some great tips on how to find balance and how important it is to really take time for yourself. To have fun. And not just "work". But to really enjoy life and enjoy your kids. I'm feeling this to the 10th degree. With Parker being almost 10 months old (in two days), I continue to ask myself where in the WORLD the last 10 months went. 10 PLUS months. How is it that she is already almost a year? What have I done in the last 10 months? Sometimes it feels like I've just been struggling to stay afloat, but then I know that other times it's not.

So, I guess where I'm going with this, is that it has become pretty clear that I need to find balance. I need to start taking care of myself. And I need to start puting more time and effort into Blair and my relationship. One way I'm going to do this is by really taking a day a week to just relax. And maybe Sunday is a great day for that. Not only to rest and get ready for the week, but also to spend time with the Lord. I am also going to try and start getting more involved in a mom's group during the week. I feel like these two things will really help. (Other than making sure I make myself take a shower and put make-up on...). So, that's where I'm going to start for now, and hopefully I'll start feeling a little more balance.

What are things YOU are doing to find balance?

Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter!

The Lord has Risen! He has risen indeed. :)

Ever since Blair was little, and ever since he can even remember, his family has always had an Easter egg hunt each year. First it started off with candy, and then when they were older was money in the eggs. So, every year whether it be on actual Easter, or Christmas...or Christmas in July.... just when they could get all of them together, they have an egg hunt. It's tradition. (And we all know how much I LOVE traditions :) ) So of course this year we had our annual egg hunt at the Dodson's!  We went to the springs last weekend to visit and while we were there we had our annual egg hunt. Expect this year was a little differnt for Blair and I because we let Parker do the hunt. And even though she is little, she still got really into it! (Though I'm sure she really had no idea what she was actually doing, I think she just liked the eggs).

So,  I also wanted to carry on the tradition at our house (except for the money part.... we did candy). We started off the day with having the Easter bunny visit Parker's room with a full basket.  My mom made her a bunny basket, and so I filled it with some little toys (or actually the Easter Bunny did, haha) and set it next to her crib. This morning when I went in to get her, she was sitting in her crib, looking through the slats at the bunny basket, and was trying to get to it. She loved her gifts and it was a great start to our day. (My mom also sent her a GIANT egg filled with some gifts for her, she loved it, and loved everything inside, thanks Nana!!!)

Isn't this just the cutest!!!!!

We then went to church (and of course I had gotten Parker a new Easter outfit) and after church had some friends over for a nice lunch of roast, carrots, potatoes, bread, and some cream soda. It was wonderful. And such a wonderful way to celebrate the fact that our Lord came to this earth, died, and rose again to save us.

I plan on making it a tradition to make Easter very special for our family (like Christmas), so I was glad that we were able to do that for Parker's first Easter. Here are some pictures from the rest of today.

She looks SO much like her daddy :). 

But.....Blair says she has my smile. :) 

She looks like SUCH a big girl here!!! 

We had a great day! Happy Easter Everyone! 

-C

Nine Month Update

So, last week Parker turned 9 months old!!! Crazy crazy crazy. I feel like she is going through one of those phases where she is learning something new every day. And I am absolutely loving it. We had her doctors appointment last week and she is still long and skinny. She is 28" long (75th percentile) and only 16lbs 13 oz.

She is all over the place. crawling, pulling up on things, and finding the most dangerous things to try and put in her mouth. I have baby proofed the house, but it seems she still seems to find the one thing on the ground that is a possible choking hazard and trys to put it in her mouth. The other day she had a penny in her mouth......scared the poo out of me.

It seems I'm cleaning more these days. Mainly because she will even seem to try and put even the littlest speck of dirt or grime in her mouth. So, pretty much she has her pincher grasp down. :).

She has officially associated "da-da" with Blair. I will ask her "where is da-da" and she will look excitedly at him. And just recently *like as in two days ago* she has started repeating "da-da" when I ask her to say it. However...she still ONLY says momma when she needs something (so whining...). She also is saying "ya-ya", and she says it when she is looking at Gray. I don't know if there is any correlation, but either way it's cute.

Parker has also started to stand unassisted. Today she did it for like 5 seconds. Which, I realize doesn't sound like a long time, but I still was really excited. Next thing I know she is going to be walking!! AAHHHH!

Since Parker was like 4 or 5 months old, I have been trying to show her signs for stuff.

You know, more, thank you, please, bath, drink, nurse etc.... And you might be thinking... "Carisa, she's not going to be able to sign at 5 months". And yes, I do know this. BUT, at 9 months she started signing "more"! She loves to drink out of my cup of water....love love love (is an understatement). So the other day I was helping her drink out of my cup and I would put it down, she would whine, so I would say to her "what do you say Parker" and I would do the sign "more" with her hands. Well, after a couple of times of doing that she started to do it by herself. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. So, now we are working on "More...Please".

She has also started to play "peek-a-boo" with us. All I can say about this is WAY TOO CUTE! Here is a video of her doing it :).

I have also noticed that she is really starting to understand me, and acknowledge what I'm saying to her. Especially when I'm telling her NOT to do something. She doesn't necessarily like when I tell her no, but she has been listening to me. Especially when it comes to Grays dog bowl and toys. I tell her "No mam'" and she stops what she is doing, turns and looks at me, and then starts crawling in a different direction. I know this "listening" thing may not last forever, but for now it's great that she knows what it means! 

I think that's it for now. I'm going to put up another post about Easter today :). We had a great day. 

I still can't believe though that I have a nine month old and in 3 short months my baby will be 1. Crazy. 

-C

When the husband is away...

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=






Or....... Maybe more like





Either way, I'm feeling pretty content.

Happy Thursday!

-Carisa

Random Thoughts Wednesday?

So, people usually do these on Thursday... "Thoughts...thursday", guess it has to do with the fact that both words start with "th". Anywho.... I'm doing it today. On Wednesday. Today is Wednesday right?

Today Parker woke up at 6AM. That's right people, 6AM. My kid WILL NOT SLEEP if she has pooped. So, as soon as she has done her deed, she's up and ready for mom to come get her and change her. Usually it happens around 7. And we are up by like 7:15. Today it happened to be at 6AM. Which is kind of an awkward time. Not early enough to go back to sleep. Not late enough for mom to feel like she is well rested and ready to take on the day. And it screws up our whole schedule. Anyone else have this problem? I mean...I get it, I do. I wouldn't want to sleep in poo either. But, is there anyway for me to encourage her to poop later in the morning?

Doubtful.

Why did I sign up for a 1/2 marathon? Why did I already pay for the race? Why did I already pay for plane tickets to San Diego? There's no getting out of it now. It seemed like a great idea at the time, when I wasn't training, and wasn't having to get up at 6:30 to run. SURE, of course I'll run a 1/2 marathon. Sounds fun.

I was thinking I want to get this baby weight(plus) off. Speaking of which, due to the fact that we got a fat tax return this year (usually we pay, so this was a NICE surprise), Blair got me a Bodybugg. Remember my POST about how I REALLY wanted one, but thought it would never happen? My husband loves me. (Or he just wants me to be skinny, either way, I'm down). And I love it. It is "kinda" depressing though, because I'm seeing how many calories I'm NOT burning. I knew it. My body (/metabolism) hates me. So, in order for me to meet my daily goal, I have to run. Or eat less. But, who wants to eat less? Not me. Guess it's a good thing I am training for that 1/2 after all. (It's probably not very helpful or the best idea that Blair and I went to the Soopers and stocked up on a bunch of Easter candy...).  I do feel in control though....which I like.

I contacted a lady about getting some famliy photos done in July. GO CHECK HER OUT! She is the bomb.com.  I'm REALLY excited. Her style is what I love, and we don't have any good/fun/creative family photos of the 3 of us. I even asked if we could have Gray in a few of them. And then we are going to end the shoot with some of just Parker.  I know I know...I have a nice camera, and am somewhat of a photographer myself. But, we have little to NO pictures of all 3 of us. We have some great ones of P, some great ones of Blair and P, and some ok ones of me and P. But, no stellar photos of all 3. It's time. I'm doing them in July, because P will be 1 and it will be something special. So....gotta get some of the pounds off before then.

And before my 10 year reunion. How in the world has it been 10 years?! And yes I am going. Most of my highschool girlfriends are going to be there, so it should actually be pretty fun.

I should be showering, but instead I'm blogging.

Parker is napping right now. Yesterday was a good nap day. She took two two hour naps. But, then again she has been waking up in the middle of the night again. When is my child going to consistently sleep through the night, and take great naps everyday? Probably never. For those of you who have had this since week 2 of getting your baby home....you are on my hit list.  So, since she napped good yesterday, I'm pretty certain that she is not going to nap well today. But who knows...maybe she's tired enough from waking up at the butt crack of dawn.

I think when Parker wakes up we are going to go to the mall and walk around. It's cold and dreary out (glad I did my run early this morning), and we can't be trapped inside all day. Maybe we'll even have a mommy/daughter lunch date. And I need to start thinking about Mothers Day gifts. (No not for myself...though I have already given Blair a list haha...kidding...sort of...who am I kidding, I'm not kidding. I did give him a list. A zoo pass, a Kendal, and the pioneer woman cook book ;). No I'm not expecting all of them).

So on that note, since I've decided our plans after nap time, I need to go shower. I DID run this morning (4 miles....pretty good in my book). And I am pretty stinky. And cold, since my shirt is sweaty still, and it's chilly in our house.

Happy Wednesday!

-C

Bad park planning

So yesterday I decided to finally take P to the doctor. I had been putting it off because I knew deep down all he was going to tell me was that she was teething. But, she had been tugging at her ears, so I just wanted to make sure she didn't have an ear infection. Well, just as I thought....it's only teething. It seems that tooth #2 is working it's way up. Poor kid, not even a little break. (aka. Poor mommy, not even a little break).

So after the doc appt, we were in Boulder and decided to meet Blair for dinner. Since the appt only took 5 minutes, we still had about 45 minutes to kill before Blair was going to be done with his meeting. It was really warm and pretty out, so we headed to a park. We have learned, through trial and error, that P does not like to swing.
What kid doesn't like to swing?

But, I keep trying anyway. Because that's just the mom I am.



Look at that face....not amused.

What she does like? Watching other kids. So, when the swing failed me again we decided to go watch other kids, and I'd let her crawl around.

Bad idea.

The playground was filled with wood bits (mulch maybe?). Small enough to be a choking hazard. I put P down, and the first thing she does was stick one if the wood pieces directly into her mouth, and I frantically had to swipe (good thing I was a CPR trained life guard), and get that stick out of her mouth.

Then a mom looked at me and said "not great planning for littler kids". I'm not sure if she was being judgey for me bringing my small child there. Or, trying to be sympathetic?

But, either way I'd have to agree.

Whoever planned out that park does not have kids. Or at least doesn't have teething kids.

So, we went and watched the river flow until I got the text that daddy was to the rescue.





If I were a park planner, I would not use mulch in the play area. Sand? Maybe. Mulch? No.

-Carisa

One day....

I will have transoms over my bedroom door and bathroom door and it will look a little like this....

Photo Credit: MosbyBuildingArts.com/ And from the Lettered Cottage. (http://theletteredcottage.net/our-handsome-transom to see how they did it)

I'm in love. The End. 

-C