A Surprise Date!

My husband sent me a text message on Thursday afternoon, telling me that I was busy ALL day on Saturday no questions asked. I was soo excited! He knows I love surprises and I had been mentioning that we needed a date.

So today we woke up and had our neighbors over for breakfast. They conveniently have a newborn baby that I got to snuggle with. Then we dropped Isabelle off to Steve's parent's house and our date began!

I kept asking all sorts of questions that he wouldn't answer except to remind me that I wasn't supposed to be asking questions.

First we go out for lunch. Well actually first we drove to the bowling alley which was insanely packed so we deiced to eat lunch first. Anyway he brought me to our favorite Chinese food place. They have excellent food, great service, and it is always really quiet and relaxing when we eat there. Oh and at lunch we talked about when we were going to try for baby #2 and it was earlier then I had expected which is ALWAYS a good thing!

Next, we find a different bowling alley and I bowl terrible and he bowls really stinkin great. We had lots of fun. There was a kids birthday party there and they shared some of their cake and ice cream with us! Yes! Free dessert!

Next, we stopped home and got warmer clothes on and then we went downtown to go ice skating. This was super duper fun! I haven't been ice skating in years! Steve is a pretty good ice skater so he is really fun to watch even though I secretly hope that he falls so I can laugh at him. Ice skating was great it was nice to get exercise while having fun. I ended up running into a little girl and falling on the ice we were both fine and Steve got to laugh at me.

The end of our date was perfect. We picked up Isabelle and we went to the movies. We saw Tangled. It was super cute. And this was Isabelle's FIRST movie. She loved it. Steve knew that I had been dying to take her to the movies but I was trying to wait until her 2nd birthday. It was really wonderful.

I had such a great time on my surprise date and I love my husband so much. I feel so loved and appreciated that he would take the time to think about me and what I want to do and plan a whole day for me. I am the luckiest girl in the world!

God is good

After lots of conversations and tears I am starting to come to terms with leaving my baby and beginning student teaching. Going from being a stay at home mom for two years to working full time 5 days a week will be a HUGE adjustment. But God is faithful and He is beginning to give me peace about it. I know that my daughter will be loved and well taken care of by everyone that will be watching her. And I even have FREE daycare during student teaching. I am so thankful for all of my friends and family who are chipping in to help me.

It is really cool to see God provide not only for financial needs but emotional needs too. He has provided so many people to encourage me and be real with me.

Another huge praise is that this Christmas we are not running all over the place like crazy. We simply have two Christmas parties to attend. One Christmas Eve and one Christmas afternoon. I am so excited to have a relaxed holiday where there will be plenty of time to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

I have a Toddler!

Over the past two years my sweet little Isabelle has shown moments of defiance, tantrums, independence but nothing compared to now. She is officially in her terrible twos. I have always been against that stage thinking things like: "it's not that bad you just need good parenting skills" or "isabelle won't be like that" or "ok she might have a few tantrums but it won't be that bad".

That is all crap! Parenting a toddler is SUPER hard even if you are a good parent, consistent, firm and loving. All day for the last 3 days  we have had constant meltdowns over silly things. Here are some examples:

Isabelle's friend James walks by her as she is playing. Apparently too close because she starts screaming "no Jay!!" and runs into the other room crying.

Isabelle asks me to read a book. I start reading but then start skipping lines and pages she starts screaming and runs to the corner.

Daddy leaves for class Isabelle throws herself on the ground and screams "daddy daddy" For the next 20 minutes anything I say or do is wrong and it is completely my fault that daddy had to go to class. Isabelle lays on the floor and screams while i finishing getting ready. We go to leave and she is still screaming but now she is made because she wants daddy to buckle her in daddy to drive. So since daddy isn't here to do those things she screams the entire car ride.

She asks for a book. I hand her a book. She says no so I put the book on the ground. she screams I give her back the book and she screams no and chucks it and cries for 2 minutes. Meanwhile I am still completely clueless as to why she is even crying.

She asks for a drink. I hand her her cup. She takes a sip and starts screaming apparently she wanted juice not milk.

All of the above instances are just a few from the last 24hours!!

She is a complete emotional grumpy mess. I am trying to stay consistent and encourage her to take a breath and use her words. We have been counting to ten to calm down and then I have her say what she wants in words.

Any tips or advice with how to cope with your toddler learning about frustration and becoming independent?

SNOW!!!

Although I really hate being cold, and I really hate driving in snow. I did take some time yesterday and play in the snow with Isabelle. She is sick and I probably shouldn't have taken her out in the cold but it was the first snow of the year I couldn't deprive her of that.

She loved the snow!

Vacation

Thanksgiving break has been wonderful. I had four days in a row that were absolutely wonderful. I kept telling my husband "today was a great day" or "today was a perfect day"

Wednesday- I had two of my wonderful sister in laws over and we had a baking extravaganza. We made adorable cupcakes that looked like apples. And an amazing triple chocolate mousse cake which is a new favorite of mine.Then I went to my in laws for my father in laws birthday and had dinner and visited.

Thursday- Was Thanksgiving and we woke up and joined some friends for coffee then went to church. Church had a testimonial service for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to hear everyone thanking God for the blessings in their lives. Then we of course went to both my famlies and Steve's families Thanksgivings and ate LOTS of food.

Friday- My sister and my sister in law and I went shopping from 5am-1pm it was awesome. We got great deals and hardly had to wait in line. Friday night I watched a movie with my husband and ate cheese cake and drank fake champagne.

But now it is Monday and I need to get back to reality and finish my homework. I only have two weeks left of school. So it is time to buckle down and get out of vacation mode.

So thankful for a relaxing and wonderful mini vacation.

Ridiculous!

So on Tuesday I did crazy house cleaning including sweeping and mopping my kitchen floor. This chore hardly ever gets done.

Well today one of the kids dropped their sippy cup and the lid fell off. And sticky apple juice went everywhere on my floor and kitchen rug. I had to do everything in my power to not scream at the kids and not start crying. How pathetic is that. I was going to cry over apple juice on my nice clean floor.

Also I spent 2 hours baking amazing peanut butter brownies from scratch and the whole middle is not cooked well enough and the outsides are crispy :-( I give up for today I am getting out of the kitchen!

Answered Prayers

I just got my student teaching placement for the Spring semester. I had been praying and praying to get something as close to Grand Rapids as possible. I was praying that I would be placed in Lakeview because that was the closest site that was offered (an hour away without snow on the ground). But God He is good and He answered my prayer with something even better then what I was praying for. I got placed at Greenville High School. Which is only a 40 minute drive and I could probably make it in 35 minutes. By being placed here it will save me 40 minutes of driving every day! What a blessing!

Also I cleaned my house! Well not the whole thing but it looks fantastic. Yesterday I prayed for extra energy and motivation. I ended up picking up, vacuuming,  and rearranging the play room. I even sorted through the toys in the toy room and packed some away.  Then I swept and mopped and empty the dining room it looks amazing. Then I moved on to the kitchen where I swept and mopped and my mother in law did my dishes. The kitchen still has a lot of clutter but at least when my kid eats something off the floor I can know it is only a day or two old.

As if all of that was not enough to make yesterday fantastic we also had a great dinner. I made a pork roast with carrots and potatoes  it was yummy. And to top it all off I had a ton of homework  and thought I would be up all night but I got it finished by 10:30 so that I still had a little time to spend with my husband before bed.

Thank you God for answered prayers and fantastic days!

Learning About Selfishness and Serving

I have been battling selfishness over the last few months. I am constantly thinking about poor me and having pity parties for myself. Thoughts like "I always take care of everybody else, but no one takes care or me", or "I'm too tired and overworked you do the dishes" or "I am always going out of my way for other people when is someone going to go out of their way to do something nice for me?" or "I've told him I want to go on a date or get a surprise and how it would mean so much. I even brainstormed ideas with him, and I have even been kind enough to remind him, frequently that i want a date/surprise but still nothing."

I have been so focused on me and my wants and needs that GENUINELY serving someone else is out of the question. Don't get me wrong I still have been doing people plenty of favors but with a terrible attitude and not with a heart of love.

So I start realizing all of this and then just start feeling awful for being so selfish and grumpy and cranky and needy. So I finally decide to try and get back on track with God maybe that will help. So I start trying to read my Bible and pray. Wow weirdest feeling ever. I read and nothing. I pray and feel nothing. I don't even remember how to do this. Do I even believe in God?

So I decide to tell my husband that I tried to have a devotion time today for the first time in months and I couldn't  it was weird and just nothing. He looked concerned and asked what we should do about it and I naturally said I don't know. And we dropped the subject. So that night we climb into bed and we pray together well he prayed and I listened. But I felt something! The next day at dinner Steve asked me to pray for our meal and I did and I felt even more of something.

So for the past few days I have been waking up early and spending time with my husband and with God and God is responding! It feels so good to feel his presence again and to lay my burdens on Him. God is starting to give me peace and clarity as to where this selfishness is coming from and how to combat it.

Where it is coming from? Well my flesh I suppose, but also being a stay at home mom of a toddler is a lot of work and no one else seems to notice. Apparently I pull of the "I've got it all together" act really well. I love my daughter so very much but it is draining all day everyday my needs are put last and her needs are put first. But God and I and my husband and I are talking about all of this and I feel so much better. I will beat this selfish desire!

As for combat God is telling me exactly what I don't want to hear of course. "Serve others whole heartedly. Meet your husband's needs and your daughter's needs. Exceed their expectations." But also what I do want to hear  "But don't do it alone call on me and I will give you perseverance and even rest. You are can't do this without me."

So last night I sit down and ask my husband "how can I love you better, how can I serve you better?" and he very honestly tells me "keep up on the housework" and my first reaction is that I want to scream and tell him he has no idea what it is like to be me and that I can't do it. I'm too busy. But I bit my tongue and took a deep breath and said "I'll try harder" And I will! I am excited to love my husband the way he needs to be loved even if i think it is the most annoying way to love someone. (p.s. my husband feels loved when I give him back massages and keep the house clean it is the worst love language ever!) But with Gods help and lots of mistakes I am going to become the best house cleaner and back massager in the WORLD!!!

Goodbye selfishness!

On Monday's my husband is gone from 6:40am-9:30pm for work and class. Well this morning he decides he is going to miss seeing Isabelle so he gets her up with him at 6:30am says good morning to her and puts her in bed with me. My exact words to him were "I am so mad at you right now!"

But it was a blessing in disguise because she kissed my cheeks and stroked my hair and said "Hi Mommy!" What a sweet baby!

Faith and Medicine Don't Mix Well

Isabelle is almost two and she is the best thing in the world. She is so tender hearted, wonderful, smiley, and happy. She brings me so much joy! I am sure most of my posts will be about my sweet sweet Isabelle. 

When Isabelle was 7 days old she was diagnosed with Congenital Hypothyroidism. It all happened very quickly and I was just on autopilot for a long time. Sometime I will post an entry that explains the journey we went on but for now I want to explain a more recent issue. 

I have recently realized that I have a lot of mixed emotions about Isabelle and her diagnosis and that she has to take medication everyday. I hate that she has to be on medication but at the same time I am thankful that the medication exists. I hate that I don't ask the doctors more questions but I don't know what to ask. The doctors say when she is 3 they will take her off meds and see if her thyroid works. So for the first 3 years of her life I give her medicine that she might not even need. But the doctors don't want to take any chances of taking her off meds because the risks are too great. So thus far in the process I take her to her appointments and do exactly what the doctor says, asking minimal questions and always hearing good reports. Then yesterday it dawns on me that I haven't been discussing other options with her doctor because I'm terrified. 

I am terrified because we have been believing and praying for healing for her since the beginning. What if I bug the doctors and get them to do an ultrasound or scan or something and then they tell me that there is nothing there. No thyroid. Then what? I don't want to hear that she has no thyroid or has a partial thyroid or has a displaced thyroid. I want to hear that my baby is just fine and her thyroid is perfect and fine and that we don't need medication. 

I feel like it is easier not knowing whether she has a thyroid or not. Sometimes I feel like I have been a terrible advocate for my child. Sometimes I feel like I am a doubting believer in Christ.  Sometimes I don't think about it and deal with it because it is too hard.