Perspective

My wonderful husband, Phillip, came across a website that will put it all in perspective for you. I know at some point and time, or like most of us, multiple times in our lives we feel like we don't have enough. There is always someone out there who is younger, richer, cooler, prettier, has a better car, has better behaved kids and the list goes on and on. We all get caught in the nasty cycle of "keeping up with the Jonse's." Well, when you're in the middle of that cycle go to this website and it'll bring you back to the real world and make you very thankful for what you have.

www.gobalrichlist.com

Let me know where you rank on the list.

I am a Loser!!!!

Alright, I know that sounds harsh, but wait until you hear what I did; actually it's what I DIDN"T do. I was being a good little wife and trying to do some spring-cleaning around the house when guess what I stumbled across?!?!? Savannah Grace's thank you notes from her birthday!!!!! I never sent them!!!! Now that might not sound too bad until you learn that her birthday was February 18th!!! So to everyone out there that came to her birthday and have been bitter for not receiving a thank you note, I am SOOOO sorry. I am going to get them in the mail this week. I promise!!! My motto since having 2 kids is, "Better late then never" right? Again I do send my most sincere apologies for being such a loser.

Great Post

Alright, ladies if you want some good reading check out this blog: http://allison291.vox.com/. It is the writings of a fellow mother and friend. Her post entitled, "The mother of all pet peeves" is wonderful! Every mom, and to-be-mom should read this. Let me know what your thoughts are about the post. Have a great day!

Random Mixture of Thoughts

Ok, I know that it's been awhile since I have posted but things have been crazy around here and I haven't sat down long enough to gather my thoughts and put them into a post. So here are the random thoughts and happenings in my life right now...

1. Phillip and I have started our Mid-Quarter Resolution to get into better shape. We have exercised together 3 days this week. We talked about doing this at the beginning of the year like we usually do when it is time to make New Year's resolution but like most of the people I know it didn't last long. However, as we began to look at our schedules for the upcoming summer we realized that something had to be done before our family trip to the beach at the end of May. More importantly, something has to be done before Phillip and I go to the beach for a week in July to celebrate our 8th anniversary! I definitely have some baby pounds to shed! Exercising is a lot more enjoyable when you have someone to exercise with! Not only are we doing something that benefits our bodies but it also benefits our marriage because we're spending time together and sharing a common interest.

2. Phillip and I just finished up our current small group. We went through "Intimate Encounters" at the church. (North Point Community Church) We loved it! It helped strengthen and grow our marriage more than anything else has. I would encourage every married couple to go through this study, whether you're engaged or have been married for 50 years, everyone has something to gain from this.

3. On that same topic, Phillip and I are praying about the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Kenya or Pakistan as facilitators of the "Intimate Encounters" material. This is huge for us on many different levels, so if you think about it please lift us up in your prayers.

4. Last Friday Phillip and I took on the daunting task of having the girl’s pictures done. Usually their pictures are done individually because it's easier to only try to get one to smile and look at the camera at a time, however it was time for Rylee's 9 month pics and SG's 3 year pics so instead of having to pay 2 sitting fees I scheduled it all together. Needless to say, it was a long day. We started out having some pics of them done together in their matching Easter dresses, then we moved into having Rylee's pics done in her Baby Dedication dress and finished up with SG's pics, half in her raincoat, goulashes and umbrella, and the other half in her ballet outfit. When we got finished I was sweating and I was a little discouraged because we had such a hard time getting Rylee to smile and an even harder time getting SG to have a "natural" smile instead of the cheesy smile she did every time we asked her to smile. Much to my amazement, and all of the credit to our photographer, when we started looking through them they turned out AWESOME!!! As soon as they get posted on the web I will share the link with you guys so you can check them out if you want to.

Ok, I will try to post on a more regular basis so my posts aren't so long. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Naive, Uninformed, Ignorant

Alright, this seems to be a touchy subject for a lot of people, however it's not something I have given much thought to. Is it because I don't care, or maybe I'm naive, uniformaed or ignorant, I'm not quite sure. I was at a jewelry show lastnight with a lot of first-time-moms and some moms who have be so for awhile now. I'm not sure how they got on the subject, but they started having a debate on whether to get your children vaccinated or not. Like I said earlier, I have never thought about it, I've just always had it done. This is where, I admit, I can be to trusting I guess. This is not an area of my expertice so I trust the doctors to tell me what is in the best interest of my child. When I was a child my parents had me vaccinated and I ate all of the regular old food from the grocery store, none of this organic stuff. I'm fine, so I do the same thing for my children. I'm not saying that organic food and not having your child vaccinated is bad or wrong, but what I am saying/asking is where did you get this information from? It is nothing I've heard about in my everyday life yet over the past 6 months all of a suddened so many people are talking about not having their children vaccinated and organic food has less hormones etc. Am I just naive? Am I not watching the same news as everybody else? Am I a bad mother for not knowing about all of these things? Will my children all of a sudden be autistic one day? The more I hear about these things the worse it makes me feel and the more paranoid I am. Right now my course of action is to continue on my steady course and leave all these paranoid feelings and questions in the Lord's hands. They are His children ultimately and I am doing what I know, think and believe is the best for them and leaving the rest of it up to God. However, I do think I may surf around on the internet to try and find some more information so that I am more informed on these issues. Do you have an opinion? I would love to hear it.

Tag, you're it!! (as soon as you get home)

PHILLIP COMES HOME TOMORROW!!!! Ok, I had to get that out of my system. This has been a long week and thankfully nothing has gone terribly wrong like it usually does when Phillip's gone, but I have to be honest with you guys, I'm worn out and my patience is about to snap!! Here's a rundown of our crazy week:

Monday: We went to my aunt's house for a visit after the girls naps and stayed there through dinner.
Tuesday: We stayed home all day and did nothing. (long day)
Wednesday: My friend Jen and her little girl Ella came over after naps and SG and Ella played outside for awhile and then we took them to Chick-Fil-A for dinner.
Thursday: I spent the day cleaning/straightening the house for the new babysitter. I had a jewelry show so I got to get out for the evening!! YIPPEE!!!
Today: Whirlwind shopping day getting last minute Easter stuff and trying to find winter parkas to go over the girls dresses since it's suppossed to be colder here for Easter than it was at Christmas! I had already bought them matching sleeveless Easter dresses with cute white matching sandals. Now I had to go back out and get pantyhose and white sweaters to wear over the dresses due tot he weather.
Tomorrow: Clean house and get everything beautified for my husband's return!

3 is worse than 2...

Ok, let me preface this blog by saying a few things:

1. Holly, I read your most recent blog and I'm sorry this is so long, but I think you'll find it amusing.

2. The following information is what I have found to be true in my own personal situation. If you have not reached this point in your parenting don't let it scare you, it may not be the same for you as it has been for me.

3. What am I referring to you ask? If you don't know me let me say that I am not referring to the number of children in your household because I have no idea what it is like to have 3 kids (one day I will hopefully). I am referring to the age of one particular little girl in my house.

4. Finally, a huge part of this problem comes from her genetic make-up. I mean, she comes by it honestly. You know what I mean if you know Phillip or me at all, so again, as mentioned in number 1 your child's personality could make this a totally different experience for you.

Ok, with all that said, 3 is so much worse than 2!!!! When Savannah Grace was 2 I thought, "If I can just make it through the 2's we'll be golden." Then when I took her to the doctor for a check-up he told me that it wasn't the Terrible Two's but it was the Terrible Three's!!! I thought, "You have got to be kidding me! I'm barely making it now and you're saying it's going to get worse? I'm going to blow my brains out!!" (fyi - that last statement about blowing my brains out was for dramatic effect, I don't have suicidal tendencies) So I prayed, "Lord please just get us through the 2's, it can't get worse than this." Yes it can! Now, like I said earlier, part of this has to do with her personality. SG (short for Savannah Grace) is independent, strong-willed and Irish, which can all be good things, however in this 3 year old whose is learning her boundaries, these qualities rear their ugly little heads. A friend of my husbands, Pastor Steven Furtick, put this beautifully in a blog about his little boy, Elijah. (http://www.stevenfurtick.com/?p=217) We are right there with you Steven and Holly!! So, in light of all this new found information about which age is worse than which, Phillip and I have adopted a new philosophy. We are stating that the Terrible Two's doesn't refer to the age, 2 years old, but in fact it refers to the two years between the ages of 1.5 and 3.5. With that said SG is now 3 years and 2 months old, I'm giving it 4 more months and if things don't improve drastically I might have a major meltdown and rejoin the working force!

So all you moms out there send in some comments. What has been true for you? Any advice or encouraging words? Any new discipline tactics that I might not know of? Am I the only one in this boat?