Motherhood Reminders

This blog post really spoke to me tonight. Being a Mommy is a lesson in selflessness, and it's not an easy lesson to learn. I have loved being a stay at home mom for the last 6 months, but it has truly been an adjustment. This "job" doesn't end at 5:00 every day. My sweet boys want attention every. single. minute of the day. Some days there's a little one at my feet even while I'm in the shower! I'm still trying to figure out how to get 30 minutes a day to myself just to get some exercise. There are many days where I think "If I could just have a break, have some ME time, I could do it all again tomorrow." Even though the moments of motherhood are truly sweet, there's an inner struggle for balance and personal time that I'm willing to bet most mom's have experienced. I'm too tired to have any grandiose answers right now, but reading this post tonight was like coming up for a breath of air on a day that felt a little more like drowning than swimming.

I'm thankful God's mercies are new every morning. I need His mercy and grace each and every day.

Growing Babies

This pic was taken back in October. They've done a lot of growing in just 4 months!

David loves to try and grab the spoon while I'm feeding him. This usually ends up in a big mess... :-)

Naptime?

Caleb was supposed to be napping. I walked in and found this scene and a cute little boy who was so happy with himself. Oh goodness.

I love these two little boys like crazy!

Monthly Reading Plan

his and her's reading lists (mine's on the right)

I have a confession to make. I love to read. I have ever since I can remember. I have vivid memories as a little kid hiding in the closet after I was supposed to be in bed and losing myself in great adventure stories. But I've found that life can often get busy (and I waste too much time online) and I'll find myself going months without reading a single book.

This is a problem for me because at least every other week, if not more often, I find another book that I really, really want to read. I would end up looking at our book shelves or perusing Amazon and thinking, "Man, I've been wanting to read that book for forever!" and not doing a whole lot about it.

So the last few years I've made a very loose reading list. This helps me a lot because rather than thinking "There's soooo many books I really want to read" and not knowing where to start, I actually have some direction and find myself making progress on my reading list. Also, if don't pick up a book for a few weeks, just a glance at the list reminds me how much I want to read them and helps me get back on track.

This year I've decided to split my list up by months. It's still pretty fluid, and I find myself adding another book to the list every few weeks or so. But it should give me a great starting point for my reading over this next year. A few of these are books I've wanted to read for YEARS and just never got around to it. This is the year!

I'm also excited to look back at the end of the year and see how many books I finished. I'm planning to do a monthly update of which books I read and which ones I'm hoping to read the next month.

So without further ado, here's my 2012 Reading List. Some are books we have on our shelves, some are ebooks on my Kindle, and a few are books I hope to purchase or borrow from our local library.

January
-The Hunger Games (Trilogy) by Suzanne Collins
-So You Want to Adopt... Now What? by Sara Dormon & Ruth Graham
-You Can Adopt by Susan Caughman & Isolde Motley
-Spurgeon by Arnold Dallimore (inspired by a conversation with Olivia Pugh and in honor of my oldest son, who is named after this "Prince of Preachers")

February
-Women's Ministry in the Local Church by J. Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt
-Radical by David Platt (reading with Stephen)
-One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (love her blog!)
-The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine (I follow her blog & won book from a giveaway!)

March
-Word Filled Families by John Barnett (reading with Stephen)
-The Variorum Walden by Henry David Thoreau

April
-The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever (reading with Stephen)
-Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus

May
-John Owen The Man & His Theology by Robert W. Oliver, etc. (in honor of my youngest son's first bday. He was named after Owen, "The Great Doer")
-Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

June
-Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell
-Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

July
-Heaven by Randy Alcorn

August
-Love That Lasts by Gary & Betsy Ricucci (our wedding anniversary is Sept 1!)
-Orphanology by Tony Merida

September
-Expository Listening by Ken Ramey

October
-Twelve Ordinary Women by John MacArthur

November
-Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

December
-A Love That Multiplies by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar

I don't know if anyone still reads this little blog, but if you do, I'd love to know if you have any books you're hoping to read this year!

Sweet Brothers

I loved watching Caleb love on his younger brother tonight. David was lying on the floor making baby talk, and Caleb came and cuddled up next to him. Then he sat up and held David's hand for a minute. Such a sweet big brother.

Book Review: A Place To Belong

A Place To Belong
By Lisa Troyer

Let me start by saying that I love small groups. I believe that meeting with a specific group of believers to study God's word, build relationships, and encourage one another in our walk with Christ is an especially beneficial practice in the Christian's life. Some of my greatest growth as a believer has happened within the small group setting. We were created to live in close community with one another, which is becoming more and more difficult in our culture today. I found A Place To Belong to be a very encouraging reminder of the importance of finding that small group of believers with which you can be real and grow closer to God.

A Place To Belong is a great book addressing the importance and value of small group relationships among women. I found the book to be both an easy, enjoyable read and a very compelling exhortation to find women around me to be real with and to encourage/receive encouragement from. Troyer does an excellent job of combining personal stories and biblical examples to keep the book interesting and relatable.

A Place to Belong addresses 5 components of small group relationships: Acceptance, Authenticity, Affirmation, Accountability, and Action. It also includes some great small group resources such as Personal Reflection Questions at the end of each section, a very good step-by-step guide to beginning a small group and material to use within that group, a year long Bible reading plan, and more. Overall, I thought it was a great read and a great resource for ladies starting or participating in a small group.

This book was given to me for free by The B&B Media Group in exchange for my honest review.

On the Go

We've been busy! We went for a visit to Kansas (Mom - I need to get pictures from you).

Auntie Sara with baby David (5 months old)


David took baths in the sink


Caleb saw lots of farm animals, had his first pony ride at Grandma Vicky's farm, and had his own camera crew waiting to capture his every movement on film.


Then we went with our church's senior adults to the North Georgia Apple Country!


And next we had a Hayride, Hot Dog, and S'more Roast with the youth group.




Caleb's first hayride. He LOVED it!


And the holiday season has barely just begun. More fun is just around the corner!

Saga of the Big Boy Bed

Whew, what a week it's been. I feel like I'm back into the newborn days of waking every few hrs during the night to take care of a little one. I just got out of that stage about ONE month ago...what was I thinking?!?

We moved Caleb to a toddler bed at the beginning of the week, and it's been a challenge for all of us. Let me just say that normally I've read every article about how to do something and have decided the best course of action and exactly how we'll proceed. In this instance, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING when I decided, "Hey, let's move Caleb into his toddler bed tonight." I figured we'd show Caleb his new bed, tell him it was time to go night-night, put him in it, and then see what happens from there.

HA.

HA-HA.

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA. I know mothers everywhere are either shaking their heads in shame at me or just laughing outright.

The good news is Caleb loves his new bed, and when I tried to move him back to his crib the very first night (I was already having second thoughts just an hour into bedtime) he let me know very clearly (a.k.a. through crying, screaming, and pointing) that he wanted to sleep in that big boy bed. The problem was and continues to be that he does not want to sleep in that bed alone and will not stay there if Mommy is not in it with him.

Apparently moving Caleb into a new bed has coincided directly with the "I need Mommy at my side at every moment of every day" phase. So as long as I'm laying in the very small toddler bed WITH Caleb, he's fine. But as soon as I get up, he's up with me. I've tried sitting at the end of the bed, sitting in the chair in his room, sitting on the floor in the doorway, standing out in the hallway, and sitting on the couch in the living room hoping that maybe he would stay in his bed if I stayed in that one location long enough. I especially had hopes that the last one would be the magic location. After HOURS of both me and Stephen telling Caleb to get back in bed, along with numerous attempts at reasoning, disciplining, and pleading, apparently the only magic location is laying in that very small toddler bed with Caleb.

So that's what we've come to right now because, hey, it works. Thankfully, once he falls soundly asleep I can sneak out of his room and leave him be. But he has woken up at least twice every night so far and come calling for "Mama. Mama. Mama." Usually the first time I'll put him back in his bed and sit on the end of it for about 30 minutes with my head in my hands nodding off every few seconds until he's fast asleep again (don't even think about getting up before he's zonked out...it will only result in him getting up with you and another 30 minutes of sitting there). So then after I've gotten back in my own bed and slept for maybe an hour, here he comes again.

I'll confess, at this point I've been letting him get in bed with Stephen and me. I know that has the potential to form bad habits, but at this point I'm just hoping to get a LITTLE uninterrupted sleep. I haven't even mentioned the 4 month old sleeping in the same room as Caleb. He sleeps through the night, but has a tendency to get up super early in the morning (this morning it was 5:00am). So that doesn't leave Mama with much time to sleep. Now can you sympathize with me?

Stephen has been helping with all of this and hasn't gotten much sleep either, but unfortunately this is a Mama phase and not a Daddy phase. When Stephen goes to lay down with Caleb, Caleb just repeats "Mama" over and over. So while he makes a valiant attempt to be helpful, it ends up being Mommy getting up time and again.

Its amazing how just a week can feel so long. I do have a plan of action in mind to help Caleb get used to falling asleep and staying in his big boy bed alone. You better believe after that first night I quickly googled "transitioning to a toddler bed." But I'm thinking this is going to take some time and a whole lot of patience. And I'm trying to keep in mind the sweetness of my growing boy wanting his mommy close by his side and cherishing little moments of laying in bed listening to him babble while he winds down to sleep. Tonight he whispered over and over "Mama. Da-da. David." Melt my heart. I know these long sleepless nights won't last forever...