Waking Up On the Right Side of the Bed

I'm still under the weather. Dear Sweet Hubby is on his 4th day straight of working the closing shift (and 3 days were from 7-8...add his hour drive, and I feel like I'm living with a roommate instead of a husband). And LBB, is well, LBB. :-) Full spririted, energetic, demanding, and lovable. And awake this morning at 3:00 am.

Yep. 3 am. He had also woken up at 1:28 am and 2:15 am or so, and had a nice late bedtime of 9:30.

This mommy's exhausted.

But, somehow, as I sat here getting ready to go take a nap (which I really need to type faster and get to), I came across 2 or 3 different posts all on the same subject...

Starting your day off right.

Yes, God. I'm listening now.

See, I'm guilty of putting off taking care of myself. I'm guilty of grumbling as I roll out of bed at the crack of dawn as LBB pulls on my arm. I'm so guilty of skipping breakfast. Skipping lunch. And sneaking in a pepsi and a bag of Uncle Ray's Sour Cream and Onion chips sometime before I make dinner. And exercise...yeah...that doesn't happen often.

And as I read these different blog posts, it dawned on me that God was trying to tell me something.

What's that? If I don't take care of myself, God, my whole day will follow suit? If I wake up crabby and worn out, the rest of my day will feel crabby and worn out?

I need to start waking up before LBB. I need to eat better. I need to go to be before the nice late hour of midnight.

And then...on the days that I'm not feeling 100%, and family stops by to check on LBB and I, I won't feel ashamed...because let's face it, when you put off taking care of yourself, the house can look clean but gets messy way to fast. The things you are normally on top of fall to the wayside, and as you welcome people into your home, you notice the little things that sleep deprivation and grumpiness were hiding. :)

Now...I don't know if this is making a whole lot of sense (I am super tired after all), but I do know that God knew what was troubling me...and sent me right to the places I needed to go to bring those troubles to light. He is so very good that way, isn't He?

Drawing Cats

I asked LBB to draw a picture of Cat #2. He picked up the little writing book his Grandma got for him, grabbed his favorite color marker (yellow), and sat right in front of Cat #2. Then he opened up the book and started drawing. :) It was the sweetest thing, and he showed it to me when he was done. There is one leg and a round circle looking object, but I know just what he was working on. I love that little guy...he is so cute and shows such concentration when he is drawing. Each mark he makes is with extreme toddler precision.

He started using crayons when he was 4 months old, and he loved it from the start. Now he loves anything art related...clay, paint, markers, glue, crayons. You name it.

But as I write this, he is walking around with a yellow marker still. And he stopped...stared at the hallway wall and all it's nice white openess, and just as he lifted his arm, I said "We don't color on the wall." He slowly put his arm down, and walked toward me with a defeated look on his face. Ah. He cracks me up.

Murphy's Law

It's Murphy's Law that on one of the first super nice days in the past few months, I have to feel under the weather. I went to bed last night thinking about how excited I was to be able to have the windows open, candle burning, and just plain enjoying the day with LBB, and then I woke up. And I think a Smart Car must have run into me while I was sleeping. What was allergies turned into something worse. Boo.

And of course, while I was feeling under the weather, LBB is having an extreme toddler day. That's Murphy's Law too. :)

It must also be Murphy's Law that the Sunday I feel like crud is the one Sunday of the month that Dear Sweet Hubby is working.

I'm really hoping that Ol' Murphy doesn't feel the need to demonstrate his law anymore today...

*Side note: I'm still on the fence about yesterday's post...but I'm leaning towards making my blog public. Any more comments? I would greatly appreciate them. :)

I Need Your Opinion

So, I've been debating back and forth on making my blog a public blog so that anyone can read it. I did for a bit there, then got a little freaked out, and went back to have it set as private.

Now...you read my blog on a regular basis (right?)...would you say that it's pretty general and vague enough that we wouldn't be compromising our family's safety? I would love to have it public, but if it means that I would be putting my family's safety in jeopardy, then I definitely don't want to do it. I know there are people out there who blog, with children, that post their full names and location, and I know nothing has happened to them, but I wouldn't want to take a chance.

So, what do you think? PLEASE comment and let me know!!!

A Trip to the Wildlife Park

Today LBB and I got to go to the Wildlife Park with his GiGi and Auntie, and he had so much fun! He loved seeing all the animals, and it was so much fun watching him interact with them. And what a nice Wildlife Park! There were deer, chickens, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, llamas, a lynx, elk, a bobcat, racoons, foxes, and more that I am sure I am forgetting. :)

When we got there, we got a bag of animal feed. LBB lovingly fed a goose (which I think may have been his favorite...) and got to feed a deer. He watched the river otter, and then we made our way to the sheep area. He loved feeding them...he started off with just one, but they quickly became a group that obviously had a plan. Because just when we were least expecting it, the main sheep grabbed the feed bag out of my hand!!!! What a stinker! He dumped the food all over the place, and then ate the bag. Serious.

And my poor little LBB...it traumatized him! He stood there just screaming and crying, so his awesome GiGi made sure we rushed to get him another bag. :) It took him a while to get back in the hang of feeding the animals again...but right towards the end he regained his courage and fed one of the baby goats. It was so sweet.

I am so glad we got to go with my mom and sister! LBB had such a fun time and really got to see all the animals he is always learning about up close and personal (and in the case of the sheep, too personal!) There were so many sweet moments, but it's late...and I think that all the extra moments are best just held close to my heart. :) We'll definitely be going back sometime with Dear Sweet Hubby so he can watch our sweet LBB with the animals. :)

Happy September!!!

Wow. I can't believe it is September already. I think September is one of my favorite months because it is the beginning of fall in my opinion. We have one hot day (today...just perfectly timed for Dear Sweet Hubby's day off), but after this the days are supposed to get much cooler...20-30 degrees cooler, in fact. Yay for Autumn!!!!

Whenever September rolls around, I immediately start thinking about colorful leaves. Warm, comfy sweaters. Sleeping in a bed covered with blankets. Evenings when it gets dark earlier. A yummy candle burning and filling the house with nice Autumn scents. Sigh. I love Autumn. Hands down my favorite season. :)

I love all seasons, of course, especially since we live in a place where the season changes are so defined. And every season is a blast with LBB...but Autumn is easily my favorite! And this Autumn is sure to be a wonderful one. We have plans to go to a pumpkin patch. The apple orchard. Walks in the park. A trip to the firehouse. Hikes in the river valley. Halloween (LBB is going to be the cutest thing ever.) Thanksgiving. And just enjoying each wonderful Autumn day the Lord has blessed us with.

So, dear friends, Happy September! I hope that each day this month is filled with joy, fun, and just the right amount of relaxation!

Listening to My Mommy Instincts

I've posted several times before about how I could never get LBB to eat a bite of food.

And then...the other day...I had an epiphany.

{Insert bright lights and angelic singing here}
The epiphany occured as I watched LBB gulp down his whole milk (he loves to drink sippys...I have to bring a sippy of water EVERYWHERE we go, even if it's a quick trip to the store.) And I've read that if your toddler is filling up on liquds to take their sippy and give it to them after they've eaten, but that didn't work either. And then it dawned on me.

He's getting so full from whole milk...why don't I switch to our milk? I mean, sure, he's supposed to be on whole milk until he turns 2, but he's only a few months short. And in my opinion, while I know the argument that whole milk is higher in fat which is good for brain development is a strong one, I'd rather have him getting healthy fat and calories from actual foods.

In fact, he eats so little that he has been the same weight since he was 12 months old or so...and he's grown at least 3 inches. That's not good math.

So. I switched him to drinking the same milk as us on Saturday.

And since then, he's eaten like a champ. He ate french toast. He ate eggs. He ate hashbrowns. He ate fishsticks. He ate chicken nuggets. He ate stir fry chicken. He ate hot dogs.

In fact, one morning, he ate a whole bowl of oatmeal, a waffle, and a sippy of milk.

Insane, huh? And that's all on top of his normal love for fruit and snacks! I'm so impressed. He's happier. More energetic (which I did not think was a possibility, but it is.) And he is so willing to try new things now!

Before bed tonight, when he would usually be begging for water or the such, he pointed to the fridge and pulled out his plate from dinner that had the last of the hashbrown, corn, and fish stick, and sat on the couch and ate it.

I'm so glad he's eating...I was starting to majorly stress over it. But now I breathe a little sigh of relief each time I hand him his plate...and I actually look forward to cooking. :) Before it was a little depressing knowing that he would just turn his sweet little nose up at anything I made. :)

But even more so, I'm just glad I listened to my gut. It's hard to do in this day and age when every doctor insists that their way is the right way, but I have to remember, that deep down, I'm his Mommy and I know what is going on with him. That's pretty empowering.