I feel that sometimes being a mom is about surviving the day! And with two children under the age of 2, it seems like I have a lot of days like that. Some of you know how much of a struggle it's been to get Joshua to sleep at night. I've had so many nights of every 1 or 2 or 3 hour feedings. I can't remember the last time I slept for more than 3 hours. It wears me down a lot at times. So, I have days where it's all about making it to naptime, or bedtime (if naptime is a disaster).
Lately, however, I find myself wanting to do more than just survive the day. I want to make memories with my kids, and I want to end the day with them feeling like they were fully loved by me. I have found that the only way to have days like this is by asking God for them. I know I can't be Mary Poppins every day :), but I can do more than just survive. Recently, I've been asking God (especially after a rough night) for supernatural mom-powers. I got the idea from the leader of my "Mom-to-Mom" group. She prayed that prayer one day and it made complete sense to me! The only way to truly be involved in my children's day, fully engaged with an unnatural level of patience, is for God to give it to me. It's made such a difference. Being a mom is hard enough, but doing it by myself is nearly impossible. Sure, if my only goal is to get through the day, I can do that on my own. But, if my goal is bigger than that, if it is more about showing my babies how truly loved and special they are throughout the entire day, then I need God to walk with me and give me those "Supernatural powers" that only He can give.
It is really amazing what this has done for my level of patience, as well as my level of stress. I've also come to discover through this that God gave me my children so close together in age because He wanted me to truly need Him, and I do. My walk has gotten so much stronger and I grow closer to Him every day because I need Him to make me a better mom than I am on my own. I know that this doesn't mean that I won't have any more days where it's all about survival, but it means that on most days I can be more than just a walking zombie, I can be a godly mom.
As I've mentioned before, I'm reading a lot of different books right now, especially ones that are geared towards marriage and family. I want to share a book that I've recently read called "For Women Only" by Shaunti Feldhahn. It is an amazing book that has opened my eyes to the inner workings of men, in particular, my husband. This book answered so many questions I had about why Logan (and most other men) thinks or acts certain ways, for example: why he doesn't see the messy house that I see, or how confusing it is for him that I ask him to come home when he feels the strong need to work an extra hour, etc. I recommend the book to every woman, married or single. There's also "For Men Only" by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn, and it explains the inner workings of women to men. Logan read it and if you decide to buy one, you should go ahead and buy both. :) It's a very interesting read!
My little sister, Christelle, was here with us this past week. It was really awesome to have her. She was such a help and Carley loved to have her "Aunt Stelly" to play with. We went to the park, and had a shopping day, and we went down to San Antonio to eat lunch with Logan. We had a lot of fun with her and hope she enjoyed spending her Spring Break with us.
I brought Christelle back to Houston on Friday and was able to visit with some friends while I was in town. I met my two best friends from high school, Erika and Ashley, at Davids Bridal in Houston where we tried on bridesmaids dresses for Erika's wedding in July. I'm so excited for her!! It was a lot of fun to have that time with my friends and to celebrate this memorable time in Erika's life. I was also able to visit with my friend Dawn before I left town on Saturday. I brought the kids to her house and Carley just took to Dawn immediately. She was resting her head on Dawn's shoulder and was pretty much attached to her hip the entire time!! It was cute, and Dawn was great about it. Dawn also took some pictures of the kids, and I'm just hoping one or two of them turn out (Carley and Joshua were ready for a nap). If they do, I'll have to post them on here for everyone to see. Dawn took some pictures of Carley when she was about 5 months old and we have them hanging up in the house, they turned out great. So, I'm hopeful that we can get some of both of them.
(I should add that I came to home to a nice, clean house on Saturday. Logan spent a lot of his free time scrubbing the kitchen, sweeping and mopping floors, and organizing some of the "kiddie clutter" in our house. That's a pretty good husband!!!)
I'm posting some pictures from Averie's 5th (I can't believe it!!) birthday party. It was last Saturday in the park by my parents house. After her party we went back to Mom and Dad's and sang on her new karaoke machine, which was pretty funny. She's a sweet girl and I'm glad we were able to celebrate together.
it was fun hanging out with you too cindi! :)
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