New Year's Resolutions? Not for me.

No, I'm not into New Year's Resolutions. But this year I want to really try to have a laid back attitude. Brady is already almost 7 months old and it has FLOWN by. I want to enjoy every minute of every day with him and not worry about if he doesn't take a nap that day, or if he's throwing a fit in the middle of a store, or if he's keeping me up at night. I want to try and not sweat the small things and really enjoy these moments I have with him. I want to make sure I take the time to teach him about Jesus. I want to be an example to him. God trusted me with HIS child. I want to be the mommy that God wants me to be to Brady. I pray God helps me with that and to try and forget the other "stuff".

2010...Changes

Many bloggers are doing a "2010 in review" type posts. I guess I'm doing something similar. I'm feeling a bit emotional at the moment. Maybe not the BEST time to write, but here goes.....

This time last year I was expecting my 2nd child. But unlike the first, this child I would get to hold and love and see grow. The first child is up in Heaven waiting for me and the rest of his/her family. When I look back at the person I was on December 31, 2009, I see a pregnant woman who had no idea what was in store for her. As the song goes...a baby changes everything! A year ago I was working full time and enjoyed the freedom of not having a baby on the hip. I was able to come and go...here or there. I enjoyed the extra cash to go and spend as I pleased. And yes, I tithed also. I had the pleasure of having the extra money to give to those in need or to gift to those that needed a little something special because they were having a hard time. Now, December 31, 2010, I am changed. I won't deny that is has been challenging...these changes. Having Brady in my life is wonderful. There are no GOOD words, really, to explain how being a mommy feels. On June 10, 2010 my life was forever changed. God knew the perfect time to bring that special little guy into my life. I would soon find out that God had an even greater plan for my life than expected.

Several weeks later I was given the option to quit my job and stay home with my son. It's hard for me to explain how big of a deal that just was. I had worked at the same job for 9 years. NINE years! I started at the Oil Company when I was 20 years old, single, going to college, and living in an apartment....oh and let me just add, no grey hairs. NOW, I quit when I'm 29 years old, married, with a son and a stepson, graduated from college and living in a nice little home.....and LOTS of grey hair. But, God had the PERFECT plan for my life. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Adjustments had to be made and still are. God is working on me, still. Thank goodness. Adjusting to not having the money to go get what I want is hard. What's that saying "money is the root of all evils"? Yeah, I hate it. I wish I didn't like having money so much. Just being honest. I think the internet plays a horrible part in my "wishing for this and that".

Ok, so I think I'm starting to lose myself here. Anyways, changes and adjustments are hard at times but God knows the perfect plans and He is changing me little by little. He is so wonderful and I could never thank Him enough for all He has done in my life, especially this year.

There are many around me who have not been as blessed as myself. They are struggling. My heart hurts for them. I want so badly to make everything better. But, it's not my job. If I were to make everything better then I would be interfering with God's plans. He is the one in control and He knows that these struggles and hard times are only allowing that person to grow and become....changed.

So to end this babbling blog post....I am going to say a prayer for all of you who read this. 2011 may be a wonderful, joyful year for you...OR it may bring hard times. But I want you to know that God is in control and He will always be there with you, in the good times and bad.

Happy New Year!

A Blessed Christmas

Well, Christmas is over and it’s time to pack the tree away. I thought I’d share some of our Christmas day with you.
The week started with a baby boy getting a pearly white tooth. You can barely see it but I placed an arrow so you could try. Poor baby. This was the making of a grouchy Christmas day.

Christmas Eve night we loaded up Logan and Brady to go see Christmas lights. Driving around to see Christmas lights has always been one of my favorite activities during the holiday season. Wes even took us to Starbucks so we could get some coffee and hot chocolate for Logan. So much fun! I can’t wait till Brady is old enough to enjoy the lights.
Christmas morning was so much fun watching the boys open their gifts. Since I am a stay at home mom, there were not as many gifts but as Logan said “It’s not about the presents…..but their a nice touch.” Ha! Gotta love him. We decided to get him one expensive gift. He is really into LEGO’s this year. He loved his gift. He wanted to go in his room right away to put it together. Of course, he had to wait till little brother opened his. Logan is at the stage where he loves to put on these goofy smiles for the camera. Lord, help me.

Here is Brady opening his gifts. He needed some help but he did rip into some of the paper.


And here he is with all his toys.

For lunch we headed over to my inlaws. That is when Brady decided to be a grumpy grump. I think it’s because of his tooth and also the lack of sleep he and I got the night before. Here is a picture we took as he was opening gifts right before he FINALLY decided to take a nap.

Haha! I can laugh about it now.
We had a great Christmas, despite the teething baby situation. I really feel so blessed this year to have him in my life. No, we may not be wealthy and can afford all the nice gifts for everyone but we have each other and we’re all healthy. That’s what matters. AND we have Jesus to thank!

I hope you all had a blessed Merry Christmas! It’s time for me to get off here and start taking the tree down.

From us to you, Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you all remember the reason we have Christmas…..Jesus!

Santa, baby

I must have been a really good girl this year because Santa brought my gift early this year!!! Remember when I made a post about my Christmas Wish List? If not, here’s the post. Well….Santa brought me this on Sunday….

YES!! Seriously!!!! Wooohooo! I’m so excited. I love it. Poor little Brady is probably about blind from the flash. I love how I can put the setting on “sports” and it takes several fast pictures. It doesn’t miss anything. Last night, Wes was behind me playing peek-a-boo making Brady laugh. Brady was seriously laughing out loud. I love when he does that. We were all three cracking up. Here are 3 pictures right in a row. I’m laughing at his expressions right now. First picture, Wes was hiding behind me. 2nd picture, Wes is jumping out from behind me. 3rd picture, Brady is cracking up.

I love my camera but not NEARLY as much as this little boy.

I’m sure you can only imagine how many pictures you will be seeing from now on. Get ready for picture overload. Ha! Thank you Santa….no really….thank you honey! I love you so much.

The Stockings Were Hung

A couple of weeks ago I wrote this post. Click here if you missed it. I was talking about Christmas decorations and how I had to make a new way to hang our stockings this year since we have a new addition to our family. I got the idea from Char over at Crap I’ve Made. She made her stocking hanger using a cabinet door she got really cheap at a home improvement store. Well, I knew I didn’t have any old cabinet doors left from our kitchen remodel. (Darn it! I knew I should have kept those for something!) And I didn’t want have time to go to Home Depot or Lowes. Then it hit me. I remembered Nicky over at Momma Gets Real had turned this….

into this! It’s an advent calendar.

Well, I tried to link you to her post. For some reason blogger won't let me link the specific post. If you want to see Nicky's post. Go to her blog and find her post called Operation Christmas DIY: Take 2.

Well, I looked all over the house wondering if there was something I could refurbish. Then I remembered I had bought a wall hanging at Ross that I had never hung. So here is my transformation! I’m so excited.

BEFORE

It had red hearts on it before I took a picture. I took those off. Sanded it. Spray painted it. Added some vinyl lettering. Bought green polka dotted knobs at Hobby Lobby. Wes screwed those in for me. Here is the finished product!

AFTER

And here it is hung up on the wall with our stockings. I love it!

So thank you Char and Nicky for inspiring me. I’m so happy with the final product. What do you think?

Christmas Cards

I was looking over at OhDeeDoh and found this post. They asked if you/I liked to send out Christmas Cards. My answer was definitely yes! I love Christmas cards. Last year I sent out a card announcing my pregnancy to some of my family and friends. It was SO fun! That was my way of telling everyone at the “same” time. Here’s the card I mailed. Some people didn’t even get what I was trying to tell them at first. Hilarious! I wrote a special message on the inside telling them how thankful to God I was. I kept one for Brady’s baby book.

The previous years I sent out picture cards. My FAVORITE! I love getting picture cards. I love to look at my family and friends and see how they might have changed….or what they’re wearing. I love to look at what people are wearing. So much fun. I hope they like getting my cards as much as I enjoy getting theirs.

BUT

This year I don’t think I’ll be sending out Christmas cards. I know! SOOOO sad! I was going to have Brady’s 6 month pictures taken this weekend and was hoping to get a good picture of him to make Christmas cards. Well, we’ve both come down with a cold so the pictures are postponed. AND I didn’t want to bug the photographer friend to hurry and send me a good picture to use. It’s just too last minute. I had our his outfit all picked out too. So cute!  We He was going to wear purple and gray. Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe I can come up with something. Really, I wanted the whole family to get our picture taken for the card. This is the first year with Brady and it was going to mean a whole lot to me. Wes was not going for it. He’s such a scrooge on stuff sometimes. He didn’t like he was going to have to wear gray and purple. Purple was the killer. So macho! Anyways, I can dream about our Christmas cards I guess. Here is one I liked on Etsy.

Isn’t it cute?! I love the little birdy. This card is courtesy of SweetLifeDesigns. Click on the name and you’ll go straight to her Etsy shop.

So how do you feel about Christmas cards? Are you sending them out? Are you a procrastinator like me, this year?