Today I was a single mother...

...of two.

Brylie and Brandon.

Brylie had one of her "days" where I am absolutely not allowed to put her down for anything.
Brandon woke up sick, went to work anyway, came home early from work, slept all day, work up to eat 3 bites of soup, and went back to bed for the night.
Oh, and he called me three times to come in a rub his back...poor guy.

Today was supposed to be my "get everything done that I haven't gotten done yet" day, but none of it got done.

Let me just say, that I do not know how single mothers do it. I couldn't even fold a load of laundry, much less clean the house, work, go to school, and care for everyone who needed caring for. I have much respect for those women.

So, I was standing in the middle of the living room, holding Brylie (who still would not let me put her down), and looking around at everything that didn't get done; and I was throwing a pity party for myself.

So, I strapped Brylie in the old stroller, kissed my hubby on the forehead, and went for a nice, long walk around the neighborhood to talk to God.

He made it better : )

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Later, I read a friend's blog. She's been trying for almost 2 years to get pregnant and just found out that she's 5 weeks along. I clicked back through some of her past blogs and just about lost it as every month had a blog that said, "No baby this month..."
I sure take some things for granted.

Mid-Year's Resolution

My dad told me this story and his new resolution based on it. I liked it so much that I've resolved the same...

My parents were visiting some friends' church in a different town this last Sunday.
The minister called all of the kids up to the front for the "children's Bible study" time, and apologized to them because he kept dabbing his chin with a kleenex. He told them that he had cut his chin earlier and hadn't been able to get it to stop bleeding.

One of the little kids piped up, "Did you ask Jesus to make it stop bleeding?"

The minister just smiled and shook his head. "No, I haven't done that yet."

Then he started his lesson.

My dad, sitting in the pew, had readied himself for a prayer for healing. He was surprised to see that minister just shake his head and continue on with the bible study.

That got him thinking...

Which got me thinking...

What did that teach those kids?

That it's nice to talk about taking our problems to Jesus, but we don't do that in real life? Or maybe we just take the big ones. Or the small ones.
Are we afraid that He might say "No"? And if He does, will that affect our faith in His ability to take care of us?

How often do we pray 'in theory?'

When someone says, "Can you please pray for me?" no one ever says, "Nope" or even, "Ooo, I'll try...if I remember." We smile, nod, and assure them that they will be in our prayers. But even those of us who hit our knees daily have forgotten at least one prayer promise to another person.

At least.

So, I've adopted my dad's new resolution:

When someone asks, "Can you please pray for me?" I will.

Right then and there.

Grace.

Brandon and I decided today that we needed to go look for a new place to live. As it turns out, our landlord does not love us as he should and when we signed the lease, he neglected to tell us that our new home would have no insulation, many leaks, and 30-year-old carpet.

Since we can't take a baby to live in the ghetto and nice apartments (including bills) are ridiculously high, we're staying here.

I'm trying to look on the bright side though.

There's a back yard for Gracie, it's very centrally-located, and it's cute.

That "cute" thing is what gets me. It definitely has some curb appeal.

Even if it does get us ginormous electric bills.

Hmm.

God's never let us down.

Speaking of which...

Last week, I was slightly bummed about my support with Chi Alpha ending this month. I'm staying with it because I love it, but now, we'll be getting by on God's grace.

I started sending out the old resume' and I found this job with Big Brothers Big Sisters that I knew I would love...only problem is they wanted me to work 32 hours a week.

Not going to happen.

What would I do with Brylie?

So, we told God it was His call. The next day I got a random call from the head of the Psych department offering me a graduate assistantship..... .....that I didn't apply for.

Thank you, Lord!

Garage Sale on the 4th

Well, Ashley and I got a hankerin' to have a garage sale. We told our husbands to get all of the old junk together and get it out in the yard, thinking this would be a great way to celebrate America's independence. And boy was it!

It was a long, hot, tiring day....but we raked in over $700 put together!

Then, just because we hadn't sweat enough for one day, we went to the church picnic to sweat a little more. It was great though! Brylie tried watermelon and loved it so much I think she might just like me to fill her bottle with watermelon juice from here on out.

Finally, we came home, got ready for bed, and it took all of 4 minutes of crying in the crib for her to fall asleep. Hooray! We've officially won the bedtime battle!

Another poop story...

The other day at church, Brylie was sitting on my lap, and she tooted really loudly. I didn't really think anything of it (even though I should have...we're trying new diapers). When I handed her back to Brandon, I noticed that there was a PUDDLE of poop on my dress and she was absolutely covered in it. Brandon had to carry her out of church superman style and I had to sop up the poop with wipes before I walked out with the diaper bag covering my dress. I'm glad I took an extra outfit for her that day. I wish there was enough room in that diaper bag for an extra outfit for me.
.....................
Brylie is officially a "crib sleeper" now! It's so nice to get to actually have the light on and talk while we get ready for bed. Yay!
She also had her first bites of real food yesterday. 5 bites of banana. What a big girl! I can't believe how quickly she's growing.
It really hits home when I see how little Addielynn is. I held her yesterday at the playdate and she felt like she weighed nothing! Then, I hold my big old baby and she seems huge!

Progress?

I think we might be doing a little better with the sleeping situation...
She's now sleeping in her crib - but that opens up a whole new can of worms as far as motherhood paranoias go. All of a sudden, my child is a "tummy sleeper." Believe me, I know the SIDS risks - I've read all about them. But it is what it is.
Oh, I don't put her on her tummy, but she manages to get there despite my best intentions. So, for the first few hours, I would go in and flip her back to her back. Finally, I gave up and came in to check my trusty parenting blogs. They all said that when a baby can flip to their stomach, they are typically strong enough to move their heads and breathe.
So, ok.
Whatever gets me my sleep.

Slumbering Setbacks

Well, after 5 days of "vacation" and 5 nights of a different sleeping situation, we are now back to square one.

Brylie simply cannot sleep in her own bed.

The problem is we spent all 5 of those nights sleeping in the same bed, snuggling and snacking whenever she felt like it.

Now, it's no good at all.

If there's one thing I've learned in the last 5 months, it's that there's more than one right way to do things. What works for some may not work for me, so I've refused to let myself get down because Brylie doesn't just conk out at 9 p.m. like "every other baby in the world." The mistake I made was reading a parenting blog that said, "Letting your baby 'cry it out' is telling her that no one cares about her. Eventually she'll give up, not because she's sleepy, but because she's given up all hope that her mommy will come for her."

Now, I know that letting Brylie cry for a few minutes isn't going to ruin her forever, but when she cries for 5 minutes and then just lies there staring pitifully at the ceiling, what's my first thought?

"Oh great, she's given up all hope that her mommy will come for her!"

Ughhhhh......

Even though I know that's a ridiculous concept and the world would be filled with way more crazy people if "crying it out" led to a future in an institution, I just can't do it anymore.

Maybe I'm weak.

I wish babies had a "sleep mode" button on their foreheads.

Hmm.