Milestone

Shhhh....

We just reached a major milestone at my house.

Potty training? Nope.

Moving to the big girl bed? Nope.

Acceptance into Harvard Law at 2 years old? Well, not quite.

We just co-slept during a nap. I've dreamt of this day for a long, long time. I LOVE napping. M loves napping. I couldn't wait for the day when we could curl up together in my bed and take a lazy nap. Today was the perfect day to try it. She was tired from swimming this morning. The weather was thunder-y. She was "shooooo scared!" So I invited her to get her snugglies and take a nap with me.

It was delicious and sweet! Everything I could have hoped for! I don't intend for this to be an every day thing, but once in a while, as a special treat for both of us.

Phrase Friday

Another busy week has flown by. As I've been purging the house, I'm trying to purge our commitments. That is one of the hardest things for me to do. I love to be busy. I want to do lots of things. Next week M and I will be visiting my parents. When we return I'm vowing to dedicate 2-3 days each week at home (swimming doesn't count) with nothing to do but spend time together.

I'm sure there are hundreds of things I could write about today. Some include "oh, this ish my fravorite," "my can't watch (or do or eat) that," and "let me help you."

But one funny comment sticks out in my mind. We've had some afternoon showers around here lately. Wednesday's shower including some pretty good thundering and light-up-your world lightening which woke M up from her nap. I let her snuggle in my room while I purged, er, I mean cleaned up, some of the junk from our room.

When it was time to go to church, we were walking down the stairs when M said, "Mama, I can't go outside."
"Why?" I asked.
She held up her right foot and pointed to it. "My shoes don't want to get wet."

Sorry, kiddo. Shoes don't get a vote in this house!

Some other funny things that are happening:
--M is really beginning to relate experiences back to me. For example, our neighbor spoke to M through the glass door yesterday. M came running to tell me that the baby's mommy said, "Hello, Meryt!" At first I didn't understand what she was talking about, then I realized that our neighbor must have spoken to M as she was standing at our glass door. (We live in a townhouse and are connected to our next door neighbor.)

--M is beginning to sing! She's always loved music. When she was a baby, music often calmed her down when she was fussy or whiny. When she was a tiny infant, I would take her to the church service with me. Whenever we would sing a hymn, she would be perfectly still in my arms. For a few weeks, she's been singing children's songs like the ABC's, Jesus Loves Me, etc. Now she's singing along to her songs on her CD's or on the iPod. When there is a song she really likes she says, "Oh, this ish my fravorite!"

M is such a little sponge right now. I realize that as easy as she's picking up the positive messages that we give her (love, forgiveness, obedience), she could just as easily pick up negative things. I want to fill her with a strong foundation while she's so easily molded. As a parent, it is fascinating to watch her right now.

Got anything to share with us? Funny phrases? Parenting insight? Laughable moments? Shoes that have opinions in your house?

Randomness

You'll be relieved to know that I'm not an emotional basketcase today. I'm relieved to know that! I was sort of dreadful of waking up today because I didn't WANT to feel like I did yesterday. I want to feel peaceful.

So, today I don't exactly feel full of peace, but I am better.

Perhaps I feel better because:
1.) H took M to work with him this morning so I could go get a pedicure. Yes, my friends, my AWESOME husband took our daughter to work so I could have a morning off. (Okay, so he wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea and he has NO idea that I was tormented yesterday, but he did it anyway.)

2.) My toes are bright red and that makes me very happy.

3.) My house is clean. Yes, friends, you read that correctly. I, Natalie Benson, have a clean house. I've been decluttering and purging. H even cleaned out the laundry room and threw away tons of stuff. We're taking two huge loads of stuff to the Goodwill.

4.) We are getting a sprinkler system installed right now. No more hours spent watering the lawn. YEAH!

5.) M is down for a nap and I'm going to sew!

6.) One more thing: I've lost 17.2 lbs! My clothes are SORT OF getting too big. Not too big that I need new ones, but a little loose. My underpants are DEFINITELY getting too big and don't like to stay in their appropriate place. I hope to lose 2.8 more before my trip on Sunday, but I'm not holding out too much hope for that. Maybe another pound. I'm taking my running shoes so I can catch a little psuedo-jog with my youngest brother, Zach.

I get to do a little photo shoot tonight with my nephews at that sweet spot from MBS. I'm going to take M and do some more with her, too. We might even try to do a family shot tonight.

Change of Heart

I'm emotional today.

Okay, I admit that I started my cycle Saturday, so I'm sure some of this is a residual effect of that.

However, I've had a change of heart. Last week I had the realization that I was completely satisfied with having a family of three. Not quite the three I'd envisioned before, but I was fulfilled.

No more. Last night and today my heart ACHES to have another baby. I'm on my knees begging the Lord for the chance to be a mother again.

I feel whammied with this new ache. I wasn't prepared at all this time.

Last week at Bible Study, we listened to a sermon by John Piper on Sustaining Grace. I have many, many thoughts on that and hearing the sermon brought much comfort to me. I know the Lord could have prevented either miscarriage--He could have knit those babies in my womb. He chose not to. He purposed those sad events for His own glory, just as He purposed M for our family. As much as my heart aches today, I KNOW that God is good. He doesn't desire to bring me sadness and heartache. He desires to bring me closer to Him.

MBS: Dress Yourself

Help needed on the following pictures. PLEASE comment.

Can you see the white bridge at the upper righthand corner of this photo? I want to lighten the shadows so it is more obvious. I'm proud of myself that I "erased" a distracting cement bench.

I like this one pretty much like it is. I cropped it down a good bit so the rule of thirds are a little more obvious. Can you suggest any improvements? Maybe black and white? Desaturated?

I think these are my favorite EXCEPT that M seems just a tad blurry. I think I might have focused the fence and not her face. Also, the red leaf is COMPLETELY distracting in the color image. I tried to erase it, but any part of the aqua from her dress that I cloned wasn't quite the right color.

These pictures were taken at a local college, about 2 minutes from my house. Actually, it's the college from which I graduated. They were having a market Saturday morning. After visiting the vendors, M and I decided to do a little impromptu photo shoot. She was dressed TOO cute. She's becoming a little bit assertive about what she wants to wear. I made the dress, so I was thrilled when she wanted to wear it. She LOVES ponytails and wants two every day. The giraffe rain boots were her special touch to this outfit. It was just too cute to resist.

All of that to say, this is a place that is very accesible to use for a photo session. I love the white fence, the white bridge. The sun was a little bright, but it was 11:30 when we took these pictures. I might dress her up again this week and head over there early one morning.

Have any suggestions? Help me here...I'd LOVE some input. I really want to kick my pictures up a notch.

For other MBS, check out Mother May I?

Phrase Friday

Yikes! I can't believe I didn't post all week. I have SO much to write about. SO MUCH! But I don't have the time to write it and I'm sure you don't have the time or inclination to read it. So, I'm just going to fast forward to Phrase Friday.



M has been in rare form lately. We seem to be moving past the whole whining thing, but we still struggle during parts of our day. I'm finding this age very hard to discipline. We'd eased into a rather comfortable place where she knew the rules and knew the consequences. But no more. She's rapidly expanding her boundaries--she's taking risks and exerting her independence. I'm constantly searching for that place between "she knows the rules on this, thus needs to be disciplined" and "this is new for her, so I need to teach her (training)." I feel sort of out of sync as the mother. Yet, there are so many things I love about this age.



For example:

--I was working on the computer yesterday. M was playing with her baby, "baby sister," on the bed. I heard her saying, "sh, sh, sh, sh." When I turned around to check on her, she said, "SHHH, Mommy! Baby Sister is twying to sweep!" (trying to sleep)



Two minutes later, I heard pretend crying. I turned around to see what THAT was about, she promptly told me, "Baby sister is drinking milk from my tummy."





--H needed his flashlight the other evening, but couldn't find it. M and I were guilty of playing with it several weeks ago. He was quite aggrevated with us!

"M, WHERE IS MY FLASHLIGHT?"

"MY. DON'T. KNOW." (exaggerated pause between each word)



--As we got into the car after visiting a friend, "Mommy, OB will read me this book Friday." Too bad we won't see OB on Friday. And where in the world did she learn the word Friday? (OB is my father.)



--After getting in trouble with a friend, "M and N wake Baby M up. Mit Susie vewy angwy."



--As I was cleaning the table and M was eating dinner, she said, "Mommy, you say, YES SIR to me!"

MBS: 52 Card Pick-up

For other MBS, visit Tracey at Mother May I?