Big Week For Josiah!

My little boy is growing up...all in one week he started waving, pulling himself up to stand, feeding himself a whole high chair full of puffs, and he got his first tooth! Happy 9 months Josiah!

My Thursday Thought

Lately I’ve been finding myself on a spiritual roller coaster in my life. One day I’m feeling encouraged and actually WANT to read my Bible and grow in faith and pray for others and show Jesus’ love. And then there are days where I feel like not caring, discouraged, alone, and frustrated with life. I used to journal a lot but, in the midst of motherhood, working full time and trying to physically take care of myself (like going to bed early or sleeping in) I just haven’t taken the time to do it. Getting into The Word daily has been a constant battle, which I know it is for everyone. So I’ve decided to use Thursday’s on my blog as a day to reflect on my week and what God has been teaching me. He’s doing a lot in my life right now and I’d really like to be able to share it with others. So, each Thursday (I’ll try my best…I promise!) you can check on here to see what sorts of things God is teaching me.

Lately God has really been teaching me about patience. Working in a child care center with 7 toddlers has been a big challenge for me. You put 7 two year olds together and you can learn the real meaning of the word “chaos.” You’ve got one kid screaming in the corner, another telling you they’ve got to go potty, 2 others fighting over toys, some who actually listen, and others who need your constant attention. By the end of the day I’m just drained. I get tired of saying “no” or “gentle hands” or “stop that” and putting kids in time out.

Now, here’s the weird part, I find patience to be really hard at work with 7 kids, but even when I’m home just with Josiah I struggle to be patient, and he’s just ONE kid. I guess there’s a whole new set of struggles that come with one baby, like having to spoon feed him when all I really want is to enjoy my own dinner (or to actually cook a decent meal instead of eating frozen pizza/food out of a bag or box since I have to make something quick). Or having to chase after him now that he’s getting into everything, wiping up spit up all the time, and especially getting up in the middle of the night when I’m dead tired from never getting a good night sleep. It all just builds up and builds up and eventually I just can’t take it anymore and I need a break.

Ok, now that I’ve realized that patience is a major struggle of mine, it’s time to repent of my impatience and make a new name for myself (Praise God for making us new again!). One thing I’ve started doing is putting post it notes of bible verses around the house. I’ve found these to be helpful in at least getting some encouragement from The Word every day, and my husband seems to appreciate them too! Here are some of the verses that have been up around the house lately:

“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” -Proverbs 16:24

“In the light of the King’s face there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring spring rain.” –Proverbs 16

“Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord…blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust IS the Lord…the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind, and even give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds…heal me O Lord and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are my Praise!” –Jeremiah 17

These verses have made me stop and think about my attitude and the workings between my heart and mind. In order to be patient I NEED to have pleasant words, I NEED to be refreshed by my God every day, and I NEED to trust in the Lord. My heart is deceitful and sick and the results of my impatience are never good. God is the only one who can heal me and save me from this struggle, and though it’s a constant battle I will fight against my flesh and the enemy to be a better mother, wife, caregiver, and friend.

Thanks be to God!

Binky Boy

Can you recall those days when the Binky would fall out of your baby's mouth and you would have to constantly run to them to stick it back in? And then remember how you would pray over and over again that they would just learn how to put it in themselves because it would make life SO MUCH easier for you AND for them? Well ladies and gentlemen, Josiah can now put his own Binky back in his mouth! WAHOO! I've been waiting anxiously for this milestone (if you could even call it a milestone). Lately Josiah has been throwing fits in his carseat and today he managed to put his own Binky in and fall asleep after throwing a fit in the car. I also like how in the middle of the night he's able to find his own Binky and put it in his mouth instead of screaming for mommy or daddy to come put it back in. That is, unless he's shoved it in between the wall or the crib or spit it out onto the floor. Then we DO have to get up and search for it in the dark. I've tried clipping it to him but then he just pulls the clip off, swings it around and hits himself in the face, which unfortunately then pulls the Binky out of his mouth. So, all in all, I'm VERY PLEASED with this new step to independence!

Children's Cold and Flu Relief

Josiah often gets runny noses. Probably because he is in day care where there are so many germs floating around. The past week he has had a very runny nose, yet thankfully no ear infection. He may also be teething which means lots of drool too. When Josiah was getting cold after cold after cold earlier this year our Chiropractor recommended Children's Cold and Flu Relief. It's a natural homeopathic medicine by NaturaBio that is GREAT for when that nose is on the run! What I love about this stuff is that 1) it's all natural, 2) it's a non-alcohol formula, 3) it doesn't have lots of awful medicine that you are pouring into your child's system, and 4) you can use it as much as you need! You can give it every 20 minutes until symptoms improve and then every 4 hours after that. It's awesome, and it works very fast. I have never had to give him more than 2 doses and typically by then his runny nose is gone. It's also good for sore throats, nausea, vomiting, sneezing, headache and body aches. This is one medicine that I will forever keep stocked in my cabinet, and if you find your little ones needing something like this often then I would definitely give it a try! It's the most comfortable I've felt about giving my child any sort of medicine in a long time!

I Despise Sleep Training!

So we are sleep training again. I decided that I HAVE to start getting more sleep and so does Josiah so the cry it out method begins again. My heart just breaks for him when he cries, which is probably why I've been so unsuccessful at sleep training him. Last night he woke up at 11:40 p.m. and cried for a whole hour! And it happened to be just as I was falling asleep so I really didn't get to bed till almost 1 a.m. and then the storms started so our weather radio was going off like crazy and waking me up! So, today we are sleep deprived, BUT it's 7 a.m. and Josiah is STILL sleeping, which is the latest he has slept in MONTHS! Hopefully only 1 or 2 more nights of crying it out.

Celebrating the 4th

The weekend of the 4th we took off to my parents house to relax and celebrate Independence Day. This was a much different 4th of July celebration for us because normally all of the family would be headed to the golf course where my dad worked for a pig roast and fireworks, but being that my dad doesn't work there anymore our schedule was wide open for whatever fun we wanted!

Saturday evening we relaxed with the family and ate some pizza. I was extremely disappointed with our pizza options: Chicken Alfredo and Spicy Italian Pizza. The Spicy Italian Pizza speaks for itself and if you know me and my gut then you know it did not go over well with me. And then there was the Chicken Alfredo Pizza, which was actually my choice to order. It was very plain and very white looking and it tasted like it looked...plain and white, and yes white has a flavor, just try this Chicken Alfredo Pizza and you'll know what I mean. It also had a powdery grit on top. Yum.

Sunday we headed to church and then spent the afternoon shopping. One thing I have learned about myself is that I am a very picky sales shopper. If I walk into a store and see a sign that says "60% off select items" but see no other sign defining which items are the "select items" on sale, then I will turn around and walk out. For me, the price has to either be posted on a sign right next to the item I want to buy or right on the tag. I walked in and then walked right out of both Gymboree and The Children's Place. However, I did buy about $70 worth of clothes that were on sale at Younkers. Josiah is now in 12 month clothes, and thankfully there is actually room to GROW into them. But I bet I'll be looking for 18 month clothes in a matter of months since he's growing so fast.

After shopping for a bit Andrew, Pops (my dad), my sister Rachel and myself headed to an I-Cubs game. I filled my stomach with even more junk and suffered for it later. If I wanted to order a fatty BBQ pork sandwich then I would have asked for a "fatty" BBQ pork sandwich. Well, I may not have asked for it specifically but I definitely got a side of "fat" with my sandwich, making my stomach gurgle and churn later. Then I decided to top it off with some old fashion nachos (you know, the cheese that comes out of some machine which probably has no trace of real cheese in it, plus a bag of chips). The game was actually really great! The I-Cubs played a great game, the weather was beautiful, I got a good view of the sunset on the downtown Des Moines skyline, and the fireworks were AWESOME! I love fireworks, one of my favorite parts of celebrating the 4th! We decided to make the I-Cubs game and fireworks a yearly tradition. I'm looking forward to taking Josiah to his first game next year.

Monday I got to sleep in since my mom was so wonderful and got up with Josiah. I woke up at 7:45 a.m. (yes, that is sleeping in to me! and it was awesome!) and took my merry time getting ready for the day. We headed to the parade a little late but found a shady spot to watch. I saw Brandon Routh (SUPERMAN) who was the grand marshal for the parade (I grew up in the same town as Superman). It was one of the better parades I've seen in my town in years. After relaxing a bit for the afternoon we headed to the park to check out the booths. I gave Josiah some bites of his very first snow cone! He loved it and I'm sure it felt good on his gums. I also played a round of Black Out BINGO. I lost, although I only had about 3 spots left on one of my cards!

All in all, the weekend was pretty good. I was grumpy at times because Josiah was teething most of the weekend and didn't always nap very well, which meant that mommy didn't get to nap either. At one point I started getting mad at everyone around me because I felt like no one was helping, when really everyone helped out quite a bit and I was just being a loser. So thanks family for dealing with me and helping out with Josiah!

Healthy

For the first time in FOREVER our family is actually healthy! Praise God! For a week now Josiah has not had an ear infection, a cold, or any other physical ailments. He's also been sleeping better too. Andrew and I may still be a little sleepy, but we also have not been sick (although I did find out I was allergic to my antibiotics for my UTI which is why I was achy all over and I broke out in hives). For the 4th this weekend we are at my parents house and we hope to catch up on some much needed sleep as well as some much needed alone time.

I've been doing lot of thinking lately about being a mommy and how much life has changed. In only 4 short months Josiah will be a year old! I can't believe how fast time flies! I remember when he was born and how hard the transition was. He had colic and reflux and slept horribly. Along the way he also had reoccurring ear infections. And then there's me, the mommy, who had milk supply issues and a really hard time adjusting to the lack of sleep. But now, things finally seem to have smoothed out and now I can't imagine our life without Josiah! May I also say that I can't wait until Josiah is a year old? Lots of people say that they love this baby stage but I am so anxious for him to be eating table food and taking only one nap in the afternoon and to have him walking so I don't have to carry him around all the time and to be able to go out to eat at a restaurant and take him to parks to play outside and do other fun activities. Andrew and I have had the "baby number 2" discussion and decided that we would wait a few years but that it will probably happen. It wasn't long ago that I was saying that maybe one child was enough since Josiah was such a hard baby, but maybe I'll give number 2 a try.

Some great things that are happening in our life:
a) Josiah has started "creeping" everywhere, not quite crawling but moving like a worm. The only problem with this is that with his reflux he throws up everywhere, plays in it, and then worms his way through it. I was smart and got a vinyl table cloth to use as his play mat so that when he throws up I can just wipe it up quick and not worry about it soaking through onto our rug.
b) We've started usingthe words "no no" and "danger!" a lot. Now that Josiah is creeping around he gets into everything. We decided that if Josiah is ever getting into something that he's not supposed to, like TV stuff, tables, or breakable things (and yes we have baby proofed as much as possible) we would say "danger!" and redirect him to his toys. Andrew and I are also starting to talk about what kind of discipline we want to use with him. Sometimes a "word" isn't enough to really teach your child that getting into certain things are not safe and is not OK. I'm not a supporter of spanking (especially at his young age) and I know of people who use little flicks on the wrist but I'm just not sure what age is appropriate to start that. At his age now the only thing that really seems appropriate is to redirect him. Any thoughts on that or what works for you?
c) Josiah's 2 front teeth are almost through and I am trying to work on some chunkier (is that even a word?) food with him. So far the only thing I've tried is mashing up a banana until it's chunky and spoon feeding him. I've thought about trying chunks of pears, peas, and carrots.
d) We have made a decision as far as whether or not to keep working full time where I am at or to clean houses part time and stay home. This fall I will be staying home part time and cleaning houses on the side. It's the best decision for our family and I'm so excited to be home more with Josiah, and to also know that he's in good hands when I am working. Now I just have the task of finding families to clean for!