The Countdown to a New Normal

There are two weeks left, fourteen days until my family's life changes. Until we have to adjust to a new version of normal. Until I walk into room 417 and greet all 60 of my bright eyed nine and ten year olds. Until my days are broken down to the minute. Until there is study hall. Until there is lunch duty, tutoring, field trips, fire drills, HW, emails, report cards, 60 ipads, faulty Wifi...

I know I am called to teaching. I know I am "built" to serve others, to be a pleaser. A servant's heart is what I desire.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  Phillipians 2:1-4

There are so many uncertainties and anxieties I have about returning to work. The baby is still not a champ at sleeping. On average, she wakes up at least twice between the hours of 10pm and 5am. That leaves me with about on average 5 hours of interrupted sleep. I function best on a good solid 8 hours. When I am tired I am cranky, irritable, emotional, impatient, and irrational. I do not want to be this when I go back to the J.O.B.

Instead I want to have the heart of a servant. When I see how Evie enjoys school and adores her teachers, I am incredibly thankful for all the people who pour out their hearts not only to my little girl, but to so many other boys and girls. When I see Evie's excitement, I am reminded that I too, have other people's children. I want to ignite a light in their eyes. I want them to have a love of school (as much as a 4th grader can)! This is a very serious responsibility to me. I hold very high expectations for myself. I want to "measure up" to the parents, to the children, to my principal, to my coworkers.

At the same time, I want to pour my heart into serving Jesus, into being the wife I need to be, into being the mommy I am called to be. I am completely overwhelmed with the expectations. I don't want to do a mediocre job on anything. Is there enough of me?

This is where I know that "I" can't do it all. I can't be the super hero Christian, wife, mom, and teacher. That's right, it's not ME giving myself the power to do stuff. Christ will empower me with the vision and stamina I will need. He will give me the focus. He will give me the comfort. He will give me the courage. He WILL! I must LISTEN and be FOCUSED on HIM to survive this new phase of my life. Will it be easy, no. Will it be hard, yes. Will I fall, yes. Will I get back up? YES!

Some days...

• I will cry for my life to slow down
• my alarm won't go off
• the dog will pee in the house
• the baby will be up all night
• Judd will work late
• both kids will be sick
• I'll forget my laptap at home
• my patience will be short
• my students will be wired with energy
• i'll have a difficult email
• baby will poop on me as I walk out the door
• and on and on and on....

Some days and hopefully most!
I will find the complete JOY that Jesus puts in my life. I will CHOOSE to see the grace and perseverance he is shaping inside and around my life. My heart will burst with gratitude for his loving kindness.

Give thanks in all circumstances. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philipians 4:13

Four Months Old

Sweet Katy girl is 4 months old! A lot has happened in this past month! Katy continues to laugh and smile. She tries to talk by making different squealing and cooing noises. She loves watching her sister. Catching a glimpse of mommy calms her down instantly and makes her smile. She likes to play in the exersaucer and bounce-a-roo. She can roll from stomach to back and back to stomach. Everything goes straight into her mouth. She likes sucking on blankets and chews on teething toys. She can sit up with support, too! She is a pro at drinking bottles. Her sleep habits can get better. She has been going from two to fives hours at night. I broke down in desperation and gave her a 4 ounce bottle of formula for her last feeding of the night. It seems to be helping her go longer at night. I have no intentions of weaning her. That one bottle of formula is enough. Hopefully, we can stop using it when her sleep habits are better developed. Katy is a smily lovely baby girl!

And for the drum roll....

Weight: 14 pounds 2 ounces (50th percentile)

Height: 25.5 inches (85th percentile)

I have another long and lean baby girl!

A Week of Firsts

Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, Evie started the first day of her last year of preschool! I am so thankful I got to send her off on her first day of Pre-K. She was so excited to get started! She has a couple of familiar faces from last year in her class. The teacher is on maternity leave and will return right about when I return to work. The neat part is that her teacher has children at my school, so we may cross paths when I am at work! When I picked up Evie from her first day, she already seemed older. She was explaining the class rules to me and that she got to go to science discovery class. Every time the teacher wanted them to go to a new table of "toys" she clapped her hands. During morning carpet time, Evie got to tell the weather. By the end of they year I'm sure I will be amazed by how much she will have matured. It's hard to believe that in a year, Evie will be riding to ELEMENTARY school with me!

sunflower garden at Evie's school

They are several raised beds that the kids help maintain! So cool.

 Today Evie, Katy and I were in Evie's room. I put Katy on the floor on her back while I helped Evie clean her room. I stepped out for a second to put away laundry in Katy's room across the hall. I returned to see my baby on her tummy! For weeks, she has been so close to turning over. She would get her hips and stomach over, but one of her arms would always get pinned underneath, and she'd flop back over onto her back. Well, today she rolled over all the way and I didn't see it happen! Too funny. She can also inch her way across the floor by army crawling. I have a feeling this little girl is going to be on the move faster than I think. She has her big sister to follow.

Such a sweet face. All I have are some blurry cell phone pics to show for her "first" roll over.

She's doing the "super man" as we call it in boot camp.

Maybe sometime soon I can write a post about a FIRST time for sleeping through the night.... Don't get your hopes up, because we aren't even close. Haha!

The Little Mermaid Birthday Party

To celebrate Evie's 4th birthday, we had a Little Mermaid pool party. That was not the original plan, but in a week, we made it happen! It was a beautiful August day. The high reached only about 85 degrees! It was gorgeous. I didn't feel bad about keeping Katy outside for all the excitement. I put together the decorations thanks to ideas from Pinterest. Grandma Deb even mailed us some REAL sand and shells. 

3 Months

That smile just melts my heart EVERY time!

This three month old wants to be in the middle of everything! She has great neck control and his doing mini sit ups! She wants to sit on her own SO bad. If she is held in a cradle position or faced away from the action, she lets out a cry to get herself turned around. She wants to watch what we are doing. When laying on her back, Katy rolls over halfway, content with sucking on her hands. This girl LOVES sucking on any part of her hand, whether it is some fingers, a thumb, or her entire fist! Ceiling fans and the TV intrigue her. She despises riding in her carseat, unless she is pretty tired, then she'll fall asleep. If she is awake, she wants OUT of that carseat. I love how she is so inquisitive and watchful. It is so neat to see her personality start to emerge already!

Beach Birthday

We celebrated Evie's 4th birthday at Ft. DeSoto Park. We had a picnic lunch, birthday cake, and a great time playing down at the beach! The location was perfect. We ate lunch under a pavilion. Then we headed to the beach for a while. Then the kids played at the playground and on the swings. It was perfect! I love Ft. DeSoto!

all the girls match

(the cake melted a little bit)

Fun times before we had to leave... and say good bye.

everyone piled in Grandma Deb's bed!

matching outfits again!