Rough Days

We have all had days go wrong. Days where nothing seems to go as planned and you can't seem to get anything on your to do list finished. How many of us have had days in a row like this? Or weeks?

That's how I feel right now. That even though I have had weeks off from nanny-ing, I haven't been able to accomplish much at all. One thing after another seems to happen to throw off achieving a sense of "normal". Visits from grandparents and going to visit the other grandparents was fun, but traveling is always tiring. Melody discovered how to throw HUGE fits (I would almost call them temper tantrums.) Stay-cation with Daddy at home was awesome, but again- not the usual routine. Melody wound up sick with a cold/ear infection, then we discovered she was allergic to amoxycillin. Then we had 16 month check up and shots that made her feel bad. Add to that a UTI on my part, then add to that an allergy to sulpha drugs. That is our July.

The last two days I thought, "This week we will get to relax. The last week of July at least can be more normal." Well... not quite. Because of all the "disruptions" in our normal life, Melody has gotten away with everything from not napping, to napping twice in one day, to having Mommy rock her to sleep. Then yesterday and today she has only had 45 minute naps (not nearly long enough for mommy!) and today she boycotted falling asleep in the first place. Crying for 45 minutes before she decided to sleep. Then of course, the lack of napping leads to lots of crankiness and fit throwing.

Here is where I fall short. When Melody goes nuts, I tend to go nuts with her. When she cries to get her way, I want to cry too. I think I take the ups and downs as a mother a little personally, feeling responsible when she does well and when she does something like throw herself on the ground screaming and pounding the floor with her fists because I took a toy away from her.

So I am taking a moment to take a deep breath right now. Melody is happily playing behind me. She found a napkin and is proceeding to scrub the floor, a box, anything around her actually. (I am sort of inspired by how much joy she seems to find in 'cleaning'- haha!) Our day is not ruined from a rough early afternoon and there is strength and peace available to me if I will reach out for it.

What do you do to take control of your emotions on a crazy day?

Lord, help me have the maturity to move on from the rough few days we have had and embrace a new start. "The old has gone, the new has come. " Lord, renew me. Make my spirit strong and help me have a sense of humor when things get a little crazy. I receive your grace in my own shortcomings. Thank you for never leaving me, even when I want to pull my hair out.

Personal Triumph!

This morning before I got in the shower, I decided to step on a scale. Besides not eating sugary treats, I haven't done much else to be trying to lose weight, but I also hadn't weighed myself in awhile. I actually thought I might be gaining a little back after losing so much before. (Remember when I lost 9 lbs here?) Imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale and saw that I am only 4lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight! That means I have lost 12 lbs since cutting out sugary treats. Oh sugar, how I DO NOT miss you! :)

I know Melody is 16 months now and I am still working on losing this weight, but the exciting thing is that I know I can do it. I know that I can lose 4 lbs. 4 lbs is nothing! I can walk once a week and lose 4 lbs! I'm just going to repeat it over and over to myself now in desbelief- only 4 lbs left! only 4lbs left!

Big smiles from me today:-D
Love,
Rachel

Putting our Heads Together

I don't know if you have noticed, but I have been adding more blogs to "my favorite blogs" list on the side bar. This week I have been reading a lot over on Chronicles of a Babywise Mom where she hosted a "Reader Blog Day". Basically, this means that readers got to post their own blogs and do a little self promotion!

I found a couple of new blogs this way, from moms who are much more organized than I am. For awhile now when I have been reading blogs, I often walk (click?) away feeling a little bit like I am not talented. All of these things people do (like YHL and Katie Bower) is awesome, but I am just not as handy. Then as I stumbled across a new-to-me organizing blog, I started to realize how thankful I am that there are people out there in the world using their strengths to help others- particularly the likes of me- so I can learn new things and be a better wife/mom to my family.

I am so thankful that Valerie Plowman is out there helping me focus on raising my daughter in a God-honoring way and that Katie Bower is out there keeping it real, reminding me to stop pretending everything is okay all the time and just be myself. I am also thankful for Mom Life Today and Moms of Faith who help me focus on Christ in the middle of my days.

What an awesome realization to see that each person with their own expertise, when offered to others freely, makes us all stronger and better at what we do! I am reminded to take the time to see the uniqueness in others so that when we come together we are truly completing the body of Christ, working as a family to fulfill God's purposes in our lives.

Loving sharing with you,
Rachel

The Sneaky Chef

If you have talked to me for very long about Melody, you may have heard me mention that my sweet little girl does not like fruit. I don't think I have ever seen a child turn up her nose at bananas the way she does! She loves vegetables (especially if they are in some kind of soup or sauce) but the texture of fruit makes her spit it out every time. Up till now I have been feeding her jars of baby food to make sure she gets some apples, bananas and berries in her (they are so good for you!), but recently she has been a little finicky about whether she will eat baby food. I feel like the clock is starting to tick on how much longer she will eat food that I have to spoon feed to her, so I have to figure out how to get this baby to eat some fruit!

One of my favorite books that my friend Suzie used to cook recipes from is "the Sneaky Chef". I don't have the book, but the whole concept is that you hide good-for-you-foods into the foods your child likes to eat. Here is where I had a proud moment of creativity yesterday. Melody LOVES cheese. Like she would eat nothing but cheese all day long. So I decided to cut up part of an apple into little minced pieces and put it in a grilled cheese sandwich- it worked! Meldoy finally got some apple into her that wasn't pureed! (I tried a bite of the sandwich and you couldn't taste the apple at all). I have to say I was proud of myself and started thinking about how I could add fruits into other foods (banana pankcakes anyone?). Any (easy) suggestions? :)

So who's dying to see more pics of Melody? :) Here are some of our summer highlights.


playing in the sprinklers with daddy

playing with spices in the cabinet








at the doctor's office for our first ear infection :(


















My favorite summer outfit on Melody so far!


Celebrating Daddy's 28th Birthday at Chipotle!



What have you been doing this summer? How do you put good- for- you- foods into your baby's diet? Does your child get ear infections?

Miss you all!

Love, Rachel