Ugh..allergies...and parenting

Ok, so I looooovveeee springtime...really I do! I love everything blooming and all the green and bright colors that emerge out of our world that just shortly before was so dead and bland...but....I could so do without the allergies! At least, I am pretty sure that is what I am suffering through right now. I was not feeling so great before work on Saturday and thought maybe I was getting sick but then I thought maybe it was just a itchy throat and eyes from being out in the yard the past few days. So, I went to work and was a little grumpy, had a not so great shift, and though I made it through the night, I did NOT feel good when I got home. We had planned on going to church like normal because I really was wanting to hear the sermon from the guest speaker (more about that shortly), but all I felt like doing was crawling into bed, so that is exactly what I did, hoping I would wake up feeling better. Yeah, that didn't happen! Gerrod came in to ask me something while I was sleeping and I tried to answer, but I had no voice...I sounded like a frog! So, when I got up to get ready for work last night, I thought maybe I would only be able to make it through the first four hours and then have to go home, but I stopped by Walmart and got some meds and kleenex to take with me, and although I kinda sounded like a man all night, I made it through my shift. I am sure my bank account will appreciate me later! I am still not feeling excellent, but Sudafed and Puffs Plus are my friend, as I sit here with a pile of tissues on the desk in front of me. I am hoping Abi will decide it is naptime soon!


So, I don't normally work Saturdays even, because it is so important to me that I am able to go to church on Sunday mornings, so it was a rarity that I even worked Saturday night, but I had a great reason. We had a family seminar going on at church this weekend and Saturday morning was geared towards parenting. I was originally supposed to work on Friday evening, but didn't want to sleep through the seminar, so I changed to Saturday. Anyways, the parenting sessions were excellent! The first one was geared towards how to parent each child individually and according to their own personality, since we all know children are not all the same. The next session was about not sparing the rod and learning how to effectively build relationships and effectively discipline children. Lots of examples from Proverbs were used and just in the short session, so many verses were pointed out about parenting, that I need to start studying Proverbs a little deeper to get an even better understanding about what God expects out of us as parents. The last session was geared more towards raising teens and how to not grow apart from them, but how to stay close to them. Although, we are very far away from raising a teen, it was still great information, and Gerrod could see where it could be applied in his teaching.


As I sat there listening, I could not help but be a little frightened for Abi. I know the struggles and challenges I faced growing up and as a teenager and they are only getting worse as our world grows farther away from God and has less Godly authority figures in place that are setting the standards our world lives by and approves. I only hope and pray that God will keep her safe and allow Gerrod and I to teach and be examples of how He wants us to live, no matter what the world is telling her is right!


At church Sunday morning and night, there were also classes and sermons on family and marriage, which I REALLY wanted to hear, but since I wasn't feeling well and had to work, I missed out on all of them...I am hoping they recorded them so maybe I can still listen to them. Gerrod and Abi tried to attend evening services, but Abi didn't cooperate so well with that, so they only made it halfway through. She can't help it, short attention span lol!


Anyways, off to try to get the little one to sleep!


Read Proverbs today..there's good stuff in there!

The Little Things

Just got home from work this morning after meeting up with Gerrod at his school to do the baby exchange thing. He was so proud when I talked to him on my way there to have me see her because he had dressed her this morning (he usually just takes her in whatever sleeper she is wearing from that night before). So, when he dresses her, it is definitely always interesting to see what she is wearing. Well, he didn't do too bad this morning and she was rockin' a pretty sweet OU windbreaker, jeans, and her Nike kicks! So, then we, of course, HAD to make the rounds at his school to make sure everyone saw how adorable she was! I have to say, she has a pretty awesome daddy!
Anyways, I really can't express how awesome it is and how much I enjoy the little things in life, and specifically for this post, those related to my sweet daughter. I love that first smile I get when I see Abi after a long night of work...I love that she just sat and played for a good 2 minutes with the tag on one of her toys and was completely content and interested in what it was doing there...I love how she knows when I am trying to take a picture of her now and will squint her eyes to avoid the flash (even though, technically, I wish she wouldn't do this, kinda makes getting pics of her difficult)...I love her sweet little voice, although all she does with it right now is squeal and screech, but I just love knowing that in not too long, she will be telling me all kind of good things with it...and I love that I have the next 3 days off to just spend with her and watch her do these and all the other little things that she does every day that amaze me so much. I totally cannot believe she is already 6 1/2 months old. October really doesn't seem like it was that long ago! Anyways, here are just a few pics of her this morning being her silly self. I am going to attempt to get her to take her morning nap soon so I can get some rest, but I thought I should make an attempt to write something since it was my goal to start doing so!

Eating the toy with the tag and shutting her eyes for the flash..argh!

Oh, and this one is of her yesterday laying on her hippo sleeping mat that her Gramps got her...too cute, and I think she liked it!

Let's see how this works!

Let's just see how this works...don't know how often I will keep it updated, but I will try!