Tears of Pain & Joy

As a first time mommy, you spend many months prior to your little ones arrival consuming as much professional "advice" as one's little cranium can hold. I like many other mommy's around the world read probably over 5 of those "let me help you" books along with numerous website subscriptions and magazine subscriptions before Samantha-Grace entered our lives. Now I have to admit that some of those books were extremely helpful, while others I felt like constantly asking myself, "You've got to be kidding!?" Well, one of those books that has been extremely helpful was the ever so popular Baby Wise. Now I have to admit that I did not follow the book to a "T" just because Joshua and I cannot survive on such a rigid schedule with our own hectic schedule; however, I have come to the realization over the past year that I thrive on consistency and a reliable schedule. Hence, the life of being a teacher is usually to some extent is lived by calendar days and the hands of the clock.

Well, all of the exhausting babble (at least to most people)is truly here to make a point. Since I did use the advice given from Baby Wise, the one piece of "wisdom" I was still struggling to follow was the part about "let your child cry herself to sleep". I just couldn't bear it for so long, until today. I told myself that we are less than 2 months away from a year old, and it is time to teach her how to put herself to sleep.

So upon the direct cues of her becoming succombed by the sleepiness monster, I took her into her room, rocked her until she became a human wiggle worm and was vividly distracted by her books on her shelf, which I might add we had just finished reading 5 books (all of this is part of our structured routine). Then I decided it was time to lay her down in her crib. Well, let's just say if Samantha-Grace were given the opportunity to see if she could set a world record for the fastest baby to go from her back to a sitting up position I think she could win...hands down. Needless to say, in less than 5 seconds she was sitting and working her way to standing in her crib.

I gently went over to her, kissed her on her head and painfully walked away. I know this might sound silly to a lot of you, but you have to understand for the past 10 months I would work myself, some afternoons, ragged trying to get her to sleep and running back in her room each time she would scream. (All this is to say that we have been extremely blessed to have a magnificent sleeper!) As I painfully sauntered to the back of the house to fix some lunch, I was mentally repeating to myself, much like a Gragorian Monk might chant, "I will not go back, I will not go back." I watched the minutes painstakily go by on our clock. I had told myself upon this experiment that I would follow Baby Wise and only allow her to cry for 20 minutes MAX!

Well, I am happy to report that she cried for less than 10 minutes. At the end of all her tears, I was glad to hear from our guest bedroom Samantha-Grace humming herself to sleep (a habit begun since the day she was born). So to all of you "soon to be mommy's" out there, I must encourage to read Baby Wise, but most of all be brave and as I have learned after 10 months...It's okay to let them cry. They will still love you the same!

Sweet Dreams!

It's All in the Small Things

So since having a little one I have learned to cherish the small things in life more. Each smile, each tear, each laugh and each milestone. Well, this evening is no exception. Following a long day with our dear friend Cecile, I abruptly "dumped" Samantha Grace off onto Daddy. (Note: She had napped a total of probably 30 minutes the entire day, and it was now 5:30 PM.) As I sauntered up the escalator of our church, I took a deep breath and exhaled a prayer to God of hope that Samantha Grace would be sweet to her daddy.

After a 30 minute time period had lapsed, I was greeted at the top of the 3rd floor by Daddy and daughter. Daddy came with a huge grin on his face to resemble that of a mischievous 2 year-old child. I promptly asked, "What happened?" Which spawned upon a gigantic force of laughter. Daddy reported that Samantha-Grace decide to "clean-out" her diaper bag, upon which she discovered her Apple Bits. (To those of you unfamiliar with baby world, Apple Bits are dehydrated pieces of apple or otherwise known in our world as Mommy Savers.) Briefly following her discovery, she took it upon herself to make a "shaker" out of the bag, but much to her amazement, surprise and joy the bag dumped all of the bits onto the floor.

Daddy reported that he turned to check on her and found her gracing the floor like a dog seeing how many apple bits she could get before he discovered her. Needless to say life's enjoyment truly does happen all in the small things of life!

I hope this brings much laughter to your day!

Gymboree Video

Clap, Clap, Pat, Pat..

So this weekend we dove into our new grand adventure with Samantha-Grace. We entered the world of Gymboree Play and Music. For those of you who are familiar with KinderMusik it is much like this mixed with a mommy-and-me gymnastic class. Needless to say with all of the activity that Samantha-Grace has been displaying lately it is right up her alley. When we arrived, much to our surprise, the owner had signed us up for the wrong level, but this did not bother Samantha-Grace one bit. The age range of the children was from 16 - 22 months, and we had just graced the surface of 10 months on Valentine's Day. We walked into the room and her eyes became like blue headlights. I do believe the word overstimulated became true for just a few brief moments. She crawled into the middle of the floor and plopped right down to "observe" her surroundings and this one little girl who we will call M. M was quite vivacious. She even came over during part of the class and plopped herself almost right on top of Samantha-Grace in order to sit in my lap. Samantha-Grace looked up at me with those heart melting blue eyes with the response of, "Mommy please help me!" Needless to say M never really made it full onto Samantha-Grace's lap, but I very gently moved her over to my opposite knee where she remained for the introduction time. Once warmed-up, Samantha-Grace was on the move. Her favorite thing to do was to climb up the slides and play peek-a-boo at the top of the slide with these flower shaped holes. Following our jungle gym excitement, we joined with the others in the group with one of her other favorites...MUSIC!! Who would have guess that Josh and I would have a musical child. But the best gift that Josh and I received on Valentine's Day was not from each other but from Samantha-Grace. As we sat singing songs, she took it upon herself to show us that she knows how to clap. I have to say that I definitely had a mommy gushy moment. I felt like I wanted everyone in the class to stop and take a moment to watch this new milestone that we had reached. But I resisted.
Hopefully before the end of the day I will have a video posted for you all to enjoy of our adventure!

A Grateful Heart

Today, like most days, I realized how genuinely blessed I am. For some reason, only known to God, I have had a HUGE peace come over me today about some major decisions that Joshua and I are in the midst of making. At times over the past month, things have seemed quite overwhelming and I didn't know if we would ever have a light at the end of the tunnel. But today thanks to a wonderful friend, I was able to spend 4 1/2 hours to myself cleaning my house and spending some much needed quiet time with the Lord.

I know...I know... cleaning house does not usually sound like a fun chore, but to me it is something that is very therapeutic and a great time for me to talk to Jesus. I know that it is Him that keeps me focused on one room at a time; otherwise, I would be like a caged animal running from corner to corner not knowing where to begin and/or end. (I guess my husband is right in saying that I am an undiagnosed case of ADD.)

After the house was cleaned and the sweet smell of clean floors and freshly dusted furniture permeated throughout the house, I took a LONG shower and just sobbed with tears of joy. I was over come with thankfulness. So I just want to take this brief moment to thank my dear friends, you know who you are, who have helped me over the past week! Thanks to your generosity I have a clean house, a loved (and spoiled) little girl, and the best husband in the world!

I think the Lord has put a new meaning of THANKSGIVING in my heart today. And I am eternally grateful!