A lesson from my son

If you have children then I am sure you have experienced a night or two of no sleep. I am not talking about the newborn eating every few hours sleepless nights. No, these are much worse in my opinion. A night where your little one cries all night and nothing you do can calm them. Your heart aches because you know they are in distress, tired, uncomfortable.


The last couple of nights have been like this in our house. Seriously, last night was rough.  As I was sitting downstairs with a screaming baby at 3:30 am, I wanted to cry out in frustration but I prayed instead. I prayed that I would be able to calm him down and he would feel safe in my arms. He calmed down a few hours later and about 7 this morning we went back to bed.


I am joyful that I was able to love this little boy that God has blessed me with, to make him feel safe and comfortable. I needed last night to remember that God is my source of comfort and I am safe within his arms.


P.S. As I am typing this Gunnar is feeding himself some applesauce and wearing some too :) Feeling much better!


Linked to: Women Living Well, Raising Homemakers 

This moment in time

• Thankful for the beautiful weather here in WNY
• Happy to have an organized sun room to enjoy the said weather
• Haven't slept in many nights due to a molar teething little boy
• Missing church because of the teething little boy
• Hoping to make it to Sunday School
• Thinking it's time to get the grill out this afternoon

R•E•S•P•E•C•T

What comes to mind when you hear the word respect. A little Aretha Franklin? You children being obedient? How about where your husband is concerned? How do you show him respect? 

In Sunday School we have been doing a series on "Shalom at Home". The section we are discussing now are the needs of a woman vs a man. Women want to feel loved, be shown affection, have a sense of security. Men want to be sexually fulfilled, shown respect, and I can't remember what else (oops, better pay more attention). I can't tell you how to meet your husbands needs on the first one but I can give you a couple tips on showing some respect.

I like to keep my house company ready. Not perfect but tidy enough that I can welcome a friend in to have a cup of coffee or tea with out having to worry about {the mess}. My husband also likes a picked up house. Not just the rooms that company will see but all the rooms. I tend to let my laundry pile up-clean-folded-stacked in my closet which is not shared with him and in a different room. This drives him bonkers!!! He is willing to do the dishes, vacuum, whatever he needs to do in order for me to put away my clothes. Out of respect for him, I really should make this a priority. The same goes for taking care of other little things he has asked me to do. He knows that I am busy keeping up with our 1yr old so if he makes a point of asking me to complete something then I know that it is important to him. By not doing the task is a form of disrespect to him. I don't always get to everything and honestly I forget things easily. He understands that I can get distracted but there are no excuses for me saying numerous times that I would call our insurance company and it takes me 3 weeks to call. He would rather me say that I had too much going on, etc. 

Don't husband bash!!! There are times that I believe it is ok to ask for prayer or advice regarding your husband but I don't run to them and say "can you believe what that...blah, blah, blah" For one, it will turn your friends against him. Even if you forget what it was that he did, chances are that your friend won't and will remind you of it later down the road. Second, it will not make you feel better and will only hurt your relationship with him. Are you saying something that you would say directly to him? Even then, really evaluate whether you want to share that with anyone or keep it private. 

Pray, pray, pray! If you find that you are struggling to respect him-pray about it. Ask God to give you opportunities to show him respect. Ask your husband how you can show him more respect. I am sure he will be shocked you asked then gladly give you some ideas.

There are situations where a husband can take advantage. If this is you- first pray about it by yourself then lovingly go to your husband and discuss your concerns. There are times when marriage is harder that digging a ditch by hand but it's worth it. 

What are some ways that you show respect to your husband?

~Jac



Linked to:

Living Well Wednesdays

Homemaking Linkup

Co-sleeping

What our co-sleeping sometimes looks like!

We co-sleep -- I can't say I love it all the time but it has its benefits. This particular night I was able to get some much needed rest for our busy weekend without getting up several times {put a bink back in, nurse, comfort him because his shared wall with his sister got kicked}. Most nights he sleeps in his room but I cherish the times he is snuggled up to me and gladly welcome him into our bed as needed :) 

Poor Birthday Boy

I was excited leading up to the days that my busy little man turned 1! I had a fun day planned of a special breakfast, decorating, eating lunch with Daddy, a birthday dessert just for our little family. When he awoke with a whine, I scooped him up to cuddle in our bed. Daddy wished him a happy birthday and kissed him goodbye. Big sister Hail yelled a birthday wish to him as she was scrambling to get ready for school. He just laid beside me with a somber look on his face, eyes wide open. He sat up and started to lean towards me with what I thought was a sweet kiss. Instead puke welcomed my face. Hails rushed to bring me a towel and I tried to contain the mess that was all over me, Gunz, and my freshly changed sheets. After stripping everything down, it happened again. {Oh no} I said to myself...my little birthday boy was sick. Never has he had a stomach bug and I think he has only had 1 1/2 colds. I just couldn't believe that out of no where he was sick :( I continued on with the morning but his special breakfast was toast (see photo to the left). We were able to eat lunch with Daddy but that was the extent of the day. He laid on the living room floor sleeping for hours while we prepared stuff for his party the next night. He missed dinner and birthday brownies. It was not the day I had planned but it was the day that was supposed to happen.

We will always remember these events and I can totally laugh at the "puke in the face" incident :)  Moving forward into the next year.

What do you remember about your little ones first birthdays?