Momma said there'd be days like this...

Most days I have way more "I love being a mommy!" moments than moments when I want to scream and pull out all my hair. Today and yesterday have not been those days. It all started with a pile of poop....literally an explosive diaper that's so bad that its falling out of the diaper on to the floor and a daddy who doesn't notice the diaper and puts the kid on the floor anyway. That was the beginning of my Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church. Nothing like that to get you filled with the Spirit for church on Sunday morning, huh? The rest of the day, as far as mommyhood was concerned, did not get much better. Collin was over-tired and cranky from having spent 12 hours in the car on Saturday, plus he's getting his bottom eye teeth so that doesn't help. All day yesterday and today have been a series of freak outs and fits with very few "What a sweet baby I have!" moments. M&M did not make matters any better, because my back and hip were killing me all day for both days. Today, I felt like my day started out better, but everything quickly fell apart when I had to find something that we had borrowed from a friend. I tore the apartment apart and found it, but it was missing a piece. So I sped off to Target to get a new one, because they needed it this morning. I had Collin with me. He was still cranky and cried the whole time we were in Target. When I got home, the people who we had borrowed the item from were in my torn apart apartment. AAAHHHH! And that about set the tone for my whole day. All in all, loving and being thankful for my children these last two days has been much more about a choice than about warm, fuzzy feelings. I do love my babies SO MUCH, though. When I go look in at Collin sleeping (THANKFULLY), I just want to grab him and snuggle him. Of course, I won't because he needs his sleep, but you get the idea.

This post is not to complain, however. I know many moms who have those days x5 children. It's more for myself just to put down some thoughts I've had in writing.
My first thoughts go something like this: "I even started my day out with reading my Bible (usually, I read later in the day), isn't that supposed to help?" "Why, oh why, does this child just want Daddy all day when Mommy is the one that does everything for him?" "Maybe if I just give in and let him have his paci things will get better. After all, he is getting teeth." "I just want to go back to bed!!!"
As I was complaining to my hardworking husband, I began to hear myself. And then my thoughts changed to, "Seriously, Heather, you have a wonderful son who you get to be home with and a hardworking husband with steady work. What is your problem?!?" About this time, I came to realize that the problem was not the teething baby or the missing piece or anything else but me. I needed an attitude adjustment. Matt deserves to call or come home to a wife that's not a wreck. Collin deserves better than a mommy who just puts him back in his crib when he cries rather than dealing with the actual problem. I'm not saying that I can't sometimes use Matt as a shoulder to cry on, I'm certainly not saying that a good nap can't fix a lot of problems. But it shouldn't be that way all the time. I also realized that I was attempting to be "superwife" and "supermom" in my own strength. I'm probably never going to be either one of those, but it's a guarantee that I will never be them on my own. God has called me to this place in my life (a place that I really do LOVE most days), and it's only through his will that I can accomplish his purpose for me in this place.

In church yesterday morning, the message was entitled "5 Reasons to Have an Unshakable Trust in Jesus Christ". While all of the points were things I knew before, it was good to be reminded of some of them. One of the points was that we can trust him because of his humanity. He spent 33 years on this earth being 100% human, and he understands human things like exhaustion and other things that contribute to less-than-stellar days. That is one of the things that makes him so trustworthy. He experienced the things that we go through every day and went through it sinless. He experienced so much worse on this earth than a pile of poop or a cranky baby or back pain, and He did it all for me. The least I can do is wholly trust Him and rely on Him to help me through whatever he calls me to do.

Enough rambling for tonight - I didn't even proofread this, because I am too tired. I'm going to try to get a good night's sleep, so I can conquer tomorrow with a much-improved attitude.

Supporting Our Troops

I was brought up to have a respect and appreciation for our military. When I see someone in uniform, I often stop to thank them for the sacrifices they have made for our country. I realize that holidays like Memorial Day are much more than just a day off and a chance to get together with family. When I've known someone overseas personally, they have frequently been on my prayer list. However, it wasn't until my brother Ethan joined the Marines that it really hit home.

Currently, Ethan is an officer in the Marines, and he is stationed in Afghanistan. It wasn't until he sent letters home listing things his men would love to have and things that they need that I've realized how little I have ever done to show my appreciation for our troops. So many of those who go overseas never receive any letters or packages from family. My sister has started a facebook group dedicated to sending out letters, cards, and packages to our troops. If you join the group, she can give you information about how to adopt a service member. Many of us will say we appreciate and love our troops, but so few of us actually do something about it. If you would be interested in receiving a list of the most requested things from some troops, please email me, comment here, or join the facebook group.

As Americans, we have an opportunity to SHOW our troops how thankful we are for their service instead of just saying it. As Christians, this is an incredible opportunity to show Christ's love to those who may not know Him.

I would also like to say that it doesn't matter whether or not you agree with our current or past administrations about troop deployments. Regardless of whether or not you agree with our troops being in Iraq or Afghanistan, the fact is that they are there and they need the support of those of us here at home.

On a more personal note, Ethan turns 24 next Thursday (July 8) and will be spending his birthday in Afghanistan. It would be so awesome if he received more birthday cards than he ever has in his life.

His address is:

Ethan Akerberg

9th ESB 3rd MLG S-3

Unit 38432

FPO-AP 96604-8432

For now, I'll leave you with some pics of Ethan:

Showing his tougher side and his gentler side at the same time

Showing my brother-in-law that he means business :-)

Me and my brother - I love him :-)

Showing us how to work the guns

Being the good uncle and educating Josiah about the guns

Proud sisters of a US Marine (We're missing Faith)

The most recent pic of me and Ethan

Ultrasound #2

On Wednesday, I went for my second ultrasound. Because of scheduling problems and other stuff, I had it a little later than normal. They said that everything looks normal. I was 26 weeks and 4 days, and M&M was measuring 27 weeks and 2 days. The baby is approximately 2 lb and 4 oz. We didn't really get any good pictures of M&M, because he (I'm saying "he" so as not to say "it", WE DID NOT FIND OUT THE GENDER) had his hand in front of his face and the ultrasound tech was also careful not to show us anything we didn't want to see.



Matt and I tried to get Collin to say "Baby" when he saw the screen. He got excited when he saw the baby on the screen, but he just kept yelling, "Doggie! Doggie!" Sorry, Collin, we're not having a doggie. It's going to be a baby. As far as Collin is concerned, he is the baby, and what he wants is a doggie. Poor kid. He has no idea how his life is going to change come September.



For those who have been asking, nagging, begging, here's a couple of pics that Matt took on Saturday of the baby bump. ("Bump" is a bit of an understatement, but it will have to do).



Saturday was the end of the 2nd trimester (27 weeks)! I have taken so few pics this pregnancy, because my camera was broken for a while, but these are the most recent.

27 weeks and feeling hot, sticky, and whalish

Just being weird....

Happy Half Birthday, Collin!

I love half birthdays. It's just an extra day in the year to make those special people feel extra special. (In case you're not sure, your half birthday is the date 6 months from your birthday). My husband thinks I'm crazy, but being his usual amazing self, he doesn't try to fight the insanity. Instead, he embraces it, because he likes to make me happy. In fact, every year I get a 1/2 birthday card (and usually flowers) and he plans a special date. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE him?!?!?) Anyway, yesterday was Collin's 1/2 birthday. I can't believe he is already a year and a half. Where has the time gone? I was just commenting to a friend the other day how he seems to do more "kid stuff" and less "baby stuff" all the time. In honor of Collin being 18 months old, I decided to post a list of 18 of my favorite things about him these days. I haven't posted any family stuff for a while, and I have gotten very few pics of him on facebook lately, so it's time.

18 Favorite Things About Collin:

1. He whistles - It's not often that you see a one year old whistle, but he does. He walks around the house whistling, and he even tries to copy when he hears someone else whistle.
2. He eats pretty much anything - With the exception of hot dogs and mac n cheese, Collin will pretty much eat anything.
3. He's such a dorky dancer - He plays on our keyboard and likes the songs that it plays. Apparently, we have a kid who's a little musical, but he does have his dad's dorky dancing skills. Pretty soon, I'll have to get it on video, because it's pretty comical.
4. He loves when it's time to pray at dinner time - He pretty much loves to copy his daddy, and I'm so thankful for the great example of a Godly man he has right in front of him. Collin bows his head and mumbles something before we eat.
5. He's doing really well with not having the paci - He loves saying bye-bye to things and throwing things, so when we get him out of the bed or car, he throws his paci and tells it "Bye-bye".
6. He's always been a great sleeper - He's down to two naps a day now, but he still sleeps 10-12 hours at night. He also goes to sleep all by himself without crying.
7. He does everything with zeal - This can get to be a problem sometimes, because everything includes his freak outs. However, he gets so excited about everything. He does nothing half-heartedly.
8. He says "Thank you" - I know lots of kids his age say please and thank you, so it's not really a big deal. He also says please, but he usually needs prompted for that. What I like about the fact that he says thank you is that we never pushed the issue. It was just something he picked up and started doing all by himself. He will also say thank you over and over until someone tells him "You're welcome."
9. He likes to clean up after himself - He loves to wipe up spills, put his dishes in the sink, and put stuff in the trash these days.
10. He loves to put on his daddy's work boots - As soon as Matt gets home from work, Collin pulls at the laces of his boots until he takes them off so he can put them on.
11. He likes to drink water - Yes, he likes to drink juice, too, but so many people tell me that there kid won't drink water that I've come to be very thankful that he will drink water quite willingly. :-)
12. He has started noticing things outside during car rides - His favorite things to point out are doggies and buses.
13. He exclaims, "WHOA!!!" whenever he hears a loud noise - We live across the street from a Naval Air Base so we hear a lot of loud noises.
14. He thinks anything that moves that's not a person is a doggie - At the park the other day, he was chasing bugs and butterflies yelling, "Doggie, doggie, doggie!!"
15. He's pretty passsionate about his rubber duckies - He has at least 12, and when he sees one in the bath stuff aisle that he doesn't have, he makes sure to let me know.
16. He loves stories - Unfortunately, he almost always wants a story read to him when we are in a hurry to get out the door, but I'ms still glad he loves them. We've started keeping some in the car, and he loves to "read" his stories in the car.
17. He loves hand sanitizer - Whenever I put some on my hands, he begs for some and loves to rub it into his hands. Who am I to deny my kid hand sanitizer?
18. He doesn't ever try to play with the toilet - Again, this is something that I never thought anything of until I've had friends say that this is a serious problem in their houses. This may change, and I'm sure he may become interested in it later on; but for now, he hardly seems to know it exists.

There's so much more about my sweet boy that I love, but I said I was listing 18 so I'll stop and leave you with some pictures of the half-birthday boy.

Reading stories with daddy

I can't get over how big he looks here!

Daddy's boots

Loving the rubber duckies

Having a serious chat with Daddy

Playing with Mommy

Pretty serious about his coloring at Steak n Shake

Reading books in the car

Playing at the park

Most recent family pic

Question for those with diaper expertise

Before we had Collin, we were given a Diaper Genie with a bunch of refills for it. We have never been impressed with it. It filled up much too quickly if we put in all of the diapers, so we just put in messy ones. However, it also has not been great about keeping the diaper smell from permeating the whole room. Now, we're out of refills and don't really want to buy more for something we were never crazy about in the first place. So, my question is, what do you/did you do and how has it worked out?

Thanks in advance!

Sorry, Collin, the answer is NO

No matter how much you beg, you will not be attempting to sail around the world by yourself (or any other such insane venture) when you're 16. Yes, I do want you to live a long, exciting, and full life, and that is exactly why the answer is "NO". I want you to be around to enjoy life beyond 16 years old. I realize that it's a good thing you actually want to do something instead of sit around playing video games, and I'm not opposed to sailing - just not around the world. I also realize that kids die in car crashes and crossing the street and that I can't protect you from everything, but I as long as you live in our house, we can somewhat protect you from your own stupid ideas and unnecessary risks - that's why teenagers have parents. Oh, and yes, I also realize that teenagers way back in the day we're considered adults. Those teenagers, however, also had all the responsibilities of an adult - not just the privileges. Life was a lot harder back then, and kids grew up a lot faster. I love you, and that's why the answer is "No!"

Love,

Mom

P.S. I'm sure if you would like to go sailing Grandpa would love to take you, but I probably won't let you go around the world in a sailboat with him, either.

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I'm sure many of you have read the story of Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old who didn't make it around the world. I am happy for her and her family that she has been rescued, but I can't help but wonder, "What in the world were her parents thinking?!?" I have read all her parents' rationale that they've given to the press, and they all seem like really stupid arguments. Teenagers are notorious for dumb ideas - that's why they have parents. For the record, many people are saying that nobody would be suggesting a poor parental decision if she had actually made it. I came across her blog in January when she first started out and commented to Matt that it was a very stupid idea. Again, I'm glad she has endeavored to do something with her life besides play video games and go shopping. I'm also very happy that is safe and sound. However, I still stand by original statement - if my child asks me if he can sail around the world all by himself, the answer is NO!

To Do List

I'm home from church tonight because Collin is sick, so I'm taking the time to blog again. In the interest of having some accountability, I'm posting my to-do list for the summer on here. It's a lot easier to give up on goals if you don't tell anybody else what they are, so here goes:

THINGS TO DO THIS SUMMER:

• Limit Collin's paci use to bed
• Make use of the Rosetta Stone Spanish course that I've had sitting in my living room for the last couple of years - I started it last summer, but I didn't get very far. Maybe I'll make Collin learn it with me. :-)
• Pack stuff away that we don't use frequently (or just give/throw it away)
• Get to know some other moms in our area
• Consistently read/study my Bible and memorize at least two verses a week
• Make a new family budget and stick to it
• Get ahead on the promotions/ads we're thinking of for the business for fall, since the fall is probably going to be a pretty busy time for us
• Read!!! I plan on reading some for pleasure, but I have a list of theology books that Matt has suggested I read that I want to tackle.
• Finish the state teacher certification process - I've passed the Praxis, but I need to get all the paperwork taken care of.

I'm sure I'll come up with more, but this is my list to get me started.

Stay-at-home wife & mommyhood, here I come!!!

The end of this school year is more exciting than past school years, because at least for next year, I don't have to go back to work in the fall!! I have loved teaching and loved my kids, but working full time with one kid is difficult. With two, I don't think it would get any easier. I am in awe of the women who have kids, work full time, and somehow seem to keep it all together. I am NOT one of those women. Also, Matt's business is doing well, and he could really use someone to do all of his paperwork and keep it organized. Right now, just to keep a little bit on top of it, he has to take a day off once a week to work on it. The plan is for me to take over the paperwork side of things so he can be out doing more jobs.


Matt told me that I should just take the day off and enjoy my summer vacation for one day before I tackle all of my projects, but I feel a bit like a bum doing that when he's out working hard. So, I'm compromising. Today, I'm doing something that's fun for me and productive at the same time - making lists! I LOVE to make lists, tables, etc!! So far this morning, I have made a menu for the rest of the month of June and made a shopping list to go along with the menu. (When I have the time, I don't make any ordinary menu shopping list. I make it on my computer and add clipart and wordart and use fun fonts. My shopping list is organized by where everything is in the store, and I map out my route in the store to make the trip go quickly. I don't enjoy grocery shopping, but this bit of craziness makes it a little more fun for me).






For now, while I'm waiting for Collin to get up from his nap, I'm working on two more lists: one of things that I would like to accomplish this week and another for things I would like to accomplish for the summer. Maybe by posting my lists on here, I'll feel like I have more accountability to get it done. :-)

Things to get done this week (in no particular order):

• Get ready for Matt's birthday - wrap presents, bake a cake, etc. (He turns 27 tomorrow!)
• Learn Matt's computer program for the paperwork
• Try to drum up some more tutoring business
• Formulate a game plan for the student I am tutoring
• Reorganize my apartment that looks like a tornado went through during this last week of school
• Pack up clothes that we won't be wearing until after we move in September
• Finish my grades for school
• Investigate and possibly make an appointment to see a chiropractor - I've never been to a chiropractor, and I am VERY skeptical of the whole idea. However, I have had serious back and hip pain with this pregnancy and nothing seems to help. We'll see. Any input from people with chiropractor experience and/or chiropractor during pregnancy experience is appreciated.
• Make an eye appointment and get some new contacts - I have been on my last pair of contacts since January. (These are the disposable ones that are only supposed to last about 3 weeks). If these get too bad to wear, I have to use my glasses which are so old and outdated. The prescription is about 7 years old, and my eyes have changed a lot in that time. I can' t wear them for very long without getting a headache.
• Get out and enjoy the beautiful weather - It's supposed to be really gorgeous this week and not quite as hot as last week.
• Attack the tons of laundry that's accumulated recently
• Go grocery shopping

Since Collin is up from his nap, we have to head to the grocery store.

Happy summer, everybody!!