Bundle of Emotions

Cayson is 5 months old today. Oh. My. Gosh. Time is really flying by. And for some reason, this was really hard for me to handle. I guess because it's almost 6 months. And that's half of a year. So, anyway, I've been pretty emotional this past week. And a certain monthly visitor that I haven't seen in exactly one year who decided to show up this week did not help. I had forgotten what mood swings felt like! But, boy, did I have some this week! Yesterday, I found a stray newborn diaper that we didn't use...and I burst into tears. I couldn't help it. It was so small and my son used to fit into it. I just kept saying, "My baby is growing up!" And, of course, Shaun has the nerve (or the good sense, one) to say, "Yeah, isn't it exciting?" And it really is exciting. It seems he learns something new every day. It's such a joy to watch him. (Oh, and Shaun also said, "Do you want another one?" to which I immediately answered "Yes!" But I do want to wait a little while.)

In other news, I need your prayers. I've been slipping in my resolutions. Some are doing great, but others are falling by the wayside. I've determined to start fresh tomorrow.

We had an absolutely awesome time of worship today. Russ has been preaching on spiritual disciplines. Today's was worship. That is such a hot topic in churches today. It seemed like everyone was on their seats today. (I get a good view from the choir loft.) Which is a good thing, definitely. I know I was definitely convicted of some things. The music was awesome, too. Except for one part where we were singing a medley of "In the Cross", "Worthy is the Lamb", and "Crown Him with Many Crowns" and the part where it went to "Crown Him..." I kinda kept singing "Worthy..." and basically stepped in a big hole, as my voice teacher would have said. Very humbling. Oh well, I was closing my eyes instead of looking at my music.

Well, I have to pick up my living room and head to bed. Have a great week!

Do you love American Idol?

I do, so I decided to create a blog centered around it. I always have a lot of opinions so I thought I'd share them. Please visit me!

Brittany's American Idol Blog

How My Life Has Changed Since Pregnancy and Becoming a New Mommy

In no particular order and this is probably not all of them!

Obvious: gained 35 pounds and am now almost 10 pounds lighter than before. However, my body is in completely different shape than before. And I'm a size larger. Everything "shifted" into different places!

I used to read about a book every 2 or 3 days. I haven't read a book since about a month before Cayson was born.

I do twice as much laundry (or so it seems).

I have to plan my showers, etc., in advance, where before I could take a shower when I wanted to.

I don't like certain foods anymore.

There are certain foods that I LOVE now that I hated before, like sweet potato french fries from Marketplace. I crave those things now! If you've never eaten at Marketplace, get yourself to Conway, Fort Smith, or Springdale (I think, it's somewhere in NWA) and try it out!

My hair has gone from being pretty thick and an average brown color (pre-preggo) to very, very thick and dark brown (preggo) to droopy and drab brown (immediate post-partum to 3 months after) to falling out by the handfuls and better brown (3 months post-partum) to shiny and almost normal (now).

This one's TMI so if you don't want to read...don't. I never had a...click here to find out, but I'm warning you...before pregnancy.

I'm less self-centered.

I've learned what unconditional love really means.

I know what it feels like to want better for you son than you had.

I have been "that" woman since Cayson's birth. The one who gets offended if you try to tell her how to raise her kids. It was just once, but this woman that I don't even know (she was a clerk at the Hog store in the mall) heard Cayson cry and insisted that he was hungry. When I knew that he had just finished eating not 15 minutes before. She insisted that because he was chewing on his hand that he was hungry when in fact he was just teething and pretty sleepy, too. Needless to say, my husband ushered me out pretty quick!

I know how to distinguish my baby's cries! Before I thought that was amazing that moms could listen to their baby cry and know what they wanted.

A typical grocery store night includes: Feeding Cayson right before we leave, going to Sam's (we don't always do this), stopping at McDonald's to get something to eat, parking in a discreet parking place in the Wal-mart parking lot, feeding Cayson while munching on McDonald's and watching an episode from "House" (usually), going inside Wal-mart, Shaun ending up holding Cayson because he's now full and sleepy, Cayson finally going to sleep, getting home later than we wanted.

Before: we'd go whenever we wanted and stay however long we wanted.

Before when a movie was coming out on DVD that we really, really wanted we would go to Wally world the night before it was supposed to come out and stay until after midnight and get it. Now we're lucky if we get it at all. (Although Shaun did make a special trip to Wal-mart to pick up season 2 of Grey's Anatomy.)

I have the "mommy nose". Where I can change the most foul of diapers and it wouldn't faze me a bit. Before, I have almost gotten sick over things like that.

I worry about germs more.

I used to go to the church 2 or 3 times a week (not counting Sundays and Wednesdays) to help my husband with various ministry stuff. Now I'm doing really good to make it on Sundays and Wednesdays!

I never missed church before, not since marrying Shaun, anyway. I had to be really sick. I think I missed maybe twice, once for our honeymoon and once for being sick. Since being pregnant I've missed about 5 or 6 Sundays and more Wednesdays than that. (The reasons why were either morning sickness, tonsilitis (me), and Cayson has been sick a few times.)

I used to sleep all night, without waking up at all. Now I get up at least once a night to feed Cayson and during pregnancy it was to go to the restroom.

TMI alert..........................................I haven't had a monthly visitor in a year. (I don't mind that a bit!)

Ok, this list is getting long so I'll wrap it up. I know there are more, so maybe I'll do a part 2 later.

The best change from pre-preggo to post is I have the sweetest baby boy that I love so much!

Despite a very wet and cold Sunday morning, we had a wonderful time of worship this morning. The music was awesome, Russ's sermon was inspiring and convicting, and my son was soooo cute!

An anonymous donor gave the money to buy a new projector last fall, and we recently installed it. Our old projector is now on the back wall so the choir can see the words, too. This has worked out so well thus far. It is so nice to be able to look straight back and see the words (if you need them) and to have your hands free to worship. Plus, I think it helps the choir connect with the congregation better. Also, we don't use nearly as much paper now that we don't have to copy music for the choir.

Russ has started a new series for the new year. It's about spiritual disciplines. This week's was on knowing the Word of God. He called it God's M & M's (Memorize, Meditate, and Study). It's just so important to know God's Word. I'm very thankful to Jeff for discipling me way back in my freshman year of college. Under his leadership I learned a great way to memorize, meditate, and study Scripture. And I still remember those verses that I memorized! So thanks, Jeff!

In other news, it is so cold up here! We're supposed to get ice sometime tonight. Pray that we don't lose power. We're all electric, so it would muy frio if we did!

P.S. You know I can't blog without mentioning Cayson. (Well, I did in the first paragraph, but I didn't tell you why he was so cute.) He wore a new outfit today; one that we got him for Christmas. It was a blue, orange, yellow, brown, and green striped knit rugby sweater with matching mittens and toboggan.

A little humor

I have felt like this a lot!

Resolutions Update

Well, I had planned to do a weekly update on our resolutions, which would have been on Monday, but I didn't get around to it. I'd like to say things are going well, but...

First let me tell you the positive things.

My time alone with God has been going very well. I've missed a couple of days, but those days we were in Warren visiting with my parents. (I know, it's not an excuse.)

We started praying over Cayson every night before we put him to bed. This time has become so precious to me.

We also started getting up together and eating breakfast.

Housekeeping has been going fairly well. The house isn't spotless, but the last few days have been better, and I've actually known what I was going to fix for lunch and dinner for more than an hour in advance. Which is definitely progress.

I've lost one pound. No exercise yet, though. Our plan to get up early to go walking hasn't worked because it's been extremely cold these past few mornings and Cayson has had a cold for a few days. My total weight loss is 43 pounds since August 28, 2006. (35 of that is pregnancy weight.)

We did create a budget. But this is where it's not going great yet. I don't want to go into details, but please pray for us in this area. I think everything that could go wrong has this week. Well, not everything, but it sure seems that way. Fortunately, we have been down this road before. At our first church as a married couple, our bills were more than Shaun's salary. And that was without cable, internet, and phone. We only had a cell phone because it was provided by the church. And I was still in school commuting an hour both ways, 5 days a week. And God brought us through it. In fact, on paper there's no way we should have been able to survive, but we always had enough. So I know He'll bring us through this time as well.