Short post, here we go!

ay weeks have been a little hectic lately with Chris going to school three days a week and having LOADS of homework to help him with, so I will have to keep this short.

Bella is working towards getting rid of pacie....And it is TORTURE!!!! At this point I don't ever want another child of mine to have a pacifier. The lack of sleep and frustration is really beginning to make us all a little cranky. So when you think of my family, pray for us please.

We met our new neighbors last week, and they are so nice! A very sweet Christian couple, the guy is recovering from cancer, and his wife is such a sweetie. We went out to Benihana with them Saturday night, and I hope we will continue to spend time with them.


We are counting down the days 'til we will be in Prattville, 11 days until we start the journey!! So excited for 8 days with family and friends. :)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!

Thoughts from the heart.

My hubby and I are starting our first bible study together this week. We decided after watching Fireproof together that we would do The Love Dare Day by Day: A Year of Devotions for Couples, and I can't wait to start!





I'm so excited about the work that God is doing in us as a couple, we have been working harder to work together as a team with Bella and have come up with a chore schedule to make sure our house stays clean. I know these things may not sound exciting to anyone else, but this has been a hard year for us. So many changes at once can be like a death sentence for a marriage, but we have commited ourselves to this and I am so thankful that through a deployment and an injury, and now as we work our way through his recovery we have managed to become closer in our friendship with each other. I'm a firm believer in being best friends with the person you marry. It's for life, an unbreakable "til death do you part" bond, so no matter how aggravated I get with him, or vice versa, we will work it out.

I know this is a different post from the others that I write, but we've had so much going on lately that I am realizing how thankful I am for a husband who is as determined as I am to be a Christ honoring family.

On another note, we had to quit gymnastics this week. Between the 20 minute drive to the gym and the fact that all of the children were a year or so older than Bella just got to be a little much. She enjoyed it, but I just don't think she's at a place where she can sit quietly and take instruction like a 3 1/2 or 4 year old can. So maybe over the summer we'll start the program again and see where we go from there.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Burnt Out

If you are a mother, you understand how I feel today. It seemed like no matter how hard I worked today, Bella was coming behind me to mess it up. The bathroom, the living room, her bedroom, all a mess after a long day of trying to keep it clean. She spilt her dinner on the dining room floor tonight, by accident by trying to hand it to me when she was finished. She pulled out most of her toys and brought them into the living room, my bedroom, and the hallway. The most recent mess was about 5 minutes ago. She has learned how to open coke bottles, and I had a water bottle with V8 on my nightstand. She crawled on my bed to get it, and when she opened it I just happened to be walking in the door (perfect timing right? not so much.) only to spook her and have her spill v8 all of my clean sheets. I now have no sheets to sleep on tonight as the other set are in the washer. I LOVE my daughter, I assure you my child is well taken care of and for lack of a better word spoiled rotten..Lol. But today I am so tired, and so out of patience that I just want to cry. So I am going to change her into jammies, try my best not to be grumpy with her and crawl onto my sheetless bed. Lord give me strength for tomorrow.

Things on my mind.

1 Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."

Such a true statement from the Apostle Paul. I had this on my mind today, because of something I saw today on facebook. I won't go into other people's business, because I do not like to be that person, but the situation truly angered me. I never realized until I was a mother how right my parents were in their disciplining me. Sure they are only human, and are going to stumble just like any other Christian would, but they were truly wonderful parents. 3 years ago I went against them and did something I shouldn't have done. I wish that I hadn't done it, and even though my life has turned out very well, I sometimes wish I could go back and change alot of the bad decisions I have made in my life. I resented the disciplinary action my parents took for my wrong doing at the time, but looking back now I honestly have to say I would not have acted any differently than they did. If Bella was to ever act that way towards Chris and I; I would be equally or more so angry and disappointed. It's just funny to me now how much I have changed, and I am so thankful for wonderful Bible-believing parents who were not willing to negotiate with a disobedient teenager.


I say all that because I feel that I need to thank my parents for everything they have done for me. They have helped me become the parent I am today, and I am hopeful that I am making them, and God proud.

Bella's 2nd Birthday

Here are a few pictures from Bella's birthday. She had a really good time.
























We had a small party at home, just the three of us. She really seemed to enjoy her birthday cake, she couldn't believe that it was a princess. We let her open presents and watch disney princess movies most of the day, and I don't think she's slept as well as she did that night in a long time.

On Saturday we took her to the zoo, which definitely didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. We got there and she was crabby, and didn't really want to see much of anything. When she got out of the stroller to look at the Jaguar, she began to cry that her diaper was pinching her. I of course scooped her up to fix it and right when I did she peed on me, and herself. Poor Baby!! So needless to say we went home much earlier than we wanted to. Guess we'll have to try again sometime this week.


Here is a picture of Bella and I when we had just gotten to the zoo.






And here is a picture of Bella and Chris looking at snakes and lizards.





Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

2 years.

Two years ago this week I was carrying the most amazing child in the world (to me) in my body. Pregnancy is such an amazing experience God allows us to have, while I will certainly not say I loved being pregnant, I loved the outcome that came from it.

I did not follow the rules of weight gain during my pregnancy with Bella..I ate what I wanted, when I wanted it!! And needless to say I gained 60 lbs, and am still awaiting the last 10 to dissapear. But she was healthy and beautiful, and I am so thankful that God gave her to me.

Here is a picture of Bella and I shortly after she was born.




Her first year of life was quite an adventure, we moved to Texas 2 weeks after she was born, and then on her 4 month birthday Chris deployed to Afghanistan. We then packed up, and she and I made the 14 hour journey back to Prattville, Alabama to live in our home we had been renting. I'd never lived alone, and had certainly never raised a child by myself, but nevertheless there we were, and we made it through the year.

Here are some pictures of Bella on her 1st Birthday.







Her cake











I am so thankful to have her in my life. I never dreamed that I would be a mother at 21, but I can't describe how blessed I feel that I get to spend every day with this darling little girl.

We are taking her to the zoo for the first time on Thursday (we waited because Chris wanted to be there for it), and I will be attempting to make her a Cinderella doll cake. I'll upload pictures on her birthday so everyone can see her cake and outfit.

Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for indulging me while I took my trip down memory lane.

Ahh..Weekend, I've missed you so.

First off, I apologize for taking so long to write, it has been a pretty odd week around here.

Last weekend we went to the Quarry to go shopping, which was wonderful! We went to Borders and Game Stop, to buy Bella and I some new books and look at new games (oh joy). I have to say I was pleasantly surprised in my husband, he told us he would go into gamestop to look really quickly so we wouldn't have to pull Bella back out of the car, and promised to not be long. As I waited for him to come back, I saw him checking out through the window and noticed the cashier was loading a fairly large bag for him. When he came back to the car he handed me the bag and said I got you a present. My sweet hubby bought me a Wii, which if you know me, you know that I have been wanting one so I could workout at home. It is awesome!! I have successfully managed to keep up with my workout all week, and I am amazed at the amount of energy I have now. I don't think my house has ever been so clean!! And I am proud to announce that I have lost 3 lbs as of today, and hope to lose at least 10 more before March.

Bella has been getting better about her fit throwing, we have been trying to talk things out with her instead of getting angry and frustrated, and I think the communication between the three of us has gotten much better. She has learned two more animal sounds, and can now count to a whopping 15! Our newest issue at hand is getting rid of Bella's pacifier, which had not been an easy task considering the fact that she views it as though we were cutting off one of her appendages. We have hunted them all up, and are trying to keep them from her unless it is nap time or bedtime, so hopefully we will be pacie free by summertime.

I started a new Bible study this week, Beth Moore's "Believing God". It is a breath of fresh air! I have felt like I was in a funk for a while, reading my Bible sporadically over the week, and never really getting into a good routine. I am hopeful that by the end of this study I will be more faithful in trusting God with my life, I always seem to take control of my own life and as one would expect it never quite turns out the way I planned. I want to work hard to make God the pilot of my life, because doing it all myself has certainly become an exhausting and stressful lifestyle.

I'll give more of an update on the weekend as it goes on, we are trying a new church this Sunday (we still haven't settled on one yet), so keep us in your prayers.