Miracles

Today I am grateful for Miracles.

I am grateful for the big ones and the small ones.
Each day is a miracle.
Every day that my kids wake up is a miracle.
Every time I drop them off for school and they have a good day, it is a miracle.
Every time Isabella smiles at me and says, "Mommy gimme a kiss," it is a miracle.
Every day in the summer when my air conditioner would kick on, it was a miracle.
Each time a baby is born into our family or another's, it is a miracle.
The little girl that I am carrying inside me is a miracle.
Each child under my care and protection is a miracle.
Every pay check we receive, is a miracle.
The fact that Doug and I both have jobs, is a miracle.

Yes. Today, I am grateful for miracles.

PS Say an extra prayer tonight for a mother who lost her 17 month old son to a tragic household accident, and be sure to give each of your little miracles an extra kiss and squeeze today.

In my shoes...or yours

It is interesting all the different shoes we wear. Actually, to be honest, I only have like 4 pairs of shoes... did I say that out loud? I wish I were into shoes. Heck, I wish I were into fashion. I wish I knew what to where. When. And how.

I look at my most fashionable friends (who tolerate my very SAD wardrobe) and think, I wonder where they got that cute shirt or how they knew to put that sweater with that shirt with those pants and shoes, and all those accessories are SO fun... alas, I am SO not clued into fashion. And its mostly unfortunate for my family :).

Although I do think that I can put together a somewhat cute outfit with my kids. But I think they are going to be doomed to the 4 shoe thing as well. But then maybe they will, despite all odds, develop a fashion sense. Isabella already has to have a pink shirt, pink pants, pink underpants (she calls them), and pink shoes... oh dear. I know what your thinking. "That's a lot of pink." And your right. It is. Especially when it's polka dots, striped, plaid, and solid :).

Back to the shoes. We all have a pair of shoes that fit us only the way a shoe can. Like my running shoe for example. It fits me like a glove. It pronates with me. It supinates with me. It runs heel toe or toe heel with me. One time I tried running in someone else's shoe. You see, I forgot my shoes at home. And these ones looked like ones that I could like and get used to. But, they hurt my feet. I had blisters, shin splints, and sore feet all day. We did not mesh. At. All.

Shoes are kinda like the trials we have in our lives. Sometimes we might look at someone else's shoe and say, wow that is a cute shoe! I wish I could have that shoe instead of mine. And then we put it on and our feet get all curly, our legs hurt, our back hurts, and our feet hurt. Not such a good idea in the end. So we go back to our own shoes. The ones we know. The ones we love/the ones that we hate. And we continue to wear them day after day. Even if we think we'd like to wear someone else's shoes, we really only just want to wear our own.

Today I am grateful for my own shoes.

Baby #5

Let's talk baby number 5 and why I haven't blogged for so long...

I looked back and I have been less than pretty sparse over the last 7 months. And I can attribute it only to hormones and being SUPER MISERABLE. Not as miserable as most but miserable enough as some.

There have been a lot of days in the last 7 months that I would like to erase. Being down in the dumps like Ellaphamumps (one of my fave books to read to the kids) is no fun. I get it. A little. But I get it. Some days its hard to get out of bed and do stuff, so lately I have been trying to fill my days with stuff to keep me busy. I have also tried to simplify. Can I say that in the same sentence? Being busy and simplifying?

We repainted our house (I should get some pics up, but I don't amount to much compared to pinterest), been canning stuff like crazy, peaches, apples, applesauce, pears, chicken, butter... you name it. I been trying it. Keeps my mind in a good place :)

Also, I have pregnancy induced carpal tunnel and it is the WORST. THING. EVER. I have had it before, but never like I have it this pregnancy. I can't sleep, type, sit, stand, lay down, sleep on my right, or my left, or my back, or braid the girls hair, or chop veggies, cook dinner, put a pony in my hair, blow dry my hair (I can now proudly say I go without washing my hair for up to 5 days, because I literally CAN'T do it without shooting pains fingertips to shoulders). It's positively awful. I know. WAAAAAA!!!! but it's my blog, I can WAAAAAAA all I want :).

I am however, grateful for the VERY active peanut that is miraculously growing inside me, even though she kicks me ALL day and gets the hiccups regularly.