The Little Family: April 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

Funnies from the little man - Part 6

Some of these aren't so funny, but just plain sweet. I hope to remember so much of what my little man says. He sure knows how to make his Mama smile!!

After meeting some friends at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve and the park, then meeting Daddy for lunch and frozen yogurt -
X: Mommy, thank you for taking me to have such a fun day!

X: He has a really short name. I think he nicked his name.

Some background:
When my sister and I were little, my mom used to do something with us before bed; we called it the "Night-Nights." It originated with my sister using all her best stall tactics and saying just one more thing to our mom each night before bed. My mom put them all together and created the "Night-Nights." We did them every night for years before going to bed. It's one of my favorite memories and I'm thrilled to pass it down to my kids. I started them with Xander about a year ago and he started requesting them and doing them more and more until now we do them every night, too.

It goes like this:
{kiss}
Night-night.
{kiss}
Sleep tight.
{kiss}
See you in the morning light.
{kiss}
Sweet dreams.
{kiss}
I love you.
{kiss}
Bye, bye.
{kiss}
Don't let the bed bugs bite!
{fast kisses}

But the funniest thing is that he says don't let the BIG bugs bite you!! And one night he said, "We don't have any big bugs do we?" I laughed and told him, "I sure hope not. Now go to bed." :)

We've had lots of talks about marriage lately.
Me: Xander, we've talked about this. You can't marry someone in your family.
Xander: But why not? I like the girls in my family and I don't want to marry someone I don't know!
Me: When the right girl comes along, you'll be very happy to marry her.
Xander: But Aunt B's not married. Can I marry her when I grow up?
Me: No, bud. She's in your family.
Xander: Okay, then when I get older I'm going to marry Amelia Jayne.
Me: ::sigh::

Xander: Why did God make me a boy?
Pretty cool that he's already having such deep thoughts.

After I repeated something Xander said -
X: Did you just say the same thing I said?
Me: I did.
X: But Mommy, you can't say the same thing I said.
He starts singing-
I like you, I like you, I like you just the way you are.
You have to be different!

X: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!
(Whispers) That's how you count all the numbers...in order!
AJ: (Smiles)
X: Interesting, huh?!?!

In the car:
X: Mommy, can we listen to music?
Me: Sure, what song would you like?
X: The one I like.
Me: Okay, which one is that?
X: You know, the one I like.
Me: You like lots of songs.
X: The one by Shurr Purr.
Me: Sir Purr?
X: No, Shurper.
Me: I don't think I know that one.
X: You know, the one that goes, "Husha, Husha."
Me: Oh! You mean Usher!!
Hahahahaha!!

Monday, April 15, 2013

On figuring out this thing called life...

Our lives have been hectic lately. That's the best word I can think of to describe it. Not bad, not great, just hectic. Thus the lack of blog posts lately.

David has two deadlines tomorrow. Not just one, which is usually the case when a deadline comes around, but two. Which means he's working even more than he would on a long day. He worked yesterday after church until 2:30am and then woke up at 7 to get to work and start all over again. It's 9:30pm and he's still at work. I've no idea when he'll get in tonight. It's a tough time right now.

I'm thankful for him. I'm thankful for all he does for our family. I'm thankful that he is dedicated and desires to do good work. I'm proud of him. I'm impressed with his willingness to finish his projects and not complain. He never complains. It has to be crazy bad for him to say anything.

On top of David's deadlines and crazy long hours, over the past couple of weeks we've had complete schedule changes. Two weeks ago was spring break, so my kids didn't have school. Which means we had to change up our childcare. And then last week both mine and David's parents were on a cruise. Since they're also a big portion of our childcare, we had to again change up our schedules to meet our needs.

At the time, when I was figuring out what we would do and how we could rearrange things to work it out, I didn't think anything of it. I just figured life would be basically the same, but with a few schedule changes. Boy, was I wrong. These past couple of weeks have taken a toll on me. I'm overly tired, I'm emotional, I'm scatterbrained and overloaded, and did I mention emotional?

This has been a good lesson for me. I've learned a lot over the past couple of weeks. A lot about myself and a lot about our kids...and a lot about my husband. He's really amazing. He loves this family. He would do anything for us and has.
My kids love me...but sometimes their way of showing me that is to act out or scream or cry or argue or ask questions over and over and over...
They're good kids. They're sweet kids. My husband reminded me of that last night. They feel safest with me so of course I see their bad sides more than anyone else!
I don't handle stress very well. That's what I've learned about myself. I'm trying to work on that. I'm trying to do my best and, in the process, I have to remind myself that my best really is good enough. Because God's grace is sufficient for me. It covers all my insufficiencies. It fills in the gaps and closes the holes that I so often leave.

That is the most important thing to me right now. My God is good and His grace covers all my sins. What would I do without Him? He reminds me of His love every time I look into my husband's eyes and gain the strength I need to get through the next event, every time I hear my son's voice telling me story after story or asking question after question, and every time I receive a sweet, slobbery kiss from my daughter.

Stress only lasts for a season, but my God's love endures forever.