What A Week!

My apologies for not posting everyday this week! It has been a rough week around our house this week. The week started out with Angel being sick. Come to find out she has thrush, and a cold to top it off! We've had a lot of stuff going on at church this week as well.

While I was at a meeting Tuesday night, Jonathan and Angel went riding around "looking for deer"! Well they found one...and Jonathan decided he would hit it with our van. To top it off, at some point he lost his cell phone. Thank God, nobody was hurt and he was still able to drive the van. I think I'll be taking the keys to the van away from Jon, this is the 4th deer he has hit with it!! We just laughed about it, cause what else can you do!! So now our van is in the shop getting fixed and we are driving in style...we have a rental 2008 Chrysler Aspen! Next week we are going on vacation and will be riding in style, since the van will not be finished!

Wed night was yet another adventure for Jonathan! I had a prayer meeting at church and Jonathan kept Angel home with him. After Angel spent an entire hour crying and fussing, he decided that he no longer wants to be a stay-at-home dad like he once wished he could. I think dad's really learn to appreciate all mom's do when they are given the opportunity to experience it themselves. Jonathan said "I thought she would sleep so I could get things done"! I just laughed and said "oh just when you have something you need to get done, is when they decide they don't want to sleep and they want all your attention"! Angel wouldn't let her daddy put her down. She wasn't feeling well and just wanted to be held. I told him, that's why mommy's have to learn to do things while they are holding the baby. He says that's not possible for him! Pretty funny! Needless to say, when I got home he was ready for me to take over again!

Vacation next week!! I can't wait! We are going to the mountains for a week. I love the mountains, they are so peaceful! I will still be posting while we are gone and will be getting my e-mail, so don't think I'm going to be out of touch. I'm going to get back on schedule with my posting too!

Personality Developing!

Angel continues to surprise and amaze me everyday! She is really starting to develop her individuality/personality more and more as time goes. I have really enjoyed watching her change and grow! She is constantly thinking up new ways to make you laugh. Her newest thing is to make different sounds and then start giggling. Today she started doing this thing that sounds like a "sneeze/laugh"...she squints her eyes, bites her gums together tight, crinkles her nose, and makes this noise and then starts laughing.

Some of Angel's favorite things to do are; play peek-a-boo, roll over and over, play music on her exersaucer toys and laugh at mommy dance, talk to the picture of her and Daisy on my computer screen, try to call Daisy (comes out as "aaaaaaay", with a high-pitched squeel on the y), and of course she loves playing with her daddy! My absolute favorite is when she gives kisses, which she loves to do. She grabs your cheeks and pulls her face and yours together with her mouth open wide. She also likes to tease, grabbing your cheeks like she's going to give you a kiss and then she laughs and turns her head the other way.

As you can see Angel has quite a personality developing! She is so much FUN!! I can't wait to see how the following days unfold in her life, it's so exciting to watch her as she grows.

Reason For Celebration!

Angel was playing on the floor with her toys today. In an attempt to help her learn how to crawl better, I placed the toys just out of her reach. She was doing very well trying to get to them and just about had it figured out, when instead of grabbing the toys and pulling them to her, she started pushing them further away. This caused her to become frustrated, start fussing, and give up; expecting me to just hand them to her. Being the "wonderful" mother that I am ;-) I felt that my little 5 1/2 month old child needed to learn a lesson! Instead of doing what "she thought" was best and handing her the toys, I encouraged her to continue to try to get them herself (mommy knows best...right?). It was amazing to watch as I gave her encouragement, she tried harder, and eventually she reached the toys all on her own! This gave us a reason to celebrate "what a big girl she is"!

My thoughts then turned to my own life. How many times have I done this same thing? So many times I have gotten frustrated and just given up, even fussing! I say, "why won't this work, why doesn't anything ever work out for me, why can't this just be easy, why won't God just give me what I want"? I think you can see where I'm going with this. God knows best...RIGHT? Sometimes the best thing for us is, for Him to place what we want just out of our reach and teach us a lesson along the way! Encouraging us to grow, making us work harder, and giving us a reason to celebrate when we reach the goal!

I would encourage you each to ask God what it is that He is wanting to teach you. Then when you learn the lesson He is trying to teach you...CELEBRATE!! If you would like to share what God is teaching you, I would love to pray for you and celebrate with you!

Count Your Blessings!

Today, my thoughts have been revolving around my many blessings! Well they didn't start out that way. I started out thinking about all I have to do, how I'm not feeling well, and basically saying "poor, poor pitiful me"! As a lot of you already know, I have been struggling with my health for quite some time now. And at times it gets very discouraging. Yesterday, was yet another discouraging day!

The doctor's have found yet another obstacle, which I'm going to have to deal with. Not exactly sure of all the details yet, just had some tests that came back with some negative results. I am now in the waiting process until I can get in to see the doctor next month. After spending some time praying about this last night, God has been revealing some things to me.

I wanted to share what God has taught me through this "trying" time. The lesson I'm learning is to "Count My MANY Blessings!" Although I have many health issues to deal with, at least the doctors are finding them and I can deal with them instead of wondering what's wrong. There are so many people that have health issues and the doctors can't find anything or don't find it in time, therefore are unable to help them. I have a wonderful, supportive, loving family! I could go on and on about all the blessings God has given me, but there are too many to name them all! We need to stop saying "poor me!" and start saying "I'm so blessed, look what God has done for me!" My challenge to everyone reading this, "Count Your Blessings!" Have a VERY BLESSED Day!

Puppy Love!

Angel and Daisy are becoming best of friends! They are so cute together! The puppy makes sure that Angel is ok every time she makes a slight fuss. They like to entertain each other. Daisy usually ends up getting the raw end of the deal, being put in a head lock or something of that sort. Although, Daisy doesn't seem to mind being pushed around by "the bully"!

On occasion Angel will give Daisy the satisfaction of "thinking" she has won the battle. The wrestling match goes something like this; Daisy has Angel pinned with her front paws on Angel's chest, Angel grunts like she can't move (pretending of course), Angel grabs Daisy by the ears and wrestles her to the floor...1, 2, 3, 4, 5...Angel remains the champion!! And all the while Daisy just puts up with it!

Back To Old Self!

The past two days have proven to be glorious! As I told you all Angel was becoming a mommy’s girl, always wanting to be held and fussing anytime I was doing something other than soothing her. After looking back at the past couple weeks, I realized that we had an illness running through our family which the only symptom is an upset stomach. Unfortunately a baby has no way of telling you that something is wrong. This “stage” which we now recognize as her not feeling well, has come to a close. She has been back to her old self yesterday and today.

Today was a first for little Angel. She went to the nursery at Church for the first time. We have been just keeping her in the service with us, which worked fine until now. For some reason Angel thinks that she should be the one preaching the sermon! She likes to talk and GIGGLE!! She has a very cute high pitched giggle, but it’s not so cute in the middle of the Sunday morning sermon. It was nice to be able to take her to the nursery, giving Jonathan and I a break and allowing us to enjoy the message without interruption. Angel seemed to have a good time with the other little ones her age, ALL BOYS!! I was a little worried that she would be fussy once I left, but they say she did really well and wasn’t a bit fussy. I think being surrounded by the little men folk helped out with that situation!

Great Mornings!

Well I'm doing good at posting so far, 3 days in a row!! Thought I would share what a great morning I had. Like most mornings, I woke up to the sweet sound of little Angel cooing and giggling in her crib. She wakes up about 9am and rolls herself over to play. I listened to her and watched her on the monitor for about 30 minutes this morning entertaining herself. I finally decided to get up and get her a bottle. I put her in bed with Jonathan, Daisy (the puppy), and myself...good thing we have a king size bed! Daisy sleeps in our bed at night, curled up under the covers against my back. When I bring Angel in Daisy welcomes her with all sorts of kisses, then she curls back up in her spot and goes back to sleep. Not sure how Daisy sleeps through Angel kicking her, but somehow she manages. Once Angel finishes her bottle, we play for a little while and doze for a few more minutes if possible. Then it's time to get up for the day! What a joy and blessing it is to have such a wonderful baby girl! I thank God daily for allowing me the opportunity to raise Angel and I pray that I will be able to train her to be a Godly woman, always relying completely on Him!

Frustrated and Flattered!

It's amazing how you can feel more than one emotion at the same time. I have found this to be true more so as a mom than ever before. The past couple weeks have been interesting around our house. Angel has been wanting to be held by mommy all the time! Although this is flattering, it can be frustrating when you are trying to get things done. It seems that just the time I start a task, the fussing begins, and only mom's arms will make it stop.

Dealing with Angel's new found fussing has been a challenge. She has never been a fussy baby and still only fusses a minimal amount. I have found myself getting frustrated at times with the fussing because there are so many things I need to be getting done, and the only thing that stops the fussing is for me to hold her. While praying my way through the frustration, God has shown me that there is nothing that is as important as comforting my upset child and the other stuff can wait. I have also come to the conclusion that, I only have one opportunity to enjoy my baby as a baby. She is growing up so fast! Before I know it she will not want mommy to hold her anymore, as she will think she is too big for that. So my goal is to learn to be more flattered and less frustrated!

New Blogger

I am new to the whole blogging thing! Thought I would try it out and see if I can keep everyone updated on what's going on here in Virginia. I will try to post at least once a week and hopefully more than that. My goal is to share all the new things Angel is doing and keep you all updated on what our family is currently up to. I will probably share some of my personal thoughts and feelings along the way, as well as what God is doing in my life. I hope you will add my blog to your favorites and check back often to read about our family. And feel free to comment or share any advise/wisdom you might have along the way.