Inspirational Poem

The Special Mother
by Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.
This year nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen?
Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation.
As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth; son. Patron saint...give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."
"Forrest, Marjorie; daughter. Patron saint, Cecelia."
"Rutledge, Carrie; twins. Patron saint, Matthew."
Finally He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."
The angel is curious. "Why this one God? She's so happy."
"Exactly," smiles God, "Could I give a handicapped child to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."
"But has she patience?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it."
"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has her own world. She has to make her live in her world and that's not going to be easy."
"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."
God smiles, "No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect - she has just enough selfishness."
The angel gasps - "selfishness? is that a virtue?"
God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word'". She will never consider a "step" ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle, and will know it!"
"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice....and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing My work as surely as if she is here by My side".
"And what about her Patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid-air.
God smiles, "A mirror will suffice."

Happy Valentines!

Today started wonderfully, with a kiss goodbye from my husband(my morning breath and all!) Followed by a sweet green eyed girl whispering directly into my face "it's time to wake up mommy." I roll over to the leopard kitty cat print pajamas that is Lydia who at some point made into our bed last night or early this morning, who knows. So off we go, morning cuddles and stretching. We're off to the living to finish the other half of Cinderella while drinking juice and fruit loops in a bowl. I was able to steal another 20 minutes of sleep while hiding under a blanket on the couch before Lydia was in my face sharing and feeding her fruit loops with me. Now it's time to get cracking! I found my card from the hubs waiting by the coffee pot. One hot cup of coffee and oh so sweet card later and the smell of bacon is filling the house. I decided a banana/strawberry/spinach smoothie would be fun to make with my girls. So they scooped in yogurt, plopped in frozen strawberries and bananas and made silly noises while holding the cold spinach leaves. We sat at their little wooden table eating waffles, bacon, and enjoying our smoothie all while waiting for daddy's pit stop home. In and out he went, but not before some warm bacon and waffles, his cards from his girls, and a smoothie.
Dance class came and went, Isabelle was too cute in her heart leg warmers and leotard. And nothing says I love you more to a 1 and 4 years old like a heart shaped cookie and sucker. Thank you Miss Jess.
On the way home I got a speeding ticket! How sweet of that police man, didn't he know that's just what I wanted for Valentines Day? Of course I was going 5 over all ready, but I didn't help the situation by taking off my scarf with my foot on the gas and while looking behind me to talk to Lydia in hopes of keeping her awake and NOT sleeping 5 minutes before we got home. I love that Mr Police mans first comment is "I pulled you over for speeding, you seemed a little distracted there as you passed me" Ha, we'll ya don't say......ah we'll that'll teach me! 10 and 2 Hannah! 10 and 2!!!
I get to hear my little Valentines heartbeat this afternoon,and the hubs will be home by 1 for the start of his 4 day weekend. Score!
It's a gorgeous day out, going o be almost 60 out which means a run after my dr apt at which time I will not be able to stop thinking of my ticket, seriously what a bummer.
I'm thinking steak and shrimp for the hubs tonight, that always puts a smile on his face.

Here is a blog I follow occasionally, mommy of 2 girls, one with Down syndrome, and who is due any day now with #3.
She sure posts heart warming tidbits....

Happy Valentines Day

http://www.kellehampton.com/2013/02/where-there-is-love-there-is-life.html

This and that

I've been running again, and seeing the benefits. Sleeping is better, my appetite is somewhat normal so my goal is to stay with for at least another month. I would like to make it to 20 weeks before having to jog. This Saturday the hubs and I have another 5k followed by date night, which were looking forward too. Checked out the forecast and the coldest day is will be Saturday, such a bummer. Praying for a warm up! This past Saturday I surprised myself and ran 9:37 miles. Completed 4.65 miles in 43 minutes-I hadn't ran that particular loop since December.
We've been having fun with Valentine day crafts-last night we made heart puppets. From items I had here at home. I'm bringing them with me to Lydia's aquatic therapy so Isabelle and I can play whole Lydia gets her PT in.
Not only did Lydia take her first steps last week, but later on that evening I felt the little flutters and movement of our baby. It's so cool and exciting-to me the best part of being pregnant is feeling your baby move. Or course the few days leading up to the movement I thought I had gas, but no, as I paid more attention to what I was feeling it was clear. :)
Isabelle just amazes me daily with the words she knows, her helpful actions, and then of course her dramatic outbursts. We is so excited about the baby. I was 5 when my little sister was born and remember a lot of it, so I hope she'll remember this stuff.
I am obsessed with granola, whether on fruit, in yogurt, it makes my whirls go round.
Hummus has me making moaning sounds-thank goodness no one seems to notice them.
Lately I can't turn my brain off when my head hits the pillow, so I've been reading more. That seems to tire my mind quickly, Lord knows my body is ready for sleep but the wheels keep turning. I blame that on the pregnancy.
October 2010 I was in a wedding, 1 bridesmaid was 1 month post baby, and 3 of us bridesmaids were pregnant with in 2 months after the wedding. Now 3 of us our expecting again, how funny is that? It seems like the pregnant women I know are popping up left and right.
You may have noticed my lack of photos on here. I have decided to longer post pictures. You may randomly get an arts or craft picture, or a baby bump photo, but I'm leaving my hubs and kiddos out. It makes me so uncomfortable to know anyone can copy a photo of mine and instead of continually having it bother me I have decided to end the photos. I've been back and forth with this issue a lot since having kids and my sweet husband had the simple idea to just not put photos up anymore! I love how to the point the man can be. I considered water marking my photos, making my blog private, etc...but this seems to be the easiest. I've done the same for Facebook. I've had to many issues with what I put out for others to see and when it comes to my girls I get weird about it. Rather than keep being bothered by the whole deal, I will just end it. :)

Its time for my girls and I to start our day...

Happy Tuesday!

Step 1! Boo yah!

This momma is over the MOON right now! Our little girl took her first step at PT today! Let me say that again, LYDIA TOOK HER FIRST STEP! Yes, yes she did. She was holding onto a bench and reached to the mirror to get a magnetic toy, and well her legs needed to catch up with the upper half of her body so step went one foot over to the mirror. Then, her therapist said she tried a different walker with Lydia and low and behold that little nugget of mine took 15 steps on it. She was using a walker which has what looks like a bike seat on it and that's what helped her G-O! There is one more walker to try out next week and then an order will be placed for one of her own. I can't wait till it arrives and I take my little girl to Hobby Lobby to accessorize and decorate her new found independence. (Hoping that at that point she'll be more comfortable with it.) And if anything at all decorating it will show her that its all hers to explore and go with.
Maybe Jake can come step away from work next week during her therapy apt and steel a peak with me!


Have a great Wednesday all.....God is so good, and when he shows up man is it exciting!

Beautiful

Beautiful is all I can think of to describe this young girl.
I came across this video from a women's blog I was put in contact with who just had her first child, a little girl with SB. She posted this video and of course it left me crying. We have the same high hopes and love for our Lydia and it is so encouraging to see this video.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PqUDdxm-qSA

A tough age

Lydia is sick, again, poor girl can't catch a break. Probably has to do with all the running around and appointments we've had. To put the cake topper on she is also teething. We've had 5 nights of sleepless nights, it made me take a look back to when Isabelle was this age. Sure enough I went through lots of sleepless nights with her between the age of 18-24 months. Both my girls are late teethers, didn't cut teeth till 11 months. When Isabelle was this age we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment and many, many nights were spent rocking her back to sleep. At 21 months we put her in her toddler bed. I thought hey let's try switching things up and allowing her to come to momma instead of standing there crying and crying, it actually worked. She would come to me I would comfort her and back to bed she went. Do I dare do this with Lydia? We'll see. If things continue we my try it in another month or so. Until then it's an achy neck in the am for mom and a crabby toddler/mom. The joys of motherhood! :) I'm off to buy more Tylenol and Vicks vapor plug ins.

Have a great Wednesday!

She's 4!

We have a 4 year old! That should really be a question. How did we get this far? My oh my...she's a wonderful, beautiful, smart, kind hearted, goofy, girl. She knows how to pray and loves Jesus too! Lord knows we are so proud of the little girl she is. I could go on and on.
Her birthday was simple, no theme this year. She did everything she wanted to do. Which meant jumping at the mall. The child is harnessed in and jumps on a large trampoline looking thing, Isabelle loves it. A train ride, and movie sealed the deal.
I've started a new bible study at my weekly mommy/bible study that's on post. It is going to be very interesting and will touch on some things that are bound to make us women squirm. It deals with what God's desire is for a women and what role she plays. In today's society of women who can do it all, have a career, family, kids, etc. that role can be very let's just say confusing or controversial. With just one week in I can say I'm so happy I signed up for this study. I struggle a lot with being a young Christian women and SAHM, I hope that this study will continue to encourage me(and my hubby) that we've made the right decision in his career (thus far) and in the raising of children.
Tomorrow's Tuesday and I already wish it were Friday. (To self: stop griping!!!)
We've have such a busy day already and tomorrow will be even more busy, fun, but busy.
Time to check on my girls before I crawl in bed myself.
Isn't that such a wonderful thing? To be able to sneak into your little chicks room? Check to make sure their blankets are pulled up and their sleeping sound? The last few months I also find myself stopping over each girl and praying for them. Simple things, that they continue to know God and have a relationship with Him, that they dream of beautiful things, that their they continue to grow strong and healthy, little things like that.
Happy Monday!