The Simple Woman’s Daybook ~ 3.16.10
Outside my window…
it is a beautiful day! I’m not sure how warm it is, but the sky is blue and the sun is shining. I can’t wait to take a walk.
I am thinking…
about what a crazy morning it’s been.
I am thankful for…
coffee. And I’m thankful it tastes good to me now. I was disgusted with it in my first trimester.
From the kitchen…
I think I am making stir fry tonight. I still have dinner dishes to wash from last night because it took me so long to get Christian to sleep. (And he just fell asleep this morning, too, so I haven’t had a chance until now.)
I am wearing…
wow. The same thing I was wearing last week. With a pink sweater. It’s a coincidence – I don’t have day-of-the-week outfits!
I am creating…
a tidy house again, in a few minutes.
I am going…
to go to Walmart today. Fun fun.
I am reading…
lots of “how to get your baby to sleep” websites. Also, an inspiring post from the creator of this little meme I’m doing.
I am hoping…
that the day will take a turn for the better. It hasn’t started off well.
I am hearing…
the noiseless cacophony of my own thoughts.
Around the house…
there’s a place for everything, but not everything is in its place.
One of my favorite things…
the mei tai my friend is letting me borrow. Christian protests when I first put him into it, but then gets very content. And it’s so easy on my back. I love it.
A few plans for the rest of the week…
home group tonight, which I’m looking forward to as always. My sister is coming to visit starting on Thursday. Christian has a checkup at the pediatrician’s on Friday. Some kind of get-together on Saturday.
A picture thought I am sharing…
Christian and me after his bath last night.
All Things : 1,000 Gifts
Taking another leaf from Amy, I’m joining the Gratitude Community and starting a list of 1,000 things I have to thank the Lord for… adding to it each Monday, I hope.
I’m starting out with just one gift. When I thought about writing this post this morning, I knew what I wanted to write. The day was unrolling smoothly before me, like a fresh white aisle runner at a wedding. The baby ate and napped cooperatively, and I checked things off my to-do list with satisfaction.
The day hasn’t ended quite like it’s begun. Ironically, I found myself wanting to begin my gratitude post with a list of complaints – sort of like, “These are all the things I have to be grumpy about, but hey, I’m gonna be grateful instead.”
I suppose gratitude is a discipline at a times. And hopefully I’m not sharing this gift to be trite, but may it be something I truly meditate on throughout the rest of the day. I am thanking the Lord for…
- All things being mine through Christ. “For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” (1 Cor. 3:21-23)
Going somewhere on Hope Road?
Naturally, my blog has been very happenstance as of late. Mothering a newborn doesn’t lend itself to blogging – sleep deprivation confuses me so much that I am a much slower writer than normal. I have to backspace, pause, and rewrite constantly.
Also, I don’t really like to be on the computer when Christian is awake. I don’t feel that I have to spend his every waking moment solely focused on him, but I do want to spend a lot of time with him, and I want to set a pattern right from the beginning of not being distracted by technology. I don’t want to stare at a screen when his beautiful baby face is right next to me. Once in awhile it’s okay, but I want to make sure that it’s not a constant habit.
That baby face does sleep quite a few hours of the day, so I do have time for other things. Like blogging. It’s been two years since I moved my blog to this domain, and almost three years since I started Hope Road. (Before that, I had a Xanga for a couple of years, and previously a Blogspot blog for a few months.)
So back to my original point – I haven’t been blogging much of substance lately. I’ve always enjoyed writing about my own life and thoughts, but I also miss writing purposefully about things that matter, topics that are broader than just my own life and experience. Having more experience in life, though, has given me more of a perspective on those very topics – hopefully I can write in a humbler and more personal way.
I have some ideas, but I don’t want to share because I don’t want to make any promises. I’m kind of in survival mode right now, so this is more of a hope (get it?) than anything else. I would, though, like to hear your ideas for what I should write about. (I’ve done that before.) What do you like reading on my blog – or what would you like to read?
On a side note, I’m so jittery from coffee right now. Half a cup doesn’t seem to have that effect, but a full cup does. Will I never learn?
Also, if you have any questions for me, seemingly random or not, this would be the time to ask them! I will (try to) answer them in future posts.
In summary - topic suggestions and/or questions for me are welcomed!
Really, I want to make this blog about the Lord, not about me. Personal blogging can be so narcissistic. I’m not sure if I have a good balance or not. Hopefully you can see Him through my very imperfect life.
The Simple Woman’s Daybook ~ 3.9.10
I am, as I told my husband, rather zonked today (not intoxicated; just extremely tired; that’s the alternate definition). The little one wanted to party all night long. I do feel like contributing something to the blogosphere, though, so I’ll do a Simple Woman’s Daybook, which I’ve read several times on Amy’s blog.
Outside my window…
it’s cloudy and kind of hazy. Just like I feel. (Yesterday was a beautiful day in the mid-70’s. I took Christian for a walk in the park for the first time.) All I’ve really noticed outside is the squirrels playing in our front yard. I do plan on taking another walk today. Walks help me survive on these exhausted days.
I am thinking…
about what I should make for dinner tonight. I didn’t make a menu plan this week like I usually do, just picked up some basic ingredients at the store. I have ground beef, tortillas, lots of pasta, pork, frozen tortellini, assorted frozen vegetables… I was thinking burritos maybe.
Also, today is Christian’s one-month birthday!
I am thankful for…
hot showers. For some reason I was thinking of all the mission trip stories I’ve heard about cold showers and sponge baths. Hot showers are so refreshing, and being able to be clean is a huge blessing that I often take for granted.
From the kitchen…
I didn’t realize this was coming up in the meme, so I already discussed dinner. I am craving blueberry muffins for some reason. I just ate leftover cheddar chicken and potatoes from last night. I drank a little coffee but not too much since it tends to make me jittery, and I am hoping to nap this afternoon.
I am wearing…
a green v-neck top with a white tank top, and knit black pants. My feet are cold.
I am creating…
a binder with all of my lists in it. I have been keeping my chore and to-do lists and all of my other various lists in a regular notebook, but I am now sorting them all into a binder so they are easier to access, and so I can add or subtract pages as needed. I’m such a nerd when it comes to my lists… I just function so much better when I know everything’s written down and I don’t have to try to remember it. I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with my control-freak tendencies, either.
I am going…
to drink a lot of cold water. It keeps me going when I’m this out of it.
I am reading…
Psalms and Genesis, with occasional excursions to Isaiah and the epistles; a biography of Abigail Adams; and I just started Home by Marilynne Robinson. I’m also finishing up a book by/about Katherine Parr (the British queen).
I am hoping…
that my baby will start sleeping more at night soon. That I’ll be able to take a nap this afternoon. (Yes, I’m a little sleep-obsessed right now.)
I am hearing…
the house fan and the keys on the keyboard.
Around the house…
everything’s cleaned up, thankfully, except for a couple dishes in the sink. Another survival technique for crazy days – keeping things in their places. Visual peace.
One of my favorite things…
getting Christian out of bed. As thankful as I am for naptime and nighttime sleep, I am so happy to see him when he gets up. He’s my little buddy. He was quite talkative after his breakfast this morning – it was so cute.
A few plans for the rest of the week…
women’s small group tonight, which we haven’t had since October. There have been three babies born since then – two in November, and Christian in February. We don’t really have any plans for the rest of the week, which is kind of rare. I’m looking forward to the weekend. Each weekend has gotten progressively more “normal” as Christian gets a week older.
A picture thought I am sharing…
of my little munchkin, of course…
My cutie…
This is what Christian is doing right now. I rocked him until he was almost asleep, laid him down in his bassinet, and kept my hand on him until he was asleep… I love putting him to sleep, it’s such quality time (usually). He did not like his bassinet when he came home from the hospital, so he’s been sleeping in an infant seat, but I think he’s succeeding in making the transition… yay! This is my morning. I won’t post a picture of how my house (or I) look at the moment… I’m off to take advantage of my little one’s naptime.
His kindness in my day-to-day
It’s all still hazy. Sleep deprivation kind of makes life that way.
Mothering a newborn (and, I assume, mothering a child of any age) requires continual re-adjustment. Just when I think, “Okay, I’ve got this down,” he changes it up on me.
I have to remind myself to breathe sometimes. I almost hold my breath, stressing myself out – listening for him to start crying after I lay him down, waiting for his eyes to close while I’m rocking him, hoping he won’t wake up in the library.
I’m loving staying home with him. We’ve been getting in a somewhat-good routine, loosely based on Babywise but without really “crying it out” or scheduling – just following the eat/wake/sleep pattern as much as possible, and also using the 2.5-3-hr. feeding time as a general guideline. That’s helped him learn the difference between night and day.
Now at 3 weeks, though, he’s starting to change things up on me – waking more during the night, not taking full feedings during the day, and becoming quite a bit of work to get to sleep. So today I’m keeping a log of everything he’s doing, and trying to get him on a little more of a schedule, and lay him down to sleep when he’s drowsy but still awake. (While still remaining flexible, responsive to his hunger cues, and not being controlling or militant about it. Whew.) Still, he’s proving a lot more responsive than when I tried the same thing a couple of weeks ago. He’s much more ready to put himself to sleep now.
When she came down to visit after Christian was born, my mom brought me a copy of devotionals from Susannah Spurgeon (yes, Charles Spurgeon’s wife). They have been an immense encouragement to me over the past few weeks, often being exactly what I needed to hear that day. There are only a couple dozen of them; I wish she had written hundreds! Here are a few excerpts that have been meaningful to me:
“It is not my poor, cold, half-hearted love that is to satisfy and comfort me; but Your love, great, and full, and free, and eternal as Yourself! Surely, I had known this before, Lord; but I had shut myself up in unbelief till, in Your sweet mercy, You spoke the word that released me from my chains, opened my prison doors, and let me out into the sunshine of true peace in believing.”
“Lord, my soul flings itself on this glorious fact, this saving truth, as a drowning man seizes upon a life-belt thrown to him in the surging sea! If you do not love me and lift me, I must perish for ever. But there is no question of sinking when Jesus saves, no fear of losing life when He loves… Now, all the day long, my heart shall sing over the safety and blessedness of being freely loved, instead of fretting about the sad lack of my poor love to You.”
“God’s negatives and affirmatives are like great rocks jutting out from the insecure and shifting sands of all earthly experiences.”
-Free Grace and Dying Love: Morning Devotions by Susannah Spurgeon
