Birthday Lessons

Today is Seth's 5th birthday. Somehow I blinked and 5 years passed. I have determined that I will no longer be blinking. Because life is flying by right in front of my face often times without my permission.

I am in the infancy stage of my motherhood journey. I have only begun to wade into the waters of the mom life. Eight and a half years ago my ride began and like a roller coaster, I have no idea what twists and turns to expect. When Zoey was born I was absolutely clueless. I asked my mom a billzion questions on the daily and my expectations of what to expect were nonexistent. She developed beautifully and I never worried whether or not she was hitting all the right milestones at all the right times. Yet again, I was clueless but slowly growing confident that I was figuring out this mom thing.

That was my problem. I got cocky and I think God has a little sense of humor. Two and a half years after Zoey was born Seth entered our lives: also known as our piece of humble pie. Yep, that's the nice way to put him. Humble Pie.  Please don't get me wrong, I love that little boy with all of my heart but "oh my stars," that kid was/is hard. He presents us each day with the opportunity to grow and learn as parents. Wow, that sounded like a really nice way to say that boy tests our patience DAILY but I love him so much and I am beyond grateful to be his mother.

Here is what I have learned in 8 years. Listen closely to me, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING.  No clue. Nope. Flying by my pants' seat over here. What I do have is a love so deep that I refuse to quit. I refuse to allow satan to crowd by thoughts and heart with insecurities of the future of unknowns or what ifs. I have the example of wonderful moms. Mothers who have waded out into the waters and returned to the shore tired and weathered but strong. Most importantly, I have a God who has shown the ultimate love of a parent.


If you are still reading please enjoy this pictorial timeline.

When you get more than you bargain for....

Sometimes you ask for things. You bring them on yourself as some would say. Our beautiful, new home is one of those things. We asked for it. We went searching for a place just like this. A place that smelled horrible and needed new everything. I mean everything. I may grumble and whine about the stress our house caused but I wanted it. I brought it on myself.

Then there are cards you are dealt that you would rather give back. I can not complain because many of you have been dealt much worse hands. Your cards are so heavy that I can't imagine from where you gather the strength each day to rise. You are my heroes. I draw strength and hope each day as I watch many of you do really hard things. Your courage helps me know I too can do hard things but sometimes my resolve diminishes at the first bump in the road. Today I realize I can not control what obstacles are placed before me whether it be a speed bump or the Grand Canyon. I have no control.

What I am slowly starting to wrap my simple mind around is that God is driver of the crazy train I'm riding in. It's not me. I am simply a passenger who is doing my best to convince God to let me sit in his lap and drive. I think about the times I would beg my Dad to let me drive up the driveway at our house. I would sit in his lap and drive the 500 feet to the garage. In that brief ten seconds of time I was in control. I thought I knew exactly what I was doing despite the fact he was controlling the pedals.

Yesterday was the day. Magic circle day. We have been waiting on the day for a while. Our nerves had subsided and impatience had set it. We were ready to get the party started. To spare you the long drawn out details I will cut to the chase. Seth most likely has glaucoma. The dislocation of his lens and the glaucoma are more than likely caused by a congenital condition he has had since birth. He has two different color eyes and that is a symptom of this condition. So we go back Tuesday in hopes that the drops he is now taking will have lowered his pressure. If they do not he will have surgery one day next week.

I did not ask for this. I don't want to have to deal with my four year old son screaming through another doctor's appointment but in the grand scheme this is just a bump in the road. In comparison to others this is a pot hole. We will have to adjust certain aspects of our daily life but this is not an earth shattering event. I must remember God is my driver. He's got this.

Love you all!

A Long Three Weeks

We have been in house exactly three weeks and I REALLY wish I could tell you it has been a fairytale but as the wise Harry Potter says, "I must not tell lies." Actually I feel more like Cinderella before the whole glass slipper, fairy godmother thing. I really could use a fairy godmother right about now. Someone who could come along to wave her wand and hang all the pictures and unpack all the boxes. If anyone has a number for someone like that, HOOK A GIRL UP!

It's probably unfair that I am painting a totally unhappy picture that life is not good right now because it feels amazing to be in our home and I can feel us start to roll downhill. The stress level has decreased from about 500 to about 75 over the last couple of weeks. Let me get the not fun stuff out of the way and I will show you what the house looks like currently.

Not fun stuff:

1. We had a leak in our brand new bathroom sink.

2. Our brand new dryer would not work.

3. Our master bath toilet would not flush. See #5

4. I can't really remember all of the problems. There are too many so I am going to stop right here.


5.

Surprise! We got new sewer lines. The problems in number 3 were caused by old sewer lines and the fact this house was vacant for about 7 years. It is not all bad. Jon was almost giddy this day because he has been dying to start sowing grass seed and planting new landscape. Right now we have a dirt front yard. Seriously. I give directions to anyone who comes to our house like this, "it's a green painted brick house with a dirt front yard." They get there every single time. I can't wait to show you what the exterior of house looks like in a couple of months. 

Time to end the suspense….prepare yourself. Ain't nothing clean and put together.  Those pictures will come in a few weeks or months if I'm honest. 

I adore the kitchen. It's probably my favorite room in the whole house. We have to put up the back splash and do a little trim work and it's done. Done.

The bedrooms are done except for unpacking and hanging pictures, pictures, pictures. Thankfully we figured out a nifty little way of hanging pictures without losing our minds. For the right price I may just share my secret. 

Well these are the bathrooms. I don't have a lot to say about them but they sure are pretty. 

This room has come a long way in a short period of time. Need me to remind you…

See I told ya.

This room is giving the kitchen a run for its money. It's kind of amazing. I am loving watching all of those Tennessee wins in this room. It's like a dream come true. 

I am going to leave you with this beautiful pictures. I sure do love those kids even though I'm pretty sure my hair is going gray. 

House Update: Week 10.5

I really hope you guys weren't taking me serious when I said that I would post a mid-week update last week because I meant this week. I'm such a jokester. I've gotten lazy over here. Joking again. Things are just a tiny bit nutso and by tiny I mean complete mayhem. Okay, now I'm exaggerating. But just a little. We moved our first boxes today. I am beyond ready to be in this house. So ready that I will probably spend tomorrow cleaning ALL DAY LONG. We are getting desperate people.  Let me get to the good stuff.

Master Bed and Bath

This room is pretty much done. It needs a good scrub and some pretty pictures on the wall but it is fully functioning. Thank heavens! 

Apparently I took zero before pictures of the master bedroom. I promise it looks a little better than the pictures. Okay. Now I'm lying. It is still a big, hot mess. I'm going to walk away from this room for a little bit and maybe when I come back it will be done. Maybe.

I can't decide which room to show you next because both of them make me so durn happy. I would do a little dance but I'm church of christ. Just kidding but not really. 

Family Room

I'm still trying to compose myself. This room give me all the feels. The can lights above the fireplace. The white brick. The built ins. The color. It's all so overwhelming wonderful. This maybe my favorite room ever. 

Kitchen

Let's all just take a minute and breathe in the beauty of this room. Look past those minor details (unpainted doors) and envision the finished product. It is going to be amazing. I'm practically salivating.

Even though we are "almost" finished we still have so much to do. I will probably wait until we are completely finished and moved in before I post another TOTAL house update. I will post updates on random rooms but we are at the end and I'm pooped. I hope to take a good long nap when all of this is finished.