Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snow Day!

I was so happy to get to see some white stuff this winter! ...And extremely thankful that I was well enough to enjoy it. Eric and I were talking yesterday about last winter's snow. I was barely pregnant with Addisyn and soooo sick! Eric almost took me to the emergency room b/c Greenville OB was closed and I could barely even walk! Definitely thankful that's behind us...

This year, our sweet baby girl is here, and she was able to see her first snow!! She didn't quite know what to think about the snow, but she HATED getting bundled up!



We took her down some extreme hills on this skim board!





Don't ask about the ski glasses...i'm not sure...





Later that night when we were warm and dry inside...I told Eric it's him and his "mini me"...I think she looks just like him! :)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

My man is "the man!"

Today has been a looong day. Addisyn has been sick, therefore fussy... no need to elaborate further.

By the time Eric got home from work I was just barely holding it together so he didn't have to come home to a wife meltdown. But frankly, I had been caring for Addi's every need all day and I just wanted someone to take care of me! (Selfish and unrealistic, maybe...but thats just where I was at). There was no dinner on the table, because my child would shriek if I set her down and it would then escalate to the point of vomiting...yes, i'm serious.

Once Addi was in bed, I started to think about food and realized that I wanted french toast! For those who may be wondering...yes that is a weird craving, no i'm not pregnant. I just wanted some french toast, but I intended to starve before I dirtied up the kitchen at 8:30 pm after the day I'd had!! Eric was watching tv and I asked him in my most pitiful, sweet, sexy, irresistible voice "Baby, will you make me some french toast?"....his response? "No. I don't know how."

Rabbit trail from my story.... How is it that men "forget" how to do a lot of things after they get married? I'm just saying, there are a lot of things that my husband "can't" do now that i'm pretty sure I saw him do back when he was single! Anyways...

I stopped caring about what he was watching on tv and decided I was going to take a bubble bath and then go to bed. I loooove baths! It relaxes me so much and I am able to leave a ton of stress in my tub:) When I got out of the tub, I smelled something AMAZING and then went out and found before my very eyes, a table set for two with FRENCH TOAST!!! ...and a husband that was very proud of himself! I got teary eyed, I was sooo blessed!

I, of course, asked him how he knew how to make french toast all the sudden..."I looked in the recipe book" (mental note...the whole "I don't know how" thing really is an act sometimes). Anyways, we ate french toast for dinner at 10:00 at night and talked about how we were going to get fat if we kept doing this...but it was fun!

Eric also cleaned up! He is amazing and I love him so much!

Oh yeah...and he made a point of the fact that he unloaded the dishwasher too....my response "Thanks babe, but don't push it with the bragging thing!" LOL;)

Sick Week

Addisyn has been pretty sick this week, so other than me going to work yesterday (and her going to Grandma's) we haven't really done much. It's been kinda nice!

I took her to the doctor on Monday and she has an ear infection in her left ear and she's got the most brutal cough!!! Fortunately, the dr. said it didn't sound like pneumonia...which apparently she had seen a lot of lately. (I'd be freaking out if it was!)

So I've been spoiling my sick girl this week=) We've been watching a lot of tv in Mommy's bed. I swear, this child LOVES some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny. She watches it constantly like she's 5 yrs old instead of 5 months! ...And most naps have either been in Mommy's arms or in the swing (mainly b/c she doesn't sleep well laid flat with the cough and ear infection).

I'm not gonna lie, it's not been easy b/c she's really fussy, but i'm making it!
Feel better soon Baby!






^This pic was mid-cough!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

"On Love and Respect"...probably the first of many

So Eric and I, along with some friends, are reading a book by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs called "Love and Respect". The book is about the woman's primary need to feel loved and men's primary need to feel respected. We have pretty much only read the intro so far, but I think it's going to be great!


The men like this book because it doesn't always assume that the men are wrong in most marriage situations...but to be honest, I like it for that reason too! Instead of reading a book that generally just focuses on my needs as a woman, and then spending my time thinking about how my husband doesn't meet those needs, its much better to know where I fall short so I can ask God to change me to be a better wife!

Anyways, that's the back story... so lately I've been praying a lot about my marriage! Asking God to show me the areas where I "take over" and don't properly honor my husband as the head of the household. I've also been asking God to teach me how to react in those times when I don't feel loved in the way that I would like.

During church last sunday we sang "The Desert Song" which I love!!!....great chorus, verses, everything! The part that stuck out for me, though, was when we sing "Break my heart for what breaks Yours, Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause, SHOW ME HOW TO LOVE LIKE YOU HAVE LOVED ME." I was thinking about those words and just began to ask God to show me how to love my husband as Jesus has loved me (and of course, following with the theme of the book to be able to show love to my husband through respect).

Well, since then, God has really made this statement real to me and basically shown me that If I really want to love like He loves me I have no ground for any fussing, complaining, pity parties at all when it comes to my husband! Jesus was nailed to a cross because of His love for me! He made the ultimate sacrifice and since then there are MANY MANY MANY times when I have treated Him wrongly!! How can I even begin to compare anything to that?!? So I began to ask Jesus to "conform me into His image" and show me how to love my husband (and others) on that kind of a level! A level that is willing to love with everything...not based on results, and even in fact, assuming results that you won't like! If I commit to love my husband as Jesus has loved me then I am to love even when all I receive in return is a bad attitude, etc. I mean, I can't even wrap my mind around the fact that Jesus was nailed to a cross for me and then many times a day I turn around and basically slap him in the face with thoughts, actions, and words that I have that are not glorifying to God. Jesus, continue to show me how to love like you have loved me!

P.S. ...my husband is an amazing guy and I love him sooo much! I don't want this to sound like "OMG my man has issues!" Love you E!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

I have found the $1,000,000 secret!!

Since I have become a mom (and also many times before) I have wondered to myself....how do people do it? By "it" I mean, care for a child, keep the house clean, and control the piles of dirty clothes/sheets/towels that over take the laundry room, etc? Oh yeah, and work part time...and other stuff...

I've spent a while now in this constant state of "overwhelmedness"... you like that word don't ya? Definition? "Overwhelmedness"- a state of feeling overwhelmed a lot! I love something that my sister-in-law said last week, "When you have a 3 year old, you don't have time to clean up after them...and when you have a baby you don't have time to clean up after yourself." So true! Many times I wondered how my house gets so messy when its usually just me here? Here's how: if Addisyn will relax for 5 minutes in the exersaucer then I have a second to make myself a bowl of soup and a sandwich for lunch.... BUT then she'll probably blow out a poop in her pants and "ta-da" the dishes are either left on the counter or thrown in the sink to take care of that... and it starts!

(Pause the writing of this post to put Addi down for a nap)

So anyways, this week I have found the key to keeping everything under control...

ARE YOU READY!?!?

Here goes...

Don't rest! ...EVER! Don't be deceived into thinking you get "me time." You don't. If I am not constantly doing some sort of cooking, cleaning, laundry, diaper changing, dog feeding task then I get behind. When is my time to rest? Most nights I am able to rest from 10:30pm-1:00am, 1:30am - 5am, 6am- 7am (Addi has had a cold so she hasnt been sleeping well). I know that this is all said sarcastically but I'm pretty much serious! That's how it seems! Every moment that I am in my house there is something that needs to be done!

So back to overwhelmedness... this week I was rocking Addisyn before bed and I just started crying. I cried out to God and my prayer was very simple... "God, i'm weary"... Now tired is a physical state, but weary is physical, spiritual, mental and emotional exhaustion. I immediately heard the still, small voice of my creator "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest!" Now as I mentioned before, the kind of rest where you put in a movie, take a bubble bath and then nap if you want to is not so practical anymore.

So the point of my ramblings is this... I am constantly in a state of "doing" as a wife and mom. But my prayer is that MY SPIRIT WOULD BE AT REST. God is revealing his love to me in such an awesome way right now and even though I may go to bed "tired" I am being refreshed everyday by an amazing God who always meets us where we're at!

Practically how does this work for me? Playing worship music! Meditating on "tidbits" from the word! Spending time praying during the day. I mean, you can be thanking God for His goodness while you're taking a shower or changing a diaper! Most importantly by not letting the devil discourage me! By changing my mentality to "be at rest" in the midst of my busyness I find that in the midst of the mundane I find joy!!!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I DON'T CARE!!!!

Just a quick vent... my husband is obsessed with Skip Holtz leaving ECU to go to USF! I'm so sick of hearing about it!!! I don't want to discuss it any further or be forced to "read" anymore articles about it! I was sad for about a minute that his "era" has come to an end but now i'm over it! That's all...

P.S. Even as I write this Eric is looking over my shoulder telling me to put that "maybe Bobby Bowden's son will come coach for us" ....grrrr

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Addisyn's First Christmas

...PICTURES AS PROMISED=)

Such a little cutie pie! ...and so photogenic=)

Addi in her bumbo seat watching Pop Pop and cousin Livi!

"Santa" (aka Pop Pop and Grandma Nae) brought her a baby doll cradle and highchair


And, yes, she got a present that was bigger than she was ....it was an exersaucer and she loves it!

Addisyn and Great-Grandma Steinmetz on Christmas morning


Daddy bought her a Pirates jersey to wear for the bowl game...Arrrggghh!!


Addi got lots of teddy bears... and a little baby doll!


Aren't these Christmas jammies precious?!?



Me and my girl on the Sunday before Christmas. She is wearing my dress
that I wore my first Christmas!


Alright...here's for an update...

So to all of you who think i'm falling off the face of the blog earth... you may be a little bit right! I love blogging but it's just kinda gotten pushed to the bottom of my priority list behind holiday preparation/recovery, working, being a wife and mommy, etc. I know that many of you do way more than me and still blog about it all....kudos to you;) Needless to say, my blog posts may or may not be more scarce, but that just means it will be so much more of a joy to read after you have to wait for one! LOL! (If you haven't noticed I like to act like more than 3 people read my blog)

I'm blogging today because i'm sick (UGH!) and in bed with nothing to do. My amazing husband packed up Addi and took her with him to the dealership so that I could rest, since I barely got 4 hours of sleep last night!

Anyways, our trip to Florida ended up being fun! It was a LOOONNNGGG drive, but an adventure nonetheless. We did Christmas with Eric's family and I got the cutest COACH boots! Eric, Addi and I got a day out to shop and we went to the HUGEST mall I have ever been to in Tampa. Lets be honest, most of the stores I didn't even step into because I knew I couldn't afford one sock from Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Burberry;) But, hey, I did stock up on new undies @ Victoria's Secret and browsed bags at Coach (my favorite place ever)!

All in all we had a great Christmas! Addisyn got enough stuff to fill up my whole house, but I guess thats the way it should be. I mean seriously though...she won't need to celebrate another birthday or Christmas until she's 3! I was really excited because she was much more involved than I thought she would be. She loved to watch everyone open their presents and she sampled each and every gift bag or piece of tissue paper to see which ones were the tastiest! I have about a million pictures of Addi's first Christmas but my camera is in the diaper bag which, as I previously mentioned is with my Super Husband at the dealership. =) Pics to come later...

I must say, I did have the lamest New Year's Eve, though. I went to bed! At like 10:30! But you know what?!? The ball dropping is really not that fascinating and it was still 2010 when I woke up the next morning and I felt rested!

Speaking of 2010...i'm believing that it's going to be a wonderful year! 2009 showed me a whole new side of God and His faithfulness! I walked through the sickest three months of my life when I was pregnant with Addisyn, but came out on the other side stronger and with the most precious gift of all! My baby girl has blessed mine and Eric's life more than I could've ever imagined! I'm thankful for my husband's health and that God sustained us (and is continuing to sustain us) through the battle with his pain. I'm thankful that my parents both celebrated their 50th birthdays and their 25th wedding anniversary! I'm thankful that God gave us favor in the car business this year and that we still have our doors opened at Feyer Ford and Mercury and Feyer Ford Lincoln Mercury! God's goodness has been so humbling in 2009...I can't even imagine what 2010 has to offer! My prayer for this year? ..."Just a closer walk with Thee..."