What about Expectations?

Upon reflection of life changes, I have come to realize that I have had (I still do, to some extent.) certain expectations about the different life changes and what they entail.
As a child, it just seemed like forever until I could be a "grown-up" and do big people things. Now... I wonder what was the hurry? Of course I remember, I wanted to be able to make my own choices and do what "I want", go here, do this, etc. But its really not that glamorous is it?
As a young christian engaged woman, I couldn't wait for my wedding and it seemed like our 8 month engagement was waaay tooooo loooong! "I can't wait to start forever!" Now that I'm married, it hits me, "A lifetime is a really long time!" Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and would totally still marry him if I had a do-over. But wow! We could be together for 70 years!!! What could've a few more months or even a couple of years hurt? Even so, I do remember why and can thus sympathize with young unmarried couples.
Expectations... We all have them somewhat. Right? Please tell me I'm not alone. I'm sure your's probably are at least a little different than mine, but we have them.
They can be embarrassing or hard to talk about, too. Because in retrospect, they may seem silly, dumb, or even completely unrealistic!
How does one let go of expectations? Please do tell me if you have insight!
I have managed to let go of my expectation that my husband will be home for dinner, or even always before bed time. I have let go, perhaps too easily, the need to always be on time, everywhere. It still bothers me, but its more important for me to have peace in our house.
Perhaps it simply deciding what is most important to us. A happy marriage, or plate covers on all your outlets and switches.
Well, this is really long and rambling. I'm not even sure if it makes much sense to me and I probably said too much, I'm sorry. :-/ (its something I struggle with.)
If you're reading this, wow! Thank you!!
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a simply awesome weekend. :-)

Oh! The joys of life

It's a bit ironic that I chose the topic I did at this point in my life.
"Embracing Life and it's Changes"
Hmmm...
Embrace life. That can be a bit of a challenge! Changes.... They happen continually. Sometimes less or more dramatically than other times. And some times more welcome than others.
I have a tendency to feel more complaining, rather than embracing.
Last night, I got home after being at work all day and spending the evening at my parents' house (they watch my daughter for the one day a week I work). I was ready to post and guess what? The electricity was out...and my phone battery was low, which meant no posting.
I will spare you all the sordid details, just imagine your electricity has been out all night and you will get the idea. :-)
DH was gone all night... just to make me really comfy. Kidding! (BTW, have I mentioned how much he works? I really appreciate his dedication to providing for our family. I just wish that he didn't have to spend so many hours away.)
My parents kindly offered that we could bring our deep freezer over to their house and crash here. Thanks Mom and Dad!
But I think, "What about all stuff in the fridge?" "I need to do this load of laundry." (Even though every other load is done, which is amazing!) Worry, stress...NO! I'm blessed! Yes, those things are true. But I've so much to be thankful for.
Like the tree that fell on a wrecked car under our bedroom window, and even though it sounded very creepy all night, didn't damage our house. Or the fact that while the first part of the night was miserable because the AC was working, but the storm at least brought cooler weather, so the rest of the night was fine.
Well, I'm not sure if this made any sense. Just what I've been thinking about.
Also, I'm blogging from my phone now, since our WiFi isn't working. We shall see if it works!
Blessing to you! Thanks for stopping by. :-)
P.S. They say it could take up to 3 days to get the electricity up and going.

31 Days of Embracing Life Directory

Welcome! I hope you enjoy this adventure as much as I do!

Day 1: Letting you know what's up :)

Day 2: Nothing. Read day 3 to find out why.

Day 3: Oh! The joys of life :-/
Day 4: Do you struggle with expectations, too?
Day 5: A (short) Sunday Meditation
Day 6: A Mommy Moment

Day 8: WIWW

Day 10: Writer's Block
Day 11: A Lazy Saturday

Day 18:Happy Weekend

Day 23: Throwback Thursday

31 Days Embracing Life and it's Changes

 

"Mommy, mommy" cries a sweet little voice. My child trips around my knees, pulling on my skirt. And it all comes flooding back...this is why my blog is dead. This is the life I have chosen, the life I live. I like blogging, but my daughter is more important.

 

 

That said...

After being absent way too long, I decided TODAY that the challenge to write for 31 days is exactly what I need to get back in the groove.

 I'm planning daily topics such as Mommy Mondays. It's crazy! But it's my life.

 (I'm also going to overhaul and redesign this blog since it hasn't been touched in almost a year.)

So here goes!

2012 in Review

What a year!

It was so good, I just had to live it, instead of blogging about it. (That is my story, and I'm sticking to it!)

Over the spring, I worked 2 jobs. 3 days a week I was a nanny and the other 2 work days, I worked at a fabric store. I loved every minute. I have discovered that I enjoy customer service type jobs, anything that lets me relate to, and interact with, the public. I guess that shouldn't be much of a surprise since I am such a people person. :) I loved it, and my boss was happy with my work, so I guess we were all happy. Oh! And I made some awesome friends there, too.

In June, we found out the happy, and long anticipated fact that we were headed toward becoming a family. Needless to say, life has never been the same since. And, something tells me it only gets crazier.

Over summer break, I nannied, up to 6 kids, several days a week. That would've been fine and dandy, except I was in the throes of morning sickness. Thankfully, my boss was very understanding and managed to let me come in late several mornings.

In August we had to move out of the place we had been living. Because we were planning to move to Texas, we couldn't rent another place that had a minimum stay lease agreement. The title: the traveling bride, once again, is/was very fitting. We stayed with friends and family while Caleb fulfilled a work commitment in Grand Junction.

Thanksgiving weekend, we moved to Texas. Some amazing friends are letting us crash at their place. It started out to be just for a few weeks, until we found a place. Well, we found a place, but it needs quite a bit of TLC. As I type this, Caleb is out there working in the dark on it. The goal was to be able to move in by the 1st of the year. It looks like it might be another week or 2 before that is possible.

Right now, most of our stuff is packed in a trailer. I can't wait until we are moved in and can unpack it and pull out all baby clothes and wash them. That will be so much fun and one more step to being closer to being ready for the baby. The 1st room we are wanting to remodel is the baby's room. Yay!! :)

This fall, Caleb lost both of his grandparents on his mom's side and I lost my great-grandpa. His grandpa passed while we were still in Grand Junction. My great-grandpa passed while we were there as well, but we were able to drive out to California for that. Caleb's grandma passed after we were down here, actually shortly after we got here. I had just driven the car down from Colorado and did not feel up to another road trip so soon, so Caleb ended up just flying up by himself. He also got to work another week at his old job, which was nice.

We spent the holidays with my family and enjoyed every minute of it.

This year, there have been many people who have blessed us in numerous ways. Thank you, to each of you. You know who you are! We couldn't have made it through this year as well as we did, if it wasn't for you.

Today marks week 33. This is only the second time my whole pregnancy that I lost track and had to go back and count. I think I told several people over the weekend that i was gonna be 32 weeks. Lol! About 7 more weeks to go. Yes!! 

 

I was gonna do a letter to send with our new year cards, but I ran out of time. So instead, I got them in the mail and did a blog post. :)

 

Hope y'all had a wonderful holiday season. Here's to 2013! Happy New Year!!

 

 

20 weeks...1/2 way!!

Today we celebrate the 1/2 way mark, 20 weeks!!

To celebrate, I dug out Caleb's tripod, and attempted more professional looking self-portraits. Ha!

I will not bore you with the dozens that I took in an attempt to get a few decent ones, but here are a couple.

 

 

I even trotted my pregnant self down to the canal just for you, toting both camera and tripod, in the hopes of getting a little better backdrop. Mind you, in the middle of the hottest part of the day! *pats self on back* Sometimes my brain smarts amaze even me...

 

 

At 20 weeks, your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (Thanks to Baby Center for that tidbit of info.)

 

Now, to officially celebrate I really just want to go to Starbucks and have a huge frappe! Before you judge me, know this: I haven't been there since before I got pregnant. I think I owe it to my self for behaving for so long! (Okay, okay, so I have had coffee a few times...it's not the same!)

 

We will see what the hubby says when he gets home :)

His Protection

Sitting at the library, writing this blog post. Lately, it seems that where ever we stay, has been places that have really bad cell phone service...

So, we are back from Texas...

Had a wonderful time with my family...
Got to meet my midwife and hear my baby's heartbeat...totally awesome!
Got to spend my birthday with my family and be there for my sister's 21st birthday ;)
Was able to see both grandmas...
My mom and sisters took my shopping for maternity clothes for my birthday...they totally spoiled me!
Was able to be there for my pastor's ordination...ok, so we aren't going to his church right now, but when we move down to Tx, we will...and he married us...so it was special :)

Ok, now for the interesting part...
On the way back...we had a tire go flat in Denver...only 4 hours from home...at 2am...after all the tire places are closed.
So...we had to stay the night there. We went to a hotel and booked a room. No big deal...you're probably wondering why I even bother to mention it. Just wait and see...
So we went up to our room, inserted the key...nothing. checked to make sure we were doing it right, we were, still nothing. After the 4th or 5th time, it worked. Strange..... We open the door and go in and I see the curtains blowing. Not good! Caleb says, "It's probably just the AC unit blowing them." Walks to the window and...leans out! Very bad!! (We are the second floor.) "Maybe they are just airing out the room." He suggests. "No! they wouldn't do that in the middle of the night." I replied.
We went down stairs and told the lady at the front desk. "That is NOT normal!" She says.
She gives us another room on the fourth floor. (Surely no one will climb in a 4th window...) We go up to the room, try the key and the red light flashes...meaning the dead-bolt is locked. Then I notice there is a "Do not disturb" sign hanging on the knob. "We need to get out of here!" I tell Caleb, imagining some irate, half-asleep person defending "their room".
We go back down stairs...quickly! "That room is NOT booked." The clerk tells us, with a worried look on her face. "Here is another room, but this time I will walk you up there!"
takes us up, lets us in our room, walks around...Caleb checks the windows, checks under beds, checks the bathroom... Lol! (But I am glad.)
He went back out to the car to get our stuff and I locked the dead-bolt after him.
We both thanked God for His protection that night!
The next morning, we got the tire fixed, and then (because he already wasn't gonna be able to make it to work on time) we went and visited his sister, Rebekah, who lives about 40 minutes east of Denver.
Then we drove home and stopped in Glenwood and walked around because we had the time :)

All in all, thanks to God, a good trip!