5 MONTHS OLD

My precious Lucia,

Today you are 5 months old! I can hardly believe how quickly this time is going by. You are the sweetest little girl I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  I am so proud to call you my little girl. When you are older, you won't remember the last 5 months, so I want to write it down so you can have it. You make everyone around you smile and melt, including your Dad and I. You already giggle and laugh and you have many conversations with me (although you don't use words yet, I understand what you're saying!). You think your brother Henry is hilarious (and he is). You cry when you think we've left the room. You like when I sing the Beatles' song 'I've just seen a face' to you. You are incredibly strong and grab just about anything you can, which worries me at times, but also cracks me up when you grab my big nose. You don't have much hair, but don't worry I didn't either when I was your age. You have chunky thighs just like mommy and you smile with your eyes, just like mommy. You show no signs of prejudice, you smile and flash those flirty eyes with all colors and ages. 

Now, tomorrow some of this may change and some may stay the same which is the beauty of watching you grow. I dream of the day when I can hear your sweet little voice say 'mommy'. I dream of the long daily telephone conversations you have with me when you are older, just like I have with your grandma. I dream about braiding your hair and having you pick flowers and put them in your hair. I look forward to having you read this some day and say to me "Wow, you use to be young mom!" 

I want you to always remember, you were created to do great things, you were wonderfully made by a God who loves you and obviously loves me because he blessed me with you!

love,

Your young mom

  

5 months never looked so cute!

VALENTINE'S DAY

I hope you all are having a wonderful Valentine's! We've had a pretty casual day but one filled with lots and lots of love. Steve had to work, but the kids and I woke up to love notes waiting for us in the morning!

It was a great start to our Valentine's day.

The rest of the day was spent preparing for our homemade Valentine's dinner for Daddy...

and spending some good 'ol quality time with each other...

 

I really really love days like this!

 

 

 Some of the best Valentine's a girl could ask for...

 

This one...

 and this one...

I don't need flowers, jewelry or a fancy dinner, I've found the person I want to spend every Valentine's day with. I knew when I first met him, that he was my forever. So today, I just need the love of my life and our little valentine's.

Today's Reflection:

Lord, thank you for love and the chance to love each and every single day I breathe!

LOVING WHERE YOU'RE AT MONDAY

Today and tomorrow, I am going to try to choose love. I may even try the next day and the day after that, it might catch on and I'll choose it the rest of my life. I know, it will be tough at times.  There will be times Steve will make me angry and I'll want to let him know how angry I am, but I will try to refrain and choose love instead. There will be articles or comments I will read that will offend me and I will want to tell them off but instead I will choose love.  I will come across people I don't understand and that don't understand me and I will want to write them off, but instead I will choose to love them.  There will be people who unfairly judge me and my beliefs and I will want to judge them right back, but I won't I will not let them affect my choice to love.

Like most choices there will be consequences. Each time I choose love, here are some of the consequences I am expecting, vulnerability, grace, growth, forgiveness and perhaps a little love in return. I know, some of you are chuckling or maybe even rolling your eyes, some of you know already that there will be days I will fail, but I'm not mad at you for knowing that about me, in fact I love you anyway!

" One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” "

-Mark 12: 28-31

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

Ahh the weekend, how I love you! Everything just seems to taste better and look better and even smell better when you are in sight. To help usher in the weekend we had a lovely Friday playing with cousins and grandma... 

   

 

followed by Valentine crafting. Did you know it's just around the corner? I'm not big on spending money for Valentine's day, but I am big on celebrating it and trying to make it special for my loved ones. I'm really a lucky girl (I can hear my mom correcting me now), I am really a blessed girl! This Valentine's day I was able to make it more homespun using materials I found from the segunda (again, 'thrift store' for my American friends). I did two crafts today, using some wool socks (49 cents) and an old book ($1.49).

When I saw these socks, I just knew they would be the perfect little leg warmers for my Lucia...

a little snip, a little sewing and voila! The cutest little Valentine leg warmers!

With the book, I cut different sized hearts out of the pages... 

Sewed them together making strands...

Hung them from the ceiling...

and 'Ta-Da!' a sweet little touch for our bedroom, reminding my Honey that love is in the air!

What a great way to start the weekend! I hope your weekend is filled with lots of fun and even more love!

Today's Reflection:

I know they won't all be like this, but thank you for another great day Lord! Thank you for my feet that can chase after my little Henry! Thank you for my arms that can hold my little Lucia! Thank you for my sight that can see how beautiful you made today and thank you for my hearing that got to hear "I love you, goodnight" from that sweet husband of mine!

FIGURING IT OUT

I always wanted a family.  I dreamed of my children, their little hands their little feet, how they would say 'I love you mommy' and give me sweet little kisses. I knew, from the moment they were placed in my arms at the Hospital that my life would be changed forever. CHANGED FOREVER! I adore and love my children, but did you know that in addition to all the cuteness and hugs and kisses, they would also embarrass you terribly?  in public?

 Steve does not cope as well as I do in these situations...

 but he's learning to roll with the punches or in this case a two year old who just has a little too much spunk for the seat and wants everyone to know it!

You know, a lot of things that come with parenting catch us off guard. Our son is very good for the most part, but every now and then we have 'situations'. With each day we have we are figuring it out. We're not perfect and we make a lot of parenting mistakes, but we try to work together and stay united.  We try our hardest to discipline and not laugh anytime he acts a fool (sure we crack a smile every now and then, we're not statues!) We don't give up on our kids because we know this is just the beginning and challenges will come, but so will joy! Besides, if I could, I'd probably dance and stand on my seat too!

Today's Reflection:

In life, there will always be 'situations' I'm not prepared for. Sometimes it's hard to know what the right thing to do is. I ask myself, am I doing the right thing, am I going down the right path? I trust in you, Lord, I trust in your word, and your truths.

"If the Lord delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand."

-Psalm 37: 23-24 

LUCY GOOSEY

Before my daughter Lucia was born I had resolved that I would make 'Lucy' her nickname (I'm a big I Love Lucy fan!) I just can't do it though, I know how much her father loves the name Lucia so Lucy just feels like a betrayal to him. When I'm playing with my daughter sometimes the name 'Lucy Goosey' rolls off my tongue and out into the world. I've told my husband that it's becoming a habit and I think it might catch on.  He hates the idea of this. I think to him, 'Lucy Goosey' may one day (perhaps in her teen years) turn into 'Loosey Goosey' and boys may get the wrong idea about his little sweetheart. He's already looking after her reputation. 

How could an angel like this become a 'Loosey Goosey'?

 It's interesting how we get our nicknames. My husband is nicknamed 'Bubba' to his family. We've nicknamed my son 'H.R.' when we don't want him to know we're talking about him. As long as I can remember my nickname has been 'Renabutt'. I'm not even sure what 'Renabutt' means, but it's been attached to me for most of my life. I think  it was given to me by my aunt, who coincidentally calls my sister 'Princess' which makes 'Renabutt' the kind of nickname that could give a girl a complex. But do these nicknames even matter?  Can't a 'Renabutt' grow up to become the loving mother of a sweet little 'Lucy Goosey' and an adorable 'H.R.' married to the love of her life 'Bubba'?

I know that what ever they call me or what ever I call my little girl, it has no real bearing on who she will become or who God wants her to become. So I ask you, what are people calling you these days and who is God calling you to be?

Today's Reflection:

One of my favorite's in the bible is the story of Saul and how God changed his name and the path he was on and made him Paul. See Saul was awful, he was a murderer but God, changed all that, God changed who and what Saul was known for and made him Paul. Paul, was who God called him to be and Paul did some great things!

(you can read Acts 22, to get a taste of Paul's story)

Lord, Thank you for the opportunity to live up to who you created me to be. Thank you for not caring what others call me and giving me the opportunity to be something greater.

BACK AT HOME

It's been a while since I last posted. Steve's Aunt Betty passed away and we decided that it was important for us to be there to pay our respects and have some long overdue family time. So last week we packed the kids up and headed out to Colorado. We are both really happy that we made the journey, the circumstances were of course not what we had hoped for, but what better way to celebrate the passing of a loved one than to spend time with your family.

Colorado is beautiful and it's filled with family.  This was the first time anyone in Steve's family had met Lucia.

We were able to unplug and relax and enjoy the company of those we love and even got to play with a few choo-choo trains!



And to our surprise we got to enjoy some unexpected snow, such a treat for us!

So although we hate saying goodbye to our Colorado family, it's always nice to be back home, I am a California girl, what can I say?

Today's Reflection:

Lord, you say that there is a time for everything and I try to remember that.  There is a time that we need to stop what we are doing and be with family, there is a time we need to unplug and not worry about the that blog post or facebook status. There is a time we need to lean on each other. Thank you for family and for opportunities to be with each other.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance"

-Ecclesiastes 3: 1-4