A Blessing In Disguise

Yesterday my car was in the shop, getting a few things worked on. My husband called later on in the afternoon and said that his car broke. The car he drives for work is the car my parents gave me when I was 18. It is a little blue Neon, and I know it is a bit embarrassing for my husband to work around cars and drive this little thing around. But it is the best thing for us to do financially, so he bares with the teasing. He had the car towed and I had to go and pick him up.

My very first thoughts were "why is this happening? This is not the best time of year for car repairs!!!" At this time I had no idea how much it would cost us, and it got me feeling down. But I just had a feeling that we would be blessed for our faithfulness (or at least, our attempt at faithfulness). So I prayed that we will be able to handle the financial aspect of it.

This morning my husband gave me an update on the car. He said it needed a new gear shifter, which was about $200 or so. Not bad, I thought. But when they looked at the car, they saw the tie rod (which holds the shocks to the wheel or something like that, they are important) were so close to breaking that they would have him sign a waiver if he didn't let them do the work. To fix this will be another $300 or so.

I got off the phone, felt sad for a minute about the money we were about to spend, but had an epiphany. If the gear shifter hadn't broken, the car wouldn't have gone into the shop. The tie rod could have broken while my husband was driving, and he could have been seriously injured. Instead of feeling like the broken car was a burden, it felt more like a blessing! As soon as I realized this blessing in disguised, I thanked God. I feel so lucky that our prayers of safety have been heard.

Bye Bye Binkie, Take 2!

Mackenzie went to her 2 year doctor appointment on Thursday. I knew exactly what the doctor would ask me "How is she sleeping at night?" Lately, she has been waking up 1 or 2 times a night, usually in search of the darn binkie. This has gone on for about a month, so I figured it was time to get rid of it. But I needed the doctor to give me the advice to get rid of it, so in my mind I could think "the doctor said we had to get rid of the binkie".

I decided Friday was the night. Mackenzie asked for the binkie, like always, and I told her they were all gone. I threw the binkies away, so I wouldn't give in to a moment of weakness. I showed her the spot they are usually kept, and once she saw they were gone, she was pretty much OK with it. No crying when going to bed, which is good. But naptime hasn't been as easy of a transition. There has been crying and throwing things out of the bed during naps. I am just trying to be patient about it, because she definitely needs a nap on most days.

Last night was the first night in over a month that she didn't wake up at night. Sort of. She did wake up at 10, but we were still awake so it didn't disrupt our sleep.

The doctor said it should take about 4 days for her to be over it. Tomorrow is day #4, so I guess things will only get better! Right?

Much Anticipated

Here are pictures from Bailey's baptism. I didn't get to take quite as many as I would have liked, but oh well. I got enough to remember the day.








And here are from Halloween. Gotta love my cuties. The poodle is my niece Alyssa, and the dragon is my nephew Taj. They are all so cute!! I had pictures of my other niece Victoria, but for some reason they are not on the computer.







(Maybe I am doing it wrong, but it is hard to tell from the little thumbnail pictures which ones are the good ones and which ones have people with their eyes closed or looking dumb. And rarely do the pictures stay in their intended order. Sometimes I hate technology for making me feel stupid.)

Tying up some loose ends

I assume that you have noticed my absence. I did go to Vegas, the children (and my mom) did survive, and I am happy with my choice. One of the best things about my trip is I got to see my awesome friend Barbara and her family. She is such a great friend!! It has been 3 years since the last time we saw each other, and instantly when we saw each other it was as if no time had passed. I love those kinds of friends! She and I were college roommates (I guess apartmentmates would be closer to the truth). Barbara was the girl who brought the guys to our apartment. Not on purpose though! They all thought she was great and she could care less about them all! Good thing she found her match so she could stop teasing all the boys! Barbara and I lived together so we saw each other often, but I remember times that we would run into each other on campus and would miss our classes because we were so busy talking. That's a great friend! Her kids are so cute, little perfect mixes of her and her husband. And they got along with each other so great!

Another one of the great things about my trip was how rejuvinating it was. I spent a lot of time reading and knitting and just spending time by myself. I know, to a lot of people that doesn't sound fun, but I loved it. Coming home I have so much more patience with my kids.

Mackenzie did GREAT with her first long time away from mom. In fact, she didn't even mention me the whole time I was gone. She did cry when my mom went home today though. Poor thing.

So now my life will be back to normal. What is that? The house we have been working on for about 7 weeks is now finished. Hopefully it will sell soon so my in laws can have their furniture back (it is busy acting as staging furniture). Tomorrow I think I am going to just run errands and spend time at my house.

Yes, Halloween was a long time ago, but we had fun. Mackenzie was a giraffe and Bailey was Anakin Skywalker, I think. Mackenzie LOVED trick or treating. Not surprising since she loves candy, especially lollypops. If people left their candy bowls down too long, she would pick more than one piece!

Pictures will be coming soon. I promise. Really.

Oh, and Barbara? Thanks so much for dinner last week! I don't feel like we thanked you enough. And you really should start a blog. I would even comment on it!

I Feel BAD!

My husband and I are going to Las Vegas for the week. My mom was nice enough to fly in to watch the kids for us. But I am now thinking twice about going. Bailey isn't feeling well. I know, he is old enought to fake me out on being sick, but I know that he isn't feeling good. It's just probably a cold, but still. What if Mackenzie gets sick too? What if something worse happens? I know I can't just stay home forever because something bad might happen to my kids, but I can't help but worry.

Am I alone in worrying about this?