And there is nothing we can do to stop it.
Are you nervous about this new year?
Are you unsure if things will continue as they have been, or take a new path?
Do you have a long list of goals you plan to accomplish this year, only to find the list daunting and impossible now that it's down on paper?
Do you long for change but don't know how to make the change or you're afraid you won't stick with it?
Do you know things are about to change in a big, big way and are fearful of how it will all turn out?
You may have guessed, but these are all things going through my mind about the upcoming new year. 2010 was a very tough year for many Americans, myself included. Along with a bad economy making life financially more difficult, our family found itself in the midst of many trials. 3 car accidents, several trips to the ER, the loss of a beloved family member (my uncle Mike Rodgers lost his fight against cancer early Christmas morning), personal struggles, marital struggles, parental struggles, disorganization, chaos and just overall frustration. Yes, these are all things that happen in life, but for some reason it felt like everything came crashing down on us in 2010. I'm thankful to see this year leave and to welcome the new year and all the newness it brings to the table.
Our family does have a lot of changes headed our way. For one, I will be bringing another beautiful daughter into the world. Layla Paige, Lord willing, will be joining us sometime around the 3rd-4th week of April. Since I will be having a planned c-section this time around, it will be before my due date of the 30th but I don't know exactly when yet (I'm hoping we will discuss this and possibly set a tentative date at my next appointment this coming Tuesday). We are obviously overcome with excitement to welcome our 2nd child into this world. Brooklyn doesn't know what's going to happen but I believe she will be thrilled to have a "beebee" around the house (her word for baby). She loves all her baby dolls and I know she will love her little sister.
But with a new baby coming there are a lot of preparations to be made which I began over this Christmas break. I haven't made any huge progress by any means, but, I got a start. The logistics of fitting a crib and a toddler bed along with a dresser, organizer and changing table have yet to be ironed out!
I do plan on breast feeding Layla as I am mentally prepared for how difficult and painful it will be. I was nowhere near prepared for the frustrations and difficulty of starting the breast feeding process. I gave up all too soon and if I had a chance to do it over again, I probably would stick it out more. I truly believe it is completely the parent's choice of whether to breast feed or formula feed and I'm fine with either (obviously!), however, I would like to give my child the benefit the breast milk does provide along with the financial savings it brings along. I will also try to cloth diaper again since I quit a while back with Brooklyn. It was hard to keep up the cloth when I was the only one wanting to use them and the one who took care of her the least (once I went back to work). This time around, I will be with my girls more and working less and it will be worth the effort and time to do it (as well as the money saved and getting the use out of the diapers I bought!)
Which brings me to my next big change for 2011...we are working towards me not having to work full-time and being able to work part-time only (and hopefully VERY part-time!). I haven't turned my resignation in or anything of that sort yet. All the details aren't worked out yet and we will need to be very sure that this is what God is leading us to do. Right now we feel like it is, but we know things can change so we are keeping it in prayer and our hearts open. It's hard for me though, I'm not going to lie. I get completely giddy at the thought of only working part-time and getting to be with my kiddos more and actually feel like a real housewife!
With the new year always come goals and resolutions to make changes in our personal lives. I have for a long time had the desire (admittedly the desire comes and goes in waves) to make daily Bible reading and devotional time a habit that I can't live without. Sadly, I have failed miserably after many attempts. I always start the new year off strong and then, quickly, life's daily grind distracts me and I allow myself to be pulled in different directions and never end up following through. I think the longest I've managed was getting through February...how sad for a pastor's child! I believe that part of the reason I've always failed at this is because I go from not reading daily to trying a reading plan that is too ambitious and unrealistic for me. So this year I'm taking this challenge in a new light. I'm looking at two different reading plans which both pull at me. One is reading through the NT in a year along with Psalms and Proverbs (you read through those all the way through every month). The other is a topical reading plan that focuses on different aspects of doctrine. For example, the first quarter of the year focuses on theology, the study of God. All the reading passages focus on just that. I'm not sure what the second quarter is about because it has not been posted to print off. The passages of the second reading plan are shorter, so I wouldn't be reading as much, however, they are focused on a topic and I could easily make my devotions more focused and write in my journal with a purpose more-so than if I'm reading straight through a book, which lends itself to reading quickly and not focusing on what I am reading (at least that's MY personal experience). You can get both reading plans here at Kathy Howard's website (she's awesome by the way!). Make sure to look at her recent post titled "What's Your Plan" to get the links for the free downloads for each plan. I'm hoping that with either plan, and a lot of leading from God, I will stick with this and begin a habit that will enrich my life for years to come. Waylon is also joining me in a Bible plan and he will be using one of our yearly Bibles we have. It's a great habit we can do together and hold each other accountable to. I'm looking forward to it.
It feels good to write about my goals and hopes for the new year. It brings me some excitement, after all, it's only days away! How are you feeling about your upcoming new year? Please share!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
This girl...
Loves M&M's.
Loves her rocking chair.
Makes messes constantly.
Is going to be an amazing big sister.
Loves to dance when any type if music is on.
Is a mommy's girl AND a daddy's girl.
Gives the best kisses in the world.
Will always be my baby girl no matter how many more beautiful children I have.
I love you Brooklyn Alivia Perryman!
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Sunday, December 5, 2010
My post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas post!
Once again, it's been quite a while since my last blog post. I keep telling myself I need to keep up with this better because I need to record all that goes on in our lives and Brooklyn's growing, but I just find myself so busy and worn out that I don't ever get around to it. So here I am, getting around to it. And what better time to blog than when you are laid up in the lazy boy chair, sick as can be!
I'm not even going to try to put a full update in this post because all that will do is ensure that I never finish it and never actually post it! So...I'll just put a few things and feel a huge weight lifted that I actually did something on here. :)
We went to New England for Thanksgiving break and spent the week with my sister Melissa and her family. My parents and my brother went as well so our entire family was there for the celebration. It was a lot of fun. It was Brooklyn's first big trip and first time to fly and I have to say that she handled it quite well. I expected a lot of crying and squirming on the plane but she really only did a little of that. She slept a good amount and played the rest. She got restless on both trips but never to the point where she was unbearable. Now I won't dread trips with her so much anymore.
We did a lot of fun things while up at my sister's. We went to the Boston Museum of Science, the Festival of Trees and went into NH to show Waylon where I lived for 4 years. We spent Thanksgiving day at my sister's in-laws and ate a ton of wonderful food. It was overall a great experience. Did I mention that it was the first, and possibly only, time my sister and I have been together while we were both pregnant? That was definitely memorable. The fact that we're only a month apart makes it even more fun because we're very close in our symptoms and stages. There was lots of baby talk! Too bad I didn't get to find out the gender of our baby before going up there. My sister found out she will be having another girl. The name will be Jocelyn Abigail, which is beautiful! Can't wait to see pictures of her!
Speaking of baby genders....I have another ultra sound coming up this Tuesday. I go in at 8am and have the ultra sound first thing. Hopefully baby #2 will cooperate this time and not stay curled up in a ball! I'm so anxious to finally find out what we are having this time around and I will be very disappointed if we still don't know after Tuesday! I'm 19 weeks now and I feel like I'm well passed the point where I should know the gender! My patience is wearing out! lol
Brooklyn continues to do and say new things on a daily basis. At his point she says several words: mama, mommy, dada, daddy, nanny (her name for the day care ladies AND my mom), wow-wow (name for the dogs), baby, baba, shoe, No (she is really good at saying this one!) What's that? (says this very rarely) and "here you go" (we've only heard her say this once to my brother when she was giving him a pen at church). Her strong will is becoming very evident and it scares me sometimes! I think I'm going to have a very head strong daughter! She knows what she wants and does not like to be told that she can't have or do something. She has started throwing temper tantrums and is more curious than ever about all things around her. She sleeps very well at night and rarely wakes up before 6:30 anymore. She has a thing about shoes. She loves to wear them and if she sees your shoes on the floor, she will try to put them on you! So beware, if you're wanting to go barefoot, don't leave your shoes laying around or she will try to make you wear them!
I bought a new Christmas tree this year and I absolutely love it! It's a small tree, which is all we need at this time. It's 4ft tall and fat. I also bought all new ornaments for it this year and have to say that I like them the best of all the ornaments I've bought in the past. This year, instead of trying to be trendy and make my tree a theme (which I've never been good at and has never worked well for me), I tried to just stick to the tradition green, red and white with gold and silver and it really worked well! Instead of buying a tree topper, I bought some ribbon and made a big bow (with the help of my mom) and let the ribbon flow down the tree on the sides and it looks really cute! Maybe later I will get motivated enough to take a picture of it and post it. I've been really slacking in the picture department lately, I know. The problem is that I don't like my camera and it's a pain in the rear to charge and I can never find the charger because we don't have an official "spot" for it. I have major camera envy of my sister's camera but want to hold out until I have enough saved to buy a DSLR camera. That's my goal. Until then, I probably won't be posting a ton of pictures.
I'm currently recovering from a severe sinus infection. I'm not going to get into a ton of detail but let's just say it got bad enough for me to go to the ER on a saturday. The whole left side of my face was throbbing in pain and was like that for over 12 hours. I had finally had enough of it and broke down and had my grandmother drive me to the hospital. (My grandpa Woolbright is a retired military PA and he came over Saturday morning to check me over to see if he could help any. They stayed with me while I moaned and groaned in pain and cleaned my living room and kitchen!) I'm thrilled to say that, thanks to the 4 prescription medications I'm on and many neti pot cleansings, that I'm pain free this evening and feeling much better! I can honestly say that I have never felt pain like that in my face, not even when we had our wreck in July and my face was deformed from swelling and bruising. It was horrific and I hope to not ever have to experience that again!
On that note, I'm going to sign off. I promise to post a picture or two on my next post...I know, they sound like empty promises right now. But I will deliver. I still haven't uploaded the few pictures I took with my camera from my Thanksgiving trip. Nothing like a good case of procrastination!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season!
I'm not even going to try to put a full update in this post because all that will do is ensure that I never finish it and never actually post it! So...I'll just put a few things and feel a huge weight lifted that I actually did something on here. :)
We went to New England for Thanksgiving break and spent the week with my sister Melissa and her family. My parents and my brother went as well so our entire family was there for the celebration. It was a lot of fun. It was Brooklyn's first big trip and first time to fly and I have to say that she handled it quite well. I expected a lot of crying and squirming on the plane but she really only did a little of that. She slept a good amount and played the rest. She got restless on both trips but never to the point where she was unbearable. Now I won't dread trips with her so much anymore.
We did a lot of fun things while up at my sister's. We went to the Boston Museum of Science, the Festival of Trees and went into NH to show Waylon where I lived for 4 years. We spent Thanksgiving day at my sister's in-laws and ate a ton of wonderful food. It was overall a great experience. Did I mention that it was the first, and possibly only, time my sister and I have been together while we were both pregnant? That was definitely memorable. The fact that we're only a month apart makes it even more fun because we're very close in our symptoms and stages. There was lots of baby talk! Too bad I didn't get to find out the gender of our baby before going up there. My sister found out she will be having another girl. The name will be Jocelyn Abigail, which is beautiful! Can't wait to see pictures of her!
Speaking of baby genders....I have another ultra sound coming up this Tuesday. I go in at 8am and have the ultra sound first thing. Hopefully baby #2 will cooperate this time and not stay curled up in a ball! I'm so anxious to finally find out what we are having this time around and I will be very disappointed if we still don't know after Tuesday! I'm 19 weeks now and I feel like I'm well passed the point where I should know the gender! My patience is wearing out! lol
Brooklyn continues to do and say new things on a daily basis. At his point she says several words: mama, mommy, dada, daddy, nanny (her name for the day care ladies AND my mom), wow-wow (name for the dogs), baby, baba, shoe, No (she is really good at saying this one!) What's that? (says this very rarely) and "here you go" (we've only heard her say this once to my brother when she was giving him a pen at church). Her strong will is becoming very evident and it scares me sometimes! I think I'm going to have a very head strong daughter! She knows what she wants and does not like to be told that she can't have or do something. She has started throwing temper tantrums and is more curious than ever about all things around her. She sleeps very well at night and rarely wakes up before 6:30 anymore. She has a thing about shoes. She loves to wear them and if she sees your shoes on the floor, she will try to put them on you! So beware, if you're wanting to go barefoot, don't leave your shoes laying around or she will try to make you wear them!
I bought a new Christmas tree this year and I absolutely love it! It's a small tree, which is all we need at this time. It's 4ft tall and fat. I also bought all new ornaments for it this year and have to say that I like them the best of all the ornaments I've bought in the past. This year, instead of trying to be trendy and make my tree a theme (which I've never been good at and has never worked well for me), I tried to just stick to the tradition green, red and white with gold and silver and it really worked well! Instead of buying a tree topper, I bought some ribbon and made a big bow (with the help of my mom) and let the ribbon flow down the tree on the sides and it looks really cute! Maybe later I will get motivated enough to take a picture of it and post it. I've been really slacking in the picture department lately, I know. The problem is that I don't like my camera and it's a pain in the rear to charge and I can never find the charger because we don't have an official "spot" for it. I have major camera envy of my sister's camera but want to hold out until I have enough saved to buy a DSLR camera. That's my goal. Until then, I probably won't be posting a ton of pictures.
I'm currently recovering from a severe sinus infection. I'm not going to get into a ton of detail but let's just say it got bad enough for me to go to the ER on a saturday. The whole left side of my face was throbbing in pain and was like that for over 12 hours. I had finally had enough of it and broke down and had my grandmother drive me to the hospital. (My grandpa Woolbright is a retired military PA and he came over Saturday morning to check me over to see if he could help any. They stayed with me while I moaned and groaned in pain and cleaned my living room and kitchen!) I'm thrilled to say that, thanks to the 4 prescription medications I'm on and many neti pot cleansings, that I'm pain free this evening and feeling much better! I can honestly say that I have never felt pain like that in my face, not even when we had our wreck in July and my face was deformed from swelling and bruising. It was horrific and I hope to not ever have to experience that again!
On that note, I'm going to sign off. I promise to post a picture or two on my next post...I know, they sound like empty promises right now. But I will deliver. I still haven't uploaded the few pictures I took with my camera from my Thanksgiving trip. Nothing like a good case of procrastination!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season!
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