Blessed be God: wacky wednesday

I really feel like I have been living the life of the little boy in the book Wacky Wednesday, lately, and today is finally my oasis in the midst of all the wackiness of the past week! I realize that I haven't been on here for quite some time, but I feel like life has been crazy and it has almost been a struggle just to get dinner on the table by the time Korey comes home---well, that is IF he comes home!! (which just adds to the craziness of it all!!!) And, while we aren't dealing with shoes in odd places and rooms out of kilter, we have been dealing with a husband who has worked over 80 hours in the past week, taking care of two babies and taking two babies to baby buddies- probably not the smartest idea(and can give a person a super sore back!!), making cards for a friend to sell/auction off at her benefit, back to back weekends full of guests-which is fun, but a lot of work, me being sick, and my own silly ideas of how life should be! I have definitely learned this week that it is a lot different to study and learn about surrendering to the Lord than actually doing it! In a few silly, or seemingly small areas, and a few bigger areas! One of those areas is Hailey...before I had Hailey it didn't take more than just a misplaced comment by someone to make me feel badly about not having a baby of my own and to almost burst into tears and I thought that would all change once I became pregnant with a baby and/or had one! Unfortunately, my selfish desires haven't changed and people's ability to make me feel bad about myself hasn't changed one bit. Luckily for me I don't generally burst into tears about it, but I still have a struggle with not letting people's comments ruin my day! A good friend of mine just really "encouraged/exorted" me to stop comparing Hailey to all the other babies and to just let people's comments roll off my back and I know that she is completely right! God is not honored by me getting all bent out of shape over the fact that Hailey isn't crawling yet or doesn't have more teeth or isn't standing on her own or isn't spelling her name- ok, maybe that's a slight exageration, but the rest is too close to the truth for comfort! I'm not being fair to Hailey and I'm not being fair to the other babies. It's not allowing me to "enjoy" spending time with other kids if I'm always worrying about how mine is measuring up and how she's either falling short or way ahead- either one isn't healthy or god honoring!! So, if you see me comparing keep me accountable! I do struggle with the fact that Hailey isn't crawling yet and a lot of other babies are, but allow me a minute to just brag a little about what Hailey is doing and all the progress that she is making in her "quest of the holy toddlerhood"! She is doing A LOT of eating these days. In fact, she won't stop eating. All she wants to do is eat. And she's not picky about what- as long as it comes off of my plate and not hers! She isn't at all interested in cheerios, unless I'm having a bowl of them- then she'd like them with milk, but she would prefer my homemade granola! She has graduated from just eating smooth blended up stuff to eating shredded chicken, rice, peanut butter on banana bread, golfish crackers (her favorite snack, as of right now), string cheese, canned peas and carrots, dried fruit, banana, kidney beans or navy beans or refried beans, noodles, and so much more...obviously, I cut all of this up in small pieces for her, but she just chomps it down with her lone little tooth and somehow makes it disapear. She's also experimenting with sounds, she's always been a super "oral" baby and has liked to watch people's lips move and one of the ways that my dad used to get her to stop crying was to tap on her mouth with two fingers so that it made a neat sound...she loved that and would immediately stop and play that game with him! But, lately she has been really making real sounds- not just baby sounds. She has been indiscriminately saying, "daddy" "bye" and "baby" and looking at the dog and going "pu, pu, pu, pu"!!! (ok, so really she only said bye once and baby a few times, but she says daddy a lot!!) :) I guess they really can't count for first words, since she didn't even mean to say them- she was just practicing saying bu,bu,bu and baby came out and who knows where bye came from she just said it while she was sitting in her highchair yesterday! (sheila even heard it, so I'm not lying!!) and of course, daddy sounds so much like dadadada that I'm sure she doesn't really mean it and she definitely doesn't know what it means, but it's still sweet to hear! :) Even with these few changes, Hailey's still her sweet natured, adorable little self! One of my friends called her a little lady the other day and that is what she is- she's so little and petite and with her earings she just looks so adorable- but she's also pretty calm. (she definitely gets that from her daddy- not me) ;) She can sit on a chair or the couch and not even try to get off, she'll sit and pick up her food with her two fingers, even if it takes her a while to get it, and she loves to just sit and play on the floor with her toys or have you read a story to her! The other day I was making some cards and Hailey was playing by my feet with her toys and she found the paper garbage bag and for the next hour she was so content to take all of the paper out of the bag and chew on it and then make noises with the bag, itself- she alternated between picking it up and hitting it on the floor and just smacking it with her hand! It was so sweet to see and if my camera had not been broken ('cause I dropped it on the floor for the 3rd time!!) I would have taken a picture!

Here she is helping me with the laundry Monday while Owen slept! Isn't she a good helper?? She made the folding go by so much more quickly! (check out the funny/wacky faces she has going on!!)

hehehe "I love folding socks!!"