Lenten Promises

Lent starts today and with that brings Lenten promises. Growing up all I knew was that for lent I had to give something up. But I never really thought about the reasons why we give things up. As I've gotten older and grown in my faith I realize why we give things up, or make sacrifices.

In high school, every year for lent many of my friends and I did the easy "give up junk food". It was just sort of a general idea, and we never really thought about the real meaning behind it. However I've really come to realize the true meaning of Lent in the last few years and why it's important to make a sacrifice.

Lent in todays society in my opinion is lost. People don't focus on the sacrifice they are making in what they are giving up. The point is to make a sacrifice, and for me I want to give something up that every time I think about wanting that particular thing I've given up, I want to think about the sacrifices Jesus has made for me.

With that being said I could go back to the giving up junk food, but I'm actually going to take it a step further and specifically say give up ice cream. For me I love ice cream. I would have it EVERYDAY if I could, and honestly most days I do. So for me specifically giving up Ice cream will help remind me everyday when that craving kicks in of all the sacrifices God has made and how I need to re-prioritize my life.

Also this lent I want to work on being a healthier person all around. God has given me the greatest gift of all...LIFE. and with that Life he has given me this body to live it through. I know I'm not alone in in this when I say, I do a pretty horrible job of taking care of the body he has given me. I want to take care of my body on all levels, physically, spiritually and emotionally.

To do this, I intend to try and eat healthier this lent, exercise a few times a week and really focus on my daily prayers.

What I hope to accomplish this lent is to come out of it a better person and a better child of God. I hope to be closer to being the Catholic I should be for our wonderful and all giving God.

4 Months Old

About a week and a half ago our little Linc man turned 4 months old. I wanted to wait until his 4 month appointment to do a post, and then life got hold and it took longer than I had anticipated.

It's hard to believe it's been 4 months, but I'm so happy we've gotten here! It's truly a gift getting to watch Lincoln grow. With every passing day I grow more and more in love with him. He is just absolutely wonderful! Being his mom is the greatest gift ever.

I do have to say that over the past month we've had our challenges and mostly it stems from me trying to figure out how to work nights and not feel so tired all the time. I'm trying to stay present in my time with him so that I don't feel like I blink and he's a teenager.

If it's possible Lincoln is becoming more and more fun. I just love spending as much time as possible with him and watching his little mind work as he plays and figures things out.

Here are a few of the highlights from this month:

• He is all smiles most of the time. All I have to do is say his name and he gets a big grin across his face...talk about melting mommy's heart
• He is obsessed with his hands. He is constantly chewing on his fingers...my dad is always quick to point out its more his left than right.
• he still isn't a fan of tummy time but he is getting strong and can lift his head and chest off most of the time. 
• If I put something in front of him he tries to grab at it and eventually it makes it to his mouth. 
• He laughs, ALL THE TIME!
• When I say his name, he searches for me. (to the point where I sometimes have to be quiet if others are holding him bc he wants mom...awesome feeling for mom :))
• He continues to hold his head up all by himself.
• I'm able put him on my hip to be held. though he tends to fall to one side after a while since his core isn't quite strong yet. 
• He drools, and therefore blows 'raspberries'
• He stands, obviously with me holding his hands, and he always looks so proud of himself. 
• He can somewhat sit when helped, but not sit alone
• He sings...mostly in the car... he just sits in the back and just talks and almost sings...next american idol ;)
• He sleeps through the night...most nights usually around 10-13 hours
• He still isn't a huge fan of bath time with mom
• He still HATES to get dressed, really only when things are being pulled over his head

Lincoln is still exclusively breast fed and things are going well with that. I talked with his pediatrician and neither one of us think it's necessary at this time to start him on solids. I was extremely happy to hear this because I really wanted to wait until at least 6 months to start solids. I also learned that I don't HAVE to start solids at 6 months if I don't want to, so long as he is gaining weight and growing then I don't have to. YAY!

At this well visit he was weighed and measured so here are his stats:

• He is 15 lbs 5 oz
• He is 26 and 1/4 inches long
• he is in the 90th percentile in height...go figure 
• He has come up to the 75th percentile in weight :) still long and lean though!!

He also got some of his shots. Since we are doing somewhat of an alternative schedule he only got his DTaP/HBV/HIB and rotovirus. All of these shots he got at his 2 month appointment and did great with them. He pretty much just slept in my arms all day, I remember this because it was the day before I had to go back to work. So Obviously I thought it wouldn't be an issue. BOY WAS I WRONG!

After his shots we went to my aunt's house so she could snuggle him and I could sleep. Well when I woke up I noticed he was really hot. When we got home he was really sad. He was just grunting and moaning and breaking my heart. I took his temperature and he was 101.8! OMG I felt so bad for him. I gave him some tylenol and nursed him to sleep around 10pm. I was so worried about him, I didn't sleep well.

Well turns out he didn't think I should sleep either. He woke up at 2, 3, 4, 5 and finally at 6 I just brought him to bed with me before we were up at 7! which NEVER happens! Needless to say mom was TIRED that day! By the end of the next day he was feeling all better and I was relieved. Plus he let me sleep till 10:30!!! it was awesome.

I'm excited to see where the next month takes us and to see how much he grows and changes over the next month. Hopefully I will be able to find a balance into being mom and working. I love my little bean so much!!!

Here are some photos of his 4 month photo shoot!

Mommy and Daddy love you Lincoln!!! :)

Life's an Adventure

I've been a little MIA lately and honestly I've just felt sort of Blah about life.  Adam has been traveling ever since he started this new job, and I've had to work a lot of weekends. Needless to say my tendency for depression has started to creep up and I think thats what's making me feel so blah. I miss my husband! But life must go on and a lot has happened lately...

Adjusting to working nights is definitely a challenge! I feel like I'm tired all the time when I'm at home, I have been sleeping everytime Lincoln sleeps, and that really gets me into trouble because some nights I'm up until 3 am, because he has turned out to be such a good sleeper!

The way I try and sleep when I work is to take a 2 hour nap before I go into work and then take a 4 hour nap coming off of work. The switching from days to nights isn't hard because I'm such a night owl anyways, but switching from nights to days is a bit of a challenge for me. But I'm slowly getting better at it.

Also another issue, is that work is requiring a lot of extra time for us right now. We are changing to a new way of charting and have required us to attend training classes, also I have to get my CPR recertification, and I'm training to be the diabetes resource nurse for my floor. All of this requires quite a bit of extra time on my part and its been hard on me. I hate leaving Lincoln and I feel like I'm having to miss out on a lot.

Working nights requires so much more time in my opinion then working days. There isn't as much time to do things on my days off because I'm so exhausted, but hopefully I'll start to adjust a little better.

There isn't really a whole lot going on with us lately. Since Adam is gone every week, Lincoln and I just sort of hang out and relax on my days off until Adam gets back in town, in which it's then my turn to go to work. Adam and I obviously haven't seen much of each other at all with this schedule, in fact it averages about 5-6 hours a week.

With that it really got me thinking about how I can totally understand why celebrities who never see each other get divorced so often. Adam and I are lucky enough to have a strong solid marriage, but it's been really hard not seeing each other. I sometimes feel like I don't know him anymore. We only get to talk for about 30 minutes a day because I usually have a screaming baby to tend to. But life goes on and hopefully it will even out here shortly.

Lately Life has been and Adventure and seems to be going by so fast. I haven't gotten to do many of the things I've wanted to, but like I said hopefully things will cool off here in a bit and my life will feel a little more normal, otherwise I suppose this may become my new normal! :)