Back to blogging

Back to blogging! I was out of town a couple days for my niece's first communion in Chicago and now it's time to catch up. On Saturday morning we had J's first swimming lesson. This was his second time in the water. I was glad the water turned out to be fairly warm. Daddy hung out for a while to start us off. In our group, we'll be focusing on the basics of being in the water like kicking, paddling and blowing bubbles. The focus won't be on actual swimming. J enjoyed the first half of the class as we went in a circle holding him in different positions and moving around. He liked the part when we played with a toy but he didn't want his face in the water. He got a little cranky/whiny half-way through but he endured the full half hour. Next week, daddy will be in the water with me so we can work with him better. We got on the road for Chicago in the afternoon. J was fairly high maintenance in the car. I had a variety of things to occupy him (books, toys, coloring, snacks) but he seemed to like throwing things on the floor and then whining and asking for them the best. I hated taking my seat belt off so much and I think I'll try a better system next time. I follow a website that has a great travel guide so I think I'll be putting a travel box together. Here's the site address (since I can't figure out how to add a link into the blog!) http://quirkymomma.com/2009/tips-for-road-trips-with-toddlerspre-schoolers/. We stayed at my dad's house with my step mom who we call Boppy and Mimi. They had some great things for J to play with as they've been collecting things at garage sale. J immediately focused on the fire truck that had all kinds of buttons to press and noises it made. We had a nice relaxing afternoon and we enjoyed a great dinner together. One of my sisters and her husband came over to see us around J's bedtime so I let him stay up. He was really keyed up and didn't want to go to sleep anyways. He was engrossed with a set of Boppy's coasters that I got from a mission trip to India. He loved opening the case that held the colorful coasters, dumping them on the floor and then putting them back in the case face up. He did this over and over for maybe half an hour. We all shared J's bedtime routine and my sister read his book to him while we listened. He did wake up crying once after 11pm so I got up and just rocked him in my arms until he calmed back down.

My dad's house is the house I grew up in so it brought a feeling of nostalgia being back "home". Saturday morning, I took a nice walk around the neighborhood and stopped in front of the little pond by the house just to soak it in. J took a nice nap so I enjoyed some time reading. I'm really glad I found the book "There is No Me Without You". I may have mentioned it, a book about a woman in Ethiopia whose daughter died and while grieving she opened her home to a couple AIDS orphans. She finds a new life for herself and becomes a foster mom to hundreds of children affected by AIDS, eventually adopting them out to other countries. At the first communion service, my three sisters, their husbands, Boppy and Mimi and a few others were there for my niece. J did extremely well. I was surprised he wasn't loud and he stayed pretty calm. I'm sure it helped that I let him have blankie and nuk. Afterward, we enjoyed a gathering at my sister's house where J got to play with all his cousins. I think the highlight was watching him have a mock battle with light sabers with his older cousin. My husband was a blessing as he did the driving down and back so I was able to care for J. It took about 15 minutes just to make the rounds saying goodbye to everyone, and then a couple sisters and kids came out to see us go. Something about this time with family really touched my heart. As we were driving away I had all this emotion come up just thinking about their love and support, the blessing my husband is to me, what a joy J is and being able to stay home with him, these types of things were in my mind and I just gave thanks and praise to God.

One of the highlights of the morning was getting J a new ball. We went grocery shopping and we've been eyeing them for a long time. He had so much fun throwing it to me and then I'd throw it back. I'd play games like hiding and then throwing the ball so it seemed to come from nowhere. He'd just laugh and laugh.

In my devotional time, I continued in Luke 4. I'm now in part 3 of the book, "The Way and Life". We see that here Jesus didn't flinch from what God wanted him to do. His example challenges us. He was teaching in the synagogue and the crowd went from being amazed to being furious with him. Jesus wouldn't be swayed by the crowd and would teach his way. This is an area of my life that I know is a struggle for me. Not being swayed by "the crowd" can be very difficult for me. Since I was little, I was very concerned about what others thought of me; how they responded to me. It is very difficult to separate myself from that way of thinking and instead focus on what would the Lord have to say. I have to keep surrendering this to God. Next Beth introduces the spiritual dimension as we read about Jesus casting a demon out from a man. Here the crowd sees that he speaks with authority and power. "What is this teaching" they say. Jesus is beginning to be set apart. Beth says no greater concept exists than the authority of Jesus Christ. For if he has no authority, his death/atonement would be sacrificial but powerless. As this study unfolds, she shares that we will see more of his authority.

We brought the camera in to get an estimate on fixing it. So hopefully I'll have that back soon. I really miss taking pictures of J. He had a pretty good day of eating today. Mommy did too. I lost my first pound today. I know that seems small but I've been waiting for weeks for it to happen. I pushed myself at the Y tonight and ran for 20 minutes straight, walked for 5 then ran for another 5. It was good. Now I better go to bed so I don't try snacking on something!