Yesterday marked Week 28 of this pregnancy, which means I’ve officially entered my third trimester.   Woohoo! The girls and I spent some time on Saturday afternoon going through all the baby clothes and making piles of boy and girl things.  This baby’s gender is a surprise and as we looked through the clothes I found myself hoping for a boy and then a few minutes later a girl.  Everyone seems convinced it’s a boy, but we’ll just have to wait and find out. I thought it might be fun to do a photo challenge as I walk through the final 12 weeks of my pregnancy.  This is my last pregnancy (as…

Today marked the first day of public school for Isabella (first grade) and Mallory (kindergarten). You would have thought that it was Christmas by the way they were acting.  Every two minutes they asked what time it was and whether or not we could leave.  When they started running around the house like crazy people, I decided it would be okay to leave a few minutes early.   The girls loaded up their backpacks with their school supplies and lunch bags, confidently walked our short 5-minute walk to school, entered the building, and barely turned to say goodbye to me as I left them for the day. This is only our…

Rest. Sometimes it seems like a distant relative.  Like when life is so busy that you barely have time to keep up, let alone think clearly with all that’s happening. Other times rest might feel like that not-so-great friend who just keeps coming around.  Times of loneliness can feel this way, when your calendar is empty, not by choice but simply because you don’t have any friends.  Or when you’re suffering from an illness or depression and rest is the only thing that you feel capable of, but really you long for more. I’ve lived in the midst of both kinds of scenarios and they can be equally challenging if we…

Summer and work might seem like a contradiction, but the reality is that work happens every day, whether we want it to or not.  As a Mom of young children work takes on a whole new meaning: day and night, it never ends. However, as I try to keep the idea of summer fun in my mind and plan activities for my children and me to keep us busy during the day, I also see the summer as an opportunity for different kinds of work.  A seasoned mother of four once told me that she used the summer to teach her children how to do chores around the house.  Summer…

Oh, summer!  I’ve been pondering the idea of summer after having several conversations with Moms about the challenges that summer brings.  And, I think it’s due to the fact that for at least 13 years of our lives (if you were a school student in America) we had summer. Summer = a break from normalcy, extra time to do fun things, sleeping in, late nights, time with friends. When I got my first job out of college the lack of ‘summer’ as I had known it became a harsh reality when June hit and I had to keep working.  Vacation was earned, not a given, and as a newbie in…

Lately the Lord has been uncovering some issues in my heart that need work as it relates to my children. I’m struggling to delight in them. I love them.  I want to be their Mom.   I would have it no other way. But somehow the day in and day out of caring for them, seeking to meet their ever-increasing needs, and feeling so absolutely tired are robbing me of enjoying them. I was sharing with my husband a few weeks ago how I felt like my children didn’t even like me.  He reassured me that was not the case.  But he asked me this question:  “Do you think they know…

A few weeks ago I took my four children to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  We had just finished our semester of homeschooling and I thought celebrating with lunch out was a good idea.  This may not seem like a big deal to any of you who are reading this; Moms take their kids to Chick-fil-A every day.  However, for me it was huge and it was during the hour that we were there that I realized how much our family had changed and how faithful God had been. You see a year ago, the very thought of taking my children out to eat by myself was enough to make me cry.  My…

Dear Mom, I thought I knew what it would be like to be in your shoes.  I watched you kiss your children, wipe the tears from their eyes, and snuggle them close.  I wanted to have that same bond, and I looked forward with great anticipation when I would have a baby of my own.   Your devotion to your children was always inspiring and brought a thrill to my heart that I would never forget. As sweet and tender as you were, though, I also couldn’t help but question some of your methods.  I saw your children with the snot on their faces, the mismatched outfits and uncombed hair.…

I’ve been writing off and on over the past month about Spanx.  Why I wanted to lose weight, how I cut back on my calories and made exercise a habit, and shared some practical tips that I learned on my pregnancy weight loss journey. Now, the more challenging part is putting into words some of the inner struggles I faced with a post-pregnant, overweight body.  I could share a lot of thoughts, but I wanted to summarize just a few of the battles I faced in my heart. 1. I began to compare myself constantly to other women.  Not their accomplishments or their character, but the size of their stomachs.…

Consistent exercise has never been a part of my adult life. My middle and high school years were spent on the soccer field, the basketball court, the volleyball court (and the bench), so I guess you could say during that time I was in pretty good shape. Enter college.  And cafeteria food.  And the Freshman 15.  And, a lack of discipline.  Exercising became the least of my priorities.  I would go through spurts where I’d run for a couple of weeks, but I never made it a habit.  So, when I got married and then pregnant two years later, exercising was still not a habit.  As the pounds piled on…