I Will Not Take These Things For Granted
- Aside from being a song reference, it also describes how I’ve felt about average, ordinary, daily activities that I used to think nothing of. Like what, John? Let’s get the obvious one out of the way – SLEEP. As short as 3 weeks ago, I used to think that sleep was a given. And now, I’d throw a dance party for a 3 hour nap!
- How about the things that I’ve grown to love over time – trips to STARBUCKS to sit and read for hours on end. Now, those trips will be fewer – for real. Trips of a leisurely nature might be going into hibernation for a bit.Holly and I used to play “not it” to see who was going to stop at the store to pick up stuff for dinner – and now we play “it”. I won’t belabor the issue, but let’s just say that I’m starting to become more grateful for things that I used to think were boring necessities.
- Basically, all of my FREE TIME – how I tend to think that everything will stay the same one day to the next day – kind of like a repeating iTunes playlist. Well, I’m not going to live vicariously through anyone else, and I’m not relegating myself to becoming a houseplant – so, it’s time to put on my big boy pants – and live life.
- Levi is a great blessing to us – and I want to make sure that he grows up to know that every trip is special!
- That’s all for now – I have some pics to post, but I’m gonna wait til next time. - John
perfectionism..it’s a blessing and a curse
hey friends! so sorry it’s been like a year since we’ve written any words on here. Okay, maybe to those of you who occupy the outside world it’s been only like a week in calendar days..but i swear in baby days, it’s been at least a year! I don’t even know how to sum it up. Let’s see, since we posted last, John’s parents and brother have come and gone (and in between made the most yummy homemade spaghetti!), Easter has come and gone (the first Easter in about a decade that i didn’t work the services..totally strange!), we’ve been to the pediatrician another time (and called them about 3 others), changed formulas, dealt with more poo problems than you want to know about, ate wonderfully generous meals from Chrystina and Jayce, Tracey, Emily, and Allison..oh, and tried to incorporate every single word of Babywise and the Baby Whisperer into our daily lives. Did i mention sleep? No..and there’s a reason for that too. :) It’s really hard to believe Levi is only three weeks old today because so much has happened, but it helps to put things in perspective. It was a really challenging week..trying to set Levi into a schedule and learning how to do that. I don’t know if you know this or not, but to get a newborn to “go to sleep on their own” is like the hardest thing in the world. And the most wonderful thing ever is to have a newborn sleep on your chest..but “the books” say that if you do it now, you’ll have to do it forever. did i mention i hate the books? they really mess with my perfectionism…because i want to do everything right and the books indulge that philosophy..that there is a “right” way and that you can set bad habits into your 3 week old child…and that freaks me out!! but then my beautiful friend Angela basically told me to let it go and do the best i can and maybe put the books down. :) So i read US Weekly instead and got all caught up on Heidi and Spencer, Nicole Ritchie and how Kevin wants Britney back. So much better reading for my soul. Thanks to all of you who have called and loved on us – and anybody who wants to join in a book burning ceremony..give me a shout! Much love to you all – Holz
Score one more for Levi
Well friends, i’m not gonna lie to ya, yesterday was tough. Levi started out so good – a perfect angel for when he met Ms Gina (who brought an awesome chicken pot pie), Jill, Toni, and Brooke at lunch time..but then things just went downhill from there. He wouldn’t sleep, he wouldn’t eat more than an ounce at a time, he pooed like a racehorse (though he’s only projectile pooed on John!), and just wouldn’t settle for more than a few minutes. So by the time my folks came at 6 to give us some relief – we were exhausted! We went to bed at 8:30 to catch some zzz’s before John got up for the nightshift at midnight. And of course, once the grandparents came, Levi turned his game around and finally took a good long rest so that by the time John fed him at 3 – he was ready to eat 5 freaking ounces! Crazy kid. But now on the morning shift – all is well with the world again. I have to just keep taking deep breaths and remembering that each day is just a day and not the rest of our lives. Every time he doesn’t do something perfectly i get worried that we’re engraining a pattern for the rest of his life and that he’s never gonna sleep, or that he’s always gonna want to be rocked to sleep. But i have to remember that he’s only 13 days old (wow) and that every day is a new day…and there’s always wine! (for me, not the kid) I also posted a couple pics below of Syd. Now you may not know it if you come over (because she’ll probably bark her face off at you), but she is the sweetest doggie ever and she has taken to Levi like it’s her job. Below is a pic of what Syd does every morning when she greets everyone. She runs up to the top of the couch and checks on her baby and once she’s satisfied, you can almost see her nod her head like “he’s okay” and then she runs away (but not too far away). Once we caught her giving him a super quick kiss on the nose. But as the second pic below shows, even Syd is learning that having a baby is exhausting! Have a great day out there in the outside world..tell it we said hello!
