Full Garage!

As the days move forward and we become more "settled" into our home I see a lot of stuff in our garage that we dont use! When we sort through it all I am thinking of doing our first garage sale. Hopefully we can get rid of most of the clutter that is filling our garage and make use of the extra space for our cars! Mine wont fit in there with the door closed (sucks yes) but I drive a boat if u havnt seen it.But at least if it's raining I can pull in and unload myself, groceries, AJ too of course without getting drenched. I am starting to really love my home. Don't get me wrong I loved it the moment we moved in but that was a newness type love. A change. Now it's like a need. Coming home, seeing a clean home, a place that we are staying in to make memories. Its a good feeling. It's mine. The money we are paying actually goes towards it not to a landlord and out the window like renting. It's a good feeling. Being home, its more than a place, it's our sanctuary.

Cure for sleeplessness

Well as some of you know AJ has been an awful sleeper since he was about 11 mths old. I dont know what brought it on or why it started but it did. So from 11 mths til now (he's 27 mths) I have had 6-7 hrs of sleep or less every night! And not continual. Say I go to bed at 10pm. AJ would wake up at 12am and i'd go back to sleep around 1. Ok so there's 2.5 hrs of sleep. He wakes up again at 4 and is up 30-45 min back asleep by 5. Then is up at 7am for good. For me a grand total of 7.5 hours. But by the time im up I feel exhausted because I truly did not rest well. This was an on going thing every night. It didnt matter what I tried: Tylenol, warm milk, melatonin,a fan, a radio, keeping him up late, not letting him take a nap which was prob the worst idea ever! So as a mom I was just totally frustrated and felt overwhelmed and sad that my child just wouldn't sleep. What else could I do? Would he always be a bad sleeper and this would follow him throughout his childhood? All I know is im tired and I need sleep. Not that I just want it, I NEED IT. I cant nap during the day so dont suggest it (:P) because I wont even when I can. Working now 4 days a week I have 2 days to clean the house. So I do.

After my grandma passed his sleeplessness seemed to only get worse. He'd wake up 2 hours after he'd gone to sleep and cry and whine and wouldn't go back to sleep in his room. So I slept in the guest bed with him. He sleeps all night. Now for a moment im happy because I got some sleep but all my hard work isn't paying off because im going backwards now. AJ has NEVER had to sleep in our bed, so the next few nights i try and get im to sleep in his room. Or once he's asleep in my bed I move him to his room and same thing happens... he's up 10-15 min later and is screaming crying. But I am happy to say I grew a back bone after 14 mths of suffering and just let him cry... I told him I loved him in his room, sang to him til he was almost asleep and closed his door behind me and closed my bedroom door. He cried for about 30 long minutes and was out. He slept til 9am the next morning. And last night he didnt even wake up I didnt hear him if he did. 9:30pm-8am!! Thats almost 12 hours! woohoo! I of course didnt go to bed til 11:30 (lol) but still that was so nice to not have to get out of bed and deal with something that shouldn't of been anyway! So I am hoping this continues and that tonight he will sleep well and that I can start being a better momma and hopefully have more energy to do things I love <3

Oh no, more snow?!

Well the weatherman called it, as much as I really didnt think it would happen it did. We got about 8-9 inches of snow! As beautiful as it is it has caused me and Tony to miss work this week! We missed 3 days last week because of my grandmother's funeral and burial. So we were already behind with bills and money! Well then wouldn't ya know here came snow! So now we are officially 2 weeks behind :( Im not really worried though thankfully our 1st house payment isnt until Feb. So we have all the small bills to pay in 2 weeks time. Hopefully we are busy at my work and I make enough tips to suffice a few bills. God's in control and He always comes through somehow every time! I have faith we can do it because we've seen worse times! But we stayed with my aunt 2 nights and we really had a good time. Played a lot, watched movies, and napped a few times. I got to catch up on my missed sleep ive had. (That was prob the best part) So pray for us that we can meet our bill quota this month lol Something tells me we will... I'm pretty confident! :P

Jan. 8

Really enjoyed cleaning up our church today. Me and Tony got to cut up and joke around. He helped me out with mopping and sweeping (stuff he doesn't do at home :P) and we had a few good laughs. My church means a lot to me and it should to anyone who attends church. I have been going there for about 11 years. My grandmother loved our church too, she'd always be there to help clean or assist in anyway she could if she was well enough. Many Sundays I have felt loved and appreciated and when I miss church I regret it. We always get blessed and feel the holy spirit on Sundays! There's just something about singing for God that I just love. I have always loved to sing but once I started to sing at my church, that was a completely different emotion. I felt uplifted, like I had a purpose. I was meant to help lead and point others to Christ through music. And what a joy it is! And believe me, not every Sunday do I want to be up in front of the congregation, I don't want to always sing and sing "praises" because believe or not im not always happy! But once the songs are over, people have prayed, and the preacher comes up I feel refreshed! My lifes not perfect, haha, far from it most days. I yell when im frustrated, I throw clothes around when I cant find anything to wear... I whine and complain about stupid things. I mean how can u always go through the day happy and without a bad thought? Hmmm u cant, so no one think I do because your mistaken! lol Very much mistaken. But I dont carry my burdens, I lay them down and give them to God. I have learned over the last few years that nothing is accomplished from being negative and grouchy. God doesn't want you to be miserable He gave His son to die on a cross for you, for ME! When you look at the big picture, well lets switch it back to 1st person, when I look at the big picture I gotta repent cause I have acted so selfish.

There are days now I do admit that I am in a great mood, where it goes perfect and i just smile and forget about all my problems. But is that a bad thing? HA no!!! :) I wish I had weeks at a time like that... God wants us to be happy not just in our life but in spirit!

Psalm 68:3
But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.


Its not all about material things its about family, contentment, salvation, hope, faith, love, forgiveness, and many more things! God is good, all the time!

Talking it out

Its been a long and stressful first week of the year. I am planning on getting as much info for school in the coming week as I can and being sure I make the best decision possible. Im still contemplating being a teacher but something in the medical field is in the back of my mind as well. We have just about everything done inside the house except hanging a few blinds, decorations, and re-vamping the bathrooms. Hopefully around tax time we will be able to paint them and try to get them looking nice. I still keep a clean house, the apartment was a lot smaller and it takes a little longer to clean a 3 bedroom 2 bath house, lol but I manage to do it, work 4 days a week, as well and still keep myself sane. It was hard adjusting the first few weeks because there was a lot of "new" things going on. I am hoping to get AJ potty trained before summer but we will see how well that goes! He sometimes is interested and other times, hes not.Im really excited about summer time here at the new house. I plan on starting a garden and planting flowers! :) Something that our yard needs is some color and I am in love with the idea of flower beds!! Hopefully I have a green thumb like my parents did! Our yard always looked wonderful. Might just have to make them come help us too :P Our dog Jessie has done well here too, she hasnt run off (she's an outside dog now) but we need to get some fencing in the back yard so we can keep her pinned up. She likes to chew on stuff and bring it all over the yard. (Annoying) Our yard looks bad enough already we dont need her bringing trash onto it.. lol But all in all I am hoping this year brings new joys and some happy memories for my family. We will all greatly miss my momaw and will always think of her and how wonderful she was!

In Memory

As of 5:25 pm Jan 1st 2011 I lost someone very important to me. Betty Elaine Vinyard my grandmother (momaw) passed away. She died in her sleep at her home. She has been through many things the past 30 years of her life. She had cancer which caused her kidneys to fail which cause her renal failure and she was on dialysis for 25 years. She also had congestive heart failure, heart disease, kidney disease, low and high blood pressure, arthritis and asthma. But I am happy to say she is no longer in pain, no longer suffering or taking 20 pills a day. She is rejoicing and praising our Lord in heaven. It's weird really, I have a peace about it all. I am so sad to not have her here with us anymore but I know she was so tired. God knew when it was right for her and that she was ready to go home. So right now I tell all of you, cherish life. Live it and have a purpose. Our new year began very gloomy with her passing but it also reminds us of Gods promise that we will see her again. She was my mentor, my hero, a wonderful grandmother, mom, sister, wife, friend, and teacher. Each word she said was wise and she was usually right about everything. I miss her already. The sound of her voice, the way she would sit and laugh with me, playing with my son AJ and reminding me to do something she had told me a 100 times already.
This year will soon go by and the sting of death will fade but still leave a scar. I cannot ever know why it had to be today. I was regretful because I was going to go visit her yesterday after her surgery but time escaped me and I had to go today. but it was too late. I got a call from my dad and was told she was being took to the hospital and they couldnt find her pulse. I wanted to scream. Not only did I want to see her I had promised I would. But I never got to say goodbye. This year she left us all a message louder than any words could speak. I hope everyone was listening. RIP Momaw. I love you so very very much..