Thoroughly Clean Thursday: Fighting through loss of motivation.

I have been working hard in this past week to keep the house clean.  Today, I have no motivation.  Seriously, all I want to do is veg.  My mom has Sweet T and L is down for a nap.  I really need to get off the computer but I just don't want to.  I want a break.  I want to relax.  I'm tired and want time to myself.  But in the back of my mind, I am telling myself that it will benefit my family for me to get off my keister and get things done.  What a blessing it would be for my hubby to come home to a clean home.  Laundry wont get done on it's own!  I want to sign up for a class or two next semester so that I can get my degree and be sure that nothing will stand in my way of homeschooling in a couple years.  So, off I go to fight my selfish desires.  Off I go to work at becoming a Proverbs 31 momma :)

Wednesday's Walk With God: Enjoying my devotional :)

So I mentioned a couple posts ago that I started reading a random book that I pulled out of my closet early one morning.  It's called The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace.  It's very old fashioned and definitely not politically correct, but I have enjoyed it!  It is all about a woman's role in the home.  I know many women can't stay home for one reason or another, or maybe some women choose to go back to work because they don't think they're "cut out" for being a SAHM, but I strongly believe that God's desire is for mothers to be home raising their children.  I know this is a VERY unpopular opinion and I have probably offended many of my few readers, but I'm ok with that.  I mean, I hate to offend people, but it's my blog and I am expressing what I believe.    Back to the book... I haven't been reading it very long, but I feel like everything I've read has been something that I am currently dealing with, something I have dealt with in the past, or something that pops up from time to time in my life.  If you are looking for a new book to read, I highly recommend it :)

Tasty Tuesday: GF Hamburger buns

This is yet another recipe from my amazing mother-in-law. Have I said how thankful I am that she has been doing this whole gluten free thing for years? She has the best recipes and helps me out more than she will ever know! I made this early last week and planned to save some for our cook outs (we had two... one with neighbors on Saturday and one with my parents on the 4th of July). They were so good, though! L and I ended up eating them all before then ;) So, here are her buns:

3 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1 TBSP xanthan gum
1/3 cup potato starch (NOT flour)
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca starch
1/3 c. GF buckwheat flour
1 TBSP active dry yeast
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Directions
Preheat Oven to 380 degrees.

Beat eggs in heavy duty mixer and then add oil, vinegar, and sugar, combining.


Add dry ingredients.


Warm milk in the microwave (or on the stove) and add to the bowl, gently folding it into the flour. Turn on motor, let ingredients combine thoroughly then turn power to medium and leave for 4 minutes while it stirs.

Spray baking pan (cookie sheet type) with nonstick cooking spray and/or line with parchment paper.
Oil your hands and grab a ball of dough from the mixing bowl. Gently shape it into a roll. Place it on the prepared cookie sheet. Make another roll (or hamburger bun in my case), continuing until all dough has been used for rolls. (This part is fun!)
Brush with whisked egg. Sprinkle with garnish (fresh herbs, salt, onion), poppy seeds or sesame seeds if desired.
Let it rise in a warm place for five minutes. Open oven, put in your rack of rolls and let bake for 20-25 minutes. (Halfway through baking time, you may wish to turn over your rolls for even browning.)

Friday's Looking Good: OH YEAH! (July1)

I am not sure when I blogged last, so this may actually be old news to everyone. If that's the case, I'm still excited about it so I'm blogging again. If I haven't written about this yet, then YAY! Great news! I have reached my first goal!!! My first goal is to be down to my Pre-L weight (L is baby #2). I did it! I did it! Finally! Breastfeeding helped me lose the weight a lot. I also started running (remember I was training for a 5K?) and am continuing to exercise. In fact, I'm not training to run a 10 miler. I am trying to run three days a week, cross train twice a week, stretch (yoga maybe?) once a week, and then rest once a week. This is all new to me and already I'm having a hard time with it. Who has time to do all this training with two small boys? I have to do it, though. J said he would get me a dog if I can run 10 miles in an hour and 45 minutes! Do you know how long I've been begging him for a dog??? Years. I'm talking YEARS! I asked him long before we even got engaged :) He said yes back then. Funny how things change when you get married! Anyway, back to my improving looks. Ha! I feel vain just writing that! Anyway, I am also eating better now. There's only so many snacks you can eat while on a gluten free diet! Gone are the days where I'd by a pack of cookies or snack cakes every time I went grocery shopping. I don't even go down those isles anymore. Sure, the stores sell gf cookies too, but they're expensive and honestly, not very good. I like the taste of the homemade ones, but like I said earlier, who has the time with two small boys to chase around? I haven't been on a scale in a while, so I'm hoping that I'm getting closer to my Pre-T weight now too. I'm guessing it will still be a few more months, but it's nice to fit into some of my old clothes again.
The newest down side to my looks? Wrinkles. I have noticed more and more wrinkles around my eyes lately. I'm only 26. I should not have wrinkles like this! But growing up in CA, we were in the sun a lot! My mom always made us wear sun screen, but we are very fair skinned, have red hair, blue eyes and lots of freckles. We are the type of people who lather up in SPF 100, then get burned within two seconds of even *thinking* about going outside. Ha! Maybe it's not quite THAT bad, but I'm pretty sure it's close... I am destined to be a very wrinkly old lady, I was just hoping to wait until I'm old before getting so wrinkly, lol.

Clean Thursday: House is looking...decent :)

Today J came home from work and said, "The house looks really clean!" Yay!!! I consider that a big compliment from him. My sweet, wonderful hubby is a bit of a neat freak. At least with certain rooms of the house (dirty bathroom doesn't phase him at all...but if the living room is a little cluttered, it's the end of the world). I said yesterday that I've had a hard time with most of my goals listed in my very first blog post, but one area that I've really worked hard at is keeping the living room clutter to a minimum, at least around the time J gets home from work. Sweet T probably thinks I'm crazy because about 5 minutes before I expect J to walk through the door, I start running around picking up as much stuff as I can. "Come on, T! We need to clean up before Daddy gets home! Daddy likes coming home to a clean house. Hurry. Let's put everything away!" Yesterday I went a step farther and vaccuumed. OOoo, nice! And today? I made sure the kitchen was picked up too! Sure, there were some dishes in the sink, but I swept the floors, wiped the table and counters, made sure I pushed the chairs in (which makes a surprisingly BIG difference!). I also did a load of diapers AND a load of laundry :) I call that a successful day. I know I have a long way to go before this house is "company ready" but it's slowly getting there. Yay!

Wednesday's Walk with God: Starting Over

I used to have a pastor who did not believe that God spoke to us other than through His Word. I have to say, I respectfully disagree! I full heartedly believe that God communicates to me on a regular basis. Take today, for example. The past couple of months have been hard on me. I have fallen way behind on my New Year's Resolutions. I've been feeling pretty guilty about it lately, but not to the point where I've changed my routine. I've had lots of very good excuses! We've traveled a lot. We've had a lot of sicknesses, including surgery on my baby boy's eyes. We have been stressed about J's job situation and other unexpected things that come up. And then there's just daily life trying to juggle two little boys and a home. See? These are all very good reasons why I haven't had time to focus on becoming a Proverb's 31 woman. But sometimes even the best excuses are not good enough. Since I am so stubborn and thick headed, God decided to make it very clear to me this morning when I woke up bright and early, before the kids even! I didn't want to go back to sleep because I knew that as soon as I did, L would be awake. So I decided to find my devotional (which I hadn't read in a little while... shame shame!). It was dark and J was still sleeping, so I accidently grabbed the wrong book, but decided that the one I had grabbed was good enough. I forget the name of it, but it was a book I had started years ago, when J and I first got married. I stopped reading it half way through and had a book mark in the spot I had left off. I decided to start there even though I don't remember what the first few chapters were about. The subject? A woman's role in the home. There it was, right there in writing, what I knew the Lord had been trying to tell me. It was the last thing I expected to read this morning. I thought I'd read about submitting to my husband, or serving him or something like that. NOPE! Not this time. I have a friend who calls that a spiritual spanking, and I'd have to agree with her. This was a wake up call that it's time, again, to take care of my house. It doesn't need to be perfect, but it needs to be a place of peace and comfort for my family. The way it is, is just causing stress and chaos for all who live here. That is NOT what a Godly woman's house should be... Ok Lord, I get it! And I'm hoping that by blogging again, I'll stay accountable longer than a month ;)

Updates, Updates :)

The boys are sleeping in so I have a few minutes to update.

First, I just want to thank everyone for praying for my Little L. He had his eye surgery (to both eyes! Poor kiddo) and we are excited to say his eyes look a thousand times better! It was an awful surgery for him, the doctor described it to us as "brutal" and I would fully agree with that description. However, once it was over, the pain was over with it! No recovery time whatsoever! Because we can't be normal, L had a few minor setbacks. He started spitting up blood. It was terrible and very scary for me! I guess what happened was that he swallowed a lot of blood during the surgery (which we already knew about, and is normal). Some people have bloody noses for a couple days after the surgery, it's not common but it does happen. Luke decided to just swallow that blood instead, though (not common...). He is still struggling with reflux and spits up at the TINIEST things, so when the blood bothered his little tummy, up it came. The dr and I were on the phone constantly over the next two days. I even had his cell phone number, lol. Thankfully that cleared up and we were able to go on our vacation two days later!

Vacation... AMAZING! We had such a lovely time together this year. Little L was pretty cranky because he's our little high needs guy and he just loves being at home instead of strange places. Both boys also caught colds. But besides that, it was nice to get away from the daily stresses and spend time as a family! We spent a LOT of time at the beach and in the pool. L is ok with both places, but Sweet T absolutely loves playing in the water! We also went to the sand dunes (where T somehow managed to get himself a ride on a tour bus) and the Lost Colony. Most of us are ready to go back, in fact, T asks almost daily if we can move there. L is the exception. As soon as we walked in our front door, he got the BIGGEST smile on his cute little face! He was so, so happy to be home! It was really sweet :)

Third, we have decided that it's time to start some sleep training with both kids. I hate sleep training and was really hoping to avoid it with L, but he is ready for it. He wakes up and can't get himself back to sleep. He doesn't want to nurse or be rocked anymore when he wakes up. He also doesn't want to lay down with us. The only thing that worked, and only sometimes, was when we walked around with him. Who wants to walk the hall with a screaming baby at midnight? And again at 2 am? And at 4? NOT ME! As much as I hate hearing him cry, it's working. He slept all night last night! And he only cried for a minute when I first put him down. The first night was the hardest. I decided I would go get him after 20 minutes of crying, but he stopped at 19. 19 minutes of screaming and crying! It was terrible! But he finally fell asleep on his own and slept almost the entire night then too. Sweet T needed some help sleeping too. He's 2 1/2 and used to be an amazing sleeper!

OK, so I started writing this a few days ago and never finished. Ha! Now the boys are in bed for the night and I'm hoping to join them :) As I was starting to write earlier, we are having to sleep train T too. He comes in our room every. single. night. It really isn't that big of a problem. We don't mind him being in our bed, but we just feel like he also needs to be able to sleep on his own. It's our job as parents to raise godly men who can take care of themselves. I don't want them dependant on their mommy and daddy. We now close T's door every night, have a door knob cover over his door knob, and have it duct taped together because he knows how to open them. Poor kiddo hates, absolutely hates, being in his room with the door closed. He wakes up screaming "Dad-dy can you rub my back? Dad-dy! Can you rub my back? Daaad-Dy! COME! RUB! MY! BACK!!!" It hasn't been fun, but I know he'll get it. He only woke up screaming once last night ;) Oh, and we had to buy him a night light because he cried "Peas turn on my yight! Peas turn on my yight!!!" for forever and a day the first night we kept him in there. L has done really super duper well with the sleep training! He cried for 19 the first night, and by the third night, he only cried until I made it down the steps. I hate to admit this, but I think he really needed to cry it out. I think that me rocking and nursing him to sleep made it impossible for him to stay asleep. We all wake up at various points throughout the night, but usually put ourselves back to sleep. L wasn't able to do that because he was relying on me to get him to sleep. I think it was frustrating to both of us! Now he sleeps from 8:30 to 5:30! Then eats a little and goes back to sleep until almost 8. I love that we are getting more on a schedule! It's so refreshing to have quiet time every evening. In a few days, I'm hoping to move his bed time up 15 minutes, and then again a week or so after that. I'll keep moving it up until around 7 or 7:30.

BIG NEWS! J finally got a good job offer!!!! And he accepted it :) It's actually not his first choice (the one close to home that pays more is the one he really wants, but they still don't have the contract, and it's almost two months past due!). We are so very excited! Thanks to all who prayed for us as we waited on God's perfect timing! No more on call work! No more on call work! Doing the happy dance because J has NO MORE ON CALL WORK!!!

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but it's late and I am tired! Good night blog world :)