My Special Girl

I could probably fill up several posts about my sweet girl. She totally amazes me on a daily basis. Being her mom is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. She has brought so much joy and fun to my life. Of course being a mom has it's definite challenges too, but those seem to be outweighed by the joy.

I call her my joy spreader. That's the job God has given her for right now, and she does it so well. She spreads smiles everywhere we go. It makes me so proud to be her mom. We get comments about her smile and eyes from strangers on a regular basis. We say that we need to find a way to make some money off this kid.

She is changing all the time. She walks everywhere. So many people warned me about how she would be into everything once she started walking. She's been into everything for so long now that I don't really notice a change now that she's only on two feet.

Abigail can now point out noses. She can show where hers is and most peoples when she wants to do it. She knows what a puppy says. When we say Go Dawgs, she responds with woo woo. She's already a UGA fan when she wants to. My sweet girl is very loving. We ask for "loves" and most of the time she lays her head on us or hugs us around the neck. Recently she has started giving kisses. Let me tell you, you've never had a kiss quite like it. Her kisses are open mouth right smack on the nose. Sometimes she uses her tongue, and every now and then her teeth. It's always quite slobbery, but I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Her grin lights up her whole face and my whole world. I miss her terribly everyday when I'm away from her, but I enjoy my precious time with her so much. Yesterday she cried everytime I left the room. It's hard on Daddy, but it makes me feel good to be reminded that she does love her mommy. She knows love her too, even though I'm away during her days.

I could go on and on, but I'll end it here. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful child. I couldn't ask for anything better.

The end of the birthday cake
The first bite

Climbing into the toy basket. She's a wild one

family shot before the party

Posing with her new birthday wagon

New Stove!!

This may be silly, but I am quite excited about the new stove I got yesterday. Most people rave about their gas stoves and how wonderful they are. I had never been impressed with mine. In fact, I didn't like it. We finally figured out that it was the cheapest model and wasn't a great piece of equipment. What finally made us decide to get the new one was how hot ours got on the front. If Little Miss had touched it while it was on it would have burned those baby hands. So of course as good parents we got a new one. I am quite excited about this new stove. I can't wait to get it into action.

The drawer below the stove is my favorite feature. My old one didn't have that, now my baking pans are not going to jump 0ut of the cabinet every time I open it. Also, my future kitchen helper is pretty cute too.

Here she is....

Blessings

In the spring I wrote a couple blog posts about blessings that I wwas really feeling. Now I am feeling the need to do that again. My life is so incredibly blessed. God has given me so much, but for some reason I still tend to get down on things at times. I get down on me, and forget about
riches he has so lavishly poured out on me. So here's the run down from right now.

• I had a long conversation with a friend at work. We are very different in our beliefs, places in life, ages, etc. but found so many places where we are on the same page. Finding out that others feel the same way that I helps. It's nice to not be alone. Since she does have a few extra years experience on me, she has wisdom to pass down, but is not pushy with it at all.


• God is working, and I know it. I truly believe that he has his hand actively involved in several things right now. I'm not sure what he's planning, but I know He's doing something.


• Work is much better this year than last. My colleagues are great. My students are pleasant and fun to teach. They have a LOT to learn, but I enjoy them. We have a new program starting up that is going to require a good amount of work for us, but the start date has gotten pushed back which gives us a a little more room to breathe without the new added pressure.
• My daughter is learning new things all the time. She's changing constantly which is hard when I feel like I'm missing so much, but it's amazing to watch her. It's almost like she changes right before my eyes.
• My husband patiently listened to me tearfully trying to explain some feelings that I didn't quite have the right words for. He helped me by listening and loving and trying to understand even when I didn't exactly know what it was I was trying to say.
• I had an extra day off this week to enjoy my life.
• This will be my 6th week of keeping up with my exercise goal. We are talking morning running here. I even increased my speed and time. Yes, I'm a beast!

Wanting to Blog

I really do want to blog on this thingamajiggy. I even have thoughts sometimes. Life has been treating me well. We've celebrated a year of Miss Abigail's life which has been amazing. I truly love being her mother. We've had school, we played, we've worked. That's about the summary life. God is blessing me infinitely. He's working on my heart and answering prayers that had been kept down in my heart and only shared with him. We've had some good study at church. College football has begun. Abigail is walking everywhere. Life is so good and so full. I would love to write about each of these things individually, and I hope to at some point. Right now, this is all that time allows. My day off schedule has been full of reading kiddy books, playing on the floor and rolling the ball across the floor. It's been wonderful. I am trying to remind myself that the most important things, and the most urgent things are not always the same. At times, I focus on the urgent and forget the important. Dirty toilets will stay dirty as long as I let them, but toddlers grow at an incredibly fast pace. So here's to dirty toilets. Let's just view them as signs of good priorities and loving mommies.

It's been awhile...

School is off and running. Life has for sure kicked itself into overdrive as I once again try to find the balance in life as working out of the house mommy. I miss Abigail like crazy. The first week I was very brave. This week has been a bit harder. She's growing, changing, and learning so much. I miss lots of it and hurts. My heart still fears being forgotten. I guess that's every mother's fear though working or not. My sweet Abigail is happy and healthy and that is what's important. PLus I get the wonderful moment in the afternoon where she first sees me and totally lights up. It's pretty much the highlight of everyday. She'll be one next week, but that will have to be another post.





School is going well. We are having a much smoother time with this year's bunch. I'm working hard and enjoying my job. This year one of my major goals has been to have a good attitude. That's probably really helping. I might rather be at hoem with my baby, but I'm not. Therefore I must bloom where I am planted. School. God asks us to do everything to his glory. That's what I am trying to do. It's not easy every moment. Yesterday after fighting computers all day, I could have happily run away. Instead I chose to go back today, and it was a good day. God is blessing me through my job. I am surrounded by wonderful people. Enjoying my colleagues helps so much. Already we have many good conversations about life beyond school that have encouraged and challenged me.





Life is busy. Down time is not really part of my days. Last night on our way to church I breathed a big sigh. Charlie looked at me strangely, so I told him that I was enjoying my break. The drive to church served as my time to be still and relax.





Another accomplishment from the past few weeks is my new workout plan. I am getting up 3 days every week and running before school. Yes, 3 days a week is a small goal, but it's about all I can promise myself these days. If I made my goal to big, I would fail and quit. So far, I have met my goal for 3 weeks in a row. Other walks have been sprinkled through out the week too.





God is blessing me. My life is so full of good things. Here's a pic that will forever make me smile and will someday make Abigail cringe.

Complaining

This morning as I was running and preparing for the third day of this school year, a verse popped into my head. "Do everything without arguing or complaining." from Philipians 2:14. Well it kinda hit me like a ton of bricks. It says everything. It doesn't tell me not to complain when doing things I enjoy doing and then if I don't want to do something complain away. It says in everything. OUCH!! God put that one in my head here at the beginning of a school year to remind me to be his. Verse 15 goes on to say that we should do this to become blameless and pure children His. I know I want that part. We don't get to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we like or follow. God has asked us to follow it all. So since this verse came to me, I figure I need to tattoo it on my forehead so that I'll be reminded constantly. Well I probably won't be quite that drastic, but working on my complaining is now on the goal list for this year. If you are near me, feel free to call me out. (in a loving Christ-like way)

Half full and Half Empty

Tomorrow I head back to school. One of the good things about being a teacher is that every August, I get the chance to start over. A new school year brings a boatload of freshness with it. To help get myself in the spirit every year, I get a package of cheap Bic pens, cheap Bic Mechanical pencils, and new planner. Oh the joy of a new planner. It's empty no plans or dates, but it just waits to be filled with events of another year. And yes, I do keep them from year to year. I never know when I'll need to look back and see what I did on Tuesday October 14.

I also get to start over with kids. Yes, teachers do develop reputations that preceede them as new students come into the classroom, but for the most part it's a clean slate. I get the chance to start totally fresh. A new year is a chance to be a new teacher. I get to learn from last year's mistakes and triumphs. Things that are repeating get done over and over, but failures can be left in last year's dust. A fresh start brings renewed energy and feeling that this year will be the year i get more right than wrong. This year I have another to chance to make a difference for someone. This year is my year. Each year is different. New kids bring both new joys and new challenges.

That leads me to the glass half empty portion of this post. Each year we have to start over. Totally. Sometimes it seems like just when we get the kids where they need to be, the year is over and we are moving on. (I never mind summer interrupting us though.) We have to learn a new set of kids. we have to once again explain what life is like in our classroom. These kids dont't know what it means to be a student in Mrs. Nix's Language Arts class. It can be hard to start over every year and not have the feeling why don't you guys know this. I just told you how I want you to do things. I already opened your locker 15 times. The bathroom is right there!

But as I head into this new year, I have a determined spirit. I will work hard at seeing the glass half full. I will enjoy this chance to be new. I will be what I need to be. Here goes....