Through the Simplest of Times, through the Hardest of Times, I will always have my family.

The first thing that keeps coming to my head recently is why is it so hard to be thankful for things when you are really struggling. Marcus and I were talking a little about this last night. We know we are not the only ones struggling, but sometimes it sure feels like it.

We were putting up our Christmas tree last night. We find this Christmas to be really special because of a new special family member, Lydia, will be joining us. :) We finally got the tree up and we found that part of the stand was broken. Marcus Krazy glued it back hoping it would work. It kinda did... it was a little wobbly. Which made me nervous because a little girl is rolling now and I didn't want her to run into it and have it fall on her. NIGHTMARE!!! Well, we found some weights to put on it. It was a little lop sided but it would work.

We really enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree. Going through memories. Our tradition is to give each other an ornament every year. Usually, the commemorate something that has happened that year. Well this year I gave Marcus a #1 Teacher Ornament with some music drawn on it to celebrate his first year of teaching. He gave me an ornament of a kangaroo holding a joey with Lydia and I's names on it. And of course Lydia got her first Christmas ornament from us. :)

Lydia's First Christmas Ornament from us, my ornament from Marcus, and you can't see it as well but Marcus' ornament. I drew music on it which if played is the Franklin Flyer's Fight Song.

Then 3:30 in the morning, we heard a crash. The tree fell. The star (my favorite part of the tree) landed on the dog pillow. So it wasn't broken! yay!  Put, now I am in the process of taking our tree completely apart to put in the trash can. There is no way to fix it. Not how I wanted Lydia's first Christmas to go.

The Star is Saved!!!

 

How I found our tree this morning

So, add that to the list of struggles. I know many people our age struggle financially. Of course it gets even harder during the Christmas season. Why? I don't know. I find it to be really bad timing. Anyway, I  found it to be really hard to look for blessings. Lydia sleeps in the dining room right now because there really isn't a bedroom here in this house. It is so bright that it is hard for her to sleep. I can't really turn off the lights or anything. They are not even on right now and she is crying when she should be asleep. We want to move so bad. We felt forced into this house. Yet, I need to remember that we are blessed that we even have this house. Some nice people who were selling it took it off of the market for us so we would have a place to rent since we had to move at the last minute. We have a roof over our head. We have heat, and water, and food. The most basic things, but why must it be so hard to thank our Heavenly Father for those things?

Well, there are some things I am very grateful for. A year ago today, Marcus and I discovered we were pregnant. After 40 weeks of growing my little peanut, she comes to join us in August. I was thrilled! We had some ups and downs with the pregnancy and delivery, but we have a wonderful, happy, baby girl. I will never forget how grateful I am for her. I am so thankful for her and I love her so much. She makes me so happy! She fills my life with so much joy.  I can't believe how much she has grown! Just this pass weekend she learned how to roll over. She cannot be contained anymore. :)

In the above pictures she was on the play mat. As you can see I have a little escape artist on my hands! 

I have so much to be thankful for. Sometimes, it is just hard to see those blessings. Really hard. But I couldn't be more thankful for my beautiful little girl, my adoring most wonderful husband, and my family. Without them, life would be so very hard. This next picture says it all!

So true! Everyone is Thankful for her! :)

Well, the rest of this is just a fun picture of Lydia while she was taking a nap and a video of her talking that I just want to share.

In the simplest of times, and in the hardest of times, I will always have the blessing of my little girl and my most wonderful husband. I am so very blessed.

Karin

How I found Lydia sleeping in her bassinet yesterday

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!

Lydia having a very serious conversation with her kitty.

Happy 3 Months to my beautiful little girl!

I honestly don't even the last real post I wrote. I think it was about Gus Gus. I am just too lazy to go back and check.

Lydia is 3 months old today! It is so weird. It seems like she came an eternity ago, but yet it doesn't seem like that long ago at all! It just feels like she has always been apart of us. Probably because she always has. :) I love her to pieces! I can't believe how much you can love a little person.

She is such a happy girl!  Today while I was at school on my lunch break Marcus was making some faces at her. She thought it was hilarious! I love her little giggle! I have never heard her laugh so much! I loved it. And I am sure her daddy did too. 

The past few months I have been working as a HeadStart bus monitor. It doesn't pay much. But I can bring Lydia with me. I thought that would be great. I wouldn't have to pay for daycare. Well, it was at first. She would sleep the whole time. She was also four weeks old when we started riding the bus. Well, now she does not like being strapped in her car seat and it messes with her schedule. She can't eat or sleep when she wants too. I have to wake her from her nap before I have to leave to make sure she has a full tummy when we ride the bus. Half of the time she doesn't even eat. She isn't hungry. It is hard to feed her a bottle on the bus because I have to get up a lot to strap in kiddos. So I have to keep taking the bottle away, which makes one unhappy baby. So, I figured I would rather pay for daycare, and start subbing at Franklin. At least she would have a consistent schedule and I can even bring a little more income in. Which is a win win.

Halloween was a lot of fun. This was the very first year we have had trick or treaters. It was a beautiful night and we decided to sit out on our deck to hand out candy. Lydia was even in some skeleton pajamas that our friend, Terrie, gave her. She even gave her a little Halloween outfit. Pictures of that to follow. :) We even carved a pumpkin. It was so fun! I love this town! It was so fun seeing kiddos I know. 

Lydia in her outfit next to our first carved pumpkin!

My favorites. :)

Last weekend we had to run out to Lincoln. We stayed with my folks and I decided to ask my mom to take some informal family pictures of us. Mom took the first picture of Lydia in this blog. That was her 3 month picture. :) We tried to take some family pictures too. It took a couple tries. 

This was one of the takes. Charly was being indecent and Marcus was trying to fix her. I was laughing because Charly wouldn't cooperate. Lydia has her eyes closed. I am thinking this just might end up being our Christmas photo after all. :)

This one was the keeper.

Finally a good picture! It took a lot of shots to get this one. Even Charly is smiling! Yay! I am happy with this one. Great job, Mom! :)

Well, that is an update of our lives right now. I love my little girl and my husband so much. I couldn't ask a better family to spend eternity with. :) I am blessed to have the most wonderful husband and daughter in my life. I don't think I can ever love them as much as I do now. Even though it seems I love them more and more everyday!

Karin