Patience & Prayer

A side question in the Life on the Planet Mom book asked, "Do you think you are more or less patient since becoming a mom?" Oh, how I did NOT want to answer that...at least not honestly anyway! Unfortunately, I'm ashamed to say that I've become less patient =0( I guess the natural response is to pray that God would give me more patience as I interact with Ethan on a daily basis. But it's one of those scary prayers where "Hmm, do I really want to pray for that?" because I know what God will send my way if I pray for patience! So I find myself cautiously taking baby steps (just like Ethan) and putting more and more faith to be okay in whatever God decides to bring. And as I'm also reading in the Sacred Echo book, I'm also discovering some new thoughts on prayers:

Though prayer I discover things about myself and God I could not discover any other way. Prayer provides a mirror to my soul. Through prayer, my motives and attitudes are brought to the light. Through prayer, I can explore the source of my less-than-becoming behavior. Along the way I discover unsuspected roots of unforgiveness, agreement with things that simply aren't true, and places of woundedness that otherwise go unnoticed, and worse, unhealed.

Through prayer, I discover the shadows of my sin and recognize the luminescence of God's redemption and restoration. During prayer, my eyes shift from self-focus to God-awareness, and I find myself with a heavenly perspective that is not my own. Looking at life through God's perspective changes everything.

Along with that, I came across this verse in my reading today which caught my attention: "Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools." (Ecclesiastes 7:9) Ha, interesting! I guess that would describe me and how often times I can easily be provoked or stirred up...not in a good way! God is in the workings in me, that's for sure and I am blessed that He refuses to leave me the way I am!

TP

Not quite sure what the fascination about toilet paper is in this house, but it's deja vu all over again. First it was Kaika (in his puppy days) who would pull and unroll the whole thing into the next room and then proceed to eat it. I guess now it's Ethan's turn to follow in his steps. It does drive me a little crazy, but I figured it's one of those learning & exploring experiences so...I let him. It has become a daily routine, after Ethan got his fun, to spin up the rest of the roll and then make a "ripped but clean" pile on the counter. (Hey why waste it? Toilet paper in other countries is a luxury you know!) Next time you're at our house and wondering, that's what it is. Anyway, I supposed the easier solution is to just shut the bathroom door so he can't get in there, but I hate to always be the fun spoiler!

Just For Laughs

As we went in to pick up Ethan from the church nursery today, I noticed this particular little girl didn't have the usual ridiculous, gigantic bow on her head (which BTW Brian hates). So I jokingly asked the nursery lady what happened to it. She chuckled while pointing and said, "He yanked it out of her hair." "He" happens to be our son and apparently, he must have hated it, too. Opps =0)

Blogging "Twittering" Style

Too many things to do this afternoon but here I am, two hours later we're still working on nap #2. I guess Ethan would rather play than sleep today. *sigh*

Discovery of the Week

Yay, Ethan finally learned how to wave! Took him a while to figure out the whole hand control thing without whacking himself in the head. But I think he got it now =0) Anyway other than that, we've also been working on clapping and high five. Nothing on those yet, but I'm sure he'll eventually master them soon.

Quote Worthy

Got this in the MOPS packet and thought it was kinda cool:

Rules For Being Human

You will receive a body, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.
You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time, informal school called life.
There is no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial, error and experimentation.
The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."
Lessons are repeated until they are learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it.
When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that doesn't contain it's lessons.
If you're alive, there are still lessons to be learned.
"There" is no better than "here."
When your "there" has become "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will look better than "here."
Other people are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person until it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
What you make of your life is up to you.
You will have all the tools and resources you need.
What you do with them is up to you.
The choice is yours.

-Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott, The Original Coach Trainer

On Being a Mamma

At MOPS last week, we started a video series that correlates with a book Life on Planet Mom. The speaker talked about what a big transition it is to go from living on Planet Me (before kids) to living on Planet Mom (with kids). It truly changed everything including our relationships and identity. What she said was so right on because she had gone through exactly what I went through as a new mom...and still going through! It was just an encouraging time! Anyway, three things came up which made me realized that they're apparently something I'm subconscious still hanging on to or something that I need to work on.

Am I going to always be interrupted and having to leave things half done? So many times I just want to be able to sit and accomplish a simple task without being interrupted. But it's pretty much impossible now with Ethan being on the move. So I find myself constantly getting frustrated and feeling resentful towards him because of it. I guess I'm learning to wait and do those things either at nap time or after bed time.

Where did you get your affirmations from while on Planet Me? Other than Brian, a majority of it was from my co-workers and when they tell me how much they love what I've created. This isn't something I've thought about and now realizing how much it does affect me on a day to day basis. It's hard when you don't see, hear or know that your 10 month old appreciates all that you have done. But I need to remember that "The joy of the Lord is my strength" (Nehemiah 8:10) and draw upon His approval!

What did you enjoy doing before you had kid(s)and are you doing that now? Honestly I can't remembered what I used to do before Ethan! But now I'm trying really hard to take advantage of the different get-away time or just "me" time before I get to that emotional or blowing up point.

Lastly, she said that we need to learn how to build a bridge between Planet Me and Planet Mom and that it's not selfish to go back and forth every once in a while. It's like the saying "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody's happy." So true! Sometimes you just have to take care of yourself and your own needs first. Anyway, I think being a mom is a hardest job ever, but being a mom and also trying to maintain yourself too is a really tough balance!

Just For Laughs

Ethan likes bath time almost as much as he likes eating. Here's a video of him as he found another new and exciting thing to do while in the bath tub. By the way, this is exactly what Kaika does too when we bathe him...how funny!

Discovery of the Week

Finally, Ethan's crawling-crawling! He had figured out how to get on his hands and knees a while back but apparently decided army crawling is the quickest way to go. He usually would start off crawling and then dropped down on his belly like an alligator. He is lightning fast and can get across the room in like two seconds!!!


A pro by now at pulling himself up using the furniture

HAP-py Birthday!

Friday was Brian's birthday which also came at an opportune time for a date night. After dropping Ethan off at Julie's, we headed to dinner and a surprise evening of mini-golf. Brian has been wanting to go all summer but we've never got around to it. So I figured it was now or never as the weather is getting colder. Anyway, it turned out to be a beautiful night and we had a lot of fun! And since it was his birthday, of course I had to let him win ;0P On our way back, while still feeling young and carefree, we took a stroll along the river and enjoyed the rest of the evening under the stars.

Enjoying his birthday gifts (all at once)
Brian's parents came and help us celebrate the rest of the weekend!

Titus Treasures

This time last year, I was a part of Titus Treasures (Titus 2:3-5) at church where a group of the older ladies mentor us younger ones. We learned things like gardening, knitting & crocheting, cooking and entertaining. They were all valuable skills and I had a lot of fun connecting with those that I often see at church but never got a chance to talk to. Anyway, this year we're continuing to meet as a group and just started a bible study on the book "The Sacred Echo" by Margaret Feinberg about prayers. I thought it was an encouraging time where we could be transparent and really share where we're all at. On top of that, it was just really nice to be able to get away by myself for a few hours! I'm definitely taking advantage of these moments where I can rediscover who I am in Christ.

Growing Boy

Ethan turns 10 months today!

Are You Alive?

5 am rolled around this morning and there wasn't a peep (or tongue-rolling) coming from Ethan's room. I thought "Huh, this is strange. Maybe he decided to sleep in today." 5:30 nothing. 6:00 nothing. Oh well, I might as well try to go back to sleep. By 7:30 am and still nothing, I started to have a genuine concern that maybe he had somehow stopped breathing and I didn't know about it. Then all these crazy thoughts went through my head. Finally, I decided to go in and (since his door creaks) it woke him up. Whew, he's okay! It was just really weird since he rarely ever sleeps in this late and it wasn't like we were out and about with him last night. Anyway, I figured since he'll probably be up through the early morning we might as well run a few errands. And you know what, it was a nice change to be out and about this early since the working world is at work and the other half aren't up yet! Much more relaxing to not have tons of shoppers in the stores and definitely a plus that Ethan's in a good mood.

Just For Laughs

Fun Under One through the stay-at-home-mom's group started up again so that's what was on the agenda for the day. There weren't too many of us left since all the babies are getting older so the number of boys are dwindling (to just Ethan actually). But then again I think he does like having the girls to himself ;0) So much that he tried to kiss one today and made her cried hysterically 'cause she did NOT like it at all! I felt bad, but everyone else thought it was funny. Yup, that's our lil' E-Dog for you...already making the moves on girls!

Mini Me

The other night Brian and I were talking about Ethan and if he looked like me when I was little. I guess a lot of people have asked us that and I've always said that I don't really know. Anyway, I got too curious and decided to dig out my baby pictures to see (a few that I have here, the rest are in Thailand). As we looked through them, we just couldn't help but laugh at how much he does look like me or what Brian would say "mini Kay in a boy form" =0) I had to post this particular picture because apparently he must have gotten the crazy hair from me, too!

Just for Laughs

Story book time for Kaika and off to lala land

MOPS 2009

MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) finally started today and to be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what I would be doing. And even though it is held at our church, most of the women that attend don't go to our church so there were a lot of people to meet...who were all super friendly and welcoming. Anyway, we did a lot of intro stuff and ice breaker games in order to get to know each other better and didn't quite get into discussion groups just yet. I definitely wasn't complaining about the slower morning pace considering I'm usually napping at that time. I left there feeling so much more renewed, encouraged and just ready to be a mom again! It was a lot of fun and a much needed time for conversations with other moms.

As I thought more about it, MOPS is Christ-centered with a purpose of connecting and going deeper with relationships instead of just simply getting together like the other stay-at-home mom's group that I'm in. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy park meetups and all the creative activities they have, but it's definitely more kids' focused than moms' focused. I guess I've been finding it kinda hard to start a meaningful conversation with other moms when you constantly taking care of your own kids. What a huge difference it is to take your child out of the picture for a few hours =0) Anyway when it comes down to it, I do find it a blessing to be a member of both groups and hopefully Ethan could actually participate more in the SAHP's group as he gets older.