gratitude: exercise

Can I just say how wonderful you feel after working out. This morning I finally had the energy to do a yoga workout and I felt so great afterwards. Not only are you proud of yourself for finally working out. Especially for those of us who tell themselves they will work out everyday. You feel energized and ready for the day. You also feel accomplished. Not to mention the bitter sweet feeling of your body being sore.

gratitude: Christlike love

Today I had the opportunity to teach the young woman's lesson at church. The topic I taught was on how to develop Christlike love. I enjoyed studying this topic and learning how to better love those around me. I experienced Christlike love for the first time this year when I had my daughter. The love a mother has for her child is indescribable. The best word I can use is Christlike love. It is a love that is unconditional. I love Gracie so much and would do absolutely anything for her. Now that I have experienced this amazing love in my life I can better understand how to love those around me. I have noticed a change in how I love my husband. I am trying to serve him more often and give him unconditional love as well. Now I just need to work towards love everyone around me, and not just those in my immediate family. 

While teaching this lesson I was able to narrow Christlike love down to three words: love, forgiveness, and service. It is important to love everyone, forgive everyone, and serve everyone.

gratitude: carpet

This might seem like an odd thing to be thankful for, but I am. For the past 5 months we have been working on building my baby girl's nursery. Today we finally got the new carpet in. Can I just say how amazing it feels to walk on new carpet. You seriously feel like you are walking on a cloud or foam padding. It feels wonderful. This afternoon me and Gracie just laid on the new carpet and she was all smiles. I am sure Gracie will have many wonderful memories that will take place on that carpet!

gratitude: comedy

I work with the youth in my church. Today we had an activity planned to go watch one of our girls perform in her school play. Unfortunately at the start of the day I didn't have the best attitude about going. I had to wake up early with Gracie and then she didn't take any good naps today. I also felt very unproductive because I am getting behind in my school work. Gracie also kept crying and being fussy. Garret and I could not figure out what was wrong. Basically by the time I was trying to shove dinner in my mouth because I needed to leave and I was listening to my poor husband trying to calm a crying baby I wasn't in the mood to go to a youth activity.

Thankfully I did go to the play and it was exactly what I needed. It was called Ax of Murder. It was a wonderful murder mystery comedy. It felt so nice to get out of the house and laugh out loud. It has been a while since I have taken the time to really laugh. I don't know what it is, but something about laughter really helps to boost your mood.

I was able to continue my good mood even after coming home. While Gracie had continued to cry for a while after I left. My in-laws had come over and helped get Gracie fed and she took a little nap. So by the time I came home she too was a happy girl.

gratitude: optimism

I am so grateful to know that even through dark and difficult times I can continue to have light and optimism in my life. Whether you want them or not trials will come into your life. How you handle these situations is what matters. You can either let these hard times pull you down. Allow them to darken your life and decrease your joy. Or you can embrace the trials with an optimism, knowing that there is always light at the end of a tunnel. Trials enter our lives to help us grow. Like a diamond has to be polished, we too need to have our rough edges smoothed out to allow us to shine. It is also through difficult times that we learn to truly appreciate the joyous times in our lives. Whether you are going through emotional, physical, financial, social, intellectual, or spiritual hardships remember to always seek for light. Try to smile each day, laugh, and enjoy any small happy moment. It is these moments that get us through and allow us to reach the end of our dark and sometimes dreadful tunnels of darkness.

3 months

I am amazed that my little Gracie is already 3 months old! Here is a little update on her: Smiling? Yes! She started smiling a few weeks ago and it is my favorite thing. Nothing beats looking at your little girl and seeing her face light up. Head control? She is awesome at holding her head steady when sitting. For a while she was struggling to hold her head up when on her tummy, but we have been working at it. She can kind of hold her head up, but hasn't realized it is easier when she uses her arms.  Rolling? Yesterday she started to roll onto her side! It was fun to see her moving a bit more to play with her toys. Face Recognition? As far as I can tell she knows who Garret and I are at least. When we hold her she smiles a lot at us, and if she is upset she tends to calm down quickly if we sooth her. I am not sure if she recognizes other faces yet. Favorite toys? She LOVES to gnaw on burp cloths! As soon as it is anywhere near her mouth or hands it quickly gets shoved into her mouth. She also likes a little blanket my mom gave her, a hanging butterfly we put on her car seat, as well as her play mat. Food? Still just nursing, and I am enjoying it. I am so grateful that we have had a good experience this far with nursing. Also thankfully she is willing to take a bottle when Garret or someone else is watching her. Babysitting? So far I have managed to leave Gracie with someone other than Garret 3 times. Once with Grandma, once with Nana, and I left her today with Aunt Amanda. It is so hard to leave your little one. But what they say is true, it is much harder on the mom. Gracie is always wonderful when we leave her. Sleeping? I was blessed with a wonderful sleeper. She takes fairly short naps, but it is ok because she will sleep 8-10 hours straight at night. She is still sleeping in the cradle in our room, but as soon as her nursery is done I am going to try and have her sleep in her crib.

gratitude: social media

While it is important to use technology in moderation and to remember to enjoy more than just things in the virtual world, I am grateful for social media. I have so many family members and dear friends who I don't get to see often due to distance or hectic schedules. Being able to turn to social media to stay in touch is wonderful. I love that I can share things through text, photos, and even videos. It has been a fun way to keep family up to date on Little Gracie. I also love hearing about my family and friends. Seeing photos of newborns, reading blog posts about struggles, watching videos documenting adventures and so on. Staying in touch is such a wonderful blessing.

But like I said this is something to be used in moderation. It is also important to go outside and have your own adventures, meet new friends, enjoy lunch with old friends, and spend evenings with family. Don't live through social media. Use social media as an assistant in documenting your life.