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Here she is, she's chubbing up, eating more and sleeping better everyday.

This girl is an angel. Just when I begin to despair, she amazes me with her easiness. Everyday this week she's slept a little bit more. She went to bed around 11:30 pm last night and didn't wake ONCE until 7:45 am this morning. I love you. Every other night the last week, we go to bed by midnight and she only wakes once or twice and just falls right back asleep with her pacifier and then we all sleep until 10 am. Then after she eats breakfast, she often sleeps another 2 hours while I relax or get housework done in the peaceful, uninterrupted quiet. Can I say again, I love you? I do. Thank you for all the sleep you give me. I know I'm so blessed. And I really appreciate it.

I can't believe I'm posting this picture, but can I say-

Like Mother . . .

Like Daughter!

I fixed her hair like this and couldn't help remember the old hair days. Man, no wonder people always said I was so skinny. I WAS!!! Don't worry, I know those days are LOOOOONG behind me, never to return and I'm ok with that. Oh and by the way, that was Halloween. I did where my hair crazy like that and dressed a little wild, but I wasn't a black wearing, bright red lipstick gothic kinda girl. Had to put that out there.

I LOVE walking with Scarlet.

She loves it too.

Days just seem to pass and I realize I haven't left the house in days except to get the mail and it's SOOOOOO refreshing to get outside!!! The last few days haven't been so cold either! It's been great to see the sunshine!

It's happened. I swore I'd never be one of those parents that never puts themselves in the blog and only writes about their kids. But now I understand. C'mon! Why would I put myself in if this is how I look all the time. No make up, no shower, sweats. Not something I want to put in the memories. And as far as talking about myself, it's not much improved- "Haven't showered today, or brushed my teeth. Takin' care of the house and Scarlet. Trying to catch up on life. That's my exciting news!" All my news IS Scarlet. She's my life! Or should I say, she's OUR life!

Ah, nice shot of the drool.

All tuckered out. So sweet.

I love seeing this girl in the moby wrap. She just loves it!

I love when she's front ways like this and you can see her body hanging around. I think she's so cute!

This girl loves her baths. She loved her very first one and has every one since. I think she's gonna be like her Daddy and love the water.

Notice her hands are often in the mouth? It's so hard to get a picture of her without.

I used to be so afraid to have her "diaperless" and was always so shocked/confused how others could have their babies in the buff for so long. What if they peed everywhere? Or worse, pooped? But I'm not so afraid anymore. I don't leave her naked for long, a few minutes. But she's so cute without her clothes on. It's always so cold I almost never see her chubby arms and only see her legs when I change her diaper.

Look at those curls!

As for my birthday, I really only wanted one thing from Greg. And I got it. We hung pictures!!!! It might seem a strange gift, but when it's been on the to-do list for 8 months, it's pretty fabulous to not see those WHITE WHITE walls anymore.

The spaces aren't completely done, but they're much farther along than they were!

This one has been on the ground waiting to be hung since I was still pregnant. So much work, and I was wondering if it was ever going to be displayed. We look at it all the time. Such fond memories.

As for me, I've had some emotional breakthroughs, which is always good. Hmm . . . breakthrough #1. I've been trying to clean the house for about 4 months now. The last month I've been really good about the kitchen. My kitchen is always wiped down, dishes done. I just can't think when the kitchen is a mess and forget about making dinner when I don't even know what is clean to use. But, as I mentioned before in another post, I haven't vacuumed since I was pregnant. I HATE vacuuming. I though it was really exhausting too, but I'm realizing now, I think it's just 'cause for a year, everytime I vacuumed I was pregnant so it WAS exhausting, but it's not anymore. I forgot. So it just seemed like an impossible task, AND you know how it goes. You have a to do list and it gets pushed to the said because SOMETHING has come up AGAIN. And then you just forget. Anyway. It seems for a month I've been desperately trying/determined to get the housework done. And 2 days ago I worked my butt off, for what seemed the 6th day in a row, to only have the day end and see all my unfinished work and feeling really depressed. After dwelling on it for hours and feeling really grumpy, I realized something. My work will never be done. There is simply not enough time. If I've been trying this long and only come about half way, I'm certainly not going to get there for about 10 years. So I need to get over it. I'm not THRILLED or anything, but my emotions are calming as I'm realizing this is just a reality I need to accept or be miserable forever. Then the very next day, I wake up and suddenly it seems there's not much housework to do. And suddenly, it was done! How did that happen!? I was so depressed and felt the work was never ending and some how it all wrapped up! I mean, I haven't touched our bedroom or masterbath and the kitchen floor needs doing, but I don't care about our room- it's not that bad and nobody sees it. The kitchen floor is easy and not that important to me either. Suddenly everything that mattered was done! I couldn't believe it. What a blessing. It made me really happy.

Breakthrough #2. I've been losing weight consistently and been feeling so good about myself. Then out of nowhere I gain 1.5 pounds. What?! How did that happen? It really frustrated me! And it seems ever since then (the last few days) it's been so hard for me to keep with my weight loss program. What is going on? I was doing so well! Anyway, through all of this I run out of my chocolate chips, which has been may saving grace for chocolate. Instead of making a batch of something that I ended up eating the whole shabang in 24 hours, I measure out my chocolate chips and I'm good. It's been working really well, until I ran out. Anyway, long story short- I decide I'm going to make brownies because c'mon- I haven't had any for 2 months!!!! I lost weight thru thanksgiving AND my birthday! I only gained 3 pounds over Christmas! I've done REALLY REALLY REALLY good! So, you know what? It's ok, if I have a bad week and indulge in some brownies and maybe gain a couple pounds. I'm not letting myself "go off the deep end" and I'll eat well again. I just need to give myself a break sometimes. I don't have to be PERFECT. It's not the end. It doesn't mean I'll never lose weight again. It just means I won't lose it this week. AND THAT'S OK!!!! Anyway. I needed the break. And I feel better.

It seems that there was something else, I went through, this week. But now I don't remember. It just seems, this week, I've realized willingness is everything. It seems each time I struggle with something and resist and then I finally accept things the way they are and then the next day I get it anyway- like the clean house. I mean, I know things don't work out perfectly for life but sometimes they do. And I just know that I just needed to be willing to change and accept my frustrations before God would grant me what I wanted/needed. It's been an experience. I hope everyone is doing well!