Patrick shakes his head at me but over the past couple of years I’ve become a clean freak. I use to not care. I really really really …. I don’t think you understand when I say really….. struggled with keeping a clean house.

I’ll even show you some old pictures that seriously make me cringe…..

In our old home…

Granted, this was right after a huge trip to ikea to completely redo the room… but still….

So cluttered….

Even in our new home… the now playroom stayed extremely cluttered and unusable.

Piles upon piles….

Only a few close friends ever really saw how bad it was when we lived in our old home. Between getting married and moving in together, things never got purged, everything just kind of ended up in a spot and being organized was an extremely foreign concept.

When we moved into our home a couple of years ago, we started the purging process. I learned a few things that have helped me keep my house clean.

1. If it doesn’t have a place to go, it ends up being clutter.

If I don’t have an exact spot to put something in, it ends up just floating around because it has no where to go. I have found one of the most important things for me keeping my house clean is to make sure everything has a spot. That way it’s super easy to clean. I just pick it up, put it where it needs to go instead of searching for somewhere to put it… shove it…. hide it. You know that feeling right?

No spot, something else has to go. No more piles upon piles.

2. Less is more. 

I’m finding this one out right now. Especially with B’s toys. I was looking at his playroom and it was starting to look cluttered. I was watching a clip on the Today show this past week about a mom who got rid of all of her sons toys except for 14 of them. If she brings a new toy in, she gets rid of an old one. One thing that really stuck with me was when she said, “Everyone needs a Thomas the train but you don’t need ALL different types of them. You don’t need birthday Thomas and Christmas Thomas and XYZ Thomas.”

I just applied that to B’s puzzles. I love Puzzles. He loves puzzles but I had puzzles in his playroom that weren’t age appropriate. SO, out they went and into his closet until he’s old enough to enjoy them. I left 5 puzzles in his playroom which are all age appropriate.

Also, think about this. If you walk into your office and there is junk everywhere, it will be hard to find things. Same thing applies to his playroom. I want to eliminate the “oh my gosh there are a million things in here” syndrome so that he can really see what he has. We only have two small toy bins. Everything else is on display. It makes it so he’s not dumping everything which creates a huge mess.

3. Maintaining is a lot easier than doing a massive cleaning overhaul.

I clean up everything every single night. The playroom goes back to order, the living room goes back to order, the dishes are all put away and the kitchen is clean.

Is it exhausting at times? Yes. Is it monotonous? Yes. Is it worth all the work? Absolutely.

I get stressed out when there is stuff everywhere. I can’t sit down for the night and relax if I know there is stuff to be done. Going to bed knowing that most everything is done and ready for a new day helps keep my stress down. I don’t feel overwhelmed thinking, “Oh no. It would seriously take me all day to clean everything”.

I tell Patrick that I like to live in a 30 minutes to surprise company mode. If someone called me and said, “hey, I’m stopping by in 30 minutes”, I would want to be able to have my entire house in company ready order in 30 minutes. So that typically means putting away a few dishes, picking up a few toys, taking a few things up stairs etc.

It’s a lot easier to put in 30 minutes of cleaning every night (along with the usual pick up as we go) during the day, than to spend an entire day trying to clean everything.

4. It’s a happier environment. 

I’ve lived in clutter. I’ve been drowning in a messy house before… It’s not fun. It’s stressful. It’s embarrassing at times.

Now that we are on the opposite side of that, it’s an all around happier environment. I don’t find myself getting stressed out thinking about the insane amount of work that needs to be done. There is something about a clean and organized home that is relaxing, refreshing and overall happier.

I’m at home a lot. I work from home, I am a full time stay at home mom. I want my home to be relaxing, welcoming, clean and organized. There are enough things in my life that I can worry about or get stressed about, I don’t need the space I live in to contribute to any of that.

5. It’s never ending… and you just have to accept that. 

There won’t be a single day until my kids are grown and gone, that I won’t have to work on trying to keep my house clean. There’s a meme floating around about trying to keep with a toddler is like brushing your teeth while eating oreo’s. It’s so true! It’s crazy how many times I pick up toys…. but if I don’t do it, things start to pile up… and I start to drown and it just becomes harder to get everything put away. I will be cleaning my home everyday for the next 30 years…. and I just have to accept that.

I can’t explain what happened that made me change over the years. One huge factor was when I was nesting while pregnant with B. I threw a lot out and an intense desire to organize everything overcame me. I know that whenever we have another baby, there will be new challenges in keeping my house clean but hopefully I’ll continue to still apply these tips so I don’t start drowning (again).

Helping with our nightly clean up. ❤

Have any cleaning tips for me? I would love to hear them!

Did I catch your attention? The sad part is that it really was… Ok Ok, I’ll tell you what happened.

I found a couch and oversized chair on Craigslist that was within our budget and looked GREAT! We set up a meeting time on Saturday morning to go pick them up. First we had to move ours out of the house (thanks mom for buying them from us!) and then we had to drive another 50 minutes to go get the new to us furniture.

Oh, can I tell you that Patrick and I trying to move our 8+ foot couch out of our house was a little ridiculous. If you saw the Friends meme I posted on my facebook that morning, I can tell you it wasn’t as funny as that but miraculously we did it without damaging anything and got everything and everyone loaded up.

Upon arriving at the house to pick up the new couch and chair, everything looked great. We paid for them, loaded them up and brought them home. We got them in a lot easier than trying to get our old ones out, so I was thankful to finally have my living room not look like an incomplete disaster area.

We set them into place and horror flooded me. They looked disgusting. Like absolutely nasty. Water stains, dirt stains… it was insane. I cried. What had I done?! After a little research, we found out that you can clean microfiber couches with rubbing alcohol and some scrubbing action.

6 hours later. They looked and felt brand new. Patrick and I aren’t afraid to put a little hard work into something to make it work. In between scrubbing, I decided to spray paint a few frames to help spruce them up. I removed the glass and put it in the living room while taking the frame outside.

Bennett was napping so I didn’t think anything of it. After a 12 hour day of moving furniture and scrubbing couches, I finally went to shower so I could sit on the couch in good conscience.

I sat down, noticed that Bennett had grabbed the glass from the frame, said, “Don’t touch”, took the glass from him and sat back down. Bennett crawled away into the kitchen and that was that.

Patrick walked into the room and said, “Wow, they really look great….. oh my gosh… what the heck is on the couch?!?!” I look down and there are spots of blood everywhere. I immediately jump up thinking I cut my leg shaving and didn’t know it. Patrick is standing there in horror as it clicked in my head. BENNETT MUST HAVE CUT HIMSELF ON THE GLASS. I run to him and look at his hand, there is blood everywhere. We were trying to find where it was coming from and finally saw the gash on his thumb. Every time he straightened out his thumb, blood would literally pour out. I scoop him up, grab a towel, take him upstairs to get all the blood cleaned off of him and see how bad the wound is.

Patrick tracks the blood from the couch, to the toy bin, throughout the carpet in the living room, to the kitchen floor, to the kitchen chairs, to his high chair, to the pantry door and back to the kitchen chairs.

I’m trying not to panic as the bleeding was fast and furious. It was filling up paper towels faster than I could change them and it would literally drip when I would release the pressure. I told Patrick that we might need to go get liquid stitches if it didn’t slow down.

After about 25 minutes of sitting with B in my lap and holding his hand up while applying pressure, it slowed down enough that we were able to put a bandaid on it with some neosporin.

Have you ever tried putting a bandaid on a teething 10 month old thumb?! “Don’t eat your bandaid” was a repeat phrase for the rest of the night.

We made it through dinner and bedtime where we cleaned it really well and put A&D ointment on it and left it open for the night.

What a day. Thankfully all the blood came out of the carpet and furniture. I’m even more thankful that B seemed uninterested in what was happening. He didn’t whine or fuss or even cry when it cut him and even let me hold his hand up for 20 minutes. I did use the TV as bribery though.

Everything is healing up great and between keeping it clean and giving it plenty of air, B doesn’t even notice it.

Just another Relbot Adventure that I couldn’t help but share. Don’t worry, all the glass is safely out of reach now. Sigh.

While running on my treadmill this morning, I couldn’t help but let the words of the worship songs sink into me. As I tried to sing along, I realistically could only get out like every third word. Yay for getting back into shape, right?

“Sink or swim I’m diving in
To the passion of Your heart
Where love starts

I lift my hands if my hands fail me
I’ll bend my knees if my knees grow weak
I’ll raise my voice and sing, I’ll sing
I know that You love me”  – Will Reagan & United pursuit 

…I know that He loves me. To know that He loves me unconditionally…it’s everything. My broken, insecure, constantly struggling self. He takes me with open arms and loves me.

which then led me to think of the song

“Here I am before You, falling in love and seeking Your truth
Knowing that Your perfect grace has brought me to this place
Because of You I freely live, my life to You, oh God, I give
So I stand before You, God
I lift my voice cause You set me free

So I shout out Your name, from the rooftops I proclaim
That I am Yours, I am Yours

All the good You’ve done for me, I lift my hands for all to see
You’re the only one who brings me to my knees
To share this love across the earth, the beauty of Your holy worth
So I kneel before You, God
I lift my hands cause You set me free” – Jesus Culture

I started thinking of the verse, All the good You’ve done for me, I lift my hands for all to see. I even thought about putting that as my facebook status. But I don’t want people to think I live this perfect and problem free life. I’m just a normal mom and wife doing everyday life. I have faced very very very hard seasons in my short 24 years. Yet, here I stand, still praising God for the good in my life.  You see, you can’t appreciate the peace, the calm, the mountain top, without the valley, struggles and storms. There are seasons that come and go in our lives. Some are a lot longer than others. Some are hurricanes, when they build up, move in, consume and destroy and you’re left in a wake of destruction, trying to rebuild. Others are a quick afternoon shower that the only reason you noticed it happened was because the grass is wet. Sometimes it doesn’t rain for days, weeks or MONTHS and you forget what it’s even like for it to storm.

Here’s the thing though, without the extremely trying and sometimes crushing seasons I’ve gone through, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate when it’s sunny. Patrick and I had a very hard first year of marriage but we survived and now look where we are. A family of three where we haven’t seen a hurricane in a very long time. An afternoon windy thunderstorm, yes but by God’s grace, hurricane season is over.

Everybody goes through seasons or storms where everyday life can feel like an uphill battle… in slippery mud…. with rocks being thrown at you as you climb and fire ants eating your skin. BUT! Storms won’t last forever. Do storms cause damage? They can… but that’s not the end of the story. You rebuild. You move forward. You climb the mountain so that eventually, you stand as an overcomer at the mountain top. You look back and see how far you’ve come and you reflect on how the storm changed you.

How to make it through the storm:

1. Remember that you’re already victorious over every trial, circumstance and trying season. Jesus died on the cross so that we could have VICTORY in this life.

2. Find like minded people to cheer you on when you’re fighting your way up the mountain.

Don’t climb alone. period. Find a group or even just one person to help support you when you need it the most.

3. Stay rooted in God’s promises. 

Find out what the bible says about your circumstance. Then stand firm and grasp tightly to what the scripture says.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from people who have been on the path you are climbing.

They can help point you in the right direction on where to plant your feet to safely make it to the top.

5. Even if you feel like the storm will never end, it can’t last forever. Turn to the One who will give you shelter and rest when you feel like you can’t go on.

I still have a index card on my bathroom mirror with the verse Matthew 11:28

²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

from 3 years ago when I was working 70 hour weeks trying to do Miss Jee’s, go to school full time and work a full time nannying job. I would wake up in tears from exhaustion wondering how I was going to do it all. 3 years later, I look back and I thank God that I made it through that exhausting season.

The same can go for mamahood. I look back on the sleepless nights in the beginning when I couldn’t see straight from the pain of giving birth and the lack of sleep and yet I survived.

Going through a storm that you don’t see the end to? Hang on. It won’t last forever. 

 Praying for all the mama’s out there who are struggling. Who need rest. Who feel like they’re drowning. You’re going to make it. It’s just a season. You can do this. He’s got you. He hears you. He see’s you. You’re going to make it to that mountain top.

I get asked about our cloth diapers all the time, so I figured it was time to update the blog on how our cloth diapering journey has been going.

9 months later?

We STILL love it! We have made a few changes from when we first started, but I thought I would share on what works for us and what our cloth diapering routine looks like.

A question I get asked a lot-

How much money do you have into it? Total? For EVERYTHING cloth diaper related, we have spent around $350 dollars. That includes cloth wipes, wet bags, diapers, diaper sprayers…. and we have NICE diapers… like organic bamboo diapers haha. You can totally do it for cheaper…. or you can totally do it for more, but I feel pretty confident that I have spent that $350 extremely well. Also, I won’t have to spend anymore money for baby #2 and then I can RESELL them and make some of that investment back. BAM!

I have bought 80% of my diapers used from people who have tried it for 2 weeks and decided it’s not for them. I’m really really really good at finding good deals.

Do you need a fancy washer/dryer? Nope! Our washer and dryer was bought off of craiglist 7 years ago and it was already 3 years old. Your wash routine is more important than what you wash them in.

How often do you wash diapers? I typically wash my diapers every other day unless it’s been a crazy day of poop.

Is there a lot of time involved in prepping them? I spend probably a total of 40 minutes every other day. That is a total from washing, hanging, stuffing, putting them back away. It’s basically the same as a load of regular laundry. If I didn’t use pocket diapers at night time, I could cut that time in more than half because I wouldn’t have to restuff the diapers.

How do you wash them? 

I do a COLD rinse cycle with a tiny bit of Tide powder detergent. This makes sure that when you actually wash them, they aren’t being washed in dirty water.

Then I set my washer to a HOT and HEAVIEST cycle possible. I add half to a full cup of Tide powder depending on the size load, and then let them wash.

I then hang them on the drying rack once they are done.

Voila.

What types of diapers so I use:

1. Bumgenius Elementals for anytime we leave the house.

2. Kawaii pocket diapers for nap time.

3. Bumgenius elementals, Grovia Hybrids, Bumgenius freetimes for anytime except nap time.

4. Sloomb Happy Little Cloud with a Thirsties Duo wrap for bedtime or a Target disposable.

Where do I store dirty diapers?

I use a large Planet Wise wet bag that hangs next to the dresser/changing table. I have 3 of these (I scored them for $4 each on a Buy/Sell/Trade site). I like having multiple bags because it let’s me always have one hanging even when one is drying/being washed.

What about poop? 

Well first of all, we have never had a blowout in a cloth diaper. They are THAT good. It’s amazing. When he DOES poop, if it’s solid, it just plops off into the toilet and there is very little evidence of poop on the diaper. If it’s NOT solid, we have a diaper sprayer which is basically like a mini pressure washer which is attached to the toilet (haha) and we spray the diapers off into the toilet so that they are virtually clean before going into the washer.

We’ve been doing it for so long, it’s just another part of our day. We don’t think twice about spraying a diaper or washing a load of diapers. It’s just second nature for us. Just like people who use disposables probably have to take their trash out a lot more often, we only do it once every week or so and it’s usually only half way full. Once you get into a habit of spraying or washing diapers, it’s no big deal.

Patrick, who was originally against cloth, is probably it’s biggest fan. He can talk to you about it just as much as I can which I find hilarious.

Any down sides?

They take up more room in a diaper bag. So that’s a little annoying. It’s not like you can take just 1 diaper. You have to also take a wet bag (it’s a waterproof bag that is used to put soiled diapers into) to put the diaper into until you get home. It’s not a huge deal, but sometimes I feel like I am carrying so much stuff because i’m toting around cloth.

Sometimes, I just don’t want to restuff the diapers. It’s not hard but you have to actually sit down to do it and with a mobile 9 month old kid, sometimes it’s annoying to stop, sit and stuff.

Cloth diapers don’t always fit under the right size pants. You typically have to size up to compensate for the larger fluff butts. We use Bumgenius Elementals when he has to wear pants and they are so trim that we actually don’t have to size up if he’s wearing them. Any other diaper though, we do.

How many diapers do I have?

I have enough diapers I could go a week or maybe 9 days without washing IF I wanted to. BUT I like to wash every other day. Having as many as I do, allows me to having an entire load in the washer/drying and STILL have enough diapers to use while those are being cleaned and on the drying rack. I have gotten stupid good deals though… SO, I contribute that to how many diapers I have. 🙂

If you want to wash everyday, you’ll need like 12. Every other day? 24-28. Just think, if you change a diaper around every 2-3 hours in a 12 hour period, that’s 6-7 diaper changes a day. That doesn’t include if they all the sudden pee in a new diaper, poop more often than usual… etc. SO, to be safe, you would need 10ish (minimum). It all depends on how often you want to wash and how quickly you’ll need your diapers to be ready to wear again.

A cloth diaper in (cell phone) pictures:

That’s a bumgenius elemental. It’s made up of organic cotton which is sewn into a waterproof cover with snaps. It’s our go-to diaper.

Don’t they start to look gross? 

As long as you wash them correctly, you’re good. These have been used for 6+ months, poop and pee GALORE and they still look brand new.

I finally took my diapers out and took a “stash” shot. It’s most of my diapers. It might be overwhelming when you look at it, but it all fits on B’s bookshelves. I’m missing a few that are dirty and in a wetbag…. but you get the picture 😉

These containers go onto B’s book shelves in his room. They keep everything organized and it keeps his room from looking like diaper central.

SO- for $350 I have diapered my kid(s). I know for one box of target disposables, I spend anywhere from $30 to $40. I don’t even want to know how much I would spend over the course of 2-3 years PER child. Easily hundreds, possibly thousands.

Happy Diapering yall. Always feel free to ask me a question about cloth. I could talk for days about it. 😉

It was this week 5 years ago that I was driving to Patrick’s home in Youngsville. I knew that a proposal was coming soon even though I was completely lost as to how he would ask the question. As I made the 45 minute drive (oh that dreadful gas wasting 45 minute drive), I was deep in thought about marriage, married life, making such a big decision so early on in my life and I remember asking myself this question. I actually distinctly remember asking myself this question as I pulled into his neighborhood.

“If I marry Patrick, will he be a good father to my children”

Yes.

Even at 18 years old, I knew that Patrick would make an amazing father one day. 5 years later, I couldn’t scream it loud enough, Patrick is an amazing father.

It’s 2015, Bennett is almost 9 months old and Patrick has been rocking fatherhood better than I could have ever dreamed. You know me and blogging, I couldn’t let this day pass without telling the world how amazing my baby daddy is. 😉

Almost 9 months ago, Patrick became a daddy. He basically stood up for 30 hours holding me, holding my hand, being by my side, as I worked to bring Bennett into this world. Even though he wasn’t the one in labor, he still had one heck of a time helping get Bennett here.

After Bennett arrived, Patrick’s dad duty was in overdrive. Not only did he have a son now but I had to rely on him for everything the first week. My guy was essential with that first week. From helping me pull up my post postpartum underwear, to standing outside the shower in the hospital because I thought I was going to pass out. He did it all with a sleep deprived smile on his face.

Then, when we got home, my guy didn’t just check out and leave it all for me to do. He would watch Bennett from 7 pm to 10 pm downstairs so that I could get three uninterrupted hours of sleep. He would send me to bed, knowing that I was on the verge of tears from exhaustion and would tell me he’s got it. Don’t worry about anything. Go rest. My guy is amazing.

For the middle of the night feedings when nursing was still a huge challenge, he would wake up with me, help Bennett get latched on and then camp out on Bennett’s floor for moral support. After a few days of this, I knew that it was silly for BOTH of us to not get any sleep, so I would tell him to go back to bed. My guy is amazing.

Oh nursing. Let’s talk about what an essential roll Patrick has played in having a successful nursing relationship with B. I have wanted to quit so many times. From having Thrush for the first 7 weeks, to the time commitment, he has been there to encourage me. When B was still a tiny baby and nursing sessions would last 30 + minutes, Patrick was always there to bring me whatever I needed while I was glued to a couch or a rocking chair. My guy is amazing.

Patrick always put his family first. He is ALWAYS thinking about how his decisions will affect us. He takes on such a huge weight as he works very long days after being in school all day so that he financially can support Bennett and I. I am forever thankful that because of how hard he works, I get to stay home and raise our son. He is the hardest worker I know and what a great quality he is teaching Bennett. My guy is amazing.

Patrick is such an involved dad. He’ll play on the floor with B, he’ll push him in the stroller for walks, he’s just as much of a parent as I am. He doesn’t shy away from the roles of being an involved parent. From diaper changes, to helping prepare dinner for B, he’s right there with me. My guy is amazing.

He has adopted Bennett’s bath time (so let me know if Bennett starts to stink hehe), and every single night, he helps me get Bennett ready for bed. You know what’s the best though? The last thing Patrick does before handing the squirmy and exhausted baby to me, he prays over Bennett. Since we learned that we were pregnant last January, Patrick has prayed over Bennett every single day.

My airplane flying, coffee drinking, can fix anything husband is the most amazing dad out there. Bennett is so blessed to have Patrick as his role model and his dad. I am so blessed to have Patrick as my husband. I know your guy might be pretty decent… but seriously. Mine?!? Out of this world.

Happy fathers day to the man who taken on fatherhood like a champ. 5 years ago, I asked myself a very important question before agreeing to spend the rest of my life with you. Would you be a good father to my children. You’re not a good father. You’re amazing.

Thank you for being you Patrick. ❤   

We are in such a fun (and tiring) stage in the Relbot household. B has learned and can efficiently pull up on anything and everything. He’s standing and learning to balance by himself and he’s oh so daring. I have two very strong emotions while watching him in this stage. My first is, “I’m so stinking proud of you!!!!!” My Second, “Oh my goodness, this is terrifying”. It’s not the act of him pulling up and standing that terrifies me. It’s the part where he falls down and gets hurt that makes me grit my teeth and use my super mom powers to NOT wrap him in bubble wrap.

Bennett has no fear of getting hurt. He is very cautious around people and new surroundings, but when he’s at home and around us, he is like a stuntman. From trying  to climb off his dress, up his dresser, up his crib, under tables, on bookshelves, out of his high chair, out of the bathtub. He’ll try to climb up you, over you, under you and sometimes through you. He’s strong and determined and when he wants something, he will do everything in his power to get it. What great qualities to have, right?!

Bennett knows no fear because he has experienced very little pain. He’s just now starting to fall and get hurt. As an adult though, I have experienced terrible pain. Emotional, physical, mental. We know that there will be physical pain if we climb up something and let go. We know that we will fall to the ground and most likely get hurt. So we live in fear and avoid things. Bennett doesn’t know that yet and it fascinates me. He has to learn for himself. I have to trust God with his life so that HE can be Bennett’s refuge through any trials and tribulations that come his way. I have to trust God enough to let Bennett venture out of the safe little bubble that I have created for him so far. I have to have faith that Bennett will be ok, even though I know he will fall down while he’s exploring this beautiful messy world.

I struggle with fear. Fear of failing. Fear of rejection. Fear of the unknown. Fear of pain. Fear of Bennett getting hurt. Fear of _____________.

What does the bible say about fear though?

Isaiah 41.10

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Psalm 27:1

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation– whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life– of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 118:6

6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

2 Timothy 1:7

7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Psalm 56:3

3 When I am afraid, I will trust in You.

Why do I fear though? Because I struggle with having faith. I’m not bashing myself, it’s the truth.

Fear flourishes when my faith is shaken. When my faith is small. When I’m not focused on His promises.

Bennett’s faith is grand. It’s unshaken. It’s abundant…. because he hasn’t experienced failure yet. He knows nothing EXCEPT faith. He isn’t going… well…. what happens if I try to pull up on this and I fall. He’s thinking, I want to stand up, so let’s do this. Let’s pull up and stand. There is not thought of, what bad thing could happen if it doesn’t work out.  I want his faith. I’m working towards his faith. He lives a life that isn’t restricted, bounded and squashed by fear.

I believe that’s one of the things that the bible is referring to when it says,

Matthew 18:2-4

² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said:“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

God doesn’t call us to fear the what if’s. He doesn’t call us to fear at all.

He calls us to have a life of faith. Of daring leaps. Of trust. Of determination to be faithful in our loving. A life that glorifies Him and what He’s all about.

I want to be like Bennett. I want to have his faith. He doesn’t fear failure. It’s challenging to even imagine a life of not fearing failure. What would my life look like if I didn’t fear pain? Didn’t fear rejection? Didn’t fear _____________?

I want to be daring like Bennett. I want to boldly move towards what God is calling me to do without the, “What if this doesn’t work out”.

I want to have faith like Bennett. I want to have faith that God has him. That God is in control. That God will take care of him. That God will use me to guide him. That God is all the things He says He is.

This journey of mamahood is so rich with learning, trials and love. I am changed from who Bennett is and he doesn’t even know it.

Today, I pray that we replace our fear with Bennett like faith.

What do you need to replace in your life? Today I choose faith over fear.

Ohhhhh car seats. They are expensive. There are a million and one choices. They range from cheap to a car payment.

We just installed B’s new car seat. He was outgrowing his Chicco Keyfit 30 and with the hot weather upon us, it was time to get something more spacious. I just wanted to say what I love about what we have chosen.

Chicco Keyfit 30

We decided on getting this car seat because I needed a seat that could sit in our BOB stroller. If we would have gotten a convertible seat to begin with, I wouldn’t have been able to put B in our stroller until 5 or 6 months old. So, when I realized I needed a bucket seat, I started googling top Carseats and the Chicco Keyfit 30 was a top contender.

What I liked about it:

It was AMAZING when he was a tiny baby. I could put him in his car seat, then into a grocery cart, then back into the car all without waking a sleeping baby. We could go out to restaurants and he could sit in the car seat while we ate. I could put him into his stroller and go for walks, easy peasy.

It had the handle which we could hang toys on which kept him distracted when he was awake.

It was easy to install the base and really easy to click in and out.

What I didn’t like:

It gets hot. Now that the weather is warm, B’s back is DRENCHED in sweat almost every time I pull him out.

It was easy to put him in it and take him out as a baby, but now that he’s almost 19 lbs, it’s hard to lift him up over the side to put him in it.

Once he got easier to carrier on my hip, the removable car seat aspect became useless.

Overall, I would recommend the Chicco Keyfit 30. Ours doesn’t expire until 2019 so we will be keeping it for baby #2.

We just upgraded to the Diono Rainier.

I asked on several mommy pages what car seats they loved. A TON of people loved the Diono Radian RXT. So I decided after so many great reviews to go with that. After more research though, we found that the Rainier was the newer version of the Radian RXT and decided to go with that. It’s FAA approved which means we can fly with it which is really important to us because it will be B’s seat in a small aircraft.

It has won awards and has amazing reviews, so we decided it would be the next seat for him.

What I like about it (so far):

It has memory foam cushioning, so it’s super comfy. Like… I wish my seat was made out of the same stuff as his.

It’s room-y. It doesn’t have super high sides so that B can spread out.

It has a lot of open space so that HOPEFULLY B won’t sweat as much.

What I don’t like about it so far:

It was ridiculous to get ready to install. All the straps, all the assembling,

The instructions were a joke. We spent two hours trying to figure it all out.

That’s all that I don’t like so far. 🙂

Ok. I kind of knew but I chose to ignore it the past 4.5 months. Back in January or February we had a snug-a-puppy that would sit in the living room next to the couch. Our downstairs has an open floor plan which means it goes in a circle with no doorways. So, as I was walking around the downstairs, I walked past the snug a puppy and it decided to trip me!

snug-a-puppy

In all seriousness, the feet of the snug-a-puppy sit out wider than the actual seat. So, as I walked past, I slammed my foot into the metal rod. I immediately said, I just broke my foot. I even said it to Patrick. I just knew BUT I decided to ignore it and continued to ignore it for the past 4.5 months.

I honestly thought that it would just heal but after such a long period of time and I was still in pain, I decided it was time to go get it checked out. I felt SO stupid telling the doctor…”Well… I think I broke my foot… 4.5 months ago and I want to get an xray”. They kind of stare at you funny. My foot wasn’t swollen, it wasn’t black and blue and so they just nod their head and oblige my request all while thinking I’m crazy.

So I DID break my foot. It was healing, but it wasn’t healing fast enough or the correct way BECAUSE I ignored it for so long. The doctor said, “If you would have come in here when you first broke it, you would have been put in a boot and on crutches.” Since I have been walking on it though, running on it, wearing heels, she was perplexed on what to tell me to do. She advised me to wrap my foot for compression and referred me to an orthopedic doctor to see how we can get it to heal after such a long time.

So, I of course had to think of how can I blog about this? I then thought about how when something is broken in your life, you should probably go ahead and fix it instead of ignoring it. Rather it be miscommunication, sin, anger etc… if it’s broken, if it’s causing pain… ignoring it probably isn’t the best thing to do. If I would have addressed my foot when I first broke it, I wouldn’t still be dealing with pain 4.5 months later. How often do we ignore broken things in our lives in hopes that they get better but in actuality, xyz just continues to cause pain. If there is miscommunication or hurt feelings and we sweep it under the rug and ignore it, it typically still causes pain months later.

I’m really bad about hurt feelings and ignoring them, especially with Patrick. I struggle with having my feelings hurt from Patrick (which is normally me just being over sensitive) and then I hold onto it, sweep it under the rug and then I blow it up later when I should have just addressed it from the beginning, let it heal and moved on.

What in your life has broken? You’ve ignored it? It hasn’t healed? It’s been months and you’re still dealing with the pain from it?

Figure out what you need to do to let xyz heal. Give it time to heal. Then move on.

Happy healing yall.