There Once Was a Diva Named Brittany: Thankful Thursday

As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, I have been taking a step back daily to try to focus on what I'm thankful for. Its been amazing to really focus on one thing throughout the day that makes me grateful, so when times get tough, when Phillie is screaming because Faith is trying to pick her nose while I'm not looking (totally happened today BTW), I can smile and think , "You know what, this is just a drop in the bucket. There are so many good things in my life!"

The Lord has blessed us abundantly. We've been able to sell a bunch of things that were just taking up space in our house and raise some money to buy Christmas presents. Jeff's job blesses us, and we are always able to pay all of our bills and get the things that we need, but sometimes ( a lot of the time) the things that we WANT have to go by the wayside until we can save. We were a little late with Christmas saving this year and, while we'd managed to eek out a budget, the extra money that we've been able to make from selling things we didn't need or use anymore will and has made Christmas shopping a little easier. In fact, we may (and should) be able to put the money we eeked out of the budget for Christmas, into savings instead of spending it...and considering that our savings was wiped out by needing to buy and then fix our car, its nice to know that we will have a little in there...no matter how little it is.

I've also been blessed to find gently used toys (toys that I would have purchased at the store for full price anyway) for VERY cheap through a yard sale Facebook group that I'm a member of. Over a thousand people from my area are members of this group and we buy and sell to one another. (This is how we were able to sell the items we didn't need anymore). I sat down and worked it out and I have saved over $110 buying these toys used. Two of the items don't look used at all, the one that does look used has so little wear that you really have to be looking to find it. It has been really, really hard not to pull them down and let Faith play with them...I am super excited for her and Phillie (even though Phillie won't be able to appreciate what we've purchased for a few months).

We've also been blessed by people in our community. Faith moved into the 12-18 month size category and I was severely lacking much of anything for that size for her...and I found that I didn't have as much 0-3 month stuff for Phillie as I thought. I'd gone to a few yard sales, but I hadn't really been able to find much on my own, and was beginning to wonder if I needed to start looking at things new, but knew we didn't really have the money to do that. Well, Heavenly Father hears our concerns, even if the prayer is only a passing thought in our hearts. I have a wonderful friend here in Henderson that has bins of baby girl clothes and receives new stuff from others all the time. She randomly asked if I wanted to go through a bin of clothes that she had because she knew she wouldn't use them. There was no way she could have known how grateful I was to her for her willingness to think of me and share. I am so grateful that she decided to act on a kind thought.

We also needed a new baby gate to put in our kitchen entry way. Faith eats EVERYTHING she finds on the floor, so we have had to ban her from the kitchen. It seems like no matter how many times I sweep or mop in the day, she always manages to find something (the same thing goes for vacuuming!). I put out a search query on the yard sale group and had a few responders. The first responder offered us a swinging baby gate for $10 if it would work. We went to pick it up and I sent Jeff in so he could decide if it would work. Jeff came back out and the woman who had previously owned the gate came to meet me. She was so sweet and even gave us a referral to her sister who was a realtor for the area of Henderson that we want to live in (its removed from EVERYTHING and is like living in a small town...). Once we were on the freeway, Jeff divulged that she had given us the gate for FREE! I was floored. I was also glad that my husband knows me well enough that he didn't tell me before we were well on our way to our next appointment...I would have told him to turn around and would have insisted that she take SOMETHING (this baby gate is not a cheap one...). God is good and blesses you in little ways all the time, but I definitely feel like we've had some HUGE blessings as of late.

I've also been fully enjoying being a mom of two, more than I thought possible. While she is a handful, Faith is at such a fun age. She babbles all the time. I have no clue what she is saying, but she always is talking to me. She is so smiley and loving. We can tell that she really wishes that her little sister was big enough to play with her. She tries to play with her all the time, but unfortunately doesn't really know her strength and doesn't really understand sissy's limitations. Phillie, for the most part, will look at her briefly and then ignore her (unless she is trying to pick her nose or play with her hair, then we get screams of malcontent...from BOTH babies...LOL) Faith has learned, however, if sissy is laying getting some tummy time on her mat, that she can lay with her or sit with her and chat. It is so funny and oddly fulfilling to watch her babble at her little sister and try to share toys with her... I am so grateful for Faith and her loving and tender nature. She is very caring about her sister and if Phillie is crying, she always crawls or coasts over to where she is to make sure she is okay. Here are a few pics of my girls "playing" with the baby gym together.

Faith gets super irritated when meal time comes around because she wants to eat what we're eating. Fortunately, I've been able to find a few things at every meal that I'm brave enough to give her a bite or two of. I've also been trying her on more "meal" type foods lately like Chef Boyardee raviolis. She LOVES that she gets to eat big girl food!

Here are some fun pictures of her first attempt at eating Chef Boyardee. She LOVED it...the problem was that she forgot that she needed to swallow and would want to fill her mouth too much. We had a few scary choking moments, but we figured out that every couple of bites we needed to hand her, her sippy to take a drink.

I am also one lucky mamma when it comes to Phillie too! She is 2 months old now and is starting to get her own little personality. There is nothing more satisfying than getting her to smile at me or watching her smile at daddy. Poor Phillie has really bad reflux. We found it at her 2 month appointment and the doctor gave her a scrip for Zantac. I am very fortunate because Phillie isn't majorly fussy about it. (I've known lots of babies with reflux, and they are usually colicky on top of it...that is not Phillie) My heart breaks every time she gags or has troubles breathing when we lay her down because of the acid in her throat. I'm hoping that, with time, the Zantac will cause some real improvement, because, if it doesn't, it could mean that she has a pinched larynx and would mean a referral to an ENT. I continue to pray for her and for some relief for her. She is so calm for the most part when it comes to bearing her burdens. She is a special girl and I am so blessed to be her mommy.