Balance

Hello world...I'm here!  That's what I feel like my little Finn says to me every morning.  His sweet little personality is so different than Liam's was...and equally wonderful and charming.  At first I thought Finn was easier than Liam, but I am discovering that that is not quite the case.  Finn knows what he wants and he demands it.  And mainly what he wants is to eat...and eat and eat.  Really though I don't think that it's that he's more difficult, it's that I don't have the kind of time I used to have.  Now that I have two wonderful little boys I have to learn even more about balance.  How do I balance my time between the two boys, my hubby, my house and myself?  This is a real learning curve.  So far, myself and the house have fallen close to the wayside.  I refuse to let them fall completely off the edge.  I will not be one of those woman that loses herself.  If I can get the much needed sleep I think I will be closer to finding the balance.
In the meantime I plan to enjoy the new little personality in my house.  I am choosing to treasure every minute I have with these little darlings because that is the gift that my husband has given to me.
Here are a few special things about my Finn...
-He loves to eat, but he eats way too quickly.  (This causes a lot of spit up and constant eating because he doesn't fill up enough.)
-He wants to stand...already!  Much like his brother Finn is really using those legs.
-He is also a big squirmer.  I find he already changes position in his crib.
-Finn loves to have his face kissed and I love kissing him!  
-He has this sweet little smile that just lights up my day.
  Now, I need to catch up on some of that sleep while Finn is drifting on the sleepytime river.


Thank You God for my beautiful sons!  I love their unique personalities so much.  I look forward to getting to know them more and more.  Father You are so good to me!

Creating wealth...not stealing it from others

Last night I dreamed of cloth diapering.  I am so excited about learning more about this new adventure.  I started another new adventure today with some friends of mine too.  This is the adventure of writing a collaborative book.  I am so excited about this too.
Tonight Jordan and I were watching a talk show on TV.  The person on the show is someone that is pretty wealthy.  They didn't get their wealth from someone else.  They got creative and found ways to make money.  We talked about how we weren't bothered by the fact he was rich.  We don't want to take his money from him. Our thought when we see someone like him is...wow!  What can we do to create our own wealth?  What ideas can we come up with that will produce wealth in our own lives?
I don't want to be a scammer off of society.  I want to live a life filled with wisdom from on high that I can do great things with and teach my children to live full lives full of blessing that they may be a blessing to others!

Cloth Diapering 100

WOW!  The more I look into this the more I see it's a whole 'nother world.  I am really excited about going this direction.  It seems like once I get the hang of it I am going to love it.  I am a little concerned about the initial investment.  Not that it's not worth it, but what do you buy first,etc and what do you buy over time as you can afford it.  
I think once I learn it all I have come up with a way to make money, but I won't post it on here...JIC.
For now, I have two S size gDiaper and two Flip diapers with 6 inserts.  I think my next purchase will be Econobum.  Here we go!  I am going to try to blog about the cloth diapering experience at least once a week.
So far this week I have tried the gDiapers on my 1 month old with a prefold insert instead of the disposable.  Pretty good, no leaks.  I am also planning on using the Flip covers over a fitted for potty training which I would like to start in the next few weeks for my two year old.
Will be updating...
  

Burned

Yesterday I burned both my thumbs.  It is so weird having blisters on both hands.  I feel like I can hardly grab things normally because I am afraid to burst them.  And once again I recognize how amazingly we are designed.  Can you imagine how difficult life would be without thumbs?  I wonder how many things I take for granted that are so simple as thumbs.
When you look at a newborn baby you notice all the little amazing things about them...the perfect nose, yummy belly and incredible fingers and toes.  Yet, when we look at ourselves we often look so critically.  We are amazing.  The way we have been created.  The things that are so special about each and every one of us.  These are the things we should be thankful for and celebrate.
2nd degree burn are not fun, but I choose today to see the bright side of things.  Thank you Lord for giving me thumbs!  I look forward to 2-3 weeks from now when these burns have healed.

Celebrating the little things...

Two days ago we had a snow storm.  Yesterday, we went outside to find some snow to play in.  Of course, living in Colorado with the way the sun is, it can be difficult to catch the snow before it melts.  We did find some and it was lovely.  I could never live somewhere always warm.  I need the snow.  I don't need too much, but I need enough to have a least one 'getouttawork' snow day a winter and a few cold days to make soup and the like. And being in the snow with my family is definitely one of the most fun things I can do.

I am working on very little sleep at the moment.  My newest one appears to be more and more like his father every day.  Which in this case means that he likes to be awake during the middle of the night.  I am a morning person, which means I like to be awake early in the morning and sleep during the night.  

Last night I was awake from just before 3 until 6:30AM trying to figure out what my little guy wanted and why he wouldn't sleep.  Turns out he just wanted to be awake.  So, my darling husband volunteered to get up with #1 son and let me and the little guy sleep.  Of course, what he meant was he would take Liam downstairs and sleep on the couch while Liam played.  Only thing is he doesn't answer the phone when it rings, which is what made me get up around 8:30 this morning.  Okay, enough whining.  When I came down, I sent Jordan back up to get some real sleep and started hanging out with my boys.  Shortly after coming down Finn went back up and Liam and I got to spend some real quality time.  We strung beads and made French toast.  We read stories and cuddled.  Spending time with my children is such a wonderful blessing.  Of course, in the middle of night I can't say that I was really enjoying the quality time Finn and I were spending.  But thinking back on it now I can say...how blessed am I?  I am blessed to not have to worry about getting up the next morning.  I can take casual time.  I can make French toast with my son and I can do without the perfect sleep and I can nap when they nap.  I am richly blessed.

Today I celebrate spending time with my boys.  Thank you Lord; it couldn't be better!

Flying

When I was a little girl I dreamed about being able to fly.  I had many, many dreams that I was able to fly in.  I also used to lay on the floor and close my eyes and I found if I held my body just so I got this weird sensation I imagined to be flying.  Flying was something I always wished God had given us as a gift.  Little did I realize...
Now that I'm "all grown up"  I realize that God did give us the gift of flying...time!  People say time flies and it means nothing.  My last few years have gone by so quickly I can hardly believe.
Tonight I'm reflecting on the last two years because tomorrow is my first born's second birthday.  My little boy is so precious and so sweet.  He has changed my life forever by making it better than I could ever have imagined.  I am so in love.  And I'm a better person.  I am more patient, more relaxed and more caring than I ever was before.  It's funny how you want your "little reflections" to reflect something good and so you do things to improve yourself.    I am a work in progress.  May God use me to be a a good reflection of who He is that my babies may see Him clearly and become reflections of Him themselves.  Thank you God for Liam.  He is such a treasure to me!

So much to say...

WOW...it's been weeks since I've blogged anything.  I have certainly had many things I've wanted to write about, but I've found that my hands have been pretty much full...that and last week I didn't really have a house to call my own.
This week things are getting back to normal...a new normal for us.  This is Jordan's last full week of vacation before he has to return back to work next Thursday.  And it's our last week, just us.  His parents arrive Saturday evening and we are so excited for them to meet our new addition.
Our new addition, Finnley John Hanneman "Finn" was born Monday February 22, 2010 at 6:11AM.  I was hoping this birth would be a bit easier than my first, but I didn't expect it to be as easy as it was.  Really, the labor was not easy, but with one push my new little boy jumped out and didn't tear or anything.  In fact, my first words were "Boy, that was easy."  With Liam's birth I was so worn out afterwards that I barely remember many of the things that happened afterwards.  This time I was pretty clear headed and able to enjoy the family meeting Finn.
In our house they have removed the mold and repaired all the damage.  We have a new couch and new lights, fresh paint and for a couple of poor kids pinching pennies we sure feel rich.  We are rich!  We've been blessed with an awesome marriage, two wonderful, beautiful boys and a loving supportive family.  Things are just things and everything that is important we have.  Granted, it was hard waiting for them to finish the work on our living room.  It was not too fun spending the days upstairs and the evenings at my parents.  Worth the wait though.  I would definitely recommend All Set Restoration to anybody that needs to have work done.  They really took care of us.
I did have one gall stone attack since Finn's birth and it was a rough one.  That day I started thinking about my husband's hands.  It struck me during labor too, but I wasn't quite clear enough at that point to form it into a logical thought.  Anyway, as he rubbed his hands over my face to calm and relax me I noticed how rough they are and yet so healing.  I stated to think that that is something like what Jesus' hands must have felt like.  Rough, but gentle.  Cool and soothing.  They were the thing I longed for as I was in pain.  Jesus, a carpenter, must have had rough hands.  I mean, I can't imagine him lotion-ing up every night.  Those rough hands are the hands that bring us healing.  We can trust our lives to be gently taken care of.  He will soothe our pain and it is in His touch we will find our healing.
Well, I've gotten in as much as I can for today.  I have more to add, but my life is already busier than it ever was before and life is calling.  Now, for another day...