Faithfulness

God is faithful. My mother and I are reading The Women's Devotional Guide to the Bible by Jean Syswerda, which goes through main passages/topics of the bible in a weekly format. During the stories of Moses and God's deliverance of the Israeli people, I commented how it truly shows God's faithfulness as did the week before that. My mom wisely replied that the whole bible is a testament to God's faithfulness. So true. It made me think about what a basic concept the bible is. Of course there is so much more. I tell this as back story to the next story I'm going to relate.

God is faithful. I have to repeat it again and again. Because even though I know it to be true, I forget. Even though I have hundreds of examples in the bible and thousands of non-fiction and personal stories out in the world today and in the past to remind me. I forget and focus on my problems and I worry. But God is truly amazing, He forgives my flippancy and reminds and blesses me.

Just a couple of days ago, I was reviewing our finances and our bills. We have been spending more than we are taking in, some things necessary, some unnecessary. The change to one income has been challenging. But anyways. So here I am whining to my husband about our bills and how we will have to dip into our savings again. (I also must put a disclaimer that I know that we are well to do financially and have so much that so many others do not, but as my husband says, I'm just a miser.) Than the next day, our taxes were completed by our tax people and we are getting back a large amount. Thank you tax deduction Raffi! woo hoo! So I stopped and thanked the Lord. Thank You for providing for our family and thank You for so reminding me that You are faithful.

Cold Update 2008

Raphael is sitting up with minimal assistance. I/Hubbie will usually give him a semi-circle buffer of parental soft flesh to fall into. When he is placed on his stomach he is kicking his legs and you can see it in his eyes that he wants to crawl, he just can't quite figure it out.

Info already on the carepage:
Raphael appears to be healing well and I hope he will completely symptom free by the end of this week. He had a fever last Thursday night, which prompted a trip to the doctor's office. He was prognosed with a cold, but hadn't infected his ears or chest. So that was good news. The doc said to bring him back in if he got worse. Thankfully over the weekend he slowly got better. He is only coughing a couple times a day now.

My mom, the grandma, came for a visit this past weekend and everyone had a great time, even with Raffi's cold. It was nice for me to get a break with the extra hands. I even got some time alone! I drove around and wandered around Best Buy. Wasn't too exciting, but it was still nice. Next time I hope to plan ahead and get my hair cut.

First Cold

Raffi has his first cold. He started coughing on Tuesday and it has continued since. So Doug and I have reread all our baby books and haven't yet called the doctor. It is not fun to see your little one sick. Even after a coughing, gagging, throwing up fit, Raffi will return to his happy self pretty quickly. He has been waking up more and for longer periods of time at night. I've been praying that this cold will be short duration and develop into anything serious. So as always, please keep him in your prayers. Thanks.

Also is a pic from our day at the park this past Sunday.

Menag (don't want to spell the rest.)

Food-Since the cake posting, I have tossed the remainder cake and eaten healthier. My focus is attempting to get my vegetables. It seems rather easy to go a whole day and not eat any and that seems bad. I even like veges but for some reason they take more effort than bread and butter!

Activities-I signed Raffi and I up for swim lessons at our local YMCA. They also have a Gymboree style class that I hope to try. I've enjoyed finding and trying out these baby related activities; it is such a different world.

Euphoria/Reality-Regarding my happy post a couple of days ago; I'm glad I wrote it. So on the normal and not so good days it will remind me of the what really is inside me.

Cake binging

I must confess I'm suffering a headache from a several day chocolate cake binge. I got a Kitchen aid mixer recently and a Martha Stewart Baking Cookbook. Two dangerous items in my possession. So I baked a chocolate cake with coffee vanilla frosting (frosting was from a mix, I forgot to get enough butter to make it from scratch). So it was my first cake from scratch, well recently anyway. It was ok, my husband was not impressed. But it was good enough that I've eaten at least 2-3 pieces of cake per day for the last several days. My body finally told me today that its had enough. Headache. Everything is too loud. Fatigue. You'd think I'm an alcoholic. No. A cakeoholic.

Put the cake down and step away from the chocolate!

I can't even begin to think about all the calories I consumed. Argh! I need to go on a stroller hike tomorrow.
-dt

Small measured successes

I feel in general that I'm getting better situated with all this staying at home with a baby thing. While I was pregnant, I had grand plans for all the organizing projects and great meals I would make once I was able to stay home. (Insert hearty laugh here.) The first thing I realized was that I was lucky to go to the bathroom during the day let alone organize pictures or saute chicken with wine sauce.

It has been over six months since Raffi came home from the hospital and Doug went back to work. Just recently, I have felt some measured success in achieving some items on my "To Do" lists and making macaroni and cheese on occasion. I've learned small 20 minute or less increments when Raffi is content to play in his gym, then I can unload the dishwasher.

I've also noticed that it is far easier to go to the mall than to clean the bathroom, but far more expensive. The stroller hikes and mama/baby yoga classes have been a positive activity to get out of the house and connect with other people. Sometimes I get tired, ok most times and I start to whine. Then I think of all my girlfriends who I think almost all have a toddler and a baby, and I am amazed. I don't know how you do it! Two or more of them. oh my.

Overall, I am happy. I love my son and surprisingly (knowing my history, if not that's for another post) I love being his mom. I wouldn't change a thing.

well...maybe I'd have a maid and a bigger house.

Hello.

To all who have followed me from Raffi's carepage. Hello. I started a blog in the fall of 2006, didn't tell anyone about it but my mom and then stopped posting. Since Raffi and his carepage, I felt the creative push to expand to my own site and write about Raffi and whatever philosophical nonsense comes into mind. I hope that this site will also feature better for more conversation by means of your comments. Lots of my friends have children and I know have great tips and advice that I and others would love to hear. I'm still tweaking things here and there so please forgive format changes.

-Darcy

Too much?

I might of done a little too much today. I tried to throw a bunch of stuff in at the same time and was a little overwhelmed. I worked on the mess that is my house, while my friend Julie entertained Raffi and myself. Later I started chocolate chip cookies. This is the first time I used my new kitchen aid mixer and it was awesome. I love it! Then I decided to saute chicken breasts using a new recipe and a wine, shallot, mushroom sauce. In between all this I nursed Raffi and he occasionally napped on my lap. While I was in my cooking frenzy, Doug played with Raffi, which turned to attempted distraction when he wanted my attention. Then I emptied the clean dishwasher and cleaned the dirty dishes. I had made quite a mess and for once didn't want to leave it to Doug. (Although he is a good dish washer.) I got to bed tonight to put Raffi down and I felt tired. Which over all is a good thing. It was productive. One thing is I felt a little rushed and the weird thing is that I haven't routinely felt this since I quit my job. That brings a smile to my face. Staying home and caring for Raphael, I have made my time line oh so flexible. I really enjoy how my lists to do are more flowing ideas or suggestions that I get too when I can. I can use this day to be thankful and enjoy this new daily mantra.

Stroller Hike

I went on a stroller hike with moms from strollerhike.com. It is a great org in the bay area for moms to get out and exercise for free. I was "hiking" with two other moms who happened to be pregnant and they still kicked my but. I'm a wee bit out of shape and really have been for awhile. It would be ironic if after I quit my job and became a mom, I become more healthy. I have been eating more fruits and veges and I hope to keep up with the stroller hikes and mom yoga. I wish I would've connected more in the earlier months with different moms groups. But also when I look at it, I was breastfeeding almost every hour to two hours, so it made venturing out more challenging.

I have felt a little more confident in getting some things done around the house, while managing Raffi at the same time. This past week, I managed to read a devotional, do some laundry, make several dinners, go to baby/mom yoga, meet former co-workers for lunch and I even wore some make-up one day. Woo-hoo! I like progress. It is encouraging.