A Good Day

I'll be honest, a good day seems hard to come by right now with all the transitions, grieving, letting go, unfamiliar, out of routine, and loneliness that accompanies a cross-country move.  Don't get me wrong, we have a safe, quiet place to live, I love being with Asa, and my thoughtful husband comes home every night and listens and loves me--whether I have a joyful story to tell about the day or my pending tears have reached critical mass and overflow the minute he walks through the door.  It's not *that* bad in the grand scheme of things, but moving.is.hard.

Today was a good day though, so I thought I should document that.  My mom modeled and taught me from an early age about recording blessings and praises to go back to later on down the road.  Sometimes you go back to them just to praise God again for how good He is.  Sometimes you go back to them when it's hard again and you need to remind yourself how good He is.

Asa had a great night last night.  One of the 3-4 teeth he is currently working on finally made it through yesterday and seems to have brought some relief with it.  He went from 7:30-2 (I fed him then), woke at 5:10 but I decided to give him 10 minutes and see if he'd go back to sleep.  He didn't even make it to 5:15 before he was back out!  AMAZING!  He didn't wake again until just before 8:30.... so to summarize, he did 2 long stretches, was only fed once during the night, AND he slept in.  ANNNND no illness seems to be causing the extra sleep. That is a GREAT way to start a day around here.

Asa had some play time followed by a few Cheerios until about 10:30.  He seemed tired then but decided to talk for a looong time after I put him down.  He ended up waking at 12:45.  Crazy.  He nursed and then played a little before I tried to feed him some lunch.  He wasn't too keen on pears today, and he was even a little iffy about his beloved peachies, but I wondered if his gums might still be feeling sensitive.  No harm done, we set out on our errands knowing I could always give him a snack if he was hungry later.

We went to a children's consignment store that is only about 2 miles away!  My son is not lacking in the wardrobe department, but a store where a good deal can be found is a nice place to know and get out of the house sometimes.  They had a $1 rack in front of the store where I found him a cute pair of pants.  Inside I found prices to be comparable or even slightly better than the store I frequented in Gainesville.  I found him 2 brand new looking (all 3 items I bought seem unworn) outfits for $5 each.  One is a cute button down with khaki pants and the other is an adorable summery one piece in a style Matt and I both love on Asa.  While I was in the store I heard a radio ad for Once Upon a Child (another kids' consignment store).  I decided to punch it into the Garmin and see how far it was--less than 3 miles away!  We headed to OUaC to discover it has recently moved.  It's not far from the house, but it was close enough to nap time that I didn't want to head a completely different direction to get there.  The same shopping center where it used to be also houses a Tuesday Morning and then I passed a craft store I have never heard of before.  I decided we should go in an check it out.  It's an interesting mix of Hobby Lobby/Michael's with a little bit of the random/warehouseness of Caroline Pottery thrown in. :)  But it had great prices and craft supplies for basically ever media I could think of.  Cool!  Michael's is on the other side of the Big City, so I had only located JoAnn's nearby.  Now I have an alternative when needed! :)

After I got home, Asa got to play for about 15 minutes before I put him down for a nap.  He talked for awhile again, but eventually he fell asleep.  I had to go wake him up (!!) at 5:30!  In the meantime, I got some butternut squash peeled, sliced, and started in the steamer, dinner going on the stove, and started chopping carrots for the steamer as well.  Woo hoo!

Matt got home and we all sat at the dinner table together (Asa was about done when we started, but he sat happily and played).   Then I got to hear Matt and Asa having the BEST time playing while I rinsed the dishes and got the next round of veggies into the steamer.

Asa's birthday is Wednesday, so I'm hoping to do some prep tomorrow (make his smash cake, make sure I have everything else I want for birthday meals and decorations, wrap his gifts!!).  I can't believe he's having his first birthday party.  This year has passed ENTIRELY too quickly.  He's the perfect mix of baby and boyish for a first birthday. :)

Now we get to relax and enjoy an evening together.  The week is looking up.  And we have lots of time with family coming soon, too!  Matt's parents are coming, and they haven't seen Asa since Christmas.  I am so excited for them to see how he's grown--literally, the whole tongue tie thing went down after Christmas, so he is completely different now.  Not to mention all his latest accomplishments (eating table food... he was still exclusively nursing at Christmas, crawling, pulling up, cruising, playing peek-a-boo, reading books, babbling all day long, signing, dancing, humming, motoring about the house, getting into everything in general...)!  Then in a little bit we get to take Asa to meet his other great-grandmother, great aunt, and 2nd cousin who will be visiting my family.

Thank you, Lord, for these blessings and bright spots during a difficult time of adjustment!