Day 130 & 131

Yesterday Maddie was sick...fever of 102 and didn't want to move off the couch. At first I saw this as the beginning to a long day with no where to go. But, I changed that attitude and climbed the stairs to the girls room and opened that closet door.

I've been putting off the organizing of their closet for probably about a year. When Grace was about to be 1, I tried working on it, but felt that I couldn't part with anything. It seemed, at the time, that every item of clothing Maddie had ever worn, had some major meaningful memory attached to it! Well, yesterday before I began, I prayed for God's guidance. I wanted Him to show me what I actually needed and to be able to part with that which I don't. It worked! I was able to get rid of so much that I am sure someone else really needs. Between my clothes (that I don't wear/don't fit) and a large portion of the baby clothes (but not all of them) I filled about 5 large garbage bags to donate. I felt successful. I felt like it was exactly what I needed to be doing with my time and my stuff.

During the massive cleaning out/reorganization I came across my wedding dress. It was so wonderful to see it. I've known that it's in the back of that closet, but I never open the garment bag it's in to actually view it. I did yesterday and I still love it!

I love that I wore a dress that was tea length. I love that Maddie was growing in me when I wore it. I love that Gabe took me as his wife in it. It has so many special memories.

As I looked at it, I realized that the garment bag had pockets and something heavy was weighing them down. I opened the pocket to find a bag which had my wedding shoes in it. I looked at them and then suddenly realized that they had only one word imprinted in the inside sole on each shoe: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that on my wedding day, the name of my second child was right below my feet!!! In case you don't remember, we never knew Grace's name would be Grace until I was 7 months pregnant. Her name was born out of time where Gabe and I were really experiencing God's grace in our lives. It amazes me that her name was written on my shoe, but at the same time, I don't believe in coincidences. God had a plan for us then, and He sure does now.

"...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Psalm 139:16

Day 128 & 129

Yesterday was very busy! I cleaned out my closet, gathered items to donate (A LOT!), took apart Grace's baby crib, and then Gabe & I put together a new bed for Maddie! I was exhausted and couldn't have been bothered to blog. So, here's today...fresh and new...and Maddie woke up with a fever ;( It's not very surprising considering we've been battling Grace's fever with every 4 hour generic tylenol doses...but I thought that was all teething. Guess not! So, it's another day around the house for us. Maybe I'll work on the girls' closet today...


*Clockwise starting top left corner: Zora, Relaxing, 7am, M & M's, Big Kisses, Cheese on the Potty, Redskins, & Goose :-)

Day 127

*This picture is a guessing game:
Saturday night; 7:05pm; Washington DC...What are these ticket's for?.....

Day 126

*Top to Bottom: Commute, Shark...., Week.... (Discovery Channel, Silver Spring Maryland)

Day 123

*Big Girl Bob :-)

When I came home yesterday with my new 'do, the first thing Maddie did was tell me how beautiful she thought I was. The next thing? "Mommy, if you have short hair...I need short hair." That's what we did today and she looks so cute. Happy Friday!

Day 122

*Top to Bottom: Before & After

Day 121

Today when I came home from running errands, I put my house key into our front door and walked inside. Later, after I'd fed the girls lunch and was cleaning up, I found half of my house key on the floor near the door and the other half tethered to my key chain where it belonged. I was so surprised because I've never seen a key just break in half from regular use!

So, this afternoon I was getting out of the house to have my neck/shoulders/everything adjusted at the Chiropractor and decided in my spare time to get a new key made. When I made it to the hardware store, I was surprised to see all the choices there are for keys. As I looked through I couldn't decide what key would be best. Then, the perfect one stood out from the rest. I knew it would make Maddie's day and tickle Gracie pink to see this new key. So, here's what I went with and the reaction was totally worth it :-)*This is the "I'm-the-Mom-of-2-girls" house key!

Day 119 & 120

"I Will Survive" from Sarah Mejias on Vimeo.

*Top to Bottom: Artiste, Bug Bite, & Rockin' Out

Pic's for Day 117

*Family Potluck @ Connie & Steven's House :-)

Day 117

I plan to take some pictures this afternoon and hopefully upload them a bit later. We are headed to a family potluck that we do once a month or so with some families from our church. It's one of those things where the kids ALWAYS outnumber the adults; so it's not relaxing but it's usually fun and we get to eat lots of good food! My contribution today is some homemade guacamole and then some made-from-a-box brownies. I'm sure both will go over well :)

Tomorrow we get to have a visitor! Aunt Jen is coming to DC for work/school and we are having her over for brunch tomorrow morning :) We love visitors and the girls are especially excited as they both formed a bond with Aunt Jen at the cabin last month.

I also want to mention how HOT it is here. It's oppressive and makes you wonder why you live here....

Happy Saturday!

Day 115

Today has been a MUCH better day than yesterday.

Yesterday was so crappy there's not even words for how many pains, problems, stresses, aggravations, etc. that I encountered. It was one of those days that by 8pm you are so thankful that it's over.

I decided today had to be different and so it has been. I woke up and went to the dr. for what ails me (my neck/shoulders of course) and then some of our greatest friends came over for a playdate. Playdates are awesome because my kids take the best naps afterwards. All that sharing, really wears them out :)

Then, I tried to work on a new knitting project for my sister Gianna, but I made a couple mistakes and had to rip it all out. My mom always says that she learned the most in knitting by ripping out her work and starting over. However, that is one of the most frustrating parts of the knitting hobby in my opinion. But, I'm going to give it another go. Hopefully GiGi will have her scarf by the time it get's cold in California ;)

The other awesome thing about today is that it's Date Night. I hope I'm not the only mother out there who actually counts the hours between when naps end and the sitter arrives... Gabe and I are going to run some errands, hit our meetings, and then go out to dinner. Nothing fancy, just time to be adults. Happy Thursday!

* To to Bottom: Cuddles, Sissy, Lashes, & Love

Day 114

Scooter! from Sarah Mejias on Vimeo.

*Maddie rides a scooter :)

Day 113

*Flower Girls from 7-10-10

Day 110

I need to blog this morning even though there are a hundred things that need getting done before I walk out the door. But, something's been on my mind: comparing. I find myself comparing A LOT.

I compare my skills as a mother, my home, my abilities as a cook, my looks, my family size, ....you name it, I compare it. As I think more about this, I know I'm not alone. It's something we all do at one time or another. But WHY? I don't know about you, but when comparing with others, I almost always end up feeling badly about myself :( So it begs the question that if it's not good for me, why would I continue to do it? Is it a societal thing...women pitted against women? Or is it something deeper? I've been thinking that maybe it's one of those life lessons and once we 'get it' God will move on to teaching us something else. Anyone out there have any good advice for how to get out of the comparison game?

The short anecdote that I can share about why this came to mind has been happening on the spurs of my actually feeling my age; 32. I was around someone recently who is much younger, very pretty, free (as in not a mom that stays home with kids), single, etc. And I couldn't stop my brain from the hamster wheel of comparison. I compared her to me at her age and then I moved on to comparing her to me now. At the end of that solitary mind game, I felt like crap. I felt like a stick-in-the-mud kind of person that only has her kids to talk about it. I felt un-fun. I felt old.

I would love to end this post saying that by now I've gotten over it, but unfortunately I haven't. The truth is that when I'm around my friends (us Mom's) I feel pretty great. I feel like I'm doing a good job with my girls and that I work hard to be a good wife. But, in the face of someone SO different from me, my insecurities came out a'blazin' and it left me feeling trampled...by my own negative thoughts.

So, this morning I'm off to do my "mom things": feed and dress my children and take them to play with others. I'm feeling good about the day and looking forward to that moment this evening when they walk down the aisle as flower girls in their Aunt's wedding. That will be a shining, proud, Mommy moment and probably just the cure for what ails me!

Day 109

SO BUSY! We are about to leave for a rehearsal dinner for Gabe's sister and then the wedding is tomorrow and Mad's and Grace are the flower girls ;-) Let's just say there will be A LOT of pic's after this weekend!

Day 107

*Top to Bottom: "Practicing" to be Flower Girls on Saturday, Daddy & Maddie, Syrup, Moi, Hat #1

**I've never made a hat before and today my first one came off the needles.... pretty good for a 1st attempt/no one to show me how!!

Day 105

Here's a short video from yesterday :)

Untitled from Sarah Mejias on Vimeo.

Day 104/ Happy 4th of July!

Today is both the 4th of July as well as my Mom's birthday. The girls sang her Happy Birthday via webcam earlier and now Maddie and I just finished our "4th of July Cake." We make one every year and the reason is mostly because we happen to love cake!
It was a busy weekend (good busy) and we'll top it off tonight with fireworks a la Gabe :)
Hope your 4th is safe, memorable, and most of all FUN :)

*Happiness
**Check out my cake decorating skills! ;)

Day 102 (even though today is 103 :)

* "Look Mommy....Tucker's a nurse!"