A Touch Of Tranquility

My "Almost Obsession" with Reading

2015-08-30T23:32:00.000-04:00

Usually when someone talks about an obsession, they are referring to a negative thing. There are many obsessions that can cause harm or at the very least destructiveness to occur in someone's life. They say that obsessive personalities are more susceptible to be passed on from one generation to the next in your family.

Knowing this, and that we have a family history of this type of behavior, I have always been sensitive to my behaviors when I start to notice patterns. It's rather interesting actually. It isn't just that I want to watch a certain TV show, but I HAVE to watch it and this other one, and the other one and I CAN'T miss it or my attitude, etc is actually changed. It isn't just that I read for a little bit every day, but I read so much that I don't go to sleep for several days in a row.

Since this is something that I have struggled with in the past, I try hard to watch for when I start to trip up. I actually have to make myself quit whatever the activity is that I have started to become obsessive with altogether for a while, before I can begin to reintroduce it. If I don't, it actually begins to impact my life.

That being said, I don't believe that the best option is to completely cutout these activities from my life. Although, I do honestly have several friends who have left the TV behind altogether. I sometimes do consider this, but then someone is sick and man it's nice to be able to watch a couple movies with the kids.

Reading specifically is one that I have trouble with on and off. I would call it an almost obsession pretty consistently! It's hard for me to understand those who don't just absolutely love reading, simply because I adore reading so much. Reading takes me to a different place. I have found most often that when I am extra stressed or overwhelmed by something, I tend to turn to reading.

Have you ever picked up a book, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, and just become completely lost in the story. It's like being transported to that time, to that place and that story. It moves you from one world to another. You become a different character as you live through their eyes the story that is occurring. It takes your mind actively off of anything else that might be going on.

Most recently, my almost obsession with reading has been hanging out in the paranormal young adult books. I am so excited about some of them and I want to tell someone. So, I decided that I might take a stab at writing some book reviews on here, since I read so many!! Let's see where this goes! :)

Birthday Parties, Trampolines and Broken Things

2015-08-25T22:11:00.000-04:00

Now that the kids are a little older, we have started receiving invitations to birthday parties pretty regularly. We typically accept if we do not already have plans, they are always fun for the kids and they get to see their friends outside of regular settings. Seems good to us, right? :)

Recently, we were invited to a birthday party at a trampoline park. The kids were super excited. Noah, being a 6 year old boy especially. But even Jordyn, the girl who sits in the 25th percentile and is only 4.

We got there just a little early and went in to start jumping after we had talked with the birthday girl a bit. Matt went in with Jordyn and I watched Noah to make sure they stayed safe. We noticed that there was no real separation of ages, so older kids were jumping with younger and this made us a little nervous. After a little while of watching Noah, I suddenly heard Jordyn screaming, and I turned around and found her in Matt's arms just sobbing.

Of course, Momma bear instincts kicked in and I wanted to hold her immediately. We sat down on the ground against a wall and I just spoke words of comfort to her. After a little while, she just wanted to go out of all the noise, so we went out to the room where the actual 'party' was going to be after jumping.

She continued to have a hard time for about 30 minutes and finally just said, "Momma, I just want to go home." Now, let me say, Jordyn is not the type to miss out on any sort of social interaction of ANY KIND. So, for her to say this, made me worried.

As soon as we got in the car, she was out, and when I say out, I mean snoring! LOL. It was absolutely adorable. We got home and she had stopped crying, but she stayed snuggly. We gave her ibuprofen and iced the leg. But, she refused to stand/walk on it that day or the following. It was not swollen or bruised, so we assumed it was a pulled muscle or ligament.

On Monday, we went to school. All of my mom friends had been saying to wait for Tuesday to go to the doctor. One of the mom's at school suggested that if she didn't want to walk on it at all, we might want to go ahead and take her. After school, I just felt like we should go to the doctor.

When we got there, of course we ended up with a male doctor. Jordyn is SUCH a flirt! She was hamming it up big time, batting her eyelashes, smiling, giggling. As he checked her leg, he asked a bunch of questions, and she kept up with the flirting. He finally asked her to stand, and she tried for him, really tried, but wouldn't. She said that it hurt much too badly.

He ordered an X-ray and she went down to have it. Shortly after, he came walking in and said, "I am certainly surprised to be saying this, but, she has a fractured femur." Matt and I looked at each other and were like… whaaaaaaa

(Universal's Minions)

How is it possible that has no swelling, no bruising, and is in a good mood and has a fracture!?! He was confused as well. Needless to say, we ended up getting a cast… a full leg cast. Of course it was PINK. When I say pink, I mean HOT PINK. This girl, LOVES her pink.

I can't believe how strong and brave my little 4 year old girl is. She was so calm and peaceful, and yet had a fracture in her leg. The only thing she wouldn't do was walk on it. She was still in a good mood and smiled and participated at school, and the whole time, she had a fractured bone.

I think there is something here that I can learn from this little girl about living a life of joy and tranquility. Even though we all have pains that we suffer daily, there is something bigger than us that can give us joy and help us find our Touch of Tranquility.

Cupcake Experiments 1

2012-05-11T19:04:00.000-04:00

Recently, I have found myself REALLY enjoying baking! If anyone is following me on Pinterest, you will see that I have mostly food and it is probably split halfway between desserts and other types of food. Ok, yes, you caught me… I have a MAJOR sweet tooth!

So, I have basically been finding excuses to bake and NOT keep it all at the house! Several weeks ago one of my co-workers had a birthday and I decided that I would bring something in to celebrate. This is when I had to decide what to make. I had previously experimented making a couple of cakes for Noah's birthdays. I think I did pretty well! :-)

(Noah's first birthday cake, made with love by Mommy.)

(Noah's second birthday cake, made with love by Mommy.)

These were very complicated and time consuming. I wanted to do something smaller and perhaps easier. I chose cupcakes. They are so much easier to serve to a bunch of people. So, I went to the store and got some yellow cake mix, some marshmallow crème and some chocolate buttercream frosting.

After they cupcakes had cooled, I cut out a whole from the center and filled them with the marshmallow. Then, I used a decorating bag and tip to frost them. This was the end result!

I think they turned out really well, what do you think? The people at work loved them and thought they looked great too. :-)

So, I am trying to take some polls, what is you favorite cupcake flavor/type ? And what is your LEAST favorite thing about cupcakes?

Slowly… Getting Started

2012-05-10T21:55:00.003-04:00

As promised, this is my first update about my training. I have to admit, it has not gone as well as I had hoped. The first week, I actually exercised for at least 30 minutes 3 days. It started out well!

Week two got a little busier and it got a little harder to stay motivated. I still exercised, but only twice.

And then... week three… yeah, I completely skipped this week altogether. This past Sunday (the end of week three) my pastor had a sermon in which he spoke about how you have to plan out your decisions ahead of time. In the heat of the moment, (after dinner when you are finished putting the kids to bed and sitting on the couch for a few minutes sound WONDERFUL), you will not often make the right decision. You have decide what you are going to do ahead of time. It is so odd how God uses different things at different times to whisper directly to your soul!

That Sunday at the end of the day, Matt and I talked about what our exercise schedule was going to be. We decided instead of him trying to workout in the morning before the kids wake up and me at night after they go to bed (so one of us was always available just in case) that we were going to work out together right after the kids went down for the night.

So far, it has worked REALLY well. We have worked out three days this week and are actually motivated to keep going! We decided to do a circuit training program called Insanity. It has definitely been difficult, but we have both remained motivated. I think there are two big reasons for this. First, we are working out together, motivating each other. Second, we decided what was going to happen ahead of time.

The hardest thing for me has been to overcome my depression over my body image as I have begun to workout. Doing exercise gets things that you don't want to move, moving. My biggest issue what I lovingly call my second tongue. Many of you mother's out there know exactly what I am talking about. Yes, I am obviously being over dramatic (a lovely characteristic of mine), but you get the gist.

This has been a hindrance AND a motivation. A motivation because I want to GET RID OF IT!!! A hindrance because my belly LITERALLY gets in my way as I try to exercise. I cannot even do some of the yoga/stretching portions correctly.

I WILL continue to exercise, and not JUST to meet my goal of running a marathon. I need to get healthy for my kids and husband. I want to be able to continue to do things with them and grow as old as I can.

I decided to use this blog as a way to help keep me accountable, therefore, I am going to post my current weight and measurements and then update them as I continue to exercise.

I am excited about this adventure, share your adventures: frustrations and stories of encouragement with me! We can help keep each other motivated!

Day 3 of Insanity Workout

Weight: 206.2 lbs

Body Fat: 42%

Natural Waist: 39 inches

Waist at Belly Button: 44.5 inches

Hips: 46 inches

Feel free to share your stats and updates with me too!

Significance

2012-04-20T22:07:00.004-04:00

Merriam Webster's Dictionary literally defines significance as "the quality of being important". Society puts so much weight on this. What am I here for? What does my life mean? Have I made a difference?

This past week the pastor at our church was speaking on the topic of 'Our Greatest Fears'. One of the fears that he discussed was significance. He said he was speaking to those over 40 in the room, but I have to say, the message hit home with me too.

Now that I have children, I have thought about this more and more. Am I doing things correctly? Will they remember this? Am I leaving a legacy behind that my children will be proud of? Or… am I sitting on my butt watching TV 10 hours a day.

I would have to say that I am closer to the last of those options. Yes, I could make many excuses. I work full-time, have a house to take care of, have two young children, run a part-time business on the side… but excuses don't mean anything in the long run.

I want to make an impact on my children. I want them to see me leading by example. I want them to be proud of me. I want to make a difference in their lives!

I know, I know, I am their mother… I am sure that most of you are thinking, 'You have already made a difference'. I mean that I want to make a difference that will influence them for the good and forever.

No person or endeavor will be able to give me significance. This world offers success. That is something that can be achieved with hard work through society's eyes. I cannot find or achieve significance on my own. If I want what I do to influence my children to be more like Christ, than I have to find it through Christ alone.

Psalm 37:4-6 says, "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. (NIV)

Pastor Scott was discussing how the word 'delight' means to be soft and pliable and the word 'commit' means to roll up like a ball. So, in my words, this passage says, "Make yourself pliable to the Lord's will, then His desires will become yours and the desires of your heart will be granted. Roll your ways up and give them over to the Lord and he will reward you greatly."

My Significance = Following Christ with all my heart and therefore leading my children toward Him. My daily prayer is that my children will see my love for God and find themselves in Him.

What are you here for?

Surprise! :)

2012-04-18T22:53:00.000-04:00

My brother is currently deployed, but we had the privilege of him being home for his R&R recently. His actual date and time of arrival were a surprise for everyone but my dad.

Noah (my 2.5 year old son) was at my parent's house overnight on Thursday night. My dad will sometimes take Noah out for lunch when he stays the night.

So, needless to say, when I arrived to pick the kids up and my dad was out to lunch with Noah, I was not overly surprised.

As the time passed and it got later and then closer to Noah's naptime, I started to question why he was still gone. In the back of my mind, I new my brother was coming home soon and wondered if that might be where he was at.

Finally, they got home and my brother walked through the door after Noah and my dad. Surprise! :)

Apparently, Noah was very surprised! While my brother has been gone, the kids have been talking to him on Skype regularly. So, they see him often, but on the computer.

When my dad and Noah saw my brother at the airport, Noah got really excited! Then my brother squatted down to give Noah and hug and say hi. Noah kind of stopped and studied him.

Ever so gently, Noah placed his hands on either side of my brothers face. He petted it, and pinched it a little. Kind of like he was trying to determine if it was real.

After several moments of study, he decided that he was in fact real, and NOT a computer! :) Then he got excited again and hugged him!

How funny kids can be. I wish I had been there to see his reaction to seeing my brother in person for the first time in months. How sweet!

Is there a 'Kidtuition'?

2012-04-16T23:06:00.000-04:00

My husband is in the Military and was deployed when my son was very young. My son was born in August, and Matt left when Noah was just 3.5 months old. (On my birthday I might add.)

We had decided to wait to have more children until Noah was older. For several reasons, one being that Matt was missing most of Noah's first year and would need time to reintegrate. Another being that we didn't want children too close together.

Well, if you have read any of my previous posts, you know that this did not work out! God's plans are always better than ours though!

Matt ended up returning days before Noah's first birthday and apparently within a couple of weeks we were pregnant again.

Being that Noah was so young, we were not sure how to explain the whole pregnancy or the baby that would eventually be coming home. We talked often about baby sissy (once we found out it was girl) and how Noah was going to have a sister soon.

He would smile and laugh and pat my belly. Of course, we had no idea if it was actually clicking.

Well, the day came and Jordyn was born. Noah was staying with my dad during the labor and delivery process. He came to the hospital shortly after Jordyn had been born.

Now, this is what blows me away. He walked into the hospital room and saw Jordyn, walked up to her and said 'Sissy'. He KNEW immediately.

How? I still don't understand. He was just over 1.5 years old when Jordyn was born. But he knew, from the first moment that she was his family! Is this an intuition that he had... 'Kidtuition'? What do you think? Has anyone else experienced this?

Ready, set, go... or get started at least!

2012-04-15T23:13:00.001-04:00

One of the many things I have always wanted to do is run a marathon. I know, a difficult goal, but still .

That being said, I am currently probably in the worst shape of my life. My plan is to run a marathon in 2014.

The hardest part right now is trying to figure out how to schedule time to workout without taking time away from the family. Right now, we are getting up sometime between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM and the kids go down by 8:00 PM. So, I am having to schedule around that.

I am going to be starting a regular workout schedule this week for the first time since my daughter was born almost a year ago. Being that I am not currently an early morning person, I will be working out after 8:00 PM for now.

The goal is to start with approximately 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 days a week. Eventually I will be working up to 60 minutes a day for 5-6 days a week.

Once I have gotten back to a 'starting' place, I will begin a marathon training plan.

This is definitely going to be an adventure. I plan to keep updates about my progress… or set backs. Here we go! Keep me accountable!!

I am just going to say it...

2012-04-13T22:10:00.003-04:00

Ok, listen… if you keep asking, I am just going to say it. I am PREGNANT!

(Picture taken from http://pregnancyoutreach.org/)

Hahaha, no really, I am NOT. However, I HAVE had about six different people ask me in the last two weeks if I am.

I was at one location this week, having a conversation with an acquaintance. We were talking about my daughter, Jordyn, and her upcoming first birthday. Discussing how quickly the time had gone by.

Within a few minutes of the conversation, out of nowhere she asked… suddenly in a whisper… "So, are you pregnant again?"

I was actually taken aback. First, thoughts that went through my mind:

What does that mean?

Do I LOOK pregnant?

Why in the world would she think this?

I said, NO! As gracefully and unshaken as I could sound. Since this was not the first time someone had asked me this, I decided to ask a few questions… So, I asked, "Why would you think that?" (Come on, this is starting to take a hit on my self confidence.)

The response she gave me was, "Well, it's about time isn't it?"

I am thinking, it's about time for what? Apparently, my face said what I was thinking because she responded, "… you know, for you guys to get going again."

Time to get going again? Why would someone ask me that? Just because we had two children within two years does not mean that we are going to continue on that path.

So, I told her, as graciously as I could. "No, I am not pregnant and we are not currently planning on trying to GET pregnant anytime soon." She looked almost disappointed, how funny.

It is very interesting to me how people assume that everyone follows a 'trend' with having children. If you start having kids this way, you will continue until you can't have any more! LOL.

Well, this is not the case for us. We have one boy and one girl. They are pretty close in age and the delivery for Jordyn was difficult.

We haven't decided NOT to have any more children, I am not ready to write myself off yet. But we also are not PLANNING on having any more at the moment.

Until then, I think it's time to start hitting the gym harder!!

The Blame Game

2012-03-27T23:40:00.003-04:00

No, I am not talking about blaming someone else for something. I am one of those people who blame themselves for everything! Does anyone else do this?

Let's go back... a couple of weeks ago, my parents watched our kids so my husband and I could have a 'Date night... or not' (which I posted about here). It was great that they took them for us though, so sweet. I went over the next morning to pick them up. I got there just before lunch (which we were supposed to eat there). My parents have stairs at there house and we do not, so my kids love to look at them and go up a couple. My daughter has not started walking yet, but she is climbing up on the first step. I hadn't seen this yet, so we were all sitting near the stairs in the hall way. My son was running around what we call the 'circle'. This is when he runs from the dining room, to the kitchen, to the hallway, to the dining room, etc. Every time he came by he wanted me to 'get' him. So, I would tickle him and he would continue running by. This continued on for a while until he got tripped up while I was tickling him on one of the passes and fell into the wall. He started crying really hard, and holding his head. I grabbed him and held him for a few minutes to try to assess what was going on. It seemed that he just hit his head pretty hard.....

But then... he pulled his hand forward and there was blood on it. This is when I had a mini-panic attack. "Where do I take him? Do we go to the ER or the Children's Hospital? Is he really bleeding bad enough that it's dripping down my arm? Ok, remember the head is really vascular and bleeds a lot?"

First words... "Ok, he is bleeding pretty badly, I need something to put pressure on his head. Then I will take a look and see if we need to go to the ER."

Yes, we had to go to the ER. Surprisingly we didn't have to wait very long and they were in the room with us within a few minutes. The doctor came in the room shortly after we were in there and quickly assessed the situation. He said that my son needed a couple of staples. He came back in again and cleaned the cut and got both staples in before my son even started crying. Then he told the doctor "bye buddy".

... This is where my freak out picked up again... it was my fault that my son had fallen, and therefore cracked his head open, and therefore needed staples... Ok, yes rationally, I know this is ridiculous, but how do you STOP this train of thought?

My son is doing fine though, the staples came out the next weekend and he has a cool little scar that will be a story to tell one day! :)

Really?

2012-03-26T15:05:00.000-04:00

So, today was an absolutely gorgeous day! I decided to take the kids and get out of the house for a little while. First, my son and I played outside for a good hour or so. After my daughter woke up from her nap, we took a little road trip down to the local 'super' store. I like to make things as easy on myself as possible. So, I put my daughter in a sling and my son in the cart. This way, I didn't have to worry about carrying anyone, or not having my hands free. It was GREAT! We returned a few things, we shopped for a while, I got a few things I shouldn't have! :) All through the store people were commenting about how cool the sling was and how cute my kids were. (I always assume this is what they say to everyone, but I sure think my kids are pretty darned cute!)

At the end of the 'trip' I decided that I wanted to get my son's hair trimmed. We went over to the salon portion of the store. I asked how long the wait was, and they said they could get him in right away. I was excited. He got down out of the cart and was sitting on the chair. The stylist went to go get the 'cape' and my son decided he was done. He started crying and was acting scared. I finally had to pick him up. So, picture this: I had my 10 month old daughter on one hip in a sling and my 2.5 year old son on my other hip crying. As I am trying to comfort him and decide if he is too tired to try this right now, one of the other stylists says, "I remember that, when I had one and each hip and one in the belly. I would NOT go back to that." Did you SERIOUSLY just tell me that I look pregnant. REALLY?!? At this moment, when I am slightly stressed, holding two children... really? Have you ever had anyone do that to you? You know, comedians make jokes out of this, but it really can do a number on you. I thought I was starting to get back into shape and I thought I was looking pretty good today. HA! There goes that notion. Apparently my VERY NOT pregnant self is looking rather pregnant today. The best part was that the other stylists not only did not disagree with her or stay silent... no, they thought it appropriate to agree and join in. What do you do in a situation like that? I mean, I am not the type to be rude, but normally I would have corrected her. Today though, I was just so exhausted and too busy dealing with the kids to even say a word.

At least it is still a gorgeous day!! :) I am determined to enjoy the Tranquility that I find in that! My Touch of Tranquility!

Internal Argument

2012-03-12T20:54:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else have this problem? You lay down at night to go to sleep, you have just gotten comfortable and are starting to drift off.... suddenly, you realize you forgot to... brush your teeth or write something down on the grocery list (that you probably won't remember in the morning), etc. Then, no matter how close you are to sleep or how much you try to ignore yourself (yes, I just said ignore yourself!), you end up waking up more and more and you can't go to sleep until you take care of whatever it was. I HATE when this happens. I don't have a terrible time falling asleep most of the time. However, when something like this happens, I have a war with myself.

Just get up and do it!

NO! You don't HAVE to do it tonight, you are almost asleep.

But if you don't get up, you will forget about it.

No, you won't, just keep repeating it. Juice for the kids, juice for the kids.

You have a notepad on your nightstand and a pen somewhere.

But you can't turn the light on, you might wake your hubby up.

Just use your phone light, it's not that bright, he will probably sleep through it.

What if he wakes up, then you will feel bad.

Seriously, you are just going to drive yourself crazy until you just get up and do it.

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!

I have finally learned, for my slightly OCD self at least, that I might as well get up and do whatever it is as soon as I think about it. I am going to end up doing it anyway and the longer I wait, the longer it will be until I get to finally go to sleep.

Hopefully, I am not the only crazy chick who does this. :-)

Cuddle Time

2012-03-12T12:07:00.000-04:00

I have to say, the past couple of weeks have been very difficult on our family. We have all been sick, but the kids seem to have caught the brunt end of everything. There have been some very hard days, where I have considered walking out of the house for a few minutes just to get a minute of peace! Is it as hard for anyone else? I mean, I know that the kids are sick and on one hand I feel so compassionate toward them. I just want to snuggle them and make them feel better in any way that I can. However, when they are whiny and crying for unknown reasons and it seems like nothing I can do helps... I want to give up. It is so hard to keep my head on straight and not get frustrated or angry. I have honestly lost my temper several different days.

On the other hand though, when they feel bad it seems like they want Mommy. They want to climb up in my lap and just sit. For me to cuddle with them and love on them. You know, when that happens, the opposite effect occurs as well.... they cuddle me and love on me. Wow, how quickly that makes up for all the frustration I have felt through the day.

Yes, the past couple of weeks have been REALLY hard... but man have I LOVED the cuddle time. My Touch of Tranquility in the insanity.

Date night... or not

2012-03-12T11:57:00.000-04:00

Saturday night my parents kindly offered to keep our 10 month old baby girl and 2.5 year old son at their house. My husband and I decided that we should take advantage of this and have a date night. Go to dinner, maybe watch a movie, not have to worry about the kids at all. So gracious of my parents. The kids usually do pretty well, but our daughter still wakes up at night sometimes. Saturday, she ended up starting to get a stuffy nose and I was a little worried that she may have some trouble sleeping. My parents still wanted to keep them for the night though and who am I to turn down a night of time with Mamaw and Papaw for the kids. Or... a date night for my husband and I.

I don't know if this is true of you, but we have found that since we have had kids, we have had very few true date nights, with just the two of us. Maybe a couple or three a year. So, this was a rare occasion! For our date night, my husband and I decided to go to the Outback because we had a gift card there. (Ah yes, the other reason we have very few date nights now, we are also on a much tighter budget!) I dropped the kids off at my parent's house after lunch and came home, cleaned the house a little and then got ready. We decided to leave as soon as my husband got home from drill. That is typically between 4 and 5. This time it was around 4:30. We went to an Outback that is pretty close to our house, so we got there shortly before 5:00. It was funny, we felt like we were dining with the Early Bird diners. Most of the people who were eating when we sat down were older. We started joking about how 'old' we feel lately, with both kids being sick and missing sleep. We had also both started feeling a little sick that day, so that just added to the 'feeling old'. We had a lovely dinner and talked. We got home and had planned to watch a movie. It was probably 7:00 or so when we got home and we settled down picked a movie and decided to watch it in our room, so we could lay down while we watched it. Yeah, we were both asleep before 8:00! Talk about feeling old. I remember when we were in college and we would stay up until 3 or 4 studying and then get up at 7 for class. Apparently, we can't do THAT any more! It was still very nice to spend time together and to NOT have to wake up with the kids in the middle of the night! :) Thanks to my parents for the lovely break... maybe we can make this a more regular thing! ;-)

Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies!

2012-03-07T22:03:00.000-05:00

So, tonight I decided to try a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I had found. I have been looking for a recipe in which the centers of the cookie stay chewy while the edges are crunchy. The recipe was a little odd looking to me because it had cornstarch in it, and I have never added cornstarch to a cookie recipe. However, I decided we might as well try it. What's the worst that could happen with chocolate chip cookies. I mean come on, they have chocolate chips in them. I am pretty sure we would 'find a way' to get rid of them no matter the outcome. :-)

So, I looked up the recipe again on Food Network Canada's website: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Dessert/Chocolate/recipe.html?dishid=2633 and went to work.

I did adjust the recipe slightly. I used 1/4 cup less brown sugar and I used 'No Salt' in place of the salt.

The final result...

... perfection!

This is my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Playing in the Change

2012-03-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

Right now, I am sitting beside my 2.5 year old son, on my bed. I am working from home today, but my mom comes over to help with the kids during working hours. My kids both go down for a nap around 1 and usually sleep for at least a couple of hours. Today, since my son is sick and his ears hurt and his nose is stuff, he woke up early. He also wanted mommy as soon as he worked up. So sweet, but I was supposed to be working. He was being very noisy in the living room though and being that our house is a little small, I did not want him to wake his sister up, so I let him come into the room with mommy. He saw some change on Daddy's night stand and decided he just HAD to put it in his little piggy bank. I went to his room sneaky as can be and grabbed the piggy bank, brought it back into our room and the fun ensued.

Apparently, moving the change back and forth between the piggy bank and the basket was of enough amusement to keep him busy for over an hour!!

What a wonderful Touch of Tranquility!!

Zebras Are Fun

2012-03-06T22:26:00.000-05:00

So, both of my children have been sick for the last few days. My daughter started to feel better about the time that my son decided to feel worse. They have both been so sad. It breaks my heart to see my babies hurting. Today was no different. My son was actually worse. He even had little dark circles under his eyes. My daughter though was smiling more and even laughing a little more.

My son has this little zebra that he can ride. You can turn it on and it plays songs and talks to the child about safari animals. Well today, my son was on the zebra and wanted his sister to sit on it in front of him. Then, he put his arms around her to make sure she did not fall off and drove her around the house. They were both so excited. I think it made all of our day.

This is a picture of the my son trying to explain how the zebra works to my daughter. So sweet! :)

This was my Touch of Tranquility for the day.

Round 2

2012-03-05T21:46:00.000-05:00

So, as I said in my last post, Roseola is contagious, especially to younger children... yeah, I am pretty sure my son has it too now. Thank goodness we had such a good morning. Both kids were in great moods, they were playing together well, the were both being cuddly. This lasted until about 2 hours, and then... the evil came forward. This day was honestly hard enough that I thought about how I wished I was at work and not at home. :-/ I do not like that I felt that way. I think the hardest thing for me to handle is my daughter's whining. She is only 9 months old, so she does not speak much yet. Instead, she whines, all the time, if you do not understand her she just continues to whine. I do not know why, but this is about the most annoying/frustrating sound on earth to me. It is worse than someone running their fingernails over a chalkboard. Oh my goodness, I was about to go out of my mind. I am sad to say that I was honestly looking forward to their nap time. When they finally went down for a nap, I was relieved. I honestly just sat... in silence, for a while.

They usually sleep for about 2 to 3 hours in the afternoon. My son woke up after about 45 minutes, screaming. Now, this is not normal. Both of my kids typically wake up calm and happy. So, I rush into the room to find out what is going on. I pick him up, and he is BURNING up. I took his temperature and he has a 103 degree temperature. Since he never had Roseola when he was a baby, I am pretty sure this is what was going on. :-( Poor little guy. I gave him some ibuprofen and he went back to sleep for a while. He did wake up crying again though. When my husband got home, I went straight for the long, hot shower... today, this was my Touch of Tranquility...

Lack of Sleep...

2012-03-04T22:46:00.002-05:00

This past week has been an interesting week. My 9 month old daughter woke up around midnight on Monday morning screaming. We got her and fed her, she felt warm, but was back asleep before she was finished eating. So, I laid her down, and went back to bed. Within about 15 minutes she woke up again screaming. This time, I decided to take her temperature before we did anything else. It was 103.1. Let's just say, I began to panic a little. I gave her some Tylenol before we put her back down. The rest of the night she was up about every 30 minutes.

In the morning, I got on our Pediatrician's website to try to find their instructions for a temperature that was hanging out around 103. They suggested to call if the temperature lasted for more than 24 hours. So, I waited until Tuesday morning and when it was still so high, I called when they opened. We got an appointment and went in. Found out that she had a double ear infection. Poor baby. She also had a soar throat. They prescribed Amoxicillin. (Side note - I had a major reaction to Amoxicillin when I was younger and had to be rushed to the hospital.) Apparently, allergies CAN run in families, but not always. So, needless to say, I was monitoring her very closely. She seemed to be doing well, started acting more normal.

On Friday morning, she suddenly broke out in a rash. I called the doctor again and ended up going in to get it checked out. After all of that, it turns out she had Roseola.

Here is what the Roseola rash looked like:

(source: http://www.primehealthchannel.com)

And here is what hives look like in reaction to Amoxicillin:

(source: http://www.primehealthchannel.com)

As you can see, they are similar.

A few things I did not know about Roseola.

One of the most common symptoms of Roseola is ear infection.
It is contagious not just until the fever goes away, but until the rash goes away.
Children are most susceptible, but adults can get Roseola too.
If someone has already had Roseola, they can still get it again (although it is much less likely).

This week, I have been rather challenged to find my touch of peace every day. Today, my baby girl laughed again for the first time since she started feeling sick. That precious giggle made the whole week worth it... my Touch of Tranquility...

Storms

2012-03-03T22:33:00.002-05:00

Last night much of the country faced some pretty intense storms. It was definitely an interesting night in our house. Around 9:30 a tornado warning went into affect for the part of the city that we live in. My husband and I began to quickly make preparations to move the family into our bathroom.

Ok, let me explain. Our house is rather small and it is a ranch home. All of the rooms have windows and touch exterior walls, including the bathrooms. However, in the master bathroom there is a door for the tub and toilet. So, we decided the safest room in our house is the 'sink room' in our bathroom.

So, my husband and I are quickly making preparations. Well, our bathroom is a mess. There are cleaners, make up, soda cans, brushes, a hair dryer, etc out on the counters. All I could think was, if the roof comes off the house, this stuff is going to become dangerous! Ridiculous right. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to beat this storm by cleaning my 'sink room'. Yes, I decided THIS was the best time to clean.

Here is a picture of our 'sink room' and the dangerous projectile on the counters! :)

Now... imagine 2 adults, a 2.5 year old and a 9 month old in this little room...

After the completion of the cleaning. I grabbed a bunch of pillows and blankets, the cell phone, a flashlight and a couple of other things and then we ran to get the kids. My husband got our 2.5 year old son and I grabbed our 9 month old daughter. They were both startled, but my son went right back to sleep. Thank goodness! We are now sitting on the floor in our tiny little 'sink room', barely enough room for all 4 of us to even fit in there. My daughter is growing restless and my son is snoring on a pillow on the floor.

At this point, all I can think is, "God, please keep us and our family and friends safe." I, of course, was panicking a little as the wind started blowing the rain straight at the house. My heart is fluttering, the lightning and thunder are getting worse and worse. The power goes out. Which helps me - not! Suddenly, there is a VERY bright flash of lightning, my son looks up at me, jumps up from the pillow and lands on top of me. I had to hand my daughter to my husband. But this sweet sleeping baby boy, cuddling up with his momma calmed me immediately. I realized there was nothing I could do about the weather, but what I could do was to keep my babies safe and calm. What a sweet time I had with my son through the howling, pounding storm.

This was 'A Touch Of Tranquility' in my storm...

Life is crazy... look for the Tranquility

2012-03-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

So, I decided to start blogging kind of as a way to relieve stress and decompress. Life is pretty crazy. I am married, have two children a 9 month old baby girl and a 2.5 year old boy, work a full-time office job and part-time as a massage therapist. I know everyone else has just as crazy of a life, this is one outlet for me. There just are not enough hours in any day or week or month for that matter to complete everything that I need to. I constantly feel overwhelmed and all that I can do is search for a moment of peace through it all. Some days that seems nearly impossible. When I can feel myself getting close to the edge, I know I have to make myself take a break.

This is my newest attempt at trying to find that calm place... blogging. We shall see how it goes! I am excited, but who knows, it might be like the New Year's Resolution episode of Friends where Rachel says she is going to write in her diary every day and the rest of the pages are blank.