These last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions from AJ, as she has had a mild cold. She is recovering now, but the cough is really affecting her sleeping patterns. Please be praying for her recovery as we prepare for a Disney trip this weekend with my mom and aunt.
On the other hand, her ailments have been granting me a little more freedom in enjoying my time with them and embracing these stages of toddlerhood. Do not take this to mean that I am being lazy or passive with their entertainment, I just mean that the Lord has granted me more patience and more grace to understand the need to let certain things go, so that we can enjoy our time at home together.
Yes, we have been watching a little more television than I would normally allow, but they are still in bed at a reasonable time and eat a sufficient amount of decent food throughout the day. While I can see AJ's appetite has been declining, I have still been patiently working with her to eat her dinner when I see she wants more of her preferences (fruit, chips, etc). E has been showing more interest in learning time, so last night was exciting as she sat in the booster to go through flash cards with me. She really enjoys reading, also, and PJ has really embraced time in the Word with them before bed.
PJ has also been working through managing his time at work and trying to prioritize dinner with us over late nights at the store. It has been nice to have him home before the girls' bed time, but more than that, the Lord has been giving me the grace to see that I need to be more encouraging and helpful. Not that I can "fix" anything at the pharmacy, but I can speak graciously and with kindness when he calls me on his way home. I can have the girls ready for bed so that he can enjoy the evening with them, without worrying about brushing their teeth. I can start the dishes, instead of complaining about his absence, so that when he arrives, he can enjoy dinner without thinking about the burden of loading the dishwasher after the girls are asleep. I can greet him with gratitude for working hard all day instead of passively reminding him that he "failed" to keep the standard I wanted to hold for the evening. (Just to name a few).
Humility is challenging, friends.
Anyway, I had also taken the week off from the gym last week in order to prioritize rest and focus on nutrition over fitness. Not because fitness is not important, but because rest IS! I had also noticed that I was using fitness as an excuse to eat more of the not-so-great choices. I lost a couple of pounds in the process, but I'm still taking it slow this week working through nutritional goals that work for everyone (including 2 toddlers).
Anyway, I think that is all, friends and family. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.
