Those who can't DO, teach...

Or so they say! I believe that this is true. But hear me out, please!

When we teach someone something, we are really teaching ourselves. I found this out when I taught a high school photography class with very little training myself. I learned so much more from teaching that class than I ever did as a student! In many ways it enabled me to DO. This isn't always the case, but for ME, it usually is.

I was talking to Curtis about my blog the other day and saying that before I write about being thankful all the time, I need to start being thankful all the time and practicing what I preach. He reminded me that it actually usually works the other way around. Not always, but often times for me, this IS the case.

When I challenge others to do something and get into the practice of trying to inspire others, I often inspire myself in the process and it can be a beautiful thing. Have you ever experienced this? You are challenged to lead a study group and you end up getting way more out of it than the people that you are teaching.

The past few weeks with a new baby have been hard. She is the most beautiful gift I have ever received, yet it is very difficult to figure out what she needs sometimes and to be certain that what I am giving her is the right thing, usually it has to do with feeding.

But if I take a step back and remember where I was at just a year ago. Three years into the infertility journey, wondering if I would ever have the privilege of mothering a baby, let alone, birthing our baby girl! I had no idea! When I remember that, it is amazing the peace that settles over me. Often this happens when she is finally sleeping and I actually have a moment of peace to reflect.. But HEY! It happens and the more I practice it, the more it will happen.

In the past I set the bar high on challenges to be grateful, but this time I am bringing it back to the basics. 10 things every day. That's all, 10 simple every day things that I am grateful for. I have a cute little notepad to write them in and I'm starting over.

If you're with me, that's great, if not, that's okay too. I just need this so bad right now. The reminder that everyday there are things to be grateful for, I just need to keep my eyes open to them. It's not wrong to struggle through the tough stuff, but it's so helpful to remind myself through it all that there is so much beauty in life.

She's Here!

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." 
Psalm 126:3 

I would love to write a detailed account of the birth of my baby girl, but I think that most people would start to read and quickly lose interest. So I will write a summary of what was one of the most amazing, exhilarating, intense and physically difficult experiences of my life!

September 9th, I woke up at 1am with contractions. I was up the rest of the night with contractions about 10 minutes apart. Not very intense and not seeming to progress much. I went between laying in bed relaxing through them to getting ready for the hospital, taking a shower, etc. not really knowing when things would progress and we would need to leave.

By morning the contractions were a little bit closer together. But the hospital told us to wait until they were 5 minutes apart for an hour. We were waiting for this, but while we waited it seemed like they got more intense and longer, but still just as far apart. I started to think that it was really time to get going around 10:30am when my mom came in and told me I had gotten a package in the mail, I yelled at her and said I didn't care! At that point she came in and started massaging me and helping me relax while Curtis got the car packed.

I practiced relaxation techniques a lot throughout my pregnancy and they really paid off. My mom couldn't believe how relaxed my body was when I would have a contraction and even though it was very painful, I believe that made it so much more bearable.

We left the house at 11:30am and took a quick photo. Once I got into the car I started to feel the urge to push and my contractions started coming really fast, 2-3 minutes apart! I was able to relax by closing my eyes and listening to the sound of the ocean on my iPhone as I had been doing most of the morning. It was pretty amazing because the drive to hospital is 30 minutes long!

Once we got to the hospital, I really thought that I had a lot longer to go and I kept telling Curtis that I needed to get an epidural. It was too painful. What I didn't realize was how far along I really was! They checked me and told me that I was already 7 &1/2 centimeters dilated! I don't think I mentioned the epidural again after that, but it's hard to remember.

At that point we were still in triage and they quickly moved us up to labor and delivery. It took about 20 minutes and when they checked me again I was 9&1/2 centimeters and felt ready to push. They called the doctor in and at that point I knew that I could do it without the medication!

I pushed for about 6-8 contractions. A total of 45 minutes. I wish I knew how many pushes. I'm pretty sure it took about 3 contractions for them to see her head and they kept telling me how much hair she had. I was excited, but I just wanted to get this done and have her in my arms. Curtis and my mom were amazing, they gave me ice chips and wiped my forehead with a wet cloth while I did some of the most intense physical labor of my life.

When she came out it was the biggest relief I have ever felt in my life and the biggest joy! I couldn't really take it all in at the moment. It was too much! I was just so excited and filled with joy at seeing my beautiful baby girl kicking and crying as she took her first breaths in this world. Her daddy quickly cut the chord and she was in my arms.

We arrived at the hospital at 12:00pm on September 9th and She was born at 2:14pm! Only two hours and 14 minutes later! 

The whole experience was so amazing. Every little detail seemed to be taken care of by Papa. He carried me through the whole process. Helped me to relax and to push and he took care of my precious baby girl. He gave us amazing nurses and doctors. Each and every piece of the story was handcrafted by Him. I am so so grateful for the good things that he has done.

Looking for some inspiration...

I really don't have much today. I just need some and usually writing inspires me. So I figured I would give it a try...

Most of the time lately I feel like I am just waiting for my baby girl to make her appearance. It feels like a bit of a pathetic existence. I try to fill my time with meaningful activities, such as reading, swimming, birth prep exercises, any last minute baby prep that I can think of and working on keeping my blog active. But I just feel so uninspired today and lost. 

I keep trying to tell myself that this baby will come, but the uncertainty is killing me! I find it funny that I am complaining about this after years of waiting for her. But these last few days... There is something about them. Four years in the making. the wanting. the waiting. the tears and frustration of it all. It all comes down to these hours, days, weeks? (I hope not) of waiting. 

So much of life is waiting. It's true. A few people told me that as I waited for a positive pregnancy test those three years. I held onto that advice at times and at times I despised it. But it is absolutely true. Life comes in seasons. I cannot just let each one slip away as I wait for the next. I must enjoy the here and now. 

Okay. I guess I consider myself inspired. Inspired to wait. Inspired to love the journey I'm on, no matter how stuck I feel at the time. I'm headed somewhere. And something tells me, it's gonna be amazing! 

The Clutter Free Home

This inspired me today. 

I just read 15 clutter busting routines for any family on the blog that I was telling you about and I am pretty excited to put some of these things into practice. What really stood out to me as something that I want and need to do is halving our decorations. 

I love what he says about this one "Grab a box and walk through your living room. Remove decorations from shelves, tables, and walls that aren’t absolutely beautiful or meaningful. You may like it better than you think. If not, you can always put them back. But I’d bet my wife’s old high school yearbooks that you won’t return all of them."

I hope you are inspired to halve your decorations today, making your home easier on the eyes and even easier to clean. I mean imagine dusting those tables with half as many knick knacks on them :) Sounds good to me! 

Another great post he wrote that pertains to this topic is The Pictures we hang on our walls. A simple, but worthwhile reminder. 

Aspiring Minimalist

It's really been too long. But I was inspired today at my parent's church. A friend of theirs spoke about minimalism. I am challenged and inspired to live my life as simply as possible and to share with you about it here on the blog.

Part of becoming a minimalist is freeing up time and energy for passions that you have. I have always really enjoyed putting energy into this blog and rarely feel like I have the time and energy to do so, especially in a concentrated and organized way. I absolutely want that to change and I think that this change of focus might help. Having a baby WILL take up time, but life takes up time no matter what, and there are plenty of moms out there who have thriving and wonderful blogs. So one of my goals is to figure out how to do that, not with the goal of it having a certain amount of followers or anything like that, but more about being a place where I can share my passions and ideas and encourage and inspire some people out there.

So, I should share more about this guy. His name is Joshua Becker, and he has a blog called "Becoming Minimalist." Click on the link to view his blog. Don't do it unless you want to be challenged and inspired though!

Minimalism is something that I have been aspiring towards for some time, but I feel like my life always continues to get more and more full of stuff, material and otherwise. And Joshua's blog is a great guide in how to change/manage that. I also think this is the perfect time to step back and make sure that I don't continue in this pattern as Curtis and I bring our baby girl into this world. To teach her the principals behind these teachings, which completely make sense to me and always have. I'm really inspired to follow along Joshua's blog and start this journey.

Thanks so much Joshua and Kim for inspiring me! You guys rock!