Mommy/Son Road Trip

Road warriors!

Last week, Will and I went on our first road trip without Mike. It was the longest that I have ever driven with Will by myself, 5 hours, and the longest that both of us have ever been away from Mike, 6 days. Oh yeah, and I did it at 30 weeks pregnant! I'm not going to lie...I was a little nervous to make the trip. I mean just stopping to go the the bathroom was going to be exhausting. But, we made it and we got to see lots of family; both sets of grandparents,my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. We were able to meet my newest nephew and Will's newest cousin, Tate. We were also there to see Tate baptized and to go to Jake, my cousin's little boy, 2nd birthday party. Thought I would post some pictures from the trip so you could see all of our fun. It's quite a few pics...just so you know!
Eating a cupcake at Jake's party.
This kid loves cake!
Will and my cousin Ryan. Will fell in love with him!
Will loves a good swing. Whether it is on the playground or...
...or his cousin Tate's swing. I saw this week that I will have to put a gate around Luke when he is in the swing. Will just could not keep his hands off it!
Will and Tate. He loved holding his cousin and giving him kisses!
Gran, Will, Tate and myself.
I hope he loves his new brother like this!
Will and Poppy, or Pop-eye as Will like to call him, at the carousel in Chattanooga.

A week in motherhood

Mother's Day 2010 has now come to an end. This year it came at the end of a long, emotional, exhausting week. A week that had me questioning whether or not I am a good mom. Whether or not I am doing the right things to discipline my child when it comes to certain behaviors.
Will is an active 20 month old. He has a huge smile and an amount of energy that Mike and marvel at. He seems to be able to go on longer than the energizer bunny. He is at such a fun age, but it is also a challenging age. With all of his energy, we are stating to see more and more behavior that needs to be corrected. And this has proven to be frustrating, because we don't always get the desired behavior from our discipline methods. So we are having to revamp the way we do things with Will.
On Thursday a quote from Beth Moore's Esther study came to mind. The gist of it is that God chose me to be Will's mom and no one else. He chose me because he knew that I had some quality that no one else has that will allow me to raise Will. This gave me comfort as well as the ability to rest. Knowing that God has entrusted me with Will, to raise and care for him in a way that only I can, is humbling. And it has been an encouragement to me every time I think about it. I know that I am far from perfect, but I am doing my best at motherhood. It is hard, without glory or rest, and quite literally a battle some days. But it is by far the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I thank the Lord every day for this amazing opportunity to raise on of His children.


Happy Mother's Day to both our moms, my Grandmother, my aunts, my sister and all my wonderful friends! Thank you for being amazing examples of what it means to sacrifice for your children and to love them unconditionally!