Spring is in the air.......

Good evening friends. It is so clearly Spring Break I can hardly stand it. Now, this is not because I am on a "break" of any kind (I wish!) but because me and every other working mother I know is home bound this week. The beauty that is Mother's Day Out programs has been halted for a week while the different school districts close for Spring Break. Another indicator that school is out is that at 10:03PM I can hear teenagers squealing and talking outside walking down the streets of our neighborhood. Oh joy. Did I seriously do that? Ya well.................whatever.

Anyway, to top off the fact that I cannot maintain my normal schedule this week, my hubby is in Indiana on business. So many trips to the park, lots of eating out (shameful, I know) and movie nights like tonight, are taking place. Tonight Noah and I headed out to BB and rented Open Season. We picked up some candy at Target and headed home for a mindless night of TV. I can't tell you how cute it was to watch Noah completely transfixed on this movie while popping ever so slowly jelly beans into his mouth. He kept looking at me at every funny moment with this huge smile saying, "That's silly!!" What a crack up. I truly do not want this stage to end with him. He is too dang fun and incredibly innocent. Can I really say I want the 2's to last forever??!!? Never would have imagined..............

My inlaws are coming tomorrow for 7 days, so we have that to look forward to. Noah will have a blast with them and hopefully the weather will cooperate. They always come when it's REALLY hot, or REALLY cold. So I think we should be in the clear this time.

Random movie review: Facing the Giants. I watched it alone last night. It had been recommended to me and I finally got it through Netflix. My disclaimers are: totally cheesy acting at the beginning/end and somewhat choppy. My overall synopsis: Encouraging movie with decent realistic plot lines and a refreshing bold voice about God's provision and love in the rockiest of times. You won't recognize a single actor, but I don't know that would have made any difference. I even got teary in a couple parts. I really did need the reminder about truly depending on God and how that decision alone can turn your whole world upside down---for the better. So there you go.

Well, I guess I should shoot off to bed and read for a bit. I hope you all are having a great Spring Break (if yours is now) and God is doing some neat things in your life. Please let me know about them!!

Car talk with Noah

It went like this.

Silence in the car on the way to school. Then............

Noah: I’m bigger.
Me: Yes, you are getting bigger.
Noah: I’m taller.
Me: Yes, you are getting taller.
Noah: I want to sit there (pointing to the front passenger seat).
Me: Smile. No, you aren’t big enough to sit there.
Noah: But I’m big.
Me: Yes, but you have to be like, 7 years old to sit there. You are only 2.
Noah: Yes, I’m 2!
Silence.....
Noah: I want to be 22!
Me: What? 22?
Noah: Yep, I want to be 22.
Me: No way. If you were 22, that would mean you were an adult. Being a kid is much more fun.
Noah: I’m a kid!?
Me: Yes, you are a kid.
Noah: No, I’m Noah!

Ahhhhhhhhhh, conversations with my little guy. They make me smile.

My handsome boy

I felt this was good enough to post on both blogs today............

Seriously???? Who is supposed to resist this boy? Certainly not his mama. :) This is his school picture. What a little ham. He and his girl-friend Randy like to team up and be the most irresistable kids ever. I am pretty sure he got this pose idea from her considering he had to watch all his friends take their pictures before he would go (so the teachers told us). Anyway, his sweetness is altogether real and today we had the best day together. He kills me with how perfect he can be sometimes. Yes, I know. All it takes is reading a few posts ago to understand that this is clearly a momentary fog I'm in. But I don't care. Days like today make the hard days worth it. I got lots of hugs, good talks, mostly obedience, and he ate everything I made for him. What more could a girl want? It's killing me that he's growing up so much. It's so fun, but then it freaks me out that I'm going to have to start ALL OVER in a mere few months. Can't say I'm ready for that. I suppose the first few months with the newborn sweetness prep you for what is to come. I'll just take one day at a time................sounds good anyway.
But to sum it up, Noah is a true Valentine this year for me and I love where we are in our mommy-son relationship. May it never end!

That beautiful white stuff!

I woke up to screaming outside. Unsure of what that was I ran to check on Noah and he was sound asleep. I went back to bed and lay there for awhile listening to the commotion outside. I wasn't sure why the kids would be so loud outside at 7:40am! I finally got up and as I moved by the window I noticed something white. I ran to the window and found a blanket of white stuff over everything. What a surprise! It is so beautiful. Adults and children are playing outside (even though there isn't all that much snow to play with yet). I even met my backyard neighbor that I hadn't met in 5 months! You just feel like you are in this utopia kind of world. Everyone is happy and excited and no one is worried about the roads, etc. Much unlike what is going on in Colorado I'm sure. Anyway, Brian is in Waco and I'm slightly concerned about him getting home, but other than that, we'll enjoy our day inside, staring at the gorgeous outside.

What's a mother to do............

So I just had a wonderful day with Noah. We played at the local "Let's Jump" with our good friends, The Woodwards, and then had a surprisingly relaxing lunch at ChickFilet. But I am still amazed at how quickly a good mood can turn into a sour one............oh, not mine, Noah's. :) He was doing great, perfectly happy. He even wanted to hold my hand a lot today which is rare. But all of a sudden as it was time to waltz through the parking lot over to our car (which was parked far away because there was only parking at Burger King left) Noah decided to throw a fit. The craziness of it all is that I DON'T KNOW WHY. Some of you may understand this completely. But typically I know exactly what has caused Noah to throw a fit. This time, I wasn't so lucky. He proceeded to scream and lurch his body and refused to hold my hand. Which caused me to grab hold of his arm (don't you hate seeing moms do that?) FIRMLY and drag him along. Well, it had been raining, there were lots of cars around, and frankly not a discreet place to be dragging your son around. I kept yelling at him "what is wrong!!??? Get up NOW!" I even spanked him which of course only caused him to scream louder. I finally had to put my arm around his side and pull him to me and halfway-carry him across the parking lot all the way to the car with him crying and people looking. I actually don't care much for what other people think. But this time I realized other people were thinking, "Oh look at that. Another crazy toddler with a discheveled (sp?) mother dragging him along. I'm so glad I'm not her."

Well we got into the car and Noah continued to cry and cry. He's very dramatic if you don't know him and carries on for awhile. But I offered him his Sprite and he seemed to turn it off like a faucet. As we walked in the door, I felt exhausted and downtrodden (after only 15 minutes before feeling on top of the world!). Noah seemed to be keeping a very watchful eye on me. He knew mommy was mad. He knew mommy was unhappy with him. As I finished changing his diaper in his room he stood up and flashed me this big smile and wrapped his arms around my neck. It was so clear that he wanted me to be 'ok' again. It broke my heart to see him so in tune with me and hopeful that I wouldn't carry my bitterness and anger for much longer. It made me realize that I have no right to drag things on and on hoping to teach a 2 year old a lesson. It was clear he felt bad and was ready to move on. And so I did. But it made me think about how less motivated I am to "get over it" when it comes to other relationships in my life. Why do I hang on to hurt, disappointment, or annoyance when I could simply move on? Do I give Brian the same break I give Noah? Not usually. And how important my relationship is with my husband! Anyway, it's time I go lay down as I am still feeling the effects of the emotional drain I caused myself. But I hope this reminds me to cut everyone a break and realize that staying mad does not make a person learn a lesson any better .....usually. :) Your thoughts?

Miraculous Discoveries

Today we had our 20.5 week appt at the Dr. office. As usual we waited about 40 minutes in the waiting room which really chapped my hide. I started to nip at Brian because my temper was flaring. However, finally we got called back to the sono room and our technician was nice. We told her we didn't want her to tell us right off the bat what it was because we just wanted to have a few moments to look at our baby. She assured us she never tells the patient right away what the sex is. After staring at the miracle that was swirling around in my tummy (so cute by the way!!) she asked us if we were ready to "see". We said sure, and she quickly turned her doppler so that it looked straight at the bottom, legs and crotch of our little one. Don't you love the word crotch? :) Anyway, we immediately saw the ever so distinguishable package that was attached to our little guy. Yes, guy, it is a boy. Noah will have a fun little brother and buddy to look after. We were excited but not surprised a bit because I had a feeling for awhile now that I was carrying a boy. It truly is miraculous to see how God has put together this being inside of me and it's growing every minute by His power alone. Well, Brian and I are very excited to prepare for our family of four. Keep us and this child in your prayers as we hope for a peaceful and safe delivery.....not to mention the couple months following. :)

A New Season.........

It's December 1st and it is a new season in many aspects. First off, we had SNOW yesterday. Yes, you read right. North Texas had snow. Pretty awesome. Here are some pics of Noah playing in it. It was really pretty and fun to see snow in our new house so soon.

The other thing that makes this a new season is that the Spicer Clan is expecting an addition to it soon! Little Spicer #2 will be arriving in May. I'm about 15 weeks along and doing just great. No complaints whatsoever. My belly is starting to pop out, like it or not. I'm actually realizing that it has been a long time since I've been pregnant. I kind of forget a lot of what is involved. That sounds funny but with Noah being 2 years and 3 months old, I haven't gone through this part of pregnancy in 3 years. It seems like forever ago! All that to say, we are very excited and things begin to get more and more real each day. Noah constantly goes back and forth between wanting a brother or a sister. We'll see what happens! I should know in early January what we will be blessed with.
A third, not so fun season of our life is that of major home repair. We have yet to experience anything like it. We got back from Thanksgiving in Tyler and found that we had a leak in our bathroom closet. Over the course of a few days we found out we had a "slab leak" which has required making two huge holes in our floor. Since all this has transpired, we have some ruined floors and cabinets. But thank the Lord for home owners insurance. Everything will eventually get fixed and put back together. Actually, as I type, Noah is sitting on my lap because the worker outside our office is using his jackhammer to drill away at the hole some more. As Noah says, "It is REEE loud." And yes it is. But all in all, it could be so much worse, and things are moving very swiftly to get everything fixed. It'll be fine.

I'll leave you with one more pic of my precious Noah. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and beginning to enjoy the Christmas season. I promise I won't take this long next time to write an update.

I know I know I know

Do you know how many times I've thought about the fact that I haven't written anything in forever!?! But sometimes you have it and others you don't. I just haven't had it lately. Frankly, I've been doing good to just get through each day and feel ok about it. Ever been there? When there is nothing specific to look forward to, you aren't feeling real good, and your 2 year old is having a melt down simply because you dared to walk the other way, the last thing I feel like doing is getting on the computer (which Noah hates anyway) and typing. I've even had a depressingly funny moment such as going through really old clothes and trying them on when I thought "this! This would be something to blog about" but never did. Sorry, your loss (not really).
But hopefully as the rain came down today and washed everything away, I can begin anew. I can throw something out there that might actually spark a thought, cause a chuckle, or get a head nod from someone.

So here it is......why is the sky blue? No, just kidding. Why do I find that it is easier to pray for everyone around me and truly believe that God will answer my prayer, but I don't feel near as confident when it comes to prayers about my own life. Example: I can confidently pray (with faith bigger than a mustard seed) that so and so's cancer will suddenly go away. However, when it comes to a specific request I have of God to work in MY life, my faith withers.

I'll tell you what it is. I know too much. I let all the facts and figures get in the way. It's like I have to prep myself for not getting what I actually want. The probability of "x" and "y" happening is so slim that I better just plan for my prayer not to be answered how I'd like. Isn't that depressing? I don't always do this, but I'm in a class about expectant prayer and I realized this is a barrier for me. I think this is less about the fear of disappointment and more about what I really believe about God. It's actually a scary lesson. Rob Bell in one of his Nooma videos asks the question, "Do you truly believe, with everything in you, that God is entirely good and nothing else?" Have you asked yourself that question lately? If not, you should and share with me your answers and why you answer that way. I have no earthly reason to believe anything other than God is absolutely only good. But my prayer life might suggest something different.

Anyway, just something I've been thinking about and wrestling with. I don't want to be tossed about like the waves or the wind. I want to be secure in knowing that my Father wants the absolute best for me and desires me to ask Him REGARDLESS OF THE PROBABILITY.