Trip highlights day 1

We are finally taking a vacation for the year. These are some of the highlights of day 1.

1. We went through two major cities. In.Cincinnati we all waved to downtown to tell it hello and goodbye. We then waved to the Ohio river and Kentucky as well. This may not be much, but the silly things like this make my day.

2. Ben declared this the best trip ever after we stopped at a newly remodeled McDonald's with a pretty great play place.

3. The baby didn't cry much and actually was quite the trooper.

4. We enjoyed window drawing the last hour of the trip. We have these window markers that crystallize after you draw with them, I'm always intrigued by them each time I use them. This was one of our windows. Apparently the person looked like Ben's godfather to him because he has spikey hair.

5. The hotel we are at has an indoor pool.Had a dinner within waking distance and an outdoor shopping mall. I call that a win.

Then and now.

This past week we went to Nashville and had the privaledge of staying in the Opryland Hotel there.  We were able to get some photos of the experience in the gardens, and relive some shots that we had taken when Keith and I were first dating.  It's amazing how much 7+ years changes things.  We both became practicing Catholics, got married, bought a house twice, sold a house, had two children, I finished school finally, Keith started school again, etc.  Sans the children, do we look the same or different?  You tell me. 2005

This past week we went to Nashville and had the privaledge of staying in the Opryland Hotel there.  We were able to get some photos of the experience in the gardens, and relive some shots that we had taken when Keith and I were first dating.  It's amazing how much 7+ years changes things.  We both became practicing Catholics, got married, bought a house twice, sold a house, had two children, I finished school finally, Keith started school again, etc.

 Sans the children, do we look the same or different?  You tell me.

2005

2013

2005

2013

Blogging the day

Today was a better day than most, only a few minor bumps along the way.  A day I could relive and be okay with it.

It started with this:

From which we were able to do this, underbed dresser for the win! :

But then the packaging was left over:

So we did this:

And after it was broken, we turned it into this, aka little boy heaven:

But because the sun was shining in Cleveland in the winter we had to get outside and go for a walk like this:

And then even though Mr. Ben took forever to get outside, he didn't want to come in when the rest of us did because he wanted to do this:

And it all ended with a little bit of this: 

Not too shabby of a day overall. 

At the source, it just may be pride...

I feel like lately I'm running into roadblocks with choices our family is making or is thinking about making for the future.  I guess when you talk to folks you think about how you are similar to them because then you can band together.  But at the same time you are thankful that they aren't you and aren't the same because really how dull of a life would that be?

I was reading a study yesterday taken in 2011 about Catholic women and their views on contraception and whether or not the church had influence on them and what not.  From it the one thing that sticks in my mind from it is the factor on what influences when deciding to have a baby.  When I looked at it, for me the first few things that were most important were simply givens to me, because honestly I guess I am privileged to have that stability of marriage, finance and relationship.  Further down the list were mental health, something I definitely struggle with my anxiety, and what family or friends thought.

Sadly, I think sometimes I do care too much about what family or friends thing about my decisions because I want to be well liked.  I know honestly that I am a prideful person.  Really, its one of my hugest downfalls.  I hate being wrong, and I hate when someone tells me that I am wrong.  It's a struggle this pride of mine.  I pray for humility a lot.

The confessor that my husband and I both share, once told him that at the source of all sin is pride.  I see this more and more in my life as I am growing as a Catholic christian.  Because really why do we choose the wrong over the right, we don't want to look bad.  We want to be the best of the best. We want to think that that we are in control of it all. Hah!  And really one would think that over the past almost 30 years I would know this.  That I am not in control.  Repeat.  I am not in control.  And yet it is a struggle.  Somehow the sinful, prideful part of me wants to say "Yes, I am in control!" But I'm not.  And its a good thing that I am not, because if I had the role of God, well you know what? The Earth would not be here anymore is what I am saying.  We would have world wars 3, 4, and 5 within like 2 months and everyone would be left speaking the gibberish of Kiera speak if there were any people left.

So, what am I getting at? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. But one thing I do know is that I definitely have to work on how I let my pride get in the way of making choices or justifying choices.  Both are so linked in my life its ridiculous.  However, I am going to try.  Because the church on Earth and Heaven are not full of little Kiera's mimicking each other, but instead are diverse and beautiful because of of their differences.  While we all belong to the same God, we are allowed the free will and have been given various gifts and talents and use them so differently.

I can't control how another person is going to react to my different choice. I can't live in fear of someone yelling at me for my crazy life family choices either. I won't be myself if I don't make that choice and own who I am, instead I would just get swept up into something I am not and be unhappy through it all.

So, did I make a point?

"I wanna be a big star, a king and rule my own life

And God, I know that it's wrong

So please just make my heart right inside and destroy my pride...

Please just tell me something good you got it

And why am I so misunderstood

'Cause I wanna know this

Come on baby and race me

And maybe we'll just find ourselves" -The Rocket Summer

The melancholic child

Dude, I hate that I say that Ephraim is a hard baby, this doesn't make him a bad child.  But yes for me he has been a hard baby.  We just differ in who we are and its been a learning curve over the last 15 months.  I've learned through the book The Temperament that God Gave Your Children that I am of the choleric temperament, while Ephraim is of the melancholic temperament. It's not that melancholic is hard in itself.  It's just another temperament after all.  But its weird because my first kid had the same temperament as me we just gelled a little more.  I could push him where he needed to be pushed and such.  Ephraim just has his own timing, and cannot be pushed.  This comes in play with things like being away from mama, or needing to be nursed still in certain situations, or pinning down a bedtime.

I think though its good that I'm learning this point of information about him though (that sounds so scientist-like to say, weird).  I hope to be more understanding of who he is as a person because of it.  I hope that he and I can fight each other less and maybe when he's a teenager he won't crawl in a hole and never come out because he's become so isolated and introverted from me pushing him too much.

It's a hard thing to not be able to parent the same for each child, but then again if we were all the same life would be so boring.

Word block

Currently I feel like I have a word block.  I have a lot of things running around in my head but none of them have been transferred to the nets. So I will leave you with a photo from dinner last night.

And man is he ever growing up fast. Before I know it he will be 3 and no longer 2. Gah.